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Students, faculty celebrate UT’s birthday >> pg. 3

McClung Museum introduces pottery exhibit >> pg.5

Lady Vols welcome freshmen into the fold >> pg.6

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Issue 15, Volume 124

Cheek: ‘We can make it by 2020’ UT drops to No. 47 in rankings Emilee Lamb Assistant News Editor

So close, yet so far. On the race to Top 25 status, UT has hit a speed bump. Today, UT was named 47th in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2014 public university rankings, one spot down from last year. Despite this setback, Chancellor Jimmy Cheek remains optimistic about UT’s future. “We did go from 46 to 47, but that’s a very slight move,” Cheek said. “Our trajectory is very positive at the university, and I think that’s the real message.” Using a set of metrics determined by U.S. News and World Reports, top administrators from each university place institutions into the appropriate order. Both Cheek and Margie Nichols, vice chancellor of communications, defended UT’s ranking. “There are three people who vote on it: the president or chancellor of the universi-

ty, the provost and the admissions director,” Nichols said. “There are a lot of universities in there that you may not know anything about, and you’re supposed to vote on them.” Whereas Nichols questioned the ranking process itself, Cheek emphasized how ambitious the Top 25 goal really is, pitting UT against tough competitors. “The reason we chose the Top 25 is that it’s a pretty good consensus that those are about the best universities in the country. If you benchmark yourself against them, that’s a pretty high benchmark,” Cheek said. “It would have been much easier for us to say, ‘Let’s take the universities in the South and benchmark ourselves against them.’” The 2014 rankings heavily considered each school’s graduation and retention rates, possibly lowering UT’s score. Yet, the university has recently undergone small improvements in both statistics. “Today, our students are in the Top 25,” Cheek said. “The two things that we measure at the undergraduate level – graduation rate and retention rate – aren’t there. What does that say? (There is) something we’re not doing right here. Our

goal is to get to at least 75 percent.” Because of the criteria’s limited scope, Cheek feels that the number given is not necessarily indicative of an institution’s overall quality. “When we put together the Top 25, we said we want to be a Top 25 public research university. That means that we’re not only concerned with undergraduates, but we’re concerned about graduate students,” Cheek said. “So, we’re competing on a whole variety of fronts. U.S. News and World Report only focuses on undergraduate education” Still, Cheek expressed his confidence in reaching the coveted Top 25 slot. “If we can move student retention and graduation rates at the rate we’ve been moving, we can make it by 2020,” he said. “But we have to continue to put pressure on moving those two statistics every year.” Student Government Association president Jake Baker also feels that UT is making meaningful progress toward this goal, however distant it may seem now. “I think the important thing to realize is that we are not the only school with a Top 25 initiative,” Baker said. “This drop does not mean that UT has gotten worse, it

Bradi Musil Contributor

ers at 5-foot-11, Wilkinson is the ideal center forward, possessing the kind of power and speed that make her an opponent’s worst nightmare. Thestrup, on the other hand, was a budding creative force with the Denmark under-19 women’s team, a squad she helped lead to this past summer’s U-19 European championship after scoring three times in the preceding qualifiers.

Whether during the Crusades or the ongoing Syrian conflict, religion has been used for centuries as justification for war. UT is welcoming back its Distinguished Lecture Series – which had copious amounts of success last year – and kicked off the series, titled “The Sacred and the Secular: Conflict and the Creation of a Moral World,” with Philippe Buc, Ph.D, on Sept. 9. Jay Rubenstein, Ph.D, and associate professor of history with a focus on the first crusades, sought out Buc to visit UT as the year’s first guest speaker. Buc, a distinguished religious historian and author of books concerning religious impact on past and present violence, spoke to students in an effort to shed light on the typically touchy topic. Buc, who received his education in France as well as the U.S., was a professor of medieval European history at Stanford from 1990-2011, and is now universität-professor at the University of Vienna. With a growing population of people who question the logic behind world wars, Buc’s lecture, “Wars to End All War: Apocalypse and Conflict in Medieval Europe and Beyond,” focused on the history of religious tensions as the origin of mass slaughtering. “The scope of his ideas is pretty incredible,” said Nathan Reeves, a first year masters student in the musicology program. “He’s connecting thousands and thousands of years of Christian history and the method by which he does it is pretty convincing. I really liked his idea of how this one exegesis, this one interpretation of the Bible, has led to countless religious wars. I think that I’m definitely going to have to read his whole book when it comes out.” By citing and referencing areas of scripture – along with other scholars’ and historians’ research – Buc’s ultimate goal was to rationalize beliefs, which help to justify extreme violence or hatred for a group of people in the name of Christianity. “You have to be an amazing scholar to handle what he’s handling and to put it into a meaningful synthesis,” Erin Darby, Ph.D, and assistant professor in religious studies, said. “We are very lucky to have someone like (Rubenstein) who can bring in speakers like this.” Although certain regions are well-known for extreme religious demonstrations, Buc said that a history of religious vengeance exists worldwide. “There is something strange about the imaginary universal scope of struggles fought against small groups of pagans by small groups of Christians,” Buc said. “Yet, it is still in our imagination. We wage world wars with world-historical meaning.”

See SOCCER on Page 6

See SACRED & SECULAR on Page 3

Hannah Cather • The Daily Beacon

Chancellor Cheek prepares to field questions from reporters during Tuesday’s press conference addressing the recent U.S. News and World Report rankings, in which UT fell one spot from last year to 47th.

just means that other schools are getting better at a quicker rate.” Although UT as an institution fell in the rankings, individual academic programs were given high marks.

According to the report, UT’s undergraduate program was placed 27th among public universities. The supply chain management and logistics specialty ranked sixth in the nation.

Humility key for Lady Vol forwards Brian Canever Contributor

Hannah Cather • The Daily Beacon

Students stretch before tryouts for the VOLstars, an on-campus recreational cheerleading organization, on Sept. 10 in the University Center.

VOLStars offers cheerleaders second chance Hannah Moulton Contributor For many, cheering at the collegiate level is out of the question. Is graduating high school the end of the road for those who eat, sleep and breathe cheerleading? The answer is no, thanks to VOLStars. VOLStars is an on-campus recreational cheerleading organization that helps students continue pursuing their passion for cheerleading. Alexandria Calhoun, founder of the organization, stresses the importance of giving students a channel for expressing their cheerleading abilities. “I wanted to provide another outlet for girls and/or guys, if they want to, to be able to continue to do what they love,

if they couldn’t do it for the school team,” said Calhoun, senior in supply chain management. “It’s one of my passions, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to cheer here in college.” Calhoun is currently president, founder, coach and choreographer. She founded the group her sophomore year. Betsy Cherian, junior in electrical engineering, also assists with the squad. “We give people the opportunity to still express their love for cheerleading without it being as strenuous,” Cherian said. Calhoun formed VOLStars to make an impact on campus, and to leave behind an organization as a legacy that would let students continue to partake in the sport that they love.

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“How can I provide a way for me to still do what I love and to leave a legacy on this campus, to change or to enhance this campus, to bring something different to this campus?” Calhoun asked. “Because I know there are different organizations, but there hasn’t been anything related to cheerleading other than the cheerleading team.” VOLStars stands out among typical cheerleading organizations, Calhoun explained. These cheerleaders do not do the usual sideline type cheering. They perform routines more akin to competitive cheerleading. “We don’t actually cheer like ‘go team go,’” Calhoun said. “We do all-star style routines, which include a dance, stunting and tumbling.” See VOL STARS on Page 5

Students at the University of Tennessee come from far and wide, across cities and states throughout the country. But, for two players on the Lady Vols’ soccer team, out-of-state does not begin to explain the distance they have traveled. Forwards Hannah Wilkinson and Amalie Thestrup are two of the shining stars on head coach Brian Pensky’s vibrant Lady Vols roster. The 21-year-old Wilkinson, a junior forward from New Zealand, is one of the most accomplished soccer players that has played at UT’s Regal Soccer Stadium. On the international stage, she has amassed over 20 appearances, including appearances in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2012 London Olympics. After leading the Lady Vols in scoring during her debut season in 2012, Wilkinson has already been a crucial part of this season’s success, racking up five goals and three assists in six starts. Towering over most defend-

Like The Daily Beacon is printed using soy based ink on newsprint containing recycled content, utilizing renewable sources and produced in a sustainable, environmental responsble manner.

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French author discusses link between war, world religions

The Daily Beacon

Hudson Forrister • The Daily Beacon

Forward Amalie Thestrup, a Denmark native, dribbles past a defender in a match against James Madison at Regal Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 1.

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