Inside
UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Newspaper of Lamar University
Vol. 92, No. 11 November 19, 2015
Lamarites reflect on Paris attacks Lauren Van Gerven UP editor On Nov. 13, the Western world was brutally awoken from its sense of security when the City of Lights was the target of a series of terror attacks. At the time of press, the four suicide bombings and six shootings have left 129 people dead, and 433 injured in the Paris attacks.
For several people on the Lamar University campus, including France native Celine Hodge, coordinator of Cardinal LEAD, and Caitlin Duerler, instructor of French and former resident of Paris, the attacks hit close to home. Hodge said that although she is from Toulouse, in the Southwest of France, she has a lot of close friends who live in Paris.
“I was at a conference when I first heard about it,” she said. “I was finishing the last session. My immediate reaction was to contact all my friends that live in Paris, to see if they were affected by it or not.” Eagles of Death Metal, the band that was performing at the Bataclan Theater where 89 people were killed, is one of Hodge’s favorites bands.
“I have a lot of friends that love music,” she said. “And I was afraid that some of them might be out there. They didn’t respond right away, but then Facebook has the ‘marked safe’ tab, which I saw probably two hours later, and was really reassuring.” Duerler, who lived in Paris from January 2014 to January of this year, said that her first thoughts went to her friends
AVANT GARDEN
currently living in Paris. “All the places that were hit, I knew people who lived there, or live there currently,” she said. “So, that was my main concern, connecting with the people I know. People on the street were affected. If you happened to be walking by at the wrong time, anyone could have See PARIS page 6
STUDY ABROAD PANEL SET FOR 4 P.M. Haley Bruyn UP staff writer China, Spain, England, Iceland and Japan. What do these countries have in common? They are all destinations for Lamar’s study abroad programs. Students who have previously participated in Lamar’s study abroad program will join in a panel to discuss their experiences, today at 4 p.m. in the Dishman Art Museum auditorium. Kevin Dodson, dean of the Reaud
UP Josh Aych
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‘Avant Garden’ thesis show to open Friday seum. “Each semester, the real beauty of the thesis project is watching the students mature and evolve their own work,” senior thesis art professor, Prince V. Thomas said. “It’s initiated by the students and the ideas are from the student. They’re evolving
Cedric Lyons II UP contributor The Lamar University Art Department senior thesis exhibition “Avant Garden” opens Nov. 20 with an Opening Reception from 6:30 p.m.8:30 p.m. in the Dishman Art MuLamar art student Sunni Forcier, right, prepares to hang her collage in the Dishman Art Museum, Tuesday. Kayleigh Thompson, above,hangs her photographs while the paintings of Brittney Drinkard wait to be hung. The students are part of “Avant Garden,” the senior thesis exhibition, which opens with a reception, Friday.
UP Kyle Swearingen
these projects in their own way.” Donna M. Meeks, chair of the painting committee, explains the concept behind the senior thesis project. “When they [students] do their senior thesis, they have to do a written paper and an oral defense where they defend their work in front of faculty,” she said. “The students get to pick two professors, one as the chair director of their thesis and one as a supporting faculty member. Then the two faculty members work with them one-on-one basis during the semester as they develop their work. “Prince Thomas, the teacher of note for senior thesis class, works with the students on the writing portion,” Meeks said. “Anyone doing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Lamar University, either graphic design or studio art, must do a senior thesis, and so it’s a graduation requirement. We like to think that it’s a very strong thesis program and it makes us kind of unique.” Meeks said she believes that it is going to be a very interesting show and the senior thesis is really wonderful and exciting for the art and design students. “Although it’s very demanding and gets on the students nerves a little bit, what usually happens is they come out with such wonderful art work. The art can be used to get a job, go to graduate school, or to present themselves as an artist to the world. So when they leave here, it’s not just
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‘Minions’ to launch finals week LAMAR ALIVE! TO HOST DRIVE-IN MOVIE EVENT Cobi Green UP contributor
The Lamar Alive! has announced a free drive-in movie night showing the film, “Minons” as its remaining
event for the Fall semester to be held at the Montagne Center on Tuesday, Dec. 1. The start time will be announced at a later date in November. “The movie ‘Minions,’ which happens to be a Pixar favorite in the hearts of most Universal Pictures lovers. This is the last event for us for this semester and we wanted to end things with a bang,” associate director of Student Activities, Kiet Le said.
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Organizers said they thought the concept of a drive-in would bring in students for an event they would enjoy. “This will be the first time we did a event like this in the end of the semester, but we have been doing many events throughout the semester, so we just decided to close out things in a big way. We are trying to See MOVIE page 2
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Christian Parker, senior student admissions assistant hands Tammy Salena, senior students records assistant her updated ID card.
Gray Library to update faculty, staff ID cards Brooke Stinebrickner UP contributor Gray Library is updating the ID cards for faculty and staff use. The switch will consist of changing from barcodes to the Banner L-numbers. “It is more identified, because when we look on the Banner we look at the Lnumber,” Kim Le, library supervisor, said. “Let’s say if they have a barcode but it does not have the L-number in our system, when we look at the Lnumber on the Banner, we have to search for the name. However, if we have the L-number in our system — all we have to do is put the L-number on the Banner and it goes a lot faster.” Le said the new cards will have the L-number encoded into them, making it easier not only for the library staff for also for the card user. “We have had staff who came in here with a lot of different barcodes because they have lost their card,” she said. See LIBRARY page 6
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