The Mercury 08/04

Page 1

August 4, 2014

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TRAPPED IN GAZA THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

Student witnesses terror in Gaza Strip as Israeli strikes escalate; student group seeks to help Palestinians from home ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEE

But each year it’s been harder to get in and get out. Palestinians can’t land in Tel Aviv anymore. The last time Muhanna was in Gaza, in 2006, she saw the start of another war. This year, when her family planned the trip so her sister could get married there, everything seemed normal. They had checked that the Cairo border would be open and flew out, but as soon as they arrived things began to go awry. They had to wait two extra weeks in Cairo because Egypt did not open the borders to Gaza on time and the wedding had to be postponed. Soon after the wedding, three teenage Israeli boys were found dead in the West Bank and caused palpable unease among civilians — the people of Gaza knew it wouldn’t end well, Muhanna said. Things escalated quickly going forward, and Muhanna remembers very little; it was all a big blur for her. Every time she heard the sounds of air strikes she’d look out of the window and see missiles hitting the city. She would check the news on her phone to see which part of the city had been hit and if everyone was safe. Stepping out of the house, even for food, can be scary and exposes people to the risk of being hit. Very few taxis run in such times, and even when they do, they speed on the empty

Web Editor

What should have been a time for joy and celebration quickly turned into a race against death and missiles, when days after her sister’s wedding, a student watched firsthand Israel's air, land and sea offensive within the Gaza Strip. Rawan Muhanna found herself stuck in the midst of conflict, cooped up at home for fear of being hit under the open skies, living in uncertainty for two weeks until the American consulate arranged an evacuation for her family through Jordan. “My sister was there, my cousins, family were all there,” Muhanna, a chemistry senior, said. “It was bitter-sweet — bitter in the sense that they’re not safe. But sweet in that I was so ready to come home. I had been there two weeks longer than I wanted to, and I felt like I was let out of this prison finally.” A week after they got back, her mother’s ninemonth pregnant cousin along with her two sons were killed in an air strike in the heart of Gaza. The family had taken refuge in the city after evacuating their home in the Shuja'iyya district of Gaza where dozens were killed after Israel ordered an evacuation and attacked the area. That is the reality of Gaza. As a child, trips to Gaza had been easier for Muhanna. She remembers flying to Tel Aviv from where they would cross the borders with ease.

MIGUEL PEREZ | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

→ SEE GAZA, PAGE 10

THIS DOES NOT REPRESENT AN ACCURATE DEPICTION OF CAMPUS CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS ST CEJORP NOITCURTSNOC SUPMAC FO NOITCIPED ETARUCCA NA TNESERPER TON SEOD SIHT RESIDENCE HALL WEST

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New residence hall features two-story recreation center, 700-seat dining hall while other campus projects near completion

NORTH MALL

RES HALL WEST

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS

MIGUEL PEREZ

Updates to the North Mall, expected to be complete in early 2015, are set to include features like a terraced lawn with Wi-Fi that can be used for events and classes and more green space. The upper half of the mall is currently undergoing a major renovation project to upgrade the area. This is the second phase of a larger campus landscaping project, said Kelly Kinnard, director of Physical Plant Services. “The rest of the project is going to look more like what the North Mall will look like: a lot less concrete, a lot more vegetation,” Kinnard said. “UTD has always been a commuter campus. With all the res halls and our enormous growth, we’re more of a pedestrian campus now, so this will put elements in there to make it a little more friendly for pedestrians.” The first phase of the project covered the southern end of the mall in 2010 and the next step after the North Mall will extend renovations from the trellis to Rutford Avenue, he said. However, the project has not been without its setbacks that have delayed the project. “There have been design issues that have been worked out that probably weren’t accounted for early on,” Kinnard said. “We had to completely reroute a water line because it went shallow a lot closer to some other utilities than what was anticipated in the original drawings.” The larger renovations will aim to look like one continuous design, with the same types of plants and benches being used and smaller trellises in the style of the large one in front of the Plinth througout the updated parts of campus, he said.

Students living on the upper floors of the newly constructed Res Hall West can add a view of downtown Dallas to their list of living perks as well as the new dining and recreational facilities nearby. The fifth residence hall built on campus, it houses 600 beds, as opposed to the 400-bed capacity of other res halls, and will include gaming rooms, classrooms of various sizes and a large multipurpose room for students in the different living learning communities. Students entering the res hall are met with a larger lobby, a gaming area and a kitchen with two cooking stations. Card-access is required to get into the upper hallways of the res hall, but access into the lobby and adjoining facilities is open to all until midnight. Late-night joints like Papa John’s can be reached without entering the res hall. There are 31 study rooms throughout the facility, and they will be accessible to student living in any res hall. While the actual rooms are virtually identical to rooms in older res halls, the design of the building means every suite has floor-to-ceiling windows in the common living area. Matt Grief, associate vice president for student affairs, said the building will also combine all the housing staff into one location. Residential life services and staff from housing operations will move into one office. “I think this will be a good opportunity,” Grief said. “All these people coordinate with each other, but they’ve been in five or six different buildings. Now, we’re giving our housing staff one space.” Outside, the building encloses a large grassy area and a natural spring.

Managing Editor

Editor-in-Chief

CONNIE CHENG | PHOTO EDITOR

JSOM EXPANSION ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS Managing Editor

The Jindal School of Management building is getting a much-needed extension, scheduled to open on August 4, which will feature an undergraduate lounge for JSOM students and a

LIFE&ARTS Cool off and read The Mercury's top moments of the summer → PAGE 6

Jason’s Deli. The new JSOM addition is connected to the main building via enclosed bridges on the first and second floors, said Kelly Kinnard, director of Physical Plant Services. There will also be a covered bridge on the north side of the building. Expanding was necessary for JSOM due to the growth of the program, said Senior Associate Dean Varghese

Jacob. “We’ve grown both the faculty and student operation, and we just don’t have enough space to put all the necessary classes here as well as the faculty space,” he said. JSOM, which had the largest enrollment of any school with

→ SEE JSOM, PAGE 10

SPOTLIGHT ON PROFS New prof shares experiences battling disease outbreaks and more. → PAGE 7

→ SEE WEST, PAGE 10

A BREAKDOWN OF MCDERMOTT LIBRARY → PAGE 4


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