wednesday
march 19, 2014
Wednesday High 66, Low 43 Thursday High 73, Low 54
VOLUME 99 ISSUE 70 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
Competition
KICKER
Mock trial team heads to Memphis Katelyn Hall Contributing Writer khall@smu.edu When junior Clay Moore joined as a first-year, mock trial didn’t have a winning record. “I remember stories about the year before I became a Mustang that we didn’t win a single tournament,” Moore said. This year, mock trial’s three teams, Red, Blue and White have done well at tournaments throughout the school year and have proven themselves a nationally competitive program. “With a lot of hard work, SMU is becoming a school that’s really feared in the mock trial community,” Moore said. “This is by far our most successful year,” Mock Trial President Alex Chern said. Both the Red and Blue teams went to regionals Feb. 14 at the University of Texas at Dallas. The Red Team placed second and the Blue Team placed sixth at regionals. The program also took home three individual awards for their performance in the trial rounds. The next step is the Opening Round Championship Series Tournament taking place this weekend in Memphis, Tenn. The Red and Blue teams hope to do well at ORCs to secure a place at the National Championship in Orlando, Fla. in mid-April.
“We’re trying to get back into the actual national championship tournament that has eluded us for the last while now,” Chern said. Because of the way the Red team has performed this year, the junior political science major thinks it likely they will do well at ORCs this weekend and possibly go on to nationals. “We’ve really seen in his year the culmination of the work we’ve put in the past couple of years to make SMU mock trial one of the teams that people look at and say ‘that’s a national mock trial team,’” he said. Moore, who is captain of the Blue Team, said they are looking not only to win and do well at ORCs, but also to use it as learning grounds for future tournaments. “I think with this tournament, we are looking to grow,” Moore said. The Mock Trial Program attributes this year’s success to the dedication and the motivation of team members and coaches to do well. “It really shows the dedication and the effort that’s been put in by the seniors and the juniors from my freshman year and continuing on,” Moore said. Mock trial competitions are run through the American Mock Trial Association. Each year, AMTA releases one case for which teams across the country prepare prosecution and defense sides. The teams then have trials
using that case at competitions throughout the school year. This year’s case involves an armed robbery and murder charge. “It is our goal to prove or disprove the charge of murder over the course of a trial beyond a reasonable doubt,” said senior Alex Pratt, co-captain of the Red Team. Based on the case, each team can develop their own strategy, deciding which witnesses to call and what questions to ask. “The trial can actually change dramatically going from round to round depending on strategy,” Moore said. The team practices their own strategy and opposition to other teams’ strategies at their weekly three-hour practices Wednesday nights. The team also has additional practices as needed, and members work on their parts individually. Each member of mock trial brings something different to the team. “In mock trial, you get a lot of different personalities,” Moore said. Some team members are hoping to go to law school, but others just look at it as a good way to enhance skills needed in the workforce. Moore is a statistics and economics major hoping to get his masters in statistics after he graduates next spring, but thinks mock trial will help him in
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Nation
Courtesy of Alternative Breaks
Students on the Alternative Breaks trip to Memphis, Tenn. work in a greenhouse.
Students reflect on Alternative Breaks Jehadu Abshiro News Writer jabshiro@smu.edu While the beach is a popular choice for students during breaks, volunteering through SMU’s Alternative Breaks program offers another opportunity. Alternative Breaks is a student organization that offers direct service opportunities during each academic break. This year, students had the opportunity to go to cities like New York City, Indianapolis, Taos, N.M., Memphis, Tenn. or New Orleans for spring break. Sophomore Paul Lujan, an environmental engineering major, went on the trip to Selma, Ala. The trip was focusing on civil rights by working with the organization Freedom Foundation. “It was eye-opening,” Lujan said. “Schools were still segregated. I wasn’t expecting any of that.” Lujan had previously been on two other trips, to Taos and Austin, Texas. In Taos, he taught kids at an understaffed charter school. Lujan ended up with an internship, friends and the
teacher experience. “I had such a good experience the first time,” he said. “ It’s a great way to go away for a week with people you don’t know. [It] broadens your horizons.” Political science and human rights major Genesis Reed went to Selma. She worked within the school system and helped in the construction the of Teppers Building. “It seemed like a great opportunity to experience a new side of this city,” Reed said. One of the most touching experiences for Reed was having one-on-one reading time with the children. She answered questions about college and helped to dispel rumors about college life in their minds. Talking with people who recognize the history of their town, and how much they are proud of it was one of the best parts for Reed. However, “leaving a city oppressed by poverty, separated by segregation and stifled by a lack of hope and not knowing how to help or if the week you spent meant” was the hardest part for her,
she said. Ten people went on the Selma trip. Usually, there are about seven to eight students on the trip, one staff advisor and two student site leaders per trip. Depending on the trip, students fly or drive. Applicants are placed on trips in a first-come first-served basis. Usually trips fill up within a few minutes after the application goes live on the Alternative Break website. The trips cost from $100 to $300. The trip fee includes everything needed on the trip: food, transportation, housing and one day to explore the city.Students have lived in churches, retreat centers, volunteer houses and hostels during their trips. Lujan stayed at a cabin for his Taos trip. “It’s the little things,” Lujan said. “We’re cooking all of our meals and bonding. I didn’t know any of those people before going on the trip.” Lujan said he plans on continuing to go on Alternative Breaks. “I think it’s the best way to spend a spring break,” Lujan said.
Politics
Immigrant activist seeks asylum Courtesy of AP
Associated PRess
A car burns at the scene of a news helicopter crash outside the KOMO-TV studios near the space needle in Seattle.
Helicopter crashes in Seattle Associated PRess A news helicopter crashed into a street and burst into flames Tuesday near Seattle’s Space Needle, killing both people on board, badly injuring a man in a car and sending plumes of black smoke over the city during the morning commute. The chopper was taking off from a helipad on KOMO-TV’s roof when it went down at a downtown intersection and hit three vehicles,
starting them on fire and spewing burning fuel down the street. Kristopher Reynolds, a contractor working nearby, said he saw the helicopter lift about 5 feet off the low-rise building before it started to tilt. The chopper looked like it was trying to correct itself when it took a dive. “Next thing I know, it went into a ball of flames,” Reynolds said. Witnesses also reported hearing unusual noises coming from the
helicopter as it took off after refueling, said Dennis Hogenson, deputy regional chief with the National Transportation Safety Board in Seattle. They said the aircraft then rotated before it crashed near the Seattle Center campus, which is home to the Space Needle, restaurants and performing arts centers. Mayor Ed Murray noted the
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A Mexican immigrant rights advocate who gained international attention in 2007 when she took refuge in a Chicago church before being deported from the United States has presented herself to U.S. border inspectors and asked for asylum on Tuesday. Elvira Arellano and 20 other Mexican and Central American migrants crossed into the United States from the border city of Tijuana as part of a protest to demand an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws and an end to deportations.
Courtesy of AP
Immigrant rights activist Elvira Arellano waits to enter into the United States where she planned to ask for asylum in Tijuana, Mexico.
Arellano was deported to Mexico after seeking sanctuary at a Chicago church for a year. She was deported without her U.S.-born son. Arellano, 38, said she is asking
for asylum in the U.S. because she has received threats in Mexico because of her activism and because
MOODY MADNESS!
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Support your #1 seed SMU Mustangs in the first round of the NIT at HOME as they face off against the UC Irvine Anteaters. Today, March 19 at 8:00 PM