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Monday, October 30, 2006

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Total Clips: 11

	Date	Outlet
New life sciences risk factors study findings have been reported from Auburn University	10/30/2006	Health & Medicine Week
Bigger better: No expansion plans despite clamor for seats	10/30/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Host Lipscomb wins robot contest	10/30/2006	The Tennessean
Responders Train For Attack on Jordan-Hare Stadium	10/30/2006	WTVM-TV
El Nino climate pattern returns to Southeast	10/30/2006	Southeast Farm Press
Local students compete in annual robotics contest	10/29/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Athletes make academic end run	10/29/2006	Birmingham News
Reform group wants course disclosure	10/29/2006	Birmingham News
Open records reform advances	10/28/2006	Birmingham News
Auburn University Targeted By E-Mail Virus	10/26/2006	WTVM-TV
Museum plans Rural Studio road trip	10/26/2006	Opelika-Auburn News


New life sciences risk factors study findings have been reported from Auburn University 10/30/2006 Health & Medicine Week		Return to Top
No Web link was available for this story. Current study results from the report, Risky sexual behaviors, alcohol use, and drug use a comparison of Eastern and Western European adolescents, have been published. The current study examined to what extent cultural context moderated developmental processes, namely the patterns of association between low self-control, family processes and three indicators of health-compromising behaviors (risky sexual behaviors, alcohol and drug use) in two Eastern European and two Western European adolescent samples. School-based questionnaire data were collected from middle and late adolescents in Hungary, Slovenia, The Netherlands, and Switzerland, scientists in the United States report. Students rated measures of self-control, family processes (closeness, support, and monitoring), and health-compromising behaviors. The data were analyzed by a series of set hierarchical regression analyses as well as follow-up z-tests for comparisons of individual regression coefficients. Findings provided evidence that low self-control was positively associated with all three measures of health-compromising behaviors in a largely invariant fashion across countries. Differences were found in developmental processes, where low self-control was more weakly associated with risky sexual behaviors in samples of both Eastern European countries as compared with Western European ones, thus providing some evidence of idiosyncratic cultural norms. also provided evidence of mostly direct effects by family processes on measures of health-compromising behaviors. With two exceptions, no differences were observed in these effects across the four samples. Low self-control explains variability in health-compromising behaviors, especially in alcohol and drug use, wrote A.T. Vazsonyi and colleagues, Auburn University, Department of Human Development and Family Studies. The researchers concluded The observed differences in the link between low self-control and risky sexual behaviors may provide some evidence of distinct norms and values among Eastern European youth in comparison with Western European adolescents related to these behaviors. Vazsonyi and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Adolescent Health (Risky sexual behaviors, alcohol use, and drug use a comparison of Eastern and Western European adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2006;39(5) 753.e1-11). For more information, contact A.T. Vazsonyi, Auburn University, Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies, Auburn, Alabama 36849 U.S. Publisher contact information for the Journal of Adolescent Health is Elsevier Science Inc., 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010-1710, USA. Keywords United States, Auburn, Life Sciences Risk Factors. This article was prepared by Health & Medicine Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2006, Health & Medicine Week via NewsRx.com. Copyright © 2006 Health & Medicine Week via NewsRx.com


Bigger better: No expansion plans despite clamor for seats 10/30/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Mitch Sneed		Return to Top
This story is about AU's Jordan-Hare Stadium. Is there a move afoot to expand Jordan-Hare Stadium to more than 100,000 seats? University officials say not on their part, but acknowledged that some architectural firms have sent speculative work showing what they could do should the school be interested. One such plan calls for adding an upper deck of the north end zone, adding some 18 sections which would add as many as 12,650 bleacher seats. That would take the stadium's capacity from 87,451 to 100,101, the second largest in the Southeastern Conference, making it the fifth largest in the nation. "That's not something that we are actively considering," said Auburn University's John Mouton, senior advisor to President Ed Richardson. "We do from time to time have people or architectural firms submit plans, showing what they could do if we were considering something like this. But it’s nothing that the university is paying for. "I can tell you, we aren't even exploring the feasibility of it right now." But on message boards, at tailgate gatherings and at Auburn Club meetings the talk rages about not only the recent enhancements, but about what comes next. Why the talk now? Auburn University's Jordan-Hare Stadium long had the distinction of being the state's largest football venue, and is currently the ninth largest on-campus stadium in the NCAA. Since the most recent expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa that was finished in time for this season, seating capacity has been raised there to 92,238. The expansion raised it to the seventh largest collegiate stadium on campus in the country and the SEC’s fourth largest. Only Talladega Superspeedway, with a capacity of 143,231, will seat more for a sporting event in the state of Alabama. Being the second largest stadium, especially with rival Alabama listed above it, doesn't sit well with some alumni. "We'd sell it out, it doesn't matter how many seats we have," Michael Bramblett of Pelham, whose family has had season tickets for 18 years, said. "It would be great that more fans could get to see games, and think about what it would do for recruiting, to be able to tell a kid that he'd be playing in front of 100,000 people every Saturday." As it is now, about 14,500 students, 4,000 faculty members, 10,000 visitors, and approximately 60,000 season ticket holders pack the stadium each week. Four games this season are listed as a total sellout. But bigger would be nice. Currently, the University of Michigan's "Big House" seats 107,501, while Penn State's Beaver Stadium has a capacity of 107,282. Tennessee's Neyland Stadium has 104,079 seats, and "The Horsehoe" at Ohio State holds 101,568. If Auburn did make such a move, it would go ahead of Georgia's Sanford Stadium, which seats 92,746. But Mouton said don't look for such an expansion anytime soon. A proposed new 9,000-seat arena that could cost more than $90 million is in the works, with a search for an architect about to begin. A new pool facility is in the works, and a tennis center is being built. So when it comes to construction - AU has a full plate. Add to the mix than an underground stream on the north end of the stadium would make further expansion tough. The additional weight of another deck would require creative engineering that would come with a hefty price tag. "Every now and again we have someone talk about it," Mouton said. "But we just completed a $29 million renovation. I'm not sure anyone would be willing to take on the kind of debt an expansion like that would require."
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Host Lipscomb wins robot contest 10/30/2006 The Tennessean Danica Wright Booth		Return to Top
The BEST competition to take place at AU is mentioned in this story. Tennessee teenagers found another way to avoid chores this weekend by creating robots that can retrieve dry laundry off a line and hang wet garments to dry. "They have to take off 12 dry ones," said Janel Shoun, public relations manager at Lipscomb University. "Then they have to go and put up 12 pieces of wet laundry. They'll have multiple rounds, so they get a chance to kind of tinker with their robot." The event took place Saturday at Lipscomb's Allen Arena, and students from David Lipscomb Campus School, Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School, Oak Ridge High School, West End Middle School, Blackman High School and McFadden Middle School participated in building and marketing the machines. The event was sponsored by BEST: Boosting Engineering Science Technology, and it was Ben Hutchinson, dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, who first brought the idea to the Lipscomb campus. "This is our first time for us, the first time for Tennessee and Kentucky," Hutchinson said, "and one always wonders how well something like this will go over, but we really had great participation and creativity from the students." In the end, it was Lipscomb's own who won the race. "Lipscomb's robot actually got the most points and won the contest," Shoun said. "Then there is the BEST award, where they take in other factors, creativity, attractiveness, mascot. (Murfreesboro's) McFadden School of Excellence won that. Those two will go to Auburn University for the South BEST Regional Competition." "They give each team two boxes," said Suzanne Holmes, whose daughter, Anne, participated on West End Middle's team, "one with consumables, which is like PVC, plywood, rubber tubing, nuts and bolts, things like that, hardware store merchandise, and the other box is the electronics of it." If students wanted to keep the completed robots, they were given the option of purchasing the electronic equipment, which many of them did by raising funds from local businesses. "The idea of the BEST competition is to make it at no cost to the schools," Hutchinson said, "so we don't leave schools out. So we give them one bucket of parts they're able to keep and use at no cost, and we give them the returnables." In September, students came to Allen Arena, where a game field had been built. They were allowed to videotape and measure the area, and the meticulous nature of the event does not end there. "The robot can't weigh more than 24 pounds," Shoun said, so teams must weigh each piece of equipment and calculate whether or not the addition will work. Teams also competed in a display booth and notebook competition, logging the process.
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Responders Train For Attack on Jordan-Hare Stadium 10/30/2006 WTVM-TV Brock Parker		Return to Top
Imagine spending a Saturday afternoon at Jordan-Hare. You're watching the Auburn Tigers play, but then someone attacks the stadium. That's what officers from Auburn, Opelika and Lee County are learning to respond to. Local, state and federal officers are keeping a close eye during game day at Jordan-Hare Stadium. It's not long before they lock down the campus. "It's in response to a 'weapon of mass destruction' incident in the area involving Auburn University," said Patrick Aguillard, Emergency Response Training System. Thankfully it's only a training exercise, but computer simulations are helping responders evaluate their emergency plans. "They're sitting as if they were sitting in their units and in their offices. We're going to let a scenario unfold and see exactly who responds and how we respond. We'll critique that so we can go back, look at our plans, modify our plans and try to make it better," said Faith Aguillard, Lee County EMA director. Even if it's just a simulation, moving resources into place isn't just point-and-click. "That time is in real-time. They expend fuel. People do expend energy, so we do sensors on these systems like binoculars. Our firefighters can have their normal turn-out gear," said Patrick Aguillard. Within the last two weeks, false threats were made on NFL stadiums. That has emergency planners even more thankful for this type of training. "We started a six to nine month planning process, and it's kind of scary when hear in the news something going on that we're already prepared for. It makes us feel better because we're being proactive," Aguillard said. Local officers will continue the disaster training Friday. If an event like this were real, command posts would be immediately activated in Auburn and Opelika with responders working around the clock to keep you safe.
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El Nino climate pattern returns to Southeast 10/30/2006 Southeast Farm Press Paul L. Hollis		Return to Top
AU is mentioned as a member of the Southeast Climate Consortium (SECC). The El Nino climate pattern has returned for the first time since 2003 and will affect the climate in the Southeast for the next three to six months, according to the latest outlook from the Southeast Climate Consortium (SECC). The SECC is a coalition of six universities, including Florida State University, University of Florida, University of Miami, University of Georgia, Auburn University and the University of Alabama-Huntsville. While this El Nino event began a little later in the year than most warm events, summer/fall is the usual time when sea surface temperatures may rise and spread across the Pacific, according to the forecast. El Nino normally reaches peak intensity and coverage in the winter months. Because of this seasonality of El Nino, the first impact felt in the Southeast U.S. is the relative inactivity of the hurricane season. "In spite of predictions to the contrary, 2006 has so far been a quiet tropical season and many are blaming the developing El Nino. El Nino is known to create an environment of high shear (winds changing with height) over hurricane formation regions in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico that hinders hurricane development. With El Nino continuing to grow and with the hurricane season more than half over, we expect the remainder of the hurricane season to continue below average activity," according to the SECC report. Partially due to the expected decrease in tropical activity, El Nino actually brings drier than normal conditions (20 percent to 30 percent less rain than normal) to Florida, southern Alabama, and southern Georgia in the months of September and October. "Rainfall from tropical systems is an integral component of the climate of the Southeast in the fall, which is otherwise fairly dry without the impact of a tropical system. El Nino does not have much influence on temperatures during these months September and October," states the SECC outlook. Once the colder months arrive (November through March), the classic El Nino climate patterns should establish themselves and control weather during that time. The El Ni'o is known to bring more frequent storms, excessive rainfall, and cooler temperatures to Florida and coastal Alabama and Georgia. "Florida can expect 40 to 60 percent more rainfall than normal in the winter months. It is believed that the increase in rain and cloudiness associated with El Niño causes average temperatures to be cooler than normal during the winter months. These cooler temperatures result in greater chill accumulations over the course of the season. While average temperatures are often cooler, El Nino actually reduces the risk of severe cold outbreaks in Florida and the Southeast. The strong subtropical jet stream that is typical of El Nino acts to 'block' the intrusions of cold arctic air masses," according to the forecast. Turning to more current conditions, the SECC says that after a very dry spring and early summer for most of the area, more plentiful rainfall returned to the Southeast in August and September. As is the usual case for summer precipitation, coverage and accumulations have been highly variable throughout the region. "Southwest Florida has received soaking rains from tropical storms Alberto and Ernesto along with frequent thundershowers, resulting in a surplus of summer rain. Other areas, the western Panhandle of Florida and southeast Alabama in particular, have remained rather dry. While not offering immediate relief, El Nino should help these areas catch up in the coming winter." The SECC predicts the following impacts on Southeastern crops from the latest El Nino: • Winter vegetables (tomato, green peppers): Tomato and green peppers generally yield less during El Nino years than during Neutral or La Nina years. Most soil-borne pathogens and fruit quality problems increase in El Nino years. Fruit quality problems like gray wall are also more prevalent in El Niño years, • Forestry: El Nino plantings (wetter conditions) are generally well established. However, under such conditions, plantings in very low lands might be avoided to minimize losses as excessive rains might drown seedlings. Wetter conditions may also have a negative impact on harvest operations. • Pasture: In general, El Nino years are good for winter pasture due to wetter conditions. However, growth may be slower due to increased cloudiness and consequent decrease in solar radiation. • Row Crops: El Nino impacts are less evident on annual summer crops since its strongest signal occurs during fall, winter and spring. Analysis of historical yield data is a good way to evaluate potential impacts of various row crops. Increased disease pressure and slower development may affect spring sown horticultural crops.
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Local students compete in annual robotics contest 10/29/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
This story is about the robotics competition at AU. They didn't have matching t-shirts or a rowdy cheering section, but a group of students from Loachapoka High School had one thing that mattered more in the annual robotics competition known as Alabama BEST 2006 held Saturday at Auburn University. They had motivation. When word spread through the halls of Loachapoka High that a team of students would be competing for the first time ever in the contest, junior Kwindravis Lynch said they were taunted by classmates and called nerds. He said they doubted their abilities and potential for success. "They didn't think we could do it," he said. Members developed confidence though. But then, less than three weeks before the competition, they hit a snag. Someone broke into the room they used at the high school, vandalized it, stole all their tools and ruined project drawings. For a different group, this may have been a setback, but not for Lynch and his teammates. It only added fuel to the fire already burning strong in each one of them. Dr. George Blanks, director of K-12 engineering outreach at AU's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, said their resilience is one reason why he likes BEST. "It doesn't stop kids," he said. "They just keep trying." Alabama BEST which stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology is meant to inspire middle and high school students to pursue degrees in the fields through participation in a sports-like, hands-on engineering and science competition. For this year's task, titled "Laundry Quandary," teams from 17 schools throughout Alabama created a robot capable of hanging and taking down laundry on clotheslines. Loachapoka junior Mario Stewart said points were earned for putting clothing on the lines and taking other pieces off. Each team had five tries. In between attempts, teams would try to solve any problems. "This (competition) is not about robotics but problem solving," said Blanks. Nothing about the project was easy for the Loachapoka team. Only freshman Donald Ware had knowledge of electronics. Everything else - from design to assembly - was brand new for them. Plus, they had no idea what to expect Saturday against schools like Auburn, Lee-Scott Academy and Hoover High. Win or lose, Ware said he certainly learned more about teamwork than robotics. They got a lot more accomplished when they worked together, he said. Kadandra Ware was proud to be the only girl on the team working with her older brother, Lynch, Stewart and senior Rashid Rowe. "It's fun, and it's good helping out my school," she said. "We don't give up." Since the team will only lose one member to graduation, Lynch was confident the team could compete in years to come even stronger. "Next year, this robot is going to take them all down," he vowed.
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Athletes make academic end run 10/29/2006 Birmingham News JON SOLOMON		Return to Top
AU is mentioned in this story on student athletes. The class was easy enough for Ahmad Childress, then a University of Alabama football player: Write about football. For three credits one summer, Childress said, he and five teammates composed an entire football class that required only instructing a football camp for kids in Gulf Shores and writing a four-page essay. "That was the whole class. I got an A," Childress said. "Yeah, it was a little weird, but sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do to be eligible." In the world of big-time college athletics, eligibility can trump education. The pressure to win ball games and make money creates, for better and for worse, a special path for some athletes to remain academically eligible to play. That path is lined with fancy academic centers for athletes and a support army of academic advisers and tutors. It is marked also with easy classes to which some athletes gravitate. 'Jock' majors: The so-called "jock majors" vary by school, based on an analysis by The Birmingham News of majors listed in football media guides at Alabama, Auburn University and UAB during the past four years. At Auburn, the most popular football major is sociology, accounting for 17 percent of the team's declared majors. This season, football players are 35 times more likely to major in sociology than the student body. Less than 1 percent of the student body chooses that major. Since summer, Auburn has been investigating the expanded number of directed-reading courses in sociology and some other fields - courses that produced mostly high grades. Two professors have resigned. At Alabama, the most popular football major is general studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences. Twenty-six percent of football players majored in general studies in HES compared with 2 percent of all Alabama students. UAB football players gravitate to history (22 percent), communication studies (16 percent) and criminal justice (15 percent). Those majors represent 2 percent, 4 percent and 3 percent of the student body, respectively. The clustering of athletes in certain majors isn't necessarily unethical or against a university's policy, and is common on most campuses. "I don't know why anybody in the world would expect the students who arrive with lesser academic credentials not to end up in the easiest majors," said University of Alabama law Professor Gene Marsh, the school's former faculty athletics representative. "But people who say it's OK to end up with athletes huddled in particular majors because of their time demands don't understand reality. There are many students working many hours a week in part-time jobs" and they do not cluster into easy majors, he said. Linda Bensel-Meyers, a University of Denver professor who once alleged academic misconduct at the University of Tennessee, said soft majors and classes provide a grade cushion to maintain eligibility. But the greatest threats, she said, are grade changes and waiving of standard university policies, such as course prerequisites, to benefit athletes. "It enables some athletes to appear to be enrolled in a college curriculum," Bensel-Meyers said. "In fact, they are merely being housed until their eligibility expires, often to graduate without an education." Academic survival: Many athletes don't need a special path through college - they take challenging courses without the need for extra guidance. But at every school, pockets of athletes who struggle academically find ways to stay eligible. Alabama cornerback Simeon Castille wishes he were still a communications major. He wants to become a broadcaster. He's a general studies major in the College of Human Environmental Sciences now because "I screwed up, and this is getting me back on track to graduate." Castille was academically ineligible for the Cotton Bowl last season. He became lazy, he said, and passed only three credits in the fall 2005 semester, leading to his ineligibility and a change in major. General studies in HES is a popular place for key Alabama football players. It accounts for 40 percent of the majors for undergrad starters in 2006, as of Oct. 14, according to the team's media guide. General studies combines two or more existing majors from the College of Human Environmental Sciences: apparel and textiles, athletic training, consumer sciences, early childhood education, food and nutrition, health studies, human development and family studies, interior design, and restaurant and hospitality management. "It's a safe home for athletes to be eligible for football and other sports, too," said Childress, the former Alabama defensive tackle who was a general studies major. "You really don't do too much work. You're basically taking notes in class." Childress said he was made aware of HES general studies by advisers in the athletics department. After going on academic probation when his grade-point average fell to 1.7, Childress said he used easy general studies courses and electives to increase his mark to the 2.5 the university said he needed to play. Childress, an arena football player who is 15 credits shy of graduating, said he regrets treating academics so lightly and blames himself. He wishes he had told advisers he was interested in human resources instead of easily accepting classes that would keep him playing football. "Nobody never challenged me. I wish somebody had. But ... at that time, you're a grown man. It's on you." 'If it's meeting needs ...': Jon Dever, Alabama's assistant athletics director for student services, said he was not aware of a football class as described by Childress. Athletes, he said, are not steered or encouraged to take HES general studies. HES Dean Milla Boschung said she was surprised to learn the number of football players in her college, but does not believe general studies has the perception of being a "jock major." "I just had no idea who is an athlete and who is not in our college," she said. "We just consider them our students. We think that's the right thing." HES Associate Dean Olivia Kendrick said the number of general-studies majors has risen sharply among all students since a change in the major. "At one time it required that you take certain courses in each area, and that was really planned more for people who were teaching family and consumer sciences in high school," she said. "We made it more liberal so students could plan their own study." Kendrick said the number of football players in general studies is not a concern. "Well, good," she said when told the number. "If it's meeting the needs, that's great. We have good, professional programs. If I had the concern it was too easy, I'd do something about it." Which major?: Alabama offensive lineman Antoine Caldwell said he chose general studies because he hasn't decided on a career and liked picking classes in finance, business and law. This semester, he has a financial planning class, a computer course, a health and fitness class, and he mentors kids. "You can take a lot of classes to kind of build your own degree, and I kind of always liked that." Finding a major is not simple. For example, the College of Education requires at least a 2.75 grade-point average for admission, Dever said. The required GPA for HES is the same as for admission to the university. At UAB, 61 percent of this season's starting football players, as of Oct. 14, major in history or communication studies, according to the team media guide. Six percent of UAB students major in those disciplines. Mark Hickson, a communication studies professor at UAB, believes his department is popular because football players typically do not have good math skills. Students in communications and most social sciences, such as history, are required to take only one math course. The same is true of general studies at Alabama. Additionally, Hickson said, these fields have professors who live in "a more ambiguous world. Thus, their students are less likely to have to answer specific factual questions." UAB interim athletics director Richard Margison said the clustering of football players in particular majors reflects "athletes making their own choices, athletes talking to athletes. Nothing about that would alarm me." Higher stakes: The NCAA has raised the bar - and the stakes - for athletes and athletics departments with requirements that don't affect other students. The new Academic Progress Rate assesses team penalties, such as lost scholarships, when an athlete becomes academically ineligible and leaves school. The NCAA also requires athletes to complete 40 percent of their degree work after their second year, 60 percent after the third and 80 percent after the fourth to remain eligible to play. "Athletes are not representative of the general student body," complained Phil Hughes, who has directed student-athlete support programs at Michigan and Kansas State. "Our population is apples; their population is oranges." Raising the bar for athletes will motivate them to find a way to reach higher, Hughes believes. That begs the question: How do they find a way? Are they shepherded through easy courses, cutting corners with the help of friendly faculty and administrators, or truly improving their academic skills? "All of the above," Hughes said. Two Auburn professors were forced to resign as department heads in August because they provided too many easy, directed-reading courses to athletes and non-athletes in sociology, criminology and adult education. Compared with the student body, a disproportionate number of athletes, including 18 football players from the undefeated 2004 team, took directed-reading courses in that department. Auburn sociology Professor Jim Gundlach said his data showed that in one semester, 97.9 percent of athletes and non-athletes in classes taught by Thomas Petee received A's or B's. Gundlach said records and his observations of Peetee lead him to believe that Peetee first expanded his directed-reading courses "for people he was acquainted with. I think he really enjoyed being in the company of the famous athletes." Petee said in August he expanded outside-the-classroom, directed-reading courses for athletes and non-athletes because there weren't enough classroom faculty to accommodate increased enrollment in the department. Virgil Starks, senior associate athletics director for student services, cited two reasons he is not concerned about the number of sociology and criminology majors on the football team, even though those departments were involved in the directed-readings case: Athletes still must take the core curriculum designed by the university, and athletes often must choose majors that will readily translate into jobs after college. Lynn Lashbrook, who directed the University of Missouri's academic support services for athletes and has been a professor, said friendly faculty are simply products of improper checks and balances at universities. Auburn has since changed procedure for directed readings. "But it's also OK to say in athletics, `This really smells,'" Lashbrook said. "We don't do enough sniffing because we don't want to know." 'You study women': At Alabama, some current football players say Introduction to Women's Studies is a popular elective used to boost grades. Women's studies, which is a minor but not a major, produced 78.1 percent A's in entry-level courses from 2000 to 2002, the highest percentage in the College of Arts and Sciences, according to data from Alabama. The next highest was 51.4 percent for theater. Freshman football player Javier Arenas, who wants to become a teacher and coach, said teammates encouraged him to take a women's studies class because it would boost his GPA before taking harder classes. Arenas described women's studies this way: "It's what it sounds like. You study women. Me and another football player are the only two guys in there." Dever, the assistant athletics director, said women's studies is popular among football players because it counts toward the 12 hours needed for humanities credit and is scheduled in the morning, so it doesn't conflict with football practice. Rock climbing and paintball were part of the outdoor adventure class held on Saturdays at UAB. About 10 football players in danger of academic probation enrolled for the class, which was part of the ROTC program, in spring 2001, said Allan Branch, one of the players. The players intentionally scheduled it on Saturday, knowing they had games that day, never attended the course and received A's, he said. "It was a joke of a class to begin with. It wasn't like the class was made for football players, but it kept us eligible," he said. Lt. Pete Tofani, head of Military Sciences at UAB, said the course, which was discontinued before his arrival, was "a good course and a popular one" intended to draw students from other areas on campus. He said few athletes take Military Science courses. Other students help: For former UAB basketball player DeWayne Brown, the best opportunity to cut corners came through students, not faculty. Brown's popularity led students in his classes to give him alerts on specific chapters to study for exams that were rescheduled for him. Brown said he never cheated. "Could I have done stuff like that? Absolutely," Brown said. "Could a non-athlete have done that? Absolutely. Does the opportunity present itself to athletes more than non-athletes? Absolutely." Former UAB offensive lineman Brad Spencer, whose last year was 2002, said he adopted the motto, "C's get degrees," because the time demands in football were so physically and mentally draining. "That's why some of the smartest guys on our team would play dumb to get special help," said Spencer, adding he did not cheat. "They'd get their notes taken for them. They'd cheat openly in class and brag about it." Coaches would stress class first, Spencer said, but he believed that was a programmed response. "Their job isn't to teach. Their job is to win football games. If they don't, they get fired. I'd do the same thing." UAB head football coach Watson Brown said that depiction is "not even close. We're gonna try to win football games. But we're real hard here with classes. I'd put what we do against any staff in the country." Some people believe that even if athletes receive degrees with ease, it's still a valuable accomplishment that poorer athletes might not have had without college sports. "Until basketball came along, I never really thought about college," said DeWayne Brown, the UAB basketball player, who did not graduate. "Now I have some education." Marsh, the Alabama law professor, has watched universities "try to balance this act" of big-time athletics and academic integrity. "Of course, I don't think most of the fans care - at least in certain parts of the week they don't. Saturday afternoon and night, they don't." News staff writers Doug Segrest and Ray Melick contributed to this report. jsolomon@bhamnews.com
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Reform group wants course disclosure 10/29/2006 Birmingham News Jon Solomon		Return to Top
AU is mentioned in this story in this story on student athletes. Disclosure of college athletes' academic transcripts is necessary to assess the caliber of their education, says The Drake Group, a group of professors and others seeking reform in college athletics. Drake group member Chuck Patterson, a former academic advisor at two major Division I schools, argues for a "public in dependent educational audit" of the past five years of course transcripts for Division I foot ball and basketball programs, without student names identified. The Birmingham News asked the University of Alabama, Auburn University and UAB to provide 10 years of transcripts for scholarship football players, with player names removed. Each school said no, citing mainly federal privacy laws. School representatives said students could be identified even if names were removed from the documents.
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Open records reform advances 10/28/2006 Birmingham News Kelli Hewett Taylor		Return to Top
AU is mentioned in this story. Alabama legislators are inching toward giving residents easier access to government records, and the media more leverage to keep an eye on government business. A bill with bipartisan support is slated to be introduced into the state Legislature in the 2007 session. "I anticipate it will take us a couple of years to work through this - it's a complicated issue that affects a lot of interest groups," said state Rep. Blaine Galliher, R-Gadsden, leading the effort along with state Sen. Zeb Little, D-Cullman. "We want to make government more open and transparent." Legislators, attorneys and others pushing for that change met for a symposium Friday at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law to discuss progress and hurdles ahead, such as defining public records, specifying exemptions, and standard policies to view or buy copies of records. Galliher, with Little's help, spent four years working to pass last year's law specifying and expanding open public meetings. The law changed the offense from criminal to civil, allowing most anyone to file a complaint and improving chances of enforcement. While Alabama led the nation in the early 20th century on open meetings laws, it has since fallen behind. "Most states have laws that are significantly newer than ours, and they address more modern concepts like electronic records," said Dennis Bailey, attorney for the Alabama Press Association. "They also give clearer procedures for getting" the records. Bailey said the ease of getting a public record in Alabama can range from painless to nearly impossible, because of the lack of details spelled out in the state code. Some agencies have charged the public $25 a page for public documents. Galliher, Bailey and other members of a 29-member task force commissioned by the Legislature, have been sorting through the concerns of attorneys, media, law enforcement, government officials and others. They want to craft a bill that stands a chance of passing in the Legislature. While a final version is incomplete, law experts say the cooperative process occurring before the bill's drafting could signal success, particularly with high-profile problems in the last year, such as questions over Auburn trustees' obligations to disclose university business. "They did this the right way, got the different interest (groups) together first," said Judge John Carroll, dean of Cumberland School of Law, which co-sponsored the symposium with the Samford Business School. "I think it has got a good chance."
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Auburn University Targeted By E-Mail Virus 10/26/2006 WTVM-TV Brock Parker		Return to Top
Auburn University students are getting burned by an official-looking e-mail. If you're not careful, it can download a virus onto your computer. Like many campuses, Auburn relies heavily on e-mail. 'It's really helpful because the teachers can e-mail us, and we find out information through e-mail. It's like our main communication here,' said Kelsey Westerman, a freshman at Auburn. Also, like all universities, Auburn keeps records of their students. However, there's a bogus e-mail that's fooling many into putting their personal information and computers at risk. 'In this case, it was from an account called 'abuse@auburn.edu', which is not an account that we use. It sounded very official. The e-mail is written in a format that you would receive from a higher-up level warning you about something,' said Seth Humphrey, AU information technology specialist. Humphrey said clicking the link in the e-mail can download a virus onto your computer, but it's not yet clear if it erases information or steals it. Humphrey and his team are tracking down the offender while alerting faculty and students. 'Our part of it is educating the users and how to respond when they get an e-mail like that. If it's suspicious, don't open it. If you do open it, don't click any links, delete it and get it out of your inbox,' Humphrey said. Shaye Smith said she always trusts e-mails if they come from a campus address, but now she'll double-check. 'Sometimes I don't even look to see what it says. I just click on the links, so it kind of makes me more cautious,' said Smith. A similar e-mail made its way around Auburn's campus a couple of years ago, but they tracked the sender down. Humphrey said they'll again find out who's sending the bogus messages, but until they do, be careful what you open. You can see the e-mail and AU's warning by clicking here.
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Museum plans Rural Studio road trip 10/26/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Jessica R. Elmore		Return to Top
This story is about AU's Rural Studio. Rural Studio projects designed and built by more than 500 undergraduate and graduate students since the program's 1993 birth will be the focus of an overnight excursion hosted by the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art Nov. 4-5. Although the program has touched the lives of Marengo County citizens living in Demopolis, Faunsdale and Thomaston, the majority of the tour was planned around the projects located in and around Hale and Perry counties in the cities of Akron, Greensboro, Moundville, Newbern, Marion and Uniontown and Selma in Dallas County. Planned in conjunction with "Rural Studio: Education of the Citizen Architect," an Auburn University Architecture Department exhibit on display at the JCSM until Nov. 5, the excursion will travel to some of the Rural Studio's most famous buildings, such as the Hay Bale House and the Butterfly House. Participants will first shop and lunch at the Rural Heritage Center, a former school building renovated to serve as a community hub in Thomaston, which also serves as resource for developing new sources of income in the region - one of the poorest areas in the state. Founded by Auburn architecture professors, Dennis K. Ruth and the late Samuel Mockbee, the Rural Studio was designed to improve the living conditions in rural Alabama while providing hands-on experience to students. The mission of the Rural Studio is to enable each participating student to cross the threshold of misconceived opinions to create/design/build and to allow students to put their educational values to work as citizens of a community. The Rural Studio seeks solutions to the needs of the community within the community's own context, not from outside it. After lunch, the excursion will move on to the Rural Studio's headquarters at the renovated Morrisette House in Newbern, view Student Pods and the Subrosa Pantheon dowtown, and conclude with dinner served at the Newbern Volunteer Fire Department, according to JCSM services coordinator Andy Tennant. "The excursion group will retire for the night at the Historic St. James Hotel in Selma. "Built in 1837, this hotel recently underwent a six million dollar restoration; each guestroom is appointed in 1830s period style, featuring solid oak furniture, luxurious draperies and architecture unique to the era." The second day of the trip will feature structures created or renovated by the Rural Studio including the Music Man House, the Glass Chapel, the Lucy House, the Hay Bale House and the Butterfly House and outlying projects such as the Antioch Baptist Church and the Perry Lakes State Park. The remaining 10 spaces may be purchased until Oct. 27 for $159, which includes meals, motorcoach transportation and hotel. The last day to reserve a space is Oct. 27. For a special family rate, contact JCSM K-12 education curator Stephanie Burak at 844-3486. Tennant can be reached at 844-3081 for further information or to reserve a space. jelmore@oanow.com \| 737-2563
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