the Mercury
www.utdmercury.com
The Student Newspaper of UTD
Vol. XXX, No. 16
How sustainable are you? Page 5
Pornographic images may be on their way out Page 8
November 29, 2010
Basketball season begins with double digit wins Page 11
On-campus thefts incite action Bobby Karalla
Contributor rjk090020@utdallas.edu
The UTD Police Department is investigating the first two cases of automobile theft under Chief of Police Larry Zacharias. A GMC truck was stolen from Lot C Oct. 28 and has not been recovered. A Dodge Ram with an ATV in the bed was stolen from the Research and Operations Center the next day. Lieutenant Ken MacKenzie said the two incidents are most likely not related, and violence was not involved in either case. Zacharias said the police plan to take steps to help prevent any future auto thefts by increasing student awareness of the issue. “It’s not a big spike in
crime by any means, but any time we see it, it concerns us enough to try to get information out to everyone,” Zacharias said. Simple steps such as locking your car can prevent a possible theft, MacKenzie said. “Fifty percent of the cars that are stolen had been left unlocked, and one out of every five cars had the keys in the car at the time of theft,” he said. MacKenzie recommends students keep any extra keys in their wallet or purse, rather than leaving them underneath their car, in their console or in their glove box. An easy way to lessen the chances of a car being stolen is to have the Vehicle Identification Number, commonly known as the “VIN,” etched into the car’s win-
dows, Mackenzie said. UTD Police plan on etching VINs into students’ windows for free in the spring. MacKenzie said having a VIN etched into a window could also save students 10 percent on their car insurance. “We’d like every student on campus to come and get it done,” he said. MacKenzie said students should visit txwatchyourcar. com, a website that shows similar insurance benefits students could receive. Safety brochures are always available at the UTD Police’s office, Zacharias said. The department stresses that student involvement is vital in preventing further incidents. “We can’t keep crime low all by ourselves. It takes everybody being involved,” Zacharias said.
photo illustration by Albert Ramirez
Two cars were stolen from UTD parking lots on Oct. 28 and 29 respectively. Next semester UTD Police will offer free VIN etching to help deter thefts.
DANGER
ZONE
The apartment of two graduate students was broken into August 2010 near McCullum Boulevards. Their door was smashed and their electronics were stolen.
A GMC truck was stolen from Lot C Oct. 28
Graduate student Sharat Jagannath was mugged and assaulted Oct. 6 by two men near McCullum Boulevards. He was tased and all his belongings were stolen.
A Dodge Ram with an ATV in the bed was stolen Oct. 29 from the Research and Operations Center.
A UTD student reported being robbed at gunpoint June 26 in Phase VI.
Off-campus housing could be more than just inconvenient Anwesha Bhattacharjee Contributor axb094820@utdallas.edu
The 10:15 p.m. shuttle squealed to a halt at the Coit and Tatum stop. Sharat Jagannath hopped off. He needed to grab some milk from Super Target before he went home. A few minutes later, milk carton in hand and school bag hitched on his back, he made his way through the big field down a foot-trodden path towards the McCullum Meadows apartments. Halfway through the field he noticed two men coming towards him on the path. In a nagging moment of uneasiness, he switched to a parallel trail. Suddenly one of the men called out to him, and Jagannath knew in his heart he was dead meat. “Hey you, stop right there!” Within seconds, the two hooded men were on him. One of them held a Taser at Jagannath’s neck and ordered him to lie face down on the ground. “Where’s your cell phone?” one man asked. “I don’t have one,” Jagannath lied, thinking that maybe now,
they’d let him go. That was a mistake, he realized, when the other assailant frisked him, and found a phone in Jagannath’s pocket. The lie earned him two shots from the Taser. “You don’t have one, do you,” one man ridiculed. They asked for his wallet and Jagannath said, “In my school bag.” They said they’d take the bag with them. That was the last straw. The thought of not doing anything as he helplessly lost his bag, his laptop and his money made Jagannath see red. He tried to push the man off him, fighting to turn around. His heart stopped beating for a moment when the other man pulled out what Jagannath thought was a pistol and aimed it straight at his head. Lying between those two men, with guns pointed at him, all Jagannath said he could think was “here I am miles away from home not knowing whether I’ll make it to another day, wondering what will happen to my parents if I don’t.”
see DANGER page 4
Safety Q&A with the Chief Editor’s note: In response to the recent increase in crimes on and around campus, The Mercury sat down with UTD Police Chief Larry Zacharias to ask a few questions. He has been UTD’s chief for more than a year and formerly served for the Richardson Police Department for approximately 30 years.
Larry Zacharias UTD Chief of Police
What are some general safety guidelines the UTD community can follow? To keep yourself safe, you have to do the same thing all the time anywhere, regardless of who you are. Don’t create an environment of vulnerability. Staying on a well-lit street reduces the chance that someone would take it as an opportunity to commit a crime. What is the most important step a student can take? Be aware of your surroundings. Don’t create an opportunity to be a victim. Don’t plug up your ears with your iPod and don’t look down and text, because then you aren’t aware of your surroundings. If someone’s coming up behind you, you’ll never hear or see them. Would you suggest students carry mace? Mace is a good product if you know how to use it. You have to understand what the strengths and weaknesses are of the tools you are using. You can also carry pepper spray on campus as long as it’s one of the small, individual containers. A student is walking home at midnight, carrying a backpack with books, a laptop and a purse or wallet. Someone confronts him or her. What should the student do? Drop your backpack at least. Your life is a lot more valuable than your property. The police also give away whistles to people that they can keep on their key chains or in their pockets. Making noise makes you a less appealing target.
photo by Albert Ramirez
UTD graduate student Sharat Jagannath was robbed and assaulted on his way home. A month later he remembers the incident walking through the scene of the crime.
Do you have any advice for on-campus safety? If you’re on campus, try to walk in pairs. You can always call the station at 2222 or pick up a blue phone and say your location and ask for an escort to wherever you are going. What should a student do if he/she is assaulted? If you are a victim of a crime, you have to report it. If you don’t report it, the police will never realize they have a problem because it looks like a low-crime area.
November 29, 2010
Report
Alumna Miad Faezipour visited Senate to present a document aimed at modifying the United States single entry visa system for Iranians. The current process can take months to complete and is required for re-entry to the country every time, Faezipour said. This means Iranian students cannot reasonably visit home, even for family emergencies, SG endorsed Faezipour’s document, which will be sent to the Department of State. UTD President David Daniel also visited Senate. Daniel requested that SG create a “President to Student” advisory committee. The group of students, open to non-senators as well, would meet with Daniel at least once a month to express any student concerns, he said. Graduate student Nick Hinojosa asked when students could expect different street names on campus. The UT System Board of Regents have already approved creating new names, Daniel said, and he is hopeful the change can happen by the end of 2011. Notable street name ideas were “Orange Drive,” “Green Drive” and — Daniel’s favorite — “Whoosh Way.” SG President and political science senior Grace Bielawski announced
Senate is currently considering a proposal that will request an additional day off for Thanksgiving and remove a reading day at the end of the fall semesters. Visitor parking prices have been set. Campus guests will be charged $2 an hour and no more than $10 a day to park in the new visitor lots, Bielawski said. SG Vice President and political science senior Dina Shahrokhi reported that the UTD Police Department has begun flagging unregistered bicycles parked at on-campus housing locations. Flagged bicycles will be removed shortly afterward. The Residence Halls will remain unnamed, for now. Administrators want to hold of on any official names until they are sure they won’t receive any donations for the buildings, Shahrokhi said. Treasurer and neuroscience senior Sara Mahmood warned senators that SG’s budget is about halfway spent. Mahmood advised using caution with future allocations. Dining Hall patrons are being watched. Sustainability Sub-committee chair and political science sophomore Andrew Previc said SG’s Clean Plate program has recorded 40-50 pounds of wasted food a day, during the 11-2 p.m. shift. “@student.utdallas.edu” e-mails are no more. The “student” e-mail format will be discontinued in 2011, said Technology Committee chair and computer engineering junior Daniel Myers.
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Brain brush makes easy read Rebecca DeButts
Contributor news@utdmercury.com
After a year of development, researchers at UTD and UTA created a hairbrush that will make working with stroke patients and children with Cerebral Palsy easier. The device is called a brush optode and it reads activity on the surface of the brain by using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Its main purpose is to measure levels of oxygen in the blood in the part of the brain that controls motor functions. This kind of technology has been around for years, but it required the use of an instrument that had a flat end, which made it difficult to use on patients with hair. Electrical engineering professor Duncan MacFarlane said the flat fiber bundle the system used previously
worked very well if the patient was bald, but becomes difficult to use if the patient has hair because when the flat fiber bundle runs over hair instead of a patient’s scalp, the reading can be impaired. MacFarlane worked with UTA professors Hanli Liu and Georgious Alexandrakis and electrical engineering research assistant Chester Wildey to find a solution. MacFarlane said the team brainstormed and developed the idea of adding a fitting that was still fiber optics but used fibers that were spread out like a hairbrush. “What that meant was that these fibers would be able to thread very easily through the (patient’s) hair,” MacFarlane said Alxandrakis said this modest solution to a practical problem and has since made it easier to obtain readings from patients much more
courtesy of Duncan McFarlane
A new device that weaves past hair to measure levels of oxygen in the brain. comfortable and less timeconsuming. “You get better signal, you get better performance and generally you improve all around the technician and patient experience,” McFarlane said. “I hope that it makes the operator’s and patient’s life better in practice.” In clinical use, this technology is used mostly on adults with a history of stroke and
children with Cerebral Palsy. “It’s a different thing when you are measuring your colleague in the lab versus a child.” Alexandrakis said “The child (can be) impatient and doesn’t have a lot of attention span and if it’s uncomfortable it’s a big deal.” By using this new tool, the appointment takes less time, the patient is more comfortable and functional data is gathered.
UTD Police scanner Nov. 11 • PD arrested an unaffiliated male for Driving While Intoxicated on Campbell Rd. • PD issued a Criminal Trespass Warning to an unaffiliated person who was observed taking items from a dumpster in Phase VIII. • An officer was dispatched to the SUB in response to
theft of a patio chair. • An unaffiliated male was arrested for a traffic violation on Floyd Road and outstanding warrants. • PD arrested a UTD student for a hit-and-run. Nov. 12 • A UTD employee reported theft from ECS-N. Nov. 16 • A UTD student reported an unknown person stole
his iPhone 3Gs from the SU steps. Nov. 19 • PD arrested an unaffiliated male on Waterview Parkway for traffic violations and outstanding warrants. • A UTD employee was arrested for outstanding warrants after he was stopped for a traffic violation on Floyd Road. Nov. 20
• A UTD student was arrested for driving without a valid license and outstanding warrants on University Parkway. Nov. 21 • PD arrested a nonaffiliated person for Driving While Intoxicated, Failure to Present a Valid ID and presenting the officer with false information • PD responded to a delayed report of theft.
Opinion
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November 29, 2010
3
Whooshes, boo-shes: a look at issues from the semester The following is a collection of hits and misses board members noted from the fall 2010 semester. If “whoosh” is the Comet spirit sound, “boo-sh” seems to be the logical antonym.
It’s the off-peak times, like just before dinner, that the food for peak hours is beginning to run out and no additional is made until the next high-traffic time occurs. This is an understandable tactic, but students should not still be expected to pay full price for fewer options.
Whoosh: Dining services offers later options At the beginning of the semester an additional evening hour was added to the Dining Hall and another option was added for students with meal plans. Because the Dining Hall closes at 9 p.m. on weekdays, students who have classes that last from 7 - 9:45 p.m., as well as students who generally eat on a later schedule, were unable to comfortably eat dinner at the Dining Hall. This new system allows those students to use their meal plan credit at The Pub which stays open an additional hour.
Whoosh: Student Government steps up efficiency Senate meetings this semester have been structured and time efficient. Each discussion has an allocated time, which makes senators aware of how long they spend talking about each topic. This organization results in more efficient decisions and more time conscious senators.
Boo-sh: Dining Hall food choices are inconsistent While the Dining Hall improved it’s hours, the food at times can be limited. During peak hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner the Dining Hall usually offers more than enough choices of food.
Boo-sh: Limited housing and parking space Statistically, UTD has had a record setting year for a number of things, including enrollment. However, this results in a much larger student body than the campus is used to having. The addition of about 2,000 students has cramped the already limited numbers of housing and parking even farther. Though the university is striving to keep up with the growth, the second Residence Hall will be ready a year after it’s predecessor and an additional lot was build this semester, students are still running out of space.
I have loved sports my whole life. My dad coached high school sports in Michigan before moving to Texas, and my mom works for the Dallas Mavericks. In my family, loving sports isn’t a choice. It’s a lifestyle. This is my second year at UTD, but I had never been to any sporting event on campus until Nov. 16 when I watched both the men’s and women’s basketball team defeat Austin College in convincing fashion. I’m glad I went. Between 500-600 fans watched the men and women beat Austin College by double-digits, and not a single UTD supporter left the gym disappointed or bored. I, for one, left with a sense of school spirit I had never felt before. In recent years, UTD’s sports teams have had so many firsts and studentathletes have set so many records that our school is now a force to be reckoned with not just in the American Southwest Conference (ASC), but in the entire National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA). Niki Calverley was named a first team Division III All-American setter by the American Volleyball Coaches Association Nov. 16. Calverley, an interdisciplinary studies senior, is one of just three Comets in history to be named a first team All-American, and one of just 14 women nationwide selected to the team. She was also named the ASC East Division Most Valuable Player. The Lady Comets volleyball team lost just one conference game and was nationally-ranked to end the season. Fifteen of their victories came in just three sets, meaning they lost one set or more in only half their matches. That is an outstanding feat to accomplish on any level. This comes a season after they had an undefeated regular season. They have won the ASC East five years in a row and have clearly established a dynasty in the division. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have been nationally-ranked the past two years. In 200809, the men won the ASC
and advanced to the Elite 8, and the next season they were conference runners-up and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the DIII NCAA Tournament. Each of the past four seasons, both teams have qualified for the ASC Tournament. Last season alone, the men and women combined to win 43 of the 56 games they played. The Lady Comets have lost just seven conference games in the last two years, and the men have lost six. Economics sophomore Daniel Ludwig, a cross country runner, advanced to the NCAA South Regional Meet held on Nov. 15. He finished 28th out of 156 runners, the best finish in UTD history at the Regional Meet. Both the men and women’s soccer teams had seven players named to the ASC All-Conference Teams. The Lady Comets had four players named to the All-Conference First Team. Education major Eboni Udenze was named ASC Offensive Freshman of the Year, and business
Jessica Melton, Editor-in-Chief Shane Damico, Managing Editor Laura-Jane Cunningham, Graphics Editor Swaroop Rayudu, Web Editor Alex Hays, Social Media Editor news@utdmercury.com The Mercury Editorial Board voted 5-0 in favor of this editorial. The board consists of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, managing editor, graphics editor, social media editor and web editor. The board will discuss, debate and develop editorial positions on issues affecting the UTD community. We welcome your responses at news@utdmercury.com. Opinions expressed in The Mercury are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the university administration, the University of Texas System Board of Regents or the Student Media Operating Board. Editorial and business offices are in Student Union, Room 2.416. Telephone: 972-883-2286. Mailing address; SU 24, Richardson, TX 75080.
Comments
The Mercury contributor gives reasons to show comet spirit Contributor rjk090020@utdallas.edu
Editorial Board
Comet
For the love of the game Bobby Karalla
Whoosh: SU Mall completed at last After more than a year of construction the SU Mall is finally complete. Not only is the Mall open for students to walk through once again, three additional buildings have opened. The new buildings and new scenery show students what the wait was worth.
major Krysta Howard was named the ASC Defensive Freshman of the Year. Our soccer programs are improving year after year and have an established core of young talent to build around. This type of dominance is difficult to accomplish in sports. One school is rarely as successful in as many sports as UTD has been in recent years. UTD’s sports teams show no signs of stopping their success either. Each team has both stellar seniors and fantastic freshmen, and everything else in between. Our athletic programs have accomplished enough to raise the eyebrows of national associations and media. All they are missing is an extremely devoted fan base. There hasn’t been a better time in UTD history to be a Comets fan. The Texas Rangers’ theme for their 2010 season was “It’s Time.” Not to steal from the Rangers, but fellow Comets, it’s time. It’s time to root our teams to championships. It’s time to fill the bleachers. It’s time to show our school spirit. Come out and support the Comets. You won’t regret it.
W
hat are you doing during winter break?
“Staying home, but maybe a surprise vacation from my mom”
Katryna Ceniza Business freshman “Snowboarding in Colorado through a flaming ring of fire”
Cody Mains Psychology junior “Staying home, work and chill with the family”
Ashly Thomas Biology junior “Going back home to Ecuador with my missionary parents”
Michael McFarland Psychology sophomore
TSA’s first sight by Laura-Jane Cunningham
“Back to house to read books, play video games, hang out with friends”
Meagan Kelso Engineering junior “Going to visit the Grand Canyon with friends”
Mashrur Rahman Business senior
the Mercury Editor-in-Chief Jessica Melton
Graphics Editor Laura-Jane Cunningham
Managing Editor Shane Damico
Web Editor Swaroop Rayudu
Advertising Manager Josh Moncrieff
Social Media Editor Alex Hays
Media Adviser Chad Thomas Administrative Assistant Andrew Arias Photographers Albert Ramirez Brandon Higgins Ben Hawkins
Staff Writers Danelle Adeniji Jameshia Bankston Contributors Nada Alasmi Anwesha Bhattacharjee Duc Cao Rebecca DeButts Amanda Duke Bobby Karalla Michelle Nguyen Christopher Wang
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To home it may concern: a question of safety DANGER
become a problem and he felt having more on-campus accommodation would make students feel safer and more involved in the community. “Two of our new students were living in the Ashwood Apartments at McCullum,” he said. “Three days after their arrival, they found their apartment broken into and their front door smashed. Safety wasn’t a problem even two years ago, but it is now.” Graduate student, Shuyi Yan, is a close friend of the two girls whose apartment was broken into. “Given a choice we would all be living on campus, my friends had no choice. Their house was broken into, and personal belongings including laptops and cameras were stolen,” Yan said. “Scared, they moved to Chatham Courts. Now we don’t stay on campus beyond 9 p.m. and we ask our friends going (to McCullum Boulevards) to drop us. Several of us go out together. On campus accommodation would definitely have been more secure and convenient.” Nilekani expressed concerns over the security in off-campus housing locations, especially at McCullum Boulevards drawing attention to Jagannath’s case. “I have had meetings with members of the Student Government, International Student Services Organization and (the UTD Police Department). Everyone is working towards a solution at this point of time,” he said. Mao said the FACSS core committee has voiced concerns over housing and security to the ISSO, expressing their hopes that at least for first year graduate students would be granted space in a Residence Hall. Students are still awaiting a university response.
continued from page 1
The incident involving graduate student Sharat Jagannath on the night of Oct. 6 is one he believes would not have happened had he been living on-campus. But like hundreds of other international graduate students at UTD, Jagannath was unable to secure on-campus accommodation — a concern that is building up steam as the university’s graduate enrollment continues to climb.
Students speak Graduate student Duo Mao is the president of the Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars. The FACSS as it is commonly known, is an organization that promotes Chinese culture on campus and serves Chinese students. “We (always) get tons of e-mails before each semester begins, requesting for accommodation. It’s really bad for international students. Some of them need to pay the rent for their apartments two months before they arrive here and to top it, the apartments do not have even the basic furniture. This can be a very difficult time for the students arriving from abroad,” Mao said. These odds, however, have not stopped international graduate students from coming to UTD and this fall, there was a record enrollment of more than 600 new Chinese and Indian students. “The rate at which the number of international students is increasing beats the rate of housing infrastructure here, so much so that off campus housing facilities are looking like virtual on campus areas, as more and more students are forced to shift there,” said Rohan Nilekani, graduate MBA student and president of the Indian Student’s Association or the ISA. Nilekani said he estimates 45 percent of UTD Indian graduate students live off campus and there is still a high demand for on campus accommodation. Twenty five percent of the international Chinese students live on campus estimates Liu Gang, graduate student and vice president of the FACSS. “A majority of the students live at McCullum Boulevards, and for the first few months after their arrival here, they have no transportation,” he said. “We need more graduate housing, at least on a priority basis for the new students. Many of the students who come here are used to residential campus life, because that is how it is back in China.” An independent online survey conducted by FACSS shows that of the 110 graduate respondents, 76 percent want to live on campus for their first year. Ninety percent of the respondents think that UTD needs to have more on-campus graduate housing. “Imagine for a moment an American student going to a country where he doesn’t speak the native language,” Mao said. “It is not comfortable living in an unprotected environment off campus. It is like that for international students here.” Mao said off-campus security has
photo by Albert Ramirez
Sharat Jagannath is was unable to secure on-campus housing this semester. With a record number of graduate student enrollments this year, students and staff alike are concerned about the availability of housing on campus.
The number crunch The official records from the Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis state that 6,480 new graduate students enrolled in fall 2010, an 8.3 percent increase over last fall and a 25.9 percent increase since 2006. Matthew Grief, assistant vice president for student affairs, said 622 graduate students are living on campus this semester, accounting for 21 percent of the students housed on campus. “The graduate students have a very large presence on our campus,” Grief said. In fact, we have increased the number of graduate students from about three years ago when we had about 500 (graduate) students.”
Work in progress Most of the increased enrollment this year came from international graduate students, said Provost Hobson Wildenthal. “New York Times says with increasing wealth in China, more Chinese families have the resources to send their only child off for an American education,” he said. There’s been a huge national upsurge, we’ve benefited from it.” If put in place a graduate student complex would be better occupied than an undergraduate one, Wildenthal said, because undergraduates live on campus for only nine months a year while graduate
students stay for 12. “It’s making the transition (that’s a problem). We would not be happy if graduate students in particular can’t find on campus housing, but we will also be unhappy if there are empty beds (in the residence halls), so it’s a delicate balance,” he said. Darrelene Rachavong, vice president for student affairs, said there are no concrete plans for expanding graduate housing on campus in the next two years — at least until the second and possibly a third residence hall is completed. “Before we build, we need to find out who (our graduate students) are, what styles and sizes of housing will they prefer and whether there would be separate housing for families,” she said. “We will need to pull together demographics, meet with them. There are a lot of focus groups. A lot depends on growth and how many want to live here on campus.” When the second residence hall opens, there will be about 400 free spaces in the apartments for graduate students and transitioning freshmen. “Building these residence halls is going to create more of the space for those graduate students to fill the two bedrooms, the one bedroom apartments that they’re more interested in. They want to be here for two years, they don’t want to move around,” Grief said.
Graduate
enrollment goes
through the roof
6480 2010
Where grads come from
Out-of-state 4.7% International 37.4% In-state 57.9%
5982 2009
Percent growth for grads 5551
7.7%
2008
8.3%
4.9%
5290 2.7%
2007
(Above) Total graduate students
2007
2008
2009
2010
Austin Cunningham, dean of graduate studies, said international students typically apply late for oncampus housing. He said whether because of visas being issued late or because they take a longer time to choose between multiple admissions offers, international students don’t want to put in a deposit before they are sure of coming to the university. “By the time they do arrive, the apartments are already filled,” Cunningham said. “Typically, students graduate in spring, and vacancies are created in summer. The question is do we reserve more units for graduate students or do we leave it as first come first serve?” The university places 10 apartment units on reserve through the summer for graduate students generally for research and teaching assistants on a priority basis. Residential Student Affairs committee chair Dypti Lulla said number of reserved apartments for graduate students will be increased, but there is no consensus on how many will be put on reserve. “We aggressively offer half-bed spaces in the University Village, but what we have found, historically, is that graduate students are less likely to share apartments,” Grief said. Former Graduate and International Student Affairs committee chair and graduate student Mayur Mehta said that while students could share a $700 twobedroom apartment among four people off campus, they pay $1,000 or more on campus for the same apartment between two people. Building more apartments will not make a difference unless prices go down, he said. Only 13 percent of the respondents to the online survey by FACSS held an opinion that rent rates on campus are too high. “We closely monitor where we fall regarding apartment units and pricing. I think we’re very comparable to off campus apartments and other universities,” Grief said Vishal Channe, graduate student and current Student Government graduate and international student affairs committee chair, said it would increase on-campus space if Waterview Park’s policy allowed split leases instead of single lease
agreements. Lulla said the Waterview Park management said they feel that offering half bed spaces will cost more including maintenance and having more people on board. The Waterview Park management declined to comment. “We’re still pushing for split lease agreements. Our committee is actually working on doing a survey through the ISSO or through the ISA for example to get a number from the students on the demand for split lease. The management does not feel there would be as much of an overflow to Waterview Park,” she said. Lulla also said that starting next housing cycle, the University Village will start phasing in all graduate students into the same buildings. Depending on which phase is in demand for graduate housing right now, the University Village will start putting in incoming graduate students when vacancies arise so that ultimately all the graduate students are together. Lulla and Rachavong expressed concerns over mixing graduate and undergraduate housing. “It is sometimes not good to mix undergraduates and graduates,” Rachavong said. “We learned that early on when we opened up housing. Typically undergraduates like to stay up late while many graduate students have to go off to work early and sleep early.” Both Rachavong and Cunningham said they were working with the ISSO towards communicating better to prospective international graduate students on housing even before they arrived on campus. In an e-mail to The Mercury, Lisabeth Lassiter, assistant director for International Services said she was aware of concerns students had expressed that there is not enough housing on campus, and there is no furnished housing option. “Each semester, UTD Housing Operations and other interested offices provide the ISSO with the most up-to-date housing information, and the ISSO distributes it through e-mail and Facebook groups. That information includes recommendations on how to secure
see DANGER page 6
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November 29, 2010
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Lively animators make lively animations Courses show ways to bring animations to life through do-it-yourself experience Bobby Karalla
Contributor rjk090020@utdallas.edu
Instead of creating characters, Arts & Technology (ATEC) students will have a chance this spring to become the characters themselves. Arts & Humanities professor Michele Hanlon will teach “Movement for Animators,” a course she describes as creative, technical and fun, and professor Kathy Lingo will teach “Acting for Animators,” a class designed to help animators psychologically connect with characters they create. In Movement for Animators, students will learn physical conditioning and modern dance techniques, and will work with concepts of biomechanics — the science behind motion — and ways gravity can affect the body. “(The course) is more to learn how to make connections between communicating an idea and emotion, and how to make it convincing and readable. That physical understanding can translate to their digital understanding.” Hanlon said the class is not meant just for students with prior dance experience and encourages students with
little to no experience. “Students with less movement experience can try their ideas out on people with more movement experience, so they can direct them,” Hanlon said. “The experience becomes a little more individualized. That’s the goal.” Hanlon has experience instructing dancers with various levels of dance experience. “I hope people can realize that (dancing) is not really scary,” Hanlon said. “(For ATEC majors,) it’s about understanding and trying to get some experiences in your body that will help you be a better communicator digitally.” In Acting for Animators, students will learn the basic concepts of acting and also how to improvise character actions and emotions. Lingo said students that can take on the personality of their characters will be able to add greater detail and depth to their animated characters and be more successful in their animation in general. “If you don’t have some idea of what the agent of action does, it’s very hard to play them out,” Lingo said. “In acting, you need to embody the character psychologically. (Students) can
courtesy of Sarkar Rahat
UTD dance students (from left) Megan Bishop, Mashrur Rahman and Kuo-Chieh Ting performing in the SU mall. Next semester student animators will have the option to take a dance or acting class designed to teach them ways the body moves and actions are expressed to improve their animations. see how to change a character, and how to give the character depth.” Arts & Technology junior Jimi Threadgill, focusing on 3D animation, said the courses could teach students how to make animation look more natural. “It sounds like a good idea, because it will help animators
prepare for the real world,” Threadgill said. “It will make for a more natural-looking animation. I’d be interested in taking (them).” Threadgill said understanding body movements can help in various aspects of animation, especially video game animation. Lingo said she is enthusi-
astic about what the course can teach animators about the arts, and also how it can improve their creativity and accuracy in creating stories, because in order to create characters, the animators must understand how to display emotion and personality through not just dialogue, but also through movement
and facial expressions. “What makes animation really good? The detail,” Hanlon said. “How would you make a movement fluid vs. static vs. choppy, and how would that affect the movement? If we look at something from all sorts of perspectives, we can really create something unique.”
illustration by Michelle Nguyen
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News
November 29, 2010
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Daniel targets increase of on-campus diversity Danelle Adeniji
Staff Writer dxa102120@utdallas.edu
African-Americans and Hispanics accounted for six out of every 100 students in UTD’s fall 2010 freshman class — and university officials say they are taking steps to increase the population of these ethnic groups. In his 2010 State of the University Address on Nov. 3, UTD President David Daniel outlined nine goals for the university to work toward and improve by 2017, including increasing the diversity on UTD’s campus. According to UTD’s 2010 enrollment figures, the fall incoming class of freshmen was made up of about 15 percent Hispanics and 5 percent African-Americans. It marked a slight increase from the fall 2009 freshman class which contained about 14 percent Hispanic and 5 percent African-American students, while Caucasians made up about 41 percent and Asians made up about 28 percent of the 2010 freshman class. “Both of these percentages are up from the previous year, though minimally,” Daniel said at the State of the University Address. “We can do better.” According to the Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis approximately 94 percent of UTD undergraduates are in-state. The top counties of origin for Texas students are Dallas, Collin, Denton, Harris, Tarrant and Travis. In Dallas, Collin and Denton counties, Caucasians made up more than 70 percent of the population while AfricanAmericans and Hispanics made up less than 30 percent in Collin and Denton counties. In Dallas County, African-
Danger
continued from page 4 on-campus housing effectively and early,” Lassiter said. Rachavong said she wasn’t sure if it was because of the communication from ISSO office that international graduate students were aware or whether it was because they were successfully accommodated on campus, but she hadn’t heard of a long waiting list of students this year. “I had a meeting with Luca Finocchiaro, executive vice president of Waterview Park apartments and he told
Caucasian
568
Asian American
379
African American
Other
Hispanic
205
87
70
International
69
2010 freshman: diversity illustration by Laura-Jane Cunningham
Americans and Hispanics combined made up about 60 percent of the population according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2006 population estimate. The Office of Diversity and Community Engagement, or ODCE, designed a Five Year Strategic Plan Summary which is projected to double the enrollment numbers of the African-American and Hispanic population at UTD by 2015. “Faces across the globe are changing and we need to prepare students for different types of customers and businesses that are a part of the global economy and community,” said Vice President of ODCE Magaly Spector. “The president has acknowledged this because he knows this is important,” Spector said. “You cannot be
an excellent university unless you are diverse.” Spector has helped to form scholarships and awards that reach out to students in need beyond the Richardson area. For the first time at UTD a $10,000 Diversity Scholarship was awarded to 20 incoming freshman this fall. ODCE also has a five year strategic plan for improving diversity relations on campus and throughout the campus. The Diversity Scholarship doesn’t stop with money, but continues support by checking on the freshmen that received the scholarship. Mentors and staff from ODCE contact the new students every three weeks to see how they’re doing and if they need assistance in any area. As Director of Community
Engagement Raul Hinojosa goes to the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) along with mentors from UTD and creates partnerships in the community to reach out to under-represented students. “The critical years are in middle school and even the ninth grade because the choices that are made during this time can have long term effects,” Hinojosa said. Under the supervision of ODCE and by the direction of Hinojosa, the office has received grants that help high school students in the DISD who want to attend college. The Comet College program assists juniors, seniors and their families with the college enrollment process. The families receive free SAT preparation classes, higher educa-
tion workshops and hands-on help with college admission applications. The College Mentoring program has 14 UTD students that mentor in the DISD. They help high school students search for colleges to attend and filling out financial aid forms among other things. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board funds the programs. A few of the schools within DISD that benefit from ODCE help are Lake Highlands, Conrad and Hillcrest High Schools. “We’re going to continue to reach out to under represented students,” Hinojosa said. “It’s a long term effort.” The Multicultural Center (MC) helps keep diversity active across campus. Assistant Vice President and Director Arthur
Gregg said the key to reaching out is to get current students speak to students applying for college. “These high school students want to see people that look like them,” Gregg said. “If we could get more students from UTD to go out and share their stories I believe it will have an even bigger impact.” Another way to attract diverse students, Gregg said, is to educate them more on the process of applying for financial aid and increase financial aid. Overall, Gregg said he believes the current students, faculty and staff of UTD need to meet the diverse student groups halfway. “I’m excited that the president has publicly stated the need to add more diversity,” ”
me that this year they had 10 people on their waiting list,” she said. Cunningham, meanwhile, said he was not receiving nearly the same amount of complaints or feedback from students about not being able to get an accommodation to the extent he did five to six years ago.
would be allotted to only fulltime students or whether they should be furnished to make them more attractive to graduate students, he said.
ing caution among students when they walk through at night. UTD Police Chief Larry Zacharias confirmed that one case of assault had been documented with the Dallas Police Department about a month ago. In a meeting with SG and student representatives there was mention of some other incidents but those were unconfirmed and unreported, he said. “If only one incident is reported and others are not, there’s no way the police can deploy more forces. It becomes an isolated incident,” Zacharias said.
He said more officers have been working patrol on campus and there have been an increased number of fixed post officers. Public safety officers close up the buildings at night and are in the library from 4 p.m., he said. “We have moved in a security desk into the ECSS building so that we can monitor cameras and see more of the building,” Zacharias said. “Three pairs of student patrol in orange T-shirts and reflective vests come in about 5:30 p.m. and stay till midnight. People could walk up to them to escort them
between main classrooms and the parking lots.” Meanwhile, Jagannath has applied to move on campus. He is hoping that some vacancies will be created when students graduate in December. He says although prices are higher on campus there is more freedom to move around here than off campus. “I just want to put all of that behind me. It happened that night and now it’s over. I’m fine and I’d like to stay that way,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll get an on campus apartment this spring, and then I can move on completely.”
He said he understood the need for more exclusive graduate housing. The plans for the future would depend on whether graduate students want dormitories or apartments, and other considerations such as whether apartments
Staying safe Rachavong said she was aware of only one incident of assault that had happened at the McCullum Boulevards. If any others did happen, they went unreported, she said. She stressed that students on campus should not have a false sense of security. “This is an open campus and all kinds of people can come in,” she said, urg-
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Homecoming
November 29, 2010
7
Homecoming 2010
photo by Albert Ramirez
Biology freshman Nikki Kanthety, Psycology and Child Development senior Ahou Vaziri and Emerging Media and Communication senior Alex Young make Homecoming Mums at the Spirit Shop.
photos by Ben Hawkins
Students drive through campus in decorated golf carts during the Homecoming parade.
photo by Brandon Higgins
Top: Mechanical Engineering freshman Adrian Alan receives a henna tattoo from Graduate student Smita Patil during “Woosh Around the World.� photo by Albert Ramirez
Business junior Ashley Scott glues materials together to create a Homecoming Mum at the Spirit Shop.
Bottom: Arts & Technology senior Kia Wright affixes a Comet flag to her car window to show her comet pride.
photo by Albert Ramirez
Left: Accounting Junior Diane Henry and Alumni Colton Rohloff play black jack at the Homecoming Casino room. photo by Brandon Higgins
8
Life &Arts
November 29, 2010
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Snitching a scene from ‘HP7’ Poets first Students celebrate movie release with quidditch and trivia Nada Alsami
Contributor news@utdmercury.com
photo by Brandon Higgins
Jeffrey Smith, computer science participates in Muggle Day on Nov. 19.
Radio awarded for excellence
senior,
Some students celebrated the new film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part I” by going to the midnight premier. Other students showed their wizard pride by partying Hogwarts style. Students gathered in the Residence Hall on Nov. 19 for Muggle Day, a celebration of Harry Potter, the popular book and movie series. Muggle Day offered a variety of Harry Potter themed activities such as Quidditch. In the magical world of Harry Potter, Quidditch is a two team sport where players fly on broomsticks and hit leather balls, or quaffles, into the other team’s hoops.
During Muggle day, Quidditch was played with volleyballs instead of quaffles and involved running instead of flying. Electrical Engineering freshman David Schen said it was not the first time for him to try the sport. “I didn’t score any points, but my team won,” Schen said. While some students played Quidditch in the back yard of the residence hall, others sat in the lobby to play Harry Potter trivia. Questions ranged in difficulty from “who gave Harry Potter the invisibility cloak,” to “what drink did Dumbledore offer Harry when he went to pick him up to take him to the
see MUGGLES page 9
feature at UPC Jameshia Bankston Staff Writer jtb071000@utdallas.edu
The Student Union Activities and Advisory Board (SUAAB) is wellknown for its Underground Poetry Circus (UPC) events and the nationally renowned artists they feature, and at their latest UPC, they made UTD history. The Homecoming week performance showcased solo poems that confronted social stigmas and issues and featured UTD’s Slam Poetry team as an official organization for the first time at UPC. SUAAB complemented the Homecoming theme of school spirit and tradition by bringing back UPC’s first performing
band Mahogany and the Jam Box and featuring the new organization, said SUAAB president and graduate student Nick Hinojosa. “We knew we had to make it special,” Hinojosa said. As an aspiring slam poet and performer, president of the slam team and computer science graduate Camron Quituga introduced the idea of a UTD Slam Poetry team to Assistant Director of Student Life Programs Jonathan “GNO” White, last year. A UTD alumni himself, White is a nationally renowned and award
see POETS page 9
Digitally
Rebecca DeButts
Contributor news@utdmercury.com
Compared to other college radio stations that have been around for 30 years or more, Radio UTD is quite young but it’s still managed to grab the attention of a national music journal and not for the first time. The College Music Journal (CMJ) recently nominated Radio UTD for three College Radio Awards at CMJ’s annual Music Marathon and Festival. The nominations included Best Use of the Internet, Best Use of Limited Resources and Station of the Year. Radio UTD’s Promotions Director and cognitive science senior Alex Langford said the station is very excited about their nominations. “It’s really amazing to think that there are so many stations and for the past four or five years we’ve been able to reach them and register to them.” Langford said. Unlike many other stations, Radio UTD operates only on the internet, without an FM or AM frequency. Langford said CMJ recognizes that even with out a frequency, Radio UTD is just as real a station. To be nominated for a College Radio Award, the stations must be in good standing with both CMJ and music promoters. Music promoters send new music to each radio station, which the stations can choose to use at their own discretion. The music promoters can give one nomination for each category, which they send to CMJ. The five stations with the most nominations are put on the ballot, which is presented at the Music Marathon and Festival. The ballots are then posted at the festival and left open for voting. One of the things that cause Radio UTD to stand out is their new music streaming system. Radio UTD uses a secure system developed by the station’s staff which allows the DJs to log onto the station’s
see RADIO page 10
Technology could help to filter pornographic spam Jameshia Bankston Staff Writer jtb071000@utdallas.edu
“SEX-ting” and the pornographic spam has become a social issue that companies like Image Vision Labs (IVL) and UTD’s Computer Science department are trying to prevent. For more than a year, computer science alumni Ashok Ramadass, graduate Vishnu Sivanandan and the Cyber Security and Emergency Preparedness Institute has teamed up with IVL to research and develop a program that can identify pornographic content sent through cell phones and the Internet. In the past, companies would hire people to spend 24-48 hours reviewing content to detect anything inappropriate, said UTD alumni and president of IVL Steven White. While humans can visually identify multimedia containing nudity, it takes time. A video must be watched in its entirety before someone can determine if it is inappropriate or not, White said. He said the research teams are working to compose a photo by Albert Ramirez illustration by Brandon Higgins
see CENSORED page 10
Professor pursues project of epic proportions Laura-Jane Cunningham Graphics Editor graphics@utdmercury.com
Stepping into Frederick Turner’s office is like stepping into the study of a wizard. Books line the walls and litter a small table in the corner. Turner sits at ease as if he knows them well, stroking his white beard with excitement in his eyes. The look promises to take anyone on an intellectual quest through his library, surely filled with stories of adventure. Turner was born in Northamptonshire, England, in 1943. He speaks with a British accent despite growing up in central Africa where his parents were studying local rituals. When Turner was 17,
he visited America for the first time. The 1961 trip inspired him to write a mini-epic and mail a copy to the already famous C.S. Lewis, who was nearing the end of his life. “He sent back an immensely generous letter about it, saying he felt I had some kind of talent there,” Turner said. “But he also said, as Keats said to Shelley, ‘curb your magnanimity.’ What he meant is that I like to rant and talk big.” The encounter with Lewis began a 50 year journey into the study and creation of epics. Now 67 years old, Turner embarks on his largest project yet. He is more than halfway through writing a comprehensive look at the epic form, which spans centuries and con-
tinents. Turner is a professor of Arts & Humanities at UTD and an internationally renowned author of epic poetry. According to his website, his works have been translated into French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, Romanian, Macedonian, Russian, Turkish and others. One of his books, “Beauty: The Value of Values,” sells on Amazon for at least $317 used and as much as $679 for a new copy. Turner said the book is expensive because University Press of Virginia failed to republish it. Pointing his finger in the air, he joked about how to punish them. “(I must) ride to Boston and horsewhip a publish-
photo by Christopher Wang
Frederick Turner is embarking on a project that hasn’t been tried in more than 100 years. er!” he said, taking a long pause to laugh. “No, no, University Press of Virginia are good folks, and I wouldn’t dream of horsewhipping them.”
Animated outbursts on any subject are not uncommon for the otherwise genteel Englishman. Whether
see TURNER page 9
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Starry eyed in outer space Nada Alsami
Contributor news@utdmercury.com
Texas Astronomical Society, or TAS, is a group of amateur astronomers that works to encourage study of astronomy and star gazing. TAS is not a UTD organization, but they have their monthly meetings in the Science Learning Community (SLC) building. UTD professor of cosmology Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki is one of the five UTD professors who sponsors TAS on campus. He said that the TAS meetings involve an hour long lecture by a guest lecturer, a constellation of the month presentation, book sale and raffle. Rocket scientist Neil Milburn was the guest lecturer during the meeting on Nov. 12. Neil spoke about his life as a rocket scientist for Armadillo Aerospace, a rocket building company based in Rockwall. The company hopes to send tourists to suborbital space by 2012 and is already selling tickets for $100 to $200 grand each. Graduate student Jake Hebert often attends TAS lectures. He said that the lectures are
TURNER
very enjoyable and that people of different ages attend them. Other than the lectures, TAS also sets up weekly “star parties” where different sized telescopes are put out in a park. People come to these events to look through the telescopes, ask questions and enjoy the night sky. Star parties take place in different parks around the DFW area, are free of charge and are open for all. Joe Lalumia is president of TAS. He said that although there is light pollution in Dallas, there is still a lot that can be seen with the telescopes. “You can see double stars, bright nebulas, galaxies, the moon, Jupiter and Saturn,” Lalumia said. He also said the best places for star gazing are Plano, Rockwall and Coppell. Graduate student and TAS secretary Billye Cheek said the star parties help her appreciate the complexity of the universe. “Light left that galaxy millions of years before we were a civilization,” Cheek said. “That is where the extreme cool factor comes in.” For more information on TAS visit texasastro.org.
November 29, 2010
9
POETS
continued from page 8 winning author and slam poet who serves as an advisor for SUAAB. Knowing his background as a poet and loving the artform himself, Quituga brought the idea to White, White said. He said it was a great idea that would open doors for poets on campus to join an organization and be heard. So, Quituga put together a small team of poets that he’d seen perform at previous UPC’s and the team began meeting every Wednesday and Sunday to practice and enhance their performance techniques. The team made its first attempt to compete last year in a poetry slam tournament as an unofficial organization, but the event was canceled because of lack of registration. “I was hurt by it,” Quituga said. “We had worked so hard (to prepare for the tournament).” Despite the setback, the hard work did not stop there. As multiple schools have shown interest in this year’s competition, Quituga said the slam team is looking to put forth its best, in order to gain a larger presence. Their recognition as a
Miklos Radnoti and Attila József from Hungarian to English. discussing literature’s relaOzsváth said Turner transtionship to anthropology or lated poems into English demonstrating how his wool which sounded like the fishing hat can be folded originals and captured their and placed in his pocket, he essence. exhibits a grandiose enthusi“Even hearing (a poem) for asm for his life and work. the first time, he completely Turner came to UTD in understands its melodic qual1985 at the prompting ities,” she said. “He hears of Richard the poem Corrigan, the way One day I was on Mount Ida, 30 who was the we hear hours later I was in a hotel room in dean of Arts & music.” Humanities. Ozsváth a high rise in Dallas, “I was in said that Crete at the Turner, — Frederick Turner to time,” Turner beauty is said. “One day I more than was on Mount Ida, 30 hours who didn’t have a larger a word or a notion. He sees later I was in a hotel room in interdisciplinary grasp.” something ancient in poetry a high rise in Dallas.” For more than 20 years, which existed before civilizaDespite severe culture Turner bridged traditional tion, and views it as his misshock, Turner was persuaded department lines to work sion to spread beauty. to come to UTD because of with Arts & Humanities pro“He thinks literature can, its commitment to interdisci- fessor Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, may and will be spread,” she plinary research. In particular, translating the poetry of said. “And if people know continued from page 8
the lack of departments in Arts & Humanities appealed to him. “All the true innovators in any field are the ones who knew at least one other discipline than their core discipline, and had a much deeper philosophical grasp of the whole,” he said. “I defy anybody to find a really great innovator in any field
Life &Arts
photo by Ben Hawkins
Art & Performance senior Frank Tringali reciting his poem “Ablaze” at the homecoming performance on Nov. 17 in The Pub. UTD’s Slam Poetry Team was the featured organization for the fist time at UPC. serious and talented team is another reason the team was selected as the feature poets for the UPC, Hinojosa said. He said the team now serves as an outlet for selfexpression through performance. As poetry is only an art form to express yourself, both Brittany Sharkey, member and Arts & Performance senior, and Quituga, inadvertently
literature, they will know more about the world and themselves, and will live better lives.” Turner said literary studies has been in the doldrums since American literary theorist Stanley Fish announced the death of theory, but his project to write an overview of epics could help revive it. Epic has been considered the premier literary form for thousands of years, Turner said, but a comprehensive book on epics, like the one he began writing two years ago, has not been written in the last 100. Turner said the book started when he began to wonder if epic was really a cohesive genre, and if so, why humans wrote them independently of one another. “You take the common elements, and it turns out that epic is the human story,” Turner said. “It is the
had the same idea when attempting to describe how to gain confidence and stage presence while performing — that it’s just about being who you are. “Just do your thing,” Sharkey said. Though words are the motivation behind the performance of a slam poet, the performer’s actions and delivery are the most important aspects of slam poetry.
story of human evolution from the inside. It’s our view, our human view, of how we got to be human.” Turner’s book, which will not be complete for another year, could have major implications for both literature and anthropology. The existence of epics across almost all civilizations indicates there is a universal human nature. Turner said this could redress the assumption that language, societies and individuals are socially constructed. “The physical world (has) its own laws, and we are part of the evolution of the planet,” he said. “We are not just wandering around inside a dictionary, moving between one word and another. We are moving in a real world.” Ozsváth said literary critiques, like Turner’s book, are usually written for other
Poets have to express themselves through body language and facial expressions in order to bring life to their piece and for it to be considered slam, said Sharkey. “You can’t get caught up in the word poetry,” Sharkey said. “It (slam) is the epitome of free verse when it comes to poetry, so more than anything it has to be a performance.”
academics and not for the general public. They take a subject that is alive and put it into dry, unpleasant language, she said, making them inaccessible to those who would want to read about themselves and beauty in the universe. “Frederick will reach wide populations because what he says is so clear and understandable,” she said. “It is inquisitive and beautiful.” Just like setting out on a long journey without knowing what lies ahead, it is still too early to know exactly what will be in Turner’s book on epics. As new information surfaces, Turner will likely adjust his perspective on epics and make edits to the manuscript. “One finds out what one thinks by talking and by writing,” Turner said. “A lot of the time you don’t know until you do it.”
MUGGLES
continued from page 8 Burrow?” Biology freshman Raqel DeSimone was able to answer almost every trivia question correctly. “I read the books a few times each,” DeSimone said. “I have a good memory too.” Other than games, food and drinks were provided during Muggle Day. One popular drink was Butterbeer, a butterscotchlike drink often enjoyed by Harry and his friends. Arts & Techonology freshman Gaby Trisna said she enjoyed the drink. “I loved the Butterbeer,” Trisna said. “It tasted like I imagined it would.” During Muggle Day the drink was made with a combination of cream soda and butterscotch syrup. Muggle Day also included free pizza, screening of Harry Potter movies and a wizard costume competition.
A group of students (left) playing a game of Quidditch, a game from the “Harry Potter” series. Above Krishma Anne is outfitted in her best Wizard attire in celebration of Muggle Day on Nov. 19. Muggle Day was hosted by Residential Life the same day “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part I” opened. The event featured Harry Potter Trivia, Quitdditch, a costume contest and the drink first created in the books, Butterbeer. photos by Brandon Higgins
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November 29, 2010
RADIO
continued from page 8 website and stream music sent to the station by music promoters. This system is unique to Radio UTD and is one of the things that got the station noticed for the “Best Use of the Internet” award. Compared to other college stations that receive much higher funding and more space, Radio UTD is doing a great deal with what it has. The station’s Programming Director and psychology sophomore Laura Carroll said everything Radio UTD has they’ve made for themselves and their nomination for “Best Use of Limited Resources” is indicative of their achievement. Radio UTD was founded only seven years ago and has experienced several location and management changes since.
CENSORED
continued from page 8 series of algorithms into a computer vision program that will readily identify the content and prevent it from reaching the receiver on websites or through text messages that will save time and costs. Currently there is a parental control model that allows parents to monitor the content their children exchange, and there’s a website content moderation model that companies use to eliminate the content on their websites. This is important when posting their links on name brand company websites,
Carroll said that the founder’s main goal was not only to provide UTD with a radio station but also introduce the campus to new music. “We’re a free form station,” Carroll said. “Other stations , I think, rely on formatting to control their DJs and we just want to provide an opportunity for students to explore new music.” Carroll and Langford agree Radio UTD’s main goal is to present music to students that they can’t find on other radio stations. “People can find Kiss FM music anywhere, you just turn on the radio and it’s there.” Langford said. “Having more diversity than those kinds of stations is our main point.” Blogs, album reviews and concert reviews can be found on the station’s website. Radio UTD also hosts events like dance parties
because they can receive an advertising premium on the amount of money they receive from each view and if they don’t have a content moderation program, most companies won’t post their links, White said. White said that everytime an advertisement link is clicked or viewed, the owner gets paid for it and if a website is notorious for spam content and pornographic images, they won’t receive as much. He said they have worked with social websites such as Photobucket that are synonymous with uploading content, and if any of the media is identified as explicit it won’t process.
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photo by Brandon Higgins
Zachary Brown (left) and Music Director Leyla Aksu during Brown’s Radio UTD show “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” which streams each Monday from 4 to 6 p.m. so students can participate and have fun. Carroll said dance parties are what she likes most about Radio
UTD. “We all love music and any opportunity that we get to meet other people
who love music is fantastic.” Carroll said. Radio UTD streams live shows 12 hours a day,
Monday to Friday. More information about Radio UTD can be found at radioutd.com.
While children and young teenagers are susceptible to receiving and partaking in the exchange of the content, parents will be able to monitor and prevent the information their children send over their cell phone and the Internet. The program will identify the information and send an alert to the parent’s quarantine folder and it won’t reach the receiver, computer science professor and researcher Balakrishnan Prabhakaran said. “When content is sent through a text message, it is first sent to the cell phone provider and it only has a few seconds before reaching the receiver,”
Prabhakaran said. “In that time the program will review the content and if it is explicit, parents will be alerted.” Many adolescents and teenagers engage in “SEXting,” the sending of pornographic images and text messages to one another and as the father of two children, Prabhakaran said his concern for their well being sparked his interest to work with IVL. “It’s definitely a social problem,” Prabhakaran said. “Personally as a parent, I’m concerned with how they (his children) are perceived in this world, how safe they are and the content they get to view.
And since I’m a researcher I feel I can help.” The program will be free to anyone who subscribes to it, so consumers receiving explicit content will be able to use the program. Arts & Humanities junior Sami Atassi said he is concerned with the content he receives on Facebook after unknowingly befriending girls involved with the pornography industry, then receives spam and links to their websites and portfolios. “I think this new program will be great, recognizing it (the problem) and trying to fix it,” Atassi said. In August 2010, IVL received the City of Anna’s
first Economic Development Incentive Grant to further develop and provide a more secure and stable program and to hire more researchers. Although the program will never be perfect, it can always evolve and get better to protect children’s innocence and student’s social perception, Prabahakaran said. “I’m sure as the program evolves people will come up with ways to get around it. It’s like a cops and robber kind of thing,” Prabahakaran said. “It’s not a one time thing, we can never say we have “the” algorithm.”
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BASKETBALL RECAP 11/20/10 Women Schreiner @ UTD The Lady Comets got off to a great start and led 35-15 at half time. Business administration senior Tarneisha Scott led the way with 15 points and 3 blocks. Business administration senior Tawni Ichimura scored 13, and business administration junior Nikki Kosary recorded 4 steals. The Lady Comets held Schreiner to 31.7 percent shooting from the field and forced 28 turnovers on their way to victory. Final: UTD 63 - SU 44 Men Schreiner shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, and the Comets shot just 30 percent from the field in the second half as they suffered their first loss of the season. The Comets’ offense struggled throughout the game, committing 28 turnovers and shooting 36.2 percent. Sociology senior Curtis Davis recorded his first double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and business administration junior Chris Barnes scored 19 points. Final: UTD 65 - SU 75 11/21/10 Women Trinity @ UTD Business administration junior Lyndsey Smith set a new conference record with 10 3-pointers against the Trinity University Tigers. Smith hit 10 of her 14 3-point attempts and finished with 32 points, and the Lady Comets hit 15 of 27 3-point attempts as a team, setting a UTD women’s basketball record for most 3s in a game. Business administration senior Tarneisha Scott scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and business administration senior Tawni Ichimura added 12 points. Final: UTD 82 - TU 60 —Bobby Karalla
Sports
November 29, 2010
11
Comets dominate in debut Men cruise to first victory of 2010 season Bobby Karalla
Contributor rjk090020@utdallas.edu
courtesy of Duc Cao
Sociology senior Curtis Davis sprints down the court against Austin College Nov. 16 at the Activity Center. The Comets won 98-84.
UTD men’s basketball team won it’s first game of the season Nov. 16 defeating Austin College 98-84. The men started the game at a fast pace, pushing the ball whenever possible. But Austin College kept up and made every open jump shot they could take in the first half, behind the shooting of Austin College’s Jordan Hancock, Walter Phillips and Josh Saunders. The Comets struggled against Austin College’s press early in the game, which slowed the attack down and disrupted the flow their offense. Business administration junior Chris Barnes was taken out of the game due to foul trouble. “Coach is a big proponent of pulling people with
two fouls in the first half,” Barnes said. “So if I want to stay in the game I can’t get any cheap fouls.” Austin College shot 54 percent from the field in the first half and 42 percent from beyond the arc, and took a 47-37 lead into the break. “Coach said we’re gonna turn it around (next half), and obviously we did,” Barnes said. “Even if we get down early, we have to rally and step it up defensively.” Austin College took a 51-40 lead three minutes into the second half, and the Comets switched to a 1-3-1 trap on defense. It worked. The Comets forced several consecutive turnovers and went on a 16-0 run in five minutes. Barnes scored 8 consecutive points to start the run, but was pulled again from the game when he committed his fourth foul.
“Once you get it going like that, it’s tough to sit out,” Barnes said. “But everyone else stepped up and we were able to get the win.” Among those that stepped up was accounting freshman Kyle Schleigh, who scored 15 points in his first college game. Business administration senior Jimmy Witten had a huge game, scoring 22 points and grabbing 9 rebounds, 6 coming on the offensive end. The Comets led by as many as 15 points down the stretch, and finished with a victory, outscoring Austin College 61-37 in the second half. Barnes finished the game with a team-high 26 points and 12 rebounds in 26 minutes. Business junior Greg Chiasson and sociology senior Curtis Davis each added 13 points.
Women recover from second-half struggles to start season on right note The Lady Comets began game with aggressive defense and opportunistic scoring en-route to a 58-48 win over Austin College. “Transition really helped us get some easy baskets,” Coach Polly Thomason said. “We were hoping to push the ball as much as we could.” Austin College only managed to score 4 points through the first 10 minutes of the first half. The Lady Comets’ defense shined, but they struggled offensively through the first half, and Thomason said she recognized the problem. “We really wanted to attack more,” Thomason said. “In the first half we settled for too many 3-pointers.” The first half ended in dramatic fashion, when business administration senior Tawni Ichimura sank a 3-pointer from half court as time expired. The Lady Comets led 30-19 at the break. “Even though that half court shot was awesome, I
think that gave them a little too much arrogance at the start of the second half,” Thomason said. The Lady Comets started slow in the second half as they watched their 11-point halftime lead shrink to just three with 12:45 left in the game. Austin College took a 38-36 lead with 8:29 left, and Thomason switched to a high-pressure defense to slow Austin College’s offense. “We didn’t come out intense in that second half,” Thomason said. “We started trapping a little more and picked up our pressure, and that definitely helped.” The Lady Comets countered with a 10-2 run the next 4:05 to reclaim the lead. With a 48-43 lead and less than three minutes remaining, Ichimura made a 3-pointer to stretch the lead and put away the game. The Lady Comets sank seven of their last eight free throws and won the game
photo by Albert Ramirez
Business administration junior Lyndsey Smith defends against a pass in the second half of the Lady Comets’ victory over Austin College Nov. 16 at the Activity Center. The Lady Comets won the game 58-48. convincingly, 58-48. Ichimura ended the game with 16 points, business administration junior Lyndsey Smith added 17 and business administration senior Tarneisha Scott scored 9 points and added
10 rebounds. Also notable was business junior Nikki Kosary’s perimeter defense and education junior Amy Doyle’s point guard play on offense. Kosary applied pressure to Austin College’s guards on
defense and Doyle distributed the ball to shooters on the offensive end. “Both Amy and Nikki did a great job,” Thomason said. “Nikki gives us a spark. She has energy and that’s what we need. Amy sees the floor
Bass fishing team hopes to reel in victories Bobby Karalla
Contributor rjk090020@utdallas.edu
Leon Sulak had an idea, and in three weeks, it became a reality. The interdisciplinary studies senior caught a collegiate bass fishing tournament on TV and decided it was time for UTD to have a team of its own. Sulak began to recruit UTD students with a penchant for fishing, and a team consisting of more than 10 members was born. “We’ve got engineers, literary studies majors and athletes from around campus,” Sulak said. Business administration senior Garet Norton said there is a pond where he lives and has been fishing for years. He and other teammates have gone on trips to farms and lakes in Texas to fish. A highlight of his fishing career includes catching a 6 pound fish with his bare hands. Formed mid-October, the
team is still in its growing stages. The team currently uses boats owned by members, Sulak said. But he hopes to gain support from sponsors such as Cabela and Skeeter, outdoor sports retailers. The team will compete in both the Association of Collegiate Anglers (ACA) and Forrest L. Wood (FLW) tournaments. ACA tournaments are strictly for college teams, while anyone can enter FLW tournaments. The team is excited about the financial awards the tournaments offer they could reel in, and said the school has also shown interest in potential prize money. Regional tournaments award a Ranger boat wrapped in school colors and $25,000 to the school the team represents. The Forrest Wood Cup, a worldwide championship event, awards the winner $600,000. The team will compete
against schools from all across the region, including LSU, Texas A&M, UNT and SFA in the local ACA tournaments, Sulak said. Each school can compete in the National Championship at Lake Lewisville, just a few miles away from the UTD campus. The National Championship is televised by Versus — a sports television station that broadcasts several outdoor sports — Sulak said. In both ACA and FLW tournaments, the winners are determined by the combined weight of bass caught by a two-man team. Tournaments are two days long and are free to enter, Sulak said. Sulak said he hopes the team can expand by word of mouth, but also by performing well. “If we do well, we might get a little school recognition,” Sulak said. The first tournament the team plans to compete in is Jan. 22 at Choke Canyon Lake near San Antonio,
photo by Ben Hawkins
Members of the bass fishing team on the mall near the reflection pool Nov. 19. The team includes students from various organizations on campus, including the baseball team and the school of engineering. The team plans to compete in it’s first tournament as early as Jan. 22 at Choke Canyon
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