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a r l i n g T o n
Thursday october 22, 2009
volume 91, no. 35 www.theshorthorn.com
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Stepping Forward
index News Calendar Sports Pulse
2,3,6 2 4 B
read Pulse for info on the upcoming greek life-sponsored step show. pulse | sectiOn B
MetrOplex
Student vital in life sentences reversal District Attorney credits UT Arlington Innocence Network with crucial fact finding. By Ali MustAnsir The Shorthorn senior staff
Claude Alvin Simmons, Jr., 54, and Christopher Shun Scott, 39, were sentenced to life in prison in 1997. Friday, they will be free men. The UT Arlington Innocence Network helped. The group is part of the Innocence Project of Texas, an organization that reviews cases in hopes to overturn wrongful convictions. The network gave criminal justice junior Natalie Ellis the case to investigate. This is the first exoneration through the network, said John Stickels, UT Ar-
lington Innocence Network director and criminology and criminal justice assistant professor, in an e-mail. Craig Watkins, Dallas County district attorney, said his office worked with the Dallas Police Department to re-investigate the murder case of Alfonso Aguilar but recognizes the importance of the network’s contribution. “Without them, we wouldn’t have known about this case,” Watkins said. “Kudos to your students for having a dogged determination for justice.” Ellis said she was told to look for DNA evidence, but in this case there wasn’t any. She said she knew there was more evidence somewhere and was determined to find it. The two men were cleared of murder by an affidavit given by Alonzo Hardy. The statement implicated Hardy himself
Online exclusiVe Visit The ShorThorn .com to read more stories about the UT Arlington Innocence Network and the exonerees it has helped.
and another man in the crime. Watkins said police apprehended the two individuals who committed the crime. Hardy was already in prison for another offense and the other was arrested Wednesday morning. Ellis said she reviewed all court transcripts and police evidence and then spoke to Simmons and Scott. Her break came after receiving Project continues on page 6
OrgAnizAtiOns
Contest to name most spirited On Spirit Friday, groups will be judged on trivia and loudness, among others.
When And Where When: Noon, Friday Where: Central Library mall
By BryAn BAstiBle The Shorthorn senior staff
Students wearing orange and blue and singing a song to “shout our praises to the sky” will fill the Central Library mall on Friday. Spirit Friday, a day for groups to come together and compete for the title of most school spirited organization, begins noon Friday on the Central Library mall. They’ll compete in four areas: knowing the UTA fight song, university trivia, loudness and spirit apparel, such as wearing school colors. Participants will be judged on a 5-point system in
each category. The winner will get the title as the October Most Spirited Organization on Campus and will also be recognized at a banquet in May. Students can study up on university history by obtaining a free copy of “Traditions and Transitions” from the Student Governance and Organizations Office located in the University Center lower level. “Whether students express it or not, it has been in my experiSPirit continues on page 6
reseArch
New grants help pursuit of Tier One The funds will be used to study the effects of global warming on tundra soil and the increased shrub size in areas of Alaska. By VinOd sriniVAsAn The Shorthorn staff
A university professor has received two federal research grants to continue her work studying the climate change’s effect on the arctic tundra. Biology associate professor Laura Gough received two grants totaling more than $500,000 from the National Science Foundation in September. Gough has been traveling to northern Alaska for the past 12 years and will return next summer funded by the grants. Biology lab technician Carol Moulton has worked with Gough for more than two years and said she learned a great deal. “She helped me with gaining knowledge on how to do research,” Moulton said. “I was able to ask questions and have scientific discussions thanks to her.” Moulton said federal grants include funding GrantS continues on page 3
The Shorthorn: Rasy Ran
juggling Act Business administration Dena Price pushes a stroller carrying her 10-month-old son, Chaunce, Wednesday as her daughter Chloe, 6, follows, outside the University Center. Price left Ransom Hall after working on literature homework while juggling motherhood and school by bringing her kids to campus.
Band of sisters
speAker series
Women enrollment in ROTC exceeds brigade average By lAtAishA jAcksOn
T
The Shorthorn: File Photo
nursing senior Michelle Henry salutes in her fourth year in the ROTC program Sept. 3 in front of College Hall. Henry currently leads the Alpha platoon.
The Shorthorn staff
he Army Reserve Officer Training Corps and Maverick Battalion has more women enrolled this semester than the brigade average. Women make up 55 of the 166 ROTC cadets at the university. The 33 percent enrollment rate places the program above the 5th brigade average of 21.9 percent. The 5th brigade covers programs in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona and Missouri. Texas Christian University is part of the 5th brigade with a women’s enrollment rate at 33 percent. Women’s military involvement is increasing, but women are the minority in the ROTC program and the Army. The U.S. Army active duty recruitment is up to 16.28 percent, Lt. Col. Tom Matchin, Jr. said. Senior cadet Jaime Sale said women are becoming a more dominant in the culture than in the past. ROTC has allowed women since 1976, the same year West Point started admitting women. Before this time, women were only affiliated with the ROTC program as rotc continues on page 6
Political analyst David Gergen to discuss book The Maverick Speakers Series will feature senior political analyst David Gergen at 8 p.m. today in the University Center Bluebonnet Ballroom. The university made 1,000 tickets available on Oct. 7, and all sold out. University spokeswoman Kristin Sullivan said anyone interested in attending can check at the event to see if tickets become available. Gergen is a CNN political analyst and former adviser to four presidents. He will discuss his book Eyewitness to Power, and a book signing will follow the lecture. Sullivan said the series was started by President James Spaniolo to bring prominent speakers, who would inform and entertain, to the campus. The series is in its second season. Sullivan said the series is becoming more popular due to publicity from media outlets like KERA. “It’s free, which is unusual since these are national speakers coming to speak,” she said. Next up in the series is managing editor of Newsweek, Jon Meacham, who will speak on Nov. 16 at the Lone Star Auditorium in the Maverick Activities Center. “For anyone that doesn’t get to see this event, they can make plans to see Jon Meacham,” Sullivan said.
— Temicca Hunter