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Volume 97 | Issue 14
Sunny 71° / 58°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Weather, holidays cause blood shortage Local blood banks need donors
NEWS: Study says aerobic exercise improves memory Page 2
SPORTS: Men’s golf team places third Page 4
BY TAYLOR JACKSON & LINDA NGUYEN Staff Writer & Intern
Blood supplies, already thin from the holidays, are running dry because of donation shortages caused by the recent weather. Nationwide, the Red Cross lost 32,000 pints from recent winter storms. Spokesman Cameron Ballantyne estimated the Red Cross in the Dallas area lost 1,500 pints from the storms. “Blood shortages are a common thing, especially during the winter because people are preoccupied with the holidays, but the weather hasn’t helped things at all,” Ballantyne said. The Red Cross and Carter BloodCare experienced problems getting their vans out into the community in the past two weeks because of icy road conditions. “Our CEO said it was the first time he’s seen [Carter BloodCare] go four days with no new collections,” said Edna Ruano, a Carter BloodCare spokesperson. To make up for the storms, representatives from both blood banks will be on campus in the coming weeks. Red Cross will take donations next week at the Pohl Recreation Center and Carter will be on campus Thursday and Feb. 23. “I wanted to do it to help other people who might need blood,” said Zaid Takriti, a business junior.
He said his father needed blood in the past, which influenced his decision to give. Linda Scardis from Carter stressed the importance of UNT students and the community on the blood drives. “Students are the key to our blood drives. UNT students are great and the drives right now can help with any shortages,” said Scardis. Carter, a local blood provider, delivers blood to about 300 hospitals and 56 counties in the area. Carter will have 10 blood drives in March and April, and when someone donates, they stay in the records and can donate every 56 days. The Red Cross is a nationwide organization. It takes a pint of blood from every donor. “That blood recoups in 48 hours,” said Ballantyne. Blood from Red Cross Dallas gets sent up to Tulsa to be screened, then comes back or is delivered in the area. Red Cross takes in 400 units a day in the area. To donate blood, students have to sign up online or call 1-800-redcross. This is the first full week of operations for the nonprofit, which typically needs 1,100 donors to fill hospital needs, but with the 4-5 days of no collection, it lost about 4,000 pints. Carter BloodCare helps three Denton hospitals with its drives –– Texas Presbyterian, Denton Regional and Mayhill. “It’s such a simple act, one donation can help three lives,” said Ruano. For more information, visit carterblood.org.
IMAGE COURTESY OF RYAN GRELLE
An armed robber pointed a gun at a convenience store clerk Sunday. Convenience stories and pedestrians have been targeted by robbers in eight Denton robberies since Feb. 5. Police said the robberies are connected.
Police search for serial robber BY M ATTHEW CARDENAS Staff Writer
Police are searching for an armed robber who they bel ieve ha s st r uck eig ht times since Feb. 5, Denton Pol ic e spoke sm a n R y a n Grelle said. T he r obb er h a s b e en hitting convenience stores specifically, and the police believe the recent robberies are connected. “It ’s h i s M.O.,” Grel le said. “It’s the same guy.” Police want to keep the times and locations of the incidents under wraps, but t hey have released v ideo footage of t he robber y at a c onven ienc e store on t he 2 9 0 0 blo c k of E a s t University Dr. on Sunday. The subject was wearing
BY MEGAN R ADKE Staff Writer
Protesters, media members in Egypt experience danger Page 5
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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN MASCHINO/INTERN
There are 450 registered sex offenders in Denton. Some students question what that means regarding safety on campus.
Admissions changes target sex offenders BY A LEXANDRA K ING
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robberies, but they are not afraid of the recent activities. “ We h ave ne ver be en r obb e d,” s a id Q u i k Tr ip ma nager Steve Brad ford. “We are usually too busy to attract robber y.” T he Q u i k Tr ip h a s multiple security cameras i n s ide a nd out s ide t he facility. “We a lso have a lot of a l a r m s,” Br ad ford s a id . “Ever y employee ha s a n alarm button on them at all times, and there are alarms at the counters.” Grelle encouraged robber y victims to comply with demands. “Give them the money,” he sa id. “It ’s not wor t h dying over.”
Grant to provide new peer review program
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an oversized black hoodie and a white bandana over his face. In the v ideo, he wields a black semi-automatic handgun. T he clerk loaded ca sh into a white plastic bag and gave it to the subject. Police visited local businesses to warn them about the robberies. V ick i Joh nston, ow ner of local business Lonestar Leather on University Drive, said crime isn’t unusual in the area. “[The convenience store] is robbed at least once a year,” Johnston said. The owners of the nearby QuikTrip gas station and conven ience store on University Drive said they were aware of t he recent
Staff Writer
Beginning this semester, potential students with a criminal history might have a harder time enrolling at UNT. The university changed its application Jan. 13, adding more questions about criminal history. “UNT is one of the only colleges that asks questions about criminal history,” said Maureen McGuiness, UNT’s executive dean of students. “It used to be just about minor traffic v iolations, but now we’ve added more.” Applicants who have been convicted of sex crimes will now have to check “yes” on an additional question that will require them by law to register as a sex offender with the UNT Police Department. Two registered sex offenders
a re cu r rent ly en rol led a s students at UNT, although their presence on campus is strictly controlled and often lim ited to on line classes, McGuiness said. She estimated about 10 registered sex offenders attempt to enroll at UNT each year, but many are turned away until their term as a sex offender is up. The enrollment of a registered sex offender at UNT is determined by UNT police and the dean of students, and depends on several considerations including the severity of their crimes. Accord i ng to t he Texas Department of Public Safety, 440 registered sex offenders live in Denton County, five of whom live near UNT. “Upholding safety at UNT is a primary responsibility. It is rare that sex offenders enroll,”
McGuinness said. About 930 people w it h cr i m i na l records apply to UNT ever y yea r. W hile many are turned away, the u n iver sit y ha s prog r a m s and measures established to ensure student safety. UNT’s Care program assists students whose behav ior is disruptive and warrants suspicion. McGuiness said the new application is just the latest sign UNT officials are upholding campus safety. “Just hav ing those questions on the application makes us one of the safest campuses in Texas,” she said. Only one or two calls for sexual assault per year happen on campus, not including students living in apartments off campus.
See APPLICATION on Page 2
A group of UNT political science professors have been awarded a grant from the Center for Learning Enhancement, Assessment and Redesign to go toward a study that will promote writing skills in introductory American Government classes. John Ishiyama of the political science faculty and Wendy Watson of the undergraduate studies faculty will use the grant to help new students develop writing skills through the Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) software system. Watson suggested the CPR software as a means to lessen the difficulty of assigning longer writing assignments in large classes. CPR is a web-based application that allows for anonymous peer review, as well as self-assessment, of written assignments. Students write essays in response to prompts, enter them in the system, and then complete a series of “calibration exercises” that are created by the professor. The exercises ref lect the type of criteria a professor would use when grading an essay. During this phase of CPR, students are learning to distinguish between good and bad essays, and CPR is learning whether or not the student is able to do this well. Students then read three anonymous essays by fellow classmates and rate them from 1 to 10. Through this type of rating
system, students are better able to decide whether or not their own work is worth a high or low rating, professors said. “[Watson] had used an old version of CPR in the past, and had recently learned the designers had created a newer, more user-friendly version of the software,” Ishiyama said. “While the old web-based version was free […], the new version required payment of a license fee and was only viable if adopted on an institutionwide basis.” Introductory courses such as PSCI 1040 and 1050 are typically large classes, usually ranging in size from 125 to 500 students. Because of the class size, instructors find it difficult to engage students in writing assignments, Watson said, but the CPR program could change that. The program then creates an algorithm that is able to generate a grade based on the student’s performance at each stage of the process. With the grant, Ishiyama and Watson plan to purchase a oneyear site license for the CPR program. Because this is the first time a program like this will be used at UNT, a student survey will also be created in an effort to gather student reaction to these types of assignments. Ishiyama and Watson hope to implement the program this fall.
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