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Tuesday, March 1, 2011 Issue 34
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Diversity Fair to focus on minority students Career Services hosts third annual forum to connect variety of job candidates, employers Jamison Lanum Staff Writer Students seeking employment and networking opportunities can attend the Diversity Job Fair Tuesday. The third annual Diversity Job Fair, sponsored by Career Services, hopes to partner students with employers who are dedicated to diversity. The fair was developed as an alternative to the larger fall and spring job fairs with a focus on underrepresented populations. “We had always wanted to do a diversity fair, because diversity is important to us, and it is very important to the employers that we serve,” Russ Coughenour, director of Career Services, said. “We decided to create a program for employers that would leverage the diversity that we have here at UT.” Thirty-six companies are registered for this year’s fair, including Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, PepsiCo, Target Stores and Tennessee Valley Authority. “I believe that the employers in attendance will have a heightened mission to attract and retain top diversity candidates to their organizations,” Coughenour said. “Not that other companies at other fairs don’t, it’s just that employers at the Diversity Fair know that we have made a special effort to feature our diversity to them.” Students who are typically overwhelmed by the large fall and upcoming spring job fairs might find the Diversity Job Fair more inviting. “The event provides a much more intimate setting for students to connect with employers,” Sarah Helm, coordinator
“
The motto of our fair is
‘define your own diversity.’ We won’t be excluding anyone. From the
employer perspective, they are
wanting to talk to the best and
brightest students at UT. If they are from an underrepresented population, that would be all the better.
”
– Russ Coughenour, director of Career Services, on the third annual Diversity Job Fair
for the Disability Careers Office, said. Also involved with this year’s fair is C.A.R.E. — Concerns, Awareness, Representation and Education — a committee initiated by Career Services in 2007. “The purpose of C.A.R.E. is to engage students from diverse backgrounds to become actively involved in the career development and employment preparation process,” Helm said. “The committee consists of both Career Services staff members and representatives from outside of the department who are focused on diversity initiatives in their respective departments.” Both Career Services and C.A.R.E. hope that students specifically from underrepresented populations will take advantage of this year’s Diversity Job Fair. “The event is designed for students from a variety of populations, such as students with disabilities, the LGBT community and individuals from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds,” Helm said. “We also encourage students who are not currently looking for employment to come to the event to experience a job-fair environment and begin making connections with employers.” Students who would typically not consider themselves as part of an underrepresented population should also feel free to attend. “The motto of our fair is ‘define your own diversity,’” Coughenour said. “We won’t be excluding anyone. From the employer perspective, they are wanting to talk to the best and brightest students at UT. If they are from an underrepresented population, that would be all the better.” The fair will be held Tuesday in the UC Ballroom from 3 to 5 p.m.
UT NAACP to host week of events Local chapter to cap off Black History Month, raise awareness of purpose Liz Ross Staff Writer
Wade Rackley • The Daily Beacon
Freshmen pre-professional interest majors Julia Woods and Lindsey Brock play on the rugby field on Monday near Tyson Park. The whole area was flooded because of heavy storms affecting the Knoxville area on Monday.
In culmination of Black History Month, UT’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is hosting a week of events on campus. With events including a genealogy workshop and a higher learning forum, members are interested in promoting the mission of the NAACP in hopes of recruiting more students to the organization. “More people should be involved in the NAACP than there are now,” Florence Stallard, membership chairperson and junior in nutrition, said. “People don’t realize if it wasn’t for the NAACP, we wouldn’t have some of the rights we take advantage of today.” The week’s events included a genealogy workshop on Monday, the general body meeting and membership mixer today at 6 p.m. in the Black Cultural Center Rooms 101 and 102, and a higher learning forum on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium in the Baker Center.
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is one of the oldest remaining groups of the American Civil Rights Movement. The NAACP’s mission statement aims to ensure the political, educational, social and economical equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. Stallard also said that, though a chapter on campus that deals with campus issues exists, students should get involved with their local NAACP chapter as well to tackle state and national issues. “Some people get intimidated by the title, but the NAACP welcomes people of different colors and backgrounds,” she said. “Our main purpose is continuing that fight for equality and civil rights ... for all.” Many students said that they did not know UT had an NAACP chapter. “I’d never even heard of that before,” Ashley Parker, junior in communications, said. Stallard said that she feels that if more people knew what the purpose of the NAACP was, then more people would get involved. For information on all events, visit the UT NAACP page on Facebook.
World leaders pressure Gadhafi, Libya regime Associated Press TRIPOLI, Libya — International pressure on Moammar Gadhafi to end his crackdown on opponents escalated Monday as his loyalists closed in on rebel-held cities closest to the capital. The U.S. moved naval and air forces closer to Libya and said all options were open, including the use of warplanes to patrol the North African nation’s skies and protect Libyans threatened by their leader. France said it would start flying aid to the opposition-controlled eastern half of the country. The European Union imposed an arms embargo and other sanctions, following the lead of the U.S. and the U.N. The EU was also considering the creation of a no-fly zone over Libya. And the U.S. and Europe were freezing billions in Libya’s foreign assets. “Gadhafi has lost the legitimacy to govern, and it is time for him to go without further violence or delay,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said. “No option is off the table. That of course includes a no-fly zone,” Clinton added. British Prime Minister David Cameron told British lawmakers: “We do not in any way rule out the use of military assets” to deal with Gadhafi’s regime. Gadhafi, who has launched the most brutal crackdown of any Arab regime facing a wave of popular uprisings, laughed off a question from ABC News about whether he would step down as the Obama administration is demanding. “My people love me. They would die for me,” he said. ABC reported that Gadhafi invited the U.N. or any other organization to come on a fact-finding mission. The turmoil in the oil-rich nation roiled markets for another day. Libya’s oil chief said production had been cut by around 50 percent, denting supplies that go primarily to Europe. The uprising that began on Feb. 15 has posed most serious challenge to Gadhafi in his more than four decades in power. His bloody crackdown has left hundreds, and perhaps thousands, dead. But clashes appear to have eased considerably over the past few days after planeloads of foreign journalists arrived in the capital at the government’s invitation.
The two sides are entrenched, and the direction the uprising takes next could depend on which can hold out longest. Gadhafi is dug in in Tripoli and nearby cities, backed by his elite security forces and militiamen who are generally better armed than the military. His opponents, holding the east and much of the country’s oil infrastructure, also control pockets in western Libya near Tripoli. They are backed by mutinous army units, but those forces appear to have limited supplies of ammunition and weapons. Gadhafi opponents have moved to consolidate their hold in the east, centered on Benghazi — Libya’s second largest city, where the uprising began. Politicians there on Sunday set up their first leadership council to manage day-to-day affairs, taking a step toward forming what could be an alternative to Gadhafi’s regime. The opposition is backed by numerous units of the military in the east that joined the uprising, and they hold several bases and Benghazi’s airport. But so far, the units do not appear to have melded into a unified fighting force. Gadhafi long kept the military weak, fearing a challenge to his rule, so many units are plagued by shortages of supplies and ammunition. On Monday, pro-Gadhafi forces retook control of the border crossings with Tunisia in the west after they had fallen under opposition control and bombed an ammunition depot in the rebelheld east, residents in the area said. The Libyan Defense Ministry denied the bombing. Regime forces also moved to tighten their ring around two opposition-controlled cities closest to the capital Tripoli — Zawiya and Misrata — where the two sides are locked in standoffs. An Associated Press reporter saw a large, pro-Gadhafi force massed on the western edge of Zawiya, some 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli, with about a dozen armored vehicles along with tanks and jeeps mounted with anti-aircraft guns. An officer said they were from the elite Khamis Brigade, named after one of Gadhafi’s sons who commands it. U.S. diplomats have said the brigade is the best equipped force in Libya. Residents inside the city said they were anticipating a possible attack. “Our people are waiting for them to come and, God willing, we will defeat them,” one resident who only wanted to be quoted by
his first name, Alaa, told AP in Cairo by telephone. In Misrata, Libya’s third largest city 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of Tripoli, pro-Gadhafi troops who control part of an air base on the city’s outskirts tried to advance Monday. But they were repelled by opposition forces, who included residents armed with automatic weapons and defected army units allied with them, one of the opposition fighters said. No casualties were reported and the fighter claimed that his side had captured eight soldiers, including a senior officer. The opposition controls most of the air base, and the fighter said dozens of anti-Gadhafi gunmen have arrived from further east in recent days as reinforcements. Several residents of the eastern city of Ajdabiya said Gadhafi’s air force also bombed an ammunition depot nearby held by the opposition. One, 17-year-old Abdel-Bari Zwei, reported intermittent explosions and a fire, and another, Faraj al-Maghrabi, said the facility was partially damaged. The site contains bombs, missiles and ammunition — key for the undersupplied opposition military forces. State TV carried a statement by Libya’s Defense Ministry denying any attempt to bomb the depot. Ajdabiya lies about 450 miles (750 kilometers) east of Tripoli along the Mediterranean coast. Gadhafi supporters said they were in control of the city of Sabratha, west of Tripoli, which has seemed to go back and forth between the two camps the past week. Several residents told The AP that protesters set fire to a police station, but then were dispersed. Anti-Gadhafi graffiti — “Down with the enemy of freedom” and “Libya is free, Gadhafi must leave” — were scrawled on some walls, but residents were painting them over. Global efforts to halt Gadhafi’s crackdown escalated on Monday. In Washington, the Pentagon said it was moving some naval and air forces closer to Libya in case they are needed. The U.S. has a regular military presence in the Mediterranean Sea and farther to the south has two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf area. The U.S. Treasury Department said that at least $30 billion in Libyan assets have been frozen since President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Libya last week.