Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Mortgage misery

The number of past due mortgages in Tennessee in the third economic quarter is disturbing but not surprising. According to Tennessee Housing Market, a publication of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, 8.3 percent of mortgages in the state were past due compared with 7.9 percent in the previous quarter. The publication states, “Compared with other states, Tennessee has a below-average inventory of foreclosures (32nd highest) but an above-average rate of foreclosures initiated (20th highest). This means Tennessee’s foreclosure inventory will expand faster than some other states, causing the state’s foreclosure inventory ranking to rise in the coming quarters. While rising, the foreclosure inventory for Tennessee is only about half as large as for the U.S., 1.59 percent for Tennessee compared with 3.02 percent for the nation.”

Contact the Business and Economic Research Center at 615-898-2610.

Desperate housewives

American women might think that a marriage in which one woman shares several husbands might be great feminist revenge on all those men who refused to commit to them monogamously. However, Dr. Marilyn Wells, medical anthropologist and professor emeritus of sociology and anthropology, says polyandry, or a marriage of one woman and multiple husbands, is the preferred marriage for only a little more than one percent of the world’s societies. “When a young woman marries the oldest brother of a family, she is married to all the brothers of that family, right then and there,” says Wells. “Some of the brothers may be four or five years old. So she is the one wife who takes care of her decrepit mother-in-law, her cantankerous father-in-law, and three or four or five husbands.” It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.

Contact Wells at 615-895-4385.

“You could look it up.”—Casey Stengel

The Encyclopedia of the First Amendment (CQ Press, 2008), a reference book featuring the works of 19 members of the MTSU community, has received another kudo from the oldest publication covering the library field. Library Journal, which has covered the library field for 132 years, states in its Jan. 15 edition, “Written in a scholarly yet lucid and accessible style, this resource is highly recommended for university libraries (especially those serving law and journalism programs), libraries within law firms and news organizations, and larger public libraries. Remarkable for its breadth and scope, it is one of the few, if not the only, resources dedicated to the First Amendment.” The encyclopedia was co-edited by Dr. John R. Vile, dean of the University Honors College, and David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and scholar at the First Amendment Center in Nashville.

Contact Vile at 615-898-2598 or jvile@mtsu.edu.
Contact Hudson at 615-727-1600 or dhudson@fac.org.

TR EXTRA

JUSTIFIED AND ANCIENT--A panel of community experts in various fields will take questions from the public in a forum to be held at noon, Friday, Feb. 20, at the St. Clair Senior Center in Murfreesboro. “Let’s Talk … Senior Issues,” an open forum, will be presented by the Rutherford County Council on Aging. John Hood, former state representative and MTSU community liaison, will serve as the moderator. “Addressing the needs of senior adults in our community is essential during this economic struggle,” says Dr. Judy Campbell, council president and MTSU nursing professor. Contact Campbell at 615-848-5729 or Tim Spears at tspears@rutherfordcounty.org.

RAD STREET CRED--A series of six Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) classes will be offered at no charge every Thursday beginning tomorrow, Feb. 19, through Mar. 26 from 6-8 p.m. in the MTSU police training room located at 1412 East Main Street. The class will be open to all female MTSU students, faculty and staff as well as to the general public. For more information or to enroll, call RAD instructor David Smith at 615-692-2424.

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME.--To help students dealing with high prices and tight budgets, the MTSU Off-Campus Housing Web site will waive its $25 fee for posting notices of apartments to be sublet effective immediately. The Web site (www.mtsuoffcampus.com) was created in November 2007 by the Office of Off-Campus Student Services in cooperation with Off-Campus Partners, a Virginia-based company providing services to nearly 30 universities. Property managers pay fees to post information such as location, price and type about apartments, condominiums and houses for rent and for sale. To make it easier for students to cut transportation costs, the Web site also features Carpool Central, a message board for people seeking rides to and from school; Ride Board, for rides wherever they want to go out of town; and a Roommate Matching message board. For more information, contact the Office of Off-Campus Student Services at 615-898-5989 or ocss@mtsu.edu.

Y’ALL COME BACK NOW, YOU HEAR?--The MTSU Department of Art’s Gallery at Todd Hall presents “Revisited,” an exhibit featuring the collective works of four of its retired faculty members, through Friday, Feb. 20. The artists whose work is being showcased are Ollie Fancher, who taught graphic design and drawing; Jim Gibson, sculpture; Klaus Kallenberger, jewelry; and David LeDoux, painting. Eric Snyder, gallery curator, says these individuals “contributed a great deal to the Department of Art’s program and curriculum and have been asked to return to MTSU in honor of their hard work.” The gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and is closed on all state holidays. Admission is always free and exhibits are open to the public. For more information, contact Snyder at 615-898-5653 or esnyder@mtsu.edu.