By Leah Beth Bolton

Tennessee lawmakers voted to delay the Common Core education program that would bring Tennessee public school standards up to speed with other schools across the U.S. on March 13. 

The bipartisan legislative push to implement Common Core was first introduced in December 2008 by the National Governors Association after test results showed that Tennessee students were not prepared for college. 

As of 2012, only 16 percent of Tennessee students graduated high school at a college ready level, according to test results from the ACT. 

With a new set of standards on the cusp of being initiated in schools, University of Memphis education majors are being prepared to enter the workforce with a different set of expectations.

Kia Lasley, a senior education major at the U of M, said idealistically she thinks the Common Core will be beneficial, but she has her doubts on how schools will integrate the standards.

By Darnesha Cotton

Fashion Moguls Memphis (FMM) hosted #reWERKd, their debut fashion on Monday, March 24, in the University of Memphis Ballroom.

The event showcased designs by Lena Evans-Ray, Christina Dang, Dyneesha Bradley and Jeromy Clear along with other pieces from local boutiques such as Crazy Beautiful, Langford Market, Wish and Plato's Closet.

The clothing featured are being sold on the #reWERKd website with the proceeds benefiting St. Jude's Children's Hospital Research. 

By Leah Beth Bolton 

Students and residents who live in the surrounding areas of the University of Memphis are concerned about what warrants a Tiger Text.

The U of M's emergency alert text messaging system, which was put in place in 2007 following the Virginia Tech Massacre, is used to keep students abreast of their safety on campus. However, for many students, it’s been unclear exactly what Police Services deems as necessary to report.

“We tell parents and students, especially at orientation, that we don’t use Tiger Text for anything other than what we think is an ongoing threat to our campus community. That includes students, faculty and staff—not just students,” said Bruce Harber, the director of Public Safety and Police Services.

He added that many people want to use the system for news updates. 

“There’s a tendency for people to want us to use it as a news service,” Harber said. “If something is going on, they want to know about it, and that’s not what it’s designed for. We want to be very cautious when we use it. We don’t want to overuse it so it loses its impact.”

Harber explained that Police Services uses the Timely Warning of Reported Crimes policy. 

According to that policy, the U of M must report crimes to students when two conditions are met. First, the crime must be listed as “arson, aggravated assault, criminal homicide, robbery, sex offense, or any crime determined to be a hate crime is reported to the University Police (UMPD) or other campus security authorities.” Secondly, the crime must be considered “by the University to represent a continuing threat to students or employees.”

In the past, however, not all crimes have been reported to students, which has been a hot topic for the University’s newspaper.

In 2012, a registered sex offender was arrested for allegedly raping a woman on campus. The offense was not immediately entered into the campus’ incident log, which is required by the Clery Act, and students were not alerted until The Daily Helmsman reported on the crime.

Harber later responded to the incident, telling the Helmsman that it was not reported via Tiger Text because it was not viewed as an ongoing threat to the campus after his arrest.

Despite the University’s clear policies on when they will alert students with a text message, many students claim they would feel safer knowing about more crime.

U of M junior Josh Tucker, who lives a block from campus, said he's enrolled in the service and relies on it for his safety at home as well as on campus.

 "In a way, Tiger Text has helped me feel safer," Tucker said. "But a lot of time it just reminds me that I don't live in a safe area. However, it is a useful tool."

By Kylcye Bolden

Off of the train tracks at 3618 Walker Ave., there is a two-story brick building, where what happens inside is unlike anything else on the University of Memphis campus.  

At the Crews Center for Entrepreneurship, U of M students are being mentored through the process of developing their ideas and creating startups. The structure at the Crews Center is much more informal than typical campus services in order to better promote innovation and creativity among student entrepreneurs.

Originally called the Crews Ventures Lab, it was envisioned as an incubator for startups —typically university research for later commercialization.  However, Crews Center director Mike Hoffmeyer, suggested the University reevaluate the function of the operation. 

“An incubator by definition is very exclusive,” he said.  “What I recommended to the university was not to let go of the incubator concept, but to broaden it.  Let’s create our own destiny.”

Expanding the idea of the Crews Center opened the door for it to be an environment for any student who has an idea for a startup, regardless if it is researched based or a cool idea, to utilize and perfect that idea for commercialization.  More than simply that, however, Hoffmeyer feels that the purpose of the center is to influence the entire university to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. 

Hoffmeyer expressed that the culture of innovation is contagious.  Saying that once people experience it, they get attracted to it and come back with a desire to get more involved. 

By Cormac Parker

Every Sunday morning in Memphis, pastors step to the pulpit and deliver sermons. Throughout the week, Memphians can see them giving back to the community, from feeding the homeless to counseling struggling individuals.

For Kenneth Whalum Jr., pastor of the New Olivet Baptist Church, his words are shared in the pulpit as well as politics. He is a candidate for Shelby County mayor.

Whalum is extremely proud to be a Memphian. He will unashamedly tell you that he is Memphis born, Memphis bred and when he dies, he will be Memphis dead.

This passion for his city is one of the many reasons he is running for office. Giving attention to the children of the city is what Whalum said is the base of changing the community for the better.

By L. Taylor Smith 

More than 40 volunteers showed up for the Memphis River Warriors’ first cleanup of the year Saturday.

During the cleanup, volunteers walked through the woods by McKellar Lake and collected Styrofoam, plastic and glass bottles, wrappers and other trash that had washed up on the banks.

In two hours, volunteers collected 580 pounds of recyclable materials.

The Memphis River Warriors, a registered student organization at the University of Memphis, works with other organizations like Memphis City Beautiful and the Sierra Club Chickasaw Group to clean up the area, which used to be a popular vacation spot.

Rachel Waters, a freshman psychology major at the U of M, got involved when she came to college because her older sister Grace Waters was part of the core group of initial volunteers.

“I started to go in support of her, but I very soon got hooked on the idea of making a change in the community and doing something for the greater good of millions of people,” Waters said. “Before coming to these cleanups, I had no idea of the magnitude of trash that could accumulate in one location.”

By Kirby Cheers

It takes a village to raise a child and it take hot wings to raise a college student.  

At least that's what one will find when they visit Ching's Hot Wings located at 1264 Getwell Road, one block away from South Campus on the corner of Park.  

On any given weekday, the hot wing restaurant is filled to capacity with standing room only. Placing an order for carry-out over the phone leaves the customer waiting for about 45 minutes on "Scandal Thursdays" and a solid hour for a night of March Madness. Yet, the various, mouth-watering flavors keep Ching's customers coming back and waiting for more each week.  

"It's a good problem to have," Stacey Jackson, one of the co-owners of the popular hot wing restaurant, said. "We talk about the parking. Even with our employees, they will call me and say, 'I'm here, but I can't find a parking space.' It's exciting to see the growth and see where the next level will take us."  

By Charles Gray

As Women's History Month comes to a close, it is important to reflect on the strong female characters that have played major roles in history.

Locally, it immediately suggests a few names, but none more so than recently retired University of Memphis President Shirley Raines. Though her tenure was very recent, it will continue to hold historic significance not only for its precedence of her being the first female president of the school, but also for the work that she accomplished while holding the chair.

“President Raines has made an indelible mark on the university and the entire Memphis community,” chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents John Morgan said. "She is a friend, and I appreciate the guidance and leadership she has provided for these 12 years.”

Raines began her career as a kindergarten teacher in Louisville, Ky. Over the next 30 years of her career, she would go on to write 14 books, most of which had a focus on child education and early development—a subject she has come to be regarded as an expert in according to a University of Memphis website post regarding Raines' retirement. 

As the millennium passed she had built her career past teaching, holding a position as the vice chancellor for academic services and dean of the College of Education at the University of Kentucky.

By Courtney Smith 

The Memphis Tigers (24-10, 12-6 AAC) basketball season is officially over after their 78-60 loss to No. 1 seeded Virginia Cavaliers (30-6, 16-2 ACC) of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the third round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday.

With their dreams of playing in the Sweet 16 crushed, what’s next for coach Josh Pastner and the team as a whole?

Pastner started his press conference Tuesday with how he will run his rotation of players for next season and mentioned that nothing will be handed to his players. Everything will have to be earned by hard work and dedication to the program.

“Playing time is to be earned. No one is bigger than this program that includes myself, that includes my coaches, that includes the players. Nobody is ever bigger than this program,” Pastner said to the media at the final press conference of the season. “I have never promised anything in recruiting, never promised a minute or a starting spot. As long as I am coaching, I will not do that.”

One of the reporters present at the press conference did not hesitate to ask Pastner about some of the players who didn’t see the floor that much this season such as freshman forward Kuran Iverson and freshman center Dominic Woodson.

By Kirby Cheers

The next time you are on a campus tour at the University of Memphis, make sure to visit Smith Hall. After the tour guide showcases the exhibition dorm room, ask them to introduce the Assistant Area Coordinator (AAC) there. This may cause an eyebrow to raise, but the guides are more than accommodating. 

On the first floor in a small office hidden around the corner of the dormitory's desk and lounge area, sits Kanesha Johnson, the AAC for Rawls and Smith Halls—adjacent, all-women dormitories in the middle of campus off Patterson Street. Her credentials may not sound extraordinary, and when you meet her, she may not come off as important as one of the four candidates for university president.  

Nevertheless, she is an unsung, success story in Memphis. 

Johnson, 22, graduated from the university in the fall of 2013 with a B.A. in political science. She was the first in her family to graduate from college in addition to being the first in her maternal family to graduate from high school.  

A Raleigh-Egypt High School alumna, Johnson, was raised predominately in North Memphis, surrounded by poverty, drugs and gangs during her upbringing.  

"I grew up in a single parent home with my mom, brother and older brother," Johnson recalls. "The neighborhood was pretty rough. Frequently, there were gun shots and my mom did not allow me to go outside. My brother was also in a gang."  

Living in an unstable home and being engulfed by poverty and violence seemed normal to Johnson. However, what truly impacted her childhood was her mother's schizophrenia, something Johnson never understood, but could recognize the signs and symptoms.  

"I always knew something was wrong," Johnson said. "It wasn’t until I got older and went through counseling on my own that I knew that's what was going on with her. We tried to offer her help, but she would not accept it."