INSIDE
Basketball set to take on UAB Political opinions face off Director talks new movie
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Eating right close to campus PAGE 2
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WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
Wednesday High 73, Low 43 Thursday High 61, Low 41
VOLUME 96 ISSUE 60 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
ALUMNI
SMU graduate nominated for four Emmy awards KATIE GODBOLD Contributing writer kgodbold@smu.edu
SPENCER J EGGERS/The Daily Campus
SMU’s Engaged Learning program passed out free t-shirts Monday afternoon at the flag pole to students who contributed to their “what do you care about” board.
Engaged Learning kicks off on campus BRIDGET BENNET Contributing writer brekow@smu.edu What do you care about? That’s the question the Engaged Learning program asked students at SMU to answer Monday evening. Students gathered around the flagpole to share their answers on the Engaged Learning board as they enjoyed free candy and T-shirts. The event was part of Engaged Learning Day, a day designed to raise student awareness of the new program and its opportunities, Susan Kress, the director of Engaged Learning, said. “Engaged Learning is taking what you’re learning in the classroom and putting it in a real world setting and actually doing it,” Kress said to a group of students inquiring about the program.
The Engaged Learning program is still fairly new to SMU, sending its first group of students into the field just last year. Meleah Chriss, the director’s assistant, said Engaged Learning is a result of SMU’s reaccreditation program. It is designed to give students the opportunity to participate in research, service, internships or activities outside the classroom on topics that students really care about. “We’ve had several students already come to our office… and they want to do these crazyimaginative projects that they just came up with in their head,” Chriss said. During its inaugural year, Engaged Learning provided funding and support for three students to complete their proposed projects. Lindsay Sockwell, a senior dance performance major, was
one of those students. She held a weeklong dance program for orphaned children in Zambia, Africa. Using the skills she gained in her psychology minor, Sockwell said she observed the transformation of the students throughout the trip. Sockwell said she was planning the project before she heard about the Engaged Learning program, but knew it would be a great fit. “For me, it was an easy step to get all of the funding and the support that I needed to get my project done instead of having to look outside the university,” she said. To apply for an Engaged Learning grant, students must submit a project proposal with the help of a mentor in their field who will help identify learning outcomes. Applications for this year’s program are due March 15.
TECHnology
Instagram improves amateur photography STEPHANIE BROWN News Director stephanieb@smu.edu Photographers watch out — Instagram is blurring the lines between amateurs and professionals. Instagram, a free photo-sharing application, underwent a subtle redesign Friday that enhances the user experience, while allowing amateur photographers to improve the quality of their photos. “I’m so excited about this new feature,” Ann Rogers said. “It is the perfect way to fly under the radar as a less-than-average photographer.” The notifications along the bottom of the screen — feed, popular, share and news — have changed to symbols. This allows for a cleaner appearance and sleeker layout of the screen. Alas, Instagram has added a new feature called Lux. The Lux feature is indicated by an eclipse symbol in the bottom left-hand corner of the app’s image editing dashboard. Lux adjusts the brightness, midtone, contrast and saturation in the photo in attempt to bring out more detail.
Essentially, this feature is intended to improve the overall quality of the photo by compensating for the lack any of the inconveniences. Moreover, Instagram may begin to steal market share with this new installment. A popular paid photo enhancing application Camera+,allows users to improve the quality of photos in the same way Lux intends. However, Instagram recently cut the number of steps for using both Camera+ and Instagram in half. Previously, users would have to pay $1.99 for something that is now free. Furthermore, Instagram users no longer have to toggle back and forth between photos. Instead, Instagram is now a one-stop shop for photo enhancement. Going forward, Instagram will be an app to watch and to see how these improvements affect its number of downloads versus the number of downloads of Camera+. It will be interesting to see whether or not Instagram will become available for Android in the near future.
Kress said this is the time for students to start thinking about their projects and begin the application process. “They’ve answered the question what do you care about, and now what are you going to do about it?” Kress said. SMU sophomore Mike Ren said he has already started planning his project proposal and is excited to participate in Engaged Learning. “It increases freedom for students to pursue what they want rather than an assigned curriculum,” Ren said. Engaged Learning projects are meant to enhance what students have already learned in the classroom. Students who are accepted into the program and complete a project will present their work and submit a report that will be published by SMU.
senate
Spectrum seeks Senate’s help, again SARAH KRAMER Editor in Chief sarahk@smu.edu Last April, Student Senate failed to pass a bill that would have allowed the LGBT community to have a special interest seat. In order for Senate to determine the number of LGBT students on campus, the legislation called on the Registrar’s office to allow LGBT students to self-identify themselves through Access. However, after working with the Registrar’s office for several months, Harvey Luna, co-president of Spectrum and one of the authors of the bill, received an email last week that informed him that the Registrar’s office was postponing talks with Spectrum. During Tuesday’s Senate meeting, members of Spectrum asked for help resuming talks with the Registrar’s office. “We had been making progress and want it to continue,” Breanna Diaz, activism co-chair of Spectrum, said. Secretary Martha Pool asked Diaz if the email made a clear
distinction between postponing or cutting off all communication with Spectrum. Though Diaz had not personally seen the email, she said that the Registrar made it clear that they did not want to discuss the issue further. Thus, Spectrum urged Student Senate to help continue working with the Registrar. President Austin Prentice also discussed plans for the Founder’s Day celebration in April. Instead of holding the ceremony in the main quad like the Centennial Celebration last April, Founder’s Day will be held on the opposite side of campus. “We want to bring light to the south end and break ground where the residential community will be,” Prentice said.
It is hard to imagine that just five years ago Garrett Haake was a college student who studied and attended football games. Today, he is a four-time Emmy nominee who works for NBC News. Haake graduated from SMU in 2007 with a degree in journalism. He is currently working for NBC News as a campaign embed, covering the 2012 presidential election. Haake mostly focuses on the Romney campaign, traveling the country to report on Romney’s events and other political stories. Haake not only has to report the major events, but also is responsible for acting as the cameraman, producer, editor and blogger. Although Haake has always had an interest in journalism, there was a time when he questioned if being a journalist was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, Haake told MSNBC. In the summer of 2006, Haake was accepted to intern for “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.” Haake saw this as his opportunity to decide if being a broadcast journalist was really what he wanted to do. After Haake accepted the internship, he flew off to New York City for a 12-week journey where he would learn the ins and outs of television journalism. Haake enjoyed his internship and realized that his passion for journalism was still present. This was, in fact, what the soonto-be college senior wanted to do with his life. Haake said just doing an internship is not enough. “You have to excel and then stay in contact with the people who know your work and who you were close with to really maximize the value of any internship,” he said. “As in life, showing up alone is not enough.” As Haake’s senior year at SMU came to an end, something happened that would change his life forever. “About a month before graduation, I got a call from my old boss asking me if I wanted to come back for an entry-level job at the network,” he said. “I said yes, and never looked back.” Haake said his most memorable experience from his job so far was when he did his first live shot on MSNBC. “Romney had made some pretty major news, saying, ‘corporations are people,’ and shouting down some protestors. I ended up booked on Al Sharpton’s show having never done a live shot anywhere except on SMU TV. I got emails of encouragement and caution, and I was terrified to step in front of the lights and do the actual hit. But once it was done, I felt incredibly exhilarated. This was why I got into television in the first place,” Haake said. Another reason for Haake to feel exhilarated came when
Photo Courtesy of NBC
Garrett Haake spends his time shadowing Mitt Romney for NBC.
he realized that all of his hard work had paid off. He has been nominated for an Emmy four times, twice in 2010 and twice in 2011, for his work helping produce NBC news specials, such as “The Funeral of Ted Kennedy,” “Perfect Storm: Climate Change and Conflict and Earthquake in Haiti.” “Garrett has always been charismatic and very assertive. I think these traits serve him well in his job; they give him kind of natural credibility to viewers,” Jack Haake, Garrett’s youngest brother and SMU senior, said. Something that is affecting Haake’s work, however, is the progression of new media outlets. According to the American Journalism Review, now, more than ever, presidential candidates are avoiding middle men and reporting straight to new media, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. By avoiding journalists directly and using new media, candidates can have almost immediate access to everything that is written or that involves their campaigns. Haake agrees with the American Journalism review. “Twitter has really changed how campaign reporting works,” he said. “It raises the stakes and the pace of campaign reporting immensely.” The new challenges brought forth by the progression of media outlets should be no challenge for Haake, however. Haake’s former teacher Michele Houston said, Garrett “was diligent and hardworking, and he wanted to learn. He wanted to be pushed.” His yearn for a challenge will only help Haake in all aspects of his career. Through Haake’s ambition and love for the field of journalism, he has already accomplished much and plans to continue to do even more. Jack says, because of Garrett, a higher standard has been set for him as a student and for his own future. “As my older brother, I’ve looked up to him my entire life. His successes have challenged me, and I credit the high standard he set for inspiring a strong work ethic in me,” Jack said. Garrett has set high standards for a successful career in journalism, not only for himself, but also for others pursuing journalism careers.