December 5, 1996 - January 9, 1997
Volume 6, Number 49: December 5 - December 12, 1996
Jack Neely finds that impending budget cuts at University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus are almost pure academic - in the worst way. Along with axing support services, number crunchers high on our favorite ivory tower are allowing important faculty positions to go unfilled after professors retire, seriously jeopardizing the university's reputation and future.
Volume 6, Number 50: December 12 - December 19, 1996
During this peak season of rabid retail mania, Janet Tate ponders the dominance of mega-stores that offer everything but personality. Can locally-owned businesses compete? Should they even try? And what will Knoxville be like when you really can and do buy everything under one roof?
Volume 6, Number 51: December 19 - December 26, 1996
Patrick Thomas examines Tennessee's welfare reform program, Families First, and wonders if the new nomenclature is merely rhetoric, and how recipients will respond to the idea of taking "personal responsibility."
Volume 6, Number 52: December 24, 1996 - January 9, 1997
Holy Sunsphere! Another year has slipped by - and can you remember what happened? Probably not without the assistance of our annual Year in Review. So let us do the recollecting for you - heck, it's our job.