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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

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Issue 63

E D I T O R I A L L Y

Isolated T-storms 30% chance of rain HIGH LOW 87 66

PUBLISHED SINCE 1906 http://utdailybeacon.com

Vol. 116

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U N I V E R S I T Y

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Student Senate fights against gun legislation Representatives pass resolution to denounce changes on current anti-weapon policy Zac Ellis Editor-in-Chief As state legislators prepare to offer a proposal allowing permit-holding students, faculty and staff to carry firearms on UT’s campus, the university’s student leaders are attempting to prevent such change to campus policy. The Student Senate passed a resolution to express student opposition to state Senate Bills 0051 and 0399, which would allow UT students, faculty and staff with gun permits to carry firearms to campus. Such legislation is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday and stands to amend current campus policy, which prohibits weapons on campus to anyone outside of law enforcement. Sponsored by Arts and Sciences senators Eric Dixon and Terry Nowell, Student Senate resolution 6-11 was announced by SGA President Ross Rowland at a press conference on Monday morning. “This passed with 40 senators voting for this resolution, six opposed and one abstention,” Rowland said. “Obviously, it passed overwhelmingly for expressing student opposition to weapons on campus.” Rowland said an open policy to permit-carrying gun owners places risk upon the entirety of UT’s campus. “It’s just a matter of keeping students safe on campus and, additionally, having an evironment that sustains a healthy learning space,” Rowland said. “If students don’t feel safe, they aren’t able to learn, and that’s our primary goal on this campus.” Rowland pointed to several statistics to support the Student Senate’s resolution. A statement released by the Tennessee Association of Chief of Police maintained that permit holders lack appropriate shooting training to properly serve as defense against violent offenders. A similar statement by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators said that no credible, statistical

Poll stats lead to revolt in Nigeria Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria — Angry opposition supporters in Nigeria’s Muslim north set fire to homes bearing ruling party banners Monday and heavy gunfire rang out in several towns as election officials released results showing the Christian incumbent had gained an insurmountable lead. Results from Saturday’s election released live on national television indicated President Goodluck Jonathan had a commanding lead of more than 10 million votes with only two states left to be announced. The Muslim north had largely voted for former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari’s party brought a formal complaint Monday afternoon to the nation’s electoral commission over vote tallies, alleging massive rigging in Jonathan’s homeland. The letter also alleged that the computer software used to tally results had been tampered with in northern states to favor the ruling party. “What is being exhibited to the world is not collated from polling units but ... a lot of manipulations,” the letter read. In a statement, the federal police blamed the violence on “persons who failed to accept the results,” denying it came from religious or ethnic roots. Election officials said they would finish releasing election results later Monday regardless of the ongoing violence. Witnesses said youths in the northern city of Kano were setting fires to homes that bore Jonathan party banners. Heavy gunfire also could be heard. An Associated Press reporter there saw hundreds of youths carrying wooden planks in the street, shouting “Only Buhari” in the local Hausa language. “What I am looking for now is rescue, the mob is still outside. I need rescue,” said Mark Asu-Obi, who was trapped inside his

Kano home with his wife and three children. “There are hoodlums all over the place. It’s not just my place that they are attacking. I am not a politician. I am an independent observer.” In Kaduna, home to the oil-rich nation’s vice president, angry young men burned tires in the streets and threw stones at police and soldiers trying to restore order, witnesses said. “Right now, I’m holed up in my room. There’s gunshots everywhere,” said Shehu Sani, a civil rights leader. “They are firing and killing people on the street.” Kaduna state police spokesman Aminu Lawal described the fighting there as an “uprising.” In neighboring Katsina state, a mob attacked a prison and freed 42 inmates, police spokesman Abubakar Mohammed said. Federal emergency management agency spokesman Yushua Shuaib declined to release casualty figures out of fears it would further stoke sectarian violence. “Such a thing can encourage a reprisal attack,” he said. Over the weekend, opposition supporters also rioted in the northeastern state of Gombe. Protesters burned down the house of the local chairman of the ruling party, two hotels and at least two buses there. The rioters accused Gombe’s ruling party government of rigging the results to ensure that Jonathan got at least 25 percent of the vote. Police chief Suleiman Lawal said Sunday that there had been a “complete breakdown of law and order” there. Nigeria’s elections have long been marred by violence and rigging. But voting in the Saturday presidential election had been largely peaceful apart from a hotel blast that wounded eight people and the fatal shooting of a police officer at a polling station.

evidence exists to suggest that laws allowing a concealed weapon would reduce crime. Though Rowland admitted some students and faculty approve of the state legislation, the opinion of the masses could be ignored. “This obviously isn’t the consensus of all 27,000 students, faculty and so forth on campus,” Rowland said, “but I would say the overwhelming majority have been in opposition to this piece of legislation in the state.” The Student Senate resolution joins a similar Faculty

Senate resolution passed in March, expressing the UT faculty’s opposition to the state legislation. Carole Myers, assistant professor of nursing and co-sponsor of the Faculty Senate resolution, said at a March 7 Faculty Senate meeting that safety is the primary concern for preventing such action in Nashville. “The idea was that we thought safety was the underpinning of this whole resolution,” Myers said, “so we wanted to

make another statement about it. It may not be an essential statement, but we were trying to reinforce a point about safety and the fact that this is a priority.” Faculty Senate President Joan Heminway said in a faculty-wide e-mail on April 15 that supporters of the legislation have been hard to come by. “Supporters of guns on college campuses seem to be largely from outside the university community,” Heminway said. “I have only heard from one colleague who favors guns on campus.” UT’s administrators have not stood without voice on the issue. Heminway said Chancellor Jimmy Cheek and his cabinet have expressed disapproval of the proposal, while UT President Joe DiPietro said in a statement released on Monday that current campus guidelines are in place for a reason. “The University of Tennessee has stated its opposition to allowing anyone other than law enforcement officers to carry guns while on campus,” DiPietro said. “The current law works. There is no need to change it. “A primary priority of the university is the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff. This responsibility is taken seriously, and campuses work with law enforcement to take measures to create the safest environments possible.” Local and campus law enforcements have likewise voiced opposition to the bill, which officials believe could actually increase threats of violence on campus and deter trained individuals from providing defense. “We oppose the proposal, because it will inhibit our ability to provide security to people on campus and reduce our effectiveness if confronted with a violent situation,” UT Chief of Police Gloria Graham said in a statement. “Our department and departments around the state urge legislators to defeat this proposal immediately.” Students, faculty, campus police officers and other campus officials plan to attend the committee meeting today to lobby against the proposition.

UT chapter dominates competition Engineering events include transportation quiz, steel bridge contest Rob Davis Staff Writer UT’s chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) won first place overall at the American Society of Civil Engineers Southeast Conference and will compete for a national title. The conference took place on the Tennessee Tech University campus from March 24 through 26 and featured schools like Vanderbilt University, the University of Florida and the University of Auburn. “Overall, we were able to bring home nine trophies, including first place in concrete cubes,” Marianne Hutson, UT conference chair, said. The events included concrete cubes, an environmental competition and a surveying competition, most of which UT placed first or second in. “There are many events that make up the competition,” Hutson said. “The different events include a transportation quiz competition, steel bridge and concrete canoe, among others.” UT, which finished third in the steel bridge event, will also join Florida and Southern Polytechnic University, which finished first and second, respectively, at the national steel bridge championship. The competition will take place at the Texas A&M campus on May 20 and 21. The steel bridge challenge required civil engineering students to design, fabricate and construct a steel bridge. Steel bridges are judged on construction speed, as well as bridge economy, in which UT finished second and third, respec-

tively. Besides competitions, members of UT’s chapter of ASCE met and traveled with members of Tongji University, from Shanghai, China, at the conference. “Another aspect of our conference experience has been working so closely with the Tongji University students,” Hutson said. “Many of our faculty have ties with the university and have invited them to join our students and compete in the competition. Each year the Tongjis meet and travel with the UTK Conference team.” Tongji University also did well in the competition, placing third overall, first in the T-shirt competition and second in visual display and hydrology. Both UT and Tongji University also placed within the top 10 in the mystery event. “Each team consists of three students who are initially kept separate,” Hutson said. “The first student is given written instructions and is told to draw what they interpret. The drawing is given to the second student, who gives verbal instructions to the third student, who has building supplies (Play-Doh, Popsicle sticks, etc.). Communication is strictly limited to these media, and the team with the most correct structure and best communication wins.” The UT College of Engineering is consistently ranked as one of the top 100 engineering programs in the nation, and with a first-place finish at the regional competition, many students felt the program lived up to its expectation. “Being an engineering major, it’s great to see that our (ASCE) chapter can compete and win against schools like Vanderbilt or Florida,” Brian Daniel, junior in engineering, said.

• Photo courtesy of Marianne Hutson

Students from the UT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering celebrate with students and faculty from Tongji University following the American Society of Civil Engineers Southeast Student Conference on Saturday, March 26. UT took home first place from the conference, which hosts 26 schools from across the world in competitions designed to test creative solutions to practical engineering problems.


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