10/11 Weekly Edition

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

The Independent Student Newspaper of Sam Houston State University

The Official News Source of Sam Houston State University OKTOBERFEST, P.2

RICK AND MORTY, P.3

EYEWITNESS, P.4

CHAPPY, P.5

VICTORY, P.6

Want to experience German culture close to home? This Friday you can.

Campus Culture Editor Arturo Mosqueda reviews Rick and Morty season 3.

Opinion: Baqir discusses how eyewitness testimonies do more harm than good.

Ellie Chapple is posting a blog throughout the soccer season for fans to enjoy.

SHSU defeated Stephen F. Austin 27-16 in the Battle of the Piney Woods.

/HoustonianSHSU

@HoustonianSHSU

@HoustonianSHSU

Volume 129 | Issue 7

HoustonianOnline.com

Kats secure seventh straight BOTPW SHSU Food Professor Pantry passes after readjusting cancer battle to new semester ETHAN HORN Associate Editor

Photo courtesy shsu.edu

Sheryl Murphy-Manley Sam Houston State University has lost a beloved faculty member.

Dr. Sheryl Murphy-Manley, who joined the faculty in 2001, passed away Thursday morning, Oct. 5.

Dr. Murphy-Manley was a celebrated member of the campus, originally receiving both her undergrad and master’s education in the College of Music. After leaving to get her doctorate in musicology from the University of Texas, she returned to SHSU. While at Sam, Dr. MurphyManley spent time dedicating herself to the practice of teaching, her efforts culminating in an Excellence in Teaching Award last year. She has published both academic and artistic books, produced an extended-content CD-ROM cataloguing the life of a fellow Sam professor, and writing poetry.

Almost two years ago, Dr. Murphy-Manley left for a checkup between finals and her doctor discovered her stage IV lung cancer had metastasized, and her doctor gave her only two weeks to live. Almost 22 months later, she used her resilience as a message of hope for all those around her, and continued teaching even into this semester.

Memorial condolences may be made to the family at www.shmfh. com.

Elisabeth Willason | The Houstonian

PANTRY. The food pantry is getting set back up after a lack of volunteers. Read on to get involved!

ABIGAIL VENTRESS Senior reporter

Photo courtesy Brian Blalock | SHSU Athletics

LUMBERHACKS. The Sam Houston State Bearkats notched their seventh consecutive victory in the Battle of the Piney Woods against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks Saturday at NRG Stadium.

TYLER JOSEFSEN Sports Editor The Sam Houston State Bearkats defeated their long-time rival the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks 27-16 Saturday in the Battle of the Piney Woods at NRG Stadium.

The Kats came out strong on both sides of the ball as they absolutely dominated the first quarter.

The offense seemed like they were firing on all cylinders right from the opening whistle. A pair of throws from senior quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe to junior wide receiver Davion Davis got the Bearkats down the field quickly on their opening possession. One play after the 28 yard completion senior running back Corey Avery punched it in from ten yards out to give the Bearkats a 7-0 lead.

The next touchdown was a special one. After a Lumberjack fumble gave the Bearkats the ball at the SFA 12-yard line, Briscoe found Davis for a 14-yard touchdown to give the Bearkats a 14-0 lead with 10:53 left in the opening quarter. That touchdown through the air by Briscoe set a new school record for career touchdown passes with 85.

After finding the end zone twice within the first five minutes of the game, the Bearkat offense would stall for the better part of the next three quarters. A field goal by junior kicker Tre Honshtein made it 17-0 with 3:49 left in the first quarter, but mistakes plagued the Bearkats from there.

SHSU’s defense would emerge as the real heroes of the game with seven sacks on the day. Senior defensive lineman P.J. Hall and junior lineman Chris Stewart

seemed to live in the SFA backfield all day, each picking up a pair of sacks.

“I think we are starting to get what we want to get out of our defensive line,” head coach K.C. Keeler said. “I thought our back end played pretty well too.”

After scoring an unanswered 17 points in the first quarter, and allowing an incredible nine total yards to the Lumberjacks, the Kats’ next four drives consisted of a punt, an interception, a turnover on downs and a fumble.

The interception and the fumble turned into Lumberjack field goals, and the turnover on downs led to a touchdown drive thanks in large part to a 53-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jake Blumerick to sophomore receiver Tamrick Pace that got SFA into —

BOTPW, page 6

Sam Houston State University’s Food Pantry is looking to double in size by the end of this semester after a recent decline in volunteers. The Sammy Award winning organization is currently lacking committed members, and according to President Janessa Estrada, this is a result of changes within Orglink.

“The recent change with Orglink really backed us up,” Estrada said. “We still have members, but we still need people.”

Food Pantry is promoting their organization by frequent tabling in the LSC mall area and by passing out flyers. The club also monitors its web page and is able to add volunteers through email.

“I have big hopes for them. It was such an honor to be able to award them at the Sammy’s because they are such a deserving group,” 2017 Sammy emcee Katie Stillion said.

The group is now using Google Docs to keep up with volunteers.

The remaining 30 volunteers have —

Pantry, page 2

SHSU beginning to feel impacts of new Piney Woods hall RYAN REYNOLDS Editor-in-Chief Sam Houston State University is feeling the impact of the new Piney Woods Hall this semester as the student overflow concern in on-campus housing is all but history.

For the last two years, SHSU has had its hands full with the number of students wanting to live on-campus compared to the amount of living spaces available.

In the Fall of 2015, the University rented out a hotel and placed over 80 freshmen there for the fall semester. In addition, SHSU had to triple up spaces in rooms of White Hall, Estill and BelvinBuchanan.

“We never want to experience that again,” Executive Director of Resident Life Joellen Tipton said.

“We are in a good place at the moment, having just opened our new Piney Woods Hall, although

we did still have to triple up our White Hall rooms.”

The $60 million-dollar facility is housing 684 Bearkats and is providing the space needed to aid the University’s rapid growth.

Since SHSU requires all freshmen to live in on-campus housing, save for a handful of exceptions, the University recently had to put a cap on the amount of upperclassmen housing applications.

Now, with the addition of Piney Woods, on-campus housing is 97 percent full with a substantial balance in freshmen and upperclassmen.

“The new hall has had a tremendous affect, adding 684 more spaces for students to live on campus,” Tipton said. “It is certainly more convenient, and also more cost effective than living off campus. We were able to allow all of our upperclassmen who wanted to renew their contracts to do so this year, as well as accommodate all

of our freshmen.”

Some Bearkats who live offcampus and commute have a problem with the University making space for new buildings such as the Piney Woods hall, the Fred Pirkle Engineering Technology Center and the Lowman Student Center expansion.

Gonzalez Santiago, a Homeland Security graduate student, uses the paid parking spaces every day, but credited the lack of spaces to the new buildings.

“The parking situation has always been horrible and doesn’t seem to be getting better,” Santiago said. “All those buildings they’re building could be used for parking. There used to be parking where the new dorm is and they seem to keep taking parking away and not putting any new ones in.”

Much like politics, no matter what the University does the Morgan Phillips | The Houstonian parking concern will always be DORM LIFE. Sam Houston State University is starting to feel the —

Housing, page 2

impacts of the new Piney Woods hall. The $60 million-dollar facility has put a halt to SHSU’s on-campus student overflow issue.

The Houstonian | HoustonianOnline.com/news | Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Page 2 Housing, page 1 — brought to the table. Parking spaces could have been added in the lot where the Piney Woods hall sits, but with SHSU’s freshmen class growing every semester, the addition of a new residence hall was vital to accommodate the school’s growth.

“Obviously I believe that student housing is important and a critical part of the mission of the University,” Tipton said. “We actually have quite a bit of parking right now on the north side of campus that is unused – plenty of spaces at the new lot where the old Sunrise apartments used to be behind the CJ lot, and at the old Janes Concrete location near Rita B. Huff. It may not be as convenient, but it is definitely available.”

In addition to those parking options, the University is on track to fund two different parking garages in the coming years now that the housing troubles are under control.

Oktoberfest brings Germany to Huntsville JOSEPH BRUNSON Senior reporter This Friday from 5-8 p.m., the German Conversation and Culture Club (GCCC) will host the second annual Oktoberfest in Huntsville.

Oktoberfest will take place at The Wynne Home Arts Center for $1. Senior, History major, German minor, and president of GCCC Sara Gollogly leads the effort behind organizing this year’s Oktoberfest.

Gollogly expects around 300 to participate in the event this year, hosted on the Wynne Home’s lawn and porch.

“This Oktoberfest is going to be completely outside on the

Pantry, page 1 — been able to adapt to the new system.

“We already have a few volunteers signed up for Thursday’s distribution,” Estrada said.

“GoogleDocs is working so far.”

Distributions for Food Pantry take place every two weeks in Academic Building three.

Students interested in volunteering can still be added through Orglink.

“We have to spread the word on volunteers and do something about this,” Estrada said. “I hope to be at 60 members soon.”

The executive board for Food Pantry was elected in Fall 2016.

Estrada was elected as President after a semester of membership, and says there is currently a vacancy for an executive board position.

“We are more proactive in collecting donations at least twice a month before distributions,” Estrada said. “I hope in the future that we will plan more ahead and have ideas in place in case we run low on volunteers and donations.”

Food Distribution Dates: Fall 2-8 p.m.

Thursday, October 12 Monday, October 23 Thursday, November 9 Monday, November 27

Wynne Home’s lawn and on their porch,” Gollogly said. “The porch is a huge wrap-around porch and the lawn can easily accommodate the amount of people that we are hoping will

attend so it’s more of a beer garden-esque feel.”

The activities at Oktoberfest includes stein races, soccer, face painting, scavenger hunt, streusel stomp, ring toss and dancing.

Oktoberfest plans to have a full menu available to participants.

“This year we are trying to cook for 300 people so there will be some things like our beer rouladen that will be missing from the menu just for cost efficiencies,” Gollogly said. “But that should in no way deter anyone from coming because we’re still going to have some great food and great activities.

Other things that are changed from last year, we don’t have a live band. Since we’re not having it at that venue [the Vortexan] with those connections, we don’t have live music. There will be music at Oktoberfest but there will not be a live band.”

GCCC’s Oktoberfest will not serve alcohol.

“To have had this event on campus,” Gollogly said. “We wouldn’t have been able to serve alcohol unless we went through an incredibly long process to get certified for that. In order to have it off-campus, it would have been upwards of $6,000 to serve

alcohol to host this event and that’s just not in our budget.”

However, the Draft Bar agreed to host an “After Oktoberfest” event once the event concludes.

“We’re going to have an after Oktoberfest celebration at Draft Bar starting after 8 p.m. when the Official Oktoberfest at the Wynne Home ends,” Gollogly said. “And everyone over 21 is

invited to drink at that after party with us.”

GCCC has been working hard to raise funds in preparation of the event.

“What we’ve been doing is that we’ve been raising money,” Gollogly said. “We’ve raised dues this semester for our members by $5 [previously $10].

We’ve had three very successful

Bake Sales and raised over $400 doing that on our own. What we have raised, we have also received donations from people associated with GCCC, friends, family members, loved ones who want this event to succeed and have either donated their material goods or have donated money.

And of course, we’ve petitioned our department and the college to match what we’ve raise and they’ve been very generous in that regard.”

Gollogly said that Oktoberfest will not break even for the GCCC, and the money raised from Oktoberfest will go to affording events for the fall and spring semester.

“What we’re trying to do is not break even with the amount spent on Oktoberfest because it’s not possible to for an organization on campus of our size and for an event like this,” Gollogly said. “We are simply trying, by charging a dollar and selling raffle tickets and T-shirts, to have something that the club can use going forward both this semester and for events coming up in the Spring as well.”

Oktoberfest kicks off at the Wynne house at 5 p.m. on Oct. 13.

Explainer: Tax plan seems shaky ETHAN HORN Associate Editor This week the Explainer is looking at the Republican Tax plan: what it is, how it may be passed and possible effects.

From the beginning, it’s important to state that the plan seems very unlikely to pass without some significant changes. The documents that are out now have left many senators, most democratic and a handful of republican, opposing the bill.

The standard deduction, basically the amount of your income you can set aside from any taxes, is proposed to be almost doubled; $24,000 for married couples and $12,000 for individuals.

Because of raises to the standard deductions, and some new expansion around child tax credits that won’t apply to most students, personal exemptions are being eliminated. These allowed you to claim more “untaxable” income based on the number of people existing within the same financial base.

The biggest change proposed is a shrinking of the tax brackets from seven down to three. In the new system, there would be 12, 25, and 35 percent brackets.

The exact income ranges for each bracket have not yet been announced, but this would be the base amount owed out of your yearly income depending on the amount you made.

A caveat here; the legislation

number of very large changes coming to corporate tax law, but virtually none of those will apply to students.

All told, these changes look to lower every American’s taxes in the short run. In the chart accompanying this piece you will find the projected savings

by Americans as done by the Tax Policy Center. It shows the significant cuts for the highest

“Now, legislators are waiting on a report from the Joint Committee on Taxations report to find out just how much economic growth may offset the cost as they dynamically score the bill.” does provide for a fourth, unannounced tax rate that has not been revealed. Many speculate this would be a higher rate to help the tax plan maintain at least some semblance of balance with the current status quo, but there hasn’t been any evidence of that yet.

Besides these two, there are a

portion of earners, and an actual increase in taxes for the relatively small upper middle class by 2027.

All together, the changes have one significant problem that push it from a likely pass to a likely fail as it begins circulating around Congress, it drastically increases the deficit. Altogether,

the plan would cost $2.4 trillion in revenue over the next ten years.

While Trump administration spokespeople have claimed the massive cost will be recouped by subsequent economic growth, there is little evidence of such tax cuts generating quite that amount in the past.

Now, legislators are waiting on a report from the Joint Committee on Taxations report to find out just how much economic growth may offset the cost as they dynamically score the bill.

Until then, the lack of clarity on a number of proposals has led to a few key senators to back away, such as Rand Paul.

In any other session, normal process would see the many murky points of the legislation clarified and rehashed throughout the congressional process, but that normal mode of operating has been disheveled in recent months.

Between petty spats and significant issues, the tax reform bill has a long way to go, but the longer it takes the better it might turn out.

SGA, Faculty Senate provide updates halfway in semester ETHAN HORN Associate Editor Congratulations students, you have officially made it halfway through the Fall 2017 semester.

While students have been working hard studying, the governing bodies at Sam have been pursuing goals to help make all the things outside the classroom run smoothly.

Here’s SGA President Briauna Augustus on their progress and goals this semester.

“SGA is working on being more inclusive as a whole. When speaking to students who are joining as seniors, one question we ask is when did they find out about student government.

Often the answer is that they’ve known about us but they didn’t join sooner because they either 1) didn’t know what we do, 2) didn’t think they qualified or 3) a combination of both. This holds true for more than just seniors

as well. This year we want to show not only the people involved that they can participate as an agent of SGA however their heart desires, government to sports, but also to show others who are not involved that we truly represent and SUPPORT all reaches of the student body.

To achieve this, we are taking more of an active approach to seek out events that we can promote and attend as well as putting on more events ourselves that don’t require you to have a specific interest or another.

We want everyone to know that SGA is not just a junction full of yays and nays and political jargon, but an organization that wants to make the university a better and more cohesive place for all of its students in an organized manner. Be on the lookout for our name out there for more than just elections!

Thank you, Briauna Augustus” If you want to keep up with

the SGA and their plans, make sure to follow SHSU Student Government Association on Facebook and check out their video recaps.

And a quick note from the Faculty Senate Chair, Jonathan Beazeale: “Our goal as a Senate has – and always will be – to advise the President on matters related to all aspects of the university.

Our current focus is primarily on supporting the 10-year reaffirmation by SACSCOC – SHSU’s accrediting body.

We periodically examine the policies of the university and are currently reviewing and updating a vast majority of them.

Jonathan Beazeale” The SACSCOC stands for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and their guidelines require an extensive report which the website recommends the university spend “several months to a year or two.”

If you or someone you know was effected by the recent Hurricane Harvey, then Bearkats to the Rescue is a great opportunity for you! We will be collecting nonperishable food and other essentials that are in great need by those who have lost their homes and personal property. Items can be donated to the drop stations that will be situated around campus or even the SGA office itself. On October 14 we will transport them to Houston for distribution to families in need. This service project is aimed at helping those in need in the aftermath of one of the State’s largest natural disasters in recent memory as well as showing Sam Houston’s support for all of those effected. - SGA

The Houstonian | HoustonianOnline.com/campusculture | Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Page 3

Rick and Morty season 3 review: Alternative feels ARTURO MOSQUEDA Campus Culture Editor With the popularity that “Rick and Morty” has gained over the last few years, creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon were aware that they had to bring a new approach to how everyone thought about the show, and that they did.

The famous (or rather infamous) dynamic duo, Rick and Morty, carried the show’s popularity through most of season one, but as season two aired, Roiland and Harmon knew they had to bring in more complex storylines and other characters to disrupt and question both Rick and Morty’s place in the show’s world. What season three

does well is not only focus on the two main protagonists of the show, but deal with those around them such as family, alternative universe Rick and Morty’s, and even the President.

The season explored Rick’s character and his relationship to his family. The intelligent, often glorified space-traveling scientist finds little to no meaning for himself in the universe despite his extraordinary work.

Does Rick’s family even need him? Are they better off living a normal life without Rick and his spontaneous, life-threatening adventures? These questions are in the spotlight throughout the 10-episode season.

After a superb first episode that brought fans to their feet, the main storyline of the season

The Good Doctor review MASON GONZALEZ TV/Film reviewer For those who have not heard of the Good Doctor, it is a new television series that tells the story of a young autistic doctor working to serve in a hospital in California. This series premiered on ABC on Sept. 26 and has received high appraise from viewers.

The series centers on Shaun Murphy, portrayed by Freddie Highmore, (who you may recognize from Bates Motel) a doctor diagnosed with autism and savant syndrome (a case where individuals with autism have enhanced abilities or brilliance in certain subjects that stand out in contrast to their disability), making him antisocial but also a genius. It is based on a 2013 Korean drama of the same name produced by David Shore, who also worked on House.

The pilot had some ups and some downs. To start with the positives; Freddie Highmore does a nice job at portraying an autistic adult and showing that he can be emotionally moving when called upon. There are some flashbacks, in the pilot at least, that at first were a little jarring but eventually became welcomed and adds more to the character of Shaun Murphy.

It introduces a little intrigue into the back story of Murphy although by the end of the flashbacks they did become predictable.

There are issues that should be touched up a little. There are cliché characters that are seen, the well-respected yet arrogant older professional who despises

the new guy because he is different, and the intelligent young female doctor who is not shown the respect she deserves and is compassionate towards the introverted genius. These are characters we have seen dozens of times before, and so far, there is nothing about them that shows they will bring anything beneficial to the show. Certain lines of dialogue were only there just to serve as exposition and they were not delivered successfully.

On a technical level, there were a few times in the first half of the episode where the transitions are sudden and without the use of establishing shots. It leaves the audience confused as to what’s happening. I do not know if this is something that will remain in the show permanently, or if they were just for the pilot, but there are moments where we are inside the head of Shaun as everything is in text as he solves the problem. While not terrible, they can be a bit jarring and has been used in many other shows about geniuses, so it feels like a checkbox item rather than a core element or interesting gimmick for the show.

Lastly, while the flashbacks were a nice touch, one of them showcased an old cliché of the angry misunderstanding father and the pure loving mom who is their support system, they do make a deviation from this trope in the next flashback but it was still there.

I am somewhat intrigued by the story, and wish to continue seeing how these characters interact with each other and see the story unfold.

Sweet 16 Birthday, Afghanistan Cartoon courtesy Mitchell Sklar

starts off in a “Mad Max” world that expands on character development. “Rickmancing the Stone” starts exploring Beth and Jerry’s divorce and how it affects the family. While Rick may be thrilled to get rid of his son-in-law, the rest of the Smith family does not take the divorce quite well. A dark undercurrent is brought to the series that reels in character drama and the gutwrenching moments that make “Rick and Morty” a great show.

“Pickle Rick” was an entertaining, action packed episode that deals with Rick wanting to avoid a family counseling session with Beth, Morty and Summer by turning himself into a pickle.

The season continues on, making its way to each character and discovering their flaws and

dependency on each other. Rick’s relationship with his family is disjointed and he is placed as an outsider to his family, having a hard time connecting to those close to him. A question comes up within this season: if nothing matters and anything is possible, then is happiness a fallacy bought into by complacency?

On the other side of the spectrum, we have Rick and Morty blowing off a top-secret mission for the President by playing “Minecraft” instead. It’s good to see that Rick’s relationship towards Morty is still strong throughout the season, even having Rick play a simple video game with his grandson.

We witness Rick taking down an entire space government. He can fight the President, alternate

universe Ricks, the world, and all while trying to intervene with his daughters relationship.

“Is happiness a fallacy bought into by complacency?”

-Arturo Mosqueda The season comes full circle.

Although many fans were disappointed to not see classic characters return in the season finale, this exploration between Rick and Morty’s relationship and their family is what was needed to make character progression.

With Rick’s placement by the end of the season amidst his family, it will be exciting to see where Roiland and Harmon will take the show’s direction in season four when it releases a few years from now.

The Bad Batch botches debut LINDSEY JONES TV/Film reviewer Despite its gorgeously raw visuals and clever choice in music, “The Bad Batch” fails to resuscitate something that has long been dead — the narrative.

American director and screenwriter Ana Lily Amirpour (who is well-known for the 2014 critically-acclaimed “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”) has yet to lose sight of her eye for the peculiar — a trait not often shared by mainstream audiences.

Even the amazing collaboration between Amirpour, director of photography Lyle Vincent and music veterans Brett Pierce and Andrea von Foerster cannot not save this film from what it really is: An eye-pleasing filler with transparent characters and shoehorned romance.

“The Bad Batch” follows Arlen (Suki Waterhouse), who is exiled to a cannibalistic wasteland outside of the jurisdiction (and care) of the United States. After surviving a brutal kidnapping by a savage group of man-eaters — at the cost of her arm and leg— she painfully adjusts to the cruel and bizarre world that is The Bad Batch. Along the way, she discovers that being good or bad mostly depends on who you’re standing next to.

“The Bad Batch” lacks conviction in what it wants to be as a film. While the visuals are executed with envious precision — illustrating beauty in isolation and suspense in long pockets of stilled cinematography — the lackluster characters and “backand-forth” script direction dulled its overall success in storytelling. The film’s uninteresting

characters and boring storyline borderline destroys its lively visualizations and pop cultural rich musical score. As a result, the audience gets a half-baked cake of a film— deliciously eye-catching on the outside, but mediocre on the inside.

The promise of a visually and musically refreshing film about a man-eating wasteland full of unconventional characters turned out to be a style way over substance filler waiting for the main upcoming piece to clue the audience in on a ton of much left out information. Unlike George Miller’s gritty, blood-rushing masterpiece “Mad Max: Fury Road” (that many nitpicked for lacking characterization), this film’s tendency to treat its main characters like unmemorable, secondary characters led to its downfall. Although the film follows Arlen around, the utter absence in exposition about her reason for being dumped there and blatant disregard of exploring Bad Batch history drags this film down as forgettable.

The same can be said about Jason Momoa’s character, Miami Man — the character with the most relatability and development in this entire film.

Momoa’s performance brought a surprising amount of humanity and authentic subtly to his intimidatingly huge character; however, the script did not respect Momoa’s talent nor his complicated character for it ultimately dumps Miami Man in the middle of doing nothing.

Keanu Reeves as The Dream was an enjoyable sight to see, proving that The Chosen One (“The Matrix” series) turned John Wick (“John Wick”) can be more than a walking-talk-

Make It Stop!!

Cartoon courtesy Mitchell Isbell

ing fighting machine. While Momoa’s character was the most relatable, Reeves’ unnerving persona as The Dream is the most intriguing to watch, for it brought on most of the film’s nail-biting suspense. The camera work and Reeves’ talent for unsettling those on screen and those watching worked into creating a dark and thrilling atmosphere whenever he is on screen. However, again because of the writing, The Dream became nothing more than a means to an end. No one worth remembering.

Another aspect of the film not worth remembering is the out of place sexual tension between Momoa and Waterhouse’s characters. Set in an unforgiving place like The Bad Batch, the last thing this film needs is some romance to shove its way through the already undermining plot.

Writing into the script that a character will suddenly realize that another character is attractive and put them into sexually implied situations does not make the film any better. This unnecessary attraction between Arlen and Miami Man only highlights this film’s obvious struggle in telling a consistent and believable story. As the romance continues (and plays a part in the very disappointing ending), it becomes more obvious that this sudden attraction is nothing more than a tool to further the plot. If a film decides to add romance into a film, at least make the relationship genuine in nature.

Visit HoustonianOnline.com for the full review.

The Houstonian | HoustonianOnline.com/viewpoints | Wednesday, October 11, 2017

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Conservative on DeVos’s approach to education

CASSIE KNUST Senior Viewpoints writer As a conservative in 2017, it would seem I am expected to completely align with the Republican platform.

Let me assure you that I, among many of my peers, find myself split on several issues – both socially and economically.

As a college student, I’m aware that I’m here to learn and be open-minded, so I like to consider all sides. I stand up for what I believe in, and sometimes those beliefs fall towards the right and the left.

With this said, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to liking our Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. To start, as many have already pointed out, Secretary DeVos has very little experience in education.

In fact, she has none in a classroom setting. Is the education of our country really in the hands of someone so inexperienced? If this weren’t enough, she has been very vocal about her religious beliefs, and how she intends to merge them with policy. Please don’t misunderstand, having faith and believing what we choose is a wonderful thing — it’s what this country was built on, but there’s a reason state and religion are separated. Just as different Christians were raised with their own world views and truths, so were people of different religions.

There is no way the human race as a whole is going to agree on one religion. It’s simply not realistic to tie in one group’s doctrines into state policies when the policy in question is one as large as education.

The big controversy surrounding DeVos’ swearing in was the topic of school vouchers.

She made it very clear that her goal was to privatize education, turning it into a free market system of sorts. These vouchers would take governmental/public funding and divert it to private/ religious-based schools. If school vouchers weren’t controversial enough in and of themselves, they’re now being backed by someone whose focus is to expand Christianity (a harmless and

campuses. Her reasoning is that by raising the standards for evidence against sexual assault, the accused will have more protection. On one hand, it seems like a noble goal — not everyone who is accused is guilty. However, too many men and women go without justice or closure because a judge decided the victim was at fault or was lying. To add salt to the wound, a judge will sentence the guilty to time that isn’t anywhere near long enough. Secretary DeVos has successfully helped victims stay at a disadvantage by making them once again have to prove beyond measure they were sexually assaulted.

As a young college conservative, I’m not okay with this. I’m not okay with having someone so inexperienced spearheading America’s education. I’m not okay with victims of abuse having to be abused by both their attacker and the system. Ideally, our system would find a way to fairly judge the accused and the accuser in cases of sexual assault, but until then, it shouldn’t be allowed to further hurt victims.

even acceptable mission outside of politics) using governmental office. Although We the People

“...We the People have the right to pursue whichever religion we so choose, our government has an obligation to serve us in as unbiased a manner as possible. ”

-Cassie Knust have the right to pursue whichever religion we so choose, our government has an obligation to serve us in as unbiased a manner as possible. Does this mean those in office shouldn’t be religious?

Of course not. It does, however, mean they need to be able to set it aside and put themselves in everyone’s shoes, including those who don’t hold the same beliefs.

Most recently, however, DeVos has gone a step further. She has reversed Obama’s sexual assault prevention plan for college

Pa ws UP

Paws up to winning the Battle of the Piney Woods seven times in a row, could of rowed to Huntsville on a river of lumberjack tears.

Paws down to daylight savings being a month away.

I need that extra hour or else I’m going to lose it.

@HoustonianSHSU @HoustonianSHSU

Eye witnesses may lead to misidentification 50 percent of them used the eyewitness testimony as the main evidence against the defendant.

In addition, 48 percent of the cases where the actual criminal was later caught by using DNA evidence, these criminals had gone on to commit multiple crimes after the previous one that an innocent person had to serve time for.

This data makes you wonder about the many defendants that were convicted of a crime that they did not commit because of eyewitness misidentification but could not be proven innocent as there wasn’t enough DNA present or the evidence was lost or destroyed. It also makes you think of the criminals that actually committed crimes going about freely in their day to day life, while an innocent person is serving time for them. How is that fair?

An example of how eyewitness misidentification can ruin an innocent person’s life is the Troy Davis case. It was in Savannah, Ga. where he was identified by nine eye witnesses that say they

TASNEEM BAQIR Senior Viewpoints writer To find a defendant guilty in a trial in our criminal justice system, eye witness identification is given a significant amount of weight. It can, at times, be enough to convict the defendant of a crime and send them to prison. The problem with this is that eyewitness identification is not always accurate. At times, the eyewitness can identify the innocent defendant as the criminal and get them convicted of a crime they never committed.

The Innocent Project takes up cases of wrongly convicted prisoners and helps them get their freedom back. Research done by The Innocent Project shows that out of the 230 people that were exonerated because of DNA testing, 179 people had eyewitness misidentification involved in the trial. Out of the misidentification cases, in 38 percent of the cases, the defendant was misidentified by multiple eyewitnesses, and

saw him shoot a police officer in a restaurant parking lot. Several eye witnesses have recanted their word since then, but nothing has been done. He has even come hours near being executed, but was granted a stay at the last minute. In another case, Luis Diaz was accused of rape by eight victims. Later, two of them recanted their statements, and he was then found innocent in 2005 because of DNA testing.

So what can be done about the eye witness misidentification?

What can be done to ensure that no innocent defendant is sent to prison over a crime they did not commit? What can be done to ensure that a criminal does not go free while an innocent person serves time for the perpetrator’s crime?

In some situations, the eye witness misidentification occurs in the lineup stage, where the eye witness has to identify who they think the culprit is. The problems here are that the administrator knows who the suspect is and may provide unintentional cues to the eyewitness about who to pick. Eye

witnesses also sometimes assume that the perpetrator has to be present in the lineup, and hence chooses an innocent person for the sake of making a choice. The fillers may not look anything like what the eye witness said, and the eye witness will only choose the person that most closely resembled their description. The last problem is that, in the report, it may not be mentioned that the eyewitness was unsure when making a selection.

To avoid this, as suggested

by The Innocent Project, there could be a double-blind line up procedure, in which the administrator is not aware of who the suspect is. This way the administrator cannot give hints on who the suspect is. They can ensure that the fillers all look like the description given by the eyewitness and that the eyewitness is informed that the perpetrator may not be present in the lineup. Also, they should make sure to report the level of how certain the eyewitness was with their selection. This can help reduce the chances of

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an innocent person being sent to prison and having their life ruined. The other important thing that can be done to help is make the jury aware about the reliability of an eyewitness testimony, so it can prevent wrongful convictions.

I think that if all these changes were made in our criminal justice system, it might be a step forward in preventing innocent people from being sent to prison. After all, the criminal justice system is there to bring crime rates down by punishing the criminals and removing them from the streets, and not to just put people behind bars.

Define yourself by what you do, not by who you are

CALEB BRUNSON Senior Viewpoints writer

When finding out about someone’s personality, the things people ask the most are 1) “Who are they?” and 2) “What do they do?” At first, these questions may seem similar or even the same question asked differently, so it is natural to question why

there is a distinction between the two. But these questions are very different. A person defining themselves by what they do reveals more insights than who they claim to be.

When people define themselves by who they are, they usually use traits such as friendly, kind, intelligent, honest and other positive traits. At first, these may seem like a good start to introducing oneself to another person because it is important to maintain a good image when starting any relationships, whether it be business-related, platonic, or even sexual. But defining oneself only by claiming personality traits brings in the problem that traits are entirely subjective. It is impossible to prove that someone possesses a good or bad character trait. For example, a liberal, atheist family will have different expectations

of modesty than a conservative, Christian family, but that does not mean their definition of modesty is wrong. But if expressing subjective traits is the best a person can do to talk about himself, they are not going to be an interesting person to be around.

When people focus too much or only on their subjective traits, it is hard to feel good about oneself because deep inside, they may feel useless. Feeling useless is one of the worst feelings that one can have and it leads to depression. Depression is not simply people feeling intense sadness for a short period. It’s a constant battle of feeling lonely, feeling as if they have nothing to offer, constantly seeking validation, not being able to get out of bed; experiencing emptiness.

People must stop asking who

a person is and instead ask what people do in their lives.

Asking what a person does is not only not entirely subjective, it also reveals more about a person’s life. For example, if a person works in advertising and markets products such as detergent and soap, this can pose many questions. What made him interested in selling detergents?

What does his job entail? If the person asking questions also likes detergent (other than buying it as a necessity), this can make for interesting conversations regarding detergents that may lead to acquaintances, friendships, and even a relationship in the future.

This is because the person advertising the detergent can talk about something he knows and not just something that he claims to have.

Furthermore, people defining

themselves by what they do allows them to make the introspection necessary to see how they can improve both their lives and people around them.

Once a person realizes that what they can offer to other people is more important than what they claim to be, they can start doing work that helps other people. A person who surrounds themselves by various types of work, such as a job, organizations (not just for students), volunteer efforts and even creative art (if it is not their career) will feel much better about their lives than someone who watches TV all day and complains about how no one recognizes their brilliance.

I challenge everyone to spend a month defining themselves not by who they are, but what they do. It may lead to higher selfesteem than what they have been accustomed to.

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The Houstonian | HoustonianOnline.com/sports | Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Page 5

Offering a unique perspective

Photo courtesy SHSU Athletics

STICKIN’ IT TO EM. Fans will not see the Sam Houston State University men’s lacrosse team on the field

this season. Recreational Sports has banned the program for two years, and they had a $10,000 reason for doing so.

HIVAN MORENO Asst. Sports Editor One Sam Houston State University soccer player is giving fans an interesting perspective on the program. Freshman defender Ellie Chapple is publishing a blog periodically on the SHSU Athletics soccer website called “Chatting with Chappy: Inside the Season”.

“The first one was kind of

weird for me,” Chapple said. “Just thinking about all of the things I want to write about, I mulled over it more than the others.”

Head Coach Tom Brown went to Chapple earlier this season and asked her if she liked writing. He wanted on of his freshman players to start this blog so that fans and potential players can get an inside look at what the life of a collegiate athlete is like.

“I wanted to break the blog up

A perfect start

Photo courtesy Russell James

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. SHSU started conference play 6-0.

into soccer, school, and then everything else,” Chapple said.

Chapple is a business marketing major, and was an academic standout at Bishop Kelley High School where she was awarded Academic All Frontier Conference and Academic Team State Champions. Finding the right balance between soccer and schoolwork has been a fairly painless transition for her.

“As for balancing homework, HIVAN MORENO Asst. Sports Editor The Sam Houston State Bearkats volleyball team has jumped out to an impressive 6-0 start in conference play after sweeping Nicholls State and beating McNeese in four sets this week.

SHSU began last week’s road trip on a high note as they swept Nicholls in straight sets. With SHSU winning and Central Arkansas beating Texas A&M Corpus Christi, the Bearkats now have sole possession of first place in the Southland Conference standings.

it isn’t as bad when you have all the other girls who are trying to stay on top of their classes too,” Chapple said. “We’re all making sure that we are getting our stuff done.”

Not only does Chapple want to cover sports in her blog, but she also wants to convey that studentathletes like herself have the same obstacles when they get to college as everyone else. Her transition period to SHSU was earlier than most students as she arrived in July for soccer, but her struggles were similar.

“I’m an out of town student, so I was getting acclimated to being away from home,” Chapple said.

“I’ve only been home once since I’ve been here. Just getting used to being away from your parents and getting used to doing things yourself takes time.”

Writing her blog continues to get a little easier for her each time she publishes one. So far, she has written three, and they can all be found in the Soccer- Archives 2017 section of their athletics page online.

“I think going forward it will be a lot easier,” Chapple said. “It makes me more aware about what we did each week and what’s going today at practice and how everybody is doing.”

W HO’ S T HAT

K AT ?

Clue #1: He was born July 26, 1959 in Emmaus, Pennsylvania.

He and his wife, Janice, now have two children- their daughter Kate and a son named Jackson.

Clue #2: He signed a free agent contract in 1980 with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Clue #3: He has coached five players that have gone on to be draft picks in the National Football League, including Super Bowl XLVII MVP quarterback Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens.

@HoustonianSHSU @HoustonianSHSU Senior outside hitter Brooke White turned in a strong performance with 13 kills and nine digs to propel the team to their fifth consecutive conference victory of the year. Fellow senior outside hitter Jordyn Vaughn would contribute nine kills and seven digs to the team effort as SHSU completed the sweep of the Colonels. The Bearkats would win the sets 26-24, 25-21, and finish off the third set with a controlling 25-13 victory.

The Bearkats were on the road again Saturday in Lake Charles to face off against McNeese State. The Cowgirls entered the game 4-2 in conference play and

12-8 overall.

Four Bearkats finished the match with double-digit kills. After dropping the first set, SHSU rallied back to take home the 3-1 win (23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 2518). Vaughn and junior middle blocker Taylor Cunningham each had 16 kills in the victory.

The women’s volleyball team has bounced back from a 3-9 non-conference start to run the table and go 6-0 to open up play against Southland opponents.

The Bearkats will be on the road for the third straight game as they will take on 6-1 Houston Baptist on Thursday. Play is set to begin at 7 p.m.

The Houstonian | HoustonianOnline.com/sports | Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Page 6 BOTPW, page 1 — the turnover on downs led to a touchdown drive thanks in large part to a 53-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jake Blumerick to sophomore receiver Tamrick Pace that got SFA into the red zone. Blumerick eventually punched it in from one yard out to close the gap to 17-13.

The Bearkats found themselves at the SFA one-yard line with just over one minute left but failed to find the end zone and were forced to settle for a field goal as time expired to give the Bearkats a 20-13 lead going into halftime.

“I would say we had some missed opportunities,” head coach K.C. Keeler said. “Some penalties killed us to.”

It looked like the Bearkats may start the second half strong after junior linebacker Hunter Brown intercepted a pass in Lumberjack territory on the fourth play of the half. The Bearkats could not capitalize, however, as they missed a field goal after the offense could not even pick up a first down. The second half continued with much of the same as the SHSU offense was nowhere to be found.

Despite a big day from Davis who tied the school record with 13 receptions in the game, the Kats were kept off the scoreboard in the third quarter. They were also missing the Southland’s all-time leading receiver, Photo courtesy Brian Blalock | SHSU Athletics senior Yedidiah Louis, who was SEVEN STRAIGHT. Senior defensive lineman P.J. Hall penetrates the Stephen F. Autin backfield as he brings down sophomore quarterback Jake Blumsidelined by a hamstring issue. rick for his second sack of the game.

“I don’t think it affected us in any type of way,” Davis said.

“We have backups who are just as good as our starters, so everything was good.”

In the fourth quarter the Lumberjacks rallied to make the game very interesting. It started with a 27-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Storm Ruiz to make the game 20-16 with 11:14 left.

The Lumberjacks followed that score with an onside kick recovery to get the ball back. On the first play following the recovery, Blumrick connected with junior wide receiver Frank Iheanacho for 35 yards to get them to the 16-yard line.

On the next play, the Bearkats changed the momentum of the game when freshman linebacker Danzell Sims intercepted a pass in the end zone to prevent a Lumberjack touchdown.

The teams exchanged punts before the Bearkats put the game away for good. Following a Lumberjack punt the Bearkats went on an eight-play drive where the ground game was the focus, and it was only fitting that Jeremiah Briscoe scrambled for a 26-yard touchdown run with 4:55 left to put the game on ice. The Bearkats defense made one last stand to force an SFA punt before the Kats would run out the clock and seal the victory.

The win marks their seventh in a row over the Lumberjacks, making it the longest win streak in Battle of the Piney Woods history.

Up next, the Bearkats will Senior quarterback Jeremiah Junior Hannah Tarrant out of take on the Northwestern State Briscoe needed just one touch- Spring Woods High School had an Demons at Bowers Stadium in down pass Saturday to break the impressive showing Friday in ColHuntsville for their annual “pink school record, and he picked it up lege Station. SHSU competed in out” game. Kickoff will be Saturwithin the first five minutes. Bris- the Aggieland Open, and Tarrant day at 3:45 p.m. coe would also score with his legs finished fifth individually in a field as he picked up his second rushing of 59 competitors. Her 2K time of touchdown of the season in the 19:17.6 is her best run of the seaBearkats 27-16 win over SFA. son.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK JEREMIAH BRISCOE QUARTERBACK

HANNAH TARRANT CROSS COUNTRY