VOL. 109 No. 12
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017
NTDAILY.COM
SGA runs into internal problems during election cycle By Taylor Crisler The UNT Student Government Association released its final election report Friday, a full week after polls closed. In the final tally, Barrett Cole and Lisa Umeh won with more than 65 percent of the vote. The report contained a statement from the SGA Supreme Court that overruled a prior Election Board hearing, where votes for a candidate team were struck from the final vote tally. The court unanimously agreed that votes for the Robert Navarro Jr. and Steven Maldonado ticket, which operated under the “YOU-N-T” banner, should be partially reinstated. Court members found that while the Navarro/Maldonado campaign was in violation of the Election Code during the Election Cookout, the disqualification was “unjust and unequal to the violation in question.” The court deemed this a result of the Election Board’s failure to “give due process to the Navarro/Maldonado campaign during the investigation.” The “YOU-N-T” disqualification was in response to an alleged campaign violation that a member of the Election Board, David Klein, filed as a complaint. So, what happened? The Alleged Violation At about 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, SGA Election Commissioner John Carr saw TWU student Jamie Esparza, a friend of Navarro’s, arrive at the Graduate Student Council and SGA cosponsored Cast Your Vote Cookout event. Esparza was seen wearing a “YOU-N-T” campaign T-shirt. “At that point was when I asked Election Board member David Klein to keep an eye on that person,” John Carr said, claiming the Esparza was breaking the guidelines as candidates were instructed “not to distribute campaign materials.” Esparza maintains she only got to talk to about 20 people, did not solicit votes from any of them, and “never touched a phone.” She says her activities were limited to walking students through voting procedures and directing them to places where they could learn more about all the candidates on the ballot. She claims seven students, at most, asked who she was voting for, which is where she told them she could answer any questions about the “YOU-N-T” campaign they had. Klein said Esparza was herself
SEE SGA ON PAGE 3
IN THIS ISSUE NEWS College of Arts and Sciences pg 2 The College of Arts and Sciences will split into two separate colleges on May 15 to help maintain UNT’s Tier One status.
EXTENDING GRACE
The fifth annual Human Library takes place at UNT
By Taylor Crisler North Texas students and faculty assembled on April 6 in Willis Library to take part in the campus’s fifth annual Human Library event, an annual event designed to “challenge stereotypes and
prejudices in the community through an open forum where difficult questions are accepted, expected and appreciated.” Between the hours of 1 and 6 p.m., a revolving cast of campus workers and students sat in small circles scattered
around the Library Forum. Each person had a tag on the back of their chair, reading everything from eating disorder, Judaism, cerebral palsy and more. These tags revealed some part of their identity that is often stigmatized
or misunderstood. You, the “reader,” are invited to sit down and “check out the book.” Journalism student Victoria Chavez
SEE LIBRARY ON PAGE 4
North Texas softball dishes on its walk-up songs City council candidates discuss issues at forum before May election
By Clay Massey Scrolling through a playlist trying to find the right pump-up jam can be a strain. Sometimes it may be even more stressful than the game a player is competing in. But every year, the North Texas softball team must make a decision on its soundtrack. Each batter picks a walkup song that plays before they step into the box, and each pitcher selects songs to play while they are warming up. While some stress over their selection and can’t narrow their choices down before assistant coach Natalie Kozlowski needs their decisions, others, like freshman Lacy Gregory, are not bothered.
By Julia Falcon
Lacy Gregory – “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers The freshman chose the classic from the Peppers for one reason. “I just like that song,” Gregory said. “Everyone else was stressed out. We had like two weeks and I just chose one.” The choppy guitar riff from the intro settles the freshman into the box. It seems to help, as she’s hitting .362, good enough for second on the team in average. Lindsay Gregory – “For the Stunt” by Russ The other Gregory twin settles into the box with a chill beat that shows she’s ready to stunt – I mean that is pretty much what the entire first verse
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 6
ARTS & LIFE
Sophomore Hannah Gerecke swings at the ball against SFA on April 5. Mean Green defeated SFA 6-1. Sara Carpenter
With the city council election coming in less than a month, candidate hopefuls have been attending countless forums, with citizens grilling them on all the issues Denton faces. City council candidates spoke at a forum on April 9 at Dan’s Silverleaf, where they discussed everything from gas wells and air quality to transparency, the city’s budget and sidewalks. District 1 candidates Gerard Hudspeth and Fran Hawes, District 3 candidates Paul Meltzer and Jason Cole, and District 4 candidates Amanda Servis and John Ryan were all in attendance for the city council candidate forum, hosted by the Denton Drilling Awareness Group. Emily White and Don Duff were not in attendance due to prior commitments, and District 2 candidate Keely Briggs is running unopposed and did not participate, but was in attendance. Some of the topics candidates were asked to speak on included the current gas well ordinance and if it could be strengthened, as well as the F-rated air quality in Denton and how to fix it. Two Texas House bills were also discussed: HB-40, relating to the exclusive
SEE COUNCIL ON PAGE 2
Vouching for victims of violence
Alumna pursues new career pg 4 A UNT alumna left her career as a professional opera singer to open her own independent flower shop.
By Bianca Mujica
SPORTS UNT men’s rugby pg 7 The UNT rugby team is currently trying to find a conference to compete in as their past conference dissolved, leaving them without competition.
OPINION
The effect of bad PR pg 8 The Editorial Board discusses recent bad PR incidents by corporations and a White House official.
Alumnus Devin Axtman (left) shares his story with the guests of the Human Library event at Willis Library on April 6. Axtman was one of the human books that the event included, titled “Adventures of Cripple and Cerebral Rollsy: A Walk to Remember.” Courtesy | Jeffrey Merrill
Renee LeClaire McNamara
Renee McNamara sits in her office on the fourth f loor of the Union, spending her day on ordinary tasks like taking phone calls and attending meetings. Like most faculty on campus, the core of her job is to help students. But what she does is slightly different than most others: rather than dealing with academics, she deals with violence. McNamara is the UNT Survivor Advocate, meaning she works with students who have experienced any sort of violence and connects them to campus or local resources. She also advocates for them by talking to professors about
class absences, and if the student wants, she can accompany them to things like counseling appointments or meetings with the police. “We are trying to raise awareness so students know we are here,” McNamara said. “We want them to know all their options, rights and resources.” Dean of Students Maureen McGuinness performed the tasks of the survivor advocate before McNamara was hired. But with a number of students coming in for help, it became evident that the university needed a person dedicated to the cause. “We were starting to see an increase of students who needed assistance if they were a victim of any violence,”
McGuinness said. At the time, McNamara had been an academic adviser for almost seven years in what was then the College of Public Affairs and Community Service. She got her master’s in counseling, studied violence for her graduate work and interned at Denton County Friends of the Family, an organization that provides care for people affected by violence. All of that, combined with her experience working with college students, made her the ideal person for the job. Two years ago McGuinness
SEE ADVOCATE ON PAGE 5