Taking the Title
woman discovered dead in street NEWS: Lewisville Page 2 Students compete for prizes at song-writing contest ARTS & LIFE: Page 3 Day celebration missed the point VIEWS: Earth Page 6
Tennis team finishes dream season as conference champs Page 8
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
News 1,2 Arts & Life 3,4 Sports 5,8 Views 6 Classifieds 7 Games 7
Volume 95 | Issue 53
Sunny 73° / 49°
UNT System selects new vice chancellor BY A LEX CALAMS Staff Writer
The selection committee for the newly-created position of UNT vice chancellor of academic affairs and student success announced its decision today. The committee selected Rosemary Haggett, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Toledo. She will begin on June 1. UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson expressed his excitement about the System’s selection in a prepared statement. “Dr. Haggett’s expertise, background and leadership as a provost, dean, and research administrator will be critical assets,” Jackson said. “I am enthusiastic about her ability to provide strategic academic leadership and direction for the ... System.” UNT announced last month that it was searching for a candidate to fill the new position to provide assistance to Jackson last month. “I think that this position fit well with my background,” Haggett said. “I look forward to working with the chancellor and the institutions to help make the entire system greater than the sum of its parts.” Hag get t w i l l resig n a s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Toledo, a position she’s held since July
2007. R e y Rodr ig uez, assistant v ic e c h a ncellor of the UNT System’s Austin-based ROSEMARY gover n ment HAGGETT relations office, served as chairman for the committee that selected Haggett. The committee used a jobconsultation firm that identified “more than 60 highranking university administrators from throughout the country,” Rodriguez said. Haggett’s résumé of qualifications ultimately set her apart from the other competition, he said. Haggett started her professional career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1988. At the height of her work, she spent three years as the department’s director of its animals, nutrition, food safety and health divisions. While teaching as a science professor at West Virginia Un iver sit y f rom 1994 to 2007, she became the second woman to serve as dean to the University of Toledo’s College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences for three years up to 1999.
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Drug Disposal Day
PHOTO BY DREW GAINES/PHOTOGRAPHER
Denton County residents brought their unused and expired medications to the Denton Drug Disposal Day on Saturday. The event was organized with the help of the city of Denton, UNT, Denton County Sheriff ’s Department and Waste Management. “What we are doing is trying to get the unwanted, unused and expired medications out of homes to help prevent accidental poisonings and possibly the drugs falling into the wrong hands,” said Victoria Hodge, the Denton household hazardous waste supervisor. Residents came to the Professional Office Building on the Denton Region campus to drop off their unwanted drugs. Drivers who came through the drive-thru were asked seven survey questions before they dropped their drugs into five-gallon buckets. The survey included questions about why people came, how they previously disposed of their drugs and how people learned about the event. About 114 cars came through and about 370 pounds of pharmaceuticals were collected, said Duane Huggett of the biology faculty.
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Denton ranks No. 1 in Texas for Census response BY K RYSTLE CANTU Staff Writer
Of all the cities in Texas, Denton was the first Texas city to equal its Census response rate from the year 2000. The Denton’s response rate from the 2000 Census was 67 percent. There is a 72 percent response rate for the new Census so far, and a higher percentage is still possible. “Denton did what it needed to do,” said Joy Donovan-Brandon, a Census spokeswoman. “It saves taxpayers a lot of money if people will mail back that form. It’s really good to get that number up there.” A national press conference will be held Wednesday with Robert Groves, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, in which he will announce the final mail back response rate. “They’re still tabulating this,” Donovan-Brandon said. “The numbers could change.” The enumeration process starts Saturday. The process includes Census representatives going door-to-door to households that haven’t responded. “We just ask that everyone cooperate with them,” Donovan-
and campaigning toward the Census. This program was started early around Denton. Cen su s represent at ives asked the mayor to form the “complete count committee.” Rudy Rod r ig uez, Denton school district Board member, and Michelle Cunningham as the coordinator, headed the commitee. Nineteen different grants were written for promotional material and for different organizations to get the word out, said Linda Ratcliff, the Denton director of economic development. Pens and recycled bags were made and handed out at universities. Different events were coordinated and held to PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY AGNES WYSOWSKI/PHOTOGRAPHER help promote the census. More than 67 percent of Denton households have returned their Census forms. Denton was the first city in Texas with a “They had booths set up to population larger than 100,00 people to match its response rate from the previous Census in 2000. get the word out,” she said. “They talked to churches and “This is your chance to get spoke in different areas that “When people cooperate, Brandon said. “You can identify them by their badge, and they’re really saving themselves your voice heard in Washington,” had a low count for responses most of them will be carrying a money,” she said. “It’s everyone’s she said. “We need to know … before.” Numerous meetings were civic duty and privilege to be where the people are to make Census bag.” sure that they are accurately held to encourage people to It costs $57 per household counted.” vote and return their Census, It’s also important to repre- represented.” to go door-to-door, DonovanJim Engelbrecht, a Denton Ratcliff said. Brandon said, funded through sent an accurate portion of “We’re trying to educate federal taxes. The extra costs can the population in the House Cit y Cou nci l member i n be avoided by simply mailing the of Representatives, Donovan- District 3, said he attributes people on the fact that the better the success to a strong program count we have, the better chance Brandon said. Census, she said.
we have of getting funding,” she said. “A lot of different organizations did different things, and the complete count committee helped organized that.” Ratcliff expects the response rate to go up once the enumeration process begins, she said. She believes the Census representatives will start with local apartment buildings, which house a high percentage of the student population. “They’ll get a lot of the students from the universities who may not have filled out their form,” she said. Clint Townsend, a political science sophomore, agrees that the Census is a constitutional obligation and that everyone should fill it out. However, he doesn’t agree with the amount of personal inquires that are included within the Census. “I believe there should be one question on each census representing our households,” he said. “Unfortunately today the government has too many statistics on households from ethnicity to household income. I am a little bit skeptical of the massive amount of information they collect.”
University to implement sustainability fee in fall semester BY A LEX CHEATHAM Staff Writer
The UNT Green Fund, a fee of $5 per student per semester, was passed by 82 percent in a student vote last week. The money w ill prov ide UNT the opportunity to implement long term goals, such as carbon neutrality, green development and 100 percent electric vehicles. “The green fee w ill help t he campus become more sustainable and will also give
UNT students the ability to give t heir input on where the money will go,” said Erin Davis, Office of Sustainability assistant to the director. Last year, the North Texas Energy and Environment Club began its involvement with the Green Fund Campaign in part with ReEnergize Texas, a coalition of students who lobbied the Texas Legislature to pass the Green Fee Bill. The bill allows every university in Texas to have the option
“The green fee will help the campus become more sustainable...”
—Erin Davis Office of Sustainability assistant to the director
of voting for a tuition increase that w ill create money for su st a i nabi l it y. Si nce la st year, the club and ReEnergize
Texas have worked with other universities to share ideas for implementing the fee on campus.
Students were given the oppor t u n it y last week to vote on the proposed Green Fund. According to t he Thin k Green Fund website, there are nearly 100 universities with Green Funds established or pending and six Texas universities are pursuing the passage of a Green Fund this year. Before t he Green Fu nd passed, the UNT administration cut funding for efforts to go green. Now, the campus
will have the money to make changes concerning sustainability on campus, said Nicole Cocco, the vice president of the North Texas Energy and Environment Club. Because the fee passed, UNT can fund projects that will increase student involvement and participation in sustainability projects, said Cameron Tharp, the club president and international studies junior.
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