UA sees high voter turnout for SEC
Crimson White – March 10
After weeks of hard work campaigning, debating and examining the issues to choose the most qualified candidates, Student Government Association elections are over. At least 32 percent of students chose to vote. Excluding the presidential election, the executive offices were unopposed this year, so the winners were settled before the race began. This turnout is relatively high for Southeastern Conference schools. Only 4 percent of approximately 35,000 students voted in the most recent election at the University of Georgia…University of Arkansas SGA Adviser Jessica Morgan said they also experienced a drop in voter turnout, topping out at 5 percent of 21,000 students, because three of the four executive positions were uncontested… Around 20 percent of students at Ole Miss voted in their most recent election…The University of Tennessee had a 17.2 percent voter turnout, and Auburn University reported 30 percent, just two percentage points behind the University of Alabama. Vanderbilt University sets the record for the highest voter turnout in the SEC, with 58 percent of their 12,714 students voting…
Middle Eastern expert traces revolts’ roots
Tuscaloosa News – March 10
Author, blogger and professor Juan Cole took an audience at the University of Alabama campus on a tour of modern Middle Eastern history Wednesday night. Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, is the author of several books about the Middle East and writes a popular blog called Informed Comment. He delivered his lecture in an auditorium within UA’s Smith Hall.
Engineering students build robot, head for competition
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 9
Some University of Alabama students are showing off their latest creation. Seven seniors majoring in electrical and computer engineering have made this robot for the IEEE Southeast-con hardware competition. The competition was inspired by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Each team has to create a robot that will operate on its own and be able to identify victims…
Death by fire: Self-immolation in the Arab World
Deutsche Welle – March 9
Last December, a young unemployed street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi doused himself in paint thinner and set himself on fire outside of the municipal building in the remote Tunisian town Sidi Bouzid. He died of his self-inflicted wounds weeks later. Bouazizi’s self-immolation, the act of burning oneself to death, became the symbol of a popular uprising that toppled Tunisia’s authoritarian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Inspired by events in Tunisia, the Arab street protests subsequently forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down and have now placed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi under siege. . . . Although Bouazizi’s suicide became an important symbol, Adam Lankford of the University of Alabama does not believe the street vendor had a political motivation. Lankford, who began to examine self-immolation after investigating the psychology suicide bombers, told Deutsche Welle that activists later interpreted Bouazizi’s suicide as an act of protest. “In these kinds of tumultuous times people want heroes,” said Lankford, a professor of criminology. “Frankly, they would prefer to see Bouazizi as a hero, as someone who is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good rather than the reality which may be that he was a tragic victim.”
Safety tips, kits offered for spring break
Crimson White – March 10
Students received spring break safety kits on Wednesday that were filled with sunscreen, hand sanitizer, Band Aids, Tylenol and candies with healthy messages on them encouraging them to make healthy decisions this break. This week, there may be rain drops and rain boots everywhere, but next week students hope to enjoy sunshine as they travel to beaches for vacation or home to rest. “We encourage students to think critically about the decisions they are making before they make them,” said Michelle Harcrow, assistant director of health education and promotion. “There was once a saying we used: ‘Today’s decisions are tomorrow’s memories, so how do you want to remember today?’”
Group to perform staged Shakespearean reading
Crimson White – March 10
Improbable Fictions aims to help students uncover the majesty of the Bard, William Shakespeare, by performing a staged reading of Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost” tonight at 7:30 in Farrah Hall room 214. “The plays of Shakespeare are not novels or even short stories,” director and dramaturge Scott Free said. “They are studied as literature, and rightfully so, as it is some of the finest writing in the English language, but they were never intended to be read. They were intended to be performed.”
Local businesses raise money for wheelchair basketball teams
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 9
Tonight, Coldstone Creamery in Tuscaloosa partnered with other businesses to raise money for The University of Alabama wheelchair basketball team. Students working for the Crimson Communications group partnered with Palm Beach Tan and Alabama Express to get a high turnout for tonight’s fund-raiser.
UA Japanese drummers visit Tuscaloosa library
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 9
Japanese Taiko drummers from the University of Alabama visited the Weaver Bolden Library, where they were anything but quiet. Library associate Leslie Davis says that it’s important for the community to know that the library holds events such as these. The drummers are part of the Sakura Festival that will be taking place later this month.
Stardust Duo set to shine at Beach Cite Studios
Pensacola News Journal—March 10
At 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, the Listening Room at Beach Cite Studios, 27267 Perdido Beach Blvd., suite 202, Orange Beach, Ala., welcomes the Stardust Duo. Comprised of Amanda and Jonathan Roberts, this musical husband-and-wife duo will present classical piano and violin in an intimate setting. Those at this weekend’s performances will hear numbers from the pair’s debut CD, “The Stardust Duo,” released in 2009. That self-titled CD includes sonatas by Debussy and Poulenc. . . . The Robertses are pursuing their doctoral degrees in music at the University of Alabama.