The Daily Beacon

Page 1

Thunderstorms 70% chance of rain HIGH LOW 71 55

Follow us: @DailyBeacon

Check out the Beacon Weekender

Diamond Vols season recap

Friday, June 1, 2012

PAGE 6 T H E

Issue 1

E D I T O R I A L L Y

PUBLISHED SINCE 1906 http://utdailybeacon.com

Vol. 120

I N D E P E N D E N T

S T U D E N T

N E W S P A P E R

O F

T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

PAGE 5 O F

T E N N E S S E E

Joy Hill • The Daily Beacon

Students relax on the Hill at the end of 2011 spring semester. On Wednesday many students finished up Mini-Term before summer classes started. Mini-Term is an option for students who do not want to take classes the entire summer and will instead dedicate three straight weeks in May to classes.

Mini-term offers unique class experience Wesley Mills News Editor For most students, school was out May 9. Papers were turned in, tests were taken and grades were posted. But for the select few that remained, summer school awaited. And out of those students, few enroll in the mini-term. This past mini-term ended on May 30, and students like Steven Solomon, senior in political science, needed these classes. “I needed to get in classes that are required for graduation in the fall,” he said. “I am graduating early because I have summer and mini-terms twice.” Solomon has taken two mini-term classes in his time at UT, and says he really enjoys the mini-term classes because of the amount of information he can absorb in such a limited time. “I learn more when I fill up on info quickly,” he said. “If everything is drawn out, it is tough to remember things. I get more out of 14 days of mini term than I do most classes of four months.” However, due to lack of involvement in some of the classes, many departments are rethinking their strategies on how to do the mini-term. Ian Down, professor of political science, says things are proba-

Satellite photos show Iran nuclear cleanup The Associated Press VIENNA — New commercial satellite images suggest that Iran has demolished two buildings at a military site where it is suspected of trying to erase evidence of a nuclear arms program, a U.S. nonproliferation think tank said Thursday. The images were published Thursday by the Wa s h i n g t o n - b a s e d Institute for Science and International Security, which provides consultancy services for U.S. government agencies focused on nonproliferation and is considered an objective source of information on Iran’s nuclear program. A senior diplomat who saw the photos displayed on the think tank’s website and who is accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency told The Associated Press they showed apparent cleanup work similar to that depicted on spy satellite photos supplied to the IAEA by member nations closely tracking Iran’s nuclear activities. The IAEA, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, presented some of those spy satellite images on Wednesday to the

agency’s 35-member nation board, prompting Iran’s chief IAEA delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh to dismiss allegations of a cleanup as “baseless.” Iran has consistently rejected accusations that it is attempting to erase traces possibly left by secret nuclear work at the Parchin military installation before granting U.N. inspectors permission to visit the facility. The Iranians contend that radioactive particles, should they exist, could not in fact be cleaned up. That is debatable, but the agency is looking for other evidence at Parchin as well, hoping to find traces left by the kind of high conventional explosives it suspects the Iranians tested there. At stake is the threat an Iran armed with nuclear weapons could pose to its neighbors. The U.S. and Israel have indicated readiness to attack Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to curb its nuclear program. Both suspect that Iran is aiming to build nuclear weapons, and Israel believes it would be a prime target. See IRAN on Page 3

bly changing within his department. “As of now we have to determine a more effective use of miniterm than was possible this year due to the relatively low enrollments,” Down said. “The Department hasn’t yet made a decision about what to do in the future but the mini-term enrollments have been low this year and so it’s likely to be changed in the future.” Down has been teaching at UT for eight years, but has only been teaching mini-term for two years. Out of those two, Down has enjoyed time teaching, although he said that the preparation time can be taxing on a teacher. Down said the mini-term has many advantages and students should take more advantage of it. “The upside is that it’s easier to build from one meeting to the next because the meetings follow one another so closely, with each meeting being a week’s worth of material,” Down said. Recap and review of the material isn’t needed like it is in the regular term. “It’s not necessary to refresh student’s memory of what was covered earlier in the course because it would only have been a matter of days ago, rather than weeks,” he said. “In addition, with smaller classes it’s easier to get to know the students and more of the students are likely to speak up and interact than is the case with large classes.”

But there can obviously be some drawbacks to copious amounts of information being pummeled into student’s brains. Solomon said missing class is the worst. “If you miss class, you suffer,” Solomon said. “Don’t miss class.” Agreeing with Solomon, Down said that the limited time means a student’s attendance is paramount in understanding and retaining the material. Down said there’s also little room for rabbit trails and in-depth discussion of students’ questions. “Because so much is packed into such a short time frame there’s little scope for adapting the course in line with student interest,” Down said. “In a regular semester when students raise issues it’s easier to put together additional data or material to address those issues. In addition, it’s easier to lose student attention, particularly if the material is demanding because the meetings are three hours in length, while the regular semester typically has more manageable 50 or 75-minute sections.” Though it’s packed tight, there are students that latch onto the quick-paced classes that the mini-term offers. “The mini-term setup is heavy, for sure,” Solomon said. “However, if you like fast paced classes with loads of information, mini-term is for you. If I could get three credit hours every 14 days, you better believe I would take it. It is challenging, but that is what makes it fun.”

UTPD welcomes new chief Staff Reports KNOXVILLE — Troy Lane, chief of police at the University of Wyoming, has been named the chief of police for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Police Department. Lane, who has more than 16 years of campus law enforcement experience, will begin June 25. “Troy Lane brings a wide range of knowledge and skills to this role. He will provide leadership for our police force as it continues building its strong connections to the campus community and other local law enforcement agencies,” said Jeff Maples, senior associate vice chancellor for finance and administration. “Campus safety is one of our most important responsibilities, and we look forward to working with Troy to enhance the university’s safety and security initiatives.” As police chief at the University of Wyoming since 2007, Lane supervised 14 sworn officers and 10 support personnel. The University of Wyoming is the state’s land-grant university, with an enrollment of 13,476 as of 2009. Lane increased the emergency preparedness of the police department, arranging the first-ever mutual-assistance agreements between the campus police, the city of Laramie, Wyoming’s police department and the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. He led the effort to rewrite and update the university’s emergency response plan and is cer-

tified as an instructor in the National Incident Management System and the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation training program. He also created a system of anonymous reporting of crimes and suspicious behavior to the police department’s website. “A campus is a very diverse community, with challenges and opportunities that are unique in the law enforcement profession,” Lane said. “My focus will be on learning as much as possible about the UTPD, its employees and its central role to the well-being of the UT campus. I am honored to be joining the University of Tennessee and leading the men and women of its police force.” Lane replaces former chief Gloria Graham, who left in January 2012 to become assistant chief of police at the University of Chicago. Assistant Chief Debbie Perry has served as interim chief since Graham’s departure. Lane began his law enforcement career in 1988 as a military policeman in the U.S. Army in Fort Riley, Kansas. After leaving the military in 1992, he continued working in law enforcement, and in 1996 was named assistant director of the Kansas State University Police Department. In that role, he supervised 24 sworn officers and 20 support personnel. He left Kansas State in 2007 for the chief of police position at the University of Wyoming. Lane has a master’s degree in criminal justice from Ft. Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, and a bachelor’s degree in management and • Photo courtesy TN Today ethics from Manhattan Christian College in Manhattan, Kansas. He attended the FBI academy in Quantico, Va., where he received special training in forensic science, statement analysis, managing investigations, legal issues for command-level officers, and budgets and grant writing.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.