Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio
04.12.2011 Vol. 45 Issue 12
The
Paisano
Professor shares experiences from life in Libya
P9: Cyrano de Bergerac Joseph Tidline/ The Paisano
Maritza Avelar
Shotguns, rifles and handguns can be purchased only miles from campus.
Student consensus absent Student government fails to take stance on issue on concealed handguns on campus Victor H. Hernandez Angela Marin
paisanonews@sbcglobal.net
P11: Spring football game
Student creates unique tradition
Ramsey Rodriguez
paisanonews@sbcglobal.net What do you get when you combine office supplies and Red Bull? UTSA students will show off their talents this Thursday as they create ambient tunes using staplers, textbooks and rulers for instruments during the Red Bull Music Competition. The competition is hosted by Chase Thomas, sophomore marketing major and Red Bull employee. “My absolute priority and goal is to promote tradition here on campus and if the event goes well, Red Bull will make sure this happens every year,” said Thomas. This unconventional musical contest consists of two 60second rounds where teams of students will perform songs using only scholastic and office supplies and Red Bull cans. During the first round, teams will perform a cover song they choose. In the second round, teams will perform an original song using the same materials. In the event of a tie, there will be a third and final round to declare a winner. “We’re going to try to do an extra popular song so people know what we’re playing,” said sophomore chemistry major Leslie Chang. “I usually don’t get involved on campus but it sounded like my kind of thing.” Chang and a teammate heard from Thomas about the event a few weeks ago. After watching a previous musical event on Facebook, they went to work on creating their own sound. See REDBULL, Page 2
The UTSA Student Government Association (SGA) will ask students to vote on a much-debated legislation that proposes allowing handguns on Texas universities, the Senate Bill 354. But chances are that student’s votes won’t count at all. SGA’s poll might come too late to influence the decision in the state senate, where the bill might be voted before SGA voices the demands of the student community. The proposed bill would allow Concealed Handgun License (CHL) holders to carry handguns on college campuses. Texas law requires that individuals be at least 21 years
of age, pass a 10-hour training course and undergo a criminal background check in order to get their license. SGA plans to use the results of student voting to determine the university’s official position, which will be voiced to the Texas legislature for consideration. Universities are supposed to inform their state representatives on their position regarding the legislation; this responsibility falls upon the student governments. Students at UT Austin have already expressed their worries about the bill passing. Even Sen. Steve Ogden (RBryan) who represents the district including Texas A&M, withdrew his support from the bill as the legislation neared the last stages of senate approval. UTSA’s Student Gov-
ernment has not yet decided where it stands. “Initially SGA was going to take a stance, but as it is such a controversial issue, we wanted the students to express their opinions in a more formal setting,” SGA President- elect Xavier Johnson said. Even though Johnson is not yet president, he fully supports the decision to institute a poll, decision that was presented by the current SGA president Derek Trimm. “We felt that UTSA students needed an official poll and student government resolution to express the sentiments of UTSA, based on conversations with our constituents and during interactions with leaders of organizations on campus,” Trimm said.
Dr. Mansour El-Kikhia shared a few laughs with host John Stewart during his appearance on the Daily Show, and he discussed current events in Libya. El-Kikhia is the chairman of the department of political science and geography here at UTSA and has been interviewed by numerous publications and appeared on television programs to share his thoughts and expertise concerning Libya. “[Living in Libya] for me, it became a big prison where you couldn’t think, where you couldn’t speak. What happens in such places, the air starts smelling foul, the air starts smelling bad,” El-Kikhia said. As a native born of Libya, ElKikha has been exposed to the regime of Muammar al-Qaddafi. He left his home city of Benghazi in 1980 due to political pressure. Discussing the severe events occurring in Libya on a comedybased show was a challenge for El-Kikhia, but he was able to inform and project his message through the jokes and laughter. “It was a comedy show, so I had to try to balance to say serious things in a funny way if I could, and he [Jon Stewart] helped me a lot with that. “He made me relax enough to talk about a serious issue in a way that many kids could actually understand and appreciate,” El-Kikhia said.
See EL-KIKIAH, Page 3
See HANDGUNS, Page 4
FTK dancers help battle childhood cancer Allison Tinn
paisanonews@sbcglobal.net For 13 years Marci West’s life was filled with sports, school and family time, but when West turned 14, she began to experience headaches, dizziness and lightheadedness daily. After many misdiagnoses, a neurologist found a brain tumor. West described her treatments and experience as “hell on earth.” For The Kids (FTK) is an organization that works to support kids like west. FTK will be put-
ting on a 12-hour dance marathon on April 23 in the University Center to provide moral, social and financial support to the children and their families that suffer from childhood cancer. FTK’s dance marathon was inspired by THON, a student-run organization from Penn State University which also works to battle childhood cancer. FTK’s dance marathon was inspired by THON a student run FTK dancers conduct zumba class in the rec center organization from Penn State to advertise 12 hour marathon on April 23. University who also work to battle childhood cancer. See FTK, Page 2
Cindy Teske/ The Paisano
P6: The ideal weight
paisanonews@sbcglobal.net
Online evaluations show improvement Dan Rossiter
paisanonews@sbcglobal.net Approximately 100,000 online course evaluations were sent out via email to students late April 3. To date, approximately 16 percent of those evaluations have been completed. The evaluations are scheduled to remain open until April 15. Students who participate will be entered into a drawing for two, three or four iPads, depending on the percent of student participation in the
process. The new evaluation system comes as a result of the Texas H.B. 2504, a bill that requires evaluation of state university courses to be made available online. Given this new requirement, UTSA’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) decided to process evaluations through an online interface, replacing paper evaluations that were administratively costly to the university. Fall of 2010 was the first full attempt at such an implementation, following a part paper,
part online evaluation during the 2010 summer semester. The evaluation process was fraught with a number of technical issues. Some students received multiple emails for a single course while others received no emails at all. This semester, the OIT has opted to send out all of a student’s course evaluation links in a single email, reducing the inbox clutter that the former system created. The OIT has also changed the evaluation confirmation system from an email to a pop-up PDF docu-
ment, provided upon completion, that may be presented to any professor who offer extra credit for student participation. Unfortunately, the confirmation system has been limited in its reliability since, to receive the PDF, the student taking the survey must have pop-up blockers disabled. “Following the evaluation period, we want to sit down with IT and figure out what worked and what didn’t,” Doug Atkinson, director of evaluations and surveys, said. See EVALUATIONS Page 4
paisano-online.com