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The Department of Aviation and Supply Chain Management lost a faculty member, its students lost a professor, but the colleagues of Dr. Raymond Allen Hamilton II, lost a comrade.
Anonymous University Twitter accounts have become increasingly popular throughout the past couple years at various schools around the country. The idea is usually to post witty, generalized references about basically any- thing and everything interesting to college students.
For a lot of Auburn students, graduation is just around the corner, leaving most with big questions about the future and very few answers. But for Auburn senior Anna Kate Mullinix, the answer to what she wants her future to hold is clear.
Eighth & Rail, a downtown Opelika bar that also serves sushi, gives the Auburn/Opelika community a different scene than the typical bars in Auburn.
Owners Jerrod and Kristy Woodham have opened a new sweet spot at 3051 Frederick Road in Opelika, right next to Momma Goldberg's.
The new bar located on North College offers a classic and upscale option to Auburn's night life.
Despite the positive image of puppy petting and candy giving on the concourse since last week, the fast-paced Student Government Association campaigns have encountered some speed bumps. Matthew McGough is the 2012 – 2013 chairman of Elections Board, which is composed of seven students who govern over the entirety of elections and is charged with the responsibility of holding candidates and the Elections Council accountable to the Code of Laws. “We have had a total of 12 violations for the spring campaigns,” McGough said Friday, Feb. 15. “Three of the violations occurred before formal campaigning began and nine have occurred since formal campaigning began on Wednesday, Feb. 13.”All section numbers and descriptions are taken verbatim from the SGA Code of Laws.Presidential candidates Chelsea Crooks is running for president and her campaign violated five of the laws. 700.1 - The Purpose of Elections is to provide a fair and open process by which the students of Auburn University may choose their representatives to the Student Government Association. Title VII of the SGA Code of Laws governs the elections process and is intended to provide a quality educational experience for all involved. 700.2 - Election law is intended to promote this purpose by regulating candidates, campaign workers, elections officials and voters by guidelines that protect all parties from a viewpoint-neutral perspective. Election law seeks to avoid creating an excessively competitive and contentious environment, which might threaten the academic and social welfare of Auburn students.The Crooks campaign was found to be guilty of violating 700.1 and 700.2 by "purposefully submitting fraudulent documents." 708.7.14.3 - No Candidate may print or distribute more than four hundred (400) T-Shirts.Because of these violations, the Elections Board unanimously voted that the Crooks campaign may no longer wear campaign t-shirts, must surrender all remaining campaign gimmicks to the Executive Director of Elections, and that Kyla Wilkinson, campaign manager of the Crooks campaign, must be removed from the campaign and may not participate in campaign activities.On Feb. 18 the Crooks campaign was found to be in violation of sanctions previously handed down by Elections Board. Specifically, her campaign continued to wear campaign t-shirts and hand out gimmicks after being instructed no longer to do so.For this violation, the Elections Board voted to nullify 750 votes from the Crooks campaign total. All previous sanctions remain valid.The same day, the Crooks campaign was also found to be in violation of section 708.15.708.15 - The public Endorsement of any Candidate or Political Party shall be limited to persons eligible to vote in Auburn University SGA elections.For this violation, the Elections Board ruled that the Crooks campaign must take down all official Twitter feeds between 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19.
"Where crunk meets conscious and feminism meets cool," is the tag line for the Crunk Feminist Collective, an advocacy group geared toward furthering the rights of today's women of color and all sexual orientations. The group began gathering informally in 2004 at Emory University as few graduate students of color who were getting their Ph.D. in various disciplines.
The Career Center will be hosting guest speaker Lauren Berger, an internship expert, at Auburn Wednesday, Feb. 6. Berger, founder and CEO of Intern Queen Inc. will be in Foy Hall Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. sharing personal stories on her success from 15 internships during her four years at college. Meaghan Weir, a career counselor, has been following Berger's social media sites and website for about a year now. In early fall 2012, Weir sparked an interest in bringing Berger to Auburn's campus. "I started talking to her agency and we identified spring 2013 as the best time to bring her to Auburn," Weir said. Berger also wrote a book "All Work, No Pay" that came out in January 2012. Her book talks about how to find internships, build your resume, make connections and gain work experience. She made stops to a number of different colleges in 2011 including Kent State University, Syracuse University, Purdue University, University of Missouri and several others. Auburn is next on her list. "Because she is a dynamic speaker, young and energetic I really think the students will connect with her story," Weir said. The Career Center helps students throughout their entire college process. From deciding on or changing a major to finding a part-time job while in college or a job after college, that is the Career Center's ultimate goal. They also help with resume and cover letter building and even do mock interviews for students who hope to gain extra skills. Hayley Smith, junior in communications, is required to have an internship before she graduates. "I think the Career Center does a good job of hosting these types of events, I have already been to one last semester and I found it really helpful," Smith said. "I think it is great that they found someone that has been so successful to talk to us because I know a lot of students are still trying to find an internship as we speak." Smith plans on attending the Feb. 6 event. The Career Center cannot stress enough how important it is to obtain an internship during the four years students have in school. "Having experience related to your choose field is vastly important no matter what your major is," said Jay Skipworth, assistant director of employer relations and student employment. "Employers just expect you to have experience." The National Association of Colleges and Employers put out their 2013 Job Outlook survey, and asked what attributes they are looking for in candidates as far as experience and skills. They also asked how important internships are, and 71 percent of employers said they wanted applicants to have related work experience. This is why the Career Center felt the importance of giving students the chance to listen to someone such as Berger and the opportunity to ask her questions. "She has really pioneered some unique ways to not only seek out internships, but to make something of them," Skipworth said. "I think that is the part that doesn't get emphasized enough." Skipworth sees this event as an opportunity for students to learn from someone in their own generation. Business Week Magazine named Lauren Berger number five on their annual list of Young Entrepreneurs 25 Under 25. During her time at University of Central Florida, where she majored in organizational business communications, Berger held internships at MTV, FOX and NBC. Now her fully established website InternQueen.com reaches students across the U.S. and Canada and helps them to not only find internships, apply and assist in the whole process. Berger's attendance on campus is part of the Career Center's Experience Week. Each day there will be a different event which details can be found of the Career Center website www.auburn.edu/career. Berger is a prominent national speaker and the Career Center encourages students to attend.
"Extremist groups" with "fancy San Francisco environmental lawyers" are launching a "full frontal assault" on you and I and this great state.
For a night of great music, The Hound is the place to be this Saturday, Feb. 2. Rock n' roll band Teacup and the Monster will play at The Hound, along with Atlanta based band, The Red Sea.
One week and one meet into the 2013 track and field season, the Tigers seem to have hit the ground running, jumping and throwing as they attempt to follow up a brilliant 2012 campaign.
What's in a name?
The Auburn men's basketball team won four of their six games over the break, including a victory over Florida State.
A piece of Auburn history sits at the end of East Magnolia. The Scott-Yarbrough house, more commonly known as “Pebble Hill,” is a large plantation home built in 1847. Pebble Hill sits approximately 40 yards from Debardeleben Street, which runs north to south. The building is painted white except for the stairs, which are a steel gray color that lead up in both directions toward a heavy wooden door. The building has obviously been restored, but the integrity of the original building is still intact. Nathaniel Scott and his wife, Mary, came to East Alabama in the 1830s. They moved onto land recently acquired by the United States from the Creek Indians. Evelyn Causey, a historian who was hired by Auburn University to research the history of Pebble Hill, said Scott built the house to show his importance to the city. “The reason he built the house is kind of two-fold,” Causey said. “He wants to be where the activity is, he is developing a career in politics and he wants to be close to the town. But, at the same time, this house is a statement to the people of Auburn. He wants them to know that he and his family are important.” The Scott family, along with another group of Methodist settlers, helped found what is modern day Auburn. The Scott family was always supportive of education. At various times, Pebble Hill housed students that were attending schools in Auburn. After the emancipation of slaves, Mary Scott was forced to sell Pebble Hill after the death of her husband. She sold it to a woman named Mary Riley. Causey said Riley’s history is unclear. “She’s kind of a curious character because she’s a widow, she has two children and I have not been able to find any record of her husband,” Causey said. “It’s not clear from the census records what her occupation was, how she brought in an income or how she was able to purchase this house.” Causey said Riley lived at the house until her death, and then several years later the house was bought by Cecil and Bertha Mae Yarbrough. Cecil, a physician, moved to Auburn and set up a medical practice. Cecil was a prominent figure in Auburn at the time, serving multiple terms as mayor and a term for the House of Representatives. He died in 1946 and, after the death of his second wife in 1967, the house was passed on to his son, Clarke S. Yarborough, where the house remained until 1982. The house was later donated to Auburn University, and the Center for the Arts and Humanities was founded. “The center was named in 2007 after Caroline Marshall Draughon,” said Maiben Beard, outreach associate for the Center for the Arts and Humanities. “She was Dr. Ralph Draughon’s wife and an historian. She had a real love of history and a real love of Auburn, so it’s very appropriate that we are named after her.” Beard, a graduate student in public history, said it was her own love of history that drew her to work at Pebble Hill. “I grew up in and around Auburn, and this was always one of those places you would drive by and think, ‘that’d be a really cool place to work,’” Beard said. Beard said she handles the publicity and website for the Center for the Arts and Humanities, and she also coordinates some of the events. While it has gone through countless restorations already, the Scott-Yarbrough house still has work to be done before it can be fully utilized by the Center for the Arts and Humanities. “This building is in transition right now,” said Mark Wilson coordinator of community and civic engagement for Auburn University. “Right now it is being used as offices. It’s not used for public programming right now, but it has been in the past and in the future it will be.” Wilson said a renovation and addition will be started in February that will allow them to use the building for events. “We’ll break ground and build an office building, and then this will be opened back up for the public,” Wilson said. Wilson said the house would be used to give people a glimpse into what a 19th-century house looks like and also what it was used for. “We want the house to be used for functions, but more importantly we want it to be able to interpret the 1840s to the public,” Wilson said. The high ceilings and wooden floors allow for thundering acoustics throughout this historic landmark. The paint, art and furnishings have all remained true to the time period. Beard said this has all been a collaborative effort by the Center for the Arts and Humanities to retain Pebble Hill’s history. “The house itself has gone through a lot of transformations,” Beard said. “We actually had a guy come who was a paint analyst who does this kind of work on historic buildings. He took samples of all the walls, ceilings and mantles, and he could tell sort of what was here in 1847 and what was added on.” Causey, who did extensive research on Pebble Hill, said she felt like this was an important part of Auburn’s history that needed to be shared with the public. “I feel like it’s very hard to see the town’s early history separate from the university,” Causey said. “Pebble Hill is a very well preserved pre-Civil War building, and it’s a great way to see and understand the history of this town.” Beard said the programs offered by the Center for the Arts and Humanities is something that will always be needed. “We’ve lost a lot of older homes in Auburn to development, so it’s sort of nice to have this piece of Auburn history,” Beard said. “If you look at the history of the house and the change of landscape around it, then you really get a sense of the history of Auburn.” Wilson said that in order to think about the future of a community, then you have to first learn from its past. “There’s a sense of dignity that comes to a community when it preserves its past,” Wilson said. “In a sense we are looking forward to future generations being able to enjoy all of what this house has to offer, but it’s also about the past, honoring all of the people who have cared for this home, bringing it full circle and doing justice to one of these historical treasures.”A slideshow presentation is available here. To view the accompanying multimedia presentation, click here.
Voodoo Needle, now Auburn’s oldest surviving tattoo shop, started in 2000 after its predecessor, The Flying Gypsy, closed. Nathan Voodoo, a former Flying Gypsy employee, said the tattoo shop’s demise started after the owner died and his wife took ownership. “The place basically ran by itself,” Voodoo said. “You didn’t feel like coming to work that day, you didn’t come to work.” So Voodoo left The Flying Gypsy and opened his own tattoo shop. “I had only been tattooing for a year at that point,” Voodoo said. “But coming from The Flying Gypsy I figured there’s no way I could do a worst job.” For an entire month, Voodoo was unemployed, desperate to find a space to rent in Auburn. “We were running around looking for somebody who would rent a retail spot to a bunch of scumbag tattoo artists,” Voodoo said. “It was actually kind of a scary month.” Fast forward 12 years later and Voodoo is an atheist, avid jiu jitsu enthusiast and still the owner of the Voodoo Needle, but thinks of himself as more of an overlord. “Overlord has a better ring to it,” Voodoo said. “I like that title better than owner or something boring.” The owner/overlord is so dedicated to his business he even legally changed his last name to Voodoo. Despite starting with little experience and barely staying open in the first year, Voodoo runs an efficient business with happy, hardworking employees. Paige Brooks, a piercing specialist, was at Voodoo Needle on her day off. “This is probably the best job I could ever imagine,” Brooks said. “I’m at work on my day off because I love being here so much.” The tattoo and piercing shop challenges the more conservative values of the South, yet Voodoo Needle has successfully made its mark on the Plains. Because of its close proximity to Auburn University, Voodoo Needle offers plenty of variations on a tiger tattoo. Henry Key, a Voodoo veteran tattoo artist, has done his fair share of Auburn-inspired tattoos, but remembered one in particular. “I did a tiger on this chick’s face,” Key said and then smiled. “It was her first tattoo. We tried to talk her out of it for about an hour and she was just not having it so she got a big-ass tiger on her face.” Voodoo said he hesitates doing hand tattoos, but completely refuses to do face tattoos in fear of making someone totally unemployable. “It automatically destroys someone’s chances of getting a job anywhere,” Voodoo said. “I do permanent cosmetics, so I’ll tattoo your eyelids if you want me to, but I’m not going to tattoo f**k you on your eyelids.” A regular at Voodoo tattoo, Rick Bagget’s first tattoo was just a skull on the corner of his forehead. Bagget’s face tattoo has since grown into a full-face tattoo with a spider web covering most of his face and a lipstick kiss on his left cheek. “Rick got it because he’s angry people are so conservative,” Voodoo said. “You know I get angry because people are pretty conservative around here, but it doesn’t make me want to tattoo my face.” Although all tattoo advocates, the employees at Voodoo Needle do not encourage anyone who is even slightly hesitant to get a tattoo to follow through with the procedure. Regardless of if a client wants a full-face design or just a small ankle tattoo, they are not afraid to stress the permanence of the act. “The best way to remove a tattoo is not to get it,” Voodoo said, “especially if you are not sure.” Key was responsible for the infamous tattoo of Reuben Foster, the top middle linebacker of the 2013 class. The five-star recruit made national news after he committed to the University of Alabama, but decided to play at Auburn instead. Reuben caused even more media attention when he tweeted a picture of a large Auburn logo on his right arm, supposedly solidifying his switch. Tattooing has become an art form to many, even attributing tattooists as artists who specialize in specific techniques. “I do photorealistic stuff,” Key said. “I really like to do freehand tattoos with Sharpie marker instead of a stencil because it gives you complete creative control.” Sometimes during his breaks between tattoos, Key switches mediums and works on drawings in his sketchbook with colored pencils. Key said he considers tattooing an art form because “it’s the ultimate form of self expression.”But not everyone feels as artistically moved by tattooing. “I’m not quite convinced everything we do is art,” Voodoo said. “I guess I’m kind of cynical like that.” The title artist doesn’t resonate as well with the overlord. “Whenever I do a cursive name or a baby daddy name the same way I’ve done it for the past 200 baby daddy names, is it really art?” Voodoo said. “Am I really like Michelangelo?” Voodoo said he believes tattooing is mostly a craft. “At the higher end of what we do I consider it an art,” Voodoo said. “A lot of it’s just a large pepperoni pizza, you put the cheese on, then the pepperonis on top and that’s just what you do for pizza.” The tattoos and piercings on all employees have increased since working at Voodoo Needle and the exact number is hard to remember for some. “All I know is I have a lot,” Key said. “I think it’s roughly somewhere around 40 tattoos, but I honestly don’t remember.” When Brooks first started working at Voodoo Needle she had a total of two piercings. “Over the course of about a year and a half I ended up with about 22 piercings.” “It is definitely an addiction,” Key said. “You want more after you get that first one.” As for the future of Auburn’s oldest tattoo shop, Voodoo recently attempted to retire, but returned back to work only after four months. “Going from working seven days a week for the last 11 years (at the time) to not working at all I think was more than I can handle,” Voodoo said. Although his retirement was short lived, Voodoo said he doesn’t want to be the “big man” at Voodoo forever and the right time to retire will come when he has figured out more about himself. “I’m still kind of soul searching,” Voodoo said. “I’m trying to figure out how life is possible without Voodoo Needle.” Voodoo said he struggles to answer the question, “What do people who don’t own tattoo shops do?”A slideshow presentation is available here. To view the accompanying multimedia presentation, click here.
After releasing all assistant coaches from Auburn's football team, Gus Malzahn's quest to fill those vacancies is half complete.
Toomer’s Corner has seen better days. Almost two years ago, the oaks on the corner were injected with the herbicide Spike-80DF by noted Alabama football fan Harvey Updyke. The trees initially were thought to survive the poison, but further testing revealed the new foliage had traces of the chemical even after sugar solutions had been inserted in their trunks to try and reverse the effects of the herbicide. The University had to plan for the day that Toomer’s Corner would not be able to be rolled. Auburn’s football graciously allowed the trees to be only be rolled three times this past football season to ease the stress on the dying trees, but a long-term replacement had to be reached. In the spring of 2012, a Committee to Determine the Future of Rolling Toomer’s Corner was created. “If the trees by some chance live, then there would not be a need for us to find another location to roll, which would be great news,” said Debbie Shaw, chairperson for the committee, in April. “However, since the chances are still relatively slight, it is important we continue with our backup plan regarding the Toomer’s Corner rolling tradition.”That backup plan was put into action in October with public workshops held on Auburn’s campus to received input from students, faculty and the Auburn Family on the future of the corner.One month later in November, four plans were presented on campus for the future of the historical corner. The four plans were named as follows: Olmsted Arc Path, Samford Diagonal, Circle and Center, and Arcs and Radicals. Not quite as catchy as Toomer’s Corner, but campus planner Jeffery Dumars says these plans are just the beginning.“The intent then is for the team to create two more revised schemes,” Dumars said. “There are a couple of different ways to do this depending on the feedback. We could take pieces of each of the themes to create two themes or we might advance two themes because those are well accepted as they are. It all depends on the comments that come back.”Those comments will be from an online survey that is currently under construction. Dumars says the survey will be a way for the entire Auburn family to have their voice heard.“The next step is to create an online survey to offer the broader Auburn family to be able to provide comment, feedback and input on the initial themes and what’s important to consider when designing them,” Dumars said. “It’s going to be one big piece of how we judge the designs is how they address those themes. We want the broader Auburn family to see what those are to this point and be able to comment on that. If you’ve seen the options, they are still very preliminary sketches. They aren’t very far advanced.”Once the survey is complete, who will take over from there?“The facilities management landscape master planning teams will manage that and push it forward,” Dumars said. “That group will steer them and guide them on what comments to take, and we’ll have to present the results of the survey and the input we received back to the campus.” Many students on campus attended the workshops and plan to fill out the online survey as well. Each expressed their happiness that the University was incorporated the voices of the people in such an important decision.“Toomer’s Corner is more than just trees or an intersection,” graduate student Matt Donaldson said. “It’s meant so much to so many people that it’s only right for those people to have a say in what its future will look like.”The hope of creating the same atmosphere at the corner for the future generation of Auburn fans was paramount for students as well.“I just want my children to be able to experience what I experienced,” senior Josh Hastings said. “That small piece of land has meant so much to be and my parents that I want to be able to share that same feeling with my children.”But the small area where the oaks are planted isn’t the only thing the architects and campus planners must take into consideration when devising a new plan for the corner. There is a typical look to Auburn’s architecture: brick, white trim and gray roof. But there isn’t that same standard for landscape across campus.There isn’t a concrete example or set of guidelines in everyone’s mind of what an Auburn landscape is,” Dumars said. “Everyone walks around and it’s very successful and people like it. It’s very park-like, and it’s a great place, but it’s not clear on what type of trees, what type of furnishings, what type of paving there is across campus. The landscape master plan wants to set guidelines and a vision if you will for what Auburn landscape is.”The concerns for a cohesive look even expands past the dividing line of campus and Auburn’s downtown area.“We’re looking at Toomer’s as not just the intersection, whether it be Toomer’s Corner or Toomer’s Drug, but it’s a broader piece of the campus,” Dumars said. “It has to relate to the whole length of College, the whole length of Magnolia, Samford Park as well as the city and downtown and how important that piece of landscape is to the downtown.”The main question Dumars said he has been asked was if the new structure will be ready for football season next year? “The original thought was that if the trees had to come down, we would want something up by next football season,” Dumars said. “That’s not realistic.” Knowing the impact this decision will have for decades and generations to come, Dumars and his teams are in no rush to complete the task.“It’s just an important piece to the Auburn community,” he said. “It’s going to take longer than that. So we’re not rushing. The only contract we have at this point is to finish these two refined plans and have those presented in February. Assuming at that point we can have consensus on a plan for a future vision for the Corner, assuming the trees have to be replaced and we have to rip up pavement, move walls and soil due to remediation, at that point, we hope to have a common vision where everyone buys into that plan.That common vision will take longer than expected to create. The plan is loosely scheduled to finish a year behind expectations.“Then we will initiate a contract with a set of consultants to do the design work,” Dumars said. “And that work will take a couple of months. Maybe even six months or a year, then we have time to do the construction before the football season of 2014.”Even though Dumars has only been in Auburn two and a half years, he recognizes the importance of what this project means to the Auburn Family.“This is the most emotional and critical design project that I’ve worked on,” he said.A slideshow presentation is available here. To view the accompanying multimedia presentation, click here.
Almost exactly four years ago, former head coach Gene Chizik was booed off the plane at the Auburn University Regional Airport as he arrived on The Plains following his selection as Auburn's head coach.
The calls for Gene Chizik's job began halfway into what can now be considered the worst Auburn team in the program's 120 year history.
