The All State

» By MORGAN SMITH – msmith156@my.apsu.edu

Around 42 percent of APSU students are classified as nontraditional students, and there is now an honor’s society that caters specifically to them.

The new Non-Traditional Student Society’s slogan is “STARS — Students Together Achieving and Reaching Success.” Success is their main goal, and it goes beyond the student.

It’s about the student, their families, their children and everyone they impact.

The group is in the process of its first membership drive.

To define nontraditional students in simple terms, according to NTSS president June Knight, they include parents, active duty military and those who didn’t attend college directly after high school.

These students struggle with creating a balance between work, school and home responsibilities, a struggle most traditional students won’t have to worry about until after graduation.

The idea for the NTSS came about after hearing the cries of nontraditional students for an honor society specifically for them at the Student Life & Leadership’s Nontraditional Student Luncheons.

After hearing the grievances of the students, Knight met with Beverly Boggs, the associate provost for enrollment management and academic support.

Boggs, who was a nontraditional student in college as well, was eager to help in creating the society and now serves as the club adviser.

“Anyone who has served in the military then tried to go to college, or a wife deciding to go for her dreams, or a single mother or father deciding they’ve had enough of life without a college degree … not only has their families to take care of, but they work and juggle many other responsibilities,” Knight, said. “On top of the additional responsibilities, nontraditional students also face the fact that they may not be as technically savvy as the younger generation who is raised on the computer and technology. So, not only do they have to hurry up and catch up with the changing times, they have to re-shift their focus to their own personal success. It’s not easy for a mother, father, wife or husband to focus on themselves and their future because their top priority is their families.”

The hope, according to Knight, is the society can aid in helping non traditional students realize the best chances for their families and their children is for them to be all they can and fight for their dreams.

Erika Lopez-Smith, a newly enrolled nontraditional student, agrees with the ideas presented by Knight.

“I am worried that returning to school might not come as easy as it was 13 years ago. I fear the stress of wearing many hats such as a mother, a wife, an employee, and now, a student. My ultimate fear is failing at one of my duties and not succeeding at my personal standard rate. I do not want my child to watch me and see school as a stress or added weight, but as a choice I made to better myself, and my hard work will pay off,” Lopez-Smith said.

According to Knight, the thought of college is often exciting for traditional students and something they’ve waited on for a long time, but for nontraditional students, the transition is stressful and something they often feel they’ve waited too long to do. Nontraditional students often feel left out of the campus experience or unwelcome to join in on activities that are geared toward traditional students.

“The nontraditional students feel disenfranchised from the university from the moment they walk in the door from the Summer Welcomes and Orientations. These events are targeted towards traditional students and the nontraditional students leave feeling they are not welcomed here, or at least that they are not as important,” Knight said.

The NTSS attended a forum in which they were able to voice their concerns to the administration, including President Timothy Hall, Provost Tristan Denley and Vice President of Student Affairs Sherryl Byrd.

The NTSS members were assured the administration is aware of the issues that concern them and have plans in place for their Summer Welcome to include the nontraditional students.

In order to include nontraditional students and give them a voice, the NTSS is in the process of creating a website for its members.
“It will contain everything the nontraditional student needs to ensure success at APSU,” Knight said.

The website will include tutoring videos for Microsoft Office and a calendar of events for social events and links to all areas of APSU.

It will also give the students events and activities that work with their hectic schedules and include their families, they will begin hosting Family Nights on the second Tuesday of each month.

“What if our children opted not to attend college? How would we cope? It made me question my own education and my shortcomings. I decided that I should walk a path that I would love for my child to follow,” Lopez-Smith said.

Any nontraditional student interested in learning more about the society is welcome to contact Knight at knightj@apsu.edu or 221-6308. TAS

» By CHRIS COPPEDGE – ccoppedge@my.apsu.edu

The Tennessee Urban Resource Center sponsored a community forum on the subject of the new voter ID law at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 28, at the Clarksville Montgomery County Library.

The forum was meant to educate attendees about the new law which goes into effect Sunday, Jan. 1. The new law states voters are required to show valid state or federal government-issued photographic identification in order to vote at the polls.

In attendance to help explain the law and field questions were Senator Tim Barnes (D), and Montgomery County Administrator of Elections Vicki Koelman. A group of TSU students filmed the forum.

“The bill originally came before the legislature in 2010,” Barnes said. “It went through the Senate with an amendment exempting citizens 65 years of age or older, but was defeated by the House. It passed through both the Senate and House this past year with that amendment removed.”

The new law specifies driver’s licenses, passports, handgun carry permits, military identification cards, IDs issued by the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, or any other IDs issued by the state or federal government as acceptable IDs for voters. Unacceptable IDs include college student IDs, city/municipal or county IDs and any other type of ID not issued by the state or federal government.

IDs such as licenses and passports can be expired yet still be valid, as can the other acceptable IDs mentioned. For citizens who cannot travel to a DMV or a Department of Safety office on their own, numerous groups such as Faith Outreach and the local Republican Party have offered to provide transportation.

According to Koelman, those exempt from the law include voters residing in nursing homes, absentee ballot voters who vote by mail, hospitalized voters or those who have a religious objection to being photographed. Koelman specified Mennonites as a group who has that kind of objection.

“If you do not have a valid photo ID, you can get one from the Department of Safety,” Koelman said. “You need to present proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate and two proofs of a Tennessee residency and you still have to be registered to vote in order to get a free photo ID.”

A Q&A session was held after the initial presentation. A question was raised about the possibility of illegal immigrants committing voter fraud, which was deflected by Koelman by reiterating voters have to prove they are a U.S. citizen in order to both vote and get a free photo ID.

Representative Debra Maggert of Hendersonville sponsored the legislation, which will cost millions of dollars for both education about the law and its implementation.

That money will be appropriated out of the general fund of the state’s budget.

Not everyone is happy with this new law. “I can’t think of anything more detrimental to the free exercise of your right to vote than to present a valid photo ID card,” said Representative Joe Pitts (D), who was originally supposed to attend the forum, but had to drop out at the last minute. “The proponents of the bill cited voter fraud as the reason behind the bill. There is no evidence of this crime that would necessitate such a draconian measure.”

Representative Curtis Johnson (R) disagrees, claiming Secretary of State Tre Haggart conducted a review after taking office and found over 13,000 deceased individuals and 2,300 felons had voted in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

“Every Tennessean should have complete confidence in the voting process,” Johnson said. “Our internal polling shows that the vast majority of Tennesseans of all political stripes support this new law.” TAS

» Kristin Kittell – kkittell@my.apsu.edu

Like a bad game of middle school dodgeball, it looks like sides will once again be unevenly divided for the 2012 Presidential Election. The jocks get the charismatic all-star while the underdogs have been left with the chess team.

With the House of Representatives so enticingly stacked with Republicans, you would think it wouldn’t be so hard for the party to put up a worthwhile candidate.

However, they’ve fallen short, leaving us with forerunners including an alleged sexual predator, a two-timing ‘idea man’ and, worst of all, a politician who can’t make up his mind. It seems as though Obama has the election in the bag.

I won’t say Obama’s first term in office has been perfect. The economy, while it has shown slight improvement, is still unstable, and his administration has failed to handle the growing budget deficit.

His backseat treatment of Libya is viewed by some as a diplomatic failure, much like his similar attitude toward the Occupy Wall Street movement has been viewed as a domestic failure. Socialized health care, one of the main talking points of his 2008 platform, has been met with almost nothing but scrutiny and uncertainty.

However, in rewinning the affections of voters in 2012, the Republican treatment of his administration will only work in his favor.

The current experiment in bipartisan leadership has yielded little more than repeated failures in progression. If one party proposes something, the other party staunchly objects to it.

Health care and the budget are both prime examples of a fundamental failure to compromise. There has been little concern for the wellbeing of the American public and entirely too much emphasis on which party was good or bad.

We’ve reached a point where politicians make up their minds about policy before it’s even proposed. When an issue comes down to name calling and mud slinging, we’ve reached an unsatisfactory level of immaturity. If we’re still playing dodgeball, this point goes to the Democrats.

The public impression of the Republican Party was bad in 2008, and the past three years have done nothing to improve it.

At best, the Obama administration has proven neither party is perfect. At worst, it has proven reducing politicians to children is as easy as asking them to share. Either way, the bitterness of Republican House incumbents has only pushed Americans further left.

For challengers to the Presidential office, the Republican Party, for whatever reason, has produced nothing but candidates who are essentially the opposite of everything a Conservative should be. They lie; they cheat and fluctuate on fundamental conservative issues.

Each candidate continues to profess his stance on social values. As right-wing politicians, they believe in outlawing abortion as well as gay marriage for the protection of the American family.

Unfortunately for them, actions speak louder than words. Herman Cain is currently under investigation for several counts of alleged sexual harassment. Newt Gingrich is currently on his third marriage and has a reputation of sexual infidelity.

Mitt Romney, a man whom Fox News has dubbed “the man-with-no-principles,” is notorious for changing his mind according to whatever serves his purposes best. So much for family values, right boys?

Even the most anti-political person can easily see past the platforms of these men and note their inconsistencies. Furthermore, even the most hardcore Republican would easily choose Obama, whose public adoration of his family has become a model for fathers and husbands nationwide.

The icing on the cake appeared in a recent Republican debate in which the candidates repeatedly expressed support for waterboarding, the controversial and decidedly violent interrogation tactic used to procure information from detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Even Sen. John McCain, the politician who lost to Obama in the 2008 election and is never shy to speak out about the mistakes the administration has made, publicly chastised the men for their remarks. Waterboarding is torture, plain and simple.

I have to believe, from a statistical standpoint, there are still good Republicans out there somewhere, hiding behind a sea of embarrassing ringleaders.

Barack Obama is not the worst president we’ve ever had, but he isn’t the best either. These guys make him look like a saint.

Like it or not, there is no real challenge to the Presidential office in the 2012 election. Unless Republicans can magically manifest some right-winged, incredibly scrupulous family man with a streak of honesty, this election will be a landslide. TAS

» By ANTHONY SHINGLER – ashingler@my.apsu.edu

Winless.

That one word summarizes the Govs basketball team so far this season. The Govs are off to their worst start since the 1993-94 season. They lost their home opener against MTSU Saturday, Nov. 26, 90-70, making their record 0-7.

“We really got it handed to us tonight,” said head coach Dave Loos in a press release. “The shooting percentages tell it all. There’s a lot that makes up for why that happens, but the fact of the matter is, we’re just not making any shots. We’ve got to start making some shots and we’ve got start making some stops.”

The Govs have been playing without senior center John Fraley since their previous loss to MTSU in the season-opener on Friday, Nov. 11, when he suffered a concussion.

Fraley’s absence had the most impact on the boards and in the post. The Govs snatched a season-low 26 rebounds and also allowed MTSU to shoot 64.7 percent from the field. They also outscored the Govs 34-23 in the post.

The Govs shot 21-of-58 (36.2 percent) from the field and 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) from three-point range. They also shot 24-of-33 from the free
throw line.

“We’ve got to step up, because no one is going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got a long way to go,” Loos said. “We play good basketball teams the rest of the way through the pre-conference schedule. We hope to be ready to play in our conference. We’ve got to find our way.”

Down only 38-30 at halftime, the Govs allowed MTSU to open the second half on a 22-6 run. At the 12:58 mark, they had established a 23-point lead, 61-38, their biggest lead of the game.

The Govs rallied and cut the lead to 12 points, 72-60, on a layup by senior forward Melvin Baker with 6:38 left in the game. However, they could not get any closer.

Senior guard TyShawn Edmondson led the Govs with 14 points. Baker added 12 points and sophomore forward.

Will Triggs added nine points and six rebounds. Freshman forward Chris Freeman tied Triggs for the most rebounds with six.

Marcos Knight led MTSU with 16 points and LaRon Dendy and Shawn Jones added 13 points each.

The Govs return to action Saturday, Dec. 5, traveling to face Memphis. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and can be watched on CSS locally. TAS

» By TRENT SINGER – tsinger@my.apsu.edu

APSU has a tradition of consistently helping those in need through charity, fundraising and a general attitude of selfless behavior.

Several students, along with faculty members, hosted a benefit on Tuesday, Nov. 22, that helped this tradition remain steadfast. Held annually every Tuesday before Thanksgiving, students from the Languages and Literature Department have dubbed the annual event as “Bread and Words.”

“There’s a tradition among creative writing programs around the country to do some kind of a fundraiser to fight hunger,” said Barry Kitterman, professor of Languages and Literature and representative of the Center of Excellence in Creative Arts. Upon his arrival at APSU, Kitterman suggested such a fundraiser be established.

The event features students coming together to raise awareness for hunger in the local community and to celebrate creative writing.

This year marks the event’s 17th anniversary since it began almost two decades ago, and the spirit of the event continues to flourish.

Over the years, the fundraiser has seen a tremendous increase in the amount of money raised for charities. “The first couple of years we raised maybe $150. In the last few years we’ve been right at $1,000 each year,” Kitterman said.

Readers for this year’s event included Laura McClister, Charles Booth, Ryan Boyd, Chase Davenport and Raven Jackson.

Traditionally, the night begins with a bowl of soup and bread, accompanied by music from local talents Lloyd Nicely and Chuck Emery. The idea behind providing such basic foods is to stress the importance of simplicity and necessity. “The idea here is to keep it simple. Just soup,” Kitterman said.

Following the food, poetry and fiction readings are presented from some of Clarksville’s local writers. A $5 donation was requested upon entering the MUC ballroom, and all proceeds go to the Salvation Army.

As the ballroom grew more packed, and Junior Chase Davenport, President of the Creative Writing Club, admitted there was a sense of nervousness amongst all of the night’s readers. “I think we were all a little nervous. I was more along the lines of terrified. We all pulled through, though. Quite well, at that,” Davenport said.

The content of each person’s writings ranged from personal to general. “My writing is an extension of myself.

“A way to explore and allow specific facets to manifest themselves,” Davenport said.

APSU alumni and writer for Public Relations and Marketing Charles Booth graduated last December with a Masters degree in English, but was asked to read at this year’s event. Booth presented a short story titled “The Last Blood Maple” which deals with a schizophrenic girl who is starving and coincidentally relates with the theme of Bread and Words.

“My original intention wasn’t to have the story relate. My wife thought it was the piece I should read, so it worked out that way,” Booth said.

As the organizers of this event look ahead, Bread and Words looks to continue building on its success on raising awareness for local hunger and expanding its publicity throughout the APSU and Clarksville community. TAS

» By ERICKA CONLEY – econley@my.apsu.edu

Subway is the newest addition to the APSU dining services, and it was number one in customer count and number two in total sales out of the 224 Subway stores in the Middle Tennessee region.

The next Subway in the region with the most sales is the Subway located at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

The Subway corporation has 35,715 restaurants in 97 countries and is the number one franchise in the nation.

Since its opening, the campus Subway has become a popular place for students to dine. At any time one can see long lines and many students sitting and engaging in conversation.

Supervisor Elizabeth Chapin-Hack said the night shift, from 4 p.m. to midnight, generally has about 400 customers.

“It’s because it goes back to the customers, They’re the most important things to us,” said Joseph Lyle, lead supervisor at Subway. “We want to get them in and out before their classes start.”

The campus Subway opened on Thursday, Sept. 29, replacing Austin’s restaurant in the same location.

Lyle believes as long as customers are the number one priority, sales will continue to be good.

“Students want good food and healthy food.

“APSU has a lot of athletes and Subway sponsors athletes all over the world. It’s important to get a good meal that’s healthy also … it will help your performance as an athlete,” Lyle said.

Subway’s healthy menu is a mix of healthy and savory foods.

Although there are many vegetables and lean meats on the menu, there are many different bread and dressing options to enhance the flavor of the food.

Subway is known for having healthy food options and sandwiches are made on fresh baked bread fortified with calcium and vitamin D.

“I feel like it is a very refreshing addition to Austin Peay’s campus,” said LaKisha Williams, a junior. “As students we’re constantly in a rush and have the tendency to grab the first available thing. And, most of the time, this choice is unhealthy. Subway allows us to be able to make a healthier decision. I love the hours. Because they close at midnight, I have the opportunity to grab a late night snack after studying late.”

As with other dining establishments on campus, students can dine at Subway by using their meal plans and plus dollars.

By using these meal plans and plus dollars, students are able to have a meal already budgeted without having to pay out of pocket. TAS