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Volume 100 | Issue 08
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Former UNT employees accused of swindling cash A SHLEY GRANT
Senior Staff Writer
Five former UNT College of Information employees have been indicted by a grand jury for an alleged scheme to swindle about $75,000 from the university over two years. Four of the former employees have been charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony that a carries a possible sentence of five years to life in prison: John Leonard Pipes, 57, Tisha Slage, 58, Lindsey
Collings, 31, and Theresa Jackson, 51. Diane Green, 56, was indicted for theft charges, said Denton County First Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck. UNT Police began investigating the alleged scheme on Sept. 30 of last year after responding to an anonymous tip, said Kelley Reese, assistant vice president for University Relations, Communications and Marketing. The UNT Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Reese said that Collings, who held various positions over the course of her three-year career at UNT and was fired in January, allegedly received payments totaling $62,613 from the fall of 2009 to the summer of 2011 for work she did not perform. Slagle and Pipes, Collings’ supervisors at the College of Information, have been accused of knowingly approving falsified timesheets for Collings, Reese said. Collings’ Facebook page lists
Slagle, who was budget officer at the college, as her mother. Pipes is Collings’ ex-stepfather, Reese said. Jackson, the college’s budget office assistant, had an unspecified hand in approving the falsified time sheets, Reese said. Green, Pipes and Slagle were arrested earlier this month, between Sept. 2 and Sept. 4, Beck said. Their cases are pending. “The other two co-defendants have sealed indictments and have yet to be arrested,” Beck said.
According to De nton County Jail records, bail was set at $20,000 each f o r S l ag le a n d P ip e s DIANE and $15,000 GREEN for Green. All three have since posted bail. Green’s theft charge stems from an accusation that she received $12,794 for uncompleted work from the spring and summer
JOHN PIPES
TISHA SLAGLE
of 2011. Reese said Jackson resigned in 2010, Slagle was fired in August and Pipes was fired last week. Green and Collings left UNT this year.
Adult learners take education seriously
Flames on Fry Street
JASON YANG
Senior Staff Writer
PHOTO BY MICHELLE HEATH/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Fire trucks partially blocked off Fry Street when a suspected electrical box fire on the first level of the Fry Street parking garage caused firefighters to evacuate a building at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday night. Denton Fire Department Battalion Chief Brad Fuller said a possible shortage occurred in or near an electrical box and some power was cut off. MacDaddy’s restaurant was shut down during its soft opening preview night while firefighters investigated, MacDaddy’s Director of Operations Mike Burdick said. “We just saw smoke coming out of the corner,” Burdick said. A fire marshal will inspect the building for safety, Fuller said.
The year is 1992, and Gretchen Spisak, 18, is a freshman at the University of Toledo. Young, restless and exhausted from partying the night before, she chooses to skip class for the day. Six months later, Spisak dropped out of college because she just wanted to live her life. Today, Spisak, 38, is a sophomore at UNT. Instead of treating hangovers from the night before, this dedicated student and single mother spends her time earning a bachelor’s degree in special education and raising her 14-year-old son, Joshua, who has been diagnosed with autism. “I had to finish my education for my deceased mother and Joshua,” Spisak said. “But my priorities are different than my priorities when I was 18.” Spisak is an adult learner, a term American adult educator Malcolm Knowles used to describe learners who are older than 25 his study on andragogy,
which focuses on learning strategies for adults. The 2010 U.S. Census tracked a gradual increase in adult learners in the U.S. every year since 1989. In 2009, more than 37 percent of American students were adult learners. The enrollment of adult learners at UNT has decreased in recent years – according to the online UNT Fact Book, from 26,388 in 2009 to 18,747 in 2011 – but these nontraditional students still comprise about half of the more than 35,000 students enrolled at UNT. Dea n of Underg raduate Studies Dale Tampke, who teaches both undergraduate and graduate-level classes, said adult learners are very goaldriven. “They’re driven by the imperatives of the class,” Tampke said. “They’ve taken care of their social need and are at a point of their life where they’re very focused on their education.”
See LEARNERS on page 2
Questions abound after Libyan violence Center counsels,
helps athletes
STAFF & WIRE R EPORTS
An attack at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Tuesday that killed 4 Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, has left administration officials, politicians and foreign policy experts with more questions than answers. Ten members of the Libyan security forces were killed defending the consulate. The attack appears to have been sparked by protesters swarming the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, over a low-budget anti-Muslim film produced in the U.S. However, American officials and other analysts cast doubts on whether or not the attack in Libya was a spontaneous protest, suggesting it may have been a planned assault by al-Qaeda affiliated extremists. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quickly condemned the attack. Other officials spoke out against the type of religious denigration featured in the short film that may have provoked the violent protests and attack, while Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pronounced his disapproval Wednesday morning at what he perceived to be the Obama administration’s decision to “sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” UNT experts weighed in on
JASON YANG
Senior Staff Writer
COURTESY/MCT how the attacks could affect American foreign policy, stability in the Middle East, religious relations and the upcoming U.S. presidential election. James Meernik, chair of the political science department and an expert on U.S. foreign policy, said Libya’s reaction to the assault bodes well for future international relations, but cautioned that it was difficult to see how events would unfold. “It’s still early in the development, but it’s good to see the Libyan regime condemning the attack and helping with the investigation,” Meernik said.
“It’s still early in the development, but it’s good to see the Libyan regime condemning the attack...”
-James Meernik, chair of political science department
Political science professor J. Michael Greig said in an email that Egypt’s response was troubling for future relations. “The Eg ypt ia n gover nment has been much slower in [condemning the attacks],” Greig said. “Given that Egypt is a major recipient of U.S. foreign aid, I think that you are likely to see
calls in Congress for cutting that aid if the Egyptian response remains so tepid, particularly in an election year.” History professor Nancy Stockdale said that the U.S. would have to be careful in its response.
See LIBYA on page 2
Valentina Starkova transferred to UNT from Arkansas after her sophomore year. Capitalizing on the new opportunity, she led the team to its second Sun Belt Conference title in two years in 2012. Behind the glory is a woman who believes the mental aspect of sports is just as important as skill and health. So midseason last year, she sought psychology help from the UNT Center for Sport Psychology and Performance Excellence. The UNT center is the only university sports psychology research center in Texas, director Trent Petrie said. The center offers services to athletes and conducts research projects. “Our students get to work with athletes not only on performance enhancement,” Petrie said, “But also on any type of personal issues that might influence them on the field.” The center offers free consultation for UNT athletes, coaches and teams. But they also work extensively with athletes ranging from eight year olds to older athletes training to play at a national level. Some athletes travel up to three to four hours
just for a two-hour consultation. Petrie said the center works with more than half of the teams at UNT – about 150 athletes and coaches a semester, and about three to five community clients a week. Athletes come in with problems such as loss of confidence, anxiety and inability to maintain the right focus. Starkova’s teammate Barbora Vykydalova praised the importance of the psychological consultation. “They have team-building activities that really bond the players together,” Vykydalova said. “When one of the teammates looks down, we can consult with our consultant to find ways to cheer her up.” Petrie said the center’s services inform research projects and vice versa. Doctorate students also write dissertations that focus on different research projects. Consulting positions at the center are exclusive and difficult to get, counseling psychology doctoral student Troy Moles said. Of the 197 people who applied to work for the center last year, only eight were accepted – with only two to four of those accepted into the sports psychology program, Moles said.
See PSYCH on page 2
Inside SGA approves budget News | Page 2
A day in the life of a dining hall cook Arts & Life | Page 3
Campus shirts a little too colorful? Views | Page 5