1934 – 2009
t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t n e w s pa pe r o f t h e u n i v e r s i t y o f h o u s to n s i n c e 1 9 3 4
THE DAILY COUGAR Track team heads to Oregon to compete in tournament sports »
Oil spill shows leak in government’s ability to oversee OPINION »
THE DAILY COUGAR.COM
years
®
WEATHER » hi
92 Lo 74
Forecast, Page 2
Set up your own blog on our Web site and share your thoughts Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Issue 145, Volume 75
thedailycougar.com
Alumnus becomes HPD chief By John Brannen The Daily Cougar
courtesy of the Office of the Chief of Police
Ten years after receiving his Master’s degree in Sociology from UH, Charles A. McClelland, Jr. was sworn in as the new chief of the Houston Police Department.
Executive Assistant Chief Charles McClelland was sworn in to replace Harold Hurtt as new police chief of the Houston Police Department on April 14. The decision was announced by Mayor Annise Parker just before the new year. A veteran of the HPD, McClelland said he was humbled by Parker’s choice and that he looks forward to overseeing people who are devoted to protecting and serving Houston citizens. “It has been a tremendous
honor to start my career out as a police cadet and rise through the ranks and become chief of police,” McClelland said. “I feel very fortunate. It’s the capstone of my police career and this will be the last job I’ll ever have at the HPD.” McClellan said some of his goals are to promote communication within the force and the community. “I want to increase police community relationships and strengthen that,” he said. “There are a lot of ideas that men and women throughout the ranks have and I need to find an avenue for them to give me ideas on how to
CPH holds global forum on energy By Gordon Furneaux The Daily Cougar The UH Center for Public History recently held lectures to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of living in modern energy capitals. Two Houston professors led the lectures, which drew experts from around the globe. “The paper focused on questions related to oil-led economic development in Houston during the 20th century and the impact of that development on urban growth, labor, immigration, environmental pollution and land issues,” said director of the Center for Public History Martin Melosi. The energy capitals that were represented share similar problems, but the city of Houston was selected due to its status as one of the most energy dependent cities in the world. “Although Houston is not necessarily a model for all energy development globally, the city’s status as ‘the energy capital of the United States’ made our venue a logical one,” said Melosi. After funding was granted by the National Science Foundation and UH, it was decided the meetings would be held in Houston. Cullen professor of history and business Joseph Pratt said he was pleased to lead these lectures from home but, more importantly, that Houston set the example and can promote more meetings in other locations. “We had scholars from around the nation and the world,” Pratt said. “We hope that our conference will help create regular meetings here and in other cities to explore common issues in cities strongly influenced by energy-led development.”
The lectures were held from May 21-22, and allowed scholars and experts like Melosi and Pratt to share their findings in an open forum. Experts from as far as Perth, Australia, descended on the Houston campus to discuss some of the problems faced in their energy led cities. “The advantages are certainly economic – for the companies, workers, and in some cases, the cities themselves,” Melosi said. “The downside is that local communities that produce energy normally carry the environmental burden rather than distributing it among the users of that energy.” Attendees, in order to gather as much information as possible and find similarities among the global problems and assets associated with energy production and distribution, discussed a total of ten papers. Another purpose of the meetings was to gain support for publishing their findings from the different discussed areas. “We had a wide range of papers on the following cities besides Houston,” Melosi said. “We anticipate completing a book project incorporating these cities.” Some of the countries and states involved included Mexico, Canada, Louisiana and Tennessee. These lectures were just the beginning for Melosi and Pratt, who said they hope the meetings between these energy experts will spawn more gatherings and bring further attention to the issues discussed. “Our first step is to complete the book. We also are considering additional workshops,” Melosi said. “We also want to take the lessons learned and provide them to policymakers wherever possible.” news@thedailycougar.com
be more efficient.” McClelland did not grow up with a desire to be a police officer. Instead he stumbled into a law enforcement career out of necessity. “I was probably like most other 20-year-olds at the time that was looking for something stable, something I could be proud of and something that would at least put the food on the table,” he said. “My brother-in-law was a Houston police officer so he’s actually the one, I guess he’s the one, that gets credit for recruiting me and see POLICE, page 6
Students praise budget’s aid plans By Neal Dasgupta The Daily Cougar
Jario Raza The Daily Cougar
A Morning of Mourning
A
Memorial Day observance was held Monday morning at Houston Memorial Cemetery. The ceremony included an address by Governor Rick Perry and a flyover by the U.S. Coast Guard. Although official numbers for the total veteran population of UH are near 800, it is believed that there were more than 1500 veterans enrolled this past spring.
The UH System Board Of Regents has approved a budget of $1.3 billion for the fiscal year 2011 and 25 percent of it will be spent on student scholarships. The board unanimously approved the budget during the May 15 meeting. The five percent reduction in spending from state appropriations was considered in the budget process. “I commend the board’s finance and administration committee for the long hours it spent poring over this budget,” UHS Board of Regents Chairman Welcome W. Wilson Sr. said in a UH press release. “They worked diligently to make necessary reductions while protecting priority initiatives that benefit our students and are crucial in UH’s journey toward Tier One status.” The budget plan that will go into effect Sept. 1, was broken down between all the UH system schools. UH main will receive $1.01 billion, the majority of the funding. With the economy still recovering from one of the worst financial crises since the Great Depression, many students are still struggling to cover college expenses. “College tuition is getting crazy,” business junior Mukesh Pillai said. “A lot of expenses go see BUDGET, page 6