Sigma Alpha Epsilon is recovering from the destruc-tion of their former Eighth Street fraternity house that occurred toward the end of last semester.

The former house of the Tennessee Delta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon was consumed by an early morn-ing fi re that claimed their house on March 22. The fi re started in the basement, where it spread through the rest of the house and burned the building down to the

foundation.

“Fortunately for the chapter, no composites or anything related to our ritual was lost

because we had moved it from the old house to the new house,” said SAE chap-ter member, David Farmer. “As for the other few broth-ers who lived in the house with me, we lost basically all of our personal possessions.”

Farmer said the three fraternity members living in the house at the time of the fi re, Tyler McFall, Elliot Keas

and himself, lost all of their possessions still inside the house, besides the shirts they had on their backs. In addi-tion to losing schoolbooks and a laptop, Farmer also lost his car due to it being parked close to the house.

Some of the members’ personal insurance covered thousands of dollars’ worth of the brothers’ belongings to try and get back what they had lost.

Farmer said in addi-tion to the insurance sup-port, some chapter members pulled together after the fi re to help their fellow broth-ers who had lost all of their belongings. They gave them the essentials such as cloth-ing, bed sheets, pillows, and

a place to sleep among other things that would help them recover from their loss.

Just before the fi re in March, the fraternity had moved into a newly con-structed fraternity house on West Fifth Street.

“Sigma Alpha Epsilon is a brotherhood that is still striving today,” said Ryan Gibbons, SAE president. “Because we are so close and strong, not even a disaster such as the fi re has or can tear this family apart.”

Despite the group be-ing issued a cease and desist by the University immedi-ately after the incident in March, the Fraternity was granted permission to still take in new members this

fall. The group is still under University Probation.

Katie Williams, Director of Greek Life, said the group is on probation with the University and has to re-port all group activity to the Greek Life offi ce to maintain their status as a social group on campus.

Most notably, the group has now been sanctioned to join the University list of al-cohol-free fraternity houses along with Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Delta Theta.

The chapter was able to host several rush events last week to pull new potential members to their fraternity.

Williams said that all recruitment events and all chapter meetings will be held on campus for a period of one year. The newly constructed fraternity house must also keep a board over their let-ters to disassociate the chap-ter from that location since all of their events for the year are on campus.

Dylan Barstad, recruit-ment chair of SAE, says that he is pleased with the success of rush events, even under the campus probation.

Thanks to Center Stage, several cultural and artistic events have been scheduled for the year, with four of them taking place this month across campus.

Center Stage recently released their schedule of upcoming artistic events

that are free to students. The events range from guest speakers and concerts to art displays and poets.

Among the several events offered, an array of artists’ works are to be fea-tured in the Joan Derryberry Art Gallery throughout the semester. This program is known as the “artist in resi-dence” series.

The current artist in resi-dence is Matt Hutton, a furni-ture designer from Portland, Maine.

According to the artist’s website, “Hutton earned his BFA in woodworking and furniture design at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana and an MFA from San Diego State University.”

“I think it’s very stylized. It’s simplistic. It borrows kind of a lot of the designs that some of the artists were going for in the 90s when it comes to furniture art,” said Jonathan Carpenter, a junior art major.

Carpenter’s favorite piece is called “Core Sample.”

“As an artist myself, I know that whatever one seems to be the most fussed with is the most personal,” said Carpenter.

Hutton’s work is on dis-play in the Joan Derryberry Art Gallery, located on the main level of the RUC. The exhibit opened Sept. 2 and will run through Sept. 25. Hutton will give a gallery talk on Sept. 25 at 4:30 p.m. The gallery is free and open

to the public from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The fi rst guest speaker of the semester will be Juliet Schor. Schor will speak about time management and happi-ness. This event will be Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Johnson Hall auditorium.

At the end of the semes-ter, the art of Jim Graham will take its place in the Joan Derryberry Art Gallery.

Graham is the depart-ment chair of painting at

Southeastern Louisiana University. His paintings will be on display from Sept. 29 until Oct. 23.

Closing out the month, on Sept. 30, Amy Roloff, star of the hit TLC reality show, “Little People Big World,” is scheduled to speak about her life as a little person with a presentation in DerryberryAuditorium.

THE ORACLEVolume 99 | Issue 1 | Free in single copy 1000 N. Dixie Ave. | Cookeville, TN | 38505

After March house fi re, Sigma Alpha Epsilon keeps charter. Fraternity to carry out rush and chapter activities on campus as part of one year University Probation.

Drake Fenlon | The OracleHOT STEPPING- An external staircase of the former Sigma Alpha Epsilon house the morning after a fi re destroyed the fraternity building in March.

SAE rises from the ashes

Center Stage releases 2014-2015 season of events

Jordan Pace | The OraclePROBATION SANCTION- Due to the one year probation period sanctions, the newly constructed Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house must keep their greek house letters covered to disassociate the house from the chapter.

Farmer

>What shows to watch this fall.

>>Page 5

> Local yogurt shop locks doors for good in final closing blowout party. >>Page 3

> EXCLUSIVE: Updates to several campus buildings are in full swing. >>Page 2

> Is the common book toointense?

>>Page 4

IN THIS ISSUE:CalendarCampus NewsLivingOpinionEntertainmentSports

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Indiana State.>Vannnliliiiiliiliereeeeeee shines at

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Friday| September 12, 2014

The primary news source of the Golden Eagles since 1924Serving Tennessee Tech weekly during the fall and spring semesters

By KELLY MILLSBeat Reporter

By DRAKE FENLONManaging Editor

Tony Nelson has as-sumed the duty of interim police chief for the Tennessee Tech police department after Gay Shepherd retired over the summer.

“Tony Nelson, who is serving as interim chief, has 20-plus years with the department,” said Marc Burnett, vice president of stu-dent affairs. “He was widely considered to be second in command, making him the logical choice for interim chief.”

Nelson said that he is ap-

preciating his time in the in-terim position, but could not comment on whether or not he would take the position of full-time police chief.

“I’m basically looking after the department until they make a decision,” said Nelson.

Nelson said President Oldham will make the fi nal decision of who will become the new police chief at a later date.

Nelson started working for the TTUPD in 1995.

Nelson took over the po-sition after Gay Shepherd re-tired as police chief. Shepherd served Tech for 34 years.

“She did a wonderful

service for this university, and she’s now happily enjoy-ing retirement,” said Nelson.

Tech’s police department moved locations over the summer and is now found in Foundation Hall.

Students are known to complain about lack of parking, but a new parking lot was opened behind the building as well.

“Parking is hard, but isn’t parking hard every-where?” said Fred Nichols, Tech police offi cer.

As for the new residence, Nelson said the department is happy with it and that peo-ple can get in and out easily.

Spencer Williams | The OracleTECH PD- Jaime Pulido Ariza talks to the front window clerk at the newly relocated campus police station Thursday. The police station was formerly located just off the Main Quad.

Nelson replaces Shepherd as new semester starts with new interim campus Chief of Police in new location

‘‘,,

“I’m basically looking after the department until they make a decision.” — Lt. Tony Nelson,

Interim TTU Campus Chief of Police

By LUCAS MCCOYBeat Reporter

By KAYLEE GENTRYBeat Reporter

By DRAKE FENLONManaging Editor

SGA senator, AlexMartin has been appointed by Governor Bill Haslam as the Tennessee Board ofRegents’ representativeon the Tennessee HigherEducation Commission, for atwo-year term.

There are two studentrepresentatives: one for theUniversity of Tennessee sys-tem, and one for the TBR, with voting rights rotatingeach year.

“It’s an honor being the student voice for 500,000 TBRmembers for the next twoyears,” said Martin.

THEC was created in thefall of 1967 by the Tennessee General Assembly, to achievecoordination and foster unity in the state’s higher education

Martin went throughthree inter-views before landing the position. The fi rst being an in-person interview at the site of the THEC meetings in Nashville,the second was a phone inter-view by two members of the Governor’s staff, and lastly afi nal in-person interview atthe state capitol.

Martin laughed that hewas “nervous for that last interview.”

Something else stoodout to Martin from that fi nalinterview.

“Mr. Bryan McCormickasked me why I should bethe third TBR representa-tive to come from TennesseeTech in the last four years.”Martin said. I explained thatbeing on THEC and being aTBR representative, which iswhat Lee Gatts and Ashley Humphrey were, are twoseparate positions, so I wouldbe the fi rst from the school todo this.”

Martin went on to de-scribe that the culture of thestudents at Tennessee Techare concerned about theireducation and not just about the party lifestyle. Martinbelieves that this is why the state positions have been held by Tennessee Tech stu-dents in recent years.

Over the next two years,Martin will have numerousduties for the THEC and the state, including sitting on the Students President Council,attending quarterly THECmeetings, which stream live on their website, and, begin-ning next year, being the onlystudent vote of 500,000 TBRstudents.

“It’s defi nitely an honorand a privilege. I’m excitedfor it and I can’t wait to helpout my fellow students,” Martin said.

SGA Senator appointed to commissionby Governor

Martin

By MATTHEW PHILLIPSBeat Reporter

See “Center Stage”>>Page 3

See “SAE”>>Page 2

>>P

@TNTECHORACLE

Follow

on Twitter

techtech@eventsevents

1717All DayMatt Hutton Furniture Exhi-bition Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

1616All DayMatt Hutton Furniture Ex-hibition Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

All Day UT Extension Master Beef Class RUC Multi-Purpose Room

1515All DayMatt Hutton Furniture Ex-hibition Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

All DaySchool of Nutrition Supervisors Meeting RUC Multi-Purpose Room

1414All DayMatt Hutton Furniture Exhi-bition Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

September

121210 a.m. - 3 p.m. College Day at Denso Manufacturing Denso Manufacturing Plant

13139 a.m. - 12 p.m. STEM Safari Saturday- DOT DayOakley STEM Center

1818All DayMatt Hutton Furniture Exhibition Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

All Day UT Extension Master Beef Class RUC Multi-Purpose Room

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Engineering Orientation FairRUC Multi-Purpose Room

1 p.m. - 3 p.m.FFA Soils Land Judging TBD

7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Juliet Schor: Time, Self Pro-visioning and HappinessJohnson Hall Auditorium

South Hall Renovations draw to a close Students and faculty can

expect to see South Hall open next semester as construction in the building draws to a close. The renovations, which began in January of this year, are due to fi nish around November. Originally con-structed in 1931, South Hall has seen many functions throughout its life.

“It being such an old building, we’ve run into a lot of things as we’re dem-oing (sic),” said project man-ager DeLayne Miller. “It used to be the cafeteria and the University Center a long time ago, so there’s a lot of quarry tile throughout.”

Quarry tile can cause fl oors to be uneven or pre-vent carpet from adhering to them.

Another challenge is the inconsistency of the building. South Hall has received sev-eral additions over the years which were sometimes built differently from the rest of the structure.

Some renovations in-volve knocking down walls to make bigger classrooms, a task made much more dif-fi cult by these structural differences.

Construction is still on schedule, despite these set-backs, so students can look forward to a more pleasant experience in South Hall

come spring 2015. Work on the building in-

cluded extensive resurfacing,

installation of sprinklers and an entirely new climate con-trol system.

Classes located in South Hall were moved to Foundation Hall for the du-

ration of the work. An old building itself,

Foundation Hall was once Prescott Middle School and some students have found themselves taking college courses in their old preteen haunts.

“It’s pretty much like I left it in the sixth grade,” said human ecology major Janeth Cruz. “It’s a little creepy, but I like that it has its own park-ing. I don’t have to struggle to fi nd a spot when I have a class over there.”

As the work in South Hall draws to a close, Tech is setting its sights on the next building to be renovated: Jere Whitson, home of the Backdoor Playhouse.

“We’re going to put a sprinkler system in there and upgrade the air condition-ing,” said Miller. “Right now we’re in the process of pro-gramming to see who’s go-ing into that building. I think there will be a few changes with who’s going in there, but we haven’t gotten into that yet. I’m pretty sure the Backdoor Playhouse will still be there, but as far as who else will be in there, we don’t really know yet.”

Much like South Hall, all departments will have to move out of the building dur-ing the renovations.

The entire operation is still in the planning phase but is tentatively slated to be-gin in December of 2015.

An electronic interactive wall, also known as

Tech Wall, is being discussed as a possible fu-ture accessory inside of Jere Whitson Memorial Building for the division of Enrollment Management.

Provost Bahman Ghorashi believes the Tech Wall and other technological transforma-tions will recruit “attractive, qualifi ed students to TTU.”

The Tech Wall is a near-term objective from the Flight Plan focusing on transforming tech-nology to help increase enrollment.

Ghorashi said the Wall will provide stu-dents with pertinent information regarding various disciplines and majors. The Tech Wall would be installed in Jere Whitson after when construction is completed in about two years.

Prospective students will not be the only ones to benefi t from this tool.

“We have students un-decided at the freshman level,” said Ghorashi.

A student looking to change majors will be able to go to the Tech Wall and answer questions about their interests. Content provided by the different departments will match the student with the right

major. The student can then watch a video about the department they are interested in.

Tennessee Tech is following in the footsteps of other universities with this technology. Other universities include: Illinois State University, which uses an electronic interactive wall to com-municate student life to students; University of Missouri, which uses it to recruit athletes; and University of Florida, which uses it as a political poll to inform students about voting.

“We had a lot of guys come down,’’ said Barstad. “We had A.J. Carter, a local guitarist, come play on Main Quad while we cooked out and talked to new potentials. We also had a low country boil where we played corn hole. We met a lot of great guys on campus.”

Barstad said that more than 20 male students came to the fraternity recruitment events to see if they had in-terest in joining the fraternity. The fraternity only ended up offering membership bids to four of the 20 students.

“For us to dwell on the past would get our chap-ter nowhere,” said Barstad. “This recruitment is a great example of walking strong and looking onward.”

By DAVID McMINNWeb Editor

>> Campustntechoracle.com

Contact us: oracle@tntech.eduNEWSPage 2 || THE ORACLE || COOKEVILLE, TN Friday, September 12, 2014

www.tntech.edu/calendar

The Oracle staff thanks you for your readership. Have a great weekend!

Top: South Hall’s windows are boarded up due to ongoing renovations.

Left: On the inside of South Hall. The rooms have been gutted for on-going renovations. Reno-vations should be com-plete by November 2014.

Elissa Longfellow l The Oracle

Elissa Longfellow l The Oracle

Dr. Ghorashi, build up this wall

WINNER WINNER, CHIKIN DINNER

EAT MOR CHIKIN- On Thursday, Sept. 4, the new Chick-fi l-a, located in the basement of the Roaden University Center, celebrated its grand opening. Chick-fi l-a is one of three new establishments on Tech’s campus. President Oldham attended the grand opening along with Awesome Eagle and others.

Drake Fenlon l The Oracle

Ghorashi

New technology known as Tech Wall is being discussed as a possible addition on the inside of the Jere Whitson Memorial Building. Tech Wall will give information to students looking to change majors and answer questions about other interests.

>> SAE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

By HAYLEY GREENHOUSEBeat Reporter

Women’s Center to hold twice monthly meetings

Web directors redesign Tech website

Mae Pearl’s closes doors Women that suffer from

body insecurities have the opportunity to attend month-ly Women’s Center support groups on Tennessee Tech’s campus.

The group meets on the second and fourth Thursday of every month in Pennebaker 203 at 11 a.m.

A peer led support group will be held, with the Women’s Center counselors assisting.

“Last year we did not meet as often,” said Gretta Stranger, associate profes-sor of sociology and political science. “This year though, since there was a bigger in-

terest from the parents at the S.O.A.R. orientations, we will be holding them more effi ciently.”

B.I.D.E., which stands for Body Image and Disordered Eating, is the name for this all-inclusive peer support group.

The meetings are confi -dential to allow the women to share and refl ect their present or past situations.

Students that are unim-pressed with the body they see in the mirror may then cause self-harm to correct their image.

With all the celebrities and the media giving women ideas, this group helps stu-dents to interact and refl ect.

Cookeville is back to having just one local fro-zen yogurt shop after Mae Pearl’s Frozen Yogurt closed its doors for good on Wednesday, Sept. 3 after three years of operation.

Mae Pearl’s owners, brothers Russ and Jason Fowler, closed the doors of their S. Jefferson Ave. des-sert shop after not being able to turn a desirable profi t.

“There were shifts I worked where, sometimes an hour at a time, there were no customers,” said for-mer Mae Pearl’s employee, Jordan Pace.

In addition to the lack of business, the Fowler brothers wanted to use the time they devoted to Mae Pearl’s to focus primarily on their family construction business, Fowler and Sons Construction Company.

In an effort to keep Mae Pearl’s up and running, the Fowlers casually reached out to select individuals and offered to sell the shop.

“The Fowlers called me one day about a month ago and offered to sell me the shop,” said TTU senior and former Mae Pearl’s employ-ee, Drake Fenlon. “I had told them that I might be interested in purchasing the store at some further time down the road, but because I’m still a student, I had to deny their offer.”

Fenlon went on to de-scribe that the Fowler broth-ers had told him they were considering selling the store to him due to not having

enough time to run their construction company, in addition to running a frozen yogurt shop. The Fowlers also told Fenlon that money was not coming in as consis-tently as once projected.

Some students are sad-dened by the closing of the

local business. On closing day, Mae

Pearl’s opened their doors to the public allowing any-one to come and eat free forzen yogurt.

Throughout the after-noon, locals from the com-munity came to pay their

tribute to the frozen yogurtstore and ate their last cupof frozen yogurt from MaePearls.

“Mae Pearl’s was theonly (yogurt) place I went toand I’m sad that it’s closed,”said senior journalism stu-dent, Reanna Young.

By ELLEN CONTIBeat Reporter

By TYLER RANDOLPHBeat Reporter

Roloff was born with dwarfism and only stands at a height of 4 feet 2 inches. She has made it her mission to live a purposeful life despite her disability.

According to the Center Stage website, Roloff will divulge stories from her life related to her dwarfism and will deliver a message about the values of respect in herself and others, honest communication and acceptance.

This event is being co-sponsored by Disability Services.

“I put the events together once it is decided who we’re going to bring in. I do the contracting and scheduling and setting everything up behind the scenes to make sure they happen,” said Anne Thurmond, coordinator for Center Stage.

Thurmond said because the events are funded by student fees, students can attend for free, with the exception of theatrical productions.

9/11 HONORED ON MAIN QUAD

Features << LIVINGCOOKEVILLE, TN || THE ORACLE || Page 3Friday, September 12, 2014

Photo Courtesy of Mae Pearl’s Frozen Yougurt

NO MO YO- Mae Pearl’s closed the doors on Wednesday, Sept. 3. Mae Pearl’s sold frozen yogurt to the local community of Cookeville.

“There were shifts I worked where, some-times an hour

at a time, there were no customers.”

Ben Hay l Guest Contributor

NEVER FORGET- On Thrusday, Sept. 11, fl ags were placed on Main Quad in rememberance of the attacks made on the World Trade Center 13 years ago. Each fl ag placed on the quad represented one life lost on 9/11. The placement of the fl ags was sponsored by the Student Alumni Association on campus.

Mae Pearl’s closed on Sept. 3 after three years of operation. Students react to the closing of the business.

By SHELBEY ASHBURNBeat Reporter

The Tennessee Tech web-site underwent many chang-es this summer as web direc-tors Lisa Maas and David Willis took on the task of visually and technologically improving its features.

Visitors to the new web-site will notice signifi cant changes in the overall ap-pearance of the homepage along with updated features such as the search tool and navigation section, two ma-jor goals set to be achieved during the redesign process.

“The previous site was out of maintenance,” said Maas. “Updates involved migration rather than simply updating the software. We took this as an opportunity to redesign the site as well.”

Maas and Willis played the primary role in updating and redesigning the website but also received many con-tributions from staff and out-

side sources.“Everyone in our offi ce

contributed to one degree or another,” Willis said. “We also contracted out some portions of the work to third parties with specifi c areas of expertise.”

Willis said the website has been receiving both posi-tive and negative feedback in regards to the design and software updates.

“One thing I noticed was when the browser was half the normal size, none of the submenus would stay up long enough to click the cat-egory within,” said Brenna Edwards, web design stu-dent. “I sent the site designer a note through the website form and they told me they were aware of the issue.”

The new website was planned for nearly an entire year before updates and de-signing took place. Overall, the project took about 14 months to complete and was made public June 2014.

>> CENTER STAGECONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

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Send letters to the editor to Send letters to the editor to oracle@tntech.eduoracle@tntech.edu. Include your . Include your name, email address and limit letters to 300 words. Anonymous name, email address and limit letters to 300 words. Anonymous letters are not accepted. Deadline for letters is 4 p.m. Tuesday. letters are not accepted. Deadline for letters is 4 p.m. Tuesday. We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and clarity.We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and clarity.>> Think FreelyOPINION

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KIMMY MANNING

Opinion Editor

DRAKE FENLON-Managing Editor

ON CAMPUS - Starbucks barista, Jordynn Holm, writes up an order for a Pumpkin Spice Latte for senior accounting student, Brent Burton on Wednesday of this week.

Kimmy Manning | The Oracle

Comparitive Thinking andUnnecessaryCoffee:

Coffee or Clean Water?

IN THE SLUMS - Pictured is a girl who Manning met in Kenya, being sponsored to recieve aid.

Intolerant views make the world blind:

Warm scarf. Frayed sweater.Crisp air.Burning trash.Rosy cheeks.Starving bellies.It is time to speak up on

an issue of contrasting stan-dards. It is time to talk about my favorite season and why I need to enjoy it more this year.

Every year, autumn swarms me with tastings of pumpkin, warm wool and heaps of colorful leaves. However, after spending a summer in Kenya, I can’t help but be thankful. American autumn is nothing short of fi rst-world bliss. We delight in our taste buds, layer our-selves in overpaid clothing and crank up our thermostat.

How can I come home with a Starbucks in hand and ignore the beautiful faces I saw — the beautiful faces that wept over clean water alone?

I’m not writing this ar-ticle to make you hate your-self or donate every penny to Feed the Children. I’m writ-ing this to remind you we’re part of the one percent.

As a fi rst world citizen, I can admit a stack of my paycheck goes straight to the coffeehouse.

“We make just over $3,000 in a day,” senior EXPW major Jordynn Holm, barista at the Starbucks on campus, said.

Holm has worked

at the campus Starbucks for over four years and is no stranger to the million-dollar franchise of coffee. She also has seen the sudden rise in income at the end of a cool, near-autumn day.

“Everyone loves the fall fl avors. Everyone, everyone! I see tweets about it all the time. I see Facebook com-ments about it, that as long as they get their pumpkin spice latte, their day is made.”

Our days are made by lattes.

Ouch.This summer I had a

sweet, chocolate-skinned girl

place a bracelet in my hands. A bracelet made out of the material of her sweater. Her only sweater. She gave me a piece of one of her few be-longings. I couldn’t help but wince at the thought of my closet busting from the seams at home.

After trying to fi nd my balance among infuriation of

where we blessed fi rst-world spenders shell out our mon-ey, I had to remind myself there is good in this world, and I certainly can’t be the only one convincing myself of this.

In and out of hallways through the University Center and at the conve-nience of others in line for lunch, I got to scratch the surface. I acquired the feed-back of 24 different students about where their money is going day-to-day.

My fi rst results were ex-pected, as 25 percent of those I interviewed said they don’t donate to charity — con-sidering we are college stu-dents, after all.

However, an equally matched 25 percent of my polls revealed they do not purchase coffee leisurely. This data can at least say one thing: they aren’t frivolous with their money.

But, I needed to dig deeper.

So I found what juxta-posed this situation: 54 per-cent of these college students said they spend less than $25 on their daily brew a month. With less than a dollar a day on coffee, it seems fairly rea-sonable. I can’t even fi ght against that. If you know anything about me, I’m not functioning until I’ve had two cups of dark roast and a pat on the back. I need a lot to keep me going.

What encouraged me more was the 58 percent of

the students who said they donate up to $25 a month toward charity, like fresh-man social work major Emily Sherrill.

“Most causes need the money more than we do,” she said.

Some students weren’t as convinced.

“It’s important to re-search the charity,” junior physical therapy major Taylor Gillespie said.

I can respect that. Research the charity. Research the heck out of the

charity, but don’t ignore it. We’ve all seen the ALS

ice bucket challenge, and goodness knows you prob-ably were challenged to do it, but we need more than just a nomination. It turned into a popularity contest of forcing donations out of your friends. I’m glad people gave, but I’m looking for that urge. We need to want to give. We need to involve ourselves into making this world better than it is.

According to “Business Insider,” the United States is the sixth wealthiest country in the world, with a GDP per capita of $47,084.

If we are the sixth richest, we have some pocket change to spare.

I challenge you this week to replace ONE of your Starbucks indulgences for so-lidifi ed charity. We all need to do a little good, with me be-

ing the biggest critic. Yes, I am going to enjoy

autumn this year. Yes, I am still going to choose to cro-chet, watch Netfl ix and make mountains of pumpkin bread instead of doing my home-work. But I’m not going to enjoy my autumn bliss with-out being a realist.

I could have easily been a Kenyan living in the slums of Kibera or an Eskimo in Alaska, yet I’m in Cookeville, Tenn., living the American dream of earning a college degree.

Let’s not forget how lucky we are. Let’s make the most of this beautiful season by giving to others instead of just ourselves.

I have a love-hate rela-tionship with social media.

Somewhere in between the time I got my own com-puter in middle school and the time I got an Ethernet ca-ble in my room, I started my life with social media.

Back then social media was so innocent and sweet. Not everyone had a Facebook and Twitter. Not everyone was out to self-promote themselves. Just being able to interact with your friends across town and across the world was so fascinating, and a majority of the world jumped aboard the train.

Fast forward to 2014 where everyone has at least some online presence. Whether you have a folder on your iPhone with eight dif-ferent social apps or you are a grandma sharing recipes with friends on Facebook, ev-eryone is involved.

This can be viewed as a good thing because people can connect where they most likely wouldn’t if it wasn’t for social media and the Internet.

On the other hand, this gives a public forum for all voices. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for freedom of speech, but this can be very destruc-tive for free thought thinking where everyone has a voice and can easily share anything they see in just a few clicks.

Regarding that, in the past month when I logged on to Facebook in the mornings I frequently saw posts and links being shared saying Tennessee Tech and President Oldham were products of the liberal media and were at-tempting to “indoctrinate” all freshmen students into the Muslim Brotherhood.

Wait, what? When I fi rst saw the headline being shared around, my jaw liter-ally dropped and my faith in society dropped a little more. Not because I believed a lick of what the article was say-ing, but because people were believing this was actually the truth.

Okay, so what are they talking about here?

For the past three years, the University has had a common book that all fresh-men read to learn a common

lesson to help them in their future. In the past, the books have been stories of overcom-ing great odds to eventually reach success in life.

This year’s book is no dif-ferent, except that it is causing a backlash against the school for choosing a book dealing with the Muslim faith.

“Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” by Eboo Patel

is an autobiography of how Patel grew up in America as a member of the Islamic faith and his struggles with being persecuted because of his differences.

Doesn’t sound too dan-gerous, does it? Well once news broke that this book was chosen for the com-mon book, websites such as Dailyrollcall and the website for former Saturday Night Live cast member, Victoria Jackson (for some reason)

have written some very in-depth blog posts saying how having students read this book is the same as high-fi v-ing the terrorists.

Dailyrollcall defi nes the purpose of their website as to “inform the public of the indoctrination and infi l-tration of various Islamist organizations throughout the country, and in particu-lar the state of Tennessee.” However, what these sites are truly doing is stirring up an Internet storm of fear and ha-tred among the uninformed and are leading to more so-cial intolerance.

What happens is people will see a link to the website shared by one of their friends online, and then pass it on and on without do-ing any research on the topic fi rst. This happens all the time with simple little sto-ries going around about how doctors say not to eat peanut butter because it causes can-cer. This article circulates and then the next week there is a story saying peanut butter is great again and it is a cure-all. These articles circulate around, but people do read them.

In this case, though, we can see directly how an inter-est group can have an effect

on a reader that won’t go out and do their own research or question what they read.

An anonymous com-menter on the Dailyrollcall website said the following comment: “Phillip Oldham is another example of elitist lib-eral scum! I feel sorry for his children!!!”

Wow. Are you serious? The people writing these pieces and comments are blindly making mountains out of craters in an attempt to wind up more boxed hate against a group they believe are the keys to destroying our country.

They want to make it seem that the University and President Oldham are forc-ing radical liberal ideas on the students, when the truth is the U niversity is simply trying to show students that diversity is a good thing, but a tough thing we all face. If anything, this entire backlash is only strengthening Patel’s point that he is being at-tacked just for his beliefs and that our country is not as ac-cepting as it could be.

I have not read the Eboo Patel book yet, that is now optional for freshmen to read, but neither have the authors of the blog sites that are spreading this hate. I can, however, promise you that if

you open its pages, the ter-rorists won’t automaticallywin. The book is attemptingto profi le how we as a societyshould be tolerant in this verydiverse world we live in.

Heaven forbid there arepeople of other religionsout there and heaven forbidthey might just be here inCookeville getting a collegeeducation. We are a state-funded school. We are not aprivate Christian school.

Another Dailyrollcallarticle suggests that simplybecause we have a Muslimstudent group on campusand they try to host events oncampus, we are setting up apath for destruction.

They have every right toworship and organize clubsjust as anyone else does.

Every religion has theirradicals. Every group hastheir radicals. That doesn’tmean just because oneMuslim wrote a book he isautomatically trying to brain-wash you into thinking hisway.

Please use your ownmind to think large scale.Question everything. Don’ttake it at face value. ThinkFreely.

Kimmy Manning | The Oracle“It turned into a

popularity contest of forcing dona-tions out of your

friends.”

Kimmy Manning is a senior in Journalism/Public Rela-tions. She can be reached at kemanning42@students.tntech.edu.

“Life is about learning from experiences even

if they make you a little uneasy at first.”

Drake Fenlon is a senior in Journalism/News Editorial. He can be reached at ddfenlon42@students.tntech.edu.

Is the freshman book too extreme?

New fall shows to check outBy HANNAH BENJAMINEntertainment Critic

By JAKE THREETEntertainment Editor

Album Review: “The Physical World”By ADAM WEBBGuest Critic

‘As Above, So Below’ a creepy treasure

Reviews << ENTERTAINMENTCOOKEVILLE, TN || THE ORACLE || Page 5Friday, September 12, 2014

Well fall TV is upon us again and, for me, it’s an ex-citing time of year. All my favorite shows are coming

back (well not all of them—I’m looking at you ABC and the cancelation choices you have made recently) and some future favorites are joining the lineup. Honestly, no one particular network is offering a slew of hits. Most of the shows premier-ing are not going to make it. Some will barely make it a few episodes. I viewed the trailers for the new shows and have picked out the top new show from each net-work, plus a few honorable mentions. Below, I’ve listed my top new shows to watch out for this fall.“How to Get Away With

Murder”Okay, if the title doesn’t

get your attention immedi-ately then nothing else I’ve listed will either. The show stars Academy Award nominee Viola Davis as an intense, mysterious crimi-nal defense professor who, along with a group of her ambitious law students, becomes entangled in a murder plot that will rock the entire university and change all of their lives. Just hearing Davis mutter the show’s title in the preview sold me on this show. The show is executive produced by Shonda Rhimes and will air after her hits “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal.” Time will tell if this series will become a powerhouse like the other two. Thank God it’s Thursday. “How to Get Away With Murder” will air Thursdays at 10/9 central on ABC.

“Scorpion” With nearly all of their

shows returning from last year, CBS really didn’t have much room to add too many new shows. Out of nine new-ordered shows, this seems to be the clear winner. I think CBS believes so too as it seems to get more advertising than oth-ers. Nonetheless, the show is about super genius Elyes Gabel who pulls together a team of similar individu-als to help stop threats against the United States. Intelligent, humorous and fast-moving are all words to characterize this show. If viewers agree, the network should have another hit on its hands. “Scorpion” is set to air Mondays at 9/8 cen-tral on CBS.

“Marry Me”Finally, a comedy

makes the list! Sadly this show is the only one on it. From the creator of “Happy Endings,” still looking you ABC, comes this hilarious comedy starring Casey Wilson and Ken Marino. The duo star as Annie and Jake, a longtime couple who, after many botched engagements, decide to pull themselves together before offi cially getting engaged. Hilarity ensues, with plenty of moments that help this couple realize that no matter what, they cannot get away from each

other. If you were a fan of “Happy Endings” and miss it as much as I do, this looks to take some of the pain away. “Marry Me” will air Tuesdays at 9/8 central on NBC.

“Red Band Society”Octavia Spencer. That is

really all you need to know. The Academy Award win-ner stars in this provoking, inspiring and, at times, co-medic show about a group of teenagers who meet as pa-tients in the pediatric ward of Ocean Park Hospital in Los Angeles. There’s a lot of heart in this show and no doubt will it tug some heartstrings. Spencer plays Nurse Jackson who, along with the other hospital staff, gives these kids the free-dom to have life inside the hospital, just within medi-cal safety. I would say this is the underdog of all the new shows premiering this fall, but there’s a fi ght to this cast and the show’s mes-sage. “Red Band Society” will air Wednesdays at 10/9 central on FOX.

Below are two shows that will make some noise, but were not necessarily my favorite. There are only two and one has not even begun fi lming yet. There is not even a trailer.

“The Flash”After the success of

“Arrow,” the CW clearly knew what it was doing by bringing this series to life. Given, I have never seen “Arrow” or watched anything on the CW since “One Tree Hill” went off the air, but I will say the trailer for this show peaked my interest. Like “Arrow,” and also former CW show “Smallville,” this DC com-ic-based series looks to be full of action. While DC has had its fair share of fl ubs in the cinematic universe, their projects on television have fared far better and have told the story of its lead character in a better fashion. “The Flash” will air Tuesdays at 8/7 central on the CW.

Below are two honor-able mentions that will make some noise, but were not necessarily my favorite.

In perhaps one of the creepiest fi lms to release in the last few months, “As A b o v e / S o Below” is half

thriller and half adventure, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. Deep within the ancient cata-combs of Paris, a team of ragtag treasure hunters ac-cidentally stumble upon a portal to hell amidst the millions of ancient skel-etons. Terror ensues when each member of the team is haunted by their past as they try to escape the underworld.

“As Above/So Below” begins with found footage and shaky-cam details of the research of a woman named Scarlett (Perdita Weeks). She recruits her friends, Benji and George, to fi nd the an-cient Philosopher’s Stone. Their fi ndings lead them to a French graffi ti gang lead-er named Papillion, known for exploring the hidden tunnels in the Catacombs. Once they’re inside, the real thrills begin.

The fi lm does an ex-cellent job of building up suspense without start-ing off too slow. While the creepiness takes a while to set in, the character and plot development is inter-esting enough to keep the audience engaged. Scarlett and her friends have a lik-able dynamic, and the search for the Philosopher’s Stone gives off a “National Treasure”-esque vibe. The

puzzles don’t detract from the main focus of the movie but draw the audience into something more than found footage of a haunted place.

“As Above/So Below” keeps the story fresh, but defi nitely could have been scarier. For an R rating, it doesn’t take the opportu-nity to freak out the audi-ence as much as it could have. The fi lm could have made hell look a lot scarier, but it seems only moder-ately creepy. The ending was particularly rushed as

well, leaving the conclusionmostly up to the audienceto fi gure out.

Though summer is overand most of the blockbust-ers have already left our Highland 12, “As Above/So Below” did not disap-point. The fi lm is a creepytreasure hunt gone wrong,perfect for a late nightviewing.

“As Above/So Below”is rated R for bloodyviolence and terror, aswell as strong languagethroughout.

‘“As Above, So Below” opened in fourth place at the weekend box offi ce with $8.3 million and has since made $16.7 million.

Photo Courtesy of Screen Rant

Only one of the shows has begun fi lming. There is not even a trailer. Nonetheless, both look to incorporate freshness to television.

“Gotham” In this new take on

“The Caped Crusader,” the story mainly focuses on Commissioner James Gordon and his rise to prominence in Gotham City. If you are expecting to see Batman in all of his glory, then this is not the show for you. Yes, Bruce Wayne is in the show, along with favorite villains and comic characters, but this story is all about the before and how the characters got to where we know them today. “Gotham” will air Mondays at 8/7 central on FOX.

“Agent Carter”Marvel continues to

build its television stock with this new show. It stars Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, who appeared in both “Captain America: The First Avenger” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” Set in 1946, Carter must balance the routine offi ce work she does for the Strategic Scientifi c Reserve while secretly working with Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) on mis-sions. Not much has been released about the show, and it will not be making its way onto the schedule until mid-season when “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” goes on hiatus.

There you have it, the best new show from each of the fi ve major networks and a couple of honorable mentions. I am sure there will be a few more shows I did not mention that will do well, but for now these are the ones that are sure to make must-see TV. Unfortunately, cable net-works offered nothing ex-citing, but I have hope they will offer something excit-ing for the beginning of next year.

Next week be sure to check out part two of my fall TV preview, as I take a look at some of the exciting returning series this fall and what to expect from them.

“The Flash” premieres Tuesday, October 7, at 8/7 central on the CW before the long running newtwork hit “Supernatural”.

Photo Courtesy of Comic Vine

After a decade of silence, To-ronto noise rock duo Death From Above 1979 have fi nally

released a new album, “The Physical World.”

DFA1979 is made up of singer/drummer Sebastian Grainger and bassist/synth player Jes-se Keeler. Hype has been building for this album since the band started tour-ing again in 2011 after their falling out in 2006. While this album may not live up to their fi rst album, “You’re a Woman I’m a Machine,” it’s still a solid follow-up.

The fi rst track off the al-bum, “Cheap Talk,” starts exactly the way a DFA1979 album should with heav-ily distorted bass and fast paced hi-hats. This trend continues throughout most of the album, and it’s nice to hear the guys haven’t lost their signature sound.

“White is Red” is the closest thing to a mellow song the band has released to date. Keeler’s bass has a much higher pitch than usual and Grainger doesn’t use a cymbal until the fi rst chorus. Even though the song is a bit of a de-parture from the normal style of the duo, it’s not as much of a departure as the

track “Trainwreck 1979.” “Trainwreck 1979” has

the band going for more of a pop punk vibe rath-er than their traditional noise/dance punk. It’s not a bad track and it carries an infectious chorus, but with the rest of the album sticking to the band’s sig-nature sound, it’s defi nite-ly a track that stands out.

The song “Right On, Frankenstein!” and “Al-ways On” are true returns to form for Grainger and Keeler. These songs sound like they could come off the duo’s debut album with loud drums and groovy bass lines that are still as fresh now as they were the fi rst time around.

Grainger hasn’t lost his vocal touch either since the band’s breakup. On the track “Gemini,” he’s

screaming lyrics like “Mygirl is a Gemini she getsthings done. Sometimesshe’s mean but she can be a lot of fun,” all to thesound of Keeler’s highpitched distortion on bass.

A lot of the songs onthis album deliver and there’s no denying it’s ex-citing to have some newmaterial from the band,but some songs are stillbetter than others. How-ever after 10 years, it’s ex-citing to fi nally have newmaterial from the band.

If you haven’t heardof these guys, check outtheir fi rst album, “You’rea Woman, I’m a Machine,”as it serves as the founda-tion “The Physical World”was built on. Overall thisalbum should satisfy newand old fans alike and have them eager for more.

After reuniting in 2011, Death From Above 1979 released their second album,“The Physical World”, on September 9th.

Photo Courtesy of DeathFromAbove 1979.

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By SHEA HAILESports Editor

By JORDAN PACEAssistant Sports Editor

Volleyball visits Mcneese State for weekend games

Tennessee Tech’s vol-leyball team is preparing for an action packed weekend at Mcneese State University. The Golden Eagles will face Alcorn State University, Mcneese State, Louisiana- Monroe and Prairie View A&M University in the Mcneese State Invitational.

Second year head coach Dave Zelenock is excited to have the opportunity to play the host school.

“They have a small gymnasium that only seats 500 and they fi ll them every time,” said Zelenock,”That will be a good environment to play in.”

Tech’s fi rst match begins Sept. 12 at 12:15 p.m. against the Lady Braves of Alcorn State. The Lady Braves enter the contest with a 2-3 record.

The Golden Eagles will face the Mcneese Sate Cowgirl’s at 7 p.m. for the feature match. The Cowgirls start the tournament with a 5-3 record.

The Golden Eagles will play the Sunbelt Conference’s Louisiana-Monroe and the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Prairie View A&M on Saturday.

“We are very young. We have got a lot of underclass-man. At times we have had four kids on the court at the same time who didn’t play a college volleyball game last year,” said Zelenock.

This Mcneese State Invitational is the third straight invitational for the team. Zelenock is hoping

the experiences will help his young team improve.

”We are learning by fi re,” Zelenock continued, “Basically,I knew we were going to have a young team so I just want-ed to throw as many matches and opportuni-ties out there as possible.”

The Golden Eagles have only won one game so far this, defeating Norfolk State, but there have been some im-pressive perfoemances.

Junior Cody Dodd reached her career high 18 kills twice in the East Carolina Invitational against Norfolk State, and the University of North Carolina Wilmington, earning her a spot on the East Carolina Invitational All- Tournament team.

“Cody put up ridicu-lous numbers she got a little bit robbed of the player of the week as did Jordan. She (Jordan) did not get defensive player of the week. Jordan had 19 blocks which is an in-sane number,” says Zelonock

Freshman Jordan Wachowiak’s 19 blocks placed her in the top 20 in the country. Senior Courtney Smith and sophomore Kennedy Wade were impres-sive passers for the Golden Eagles last weekend.

The Golden Eagles will be on the road again begin-ning on September 19 in the Wofford/Gardner-Webb Invitational.

Zelenock

VOLLEYBALL

The Golden Eagles were handed their fi rst loss of the 2014 season last Saturday while on the road against the Indiana State Sycamores.

Indiana State took a commanding 49-14 win over Tech by putting them out of the game early with a 21-0 fi rst half lead.

TheSycamores outplayed the Golden Eagles by moving the ball for 543 yards on offense. Indiana State quarterback Mike Perish threw for 383 yards with three touchdowns and added a second quarter rushing touchdown. Receiver Gary Owens grabbed 199 yards in the sky on six receptions for the Sycamores.

The home team also

gained 160 yards on the ground rushing. LeMonte Booker, running back for Indiana State, rushed for 77 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries.

“We allowed multiple plays on defense of 30 yards or more,” said Watson Brown, head coach for the Golden Eagles. “We can’t do that if we expect to win football games.” In response to Sycamore’s dominant offensive performance, Tech’s offense put up 166 yards of total offense with quarterback Jared Davis throwing for just 98 passing yards.

“The loss had more to do with our offense underperforming,” said Brown, whose team fi nished without an offensive score

last Saturday. The Golden Eagles fi nally

made an appearance on the scoreboard midway through

the third quarter on a blocked punt for a touchdown by

defensive end Jordan Patrick. “That was a gorgeous

block by Patrick. He put hisbig hands in there and madea fantastic play,” said Brown.

Less than two minutes after their fi rst score, theGolden Eagles added sixmore points when LadariusVanlier ran a 72-yard puntreturn touchdown.

The effort was too littletoo late for the GoldenEagles, however, as IndianaState added three more touchdowns to close out the game in Terre Haute, Ind.

The 1-1 Golden Eagles look to regroup and rechargeduring their bye week before they take on conference rival Tennessee State Universityon Sept. 20 at Hale Stadium in Nashville.

Rob Schabert| Asst. Ad Sports InformationEndzone Bound-Ladarius Vanlier returning a punt at Indiana State.

Tech struggles on both sides of the ball against Indiana State:Refocusing for TSU

FOOTBALL

The Golden Eagles man-aged to come away with a silver lining from their 49-14 loss while away against the Indiana State Sycamores on Saturday as running back Ladarius Vanlier was named the OVC Special Teams Player of the Week.

The 5 foot 8 inch junior fi nished Saturday’s outing with 200 all-purpose yards, which included a third quarter 72-yard punt return for a Golden Eagle Touchdown.

“That was a catch he

wouldn’t have made last sea-son,” said head coach Watson Brown of Vanlier’s 72-yard punt return. “That type of play just shows the improve-ments he’s made since last year.”

In addition to receiving this week’s award, Vanlier stays in the headlines by na-tionally ranking fi fth in punt returns (20.4 yards per re-turn), 14th in kickoff returns (26.8 yards per return) and 15th in all-purpose yards (178.5 yards per game). Although he was award-ed by the conference for his efforts on special teams, Vanlier said he would have

rather been awarded with a win over the Sycamores.

“It’s an accomplishment, but nothing is more impor-tant to me than winning the game as a team,” said Vanlier.

Already a winner of the conference’s weekly special teams honor, Vanlier believes he can win more awards in his future.

“You can never be ‘too good.’ There is no ceil-ing to success, and I know I still have a lot I can work on,” said Vanlier. “Yeah, the award happened, but we have to move on as a team and get better before we play our next opponent.”

The Golden Eagles willtravel to Hale Stadium in Nashville Sept. 20 to take on conference rival Tennessee State University.

By JORDAN PACEAssistant Sports Editor

Vanlier

Vanlier: OVC special teams player of the week