Monday, March 17, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Trials, but no tribulations

An MTSU mock trial team placed second among 26 teams at the American Mock Trial Association National Tournament at Memphis over the weekend (March 14-16) and was one of three teams at the tournament to qualify for the National Championship tournament to be held in Minneapolis/St. Paul. This marks the 18th time in 19 years that MTSU has qualified for the nation’s most elite tournament. A team consisting of Daniel Vaughn, Natalie Schneider, Nick Lee, Julian Kissner, Lani Lester, Rachel Harmon and Austin Purvis compiled a record of six wins, one loss and one tie in rounds against Ohio State, Kennesaw State, Furman and Georgia State. In addition, Vaughn captured a Top Ten attorney award, and Lester won a Top Ten witness award. The University of Texas won the tourney with an 8-0 record while Washington and Lee University came in third with a 6-2 record. The MTSU team is coached by Dr. John R. Vile and Patrick Chinnery of the Department of Political Science and by former alums Brandi Snow and Jamie Kidd.

Contact Vile at 615-898-2596.
jvile@mtsu.edu

Welcome, bienvenue, welcome!

Attitudes toward illegal immigration are changing in Tennessee, according to the latest MTSU Poll. Forty-seven percent support a guest worker program compared to 40% in the spring 2007 poll. Forty-two percent would oppose such a program, and 10% are unsure. Sixty-three percent would support a citizenship path if it became law compared with 54% a year ago. Half of those polled agree that immigrants fill jobs that others don’t want. “This historic softening of attitudes toward illegal immigrants may be due to many factors including: greater familiarity with—and hence comfort around—such groups and publicity surrounding the fact that sufficient numbers of workers for some jobs such as storm cleanup have been hard to find in areas that have cracked down on undocumented immigrants,” says Dr. Bob Wyatt, Director of Communication Research at MTSU.

Contact Blake at 615-477-8389.
rwyatt@mtsu.edu

The Spitzer syndrome

Wilbur Mills, John Jenrette, Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, and now Eliot Spitzer—only a few of the politicians whose clandestine sexual behavior has been detrimental to their public lives in recent decades. Why would men whose every move is under constant public scrutiny take such chances? Dr. Janet Belsky, psychology, says, “It takes tremendous hubris to make it to the top politically. Power is a tremendous aphrodisiac. Combine this with an addiction to risk-taking, and it makes perfect sense that dangerous sexual acting out is a tremendous lure for powerful men. But men like Eliot Spitzer make passionate enemies on their ascent—people who are watching every move to take them down, which explains why powerful men are also the very people who always get caught!”

Contact Belsky at 615-898-5935.
jbelsky@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

FEMINIST—NOW AND ALWAYS--Visual depictions of feminists, words of wisdom from women in science and visits from dynamic activists are part of the observance of National Women’s History Month, which kicks into high gear at MTSU in the month of March with the theme of “Feminist Now.” Watching the progression of the first response to being called a feminist to the reaction now makes me feel good about the future,” says Terri Johnson, co-chair of the MTSU National Women’s History Month Committee and director of the June Anderson Women’s Center. “When people are educated, they want to work and fight for change,” Johnson says of the opportunities for enlightenment offered during National Women’s History Month. “And even though I know there are challenges ahead, there’s a comfort in knowing we are all in this together.” For the complete MTSU National Women’s History Month Calendar of events, contact the June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@mtsu.edu.

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE—Dr. Jim McCollum, whose mother’s lawsuit against his public school system for mandating religious instruction resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, will speak from 1-2 p.m. today, March 17, on Room 106 of the Paul W. Martin Honors Building at MTSU. This year marks the 60th anniversary of McCollum v. Board of Education. The high court ruled 8-1 in favor of McCollum, overturning decisions at the circuit court and state supreme court levels. This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Department of Political Science at 615-898-2708.

ZING WENT THE STRINGS—The 2008 Tennessee Guitar Festival continues today through March 20 with free and open concerts at 8 p.m. nightly in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building at MTSU. Duo Firenze will perform tonight, and Christopher Berg will play tomorrow night. Matt Palmer and John Johns will perform Wednesday night. For more information, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/~yelverto/guitfest.html or call 615-898-2493.