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Thursday October 15, 2009
Volume 91, No. 31 www.theshorthorn.com
Since 1919 INDEX News...............2,4,6 Calendar...............2 Sports..................3 Classifieds ...........5 Pulse....................B
An Apple A Day
Pulse gives easy and on-the-go tips to eliminate fast food and include healthy options in your diet. PULSE | SECTION B
GRADUATE STUDIES
GRADFest answers the tough questions About 350 attended information sessions to learn about grad school, including getting in and covering the cost. BY ANDREA SILVERS The Shorthorn staff
GRADFest offered help Wednesday to students and professionals concerned that graduate admission would be difficult and costly. Representatives from the Office of Graduate Studies, the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, UTA graduate departments
and 36 other schools were available to inform about the realities of graduate school in the University Center Palo Duro Lounge and upper level. About 300 students and 50 nonstudents attended. DeSoto resident Meredith Fleming said she was looking into schools online when she found out about GRADFest. “I’m a homemaker now, but I’ve been really interested in coming back to school,” Fleming said. “My undergraduate degree is in biology, but I want to go to grad school for communications, so my biggest question today was
about what hurdles I’m going to have to jump over to get admitted.” Fleming and others attended an alumni panel discussion where the speakers described their experiences with changing majors for graduate school and taking time off between their degrees. A few speakers said having an unrelated degree shouldn’t deter anyone from applying for a graduate program. During the event’s roundtable discussions, representatives from Graduate Student Services answered questions about qualifying for graduate school.
“The biggest thing I try to tell undergraduates is that it’s never too late to start working toward getting into grad school,” said Joslyn Krismer, graduate student services assistant director. She said students without requisite grade point averages can sometimes get in on a probationary basis. Krismer said other factors like letters of recommendation, test scores and grade improvement can matter as much as a GPA. GRADFEST continues on page 4
COMMENCEMENT
Summer graduates can walk in fall August ceremonies are dropped to focus on fall and spring due to low turnout. BY ROSA MARTINEZ The Shorthorn staff
Administrators cancelled summer commencement ceremonies two weeks ago but are still trying to get the word out to the university community. The August ceremony was cancelled for the low number of graduates in the summer, people not wanting to participate and the high rate of no-shows, said Amy Schultz, communications and community relations associate vice president. The cancellation will not affect students’ academic achievement. Administrators have already attempted to inform students through the TrailBlazer newsletter and e-mail. Schultz said candidates can attend a ceremony in the December, following their summer term. Students filing for graduation in the summer will receive individual notices about the cancellation. “We are hoping we can cre-
NUMBER OF SUMMER GRADS Summer 2009 – 754 Summer 2008 – 804
Source: University spokesperson Kristin Sullivan
ate an even more celebratory environment in December and May,” Schultz said. Schultz said the funds will go to other university programs and to make sure students are aware of the change. She said students would be best served by putting on two great ceremonies and not diverting financial and staff resources. The ad hoc commencement committee, which plans UTA’s commencement ceremonies, created www.uta.edu/commencement to help prospective graduating students find basic information, and it will serve to continue spreading the cancellation news. By using this Web site, committee members discovered that a large number of
The Shorthorn: Rasy Ran
Business management senior Everett Walker models fall clothing on Wednesday at Kalpana Chawla Hall. The Strut for a Cause fashion show displayed party, fall and pink clothing in promoting breast cancer awareness.
Fashion with a Cause Event includes catwalk to raise cancer awareness
GRAD continues on page 6
BY WILLIAM JOHNSON
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
Discrimination, equality focus for GSA speakers Personal experiences and gay marriage were also highlights of the discussion. BY JOHNATHAN SILVER
C
The Shorthorn staff
ameras immediately flashed as the catwalk opened to the theme of Jay Z’s “Run This Town.” Onlookers crowded the sides of the Kalpana Chawla Hall courtyard as seats quickly filled for the beginning of the Strut for a Cause fashion show. Senior resident assistant Gabrielle Aguilar worked in unison with senior RA Wendy Okolo to create a program that entertained and informed students about breast cancer. “My job is to focus all of my programming on what I can provide for my students,” Aguilar said. “Including them is natural to me, I wouldn’t look anywhere else.” Industrial engineering sophomore Willie Dennis
walked the catwalk with confidence, chin up, shoulders back and looking straight ahead. He said he’s never done anything like this before, but it felt like everyday walking to him. He did it because Okolo asked him, but had a good time, he said. “I felt pretty comfortable on the catwalk,” Dennis said. Okolo said she saw Brazos House’s bra bridge, where residents hung underwear from trees in front of the house to promote breast cancer and testicular cancer awareness, but wanted to add something else to the cause. “We’re making sure that men and women know about this,” Okolo said. “This could be your mother or your sister, who might need this information.” FASHION continues on page 4
The Shorthorn senior staff
While one speaker told his account of growing up as a gay Jew and dealing with discrimination, another directed attendees to take action and forward the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender agenda, during Wednesday talks sponsored by UTA’s Gay-Straight Alliance chapter. Architecture assistant professor Douglas Klahr talked about how gay Jews were further marginalized compared to heterosexual Jews during the Holocaust. Robert Moore said a very personal problem he deals with is marriage equality. Moore is owner and publisher of Dallas Voice, a newspaper geared toward the Dallas gay community. “I’ve been with the same man for 18 years and this ring is just as precious as the ring my sister wears,” Moore said. “But I’ve been told that this ring isn’t precious to me.” Until 1967, interracial marriages were illegal and around the same time, nearly 70 percent of Americans were against such unions, he said. Luckily, the U.S. Supreme Court voted down all laws prohibiting mixed marriages, Moore said. Fundamental rights shouldn’t be voted on, he said.
INTERNATIONAL
Medical costs force student home Recovering coma patient Lijing Liu will fly home to China with her family this week as her condition continues to slowly improve. BY TEMICCA HUNTER The Shorthorn staff The Shorthorn: Tim Crumpton
Architecture assistant professor Douglas Klahr presents a slide show about the prejudices the homosexual community has faced since the Nazi regime on Wednesday in the University Center Rosebud Theatre. The talk was sponsored by UTA’s Gay-Straight Alliance chapter, which holds meetings every Wednesday from noon-1 p.m.
“For African-Americans there was the Emancipation Proclamation and the Voting Rights Act,” he said. “For me it was June 2003, when the Supreme Court said that outlawing homosexuality beGSA continues on page 4
After three months spent a coma, electrical engineering graduate student Lijing Liu continues to show improvement, but high medical costs forced her family to move her back to China. Liu’s father, Jun, said the decision was hard, but it’s the best option. Biology graduate student Qi Wang, who has helped raise money for the family during the last several weeks, said the family has connected with the local government in China to get help at the hospital in their hometown. “The doctor said that her future recovery will be slow, and it’s easier to take her back home,” Jun Liu said. Liu, her mother and a nurse will travel back to China on a 20-hour flight this week. Her father will fly back separately. Liu suffered a stroke in mid-July due to a intracranial hemorrhage that caused her to go into a coma. A congenital condition of the brain called arteriovenous malformation caused the hemorrhage.
Although Liu Lijing Liu, made improveelectrical ments over the last engineering few weeks, the docgraduate tors said it may still student take several months for her to fully wake from the coma and even longer for her to fully recover. She can now breathe on her own without help from a breathing machine, and can respond to people in the room. She also can move her head, eyes and recognize her family’s and friends’ faces. Linda Lian, Chinese Baptist Church member who visited Liu in the hospital three times, called her improvement “a miracle.” Lian found out about Liu through a nurse at the hospital, who is a member of Lian’s church, and wanted to help the family. She and her church have donated about $4,000 for Liu’s care. Lian said Liu is very emotional and cries when her family leaves the room. LIU continues on page 6