The Daily Beacon

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Issue 38, Volume 121

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Roundtable to discuss income inequality Claire Dodson Staff Writer UT’s Department of Political Science will host a discussion tonight at 7 p.m. in the Baker Center’s Toyota Auditorium to explore the topic, “The Political Origins and Consequences of Inequality: A Roundtable.” The discussion will feature four college professors from various universities interested in income inequality: Joe Soss, Fred Solt, Nita Rudra and UT’s Nathan Kelly. “We’re talking about people's lives here — their abilities to meet their basic needs and pursue their dreams,” Soss, professor at the University of Minnesota, said. “We’re talking about questions of social justice and who gets, what, when, how — about what should be rewarded in our society and in what proportions.” These four panelists will talk about inequality as it relates to politics and political influence. They will discuss how income levels affect who is in power and which issues are addressed at a given time. “The United States is considerably more unequal than nearly any other rich democracy,” Solt, assistant professor at the University of Iowa, said. “This has lots of effects. For example, as inequality has increased, class mobility has declined — the wealthy have been able use their money to provide their children with more and better opportunities than anyone else can afford.” This relationship between income and influence/opportunity is one that these professors have explored in depth for a long time. “When I was in graduate school, I learned for the first time that inequality had been rising steadily for two decades,” Kelly, an associate professor in political science at UT, said.

“Anytime you see a social outcome that’s been moving so consistently in one direction for such a long time, it’s something to be curious about.” Jana Morgan, an associate professor of political science at UT and the moderator of the discussion, thinks UT students will benefit from attending the event and taking advantage of the question and answer session at the end. “The roundtable will give students a chance to hear about a critical political and economic debate from experts doing cutting edge research on the topic,” Morgan said. “We all have opinions about politics and inequality, and the roundtable will offer a chance to connect opinions to evidence.” This issue is especially timely, as many college students will soon have the opportunity to vote for the next president. Inequality plays a major role in many of the issues the U.S. will be facing in the coming years, and some of this inequality directly affects college students. “The distribution of resources is a fundamental debate in politics and much political competition is essentially rooted in the question of who gets what,” Morgan said. “Therefore understanding how politics affects this central outcome is really important for gaining insight into political competition and for considering how politics affects our lives.” If UT students feel like their voices are not being heard, Solt explains that inequality plays a major role in that. “If college students are tired of feeling that no one in government is looking out for people like them, they need to understand that economic inequality is a principal reason why,” Solt said. “Getting income inequality back under control, and so making the government more responsive to ordinary people, is going to be a major challenge for the foreseeable future.”

(L-R) Joe Soss, Nate Kelly, Fred Solt and Nita Rudra

Workshop held to aid in writing personal statements Samantha Smoak Staff Writer

Katlin Fabrri • The Daily Beacon

Students discuss questions with other students across the state during the first presidential debate on Oct. 3. Students can watch a debate between College Republicans, College Democrats and Students for Liberty on Thursday in the UC’s Shiloh Room at 7 p.m.

Students hold political debate David Cobb Assistant News Editor Lynn University, the University of Denver, and Hofstra University — all host schools of the 2012 presidential debates. Throw UT into that category as well. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney aren’t coming to Rocky Top, but representatives from UT’s College Democrats, College Republicans and Students for Liberty are having a debate of their own tonight in the Shiloh Room of the University Center. The event is called “Pizza and Politics.” It starts at 7 p.m. and is open to everyone. “For the most part, people who are involved in the College Republicans,

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Democrats or Students for Liberty, we’re unusual people,” Justin Hickerson, College Republicans president, said. “We’re not the norm in terms of involvement with political campaigns, and just interest in politics in general. “... Hopefully this debate will bring in people who aren’t as interested in politics, because it’s a setting where they’re surrounded by their peers and having a discussion about politics, and who is going to be elected. They’re not watching Barack Obama and Mitt Romney debate on some stage in New York. They’re getting to see it happen in real life with their peers, and that’s really important.” The Government Affairs committee of

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SGA and The Honor’s Council are sponsoring the event alongside the three student political groups. “I expect that the event will really highlight the differences between not only the two candidates, but between the two major political parties, as well as the (Students for Liberty),” Jennifer Baldwin, College Democrats president, said. “I think it will show a clear difference between what our parties stand for and what our future is for the country.” Those differences will be expressed through discussion of the economy, healthcare, education and foreign policy. See PIZZA & POLITICS on Page 2

Personal statements are among the many types of writing that may mystify students. Fortunately, UT’s Career Services is offering a program to help out. The seminar on successful personal statements will take place today from 4 to 5 p.m. in Dunford Hall. The session will specifically focus on writing personal statements for graduate school and professional school admissions purposes. The session will be taught by Stephanie Kit, the associate director of Career Services. “(The session is) designed for students planning to apply to graduate school,” Kit said. “Students who are currently in the process or planning to go through it soon will probably find it most applicable.” She added, “I (will be) presenting information at this workshop designed to help students understand what type of information to include in personal statements for graduate school.” Personal statements are essays required by graduate schools as a part of the admissions process. “They give insight about candidates communication skills, motivation and goals to those who are making admissions decisions. They fill in some of the gaps about candidates that GPA and tests scores don’t indicate,” Kit said.

Kit also hopes that students will take away some of the key skills that will help them get into graduate programs. She will help students know how to get started on their statement and how to know what to write about. What to include, what not to include, brainstorming, the importance of beginning with an interesting introduction, resources for writing statements and examples of good personal statements are all things that will be covered in the session held today. “The staff at Career Services will critique students’ personal statements and offer them other assistance with the graduate school admissions process,” said Kit. Writing personal statements can be tricky for students to write. Students like Christina Lulich, sophomore in architecture, who haven’t written a personal statement for some time can benefit from the session. “The only time I’ve written a personal statement was for a scholarship application,” Lulich said. “So I haven’t written one since my senior year of high school.” For information about what Career Services offers, students can visit Career Service’s website at career.utk.edu. Career Services can also be liked on Facebook at “UT Knoxville Career Services,” and followed on Twitter at @VolCareers.

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

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