Issue 46, Volume 122
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Campus prepares for ‘Vol Night Long’ Jessica Vinge
Staff Writer Students will be able to enjoy a safe, fun-filled evening of free activities at the TRECS Friday night with “Vol Night Long,” an annual event organized by the Campus Entertainment Board, which begins at 10 p.m. and lasts until 2 a.m. Saturday morning. With a student I.D., students can expect free activities, games and food. There will also be raffle prizes and competitions for students to join and win other prizes. Anna Lewis, a senior in journalism and electronic media, helped organize the event. She wants students to realize that there are safe ways to have fun and meet new people on a Friday night while also getting involved on campus. “The goal of ‘VNL’ is to provide the UT student population with a free event that they can stay at until the event ends at 2 a.m.,” Lewis said. “We like to give students an alcohol-free environment where they can come and meet new people, play fun games and discover
even more opportunities to be involved in UT’s campus.” There will be three to four inflatables, including a lifesized version of the game Twister, jousting and obstacle courses. Craft projects will also be available for students to work on and take home with them. They will be able to make their own key chains and street signs to put up in their dorms or apartments for decoration. Laser tag is another big activity on the list of available things to participate in at this year’s “VNL.” Martin Leamon, a junior in accounting, attended “Vol Night Long” his freshman year and enjoyed the alternative option for Friday night fun. “I thought it was a fun event to go to and hang out with friends,” Leamon said. “They had a lot of activities going on and big inflatables. And you can’t turn down free food. It was a nice change of pace from the normal parties me and my friends would usually go to on the weekends.” This year’s theme is “Block Party” and it will offer a number of field games that stu-
dents can play such as a threelegged race, potato sack race and egg on a spoon race. The ultimate goal of “VNL” is to provide students with a safe, substance free environment and to participate in said activities instead of other, potentially dangerous alternatives. The event will have a DJ on hand playing music for students to listen and dance to while engaging in the various activities available and meeting new people. Past “Vol Night Long” events have included Apple products as prizes, dodge ball and basketball competitions, a karaoke booth, video games and photo booths. In recent years more than 1,000 students have attended the event and given positive feedback. The Office of Student Activities and the Campus Entertainment Board encourages all students to branch out from their typical Friday night and attend “Vol Night Long” for a chance to get more involved on campus and meet Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon new people. Most importantly, A student competes in an obstacle course at ‘Vol Night Long.’ Vols can enjoy a fun and safe time, all night long.
Activist, sex trade survivor to speak Hanna Lustig
Contributor In the spirit of Women’s History Month, a day of activism in protest of human trafficking took place Tuesday — though perhaps not in the conventional sense. From noon until 2:00 p.m., groups of girls could be seen sitting on mattresses along Pedestrian Walkway, holding signs displaying statistics about sex trafficking in the U.S. and wearing torn clothing. While also intended to spread awareness of continued sexual exploitation within the U.S., the demonstration primarily served as publication for their event in the UC Auditorium on Tuesday night, entitled “America’s Dirty Little Secret,” which gives the story of keynote speaker and human trafficking survivor Theresa Flores. Demonstration participant Ariel Hughes, a junior in political science, acknowledged that her time on Pedestrian wasn’t easy, but that the mattresses were more effective than traditional forms of advertising. “I enjoyed it, but it was kind of difficult when people would pass by and they would stare at me,” Hughes said. “But I know that feeling is so miniscule compared to what people who are trafficked feel like. I hope people noticed and they show up.” Flores, a noted author and victim advocate, spoke
of her experiences in the suburbs of Detroit. At fifteen years old, she was drugged, raped and blackmailed into participating in a ring of criminal activity and commercial sex, only escaping after two years of coercion. As she put it, sex trafficking “is an epidemic that is not being shown on the nightly news.” Now, as a happily married social worker with two daughters, Flores has healed through finding a purpose for her story. Through sharing her experiences with the public, Flores hopes to garner not awareness of modern-day slavery, but also harsher punishments for perpetrators and support for her growing social movement. “The laws need to change locally,” Flores said. “They need to be going after the demand. And we need to be educating from middle school up on how to view women.” Her formal campaign, S.O.A.P. (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) Outreach, attempts to address prostitution by providing education and aid for motel owners in “high risk” areas, clientele and victims alike. The means by which Flores achieves this goal explains the unique name of the campaign. “We label small bars of hotel soap with the National Human Trafficking hotline,” Flores said. “Groups give them to motels, and that is how we reach these places.”
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Lawyer to address terrorism evolution Graham Gibson Staff Writer
• Photo courtesy of Anita Suleiman
The Wo m e n ’s Coordinating Council, one of the seven Central Programs Committees on campus, sponsored the keynote lecture Tuesday night. After the event, council chairperson Katherine Henry explained the need to draw attention to this subject. “I was talking to people about it and they were like,
‘oh that doesn’t really happen in Tennessee, it happens overseas, like in the movie ‘Taken,’” Henry said. “When really it’s happening obviously next door. So I think it was really important to bring it because it’s a local issue it’s a national and I don’t think people realize that.” Further information on Theresa Flores’ books,
organization and testimony can be found at http:// www.traffickfree.com. The Women’s Coordinating Council can also be liked on Facebook and followed on Twitter at @_WCC_. Future programming is also posted through their Student Activities website, at http://activities.utk.edu/ cpc/wcc/.
Check out this week’s Beacon Weekender Page 6
Terrorism is an evolving term. No longer does it simply encompass acts like suicide bombings, hijackings or anthrax-laced letters. A lecture by Walter Purdy, vice president for training and special projects at the Terrorism Research Center, will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday in Room 132 of the UT College of Law to discuss the term and what it means today. The lecture, entitled “Terrorism in a Changing World,” will cover a number of issues regarding terrorism in the modern world, and is free and open to the public. The event will explore topics such as the changing face of terrorism, terrorism in relation to the media and technology, and the challenges ahead in confronting the issue of terrorism. The lecture will also include an interactive presentation. Dr. Susan Speraw, associate professor in the College of Nursing and director of UT’s Global Disaster Nursing Program, organized the lecture, and believes it will hold significance for those in a variety of fields. “We have received expressions of interest from across the campus and the community,” Speraw said. “People have called from agriculture, who are interested in how terrorism affects food and animal safety and crops. Local, state and even federal law enforcement have expressed interest, looking for law enforcement techniques and what they need to be aware. There are also political science issues, and they are interesting in the setting and creating of policy. Everyone is coming with their own interest.” See TERRORISM on Page 2
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