Wednesday, November 7, 2012 // Issue 42, Volume 78 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
N E W S P A P E R
O F T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
H O U S T O N
Obama wins his second term Julie Heffler News editor
President Barack Obama has won the 2012 U.S. presidential election against former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney. After more than a
year of campaigning, Obama has eked out a close victory against the former governor. “A lot of young people are voting; it is important. It is the duty of the University to encourage civic participation,” said Jeronimo
Cortina, assistant professor of political science. “We cannot complain if we do not do our part. We have duties and responsibility and our part is to go out and vote so we can have leaders that are acceptable.”
UH STUDENTS VOTING ON ELECTION DAY The Daily Cougar conducted an unscientific poll of 445 students Tuesday to determine how many students planned on voting.
Did you vote on Election Day?
23.15%
35.06% Yes No Undecided Voted Early
4.27% 37.53%
More than a third of the respondents said they did not plan on voting at all during the 2012 election, while about 58 percent of respondents said they voted Tuesday or earlier.
The poll does not include voters who were unable to vote because of lack of citizenship.
Reactions among UH students are mixed. Some like Levi Meyer, mechanical engineering junior, are worried about the future of the country. “Four more years of increased spending and the debt’s going to do nothing but increase,” Meyer said. “Our economy is just going down the drain.” Others such as Jerrad Howard, mechanical engineer graduate, are cautiously optimistic, waiting to see what happens once the election fervor has ended. “I hope he can do something better than he did in the last four years. Let’s see what happens,” Howard said. Supporters of the president are obviously pleased by his victory. Matthew Johnson, music freshman, is looking forward to Obama’s continued progress for the major American political issues. “I feel a lot better than if it had been Romney, because I think (Obama) needs to continue what he’s been doing since he was elected in 2008,” Johnson said. “I feel that that’s the best way the country can go. We don’t need another leader to counteract the progress (Obama)’s made so far.” Johnson’s feelings are reflected by those held by Keifer Chase, undeclared freshman. “I’m excited about it because he has experience. He’s against
S I N C E
OPINION
Unity needed after election LIFE+ARTS
Q&A with Moores author SPORTS
Sims to sit out next game GET SOME DAILY
OBAMA continues on page 3
CAPS understaffing worsens as student body grows Kathleen Murrill Contributing writer
With a growing need for more space and staff, Counseling and Psychological Services may be in trouble as the on-campus student ratio increases. During its Student Fees Advisory Committee presentation, Norma Ngo, director of CAPS, called its student to psychologist ratio 4,529 to 1 pathetic and illustrated that the use of CAPS services has increased and will probably continue to do so. Currently, group rooms are filled to capacity, hallways often serve as additional waiting areas and the administrative assistant is working
out of the server room, Ngo said. If the ratio is not lowered, it will be increasingly difficult for CAPS to continue to provide necessary services, Ngo said. “When the ratio increases beyond the upper limits of what International Association of Counseling Services recommends, the resulting may occur: a waiting list will result or increase, there will be more difficulty providing services to students experiencing increasingly more severe psychological issues, there may be more liability risks to the counseling center and University, the counseling center may be less available to help support the campus community in
other ways and overall support for the academic success of students is diminished,” Ngo said. Although IACS’s ratio is an aspiration, it was set through a combination of empirical analysis and suggestions from counseling center directors to ensure the clinical needs of students as well as other service needs of the campus are met, Ngo said. Because of CAPS’ high ratio, it has to constantly be creative with the use of its space and time. “We are always conscious about how to balance all of these responsibilities in order to not sacrifice quality,” Ngo said. “We need to constantly evaluate how we provide services to our students, and this
requires a great deal of training for our staff. The fast pace and higher expectations is indicative of Tier One institutions, so we must find a way to work with this.” As the residential population rises and UH moves closer to achieving Tier One status in all aspects, CAPS and the University will need to work harder at reaching the IACS recommended ratio of 1,500 to 1, which is typically met at Tier One institutions like the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, Ngo said. Ngo predicts once the construction of Cougar Village II and Cougar CAPS continues on page 3
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thedailycougar.com
CORRECTION The Daily Cougar reported that the SGA Senate can now pass University bills. They gained the ability to pass Senate resolutions without presidential approval, not University bills.
POSTPONEMENT The usual college photo spread will be postponed because of Election Day coverage.