The DNJ reports:

MTSU is joining other institutions across the state and nation in establishing a tobacco-free policy that will restrict the use of all forms of tobacco on its property.

It’s a mandate not everyone is happy about.

Megan Richter, an MTSU junior from Fayetteville who minors in art, said the change will be “hard on art students,” in particular.

“They put in long hours. They are up so long (because) they have to wait on things to dry,” she said. “They’ve got three-hour studios. People smoke.”

Richter has been smoking since high school.

“I enjoy the act of smoking; holding a cigarette,” she said.

Instead of more tobacco campus restrictions, Richter prefers more smoking spots outdoors on campus or for existing ash trays to be relocated.

MTSU President Sidney McPhee, in an online statement to the MTSU community, said the current policy allows smoking outdoors, 20 feet away from doorways, windows, ventilation, systems, walkways and gates. But the new restrictions will ban tobacco use regardless of whether you are inside or outside a campus building.

“Our new policy will restrict the use of all forms of tobacco products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, pipes, cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff, as well as smokeless electronic cigarettes and other similar devices,” McPhee said.

At first, I thought it was a ban on the act of smoking on campus, but it’s not. According to MTSU President Sidney McPhee, the policy extends to smokeless tobacco and electronic “smokeless” cigarettes.

This policy is just really dumb. And it’ll be hard to enforce, I think.

CampusReform.org covered this story last week.

The Daily News Journal reports:

MTSU student Laurence Tumbag of Jackson called news of a 9.8 percent tuition increase “unfortunate, because as college students we are struggling enough as it is.”

A senior majoring in social work and sociology, Tumbag’s tuition is paid in full through a scholarship.

“I’m fortunate,” he said. “I don’t have to factor in how I pay the difference.”

But he realizes how many other students and their families may struggle to make up the added costs.

The Tennessee Board of Regents approved increased tuition and fee rates Thursday for the six universities, 13 community colleges and 27 technology centers it governs. The board also approved a plan to provide a 3 percent cost of living increase for TBR employees.

Maintenance fee and tuition increases will result in an 8.8 percent revenue increase for Austin Peay State University, East Tennessee State University, and Tennessee State University; a 9.8 percent revenue increase at MTSU and Tennessee Tech University; and an 11 percent revenue increase at the University of Memphis.

The new rates will generate 9.5 percent revenue increases at all of the state’s community colleges and Tennessee Technology Centers.

While 10% sounds like a lofty number, it’s actually just a little more than $200 per semester in most instances.

As states are continuing to feel the effects of a sluggish economy, more and more states are increasing tuition rates to cover higher education expenses.

These stories are often sensationalized. In Pennsylvania, students were in an uproar over the state cutting 50% of state funding to the university system. What wasn’t reported was that it only amounted to usually less than 10% of the total university budget.

People can manipulate percentages because – at first glance – many of us can’t wrap our heads around what percentages are as raw numbers.

I think it is very important for me to first say: Death is a tragic event, no matter how it happens, and particularly to someone who seemingly had her whole life ahead of her. That being said, we must approach the death of MTSU basketball player Tina Stewart from the perspective of our justice system, which will sort out fact from emotion to discover what actually happened on the night of March 2nd.

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have come a long way, since they burst onto the scene in the mid-2000s. They’ve brought old friends together, toppled tyrannical governments, and even perhaps offered insight into a murder case that hits close to home at MTSU.

On the evening of March 2, MTSU basketball player Tina Marie Stewart and her roommate, 18 year old Shanterrica Madden, allegedly got into a disagreement at their Raiders Crossing apartment.

WKRN’s Christine Maddela reported that on the night of March 2, Ms Stewart tweeted the following, which was retweeted by another account:

I just called the police on my roomate!! I feel like a snitch but I don’t like this bitch

Since the original tweet came from a blocked account, there is no way for me to tell if there was more to that initial tweet. Presumably, defense attorney Joe Brandon, Jr. will investigate the other tweets sent out around that time.

From the WKRN account:

Joe Brandon Jr. is Madden’s attorney.

He told Nashville’s News 2 that tweets from Stewart’s personal Twitter account may be admitted as evidence in court.

“I have been a part of trials before where MySpace and Facebook pages have come into evidence,” Brandon said.

He continued, “When you’re investigating a case, you look anywhere and everywhere there’s possible evidence.”

Before the stabbing event Stewart posted the following on her personal Twitter account, ‘I just called the police on my roommate. I feel like a snitch, but I don’t like this B….”

“And she was getting responses from another individual saying, ‘You don’t need to hurt her.’ That’s very alarming,” Brandon said.

Brandon has claimed since the beginning of the investigation that Madden killed Stewart in self defense.

“Miss Stewart had a knife in her possession and it got turned on her. It’s an unfortunate situation, but those are the facts,” Brandon recently told Nashville’s News 2.

In the motion he filed, Brandon said the tweets indicate that Stewart was planning an assault on Madden.

“I’m not trying to determine intent, Miss Stewart that is. We are entitled to exculpatory evidence, indicating, showing, someone is not guilty of what they are charged with. We just want to make sure all the evidence is preserved in this case,” Brandon explained.

Sam Stockard writes in The Tennessean:

“Police confirmed last week that Stewart contacted the Raiders Crossing apartment complex about an hour before her death and complained about drugs being in the apartment. The complex’s courtesy officer, who works for Murfreesboro Police, checked into the matter but determined the complaint to be “unfounded.”

Assistant District Attorney Paul Newman said Wednesday afternoon that he and DA Bill Whitesell were reviewing the motion to save Internet postings and would not object to it in court.

“We agree to it. We’d like to reciprocate,” Newman said, noting his office is aware Stewart maintained online social accounts and will preserve all evidence.”

…

“Brandon said last week he plans to make a self-defense plea in court and contends Stewart was killed with her own kitchen knife after she attacked Madden in their Hazelwood Drive apartment. Police rejected that scenario after filing charges that Madden intentionally killed Stewart and that the slaying was premeditated.

The arrest warrant says that on the night of Stewart’s death, Madden told a Murfreesboro Police detective she killed the older student.”

Unfortunately what oftentimes happens in cases where the victim is well known or holds some celebrity status is that the community rallies around the victim and convicts the person who carries out the crime without first examining the evidence.

Locally, this happens to beloved teachers like former Blackman High School teacher Dr. Warren Johnson, who was accused and pled guilty to inappropriate relationships with underage students. For whatever reason, the community sympathizes with the wrong person.

I say that not to prematurely convict Ms. Stewart in any wrongdoing. The facts of this case are still being collected. But what if defense attorney Brandon is correct, that his client acted in self defense?

Our legal system generally supports acts of self defense. And as one who respects our legal system and wholeheartedly supports the right of one to be secure in his or her person, I must take a look at the facts and watch the case unfold before convicting Ms. Madden.

It’s certainly a tough case, but the public should seek out the entire story before passing judgement on either young lady in the case. While we can certainly mourn the death of Ms. Stewart, who by all accounts had much promise, we cannot do so at the expense of Ms. Madden.