Issue 28, Volume 79 by The Cougar

THE DAILY COUGAR

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Monday, October 14, 2013

Issue 28, Volume 79

H O U S T O N

S I N C E

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM

ORGANIZATIONS

United Muslim Relief begins new chapter Hadiya Iqbal Staff writer

The newly-formed UH chapter of the United Muslim Relief gave students the opportunity to be involved in the transformative process of

serving others from start to finish in its first general student body meeting on Friday. “This organization is literally the definition of hope I have been looking for,” said psychology freshman and

UMR-UH webmaster Lara Hattab. UMR volunteers have fed thousands of homeless people on the streets of the United States while simultaneously coping with the greatest challenges of international relief.

“In the end, the goal is to help those who need help,” said prebusiness and broadcast journalism sophomore Mahnoor Samana, who heads public relations for UMR-UH. The vice president of Programs

and Emergencies and co-founder of UMR, Shafi Khan, spoke about the formation of the organization and how his experience in helping victims MUSLIM continues on page 3

RESEARCH

Undergraduate student findings put on display Rebecca Hennes Staff writer

More than 100 undergraduate research students presented their projects Thursday at UH’s ninth Undergraduate Research Day. Of the presenters, 63 had participated in last summer’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. “This event continues to grow in size and stature every year,” said Associate Dean of Undergraduate Research Stuart Long. “The growth of this event reflects the skills and talents of our student body and the demand for undergraduate research programs like SURF.”

Student presenters from 11 different colleges showcased their research, which ranged from Nietzsche’s concept of drives to trends in Houston’s air pollution to the urbanization of Southeast Asia. “The work presented here today is original, creative, ambitious and a point of pride for the entire University of Houston community,” Long said. One of the financial supporters of undergraduate research, Rathindra Bose, the vice chancellor for Research and Technology Transfer for the UH System and the vice president for Research RESEARCH continues on page 3

Students had the opportunity to showcase their research endeavors at Undergraduate Research Day, co-sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research and The Honors College. | Fernando Castaldi/The Daily Cougar

ORGANIZATIONS

UH community digs deep into Texas election Konstantina Angelides Staff writer

ROTC students take test dives The Houston Battalion Army ROTC underwent the Combat Water Survival Test on Friday at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, preparing for real combat situations through drills. Fernando Castaldi/The Daily Cougar

Members of the Student Government Association and UH Democrats attended a volunteer training session Thursday for Texas Senator Wendy Davis’ upcoming campaign for governor in the 2014 election. The event was hosted by Battleground Texas, an organization committed to turning Texas into a “battleground” state, on Texas Southern University’s campus. “I hoped to solidify our relationship with the grassroots organization by promoting this event to all of my members and my fellow senators in student government,” said UH Democrats President and SGA Senator for

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Senator Catherine Tassin De Montaigu. “It is my job as a student leader to set a good example for my peers and play an active role in the community and performing my civic duty.” Adrienne Bell, the original field director of Battleground Texas, said this is one of the lowest-ranking states in voter turnout, and the organization aims to promote voter registration as well as attendance at the polls. “From this experience, I hope to spread [Davis’] message at our next meeting and get other students on campus more politically involved,” ELECTION continues on page 3

The Daily Cougar

2 \\ Monday, October 14, 2013

CALENDAR Monday Giving: Students, faculty and staff are invited to donate spare change to assist in funding student scholarships at the Philanthro-PIG Drop, held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the University Center Satellite. Homecoming: Homecoming week kicks off with the Cougar Dolls, band and cheerleaders at the Homecoming Kickoff Pep Rally, at noon at Lynn Eusan Park. Panel: The panel discussion “Women’s Activism Then and Now,” part of the Barbara Karkabi Living Archives Series, will host a discussion with several Houstonarea women to be videotaped and collected in the Women’s Archive. The event will be at the Rockwell Pavilion from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library. Tickets are free to students and members of the Friends of Women’s Studies and are $10 to the general public.

Tuesday Art: The Blaffer Art Museum presents “Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art” from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through

Saturday. Festival: The Bauer Registration Festival will give students the opportunity to register for their major and courses for the spring semester from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Melcher Hall Back Drum. Homecoming: Students are invited to rub the Cougar paw and get free photos and memorabilia at Go Coogs Day at 4 p.m. at Lynn Eusan Park.

Wednesday Homecoming: Student organizations will be showing off their skits and dances to celebrate Homecoming Week at the Strut Your Stuff event at 7 p.m. at the Cullen Performance Hall. Those who attend the Homecoming Kickoff Pep Rally, Go Coogs Day and Strut Your Stuff have the chance to win a rare Cougar Card. Meeting: The Faculty Senate will meet from noon to 2 p.m. at the Rockwell Pavilion of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library. Meeting: The Student Government Association will meet from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the Rockwell Pavilion of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library for their twice monthly senate meeting.

If you would like to suggest an event for The Daily Cougar calendar, please submit a time, date, location and brief description to calendar@thedailycougar.com. The Cougar calendar runs every Monday and Thursday.

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ABOUT THE COUGAR The Daily Cougar is published Monday through Thursday during the fall and spring semesters, and Wednesdays during the summer and online at thedailycougar. com. The Daily Cougar is supported in part by Student Service Fees. The first copy is free. Additional copies cost 25 cents. SUBSCRIPTIONS Rates are $70 per year or $40 per semester. Mail subscription requests to: Mail Subscriptions, The Daily Cougar, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-4015. NEWS TIPS Send tips and story ideas to the editors. Call (713) 743-5314, e-mail news@ thedailycougar.com. A “Submit news” form is available at thedailycougar.com. COPYRIGHT No part of the newspaper in print or online may be reproduced without the consent of the director of Student Publications.

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NEWS EDITOR

ELECTION continued from page 1

said UH Democrats Vice President and CLASS SGA Senator Tatiana Lutomski. “This has further solidified my political opinions and reminded me why I do the work I do for the University of Houston College Democrats serving as vice president.”

MUSLIM continued from page 1

of the Haitian earthquake with a group of students from George Mason University became a life-changing experience and quickly turned into one of the largest grassroots organizations for American Muslims. “The smell of death was so strong in Port-au-Prince at this moment, we knew what we had to do,” Khan said. Serving on the UMR team — formerly Muslims without Borders — for three years, Khan said the hardest thing to do is to renew your intentions. “We don’t want this to turn into a business,” Khan said. UMR-UH will offer different events to help people in the Houston community as well as international

The University’s student government and political organizations are not the only ones getting involved, though. Guillermo De Los Reyes, an associate professor of Hispanic Studies and director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Hispanic Studies, also attended the volunteer session to hear Davis speak. “I learned at the event that people

in Texas do not vote. Thus, I hope to bring the message that it is extremely important to go to the ballots and vote,” Reyes said. “I would like to invite all UH students, faculty and staff to register to vote. We are a state institution, so it is extremely important for us who is at the Texas capitol.”

development projects. One event in particular is Project Downtown, which will be held monthly and will focus on providing meals to people who are unable to access food. “We will be giving people what could be their only meal for the day,” said biochemistry sophomore and secretary of UMR-UH Dania Albaba. Although all the officers of the UMR-UH may not share the same major, views or ethnic backgrounds, they all share the same passion of helping humanity. “Through this organization, I want to get the Muslim community mobilized and for the volunteers to feel the personal connection,” said nutrition major sophomore and vice president of UMR-UH Komal Nathani. The foundations of the chapter came from president Ahmad Asaad, a nutrition and pre-med junior, who had the opportunity to serve as a

videographer for a one-week project let by Kimiya International to end human sex trafficking in Cambodia. “Making people smile — just that one instance can change someone,” Asaad said. “That experience boosted my potential to help people. Through UMR-UH, I want to drive down the street and be able to see Muslims helping people.” Students hope the organization will allow students to share a passion of helping humanity and giving back to their community by allowing students to practice sincerity and will also serve as a sense of unity among the UH family. “Development through service bears a message of changing lives at both ends: those who need our help and those who want to help others,” Asaad said.

Mary Dahdouh

news@thedailycougar.com

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Students joined United Muslim Relief co-founder Shafi Khan Friday at the chapter’s first meeting to talk about opportunities through which students can not only help the surrounding community, but people worldwide. | Courtesy of Amna Khan

Undergraduate Research Day recognized the projects of 130 students from colleges across the University. | Fernando Castaldi/The Daily Cougar

RESEARCH continued from page 1

and Technology Transfer for UH, announced during his address to the students next year there will be an increase of funding to $75,000 from $60,000. “I’m so impressed with all of these research exhibitions,” Bose said. “What an outstanding job.” Bose shared his personal experience of working with students in his lab and said he is thankful to be able to help students find and develop their passions. “I don’t think you get that experience from reading a textbook or attending lectures,” Bose said. “It comes from research.” Long said the increased funding will be a great help in providing for the students. “We are certainly always looking for ways to support more students,” Long said. “(Increased funding) gives us the opportunity for more students to be involved in our program.” Of the 130 undergraduate students who participated in conducting their own research, 24 were chosen as poster award recipients. Biomedical engineering junior Tessy Lal was one of the few who received a poster award. Lal worked with a team of researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and researched parts of the human brain for depression. “Basically, what we did was try to find specific areas of the brain that are responsible for the symptoms of depression — that way, we can develop treatment to target those specific areas,” Lal said. “We

looked at eight specific areas of the brain and we compared the connectivity between those areas. We found that there were significant differences in the connectivity between patients with depression and patients without.” Lal also studied the effects of ketamine as a possible treatment for depression and found that it does play a role in changing the connections to depression in the brain. Lal said she is happy to have her work acknowledged. “It’s nice to know that people are interested in this. I was glad that I was able to show them that anyone can do this,” Lal said. “I had no background in this, but I was very interested. That’s all you need — a bit of interest and determination, and it can go a long way.” Lal plans to attend graduate school and said her research has influenced her aspirations for the future. “Because of this research project, I learned that I am interested in neuroscience, and now I’m considering that as a field for further study,” Lal said. Karen Weber, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, said Undergraduate Research Day is an exciting occasion for students to see all that they’ve achieved in the past year and to share their endeavors with others. “The Office of Undergraduate Research takes great pride and pleasure in celebrating our students’ talent, dedication, hard work and intelligence,” Weber said. news@thedailycougar.com

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OPINION EDITOR James Wang EMAIL

opinion@thedailycougar.com

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TECHNOLOGY

Revenge porn poisons social media W Cara Smith

hat was once reserved for a woman’s one and only is now played out through text message with any set of thumbs that’ll fill the void on a Tuesday night.

Acts once sacred are now stepping stones toward liberation and validation. What was once a landline phone call routed through her parents is now a Snapchat intended for his eyes and his eyes only. When it comes to today’s modern relationship, things once reserved for the bonds of holy matrimony have become the collegiate norm, and concepts like self-control and privacy are now explicitly reserved for so-labeled “prudes” and universally mocked religious minorities. Honestly, it was bound to happen. No, not mocking anybody for his or her spiritual beliefs. That’s never OK. Sex has been around for … well, forever. The more mankind has learned about it, the more comfortable mankind has gotten with it, and the more comfortable mankind has become with it, the more mankind has wanted to play, experiment and push the boundaries of that hushhush cardio workout. Whether it’s in the confines of a marriage or a cinderblock dorm room, people are going to have sex. It’s how we came about to be cognizant human beings, after all, and as long as those involved comply with their beliefs, discuss health-related issues up front and make the decision of their own accord, there shouldn’t be too many physical issues that come out of it. Until, that is, you bring things like technology into the mix. In a disgusting result of blending media platforms with sex, a trend known as “revenge porn” has started to make its way around the

Web. Basically, it’s what happens when somebody posts sexual images of their ex-partner online without the consent of that ex-partner, and it’s downright despicable. According to CNN, nearly 80 percent of the victims are women. The photos were almost always shared in a committed relationship, under the pretense that they were only for the eyes of the partner. The reasons mostly men commit this contemptible violation of privacy range from the age-old adage of the scorned lover to being a guy who wants to show off the girl who stayed with him for two whole years. What a way to pay homage. A student who asked to remain anonymous detailed their horrific experience with blending sex and technology. “When me and my boyfriend were dating, I sent him some pictures that he had been wanting for a while — I was naked, but I completely trusted him.” “When we broke up, I tried dating another guy — he caught wind of it and texted me, threatening to send (he guy) nude photos of me. He said it’s because he still loves me, and doesn’t want anyone to have me.” “I’m literally afraid of starting to date again. It terrifies me, having those pictures go around,” the student said. On the surface, revenge porn is immortalizing the thing the victim wants to no longer exist. It’s a violation of the personal property of the victim — their body — and it allows anybody with a smartphone to carry the victim’s physique in their pocket with access to it 24 hours a day. On its own, it’s sickening stuff. On a deeper level, though, it’s a reflection of how comfortable our generation is with technology. We’ve let it perforate nearly every aspect of our lives and willingly let

THE DAILY COUGAR EDITORIAL BOARD Channler K. Hill Natalie Harms WEB EDITOR Jenae Sitzes NEWS EDITOR Mary Dahdouh SPORTS EDITOR Christopher Shelton LIFE & ARTS EDITOR Paulina Rojas PHOTO EDITOR Fernando Castaldi OPINION EDITOR James Wang ASSISTANT EDITORS Jessica Crawford, Laura Gillespie, Justin Tijerina, Monica Tso, Andrew Valderas EDITOR IN CHIEF

MANAGING EDITOR

David Delgado/ The Daily Cougar it play a significant role in some of the intimate acts we’re capable of making. Developing a dependency on the benefits of technology isn’t that bad in itself; however, it can certainly prove self-destructive when we ignore the frightening ramifications of those same innovations. In regard to relationships, “sexting” has become a significant part of some relationships. Applications have literally been designed, and profited massively, off society’s insistence to integrate technology and sex — think Snapchat, Tinder and Lulu. However, when those provocative texts are sent to the wrong person in your address book, or that gutsy Snapchat you doubted from the get-go winds up as a screenshot, one should consider to abandon these technologies as things not worth the risk.

STAFF EDITORIAL The Staff Editorial reflects the opinions of The Daily Cougar Editorial Board (the members of which are listed above the editorial). All other opinions, commentaries and cartoons reflect only the opinion of the author. Opinions expressed in The Daily Cougar do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Houston or the students as a whole. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Daily Cougar welcomes letters to the editor from any member of the UH community. Letters should be no more than 250

We give technology free rein with an incredible amount of our personal lives, and when they fail us, we continue to treat them as foolproof tools capable only of benefiting us. Future relationships inevitably involve R-rated multimedia messages, and whatever is the Snapchat of 2015 will undoubtedly be one of the App Store’s most frequently downloaded apps. Beth Olson, associate professor and director of the Valenti School of Communication, commented on the way she believes technology has changed young people’s approach to sex. “Technology may change the way younger people approach sexual behavior … Sharing intimate photos (makes) intimacy less important and may escalate the normal pace of establishing a relationship.” “Both of these events can result in negative consequences, as

words and signed, including the author’s full name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Anonymous letters will not be published. Deliver letters to Room 7, University Center Satellite; e-mail them to letters@thedailycougar.com; send them via campus mail to STP 4015; or fax to (713) 743-5384. Letters are subject to editing. GUEST COMMENTARY Submissions are accepted from any member of the UH community and must

the revenge porn phenomenon illustrates,” Olson said. Regardless of your significant other’s moral fiber, your relationship’s longevity or the labyrinthine passcode protecting your iPhone’s contents, there’s simply never an airtight guarantee that sex via technology will disappear completely. As the nauseating revenge porn phenomenon indeed illustrates, there’s an inherent risk in blending something so exceedingly intimate with something so exceedingly volatile. None of these victims “had it coming” in any way, shape or form. But hopefully, this phenomenon will come to an abrupt halt as we decide to split the tie between sex and technology for the betterment of our less destructive relationships. Senior staff columnist Cara Smith is a communications junior and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com

be signed with the author’s name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Commentary should be limited to 500 words. Guest commentaries should not be written as replies, but rather should present independent points of view. Deliver submissions to Room 7, University Center Satellite; e-mail them to letters@thedailycougar.com; or fax them to (713) 7435384. All submissions are subject to editing.

Monday, October 14, 2013 // 5

The Daily Cougar

W 62-13

vs. Southern

W 22-13 @ Temple*

W 31-26 @ Rice

W 59-28 @ UTSA

W 25-15

vs. Memphis*

OCT. 19 vs. BYU

OCT. 26

@ Rutgers*

OCT. 31 vs. USF*

NOV. 9 @ UCF*

NOV. 16

NOV. 23

@ vs. Louisville* Cincinnati*

NOV. 29 vs. SMU*

* conference game

GAMEDAY: MEMPHIS

SIDELINE REPORT

STAND OUTS Junior linebacker Derrick Mathews is the leader of a defense prone to cause turnovers. On top of his 10 tackles, he forced a fumble and recovered two against Memphis.

Junior linebacker Efrem Oliphant led the Cougars in tackles with 13. He also caused a fumble and was a force that was seemingly always around the football. Since defensive coordinator David Gibbs joined the Cougars, the squad has become a formiddible bunch. Against Memphis, the defense didn’t give up a touchdown and caused four turnovers. Sophomore receiver Deontay Greenberry shuttles past a defender on his way to four receptions for 76 yards. | Esteban Portillo/The Daily Cougar

Offense struggles to find rhythm in win Andrew Valderas Assistant sports editor

Normally, when the Cougars are outgained in the stat sheet, they lose. UH was outgained by more than 100 yards on offense, but pulled out a 25-15 win, which was anchored by the defense’s four forced turnovers that negated the offensive woes to maintain an undefeated record. “It’s exciting and it helps us on days when the offense isn’t clicking like it is supposed to. We know we can rely on them to go out there and get stops when we need it,” said sophomore running back Kenneth Farrow. If it wasn’t for the defense’s ability to create turnovers, UH might have been the team to walk out of BBVA Compass Stadium with a loss — not

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Memphis. “ W e need to get our offense together and hopefully have a complete Farrow game next week where they are getting turnovers and we are putting up a lot of points. That will get everything rolling for us,” said Farrow, who averaged only 2.2 yards per carry. The offense often struggled to move the ball as effectively as it did against the first four opponents – UH is averaging 534 yards per game, compared to its 247-yard output against Memphis. The running game has been the offense’s staple all season, but it mustered a season-low 38 rushing yards

against a Memphis defense that is now ranked No. 3 in the nation in rush yards allowed. Sophomore running back Ryan Jackson ran for a mere seven rushing yards on the same amount of attempts — breaking his five-game streak of 100 all-purpose yards and at least one touchdown. “They did a great job against the run. But we never got into a rhythm,” said head coach Tony Levine. “That’s the feeling I had on the sideline. We couldn’t sustain. We’d get something going and a penalty would back us up or a tackle for a loss.” Freshman quarterback John O’Korn was hit-and-miss with his throws all afternoon. He was often forced outside of the pocket and threw into tight coverage. After he went 3-4 for 60 yards on the Cougars’ first drive, which ended with

a 17-yard strike to junior receiver Daniel Spencer, O’Korn struggled. He completed just 10 of his next 29 passes for 138 yards. “He did (make some mistakes), and again, he’s a young man that, every week, (is) getting better,” Levine said. “He improves every day and learns from the mistakes, which I absolutely think is important for coaches and student athletes. The more he plays, the better he is going to perform.” The Cougars’ no-huddle scheme can be effective by forcing defenses to play at a different tempo. The weakness of it was on display Saturday, as the Cougars were able to go only 4-14 on third-down conversions, which included four three-and-out possessions and a turnover on downs. The defense was forced to stay on the field for more than 35 minutes.

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“I think our fans are wondering at times what the other team is doing with the ball, and a whole bunch of guys are in a circle talking, and that’s a huddle,” Levine said. “The other team is huddling on offense, they’re keeping the ball, and their time of possession is certainly longer than ours. We’re getting it back, but not getting in a rhythm offensively; we... didn’t take much time off the clock and put our defense back on the field.” Like it did against Memphis, the offense will have to find ways to score on Saturday against Brigham Young University (4-2), a team that only allows 7 points per game. “Our focus now is on BYU,” Levine said. “Nothing we’ve done so far matters. We’re on to the next one.” sports@thedailycougar.com

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ACROSS 1 Tripoli’s country 6 Begins to blossom 10 PC exit keys 14 Ornate wall hanging 15 “There’s ___ day dawning” 16 Actor Weathers 17 Not much of a sacrifice 20 Beauty that’s only skin-deep? 21 Heading for a chore list 22 “There Will Be Blood” subject 23 Cathedral features 25 Juice, say 27 Certifiable, so to speak 30 She has one, but he doesn’t 31 Computer workstation operating system 32 Any of several Norse royals 34 “Once ___ a time” 36 Word attached to approximate dates 40 It may be delivered in

43 44 45 46 48

50 51

54 56 57 59 63 66 67 68 69 70 71

a chophouse Disdain Colored portion of the eye Dressy wrap Small cavern, in poetry School carnival sponsor, perhaps Calligraphy tool “Oryx and Crake” novelist Margaret Bluishgreen shades Aloha shirt accompaniment Forest growler New Orleans campus Big attraction at the train show? Cookie choice Half of an argument Nigerian currency Tenderfoot Middle East gulf Russian playwright Chekhov

DOWN 1 Bringing up the rear 2 “The Joy of Cooking” writer Rombauer 3 Bart Simpson or Dennis the Menace, e.g. 4 1945 “Big Three” conference site 5 Not on the level 6 High-jump need 7 Curriculum parts 8 Art ___ (’20s style) 9 Home to Ikea 10 “Friendly” attachment 11 Rich flavor 12 First blond Bond 13 In a sneaky way 18 Play ___ (feign unconsciousness) 19 Restorative drinks 24 ___ de corps 26 Walks offstage 27 “Choosy ___ choose Jif” 28 Actor Baldwin 29 Wood-

COMICS Telly by Tiffany Valle

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Shoot by Nancy Tyan

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58 60 61 62 64 65

worker’s groove Like most green tomatoes Sign of summer’s end Dinghy device Sow’s opposite Show concern Of the same kind Prepare for the bath Passing concern? Black Sea seaport Woman with a degree Give out by share Wet-eyed Telegram sender Big news on the sports page “McSorley’s Bar” painter John Battery fill Entrance into a mine Fifth Roman emperor Enthusiastic liveliness Oozing stuff Dawson, Dykstra or Deighton

Monday, October 14, 2013 // 7

The Daily Cougar

LIFE & ARTS EDITOR

Paulina Rojas

arts@thedailycougar.com

ONLINE

thedailycougar.com/life-arts

LGBT

Leaving skeletons in closets For National Coming Out Day, guest speaker talks about leaving his former life behind BoJanay Posey Staff writer

In celebration of National Coming Out Day and National LGBT History Month, the LGBT Resource Center invited an internationally known LGBT activist to UH for the first time Thursday, the day before National Coming Out Day. The speaker, Faisal Alam, and his presentation, “Hidden Voices: The Secret Lives of Muslims,” have traveled to more than 100 universities and colleges, including Texas A&M University. Lorraine Schroeder, the LGBT Resource Center Program Director, said she invited Alam because although LGBT equality is progressing, there are some communities, such as the Muslim community, where LGBT individuals still face discrimination and struggles. “What I know is that between 5

and 10 percent of any population is going to be LGBT,” Schroeder said. “The fact that I don’t have 5 to 10 percent of the Muslims on campus coming to the resource center tells me that they’re totally in the closet or just denying their sexuality or sexual orientation, because there’s no room for it within their families and their religious organization. So the struggle is profound because it is about living a life that is not authentic to themselves.” Schroeder hopes those individuals will see that they are not alone, be true to themselves and accept who they are. Dozens of students, including students from Global and Gamma Rho Lambda, two UH LGBT groups, gathered at Agnes Arnold Hall to hear Alam, dine on cookies and fruit and get information from off-campus LGBT religious organizations

Faisal Alam has presented the “Hidden Voices” program at more than 100 colleges and universities. It deals with the issue of homosexuality and struggles of coming out in the Muslim community. | Aisha Bouderdaben/The Daily Cougar like Dignity Houston. Students like hotel and restaurant management sophomore Ryan Foley enjoyed having Alam on campus. “The purpose of Coming Out Day is an event in which it’s okay to come out,” Foley said. “It is about exposure.” The event also drew former UH students like Farhan Farooqui, 22, who is an LGBT Muslim. Farooqui said Alam’s presentation was amazing and completely powerful, because Alam has shown that there is a balance between being gay and being Muslim. He said Alam was “on point” about a lot of what is going on within the Muslim community.

“Whenever I initially came out to my entire family, the biggest toll they had taken on themselves was, ‘Oh my god, what happened to his religion,’” Farooqui said, “because that was my first thing — ‘Oh, I can’t be Muslim and gay at the same time.’” Others within the Muslim community do not agree with Farooqui. Civil engineering junior Tariq Muhammad, for example, said although what Alam said was interesting, he can see Alam has different views on Islam than he does. “One of our religious views is not to be in a LGBT organization,” Muhammad said. “If you’re homosexual, you’re not able to reproduce,

and pretty much that is (the) law of nature to reproduce. And with me being a Muslim, we are not for lesbian and gay (people).” Alam said he once believed the same: that it is impossible to be Muslim and LGBT. “In the summer of the end of my freshmen year, I basically, what I called, exploded out the closet,” Alam said. Alam said once he moved from a rural little town in Connecticut to go to college in Boston, he discovered that there were more gay people and he jumped into the LGBT scene. “So I’m Club Kid Faisal, but I’m LGBT continues on page 8

EVENTS

Homecoming aims to increase school spirit Nora Olabi, Sabrina Lloyd Senior staff writer and staff writer

Students will be showing off their Cougar pride during homecoming week by rocking the University’s scarlet red and albino white. Homecoming week will culminate with a football game against Brigham Young University on Saturday. | File photo/The Daily Cougar

Hidden in the furthest corner of the University Center and deep within the UH traditions office, the Homecoming Board is hard at work increasing school spirit to get Coogs, young and old, red all over. The Homecoming Board has prepared a full week of events leading up to the home game Saturday. One of the biggest and most anticipated events of the week is the Homecoming Block Party and the Residence Hall Association Beauty Bowl at 4 p.m. Thursday at Lynn Eusan Park in front of Cougar Village I and II. Assistant Director of Spirit for Homecoming and education junior Hugo Basurto has been working hard all semester to plan events for Homecoming week and said he can’t wait to see Cougars showing off their school pride and getting pumped up for the big game. “I think the pep rally brings so much hype to the University. The biggest pep rally the school has is during Homecoming week,” Basurto said. “The mascot comes out, the

coach comes out, football players and cheerleaders will be there. It really lights up the week.” The Homecoming Block Party will be hosted by several student organizations, including the Latin Greeks, RHO, RHA and the National Pan-Hellenic Council. “We will have live music. The fraternities and sororities will have carnival booth games and will be giving out sunglasses, shirts, hats and cups,” Basurto said. “This is the second year for the block party, and it’s going to be huge. Last year, we had more than 1,000 people, and this year we are expecting more.” For Samantha Wong, an advertising senior and station director for Coog Radio, the block party is a great chance for students to experience college life. “I’m excited for (the) block party. It’s just a chance to get involved, be aware of what’s going on around campus, have fun and kind of bring in the excitement and hype for the Homecoming game. It’s the pre-party, I would SPIRIT continues on page 8

The Daily Cougar

8 \\ Monday, October 14, 2013

LIFE+ARTS

SPIRIT continued from page 7

The Spirit of Houston band will be playing and keeping students pumped during the Homecoming game. | Fernando Castaldi/The Daily Cougar

say.” Student organizations like Student Program Board, Coog Radio, Residence Hall Association and the Center for Student Involvement will come together for the block party. Students can listen to live performers and play trivia games to earn prizes and participate in the Beauty Bowl by earning points for their residence hall. The hall with the most points will be crowned winner in the competition. For communications junior Hunter Lewis, who is volunteering for Homecoming and is also a chairman for Frontier Fiesta, the block party is a great way of acknowledging the University’s position as the second-most diverse college in the country, according to Forbes’ ranking.

“I think block parties are really cool. It’s not necessarily something that’s unique to the University of Houston, but I think the celebration itself is very unique. It’s very enforcing of community and entertainment,” Lewis said. “Especially considering the amount of diversity that our school has, it’s a great way to celebrate that diversity through the coming together of different student organizations (and) different students around campus. It’s a really good time for us to celebrate that in a very grand way, and I think a lot of people really enjoy it.” Homecoming Board will be giving out free “swag” like sunglasses and hats. Director of Marketing for Homecoming Board Shining Wang, a restaurant management and Chinese studies junior, expects this year’s block party attendance to be around 2,000 Cougars strong.

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“I tell freshmen, ‘You get to experience Homecoming in high school, but this is a university and it’s on such a bigger scale, so it’s really cool.’ We have lots of different events every day going on,” Wang said. “It’s really fun, and one of the reasons I joined Homecoming is that I wanted to be involved. This is the time on campus when we’re red all over.” For the first time, one of the oldest traditions on campus will also coincide with Family Weekend, potentially making this the biggest Homecoming week and block party the University has ever experienced. “It’s part of the college experience: you meet people, you make new friends and you make memories. And in doing so, you can also discover something about yourself that you never knew,” Wong said. arts@thedailycougar.com

LGBT continued from page 7

also, during the day, Brother Faisal Alam … and these two lives of Brother Faisal Alam and Club Kid Faisal lived completely separately. And I made sure that I did everything in my power to make sure that nobody during the day knew what I did during the night and nobody during the night knew what I did during the day.” Alam’s double life lasted for six months before he suffered from a nervous breakdown in November 1996. He returned to Connecticut, where he stayed in the hospital for two weeks and lost 30 pounds. His family received calls from across the world inquiring about his wellbeing, but his family was without answers. Alam was not speaking. “I had to bring these two identities of being gay and being Muslim together. I didn’t know what I was going to do it; I just knew it had to be done.” He said he made three promises: to find others in the same situation as him, to figure out how to coexist and to never let what happened to him happen to others. Alam has spent the last 15 years traveling the world to fulfill his promise. Alam has spoken in several different countries, including the United Kingdom and South Africa, and at several national conferences, including two appearances at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change Conference. In 2011, President Barack Obama invited Alam to attend iftar dinner, the breaking of the fast during Ramadan, an Islamic holiday. arts@thedailycougar.com