UT Issues Committee:

Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author, will discuss his most recent book, Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib , in which he lays out the chain of events from the September 11th attacks to the war in Iraq.

Hersh’s work became famous in 1969 when he exposed the My Lai massacre and its subsequent cover-up. As both a free-lance journalist and a writer for The New York Times and the Associated Press, Hersh has written controversial and groundbreaking reports on the C.IA’s bombing of Cambodia, Henry Kissinger’s wiretapping of his staff, the C.I.A’s operations against Chilean President Salvador Allende, and prison abuse in Abu Ghraib. Hersh currently contributes regularly to The New Yorker . In addition to his journalistic contributions, Hersh has published eight books.

Event Details

Date: Feb. 6, 2008 19:30
Location: UC Auditorium
Cost: Free

Contact: issues@utk.edu

Just a quick progress report. I talked today to Dr. Linda Byrd-Johnson regarding the failure to renew UT's TRIO funding for the McNair Scholars program. She reports being flooded with Tennessee e-mails, but still refuses to see her job more broadly and to exercise reason and good sense (to save the program).

She reported that both her superiors, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Auer Jones, so far refuse to act. So I hope you kept a copy of the initial note (if not, a version below) and will send a note to Jones at diane.jones@ed.gov.

Many thanks to those on this site who acted. I encourage you to keep up the pressure. I'm about to unleash a second wave of various methods to reverse this bad decision.

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UT's McNair Scholars program is a superb resource. It takes kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who have made it to college and helps them prepare for graduate education. It is one of the most successful McNair programs in the country, and each year it also does a regional conference of other similar programs.

Now the program may lose its federal money (called the TRIO program) because its 2008 application was three minutes late. UT's Office of Research Administration blames a slow link in the grants.gov site. Sadly, so far all attempts to correct have fallen on deaf ears.

I recommend politeness but persistence, and spreading the word to other internet sites so we can magnify the message so it will not be ignored. --Mark Harmon

The University of Tennessee is going to pay the UT Foundation $56 million for Knoxville Place, the massive apartment complex that takes up most of the block behind the law school.

UT is planning to tear down the Carolyn P. Brown Student Center and spend $70 million building a new one.

Because they need more meeting space?? Now what is that big building a few blocks to the east? 70 million will pay for a lot of trolley service. And maybe help with some debt service as well.

How about some co-operation, folks?

I don't know how many of you all watched the UNC-UT women's basketball game but it was a real barnburner. The first half was downright brutal, with Ivory Latta of UNC and Candace Parker getting into early foul trouble. The defense on both sides was stifling, but UNC missed a lot of easy chances to pull away early. In the second half, UNC did, in fact, pull away and built up a 12 point lead. But just as the UNC men did, the Tar Heel women simply collapsed with 8 minutes left. Foul trouble hurt, as two players fouled out (though Latta stayed out of further foul trouble until the very end). I think UNC just ran out of gas. As for the Lady Vols, I was really impressed with Nicky Anosike and Shannon Bobbitt, who kept the team composed even when they fell behind big. The Lady Vols won without the usual help from Candace Parker, who missed the first half because of foul trouble and didn't contribute a whole lot from the floor in the second half either.

Rutgers pulled off a stunner over LSU and it's hard to imagine them taking out the Lady Vols in the final. In many ways the Lady Vols had a charmed tournament schedule with Ole Miss and Marist taking out potentially tougher opponents. UNC was the only really tough opponent the Lady Vols had to face.

I'm a lukewarm women's basketball fan to be honest. I love watching two great teams, like UT, UNC, LSU or UConn. But when you get to non-elite teams the game can be downright painful to watch. That said, there's a lot more talent spread throughout Division I now so you don't get as many embarrassing missed layoffs and botched passes as in the past. I'm not sure if this is because of the WNBA, Title IX, ESPN or what but this women's hoops tournament has been a real joy to watch - much more so than the men's tournament this year. Go Lady Vols!

A power failure is forcing 1,000 residents of Andy Holt Tower on the University of Tennessee campus to spend the night elsewhere. The TennesseeJournalist.com (tnjn.com) has the story. TNJN.com is the student-operated news web site of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media at UT.

Bruce Pearl absolutely rocks!!!!!!!!!
Link...

I know it isn't important but this is just illogical enough to really irritate the shit out of me. The Lady Vols were ranked #4 and were playing the #2 ranked team. Which team would you expect to win? Well, if the rankings mean anything, you would expect the more highly ranked team to win. So why does losing to a more highly ranked team always, ALWAYS mean a reduction in ranking? I mean, I get that you don't want to punish teams that don't lose but somehow, this just seems screwed up to me.

CAFKIA

The Knox Co. MPC has announced a series of public meetings on the Cumberland Ave. Corridor study:

Thursday November 9- Public Meeting #1
6:00 pm, UT Student Center Auditorium

Tuesday December 5- Public Meeting #2
5:30 pm, UT Student Center Ballroom.

Thursday December 7- Public Meeting #3
5:30 pm, UT Student Center Shiloh Room.

Thursday, January 25- Public Meeting #4
6:00 pm UT Student Center Ballroom.

Thursday, February 22- Public Meeting #5
6:00 pm, UT Student Center Ballroom

Flyer and map/directions here (PDF format)...

We heard there was discussion on local talk radio today that U.T. is planning to sell football game-day RV parking spots on the Faculty Club property for $20,000 a pop. There was also talk of a dock facility for the Vol Navy. Does anybody out there know anything about this?

One person noted to us that none of this would necessarily interfere with the current Faculty Club operations. (Which makes us wonder, could these types of uses help subsidize the Faculty Club?)

So, is the master plan becoming clearer? Could it also have anything to do with this? Whatever is really going on, that property is seven acres or so of some of the most prime real estate in Knoxville.

Developing...

The Knoxville News Sentinel covers the other side of the U.T. Faculty Club story. The article notes a decline in membership starting in the year 2000. When did Aramark take over? Coincidentally, the new addition that looks more like a church rec room and is missing the character and charm of the old house was built in 1999. (See previous posts here and here.)

Oh, My!

1,600 faculty members, thousands (tens of thousands?) of alumni, hundreds (thousands?) of emeriti, and hundreds of donors may soon lose the chance to be part of an important community. A community that builds camaraderie. A community that develops faculty to teach the next generation. A community that promotes networking among faculty and political leadership to advance the University's interests. The University of Tennessee under the direction of Dr. John Petersen and, locally, Chancellor Loren Crabtree have seen fit to terminate this community due to a $160,000 operating deficit in the past year.

A meeting of University Club membership was held today to discuss the pending closure of the University Club (formerly known as the Faculty Club). Dr. John Petersen graciously attended to address members concerns and defend the University’s decision to close the facility. Petersen said he would take the members’ concerns back to U.T. Chancellor Loren Crabtree. It appears to be of utmost importance to those concerned to contact Dr. Crabtree with their ideas to keep the University Club open.

In late May or early June, the University Club Board was called to a meeting with the University to let them know the University Club (UC) would be closed effective August 31, 2006. At that time there was no discussion as to how there could be a future for the UC. There had been no warning of a problem with the facility's operating deficit, especially considering a UC deficit is the norm. There was also no discussion of the decline of food quality and service after Aramark took over operations.

The President of the UC Board spent money out of her own pocket to inform UC members of the pending closing. The UC was denied funds by the University for the mailing. Why did the University not want members informed? (Dr. Petersen agreed just prior to todays meeting to reimburse her.)

There is also a question on possible deed restrictions for the facility and land. Apparently, part of the information cannot be found. Dr. Petersen mentioned some sort of connection between the closure of the Tennessee Grill and the UC. Who knows how this can be. The UC has been around for many decades prior to the Tennessee Grill being a blip on the radar.

In a more recent meeting last Thursday August 3rd, it was decided the UC would remain open for Sunday brunches and the Swim Club would remain open at least through 2007.

Why close it now? Why can’t the membership be given time to cure the deficit? The UC was a benefit offered to faculty, alumni, emeriti, and donors. Why does the University no longer want to offer this benefit? Why does the University think this community no longer important? Why do they announce this closing at the end of a semester, allowing for negotiations in the summer months when universities are practically closed and nobody is there?

Petersen says these types of clubs are on the decline. According to a member at the meeting, an organization of university clubs states that most “leading” universities have these types of clubs.

WBIR was at the meeting and filed a report on the 6 o’clock news. Here’s what they didn’t report.

They did not report that members attended the meeting today to protest the closing.

They did not report that a recent letter went out to members stating that the 1967 deed transfer has a conveyance clause stating that the property was donated to the faculty for the purpose of club facilities for a period of 56 years from the date of transfer.

They did not report that an attorney working with the Board stated there are property records missing and that at the present it is not clear what the deed restrictions may or may not be.

They did not report a member saying that when the possible deed restrictions were mentioned to the University, the University’s response was “prove it.”

They did not report a similar attempt to close the UC back in the early 70s so the University could build high-rise student housing on the property.

They did not report that membership voted to authorize the UC Board to raise the membership dues to cover the operating deficit for the next year, thus eliminating the University's only stated concern.

They did not report that membership also voted to authorize the UC Board to seek an injunction against closing the facility, if a reasonable request for more time to study the issue was not granted.

I was certainly surprised at the lack of communication regarding the closure of the University Club. There appear to be a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of faculty, alumni, emeriti and donors whose voices are not being heard.

This may not be news to some readers, but the Chattanooga firm of Kennedy, Coulter, Rushing & Watson LLC has been hired to "redesign" the Cumberland Avenue corridor.

Michael Silence brings our attention to this new City of Knoxville RFP for "a Transportation and Land Use/Urban Design Study for the Cumberland Avenue Corridor." I don't recall hearing any talk about this before, but it sounds like a pretty big deal. And probably long overdue.

Buried among all the talk about creating a more attractive and inviting corridor and improving traffic flow and safety for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians, there's this little nugget:

The adopted land use plan for the blocks adjoining Cumberland Ave. (between 17th Street and the railroad underpass) is mixed-use (allowing retail at ground-level and upper story office or residential uses).

To date, all development has been to the alleys (halfway toward White Avenue and halfway toward Lake Avenue). In the future, more intense mixed-use development could absorb entire blocks north and south of Cumberland Avenue, affording higher intensity development and underground or other structured parking.

The City of Knoxville is starting to sound like a one-trick pony. When in doubt, build some condos. Trust us, condos will solve all your problems. (So, when are they going to convert the Convention Center to condos?)

The City reckons this is the fastest and easiest way to stimulate investment in these areas and the best way to generate funding for the projects (TIF-for-tat and all that). And that may be. And the trendy loft set, having drunk the "new urbanist" kool-aid, are active and vocal participants in "the process" supporting this type of development. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

At any rate, a Cumberland Ave. makeover is probably long overdue. Whatever it takes, by any means necessary, and so forth. Just as an uninformed observation from the sidelines, though, Cumberland Ave. probably had its heyday back when the drinking age was lowered to 18, and went into decline when it was raised back to 21.

(This was back when somebody figured out if that if we were going to draft kids, er, young adults, and send them off to Vietnam to get shot up or killed, we ought to at least let them have a couple of cold beers before they shipped out. Of course, it was repealed once they figured out that the Boone's Farm and Ripple wine drinking hippie peacenik contingent also benefited. But I digress.)

The fundamental economic equation at work on Cumberland Ave. seems to be that college students don't have any money. At least not for anything but beer, and an occasional pizza. So it will be interesting to see what kind of plan they come up with. Whatever it is, it will probably have lots of condos. And a bike trail. And a "museum/discovery center." Not that there's anything wrong with that.

And the "transportation" elements of the project guarantee some Free Federal Funding™ courtesy of Congressman Jimmy Duncan (who sits on the Transportation Committee), assuming he can keep going back to the well after the funding he already secured for the downtown luxury bus station.

OK, then.