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Tuesday November 3, 2009
Volume 91, No. 42 www.theshorthorn.com
Since 1919 INDEX Calendar News Scene Classifieds Sports
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Piece By Piece Art students work on themed projects every week to SPORTS | PAGE 6 inspire their end-of-the-semester piece.
TEXAS
Eminent domain for vote today The vote on Proposition 11 could restrict the government’s ability to take property from land owners. BY LATAISHA JACKSON The Shorthorn staff
Charles Knerr, political science associate professor, said his Arlington property was taken about seven years ago for flood prevention.
The use of eminent domain and the following compensation was fair, he said. Texas voter will decide today on changing the eminent domain laws in a proposition that Knerr said he endorses — mainly because he doesn’t believe it will change anything. Proposition 11 will amend the Texas Constitution to limit private property from being taken for transfer to a private entity or to increase taxable revenue, according
to the Texas Secretary of State Web site. It will also require a two-thirds vote by members of each house to grant the power of eminent domain. “They are just trying to clarify the seizure of property,” Knerr said. If this amendment was passed before the Cowboys Stadium was built, the facility would not have the land, political science professor Jose Gutierrez said. “The taxpayers would [benefit],” he
Lighting Diversity
MORE COVERAGE For a list of the propositions see page 2.
said. “Jerry Jones wouldn’t, of course he already has his stadium.” He said he supports the proposition. Taxpayers will benefit from its passage, which would stop developers from gaining DOMAIN continues on page 3
SCIENCE
Students meet health profession programs Open House featured more schools than last year, participants say. BY VINOD SRINIVASAN The Shorthorn staff
The Shorthorn: Rasy Ran
Nursing sophomore Anthony Ngoo takes down decorations at the end of Lighting of the Lanterns on Monday at the University Center Palo Duro Lounge. The festivities kicked off Asian Heritage Month and featured halo-halo, which is a Filipino dessert, a trivia game and Asian board games.
Asian Heritage Month kick-off event brings in various nationalities BY ARIONNE WELLS The Shorthorn staff
As the Lighting of the Lantern” parade marched to the University Center, participants recreated the drum beat and vocalized the background instruments from Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” The Monday night event kicked off Asian Heritage Month. Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated in the U.S. in May, but UTA observes it in November due to spring’s finals week and graduation. The activities, which include a movie night, are a program of the Student Affairs Division and are largely hosted by the Multicultural Mavericks. About 100 attended Monday’s event. A preview of the month-long celebration was given and month chair Marie Padua opened the ceremony. Asians comprise 10.6 percent of the university student population, according to the fact book. Nine out of the top 10 countries of origin for international students are Asian countries. Padua named a few organizations on campus that embrace cultural education of Asian history and thanked members.
Organizations on campus that assisted with the planning include Filipino, Korean and Vietnamese student associations. The opening ceremony in the UC’s Palo Duro Lounge featured an Asian trivia wheel, music, games and refreshments. Among the beverages and food were rice milk, eggrolls and halo-halo. Halo-halo is a popular Filipino dessert similar in consistency to an Icee. Typical ingredients include condensed milk, ice, macapuno or coconut strings, and nata de piña or pineapple jelly. The turnout was diverse, Padua said. “We are about Asian education, and many of the members of the planning committee were of different nationalities, and they really enjoyed participating,” she said. Multicultural Affairs director Leticia Martinez said organizers embraced the nationalities attending and everyone is welcome to attend every celebration. “Turnouts like this are a direct result of students getting invested in learning about each other cultures, because it is not just the Asian community here tonight,” she said.
UPCOMING EVENTS Cultural Movie Night: Gandhi 6:30 p.m. Thursday Rio Grande, University Center Asian Arts and Crafts Noon Friday Student Congress Chambers Night at the Market 6:30 p.m. Monday Bluebonnet Ballroom, UC Most Awesome Extreme Challenge 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17 Bluebonnet Ballroom, UC
Some students of other nationalities besides Asian were there to show support for their friends. “It’s a good thing that they come together during this month and unite,” Diana Lopez, international business and finance senior. Martinez said the organizers raised the bar for inclusion, and it showed. “You can look around tonight and see the diversity,” she said. “It just shows that everybody can participate.”
After working in a hospital’s emergency care his freshman year, biology senior Wally Ayankola knew he wanted to work in the medical field. To encourage students like Ayankola to pursue medical careers, the Science Constituency Council held their second annual open house on Monday. Representatives from almost 20 graduate schools from around the country came to the University Center Bluebonnet Ballroom to recruit interested students to their respective programs. Council Vice President Taha Muntajibuddin said the event let the more than 135 attendees interact with professional colleges. “Students can talk and receive information about the particulars in their respective fields of interest thanks to the variety of representatives we have,” he said. Ayankola said he has already attended interviews with medical schools but was interested in the information from Parker College of Chiropractic and free test preparation for the Medical College Admission Test. “It opened my eyes to chiropractic school,” Ayankola said. “They had a lot more schools present this year than last time, plus there wasn’t a free MCAT course raffle.” Ayankola referred to the presence of Kaplan and the
Princeton Review who both offer standardized test preparation classes. Amanda Speir, Princeton Review marketing manager, raffled off a MCAT or Graduate Record Examination course. She said students should take advantage of preparatory colleges because graduate exams are mandatory to get in graduate schools. “The GRE is like the SATs on steroids for adults,” Speir said. Shadi Rahmani, Parker College of Chiropractic recruitment manager, said open houses are important to study in health profession schools. “It has a great impact when we can put a face to an application and remember that that person showed interest in our college by meeting with us beforehand,” she said. “We attend these events to have a presence and show what we have to offer.” Marketing junior Broadrick Umeh said he wants to attend dental school because teeth have always fascinated him. “Even though there weren’t any dental schools here I was still able to talk to medical school representatives who put me in contact with dental school representatives,” he said. Muntajibuddin said he considers this event more successful than last year’s. “We were much more put together and actually one of the schools said we had one of the most organized open houses they had attended,” Muntajibuddin said. VINOD SRINIVASAN news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu
ARIONNE WELLS news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu
STUDENT LIFE
Gamers prepare for zombie attack Attendees take part in scenarios that encouraged team spirit, mobility and human survival. BY WILLIAM JOHNSON The Shorthorn staff
Zombies taught their human prey a lesson Friday night to help prepare for
the real thing. Angry shouts, barbaric howls and Nerf darts rained against the Maverick Activities Center’s walls in what Gamers on Campus advertised as 2009 Zombie Survival Training Day. The group provided free training scenarios on what to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse. “You learn valuable lessons in avoid-
ing the dead,” said Stephen Scott Ferebee IV, Gamers on Campus president. Humans wore flag belts around their waists. Once a zombie pulled a flag the human died, waiting for the next round. When a human shot a zombie, the zombie died and was allowed to ZOMBIE continues on page 3
The Shorthorn: Morganne Stewart
Sarah Curtis, International American University admissions recruiter, talks to students about attending the IAU College of Medicine graduate school during the Science Constituency Council Open House on Monday in the University Center Bluebonnet Ballroom. The event catered to students wanting to continue their education in medical field.