Volume 66, No. 30
THE PAN AMERICAN
July 15, 2010
Neighborhood memories in limbo
UTPA expansion will eventually effect local people Expansion Series: Part 2
By Benny Salinas The Pan American
Alma E. Hernandez/The Pan American
HOME SWEET HOME- Mary Esther Saldana has lived in her house on Robert Street since 1968. “It would be so hard for me to leave, this has always been home to me,” she said. Saldana’s property may eventually be purchased during Phase II of expansion.
The small house on Robert Street wears its colors proudly. The patriotism shines through in every bright red shutter on white paneling and in the red brick lining the driveway leading up to the American flag pole by the front door. Mary Esther Saldana stands by the door, half looking at her well kept yard, half looking out at what is now overflow parking behind the baseball stadium. “It’s been a lifetime I’ve lived here,” Saldana said. “I moved in when I got married in my early twenties and never really left.” Since her move in 1968, what were once open fields and neighborhoods have turned into the parking lots and expansions of the university. In front of her house there are only scattered houses, some occupied, some waiting to be torn down. Saldana’s property lies just past the land acquired under Phase 1 of UTPA’s plans for expansion, with the date for the start of Phase 2 still not set in stone due to budget concerns. As of now, the university has purchased 65 homes, approximately 85% of the first phase. “I suppose I would sell this house if the
SEE EXPANSION || PAGE 2
Paybacks continue; UTPA searching for $14.3 mil
By Roxann Garcia The Pan American A semester after scrambling to find over $7 million to return to its parents, The University of Texas-Pan American is now reeling over another round of cuts, as the UT System has mandated that each of its schools give back an additional 10 percent from its budgets. UTPA President Robert Nelsen, who succeeded interim president Charles A. Sorber in January, was quickly greeted with the news that Gov. Rick Perry and other state officials on the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), has asked all state agencies to return five percent of previously encumbered funds. The decision which includes universities throughout Texas originally meant UTPA would return $7.4 million plus account for an added $1.2 million in employee benefits the
El ballet folklórico ofreció un taller del 12 al 16 de julio.
state has paid in the past. However the LBB will add an extra 10 percent of returned funds for the FY year 2012-2013 on top of the five percent to further assuage the state shortfall, which is expected to be near $4 billion. The decision will officially be made when the Legislature meets in January. This means the university has to dish out an extra $10.6 million to cover the loss of state funds, plus $3.7 million in employee benefits will have to be accounted for during the FY year. The loss of those funds, plus the $7.4 million given back to the state, means a net loss of $21.8 million for UTPA. “Because the state pays employee benefits in proportion to the state appropriation versus tuition charged at the institutions,” reported J.C. Gonzalez, assistant vice president of
Hurricane Alex displaces students from Unity Hall and Bronc Village
business affairs and the budget director for the university, “as the state’s proportion grows smaller, more of the employee benefit costs get shifted to the institution.” Gonzalez further explained that the university is currently working to initiate budget cuts during the upcoming FY year 2010-2011, approaching in September, to spread the cuts over two FY years rather than “getting hit hard in one year.” One route the university has taken toward satisfying the state-mandated cuts is identifying 12 percent in general revenue for each division, from funding from the state. For example, Academic Affairs is the most expensive in terms of budget therefore its target is $7 million of the 12 percent. Other divisions include Enrollment and Student Services, Business Affairs and University Advancement.
AIKIDO Club welcomes UTPA community
“This is all still very tentative,” Gonzalez said. “It’s an ongoing process; we still need to assess with President Nelsen. It is then that we can figure out which programs we need to keep or which we can shift funds from.” President Nelsen has said no layoffs or furloughs are expected, although some individual salaries have been reduced. The Faculty Senate has agreed with the elimination of merit raises; therefore no one will get laid off, which has been a faculty/staff fear all along. Salary sweeps, a process by which the university tales allocated funds back for positions that have not been filled, will also be used. The
SEE BUDGET || PAGE 2
July 15, 2010 Vol. 66, No. 30
EXPANSION
THE PAN AMERICAN
continued from Page 1 university offered me the right price,” Saldana said. “But this is my home, it will always be.” Saldana, who after more than forty years in the area lovingly calls it hers, recalls what that area was before the university began growing. “I remember that overflow parking used to just be a field where the kids would play,” Saldana said. “They used to bury the pets there whenever one would die and have little processions
down the street.” Behind the field was a cattle rancher whose cows used to escape from time to time when the kids played. They were scared of the cows and would climb up the mesquite tree and stay there until the cows were shooed away, Saldana reminisced with a smile on her face. That mesquite tree is now the corner of Chavez and Robert Street, next to the house of Saldana’s best friend, who has lived there just as long. It is
one of the few occupied houses still left on the other side of the street. “People just pack up and leave once their house is bought, then the bulldozers come and just cave in the roof to tear it down,” Saldana said. A street down, on Elizabeth Avenue, tractors begin clearing the brush around a solitary pale blue home to prepare for future demolition. Saldana isn’t negative about the changes to her neighborhood though. “The people are really nice and we
never get any trouble from anyone,” Saldana said. “Like the kids next door, they moved in maybe 10 years ago and they’re really friendly.” Despite the good spirit with which Saldana has taken the changes, it’s hard to ignore the amount of history and emotional connections being replaced by parking lots. With the university’s current budget issues, however, Saldana may be able to hold on to her own piece of that history for a bit longer.
BUDGET
he said. “Once the added 10 percent decrease is approved by legislation in January, the university will likely look at another FY year of no merit raises. This means both faculty and staff will have no pay raise for three years [2010-2013].” Eyebrows have not only been raised about finances and pay, but also about the instruction each college will have to do without. If a faculty member leaves the university, the position remains unfilled. This furthers speculation that the decrease will eventually affect students.
“Students may face fewer courses or bigger sections because of the pressure to generate more revenue but it doesn’t help in the long run,” said the faculty member. “It’s a campus-wide issue.” Thus far the university has accumulated $5.5 million of statemandated funds with $1.7 million gathered through division budget cuts. The next step is to turn in a scheduled budget plan for the five percent reduction along with a separate plan for the 10 percent reduction. Both plans are to be submitted during the month of August for the Legislative session in January.
1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539 Phone: (956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122 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 paper or university.
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Kristen Cabrera kmcabrera22@gmail.com NEWS EDITOR: Roxann Garcia roxx.gar11@gmail.com ONLINE/SPANISH EDITOR: Denisse Salinas dns_145@hotmail.com
continued from Page 1 president suggested that hiring might slow down as a result of the budget crunch. “We may not be able to hire as many people as we have in the past,” Nelsen said. “We’ve definitely not been able to fill as many positions of faculty who have left or retired, but that will continue for the time being.” However faculty concern on campus is said to be rustling about the budget decrease and its effects on finances and instruction. An anonymous faculty member has felt concern much like other colleagues. “We have been told there will be no merit raise for FY 2010-2011,”
2
Exactly how much The University owes the state of Texas: $10.6 base reduction + $3.7 employee benefits = $14.3 this Fiscal Yr. $21.7 total net loss
ARTS & LIFE EDITOR: Victor Ituarte victor.ituarte@gmail.com SPORTS EDITOR: Sara Hernandez shernandez261@gmail.com PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR: Alma E. Hernandez alma.e.hdz@gmail.com SENIOR DESIGNER: Jennifer Tate jen489@gmail.com DESIGNERS: Alexis Carranza alexis091@aol.com Ashlynn Biel ashlynn.biel@gmail.com
Illustrated Commentary
ADVISER: Dr. Greg Selber selberg@utpa.edu ADMINISTRATIVE ASSOCIATE: Anita Reyes areyes18@utpa.edu ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mariel Cantu spubs@utpa.edu WEBMASTER: Jose Villarreal josemvillarrealcs@gmail.com
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Elias Moran/The Pan American
The Pan American accepts letters of 300 words or less from students, staff and faculty regarding recent newspaper content, campus concerns or current events. We reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar and length. We cannot publish anonymous letters or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks. Please send all story ideas to thepanamerican@gmail.com. Individuals with disabilities wishing to acquire this publication in an alternative format or needing assistance to attend any event listed can contact The Pan American for more details.
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News
July 15, 2010
THE PAN AMERICAN
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July 15, 2010
THE PAN AMERICAN
July 15, 2010
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UTPA Field House Project
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The University might consider inviting Ty Pennington, host of the popular television series “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” for a visit to the UTPA Fieldhouse to host his next show. The demolition of the interior of the gym that hosts Broncs basketball and volleyball games started the week of June 14 and will continue throughout this summer. Improvements made to the inside of the UTPA Fieldhouse are an attempt to enhance the appearance, safety, and overall game-day and event experience for the community, fans and alumni. UTPA Athletic Director Chris King is very impressed with the continuing work-in-progress. “We’re excited about this process; it’s going along fairly on schedule,” King commented. “The demolition project includes taking out the old court and replacing it with a new one. We should receive it (the new court) on tomorrow (Tuesday) and have it put in. The court must be acclimatized for a couple of days before it gets nailed to the floor.” Bleachers and chairs that symbolize many exciting historical moments and events are being removed one by one. This will make way for new courtside seats, chair-back seating on both the north and south sections, and new bench-bleachers in the top sections. Safety rails will also be installed along the stairways of each section to meet ADA regulations. “The bleachers will be state of the art, with comfortable chair-back seating on both sides of the gym,” King stated. “There will be a reduction of seats, but the good thing is that the luxury of the seating will be more appealing to the fan, thus accommodating the home-court advantage during games.” Along with the entire court being restored, the center court will be replaced by the updated UTPA Broncs logo and word mark. Also, new sponsorship panels with exciting graphics will be added to the décor of the
Broncs’ rejuvenated gym. These alterations will be the finishing touches to renovations for the new and improved UTPA Fieldhouse. According to King, the court and seating should be ready around Labor Day, just before the start of the 2010 Bronc basketball season. He said that the Lady Bronc volleyball team will use the gym facilities at the UTPA Wellness and Recreational Sports Complex to practice and for preseason, as well as the first home tournament of the season, which is Aug 27-28. “Recreational services (UTPA WRSC) have been great, allowing us to use their facilities for the volleyball team,” he said. “The volleyball coach (Angela Hubbard) has been a real trooper, understanding that we have to adapt to these changes brought on by the circumstances of the Field House demolition.” Economically, the UTPA athletic program could flourish with the changes made to its gymnasium, but King stressed that the renovations have been pursued primarily to ensure the safety of the athletes and fans. “First and foremost, the revamping of our gym was done because of safety issues. The bleachers were old, so that raised some concern,” he said. King continued to praise the potential of raising the bar and improving the athlete’s experience with the construction. “As far as the overall game-day experience, the changes will help enhance the environment. The athletes are excited about playing on a nice, new center court floating system,” King stated. He also mentioned that basketball players, for example, will feel like they are jumping higher than they actually are with the advantage of the new floating system-style court. The new court will be shock-absorbent, similar to an NBA-style basketball court.
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Alma E. Hernandez/The Pan Am
Photos by: Alma E. Hernandez, Daniel Flores, Hector Garcia
THE PAN AMERICAN
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July 15, 2010
THE PAN AMERICAN
July 15, 2010
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UTPA Field House Project
FA
Cou
f UTPA rtesy o
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Athletic
S: T C
ELD HO US E
The University might consider inviting Ty Pennington, host of the popular television series “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” for a visit to the UTPA Fieldhouse to host his next show. The demolition of the interior of the gym that hosts Broncs basketball and volleyball games started the week of June 14 and will continue throughout this summer. Improvements made to the inside of the UTPA Fieldhouse are an attempt to enhance the appearance, safety, and overall game-day and event experience for the community, fans and alumni. UTPA Athletic Director Chris King is very impressed with the continuing work-in-progress. “We’re excited about this process; it’s going along fairly on schedule,” King commented. “The demolition project includes taking out the old court and replacing it with a new one. We should receive it (the new court) on tomorrow (Tuesday) and have it put in. The court must be acclimatized for a couple of days before it gets nailed to the floor.” Bleachers and chairs that symbolize many exciting historical moments and events are being removed one by one. This will make way for new courtside seats, chair-back seating on both the north and south sections, and new bench-bleachers in the top sections. Safety rails will also be installed along the stairways of each section to meet ADA regulations. “The bleachers will be state of the art, with comfortable chair-back seating on both sides of the gym,” King stated. “There will be a reduction of seats, but the good thing is that the luxury of the seating will be more appealing to the fan, thus accommodating the home-court advantage during games.” Along with the entire court being restored, the center court will be replaced by the updated UTPA Broncs logo and word mark. Also, new sponsorship panels with exciting graphics will be added to the décor of the
Broncs’ rejuvenated gym. These alterations will be the finishing touches to renovations for the new and improved UTPA Fieldhouse. According to King, the court and seating should be ready around Labor Day, just before the start of the 2010 Bronc basketball season. He said that the Lady Bronc volleyball team will use the gym facilities at the UTPA Wellness and Recreational Sports Complex to practice and for preseason, as well as the first home tournament of the season, which is Aug 27-28. “Recreational services (UTPA WRSC) have been great, allowing us to use their facilities for the volleyball team,” he said. “The volleyball coach (Angela Hubbard) has been a real trooper, understanding that we have to adapt to these changes brought on by the circumstances of the Field House demolition.” Economically, the UTPA athletic program could flourish with the changes made to its gymnasium, but King stressed that the renovations have been pursued primarily to ensure the safety of the athletes and fans. “First and foremost, the revamping of our gym was done because of safety issues. The bleachers were old, so that raised some concern,” he said. King continued to praise the potential of raising the bar and improving the athlete’s experience with the construction. “As far as the overall game-day experience, the changes will help enhance the environment. The athletes are excited about playing on a nice, new center court floating system,” King stated. He also mentioned that basketball players, for example, will feel like they are jumping higher than they actually are with the advantage of the new floating system-style court. The new court will be shock-absorbent, similar to an NBA-style basketball court.
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Alma E. Hernandez/The Pan Am
Photos by: Alma E. Hernandez, Daniel Flores, Hector Garcia
July 15, 2010
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July 15, 2010
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‘Technophilia’ erotically confuses theater audiences
because of the way we handled the scenery, the production design and the performances,” declared Roberto Collado, the director of the Love for technology. That’s what play and also a UTPA alum. “I think I’ll be “technophilia” means. After a few scenes where getting some abrupt reactions.” men are aroused by televisions, computers, Collado explained that “Technophilia” was and electrical outlets to the point where they written by a local author who wants to remain kiss them, and in some cases a little bit more, anonymous; it was financed by the director’s brother the audience had no and produced with the support question they were about from UTPA, where the group to witness a love for rehearsed, and STC, where the technology never seen first three shows were held. before. Maybe a love “It was written by someone “The most beautiful things that goes beyond a mere that works here at the university in life are not tangible fetish, an affair between and offered us his help,” Collado men and technology. said. “Pan Am has been kind most of the time. You “This girl, Jenny, has her enough to lend us their space, canʼt quite describe them ex-boyfriend living with her, and since we know people at but there’s a rumor going STC, we’ve worked with them or name them or arrange around that he’s in a sex doing shows. We were able them in a way that you cult and the sex cult is that to schedule some shows and they love technology,” said rehearsals over there.” could store them so you 22-year-old stage manager The other performances could see again.” Dulce Navar, an alum of of “Technophilia” will take The University of Texas-Pan place at Ambiente in McAllen American. “Is he in it? Who’s on Friday, July 16 at 9 p.m. A in it? Who’s not? Everything final performance is scheduled else goes from there. We for Saturday, July 17 at Cine Roberto Collado can’t say too much because El Rey in McAllen at 9 p.m. Director it’s only an hour long.” “Technophilia” is a With all seats filled, production of the Nepantla and some people watching Arts Collective, a group of from the entrance hall, “Technophilia” went artists from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. under way in the Copper Center’s Blackbox at It’s a collective of different disciplines and arts, South Texas College last weekend. such as painting, photography, cinematography, There was an air of expectancy before the play. and theater among others, intended to provide a The audience entered the room and waited, not vast array of possibilities in art. knowing what to anticipate inside the black room “The actors that we auditioned and cast are not where the play would take place. Black walls, part of the collective, but we’re working with them, black curtains, black above and black below, where and it’s a really good ensemble,” Collado explained. the stage waited for the show to start. A stage that Nepantla, a word in Nahautl that means “in would’ve been like any other stage had it not been between,” is very commonly used by people doing for several metal frames that surrounded it. sociological border studies. Collado explained “We expect mixed reactions, especially that the collective was named Nepantla because it
By Yngrid Fuentes the pan american
Freddie Martinez/THE PAN AMERICAN BIG TURN-ON - Brod, (left) played by John Flores, begs Turner, the leader of a sex cult played by Jorge Chapa, not to steal a television from his girlfriend’s house in the play, “Technophilia,” on July 9 at South Texas College in McAllen.
represents them as people that reside on the border of two countries, living between two worlds. “We’re trying it out because we believe in it. We’re saying something that is really worth listening to, that is really worth analyzing, that has some social content,” Collado said. “That’s the main thing, I think that all the people that formed the Nepantla Arts Collective are in a spiritual journey and we’re serious about what we do and believe in what we do.” Collado thinks that the main purpose of theatre should be to create some sort of confusion, using emotions and ideas that people can’t quite put their finger on, that can’t be described. “The most beautiful things in life are not tangible most of the time,” he said. “You can’t quite describe them or name them or arrange them in a way that you could store them so you could see again. They’re more intuitive in nature; they come from a deeper place. That’s what we want to create with this play, we might have people walking out of it because it’s outrageous at some points, we might have people laughing their asses off, we might have people disturbed by it or affected by it.” The play indeed awakened a wide array of emotions. The faces of the audience went from sheer confusion to explosions of laughter and amazement. “The thing I liked the most is how abrasive it was. You really had to know where you were, not just as an audience member, but you had to know what you were looking at,” said Marcos
Martinez, a 21-year-old from San Carlos. “It made me think more than the usual play does, which is what I kind of enjoyed.” Some people felt the play represented another side of theatre that people should know other than Shakespeare. “It’s something so different, people need to just come and see it so they could get a feel on how different theatre could be at the same time,” said 25-year-old Patty Moreno of Pharr. “I think if people were to see this, they could see theatre can be a little bit more fun, a little bit more risky, and a little bit more controversial.” Once finished with Technophilia, the collective’s first project, the team will keep itself busy with new projects. “We’re going to be in pre-production for another play by a French author,” Collado revealed. “That would probably be our next theater project. We’re also going to be shooting some short films.” The play ended just the way it started, leaving a trace of confusion where people had to put themselves together to know what to do next not sure if it was over or just a change of scene. “The audience had no idea what the hell to do,” Martinez said. “That I really enjoyed because you shouldn’t have to know what to do, you can do whatever you want.” Still in their chairs, the audience waited, pondering whether to leave or keep waiting for more confusion, amazement, and displays of affection from this affair between men and technology.
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THE PAN AMERICAN
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July 15, 2010