Issue 50, Volume 122
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
GSS executives pass torch, hear SGA campaigns Justin Joo Staff Writer The last GSS meeting with the current executive committee was held Monday night, and the heirs-apparent were formally announced. Martin Walker, representing anthropology, and Damien Pitts, representing sociology, are formally running to be president and vice president of GSS, respectively. The two are running unopposed, so their positions for next year’s GSS are guaranteed. Amanda Sanford, current GSS president, said that it’s not uncommon for the executives of GSS to run unopposed. Both she and GSS vice president Ali Brewer ran unopposed, and their predecessors also ran unopposed. Because SGA elections will happen prior to the April GSS meeting, Monday’s meeting was effectively the last GSS meeting with Sanford and Brewer as president and vice president. Sanford said that she has enjoyed the experience as GSS president and that she’s very satisfied with how her term has turned out.
“I’m really, really pleased with the way that GSS has operated this year,” Sanford said. “I think that we’ve done a couple of things that really have had or will have a meaningful impact on the quality of grad student life rather than just being a ceremonial branch of SGA.” Brewer also was pleased with the work she and GSS had accomplished during her time as vice president. “I think we’ve passed some really great policy measures,” Brewer said. “… Through our efforts, we’ve created some things that are going to last for a very long time.” Sanford and Brewer both cited the Leave of Absence Policy, the resolution for Domestic Partner Benefits and obtaining a universitywide graduate student orientation as major achievements of which they’re proud. “It’s been a lot of fun. It’s
been a lot of work, but it’s parking for student employbeen a lot of fun,” Sanford ees and creating an umbrella said. rental system. Lindsay Lee, the presidenSGA Campaigns tial candidate for Amplify, Representatives from spoke of taking SGA “to the the three SGA campaigns next level” and making it were invited to speak at the something that matters to the
Monday night GSS meeting. Sanford said she invited the candidates to speak because SGA represents the entire student body, including graduate students. Amplify was the first to speak. Some of their policies they promoted included gender-neutral housing, more
World-renowned teacher reveals inherent prejudice Savannah Gilman Contributor Jane Elliott burst into the University Center on Monday night with both her luggage and a powerful message in tow. The internationallyknown teacher and recipient of the National Mental Health Association Award came directly from her plane to deliver a free public lecture hosted by UT’s Issues Committee. Elliott became famous after creating the controversial “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise in 1968. The experiment framed her blue-eyed elementary school students as superior to their browneyed classmates, offering a real-life lesson on racism and segregation. Although it has drawn both criticism and accolades during the last 30 years, many psychology textbooks and courses include the “Blue Eyes/ Brown Eyes” exercise as an example of prejudice’s infiltration into American society. In her lecture, Elliott exposed American schools for systematically teaching the myth of white superiority by using distorted world maps, following the golden rule and emphasizing only one race — the human race. Primary educators often use the “melting pot” analogy to describe American
diversity. Elliott dismissed this as a method of stirring everything up until it comes out the same and instead described America as a stirfry. In a stir-fry, you don’t blend together the ingredients, she said; each item maintains its identity. For Joyce Benzi, a sophomore in business analytics, the lecture turned some of her own fundamental notions on their heads. “The biggest thing I can take away from this it that we all think we’re non-discriminatory, but we always have that in the back of our heads,” Benzi said. “She was very straightforward and I think that’s how it has to be for us to learn, that shock method of learning is effective.” Benzi said that Elliot’s spin on the Golden Rule — which states that one should treat others as he himself wishes to be treated — was particularly eyeopening. Elliot replaced it with her own Platinum Rule: treat people as they wish to be treated. Thomas Carpenter, an undeclared freshman and the social media director for UT’s Issues Committee, and who was also Elliot’s makeshift chauffeur for the evening, found her take on the melting pot analogy especially interesting. See ELLIOTT REVIEW on Page 2
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Student Health Center for two weeks,” Baker said. The third and final SGA campaign to talk to GSS was Engage UT, headed by presidential candidate Christian Powers. One of the big goals of Engage UT was working with Career Services to create a Smokey’s Closet, which would rent out business attire for students needing to do job interviews who not have appropriate business-formal clothing. All three campaigns have Facebook pages dedicated to their policy and campaigns. Student Leave of Absence Policy Sanford also announced that the Leave of Absence policy that GSS passed in January has received some recommendations from the graduate school administration. Sanford said that there was some confusion and concern about wording and definitions regarding the policy’s plan for covering academic and financial issues. See GSS on Page 2
Around Rocky Top
Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon
The president of the Muslim Student Association gives Patrick Riggins, the president of Love Kitchen, the money raised from the association’s “Fast-a-thon” event in the UC Ballroom on March 14.
Local group gives swing dance lessons Claire Dodson Copy Editor In the midst of fads like the “Harlem Shake” and “Gangnam Style,” it can be refreshing to participate in a genre of dance with a little more history, one that has been popular since the 1920s. The Knoxville Swing Dance Association (KSDA) is hosting a lesson and free dance at 7 p.m. tonight at the
Get to know Jody McGroarty page 5
matter to SGA.” Jake Baker and Paige Atchley of the Baker-Atchley campaign spoke second, the two running for SGA president and vice president, respectively. They discussed their theme of transparency and accountability, which they illustrate using their last names for their campaign as opposed to the more commonly used “action-verb” campaign titles. Some of their campaign goals include getting scantrons in the POD Markets around campus, adding a parking lot section • Photo courtesy of GSS to the UT app, student body. and finding a way to improve “We believe your SGA students’ ability to get an should never have the oppor- appointment at the Student tunity to just sit on the side- Health Center. lines while the administration “Right now I know on my does things and enacts poli- Facebook,” Baker explained, cies without undergraduate “every other status update student input,” Lee said. “… is somebody complaining SGA should matter to stu- how they haven’t been able dents and students should to get an appointment at the
Laurel Theater. The lesson caters to beginners, but the free dance offers a chance for novice and more experienced swing dancers alike to show off their sometimes newly learned skills in a relaxed, non-judgmental environment. Kemper Talley, vice president of KSDA and dance instructor, said that the KSDA aims to educate about swing dancing and encourage people to step outside their
comfort zones. “We want to promote swing dancing and the importance of learning a new skill,” Talley said. “When I first started dancing a year and a half ago I had two left feet. I just kept at it.” He started swing dancing after seeing a flyer for one of KSDA’s events shortly after one of his friends who enjoyed swing dancing passed away in an accident.
“He always talked about it,” Talley said. “Matt loved swing dancing, and I knew if he liked it then I would too … and I fell in love with it.” Now, Talley dances worldwide and has competed in Sweden, Italy and Washington, D.C. He advises students and possible future swing dancers not to worry about being judged. See SWING DANCE on Page 2
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