SPORTS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
MOBILE APPS
Senior forward Yasmeen Thompson has anchored the offense and defense this season. The Cougars expect her athleticism to help them earn their first conference victory.
University embraces mainstream trend by capturing the college experience in bits and bytes with Snapchat.
Defending the hoop
SEE PAGE 5
UH expands social media presence SEE PAGE 7
CALENDAR CHECK:
FEBRUARY
8
CAPS. Learn how to beat the blues at noon in the Student Service Center 1, Room 210D.
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
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T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
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Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Issue 68, Volume 79
H O U S T O N
1 9 3 4
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM
CAMPUS
HPD faces community at UH Laura Gillespie
Assistant news editor
The Cullen Performance Hall had a different type of audience at 10 a.m. Saturday as the hall and surrounding area were host to Houston Police Department officers and local community members for a town hall meeting. The department held the meeting not because of any recent controversy or event, HPD Chief Charles McClelland said, but simply to address community concerns and to bring the public up to speed on what the police department has been working on. Above all, McClelland discussed HPD’s successes. The city’s rape kit backlog has now been cleared, and McClelland said violent crime overall has decreased. “Although we understand one murder is one too many, but nevertheless, we still managed 2013 with a decrease in murders, rapes and aggravated assaults,” McClelland said in his speech to the audience. “The only violent crime category that has a slight increase over 2012 was robberies, and that was a slight
S I N C E
ADMINISTRATION
Commission sheds light on female professors Rebecca Hennes Staff writer
“By making these key pieces of information available in an interactive and easy-to-read format, the College Scorecard enables students and families to compare colleges and make the best decision for their future,” according to the executive website. College Scorecard is not the first of its kind, though. According to its website, College Scorecard draws much of its information from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, which is a mandatory survey for institutions that participate in or are applying for participation in any federal student financial aid program. According to College Scorecard,
Recent studies conducted by the University Commission on Women show that compared to other universities, the number of female faculty members at both the associate and full professor level is lacking. According to a 2012 Status on Women Report conducted by the UCW, women are underrepresented as tenure or tenure-track faculty at universities across the nation. “At the assistant professor level, the male-to-female ratio is about 1:1,” said Beverly McPhail, director of the Women’s Resource Center and longtime secretary to the UCW. “At the associate professor level, male-to-female is about 2:1, and at the full professor level, the male-tofemale ratio is 6:1.” The University Commission on Women is responsible for informing and advising President Khator and other senior administrative leaders, as well as the general university community, on issues and concerns that have an impact on women at the University. “The Commission is currently investigating and benchmarking policies and practices with peer institutions and also aligning our accomplishments and mission with Universities Strategic Initiatives,” said Vince Lee, a newly appointed member of the Commission. In 2007, approximately 62.4 percent of the faculty members at United States public four-year institutions were male and 37.6 percent were female, according to the U.S. Department of Education in 2007. At UH, 71.2 percent were male
GRADED continues on page 3
FACULTY continues on page 3
Two HPD police officers wait outside the Cullen Performance Hall to answer questions from the community with their horses. | Laura Gillespie/The Daily Cougar increase of 5 percent.” Despite the location of the meeting, neither the members of the audience nor McClelland discussed UH. They did, however, have advice on how to remain safe on campus. “What (HPD needs) to do is just collaborate with UHPD, because we have started that partnership (and)
it’s basically just HPD and UHPD working together and educating the community, not only outside of UH but on campus itself,” said Joe Sanchez, senior police officer with South Central HPD. Both Sanchez and McClelland emphasized the importance of not keeping items such as laptops visible
in cars, because of the high trend of car thefts. “What we encourage people to do is not to leave anything in their cars, whether it be a car or even a towel covering the item,” Sanchez said. Such crimes are typically handled HPD continues on page 3
NATION
Universities to be graded federally Amanda Hilow News editor
Cougars call checkmate Students broke out their Staunton chess set to enjoy their break between classes by the Starbucks in the New University Center with an intense game of chess. Emily S. Chambers/The Daily Cougar
The Obama administration is trying to prepare Americans for the jobs of the future by focusing on creating a stronger school system, and one of the first steps is improving transparency and accountability in the nation’s institutions of higher education. As part of the president’s commitment to holding colleges accountable for the cost, value and quality of higher education, the U.S. Department of Education’s College Affordability and Transparency Center recently launched College Scorecard, which provides information including cost, graduation rate and loan default rate for every college, community college or university in the country.