Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Issue 04, Volume 126
utdailybeacon.com
Board of Trustees approves raised tuition rate McCord Pagan Copy Editor
cation at every level is “right for Tennessee, and … right for our children’s children.” “We have to move forward with developing a coalition for investment in the state,” he said. State appropriations for the UT System remained relatively flat for fiscal year 2015, increasing only $7.4 million, a 1.7 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. The state failed to fully fund the Complete College Tennessee Act – a performance based model to allocate new funding - which would have brought $8.6 million in new funds. Additional money to the System was also not provided in areas such as advising services, a cost of living adjustment and non-formula units - which includes the Health Science Center and
Institute of Agriculture. While the state did provide for a $39 million capital maintenance request by UT, the money was only a reallocation of funds from the Board of Regents. The Board of Trustees also approved controversial changes to the student activities fee, which will allow students to opt-in to the fee. The change allows the creation of an employeemajority board to determine allocation of funds. Butch Peccolo, chief financial officer for the UT System, said following the Board meeting that it was unfortunate the tuition increase could not have been smaller. See TUITION on Page 2 Samantha Smoak • The Daily Beacon
The UT Board of Trustees approved a tuition rate increase of 6 percent, nearly $500, for instate students admitted before fall 2013. Students admitted in fall 2013 and after are under the 15-4 tuition model and saw only a 3 percent increase; tuition for out-of-state students was unchanged. In his annual report to the Board, UT System President Joe Dipietro attributed rises in tuition to decreasing state funds, the result of this year’s $200 million state budget shortfall and consequent cuts to higher education.
In years past, state support has accounted for most of the UT System’s revenue. Since 2012, student tuition and fees have made up the bulk of revenue, accounting for 49 percent this year compared to 25 percent in 2001. State funds delivered only 39 percent of funds this year, down from 2001’s 53 percent. “This year was really pretty bad,” DiPietro said. Acknowledging that the reduction in state funds has forced UT to become “a private-driven enterprise,” DiPietro called for statewide lobbying efforts to reverse the downward trend in state funding. DiPietro said having strong funding for edu-
SEE INSIDE
NEWS >>pg. 2
ARTS & CULTURE>>pg. 3
Tennessee forward Cierra Burdick goes for the basket during the Lady Vols’ 93-63 victory over the Auburn Tigers on Feb. 20 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Burdick has won four international gold medals while playing basketball overseas this summer.
Lady Vol wins international gold medal Patrick MacCoon Sports Editor
Meadow Lark Music Festival lands at Ijams Nature Center
ARTS & CULTURE >>pg. 5
Cierra Burdick is no stranger to winning gold medals. After being hand selected along with three other Division-I basketball players, Burdick and her new teammates gelled quickly and qualified for the FIBA 3x3 World Championship after winning gold at the 2014 USA Basketball Women’s 3x3 National Championship. Along with Sara Hammond (Louisville), Jewell Loyd (Notre Dame) and Tiffany Mitchell (South Carolina), the Lady Vol rising senior helped her team engineer a 9-0 record from June 5-8 in Moscow, Russia on her way to winning her fourth inter-
Liv McConnell
SPORTS >>pg. 6
@UTKDailyBeacon www.utdailybeacon.com
national gold medal with USA Basketball. “You would think that it gets old after winning four gold medals, but it doesn’t,” Burdick said. “Each championship and gold medal has a new feeling and something special about it.” One of the differences and strengths that set Team USA apart from their competition and helped them overcome a home favored crowd in their championship game against Russia’s national 3x3 team was their cohesiveness. “The special thing about winning gold this time is that we were such an intimate group,” she said. “Since the rules are different we had to be on the same page with each other all the time. We had a coach, but
he wasn’t on the sideline setting it up. All the coaching was done by us on the court.” In the FIBA 3x3 World Championship, the game is played at an extremely fast pace, as the shot clock was set at 12 seconds. This was something that Burdick and her teammates embraced and used to their advantage. “With the fast shot clock you have to clear everything from steals to rebounds,” she said. “I love that you don’t have time to worry about mistakes or get down on yourself. It allows you to play so much more versatile and to do many more things. One possession you’ll be posting up and then the next shooting out on the arc. We had every facet of the game covered.”
The Americans went on to win the gold medal game over Russia by the final score of 15-8, handing the home court opponent their first loss in the tournament. The feeling after receiving the gold medal was as sweet as it gets for Burdick and her teammates. “The best part about all the preparation we put in is ultimately winning the gold medal and hearing the national anthem played. It’s an honor, a privilege and a blessing. We couldn’t have done it without the help of USA basketball.” While they did not lose a single game throughout their time in Russia, that doesn’t mean it came with ease for the four. See BURDICK on Page 6
Controversial mural seen in new light Staff Writer
Team USA’s biggest fans: they’re not in Brazil; they’re at the Crown & Goose
Wes Tripp Staff Writer
Not all Fort residents are students - don’t believe us? Read on.
On the beach or in the shade, the Beacon’s summer book list will keep you company
Basketball Vols keep skills sharp in offseason
After more than 40 years of being shielded from the public eye, UT is displaying a notoriously controversial work of art painted by a woman whose time in Knoxville is as shrouded in intrigue as her infamous painting itself. “The Singing Mural,” as it has come to be known, was painted by New York artist Marion Greenwood and first unveiled in the University Center Ballroom in 1955. Years of civil rights-motivated debate, and later vandalism at the hands of Vietnam Warprotesting students, led to the work being paneled over. Now, it is unveiled once again at the UT Downtown Gallery until August 9.
“The committee that made the decision to panel over it to save it in 1972 said, ‘You know, one day it will be uncovered and we’ll show it to a new generation that can see it in a more historical context,’” said Mike Berry, manager of the UT Downtown Gallery and curator of the exhibit. “I think that time is now.” Greenwood painted the mural with the intent of representing the history of music in Tennessee after she was brought to UT as an artist-in-residence in 1954. The fabled controversy over the piece, which arose nearly 15 years after the mural’s installation, stemmed from a debate over what some believed to be potentially racist qualities—one of the mural’s 28 figures, in particular, was argued to depict a cotton-picking slave.
“The fact of the matter is, when she painted this in 1954, Knoxville was still segregated; UT was an all-white campus,” Berry said. “So for her to come and have a third of the mural feature African Americans … when you put that in context, that’s pretty progressive.” “To most modern-day viewers, the cause of former controversy is lost,” Berry said. “We’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback on this,” he said. “And ever since the mural was unpanelled, I’ve been wanting to curate a show about Greenwood to show some of her other work and show viewers more about her as an artist.” Beyond the visually dominating “Singing Mural” and a second mural painted for the Federal Arts
Project in 1940, smaller paintings and sketches by Greenwood adorn the gallery walls. They give testimony to the life of an exceptional woman dedicated to representing other cultures and, especially, the reality of the downtrodden, said researcher Joanne Mulcahy. Mulcahy, who is currently writing a biography on Greenwood, traveled to Knoxville from Oregon for the exhibit’s official opening on June 6, an event she described as a “moving experience.” “I think her broad feeling for the world was both for women and children, but also just for people who had suffered or been oppressed,” Mulcahy said. “She was essentially very humanistic.” See GREENWOOD on Page 3
“Choosing not to opt-in wouldn’t save you a dime, it would simply cost you countless opportunities of student engagement at UT.” OPINIONS>>pg. 4
Do not count head basketball coach Donnie Tyndall among the multitudes of Vol fans enjoying their first look at their brand new team at the Rocky Top League. The six-team league, comprised mostly of the top collegiate basketball players from East Tennessee, features 10 current Tennessee Volunteer basketball players as well as five former Vols. The league that has been around for eight years now plays their games on Monday and Wednesday nights at Knoxville Catholic High School where they began competition on June 16 and will end on July 2. “From the scores I saw there wasn’t a lot of defense being played and all we talk about in our workouts is defense and rebounding,” Tyndall said. “Probably two extremes there, I know the Rocky Top League is fun and they have a good time. It’s great for our fans but on the flip side our workouts have been competitive and spirited. Guys have had great attitudes and energy and we’re making progress.” In a frenzied pace, Tyndall and his staff have put a team together with a solid recruiting class led by two Junior College transfers Eric McKnight and Ian Chiles. “They’ve been good,” Tyndall said, referring to the two transfers. “In a large part having played two years of college ball even though it was at the junior college level, both were in competitive, good junior college leagues and both played for good coaches. So those two guys are ahead of the typical freshman.” Tyndall was also able to snag four-star signee Detrick Mostella who has averaged in the mid 30’s for points per game in the Rocky Top League. The only two players that have scored more than him in the league are current Vol Kevin Punter and former Vol D’Montre Edwards. “He’s (Mostella) a talented young man, but he’s a million miles away from being an effective player at this level,” Tyndall said. “He’s a great kid. He works hard, but he doesn’t have any detail in his play right now. He doesn’t have any idea how to play right now and that’s my job as the coach to get him to the point where he does understand and knows how to do those things. On the flip side of that, when you have a really talented guy to work with like Detrick you would expect that curve to be a little quicker where he picks things up at a pretty quick pace.” Young and talented players are great to have, but leaders must anchor them. For that task, Tyndall will look to senior Josh Richardson and junior Armani Moore. See BASKETBALL on Page 6
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