Think Like Us: The staff picks their favorites from 2013 | Page 4
VOLUME XXXIII NO. 19
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF UTD — WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM
DECEMBER 9, 2013
Follow us online: facebook.com/theutdmercury | twitter.com/utdmercury | By UTD students, for UTD students: continuously in print for over 30 years
Alcohol in The Pub: what students want
Ice storm derails graduation
ELLEN SHIH/STAFF
Beer choices in Pub limited, overpriced say students SARAH LARSON Life & Arts Editor
Since introducing the sale of beer and wine on campus three years ago, The Pub has reported steady alcohol sales and is working to better serve students interested in a drink or two after class. Assistant Retail Director Shadaya Haddix said that while The Pub doesn’t sell considerably large amounts of alcohol, it does sell much more beer than wine each week. “We sell around 115 to 120 drinks per week,” she said. “The only time we would sell more would be during SUAAB events, if that. A lot of people just don’t seem to want to order beer and wine.” Beer selection is limited to four choices to make ordering easier for students, Haddix said. Beer options currently include Bud Light, Blue Moon, Shiner Bock and Dos Equis. Wine options include Chardonnay, White Zinfandel and Merlot. Chemistry senior Giovanni Contello said he believes that if The Pub had a better selection, it could attract more customers. “It’s not a bad selection; it usually appeals to a broader scope,” Contello said. “But there’s a growing trend of people getting into craft beers, so if they incorporated that, they could get more people.” From the week of Nov. 15, The Pub sold 103 beers and 12 glasses of wine, which amounts to almost $400 in sales. The most popular beer has been Shiner Bock, which has been a successful first test run this semester of the addition of a seasonal beer to the menu each season. The Pub restocks every two weeks, which Haddix would like to see happen more often. “I wish we sold more, so we’re going to try and promote (the sale of beer and wine) next semester with a wine display,” Haddix said. “I think students know we serve it but can’t see what we serve.” In 2010 when alcohol sales were introduced to campus, The Pub obliged to students’ extensive requests for the establishment to live up to its name. However, The Pub never wanted to be known for selling beer and wine, yet there is still reason to sell it, Haddix said. “(The) Pub is a safe place for students to have a drink and not have to worry about driving anywhere,” she said. “And since there’s a twodrink limit, there’s no worry of drinking too much or being around people who are.” Contello said he was concerned about the prices of beer and wine and the effect it can have on sales. Beers are $3.50 a bottle and wine is $4 a glass. “While it is a nice commodity to have, it is a bit overpriced, and no one wants to sit down and pay so much for something like Dos Equis,” Contello said. “You want a beer you can sit
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BOTTOM CENTER: CATHRYN PLOEHN/STAFF | ALL OTHERS: YANG XI/STAFF
From the evening of Dec. 5 through the start of the following week, icy conditions shut down the university’s normal operations. Power outages were reported from multiple phases of University Village, food service was limited on campus and the Student Union and residence hall rotundas became makeshift shelters. Commencement excercises for fall 2013 were cancelled hours before they were scheduled to occur, disrupting travel plans for families and friends of graduates.
How do you feel about the postponement of commencement due to the weather? “Right now, I feel disappointed... I was so looking forward for some sort of closure, recognition and celebration for all of my hard work. However, I love and trust my uni!"#$%&'()*)+,!")-,%&+)&+,&)&+"').%//)0)12),)3442) alternative for us fall 2013 graduates...” Michelle Scandura, EMAC senior
5*67)2"0)1%&"/')2%$,884%1&"2)&+,&)*)2%216&)3"&) to walk since I had family come into town for &+").""9"12:);<&)%&6$)2"0)1%&"/')$,-"#)&+,&)&+") school stayed closed. I’m just hoping for an alternative commencement date before the end of the semester” Sean Jordan, economics senior
Disabled after political violence, Zambian student fights for rights JOHN THOTTUNGAL Mercury Staff
CONNIE CHENG/STAFF
Daniel Nsomekala, a political science senior, is a Zambian political activist and disability rights advocate.
Daniel Nsomekala sat in a wheel chair patiently waiting for the UTD 883 shuttle on a warm November morning. The bus arrived and the driver got up patiently, moved to the middle of the bus and opened the door while activating the disabled access ramp that lowered onto the pavement. This is a very routine, day-to-day affair here in North America and nobody even batted an eye-lid. However, this is not the story for disabled people in many other parts of the world. “Anyone who comes to America will be amazed at the disability access available everywhere for disabled people, it is hard not to,” said Nsomekala.
Nsomekala, a political science senior comes from Zambia where disability access is a concept that is being fought for and he along with others are trying to bring about a change that allows integration of disability access everywhere in Africa The name Nsomekala means, “trigger”, which he said came down from a hunting heritage from generations ago. He grew up in the western province of Zambia to a small farming family who also raised cows and had a small shop. At that time, there was only one political party in power who controlled both the executive and legislative functions of the government. “When I grew up, we heard about the term
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a noticeable lack of clarification on campus of the designated smoking and non-smoking areas, the committee hopes to identify problem areas on camIn their last meeting before the conclusion of the pus and perhaps implement more clear and concise fall semester, Student Government discussed plans signage to dispel any future confusion. t 3FTJEFOUJBM 4UVEFOU "ĂŞBJST $IBJS ,BUJF 5SVFTfor a number of future projects for the spring semester, including the implementation of an official dale brought to the senateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention recent complaints from students regarding the inadequate usUTD mobile phone application. The Technology Committee, chaired by political age of space in the library and other buildings on science junior Brooke Knudtson, has been at work campus. Students have noticed poor utilization of over the semester in drafting a proposal for a UTD space in several areas, such as the placement of sevapp to present to the Dean of Students at the begin- eral low shelves in different areas of the library where ning of the next semester. The committee hopes to they could be stacked to allow room for more desks. gain the support of Student Affairs with this presen- Since space usage becomes pivotal during crititation and eventually present the idea to the univer- cal times such as finals week when more students sity IT department, who would handle the develop- need areas to study, the committee will be actively pursuing solutions to the space issue in the coming ment of the app. The proposal, which was presented to senate on months. t 5SVFTEBMF BMTP WPJDFE UIF SFDFOU TVDDFTT PG UIF Dec. 3 for review before finalization, cites a number of arguments in favor of the app. One of the main suggestion boxes in the residence halls. Because of reasons for the app stated in the proposal is the con- the sizeable amount of constructive feedback revenience factor lacking in the current UTD website. ceived, the senate hopes to extend the use of suggesNavigating the website as it is requires students to tion boxes to the campus apartments. t -FHJTMBUJWF "ĂŞBJST $IBJS $PSZ 4BHEVZV BOwade through multiple disjointed avenues to find information relative to the universities, instead of all nounced plans to invite a number of speakers to information being accessible from one single loca- UTD next semester. Possible candidates include Wendy Davis, who will be running for the Governor tion. The proposal describes the dissipation of informa- of Texas in the 2014 election, as well as a representation on the current website as â&#x20AC;&#x153;decentralized, confus- tive from the National Rifle Association. t 4BHEVZV BMTP WPJDFE QMBOT UP TFU VQ B CPPUI JO ing and just generally difficultâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a situation that the committee found ill-fitting at a university that is the Comet CafĂŠ with the UTD on-campus attornow a forerunner in nanotechnology and telecom- ney for a day during the spring semester. Students munications and was founded by Texas Instruments, will be able to come by and ask any legal questions which is a forerunner in communications and mo- they may have. The senate hopes the event will raise awareness for this free service offered by SG. bile technology. t (SBEVBUF *OUFSOBUJPOBM "ĂŞBJST $IBJS 4BCSJOB Some app features included in the 21-page proposal are: News (campus news, current events and Arnold informed the senate of upcoming plans for a construction issues), Transportation (Parking and citizenship presentation to be conducted in January. bus-stop tracking), Dining (On-campus dining op- The presentation, which will be open to all students, tions and hours, as well as off-campus discount infor- will entail the elements involved in becoming a U.S. mation) and Maps (self-guided tour, campus search DJUJ[FO BOE XJMM JODMVEF B QPTTJCMF 2 " TFTTJPO ɨF UTD International Student Services Organization feature), as well as iOS and Android compatibility. If the proposal is accepted, the committee hopes has offered to handle advertisement for the event as to have full development and implementation of the well as the dispersal of informational emails to all international students. mobile app finished by March 2014. t ɨF TFOBUF DPOĂŤSNFE UIF BQQPJOUNFOU PG DSJNJt 4UVEFOU "ĂŞBJST $IBJS $BTFZ 4VCMFUU WPJDFE UIF senateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest in acquiring a DVD rental kiosk for nology senior Justin Peterson to Communications the university. Redbox, which has denied requests Chair, public affairs graduate student Adam Ma to for a kiosk in the past, is now under contract with Graduate and International Affairs Chair, biochemFollet, the company that provides the merchandise JTUSZ KVOJPS 4JEE 4BOU UP -FHJTMBUJWF "ĂŞBJST $IBJS for the UTD Bookstore. The committee is hoping and political science freshman Jason Parsons to Electhis connection will give Redbox incentive to furnish tion Board Chair. t 5SFBTVSFS +BTNJOF 4JOHI SFQPSUFE B TNBMM OVNthe campus with a rental kiosk in the near future. DVDXpress, a DVD rental company that provides ber of changes to the last budget allocation report UT San Antonio with a kiosk, is being considered for the senate: $260.88 for senate T-shirts, $118.68 and $225.00 for food and facilities for the Meet as an alternative. t 4VCMFUU TBJE IFS DPNNJUUFF JT QMBOOJOH BO VQ- the Dean events, $71.91 for senate sound-offs and coming walk-through of the campus with the Office $98.88 for the Coffee with a Senator event. t ɨF OFYU 4( NFFUJOH XJMM CF BU Q N PO of Administration to address issues with on-campus cigarette and e-cigarette smoking policy. Because of Jan. 21 in one of the Galaxy Rooms.
Mercury Staff
Just the facts
Thought-provoking statistics from Christopher Wang
THE MERCURY ! DEC. 9, 2013
UTD Police blotter
Nov. 15 t " OPO BïMJBUFE NBMF BOE a student were arrested for outstanding traffic warrants. t " TUBê NFNCFS SFQPSUFE UTD received a check, which is fraudulent. UTD did not suffer any loss. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE NPOFZ taken from his wallet without his consent in the Jonsson Building. Nov. 16 t " OPO BïMJBUFE QFSTPO SFported her car had been broken into and items taken without her consent from within her vehicle while parked on campus in parkJOH -PU 6 Nov. 17 t 0OF TUVEFOU XBT BSSFTUFE GPS possession of marijuana. One student was issued a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia. t ɨSFF TUVEFOUT XFSF JTTVFE citations for consumption of alcohol by a minor. t "U BQQSPYJNBUFMZ Q N 65%1% PCTFSWFE UIF "5 5 tower gate open and determined that copper wiring had been stolen. Nov. 19 t 65%1% BSSFTUFE UXP DPOtracted construction employees for misdemeanor offenses and warrants. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE IBSBTT-
Caught Reading
ment. t 0ĂŻDFST SFTQPOEFE UP 3FTJdence Hall North, room 2.213 in reference to a bike theft. Nov. 20 t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE B IJU BOE run collision, which occurred in -PU ) Nov. 21 t " 65% QPMJDF PĂŻDFS EJTDPWered the gate lock had been cut at UIF "5 5 DFMM UPXFS t 65% QPMJDF PĂŻDFST SFTQPOEFE UP -PU ( JO SFGFSFODF UP B IBrassment and criminal trespass call. Nov. 22 t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE UIF UIFGU of her laptop computer. t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO XBT arrested for driving while intoxicated. Nov. 23 t 'JWF QFPQMF XFSF JTTVFE DJUBtions for consumption of alcohol by a minor. Nov. 25 t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE UIFGU PG B spare tire. Nov. 26 t 3FTJEFOUJBM -JGF TUBĂŞ SFQPSUFE the discovery of alcoholic beverages inside a freshman dormitory. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE UIFGU PG her cell phone from the McDerNPUU -JCSBSZ Nov. 28
t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE NBMF XBT BSrested for possession of marijuana and another agency warrant. Nov. 30 t " TUVEFOU XBT GPVOE UP CF intoxicated, and he resisted arrest after having been lawfully arrested. Dec. 1 t " TUVEFOU XBT JTTVFE B DJUBtion for possession of alcohol by a minor. t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE NBMF XBT BSrested for failure to identify and public intoxication, and was issued a criminal trespass warning. Dec. 2 t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO SFported a fraudulent check. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE UIF UIFGU of his laptop and graphing calculator. t "O FNQMPZFF PG UIF #PPLstore reported a forged check. t 4UVEFOU 4FSWJDFT #VJMEJOH GBcilities manager reported graffiti damage had been done to areas in the public menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restroom of the Student Union. Dec. 3 t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE XBT stolen out of his wallet without his consent. Dec. 4 t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE NBMF XBT BSrested for driving while license invalid.
The Mercury Charlie Chen, computer science graduate student, was caught reading The Mercury. He will win a $20 gift card to Palioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pizza, a local pizza, pasta and salad restaurant. You can contact Palioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at 972-234-4002. Thank you Palioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pizza!
Opinion
DEC. 9, 2013 ! THE MERCURY ! WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM
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Finance mgmt. crucial for college grads MIGUEL PEREZ COMMENTARY
If I’m going to survive in America, I’m going to need to know how to stretch my dollar as much as I’ll need a basic understanding of science and the humanities. So, why isn’t a personal finance class a college requirement? There is an age-old adage that the millennial generation is realizing as some of us push through our final years of education: College just doesn’t seem to prepare for some aspects of post-college life. It seems slightly incredulous to me that I might leave an institution of higher learning — this hallowed place of growth and thought — without a single clue on how to start a 401K or take out a mortgage. I’ll know how to derive a complex function, but balancing my checkbook? Forget about it.
JUSTIN THOMPSON/STAFF
It’s a pretty common assumption made in the U.S. that young adults overall are not the most financially literate group. Inceptia, a financial management company, found that 89 percent of first-year college students who
took a financial fundamentals survey scored the equivalent of a C or lower. Definitions of financial literacy vary in terminology but are fundamentally the same. In 2002, the Journal of Family and Consumer
Sciences defined financially literate people as those who are “informed on the issues of managing money and assets, banking, investments, credit, insurance and taxes.” People use those skills and available resources to make financial decisions. If you don’t have those skills, you’re at a disadvantage. For a lot of people — especially those who grew up in middle and upper class families — financial literacy will be inherited from well-to-do parents, but this may not be the case for others. International students, firstgeneration Americans and low-income students may come from backgrounds that are less likely to have prepared them for the world of interest, credit and loans. While conducting interviews for an article on investment in the Nov. 18 issue, I noticed how little I actually knew about my own personal finance. It made me wonder why a basic finance course isn’t a core requirement for all students. I think it should be. A course taken my freshman or sophomore year about credit, mortgages, insurance claims and auto loans would have been so beneficial to me now and
moving forward. It’s a rather simple endeavor, at least for UTD and the UT System. Personal finance, or FIN 3300, is already an available course taken by non-finance majors. There is an immediately practical application to these types of courses that seems to go against the traditional college core, but little is as pervasive in our culture as money and the need to understand it. Personal finance may not be a classical skill, like rhetoric or history, but it is an important modern skill. It can be argued that anyone interested in learning about personal finance can easily use web resources to teach themselves, and that’s true. However, I think the significance of a core course is to communicate essential information to those who need it, not only those who want it, and I’d rather get my information from a professor than a faceless voice out in the blogosphere. A lot of life’s lessons are trial and error — that’s a given — but when something as decisive as a bad credit score is the result of a learning mistake, I think it’s best to avoid errors.
Poor planning mars Commencement ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEE COMMENTARY
LINA MOON/GRAPHICS EDITOR
Lessons from Mandela’s legacy Working with opponents key to resolve polarized debates, enable changes
JOHN THOTTUNGAL COMMENTARY
It is funny how you always tend to remember where you were and what you were doing when news of someone famous passing away hits you. I remember where I was when I learned of Princess Diana’s death 16 years ago, but with Nelson Mandela’s passing away I felt a sense of peace because he had lived a life that ended not in a car crash, nor with a bullet to his head like JFK, but in the presence of his family and friends. Mandela, known affectionately as Madiba, represented more than just the man — he stood for an ideology. Fighting a regime that was unjust and oppressive, he refrained from stooping to the intolerance of violence and changed himself to bring about change, and as a leader, that is where his greatest strength lies. Through his life, Mandela leaves behind a legacy of partnership, tolerance and acceptance of mistakes in his mission to bring about change. Despite the honor we give to our heroes — Abraham Lincoln, JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. — in
their martyrdom, it is disenchanting that their lives ended in violence because as revolutionary and radical for their times as they were, some people could not accept their ideologies. We must, as a society and nation, learn to put aside personal differences and stubborn loyalties to ideologies and stand together to make a change rather than obstruct any person trying to make a change for the betterment of our nation. I can allude to President Obama’s controversial health care initiative but only time will tell if the changes he hopes for will make a positive difference. However, I am certainly glad that in the mean time he is well protected and is less likely to suffer the fate of Lincoln and Kennedy. I am glad that maybe in the future, all Americans will have the ability to buy health care and we will not have to fight a civil war over it. I’m not trying to support or reject Obamacare, but give a stark reminder that our heroes who are trying to make a change that we may not be able to understand completely now need not become martyrs for their message to be heard. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the need to honor all our veterans who return home from wars
Online Content Manager Ian Pirich Editor-in-Chief Lauren Featherstone Managing Editor Sheila Dang Director of Sales and Promotions Nada Alasmi
Web Editor Anwesha Bhattacharjee Photo Editor Christopher Wang Life & Arts Editor Sarah Larson Graphics Editor Lina Moon
Ad Sales Representative Juveria Baig Media Adviser Chad Thomas Staff Writer Miguel Perez Staff Photographers Connie Cheng Parth Parikh
they fight on our behalf. As of this publication, there are approximately 5,000 veterans in Texas who are homeless according to a report from burntorangerreport.com, and several are in need of health care and suffering from neurological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression. We honor our soldiers who have lost their lives in protecting our freedom and way of life, but we also have to protect and take care of our heroes who are present amongst us. Our history of only realizing contributions from our heroes after they are gone or have been killed should stop. If Lincoln, JFK and MLK are considered as our nation’s heroes for bringing about the changes we needed but refused to see at the time, then so is each soldier who goes out and risks his life for our nation. We as a nation have the sense of truth and compassion to honor every American hero when they are alive, be it a soldier, a teacher, a doctor or even a person who is trying to make a change that is needed but not always welcomed such as President Obama. In Mandela’s words, “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
Contributors Pablo Arauz Mohammad Faisal Madison McCall Anna Grace Nwosu Meera Iyengar Cathryn Ploehn Parth Sampat Ellen Shih Jeff Thekkekara Justin Thompson John Thottungal Taylor Tisdale
Tocc Tang Shyam Vedantam Yang Xi
It all started with an update at 4:24 p.m. Dec. 5, when UTD first cancelled all classes after 7 p.m. that day and the doctoral hooding ceremony. After two updates, one on Dec. 4 and another on Dec. 5, which stated commencement was expected to proceed as scheduled on Dec. 6 and 7, despite bad weather predictions, UTD sent out an alert Friday at 6 a.m. announcing a university closure for Friday and Saturday and cancellation of all commencement ceremonies. All through the storm during the first two days, the university maintained its characteristic indecisiveness, making students wait for updates, unlike other universities like the University of North Texas, which announced a day in advance on Dec. 5 that they would close for the next two days due to bad weather. Administrators, despite having known about the impending storm, clearly did not have any alternate plans in the works, as they stumbled through the storm. Students shouldn’t have to wait for 10 different alerts in a span of two days, one every four hours or so, to know that school, classes and commencement have been cancelled. Despite having known of the impending storm for a week, all the notifications were last minute, and students were expected to keep checking for alerts — a difficult feat for those without power who couldn’t recharge their phones or access the Internet. What was most disappointing, though, was an email that went out to all students graduating this fall that their commencement ceremonies had been cancelled and that they were welcome to take the walk in the spring. The email, signed by UTD President David Daniel, suggested that planning of a January commencement might be underway but that no ceremony could be arranged in the upcoming weeks. “You may wonder why we did not reschedule commencement for a few days later,” Daniel said in his email. “This is because we are about to move into the final examination period. By the time final exams are completed, we are already into our winter break.” Daniel sent a second update Dec. 7 stating that alternate graduation receptions and the hooding ceremony will be planned as soon as school reopens after the storm, but it came only after students expressed their hurt through various channels including emails to graduation@utdallas.edu, the official feedback channel, and even a petition on Change.org. Business administration senior Nathan Cory signed the petition and wrote a comment on the petition stating the administra-
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tion’s excuse of being unable to reschedule due to winter break was unacceptable, while psychology senior Catherine Bolton wrote on the petition that she felt let down after eight years of counting down to the commencement. “How much money have we spent on taking classes that are supposed to shape our lives and enrich our minds?” wrote marketing senior Paulina Jesionek in her reasons for signing the petition. “My heart goes out to the students that had families flying in from out of town. It breaks my heart to hear about elderly relatives saving pennies to come see the first college graduate in their family walk across the stage and receive that honor. Some people may say that we are complaining, but if roles were reversed then surely you would feel the same.” Taufiq Hasan, a doctoral student in electrical engineering who graduated this fall, said after years of research and hard work in the Ph.D. program, he was frustrated because the prestigious hooding ceremony had been canceled. Hasan said he found the first update from the graduate dean’s office to be a bit harsh, as it didn’t try to assure students that the administration was trying to reschedule the event. A number of international students invite their parents to their graduation walks, and many parents spend their life savings on a single trip to the United States, primarily to see their son or daughter graduate, he said, and for them to be unable to witness it first hand is unfortunate. He was, however, appreciative of the fact that the university had paid heed to student sentiment and was considering rescheduling the ceremonies soon, Hasan said. Despite their poor handling of the commencement ceremonies, UTD definitely stepped up to do its bit in making the 900 students on campus affected by a power blackout more comfortable. However, it took UTD more than 12 hours to respond when it opened up the Student Union as a shelter area, and the dining hall for brunch and dinner. The Activity Center opened from 3-5 p.m. so students could take hot showers. Bad weather on graduation weekend is a stroke of bad luck, and UTD couldn’t have possibly changed that. Yet, the administration’s poor foresight in planning for an alternate commencement goes to show how unprepared the university is for situations such as these. The administration’s initial knee-jerk cancelling of commencement ceremonies displayed an insensitivity and callousness for students and their families, especially because these ceremonies have been touted as major branding events for the campus by administrators. Hopefully, the alternate dates will accommodate most of the graduating class of fall 2013, although the weather and UTD’s sloppy handling of the situation have, indeed, put a significant damper on the occasion.
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EMAC seniors face obstacles in graduating Class scheduling and capped courses are forcing some students to make sacrifices and finish college later than expected ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEE Web Editor
Moe Alam, an EMAC senior, had planned on graduating in spring 2013 when he went in for an interview with Luxottica Group, a premium fashion eyewear company that owns Sunglass Hut and other brands. At the follow-up interview on the Monday after, he told them his graduation had been postponed to fall 2014. The interview lasted four minutes, and a job he thought he had was gone. Yet, Alam didn’t choose to graduate a semester later. He registered for the required 12 hours he had left during the EMAC pre-registration period. And then, someone else got his seat. “What was frustrating for me was … that I had a (parking) hold on my account, and I did register for the classes, but I didn’t realize that it didn’t register me fully — so I got dropped and someone else filled (the seat),” he said. This isn’t the only one time an EMAC senior has been unable to graduate on time, and EMAC junior Gabriela Sosa said she is afraid she will have to delay her graduation by a semester. Alam has friends in the EMAC program that are graduating this fall and were originally scheduled to graduate last spring or even last fall, he said. The problem lies in the fact that while in most other majors, students are able to enter into their senior year with few core requirements left,
EMAC seniors are left with five or six of their nine required courses, Alam said. To top that, many of the writing intensive courses have a cap of 19 students so that professors can give each student individual attention, said dean of arts and humanities Dennis Kratz. Students are unable to get some of the other courses they need due to room capacity restrictions or limited number of computers in the lab, he said. While seniors have priority registering for required EMAC core courses during the pre-registration period, as a result of these caps, seniors who missed the pre-registration period or have a hold on their UTD account might not be able to register for the courses they need, simply because the seats are filled. Kratz and the advisors are aware of the problem and have addressed it by opening up multiple sections for some of the courses. However, the program has been unable to accommodate students who had holds on their account at the time of pre-registration, Kratz said. In the past few years, the EMAC program has grown and the number of seats available for students has grown proportionately, he said. In the nine core requirements, the number of seats has gone up from 677 in the 2012-13 academic year to 763 this year. In many of the core requirements including the advanced communications class, persuasion as well as digital writing, the number of seats
has doubled in the same time. “We were happy to hear the complaints because that just impelled action,” Kratz said. “So we’ve added seats, added a couple of new courses, we’ve strained our resources, put our resources and stretched them as effectively as we can, and I’m very hopeful that we’ve responded to the concerns of everybody.” For those students who have holds on their accounts, the program has added sections in the summer, he said. Summer classes don’t help students like Sosa, a scholarship student, who needs to work full time in summer and was planning on graduating in fall 2014. Sosa is scared that she might have to delay graduation until spring 2015 because she wasn’t able to register for all of the 18 hours that she had planned on taking for spring 2014, she said. Most of the required classes in the upcoming semester will be offered in the middle of the day, and some of the classes that she needs to take overlap with each other. This has forced her to take 15 hours of classes, some of which she didn’t need, leaving her with another 15 hours to graduate that she will now have to take in fall and might not be able to register for if there aren’t enough seats or non-overlapping class times, Sosa said. “I have to work a 9-6 job and I can’t work those hours because all my classes fall in the middle of the day now,”
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CEO of OrgSync pursues master’s, heads club at UTD Successful entrepreneur enjoys being connected to his student consumer base
ILLUSTRATION BY LINA MOON/GRAPHICS EDITOR
Even while the EMAC program has grown in proportion to the number of its students, EMAC seniors say the course scheduling and selection have made it difficult for some to graduate on time. Room capacity restrictions has contributed to the problem.
Program offers chance to reduce parking fines
Drivers clear citation balances before towing begins MEERA IYENGAR Mercury Staff
UTD’s citation forgiveness program that lasted from Nov. 11-25 was able to help 60 students, faculty and staff pay off their parking citation debts. According to the UTD website, the citation forgiveness program was created to provide a way for students, faculty and staff to pay off their outstanding parking citation balances. Participants were required to purchase an up-to-date parking permit as well if they did not have one. As an incentive, the parking office waived 50 percent of each participant’s total citation balance,
excluding all moving, handicap, fire lane, expired meter and fraud violations. Vice President for Business Affairs Calvin Jamison said, “the major goal of this program was to encourage our customers to change their behaviors in a positive way regarding compliance to the university parking policy and avoid additional citations.” The program was advertised through the Student Government and UTD’s Facebook pages, Twitter and emails, giving people two weeks to respond. Out of the 138 people that participated and inquired about the
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CHRISTOPHER WANG/PHOTO EDITOR
Software engineering graduate student Eric Fortenberry founded OrgSync, an online platform used by student organizations across the country. Now as president of the Entrepreneurship Club, Fortenberry aims to help fellow students in their careers. MIGUEL PEREZ Mercury Staff
Thirty-year-old CEO Eric Fortenberry has his sights set high heading an online community management system used by colleges across North America while also being an active student at UTD. Fortenberry’s company, OrgSync, is an online platform that lets student organizations, including those at UTD, better communicate with members. Users can post reminders and events, manage their organizations and connect with members on the platform. Apart from managing OrgSync, Fortenberry is working toward his executive master’s degree in software engineering at UTD. He said it’s been interesting returning to school as it has allowed him to see his company as a student user. As president of UTD’s Entrepreneurship Club, or E-Club, he’s developed a new perspective on how his product works.
“Entrepreneurship is obviously one of my passions, and I see (E-Club) as a good opportunity to give back and help students who strive to be entrepreneurs,” Fortenberry said. “I can share my real experiences with them and help them hopefully start their own ventures.” Jigar Mistry, a graduate student in information technology management and director of social media for EClub, said he was surprised at how approachable Fortenberry was when first meeting him. “Eric really gets involved,” Mistry said. “I found that he’s really hardworking and he puts a lot of effort into this club. When we were making our website, he spent three hours laying everything out. I mean he’s already managing a company, but he’s also finding time to be a part of this club. I think that’s great.” Fortenberry was born and raised in Dallas, where he attended Hillcrest High School and was an avid athlete. His father is an entrepreneur him-
self and Fortenberry said growing up in that conducive environment influenced him and his decision to become an entrepreneur. “I’m always thinking about the ‘what if ’ and what could be,” Fortenberry said. I guess my parents would tell you I was a bit of a troublemaker when I was younger, not always following the rules and looking for ways to beat the system. I think a lot of that played in nicely with entrepreneurship.” The hockey player and Eagle Scout attended UT Austin to study mechanical engineering after high school. After realizing that path wasn’t a fit for him, Fortenberry transferred to UT’s business school. Fortenberry said his active role in revitalizing the University’s Investor’s Association, a close-to-defunct student organization, was an indispensable learning experience that influenced his entrepreneurial spirit.
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TOCC TANG/STAFF
News
THE MERCURY ! DEC. 9, 2013
In Brief
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UTD police to carry Tasers beginning Jan. 1 UTD police officers will begin carrying Tasers starting Jan. 1 as part of a requirement from the UT System in order to provide uniformity in policing of UT campuses. UTDPD chose to purchase the X2 model, which will feature high-definition video capability to record each time the Taser is
%&'(!)*!''+ !"#$%#&'()*+",)-./')0 “It was a great experience for me and all the officers involved to have been in that leadership position,” he said. “I think in college those are the best opportunities. After graduating in 2006 with a finance and accounting degree, Fortenberry came back to Dallas to work at MHT
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deployed. Officers have already undergone an eight-hour certification course and will be issued their own individual Tasers, said Chief of UTD Police Larry Zacharias. In addition to carrying a required firearm, UTD police have the option of carrying an expandable baton and pepper
spray. “The policing on campus will not change,” Zacharias said. “How we handle incidents will not change; it just adds another tool that we can use as a less lethal form of force … it’s one more tool in the tool box.”
Partners, a boutique investment bank. Fortenberry partnered up with Tom O’Neill, a software developer from the University of Rochester, and the two later became co-founders of OrgSync. He said OrgSync was created out of a needs-basis, inspired by his experience dealing with disorganization while president of the Investor’s Assocation at UT.
“Everything was so decentralized and I knew there had to be a better way,” Fortenberry said. In its infancy, OrgSync focused on reaching the organization’s at UT Austin, the headquarters being a house Fortenberry and other partners leased in 2008. Today, OrgSync is headquartered in Dallas and the company has clients across the nation and the globe.
-Sheila Dang
!"#$%#&'()*+",)-./')0 she said. “I can’t even imagine how those who don’t have jobs that are as understanding of academic situations (are going to manage).” Scheduling sections for students who work full-time is one of EMAC’s major challenges, Kratz said, because
rooms and instructors have to be available for the second section that needs to be offered for evening classes, that sometimes do not get filled to maximum capacity. The program’s advisors are working hard to schedule classes in a way that make it more convenient for students to take their choice of courses, but sometimes classes have to be scheduled not just around
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other EMAC courses but also around courses offered by other schools, Kratz said. Meanwhile, Alam is having to take courses he doesn’t need or want in spring to keep his scholarship, he said. In addition to that, he will have to pay $5,000 out of his pocket in fall to take the courses he needs to graduate, because his scholarship won’t pay for an additional semester.
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CONNIE CHENG/STAFF
Software engineering junior Justin Keeling works with the Galerstein Women’s Center and discussed affirming healthcare for LGBTQIA women during the Advanced SAFE ZONE Dialogue on Nov. 21. The dialogue also explored various aspects and obstacles in healthcare.
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THE MERCURY
DEC. 9, 2013
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CONNIE CHENG/STAFF
Students perform as part of Chinese Culture Week, held from Nov. 18-22. The week was organized by the Confucius Institute at UTD and featured a lecture on the five elements of traditional Chinese medicine, a film showing, workshops and a ceremony with food and performances.
!"#$#"%& .0)'()/"1+2%03+4&*"+5 program, 60 followed through by paying by the deadline and reaped its benefits. In total, the program forgave $5,447 worth of parking tickets and collected $5,447 as well. “I thought that it was a generous gesture on UTD’s part to
offer this program to students,” Arts & Technology sophomore Shruthi Ravi said. In the future vehicles with excessive parking citation balances may be subject to towing or booting. According to UTD’s website, the citation forgiveness program provided an opportunity for these vehicles to settle their balances before this towing program begins.
“The towing program focuses on excessive violators - people with citations who are not reconciling their accounts,” Jamison said. “We want to make sure that we bring everyone [not just excessive violators] in compliance. This will make it easier for us to provide additional parking.” There are currently no plans to repeat the program. It was a onetime opportunity.
Life&Arts
DEC. 9, 2013 ! THE MERCURY ! WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM
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Sequel under new director fantastic, thrilling ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ brings improved acting, storytelling SHYAM VEDANTAM COMMENTARY
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is a mighty step forward in the Hunger Games franchise, improving upon the first film in almost every way, which is sure to leave viewers eagerly awaiting the final installments. Second installments in a series have a head start over the first — the world and its inhabitants are already set up waiting for the next chapter of their story to take place. But that isn’t the only reason “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is hands-down better than the first movie. Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”) comes in to direct, aided by screenwriters Simon Beaufoy
(“Slumdog Millionaire”) and Michael deBruyn (“Toy Story 3”). The movie begins as Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) begin their Victory Tour, which is the Capitol’s way of parading the victors to the losing districts from the previous Hunger Games in preparation for the upcoming repetition of the annual event. However, before the tour begins President Snow, played by Donald Sutherland (“The Italian Job”), visits Katniss and informs her that he knows that the TV relationship she and Peeta had in the 74th Hunger Games was fake. He reminds her that it’s the only reason she is alive, since it would be much easier to kill her to quell the rebellion, and that she better keep up the act, lest the other districts or the Capitol find out about the hoax. He tells her it’s her job to
Alumna creates carefree media art
quell the stirring whispers of rebellion throughout the districts. Unfortunately, while Katniss tries to stick to the script provided to her, her status as a beacon of hope for the oppressed cannot be downplayed. President Snow, along with new game manager Plutarch played by Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Moneyball”), decide that all the symbols of hope the districts have should be taken out. The 75th Hunger Games’ players will be reaped from the previous victors. Since Katniss is the only female victor from her district, she is automatically picked, and Peeta volunteers. The movie then falls back into the formula set by the first movie — we get to quickly meet the other victors in the training room, have the public get-to-know-you sessions before the
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MURRAY CLOSE/LIONSGATE
Caesar Flickerman, played by Stanley Tucci, and Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” a flick worth watching.
Local bit offers outlet for creative expression
Circus Freaks welcomes a variety of acts, with audience support and cheer ANNA GRACE NWOSU & JEFF THEKKEKARA Mercury Staff
PIERRE KRAUSE/COURTESY
UTD alumna Pierre Krause is a full-time artist, creating media art and music as her main outlet. Her work can be viewed at pierrenk.tumblr.com.
Artist used time spent sick to develop art content PABLO ARAUZ Mercury Staff
Through sickness and health, UTD visual arts alumna Pierre Krause continues to create her life’s work. Having graduated summa cum laude this past May, she has since been dedicating her time to solely making art and nothing else, despite her bad health. “So, instead of being sick in bed I’ll just be sick and just make stuff while in bed,” she said. Working in a variety of media and combinations of visual art, sound, moving pictures, minimal gallery art and parodies of pop culture oddities, Krause said much of her work feeds off of itself. She also makes music under the stage name Pierre Bürger. Recently, she released a five-song EP
with videos to accompany each song. Stylistically, the music sounds like a lo-fi fuzz of melancholy wrapped with electrified beats and auric melodies. The videos show seemingly random sequences in repetition; a twerking woman, a waterfall, melting ice cream or hands making sushi, cutting pieces of each ingredient leaving the viewer hungry for more. “That EP was recorded during a very depressing time so I can’t just lay around and being depressed, I have to do something with it,” she said, “That’s part of my process.” With song titles such as “Self Harm”, “Metaphysical Tendancies” and “Benedict Cumberbatch”, she makes sure to inject dark humor into her songs.
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Students looking for a creative outlet can find their fix at Open Stage, an event organized by Circus Freaks, a local circus performance troupe, each Monday night at 7 p.m. at the Celebration Event Center in Plano. Open Stage, a 10-minute drive from UTD, dissolves the boundary between audience and stage, providing a fun and exciting experience for performers and audience members alike. “Open Stage is a live theater experiment open to anything but hate,” said Circus Freaks owner Russ Sharek, who has operated the troupe since its humble beginnings as a juggling group that met weekly in a local park. “You never know what will happen,” Sharek, who also emcee’s Open Stage, admits that even he doesn’t know exactly what events will play out on the stage each night. “I think something like this would be really good for young people like UTD students,” he said “I think that’s exactly what people need: human contact and a little bit of the unknown.” “I was terrified, petrified; I couldn’t even breathe well,” said Christina Clark, a regular performer at Open Stage and opera singer, of her first time performing at Open Stage After her first performance, there were 20 random audience members in a line waiting to hug her and offer their loving support. Anything can happen at Open Stage. Performances include traditional circus acts such as aerial silks, onstage cuddle fests, opera singers, stand up comedians and belly dancers to name a few. Any kind of art is allowed and even though there are regular, scheduled acts, anyone can sign up to perform on the spot. There are no rules except for the 10 Open
JEFF THEKKEKARA/STAFF
Christina Clark performs in front of a live audience for Open Stage hosted by Circus Freaks. Open Stage happens every Monday at 7 p.m. at Celebration Event Center.
Stage Commandments, some of which include “Thou shalt take their positivity pill” and most importantly, “Thou shalt clap.” Anyone 21 and up can enjoy the house band, food and live entertainment of all kinds at a $10 cover charge. However, Open Stage is just one as-
pect of the Circus Freaks. Every Tuesday, Circus Freaks holds Cirque Out at Valley View Center in Dallas, a workshop where prospective jugglers, clowns, unicycle riders
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Creative writing club brings the hobby to life Club designed to cater to student needs; develops socialization, story sharing skills and unique ways to think outside the box MOHAMMAD FAISAL Mercury Staff
With the start of the school year, five freshmen with a passion for writing founded a Creative Writing Club to allow members to share and express their works. Nikkita Kumar, computer engineering freshman, first shared the idea of a creative writing club during the summer of 2013. A simple post on the UTD Class of 2017 Facebook page resulted in attracting other freshmen who had an interest in creative writing. Pattara Tungcmittrong, computer science freshman, responded to Kumar and both of the students decided
to take the initiative to start the organization. Kumar became the president, and Tungcmittrong became the vice president. They choose three other freshmen who helped them try to make the club official to become officers. The last step was to pick a sponsor, and the officers picked Joseph Milazzo, lecturer of the creative writing department. “I wanted to start the club because I wanted to pick up on creative writing,” Kumar said. “I first started writing during first grade, but I didn’t write as much as I went into higher grades because I got busy with school work.” During club meetings, each piece is read and analyzed to quite an extent and
writers in the group receive constructive criticism from their peers. The purpose of sharing each piece with each other is to help the writers enhance their writing skills and provide them with more ideas. In the future, the officers plan on compiling all the works to make an anthology. Most of the writers in the club are not literary studies majors. The members of the club are of various majors, from the social sciences to the physical sciences. Kumar said the members of the Creative Writing Club consider writing to be a hobby. They use writing as a way to express themselves and share their writing with others.
“I assume that most the people in the club want to be writers,” Kumar said. “There are people who are majors in various fields, and the major does not necessarily relate to writing topics. Everyone just writes about whatever it is they are interested in.” The Creative Writing Club not only allows students to socialize and share stories, but it also helps them become better writers by helping increase their critical thinking and writing skills. “Creative writing gives you an outlet to describe yourself,” Kumar said. “For example, Pattara and Kellie Ngo (officers of the club) like to describe themselves with poetry, and I like to write and ex-
press myself through a combination of several anime put together. Creative writing significantly develops an individuals thought process and ability to think outside the box.” The creative writing club has only had a few meetings after being established due to the adversity the officers are facing to make the club official; the officers need to find a full-time professor as a sponsor. Currently, the officers plan to keep the group for enjoyment among the few creative writers in the club and share their stories with each other through Facebook. However, Kumar said the officers are optimistic about making the group official and having more formal meetings.
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/*"0.+ !"#$%#&'()*+",)-./')0 “I’ll be super serious and then take a turn,” she said. “Just that sound to me of diabolical laughter or laughing when you’re crying, just like cracking up but like in a madness sort of way.” She said her art expresses, among other things, feelings of existence, materialism and isolation welcoming people to experience it themselves and
!"#!$%&'()%*+ !"#$%#&'()*+",)-./')0 last hour of the movie when the players are whisked off into the arena. There are many thematic elements to the well-developed script, though some are more prevalent than others, letting the audience pick and choose the ones they want to cling onto. Katniss is a symbol of hope for other people, yet she herself only feels despair. She suffers from PTSD symptoms from the first Hunger Games, which is only exacerbating her transition back home (before she is reaped again). Katniss and Peeta mirror Hollywood’s public relationships and facades closeted and otherwise. Needless to say, Beaufoy and deBruyn packed a lot into this movie, but Francis Lawrence manages to balance it all. The supporting cast is large and talented. Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), Effie (Elizabeth Banks), Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) and Caesar (Stanley Tucci) all return. They are each given more material to work with and improve upon their first portrayal of their respective characters. Gale (Liam
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evoke their own ideas wherein the mental and emotional could become the physical. While at UTD, she made a name for herself with gallery showings and awards. In spring 2012, she won best printmaking graphic at the annual Student Art Spring Festival for a collection of prints containing rough and minimalistic sketches of themed, crossed-out images and patterns. Earlier this year, Krause won
Best Video at the same festival. The video, titled “Nothing And Is Nowhere And Is Endless”, was a repeated scene of a schoolboy running through a door behind a cloud of sound. She was also awarded the Bryce and Jonelle Jordan Scholarship for visual arts which helped her with supplies and living. “I don’t take myself seriously. But when I’m making things, I am taking them seriously and everything I do has a
contradiction,” she said. As for the future, Krause doesn’t find much relevance in planning ahead. “Just like with school, I said, yeah I’m gonna go to college one day and yeah, I did it. I don’t plan songs, I don’t write songs, I just do them,” she said. “I don’t make plans. I really don’t, I take everything day-by-day.” Some of her work can be previewed at pierrenk.tumblr. com.
Hemsworth) is again put to the side of the action, while Peeta’s character becomes more complex and interesting. The love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale is actually handled well and doesn’t bog down the movie, which could have been a serious problem. The new victors to the Hunger Games arena include characters played by Jeffery Wright, Amanda Plummer, Sam Claflin, Lynn Cohen and Jena Malone. This time around, the audience gets to know all the competitors better. It’s a marked improvement over the first. All the characters are surprisingly brought to life and the fan-favorite moments with each character are seen on screen. In the end though, it is Katniss’ journey and the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” rests on Jennifer Lawrence’s shoulders. Her rise to stardom mirror’s Katniss’ — though Lawrence seems to be handling it much better than Katniss. As always, Lawrence is great, she carries the film, grounding it with her passion and intensity. The closing moments of this film remind everyone why she deserved last year’s Oscar for “Silver Linings Playbook.”
Under Francis Lawrence’s direction and the help of cinematographer Jo Willems (“Limitless”), the film looks a lot sleeker than the first. The shaky cam is largely gone and opts for long, sequence shots instead. The cold, gray tones of District 12 are in sharp contrast to the bright, colorful arena. The Capitol’s exorbitant splendor is shown to great effect. Trish Summerville (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) also deserves credit for the costuming — the inordinate detail is impressive. James Newton Howard returns to score the movie, and the musical motifs are properly developed and are just as catchy, if not slightly overwrought. While the film is wonderful and overall a great adaptation of the book, there are some miscues. This largely stems from the PG-13 rating and the target demographic, though. At times, the use of the musical score is heavy-handed, almost instructing the audience what to feel, instead of letting what’s happening on screen inform them. It almost comes off as a way to sell copies of the soundtrack to fans of the movie. The PG-13 rating also
waters down the on-screen action. Deaths are always shown off screen — they are implied and the audience understands the gravitas of the situation because of the deft acting, but it still undercuts the moments. Some of the aforementioned thematic elements are introduced but not quite developed. The special effects are underwhelming and sometimes throw the viewer out of the experience. And, as always with adaptations of books, there are moments that will feel rushed and awkwardly handled for people who have not read the books. This introduces minor missteps in the plot but nothing major. Overall though, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is a fantastic movie. Both fans of the movies and the books will undoubtedly have a great experience and will leave with anticipation for the next installment coming out a year from now. At 146 minutes, the highlight moments from the books are realized on screen and the pace never lets loose. It’s a thrill ride that shouldn’t be dismissed as youth-adaptation kitsch. 8.5/10
THE MERCURY ! DEC. 9, 2013
,-+&(.#"'+ !"#$%#&'()*+",)-./')0 and circus performers of all kinds can meet and practice their skills free of charge. Thursday nights, Circus Freaks hosts Clown Gym, also at Valley View Center, a physical fitness oriented workshop that uses circus props and movement arts for personal health. On Dec. 23,
Circus freaks will host Orphan Stage, a Christmas variation of their usual Open Stage for lonely hearts this holiday at the group’s usual location. “It’s the United Nations of weird,” Sharek said, “Every week, something truly magical happens.” For more information on Open Stage and other events, visit circusfreaks.org.
Sports
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Men’s basketball defeat UT Tyler 77-52
Team continues winning streak with strong showing against rivals, sets record for lowest points conceded this season PARTH SAMPAT Mercury Staff
The Comets (3-0 ASC) extended their winning streak to 5-0 as they defeated rivals UT Tyler 77-52 on the road on Dec. 5. The team had a prolific scoring night as five players scored in double digits. Junior guard Matthew Medell led the pack with 19 points. The Comets started strong and the Patriots’ failure to find a bucket more than once for the first seven minutes resulted in a 12-2 lead for the Comets. UTD was ruthless against its erring opponent as the team sliced through the Patriots’ defense time and time again. The team integrated well in the first half, committing very few errors and with almost flawless passing saw their lead extend to 19 points, as they led 37-18 with 2:00 on the first half clock. The Comets held a 16-point lead at half time, and shot 14-of-28 (50 percent) from
field goal, 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) from three pointers and 9-of-10 (90 percent) from the foul line. They forced their opponents into committing seven turnovers and outrebounded their opponents 19 to 12. The Patriots made a solid start to the second half, and scored six straight points. The Comets failed to find the basket with the same consistency as they did in the first half, and they saw their 16-point lead decrease to 9 points as they led 45-36 with 13:13 left on the clock. But, fortune favored the Comets, as the bounce and rim shots started falling into the basket for the Comets and the players regained their confidence and their play became sharp yet again. The game fell into the same routine as in the first half and the Comets dominated the Patriots for the remainder of the match. The Patriots made some good pressing play, but the Comets precise passing and movement on-court was too much for the opponents to handle.
The Comets finished the night with a 25-point lead and conceded the least points in a match this season. The Comets shot 28-of-56 (50 percent) from the field-goal line, 7-of-13 (53.18 percent) from the three-point line and 14-of18 (77.8 percent) from the foul line. Junior forward Chris McOmber scored 16 points, senior forward Dmitriy Chernikov 11, while senior forward Kyle Schleigh and junior guard Nolan Harvey each scored 10 points. The Comets played a solid match, but their weak start to the second half could have been disastrous against a stronger team, as they hope to win the ASC East Championship for the sixth consecutive time. The conference game against Ozarks on Dec. 7 was postponed due to bad weather and is yet to be rescheduled. The Comets return to action on Dec. 10 in a non-conference match-up against Trinity University in San Antonio.
MERCURY FILE PHOTO
Senior forward Kyle Schleigh dribbles the ball while looking to get past his opponent. The Comets will play Trinity University on Dec. 10 in San Antonio.
Breaking records is impressive, but not with dirty tactics Grinnell College big fish in a small pond; coach’s strategy of running up score against weak opponents has no place in basketball PARTH SAMPAT COMMENTARY
Individual basketball records are usually held in high regard, but Grinnell College’s strategy of running up the score against weak opponents is a cheap trick. The cheap trick is to run up the points for a single player. Recently, Grinnell’s Jack Taylor scored 109 points against Crossroads College. This is the second time Taylor has scored more than 100 points in a game, scoring 138 points last season, against Faith Baptist Bible College. Both of Taylor’s records have come against teams that aren’t even in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), let alone the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Both Crossroads and Faith Baptist play in the National Christian College Athletic Association, which is less challenging. While this is an amazing individual feat, that’s all it is — an individual feat. And, an
empty one at that because it is Grinnell’s strategy to garner media attention through these ridiculous attempts at breaking records. “I never think it’s a good idea to try to run up the score on people to try to break records for the sake of saying you broke records,” said UTD men’s basketball head coach Terry Butterfield. The system, which was developed by Grinnell’s head coach David Arsenault, is a sly trap to make the opponent play Grinnell’s game and at Grinnell’s speed. The system involves a two-man full court press, with the preferred player not moving back to defend. This gives the opponent a 5-on-3 advantage on offense, and that is where Grinnell traps the opponent. The advantage encourages the opponent to take a few quick shots, which allows Grinnell to get the ball back quickly. On retrieving the ball, a long-pass is made to the preferred player who attempts a threepointer and runs up the score. Teammates rarely attempt a shot and pass the ball to the preferred player, at the expense of missing a few open shots. While Taylor scored 109 points for Grinnell, the second highest points for the team
was 15. Arsenault, on his website, claims that since 1996, whenever Grinnell has attempted 94 shots, with half of those from behind the arc, won 33 percent of the offensive rebounds, taken more than 25 more shots than their opponents and won 32 turnovers, their winning rate has been 95 percent. He calls this “The Formula for Success.” This system definitely has a lot of constraints, and would fail if even one of the aforementioned goals weren’t met. According to Arsenault, Grinnell accomplishes all five of the goals in one-third of their contests. “I would question the abilities of some of the teams they are playing regarding the games they scored the most points on,” Butterfield said. “In my experience, the best teams in basketball at any level, professional or college or high school, have to be able to execute and play well in the half-court,” Butterfield said. “You don’t see this (system) at the pro-level or at the college-level.” UTD men’s basketball system is the exact opposite of Grinnell’s and is more traditional in the way they play. The team concentrates on the principles of controlling the basketball, being solid in the half-court, both de-
fensively and offensively and having minimal turnovers. UTD men’s basketball player Dmitriy Chernikov finds the Grinnell system weird, but is personally impressed with Taylor’s feat. “It’s impressive that a guy gets that many opportunities and can shoot that many shots,” Chernikov said. “But, just the way they play basketball is not like a normal basketball team.” Chernikov’s teammate Carter Nash, however, did not share his view and thought that the Comets could easily take Grinnell. “Honestly, if our team played Grinnell, I think we’d beat them by 30 (points),” he said. Junior guard Nolan Harvey echoed Carter’s point and said he wasn’t impressed with Grinnell. “(Grinnell) can play that all they want, but if Grinnell came and played the teams in our conference and us, they would get destroyed,” said Harvey. “They would not win a game.” If Grinnell were winning the NCAA DIII tournament or at least reaching the final round on a regular basis, this system would probably be an easy pill to swallow, but the
fact that they don’t win the big tournaments, opens up the system to criticism. Teams that play good defensive basketball are the teams that play in the big tournaments consistently, no matter what level of basketball they play at. “You don’t see the Dukes, the North Carolinas, the Louisvilles and the blue-bloods of college basketball using a system like that,” said Butterfield. “I think when you run up against a really good team, they will find a way to try to neutralize your ability to do that (run up high scores).” Taylor may be the only player in NCAA to score more than 100 points in a game twice, and Grinnell may be the only D-III college to have set the single-game points record three times, but in the end, these are just empty records. A team is deemed to be successful by the trophies they have, by the number of tournaments they have won, and it most definitely matters what tournaments that team has won. Grinnell College’s team is nothing but a big fish in a small pond, and fans of these records and the system that Grinnell plays must realize that.
CLASSIFIEDS Five-win streak ends for Comets
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Jobs Part time positions close to campus at Canyon Creek Country Club working in the Tennis shop. Please contact Ginny LeBlanc via email: ginnyl@canyoncreektennis.com NOW HIRING!! FRONT DESK CLERKS 2nd and 3rd positions open. Full time and/or part time. WILL TRAIN!! MUST come in and fill out an application in peson. Perfect job for a student. Wingate by Wyndham Frisco Texas 14700 State Highway 121, Frisco TX 75035 Phone: 214-494-5500 E-mail: wingatefrisco@yahoo.com
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Women’s basketball lose to UT Tyler despite strong plays in second half of game
MADISON MCCALL Mercury Staff
The women’s basketball team had their first loss of the season against UT Tyler on Dec. 5 with a final score of 71 - 67. The Comets lost their five-win streak after a tough match against the Patriots at UT Tyler. Within the first four minutes, the team was behind nine points and struggled to catch up. The Comets kicked their game into gear and scored 12 consecutive points and gained the lead at 18 - 26 with 11:26 left in the first half. The first half ended with UT Tyler in the lead at 38 - 33. The team began the second half by falling behind nine points again at 42 - 33 with 19 minutes left in the half. The Comets didn’t gain major ground until back-to-back threepointers were scored by junior guard Amber Brown and junior guard Madi Hess. The team gained the lead at 46 - 44 with 13:22 left in the game. The Comets, however, could not keep up, and UT Tyler secured the lead shortly after. The last minute of the game was eventful and both teams experienced a scoring spree.
MERCURY FILE PHOTO
Junior guards Amber Brown (#20) and Madi Hess scored back-to-back threepointers in the second half that helped the Comets gain some traction.
The Comets gained five points and UT Tyler gained six points, maintaining their lead and sealing a win. Senior forward Morgan Kilgore was the high scorer of the night for the Comets with a total of 16 points. Junior guard Jo’Anna Davis was right be-
hind Kilgore with a total of 14 points, 12 of those points in the first half. UTD’s game on Dec. 7 against the University of the Ozarks was postponed to an unspecified date due to inclement weather. Students can catch the next home game on Jan. 2 at 5:30 p.m. against Louisiana College.
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Nsomekala witnessed the suffering of others in the hospital while recovering from a violent political attack and decided to fight for disability rights through the Disability Integration Initiative for Africa.
!"#$%&'(' !"#$%#&'()*+",)-./')0 democracy for the first time in 1991, before that there was only one party, a president and his flock,” Nsomekala said. The move for a multi-party democratic system led the country into civil strife and unrest until 1991, which saw the advent of the multi-party system. The political party climate was constantly changing. “Whoever does not agree with you was seen as your en-
'()#*#( !"#$%#&'()*+",)-./')0 down and enjoy.” The Pub sets prices that are reasonable and similar to other places that sell beer and wine around UTD, Haddix said. When students ask about increasing the drink limit, adding beer tap options or the addition of liquor sales, Haddix said it’s the university’s policy
emy,” Nsomekala said. Nsomekala got into politics in 1994 as a youth advocate in human rights for minority groups. In 1995, he lost the use of both of his legs in a violent attack. His close friend at UTD, fellow political science senior David Dambre, talked about the first time he heard about the attack on Nsomekala. “I mean Africa is not like here, things happen here, we are bound by laws and they protect us,” Dambre said. “Had it been here in the Unit-
ed States, things would have been different.” As Nsomekala recovered at the hospital he saw that there were patients at the hospital who needed a lot of help. “The only thing that helped me through it was meeting a lot of disabled people who were in a far worse condition than I was in,” Nsomekala said. Nsomekala decided to focus his time on becoming an advocate for disability rights. Like Nelson Mandela, who is a strong inspiration for Nsomekala, he talked about forgive-
and not The Pub’s decision. “We tried for a liquor license once and it was shot down,” she said. “There’s just more liability … And adding beer on tap leaves easy access for someone to reach over the counter for beer. Alcohol has to be locked up.” Haddix said that while Texas A&M does sell liquor, it is only sold to faculty and staff, not to students.
Contello said he thinks adding liquor would be excessive given what The Pub has traditionally been for students. “I feel The Pub is more of a university-focused area where you can hang out with your friend, but at the same time it’s not a bar,” he said. “I feel that the big draw of The Pub is not the fact that they serve alcohol. I don’t think it ever will be. It’s just an extra incentive.”
ness. He is not keen on lingering in the past and said it was not fair to focus on his problems when he knew there were so many people that are suffering every day. With a renewed vigor, Nsomekala formed the National Congress Party from 19922000. The party was a small one, which he described as a “briefcase party” with little resources, dependent mostly on passionate volunteers. He also formed the National Christian Association for the disabled, which worked with Habitat for Humanity and Lions Club International to build about 100 houses for disabled people in Zambia, since many of them are homeless. In 2005, Nsomekala came to Dallas, after qualifying for asylum in America, since he was viewed as a problem in Zambia due to his vocal open advocacy for disability rights he said. He then embarked on a journey to start his formal education by taking classes first at Richland College and then transferred to UTD in 2010. “I came here, looked at UTD and I was really happy with the admissions department who were extremely nice to me,” Nsomekala said. “Sometimes my health has gone up and down but my professors are so nice in working with me to help me.” Nsomekala enjoys discus-
THE MERCURY ! DEC. 9, 2013 sion-based classes and said he truly enjoys the diversity he finds here at UTD. Classes are not just about theory at UTD, but also about learning to apply it in the real world, he said. He feels that the political science department has done well in helping him sharpen his future in advocating disability rights in Africa. “Diversity is not just looking at each other in the face but talking to each other and in the process learning about each other,” he said. Nsomekala plans to study theology in graduate school. Pastor Nsomekala, as he is known amongst many of his friends, is a devout Christian and holds strong views that there should be a mandate for Zambia, which is officially a Christian country, to live up to Christian ideals of equality and compassion. Although he is deeply inspired by Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., he does not consider himself as a Moses for African disability rights or as a hero. “I am just a drop in the ocean, but many drops make an ocean,” Nsomekala said. Nsomekala and Dambre have founded the organization Disability Integration Initiative for Africa that will be their base for disability rights advocacy and are presently working
on building the website which will be named www.dii4africa. org. “Disabled people face a lot of prejudices and enjoy poor rights,” Dambre said. Dambre went on to talk about how disability access is not planned for when buildings and roadways are designed. Nsomekala added that since they are mistakenly perceived as non-productive members of society, their rights are often not cared for. Nsomekala aims to use the organization to help African governments realize that disabled people are an integral part of any nation and as such should enjoy equal rights. Disability access is a crucial part of that, Dambre said and it helps with nation building. The organization, as it is being built, aims to work with many International agencies in Africa to help local governments increase disability access and improve living conditions for disabled people. Nsomekala, along with Dambre is also a part of the African Young Leaders Association, an organization that is for promoting young leaders in Africa. “If you can breathe air by yourself every day in the morning when you wake up, then you are better off than someone who cannot and that makes it your duty to help them,” Nsomekala said.