Issue 23, Volume 122
Monday, February 11, 2013
UT administrators collaborate over inclement weather Deborah Ince
Staff Writer A few weeks ago, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, marked the first time since January 2003 that UT closed because of weather concerns. After several notifications of delayed openings, the university closed after assessing that accumulating ice on roads and sidewalks made campus unsafe for students. Lisa Swearingen, junior in nutrition, said she liked not having to attend classes for a day, but she also commented that school closings due to snow is a rare thing in Tennessee. “Like any student, I was very happy to get out of my Friday class,” Swearingen said. “Living in Tennessee you don’t see much snow. The only other time I remember a big snow was my Parker Eidson • The Daily Beacon senior year of high school and we Cameron Hall, sophomore in kinesiology, participates in a snowball fight at got out for like a whole week.” The degree of inclement weathPresidential Court on Jan. 17.
er certainly was a shock to many East Tennesseans. WBIR Channel 10 even stopped by campus to speak to some students about the university closing. But what procedures must university administrators go through to decide conclusively to close campus to students and faculty? Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Chris Cimino, who sends out the UT Alert emails that inform faculty and staff of campus delays and closings, said that UT administrators are very involved in monitoring potentially unsafe weather situations. “The University’s Emergency Management Office carefully monitors weather events beginning with the earliest predictions,” Cimino said. “We take part in National Weather Service webinars and phone calls, and listen to local and regional forecasts in order to be prepared. UT Police and Facilities Services are on alert and begin any necessary preparations.
Depending on the type of event, we may stand up our Emergency Operations Center and staff with representatives from key departments. Information from these representatives helps form a recommendation to the Chancellor.” Cimino added that the university tries to communicate campus delays or closings to faculty and staff as early as possible so that everyone can make plans accordingly and will only close in the “most severe weather conditions.” After a decision is made to delay or open, UT notifies local media and posts updates online at www.utk.edu, Facebook and Twitter. They also send out text message and email alerts. If campus does close for an entire day, all campus buildings are locked and secured for the rest of the day, with the exception of the library, UC, Dining Services, police and steam plant. See CANCELED CLASS on Page 3
UPenn professor ‘Writers’ program brings unique author discusses U.S. literacy issues Deborah Ince
Graham Gibson Staff Writer
Before students grow up and have the opportunity to choose what classes to take in college, reading is a subject all children are taught — though not always effectively — and that educational pillar was the point of emphasis of renowned sociologist Bill Labov at Thursday’s lecture in the Toyota Auditorium of the Baker Center. Labov, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed his efforts and programs geared towards improving reading skills among students in inner city schools of Philadelphia. The event was free and open to the public, and the room was filled with those eager to hear Labov speak. The lecture began with Labov addressing the magnitude of facing the issue of low reading efficiency in our nation’s education system. “It is the most serious social issue in the United States at this time, and is the cause of so many other issues that people talk about,” Labov said. He spoke primarily of the “Penn Reading Initiative” program, which was developed by the UPenn Linguistics Laboratory as a new approach to teaching children to read. A student-led tutoring initiative, the aim of the program is to improve the reading skills of children in lowerincome, inner city schools in west Philadelphia and more specifically, reduce the disparity between minority students and Caucasian students in regards to reading ability. Labov attributed the disparity to many causes, including inadequate methods, lack of resources and little family support. “Poverty is the fundamental cause of the situation,” Labov concluded. “There is no doubt about that.” Labov claimed that failure to read effectively cre-
ates a cycle of incarceration and unemployment that still exists. The professor also discussed his “Reading Road” program, which by applying various linguistic techniques has shown positive results. One low-income school in which the program was enacted saw a 50 percent increase in proficient readers in the third grade from 2003 to 2006. This approach to teaching reading skills involves the use of individualized programs, stories that the children read, games and chapters that emphasize a certain tricky linguistic aspect, such as constant clusters. Labov stated that the main goal of the program is to promote the love of reading. “Reading is essential to entering the educational system, so they do not become part of the cycle,” he said. Trevor Slagle, junior in English currently enrolled in a first-year linguistics course, left the lecture with an impression about the importance of the issue. “Before, I would have said it wasn’t one of the most important issues,” Slagle said, “but now I think it could be one of the more pressing educational issues today.” The event was sponsored by the UT College of Education, Health, and Human Services, as well as the UniversityAssisted Community School system, the Baker Center, the UT Linguistics Department and the Carson-Newman Linguistics Department. While in Knoxville, Labov visited Pond Gap Elementary School, a university-assisted community school, to look at their program. He is widely considered to be the innovator behind much of the methodology of sociolinguistics, and has written numerous books, including “Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology and Sound Change” in 2005.
Staff Writer Although Hodges Library’s “Writers in the Library” lecture series brings in a wide variety of poets and authors, tonight’s guest, Thomas Lynch, may be the first-ever funeral director. The acclaimed IrishAmerican poet and essayist from Milford, Mich., will give a reading at 7 p.m. in Hodges Auditorium, a more cozy setting than his other, chilling occupation typically entails. Margaret Lazarus Dean, assistant professor in the English Department, said Lynch’s job as a funeral director piques many people’s interests in him as a writer. “That’s just immediately interesting,” Dean said. “Most writers do something other than writing as well to support themselves—they are teachers, editors, doctors, lawyers — but it’s unusual to find a funeral director among us.” Lynch’s writing is often
influenced by his daytime profession, as many touch upon the subject of death and the behind-the-scenes work completed in funeral homes. “I think people are always curious about death and about what goes on behind the scenes in a funeral home, so Thomas Lynch is in a unique position to bring that to us in poetry and prose ... At the same time, a lot of his poems, essays and stories have to do with subjects unrelated to death, and those works are celebrated, too, so I think it’s a mistake for people to think of Lynch primarily in terms of his day job,” Dean said. “He is an important writer whose name we would know even if his day job weren’t so attentiongetting.” Lynch has written five poetry collections, three books of essays and a book of fictionbased stories. Lynch’s work has appeared in notable publications such as The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Times
of London, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Harper’s, Esquire, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Irish Times and many others. These works have been the subject of two documentaries as well: PBS Frontline’s “The Undertaking” and Cathal Black’s “Learning Gravity” produced by BBC. Both documentaries won prestigious awards, including the 2008 Emmy Award for Arts and Culture Documentary and the Michigan Prize. Lynch’s book, “The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade,” also won an American Book Award and was a National Book Award finalist. He frequently travels throughout the United States, Europe and Australia to speak at universities about his work. UT is bringing him to Rocky Top through the “Writers in the Library” series. The 14-year-old lecture series brings in poets and
authors throughout the year to speak to faculty and staff. All speaker events are free and open to the public and are followed by book signings by the writer. Dean said the events are great ways for everyone to learn about interesting writers. “The events are for the whole community, not just English students,” Dean said. “It’s just a great thing to do on a Monday night. Not long ago, a man at one of the ‘Writers in the Library’ events mentioned during the Q-and-A that he had never been to a poetry reading before, but this was the spot chosen by his match.com date — he wanted to share that he was surprised how much he enjoyed the poet’s work. I thought that was a really cool idea for a first date, and of course we weren’t surprised that he enjoyed the poet’s work so much.”
See LYNCH on Page 3
Around Rocky Top
Matthew DeMaria • The Daily Beacon
The Lady Vols get pumped before the game against Ole Miss at Thompson-Boling Arena on Feb. 10. They went on to defeat the Rebels, 97-68.