Issue 27, Volume 122
Friday, February 15, 2013
SGA looks toward transition in coming year Blair Kuykendall Editor in Chief On the heels of the unveiling of this year’s SGA campaigns, the current SGA administration took a few moments with The Daily Beacon to reflect on their achievements and next year’s leadership transition. “I’m a little sad, I feel like it came by so quickly,” Taelor Olive, student services director, said. “It’s a little bittersweet, but at the same time exciting because I feel like a lot of the things we wanted to accomplish we did ... like the locked tuition rate, we got a lot of positive feedback on that.” SGA President Adam Roddy and Vice President Terry Nowell both agreed with Olive and mentioned several other improvements their administration has achieved. “Personally I feel the tuition lock was our biggest victory, and a great way to start off the year,” Nowell said. “The continual input we’ve had for the app will be our legacy ... for future students to see and appreciate.” Beyond the success of the new UT app, Roddy hopes to accomplish a few more goals before the school year draws to a close.
• Photo courtesy of SGA
Members of the Student Body Executive Board serve as a voice for UT students. “We’re working on that food pantry concept,” Roddy said. “If that could get implemented, that would be a great thing for students.” He would also like to guarantee students have an easier time planning their college expenses by encouraging administrators to give fair warning about tuition increases. “I’m going to try to present this idea at the Board of Trustees meeting, and it wouldn’t be implemented for a few more years, but I would love to see the tuition
UT students fight poverty in Guatemala Emilee Lamb
Contributor Contributor During the first term of summer when many college students will be taking extra classes or bolstering their bank accounts, a group of volunteers from UT will be living and working for six weeks in the slums of Guatemala, hoping to make progress toward Nourish International’s goal of ending extreme poverty. Nourish International is an organization which sprung up around the idea that college students could use their resources and business savvy to change the situation of poverty stricken communities around the globe. Founded in 2003 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a much simpler organization, Nourish has grown to include 29 campuses across the United States, and its goal is very wide-reaching in scope. “What Nourish is all about is engaging students to join the fight against global poverty,” said Mary Carnes, a senior in global studies and the Nourish project coordinator at UT. “So, we run small businesses on campus, and then the money we raise from that goes to projects abroad to support local organizations in poor communities.” Those small business schemes make up the bulk of the work that Nourish does. Each summer, Nourish chapters across the nation
send delegations of students to carry out service projects funded completely by the profits made during the school year. “We do what we call Ventures on campus, which are various business related things,” Carnes said. “Like, we sell jewelry we got in Uganda on campus to students. There’s also a big venture coming up where we’re going to partner with a group that puts on ‘Fort Sanders Fest.’ We do things like that on campus and in the community, and the money we raise just goes straight to our project.” The factor that separates Nourish International from other charity organizations is its intention to make any service it provides to those in need have a lasting impact. “Nourish really tries to be sustainable, and so every project that we do we try to make sure we work alongside community members and that it can continue on,” said Amber Donaldson, a senior in nutrition and chapter leader of Nourish. “Being sustainable and continuous are the main things.” This summer, UT’s Nourish chapter is planning to send about five students to join a group from Indiana University in a partnership with an organization in Guatemala called UPAVIM. See NOURISH on Page 3
announcement be made before the onset of summer,” Roddy said. “That is a big determinant of students taking summer jobs, or rather they go on a study abroad trip.” While the team would still like to gain more ground, Nowell believes that the student senate has conducted its affairs diligently for the benefit of students. “I’m really proud of the way senate has run this year,” Nowell said. “I don’t know if we’ve had a more productive senate in the years I’ve been here. Also, to add to that, if we’ve had a more
impactful senate. (Senators) are continuing their service of students inside senate chambers and outside them.” Olive hopes that next year’s administration continues to support the culture that has emerged this year in student services. She offered some advice for student leaders that emerge after spring’s transition. “I want whoever the next student services director is to make sure that goes smoothly,” Olive said. “In general, it’s less certain things I want them to do and
more the mentality of whatever their policies are ... first keep in mind you’re here for the students. You are elected by the students and you are here to serve them, so that’s your first priority ... and if it’s something that the student’s want, we have to fight for it, we have no other option.” In line with that sentiment, Roddy is doing what he can to ensure next year’s SGA gets off to the right start. “I definitely keep in the loop ... I’ve told the presidential candidates of every campaign, and the
American Cancer Society honors professor Deborah Ince Staff Writer Professor Bonnie Hufford has made a name for herself in the infamous blue ink of her editing pen, and any student who has visited the College of Communication and Information has likely seen her energetically greeting students and faculty alike. However, many students may not know about the popular journalism professor’s ongoing battle with chronic myelogenous leukemia and myeloma and her recent bestowal of the “Volunteer of the Year” award for 20112012 by the American Cancer Society (ACS). As one of four award winners in Tennessee, Hufford was honored for her commitment to ACS projects and efforts to enable others in their fight with cancer. Members of ACS’ Mid-South Division presented Hufford with the award at Tin Roof bar on Tuesday, Feb. 5, which coincidentally is Hufford’s birthday. Lauren Hensley, the community representative of ACS’ Mid-South Division and one of Hufford’s former students, said that Hufford is a big advocate for ACS. “Everything Bonnie’s done has just been incredible,” Hensely said. “She’s been an office volunteer ... she’s supported every event we’ve had, she’s personally been to every one of my events. She’ll just show up and say ‘What do you need me to do?’” Hufford was also selected as an ACS Hero of Hope for 2012 and spent the year traveling and speaking about her own story with cancer. She has been ACS’ UT faculty advisor for campus Relay for Life teams since 2005. After a chronic myelogenous leukemia diagnosis at age 27 and subsequent terminal Stage 3 myeloma in 2009,
• Photo courtesy of Donna Griffin
Bonnie Hufford, a professor in journalism and electronic media, volunteers for UT’s “Relay for Life” on May 8, 2012. Hufford was awarded by the American Cancer Society for her volunteer efforts against cancer. Hufford has experienced chemotherapy, radiation therapy and a stem cell transplant. The myeloma tumor in her back grew so large that it fractured three vertebrae. She currently needs a cane to walk, but it hardly slows her down. “I’m really a young person trapped in this beat-up body … I need to be able to keep chasing people around Circle Park for Relay and beat up students in editing lab,” Hufford joked. Though aggressive treatment plans have sometimes forced her to stop teaching for
periods of time, Hufford said the one thing that keeps her going is her yearning to return to the classroom. “The 15 months I was off was probably the hardest part. I really did miss it when I was gone,” Hufford said. “That’s what I was fighting to get back for, fighting to get back to UT.” Hensley said that in her work with ACS, Hufford exudes the same energy she displays in the classroom. Her attitude is one of the main reasons she was awarded
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campaigns in general, my advice is free,” he said. “If you ever have questions, whether its involving rule-breaking or violations or what it means to be president, or what that looks like, give me a call or stop by the office ... I’d like to think that I’ve extended that hand out at least. But I try to stay as neutral as possible.” He hopes the new executive board will continue this year’s emphasis on student service and continuity. “I’d like to think we have set a precedent that SGA is doing their best to provide things for the student body, whether it’s a food pantry, whether it’s really trying to affect tuition,” Roddy said. “I’d love to see SGA not become a year to year organization, because that has been what it has been historically. I challenged our exec board to really think about how they can package all of the projects they are working on and prioritize.” Nowell conveyed the responsibility candidates will need to assume. “I think its very important that our future leaders within SGA really take the time to prepare, to research, and to speak out when its necceary, and sometimes when it’s inconvenient,” he said.
“Volunteer of the Year.” “She obviously made an impact on me as a professor because four to five years later when I met her through this, she’s been a great support for me when I started this position,” Hensley said. Hensley chuckled as she reminisced on one memorable Bonnie Hufford moment when the professor arrived late to a committee meeting. “She comes in and says ‘Sorry, I was late. I was at the hospital getting a blood transfusion.’ She made it seem like she was coming back from the grocery store ... All she wants to know is what she can do for others,” Hensley said. Despite her struggles with the disease for much of her life, Hufford said her love of teaching and her ACS work is what helps keep her going day-to-day. She also credited her faith for much of the strength she’s drawn on in her struggles. “I just figure somebody upstairs is looking out for me, and there’s a reason I’m still around ... Someone has guided me down this path through this whole experience. You have to (have faith),” she said. For Hufford, the key to beating cancer is simple. “The first thing I would say would be have hope,” Hufford said. “The scientific discoveries and treatments are coming faster and faster all the time. Ever since we’re able to map the human genome, we know much more about what’s going on. I know how hard (doctors) are working to try to find a cure, and in the 30-plus years I’ve seen cancers that used to be fatal turn completely around.” To learn more about the American Cancer Society, individuals can visit the organization’s website at cancer.org, call anytime at 800-227-2345 or visit their local Knoxville office on Weisgarber Road.
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Get to know Rick Lamb on Page 8