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Issue 3, Volume 84
Cougars’ offensive line changes the game NEWS
Added BCycle stations
In 2016, the UH Office of Sustainability announced that BCycle, a popular bike share program, would come to campus. This semester, four stations debuted for student use. | PG. 3
OPINION
Banking on textbooks
Professors who make students buy self-authored textbooks add an unnecessary burden to an already costly education. | PG. 9
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NEWS
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STATE
Social Spotlight: Twitter effects policy change Two months and more than 20,000 retweets later, Texas A&M University announces update to its Title IX procedure following student #MeToo tweets ALANA HOWARD
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR @IAMALANAHOWARD
Meghan Romere, a tutor for the athletics department at Texas A&M, helped A&M wide receiver Kirk Merritt with his history coursework. During an Oct. 24, 2016, tutoring appointment, Merritt allegedly exposed his genitals and began masturbating in front of Romere. She reported the incident — the second report involving Merritt exposing himself to a student tutor that morning — that night. After consultation with the athletics department, the university suspended Merritt from the football team for two days and mandated no contact between him and Romere. “I (was) subjected to questioning by a board of supposedly unbiased judges, and required to relive the entire incident again,” Romere wrote in an image attached to the tweet. “Only to be told that even though they believed me, they couldn’t find him guilty because he had ‘jock itch’ and couldn’t control his scratching, causing his penis to fall out of his shorts.” At the end of the semester, she quit her job. In a June Twitter thread, Romere said the University failed her. On Aug. 20, according to coverage by KBTX, Texas A&M University at College Station finalized 11 changes to its Title IX policy after Romere and another student addressed their experiences on Twitter.
On June 7, A&M student Hannah Shaw took to Twitter to condemn the university's handling of her sexual miscoduct report. Four days later, fellow student Meghan Romere shared similar concerns. | Screenshot of Meghan Romere's Twitter
““We were declassified as victims and were instead ‘witnesses’ which removed us from the proceedings and removed our rights to know whether or not our attacker has been found guilty of his actions,” Hannah Romere, Texas A&M University student
Policy failures In their viral June tweets, Romere and fellow A&M student Hannah Shaw, who said she was sexually assaulted by swimmer Austin Van Overdam, said the university handled their sexual misconduct cases with a sense of leniency. In the tweet, Romere cited A&M’s tendency to prioritize their athletics program as the problem. At the time of Romere’s report and investigation, A&M’s Title IX policy did not bar administration from consulting with the athletics department in determining punishment.
After an appeal for a second hearing, Romere said she and the other tutor who reported sexual misconduct were nearly removed from the investigation. “We were declassified as victims and were instead ‘witnesses’ which removed us from the proceedings and removed our rights to know whether or not our attacker has been found guilty of his actions,” Romere wrote in the attached image.
‘Rotting from the inside’ Shaw and Romere said on Twitter that they felt deceived by A&M, because the arranged
sanctions allowed the student athletes at fault to return to class after their temporary suspensions ended. “Your precious athletics program means nothing if it represents a university that’s rotting from the inside out,” Romere said in a tweet. “The administration at Texas A&M has a priority problem, and until they realize that the safety and well-being of ordinary students matters just as much as the skills of their athletes, stories like this will become the norm.” In early June, just four days
before Romere’s tweet, Shaw tweeted she was upset that Van Overdam was allowed back on campus along with the university’s swim team. Shaw accompanied her tweet with the conduct letter she received from A&M’s Title IX program. “I emailed them back saying even though his Title IX case is over it’s still wrong for him to compete,” Shaw said in a tweet. On June 18, Van Overdam filed a lawsuit against A&M. His attorney, Gaines West, announced that the lawsuit was filed on the grounds to support that Van Overdam was
treated unfairly and wrongly disciplined throughout the investigation. The sanctions for Van Overdam included suspension for one semester, conduct probation effective once he re-enrolled, and a mandatory meeting to discuss consent and sexual health with a member of the Consensual Language, Education, Awareness, and Relationships office, according to a letter sent to Shaw by A&M. As for Romere, the Merritt received just two days of suspension from the football team, and both parties had to sign a no contact order ensuring that they would not be in the same room together. “If we (the students who reported Merritt) knew that he would be present in an area, it was our responsibility to leave,” Romere wrote in the attached image. “This effectively barred us from any events where the football team would be present.” A&M’s Title IX office oversaw the Student Affairs Conduct Panel that involved athletics and determined the athletes’ guilt and punishment. In both of these incidences, Romere and Shaw felt their university failed to inflict the best sanctions, and most of all, they both felt that A&M’s priority with invoking cases of sexual assault was treated as less important than keeping the student athletes in school and within their designated organization. According to A&M’s updated Sexual Misconduct Policy, some of the changes included hiring more faculty, improving counseling and training, having the Dean of Students playing a more interactive role in various restrictions during investigation, and permanent removal from university extracurricular activities for those found guilty of sexual assault. A&M also put in place a minimum yearlong suspension for those found guilty of sexual misconduct and made it easier to find the policy online and on campus. news@thedailycougar.com
Wednesday, August 29, 2018 | 3
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Four BCycle bike sharing stations arrive, more to come
The Cougar
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Morgan Horst COVER
Corbin Ayres
All six planned BCycle stations. The stations near the Welcome Center Garage and the Fine Arts Building are under construction. | Courtesy of The Office of Sustainability
Michael slaten
campus editor
@michaelslaten
Bike sharing has come to the University this semester with four Houston BCycle stations across campus and more to come. Houston BCycle is a non-profit bike share program with dozens of stations across Houston. After a year of planning between the University and Houston BCycle, the first stations began operating this semester with the hope of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “I hope it’s something that provides a valuable service for students,” said Michael Mendoza, sustainability manager at the Office of Sustainability. The current station locations are near Cougar Village 1, across the street from Cougar Place, outside of Student Center North and wat the UH Technology Bridge.
Two more stations are being built near the Fine Arts Building and by the Welcome Center Parking Garage and UH South/ University Oaks METRO rail stop. They are expected to reach completion in the coming weeks and bring more than 100 docks to the University as a whole, Mendoza said. For now, the Office of Sustainability will monitor the use of BCycles before any plans are made to expand, Mendoza said. They will evaluate how BCycles are being used between different stations on campus and how students are connecting with other stations across the city. The Office of Sustainability chose to bring BCycle to campus because it would allow students to connect to other places in Houston. After a survey was sent out to students, the positive
BCycle station outside of Cougar Place. | Michael Slaten/The Cougar
response for adding a bike share program was overwhelming, Mendoza said. BCycles were originally announced to come to the University in 2016. They only arrived this year after going through the stages of regulatory approval. “The Student Center was the number one spot for students,” Mendoza said. “Other than that, it was near housing or near the METRO rail, that way it can be the last mile kind of thing.” The Office of Sustainability has suggested routes for students to look at on their website. “Because UH has a large portion of commuter students and has a relatively large campus, we are hoping that students and staff will get to the school, park their car or transit and use BCycle as a micro point A to point B on campus,” said BCycle Marketing and Communications Director Henry Morris. BCycle’s goal is to have 120 stations in Houston by 2020, Morris said. Right now there are 60 stations and 425 bikes. There is already a station near at the Gateway on Cullen Student Apartments and several at Hermann Park. “That includes major expansion in Medical Center, TSU, UH Downtown and other areas,” Morris said. If a student has a mechanical issue with a bike, they can report it to BCycle. Technicians check on every station in the city about once a week, and all bikes go through BCycle’s service shop once a
month, Morris said. Even if the stations at the University have low ridership, BCycle stations likely won’t be taken away as they are built to be permanent in their location, Morris said. “We think that the college demographic is generally really well suited to pursue things that are healthy and sustainable for community building,” Morris said. “We are hopeful it’s going to be a really beneficial thing for campus.” BCycle began in 2012 and is funded through federal grants, sponsorships and membership revenue, Morris said. University students can purchase a student membership for $25 a semester that is prorated if a student signs up late in the semester, according to BCycle’s webpage. BCycle is available in other cities in the United States, but only purchasing an annual membership will allow students to use BCycle in other cities. With the majority of students commuting to campus in singlerider vehicles, BCycles along with COAST and METRO are alternative forms of transportation UH supports to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Where we are really hoping is it can provide an alternative form of transportation for students,” Mendoza said. “Something I’m really focusing on is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and how are we contributing to uplifting our climate presence.” news@thedailycougar.com
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NEWS
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Campus
Constitutional carry would bring challenges, UHPD chief says
The Texas Legislature is expected to consider a law next year that would allow carrying of firearms without a permit, called constitutional carry. | Courtesy of Clairissa via Wikimedia Commons
michael slaten
campus editor @michaelslaten
The UHPD chief has called for the state legislature to not pass a law allowing constitutional carry throughout the state, including on college campuses, last week during a University of Houston System Board of Regents meeting. Constitutional carry would allow Texans to carry a firearm, concealed or open carry, without first getting a permit, according to the Star-Telegram. Chief Ceaser Moore, speaking to the UH System Board of Regents about an open carry report, said the discussion of constitutional carry at the state legislature is concerning. The University would have to have secure facilities in each building on campus that is campus carry excluded or has a campus carry exclusion room to allow storage of weapons, Moore said. The University has more than two dozen campus carry exclusion zones, according to UHPD. “For us, that would be
“For us, that would be monumental if that passed. If you look at the number of buildings where we have rooms excluded, we would have to put secure facilites in all of those locations and that's just not smart and that's just not viable to do that." Ceaser Moore, UHPD Chief monumental if that passed,” Moore said. “If you look at the number of buildings where we have rooms excluded, we would have to put secure facilities in all of those locations and that’s just not smart and that’s just not viable to do that.” Under constitutional carry, more people would be allowed to bring firearms to campus. No paperwork would be needed for a student to be able to bring a firearm to campus. As of now, Texans must be 21 or older to have a license to carry a handgun, unless they are a member of the armed forces or former member, according to
the Texas Department of Public Safety. Then, they can be 18. Passing constitutional carry and the controversial “bathroom bill” are top priorities for Texas Republicans in the 2019 legislative session, according to the Texas Tribune. “We support constitutional carry legislation through any legislative means so law-abiding citizens may carry any legally owned guns openly or concealed while maintaining the option of a permit for reciprocity purposes only,” according to a Texas GOP approved platform regarding constitutional carry. The state legislature
discussed constitutional carry in 2017 but failed to pass it, according to the Texas Tribune. Moore said he has told officials from the state his concerns regarding constitutional carry. At the meeting, Moore said the University of Houston System will send its required biennial report to the state about how the implementation of campus carry is going throughout the UH System. Since campus carry arrived in 2016, he said the University dealt with many buildings requesting to be an exclusion zone for campus carry, but that has since stabilized and only new buildings being built are applying. All campus residence halls are campus carry exclusion zones except the University Lofts. Moore said parents come to him concerned about the offcampus apartments’ policies, but the University can’t control them. “Those off-campus housing is akin to your own private home and has nothing to do with UH,” Moore said.
More than 1.2 million Texans have an active concealed carry permit for firearms in Texas, according to a concealed carry resource website. Thirteen states already have constitutional carry for their residents, according to a concealed carry resource website. Some states restrict only give residents the right to constitutional carry, but most don’t. Texans are allowed to hide a handgun in their vehicle without a permit. However, they must have a permit for concealed or open carry. As a public university, UH would have very limited power outside applying for exclusion zones to restrict access to people carrying firearms. A private University, like the University of St. Thomas, would not have to allow firearms on campus. In 2015, the University of St. Thomas opted out of campus carry, according to the Houston Chronicle. news@thedailycougar.com
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Andres Chio, EDITOR
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Offensive line will bully defenses off of the field Trenton Whiting
Assistant SporTs editor @Trentonwhiting
Classes have started, training camp is coming to a close and another season of UH football is quickly approaching. The focus will be on the offense this year, and the driving force behind its success is the offensive line. The big men in the middle are confident that they will come out to play. “This is probably going to be one of our best seasons in the past few seasons. We have good cohesiveness,” said junior tackle Josh Jones. “So I feel like we’re going to be great this year.” The line has higher expectations for itself this year, as it is stocked with veterans at every position. It features fouryear starter Will Noble and the return of junior guard Kameron Eloph. Eloph was injured last season, so this training camp was a good test to see if he would be ready this year. So far, camp has been good to him, and he said he is ready for next season. “My injury was a minor setback to a major comeback,” Eloph said. “I feel good. It hasn’t been bothering me.” Health is going to be an important part of this year’s success, especially since the offense is going to be focusing on moving quickly down the field. The line has been getting used to the new pace during training camp and they have
The offensive line has benefited from facing high-level defensive linemen like Ed Oliver and Isaiah Chambers every day at practice. | Corbin Ayres/ The Cougar
been practicing at game-time speed. It has proved to be a bit of a challenge for the linemen, but their work will help them accomplish their goals. “I feel like we’re getting used to it. It’s hard, they push us every day to go fast, every single play,” Jones said. “I’m getting used to it. Overall we’re just trying to push ourselves out there.” If anything is going to slow down this year’s offensive line, it won’t be a lack of chemistry. Many of the starters have been together for years, and some of the bench has gotten
meaningful playing time. They believe the experience will only benefit the team. “Luckily, we’ve got a veteran group,” senior center Will Noble said. “We’ve got a lot of players who’ve been there, done that, so it’s just refining things and making sure we click as a group and get back running.” The line had a lot of success last season and will try to recreate last season, when the team rushed for over 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. UH will likely continue to run the ball at a high rate after averaging 37 rushes per
game last year. With Duke Catalon leaving the team for personal reasons, there will be less firepower in the running back room. The offensive line will need to be effective to aid the running game. In general, the line had a very efficient training camp this year. Not only have the linemen been getting rave reviews from the coaching staff, but they have also rated themselves highly. When asked about the quality of their camp, they each echoed the same basic message. “It’s been productive,” Eloph said. “The offense and defense
(is) just getting better.” There is still some time before the Cougars play its first game. So far, the coaches have gotten exactly what they were expecting from the offensive line. UH may expect to have its best O-line in years, but there will be an extreme effort to make sure this goal is achieved. “Every year, we work with what we got and we’ve got to go for it,” Noble said. “This year is no different. We’re going to do our best and try to put our best product out on the field.” sports@thedailycougar.com
Soccer nets a successful weekend with wins over Prairie View A&M and Incarnate Word
Soccer defeated Prairie View A&M and Incarnate Word last weekened to improve its record to 2-2-0. Sophomore Olivia Lee (No.11) and junior Desiree Bowen (No.7) scored two goals each over the weekend. Houston will play three games on the road before returning home to Houston to play Sam Houston State on Sept. 7 and McNeese on Sept. 9. | Courtesy of Stephen Pinchback, UH Athletics
Sports Andres Chio, EDITOR
Wednesday, August 29, 2018 | 7
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Football
Knights enter new season with questions while Cougars have high hopes Houston, Navy, and Memphis will wage war over the West Christopher McGehee
Staff writer @UHCoogchris
The fight for supremacy in the West is shaping up to be a grueling, three-team race with the Memphis Tigers, Navy Midshipmen and Houston Cougars in contention. There is no true way to predict exactly how a team’s season will shape go, but there are exercises that can give you a good idea for how a team may do. One of those is to look at a team’s strength of schedule and determine where a team might lose. Every team in the West plays at least one team currently ranked in the Top 25, except for Houston. The toughest in-conference tests for Houston are its away games against the Navy and Memphis as well as a date in Lubbock against Texas Tech and a home contest against Arizona and Heisman candidate Khalil Tate. Memphis faces No. 21 ranked UCF and go on the road against Navy, while Navy squares off against No. 12 ranked Notre Dame and travels to Orlando to battle UCF. SMU faces three teams ranked in the Top 25, Tulane will travel
Memphis won the West Division last season with a 7-1 conference and defeated second place Houston 42-38 at TDECU Stadium. | Thomas Dwyer / The Cougar
to Columbus to face No. 5 Ohio State and Tulsa hits the road to face No. 23 Texas, Navy, Memphis and Houston. While Houston’s schedule will not garner it any national respect, it does provide a path for the team to go undefeated which makes them the division favorite.
Wild horse If much of the season plays out as expected, the biggest trap game for the west’s top teams will be SMU. The Mustangs have virtually no chance of going undefeated with
its scheduled games against No. 16 TCU, No. 14 Michigan, and No. 21 UCF, but it is a dark horse for the West title. SMU does play its toughest dvision opponents, Houston, Navy and Memphis, in Dallas where it was 6-1 last season, so in conference it has a good chance to upset some teams. If SMU can defeat any of those three teams, it can throw a wrench into the championship race to the top of the West. Looking at the schedule is not the only way to determine potential success.
Changing faces Looking at the schedule is just one way to determine potential season success, but another is how many players are returning from the previous year. In college, there is constant player turnover since 99 percent of the time a team can only have a player for five seasons. Looking through that lens, the outlook in the West becomes a little clearer. Memphis has to replace star quarterback Riley Ferguson, who was third in the nation in passing yards last season. The Tigers have chosen Brady White,
a graduate transfer who has not played since early 2016. Navy will remain virtually unchanged at key positions this season, which could be a concern since it lost to Houston by double digits last season. The Cougars meanwhile, added a lot of veteran talent in the off season to pair with its returning star players. The winner of the West will likely be decided in the season's final week when Houston plays Memphis and there is no way to tell which team will come out on top. sports@thedailycougar.com
Knights favored to win the East, but Owls could reclaim old throne Andres Chio
sports Editor
@Chioandres
The American Athletic Conference has a trio of teams competing for the West Division, but there is a clear favorite in the East. UCF was one of the biggest stories at the end of last season when it went undefeated and declared itself national champion while its coaching staff left for Nebraska. The official Colley Matrix national champions have to try to repeat the feat without the staff that turned it from 0-12 in 2015 to 13-0 in 2017 and without the heart of the defense Shaquem Griffin. Luckily for the Knights, its dynamic duo in quarterback McKenzie Milton and running
back Adrian Killins Jr. are returning to the team along with most of the offensive line. The Knights new head coach Josh Heupel was the offensive coordinator at Missouri for two seasons and the team had the 11th best offense in the nation last season. When you pair a proven offensive minded coach with proven players, it is a recipe for success and the Knights are the favorites in the East. But before the Knights rose to glory, the Owls sat at the apex of the East. Temple won the division in 2015 and the conference in 2016. It was done off the back of quarterback Phillip Walker and head coach Matt Rhule before Walker graduated in 2016 and Rhule left to coach at Baylor. The team could not replace
either of them, but the rest of the players are skilled. Temple has had some of the top recruiting classes in the 2015, 2016 and 2018 so it is just a matter of the coaching staff catching up to the talent level on the field.
Cultivating new talent Head coach Charlie Strong inherited a very talented roster when he arrived at USF after being fired from Texas with Quinton Flowers, who started his final three seasons at quarterback. Now we have to see what Strong can do when he has to develop a new talent which is a skill he did not show very well at Texas. USF has chosen junior Blake Barnett to start for game 1 of the season, but he is untested with
just 24 passes attempted in his last two seasons at Alabama and Arizona State. If the Bulls are able to find a quarterback worthy of filling Flowers' shoes, then it has a great chance to get revenge against the Knights in the War on I-4. South Florida came up short in the War on I-4 against UCF last season in an absolute barn burner, but this season it will take place in South Florida's home. Lastly, East Carolina, Cincinnati and UConn sit at the bottom of the conference, but Cincinnati could break away from the group. East Carolina have been the bottom feeder of the league since it entered in 2015 and things are unlikely to get better. The Pirates went 3-9 in the last two seasons,
but middling recruiting classes should start improving it to a mid tier team in the conference soon. Cincinnati recruited very well in 2017 and 2018, but it might be too soon for those recruits to have become strong and experience enough to lift the team to contender ship. UConn on the other hand is a prime example of the poor getting poorer. Its best recruiting class in the last four years was in 2015, but that class was 99th nationally and 10th in the conference and it just gotten worse since. If UCF regresses after losing its coaching staff, it could be just enough to push Temple or USF above to the top of the East. sports@thedailycougar.com
8 | Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Andres Chio, EDITOR
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Cross Country
Cross Country starts next chapter at Aggie Opener
Senior Blake Contreras said that the Cougars are very competitive and everyone on the team is trying to take the vacant No. 1 spot . | Courtesy of UH Athletics
Jackson Gatlin
senior staff writer @JTGatlin
What does a pack do without its leader? The Cougars Cross Country team will face that exact question as it begins
the season Friday at Texas A&M’s Aggie Opener event with its long time captain now graduated. "The good thing is, for the first time in five years we don’t have a number one runner.
We have people who could potentially be there though. I think the position our team is in with just one senior is a good thing. It challenges the (younger) people to rise to the occasion,” said head coach Steve Magness. Alum Brian Barraza has been the leader and face of the CrossCountry team for the past few years, and while the Cougars will miss Barraza’s efforts on the field, he is sticking around in a coaching role. “We’re still trying to figure out Brian’s official title, but with someone like that it’s great to have him around and to continue that legacy of UH graduates returning to the program. He can pass down his wisdom and help motivate others,” Magness said. Senior distance runner Britani Gonzales said that Barraza has given her and the women's team a lot of advice since he now has more time to help the rest of the runners instead of training all the time. Some of the young runners he has been mentoring are redshirt freshmen Cooper Godfrey and Nicholas Fernandes for the men’s team and sophomores Claudia Santos and Brianna
Nolen for the women’s team. Godfrey and Fernandes did not compete in any meets last season, but coach Magness knows his untested athletes just need an opportunity to showcase their skills. “We’re going to allow some of our younger athletes to step up and take their chance,” Magness said. Santos competed in five meets during the 2017 season, finishing with a time of 24:56.6 and placing 84th in the 6K at the American Athletic Conference Championships. Nolen only competed in two meets during her freshman campaign, opening her career at the Rice Invitational where she finished 33rd. The transition between seasons can either be a time for athletes to stagnate, or a time for them to grow and add something to their game, and nobody knows this better than Magness. “You never know what can occur over a summer,” Magness said. “You’re always looking for a surprise. Someone who took it seriously, got in shape and made a breakthrough. We always say, ‘our seasons are made in the summer,’ because if you put in a
good summer of work then that lets you shine.” The team has spent all summer preparing themselves for the start of the season in College Station. Magness said that he will pair the newest runners with more experienced runners to test them and see who puts up good results. Gonzales is not competing at the event, but said she is exciting for her teammates to finally get the season started. “I think everyone is the most fit that they’ve ever been since I’ve been here. They’ve been consistently been getting through the workouts, so I’m excited for them.” Gonzales said. Gonzales' excitement was shared by fellow senior Blake Contreras, who said that the venture into the new season has brought the team closer, and hopefully higher, than ever. “The athletic potential is really good, but the team bonding has been great,” Contreras said. “We’re all friends and each other’s family. This is probably the best team we’ve ever had. There will be a big learning curve, but also a lot of growth." sports@thedailycougar.com
Football
Rice rivalry has deep roots across football and baseball Trenton Whiting
Assistant Sports Editor @trentonwhiting
Rice University was founded in 1912. Fifteen years later, the University of Houston was erected a few blocks away. Fortunately for sports fans of these schools, it’s been bad blood ever since. The sports rivalry took a few years to develop to the version we see today. The UH football team didn’t exist until 1946, and the schools didn’t face each other until 1971. However, they quickly made up for lost time as they saw each other annually for the next 24 years. With that kind of frequency, it’s no wonder that they harbor hostilities. Recently, UH has dominated this series against Rice. The Cougars have won eight of the last 10 games and scored 73 points twice. The Owls have a chance
in September to avenge an embarrassing loss in last season’s opener and also try to close the gap in their all-time series. While UH definitely has the edge against Rice on the football field, the Owls control the diamond. Rice leads the all-time series against the Cougars and has been more successful. In 2003, the Owls won the College World Series, a feat the Cougars have yet to accomplish. Wayne Graham led the baseball team to much of its success. Graham was the coach for 27 years, including the championship season. He has also created another wrinkle to the rivalry. Graham received a degree from UH and applied to be its baseball coach twice before Rice hired him in 1992. Turns out that the Cougars passed on an all-time great coach as Graham went on to win more than 1,000 games with the
Owls. Graham definitely got revenge against Houston, as he ended his career with an 85-36 record against the school. The Cougars have work to do to catch up in the series, and it might be years before the gap tightens. While the rivalry between these schools in sports is well-documented, the competition ascends the physical aspect. Houston is a diverse city, so naturally, Houston’s universities emphasize having many different ethnicities and races on campus. Rice and UH are both relatively elite in this regard, as College Factual ranks Rice at No. 152 of more than 2,000 schools in undergrad diversity. Not to be outdone, UH comes in at No. 72, establishing itself as one of the most diverse schools in the nation. Academics are an important part of the rivalry, as both schools boast of elite education
and high quality degrees. Rice takes a significant advantage here, as US News ranks it as the No. 14 school in the nation. UH is only a few spots above No. 200. While Rice definitely takes the edge here, UH students graduating in four years can do so with about $100,000 for tuition and fees according to College Factual. The Owls on average pay $60,000 annually, not including financial aid. Students from Rice may feel that their steep cost is worth it, while some Cougars are happy they chose a cheaper school to enroll in. Both schools will likely continue their war to gain a definitive advantage over the other by strengthening their athletic and academic programs. Luckily, those enrolled gain the largest benefit from this battle. sports@thedailycougar.com
Fiona Legesse/ The Cougar
Wednesday, August 29, 2018 | 9
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STAFF EDITORIAL
Professors should not profit from required text
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very semester, textbook in their lessons: self-enrichment prices deal a fatal blow to versus promoting student interests. student bank accounts, yet Professors cannot be left to some professors continue to profit solely determine whether their own from the sales of books they wrote material provides the best learning and require for class. experience for students. Even if it Universities, like the University does, professors shouldn’t be allowed of Kentucky, implemented policies to profit from the students who instructing professors to donate royalready pay to be in their class. alties and seek the administration’s Financial gain deters professors approval before requiring their own from finding inexpensive ways to textbooks, according to the Lexingteach courses. ton Herald-Leader. The University of According to the Lexington Houston doesn’t have a similar policy Herald-Leader, Buck Ryan, a jouron donating royalties, but it does nalism professor at the University of require professors to seek approval Kentucky, made his book a required from their department or college, reading for his journalism class and according to the faculty handbook. made $6,000 in royalties. The univerAccording to College Board, sity tried to fire the tenured professor students attending public fourfor violating their policy, but a faculty year universities spent an average committee recommended against it, of $1,250 on books and supplies in citing the policy’s lack of clarity and academic year 2017-18. Authors of irregular enforcement as a reason. these textbooks received 11.7 percent However, if correctly implemented, of the sales price as of 2008, according a similar policy would benefit stuto the U.S. News. dents. It would encourage professors A conflict of interestCougar arises News whenSeptember-print.pdf to find inexpensive and accessible 10-11546 1 8/17/18 1:43 PM professors use textbooks they wrote materials to teach their class, because
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Accessibility to textbooks for students is paramount over professor royalties.| Fiona Legesse/The Cougar
they’d have no financial motive to self-promote their work. But these policies aren’t a ban on professors using their own textbook, just a safeguard keeping them from abusing their power over students. When a professor’s written material surpasses all others, classes should be taught using that text. But professors
using their own work should forgo all royalties, which could be given to charities or university programs, to avoid potential conflicts of interests. Universities and professors need to recognize the financial hardships associated with a college education. If a class can be taught with an inexpensive textbook or none at all, then professors should strive to avoid expensive texts, including their own. Allowing professors to profit from already-struggling students makes it harder to incentivize the use of inexpensive reading materials. Publishers can also help to reduce textbook prices for students attending the author’s university by not paying royalties. Universities could offer said textbooks for free in their libraries or databases, and professors could loan books to their students for assignments. A university should work to keep attendance costs down, like textbook prices — especially if a cheaper alternative exists. These policies aren’t meant to
keep professors from researching and writing books nor aimed at keeping authors from receiving royalties from book sales outside of their university. Without them, students would be left with outdated information. Policy should instead focus on promoting accessibility to textbooks written by faculty in their respective institutions. Employing experts on their field generates a positive image for universities, and reading material written by faculty should be promoted — just not at the expense of their students. Student need updated textbooks to keep up in their respective fields, but universities need to facilitate access, not hinder it. Instead of asking students to pay their teachers for books, faculty and institutions should make books written by faculty readily available to their student body. editor@thedailycougar.com
10 | Wednesday, August 29, 2018
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politics
Truth is truth: government rhetoric of fighting facts
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n August 19, presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani participated in an interview with "Meet the Press"’s Chuck Todd regarding developments in the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Todd questioned Giuliani on why Trump cristobella has yet to be interviewed durrette life and arts by the team editor heading up the investigation, to which Giuliani gave an eyebrowraising reply. “I’m not going to be rushed into having him testify so that (President Trump) gets trapped into perjury,” Giuliani said. “When you tell me that he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry, that’s so silly, because it’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth. Truth isn’t truth.” This problematic statement undermines the objectivity of factual information provided by the government by placing truth in the eyes of the beholder. In stating that Trump’s testimony will be “somebody’s version of the truth,” Giuliani implies that Trump’s truth doesn’t align with the objective truth. In portraying the truth as something up for debate, the government makes it so that facts no longer function as concrete evidence. Rather, the truth becomes malleable, allowing for the manipulation of ideas to suit their own needs.
The history of this narrative The idea of government
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In a recent interview, Rudy Giuliani stated that “truth isn’t truth.” This problematic stance aims to invalidate the objective truth and make factual information malleable to suit the government’s needs. | Fiona Legesse/The Cougar
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leaders seeking to communication, Dr. Lindita media in this country is to 12 noon & 7:00 pm manipulate the narrative Camaj, has done research be not the opposition to the Sunday Bible of history in the making is focused on political government, butClass an oversight not a new concept. Rather, communication and the body,” Camaj said. “Of course, it is a phenomenon that relationship between media no government likes to be has persisted throughout and politics. overseen.” political history. “The relationship between This governmental University of Houston the pressINand the government oversight is ,meant to hold IF YOU ARE INTERESTED ADVERTISING IN WORSHIP DIRECTORY associate professor of CONTACT A has always been rockyAT 713-743-5356 those in positions of power SALES REPRESENTATIVE journalism and mass because the role of the accountable for the truth of
their actions. This truth does not always portray political figures in a flattering light, so those whom it affects seek to change it to maintain a favorable public image. The idea of the government manipulating the truth “goes back even to the Depression era,” Camaj said. “During that time, President Hoover was really trying hard to frame how the Depression was perceived. Even the word Depression is actually a framed terminology to try to control what was going on.” From Hoover to Nixon, from Clinton to Trump, this manipulation of the truth has persisted over time. It has gotten exponentially worse under the current presidential administration. Since its infancy, the leaders in the Trump administration have sought to invalidate the truth so they won’t be held accountable for the falsehoods they spread. During his first public briefing shortly after Trump’s inauguration, the White House press secretary at the time, Sean Spicer, provided the falsehood that the crowd present at Trump’s inauguration ceremony was the largest audience to ever attend the event. Shortly after this statement was made, in January of 2017, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway stated in an interview with Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" that Spicer gave alternative facts, not falsehoods. This Orwellian concept of stating that two contrary ideas are simultaneously true attempts to hide government wrongdoing from the public by spreading misinformation and creating confusion. Government leaders in recent years have taken this desire to shape the truth a step further in bypassing the media entirely. Utilizing social media sites such as Twitter, the president and members of his administration are able to communicate with the public directly. This allows them to spread their own versions of the truth without the fact-checking
truth is truth
Continues on next page
Wednesday, August 29, 2018 | 11
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Opinion
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In implying that the truth is something that is up for debate, presidential lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has preemptively undermined the testimony of his client, President Donald Trump. Giuiliani is hesitant to have President Trump testify in relation to the ongoing investigation into alleged meddling by Russia in the 2016 presidential election. | Wikimedia Commons
“The relationship between the press and the government has always been rocky because the role of the media in this country is to be not the opposition to the government, but an oversight body." Dr. Lindita Camaj, associate professor of journalism and mass communication accountability of the media. “This (relationship) is not new,” Camaj said. “The language that is being used and the degree to which this is done explicitly is, the degree to which the president uses a channel for negotiation like Twitter is.”
Manipulating truth, public and press Attempts by the government to manipulate or hide the truth not only impact the public that they’re connecting with but also the media that is meant to hold them accountable. “For a long time, journalists were seen as the beacon of truth and as the one who keeps an eye on the government on behalf of the people,” Camaj said. This job is complicated by the government’s perception of the media as the enemy of the people. In
undermining the validity of this crucial oversight body, the government places doubt in the minds of the public about the truth of the media’s statements. This makes citizens more likely to believe the falsehoods that the government spreads. If journalists aren’t able to do their jobs effectively because of how they are perceived, then the public may not have access to the objective truth of a situation. “The people who would be most impacted are the people who are not as informed and people who tend to be less educated,” Camaj said. “Especially those less educated in terms of not having enough media literacy.” Life and Arts editor Cristobella Durrette is a creative writing sophomore. She can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.
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Universal Crossword Edited by Timothy Parker August 29, 2018
ACROSS 1 Room up top 6 Scoundrels 10 Idyllic garden 14 ___ apso 15 Reed with 53-Down 16 Conclude a judging 17 250-300 are great ones 20 Big bird 21 Put in a footnote 22 Lay about? No, U-turn 23 Governing body 27 10-Across inhabitant 28 Grp. on the rebound? 29 Spike touching the floor 30 Some hold fish 32 “Shoo” attachments 34 Shirt size 38 Two on ice 42 Part of a joint 43 In the past 44 Annoying faucet sound 45 Bibliographic note 48 Steamy 50 Whichever 51 Serious burnings 55 Artist Yoko 56 Verdi’s slave
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57 Asian language 58 Eastern U.S. winter activity 64 “___ we forget ...” 65 Early Jesus worshipers 66 After, for those 58-Across 67 Exulting poems 68 Draught pourings 69 Little bighorn DOWN 1 Priest’s cover 2 A conjunction, cut 3 Shooting marble 4 Place to stop a yacht 5 Alligatorlike creature 6 Gear part 7 Old counting devices 8 Advocating peace 9 Be beside oneself 10 Memorable time 11 “Max ___ Returns” 12 Choose a president 13 Bird’s sanctuary 18 Pencil stub
19 Thaw, freeze, thaw 23 Elicit 24 Scrambled dean’s car? 25 Clubber ___ (“Rocky” character) 26 Dik-dik’s cousin 27 “While” stick-on 31 Apatheticlooking 33 Mud bath locale 35 Aired “Alf” yesterday 36 Smiles 37 Yearly athletic award 39 Mumbai resident 40 Khan’s title 41 Emulate a pig 46 Puzzling riddle
47 Extending toward the center 49 Regal headdresses 51 Signed, as a deal 52 It disturbs the peace 53 Asset for actors 54 Energy 55 Norwegian capital 59 They’re tagged 60 Word surrounding “-a-” 61 Mine find 62 Society column word 63 Dash plus (Abbr.)
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