Staff Reports
Since the start of the Olympic games on Feb. 12, people from all across the world have been tuning in to watch and see how their country fares when being pitted against the best of the best from various competitors of other nations.

The Beijing Olympics, held in 2008, was declared by NBC the most-watched event in American television history with a staggering 214 million viewers. However, around APSU, the enthusiasm seems to be lacking for the 2010 Winter Olympic games.

“I watched the Olympics last time around, but I just couldn’t get in to them this year,” said freshman Robyn Simpson. Students who haven’t watched the Winter Olympics claim a number of reasons, from not having enough time to being interested in the games.

There are some events students believe should not be a part of the Winter Olympics. Freshman Christopher Silk believes that curling, an event where four members slide a heavy blue stone across a floor made of curling sheet, should never have been added to the Winter Olympics. “Curling is basically glorified housekeeping,” said freshman Bo Hunter, in agreement.

However, some events, like freestyle aerial skiing, still manage to captivate the attention of students. “It’s interesting how you can be on skis and do so many flips,” said freshman Brianca Williams. “That takes a lot of athleticism.”

Another event students have shown interest in is both men’s and women’s hockey. “I think it’s great that the Canadian team beat the States in women’s hockey,” said freshman Sean Bailey, who is a native Canadian.
Although the number of students tuning in to the Vancouver Olympics may be less than anticipated, it doesn’t make United States fans less proud of the United States’ victory, earning a grand total of 37 medals.

In an overtime thriller, the APSU Govs defeated the Southeast Missouri Redhawks 76-71 Thursday, Dec. 3.

The win was head coach Dave Loos’ 400th victory. After the game fans called out “Loooooos” and applauded as President Timothy Hall presented Loos with a special basketball commemorating the milestone.

Loos then earned his 401st victory Saturday, Dec. 5, against the Eastern Illinois Panthers. The win tied UT Martin coach Cal Luther for the most victories (319) while coaching in the Ohio Valley Conference.

This is Loos’ 20th season as APSU head basketball coach. Loos has also been the Athletic Director for the last 12 years.

He has been named OVC Coach of the Year five times and was inducted into the Austin Peay Athletics Hall of Fame last year. It was his third Hall of Fame induction.

The H1N1 task force at APSU has tracked four suspected flu-like illnesses reported from Nov. 16-20.

The task force began tracking cases with the beginning of the fall semester on Aug. 29. The largest number reported since the committee began tracking cases was 50 cases during the week of Sept. 26-Oct. 2. The task force is collecting data from faculty and staff who report cases to a campus e-mail address set up through the APSU Health Services Web site for task force efforts. Student cases are reported to the task force by faculty who have been contacted by their students who are absent and indicate they are experiencing flu-like symptoms or have been diagnosed by a private physician. Student cases are also reported when diagnosed by the APSU Health Services staff.

The Office of Public Relations and Marketing at APSU will discontinue preparing and sending reports until a significant increase in the number of cases is observed, if at all. The task force will continue to track flu cases throughout the flu season and will notify the campus community of any concerns related to H1N1 as they become available.

For the most current information regarding swine flu cases and actions planned by APSU, visit http://www.apsu.edu/healthservices/H1N1.aspx.

APSU reached a historical landmark this semester. We now have over 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students, both part-time and full-time.

The editorial board at The All State is both excited and concerned about this breakthrough at our university.

Due to our status as the fastest-growing university in Tennessee and our increased numbers, we have not had to suffer the severe budget cuts much larger schools have. We feel currently, as a middle-grade small school, we have just enough to support ourselves.

Our size is also appealing to potential students. We are not too small, but not too large. One staff member said she was glad to see everywhere you go on campus, you can see someone you know, but at the same time you will see someone you don’t know yet. It seems to give the campus a good balance.

Some are concerned that parking, living accommodations, funds and building space will suffer with the increased enrollment. However, these figures can be deceptive. APSU does not exist solely on campus. We have students that attend at Fort Campbell and many only take online and hybrid classes.

Our numbers also fluctuate based on deployments, since we are a military town with many military and nontraditional students. Many APSU students may never have to set foot on the main campus. This means that these changes are in a way more technical than purely physical. Our numbers and programs can potentially attract students who do not wish to attend an exclusively on-campus school.
We are also concerned our increased size will lead to over-compensation. If we build too many dormitories, add too much extra parking or build too many new facilities, we could end up with wasted space. We feel it is sometimes better to have just enough than too much.

If we continue to grow at such a fast rate, we may have to take action to control our size. APSU may need to eventually change its admissions requirements so as not to become overcrowded.

We feel overexpansion is also a concern. We are a predominantly military town, not a college town.

APSU’s campus is already located in a very congested area, and spreading the campus throughout the city does not seem practical for our school.
We are growing into our space, and we feel for now we are in a very comfortable position with our numbers.