April 8, 2004

S PORTS

PAGE 16

■ Soccer. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Fútbol mexicano comes to Valley for first time

By ED CHRNKO The Pan American

The Valley will be the object of international attention April 14 when Mexican First Division fútbol hits the area for the first time in history with a friendly match between Pumas of UNAM and Tigres of UANL at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium at 8 p.m.

Mexico City-based Pumas are currently in second place in the Mexican League’s Clausura 2004 tournament standings with an 8-1-4 record, while Tigres is last

vs.

What: Fútbol Mexicano Who: Pumas of U.N.A.M. vs. Tigres of U.A.N.L. When: Wednesday, April 14 at 8 p.m.

Where: McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium Records: Pumas (8-4-1, 28 pts.); Tigres (4-7-2, 14 pts.)

Last meeting: Pumas defeated Tigres 2-1 on March 14 in Week 10 of Clausura 2004 tournament.

Next match: Tigres vs. Monterrey in Clásico Regiomontano, Saturday at 5 p.m.; Pumas vs. Puebla, Sunday at noon;.

season’s runnerup.

The Monterrey club had an impressive run last year and boast Mexican soccer’s most supportive fans, however, they have been struggling this season and sport a less than impressive 4-7-2 record.

“It’s the first time that we’ve had a sporting event of this magnitude come to the valley,” said Omar Rodríguez, deputy director of McAllen Parks and Recreation.

In January, the Texas Title Belt’s Boxing Series that included a special appearance by Oscar De La Hoya lured over 6,000 fans to Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, but it still does not come close to what the exhibition fútbol or soccer match between Pumas and Tigres signifies.

The only other professional sporting event held in the Valley was in 1985 when McAllen hosted a USFL football game between the San Antonio Gunslingers and the Houston Gamblers. Jim Kelly was the quarterback for the Gamblers.

“This event is Division 1 soccer which is the equivalent of Major League Soccer,” Rodríguez compared. “It’s the top level of that sport for that country. In Mexico, it’s equivalent to our NFL season.”

UNAM (National Autonomous University of México) is led by legendary striker turned Head Coach Hugo Sánchez, who is in his second stint with Pumas as technical director.

“Hugo Sánchez is probably one of

■ Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 ■ Sports Clipboard . . . . . 13

Mexico’s biggest names as far as soccer is concerned,” Rodríguez said. “His team is doing very well. I think peoples’ expectations is to see some of the starters of both Tigres and Pumas come and play.”

“Hugol”, as he was known during his playing days played five seasons with Pumas, migrated to Spain, and made a bigger name for himself with international powerhouse Real Madrid where he obtained five pichichis, or scoring titles, as well as the coveted Golden Boot that is awarded by UEFA, European soccer’s governing body.

Sánchez scored 38 goals for Real Madrid in the 1989-90 season.

Tigres is led by Argentine Head Coach Nery Pumpido, who steered Paraguayan club Olimpia to the 2002 Copa Libertadores title, the most prestigious club tournament in the Western Hemisphere.

“Tigres is playing Monterrey this Saturday, Pumas on Wednesday, and then América,” Rodríguez said. “So they’ve got a pretty big week ahead.”

Although Tigres have not lived up to last season’s performance and will have a busy week, they are not a club to be underestimated. UANL have a potent offense and are ranked second out of 20 Courtesy of www.tigres.com.mx teams in the league in scoring with 24 goals in 13 matches. Pumas are tied for Argentinean striker Walter Gaitán is one of Tigres’ most potent offen-

UTPA represent at Relays Broncs tennis face

By MATT HALL The Pan American

The NCAA men’s basketball championship, which was held in San Antonio, was not the only major collegiate sporting event going on in Texas.

The Texas Relays, the premier track event in the state, was held in Austin over the weekend and the University of Texas-Pan American track and field team took a handful of athletes to compete at the state capital.

Track Head Coach Ricky Vaughn believes his kids performed well, but also feels his team was overwhelmed by the competition.

“You have to learn to compete at the big meets.

Overall we had an OK meet,” Vaughn said. “We have to find the positive and negative things from that meet and improve on them by our next competition.”

Weslaco native and senior Hugo Cervantes finished 18th in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:52.75 and he looks to improve his time in the meets to come.

“I missed qualifying for an NCAA Regional by two seconds last year so I want to qualify,” Cervantes said. “Texas Relays was a stepping stone to get to my goal at the end of the season.”

Cervantes believes this meet was a learning experience and now he knows what it takes to compete at that kind of level.

sive weapons. Gaitán is one goal short of tying his 10-goal output of

See FUTBOL page 14 last season when Tigres reached the Finals and was runnerup.

“It was a good meet where you could see a higher level of competition so you can judge where you stand,” Cervantes said.

For senior Rashaad Ben it was a homecoming.

The Austin native started slowly, but finished strong and hurdled his way to a second-place finish in his heat and was 18th overall with a time of 14.35 in the 110-meter hurdles.

Ben was happy with the simple fact that he got to return home and compete at a high level in front of his friends, family, and former teammates.

“I want to give big shout outs to Coach Rob,” Ben said. “It was nice; it’s always good to run back at the homestead.”

Ben stumbled out of the blocks and feels that in big meets like this one you can not afford to have any mistakes.

“The hurdles are a technical race anyway and little mistakes affect you,” Ben said. “You have to be as perfect as possible.”

The Broncs will hit the road and travel to College Station to participate in the Texas A&M Invitational April 10.

Coach Vaughn hopes the experience gained this past weekend will help them compete at a higher level for the remainder of the season.

“This meet will be a big meet too,” Vaughn said.

“It’s going to be a highly competitive meet. Those who competed this past weekend will be able to compete at a higher level.”

tough week on road

By STEE RAMÍREZ The Pan American

The University of Texas-Pan American men’s tennis team (0-2 conference, 6-6 overall) is on the brink of being a serious contender in the Southland Conference and will be pushed to the limits this week with a slew of matches.

With the men’s team facing two conference opponents this week, Lamar (0-3 conference, 2-11 overall) and Southeastern Louisiana (1-1 conference, 6-7 overall), UTPA has an opportunity to jump ahead in the conference if they take advantage of their opponents’ records.

“We are ready for this weeks matches,” said Assistant Coach Kati Gyulai during a recent practice at the UTPA Cox Tennis Center.

The Broncs’ current two-game skid is not indicative to the way that they have performed this

season. Sitting at .500 overall, the men have garnered a stamp of legitimacy that should carry over into conference play.

With more than half of the season completed, Texas-Pan American will seek improvement in the win column of both the men’s and women’s teams.

In singles play, Gary Bianco (15-7), Oliver Steil (11-8), Jeremy Salvo (10-10), Rehman Esmail (8-7), Sebastian Aspillaga (7-5), Nik Porter (8-9), Tom Mangelschots (6-9) and Armando Martínez (1-7) will continue to improve barring injury.

The duo of Bianco-Esmail (5-2) spearhead the men’s doubles. The rest of the men’s tandems will be looking to bring life into the win column once this week is all set and done.

A possible factor that could physically be detrimental to

See TENNIS page 14

EVENTS

THURSDAY

Pan American Days

April 8, 2004 An Inside Look:

See Page 2 & 7 for details

TIPA awards It was a weekend that applauded a year’s work for student publications across Texas.

The 2004 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association held its annual convention in Austin April 1-3. With dozens of universities representing the pride of their publications, the University of Texas-Pan American proved it can run with the big schools.

Both The Pan American Newspaper and The Gallery Magazine won 3rd place Overall, awards honoring the achievement a student newspaper and magazine has accomplished with the entire production process. This year’s award marks the highest ranking the newspaper has accomplished.

At the prior convention, the newspaper ranked 8th in its division.

But the newspaper isn’t the only student publication at UTPA that received awards at the convention.

The Gallery, a literary magazine, took 2nd place in Sweepstakes for winning several awards for photos, illustrations, and the cover design.

Diana Corpus-Garza took third place for her action photo titled “Pasale Toro,” Sonia Y. Salinas received honorable mention for her cover design, Esteban Ortiz won 3rd place for his feature black and white photo titled, “February.”

Illustrators for the magazine also won 1st and 3rd places. Troy Stanley’s piece “Infinite Regression” and Gustavo Fonsela Olivarez’s “Marianifa” took the honors, respectively.

As far as writing, in the poem category Javier L. Salazar took an honorable mention for his entry “Kansas,” while Elizabeth V. Pena received the same honor for her short story “The Gypsies.”

Established in 1909, TIPA is the oldest collegiate student press association in the United States and includes various student newspapers, magazines, literary magazines and yearbooks. The association is not limited to the print world. It is also home to student radio and television stations.

This year nine Pan American staff members, and two Panorama Magazine members traveled to Austin and competed in the live competition.

Arianna Vazquez and Edwina Garza won in live, timed events that required the reporters to cover an event and write an article in an hour.

Ed Chrnko submitted to TIPA a piece of work from The Pan American sports section and received an honorable mention for his sports page design.

Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Newspaper-Overall 3rd Place Pan American Features Writing 1st Place Edwina Garza Spanish News Writing 2nd Place Arianna Vazquez Newspaper-Sports Page Design Sports Feature Honorable Mention Ed Chrnko

News ............................................2 ■ A & E............................................7 ■ Sports ........................................16 ■

Happy Easter!

T h e S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Te x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n

High turnout for SGA election

By CLARISSA MARTINEZ The Pan American Election results for The Student Government Association are in, and the results are a bit surprising to some.

According to Christina Carruthers, the days that were most popular for voting were highest on Monday and then again on Wednesday. A total of over 1,600 votes were received, and that expanded the administrators expectations, Carruthers commented.

Although the campaigns took a step forward concerning creativity –campaign material included tshirts promoting candidates and messages in chalk lining the walkways– a number of students still did not have the motivation to vote.

“I didn’t get a chance to vote this year,” Alex Medina, a freshman drama major said. “I was thinking about stopping at one of the posts, but I just never had the opportunity because I was busy with an exam and things came up during the day.”

Official results of the Student Government Association elections, held on March 29, 30, 31, and April 1.

President/Vice President Mike Jones and Adrian Sandoval 803* Nathan Schwartz and Nadya Maldonado 764

Graduate School No candidates

Senators-at-large Ben Abbitt Jose “Joe” Garcia Lara Goins Clarissa “Clari” I. Garza Cyntia “Cyn” Venegas Angelia Barrera

Science & Engineering Diana Elsa Ramirez Joey Nochols Maha Maglinao Omar Jasso

Arts & Humanities Oscar Garza Business Admistration Carina C. Garza Rebaca “Becky” Villanuela

968* 956* 919* 1044* 979* 843

189* 177* 166*

Education No candidates

Health Sciences & Human Services No Candidates

269* 276* 260* 258

Social & Behavioral Sciences No candidates Welness-Recreation Center Support Do not Support

1401* 217

Total Votes Invalid Votes

1686 34

Wellness promoted by UTPA staff

By ANGELA I. CANALES The Pan American It seems that in the last months, with fad diets and advertisements for weight loss pills, people have become more aware of the increase in obesity and other related health issues.

With the nation and state taking steps to a healthier living, The University of Texas-Pan American is doing its part in promoting fitness and wellness on campus.

Gov. Rick Perry is challenging all Texans to get physically active by joining the Texas Round-Up. As the Provost’s Initiative on Campus Wellness, which directly targets faculty and staff, UTPA has been registered to be part of this movement to a healthier living.

“The initiative that we have started through my office, is really to try and create a greater level of awareness about the need to engage in activities that improve the health and well-being of the members of the faculty and staff,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rodolfo Arevalo.

Arevalo explained that the reason

behind trying to host has to do with the fact that in the last three years, there has been a large mention in the media about the growing lack of fitness of individuals.

Specifically, there has been a number of articles written about the level of obesity found in the Rio Grande Valley. The Valley’s growing problem with diabetes has also been linked to diabetes.

Health issues are not the only reason that is motivating the university to concentrate more on fitness and wellness. The

university would also be losing money if faculty or staff were to miss work due to health related issues.

“We are trying to both provide education about health and wellness as well as the opportunity for staff and faculty to become engaged in health and wellness [activities],” said Arevalo. “I think it is very important because like any large organization, the ability of the organization to reduce the amount of downtime because of illness either by staff or faculty helps us in terms of improving the quality of life. However, indirectly it assists the Franco Caballero/The Pan American university because we have less of an expense SIGN UP— Freshman Ruby because people are Saldaña and son Gabriel register gone.” for Tuesday’s wellness event at the In terms of faculty events in this area

Quad.

See ROUNDUP page 12

PAGE 2

April 8

OPINION

Pumas-Tigres Preview

April 8, 2004

letters

■

editorials

■

cartoons

2004

Mexican Soccer 101

1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539 (956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122 http://www.panam.edu/dept/panamerican 53rd Year – No. 25

Editor Arianna Vazquez gareyjup@aol.com

News Editor Clarissa Martinez clarissa_utpa@ hotmail.com

A & E Editor Omaira Galarza omairang@yahoo.com

Sports Editor Ed Chrnko echrnko@yahoo.com

Graphics Editor Daniel Aguilar kerygma_@hotmail.com

Layout Designers Dägoberto Pérez Ginmarie Mabry Reporters Vanessa Castillo Julian Cavazos Edwina Garza Dulce Gonzalez Matt Hall Christina Harris Aaron Lozano

The PAN AMERICAN is

the official student newspaper of The University of Texas-Pan American.

Views presented are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the university.

Letters policy The Pan American gladly accepts letters from students, staff and faculty regarding newspaper content or current issues.

The Pan American reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar and length. Please limit submission length to 300 words. The Pan American cannot publish anonymous letters, or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks. Letters are printed at the discretion of the editor and must include the writer’s name, class/title and phone number.

Vanessa Lucio Clarissa Martinez Amy Medellin Photographer Franco Caballero Copy Editor Joe Anna Moreno Student Pub. Secretary Jo Anne Murphy Adviser Dr. Greg Selber

Readers with disabilities may request an alternative format of this publication at The Pan American business office.

For special assistance to attend any event listed in this publication, contact the coordinator of the event at least one week prior to the advertised date.

Editor,

Dear Editor, The article about the "Passion" was the most rude and offensive article I ever read, I feel I speak for thousands of students when I say that you should be ashamed of yourselves.

I think the Pan American April Fools edition was a mistake to get published. Nobody thought the articles were funny, especially with the picture of the two masturbators on page 3.

Worst of all is your timing. Remember next week is Good Friday and Easter. I will not rest until I see to it that this kind of injustice and blatant disregard for the religion of billions ceases. There will be a reckoning and you will answer for your actions.

P.S. I enjoy reading the true Pan American. What needs to be added in my opinion, is a section where students can write about anything about student life.

Juan Flores Dear Editor,

Phillip Winger Dear Editor, Just wanted to congratulate you on such an entertaining and creative issue of The Pan American today. We need a little levity at this time of the semester. It’s a great issue!

Congratulations on the best issue yet of the PAN AMERICAN. It is a joy to see deep, hard hitting, no-holdsbarred stories that tell the truth about the university and world events. The depth of your journalistic endeavors is to be commended. These young, idealistic students sere as great role models or the jaded old journalists that populate and pollute our professional media's evil empire.

Juanita E. Garza, History Lecturers Marian Monta

Pan American Days 2004 April 13-16 April 13

C Keith Harer Senior Staff Native American A Attorney,Rights Fund Student Union Theater, L Noon Texas Indian Dancers E South UTPA Ballroom, 7 p.m. on the founding N “Perspectives of The Pan American Union” Dr. Angela Vergara D Speakers: and Dr. Michael Faubion 101, 10:35 a.m.

A “LatinSBC American Professionals in South Texas” R Speakers:Leo Montalvo-Mayor of McAllen, Adele LiceaKinesiology, Dr. Raul PintoMedical Doctor BA 113, 2:30 - 4 p.m.

April 14 Lazaro Cadenas Batel Media Theater 7 p.m.

April 15 “The Shaman’s Path in Hichol Indian Culture” Speaker: Dr. Stacy SchaefeCalifornia State University SBS 125,10:35 a.m.

Sandra Levinson Executive Director of The Center for Cuban Studies Student Union Theater Noon “Higher-Education Institutions at Both Sides of the Rio Grande” Speakers: Dr. Jose Barragan

Codina-Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Dr. Angelica Cortes-moderator

The Mexican Soccer League is comprised of 20 clubs and two tournaments, Apertura (opening) and Clausura (closing), are played per year.

Each club plays 19 games per tournament and face each team in the league one time per tournament.

The league uses two forms of standings: overall and group.

The four group standings decide who goes to the Liguilla or playoffs. Normally the top two clubs in each group advance to the Liguilla although if a third place club has a better record than a second place team, a wildcard spot can be obtained and the Liguilla would include a Repechaje or reclassification round.

The overall standings are used to determine a league leader and a playoff order.

The most popular clubs in México are América, Guadalajara, and Cruz Azul, usually in that order.

Tigres Clausura 2004

Schedule / Results

Schedule / Results

Date Jan. 18 Jan. 25 Jan. 31 Feb. 2 Feb. 14 Feb. 22 Feb. 25 Feb. 29 March 7 March 14 March 21 March 28 April 3 April 11 April 18 April 24 May 2 May 9 May 16

Pumas at América Atlas at San Luis Santos at Atlante Chiapas at Pachuca Morelia at Querétaro Tigres at Toluca Guadalajara at Necaxa Puebla Irapuato at Cruz Azul Veracruz at U.A.G. Monterrey

Score T 1-1 W 3-0 T 0-0 W 3-2 W 4-2 L 0-1 W 3-0 W 2-1 T 3-3 W 2-1 T 2-2 W 3-0 W 1-0 Noon Noon 5 p.m.

Noon 4 p.m.

Noon

W-T-L 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-2-0 2-2-0 3-2-0 3-2-1 4-2-1 5-2-1 5-3-1 6-3-1 6-4-1 7-4-1 8-4-1

Founded: 1954 Debut in First Division: 1962 League titles: 1976-77, 198081, and 1990-91 Runnerup: 1967-68, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1984-85, 1987-88

Second Leg, May 26, 1978 Pumas 1, Tigres 1 Estadio Olímpico México, D.F. Scoring: Tigres - Mantegazza (59’) Pumas - Olivera (75’)

Tigres at Chiapas Pachuca at Morelia Querétaro Irapuato at Toluca Guadalajara at Necaxa Puebla at U.N.A.M. Cruz Azul at Veracruz U.A.G. at Monterrey América at Atlas San Luis at Santos Atlante

Score L 2-4 T 3-3 W 2-1 L 1-2 W 3-1 L 2-3 W 4-2 L 1-2 L 2-3 L 1-2 T 1-1 L 0-1 W 2-1 5 p.m.

5 p.m.

8:45 p.m.

5 p.m.

4 p.m.

5 p.m.

W-T-L 0-0-1 0-1-1 1-1-1 1-1-2 2-1-2 2-1-3 3-1-3 3-1-4 3-1-5 3-1-6 3-2-6 3-2-7 4-2-7

Estadio Universitario is the home of Tigres and has a capacity of 52,000.

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, the home of the Pumas, has a capacity of 68,000.

Pumas vs. Tigres Head-to-Head

AP Photo Striker Bruno Marioni of Argentina is in his first season with the Pumas. He has 12 goals in 13 games.

Defense

Offense

Hugo Sánchez played with Pumas for five seasons (1976-1981) before migrating to Spain where he won five scoring titles, four of them with Real Madrid. Sánchez played one season with the Dallas Burn in 1996 and retired in 1997.

Season Invierno 97 Verano 98 Invierno 98 Verano 99 Invierno 99 Verano 2000 Invierno 2000 Verano 2001 Invierno 2001 Verano 2002 Apertura 2002 Clausura 2003 Apertura 2003 Clausura 2004

Results Week Pumas 4 - 2 Tigres 9 Pumas 2 - 0 Tigres 9 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 16 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 16 Tigres 3 - 1 Pumas 13 Tigres 2 - 0 Pumas 13 Pumas 3 - 1 Tigres 15 Tigres 2 - 0 Pumas 15 Pumas 1 - 0 Tigres 10 Tigres 1 - 0 Pumas 10 12 Pumas 3 - 2 Tigres Pumas 2 - 2 Tigres 12 10 Pumas 1 - 1 Tigres 10 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres

Castro

GF:GA 27:14 27:13 15:15 19:8 23:20 17:15 13:21 16:24 17:16 24:26 23:30 19:21 21:18 19:19 20:16 18:21 19:18 17:20 18:23 17:21

Group I 20 - Atlas 20 - Pachuca 19 - Toluca 16 - Puebla 14 - Monterrey

Group II 28 - U.N.A.M. 19 - América 16 - Santos 16 - Querétaro 11 - U.A.G.

Group III 32 - CHIAPAS 15 - Morelia 14 - Tigres 13 - San Luis 12 - Cruz Azul

Group IV 23 - Guadalajara 18 - Irapuato 17 - Necaxa 14 - Atlante 14 - Veracruz

PTS 32 28 23 19 19 17 13 18 14 14 11 16 20 20 16 14 16 14 12 15

Week 14 schedule April 10-11: Veracruz vs. Guadalajara; Monterrey vs. Tigres; Cruz Azul vs. Necaxa; San Luis vs.

Pachuca; Atlas vs. Morelia; U.N.A.M. vs.

Puebla; Irapuato vs. Atlante; Santos vs.

Chiapas; U.A.G. vs. Toluca; América vs.

Querétaro.

Club Pumas Tigres

GP W - T - L GF:GA DIF PTS 15 8 - 3 - 4 25:21 +4 27 15 4 - 3 - 8 21:25 -4 15

Note: Head-to-head matches only include short-tournament season results that started at end of the1995-96 full season. Tigres played in the First Division “A” during the Invierno 96-Verano 97 seasons. Home teams in bold.

Defense Sancho

Augusto

W-D-L 10 - 2 - 1 8-4-1 7-2-4 5-4-4 5-4-4 4-5-4 3-4-6 5-3-5 2-8-3 4-2-7 3-2-8 3-7-3 5-5-3 5-5-3 4-4-5 3-5-5 5-1-7 3-5-5 3-3-7 4-3-6

Week 13 results April 3-4: Tigres 2, U.A.G. 1; Morelia 3, América 6; Guadalajara 4, Cruz Azul 3; Necaxa 0, U.N.A.M. 1; Toluca 2, Veracruz 3; Puebla 6, Irapuato 0; Pachuca 1, Atlas 1; Atlante 2, Santos 1; Querétaro 4, Monterrey 4; Chiapas 4, San Luis 2.

Offense

Pineda

Bernal

Team Chiapas U.N.A.M. Guadalajara Toluca América Necaxa Club San Luis Irapuato Monterrey Tigres U.A.G. Querétaro Atlas Pachuca Puebla Atlante Santos Veracruz Cruz Azul Morelia

Founded: 1967 Debut in First Division: 1974 League titles: 1977-78, 198182 Runnerup: 1979-80, Invierno 2001, and Apertura 2003

Ruiz

Soares Iñiguez

Gaitán

Verón

Suárez

López

Sánchez

Campagnuolo

Balderas

Briseño

Marioni Fonseca

Beltrán For more information you can contact the Office of International Programs.

A brief history...

Pumas

Date Jan. 17 Jan. 24 Jan. 31 Feb. 7 Feb. 14 Feb. 21 Feb. 25 Feb. 28 March 6 March 14 March 20 March 27 April 3 April 10 April 17 April 24 May 1 May 9 May 15

Fútbol Mexicano

Tigres...

First Leg, May 24, 1978 Tigres 2, Pumas 0 Estadio Universitario Monterrey, Nuevo León Scoring: Tigres - Mantegazza (17’ and 74’) Pumas - None.

Valley Symphony Ensemble and Reception Student Union Theater 6 p.m.

“Contemporary Cuba” Speakers: Ms. Sandra Levinson, Dr. Gary Mouce SBS 109, 7:10 p.m.

Pumas Clausura 2004

A look back...

1977-78 Final

Capoeira Demonstration Xochitl Room, UC 122 6 p.m.

Page 15

Sports

Galindo Pumas

Olalde Rergis Tigres

April 8, 2004

Page 14

Sports

POSITIONS AVAILABLE - Sports Writers - Copy Editors - Graphic Designers

By AMY MEDELLÍN The Pan American

were capable of playing to this level. Rudy deserved to win the tournament; he has just been on a After finishing second in the roll over the last few months.”

Hal Sutton Invitational in 2001 Along with finishing on top, as a freshman, Rudy Celedon, Celedon’s final round total of 66 member of the University of put him only one stroke behind Texas-Pan American men’s golf Luis Arechiga, who shot a UTPA team, wanted to make a bigger best men’s impression round score of when the 65 in 1997.

Broncs were Also, his 208 invited to play total tournaagain this year. ment score The senior made Celedon kinesiology only the sixth major fell nothBronc in hising short of that tory to shoot Tuesday finishunder 210 for ing first overall a three-round with a 36-hole tournament. score of 208, “This win while the helps give me Broncs finished the positive third with a attitude that I total score of need to go Rudy Celedon 896, moving up into my last two from sixth place on the final day tournaments,” Celedon said. “I of play. have been having a good semes“I’m pleasantly surprised ter and this time everything just about our play,” said UTPA fell into place; I wanted to go Men’s Head Golf Coach Drew back and make a good impresScott, in a recent interview. “I’m sion after finishing second at this not stunned because I knew we tournament my freshman year.”

Fútbol

continued from page 16

first in the offensive category with 27.

The two clubs last faced each other in Week 10 of the current Clausura 2004 season. Pumas came away with a 2-1 victory on March 14 on a pair of goals by former América striker Moctezuma Serrato. Forward Jesús Olalde, a former Puma, scored Tigres’ lone goal.

Tigres appears to be the local favorite due to McAllen’s proximity to Monterrey, although the fact that Sánchez is the Pumas’ coach can make for an interesting debate in the stands.

“There is a strong fan base, especially here in the border,” Rodríguez said. “Tigres have a strong following and the intrigue of the Pumas is the coach, Hugo Sánchez.”

Aside from a placing the international spotlight on the Valley, especially McAllen, the soccer match exposes the area to the world’s game as it is played and lived – with passion. It also could provide the kind of support Valley soccer needs in an area where

football reigns supreme.

“It brings another professional sport [to the Valley],” Rodríguez said.

“I know its exhibition, but it exposes the opportunities that may be out there for this sport along the border and opens up the door to future soccer events.”

The man behind bringing fútbol mexicano to the Valley is former Tigre and Mexican national soccer team member Francisco Javier “El Abuelo” Cruz, the promoter of the PumasTigres match.

“He did an event in Laredo,” Rodríguez said.

“It was a success in Laredo and it’s a much smaller stadium, half the size of here. He’s from Monterrey and thought that Mcallen could be another venue to be looked at to bring an event.”

Cruz is already “considering” another soccer exhibition match for July, but this time between Mexico City powerhouses and longtime rivals Cruz Azul and América.

Tennis

Page 3

THE PAN AMERICAN

N EWS

■ Student Awards . . . . . . . . . 4 ■ Diabetes . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 ■ Maquiladoras . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Editorial ban New generation liberal to gay unions

By CLARISSA MARTINEZ The Pan American

For more information call 381-2547 or e-mail gareyjup@aol.com

Celedon wins at Hal Sutton

April 8, 2004

continued from page 16

UTPA is the humidity in and around the Houston-Beaumont region.

Despite the different weather conditions that Texas-Pan America will endure during their four-match road trip, junior Armando Martínez believes the weather will not affect the team.

“We do not worry about becoming fatigued under any conditions and expect to compete full strength into the weekend.” Martínez said.

“Against our toughest opponents, we have had the opportunities, but as always, those little miscues lose us the match.”

Sunday’s loss to UT-Arlington marked the last match for senior Tom Mangelschots. He finished among the top 15 in UTPA history for wins in singles as well as overall.

Women’s tennis The women’s team will dive into a physically demanding schedule this week when they start a four-day, five-match swing against Texas Southern (0-1 overall), Prarie View A&M (0-5), Lamar (3-11), Texas State (7-7), and McNeese State (11-4).

The Lady Broncs are led in singles by Vanessa Hedinger (8-8), Ana Peña (5-6) and Alanna Breen (5-5), while their doubles count with the services of González-Peña (2-1) and Fife-Sloan (2-4).

Although the women have lost four in a row, they are optimistic about the remainder of the season.

“Our women had the day off today [Tuesday],” Gyulai said. “To concentrate on academics and allow their bodies to rest after practicing so hard.

Gyulai noted that the team is transgressing in the right direction so far throughout the season despite the departure of Head Coach Eduardo Provencio for undisclosed reasons.

The life of a college student varies depending on which college they are attending. Some campuses are known for being 'party' schools while others such as Baylor University, have a reputation for being conservative private schools. The priorities of the schools are reflected on the students, and in Baylor's case, students seem to be resisting the values their universities have build their foundation on.

Baylor's university student newspaper, The Baylor Lariat, ran an editorial criticizing the administration for denying an openly gay student a ministerial scholarship. Soon after, the editorial staff voted 5-2 to run another editorial supporting same-sex marriages.

The can of worms was opened, and the university officials began retaliation against the paper.

When Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. released a statement denouncing the paper's editorial and declaring it to be in conflict with both Scripture and university policy. The response he received from the university and the public has been both positive and negative.

Some individuals felt it was a proper decision for the university to step up and put it's foot down on their moral standards, while others said the conflict does not benefit anyone.

Cristina Chavez, a junior at Baylor University, said she first heard about the controversy from a local news report.

"It was reported that our student government voted to ban the university newspaper. The Baylor Lariat, from publishing material that [goes] against the Christian views that Baylor University was first built on, including same-sex unions," Chavez explained.

"Not long afterwards, Baylor Truitt Seminary announced that one of its student's scholarships was revoked based on his sexual orientation."

Chavez, a 21-year-old geology major said that the demonstration and editorial received about the same attention and has been associated together due to the subject of homosexuality. She first heard about the demonstration and how it was started because of the scholarship that was being withheld from a student.

With the controversy being stirred up by the editorial, several students also began giving attention to the student who lost his scholarship. Matt Bass, 24, was a student at Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary and claimed to have been approached by Truett officials, and would not answer to questions about his lifestyle, but did admit to support gay rights and marriage.

Soon after, he was notified that he would lose his scholarship, a scholarship that he depended on to attend school.

Recently, Bass and other students helped in a demonstration on the Baylor campus to support the belief that all students should have the same rights and opportunities, whether they are gay or not.

According to the Associate Press, Bass made the statement "I believe I am gay and that God made me that way," while at the rally.

"I believe this is a civil rights movement. We're not looking for any special class or treatment but equal protection under the law," Bass continued.

"I feel that any attempt to suppress freedom of the press or speech, even if the university is private, is wrong," Chavez said. "Also, the [same-sex] unions should go on and a ban on anything based on sexual orientation or any other physical or emotional attribute is discrimination."

Although Chavez doesn't agree with the measures the university is taking to stifle students' personal beliefs she expects the change on her campus to be a lengthy process.

sex marriages while it makes their parents and grandparents cringe?

It appears to be about timing.

While the youth of today have grown up with men kissing men and women kissing women, the idea of them marrying one another doesn’t seem farfetched for them. In an age where male impersonators dress like Madonna for

“We can accept things that aren’t traditional.”

The Elsa native said that this generation, his generation, could grow to understand and accept something that While Britney Spears got away with isn’t “normal” because his generation marrying in what some media watchers has grown up with all sorts of strange called a ‘drunken stupor,’ celebrities things that the older generation may like Rosie O’Donnell, Meg Ryan, Ellen have never fathomed.

DeGeneres, Elton John, and Melissa “Don’t peg this idea Etheridge have been fighting into any other trend the battle in support of either,” he said. “It’s marriage of all kinds – gay, Same-Sex Marriage not a trend, no one is straight, and perhaps even Results from polling data taken between Feb. 14 and 23. A total of just going along with it drunk. because it’s cool. They 1,943 people around the country were polled.

As the debate on whether go along with it same-sex marriages should because they believe be allowed in each state Subjects were asked if they Thoughts on the U.S. it.” across the U.S., a recent would favor or oppose a law Constitution ban on same-sex As an openly gay study by the Annenberg in their state that would allow man, he wished to be marriage: Public Policy Center of the anonymous when gay and lesbian couples to University of Pennsylvania mentioning his own shows that young adults Total: 41% (Favor) marry: thoughts on gay from the ages of 18 to 29 are 48% (Oppose) marriage.

OK with same-sex marriage.

Total: 30% (Favor) “I think it’s wrong to The study, which surveyed 64% (Oppose) Women 39% (Favor) say someone can’t almost 2,000 individuals marry someone else,” Women 34% (Favor) 50% (Oppose) from around the country in he said.

Feb. of this year, touched 60% (Oppose) Any future plans for issues such as the U.S. Men 44% (Favor) Men 26% (Favor) marriage?

Constitution saying that no 46% (Oppose) “No,” he said. “I 67% (Oppose) state can allow people of the don’t think I will ever same-sex to marry each Source: Annenberg Public Policy marry, we could live other. together, but I’ll never Center of the University of In the 18- to 29-year-old call him my husband.” bracket, 58 percent of the Pennsylvania, 2004.

He said that perhaps interviewees said they a reason many opposed such an idea. Within opposers of same-sex the 45- to 64-year-old bracket, 45 percent opposed the extra cash during the weekends, why marriages feel the way they do has amendment. While in total, 48 percent would that same man marrying a man he something to do with the seriousness surrounding the issue. of the interviewees around the country loves be awkward?

A UTPA student English major said it “People might think that a gay couple thought such an amendment should not isn’t about trends. won’t take it serious, plus they think it’s be around.

“I think this generation is more open not right,” he said.

But why is this the case? What makes the younger generation OK with same- to different ideas,” the 20-year-old said.

By EDWINA P. GARZA The Pan American

See MARRIAGE page 11

Concurrent enrollment high, lows

By CLAUDIA L. FARIAS The Pan American Registering for classes at the University is a rite of passage, with seniors and juniors receiving first dibs.

However, a different company of upperclassmen is reaping the benefits of priority registration. High school seniors and juniors concurrently enrolled at UTPA are allowed to register before the traditional population.

Preference is given to the students because of their conflicting high school schedules and because common registration avenues, such as telephone and online methods, are not available to them.

The concurrent enrollment program, which started in the mid-1990s, gives high school seniors and juniors the opportunity to enroll in university courses, earning college credit while still in high school.

“It’s really cool because when I start school in the fall, I’ll be a sophomore,” said Samantha Jarvis, a senior at Edinburg High School. “I get to see what college is like without having lots of pressure,” said the future Latin American studies major.

To gain admission to the program, a

student must have an ACT composite score of 22 or be in the top 10 percent of the class. Recommendations must also be submitted from high school counselors and principals.

Jarvis, one of over 300 concurrently enrolled high school students this semester, is taking her third class at the university.

“We are very pleased with the concurrent enrollment program,” said Dr. John Edwards, vice president for Enrollment and Student Services.

“The concurrent enrollment program kids can certainly take the seats of current students, but we monitor that very carefully,” Edwards said. “As we notice that classes are filling up, we add more sections.”

And despite increasing enrollment, the program’s recruiting ability benefits the university, Edwards said.

“What makes this so important is that we’re planning on raising our admission standards in the next five years,” Edwards said. “This program recruits the betterprepared students.”

Also, the retention rate for concurrently enrolled students is higher than it is for entering freshman, Edwards added.

High School to University Services is the department that oversees the registration process for the program. “We want students to succeed,” said its director, Susan P. Miller.

Because many of the students are firstgeneration college attendees, Miller said, advising them on which classes to take is crucial.

“We don’t want to place them in the wrong classes and have them not want to go back to college,” Miller said.

“Some of these kids are really ready for taking college classes,” said Norma Ceballos, a counselor at Edinburg High School. Counselors, along with the program coordinators at High School to University Services, are also involved in the advising process. High school students usually register for introductory classes, Ceballos said.

“We’ve all heard about how the freshman year weeds out students – ‘the survival of the fittest,’” Ceballos said.

“With the concurrent enrollment program, students become a lot happier and a lot more motivated.”

April 1 was the priority deadline for students to enroll in the program for the

See CONCURRENT page 12

April 8, 2004

Page 4

THE PAN AMERICAN

Activist for Valley citizens maintains loyalty

By CECILIA CASTANEDA The Pan American

a young man still thrived inside him. Helping people was embedded in him and he longed for that satisfaction. Allen remembered his years as a priest and the downcast job situation that existed.

The air thickens, a warm, humid blanket veiling the late In 1987 he founded the McAllen Economic Development afternoon sun. Beads of sweat swell up in his forehead; he Corporation (MEDC), an organization that recruits and stops his farm work, reaching to wipe his sweat. He expands industries increasing jobs in the McAllen/Reynosa remembers his morning Bible meditation. He remembers area. patience. He remembers endurance.

"The issue of helping people have jobs was always Fast forward. He looms over a casket, speaking important to me," Allen said. "Now I know how to do words of comfort and peace. There lies a perfectly it." folded American flag over the casket. People around Allen does it well. In the past 15 years, MEDC him, mothers and fathers, cry incessantly. He must recruited over 429 companies and 90,000 jobs to the be strong; he wears a white collar. border region. He also founded and serves as Fast forward. He sits in front of a large conference chairman of the Texas Border Infrastructure table, listening as the others passionately discuss Coalition, which secured $1.1 billion for border methods for school funding. He speaks; his focus highway funds and brought additional job training to rests solely on maintaining well-funded border the region. schools with good teachers, good facilities, and Allen coordinated developing support for the I-69 ultimately good students.

Highway, served as a uniting force to bring new Mike Allen, monk, priest, president, lobbyist, legislation that would result in swifter movement of founder, chairman, husband, and chief executive trade commerce and originated the construction of the officer, lived a life of change by holding strongly to Regional Academic Health Center. He currently his unchanged ideals throughout life. He knew his serves on the Rio Grande Valley Council of satisfaction and pursued it earnestly.

Governments, Governor Task Force on Management Allen was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in and Relations, and the Border Trade Alliance. He Texas. He spent his high school years at a catholic recently was elected to the STCC board of trustees high school, St. Anthony’s. Shortly after graduation, and will take office in May. Allen decided to follow his innate selflessness and "I’m going to listen and learn there," Allen said.

Ceci Castaneda/The Pan American entered a monastery. He was 19.

"STCC and Pan Am are indispensable for economic "I was young, very idealistic," Allen said. "I wanted MULTI-TASK— Mike Allen founder of the McAllen Economic Development development. They are the two most fundamental Corp., has had various job descriptions in the name of his beliefs on helping to help out and make a difference." institutions in the Valley."

He spent his first year at St. Peters Monastery on those in need.

However, Allen realizes his awards, credentials, and the border in Los Limas, Texas. Mornings were reserved for solitary meditation, afternoons for farm work. kids. We also visited the homes of the families. When they achievements spring from that omnipresent desire to help One year and a day later, Allen left the monastery to become saw a priest and a military officer coming, they knew. They others. Love for people motivated him, a feeling stronger than the struggles, stronger than money, stronger than time. a priest and interact with people. He worked for Sacred Heart knew what happened."

"We have affected the live of 60,000 people," Allen said.

Then, after over a decade in the priesthood, Allen made a Church in McAllen, helping the impoverished border "That brings a satisfaction that is worth more than money." residents. There, Allen first noticed the lack of job for life-altering decision. He left.

He paused, thinking of his life as a priest, a husband, and "That was my hardest decision," said Allen. "It was hard to American and Mexican border residents and the dismal president of MDEC. leave but I changed my mind." results.

"You have to be true to your ideals and have a sense of Allen moved to Austin, and lived there for 13 years A couple of years later, Allen transferred to the University of Texas-Pan American chapel working with Methodists, working in a government job. However, the ideals he had as integrity," Allen said. "Don’t compromise your values."

Catholics, Disciples of Christ, and other religions. As a priest, Allen enjoyed a peaceful and satisfying life. However, America was not.

During his time serving at Pan Am, the Vietnam War raged overseas and confused political belief and faith in people.

Dead bodies were shipped off planes in hundreds; Pan Am also felt the blow.

"It was very difficult,” Allen said. “I buried five or six

Students recognized for achievements

By VANESSA R. CASTILLO The Pan American

The 25th annual awards and recognition convention was held Sunday, April 4, to recognize outstanding achievement among students at UTPA. Some of the awards received were "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges," Academic Dean's Outstanding Students," "Dean of Students Outstanding Student Leaders," and "Student Government Association President and Vice President Recognition Awards."

Speakers and presenters included Dean of Students Dr. Jerry M. Price, Provost Dr. Rodolfo Arévalo, College of Arts and Humanities Dean Dr. Rodolfo Rocha, Dr. John Emery, Dean of the College of Business Administration, Dr. Hilda Medrano, Dean of the College of Education, Dr. William McIntyre, Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services, Dr. Miguel Eastman, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, Dr. George P. Avellano, Interim Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Dr. Miguel Nevarez, University President.

Exceptional campus leadership, scholastic and community achievements as well as GPA were taken into consideration and revised by the members of the University Awards and Recognitions Committee in the selection of the recipients. To be eligible, juniors and seniors at this University must have a cumulative 3.0 GPA or higher, while graduate students must encompass a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

These prestigious awards are granted to those who exemplify excellence.

WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES Tanzeer Amed Jacqueline Bruce Raul Cabrera Norma N. De Leon Kayla D. Dreyer Marco Antonio Esquivel Edward Gamboa Blanca Garza Ramon Garza III Maria de Lourdes Garza Wilfredo Garza

Maylin F. Gerardo Sharon H. Gerardo Joachim Grass Judith Hernandez Erika Jaramillo Tatyana G. Korotkova Egan Sharifa Llemit Myra J. Lopez Maha B. Maglinao Trisha Marc

Elvia Martinez Javier Martinez Melisandra Mendoza Leslie Moya Michael A. Mungia Norma L. Olivarez Shirin M. Oveyssi Rene Palomar Edith Pena Vanessa L. Perez Gloria E. Pora

Ana Christina Ramirez Melissa Ramirez Leticia Reyes Christabel Rivera Ricardo Angel Rivera Christina Rodriguez Nancy Trevino Arianna Vazquez Carmela Zamora Maria del Sagrario Zuviri

ACADEMIC DEAN’S OUTSTANDING STUDENTS AWARD Marialicia Andrade Luis Alfonso Lopez Amanda R. Aguilar Raul Cabrera Sunaiana Chugani

Hiram J. Corona Jaime Duran Irma Doris Mendiola Kathy De La Pena Leticia Castillo

DEAN OF STUDENTS LEADERSHIP Raul Cabrera Maria de Lourdes Garza Sheryl Milford

Cynthia Rios Vanessa Sanchez Ramon Cortez Nisha Varghese Ana Isabel Leos

Josefa Mata Blanca Elvia Ruiz

STUDENT LEADERSHIP AWARDS Francisco “Paco” Vielma (SGA President) Oscar Garza (SGA Vice President)

SPORTS CLIPBOARD

March 8, 2004

Clemens, Astros shut down Giants Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros shut down Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants 10-1 before a sell-out crowd of 42,863.

Clemens’ pitches rocketed past Bonds and the Giants’ other hitters by allowing them one hit in seven innings.

The victory was Clemens’ 311th career win in 21 seasons.

Last season, Clemens had called it quits and retired - for 78 days.

Clemens struck out Bonds twice for a total of nine strikeouts.

The Clemens-Bonds matchup was the first time in history that a pitcher with 300 wins faced a batter with 600 home runs.

Jeff Bagwell hit his 420th home run AP Photo and drove in three runs, while Jeff Roger Clemens struck out Kent connected for a three-run blast nine in his debut with the Houston Astros. and Richard Hidalgo also homered.

Clemens limited the Giants to four hits.

Dorados’ Thomas awarded Rio Grande Valley Dorados lineman Karleton Thomas was named the ADT Defensive Player of the Week after the Dorados defeated the Laredo Law 37-6 in their home opener at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo.

Thomas had five tackles and three sacks.

The Dorados will travel to Oklahoma City Saturday to face the Yard Dawgz, who also won their opener.

Browns CEO Policy to step down

Page 13

Sports

FOR THE RECORD Broncs Baseball

Men’s Tennis Date

Opponent

Jan. 19

Trinity

Time/Results W 4-3

Jan. 19

Texas A&M

L 1-6

Feb. 6

Eastern Kentucky

W 6-1

Feb. 7

Dayton

W 5-2

Feb. 7

Xavier

W 6-1

Feb. 14

Saint Louis

W 4-3

Feb. 21

TAMUCC

L 2-5

Feb. 26

Laredo College (Exh.) L 3-4

March 11 Abilene Christian

L 3-4

March 13 Texas Southern

W 4-1

March 26

UTSA

L 2-5

April 4

Texas-Arlington

L 0-7

April 7

Texas Southern

TBA

April 8

Prairie View A&M

TBA

April 8

Lamar

April 9

Southeastern Louisiana Noon

3

April 16

TAMUCC

April 30

SLC Championships

May 1

SLC Championships

May 2

SLC Championships

1

Women’s Tennis Date

Opponent

Feb. 6

UTEP

Time/Results L 0-7

Feb. 13

Sam Houston State

L 3-4

Feb. 15

Stephen F. Austin

L 1-6

Feb. 26

Laredo College

W 7-0

March 11 Abilene Christian

L 0-7

March 13

L 3-4

Texas Southern

March 27 Air Force

8:30 a.m.

April 3

TAMUCC

2

April 7

Texas Southern

2

April 8

Lamar

TBA

April 8

Prairie View A&M

TBA

April 9

McNeese State

9 a.m.

April 10

Texas State-San Marcos

TBA

April 16

IPFW

TBA

April 16

N. Colorado

TBA

April 17

TAMUCC

2

April 30

SLC Championships

May 1

SLC Championships

May 2

SLC Championships

Men’s Golf Date

Tournament

Result

Feb. 9-10 Rice Intercollegiate 14 of 14 March

Bearkat Invitational 14 of 16

14-15 March

Lindsay Collegiate

29-30

Classic

April 5-6

Hal Sutton

15 of 15 3 of 10

Intercollegiate

Cleveland Browns CEO Carmen Policy announced Wednesday that he will step down and let someone else run the organization.

Policy will let go of the reins on May 1, but will stay on as a consultant for the 2004 season.

The 61-year-old will be replaced by John Collins, the NFL’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. Collins received a five-year contract from the Browns.

Avalanche take 1-0 lead over Stars The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 in the first game of their Western quarterfinal best-of-seven series.

The series will continue Friday at Colorado. Face off is at 8:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2 and TSN.

Date Nov. 1 Jan. 31 Feb. 1 Feb. 3 Feb. 6 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 7 Feb. 8 Feb. 8 Feb. 15 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 20 Feb. 21 Feb. 22 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 29 March 6 March 7 March 9 March 9 March 12 March 13 March 14 March 16 March 17 March 19 March 20 March 21 March 23 March 24 March 26 March 26 March 27 March 30 April 6 April 7 April 9 April 13 April 14 April 16 April 17 April 18 April 23 April 24 May 7 May 8 May 9 May 11 May 12 May 14 May 15 May 16

Opponent Green and White

Score GREEN, 2-1

Texas State-San Marcos L 7-8

af2: RGV Dorados

Texas State-San Marcos L 2-6

Texas Kingsville W 6-3, 3-2 Lamar vs. Kansas 3-2 Sam Houston State L 2-7 Kansas W 8-6 Lamar vs. Sam Houston 7-4 Sam Houston vs. Kansas 8-8

Lamar Lamar (DH) Lamar

W 2-1 L 1-16, W 8-6 L 4-6 Texas A&M-Kingsville W 15-5 Sam Houston State L 6-10 Sam Houston State L 5-10 Sam Houston State L 4-6 Washington State W 3-2 L 3-15 Washington State Washington State L 6-15 Arkansas W 4-1 Arkansas W 11-4 TAMUCC W 2-0 TAMUCC W 10-5 Texas-San Antonio W 6-4 Texas-San Antonio L 1-3 Texas-San Antonio ppd.

Texas-Arlington W 7-5 Texas-Arlington L 5-13 Oral Roberts L 0-1 Oral Roberts L 10-12 Oral Roberts W 4-1 Texas-San Antonio L 11-12 L 6-21 Texas-San Antonio Dallas Baptist L 7-11 Dallas Baptist L 6-10 Dallas Baptist L 6-8 Texas L 1-10 Texas State-San Marcos L 5-6 Texas State-San Marcos 1 TAMUCC (DH) 1 Texas-San Antonio 7 Texas-San Antonio 2 Arizona 9 Arizona 9 Arizona 3 Dallas Baptist (DH) 4 Dallas Baptist 1 Southeastern Louisiana 7 Southeastern Louisiana 7 Southeastern Louisiana 1 Arkansas 7:05 Arkansas 7:05 Oklahoma 7:05 Oklahoma 7:05 Oklahoma 1

Men’s Track & Field Indoor Season

April 23-24Andrea Brotto Cavalier May 7-9

Local / Regional Coverage

Date

Dorados vs.

W 37-6

April 10 at Oklahoma City 7:30 April 24 Oklahoma City at Laredo

7:30

May 8

Wichita

7:30

May 15 at C. Valley

9:30

May 22 Laredo

7:30

May 28 at Tulsa

7:30

June 12 Tulsa

7:30

June 18 at Boss-Shreve.

7:30

June 26 at Birmingham

7:30

July 10 Oklahoma City

7:30

July 17 at Tulsa

7:30

July 24 Arkansas

7:30

July 31 at Wichita

7

MLB Friday, April 9 Anaheim at Texas, 1:05 Houston at Milwaukee, 3:05 Saturday, April 10 Houston at Milwaukee, 1:05 Anaheim at Texas, 7:05 Sunday, April 11 Houston at Milwaukee, 1:05 Anaheim at Texas, 3:05 Monday, April 12 Anaheim at Texas, 7:05 Houston at St. Louis, 7:10 Tuesday, April 13 Oakland at Texas, 7:05 Houston at St. Louis, 7:10

NBA Thursday, April 8 Utah at Dallas, 7:30 Friday, April 9 Portland at San Antonio, 7 Denver at Houston, 7:30 Saturday, April 10

Date

Opponent

Score

Dallas at Seattle, 2:30

March 6

Border Olympics

None

Houston at Utah, 8

Golf Championships

March 13

Angela Proctor Invit. None

Date

Tournament

Result

Feb.

Bronc Intercollegiate

4 of 8

23-24 March

St. Croix Collegiate

12-14

Classic

March

Baylor/Tapatío Springs 18th

19-21

Shootout

March

Arkansas-Little Rock

29-30

Invitational

May 7-9

National Minority Golf Championships

9 of 14

4 of 15

Relays

Sunday, April 11 Dallas at Golden State, 8 San Antonio at L.A. Clippers, 8:30

March 27

Bayou Classic

5 of 8

April 1-3

Texas Relays

None

April 10

Texas A&M

San Antonio at Portland, 9

Invitational

Houston at Seattle, 9

Southwestern Bell

Tuesday, April 13

April 18-19

Classic

6:30

Wichita

July 3

National Minority

Women’s Golf

7:30

May 1

Classic

March 19-20 Whataburger/UTSA None

Time/Results

April 3 Laredo

Monday, April 12

Memphis at Dallas, 7:30

April 24

Rice Twilight

May 1

Tom Tellez Invitational

May 15

Texas A&M All-Comers

Denver at San Antonio, 7:30

Meet

Dallas at Houston, 8:30

May 27-29

Wednesday, April 14

NCAA Regional Championships

June 9-12

NCAA Outdoor Championships

UTPA HOME GAMES IN BOLD All games p.m. unless noted.

CONCURRENT

continued from page 3

summer and fall sessions.

“It’s neat because right now we’re in the process of recruiting sophomores who’ll be juniors after this term,” said Jaime Garza, program coordinator. “The potential is there.”

University faculty are getting the message that concurrent enrollment is a benefit to them as well.

“Instructors are beginning to learn that these students are more than capable and are recruiting them to their particular majors,” Miller said.

Dr. Robert J. Affeldt, assistant professor in the English Department, has taught concurrent enrollment students in his basic composition class in past semesters. “[A high school student] stood out as one of the better students in the class,” Affeldt said.

“She was very motivated. The concurrent enrollment program has been successful,” he added. “I am very optimistic about that experience.”

SEVIS

Page 12

THE PAN AMERICAN

continued from page 5

gain much from studying here.

“It’s something positive. It’s good that international students come here to the Valley for their studies and experience different cultures,” Garcia said.

Though the US government hasn’t required the fee for UTPA yet, international students here are currently listed under SEVIS records. Garcia feels being on government records is something inevitable if students wish to pursue an education in the United States.

“If you decide to study here as a student, changes are constant. I don’t mind [the additional fee],” Garcia commented. “For students here, being on [SEVIS records] really hasn’t bothered them. It’s just something you have to do if you want to finish your studies here.”

Clarissa Martinez/The Pan American

WAITING— Students wait outside the COAS Bldg. on Wednesday morning. A 30minute blackout forced students to be evacuated until the electricity was restored.

ROUNDUP

continued from page 1

being replaced, it costs the university more to replace these individuals because students still need to be educated explained Arevalo.

The university is continuing the initiative by signing up UTPA to be part of the Texas Round-Up. “Right now I think there is a number of administrative people that are going to participate especially people from our board of health office,” said Arevalo. “I think it continues to indicate that the campus including the administration is interested in promoting wellness which is basically the purpose of the round-up and so as much as we can do to heighten the interest of this activity is helpful to us.”

The Texas Round-Up is open to any faculty and staff member that would like to go on a volunteer basis. Because of limited funds, the university is unable to pay for everyone interested, however, it is open for any faculty or staff member that has time to participate.

“Well, at this point, we do not have the resources to send that many people,” Arevalo said. “If certain people want to volunteer to participate that would be allowed. “ The Provost, however, is not the only one taking an initiative on campus for wellness and fitness. The Office of Student Development is holding a weeklong event that is promoting fitness and wellness for students as well-known as The Bronc Round-Up-Saddle-Up for Wellness.

“This is actually the third year that we coordinate health awareness programs that are being offered on this campus,” said Assistant Dean of Students, David Mariscal. “I noticed that in the spring semester we were doing all these things at different times so last year we had a fullblown week of wellness week and we call it Wellness Week.”

Mariscal also said that when they were presented with the new graphic they started to brainstorm on what to call the wellness week and at that time they figured that the state is doing this is the

governor’s initiative Texas-round up, so the idea of Bronc Round-Up came about.

However, the weeklong event is not the only time when fitness and wellness are being promoted. There are other events that are held on campus throughout the entire semester to offer students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to be part of this fitness and wellness initiative.

“One of the other things we also encourage is to do events thought the semester instead [of] just in that one week,” said Mariscal. “For example, we did the dance fitness all semester on Thursday afternoons, we did the Fun Walks Monday afternoons, recreational softball for faculty and staff on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and we have done several brown bag lunches that have to do with nutrition and fitness.”

The university is interested in promoting fitness and wellness in many ways other than just holding these initiatives. The Office of Student Development is trying to get a new recreational facility built for the year 2007 to help promote this attitude on campus.

“Certainly the primary reason we want to do this is for students to have the opportunity to learn skills and habits that are going to help them lead a healthier life,” said Dean of Students, Jerry Price.

“Traditionally for college students they may or may not have been exposed to the type of diet and exercise information that they need to make good decisions and having this on campus is giving them this opportunity.”

The hope for building this kind of facility is to allow the older students, who may have jobs or children to attend to, the opportunity to have somewhere they can go and exercise.

“It’s our hope that having this available in the evenings and on the weekends that the full-time student that maybe works until five and goes to school at seven they can come here and exercise in between which are options that they do not have right now,” Price said.

April 8, 2004

THE PAN AMERICAN

Page 5

Diabetes a long-term dilemma for Valley

By CECI CASTANEDA The Pan American

Yet, diet and exercise will not rid the problem of diabetes, especially with those who are genetically susceptible.

“Weight, diet and exercise will only postpone Most people don’t believe in fate. They are educated, realistic, and grounded. However, most when patients have diabetes,” said Murillo. “But people aren’t Hispanic, aren’t overweight, and don’t they’ll still get it.”

Maybe not with pioglitazone. The hope is that have a history of disease. This select combined with diet and group, so common to the Rio Grande exercise, pioglitazone Valley, clearly sees the looming, daunting can help. fate: diabetes.

“With Actos “It’s almost inevitable,” said one Valley You got to attack the (pioglitazone), you may practitioner, Dr. Javier Murillo of Mission. never know if they problem from different For thousands of Valley residents their developed Type 2 future is inevitable, as they stand a good aspects; most people diabetes,” Murillo said. chance of contracting Type 2 diabetes, need everything from “They’ll be just like genetically common to Hispanics, normal people with counseling, exercise, diet especially those who are overweight. normal blood levels.”

Some studies indicate that 20 percent of and medications.

Theoretically, Valley residents will some day be pioglitazone, diet, and diabetics.

- Dr. Desi Canales, exercise would be the Victims of Type 2 diabetes learn to Diabetes specialists perfect solution for contend with high glucose levels, or sugar, battling diabetes. The in their blood. According to the National Institute of Diabetes, this leads to other war would be won. Yet, the study is not near complications such as increased risk for heart failure completion. Worse, there are complications.

According to the Texas Diabetes Institute, the and heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness, nerve study, which will include counseling on diet and damage, and tooth loss.

However, Dr. Ralph DeFronzo, a researcher at the exercise, will last at least 39 months. Until then, Texas Diabetes Institute in San Antonio, is trying to doctors remain uncertain as to the effectiveness of alter the fates. He directs a nationwide study that Actos as a preventative treatment.

"In order to see if it works, they need to test in on tests whether the drug pioglitazone (Actos) can prevent the onset of diabetes in high- risk patients. a bunch of people," said Dr. Desi Canales, a diabetes Previous studies suggest drugs such as Actos can specialist in Mission. “This takes a long time.”

Another complication is liver disease, a possible guard against diabetes. But most still consider diet side effect of pioglitazone. Serious liver damage is and exercise as the best preventative maintenance. just as dangerous as diabetes, and can cause death.

“

“

April 8, 2004

Some patients on pioglitazones such as Actos, have reported cases of liver disease, according to the June 2001 Food and Drug Administration Consumer Magazine. As a result of DeFronzo’s study, patients taking pioglitazones will increase. Doctors predict an increase of reported liver disease.

“As Actos is used more widely, there will be more side effects,” said Canales. “It may not be safe; it can damage the liver.”

Aside from time delay and liver problems, some patients will still react reluctantly to diet and exercise, even with the hope of diminished diabetes.

Diet and exercise work, but are very difficult to maintain. To many, the root of the problem for Valley residents is bad diet.

“It’s not just that they’re [Valley residents] are Mexican,” Murillo said. “There are more diabetes in the Valley because of the high-carbohydrate diet.

The Valley gets more diabetes than Mexico, where they eat more fruits and vegetables.”

Therefore, patients at high risk for diabetes need more than diet, exercise and pioglitazone. They need effort, help, and counseling to endure, to be persistent and to ultimately succeed.

“You got to attack the problem from different aspects; most people need everything from counseling, exercise, diet and medications,” Canales said. “It’s a multi-factor team approach: the doctor, the nutritionist, the pharmacist.”

Pioglitazone may prove to be a step in preventing diabetes, but it still possesses flaws. Optimally, it can change the fate of many overweight Valley Hispanics, giving them hope of a diabetes-free future. However, it is not a miracle drug.

“Ideally, they’re right,” Murillo said. “Practically, no.”

International students face upcoming fee

By JULIAN CAVAZOS The Pan American

Despite the knowledge that al-Qaeda terrorists were responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, years before, another attack had occurred, but only that time students were responsible. Since then, along with the Sept. 11 attacks, the US government hasn’t taken any second chances this time around.

Under the Department of Homeland and Security, or DHS, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System SEVIS, was initiated to collect, maintain, and manage information regarding international foreign students and exchange visitors while staying inside the United States, according to DHS. The whole idea behind SEVIS is to track international students and prevent possible terrorism in the country from foreign students with visas.

According to DHS, all international students will be required to register through SEVIS to receive their visa. This is only for first-time visa applicants, not for renewals. Information required for applicants include biographical data, address, area of study, and the student’s social security number. There are currently over 1 million foreign students and exchange visitors already on SEVIS records, as stated in SEVIS doctine.

From the World Trade Center bombing incident in 1993, it was found that one of the convicted men, Eyad Ismoil, was actually an international student from Jordan who at one time attended a university in Kansas.

Ismoil had a student visa. Then, after dropping out three semesters later, he became a member of a group of Islamic terrorists, and bombed the WTC, according to DHS doctrine.

Congress reacted, and started requiring a computerized foreign student tracking system to be established by January 1, 2003. That system is now known as SEVIS. All student fees will go towards actual SEVIS funding and maintenance.

“It’s just an additional $100 after they [first] order international students should not be asked to “shoulder their visas, and after that they won’t have to pay this the burden of paying for international programs by [anymore],” said Phillip Clay, UTPA Associate themselves.”

Director for International Student Advisement.

SEVIS has raised much controversy since its Clay further explained that the $100 for SEVIS is a implementation, being described as some as both unfair fee that the government and insulting to foreign students. will soon implement to SEVIS is not a university-driven International Student Fee pay for additional organization, but rather one SEVIS services at U.S. created and instituted by the Information Consulates. However, government. The university had this does not address ☛Under The US Department of Homeland no say on whether or not to the individual fee a accept SEVIS. student will be charged Security, the Student and Exchange Visitor On the other hand, Clay isn’t by a university. bothered by it.

Information System (SEVIS) collects, manWhen international “I have no problems with it students at the ages, and maintains information on foreign because [international students] University of students and exchange visitors in the U.S. want to come to the US to study.

Massachusetts found Because of 9-11 [the out the university was ☛After the World Trade Center bombing in government] had to hire requiring them to pay 1993, one of the convicted bombers was additional people to do more money to study in background checks,” Clay said. the U.S., they were not found to be an international student at a uniDue to an increase in amused. In fact, they versity in Kansas. recruitment efforts and the are currently protesting quality of the university, UTPA the student fee toward ☛The $100 fee will be required by all firsthas seen an increase in the university and are international students. There are 602 international students now risking both time student visa applicants. currently attending UTPA this dismissal from the spring semester, primarily from university, and their ☛SEVIS was created to prevent terrorists Mexico (439), India (38), the student visa. from entering the U.S. on student visas.

Philippines (11), and Canada An article in The (11). This is an increase of 23 Boston Globe ☛SEVIS has been implemented since people compared to fall 2003’s Newspaper reported January 1, 2003. total of 579. Clay predicts that that the $65-perby spring 2004, there will be at semester would provide bills that would help make up for cuts in the least 700.

Francisco Garcia, president of the International university’s International Programs Office Budget.

Critics of the fee say that students should not be Students Association, says international students can asked to pay for their own surveillance and that See SEVIS page 12

April 8, 2004

Search continuing

By ARTHUR HAGEYS The Pan American

UTPA continues in its search for a new president as Dr. Miguel Nevarez prepares to step down from the position in August.

An advisory committee was created in October to search for possible candidates for president. The committee will eventually present a final list of candidates to the UT System Board of Regents for the final decision to be made.

“The advisory committee is currently in the position where it is interviewing candidates and checking their references,” said Francisco Vielma, Student Government Association President. “Dr. Nevarez has done such an outstanding job, they want to find someone who will continue to guide the campus in the right direction.”

The advisory committee will present a list of 5-10 candidates to the Board of Regents after the interview process is finished. The Board will then announce its list of finalists, conduct their own interviews, and then reveal the selection of the new president.

The list of candidates to be interviewed was partially gathered from the search firm Jan Greenwood and Associates. The search firm collected nominations and applications for the position and checked references.

Nationwide, advertising was used by the firm to bolster UTPA’s image as a

Page 6

THE PAN AMERICAN

quality institution of higher learning to draw in more candidates.

“We’re looking for someone who would bring the vision, the ability, and the budgetary skill,” said Dr. Teresa Sullivan, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the UT System and chair of the advisory committee.

“UTPA is a growing campus, and with that growth comes growing pains.

Growth is good, but it needs someone who can handle it.”

Sullivan said that the advisory committee was looking at candidates with substantial university experience as well as those that had managed large companies. Sullivan said that, while not a requirement, being able to speak Spanish was considered an advantage.

Sullivan described the advisory committee as being a diverse group that could pick a candidate that would best suit the campus. Faculty, staff, and student representatives in the committee are able to choose among candidates and find a balance of what they are looking for in a president.

“I think our search firm did an excellent job finding applicants,” said Sullivan. “The university got good publicity during the search as well.

People who may not have noticed before now see the university in a higher standing.”

The advisory committee hopes to have a finalized list of candidates for the Board of Regents when the committee meets April 15.

By VANESSA L. LUCIO The Pan American

The South Texas Minority Business Opportunity Committee or STMBO, a project that is managed by UTPA but funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency, is organizing monthly Maquiladora Bus Hops. These Bus Hops provide an opportunity for local Rio Grande Valley businesses to do business with maquiladoras.

When asked to define what a Fuentes, maquiladora is, Terry International Trade Specialist for the committee stated, “A Maquiladora is a Mexican corporation, wholly or predominantly owned by foreigners, that assembles products for export to the U.S. or other foreign countries.”

The STMBO Committee’s main function is to facilitate a long-term relationship between minority owned businesses, small or medium sized, and other foreign countries to reach the goal of exporting products into markets outside of the country of Mexico.

According to Fuentes, during the Bus Hops, local suppliers who want to sell their product/service to a maquiladora or who may want to expand their clientele are introduced to purchasing managers/buyers in various maquiladoras in the Reynosa/Matamoros area.

Meetings are arranged based on business profiles for each local supplier

and each maquiladora but so far STMBO has facilitated four successful Bus Hops to Mexico that began in August of 2003, mid April will be the fifth successful hop.

Fuentes stated, “My job consists of asking local suppliers in the States what they are in demand of or what products their business could use. This is because it might be difficult for the maquiladoras to set up an appointment with the suppliers.”

The committee, which is an affiliation of UTPA, allows the leeway for maquiladoras and causes the suppliers to become more willing to negotiate with maquiladoras managers.

Participating companies, with a maximum of five companies are driven on a 15-passager van to approximately three to five maquiladoras where each introduces what their company has to offer.

Participating maquiladoras have included: Impresora Donneco Internacional, Wells Manufacturera, Panasonic/Matsushita Electric Components and produce different products like air filters, office supplies auto parts and hi-tech assembly merchandise.

Other trade services include Trade Missions into Mexico, trade seminars, market research, and locating international buyers.

“If students at UTPA are interested in entrepreneurships, this would be a great opportunity for them and local businesses,” stated Fuentes.

Assessor Collector.

The Election Commission holds periodic

Today is the last day for early voting in HIDALGO COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CHAIR the Democratic Party Chair runoff. The CANDIDATES runoff presents Hidalgo County citizens with the opportunity to choose a new JUAN J. MALDONADO 38.14% representative to lay the flag of the Democratic Party.

BUDDY DE LA ROSA 27.12% The position of party chair has been strongly contended. This year, five lawmakers filed for the candidacy. The only VICTOR M. CARRERA 17.00% requirement to run for the position is to be a registered voter in the county. Now with VICTOR "LUCKY" BENALCAZAR 9.13% three candidates eliminated from the race, democrats can now decide to cast their votes to either of the remaining candidates, JOSE TORRES JR 8.61% Juan Maldonado and Buddy de la Rosa. In the first election, Maldonado received 38.14 percent of the votes while de la Rosa gained 27.12 percent.

The party chair is not an official elected by the meetings that fall within the Open Meetings Act. public but rather by party members, i.e. democrat Since the commission has no funding or enforcing voters. Once a candidate is elected for the position, power, it relies heavily on the making of he will hold the position for a term of two years and recommendations. Such recommendations can vary will serve several statutory functions. One of these from administration functionaries to new voting is serving as a member of the Election Commission machines. Based on these, the Commissioners Court integrated by the Republican Party chair, the County makes a decision.

Outgoing party chair Bobby Guerra, who served Clerk, the County Judge, and the County Tax

for two consecutive terms, believes voters have a tough decision to make on Election Day, April 13.

According to Guerra, the office holder must create unity among party members. In fact, one of the reasons he decided to run for the position was to end the increasing division within the party at the time.

“The position doesn’t pay a dime,” Guerra explained “That is why whoever runs for it must have some strong motivation. When I decided to run, the party chair was endorsing one candidate over another in the primaries.”

He also said that when a chair takes sides, he alienates those people who favor another candidate and this creates a problem during the general election when he has to reach for the general democratic support.

For this reason, Guerra has remained uninvolved in the current runoff at his party. In the time he has served, he believes he has accomplished his goal of promoting the spirit of union among his Democrats.

Moreover, the experience in the job has given him great satisfaction.

“It has been very rewarding,” Guerra said. “I’ve met presidents, vice-presidents, and ambassadors.”

He is quick to mention the five presidential visits of recent years.

“The Valley is the third fastest-growing area in the country. Those visits speak strongly about that,” Guerra said.

Page 11

THE PAN AMERICAN

MARRIAGE

Maquiladoras Assisted

County Democrats in run-off for party chair

By LUIS SAAVEDRA The Pan American

April 8, 2004

George McLemore/The Pan American

HIGH PRICED— Political commentator Jim Hightower spoke at STCC Tuesday night on a number of topics. Hightower cut the college some slack by decreasing his usual fee for speaking.

continued from page 3

Even though the youth opposes an amendment that bans same-sex marriage, they are against the idea of a law in their state that allows marriage.

The poll states that 52 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds oppose the idea of a law in their state that allows gays and lesbian couples to marry. Their grandparents, 65years-old and up, had an 81 percent opposing rate.

“I think in a few years, same-sex marriage will be OK,” said Jake C., 18, of Washington. “You’ve got Will kissing Jack, Queer as Folk, gay men in the military and all over sports – it’s just inevitable, I think.”

Jake C., a homosexual, says he’s not sure whether he’ll ever marry, but he’d definitely like the option when the time comes.

“If I get married, I want a big church wedding with all my friends and family,” he said.

He said that the exposure to the idea for so long is what has the younger generations more enthusiastic about the same-sex marriage debate. There’s nothing in the water, he jokes, it’s just that this generation has had time to let the idea marinate longer.

“We live in a world where it is OK to go and bomb and hate, but it’s not okay for love to be expressed,” one communications department student said. “If politicians would just start concentrating on the positive effects of same-sex unions, politicians would concentrate more on pulling back troops instead of putting up fronts about why two people in love should not be married.”

UTPA sociology professors were unable to comment about the recent poll and what it could mean.

Consequently, since other ideas from the past have been put away in a file with the Old Testament, gay activists think same-

sex marriage taboo ideas are well on their way also.

“We have managed to destroy other traditions of equal standing: slavery, women as property, polygamy, bans on interracial marriage – and this argument is in grave danger of being flushed,” wrote one gay man on the Internet website Epinions.com.

The anonymous homosexual from the Northwest then alluded that the idea, if not the chaos of same-sex marriage, has already begun.

“Somehow, if I marry the man I love, everyone else’s marriage will suffer irreparable harm. It will also harm society in a fundamental way – in fact, we will be subject to complete and irrevocable anarchy, including unlimited reality TV, and quite possibly a revival of bell bottoms,” he teased.

While the debate on who should marry whom goes on, same-sex marriage supporters battle on and ask this country’s leaders, as Rosie O’Donnell did, “What about liberty and justice for all?”

Despite it’s slow movement anywhere, tough questions as ‘Is gay marriage OK for the country?’ should be directed to Magnus Hirschfeld, a German sex researcher and pioneering gay activist, who once said sometime before he died in 1935, “Justice through knowledge.”

The first same-sex marriage was a lesbian couple from San Francisco who have maintained their relationship for nearly 51 years. Britney Spears’ marriage lasted a whole 55 hours. Jordan R. of Tulsa, Okla. asks, where’s the justice in that?

“In any case, it makes me sick that Britney Spears’ little fling is OK in the eyes of the law, while my relationship is evil, terrible, [and] destructive to the ‘sanctity of marriage,’” he concluded.

April 8, 2004

Search continuing

By ARTHUR HAGEYS The Pan American

UTPA continues in its search for a new president as Dr. Miguel Nevarez prepares to step down from the position in August.

An advisory committee was created in October to search for possible candidates for president. The committee will eventually present a final list of candidates to the UT System Board of Regents for the final decision to be made.

“The advisory committee is currently in the position where it is interviewing candidates and checking their references,” said Francisco Vielma, Student Government Association President. “Dr. Nevarez has done such an outstanding job, they want to find someone who will continue to guide the campus in the right direction.”

The advisory committee will present a list of 5-10 candidates to the Board of Regents after the interview process is finished. The Board will then announce its list of finalists, conduct their own interviews, and then reveal the selection of the new president.

The list of candidates to be interviewed was partially gathered from the search firm Jan Greenwood and Associates. The search firm collected nominations and applications for the position and checked references.

Nationwide, advertising was used by the firm to bolster UTPA’s image as a

Page 6

THE PAN AMERICAN

quality institution of higher learning to draw in more candidates.

“We’re looking for someone who would bring the vision, the ability, and the budgetary skill,” said Dr. Teresa Sullivan, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the UT System and chair of the advisory committee.

“UTPA is a growing campus, and with that growth comes growing pains.

Growth is good, but it needs someone who can handle it.”

Sullivan said that the advisory committee was looking at candidates with substantial university experience as well as those that had managed large companies. Sullivan said that, while not a requirement, being able to speak Spanish was considered an advantage.

Sullivan described the advisory committee as being a diverse group that could pick a candidate that would best suit the campus. Faculty, staff, and student representatives in the committee are able to choose among candidates and find a balance of what they are looking for in a president.

“I think our search firm did an excellent job finding applicants,” said Sullivan. “The university got good publicity during the search as well.

People who may not have noticed before now see the university in a higher standing.”

The advisory committee hopes to have a finalized list of candidates for the Board of Regents when the committee meets April 15.

By VANESSA L. LUCIO The Pan American

The South Texas Minority Business Opportunity Committee or STMBO, a project that is managed by UTPA but funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency, is organizing monthly Maquiladora Bus Hops. These Bus Hops provide an opportunity for local Rio Grande Valley businesses to do business with maquiladoras.

When asked to define what a Fuentes, maquiladora is, Terry International Trade Specialist for the committee stated, “A Maquiladora is a Mexican corporation, wholly or predominantly owned by foreigners, that assembles products for export to the U.S. or other foreign countries.”

The STMBO Committee’s main function is to facilitate a long-term relationship between minority owned businesses, small or medium sized, and other foreign countries to reach the goal of exporting products into markets outside of the country of Mexico.

According to Fuentes, during the Bus Hops, local suppliers who want to sell their product/service to a maquiladora or who may want to expand their clientele are introduced to purchasing managers/buyers in various maquiladoras in the Reynosa/Matamoros area.

Meetings are arranged based on business profiles for each local supplier

and each maquiladora but so far STMBO has facilitated four successful Bus Hops to Mexico that began in August of 2003, mid April will be the fifth successful hop.

Fuentes stated, “My job consists of asking local suppliers in the States what they are in demand of or what products their business could use. This is because it might be difficult for the maquiladoras to set up an appointment with the suppliers.”

The committee, which is an affiliation of UTPA, allows the leeway for maquiladoras and causes the suppliers to become more willing to negotiate with maquiladoras managers.

Participating companies, with a maximum of five companies are driven on a 15-passager van to approximately three to five maquiladoras where each introduces what their company has to offer.

Participating maquiladoras have included: Impresora Donneco Internacional, Wells Manufacturera, Panasonic/Matsushita Electric Components and produce different products like air filters, office supplies auto parts and hi-tech assembly merchandise.

Other trade services include Trade Missions into Mexico, trade seminars, market research, and locating international buyers.

“If students at UTPA are interested in entrepreneurships, this would be a great opportunity for them and local businesses,” stated Fuentes.

Assessor Collector.

The Election Commission holds periodic

Today is the last day for early voting in HIDALGO COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CHAIR the Democratic Party Chair runoff. The CANDIDATES runoff presents Hidalgo County citizens with the opportunity to choose a new JUAN J. MALDONADO 38.14% representative to lay the flag of the Democratic Party.

BUDDY DE LA ROSA 27.12% The position of party chair has been strongly contended. This year, five lawmakers filed for the candidacy. The only VICTOR M. CARRERA 17.00% requirement to run for the position is to be a registered voter in the county. Now with VICTOR "LUCKY" BENALCAZAR 9.13% three candidates eliminated from the race, democrats can now decide to cast their votes to either of the remaining candidates, JOSE TORRES JR 8.61% Juan Maldonado and Buddy de la Rosa. In the first election, Maldonado received 38.14 percent of the votes while de la Rosa gained 27.12 percent.

The party chair is not an official elected by the meetings that fall within the Open Meetings Act. public but rather by party members, i.e. democrat Since the commission has no funding or enforcing voters. Once a candidate is elected for the position, power, it relies heavily on the making of he will hold the position for a term of two years and recommendations. Such recommendations can vary will serve several statutory functions. One of these from administration functionaries to new voting is serving as a member of the Election Commission machines. Based on these, the Commissioners Court integrated by the Republican Party chair, the County makes a decision.

Outgoing party chair Bobby Guerra, who served Clerk, the County Judge, and the County Tax

for two consecutive terms, believes voters have a tough decision to make on Election Day, April 13.

According to Guerra, the office holder must create unity among party members. In fact, one of the reasons he decided to run for the position was to end the increasing division within the party at the time.

“The position doesn’t pay a dime,” Guerra explained “That is why whoever runs for it must have some strong motivation. When I decided to run, the party chair was endorsing one candidate over another in the primaries.”

He also said that when a chair takes sides, he alienates those people who favor another candidate and this creates a problem during the general election when he has to reach for the general democratic support.

For this reason, Guerra has remained uninvolved in the current runoff at his party. In the time he has served, he believes he has accomplished his goal of promoting the spirit of union among his Democrats.

Moreover, the experience in the job has given him great satisfaction.

“It has been very rewarding,” Guerra said. “I’ve met presidents, vice-presidents, and ambassadors.”

He is quick to mention the five presidential visits of recent years.

“The Valley is the third fastest-growing area in the country. Those visits speak strongly about that,” Guerra said.

Page 11

THE PAN AMERICAN

MARRIAGE

Maquiladoras Assisted

County Democrats in run-off for party chair

By LUIS SAAVEDRA The Pan American

April 8, 2004

George McLemore/The Pan American

HIGH PRICED— Political commentator Jim Hightower spoke at STCC Tuesday night on a number of topics. Hightower cut the college some slack by decreasing his usual fee for speaking.

continued from page 3

Even though the youth opposes an amendment that bans same-sex marriage, they are against the idea of a law in their state that allows marriage.

The poll states that 52 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds oppose the idea of a law in their state that allows gays and lesbian couples to marry. Their grandparents, 65years-old and up, had an 81 percent opposing rate.

“I think in a few years, same-sex marriage will be OK,” said Jake C., 18, of Washington. “You’ve got Will kissing Jack, Queer as Folk, gay men in the military and all over sports – it’s just inevitable, I think.”

Jake C., a homosexual, says he’s not sure whether he’ll ever marry, but he’d definitely like the option when the time comes.

“If I get married, I want a big church wedding with all my friends and family,” he said.

He said that the exposure to the idea for so long is what has the younger generations more enthusiastic about the same-sex marriage debate. There’s nothing in the water, he jokes, it’s just that this generation has had time to let the idea marinate longer.

“We live in a world where it is OK to go and bomb and hate, but it’s not okay for love to be expressed,” one communications department student said. “If politicians would just start concentrating on the positive effects of same-sex unions, politicians would concentrate more on pulling back troops instead of putting up fronts about why two people in love should not be married.”

UTPA sociology professors were unable to comment about the recent poll and what it could mean.

Consequently, since other ideas from the past have been put away in a file with the Old Testament, gay activists think same-

sex marriage taboo ideas are well on their way also.

“We have managed to destroy other traditions of equal standing: slavery, women as property, polygamy, bans on interracial marriage – and this argument is in grave danger of being flushed,” wrote one gay man on the Internet website Epinions.com.

The anonymous homosexual from the Northwest then alluded that the idea, if not the chaos of same-sex marriage, has already begun.

“Somehow, if I marry the man I love, everyone else’s marriage will suffer irreparable harm. It will also harm society in a fundamental way – in fact, we will be subject to complete and irrevocable anarchy, including unlimited reality TV, and quite possibly a revival of bell bottoms,” he teased.

While the debate on who should marry whom goes on, same-sex marriage supporters battle on and ask this country’s leaders, as Rosie O’Donnell did, “What about liberty and justice for all?”

Despite it’s slow movement anywhere, tough questions as ‘Is gay marriage OK for the country?’ should be directed to Magnus Hirschfeld, a German sex researcher and pioneering gay activist, who once said sometime before he died in 1935, “Justice through knowledge.”

The first same-sex marriage was a lesbian couple from San Francisco who have maintained their relationship for nearly 51 years. Britney Spears’ marriage lasted a whole 55 hours. Jordan R. of Tulsa, Okla. asks, where’s the justice in that?

“In any case, it makes me sick that Britney Spears’ little fling is OK in the eyes of the law, while my relationship is evil, terrible, [and] destructive to the ‘sanctity of marriage,’” he concluded.

CONCURRENT

continued from page 3

summer and fall sessions.

“It’s neat because right now we’re in the process of recruiting sophomores who’ll be juniors after this term,” said Jaime Garza, program coordinator. “The potential is there.”

University faculty are getting the message that concurrent enrollment is a benefit to them as well.

“Instructors are beginning to learn that these students are more than capable and are recruiting them to their particular majors,” Miller said.

Dr. Robert J. Affeldt, assistant professor in the English Department, has taught concurrent enrollment students in his basic composition class in past semesters. “[A high school student] stood out as one of the better students in the class,” Affeldt said.

“She was very motivated. The concurrent enrollment program has been successful,” he added. “I am very optimistic about that experience.”

SEVIS

Page 12

THE PAN AMERICAN

continued from page 5

gain much from studying here.

“It’s something positive. It’s good that international students come here to the Valley for their studies and experience different cultures,” Garcia said.

Though the US government hasn’t required the fee for UTPA yet, international students here are currently listed under SEVIS records. Garcia feels being on government records is something inevitable if students wish to pursue an education in the United States.

“If you decide to study here as a student, changes are constant. I don’t mind [the additional fee],” Garcia commented. “For students here, being on [SEVIS records] really hasn’t bothered them. It’s just something you have to do if you want to finish your studies here.”

Clarissa Martinez/The Pan American

WAITING— Students wait outside the COAS Bldg. on Wednesday morning. A 30minute blackout forced students to be evacuated until the electricity was restored.

ROUNDUP

continued from page 1

being replaced, it costs the university more to replace these individuals because students still need to be educated explained Arevalo.

The university is continuing the initiative by signing up UTPA to be part of the Texas Round-Up. “Right now I think there is a number of administrative people that are going to participate especially people from our board of health office,” said Arevalo. “I think it continues to indicate that the campus including the administration is interested in promoting wellness which is basically the purpose of the round-up and so as much as we can do to heighten the interest of this activity is helpful to us.”

The Texas Round-Up is open to any faculty and staff member that would like to go on a volunteer basis. Because of limited funds, the university is unable to pay for everyone interested, however, it is open for any faculty or staff member that has time to participate.

“Well, at this point, we do not have the resources to send that many people,” Arevalo said. “If certain people want to volunteer to participate that would be allowed. “ The Provost, however, is not the only one taking an initiative on campus for wellness and fitness. The Office of Student Development is holding a weeklong event that is promoting fitness and wellness for students as well-known as The Bronc Round-Up-Saddle-Up for Wellness.

“This is actually the third year that we coordinate health awareness programs that are being offered on this campus,” said Assistant Dean of Students, David Mariscal. “I noticed that in the spring semester we were doing all these things at different times so last year we had a fullblown week of wellness week and we call it Wellness Week.”

Mariscal also said that when they were presented with the new graphic they started to brainstorm on what to call the wellness week and at that time they figured that the state is doing this is the

governor’s initiative Texas-round up, so the idea of Bronc Round-Up came about.

However, the weeklong event is not the only time when fitness and wellness are being promoted. There are other events that are held on campus throughout the entire semester to offer students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to be part of this fitness and wellness initiative.

“One of the other things we also encourage is to do events thought the semester instead [of] just in that one week,” said Mariscal. “For example, we did the dance fitness all semester on Thursday afternoons, we did the Fun Walks Monday afternoons, recreational softball for faculty and staff on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and we have done several brown bag lunches that have to do with nutrition and fitness.”

The university is interested in promoting fitness and wellness in many ways other than just holding these initiatives. The Office of Student Development is trying to get a new recreational facility built for the year 2007 to help promote this attitude on campus.

“Certainly the primary reason we want to do this is for students to have the opportunity to learn skills and habits that are going to help them lead a healthier life,” said Dean of Students, Jerry Price.

“Traditionally for college students they may or may not have been exposed to the type of diet and exercise information that they need to make good decisions and having this on campus is giving them this opportunity.”

The hope for building this kind of facility is to allow the older students, who may have jobs or children to attend to, the opportunity to have somewhere they can go and exercise.

“It’s our hope that having this available in the evenings and on the weekends that the full-time student that maybe works until five and goes to school at seven they can come here and exercise in between which are options that they do not have right now,” Price said.

April 8, 2004

THE PAN AMERICAN

Page 5

Diabetes a long-term dilemma for Valley

By CECI CASTANEDA The Pan American

Yet, diet and exercise will not rid the problem of diabetes, especially with those who are genetically susceptible.

“Weight, diet and exercise will only postpone Most people don’t believe in fate. They are educated, realistic, and grounded. However, most when patients have diabetes,” said Murillo. “But people aren’t Hispanic, aren’t overweight, and don’t they’ll still get it.”

Maybe not with pioglitazone. The hope is that have a history of disease. This select combined with diet and group, so common to the Rio Grande exercise, pioglitazone Valley, clearly sees the looming, daunting can help. fate: diabetes.

“With Actos “It’s almost inevitable,” said one Valley You got to attack the (pioglitazone), you may practitioner, Dr. Javier Murillo of Mission. never know if they problem from different For thousands of Valley residents their developed Type 2 future is inevitable, as they stand a good aspects; most people diabetes,” Murillo said. chance of contracting Type 2 diabetes, need everything from “They’ll be just like genetically common to Hispanics, normal people with counseling, exercise, diet especially those who are overweight. normal blood levels.”

Some studies indicate that 20 percent of and medications.

Theoretically, Valley residents will some day be pioglitazone, diet, and diabetics.

- Dr. Desi Canales, exercise would be the Victims of Type 2 diabetes learn to Diabetes specialists perfect solution for contend with high glucose levels, or sugar, battling diabetes. The in their blood. According to the National Institute of Diabetes, this leads to other war would be won. Yet, the study is not near complications such as increased risk for heart failure completion. Worse, there are complications.

According to the Texas Diabetes Institute, the and heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness, nerve study, which will include counseling on diet and damage, and tooth loss.

However, Dr. Ralph DeFronzo, a researcher at the exercise, will last at least 39 months. Until then, Texas Diabetes Institute in San Antonio, is trying to doctors remain uncertain as to the effectiveness of alter the fates. He directs a nationwide study that Actos as a preventative treatment.

"In order to see if it works, they need to test in on tests whether the drug pioglitazone (Actos) can prevent the onset of diabetes in high- risk patients. a bunch of people," said Dr. Desi Canales, a diabetes Previous studies suggest drugs such as Actos can specialist in Mission. “This takes a long time.”

Another complication is liver disease, a possible guard against diabetes. But most still consider diet side effect of pioglitazone. Serious liver damage is and exercise as the best preventative maintenance. just as dangerous as diabetes, and can cause death.

“

“

April 8, 2004

Some patients on pioglitazones such as Actos, have reported cases of liver disease, according to the June 2001 Food and Drug Administration Consumer Magazine. As a result of DeFronzo’s study, patients taking pioglitazones will increase. Doctors predict an increase of reported liver disease.

“As Actos is used more widely, there will be more side effects,” said Canales. “It may not be safe; it can damage the liver.”

Aside from time delay and liver problems, some patients will still react reluctantly to diet and exercise, even with the hope of diminished diabetes.

Diet and exercise work, but are very difficult to maintain. To many, the root of the problem for Valley residents is bad diet.

“It’s not just that they’re [Valley residents] are Mexican,” Murillo said. “There are more diabetes in the Valley because of the high-carbohydrate diet.

The Valley gets more diabetes than Mexico, where they eat more fruits and vegetables.”

Therefore, patients at high risk for diabetes need more than diet, exercise and pioglitazone. They need effort, help, and counseling to endure, to be persistent and to ultimately succeed.

“You got to attack the problem from different aspects; most people need everything from counseling, exercise, diet and medications,” Canales said. “It’s a multi-factor team approach: the doctor, the nutritionist, the pharmacist.”

Pioglitazone may prove to be a step in preventing diabetes, but it still possesses flaws. Optimally, it can change the fate of many overweight Valley Hispanics, giving them hope of a diabetes-free future. However, it is not a miracle drug.

“Ideally, they’re right,” Murillo said. “Practically, no.”

International students face upcoming fee

By JULIAN CAVAZOS The Pan American

Despite the knowledge that al-Qaeda terrorists were responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, years before, another attack had occurred, but only that time students were responsible. Since then, along with the Sept. 11 attacks, the US government hasn’t taken any second chances this time around.

Under the Department of Homeland and Security, or DHS, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System SEVIS, was initiated to collect, maintain, and manage information regarding international foreign students and exchange visitors while staying inside the United States, according to DHS. The whole idea behind SEVIS is to track international students and prevent possible terrorism in the country from foreign students with visas.

According to DHS, all international students will be required to register through SEVIS to receive their visa. This is only for first-time visa applicants, not for renewals. Information required for applicants include biographical data, address, area of study, and the student’s social security number. There are currently over 1 million foreign students and exchange visitors already on SEVIS records, as stated in SEVIS doctine.

From the World Trade Center bombing incident in 1993, it was found that one of the convicted men, Eyad Ismoil, was actually an international student from Jordan who at one time attended a university in Kansas.

Ismoil had a student visa. Then, after dropping out three semesters later, he became a member of a group of Islamic terrorists, and bombed the WTC, according to DHS doctrine.

Congress reacted, and started requiring a computerized foreign student tracking system to be established by January 1, 2003. That system is now known as SEVIS. All student fees will go towards actual SEVIS funding and maintenance.

“It’s just an additional $100 after they [first] order international students should not be asked to “shoulder their visas, and after that they won’t have to pay this the burden of paying for international programs by [anymore],” said Phillip Clay, UTPA Associate themselves.”

Director for International Student Advisement.

SEVIS has raised much controversy since its Clay further explained that the $100 for SEVIS is a implementation, being described as some as both unfair fee that the government and insulting to foreign students. will soon implement to SEVIS is not a university-driven International Student Fee pay for additional organization, but rather one SEVIS services at U.S. created and instituted by the Information Consulates. However, government. The university had this does not address ☛Under The US Department of Homeland no say on whether or not to the individual fee a accept SEVIS. student will be charged Security, the Student and Exchange Visitor On the other hand, Clay isn’t by a university. bothered by it.

Information System (SEVIS) collects, manWhen international “I have no problems with it students at the ages, and maintains information on foreign because [international students] University of students and exchange visitors in the U.S. want to come to the US to study.

Massachusetts found Because of 9-11 [the out the university was ☛After the World Trade Center bombing in government] had to hire requiring them to pay 1993, one of the convicted bombers was additional people to do more money to study in background checks,” Clay said. the U.S., they were not found to be an international student at a uniDue to an increase in amused. In fact, they versity in Kansas. recruitment efforts and the are currently protesting quality of the university, UTPA the student fee toward ☛The $100 fee will be required by all firsthas seen an increase in the university and are international students. There are 602 international students now risking both time student visa applicants. currently attending UTPA this dismissal from the spring semester, primarily from university, and their ☛SEVIS was created to prevent terrorists Mexico (439), India (38), the student visa. from entering the U.S. on student visas.

Philippines (11), and Canada An article in The (11). This is an increase of 23 Boston Globe ☛SEVIS has been implemented since people compared to fall 2003’s Newspaper reported January 1, 2003. total of 579. Clay predicts that that the $65-perby spring 2004, there will be at semester would provide bills that would help make up for cuts in the least 700.

Francisco Garcia, president of the International university’s International Programs Office Budget.

Critics of the fee say that students should not be Students Association, says international students can asked to pay for their own surveillance and that See SEVIS page 12

April 8, 2004

Page 4

THE PAN AMERICAN

Activist for Valley citizens maintains loyalty

By CECILIA CASTANEDA The Pan American

a young man still thrived inside him. Helping people was embedded in him and he longed for that satisfaction. Allen remembered his years as a priest and the downcast job situation that existed.

The air thickens, a warm, humid blanket veiling the late In 1987 he founded the McAllen Economic Development afternoon sun. Beads of sweat swell up in his forehead; he Corporation (MEDC), an organization that recruits and stops his farm work, reaching to wipe his sweat. He expands industries increasing jobs in the McAllen/Reynosa remembers his morning Bible meditation. He remembers area. patience. He remembers endurance.

"The issue of helping people have jobs was always Fast forward. He looms over a casket, speaking important to me," Allen said. "Now I know how to do words of comfort and peace. There lies a perfectly it." folded American flag over the casket. People around Allen does it well. In the past 15 years, MEDC him, mothers and fathers, cry incessantly. He must recruited over 429 companies and 90,000 jobs to the be strong; he wears a white collar. border region. He also founded and serves as Fast forward. He sits in front of a large conference chairman of the Texas Border Infrastructure table, listening as the others passionately discuss Coalition, which secured $1.1 billion for border methods for school funding. He speaks; his focus highway funds and brought additional job training to rests solely on maintaining well-funded border the region. schools with good teachers, good facilities, and Allen coordinated developing support for the I-69 ultimately good students.

Highway, served as a uniting force to bring new Mike Allen, monk, priest, president, lobbyist, legislation that would result in swifter movement of founder, chairman, husband, and chief executive trade commerce and originated the construction of the officer, lived a life of change by holding strongly to Regional Academic Health Center. He currently his unchanged ideals throughout life. He knew his serves on the Rio Grande Valley Council of satisfaction and pursued it earnestly.

Governments, Governor Task Force on Management Allen was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in and Relations, and the Border Trade Alliance. He Texas. He spent his high school years at a catholic recently was elected to the STCC board of trustees high school, St. Anthony’s. Shortly after graduation, and will take office in May. Allen decided to follow his innate selflessness and "I’m going to listen and learn there," Allen said.

Ceci Castaneda/The Pan American entered a monastery. He was 19.

"STCC and Pan Am are indispensable for economic "I was young, very idealistic," Allen said. "I wanted MULTI-TASK— Mike Allen founder of the McAllen Economic Development development. They are the two most fundamental Corp., has had various job descriptions in the name of his beliefs on helping to help out and make a difference." institutions in the Valley."

He spent his first year at St. Peters Monastery on those in need.

However, Allen realizes his awards, credentials, and the border in Los Limas, Texas. Mornings were reserved for solitary meditation, afternoons for farm work. kids. We also visited the homes of the families. When they achievements spring from that omnipresent desire to help One year and a day later, Allen left the monastery to become saw a priest and a military officer coming, they knew. They others. Love for people motivated him, a feeling stronger than the struggles, stronger than money, stronger than time. a priest and interact with people. He worked for Sacred Heart knew what happened."

"We have affected the live of 60,000 people," Allen said.

Then, after over a decade in the priesthood, Allen made a Church in McAllen, helping the impoverished border "That brings a satisfaction that is worth more than money." residents. There, Allen first noticed the lack of job for life-altering decision. He left.

He paused, thinking of his life as a priest, a husband, and "That was my hardest decision," said Allen. "It was hard to American and Mexican border residents and the dismal president of MDEC. leave but I changed my mind." results.

"You have to be true to your ideals and have a sense of Allen moved to Austin, and lived there for 13 years A couple of years later, Allen transferred to the University of Texas-Pan American chapel working with Methodists, working in a government job. However, the ideals he had as integrity," Allen said. "Don’t compromise your values."

Catholics, Disciples of Christ, and other religions. As a priest, Allen enjoyed a peaceful and satisfying life. However, America was not.

During his time serving at Pan Am, the Vietnam War raged overseas and confused political belief and faith in people.

Dead bodies were shipped off planes in hundreds; Pan Am also felt the blow.

"It was very difficult,” Allen said. “I buried five or six

Students recognized for achievements

By VANESSA R. CASTILLO The Pan American

The 25th annual awards and recognition convention was held Sunday, April 4, to recognize outstanding achievement among students at UTPA. Some of the awards received were "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges," Academic Dean's Outstanding Students," "Dean of Students Outstanding Student Leaders," and "Student Government Association President and Vice President Recognition Awards."

Speakers and presenters included Dean of Students Dr. Jerry M. Price, Provost Dr. Rodolfo Arévalo, College of Arts and Humanities Dean Dr. Rodolfo Rocha, Dr. John Emery, Dean of the College of Business Administration, Dr. Hilda Medrano, Dean of the College of Education, Dr. William McIntyre, Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services, Dr. Miguel Eastman, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, Dr. George P. Avellano, Interim Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Dr. Miguel Nevarez, University President.

Exceptional campus leadership, scholastic and community achievements as well as GPA were taken into consideration and revised by the members of the University Awards and Recognitions Committee in the selection of the recipients. To be eligible, juniors and seniors at this University must have a cumulative 3.0 GPA or higher, while graduate students must encompass a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

These prestigious awards are granted to those who exemplify excellence.

WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES Tanzeer Amed Jacqueline Bruce Raul Cabrera Norma N. De Leon Kayla D. Dreyer Marco Antonio Esquivel Edward Gamboa Blanca Garza Ramon Garza III Maria de Lourdes Garza Wilfredo Garza

Maylin F. Gerardo Sharon H. Gerardo Joachim Grass Judith Hernandez Erika Jaramillo Tatyana G. Korotkova Egan Sharifa Llemit Myra J. Lopez Maha B. Maglinao Trisha Marc

Elvia Martinez Javier Martinez Melisandra Mendoza Leslie Moya Michael A. Mungia Norma L. Olivarez Shirin M. Oveyssi Rene Palomar Edith Pena Vanessa L. Perez Gloria E. Pora

Ana Christina Ramirez Melissa Ramirez Leticia Reyes Christabel Rivera Ricardo Angel Rivera Christina Rodriguez Nancy Trevino Arianna Vazquez Carmela Zamora Maria del Sagrario Zuviri

ACADEMIC DEAN’S OUTSTANDING STUDENTS AWARD Marialicia Andrade Luis Alfonso Lopez Amanda R. Aguilar Raul Cabrera Sunaiana Chugani

Hiram J. Corona Jaime Duran Irma Doris Mendiola Kathy De La Pena Leticia Castillo

DEAN OF STUDENTS LEADERSHIP Raul Cabrera Maria de Lourdes Garza Sheryl Milford

Cynthia Rios Vanessa Sanchez Ramon Cortez Nisha Varghese Ana Isabel Leos

Josefa Mata Blanca Elvia Ruiz

STUDENT LEADERSHIP AWARDS Francisco “Paco” Vielma (SGA President) Oscar Garza (SGA Vice President)

SPORTS CLIPBOARD

March 8, 2004

Clemens, Astros shut down Giants Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros shut down Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants 10-1 before a sell-out crowd of 42,863.

Clemens’ pitches rocketed past Bonds and the Giants’ other hitters by allowing them one hit in seven innings.

The victory was Clemens’ 311th career win in 21 seasons.

Last season, Clemens had called it quits and retired - for 78 days.

Clemens struck out Bonds twice for a total of nine strikeouts.

The Clemens-Bonds matchup was the first time in history that a pitcher with 300 wins faced a batter with 600 home runs.

Jeff Bagwell hit his 420th home run AP Photo and drove in three runs, while Jeff Roger Clemens struck out Kent connected for a three-run blast nine in his debut with the Houston Astros. and Richard Hidalgo also homered.

Clemens limited the Giants to four hits.

Dorados’ Thomas awarded Rio Grande Valley Dorados lineman Karleton Thomas was named the ADT Defensive Player of the Week after the Dorados defeated the Laredo Law 37-6 in their home opener at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo.

Thomas had five tackles and three sacks.

The Dorados will travel to Oklahoma City Saturday to face the Yard Dawgz, who also won their opener.

Browns CEO Policy to step down

Page 13

Sports

FOR THE RECORD Broncs Baseball

Men’s Tennis Date

Opponent

Jan. 19

Trinity

Time/Results W 4-3

Jan. 19

Texas A&M

L 1-6

Feb. 6

Eastern Kentucky

W 6-1

Feb. 7

Dayton

W 5-2

Feb. 7

Xavier

W 6-1

Feb. 14

Saint Louis

W 4-3

Feb. 21

TAMUCC

L 2-5

Feb. 26

Laredo College (Exh.) L 3-4

March 11 Abilene Christian

L 3-4

March 13 Texas Southern

W 4-1

March 26

UTSA

L 2-5

April 4

Texas-Arlington

L 0-7

April 7

Texas Southern

TBA

April 8

Prairie View A&M

TBA

April 8

Lamar

April 9

Southeastern Louisiana Noon

3

April 16

TAMUCC

April 30

SLC Championships

May 1

SLC Championships

May 2

SLC Championships

1

Women’s Tennis Date

Opponent

Feb. 6

UTEP

Time/Results L 0-7

Feb. 13

Sam Houston State

L 3-4

Feb. 15

Stephen F. Austin

L 1-6

Feb. 26

Laredo College

W 7-0

March 11 Abilene Christian

L 0-7

March 13

L 3-4

Texas Southern

March 27 Air Force

8:30 a.m.

April 3

TAMUCC

2

April 7

Texas Southern

2

April 8

Lamar

TBA

April 8

Prairie View A&M

TBA

April 9

McNeese State

9 a.m.

April 10

Texas State-San Marcos

TBA

April 16

IPFW

TBA

April 16

N. Colorado

TBA

April 17

TAMUCC

2

April 30

SLC Championships

May 1

SLC Championships

May 2

SLC Championships

Men’s Golf Date

Tournament

Result

Feb. 9-10 Rice Intercollegiate 14 of 14 March

Bearkat Invitational 14 of 16

14-15 March

Lindsay Collegiate

29-30

Classic

April 5-6

Hal Sutton

15 of 15 3 of 10

Intercollegiate

Cleveland Browns CEO Carmen Policy announced Wednesday that he will step down and let someone else run the organization.

Policy will let go of the reins on May 1, but will stay on as a consultant for the 2004 season.

The 61-year-old will be replaced by John Collins, the NFL’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. Collins received a five-year contract from the Browns.

Avalanche take 1-0 lead over Stars The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 in the first game of their Western quarterfinal best-of-seven series.

The series will continue Friday at Colorado. Face off is at 8:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2 and TSN.

Date Nov. 1 Jan. 31 Feb. 1 Feb. 3 Feb. 6 Feb. 6 Feb. 7 Feb. 7 Feb. 8 Feb. 8 Feb. 15 Feb. 16 Feb. 18 Feb. 20 Feb. 21 Feb. 22 Feb. 27 Feb. 28 Feb. 29 March 6 March 7 March 9 March 9 March 12 March 13 March 14 March 16 March 17 March 19 March 20 March 21 March 23 March 24 March 26 March 26 March 27 March 30 April 6 April 7 April 9 April 13 April 14 April 16 April 17 April 18 April 23 April 24 May 7 May 8 May 9 May 11 May 12 May 14 May 15 May 16

Opponent Green and White

Score GREEN, 2-1

Texas State-San Marcos L 7-8

af2: RGV Dorados

Texas State-San Marcos L 2-6

Texas Kingsville W 6-3, 3-2 Lamar vs. Kansas 3-2 Sam Houston State L 2-7 Kansas W 8-6 Lamar vs. Sam Houston 7-4 Sam Houston vs. Kansas 8-8

Lamar Lamar (DH) Lamar

W 2-1 L 1-16, W 8-6 L 4-6 Texas A&M-Kingsville W 15-5 Sam Houston State L 6-10 Sam Houston State L 5-10 Sam Houston State L 4-6 Washington State W 3-2 L 3-15 Washington State Washington State L 6-15 Arkansas W 4-1 Arkansas W 11-4 TAMUCC W 2-0 TAMUCC W 10-5 Texas-San Antonio W 6-4 Texas-San Antonio L 1-3 Texas-San Antonio ppd.

Texas-Arlington W 7-5 Texas-Arlington L 5-13 Oral Roberts L 0-1 Oral Roberts L 10-12 Oral Roberts W 4-1 Texas-San Antonio L 11-12 L 6-21 Texas-San Antonio Dallas Baptist L 7-11 Dallas Baptist L 6-10 Dallas Baptist L 6-8 Texas L 1-10 Texas State-San Marcos L 5-6 Texas State-San Marcos 1 TAMUCC (DH) 1 Texas-San Antonio 7 Texas-San Antonio 2 Arizona 9 Arizona 9 Arizona 3 Dallas Baptist (DH) 4 Dallas Baptist 1 Southeastern Louisiana 7 Southeastern Louisiana 7 Southeastern Louisiana 1 Arkansas 7:05 Arkansas 7:05 Oklahoma 7:05 Oklahoma 7:05 Oklahoma 1

Men’s Track & Field Indoor Season

April 23-24Andrea Brotto Cavalier May 7-9

Local / Regional Coverage

Date

Dorados vs.

W 37-6

April 10 at Oklahoma City 7:30 April 24 Oklahoma City at Laredo

7:30

May 8

Wichita

7:30

May 15 at C. Valley

9:30

May 22 Laredo

7:30

May 28 at Tulsa

7:30

June 12 Tulsa

7:30

June 18 at Boss-Shreve.

7:30

June 26 at Birmingham

7:30

July 10 Oklahoma City

7:30

July 17 at Tulsa

7:30

July 24 Arkansas

7:30

July 31 at Wichita

7

MLB Friday, April 9 Anaheim at Texas, 1:05 Houston at Milwaukee, 3:05 Saturday, April 10 Houston at Milwaukee, 1:05 Anaheim at Texas, 7:05 Sunday, April 11 Houston at Milwaukee, 1:05 Anaheim at Texas, 3:05 Monday, April 12 Anaheim at Texas, 7:05 Houston at St. Louis, 7:10 Tuesday, April 13 Oakland at Texas, 7:05 Houston at St. Louis, 7:10

NBA Thursday, April 8 Utah at Dallas, 7:30 Friday, April 9 Portland at San Antonio, 7 Denver at Houston, 7:30 Saturday, April 10

Date

Opponent

Score

Dallas at Seattle, 2:30

March 6

Border Olympics

None

Houston at Utah, 8

Golf Championships

March 13

Angela Proctor Invit. None

Date

Tournament

Result

Feb.

Bronc Intercollegiate

4 of 8

23-24 March

St. Croix Collegiate

12-14

Classic

March

Baylor/Tapatío Springs 18th

19-21

Shootout

March

Arkansas-Little Rock

29-30

Invitational

May 7-9

National Minority Golf Championships

9 of 14

4 of 15

Relays

Sunday, April 11 Dallas at Golden State, 8 San Antonio at L.A. Clippers, 8:30

March 27

Bayou Classic

5 of 8

April 1-3

Texas Relays

None

April 10

Texas A&M

San Antonio at Portland, 9

Invitational

Houston at Seattle, 9

Southwestern Bell

Tuesday, April 13

April 18-19

Classic

6:30

Wichita

July 3

National Minority

Women’s Golf

7:30

May 1

Classic

March 19-20 Whataburger/UTSA None

Time/Results

April 3 Laredo

Monday, April 12

Memphis at Dallas, 7:30

April 24

Rice Twilight

May 1

Tom Tellez Invitational

May 15

Texas A&M All-Comers

Denver at San Antonio, 7:30

Meet

Dallas at Houston, 8:30

May 27-29

Wednesday, April 14

NCAA Regional Championships

June 9-12

NCAA Outdoor Championships

UTPA HOME GAMES IN BOLD All games p.m. unless noted.

April 8, 2004

Page 14

Sports

POSITIONS AVAILABLE - Sports Writers - Copy Editors - Graphic Designers

By AMY MEDELLÍN The Pan American

were capable of playing to this level. Rudy deserved to win the tournament; he has just been on a After finishing second in the roll over the last few months.”

Hal Sutton Invitational in 2001 Along with finishing on top, as a freshman, Rudy Celedon, Celedon’s final round total of 66 member of the University of put him only one stroke behind Texas-Pan American men’s golf Luis Arechiga, who shot a UTPA team, wanted to make a bigger best men’s impression round score of when the 65 in 1997.

Broncs were Also, his 208 invited to play total tournaagain this year. ment score The senior made Celedon kinesiology only the sixth major fell nothBronc in hising short of that tory to shoot Tuesday finishunder 210 for ing first overall a three-round with a 36-hole tournament. score of 208, “This win while the helps give me Broncs finished the positive third with a attitude that I total score of need to go Rudy Celedon 896, moving up into my last two from sixth place on the final day tournaments,” Celedon said. “I of play. have been having a good semes“I’m pleasantly surprised ter and this time everything just about our play,” said UTPA fell into place; I wanted to go Men’s Head Golf Coach Drew back and make a good impresScott, in a recent interview. “I’m sion after finishing second at this not stunned because I knew we tournament my freshman year.”

Fútbol

continued from page 16

first in the offensive category with 27.

The two clubs last faced each other in Week 10 of the current Clausura 2004 season. Pumas came away with a 2-1 victory on March 14 on a pair of goals by former América striker Moctezuma Serrato. Forward Jesús Olalde, a former Puma, scored Tigres’ lone goal.

Tigres appears to be the local favorite due to McAllen’s proximity to Monterrey, although the fact that Sánchez is the Pumas’ coach can make for an interesting debate in the stands.

“There is a strong fan base, especially here in the border,” Rodríguez said. “Tigres have a strong following and the intrigue of the Pumas is the coach, Hugo Sánchez.”

Aside from a placing the international spotlight on the Valley, especially McAllen, the soccer match exposes the area to the world’s game as it is played and lived – with passion. It also could provide the kind of support Valley soccer needs in an area where

football reigns supreme.

“It brings another professional sport [to the Valley],” Rodríguez said.

“I know its exhibition, but it exposes the opportunities that may be out there for this sport along the border and opens up the door to future soccer events.”

The man behind bringing fútbol mexicano to the Valley is former Tigre and Mexican national soccer team member Francisco Javier “El Abuelo” Cruz, the promoter of the PumasTigres match.

“He did an event in Laredo,” Rodríguez said.

“It was a success in Laredo and it’s a much smaller stadium, half the size of here. He’s from Monterrey and thought that Mcallen could be another venue to be looked at to bring an event.”

Cruz is already “considering” another soccer exhibition match for July, but this time between Mexico City powerhouses and longtime rivals Cruz Azul and América.

Tennis

Page 3

THE PAN AMERICAN

N EWS

■ Student Awards . . . . . . . . . 4 ■ Diabetes . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 ■ Maquiladoras . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Editorial ban New generation liberal to gay unions

By CLARISSA MARTINEZ The Pan American

For more information call 381-2547 or e-mail gareyjup@aol.com

Celedon wins at Hal Sutton

April 8, 2004

continued from page 16

UTPA is the humidity in and around the Houston-Beaumont region.

Despite the different weather conditions that Texas-Pan America will endure during their four-match road trip, junior Armando Martínez believes the weather will not affect the team.

“We do not worry about becoming fatigued under any conditions and expect to compete full strength into the weekend.” Martínez said.

“Against our toughest opponents, we have had the opportunities, but as always, those little miscues lose us the match.”

Sunday’s loss to UT-Arlington marked the last match for senior Tom Mangelschots. He finished among the top 15 in UTPA history for wins in singles as well as overall.

Women’s tennis The women’s team will dive into a physically demanding schedule this week when they start a four-day, five-match swing against Texas Southern (0-1 overall), Prarie View A&M (0-5), Lamar (3-11), Texas State (7-7), and McNeese State (11-4).

The Lady Broncs are led in singles by Vanessa Hedinger (8-8), Ana Peña (5-6) and Alanna Breen (5-5), while their doubles count with the services of González-Peña (2-1) and Fife-Sloan (2-4).

Although the women have lost four in a row, they are optimistic about the remainder of the season.

“Our women had the day off today [Tuesday],” Gyulai said. “To concentrate on academics and allow their bodies to rest after practicing so hard.

Gyulai noted that the team is transgressing in the right direction so far throughout the season despite the departure of Head Coach Eduardo Provencio for undisclosed reasons.

The life of a college student varies depending on which college they are attending. Some campuses are known for being 'party' schools while others such as Baylor University, have a reputation for being conservative private schools. The priorities of the schools are reflected on the students, and in Baylor's case, students seem to be resisting the values their universities have build their foundation on.

Baylor's university student newspaper, The Baylor Lariat, ran an editorial criticizing the administration for denying an openly gay student a ministerial scholarship. Soon after, the editorial staff voted 5-2 to run another editorial supporting same-sex marriages.

The can of worms was opened, and the university officials began retaliation against the paper.

When Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. released a statement denouncing the paper's editorial and declaring it to be in conflict with both Scripture and university policy. The response he received from the university and the public has been both positive and negative.

Some individuals felt it was a proper decision for the university to step up and put it's foot down on their moral standards, while others said the conflict does not benefit anyone.

Cristina Chavez, a junior at Baylor University, said she first heard about the controversy from a local news report.

"It was reported that our student government voted to ban the university newspaper. The Baylor Lariat, from publishing material that [goes] against the Christian views that Baylor University was first built on, including same-sex unions," Chavez explained.

"Not long afterwards, Baylor Truitt Seminary announced that one of its student's scholarships was revoked based on his sexual orientation."

Chavez, a 21-year-old geology major said that the demonstration and editorial received about the same attention and has been associated together due to the subject of homosexuality. She first heard about the demonstration and how it was started because of the scholarship that was being withheld from a student.

With the controversy being stirred up by the editorial, several students also began giving attention to the student who lost his scholarship. Matt Bass, 24, was a student at Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary and claimed to have been approached by Truett officials, and would not answer to questions about his lifestyle, but did admit to support gay rights and marriage.

Soon after, he was notified that he would lose his scholarship, a scholarship that he depended on to attend school.

Recently, Bass and other students helped in a demonstration on the Baylor campus to support the belief that all students should have the same rights and opportunities, whether they are gay or not.

According to the Associate Press, Bass made the statement "I believe I am gay and that God made me that way," while at the rally.

"I believe this is a civil rights movement. We're not looking for any special class or treatment but equal protection under the law," Bass continued.

"I feel that any attempt to suppress freedom of the press or speech, even if the university is private, is wrong," Chavez said. "Also, the [same-sex] unions should go on and a ban on anything based on sexual orientation or any other physical or emotional attribute is discrimination."

Although Chavez doesn't agree with the measures the university is taking to stifle students' personal beliefs she expects the change on her campus to be a lengthy process.

sex marriages while it makes their parents and grandparents cringe?

It appears to be about timing.

While the youth of today have grown up with men kissing men and women kissing women, the idea of them marrying one another doesn’t seem farfetched for them. In an age where male impersonators dress like Madonna for

“We can accept things that aren’t traditional.”

The Elsa native said that this generation, his generation, could grow to understand and accept something that While Britney Spears got away with isn’t “normal” because his generation marrying in what some media watchers has grown up with all sorts of strange called a ‘drunken stupor,’ celebrities things that the older generation may like Rosie O’Donnell, Meg Ryan, Ellen have never fathomed.

DeGeneres, Elton John, and Melissa “Don’t peg this idea Etheridge have been fighting into any other trend the battle in support of either,” he said. “It’s marriage of all kinds – gay, Same-Sex Marriage not a trend, no one is straight, and perhaps even Results from polling data taken between Feb. 14 and 23. A total of just going along with it drunk. because it’s cool. They 1,943 people around the country were polled.

As the debate on whether go along with it same-sex marriages should because they believe be allowed in each state Subjects were asked if they Thoughts on the U.S. it.” across the U.S., a recent would favor or oppose a law Constitution ban on same-sex As an openly gay study by the Annenberg in their state that would allow man, he wished to be marriage: Public Policy Center of the anonymous when gay and lesbian couples to University of Pennsylvania mentioning his own shows that young adults Total: 41% (Favor) marry: thoughts on gay from the ages of 18 to 29 are 48% (Oppose) marriage.

OK with same-sex marriage.

Total: 30% (Favor) “I think it’s wrong to The study, which surveyed 64% (Oppose) Women 39% (Favor) say someone can’t almost 2,000 individuals marry someone else,” Women 34% (Favor) 50% (Oppose) from around the country in he said.

Feb. of this year, touched 60% (Oppose) Any future plans for issues such as the U.S. Men 44% (Favor) Men 26% (Favor) marriage?

Constitution saying that no 46% (Oppose) “No,” he said. “I 67% (Oppose) state can allow people of the don’t think I will ever same-sex to marry each Source: Annenberg Public Policy marry, we could live other. together, but I’ll never Center of the University of In the 18- to 29-year-old call him my husband.” bracket, 58 percent of the Pennsylvania, 2004.

He said that perhaps interviewees said they a reason many opposed such an idea. Within opposers of same-sex the 45- to 64-year-old bracket, 45 percent opposed the extra cash during the weekends, why marriages feel the way they do has amendment. While in total, 48 percent would that same man marrying a man he something to do with the seriousness surrounding the issue. of the interviewees around the country loves be awkward?

A UTPA student English major said it “People might think that a gay couple thought such an amendment should not isn’t about trends. won’t take it serious, plus they think it’s be around.

“I think this generation is more open not right,” he said.

But why is this the case? What makes the younger generation OK with same- to different ideas,” the 20-year-old said.

By EDWINA P. GARZA The Pan American

See MARRIAGE page 11

Concurrent enrollment high, lows

By CLAUDIA L. FARIAS The Pan American Registering for classes at the University is a rite of passage, with seniors and juniors receiving first dibs.

However, a different company of upperclassmen is reaping the benefits of priority registration. High school seniors and juniors concurrently enrolled at UTPA are allowed to register before the traditional population.

Preference is given to the students because of their conflicting high school schedules and because common registration avenues, such as telephone and online methods, are not available to them.

The concurrent enrollment program, which started in the mid-1990s, gives high school seniors and juniors the opportunity to enroll in university courses, earning college credit while still in high school.

“It’s really cool because when I start school in the fall, I’ll be a sophomore,” said Samantha Jarvis, a senior at Edinburg High School. “I get to see what college is like without having lots of pressure,” said the future Latin American studies major.

To gain admission to the program, a

student must have an ACT composite score of 22 or be in the top 10 percent of the class. Recommendations must also be submitted from high school counselors and principals.

Jarvis, one of over 300 concurrently enrolled high school students this semester, is taking her third class at the university.

“We are very pleased with the concurrent enrollment program,” said Dr. John Edwards, vice president for Enrollment and Student Services.

“The concurrent enrollment program kids can certainly take the seats of current students, but we monitor that very carefully,” Edwards said. “As we notice that classes are filling up, we add more sections.”

And despite increasing enrollment, the program’s recruiting ability benefits the university, Edwards said.

“What makes this so important is that we’re planning on raising our admission standards in the next five years,” Edwards said. “This program recruits the betterprepared students.”

Also, the retention rate for concurrently enrolled students is higher than it is for entering freshman, Edwards added.

High School to University Services is the department that oversees the registration process for the program. “We want students to succeed,” said its director, Susan P. Miller.

Because many of the students are firstgeneration college attendees, Miller said, advising them on which classes to take is crucial.

“We don’t want to place them in the wrong classes and have them not want to go back to college,” Miller said.

“Some of these kids are really ready for taking college classes,” said Norma Ceballos, a counselor at Edinburg High School. Counselors, along with the program coordinators at High School to University Services, are also involved in the advising process. High school students usually register for introductory classes, Ceballos said.

“We’ve all heard about how the freshman year weeds out students – ‘the survival of the fittest,’” Ceballos said.

“With the concurrent enrollment program, students become a lot happier and a lot more motivated.”

April 1 was the priority deadline for students to enroll in the program for the

See CONCURRENT page 12

PAGE 2

April 8

OPINION

Pumas-Tigres Preview

April 8, 2004

letters

■

editorials

■

cartoons

2004

Mexican Soccer 101

1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539 (956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122 http://www.panam.edu/dept/panamerican 53rd Year – No. 25

Editor Arianna Vazquez gareyjup@aol.com

News Editor Clarissa Martinez clarissa_utpa@ hotmail.com

A & E Editor Omaira Galarza omairang@yahoo.com

Sports Editor Ed Chrnko echrnko@yahoo.com

Graphics Editor Daniel Aguilar kerygma_@hotmail.com

Layout Designers Dägoberto Pérez Ginmarie Mabry Reporters Vanessa Castillo Julian Cavazos Edwina Garza Dulce Gonzalez Matt Hall Christina Harris Aaron Lozano

The PAN AMERICAN is

the official student newspaper of The University of Texas-Pan American.

Views presented are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the university.

Letters policy The Pan American gladly accepts letters from students, staff and faculty regarding newspaper content or current issues.

The Pan American reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar and length. Please limit submission length to 300 words. The Pan American cannot publish anonymous letters, or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks. Letters are printed at the discretion of the editor and must include the writer’s name, class/title and phone number.

Vanessa Lucio Clarissa Martinez Amy Medellin Photographer Franco Caballero Copy Editor Joe Anna Moreno Student Pub. Secretary Jo Anne Murphy Adviser Dr. Greg Selber

Readers with disabilities may request an alternative format of this publication at The Pan American business office.

For special assistance to attend any event listed in this publication, contact the coordinator of the event at least one week prior to the advertised date.

Editor,

Dear Editor, The article about the "Passion" was the most rude and offensive article I ever read, I feel I speak for thousands of students when I say that you should be ashamed of yourselves.

I think the Pan American April Fools edition was a mistake to get published. Nobody thought the articles were funny, especially with the picture of the two masturbators on page 3.

Worst of all is your timing. Remember next week is Good Friday and Easter. I will not rest until I see to it that this kind of injustice and blatant disregard for the religion of billions ceases. There will be a reckoning and you will answer for your actions.

P.S. I enjoy reading the true Pan American. What needs to be added in my opinion, is a section where students can write about anything about student life.

Juan Flores Dear Editor,

Phillip Winger Dear Editor, Just wanted to congratulate you on such an entertaining and creative issue of The Pan American today. We need a little levity at this time of the semester. It’s a great issue!

Congratulations on the best issue yet of the PAN AMERICAN. It is a joy to see deep, hard hitting, no-holdsbarred stories that tell the truth about the university and world events. The depth of your journalistic endeavors is to be commended. These young, idealistic students sere as great role models or the jaded old journalists that populate and pollute our professional media's evil empire.

Juanita E. Garza, History Lecturers Marian Monta

Pan American Days 2004 April 13-16 April 13

C Keith Harer Senior Staff Native American A Attorney,Rights Fund Student Union Theater, L Noon Texas Indian Dancers E South UTPA Ballroom, 7 p.m. on the founding N “Perspectives of The Pan American Union” Dr. Angela Vergara D Speakers: and Dr. Michael Faubion 101, 10:35 a.m.

A “LatinSBC American Professionals in South Texas” R Speakers:Leo Montalvo-Mayor of McAllen, Adele LiceaKinesiology, Dr. Raul PintoMedical Doctor BA 113, 2:30 - 4 p.m.

April 14 Lazaro Cadenas Batel Media Theater 7 p.m.

April 15 “The Shaman’s Path in Hichol Indian Culture” Speaker: Dr. Stacy SchaefeCalifornia State University SBS 125,10:35 a.m.

Sandra Levinson Executive Director of The Center for Cuban Studies Student Union Theater Noon “Higher-Education Institutions at Both Sides of the Rio Grande” Speakers: Dr. Jose Barragan

Codina-Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Dr. Angelica Cortes-moderator

The Mexican Soccer League is comprised of 20 clubs and two tournaments, Apertura (opening) and Clausura (closing), are played per year.

Each club plays 19 games per tournament and face each team in the league one time per tournament.

The league uses two forms of standings: overall and group.

The four group standings decide who goes to the Liguilla or playoffs. Normally the top two clubs in each group advance to the Liguilla although if a third place club has a better record than a second place team, a wildcard spot can be obtained and the Liguilla would include a Repechaje or reclassification round.

The overall standings are used to determine a league leader and a playoff order.

The most popular clubs in México are América, Guadalajara, and Cruz Azul, usually in that order.

Tigres Clausura 2004

Schedule / Results

Schedule / Results

Date Jan. 18 Jan. 25 Jan. 31 Feb. 2 Feb. 14 Feb. 22 Feb. 25 Feb. 29 March 7 March 14 March 21 March 28 April 3 April 11 April 18 April 24 May 2 May 9 May 16

Pumas at América Atlas at San Luis Santos at Atlante Chiapas at Pachuca Morelia at Querétaro Tigres at Toluca Guadalajara at Necaxa Puebla Irapuato at Cruz Azul Veracruz at U.A.G. Monterrey

Score T 1-1 W 3-0 T 0-0 W 3-2 W 4-2 L 0-1 W 3-0 W 2-1 T 3-3 W 2-1 T 2-2 W 3-0 W 1-0 Noon Noon 5 p.m.

Noon 4 p.m.

Noon

W-T-L 0-1-0 1-1-0 1-2-0 2-2-0 3-2-0 3-2-1 4-2-1 5-2-1 5-3-1 6-3-1 6-4-1 7-4-1 8-4-1

Founded: 1954 Debut in First Division: 1962 League titles: 1976-77, 198081, and 1990-91 Runnerup: 1967-68, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1984-85, 1987-88

Second Leg, May 26, 1978 Pumas 1, Tigres 1 Estadio Olímpico México, D.F. Scoring: Tigres - Mantegazza (59’) Pumas - Olivera (75’)

Tigres at Chiapas Pachuca at Morelia Querétaro Irapuato at Toluca Guadalajara at Necaxa Puebla at U.N.A.M. Cruz Azul at Veracruz U.A.G. at Monterrey América at Atlas San Luis at Santos Atlante

Score L 2-4 T 3-3 W 2-1 L 1-2 W 3-1 L 2-3 W 4-2 L 1-2 L 2-3 L 1-2 T 1-1 L 0-1 W 2-1 5 p.m.

5 p.m.

8:45 p.m.

5 p.m.

4 p.m.

5 p.m.

W-T-L 0-0-1 0-1-1 1-1-1 1-1-2 2-1-2 2-1-3 3-1-3 3-1-4 3-1-5 3-1-6 3-2-6 3-2-7 4-2-7

Estadio Universitario is the home of Tigres and has a capacity of 52,000.

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, the home of the Pumas, has a capacity of 68,000.

Pumas vs. Tigres Head-to-Head

AP Photo Striker Bruno Marioni of Argentina is in his first season with the Pumas. He has 12 goals in 13 games.

Defense

Offense

Hugo Sánchez played with Pumas for five seasons (1976-1981) before migrating to Spain where he won five scoring titles, four of them with Real Madrid. Sánchez played one season with the Dallas Burn in 1996 and retired in 1997.

Season Invierno 97 Verano 98 Invierno 98 Verano 99 Invierno 99 Verano 2000 Invierno 2000 Verano 2001 Invierno 2001 Verano 2002 Apertura 2002 Clausura 2003 Apertura 2003 Clausura 2004

Results Week Pumas 4 - 2 Tigres 9 Pumas 2 - 0 Tigres 9 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 16 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 16 Tigres 3 - 1 Pumas 13 Tigres 2 - 0 Pumas 13 Pumas 3 - 1 Tigres 15 Tigres 2 - 0 Pumas 15 Pumas 1 - 0 Tigres 10 Tigres 1 - 0 Pumas 10 12 Pumas 3 - 2 Tigres Pumas 2 - 2 Tigres 12 10 Pumas 1 - 1 Tigres 10 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres

Castro

GF:GA 27:14 27:13 15:15 19:8 23:20 17:15 13:21 16:24 17:16 24:26 23:30 19:21 21:18 19:19 20:16 18:21 19:18 17:20 18:23 17:21

Group I 20 - Atlas 20 - Pachuca 19 - Toluca 16 - Puebla 14 - Monterrey

Group II 28 - U.N.A.M. 19 - América 16 - Santos 16 - Querétaro 11 - U.A.G.

Group III 32 - CHIAPAS 15 - Morelia 14 - Tigres 13 - San Luis 12 - Cruz Azul

Group IV 23 - Guadalajara 18 - Irapuato 17 - Necaxa 14 - Atlante 14 - Veracruz

PTS 32 28 23 19 19 17 13 18 14 14 11 16 20 20 16 14 16 14 12 15

Week 14 schedule April 10-11: Veracruz vs. Guadalajara; Monterrey vs. Tigres; Cruz Azul vs. Necaxa; San Luis vs.

Pachuca; Atlas vs. Morelia; U.N.A.M. vs.

Puebla; Irapuato vs. Atlante; Santos vs.

Chiapas; U.A.G. vs. Toluca; América vs.

Querétaro.

Club Pumas Tigres

GP W - T - L GF:GA DIF PTS 15 8 - 3 - 4 25:21 +4 27 15 4 - 3 - 8 21:25 -4 15

Note: Head-to-head matches only include short-tournament season results that started at end of the1995-96 full season. Tigres played in the First Division “A” during the Invierno 96-Verano 97 seasons. Home teams in bold.

Defense Sancho

Augusto

W-D-L 10 - 2 - 1 8-4-1 7-2-4 5-4-4 5-4-4 4-5-4 3-4-6 5-3-5 2-8-3 4-2-7 3-2-8 3-7-3 5-5-3 5-5-3 4-4-5 3-5-5 5-1-7 3-5-5 3-3-7 4-3-6

Week 13 results April 3-4: Tigres 2, U.A.G. 1; Morelia 3, América 6; Guadalajara 4, Cruz Azul 3; Necaxa 0, U.N.A.M. 1; Toluca 2, Veracruz 3; Puebla 6, Irapuato 0; Pachuca 1, Atlas 1; Atlante 2, Santos 1; Querétaro 4, Monterrey 4; Chiapas 4, San Luis 2.

Offense

Pineda

Bernal

Team Chiapas U.N.A.M. Guadalajara Toluca América Necaxa Club San Luis Irapuato Monterrey Tigres U.A.G. Querétaro Atlas Pachuca Puebla Atlante Santos Veracruz Cruz Azul Morelia

Founded: 1967 Debut in First Division: 1974 League titles: 1977-78, 198182 Runnerup: 1979-80, Invierno 2001, and Apertura 2003

Ruiz

Soares Iñiguez

Gaitán

Verón

Suárez

López

Sánchez

Campagnuolo

Balderas

Briseño

Marioni Fonseca

Beltrán For more information you can contact the Office of International Programs.

A brief history...

Pumas

Date Jan. 17 Jan. 24 Jan. 31 Feb. 7 Feb. 14 Feb. 21 Feb. 25 Feb. 28 March 6 March 14 March 20 March 27 April 3 April 10 April 17 April 24 May 1 May 9 May 15

Fútbol Mexicano

Tigres...

First Leg, May 24, 1978 Tigres 2, Pumas 0 Estadio Universitario Monterrey, Nuevo León Scoring: Tigres - Mantegazza (17’ and 74’) Pumas - None.

Valley Symphony Ensemble and Reception Student Union Theater 6 p.m.

“Contemporary Cuba” Speakers: Ms. Sandra Levinson, Dr. Gary Mouce SBS 109, 7:10 p.m.

Pumas Clausura 2004

A look back...

1977-78 Final

Capoeira Demonstration Xochitl Room, UC 122 6 p.m.

Page 15

Sports

Galindo Pumas

Olalde Rergis Tigres

S PORTS

PAGE 16

■ Soccer. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Fútbol mexicano comes to Valley for first time

By ED CHRNKO The Pan American

The Valley will be the object of international attention April 14 when Mexican First Division fútbol hits the area for the first time in history with a friendly match between Pumas of UNAM and Tigres of UANL at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium at 8 p.m.

Mexico City-based Pumas are currently in second place in the Mexican League’s Clausura 2004 tournament standings with an 8-1-4 record, while Tigres is last

vs.

What: Fútbol Mexicano Who: Pumas of U.N.A.M. vs. Tigres of U.A.N.L. When: Wednesday, April 14 at 8 p.m.

Where: McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium Records: Pumas (8-4-1, 28 pts.); Tigres (4-7-2, 14 pts.)

Last meeting: Pumas defeated Tigres 2-1 on March 14 in Week 10 of Clausura 2004 tournament.

Next match: Tigres vs. Monterrey in Clásico Regiomontano, Saturday at 5 p.m.; Pumas vs. Puebla, Sunday at noon;.

season’s runnerup.

The Monterrey club had an impressive run last year and boast Mexican soccer’s most supportive fans, however, they have been struggling this season and sport a less than impressive 4-7-2 record.

“It’s the first time that we’ve had a sporting event of this magnitude come to the valley,” said Omar Rodríguez, deputy director of McAllen Parks and Recreation.

In January, the Texas Title Belt’s Boxing Series that included a special appearance by Oscar De La Hoya lured over 6,000 fans to Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, but it still does not come close to what the exhibition fútbol or soccer match between Pumas and Tigres signifies.

The only other professional sporting event held in the Valley was in 1985 when McAllen hosted a USFL football game between the San Antonio Gunslingers and the Houston Gamblers. Jim Kelly was the quarterback for the Gamblers.

“This event is Division 1 soccer which is the equivalent of Major League Soccer,” Rodríguez compared. “It’s the top level of that sport for that country. In Mexico, it’s equivalent to our NFL season.”

UNAM (National Autonomous University of México) is led by legendary striker turned Head Coach Hugo Sánchez, who is in his second stint with Pumas as technical director.

“Hugo Sánchez is probably one of

■ Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 ■ Sports Clipboard . . . . . 13

Mexico’s biggest names as far as soccer is concerned,” Rodríguez said. “His team is doing very well. I think peoples’ expectations is to see some of the starters of both Tigres and Pumas come and play.”

“Hugol”, as he was known during his playing days played five seasons with Pumas, migrated to Spain, and made a bigger name for himself with international powerhouse Real Madrid where he obtained five pichichis, or scoring titles, as well as the coveted Golden Boot that is awarded by UEFA, European soccer’s governing body.

Sánchez scored 38 goals for Real Madrid in the 1989-90 season.

Tigres is led by Argentine Head Coach Nery Pumpido, who steered Paraguayan club Olimpia to the 2002 Copa Libertadores title, the most prestigious club tournament in the Western Hemisphere.

“Tigres is playing Monterrey this Saturday, Pumas on Wednesday, and then América,” Rodríguez said. “So they’ve got a pretty big week ahead.”

Although Tigres have not lived up to last season’s performance and will have a busy week, they are not a club to be underestimated. UANL have a potent offense and are ranked second out of 20 Courtesy of www.tigres.com.mx teams in the league in scoring with 24 goals in 13 matches. Pumas are tied for Argentinean striker Walter Gaitán is one of Tigres’ most potent offen-

UTPA represent at Relays Broncs tennis face

By MATT HALL The Pan American

The NCAA men’s basketball championship, which was held in San Antonio, was not the only major collegiate sporting event going on in Texas.

The Texas Relays, the premier track event in the state, was held in Austin over the weekend and the University of Texas-Pan American track and field team took a handful of athletes to compete at the state capital.

Track Head Coach Ricky Vaughn believes his kids performed well, but also feels his team was overwhelmed by the competition.

“You have to learn to compete at the big meets.

Overall we had an OK meet,” Vaughn said. “We have to find the positive and negative things from that meet and improve on them by our next competition.”

Weslaco native and senior Hugo Cervantes finished 18th in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:52.75 and he looks to improve his time in the meets to come.

“I missed qualifying for an NCAA Regional by two seconds last year so I want to qualify,” Cervantes said. “Texas Relays was a stepping stone to get to my goal at the end of the season.”

Cervantes believes this meet was a learning experience and now he knows what it takes to compete at that kind of level.

sive weapons. Gaitán is one goal short of tying his 10-goal output of

See FUTBOL page 14 last season when Tigres reached the Finals and was runnerup.

“It was a good meet where you could see a higher level of competition so you can judge where you stand,” Cervantes said.

For senior Rashaad Ben it was a homecoming.

The Austin native started slowly, but finished strong and hurdled his way to a second-place finish in his heat and was 18th overall with a time of 14.35 in the 110-meter hurdles.

Ben was happy with the simple fact that he got to return home and compete at a high level in front of his friends, family, and former teammates.

“I want to give big shout outs to Coach Rob,” Ben said. “It was nice; it’s always good to run back at the homestead.”

Ben stumbled out of the blocks and feels that in big meets like this one you can not afford to have any mistakes.

“The hurdles are a technical race anyway and little mistakes affect you,” Ben said. “You have to be as perfect as possible.”

The Broncs will hit the road and travel to College Station to participate in the Texas A&M Invitational April 10.

Coach Vaughn hopes the experience gained this past weekend will help them compete at a higher level for the remainder of the season.

“This meet will be a big meet too,” Vaughn said.

“It’s going to be a highly competitive meet. Those who competed this past weekend will be able to compete at a higher level.”

tough week on road

By STEE RAMÍREZ The Pan American

The University of Texas-Pan American men’s tennis team (0-2 conference, 6-6 overall) is on the brink of being a serious contender in the Southland Conference and will be pushed to the limits this week with a slew of matches.

With the men’s team facing two conference opponents this week, Lamar (0-3 conference, 2-11 overall) and Southeastern Louisiana (1-1 conference, 6-7 overall), UTPA has an opportunity to jump ahead in the conference if they take advantage of their opponents’ records.

“We are ready for this weeks matches,” said Assistant Coach Kati Gyulai during a recent practice at the UTPA Cox Tennis Center.

The Broncs’ current two-game skid is not indicative to the way that they have performed this

season. Sitting at .500 overall, the men have garnered a stamp of legitimacy that should carry over into conference play.

With more than half of the season completed, Texas-Pan American will seek improvement in the win column of both the men’s and women’s teams.

In singles play, Gary Bianco (15-7), Oliver Steil (11-8), Jeremy Salvo (10-10), Rehman Esmail (8-7), Sebastian Aspillaga (7-5), Nik Porter (8-9), Tom Mangelschots (6-9) and Armando Martínez (1-7) will continue to improve barring injury.

The duo of Bianco-Esmail (5-2) spearhead the men’s doubles. The rest of the men’s tandems will be looking to bring life into the win column once this week is all set and done.

A possible factor that could physically be detrimental to

See TENNIS page 14

EVENTS

THURSDAY

Pan American Days

April 8, 2004 An Inside Look:

See Page 2 & 7 for details

TIPA awards It was a weekend that applauded a year’s work for student publications across Texas.

The 2004 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association held its annual convention in Austin April 1-3. With dozens of universities representing the pride of their publications, the University of Texas-Pan American proved it can run with the big schools.

Both The Pan American Newspaper and The Gallery Magazine won 3rd place Overall, awards honoring the achievement a student newspaper and magazine has accomplished with the entire production process. This year’s award marks the highest ranking the newspaper has accomplished.

At the prior convention, the newspaper ranked 8th in its division.

But the newspaper isn’t the only student publication at UTPA that received awards at the convention.

The Gallery, a literary magazine, took 2nd place in Sweepstakes for winning several awards for photos, illustrations, and the cover design.

Diana Corpus-Garza took third place for her action photo titled “Pasale Toro,” Sonia Y. Salinas received honorable mention for her cover design, Esteban Ortiz won 3rd place for his feature black and white photo titled, “February.”

Illustrators for the magazine also won 1st and 3rd places. Troy Stanley’s piece “Infinite Regression” and Gustavo Fonsela Olivarez’s “Marianifa” took the honors, respectively.

As far as writing, in the poem category Javier L. Salazar took an honorable mention for his entry “Kansas,” while Elizabeth V. Pena received the same honor for her short story “The Gypsies.”

Established in 1909, TIPA is the oldest collegiate student press association in the United States and includes various student newspapers, magazines, literary magazines and yearbooks. The association is not limited to the print world. It is also home to student radio and television stations.

This year nine Pan American staff members, and two Panorama Magazine members traveled to Austin and competed in the live competition.

Arianna Vazquez and Edwina Garza won in live, timed events that required the reporters to cover an event and write an article in an hour.

Ed Chrnko submitted to TIPA a piece of work from The Pan American sports section and received an honorable mention for his sports page design.

Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Newspaper-Overall 3rd Place Pan American Features Writing 1st Place Edwina Garza Spanish News Writing 2nd Place Arianna Vazquez Newspaper-Sports Page Design Sports Feature Honorable Mention Ed Chrnko

News ............................................2 ■ A & E............................................7 ■ Sports ........................................16 ■

Happy Easter!

T h e S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Te x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n

High turnout for SGA election

By CLARISSA MARTINEZ The Pan American Election results for The Student Government Association are in, and the results are a bit surprising to some.

According to Christina Carruthers, the days that were most popular for voting were highest on Monday and then again on Wednesday. A total of over 1,600 votes were received, and that expanded the administrators expectations, Carruthers commented.

Although the campaigns took a step forward concerning creativity –campaign material included tshirts promoting candidates and messages in chalk lining the walkways– a number of students still did not have the motivation to vote.

“I didn’t get a chance to vote this year,” Alex Medina, a freshman drama major said. “I was thinking about stopping at one of the posts, but I just never had the opportunity because I was busy with an exam and things came up during the day.”

Official results of the Student Government Association elections, held on March 29, 30, 31, and April 1.

President/Vice President Mike Jones and Adrian Sandoval 803* Nathan Schwartz and Nadya Maldonado 764

Graduate School No candidates

Senators-at-large Ben Abbitt Jose “Joe” Garcia Lara Goins Clarissa “Clari” I. Garza Cyntia “Cyn” Venegas Angelia Barrera

Science & Engineering Diana Elsa Ramirez Joey Nochols Maha Maglinao Omar Jasso

Arts & Humanities Oscar Garza Business Admistration Carina C. Garza Rebaca “Becky” Villanuela

968* 956* 919* 1044* 979* 843

189* 177* 166*

Education No candidates

Health Sciences & Human Services No Candidates

269* 276* 260* 258

Social & Behavioral Sciences No candidates Welness-Recreation Center Support Do not Support

1401* 217

Total Votes Invalid Votes

1686 34

Wellness promoted by UTPA staff

By ANGELA I. CANALES The Pan American It seems that in the last months, with fad diets and advertisements for weight loss pills, people have become more aware of the increase in obesity and other related health issues.

With the nation and state taking steps to a healthier living, The University of Texas-Pan American is doing its part in promoting fitness and wellness on campus.

Gov. Rick Perry is challenging all Texans to get physically active by joining the Texas Round-Up. As the Provost’s Initiative on Campus Wellness, which directly targets faculty and staff, UTPA has been registered to be part of this movement to a healthier living.

“The initiative that we have started through my office, is really to try and create a greater level of awareness about the need to engage in activities that improve the health and well-being of the members of the faculty and staff,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rodolfo Arevalo.

Arevalo explained that the reason

behind trying to host has to do with the fact that in the last three years, there has been a large mention in the media about the growing lack of fitness of individuals.

Specifically, there has been a number of articles written about the level of obesity found in the Rio Grande Valley. The Valley’s growing problem with diabetes has also been linked to diabetes.

Health issues are not the only reason that is motivating the university to concentrate more on fitness and wellness. The

university would also be losing money if faculty or staff were to miss work due to health related issues.

“We are trying to both provide education about health and wellness as well as the opportunity for staff and faculty to become engaged in health and wellness [activities],” said Arevalo. “I think it is very important because like any large organization, the ability of the organization to reduce the amount of downtime because of illness either by staff or faculty helps us in terms of improving the quality of life. However, indirectly it assists the Franco Caballero/The Pan American university because we have less of an expense SIGN UP— Freshman Ruby because people are Saldaña and son Gabriel register gone.” for Tuesday’s wellness event at the In terms of faculty events in this area

Quad.

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