Issue #3 - February 16, 2011

Hilltop Views S t .

E d w a r d ’ s

U n i v e r s i t y

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Volume 29 | Issue 3

10

ENTERTAINMENT Two students predict who will win at the Oscars – and who should win.

15

VIEWPOINTS: A four-year college degree in Texas for only $10,000?

You must be dreaming.

French major says bonjour Molly Williamson mwilliaj@stedwards.edu

Two years ago, St. Edward’s University went to France.

Now, France has come to St. Edward’s in the form of an academic program as French, already a minor, is being added as a major.

The French minor, which was created only a few years ago, is going to be combined with an additional 18 hours of classes to produce the French major. This will allow students who are currently pursuing a minor in French to get double major, and it will offer French as a major to incoming freshmen.

Kerstin Somerholter, area coordinator and assistant professor of German and French, said that it has not been easy to get French approved as a major.

“You have to figure out if there’s a market for it, what classes we want to teach, and then of course you have to go and get the support of the dean,” she said.

Somerholter said the next step is writing a proposal and submitting it to the Curriculum Development Committee, which gives feedback and helps polish proposals. The final version of the proposal goes through the Academic Counsel.

“You only really get there if your proposal really is good,” she said.

The proposal for a French major was recently approved, after hard work and many revisions. Those working on the proposal got positive

feedback from professors and other faculty members throughout campus.

“I went around and asked for feedback from lots of people,” Somerholter said.

“The top person here who I asked is Tom Evans. He is the person who brought the Angers program to existence, so to speak.”

Evans is the associate vice president for Professional Education and Global Initiatives.

There is definitely a market for a French major, Somerholter said. The number of students studying abroad in Angers, where St. Edward’s has a campus, has increased significantly since the program began in the spring of 2009. Several students are now considering a minor in French thanks to the growing popularity of the Angers program.

“The Angers program got me interested in French again, and I’m looking forward to studying abroad and taking classes towards a minor,” freshman Asta Thrastardottir said.

The French major will offer several topics classes in addition to the classes required for a minor in French.

“There are several topics classes that will be offered, and the topic of each class will vary,” Somerholter said.

The classes include topics such as French Cinema, the Semiotics of French Food, and French Translation.

“We’re even thinking about offering classes here on location in the summer, which

hilltopviewsonline.com

12

SPORTS The baseball and softball teams are flying high while the basketball teams falter.

“N-word” debated in open forum Ari Auber aauber@stedwards.edu

A gathering of students and a few faculty members spent two hours debating and discussing the meaning and implications of one word, and the discussion, stopped because of time

event.

Abdul said a student had approached her midway through the discussion and asked her why she had decided to create it, as the variety of opinions in Mabee Ballroom B were not likely to come to a unanimous decision about who can use

The word itself is not the problem. The problem is the intention behind the word.”

-Freshman Sheenika Medard

Sophie Schweitzer

Students studying in Angers also visit Paris.

we’ve never done,” Somerholter said. “With a major, we will offer more subjects.”

Evans said that students majoring in French can also participate in a dual degree program.

“There is a dual degree

Bachelor of Business Administration to be delivered in partnership with Universite Catholique de l’Ouest that was approved by the board last year and is now with our accrediting body (SACS) for their review,” Evans said.

constraints, could have gone on well into the night.

Called simply the “NWord Discussion,” the Feb. 8 event featured a panel of seven St. Edward’s University students answering questions about the nword: what they think of it, who can say it and why it’s so controversial. The event also offered the opportunity for audience members to give their opinions – and many had them.

The purpose of the event was not to change anyone’s mind about the word, junior Rehema Abdul, the president of the Students of African Heritage Association, said later in an interview. Abdul’s organization and the Multicultural Leadership Board sponsored the

the word. Many of the African-American students present felt it was only their word to say.

“I wanted open dialogue about this issue,” Abdul said she told the student in response. “Many students on this campus have intelligent, well-supported views that aren’t heard enough, and they don’t always want to hear an expert talk. They are able to all get involved in something like this and help other students figure out what they believe.”

She chose the students in the panel because they come from a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds and know what they believe about the n-word.

N-word | 2

Page 2 | NEWS

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 | Hilltop Views

Kozmetsky Center talks tests Sara Sanchez ssanchei@stedwards.edu

Colleges and universities may move toward standardized testing, according to a former Clinton administration official.

Former Assistant Secretary of Education Lee Fritschler spoke to St. Edward’s University about the changes and challenges that higher education in the United States is facing in a lecture from the Kozmetsky Center entitled “Education for the 21st Century: No Child Left Behind for Higher Education?”

Fritschler addressed everything from viewing education as an enterprise to the limits of federal government involvement in higher education.

“The mystery is this: why is higher education reform being encouraged to look more like elementary and

secondary education?” Fritschler said.

Fritschler said that education is a large enterprise here in the U.S., with plenty of room for discussion. Some of that discussion includes the government moving in the direction of standardized testing for higher education.

During the open question session of the lecture, senior Lauren May asked why schools still administer standardized testing if some research shows it does not help students. She asked why administrators would consider using standardized testing in higher education.

In response, Fritschler said that people want to know the information provided by the testing and that there is money to be made.

“College Board is one of the richest companies,” said Fritschler.

Fritschler said the U.S. is

second in the world when it comes to attainment rate, or the number of people ages 25-65 who receive bachelor’s degrees.

Fritschler also said that the focus of the core function of a higher institution is moving more and more into the hands of the federal government.

Fritschler added that the federal government is trying to adopt legislation that gives it the power to define credit hours and courses, a power usually reserved for institution faculty.

“The government cannot get involved with the content of the credit hours,” Fritschler said. “If you don’t want to get involved, don’t get involved at all.”

Flu cases upped from last year Anna Whitney awhitne@stedwards.edu

Students missing from class and constant coughing and sneezing serve as reminders that it’s flu season once again.

Cases of the flu have increased from this time last year, according to the St. Edward’s University Health and Counseling Center.

“It’s more than last spring,” Mary Jones, a nurse practitioner for the Health Center, said.“ Last January [and] February, we didn’t have much at all, but this year we’ve had quite a bit.”

Jones said high numbers of flu cases have been reported in clinics throughout Austin, not just at St. Edward’s.

While the reason for the surge in flu cases is unknown, Jones said the recent cold weather could be a contributing factor. But Jones said it’s actually not the cold air that makes people sick.

“It’s not the cold weather that does it; it’s being inside enclosed places with the warm environment,” Jones said.

Jones also said the reason for the increase in cases could be that not as many people are getting flu shots this year because there is no longer a fear of contracting H1N1 (swine flu), a type of flu that the Health Center has not come across since last fall.

Jones said students should take precautions to ensure they don’t contract the flu.

These precautions include washing hands, staying wellhydrated and well-rested, and covering a cough. Jones also recommended that unvaccinated students get flu shots.

“It’s not too late. Flu season can go into March. The vaccine doesn’t take effect immediately, but what’s the downside? There’s not one. And you absolutely cannot get the flu from the flu shot. That’s just a myth,” Jones said.

The Health and Counseling Center offers flu shots for $15 and accepts Topper Tender.

N-word debate new to campus Continued from page 1

Two of the students, freshman Sheenika Medard and junior Brent Johnson, are black. Junior Zachary Peal is white, and sophomore Nicholas Tafacory is halfwhite, half-Iranian. Junior Juhi Tariq is Indian. Senior Natalie Whitfield is halfblack, half-white, and senior Elba Moise is half-black, half-Hispanic. All of them offered distinct, nuanced opinions on the n-word.

“The word itself is not the problem,” Medard said during the panel discussion. “The problem is the intention behind the word.

If you’re not going to use it nicely, then don’t use it at all.

And don’t use it in front of people it’s going to offend.”

Her comments, which sparked applause from the audience, represented the consensus of students both in the audience and on the panel.

Moderator Teri Varner, a Communication professor who asked the panel pre-

determined questions and also fielded questions and talking points from the audience, shed light on why one word is still causing so much controversy.

“A lot of the words we use are given context to us by the people who use them,” Varner said. “The n-word used to be used in a negative way and sometimes still is.

That’s why we’re here.”

By the end of the event, many of the students in the audience had shared their experiences with the nword. Even a student who didn’t stand up and speak had his own opinion. David Delgado, a junior who is half-white, half-black, said after the discussion was over that he doesn’t care who uses the word.

“In the end, it’s just a word,” Delgado said. “It only has power if you let it have power. Like the words ‘gay’ or ‘retarded.’ They’re offensive, but people say them anyway. If you let them bother you, then of course they’re going to hurt. I just

don’t think you can ban a word from certain people.”

Because of the history of the n-word in particular – the lynching in the 1960s amid the civil rights movement that finally ended segregation of white and African-Americans in the United States – others did not share Delgado’s view.

Students like Tafacory said that the word should be done away with entirely, except in educational contexts such as history class.

But these differences in opinion were okay to have, Abdul said. In fact, the purpose of the discussion encouraged a range of views.

“You know, Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Abdul said.

“We’re not all going to agree, we’re not all going to get along, but more discussions like this one will make it easier to disagree.”

Hilltop Views Archives

Professor Edward Shirley gets an H1N1 flu shot during last year’s outbreak.

Hilltop Views | Wednesday, February 16, 2011

NEWS | Page 3

Budget cuts to affect Texas universities By the Associated Press Deep budget cuts proposed for Texas universities will hurt students, teachers and important research projects, college presidents warned state senators on Wednesday.

Texas is facing a shortfall of at least $15 billion, and early budget drafts would slash more than $700 million in state money to higher education.

Francisco Cigarroa, chancellor of the University of Texas System, and several campus presidents testified before the Senate Finance Committee. They said cuts will make it hard to attract top-quality teachers and researchers and hurt the ability of lower-income students to attend college.

“Higher education is among the most important investments you can make,” Cigarroa said. “We will do everything we can to mitigate these reductions, but these are large reductions that would have consequences.”

Proposed cuts to financial aid, including the TEXAS Grants program, could drop nearly 100,000 students who currently get help, according to the Center for

Associated Press

The University of Texas at Austin is facing budget cuts due to a state shortfall.

Public Policy Priorities.

Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, chairman of the finance committee, tried to ease some of the concerns, saying he’s confident that “before it’s over, we’re going to have more money to put into higher education.”

But Ogden didn’t say how much he thinks lawmakers can scratch out of the tight budget or indicate what he would spend it on.

About 100 students marched from the University of Texas-Austin campus to the Capitol to protest the proposed cuts.

Chelsea Adler, a senior at UT-Austin, urged lawmakers not to slash the TEXAS

Grants program, which helped her get to college.

Without it, Adler said she would have had to take out large student loans or find a cheaper school.

“I think that’s just shutting doors if we cut that program,” Adler said.

At the University of Texas-El Paso, more than half of the 22,000 students are the first members of their families to go to college, and more than 30 percent come from families reporting less than $20,000 income, said President Diana Natalicio.

“We’re worried,” Natalicio said. “There’s a group of young people about to graduate in El Paso. They

will graduate this year with a dream to attend UTEP. If they had been lucky enough to graduate last year, there wouldn’t have been a problem.”

On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Perry challenged Texas schools to offer four-year degrees for $10,000, including textbooks.

At UT-Brownsville, which has the second-lowest tuition rate in the UT system at about $2,800 per semester, that would be hard to do, President Juliet Garcia said.

“Even at that bare-bones level, we would fall short,” Garcia said.

POLICE BLOTTER Date

New head of Holy Cross appointed

Time

Incident

Location

Resolution

Jan. 29

10:30 p.m.

Safety Concern

RCC

Pending

Jan. 29

6 a.m.

Graffiti

Moody Hall

Open

Jan. 31

4:04 p.m.

Excessive Citations

BMH parking lot

Disciplinary referral

Jan. 31

3:06 p.m.

Excessive Citations

Mang parking lot

Disciplinary referral

Feb. 2

2:22 p.m.

Harassment

On-campus

Active

Feb. 2

7:59 p.m.

Vehicle Burglary

Premont parking lot

Closed

Feb. 6

4 a.m.

Property damage

BMH

Disciplinary referral

Feb. 7

1:25 p.m.

Hit and Run

Ragsdale

Closed

Feb. 7

2:35 p.m.

Excessive Citations

Alumni Gym parking Lot

Disciplinary referral

Feb. 7

3:15 p.m.

Reckless Driving

Premont parking lot

Open

Courtesy of Southwest Province Archives

Giallanza replaces Walsh as Holy Cross director.

Bea Parres bparres@stedwards.edu

A new appointment at the Holy Cross Institute will ensure that the organization’s mission is continued and its events go as planned.

The Jan. 10 death of Br. Stephen Walsh left a vacancy at the Holy Cross Institute at St. Edward’s University.

In Walsh’s absence, Br. Joel Giallanza was appointed interim executive director.

“I feel honored and humble,” Giallanza said, referring to his appointment.

Until the Board of Directors starts its search for a permanent director, Giallanza will join the Holy Cross Institute as the interim director toward the end of February.

The Board still needs to examine and update Walsh’s job duties and post a job listing.

The Board is hoping to start its search next fall and find a permanent director within the next 18 months, according to university Exectutive Vice President and Provost Sr. Donna Jurick.

Giallanza has been involved with St. Edward’s University not only as a student but also as a lecturer in the past. Like others around campus, he knew Walsh–for more than 30 years–and he was already familiar with all the upcoming events that Walsh was preparing for the summer.

Walsh’s contribution to St. Edward’s as a student, president, and the director of the Holy Cross Institute is still remembered today, Giallanza said, adding that Walsh’s “trust in people’s ability” was among his many qualities.

Walsh founded the College Assistance Migrant Program program and implemented the Cultural Foundations classes and Capstone paper.

Walsh was also the first to encourage and initiate bilingual education and writing programs for the university.

Brother John A. Perron said Walsh’s biggest concern was providing the best education for students to succeed.

“He was creative, bright and insightful,” Perron said.

The Holy Cross Institute will search for a permanent director who can continue Walsh’s plans and mission.

Jurick said the Holy Cross Institute is looking for “someone who will help [the university] preserve the spirit.”

Giallanza said that he was excited to be involved in the St. Edward’s environment once again and to rejoin the diverse student body. While he is interim director, Giallanza wants to continue Walsh’s vision and support and encourage people as much as Walsh did.

“He was all about giving people opportunities,” Giallanza said.

Page 4 | NEWS

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 | Hilltop Views

Houston to consider tying test scores to teacher evaluations By the Associated Press Teacher evaluations would be tied to student test scores, and teachers with poor evaluations could be fired under a proposal being considered by the Houston school district.

A draft of the plan released for public comment this month says about half of a teacher’s rating would be based on how well students performed on tests and other measures of academic progress.

Teacher evaluations now are based on their principal’s observations of their work.

If the school board approves the changes, the Houston school district would be among a small but growing number of districts across the nation emphasizing student test scores when rating teacher performance.

Associated Press

Teachers may soon be evaluated on student test scores in Houston schools.

“This is an enormous change,” Chuck Robinson told the Houston Chronicle.

As the executive director of the Congress of Houston Teachers, he represents teachers in the district. “It’s much too heavy on the stu-

dent achievement end. Fifty percent — that is just huge.”

The other half of teachers’ ratings would be based on how well they engage students, their planning skills, how well they work with parents and participation in

SGA senator abruptly resigns Ari Auber aauber@stedwards.edu

The Student Government Association lost another member when Celso Baez, senator of the senior class and chair of the Intergovernmental Affairs committee, stepped down from his positions Feb. 7.

His letter of resignation, given to the executive board that afternoon, did not give a specific reason for why he is leaving SGA. “My decision to resign finalized after long and careful consideration of all factors,” Baez said in the letter, without specifying what those factors are.

In the meantime, though there is a vacancy in Baez’s senate seat, Executive Senator of the Schools Eric Bustos is acting as interim chair for IGA. He has worked with Baez in IGA since last spring, when Baez encouraged him to take a position in that committee.

Bustos has decided not to act as IGA chair full-time because he has too much

else to do.

“I have too many other commitments that would prevent me from doing the job effectively and fulfilling the requirements of the IGA chair position,” Bustos said.

filled when he won a weeklong special election.

There will not be elections to fill Baez’s two positions.

Instead, students with 72 credit hours who are interested in the senior senator seat can apply with SGA

My decision to resign finalized after long and careful consideration of all factors.”

-senior Celso Baez

Baez’ resignation comes on the tails of two others that occurred last fall, when Blanca Garcia vacated the presidency and Andrew Guerrero left an opening in the sophomore senate seat that Leigh Anne Winger later filled.

After Garcia resigned, vice president Krista Heiden took over as president, leaving a vacancy in the vice presidency that Noah Corn

in the Student Life office.

SGA does not have an application deadline for the senate seat.

Only senators can apply for the IGA chair position.

The interested senators had until Feb. 15 to turn in the application.

professional development.

Also, administrators would have to visit teachers’ classrooms at least six times a year instead of once and give them regular written feedback.

“Teachers do a lot of things, but their most important job

is to make sure their kids learn,” said Ellen Hur of the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit hired by the Houston school district to help develop a new appraisal process.

“Student achievement has to be a significant part of their evaluation.”

The district’s two largest teacher groups said they’re concerned that the model used for analyzing test scores also determines performance bonuses. That model, the socalled value-added model, uses complex statistics to figure out whether students did better or worse than expected on standardized tests.

Only teachers of core subjects like math and science in grades three through eight have value-added scores.

Others could be rated on their students’ progress on district exams or end-of-course tests.

For subjects like art, student

projects could count.

Gayle Fallon, who runs the Houston Federation of Teachers, said the use of value-added data was a “deal breaker.”

Districts can deviate from the state’s model if their system is developed by committees made up of educators and parents.

But Fallon questioned whether district officials are embracing the comments from the committee.

“It didn’t go as smoothly as they say it went, but we’ll see,” she said. “There’s still a lot of room for discussion.”

Julie Baker, the district’s chief officer of major projects, said more than 1,000 teachers and other committee members have had a voice in the process since September, and more people can comment this month.

Hilltop Views | Wednesday, February 16, 2011

GAMES | Page 5

games

Look for the answers to both games in next week’s issue!

Answer to last issue’s Sudoku:

FEATURES

Page 6 | Hilltop Views Wednesday, Features 16, 2011

Top Five: The best places in Austin to learn to play music sjackso8@stedwards.edu

wcawtho@stedwards.edu mfrazie2@stedwards.edu

Whether you’re a long time resident of Austin or a visitor to the city, you’ve more than likely heard the stories of the music legends and famous venues that earned the city the title of Live Music Capital of the World.

There are more music venues in Austin than anywhere else in the U.S., so it stands to reason that this town has many places to learn the art of music. Here are some good places to learn how to play music in Austin. All of the locations will work with musicians of any level.

South Austin Music

Austin School of Music

2428-B W. Ben White Blvd 512-476-7666 13945 N. Hwy 183 512-331-7666 The Austin School of Music has two locations, and the staff can teach you to play a wide variety of musical styles, as well as sing, compose, and generally rock out. The school also has camps and group classes in addition to one-on-one lessons. Instrument lessons generally run around $107 per month, and vocals are around $127 per month for four half-hour classes. How-

[Antique Stage Screw] Wendy Cawthon Matthew Frazier

Sam Jackson

1402 S. Lamar Blvd 512-448-4992 Located near the St. Edward’s University campus next to the Saxon Pub, this local guitar shop is currently celebrating its twenty-fifth year in business. Richard Jessee teaches many styles of guitar and bass and Eddie Collins teaches banjo, mandolin, and fingerstyle guitar. Rates for one-on-one lessons range from $25-30 per half hour. The shop also carries all sorts of rare and eclectic guitar products at a wide range of prices.

‘Tique of the Week

Courtesy of Red Leaf School of Music

Red Leaf School of Music on South First Street hosts classes and camps.

Red Leaf... operates on skill levels akin to those of martial arts.” ever, these prices may vary as all instructors work as independent contractors. Fourto-six week group classes range from $100-300, and focus on more specific disciplines than one-on-one classes. Instructors will perform one-on-one lessons to teach the principles of the class if there isn’t enough student interest.

Austin Guitar School

5501 N. Lamar, Suite A-111 512-442-2880 Don’t let the name fool you—these guys teach more than guitar. The instructors at Austin Guitar School also provide lessons in bass, vocals, drums and percussion, piano, violin, and banjo. Ted Hall, a guitarist with 34 years of experience, founded the school in 1987.

The school also has a “guitar

gym,” which—for a small fee—allows students access to thousands of music magazines, videos, sheet music, and computer programs to help them learn. Single lessons run around $80 per hour, and the classes are $65 for eight weeks.

Strum Music

3316 Bee Caves Rd 512-328-5878 Strum Music may be hidden away up on Bee Caves Rd, but that should not discourage interested parties from inquiring about lessons.

Private lessons are available in guitar, bass, drums, piano, violin, fiddle, and voice, all in a variety of styles. Strum employs seven teachers, all with years of experience. Owner Steve Glazer proclaims on their website that, “People should learn to love music

in a place they love to be.”

Strum charges $50 per hour for single lessons, and the price decreases a few dollars the more lessons you buy in bulk. An additional $10 is added for vocal lessons.

‘Tique of the Week is an Austin-wide search for unique and interesting antiques. With dozens of antique shops around Austin, one-of-a-kind items from the past are not in short supply.

Each week we’ll find a new favorite item and feature it as our “’Tique of the Week.”

To find this week’s theatrical ‘Tique, we didn’t have to look too far, because it came from one of St. Edward’s University’s own theater students.

Theater Arts Major and senior Jacqueline Harper received an antique stage screw as a gift from her uncle.

“My uncle collects tools for a living and he randomly mailed me this stage screw,” Harper said. “He had pretty perfect timing because

Red Leaf School of Music

4800 S. 1st St. 512-444-4769 Founded by Geno Stroia, a former teacher at Strum Music, Red Leaf combines one-on-one work with group classes. They have three different teaching methods, and operate on skill levels akin to those of martial arts, and finally a professional musician course that ends in the student setting up a website, recording a demo, booking and publicizing shows, among other things.

The rates for classes range from $195-495 depending on the number of weeks, and camps are about $795-825, depending on how early one enrolls. Call for rates on private lessons.

Jacqueline Harper

Jacqueline Harper received this stage screw as a gift from her uncle.

the week I received it I also found out I was cast in my first college play.”

Sometimes sold as corkscrews in antique stores, stage screws like this one were originally used to help hold scenery in place while constructing stage sets for theatrical productions.

This particular model of a stage screw most likely dates back to the early to mid-1900s. A model similar to this one was patented in the United States in 1914 by Paul Witte.

In a time before power tools, these cast irons screws were driven directly into the stage floor by hand using the key-like handle at the base of the screw. The conical design of the screw thread allows it to have the best grip while doing a minimal amount of damage to the stage during construction.

Since stage screws of this size typically no longer fit in with modern scenery, these tools have since been slimmed down and improved. Modern screws now have a welded post on the side to get a better grip while designing and building stage scenery.

These palm-sized tools have been helping actors and stage crews alike to make plays and other productions run smoothly for nearly 100 years, and remains a vital tool at nearly every theater carpentry workshop.

Though small in size, this week’s stage screw ‘tique may not have ever been a headliner, but it once served in some important supporting roles onstage.

Hilltop Views | Wednesday, February 16, 2011

FEATURES | Page 7

Understanding politics: A brief history of conservatism Jake Hartwell Brooks DiDonato jhartwe@stedwards.edu bdidona@stedwards.edu

This article is the first in a two-part series that looks at the philosophical and historical origins of the modern conservative and liberal movements in the United States.

The looming battles between the Democrats and the majority Republican House of Representatives in the nation’s capital only make the term conservatism more important for contemporary politics. How can the same word describe President Dwight D. Eisenhower, President Ronald Reagan and current House Speaker John Boehner? What does it mean to be conservative?

Modern beginnings

Conservatism as a philosophy has endured since the nation’s founding. But modern conservatism can be traced back to the 1950s. The

philosophical backlash to the New Deal era of the welfare state began with publications such as William F. Buckley “God and Man at Yale” in 1951 and, later, the conservative magazine “The National Review” in 1955. The goal of Buckley and other conservatives was to fight against ideas such as liberalism and collectivism, choosing instead to emphasize limited government and individual freedom.

The early half of the 20th century saw several presidents that could be labeled as traditional limited-government conservatives, particularly William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. However, much of the country took a turn to the left with Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal policies.

Anti-Communism

The anti-communist atmosphere of the 1950s overcame some resistance to conservatism left in the wake

JOIN

of Roosevelt. While anticommunism was a strong conservative and Republican position in the 1950s, it was certainly not exclusive to the conservatives.

The anti-communist element of the conservative movement reached its zenith in the 1960s with the failed presidential bid of Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz. In addition to being strongly anticommunist, Goldwater maintained the basic ideals of the conservative movement. His book, “The Conscience of a Conservative,” argued against a welfare state and discussed the dangers of an overly powerful federal government and served as the platform for his 1964 presidential bid.

Social concerns

The moral concerns raised by the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade on abortion heavily motivated the second wave of the conservative movement. The controversy over abortion sparked the formation of the moral

Get paid to write and take photographs!

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majority position (today known as social conservatism); a grassroots movement built on concerns over the diminishing religiosity and moral decline in America. Figures such as Reagan and Southern Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell would further solidify the movement as a powerful conservative force in the 1980s.

In addition, concerns over the gradual erosion of the classic nuclear family, a severe economic recession, and the cynicism and doubt forged in the furnace of Vietnam contributed to the significance of the conservative movement.

While the election of Jimmy Carter in 1977 seemed to suggest a return to preMcCarthy ideology—and, of course, public outrage over Watergate—continuing economic and foreign affairs problems soured the American people to Carter, who was challenged by the left of his own party.

The Reagan years

Reagan, who nearly defeated then-incumbent President Gerald R. Ford, a moderate, in the 1976 Republican primary, established himself as the conservative standardbearer in 1980.

Reagan went on to defeat Carter in 1980. The victory marked the marriage of fiscal conservatives and social conservatives. Reagan also brough a third branch of foreign policy hawks that desired a strong military to protect the nation from the Soviet Union.

Reagan united all three branches in his presidency, focusing on fiscal conservatism with his economic policies, social conservatism with his War on Drugs and defense conservatism with his suspension of détente with the Soviet Union and increased military innovation.

The collapse of the Soviet Union following the Reagan presidency ended the Cold War, which had played a major part in defining and validating the conservative movement. The end of the war made defensive conservatism seem obsolete—the call

Illustration by Brennan Barnhill

Elephants have been Republican symbol since 1874

for strong, right-wing leaders that played significant roles in Reagan’s election could not remain relevant with the enemy overcome.

The Bush era

President George H.W. Bush originally campaigned on a more conservative platform, promising no new taxes on the American people.

However, he soon compromised on his position, working with Congress to introduce new taxes that would reduce the deficit left from the Reagan years.

This decision played a large part in his loss to Bill Clinton in 1992. However, the conservative vote again played an important role in American politics, as Clinton’s perceived overly leftist policies resulted in Republican control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.

The election of President George W. Bush soon saw a resurgence of defense-oriented conservative issues. With the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, a foreign policy simi-

lar to that of the Cold War emerged as the United States positioned itself to confront the “Axis of Evil.”

Conservativism Today

The religious and social aspects of conservatism also informed several Bush administration policy decisions, as demonstrated in the creation of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, opposition to embryonic stem cell research and general decline to address any gay rights issues.

Today the conservative movement is deciding which of its three guiding principles—fiscal, social and defense—will inform its future political involvement. The argument might come up in the 2012 Republican primary, with each candidate trying to claim the mantle of Reagan.

For now, the populist resurgence of fiscal values represented by the grassroots creation of the Tea Party led to the recent Republican House takeover and is shaping the battle against Democratic President Barack Obama.

Page 8 | Hilltop Views Wednesday, February 16, 2011

ENTERTAINMENT

NIGHTLIFE REVIEW

FOOD REVIEW

Going out? Wednesday plans made easy

Say cheese: the Austin queso crawl Ingrid Husby ihusby@stedwards.edu

Even if you’re a health junkie, a steaming bowl of queso and homemade tortilla chips may be one of the hardest things in life to resist. But honestly, how often does that happen? Austin has a wide variety of cozy, eclectic and upbeat atmospheres in which you can satisfy your melted cheese cravings.

Zocalo Cafe Queso Mixta ($5.99)

Daniel De Los Santos Wednesday is quickly becoming the new Friday at many Austin establishments, offering weekly events to draw in customers.

David Bobb dbobb@stedwards.edu

Congratulations! You have made it to the middle of the week. Why not reward yourself by taking a break from the books and explore some of Ausin’s Wednesday weekly events? Here are some outings that will help take the edge off of your week.

Geeks Who Drink

Demonstrate your knowledge of the random information you have collected in and out of school with bar trivia at the Highball – located adjacent to the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar Blvd. Bring your own team of six by 7 p.m., or join another team once you are there. The event does not have a sign-up sheet or entry fee.

Winning teams enjoy bar cash, free drinks, and, of course, Internet pride and glory until next week’s showdown.

After trivia, the Highball will present the Austin-based jazz group Black Red Black.

If you are interested in this event, but the time and location creates a problem for you, rest assured that the reaches of the geeks spread

far and wide across Austin.

More information can be found online at GeeksWhoDrink.com.

The Megaphone Show

If you would rather sit back and take in some comedy performances, look no further than the Megaphone Show at the New Movement Theater on Rosewood Ave. on the eastside. The comedic improvisational show takes stories from the life of an invited local Austinite and reenacts them for the crowd.

The free show is very popular and the seats fill up fast, so try getting there about 15 to 20 minutes before the show’s scheduled time of 9:30 p.m.

Reservations cost $5 per seat. Otherwise, seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the staff will seat people on the floors until capacity is reached. The performers promise to entertain and humor viewers for the hourlong show.

Frank’s Rec Room Social

For those who appreciate classic games like ping-pong, UNO, and Ms. Pac-man, Frank at 407 Colorado St. will not disappoint.

The hot dog and beer res-

taurant transforms into a gaming battleground featuring Cornhole, Galaga, Golden Tee, Big Buck Safari, Cards and Mega Touch.

The restaurant also invites people to BYOBoardgame to find a group challenge. The event begins 9 p.m. and lasts until the restaurant closes at 2 a.m. There is a $3 entry fee before 11 p.m. and a $5 fee after then.

Frank’s offers live music, food and drink specials all night – including a $5 twopack.

Bar Shows

Live music and bars go hand-in-hand in Austin, and, on Wednesday nights, there are plenty of live shows around. However, two bars in particular offer interesting cover-free performances along with their music. The Tiniest Bar in Texas on W. 5th St. puts on fire-spinning, dancing and hula-hooping in its Wonky Fire Fest show.

You can enjoy the hip-hop drum-and-bass tribal fusion music style of DJ Happy Happy James World with a selection of the bars cheap beverages. If you feel too cool for this hot show, Malaga Tapas and Bar on W. 4th

St, has a weekly Flamenco night. The traditional Spanish dance is performed to the musical sounds of The Spirit of Flamenco.

The show goes from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., so get there early to get a good seat by the stage and be ready to clap your night away to this cultural show. Ole!

Weird Wednesdays

No compilation of Wednesday night activities would be complete without The Alamo Drafthouse’s Weird Wednesdays. For nearly 10 years, Austin cinephiles have been gathering for midnight screenings of low-budget, Bmovie exploitation flicks.

The series, curated by The Alamo’s programmer Lars Nilsen, is sponsored by I Luv Video and screens at the downtown location. From biker gangs on a warpath to killer robots from outer space, regular attendees know to expect the unexpected (It’s called Weird Wednesday for a reason.) You will not see any of these films at your local Blockbuster, or playing on any other screen in town.

Plus, tickets are only $1, so you can still afford some of the theater’s menu offerings.

Zocalo’s Chile Con Queso Blanco is an enticing blend of white cheeses, a scoop of guacamole and pico de gallo. If you happen to be a fan of the white cheese (or even if you are not), this queso is by far the best on the west side of town.

Bonus: The perfectly crispy, lightly fried tortilla chips are totally homemade.

Spiderhouse

The Queso Supreme ($6.95)

The appropriately named Spiderhouse queso is sprinkled with black beans, avacado, pico de gallo and hints of chili pepper.

Though it is on the pricier side of queso, it is well

worth the buy. With a slow onset of medium spice, The Queso Supreme delivers a big taste for cheese lovers.

Bonus: The cheese doesn’t get that gross film over the top of it like velveeta when it cools off.

Torchy’s Tacos Green Chile Queso ($4.95)

In this perfectly heated cheese concoction from Torchy’s, the green chile flavor gives the queso a whole different feel. Topped off with cilantro, guacamole, queso fresco and diablo sauce, this queso is less spicy than the Spiderhouse queso and has a texture more like a puree.

Vivo Cocina Mexicana Chile Con Queso ($7.95)

Vivo Cocina takes a more traditional route to the queso recipe. Though it is just a simple queso without any added extras, it can be dramatically improved by pouring in an entire bowl of their “award-winning” salsa.

The salsa is the key player here.

Bonus: Even if the queso isn’t all that impressive, the atmosphere on the back patio is like a tropical rainforest.

Ingrid Husby

Torchy’s Green Chile Queso sells for $4.95.

Hilltop Views | Wednesday, February 16, 2011

ENTERTAINMENT | Page 9

Weekly ‘Flix Fix ‘Loaf and Death,’ another Wallace & Gromit instant classic Ryan Lester rlester@stedwards.edu

Weekly ‘Flix Fix takes the legwork out of wading through thousands of film choices on Netflix, bringing you the most truly bizarre, quirky and outright amazing gems instant streaming has to offer.

‘Wallace & Gromit : A Matter of Loaf and Death’

While they are most well known for the critical and commercial success of 2000’s “Chicken Run” and 2005’s “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit,” the geniuses behind claymation company Aardman Studios first gained notoriety by making half-hour TV films of the well-read dog and his naïve, slightly off-kilter partner.

After their fruitful foray into the world of computer animation with “Flushed Away,” Peter Lord and Nick Park released the fourth

Wikimedia Commons

“A Matter of Loaf and Death” was released in 2008.

television installment of the Wallace & Gromit series with 2008’s “A Matter of Loaf and Death.” Despite

its short run time, the movie delivers the same knockout combination of amazing animation and humor that the

company has become world renowned for.

Being the jacks of all trades that they are, Wallace and Gromit are now the proud owners and sole employees of Top Bun, a bakery with an uncanny output that is the result of Wallace’s inventions and Gromit’s fine tuning and know how. The bakery business is a risky one, though, as twelve bakers have been found dead in a year in their small town.

All is going well until Wallace has a chance encounter with Piella Bakewell, a former pin-up girl for the Bake-O-Lite company, and her dog Fluffles. A romance ensues between the two human characters and it moves at such a fast pace that Gromit becomes skeptical.

After learning a dark secret about Piella, Gromit sets out to save his best friend with Fluffles help before it is too late.

A lot of the charm that

was lost with computer animation in “Flushed Away” returns in “A Matter of Loaf and Death,” as the filmmakers returned to using stop motion photography for each clay character’s body and mouth movements to create a visual marvel. The fact that you can occasionally see the fingerprints of the animators shows the amount of devotion to the project, and it is probably the most fluid moving of all the Aardman features.

More than twenty years after “Creature Comforts” and the first Wallace & Gromit short, “A Grand Day Out,” wowed audiences, it is still hard to get over how much talent and dedication it takes to make a film like this.

Of course, it would not be a Wallace & Gromit feature without an abundance of humor and visual puns, and “A Matter of Loaf and Death” continues the tradition.

From the always crazy contraptions Wallace makes to help him get ready for the day, to the dog related paraphernalia that fills Gromit’s room, the writers once again drew as much as possible from the source material in the name of delivering a laugh a minute. And, of course, there are plenty of bakery and bread jokes. As such, it is easily as funny as anything Aardman has produced in the past and is another gleaming example of why the British are so good at comedy.

Despite being the most watched program when it aired on BBC One during Christmas Day 2008, “A Matter of Loaf and Death” quietly made its way stateside with little to no fanfare.

Thankfully, fans of Wallace & Gromit and newcomers alike can enjoy this comedic gem instantly without having to be launched out of bed.

[slapdash] “It’s Not the Same”

Brennan Barnhill

Page 10 | ENTERTAINMENT

OSCAR PICKS

Caroline Wallace John Taylor Gabriel cwallac2@stedwards.edu jgabrie@stedwards.edu

With the 83rd annual Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 | Hilltop Views Awards just around the corner, it’s time to engage in the favorite competitive sport of film snobs everywhere: picking and predicting the winners.

And while, for the most part, the Academy gets it

right, sometimes the most deserving winners end up going home with nothing more than sore feet and a gift bag. Here are our picks for the predicted and most deserving winners for some of the main categories:

Best Actor in a Leading Role * Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” * Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” * Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” * Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” * James Franco in “127 Hours” Who should win: Jeff Bridges Who will win: Colin Firth

Best Picture

Colin Firth is a shoo-in for the ‘best actor’ award. His role as the stuttering King George VI was as daring as it was difficult to pull off. Jeff Bridges, however, deserves the win for his rambling, boisterous, and comedic portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit,” the role for which John Wayne won his 1969 Oscar. All too often, the serious character study wins the award, but it is rare for an actor to outshine his contemporaries by mastering the delicate balance between comedic performance and a believable portrayal. Alas, not everyone appreciates “the dude.”

* “Black Swan” * “The Fighter” * “Inception” * “The Kids Are Alright” * “The King’s Speech” * “127 Hours” * “The Social Network” * “Toy Story 3” * “True Grit” * “Winter’s Bone” Who should win: “The King’s Speech” Who will win: “The Social Network” These two films are essentially neck-and-neck for the top award. Both have garnered significant wins at the other major award shows this year, have similar Vegas odds of winning, and are the top picks of the major film critics. It’s anyone’s game, but we’re betting the popular appeal and generational pull of the “The Social Network” will beat out the loftier themes in “The King’s Speech,” even with Colin Firth’s amazing performance.

Documentary * “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz * “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic * “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs * “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger * “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Best Actress in a Supporting Role Associated Press

Natalie Portman is favored to win for “Black Swan.”

Best Actress in a Leading Role * Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” * Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” * Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” * Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” * Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” Who should/will win: Natalie Portman Natalie Portman losing this category would be about as unlikely as “Sex and the City 2” winning best picture.

Who should win: “Exit Through the Gift Shop” Who will win: “Restrepo” While “Exit Through the Gift Shop” and “Restrepo” could not be more different in terms of style and subject, they are equally impressive films. And, while journalists Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger may deserve recognition for their remarkable war documentary, not to mention the fact that they spent an entire year embedded in Afghanistan, a win for Banksy would surely result in some form of public spectacle that could spice up an often-overlooked category. So, do the audience a favor and give the award to Banksy. We’re all dying to see what he will do.

* Amy Adams in “The Fighter” * Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” * Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” * Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” * Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” Who should/ will win: Melissa Leo Leo has already proven that she has some serious acting chops, earning a ‘Best Actress’ nod for her performance in 2008’s “Frozen River.” However, it’s her portrayal of Alice Ward, the steadfast, overbearing matriarch of the Ward family in “The Fighter” that truly deserves a nomination. Leo absolutely disappears into the role, truly becoming the delusional, working-class, boxing ‘stage mom’ that makes us all want to call our mothers and thank them for being so sane.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role Directing * “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky * “The Fighter” David O. Russell * “The King’s Speech” Tom Hooper * “The Social Network” David Fincher * “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen Who should/will win: David Fincher David Fincher took Jesse Eisenberg from a Michael Cera knock-off to an Oscar-nominated leading man.

But it’s more than that. Even with a masterful screenplay from Aaron Sorkin, few acclaimed directors would have taken a chance on a film about Facebook, and arguably fewer would have succeeded in making it a masterpiece.

* Christian Bale in “The Fighter” * John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” * Jeremy Renner in “The Town” * Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” * Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” Who should/ will win: Christian Bale Christian Bale’s portrayal of washed-up boxer Dicky Eklund in “The Fighter” has all the makings of an Academy Award winning performance. From crack addiction to the complexity of sibling-rivalry and failed expectations, the emotional and technical range that Bale masters in this film really shows that he is one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood today.

Hilltop Views | Wednesday, February 16, 2011

ENTERTAINMENT | Page 11

SEU invites bands to battle for studio time, spring concert spot Tina Ramon tramon2@stedwards.edu

For musically inclined students at St. Edward’s University, the time has come to get your band together, tune up and get ready for battle— battle of the bands that is.

The event, planned for March 28 at 7 p.m. in the Mabee Ballroom, will be the first of its kind. Eight bands will compete to win the grand prize—10 hours of recording time with a professional sound engineer at The Recording Conservatory of Austin, plus the opening slot at the spring concert in April.

“This will be the most difficult event I have planned,” said junior Alex Simons, the University Programming Board’s primary coordinator for the event.

Having planned a number of successful events on campus, including The Mates of State and Givers concerts as well as the karaoke nights, Simons believes this event in particular will serve as a creative outlet for musically

talented students.

Many of the details for the marketing and execution of the event are still in the works. Some ideas that have been thrown out include a texting system that students can use during the concert to vote for bands and guerilla marketing strategies like surprise acoustic sets from participating bands to promote the show.

Simons plans for the winning band to be chosen by a panel of judges, along with a fan’s favorite vote at the end.

One judge will be Rocky Tran, an alumnus of The Recording Conservatory who now owns a studio called Rockeasy Sound Productions in Austin. The other judges will be finalized closer to the event.

One band competing will be Lost Catz, made up of Jonathan Cantu, Jessica Buie and Manuel Cordina.

“We sound really like a dreamy, lo-fi, garage band with too much reverb,” Cantu said. “Together, our inspirations make for a unique sound.”

Lost Catz are one of the bands scheduled to perform at St. Edward’s battle of the bands on March 28.

Although hoping to win the prize, the band admits that they have more reasons for wanting to compete.

“We registered for the battle because we don’t really know any of the other on campus bands and thought it would be a good opportunity

to show ourselves off and meet some other people in the process,” Buie said.

The band is looking forward to performing on campus.

“I don’t know what exactly to expect, but I do know that we’ll have a good amount of energy going into this,”

Cantu said. “We just want to show people how we jam and hope that they like what they hear.”

As of press time, only three bands have signed up. Up to eight bands will face off at the final event. If more than eight sign up, students can vote on

Courtesy of Lost Catz

Collegiate Link for who they would like to see perform.

The deadline for registration is Monday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. To be eligible. at least half of the band must be enrolled at St. Edward’s. To register, sign up on the UPB page on Collegiate Link.

Local production takes a humorous look a political issues Sam Jackson sjackso8@stedwards.edu

In Austin’s underground theater scene, few people are more eclectically hilarious than Czech Republic transplants, the Crank Collective.

Founded by director/writer John Cecil two years ago under the name PraHaHa, the group’s killer mix of political comedy and rock musicality in their plays has won over audiences not just here in Austin, but in New York, Prague and Bucharest.

The group has found support from the Greater Austin Creative Alliance, a service organization that gives them the funding they need to survive in these dark days.

Now, a year after their first big Austin production, “Epidemic of Fear: The Influenzical,” the Collective breaks out their newest play: “Drone: The Musical.”

The story revolves around a pair of border patrol agents tasked to pilot drone aircraft around the U.S./Mexico border in search of immi-

plays guitar.

But does playing live music in a theater setting have some difficulties for the band members?

The story revolves around a pair of border patrol agents tasked to pilot drone aircraft around the U.S./ Mexico border.” grants trying to enter illegally or terrorists with sinister designs. However, in the course of their duties, mayhem, mischief, romance and hilarity ensue. And if that was not enough, several musical numbers are interspersed through the play, buttressed by a four-piece rock band in which John Cecil himself

“Oh, sure,” Cecil said.

“Sometimes we have some trouble with cues, knowing when to stop playing.”

Two of the first shows were last Friday and Saturday at the Austin City Theater, and there were two more took place on Feb. 4-5 as well. The Austin City Theater is about as “underground” as it gets,

an eighty seat venue, complete with a lounge area and bar, hidden within a small strip mall on Airport Boulevard behind nondescript black curtains.

“It’s a nice, very intimate venue;” says keyboardist/ trumpeter Jonathan Hoyle.

“We don’t even have to use mics!”

Highlights included, among other things, dancing drone planes and a screw-up with a prop that led to an improvisation that brought the house down in laughter.

After the show, the cast, crew and band members hung out with the audience and were willing to discuss the particulars of the show.

For his part as director, John Cecil made sure that the play was going to be a hit before the official unveiling.

“We actually did a test flight where we did a stage reading of the play and gave the audi-

ence comment cards,” Cecil said.

Cecil also did something Crank has never done before by hiring choreographer Jessica Kelpsch to work her magic on the musical numbers.

“I saw a show of hers where she got a lot of people to dance without running into each other,” Cecil said. “I thought we needed her…especially when we’re talking about remote controlled dancing drones.”

Another major feature of the Collective’s plays is keeping a strong political point of view without preaching to anyone.

Here, Cecil tackled immigration policies in the U.S., and the use of surveillance aircraft. The unmanned, remote-controlled drone planes are a very real thing; there was an incident in January when a plane crash-landed

in an El Paso back yard. The drones in the play also come with live ammunition, and considering the fact that drone planes are just fighter jets stripped of weaponry, it makes for some potentially scary inferences.

During the performance, the band is placed strategically behind a chain link fence, a nod to our own strict borders. Hoyle made note of these facts after the show.

“People have often wondered: ‘Why does the guy play the President and the terrorist?,’” he said. “Are they saying the President is supposed to be a terrorist too?”

Regardless of what the crowd inferred, most of the audience members left amused. “Drone” was featured through Feb. 13 in Austin.

SPORTS

Page 12 | Hilltop Views Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Hilltopper sports teams swing into spring Baseball team sweeps Newman University Jets in opening series

Women’s basketball team loses to Arkansas-Fort Smith Kelli O’Donnell kodonne3@stedwards.edu

Emily Blasdell

Senior Paul McCoy scores a run during the Hilltoppers’ season opener against Newman University.

Emily Blasdell eblasde@stedwards.edu

The St. Edward’s University baseball team began its season with a sweep of Newman University in a three-game series over the weekend.

The season opener was originally set a week earlier against Fort Smith Arkansas, but the series was canceled

due to inclement weather.

Senior Paul McCoy lead the Hilltoppers in the first game, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs. Junior Jeff Rohrbach pitched the entire game, surrendering only one run while striking out six. The Hilltoppers won 8-2.

In the second game of the double-header, the Hilltop-

pers continued to display strong hitting and pitching with eight runs, eight hits, nine strikeouts. The Hilltoppers won 8-3.

On Sunday, the Jets held the Hilltoppers to just two runs. However, senior Landon Patterson and junior Tyler Harris combined to pitch a shutout. Patterson was awarded the win for his six

innings of work and Harris was credited with the threeinning save.

“This weekend, our pitching and defense were strong, and we got timely hitting when we needed it,” senior Time Laine said.

The Hilltoppers return to action Friday at home at noon with a double-header against Southern Arkansas.

Men’s basketball team falls short against Arkansas-Fort Smith Lions Kelli O’Donnell kodonne3@stedwards.edu

Sophomore Zilijan Jones plays defense against a St. Mary’s player.

Emily Blasdell

The St. Edward’s University men’s basketball team lost to Arkansas-Fort Smith Saturday, giving the Lions a 70-64 victory.

Jeff Miner led the Hilltoppers in total points for the game with 17, and both Miner and Mark Watson tied for total rebounds in the game with four apiece.

The Hilltoppers have lost 10 of their last 11 games, have a 7-14 overall record.

The Hilltoppers are also currently just 1-8 in the Heartland Conference.

The Hilltoppers will be back in action on Thursday night when they host Newman at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Recreation and Convocation Center.

The St. Edward’s University women’s basketball team lost to Arkansas-Fort Smith Saturday at the Stubblefield Center in Fort Smith, Ark. St. Edward’s dropped a 54-41 game after leading by three points in the middle of the first half.

Freshman Kendra Field led the Hilltoppers in scoring for the game with 10 points. Sophomore Sarah Milewski led St. Edward’s in rebounds, pulling down seven.

Currently, the Hilltoppers are 8-15 for the season and 1-6 in conference play.

Players remain optimistic despite the team’s record.

“We are hoping to win our next three games and hopefully get a playoff game to go to the conference tournament,” sophomore

Emily Blasdell

Sophomore Kasey Harlos looks for an open pass to her teammate.

Monica James said.

The women’s team will be back in action on Thursday evening when it hosts Newman University. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Recreation and Convocation Center.

Hilltopper softball team goes 4-1 in Las Vegas tournament Emily Blasdell eblasde@stedwards.edu

The St. Edward’s University softball team won four games and lost one over the weekend in the Desert Stinger Classic in Las Vegas.

The Hilltopper’s first game on Feb. 11 against Adams State was the team’s only loss of the weekend.

The game started as a slugfest as both the Hilltoppers and the Grizzlies scored frequently, but the Hilltoppers could not keep up. The Grizzlies won, 15-6.

The Hilltoppers bounced back in the team’s second game of the day, beating Fort Lewis College in a 133 run-rule victory in only five innings.

Games on day two of the tournament started a bit more slowly. St. Edward’s rallied in its games against Western New Mexico and Regis, winning 4-3 and 3-1, respectively.

In the final game of the tournament Sunday afternoon, the Hilltoppers defeated Chadrom State College 10-1. Junior Paige Sandahl lead the Hilltoppers struck out 10 batters and allowed only three hits.

“As a team, we re really happy with how we have preformed lately,” sophomore Marissa Thome said.

The Hilltoppers are currently 6-3. The team will play its first home game Friday at 1 p.m. against Incarnate Word at Diane Daniels Field.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 | Hilltop Views

ATHLETE PROFILE

SPORTS | Page 13

SPORTS COMMENTARY

Softball player Courtney Lavender

NFL shows that true colors are all green

Emily Blasdell eblasde@stedwards.edu

Emily Blasdell: Where are

you from?

Courtney Lavender:

Houston, Texas.

EB: What is your major?

CL: Kinesiology.

EB: What do you want to be when you grow up?

CL: A coach.

EB: How long have you been playing softball? Have you play any other sports?

CL: I have been playing softball for 19 years and have played basketball, volleyball and soccer.

EB: Where is your favorite place in the world and why?

CL: Louisiana with all of my family is my favorite place to be because I am originally from there and I love going back home and being with my family.

EB: What’s the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

How was it?

CL: Weirdest thing I have eaten is probably fried alligator–tastes like chicken!

EB: What your most memorable softball moment?

CL: Going to the World Series my freshman year of college.

EB: What’s something that not many people know about you?

CL: Although I may look intimidating...I am pretty much scared of everything!

EB: If you could take any class on any subject what would it be and why?

CL: Forensic Science because I love to watch CSI, NCIS and Criminal Minds!

EB: What does a typical Sunday afternoon look like for you?

CL: Wake up to my wonderful roommate Marissa Thome making breakfast then heading out to church, then getting lunch with the group, after that I come back home and

Sports Information

Senior Courtney Lavender aspires to coaching

watch movies the rest of the day!

EB: Who is your role model/hero and why?

CL: My mom and dad are the biggest role models in my life. They have been my biggest support system and have always put their family first and have showed me what it truly means to be a family!

EB: What do you think about Twitter?

CL: I would totally follow Taylor Lautner on Twitter if I knew how to use it!

EB: What is your favorite St. Edward’s tradition?

CL: Walking around the seal and then yelling at people who walk across it!

EB: Do you have a pregame ritual?

CL: My parents stay with me on game weekends so it would probably be my dad going out to get me breakfast and then getting to the game and playing hacky sack with the team.

Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward doesn’t think that NFL players want to play an 18 game season.

Russ Espinoza respino2@stedwards.edu

The National Football League and football franchise owners are bent on establishing an 18-game NFL regular season schedule to generate increased revenue league-wide—a.k.a. Jerry Jones and his fat-cat peers want more scratch. But at what cost to the players themselves?

With the bell tolling on the league’s existing collective bargaining agreement in March, franchise owners have publicly threatened to jeopardize the 2011 season if the players union doesn’t acquiesce to their demands, including the “enhanced schedule.”

The proposed format would slash two preseason games but expand the current 16-game regular season gauntlet to 18 games. The NFL’s owners have their fingers on the self-destruct button, putting pressure on the players to consent to added physical punishment.

The NFL players union is staunchly against an expanded schedule, and scores of current NFL players have

voiced their opposition, citing the excessive physical toll it would inflict: “No player wants to play 18 games,” Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward said in an interview with CBSSports. com. “You’re not thinking about the players’ safety if you’re trying to add two

mean “Green” Bay. The 14-game regular season schedule of old (196177) spit-out, a generation of gridiron gladiators who have reported chronic, debilitating pain, has also been proven to suffer from dementia at much higher rates than the general population.

The NFL’s owners have their fingers on the selfdestruct button.”

more games.”

The league and the owners’ unconscionable, soulless drive to bulk up with more grudge-matches where towering, muscle-bound specimens splat into each-other at breakneck speeds contradicts the spirit of commissioner Roger Goodell’s 2010 crackdown on helmet-tohelmet hits, which theoretically demonstrated the league’s concern for player safety. The NFL has revealed its true colors–green, green and green, and I don’t

The reported maladies of the NFL’s old-timers, combined with the epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse among contemporary players, should signal to outsiders that 16-games—let alone 18—is too much to bear for the players America loves to watch.

A recent Associated Press Knowledge Networks Poll revealed that 45 percent of NFL fans favor the addition of two regular season games—with 18 percent strongly in favor. It seems

Associated Press

that 100 percent of NFL owners and 18 percent of NFL fans selfishly require more football. The only difference is that the owners will partake in the action from luxury boxes at the stadium, and you—gluttonous fan—will watch in wing-sauce stained sweatpants from your hand-medown recliner. The owners stand to gain a fortune from subjecting their players to further abuse, but what does the fan inherit?

Football season is a majestic debauch of chips, dip, beer, and assorted nutritional poisons, with the added bonus of seeing people we don’t know get blown-tobits; but to insist that an already sufficient regular season be padded so owners can buy Micronesia and fans can delay walking the dog is absurd. The players of our beloved teams may represent our cities, but they are not crash-test dummies to be employed for our gratuitous entertainment.

As Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis told the New York Times, “We’re not automobiles; we’re not machines.”

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Page 14 | Hilltop Views Wednesday, February 16, 2011

OUR VIEW

Campaign promises no match for reality Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama has repeatedly come under attack from the left for compromising on the agenda he outlined with his 2008 campaign promises.

The current situation with the deficit is no different, as the president will have to collaborate with the majority Republican Congress to an even greater extent to resolve the debacle.

But as our government begins working toward cutting into the country’s ballooning national debt, the American people should remember that campaign promises are no match for reality.

The first problem with campaign promises is that they require candidates to predict the future. A promise tells the American people, “No matter what happens, this issue is so important

The first problem with campaign promises is that they require candidates to predict the future.” to me and to you that I will make absolutely sure to carry it out.” Of course, this is only occasionally fulfilled.

Throughout his campaign, Obama made a multitude of promises covering everything from urban development to closing Guantanamo Bay. During the campaign, he said, “The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” which would ensure women the right to choose to bear a child and prohibit all federal, state and local entities from denying that right.

But something that candi-

dates and constituents often learn after the inauguration is that politics is about compromise. Obama never would have been able to succeed in guiding any health care legislation—or much else, for that matter—through Congress if he had alienated so many political allies and voters by pushing for the passage of the Freedom of Choice Act. Obama also promised that any family earning fewer than $250,000 a year would not see their taxes go up “a single dime.” However, according to the Wall Street Journal, the 33 percent tax bracket for

2009 began at $208,850, a significant increase for some families under the $250,000 mark. Perhaps this example seems like nitpicking, but a Feb. 9 Oval Office interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek made it clear that the president has no intentions of honoring this promise when he said that he was “agnostic” about raising taxes on households earning under $250,000.

The president may have said it best himself in the same interview: “Some would say we can’t look at entitlements. There are going to be some that say we can’t look at taxes, and pretty soon, you just can’t solve the problem.”

At the end of the day, compromise is necessary.

Something similar happened to President George W. Bush’s domestic policies

after the Sept. 11 attacks.

During his 2000 campaign, Bush promised to reverse the trend of Americans not having health insurance, partially privatize Social Security, force the federal government to comply with environmental standards, and pay the national debt down to a historically low level. After the attacks, these promises went out the window.

Now, of course, the attacks were not Bush’s fault. And that’s the point: candidates never know what will happen when they enter office. They are forced to either break promises, risking popularity, or continue a policy plan that—due to the ever-changing nature of our world—is no longer relevant.

It’s possible to argue that, without campaign promises, voters would have no idea

what a candidate plans to upon enterting office. But that’s what a stump speech is for. Presidential candidates travel the nation for over a year to let Americans know what they’re all about, and state and local candidates do the same on a smaller scale.

Given the frequency with which promises are broken, they’re not a very good indication of a candidate’s agenda anyway.

Campaign promises don’t work because candidates can’t predict the future with reasonable certainty. Furthermore, the tradition of campaign promises entirely ignores the compromising nature of politics. Sometimes the only thing worse than candidates who break their promises are the ones who keep them.

TSA should be preventing attacks, not appeasing travelers Ari Auber aauber@stedwards.edu

The consequences of another terrorist attack far outweigh the consequences of going through the airport security line, but many air travelers seem to think otherwise. Their protests over the full-body scanners and enhanced pat-down searches present at several dozen United States airports has swayed the Transportation Security Agency into testing new software that will purportedly make the security process less invasive.

The new software, installed into the body scanners at three airports on Feb. 1, removes the clear, detailed images of naked human bodies that were partly the reason for the public outcry, replacing them with cartoonish figures. The software also allows travelers to see the image at the same time as the TSA

employee screening them: a green screen when they’re cleared, a red line across the screen when a metal object appears.

While these changes are likely to appease travelers— at least the ones objecting to airport security because of privacy issues—the TSA is forgetting that it serves travelers best by keeping them safe from terrorist threats, not by keeping them happy. These threats, homegrown terrorism in particular, are on the rise, according to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano’s Feb. 9 report to a House security committee. So the TSA shouldn’t be fixing old technology for the sake of better public relations. It should be trying to explore new ones.

After all, how else is the TSA supposed to find a bomb in the britches of a would-be terrorist? The Xray machine and the metal

detector used before the body scanners and enhanced pat-downs were not able to notice the plastic explosives that the alleged Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had strapped to his underwear when he boarded a flight to Detroit, Mich., on Christmas Day of 2009.

His bombing attempt, which failed only because the explosives didn’t detonate properly, is largely the reason the TSA implemented the body scanners into 78 U.S. airports over the following year.

These cartoonish scanners might not stop terrorist acts before they happen, either.

Because no one since Abdulmutallab has tried to blow up a plane in U.S. skies, there’s no way—short of a terrorist getting through security and taking down a plane—of knowing whether the scanners are truly capable of doing their job. That’s why the TSA looking into alternative

Associated Press

The new body scan software removes the identifying features of passengers.

means of securing the skies is so vital. These other kinds of technology have the potential to bolster airport security, as well as make it a more favorable process to U.S. travelers.

In the meantime, the body scan technology is the best option for the TSA to use and for travelers to accept.

Many have trouble accepting it, though, because they don’t see the point of everyone, even grannies with knee transplants, giving virtual peep shows to strangers. But forcing all airplane passengers to go through body scanners is necessary for two reasons.

First, if the TSA screened

only random people for explosives, it’d most likely face accusations of racial profiling. Second, just about anyone could be a terrorist these days.

As Napolitano said in her speech, U.S. intelligence agencies have noticed that terrorist groups inspired

by Al Qaeda are recruiting people who, like Abdulmutallab, don’t look or act like terrorists to instigate attacks on U.S. soil and sky. Consequently, the threat of an attack is as high as it has been since Sept. 11, 2001.

So, until the day the TSA brings in new security technology to enrage travelers, the granny with the knee transplant will have to keep stepping through a body scanner. It’s the only way to ensure that terrorists won’t hide explosives in their underwear—to ensure that, next time, they don’t even make it on the plane.

Hilltop Views | Wednesday, February 16, 2011

VIEWPOINTS | Page 15

Wikileaks and Assange lack values needed for Nobel Peace Prize Russ Espinoza respino2@stedwards.edu

Snorre Valen, a Norwegian lawmaker, nominated the WikiLeaks website for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

“By disclosing information about corruption, human rights abuses and war crimes, WikiLeaks is a natural contender for the Nobel Peace Prize,” he explained. Website founder Julian Assange has been the focal point of worldwide media scrutiny since July. The site has released tens of thousands of secret documents and diplomatic cables, including the Afghanistan and Iraq War Logs, which provide a blow-by-blow narrative of the conflicts.

Humanity needs organizations like WikiLeaks to

inflame the apathetic masses into war revulsion and open dissent. Only through undistorted accounts of the wars can citizens begin to shape their views objectively. The insight provided by the War Logs augment the historical record that governments habitually manipulate. A progressive website, towardfreedom.com, said it best: “Without leaks we wouldn’t know that civilian casualties from the war in Iraq are much higher than advertised, or that U.S. troops initially went into battle without decent body armor.”

WikiLeaks cites judicial precedent to spell out its mission: “In its landmark ruling on the Pentagon Papers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that ‘only a free and unre-

Hilltop Views 3001 S. Congress Ave.#964, Austin, TX 78704 Phone: (512) 448-8426 Fax: (512) 233-1695 seuhilltopviews@yahoo.com www.hilltopviewsonline.com Proctor Anderson Tristan Hallman Editors-in-Chief Arianna Auber Haleigh Svoboda News Editors Wendy Cawthon Jake Hartwell Viewpoints Editors Holly Aker Caroline Wallace Entertainment Editors Amber Burton Rachel Winter Features Editors Emily Blasdell Kelli O’Donnell Sports Editor Shaun Martin Head Designer

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Norwegian lawmaker Snorre Valen nominated WikiLeaks for the Nobel Peace Prize.

strained press can effectively expose deception in government.’ We agree.” Those who demand reasonable transparency in government and espouse responsible action hail WikiLeaks as a welcome arm of justice—as I certainly do.

However, Assange committed an unjustifiable act of irresponsibility by refusing to redact the names of Afghan informants in the Afghani-

stan logs, theoretically putting those individuals at the risk of Taliban retailation.

Assange then lied about the reason behind his refusal in an interview with NBC’s “The Today Show” days after the release.

“If there are those names there, and they are at risk, this would be because of a misclassification by the U.S. military itself,” Assange said.

To the contrary, published accounts of negotiations with Assange from “The Guardian” and “The New York Times”—who were handpicked by Assange to comb the leaked materials prior to release—claim Assange was “happy to allow the names of Afghan civilians to be posted on its website.”

A spokesperson for the Taliban told “The Daily Telegraph” in July, “We read everything and we will read these documents.” The insurgent group, notorious for beheading, hanging or shooting those identified as spies or accessories to foreign troops, have threatened to decapitate informants found in WikiLeaks’ cache of uncensored intelligence documents.

The Afghanistan logs, as the first wave of publicized leaks, earned condemnation from Washington.

“They [Assange and his source] might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman

of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Assange’s rebuttal, denouncing Washington for citing “hypothetical blood” while “the grounds of Iraq and Afghanistan are covered with real blood,” invited questions regarding his refusal to redact the names of the informants.

Despite the government’s insistence that the leaks endangered lives, Pentagon sources have confessed that no evidence supports the position yet. But by not censoring names and other identifying features of informants in the Afghanistan logs, WikiLeaks and Assange demonstrated reckless disregard for human life, which is glaringly out of step with Noble Peace Prize values.

Assange is spearheading a global initiative to hold governments accountable by forcing transparency upon them. But mishandling the sensitive material he presides over has dangerous consequences for many people. He, too, must be held accountable for every abuse of power, miscalculation and lie.

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Bachelor’s degrees at discount prices

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Andrew Hatcher Blair Haralson Designers Hilltop Views is a weekly student newspaper published by the School of Humanities and serving the community of St. Edward’s University. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the university, whose mission is grounded in the teachings and doctrine of the Catholic Church.

Letter Policy: Hilltop Views welcomes all letters to the editor. Letters may be edited for space, grammar and clarity.

Letters will be published at our discretion. Anonymous letters will not be printed.

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These days, $10,000 doesn’t seem like a lot of money.

Sure, you can buy a moderately priced used car, furnish your apartment with class or get a cup of coffee from Starbucks every day for seven years. But in terms of college tuition, $10,000 is only a few drops in the bucket. Considering that the average cost of attending a public university in Texas is nearly three times that amount, even without living expenses, $10,000 won’t get you very far.

However, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has recently proposed a challenge to public universities in the state of Texas: offer bachelor degrees for around $10,000 in course credit and textbooks. This is supposed to be achievable through a combination of online classes, large cuts in higher education funding,

... in terms of college tuition, $10,000 is only a few drops in the bucket. credits for prior learning and textbook alternatives.

This specific plan for cheaper college degrees came from Bill Gates at a conference in Lake Tahoe, Calif., last August. Gates suggested that implementing new technologies on college campuses could help lower costs.

This will most likely prove to be easier said that done, though. In 2010, tuition at the University of Texas at Austin reached nearly $10,000—for only one year as an undergraduate.

There are some schools in Texas that are currently very close to the $10,000 mark. For the low, low cost of $9,168, you can get a Bachelor of Applied Technology

from Brazosport College, a community college in Lake Jackson. South Texas College and Midland College, two more community colleges authorized to award Bachelor’s degrees, offer the same degree.

Sounds great, right? Well, maybe if Midland College is your first pick and your dream job is working in applied technology. Unfortunately, it sounds a little too much like a degree that you get after calling a number on a daytime TV commercial.

Even if that is your best option for higher education, the Bachelor of Applied Technology might not be available for much longer. Those large cuts to higher education,

proposed to help relieve tuition prices, would cut many programs exactly like this one. Even more worrying, decreases in education spending would leave many public universities underfunded.

Just because Perry wants to cut educational spending doesn’t mean the expenses of operating a university or college go away. That money has to come from somewhere, and the cost would most likely be passed down to the students, raising their tuition instead of lowering it.

To give the governor some credit, he did present this idea to the public as a challenge, a reason for universities to think of innovative, cost-cutting measures to make the dream of higher education a reality for more students. But without a realistic plan for executing these ideas, a $10,000 college education seems more hopeless than challenging.

Page 16 | PHOTO ESSAY

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 | Hilltop Views

Views from Edinburgh & Beyond Photos by Andrew Willard Andrew Willard spent last semester studying abroad in Scotland at one of St. Edward’s partner institutions, Queen Margaret University.