Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Conflict revelation

The Muslim Student Association will present the award-winning documentary “Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority” at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 5, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. This event is free and open to the public. A question-and-answer session will follow the movie, which examines the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It details the role of the U.S. in the conflict and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. Leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers express their views in the film.

Contact Dr. Saleh Sbenaty, faculty adviser to the Muslim Student Association, at 615-898-2966.
ssbenaty@mtsu.edu

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.
ocss@mtsu.edu

It’s hard work finding work.

Employment in the manufacturing sector plummeted 9.87 percent in the Nashville Metropolitan area in December 2008 compared with the previous December, according to statistics compiled by MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center. The construction and mining sector dropped 3.51 percent, and the financial services sector fell 2.15 percent. Employment overall sank from 765,980 in December 2007 to 741,540 a year later with the jobless rate soaring from 4.2 percent to 6.5 percent.

For more information and analysis, contact the Business and Economic Research Center at 615-898-2610.

TR EXTRA

SEEING RED--Support the fight against heart disease in women by wearing red on National Wear Red Day, Friday, Feb. 6. The June Anderson Women’s Center will distribute red ribbons and educational information in the lobby of the Keathley University Center from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. For more information, call the Women’s Center at 615-898-2913.

MELTING POT, MOSAIC, OR MELANGE?--Eugene Robinson, associate editor and columnist for the Washington Post and MSNBC political analyst, will speak at 10:20 a.m. today, Feb. 4, in MTSU’s Keathley University Center Theater. This event, which is co-sponsored by the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies and the MTSU Black History Committee, is free and open to the public. Robinson, whose twice-weekly Post column is syndicated in 145 newspapers across the country, will speak on “We’re Someplace We’ve Never Been: Race, Diversity and the New America.” The address will focus on Robinson’s upbringing in segregated South Carolina with reviews of the educational and economic progress made by African-Americans, the increase in interracial marriage, the rise of Latinos as the largest minority group in the U.S., the polarization of Americans according to class, and the scientific consensus that race is meaningless except as a social construct. For more information, contact Dr. Sekou Franklin at 615-904-8232 or franklin@mtsu.edu.

DECA DAY--The Department of Business Communication and Entrepreneurship (BCEN) will host a competition for high school students who belong to DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 5, in Murphy Center. BCEN faculty will serve as judges. For more information, contact Wayne Rollins at 615-898-5185 or wrollins@mtsu.edu.

STIMULUS PACKAGE--Students will have a chance to network with corporate, governmental and nonprofit employers recruiting summer and fall interns at an internships fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 5, in the Tennessee Room of MTSU’s James Union Building. Then, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, MTSU will partner with 15 area universities to host the College to Career Fair and Teacher Recruitment Fair. More than 120 employers will be recruiting for various full-time, degreed positions. A free ticket is required and a limited number are available at the Career Development Center in Room 328 of the Keathley University Center. Contact the Career Development Center at 615-898-2500 or career@mtsu.edu.