By BRIAN BIGELOW
Guest Writer
Nathan and Mary Vossler, former APSU students, are scheduled to appear in court March 11, for felony charges originating from incidents occurred in Emerald Hill Apartments, in October.

“We’re currently in the process of preparing for the settlement date that’s approaching and are entering into negotiations with the district attorney’s office,” said Jacob Mathis, Mary’s attorney.

During a settlement date, the state and the defense attempt to reach a plea agreement, said Assistant District Attorney Arthur Bieber. If no agreements are reached, the cases will proceed to trials by jury.

Nathan and Mary Vossler are currently being held in the Montgomery County Jail, where they have been since October.

Their bail has been set at $50,000 and $25,000, respectively. To date, neither of the Vosslers have posted bond.

On Oct. 3, 2009, Nathan business economics major, was arrested for allegedly confining a 6-year-old girl in his residence at Emerald Hill Apartments.

According to the police report, after locking the door to the apartment, Nathan allegedly removed the girl’s jacket and shoes. The police report also alleges that the girl was permitted to leave only after beginning to cry.

Nathan has been charged with “especially aggravated kidnapping” a class A felony, punishable by up to 25 years imprisonment, if convicted.

Days later, Nathan’s wife, Mary, a French major at APSU, was arrested for allegedly setting a fire within the apartment she had shared with her husband.

“The fire was an incendiary fire with no accidental cause found,” according to the police report.

Mary has been charged with “aggravated arson”, a class A felony, punishable by up to 25 years imprisonment and “vandalism” with damages in excess of $10,000 a class C felony, punishable by up to six years imprisonment.

Probable cause to justify prosecution has been assessed in general sessions court and again by a grand jury.

Mitigating and exacerbating factors insufficient for a defense can influence the ultimate sentencing, if convicted, as well as the plea agreements offered.

For instance, lack of prior criminal offenses while not a defense can be used to support the argument that a defendant is unlikely to commit further crimes.

“Our criminal justice system is set up to deter as well as punish,” said Mathis.

Charles Bloodworth, Nathan’s attorney, declined to comment.

By NICK OLINGER
Staff Writer
Cecil Wilson, assistant director of Housing and Residence Life and Dining Services, said Denny’s replacing Austin’s is not a sure thing.

He said the idea of Denny’s was brought up last summer and it came close to actually happening.

According to Wilson, Chartwells, the dining service for APSU, has one year left on the contract with APSU.

He explained the rebid for the contract will be taking place in Spring 2011.

He said the rebid puts APSU in a tough seat for anything to happen until the rebid process takes place.

He said then APSU would feel comfortable with putting in a whole new campus dining feature.

Wilson said the only type of changes being considered are modulations to Austin’s, such as changes in the back, upgrading equipment and a new grill in favor of doubling up on the hamburger orders.

He said they would take it to the students to see if they like Austin’s and just want to change the equipment, or want it to change into a whole new diner.

Freshman agriculture major Bradley Brown said he likes the idea of change to Austin’s.

“I have been in Austin’s before and there were not that many people there,” said Ryan Marvel, freshman engineering technology major.

He added that Denny’s sounded like a good replacement to Austin’s and would be his choice since there isn’t a Denny’s in Clarksville.

Wilson explained in order to change the diner, the Office of Housing and Residence Life would communicate with franchises and see which restaurant would be a possibility to replace Austin’s.

Then they would receive a floor plan and price. He said after that, it would just be a matter of starting construction, making it a summer project.

“I try to represent to students when going through the process of making any changes to dining on APSU,” said Wilson.

Wilson said the housing office currently has $30,000 to spend on the change or reconstruction, but is awaiting a response from the Tennessee Board of Regents, which would raise the amount to $130,000 to spend on the project.

Wilson said he is excited for the contract rebid and is always looking forward to change.

By KELLY LORENSON
Guest Writer

Dixie Dennis, an APSU alumna and administrator, has recently been promoted to be the new dean of the College of Graduate Studies and the new associate provost of Grants and Sponsored Programs.

“I am happy to serve the university in a position for which all of my professional experiences have paved the way,” she said.

“APSU is housed with dedicated faculty and staff who want to help students in academic and personal endeavors, and I am glad to be a part of this important work.”

Dennis has a long and notable history with APSU. In 2009, she served as the associate dean of the College of Professional Programs and Social Sciences, and from 2007-08 was the interim dean of the College of Science and Mathematics.

Prior to this, in 2005, she was professor and chair of the Department of Health and Human Performance.

Because of her hard work and dedication to the scholarship, she was nominated by many of her colleagues to receive the Richard M. Hawkins Award.

Dennis earned both her Bachelor of Science in chemistry and her Master of Science in public and community health from APSU.

She earned her Ph.D. in health education from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, in 2000.

Her loyalty to the university lies in her devotion to friends, family and the campus community. “I came back because of the deep sense of belonging, of community I have at APSU. It’s an everlasting bond that has been created; this is my home.”

Every day, Dennis continually strives to better her home. Since her career began with APSU, she has been a part of numerous programs of study aimed to educate both students and faculty, such as the Provost Lecture Series and the Peay Read.

The Peay Read has brought speakers to APSU such as the acclaimed Paul Rusesabagina, who saved over a thousand refugees in the Rwandan Genocide. To get Rusesabagina here, Dennis worked for a year and half, just so APSU students and the surrounding community could hear his lecture.

As the new associate provost, Dennis has a lengthy list of responsibilities such as promoting research habits among students and faculty, advising students and organizing new programs to create a more collegial atmosphere at APSU.

The other facet of her job, dean of the College of Graduate Studies, has a list of duties and obligations that is just as long as the aforementioned one.

Dennis will be the chair of the Institutional Review Board, which monitors research projects and deals with compliance issues.

Despite the amount of work involved in each of her new job titles, Dennis states she believes the work is well worth the effort.

“This job is a lot of work, but it’s what I like to do. I like to make good things happen for good people.”

Dennis said she is also excited about the direction the grants program is taking.

Recently, there has been more involvement from the different organizations on campus, and the College of Education and the College of Arts and Letters have been very active in grant writing.

In addition, the amount of grant money is growing and research has been made a focus at APSU.

As for her overall goals, she hopes to see increased research, more unifying experiences with APSU and the community and an increase in grant dollars.

In addition to her responsibilities at APSU, she also serves on the board of directors of the American Association for Health Education and is the immediate past chair of the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. Board of Commissioners.

She is the contributing editor for the American Journal of Education “Teaching Ideas” column and is a certified health education specialist.

Dennis has authored two books, “Adult Children of Alcoholics: Consequences and Choices, A Lab Manual” and co-authored “Living, Dying, Grieving,” published by Jones and Bartlett in 2009. Currently, she is writing a chapter in “Alternate Paths to University Positions,” entitled “Life Lessons on the Road Toward Myself.”

Dennis has written 23 peer-reviewed articles and currently has two co-authored scholarly articles in progress in addition to authoring books. She has also delivered scholarly and professional presentations at national conferences and conventions since 1998. She can be contacted at dennisdi@apsu.edu

By CHASITY WEBB
Staff Writer

On Thursday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m., Terrence Roberts, a member of The Little Rock Nine, spoke in the Music/Mass Communication building in honor of Black History Month. An hour and a half before he was to speak, I sat down to interview him.

The moment I stepped into the room, Roberts’ humbleness and friendly smile calmed my week-long anxiety. Although I was now calm, I still kept in mind the impact this man had made on thousands of lives and will continue to make for years to come.

All his life Roberts understood that the world wasn’t fair and that was just something he would have to live with daily. When I asked him about his opinion of segregation before that infamous day when he was 15 and traveled to the Krystal’s restaurant to get a to-go order Roberts said, “Well I understood it. I knew about it. I didn’t like it, pretty much. But I had decided prior to going into that Krystal Burger … I knew all those rules and I didn’t like them.”

When he went into the white-established Krystal’s that allowed blacks to get to-go orders, he did the worst thing possible during that time period. He sat down, an experience that changed his view on the world forever. His mind set about segregation changed. “I couldn’t obey the rules anymore. I had gone through that charade for too long. I was a very rational human being and any rational human being looking at that system would question it. My decision was not to do anything spectacular but to simply refuse to obey the rules,” Roberts said.

A couple of years later, in 1957, Roberts was recruited as one of the nine students who would be the first to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. The Gov., Orval Faubus, as well as most of the white citizens, was opposed to this and he decided to use the Arkansas State National Guard to keep the black students out of the school.

Thurgood Marshall and Wiley Branton, then the current lawyers of the NAACP, fought Faubus’ decision in court and had the Guard removed. President Eisenhower then sent the 101st Airborne to protect the students. The students knew they were going to have a rough time beforehand, even speaking to Martin Luther King Jr. and taking an oath of non-violence.

I couldn’t imagine what would have been going through the nine teenagers minds at that point so I asked Roberts. “There are so many things, not the least of which was, am I going to survive this ordeal; will I be killed in the next minute or so? Also, what was going to happen the next day and the day after that? If today is this bad, will it get worse?”

Constantly being beaten by the white students in the school was met with the black students’ non-violent behavior. This made me wonder if there were any white students who were accepting of the new students’ attendance. “There were white students initially who accepted us, not eventually but initially. But they were warned off with social sanctions and that word was, ‘If you fraternize with those niggers we will kill you.’ So that was basically the end of any friendship from that quarter,” Roberts said.

This experience never got easier for the students. The school was even closed the following year to keep black students from attending. Roberts said, “The governor and those who supported him decided they weren’t going to support this notion of desegregation and like I said even today we’re still working on it.”

I then began to question Roberts about his opinions and the personal influence the experience had on him.

I thought it was amazing that such remarkable men were involved with the Little Rock Nine. Roberts, however, proving how truly he sees everyone equally had a different opinion. “I think it was OK. I tend not to see folk as powerful or non-powerful. They are human beings who are participating fully in this drama of life or their not. Those two were pretty well engaged in the drama and it was fine,” he said.

Roberts was very fearful during that year of his life, although he didn’t express that fear often. “Not very widely [did I express my fears]. Not even to myself all the time. You know fear has that impact on you. You feel the fear but for whatever reason I was reluctant to give voice to it.”

Roberts said he is not very impressed with the progress America has made in the area of racism. In fact he doesn’t believe there has been really any. ‘Have we made any progress?’ The answer to that would be a grudging yes, but with qualifications.”

“I think before we talk in terms of progress we have to talk in terms of the task at hand and that is I don’t think in this country we’ve ever really confronted the heart of the problem which is this ideology of racism and white supremacy that sort of lurks underneath what I call a thin veneer of civility. That’s problematic and so I don’t even like to think about progress until we have tackled that and we have been low to do it in this country,” he said.

I decided to ask Roberts about something that had been, and continues to be on my mind. Natural segregation on campus boggles my mind. I always wonder why everyone makes it a habit to sit with people of their own color all the time. I asked Roberts if he felt it was hindering our progress as a nation. “I don’t think it hinders progress because we are not making any progress. I think what that reflects is just who we are as a people. The majority of us, the overwhelming majority of Americans, live mono-racial, mono-cultural lives. So this phenomenon you see on campus is nothing new. That’s just who we are. That’s a reflection of who we are. It would be quite shocking if the situation were reversed.”

How do we fix it? Is there a way that we can bring the people of our campus, and ultimately our country, together? “I’m not sure if mixing the students is going to solve any problem. But I think if we teach students how to exist as peers to each other in the universe then it wouldn’t be a question of whether they’re mixed or not because they would be treating others as peers whether they chose to be separate or apart. It would be a different aura, a different atmosphere on campus.”

“I have not been on this campus very much but I bet you if I walked around I could sense the tenor and tone of Austin Peay in terms of its race relations. If it’s like most campuses I would not be shocked or surprised to find that there are enclaves of students and who tend to treat each other as enclaves of students as opposed to treating each other as peers in a learning environment. It’s always sort of strange to me that even in a learning environment people cling to these notions of separateness,” Roberts said.

A few other questions were asked and then I left Roberts to get ready for the event.

Attending the event were an estimated 200 students, faculty, staff and people of the community, and people from out of town. Roberts spent about an hour telling his story and then devoted half an hour to discussion time.

Here people could ask him questions, tell him their opinions and just get to know him for who he was.

After the event, Roberts had a book signing in which he spent time as he signed each book talking to and encouraging each and every individual who came by his table.

Roberts is the only human I have ever met that can honestly say he does not discriminate. He looks up to no one and looks down to no one. Everyone is his peer.

His most inspiring piece of advice during his speech was about helping everyone in America. I quote this loosely.

“Those of you that are already ahead, keep moving forward but don’t forget to reach back and help pull forward the ones who are not as fortunate as you.”