The Daily Beacon

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Issue 36, Volume 121

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Kagan to visit UT Blair Kuykendall Editor-in-Chief U.S. Surpeme Court justices do not regularly swing by Knoxville. Both undergraduates and law students alike will have the opportunity to see Justice Elena Kagan 1 p.m. on Friday in the Cox Auditorium. She will sit down for a public discussion with Doug Blaze, dean of the law school. “Rather than giving a formal lecture, Justice Kagan and I will have a conversation and talk about her background, her experience on the Court, and the Court’s operations,” Blaze said in a statement. “We encourage the entire university community to attend.” Undergraduate students have been asked to take advantage of the rare opportunity. “It’s not every day that students get to attend a talk by a sitting Supreme Court justice,” John Scheb, head of the political science department, said in a statement. “I would urge all our students, and most especially political science majors, to attend this event.” Kagan’s visit will contribute to the celebration of a new law school initiative. “We have recently established the Richard Rose Distinguished Jurist in Residence Program, and she will be our inaugural speaker,” Blaze said. “Rick Rose, a very supportive alum, made a significant gift to endow the program. We asked Justice Kagan to serve as the inaugural

speaker because she is the Justice assigned to the Sixth Circuit, which includes Tennessee, and because she has a remarkable background,” he said. “She has been in private practice, a faculty member at both Chicago and Harvard Law schools, Dean of the Harvard Law School and Solicitor General of the United States.” During her visit, Kagan will have the chance to see UT students display their own prowess both in the courtroom and on the field. “She will serve as Chief Justice of a panel of distinguished judges presiding over the final round of our Advocate’s Prize Moot Court Competition,” Blaze said. “The other five judges are highly regarded U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges from around the country. She will also meet with a member of the federal and state bench, interact with students and faculty, and — depending on timing — enjoy the Alabama game.” All members of the UT community are welcome to attend, and law school has also extended the invitation to members of the judiciary. Tickets are not required for entry, but either UT or state identification will be checked at the door for security purposes. Large bags and backpacks are not permitted in the auditorium. “Everyone at the law school — faculty, staff and especially students — are honored by and very excited about the visit,” Blaze said.

• Photo courtesy of Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

UT smartphone app offers students handheld access David Cobb Assistant News Editor

• Photo courtesy of Tim Wise

Lecture to discuss white privilege, racism Justin Joo Staff Writer In the midst of UT looking for a new vice chancellor for diversity and the CCI Diversity Week having finished earlier this month, students will get a chance tonight to hear a critique on such universitydriven diversity programs. Tim Wise, one of the most prominent anti-racism writers and speakers in the country, will be at UT today at 7:30 p.m. in the UC Auditorium. Entitled “An Evening with Tim Wise: ‘Beyond Diversity: Challenging Racism in an Age of Backlash,’” Wise will address institutional diversity programs and bring attention to how such programs often fail.

The event was organized and coordinated by the UTK Progressive Student Alliance (PSA). Melanie Barron, graudate student in geography and member of PSA, said that the goal of bringing Wise to UT was to shed more light on institutional racism. “We noticed overall that there is a problem with students … not understanding racism as an interpersonal issues versus being an institutional problem,” Barron said. “People would say … ‘Racism isn’t a big deal any more.’ But if you know anything about the United States and current problems, especially with poverty … then you know that institutional racism is still a big problem.” See TIME WHITE Page 3

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Pull out your iPhone, go to the app store, and search for “Tennessee.” The first result should be UT’s official smartphone app. The app was created and released by Blackboard earlier this year and is available to both Android and Blackberry users. Gregory Billings, senior in computer science, is the codirector of SGA’s Technology Services Committee, a group that works closely with the Office of I n f o r m a t i o n Technology. “I think the app is right on track to make UT competitive with other technologically savvy schools,” Billings said. “Right now the app is in its early stages, only including the things that Blackboard has. However, give it some time and I believe the app will be very customized for our school and provide great services to students.” SGA President Adam Roddy’s campaign promoted

the development of the app. His administration didn’t have a major hand in the original development of it, but he plans to advocate for improvements

to the app going forward. “We envision this app to be

something that you use almost every day, or at least with regular frequency,” Roddy said. “Not using it just to check up on information or just to look up one piece of information, but to be able to use it to help you academically just as a student.” Roddy and Billings mentioned the integration of “MyUTK” as a potential addition, as well as a GPS tracking system for buses. The app has an athletics tab, where users currently can access news, scores and schedules for all UT sports, but an interactive ticketing addition specifically for UT students could be in the works. “If it rains you have the high chance of completely losing your ticket. That happened at the (Montana) game last year. There were so many students who went in during the downpour, their tickets got soaked, they couldn’t scan them, and they couldn’t be let in.” See UT APP on Page 2

Hart faces dilemna with Dooley’s future page 6 The Daily Beacon is printed using soy based ink on newsprint containing recycled content, utilizing renewable sources and produced in a sustainable, environmentally responsible manner.

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