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Volume 99 | Issue 34
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Students prepare for national debate HOLLY H ARVEY
Senior Staff Writer Four UNT students w i l l t ravel to At la nta, Ga., to compete in the 2012 National Debate Tournament at Emory Universit y f rom Ma rch 29 through April 2. The tournament began in 1947, and 74 teams participate – 58 that qualify by placing in the top 10 in their district tournaments, and 16 that receive at-large bids based on prior tournament performances. UNT students have qualified for the tournament in 27 of the past 30 years. Pa r t icipa nts compete in teams of two. UNT will field t wo tea ms t his yea r: precommunication junior Colin Quinn and pre-biology sophomore Amy Schade; and precommunication junior Brian Ker s c h a nd pr e -p ol it ic a l science junior Shelby Pryor. The topic for t his year’s tournament is U.S. involvement and inf luence in North African and Middle Eastern countries, according to UNT debate director Brian Lain, a com mu n icat ion st ud ies
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professor. “With the topic this year, you have to stay informed because the information changes so quickly,” Lain said. “There’s been debates where a team won because they had information that was a few hours newer.” UNT won t he tournament in 1948 – when the u n i v e r s i t y w a s Nor t h Texas State College – over the University of Florida, P u rdue Un iver sit y a nd the University of Kansas. Northwestern won the tournament in 2011. The four UNT debaters spend up to five hours a day researching and practicing for debates and over Spring Brea k w ill have 10-hour study sessions, according to Pryor. “You spend a lot of time studying scholarly articles and journals,” Pryor said. “And you learn how to take constructive criticism from the judges after the round is over.”
PHOTO BY TYLER CLEVELAND/VISUALS EDITOR
Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, wife of biology professor Lloyd Fitzpatrick, looks for potential outfits while trying on a 1950s blue dress Tuesday at Circa 77 vintage clothing store off the Square. “I always loved the things my mother would wear,” said Fitzpatrick, who made a wardrobe change 15 years ago and has been buying from the store for seven years. See FASHION on page 3
See DEBATE on Page 2
UNT professor searches for lost Iraqi modern art CAY DEE E NSEY Staff Writer
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TYLER CLEVELAND/VISUALS EDITOR
Music majors play three-peg Tuesday afternoon outside Music Practice North. “The knee-jerk reaction is to isolate oneself,” said Housing Counselor Krista Garrett about the onset of depression. “Finding a group with something in common is a place to start, and any physical activity across the board,” she said.
Disorder causes winter blues E MILY B ENTLEY Intern
Each w inter, depression cases involving students tend to rise in part due to “Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).” During this time, students affected by SAD experience apathy, tend to be lethargic and have a lack of energ y. The disorder is caused by lack of sunlight brought on by the winter months, which causes t he body to release t he hormone melatonin in excess. “Sun lig ht helps ha lt t he production of melatonin in the body,” said Mary Roberts, ps ycholog i st at t he U N T Counseling and Testing Center. “Physiolog ica l ly spea k i ng, a body that is not receiving enoug h su nsh i ne is more apt to experience Seasona l Affective Disorder because the body has too much melatonin, which will cause the body to act in a lethargic, zombie like manner.” Roberts said the overpro-
“...a body that is not receiving enough sunshine is more apt to Seasonal Affective Disorder ...” —Mary Roberts Psychologist, UNT Counseling and Testing Center duction of melatonin causes a spike in student depression and causes mood swings. “I had a boyfriend who was bipolar,” undecided freshman Morgan Cote said. “During the winter months it would be harder for him to take his medicines, and his depression would grow a lot worse and harder to control.” Students who have experienced trauma in the past are more at risk during the winter months, when they are more likely to be emotionally vulnerable and overwhelmed with exams and school. “The amount of students
enter i ng school who have ex per ienced t rauma is often overwhelming. These students in particular need to pay attention to outside variables that they can control,” Roberts said. Roberts suggested students stay active and spend as much t ime as possible outdoors. Being awa re of t he factors that contribute to emotional i n st abi l it y a l low s col lege st udent s to ta ke preventable measures so that their emotional well-being is never compromised.
See SAD on Page 2
T he Iraqi Mu seu m of Moder n A r t i n Bag hdad was home to more t ha n 7,000 works of art before being looted and set ablaze during the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Today, t he museu m is left with about 1,700 pieces, w it h t housa nds m issi ng from t he origina l collection, and a UNT professor is helping track them down. Nada Shabout, assistant professor of a r t educ at ion a nd a r t h istor y, is t he d i r e c t or of U N T ’s Contempora r y A rab a nd Musl i m Cu lt u re St ud ies I n st it ute. She s a id she noticed locating the missing art was a low priorit y to the Iraqi authorities, so she took matters into her own hands. “The information comes to me about this one work or t wo works on sa le in A mman or somewhere. I have contacts that will go look at it, and that’s how we find these pieces,” Shabout said. “We get a photo of it and store it in the Modern Art Iraq Archive, an online database that I initially used to start the documentation of the looted works.” Shabout i sn’t able to chase dow n t hese pieces herself, for her own safety and that of the art. “I was at a pa nel at a gallery in Amman [Jordan] and someone in the audience stood up and said, ‘Do you k now t hat what you do ca n get you k il led?,’” Shabout sa id. “If I went to view an art work I was suspicious of, my f r iend joked I’d have to wea r a
PHOTO BY MARTHA HILL/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Art history professor Nada Shabout holds a piece of modern Iraqi artwork called “The Queen Game,” by Hanaa Malalla. This piece came from the Iraqi National Museum of Modern Art.
“...someone in the audience stood up and said, ‘Do you know that what you do can get you killed?’” —Nada Shabout Assistant professor disguise every time, because people see me and say, ‘Go hide the looted works!’” Locating the pieces does not a l w a y s en s u r e t hei r return to Iraq, according to Shabout. “T he museu ms i n Iraq aren’t in a state where they can preserve [the art]. The security is also bad, so they m ig ht get loote d a ga i n,” Shabout said. “All I want is an image of them so I can add them to the database. If I can create some sort of document that at least partially replaces what has been lost in memory,
then that’s a success from an art historian’s perspective.” As fa r as t he number of looted a r t work s t hat have emerged, about 300 to 400 pieces is a “very optimistic e s t i m a t e ,” a c c or d i n g t o Shabout. “Iraq is a country of such rich history, and modern art is a big piece of that puzzle,” pre-studio art junior Dorie M i s h a e l s a id . “I’m v e r y g lad someone i s ac t ively at tempt i ng to rescue t hat element of Iraqi culture.”
See ART on Page 2
Inside New drafthouse opens in historic home Arts and Life | Page 4
UNT draft prospects work out for NFL scouts Sports | Page 6
Evaluating Republican candidates by haircut Views | Page 7