Sigma Chi Going Green

The brothers of Sigma Chi (Kappa Psi chapter) at UT Martin have started on the journey to going green! The fraternity acquired a home to call their own just a little over a year ago in June of 2008 and recently, we have seen that the brothers have taken a keen interest in recycling materials such as aluminum and glass. They have two large barrels placed in their backyard for recycling these materials and will soon get two more to begin recycling paper and plastic. “Recycling doesn’t take a lot of effort . . . it just seems like the right thing to do,” said Billy Price of Sigma Chi.

But their efforts do not end at recycling; they are making their house as energy efficient as possible. All of the main light fixtures in the house contain energy efficient light bulbs, they have shower heads that are built to conserve water, and they use Blow-in Insulation.

The landlord of the Sigma Chi house, UT Martin lecturer Shawn Nanney, supports the fraternity’s efforts to go green and has helped with installing shower heads and doing the necessary renovations to make the house more efficient.

To read more about recycling you can visit the website of the UTM recycles, they are an active organization on campus that promotes recycling on our campus and in our community.

http://www.utm.edu/organizations/recycle/

Campus responds to attacks

When Hunter Gierling heard about the Aug. 30 rape, he formed a Facebook group. He said, "When I started I figured that there was something that we could do. I wasn't sure what it was as a community but I knew there was something that we could do to help this out and I was mainly wanting to get people's opinion on different things. Different scenarios that we could play thru just as a whole how we could work, even with the police on it, just anything possible because it's just gotta stop."
Three days later and with close to 2,000 online members, six students attended the first meeting for Students That Offer Protection (STOP). "There's a lot of stipulations you have to go thru, a lot of papers you have to fill out if you're going to do stuff on campus" said Gierling. The University recently granted STOP temporary organization status. Gierling said, "I think it's going to be a lot of fun, there's going to be some work to do."
Their group advisor, Communications Professor Van Horn, said, "They are very enthusiastic about this."

Gierling is from Union City, Tenn. and he said, "I don't know, it's just a close to home thing."

Carl Lowrence and Scottie Somerville, two friends Gierling has known since high school, are also involved in the effort to protect the community. In between classes, homework and jobs the three of them are working to not only gain permanent University recognition, but to find local businesses interested in supporting their cause.
One idea that Lowrence had was to raise enough money to offer women on campus and in the community free pepper spray and air horns. They are also interested in providing self-defense classes, counseling and involving other groups in a campus-wide escort service. . .

To continue reading following this link to the Pacer website:
http://media.www.utmpacer.com/media/storage/paper1175/news/2009/09/09/CampusNews/Campus.Responds.To.Attacks-3765745.shtml