The Daily Beacon

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Issue 41, Volume 121

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Fair wage clothes on sale at UT Bookstore Blair Kuykendall Editor-in-Chief Last spring, UT alumna Gretchen Chomas helped gather support on campus to source fair wage clothing in UT’s bookstore. This fall, Robert Naylor, a sophomore in global studies, has helped make this vision a reality. “The student body, faculty, and staff are elated that Alta Gracia is now available through the UT Bookstore,” Chomas said in a statement. “With the prices comparable to that of the larger brands, and ... a change in treatment for workers, there is no reason Alta Gracia shouldn’t fly off the shelves. ... If the bookstore does their part to display it well, restock it, and promote it like they do other brands, we anticipate that sales will be great.”

Tia Patron • The Daily Beacon

Alta Gracia has various clothing styles for men and women.

Amnesty International, the Progressive Student Alliance, Tyson House Student Ministries, the Food Policy Council and Lambda Student Union have all partnered with Chomas and Naylor to make this possible. “Many of my friends are very excited about the appearance of the brand and are looking forward to getting their shirts,” Naylor said. “Everyone I have talked to loves the clothes as much as they love the story behind them.” Chomas believes students will be able to dress well while at the same time enhancing other lives. “It truly embodies the Vol mission to lead and make a difference on a global level by doing our part on a local level,” Chomas said. Naylor hopes to foster cooperation between administrators and student leaders to support worker rights. “I’m definitely still wanting to meet with more student groups about this issue to endorse the campaign and hopefully run a few educational events in the near future,” Naylor said. “The more students that buy Alta Gracia, the more likely the bookstore will expand their order. We definitely are still hoping to meet with the manager to discuss how we can help the order expand. ...” Naylor and Chomas both believe that there is more work to be done. “We wish the administration would be a little more proactive about insisting that we source living-wage union-made apparel, and that they would use our status as an excellent sports school to get brands that aren’t respecting workers’ rights to step up to the plate and do their part,” Chomas said. “We hope to meet with Chancellor Cheek to further discuss what we think UTK could be doing.” Chomas addressed her concerns about the university’s relationship with adidas. “UT has not yet taken action to correct the case of wage theft that adidas is involved with in Indonesia, where they owe already struggling families more than $1.8 million,” Chomas said. “UT is a huge customer of adidas — we feel that our speaking up and asking for improved corporate behavior could go a long way. We’ve not heard a willingness from the administration to do this yet, but it’s a conversation we’re just beginning, and we really hope they will be receptive to this.” Chomas hopes the administration will be willing to work with students on the issue. “We hope Chancellor Cheek will see that this is the right

Authors tell fraternity to ‘Burn Your Resume’

Tia Patron • The Daily Beacon

The UT Bookstore has a section dedicated for the Alta Gracia clothing line. thing for Vols and consider suspending business with adidas until they agree to step up and take care of their employees like they should. Other schools have done this. Cornell and Oberlin have cut their contracts completely.” Naylor agrees there is more yet to accomplish. “I am excited that we have Alta Gracia, but it is very much a baby step in the right direction,” Naylor said. “Students now have the choice to support workers rather than exploit them. But for this to really work at UT, students shouldn’t have to choose between eight or so items. I think Alta Gracia should make up (a) good chunk of the bookstore’s orders....”

Around Rocky Top

David Cobb Assistant News Editor When Rob Graham met UT graduate and Nashville businessman Paul Frankenberg at his church in Brentwood this summer, he developed an idea. “He came and spoke to one of our college ministries,” Graham, a sophomore finance major, said, “and the whole time while he was speaking, the whole time, I was just thinking ‘I’ve got to get this guy on campus.’” That thought came to fruition Sunday afternoon at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house. Frankenberg and Ethan Dunham, co-authors of the book “Burn Your Resume,” spent more than an hour imparting advice to Delt brothers on how to develop potency in today’s job market. “It’s really about understanding who we are and understanding where our strengths, passions and interests lie, and understanding how to build and manage relationships to help to drive us on that path,” Dunham said. “The (title) is to help people. It’s not literally setting flame to the document, it’s just to sort of free ourselves from a reliance on that document as the only way to get in.”

Gabby Earby • The Daily Beacon

Students watch demonstrations of Thai cooking on Oct. 16.

Club helps writers improve Samantha Smoak Staff Writer

• Photo courtesy of Paul Frankenberg and Ethan Dunham

Frankenberg’s primary motivation for writing the book stemmed from a desire to ignite something else — careers. “I’ve been doing executive recruiting for 15 years and spoken to probably 40,000 different executives,” Frankenberg said. “And I’ve spoken to a lot of college students. Every

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now and then you get a college student who says, ‘Okay if you can help, I’m willing to let you help me.’ Some of them successfully found jobs, and I thought there’s got to be a bigger way to get this message to a lot of people. So a book may be a way to do that.” See RESUME on Page 3

Bray put on notice page 6

Students passionate about writing have the opportunity to work on their writing skills by participating in UT’s Creative Writing Workshop Club. The Creative Writing Workshop Club is a constructive environment for writers to improve their writing skills in a warm and friendly setting. Although small and relativity unknown, it has existed at the university for many years, and for many of its members, there is absolutely nothing in this world like writing. As Katherine Cahill, junior in English, said, “You get so wrapped in the story that nothing else exists except the story and the keyboard. You hear nothing, see nothing, and time ceases to matter.” The club will meet today at 7 p.m. at the Panera Bread restaurant located on the Strip. Nathaniel Berger, senior in computer engineering and the current president of the Creative Writing Workshop Club, is responsible for the revival of the club. After being asked by the previous president to take over the club, he gladly accepted. “I revived it because no one else would,” Berger said. “This is my last semester on campus so I wanted to leave this as my legacy.” The meetings function as a workshop-type

Dooley needs to lead by example page 6

event for writers. Submitted works are distributed to members of the club a few days before the meeting. Members then review the writing, and the works are discussed in detail at the meeting. Berger hopes that writers gain confidence in their writing skills by participating in the meetings. “I hope it encourages people to write, and then get their work out when they do write, and encourage others to become comfortable with peer reviews (and) constructively criticizing works,” he said. Cahill also said that her involvement in this club will help develop her skills as a writer and encourage her to write more frequently. “I’m looking to learn and grow as a writer and improve my writing at the same time. I’m also more likely to write if I’m in this club,” she said. For some writers, it’s not easy to start the process, and Cahill hopes that being involved in this club will encourage her to write more. The club meets at 7 p.m. every Tuesday at the Panera Bread restaurant on the Strip. All majors are welcome to participate. The club encourages all genres to be submitted, including but not limited to fiction writing, creative nonfiction, poetry and screenplays. Experts of novel writing also are welcome. For more information, students can join the Facebook group called “Creative Writing Workshop Club at the University of Tennessee.”

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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