PHOTOS: Suburbia Music Festival
INSIDE
Tesar to open steak house
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Managing Editor says goodbye
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And the No. 1 SMU athlete is...
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wednesday
may 7, 2014
Wednesday High 90, Low 70 Thursday High 81, Low 70
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Campus
SIDNEY HOLLINGSWORTH / The Daily Campus
SMU’s Board of Trustees has approved the hiring of efficiency experts at Bain & Company to help the university consolidate its budget.
Bain begins work with SMU Chris Warley Contributing Writer cwarley@smu.edu Bill Detwiler, a long-time official in SMU’s Business and Finance office, had the opportunity to sit in on the school’s recent Board of Trustees meeting last month. He’s sat through dozens of board meetings during his tenure at SMU, but said he’s never seen the trustees more excited about a project than they were at this meeting. The board officially approved a motion to hire efficiency experts Bain & Company to consolidate the university’s budget. “Of the many years I’ve been going to board meetings, I’ve not seen that kind of dialogue and engagement,” said Detwiler, associate vice president of
Business Services and Human Resources. “They get it. They’re beyond approving it. They’re excited about it.” Bain’s Atlanta-based higher education group will examine SMU’s finances and make recommendations about how it can become more efficient in the future. The plan, called “Project SMU: Operational Excellence for the 2nd Century,” will occur in three phases: Bain will identify places where SMU can save money in its budget, design new systems to reduce costs, and help SMU implement the systems across the campus. Bain sent a team to set up an office on campus April 7 and it will be here for the next 12 to 18 months, depending on how long it takes to complete their reporting and enact any new programs. Bain officials are working out
of Perkins Administrative Building near the Business and Finance offices. SMU President R. Gerald Turner said that the university had never hired an outside group to review operations on such a broad scale but thinks the decision to hire was well-timed. “We are doing it now so that we can continue to enhance the academic stature of the university by operating as efficiently as possible,” Turner said. Detwiler and Turner declined to disclose how much SMU would pay Bain for its services, but noted that a cost estimate couldn’t even be determined at this point in time. “The exact number is not known because we’re not far enough along in the project,” Detwiler said.
The University of California, Berkeley paid Bain $7.5 million to do a similar review of its operations, according to The Daily Californian, Berkeley’s newspaper. Detwiler said that Bain won’t get one large fee regardless of the results of the project. While there is a flat fee component, Bain will also charge a percentage of the savings they identify and a percentage of the savings SMU implements. Turner said that the expertise of Bain justifies the cost. “Having extended access to the level of expertise available for this project is not inexpensive,” Turner said. Bain’s review of expenses can be categorized into two separate
BAIN page 3
Lecture
ELLEN SMITH / The Daily Campus
The Residential Commons will open for the fall semester 2014.
Residential Commons to be dedicated Friday Katelyn GOugh Editor-in-Chief kgough@smu.edu SMU’s new Residential Commons complex will be dedicated Friday. The newest $146 million addition to SMU residential life is the largest capital project in SMU history and will house an additional 1,250 students on campus. Friday’s noon ceremony will include both the dedication and a tour of the new residential commons. Vice President for Student Affairs Lori S. White said the dedication will be a time for members of all facets of the
SMU community to experience the campus expansion first. “We’re very excited about the dedication on Friday. It will be an opportunity for the community to see what the Residential Commons looks like and a chance to thank the donors,” White said. Lead donors — totaling $30 million cumulatively — were gifted to the university by the Armstrong, Arnold, Crow, Crum, Loyd and Ware families. Brad Cheves, vice president for development and external affairs, told SMU News and Communications that Friday’s
DEDICATION page 3
Student Life
Millenials not marrying young Ariel Monticure Contributing Writer amonticure@smu.edu
Courtesy of SMU
Cokie Roberts.
Courtesy of SMU
Susan Stamberg.
Courtesy of SMU
Nina Totenberg.
NPR founders featured at Tate Meredith Carey Contributing Writer mbcarey@smu.edu Most people in the audience at the Tate Lecture Monday could have spent the entire discussion with their eyes closed. The voices of the four women who graced the McFarlin Auditorium stage are familiar, found nearly every day on the airwaves of National Public Radio. Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg and Linda Wertheimer, the founding mothers of NPR, spoke with moderator Keven Ann Willey on every topic from women in the workplace to snakes and shotguns. The radio legends have each spent nearly 40 years on the air, spreading news and information to the nation on popular shows like “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered” and “Weekend Edition.” They shared their perspective on impeachments, disasters and elections to thousands of listeners across the country. As Roberts sat in the pouring rain in the Vatican City, waiting for the papal election in 2013, she complained to herself about the weather, the cardinals’ lengthy decision and the seagull perched
Courtesy of SMU
Linda Wertheimer.
on the famed chimney. But, as the smoke came pouring out of the stack, she was humbled by the weight of the moment. “We eyewitness history all day, every day,” Roberts said. “When you cover it, you don’t think of it as history.” For the women, radio allows them to share their stories in a way that other mediums limit. “Interactive media is a new idea, in theory, but it’s really what we’ve been doing all along,” Roberts said. “If we write it well enough, your imagination creates even better pictures that what would have been taken.”
Roberts, Stamberg, Totenberg and Wertheimer all joined NPR in the early ’70s, a time when strong women were still rare in the workforce. Full of self-deprecation, the women spoke at length about their time together in a progressive but still male-dominated area. Totenberg explained that she, Stamberg and Roberts worked in a small room at the beginning of their careers, sharing professional and personal problems and advice. “One man called it the ‘Fallopian Jungle.’ I would like to point out that he is gone. We are not,” Totenberg said. The Tate Lecture had a casual feel, different from many other lectures, as the women seemed to invite the audience into their minds, as they do through the radio. “I’ve been to all of the Tate Lectures and this by far is the best one yet,” first-year Katie Anne Head said. “They played off each other really well. I think it was as fun for them as it was for the audience.” Bringing a sort of levity to topics like the Supreme Court, Congress and international news is not new for the four speakers, but their amusing personal stories brought their on-air and on-stage personalities to life.
Seniors Allie Hays and Katie Smith may be approaching the next chapter in their lives, but the idea of marriage within the next five years is a laughable matter. Their reasoning may be self-serving but not because they want to live life in vice and participate in reckless behavior. Both girls expressed their need for personal achievement before settling down. “It depends where we are in our lives,” Hays said. “I think you’re both doing your own thing. You’re both growing and changing,” Smith said. Hays and Smith are not alone in their views against marrying young. A study conducted by Pew Research Center in 2013 revealed a sharp decline in marriage among Millennials, ages 18-33, compared to generations in the past. The decline of marriages among Millennials is approximately half of the percentage of their parents’ generation. In a study done in 2008, younger people felt that having a successful career, social status and a fulfilling sex life were easier to accomplish while remaining single. Where a Millennial is from can also affect their intention to marry. Pew Research Center revealed that 71 percent of those who were unmarried in the South said they wanted to get married, compared to the 49 percent in the East, 53 percent in the West and 60 percent in the Midwest. While this school of thought varies
Courtesy of SMU
Perkins Chapel is a popular place for SMU students to get married.
regionally, college students across the country seem to have the same mentality. A small survey of students from University of Wisconsin and Southern Methodist University was conducted to test if the contrasting cultures had different sets of values. Regardless of their answers all participants brought up the topic
of wanting financial stability before settling down. SMU students who were for marrying within the next five years versus students against it were almost equally split 42 percent and 57 percent. On the other hand, 75 percent of the students who took the
MARRIAGE page 3
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FOOD
WEDNESDAY n MAY 7, 2014 INNOVATION
Fake foods impact more than taste buds Genevieve edgell Food Editor gedgell@smu.edu It can be found in Dallas-local Whole Foods Markets, ready to pile into a take-out box in the prepared food section. It looks, shreds, feels and tastes just like chicken, yet it is made up entirely of plants. It is Beyond Meat’s chickenless tenders, an imitation meat product made with real meat eaters in mind. While veganism and vegetarianism have become growing trends, companies like Beyond Meat are working hard at creating plant-based imitation meats, hoping not just vegan or vegetarians will start replacing meat with plant based foods in their diets. These innovations claim to create positive impacts while some food activists aren’t so sure. Meat consumption is projected to rise nearly 73 percent by 2050 according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which means there won’t be enough meat to supply every meat eater in the future. Innovative companies like Beyond Meat and Hampton Creek Foods that make plant based foods look, feel and taste
like meat and egg products, are creating new alternatives so that consumers can benefit from animal nutrients while avoiding real meat and eggs. Besides being animal free, plant-based products from these companies are missing saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, hormones, gluten, dairy and GMOs yet contain high, if not equal, protein values compared to real meat. SMU senior and applied physiology and enterprise major Jennifer Robb believes a diet with more plant-based foods will promote healthy nutritional habits that can help decrease some of the deadly trends Americans face today, including the rise in sodium and saturated fat consumption. “Processed foods and red meats play a major role in changes that have occurred in the obesity rates over the years. A more plant-based diet will not only decrease the obesity rate, but it would also [...] decrease the occurrence of chronic diseases that are linked to obesity such as type 2 diabetes and heart diseases,” Robb explained. According to the FAO, the world will need millions more tons of meat in 2030 than it does today, a motivational statistic for
companies like Beyond Meat and Hampton Creek Foods. Yet these companies are also motivated by their environmental impact. Using data from the Environmental Working Group, an environmental health research organization, and research by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit dedicated to independent scientific analysis, Beyond Meat products take less grain, use less land and emit fewer carbon dioxide molecules compared to chicken and beef products. Robb agrees that if plantbased imitation meats become a bigger success in the food industry, companies like Beyond Meat will help decrease global warming issues. “Factory farms play a huge role in methane and nitrous oxide emission which harms the environment tremendously,” Robb said. In an interview with Ethan Brown, founder and CEO of Beyond Meat, he explains that 51 percent of climate change emissions can be attributed to livestock. Bill Gates, an advocate for the production of plant based imitation meats, interviewed Michael Pollan on these issues for a blog post on his blog, www.
THURSDAY
WEDNESDAY
FRIDAY
May 8
May 7
Final exams — no class.
May 9
Final exams — no class.
SATURDAY
Final exams — no class.
SUNDAY May11
May 10
Final exams
Virtual and Real: Bridwell Library’s Digital Collection, Bridwell Library, all day.
Press On “When I am Weak,Then I am Strong” DR. STEPHEN RANKIN Chaplain rankins@smu.edu
panicking and you’re not sure you’ll survive whatever final exam has you on the ropes, remember: God’s grace is sufficient for your situation. More is going on here than what your depleted strength might suggest.
I’m thinking about the stress this time of year brings for everyone on campus – faculty, staff and students, but I’m thinking especially of students. It brings back memories, painful and sweet. Maybe a word will encourage some of you.
NOT SURE HOW TO KEEP UP? I went back to graduate school for a second master’s degree and then a Ph.D. after I had been in pastoral ministry for a few years. I was married and had three children, so going back to school meant that I had to juggle a pretty full work schedule while keeping up with coursework. It was, to say the least, stressful. To be quite honest, I felt like a failure most days and at times simply didn’t know how I was going to keep up. I’m guessing more than a few of you feel that way these days. Let me offer you this word from scripture. In 2 Corinthians 12, we find an unusual first person testimony from the Apostle Paul about a mysterious “thorn in the flesh.” Most scholars think it was some kind of
HANG IN THERE So, hang in there. When you are weak, God’s strength is the strongest. Depend on it.
chronic physical ailment that caused Paul lots of trouble. He prayed for the Lord to remove this ailment, but the Lord said, “My grace sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paradoxically, Paul took this word as one of encouragement. He realized, I think, that he did not need to feel strong in order to be strong. He winds up exulting, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”
YOU DON’T HAVE TO FEEL STRONG I would like you to know a similar truth. When you’re slogging through the last details of the major project and you’re seriously low on sleep, you don’t have to feel strong to be strong. When you’re
Stephen Rankin is Chaplain and Minister to Southern Methodist University. He has served the university as Interim Dean of Student Life and also as Interim Interfraternity Council Advisor. Originally from Kansas, Chaplain Rankin grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan. He’s married to Joni and has four grown children and two grandchildren. Chaplain Rankin has worked in higher education for almost 20 years. He considers it a holy privilege to work with students and loves good conversation about all kinds of topics.
gatesnotes.com. Pollan, a food activist and author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” expressed his opinion that replacing meat in people’s diets has become easier than ever. Pollan believes that in the past companies have marketed lower quality soy based products with higher price tags. But now, not only are plant based imitation meats being sold at reasonable costs, the products are now designed to appeal to actual meat eaters instead of vegans or vegetarians. This difference has caused Gates himself to believe that Beyond Meat’s chicken-free products are “indistinguishable from the real thing.” Brown visited Mark Bittman, an op-ed columnist for The New York Times and author of “Food Matters,” at his home and “fooled [him] badly in a blind tasting” with the chicken-free strips. This prompted Bittman to write an article entitled, “A Chicken without Guilt for The Times. But if the majority of people were to truly trade
animal meat with plant-based imitation meats in their diets, changing the future of food, what kinds of consequences should people expect? Beyond Meat’s chicken free strips, one of their most popular products and marketed with the tag line, “tastes, shreds and satisfies like chicken – without the cluck,” are made of peas, flour, fiber and large amounts of soy. According to Globalization 101, the rise in demand for soy beans has greatly contributed to the destruction of the Amazonian Rainforest and since the majority of soy bean plantations are located outside of the U.S., shipping costs contribute large amounts of fossil fuel emissions. Pollan also believes that plant-based imitation meats are, “a legitimate option for a conscious carnivore [...but...] it must be said that growing more soy is no boon to the landscape either. It won't help us diversify our farms.” SMU junior Evan Tormollen,
Opening
Nationally acclaimed chef opens steak house Laurie Snyder Contributing Writer lsnyder@smu.edu Knife, the highly anticipated steakhouse, by nationally acclaimed and Bravo’s “Top Chef ” contestant Chef John Tesar will open May 15 at the Hotel Palomar. Known for his modern American cuisine prepared with classic European techniques, Tesar’s innovative culinary perspective has garnered much acclaim throughout his 20-plus years in the restaurant industry. More recently, Tesar received the 2014 James Beard Foundation “Best Chef Southwest” nomination—and Dallas’ own celebrity chef will bring a new steak house concept to the city. “I have traveled across Texas and America eating
Courtesy of www.chefsfeed.com
John Tesar’s new restaurant, Knife, opens May 15 at the Hotel Palomar.
in just about every known steak house to see how to improve upon the experience, first from a quality and creative standpoint and then economically,” Tesar said. “I want to up the ante on the steak house and give people a little of what they expect from a traditional steak house, but also surprise them with
DELIVERY
SO FAST WE ALREADY DID!
The Office of the Chaplain and Religious Life at SMU is located in Suite 316 on the third floor of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center. The office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, contact Melissa Dale at mdale@smu.edu.
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who is double majoring in applied physiology and enterprise as well as biology, believes that if plant based imitation meats become a staple in American’s diets, the U.S. can expect consequences. “Our economic landscape could completely change. While there would certainly be some jobs created by this field, I think that a push to eliminate animal meats could really put a lot of Americans out of work,” Tormollen said. “[While] these plant-based foods seem to be made in relatively healthful ways and are likely actually very good for you [...] I think that at the end of the day, there is no substitute for animal meat [... and...] there are many nutrients that come solely from animal meat that we cannot obtain anywhere else.” As plant-based imitation meats are certainly creating nutritional and environmental differences, whether their impact is positive or negative remains uncertain while companies like Beyond Meat are pioneering this segment of the food industry.
FREAKY FAST
DELIVERY! ©2013 JIMMY JOHN’S FRANCHISE, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
specialty cuts you rarely find cooked in unique ways.” A collaboration between Tesar and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Knife’s menu has been created with a “farm-totable” dining experience in mind. “All of our restaurants are driven by very creative individual chefs who focus on local, sustainable ingredients and seasonal menus. We’re excited to collaborate on Knife with Chef John Tesar, who is a clear talent on Dallas’ dining scene,” said James Lin, senior vice president of Restaurants and Bars at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. “He brings a unique concept and a true visionary culinary team that will give our guests an experience they won’t find anywhere else.” Committed to using quality ingredients, mainly sourced from Texas’ own ranchers and farmers, Tesar’s relationships with local providers will ensure the best meats. Aside from offering specialty cuts, Dallas foodies cannot stop talking about the menu’s rib-eye aged in-house 240 days. Beyond the steak house, Knife will make all pasta inhouse, and offer house-made charcuterie, a raw bar and a bacon tasting menu. With a focus on family-style dining, Knife will offer larger portions or “Slabs” to share for groups. Perfect for socializing, Tesar’s restaurant will surely be a new favorite among SMU students for dinner parties or Sunday brunch. Aside from being open seven days a week for breakfast and dinner along with a bar menu in the afternoons, a late dining menu will also be offered on the weekends, as well as host DJs—delicious food and drink and nightlife hotspot. Welcome to Dallas, Knife.
NEWS
WEDNESDAY n MAY 7, 2014 DEDICATION Continued from page 1
event will mark a key moment in SMU’s history. “The dedication of the Residential Commons complex represents an important milestone for SMU as we celebrate the centennial of the university’s founding and opening,” Cheves said. “The generosity of the [lead donors] has played an important part in making this possible.” Beginning in the fall, SMU will house nearly 2,750 students on campus. The complex is made up of five residence halls, a two-story dining hall and an 800-space Mustang Parking Center. As will be campus-wide, there
MARRIAGE Continued from page 1
survey at University of Wisconsin were against marrying young. All participants expressed their anxiousness of economic stability and were cautious of prematurely marrying, fearing they may marry the wrong person. “I want to date the person for a long time, so if I met them close to that five years, I wouldn’t want to
BAIN Continued from page 1
“buckets,” according to Detwiler. The first bucket consists of faculty salaries and benefits, research and other expenses related to core academics. Bain will not examine this bucket because overspending isn’t present on the core academic side of SMU’s budget. The other bucket, of which every aspect will be reviewed, consists of administration expenses and all other costs that provide the support system for core academics. These nonacademic expenses include purchasing, IT costs, library and career services, athletics, campus activities and much more. Detwiler thinks administrative spending is currently too high,
will be five faculty-in-residence for the five new halls beginning in the fall. SMU students beginning with the class of 2017 will be required to live on campus two years instead of the previous one year requirement. The new Residential Commons complex is partly meant to foster greater community and better the transition from home life to campus life, according to White. “The opportunity to connect with faculty outside of the classroom is a really important aspect...that I hope students are excited about,” White said. “Each Commons has a leadership team made up of students who are already talking about the different types of traditions they want to start for their Commons.”
Faculty
Claudia Stephens joins URTA Campbell Flemmons Contributing Writer cflemmons@smu.edu Stephen Sondheim, Bernadette Peters, and Kevin Spacey are just some of the bignamed stars that have worked with SMU professor Claudia Stephens. She’s worked on costume designs with shows like “Into the Woods,” “Falsettos” and “The Goodbye Girl,” and her work has been featured in several locations including the Juliard School, Lincoln Center and Dallas Theater Center. This
the organization moves forward and grows in connecting theater students. “I’m most looking forward to having the national dialogue about the issues of higher education in the theater and discussing those issues with colleagues,” Stephens said about her new position. Stephens is the associate professor of design for the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU where she teaches costume design for theater. Her work has been in over 140 productions during her 30 years as a costume designer. She also has made
several costumes for dance, and she has been a member of Big Dance Theatre Dance Company since 1995. Stephens is very passionate about her design work, and she is most fond of her work in opera. In 2008, she designed pieces for “Angels in America” at the Fort Worth Opera. “I would love to do more opera in the future,” she said. “I love both new and classic. It’s always great having new work in the theater.” Stephens will serve three years on the URTA board of directors starting in July.
when the job economy plummeted with the Twin Towers in 9/11. The growth of the Internet and globalism caused Millennials to not only compete with their peers for financial security, but with the world. “The economic hardships of young adults may be one reason that so many have been slow to marry. The median age at first marriage is now the highest in modern history—29 for men and 27 for women,” the Pew
Research Center claimed in 2008. Carol Cirulli Lanham teaches sociology at University of Texas in Dallas. While she contributes most of Millennials’ prolonged bachelor living to economic issues, Lanham has noticed Millennials’ rejection of religious and traditional values playing an even bigger role. “In fact, some sociologist use the term “adultescence” to describe these fun-loving adults who prefer to put off traditional responsibilities
and often still live at home with their parents,” Lanham said. A national trend is occurring where more couples are living together before marriage and some have decided to put off the “I do’s” altogether. “Even though we have a fairly conservative student population, more than three-quarters of my students said they have either cohabited or would be open to it in the future. They reflect the new norm
in society,” Lanham said. SMU first-year Austin Flanagan said that although he wants to get married and have a family, “marriage is more for legal reasons.” He feels that if a couple wants to cohabitate instead of getting married, it’s perfectly acceptable. “I do think there is less pressure to be married due to our society’s focus on personal independence and achieving career goals,” UW student Caitlin Conway said.
but the project will help to reign in unnecessary spending and free it for core academic purposes. “Let’s examine every dollar of administrative spend, and see what we can do to repurpose it to the academic side of the house,” Detwiler said. “When you do that, you can get a tremendous increase in academic standing.” “The overall goal is to provide the same or better quality services at less cost,” Turner said. But Bain wasn’t just hired for the sake of improving academic standing, according to Jose Bowen, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts. The landscape of higher education is changing, especially with a declining collegeage population and parents less willing to pay for the rising cost of college tuition.
“Once you stop being able to raise tuition to cover increases in costs, you’ve got to start controlling costs,” Dean Bowen said. For the 2014-15 school year, the Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition by 4.9 percent, the smallest percentage increase in over a decade. In other words, the percentage of revenue SMU derives from tuition and fees will decrease in the future. Essentially, the savings that Bain finds may be used to cover budget shortfalls instead of just adding to academic resources. One of the main reasons SMU hired Bain is due to its higher education track record, according to Detwiler. The group has performed studies at Vanderbilt University, Cornell, the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of California, Berkeley; each of those schools is currently ranked higher than SMU on the U.S. News & World Report annual report on college rankings. Al Niemi, dean of the Cox School of Business, is skeptical about how Bain’s recent clients are good indicators of what it can do for SMU. For Cornell, Bain completed similar work that it plans to perform at SMU, but Niemi said that Cornell’s medical school demands extra costs that don’t exist at SMU. Bain’s review of Vanderbilt focused only on the IT department and didn’t look at any other operational expenses. For UNC and Berkeley, Bain’s recommendations had to be more drastic because of state
budget cuts. “Their experience is with two schools that don’t look a lot like SMU,” Niemi said. Niemi also believes that some of the operations that Bain will be reviewing could negatively affect academic life. Cox operates an independent career services center, library, and numerous other services that he believes are a necessity for the university as a whole despite not being directly tied to academics. “You can’t just cut those services to save money and not have some negative impact on the university’s reputation,” Niemi said. To prevent making any unnecessary changes to student life, Turner created a steering committee comprised of faculty
and staff members to review the recommended changes from Bain and decide whether they are worth implementing. “Bain will develop and shape recommendations, but we are ultimately responsible for the course the university takes,” said Turner in an email sent to the entire faculty March 21 announcing the decision to hire Bain. George Utkov, student representative to the Board of Trustees, believes that the steering committee will not implement recommendations from Bain that will be detrimental to the school’s academics, leading a net positive result for the school. “Student life will, in the end, benefit from the results,” said Utkov.
* Up-stand-er (n.) A person who stands up. Not a person who stands by. Examples of Upstanders: Oskar Schindler, Harriet Tubman and Miep Gies. Presenting Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families on Thursday, May 15, 2014 at 6:30 p.m., at SMU’s Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St, Dallas, TX 75205. Admission is $10. Visit DallasHolocaustMuseum.org for more details. Reserve your seats at: communications@DallasHolocaustMuseum.org
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year, Stephens was appointed to the Board of Directors for the University Resident Theatre Association (URTA). URTA provides highquality theater production for universities with its collection of partnered theater companies and professional, graduate theater training programs. Its goal is to assist graduate theater programs and connect them with other college and regional theaters As a member of the Board of Directors, Stephens said that she will serve on the governing body that sets policies for how
marry them right away,” UW student Michelle Croak said. It’s the era of uncertainty, where good fortune and security aren’t promised for tomorrow. “I also want to focus on a career and even if I meet the person I want to spend my life with, there is absolutely no benefit to rushing into marriage,” UW student Katelyn Youngblood said. Millennials have witnessed and experienced economic hardships
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OPINION
WEDNESDAY n MAY 7, 2014 goodbye
guest column
US efforts may tip scales on campus rape Dan Thomasson is an op-ed columnist for McClatchy-Tribune and a former vice president of Scripps Howard Newspapers. Readers may send him email at: thomassondan@ aol.com. Well, I guess if you can’t solve issues like immigration, or tax reform or how to make the Affordable Care Act work like it was envisioned or resolve stagnate growth, you can at least take on the problems of sex on campus _ the unwanted kind, of course, even though the chances of pulling that off may be slimmer than solving all the other problems we face. The ultimate solution may be a federally administered forced saltpeter program aimed at all male students but especially those who won’t take no for an answer. Put it in their mashed potatoes. According to legend that’s what the Army did once upon a time. But if that were more than myth, it seems not to be the case now given the growing number of sexual assault allegations among the current coeducational military. Before I am met with a blizzard of charges that I am an insensitive baboon, please let me state that rape is an abhorrent crime of violence that should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is no laughing matter. Any institution of higher learning that fails to do everything in its power to determine the truth of a sexual assault allegation or repeatedly treats such charges cavalierly should be put on a blacklist for attendance. In a perfect world, everything would be clear cut. But our system provides protection for the accused as well as the accuser. Those making the allegations therefore must realize that unfortunately it won’t be a pleasant experience. It is a reason so many decide not to pursue the justice they believe they deserve and may in fact. It is up to the school to provide the balance to get at the heart of the matter. When both parties are drunk, which is often the case, do they not share responsibility? It is a fine line. Whether or not a college or university deserves to be pilloried on the strength of a single complaint that it failed to investigate a case satisfactorily is another question. Still with prodding from President Barack Obama, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has done just that by releasing a list
of 55 major institutions of higher learning which face inquiries of civil rights violations based on such complaints. These weren’t obscures schools, but many of the nation’s most prominent, including Harvard University. Worse yet, some of the schools have met the federal action predictably by (over) reaction that threatens to upend not only the truth in these cases but also any expected justice for either party in the scenario. They have begun to lower the standard of proof and broadened the definition of what is considered an assault. In both cases, what might have seemed like a consensual activity to the offending party could be the end of a college career if not worse. In recent history, politics has played a deplorable role at the expense of justice in the matter of sexual harassment or worse on campuses. Duke University dove off the deep end of political correctness without looking to see what was in the pool. It turned out to be filled with lies by an overeager prosecutor seeking re-election and an alleged victim looking for a big pay day ultimately. The school fired the lacrosse coach, expelled the alleged perpetrators and suspended lacrosse all before tackling the facts. Fortunately the parents of the accused lacrosse players had sufficient resources to hire the kind of legal knowledge that utterly destroyed the case and ended the prosecutor’s career and license to practice law. More recently, the U.S. Naval Academy’s reputation for fairness was damaged by political pressure aimed at the Pentagon over failures to pursue egregious incidents of rape and assault. A female midshipman reluctantly brought charges against three members of the football team who allegedly had nonconsensual sex with her at an off-campus party. She admitted to being highly intoxicated during the affair and unable to remember much about it. Only one of the midshipmen was dismissed from the institution after a trial that strained our notions of responsibility. The colleges have the obligation to examine these cases fairly and without being pushed to tip the scales in one direction or another by the federal government for reasons suspiciously political. I fear that is just what is happening here.
Managing editor turns a new page
w. tucker keene Managing Editor tkeene@smu.edu I can’t believe this moment has finally come. After three years, four full semesters as an editor and two before that as a contributor, my time at The Daily Campus has come to a close. As I write this, my snowflake weather icon has melted into a tear. I put off writing this as long as I possibly could, because to write it would be to admit that my time here was finally up, and no part of me wanted that to happen so soon. I could not be more grateful for the opportunities my job here has afforded me. Brandon Bub, I can’t thank you enough for first pestering me to get involved with the paper to help balance out the liberal nuttiness your opinion page had become.
Tashika Varma and Rahfin Faruk, I could never thank you enough for hiring me as opinion editor over whoever else had applied. It changed the course of my life. And Trevor Thrall, I’ll never forget the day you walked into our open house and told me you had opinions. Your columns were always the ones I looked forward to reading most when I put them on the page, and I couldn’t be happier that you applied to be opinion editor after me. You’ve made my days here brighter. The Daily Campus has truly defined my college career, both socially and otherwise. All my best friends have been made here, and heck I even found the best roommate I could have ever hoped for in college in Christopher Saul. Matthew Costa, you aren’t as old as I make fun of you for being and I’ve loved being your drinking buddy. Rahfin, Trevor, Matthew, Christopher, I love all of you guys and to lose touch with any one of you would break my heart. Please don’t let that happen. It’s hard to imagine life without budget meetings, without hours-long productions going into the wee hours of the morning. The Daily Campus has changed so much since I’ve gotten involved too,
and we’ve had a lot of fun adventures here. From the opinion column on alcohol and rape that went national last November and cost everyone on staff a week’s worth of sleep, to covering election night 2012, writing two versions of every article and finally heading home at 2 a.m. One of my first great memories was staying far later than I was used to doing as opinion editor and working on a very in-depth editorial board about Daily Campus policies and procedures that kept us in the office until midnight on a Sunday (about 5-6 hours later than we usually stay). I remember baking pastries, pies and cakes every Sunday to bring for the staff back in my first semester here. The tradition fell off, but I wish it hadn’t. I’ll never forget these memories. It’s been an honor to see how much people love what I’ve written, to hear professors tell me to “never stop writing.” I’ve truly enjoyed every moment of working here. As I sign off, I can’t help but think of my legacy here, and one thing comes to mind above all else: the snowflake weather icon I created last winter. Snow is such a rare occurrence
at SMU that we had never bothered before to create an icon for the front page. So last November, I spent several hours during Sunday production creating one. And, if I may say so myself, it turned out pretty damned well. This icon will continue to be used for many years after I leave, my longest lasting effect on the paper. I don’t want to leave, I don’t want my time here to end. Lauren Aguirre, it’s been a pleasure discussing politics with you these past few years. You’ll do a great job as editor in chief. Christina Cox, hearing you had applied for managing editor allowed me to leave knowing the paper had been left in good hands. Katelyn Gough, I hope there is plenty of Jell-O in Jordan. I won’t be joining you if there is, though. And I guess this marks the end of my final column for The Daily Campus. I really wish it wasn’t. I’ll miss this more than anything else about college. And that’s a budget. Get to work, guys. Keene is a senior majoring in political science, economics and public policy.
cartoon
Courtesy of MCT Campus
smu sound off
What are your methods when preparing for finals?
“
I like to lock myself into rooms in Dallas Hall or rooms all around campus where there aren’t a lot of people so I can completely isolate myself and work on different projects. I’ll also schedule a certain amount of study hours per subject. Like if I have two finals on the same day, I’ll schedule two hours for one and two hours for another and then take a break. —Jack Murphy, SMU sophomore
”
Editorial Staff Editor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katelyn Gough Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. Tucker Keene SMU-TV News Directors . . . . . . . . . . . . Haley Thayer, Parminder Deo Assignments Desk Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah Johnson Online Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lauren Aguirre Associate Online Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Allison Zoranski Arts & Entertainment Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jordan Moore Associate Arts & Entertainment Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . Myca Williamson Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Demetrio Teniente Associate Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sam Snow Style Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelsey Reynolds Health & Fitness Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eastan Croson Food Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genevieve Edgell Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ellen Smith Associate Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ryan Miller Opinion Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trevor Thrall Chief Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christina Cox
“
I don’t really study that much. I just do old homework and I’ll look over notes a little bit before the exam. For like an hour. It’s not really different from my usual study routine. Which is not studying very much.
”
—Colleen Kennedy, SMU sophomore
Copy Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hanan Esaili News Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jehadu Abshiro Sports Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Billy Embody Staff Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grace Guthrie Advertising Staff Advertising Sales Representatives . . . . . . . . Devyn Pels, Drew Clevenger Classified Representative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kenneth Zon Marketing Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sean Gatz Sales Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sean Gatz Production Staff Advertising Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Riane Alexander, Kelsey Cordutsky, Caroline Betts Nighttime Production Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lauren Aguirre Business Staff Business Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nariana Sands The Daily Campus, a student newspaper at Southern Methodist University, is operated by Student Media Company, Inc.
“
I just spend a lot of time reviewing my tests. I like to study in the upper area of Fondren. I usually cram at the very end, naturally. Most of my friends don’t spread it out. —Alexandra Larkin, SMU first-year
”
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The Daily Campus is published Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the academic semester. For local, national, and classified display advertising, call 214-768-4111. For classified word advertising call 214-768-4554. Student Media Company, Inc. Staff Executive Director / Editorial Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jay Miller Associate Director / Business Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dyann Slosar Advertising Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diana L. Denton Operations / Production Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Candace Barnhill The Daily Campus Mail Subscription Rates One year (Academic year) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $120 Order forms can downloaded at smudailycampus.com/dcsubscriptions/ To charge by VISA, Mastercard, Discover, call 214-768-4545. Send check orders and address changes to Student Media Company, Inc. PO BOX 456 Dallas, TX 75275-0456.
“
Mainly I just try to stay relaxed. I make sure I get plenty of sleep. I just try to treat it like any other normal week. Mainly it’s just review because if I’ve been doing the homework and everything I don’t have to be learning at the last minute. I try not to stress out. I play some games and just whatever I normally do and then just do the best I can on the tests. —Adam Lishman, SMU first-year
”
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Daily Campus Policies The Daily Campus is a public forum, Southern Methodist University’s independent student voice since 1915 and an entirely student-run publication. Letters To The Editor are welcomed and encouraged.All letters should concentrate on issues, be free of personal attacks, not exceed 250 words in length and must be signed by the author(s). Anonymous letters will not be published and The Daily Campus reserves the right to edit letters for accuracy, length and style. Letters should be submitted to thedailycampus@gmail.com. Guest columns are accepted and printed at the editor’s discretion upon submission to thedailycampus@gmail.com. Guest columns should not exceed 500-600 words and the author will be identified by name and photograph. Corrections. The Daily Campus is committed to serving our readers with accurate coverage and analysis. Readers are encouraged to bring errors to The Daily Campus editors’ attention by emailing Editorial Adviser Jay Miller at jamiller@smu.edu.
ARTS
WEDNESDAY n MAY 7, 2014 music
53
guide
Suburbia Music Festival: a photo recap photo essay by ryan miller Associate Photo Editor millerjr@smu.edu Plano, Texas, welcomed the inagural Suburbia Music Festival in Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve Saturday and Sunday. The Festival drew in approximately 20,000 fans to see headliners such as David Guetta, J. Cole and the Alabama Shakes. Visit suburbiamusicfest.com to see the full lineup.
Outside the bubble: let’s procrastinate jehadu abshiro News Writer jabshiro@smu.edu It’s exam week and you’ve been at Fondren Library all day. Here are ways to procrastinate offline and off the Hilltop. It’s warming up outside and cooler temperatures are a long way from now, especially if you’re staying in Texas this summer. It’s not going to be below 70 degrees and if your missing the winter activities head over to the Galleria to do some figure eights. Burn some calories, skate off some stress or buy yourself a little reward at the only place in Dallas County that offers a skating rink inside a mall. If you can’t skate, the Galleria offers 15-minute private lessons for only $23, skates included. If you find yourself too clumsy for ice-skating, the Angelika Film Center has a variety of indie movie options for a long study break. “Dom Hemingway,” starring Jude Law, follows the adventures of a safecracker who is released
American folk band, Delta Rae takes the Meadows Stage on the first day of the Suburbia Music Festival.
from prison to collect what he’s owed for keeping his mouth shut and protecting his boss. After a near death experience, Dom tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter, “Game of Thrones’” Emilia Clarke, but is soon drawn back into the safe cracking life. “Under the Skin,” starring Scarlett Johansson, is a sci-fi pieces looks what it means to be human, extraterrestrial, or somewhere in between. Or, hit up The Rustic Friday afternoon for a long music break, some beer and food. Brannon Barrett, a country musician who studied jazz at the University of North Texas, plays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Maybe you should just get some fresh air. Visit the Dallas Arboretum, run on Katy Trail or head to Klyde Warren Park. If none of these interest you, Buzzfeed is still functioning correctly. Or if you just can’t leave the Hilltop, at least leave Fondren Library. Studying is great and all, but showering is not optional.
STARTS TODAY
The Meadows Stage played host to headlining acts such as David Guetta, J. Cole, Violent Femmes and Alabama Shakes (pictured).
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Need a SUMMER JOB? The Daily Campus is seeking “GO GETTER” advertising sales reps to start immediately. Talk to people and make money while you acquire “real world” experience. Earn commission while learning outside sales. Flexible hours. Call Dyann at 214-7684545, come by Hughes-Trigg, Suite 314, or e-mail dslosar@ smu.edu. HIGH END Children’s Boutique in Park Cities seeks sales assistant. 20 + hours a week, Monday - Saturday, 10-5 Flexible scheduling. Fun work environment. Contact info@ layettedallas.com Part Time ADMIN position $20/ HR. Admin for small company. 20 OR MORE hours/week between 9a-5:30p. Near HP. Requirements: Mac, HTML, Microsoft Word proficient and able to perform packing to ship products. Apply for summer job or long term P/T. Submit resume to admin@activerelationships.com
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Sudoku To Play:
Complete the grid so that every row, column, and 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9. There is no guessing or math involved, just use logic to solve.
Solution: 5/05/14
Artist: Heather
Crossword Emmett
Confirmation #:
Across 1 Takes out in an arcade, as bad guys 5 Longtime AFL president Gompers 11 Rank above cpl. 14 Spread unit 15 Really enjoys 16 Quattro meno uno 17 Chinese noodle dish 20 Clothes line 21 Antiquing agent 22 "A Farewell to __" 23 1995 Shania Twain album 27 Lincoln Town Cars, e.g. 30 Highest point 31 "Jeopardy!" name 32 Hanging around 37 Org. for Hawks but not Eagles 38 Whiskas alternative ... or, literally, what's hidden in 17-, 23-, 47- and 57-Across 40 Pivotal 41 Commonly yellow blooms 43 Clothes line 44 Not quite closed 45 WWII fleet 47 Greeter of new homeowners 52 Missouri River tribe 53 "Dies __" 54 Deluge refuge 57 Will Schuester portrayer on "Glee" 62 Was tricked by a worm? 63 Pull into, as a motel 64 Late-night rival of Jimmy and Jimmy 65 Pavement warning 66 "__ here": "Poltergeist" 67 Expel with force
AE: (circle one:) Angela Maria Josh
(circle one:)
Steve
Staci
Philip
Down 1 "The Hangover" actor Galifianakis 2 Workout consequence 3 Schoolmarmish 4 "Hold on a __!" 5 Extended attacks 6 Good __: fully restored 7 Start to manage? 8 The Wildcats of the America East Conf. 9 1940s mil. zone 10 Cattle call 11 Back at sea 12 Fairy tale brother 13 High-strung 18 Lyricist Gus 19 Champion skier known as the "Herminator" 23 Strain 24 Seriously injures 25 Overture follower 26 "Breaking Bad" setting: Abbr. 27 Beach pailful 28 Where Napoleon was exiled 29 Like The Who's Tommy 32 River through Tours 33 Head-rotating bird 34 Source of much dorm furniture 35 "Groovy!" 36 Fitness centers 38 Magic amulet 39 Mild cheese 42 Gem surface 43 George W., to George 45 Lorre's "Casablanca" role 46 Certain Afrikaner
Tim
Jane
ART APPROVED AE APPROVED CLIENT APPROVED
Deadline:
59 Biblical verb suffix 47 Areas for 60 Misfortune development 61 They may be 48 Cybercommerce checked at the door 49 Numbers game 50 Not macho at all 51 Like a loud crowd 54 "By yesterday!" letters
Solution 05/05/2014
6
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY n MAY 7, 2014
gymnastics
top 25
Liukin searches for new career Number One: Eric Dickerson Katelyn hall Contributing Writer khall@smu.edu Nastia Liukin came prepared to the June 2012 Gymnastic Olympic Trials. Armed with three silver medals, one bronze medal and the coveted title of All-Around Gold Medalist from the 2008 Beijing Games, Liukin was the gymnast to beat. She stepped up to the balance bars and paused three seconds at the base before launching herself through the air, catching the bar in a firm grip and then thrusting herself in a straddle position above the bar. She whirled around four times, perfectly alternating between singlehand moves and full rotations. She next headed into a double twist off the bar, spinning with precision. As she finished the move, her eyes homed in on the bar and she moved midair to grasp it. But she fell short and face planted on the mat below. In that one instance, the five-time Olympic medalist’s career was over. But Liukin got back on the bars and completed the routine. When she finished, 17,000 people in the audience stood in the Olympian’s career-first standing ovation. “It was just a really heartwarming moment for me knowing that they weren’t cheering for my performance, but more for my athletics career as a whole,” Liukin said. Fans across the world and young gymnasts everywhere watched in shock. Hallie Ruttum, a young competitive gymnast from Portland, Ore., with Olympic dreams at the time, watched as her idol crashed to the mat. “I remember watching that, but that was so heartbreaking,” Ruttum said. Liukin left the world of competitive gymnastics that year, retiring at 22. Since then, she’s worked as a TV commentator for sporting events, taken classes at NYU and been in her fair share of interviews and commercials. But Liukin now finds herself in limbo, searching for a new career.
Liukin wasn’t ever really sure if she’d be able to compete in a second Olympics. After the 2008 games, her schedule was packed with commercial spots, interview slots and endorsement and fan signings. That left little time in her schedule for the seven-hour-a-day training routine she’d been doing since she was a child. But when Liukin left the Olympic victor spotlight, she faced with the same question thousands of former Olympians face every four years. “I achieved my biggest dream and goal at just 18 years old, and I left thinking, ‘what do I do now?’” she said. Tervel Dlagnev of Arlington asked himself the same question after finishing fifth in wrestling at the 2012 Olympics. He and other athletes are aware of their expiration dates. “You start to get a pretty good sense of it,” Dlagnev said. “My plan right now is just to take it year by year. If I still feel like I’m getting better, I might keep going.” That’s how Liukin felt from 2008 to 2012. She still had a chance to keep going. With that, she decided to return to the gym and compete in the 2012 trials. Those trials were the final low of a long Olympic journey that started when she moved to Dallas from Russia at the age of two. Championships are a Liukin family tradition. Her parents, 1988 Olympic medalist Valeri Liukin and 1987 rhythmic gymnastics world champion Anna Liukin, moved to DFW and opened gymnastics program WOGA, World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, in Plano. It was at that facility that Liukin would spend seven hours, six days a week preparing for competitions. Her best friend, Nina Kim, met Liukin when she was at WOGA. Even at age 12, the outgoing, uninhibited Liukin was the first one to greet 15-year-old Kim to the gym where Olympic hopefuls spend their days. “I was really nervous because it was my first time there, and all of the Olympians train there,” Kim
said. “She was one of the first girls to come up to me. I probably came off as kind of standoffish, but I was excited to meet her.” When she wasn’t at the gym, she was at her school in Plano, the Spring Creek Academy. The school for the “highly motivated, gifted and talented students” has half days so that students like Liukin have time for their passions. If you didn’t know what she did after her two-and-a-half hours of class each day, you might never imagine she was a future Olympian. At least, her sixth grade history teacher, Erin Thomas never considered her as such. “At school, she was focused on school,” Thomas said. “That type of kid, like her, when they are at our school, they are allowed to be just themselves.” Liukin did not achieve just at the gym, but also in the classroom, Thomas said. “She always seemed successful at everything she did,” she said. Liukin attributes her successes to constant goal setting in everything she does. Her parents instilled that drive and self-accountability that led the gymnast to set daily, weekly, monthly and even lifelong goals (like going to the Olympics) and constantly remind herself of them. “You should never stop setting dreams and goals for yourself,” Liukin said. “Even outside of athletics, there was always something I was striving to achieve.” So when Liukin didn’t achieve her goal of going to the 2012 London Olympics, she moved onto the next one: graduate from college. She is now enrolled as a sophomore at New York University, majoring in sports management. The 24-yearold who has always lived by a set schedule wants to start setting that schedule herself. “My career and my life has been in someone else’s hands ever since I can remember,” Liukin said. “I wanted to be a little more hands on with my career and make more decisions on my own and not rely on someone else.”
billy embody Sports Writer wembody@smu.edu Editors Note: For the past several issues we have been counting down the 25 greatest SMU athletes of all-time. This is number one of that list. Eric Dickerson. Single-season NFL rushing champion for 30 years now after setting the record in 1984, was also a part of SMU’s famed Pony Express backfield. Dickerson, a Sealy, Texas native, was a first round pick by the Los Angeles Rams after a successful career at SMU, which included being named an All-American. From 1979-82, Dickerson rushed for over 4,400 yards and 47 touchdowns, breaking Earl Campbell’s Southwest Conference record for yards and attempts while tying Doak Walker’s career scoring total record at SMU. Dickerson was a first-team AllAmerican in 1982 and a secondteam All-American in 1981. While splitting carries with Craig James, Dickerson still finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Herschel Walker and John Elway. Dickerson and James, longtime friends, almost didn’t combine to form the Pony Express with Dickerson wanting to transfer after his first season, but instead remained to give it a try. Good call. The pair formed one of the most lethal duos running the football in the history of the NCAA. Even with his successful college career, Dickerson is still believed by many to be at the center of one of the biggest controversies in recruiting history when he started driving a Pontiac Trans-Am during his senior year of high school, while recruiting promises and payments were rampant. To this day, Dickerson maintains that his grandmother
Courtesy of smumustangs.com
Eric Dickerson played football for SMU between 1979 and 1982.
bought it for him. “Even if I did take something, I still wouldn’t tell,” Dickerson has said on multiple occasions. Controversies aside, Dickerson was a key reason for Head Coach June Jones being hired by thendirector of athletics Steve Orsini that had restored SMU football to national relevancy. Many of the players associated with the “Death Penalty,” era have been welcomed back and even though Dickerson has said he has never taken anything and that many of the problems stemmed from slush funds in the later years, he believes he gets some unfair blame for the scandal. Dickerson also was an immediate success with the Rams after being drafted No. 2 overall, rushing for over 1,800 yards and 20 total touchdowns during his rookie campaign. For his efforts, Dickerson was named All-Pro, Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and to the Pro Bowl. Dickerson wasn’t finished though. That next season, Dickerson set a mark that is still unbroken, breaking O.J. Simpson’s single season rushing total with 2,105 yards. Dickerson had two more successful seasons with the Rams, but a contract dispute ended up getting him traded in a 10-player trade that reunited him with former SMU
Coach Ron Meyer in Indianapolis with the Colts. With Dickerson’s 1,011 yards for the Colts, the team made a late season run to secure their first winning season and playoff berth in 10 years. In 1989, Dickerson passed the 10,000 career yards mark and was the fastest player ever to do so, 91 games, beating marks set and eventually set by Jim Brown, Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith. Dickerson had a poor last four years in the league, rushing for under 1,000 yards while showing flashes of brilliance, but the consistency of 1,000 yards for his first seven seasons in the NFL were gone. Dickerson passed Jim Brown and eventually Tony Dorsett to finish his career in second place on the all-time NFL rushing yards list. Dickerson’s final career rushing statistics were 13,259 yards on 2,996 attempts for 90 touchdowns. The Rams retired Dickerson’s number 29 and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999, his first year of eligibility. The Colts also inducted him into their ring of honor in 2013. One of the greatest running backs ever, a huge reason why SMU football has a great past and, in Adrian Peterson’s sights, almost every season. Eric Dickerson, the No. 1 player in SMU Athletics’ storied history.