THE DAILY COUGAR Smart art: student pieces focus of library display /LIFE & ARTS
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UH intent on security fixes By Patricia Estrada The Daily Cougar
Hussein said. “Israel is not abiding by the 1967 boundaries that the U.N. has set.” The division of East Jerusalem will be a difficult hurdle in the negotiations. The dispute of the land dates back to the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel incorporated East and West Jerusalem. In 1980, it officially confirmed the territory as its capital, contrary to U.N. Resolution 242. Jerusalem is a historically important land to followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Some of the most religiously significant sites of these religions are in East Jerusalem. “The situation in Israel and Palestine is not just a religious question,” UH director of Religious Studies Lynn Mitchell said. “(But) you can’t separate religion from culture and religion from society. That is especially true in parts of the world that have no real experience with what we call secular democracy. So you can never separate peace from dealing with religious issues.”
Even with increased police presence, crime alerts seem to have UH students afraid of the dark. “Until lately I did feel pretty safe,” business junior David Mares said. “Now, I don’t know. I’m a night student. I’m afraid to walk alone to my car. For night students it is kind of scary to walk alone on campus.” But UH Police Chief Malcolm Davis said he believes the amped up security is the change the campus needed. “In my line of business most of the time I don’t need 11 officers (on duty); right now I do,” he said. “We have officers on foot, bike and driving around common areas. Just because you don’t see them does not mean they are not there.” History junior Abdul Rashid said he wants to see officers’ presence at night, especially in the parking lot near Robertson Stadium. “The University can hire more police and increase their visibility. (And) they should put up cameras at each bus stop,” Rashid said. Music sophomore Alex Gonzalez said feeling uneasy on campus is nothing new. “It’s been unsafe for a long time. I used to work late on campus and some of my co-workers got jacked up in the parking lot,” Gonzalez said. “We need more cops on campus and in the parking lots. Crime is still increasing. During the day I do feel safe. But not at night.” Other students also share Gonzalez’s feelings. “I do not believe the University is safe for many people. Besides the shooting that has happened recently, there have been a number of robberies and assaults reported since I have been attending this college,” kinesiology senior Monica Bhakta said. Student Government Association is looking at alternative ideas to safeguard campus from the busy city streets that surround it. SGA president Sam Dike proposed the creation of natural barriers such as a tree line to pump up privacy. He also proposed closing Cullen Boulevard to cars to help control access points to the school and eliminate traffic and pedestrian problems. Dike said in order to create safe communities, students need to be alert and responsible. “Exercise good judgment,” he said. Sen. Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio’s bill to allow guns at Texas public universities may mean to put student’s safety in their own hands, but Robert Griffin, communications director of Students for Personal Safety, opposes the idea of guns on campus. “Sometimes the idea that there are weapons on campus would deter some criminals from coming on campus,” he said. “(But) you will always have to worry about the irresponsible gun owner. If the bill passed we will work hard to minimize the chance of someone irresponsible using their gun by signing people up for (concealed handgun license) classes.” Griffin conducted a survey last week on student’s feelings about this bill. His findings indicated that 61 percent of students who took the survey say the idea of people being able to carry a gun on campus makes them nervous. The survey also found that people are not informed on issues of gun control on campus and safety. Earth science senior John Sim said he likes the prohibition of dangerous weapons on campus. “We entrust to the security and the police department to bear the weapons and to prevent this from happening,” Sim said. “Whenever you introduce a weapon on someone’s person there is the temptation to use that weapon. There are people on campus too that do tend to have an aggressive side and it gives them one more excuse to have that weapon.” Davis said it is OK for students to carry pepper spray, small knives or even a taser gun. But he wants students to carry these responsibly.
see GAZA, page 3
see SAFETY, page 3
Regents plan to keep student scholarship funds intact By Heather Duran The Daily Cougar
news@thedailycougar.com
3-day forecast, Page 2
Monday, February 16, 2009
System spending curtailed The UH System Board of Regents Endowment Management Committee decided to decrease the System’s spending by an estimated $900,000 from fiscal year 2009 while maintaining the same amount of payouts in scholarships at Friday’s meeting. “Our primary concern is to issue as many scholarships as possible,” said Carl Carlucci, UH System vice chancellor for Administration and Finance. “We will use money from other funds to keep our scholarship accounts in full.” The board decided to reduce spending to 4 percent from 5 percent for fiscal year 2010. UH will lessen funds spent on areas such as travel, opting to rely on the Internet instead for video conferences and communication needs. The University will also cut back on administration costs such as office equipment in order to sustain funds allocated for scholarships. “One of the components of the endowment that we’ve really focused on is (UH System Chancellor Renu Khator’s) priority of scholarships. She really wants us to have the capacity to offer our students a full ride wherever possible. We’re doing our best to increase that capacity,” committee chair Carroll Ray said. While other universities such as Harvard and Yale are reporting decreases as large as 30 percent in endowment funding, the drop in funding for UH is not as drastic as other universities are facing, Ray said. “Harvard and Yale are private institutions, and private institutions historically have much higher levels of endowment. State-institution endowments are less because there is a certain amount of support from the state,” Ray said. “As a state-supported institution, our endowment was not huge, but it was robust … and we would like to become huge.” Ray said Khator is focused on increasing donor funds to the University. “One of Dr. Khator’s goals was to develop better relationships with the alumni group and to help them with their maintaining connections with all of our alumni and letting them see the value of supporting the University. That has resulted in a huge increase in g g Ray our alumni support,” he said. Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Michael Rierson said donations from alumni have more than doubled since last year. “We’ve increased our alumni giving from about 3 to 4 percent to 10 percent,” Rierson said. Cambridge Associates, a financial advisory group to the board, discussed ways in which the downturned economy has affected the endowment fund. Hamilton Lee, an advisor from the firm, said the $100 per barrel drop in oil “has been a fiscal stimulus in itself” because it helps the market. The board decided to invest funds in more diversified and conservative markets in order to prevent the endowment from decreasing at a faster rate.
TODAY’S WEATHER
Homesick: softball drops final game of Houston tourney /sports
Issue 93, Volume 74
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DAVID SHIH The Daily Cougar
Hanging tough
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irst-time climber Flor Mendez, a biomedical engineering freshman, overcomes her fear of heights before the final days of the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center’s Anti-Gravity competition, which is open to climbers of all skill levels, on Feb. 18 and 26.
Election stalls peace process By Brenda Maymí-Luna The Daily Cougar As Israel announced the results of its prime minister elections Friday, UH faculty and the Muslim Student Association weighed in on how the election may shape the fragile political and religious topography of the Gaza Strip. The tallies were neck-and-neck with the Kadima party’s candidate Tzipi Livni leading the Likud candidate Benjamin Netanyahu’s 28 seats to 27 seats. The election of two parties known for conservative policy and military force signaled the country’s willingness to stagnate the ongoing peace process initiated in Egypt after a 22-day long battle between Hamas and Israel. “I believe that the only long-term solution for the conflict in Palestine, or the land of Israel, is to end the occupation. The fact of the matter is that Israel to this day continues to occupy most of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” UH Muslim Student Association president Mohammed