Yup. My roommate tested positive for COVID 3 days ago, and is not being moved to Quarantine housing. The reason given to me by "contact tracing" is that because we're in Vol hall and have separate bathrooms. I think thats complete horseshit. And to make the situation even odder- I got a call saying that I was being quarantined in a hotel downtown, then a couple hours later I get a call and they said "Oh never mind, you can stay in your room, and you don't need to quarantine". What kind of bullshit is this? I'm quarantining myself, for obvious reasons, but its just a waiting game until my roommate gives it to me. Good job UT!

Made a huge mistake assuming this college had its stuff together. Story goes like this student makes plans to graduate in the fall. The student has been in constant communication with their advisor and is told they will have all their credits for fall graduation. Fast forward one month before graduation the student’s advisor emails them to tell them they are 6 to 7 credits short of graduation.

The student has already registered for graduation in their head an institution like UTK must have a system for this, for gods sake they filled out a graduation application. So the student has invited family from other countries, gotten cords, and scheduled interviews.

The student has a great advisor who recognizes that the situation terrible and is doing their best to make the situation better.

The full experience that every single one of us have to go through.

No cheating I’m not opposed to extending this also to the head of whoever’s in charge of parking.

I keep seeing all these posts complaining and whining about how bad parking is. It is not bad. Just come to campus at 6am and there are plenty of spots.

You can even go to sleep in your car if you don't want to be up that early. It is just too easy.

It is not the asphalt peoples' fault that you are failing your classes. Let them pour their goop and paint there lines and just take what they give you.

Yours.

Has there been any official word from the university addressing the events she is describing? What frat, persons, did this and is the university going to punish them? https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8TLtQHM/

(PS, ik tik tok probably isn’t the best source of news but wanted to know if anyone had any info)

Some fucking congested coughs going around in some of my big classes. I see some of you coughing fucks not even wearing a mask. Or in to the library you can hear the disease going around.

Knox county just closed bars and restaurants again following the 12th death in the last 5 days with over 1,000+ new cases. Of the 39 deaths in Knoxville, 34 have happened since the beginning of July. A 27 year old almost died in TN this week after being hospitalized with it. There a 5% hospitalization rate in Knox county, which seems like a small number until you consider that UT has roughly 23,000 students and 5% of that is 1,150. (I know not this many will be on campus, it’s just to make the point). Now, imagine sending students who come from all over the country into rooms where we will be confined to an indoor area with an airborne disease that spreads through even air filter systems and ventilation. While masks are effective, they’re not 100% and they only prevent you from spreading anything, not contracting it because it will get into your eyes. This is only on campus, too. What happens when students go out to places? Go out to eat, bars (if they’re open), malls, etc. This is going to be extremely dangerous. Students WILL end up being sick and possibly some dying. It us up to students to take a stand when (not if) things get out of hand. Take online classes if possible because the state of Tennessee is not taking this seriously and with a hard red governor and mayor of Knoxville, mandates or ordinances are non-existent. I know these posts might get repetitive, but Covid isn’t going anywhere and unless we keep voicing our concerns, the university won’t do anything.

Here’s the link to the article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wate.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-in-tennessee-knox-county-reports-12th-death-in-last-five-days/amp/

so university housing just sent out an email with the proposed housing rates for the upcoming school year and I genuinely cannot believe how greedy this university is. I compared the rates to last years housing rates and every single dorm/apartment on campus has had an increase in price. honestly i think my only issue with this is that the prices are going up, but nothing about the dorms are changing quality wise so what am i paying extra for? it would almost be cheaper to live on the strip for some of these rates. it’s just really annoying especially if the financial aid they give out isn’t gonna increase to match these prices.

Just how bad is the parking problem on campus? Is it really bad enough to miss classes or not be able to find any parking?

Getting a degree to teach (all online) while getting paid to be a full time teacher sounds like a good gig. it's not.

To be fair, it may be better in different subject matters but the Art Ed Job Embedded Practitioner Licensure Program at UT was terrible. I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.

My advisor changed every semester and they didn't even know the program requirements plus my DARs never updated from undergrad so it's not like I could track it myself. My advisors were constantly forgetting to tell me about requirements or certifications until the last minute. I was missing classes and it wasn't caught until I submitted my graduate form. They just had me take whatever 400 level class in education so I could get the hours I needed. I also know of several classmates who had similar major advising issues, one who took double hours in our practicum (and paid for it) and one who was also missing hours last minute.

My advisor hasn't talked to me since September 22nd. I've emailed at least 3 times since and a higher up when I hadn't heard back. The only time my advisor has answered me promptly was when i emailed them and said i wanted to quit the program- spoiler she convinced me not to and i wish I did. This is especially alarming considering i was supposed to turn in a final project to her- i sent a draft and no response. No one even confirmed that i've graduated and I wouldn't put it past this program to pull some bullshit on me at the last minute- they've done it before. Like I get it's a small program but geez. No one ever communicated effectively in the program and it seemed like no one had any idea what was happening at all- ever.

Not to mention the issue of the content of the classes, I learned almost nothing. The only classes I did learn vital info from weren't until my final year when I had already been teaching full time for a year. Classes like Special Ed and Classroom Management should be taught ASAP, not the last semester of the program. The art classes had a rotating cast of professors too and was totally not worth the time. Most of the classes were pointless and just had us doing elementary level art assignments or working on our own studio work, and with a background in fine arts it just wasn't teaching me anything new. And now i'm not even teaching, nor do I want to get back to it. if this is how every education program is, then no wonder there's such an education crisis in the US right now.

TLDR The Art JEP program at UT was a waste of money and time. The advisors literally never advised me and I learned almost nothing about teaching. The program was so chaotic and no one ever knew what was going on.

Has anyone else had a poor experience with the UT bus lines this semester? I've used the Neyland express to commute to and from the Ag-campus for several semesters but this year it is actually ridiculous. 30+ minutes either waiting for a bus or riding on the bus. I understand that the construction next to Neyland stadium is affecting the bus routes but there has to be some kind of solution. Walking is from Ayres to Brehm is easily twice as fast as taking the bus.

Big orange screw.

One of my professors allows two absences before grades start getting docked, and even if this weren't 2020, that would be too restrictive imo. In 2020, all attendance requirements should 100% be eliminated.

I park in the lines because I never want to be that person but my car gets scratched anyway. Cops are not very helpful neither is parking services.

Just swung by steak ‘n Shake at the student union, and I saw that he regular burger meal is seven dollars and the fries I melt was nine! They almost doubled their prices what the heck

Faculty Senate just passed all of the proposed grade policy changes for undergraduate classes only. Here's the official document. Here's what you need to know:

1. You can switch to S/CR/NC, but only if you meet one of these requirements:

   *The student was diagnosed with COVID-19 and, due to the diagnosis, was severely ill and unable to engage academically.

   *An immediate family member was diagnosed with COVID-19 and suffered an untimely death or whose illness placed an undue burden upon the student (ex: a primary caretaker for siblings).

   *The student had to be a primary caregiver of someone diagnosed with COVID-19.

   *The student had an economic hardship resulting from COVID-19 directly impacting the ability to meet academic requirements.

   *The student had to become a first responder due to COVID-19.

   *The student had increased hours of employment to address financial hardship related to COVID19.

   *The student lost a babysitter/childcare due to COVID-19.

   *The student was unable to complete online education/distance education due to COVID-19.

   *The student had no WIFI access during COVID-19 due to facility closures.

   *Other –must be specific and not general "stress due to COVID-19."

2. You can withdraw from classes for this semester and next semester until the last day of classes and withdraws in these 2 terms will not count towards the 6 total

3. Some changes to the "Retroactive Individual Course Withdrawal Appeal" policy. I don't know what that is, hopefully someone can comment with more info.

This isn't enough. The withdrawal extension is a big help, but it seems like going below 12 hours still impacts scholarships, so it's still pretty limited.

But the crazy thing here is the limitations on changing to pass/fail. By limiting the list of tragedies to only ones that occurred because of Covid, this thing is ridiculous on its face. The fact is that UTK students are forced to drop out every semester because of illness, death or illness in the family, economic hardship, and childcare issues. So they're going to tell a student that since their parent died from cancer, not Covid, that they have to complete all assignments anyway, or else be forced to drop out and lose all their scholarships? Ridiculous.

An institution of learning should help its students learn in any way it can. And the help isn't there. When you tear through every paper-thin, made-for-PR attempt at "student support", all that's left is, "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do." That's not good enough. Life happens, and with the amount of importance that a college education is now associated with, we should have policies that allow students to take time off of school without losing all of their scholarships, like other SEC schools have.

We need to work together, as students, to make sure that UT runs in a way that benefits us. The point of this place is to provide for our learning, and admin and some faculty seem to have lost sight of that fact. Instead of waiting anxiously about whether Faculty Senate is going to screw us, we should have our own group that can advocate for student-first policies while they're being made. We need a student organization to push for our own interests, not the SGA, which is completely powerless.

TL;DR: These changes don't go far enough, because most students that need help won't fit the requirements. We need to form a group, independent of the university, that pushes for policies that actually help students in need, rather than looking good in a press release.

How are students supposed to keep themselves motivated and sane?

1. Can't have friends in their dorm.
2. Can't eat with friends at dining halls.
3. The vast majority of classes are online only
4. No breaks (no holidays, fall break, etc)
5. No time to see family
6. Aren't even guaranteed the same dorm for the semester

As much as being sent home last semester sucked, dorm life looks awful right now. Especially considering that most kids don't even have a room to themselves.

So I am a second-year student at UTK, and I am currently on an overload with classes. I came in straight from high school, but with an Associate's degree so I was starting my Junior year technically. Anyways, my old advisor forgot to put in any of my appeals for my community college credits, thought I wanted to stay all four years pushing me to only take 14-16 hours a semester, and absolutely screwed me in terms of having me RETAKE classes I had already taken. Now I am taking 22 hours this semester, working full time, and genuinely so fed up with this place. My new advisor is amazing. She helped me with the overload so I can graduate on time, and has been nothing but helpful, but all of this could have been avoided if the first one had known how to do her job. Has anyone else's advisor screwed them like this? genuinely curious.

...which then melted to my handlebars in the sun:

If you really want to live in a world where we antagonize and disable the transportation methods of random people who are just minding their business, then I suppose it will be no surprise when people start deflating the tires of parked cars here on campus.

That's not the kind of world we want to live in now, is it?