THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
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N E W S PA P E R
O F
T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
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Thursday, January 30, 2014
Issue 66, Volume 79
H O U S T O N
CAMPUS
Three men arrested in armored vehicle robbery News editor, assistant news editor
Three men have been arrested by the FBI in relation to the armored car robbery that occurred at about 8 a.m. Dec. 6 in front of the University Center. “The arrests in these cases underscore our commitment to vigorously prosecuting in federal court those that perpetrate violent robberies of armored cars and clearly endanger innocent lives,” said United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson in a press release. An armed man and his accomplices coerced a pregnant driver out of a Loomis armored van, and fled with contents of what the Houston Chronicle reports as
more than $4 million. The suspects left the ransacked armored car in an on-campus parking garage. From there, they drove to the nearby Planned Parenthood, where the money was transferred to another getaway vehicle. While it was originally thought that there were three suspects, four men have now been charged for the crime. The suspects include James Van-Gerald Johnson, 30; Dezmond Lacraig Edwards, 24; Ronald Dean Richards, 23; and Allen Bernard Roundtree, 27. According the Houston FBI, Edwards and Roundtree were taken into custody Tuesday
without incident and were charged along with Johnson, who was previously arrested, for robbing the armored vehicle. Dur ing the course of the arrests, authorities found three assault rifles, narcotics and cash related to the crime. The three men are being held in custody until a detention hearing set for 10 a.m. today. Richards remains at large and is being considered a fugitive with a warrant out for his arrest. Anyone with infor mation regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI at (713) 693-5000 or Crime Stoppers of Houston at (713) 222-TIPS. According to the release, Crime
SGA pushes proposal for fixed tuition Nora Olabi Assistant news editor
and nonprofit organizations have made concrete commitments to reduce inequality at higher education institutions and increase the opportunity of attending college for low-income students. UH is among those universities. According to the University’s commitment pledge to the Executive Office of the President, UH is in the process of developing a partnership with Complete College America and Houston-area community college districts to create Guided Pathways to Success, which aims to provide students with stepby-step roadmaps and guidance for on-time degree completion. The University is also planning to launch the “UH in Four” initiative, which will focus on creating campuswide culture and expectations supportive of a four-year graduation. “The initiative is aimed at helping students more quickly enter careers resulting in substantial financial savings and includes setting four-year graduation goals, four-year fixed tuition, academic maps for every major, early alert systems, outcomes-based advising and degree progress monitoring tools,” according to UH’s commitment.
The University’s attempt to focus on student success and higher graduation rates has manifested itself in a new proposal: an option for fixed tuition. The Tuition and Fee Advisory Committee created a proposal after the Texas Legislature passed H.B. No. 29, which requires “general academic teaching institutions” to provide a fixed-tuition plan for students. The University also believes that the Legislature is “seriously considering changing some or all of the university formula funding from accessbased to output-based,” according to UH’s proposal. Fixed-tuition rates, which would only be applicable to incoming undergraduate students and implemented starting Fall 2014, would allow students to opt into a rate that would not increase for at least the first 12 consecutive semesters, according to the house bill, and ties into Provost Paula Short’s initiative, called “UH in Four,” to speed up graduating students. Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance Carl Carlucci presented the proposal to the Student Government Association meeting Wednesday night. He said that fixed tuition is more than just locking in a rate; it’s about student success and ties into Short’s Universitywide initiative. “UH in Four is great for the students; it’s great for the community; it’s great for Texas,” Carlucci said. “Not everyone is going to be able to do this, we know that, but you have to offer an incentive to people, and (fixed tuition) is an incentive. It says that if you are able to make the sacrifice and graduate, you can essentially get a very, very cheap degree.” Students who opt into fixed tuition may pay more in the beginning, but their rates would be locked in, regardless of inflation rates and other issues that may drive tuition costs up. The average cost of tuition would be calculated for the entering class, and the student would sign a contract agreeing to complete no fewer than 30 credit hours a year to
EDUCATION continues on page 3
SGA continues on page 3
Ronald Dean Richards is a fugitive, and a warrant remains out for his arrest in relation to December’s armored vehicle robbery. | Courtesy of the FBI. Stoppers will offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to Richards’ arrest. news@thedailycougar.com
NATION
Tomorrow’s workforce to see better preparation Amanda Hilow News editor
Millions gathered both in Washington and in front of their television sets Tuesday night to finally
get their questions answered by President Barack Obama in the 2014 State of the Union address — of which a large discussion topic was the nation’s effort in education. There was good news to share:
The U.S. is seeing its lowest unemployment rate in five years, a rebounding housing market, job creation in the manufacturing sector for the first time since the ’90s and a deficit cut by more than half. “I believe this can be a breakthrough year for America. After five years of grit and determined effort, the U.S. is better positioned for the 21st century than any other nation on Earth,” Obama said in his address. However, the president is insisting that the nation step up in its efforts to speed growth and create more jobs. Obama claimed progress in these areas could not fully be accomplished without first taking a look at educational practices. “I’ve asked Vice President (Joe) Biden to lead an across-the-board reform of America’s training programs to make sure they have one mission: train Americans with the skills employers need, and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right now,” Obama said. “Of course, it’s not enough to train today’s workforce. We also have to prepare tomorrow’s workforce by guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education.” The president said the White House recently organized a College Opportunity Summit in which 150 universities, businesses
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CRIME
Amanda Hilow, Nora Olabi
S I N C E