07 01 15

Love made law “They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right ...

“It is so ordered.” >> See page 2 for the story Volume 129 Issue 5

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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

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The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, June 24, 2015

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5-4 ruling legalizes same-sex marriage Hannah Marley

Production Artist

uncertainty when Justice Anthony Kennedy, the majority opinion author, opened his announcement acknowledging the historic definition of marriage between a man and a woman.

“We just were not sure how this was going to go, because this could be a very narrow decision,” Holland said. “He transitioned, there was a deep relief and people began to sob and cry. Lawyers aren’t known for being emotional, but there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.”

What Kennedy described was a fundamental right to marriage inherent in the equal protections clause of the fourteenth amendment, requiring all states to not only recognize, but also perform marriages within their borders.

By clarifying marriage as a fundamental right, the court applied a standard level of strict scrutiny that government must meet to challenge that standard, serving as recognition of an individual’s right to marry and as a safeguard against potential legal disputes.

“It was wonderful, it was a relief, because it clears up a great deal of legal wrangling and uncertainty that Justice Kennedy speaks to in his majority opinion,” Holland said.

“Uncertainty in the law leads to a great deal of litigation, which means that people are being harmed.”

Kennedy’s opinion also commented on such legal uncertainty: “Especially against a long history of disapproval of their relationships, this denial to same-sex couples of the right to marry works a grave and continuing harm.

The imposition of this disability on gays and lesbians serves to disrespect and subordinate them.”

While the law reflects equal right to fair treatment under the law, Kaedee White, a member of OUTreach at UT, said she wants people to remember that discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community is still an ongoing battle.

“This is huge, but this is step one,” White said. “(Marriage) is a big deal in both a physical and emotional sense for many people. But we are not done fighting.”

White also explained that the fight for legal protection must propel beyond the Supreme Court’s decision into equal rights for transgender individuals and LGBTQ+ youth, a group placed at higher risk of suicide and depression.

Results from a 2001-2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance conducted by the Center for Disease Control & Prevention revealed that LGBTQ+ students who did not attend school within the last 30 days due to safety concerns ranged from 11 to 30 percent.

Holland agreed with White’s analysis of LGBTQ+ issues, saying the Supreme Court’s decision must coincide with cultural changes statewide as pushback emerges from the June 26 ruling.

“To this day, I still have cases dealing with race discrimination, with sex discrimination, with AIDS discrimination,” Holland said. “I don’t think our work here is done, but I do think this is a big step in the right direction.”

On June 26, 2015 at 10 a.m. the Supreme Court of the United States released their opinion on Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing samesex marriage in all 50 states in a 5-4 decision.

The decision, passed to interns who sprinted down the marble steps of the Supreme Court building, sparked celebrations throughout DC and the rest of the country as millions of American same-sex couples learned that they, along with their heterosexual peers, received the right to marry under the United States Constitution.

Thomas Carpenter, senior in classics, witnessed the historic moment on the courthouse steps after briefly leaving his summer internship with Rep. Steven Cohen (D-Tenn.).

“It was about 95 percent LGBTQ+ people, and the other 5 percent were religious,” Carpenter said. “You could feel in the air that something historic was about to happen, and when it did, I had never been in a crowd that was that excited before.

“I felt like I was at a UT football game.”

The same excitement ignited celebrations in Knoxville, where plaintiffs Sophy Jesty and Val Tanco, lawyer Regina Lambert, and Knoxville’s first married same-sex couple congregated to express their elation, pride and gratitude to the highest court in the nation.

“This is a win for so many families in so many states across the country,” Jesty said. “Thank you SCOTUS for taking away all of that worry and concern and replacing it with legitimization of our love for our families and our children. Thank you.”

The unifying factor connecting the hundreds of diverse people gathered in front of the courthouse and across the country, Carpenter said, was evident in the bond between couples and within a minority freshly validated under federal law.

“There was a lot of love in that crowd,” Carpenter said. “Love was the defining characteristic of that crowd.”

For Maureen Holland, a member of the Memphis legal team and a civil rights employment lawyer, the scene inside the courtroom itself was equally emotional upon hearing Kennedy’s majority opinion and realizing her own marriage will be recognized in The Henley Street Bridge showcases its Knoxville pride.

Tennessee and nationwide.

Holland recalled her nerves and Esther Choo • The Daily Beacon

CAMPUSNEWS

Wednesday, July 1, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

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Knoxville celebrates marriage equality at World’s Fair Hannah Marley

Production Artist

“Today, the Supreme Court of the United States said that we have the fundamental right to marry the person we love.”

With this declaration, Regina Lambert, a UT law professor and member of the Tennessee legal team involved in Obergefell v. Hodges, addressed members of Knoxville’s LGBTQ+ and Ally community that gathered in World’s Fair Park to celebrate the legalization of samesex marriage on Saturday.

In spite of thunder and pouring rain, the assembly expressed their overwhelming enthusiasm and excitement over the longawaited decision. Crowds cheered for Lambert and the two plaintiffs, Sophy Jesty and Val Tanco, who spoke about their experience over the past 20 months and the joy given by the Supreme Court’s decision.

“So many people have asked us how we felt when we heard the decision this morning, and it’s difficult to explain, but I know that you people know better than anyone else,” Jesty

said. “It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off our family.”

Tanco, Jesty’s wife, also spoke of her immediate relief for her family’s safety and validated marriage — all while holding their daughter Emilia on her back in a rainbow-colored blanket.

“Today I’m going to hold Sophy and Emilia very close, because I don’t have to worry anymore about our family being recognized,” Tanco said. “I don’t have to worry about what would happen if anything were to happen to me or my daughter or my wife.

“The weight is gone, and I thank the Supreme Court today with all of my heart.”

This sentiment was shared by Jon Coffee and Keith Swafford, who were married hours earlier in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church after obtaining a marriage license at the Knox County Clerk’s office.

“I would like to introduce my husband,” Coffee said amid deafening cheers as he and Swafford raised their joined hands to the crowd.

The newlyweds described the entire situation as “overwhelming.” They said they did not plan on becoming the first same-sex couple

UT Trustees raise tuition, staff salary Staff Report Last week, UT’s Board of Trustees convened at Hollingsworth Auditorium on June 24 and 25 to discuss the budget for the 201516 fiscal year, salary raises for UT faculty, tuition, institutional goals, partnerships and honorary titles.

UT President Joe DiPietro headed the majority of the Board’s meeting, which began as a tribute to the late Dr. Ed Boling, UT’s longest serving president.

One of the meeting’s major agenda items proposed a 3 percent tuition increase for UT campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Martin as part of a $2.13 billion budget for the upcoming year.

DiPietro reports the increase comes as the lowest tuition increase in more than 30 years, allowing the additional funding to increase salary for UT faculty and staff starting July 1.

For in-state students entering UT in the upcoming fall semester, annual tuition will increase a total of $312, from $10,366 to $10,678. Coupled with rates for out-of-state students, an overall 5.7 percent change in tuition is planned for all undergraduates.

“This tuition increase follows our 3-3-0 model we have been discussing for nearly a year now,” DiPietro said. “We did very well this year in state funding and thank the gover-

nor and legislators for their support. We must continue to press for the increased support, but also plan for difficult budget circumstances in the future.”

The follow salary increase is attributed to state support from the Tennessee General Assembly after they approved the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s request for an additional $25.7 million for state colleges and universities based on academic performance.

The $8.3 million received from state appropriations will fund the 1.5 percent increase for UT employees as well. Adjustments for salary will be made individually for each campus per the wishes of each institution’s fund allocation choice.

According to the published budget, Knoxville’s campus is scheduled to receive a 1 percent salary increase across the board and a 2 percent increase for market and merit adjustments.

In addition to its decision on increased tuition and salary, UT Board of Trustees unanimously approved to rename the Black Cultural Center after UT alumni Ron and Don Frieson.

UTDAILYBEACON.COM See full story online at utdailybeacon.com

in the county to marry, but knew from the beginning they wanted to tie the knot on the first day they could.

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero also made an appearance at the celebration, calling on the audience to celebrate victory while encouraging votes for local leaders in support of LGBTQ+ rights within Knoxville.

“The law may say one thing, but the heart may say something else,” Rogero said. “While we may have the legal right, we still need to work hard to get to know one another to encourage acceptance of all people in our city.”

Despite Coffee and Swafford’s appearance and the emotional speeches from both plaintiffs and Lambert, all five recognized future obstacles for LGBTQ+ rights, calling the crowd to remember inequality for LGBTQ+ community in the workforce as well as prejudice faced by their transgender peers.

“I want us all to remember that we’re not done yet,” Lambert said. “We still have employment discrimination, we still have housing discrimination, and we need to use this momentum to keep moving forward until all Americans are treated equally.

The Tennessee and LGBTQ+ flags fly side by side during a celebration Friday night after the decision was announced.

Hannah Marley • The Daily Beacon

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The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Community grant jumpstarts new public commuter route Kurtis Welch

Contributor

Knoxville is on track to become more cyclist friendly.

Legacy Parks and the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club were awarded an REI community grant Thursday for their proposal to place a connecting bridge across Redbud Road. The bridge will connect the newly acquired Wood property — 100 acres of land donated in August 2013 by family members of the late Pat Wood — to the Urban Wilderness “South Loop” in South Knoxville.

Nolan Wildfire, REI Knoxville’s outdoor program and outreach market coordinator, said his company looks for partnerships working to increase access to local natural areas.

“There’s no way to cross the road whatsoever currently for either people walking on the trails or hiking on the trails or cycling on the trails,” Wildfire said. “This provides a fantastic connector between two parts of the park, as well as connecting into the local neighborhoods and the middle school.”

The new bridge would connect surrounding neighborhoods to 42 miles of trail in the South Loop portion of Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness

and provide a new commuter route for public use.

Yet, this new trail addition is only one of the projects that AMBC and Legacy Parks have worked on together.

AMBC President Matthew Kellogg said his organization has been working with Legacy Parks on urban wilderness projects for five years, and he considers the bridge as another safety improvement for all individuals.

“We strive to be the trail-keepers for Knoxville.

We don’t discriminate based on trail users. We build trails for all users, not just bikes,” Kellogg said.

Since REI Knoxville’s establishment in October 2014, the city’s urban wilderness initiative provides opportunities for Knoxvillians to enjoy the surrounding natural areas a few miles from the downtown district.

Bell Sports, a company that specializes in bike helmets, also awarded AMBC $100,000 after the organization won an online voting competition earlier this month among several cities in the U.S. AMBC members are currently planning to build a downhill mountain bike track on the Wood family property with the grant money, later to be named Gravity Trail.

A study by UT economics professor Charles Sims, published earlier this month by the

“If we are encouraging people to get outside to recreate in our natural spaces, those people will be more inclined to take care of those natural places and spaces.”

-Nolan Wildfire Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, outlines the benefits of expanding the urban wilderness initiative locally in venues such as the South Loop and Gravity Trial.

The study also includes data provided by other Urban Wilderness programs across the

U.S., claiming “as a national destination, the Urban Wilderness would generate $29 million in total annual expenditures.”

“We as a club have always known that the trails are an economic driver. Whether it’s been in a study or not, it’s really nice to have something to back it up with now,” Kellogg said.

Kellogg also commented that amateur studies conducted in areas with urban wilderness programs have recorded millions of dollars in real estate in the last three years.

Legacy Parks reports that Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness already boasts 1,000 forested acres along downtown’s south waterfront, over 40 miles of multi-purpose trails, 10 parks and four Civil War sites.

The inclusion of the Wood property will increase the park’s overall capacity, while Redbud Road bridge is scheduled for completion by late Fall 2015.

“If we are encouraging people to get outside to recreate in our natural spaces, those people will be more inclined to take care of those natural places and spaces,” Wildfire said. “As a result, it would be a cyclical thing where we are encouraging people to get outside and take care of the places that they love.”

For more information about Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness program, visit www.outdoorknoxville.com.

Sen. Baker estate sold, but legacy sustained Altaf Nanavati Copy Editor

The legacy of Capitol Hill’s “Great Conciliator” and his 50-year career still lives on in his Huntsville homestead and at UT. Nearly one year after his death on June 26, 2014, Sen. Howard Baker Jr.’s estate was sold to a successful bidder on June 20 for $641,000, later totaled at $705,001 when coupled with

The late Senator Howard Baker Jr. the 10 percent buyer’s fee.

Baker’s estate, built in 1953 and surrounded by 11.5 acres of property, was where he spent most of his life when away from his duties as a senator and U.S. ambassador to Japan from 2001 to 2005.

Chuck Fisher, project manager for Furrow Auction Company, said the estate served as a place of respite for Baker.

“That’s where he came when he wanted to get away from all the pressures and stress of the political life,” Fisher said. “He referred to his

home as the ‘center of the universe.’”

The Tennessee Republican accommodated many important officials at his house including President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, who stayed in one of the rooms of the guesthouse, now appropriately named the “Reagan Room.”

Before running for office, Baker studied law and served as UT’s student body president. After graduating in 1949, Baker first went to work at his father’s law firm and ran for office in 1964.

The UT graduate lost his first election, but ran again in 1966 and became the first Republican elected senator from East Tennessee.

Baker first established his credibility as a political leader during Watergate hearings in 1973-1974 by serving as the vice chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee. He later asked the question remembered as a linchpin for President Nixon’s resignation: “What did the president know and when did he know it?”

In addition to his accomplishments as a senator, Nissa Dahlin-Brown, associate director at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, said Baker never forgot about his alma mater.

“As far as UT goes, I think it is easy to say that he always had a soft spot in his heart for UT because of being from Tennessee and having gone to school here,” Dahlin-Brown said.

She added that thanks to the former sena-

tor, the Baker Center has hosted many great speakers.

“He was always engaged with the center from the beginning,” Dahlin-Brown said. “Whenever we had legendary speakers visit the center, it was all because he would write a letter and ask them to come speak.”

During his time as senator, Baker was dubbed D.C.’s “Great Conciliator” due to his ability to resolve pressing issues by bringing representatives from both parties together through compromise.

Dahlin-Brown believes this ability to bridge party lines is what distinguished Baker from other legislators of his time and today.

“He didn’t fit the mold of what some people would think of a Republican,” Dahlin-Brown said. “He really worked for what he thought was important.”

Baker Ambassador Morgan Chance, a junior in political science, said Baker would be pleased to witness the values and diverse interests incorporated into the Baker Center’s programs at UT. “Senator Baker would be proud of the work the Baker Center has done to further help young people understand leadership and governance, global security, and energy and environment, and most importantly — bipartisanship,” Chance said. “The Baker Center is one important way his legacy lives on at the University of Tennessee.”

ARTS&CULTURE

Wednesday, July 1, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

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4 ways to celebrate the 4th Fire on the Water

Get your firework fix early. Anderson County’s firework show is often overshadowed by downtown Knoxville’s Boomsday, so most don’t realize it’s the third largest in the state. Come out to Lake Norris on June 28 to watch this 27-minute show of non-stop fireworks starting at dark. Admission is free.

Megan Patterson

Arts & Culture Editor

This Fourth of July, get out of downtown and go beyond your average barbecue. A few of these Gatlinburg’s Midnight Parade events require a bit of a drive, but they might be the out-of-town adventure you need. Whether Be among the first in the nation to kick off the holiday with this parade starting at midnight on you’re looking for fireworks, parades, music or history, East Tennessee has plenty to offer. So before you fire up your grill and load up on hot dogs and watermelon, take a look at what other July 3. Marching bands, bagpipes, large balloons and illuminated floats bring the pizazz of a Macy’sesque celebration to a small town in the Smokies. The parade route starts on East Parkway and possibilities your weekend could have in store. continues until the end of the downtown street near Ski Mountain Road. If you can stay up through the next day, the party goes on with a river raft regatta, free concerts and a fireworks display.

Museum of Appalachia Get in touch with the true spirit of the holiday and celebrate like a pioneer. Experience this unusual and traditional celebration complete with a bell tolling ceremony and raising of the Liberty Pole.

Additional entertainment includes launching a 175-pound anvil into the air and Appalachian storytelling and music by performers throughout the property. Booths will also demonstrate spinning, weaving, blacksmithing, woodcarving, mountain dulcimer making, sassafras tea brewing, cross cut sawing and cedar rail splitting. Admission is $20.

Let Freedom Sing

Although it won’t offer a break from the crowds, it will offer a new scene. This year on July 4, Nashville’s Riverfront Park show will boast more fireworks shells than any display in the country.

Leading up to the fireworks you can count on great music from the country music capital with performances by CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Martina McBride and Grammy-nominated songwriter Mikky Ekko. Additional vendors, performers, and activities will give plenty of options for everyone in your group.

“Dope” geeks navigate college admissions and gangsterdom

Elizabeth Steen Contributor

Three geeks get a taste of gangster life in the new movie “Dope” directed by Rick Famuyiwa, best known for his 1999 cult classic “The Wood.” With a mix of quick wit and drama, Famuyiwa puts a new-age spin on the classic coming-of-age tale.

Malcolm, played by Shameik Moore, is trying to get by in his California town full of gangsters and drug dealers as he juggles SAT scores and college applications.

But, as the movie says, “It’s hard out here for a geek.”

Malcolm and his two best friends Diggy, played by Kiersey Clemons, and Jib, played

by Tony Revolori, are into things classified as “stuff white people like”— a list that includes Donald Glover, ‘90s hip hop and going to college.

When the trio happen to get invited to a party hosted by local drug dealer Dom, played

by A$AP Rocky, they decide to try their luck at hanging out with the “cool kids.”

After the party ends with a police raid and

gunshots, Malcolm finds that Dom has stashed drugs in his backpack. Using their wits, the friends find a way to get rid of the narcotics while avoiding getting in trouble with the cops, and more importantly, the drug lords.

Although most people won’t find themselves caught in a drug ring in their lifetime, this is still a film that speaks to audiences from all backgrounds.

From the way Famuyiwa uses social media to the way he shows the struggle of growing up in a neighborhood where being yourself isn’t always the easiest thing to do, the language he uses is perfect for this generation.

It’s the classic underdog tale of the geeks defeating the jocks, getting the girl and finding out who they are. Except “Dope” tells it in a completely new way.

Even when Malcolm, Diggy and Jib are thrown into this world of narcotics, they never lose sight of who they are and what they want.

In one day, Malcolm manages to do a drug deal and make it on time to a college interview.

It’s a fast-paced, witty film that shows a side of black culture not often portrayed in movies today. It reminds us that if we simply stay true to who we are, that’s the most dope thing you can do.

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The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Not every Southern symbol should be trashed

Tanner Hancock Guest Column

To Nashville, he’s the terrifying monument on the side of I-65. To Memphis, he’s a statue in a downtown park.

To almost everywhere else though, Nathan Bedford Forrest is the embodiment of the racist South, or at least that’s what we’ve been told.

In the aftermath of the Charleston church shooting that saw nine African-Americans killed at the hands of a self-proclaimed white supremacist, Tennessee Representative Jim Cooper called for the removal of General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s bust from the state capitol, claiming that “symbols of hate” have no place on government property.

Memphis Mayor A. C. Wharton made a similar plea in his attempt to remove a statue of the general from Forrest Park in downtown Memphis, joining millions of Americans seeking to exterminate what they see as symbols of hate contributing to racism in America.

If you didn’t already know, Nathan Bedford Forrest was lieutenant general in the Confederate Army whose military exploits earned him the frightening nickname “Wizard of the Saddle.” A millionaire slave owner before the war, Forrest repeatedly defeated superior enemy forces across the war’s western theater, personally killing 30 enemy soldiers while also having 29 horses shot out from under him.

Despite his wartime exploits, Forrest’s involvement with the Klu Klux Klan in the war’s aftermath marred what reputation he might have had in the public eye, but even this association is largely misattributed.

Several news sources, ranging from The New York Times to Vox falsely attribute Forrest as one of the founders of the Klu Klux Klan. While Forrest was at one time considered the de facto leader of the scattered organization, he was not a founding member and later renounced the group altogether.

What politicians and writers fail to mention of Forrest’s life are the efforts he put into extending civil rights to AfricanAmericans following the Civil War. In an 1875 speech to a group of Black southerners advocating for voting rights, Forrest spoke of the “reconciliation between the white and colored races of the Southern states” and his desire to see blacks of the time employed and exercising their newly achieved right to vote.

Most people don’t know, or fail to learn, Forrest’s full story because it’s inconvenient to the past we want to create. The guys in blue were good, the ones in grey were bad. That’s the version of the Civil War we’re taught when we’re 7 and can’t use scissors properly, not the version intelligent adults should carry and promote as righteous truth.

No, Nathan Bedford Forrest was not a saint. He was a slave owner who fought to preserve slavery, and neither of those things

is even remotely worthy of praise, but should he be cast into historical hell for being on the wrong side of history? Honestly, I’m not entirely sure, but as issues surrounding race become more and more heated, we owe it to ourselves to explore the grey areas of our past, not just the cookie cutter version that helps us sleep at night.

History, surprisingly, helps us shed light on the present in ways we’d never expect.

In 1875, Forrest spoke on behalf of AfricanAmericans, but in 1962, the Confederate

Battle flag was raised in front of the South Carolina State House in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement (coincidence?).

Take the flag down, but don’t take down everyone who served underneath it.

Tanner Hancock is a senior in journalism and electronic media. He can be reached at thancoc7@vols.utk.edu

Statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest in Confederate Park Memphis.

VIEWPOINTS

Wednesday, July 1, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

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Why you can’t combat marriage equality laws with religion

Kevin Ridder

Guest Column

Last Friday’s landmark Supreme Court decision was a major victory for a civil rights movement decades in the making.

While this is a massive step forward, the journey to equality for same-sex couples is far from over.

Mere hours after the ruling legitimizing samesex marriage was handed down by Justice Anthony Kennedy, religious conservatives began to cry out that their right to object may soon be compromised. As per usual, the wording selected by those who are loudest projected a sense of impending doom.

“Here’s where the next fight’s going: I think the left is now going to go after our First Amendment rights,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said on NBC’s Meet The Press. “We have to stand up and fight for religious liberty. That’s where this fight is going. The left wants to silence us, Hillary Clinton wants to silence us. We’re not going away.”

This is the very same governor of Louisiana who, after failing to pass a law in May enforcing the religious liberties of business owners to hire, fire and serve people based on their sexual orientation, issued a temporary executive order accomplishing nearly the exact same thing.

Commenting on his executive order in a TimesPicayune article, Jindal is quoted as saying, “This is

even bigger than marriage. It’s the right to live your lives 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to your sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Language such as this is extraordinarily selective, even hypocritical, stating that the only way people of the Christian faith can live their lives free of persecution is to persecute the freedoms of others. People like Jindal aren’t fighting for religious freedom; they’re fighting to make superior their set of beliefs.

The problem I see with the whole religious liberties argument lies in the name itself: religious liberties.

What these people continuously fail to realize is that freedom of religion does not mean freedom for your religion only; it just as equally means freedom from religion. How is it fair to claim that your religious liberties are being violated while you are actively using your religion as an excuse to take freedoms from others?

And Jindal’s comments are far from the most dramatic language used in the past week. Shortly after the SCOTUS decision was announced, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz preached to an Iowa crowd that “the last 24 hours at the United States Supreme Court were among the darkest hours of our nation.”

The darkest hours of our nation? Millions killed in war, a centuries-old legacy of slavery and civil rights abuse, women being treated as second-class citizens

until barely under a century ago; but no, the darkest hours of our nation are people who love each other finally gaining the right to make that love legitimate in the eyes of the law?

They can say they’re fighting for religious liberties, to uphold tradition, but that’s not the truth. People like Cruz and Jindal are fighting for their legal right to discriminate against a group of people they see as inferior.

Unlike what these and many other religious conservatives are striving toward, the same-sex civil rights movement is not about fighting to suppress the freedoms of others. This is not a “War on Christianity.”

The LGBTQ+ community seeks merely to be recognized as equals in the eyes of their peers and of the United States government. And they should be. Gay, straight, bisexual, transgender or anywhere in between, we are all American citizens.

This country was founded on the idea that all humankind is created equal. If we really want to uphold tradition, then why not start there?

Kevin Ridder is a senior in environmental studies.

He can be reached at kridder2@vols.utk.edu

Why vehicle fuel efficiency matters

Franco D’Aprile

Off the Beaten Path

This past weekend, I was helping my father buy a new car when I overheard an interesting exchange in the dealership.

A man had come in to buy a new pickup truck, and he was discussing what he wanted with the salesman.

It went sometime along the lines of this: Salesman: “So what kind of vehicle are you looking for today?”

Buyer: “I’m looking for an F-150.”

Salesman: “All right, are you looking for one with more towing capacity or a big truck bed, perhaps more seating?”

Buyer: “Well, I’m just gonna be using it to drive to the city for work, really.”

Now, people should have the right to pick their own vehicles. They are investing a lot of money into the purchase, and it is a personal choice, after all. However, why is this gentleman purchasing what is essentially a working vehicle to drive to work in a metropolitan area?

If he said he owned an ostrich farm and needed the truck to haul ostrich eggs and feed them … he should really reconsider his life choices because I don’t think many people eat ostrich eggs.

In any case, he is taking a really large vehicle on crowded highways, city streets and parking garages. It cannot be easy to drive something like that in an urban setting. But more important than the comfort of the driver, a vehicle like that consumes high volumes of fuel and takes a lot of materials (metals, plastics, etc.) to produce.

Although large vehicles have gotten more fuel efficient, they are still high consumers.

Let’s say the man is willing to pay for such a large vehicle and doesn’t really care about paying for the fuel.

The truck still has a large carbon footprint, not only from the procuring of materials, transportation and assembly of the car but also from the burning of the fuel it consumes.

In the U.S., transportation accounts for around 28 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. This contributes to not only climate change, but poor air quality as well. Maybe one day we will live in floating cities created by our ape overlords that only use the sun’s rays to give us energy, but for now we are reliant on cars that

“It is obvious to see that cars produce toxic emissions. Flowers and rainbows don’t come shooting out of tailpipes.”

compromise air quality.

We do not live in a time where gasoline is cheap and everyone is ignorant of what happens when you burn it. Whether a climate change denier or not, it is obvious to see that cars produce toxic emissions. Flowers and rainbows don’t come shooting out of tailpipes.

If that pay raise is really burning a hole through your pocket, that’s more than fine. Go out and buy something new, but perhaps look at a nice sedan. For the same amount of money as a gas-spewing truck, you can get a quite nice smaller car with a lot more features. Even try considering a small SUV. Almost all major car manufacturers are releasing small, fuelefficient SUVs. If you really do need a larger car to move that dead body once a year, maybe look into renting.

Consumption for the sake of consumption is exhausting and unsatisfactory; it always leaves us wanting more. Consumption for the sake of solving a problem or meeting needs is refreshing and leaves us satisfied.

So, to the man buying a giant truck to drive into the city every day or that mom who bought an SUV the size of a small whale to drive her two kids to soccer practice once a day or even that man that got that red sports car to prove reaching 50 did not kill his ability to reproduce: I say to you, rethink your purchase. Do yourself, your city and the atmosphere a favor.

Franco D’Aprile is a senior in sustainability. He can be reached at fradapr@vols.utk.edu

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ARTS&CULTURE

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, July 1, 2015

‘Inside Out’ tells us not to stifle Sadness Megan Patterson

Arts & Culture Editor

“Inside Out,� Disney/Pixar’s newest release, teaches audience we can’t — and shouldn’t — always be happy.

I wonder how “Inside Out� was received when someone first pitched it to John Lasseter in the Pixar studio. “Let’s make a movie with no villain and no hero — just a pre-teen girl and her emotions.

Picture a control room in her mind ruled by five core emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. Then watch how they deal with life unfolding.�

My first thought would have been something along the lines of, “Who would ever want to see a movie centered on a middle schooler’s hormonal whims and worries? Thank god I’m leagues more mature now and have a mutual understanding with my emotions that they can only act out of line on my cue (typically signaled by a BAC over 0.08).’ But the truth is, I still have as little control over my emotions as I did in middle school; I’m just better at keeping them below the surface now.

That’s exactly where the main conflict in “Inside Out� occurs, below the surface in the imaginary inner-workings of our minds.

I’ll warn you that spoilers lie ahead. And (in true Lemony Snicket fashion) I’ll add that for once this Disney/Pixar movie doesn’t give us a happy ending, so if that’s what your after then put this article down now. “Inside Out� gives us something even better. “Inside Out� lets sadness save the day, and lets a bittersweet memory form the foundation for a family bond.

Perhaps the most surprising part is that romance never comes up once. Not once — in a Disney movie.

That’s not to say heroic examples of love aren’t shown throughout the film. Sacrifice, selflessness and concern for the main character, Riley, are attributes shared by all of the emotions present in her mind.

But the thing that really saves the day isn’t love — it’s empathy and understanding. Joy has to understand that sometimes you need a little Sadness.

This concept is revolutionary, and it’s blowing my mind that Disney/Pixar was able to communicate it through a children’s movie.

Celebrating sadness is not something that we do. We are taught from a very young age that tears, pain and unhappiness are something to be experienced in private, if at all.

To be called emotional is an insult, and crying is the ultimate weakness.

When and how did this hierarchy of worthwhile emotions form with sadness delegated to the bottom?

In “Inside Out,� Joy seems to have Riley’s best interests at heart as she keeps Sadness away from the controls and out of sight (not quite out of mind).

It isn’t until Joy sees what truly makes Riley fall apart — feeling no emotion at all — that she realizes the value of Sadness.

A film celebrating a pre-teen girl’s sensitive side is a welcome contradiction to our current societal values, which hold stoicism in high esteem and chock emotions up to “being a girl.�

Emotions are part of being a girl, but they are also part of being a boy. They are part of being human.

As “Inside Out� shows, they are the filters that help us categorize, comprehend, and act on our day-to-day experiences.

They bring both good and bad, because at the end of the day they make us who we are.

It’s time to celebrate that.

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PUZZLES&GAMES

Wednesday, July 1, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

9

dadoodlydude • Adam Hatch

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD • Will Shortz Cartoons of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

First lady hosts campout on White House lawn Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Some lucky Girl Scouts are getting the ultimate experience in camping: spending the night sleeping in tents pitched on the White House South Lawn.

Michelle Obama is hosting Tuesday’s campout as part of Let’s Move, her initiative against childhood obesity. “Let’s Move Outside”

promotes taking advantage of the outdoors.

Fifty fourth-grade Girl Scouts from councils in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, the District of Columbia and Oklahoma have been invited.

They will climb rock walls, tie knots, pitch tents and participate in orienteering exercises to earn a new Girls’ Choice Outdoor badge.

Astronaut Cady Coleman will join them after dark for star-gazing led by NASA staff and scientists before the girls call it a night.

ACROSS 1 Fourth U.S. president to win a Nobel Peace Prize 6 Fantasy league deal 11 F.D.R. energy initiative 14 Gore who wrote “Lincoln” 15 Rose from slumber, old-style 16 Scull need 17 Ancient marketplace 18 Singer DiFranco should heed a warning 20 Prefix with center 21 Little Havana locale 22 Cribbage board item 23 Jazz players are incapable 25 Winter recreation vehicle 28 Like rainy weather, say 29 Dukes, earls, etc.

30 Drug ingested in “Easy Rider” 31 Saharan stopovers

34 Busy time for bats 35 W. never existed 37 Little big band, maybe 40 Sunset dirección 41 London’s Paddington, e.g.: Abbr.

44 Something a tuba hits 46 Transport in an Ellington tune 48 Trues up 49 Calculus disappears 51 Federal procurement agcy.

52 Tap-dances, informally 54 Lord’s Prayer possessive 55 Singer Perry opted out 57 Calls it a day 59 Ore suffix 60 Hardly original 61 Language of Sri Lanka 62 Marked wrong 63 Sometimesbranded animal

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3 Took as one’s own 4 Tomei of “The Wrestler” 5 Eggs ___ Suisse 6 Who wrote “When in doubt, tell the truth” 7 Charged headlong 8 Tamiroff of “Anastasia” 9 Curtains, so to speak 10 URL ender 11 Gift to a donor, maybe

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ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE B O C C E

1 14

12 Post-Impressionist with several self-portraits 13 Much of what is auctioned at Sotheby’s 19 Airline with ultralow fares 21 Mexican pyramid builders 23 Mid-fifth century year 24 Salad bar cube 26 Clothing designer Cole 27 “23 red,” e.g., at a casino 29 Anti-D.U.I. ads, e.g.

32 Nursery rhyme dwelling 33 Female producer of lanolin 35 Johnson & Johnson pain soother

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36 Fantasy league concerns 37 Hello, in Rio 38 Ipana competitor, once 39 Injured, as an ankle 41 Fare often served with wasabi 42 Boy in a Scrooge vision 43 “A Bug’s Life” extra 45 Jeans go-with, often 47 Everyday routine 49 Street hustler’s game 50 In pursuit of 53 Often-punted comics character 55 “Kid-tested” cereal 56 Drying-out woe, for short 57 Ice cream amts.

58 Like some grins

10

ARTS&CULTURE

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Musgraves proves she’s no cog in a big machine Hayley Brundige

Managing Editor

After her first album “Same Trailer Different Park,” I didn’t think my love for Kacey Musgraves could be any deeper.

But with the release of her sophomore album, “Pageant Material,” my appreciation for her music and a slight crush on her have only grown.

Just like her first album, “Pageant Material” is honest, lyrically original and beautiful throughout.

Mixed in with upbeat tracks like “High Time” are deeper, melancholy songs like “Miserable” that reveal Musgraves’s tendency toward confessional country music. It’s not surprising Musgraves has named Alison Krauss as one of her main influences.

In “Fine,” a music box-like tune, she sings about the sadness of losing someone you love, saying “Just like the circus, you always leave town/ I can’t help but cry when that big top comes down.”

It’s almost impossible to avoid comparisons between Musgraves and Taylor Swift, despite the completely different trajectories of their careers.

Musgraves would be similar to T. Swizzle if the

“1989” artist had actually grown up in the South and didn’t give a damn about the mainstream. If Swift wore cowboy boots, occasionally swore and smoked weed.

In “Good Ol’ Boys Club,” Musgraves makes a (pretty blatant) jab at Swift when she says, “Another gear in a big machine don’t sound like fun to me.”

Swift — who is signed to Big Machine Records — has strayed far from her (sort of) country beginnings and seems to make music that is generally palatable to everyone and perfect for radio airplay. Swift is the cash cow to Musgraves’ actual cow ... on a farm in rural somewhere.

Musgraves, on the other hand, has the potential to be very popular while sticking to exactly who she is. She embraces her Texas roots for what they are — idiosyncratic, often close-minded and honestly pretty ordinary.

She’s a young feminist voice in an ocean of country redneck dudes telling young girls they have to look a certain way and “shake it for the catfish swimming down deep in the creek” (still confused about that one, Luke). Musgraves is the necessary new voice in a genre that desperately needs a swift kick into the 21st century.

Through a series of cliche southern expressions, Musgraves acts as the voice of reason,

telling girls they don’t have to be “pageant material” and that it’s cool if you want to get drunk sometimes.

The plucky tune “Biscuits,” is the lyrical equivalent of “Follow Your Arrow” off her last album. Musgraves advises us to “Smoke your own smoke and grow your own daisies” and promises that if we mind our own biscuits, “life will be gravy.”

Musgraves to the world: “You do you.”

Best lyric: I’m always higher than my hair/ And it ain’t that I don’t care about world peace/ But I don’t see how I can fix it in a swimsuit on a stage Definitely listen to: Dime Store Cowgirl, High Time, Good Ol’ Boys Club Is there a hidden track?: Why yes, there is. And it features Willie Nelson. And it’s adorable.

Local hip-hop artists to play show Sterling Martin Copy Editor

This Saturday, Knoxville’s blossoming hiphop community will host headliner TUT, a rap artist from Chattanooga, to celebrate Independence Day at the Longbranch Saloon on The Strip.

Kicking the night off, among others, will be Colt Cupit, better known by his stage name QP. Cupit, a junior in nuclear engineering, said he began freestyling for fun with friends before taking the hobby seriously.

“I started writing, and I got addicted to it,” Cupit said. “I started out using Audacity, which is the crappiest software ever, you know, and was getting beats off of YouTube.”

Along with building his personal image as QP over the recent months, Cupit also has been helping the local music scene grow.

“I feel like in order to build our local scene in Knoxville, we need to make sure that the music presented is being presented to the correct audiences,” Cupit said. “People that know TUT and the people who are going to come see TUT are people that listen to hip-hop.

People that know at least something about hip-hop know that this dude is really fresh.”

Cupit expects TUT’s following will benefit openers like himself.

“These people are going to hear the artists performing before TUT, and they will be the right ears,” he said. “They will be the receptive ears that love hip-hop and not listening for just another name.”

As of eight months ago, former UT student

Ben Garretson is now the booking manager of the Longbranch Saloon and is also at the forefront of shaping Knoxville’s music scene.

“I started working in the music business and party business in Knoxville,” Garretson said. “I worked weddings, DJ’d and did lights, all before I switched over to the Longbranch.”

Garretson admitted he was much more familiar with the Knoxville music scene outside of hip-hop before recent months. Now he realizes the full extent of the genre’s reach in Knoxville.

“There’s a huge crowd of Knoxville hip-hop artists, all at different and varying levels of talent,” Garretson said.

He has found the talent and drive of the younger performers especially impressive.

“The young ones can promote pretty well, you know, some of them are even in high school,” Garretson said. “Some of them have all day long while other kids play football, do chess club or whatever, and these kids are promoting themselves as hip-hop artists and bringing in huge crowds and playing sold-out shows.”

He said he attributes some of these same qualities to the upcoming show this weekend.

“TUT is younger,” Garretson said. “He’s on the upswing and I think Knoxville is pretty happy about it.”

Cupit and Garretson are working together toward building Knoxville’s local music scene, and in turn, Cupit hopes to gain success for his venture as QP. “I put my heart in my music … I make music for myself,” Cupit said. “It’s like, I hope people feel it but if they don’t, I don’t care—I’m gonna keep making it.”

SPORTS

Wednesday, July 1, 2015 • The Daily Beacon

11

Intramurals offer healthy competition, friendship Jonathan Toye

Sports Editor Scott Tunnell, Austin Fullbright and Kevon Rivers all told different stories, but the themes were the same.

Tunnell, who graduated last May in business analytics, participated in 10 intramural sports at UT. His friend, Fullbright, a senior majoring in Electrical Engineering, amassed 14 intramural championships. Rivers is a student worker for intramurals, overseeing the scorebook during games and occasionally officiating.

All agreed on the same point: intramurals are essential to the college experience.

Intramurals provide many benefits to students. They help students avoid the dreaded “freshman 15.” They give students the chance to play the sports they love after high school.

They offer students a reprieve from their studies. They occupy students’ free time. And they assist in developing communication skills.

“It kind of establishes a work environment,” Rivers said. “Like what you would do in a workforce: you got to compete and try to cooperate with people you are working with. Sometimes you may not even know those people at all. In every sport, pretty much all intramurals is a team sport. It builds those cooperation skills and communication skills.”

Perhaps the most important benefit of partici-

pating in intramurals: they present the chance to forge friendships.

UT may have over 27,000 students, but it can still be difficult to find friends. Students too immersed in their studies might not find time to discover friends. Other college students might have trouble finding a niche or a group of people who share their interests.

Intramurals are a solution to both conundrums.

“I interacted or met with people I otherwise wouldn’t have seen,” Rivers said. “(Intramurals) is a leeway to friendships. I have made a lot of close friends here.”

Fullbright describes intramurals as an outlet that relieves stress from his grueling electrical engineering studies — an opportunity to forget about exams and homework and compete with friends who share his love for sports.

“Being an engineer, a lot of times my social network is so different outside of that,” Fullbright said in a phone interview. “There are people that I met in intramurals that I would never have come into contact with otherwise if I hadn’t fostered that relationship through intramural sports.

“When you compete with someone, you get all these stories that you can share together. It really helps build that friendship and helps maintain those friendships as well because you can go back and play sports together.”

The friendships in intramurals naturally result in memorable moments, recollections

Harvard athlete among 1st openly transgender NCAA swimmers Associated Press

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Schuyler Bailar was a star recruit for the women’s swimming team at Harvard University, a tough competitor with a shot at winning titles. But Bailar is opting to forgo such honors to join the men’s team instead, competing as one of the first openly transgender swimmers in the NCAA. “It’s half terrifying and half exciting,” said Bailar, a 19-year-old from McLean, Virginia.

“I’m just kind of embracing it with open arms.”

Bailar, an incoming freshman, came out as transgender this year after already being recruited for the women’s team. Initially he planned to stay on that team but had mixed feelings about it — he wanted to swim, but he also wanted to embrace his identity.

The Harvard women’s coach saw that Bailar was torn and helped orchestrate another option: In a surprise move, the university offered Bailar a spot on either the men’s or

women’s team.

“I was blown away,” Bailar said. “I had no idea how to respond.”

On the women’s team, Bailar would have been a top athlete. He had hopes of breaking records and winning titles. In the world of men’s swimming, though, his times were far behind the best. It took two wrenching months to decide, but he finally dropped his competitive goals and joined the men’s team.

“I just want to be a boy,” he remembers thinking. “I can’t live this in-between thing anymore.”

By then, men’s coach Kevin Tyrrell had already gathered the team to talk about adding Bailar.

“We talked about how we’re all about character and values, and I kind of gave my two cents: If we’re going to say that we care about others, then this is something we should consider,” Tyrrell said. “And basically all the guys said, within 15 seconds, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”

Fullbright claims friends will discuss 10 years after college.

Fullbright and Tunnell recall competing in the inner tube water polo championship as one of their favorite memories. Tunnell scored both the game-tying and game-winning goal in the final minute to help his team secure back-to-back championships.

There are also times in intramurals when friends have to console their comrade after a mistake.

Tunnell remembered one basketball game when his friend missed two free throws that would have won the game. He also recalled his companion’s disappointment after the contest.

“He was really disappointed, but he played a really great game,” Tunnell said in a phone interview. “It just gives you an opportunity to be like, ‘Hey it’s alright,’ and support your friend when they are disappointed. Situations like that, you wouldn’t have been in otherwise.”

Tunnell’s memory underscores a cruel lesson learned from intramurals: how to handle failure and disappointment.

“I probably lost more championships than I won,” Fullbright said.

Fullbright admitted that he is competitive.

He scouts future opponents on the intramurals website. He gives his full effort during games.

He has won 14 championships, but still reflects on the games he has lost.

“With Austin Fullbright, adjectives do not suffice,” Tunnell said. “He is the ultimate competitor. He plays with a spirit of intensity that is unmatched by any of his peers. He just exudes greatness like Lebron (James).”

But both Fullbright and Tunnell recognize that sportsmanship is more important than the result of a game.

“It’s not worth winning an intramural game to be a total jerk to someone,” Tunnell said.

But the defeat is only one of the lessons intramurals teaches. Fullbright, Tunnell, and Rivers provided different lessons they encountered during intramurals — how to balance time between homework and sports, how to develop game strategy, and how to contribute to a team.

But they all arrived at the same conclusion: their college experience would not be the same without intramurals.

“A big part of my memories in college have been playing intramurals,” Fullbright said. “A lot of the memories I will look back upon from college will be associated with intramural sports. I can’t really imagine what my college experience would be without it.

“Intramurals have touched every part of my college experience.”

12

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, July 1, 2015

SPORTS

Tennessee Athletics officially welcomes Nike Stephen Kasper Staff Writer

UT student athletes have donned the Adidas logo for nearly 20 years.

But today, the athletic department ushers in a new era as Nike and its iconic “swoosh” logo becomes the official athletic apparel for Tennessee Athletics.

The announcement of the switch to Nike was made nearly a year and a half ago and has been one of the most anticipated moves by Tennessee Athletics in recent history.

Perhaps no one is more excited for Tennessee’s switch to Nike than UT’s athletic director Dave Hart, who took the responsibility of finding the right partner for the Vols very seriously.

“We were very thorough and deliberate in assessing and evaluating our options with our apparel partner decision,” Hart said during the initial announcement that the university’s contract with Adidas would not be renewed.

“Nike is the right partner for the University of Tennessee moving forward.”

Along with the switch comes a complete rebranding of Tennessee Athletics.

Aside from women’s basketball, all other sports will bear the same logo and “Tennessee Volunteers” name in an effort to build what the athletic department is calling “One Tennessee.”

Chancellor Jimmy Cheek claims the “One Tennessee” brand will help both the university’s academic and athletic progress.

“Brand consistency across the university is critical as we strive to become a top 25 public research university,” Cheek said. “It is important that we take advantage of all the successes across this great campus, both in academics and athletics.”

However, not everyone agreed with Cheek’s assertion.

The decision to remove the Lady Vols logo from all women’s sports except basketball has sparked controversy, multiple protests and t-shirts with the phrase “Save the Lady Vols.”

Former Lady Vol volleyball player Leslie Cikra launched a website called “Bring Back the Lady Vols” that attempts to raise awareness on the athletics department’s decision to drop the Lady Vols logo.

“We are all deeply disappointed and hurt by the university taking away this tradition for all women’s sports with the exception of basketball in an attempt to re-brand athletics,” Cikra said on the website.

The website includes letters from former Lady Vol and Vol athletes lamenting the decision. Former basketball players Cierra Burdick and Glory Johnson and former UT football players Tauren Poole and Chris Walker are just few of the The Adidas logo survived for 20 years, but starting today, Nike becomes UT’s official athletic former athletes to submit apparel sponsor. letters, explaining the sigEsther Choo • The Daily Beacon nificance and importance of the Lady Vols moniker.

But starting today, the the Tennessee Volunteers football team, didn’t give Nike a heartfelt “Welcome to Tennessee.”

Lady Vols logo vanishes in all women’s sports hold back his excitement when talking about In a more energetic promotion, Nike joined except basketball, along with the Adidas logo. forces with Vols head football coach Butch Jones the conversion.

The new relationship with Nike isn’t actu“I’m really excited about it all, really,” Smith to create a photo of Jones sitting on a throne of ally that new, however, as Nike has sponsored said. “It brings a lot of excitement and change Nike cleats with the caption “Game of Jones.”

Tennessee Athletics before.

Since the announcement, countless concept to this program. I think the players and fans are “Nike is especially proud to resume our asso- really looking forward to this. I’m ready for the jerseys have been created to boost the imaginaciation with the University of Tennessee,” Nike Nike cleats and jerseys, that’s for sure.” tion and morale of both fans and athletes.

Sports Marketing Director Kit Morris said. “We And while several of them would be acceptDefensive lineman Khalil McKenzie shared admire their rich tradition and are enthusiastic in Smith’s excitement when he posted, “We able attire, only the creative minds at Nike hold to begin working once again with the Volunteer bringing that swag back to the University of the power of Tennessee’s fashion future. student-athletes, coaches and programs.”

But the only way to discover the true new Tennessee #SwooshBaby #VolNation” to his While there are several financial benefits the Twitter account. uniforms is to tune in live today at noon on school will receive, including an initial $2 milIn a video produced by UT, student-athletes utsports.com for the official Nike uniform unveillion signing bonus, having happy coaches and from various sports are recorded while being ing. student-athletes might be even more important. shown their new Nike jersey for the first time.

Josh Smith, a sophomore wide receiver for After their initial excitement wears off, they each