North Texas Daily 3/1/2018

Associate Dean of Students, alumnus Rodney Mitchell dead at 45 NEWS: PAGE 2

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

VOL. 112 No. 7

NTDAILY.COM

City council weighs pros of tent cities

UNT’s women faculty earn 21 cents less per men’s dollar

By Devin Rardin @DevinRardin

By Lizzy Spangler @LizzySpangler Full-time female faculty at UNT make only 79 cents to a full-time male faculty’s dollar, according to January 2017 employee salary data from the UNT Faculty Senate website. This figure matches the state wage gap from April 2017.

“It’s not surprising at all,” French sophomore Naomi White said. “It’s actually lower than I would [have] anticipated.”

Nebraska, Illinois, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Washington had the same 21-cent wage gap as Texas in 2017, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families.

“That’s a ratio you find in a lot of industries,” said Adam Trahan, an associate criminal justice professor and member of the Faculty Salary Study Committee. “In other words, we’re regrettably typical when it comes to that figure.”

Data analysis methodology The statistical analysis program was used to analyze the data.

Before performing data analysis, department, college and gender information were added manually to the raw data spreadsheet to allow for a more in-depth analysis. The program found the wage gap by finding the difference in median salaries between males and females and dividing that resulting number by the larger median salary. In this case, the median refers to the salary at the midpoint of the data when salaries are organized consecutively.

College of Science, Information Data analysis showed the College of Science and the College of Information wage gaps surpassed the 21-cent state wage gap at 31 cents and 25 cents. The College

SEE PAY GAP ON PAGE 2

Illuminato’s factory finds UNT

By Camila Gonzalez @camila_deville Sparkling red letters spell out the word “FACTORY” in front of the tinsel that is draped down the wall. Young artists work with sewing machines, needles, thread and glue guns to recover what cannot be found.

This art exhibit gives new meaning to the phrase “lost and found.”

Michelle Illuminato’s Lost and Found Factory, part of the Mary Jo and V. Lane Rawlins Fine Arts Series, is currently on display in the Union’s art gallery. The installation began on Monday and will officially be on display from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, March 2.

“It’s a place where we’re inviting people to talk about things that they’ve lost and have artists hear their stories ... and really respond to them,” Illuminato said.

Illuminato lives in Portland, Oregon, where she works as an artist and professor at Portland State University. She has been

interested in combining art with social engagement from an early age.

As a kid, she and her friends made haunted houses and backyard carnivals for others to play and participate in.

The Pittsburgh native feels her Lost and Found installation is, in part, relatable to her childhood activities because, like her carnivals, it allows for creativity and social interaction. The first installation of Lost and Found was at the

SEE FACTORY ON PAGE 4

Top: A team of students create items students have lost as part of the Lost and Found exhibit. The exhibit is hosted by the Fine Art Series where participants say what they have lost and UNT students design it for them.

Bottom: A student creates one of the items a participant has lost. Kelsey Shoemaker

The Denton City Council discussed the future of tent encampments during their meeting on Feb. 13. Council members discussed sanctioning the encampments but did not come to a decision.

Council member Keely Briggs requested that The Denton County Homelessness Leadership Team conduct research on tent encampments Keely Briggs in Denton. The team presented their research to the council on Feb. 13.

The tent city research stated only 22 percent of the need for emergency shelter is being met, so homeless individuals turn to encampments.

The city has three options regarding tent encampments. They can close the encampments and clear everyone out, issue regular cleanups and provide support through sanitation resources or take no action and continue to monitor the camps.

“Until we find places where we can put people, the solution isn’t to put them in a tent,” Mayor Chris Watts said. “[The question is] how can we find Chris Watts a place where people can actually have a roof over their head? [They need to] have shelter from the elements and have some sense of self-confidence and begin to build that self-confidence to reemerge into society and be selfsustained.”

The Monsignor King Outreach Center provides 90 beds for the community and The Salvation Army provides 36 beds. That means many of the 695 people on

SEE HOMELESS ON PAGE 3

Kutubidze’s competitive fire shines in junior campaign

By Deondre Jones @deondrejones34 With a straight face and a deadly forehand, Tamuna Kutubidze is not the friendliest player to go up against.

The junior comes from the country of Georgia, a place that favors the sport of rugby first and foremost.

While it’s not the physical sport of her home country’s choosing, her aggression and stern attitude on the tennis court is all the same.

Junior Tamuna Kutubidze completes a serve. Josh Jamison

NEWS

While living in an apartment in Tbilisi, Georgia, Kutubidze noticed her 60-year-old neighbor, David, hitting a tennis ball off of a wall. He was friends with Kutubidze’s parents but did not know Tamuna too well. One day, David invited her to join and before long she fell in love with the game.

Kutubidze and David formed a close relationship to a point where she thought of him as a grandfather.

“We were so close, and he died [about] three years ago,” Kutubidze said. “I would just go to his house and we would talk about tennis all the time. I thank him for where I am right now.”

She began practicing by herself and eventually went into the academy to master the sport, but she did not exactly start out on top.

“Until I was 11, I couldn’t win any of the matches,” Kutubidze said. “I was kind of a loser in tennis at the beginning.”

The wins eventually started to come and, as a result, so did the attention from universities.

In 2014, she played in her first professional tournament where she made it to the quarterfinals.

North Texas assistant coach Jeff Hammond wasted no time and reached out to her about playing at North Texas after seeing her potential. Her father, who is a plastic surgeon, visited the state of Texas many times and had great experiences, which made North Texas an attractive destination for her.

After only talking for two weeks, Kutubidze knew her heart was set on North Texas.

Mean Green tennis head coach Sujay Lama felt there was a strong connection between the coaching staff and Kutubidze from the beginning.

“Obviously it felt like she was the right fit for us and I think she felt the same way,” Lama said. “It’s been a perfect marriage and we’re just thrilled to have her on our team.”

But Kutubidze had to make adjustments when she first arrived on campus.

“I really didn’t know what I was doing and how

SEE KUTUBIDZE ON PAGE 6

A guide for an active shooter situation pg 3 UNT police and the Office of Emergency Management share their steps to being safe in the case of an active shooter on campus.

Police said engaging with the shooter should be a last resort.

Entrepreneurship junior Albert Harris raps at a rap cypher hosted by the University Program Council on Feb. 26 at the Library Mall. Sara Carpenter

Cypher sounds: local rappers take part in UPC’s campus freestyle

By Nikki Johnson-Bolden @nikkijobo At 7 p.m. on Monday, UNT’s Library Mall was relatively quiet.

The sun had gone down, and the flock of people who usually congregate around Willis library had gone their separate ways.

The only people passing through seemed to be on their way to study with a caffeinated drink in hand.

Just an hour later when UPC members arrived with a DJ and sound system, the deserted Library Mall came alive with a little help from a thing called rap.

IN THIS ISSUE

ARTS & LIFE

UNT’s hidden figures: Mama Joyce pg 5 For the last 13 years, Joyce Nixon has created a unique experience for students in several dining halls across campus.

SPORTS

The flood of students who had arrived to the sound of beats from both classic hip-hop songs and remixes were encouraged to crowd together as the first three rappers delivered verses about everything from student loans to personal relationships.

Clarissa Medrano, UPC’s live music coordinator, proposed the idea of hosting a cypher after noticing the music on campus was all of a similar genre.

“A lot of the influences that we have here are primarily indie,” Medrano said. “[There’s] more of a rock feel here in Denton. I wanted

Two redshirts continue to strive towards improvement for men’s basketball pg 6 Mark Tikhonenko and Jahmiah Simmons provide promising future for McCasland as season comes to a close.

to implement some newer things, some more diverse music. Doing a cypher was definitely different than just having an indie band.”

Rapper and sophomore Alejandro Cervantes engaged the audience by asking people to suggest words for him to rap about, resulting in verses about everything from biscuits to soap.

“Rapping has always been something I just did for fun,” Cervantes said. “We’d be at the library and instead of actually studying we’d start making a beat, and I would just start spitting.”

OPINION

SEE CYPHER ON PAGE 4

This year’s Oscars will be like no other pg 8 The Oscars air this Sunday, and we are excited to announce that this year’s Academy Awards will be like no other, including the fifth women director to ever be nominated.

NEWS Page 2

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

NTDAILY.COM

North Texas Daily Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Kayleigh Bywater @kayleighbywater Kayleigh.Bywater@unt.edu Managing Editor Kayla Davis @kaylajeann19 KaylaDavis@my.unt.edu News Editor Sarah Sarder @sarderrr Sarah.Sarder@unt.edu

Denton community members gathered at Emily Fowler Central Library on Sunday for Daughters of Abraham. Ashton Sackey

Daughters of Abraham meets for first time

Arts & Life Editor Alec Spicer @Spicer_Alec AlecSpicer@my.unt.edu

Women’s group promotes Christian, Muslim and Jewish unity

Opinion Editor Nina Quatrino @ninaquatrino NinaQuatrino@my.unt.edu Visuals Editor Jake King @King_Jake1st JakeKing@my.unt.edu

Production Team Design Editor Kelly Fox @kellythefox1 KellyFox2@my.unt.edu Designer/Copy Editor Marshall Cearfoss @JustMarshalling MarshallCearfoss@my.unt.edu Designer/Copy Editor Kaitlin Pennell @k_itlinn KaitlinPennell@my.unt.edu

A group of more than 20 women met at Emily Fowler Library Sunday afternoon for the first meeting of the Daughters of Abraham in Denton. The interfaith group is for women of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths to join together to increase cultural sensitivity and promote religious understanding.

The first group was started by Edie Howe, a Massachusetts attorney turned peace advocate, after she sat and prayed with women of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths on the evening of 9/11. She then decided to form a book club of women from the three Abrahamic faiths, which has met since 2002.

“It was initially a book club, and they’re still meeting, and they’re still discussing books,” said Emanda Johnson, one of the creators of the Denton group. “It is our hope that we can have a discussion group which can

be more inclusive of visitors. So, if we have a topic, people can come in and enjoy it, but if they haven’t read a book, then that’s a little of a problem, and it can feel exclusive.”

The Denton chapter of the Daughters of Abraham was started by Johnson, Janie Cindric and Carol Foote. The trio is affiliated with St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Denton. Johnson’s husband is the rector at St. Barnabas, where Cindric and Johnson have been members for four and 40 years respectively.

“We felt there was a need in our area for it,” Cindric said. “When I first heard of Daughters of Abraham I just felt that I needed to be a part of it.”

Cindric and some of the women in attendance previously attended Daughters of Abraham meetings in Fort Worth and wanted to make it more convenient for women in Denton to be a part of the organization.

Business senior Moniba Ijazi, president of professional Muslim

UNT College of Science, Information gender pay gaps exceed Texas average PAY GAP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Designer/Copy Editor Kiera Geils @KieraGeils KieraGeils@my.unt.edu Copy Intern Becca Stetson @beccastetson rebeccastetson@my.unt.edu Social Media Manager Kenli Gunter @kenliiiii KenliGunter@my.unt.edu Senior Staff Illustrator Austin Banzon @Austinbanzon99 austintroybanzon@my.unt.edu

Business Director Adam Reese 940-565-4265 Adam.Reese@unt.edu

Faculty Adviser Gary Ghioto 940-891-6722 Gary.Ghioto@unt.edu

To pitch a story, or contact the Editor-in-Chief, please email northtexasdaily@gmail.com

CORRECTION In the Feb. 22, 2018 edition of the North Texas Daily, it was printed in the article “UNT employee under fire for comment about ‘reverse racism’” that a resolution was “supported by about 103 other senators.” The correct number is 13. The Daily regrets the error.

Three more adults from Denton County died from the 2017-18 influenza, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle. This brings the county flu death toll to 12.

One of those 12 included a child. Denton County Public Health Assistant Director Juan Rodriguez told Record-Chronicle the department recommended vaccinations for all persons over 6 months of age.

By Sean Riedel @SeanRiedel

of Science employed 28 percent female full-time faculty, and the College of Information employed 65 percent female fulltime faculty as of January 2017.

“I don’t think that surprises me,” said Dalia Chowdhury, an assistant professor and co-chair of the Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of Women (CSW).

“This is something that is a work in progress, and this is something that is very much noted.”

In only two colleges is the wage gap a negative number: the College of Education and the Mayborn School of Journalism. The fulltime female median salary for these colleges is higher than the men’s.

The College of Business and the College of Engineering have the highest overall median salaries at $139,762.57 and $116,677 while the college with the lowest overall median salary is the Mayborn School of Journalism at $61,860.

Resources to succeed as important as salaries “I think that sometimes the resources are even more important than the salary,” said Angela Nievar, an associate educational psychology professor and member of the Faculty Salary Study Committee. “Because if you’re teaching more classes than everyone else, if you aren’t given space for your lab in comparison to men, then you’re not able to excel, you’re not able to publish, you’re not able to get grants.”

In their priority recommendations for 2014-2015, the Committee on the Status of Women identified resources as one of four main recommendation categories and said, “We suspect that teaching and service responsibilities are disproportionately undertaken by women, but data analysis by

Trump challenges NRA The Associated Press reported on Monday that President Donald Trump is willing to take on the National Rifle Association over gun legislation. The Republican-controlled Congress prefers modest changes to firearm regulation. After a shooting at a Florida high school in February which left 17 dead, Trump suggested arming teachers, making the minimum age to buy assault rifles 21 and upgrading background checks.

sorority Mu Delta Alpha, said it is nice to have people of different faiths and backgrounds come together.

“I think it’s a pretty cool concept because unity is really important, and I think in the midst of tensions, it’s really nice to have people come together and not have those tensions,” Ijazi said. “I think it’s also kind of like an educational opportunity because I myself identify with the Islamic faith, but I know aspects of Christianity and Judaism but not as much as I would like.”

Ijazi talked about cultural understanding on campus and UNT’s Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity.

“That’s something that the university has taken initiative toward to bring about acceptance, and helping to promote that diversity,” Ijazi said.

“Not just the fake kind where it’s just, ‘We want people of this kind of religious background and this specific race,’ but it’s actually helping you fit

Rodney Mitchell: From hall director to associate dean

By Devin Rardin @DevinRardin

Infographic by Lizzy Spangler gender is needed.”

Chowdhury said the CSW talks about resources all the time, as it comes up over and over again.

“As an assistant professor, this is something that I personally am much more invested in,” Chowdhury said. “I think this is something that has to be a part of the public discourse.”

Sharing salary information could help “I think we all need to talk about our salaries,” Nievar said. “I think that if we are more open about our salaries then people will realize that some faculty are getting less than others who perhaps aren’t making as big a contribution.”

Speaking on advocacy, Chowdhury said it is essential for male faculty to advocate for the female faculty in terms of getting equal pay.

“Advocacy is the root of all change,” Chowdhury said. “We need to advocate, we need to talk in public, we need not to just keep silent because, when we keep silent, when these issues are silent, then they continue.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

Denton Parks and Recreation gains new director

Denton City Manager Tod Hileman appointed Gary Packan as director of Denton’s Parks and Recreation department, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle. He will be replacing interim director Laura Behrens on March 26. Behrens has served as the director since December 2017. Packan has been the assistant director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Arlington since 2007.

into the university no matter what you identify as.”

The first meeting had a lightness to it as the women shared personal stories relating to their religious journeys, and many joked about the overrepresentation of St. Barnabas parishioners. Of the women in attendance, more than half were Episcopalians from St. Barnabas and others were of Catholic, Islamic and Presbyterian faiths.

There were no women of Jewish faith at the meeting, something Johnson and others expressed they would like to see change at the next meeting.

“There are no Jewish sisters here,” Johnson said. “We’re looking for our third sister, our elder sister.”

The next meeting is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 25 at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, and future meetings will take place at the members’ respective places of worship.

For more information, email DentonDaughters@gmail.com.

UNT’s Associate Dean of Students Rodney Mitchell, 45, died in his sleep Sunday night. The cause of his death is unknown. “[Mitchell’s] smile and the way he helped students was infectious,” Dean of Students Maureen McGuinness said, who worked closely with Mitchell.

“I can’t think of a better man that I’ve ever known in my lifetime.”

Mitchell has been associate dean since 2013, helping students with withdrawals, issues affecting them in school and student hospitalizations.

Mitchell started the UNT food pantry and was the director of the TRIO program, which helps lowincome students overcome class, social and cultural barriers. Mitchell also worked with a number of students before they entered college through the Upward Bound program.

“Rodney was big on helping people,” McGuinness said. “He had a very caring heart. He would do anything for anybody.”

McGuinness knew Mitchell for 20 years. In 1997, they were hall directors together at College Inn. She said he was selfless and helped students who faced many obstacles in school.

“

He was definitely one of the best men that ever walked the face of this earth.

“

Sports Editor Matthew Brune @mattbrune25 MatthewBrune@my.unt.edu

Three more flu-related deaths in Denton County

Before the first meeting of the Denton chapter of the Daughters of Abraham, Janie Cindric leads the group in prayer.

Courtesy | Jake King/DRC

“He just didn’t have a bad bone in his body, and his impact was immense in this institution,” McGuinness said.

Mitchell obtained his Bachelor of Applied Arts Sciences and Master’s in public administration at UNT. Survivors include his wife, Melanie Mitchell, who works at the UNT Learning Center, and a son, who is in middle school.

“He was definitely one of the best men that ever walked the face of this earth as well as this institution,” McGuinness said.

Rodney Mitchell. Courtesy UNT

UNT to host largest trumpet competition in US

UNT will host 600 trumpet players for the 26th annual National Trumpet competition on March 8 through 10, according to the university. The event will take place at several locations across UNT and include performances from guest artists such as the One O’Clock Lab Band and North Texas Wind Symphony. The event is free to the public.

No bail hearings for immigrants The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that detained immigrants will not have bail hearings, according to the New York Times.

The vote was 5 to 3 with the conservative members of the court in the majority.

American Civil Liberties Union Legal Director Ahilan Arulanantham said he will show the lower courts that the hearing violates the due process clause, the Times reported.

By Devin Rardin

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 3

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

Spring online enrollment sees increase from 2017

By Jacqueline Guerrero @gagaart1 Online spring enrollment at UNT has increased by almost 17 percent since spring 2017, according to the university. The university’s total spring enrollment is holding steady overall, a UNT spokesperson said.

Courses are being taught online and transitioned into hybrid classes — a mixture of in-person and online classes — at UNT due to recent trends, UNT spokesperson Kelley Reese said.

“UNT is offering more courses online because demand is increasing,” Reese said. “More students want more options to choose from to help them get their higher education in a way that is convenient to them.”

As of February 2018, 16,013 students are enrolled in online classes at UNT, a 16.6 percent increase from spring 2017 when only 13,738 students were enrolled in online classes. Not only has the amount of students increased but the number of online courses has as well.

In spring 2017, there were a total of 377 online courses provided through the university. In spring 2018, there are 411 online courses.

With courses being partly or fully

online, students have the opportunity to do class work like quizzes, discussion posts and exams at their own pace. One of the generally recognized benefits of online classes is they may provide commuters more time to focus on class work rather than finding a parking space or worrying about traffic when traveling to UNT. History junior Carson Paroline has taken several online courses during his time at UNT. “They allow students to have more flexibility in the work schedule and they’re more convenient,” Paroline said.

Other students like new media art junior Katelyn Hudson prefer taking online courses for the expediency and leniency. She said she feels there is “less stress” when compared to in-person classes because she can complete assignments on her schedule, not the professor’s.

“It’s no surprise that more students are taking online classes because, in my experience, they are easier,” Hudson said. “I have more time to complete assignments, and I can use my notes while I take quizzes and tests.”

Though the number of online courses and students enrolled in online courses is increasing, UNT’s spring

enrollment has stayed “essentially flat from spring to spring” semesters, Reese said. Students normally enroll or transfer to the university at the beginning of the fall semester, Reese added. “[It] is typical as many students do not start their college experience in the spring, but the university graduates a large number of students in December at the end of the fall semester,” Reese said. “Which is also why spring enrollment is less than fall enrollment.”

UNT’s spring 2018 enrollment is nearly equal to fall 2017. As of the official spring head count (12th day of class), 35,465 students are currently enrolled, whereas 35,494 students were enrolled in fall 2017.

Spring enrollment increased by 455 people from spring 2016 to 2017 and increased almost 1,000 students from 2015 to 2016, according to the UNT Factbook.

Psychology senior Bridgette Small will take her first online class in summer 2018.

“I have never taken an online class before,“ Small said. “I’m trying online classes so that I don’t have to commute and I assume that is why many others are taking online classes as well.”

Infographic by Tate A. Owen

UNT departments offer guidelines for action in case of active shooter

By Zaira Perez @zairalperez Of nine major school shootings that have occurred in Texas since 2010, four were at institutions of higher education.

UNT Police and the Office of Emergency Management handle emergency situations other than fire and disaster preparedness.

Together the departments offer emergency guidelines and training for situations involving active shooters, bomb threats and hostage situations.

The Office of Emergency Management and UNT Police suggest taking the steps below in an active shooter situation.

Volunteers at the Monsignor King Outreach Center in Denton place new bunk beds inside the shelter in May 2017.

Courtesy | Monsignor King Outreach Center

Denton City Council discusses status of homeless tent cities HOMELESS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 the priority housing list do not have shelter.

“The city’s No. 1 priority is public safety and that includes the people in the encampments and the people around the encampments,” said Courtney Cross, director of homelessness initiatives at United Way. “It can be difficult to gauge whether or not they are a threat to the public but it’s where people can find community and feel safe.”

In 2015, Watts suggested creating a homelessness task force, in response to which the city took a collective impact approach. The Denton County Homelessness Leadership Team was formed in 2016, which brought many organizations together to combat the issue.

“This city has done a tremendous amount of work in the last three years,” Watts said. “The city of Denton has taken a very strong lead in doing something about [homelessness].”

The United Way of Denton serves as the backbone for the team whose goal is to make homelessness a rare occurrence.

Other organizations involved include the Mental Health and Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Authority, The Salvation Army, Giving Hope, the Denton County Homelessness Coalition, Journey to Dream and Our Daily Bread.

“We think that the synergy that comes from people working together is a lot stronger than people working alone,” said Dani Shaw, Denton’s human services coordinator.

Representatives from United Way and human services also updated the city council on Denton homelessness initiatives.

They discussed updates to the coordinated entry system and a new fund.

The presentation said the city provided $925,000 for the issue in 2017 and 2018.

Coordinated Entry Coordinated entry

systems

provide communities with information on the needs of people experiencing housing crises.

The local system was developed to assess the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Denton County. People experiencing homelessness are encouraged to visit one of the seven participating nonprofit locations to take a 1015 minute assessment.

This helps connect them with resources and gather information on housing need.

The data from coordinated entry are kept in a centralized system so all participating agencies have access to it.

“We know top to bottom what our homelessness population situation looks like,” said Gary Henderson, executive director at United Way. The most recent results for Denton’s coordinated entry system are from Jan. 11, 2018.

The system found 695 people who are put on a housing priority list as of that date. Those individuals are divided into three categories based on need.

There are 154 people in need of immediate alternate housing arrangements. This involves small cost-effective solutions that are usually not permanent.

There are 388 people in need of rapid re-housing, a process which involves moving individuals or families into permanent housing as fast as possible.

The remaining 153 people are in need of permanent housing with support. These people need long-term housing and support to stay housed.

“I believe housing is a human right,” Cross said. “You can’t expect someone to maintain stability through employment or other ways if their sleeping situation is denied and uncertain.”

Barriers Fund The City Council presentation updated the city leaders on the new barriers fund, which is a three-pronged approach that helps agencies house families.

The fund works through family support, landlord outreach and community outreach.

“The biggest need for this community is housing for homeless families,” Watts said.

Landlords may be hesitant to provide housing to some individuals due to criminal and credit history. The fund offers financial assistance for landlords who are contemplating housing a family. “[The fund] will help with risk mitigation, getting people housed, keeping them housed and additional costs for supportive services like helping people who are going to school to increase their income,” Cross said.

Cross said if landlords are worried that someone has an eviction on their record or a broken lease then the fund can offer a double deposit. She also said if a lease is broken, the fund can cover 60 days of rent.

“It’s really a way to further advocate for families seeking housing but also speak the language of the real estate world who have a bottom line and a business model,” Cross said.

Shaw said homelessness is a complex issue because people are homeless for many reasons and there are different avenues to getting them housed. She said each individual person needs different resources to be served. “[The community should] recognize that people experiencing homelessness don’t meet the stereotypical views,” Shaw said. “Knowing that everyone who is experiencing homelessness started, probably, just where they are. Not to see them as different but people who are in a different situation.”

Resources People experiencing homelessness can go to the following locations and participate in coordinated entry: Salvation Army Denton, Monsignor King Outreach Center, Giving Hope Inc., Our Daily Bread, Journey to Dream, Denton County MHMR and St. Andrew’s Church.

Get out Leave the area if possible.

Individuals should have an escape plan ready.

Leave all belongings behind and try to help others escape too. Try to keep others from going to the area where the active shooter may be.

Hide If evacuating is not possible, hide.

Ideal hiding spots should also provide protection in case shots are fired in that direction. If that is not possible, make sure the hiding spot is out of the shooter’s sight. If the hiding spot is in a room, lock the door if possible and make a blockade with heavy furniture.

Engage The departments only suggest action if an individual is in imminent danger.

They suggest trying to take out an active shooter by throwing things or improvising weapons. They

also recommend committing to actions.

“I think that means if you’re trying to do something like harm [an active shooter] or injure them, you can’t fake out,” psychology junior Rachel Lyles said.

The Office of Emergency Management also focuses on their Emergency Readiness Training, which touches on a variety of topics including severe weather, active shooter training and medical emergencies and response. “[The training] is very brief as far as that goes,” said Major Youngblood, an international risk control coordinator. “It’s meant to highlight all emergency situations on a [basic] level, introducing them and getting you some different information.”

Another training hosted in conjunction with Medical City Denton is Stop the Bleed, a national campaign that trains individuals on how to stop bleeding while waiting for professional help. These trainings are meant to be useful in any emergency situation where someone is bleeding out. The last session was held Feb. 20.

“A lot of cases in an active shooter event, a lot of individuals could have survived, but they may bleed out,” Youngblood said. “[We teach] how to be the first responders for the actual individuals who are close to the individuals who are injured.”

During the training, they are taught how to stop the bleeding on a fake wound.

The Office of Emergency Management also offers certification for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The course costs $35 and is certified by the American Heart Association (AHA).

Training session turnout ranges from three to four people on average.

UNT will host Responding to an Active Shooter training on March 21.

Rodney Martin guides Will Pingry on how to apply the pads from a defibrillator Friday afternoon at a fire extinguisher and AED class.

Kathryn Jennings

FOR YOUR

VEHICLE MAINTENANCE

We Do State Inspections

ARTS & LIFE Page 4

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

Mane and tail: Laid locks by Lara In addition to her at-home wig and hair styling business, accounting sophomore Lara Anibire is also a beauty and lifestyle vlogger on YouTube and often posts tutorials for makeup and hair. TJ Webb

NTDAILY.COM

Rap cypher changes the pace of UNT’s hip-hop music scene CYPHER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Accounting student creates hair business out of home

By Amy Roh @rohmyboat If your wig has been snatched, Lara Anibire will be happy to sew it back in for you. Literally.

“You know how people loved Barbies and would dress them up?” Aninire said. “I did not want to dress them up. I just wanted to do their hair.”

Sitting in her apartment, the accounting sophomore fiddles with a Styrofoam head covered in tiny metal pins and mounted onto an old tripod for maximum mannequin-like quality. As a hairstylist, this is where she spends most of her days and long nights — braiding hair, sewing wigs and finishing products ready to be shipped out to her many customers.

Over the course of a few years, Anibire has built a hair business out of her own home, providing services to both locals and out-of-state customers as well.

“It’s just crazy how [hairstyling] started as a hobby ,but now it’s my source of income,” Anibire said.

Anibire was born in Nigeria where, as a child, she stood out among the other children due to her distinct interest in hair. Anibire’s mother Victoria says after discovering this, she encouraged her daughter’s passions, often buying her different types of dolls to experiment with.

“When you notice a child doing something good, you have to encourage her,” Victoria said. “In those days when I traveled and used to go to Paris, I’d buy very big dolls, some as tall as she is. She really trained herself.

She just wanted to try something, and when she tried, she got it right.”

At age 10, Anibire moved to the United States, a change that drew her even closer to hairstyling.

“I would still play with my Barbies,” Anibire said. “I was still new to this country so I [kept] more to myself and my family.”

Once she moved to Texas during her freshman year

of high school, Anibire started doing sew-ins, a type of weave that is sewed into the hair instead of being glued onto the scalp. She says she charged only $30 for each, a choice she visibly cringes at now. But this was just another stepping stone that led to her business.

“When we were in high school and she did my hair, she did it so good,” close friend Zuri Sheppard said.

“We were so young I didn’t know people that young could do hair so [well].”

Anibire said the business truly started forming last year when she was a freshman. Because most freshmen live without a car and shop around Denton, Anibire started to gain customers due to her prime location — her room in Kerr Hall.

“I had friends from Garland and other schools come here,” Anibire said. “It was crazy because they were driving an hour to get their hair done in my dorm.”

Her customer base grew, and now in her sophomore year, Anibire has cultivated a social media following on Twitter and Instagram, with customers posting their hair with the hashtag, #LaidByLara. She also manages her own beauty and lifestyle YouTube channel, which has also drawn attention to her styling.

“The way [the customer] looks depends on you,” Anibire said. “That’s kind of scary but also thrilling because they look so much better, their face is pulled back and lifted.”

Customers can choose from a range of options, from different types of braids and sew-ins to dreadlocks and faux locks. Anibire factors in the cost of hair, which can range in quality depending on her selection of vendors: Happy Hair, Beautyforever, Kendra’s Boutique and Nadula Hair.

“For sew-ins and wigs, if I’m not buying the hair, it’s usually $80 to $120,” Anibire said. “But if I have to buy the hair, it can be $250 up to $400. Braids start at $80, and it can go up to $140.”

Anibire says being able to financially support herself has played a very important role as a college student

and daughter.

“My parents pay for my tuition,” Anibire said. “I don’t have loans or financial aid or anything like that, so it’s really out of pocket. Even if sometimes we have money problems, I can help out because I have my own hair business and I can put money back into their pockets.”

From sewing and braiding to dyeing hair, the work itself is a time-consuming process. Anibire said braids take up between six to seven hours, whereas dreads can take up to 12 hours, and sew-ins take up two or three.

As a heavily involved student, this requires a delicate balancing act.

“I try not to do hair every single day because I have schoolwork to do, I have YouTube to do, I have orgs, but I really try to balance it,” Anibire said. “Even sometimes I work on hair until three in the morning, wake up late for classes but you know, that’s the life.”

Even small things others might not consider, like having short nails, factors into the process as well.

“I had my nails done, and I had to break every nail off,” Anibire said. “You cannot have long nails and try to do hair, it’s just not going to work out.”

However, Anibire said she plans to continue the business after graduation with her accounting degree as a safety net.

“I just want to know I have a degree if I have to use it,“ Anibire said. “Of course, I‘m going to use it in some aspect, like money budgeting, but if I can open up my own hair business I would definitely do that instead of working under somebody.”

Though she has been doing it since childhood, Anibire continues to grow and learn about her work day by day.

“There’s always progress to be made,” Anibire said.

“There are hair stylists that I look up to on Instagram, and they are so good, and the fact that they’re still trying to get better at their work is motivation just to get up there.”

The size of the tightly packed circle grew as the rappers traded the microphone back and forth. Some people in the audience were familiar with the music and ritual-like event of the cypher and freely danced and cheered on the rappers. Others who were experiencing it for the first time either stood completely still or steadily bobbed their heads to the music while taking it all in.

Among the crowd was freshman Selena Coronado who considers herself a fan of rap but had never had the opportunity to attend a cypher before this.

“I like it,” Coronado said. “It’s really lively; really loud. People seem to be enjoying it.”

At one point, the sound cuts off for a about a minute, threatening to bring silence back to the now exuberant library mall. However, it’s not long before the instrumentals of Jay Z and Kanye West’s “Otis” picks up where it left off, and so did the cypher.

Despite being the first live cypher she rapped in, one of the participating rappers who goes by the stage name Qween X Fenti, was immediately at home “I’ve been rapping since I was small but only been taking it seriously for the past year,” Qween X Fenti said.

While Fenti doesn’t plan to pursue a rap career, she doesn’t intend to stop anytime soon.

“I believe hobbies are something you really want to do for the rest of your life,” she said. “So for me, hip-hop and rap is a hobby, but I want to hold onto it forever.”

Medrano hopes to present another cypher with UPC next semester, but the possibility of that happening rests mostly in the hands of those that attended on Monday.

“If we have a good turnout and if people enjoy this, then I will definitely propose it for next semester,” Medrano said.

Given the size of the crowd and the high level of energy, the possibility of another cypher at UNT might not be ruled out. In fact, the cypher brought people together and even turned some of the bystanders into hip-hop stars for at least a few minutes.

Entrepreneurship junior Albert Harris raps at a rap cypher hosted by the University Program Council on Feb. 26 at the Library Mall. Sara Carpenter

Lost and Found’s nostalgic characteristics resonate with students FACTORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Three Rivers Arts Festival in Illuminato’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It also received an award from Americans for the Arts. “[The award] gave it this honor of being one of the most compelling pieces in the United States,” Illuminato said.

Her other exhibits include The Neighborhood Revisited (displayed in Pittsburgh), Pop Rocks (displayed in New York) and Lenz (displayed in Darmstadt, Germany). Illuminato brought the exhibit to UNT after Mike Flemming, arts coordinator for the Fine Arts Series and Union Arts, invited her to showcase her work. She also previously worked with UNT professor and sculpture coordinator Alicia Eggert at Alfred University.

Illuminato does not have a specific source of inspiration for this project. She said her work usually involves “engaging in structure,” and with Lost and Found specifically, she wanted to give something back to people. Illuminato also said she does not believe ideas only come from one place, and that she tends to be

Visitors of the Lost and Found factory view the items specially created for those who have lost items. Kelsey Shoemaker

inspired more by things she reads and researches than by the works of other artists.

“Sometimes as an artist you come up with an idea just because you want to see something exist,” Illuminato said.

This exhibit is a form of social practice art. It is considered a relatively new art form, so Illuminato was not able to study it when she went to art school at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

UNT sculpture professor Justin Archer has students participating in the installation because he feels this kind of art will add to their learning process.

“Social practice art aims to engage the audience either in the making of art or in the process of understanding and participating in the creation of art,” Archer said.

Archer also thinks the participation in this exhibit will especially help those in Sculpture I and II “get their hands dirty.” He also said many young artists feel that because they labored over a project, they must protect it and keep it.

“There’s this idea that what we make is precious,” Archer said. “I had to learn to let that go a long time ago.”

Helping people find their lost objects in the creative process is what is most rewarding for some. Biomedical engineering junior Hayley Cooper came to the Union to do homework and passed by the factory. Originally intrigued by its sparkly decorations, she was soon sitting on the floor filling out one of the exhibit’s lost object forms.

The form asks what the object is and gives participants space to describe the item and even draw it. Cooper lost her leather wallet her friend gifted her, which she described as “this weird blue cat on it with a ladybug shell.”

“The money was a bit of a bummer to lose,” Cooper said. “But it was mainly that it was sentimental. It was the first gift I ever got in college.”

Sculpture professor Justin Archer explains the process of the Lost and Found exhibit. The Lost and Found is an exhibit hosted by the Fine Art Series for participants to tell what they have lost, and UNT students design it for them. Kelsey Shoemaker Although she didn’t know what to expect to find, she was optimistic.

“Hopefully [I get] a new wallet,” Cooper said. “I can’t find one I like.”

When students fill out their forms, they receive numbered tickets. They keep one half while the other is attached to a bag. Once the item has been made, it is photographed and then placed in the bag. The bags hang on a wall, which is already about halfway filled with items like shoes, a camera and a ring.

As of Tuesday, the factory has produced about 140 items. Illuminato wants students to know they will likely only make 200 total, so anyone who wants to find an item should come visit the exhibit as soon as they can.

Along with the graduate and undergraduate students who work in the factory, Illuminato said there will be guest artists on Friday during the official exhibit. She estimates there will be about 130 artists total working in the installation.

Although students are not receiving the exact same thing they once lost, Illuminato sees beauty in the concept of trying to recreate it.

“Even though it’s a metaphorical object, someone’s carefully thought about their story, responded to it and generously made [the item] for them,” Illuminato said. “That can then be a physical thing that allows that memory to exist again.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

NTDAILY.COM

Page 5

UNT’s hidden figures: Mama Joyce brings charisma to Bruce As the daylight creeps steadily across campus, the hungry slew of sleepwalking students make their way toward the cafeterias. This underwhelming routine consists of piling food on a plate and kickstarting the morning with a cup of coffee.

Unbeknownst to them, a smiling face at Bruce Hall Cafeteria takes in the scene with pride.

Joyce Nixon is a cafeteria worker and manager of Bruce. “[Joyce] truthfully cares about the students — not just the students coming in through the door but the student employees as well,” said Andrew Klipsch, Bruce general manager.

She greets each individual with a smile, responding to a chorus of “good mornings” from students that have affectionately coined her as “Mama Joyce.”

Though her position keeps her busy with important tasks, she is never too busy to interact with those who walk into her cafeteria. Having worked at UNT for more than 13 years, Klipsch describes her as “someone who believes in leading by example [and] is never afraid to jump in and get the job done.”

While many cafeterias on campus can claim with confidence that the charismatic personality of Joyce contributed to the inner workings of their staff at one point,

“

He also attributes his success as a hard-working individual due to Joyce’s insight as a mentor. Even now, as a senior close to the finish line, he makes an effort to visit Mama Joyce as often as possible.

Although Oluwagbemiga no longer works in the cafeteria alongside his greatest inspiration, he holds her lessons close to his heart forever.

With a smile that stretches to reach his eyes, he attempts to convey her importance to him.

“Even when she tells you that you’re doing something wrong, it’s not out of hatred — it’s out of love because she sees that you can do better,” Oluwagbemiga said. “As a result of having someone like that above you in your workplace, you [gain] a whole different mindset of what a job [well done] can do, and you keep looking forward to your best self and looking forward to seeing her.”

This is a common conclusion echoed by Joyce’s past and current coworkers.

“Though some students think she’s tough, she’s [only] that way because she cares about them,” Klipsch said. “There are some students who love Miss Joyce, and some students who don’t know what they’re getting into with her because [they’ve] never had an adult figure who holds them to a [high] standard.”

In fact, Joyce prides herself on holding her students to a high standard.

“Just because this is a cafeteria [doesn’t

“

By Xaviera Hernandez @xavierahndz

She’s a hard worker — don’t let the gray hair fool you, she really knows how to get the job done.

Joyce also means business.

“She’s a hard worker — don’t let the gray hair fool you, she really knows how to get the job done,” UNT senior Joshua Oluwagbemiga said.

Oluwagbemiga has known “Mama J,” as he refers to her, since his freshman year. For a time, he alternated working in different cafeterias, yet was always drawn to working at Bruce with “Mama J.” He recalls three different instances in which he returned to Bruce to be reunited with whom he considers to be a great motivator for him.

mean that you won’t learn] life skills, and life skills transfer everywhere,” Joyce explained, as she delves into her methods for challenging students.

Having grown up in Decatur, Illinois, in the ‘60s, she recounts how different the times were back then. As a teenage student, restaurants were the only workplaces available to her. There weren’t existing programs that allowed for coexistence of schoolwork and career.

Though she couldn’t work as much as she would have liked due to this, she still learned many valuable lessons she now

“Mama” Joyce Nixon serves a student a sandwich during the lunch hour rush. West Cafeteria has a section of its cafeteria named after Nixon, which serves Southern homestyle food. Rachel Walters imparts on her subordinates.

Joyce comments on the cyclical nature of wisdom, noting that the women in her workplace inspired her through knowledge they acquired from their own experiences. Now she gets to share her own experience-based wisdom with her students.

“If you don’t challenge them, what are they going to do when they get out into the workforce?” Joyce said.

These lessons have apparently paid off, as one of her former students wrote her a card after he graduated from UNT that read, “I thought you were just being so hard on me, but then I realized you were teaching me how to be organized and on time.”

As her voice swelled with pride, she elaborated that this same UNT alumnus now works for Ford Motor Company’s corporate office.

“When he came back, I told him — I said — ‘If you wouldn’t have learned how to work and be organized, and if you were late — man, corporate America doesn’t care,” Joyce said. “’That’s your fault.

[You’ll] get terminated.’ [And that’s what] you gotta learn early on here [at Bruce].”

Due to the things Joyce has experienced, she has never let anything stand in her way.

“Mama” Joyce Nixon manages Bruce Hall’s cafeteria and its’ employees. Joyce is known for leading by example and teaching life skills among students. Rachel Walters “I’m female,” Joyce said. “I’m African.

So all those things, instead of playing for [me], they played against. There was just so much going on in the ‘60s — women who didn’t work were wanting to work.

It wasn’t easy. But you just keep on going and you don’t stop and, whatever comes along, you deal with it and keep going.”

Through all of the inspiration she has spread across UNT, she is still bewildered by the impact she has caused and is even

confused as to why people would want to read her story.

But, Klipsch insists her story is one that needs to be told.

“I don’t think that there’s [just one] thing you should know about her,” Klipsch said.

Though her job consists of students asking her for things daily, all she asks for in return is their best.

CLASS OF

2018

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR GAP YEAR

Interact with INDUS TRY PA R T N E R S All Majors Welcomed

11 Month Program G M AT / G R E

waived with a 3.5 GPA

Learn more and contact us at bit.ly/untmbainfo

EARN YOUR MBA IN

March 1

9am 9am - 8pm

99¢

Winter

Clearance Sale

1701 Brinker Road • Denton, TX 76208

www.thrift-giant.com www. w th w. t ri rif ift ftt-giant. t co t. c m

SPORTS Page 6

NTDAILY.COM

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

International redshirts showing potential

By Asher Feltman @asherfeltman The connotation that comes with redshirt players inspires potential in collegiate sports. Whatever the reason — transfer, eligibility, injury — ­­ redshirt players are prized commodities for a college team as they learn and are coached for an entire season without squandering a day of eligibility.

Two of the redshirt players on the men’s basketball team this season are Jahmiah Simmons and Mark Tikhonenko.

Simmons is a sophomore redshirt transfer while Tikhonenko is a true freshman sporting a redshirt for the Mean Green.

Both players are key parts of the future for head coach Grant McCasland’s program and both also followed him from Arkansas State, along with assistant coach Jareem Dowling, affectionately referred to by Simmons as “Reem.”

“Coach Reem is basically our connection,” said Simmons, who was coached by Dowling with the U-17 U.S. Virgin Islands team. “We both came with him, so we had that connection.”

In his freshman year at Arkansas State, Simmons averaged 6.4 points and five rebounds across 25 games, starting nine of those. Afterwards, he decided to go a little further west from his Saint Thomas roots in the Virgin Islands and follow McCasland, who took the head coaching position at North Texas.

“Their relationship [with Dowling] is really the core to our recruitment in them,” McCasland said. “It’s all about relationships, and Miah was so close with coach Reem that anywhere Reem went that’s where Miah would go [to play]. Then Mark was someone we were close with, and he expressed interest immediately in going wherever we went.”

Simmons was born in Saint Thomas, an island away from Dowling’s home of Saint Croix, and he played high school ball in Pace, Florida. His international

roots are something he shares with his fellow redshirt teammate, Tikhonenko.

Hailing from Moscow, Russia, the 6-foot-10-inch freshman has seen the world at a Johnny Cash-esque rate. His basketball journey began in Russia before making stops in Spain, Tennessee and most recent, Mt. Zion Prep Academy in Maryland before settling in Denton this year.

Originally slated to attend Arkansas State, Tikhonenko met Simmons on his visit in 2016. The two knew they would eventually share the court together, but with both redshirting this season, their only court time together comes in the form of running scout team for the active roster at practice.

In the meantime, valuable lessons are absorbed everyday, especially by Simmons, who is using the off year to transition from playing forward to guard.

“I’m just watching,” Simmons said.

“I’m playing a new position this year so while I’m on the side, I just try to pick up what they’re coaching Ryan [Woolridge] and the rest of the guards and try to learn from that. Basically, I’m just watching film and getting experience. I’ll be ready next year.”

Being on the sidelines during the game is a different experience for both foreigners, but Simmons knows it is only temporary.

“I want to be ready to take on that moment,” Simmons said. “I just want to be prepared for that first game [next year]. I don’t want to look back and have any regrets like I should have worked harder during my redshirt year.”

Tikhonenko’s basketball roots are deep. His father, Valeri Tikhoneko, was an Olympics gold medal winner with the USSR in 1988, won three silver medals at the world championships and was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks. His mother, Victoria Tikhoneko, played for the U-20 Kazakhstan team.

After some visa issues and geographical

Jahmiah Simmons (10) participates in a dunk contest against his fellow Mean Green men’s basketball team members. Madison Gore uncertainty, the big man has found a home. The next step is around the clock preparation.

“I’m just trying to play as much as I can,” Tikhonenko said. “I didn’t have a lot of playing experience the last three years.

The majority of the time I’m trying to get basketball shots, game shots, get some penetration going.”

Tikhonenko played on Russian U-16 and U-18 teams, and Simmons was voted best small forward at the FIBA Centrobasket tournament in 2015.

As both wait their turn during the 2017-2018 season, the road to 2018-2019

is one fought more than just physically.

“When the team is gone, you have to mentally push yourself to go to the gym and work,” Tikhonenko said. “You can’t just sit down and get out of shape.”

While Tikhonenko is hard at work improving his lateral quickness and setting screens, Simmons is preparing for his position change. Simmons knows how important his shooting will be next season at the guard position and his drive shows every day.

McCasland has been able to see their progression over the season and is excited from the glimpses he’s seen in practice.

“It starts in the weight room first and foremost because that’s where they spend a bulk of their time,” McCasland said of their development. “Both have gotten in really good shape and their skill level has continued to improve, and we’ve been able to see that first hand in practices when they’ve gotten opportunities to compete.”

At the end of the day, one common goal unites the two redshirt players and the program as a whole.

“I want to do everything for my team to win,” Tikhonenko said. “I just want to win.”

Hockey’s winning season cut short

By Stefan Washington @stefans_world97

Tamuna Kutubidze successfully returns a hit during singles. She is 2-0 this year. Josh Jamison

Competitive background drives Kutubidze’s play KUTUBIDZE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 college worked,” Kutubidze said. “I was hitting with all my power and it took me a long time to adapt to everything, but I think I’ve improved as a player and as a person.”

During her freshman year, Kutubidze was named a First Team Conference USA selection in singles and doubles along with three match-clinching victories, a team best.

In her sophomore season, she established a formidable duo with fellow sophomore Maria Kononova. Together they set program records with 17 doubles wins and a .944 doubles winning percentage.

Kononova loves the connection they share on the court, and their chemistry usually yields wins as they finished the 2017 spring season ranked No. 58 in the country as a doubles team.

“When I play doubles with her, I feel she’s on the same page as me and we can perform really well,” Kononova said. “Being right next to her was important and we pushed each other to get better.”

The recent fall season was different for Kutubidze.

She admittedly did not have the type of success she was accustomed to, and as a result she made the decision to stay in Denton during the winter break and practice everyday.

While most take time off and go home or relax, Kutubidze’s fighting mindset from her home country refused to let her be content.

“She’s a fierce competitor and has an incredible game,” Lama said. “She’s probably got one of the biggest forehands in college tennis. The good thing is she wants to maximize her god-given talent, and it’s up to me to make sure she has the opportunity to be the best that she can be.”

She’s started her fall season 5-2 in singles play and has been consistent in the No. 2 spot for the team against any opponent.

Both the coaches and Kutubidze agree that consistency will be key if she wants to continue this solid start and take the next step. She’s already set records for this program, but she continues to strive for more dominance on the court.

Perhaps more important to her, though, is being a good leader on and off the court as she is now an upperclassman. Her serious and competitive nature appears intimidating as soon as she steps on the court for a match or even practice, but she hopes it does not come off the wrong way.

That’s just who she’s been her whole life on the tennis court.

“That’s how I was raised. If it’s support, being a leader, or pushing my teammates, that’s just who I am,” Kutubidze said. “People always assume that because I have this straight face that I’m mean, but I’m actually a good person and teammate.”

The ice hockey team at North Texas finished its regular season with a 20-8 record, good enough to make the playoffs.

The team eventually qualified for the regional round until their run was cut short, but not by another team.

The team was unable to play in the game because they did not have the money to afford the trip to Utah.

“It was kind of expensive [to go to regionals],” senior defender and team president Daniel Schulman said. “It was snowy heading there, so we didn’t want to drive because that’s kind of dangerous.

We had a certain amount of time to get all this money together, and as soon as we won we had two weeks to get the money.

We started a GoFundMe and things like that, but we didn’t have time to get all the money.”

Schulman also expressed missing regionals came as a loss of exposure for the players.

“If we could have played at regionals there would have definitely been some scouts there,” Schulman said. “In Texas, regular season games don’t get that much attention.”

The monetary challenge the team faced to end their season was just the tip of the spear in terms of problems for the team despite having a successful year. Junior defender Michael Misantonis knows first hand the issues with a club team having to travel frequently, especially a team without a plethora of money to spend.

“It’s hard to get the full team out on longer trips, for instance, like El Paso,” Misantonis said. “It’s kind of hard for guys to come, especially during test days. We would have missed two to three days of class. The school helps in certain circumstances depending on how far it is, [but] we pay a tax.”

While the difficulties of expenses made it a struggle to continuously put the same team on the ice week after week, it is not a new issue for them. It is one they have come to accept.

“Last year we didn’t have that many people on the team, and we had to fight just to keep the program alive,” Schulman said. “ Some games we had eight people, and we traveled to Texas Tech only bringing six. So we had Tech’s backup goalie play forward for us.”

The predicament of playing a sport seriously but not being on scholarship and missing class for days at a time is the base of the problems all competitive club teams face. And it is no different for this team.

“We didn’t travel very well,” head

coach Ronnie Kennedy said. “It’s a tough thing when you’re doing a club sport. It is supported by the school, but is it really fully supported by the school? When you have the situation of traveling to El Paso and possibly missing two days of class, it sucks.”

However, none of this needs to take away from the season the team had. They finished their season winning their final nine games in the second semester and gained momentum throughout the season.

“The mindset going into the season was, ‘Let’s make this one better than last year,’” Kennedy said. “We had very low numbers the year before, so right from the get go we knew we would have a lot more players [this season]. We did well last year with not that many [players], so I said, ‘Let’s see what we can do with a bigger team. Let’s build on what we started.’”

The team had the leading scorer in the nation in senior forward Andrew Keane who finished with 37 goals. He also finished seventh in the nation in total points with 72 from 37 goals and 35 assists.

While the team had a few standout performers, leading to their improved season, Kennedy was also impressed by the team chemistry shared between the players this season.

“We were just able to find players that

North Texas Ice Hockey celebrates a goal. Courtesy

[work together],” Kennedy said. “I don’t want to say instant chemistry, but they were just able to work with each other extremely well. You could see it in practice on certain drills. It also helps that a lot of these players are from Dallas and knew each other prior to joining the team.”

As a team, the numbers may always be in question, but they won’t allow that to stop them going forward. It is just another hurdle they had to get over to reach their potential this past season.

“Going in, you always expect to be competitive,” Misantonis said. “You don’t really know how many new guys come out, so you have to kind of play it by ear a little bit until the first game. Right after we figured out the full squad, expectations were pretty high for the rest of the season.”

Misantonis also mentioned injuries as being the final obstacle for the team to overcome.

While the season did not end on the terms they were hoping for, the team remains proud of their accomplishments and looks forward to continue the success moving forward.

“You hope it just builds,” Kennedy said. “You hope that people see what we have here works. I hate to boil it all down to winning, but that’s what’s going to get people to come here.”

NTDAILY.COM | PAGE 7

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

Black History Month inspires conversation

North Texas defensive back Ashton Preston (27) sacs Texas-San Antonio senior quarterback Dalton Sturm (14) on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017. Jake King/DRC

Mean Green Women’s Basketball head coach Jalie Mitchell talks to her team during a timeout in a game against Texas A&M International. Madison Gore

By Jordan James @JordanJamesTV It was Martin Luther King Jr. who famously said he dreamed of living in a world where people are not judged by the color of their skin but the content of their heart.

Nearly 55 years after he gave that speech, three individuals at North Texas are fighting to keep his dream alive.

While most of head coach Jalie Mitchell’s time is spent focusing on her women’s basketball team, she is still unable to ignore the racism plaguing this country day after day.

“It’s really unfortunate and sad,” Mitchell said. “I feel that we should be able to live in a world where everyone is equal and everyone is able to walk down the street without being categorized or without statistics running through people minds or without fear.”

During Black History Month, most people spend this time looking back in history and learning about those of color

who made an impact. King’s name is often brought up in the conversation because of all that he accomplished during the Civil Rights Movement.

Just as King was able to use his voice to spark change and a movement, Mitchell believes it’s important to keep the conversation regarding racism going in America. “[Racism] is so prevalent,” Mitchell said.

“I think the excuse is that you get tired of it because people been talking about for years and years, but I think you have to because the racism still exists. There are things of that nature that still go on, the profiling and the violence, so we will keep talking about until it’s solved.”

Mitchell believes it’s important to reach her players on other levels beyond just basketball. She welcomes conversations about race and anything else society deems controversial.

“I totally support them standing up for what they believe and them having a voice,” Mitchell said. “That’s important for anyone to have for you not to feel like you have to be silent on issues that you feel that

strongly about.”

Being silent about issues affecting society is not an option for men’s basketball player sophomore Roosevelt Smart. He leads the team in scoring on the court and is ranked seventh nationally in total threepointers made with 104.

As conversations continue about athletes’ roles in society, he believes it is important for people to be open-minded when it comes to them using their platform to speak out.

“Even though we’re athletes, we’re still human at the end of the day,” Smart said.

“We still have minds and our own opinions about things we need to touch on. A lot of people aren’t doing it, but when we do it a lot of people look up to us and helps everyone get involved.”

As Black History Month comes to an end, Smart cherishes all the lessons he learned in his youth about those historical figures that helped paved the way for him. This month is significant to him because it allows the world to see all the sacrifices and trials that people of color have endured.

Holston expands two-way role

By Matthew Brune @Mattbrune25 Head coach Grant McCasland has been creative in his first season at North Texas. Due to injuries and a fairly young team, he has often played unique lineups and changed rotations as well as starting lineups throughout the season.

Perhaps none have worked as well, though, as when McCasland put 6-foot-7-inch guard Allante Holston at the de facto center position and surrounded him with four players at least three inches shorter. This occurred on Feb. 3 against Rice University for the final 10 minutes of regulation.

It resulted in a comeback win for the Mean Green, and it served as a much needed reminder to everybody why Holston is so distinctly important to this team.

“He’s got a unique length, size and athleticism to him that makes him a versatile defender where he can guard multiple positions,” McCasland said. “He also has a good defensive awareness of where he is on the court and where his teammates are on the floor.”

Holston is tied for the best defensive plus/minus rating on the team with sophomore guard Ryan Woolridge and continuously shows his defensive impact by typically guarding the other team’s best wing when he is in the game.

His impact on that end goes beyond his adequate one-on-one defense.

“Where he’s made the biggest impact for us is on all of our different schemes defensively,” McCasland said. “He’s able to execute them and we can put him in a lot of different spots which has been hugely helpful. [Offensively] he’s bought into a role, and he understands even though he can [score], it may not be what the team needs, and he picks his spots of when he does [attack].”

Holston averages the second least amount of shots on the team per 40 minutes at only 6.4. He is 5 of 13 from three on the season, and while he has hit shots late in the clock, he is constantly looking for ways to make the game easier for his teammates.

Usually, once he catches in the paint, he instantly scans for surrounding shooters before putting the ball on the floor for his own shot as a last resort.

“I just try to get everyone else open,” Holston said.

“If I have to set a screen, attack the basket, draw the defense to kick out to the open person for three, I try to do that.”

He has been able to do that for the duration of the season, starting only 12 of the teams 29 games, but playing the fourth most minutes on the roster.

“He plays out of his area, and he rebounds out of his area,” sophomore guard A.J. Lawson said. “He plays guard and post so he can guard the bigger guys and the smaller guys, which really helps us defensively when teams decide to go small on us.”

Holston has played the most career games for the Mean Green of any player on the current roster, but he has never been a scorer. However, his role on the team feels larger than last year though.

The team’s defense has also improved, going from 222nd in the country last season to 157th this year.

He has gone against the best wings in Conference USA and went against Kevin Hervey, one of the top forwards in the country from the University of Texas at Arlington earlier this season. It has all equaled an even smarter and sharper mindset to go along with his physical capabilities.

“I have a bigger role, but I just try to do what I can to help my team win,” Holston said. “I’ve learned a lot [as a defender], everybody plays a different style, so I’m learning how to guard guys if they can shoot, if they are stronger. It’s been a learning experience for me.”

The defensive side of the ball is where Holston is a game changer on a nightly basis, but his offensive role as a utility player of sorts has been expanded

by McCasland. As a coach, McCasland has been able to put his players in positions to have success and Holston is no different on offense.

“He has athleticism, and he can play above the rim,” McCasland said. “He’s such a good slasher and a good straight line driver, and the other thing he does is he gets offensive rebounds. He’s one of those guys who sacrifices his body to get the basketball, and that’s where he’s been our biggest help offensively — his offensive rebounding.”

The only flashy part of Holston’s game is the occasional ferocious dunk he can throw down either off an alley-oop or a deep catch in the paint. Besides that, though, he prefers to keep it simple, which has been crucial to his team’s success this season.

“I just try to do anything I can to help [the team] win,” Holston said. “Rebound, box out, defend or help my teammates get more open shots and easier paths to the lane. Whatever the team is missing, I try to fill that missing piece.”

Growing up, Smart watched films about people like King and Rosa Parks, causing him to feel a sense of pride, knowing what they went through so he and other people of color could have more freedoms.

As issues about police brutality and racism become more prevalent within the African American community, Smart knows he can always turn to his teammates to express his concerns with what’s going on in the world.

“We’re a family first,” Smart said. “If we have something to say or on our minds or anything, we can come talk as a group or individually with the coaches or between the players.”

Just like Mitchell and Smart, senior football player Ashton Preston will not let anything stop him from speaking out on social issues important to him. On the field, he is known as one of the vocal leaders on defense, off the field he has gained a reputation for his involvement with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Black Student Union.

Inside the North Texas locker room, players are not afraid to converse about race and other social issues. Preston welcomes those types of conversations because it is an opportunity to hear a different perspective.

“It’s not necessarily a black versus white thing,” Preston said. “It’s more of we try to educate each other on why certain things

happened. You kind of learn a lot about a lot of people on your team. You kind of just help grow them as far as understanding both sides.”

Preston was heavily influenced by his father growing up, who ultimately pushed him to take interest in human rights activist Malcolm X. After years of studying his work, he has started to adopt an any means necessary mentality which comes from a speech by Malcolm X that he applies to his daily life.

Whether he is playing football or focusing on academics, Preston is a firm believer in finding a way for his dreams to come true.

“Every black man that you see walking this campus is beating a statistic in itself,” Preston said. “A lot of black men aren’t able to make it to college. [The fact] we even made it here is a huge step into something that we should definitely be proud of and want to strive even more to graduate.”

Former president Barack Obama once said, “Your voice can change the world.”

Despite the changes not being apparent to these three at this moment, they will continue to fight for what is right and refuse to be silenced.

“I do believe that though statistics may never fall in our favor, I embrace the struggle,” Mitchell said. “No matter the skin color or skin tone, you can accomplish whatever you set your heart and mind to do.”

WHERE

FRESH & FAST MEET ®

WE DELIVER! VISIT JIMMYJOHNS.COM TO FIND A LOCATION NEAR YOU

North Texas junior guard Allante Holston (5) shoots during a game against McNeese State. Jake King/DRC

OPINION Page 8

THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

NTDAILY.COM

This year’s Oscar Academy Award nominees include minorities

By Spencer Kain @spencer_kain The nominations for the 90th Oscar Academy Awards on March 4 were announced a couple of weeks ago and finally, and for the first time in a while, a diverse selection of nominees have been recognized for their talents.

For the first time in a long time, we have a diverse group of directors nominated for their groundbreaking, unique works.

American actress and director Greta Gerwig is only the fifth woman to ever be

nominated for directing. Comedian and actor Jordan Peele is the first-ever AfricanAmerican director to be nominated for directing, writing and producing in the same year. He is also only the fifth African-American to ever be nominated in the director category.

I could not be happier the likes of Gerwig and Peele are the faces of change in a year where diversity was needed.

In a post-Weinstein world, the film industry as a whole has completely changed, and the most prestigious award ceremony celebrating film will certainly have an entirely different air to it. I could only hope host Jimmy Kimmel will have a field day with some brutal jokes slandering the disgraced executive.

The nine Best Picture nominees are something to celebrate, too. “Lady Bird” is a female-led, female-directed story about motherly love, “The Shape of Water” is a love story between a fish man and a mute woman and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is about a woman

seeking justice for the murder of her daughter by calling out the lack of effort from the police department. In any other year, these movies would not have stood a chance at even being nominated for Best Picture. Now, they are the frontrunners to win.

The 90th Academy Awards is already

shown to be full of new and unique nominations, ushering in a wave of new storytellers and bonafide performers.

Below are my predictions for the three categories I feel will make the most difference in this year’s award ceremony.

Check out the full version online at ntdaily.com.

Spencer’s Predictions Best Picture What will win: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” What should win: “Call Me By Your Name”

Best Actress Who will win: Francis McDormand for “Three Billboards” Who should win: Margot Robbie for “I, Tonya”

Best Director

Illustration by Austin Banzon

Who will win: Guillermo del Toro for “The Shape of Water” Who should win: Greta Gerwig for “Lady Bird”

Let’s talk about those photoshopped Confederate monument photos Continuing to give voice, thought and physical space to an image representing a terrible time in American history, plagued by hateful dehumanizing rhetoric, does not serve the larger purpose those who decided to keep the monument claim it does — even if there are modifications to show how bad slavery was.

Keeping the Confederate statue will always stand for the Confederate cause. No matter how people try to frame it, a monument of that kind, particularly one with such strong connotations like that of a Confederate soldier, will always be overshadowed by its original message: slavery.

What historical significance does it really have? The first thing most people think of when they see any sort of Confederate memorabilia is slavery, no matter what an individual believes it stands for. It’s about responsibility

By Maritza Ramos @maritzarara A photoshopped smiling black boy can be found in photos for the sample design modifications of the Confederate monument on The Square.

Apart from the bizarre nature of this, hoping this action will somehow make the refusal to remove the statue better is insulting. It is contradictory to keep a Confederate statue in an effort to show how “far” Denton has come.

and seeing the full picture.

The strongest historical argument is that slavery was not the true reason it was initially erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and it’s argued the statue is meant to honor America’s veterans. However, research shows that these statues were put up during times in American history when African-Americans were attempting to assert their civil rights.

Considering the Confederate statue in Denton was erected in 1918 — a full 53 years after the war ended but during which Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan were terrorizing black people — the “honoring veterans” assertion is iffy. Why weren’t these statues erected immediately after the war? Why did veterans suddenly become so interesting at this time, as opposed to right after the war, when the effects were so apparent?

There are better ways to honor veterans — like caring for them physically, emotionally and psychologically after they’ve served. But that’s a whole other issue.

Including the picture of the black boy is a half-hearted attempt at compensating for the lack of amends the monument decision itself actually makes.

Better ways to show how far America has come and the work we still need to do would be honoring civil rights activists, popularly Martin Luther King Jr., or perhaps someone from Denton or the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It’s strange to want to continue voicing the wrongs committed through the voices of those who orchestrated them.

There is no one better to tell this story than those who overcame the hardships presented to them.

Including the image of a black boy

is not doing the work. It is putting an offensive patch over the fact that no real effort is being made to truly right history’s wrongs.

A statue of someone who fought tirelessly for the rights of black people in America, who showed excellence and humanity, will always be 100 times better for a black child to see than a Confederate statue somehow

meant to “disparage” or “caution” America’s racist legacy by, reversely, bringing attention to it and not the people who overcame it.

It is time for another voice to be given a stage, one that historically has been silenced and underappreciated. This statue does not do this, even with its photoshopped black child.

One of the proposed modifications to the Confederate monument. Courtesy

SUMMER MUSIC COURSES IN THE UNT CORE 3-Week I (May) MUET 3030

5W1

MUED 1130 MUJS 3400 MUMH 2040 MUMH 3000 MUMH 3500

5W2

MUED 1130 MUJS 3400 MUMH 1610 MUMH 3010 MUMH 3510

Music Cultures of the World

MUSIC.UNT.EDU

Foundations in Music (for College of Education Students) Understanding and Appreciating Jazz in U.S. and World History and Culture, ONLINE Music Appreciation, ONLINE Nineteenth-Century Music Music History and Literature to 1750 Foundations in Music (for College of Educations Students) Understanding and Appreciating Jazz in U.S. and World History and Culture, ONLINE Music as Communication Twentieth-Century Music Music History and Literature Since 1750

唀一吀 匀琀甀搀攀渀琀 吀椀挀欀攀琀猀 ␀㄀