Issue 4, Volume 122
Monday, January 14, 2012
UT grading scale negatively affects Hope scholarship eligibility David Cobb Assistant News Editor In-state students at UT are probably familiar with the Tennessee Lottery Scholarship program – many depend on it to stay enrolled. But are the standardized GPA requirements for keeping the award among the over 100,000 college students within the state of Tennessee that receive it as familiar? Student Government Association president Adam Roddy hopes to research the effect that UT’s utilization of the plus/minus grading system has on the rate at which UT students retain the Hope Scholarship. “Where the problem comes in is that an 81 on our campus is a B-minus and an 81 on UTC’s campus or someone else’s campus is a B,” Roddy said. “So our B-minus detracts from our GPA much more than
their B, although it’s essentially the exact same grade.” UT’s sister schools, U T- M a r t i n and UT-Chattanooga, do not employ a plus/minus grading system. The only other public fouryear institutions that do operate with a plus/minus system in Tennessee are the University of Memphis and East Tennessee State University. Students at UT who earn a B-plus in a three-hour course receive 3.3 points factored into their GPA instead of the standard 3.0 for receiving a B. However, Roddy, who joked that he’s been “minused to death,” suspects that the system hurts the cumulative GPA of UT students more than it helps, resulting in a lower retention rate of the Hope Scholarship for students who may be receiving the same numerical grades as those at other schools. “I spoke with the provost
recently, and the chancellor, about looking at this and trying to see if we can come up with some data regarding anything related to this so we can look at it more objectively and hopefully have some more evidence behind it,” Roddy said. “But I believe it is hurting us.” As opposed to eradicating the plus/minus system at UT, one alternative could be found in Nashville when UT representatives visit the Tennessee General Assembly. “At the very least, when we lobby Nashville and the state legislature this semester, go there and inform them of this and try to get them to make the Hope look at our GPAs differently,” Roddy said. “Or at least look at all state GPAs in a (similar) manner that doesn’t take into consideration the plus or minus thing, that looks at it all on a numbers basis.” See PLUS/MINUS on Page 3
File Photo • The Daily Beacon
Expo features local businesses, healthy alternatives R.J. Vogt News Editor When Chase Parker walked into the Healthy Living Expo on Saturday afternoon, one thing stood out to him. “There seemed to be a lot of unhealthy people at this thing,” Parker, a sophomore in biochemistry and molecular biology, said. “I expected there would be a lot of people in their fitness gear and looking for new ways to improve … but most people there, they looked like they hadn’t really started it.” As The Daily Beacon reported last week, it seems New Year’s resolutions have many people searching for more fitness opportunities. The Healthy Living Expo provided such an opportunity, with more than fifty vendors
packed into the Knoxville Convention Center from Friday morning to Saturday afternoon. A wide variety of booths offered plenty of diversity for the fitness newbie. From workout gyms blasting music and featuring Zumba dancers, to healthy barbeque sauce alternatives with plenty of samples, the expo enticed Parker, who plans on boxing in the SAE Boxing Tournament in six weeks. He, like many in attendance, has a fitness-centered New Year’s resolution. “The New Year’s resolutions had me inclined to get healthier. And maybe look good for spring break as well,” he laughed. Mattie Turner, a vendor for Wonder Wrap mineral body
wraps, thought her range of products was perfect for college students like Parker. “We do mineral body wraps, ucts in our shop. One that we especially love is the B-Skinny Coffee, it’s fat-burning thermogenic coffee,” she said. The coffee is infrared roasted to preserve green coffee bean extracts, and it is engineered to keep insulin levels low. For college students, the coffee might be the secret to evading the ‘freshman 15.’” A few booths down from Turner and her body wraps, Roger Lenhardt distributed a taste of Elderberry Life. The Midwestern farmer took over his family’s animal feed farm six years ago. “We were growing soy beans, wheat and corn … but I told dad, I said, ‘Well
I’ll do this, but I really don’t wanna grow animal feed. If I’m gonna do it we are gonna grow people food, and we’re gonna grow plant spirit medicine,” he said. He settled on elderberries, a berry native to North America that has more antioxidants than any other fruit and five times the vitamin C of oranges. “It’s a company dedicated to spreading the great news about elderberries and all of its wonderful virtues,” Lenhardt said. “It’s antioxidant dense, nutrient dense, and everything in elderberries is water soluble.” As his product began to fly off the shelves of a grocery store chain, Lenhardt realized he may have a hit. See FITNESS EXPO on Page 3
• Photo courtesy of Healthy Living Expo
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Professor to speak on local archaeology A UT research associate will Claire Dodson explore the from Copytransition Editor hunter-gathering to agriculture over the course of 5,000 years and the implications of this change based on findings from local archaeological sites. Dr. Kandace Hollenbach of UT’s Archaeological Research Lab will discuss this topic in her talk “Foragers and Farmers in East Tennessee: What Archaeological Plant Remains Can Tell Us About Prehistoric Lifeways” at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the McClung Museum Auditorium. The plant remains that were analyzed in this discussion were recovered from the Townsend Archaeological Project in Blount County. “We tend to think of archaeology as occurring in Egypt, Peru, Belize, Pompeii, but to know the breadth of the lifeways in East Tennessee and the depth in our own backyard broadens our world in time rather than space,” Hollenbach said. “The locality of this project makes it more relatable and personal.” The East Tennessee Society of the Archaeological Institute of America is sponsoring the discussion and others throughout the year to generate interest in archaeology and stimulate research in the field. Dr. Aleydis Van de Moortel, an associate professor in the Department of Classics and Secretary-Treasurer of the ETS, hopes people will become aware of the importance of this subject. “Really, it made civilization possible,” Van de Moortel said. “Hunter-gatherers were already manipulating plants, enabling them to begin the gradual process of settling down, leading us to where we are today.” The fact that this can be discovered through plant remains testifies to the significance
of these findings. They give insight into how people organized into social groups and the mobility and size of these units. “We analyze plant remains in order to say something about the kinds of food, activities and time schedules of these people,” Hollenbach said. “‘You are what you eat’ really applies here and helps us get a picture of their lives.” Analysis of these plants also helps archaeologists gain better understanding of social groups that are less documented by history. “Plant remains are windows into the everyday activities performed by women, children and the elderly who were the main ones processing these types of food,” Hollenbach said. “It allows us to see a sphere of influence, the nittygritty of daily life that we don’t normally reflect on when we analyze more male-oriented hunting tools.” Van de Moortel also finds the multidisciplinary aspects of this subject and the field of archaeology as a whole to be fascinating. “Archaeological projects now involve people of different fields – botanists, zoo archaeologists, geologists and those involved in classics and anthropology,” Van de Moortel said. “Because it bridges natural sciences and humanities, everyone is able to find their own niche.” Hollenbach stressed the relevance of this project to present day culture and lifestyles. “Food is crucial in that it helps us connect with different societies through time,” Hollenbach said. “Ethnic foods, foods from different parts of the world, are so popular now, and they help define the social structure and everyday activities of our own time.”
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Check out the Basketball Recap on Page 10