INSIDE
SMU alum restaurant success Should Obama invest in oil? Weekend basketball results
Pollock Gallery’s newest exhibit
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MONDAY
FEBRUARY 27, 2012 MONDAY High 64, Low 57 TUESDAY High 73, Low 52
VOLUME 96 ISSUE 65 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
ME ADOWS
Dancer injured in rehearsal accident CHASE WADE Managing Editor cdwade@smu.edu
SPENCER J EGGERS / The Daily Campus
Christopher O’Riley reenacts MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of Dallas Hall in honor of Black History Month.
Reliving the dream
DANIELLA RIVERA Contributing Writer drivera@smu.edu “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” These words, spoken for the first time by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, echoed across the Dallas Hall lawn Friday evening at a live reenactment of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech. As SMU students gathered around the steps of Dallas Hall, the old gospel song “He’s Able” by Kirk Franklin drifted through the crowd and people began to sing along. Christopher O’Riley, a graduate student at SMU, proceeded to the podium and began to speak. “I am happy to join you today, in what will go down in history
as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation,” O’Riley said. Not a sound was heard from the audience listening intently as the words from the speech rang out. As the dramatic and revered speech came to a close, Kelly invited guests to gather in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center to enjoy refreshments, “black man and white man together.” Genesis Reed, a student at SMU, enjoyed hearing the speech. “I think it is definitely still relevant and holds a resonant meaning even today,” Reed said. Sophomore Rianna Carter shared this opinion. “I think it is important to remember the past and think about the situation others were in,” she said. Public speaking is not new to O’Riley, as he has given
many sermons, speeches and presentations throughout his academic journey. However, reading the words of Martin Luther King Jr. was a daunting undertaking. “At first I didn’t want to do it,” O’Riley said. “It was very overwhelming.” The night was also very symbolic for O’Riley, as he is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, Martin Luther King Jr.’s fraternity. Jibril Rasheed, graduate student, and Alexis Abbey, law student, stood on either side of O’Riley during the speech. As Alpha Phi Alphas, both supported their brother O’Riley in honoring their brother Martin Luther King Jr. Evan Michael Taylor, who designed the event along with Kelly and the Fine Arts Community (FAC) staff, said the idea for the event came about last November.
Taylor and Kelly are both resident assistants in the FAC and began planning it in December. Taylor expressed a wish to make this an annual event showcasing other famous speeches. “We feel like there are a lot of speeches, and especially in the academic setting where there are references to them, that would be useful to know,” Taylor said. He also shared his hopes that this will continue to grow. “Eventually we would like to incorporate the Dallas high schools so that they can come and experience it with the student body,” he said. As Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream was relived Friday night, the words resounding off the Dallas Hall steps impacted and encouraged those in attendance. “It is important to see how far we’ve come but also to realize how far we have to go to fulfill the dream,” Rasheed said.
CAMPUS
Health center to undergo facelift RAHFIN FARUK News Editor rfaruk@smu.edu The SMU Memorial Health Center was originally a 30-bed infirmary that serviced students in need of minor surgeries and overnight care. A tour through the current health center reveals long hospitallike hallways, outdated lighting and external features and awkward room spacing. “It was time for a renovation and a sense of freshness for our students,” executive director of SMU health services Patrick Hite said, standing in front of a 40-yearold food tray cart. Last week, the Dr. Bob and Jean Smith Foundation answered Hite’s call with a $5 million gift to renovate the health center. The center will be renamed in the honor of Dr. Bob Smith, a Dallas pediatrician and SMU alumnus whose contribution is part of the Second Century Campaign’s push to improve university facilities and overall quality of student life. “I am really thankful to President Turner and all the
other people who contributed to making the renovation part of the campaign,” Hite said. “All the other buildings were being remodeled, and we felt left out.” The current center, while up to date in all health-related areas, lacks the amenities of most 21st century buildings. “People should look at how Caruth Hall was before and after renovation. It’s not the academic quality that changed but the entire feel of the building. Our renovation will involve a change in image and not one in healthcare services,” Hite said. Hite envisions that the new center will optimize building space by consolidating different departments into specific areas. “My office is bigger than it needs to be while some restrooms are very small,” Hite said. The new building will make it easier for students to find specific areas in the center. Currently, the pharmacy sits behind the front desk lobby, which congests student traffic. “There are entire parts of the building we cannot use because the building was designed for
a different purpose,” Hite said. “We are now an outpatient facility and have no need for these long hallways and kitchen and bathroom setups.” Improvements for the Dr. Bob Smith Health Center include updated floor plans that will increase the number of patient procedure rooms, counseling offices and private waiting rooms and will better serve the needs of students with disabilities. The renovation also includes upgrades to medical equipment and technology and enhancement of pharmacy and laboratory spaces. Upon its completion in 2014, the Dr. Bob Smith Health Center will serve an estimated 3,650 students living on campus, including those who will live in the new Residential Commons complex which will begin construction this spring. The renovated center will be one of many new structures and facilities on SMU’s campus made possible by generous alumni. “Bob and Jean Smith have a long history of generous support for SMU priorities and have always kept the welfare of students uppermost in their minds,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner said.
“This new gift will dramatically improve campus health care resources and provide support services that enable students to do their best academic work and fully enjoy the campus experience. We are deeply grateful for this gift, which will transform an important but outmoded facility into an upto-date campus resource.” The center hopes to ensure that SMU’s rise in academic quality is equaled by its rise in the quality of student facilities. “It is an honor to align the Dr. Bob and Jean Smith Foundation with SMU in combining superior academic facilities with excellent student life resources,” Sally Smith Mashburn Foundation president and treasurer and daughter of Dr. Bob and Jean Smith, said. “After all, one of SMU’s greatest responsibilities is to nurture the well-being of students.” Hite believes that the new health center will have a large impact for SMU’s reputation as a quality institution. “UNT, Texas State and Baylor all have much newer and renovated health centers. We want to improve for our students and for our university.”
A routine dance rehearsal took a shocking turn when a junior dance minor broke through a pane of glass in the lobby of the Owen Fine Arts Center Sunday afternoon. The dancer, whose name has been withheld per family request, was rehearsing a piece for SMU’s Brown Bag Dance series. According to SMU police deparment‘s Sgt. Norris, the dancer was treated for her injuries at a local hospital and does not have any lifethreatening injuries. Daniel Borackzeski, the director of Brown Bag, was a witness to the accident. “She is going to be okay,” Borackzeski said. “We are in complete shock. I’ve never seen anything like this.” Witnesses said that the dancer was in the middle of a performance when the accident happened. After the incident, the dancers relocated to a different room in Meadows to complete the dress rehearsal.
SPENCER J EGGERS / The Daily Campus
Alternate plans, if any, for the Brown Bag Dance series have yet to be announced. However, Borackzescki hopes that the show can remain in the Owen Fine Arts Center’s lobby. Junior dancer Katelyn McDermitt has her own predictions for the show. “The show must go on,” McDermitt said. The Brown Bag Dance series is slated to happen this week at noon Monday, Wednesday and Friday and at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.
ENVIRONMENTAL
SMU strives for sustainability KATIE GODBOLD Contributing Writer kgodbold@smu.edu Diminishing natural resources and the environment have become topics of major concern in recent years. Conservatives and liberals alike have started to place an emphasis on environmental issues. Southern Methodist University is jumping on the bandwagon with the launch of its masters program in sustainability and development. The program is being offered as a Master of Arts, instead of a Master of Science, in order to allow engineers and nonengineers to analyze non-science issues, which are critical to the future of the environment. The director of the program, Dr. Andrew Quicksall, says that the program has had a lot of support from SMU faculty and others from outside the SMU community. While the opportunity to enroll in the masters degree program did not begin until fall of this year, the courses have been around for approximately three years for students to take as a certificate program. About five years ago, Betsey del Monte, architect and director of Sustainability for The Beck Group, helped start the program. She wrote curriculums for nine of the courses and has taught approximately seven of them to SMU students. According to Quicksall, acceptance into the program starts with the standard Lyle School application that is reviewed by the Civil and Environmental
Engineering Department. Once accepted, students start by taking five core courses, which are broad engineering classes. After the five core classes are completed, students choose the track they want to pursue green architecture to urban design. At the end of the program, students take a final capstone course, which is typically a seminar or thesis-styled class, to finish out their degree. Quicksall thinks that the creation of this novel program will appeal to a wide variety of students. “I think we are seeing different kinds of students coming in to this program than we would in our traditional programs, and that diversity is a pro for us,” Quicksall said. By allowing for a Master of Arts, non-engineers can earn the degree and apply it to their own field of expertise. Del Monte knows lawyers and artists have showed interest in the program, proving that this degree can be used in a multitude of ways. This view is help by many SMU alumni and members of the community. Elle Carter, an engineering management graduate, believes sustainable engineering is important in preparing for the future and making sure that society has the necessary resources needed for years to come. “[It is] hugely important to the world that people understand how we use resources and [that] the way we use resources impacts every issue of how society moves forward,” del Monte said.