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Volume 125/ Issue 9
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Thursday, February 13, 2014
CAMPUS
Group stopped ‘09 campus threat HANNAH ZEDAKER Senior Reporter
Courtesy Tim McGuffin
NERF-GUN SHOOTER. University Police and Huntsville Police surveying campus outside Academic Building 1 in 2010 during an active shooter scare. Since 2010, Sam Houston State University hasn’t had scares similar to 2010.
IN BRIEF
Sam Houston State University’s Students of Concern Crisis Management Team has prevented at least two campus shootings throughout its five years of existence, according to Dean of the Students of Sam Houston State University John Yarabeck. The SOC team is a partnership between the Dean of the Students office and the Counseling Center that takes proactive measures to help identify and counsel students who may become depressed or even suicidal during their time at SHSU. As chair of the organization, Yarabeck said one of the strongest functions of the group is the get help to students who are having suicidal tendencies as well as addressing students with other mental illnesses. “It also could be [that] they could have depression, not taking their medication that’s been prescribed, sometimes recreational drug use, things like that where students find themselves, for whatever purpose, starting to spiral out of control,” Yarabeck said. “Our job is to intervene in whatever means
is appropriate.” According to Yarabeck, about five years ago the SOC team was able to successfully prevent a student who empathized with the Columbine High School shooters from potentially replicating the shooting at SHSU’s campus as the student had threatened. Yarabeck said the student had created a website called “Sympathy for the Columbine Shooters” on which he posted “I really hope I can get the courage up next week to do what they did at Columbine here at Sam Houston.” To prevent the incident from unfolding, the student was contacted and the plans were intervened by SOC. The student’s parents were contacted, and the student resigned from SHSU. “I think it’s very likely given the way that he was spiraling out of control, that he could have gone on and actually done something, or at least attempted to do something,” Yarabeck said. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, most activeshooter incidents occur in smalland medium-sized communities where police departments are limited by budget constraints and small workforces. In addition, 98 percent of the time the offender is a single shooter, 97 percent of
the time they are male and in 40 percent of the cases, the offender kills himself. Yarabeck said he pictures campus shooters and individuals who become a threat to the university as loners and have a history of victimization and are looking to find reciprocation. “There is no profile of a campus shooter; they can be from wealthy environments, poor environments, they can have high self-esteem, low self-esteem, etc.,” Yarabeck said. Students are more likely to get hit by lightning than to be a victim of a campus shooter, according to Steve Shields, SHSU’s director of Environmental Health and Safety and Risk Management. “It seems like with each passing year, we tend to get more of these incidents, even around here,” Yarabeck said. “I think it’s a mistake to say that this happens so frequently because when you take into account that there’s over 3,000 colleges and universities nationwide, and that doesn’t even include the online ones, you might have one or two of these incidents a year on average, sometimes more. One of the reasons Yarabeck — SOC, page 2
32-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF OLD MAIN FIRE
The United States Congress has agreed to raise the debt limit in the wake of a dramatic casting of votes, Wednesday. Drama surmounted after Ted Cruz (TX-R) objected to the raise of the debt ceiling and in turn forcing a vote to be taken. Child actor and singing little starlet Shirley Temple Black passed away at the age of 85, earlier this week. Known for songs like, “Animal Crackers” and “Baby Take a Bow,” Temple was a hollywood staple throughout the 30’s. She leaves behind three children. Chinese lunar rover, Yutu, has officially been lost on the moon. The rover experienced a mechanical malfunction Jan. 25.
Courtesy Sam Houston State University Archives
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN. Built in 1889, Old Main served as Sam Houston State University’s main building until 1982 when it was destroyed by a fire around 1 a.m. Wednesday marked the 32-year anniversary since the Old Main fire in which SHSU’s Facebook notified students.
LOCAL
All Paws In reaches beyond Huntsville JAY R. JORDAN Associate Editor Community service will be done not only in Huntsville but across the nation March 1 thanks to Student Government Association’s Bearkat All Paws In and some dedicated alumni. Student Body President Ramiro Jaime, Jr., announced Tuesday that Sam Houston State University alumni, including BAPI’s founder Mariel Kanene, will participate in this year’s banner event and exemplify SHSU’s motto, “a measure of a life is its service.” “We’re doing our duties of fulfilling the motto [of SHSU],” Jaime said. “The motto doesn’t say ‘a measure of your college career,’ it says ‘a measure of a life’.”
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With SHSU alumni scattered around the world, Kanene said BAPI is a time to unite them in a day of service. He currently works in Washington, D.C., and expects a “handful” of Bearkat alumni in the D.C. area to participate. Kanene said he and his fellow alumni will be tending to nonprofit Common Good City Farm in D.C., an urban farm and education center geared towards low-income individuals. “What they do is they grow organic, local food,” Kanene said. “I thought it’d be a fun thing to do on a Saturday.” This year marks the fifth anniversary of the project, and Kanene said continuing the tradition across state borders brings SHSU into the limelight of its motto. “Being the founder of All Paws
In, I always go back to it and it refreshes me to know that BAPI continues to be relevant… and grow bigger and bigger every year,” he said. Jaime said Bearkats of the Woods, a student advancement group in The Woodlands, and SHSU’s Young Alumni and Friends Club in Houston will be serving in their respective communities in the spirit of BAPI. According to Precinct 4 Commissioner Tim Paulsel, who serves on the Walker County Proud commission, BAPI is working in coordination with the commission’s event called Trash Bash. The city of Huntsville is also working in coordination with SGA, making the implementation of community service more effective by reducing duplicative work.
Jaime said he’s glad to finally line up the dates for the each entity’s respective community service project. “What’s happened in the past is that their event is just like All Paws In, except it’s for citizens of Huntsville,” he said. “Well, the problem is theirs is before ours, and it’s always a week or two before ours. When it comes time for BAPI, there’s nothing left to do.” The event’s growth combined with Huntsville’s earlier service project would have left BAPI volunteers with nothing to do. Now that Huntsville’s event is held alongside All Paws In, all SGA has to worry about is having enough projects for volunteers. Sophomore political science major Ariel Traub is Huntsville’s Main Street Program assistant and
said the city contacted SGA first about combining the events. “I actually came to him with the idea, because we usually do a ‘spring cleaning,’ and we wanted to combine with the university,” Traub said. “We’re going to be working together. The city is working with our parks and recreation department to get things together for volunteers of Bearkat All Paws In not to do just around Main Street and downtown, but around all of Huntsville and the state and local parks.” Thursday is the deadline to register for Bearkat All Paws In. For more information and to register, visit http://www.shsu. edu/~org_sga/bapi.
Be sure to pick up the Houstonian’s Best of Huntsville survey located in Dan Rather 210 to nominate your favorite hot spots on campus and in the City of Huntsville!