Across the Pond
Halloween Hauntings
See Page 2
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UNT graduate students debate international aid with U.K. debaters.
Haunted houses make terror, spooks run rampant.
Friday, October 29, 2010
News 1, 2 Sports 3 Classifieds 4 Games 4 SCENE see insert
Volume 96 | Issue 38
Sunny 69° / 43°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Blue Angels to perform at Fort Worth air show Event uses parking to raise money BY JOSH PHERIGO Assigning Editor
T h e U. S . Na v y ’s B l u e Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron will perform as part of the more than 100 aerobatic, static display and booth exhibits featured at the Fort Worth Alliance Air Show this weekend. The air show will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Fort Worth’s Alliance Airport. Admission to the nonprofit event is free, but parking costs $20, with proceeds goi ng to benef icia r ies in Ta r ra nt Count y, ac c ord i ng to t he e vent ’s website. Both the private and military aviation sectors will be represented by aer ia l a nd ground exhibitions ranging f rom a n A ir Force demonstration of the F-22A Raptor
fighter jet to a rocket-powered Port-o-John. The same aerial show will be per for med bot h day s, beg i n n i ng at 10 a.m. a nd conclud i ng w it h t he Blue A ngels’ per for ma nce at 4 p.m. The Blue Angels have been tou r ing t he world demonstrating U.S. Naval aviation since 1946, according to the unit’s website. Blue Angels’ e v e nt s c o or d i n a t or A m y Tomlinson said t he A ngels serve as ambassadors to the public. “Most people don’t get to meet the people serving in the foxholes or on the boats, so we represent the Navy and Marines on behalf of them,” Tomlinson said. UNT w ill sponsor one of the 29 exhibit booths at the show. For an inside look at what happened during the show, pick up Tuesday ’s ed it ion of the Daily or go online at NTDaily.com.
PHOTO BY MIKE MEZEUL II/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Blue Angels Squadron flies its delta formation over Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, marking its arrival for this weekend’s air show. The Blue Angels’ mission is to enhance Navy and Marine Corps recruiting efforts and represent the naval service to the United States, its elected leadership and foreign nations.
Institute gives UNT BBY A DAM BLAYLOCK Senior Staff Writer
PHOTO BY MIKE MEZEUL II/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Junior defensive end Brandon Akpunku runs out onto the field with the “Go Hard” baseball bat during UNT’s Homecoming game against FIU. Mike Canales took over as interim head coach after the loss.
Canales, UNT face tough test BY BEN BABY
Senior Staff Writer When the UNT football team wrapped up its practice on Tuesday, celebration ran amok on the practice field before the team surrounded interim head coach Mike Canales. The Mean Green did not look like a team that has lost six of its first seven games, a slew of players to injuries and is facing a surprisingly tough game on Saturday against Western Kentucky. It looked as if the team was having fun despite all the problems it has faced so far this year. “That’s what it’s all about,” sophomore running back Lance Dunbar said. “You got to have fun. We’ve been through hard times. That’s the only way to get over them, is to laugh about some of the stuff.” The game is not just another battle for position in the Sun Belt Conference, as Canales will make his head-coaching debut on Saturday against WKU (1-6, 1-2). Before joining the Mean Green coaching staff over the summer, Canales was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of South Florida. Canales will take over a squad that has struggled so far this season. “I’m excited for the opportunity,” Canales said. “It’s something I’ve dreamed for and prepared for over the last 25 years of my coaching career.” UNT (1-6, 1-3) will receive some
assistance this weekend, as it will get three significant players back from the Green Plague. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Riley Dodge will be the starter against the Hilltoppers after suffering a broken wrist against LouisianaLafayette. Receivers Tyler Stradford and Benny Jones also return. Riley Dodge will not be playing under his father, Todd Dodge, for the first time in his collegiate career. Todd Dodge, who also coached his son at Southlake Carroll High School, was relieved of head coaching duties on Oct. 20, leaving control of the team in Canales’ hands for the rest of the season. “We need to make sure we put our arm around him and tell him, ‘Look, we’re with you. You’re in our family,’” Canales said regarding Riley Dodge. The game will feature a battle between the top tailbacks in the conference, WKU’s Bobby Rainey , who is 11th in the nation with 119.7 yards per game, and Dunbar. Canales said that in order to win, the Mean Green will need to stop Rainey and force the Hilltoppers to become a onedimensional offense. Dunbar said he wants to end the year as the top running back in the conference, as anything less than first would be a regression from his phenomenal sophomore year. “[Last year] I performed better,” Dunbar said. “We performed as
a team better. I just have to keep fighting, keep being patient. It’s going to come to me sooner or later.” The Mean Green will try to shut down WKU’s offense, which posted 54 points against Louisiana-Lafayette last week. WKU quarterback Kawaun Jakes was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for his performance against the Ragin’ Cajuns. UNT has had a tough time starting games well on the defensive side of the ball, as all seven opponents have scored a touchdown on its opening drive. The Mean Green is allowing an average of 19.5 points in the first half alone. Whoever the head coach is, junior defensive end Brandon Akpunku believes UNT has the desire to come away with the victory. “You can get President Obama here, or George Bush or Bill Clinton out here, and we still come out here and ball hard because you have guys out here with a passion for the sport,” Akpunku said. Senior linebacker Craig Robertson is five tackles shy of becoming one of the top five tacklers in school history. Dunbar needs just 89 yards to reach the top five all-time rushers in Mean Green history. Kick-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. and can be heard on KNTU-FM, 88.1, and KWRDFM, 100.7.
The “going green” efforts at UNT have not gone unnoticed, as a national organization’s newly released report shows. The Sustainable Endowments Institute, a nonprof it orga n i zat ion, released its fifth annual College Sustainability Report Card on Wednesday, which evaluated and graded 322 participating institutions of higher education to determine how green they are. “We made a $700 donation to their nonprofit organization and then they sent us the specific surveys to fill out this past summer,” said Erin Davis, assistant to the director in the Office of Sustainability. UNT’s overall grade of a Bwas averaged from nine individually graded areas: administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. The highest rating of any Texas university was a B+. The lowest ratings went to Texas Tech and Abilene Christian universities, scoring a C- and D+, respectively. Nationally, 181 schools scored higher than UNT. Eight schools received grades above an A-. Rating efforts The Office of Sustainability works to incorporate every aspect of campus life to improve economic sustainability, said Lauren Helixon, a graduate research assistant
PHOTO BY GREG MCCLENDON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Mechanical and energy engineering senior Matt Recsnik stands next to NTAEMS, a device that measures wind currents, which may lead to wind turbines being built at the new football stadium. in the office. “Our goal is to link all these factors together,” said Helixon, a philosophy and religion studies graduate student. The Office of Sustainability will release a Climate Action Plan soon, she said. The plan will outline stringent goals and projects to help UNT achieve its ultimate goal of carbon neutrality by the year 2040. “Once we reach that milestone, things will just continue onward to make the campus better,” she said. With the release of the grades, people can see where the university stacks up in comparison with other schools. But the grading system isn’t perfect, Davis said, because there is no way to gauge a university’s efforts if it doesn’t sign up. Outreach and research One of the areas that the Office of Sustainability works to promote is environmental research, Helixon said. Duane Huggett of the biological sciences faculty said the goal is to coordinate and foster
research, something the Office of Sustainability is intended to do. Coordination with entities outside of UNT helps that effort as well, he said. Huggett studies the effects that synthetic waste products have on life in aquatic systems, like rivers and lakes. He and some colleagues at UNT helped co-organize the Denton Drug Disposal Day to help prevent prescription drugs from getting into the water, he said. “The hardest thing to change is people’s habits and behaviors,” Davis said. Matt Recsnik, a mechanical energy engineering senior, has been working on a project that could bring wind turbines to the university’s new football stadium. Projects that show the practical application of renewable resources at UNT could contribute to similar projects in other places, Recsnik said. “If anything, our research raises awareness of the need to be implementing these renewable energy resources on a broad scale,” he said.
Threat at TAMU nonexistent BY SEAN GORMAN Senior Staff Writer
Of f icia ls at Texas A&M Universit y say t he school is safe and no danger was present after a report of a gunman on campus turned out to be student w it h a replica weapon, according to a CNN article.
A c a m pu s -w ide lo c kdown began at 4 p.m. after a campus bus driver reported he noticed an individual with what looked like an AK-47. Students and faculty were told to remain indoors, according to the article. Brittany Powell, a Texas A&M accounting sophomore,
saw the student pass by with what looked like an AK-47 on his shoulder. “He was just so casua l w it h it,” Powel l sa id. “I didn’t feel like something was too terrible wrong. He was walking in Rudder Tower in a direction away from campus.”