Thursday, July 28, 2010
Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University
“I’m going back to the border where my affairs … ain’t abused.”—Elton John and Bernie Taupin
U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton yesterday blocked enforcement of most parts of Arizona’s new immigration law. In her ruling, Bolton said it was “not in the public interest” for a state to pre-empt federal enforcement of immigration laws. The statute Dr. John Vile, dean of the University Honors College and Constitutional law scholar, says Bolton’s ruling “is largely based on concerns that the law (requiring police to arrest individuals when they have ‘reasonable suspicion’ that such individuals are subject to deportation) might lead to racial profiling. Citing the principle of ‘comity,’ or mutual respect, federal courts often allow states to enforce controversial laws and wait for state courts to make rulings rather than intervening, as Judge Bolton has done, at such an early stage.”
Contact Vile at 615-898-2596.
jvile@mtsu.edu
“People get ready/There’s a train a’comin.’”—Curtis Mayfield
The National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the June 22, 2009, accident on the Washington, D.C., subway concludes that a faulty track circuit caused the wreck that killed nine people and injured dozens. Dr. Phil Oliver, philosophy, recently read an account of the deadliest rail accident in American history, which occurred on July 9, 1918, in Nashville. Oliver says, “More than the gawkers’ insensitivity … I’m struck by the purple piety of the journalist who wrote of one poor victim, (heard repeatedly wailing ‘Oh, God! Oh, God!’) ‘cramped in that telescoped coach and wounded unto death could he cry out unto Him who had breathed the breath of life into his soul and was now taking that life away.’ More prosaically, the reporter also notes that ‘somebody blundered.’”
Contact Oliver at 615-898-2050.
poliver@mtsu.edu
MTSU alumnus Terry Coats will discuss his new book, Next Stop on Grandpa’s Road—History and Architecture of NC&St. L. Railway Depots and Terminals, at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Aug. 1, on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). The book chronicles the history of the Nashville Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. With more than 500 photographs, Coats shows how the architecture of the buildings varied and how they were turned into restaurants, offices, homes, museums, restaurants and storage throughout the four-state area served by the railroad following its demise.
Contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.
TR EXTRA
THE GOOD NEIGHBOR--Dan Brooks, a longtime member of the insurance profession, will be inducted into the Robert E. Musto Tennessee Insurance Hall of Fame tomorrow, July 30. The festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, 1200 Conference Center Dr., adjacent to Interstate 24 and Medical Center Parkway, in Murfreesboro. “There is no way for us to know all the times that Dan has gone out of his way to help and counsel agents in the beginning of their career,” says Dr. Ken Hollman, chairholder of the Martin Chair of Insurance at MTSU. Brooks spent his entire career—35 years of dedicated and loyal service—with State Farm. Twenty-seven of those years were spent in Tennessee and covered all regions of the states. He retired in 2009. Contact Randy Weiler in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5610 or jweiler@mtsu.edu.
“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.
I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.
APRENDA CON ME--The University School of Nashville is hosting MTSU’s 2010 Summer Language Institute, where you can learn Spanish in a fun, low-stress environment. The methods employed are Total Physical Response (TPR) and Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS). These methods mimic the way you learned your first language. Movement, games, songs and storytelling are all part of the instruction. Brian Roberts will teach Spanish I for ages 16 and up from Aug. 2-6 at the O’More School of Design in Franklin. The cost is $350 with a $20 materials fee due on the first day of class. Contact Dr. Shelley Thomas at 615-898-5757 or shthomas@mtsu.edu.
posted by Today's Response From MTSU @ 9:01 AM
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