MTSU Sidelines Oct.2,2013 Editorially Independent
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Stacy Busch >> Online Editor
Chris Bishop >> Online Director
Mamie Nash >> News Editor
Sinclaire Sparkman >> Assistant News Editor Daniel Jansouzian >> Assistant News Editor Bailey Robbins >> Features Editor
Maranda Faris >> Assistant Features Editor
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Claire Osburn >> A&E Editor
Noel Heath >> Assistant A&E Editor
Lauren Mandrell >> Assistant A&E Editor Sam Brown >> Sports Editor
Connor Grott >> Assistant Sports Editor Quint Qualls >> Opinions Editor Christine Craft >> Designer
Matt Masters >> Online Photo Editor Kyle Bates >> Print Photo Editor Leon Alligood >> Adviser
2 SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com
TEM
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Emily West >> Editor-in-chief
Amanda Gambill >> Managing editor
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NEWS
believes these companies are investing in the future. “This new building isn’t just for our growth; it’s for the growth of the major as well,” Brown said. The expansion in space makes room for an auditorium, a student lab and a courtyard, three features the Voorhies Engineering Technology building could not provide. “The ET department definitely needs the space. We can use all of it and more,” said Walter Boles, engineering technology department chairperson.
By Jaylen Baker Contributing writer The Concrete Industry Management program will soon be the first discipline on campus built entirely without state funding.
New construction industry management building created without state help
A new construction project will begin near Scarlett Commons for a 30,000 square foot building to be used by the CIM majors in May 2016. The date will mark the 20th anniversary of the program. Unlike other buildings on campus, state funding will not help construct the new building. Donations from alumni and their companies will fund most of the cost. The cost will also be lower because companies and firms sponsoring the design will provide the construction equipment required. Heather Brown, department chair of CIM, said she
Brown, along with the CIM staff and local industries, has tailored the new building to suit the needs of the students. Chris Davenport, one of the program’s eight inaugural graduates, is facilitating the construction of the building. CIM students will construct the courtyard and other outside structures, while alumni and the companies supporting the building process will do the majority of the construction. “It’s very important to educate future leaders in the concrete industry,” Davenport said. “All eight of us who graduated are still employed and successful. Our resources are critical to obtaining the goal of a center of concrete excellence at MTSU.” Photo provided.
SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com 3
NEWS
“Master plan” says condemned buildings on campus may be no more Dulce Torres //Contributing writer Ezell and Abernathy Halls remain in almost the same condition as when they were evacuated in 1999. Though they were dorms for 27 years,a mistake in the initial pouring of the concrete during construction created fragmentation in the walls and ceilings, which caused the ceiling to being falling apart. “It’s a condition commonly called spalling,” said Debs Sells, vice president of student affairs. After being alerted, officials determined that the buildings were unsafe. Students arrived at their dorms to find evacuation notices and were given a week to leave.
4 SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com
NEWS ed arms training.” Although the buildings were never officially condemned, the university determined that the buildings could not be salvaged because renovation expenses were too great. There was no real urgency to tear them down either. Instead, Ezell Hall was renovated on the ground floor, adding a recording studio, a fossil museum and faculty offices. Abernathy, with its crumbling walls, has largely been used as a storage facility. “I think that [the] building is pretty sketchy,” said Tyler Wingfield, junior recording industry major. “It’s terrifying.” Faculty and students mainly inhabit the first floor of Ezell. While some worry that the conditions are not as stable as they appear, others are primarily glad to have working space. “It could be worse, at least I have an office. We have enough room, so we can do lessons,” said Douglas Bielmeier, recording industry professor. Others find advantages to having an unoccupied building. Police are able to use the building to train their officers. “We have scenarios set up in a portion of the building,” said Broede Stucky, training coordinator and public information officer. “Our officers work through the preplanned scenario using training equipment, like a simulat-
Although the buildings add quite a story to the campus, faculty and students agree that the former dorms cannot remain as they are. “They have to do something with this building,” said Dongwan Kim, a senior majoring in recording industry. Officials plan to tear down the buildings in the near future. Referring to a “master plan,” MTSU is hoping to have a new classroom building in the near future. “Abernathy will probably come down first because that site there is a prime site for a new building,” said John Cothern, senior vice president. However, getting a new building is not easy. “To get buildings funded by the state takes quite a long time. You have to get into the system, prove your need for the building. You’re competing with everybody else in the state.” He uses the new science building as an example, saying that it took well more than 10 years to get state funding. The approval process may take another five or more years. “Right now we are in the process of updating our master plan to present to the state board of regents and the state building commission,” Cothern said. Photos by Matt Masters.
SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2103 | www.mtsusidelines.com 5
FEATURES
stapler graveyard There is no sound sweeter after all-nighters and term papers than stapling the final draft together. The library’s ever-present sounds — students shuffling, pages turning, keyboards clicking — dim as you reach for the shiny black beast. While you may not take notice of this beautiful moment, instead scurrying away to beat the clock to class, someone does. His name is Jason Vance. Vance, an assistant professor, is the creator of the “Dead Staplers” Tumblr, documenting the birthdates and death dates of every stapler that comes across the James E. Walker Library’s first floor reference desk. “Just for my own curiosity, I decided to start keeping track of how many [staplers] we threw away,” Vance said, gingerly turning a stapler in his hands to show the neatly written “14” in Sharpie. This stapler, along with the other 13 lining the windowsill in his office on the library’s second floor, is “dead.” Cause of deaths: repeatedly jammed or simply broken in two. Soon, his curiosity bloomed into a quirky phenomenon. He began snapping photos of the staplers and posting them on Tumblr with such humorous captions as, “STAPLER 11 IS MISSING. It has gone missing two previous times (on April 1 and June 28, 2013). I am not worried. It will come back when it’s ready.”
6 SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com
FEATURES Without any advertising since the blog’s creation in January 2013, people began to take notice of the quirky site.
ture people coming in and reading books and typing papers, and you have the people coming in and taking naps,” he said.
“It just kind of took a life of its own … it’s really bizarre,” Vance said, laughing at the notion he may be a library celebrity.
It’s hard to imagine this academic taking a nap in the place he knows so well. Vance has worked at the library for five and a half years, but it’s clear he enjoys libraries from all decades. He pulls a book written in the 60s from his desk. As he flips through “What Does a Librarian Do?,” dust flutters from the pages to show pictures of card catalogs and librarians stamping cards.
Library Lover Working in bookstores and libraries during and after college, Vance has found a home in our university’s four-floored beauty. “Libraries are no longer just about books — or staplers,” he quipped before describing his love of libraries. “There is so much technology …. It’s much more than just books. We still love books, but it’s just become so much more.” He not only works at the reference desk, but also spends a majority of his time teaching research classes for a span of majors in the library. “There is a lot of learning, a lot of research. You get people from all different disciplines — the math people coming in and working out big complex formulas on the white boards, and the litera-
Hanging on his office wall is a poster dedicated to the Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky, who delivered bags of books on horseback in the 1930s. These librarians were a topic of one of his many published research papers. He has even turned his dead stapler project into a satirical article for “College and Research Library’s News” magazine, which will be published this fall or winter. When he started the stapler project, the desk had three. After 19 deaths and two missing, the desk is left
with seven. The three original staplers did not make it. The graduate of library sciences from Simmons College described scenes of people placing papers in the stapler and then stomping on them to get the papers to join in metal-enforced matrimony. Other times, he’s witnessed students using the staplers as actual hammers.
even received emails from Canadian librarians who support his efforts in bringing awareness to dead staplers.
By Amanda Gambill Managing Editor Photos provided.
This epidemic is felt around the nation. Vance unintentionally touched a sensitive spot for librarians with his blog and has
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SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2103 | www.mtsusidelines.com 7
COVER STORY
what students
should know about
their NEW
health
care system The Affordable Care Act, the controversial insurance-for-all program known as “Obamacare,” went into effect yesterday. Millions of uninsured Americans, among them cash-strapped college students, are now eligible to purchase health insurance from a government website with Uncle Sam paying a large chunk of the premiums. Although President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law in 2010, it has been delayed. The U.S. House of Representatives are still putting forth serious efforts to “de-fund” the measure. Yet, many remain confused about what the law does and does not provide.
their age demographics will play a major role in determining ACA’s success or failure. “Young adults’ participation in the nation’s new insurance marketplaces is essential: as a healthier-than-average population, it allows for comprehensive health plans to be offered at affordable prices to all enrollees over time,” according to The Commonwealth Fund report in August. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation based in New York and Washington, D.C., promotes “a high performing health care system.” The success of ACA depends on the participation of 19 to 29 year olds, who are statistically the healthiest segment of the population. Their premiums will be used to offset the cost of medical care for the growing number of Baby Boomers moving into senior citizen status. For Lauren Held, a senior at the university, the idea of having health coverage is enticing, but seems out of reach, too.
The ACA’s primary goal is to make health care affordable to every American, even those with pre-existing health conditions.
“Being a full-time college student, I’m on a very limited budget. It is not fiscally possible for me to afford a $198 monthly payment for health coverage. I’ll be forced to pay the annual fee for not accepting the mandate,” Held said. However, Sekou Franklin, a political science professor, can see both sides of the issue.
What’s also unclear to many young adults — such as the 23,000 students enrolled in the university — is how
“Historically, a lot of students didn’t have health insurance, so yeah, I definitely think it will help students,” he
8 SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com
said. “When you’re trying to address something as big as this, as monstrous as this, which is the uninsured and under-insured, it’s a monster, because it’s a major part of the economy.”
The Bronze plans are the cheapest but will have higher deductibles and outof-pocket costs. The Platinum plans, the most expensive, will generally have lower deductibles.
For now, ACA is the law of the land, and like with most landscape-changing legislation, it comes with a new language. Every young adult should know these terms straight from the law:
THE TAX CREDIT:
THE 26 RULE:
Many college students have already been affected by this provision, which allows children to remain on their parent’s health insurance policy until they reach age 26. Afterward, they’ll have to purchase their own insurance. Many worry that underemployed or unemployed 26-and-older adults will not be able to afford their own policy.
THE EXCHANGE:
Those uninsured can now purchase insurance through an online exchange, a one-stop shopping website. Several states chose to create their own exchange, while many others, including Tennessee, will rely on an exchange set up by the federal government. Tennesseans will pay less for coverage than most of other states, according to figures released last week by the Federal Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. In the Volunteer State, customers will choose from more than 40 plans. The plans are presented on a tier scale: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Although healthcare is required, the government will pick up a portion of the tab. Depending on a person’s annual income, the government could pay the entire premium. The amount of tax credit offered will also depend on which coverage plan is chosen.
THE PENALTY:
Individuals who do not purchase coverage by March 31, 2014, will be penalized when they file their taxes. In the first year, the penalty will be $95 per adult and $47.50 per child or 1 percent of household income, whichever is greater. The penalty will increase in succeeding years. By 2016, the penalty will be $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater. Taylor Davis Lauren Harrison & Chelsea Newton // News team
Graphic illustration by Christine Craft.
COVER STORY
IF
THEN
You’re under the age of 26
You’ll stay on your parent’s health coverage
You’re older than 26 and uninsured
You can buy health insurance from an insurance exchange set up by the government
You suffer from a chronic illness that previously made you uninsurable
$ You have low income
You can’t be turned down for coverage
You could receive a tax credit to reduce costs SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com 9
SPORTS
BLUE ZOO By Michael Davidson Contributing writer
On game days, sitting at the heart of the Floyd Stadium student section, Matt Rice and Brian Taylor are on a mission to transform the crowd into a blue frenzy of feet stomping, flag waving and yelling — lots of yelling.
“LET’S GO BLUE; LET’S GO BLUE.” “DEEEEE-FENSE, DEEEEEFENSE.”
They are fans of Blue Raider sports and wants the teams to win championships, go to bowl games and win every game.
All that noise and spirit has a name: The Blue Zoo. For Rice and Taylor, the rowdiness starts at tipoff and continues to the final whistle.
But the pair also has another goal: to bring the coveted Naismith Student Section of the Year Award home to MTSU. Last year the winner, Virginia Commonwealth University, beat 158
10 SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com
schools that submitted entries for the award. Finalists were determined by Facebook voting combined with the votes of an awards panel, according to the contest’s organizers. MTSU peaked at 15th in the public voting last basketball season. Using social media as the primary
You cannot cage these animals a student section revival tool, Rice and Taylor hope to transform the university’s student section into an award-winning cheering section. “The Blue Zoo has been such a big part of our 16-0 home record in the Murphy Center last year. One of the best student sections in college basketball,� said Kermit Davis, the men’s basketball coach. The Blue Zoo’s began with a late night car ride from last December’s MTSU-Vanderbilt basketball game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. “The Blue Zoo [Twitter account] got started as a 2 a.m. idea last year, and I just kind of made the page, not expecting much to come from it,� Taylor said, a junior marketing major from Hendersonville, Tenn. “About a week later we had about 200 followers including several of the people who worked in marketing, so I figured I should just keep it coming.�
at Murphy Center. Although this was the fifth home game of the season, Rice believed the student section was still lacking the fire that gives college teams a true home field advantage. Rice, a senior commercial songwriting major from Chattanooga, stepped up to change the energy in an unusual way. He showed up at the game donning a green Kermit the Frog mask with matching gloves and slippers. “The first time I learned that our basketball coach’s name was Kermit Davis, I knew I had to do something because I wanted to help our university, get fans in the stands and get people excited about basketball or just any sport in general,� Rice said.
The Blue Zoo’s Twitter account, @_ BlueZoo, has more than 2,000 followers after just nine months.
For the remainder of the basketball season, Rice became a familiar sight. His green amidst the typical blue that fills the Murphy Center makes him instantly recognizable. But he makes sure to wear his Middle Tennessee basketball jersey as well to show his love for MT athletics. When basketball season starts up again, the Kermit attire will come out of the closet.
According to Rice, The Blue Zoo made its first appearance in early December, when MTSU faced Ole Miss
Rice has taken on a new character for football season, “The Stock,� a play off the last name of Coach Rick
Stockstill. Rice holds a sign that reads: “Do You Smell What the Stock Is Cooking?!� “I dressed up and put the shades on, put Coach Stock’s hat on, I went and bought a hat like him. I bought a Conference USA inaugural season polo and had the polo on like Coach Stock,� Rice said. While Rice may be the face of The Blue Zoo, Taylor is the brain behind the operation. Taylor organized his student section based on two of the more notable fan groups in sports: Section 303 of the Nashville Predators and the Timbers Army of the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer. Many of the events and stunts he has used at MT games stems from the success of such events at the pro games. For example, he has a 25-foot banner designed for the student section that reads “THE BLUE ZOO stand with us — @_BlueZoo,� which is passed through the crowd every game during the team introductions. When the Harlem Shake went viral on YouTube last winter, Taylor organized his own Blue Zoo variation in the fan
SPORTS
section during a basketball game. Recently, The Blue Zoo gave 2,000 shirts and sunglasses to students at the MTSU-Eastern Carolina game. Student attendance for this game, 4,901 in all, was the second highest at an athletic event in school history since the Georgia Tech football game in 2011. Taylor’s favorite Blue Zoo moment was joining roughly 400 Blue Raider fans, who traveled to Western Kentucky for the basketball game last season. Blue Zoo members took the 25-foot banner and waved it during the introductions, almost having it confiscated by security after WKU fans complained. MT invaded their home court and was louder than the Western Kentucky student section, Taylor said. “In the future I hope for it to take on a mind of its own where I’m not the one spearheading everything and other students come to me saying, ‘Hey, I wanna do this, can you help me do it?’� Taylor said. “Some of that has already started happening.� Photo by Matt Masters.
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SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com 11
A&E
IPhone 5S maintains its high expectations Like many of us, I’ve spent time without my iPhone due to a lethal combination of clumsiness and a glass of water. Apple’s release of the iPhone 5S on Sept. 20 could not have come at a better time. I’ve been hooked ever since. The most impressive addition has to be the fingerprint technology. Upon getting my new phone, I had to spend a few minutes pressing my thumb repeatedly onto the home button, so it could learn my print. Now all I have to do to unlock my phone is hold my thumb on the button for just three seconds. It doesn’t unlock for any of my other fingerprints, or anyone else’s — and yes, I tried it. This is nothing short of a miracle. Another technological boost is the camera, which is the best out of all the iPhones to date. While I am most certainly not a photographer, the plethora of filters, autofocus, HDR option, videoing abilities and panorama sure make me feel like one. Instagramming has never been easier. White, gold or black color choices add to the phone’s incredibly sleek style. The phone is also lightweight. Perfect for handy pocket storage. To enhance the phone’s style, the 5S also comes already equipped with iOS7. And while the new operating system may look cartoonish on older Apple models, the 5S seems to be made for the new system. The utilities seem to be more relevant 12 SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com
than past models. The updates on them alone will certainly make users’ day-to-day lives simpler and more organized. For instance, the Apple Maps app is clearer to use, photos are separated by the day they were taken and weather provides the precise hourly temperature — perfect for those of us who trash our rooms trying to find something to wear. Siri also comes with the new iPhone, only this time she sounds even more human than before. Creepy, yet intriguing. She’s still her same sassy self, but she’s better at calling mom. Upon receiving calls and texts, I was delighted to be rid of the classic iPhone ring/alert that had me frantically checking every time an iPhone went off in public. A sweet beat now lets me know when someone is calling. While in the past getting a new phone may have meant losing all music or having to endure copious re-downloading time, music lovers can fear no more. Because when one switches to the iPhone 5S, the cloud automatically includes all of songs purchased through iTunes in the music library. Just download them to the phone, with a good Internet connection. Finally, the fact that the 5S uses the same cord and cases as the iPhone 5 overjoyed me. Instead of buying a boring specialty case at an overpriced cell phone provider, I could get one specifically to my liking (a black and white Marc Jacobs owl case). The only con is that the battery life barely rivals the iPhone 4, unlike what was promised. If you never leave home without a charger in hand, you will be one happy owner of the new iPhone 5S. by claire osburn // a&e editor
A&E 2 of 2, several aren’t particularly memorable. The R&B cuts such as “You Got It On” and “True Blood” don’t leave strong impressions. “Amnesia” feels like a leftover from The 20/20 Experience but lacks the No, you aren’t mistaken — Justin strong hook and melody that was a Timberlake has released his secprominent characteristic on the first ond album this year. While we had batch of songs. to wait almost seven years for The The track “Not a Bad Thing” is 20/20 Experience, we get its followa straight forward, well-written pop up after only six months. While 2 song. The problem is, the style in of 2 serves as a sister album to the which it’s delivered seems more fitaforementioned release, it offers a ting for someone like Justin Bieber. different sonic experience. Imagine if Timberlake performed While The 20/20 Experience focused Jesse McCartney’s “Beautiful Soul” on elaborate pop songs filled with — that’s what this track sounds like. string sections and other live inIt’s an acoustic-based love song that strumentation, 2 of 2 aims to show sounds too average for Timberlake to the rest of JT’s abilities. The album perform, especially when you hear is more upbeat, diverse and sexier the closing track to the album. than its predecessor. “Not a Bad Thing” is followed by For what it lacks in “Suit and Tie” the hidden track “Pair of Wings.” class, it makes up for in sex appeal. It’s a stripped down acoustic ballad Tracks like the Michael Jackson inspired “Take Back the Night” and the Drake collaboration “Cabaret” don’t belong at a cotillion — they belong in nightclubs. These tracks are straightforward, danceable and the best moments on the album. They show that JT can still make you “Rock Your Body” more than a decade after his solo career began. JT doesn’t stick solely with his usual pop and R&B on 2 of 2 either. He also flirts with country and blues bar-rockers. The tracks “Drink You Away” and “Only When I Walk Away” come as unsuspected surprises that are bound to stick in your head. The first can definitely get country fans’ attention with its guitar lead, stomping rhythm and chorus of “I can’t drink you away/ I’ve tried Jack/ I’ve tried Jim/ I’ve tried all of their friends/ But I can’t drink you away.” The second serves as a bluesy cut that’s lyrically reminiscent of his past hits, “Cry Me a River” and “What Comes Around.” While none of the tracks are bad on
U M RE V I E W
Timberlake utilizes rhythm and variety on second 2013 release
B
AL
that focuses on JT wanting to fly off with his significant other, away from all “the troubles of the world.” This shows the versatility of Justin’s talents. The man can make an entire album of upbeat tracks, yet he can still create a simplistic love song. It’s a fantastic way to close the album and is easily the most beautiful song of Timberlake’s career so far. While The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 doesn’t leave the same impression that its predessor, it’s still a solid release. Tracks, such as “Cabaret,” “Only When I Walk Away” and “Pair of Wings,” show that he can still turn out better pop songs than a majority of artists. It’s a welcome addition to his catalog that will hold fans over until his next musical endeavor, which hopefully isn’t seven years away.
John Coulston// Staff writer
SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com 13
A&E
Those
Darlins
14 SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com
A&E
Those Darlins local roots shine through Blur the Line With the release of their third album, Blur the Line, and an upcoming nationwide tour, Nashville-based band Those Darlins are getting the recognition they deserve. The band first met at the annual Southern Girls Rock n’ Roll Camp, an event held on campus. Murfreesboro is where the band — lead Jessi Zazu, singer; Nikki Kvarnes, guitarist; Linwood Regensburg, drummer; and Adrian Barerra, bassist — established their roots. For any band that has been together as long as Those Darlins have, a connection exists that no one can understand except themselves. “We lived in a van together for almost seven years now, so now we’re just like brothers and sisters. We’ve been through so much together, and we’re just really comfortable with each other,” Zazu said. It is obvious that the band has a closeness that is stronger than a family’s bond. This is even clearer when looking at Blur the Line’s
album cover, which has all the members of the band in a warm embrace completely naked. “Once we did [the album cover], it wasn’t that hard and just seemed really normal and wasn’t that awkward,” Zazu said. Though the band has been together for quite some time, that doesn’t mean they still have the same sound they began with. When the band first started out, they had a country sound. Blur the Line combines heavy girl rock vocals with a more daring sound that sounds nothing like how Those Darlins use to sound. Think of The Donnas meets Rocky Horror Picture Show meets Fleetwood Mac, a combination that could only result in an overall great sounding album that will be sure to bring the band more fans. “Oh God,” one of the first singles off the album, proves that the band has grown over the years. Along with “Oh God,” “Baby Mae” and “Optimist” show the different sounds on Those Darlins, which
have lyrics so clear to understand that you know what the band was trying to get across at the time they were writing the album. Since then, they have evolved into a more soulful sound. With their new album, which is heavily influenced by greats like Patty Smith, Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac, it is clear that Those Darlins has grown into a more mature sound. “A lot of it was us looking for a female figure we could look up to. Patty is really tough and really feminine and soft, and we really related to that. As a poet she sort of inspired us to look into our writing. We were more inspired to look deeper in ourselves,” Zazu said. The band has plenty of time for retrospection as they travel across the country on tour, but they also battle with the sameole-same-ole problems as well. But for the Kentucky native, touring life does have its perks. “You have no personal
space. You never get to be alone. You are constantly moving stuff. Once you get over that part of it, if you are lucky to find a group that you get along with well enough. You just get over the uncomfortable part of it. You really get to enjoy the way you get along with the audience. You learn to laugh at the bad things. You’ll have days where everything goes wrong but you learn to laugh at it,” Zazu said. Those Darlins will be playing the Mercy Lounge in Nashville on Oct. 4 just three days after the release of Blur the Line. L Lauren Mandrell >> Assistant A&E Editor
SIDELINES | Oct. 2, 2013 | www.mtsusidelines.com 15
The problem with our judicial and prison systems is disregard The most surprising aspect I’ve learned covering the federal court in Nashville for The Tennessean during the past month is how prejudicial our judicial system is. It’s not something obvious. In fact, I never realized how it all worked until I began watching countless people sentenced for crimes that their socioeconomic status led them to commit. In one case, a Vice Lords gang member tried his own case in court. He was highly intelligent and eloquent, but ultimately, he was sentenced to prison. A part of me couldn’t help but think that if this man had been given the same educational and social opportunities as anyone else, he probably
wouldn’t have ended up trying his own case before a federal jury. So many drug and gang-related cases are in the federal judiciary system. It really makes you wonder what’s being done to combat the core issues associated with crime. The truth is, not a whole lot of strategy in the criminal justice system exists other than “lock people up and keep them locked up.” While the rehabilitation efforts look good on paper, they don’t really measure up when prisoners are released. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that more than two-thirds of released prisoners will be rearrested within three years. I can’t imagine it’s easy to be an ex-convict. It doesn’t matter what crime was committed or how long a sentence was — being dropped back into society with a prison record can be complicated and make it difficult to reintegrate. In this country, you get the justice that you can afford. If you aren’t
rich, you likely won’t have access to a competent attorney who cares. Instead, you’ll get a public defender who has a hundred other cases exactly like yours. Our prison system is messed up, and it’s only getting worse. Now, mega-corporations have begun imprisoning people for profit. “The companies are paid by the state, and their profit depends on spending as little as possible on the prisoners and the prisons,” writes author Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker. “It’s hard to imagine any greater disconnect between public good and private profit: the interest of private prisons lies not in the obvious social good of having the minimum necessary number of inmates but in having as many as possible, housed as cheaply as possible.” The idea of a private prison system is a part of the current culture of corporatism permeating American society right now. You might remember the “Kids for
OPINIONS
Cash” scandal that rocked Pennsylvania in 2008. Two Luzerne County Judges accepted money from the owner of a for-profit juvenile detention company. One girl was sent to a wilderness camp for making fun of her principal on MySpace, while many other students were subjected to overly-harsh sentences so one owner of a detention center could make money. Prison privatization is socially dangerous — and it does not matter what politicians or CEOs say. Millions of Americans, many of whom were not convicted of violent or dangerous crimes will be in the grasp of corporations if we continue to privatize prisons. The way I see it, the Eighth Amendment will become secondary to profit if privatization persists. Our judicial and prison systems need to change. Quint Qualls //Opinions Editor
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