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College students across the nation take to the streets in protest Friday, F id M March h 5, 2010
Issue 107 Volume 75
thedailycougar.com
Staff talks budget cuts, scholarships Members to wear name tags while on campus during weekend
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By Alan Delon THE DAILY COUGAR The UH Staff Council discussed budget cuts and scholarship opportunities during its meeting Thursday. “We will not know until 2011 what are the budget cuts,” Staff Council President Ann McFarland said. “A stronger talk on the furlough and how to implement that is on the table.” A one-day furlough may be done
before March 31. Staff members who make $30,000 or more will be more impacted than those who make less than that. The Staff Council has made its own cuts in food and work-studies. “We can’t cut if we want to keep a full-time Staff Council,” McFarland said. The Council is also offering 10 scholarships of $500 to employees who plan to pursue a degree. Committee members announced that they would rank applications in a blind review process and select the top 10 applicants. Don Perry from the Academic Affairs Committee passed around the scholarship
application. “All the staff members should complete the application if you are interested,” Perry said. The application deadline is March 22. M e m b e r Joe Papick also announced that buildings to be locked down would be determined and that staff need to J McFarland wear name tags if they are on campus grounds over the weekend. “The problem is people will not
wear (the name tags) during the night but need them after hours,” McFarland said. “If you are not wearing the name tag you may have to leave campus.” She also said there have been staff who have not been let in into buildings because they were not wearing their name tags. McFarland also asked all members to remember that staff council elections are coming up and that they need to get involved. She also asked members to begin attending more meetings, particularly Board of Regents meetings. She said the council should be better represented and have a
One, two, three ... time to get counted By Fleur Sampath-Kumar THE DAILY COUGAR The U.S. Census is mandated by the Constitution and taken every 10 years on the first of April. The information collected in the census helps determine many things, such as how much money the government allocates to each state, and aids in determining the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. The census allows government representatives to allocate $400 billion to programs such as hospitals, emergency services, schools and job training centers. President Barack Obama recently recorded a public service announcement to encourage all Americans to partake in the census this year. He urged not just citizens but everyone from permanent residents to people in the country on Visa status to take part in the ten-question document. The government requires the
forms be filled out and mailed back with a postage paid envelope. If residents do not mail the form back, they may receive visits from a U.S. census taker. The 2010 Census has given job opportunities to many Americans whose roles are vital to the accuracy of data collection. Census takers will visit all residences that did not mail back a form. They will try up to three times to speak with someone and even leave hangers on front doors giving Americans an opportunity to schedule an appointment. Participation in the Census is required by law. The Census Bureau is informing parents and students at universities across America of the different ways they can be counted. According to the Census on Campus section of the U.S. Census Web site, the Partnership and Data Services Branch wrote, “Historically, the highly mobile
By Robert Garcia THE DAILY COUGAR
Fund’s purpose is to give students the opportunity to gain experience in the management of an investment portfolio while providing a diversified investment vehicle for its investors.” “A lot of those schools invest some of the endowment for the school. We actually invest individual money,” Lugo said. Herbst said that this is the first
UH law professor David Dow has a routine for when he has to make a certain type of phone call. He’ll take out a piece of paper or a Post-it note, on which he will write simple everyday phrases such as “see you later” or possibly “have a good one.” Before Dow picks up the phone, he’ll put the Post-it notes on his desk, maybe on the wall or anywhere he can see them while he’s talking. These are to remind him to not say these things during the call. He did so just as he got ready to call one of his clients, an inmate on Texas’ death row, and inform him his execution is to proceed. Dow said he has been defending death row inmates for the last 20 years, and he’s had to make those phone calls almost 40 times during that span. The lengthy preparation he takes emphasizes that it does not get easier for him. “I do this almost every single time, which illustrates you never get used to it,” Dow said. As litigation director at the Texas Defender Service, Dow represents inmates after they have received the death sentence, before their execution date, in an effort to have the sentences reviewed and possibly
see FUND, page 3
see DOW, page 3
KENDRA BERGLUND THE DAILY COUGAR
Let the games begin
K
appa Alpha Psi hosted the first Kappalympics this week. Different Greek organizations participated in games such as dodgeball to raise funds for St. Jude’s Children Hospital, Star of Hope Family Emergency Shelter and the Houston Food Bank Drive.
see CENSUS, page 3
A team of C.T. Bauer College of Business graduate students won first place in an investment challenge competition hosted by Southern Methodist University and sponsored by the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute. The winning team, whose members met each other in the
Cougar Fund class, was named the best in Texas and the Gulf Coast Region and will compete in the national CFA competition in New York March 18. The four UH graduate students, Paul Stewart, Luis Lugo, Karen Herbst and Lenny Bianco, agreed that the Feb. 20 competition in Dallas was a good experience and preparation for competition against top-tier business schools in New York.
news@thedailycougar.com
Lawyer speaks about death
Business students win regional competition By Alan Delon THE DAILY COUGAR
stronger presence at this meeting. During the meeting, Esmeralda Valdez from Administration and Finance gave a report on how the University is pushing the green initiatives. She said UH is the first university to mandate reusable to-go containers and is pushing for a more green and sustainable campus. “We don’t want students to be cleaning and washing the containers by themselves,” Valdez said. “We are asking students to return the containers, and we will give new ones.”
“This has been a great experience. We started to work together since Dec. 1 when we got our company, Rent-a-Center, assigned,” Stewart said. “In New York, all the business schools competing will be doing different companies to choose a winner.” According to a Bauer press release, “the Cougar Investment Fund is a $7 million private investment fund managed by graduate students. The
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Friday, March 5, 2010
The Daily Cougar
Student Publications Committee
CAMPUS BEAT FORECAST
The SPC will hold its March meeting at
4 p.m. MONDAY March 8, 2010 in the Baltic Room, UC Underground The meeting is open to the public. If you require disability accommodations, please call (713) 743-5353 to make arrangements.
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Fairy Godmother Project: 1-6 p.m., McElhinney Hall, Room 333. The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and the Women’s Resource Center have teamed up with a local outreach organization, the Fairy Godmother Project, to collect prom dresses for local disadvantaged students. It is a donation event, asking for unused dresses. For more information, contact Jennifer Palton at 713/743-1019. Inaugural Kappalympics: 7:30-10 p.m., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity House. The Kappalympics are a Greek Olympics that all the Greek council organizations are encouraged to participate in. The event is open to the public and participating organization members held by the Eta Lambda chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity Inc. Graduation Fair: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., UH Bookstore. Representatives will be in the bookstore to assist in ordering caps, gowns and hoods as well as an-
CO R R E C T I O N S
nouncements, UH rings and diploma frames. Students have until March 22 to preorder regalia online. Doctoral students must preorder either online or in the bookstore by March 22. Distribution of regalia preorders will begin April 19 and will continue through commencement.
SUNDAY Big Love: 2 p.m., Wortham Theatre, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts. If half of all marriages end in divorce, perhaps there is a better alternative. Fifty brides escape to an Italian villa to avoid their arranged marriages, only to be pursued by 50 jilted grooms. In the midst of popular music, slam dances and a battle of the sexes, one solution becomes clear: murder. The play contains nudity and violence. Parents are suggested to accompany younger children or leave them with a babysitter. Tickets are $10 for students. For more information, contact the UH School of Theatre & Dance’s box office at 713-743-2929.
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ABOUT THE COUGAR The Daily Cougar is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters, and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer, at the University of Houston Printing Plant and online at http://www. thedailycougar.com. The University seeks to provide equal educational opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability or veteran status, or sexual orientation. The Daily Cougar is supported in part by Student Service Fees. the first copy of the Cougar is free; each additional copy is 25 cents. SUBSCRIPTIONS Rates are $70 per year or $40 per semester. Mail subscription requests to: Mail Subscriptions, The Daily Cougar, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-4015. NEWS TIPS Direct news tips and story ideas to the News Desk. Call (713) 743-5314, e-mail news@thedailycougar. com or fax (713) 743-5384. A “Submit news item� form is also available online at thedailycougar.com. COPYRIGHT No part of the newspaper in print or online may be reproduced without the written consent of the director of the Student Publications Department.
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continued from page 1
time the members managed this kind of money. For Lugo, team chemistry and great individual talent helped in winning the regional competition. “I think we were lucky that we had four different people with four different strengths, and we combined them all together and made one product,” he said. “Our goal is to do the same thing in New York.” In the Dallas competition, each team had to submit a 10-page, written analysis, present for 10 minutes and answer questions from judges of the CFA societies of Houston and Dallas. The final result was decided based equally on the reports and presentations. For the New York competition, things will be different. Twenty-eight teams will participate, including schools such as the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT. Schools from Canada, Mexico and Brazil will also compete. The scoring is completely based on the presentation, which includes 10 minutes to present the company and 10 minutes of Q-and-A format. “It is a real intense 20 minutes to
DOW continued from page 1
stayed. In some cases, he argues on behalf of his clients to have the death sentences commuted to a life term. In his recent book The Autobiography of an Execution, Dow details the facts and stories of many of the death row inmates he has defended and tried to help. The book also gives Dow’s insight into the effects of defending these inmates and how becoming a part of the death row environment has had an impact not only on his life, but also on those of his wife and 10-year-old son. Defending death row inmates who ultimately are executed has taken its toll on Dow. He has witnessed some of his clients’ executions — not because he wanted to, but rather because the inmate requested Dow be present. He often tells his clients he will do what they ask but tells them he would be serving them better by working the case from his office until the final minutes before their execution. In the course of representing his clients, Dow and his staff have become very close to the inmates. “You get to know your client like he’s your spouse. You come to know more about your client than maybe anybody else in the world,” Dow
CENSUS continued from page 1
college student population living on and off campus has been hard to count — in part, because many people believe that college students are counted on their parents’ questionnaires. “However, students living away from home will receive their own questionnaires, so to prevent students from being counted twice in the census, they and their parents need to know this.” Students should know their privacy is protected when participating in the census. According to the 2010 Census Web site, “Title 13 of the U.S. Code
Friday, March 5, 2010
hosted by GLOBAL
3/6/10 at 8 PM to 1 AM Free food/drink Dancing and Karaoke Cougar Den, University Center
COURTESY OF JESSICA NAVARRO
(From left) Business graduate students Paul Stewart, Karen Herbst, Luis Lugo and Lenny Bianco won first place in a competition for their work managing a $7 million investment fund. They will again compete against top tier schools later this month. spit out three or four months worth of work,” Lugo said. “We have invested a lot of the time, but it has been worth it.” For Bianco, who is an analyst in the Cougar Investment Fund, the competition was quite challenging. Bianco said the team is excited and ready to compete again.
said. Dow wrote in his book that many of these inmates are not the same people they were when they committed their crimes. “They’ve had time to think about everything they’ve done and how they’ve screwed up their lives, the person they killed and the lives of their family,” Dow said. “They’re not remorseful because they’re facing execution; they’re remorseful because they’ve had time to think about all of it, and that’s when I meet them.” Dow said it frustrates him that his clients are a certain person when they are executed and that is who they could have been. “They are, most of the times, so far removed from the violent criminal that committed this unthinking, horrible and irreversible act that they are literally not the same person,” he said. Although Dow has seen many inmates’ lives changed in prison, he admits others have and probably will not. “I do believe there are bad people. There are some people that you’re not ever going to fix,” Dow said. He said he had tried on two occasions to stop defending death row inmates, but ultimately returned both times. “The reason is the intellectual challenge hooks you first, but what prevents you from leaving is that
protects the confidentiality of all your information and violating this law is a crime with severe penalties.” Additionally, all census takers are sworn for life to protect the confidentiality of the data collected. If the oath is violated, punishments including $250,000 fines and five years of imprisonment can occur. UH student Lydia Hawley plans to participate in the census this year under her parents’ household, despite not living at home. “It just makes things easier to be included under their household, and that way there will be no mistake of accidentally being counted twice,” she said. news@thedailycougar.com
“We know the company inside and out. We only have to practice our presentation, practice the Q and A and we will do great,” he said. “This is probably the best team experience I have ever had academically and professionally.” news@thedailycougar.com
www.thedailycougar.com Stay in touch.
Teaching Opportunities in Pasadena ISD Plan to attend our Career Choice Seminar:
TUESDAY, MARCH 9 2010 @ 7PM at the Beverly Hills/Challenger Location:
11111 Beamer Houston, TX 77089 ROBERT GARCIA THE DAILY COUGAR
Law professor David Dow said calling death row inmates to let them know they will be executed never gets easier, despite having done it for nearly 20 years. you’re doing something that is very important to someone else, and if you don’t do it, the person doing it might not take it as seriously,” Dow said. “I’ll do it until there isn’t a death penalty anymore or until I die.” Although it would be easy to assume Dow is in a no-win or possibly thankless position, he said almost all of the inmates are truly grateful for his help. “During those last phone calls, nine out of 10 times, they thank you sincerely and tell you everybody they want you to thank,” Dow said. news@thedailycougar.com
The Pasadena ISD Teacher Certification Program is offering Career Choice Seminars for anyone interested in becoming a Texas certified teacher. Potential candidates must have a bachelor’s degree or above by May 2010 and must have an overall GPA of 2.5 on the 4.0 system in ALL semester hours attempted or a 2.7 GPA in the last 60 hours attempted. The application deadline for the 2010-2011 academic year is May 14, 2010 The seminars will provide an opportunity for potential candidates to learn about our program and the areas of certification offered.
For more information, please call:
(713) 740-0029
also, visit our website at: www.pasadenaisd.org/atcp
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The Daily Cougar
OPINION EDITOR Alan Dennis
E-MAIL opinion@thedailycougar.com
ONLINE: Follow the Opinion section on Twitter at @TDCOpinion
ONLINE www.thedailycougar.com/opinion
THE DAILY COUGAR
EDITORIAL CARTOON
EDITORIAL BOARD Ronnie Turner, Editor in Chief Matthew Keever, Managing editor Patricia Estrada, News editor Hiba Adi, News editor Phillipe Craig, Sports editor Robert Higgs, Sports editor Travis Hensley, Life & Arts editor Alan Dennis, Opinion editor Jarrod Klawinsky, Special projects editor
STAFF EDITORIAL
UH needs to make its voice heard in SGA elections
T
JASON POLAND THE DAILY COUGAR
Postal Service ‘solutions’ set to fail When a business fails in the private sector, it files for bankruptcy and reorganizes or dissolves altogether. If that same failing business is part of the government, however, it is allowed Alan Dennis to continue to run inefficiently indefinitely. Postmaster General John E. Potter on Tuesday announced a 10-year plan designed to help the struggling government agency cope with a projected $238 billion shortfall over the next decade. “The crisis we’re facing gives us an historic opportunity to make changes that will lay the foundation for a leaner, more market responsive Postal Service that can thrive far into the future,” Potter said in a USPS press release. Among the ideas in the plan Potter presented was the elimination of Saturday home delivery. Ironically, the postmaster general’s plan to help return the organization to financial solvency involves doing less work. The problem with this is that USPS employees are salaried professionals, not hourly, meaning they would be paid the
same amount to perform a less laborintensive job. Perhaps Potter’s next move could be to introduce Jeff Skilling as the new chief financial officer. To be fair, the release also stated that the USPS would “restructure retiree health benefits payments to be consistent with what is used by the rest of the federal government and the majority of the private sector.” While benefits are a large part of the problem, they aren’t all of it. According to the American Postal Workers Union, the average annual postal worker’s salary from 2006-10 was $52,747. Since 1969, each time the APWU has renegotiated workers’ salaries with the USPS, they have increased at least 6 percent. Not too shabby, especially when compared to the $47,077 the average public school teacher made in 2009, according to the American Federation of Teachers. As far as benefits are concerned, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management lists the minimum age at which a postal worker can retire with benefits at between 55 and 57, depending on the year in which the employee was born.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the USPS and the APWU also provides all postal workers with quality health insurance, at least 84 percent of which (depending on the plan) is covered by taxpayer funds. The problem has nothing to do with the number of days on which mail is delivered, but rather with the compensation government employees are receiving for menial work. As presently constituted, the economic structure of the USPS is not a sustainable business model. If the Postal Service were a private company and not a government entity, it would have failed years ago. The APWU’s collective bargaining agreement is up at the end of 2010. Potter needs to demand cuts from employee salaries if he’s truly interested in turning the USPS around. But he probably isn’t, and it’s doubtful that much will change. And that’s OK, because most people are content to fly like eagles on over to FedEx for their postal needs. Alan Dennis is a communication senior and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com
he time has come to once again vote for your student body representatives. Polls to cast your vote for all Student Government Association positions open Monday and close Thursday. This year, three of the five candidates running for president are members of the 46th administration. Vice President Prince Wilson, Director of Finance Carlos Reyes and former Director of External Affairs Mariam Zakaria are running for the position. Last year Catherine Roca and James only 2,945 Strickland are also running students out for the position; neither have experience in the SGA Senate. of the more If you like what your senators than 36,000 and the 46th administration have done, or think the senate attend UH needs to do a better job, you voted in the should log on and vote. Make SGA election your voice heard. Last year, only 2,945 students out of the more than 36,000 who attend UH voted in the SGA election, which is ridiculous. Voting is a right you have as a student. You don’t have to register, show proof of income or citizenship or anything like that. All you have to do is log on to the SGA Web site, type in your name and cast your vote. It really isn’t hard. Care a little about your University. This is part of being an informed college student and having pride in the institution you attend. These are the students out there talking to the deans and the administration on behalf of the student body. They are the voice for all UH students in a closed committee meeting. As students, you should care who represents you. Almost every student running for a position has a Facebook page. Go online to look at their agendas and what they stand for. Be informed before you cast your vote. People are out campaigning in front of the M.D. Anderson Library and posting posters in their respective colleges. Seek them out, talk to them and then vote. You have four days to vote for your next student body government. Get out there, represent your college and vote. It doesn’t take more than 10-15 minutes.
Students should show more pride There comes a time when a person needs to stand up and be the champion of their school. Joel Rivera is that person for UH. Rivera has always been a true Cougar, Harold Arnold and ever since his freshman year it has bothered him that so many students wear other schools’ athletic apparel around the University. You may have seen Rivera around campus; he is the man convincing traitors to trade in their red and black, burnt orange and maroon for Cougar red. Rivera stands behind his school and believes all UH students should be just as excited as he is to be a Cougar. But Rivera is doing more than just passing out T-shirts, screaming his support at UH sporting events and wearing red on Fridays; he formed the group known
around campus as Coog Patrol. The organization is attempting to help give the attitude of University students a facelift and instill some type of desire in them to be a Cougar. The Coog Patrol has a Facebook fan page with more than 500 fans featuring pictures depicting wayward cougars turning in their shirts and hats for UH threads. Rivera also plans to introduce an idea he is calling the “Cougarlympics.” In theory, the event would bring all UH student organizations together to compete against each other in a wide arrange of different games. After covering the cost of hosting the games, Rivera would donate any additional money to the Special Olympics, something every student could be proud of. Rivera is also teaming up with the Student Video Network to make a series of
commercials in which he will play a man on the street asking traitors why they are turning their backs on UH. It is sad to see that so many students at this University would rather support programs other than their own. Throwing on a Longhorns jersey doesn’t change the fact that you go to UH; have a little pride in your school. It doesn’t make much sense to pay one college thousands of dollars each year and then turn around and give another school props by buying its apparel. We all want our school to become a flagship academic institution, but what are we willing to do to help? It is time for all of us to get behind our school; after all, don’t we ask the University to get behind us? Harold Arnold is a business senior and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com
E D I TO R I A L P O L I C Y STAFF EDITORIAL The Staff Editorial reflects the opinions of The Daily Cougar Editorial Board (the members of which are listed above the editorial). All other opinions, commentaries and cartoons reflect only the opinion of the author. Opinions expressed in The Daily Cougar do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Houston or the students as a whole. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Daily Cougar welcomes letters to the editor from any member of the UH community. Letters should be no more than 250 words and signed, including the author’s full name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Anonymous letters will not be published. Deliver letters to Room 7, University Center Satellite; e-mail them to letters@ thedailycougar.com; send them via campus mail to STP 4015; or fax them to (713) 7435384. Letters are subject to editing. ADVERTISEMENTS Advertisements published in The Daily Cougar do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the University or the students as a whole. GUEST COMMENTARY Submissions are accepted from any member of the UH community and must be signed with the author’s name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Commentary should be kept to less than 500 words. Guest commentaries should not be written as replies to material already printed in the Cougar, but rather should present independent points of view. Rebuttals should be sent as letters. Deliver submissions to Room 7, University Center Satellite; e-mail them to letters@thedailycougar.com; or fax them to (713) 743-5384. All submissions are subject to editing.
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Daily Cougar
SPORTS EDITORS Phillipe Craig, Robert Higgs
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COMING MONDAY: See how the UH baseball team fared in the Houston College Classic
E-MAIL sports@thedailycougar.com
ONLINE www.thedailycougar.com/sports
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
TRACK AND FIELD
UH locks up No. 2 seed
Cougars take aim at making NCAAs
By Maurice Bobb THE DAILY COUGAR
The Cougars will try to recover quickly after a busy Conference USA Championship weekend and will field a pair of teams at separate meets today. The first team, consisting of 13 sprinters, will travel to Ames, Iowa to compete in the Iowa State Last Chance Meet at the Lied Recreation Center. A second squad, made up of long and high jumpers, J Burrell will participate at the LSU NCAA Qualifier in Baton Rouge, La. Both meets offer the Cougars one last chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships held March 12-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. After the men’s team claimed first and the women’s team third at the C-USA Championships, the squads enjoyed a few days off before today’s meets. Head coach Leroy Burrell hopes the women’s team bounces back quickly. “It starts with rest and recovery, which is what (we did) this week. (We went) back and tried to fix some of the things that didn’t go so well,” Burrell said. “Everybody’s upset following the competition. We have to give them a chance to cool off and analyze it, then get back into (their) routine.”
Good things come in threes. The UH women’s basketball team probably can’t cite the source of the saying, but after getting head coach Joe Curl back on the bench, securing the No.2 seed in next week’s Conference USA Championships and wrapping up the season sweep of in-town rival Rice in a 81-58 victory Thursday night at Hofeinz Pavilion, they can confirm that it’s more than just lip service. “I’m sicker than hell,” said Curl, who had been out since Feb.13 with medical issues stemming from chest pains. “Lesslee Mason couldn’t get to the gym because she was hurting so bad, and Courtney (Taylor) was under the weather, too, but stuck it out. It’s always had a dogfight when we play Rice. I was trying to coach every four minutes. I don’t even look at the score until it’s winning time, which is the last eight and four minutes of the game.” Junior guard Brittney Scott poured in 18 of her game-high 24 points in the opening half to ensure that the Cougars (16-13, 10-6 C-USA) and lone senior Ashlee’ Joseph — who was honored for Senior Night — closed out the regular season on a high note in their own backyard in felling the Owls (13-16, 7-9). “When Brittney started out, the basket was bigger than a bathtub,”
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By John Brannen THE DAILY COUGAR
YULIA KUTSENKOVA THE DAILY COUGAR
Junior guard Brittney Scott exploded for a game-high 24 points on 7-of-17 shooting to lead the Cougars to a dominant 81-58 win over in-town rival Rice on Thursday night at Hofheinz Pavilion. Curl said. “Which was great because we wanted to have the best season possible for Ashlee’. She’s accomplished a lot, and she’s grown a lot since she’s been here.“ UH reserve sparkplug Roxanna Button contributed 17 points, and Taylor recorded her 39th doubledouble with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman Opal Taskila paced Rice with 16 points and eight rebounds. Field goal percentage made the difference in the first half for UH, which shot 48.5 percent compared to the Owls’ woeful 25.8 percent. The Cougars’ 50-point first half
was the second highest total for the opening half this season (58 against North Texas Dec. 5). “Kudos to Houston, they played well,” said Rice head coach Greg Williams, who added he was very happy that Curl was back. “The game was over pretty early, quite frankly. I thought we were prepared coming in, but we shot 25 percent in the first half, and that’s not a good formula for success.” With 16:42 remaining in the second half, Joseph made a strong move under the goal for a basket see BASKETBALL, page 8
C-USA Championship rules limit teams to fielding only 28 athletes, so Burrell hopes those who were unable to participate take advantage of another chance to qualify for the NCAAs. “A lot of people do get passed up in the (conference) championship weekend. We’re going to run some events that we feel we really need to run in order (to) insure a spot at the national championships,” Burrell said. “Those who move on (will) go, and we’ll give it our best shot in Arkansas.” With teams from across the nation pulling out all the stops, Burrell does not know what to expect, but knows the Cougars will face strong opposition. “We really don’t know what we’re going to see there. People are going to try and set up races to qualify,” Burrell said. “The 4 x 400 should be pretty solid. Everybody’s going there to run fast enough to get in. So it’s going to be a high level of competition.” Burrell and his team are treating these meets with a win-or-go-home mentality. “Last chance meets really have an air of desperation because you got to perform, or you’re done,” he said. “There’s very little atmosphere. There’s no fan support. It’s a completely different animal than the conference championship. “We’ll go up there, give it our best shot and see what happens.” sports@thedailycougar.com
MEN’S BASKETBALL
UH set for C-USA finale at Tulane By Keith Cordero Jr. THE DAILY COUGAR The Cougars look to carry over some of the good vibes from Wednesday’s 78-70 Senior Night win over Rice when they hit the road to take on Tulane in the regular-season finale at 7 p.m. Saturday in New Orleans. Against the Owls, Aubrey Coleman had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Sean Coleman had a career-high 12 points. UH (15-14, 7-8 C-USA) has won four of its last seven games and will try to build some more momentum heading into next week’s C-USA Tournament. “It’s real important,” said guard Kelvin Lewis, who played all 40 minutes against Rice. “It’s our last game of the regular season, and we want to end on a good note.” Lewis had 16 points in the game, but hopes to avoid another slow start (two points in first half) against Tulane (7-21, 2-13). “I was relaxed the whole game (against Rice); shots didn’t fall in
the first half like they did they in the second,” Lewis said. “I won’t really harp on that…so I’m not really worried about it (the Tulane game).” Tulane has lost seven straight league games and 14 of its last 16 overall. The Green Wave’s last win was a 79-74 overtime victory over last-place Rice on Feb. 3. UH needs a win to try and surge to the sixth seed in the conference tournament, while Tulane has locked up the 11th seed. UH cannot finish higher than the sixth seed and can’t fall lower than the eighth seed. Despite the lackluster season Tulane is mired in, the Green Wave still boasts a talented scoring duo. Junior guard Kris Richard is averaging 12.1 points a game and senior guard Kevin Sims is scoring 11.6 points a game. Guards Zamal Nixon and Adam Brown lead UH’s bench and both should be key contributors in the regular-season finale after averaging 5.6 and 8.3 points, respectively. “These guys are busting their
behinds everyday in practice, so when they step up in these next few games, it’s not going to be a surprise to us,” Lewis said. We’re going to expect that, and we’re waiting for these guys to explode.” As much as the Cougars have benefited from having a morethan-capable bench, the bulk of the offensive output will come from dual-threat senior guards Aubrey Coleman and Lewis. Coleman leads the NCAA at 25.6 points per game, and Lewis is a legitimate second option at 15.1 points per game. Tulane is 4-10 at home this season, scoring 62.1 points per game, while UH is scoring nearly 79 points per game despite a subpar 4-8 road record. “I think on the road we are somewhat relaxed. We just made certain decisions at the end that cost us some games,” Lewis said. “We have been in a lot of these road games, and you know we’re going to go out there and play and do what we do.” sports@thedailycougar.com
JUSTIN FLORES THE DAILY COUGAR
Senior guard Aubrey Coleman and Co. will attempt to end the regular season on a high note when UH travels to New Orleans to take on Tulane at 7 p.m. Saturday.
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Friday, March 5, 2010
LIFE & ARTS
The Daily Cougar
ENTERTAINMENT
“ THOSE WHO PROFESS TO FAVOR FREEDOM, AND YET
By Michelle Reed THE DAILY COUGAR
DEPRECIATE AGITATION, ARE MEN WHO WANT RAIN WITHOUT AND
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LIGHTNING.”
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Portman to smoke up screen in next role
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As a straight-A student at Harvard, Natalie Portman obviously didn’t smoke weed every day, but her newest film will show audiences that she isn’t biased against women having a little fun with their friends and a plant named cannabis. Portman recently teamed up with screenwriter Jamie Denbo on Best Buds, a film which Portman will star in and produce under her production company Handsomecharlie Films. The movie follows a group of female friends as they try to prevent Portman’s character from suffering a nervous breakdown the night before her wedding. Instead of focusing on the irrational emotions that have constituted female identities in comedies such as Knocked Up, the girls chill out on a road trip to San Diego by smoking copious amounts of weed. “I just wished there was a movie where women got to be funny. Not just a group of ragtag funny guys and the hot girl,” Denbo told Jezebel.com in February. “Everyone has a cause. Some people have cancer, some have literacy. Mine is proving that
women smoke weed, too.” Denbo said she wrote the screenplay after seeing a dominating theory of how women interact with weed in Knocked Up, where Katherine Heigl makes Seth Rogen get rid of his bong while she is pregnant. “It just seemed like a metaphor of, ‘Put down the bong, and we can get married.’ That’s not how it goes in my house. It’s more like, ‘Hey, you’re pregnant, maybe stop smoking weed for five minutes,” said Denbo, a mother of two. Despite focusing on female smoking habits, Denbo said she also wanted to prove that women could provide humor in movies such as The Hangover. “I love crazy guy comedy stuff,” Denbo said. “But it would be nice to see some of the other characters that are funny be women. People forget that the biggest scene stealer in Knocked Up was Kristen Wiig.” Wiig played Heigl’s sarcastic and monotone boss at E! News. Denbo said she knows that the film might alienate regular comedic audiences since it focuses on women, and generally men are funnier than females. Also, female audience-goers might be offended by the idea that all
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TODAY’S SUDOKU How to play Each row must contain the numbers 1 to 9; each column must contain the numbers 1 to 9; and each set of 3-by-3 boxes must also contain the numbers 1 to 9.
Previous puzzle solved
Friday, March 5, 2010
ACROSS 1 Game fish 5 A Musketeer 10 Transcript figs. 14 Close at hand 15 Doctrine 16 Many, many years 17 Low voice 18 Absolutely required 19 Sisters or mothers 20 Hand out 22 Feels cold 24 Attys. degrees 27 Claim 28 Prepare eggs (hyph.) 32 Bouquet 35 Radar-gun info 36 A funny Murphy 38 Put up 40 Where Columbus is 42 Skateboarding trick 44 Tumult 45 “— when?” 47 Two under par 49 Alphabet ender 50 Type of coffee 52 Sound from the nest 54 Deuterium discoverer 56 Prefix meaning “distant” 57 Rug type 60 Marble blocks 64 Prove durable 65 Chases fly balls 68 Vega’s constellation 69 Be down with 70 Rich cake 71 “The Time Machine” people 72 Approved 73 Mountaineer’s refrain 74 Playing marbles DOWN 1 — B’rith 2 Feels under par 3 Noncoms 4 Ought to 5 Adj. modifier 6 You, to Yvette
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Elevs. Cornhusker city Digestive fluid Ready to share Serve the wine Miller and Blyth Leaky-tire sound Dresden’s river Action word Extinct bird Move crabwise RN employers Rose pest Dry white wine Spring bloomer — Gaynor of “South Pacific” 34 Strange 37 Prime-time hour 39 Remnant 41 Came about 43 Gen. Robert — — 46 They pick up sound
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Morays Full of spunk Lead shot Coarse person Rockies sight Gutter locale Ointment of old “The Mammoth Hunters” heroine 62 It may be furrowed 63 “Je ne — quoi” 64 Owl’s query 66 Cell phone co. 67 Salt, to Sartre
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2009 UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE INC.
Previous puzzle solved L A M B
A N O A
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C O N C H E A S HO P S P E R T H O L D S O L E P F ORWA O P R UMB A C R I B MA L L P L O Y
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I V E CO NOR R I I N E E L T HO S G A E L F I GME N I L T S E A L S B A T S DO T S A DO S ON Y P A R A B L E N S L O T T O OR E A N WE
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Friday, March 5, 2010
SPORTS
The Daily Cougar
Cougars look to squeeze Minute Maid for wins By Tristan Tippet THE DAILY COUGAR The Cougars have gotten off to a disconcerting 2-5 start, with their only two wins coming against a 2-4 Santa Clara team. The team will have the chance to put its early-season woes behind itself when it participates in the 10th annual Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park. UH will compete in a roundrobin style atmosphere when it goes toe to toe with Missouri, Texas and Texas Tech. Other teams competing in the classic are Rice and TCU. UH head coach Rayner Noble said it’s a great opportunity to put the program on a different stage in a tough atmosphere. “It’s a great event. It helps with our recruiting,” Noble said. “It’s just a quality event. Anytime you can play in a big-league venue against quality teams, you can’t ask for more.” While the Houston College Classic is a great opportunity for the program, one thing the Cougars can’t ignore is their struggles on the mound. UH has done an adequate job on offense, hitting .305 as a team, but its team ERA is 5.81. The Cougars’ entire pitching staff gives up too many runs, and one reason for that is a lack of durability, along with ineffectiveness among the starters. Michael Goodnight has been UH’s best starter so far, but he’s only gone 4 2/3 and five innings in his two starts with an ERA of 6.52. Despite a 3.38 ERA, lefty Ty Stuckey has gone only 5 1/3 innings in two starts. Eric Brooks has gone only 4 2/3 innings in two starts and has an ERA of 17.36. Of the Cougars’ 10 pitchers who have gone at least three innings with two appearances, four have ERAs below 4.00. The other six don’t
JUSTIN FLORES THE DAILY COUGAR
Sophomore righthander Michael Goodnight will take the mound for UH against Texas at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. After two starts, Goodnight is 1-1 with a 6.52 ERA and a team-leading 13 strikeouts. have an ERA below 6.00. “The starting pitching is going to change a tremendous amount,” Noble said. “(The) guys have been given their opportunities to be starting pitchers, and they’ve been poor, so we’re just going to start making some adjustments. “I’m going to try and probably see if (Chase) Dempsay can be ready for Missouri (today), and I’ll probably put Goodnight against Texas (on Saturday), and then I might have a revelation about who’s pitching on Sunday. Our starting pitching has been brutal.”
The other problem for the Cougars has been wildness, particularly walks and hit batsmen. The Cougars have walked 44 batters compared to 24 drawn. Add that to 64 hits allowed in 62 innings pitched, and that’s a WHIP of 1.74, well below average. The Cougars have also hit 14 batters, producing an on-baseagainst of .419. “We’ve got to get a ton better on the mound if we’re going to have a chance, and right now we’re not very good on the
mound,” Noble said. The Cougars’ first game in the Houston College Classic will be at 3:30 p.m. today against Missouri. This is the first appearance in the Classic for the Tigers (4-2). The Cougars face No. 2 Texas at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Texas is 7-8 in the Classic in five appearances. The Longhorns (6-2) lost two out of three at home against New Mexico and swept Stanford, while beating Dallas Baptist and TexasPan American. The Cougars’ finale will be against Texas Tech at 2:30 p.m.
Sunday. This is Texas Tech’s fifth appearance in the Classic, where it is 5-10 all time.The Red Raiders (7-2) lost to Washington State twice and defeated Jacksonville State, Michigan and BethuneCookman twice and Dallas Baptist once. Rice has the best record of the bunch with a 20-7 mark in all nine appearances, and TCU is 5-4 in five appearances. UH has competed each year and has a 10-17 record. sports@thedailycougar.com
BASKETBALL continued from page 5
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that put UH up 63-31. The Owls tried to make a run on the strong play of Taskila, but they never got any closer than 23 points. The Cougars begin postseason play Tuesday, when they’ll face the winner of the Rice — UTEP matchup on Monday. UH beat the Owls and the Miners over the last three games of the season and are confident that momentum will be the perfect assist. “We finished as the No. 2 seed, which is exciting,” Curl said. “We love getting this seed because it allows us to have a bye. This is anybody’s tournament, and I think we have a great shot at winning it because we’re playing some of our best basketball right now.”
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