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(09/06/14 6:50pm)
Some things are better left at home.
Knowing the list of items prohibited from entering Jordan-Hare stadium on game day can mean the difference between a perfect Saturday and a night in jail.
"These policies are in place to protect students," said Cassie Arner, associate director of strategic communications with the athletic department. "Auburn doesn't do anything differently from any other SEC school on game day."
Arner said the stated purpose of the list is to promote the best interest of all who participate, from the out-of-state fans all the way up to Nick Marshall and Gus Malzahn.
Items su,ch as umbrellas, large bags and moveable stadium seats are banned from the stadium.
Umbrellas are prohibited because they block others' view and are potentially harmful, while moveable stadium seats infringe on others' personal space.
Cameras with interchangeable lenses, lenses larger than four inches and all video cameras are prohibited during games to protect the players and the Auburn brand, said Arner.
Disruptive objects, such as artificial noisemakers, are prohibited, except in certain situations where SEC Commissioner Mike Slive grants permission. The cowbells of Mississippi State are the latest example and were granted a special use policy in 2010, which still exists despite repeat offenses.
Smoking, electronic or otherwise, while prohibited inside the stadium, is available in the northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest corners of the lower concourse and on stadium ramps.
Alcohol is not on the list of prohibited items. Alcohol violations, however, still bear distinction, as offenders can fall under the jurisdiction of the Auburn Police Department (APD).
Alcohol is forbidden inside the stadium, regardless of age or seat section and can result in ejection and cancellation of that day's games, according to the Athletic Event Alcohol Policy section of the student handbook.
While there are penalties for those who break the law, police and security are counting on the cooperation of spectators to resolve matters without incident.
Auburn Police Department Captain Tommy Carswell, 25-year-veteran of the APD, said law enforcement will act when necessary, but would prefer to handle business outside of the station.
"It's all conduct driven," Carswell said. "We really try to resolve issues there informally. We give everybody the chance to correct themselves with those types of problems. We're not there to make arrests, we're there to resolve issues so everybody can enjoy the game and everybody can be safe."
Prohibited items, excluding weapons and pets, can be securely checked and stored up to three hours before game time at the scholarship entrance.
Guests will have up to an hour after the game ends to retrieve their belongings.
Compliance is necessary to the success of the Jordan-Hare security system and it's asked that all who attend a football game this season follow the rules and leave harmful or disruptive items at home.
"As far as the list of prohibited items goes, I believe campus security and the Auburn Police Division have identified those that can either endanger or take away from a student fully enjoying their game day experience," said Student Government Association President Logan Powell. "As long as security is doing a good job in this and protecting students, I trust their expertise."
(09/03/14 4:20am)
The top 20 candidates competing for Miss Homecoming were called out of the crowds outside Cater Hall Tuesday, Sept. 2.
Callie Henley, Hailey Simpson, Kellie Jones, Natalie Roberson, Francie Harris, Leah Seay, Leanne Portera, Annie Scibetta, Meg McGuffin, Kirby Webb, Morgan Cooper, Lindsey Schapker, Lydia Bowman, Catherine Pariseau, Paige Dean, Emily Higgins, Daly Foster, Sarah Kelly, Alexis Jackson and Daniela Munoz Rogers were announced in no particular order as officially in the running for the title of Miss Homecoming 2014.
"It's really exciting but it's also really humbling at the same time," said Leanne Portera, senior in social work. "I look around and I know all these girls and they're all fantastic and to know that I'm in the same class as them is very humbling, I don't know how to describe it."
Having passed the first round of interviews, Portera and her peers will prepare for the next round of interviews set to take place Wednesday, Sept. 3.
"First round wasn't that bad, it was really just trying to get to know our personalities and just questions about what Miss Homecoming stands for and what you think that she should represent," said Kellie Jones, senior in supply chain management. "As for tomorrow there really isn't much to prepare for. You do need to talk about the platform so that's something we'll all be thinking about."
Alex Jay, director of elections and Sloane Bell, executive director of elections announced the semifinalists from Cater Hall as crowds of supporters cheered the candidates on.
All undergraduate females in their fourth year with a 2.5 cumulative GPA or better are eligible for nomination.
The top five finalists will be announced after the second round of interviews and begin their campus-wide campaigns for the title of Miss Homecoming.
"The first round was a lot of fun, I think we'll all say that," said Callie Henley, senior in communication disorders. "Just getting to completely be yourself and answer questions about your personality, what you like, just talk about your platform and getting to expand on that in the second round will be fun also."
(09/03/14 12:30am)
From kindergarten through high school, students learning English as a second language are usually separated in the classroom from native English speakers, but not by choice.
In a new program at Auburn University, teachers are developing curriculums designed to not only involve emerging and native English speakers together, but also instruct students in their primary language.
As immigrant populations continue to rise and the diversity of languages increases, English-centric curriculums are being questioned as limiting to, or not providing clear information for, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)students.
While students will usually develop conversational English skills outside the classroom, their poor marks in school reflect on their inability to grasp new concepts taught to them in academic English, according to Jamie Harrison, associate professor of ESOL education.
Literacy and inquiry in the content areas, a graduate-level online course co-taught by professors Harrison and Vicki Cardullo, assigned both professors and students exercises. The exercises were meant to make them think about teaching ESOL students and communicating the lessons in ways they can understand.
"We didn't want to overload the student and make the content too difficult or too much, because it is basically two different contents: reading and English as a second language," Cardullo said. "For the most part, really, there was nothing that showed students how to develop an ESL stance in order to effectively teach them how to teach the students. This is cutting-edge for us."
Cardullo said attempting to prepare for every language is impossible.
Teaching ESOL students classroom skills and providing them with resources in their own native language is far more practical.
"If they're reading about science, it might not be that they don't understand the science content, it's the language that they have to maneuver through to get to the content that is the problem," said Kelly Hill, associate clinical professor of curriculum and teaching.
Hill said many teachers are not aware of the cause of their students learning delays.
"Many teachers don't really know what to do to help them," Hill said. "Many of them don't realize that it's not a cognitive issue, it's a language issue."
Hill, recent addition to the Auburn faculty, will be assuming Harrison's co-teaching position in reading and inquiry.
Harrison will head fundamentals of language and literacy instruction this fall.
In the spring of 2015, both will present Auburn's ESOL programs as part of a research panel on the reading development of bilingual students, hosted by ESOL Education in Ontario, Canada.
ESOL training at Auburn is already underway and in the process of expanding to all departments in the College of Curriculum and Teaching.
However, the programs do come with a price.
In order to accommodate the new program's place in the curriculum, other classes had to be cut or merged.
"It was a departmental decision," Cardullo said. "I think everyone on the faculty floor felt it was a hot topic looking in how we're preparing our teachers to help prepare our students."
Marti Dunaway, graduate student who took Harrison and Cardullo's class over the summer, called the experience "eye-opening."
"I had never even really thought about teaching kids English as a second language [before this class]," Dunaway said. "We all acquire language the same way, even if it's a new language. If an adult is learning English it's the same as a 3- year-old learning English."
Both classes are filled to capacity.
"All teachers, when they graduate here, will have the foundational understandings to work with the students right when they hit the door," Harrison said.
(09/02/14 10:00pm)
A new era is ready to take root at Toomer's Corner just in time for football season.
Phase one of the renovation project was completed on schedule, paving the way for planting the trees as part of phase two later in the year.
"The gates went down Sunday night before class started on Monday [Aug. 18]," said Ben Bermester, campus planner for Auburn's Facilities Management Office. "The next steps for the project will be the tree replacement. We plan to replace the two Oaks, probably in February of next year when in the dormant time for trees. It's the best time of year for transplanting them."
Bermester, design project lead for phase one of the project, said the most demanding aspect of the operation was removing 1,700 tons of contaminated soil from the northeastern corner of Samford Park.
Soil removal continued until the State Pesticide Reside Lab considered the soil acceptable for planting, going as deep as 6 feet in some places.
Tebuthiuron Spike 80DF, the herbicide used to poison the tree beds, also infected some trees along the edge of Samford Park where the circular seat wall now sits, which had to be removed.
While the soil has been deposited safely off-site, the corner is beginning to look like its former self, ensuring the successful growth of the future trees will take time and patience, especially during football season.
Horticulture professor Gary Keever, who also serves on the president-appointed Tree Preservation Committee, cautioned that anything from car accidents to unruly fans could disrupt the growing process.
"The rolling probably wouldn't harm it, but since 2010, the trees have been lit on fire at least twice, after Georgia in 2010 and in 2013 after the Alabama-A&M game," Keever said. "We have to have security and have education and make our fans aware that these trees are a valuable resource and we need to protect them. That doesn't mean that we can't roll them eventually, we just have to recognize that they won't be ready as soon as we put them in the ground."
The previous Toomer's trees were live oaks, a non-native species common throughout the Southeast, but respond to certain latitudes and climates, Keever said.
An adviser for the tree selection process, Keever said the committee narrowed its options to nursery-grown live oaks in central Georgia, South Carolina and near Birmingham, where the climate is most similar to Auburn's.
Despite much speculation, the offspring of the original Toomer's Oaks were eliminated from consideration early on.
"The Toomer's seedlings that we looked at had not been grown well," Keever said. "The ones that we were able to locate were not nursery grown. Nursery grown trees are pruned at a certain age so that they have a long, straight trunk, you get the branching that you want and the canopy will continue to grow. The quality just didn't warrant being placed back up there."
Dan King, associate Vice President of facilities management and one of the restoration project leaders, said there was no update on the tree selection process yet, but that phase one was "a good first step" to restoring the corner.
"I think the finished product looks great, I think the quality of the workmanship is excellent, [overall] I think it was a success," King said. "We're working on phase two and we'll share that with campus when it get finalized, but I think phase one went well and I think Auburn Nation will be pleased with phase two as well."
King said the selection should take place during the 2014 fall semester, with the planting taking place in the spring.
The trees are expected to be planted on the corner by the start of the 2015 football season.
In the meantime, the legacy of the Toomer's Oaks is producing unexpected benefits around campus.
"One of the great things that's come out of this is the greater awareness of the importance of trees on this campus," Keever said. "The University is currently having a landscape master plan prepared and it calls for greater tree protection measures. I don't know whether we could have gotten that beforehand. I think it's because of the importance of these trees."
(08/30/14 5:22am)
The Plains roared with feedback from Switchfoot and Ben Rector Friday, Aug. 29 at PlainsFest, the University Program Council's fall concert.
Hundreds of students, families, residents and out-of-state football fans gathered at the Gay Street parking lot to hear two of the most dynamic voices in alternative rocks.
Radio veterans Switchfoot headlined the show, rocking the stage with songs from across their nine albums such as "Dare You To Move" and "Say It Like You Mean It".
Originally a Christian-rock trio, Switchfoot has never shied away from their faith, instead turning passages from scripture into stadium-sized anthems.
"I've listened to Switchfoot when I was growing up and I enjoy their lyrics and what they have to say about music and how it relates to our faith," said Logan Blake, freshman in pre-med. They do a good job of fitting into the mainstream, but I'm mature enough in my faith to understand what they're saying. A lot of their [religious] references I understand pretty well."
Though the San Diego quintet is approaching its second decade as a group, their arena-sized anthem "Meant To Live" sounds as good as it first did in 2003.
Despite being the lesser known of the two acts, Ben Rector's rollicking piano playing and soulful, almost gospel-like singing captivated the audience early in the show.
The audience had no trouble singing along to energetic ballads like "White Dress" and "Thank God For The Summertime;" when Rector played the first notes of "When A Heart Breaks," the upliftingly melancholic single from his new album Into The Morning, audience members followed along word for word.
"I'm not really into the indie-folk music scene but I really like the way he sounds, its smooth music," said Nick Johnson, senior in fiber engineering. "My favorite song he sings is Hank, it was a song he wrote for one of his younger nephews who was just born, I heard it on a random Pandora radio station but no one seems to know about it. Yet."
Rector, who incidentally graduated from the University of Arkansas, couldn't help but crack a joke about football halfway into his set.
"Though football season has already technically started, and A&M looked incredible last night, you guys will probably beat 'em," Rector said. "As well as you will probably beat my beloved Razorbacks tomorrow."
As the show progressed into the evening the audience spread around the block, even climbing up onto the parking deck behind the stage to watch.
With ample space to either watch or rock out, the Gay Street parking lot hold a lot of promise as the next big concert location in Auburn.
"Other groups have used this area as a venue before but this is UPC's first event," said Molly Lawrence, UPC public relations assistant director. "This turned out well and it's definitely an option for future events."
(08/26/14 2:25am)
It was business as usual Monday, August 25 at the first Student Government Association's Senate Council of the 2014 fall semester.
One line item that's going into effect immediately is the $2,750 allocated from SGA reserve funds to equip the two new additional Tiger 10 shuttle vans with GPS locators.
In a presentation to the senate council, Executive Vice President of Initiatives Jackson Pruett pointed to the 1,359 students that were tracked riding the two new routes Saturday, Aug.16, during the 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. operating hours.
"I think the numbers are really starting to speak for themselves," Pruett said. "Its kind of a changing culture, this is a change for some students but I think they'll find that if they're more informed about it, it is a lot more efficient and effective and will actually get them there faster."
The two new shuttles, Routes 1 and 9, operate only on Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. transporting students between downtown, fraternity housing, South Donahue and the Village.
In an effort to separate students studying late from those headed downtown, the nighttime security shuttle is no longer making stops at Ramsey Hall, across from Skybar, Pruett said.
"We're excited to get them adjusted to the new way it works and we're slowly but surely making steps with the administration to get things figured out," Pruett said.
The largest line item proposed during the meeting was $34,117 to improve on-campus connections to AU Wifi.
Funding for the improvements will be allocated in equal thirds from the Auburn SGA Reserve Fund, in partnership with the Office of the Provost and the Office of Student Affairs.
The line item was approved without debate.
Auburn Answers, the SGA student feedback program, was approved a $2,364.76 line item to purchase iPads and security stands to place around campus as part of their online survey systems.
The iPads will be placed in areas of high pedestrian traffic September 8-12 during Auburn Answers week.
An Auburn Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 5, wherein members will discuss the future development of the Mell Street Academic Success Center, a $25 million project to establish a replacement building for the aging Haley Center, said SGA President Logan Powell.
"This is something that's going to take Auburn to the next level academically," Powell said.
(08/23/14 4:00pm)
Auburn is having its biggest Welcome Week ever, bringing free food and fun to campus for new and returning students of all types from Aug.13-23.
"Welcome Week is longer this year than it has ever been," said Welcome Week advisor John-Michael Roehm. "We extended the number of days and with that we have included a larger number of events that are going to be taking place. Right now, I believe the count is around 115 plus events that are planned between Aug. 13-23, in the traditional Welcome Week time."
The biggest innovation to this year's events is the social media platform Guidebook, which allows users to preview events before they attend, with customizable event checklists and alarms to notify users before events.
"The neat thing about Guidebook is it allows students to filter through the 115 events," Roehm said. "(Welcome Week) can seem a bit overwhelming and there's a lot of different things going on, so we made different categories for events."
Among the different categories of events are those designed for new students, returning students, graduate students and international students, events.
The social media platform is available for free on most smartphones.
A web-friendly version of Guidebook is available through a link on the committee's website, www.auburn.edu/welcomeweek.
This is the first time Welcome Week has gone with an electronic-only event guide, and the funding normally reserved for printed fliers has been used to enhance other events, according to Welcome Week assistant director Matt Smith.
"Guidebook has been used in the past," Smith said. "The University wanted to try it out a few years ago so we decided we're going to keep pushing that, So many people are using their phones nowadays for everything. I know a lot of people, myself included, who have their schedules in their phones. It makes it a lot easier to take it with you and have something on your person at all times."
Though this is the first time the University has openly used Guidebook to help promote its events, past semesters have seen various clubs and organizations use it to facilitate their programs.
"In Camp War Eagle, they actually make incoming freshmen download the Guidebook app just to stay in touch with certain things," Smith said.
Smith said the requirement simplifies things for the Welcome Week staff,
"It makes it easier for us since they're required to download it."
Smith said the total number of students who have downloaded the Welcome Week event schedule on Guidebook has exceeded 2,000, and it is steadily rising.
The swelling number of students participating in the events this year can partially be attributed to the diverse number of colleges, organizations and clubs who have taken it upon themselves to welcome students in their own way.
Past Welcome Week committees have been plagued by misinformation or miscommunication, something Welcome Week Director Megan Eldridge is determined to change.
"We really try to let people know that this is not just for freshman and that it's for everyone," Eldridge said. "This year, other than having 'Freshman Food and Fun,' which is only for freshmen at the president's house, we try to say that it is for returning students too, because that gets lost a bunch of times. It's for everyone."
Eldridge said she arrived during the enrollment boom of 2011 and had to live off campus her freshman year, which limited her interaction with other freshmen.
On a whim, Eldridge and her roommates went to Casino Night because it offered free food.
"It was a little weird, just being on campus with all those people was kind of overwhelming," Eldridge said. "Casino Night was something where I met a lot of new people and I met a lot of my friends. It was a really big deal for me because I didn't know anybody here at Auburn and coming to that, I met people I still know to this day."
Welcome Week will continue until Saturday, Aug. 23, with multiple events happening every day.
For questions about event times or categories, consult the Auburn University Welcome Week 2014 guide in Guidebook or the Welcome Week website, www.auburn.edu/welcomeweek for details.
"I think if I hadn't gone to Welcome Week and met these people I wouldn't have done as much as I do now," Eldridge said.
(05/22/14 7:00pm)
Though hordes of tailgaters and fans will soon lay siege to Auburn at the start of the 2014 football season, there are plenty of non-football related fun activities available around town.
"I think a lot of freshman get locked in and think that the only entertainment available to them is on campus, but there's so much more happening out in the actual town," said Lillian Parker, senior in public relations.
Auburn has parks such as Kiesel, Samford and Hickory Dickory parks to go to on the weekends.
Parker said whether it's a picnic in the shade or an afternoon review session, places like Chewacla and the Davis Arboretum provide the comforts of nature without having to leave town.
According to Parker, adventurous students should keep an eye on local event calendars to stay posted on upcoming events.
"If you're not into football or you're not going to the games, it's an awesome time to get a job waiting tables because you are going to make so much money from the people who are coming in," said Laney Payne, senior in psychology. "Or, if you babysit, there's a lot of families coming in who are looking for all-day sitters, you go to their hotel room and babysit their kids all day. That's what I did my sophomore year."
With much of the Auburn Family devoting its time on Saturdays to tailgating or watching the game, Whitney Mullins, senior in environmental design, said shopping around town is made significantly easier.
Mullins, who worked at the GameStop in Tiger Town during much of the 2014 season, said football Saturdays keep most buyers away.
"Most of the time, it's fairly busy, but on game days, GameStop was dead," Mullins said. "No one ever came in during the games. We might have had three people come in for the whole season."
Mullins said she did on occasion watch a few games in local restaurants, but remembers the environment more than the on-field action.
"We would go to Zazus and just watch the game, but I would go more for the atmosphere," Mullins said. "Everyone there is really cool, and especially if you're watching the game everybody acts like a big family. People you don't know will come up and hug you. It's a good atmosphere to be in."
(04/25/14 1:08pm)
Getting hit in the head with brick, having a gun pointed on him and writing a column was a normal day's work for Billy Winn.
A former reporter for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Winn delivered his lecture "Covering Civil Rights In Atlanta in the 1960s" as part of the Neil O. and Henrietta Davis Lecture series in Roosevelt Concourse Science Center Thursday, April 24.
"Atlanta today is not what it used to be," Winn said. "Despite its million residents, Atlanta looked and felt like a big country town with a very visible sleazy side. Atlanta made no effort to hide its old south roots, to say the least, and it was a particularly insensitive community to its black residents."
There were two sides to Atlanta back then, Winn said, a black one and a white one, with strict lines dividing the two.
With heroes and villains on both sides, knowing where to tread softly and who to trust could mean life or death, especially once the movement proved to be more than just a flash in the pan.
Winn said association with anti-segregationist editors like Ralph McGill and progressive thinking papers like the Atlanta Journal could lead to gunshots, burning crosses in yards and public displays of violence.
Winn said one time in the early 1960s when he was out on assignment in Poland, Ga. when a local resident threatened to shoot him simply for working for McGill's paper.
Another time he was pulled over by Georgia highway patrolmen for giving some members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee a ride in his car to the Georgia House of Representatives to protest.
"I can still see the burning wicks on the Molotov cocktails made out of whiskey bottles," Winn said. "I had friends in the poorer residential districts, or I felt that I did, that made me feel far safer there in downtown Atlanta."
During the beginning of the civil rights movement Winn met rising leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael as they were first gaining national attention.
"Dr. King was much more warmer and personal than he's portrayed today," Winn said. "He used to drive reporters crazy because he would always show up late to press conferences, but no one could be angry at him because he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders."
The power of Winn's stories was not lost on his audience, even for non-journalism students like Camren Brantley-Rios, junior in public relations.
"You read about Dr. King and it seems like it was so long ago," Brantley-Rios said. "The fact that this guy was actually around when Dr. King was a proponent of the Civil Rights movement, that confirms that it hasn't been that long."
Winn was reporting at the forefront for much of King's movement and bore witness to some of his most storied moments, but none carry as much gravity as his assassination.
Flying out the night of April 4, 1968 to Memphis, Tenn. just hours after King was shot, Winn described the darkened streets bustling with police around the Lorraine Motel as "seething with a sense of tragedy that affected everybody."
"None of us knew what we were getting into," Winn said. "I stumbled into a Southern Christian Leadership Conference meeting on the second floor of the Peabody hotel where (MLK successor) Ralph Abernathy and Bayard Rustin debate the future of America that day in that room and it was a volatile discussion. There were people who were very angry and ready to burn America down."
According to Winn, following the consecutive assassinations of King and Robert Kennedy and the ensuing national race riots that followed, Winn and many other reporters retired from covering the civil rights movement feeling crushed, disorganized and confused.
Winn said between the spread of unreliable news sources like the National Enquirer and the hands-off approach to modern reporting, the dedication to truth and justice behind journalism has all but deteriorated.
"Stokely Carmichael once told me not to write about him and the movement," Winn said. "Go home and write about the racism in your own communities."\0x200B
(04/26/14 2:00pm)
Cyndi Flint is a storyteller, but not with words.
Using ink, colors and textures, the senior in fine art shapes alien landscapes and ancient castles, scenes from a science-fiction movie not yet made.
"I feel that going into fine art, you're able to express yourself more," Flint said. "There's more of you in your pieces. You actually feel, not necessarily the artist, but you feel the atmosphere a lot more and you can sense if it was painted in a certain attitude."
Flint's final senior project, "Parallel Parallel," is a distillation of her inspiration and evolution as an artist.
Combining a love of comic books, video game art and epic fantasy adventure, Flint's gallery evokes the pre-production imagery of films like "The Lord Of The Rings" without ever straying from her own personal vision. Between large paintings and smaller, more detailed watercolors, Flint succeeds in bringing abstract landscapes to life, according to Jessye McDowell, assistant art professor.
"Some of those water colors are just absolutely amazing," McDowell said. "They really toe the line between abstraction and figuration, which is something that I think Cyndi is doing in her work. She's trying to capture a narrative without actually handing a narrative over to the viewer."
Working with Flint first as teacher in Digital Art and later as co-worker in the Biggin offce, McDowell said Flint's diverse interests in subject matter and stories give her a distinctive, rounded approach to her subject matter.
In addition to her artwork, Flint's storytelling skills manifested themselves through a comic book she made for art professor Andrew Kozlowski's Book Arts class.
"I thought her comic book was really successful because it was the first time that she started to tell a story that was really her own," Kozlowski said. "I thought between the story she was telling and the style of art that she was doing, it felt really natural to work that way, especially how she thought she could tell a story. That really opened things up for her in a really significant way."
Though she interned at Marvel Comics in the fall of 2013 and says she understands the inner workings of publishing companies, Flint is returning to her home in Huntsville to amplify her portfolio and focus on breaking into creative development projects.
"I want to go into the game industry or the film industry and work as a visual development artist," Flint said. "I want to basically be a character designer and/or help bring the worlds that they try to portray to life."
Weeks away from graduation, Flint says she's ready to move on but will always owe a debt of gratitude to the art department and classmates that helped shape her into the artist she is today.
"Auburn's professors help you be versatile in the kind of art you wish to practice," Flint said. "They didn't judge me. They helped me build my skill set to where I could go in any direction I want to."
(04/22/14 5:16pm)
It's a long way from Mumbai to Magnolia Street, but Auburn's Indian student population is never far from the comforts of home.
The Indian Student Association is an Auburn organization created to preserve and share the culture of the far East both for it's native students and for others who are interested in learning more about Indian culture.
"ISA has been a registered organization on Auburn's campus for the past 25-30 years," said Nakul Kothari, graduate teaching assistant in mechanical engineering and president of the ISA. "I came in 2012, and the organization only had 20 to 30 people. The ISA is actually the second biggest country-based organization on campus now. We currently have about 140 people on our roster, and every year the population keeps increasing."
Originally a place for students of a shared nationality to enjoy some of the comforts of home, the ISA now functions as a beacon for Indian students at Auburn, strengthening roots and cultivating a community here on the plains.
Comprising multiple regions, languages and religions, the ISA works like a hub for students from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other countries in addition to India.
Oddly enough, out of the multitude of languages present in the organization, English is the primary language.
"When I came to Auburn, four of us were staying together, and the common language between all four of us was English," Kothari said. "In India, we all speak different languages, and the only one that connects us together is English."
Though many students who come to the United States from India have already taken English classes during their primary schooling, the communication barrier works as a motivator to master the language, Kothari said.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs has worked for four years to integrate the University's existing international students with its new arrivals, providing free, unlimited shuttle access to the Atlanta airport during the fall semester.
Like most Indian students who come to Auburn, Kothari was received by members of the ISA at the Atlanta airport when he arrived and allowed to stay in one of their homes free of charge until his own housing situation was settled.
For Alabama native Micah Bowden, senior in aerospace engineering, housing a student during their first week alone abroad was eye-opening.
"It was a good opportunity to forget about myself and realize how lonely and confused I was my first time out of the country in India," Bowden said. "It was a really cool opportunity to get to spend his first week with him here in the US, helping him adapt to different cultures and taking him to different places around Auburn."
Bowden, one of the ISA's non-ethnically Indian members, heard of the organization through his friends, but decided to join full-time out of his love and appreciation for the culture.
Through internships, work and family visits, Bowden interest in India was set before his role in the ISA was.
"I was just really fascinated by their lifestyles, their mindset," Bowden said. "It's a vibrant, dynamic place. The ultimate thing that drew me to India so much is the people. They're really laid back, easy-going people, and, culturally, they're the most selfless people I've ever encountered. I had strangers in India who went to further measures to help me out than I would expect my best friends to do here in the U.S."
That same selflessness he experienced in India has extended to the Plains in different ways, Bowden said.
The lack of an Indian grocery in the Auburn-Opelika area has been alleviated through group trips to Atlanta bearing student grocery requests.
The groups travel to the Patel Brothers grocery in Decatur, Ga., and bring back flat breads, spices and vegetables considered staples in ethnic Indian diets.
Despite fostering such a close community outside of school, Bowden and Kothari agree that the events the ISA hosts are it's biggest and most widespread productions throughout the year.
ISA events can range from traditional Hindu festivals, like Navratri, to more club-style dancing in Bollywood night, drawing students of all ethnicities and origins in the process.
"When I first started at Auburn, I had made a few friends, but not a lot," said Nishant Jain, ISA Treasurer and senior in chemical engineering. "When I joined the Indian Student Association, I met so many people. They're not just friends anymore. They're family."
Tickets to the four main events throughout the year are not priced differently for Indian and non-Indian students, only ISA members and non-members.
Though initially conceived as a home away from home for Indian students, Kothari said the group's main focus is sharing their culture with all who are interested.
"All our events are for everyone," Kothari said. "We do that because we know that we don't all want to be in groups, like we know the importance of getting out into the world and making friends, not just remaining in your own friend circle."
(04/22/14 4:31am)
The SGA Senate council wore seer-sucker suits Monday, April 21, for their last meeting of the 2014 spring semester to finalize future orders of business.
A curriculum change to the college of engineering that would shorten total undergraduate credit hours from 134 to 128 by eliminating three credit hours from the humanities and the social sciences core.
"I'm really glad that other students will have the opportunity to have that option to not take all of those hours," said Beverly Jenkins, senior in chemical engineering. "We're still fulfilling all of the learning outcomes and so we're still producing well rounded students, we're just taking a few less hours."
Many engineering students are on a four-year scholarship that doesn't extend into a necessary ninth semester, but now all future and existing engineering students can manage their undergraduate in eight semesters, Jenkins said.
The dates for the upcoming Miss Auburn pageant were set for the 2014 fall semester:
Thursday, Sept. 4 is candidate orientation
Monday, Sept. 22 formal campaigning begins
Friday, Sept. 26 is voting day
A resolution was passed to commend Shirley Scott-Harris, founder of the Alabama Power Excellence program, for her service to the University now that she is retiring.
Under Scott-Harris, Auburn currently ranks seventh in the country in degrees awarded to African-American engineering students.
The SGA Senate council will be serving donuts and drinks in the library and student center during finals week from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
An amendment was passed to restructure the involvement adviser structure review board in the code of laws to ensure that student views and opinions are more strongly represented in the hiring of new advisers.
Student feedback will now play a greater role in the hiring and evaluation of advisers, said Richmond Gunter, SGA treasurer and junior in finance.
"This puts a strong structure in place to ensure that student's voices are heard," Gunter said. "This ensures that our money spent on tuition is used wisely. This is not something we rushed into, this is a conversation we've been having that I think is important."
General Electric Water and Process Technologies Department awarded Auburn's facilities management and energy department the Proof Not Promises award for its two steam-powered energy plants on campus.
The two plants recovered the cost of more than $20,000 worth of energy through their efficiency.
The Plainsman, which has been financially independent from Auburn University since 1893, was granted a reserve fund request of $4,860 to fund its adviser salaries during the summer.
"I thought it was interesting that throughout The Plainsman's history they have always been self-sufficient and self funded," said Justin Mathews, sophomore in building science "Since The Plainsman is such a big part of Auburn University we at SGA said we needed to pass this thing, we need to help them out because they do so much for us."
(04/11/14 8:48pm)
Auburn's Board of Trustees gave the go-ahead on a numbers of major on-campus construction projects at its Friday, April 11, meeting, despite the necessity to increase tuition again for the 2014-2015 year.
The largest project discussed at the meeting was about renovations being made to Foy Dining Hall, including an expansion of the indoor dining facilities and an update to the outdoor patio around it.
Associate Vice President of Facilities Management Dan King said the $2.2 million construction project will take place mostly at night to allow students to continue eating in Foy during the day.
"If anything, [working at night] will cause the project to be take longer to finish,"King said. "Thatch is a heavily trafficked area and we didn't want to have dump trucks driving around there at 10 a.m.when students are walking everywhere. From a safety standpoint it didn't make sense."
Now that a $600,000 increase to the original $1.6 million budget has been approved by the board, facilities management has the authority to start looking for a contractor to begin in early May, King said.
State appropriated funds have continued to go down from $337 million since the 2008 recession to $243 million, an average total decrease of $94 million every year.
"If we would have just continued to get what we had been getting, we would have $558 million more," said Don Large, executive vice President. "The bad news is, we have to ask for a tuition increase. The good news is we can keep it lower than we have in recent years, but it's still going to be something."
Tuition will be increased by .7 percent, down from the one percent increase from last year that Large estimates will bring in the school about $2 million overall.
A new waste reduction and recycling building costing $823,000 was approved at the meeting and will feature two new trash compactors on site to help improve Auburn's garbage collection services.
Williams Blackstock associates of Birmingham was selected from 18 candidates as contractor for a new graduate Business Education building.
Omicron Delta Kappa's honorary society, the Squires, received the board's approval to place and maintain a plaque on the AUSC green space commemorating an oak sapling that is a descendent of the Toomer's Oaks.
A posthumous B.A. of Science degree in Software Engineering was awarded to late Auburn senior Barrett "Bear" Townsend by the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
\0x200BAt Auburn's Montgomery campus, property to be leased to a cell tower construction was granted in order to bring in additional funds as well as improve cellphone service on campus.
Plans have been finalized to introduce an education specialty degree in Instructional Technology.
AUM already features a masters program in instructional technology, but now anyone can be certified in classroom technology said Dr. Kellie Shumack, department head of Foundations, Technology and Secondary Education.
"The program hasn't started yet, but we've gotten an overwhelming response from our surveys," Shumack said. "We're already using a tremendous amount of technology on our campus, so this program is a way to get K-12 teachers to use more tech in their classes too."
(04/08/14 3:17am)
The core of Auburn's music studies is expanding beyond the basic appreciation of music.
The history of popular music, offered in the summer and science and music, offered in the fall, will be offered as core fine arts credit classes for College of Liberal Arts majors starting in the 2014 summer semester.
"We just wanted to give the student body more options to complete their fine arts course," said Sarah Collins, administrative assistant with the department of music. "Right now, the department of music only has music appreciation as our only contribution to the fine arts core. If students really enjoy these courses, we might think of some new ones later on."
Starting in the 2014 summer semester, the history of popular music, taught by Howard Goldstein, offers an alternative introduction to understanding music.
According to Goldstein, rather than beginning with the birth of western music during the middle ages, this class will start shortly before the start of the twentieth century.
"We'll start somewhere at the end of the 19th century with the composers of Tin Pan Alley, Ragtime and Blues," Goldstein said. "From there we progress through the 20th century to jazz, rock, big band, tango music, world music, anything considered to be of a popular origin."
In the School of Music's bulletin the history of popular music is listed as not counting for core credit hours, a false statement students should disregard when applying.
The class is indeed worth the standard core fine arts credit hours.
While Goldstein's class centers on the history of contemporary music, science and music, taught by Ann Knipschild, will study music's relationship to mathematics, physics, biology and human behavior.
Rather than analyzing the music itself, science and music
Knipschild said she found inspiration for the class's curriculum while listening to a radio broadcast of Daniel Levitin's book "This Is Your Brain On Drugs."
"How do we perceive music, how do we react to music, why do we like certain types of music; these are some of the things that we'll be talking about as a class," Knipschild said. "Back in the time of Pythagoras around 800 b.c. music was considered a science. We're going to start there and talk about the origins of music, how music relates to the different sciences, instrument construction, acoustics and more."
Music and science will be offered for the 2014 fall semester.
Knipschild said these kind of classes are perfect examples of the type of curriculum expansion that her and Goldstein have been trying to implement.
While courses in jazz history and American music are available this fall as directed studies for music majors only, these two new classes will be offered to all levels as core classes without prerequisites.
Because of faculty constraints, classes are usually introduced as directed studies before they are added into the curriculum.
"If the only fine arts departments on campus are music, theater and art, it really doesn't make sense that we only have one of these options," Collins said. "There's so many different options that we could have."
(04/07/14 1:25am)
We may all be Tigers, but no two sets of stripes are identical. \0x200B
The Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs is hosting "Different Stripes," a "Hot Plates Hot Topics" discussion of sexual awareness, race depiction, equal pay and sexuality in the spotlight Tuesday, April 8 in room 2222 of the Auburn Student Center.
"As part of the Auburn family we need to understand each other," said Akilah Williams, president of the Black Student Union and ambassador to the ODMA. "Everyone is different and we need to talk about the things that make us different.
The event is an open-floor conversation between students faculty and staff members who have stories to share or are interested in hearing the shared experiences of others.
Williams pointed to past on-campus incidents like the anti-Semitic harassment that graduate student Emily Kerzin and her friends experienced inside Jordan-Hare Stadium November 14, 2013.
Topics designed to dig at the core of the issues were chosen by ODMA ambassadors ahead of time to lead the discussion.
"I think that, the discussion should have already happened and should be happening constantly," Williams said. "We have students on campus who are not part of the majority, students who are not white or male or straight or from America. I think this discussion needs to constantly be had because Auburn is an ever-diversifying university."
A free dinner sponsored by Tiger Catering will be available at the beginning of the event to the first 50 students who arrive.
(04/01/14 7:30pm)
Trash has been getting stuck in Parkerson Mill Creek for years.
The creek is listed as an impaired waterway by the Environmental Protection Agency and any amount of unnatural debris, party-related trash or otherwise, can severely hinder the creek's flow, leading to the growth of harmful bacteria.
"There's been a significant increase in litter on campus, mostly around the Greek Life houses," said Michael Freeman, environmental health and safety technician with the Office of Risk Management. "The highest concentration of that litter is coming from the weekend parties, and when you have wind and rain come through all those items end up in the creeks and in the waterways. They clog up the storm drains and the sewer system."
Freeman said although Auburn is no stranger to occasional on-campus debris, especially during football season, the quantity and severity of trash remaining on fraternity properties after the weekend has gotten out of hand,.
Auburn's fraternities occupy a position on campus where they lease their properties from the University and use different waste disposal companies, making them solely responsible for house upkeep and properly disposing of their waste.
"In the past, they may have had some pledges out there picking it up after events, but for whatever reason it doesn't seem to be happening as often," Freeman said. "Once you get some wind rolling through all that stuff ends up blowing down the road or blowing over eventually into the creek itself."
In the past, the University has worked with fraternities to provide a suitable place to dispose of homecoming floats and large trash items, a practice that the University plans on upholding in the future.
"(The trash) is something we definitely need to watch out for," said Austin Perry, sophomore in civil engineering and member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. "If we're responsible, it's our job to take care of it."
Freeman said cleanups of the creek led by the facilities department and graduate students have regularly turned up a large amount of broken glass and garbage.
Bottles, cans, cardboard boxes and other non-biodegradable trash can block water flow through the creek, while pet droppings, fertilizer and other debris can lead to algae blooms and harmful bacteria.
Freeman pointed to a 2012 case where Aimee Copeland, student at the University of Georgia, contracted nectrotizing fascilitis in the Little Tallapoosa River after falling in the water with an open wound.
A rare, but deadly bacteria infection, the disease forced doctors to amputate one of Copeland's legs and left her using a ventilator to breathe.
Freeman said although the creek is not in immediate danger, its weak flow and proximity to campus make contamination risks a high priority.
"A lot of what I would say about the fraternities is more observational as opposed to working firsthand with them," said Donny Addison, manager for recycling and waste reduction for building services.
Addison said a solution to the problem could come through the cooperation of fraternities and the University.
There's an interest on the fraternities end to join the University's contract for dumpster services, potentially cutting costs for both parties.
"It's the fraternities responsibility for them to pick up any loose debris around their property," Addison said.
(04/01/14 2:12am)
The latest generation of the Student Government Association's Senate Council met for the first time Monday, March 31, to discuss future orders of business.
Changes to parking and traffic will now be discussed at University Traffic and Parking Committee.
Some of the changes proposed by Don Andrae, manager of parking services, include a restructured tier system for parking violations, reducing $50 for registered violators and $150 for non-registered ones. Starting in August all ticketed violations will be in increments of 10.
"This is to make sure we are not wasting our resources in a duplicitous system but rather available, to make it more efficient for students and downtown residents," said Jackson Pruett, SGA Executive Vice President for Initiatives. "We're making sure that we're using our resources as effective as possible and serving students as safely as possible."
Students now can choose which specific PC lot they would like to park at and purchase a pass exclusively for that area in order to cut back on the time spent looking for a parking spot, Pruett said.
The three new options to choose from are next to Mama G's on Magnolia, the Arena Lot and the old Coliseum lot.
Wake Up! Coffee will be handing out free refreshments on the concourse Tuesday, April 1 starting at 9 a.m.
University Ombudsperson Jim Wohl came to present his services to the senate council and to the student body at large. Established six years ago as an independent, neutral resource for conflict resolution, the Ombudsman helps people find solutions on their own. Confidential consultations can be done on the ground floor of the Quad Center.
The only new business was the appointment of Lindsey Conry College of Science and Mathematics school council Vice President Appointment Lindsey Conry. \0x200B
Next week's meeting will feature the approval of appointments for Sloane Bell as Executive Director of Elections and Lindsey Conry as the new COSAM student council Vice President.
Additionally, new Assistant Vice Presidents and SGA Executive Cabinet members will receive their appointments next week
The Office of Student Involvement Technology Bank submitted a fund request for $6,975 to be ratified next week. The fund request is for new ipads, chargers, video cameras, ipad air, netbooks and netbook chargers and a new projector to be available to all students.
(03/30/14 11:37pm)
Cartoon characters don't usually make appearances on college campuses.
On March 30, the 2014 Adult Swim FunHouse Tour brought characters from shows such as The Boondocks, Robot Chicken and Squidbillies to life through a giant inflatable castle and cartoon-themed party on Cater Lawn.
"I don't know what just happened," said Shawn Edwards, sophomore in computer science minutes after exiting the funhouse. "Typical Adult Swim, that's the best way to describe it. It's just weird and fun at the same time."
The FunHouse was originally scheduled to open on Saturday, March 29, but was called off due to the threat of inclement weather.
To compensate, the FunHouse tour will be open from 2 - 9 p.m. Sunday only.
"We walked through one room with string everywhere and you had to maneuver through everything," said Brad Tarver, sophomore in computer science. "We saw Santa Clause, he was bad though, he was angry. Then a 30-year-old baby chilling in a crib, too."
Featuring three separate exits, including a "Karaoke Cage," visitors chart their own paths through the different twists and turns of the funhouse, guided only figures dressed in black cloaks and animal masks.
Outside, an Easter Bunny and a wizard are handing out free packets of Icebreakers-sponsored mints and posing for photographs.
"It was fun, really unexpected," said Chloe Chaudhury, senior in biochemistry. "We did the karaoke cage, but we came out of the slide. We just wanted to do it."
Visitors also get a T-shirt with the logo of their favorite Adult Swim TV show ironed on for free.
Tickets are available all day and free to everyone 18 and older.
(03/27/14 5:00pm)
The facelift on Toomer's Corner is entering Phase 1. \0x200B
The corner of College and Magnolia, empty since Harvey Updyke poisoned the soil as revenge for the 2010 Iron Bowl, is entering the first stages of renovations and construction.
The J.A. Lett Construction Company Inc. of Auburn was contracted in March and will begin installing fences around the perimeter of the work site Wednesday, April 2.
"Three local construction companies turned in bids for the project and the J. A. Lett company was selected based on a receipt of the lowest dollar amount," said Gail Riese, Communications and Marketing specialists for Auburn's Facilities Management division. "The total cost of the project will be $583,913."
Riese said there is 1,700 tons of material waiting to be excavated, including contaminated soil, brick pavers and the tree stumps of the old Toomer's Oaks.
The right southbound lane of South College Street will be temporarily closed during construction and the crosswalks at the immediate intersections of Magnolia and College.
"We've rerouted the crosswalks to the mid-block crossings," Riese said. "The construction site will extend beyond the sidewalks and the intersection of Magnolia, so we needed to move traffic and want to make sure that nobody's trying to cross at those immediate intersections."
The expanded Toomer's Corner will feature a circular pavilion behind the traditional gates to the school and expanded sidewalks leading through Samford Park.
Phase 1 includes removing the contaminated soil still under the corner, replacing the pavers around it and constructing the circular seat wall that will sit behind the gates.
The eagles that rest on top of the gates will be temporarily removed on Thursday, March 27, by the historic preservation specialists the Lathan Company and stored on campus until construction is finished.
Phase 1 of the construction process is slated for completion by fall 2014.
Phase 2, which includes the planting of the new trees, will not take place until 2015.
(03/26/14 2:15pm)
A high-ranking administrative job at a Southeastern Conference school with a winning football program in a town known for its hospitality and ranked in the top 50 of Forbes' Best Places To Retire sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Three have been nominated, but only one will be Auburn University's new vice president and associate provost of student affairs, a direct conduit between students and organizations and President Jay Gogue.
"It's an 80-hour week when you put in nights and weekends," said Jon Waggoner, University council member and interim vice president of student affairs. "It's very, very fun, but my advice to my successor would be to keep time for your family and your sanity because it's just a very demanding and busy job."
At Gogue's request, Waggoner served as interim VP of student affairs for the 2013-14 academic year after the previous VP, Ainsley Carrie, accepted a position during the summer of 2013 and left before a replacement was found.
"A good dean of student affairs at Auburn has been someone who just absolutely puts student needs and opinions first," Waggoner said. "Auburn runs best when we ask [the students] what you want in an institution, [rather] than if we make Auburn what old man and old women administrators want it to look like."
According to Waggoner, whomever is selected to fill the position will inherit a renewed energy from the student body to make its demands and ideas heard, which should make the transition between administrators easier.
The first of the three candidates, Corey King, has served as vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Florida Atlantic University in 2008.
As one of the fastest growing schools in the country with 30,000 undergraduate students, Florida Atlantic is already larger and more diverse than Auburn, King said.
"I think the biggest challenge in terms of being a large university is really trying to meet the demands of our diverse student population," King said. "We want to make the students feel like they're part of the community, so we want to create these smaller communities within the university where students can connect, whether it's through student organizations, or living on campus or Greek life. And so I think the challenge sometimes is making sure that all 30,000 of those students are able to connect to the University in some way."
If elected, King said he would create a VP of student affairs advisory council comprised of students with diverse viewpoints from across campus to hear directly about student concerns and issues.
King said he's out on the FAU Breezeway every Wednesday to talk to students about their organizations and events and maintains an open-door policy during office hours to meet the needs of anyone and everyone.
Most recently, Florida Atlantic created a student veterans resource center to provide a home away from home for returning military, as well increased benefits and services.
"I'm glad to say I was instrumental in helping to see that begin to grow on our campus," King said. "We are now considered a military veteran-friendly institution. We have a long way to go but I'm glad to have been a part of the beginnings of that at FAU."
The second candidate up for consideration, Brandon Frye, is no stranger to Auburn.
Before accepting his role as assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of West Florida, Frye served at Auburn from 2010 to 2013 as director of student development.
While at Auburn, Frye oversaw the management of the Office of Student Conduct, Student Advocacy and Case Management services, Student Crisis Response, the Office of Greek Life and served as an adviser to the International Student Organization and the Black Student Union.
"When I left Auburn, it was a natural progression of my career," Frye said. "At that time, there was not a dean of student affairs or an AVP spot that was open. I was ready for that next step in my career but I had to look outside of Auburn."
Frye called the decision to leave Auburn a tough one, both for him and his family, but took the job at West Florida because he felt his particular skill set could help move that university forward.
Now that there's a vacancy in this position at Auburn, Frye said he is eager to return and bring some stability to student affairs.
"Whoever is hired will be the third VP that's been there in over a year," Frye said. "I think it helps that I've been in Auburn, I know and understand the Auburn culture, and I have relationships built with faculty, staff and students there, so my transition back might now have as big of a learning curve as someone who has not been in Auburn or worked at large SEC institutions."
The third and final candidate for the VP of student affairs is Bobby Woodard, the current associate vice chancellor for student involvement and leadership at East Carolina University.
"I come from a small town in North Carolina and family is big for me," Woodard said. "When you walk around Auburn, you don't see Alabama. You don't see Georgia. You don't see Mississippi State. You see Auburn T-shirts. You see Auburn flags and the pride in Auburn. That is something that every student faculty member have in common, that they love Auburn. I was only there as a visitor for a couple of days and I liked how comfortable I felt visiting there."
Student-led traditions at East Carolina, such as wearing all purple on Fridays during football season, are initiatives Woodard said he would like to incorporate into the Auburn community.
Though he has a passion for recreational sports and intramurals, Woodard said the student affairs position is about more than coordinating events and communications with the University.
"My job is to be an advocate for those students to higher administration and the local Auburn community - not just the school, but the city of Auburn and the police force as well," Woodard said. "My job also when I get to campus is to attend some of the meetings of the deans of colleges so they know what their students do outside of their colleges and how we together can make that holistic experience at Auburn better. Research shows that if we help the students do that it helps them graduate quicker."
All candidates have confirmed that, in the event they are not selected as the new VP of student affairs, they would remain at their current positions until a similar position opened at another university.
Whoever takes over won't be responsible for just the student body, but the greater Auburn family as well.
"What we know as the Auburn Family starts in student affairs," Waggoner said. "The reason Auburn people have such an affinity for the University is because of the interactions we have largely outside the classroom while we're students at Auburn. My advice would be just to realize how important this job is to what we consider the Auburn Family."