Texan dining experience offered in Uptown
INSIDE
Student discusses eating disorder
PAGE 4
Percussion Ensemble performs
PAGE 5
SMU,TCU open season at AAC
PAGE 6
PAGE 2
friday
november 8, 2013 Friday High 66, Low 48 Saturday High 72, Low 54
VOLUME 99 ISSUE 34 FIRST COPY FREE, ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS
First-year class most diverse yet Scott Sanford Contributing Writer wsanford@smu.edu For years, SMU has worked hard at diversifying the student body in many different facets. From ethnicity to origin and gender, the admissions office has made it a point of emphasis to diversify the faculty and student body to set the university apart from others. This year’s first-year class reflects the hard and diligent work of SMU, as it has helped make SMU the most diverse it has ever been. Wes Waggoner, dean of Undergraduate Admission and executive director of Enrollment Services, gives some of that credit to the work done by the admission officers as they have helped to spread the word about SMU. “SMU has a number of strategies when trying to attract students to SMU,” Waggoner said. “Everything from visiting high schools around the country to tours around campus help to spread the word and increase diversity. The more places we visit, the more opportunities we have to attract people from all backgrounds.” SMU Student Body President Ramon Trespalacios, who is a tour guide as well, makes it a point to tell prospective students about the diverse nature around campus. “When I give on-campus
Phil anthropy
Fitness Club hosts Kick it for Cancer Catherine Welch Contributing Writer cwelch@smu.edu
BEN OHENE / The Daily Campus
Students Parminder Deo and Kimberly Elmazi sit at a round table Tuesday at the “Battling Bias” event hosted by Student Senate.
[tours], I tell prospective students that diversity is something you experience everyday at SMU,” Trespalacios said. “Sometimes you will be a part of the majority and sometimes you will be a part of the minority, but your experience will always help you grow as an individual.” Whatever the formula is, it seems to be working. According to the SMU institutional research website, diversity among the student body has been at a steady increase. In 2004, SMU’s undergraduate
student body was 71.23 percent caucasian. This fall, SMU’s undergraduate student body is 62.4 percent Caucasian. Not only has diversity among ethnicities changed, but the origin of students has also expanded in recent years. This fall, 41 percent of the incoming class was from Texas, which is significantly lower than in past years. In comparison, 50 percent of the entire student body is from Texas. While Waggoner feels that SMU has made vast improvements and is happy with how diverse the
student body has become, he also believes that there is always room for improvement. Waggoner also points out that there is no quota or goal when it comes to diversity and diversifying the student body is really about strengthening the SMU community. “We hope that the more diverse the student body is, the more students will be able to take away from their four years at SMU,” Waggoner said. “We want to better prepare our students for life after college.”
Preview
Members of the SMU community gathered at 6 p.m. Thursday evening at the Dedman Center for Lifetime Sports to work out and raise awareness for cancer. The Mustang Fitness Club’s group exercise class called Kick it for Cancer not only provided students with a fun free way to be active, but also collected donations for the American Cancer Society. According to their mission statement, The American Cancer Society is, “the nationwide, communitybased, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.” “Kick it for Cancer is a one hour event to help raise money to combat cancer,” Mustang Fitness Club President Aubrey Richardson said. “Mustang Fitness Club is holding this event because
one of our Dedman patrons, who is near and dear to our hearts, is battling cancer and this is our way of supporting him and other members of the SMU community affected by cancer,” Richardson said. “It’s for cancer awareness for all types of cancer,” said Gina Garcia, Dedman’s Assistant Director of Fitness. “We hope to make students and professors aware of cancer and also provide support for those going through difficult times,” she said. Garcia and the rest of the Mustang Fitness Club were also there to support cancer survivors they knew, such as Thomas Martin. Martin has survived two lung transplants after being diagnosed with esophagus cancer. He rows every day and was there rowing while the rest of the group completed a one hour TURBOKick Round 57 aerobic workout. The routines were taught by Mustang Fitness student instructors: Aubrey Richardson, Dani Simmons and Alex Vasile. Donations collected for the American Cancer Society go toward funding for research to find a cure.
Student Life
Cox students to team up with fraternity for philanthropy Katelyn Gough Assignments Desk Editor kgough@smu.edu The brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity will host their annual “Shrimpfest” philanthropy day party Saturday. This year’s event, however, isn’t for Pike alone — a group of five project management students teamed up with the fraternity, and Saturday’s event will serve as the pinnacle of their fundraising project for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Jaywin Malhi, project management student and the Student Body Vice President, said that selecting the MJFF as their focus charity was inspired by one of their fellow teammates, Andrew Pinkowitz. “Andrew told us his father’s story and we were all inspired to help an organization like The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research,” Malhi said. “The MJFF has one of the highest percentages of donations that go directly to finding a cure to the disease — 89 cents on the dollar.” From then on out, the group — which also includes Frederico Canavati, Eugenio Zubieta and Elisa Farrell — has spent the rest of the semester planning for the fundraising event and executing
all the necessary steps to make Saturday a success. The group teamed up with Pike after Canavati, Pike’s social chair, pitched the idea of merging together for the fundraising to his executive board. “Pike has covered all of the costs of the event — the unlimited shrimp, the drinks, the live band and the costs of renting out Barley House which have been close to $5,000,” Malhi explained. The new discount textbook company Textbooks Please was also a large supply donor for the event. After Saturday, the group expects to have fully met their fundraising goal for the project. For Pinkowitz, the upcoming Shrimpfest is one of many tributes to supporting his father as he fights the disease. “Over the past two years, I decided to start training for longdistance running,” Pinkowitz said. “I worked my way up from a 5K to my first marathon, and have been fundraising for The Michael J. Fox Foundation in honor of my dad and in hopes of funding research to one day find a cure for the disease.” It’s fundraising for an organization that is, according to Pinkowitz, “incredibly efficient with its finances” and led by a strong, passionate group of people who are dedicated to “eradicating
Parkinson’s for good.” “With both my family’s involvement and Parkinson’s and the organization’s long-proven success, I decided to pitch the organization to our project management class,” Pinkowitz said. “[I] was incredibly fortunate to have such a talented group of classmates working with me to raise money for an incredible cause.” The project, besides raising a significant amount for The MJFF’s research, has also provided the students with some of the most beneficial skills one would want to graduate college having learned. Most notably is one of teamwork — no matter if the team is comprised of family or strangers. “I think this is a great example of students from diverse background[s] coming together to fight for a common cause,” Malhi said. He and his colleagues were relative strangers when the project first started, and learning to work with new and different people has been one of the most practical skills learned thus far. “During a period on our campus in which we seek to foster a sense of community, I think the best way to do so is by shedding our differences and focusing on our likenesses,” Malhi said. “In this case, our similar desire to find a cure for this disease.”
POLITICS
Obama promotes health care law in Dallas Staff Reports President Obama was in Dallas Wednesday to promote the Affordable Care Act, taking the focus off the website flaws that have been dominating the healthcare conversation.
“I know that sometimes this task is especially challenging here in the Lone Star State,” Obama said at Temple EmanuEl Wednesday. “[But] there is no state that needs this more than Texas.” Dallas is one of the top 10
cities in the country with the highest rate of uninsured persons, according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. According to The Dallas Morning News, Carney said Obama’s trip was not simply a ploy to distract from the website’s technical difficulties.
BEN OHENE / The Daily Campus
SMU Police Chief Rick Shafer speaks at an event as part of SMU’s Risk Management week.
‘Risky Business’ hits SMU Emily Sims News Writer esims@smu.edu SMU’s University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA) and SMU kicked off “Risky Business: A Week Focusing on Risk Management’s Contributions to Higher Education” Monday, a collaborative week-long event aiming to build awareness of the solutions provided by risk management. “Our goal is to make sure whatever the students are doing goes well and if it doesn’t go well, we are able to put the organization back together,” said Director of Risk Management, David Liner. The purpose of Risk Management week is to educate the student body on risk management on campus through four events throughout the week as well as a webinar each day from MondayThursday. Events cover everything from SMU’s risk policies and risk management while traveling abroad to a debriefing
on what happened when the suspicious package was delivered at the Bush Center and how the Risk Management Office handles such situations. “Hosting events like risk management week to inform students on SMU’s policies is a good idea,” senior An Phan said. The week commenced with an introduction to Risk Management Trends, open to all students, and ended Thursday with a webinar titled “How can YOU Protect Your Institution’s Data in Your Daily Activities?” ERCOT Presentation, CCTV: Seeing Into the Future of SMU, New Trends of International Travel are other events held throughout the week. Although besides the introduction event held Monday, the events weren’t open to all faculty, staff and students. However, as long as spots were reserved ahead of time, the webinars were available to everyone. In addition to Thursday’s webinar, others include “Working with Student Organizations: The RM Process for Students and How to Manage your Own Risks,” “Transportation Locally and Around the World” and “Know Before You go — Vaccinating
Against Travel Risks: Best Practices for Policy and Preparation.” This week “will recognize the risk management professionals who advocate for students, faculty, staff and the institutions and communities they serve. Risk management on college campuses is everyone’s job; this week will encourage stakeholders to work with our nation’s risk managers to create a culture of risk management that spans the entire year,” The Office of Risk Management said. According to Liner, risk management is more than just buying insurance and working with the police office, it’s about having policies in place that prevent risks but also policies that manage situations in case something goes wrong. “We manage risk tomorrow today,” Liner said. “We put organizations back together. If something happens with a student organization we want to make sure they can be put together how they were. Risk Management Week is working with everyone on campus, in the risk area and combined with the police and our goal is to make sure whatever the students are doing goes well and we are able to put it back together if it doesn’t go well.”