Monday, May 15, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The new town criers

“Comedians, satirists, songwriters and singers ARE the right people to take on the Bush White House and Republican-controlled House and Senate,” asserts Dr. Bob Pondillo, electronic media communication. “More people watch entertainment television and listen to music than pay attention to C-SPAN or read or watch the mainstream news media,” he says. Pondillo cites studies by Gallup, the Pew Center, Times Mirror and the American Society of Newspaper Editors that show over the last 20 years, the number of Americans who think news organizations are highly professional declined from 72 to 49 percent. Furthermore, newspapers’ circulation peaked in 1987, and the decline is accelerating.

Contact Pondillo at 615-904-8465.
pondillo@mtsu.edu

Intolerance

Two Georgia Tech students, a Christian and a Jew, are suing the university because they are not allowed to speak out against gays and lesbians. Gays and lesbians say such speech is offensive and discriminatory. But Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, contends that the rule that prohibits such speech, however objectionable it may be, is itself intolerant. “Throughout history, we have seen the results when one group is favored over another group, when one group has rights at the expense of others,” Burriss says. “So the American experience is supposed to be one of tolerance. But toleration doesn’t mean you have to approve of every beharior and idea that comes down the road. Rather, tolerance means that those who are offended have to tolerate the offensive speech.”

Contact Burriss at 615-898-2983.
lburriss@mtsu.edu

The chemistry of education

The vice chancellor at the University of Sussex has announced a plan to cut most of the chemistry faculty and end the school’s world-renowned chemistry program. Similar actions have been taken at Swansea in Wales. Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says, while this might just look like another cost-cutting measure, it raises questions about the purpose of a university. “Traditionally, universities exist to create and share knowledge,” he says. “Training students so that they will secure a particular job when they graduate is not a traditional role of a university. … since ever fewer people’s lives are occupied by a single profession, a university must provide a universal education. To this end, healthy programs in all of the unhyphenated core branches of knowledge should exist.”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

SAVE THOSE TICKETS!—Due to illness, “Fresh Air” radio show host Terry Gross was notable to fulfill her previously scheduled commitments at MTSU. Her appearance has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 19. Marc J. Barr, electronic media communication, says new tickets will not be printed. Therefore, people with the original April 17 tickets are encouraged to keep them for the September event. For more information, contact Barr at 615-898-5118 or at mjbarr@mtsu.edu.

GET TEED OFF—TODAY, 10:30 a.m.--Join MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee, Director of Athletics Chris Massaro and MTSU head coaches Rick Stockstill (football), Kermit Davis (men’s basketball) and Rick Insell (women’s basketball) for a golf scramble Monday at Temple Hills Golf Club, 6379 Temple Road in Franklin. The event begins with a 10:30 a.m. lunch followed by the scramble at noon. Following the scramble, a reception open to all alumni and friends will be held at 5:30. The cost for the entire event is $125 dollars per person or $10 for the reception only. Contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 1-800-533-6878 or go online at http://www.mtalumni.com.

NEW WEB LOGS

We’ve made some changes on the News and Public Affairs website that will make your job a little easier. These changes won’t replace the mail, faxes and e-mails for those who prefer to get their information that way. The changes will be in addition to those methods. We now post TODAY’S RESPONSE and our NEWS RELEASES in a web log (blog) format. Links to TR and the news releases will be in the right column of the NPA website, www.mtsunews.com.
One of the advantages of using the blog format is that the media will have an expanding, searchable archive of MTSU expert opinion and MTSU news releases. Thanks in advance for visiting these new features. If you have comments or questions, please contact John Lynch, director of marketing technologies, jlynch@mtsu.edu, 615-898-5591.

VIDEO UPLINK

TV stations, if you need video from an event at MTSU, interviews with MTSU experts, or other specific video from the MTSU campus, please call 615-898-2919 or email news@mtsu.edu. With sufficient advanced notice, we have the capability to uplink video to stations with digital decoding equipment, or we can make arrangements to deliver tape or DVD to you.