Vol 117— Issue 5
Huntsville, Texas
SPORTS
WINTER STORM WATCH
SHSU professor shares personal experience in starting the Super Bowl
At this time class is expected to continue as usual. President Dana Gibson said to check Sam Houston social media and your Sam e-mail before heading to campus on Friday morning.
SEE page 5
Thursday, February 3, 2011
INDEX
Entertainment............page 5
Viewpoints................page 2
Special...................page 6
Campus.................page 3
Sports....................page 7 Sports....................page 8
Special......................page 4
Two year prospects grim for TEXAS Grants
Higher education budget cuts calls for 37 percent program reduction By Kolby Flowers Senior Reporter
University President Dana Gibson, Ph.D., responded to a recently published state budget estimate which recommended a five percent cut to higher education. The recommendations, which come from the state legislature, would implement a 37 percent reduction to the Texas Higher Education
Board, which provides grant money to students. “It’s very important to emphasize that these are just recommendations,” Gibson said. “Its really very preliminary to say there are going to be large cuts [like these] to the Texas Grant Program.” The budget calls for a reduction in the number of students receiving grants to be reduced from approximately
86,000 to 50,000 students in 2012 and to 27,000 in 2013. The university currently awards about $3.4 million in Texas Grants, according to Gibson. “For us, if we were to look at those proportional amount of cuts we would lose approximately $2 million over the [next two years],” Gibson said. “About 500 to 600 students have this grant and if these
cuts happen, the number of students would go down to probably around 200 to 250 students.” Gibson says this would affect the students with the biggest financial needs. “Our needs-based students are important,” Gibson said. “Right now the university is looking at this and planning ways that we can handle this and minimize the impacts. If we were to lose some funds
that fund basic education we would have to look at programs that were not so productive.” Christina Smith, a senior, said she hopes budget cuts, if any, would be even across the board. “No one program should suffer more from something beyond their control,” Smith said. Gibson pointed out that state recommended cuts
usually start out very high, but typically become much lower than expected. “Recommendations at the first of any legislative session always seem to be more stringent than as the session progresses,” Gibson said. According to Gibson, this proposal would automatically eliminate new students and it would also impact some 300 to 350 current students.
Faces of the revolution
Social media and Egyptian youth play role in historical movement By Meagan Ellsworth Editor-in-Chief
Images of fear and rage flash across the across CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, on all evening news broadcasts, through Twitter and Huffington Post. These are not only the faces of elders worn with regret, but students the same age as the student body at SHSU risking everything for the future of Egypt. After 30 years of dictatorship, millions of young Egyptians have taken to the streets to demand the President’s removal from power. They used social media to organize, while Al Jazeera carried their voice and action across the globe in an event that has strategic implications for the United States. YOUTH AND REVOLT “College students are at the center of the uprising,” said Mohamad Elmasry, Ph.D, assistant professor of mass communication at Qatar University who researches the Egyptian media. “This has been termed the ‘Youth’s Revolt’ because the overwhelming majority of protesters and organizers are young people.” Elmasry, who is Egyptian American, told the Houstonian that elders
representing opposition parties, the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed El-Baradei, joined in after the youth had begun the protests. The protestors are demanding Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak step down for several reasons. “First, people believe that 30 years in power is more than enough, particularly given the socioeconomic conditions of the country, which are steadily worsening,” Esmasry said. “Second, people are fed up with what they see as widespread government corruption and repression of opposition voices.” The risks the youth and others are taking for change have amplified as the country falls deeper into turmoil and as pro-Mubarak demonstrators push back, littering the streets with Photo courtesy of Iman Mosaad | Flickr violence. Photo Illustration by Jared Wolf | The Houstonian “It is a life and death quite HISTORICAL UPRISING. After 30 years of dictatorship, millions of young Egyptians have taken to the streets to demand the President’s literally,” said Elmasry, removal from power.They used social media to organize, while Al Jazeera carried their voice and action across the globe. who frequently visits Egypt, where most of his been many casualties.” change,” Elmasry said. are rigged,” Elmasry said. freedom. So the only hope family lives. “We’ve seen Yet, as the world has seen In the United States, “Journalists and opposing for involvement is the type government security forces in the news coverage of the students can vote and get political voices are regularly of involvement you’re seeing use deadly force on dozens protests, the youth stands involved actively in politics, arrested and tortured, and now on your television of protesters. I don’t know if firm. but in Egypt it is a different some influential opposing screen.” we’ll get an accurate count of “Many of them have said story. political voices are exiled dead and injured, but videos they are willing to sacrifice “In Egypt, presidential and forbidden re-entry circulating on the internet their lives in order to see and parliamentary elections into Egypt. There is little — See EGYPT, page 3 show clearly that there have
Huntsville City Hall officially bans K2, Salvia within city limits By Jessica Priest
Web/ Multimedia Editor
Photo courtesy of DEA
“Despite warnings from both Lunsford and Fitch, Councilmember Dr. Tom Cole expressed concern with how little information the council was given about K2’s harmful effects both to individuals and the community. Last November’s ordinance to extend the sale of alcohol to 2 a.m. provided the council with much more concrete evidence of its potential effects, he said.”
The City of Huntsville took a preemptive strike against the growing popularity of K2 by banning the psychedelicallypackaged substance on Monday by a vote of 7 to 2. K2 is a synthetic form of marijuana. Commonly sold in convenience stores, smoke shops and the internet, it is marketed as incense and labeled as “not for human consumption.” Regardless of this warning, many people are using the substance to get high, and a number of hospitalizations, as many as 16 states, have been reported, according to a database search of the nation’s newspapers. Huntsville Police Chief Kevin Lunsford said Huntsville is no different. “We have had some instances [of people ingesting K2 and being hospitalized because of it] here in Huntsville,” he said. City councilmember and
University Police Department Deputy Chief James Fitch, who originally proposed the ordinance, formerly known as Ordinance 2011-19, agreed. He called councilmembers to action. “Anytime you have people ingesting something that says blatantly on the bag ‘not for human consumption,’ and they are ingesting it, I think there is definitely a hazard,” Fitch said. “We have had people who are being hospitalized [because of ingesting K2] in Huntsville, and [K2] has caused deaths, not here – luckily. “Yes, at some point, the state is looking at banning it, the federal government is looking at banning it, and we can sit back and wait, but, like I said at our last meeting, it is my belief that, if we sit back and wait on state, anybody that dies here in Huntsville from this, it’s on us.” In November 2010, the DEA moved to temporarily control the chemicals found in
K2, according to the Federal Register. The temporary control would make possessing and selling K2 illegal for one year while the agency further studies the chemicals’ effects. Despite warnings from both Lunsford and Fitch, Councilmember Dr. Tom Cole expressed concern with how little information the council was given about K2’s harmful effects both to individuals and the community. Last November’s ordinance to extend the sale of alcohol to 2 a.m. provided the council with much more concrete evidence of its potential effects, he said. “I know that [Fitch] is up to his elbows with this on a day-by-day basis,” Cole said. “We’ve had two readings of this, which often is enough to get something passed, but I get the idea that we’re being rushed on this, and we don’t have the full picture.”
— See K2, page 3
FREE FOOD The first 100 Bearkat fans to Saturday’s men’s basketball game will receive a coupon for three free combo meals at Paw Print Dining Facility, courtesy of Aramark. During half-time, students can also compete to receive free meal plans for the rest of the semester.
AROUND THE WORLD
Yasi makes landfall
Tropical Cyclone Yasi hit the Northeastern of Australia’s Queensland coast late Wednesday night. No injuries have been reported, but the storm left nearly 17,000 without power. According to news.au website, the core of Yasi was large enough to cover most of the United States and Europe. Yasi is devastating following severe flooding in January that covered 75 percent of Queensland, destroying thousands of homes and killing 20 people. “As many as 3.1 million people were affected by the floods last month,” According to CNN. SHSU International Programs office said there are six Australian students, including Bearkat Athletes, who are studying abroad at Sam Houston State University.