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Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Issue 28, Volume 83
President pushes election overhaul SGA President Cameron Barrett is seeking revisions to the election code, including ranked voting and limiting the president’s term to one year. | PG. 7
SPORTS
OPINION
Pitcher ready to ‘strike everybody out’
Independent journalism needs support
Sophomore Lael Lockhart Jr. has been a successful pitcher and hitter since high school. After exclusively batting for a year, he stepped up to the mound again. | PG. 11
With the university’s takover of SMU’s student newspaper, it has become evident that our organization could suffer the same fate. Only your support can save us. | PG. 13
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Lower enrollment at UHCL led to layoffs, program restructuring ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR @OAGU_16
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Thomas Dwyer
In FY 2018, UH Clear Lake faced a $8 million shortfall over 2017. Its student enrollment for Spring 2018 also dropped by 379 students. Budget cuts and lower enrollment rates have led to the termination of adjuncts in some departments, and full-time faculty members have taken on the added responsibility. | Oscar Aguilar/The Cougar
universities nationwide are also facing. The financial strain originated from the UHCL's declining tuition revenue, which follows a pattern of less full-time student enrollment. This primarily impacts
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OSCAR AGUILAR
After laying off nine adjunct professors, Magdy Akladios thought the last one would be easier. It wasn't. The UH Clear Lake department chair found that blaming budget cuts and lower enrollment at the university didn't soften the blow much. The final victim became upset, asking how he'd be able to afford rent in the spring without a job. Akladios wasn't alone. Department heads across the UH System university were required to make faculty changes, such as eliminating adjunct positions, in response to the university's declining enrollment, resources and revenue. “There have been adjuncts eliminated from almost all the programs (in the College of Human Sciences and Humanities),” said Kimberly Dodson, director of the criminology program at UHCL. “We eliminated 100 adjunct positions.” UHCL spokesperson Karen Barbier said the university is committed to providing great education to its students, despite the cuts, which she said
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adjuncts because not enough dropped from 3,997 to 3,610 students enroll in their classes — from Spring 2017 to Spring 2018. resulting in their termination or Part-time enrollment increased course cancellation. over that period, but overall, UHCL is a four-year university net enrollment dropped by 131 that is part of the University of students. Houston System. UHCL and UH “They’re just telling us that share the same Board of Regents, there’s budget cuts this year and but UHCL is separate university to expect more budget cuts next and confers its own degrees. year,” Dodson said. “Our dean UHCL has four academic has asked us for ideas to get colleges and a satellite campus in enrollment up.” Pearland. If the classes fail to meet the ◆ Two car, auto open garage Provost A. Glenn Houston, minimum cap, the department ◆ Reverse osmosis system who manages the school's has been asked to cancel them, ◆ Fullaffairs, granite counter insaid. kitchen academic mandated the tops Dodson In her department, faculty changes, which affect elective courses, such white◆ Huge walk-in closet in master at least two of UHCL's colleges. collar crime, tend to be the most ◆ Jacuzzi bathtub in master Houston did not reply to requests affected, Dodson said, but even for comment. sections for required courses PRSRT STD were cut. Introduction to criminal U.S. POSTAGE PAID Falling enrollment justice sawHOUSTON, its number of sections TX PERMIT NO. 600 For fiscal year 2018, UHCL has lowered from 40 to 24. Of the 24 an estimated operating budget sections, full-time faculty now of $117 million. That’s $8 million teach 15 of them because of the less than FY 2017's budget of elimination of adjunct positions. $125.1 million. In total, five adjuncts were The College of Human terminated from Dodson's Sciences and Humanities took department. All declined to be a hit of approximately $300,000, interviewed for this story. criminology program director Kimberly Dodson said. Higher workloads To deal with the budget If departments in the College of shortfall, Dodson said Rick Short, Human Sciences and Humanities dean of the College of Human cancel a required course, Sciences and Humanities, asked professors have to offer students them to streamline classes either an independent study, for 3/2/15 9:14 AM receive by creating minimum cap which faculty members requirements—a minimum of no compensation, or a course 15 students in undergraduate replacement. classes and 10 in graduate ones. Programs not meeting the That was a direct result of the drop in student enrollment. UHCL ENROLLMENT Full-time student enrollment Continues on next page
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Continued from previous page basic requirements of three full-time faculty members and five graduates within three years face potential program discontinuation, although the University has not pointed out specific programs under consideration, Dodson said. Chloé Diepenbrock, an associate professor of writing, said that in her department, budget effects led to relying more on adjuncts, not less. “In terms of full-time faculty, we’ve had two faculty retire whose positions have been eliminated,” Diepenbrock said. “That’s eight classes each semester that I don’t have staffed by full-time faculty.” Adjuncts replaced the retired faculty. They earn less than other professors, so they make the most money for the university, she said. For that reason, it makes sense to use adjuncts over full-time professors because of their cost effectiveness.
Frozen budget Budget cuts haven't led to terminations in UHCL's nursing
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program, but faculty recruitment and retainment may become more difficult than usual. The new program is still small, said Karen Alexander, the program's director. And since the program only has three full time faculty and zero adjuncts, if one professor leaves, the program could be in jeopardy of not meeting the minimum requirements for most programs. Additionally, the budget freeze makes it “harder to find the cream of the crop educators,” Alexander said. Nurses can make higher salaries working in clinical settings than they can usually find in academic settings, she said. Partnerships with hospitals provide a means to use external resources and lessen the impact of budget cuts, she said. These resources provide the quality education expected from the institution without relying on adjuncts. “You’ll have to think of very innovative ways to tailor your curriculum,” Alexander said. “I think where that falls in is to just be open to a variety of teaching models where you spare faculty.” However, while partnerships
with hospitals allow the nursing program to spare faculty, the budget freeze still makes it difficult to attract replacements for current faculty if someone leaves. The average age for practicing nurses and nurse educators is 55 and 58, respectively, she said. The budget constraints make it difficult to make an attractive offer in an industry already experiencing a shortage of professionals. “With the budget cuts comes the cuts in the ability to do research, the ability to do education research, the ability to continue education,” Alexander said. “That’s what nurses thrive on.”
'We can't work for free' Shatoi King, a lecturer of nursing, said the budget cuts limit what she’s able to do to further her research and education. “We can’t work for free, so I hope the school and the state will get these budgets under control,” King said. “And they’ll stop overpaying whoever they’re overpaying, and they’ll pay the instructors what is meant to be
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paid to them.” In regard to conferences and research, King said the expenses come out of her pocket. The university doesn’t provide the software needed to conduct the research required to keep her job, she said. “There’s a demand for our job, but the resources we need are not being provided,” King said. “I definitely never want to leave UHCL, but I might have to go and find something to supplement. Because we might not have the income.”
New strategies In the College of Science and Engineering, Magdy Akladios, the department chair of physical and applied sciences and a professor of industrial hygiene and safety, said the university canceled overloads, which allowed professors to take on an extra class for pay. The number of adjuncts in the physics department decreased from 10 to zero, and chemistry was about the same, Akladios said. There’s five full-time faculty members in physics and seven in chemistry. “So faculty are being asked to do
more for no compensation or less,” Akladios said. Instead of taking on the work of the terminated adjuncts, the program began strategically offering certain courses every other semester or third semester. This keeps the program from needing additional faculty time and adjuncts, he said. The department also raised the maximum cap for courses, and they combined undergraduate and graduate level introductory courses consisting of similar material, he said. “It has not affected students, but it has affected the way things are being done,” Akladios said. The dean of the College of Education, Mark Shermis, wrote in an email that the college would have been impacted by budget cuts, but "the Provost has been able to provide some additional funds so that we can continue to rely on adjuncts as we have done in the past." Administration from the UHCL College of Business were not available to interview before press time. news@thedailycougar.com
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NATION
#SaveStudentNewsrooms highlights college journalism challenges DREW JONES
CAMPUS EDITOR @DRWSZN
In response to the changing dynamics of student-run newspapers across the country, editors at the University of Florida’s the Alligator organized #SaveStudentNewsrooms, a nationwide call to action on April 25 aimed at highlighting the work of student journalists and reaffirming the need for independent, student-run newsrooms. Melissa Gomez, editor-inchief of the Alligator, along with managing editors Caitlin Ostroff and Jimena Tavel, knew they had to act when they learned the fate of the Daily Campus at Southern Methodist University, which was forced to halt print and now faces re-affiliation back into SMU’s journalism program. “At that point, I felt hopeless,” Kylie Madry, editor-in-chief of the Daily Campus, said of a January board meeting that chose a dissolution plan over another to save the paper. “It felt like they didn’t really care and they had just given up.” Madry, who sits on the board but doesn’t receive a vote, felt a need to find other avenues to avoid losing the paper, but said it felt like she was fighting back alone. One thing that surprised her in the weeks after the decision was the number of alumni who rallied to provide financial support even while expressing discontent over not being notified that the paper was in trouble. An issue that affects all student journalists is impartiality in the face of growing concerns internally, Madry said, but she knew it was right to take on an activist role to advocate for the paper and a free press. The same issue arose for the Alligator’s editors. “It occurred to me, ‘Wow this could happen to us’,” Gomez said. “Then I realized this could happen to any student newsroom. We’re in such a vulnerable position, in terms of financing a student paper, that it can easily fold the next day.” Madry said she felt betrayed over what she called “a failure to innovate.” When she had the opportunity to look at the
Campus’ finances herself, she saw years of losses, which she attributes to mismanagement that is now being used as justification to punish students. The organizers recognize they don’t have all the answers. Moreso, they want #SaveStudentNewsrooms to
with true editorial freedom without administrative overreach. “The whole point of the First Amendment in this country is to have freedom of speech and freedom of the press, so it does feel like they push back a lot, even with dumb stuff like a drinking game,” Tavel
UH alumnus, took a winding path up through the ranks of the newspaper, which allowed him to experience all different aspects of the operation, even founding and editing Cooglife magazine. “Professionally, The Cougar gave me all of the training tools I needed to be a
role seriously as one with a responsibility to the student body and to recognize how important the task is daily. “Student media can help give narrative to connect people,” Strange said. “Telling the stories of your community and of your campus helps people find connection across
(Front row, left) Melissa Gomez, Caitlin Ostroff and Jimena Tavel (right) hope that #SaveStudentNewsrooms starts a conversation about the challenges student journalists face and works as a tool to connect student-run newsrooms across the country. | Courtesy of Melissa Gomez
connect newspapers across the country and kickstart a conversation. Ostroff wants #SaveStudentNewsrooms to educate non-journalists on the necessity of having a student-focused, independent newspaper available in their communities. Editorial independence is a concern shared among all the editors because of the freedom to pursue the stories that matter, Tavel said. She transferred to UF from Florida Gulf Coast University, whose paper is universityaffiliated, so she has first-hand experience with feeling the content that she published was vetted. A story about an Oscars drinking game landed Tavel and her editors in the dean’s office facing a reprimand, and because of that incident, she felt as though her newsroom could never expect to report
said. “But if they push back on that, you never feel truly encouraged to go after the things that matter most, like injustice and discrimination and investigating those kinds of issues on your own campus.” Madry worries that SMU will step in at troubling points to dictate coverage. She was told first-hand by an alumni organizer at Texas Christian University, whose paper is universityaffiliated, that on numerous occasions, administrators have successfully pulled stories from the paper’s archive, effectively erasing them from history. The organizers hope #SaveStudentNewsrooms showcases a similar level of their own ambition and energy from student journalists nationwide. Trey Strange, former editorin-chief of The Cougar and
successful journalist in ways that class really can’t,” Strange said. “It gives you this sense of a deadline and a responsibility, and in mimicking a real newspaper, that’s really helpful for understanding the way a work environment will operate.” Strange believes having a student paper allows students to have a voice, especially marginalized voices that have traditionally not been the focus of major publications. The organizers of #SaveStudentNewsrooms maintain that journalism is as foundational as any other pillar in public life for holding power accountable and want future student journalists to reiterate that significance. “If we start at the college level, hopefully that’ll expand overall,” Tavel said. Strange wants student journalists to take their
disparate groups that they wouldn’t necessarily interact with or think to interact with.” Madry wants people to recognize the vital role student newsrooms play in thriving universities, she said, and to value the “hyper-local” nature of the service student journalists provide to their communities. She reiterated the impact that student journalism has on the people and stories it tells, and wants people to value the institution in much the same way she values the affect its had on her life. “On a personal level, student journalism has been so influential in helping me be passionate about something,” Madry said. “I not only found a home, but something that I was able to own.” news@thedailycougar.com
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STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SGA to vote on major election code changes
Wednesday of February, and the fourth Wednesday and Thursday of February," the bill reads. Voting would begin at midnight each set of days and end 48 hours after.
Helping newcomers
Senators will vote on election code reforms Wednesday that would drastically shakeup how elections are run and conducted. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
MICHAEL SLATEN
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR @MICHAELSLATEN
The Student Government Association Senate is set to vote Wednesday on major election code reforms that would change how students vote and limit the terms of certain positions in the executive branch. The bill, written by president Cameron Barrett with the help of former chief elections commissioner and current Chief of Staff Kendrick Alridge, would introduce ranked voting for Senate and presidential elections. There would no longer be extended voting periods for runoffs. The bill currently has 25 senators signed as sponsors. “This election code reform will be the biggest one we've had in probably 10 to 15 years, I suppose,” Alridge said. “Cameron and I, (after) he won the runoff, revamped the whole thing.”
Limiting incumbency advantage One major reform would disallow a president or vice president who serves more than half of their term to run for office again. This would limits the possibility of twoterm presidents. Finance and accounting junior and former senator Valentin Perez said two-term presidents have been rare in the history of the Student Government Association. “Let’s say you (Barrett) do an amazing job,” College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Senator Diego Garcia said at the last Senate meeting. “Why stop
yourself from running again to do more things?” Barrett conceded that you could miss out on a good twoterm president, but those were already rare. He said sitting presidents should not be able to argue to vote for them again by allowing them to finish their initiatives. They will only get one term to get initiatives done for students, he said. Former SGA president Winni Zhang, Barrett's opponent in the March run-off election for president, hoped to serve two terms in the role. Another issue Barrett feels would be solved is limiting the campaign advantage for an incumbent president running again. He said the president can read all the applications for Senate seats to find people to fill their party. The attorney general would no longer be an appointed position by the Senate. Rather than being elected to a twoyear term, they can only serve once. Currently, the president chooses the attorney general, who is confirmed by the Senate and goes on to choose the election commissioner, giving the president a possible advantage if they decide to run again. “(The president) isn’t supposed to appoint the election commissioner, but that’s what happened last time around,” Barrett said. “There’s a lot of problems with bias. There were problems in the last election that were upsetting to me.”
Senate voting changes
For Senate elections with a single seat available, students would rank the candidates from most preferred to least in descending order equal to the number of candidates running for a seat, according to the draft of the bill to be voted on Wednesday. Students' highest ranked choice, or first choice votes, are first tallied. If a candidate wins more than half of all first-ranked choices, they win the seat. If no candidate receives more than half of first-ranked choices, the candidate with the lowest number of first-ranked votes is eliminated, and all students' second-choice vote is added to candidate vote totals. The process is repeated until a candidate receives 50 percent plus one of the total vote. “One of the big arguments is (ranked voting) is so darn confusing,” Barrett said. “It’s really not.” The election commission will have an extra $1,000 budgeted to advertise the election, Barrett said. For Senate races with multiple seats, the process changes. Candidates would need to pass a “percentage threshold” to win a seat. The percentage threshold is determined by dividing 100 percent by the number of candidates. Students' highest ranked choices would be tallied first, and any candidate who passes the percentage threshold with enough first-choice votes would win. Any remaining seats are determined by second-choice and so on votes by students added to
candidates' total to fill seats. Students Unite won 25 of 37 Senate seats last election. Barrett said his party winning so many seats while only receiving onethird of the vote would no longer occur under the new system. “If students want 100 percent of the Senate to be one party, they should get that,” Barrett said. “The Senate is going to be a lot more proportional with the new voting system.”
Presidential voting changes The system is similar for the presidential election. Students would rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives the majority of students' top pick for president, the candidate with the least number of votes will be eliminated, and students' second picks will be added to candidate vote totals. These automatic runoffs occur until a candidate receives the majority of Senate seats. Students can rank as few candidates as they please. “The runoff system is terrible. I hate the runoff system,” Barrett said, who won the presidency in a runoff. “It’s an extra two days of your life you’re never getting back.” Elections are also given a set time to occur. Usually, they occur for three days in February or March before Spring Break. If passed, the election code reform will require voting to be six days and held on specific dates. "General Election’s voting will be held during the second Monday and Tuesday of February, the third Tuesday and
Alridge, who served as chief elections commissioner for the 2013-2014 school year, said the elections code reform would allow newcomers to have a chance to win elections. Historically, he said, a group of people control the Student Government Association and easily win elections running together, giving newcomers a hard time to get involved. He said the most recent election was not typical, as Barrett's party consists of mostly of new senators. “The issue with the elections code, it gives a severe advantage to incumbents,” Alridge said. “It's hard for newcomers to get involved.” The new election code would raise the limits independent candidates and parties can spend campaigning. If the bill passes, parties will be able to spend $2,500 campaigning, up from the current ceiling of $1,300. Independent Senate candidates will be able to spend $800, a $500 raise from the previous limit. Alridge said he waived the spending total limits when he was elections commissioner and had to resign due to outrage, he said. “When I was elections commissioner, the total was extremely unfair,” Alridge said. “This code helps a lot of different things.”
More changes coming In March, Barrett said his administration plans to rewrite the Student Government Association bylaws and constitution and have those changes finalized and approved by summer. After they are approved, his administration will focus on passing bills related to the University, not SGA. Two proposed bills would aim to limit parking permit price increases to 8 percent per year and request a three-to-five year schedule of planned price increases for permits. Another bill would require registered student organizations to streamline their GetInvolved pages with meeting times and be removed from GetInvolved if the organization becomes inactive. news@thedailycougar.com
8 | Wednesday, April 25, 2018
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Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
| Sonny Singh/The Cougar
ATHLETICS
Roundtable: Best of the 2017-18 athletic year THE SPORTS STAFF @THECOUGARSPORTS
The 2017-18 athletic year was one of the most influential in recent memory. Teams reached heights that had not been experienced in decades, records were broken and awards were handed out. Something worthwhile happened for almost every team. The Cougar sports staff decided to answer a few questions as they look back on the year.
Which athlete had the best season? Trenton Whiting: Redshirt senior guard Rob Gray Jr. He led the basketball team to its best season in many years and scored the gamewinner against San Diego State in the NCAA Tournament. Gray wasn’t able to get the team to the tournament’s second weekend, but he was able to gain some national recognition for the time he was there. When former Houston Rockets guard Kenny “The Jet” Smith had a man bun Photoshopped on his head, it verified Gray’s rising popularity. Though he will no longer be playing college basketball, his impact for UH will be remembered because of this season.
Jackson Gatlin: Sophomore defensive tackle Ed Oliver had probably the most outstanding individual season of any Cougar in the past decade. The man is a national media magnet, having received or been considered for more than 30 individual accolades
in 2017 alone. The most notable was the Outland Trophy, which is given to the best college football interior lineman. Oliver, while playing through injury for four of his 12 games, still recorded an average of 6.1 tackles per game, which ranked third nationally among defensive linemen.
Christopher McGehee: There are several great options for this question, but the clear answer is someone whose season has not yet concluded: junior starting pitcher Savannah Heebner. She has shouldered the load for the softball team’s pitching rotation. Her 22 starts are one game less than the team’s two other pitchers combined. Heebner's earned run average of 1.01 is top 20 in the NCAA this year. An athlete who has improved every year, Heebner has softball on a path to a conference title run.
Which team had the most influential year? Whiting: The women’s basketball team. They picked up 20 wins and made postseason play for the first time since 2011. The team benefited from the rise of star guards Angela and Jasmyne Harris. Their contribution made the team a formidable challenge to its out-ofconference opponents. The team went on a losing streak at the end of the season and lost in the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament. But a direct parallel could be made to the progression of the men’s team. Last year, the men lost in the first round of their NIT. We’ll see if the women bounce back the same way.
Gatlin: The men’s track & field team has had one of its best seasons in recent history, and it all started with the 4x100m relay national title they secured last June. That relay set the tone for this season and was the first national championship obtained by a UH sports team since 2013. So far, the Cougars have broken school records, earned many individual and team accolades and have posted worldleading relay times, proving they are a top-tier program in the nation.
McGehee: The men’s basketball team. With the nationwide popularity of the NCAA March Madness tournament, it is imperative for every school to make the postseason. The men’s basketball team not only made the tournament, but they advanced to the second round, where a buzzer-beater was the only thing keeping them from moving on to the Sweet Sixteen. As a result, the team finished the season ranked in the top 25 for the first time since the 198384 season.
the NCAA Tournament. They might not be ranked like the men’s team was in 2018, but they’ll make the tournament because of the strength of the Harrises. Their performance will push them to a win in the Big Dance, but they’ll fall in the second game. Luckily for the Cougars, they’ll have the Harrises for another full season afterwards.
Gatlin: With good coaching and new openings in the rotation for young, hungry athletes, the Cougars should at least make it to the Elite Eight, possibly even the Final Four next season. After a tragic end to a fairytale season, the men’s basketball team will be losing several key seniors as graduation approaches, but the Cougars have dealt with change and adversity before. Five seniors graduated just before the start of this
past season, leaving behind only four of the nine players that made up the 2016-2017 rotation. That change allowed players like Rob Gray Jr. and Devin Davis to step up and help the team reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
McGehee: Junior defensive tackle Ed Oliver will become the first overall pick in the NFL draft, becoming the first defensive tackle to be taken first overall since Ohio State’s Dan Wilkinson in 1994, and he will also finish in the top five in Heisman Trophy voting. In 1972 and 1975, tight end Riley Odoms and defensive end Mack Mitchell were each selected with the 5th overall pick in the NFL draft- tying for the highest any Cougar has ever been selected. Oliver is set to make a new mark for the program, one that can never be beaten. sports@thedailycougar.com
UH received media exposure that had not been achieved since the football team triumphed in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl and finished the season 13-1.
What's your bold prediction for the 2018-19 year? Whiting: The women’s basketball team will mirror the men’s exactly. Next season, they will be in the top three of the conference and make
The Cougars have already matched it's total wins from last season and junior Savannah Heebner leads the way with 19 wins. | Thomas Dwyer / The Cougar
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SPORTS
sports@thedailycougar.com
Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
COMMENTARY
Commentary: You should be there when student athletes make history PETER SCAMARDO
SPORTS EDITOR
@ PLSCAMARDO2
When senior sprinter Elijah Hall of the track & field team won two NCAA sprinting titles and broke the NCAA record in the men's 200m this March, I was there. A crowd of 5,000 people cheered at the sight, even those who had never heard of Hall before. I was five feet away from him when he crossed the finish line. It's an experience I never would have felt had I not joined The Cougar in June 2015. Before I had sat in a single lecture at UH, I was signed up to write for the sports section of the newspaper. Three years later, I have written 250 articles, virtually all about athletics.
For three years, I was given an up-close perspective on UH Athletics as every team, from top to bottom, worked to turn UH into a Power 5 school the only way they can: winning. The greatest privilege has been watching the athletes behind the victories. I learned the backstories of men who would go on to be NFL draft picks, what struggles some face when their father is their head coach, what religion meant to an NBA Hall of Famer, how a team overcomes the struggles of a down year, and what aspirations they have. I always think about my second week as a freshman, when I interviewed Olympic gold medalist and assistant track & field coach Carl Lewis. There I was, talking to a man my
Everything that student athletes like Fabian White of the men's basketball team do bring's prestige to the University. Students owe it the teams to watch them, or else they risk missing a moment of history. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
parents revered and had heard so many stories about. But through working for The Cougar, I got to see how Lewis was as both a coach and
a person. You don't get that through cameras. I learned the stories of each individual on the team; their backstory, their aspirations.
It made wins like Hall's more meaningful knowing what they
MAKING HISTORY
Continues on page 10
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Continued from page 10
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went through to get to that moment. I found the exact same
sports@thedailycougar.com
Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
thing in all the sports I covered, from men's basketball and
football to soccer and baseball, I got to hear those stories from
All team's from women's soccer to cross country have improved in their play as the university strives to become a Power 5 school. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
countless athletes. I've played the part of a student at the football game, painted up, the whole lot. The Memphis game in 2015 was one of the most euphoric moments of my time in college. But The Cougar gave me a different experience. The Cougar got me on the sideline when the football team beat Louisville and Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson in 2016, before everyone else rushed the field. Now that I am stepping away from The Cougar, I urge people to continue to follow and support the student athletes at UH. Their presence on their respective teams is something they have worked toward, for many, all their life. Everything they do, once they don the uniform, is done to bring recognition to the university. We owe it to them to know and follow their stories. You don’t want to be the person that misses a bit of history. sports@thedailycougar.com
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Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
BASEBALL
Versatile player hopes to bring dual threat to the diamond ANDRES CHIO
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR @ CHIOANDRES
Finding success on both offense and defense is challenging at the best of times and near impossible at the worst in baseball. But playing both sides is something sophomore Lael Lockhart Jr. has done in more ways than one since he was a toddler. “I think my first at-bat was right handed and my second at-bat was left handed in teeball, and I just kept going," Lockhart said. "Never looked back." Lockhart has been pitching and hitting at a high level since high school, but what truly sets him apart is his intensity, head coach Todd Whitting said. "You can watch him play and tell how competitive a kid he is. I knew instantly when I met him and watched him play," Whitting said. Lockhart credits part of his mentality to the Boston Red
Sophomore Lael Lockhart Jr. has made nine appearances as a pitcher, starting in two of those games and helping the baseball team to wins against the Rice Owls and Sam Houston State Bearkats. With a record of 1-0, Lockhart has struck out 13 batters and has an earned run average of 2.70. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
Sox's infielder Dustin Pedroia, who he's looked up to more than any other player.
"Pedroia has a lot of heart, gets real dirty. He's never clean when he gets off the field at
the end of the game," Lockhart said. Pedroia has won two World Series with the Red Sox,
VERSATILE PLAYER
Continues on page 12
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VERSATILE PLAYER
Continued from page 11 something Lockhart believes he can imitate by winning the College World Series for UH.
Friendswood roots
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the caliber of talent was going to be here and that we were going to be able to compete with top 25 teams," Lockhart said. Lockhart was correct in his assumption, as he played in 56 of Houston's 63 games last season and hit key RBIs in wins against ranked opponents UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, and USF. Usually batting fifth or sixth in the order, Lockhart was responsible for cleaning up after the core hitters and had a .279 batting average and 27 RBIs during the season. This season, Lockhart is hitting .287 as one of the core hitters and already has 26 RBI with at least 15 games left in the season. Lockhart ended the season hitting .417 for 5 RBI at the NCAA tournament before the Cougars fell to Texas A&M at the regional final.
Lockhart played as a pitcher and a first basemen in high school and was rated the top first basemen in Texas and No. 12 in the country by Perfect Game USA. Teams all over the country approached him, but the Friendswood native chose to stay in town. “UH is real close to home. I loved the coaches, the facilities, and they kinda sold me on the new locker room coming in," Lockhart said, "I just think it’s going to be awesome." Another key factor was getting to play with teammates from his summer team, the Houston Banditos. Players keep sharp in the summer with independent Return to the mound teams while their high school With a year of experience teams are not in action, and under his belt and holes left there he played with many of his behind by players drafted to the future UH teammates. majors and graduated, Lockhart "I had a10-11210_Cougar bunch of buddies on got the chance to pitch again. News April_1_Print.pdf 1 4/20/18 9:28 AM my travel ball team that were "We didn’t pitch him at all committed here, so I knew what last year because we needed his
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Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
bat in the lineup, but we knew we were going to pitch him this season and that he would play a big part," Whitting said. Lockhart could have been nervous after not pitching for a whole year, but the Cougars' new pitching coach, Terry Rooney, gave him a new outlook at UH. “(Rooney) really loved what I had. He gave me confidence to go out there and show what I got," Lockhart said. Rooney's 20 years of experience in head and assistant coaching roles has taught him a lot, Lockhart said, but his first starting performances did not go perfectly. Lockhart loaded the bases early in games against Rice and Sam Houston but got himself out of both situations with just two total runs allowed. Afterward, Lockhart found a rhythm and allowed just three runs across seven innings with eight strikeouts against the two rivals. Whitting was not worried by the shaky starts and reaffirmed his confidence in the pitcher. “His collegiate experience is pretty slim right now, so he’s just got to get out there and learn
to find his own (rhythm) a little bit," said Whitting. Lockhart agreed that once he found a rhythm he was able to get comfortable and get to work. “Absolutely, once we started rocking and rolling it was just set, go, fire," Lockhart said. Despite his past success, Lockhart said it is his respect for his opponents and never taking
an at-bat for granted that makes him a strong pitcher. “It doesn’t matter who's hitting. It can be the one-hole, three-hole or the nine-hole, I’m still going to treat them all the same and try to strike everybody out that comes up to the plate," Lockhart said. sports@thedailycougar.com
A crucial part of the offense, Lockhart is fourth on the team in batting average (.287) and is second in runs batted in with 26 | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
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OPINION
opinion@thedailycougar.com
Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
STAFF EDITORIAL
If you want independent journalism at UH, show it
T
he Cougar staff pictured with their print edition that needs more attention from students. Thom Dwyer/The Cougar Students do not have a choice when it comes to coverage; we face the responsibility of picking up the slack of apathetic national outlets. If we don't write about the impact of Hurricane Harvey or homelessness on students, it will have never existed to the generations after us. The news of Southern Methodist University's impending May shutdown prompted the Independent Florida Alligator of the University of Florida to create #SaveStudentNewsrooms, expected to go viral April 25 to show support and emphasize the essential nature of a student-run newsroom — an institution frequently under fire. The Daily Campus has served SMU for almost a century, but the decision by administration to
We work hard to produce the paper, and if you don't support us, we could disappear. Kathryn Lenihan/The Cougar
dissolve the paper, instead of save it, in the wake of financial strain means only the website of the student-led publishing company will remain. Not every story covered by a student newsroom
is nationally relevant. Many have no impact beyond campus walls. But that doesn't make them any less important. The local ties student journalists have to their community
gives us the unique opportunity to truthfully present the narratives that hit close to home, such as the cataclysmic damage wrought by Hurricane Harvey, gentrification in traditional
low-income neighborhoods and the important role Houston plays in the future — of space, track & field, energy and beyond. In the past year, editors at The Cougar have published coverage ranging from the importance of acknowledging police brutality, to a post-Harvey plea for Houstonians to get out to the ballgame, to an investigation into safety hazards at one of the University's most popular off-campus apartments. In the eight months since Harvey devastated the Texas coastline, The Cougar has published nearly 50 articles on the severity, impact and aftermath of the storm. 19 of which went online as it continued to loom over the city, and editors worked from all corners of the state to ensure prompt, accurate coverage of the UH community — the
STAFF EDITORIAL
Continues on page 16
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Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
CIVIL RIGHTS
We've made progress with systemic racismm but not enough
I
t has been 153 years since the slavery technically ended in the United States. Yet systematic racism, hate crimes and countless unarmed shootings of black people plague our country in the new Jim Crow Era. Black Americans have gone from being considered three-fifths of a person and banned from drinking at certain fountains to BETHEL having a black BIRU man as a former ASSISTANT OPINpresident of the ION EDITOR United States. We should be grateful for the countless sacrifices past generations have made to contribute to our freedom today, but we would be fools to be satisfied with the progress we have made. It’s not enough. We can’t say we’ve made enough progress when police killed at least 223 African-Americans in 2017 alone. When NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick spoke out against these injustices and chose to kneel for the
national anthem to protest against the mistreatment of black lives, he was blacklisted and put out of work in an attempt to silence his voice and the impact he would later create. When NBA player LeBron James discussed politics and shared his thoughts on being a black public figure in this racial climate during an interview, Fox News host Laura Ingraham came for him head-on. “It's always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball...keep the political comments to yourselves...shut up and dribble," she said. Although Ingraham insisted she's been using variants of that title to call out celebrities. Referring to a book she wrote in 2006, her attitude and words used to describe James as “barely intelligible" and "ungrammatical" are racist and wrong. It sounds similar to slave masters who expected their jesters to perform obediently and quietly while their people suffered outside. This is not progress; it is oppression.
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Black people are accused of living in a made-up world of prejudice and false narratives, fueled by self-inflicted race talk that would all go away if they acted accordingly. Privilege is believing a marginalized group can simply pick themselves up by the bootstraps and achieve the same goals as white people but not understanding how centuries of systematic oppression can have crippling after-effects such as generational poverty. The criminalization of black people, inadequate media representation and the endless list of black lives lost to police brutality show that this so-called post-racism does not exist. Two weeks ago, two young black men were put in handcuffs and arrested in a Starbucks while they waited for another friend to show up. Philadelphia police received a 911 call from the Starbucks for disturbance and trespassing when the only crime they committed was—literally—doing nothing. Police were escorting them out with their hands cuffed behind their backs while the friend they were waiting on arrived. In January, Brandon Ward posted a video asking why he was denied access to another
Starbucks’ restroom when a white customer was granted access just a few moments before. The store manager refused to give him the code or answer why she had denied him access, instead asking him to leave immediately. These microaggressions show how little progress we’ve made if African-Americans are still being asked to leave public areas because their skin color comes off as threatening. “Systematic racism still exists, and black Americans should continue to push forward,” said Monet Alexander, president of Alpha Kappa Psi's chapter at UH. “As a black leader of a multicultural organization, I feel honored and inspired when I see strong black Americans take on large roles. I pray black children witness such leadership in our community.” We can't say we’ve made progress when black families are still being torn apart by police brutality. We can’t allow ourselves to believe racism has ended when the KKK exists and isn’t considered a terrorist organization, despite its repugnant history, but movements like Black Lives Matter, which was created to bring awareness and combat
racism, is deemed as hateful and dangerous to U.S. society, and the protesters are labeled as thugs. History repeats itself. Disabling the Black Panther Party was an act to stop the unity and call to action in the black community, preventing black people from breaking free from the cage white America has put them in. African-Americans have survived hardships unimaginable because of their skin color, yet they are expected to be satisfied with little portions of justice or representation given as scraps. Until black Americans can exist freely without the fear of being unfairly arrested, prosecuted, shot down or denied access because of the color of their skin, no amount of progress will ever be enough. Only when the U.S. has consciously accepted its flaws and we work together to uproot the hate that tarnishes this country, progressively changing the system we have wrongfully accepted as the American way, including all of America’s colored people as a part of the American Dream, will we have made true progress. Assistant Opinion Editor Bethel Biru is a broadcast journalism senior. She can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.
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OPINION
opinion@thedailycougar.com
Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Turning a new page of The Cougar with our new editor-in-chief With less than a week left as editor, I’m a little emotional. My senior year, which starts in the fall, will be my first not coming into the Center for Student Media for hours and hours every week. I won’t miss the deadlines, but the memories made and the lessons learned here are priceless. Writing and editing stories at The Cougar has transformed how I think about journalism and its role in maintaining an informed citizenry. I’m most proud of the first two weeks of the fall semester. Like the rest of Houston, our year got off to wild start by covering Hurricane Harvey from our laptops. Reporting from Laredo to Austin to Dallas, our fantastic editors covered evacuations, our athletics program, the rampant volunteering opportunities, and their own escapes from the storm’s wrath. And after publishing dozens of stories while UH was closed, we pulled together an entire Wednesday print with more stories about the storm in just 8 hours. Why? Because UH deserved it. It’s been an absolute privilege to bring UH the news and watch the talented journalists in this newsroom grow. Your new editor-in-chief, Dana, will take our work from this year and run with it. I’m confident that I’m leaving The Cougar in good hands. If you’re reading this, remember to check newsstands every Wednesday and your Twitter feed every day for fresh stories about your university, and use The Cougar to make your university better.
New editor-in-chief Dana C. Jones will take over the paper on May 1, leaving Emily to live her life. | Kathryn Lenihan/The Cougar
-Emily Burleson, outgoing editor-in-chief
When I first joined The Cougar a year and a half ago, I vowed that I would never write for news. I was an opinion man through and through. Six months ago, not only did I join the news desk, I became the first Features Editor that The Cougar has ever had. Now, I’m on my way to being Editor-in-Chief, which is something else I — a black boy from Compton, California transferring from an HBCU — never saw coming. I have to thank the people that I spent countless hours around. To all of my fellow editors, my advisor and mentor Glissette Santana and the outgoing Editor-in-Chief Emily Burleson. Each of you has shown me good journalism and instilled in me the confidence to pursue my path in this field even fiercer than I had before. I look forward to growing as a journalist and editor, but more importantly, I am excited to show someone — whether it be an editor or staff writer — what I was I was shown when I was in their places only a short time to ago. To the students, faculty and staff who read us, and those who read us in the future:Be ready for changes that will both grow us as journalists not only for our stories but to better serve the UH community as your No. 1 source for news. The board and I are still ironing out our plan for the year ahead. Some of the things you can expect is more coverage of student life, a greater presence of social media, a new look of our print product, and integration of multimedia with the collaboration of CoogTV and Coog Radio. I hope everyone is ready for this journey we’re about to take together. -Dana C. Jones, incoming editor-in-chief
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Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
MEDIA
Student journalists are knocking down barriers of exclusivity
W
ithout realizing it, student journalists bear the burden of growing and diversifying the news media that are crucial to maintaining our liberty. In newsrooms all over the country, minority journalists have always been treated as tokens. Although minorities make up roughly 40 percent of the U.S. population, according to census data, they make up only 17 percent of newsroom staff. And according to a study by the American Society of News Editors, in 2016 minority ANUSHEH women SIDDIQUE made up only OPINION EDITOR 5 percent of newsroom personnel. This lack of representation sabotages understanding of minority issues and student journalists are alleviating it. This issue manifests most blatantly in white journalists' scope and sensitivity — or lack thereof — in covering day-to-day news and culturally specific stories. As every other industry races forward, traditional journalism continues to lag in diversity. It is impossible to tell international and inclusive narratives when we hushed the voices of these narrators long ago. And by doing a disservice of filtering them through a mostly male, white lens, we are undermining the authenticity of the lives we are trying to uplift. These are not just stories we're telling. The narrowness of perspective can be seen in the many nuanced editions of Colin Kaepernick's story. Lonnae O'Neal — a writer for The Undefeated that examines the intersection of sports, race and culture — covered Kaerpernick's act as a protest and not an affront to patriotism. O'Neal's more racially sensitive remarks stem from her experience as
STAFF EDITORIAL
Continued from page 13 kind only a student newspaper can manage. The Cougar has served UH for the same number of years as the Daily Campus, and amid the decline of print journalism entirely, we run the ever-increasing risk of suffering the same fate.
Sonny Singh/The Cougar
someone who can empathize with Kaepernick's plight and translate it to a largely white audience. Her status as a minority offered her the capability to ask: "Why is this country is more brown than ever, but mainstream journalism is so white?" Traditional media excluded many perspectives from newspapers, broadcasts and radio shows. The credibility of a story relied on the gender and race of its reporter for far longer than we should've allowed. This was detrimental for minorities suffering under misrepresentation who had no voice in media to counter these fallacies. According to Barbara Walters, the first female news anchor, this was a time characterized by the belief that nobody would take a woman reporting hard news seriously. Her presence in the media spurred thousands of women to respond with their own stories of discrimination.
Max Robinson, the first black news anchor, had a similar struggle with the limited racial lens of journalism at the time. He referred to the news media as a "crooked mirror" through which "white America views itself." Student journalists are pioneers of their time, finding entirely new ways to present and consume information. We see the world in a fundamentally different way, as a product of living in this unique and rapidly changing time. To tell our stories accurately and reliably, this generation of journalists had to break the mold that limited our predecessors and modernize multimedia. The diversity in perspective is evident in our own newsroom. In an informal survey of The Cougar last October found that our staff is made of roughly 68 percent racial minorities, while the Houston Chronicle has roughly 23 percent. Journalism thrives in the face of
oppression, but does it stand for inclusion? It does now. This wave of student journalists has brought forth an entirely unprecedented brand of inclusion. Social media has connected us in revolutionary ways and incited so much awareness that ignorance is no longer an option. Traditional journalism was written by white journalists for a white audience, but student journalists use tools like social media to connect with marginalized audiences that have been previously alienated. This technological shift has led to social change that gives anyone in my generation the power to amplify their protests, the mic to share their grievances and an international community as an audience to their journalism. No one can dare tell me we can't change the world because I see it happen every day. Not only does this technology allow for a more relatable point
The staff of The Cougar are akin to the editorial board of the Daily Campus in nearly every way. We spend our nights, weekends and between-class breaks laboring over the stories we feel are going unheard, the heroes unsung and justice unserved. Ask any student journalist, whether they be from UH's Center for Student Media or elsewhere, why they take part in their campus
newspaper, and they'll tell you the same thing: It's out of a sense of duty to the truth, and duty to their community. But a student-run newsroom cannot function on the passion of its journalists, alone. We need the support of our readers, and that support is earned. We need you to pick up the paper, and if you don't want to, please take the time to tell us why.
While The Cougar has no plans to close its doors anytime soon, the budgetary and administrative pitfalls that led to the demise of SMU's paper loom over every college newspaper — even yours. Whether or not you're a habitual reader of the newspaper, the editors and reporters who make up the Cougar go to print each week solely out of a sense of duty to students like you.
of view, but it also allows journalism to appeal to the masses and become interactive through hashtags and Twitter threads, which allow for interactivity and constant updates. We've found more direct way to relate to our audience and provide more direction information. Outdated and inaccurate narratives regarding race and ethnicity won't budge until the news industry accepts diverse reporters that can discredit them. Journalism is fed by the rich variety in perspectives that my generation has provided. Student journalists refuse to keep subjecting people to these impoverished and flawed truths, and that's why the institution of journalism needs them now more than ever before. Opinion Editor Anusheh Siddique is a political science freshman and can be reached at opinion@ thedailycougar.com
So, pick up the paper whenever you can, and we'll continue spending sleepless nights at our cubicles, trudging to campus amid inclement weather closures and searching tirelessly for the stories we believe embody and serve the UH community — loving every minute of it. editor@thedailycougar.com