(COUNTRY) GIRL POWER: Female artists steal the show with victories at the CMA awards.
CELEBRATE THE VOTE: MSU honors anniversary of 19th amendment with influential speakers.
npage 8
npage 4
Wednesday n November 17, 2010
CALIFORNIA BOUND: Soccer team earns a trip to Chico, Calif. for national quarterfinals, maintain lossless record.
npage 9
thewichitan
your university n your voice
President fields student questions at SGA meeting Chris Collins Managing Editor
Last week, the Staff Senate gave President Dr. Jesse Rogers a vote of confidence. Monday, the Board of Regents gave him their full support. But on Tuesday evening, students at the Student Government Association (SGA) meeting weren’t so accomodating.
Some students grilled him about MSU spending on the Harvey House property. Recently Rogers has faced criticism for paying an interior decorator more than $94,000 to furnish a mansion gifted to the university. Rogers met with students in a lecture hall in Bolin. The room was packed. “If you take one thing out of this room, it’s that you can al-
ways come back to us,” one student told Rogers. “You should come back and talk to us a little bit more to avoid miscommunication.” Rogers didn’t cut straight to the chase in the meeting, despite a room full of students who were eager to ask questions. He acknowledged that the issue of spending on the home was definitely on a lot of students’ minds,
but he didn’t get right to it – instead he spoke for about 20 minutes about his own collegiate career and how happy he is to serve as MSU president. Rogers likened the present controversy regarding the Harvey House to the situation MSU was put in when it was asked to change its team name from the Indians to the Mustangs. “It was a serious time. This is a
Close encounters with
junk from outer space The sky – or rather, orbiting debris – really did fall on art secretary Chris Collins Managing Editor
On the morning of Nov. 5, Jesika Fisher awoke to find her bed was on fire. Little did the secretary of the Jaunita and Ralph Harvey School of the Visual Arts know she was under attack by an object from outer space! “The first thing I became aware of was this orange light, and on my legs it felt like something was burning,” Fisher said. “I tear out of bed and realize the fire is still burning my bed,” she said. She stomped the fire out and started trying to figure out what exactly caught her bed on fire. Distressed, she called family members to help her investigate. Fisher’s brother-in-law noticed a hole in the top left-hand corner of her bedroom window. Something had plummeted through the screen, windowpane, drapes and curtain. Whatever broke the window then slammed into the opposite wall, gashing it, then fell on the bed, starting the fire. “We were like, ‘What the hell is that!?’” she said. That’s when Fisher called the police. Wichita Falls police officers, after investigating the room, supposed someone had thrown a bottle rocket at Fisher’s window. Officers found some metallic debris near the burn marks in the bed, but no
Jesika Fisher, left, displays the object that broke her window and lit her bed on fire Nov. 5. The object (above) was identified as manmade technology probably derived from an orbiting satellite. (Photos by Chris Collins)
bottle rocket. They weren’t too sure what the debris was or if it caused the fire. “The officer said he was going to retire in 10 days and that was one of the weirdest things he had ever seen,” she said. Fisher left her house, too freaked out to stay there. She tried to sleep but was awoken by a phone call from the WFPD. An officer told her the incident could have been the result of Rider/Old High vandalism. It was the night of the two schools’ annual football game. The offi-
cer said the case was being categorized as deadly conduct, a designation usually reserved for drive-by shootings. Unsatisfied with the conclusion, Fisher brought some of the debris to Dr. Pamela Stephens, chair of geosciences to investigate. The object was eventually deemed to be space junk, possibly a chipped-off piece of satellite. “I feel lucky,” she said. “It could have been a lot worse.”
serious time,” he said. “As time has gone on, the state has put less and less into higher education,” he said. “So students at this university have to pay more and more for their education.” At this point Rogers began to address spending decisions regarding the Harvey House, and how those decisions may have reflected on him.
“I am very saddened by the mistrust, the anger that has been directed toward me as a result of articles published in The Wichitan and the Times Record News.” He gave students the backstory of how the house was acquired from the Frank Harvey family and how the university attempted to deal with property. “It’s an asset, it’s a nice piece
See SGA on page 4
$300,000 invested in one MSU house Alyssa Johnston For the Wichitan
MSU has pumped $157,971 into repairing and renovating an off-campus house now occupied by a dean who lives there rent free. These expenditures exceed the $147,000 the university paid for the property in August 2009. In total, MSU has invested more than $300,000 in the 2,894-square-foot home at 3311 Taft where Dr. Barbara Nemecek, dean of the Dillard College of Business, lives. At the time of its acquisi-
tion, the residence was valued at $197,000. Since then, the value of most properties in Wichita Falls has declined. According to the Wichita County Appraisal District, the home is currently worth $132,863. Since 1996, MSU has bought 10 off-campus properties to expand its footprint. The Taft house is the priciest to date since the cost of renovations exceeded the purchase price. Of those properties, eight are located on Hampstead, directly
See TAFT on page 4
Regents reaffirm support for Rogers Brittany Norman Editor in Chief
Regents unanimously affirmed their continued support for President Dr. Jesse Rogers in a special board meeting Monday evening. MSU faculty and staff members, media representatives and visitors attended the meeting. The sole agenda item was consideration of Rogers’ status as president of the university. Two regents, Samuel Sanchez of Keller and Tiffany Burks of
Grand Prairie, took part in the session by telephone. Michael Bernhardt of Wichita Falls was unable to attend. Three individuals signed up to speak on Rogers’ behalf during the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting, which was held 12 days after The Wichitan published a list of expenditures on a house donated to Midwestern by the Frank Harvey family. Arnold Oliver, who served on
See REGENTS on page 3
Dean follows in father’s footsteps Chris Collins Managing Editor
Dr. Matthew Capps, dean of the West College of Education, is a lot like his dad. He shares his father’s features, mannerisms and interests. In fact, as dean of the college, Matthew is even working the same job his dad Emerson did for nine years. Emerson started working at MSU six weeks before Matthew was born. He worked as an assistant professor in the College of Education at the time. “I’ve been told we look a lot alike,” Emerson said. He thinks the two have similar personalities. Both are very interested in science and math, biology and the outdoors. They like to know how things work and researching the teaching process. At one time, Emerson even
Matthew and Emerson Capps stand in front of Ferguson Hall. (Photo by Chris Collins)
worked in the same office Matthew currently works in. “It looked kind of like this, but there was a stack of stuff there, and another stack of stuff there, and there… he’s a lot more organized than I am,” Emerson said, laughing. “He refers to himself as Young Dr. Capps and me as Old Dr.
Capps,” he continued. “I try to discourage people from doing that.” “I try to encourage it,” Matthew said. Matthew said he spent long hours of his childhood roaming the MSU campus. “I’ve been here since the day I was born,” Matthew said.
“I’ve seen how the building has changed, and I’ve seen how the campus has changed. People ask me how long I’ve been here, sometimes I say five years, sometimes I say 39 years. It all depends on your perception.” Emerson taught educational psychology and helped with the counseling program while Matthew was attending the program at MSU. Educational psychology, it turns out, was a required course for Matthew during his college career at MSU. “He taught one of the courses I had to take,” Matthew said. “Educational psychology is about how children develop. He would use stories about my brother and me growing up. He would tell these stories, and I was like, ‘That’s not the way I remember that happening.’ I asked
See CAPPS on page 5
Helen Hong. (Photos by Kassie Bruton)
Pint-sized comedian inspires big laughs Brittney Cottingham Features Editor
“If you believe everything about Asians, we are all math geniuses who give great manicures, love doing laundry and playing the violin. I’d like to meet this schizophrenic person,” comedian Helen Hong said. The University Programming Board (UPB) brought in the New York City comedian who
wowed MSU students Thursday night. Hong tackled taboo topics in other jokes to break the ice with the audience. “Talking about and laughing about sensitive topics like racial stereotypes is the only way to overcome them,” Hong said in an interview. “Most stereotypes are so ridiculous, it’s easy to make fun of them.”
See HONG on page 4