INSIDE
Alumna shares fashion journey
PAGE 2
Looking for Oscar winners
PAGE 5
Baseball talent shifts west
PAGE 6
Two students debate new Pope PAGE 8
WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 20, 2013
Wednesday High 54, Low 39 Thursday High 72, Low 39
VOLUME 98 ISSUE 60 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
representation
Senate discusses fate of SMU Rides service Marissa Budzynski Contributing Writer mbudzynski@smu.edu
Courtesy of Mustang Heroes
Mustang Heroes volunteers with Head Start of Greater Dallas in February 2012.
‘Heroes Week’ offers service opportunities Jennifer Zotz Contributing Writer jzotz@smu.edu Mustang Heroes, a student-run program that “encourages the SMU community to give back to Dallas and the world through engaging, sustainable and impactful service projects,” according to its Facebook page, is gearing up for the rest of their Second-Annual Heroes Week. “In the five minutes it took you to wait in line for coffee this morning, 23 children will die from hunger-related causes,” members of the Heroes Week Committee Molly O’Connor and Katie Maiers said. This week, Mustang Heroes will address these issues of hunger in the Dallas community as it hosts Heroes Week to promote community service and engagement on campus. The 60-member organization hopes to raise $2,000 for the North
Texas Food Bank through a series of advocacy, volunteer and donation opportunities. To kick off the event, Union Coffee will host Mustang U-Nite Wednesday from 6-9 p.m. Professors, community members, other service groups on campus and fellow students will share experiences serving the Dallas community. Additionally, the organization is hosting a series of service trips throughout the week that are available to all students. Thursday from 12:30-4 p.m. and Friday from 8:15 a.m. to noon students can volunteer at the North Texas Food Bank. On Saturday, there will be a trip to Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. as well as a trip to the Monticello West Nursing Home from 2-4 p.m. A shuttle will leave from the flagpole each day to take
Courtesy of Mustang Heroes
students to each location. For students who cannot donate their time, Mustang Heroes has created an online Virtual Food Drive from which all proceeds will go to the North Texas Food Bank. Mustang Heroes hopes the programs available this week will interest students who are not already
part of a service organization and encourage them to get involved. “Sometimes, all people need is a little information about what’s going on just a few minutes away from campus to get interested in becoming a part of our team,” Heroes Week Chair Anna Norkett said.
Discussions of change in one popular campus service dominated the agenda during Student Senate’s two hour meeting in the Hughes-Trigg Forum Tuesday. The meeting began with SMU’s Executive Director of Student Affairs, Troy Behrens, encouraging Senators to address the need for change in the SMU Rides service. SMU Rides, operated by Park n Pony, provides students with free cab rides back to campus. There is a $5,000 budget for the program each year, but ridership increased exponentially this year. Only 134 rides were given to students in the Spring 2012 semester, as opposed to the 4,989 rides given last semester. This has resulted in a $42,000 bill for SMU. Behrens said this spike could be a cause of the way SMU Rides was presented to freshmen, who account for over 95 percent of rides. “During most AARO sessions, SMU Rides was mentioned, but not that it was intended for emergencies. It was marketed as a convenience program,” Behrens said. Over $100,000 in funding would need to be found in order to keep SMU Rides operating as it currently does. One alternative would be to start charging students’ accounts for cab fare, using their SMU IDs. Some senators raised concerns about how this would make SMU Rides different from any other cab system, and support eliminating the program entirely. Student Senate will further
debate this proposition and come to a resolution at next week’s meeting. Diversity Chair Kimberly Elmazi encouraged her fellow Senate members to start creating interest in SMU Diversity Week, which will occur April 1-6. Six events are currently planned, three of which will take place at the flagpole. Elmazi hopes the central location will help draw interest from many students. “It’s not just a multicultural or an ethnic thing,” Elmazi said. “We’re trying to reach a broad spectrum of students and promote a stronger sense of community on campus.” President Alex Mace also updated the Senate on how students have perceived his letter regarding the recent fraternity assault. He first read the letter at Student Senate’s meeting last week before it was published in The Daily Campus. “I can’t tell you how encouraged I am with the way the piece was received. It doesn’t matter who wrote it. It’s a sentiment that’s shared throughout campus,” Mace said. Mace concluded his address by stressing the need to find a forum where conversations about such campus issues can be discussed.
philanthropy
Six SMU students to start social movement with cupcakes leah johnson Contributing Writer leahj@smu.edu Daniel Poku remembers the day he felt the calling. He and his brother decided to take a joy ride after they both received their licenses. Poku drove while his brother sat in the passenger seat. Then there was a stop sign. There stood a homeless man with a scraggly beard who asked Poku for help. Before this day, Poku had never felt it was his duty to help the homeless because he had always been a passenger. But on this day, Poku was in the driver’s seat and that homeless man was directly asking him. With this eye-opening experience came CauseCakes the social movement. CauseCakes is a cupcake business with a twist. The cupcakes are being used to inspire others to perform random acts of kindness through messages on the cupcake wrapper. After purchasing a cupcake, the customer will find a message on the wrapper to pay the bill of the person behind them in line at Starbucks. Then, that customer shares their experience via a social media website designated by the
CauseCakes team. Rosyln Dirden, owner of Something So Senational bakery in Dallas, weighed in on the movement. “Maximize man power and minimize work,” Dirden said. “I see this as something for adults and kids. Everybody loves cupcakes.” Stephen Nelson, a member, said CauseCakes is more than just giving money. “You as a customer get interaction with the random act of kindness. You do it yourself [and] you get to tell your story,” Nelson said. The team wants people to know that CauseCakes is not a product, but a movement. Poku believes that CauseCakes is all about action. CauseCakes is not about making money or achieving fame, according to Poku. The goal is to impact at least one person’s life. For the team, success on a larger scale for CauseCakes means seeing the community, hearts and lives changed. One of the more famous videos of the team doing a random act of kindness features the group buying groceries for a homeless man named Jerry standing on Mockingbird Lane. “It felt so right and it was so easy,” Tyler Scott, a member of
CauseCakes, said. Poku recounted the experience of helping Jerry. He said he felt nervous about being the one to address Jerry. Poku approached as Jerry was walking away to get a meal from the dumpster. In disbelief and confusion, Jerry never took his eyes off Poku as Poku explained how the group wanted to buy the homeless man groceries. Afterward, Poku said he felt “incredible.” “It’s so easy to get caught up in SMU, but there are real people with real needs,” Nelson said. Kate Soja, a friend, said that CauseCakes will have success because of its mission and that she was ready to see how SMU would back the movement. “There is something about their mission that resonates with me. The world is crying out for it. People want to be uplifted,” Soja said. Spearheaded and created by Poku, CauseCakes has five other members. Scott is in charge of marketing programs. Nelson works in message development and outreach. Marc Feldman is in charge of the website and customer engagement. Paul Curry works on brand planning and Kyle Spencer handles product quality. They are all SMU juniors. Poku’s inspiration for
CauseCakes came from a fortune cookie. While he hates the taste of them, he was fascinated by the mystery of the fortune and could not help but to think what would happen if he incorporated this idea into something better tasting. A common theme arose for why the six students do community service: the rewarding effect of creating change in someone else’s circumstance. “There is no greater feeling in the world than seeing a smile on someone’s face after helping them and hearing them thank you for your kindness,” Spencer said. “I have always loved community service because it is a win-win situation. Both individuals come out happy in the end.” The team attributed their passion for community service to their families and upbringing. “God calls us to love one another,” Nelson said. The team comes from various backgrounds, religions and majors that vary from Portland, Ore. to Southlake, Texas and sports management to markets and cultures. They are “dynamic” as Nelson said. Outside of CauseCakes, the team is busy with schoolwork and managing their new project. All
See CAKE page 4
Courtesy of Daniel Poku
CauseCakes are cupcakes with inspiring messages on the wrappers.
CORRECTION: In a Page 1 story in the Monday, Feb. 18 issue titled "Residence hall tour provides building details," The Daily Campus incorrectly reported that the Residential Commons project currently under construction would "be designated to house sophomores when the mandatory two-year rule for students living on campus goes into effect." The new residential communities will house first-year and sophomore students. Additionally, the information box and caption accompanying that same story incorrectly listed the opening date for the new residence halls as August 2013. The opening of the new halls is slated for August 2014.