LYDIE WORKS OUT HER ANGER | PAGE 4
GUEST CRITIC DIGS NEW BAND | PAGE 3
A SALUTE TO THE SENIORS | PAGE 5
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Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505 | Est. 1924
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Fit vote passes After a heated election, students approve a $100 fee increase for new fitness and intramural facility. PRESS RELEASE
people with disabilities, senior citizens and other users with specialized needs. It will cost approximately $40 million and the building could be built within 16-24 months if all goes smoothly, according to David Mullinax, director of TTU Campus Recreation. Building plans are still flexible, and students are welcome and invited to give input on the plans. During the three days of voting, Fitness Center employees and graduate students were at the voting
“It’s going to be a magnificent space and it’s an investment in their campus for them and future generations of students.” The location of the building has not yet been decided. The University is in talks to purchase several plots of land along Willow Avenue, and the unrenovated portion of Tech Village is slated for demolition. The fitness center is one of several large construction projects planned. Over the summer, the
Fifty-two percent of more than 3,300 students voted earlier this week to approve a $100 fee per semester to build a new fitness center at Tennessee Tech University. The vote was the product of a bill passed unanimously by the Student Government Association that called for a referendum about the building. Plans for the fitness center will include six gyms, a climbing wall, a weight room three times the size of the existing one and more aerobics space. The current building It’s going to be a magnificent space and it’s an opened in 1991 when the uni- investment in their campus for them and future versity had approximately 6,000 students on campus. generations of students. Now that there are nearly 12,000 students at Tech, the —David Mullinax, space is too small to meet Fitness Center Director demand and accommodate hundreds of intramural teams, fitness classes and stations and floating around university will begin expanother activities. campus talking to students sion of the intramural parkThe proposed building about the vote. ing lot to stretch behind the is designed to accommodate “We talked to a lot of stu- Averitt Baseball Complex an anticipated growth of at dents one-on-one and once and the other half of Tech least 15,000 students in the they understood what we Village. A science complex is next five years. It will also were trying to do, they sup- also planned and fundraising have specialized spaces for ported it,” Mullinax said. efforts have already begun. veterans returning to school,
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Volume 97 | Issue 9 | Free in single copy | November 22, 2013
Interfraternity Council sponsors Angel Tree By SARAH REESE Copy Editor Tech’s Interfraternity Council is sponsoring an Angel Tree on campus this holiday season and is encouraging students, groups and organizations to sponsor a child. Ben Toline is a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity and serves as the vice president of philanthropy on IFC’s executive council. Toline is responsible for organizing the Angel Tree on campus. “I am super excited to get our campus involved in the Angel Tree program, because it is a charity that with one simple act of kindness you are directly influencing a local child’s life”, Toline said. “Many of us cherish childhood memories from Christmas. By sponsoring angels, we can make sure these children can have the opportunity to have Christmas memories worth cherishing.” Those who would like to become involved with the Angel Tree should select a tag from the Christmas tree in the RUC lobby to support a child. Gifts can be dropped off between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. Dec. 3 in the Tech Pride Room. IFC will be sponsoring a wrapping event in conjunction with Late Night Tech Night. Westlee Walker, IFC Vice President of Administrative Affairs, said
Drake Fenlon Nathan Cole picks an ornament off of IFC’s giving tree. Each ornament has a list of gifts to buy for children in need. the event will have many activities for students or volunteers. “It’s a drop party for people to bring their gifts in,” Walker said. “We are going to have an ugly Christmas sweater contest, a DJ, free food and door prizes. We will decorate Christmas ornaments and wrap the donated presents, also.” Walker said IFC is excited to get involved with the Putnam County community. “Being on IFC council is
about the betterment of fraternity men, leadership in our university and community involvement,” Walker said. “Any chance we have to get involved in the Cookeville community and help out, we love to take it.” The Angel Tree program is being sponsored in conjunction with Cookeville’s Life Care Family Services. “It’s not a Greek thing; we’re just sponsoring it,” said Toline. “It’s such a great charity.”
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Ellington Hall, Warf Hall to Awesome Eagle to compete at national championship Tech’s mascot will compete against four other mascots from across the close over break for facelift country at the 2014 Universal Cheerleading Association Mascot National By AARON VICK Beat Reporter Ellington and Warf Residence Halls are set to close for renovation at the end of the semester. Much like MS Cooper and Pinkerton Halls renovations last year, Ellington and Warf will have completely refurbished rooms and hallways. Andrew Moneymaker, coordinator for Capital Quad, said the new look is already in place at MS Cooper and Pinkerton and is better than the old design. “It’s cleaner looking, it’s nicer looking,” said Moneymaker. “It’s due time to ‘spread the love’ to all the other buildings.” Moneymaker also said the renovation is part of a project to renovate all the older residence halls on campus. “This is gonna be another 6-year project of a building going offline every year until it’s done,” said Moneymaker. One might think the closing of a residence hall would create in a shortage in housing space and would yield
a limited amount of RA positions available. However, Moneymaker said this loss in housing space would not significantly affect either of these areas. “It doesn’t really affect it as much as everybody thinks mainly because in between the fall and spring semesters, we are always going to lose RAs [for various reasons].” Moneymaker also said Residential Life placed several graduating RAs in Ellington and Warf so when it comes time to close the building, there will not be much of a transition. Five senior RAs will be graduating, leaving only three other RAs to be moved to other halls in the spring. Moneymaker said the renovations will take place in the spring because there are less residents in the halls during the spring semester than in the fall semester. Therefore, housing space will not be a problem, despite the halls closing. Ellington and Warf renovation will begin at the end of the fall semester and will be finished by August of 2014.
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Championships in Orlando, Fla. in January. By RICHARD MOSLEY Beat Reporter Tech’s very own Awesome Eagle recently received a second place bid to the 2014 National Cheerleading and Dance Team Competition. This is the fifth time Tech has entered this competition since the 90s. Although Awesome hasn’t placed in national competitions until recently, he did participate in a few competitions in the 90s. Awesome placed in a national-level competition for the first time in 2012. This will be the third time Awesome has competed at the national level. In the past two years, Awesome has placed both second and third. “It only makes sense to win first place this year,” said a spokesperson for Awesome Eagle. There are two divisions for which any mascot across the nation can qualify.
Mascot division IA covers the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools and will have 10 mascots competing. These include Auburn University’s Aubie, UT-Knoxville’s Smokey, and Wisconsin’s Bucky Badger. The open mascot division covers the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and has 5 schools competing, including Tech’s Awesome Eagle, University of Delaware’s YouDee, WU Shock from Wichita State, Wiley D Wildcat from Wilmington University, and Roomie the Lion from Southeastern Louisiana University. In order to enter this competition, mascots must submit a video that counts for 50 percent of the total score if offered a bid. The video is judged based on five categories: game situations, crowd involvement, cheer band and dance integration, campus activities, and com-
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munity involvement. The open mascot division gives out five ranked bids. Awesome Eagle received the second place bid this year. The other 50 percent of the final score comes from the finals competition, held at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. during Martin Luther King weekend in January. There, the mascots will have to perform a live 90-second skit. During the finals, mascots are required to use props, but cannot use more than ten. “I can’t tell you this year’s theme just yet because I don’t want the enemy to be reading The Oracle and getting in [Awesome’s] plans, but I can let you know it is going to rock the competition right out of their fur,” said Awesome’s spokesman. Awesome Eagle will be competing at the National Cheerleading and Dance Team competition Jan. 17-19, 2014 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
Drake Fenlon Over the past two years Awesome Eagle has placed second and third, but now he now aims for first as he travels to Orlando, Fla. in January. He will compete in the UCA Mascot National Championships.
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