INSIDE
LGBT support with pictures
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‘Zero Dark Thirty’ controversy
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Mays C-USA player of the year
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A call for action in the GOP
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MONDAY MARCH 18, 2013
monday High 72, Low 46 tuesday High 73, Low 50
VOLUME 98 ISSUE 68 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
Law professor teaches from hospital bed ERIC SHEFFIELD Video Editor esheffield@smu.edu
ERIC SHEFFIELD/The Daily Campus
SMU associate law professor Sarah Tran looks at the classroom where she taught via Skype for 28 days last fall while in Baylor Medical Center.
spe aker
Sarah Tran thought she had a cold. “It made sense,” Tran, a SMU associate law professor, said. “Many other faculty members were sick with colds at the time.” However, on Oct. 13, 2012, after a week of having no voice while trying to teach property law to 80 first-year law students, Tran decided to go to the doctor. And that’s when she found out her acute myeloid leukemia, which had been in remission for four and a half years, had come back. She would immediately have to check into the hospital for 28-days to receive treatment. “My first thought was, ‘what am I going to do about my class?’” Tran said. “I didn’t want to just hand the reins over to someone else.” Tran realized how difficult the law school can be for firstyear students, and she said she was afraid that by letting another professor take over her class, she’d be doing them a disservice. “Law school is very stressful. When you step into a first-year class, you can smell the stress,” Tran said. “And then to have the students go through half the
semester and get a new professor, that would be a jolt.” So she came up with a plan. From 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, Tran shut the door of her hospital room at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas and opened her laptop. Back at SMU, the students used the 10 by 8ft. projector screen in the room to connect with Tran over Skype. “I must have looked humongous,” Tran said. “I can only imagine that my nose must have been the size of a garbage can.” But despite what she might have looked like, she was able to teach, call on students and manage a classroom like normal. Well, almost. “Skype definitely didn’t work perfectly,” Tran said. “There were computer glitches.” The students, including first-year Vanessa MurraKapon, recognized the kinks in the system. “We couldn’t hear her at the beginning,” Vanessa said. “After the first couple of classes, though, it got better.” Sometimes the call would drop, or the connection would lag for a bit. Tran also had difficulties
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Women’s basketball
Laura Bush supports women’s equality, fellowships at SMU Julie Fancher Assignments Desk Editor jfancher@smu.edu Though the Bush Center has not yet opened on campus, President and Laura Bush are making their presence known. Former First Lady, and cofounder of the George W. Bush Presidential Institute, Bush spoke to an audience of around 75 people March 8 about women’s equality and leadership. March 8 also happened to be International Women’s Day, making this event a celebration of women’s equality and leadership. “One hundred and two years ago, in 1911 women in several countries began to mark one day each year as International Women’s Day,” Bush said. “A day set aside to champion equal opportunity for women, world wide. Today we live with the benefits of their courage and determination.” Bush also introduced the first class of the Fellows in the George W. Bush Institute’s Women’s Initiative Fellowship Program. This group of 13 Egyptian women were selected to enhance their leadership skills and empower them to become leaders within their country. “The Women’s Fellowship was inspired, created and chaired by Mrs. Laura Bush,” Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute James Glassman said. “President Bush and I are proud to stand by women, and we are so proud of our fellows,” Bush said. According to the Bush Center website, “each Fellowship class is composed of 14-20 women from a single country. The Fellows represent six powerful sectors of society: education, health, business, politics and media.” “The inclusion of women in
all aspects of society strengthens their communities and proves the stability of their countries. Through the Women’s Initiative at the Bush Institute were working to improve social and economic opportunity for women and girls,” Bush said. The women began their Fellowship at SMU last February, where they were taught by members of SMU’s faculty. Their studies focused on communication skills, team building and a number of other skills to help them teach other women in their country. “When they began the fellowship, these women didn’t know each other. They met here in Dallas for the first time. Today they are a band of sisters bonded by their experiences, and integral to each others success,” Bush said. The Fellows then spent the next year traveling throughout the country, meeting CEOs and members of Congress to help sharpen their skills. Each woman was provided a mentor who shared their
profession. The mentors spent the year providing support to the Fellows. These mentors were all present at the event. They also introduced the new class of 2013 who recently began their yearlong training program. This class is made up of 19 Egyptian women. After Bush spoke, a panel discussion was held among the graduating class where they discussed the importance of this fellowship and what it has taught them. Charity Wallace, director of the Women’s Initiative and senior advisor to Laura Bush, moderated the panel discussion. “The purpose of the Fellowship is to equip women with the skills they need to strengthen civil society and ultimately transform their country,” Wallace said. “And after spending the last year working with these remarkable women, I can attest that they are doing so.” The graduates all discussed the importance of taking
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CHRISTOPHER SAUL/The Daily Campus
Laura Bush spoke March 8 about her Women’s Fellowship program.
Courtesy of SMU Athletics
Keena Mays in the 76-56 win over Lousiana-Monroe Dec. 17 in Moody Coliseum. Mays scored 23 points.
Top-seeded Mustangs knocked out of C-USA tournament, look for NCAA bid scott sanford Staff Writer wsanford@smu.edu In an unlikely turn of events, the Lady Mustangs (21-9) were ousted from the Conference USA tournament on Thursday afternoon in Tulsa, as the eighthseeded UCF Knights (15-17) toppled the regular-season C-USA champion Mustangs, 70-66. The Mustangs had a sevenpoint lead with 9:30 left in regulation, but the Knights were able to make a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to take the lead for the first time in the second half. The Knights never trailed again in route to the upset. UCF was led by three players in double figures. Sara Djassi, Gevenia Carter and C-USA freshman of the year Briahanna Jackson led the way for the Knights with 15, 20 and 18 points respectively.
Jackson, who was 6-17 from the field for the game, hit two clutch three-pointers down the stretch to help the Knights take the lead. SMU was able to tie the game four different times down the stretch, but every time the Mustangs made a run, the Knights countered back with one of their own. UCF broke a 62-62 tie with just over three minutes left when Jackson hit a jumper. The freshman phenom also hit 4-6 free throws in the final 33 seconds. The Mustangs, who turned the ball over 18 times, were led by Conference player of the Year Keena Mays’ 15 points. Mays, however, was just 1-8 from the field in the second half and shot just over 27 percent for the game. SMU did have four players score in double figures, including another double-double for senior Alisha Filmore with 12 points and
12 rebounds, but were plagued by poor shooting in the second half. The Mustangs were 10-19 (52.6 percent) from the field in the first half but shot just 13-35 (37.1 percent) in the second half. UCF, meanwhile, shot 11-29 (37.9 percent) from the field in the first half and 15-33 (45.5 percent) in the second half. The Knights’ 14 offensive rebounds allowed UCF to take eight more shots than the Mustangs, which in the end helped them take down the topseeded Mustangs. Despite winning 10 straight games and claiming the Conference regular season title, the Mustangs lost five of their final eight games, which could put their tournament hopes in jeopardy. If the Mustangs do not receive an at-large bid from the NCAA Tournament, they will receive an automatic bid from the NIT because of their regular season performance.