WEDNESDAY October 7, 2009 Vol. 92 • No. 18 ONLINE:
www.therambler.org
The Rambler The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917
Smoking ban petition stirs up controversy Campus Life, page 4
Time to go haunted house hunting in the Metroplex A&E, page 5
Statue poised to breathe new life into school spirit Jonathan Resendez
jlresendez@mail.txwes.edu
Texas Wesleyan will soon have more than 5 feet and 300 pounds of school spirit. The Student Government Association will unveil a new bronze ram statue next month with the anticipation that it will raise campus pride. Heath Scott, president of the SGA, said the statue is the first element of their three-part agenda for the year, which also include campus security and beautification. The statue will be used to spearhead the SGA’s school spirit initiative. “It really frustrates me as student body president when I walk around the campus, and I don’t see the alma mater,” Scott said. “I don’t see any blue. I don’t see any gold. I don’t even see a ram.” With school spirit lacking, Scott said he hopes the ram will be the first step in getting people to be proud of going to school at Wesleyan. The SGA hopes to “flood” the campus with blue and gold, as well as the alma mater and Wesleyan Flame. “More spirit would make us more well known,” said Virginia Morales, freshman biology major. “The school would receive more recognition like Texas Christian University. So when someone says ‘Texas Wesleyan,’ people will know where it is.” Marcus Johnson, a sophomore undecided major, said Wesleyan could improve school spirit by raising an interest in athletics or getting a football team.
The bronze ram statue is scheduled for unveiling this month after plans for its placement are finalized.
“We need more students to go here and try to become something other than doctors or lawyers,” he said. Sports may actually be a key factor in raising school spirit levels, said Scott, who hopes to establish “spirit crews” or “ram crews” for this year’s
basketball season. “I want a group of students [to go to the games] who paint themselves and put on all the Wesleyan gear and act crazy,” he said. “We’ll have coordinated yells and cheers and stuff like that.” The SGA and Pati Alexan-
dean of the school of natural and social sciences. Daniell was hired as dean of the school of arts and letters, a position well suited for him given his past. While growing up in Lubbock, Daniell decided early on to attend nearby Texas Tech,
linois at Urbana-Champaign and traveled to Paris. “I was sort of the English language resource for the high school, as well as an in-class aide and/or teacher,” he said. The school was Lycée Condorcet in La Varenne-SaintHilaire, an eastern suburb of Paris. “I also helped the terminales [seniors] prepare for the English portion of their bachalauréat [exit] exams,” he said. In addition to teaching, Daniell spent the year taking courses in French literature and traveling around northern and eastern France. In 1988 he traveled to Quebec, Canada, for a six-week summer study program just before beginning his dissertation on French-Canadian literature. He met his wife Lauren on Île d’Orléans, just down river from Québec City. They were married in 1991, the same year Daniell earned his PhD in French literature, also from the University of Illinois. In 1991 Daniell began his
Wesleyan says bonjour to new dean of arts and letters Eunice Nicholson
emnicholson@txwes.edu
When walking into the office of Dr. Steven Daniell, dean of the school of arts and letters, visitors will find bright red Canadian maple leafs peeking out from various spots. The French books stacked neatly on his conference table show the native Texan’s passion for French language and literature. Daniell has come home to lead Texas Wesleyan’s newly created school of arts and letters after working and studying in the United States, France and Canada for more than 20 years. “Dr. Daniell has a strong background in liberal studies, good experience at research institutions and a good positive outlook towards managing change,” said University President Dr. Harold Jeffcoat. “I expect him to identify and promote some key academic programs with arts and letters that could emerge as graduate programs.” The old school that encompassed arts and sciences split into two last year. Dr. Trevor Morris was hired as
Office of Communications Dr. Steven Daniell
where he initially studied physics, literature and French. “I found that I liked [the arts] a lot more,” Daniell said. “I liked writing more than math and science, and I was good at languages.” He then pursued his master’s degree in French literature at the University of Il-
DEAN, page 3
der, vice president for enrollment and student services, started working on tracking down a ram statue in the summer. After scouring the Internet for five hours, Scott stumbled upon largeart.com, the largest marble and bronze dealer in the country.
Jonathan Resendez | Rambler Staff
An hour of negotiating eventually led to the purchase of the $3,000 statue. Other prospective sculptors and companies wanted to charge as much as $10,000 or more, Scott said. The statue’s unveiling in front of the Brown-Lupton
center is scheduled for October. An exact date will be set after maintenance completes its process of taking bids. It is also to-be-determined whether the ram will be placed on a concrete slab or mounted on
SPIRIT, page 3
Jonathan Resendez | Rambler Staff More than 90 percent of soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army were abducted as children.
Invisible Children revealed at TWU Jonathan Resendez
jlresendez@mail.txwes.edu
A soldier fitfully sleeps with his weapon nearby. He is vigilant. He’s never sure when he will need to defend himself or be called upon to take up arms against the enemy – to once again experience the violent recoil of his gun, to once again haphazardly risk his life, his future, in a war that he did not cause. He is not a U.S. soldier. He is a soldier in the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, and he’s 8 years old.
In the United Sates, a typical 8-year-old is finishing up the second grade – learning multiplication tables and words for the weekly spelling test. In Texas, he by law must sit in a booster seat while riding in a car. He might go to a Cub Scout meeting or soccer practice after school, not target practice with a gun designed for men more than twice his size. Instead of a teddy bear or a security blanket, he’s forced to snuggle with a fully automatic rifle. According to the Invis-
ible Children documentary, 2 million people have died and 5 million people have fled Uganda in the 20-year war between northern and southern Uganda. Children are frequent victims in this war. Rebecca Moore, sophomore English major, first learned of the plight of the children of Uganda three years ago when she watched Invisible Children, a documentary filmed in 2003 by three southern California men in their 20s who exposed the horrors of
FILM, page 3