Who we’re voting for today
INSIDE
Good foods for a healthy brain SMU grad to play at Masters Meadows takes on Shakespeare
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WEDNESDAY
APRIL 4, 2012
Wednesday High 79, Low 55 Thursday High 79, Low 57
VOLUME 96 ISSUE 78 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
RECOGNITION
John Oakes named student trustee TASHIKA VARMA Assignments Desk Editor tvarma@smu.edu
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tornadoes tore through the Dallas area Tuesday, peeling roofs off homes, tossing trucks into the air and leaving tractor trailers strewn along highways.
D W T S U R T I E T E S AY
Wild weather sweeps through North Texas SARAH KRAMER Editor in Chief skramer@smu.edu
If yesterday was any indication for May flowers, then it looks like Dallas will be in full bloom next month. April brought showers and bad weather Tuesday afternoon as an estimated 10 tornadoes ripped through the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to the D-FW Red Cross.
Authorities said trailers were tossed around like toys, roofs collapsed, power lines were ripped down and more than 40 flights were cancelled from Love Field Airport. American Airlines announced via Twitter that they were canceling all flights from D-FW International Airport the remainder of the day. Twitter wasn’t only a source for announcements and updates as wild weather spun through Texas. For many SMU students, it was a means of expressing their frustration. With a new alert system in place, SMU’s emergency preparedness team sent out multiple alerts, some of which
weren’t correct, causing aggravated students to tweet about their irritation. At times, students were confused by the alerts — not sure if they needed to seek shelter. “SMU’s emergency alerts are so ill timed you should do the opposite of what the alert advises,” @ErikaLarson tweeted. Junior Conner Sherline got witty with his tweet. “Dear @SMU, there is a story called the boy who cried wolf. You just did that: three times. Question remains, #seekshelter?” Other students were more outspoken, portraying their annoyance with SMU’s alert system. “If I followed SMU’s
emergency alert, I would have ran for shelter, come out, and ran for shelter about 5 times by now. #mustangidiocy,” @SanjivsSMP tweeted. SMU released a statement later that day thanking the university community for their patience. “SMU appreciates the patience of its students, faculty and staff during today’s fast-changing severe weather as emergency personnel worked through technical problems with a new alert system. The emergency preparedness team is reviewing the alert system to identify and address the problems. SMU takes campus safety very seriously and will correct this situation.”
Junior John Oakes has been chosen as the 2012 to 2013 Student Trustee. As the Student Trustee, Oakes will be a full voting member of the Board of Trustees. The Board consists of 41 members, including Oates and serves as the governing body for SMU. Oakes will sit on the Academic Planning, Policy, and Management or Finance Committee in addition to the Executive, Trusteeship and Legal and Governmental Affairs Committees. Oakes will also head up a committee composed of eight Student Representatives and the Student Body President. “I was extremely humbled by my selection as the Student Trustee by the selection committee and am very blessed and grateful for the opportunity,” Oakes said. “SMU is a premiere university that I have loved ever since setting foot on campus and I really look forward to devoting my time and efforts to serving the SMU community in my role as Student Trustee.” The other student representatives selected are Margaret Ellen Crawford (athletics), Brian Horan (building and grounds), William Badarak (DEA), Amie Kromis and Elise McDonald (Student Affairs), Eric Sabandal (Investments), Hannah Bliss (Academics) and James Moreton (Finance/Audit). Oakes is a finance and economics major with a sports management minor. “My goal is to effectively facilitate communication between the Board of Trustees and
Courtesy of John Oakes
the University community,” Oakes said. Applications for Student Representative positions were due on March 21. The initial application required personal information and responses to three essay questions related to the Student Representative positions. Then, about 15 to 20 students were selected to interview. The selection committee then chose the Student Trustee and eight Student Representatives for next year. “The chance to take my perspective and communication skills into interaction with the decision makers of our university really excited and motivated me to be a part of the Board of Trustees,” Oakes said. “I am really excited to continue ushering SMU in to the second century with the development of issues such as the move to the BIG EAST Conference, the opening of the Bush Library and the construction of the sophomore housing. I look forward to interacting with the other members of the Board over these issues and others that arise during the 2012 to 2013 academic year.”
CAMPUS POLITICS
Speaker
Candidates gather to debate platforms
Lecture focuses on change in immigration
RAHFIN FARUK News Editor rfaruk@smu.edu Catylzed by upcoming Student Senate elections on Wednesday, political interest is at an all time high on campus. Senate presidential, vice presidential and secretarial candidates gathered in HughesTrigg Commons to discuss their platforms to a group of about thirty students who braved tornado warnings to come see candidates speak. The forum allowed each candidate to stress their experiences and ideas as they answered questions from the audience members. For Alex Mace, running unopposed for student body president, the event was an opportunity to emphasize why he is the best candidate for the role. “I’m your only choice but hopefully I’m the best one,” Mace said. “My presidency will focus on communication and community.” SMU’s move to the Big East has sparked debate on how the university can improve its school spirit – an issue that all candidates agree with. “I want to create yell leader positions. I want to see new
SUMMER DASHE Contributing Writer sdashe@smu.edu
SIDNEY HOLLINGSWORTH / The Daily Campus
Student Senate secretary hopeful Katherine Ladner speaks during the senate debate in the HT commons Tuesday.
cheers and chants,” Zane Cavender, one of three vice presidential candidates, said. “We are in the Big East now.” The other two vice presidential candidates agreed with Cavender. “I want to bridge the gap between students and sports. It would be great if we could meet with athletes and build their own personal connection with players,” Travis Carlile said. Candidates also agreed on the issue of stronger communication
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between students, administrators and Senate. “We should institute office hours for student senators. Each senator needs to be held accountable to meet with their assigned organizations,” Cohagen Wilkinson said. Katherine Ladner, the only official candidate for secretary, stressed communication as the main issue of her campaign. “I want to bridge the gap between the Senate and the student body,” she said. “It would be great if students could subscribe to Senate minutes.” For vice presidential
candidates, the only students competing for votes, differentiation was a point of emphasis. “I am the only candidate that has experience in the Senate chamber,” Wilkinson said. “It is crucial to know Senate policies.” The candidates also answered more general questions about leadership. All candidates were asked to answer the question: what is the single most important quality of a student leader?
See SENATE on page 6
Ellis Island is a historic symbol of immigration into the United States. It is where many Europeans and other foreignborn Americans got their start and will forever be remembered as a main immigration station in the early 1900s. “Ellis Island, y’know, getting through inspection how terrible it was,” Nancy Foner, distinguished professor of sociology at Hunter College and Graduate Center in New York, said. “Most people got through Ellis Island.” In fact, only two percent of the 12 million who landed on Ellis Island were excluded, according to Foner. Though McCord Auditorium is usually filled with sleepy students, on April 2 at 5:30 p.m. the seats of the Dallas Hall lecture room were, instead, occupied by professors, students and members of the Dallas community. More than 60 people attended to listen to Nancy Foner speak about immigration in the United States. The lecture is the 13th annual George and Mary Foster Distinguished Lecture in Cultural Anthropology.
“It was very informative,” Jim Farrell, an SMU student who has read Foner’s books, said. “There’s certainly a value in coming and listening live to someone.” Many audience members sat intently listening to Foner while clutching one of her many books in their hands. Foner began with a brief history of immigration in the U.S. She compared using graphs and percentages how immigration in 1910 stacked up against immigration in 2010. In 1910, 14.7 percent of Americans were born outside the U.S. That number dipped into single digits for some decades in between, but by 2010, 13 percent of Americans were born outside the U.S. “The U.S. is not experiencing a large-scale immigration for the first time, early 20th century America was as much an immigrant country as it is today,” Foner said. She also explained how the types of people immigrating have changed over the years. In the early 1900s, more Europeans were entering America, however currently the majority are coming from Latin America. She also mentioned that Texas, California and
See LECTURE on page 6