Wednesday, June 5, 2013 // Issue 113, 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 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 T O N
ADMINISTRATION
Provost search ends with interim Short Natalie Harms, Katherine Morris Managing editor, staff writer
Paula Short has been appointed as provost after serving as interim provost this semester, President and Chancellor Renu
Short
Khator said in an email. The Board of Regents will have to approve the appointment in its meeting on June 17. The semester-long search process chose three candidates in May, and Short was not among them. Rather than rallying behind one of the candidates in the running for the position, the committee began gravitating
toward its interim, Short. Khator said the two other remaining candidates were not the right fit for the the University. “This week, I went back to presidents, vice presidents, deans, the UH Faculty Senate and the UH Student Government Association for another voice, and they are unanimously and strongly in favor of appointing Dr.
Short,” Khator said. In early May, Khator and Short announced an academic reorganization through the elimination and creation of positions. The new structure has strategically designed positions to address major areas in academic affairs. PROVOST continues on page 3
S I N C E
1 9 3 4
OPINION
UH goes tobacco free LIFE+ARTS
NATION
Obama seeks to prevent student loan rate incrase Natalie Harms, Hadiya Iqbal Managing editor, staff writer
Fountain Residential Partners plans to complete The Vue, an all-inclusive housing complex for students, by Fall 2014. The apartments will include a 50-inch flat screen television and a queen-size bed. | Courtesy of Fountain Residential Partners
HOUSING
Company brings new Vue close to campus Mary Dahdouh News editor
As the campus welcomes Cougar Place and Cougar Village II in the coming year, students will have yet another housing option to consider in Fall 2014. Fountain Residential Partners, a Dallas-based company that has completed more than $1 billion in student housing construction across the country, is building The Vue on MacGregor, a five-story building with nearly 350 beds, that will be located at Calhoun Road and South MacGregor Way across from Bayou Oaks. It will be the first privately owned off-campus community at UH, and as such, it will differ from other housing options in that the University will own the land and lease it to a campus housing firm, the company told the Houston Chronicle. Although the University won’t have direct control of the apartment
property, the new complex will still help UH reach its Tier One potential of housing 25 percent of the students on campus. “I’m excited because I think that the new complex will give students an opportunity for affordable living near campus, as well as a different style of living,” said nutrition junior Breanna Larsen, the executive vice president of the Residence Hall Association. “Students can form networks and bonds from their school experiences but also feel like they are out in the real world, living on their own and doing something for themselves.” According to a Houston Chronicle blog post, Fountain Residential Partners has had its eye on the site for five or six years and believes the timing is right to expand in Houston. “It shows up on the national radar,” said Brent Little, president of
As students and lawmakers across the nation anxiously await July 1, when Congress will decide whether the student loan rate will double, UH students can be at ease knowing that their University was ranked No. 7 nationally among the colleges that have the least debt by U.S. News & World Report. A report issued earlier this month by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that 38 million student loan borrowers in the U.S. owe a debt load of more than $1.1 trillion. Yet, the possibility of the student loan rate of 3.4 percent doubling to 6.8 still looms overhead.
President Barack Obama is adamantly opposing the increase, saying Friday in the White House Rose Garden that it would cost the typical college student an extra $1,000 annually. The House of Representatives passed a bill already that would allow student loan rates to increase over time with a cap at 8.5 percent, but Obama said he didn’t agree with the bill. “(The bill) fails to lock in low rates for students next year,” Obama said. “That’s not smart. It eliminates safeguards for lower-income families. That’s not fair. It could actually cost a freshmen starting school this fall more over the next four years than if LOAN continues on page 3
SPORTS
Receiver leaves program
STUDENT DEBT COLLEGES THAT LEAD TO THE MOST AND LEAST STUDENT DEBT FOR 2011 GRADUATES SCHOOLS WITH LEAST DEBT AMONG GRADUATES Rank
School (State)
Debt per Grad at graduation
GET SOME DAILY
thedailycougar.com
ONLINE POLL
Grads who borrowed
1
Princeton University
$5,000
25%
2
Yale University (CT)
$8,940
23%
3
Harvard University (MA)
$11,780
34%
Have you taken summer school at a college other than UH? Why?
ONLINE XTRA 6
Howard University (DC)
$15,080
82%
7
University of Houston
$15,613
49%
8
San Diego State University (CA)
$16,400 $16 400
44%
Former basketball star Aubrey Coleman returns to campus
COUNTDOWN
SCHOOLS WITH MOST DEBT AMONG GRADUATES Clark Atlanta University (GA)
$47,066
94%
Widener University (PA)
$44,430
86%
Nova Southeastern University (FL)
$43,201
73%
All data gathered from 2012 U.S. News & World Report, Graphic by Andres Garcia
VUE continues on page 3
Alum launches makeup line
11
Days until Father’s Day.
You have less than a dozen days until you can shower your dad with praise.