The Daily Beacon

Page 1

Issue 52, Volume 122

Monday, April 1, 2013

ASB gives students new perspective R.J. Vogt News Editor It’s been 20 years since UT students first united to serve the community of Miami, instead of taking a Spring Break vacation. Twenty years later, the Volunteer tradition of alternative Spring Break trips continues, as the Center for Leadership & Service (CLS) sent 58 students, faculty and staff to service sites in Washington, D.C.; Tallahassee, Florida; and back to the program’s origin in Miami. Each trip had a specific theme: Miami’s group examined environmental issues and mankind’s impact on ecosystems. Sarah Gregory, a senior in American studies and the

Miami trip leader, said she and fellow trip leader Molly Sullivan chose Miami for its unique blend of urban and rural. “We felt that Miami is such a unique area in that it has such a strong urban environment, but it’s surrounded by really unique and diverse national parks,” Gregory said. “We wanted to focus on environmental issues and the relationship between the urban environment and the national parks … how humans impact those areas.” After four days in Miami, the environmental Spring Break trip returned to Knoxville and served in the Knoxville botanical gardens and Frozen Head State Park. “We wanted to show that the type of service you do in other communities can always be

connected back to your home community,” Gregory said. She added that her group is already planning on continuing their week of service. In a couple of weeks, Gregory said the students will return to the botanical gardens and were considering heading back up to Frozen Head in the summer. Another group of students went to Tallahassee to examine underrepresented populations of the homeless. They served by working in homeless shelters, women’s facilities and homes for the elderly. The third trip worked with the impoverished of the nation’s capital. Led by Margaret Smith, a junior in Spanish and biology, and Eric Goins, a senior in psychology, the students performed a wide range of service. Highlights

included serving hot breakfast to the homeless, cooking and packaging meals for those with debilitating illness, providing struggling populations with furniture, and clothing and cleaning up community parks in rough neighborhoods. Alexandra Pitzer, a junior in child and family studies, said she indicated a preference for the D.C. trip because she wanted to expand her service horizons. “In Knoxville, I deal with a very specific type of service,” Pitzer said. “I thought it would be really interesting to see ... homelessness and poverty in our nation’s capital where I know there are so many opulent buildings and so much wealth.

• Photo courtesy of Kristina Rubio/Facebook

The Tallahassee ASB group celebrating after sorting seven tons of carrots at America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend.

See SPRING BREAK on Page 2

Sequestration Lady Vols run through Sooners to impact funding Staff Reports

Deborah Ince Staff Writer

be reduced by approximately $50,000, equating to 17 student awards for school year 2013-14. As a research university, UT will be affected by sequestration in terms of the amount of federal funding it will receive in the future for research projects. Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement Taylor Eighmy said that sequestration will eventually affect how much the university receives in research grants and awards. “What we’re learning is we’re expecting generally that all of our existing grants and contracts and cooperative agreements will continue to be supported, but the agencies will be making less new awards,” Eighmy said. UT receives $150 million in federal funding each year. In 2012, the university spent about $130 million of that money. The university currently receives about 80 percent of its funding from the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. Under sequestration, Eighmy said that UT will see across-theboard reductions in the number of new awards coming to the university. Both the colleges of engineering and arts and sciences at UT will be affected the most by reductions, as both colleges receive the majority of the university’s research funding. Eighmy said that funding for UT’s many research programs will depend on the grant proposals researchers submit, the volume of the research program for which the proposal has been submitted and the overall competitive nature of the award process now that there is less available money to be awarded. The federal government will make final decisions on where to give funding.

It has been nearly a month since the federal government enacted its sequestration plan — a plan that will make acrossthe-board budget cuts at a rate of about $85 billion per year over a 10-year period — and every day the public is learning more about its effects. As cuts are split between defense and domestic programs, more individuals will start to feel the sequester’s effects, especially at the state level. “It’s currently only at the federal level but will trickle down to Tennessee,” Rep. Bill Dunn said. Regarding its overall effects on higher education, sequestration will affect student loans and work-study programs. In an article completed by Equal Justice Works and published by U.S. News & World Report, federal work-study grants will be cut by $49 and $37 million will be cut from educational opportunity grants given to undergraduate students who require additional financial assistance. Origination fees on PLUS loans and subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans will also increase. Pell grants will be protected under the Budget Control Act for fiscal year 2013, but it is not clear what will happen to the grants in subsequent years if sequestration continues. According to UT’s financial aid office, there will also be a five percent decrease in Federal Campus Based funding for the university. Federal Campus Based funding includes Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and Federal Work-Study (FWS). FSEOG will be reduced by approximately $25,000, equating to 16 student awards for school year 2013-14, and FWS will See SEQUESTRATION on Page 2

Arts & Culture Gasp! A new Volaplalooza lineup? Say it ain’t so! >> See Page 3

Tennessee used a 25-5 firsthalf run and cruised to a 74-69 victory in the Sweet 16 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on Sunday evening. Tennessee (27-7) will play in the Elite Eight on Tuesday night at 9 p.m., on ESPN. The No. 2 seeded Lady Vols await the winner of the Baylor/Louisville game, which took place after UT’s game on Sunday in Oklahoma City. Tennessee advanced to the Elite Eight for the 26th time in school history and third year in a row. The Lady Vols are a remarkable 26-5 all-time in regional semifinal games and an NCAA-best 115-23 all-time in 138 NCAA Tournament contests. Senior Kamiko Williams continued her torrid late-season play with 15 points. Fellow senior Taber Spani added 12 points to give the senior combo 27 points. Two other Lady Vols scored in double-figures Sophomore Isabelle Harrison had her best game since returning from a late-season injury, posting 12 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Cierra Burdick notched 13 points. The Lady Vols’ defense was

incredible all game, limiting Oklahoma to just 23-of-75 from the floor for 30.7 percent. The Sooners made just 17.2 percent from 3-point range, hitting just 5-of-29 from beyond the arc. Sixth-seeded Oklahoma (24-11) was led by Sharane Campbell, who scored a game-high 22 points. Joanna McFarland had 14 points and 16 rebounds. The Sooners suffered a major blow when guard Morgan Hook was injured early in the game and did not return. For the second postseason game in a row, Williams keyed the Lady Vols as they built a sizeable first-half lead. Williams tallied 13 in the first half as UT held a 44-27 lead at halftime. With the game tied at 11, five minutes into the action, Tennessee outscored Oklahoma, 33-16, over the final 15 minutes to lead by 17 at halftime. Tennessee’s defense held Oklahoma to just 28.2 percent from the floor in the first half. The Sooners had a significant drought midway through the first half, making just 1-of-19 shots in just under 10 minutes of action.

• Photo courtesy of Donald Page/Tennessee Athletics

Kamiko Williams during the NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen against Oklahoma Sooners.

See LADY VOLS on Page 6

‘Sex Week’ endures despite Cheek pulling funds Justin Joo Staff Writer Although it lost more than $11,000 of its budget, “Sex Week” will continue relatively as planned. After Chancellor Jimmy Cheek announced that $11,145 from academic programs and departments would be pulled from “Sex Week,” a campaign for additional funds through student programming and private donations has allowed the week-long event to continue on course. Brianna Rader, a junior College Scholar and co-founder of Sexual Empowerment and Awareness at Tennessee (SEAT), said that nothing has been changed on the schedule or canceled. “Everything’s going on as

Arts & Culture Ryan Bingham performs at packed Bijou. >> See Page 3

planned,” she said. “It’s just been very difficult. We’ve had to jump through lots of hoops. We’ve had to fundraise over half our budget as private donations now.” Coordinated by SEAT, “Sex Week” is a series of events going through April 5-12, featuring speakers, panels and discussions on a variety of sexual topics. Some of those topics include transgender issues, how to discuss sex issues with your doctor and HIV. Earlier this month, however, state senator Stacey Campfield took issue with some of the “Sex Week’s” more provocative discussions and that state tax dollars were being used to help fund the week-long event. After Campfield suggested that the university’s budget should be reviewed, Cheek sent out a press release stating

that $11,145 from academic programs and departments would be pulled from “Sex Week.” The student programming money, amounting to $6,700, would be allowed to remain. After the letter was released, there was an outpouring of private donations from students and supporters abroad. In a little more than 24 hours, SEAT announced that they had made up enough of their budget to continue “Sex Week.” Aside from the private donations, SEAT also applied for additional funds from student programming, which they initially received. Because of the outpouring of money coming from private donations, Jacob Clark, cofounder of SEAT and a junior in College Scholars, said that SEAT agreed to only use the

additional student funding as needed. However, SEAT has recently been told that the additional money that they applied for and had been granted can no longer be used. “We applied for more of it, we got what we needed from it, and then they took that away again,” Clark said. “It’s like that never happened. It’s like it disappeared.” Clark said that they were able to keep a small amount of it and SEAT can reapply to get the additional funding today. However, today is also the day that SEAT needs to place orders for the things that money would purchase, so Clark said that SEAT’s concern is whether they should even bother going through with the application process. See ‘SEX WEEK’ on Page 2

Sports

Sports

Students might have taken a week off, but UT athletics didn’t. Catch up on page 5.

Baseball is back, and Austin Bornheim offers up his division winners and World Series teams. >> See Page 6


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