Tuesday, November 13, 2012 // Issue 45, 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
‘Undie Run’ controversy unfolds Amanda Hilow Managing editor
The so-called ‘Undie Run,’ the Lynn Eusan Park fraternity event and a re-election celebration all took place on the evening of Nov. 6. | Courtesy of Wade Tao
A scheduled event was prematurely shut down by UH Police Department and Houston Police Department just before midnight Nov. 6 because of the growing size of a large crowd of unaffiliated groups at Lynn Eusan Park. Although Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. reserved the area until 1:30 a.m. for a Homecoming event,
the crowd was dispersed by police officials shortly after midnight. “The confluence of the undie run, a fraternity event at Lynn Eusan Park and an election celebration in the residential areas created a situation that demanded the attention of UHPD,” said Chief of Staff Lt. Bret Collier. External vice president of the Zeta Zeta chapter of Phi Beta Sigma, Jason
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OPINION
Stop the election talk LIFE+ARTS
RUN continues on page 3
CRIME
UHPD explains varied response to theft Police comments on its different reactions to attempted and successful cell phone robberies Samuel Colin Contributing writer
A student was struck on the back of his head and then robbed of his cell phone Oct. 30 in a parking lot located off of Elgin Avenue and Cullen Boulevard. A second robbery was attempted on another student at 8:27 p.m. Friday near the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. The for mer incident was reported to UH Police Department, but a security alert was not sent out to students. Instead, UH Department of Public Safety sent out an e-mail the next day urging students to be smart while using their phones. For the latter incident, a security alert was sent out by UHDPS at 11:28 p.m. that same evening.
“The incident that occurred on the 30th was considered for an immediate crime alert, but was recognized as not necessarily meeting the criteria. Ultimately it was decided that even if an alert was not required, we wanted to make sure the community was aware of related trends we were seeing. The most appropriate alert we could send, the one that would be most helpful to the community, was one highlighting the increasing instances of cell phone related crimes, including ones like the incident on the 30th,” said Lt. Bret Collier in an e-mail. “The incident this past weekend was similar in many ways to the previous, although the phone was not ultimately taken. The nature of the crime, combined with its
Cynthia Woods meets U.K. SPORTS
The UHPD motto is ‘Effort, Respect.’ | Julie Heffler/The Daily Cougar similarity to another recent crime was enough for our staff to recognize that there may be a continuing threat, triggering a crime alert.” Cell phone thefts have been
Hayden visits his team
increasing across the country and UHPD thought it was better to provide information on how to avoid THEFT continues on page 3
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ONLINE XTRA Three-day Prayer event held in grass outside M.D. Anderson Library
T
he 72 hours of prayer started Monday and will continue on through today. Students will gather outside the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library to pray and sing songs. — Zachary Burton/The Daily Cougar
Read the full story on the Underwear run controversy
CORRECTION The photo cutline on Page 5 of Monday’s issue read that the photograph was taken during the Saturday game against Tulsa. It was taken before the game started.