MONday march 17, 2014
MONday High 63, Low 43 TUESday High 73, Low 46
VOLUME 99 ISSUE 69 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
March Sadness
Administration
Mustangs denied spot in NCAA tournament Billy Embody Sports Writer wembody@smu.edu With Moody Coliseum’s lower bowl half-filled, the band and cheerleaders performing and the CBS Sports Selection Sunday Show on Moody’s video board, the team, coaches and SMU fans looked on as the hosts rattled off the names of the teams heading to the Big Dance. As they made their way through the regions, the tension built and the nervousness of the crowd replaced the optimism from earlier. Even though the team didn’t get in, head coach Larry Brown was very honest about why. “This team has talent, but the other teams had a lot more character,” Brown said. “The last two weeks we showed a lack of character in a lot of ways. We didn’t act right the last three games.” Even though it was a slight disappointment, the team is expected to earn a National Invitation Tournament bid and that could mean home games in Moody Coliseum, but for now coach Brown says the team should be better for this. “You recognize a mistake, you learn from it and move on and don’t do it again,” Brown said. It is especially tough on the team’s two seniors, Shawn Williams and Nick Russell. Both spoke to the team after
SIDNEY HOLLINGSWORTH / The Daily Campus
Meadows Dean Jose Bowen will be moving to Goucher College in July.
Dean Bowen appointed president of Goucher Jehadu Abshiro News Writer jabshiro@smu.edu
Courtesy of AP
The Mustangs walk off the court after losing the American Athletic Conference Tournament against Houston.
learning their fate about wanting to finish the right way this season Brown told the media. Student Body President Ramon Trespalacios was in full “lobster” costume as usual for the show, and couldn’t help but be disappointed. “Definitely unexpected. We were expecting to be in the tournament, but now we’re just looking ahead learning from this season,” Trespalacios said. “It was a great season. I cannot thank the basketball team enough.” “For our senior year being able to experience something like this was something I couldn’t even dream of. I’m happy for our whole season, but it’s a sad
moment right now.” Brown mentioned that once Louisville was seeded as a No. 4, he realized that the committee didn’t have a lot respect for the American Athletic Conference. With four teams in the Top 25, not including SMU, that made the tournament, it was still a little surprising SMU wasn’t in. Brown though, took the high road, not wanting to take away from the teams in the tournament and wants the team to learn from it. “At the end of the day, it is what it is so I’m gonna do everything I can to get these kids and to realize it was on us and
Nation
nobody else,” Brown said. Even though the team didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, Trespalacios challenged the student body to support the team if the NIT comes to Dallas. “We need to win a championship, even if it’s the NIT or whatever it is I think we can do it,” Trespalacios said. “It’s just a way to get heated up for next season so I expect every student that has been to the games this season to be at those games.” The NIT teams will be announced later Sunday night and announcement will come shortly after whether SMU will host games.
Jose Bowen, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts, will be leaving SMU to become Goucher College’s 11th predsdent, effective July 1. Bowen, also a professor of music and the Algur H. Meadows Chair, is an outspoken advocate for innovation in higher education. “I am excited about using the framework of interdisciplinary education not only transform individual students’ lives,” Bowen said in a press release. “But to help change the way people think about value and uses of the liberal arts.” Bowen will succeed Sanford J. Ungar, who became Goucher’s president in 2001. “I believe that he and the magnificent, successful place that is Goucher are an excellent match for each other,” Ungar said a press release. “And I know that this community looks forward to his arrival with great enthusiasm.” The Board of Trustees
WORLD
Emergency workers sifted through debris Saturday from the site of a deadly explosion at two New York City apartment buildings as they worked to clear the way for investigators to search for clues that might reveal what caused the blast. Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said rescue workers reached the rear of the basement Saturday but said that investigation of the piping and meters in the front of the basement that will help explain what caused the blast that killed eight people will likely start on Sunday. He said that the National Transportation Safety Board should be able to start pressure-testing the pipes Sunday. Arson detectives and fire marshals have been waiting to enter the basements to examine meters, check pipes and inspect any possible ignition sources, such
Associated PRess
Courtesy of AP
An excavator works to remove debris from the site of the explosion.
as light switches, that might have caused the blast. The theory that the explosion was due to a gas leak gained momentum Friday after the NTSB, which investigates pipeline accidents, said underground tests conducted in the hours after the explosion registered high concentrations of natural gas. The NTSB will conduct its own inquiry after police and fire officials
determine what might have caused the blast. Cassano said about 15 percent of the debris was left on the site late Saturday afternoon. An uplifting moment from the painstaking recovery effort came as crews pulled a large waterdamaged Bible from the rubble of the Spanish Christian Church,
HARLEM page 5
The U.S. rejected the Crimea secession referendum Sunday as illegal and readied retaliatory penalties against Russia, while shifting sights to deterring possible military advances elsewhere in Ukraine that could inflame the crisis. Even before official results were announced, the White House denounced the vote on Crimea joining Russia, saying it violated Ukraine’s constitution and international law and was held under “threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention.” It said “no decisions should be made about the future of Ukraine without the Ukrainian government” and noted that Russia had rejected the deployment of international monitors in Crimea to ensure the rights of ethnic Russians there were protected. “Russia has spurned those calls as
BOWEN page 5 STATE
Rescue workers reach basement U.S. rejects Crimean of Harlem explosion site vote for secession Associated PRess
unanimously approved Bowen as the college’s next leader, after a search committee headed by Trustee Florence Beck Kurdle selected Bowen. “We believe Dr. Bowen is the right candidate who has come along at the exact right time to build on Sandy’s legacy and lead our college into its next phase of excellence,” said Norma Lynn Fox, chair of the Board of Trustees, in the press release. Goucher, a women’s college until 1986, now has about 2,200 students. The school requires all undergraduate students to participate in study abroad. Bowen, along with his wife Kimberly their dogs, Chloe, Molly, and Daisy, and their 18-year-old cat Latte will be living on Goucher’s campus. During Bowen’s eight years at SMU, Meadows’s academic test scores and rankings rose. He also added the fashion media, creative computing and arts entrepreneurship/management majors and minors.
well as outreach from the Ukrainian government and instead has escalated its military intervention into Crimea and initiated threatening military exercises on Ukraine’s eastern border,” the White House said. “Russia’s actions are dangerous and destabilizing,” the White House said. U.S. officials reaffirmed that the Obama administration will, along with the European Union, impose penalties on Russia if it annexes the strategic region. They also warned that any Russia moves on east and south Ukraine would be a grave escalation requiring additional responses. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Moscow to return its troops in Crimea to their bases, pull back forces from the Ukraine border, halt incitement in eastern Ukraine and support the political reforms in Ukraine that would
CRIMEA page 5
SeaWorld break-in tied to frat initiation Associated PRess Two men arrested for breaking into SeaWorld in San Antonio say they were part of a group that did so as part of a fraternity initiation. The San Antonio ExpressNews says that according to a police report, the two told police they were among seven who broke into the park as part of a fraternity initiation after being told to take pictures with the animals after dark. But a manager and another employee working late saw the group and called security and police. The two men were arrested and charged with criminal trespass and theft. Both admitted to taking ice cream from an unlocked kiosk freezer. A helicopter search did not find the others.