LIFE+ARTS
MUSIC
BASEBALL
Local band tunes in to country-folk
Real season begins
Second Lovers will perform on Friday at Fitzgerald’s. SEE PAGE 8
UH leads the American Athletic Conference but will face its first opponent Friday against Memphis. SEE PAGE 11
CALENDAR CHECK:
APRIL
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Cougar Games. The Cougar Games have been moved because of bad weather.
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
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Issue 94, Volume 80
O F
H O U S T O N
PHILANTHROPY
Comm class featured in Houston hospitals
Appeals unmerited Complaints against SGA president-elect were struck down by the Court of Appeals
Zoe Quezada Contributing writer
Nora Olabi
house a football program that hopes to be taken seriously. The aesthetically unappealing facilities affected the Cougars’ competitiveness on the field, said head
As part of a new project for the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication’s provider-patient communication class, professor Jill Yamasaki and her eight graduate students participated in a photography contest to provide artwork for 10 new clinics in the local Harris Health System, and their submissions are now on display at Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals. With a goal to humanize the health care system, Yamasaki’s class studies the relationships between patient and provider and learns ways to create effective communication between the two. Yamasaki said she proposed the idea to the students as a way to implement the theories they had learned in class into a real-world situation. “Humanizing health care is really important, and with Texas Medical Center being right here, we are really fortunate to be able to see this in action,” Yamasaki said. “Having photos on the wall and being able to (capture a) normal moment of dialogue between patients, families and providers that isn’t medical-related helps calm the patients. It helps them feel valued.” Her students said they were just as
STADIUM continues on page 6
HOSPITALS continues on page 3
Assistant news editor
COURT continues on page 3
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ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM
SGA
A month after Student Government Association President-elect Charles Haston was exonerated of allegations of a Class A violation, Haston has found himself in the clear again. A request for a writ of certiorari was wholly denied by the SGA Court of Appeals Tuesday evening. The appeal that was filed with the Court requested a review of S G A A t t o rney General David Ghably’s de cision on a complaint regarding an expletive HasHaston ton shouted at the chief elections commissioner, according to court documents. “It was a conversation that was not for public consumption,” Haston said. “It was a private conversation in an office with the door closed, and unfortunately, somebody heard about it, and it happened to be a political candidate trying to exploit it.” The original complaint was filed by vice presidential candidate of The “We” Party Roberto Martinez III, and Ghably found it to be unmerited. Dissatisfied with the decision, Martinez and his presidential candidate, Naeem Abdullah, jointly filed the writ in the SGA Court. The appeal pointed to violations in the Student Code of Conduct in regards to standards, harassment, disruption and obstruction, University
S I N C E
Before Robertson Stadium was demolished to give way to UH’s new $120 million football stadium, head coach Tony Levine would intentionally avoid the Cougars’ football facility when wooing recruits. He said the new stadium, which opens in August, has already helped UH in its recruiting endeavors. | Fernando Castaldi/The Daily Cougar
PROGRAM BUILDING
UH gets concrete makeover Athletics Department takes steps to improve facilities in order to become a nationally relevant presence across all controlled teams Cara Smith Contributing writer
UH has a lot of renovation in its future. At 45 years old, Hofheinz Pavilion is staged to undergo a $40 to $70 million renovation. Robertson
Stadium, now reduced to rubble to make way for UH’s $120 million football stadium, boasted a rich history of catering to UH, the Oilers and Jack Yates High School. But Robertson, which stood for 60 years, didn’t have the capacity to
NATION
The need-to-know on health coverage Erica Forero Staff writer
As the March 31 deadline to sign up for an insurance policy through the Affordable Care Act approaches, college students must make some important decisions about their plan
of action, or face a teax penalty. Prior to the opening of the health insurance marketplace on October 1, 2013, college students had limited insurance coverage options. For instance, they could stay on their parent’s plan only as long as they
were enrolled as full-time students. However, if they were injured in a car wreck or became too ill to continue in school, they were dropped from coverage. Another way to go was just to go without coverage completely. “Colleges offered some limited
coverage plans, but many students simply went without health insurance coverage and hoped for the best,” said Patricia Grey, professor at the UH Law Center and director of research at the HEALTH continues on page 2