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SPORTS| PAGE 6 Who is J.J. McDermott?

VOLUME 97, ISSUE 10

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A SIDE OF NEWS

U.S. stocks plummet Wall Street stocks took a major hit Tuesday morning, with major indexes falling two percent at the opening. Within the first minutes of trading, the Dow fell 2.5 percent, Standard & Poor fell 2.6 percent, and Nasdaq fell 2.4 percent. On Monday, the European markets plunged by 4.1 percent. By Tuesday afternoon, Euro Stoxx 50 index went down 1.7 percent. Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.2 percent, marking its lowest since April 2009.

Gaddafi and son flee Libya Muammar Gaddafi and his son Saif may have fled Libya into Niger. A huge convoy of round 250 military vehicles was spotted crossing into Niger en route to Burkina Faso, a central African country that has offered the Gaddafi administration officials asylum. Mansour Dhao, head of Gaddafi’s security brigades, and other Gaddafi officials have already fled to Niger. There is reason to believe the convoy is definitely transporting several of Gaddafi’s top advisers.

Worst Texas wildfire The wildfire blazing in Bastrop County near Austin is the worst single wildfire in Texas’ history. So far, 1,000 homes have been burned, which is more than any previous fire in Texas. Over 100,000 acres of land have been scorched. This wildfire is one of 63 currently burning through the state. Strong winds from Tropical Storm Lee fuel the wildfire. Gov. Rick Perry said he would seek a federaldisaster declaration.

Big crocodile caught A team of 30 men caught a 21-foot saltwater crocodile on Saturday in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. The crocodile weighed in at 2,370 pounds and may be the largest saltwater crocodile in captivity. Villagers have vowed to continue hunting for more giant crocodiles following the death of a young girl and a fisherman.

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Ron Paul finds support among college crowd

By ASHLEY WITHERS Editor in Chief awithers@smu.edu

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III and Editorat-large of TIME Fareed Zakaria kicked off the 30th anniversary of the Tate Lecture Series with a lively discussion regarding the American economy and the biggest issues facing our country today. David Gergen, a senior political analyst for CNN, moderated the discussion in McCord Auditorium Tuesday night. This is Gergen’s 16th appearance on the Tate Lecture Series circuit. “Tonight these are difficult times for America and we should start right there,” Gergen said. “Where are we as a nation?” Gergen’s lead question set the tone for the rest of the discussion. Baker spoke mainly from his extensive political experience, while Zakaria drew from his international background to answer Gergen’s questions. “I’m very pessimistic about the immediate term, but I am optimistic about the mediate term and the long term,” Baker said. Despite the serious subject matter, both Zakaria and Baker were able to use humor to get their point across. “Growing up in India I had fantasies of America,” Zakaria said. “My American dream resembled the opening credits of the TV show ‘Dallas.’” The focus of the conversation

By JESSICA HUSEMAN Politics Editor jhuseman@smu.edu

instead that America’s focus over the past few years should have been on the economy, not the war on terror. Arguments from both speakers were met with smatterings of applause and murmurs of agreement throughout the discussion. “It is very nice to see people who seem so intimately

Ron Paul has done well in recent polls, falling just behind “top tier” candidates, and in some cases beating them handily. Much of this winning streak is attributed to the votes of young America, with whom Paul has polled even higher. IN a Gallup Poll released Aug. 24 Ron Paul ranked third with 13 percent behind Rick Perry’s 29 percent and Mitt Romney’s 17 percent with Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents. However, in this same poll, Paul came in first among voters 18 to 19 years old with 29 percent, beating out Perry by eight points and Romney by 17 points. SMU political science professor Matthew Wilson said the difference might be explained because “libertarian tendencies are particularly pronounced among younger voters — especially relatively affluent ones.” And while Wilson believes Paul will be taken “more seriously this time around,” he doesn’t believe he can pull off the nomination. “He is too damaged by his past associations with fringe positions, and he is actually the oldest candidate

See TATE page 3

See YOUNG page 2

SPENCER J EGGERS/The Daily Campus

Fareed Zakaria, editor-at-large of TIME magazine, discusses the future of the political climate in the United States with former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III and CNN senior political analyst David Gergen during the Tate Lecture in McFarlin Auditorium Tuesday evening.

among the panel was dominated by the way the government is handling the economic crisis. “We have lost the ability to do intelligent policy anymore,” Zakaria said. “It all gets caught up in the big ideology of what government means.” The speakers helped unpack complicated economic policies for the audience. “We need to be shifting this economy from an emphasis on

consumption to an emphasis on investment,” Zakaria said. “We cannot continue forever to keep living above our means,” Baker said. The topic of war also made its way into the forefront. “We seem to find ways into wars of choice,” Baker said. “I don’t know that we have the luxury of doing this anymore.” “It completely disorients you as a society,” Zakaria said, arguing

awareness

SMU holds first lockdown exercise in North Texas By MEREDITH CARLTON News Editor mcarlton@smu.edu

With the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 a few days away, places across the United States are dedicating the month of September to emergency preparedness. SMU is part of this effort and started to take action Friday in Fondren Library. At 8 a.m., a small group of students, faculty and staff gathered to participate in the first lockdown exercise at a North Texas university. Everyone congregated in Fondren Library Link where participants were asked to introduce themselves and explain why they were there. Faculty and staff members came from all areas of campus — Simmons Hall to SMU Dining. A small group of non-SMU faculty from area colleges also participated to critique the exercise.

Scenarios were given to all participants, providing them with background information. Participates were then asked to act like they normally would when they were in Fondren. Suddenly, a strange person would then come through the building, simulating an intruder. The intruder was to fire a foghorn to simulate gunshots, and people were then supposed to “act.” The exercise lasted about 10 minutes before SMU PD arrived on the scene. Although the exercise was brief, an hour was spent on the debrief where participants were allowed to share stories and ask questions. Terry Trail, member of SMU PD, acted as the shooter and entered the building from the basement, making his way up all four floors of the library. Trail talked about his experience from a police perspective.

KARISSA JOBMAN/The Daily Campus

Detective Terry Trail of the SMU police department takes part in the simulated lock-down of Fondren Library Friday. Armed with an air horn, Trail assumed the role of a lone gunman in order to illustrate proper safety procedure.

“Overall, it went really well,” he said. “For the most part, everyone

got where they needed to be from my point of view.”

Technology

Have you ever had class in the basement of Meadows? Or perhaps attended a meeting in the HughesTrigg Forum? If so, you know that these could be some of the deadliest spots on the SMU campus for what Verizon coined the “dead zone.” And no, I cannot hear you now. However, AT&T wants to hear you. Seven months ago AT&T announced its intention to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion in cash and stock. Most recently, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to block the AT&T merger. The reasoning behind the lawsuit stems from the concern that the merger will eliminate competition in the wireless service market. As of now, there are four major wireless service providers: AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint. What’s crazy about this is that only eight years ago, there were 12 different providers to choose from in

this industry. If this merger were to go through, AT&T would easily hold a monopoly within the industry. In general, T-Mobile offers lower prices for a variety of plans for current users. If the merger goes through, T-Mobile consumers could potentially face a steep increase in prices, and their current mobile phone plans could not be honored. “My family uses T-Mobile because my father travels a lot for his job, and it has good rates for international calling while he’s abroad,” sophomore Michael Row said. What’s more is that many employees could potentially lose their jobs as a result of the merger. This goes for both AT&T and T-Mobile. When SBC Communications acquired AT&T in 2005, the merger led to job cuts of nearly 13,000 employees of both companies. The current merger of AT&T and T-Mobile very closely resembles the merger that took place six years ago. AT&T is not backing down from

See SAFETY page 3

senate

Merger meanders mobile markets Contributing Writer stephanieb@smu.edu

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Politics

Experts discuss economics, political climate

By STEPHANIE BROWN

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

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the lawsuit. The online technology blog, TechCrunch, says AT&T has set plans to accommodate the DOJ’s concerns and continue to pursue the purchase of T-Mobile. So, what would this merger mean for SMU students? The current coverage of T-Mobile on SMU’s campus is not up to par with the rest of its wireless competitors. A positive that would come out of the merger would indeed be better coverage for those who used T-Mobile. “I actually used to have T-Mobile, but we switched to AT&T because the coverage was so poor on the SMU campus,” freshman Emily Rosen said. “Whenever someone would call, I could never hear what they were saying.” Perhaps the students at SMU have already recognized the problem and decided to correct it before AT&T set out to do so on the public stage. We will have to wait and see just how high AT&T can raise their bar before the U.S. Department of Justice lowers it.

Senate will have new digitalized archive By PATRICIA BOH

Associate News Editor pboh@smu.edu

The Student Senate approved a slightly revised agenda and moved to discuss a new bill during Tuesday’s meeting. Chief of Staff Alex Mace, President Austin Prentice and Endowment Chair William Badarak authored the bill titled “A Resolution Concerning Student Senate Membership Recordkeeping.” The bill proposes to create an easily accessible digital archive of all senate related documents. This will also create an email listserv of all senate alumni so that they can stay connected. All current senators will be included in this list so that information distribution can be centralized. They believe this will be a

way to not only connect the senate and streamline communication, but also to help raise funds for senate scholarships. Senate also voted on the bill “Resolution to Honor the Services of Clarence “Shorty” Perkins and Alphonso ‘Buck’ Buchanan.” This bill was presented at last week’s meeting, but was tabled by Lyle Senator Christian Genco. The bill will honor Perkins and Buchanan’s combined 70 years of dedication and service to SMU.

See SENATE page 3


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