4 29 14 by The Houstonian

WHAT’S INSIDE? Sterling should be suspended for racist rant “Hair” opens and captures emotion well Softball drops series, sit second in SLC

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TOMORROW’S FORECAST

HI: LOW:

BASEBALL SWEEPS LIONS, THIRD IN SLC

72o 48o

Alex Broussard | The Houstonian

Chance of Rain:

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Volume 125/ Issue 28

Facebook.com/ TheHoustonian Tuesday, April 29, 2014

CAMPUS

Ashbins covered in smoke-free move CONNOR HYDE Editor-in-Chief Sam Houston State University is taking the next step of enforcement to its tobacco-free policy after adopting it in 2012. According to Scott Dolezal, Custodial and Ground Services manager, the university has begun putting stickers over the holes in the smoking bins that are part of some of the campus’ trashcans. Dolezal said all 80 of these cigarette bins will be inaccessible within the next month. Dolezal tested the stickers’ effectiveness on the south side of the Chemistry and Forensic Sciences Building early last week. “This is kind of our first step of solving the problem and the most cost effective way of dealing with it,” he said. “We got to figure out a way to plug the hole so people

don’t poke their finger through it.” The cost to install the stickers is $500, according to Dolezal, with the alternative to replace each trashcan without an ashbin pushing approximately $28,000. However, despite the effort to enforce the policy, Dolezal said it will put strain on SHSU’s custodial and ground services. “It is likely there will be more cigarette butts on the ground as a result of the cigarette trays being unavailable,” he said. “More time will be consumed by Ground Services removing the additional litter. Ground Services already devotes more than 4,600 hours of labor annually to trash removal. This figure will most likely go up once the stickers are in place.” Although the stickers are designed to remove a disposal resource for smokers, freshman chemistry major Breanna Ethridge said the measure isn’t

Connor Hyde | The Houstonian

BUTT-OUT: Sam Houston State University has moved to make ashbins inaccessbile for on-campus and off-campus smokers to use. All 80 trashcans are expected to be covered at the end of the month.

enough to make SHSU a tobaccofree campus. “It’s not going to stop anyone from smoking,” Ethridge said.

“They’re going to just throw it on the ground. I think [smokers] should be fined. If you get a parking ticket, you’re not going to

park in the same spot. If people get fined for smoking, they won’t want to do it on campus.” According to the policy, if an observer sees an individual smoking he or she should report it to “appropriate management,” which includes supervisors, program coordinators, directors, vice presidents, professors, department chairs, deans, residence hall directors, building liaisons or university police officers. However, according to University Police Chief Kevin Morris, to his knowledge no one has complained to UPD. The policy doesn’t clearly define repercussions for smoking on campus but, according to Morris, if the student or non-student doesn’t cooperate and voluntarily dispose of their cigarette “they could be asked to leave campus.”

Alex Broussard | The Houstonian

CLASSIC RIDES: The inaugural Rescues and Rides Charity Car Show debuted Saturday in front of McKenzie’s BBQ. The event was free to the public and featured classic cars and pets from the Rita B. Huff Animal Shelter.

CAMPUS

Copeland named president-elect JAY R. JORDAN Associate Editor Student government is finally 100 percent sure of the student body presidential election results. Junior criminal justice major Spencer Copeland is the student body president-elect. After being passed the buck by the Student Government Association Supreme Court on making the decision of allowing another presidential election Wednesday, the election commission decided to stick with the initial results from the April 9 and 10 election. Copeland won with 54 percent of the student vote. The election results were called

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into question when presidential candidate Oseremen Emmanuel Omoegbele filed a petition to the election commission April Omoegbele claimed he lost students’ votes because they didn’t recognize his legal first name, which was put on the ballot instead of the name he goes by, Emmanuel. “I’m relieved,” Copeland said. “I felt both decisions were very fair, that both the court and the commission during the second time around listened to the facts and ruled in accordance with the constitution and election code.” According to court documents, sending the matter back to the commission was “in the interest of fairness and justice.” The commission’s decision hindered

on that same fairness, according to election coordinator and student body vice president Kolby Flowers. “Commissioners asked [Omegbele] if, besides the name issue, if he felt the election was fair and he said yes,” Flowers said. “The commission also questioned why he waited so long after the results came out to file his protest. He never attempted to contact the commission to ask why his name was different than what he thought it would be.” Although the dust has seemingly settled with Copeland rising victorious, one expert said this whole issue could have been avoided with a professionally written election code. American Student Government Association

executive director Butch Oxendine said the name controversy could lead to more issues down the road. “Of course you’re your legal name on the ballot,” Oxendine said. “I can’t say I’ve ever even heard about that being an issue. This kind of stuff has got to stop.” According to Oxendine, ASGA reports a national average of a four percent voter turnout for college elections. This puts SHSU’s turnout above the average for student governments, with 6.8 percent of the student body voting in this year’s student body presidential election, but below the national average for public institutions, which ranges from 10 to 15 percent, according to the —

After tensions peaked with concerns of who was elected student body president, current Student Body President Ramiro Jaime, Jr. alleged election coordinator and student body vice president Kolby Flowers was corrupt in a letter to the Supreme Court, saying he did “everything he can in order to help Senator [Spencer] Copeland get elected.” However, Flowers denied the allegations of a fixed elections. “The president has been saying and will continue to say whatever he can to make sure Senator Copeland never takes office as president,” Flowers said. Jaime’s full letter can be found on houstonianonline.com.

SGA, page 3

Be sure to check out the Houstonian Orientation Guide located around campus and the City of Huntsville! Can’t find one? Let us know and we’ll get you a copy.

Page 3

News

Tuesday April 29, 2014 houstonianonline.com/news

CAMPUS

Senior to join banking program HANNAH ZEDAKER Senior Reporter After dedicating herself to the only accredited banking program in the nation, one of Sam Houston State University’s graduating seniors has been selected as one of only 15 others in the nation to join the prestigious BBVA Compass LEAP Program. The program, which serves as an officer development program designed to recruit young talent to the bank, is based out of Birmingham, Ala. Upon graduating one year early on May 9, Samantha McKinley, a senior double major in finance and banking as well as financial institutions, will be moving to follow her dreams. “I’m very excited to enter the ‘real world’ as I think that my hard work is starting to come together and has set me up for a successful future,” McKinley said. “I know I’ll have to continue working hard, but I’ve developed habits that will make it easier to be successful in the real world.” According to McKinley, this was the first year that BBVA recruited at SHSU. After her initial application process, McKinley also had to go through two rounds of interviews. In addition to having the only accredited banking program in the country, SHSU has the only

banking program in Texas, a fact that McKinley said helped her stand out among candidates. She said that James Bexley, Ph.D., the chair of the banking department, was a huge aid in helping her get selected. “I’m very proud of her,” Bexley said. “She is an outstanding student with an outstanding personality and a great attitude. She definitely has a leg up in the program, and I think Compass is very lucky to have her.” During her three-year-long college career, McKinley has been an Orange Key university ambassador, an Elliot T. Bowers Honors College ambassador, the secretary for the Banking and Finance Club, and was involved in the Freshman Leadership program. Additionally, McKinley has worked as a campus caller for the annual fund, a student assistant for Career Services and is currently a peer counselor at the Student Money Management center. McKinley also attended leadership conferences all over the country during her time at SHSU. McKinley was honored with the Excellence in Service to the College of Business Administration award at the 20th annual Sammys. “I actually had no idea I would get into the business world,” she said. “I initially thought that I wanted to be in education, but I felt like a career in finance could

Submitted Photo

UP THE CORPORATE LADDER. Senior Samantha McKinely, double major in finance and banking as well as financial institutions, will head to Alabama as the first Bearkat to be accepted into the BBVA Compass LEAP Program.

combine my interest in numbers and helping people.” Having lived in Texas for her entire life, McKinley said she is excited and anxious to be moving out-of-state with her boyfriend in June for an entire year. “My long-term goals are to find a career that I can be successful in and make a difference to the people that I work with,” McKinley said. “I’m not certain exactly what that career looks like right now,

but I know that I want to be able to make significant contributions for the company that I work for and be good at what I do.” McKinley’s advice to current students is to break down larger tasks into smaller ones, make lists and keep their eyes on the prize. “You also have to keep in mind why you’re in college,” she said. “None of us attend a university because we just love homework. We attend college because it is an

investment in our futures.” McKinley said she feels well prepared for her future in the banking industry after three years at SHSU. “Although I have a ton more to learn, I think that I have a head start over others who did not have the opportunity to take the classes and learn from the professors that I did,” McKinley said.

CAMPUS

Students’ animations to be screened JENNIFER JACKSON Contributing Reporter Sam Houston State University’s Computer Animation Program will be screening student work created over the past year in the Dance Theater of the Gaertner Performing Arts Center on Thursday. Edward Morrin, assistant professor for the program, said the festival provides an opportunity for students to share their creations with other students and faculty, as well as the Huntsville community. “It is a great way for students to get feedback on their work outside of the formal classroom experience,” Morrin said. “The SHSU animation festival will give students a chance to celebrate their hard work. Most work weeks, sometimes months, to complete a single project. Events of this nature help to remind students that they are creating work for an audience, an easy thing to forget after spending hours in a dark room in front of a computer.” According to Morrin, the programming for the festival will reflect the diversity of the animation courses offered. He said because of the diverse courses offered, various approaches to computer animation will be displayed, including narrative and nonnarrative animation, character animation, and experimental animation. Three of the animations to be screened at the event were selected for this year’s West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival, which took place at West Virginia University in March. Established in 2010, the West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival “celebrates exceptional, compelling, original and innovative works in film, video and animation,” according to its website. The festival’s primary mission is to help foster creative approaches to these media and

to expose students and their surrounding community to the world of independent filmmaking. One of the SHSU animations that was selected for the festival is senior computer animation major Lindsey Whitfield’s film, “Trapped in Time.” Whitfield said the 3D short animation film is about a bird that is born and takes flight when released from a clock, which is also its cage. “The project was to create a mechanical object, and my goal was to tell something in a narrative format,” Whitfield said. “I wanted to portray a visual metaphor of life and how time will trap us all.” Whitfield has been working on animation projects since summer 2013, several of which will be screened Thursday. She finds inspiration from her own life and memories, as well as art, common machines and human anatomy. Whitfield said she’s excited for the public to see the work she and her peers have created. “Too few people know the strength our animation program has in creating art and effectively telling a story,” Whitfield said. “We are always growing and learning, and you can see the progression every year in our collective work.” The two other animations selected for the West Virginia film festival were “Ballistic Balloon Man” by seniors Kate Barker, Casey Keen, Raphael Medina, and Whitfield and “Shellous” by seniors Marissa Danison, Allison Deford, Ashley Deford, Carlos Elarba, Kaleigh Hvizdos, Casey Keen, Lauren Priputen, Eric Webb, Justin Weyand and Kristen Williams. Both animations will be screened Thursday along with several projects from sophomore to senior level classes. A reception will take place before the event in the Performing Arts Center Lobby

JUMP

SGA,

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same data. Oxendine said SGA needed to get help from a professor or a professional to boost the student body’s perception of the entity. NOT SO FAST Just in time for finals comes yet another runoff election for the president’s chief of staff after the first runoff resulted in a 5050 tie between candidates Robert Ferguson and Tyler Patek. The chief of staff is the head advisor to the student body president and gives his or her advice on policies, actions and decisions. Ferguson said he’s had history with Copeland and would be the better fit. “It’s obvious the students are conflicted about which one they want, because we’re both obviously good candidates and obviously want what’s best for the school,” Ferguson said. “I’ve worked with him on everything from [assessing the

university’s Americans with Disabilities Act compliance] to getting things fixed in town for students, so I have a better working relationship with him.” Patek argued his compatibility and openness would make him the superior chief of staff. “I can work with anybody as long as people are willing to take other people’s opinion into account,” Patek said. “I think it would be fine working with [Copeland].” With Wednesday and Thursday’s election being the third time the student body voted on the chief of staff position, it’s been an exhausting trail, according to Ferguson. “Honestly, I’m so tired of campaigning,” Ferguson said. “From what I understand, it’s the first time in school history that it’s been this close for so long, so we’re making history.” Voting begins Wednesday via SHSU email.

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Page 4

Viewpoints

Tuesday April 29, 2014

NBA

NBA no place for racism

PAWS UP

PAWS UP to TOYOTA: Welcome to Texas! The Japanese auto maker is consolidating its United States headquarters into a single entity in Plano, Texas.

PAWS UP to GEORGE CLOONEY: Gorgeous George finally found a match and is looking to settle down. For now. The A-list actor popped the question human rights lawyer and girlfriend Amal Alamuddin.

PAWS UP to Palcohol: Just when you thought the party scene couldn’t get any better, now mixed drinks come ready to rail.

TRENT SCOTT Columnist The NBA landscape is shaken due to TMZ releasing an audio recording of what is purportedly Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Over the course of nine and a half minutes, Sterling tells V. Stiviano, who was his girlfriend at the time of the recording, that he does not want her bringing black people to his games, among other shockingly racist comments. The trigger to the comments by Sterling is reportedly a photo that Stiviano posted to her Instagram account in which she is posing with NBA legend Magic Johnson. Johnson and Sterling were reportedly friends, but Sterling did not want Stiviano to be seen in photos with minorities. In fact at one point, Sterling said, “It bothers me that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” Sterling, who has yet to comment publicly on this scandal, has a history of racist complaints against him. In 2006, Sterling and his wife

Rochelle were sued by the United States Department of Justice for discrimination. The case alleged the couple refused to rent apartments they owned to blacks and Hispanics. Sterling was forced to pay $2.73 million in fines and an additional $4.9 million in attorney’s fees. History repeated itself. NBA Hall-of-Famer, and former Clippers executive, Elgin Baylor sued Sterling for employment discrimination on the basis of race and age after Baylor was fired by the organization. Ultimately, a jury ruled against Baylor. New NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who has only been in office since February 1, now has his first major issue to deal with. Silver banned Sterling from attending Game Four of the Clippers playoff series against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, which was played in Oakland. Silver has to immediately extend that suspension through at least the end of the postseason. Going forward, Silver also needs to somehow convince Sterling to sell the team for the good of the NBA. TMZ reported that league bylaws cannot allow Silver to force Sterling to sell, but it is obviously in the league’s best interest to be disassociated from Sterling. The Clippers team must now deal with a situation that there was simply no way to prepare for. Doc Rivers, the Clippers head coach, somehow has to get his team focused on basketball when the entire sports world only wants

Associated Press

PERSONAL FOUL. Clippers owner Donald Sterling sits alongside his girlfriend, V. Stiviano during a game at the Staples Center.

to discuss the racist views of their owner. It is almost impossible for the Clippers to focus on winning a game when their owner is focused on belittling some of the players’ race. The team lost Game 4 of the series in a 21-point blowout on Sunday, the day after the recording was leaked. Sterling’s racial comments transcends basketball and ultimately makes the Clippers’

postseason run irrelevant. Even if LA were to somehow win the championship, Silver and the NBA has an opportunity to make a stand and turn what could be a blemish into a tremendous stand for racial equality. Several sponsors have already abandoned the Clippers. Now just for the NBA to abandon Sterling.

WORLD

Obey bathroom rules, please

PAWS DOWN

PAWS DOWN to TORNADOES: A series of tornadoes ripped DHARMESH PATEL through Alabama, Mississippi Associate A&E Editor and Arkansas which left 23 When the urge to take a shit people dead. Our hearts go out to hits you, there is little you can do their families.

PAWS DOWN to FINALS: As with the end of the semester, students will soon flock to the NGL library to cram 15 weeks of lectures two hours before their tests.

to stop it. If you’re unfortunate enough to be in a public place, then prepare for battle in the fecalinfused version of the “Hunger Games”. Too many people these days are destroying public restrooms and it needs to stop. A majority of the female population that I was able to coerce into speaking about defection was quite reluctant, as this shit dilemma mainly affects the male population. However, even women are subject to the practices of marking

their territory when it comes to finding the perfect place to pinch off a loaf. Of the females who were willing to talk about the business in the bathroom, more than one of them shared stories of finding stalls where their fellow ‘ladies’ had written their names in their own shit. For some unknown reason that has baffled scientists since the advent of public toilets, the human male cannot conduct himself in a proper and sanitary manner within the confines of the three feet by five feet bathroom stall. This issue has become an epidemic causing distress, humiliation and shame for men all over the world forced to drop a deuce in public restrooms. Something primal takes over the male mind and he seems to lose all control over his bowel movements. Many different images flash across my mind when I think of the horrors I have seen in countless public restrooms over the years. Every time I go into a public toilet, it never ceases to amaze me how bad this situation has actually become. For example, I once walked

into a bathroom and immediately knew that something was wrong. Even though everything appeared to be in order, the stench of stale poop lingered in the air. As I approached the stall, I found the smelly source. Looking up at me from the depths of the dingy bowl was a water logged, toilet paper encrusted pile of shit. It was perfectly preserved like some artifact, long forgotten from what used to be the intelligent Homosapian now reduced to a mirror of an ape in the wild. I was at a loss of emotion and unable to have an intelligible thought. Numb to the fact that someone had taken the time to line the edges of the urine soaked seat and have a nice peaceful moment while making a deposit. But what happened after that moment of pure bliss? Did that person lose his thought process? Why in the hell didn’t he flush the toilet after he was done taking a shit? Flush the damn toilet. Shit with every pun intended - its not that hard to flush. Walking into a stall and finding the contents of the toilet full of

rancid crap covered in 2 rolls of toilet paper is uncalled for people. As Americans, we are reserved the right to flush the toilet twice. The ability to not clog the toilet is general assessment of your aptitude. The real question here is how many rolls of toilet paper does it take to wipe your ass? When you clog toilets with enough toilet paper to dress Shaq up like a mummy, you’re doing it wrong. The rapturous euphoria of taking a dump is easily ruined when you walk into a stall only to find that the person before you had a stroke, lost control of their anal sphincter and somehow managed to spray their explosive diarrhea all over the walls (and in the instance that I’m recalling on the ceiling). I mean this is basic cognitive function, people. The simple game of placing the correct shaped block into the corresponding shaped hole was taught to us as toddlers. So simply place your fat ass in the fat ass shaped hole on the toilet and release. If it were rocket science, then toilets would only be available in space.

The Houstonian Editorial

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EDITOR’S NOTE Articles, letters and cartoons by Houstonian staff members or others in this paper are their own and not the opinion of the Houstonian, unless it is noted as such. Submissions and letters to the editor are welcome. Please send submissions to viewpoints@houstonianonline.com. Articles may be edited for grammar and spelling at discretion of editor. Unsolicited oppinions should be 150 words or under. Please contact us if you wish to submit anything longer. Deadline for submission is by 5 p.m. on Mondays or Wednesdays.

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Page 5

Arts & Entertainment

Tuesday April 29, 2014 houstonianonline.com/a-e

REVIEW

‘Hair’ captures heart-wrenching emotion STEPHEN GREEN Web Editor

Note: This article contains spoilers. Anyone who left the University Theatre Center after a performance of ‘Hair’ had some hate in their heart for the Vietnam War. The musical is set in the late 60s New York City and tells the tale of a tribe of friends who want to smoke dope, love everything and, most importantly, avoid the draft. Although there were dozens of tribe members, the story revolves around Claude, played by Brandon Whitley, Berger (Thomas Williams) and Shelia (Audrey Wilson). Berger and Shelia have a thing for each other. Claude likes both Berger and Shelia. And poor pregnant Jeanie (Sarah Farmer) has an all-but-unrequited love of Claude. Long story short, everyone burns their draft card but Claude. He gets drafted and dies in the war. The performance felt just as uncomfortable (in a good way) that theater-goers must have felt in the era of the controversial war when the show opened in 1967. Whether it was the signs the protestors on stage had with epithets scrawled on them, racial slurs used (even comically) throughout the show, or that time Claude was finishing up Act 1 and the rest of the tribe walked out on stage in their birthday suits. That takes balls fortitude. From the start, the quality of the show was apparent. The audience was hypnotized by the tribe coming on stage one by one chanting and lackadaisically stumbling around with dazed looks on their face. The chant got more and more intense until Berger snips a lock of Claude’s hair

to start the show. It was followed by Maryann Williams, who played a tribe member, belting out “Aquarius” with the help of her tribal members in a way that could give most professional performances a run for their money. Whitley’s Claude was the glue that tied the tribe together. The range he showed playing the emotionally torn and confused character took the audience from laughing to crying to, at the end, gasping. Although his acting ability was well seen throughout, his vocal performance seemed to start off slow in the performance I saw until the end of Act II. “Eyes Look Your Last” is where Whitley showed why he must have been selected for the part with the perfect combination of gut-wrenching emotion and clear voice. Williams’ portrayal of the tribe’s wild child seemed effortless and carried the carefree and over-sexual, yet dominating and seemingly bipolar personality. He faultlessly plays Claude’s partner in crime and simultaneous antithesis. They start off pals, yet Claude disappoints Berger by not burning his draft card and gets upset. He even gets violent with Sheila enough to suddenly send the audience from happy to that kind of awkward silence when a couple fights at a party. His vocal and acting chops were perfect for the role. Vocally, Wilson steals the show. Her soothing, ethereal voice fit perfectly with not only the character, but also the tone of the songs like “Good Morning Starshine” and “Easy To Be Hard.” Although the other two main characters overshadowed her’s – mostly because of her character’s demure nature – Wilson nailed the crestfallen emotion at the end of the play when Claude’s body, fresh from war and decked out in

Sean Smith | The Houstonian

F*#K THE DRAFT: Hair” revovled around the rebellion of the Vietnam draft of the 1960s. Anger and sadness

blew through the audience like a hurricane-force gust at with an interactive performance. Army garb, was sprawled out on the American flag. There were a few other performers who helped tie the show together. Caleb White’s Woof added a probably unintended and odd childlike innocence to the show. White seemed perma-stoned and desperate for love in a way that played by anyone else might seem annoying. Seth Cunningham, although not getting much time in the spotlight, added an unexpectedly hilarious bit while playing a teacher in Claude’s hallucination. I’m not sure angry German accents ever disappoint. Andrew Carson’s Hud perfectly makes race relations in America seem as ludicrous as they are with his comical yet seat-squirming

rendition of “I’m Black/Colored Spade.” One of the criticisms of the show is that the tribe members in the background at times were having a little too much fun just playing around, which was distracting. The decision to put a guy in drag in “White Boys” as well as “Black Boys” also didn’t work. The unusual move got laughs but the scene seemed to fall apart when the guys couldn’t move or sing like the girls who flanked them. If the purpose was to be funny, they should have gone over-the-top with the drag rather than playing it too conservative. Overall the performance was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen at SHSU. When the tribe stepped apart and revealed

Claude’s dead body in “The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In),” the anger and sadness blew through the audience like a hurricaneforce gust. The cast, audience and even the show’s director Penelope Hasekoester were ugly-crying. But that was made better when, after bows, the audience got up and danced with the cast on stage. Hasekoester, chair of the department of theatre and musical theatre, for part of the show’s success. She describes in the Director’s Note how she was raised in the era when the play is set. Whenever anyone is personally attached to one show, or to one character, they will inevitably do their best. From the outside, the show could easily be confused with a polished, professional cast.

SATELLITE GALLERY

Sean Smith | The Houstonian

Come celebrate our most beloved citizen. Adult (13-up) $5 Child (4-12) $3 Under 3 Free Call 936-294-1832

AUCTION. The silent auction runs April 28 - May 3 and the live auction begins May 3 at 6 p.m. (LEFT) “Orfice” by Christine Ton is a ceramic sculpture up for auction. (TOP) “Trophy Husband,” a mixed media piece by Ashley Bynum,

DANCE

Non –majors show up and show out KIZZIE FRANK A&E Editor

Sam HouSton memorial muSeum

May 2nd 3rd 4th Funding by the City of Huntsville and Huntsville Arts Commission

Dance majors are not the only people on Sam Houston State University’s campus who have the courage pour their hearts out on stage. SHSU’s dance department presented the Non-majors workshop Monday night to give non-dance majors to showcase

the styles of dance they’ve learned throughout the semester. The program opened with a number from grad student Travis Prokop’s choreography, performed by non-majors from the Introduction to Modern class. His students danced to a “Circle of Life” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” mash-up, slightly mimicking the opening scene of Disney’s “The Lion King”. Soon after, the audience was introduced to a humorous little boy in the red cape. Between performances, he would enter in a sprint around the stage, and exit with a flip of his cape. He showed off his aerobic capabilities with a forward somersault that sent the crowd into a diagnosis of cute overdose. “Superboy” was not the only one to stir things up for a presently vocal crowd. In Shaté Edwards’s explosive hip-hop piece, one male dancer pop-locked his way onto center stage. The cast danced to

“Started from the Bottom” by Drake and Beyoncé’s “Partition”. There were slight mishaps with one graceful fall in the opening piece, and students forgetting Tawnya Kannarr’s choreography in the Jazz II performance. There were no special lighting effects or set changes in any of the dance pieces, but the dancers made up for the plain stage with lively personalities. Ballet was the genre of the evening with three different performances. The intro ballet piece, “ballet fundamentals” by Greg Nuber showcases classic ballet stances, mirroring basic movements from class. One of which included full leaps across the stage. The non-majors in the ballet piece executed leg lifts and leaps with fluidity and confidence. Amongst the non-majors were a few theatre majors. One of which recently starred in SHSU’s Theatre and Musical Theater Department’s “Dog Sees God”.

All performances in the non-major workshops are choreographed by grad students as SHSU. Of the nine performances, only one was a hip-hop piece by grad student, Shaté Edwards. According to Edwards, the workshops are meant to showcase all that the students learned in the classes. “It just gives students the opportunity to show everyone what they’ve been up to. Some people may not to get on stage as often as others so this is their chance,” she said. Despite the fact that the performers do not necessarily dance for a living, they all managed to put on a fluid show. Every non-major’s workshop is free of charge to students and locals. The fun is not over yet as the dance department will continue with a majors workshop Tuesday night. The Senior Showcase that will consist of solos from seniors dance students will follow.

Page 6

Sports

Tuesday April 29, 2014 houstonianonline.com/sports

SHSU sweeps SLU, steadily third in SLC BASEBALL

AUSTIN SMITH Contributing Reporter Sam Houston State baseball finished the sweep on Southeastern Louisiana Sunday afternoon with a 4-1 victory at Don Sanders Stadium. The Bearkats sit in third place in Southland Conference standings, tied with Northwestern State and McNeese State and are only two games back from Nicholls State. Down 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning, the Bearkats responded in the bottom of the third inning with a two-run home run from designated hitter Hayden Simmerly. Simmerly has assumed a power role in the Bearkat lineup as he has blasted six homeruns on the season, sitting three behind team leader Anthony Azar. “It was a big win,” Simmerly said. “I wanted to put the ball in play and luckily I got a homerun and a double.” Azar mirrored Simmerly’s homerun by adding a two-run homer of his own in the seventh inning to put the Bearkats up 4-1. Starting pitcher Sam Odom pitched eight KING OF THE HILL. Pitcher Tyler Eppler threw all nine innings in Friday’s 2-1 win innings and gave up one run and three hits. performance would land him Southland Conference pitcher of the week. Pitcher Ryan Brinley came in for the ninth after an intense game Friday evening that inning to earn the save. Sunday’s victory completed the sweep resulted in some late-game heroics. Pitcher Tyler Eppler threw a complete after SHSU defeated SLU 5-3 the night game, giving up eight hits and one run. before. The Bearkats were down 1-0 in the fifth Eppler was named Southland Conference inning when leftfielder Luke Plucheck pitcher of the week. Third baseman Carter Burgess delivered ripped a two-run home run for his first the game-tying single in the bottom of the home run of the year. Plucheck’s two-run dinger sparked a four ninth after Eppler gave up the run in the top run inning that put the Bearkats up 4-1 after of the inning. Two batters later, second baseman Shea five innings. Pierce hit a walk-off single that handed the However, the Lions were not phased. 1 NICHOLLS SLU responded with two runs in the top Bearkats the 2-1 win. “I haven’t had a big-time hit like that of the sixth inning to cut the Bearkat lead since I can remember,” Pierce said. “I put a to one run. 2 A&M-CORPUS Plucheck added an insurance run with a swing on it and found a hole.” SHSU travels to Baylor Ballpark to play fielder’s choice groundout in the top of the CHRISTI one game against Baylor University before sixth that plated shortstop Corey Toups. Brinley came in for the ninth inning and returning to Huntsville for a three-game 3 SAM HOUSTON STATE struck out two batters before earning the series with rival Stephen F. Austin State. Opening pitch against Baylor is scheduled save. The final two victories of the series came for 6:35 p.m.

Alex Broussard | The Houstonian

in the series opener to Southeastern Louisiana. Eppler’s

BASEBALL STANDINGS SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE 2014 15-6

4 NORTHWESTERN STATE 13-8 14-7

5 MCNEESE STATE

13-8

SOFTBALL

WOMEN'S SOFTBALL STANDINGS SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE 2014 1 MCNEESE STATE

17-6

4 STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 12-10 2 SAM HOUSTON STATE 14-9 5 LAMAR

12-11

3 NORTHWESTER STATE 12-10 Lillie Muyskens | The Houstonian

Kats drop TAMUCC series MARISSA HILL Sports Reporter

Sam Houston State softball’s series with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi slipped through their fingers in the bottom fifth inning of Sunday’s game. The Islanders brought in three runs, capitalizing off of two Bearkat errors to seal the game 3-2. Despite dropping the series 2-1, junior shortstop Tayler Gray said SHSU is wanting to focus on the final games against Stephen F. Austin State, not the weekend’s loss. “We are just going to put this behind us and go at SFA this weekend,” Gray said. The first three innings were silent for both ball clubs as neither team could get on the board. Between both teams, there were eight runners left on base in three innings. The Bearkats’ offense would wake up in the fourth, tallying two runs. First baseman Sarah Allison singled up the middle for SHSU and then advanced to second on the throw, which allowed pinch runner Dani Allen to cross home plate. Even though second baseman Alyssa Coggins flied out, she still brought Allison home, giving the Bearkats a 2-0 edge before the fateful fifth inning. In the fifth, TAMUCC’s Liz Carter singled to left field, but advanced to second on an SHSU error, which brought Mackinzee Griebel home. The Islanders also scored off of an RBI single and a groundout. SHSU couldn’t come back and get the series win. The day before, the Bearkats split with the Islanders, losing the first game 3-4, but

demolished the Islanders in the nightcap, 10-3. Fielding was an issue for the both teams as they combined for 10 errors in the doubleheader. SHSU’s errors allowed all four of TAMUCC’s runs in the opening game. Sophomore Jennie Kieval put the Bearkats on the board in the second inning, after stealing second base and advancing to third base on the throw. The Islanders brought the heat in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three unearned runs on the Bearkats. Gray responded with a two-run single with two outs on the scoreboard, bringing them one run short of forcing extra innings, but the Bearkats couldn’t push another run through. SHSU came completely alive in the nightcap, unloading eight runs on TAMUCC in the first inning. The Islanders narrowly avoided the runrule in the bottom of the fourth as they pulled out three runs to keep themselves alive. SHSU had too much momentum over TAMUCC, as they picked up two more runs in the third and seventh innings. After this weekend’s series loss, the Bearkats are still second in the Southland Conference with a 14-9 league record. They are three games behind conference leader, McNeese State. Facing third place Stephen F. Austin this weekend, Gray says that the team just has to get back to basics. “We just have to remember what got us this far and play our game,” she said. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Bearkat Sports Complex.

Page 7

Sports

Tuesday April 29, 2014 houstonianonline.com/sports

NFL DRAFT

Texans should pick Clowney COLIN HARRIS Viewpoints Editor Hold on to your officially licensed team logo bleacher cushions, NFL fans, because the draft is less than two weeks away. You’ll soon have a batch of shiny new rookies on your team loaded with untapped football potential, unblemished by felony arrest records and saddled with the same sort of patently unreachable expectations new parents project upon their firstborn immediately after childbirth. The first round of the draft starts Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m., because four years ago Roger Goodell decided that the traditional practice of early morning weekend drafts was unfair to the growing class of anal-retentive NFL fans who parse every one of their team’s offseason moves as though they were decoding extraterrestrial radio waves like Jodie Foster in “Contact.” So they moved the first round to primetime. As you probably know, the Texans pick first, so functionally they’re already on the clock. If they want to maximize the value of the pick, they should either draft Jadeveon Clowney or trade the pick to a team that will. According to a scouting report on NFL. com, written by automaton gossip blogger Nolan Nawrocki, Clowney “(i)s one of the most unique talents in the draft and could easily be a double-digit sack producer in the pros from either end. Is every bit worthy of the first overall pick and will immediately upgrade a defensive line and improve the production of those around him.” He’s a can’t miss, once-in-a-generation talent and deserves to be selected first overall. The only remaining question is if the Texans will be the team to do it. On one hand, Clowney is a physical freak who talent evaluators had pegged for NFL stardom since his junior year of high school. He’s six and a half feet tall and weighs around 270 pounds, yet he runs as fast as some receivers. Oh yeah, he also decapitated that Michigan tailback in the 2013 Outback Bowl, causing a fumble and recovering the loose ball with one hand. For football fans, the play was like V-E Day or Osama bin Laden’s death, in that everyone who saw it happen can describe their surroundings and emotions at the time with near perfect recall. The alternative plan for the Texans is to trade the pick for a king’s ransom, the same move the Rams pulled with the RGIII pick two years ago. The rationale for this maneuver is that the Texans are a quarterback away from contention, so they should trade down a few spots and grab one with a slightly lower pick. This is a bullshit philosophy because regardless of the composition of the current roster, the team has the opportunity to pick up a franchise cornerstone without breaking the bank. A chance like this rarely happens to teams that went 12-4 a year earlier and the Texans would be foolish to pass on Clowney. The great thing about the NFL Draft is that it’s not limited to one round, so the Texans will have ample opportunity to

address their quarterback situation in later rounds. Guys like LSU’s Zach Mettenberger, Eastern Illinois’s Jimmy Garoppolo, Alabama’s A.J. McCarron and Pittsburgh’s Tom Savage will be available after the first round. While none of them will be ready to start Week One, the same could be said of the projected first round quarterbacks. Enough about the Texans though, the real issue is what the Cowboys should do with the 16th pick in the draft. Projecting who exactly will be available midway through the first round is a form of the banal, navel-gazing pseudo analysis with which ESPN fills its daytime hours when no real sports are happening. So let’s give it a shot. We’ll start by assuming UCLA defensive end Anthony Barr and Pittsburgh defensive tackle Aaron Donald are off the board when Dallas is on the clock. If either player were to make it to 16, I’d hope Stephen Jones rushes to the podium to select either defensive standout. To keep things simple, let’s say the top available players are Louisville safety Calvin Pryor, Florida State defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan, Notre Dame offensive lineman Zack Martin, Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley, Missouri defensive end Kony Ealy and drumroll… Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. Even though backup quarterback Kyle Orton has skipped offseason workouts so far, stirring up retirement rumors, I don’t see a reason for drafting Manziel when under ideal circumstances. He would be behind Tony Romo on the depth chart for at least the next three years. However, drafting a signal caller in the middle rounds, if the value is right, could be a deft move for the future. Pryor projects as an in-the box, hardhitting safety which isn’t a fit in defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli’s Tampa 2 scheme. Jernigan would be a reach at 16, even though he fills a need. Mosley will probably become a solid pro, but linebacker isn’t a pressing need for the Cowboys. That leaves Martin and Ealy. Martin would bring versatility to the offensive line, as many scouts believe he can play either guard position or right tackle in the NFL. The Cowboys’ current right tackle, Doug Free, will be a free agent after next season, and unless he takes a huge pay cut, he’s likely to move on. Ealy would help fill the massive gap left behind at defensive end since the team cut DeMarcus Ware and has yet to sign Anthony Spencer. I believe versatility along the offensive line is something all NFL teams should covet, so my pick in this completely fictional scenario would be Martin. The team would still have gaping holes at safety and along the defensive line, but those positions can be addressed later in the draft. The NFL Draft is an unending source of optimism for hardcore fans. We see tape of our team’s selections dominating the college game and assume it translates to the pros. Only when our team is 2-5 before Halloween and that heralded rookie got bypassed on the depth chart by some Jaguars castoff, do we realize how much of a crapshoot this thing really is.

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BLUE CHIP. South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney speaks with reporters after workouts in front of NFL scouts. Clowney will attend the NFL Draft on May 8 in New York City.

Page 8 Tuesday April 29, 2014 houstonianonline.com/

Tastefest

2014

FOUNDERS DAY

ACE panel features success SPECIAL GIVEAWAY STACY HOOD Contributing Reporter

Panel discussions led by faculty and administrators highlighted Sam Houston State University’s success at the inaugural Founders Day Saturday. One panel, “Building the Bridge Between Town and Gown,” was led by Academic Community Engagement (ACE) director Joyce McCauley and featured classes offered at SHSU that require community engagement as part of the curriculum. Putting the university’s motto to the test, the discussion highlighted the community work put by faculty and students. The ACE program boasts awards such as the Carnegie Foundations community engagement classification, as well as the President’s Honor Roll. There are 139 faculty members engaging in this program in more than 180 courses at SHSU. Jeff Wozniak, assistant professor of biological sciences, showcased the program he and his colleague, Jeremy Bellah, Ph.D., established through their classes to create a community garden. Wozniak said ACE engages the students and allows them to interact with the community while bettering themselves. “We can take what we learn in the classroom, we can take the curriculum and go out into the community and

communicate it back out, hopefully for the betterment for the students and our community partners,” Wozniak said. Sanjay Mehta, Ph.D., said he uses ACE courses to teach marketing and business. He said students who participate in ACE courses further their education through practice. “Students who take these courses tend to be better critical thinkers, better communicators and better leaders,” Mehta said. “We are seeing a lot of benefits of this methodology.” Huntsville city councilmember Tish Humphrey said she was pleased with the work ACE is doing and hopes to see it grow in the future. “I am thankful for what [SHSU is] doing,” Humphrey said. “I am thrilled to be seeing this engagement with the city.” Since fall 2013, the university has engaged with more than 200 community partners and is expected to grow, according to Mehta. Other panel discussions included “How SHSU is Preparing Students for the Workforce,” “The Role of Arts and Media in Texas,” and “How SHSU Is Serving the Needs of the State.” Founders Day ended with a tree dedication, during which a catalpa sapling, grown from seeds of the second generation Houston family-owned catalpa trees, was planted by Austin Hall.

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