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Cougars fall short in near comeback victory against Rice STUDENT FEES
Voting for the increase of student fees begins today An increase in student fees by $45 per semester is on the ballot today and tomorrow. The increase will go towards the construction of a new football stadium, the renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion, and the operation of athletic facilities. Students can vote from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Athletics/Alumni Center, the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, Cougar Village, the Engineering Complex, M.D. Anderson Library, Melcher Hall, Moody Towers, the Moores School of Music, Philip Guthrie Hoffman Hall, the Science and Engineering Research Center, the University Center and the UC-Satellite. Students need their peoplesoft ID number and date of birth to vote. — Cougar News Services
RA selection process begins Students hoping to attain the position being vetted by Residential Life and Housing Lesley Saenz
THE DAILY COUGAR The Residential Life and Housing Resident Assistant selection will begin interviewing candidates in upcoming weeks. The Recruitment Committee is looking for “students who have the desire to connect with the residents and also serve as resources for them” in potential resident assistants, said
Jamica Johnson, area coordinator for Cougar Village. The selection process entails a written or typed application, a group interview and an individual interview, Johnson said. Betsy Galicia, a psychology pre-med senior, has been an RA since her sophomore year. “As a senior RA, I guide the RAs in their responsibilities to get to know the residents. I can work with their skills, and I like that when they have a problem they actually come to me,” Galicia said. She said the most rewarding part of being an RA is the leadership skills she has acquired and getting to know her fellow students better.
In Monday’s issue, the date of the student referendum was incorrect in the article, “Question: to fee or not to fee?” The referendum begins today, not Monday.
“It’s one of the jobs where I’ve had to really get to know people and not just casually. You actually live with these people,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a job — it just feels like a social thing.” Freshman Catherine Martin says her RAs have helped ease her into college life. “They definitely pep up people by giving out cookies on rainy days or just asking how your day went,” she said. Armando Hernandez, an architecture junior, said the RA job is much more than just desk hours and on-call shifts. RA continues on page 3
GERALD D. HINES
Students propose designs for levee
Recycling competition to start with different rules
CORRECTIONS
Issue 66, Volume 77
RESIDENTIAL LIFE
SUSTAINABILITY
The RecycleMania competition has changed this year. Instead of collecting recyclables for weekly weigh-ins, the competitors must spread the word about recycling. This new strategy will still bring on friendly competition, but will also encourage the University to work together as a whole for the national contest to increase awareness and recycling on campus. Students, faculty and staff can put together their own teams and are put in different categories based on the number of members. The three winning teams from each category will win a $100 catering credit and a certificate of recognition. “(In the new competition) large teams aren’t bound by the amount of waste they can haul, and small teams aren’t bound by how much waste they create,” said Leah Wolfthal, program coordinator for sustainability. “The message reaches more people on campus, and we are modeling recycling and waste behaviors.” Teams have until Feb. 6 to submit their registration packet, which they can find online at www. uh.edu/af/recyclemania/index.htm. — Lesley Saenz
January 31, 2012
Kinetic scupture seen best in passing
Structure to galvanize Galveston economy Annette Santos
THE DAILY COUGAR
Lunar New Year
T
he Council of Ethnic Organizations brought back the Son Long lion dance group, which performed last year, because they were so well received in the first event, Council Director Sieda Omar said. She hopes to build the event into an annual tradition by keeping many of the same attractions from year to year. | Jack Chaiyakhom /The Daily Cougar
Galveston Island is overdue for Hurricane protection, said two of the 12 UH architecture students who helped propose a new levee system that would span from Freeport to High Island and would include a new visitor center attached to a national recreation park. Students from UH and other Texas universities have researched and developed a levee system under the direction of Thomas Colbert of UH’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and in association with Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evaluation from Disasters Center. The new levee would not only provide a safer alternative to Galveston’s outdated sea wall, but looks to attract more jobs while preserving a national park designed to protect the area’s ecosystem for the future generations, Colbert said. “Enclosing the north side of Galveston to complete the levee system started by the seawall 100 years ago is necessary to attract economic development and growth to this historic and important economic center,” Colbert said. “People are not going to be attracted to build there if it’s not safe and it’s been repeatedly flooded.”
Enclosing the north side of Galveston to complete the levee system started by the seawall 100 years ago is necessary to attract economic development and growth to this historic and important economic center. People are not going to be attracted to build there if it’s not safe and it’s been repeatedly flooded.” Thomas Colbert, on the potential economic effect of the new levee plans. Cristhian Bisso, a fourth-year architecture student, visited Galveston and found an empty parking lot across the strand where his vision of landscapes, shops and even a theater would help create an attractive atmosphere for the visitor center. “Levee systems are seen as something like an eye sore,” he said. “I wanted to create a very live-beat area around the levee system. This issue could be a great investment for the city — very beneficial.” Projects of this caliber are presented to fourth- and fifth-year architecture students who are wellprepared to face serious challenges and offer different possible solutions, Colbert said. Fourth-year student Mel Fuentes LEVEE continues on page 3