Issue 02, Volume 82

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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

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Things are looking up

Senior receiver Chance Allen, right, is the one of the most senior members of the offense, and he's embracing the chance to be a leader | PG. 7

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08.25.16 2016

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2 | Wednesday, August 24, 2016

NEWS 713-743-5314

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Emily Burleson, EDITOR

CAMPUS

Aramark appoints new director of retail locations UH-D native hopes to expand halal options, make on campus dining more appealing to commuter students RAFA FARIHAH

CONTRIBUTING WRITER @RAFAFARIHAH

The University of Houston Dining Services selected a new retail food service director July 13 to manage the seven convenience stores and more than 20 retail locations on campus.

In the process of preparing for the position, Chris Conti, who worked as the food service director at UH-Downtown for five years, has formulated a plan to tackle the dietary challenges within UH's diverse student body.

“Customer service is always a focus of mine, and I hope to do my best to raise the bar and continue to make improvements across campus,” Conti said.

According to Conti, national research suggests that college students want more retail meal choices and fewer dining halls.

With the limited food options available in dining halls, the ability to individually purchase what students prefer seems more attractive to them.

“Our dining program includes a variety of retail brands to

satisfy the taste buds of many different students all across campus," Conti said.

Conti's experience at UH-Downtown differed from the challenges he will potentially face at UH's main campus.

Although the residential meal program is "very robust," in Conti's opinion, he acknowledged that there are many aspects of the food retail operations in need of improvement.

Biology junior Wardah Jaffery recognized the campus' scope may be a problem for Conti.

“UH is a much bigger campus than UH-D," Jaffery said. "It has several dining halls and more convenience stores, so it’ll be more work for him. Hopefully, he will be up to the challenge and improve the quality of food at UH." As one of his first tasks, Conti plans to supplement the Cougar Card and Cougar Cash payment options with additional perks to encourage commuter students to buy food on campus.

In accordance with the Student Government Association's resolu-

Leah Nash/The Cougar

tion to add more halal options to campus convenience stores and dining halls, Conti also recognizes the need for awareness.

“I hope he realizes the level of diversity at UH, including the increasing demand for halal options," said psychology senior Noor Baweja. "If those demands

start to be met, that would bring an awesome revolution to the food situation on campus."

Conti said his team at Aramark works closely with the Cougar Card office and the Food Service Advisory Committee to review data of current trends and make necessary changes to the

meal plans.

Conti also intends to adjust the system to meet the needs of individuals as well as everyone by keeping in mind dietary restrictions due to medical conditions and religious beliefs. news@thedailycougar.com

EVENTS

Your guide to Weeks of Welcome: Five must-try events from Zumba to football FATEMA SABIR

regret how sore you are the next day.

CONTRIBUTING WRITER @LIGHTSABIR_

There's more to Weeks of Welcome than Cat's Back. Now that the fall semester has begun, there’s no shortage of events to attend.

From the annual Scavenger Hunt to the Cougars' first football game of the 2016 season, there’s an event for everyone’s different interests. Check out the list below for a few of the most exciting events to attend before classes get too busy.

Friday: Cougar Lights The Cullen Fountain is notorious for being empty and under constant repair, but that will be different on Friday. With renovations now completed, UH President and Chancellor Renu Khator will give a speech, and the fountain will light up. The ceremony will begin at 9 p.m., but students should arrive at Butler Plaza an hour earlier to be one of the first 500 students to receive commemorative glow

Saturday, Sept. 3: Advocare Texas Kickoff

Students packaged food during the Fall 2015 MVP Day of Service. Participants this year will prepare PB&J sandwiches and hand them out at a homeless shelter downtown. | Britanney Penney/The Cougar sticks. The celebration is free and open to all UH students.

Monday: MVP Service Night

Sunday: Gulf Gate Shuttles

This event is a great way to de-stress during the first few hectic weeks and give back. Here, volunteers make PB&J sandwiches, blankets, holiday cards and dog toys for less fortunate people and animal shelters.

Don't have a car but still need school supplies? Catch a complimentary shuttle to the Gulf Gate shopping center for your culinary and academic needs. Shop at H-E-B, Old Navy, Best Buy, Staples and more. Shuttles leave out of the Student Center Circle Drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Participants tend to rave about service nights because, after the event at the Student Center Skyline Room, they are invited

to visit downtown and personally serve the sandwiches to the homeless.

Thursday, Sept. 1: Zumbathon With the impending stress of starting classes and work, Zumbathon is a great way to get active.

It's essentially a two-hour dance party at the Student Center Houston Room and promises to be so much fun that you won’t

As the reigning Peach Bowl and American Conference Champions, Cougar football has been on everyone’s minds. If not, it soon will be. UH will face the University of Oklahoma's Sooners, one of the top football teams in the nation, in their opening game of the 2016 season.

There are only 5,000 tickets for students, and students can claim vouchers for those at Cage Rage at TDECU Stadium’s ICON Gate 2 at 5 p.m. on Aug. 27. Tickets can be purchased the next week for $20 at the TDECU Stadium Box Office. UH will host a Watch Party during the game from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the SC Houston Room.

Of course, there's more. Be sure to check out the full calendar of events at www.uh.edu/wow/2016. news@thedailycougar.com

Wednesday, August 24, 2016 | 3

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OPINION

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Frank Campos, EDITOR

ELECTION

Change will happen when, and if, you decide to vote this election

F

or this election, sitting out isn't an option.

I’m telling you that you will regret it if you forget to or don’t take the opportunity to vote. You have until Oct. 11 to register to vote in Texas and the process has never been easier.

Despite this, young voters have found it easier to sit back and let others decide the political landscape of the country. Voter turnout fell to a record low FRANK of 19.9 percent CAMPOS for voters ages OPINION 18–29 in 2014.

EDITOR If this percentage doesn’t sound low to you, you are a major part of the problem.

It doesn’t matter if you want to vote for Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson or Jill Stein.

It’s important that we all go to the voting booth this November and exercise our right to choose who we think should be the next president.

This is it: our chance to put our money where our mouth is.

It only comes around every four

You have until Oct. 11 in Texas to register to vote. Don't miss this oppurtunity. | Leah Nash/ The Cougar

years, so don’t shrug off the fact that you might not make it to your polling location on election day.

Sadly, not that many people are showing up to the polls. Yes, there has been an all-time high for Republican voters since 1980 and the numbers are looking a lot like the record numbers of 2008.

Still, only 28.5 percent of estimated eligible voters voted in the Republican and Democratic pres-

idential primaries this election.

Of course, the numbers will be higher on election day, but this is only a portion of our population.

In 2012, 72 percent of eligible voters ages 65 and older voted in the presidential election. Only 45 percent of eligible voters ages 18–29 showed up to cast their vote.

Can there be any bigger hint at how important it is that you vote? Elderly voters are deter-

mining who will run the country during the most precious living years of the younger generations.

Go right now and register. You don't even have to leave your house. It will probably take you more time to pick your next movie on Netflix.

The 2012 voter turnout is not near good enough. We are not voting for something petty or unimportant. This election will affect us all in some form or another. In his eight years, President Barack Obama lifted us out of a huge recession, added more than 9 million jobs and stopped all major operations related to his predecessor’s war in Iraq.

It’s important that we focus on this basic principle given to us by the Constitution. The poll numbers will never be close to 100 percent, but we should strive for greater numbers.

So many people feel underrepresented when it comes to politics, but they are unwilling to vote. Even as a Democrat in a state that is sure to go to the Republicans again, I believe voting for Clinton is important.

It’s important because I will know I voted for the right candidate this election and not the one backed by fear mongers. When

she wins (and, boy, she will win), I will know that I voted for Clinton. I was a part of her becoming president.

Some might think that their vote doesn’t matter because it’s just one among millions. But Bernie Sanders and his political revolution won a lot more states than anyone thought that he could.

The Democratic Party was so scared of the power of Sanders' voters that they actively tried to sabotage his campaign in favor of Clinton, or the safer and more reliable candidate. Voters can have a lot more power than people give them credit for.

The DNC leaks revealed more than just politicians trying to suppress the votes of so many.

What I see when I read the most damning leaked emails is a political system that is beginning to get scared.

Sanders' political revolution showed the world that the right to vote is the most powerful tool of anyone wanting change in the government.

Opinion editor Frank Campos is a media production senior and may be reached at opinion@ thedailycougar.com

Wednesday, August 24, 2016 | 5

713-743-5304

thedailycougar.com/opinion

opinion@thedailycougar.com

Frank Campos, EDITOR

OPINION

POLITICS

Trump reveals his policies to make America ill again

O

ut of Donald Trump’s radical and provocative rhetoric comes a vague sense of a foreign policy platform.

Earlier this summer, Trump proposed his plan for our nation's trade interactions.

Specifically citing a skewed sense of nationalism, PRANEETH he promised KAMBHAMto eliminate PATI international COLUMNIST trade deals and begin attacks on China’s economic practices.

In Pennsylvania, Trump addressed critics of his non-existent foreign policy by laying out what seems like a plan to bring the nation back to the Dark Ages. He promised to remove the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that helped quadruple trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico from

Donald Trump discussed foreign policy in Youngstown, Ohio. | Courtesy of Wikimedia commons

$297 billion to $1.14 trillion between 1993–2015. Alongside this disastrous promise came Trump’s plan to impose excessive tariffs on goods imported from China. Ignoring the irony between Trump’s rhetoric and his China-based businesses, his policy would place a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods and could potentially start trade wars.

In his usual mudslinging campaign, Trump challenged

10-10254_Cougar Newspaper August_work.pdf

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Hillary Clinton on her support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, warning that "she will betray you again.” This rhetoric was further exacerbated by his description of the Partnership as the “rape of our country.”

Trump took a stand against against globalization by saying that it benefits the financial elite while imposing “nothing but poverty and heartache” on the workers. In stark contrast to the economic policies of the Republican Party, Trump’s policy focuses on limiting trade whenever possible.

These policies spurred criticism from both established Republican leaning interests and the Clinton campaign. “Even under the best case scenario, Trump’s tariffs would strip of us at least 3.5 million jobs,” the usually conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce said.

With that statement, there is much doubt about Trump's loyalty to the GOP. His foreign policy plan includes a wall at the Mexican border, military inter-

vention in Syria and seemingly questionable support for Russian President Vladimir Putin. These policy ideas have driven away some important Republicans.

Brent Scowcroft, former NSA adviser, and 121 other national GOP security leaders announced their opposition to the Republican nominee. “We commit ourselves to working energetically to prevent the election of someone so utterly unfitted to the office,” they said in an open letter.

Trump’s foreign policy relies heavily on simplistic and blunt language. Likening the Islamic State to Nazism during the Holocaust, Trump proposed extreme and somewhat radical means to ensure safety.

His plan to counter radical Islamic terrorists called for extreme vetting of immigrants. It would also limit visas to people from the Middle East, temporarily or permanently. And it promised to keep Guantanamo Bay open.

“Trump obviously views

millions of ordinary American Muslims not as fellow citizens who contribute to this great nation, but as foreign intruders who must be treated with suspicion and whose constitutional rights may be curtailed,” said Robert McCaw, the government affairs director of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Trump is ultimately a danger to both the minority groups whose rights he vows to infringe and the millions (if not billions) of lives that would suffer from the mogul's violent rhetoric and calls for war.

In this life-changing election, it is imperative that we as a nation look to the interests of our country and not our party.

If any of Trump's policies are enacted, we will surely fail to continue to be the most powerful nation in the world.

Opinion columnist Praneeth Kambhampati is a biomedical sciences freshman and may be reached at opinion@ thedailycougar.com

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Wednesday, August 24, 2016 | 7

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SPORTS

sports@thedailycougar.com

Reagan Earnst, EDITOR

FOOTBALL

Q&A: Catching up with a key Cougar receiver REAGAN EARNST

CA: We got a lot of guys rotating in. We

SPORTS EDITOR

got a lot of guys that are going to open some eyes this year, but yeah it’s hard not having my boy D.A. I learned a lot of cuts, a lot of ins and outs from him.

He kind of knew the offense before I did, he and Herman were close. I kinda miss him, man. I wish him the best of luck at the next level, but I’m having fun.held them both.

@REAGANEARNST

Senior wide receiver Chance Allen is expected to be a pivotal piece of the Cougars’ offensive attack in 2016. Last season, Allen was the second leading receiver on the team, catching 56 passes for 752 yards and six touchdowns.

With the departure of last season’s leading receiver, Demarcus Ayers, Allen will try to fill big shoes as the team’s top target.

The Cougar had the chance to catch up with him to get his thoughts on the upcoming season and more.

The Cougar: How is fall camp coming along?

Chance Allen: It’s tough man. We’re making boys to men, we got a lot of young guys who are trying to get with the program, it’s fun though. It’s my senior year, my final round with the guys I came here with and I can’t wait for the season to start.

TC: What is your energy level like now that you are halfway through camp?

CA: Right now it’s pretty low, man.

I’m like at the bottom of the tank right now. I’m trying to come out here with high energy every time, I’m trying to be the juice, be that tempo and that leader that the coaches preach about. Be the thermostat, not just the temperature.

I’m trying to set the tone out here.

TC: How have you embraced Tom Herman’s team culture since you’ve been at UH? CA: I embraced it (good) because we

TC: Do you consider yourself a leader of the receivers or of the team?

CA: We got a lot of guys rotating in. We

Senior receiver Chance Allen considers himself a leader who helps bring energy to every practice. | Reagan Earnst/The Cougar came in at the same time. I was new to the culture like everyone else was.

I’m just having fun. Now being a senior, they want me to spread the culture on to the young guys. I mean it’s hard, but it’s a fun process.

could do something bigger like win a National Championship it’d be fun, go back to a New Year's Six bowl.

Personally, just being a team leader, I’m trying to bring the young guys along and just have a great season. I get along with Greg (Ward), me and

Greg have fun when we are out there.

Just go out with a bang.

TC: What does the loss of Demarcus Ayers do to the receiving corp?

got a lot of guys that are going to open some eyes this year, but yeah it’s hard not having my boy D.A. I learned a lot of cuts, a lot of ins and outs from him.

He kind of knew the offense before I did, he and Herman were close. I kinda miss him, man. I wish him the best of luck at the next level, but I’m having fun.held them both.

sports@thedailycougar.com

TC: How has practicing in bad weather affected the receivers?

CA: It’s like running in a tsunami or quicksand, really. I mean it’s fun, it’s making our legs stronger and is making us really focus on the ball playing in those conditions. But yeah, we come out here and it’s raining, it’s storming and coach is like ‘we don’t care, we’re going to put the ball down'. No matter what the conditions are, we have to be ready for chaos.

worship DIRECTORY

TC: What are some goals or expectations you have for the team in 2016?

CA: Trying to win a conference

CATHOLIC MASS ON CAMPUS

championship is our main goal. If we

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As a transfer from the University of Oregon, Allen says he has embraced Tom Herman's team culture well and helps facilitate it. | Reagan Earnst/The Cougar

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8 | Wednesday, August 24, 2016

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Reagan Earnst, EDITOR

Head coach Tom Herman surprised students who arrived at Cougar Village II on Friday by loading their belongings into carts and bringing them into their new room. | Reagan Earnst/The Cougar

SERVICE

Khator, Herman leave valuable first impression on incoming students REAGAN EARNST

SPORTS EDITOR

@REAGANEARNST

Excitement, worry and probably some angst are emotions a freshman might feel when their long-awaited move-in day finally rolls around.

However, a fortunate few also experienced astonishment when President and Chancellor Renu Khator and head football coach Tom Herman greeted them. Looking to lend a hand, Khator and Herman began unloading cars and pushing carts of the freshmen’s belongings to their new living spaces in Cougar Village II. “I went to school in India and

to make sure that my daughters would be taken care of. I just hope that parents feel the same way — they can be comfortable and welcomed.”

Coincidentally, the first student the head coach helped was a former high school football player whom Herman playfully told to come walk-on the team Monday.

Herman wasted no time climbing into the back of an SUV to ensure he loaded each of the freshman’s belongings into the orange carts provided for the students. Move-in day holds a special place in the second-year head coach’s heart.

“I was in the middle of training

“It's the first day I saw my wife, the first day I laid eyes on her and I said, 'That's going to be my girlfriend.' I made it a point.”

Tom Herman, Head Football Coach didn’t have the opportunity to live in the residence halls, but I do remember moving my two daughters in,” Khator said. “Every student that walks in here — I just feel the same way that I felt at that time and how I wanted

camp so it was fast and furious,” Herman said. “It’s the first day I saw my wife, the first day I laid eyes on her and I said, ‘That’s going to be my girlfriend.' I made it a point.”

Pushing a cart filled with stu-

University of Houston President and Chancellor Renu Khator dedicated her time to help welcome incoming freshmen. | Reagan Earnst/The Cougar

dent’s possessions, he made his way to the elevator of CVII and helped unload the items into the freshman’s room.

New residents were not the only ones who appreciated the attendance of, arguably, the two most popular figures at the University. The hundreds of student volunteers also took notice of the help from Khator and Herman, who both offered an hour out of their work day to accommodate new students.

“It’s been exciting to have (Khator) and coach Tom Herman

here,” said Tanna Vayon, a volunteering junior. “I think it says that they know students are the No. 1 priority. Just coming out here and showing their support for us just makes us want to support them.”

With Herman and Khator being in the same place, one topic of discussion was not going to be ignored: UH’s potential to join the Big 12 Conference. Although neither can extensively comment on the private talks, both offered a few thoughts.

“I have always said from the very first day that we are here to

build a nationally competitive program in academics and athletics,” Khator said. “We will do everything possible to showcase our University that I have full faith and full confidence.”

Khator then patted Herman on the back and called him the University’s “trump card.” She believes UH has all the necessary credentials to be seriously considered as the newest member of the conference.

Herman could feel the commitment and support from the school’s administration and that these kind of decisions are far out of his pay grade.

Redirecting his focus back to the task at hand, a car carrying another new freshman pulled up. Answering one final question on the importance of attending outreach events such as these, his answer was simple.

“This is what we believe in and that is that our football program is just a representation of our student body," Herman said. "We exist solely for the enjoyment, the school spirit and the sense of pride from the students. So we want to be able to repay them for all of their support every chance we get.” sports@thedailycougar.com