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
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Issue 9, Volume 79
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H O U S T O N
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM
RESEARCH
Science world erupts at volcano discovery Rebecca Hennes Staff writer
The single largest volcano on Earth was recently discovered by a UH professor and his team of scientists. Working in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, professor William Sager started studying the volcano, now known as Tamu Massif, 20 years ago at Texas A&M’s College of Geosciences. Almost as big as the British Isles or the state of New Mexico, Tamu Massif is among the largest in the solar system, Sager told National Geographic.
Clive R. Neal, a volcanologist at the University of Notre Dame, told the Washington Post that this discovery is groundbreaking for Earth volcanology. “This finding is paving the way to really rewriting some of the textbooks,” he said. “The term ‘supervolcano’ might be a reality.” In order to decipher whether Tamu Massif was one single volcano or a composite of eruption points, Sager said he and his team used evidence gained from core samples and data collected on VOLCANO continues on page 3
Scientists confirmed the existence of the largest volcano on earth, called Tamu Massif that UH professor William Sager and his team discovered. | Courtesy of UH.edu
CITY
UH-D holds shooter drill Matthew Wyatt Contributing writer
In the staged active shooter drill on the UH-Downtown campus, law enforcement officers, emergency responders and university personnel came together to run exercises to prepare for the worst. | Courtesy of Roland Hobbs
A joint effort between law enforcement and emergency responders executed active shooter drills at the UH-Downtown campus in mid-August, but the UH Police Department has yet to say if the main campus should expect any such emergency preparation. Active shooter drills are used to prepare students, staff and emergency response agencies for a mass casualty incident. The drills
that were performed at UH-D were used to find the best course of action for law enforcement and UH-D personnel in a shooter situation. The execution of these drills on major university campuses brings with it problems that smaller institutions don’t have to deal with. UH-D biotechnology junior Annastasia Brandley said she saw the complexity of bringing several different agencies together for a simulated-shooter drill.
“I don’t believe it’s necessary unless there’s a real threat directed toward campus that all students should be aware of,” Brandley said. “Populations on campus would be interrupted — not just busy students that are trying to carefully get ahead.” These drills may pose an obstacle for the general populace, but they have proven to be helpful to first responders involved with DRILL continues on page 3
ACADEMICS
CMAS welcomes scholars Hadiya Iqbal Staff writer
The Center for Mexican American Studies has invited two experts from the Latino community to join UH as visiting scholars — professors Eric Castillo and Jose Angel Hernandez. Established in 1972, CMAS is an interdisciplinary academic program encompassing the liberal arts, education and social sciences focusing on the Mexican-American and broader Latino experience in the United States. Castillo, an associate professor and scholar of the late artist Luis Jimenez, will be spending the fall semester in research and the spring
semester teaching at the School of Art. “I’m interested in how we can use visual images t o re c re a t e iconography for community mobilization, for youth Castillo empowerment and for advocacy,” Castillo said in a UH press release. “In particular, I’m looking at the undocu-queer movement (self-identified LGBT and
Illumination gets needed renovation Perhaps the most well-known pieces of art on campus, the sculpture that sits in front of the library, known as “A Comma A,” underwent extensive renovation this summer to make it look as new as when it was first created in 2003 by Jim Sanborn. The piece is shaped like a comma and carries texts in several languages that is best viewed illuminated after dark. Ezmail Glosson/The Daily Cougar
SCHOLARS continues on page 3