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VOLUME 97, ISSUE 13

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History

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A SIDE OF NEWS

SMU’s Playboy Past Off campus office building has an unique story of its own

By ASHLEY WITHERS

The treasurer’s office is scheduled to move there in October. “Bend your knees straight Now a university hub for down. Lean forward just enough, processing paperwork, it is hard to but not too far.” imagine the 15-story office building According to Karen Drennan, on the corner of Yale Boulevard former Playboy Bunny, that is and North Central Expressway as how you perform the “bunny the hotspot of the city. dip,” the signature move from the “We were iconic at that time,” Dallas Playboy Club. Drennan said. “The club was a The same club that used to call magnet for Dallas.” SMU’s Expressway Tower home Drennan was one of the first in the late 1970s. 200 bunnies picked for SMU acquired the the grand opening of Expressway Tower the Dallas Playboy in January of 2006, Club in 1977. and before the fall Though only 17 semester of 2007 when the Bunny began, university Hunt began, she offices had made lied about her the move across age in order to get the job. the highway. Her “We needed more room on father, local campus, so we started television news anchor moving all nonessential John campus offices to Criswell, the Tower,” SMU didn’t director of real approve, estate William but Nemeth said. Drennan “About 40 percent of the building now knew this was the is SMU offices.” job for Today, the Expressway Tower her. is home to the “It was Courtesy of Karen Drennan human resources just so much department, Park ‘N fun,” Drennan Pony and some offices for the said. “It was the best experience school of education and the to work there back then.” school of engineering. Drennan put herself through Editor-in-Chief awithers@smu.edu

eBay spies on Craigslist U.S. prosecutors are investigating allegations of foul play between eBay and Craigslist. Craigslist claims involve eBay, which has a seat on Craiglist’s board, had employees access the rival comapany’s confidential business plans to further its own venture.

American poverty rises The American poverty percentage has shot up in the past 27 years, according to census data release Tuesday. Some 46.2 million people, or 15.1 of the population, are considered living below the poverty line, or have a household income of $22,314 a year for a family of four or $11,139 for an individual. Middle class income have decreased in 2010, from $49,777 to $49,445.

Palestine asks for statehood The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will ask the United Nations to recognize the state of Palestine. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Arab League that the disputed Gaza state is “not an option, but an obligation.” Europe has not reached a firm consensus yet on the issue. Israel’s U.N. ambassador said Israel is resigned to “sit[ting] down with the Palestinian Authority in direct negotiations in order to bridge the problems.” Obama pushes to have Israel and Palestine to come to an agreement.

Sunni mosque bombed A Taliban attack in Kabul, Afghanistan has killed at least nine people and wounder 23 others. At least one building remained in control by the insurgents late on Tuesday. Neither NATO nor embassy reported any injuries in the building. The insurgents launched an assault of rifles and rocket-propelled grenades on the U.S. embassy there. Happening only two days after 9/11, this attack may represent a political message about the U.S. plan to hand over security to Afghan forces by 2014.

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the University of Texas at Dallas with the tips she earned by waiting tables and doing the “bunny dip.” She remembers making around $300 a night, serious money in the seventies. At that time, the drinking age was only 18, so Drennan remembers both students and professors making their way to the club after hours. “It was the place to be,” Drennan said. “People were always lined up outside the door.” The Expressway Tower was first built in 1968, and it has housed a variety of different offices. In addition to the Playboy Club, it also previously served as the Dallas Cowboys office. “The building was built by the former owner of the Cowboys,” Nemeth said. “In fact, the AUP parking lot used to be the Cowboys practice field.” According to Drennan, this proximity often fueled the rivalry between the Playboy Bunnies and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders back in the day. “The cheerleaders once said to a newspaper, ‘We’re not stewardesses, hookers or Playboy Bunnies,’” Drennan said. “We just thought that comparison was ridiculous, because there was never any nudity at the club! They were just jealous.” Though the club

closed in 1982 and the whole surrounding area has changed over the years, Drennan has nothing but fond memories of her time as a Dallas bunny. “It’s funny that it’s a school now,” Drennan, now age 53 and a Flower Mound resident, said. “I will always remember it with the big pink bunny logo on the front.”

Casey Lee/The Daily Campus

CAMPUS

event

SMU seeks to revive school spirit, tradition By SYDNEY GIESEY Video Editor sschmidt@smu.edu

Joseph Redwine Patterson remembers what SMU was like more than 60 years ago. Pep rallies, bonfires and a student handbook called “The M Book” were all a major part of SMU tradition — school spirit was high. Many students, like former student body president Jake Torres, and alumni, like Patterson, believe school spirit isn’t as high today as it was back then and are working to bring the university back to its roots. Patterson, who graduated in 1949, was a part of (what was then called) Student Council and the cheerleading and football teams— not at the same time, though. He was head cheerleader in ‘47 and ‘48, president of the student body in ’48 and ’49 and was on the football team in ‘44. Patterson said he remembers what school spirit was like during the Doak Walker days (Walker won the Heisman in 1949). “We just continued what were the traditional chants, songs, yells and activities,” Patterson said. Almost 40 years later, the National Collegiate Athletic Association struck SMU with the most stringent penalty collegiate football has ever seen — the death penalty. The NCAA gave SMU the death penalty in 1987 for violating several rules and regulations, including paying players. The university was already on probation in 1985 for recruiting violations. With the implementation of the death penalty, SMU’s entire 1987 schedule was cancelled, and the team could only play seven games in the ’88 season, all of which had to be away games Therefore, SMU opted not to

participate in the 1988 season The Mustangs were also not allowed to participate in a bowl game until 1989. In addition to having its schedule cancelled, the university had to cut back on the amount of scholarships it gave to football players. However, the death penalty affected more than just the football program. Elise Holmes, who graduated from SMU in 2008, said the death penalty had a dramatic affect on school morale. “It killed SMU spirit,” Holmes said. “I really do blame the death penalty for the void of school spirit that we had for those 15 years.” Holmes was a cheerleader for three and a half years at SMU and was the cheer captain during her senior year. She said, although it might not be a fair thing to say, football does influence school spirit. “In this country, I think football really drives spirit at a university and, you know, having that basically taken away from us really hurt things,” she said. Patterson thinks the decline in school spirit started much earlier. One of Patterson’s former cheerleading teammates, Lawrence Herkimer, started the National Cheerleaders Association in the 1970s. As a result, cheerleading became more of a competitive sport. Patterson believes this switch was part of what led to the decline in school spirit. “The school spirit is not a competitive sport,” Patterson said. “It’s a spirit that permeates the whole university and gives it identity.” Holmes disagrees. What attracted her to cheerleading was the athleticism and the competitive nature of the sport, but she believes the two are not exclusive.

She doesn’t think you have to choose between the two. “Cheerleading has evolved and changed but I don’t think that’s taken away from school spirit,” she said. Whether as a result of the death penalty or the starting of the NCA, most agree that SMU school spirit has declined since its earlier years. “When I got there, we were still kind of in our dark years,” Holmes said. However, students on campus are working together to revive that old school spirit and tradition. Last year, Torres met with organizations around campus to try and invoke change. Torres believes school spirit is there, you just can’t always see it. “I think that whenever you talk to the students, people do love this university and they love the school, but that doesn’t always translate,” he said. ’Torres also met with Brandy McCollum, SMU spirit coordinator and cheer coach, to talk about bringing back some of SMU’s old chants, cheers and yells, which Patterson told him about. Additionally, Torres met with Patterson many times to find out what students did in the 1940s to cultivate school spirit. Many of the chants and yells were in “The M Book,” which isn’t around anymore. “The M Book” was a student handbook published by the YMCA starting in 1916. The book was published until 1962 and contained information on clubs, sports, proper clothing attire, student government, traditions, cheers and much more. Over the next 40 years, the handbook changed its name eight times, including names like “SMU Enchiridion,” “Peruna Express” and

See SPIRIT page 8

Celebration mixes culture, heritage By KATIE TUFTS Copy Editor kturfts@smu.edu

It was a scorching Tuesday evening in the center of the SMU campus, but you wouldn’t know the heat crept over 100 degrees by the way that the Folkorico dancers floated across the stage. The College Hispanic American Students Organization (CHAS) celebrated the beginning of Latin Heritage Month, which is taking place across the country from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, with several types of dancing, traditional South American and Cuban foods, a Mariachi band and a DJ. “SMU is doing their part to celebrate Latino heritage within the Latino community of SMU and the city of Dallas,” Pascual Pellegrino, the CHAS event coordinator, said. The celebration, entitled “Viva America,” drew a crowd of about 60 people to watch and join in the festivities. “What we wanted to do is commemorate every Latin nation from the top of the Caribbean all the way to the southern Pacific Ocean,” he said. Students, like SMU junior Rachelle Schelhaas, gathered around the stage to see the many different dances. “I love the costumes, they are so vibrant,” she said. The dances included traditional Folkorico, Tejano, Flamenco and even Brazilian Capoeira, a dance that brings together dancing and martial arts. Children and students joined in dancing to the music from the DJ booth, while many indulged in the popular

Latin-American food choices, like tacos and empanadas, which Schelhaas said were her favorite. In addition to celebrating Latin Heritage Month, CHAS also hoped to gain campus awareness from the “Viva America Celebration,” which has been going on for the past five years. “We want to promote who we are on campus so that we can gain more active members,” Pellegrino said. CHAS was started at SMU in 1972 and currently has about 60 active members. Though member growth slowed in recent years, CHAS hopes to change that with events like “Viva America.” CHAS also puts on other events throughout the year, like salsa dancing nights in HughesTrigg and Umphrey Lee, which are poplar with students. Salsa night is put on four times a year and includes free salsa lessons and live music, Pellegrino and Cesar Rincon, the vice president of CHAS, said. “I joined CHAS two years ago because it is a big multicultural organization and it was a great way to meet other people,” Rincon said. Rincon also hoped to gain a larger campus presence with this kickoff event to make sure that students know about CHAS. CHAS has meetings every other Thursday for members and those interested in attending.

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