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CAMPUS COMMUNITY
Center to offer free breast exams In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the UH Health Center will offer free breast exams to UH faculty, staff and students from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday and again on Oct. 21 at the UH Health Center. The brief visit will include a quick review of medical history and then a breast exam. “The nurse practitioner will meet with them and do the (breast) exam and offer any follow up or referral if needed,” Chief Nurse Laura Moore said. Walk-ins are welcome. A valid photo ID is required at check-in. For more information, contact the UH Health Center at 713-743-5151. — Naheeda Sayeeduddin/The Daily Cougar
CHARITY EVENT
Students hold food drive The Graduate College of Social Work Student Association is collecting food items to benefit the Jewish Community Center-Houston’s “Meals on Wheels” program. Collection bins for food have been placed near the elevators on the first floor of the Social Work Building, and contributions should be: easily opened, commercially produced, single-serving, non-perishable and ready-to-eat. The food drive ends Friday. For more information, go to www.jcchouston.org. — Sara Nichols/The Daily Cougar Got an item for Newsline? Let us know! E-mail newsline@thedailycougar.com
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ON CAMPUS
The Route 66 Tour The Route 66 Tour is a nationwide tour that travels to many college campuses in an effort to prepare college students for the real world. Interactive presentations, games and prizes will all be a part of the event here today at the Rockwell Pavilion inside the library from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Register in advance at http://tour.route66.cc/
AROUND TOWN
Blitzen Trapper Portland, Ore. folk and indie rock band Blizten Trapper will be at the House of Blues tonight opening at 8 p.m. Come into The Daily Cougar offices to pick up a free ticket. Supplies are limited. Find more campus and local events or add your own at thedailycougar.com/calendar
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Issue 041, Volume 76
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City’s sinking areas defined UH geological researchers cite ten-year data in claims of NW Harris County subsiding Katie Rowald
THE DAILY COUGAR According to Shuhab Khan, Jersey Village is sinking. Khan, an associate professor of geology, along with UH geology professor Kevin Burke and former UH Ph.D. student Richard
Engelkemeir, recently published a study in Tectonophysics detailing nearly a decade’s worth of data measuring the elevation of a variety of locations throughout the Houston area. The data, spanning 1995 to 2005, shows that a large portion of northwestern Harris County is subsiding, with the points in Jersey Village sinking the fastest at a rate of up to 2 inches per year, Khan said. “Usually, we’re talking only a few millimeters a year,” he said. “This is a significant change.” Khan names the withdrawal of
groundwater as a likely culprit. “Because GPS can pinpoint location with millimeter precision, it is an excellent tool to measure even the most subtle changes over time in the ground,” Khan said ! ! Shuhab Khan in a UH news release. “The most likely reason for the sinking of Jersey Village is the withdrawal of water SINKING continues on page 8
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH
Red flags raised on abuse Campaign to focus on characteristics of abusers, many forms behavior takes Michelle Reed
THE DAILY COUGAR Domestic violence in a relationship can be a haunting act usually unnoticed by many people, which allows room for more skeletons to sleep inside the closet of a domestically abused victim. In an effort to clean out those skeletons and observe Domestic Violence Awareness month, the Women’s Resource Center will promote the fight against domestic violence with the Red Flag Campaign. “Many people are not aware of the ‘red flags’ of dating violence, believing instead that such things are just normal or that (it) is a natural part of a woman’s life,” Beverly McPhail, director of UH’s Women’s Resource Center (WRC), said in an e-mail. Starting today, the campaign will post mysterious red flags around the UH campus. Posters describing ‘red flag’ behaviors, with a neighboring white flag to indicate how a domestic abuse victim can find help, will also be posted. A major emphasis of the campaign will be to show that domestic abuse is more than just a physical act. “Many times, when people think of domestic violence or dating relationship violence, they think of physical violence,” McPhail said. “However, domestic violence also includes sexual, emotional and economic abuse. “We want to educate the campus community about dating violence, and build a culture on campus where such violence and behavior is not tolerated.” UH’s Counseling and Psychological Services, one of the groups taking part in the campaign, will be around to discuss counseling services for students in need. “Through the counseling process,
The Women’s Resource Center relocated in December of last year from the UC-Satellite to room 279A in the University Center. | Hiba Adi/The Daily Cougar therapists can help individuals by validating their experiences and help them understand what healthy relationships look like,” CAPS Assessment Fellow Courtney Chambless said in an e-mail. Victims feel as if they cannot leave their partners because they begin to believe that they deserved the abuse, Chambless said, and therefore, have negative selfevaluations of their selves. “Therapists recognize that leaving an abusive partner is not easy and that there are many factors that can keep an individual in a relationship,” Chambless said. These factors can range from money, children, stability or self-esteem as well as many others. “Therapists can assist clients in brainstorming solutions to these problems and developing a crisis safety plan,” Chambless said. For many universities, having a counseling and resource center helps more
victims find the comfort that they have been searching for. “CAPS offer a place for abuse victims to explore the effects of domestic violence without the fear of judgment or abandonment,” Chambless said. Since domestic violence also affects men, CAPS offers couples counseling in which therapists will help the couples come up with better communication strategies. “The important part about the counseling process is to facilitate insight into how each couples words and actions affect their partner and then assist them in developing new strategies so that each member gets their needs met without hurting or infringing on the rights of the other person,” Chambless said. Despite being a resource center for women, McPhail says that the WRC is open to men seeking information as well. VIOLENCE continues on page 8