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WEDNESDAY
March 25, 2015 Vol. 99 • No. 4
www.therambler.org The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917
INDEX Opinion 2 News 3 Campus 4,5 A&E 6 Sports 7,8
Mendez works for courtroom
Campus AROUND
Speaker series starts Tuesday Samantha Rodriguez srodriguez3@txwes.edu
The Marjorie Herrera Lewis Endowed Speakers Series kicks off with best-selling author David Thomas at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday in Martin Hall. Lewis, who worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covering Texas Wesleyan’s basketball team, and, later, the Dallas Cowboys, said the series would focus on sports figures, including former athletes, agents and screenwriters. “I know that Charlotte Jones Anderson, who is very high ranking with the Dallas Cowboys, has shown an interest in participating,” Lewis said. “I think we’ll be able to draw some really good practitioners who will have some wonderful stories and experiences to share with Texas Wesleyan.” Thomas, this semester’s speaker, was a student of Lewis’s when she taught at the University of Texas at Arlington and Lewis thought it would be poetic to have a former student who is now a New York Times best-selling author launch the series. Thomas is the author or co-author of eight books, the latest being Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother’s Murder, John du Pont’s Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold, which he coauthored with Mark Schultz. “Marjorie is someone I have a lot of respect for,” Thomas said. “She likes to help younger people and to have someone like that who’s willing to invest a little more time in students was a big confidence booster for me.” The series is public and free. There will be one speaker each spring and fall, Lewis said.
Annual cleanup scheduled for Saturday Melanie Mondoy
mrmondoy@txwes.edu
Cowtown Cleanup 2015 is right around the corner. Wesleyan students will be cleaning up the site at Vickery Boulevard and U.S. 287 at 8 a.m. on Saturday, according to Jasmine Tuya, coordinator of Student Activities and Leadership. The cleanup will give people a better impression of the site, Tuya said. Participating students should show up at the library at 8 a.m. They will receive a free T-shirt as well as a free lunch. To sign up, students should stop by the Student Project Center in the SUB.
Photo by Tyler Mendez This mock courtroom at the University of Texas at Dallas gives an idea of the courtroom SGA President Tyler Mendez wants to see on the Texas Wesleyan campus. Brianna Kessler bnkessler@txwes.edu
Student Government Association President Tyler Mendez graduates in May, and he wants to leave behind a legacy. That legacy is a space on the Texas Wesleyan campus for a mock courtroom where students can practice moot court, mediation, and similar competitions.
“This is something we need,” said Mendez, who will graduate with a political science degree with a pre-law emphasis and an English degree with a writing concentration. “For people that know how much the fire pit project meant to me--A LOT-then multiply that by ten.” The courtroom could also be used to host debate tournaments and serve as a classroom, Mendez said.
“Any student may use the space,” he said. “This would be good marketing for the school’s pre-law program. This would draw more student to the university. It would get our name out there, like another billboard.” Mendez and Stephanie Darbo, a political science major who graduated in 2012, started this
COURTROOM, page 3
Salih promotes global travel for students Jessica Liptak jliptak@txwes.edu
Dr. Halil Ibrahim Salih, professor of political science, has not just helped students at Texas Wesleyan, but has given them the opportunity to travel all over the world. Because of his passion to help students travel internationally and desire for students to learn, Salih, who has been teaching at Wesleyan since 1968, was given the President’s GEM Award in 2014. Salih is very involved with the Model Arab League, which helps students learn about the politics and history of the Arab world, as well as diplomacy and public speaking; he coaches Wesleyan’s MAL team. In December 2014, he was one of only five faculty from the U.S. selected as part of the 2014 Saudi Arabia Malone Fellowship delegation. “I was selected to go to United Arab Emirates and Oman in 1995 as an alumni fellow,” said Salih, who earned his doctorate degree in international studies from The American University in Washington, D. C.. “They periodically give you an opportunity to apply to go to another country. Most of the dates conflicted with my teaching in the fall and spring. And I couldn’t just leave my students for two weeks. So when they came up with the idea of professors going to Saudi Arabia it happened to be at Christmas vacation. This was ideal, so I applied.” The fellowship is designed to educate students about the Saudi Arabian government, culture, and
Dr. Halil Ibrahim Salih gives a lecture in an American Government class.
Photo by Erica Estrada
their business practices, Salih said. This is something that Salih hopes all his students can experience, which is why he coaches Wesleyan’s MAL team, which he started. Shortly after coming to Wesleyan, Salih ap-
proached the administration about sending him and students to the Model United Nations.
Benz also said that international students have continued to pour into the school because they need to have specialized training. “These countries need people in these areas of technological development,” he said. “Many countries are providing scholarships for international students to study math and science so that when they return they can fill the technological need.”
lump us with all the other private schools, and they think we are just as expensive as they are,” Henderson said. “So we have to help educate them and that’s what part of the campaign is about.” Wesleyan is starting to see more students from Dallas County because the campaign has increased awareness in that area, he said. “We have to get [potential students] to at least look at us, and then we can communicate to them that for a private school, we really are a good deal,” he said. Jonathan Morin, 20, is pre-med sophomore getting his undergraduate degree in biology. While he mainly came to Wesleyan to play on the baseball team, he says the school has a better community than other universities. “This school is really tight-knit,” Morin said who previously attended the University of Texas at Arlington. “At large universities everything is so cut throat and everyone is uptight.” Morin said Wesleyan is attractive because of the personalization with professors and coaches, and he is glad that the university is being upgraded. “I like the tight-knit family and the fact that it is easy to come and talk to the coach,” he said. “People at Wesleyan are friendlier and you see the same people and get to know them.”
SALIH, page 3
Natural and Social Sciences drive enrollment Valerie Spears vlspears@txwes.edu
Many students are starting to see the benefits of getting a career in a field that emphasizes technology, such as science and math. As a result, Texas Wesleyan’s enrollment continues to increase semester after semester. The School of Natural and Social Sciences has steadily been at the top of the enrollment charts, and has seen a 6.1 percent increase since the last academic year. The school includes 10 departments, ranging from biology to history to computer science. According to the Institutional Research office, the school saw an enrollment of 1,257 students in the 2014-2015 school year, up from the 1,180 students in the 2013-2014 school year. Bruce Benz, a professor of biology, said the increase is due to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, jobs increasing. “Anything that is basic science pays well,” he said. “Those student who graduate with an undergraduate degree in science are not subject to the same employment trends that other disciplines confront. So that’s why enrollments are maintained in STEM fields, because they are worth their weight in gold.”
“That’s why enrollments are maintained in STEM fields, because they are worth their weight in gold.” - Bruce Benz Dr. Allen Henderson, provost and senior vice president, said that the Smaller. Smarter. campaign and being located in the growing Dallas/ Fort Worth area has also helped enrollment. “One of the issues is that sometimes students