Fewer homeless children, chronically homeless in Denton NEWS: PAGE 4
THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018
VOL. 112 No. 13
NTDAILY.COM
Racist slur on receipt results in student outrage, firing By Zaira Perez @zairalperez A UNT student demanded Wednesday that the university close Krispy Krunchy Chicken in the Union after an employee typed in a racial slur on her receipt, according to a release from her attorney. Communications major Chelsea Shaw took to Twitter Tuesday to post a photo of a receipt obtained at 3:22 p.m. from a restaurant at the Union where the cashier typed “N*****” instead of her name. She tweeted she “[doesn’t] understand” and “needs answers.”
UNT Dining Services terminated the employee Tuesday after an investigation, according to a tweet from President Neal Smatresk. “From listening to discussions in social media, it appears as though assumptions are being made about the race of the person responsible,” Smatresk said in an email to the UNT community Wednesday. “It is important to know that both the customer and employee were the same race, and regardless of other societal views it is my belief that the use of this term is never OK.” In a video interview Tuesday, Bill McNeace, executive director of retail dining
services, said the person responsible for the comment was the cook at Krispy Krunchy Chicken. “When it became apparent that it happened, [the cook] came out [and] apologized to the manager,” McNeace told the North Texas Daily. In a Facebook post Wednesday, Shaw’s attorney Justin Moore said it was the cashier, not the cook, who handed her the receipt “instantaneously.” Shaw told Moore the cashier was not African-American — despite the information in Smatresk’s email — and that the cook nearby “never came close to a register,” according to the post.
At the time of publication, UNT had not commented on Shaw’s and Moore’s release demanding the closure of Krispy Krunchy Chicken nor had it released the name of the former employee. Moore said Krispy Krunchy Chicken has not reached out to Shaw to provide further explanation. Prominent civil rights activist Shaun King shared the post from Shaw’s attorney on his Facebook page Wednesday morning with the caption, “Nah. NOT OK. And it’s not a damn accident.” Shaw tweeted that she went to management before posting the picture
online and was told they were unaware who did it. “Our Mean Green family values respect and prides itself on inclusion,” Smatresk said in a tweet. “It is completely unacceptable and not who we are as a community.” Shaw did not respond to requests for a comment, saying on Twitter she only wishes to speak with Smatresk. Smatresk has since reached out to Shaw via Twitter to meet with her. Moore did not respond to a request for comment. Brianna Adams and Jade Jackson contributed to this report.
Tiny Couch with a big impact
Kara, Thomas elected after delayed results By Zaira Perez @zairalperez Muhammad Kara and Dominique Thomas won the Student Government Association spring 2018 election for president and vice president with 53 percent of the vote, according to the SGA Election Certification Addendum. Students cast 1,897 votes during these elections compared to 2,809 votes cast last year. Kara and Thomas are currently the SGA chief of staff and president of the Black Student Union respectively. Results were intended to be published Muhammad Friday but were withheld Kara pending a Supreme Court case appeal. “We started this journey with the hopes of uniting students of every religion, color and Dominique creed to radically change Thomas our campus community,” Kara said. “Because of [students] casting [their] vote, our students are mobilized to create a more inclusive, equitable and engaged campus community.” Kara and Thomas ran against SGA Senator Misaki Collins and Ipinowula “Ipi” Adedokun, the head manager for UNT’s Women’s Basketball team. “I want to thank everyone for the chance to run to be their SGA president,” Collins said in a statement to the North Texas Daily. “Although the election didn’t go in our favor, we are so happy that students had their voice heard in this election. My work isn’t over, and I’m excited to continue with my third year of serving students without an executive title.”
Tiny Couch Productions founder Bob Ralph, left, and audio engineer Jason Champion, right, sit in their home studio. Tiny Couch Productions is a new media company that is highlighting Denton musicians through live sessions. Paige Bruneman
DIY production creates intimate space for musicians By Amy Roh @rohmyboat Bob Ralph takes the “studio” in “studio apartment” a bit too literally. Ralph, a longtime Denton local and live music enthusiast, is the founder of Tiny Couch Productions, a space where Denton musicians can do live performances. Think NPR’s Tiny Desk Sessions, but a Denton version. “I just love music,” Ralph said. “But I had absolutely no talent. My father was a concert violinist. My oldest daughter is an outstanding violinist, but my sister and I, it skipped a generation. I’ve always enjoyed it, and I’ve
always been fascinated by the recording process.” The sessions are all filmed in his living room, complete with black makeshift curtains, studio lights, the tiny black couch and Ralph’s pullout bed pushed up against the wall. “In the venues, you’re at the mercy of the lighting or the sound guys,” Ralph said. “What was motivating was people who [take] cell phone videos, but the sound [quality] was awful. I thought there needed to be something between a cell phone video and a professional music video.” Since its inception, Tiny Couch Productions has served solely as a way to showcase the creativity and spirit of local artists in true DIY fashion.
“I’ve never had anybody come in here and slouch,” Ralph said. “The passion [and] the amount of work they put in [is what some] people don’t realize. They’ve [practiced] thousands of hours to get to the level they’re at. Just to be able to support that is very rewarding.” For Ralph, the passion of the artists is what keeps the videos running. “You know someone is doing something they love when they’re willing to convert their living space into their work area,” songwriter Matt Grigsby said. “He joked the last time I was there that soon he was going to have to give up his bed.” Before it was 940’s, Ralph co-owned Banter, a bistro
Supreme Court Appeal The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Kara and Thomas violated the Election Code by publicizing their campaign before the date approved by the Election Board. Collins filed the Supreme Court case on April 12.
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SEE SGA ON PAGE 3
UNT alumnus rides the waves of Adult Swim By Anna Orr @AnnaMOrr97
Women’s golf surges in C-USA final round | page 8 Sabina Pena and women’s golf shoot at the Maridoe Country Club. Their preparation led to a fourth place finish in Conference USA on Wednesday. Courtesy Rick Yeatts
Whether it be during childhood or adulthood, you have probably seen Nick Gibbons’ work. Before the UNT alumnus’ success on shows like “Jimmy Neutron,” “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” and Adult Swim, Gibbons’ career began on a college campus where he majored in art and minored in radio television and film. “I loved it, it was some of the best times of my life,” Gibbons said. “I wanted to be an animator, but the closest thing I could find was being an art major [while] also doing film and television.” During his college years, Gibbons took advantage of the chances he saw to learn more and found himself a home at North Texas Television.
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“We did a lot of stuff with the TV station and did something every other Saturday night that was on the air from 10-12 — we’d tape segments and get calls from viewers,” Gibbons said. “We had fun — we would shoot segments during the week and have little sketches.” Gibbons took TV and film classes, wrote scripts and preformed to help point him in the direction of where he envisioned himself going. Ironically, he dropped out of a screenwriting class after a week because he had “no discipline” for it. Gibbons used NTTV as a chance to get familiar with equipment he knew he would use in the future. With friends working in the equipment room, he was able to take advantage of the equipment and check out cameras whenever he wanted to.
A creative DNA In his last semester before graduating, Gibbons landed an unpaid internship with the animation studio DNA Productions. Gibbons confirms — yes, it is the “Hi, I’m Paul” three-eyed monkey. After Gibbons graduated in 1995, he joined DNA full time. “It’s funny because I can say UNT was the reason I got my first job,” Gibbons said. “From that live show [where] we did stick puppet theater.” At DNA Productions, Gibbons finally achieved his dream to work as an animator. He created content such as the intro for “Weird Al” Yankovic’s show and did animated shorts for shows like “Fat Man.” He says that with a small staff of just 15 people they were like family. However, two years later the small
SEE ADULT SWIM ON PAGE 7
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UNT’s Texas Academy of Math and Science to offer new artistic tracks pg 4 TAMS students will have the opportunity to pursue music, design, media or visual arts studies beginning in fall 2019.
Preview: North by North Texas pg 5 A look ahead at this year’s festival lineup hosted by UNT’s University Program Council.
Tennis is prepared for C-USA tournament starting Thursday pg 8 Entering as the six seed, North Texas meets UAB in the opening round and aims to make a deep run this weekend.
Movies could still be better at representation pg 11 The recent film “A Quiet Place” has the perfect amount of deaf representation, and it sets the bar high for future film industry standards.