From Denton to Austin Denton bands, music and fans head to Austin City Limits music festival. Insert Page 4 - 5 Friday, October 8, 2010
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Volume 96 | Issue 26
Sunny 86° / 57° The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
ntdaily.com
Organization gives $500 travel grants Money to allow students attend conferences BY ISAAC WRIGHT Staff Writer
PHOTO BY MIKE MEZEUL II/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Junior running back Lance Dunbar slices through the Lousianna-Lafayette defense. The Mean Green has lost 16 players to injuries and will rely heavily on Dunbar Saturday against Arkansas State.
UNT’s green plague hopes to infect Arkansas State BY BEN BABY
Senior Staff Writer An injury epidemic has fallen upon the Mean Green this season. Starter after starter, backup after backup, nobody has been immune to the outbreak as 16 players have been affected. The latest victim in a series of unfortunate events is redshirt sophomore quarterback Riley Dodge, who suffered a broken left wrist last week against LouisianaLafayette. The injury leaves the Mean Green with unproven junior Chase Baine, making his first career start Saturday when UNT hosts Arkansas State. “I’ve been waiting for a chance for two years,” Baine said. “I’ve just been taking a bunch of reps, being on the sidelines, pretending I’m in the game.” The walk-on will swap the headset for a helmet after Riley Dodge’s injury occurred sometime during the first quarter of the Mean Green’s one-point loss to ULL. Riley Dodge will try to play with a cast on his injured wrist,
something he dealt with during his time at Southlake Carroll High School. Baine, the fourth-string quarterback, will be eased into the offense, challenging the worst defense in the Sun Belt. ASU allows an embarrassing 503.4 yards per game and has struggled stopping the running attack of opposing offenses, allowing 233.6 yards on the ground. On the offensive side of the ball, UNT has had a different starting lineup in each of its five games this season. “I want to play,” Riley Dodge said. “I want to be out there on Saturday. I could have had the surgery [Wednesday] but I decided not to.” Despite all the injuries to its offensive weapons, the Mean Green has managed to average 372.8 yards per game, fourth in the conference. Led by junior running back Lance Dunbar, the UNT running attack has given opposing defenses a plethora of problems, averaging 171.2 rushing
yards a game. To keep any hopes of a victory alive, an effective running attack is imperative, head coach Todd Dodge said. In the 33 games of the Todd Dodge era that UNT has failed to rush the ball at least 40 times, the team is an astounding 3-30. UNT is 3-5 when it does rush more than 40 times. “We have to make sure we don’t forget what our bread and butter is, and that’s being able to run the football,” Todd Dodge said. That running attack will be without junior running back James Hamilton, who entered the locker room limping heavily after the ULL game. Hamilton, who averages 8.2 yards a carry, will be out of Saturday’s contest with the a sprained foot. “James is a playmaker,” Riley Dodge said. “When you get the ball in his hands, he can do some great things.” Through the first five games of the season, the Mean Green has fallen behind in the first half. Each opponent has found success
Enrollment sets new record BY TIM MONZINGO
UNT (1-4, 1-1) vs. Arkansas State Where: Fouts Field When: 6 p.m. Saturday Radio: KNTU-FM 88.1, KWRD-FM 100.7
early, scoring a touchdown on the first drive of the game. UNT has been outscored 44-14 in the first quarter. The Mean Green has also struggled to take care of the ball, especially in the opposition’s territory. UNT has thrown six interceptions in five games to tie for the most in the conference. All six picks occurred within the opposing 25-yard line. “If we want to win, we have to play well,” Todd Doge said. “We have to make sure we play smart also.”
UNT is offering grants to help foot t he bi l l for students to attend professional conferences so they can have greater access to educational experiences that a lack of funding might leave out of reach. For many years, UNT has paid for many students to attend conferences across the country through B. Craig Raupe Travel Grants. These grants award recipients as much as $500 to cover the costs of travel, accommodations and any other expenses associated with attending a professional conference of any kind. “It’s free money just to further your thirst for knowledge,” sa id Jesu s Romo, t he St udent Gover n ment A ssociat ion’s d i rector of internal operations. The grants, now funded through student service fees, used to be paid for out of the SGA’s annual budget. This spring, the Student Ser vices Committee increased t he budget for the grants to $35,000 for the 2010-2011 academic year. The amount will be split between the fall and spring semesters. The SGA is the student-led governmental body at UNT and is the organization in charge of the program. A board created by t he S G A’s f i s c a l c om m it t e e chooses the recipients. Last year, $30,000 was provided for the grants and the entire amount was presented to s t u d e n t s , s a i d Me l i s s a McGu i re, t he d i rector of orientation and transition programs and adviser to the SGA. She said the need is clearly there. “It might be you go to a conference and it reaffirms
that this is what you want to do or you meet someone who is going to be able to give you a job when you graduate,” McGu i re sa id. “You just never know the networking possibilities at some of these conferences.” The SGA has sent out an e-ma i l to t he more t ha n 36,000 students attending UNT about t hese g ra nts. However, not a ll students are aware of this program. Sarah Reidland, a drawing and painting senior, hadn’t heard of the grants during her years at UNT.
“It’s giving them money to further their education.”
—Jesus Romo SGA director of internal operations
“It wou ld open up my eyes to things in my professional field,” Reidland said. “It definitely gives people a chance to do something they wouldn’t normally be able to.” Any student can apply for the grants for any professional conference. Applicat ions a re ava i lable at t he SGA of f ice in University Union 320S and are due Oct. 15. To be eligible for the grants, students must be enrolled in classes at UNT and in good academic standing with the university. They must also provide a recommendation from a professor or another f ig u re i nvolved w it h t he conference. In addit ion, applica nts must provide a “statement of purpose,” a short essay that demonstrates their reasons for w a nt i ng to at tend a particular conference. “It’s not for personal use,” Romo said. “It’s giving them money to further their education. It’s kind of like a perk to being a UNT student.”
Slushie to the Face
Senior Staff Writer
The student population at UNT swelled this fall as more than 3,600 freshmen and 3,800 transfers brought enrollment to around 36,100 students. The university’s grow th provides both challenges for administrators and organizers as well as an environment that some students find attractive. “We want students to show up in the fall and beyond that, we want them to stay here at UNT for their entire four years, we want them to graduate for UNT,” said Christine Bloczynski, the assistant director of New Student and Student Success Programs. The size of the incoming groups made for a larger-than-normal orientation season, but she feels the team handled it well, she said. Despite the enlarged population, she said, it was important for her team to create an intimate experience for the students, encouraging them to keep ties with the university after they leave. “It’s important that no matter
PHOTO BY MIKE MEZEUL II/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students swarm the sidewalks of campus in between classes. The 2010 enrollment for UNT totalled at about 36,100 students, including more than 3,600 freshmen and 3,800 transfer students.s what size UNT gets, we don’t lose that personal connection to students and that [they] feel connected to UNT,” she said. UNT is the fourth-largest public university in Texas following the University of Texas, Texas A&M University and the University of Houston. The number of students enrolled adds a feel to campus that is attractive to people like Chad Sluder, a general studies senior who transferred to UNT from Texas Christian University. “There’s more diversity here,
a more diverse student body,” he said. “It’s just more like real society because of the cross section.” The diversity offered by a growing population is something that Crystal Powell, an undeclared freshman, thinks is an asset to the community. “I like that it’s so big because there are so many ethnicities,” Powell said. “It’s a lot of interaction between different groups of people.”
See UNT on Page 2
PHOTO BY GREG MCCLENDON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
UNT’s Glee Club members Michelle Gillaspie, radio, television and film sophomore, and Alex Warren, a fashionmerchandising freshman, have slushies thrown at them to fund the Glee Club’s trip to Orlando, Fla., to compete with the University of Central Florida Glee Club.