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UH hosts annual rover event, over fourty schools participating The ninth annual Mars Rover Celebration will take place this Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. in the UC Houston room. More than 600 third through eighth grade students from more than 40 different schools will display their inventions. The public can attend and view the projects for free. The teams were required to work within a $25 budget for their supplies to help them learn how to manage money. At the display, UH departments will also present their own exhibit booths. Leading scientists and researchers will present their projects and innovations. Following the competition, Students will hear talks from Microsoft’s Jonathan Fay, the chief programmer of the WorldWide Telescope and NASA’s Tess Caswell, who will speak about the future of space exploration. UH geology professor Janok Bhattacharya will have a presentation concerning remote sensing in the 21st century. Former astronaut Joan Higginbotham will present the awards.
‘Sweet 16’ moot court national competition comes to town The top 16 law school moot trials compete today as part of the 2011 Andrew Kurth Moot Court National Championship hosted by the UH Law Center’s Blakely Advocacy Institute. The competition at the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse will involve a copyright case dispute and will be judged by volunteer state and federal judges. Some of the contestants include South Texas College of Law, Texas Tech, George Washington, and the University of Miami. The previous winners are the University of Detroit Mercy and John Marshall Law School.
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January 27, 2011 Read. Recycle. Repeat daily.
FACULTY SENATE
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Issue 81, Volume 76
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EVENTS The Magic Flute - The Moores School of Music is sponsoring a showing of The Magic Flute. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets Ti k t are $15 for f generall admission d i i andd $10 for f students. UH Pre-Law Day - The law school will be hosting an event from noon to 4 p.m. that will provide students panels and speakers on applying to law school. Three LSAT companies will be present for test prep questions.
FOR MORE EVENTS, CHECK OUT thedailycougar.com/calendar
Senate focuses on budget 20 percent reduction, cutting of student aid cast shadow on first meeting of semester Nick Ragan
THE DAILY COUGAR The University must cut its budget by at least $54 million in 2011, according to former UH Faculty Senate President Mark Clarke at Wednesday’s Faculty Senate Meeting. UH has already cut $15 million from its budget and it could get worse, Clarke said. The cuts could be as high as $65 million, 20 percent of the University’s annual budget. The entire UH System is being asked
KTRU
to reduce their budget by 20 or 16 percent, depending on which version of the state’s appropriation bill is passed. The Senate is particularly concerned with the proposed cutting of the TEXAS Grant program, which provides tuition for 27,000 students at UH. The meeting was Clarke’s last meeting as president, and he thanked the Senate for the chance to serve. He then welcomed new president Monica McHenry, who said she wants to make communication the focus of her presidency. “Our common enemy is the Texas budget,” McHenry said. “We want to protect everyone as much as possible.” President Renu Khator was not in
attendance. She and several other administrative members were in Austin fighting for state funding, Clarke and McHenry said. McHenry hopes UH’s lastest designation as a flagship research university and a strong administrative presence in Austin will help the University’s case. “We don’t want to take a disproportionate amount of cuts like we did last year,” McHenry said. The meeting marked the first Senate under UH’s newest designation. Clarke encouraged everyone to attend the Celebration of Excellence event at 11 a.m. Friday at Cullen Performance Hall. FACULTY continues on page 3
SPORTS FEATURE
UH must disclose docs on purchase Consultant payment, correspondence at issue Jourdan Vian
THE DAILY COUGAR The Texas attorney general has ruled that the University has to disclose some documents connected to the sale of the KTRU radio station. UH is required to release correspondence and the payment information of Public Radio Capital, a nonprofit consultant that brokered the sale of the Rice radio station to UH, following the attorney general’s ruling earlier this month. The University asked the attorney general’s office for an opinion after the Texas Watchdog, an online news organization, requested information that UH considered legally protected. “The Texas Public Information Act and the Texas Open Meeting Law are specific about when transaction details become public,” Richard Bonnin, executive director of media relations of UH said in a statement. “The University of Houston complied with these provisions regarding the acquisition of KTRU.” Texas Watchdog requested the information as part of an KTRU continues on page 3
Pressure from his family halted his competition, but kinesiology junior Justin Reiswerg began training two months ago for his first fight in 18 months. | Lauren Mathis/The Daily Cougar
Braving the cage Childhood passion leads UH student to mixed martial arts training, competition Lauren Mathis
THE DAILY COUGAR As a kid, Justin Reiswerg would watch fights with his dad. Three years ago, as a freshman, he began living out what he used to see on television, leading his family to cut him off for six months. Despite all of his struggles, Reiswerg is still fighting and he says he’s more than ready to get into the ring. “I feel great,” Reiswerg said. “I’ve had a great training camp with good training partners to help me prepare and I feel I possess the right set of skills to beat my opponent.” Reiswerg, a kinesiology junior, will fight this Saturday for the Legacy Fighting Championship at the Houston arena.
Training for the past two months at Bam Bam Martial Arts in West University, Reiswerg has been mastering the many fighting techniques that it takes to be a cage fighter. “Mixed martial arts is an accumulation of any fighting style that has ever been created,” Reiswerg said. “The most common and effective styles that have surfaced through the sport are Muay Thai, boxing, Jujitsu and wrestling.” Due to the intensity of MMA, Reiswerg admits that it isn’t an easy sport. “I’ve had a few sets of stitches, a broken finger, torn tendons and ligaments and who knows how many cuts and bruises,” Reiswerg said. “I have never been injured during a fight. As with most fighters, injuries happen in the months of training that lead up to the event.” Cuts and bruises are not the only things FIGHTER continues on page 3