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Matt Dixon discusses UT basketball, class, Seinfeld

SOPA Thursday, January 19, 2012

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Bike rentals Wikipedia shuts down site, protests anti-piracy legislation helps simplify transportation Preston Peeden

Managing Editor

For college students across the country, the unthinkable happened: For one day Wikipedia shut down, and the world took notice. This popular online encyclopedia, known for its accessibility to its users and its helpfulness for wayward students, shut down in protest against several anti-piracy legislations that are soon to be floating on the Senate floor. The English-language site of Wikipedia discontinued services on Tuesday at midnight Eastern Standard Time and continued to be offline for the next 24 hours. When users tried to access information on Wikipedia, instead of being educated by their intended articles, they were instead directed to a black-and-white page stating, “Imagine a world without free knowledge.” The two bills being protested by Wikipedia are the Stop Online Piracy Act (which is in the House of Representatives), and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (currently under consideration in the Senate). The aim of these bills is to try and stop the sales of pirated American products overseas. They would allow the Justice Department and copyright holders to seek court orders against websites that are known to carry copyrighted materials. In short, this bill would bar advertisement agencies and payment facilitators — such as PayPal and credit card companies — from doing business with these sites. In a release from Wikipedia, Executive Director Sue Gardner explained the site’s reasoning behind the protest. “All around the world, we’re seeing the development of legislation intended to fight online piracy, and regulate the Internet in other ways, that hurt online freedom,” she said. “We want the Internet to remain free and open, everywhere, for everyone.” Supporters of SOPA and PIPA include the Motion Picture Association of America, the National Music Publisher’s Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. While these big organizations stand firm in their support of these legislations, Wikipedia is not alone in voic-

ing complaints, as Google, Yahoo!, eBay and Amazon.com have all sided against these bills, feeling that it would hurt the industry and infringe upon free-speech rights. Student reaction to SOPA and PIPA has also been strong. “I think it is pretty ridiculous that they are trying to take away our free right to look at things on the Internet,” said Erin Edwards, a junior in Public Relations. “I don’t think that it’s fair that they can block out certain things that are going to effect businesses everywhere.” Edwards’ concerns about the overstepping of these bills were also voiced by fellow junior Jessica Campbell, a junior who is majoring in Journalism and Electronic Media. “I am not in favor of it,” Campbell said. “I think that these laws will have bigger consequences than the government realizes. I think they will end up censoring a lot more things than they intended to.” For Campbell, her major issues with these bills are directed at the message this kind of legislation would send towards the freedom that the Internet has become known for allowing. “I think that this (freedom) is one of the biggest pulls of the Internet, that it is sort of law-free in a way,” she said. “It would be unfair to try to stop it in this way. It would feel like we were in China or Iran or something like that.” Campbell's opposition to SOPA and PIPA are not based in an opposition to copyrights, but rather the infringement on the freedom of the Internet that these bills would represent. “I think that it is a good idea to try and stop piracy and to protect individual property,” she said, “but the way they are going about it is all wrong. It’s extremist.” As sites like Wikipedia and Google band together to fight these perceived “extremist” measures, many students are left wondering about the future of not only their Internet freedoms but also the immediate futures searching their favorites sites. And in the case of Wikipedia’s shutdown, many students are stopping to take notice. “The whole Wikipedia thing didn’t affect me. I went on just to look,” Edwards said. “But I do know that it affected a lot of my friends.”

Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon

Matthew Perry, senior in marketing, hands outs free Dunkin Donuts on Pedestrian Walkway on Wednesday, Jan. 18. Representatives for the company handed out samples to promote the national chain’s newest location on campus in Vol Hall.

Sara Jung Staff Writer The SGA and UT Outdoor Program (UTOP) teamed up to initiate and activate a semester-long bike rental program for students. The program was based on feedback from students and continues this semester. “People wanted a bike safety program on campus and an alternative transportation method offered by the university,” Nick Shoemaker, the bicycle program coordinator for UTOP, said. SGA provided the information and motivation behind the idea and UTOP provided the storage and maintenance for the bikes. “The new program was fairly successful last semester,” Shoemaker said. “Sixteen out of 20 bikes were rented out, and we have no problems to report. This semester we hope to increase marketing and get more people riding their bikes.” The bikes are made by Kona and are commuterfriendly models. “These are your really basic bikes,” Shoemaker said. “Durable, reliable, easy to ride and maintain. They are mainly meant to be ridden on the streets and greenways around town.” Hanna Loewenberg, a sophomore in biochemistry, took advantage of the program last semester. “This program is great for students because good bikes can be really expensive to buy and these bikes are nice and only $40 for the whole semester,” Loewenberg said. “Also, biking is a convenient way to get around campus. I saved time biking to class rather than walking.” The program’s main priorities are safety and building

biking confidence. “We really want to focus on the safety aspect of riding bikes,” Shoemaker said. “I think the lack of education of safe riding and cycling rules is why most people are hesitant to ride bikes around campus and downtown. But this semester we are offering not only Ride Smart Road Rides, March 29 and April 11, 6-7 p.m., but also Bike Maintenance Clinics, Feb. 15, 23 and 29, 6-7:30 p.m. To be comfortable and confident on a bike is the key to safe riding.” All classes and clinics are free to students and meet in the Outdoor Center on the first floor in TRECS. “I really like that they promote safety awareness with the bikes and offer free maintenance,” Loewenberg said. “I never had any troubles with my rental last semester, but if I did, I was confident that the staff at the bike shop could help me out. They really know what they are doing.” The semester-long bike rental program is open to all students. For $40, students can receive a bike, helmet, lock, access to the UT bike shop and a safety instruction course at the time of rental. “We work on a first come, first serve basis,” Shoemaker said. “So come in and get your bike. We have already had five out of the 20 rented this semester.” Students can go to the Outdoor Center to rent the bikes. It is open MondayFriday, 1-6 p.m. Payments can be made via cash, check or VolCard. “We just want people outside, riding their bikes,” Shoemaker said. “It’s a great way to commute and get to know campus and Knoxville.”

BOSS back in action for spring Lauren Kittrell News Editor For the first time since 2010, BOSS Dance Company (formerly UT Dance Company) returns to campus for its Spring 2012 Showcase. After several years of striving, the team has managed to pull through and overcome obstacles few student clubs will ever face. Through the hard work of President Caitlin Burke and Vice-President Lauren List, the dance group has managed to overcome UT budget cuts, loss of a studio and lack of funding to become what it is today. “I’m really excited at the end of the day to just be able to say we did it,” List said. “We did what everybody else said we could not do. We surpassed not only their expectations, but we surpassed our own expectations. The staff and faculty and even the public in general severely underestimates the power of a passionate student. A pretty small group of passionate students were able to keep a dance program alive at UT.” The dance group has not just survived through thick and thin; it has recovered completely. Their circumstances have gone from bad to worse, but they have overcome that to become something much greater. “We have more choreographers now,” List said. “We have more variety in the genre of dance. We’re offering new varieties of things that we hadn’t offered in the past.” List and Burke, who were originally a part of the former UT Dance Company, have invested a lot of time and effort into BOSS. Elisabeth Ragan, an undecided sophomore, is definitely pumped about the performance, but is disappointed to know that List and Burke will be graduating this semester. “I believe this performance is most special because the two girls who really kept this company going, Lauren List and Caitlin Burke, are graduating this year,” Ragan said. “It has been such a pleasure being able to know them both. They are both beautiful dancers and I know they’re sad to be leaving but grateful for the legacy they’re leaving behind.”

The team, which will be performing Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Clarence Brown Theatre, is ready to perform again at UT and hopes to entertain a wide variety of spectators. Both List and Ragan feel that the efforts they have put into practice will be on display as they perform. “I am most excited about the performances,” Ragan said. “We have been working all year for this showing and hope it will meet up to our standards and truly inspire everyone in the crowd as each dance inspires us. I’m so sad for the season to be over but I know we will all keep in touch and we will always, always be BOSS.” List said the show is something that could appeal to a broad spectrum of interests. “It’s a really exciting, very high energy, very diverse show,” List said. “We have everything from ballet and point to hip-hop and everything in between. It really can appeal to almost any audience. It’s going to be one of the things where if you are interested in becoming more cultured and experiencing the fine arts and you don’t want to sit through a six-hour ballet, this is the best alternative because it is so appealing to so many different people and so many different tastes. It offers a quality of dance that everyone can enjoy.” The story of BOSS Dance Company goes deeper than a mere dance group. “BOSS dance is all about opportunity and friendship, I believe,” Ragan said. “I did not join a sorority this year, so having a core group of girls I can always lean on and have there to call really has been wonderful. It’s about putting everything you have into each dance knowing how much you love it and care for not only everyone there, but everything you stand for. It’s a safe haven for us dancers knowing we don’t have to drive far off campus to rehearse and we are still able to perform. It’s truly a blessing.” Tickets can be purchased at the Central Ticket Office in the UC, the Clarence Brown Theatre box office and online at www.knoxvilletickets.com. General admission is $10, but there is a $5 discount for students.

Tia Patron • The Daily Beacon

Caitlin Burke, senior in mathematics, and Lauren List, senior in management, perform during a rehearsal for the BOSS Dance Company on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The company, formerly known as the UT Dance Company, will be performing Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Clarence Brown Theatre.


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