3/1/21 E-Edition

Monday, March 1, 2020

The Independent Student Newspaper of Sam Houston State University

Students Dedicated to Professional Journalism Volume 108 | Issue 1

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Winter Storm Uri freezes Texas, leaves students in the dark

Photo courtesy of Leila De la Cruz

The Houstonian | Houstoniannews.com | Monday, March 1, 2021

Page 2

CAMPUS NEWS

Uri causes dining hall confusion to students

BY JOVANNA AGUILAR Contributing reporter Winter Storm Uri surprised Texans as the state had less than a week to prepare and send provisions. Sam Houston State University students found themselves stranded with no power or water.

While the dining halls remained open, many students complained about being charged for meals during such extreme weather emergency conditions.

On Feb. 16, Sam Houston State University informed students via text about the dining hall services and students were told that Old Main Market and General’s market would be open to students who needed food. Confusion arose when students who thought meals would be free, started having credit cards scanned. It was not until the complaints did the dining hall address the issue stating that they were not charging students but were taking down numbers to see how many students were in the dining hall.

Marketing manager Laurel Stevens for SH dining services clarified the confusion that students had.

“Meals were provided for free. There were more than 1,200 free meals provided throughout the week,” Stevens said.

“If students didn’t have a meal plan, or a means to pay they were let in free, no one was turned away.”

Stevens elaborated that the dining hall also faced many challenges during the storm.

“Initially, we had both Markets [General’s and Old Main] open, but due to multiple power outages, no water, limited cooking equipment, failed generators and limited staff, our team served the majority of meals from Old Main Market,” Stevens said. “Despite this challenge, our team powered through and was able to open on time and serve hot meals to thousands of students and the community, as well as weekly quarantine meals.

There was major miscommunication regarding efforts made on behalf of the school during the storm, but one thing is for sure, Sam Houston State University will always care and provide for their students no matter what.

Photo courtesy of Leila De la Cruz

Photo courtesy of Leila De la Cruz

Photo courtesy of Leila De la Cruz

The Houstonian | Houstoniannews.com | Monday, March 1, 2021

Page 3

CAMPUS NEWS

WOS: Students make most of winter storm

BY KIA SEASTRUNK AND MYA CALEB Contributing reporters Students last month were snowed in during the historic Winter Storm Uri that affected major regions in the United States of America. This was the worst freeze the state of Texas has seen in over 30 years.

During this time, people across campus dealt with issues such as no water, no electricty and the inability to obtain resources due to unstable driving conditions. These issues lasted about a week for most citizens in the state of Texas, but are still causing problems among many others.

The Houstonian asked students on campus how they dealt with the unusual weather conditions.

Photo courtesy of Leila De la Cruz

SASHA WIMBLY JUINOR KINESIOLOGY/DANCE

EMILEE LAWRENCE SEINOR MASS COMMUNICATION

GLENDALIRIS TORRES GREAUX SOPHMORE MUSICAL THEATER

LOGAN ROSE JUINOR

“It was a little easy staying sane because I was with my roommate for most of the time. Having company during that time really helped keep me occupied, but whenever I was at my friend’s house I just relaxed, caught up on some shows, and tried to be positive about the situation.”

“I stayed at home with my animals for the duration of the freeze. I had a pipe burst in my apartment on Wednesday and stayed throughout that as well.”

“Because I am an RA, I couldn’t leave. I had to work and assist the residents with anything that they needed. My coworkers and I got really close. We were just playing monopoly.”

“The most challenging part would probably be no water. Not being able to shower was the worst thing that might’ve happened.”

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The Houstonian | Houstoniannews.com | Monday, March 1, 2021

Page 4

COMMUNITY NEWS

Winter Storm Uri freezes time for Huntsvillians

BY ANDREW HUFFMEYER AND ANDREW VANNES Contributing Reporters Winter Storm Uri ravaged Texas with freezing winds and snowfall in Texas on Feb. 15. Since the initial freeze that Monday morning, many questions have been floating around Texans’ heads about what happened.

“The current theory from meteorologists and climatologists is that these big kind of polar vortex arctic type storms are happening because there’s a weakness in something called the ‘jet stream’ or the flow of air that kind of runs a loopy pattern or kind of meandering pattern,” assistant pro-fessor and Environmental Science lead advisor Dr. Ross Guida said.

The jet stream sometimes moves the cold air from the United States and Canadian border south and sometimes pulls the warm air from Texas north.

With the Arctic warming up, the bound-

Photo courtesy of Leila De la Cruz

ary struggles to keep the cold air masses from traveling south.

With the traveling cold air, people traditionally start heating their houses for the first time in the year and with the increased use of energy and 90% of Texans on one power grid, it led to a complete crash.

On Feb. 16, Gov. Greg Abbott released a press release discussing the power grid crash. “The Electric Reliability Council of Texas [ERCOT] has been anything but reliable over the past 48 hours,” Abbott said. “Far too many Texans are without power and heat for their homes as our state faces freezing temperatures and severe winter weather. This is unacceptable.”

On Feb. 23, Abbott made a statement on the resignation of ERCOT’s board members.

“When Texans were in desperate need of electricity, ERCOT failed to do its job and Texans were left shivering in their homes without power,” Abbott said. “ERCOT leadership made assur-

ances that Texas’ power infrastructure was prepared for the winter storm, but those assurances proved to be devastatingly false.

The lack of preparedness and transparency at ERCOT is unacceptable, and I welcome these resignations.

The State of Texas will continue to investigate ERCOT and uncover the full picture of what went wrong, and we will ensure that the disastrous events of last week are never repeated.”

With the investigation into the power grid failure, Texans must also wonder what new preparation the power infrastructure will need.

“The idea is if you want to really be prepared for natural disasters and other things that climate change that we expect going forward, you may have to make some investments that are not always used 365 days a year,” Guida said. “So to ‘winterize’ the Texas grid basically or to make it more resilient to these types of Arctic Blasts coming south you have got to get the winterization kits for the windmills and you may have to figure out how to winterize some of these natural gas plants, which typically have their infrastructure outside, so that reduces the amount of overheating that could happen during the summer.”

While meteorologists and government officials debate the big picture, students recover from the stress and changes of the winter week.

Senior English major at Sam Houston State University Audrey Lack experienced power and water loss at Sterling Union throughout the week. On Wednesday, Lack and her friends moved to Lowman Student Center after the building became a warming station.

“We moved into the LSC for three days,” Lack said. “We just slept on couches in the LSC. They never turn the lights off. It was hard to sleep. It was kind of like a big slumber party, just the

stress of it all was the weird part.” Junior criminal justice major at SHSU Sydney Cisneros dealt with a loss of power at apartment. Eventually on Tuesday, Cisneros moved into another apartment that had electricity and seven people with three animals running around.

With the power and water back on, Cisneros felt the apartments could have done a better job handling the transition back.

“I think I was a little disappointed in the fact that the places like the power and the water was not evenly distributed throughout the complex,” Cisneros said.

State agencies reported that local governments spent $49 million on emergency costs with only 75% expecting reimbursement from the federal government, according to Texas Tribune.

Insurance claims are flooding in across the state for both electricity and plumbing damages. A burst pipe insurance claim could cost an average of $10,00020,000, while those without insurance can expect an even heavier bill to pay, according to The Dallas Morning News.

“When Texans were in desperate need of electricity, ERCOT failed to do its job and Texans were left shivering in their homes without power.”

Gov. Greg Abbott

The Houstonian | Houstoniannews.com | Monday, March 1, 2021

Page 5

COMMUNITY NEWS

Charities step up amidst Winter Storm Uri

BY JORDAN PEMELTON AND RUBI CAMACHO Contributing Reporters THE MEASURE OF A LIFE IS ITS SERVICE The official motto of Sam Houston State University rings clear with all the hard work from local community charities during Winter Storm Uri. The storm caused electricity shutdowns and water loss across Huntsville, with no timeline for when it would be back. Despite rolling blackouts and freezing temperatures, charities kept their doors open to help the community the best way they could.

SAAFE HOUSE SAAFE House is a shelter and crisis inter-

vention agency for women and children escaping family violence and sexual assault. The center helps with emergency sheltering, basic living essentials and advocacy assistance.

During winter storm Uri, the shelter assisted people in finding safe places during the cold temperatures.

“We did have people, homeless people that were calling and asking to seek shelter and we would refer them to the appropriate agencies,” SAAFE House executive client services director Renee Murphy said.

While assisting women and children with basic living necessities, the center gains help from the local community and Sam Houston State University through drives and donations. Many sororities and fraternities do different

drives for them to restock things they need. To learn more about volunteering with SAAFE House please visit https:// www.saafehouse.org/volunteer-2.

GOOD SHEPHERD MISSION Good Shepherd Mission strives to meet basic human needs through feeding, clothing, sheltering, counseling, and changing lives for good based upon New Testament teachings of Jesus Christ.

A mission statement that depicts exactly the actions the group took to assist people during Uri. “People came in and we filled up, but during [because of] COVID-19 we are at 50% occupancy,” executive director of Good Shepherd Mission Rev. Dave Smith said. “We spread people out we still

served our meals twice a day and breakfast for people who stayed.”

During the week, local grocery stores donated food that would go bad due to lack of power, prompting the group to give a lot of it out by Tuesday.

When the shelter lost water, a local plumbing company came out and gave them portable toilets to use until the water was back on.

To learn more about donating to Good Shepherd Mission, please visit https://thegsmission.org/wp/donate/.com

The Houstonian | Houstoniannews.com | Monday, March 1, 2021

Page 6

OPINIONS

Texans left out in the cold by fleeing elected officals

BY NOAH ONTIVEROS Contributing Reporter

Photo courtesy of Chron.com

Texans questioned elected politicians’ validity after some were found fleeing the state amidst a brutal winter storm that left thousands without power and water for well over a week.

In short, those who were entrusted to vouch and advocate for their citizens were relaxing in warmth while the people were without power.

Sen. Ted Cruz, Mayor Steve Adler of Austin, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton separately boarded planes to various, warmer regions around the same time while nearly all 254 counties in the state of Texas suffered.

Elected officials should not leave during a critical state-wide emergency, nor should this be held as an example of what to do in the middle of a crisis.

Thousands are still struggling without basic needs while those put in place to protect us were aboard private jets with no visual distress.

After being ransacked in the media, many officials faced the repercussions of their actions with a simple apology while boarding their private jet with a nice tan.

They prove themselves unreliable when unable to help during disasters like the winter storm. No Texan should condone or accept elected officials fleeing to greener pastures in times of a critical state-wide emergency.

By turning a blind eye and not holding our representatives to a greater expectation not only does it hurt our state but also the rest of the country. Texas is one of the leading states in America just as New York and California. This could start a chain reaction for other states’ leaders to follow if they see no repercussions.

FLYING AWAY INTO THE SUNSET. Texans froze as politicians took flight to warmer climates.

Sen. Ted Cruz, Mayor Steve Adler of Austin, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton were amongst the few who left the state during the winter storm.

Winter storm causes utility prices to skyrocket

BY HANNAH FOLLIS Contributing Reporter

Photo courtesy of VNews

FROZEN ACCOUNTS. While electricity lines are repaired, companies charge for power in finanical abuse.

A recent story from Fox News tells of a Texas man who received a $17,000 electric bill after the recent snowstorm.

His power stayed on throughout the crisis and in turn, he was charged $9 per kilowatt.

Although the electric company apologized and agreed to refund his money, it creates a concern of electrical companies being allowed to increase prices during hard times.

Though the electric companies in Texas are largely unregulated because the state does not normally experience extreme cold weather, many Texas companies have a fixed base rate for just this reason. In a wholesale market, electric

companies compete for the best prices. However, five companies already offer fixed base rates to the consumer.

Competing companies could follow suit as this fixed rate would allow Texas to control its rates in a way that meets the needs of the people.

Being that Texas does not experience this type of weather often, companies could bill their customers for actual usage, not for spikes in energy across the board. Residents with variable-rate power plans were hit the hardest. They are on plans that charge different prices for electricity depending on the current demand.

The yearly and monthly rates should affect the amount that is paid during a storm, not spikes. Texas deserves the chance to have a week of bad weather and not pay extra for it. If not fixed,

spikes in bills could be expected in future disasters. Regular citizens may be unable to pay the huge costs of energy-critical times.

With that being said, Gov. Greg Abbott has added 31 Texas counties to the Major Disaster Declaration made

by President Joe Biden, a relief from the massive influx of bills.

Texans are urged to fill out the Texas Division of Emergency Management’s Texas Individual Assistance Reporting Tool (TIART) to help the state identify damages across Texas and help emergency management officials gain an understanding of damages that occurred.

If you or someone you know have experienced higher-than-normal electric rates, you may be eligible for individual assistance.

The Houstonian | Houstoniannews.com | Monday, March 1, 2021

Page 7

OPINIONS

Climate change becomes topic amidst winter storm in the south The recent winter storm in Texas left many people searching for answers about climate change.

Climate change is a long-term change in weather patterns that define Earth’s local, regional, and global climates.

These changes not only affect everyone in the United States but everyone in the world.

The planet has been warming since 1906 and the temperature has risen 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Ice glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, and sea animals are dying at faster rates as a result of climate change.

Although there is evidence of climate change, there are still many skeptics of it. A current argument is that if climate change were real, Texas would not have ‘froze’. The response to this statement is simple.

When the Arctic warms up too fast it disrupts a spinning mass of cold air, the polar vortex. It is a semi-permanent

Photo courtesy of National Grid

weather system that is primarily present each winter. Normally, the jet stream winds around the vortex and acts like a lasso of sorts, keeping the cold air trapped inside. But when it gets warm in the Arctic, the jet stream weakens and elongates, allowing the cold air to plunge south.

With record low temperatures in Texas all week long, leaving millions without power and water, climate change is a major concern once again. Unfortunately, extreme cold weather is not the only natural disaster caused by climate change. Extreme flooding, hurricanes and droughts are all possible outcomes.

The unique thing about climate change is that human activity plays a bigger role than most people think.

There are many different ways people can attempt to combat climate change.

The Natural Resources Defense Council suggests things like driving fuel-efficient vehicles, reducing water waste and disconnecting plugs.

These simple steps can prevent events like Winter Storm Uri to re-occur more than usual.

Photo courtesy of The Daily Caller

BY SYDNEY HILDRETH Contributing Reporter

LIFE USED TO BE A BREEZE. Wind turbines can keep our electricity running and help store energy during peak usage months. With proper equipment, Texas’ wind turbines can do the same.

Wind Turbines vs. Fossil Fuels: The Battle for Your Future

BY GABRIEL BENTON Contributing Reporter

Last week, Texas got hit with a severe winter storm that caused a blackout for over 3 million people.

A debate emerged when Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana, tweeted a post stating that natural gas and coal were more reliable energy sources and that the results from the winter storm may have been different depending on energy sources.

Each side has its stance on the situation but the truth is that neither wind turbines nor gas can be solely responsible for power outages due to the winter storm.

Texas’ gas majority infrastructure is just simply not prepared for cold weather, but wind turbines may be a good energy source alternative. Wind power produces a clean form of energy, according to energy.gov. Fossil fuels, on

the other hand, are infamously known to pollute the air which creates smog and is not good for breathing. With this being a topic of conversation, climate change enthusiasts have made statements. Renewable energy does not prevent events like last week from happening, but a cleaner earth could.

A concern with wind turbines is that they can freeze in the winter but adjustments can be made. Countries like Sweden that are prone to cold weather, have wind turbines that are built with a thin layer of carbon fiber which keeps them from freezing, according to The Hill.

Clean energy jobs are also growing at a rate 12 times as fast as the rest of the US economy, with demand for wind turbine service technicians to grow by 96.3% by 2026, according to Business Insider.

Wind energy is profitable, cleaner and safer for the environment. The more we transition to a cleaner and safer renewable energy source, the better off earth is.

The Houstonian | Houstoniannews.com | Monday, March 1, 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Page 8

Students display heartfelt heroism during storm

BY BASTIAN GUNDERSON Contributing Reporter Texas has created a reputation of being resilient when the state shares a common struggle and students and staff of Sam Houston State University engaged in selfless acts of kindness during the historic Winter Storm Uri. Rolling blackouts left students without power for up to 72 hours, but sophomore mass communication major Sarah Weeks received power back after one day.

After realizing that students on and off-campus were still without power, she messaged classmates and invited people over to her dorm for shelter and warm food.

“I grew up on the beach, so I’ve experienced hurricanes and flooding and long power outages without clean water and knew how to handle it,” Weeks said. “In times like those, the community is supposed to help each other. I had heat and power and food, and it would have been selfish to not share.”

Courtesy of Kennedy Singleton’s Go-

Photo courtesy of KXAN

FundMe Fundraiser. Sophomore marketing major Kennedy Singleton, created a GoFundMe page to raise money for black students across Texas who are now struggling financially due to the storm.

Singleton’s passion to positively contribute to the black community derives from

her position as co-creative director of the dance team, Fade to Black.

“I didn’t make this GoFundMe for black students because it’s Black History Month. I did it because I am very aware of common struggles in my community and this was an action to remedy the

worry and stress that has been placed upon black students,” Singleton said.

“Black voices belong in every space, topic, discussion, genre and everything that comes along with day-to-day activities.”

Singleton hopes to raise $5,000, so far the GoFundMe has reached about 20% of that amount. Funds will be distributed to students who have completed the survey linked on the GoFundMe page. Currently, the survey is closed, but people are still welcome to donate.

Though this crisis has blown over, it does not mean that students are mentally cleansed of it. Assistant professor Chelsey Narvey knows that students constantly deal with highly stressful situations, so last semester she created the Supportive Student Space, a safe haven for students to engage with faculty in a comfortable and casual environment.

With this passing winter storm pulling the rug from under everyone, students are welcomed to attend this virtual event for a mental and physical soother.

Though each of these heart-warming acts of kindness are different, they all unify in theme by inspiring and uplifting others.

Beyoncé partners with Adidas and Bread of Life for Uri relief

BY ADRIANNE REECE Arts & Entertainment Editor Beyoncé’s non-profit foundation BeyGOOD, Adidas and Houston disaster relief organization, Bread of Life, partnered to financially assist families and individuals impacted by Winter Storm Uri. The storm violently swept through Texas, diminishing millions of residents’ access to electricity and water.

The foundation will provide up to $1,000 in relief. The Disaster Relief Assistance application form requires applicants to submit personal information such as phone number, email address, household size, and employment status and to also describe their emergen-

cy hardship. Due to the overwhelming response, the Bread of Life closed the first round of applications on Feb. 19.

According to Beyoncé’s publicist, there were more than 130,000 submissions in the first 24 hours. Though closed, for now, that’s not the end of BeyGOOD’s charitable assistance.

The Bread of Life foundation announced that they were distributing water and supplies at St. John’s United Methodist Church Downtown on Saturday, Feb 27. from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. People could collect a range of personal products such as washing detergent, shampoo, bleach, disinfectant and deodorant.

Current applications are now being reviewed for immediate assistance and a distribution date has not yet been established.

Photo courtesy of BeyGOOD

The Houstonian | Houstoniannews.com | Monday, March 1, 2021

Page 9

SPORTS

Southland Conference adopts new point system

Photo courtesy of Leila De la Cruz

BY SCOTT MORRIS Sports Editor In the midst of the coldest weather that the state of Texas has seen in over 30 years, the last thing anyone was thinking about was sports.

All events the week of Feb. 15 were canceled to ensure the safety of all athletes as cities across the state had issues

Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor-in-Chief Arts & Entertainment Editor Sports Editor Opinions Editor Community News Editor Campus News Editor

regarding power, water, and safe road conditions.

These cancellations ranged from almost every sport playing this semester for Sam Houston State University in this jam-packed spring semester, including postponing the annual softball Bearkat Classic tournament Sam Houston host every year.

In any previous season, these games would be rescheduled at a later date.

However, with COVID-19 protocols, the Southland Conference is implementing a new point system to make up for canceled games this season. This is different than the usual win percentage rankings that have been used in all past seasons.

In the past, if a game were to be canceled, the SLC would attempt to reschedule it to stay consistent with all teams playing the same amount of games. These crammed spring seasons, however, have made this difficult. Since

Lizeth Gonzalez Ariole Jones Adrianne Reece Scott Morris Jacob Courtney Amanda Raaska Justin Hardcastle

Run Sheet Manager Faculty Advisor

the SLC is going with steady COVID-19 protocols, it is difficult to reschedule games when teams can be out for 10-14 days due to contact tracing and positive tests.

The new point system is similar to how soccer does their point system.

If a team wins, they will receive three points, a tie is one point, and a loss is zero points. In the event that a game is canceled and cannot be made up, the teams affected will be rewarded a point each and will not reschedule the game.

This new point system is an attempt to not only try and stay on schedule with the start and end date of the season but is also a way to not compress too many games close to each other and tire out athletes.

This new point system is showing to shake up things in the conference as the first sport to adopt this system, basketball, is coming to an end within the next two weeks. For starters, each team

Kia Seastrunk Debbi Hatton

Digital Director Multimedia Editor Photographers

must play at least eight conference games to qualify for the tournament.

Once a team has reached the minimum requirement, they are eligible to compete in the tournament, pending their standings and finishing within the top eight teams like the conference has always done.

The reason this point system has such an impact is for example, with the Feb. 22 rankings of women’s basketball, Nicholls University, which has a record of 7-6, is higher in the rankings than McNeese University, which has a higher win percentage at 6-3. Since Nicholls has 21-win points and McNeese has 20 total points, 18-win points, and two cancelation/tie points, McNeese is ranked below Nicholls.

This new point system will be in place for the rest of this season for all-conference play in every sport and shake up each standing at the end of the season compared to previous years.

Jordan Smith Leila De la Cruz Elizabeth Machuca Sara Cox

The Houstonian is the independent student newspaper of Sam Houston State University. Serving the campus and community since 1913, The Houstonian prides itself on upholding professional journalistic standards while providing students from a diverse array of backgrounds opportunities to learn and grow.

Completely student-run, The Houstonian welcomes staffers and submissions from any SHSU student regardless of major. All opinions published reflect only the thoughts of the author unless otherwise stated, and do not necessarily align with the views of the publication.

A voice for the campus of SHSU, The Houstonian is an award-winning addition to the Mass Communication department, housed in the Dan Rather Communications Building room 210.

Please contact The Houstonian office with any corrections if we publish something in error. We strive to maintain the highest journalistic values, and we welcome critiques in hopes of continuing to better the publication at large. Please send emails to our Editor-in-Chief, Lizeth Gonzalez, at eic@houstoniannews.com, call our office phone at 936-294-1505 or stop by our office during the week.

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The Houstonian prints every other Monday during the school year, and continually updates its multimedia content. Print dates for the Spring 2021 semester are March 29, April 12, April 26 and May 10.