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Cougars obliterate trash-talking Marshall squad
October 24, 2011
League City bares its ‘Killing Fields’
Issue 36, Volume 77
SPECIAL SERIES:
Student services fee increases Additional $5 to support salary raise, administrative charges, improvements to University
Gillis, the student financial services bursar. “You as a student pay this fee to provide support for such activities,” MONEY Gillis said. As written in a docuToday: Student ment from the Student Services Next Week: Fees Advisory Committee Consolidated to President Renu Khator University Services and Elwyn C. Lee, former vice president for student affairs, “The $5 increase will provide the extra funding needed to support mandated salary increases, administrative charge increases, and numerous improvements needed to help student service units continue to provide exceptional
YOUR
Zahra Ahmed
THE DAILY COUGAR The University increased the student services fee by $5 this fall, jumping from $185 — where it had stayed since 2007 — to $190 per semester. This is a result of the University-wide improvements made for Tier One status and the cuts made to state funds. The student services fee originates at the Office of the Dean of Students, which governs student life on campus, said Gene
services to students as we move toward Tier One status.” Among the improvements for the fiscal year 2012, there was an allocation of funds for a student leader task force, traveling expenses for the band and an extra physician for the Counseling and Psychological Services because of increased enrollment. A shift in the University’s budget, after a cut in state funds this fiscal year, also had a major impact on many student affairs units backed by the student services fee, said Dean of Students William Munson. The Dean of Students Office alone received a $300,000 cut in state-appropriated tax dollars and eliminated two office positions.
BY THE NUMBERS
$15.7 million
Projected 2012 revenue from student fees.
$4.4 million
Total amount of student fees appropriated to the athletics department for 2012.
$493,565
Total amount of student fees appropriated to the Dean of Students office for 2012.
$128,471
Total amount of student fees appropriate to the Student Government Association for 2012.
$62,163
Total amount of student fees appropriated to Homecoming for 2012.
FEES continues on page 3
Source: Student Fee Advisory Committee
LAW CENTER
CAMPUS
UH Master of Laws ranks as top program in Texas
‘Living Archives’ series to feature Houston socialite Another influential woman will be telling her story for the UH “Living Archives” series at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the Rockwell Pavilion on the second floor of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library. Joanne King Herring, a Houston socialite, is best known for helping late US Representative Charlie Wilson in convincing the US government to train resistance fighters in the Soviet War in Afghanistan. She has recently written a book titled “Diplomacy and Diamonds: My Wars from the Ballroom to the Battlefield”, which chronicles her story during this time. Houston Chronicle reporter Claudia Feldman will interview Herring for The Carey C. Shuart Women’s Archive and Research Collection, which collects the historical stories of Houston women. The stories of former Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire and current Mayor Annise Parker have also been included in this series. Admission is free to students and members of the Friends of Women’s Studies and is $10 to the general public. A lunch will be served and Herring’s book will be available for purchase. For more information, visit http://www.class. uh.edu/WS/warc.asp.
— Jennifer Postel
CORRECTION In the Oct. 17 issue of The Daily Cougar, the article with the headline “Rec center fees to stay stable” said, “There should not be a need to alter the student fee in the near future.” This statement should be attributed to Senior Associate Director of Recreation Reginald Riley.
Deisy Enriquez
THE DAILY COUGAR
Keenum makes more NCAA history in blowout
Q
uarterback Case Keenum threw just four incompletions, and had 376 passing yards to surpass Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang as the all-time leader in total offense. | Brianna Leigh Morrison/The Daily Cougar
The UH Law Center’s Master of Laws program was voted No. 1 in Texas by lawyers across the state. The Best of Texas survey, first conducted in 2010 by Texas Lawyers magazine, was sent to over 40,000 readers and email subscribers. These readers voted for the state’s best law services and products in more than 40 different categories. “It is quite a milestone for the Law Center, and a positive sign from the local community that we are succeeding with our mission of providing excellence in legal education,” said UHLC Dean Raymond T. Nimmer in an email. This year was the first time the Master of Laws category was part of the survey; the UHLC’s master’s program was ranked the best in Texas, above the University of Texas and Southern Methodist University. “That’s fantastic,” said Rohini Krishnamachari, a graduate student of international law. “I got into all three of those universities and tried to do extensive research on every university and selected Houston, because it’s on the top of the list in the corporate sector and also because the professors have on-the-job experience in the field.” The Law Center’s Master of Laws degree program offers over 200 courses including health law and
intellectual property and information law, which were ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. “I got into (the University of) Aberdeen in Scotland and here, and the one thing that made me come here was the quality of the professors,” said Joao Verne, a graduate student of energy, environment and natural resource law. “Even though Aberdeen was the first in the world to offer an LL.M. (Master of Laws) in oil and gas, I still chose Houston because it was in the United States, and I would have the opportunity to take classes with Dr. Jacqueline L. Weaver. I just thought it would be the best.” Verne, who is an international student from Portugal, said that even students in England who live closer to Aberdeen University are still choosing UH. The program’s quality and its involvement with major corporations located in Houston make it a more appealing choice to students in this field. “When I was researching the school, I found that Houston was really high in the national rankings,” Verne said. “And when the review comes out that we made first, more people will want to come here. I think that will raise the bar even more for the professors here, because if we are ranked number one, we won’t want to fall.” news@thedailycougar.com