t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t n e w s pa p e 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
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97 LO 74 Tuesday HI
Cougars pick up two victories to maintain perfect conference record
Various acts make BestFest a success
September 27, 2011 Issue 21, Volume 77
STATE
Talks tackle Texas troubles Tribune Festival panelists discuss higher education graduation, oil policies Brian Jensen
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The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan online newspaper, created its own festival to bring together some of the state’s most important officials to engage in conversations concerning problems Texans face today. | Brian Jensen/The Daily Cougar
UH President Renu Khator defended the value of public universities in the current economic situation at the Texas Tribune Festival that took place Saturday and Sunday at the University of Texas. The event, which was organized by The Texas Tribune and South By Southwest, included
speakers such as the Ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon Jr. and former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. It also featured a number of debates and heated discussions concerning issues relevant to Texans. Khator’s panel was asked whether public universities can “make the grade.” Khator said she believed public universities should make a “really high grade” considering their increased enrollment and graduation rates amidst a difficult financial situation. Khator and UT El Paso President Diana Natalicio disagreed
on the value of graduation rates, which is often taken into consideration when considering the funding a school receives. Natalicio said that members of the group should “eradicate” graduation rates, and instead measure degree completions – statistics that take into account transfer and part-time students. Several state legislators took part in the “how to pay for public education” panel, such as Houston State Senator Dan Patrick, who is vice-chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Patrick TRIBUNE continues on page 3
BAUER
CAMPUS
Business college to offer Q&A sessions for graduates
Students struggle with limited day care options
The Bauer College of Business is offering information sessions to students looking to further their career or who have questions regarding graduate or professional programs. Bauer offers many MBA and MSF information sessions throughout this semester including one today beginning at 6:30 p.m. Attending one of these sessions is the best ways to have any pending questions answered as well as meet other students and some of Bauer’s current faculty and staff. For more information call 713743-0700 or email houstonmba@ uh.edu. — Jennifer Postel
Liability issues make expansion of existing childcare facilities difficult Naheeda Sayeeduddin
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CAMPUS
KUHF honors University’s accomplishments with show Every Wednesday, KUHF brings to the airwaves the stories of the University of Houston through its weekly program “UH Moment”. Each UH moment tells of a different and decisive UH story focusing on the accomplishments of the university, its students and staff. Written by the UH communication staff and produced by KUHF, UH Moment has covered stories concerning Tier One status and cancer research. UH Moment airs every Wednesday at 7:49 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Past episodes are accessible online at, http://bit.ly/oVorr5 — Jennifer Postel
Soccer squad rebounding
A
fter starting the season with five consecutive losses, the Cougars are beggining to bounce back. UH has won four of its last five matches — its most recent was a 2-1 win against the UAB Blazers on Sunday at Robertson Stadium. The team will be on the road for the next two weeks, and will return on Oct. 16 for a match against Central Florida. | Aaron Cisneros/The Daily Cougar
An increase in student enrollment also means an increase in the number of parenting students on campus — leaving some students with the challenge of finding appropriate childcare amongst the limited options available on campus. The only on-campus option for parenting students is the accredited UH Children’s Learning Centers. A recent expansion of the center now allows them to accommodate a little more than 200 children, said UHCLC director Sherry Howard. Yet, despite having the UHCLC already in place on campus for students and their children, some students are misusing the drop-in center located inside the UH Recreation and Wellness center. “They have that child care center for women who work out But some women, because there was no other childcare available, were dropping their kids there, pretending they were going to work out, and then really running to a class,” said Beverly McPhail, director of the UH Women’s
Resource Center. “And we hated that they had to do that. It’s a bit dishonest but we understand their frustration and their need.” To address this issue, the WRC began having talks with the director of Cubbie Corner, the child care center inside the recreation center. The goal was to turn Cubbie Corner into a drop-in child care facility open to all students on campus – not just for students working out in the gym. But with the changes in Cubbie Corner administration, McPhail said they are facing challenges. “The interim director (of Cubbie Corner) turned us down recently saying they were worried about liability issues,” she said. “We are trying to do more because we do recognize that we have a lot of non-traditional students on campus and some of them are mothers. It’s a different license and drop-in childcare centers are hard to run because of that in and out,” Howard said. Even worse, drop-in centers have a number of limitations. “There’s a (time) limit — for example, if you’re going to license as a drop-in, a child cannot be there more than two hours and they are very difficult to manage in terms of getting that kind of CHILDCARE continues on page 3