The Independent Student Newspaper of Sam Houston State University
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Monday, November 18, 2019
Volume 131 | Issue 7
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Students Dedicated to Professional Journalism 2019 TE XAS PROPOSITION ELECTIONS
PROP. 02
PROP. 01 35%
66%
65%
FIND OUT WHICH TE XAS CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENTS PASSED OR FAILED IN THE NOVEMBER 5 TE XAS ELECTIONS .
YES NO
PROP. 07
85%
34%
The constitutional amendment permitting a person to hold more than one office as a municipal judge at the same time.
The constitutional amendment providing for the issuance of additional general obligation bonds by the Texas Water Development Board in an amount not to exceed $200 million to provide financial assistance for the development of certain projects in economically distressed areas.
The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for a temporary exemption from ad valorem taxation of a portion of the appraised value of certain property damaged by a disaster.
PROP. 04
PROP. 05
PROP. 06
74%
64%
88% 26%
PROP. 08
PROP. 03
12%
The constitutional amendment prohibiting the imposition of an individual income tax, including a tax on an individual’s share of partnership and unincorporated association income.
The constitutional amendment dedicating the revenue received from the existing state sales and use taxes that are imposed on sporting goods to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission.
PROP. 09
PROP. 10
36%
The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to increase by $3 billion the maximum bond amount authorized for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
FOR MORE INFORMATION 74%
52%
78% 26%
22%
The constitutional amendment allowing increased distributions to the available school fund.
The constitutional amendment providing for the creation of the flood infrastructure fund to assist in the financing of drainage, flood mitigation, and flood control projects.
48%
94% 6%
The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation precious metal held in a precious metal depository located in this state.
The constitutional amendment to allow the transfer of a law enforcement animal to a qualified caretaker in certain circumstances.
The Houstonian | bit.ly/SHSUCampusNews | Monday, November 18, 2019
Page 2
2020 Election
LIST SUBJEC T TO CHANGE
MICHAEL BENNET
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
D E M O C R AT Senator from Colorado
D E M O C R AT Former Vice President
JOHN DELANEY
TULSI GABBARD
D E M O C R AT Former congressman from Maryland
D E M O C R AT Congresswoman from Hawaii
BERNIE SANDERS
JOE SESTAK
D E M O C R AT Senator from Vermont
D E M O C R AT Former congressman from Pennsylvania
DONALD TRUMP
JOE WALSH
REPUBLICAN U.S. president
REPUBLICAN Conservative radio show host
The Houstonian | bit.ly/SHSUCampusNews | Monday, November 18, 2019
Page 3
2020 election
CORY BOOKER
STEVE BULLOCK
PETE BUTTIGIEG
JULIĂ N CASTRO
D E M O C R AT Senator from New Jersey
D E M O C R AT Governor of Montana
D E M O C R AT Mayor of South Bend Indiana
D E M O C R AT Former housing secretary
KAMALA HARRIS
AMY KLOBUCHAR
WAYNE MESSAM
DEVAL PATRICK
D E M O C R AT Senator from California
D E M O C R AT Senator from Minnesota
D E M O C R AT Mayor of Miramar, Florida
D E M O C R AT Former governor of Massachusetts
TOM STEYER
ELIZABETH WARREN
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
ANDREW YANG
D E M O C R AT Billionaire former hedge fund executive
D E M O C R AT Senator from Massachusetts
D E M O C R AT Self-help author, new age lecturer
D E M O C R AT Former tech executive
FOR THE MOST UP TO DATE INFORMATION ON CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES WILLIAM F. WELD REPUBLICAN Former governor of Massachusetts
SC AN THE QR CODE WITH YOUR PHONE
The Houstonian | bit.ly/HuntsvilleNews | Monday, November 18, 2019
Page 4
Campus news
Med School Making Headway BY SHARON RAISSI
Editor-in-Chief The home for the College of Osteopathic Medicine is steadily making progress towards completion. The roughly 100,000 square foot structure is being built in Conroe. The facility will house academic, research and administration activities for the College of Osteopathic Medicine. The university announced the opening of SHSU Physicians, a medical clinic in close proximity to the construction of the College of Osteopathic Medicine building. The clinic includes seven faculty physicians, according to Today@SAM.
The Texas Department of State Health Services released a projection for supply and demand of primary care physicians in 2017, which featured projections of the landscape in 2030. They found that supply of primary care physicians in East Texas will increase by 151 full time equivalent physicians, while the demand will increase by 179. “This indicates an ongoing and worsening shortage of primary care physicians in East Texas,” the report stated. The Texas State University System chancellor Brian McCall has said that SHSU’s first graduating osteopathic class will “dramatically improve access to high-quality health care in rural Texas.”
When applications for the SHSU Osteopathic Medicine school opened in September, SHSU received roughly 2,000 applicants, according to Provost Richard Eglsaer. “We are extremely confident that we will fill our 75 slots with an excellent slate of students,” Eglsaer said at the recent Board of Regents meeting. According to Eglsaer, 97% of the applicants are Texas residents, 54% are female and nearly 16% are first generation students. The school has invited approximately 500 candidates for interviews. According to Today@SAM, the first class of the new college will graduate in 2024.
CAMPUS NEWS CAMPUS NEWS How SENATE BILL 212 may change how SHSU handles TITLE IX
Fee increase approved at the Nov. Board of regents meeting
CAMPUS NEWS COMMUNITY NEWS Update on Haven @ M apartment building
A contract between SHSU and AHI Facility Services for custodial services
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
How the campus is celebrating the holiday season
The Houstonian | bit.ly/HuntsvilleNews | Monday, November 18, 2019
Page 5
community news
Cold Case: Walker County Jane Doe Remains Unknown BY AMANDA J. RAASKA
Community News Editor Since the 1980s, a death has haunted the Walker County area and the girl still has no name to sit on her grave. A headstone in Oakwood Cemetery sits with the inscription “Unknown White Female, Died Nov. 1, 1980.” On Nov. 1, 1980, a truck driver found the unknown white female laying in a grass area on the shoulder of Interstate 45 north of Huntsville. The girl died from asphyxiation due to strangulation after or whilst being raped. Thirty-nine years later, the case remains unsolved. On Oct. 31, 1980, she arrived
in Huntsville alone. It is estimated that she was between 15-20 years of age at the time of her death. She was dressed in blue jeans and a white knit sweater with leather sandal shoes. A few Huntsville citizens saw and talked to her at a gas station on the south side of the city and the Hitchin’ Post truck stop. At both locations, she asked how to get to the Ellis Unit, which houses around 2,000 male inmates. According to reports, an employee at the Hitchin’ Post asked the young girl if her parents knew where she was and Jane Doe responded, “Who cares?” She never made it to the Ellis Unit, dying sometime that night.
The employees she had spoken to helped identify her body after it was initially discovered. Later, the police took a picture of her to the prison, and no one claimed to know who Jane Doe was. The case has been cold for 39 years and many officers have worked to find out who this girl was and why she was in Huntsville. In 2015, the investigators worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to create a photo of what they believe the victim looked like. In 2015, the responsibility fell into the hands of Detective Thomas Bean with the Walker County Sheriff ’s Office. He
hopes to use DNA testing on samples from families that had a relative go missing during that time to find a match. “At this point, I’m willing to look anywhere,” Bean told KBTX in 2018. “If there is a missing person from New York that looks like her I’m willing to look at it.” Anyone with information pertaining to the case is asked to call the Walker County Sheriff ’s Office at (936) 435-2400. Why it matters: In 2018, 40,428 children (0-17) went missing in Texas and 56 unidentified people were found in Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety Missing Persons Clear-
inghouse. In Walker County, 52 juveniles and 11 adults went missing throughout the span of a year making a case like Jane Doe of Walker County not so out of the ordinary.
Courtesy of NCMEC
fan appreciation houston baptist
november 23 at 12:00 pm bowers stadium
letourneau
november 20 6:30 pm johnson coliseum
randall
november 30 2:00 pm johnson coliseum
Thank you to the students who will be participating in the SHSU Ring Ceremony held on
The Houstonian | bit.ly/HoustonianAandE | Monday, November 18, 2019
Page 8
National News
Supreme Court to Decide if DACA Can be Shut Down BY BRE’ANNA BIVENS Contributing Reporter
The ongoing debate surrounding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA administrative relief program, may be nearing its end. DACA, which was created in 2012 under the Obama administration, gave about 700,000, now young adults known as “Dreamers,” who were brought to the United States as children, work authorization and protection from deportation.
The Supreme Court is set to decide whether or not the Trump Administration is legally allowed to shut DACA down. Experts believe that if the Supreme Court rules against DACA, the Trump administration will allow the enrollments, which are granted for two years, to expire. “DACA was a temporary stopgap measure that, on its face, could be rescinded at any time,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco said in a nearly 1½ -hour argument Tuesday. “And the department’s reasonable concerns about its legality and
its general opposition to broad non-enforcement policies provided more than a reasonable basis for ending it.” Attorneys on the opposing side “argued that the government had failed to adequately consider how ending DACA would negatively affect hundreds of thousands of people, and needed to present a better reason for ending the program,” according to Time. The Center for American Progress published a study revealing that Texas has about 100,000 DACA recipients. DACA statuses have differing
expiration dates, so if the program ceases, these individuals will lose their benefits at varying times. President and general counsel of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Thomas Saenz says that DACA recipients are entitled to go to court and try to stop removal or deportation. This resistance would join other
backlogged immigration agendas and they would remain in the country until their day in court, according to NBC News. Supreme Court decisions are often not handed down until months after oral arguments, and this case will likely be no exception.
The Houstonian | bit.ly/HoustonianAandE | Monday, November 18, 2019
Page 9
National News
Students Weigh in on Trump Impeachment Process BY MASON STORRS
Assistant EIC/Campus News Editor
With Election Day set for Nov. 3, 2020, some Sam Houston State University students are unsure whether the impeachment process of President Donald Trump will ensure Democratic success in taking the presidency. On Sept. 24, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced the House would initiate an impeachment inquiry against Trump following allegations that during a phone call, he pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate possible corruption by 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, according to The New York Times. The issue was brought to the surface by a whistleblower complaint that the Trump administration initially withheld from Congress and occurred just days after Trump and his staff froze more than $391 million in aid to Ukraine, according to The New York Times. There has been a great deal of focus on the impeachment process as more details are released, but junior mass communication major Nick Henson said it is not
UKRAINE ON HIS PARADE. The impeachment process of President Trump leaves many to wonder what this will mean come November 2020.
worth the trouble this close to the election. “I say the elections are coming up pretty soon anyway, why go through all this trouble,” Henson said. “Everyone’s been trying to find some way to frame Trump as, you know, try to get Trump out of office. They’ve been on his heels and finally they found one thing that they could possibly impeach him for and they’re trying to get on his heels about it.” He said the impeachment process might have an impact on where citizens who identify as independent cast their votes. “It might have an impact on, perhaps voting,” Henson said. “There’s a lot of neutral parties
Editor-in-Chief
Sharon Raissi
Assistant EIC/Campus News Editor Mason Storrs Arts & Entertainment Editor
Ariole Jones
Sports Editor
Tyler Josefsen
Opinions Editor
Jacob Courtney
Community News Editor
Amanda Raaska
Assistant Sports Editor
Colton Foster
that may have swung towards Trump in the last election because a big thing was Hillary Clinton went against the workers, and that pushed a lot of his votes towards him. So maybe some of those hesitant votes might swing against him after this new election because maybe they think he’s betraying the country or whatnot.” Senior public health major Edith Trevino said that she does not think Trump will be impeached, but she wishes he would to lessen his chances of re-election. “I don’t think he is going to be impeached,” Trevino said. “It would be nice, so he doesn’t get re-elected, but that is not going to happen. [I have] disinterest in everything Trump.” Freshman criminal justice major Marianne Reyes said the Republican Party will be victorious in the 2020 election because most Republicans will vote for the party regardless of the impeachment process. “Honestly, probably the Republican Party [will win] just because, yes impeachment is going on, but also there’s a lot of people that follow the Republican Party, so I feel like it’s still going to be greater than the Democratic Party,” Reyes said.
Run Sheet Manager
Kia Seastrunk
Digital Director
Jordan Smith
Promotions
Carlos Medina
Social Engagement Director
Alexis Berkey
Staff Reporters
Bre’Anna Bivens
Graphic Designer
Ashley Defrancis
Photographers
Elizabeth Machuca
Advertising Graphics Emily Guerra Business Manager
Paty Mason
Chelsey Norton
Faculty Advisor
Debbi Hatton
Jesus Perez Hannah Trojan
The Houstonian | bit.ly/HoustonianOpinions | Monday, November 18, 2019
Page 10
Opinions
‘OK Boomer’ Points to a Bigger Intergenerational Issue BY KATHERINE SOOKMA Contributing Writer
There has recently been a rise in tension between the millennial (people born in the 1980s to mid-1990s) and baby boomer (people born from 1946 to 1964) generations that is causing unnecessary conflict. The term “OK boomer” has been floating around on social media these past few months and has been used as a witty response to comments made by baby boomers speaking about issues in our world. Many of the people that this comment is being directed towards are becoming offended, which is only
continuing to divide our society. When we start to criticize one another for being a part of a generation that we had no control over, I think it’s easy for us to lose sight of real issues. Then we just get caught in an endless cycle of blaming each other instead of trying to figure out a
way to solve difficult problems. Baby boomers and millennials need to both understand that projecting our anger and frustration onto each other isn’t solving any problems, it just makes things worse. I understand that it’s easier to blame others, but that is not helpful at
all. Most of this tension comes from the fact that these are two distinct generations of people that think differently, usually disagreeing on issues or topics that are brought before them. I think that both baby boomers and millennials believe that if something differs from what they think, then it probably isn’t a good idea and they automatically disagree with it. One thing that people tend to forget is that each generation has gone through different experiences growing up and it certainly affects them as they get older. The idea that each generation is fighting against each other
to be the greatest generation is senseless and I honestly think it should be stopped. I understand why the term “OK boomer” is popular. Many of us growing up as millennials have been put down by older adults who think that they need to comment on everything we do whether it’s good or bad. I know that it can be extremely frustrating to disagree with people on important issues in our world, but that’s just a part of life. We are never going to fully agree with each other on any topic. We all have the right to be angry, but what we choose to do with that anger and how we respond to others is also a choice.
Wrong Target: Suing Gun Makers Will Not Bring Justice BY TYLER FEDERICO Contributing Writer
The question about whether firearm companies should be held liable for the marketing of their products was answered by the U.S. Supreme Court last week. After the court decided
not to take up an appeal by Remington Arms Company, the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting will be allowed to sue them. The victims aren’t suing because of the direct involvement of Remington’s product in the shooting. Instead they
are targeting the marketing of the firearm, claiming that the company promoted the militaristic properties of the assault rifle used in the tragedy, according to the Washington Post. While I believe in gun rights for those who will use them safely and have followed the correct legal processes to pur-
chase them, I strongly think that assault rifles should be banned for civilian use. While many people like having them for sport or recreational purposes, assault rifles pose a clearer danger to the public due to the high rate of fire and large ammo capacity, as compared to a weapon like a handgun. With that being said, I’m not sure that being able to sue a firearms company over usage of their product in a mass shooting is a precedent that the courts should set. I’m not taking the gun company’s side in this argument, as I feel that more people should be held accountable for the unfortunate epidemic of mass shootings in America. However, there are many factors that go into a mass shooting, including background information, the mentality of the shooter and how the firearm was acquired. It could easily be argued that even if a firearm isn’t being explicitly marketed towards its
“militaristic” properties, firearm manufacturers will be using marketing tactics that lean toward violence, whether that be home defense or sport shooting. If firearm companies aren’t allowed to market their product towards their intended uses, then it’s unfair to the company. They do have a right to try and make a profit. Historically, firearms manufacturers have not been held accountable for the crimes their products may play a role in. The 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act seeks to give protection for firearm companies from lawsuits like this one, and the courts have generally ruled in favor of the gun companies. Even if it could be proven that the advertising campaign for the gun used in the Sandy Hook shooting helped play a role in the tragedy, the issue is much more complex than just simple marketing tactics.
Southland Conference Tournament: Here Come the Kats!
DIGGING DEEP AND KILLING THE COMPETITION. SHSU finished the regular season 12-4 in conference play and claimed the No. 2 seed in the SLC Tournament.
No. 2 vs. No. 7 Nov. 22 @ 11 a.m.
SHSU defeated SLU in both meetings during the 2019 regular season. The Kats swept the Lions Oct. 5 in Huntsville and beat them in five sets Nov. 16 on the road.
Players to Watch Addison Miller #11 1st in SLC in total digs (575) T-2nd in SLC with 5.04 digs/set 3rd in SLC in total kills (422) 3rd in SLC in total points (469)
#9 Ashley Lewis
Bryan Henderson