fReport.com describes a similar scenario. A man said he agreed to purchase a year-long subscription for $51 after a young lady came to his door and introduced herself as Brittney Midgette. The girl told him cash would be preferable and that she was raising “points” for a scholarship.

“I have called the cus-tomer service number they provide,” said Walt, of Mi-ami, Fla., “and it always goes to voicemail, and most of the time it is full.”

He never received any magazines.

Shepherd noted that so-liciting on state property is illegal.

“If you see somebody soliciting, contact the Uni-versity Police.”

NEWS

THE OORACLEVolume 94 | Issue 16 | Free in single copy | April 1, 2011Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505

IN THIS EDITION

OPINION

Students should help those

in need

Page 4Page 2

Photo by Justin O’Dell

Henderson Hall faces summer, fall renovations

FRIDAY FORECAST

FEW SHOWERSHIGH 60, LOW 41

See “Concert,” page 2

A typical classroom in Henderson Hall. Renovations include the addition of a sprinkler system.

INDEXNews.......................2-3 Opinion ...................... 4Sports ........................ 5Entertainment ............ 6

www.tntechoracle.com

For offi cial campus crime updates, visit

www.tntech.edu/police/police-crimelogs

By JUSTIN O’DELLStaff Writer

By ALEKSANDR PETERSONStaff Writer

University Police re-ceived a call March 14 re-porting a suspected maga-zine sales scam.

The complainant says he was approached in the RUC by two subjects—call-ing themselves “John” and “Kelly”—who persuaded him to spend $100 on maga-zine subscriptions.

“They told him they were selling them for a fundraiser to pay for scholarships,” said Offi cer Tony Nelson in his report. “The numbers and e-mail address given by the suspects were false.”

Campus Police Chief Gay Shepherd said this isn’t the fi rst complaint she’s re-ceived this semester. Earlier reports of a so-called maga-zine scam described the same two suspects.

“They’re hard to catch because people don’t report it until these guys are long gone,” Shepherd said, “but we’re still looking.”

“John” and “Kelly” gave the March 14 complainant something resembling a re-ceipt from a company called U..S. Circulation Corp. Trav-

Students respond to athletics

fee increase

They told him they were selling them for a fundraiser to pay for scholarships.“

Tony NelsonTech Police Offi cer

Connect with us at www.facebook.com/tntechoracle

Students expecting to have class in Henderson Hall in the summer and fall will be meeting elsewhere.

Henderson Hall will un-dergo a renovation that will begin this summer and con-tinue into the fall semester.

“There won’t be classes in [Henderson Hall] dur-ing the summer,” said Kurt Eisen, College of Arts and Sciences associate dean, “and it’s also been decided that classes won’t meet in [Hen-derson Hall] during the fall semester.”

Students will still regis-ter for classes like usual, but a class that would be located in Henderson Hall will now meet in a different building.

“We had to be creative in fi nding teaching spaces,” Eisen said. “With help from other departments and col-leges, [the fall semester] looks okay so far. If we need more sections because we have more students, then the challenge will remain to fi nd spaces.”

The primary reason for renovating Henderson Hall is that the building has no sprinkler system. Also, the roof and fan coil units that

Courtesy of Goo Goo Dolls

The Goo Goo Dolls perform for an audience in the United Kingdom in 2006.

Tuesday night, the Hooper Eblen Center will be packed with students eager to see the Goo Goo Dolls, Vertical Horizon and Jeff Leblanc in concert.

Though the event is only a few days away, planning for it has been an ongoing task since November. The concert has been a combined effort of SGA, the Student Organization Life Opportu-nity Fund and Student Ac-tivities.

Goo Goo Dolls to rock the Hoop on TuesdayBy BRITTANY RITZMANStaff Writer

Katie Williams, Univer-sity Planning coordinator, has also taken a lead role in planning for the concert.

“I’ve done Dancing on Dixie since 2005,” Williams said, “and I help in putting together a concert every spring. Those don’t involve nearly as much as this con-cert, though. I, personally, have never done anything on this scale, and it’s been a long time since the school has had anything this big.

“With a concert of this size, there are also a lot of contracts that have to go out,” Williams said. “For ex-ample, I have to get a car ser-vice for the Goo Goo Dolls,

provide heating and air con-ditioning in classrooms and faculty offi ces are being re-placed.

“The problem with this building from a safety point of view is the open stair-wells,” Eisen said. “Because it has open stairwells, it’s considered a fi re hazard.”

According to Eisen, open stairwells are considered fi re hazards because the fi re can travel from fl oor to fl oor more readily. As a result, the seating capacities have to be at the low end of what the code allows, but the sprin-kler system should help with that.

“If a classroom has a cer-tain number of seats,” said Glenn Binkley, Facilities and Business Services associate vice president, “then when the classroom is full, another desk can’t be added. They must stay within the [maxi-mum] number of seats.”

The diminished class size

could cause a major problem coming back into Hender-son Hall after the remodel is complete.

Classrooms will only be allowed one student per 20 square feet. Where most classes held 40 students be-fore, the building will have only 25-30 students per class-

room. A smaller classroom

could enhance the learning experience. When surveyed, several classrooms were given a “C” rating on an A-F grading scale because there wasn’t an opportunity for collaborative learning.

Currently, each class-room has a different level of technology. Some have PowerPoint, while others still have projectors. Some classrooms still have chalk-boards.

“The plan is to standard-ize the technology in all the rooms,” Eisen said, “so you don’t have to fi gure out the technology when you go from one room to the next.”

Though the classrooms won’t be used, the faculty of-fi ces will remain open.

Because the after-hours computer lab in Henderson Hall will be closed for the renovation, another com-puter lab will be opened temporarily in its place. The temporary lab location was undecided as of deadline.

The renovation is ex-pected to be fi nished before the fall semester is over, but it’s likely that students will remain in the classrooms in which they began the semes-ter.

which is something I’ve nev-er had to do with artists be-fore. With Dancing on Dixie or our usual spring concerts, the artists usually just drive up and start unloading their cars.”

Not only are there con-cerns with contracts and ser-vices, but also logistics that must be worked out on cam-pus. The Hoop will be ar-ranged so that approximate-ly 6,000 people can sit in the stands, and 500 people will be allowed on the fl oor.

el. The company’s web-site, www.uscctravel.com/, claims to offer a “Freedom Scholarship” of $500-$10,000 to students who work for them as traveling salespeo-ple.

The Georgia-based com-pany’s website also claims that a percentage of pro-ceeds go to charity.

“At USCC Travel we are a socialy (sic) respon-sible copmany (sic),” the site said,“ and a portion of every sale is donated to various organizations, such as cancer research, diabetic research, children’s athlet-ics, children’s hospitals, Red Cross/Haiti relief, and more!”

Shepherd doesn’t think “John” and “Kelly” are af-fi liated with Tech or even from the Cookeville area.

“Usually the kids that are doing this are getting scammed themselves,” she said.

A user entry on Ripof-

Suspected magazine swindleon campus defrauds students

Page 2 | April 1, 2011 www.tntechoracle.com

NEWS Tech, Habitat for Humanity to build houseLykins appointed lead University spokesperson

Animal welfare center gains community support

More stories at www.tntechoracle.com

O

ConcertCONTINUED from page 1

Elections will be April 7 for executive offi cers and April 12 for senators

SGA executive officers, senators to be appointed this month

The elections for SGA executive offi cers and sena-tors are quickly approach-ing.

Along with the elec-tions comes a new group of campus decision makers and leaders. Current SGA President Sean Ochsenbein is excited for the prospec-tive new senators and ex-ecutive members that will start campaigning next week.

“I feel we have a good pool of candidates that are really motivated to not only be a part of student govern-ment and try to hold it to the standards that the executive body has tried to hold it to,” Ochsenbein said, “but they also want to progress the student government and make it better.

“Something that’s im-portant in any organization is that the new offi cers not only work on what the pre-vious administration was working on, but they try to create new initiatives and move in a positive and for-ward direction.”

There are several re-quirements for students in-terested in a position. The positions are open to all students that are currently enrolled, in good standing with the University and have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5.

Creative Services

Athletics fee increase to fund scholarships, more

By GERI ANNA WILSONStaff Writer

Students will now have to pay $175 per semester because of the $25 increase in the ath-letics fee. The athletics fee is a mandatory fee—regardless of a student’s involvement in Tech athletics.

Along with all other fee increase request, the athletics fee was approved by the Ten-nessee Board of Regents dur-ing the quarterly meeting last

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Promotional posters have been circulating around campus since March.

Also, the event will re-quire at least 35 student-vol-unteers, most of whom will be SGA senators.

In addition to accommo-dating spectators, there are security concerns that must be addressed with any event of this size.

“We are working with the Cookeville Police Depart-ment and our own Univer-sity Police,” Williams said. “I don’t expect any prob-lems, but if something does happen, it’s good to know that they will be ready to re-spond.”

While most aspects of planning fell into place with relative ease, planning for the concert certainly had its setbacks.

“Getting an artist is probably one of the biggest roller coasters of planning a concert,” Williams said, “because you kind of get your heart set on a particu-lar name, but they may be on

tour or in the studio, so plans have to change. I have to say, though, that I am so excited that it’s almost here and we will fi nally get to see our ef-forts coming to fruition.”

While the SOLO fund has received a lot of publicity with the upcoming concert, major on-campus events are not the only purpose of the fund.

Of the funds received from students, 75 percent goes to the Super Fund and is used to put on major events like the upcoming concert. The other 25 percent is for the Minor Fund and can be disbursed to any student or-ganization that is recognized by Tech. Through the Minor Fund, an organization can receive up to $1,000 to put on a free event that is open to all students. This money can go for T-shirts, fl iers, food from Chartwell’s, and many other items that help promote the organization and benefi t the student body.

The fund will not cover the purchase of alcohol or events at which students are charged admission fees. If an organization does try to charge admission for a SOLO-

funded event, it will have to repay the SOLO committee for any funds granted.

“The purpose of this fund is to boost student retention by giving the students things to do and hopefully keep them interested,” Lee Gatts, SGA treasurer and SOLO Fund Allocations Committee chairperson. “We feel that if there are a lot of events hap-pening on campus, it will make the college experience better for students.”

In order to receive fund-ing, the organization has to fi le an application with the SOLO committee. After the application is fi led, it must be approved by the SOLO committee before the request goes to Student Affairs.

Student Affairs will then submit requests and directly purchase anything that was approved in the application. One benefi t of this system is that items can be purchased tax-free through the Univer-sity, stretching event funds a little farther.

More information and the application for SOLO funds can be found at www.tntech.edu/sga/forms.

Candidates must also fi ll out the proper petitions.

Many students have al-ready planned to campaign for a position and are work-ing on their petitions. One of these students is Ross Har-vey, junior communications major.

“I believe that everyone should have a voice on cam-pus, and the only way that everyone can have a voice is for a diverse range of people to be on senate,” Harvey said. “I’m not sure if I would have any specifi c changes in mind, but I think I could lend a dif-ferent view on many of the issues.”

Ochsenbein offers some advice to students applying for an executive position or a seat in the senate.

“Actively look around campus for places where you

might be able to improve the campus experience for stu-dents,” Ochsenbein said. “As a senator, you can start look-ing at campus a little differ-ently than most students do. Now they can actually imple-ment bills to work on prob-lems that are on campus. As a senator putting a petition in, I think it’s important to know that student government is a place where you can really help the students.”

Elections for the execu-tive offi cers will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 7, and elections for senate will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 12. Both elections will be conducted online.

For more information, contact SGA Secretary Kristin Holder, or visit the SGA web-site at www.tntech.edu/sga/home.

Courtesy of SGA

(From left to right) The current SGA executive offi cers are Sean Ochsenbein, president; Kristen Holder, secretary; Lee Gatts, treasurer; and Julian Lyons, vice president.

By CANDICE GRIGGSStaff Writer

Friday.Senior communications

major Aleksandr Peterson questioned his requirement to pay the mandatory fee.

“I really could care less if sports even existed,” Peter-son said. “I’ve been at Tech four years now, and I haven’t attended a single sporting event, nor do I plan to. I don’t think it’s fair to be charged a substantial amount of money for a service I don’t use.”

The athletics department is funded in three ways: di-rect institutional support, the

athletics fee and athletics rev-enue. All money generated from these sources supports the collegiate athletics pro-gram.

“I think the majority of students at Tech do take ad-vantage of collegiate athlet-ics,” Athletics Director Mark Wilson said. “That doesn’t mean they attend every sport-ing event, but through the course of the year, the major-ity of students benefi t from collegiate athletics, whether they are attending an event or from the value that Tech ath-

letics bring in terms of expo-sure to the campus.”

Ashley Smith, also a se-nior communications major, directly benefi ted from Tech athletics.

“Tech athletics brought me to this school,” Smith said, “and being involved in athlet-ics helped improve my team building skills and gave me motivation to keep my grades up.”

The athletics fee increase requests are passed on to

See “Fee,” page 3

“ I think the majority of students at Tech do take advantage of collegiate athletics. That doesn’t mean they attend every sporting event, but through the course of the year...students benefi t from collegiate athletics, whether they are attending an event or from the value that Tech athletics bring in terms of exposure to the campus.

Mark WilsonAthletics Director

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www.tntechoracle.com Page 3 | April 1, 2011

NEWS

techtech@eventsevents

April

tntech.edu/calendar

1All dayLast Day to Drop with a “W”

All dayAdvisement for Summer and Fall 2011

210 a.m.13th Annual Celebration of CraftAppalachian Center for Craft

7:30 p.m.Mastersingers ConcertWattenbarger Auditorium

By COURTNEY CLIFFORDStaff Writer

Cancer has become all too common these days. Last year alone, more than 33,000 people in Tennessee were di-agnosed with cancer.

Tech is part of a national collaboration of colleges that work together to fi ght cancer by helping raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society.

Colleges Against Can-cer (CAC) has hundreds of chapters nationwide that host events year-round to raise awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society on campus and in the commu-nity.

Every year, Tech hosts Re-lay for Life to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Relay for Life is a community-based event designed to cel-ebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember lost loved ones, and fi ght back against the disease.

This year, 20 teams have signed up to be a part of Tech’s Relay for Life, which takes place April 15. While many teams are affi liated with

Relay for Life teams needed at Tech on April 15

33 p.m.Studio Clarinet RecitalWattenbarger Auditorium

7:30 p.m.Trombones at Tech: Trombone Chamber Music RecitalWattenbarger Auditorium

4All dayEarly Course Selection for Fall and Summer 2011 begins

7:30 p.m.Brass Arts Quintet ConcertWattenbarger Auditorium

5All dayThe Clothesline Project DisplayTech Pride Room

3 p.m.2012 and the End of Time: Misunderstanding the Mayan CalendarClement Hall 212

7:30 p.m.The Cumberland Quintet in concertWattenbarger Auditorium

By HEATHER KINGStaff Writer

OMNI-CON 2011 is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 2 and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 3 in the RUC.

OMNI-CON is a two-day science fi ction/fantasy con-vention run by fans of that genre. It is hosted by Alpha Psi Phi and rightstuf.com.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Gina Dennis, empress of Alpha Psi Phi, said. “Last year it wasn’t that huge, but everyone that came had a ball.”

Alpha Psi Phi is fl ying in two guests, Doug Walker, also known as “That Guy with the

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Greek Life, the Relay for Life committee would like people from all walks of life to be in-volved with Relay.

“In order to fi ght back against this ugly disease, we need all hands on deck!” Erin Osmak, Relay for Life special projects manager, said.

“Relay for Life is a party for a purpose,” Osmak ex-plained. “The community comes together for a fundrais-ing event that is fun and helps a great cause.”

Countless students have been affected by cancer, which leads them to helping with Relay for Life. Student orga-nizations across campus have signed up for a team and have started fundraising efforts. The cost to sign up is $10.

Being a part of Relay for Life does not have to be time consuming. Participants are offered a variety of ways to raise funds. The American Cancer Society has revamped its website and taken advan-tage of social media in order to reach a wider audience. A participant can send donation letters by e-mail or ask for do-nations on Facebook.

“This year we have turned to technology in order to pro-mote Relay for Life more ef-fectively. Facebook and Twit-ter are widely used by the

American Can-cer Society for fundraising and awareness,” Julie Graham, Relay for Life chairperson of pub-lic relations explained. “The American Cancer Society has also come out with an iPhone application that participants can use to view their personal participation center from their phone.”

Reasons for participating in Relay for Life vary. Some people have been affected per-sonally by cancer, while others have seen friends and family suffer the effects of cancer.

“Relay for Life has given me a great opportunity to help out in the cancer research ef-forts,” Robin Lynch, Relay for Life team member, said. “I re-lay for all the people I know who have been diagnosed with cancer.”

Will Snodgrass, Kappa Alpha Order president said,

“I Relay at Tennessee Tech for my aunt who passed away in 2009, just four months after being diagnosed with pancre-atic cancer. To see her go from a healthy woman to being bed ridden in a few short months put life in perspective. I want to see cancer eliminated, so that others do not have to go through what my aunt went through.”

Osmak said, “Relay for Life is one day, one night, one university, and one fi ght. Cancer touches people of ev-

ery background. One in two men and one in three women will hear the words, ‘you have cancer’ in their lifetime.

“Fundraising for the American Cancer Society does not just happen during Re-lay for Life. Students are per-suaded to fundraise all year round in order to raise the most money for the American Cancer Society.”

To sign up a team for Re-lay for Life at Tech, visit www.relayforlife.org/tntech.

Relay for Life offers an iPhone application to track fundraising progress. It is free to download at the Apple App Store.

Image courtesy of Apple

66 p.m.Ringer For Life: Horse Shoe TournamentHyder Burks Ag Pavilion

7:30 p.m.Tuba Ensemble in concertWattenbarger Auditorium

79 a.m.Fashion Me Fabulous Clothing ResaleSouth Patio

FeeCONTINUED from page 2

University administration by Wilson as part of the athletics budget process and are then reviewed before being passed on to the TBR. Wilson decides the amount that is proposed based on economic and fi nan-cial needs of the athletic de-partment relative to the fi scal budget.

“The reason we have been asking for increases of the student athletic fee is to deal with our uncontrollable infl ationary expenses,” Wil-son said. “Our primary un-controllable infl ationary ex-pense is to keep up with the cost of scholarships. Tuition, fees, meals, and housing all

make up part of an NCAA scholarship.”

The fee also increased by $25 last semester, bring-ing the total to $150 for this semester. Students enrolled for Fall 2011 will be paying $175. From the time the fee was implemented, it has been mandatory.

“Tuition and fees go up on an annual basis,” Wilson said. “We are budgeted for 200 scholarships that sup-port division one athletics, so if you equate what the in-dividual student has to come up with for the increases in tuition, fees, meals, and hous-ing with us in athletics, its like we’re doing that for 200 of our own children.”

The athletics fee paid by students is not being used to fund the new Athletic Perfor-mance Center. The fee is only for athletic operations, such

as scholarships, team travel, recruiting travel, supplies, and personnel. Scholarships make up about 50 percent of the athletic budget.

“I wish I could say there was relief ahead, but I don’t think there will be any, based on the economy and the fact the support from the state is decreas-ing,” Wilson said.

During the TBR’s quar-terly meeting that approved all fee requests, Regent John Farris said they are hoping to move toward a more uni-fi ed fee system for TBR uni-versities over time.

“We’re becoming more reliant on students to fund the cost of education at Tech in general. We are just a segment of what’s going on across the entire campus.”

Glasses,” and Scott Christian Sava, creator of the web comic, “The Dreamland Chronicles.”

The event organizers en-courage those attending to dress up in costumes. For the best costume, a cash prize will be awarded.

“Last year,” Dennis said, “I want to say about 11 out of the hundred-something people were dressed up. We are hoping to have more this year.”

There will be an art exhib-it showing local artists’ work. There will also be an art con-test that everyone is welcome to enter. The winner will re-ceive a cash prize.

See “Convention,“ page 6

Page 4 | April 1, 2011 www.tntechoracle.com

OPINION

Weekly. Student operated. | P.O. Box 5072 Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN 38505

Tennessee Technological University--nondiscrimina-tory on the basis of sex in its educational programs and activities including employ-ment and admission of students to the University as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and regulations based therein and published in CFR, part 86. Tennessee Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Affi rmative Action Employer.

CHRISTINE SEIBERCHRISTINE SEIBERManaging EditorManaging Editor

WILL HOUSLEYWILL HOUSLEYAsst. Managing EditorAsst. Managing Editor

SAMANTHA KENDALLSAMANTHA KENDALLAd ManagerAd Manager

DAKOTA WEATHERFORDDAKOTA WEATHERFORDAd AssistantAd Assistant

TALLULAH GILLIAMTALLULAH GILLIAMCopy EditorCopy Editor

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BRANDON GOODWINBRANDON GOODWINSports EditorSports Editor

ROSS HARVEYROSS HARVEYAsst. Sports EditorAsst. Sports Editor

CHUCK ACHESONCHUCK ACHESONEntertainment EditorEntertainment Editor

BRENDA WILSON, Faculty AdviserBRENDA WILSON, Faculty Adviser

BEAT REPORTERS:BEAT REPORTERS: Brittany Anderson, Jillian Boreing, Brendan Bowers, Brandi Campbell, China Chafin, Courtney Clifford, Olivia Clinard, Jackson Cresswell, Sarah DeRossett, Zachary Edwards, Julie Graham, Candice Goodman, Candice Griggs, Emily Haile, Elizabeth Harper, Justin Hill, Heather King, Shelby McDonald, Amanda Miller, Logan Nickleson, Justin O’Dell, Alek Peterson, Brittany Ritzman, Andy Rutherford, Will Sheckler, Logan Shrum, Ashley Smith, Niklas Trzaskowski, Katherine Vaughn, Suzanne Vaughn, Aaron Vick, Jacob Walker, Lindsey Wallace, Emily Weinzetl, Gerri Anna Wilson, Casey Woodard, Camille Woods

THE OORACLE

How you can help: Nursing student aids Liberian village

Send letters to the editor to oracle@tntech.edu. Include your Send letters to the editor to oracle@tntech.edu. Include your name, e-mail address and limit letters to 300 words. Anonymous name, e-mail address and limit letters to 300 words. Anonymous letters are not accepted. Deadline for letters is 4 p.m. Tuesday. letters are not accepted. Deadline for letters is 4 p.m. Tuesday.

We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and content.We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and content.

It is easy to focus on the bad news around the world these days. Egypt and Libya are in a state of turmoil, the oil in the gulf is still killing sea life, and Japan is facing a disaster that has resulted in more than 10,000 deaths.

If you’re like me, some-times it is hard to watch the news without feeling like our earth and its inhabitants are welcoming a new emergency each day. Though we are, there are still a lot of people working to make the world a better place. I don’t mean po-litical fi gures or people work-ing with non-profi ts necessar-ily. Average people with a lot of determination can make an impact, but not without hard work.

Claudia Iciarte is any-thing but average. She’s a nursing student here at Tech, but despite her busy schedule and workload, Iciarte is doing even more than studying ev-ery week. Scheduling an in-terview was a challenge, due to her lack of free time, but her life-changing project was an idea she had to carry out. You don’t need much time talking with Iciarte to see her dedication to her goals.

“It was hard to organize this and at the same time go-

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

I love humor. One of the reasons why I enjoy working for “The Oracle” is the offi ce environment. It’s a place where someone can say, “I major in journal-ism—I have no choice but to marry rich” and know that someone in the offi ce will grin.

That being said, when the staff realized that it would publish on April Fool’s Day, members put stakes in one of two camps of thought. Half of the staff

wanted to produce an en-tirely fabricated edition fi lled with fake or satirical news. The other half opted for a normal edition with a one-page insert of bogus news. In case you were wondering, I was for the latter option.

As Managing Editor, I have the responsibility to guide the direction of “The Oracle.” My decision to cancel an April Fool’s edi-tion or page was unpleas-ant, but as stated above, the staff was clearly divid-ed on the subject.

In addition, some of our advertisers were wary of running their advertisement in an entirely mock paper. I apologize to the readers

who may have heard about an April Fool’s edition and expected to see a crudely Photoshopped picture of an unsuspecting dean in a bikini.

In that same vein, I as-sure all readers that this edition of “The Oracle” is fi lled with legitimate news.

A journalist’s profes-sional priority should be to deliver news with truth. Making an audience laugh should be an auxiliary concern and is best left to Steven Colbert and writers at “The Onion.”

Christine Seibercaseiber21@

students.tntech.edu

‘The Oracle’ is not ‘The Onion’

ing nursing school,” Iciarte said, “but I believe that you don’t need to do something big to help people.”

You might remember Iciarte from an editorial in “The Oracle” last semester about her work in the im-poverished African country of Liberia. For several weeks, she worked in the impover-ished country as a volunteer in an AIDS clinic.

She was shocked at the things she discovered while living there. There were no paved roads, many people had no access to education or health care outside of the clinic, and people were living in unimaginable poverty.

After seeing the living conditions of the people of the village and the Firestone Medical Center (many of them children infected with the deadly AIDS virus or oth-er terminal diseases), she de-cided to do something more to help them. She said she couldn’t just leave that place and put it out of her mind. She had to fi nd another way to help these people.

Last semester, she start-ed a project to collect clothing and toys here at Tech to send the children and their fami-lies. The Firestone Company

uses a lot of Liberia’s natural rubber. Instead of just pay-ing for the raw material, the company also decided to give the locals a medical facility (among other facilities they didn’t have before). Many Tech students donated need-ed items and their time to her cause.

This semester, she is fo-cusing more on gathering non-perishable food items for the children, all of which will be delivered by her father on his next trip to Liberia with his job at Firestone. After Iciarte collects as much as she can to send back, those items will go directly to people in need.

This isn’t just an example of someone at Tech thinking globally and making a differ-ence. This is also a call to stu-dents who think maybe they have no power in the world’s problems.

Of course, you’re busy. You’re a student (or faculty member), and maybe you don’t have a lot of time to spare or money to spend on a cause other than your late electric bill, but we all can do small things that when add-ed together will make a real change in someone’s life.

A specifi c time and date for the food drive is yet to be determined, however, when it is, there will be a note in the next edition of “The Oracle,” as well as some fl yers on cam-pus. If you would like to do-nate time to the project, please feel free to contact Iciarte at clau_lok999@gmail.com.

SARAH TOWNSEND

Editorial Editor

Iciarte posts fl yers for last semester’s toy and clothing drive.

Liberian children at an orphanage where Iciarte donated clothes and toys.

Iciarte with Liberian workers at Firestone Medical Center.

In continuation from her efforts in November 2010, Claudia Iciarte leads food drive for impoverished children

Photos courtesy of Claudia Iciarte

www.tntechoracle.com

SPORTS

The Extra Point

Please. Root for VCU.Yes. Virginia Commonwealth.Why not? If you are like me, your team is

already out of the men’s NCAA tournament. If you are like me, your bracket has already

fallen to pieces. If you are like me, there is no way you are

rooting for Kentucky.So why not, like me, root for VCU?Sure, UConn has arguably the best player

in the nation and is undefeated in all tourna-ment-style play this year.

Sure, Butler was in the Championship game last year and almost won on a last-sec-ond half-court heave.

Sure, Kentucky has some dynamite play-ers and a closer in Brandon Knight that always hits a clutch bucket when the team needs it.

But there is something about VCU.VCU’s run has without a doubt been the

most improbable in NCAA tournament histo-ry. Almost every expert was decidedly against VCU even being in the tournament, preferring a team like Virginia Tech or Colorado be select-ed instead, which was warranted, considering VCU had lost four straight before the tourney and fi nished fourth in the Colonial Confer-ence.

Colonial Conference? I can barely name four teams total in the Colonial.

As an ACC man myself, I would have pre-ferred someone else get in. I didn’t pick VCU to win a game.

But the selection committee put them in, in the group of First Four teams. The teams that win these games are often one and done.

But apparently head coach Shaka Smart and his Rams didn’t get the memo.

Since they beat USC in the opening round, VCU has won fi ve straight games by an average of 12 points. Their opponents include power-conference teams Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State, and Kansas. Those are quality wins that not many teams can boast about having.

VCU is led by a scrappy group of seniors, none scrappier than point guard Joey Rodri-guez. Rodriguez left the team two years ago after then-coach Anthony Grant left the team to go to Alabama. Eventually, Rodriguez real-ized he had made a mistake, and Smart imme-diately welcomed him back to the team.

Now Rodriguez, along with Jamie Skeen, Bradford Burgess and Brandon Rozell, has guided the team to two wins away from NCAA history.

Not a soul saw it coming, sans those with VCU on their shirts or jerseys.

Before the Kansas game, Jayhawk forward Marcus Morris was reported as saying “You guys had a good run, but now it’s over” to a couple of VCU players.

That seems to be what everyone was telling the Rams, but they obviously aren’t listening.

From the First Four to the Final Four, all they’ve been doing is proving the doubters wrong.

By ROSS HARVEYAsst. Sports Editorraharvey42@tntech.edu

Jumping on the VCU bandwagon

Rival Jacksonville State visits as Tech baseball looks to start strong in OVCPRESS RELEASE

4th and LongBy BRANDON GOODWINSports Editorbagoodwin21@tntech.edu

Last week, Tennessee hired Cuonzo Martin as it’s new men’s basketball coach. Go ahead and take a moment to Wikipedia him...Not much there, huh?

If you’ve been watching or reading the lo-cal news about him, you’ll see that all people really talk about is his playing career at Pur-due. Unfortunately for Tennessee, Martin is going to be coaching, not playing. That being said, let’s take a look at his coaching career.

Martin spent the last three years as the head coach at Missouri State University in the Missouri Valley Conference. He has a com-bined record of 61-41, or 59.8 percent (not that great).

In those three seasons, he had a winning conference record just once (15-3 in 2010-11). That sounds like he built up a great program af-ter starting off going 3-15 in his fi rst year, right? Wrong. The reason Martin had such a great sea-son this past year is for the simple fact that he had four seniors in his starting lineup. These guys had played together for their entire careers.

Now let’s take a look at what the cheater left for him at Tennessee: three juniors. Sounds promising. The problem? One of those will probably leave (Scotty Hopson) and one of them will do good to remain eligible (Renaldo

Woolridge). Martin could very easily end up having

just one senior on next year’s squad. Add that to the sanctions the NCAA is sure to impose upon them, and Tennessee has a bleak future in men’s basketball.

The other problem I have with Martin is his carefree mentality about the NCAA investiga-tion. In his fi rst statement as Tennessee’s coach, he said he’s not worried about what’s going to happen and that Mike Hamilton has assured him that everything is going to be fi ne.

If you haven’t learned by now that you can’t listen to anything Hamilton says, you’ve got some learning to do.

Yes, Martin is a cancer survivor. It’s a great story. I just wonder how much knowledge of the program he actually has. In another state-ment, he claimed that Tennessee was a top-25 coaching job when he played at Purdue. I guess he considers a program going 48-70 in four years great.

In my opinion, Mike Hamilton is using Martin just to get them through the next cou-ple of years and the NCAA sanctions. They’ll probably lose some scholarships or be banned from postseason play. All I can say is good luck, Tennessee.

Who is the world is Cuonzo Martin?

Page 5 | April 1, 2011

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With 22 games under their belt this season, the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech will open up conference play this weekend hosting a huge Ohio Valley Conference rival in the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, beginning with Saturday’s double-header event starting at 1 p.m.

Tech’s 2010 season ended at the hands of the Gamecocks in the OVC Tournament in Jackson, Tenn., when JSU defeated the Golden Eagles twice in the double elimina-tion tournament by scores of 9-7 and 10-8 to earn the post-season championship title and the chance to continue their season in the regional tournament.

This year, Tech will be looking to avenge the post-season losses from last year and stretch their lead on the 19-16 lifetime series over the Gamecocks.

The Golden Eagles are still led at the plate by fresh-man Zach Stephens with a .363 average and a slugging percentage of more than .600. Stephens has notched 33 hits on the season, including fi ve long balls and eight doubles for 27 RBI to lead the team in all three categories. Tech has three other members of the lineup batting over .300 in sophomore standouts Evan Frazier (.347) and Zephan Guyear (.310) and senior re-turnee Casanova Donaldson (.311).

Standing in their way, however, will be a JSU pitch-ing staff consisting of three rightys—a freshman new-comer to the weekend rota-tion in Bradley Raulston and two returning starters in Aar-on Elias and Jordan Beistline. Raulston (2-0, 3.21 ERA) has pitched 14 innings for the Gamecocks in fi ve total ap-pearances and will take the hill fi rst in game one, having allowed six runs on 14 hits and striking out seven on the year.

A junior out of Covina, California, Elias maintains a 2.57 ERA in 35 innings pitched, the most of the Gamecock bullpen thus far this season. He has surren-dered 15 runs on 27 hits and leads the team in strikeouts with 28. In fi ve games started, six appearances in all, Elias has amassed a 3-1 record on the mound.

Beistline will cap off the weekend for JSU with his per-fect 3-0 record and 1.42 ERA in 25.1 innings of work. He has accumulated 11 Ks so far this season and allowed just four earned runs on 22 hits.

Jacksonville State’s line-up consists of seven hitters sitting at .300 or above, six of which return from last season’s roster. Junior Ben Waldrip leads the Gamecocks with a .413 in 75 at-bats, hav-ing logged 31 hits and 17 RBI. Sam Eberle, another junior out of Chattanooga, has a .355 average and leads the team in at-bats with 107 and RBI with 29 on 38 hits.

Tech will turn to regular weekend starter Matt Shep-herd in game two of the series, while lefty Chad Oberacker will handle game three for the Golden Eagles. Shepherd leads Tech in innings pitched with 36.1 and has a 2-3 record having allowed 33 hits on the season and striking out 34.

Oberacker, who recently broke Tech’s school record for all-time career hits, has been contributing regularly on the mound this season and currently maintains a 3.29 ERA. He has made three starts this season and six ap-pearances for a total of 27.1 innings pitched. He’s given up 14 runs on 26 hits and has recorded 27 Ks on the season.

The starter for game one for Tech has yet to be deter-mined.

The Golden Eagle base-ball program will host Greek Day on Saturday and wel-come Tech Hall-of-Famer Mark Mayberry to throw out the ceremonial fi rst pitch of the game. Student organiza-tions are encouraged to come out and show their Tech pride, with a $250 prize on the line for the largest organi-zation present.

Tech will be capping off the weekend with Sunday’s 1 p.m. fi nale, and the program will be hosting Faith Day, which will award the fi rst 300 fans present with church bul-letins a free hot dog from the TTU concession stand.

For more information about Tech baseball, please visit TTUSports.com.

The Celebration of Craft is entering its 13th season and is back with another excit-ing day packed with music, food and educational work-shops led by experts of vari-ous crafts. This annual event is taking place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow at the Ap-palachian Center for Craft.

The event is free and pro-vides visitors with the unique opportunity to take part in acknowledging the arts and crafts that have been local to this area for decades.

“Unlike most university programs,” Interim Director Ward Doubet said, “this is all designed to interact with the

community in a way that is typical of craft. Perhaps dif-ferent from when you usually think of an art department in an urban setting, out here our students get directly involved with everything, whether it’s helping teach the elementary age kids with the outreach program or helping with the workshops.”

Usually, studio tours are given to groups and are avail-able by appointment only, but these areas will be open to the public during the celebration. Demonstrations will be given throughout various studios in the Craft Center by students, faculty and other artists. Also, a craft booth will be set up by the Visual Arts Society for those interested in purchas-ing art from Craft Center stu-dents.

Two musical groups are

scheduled to perform during the celebration. Local musi-cian Ethan Ballinger, who also plays with “The Cluster Pluckers,” will be displaying his mandolin skills with the Nashville-based band “Ali-son Brown & the Fair Weather Friends.” “All Of Us” will be providing suitable overtones from the stage for the day’s events as well.

Summer workshops are still being offered at a dis-counted price to Tech faculty and students on a space-avail-able basis. For anyone inter-ested, the Appalachian Center for Craft website has enroll-ment options for workshops that can last anywhere from a weekend to three weeks.

For more information and directions to the Craft Center, visit www.tntech.edu/craft-center.

www.tntechoracle.com Page 6 | April 1, 2011

ENTERTAINMENT

Craft Center hosts 13th season of Celebration of Craft SaturdayBy JACOB WALKERStaff Writer

Photo by Kim Frick-Welker

“COMFORT FOOD.COMFORTABLE PRICES.”NOW HIRING- All positions

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931-520-0411

ConventionCONTINUED from page 3

Booths will be set up by local venders, such as Moun-tain Top Comics and Down-town Comics. They will have comic books, graphic novels, action fi gures, and Manga.

A console gaming tourna-ment featuring Street Fighter 4 and Capcom 3 will take place. For those who don’t want to participate in the tournament but want to play games, gam-ing consoles and table-top games, such as Dungeons and Dragons, will be provided.

According to Dennis, the event is truly something for everyone.

Dennis said that one pop-ular booth everyone enjoys, even those not typically into

science fi ction/fantasy, is the zombie panel.

“We’ve already had two or three people ask to run the zombie panel,” Dennis said.

Other activities that will be at OMNI-CON 2011 in-clude anime viewing, Cosplay contest, a scavenger hunt, a chalk drawing contest, and informative panels. All of the contests offer cash prizes.

Pre-registration tickets are $5 for one day and $8 for the whole weekend. Tickets will be $7 for one day and $10 for the whole weekend if pur-chased at the door.

For more information, visit www.omnicon.us.

By MATT KNIELING | Matt Knieling is a magnifi cent cross between an academic and McGuyver, and he loves a good April Fools joke. Find more of his comics at inanimateshorts.com or on Facebook at tinyurl.com/mattartfb.

Starting next Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Back-door Playhouse, the Tech Players will begin its spring production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” Theatre professor Mark Creter will play the lead role of Willy Loman (pictured above), and Dave Davidson is the guest direc-tor. This production is free for Tech students.

Show TimesApril 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, and 16 at 8 p.m.

Matinee: April 16 at 2 p.m.Late Show: April 14 at 10 p.m.

Let ’s Tweet About Movies@SuckerPunch - A movie with limitless potential that’s hamstrung with an uninteresting plot despite awe-inspiring visuals. @ZackSnyder misses again. C-

@BlackSwan - On DVD, a heart-pumping, dramatic thriller you must see. Tchaikovsky’s works are sublimely woven into the fi lm for great, haunting effect. A

By CHUCK ACHESON - Entertainment Editor / @chuckacheson

The Volpe Library goes to France this month with a new fi lm series called “The Sev-enth Art: Classics of French Cinema.”

This month, the foreign languages department and the Media Center will be show-casing four public screenings of French classics. The fi lms showcased are Center Stage events, and these fi lms have made a substantial impact on American fi lms to this day.

“We hope the series will enrich the cultural lives of TTU,” said Pat McGee, Media Center coordinator. “I hope the series will help people be aware that the United States isn’t the only country that makes movies. Plenty of in-triguing examples of cinema are produced by non-Ameri-

cans.”McGee and Debbie Bar-

nard of the foreign language department have been collab-orating on the fi lm series that started March 30.

The fi rst screening of “La Bell et la Bete,” Beauty and the Beast, is the only fi lm that’s already played in the fi lm series, which means there is still time to catch the next three showings.

Films will be shown at 6:30 p.m. in Volpe Library, Room 110 Wednesdays April 6, 13 and 20. All fi lms are in French with English subtitles.

Wednesday, April 6 the Media Center will feature “Les Amants” (“The Lov-ers”), which is a movie about a scandalous love story.

Wednesday, April 13, the Media Center will feature “La Haine” (“The Hate”), which looks at racism in the suburbs of Paris.

Wednesday, April 20, the

Media Center will feature “Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie Poulain,” a story by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The movie is about a young woman with little joy in her life who fi nds joy when she focuses on mak-ing others happy.

All of these titles, except for “La Haine” are in the li-brary on reserves and can be viewed in the Media Center during open hours.

“We have a wonderful collection of international movies,” McGee said.

Some of the movies are on VHS, but the library viewing rooms have VCRs on which students and faculty can view them.

For the fall semester, the Media Center is tentatively planning to show a docu-mentary series dealing with industrialization and food production.

The fi lm series is free and open to the public.

Les Amants

Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amelie

Poulain

April 6

By WILLIAM SHECKLERStaff Writer

French film series continues Wednesday

La Haine

April 13 April 20