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Thursday October 21, 2010
Volume 92, No. 33 www.theshorthorn.com
Since 1919
Head strong
Parks and Rec
Learn about the more than 4,000 acres of romping grounds in parks across Arlington.
A professor and the university look to tackle the serious effects of concussions. SPORTS | PAGE 4
PULSE | SECTION B
FACILITIES
Eastside development renamed The university awaits approval from the UT System for the ‘College Park District’ name. BY AMANDA GONZALEZ The Shorthorn staff
International business freshman Kaitlin Booher lives in Arlington Hall, eats at Connection Cafe, stud-
ies in the Central Library, attends sporting events in Texas Hall, shops at Walmart and lounges all over campus. The east side of campus is progressively changing from parking lots into the College Park District through the development of 20 acres of land that will house College Park, The Green at College Park and the
College Park Center. The Special Events Center and Center Street Green were renamed College Park Center and Green at College Park to create a cohesive area branded for students called the College Park District. In November, a formal request will be made to the UT System Board of Regents to seek approval of
the name change. With the College Park District opening in phases this fall and with completion set for 2012, it will allow Booher and other students to unify every day activities to one location. Booher said this central area helps to create a place to meet the many needs of students and ultimately create a college town feel.
Bare bone art
“I’m excited to be able to just walk across the street and go shop or go to the games instead of walking all the way to the MAC or to Texas Hall,” she said. “It’s going to be fun and I like the park. I think it’s going to be cool.” All three entities will transform
MILITARY
‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ reinstated The policy experiences a tug of war between judge and appeals court. BY NATALIA CONTRERAS The Shorthorn staff
Painting junior Jon Ashcraft discusses the charcoal piece he contributed to at the Figuratively Speaking exhibit Wednesday at Gallery West. “It was interesting,” alumna Anna Atteberry said. “I know one of the other people he worked with. They seemed to have some issues with timing, but they pulled it together.”
Skeletons are the theme of an exhibit at Gallery West Twenty-eight Life Drawing students used charcoal, graphite and ink to create eight works of art that incorporated super-imposing skeletons over figures. The students from the spring and summer II classes of drawing assistant professor Michelle Murillo presented their work at the Figuratively Speaking: Collaborative Drawings by Life Drawing Students exhibit on Wednesday night. The exhibit runs until Friday at Gallery West, located in the Studio Arts Center at 800 S. Davis St., by the Police Building. Murillo said the assignment was a valuable learning tool because it was a challenge to recreate master drawings. “I feel there are a lot of discoveries when students are able to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other,” she said. The exhibit features art works that were created corrobora-
tively by three to four students per piece. Painting junior Jon Ashcraft said it was kind of hard to schedule time with his group to complete the piece but had fun creating it. “I wanted to do something wacky, something off the wall, something just really crazy, grungy and from the gut. That’s what my art is all about,” he said.
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Friday Admission: Free
Assistant professor Michelle Murillo’s Life Drawing students Elizabeth Fieler, Maggie Moore and Neftali Nunez (not pictured), show their collaborative piece for the Figuratively Speaking exhibit Wednesday at Gallery West. The artwork will be on display at the gallery until Friday.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY MICHAEL MINASI ALUMNI
UTA reaps hefty private donations Development board was revamped with the help of the monetary gifts. BY J.C. DERRICK The Shorthorn senior staff
The UTA Development Board is making the university’s philanthropic mission a reality by seeking to involve alumni and private donors in
the UTA’s future success. “Our development board serves as a window into the rest of the world,” said Provost Donald Bobbitt. “They help us look at ourselves to make sure everything that we are doing meet the goals and vision that we have set for the institution.” Those goals include building a base of financial support at UTA, which does not have a
Physics freshman Micheal Moose joined the U.S. Army in 2004 and in 2009 decided to leave. He had to lie about being gay. He couldn’t stand not being himself. Last week, in Riverside, Calif. federal Judge Virginia Phillips suspended the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy because she said it is unconstitutional and violates 14th Amendment rights. However, after the U.S. Justice Department asked to suspend the ruling on Wednesday, a federal appeals court reinstated “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a policy forbidding openly gay troops from serving. A three-judge panel granted the department’s request, allowing the pol-
icy to remain so the appeals court could consider the issues presented. According to reports, the department argued that changing the policy abruptly risks causing significant immediate harm to the military and its efforts to implement an orderly repeal of statue. “It is ridiculous that they’re going back and forth with this,” Moose said. “Either they need to accept them or not. It’s not fair for the applicant or the tax payer, they are wasting peoples’ time and money by doing this.” LaShonda Walker, Dallas Battalion public affairs chief, said prior to the Wednesday ruling, recruiters were accepting and processing applications from openly gay applicants. “Recruiters are not asking about the applicant’s sexual orientation, but MILITARY continues on page 3
STUDENT LIFE
FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING: COLLABORATIVE DRAWINGS – LIFE DRAWINGS Where: Gallery West
REBRAND continues on page 6
history of strong philanthropic support. The recent progress has been evident. UTA announced last week that it nearly tripled the amount of yearly gifts and pledges made to the university, rising to $15.2 million in fiscal 2009-10 from $5.9 million the previous year. BOARD continues on page 3
CONTRIBUTIONS • • • •
1895 Society - individuals donating at least $1,000 Carlisle Society - endowments Edward E. Rankin Legacy Society - estate giving Nedderman Society - faculty and staff giving
Postseason supercedes attendance Briggs said the games’ outcomes also have an effect on efficiency. He cites the marketing concept of ‘Identification.’ BY VIDWAN RAGHAVAN “Basically, the success The Shorthorn staff of the team is seen by the With the Texas Rang- fan as a personal success,” ers and New York Yankees Briggs said. “But it also facing off, some students’ goes the other way. The attention is divided in the team’s loss is seen as a classroom. When a fan’s personal one.” Assistant management team reaches a high level professor George of success, fans’ said holdproductivity is For coverage Benson ing attention in likely to go down if they aren’t care- of the game classrooms is better now than it ful, marketing assee page 5 used to be. sistant professor People used to Elten Briggs said. He said since the em- call in sick to their place ployees and students are of work or school, he said. “Now they watch the psychologically at the game it reduces produc- game online, so they’re still working, just less tivity. “It does affect produc- than usual,” he said Benson said he noticed tivity, but only for a segment of the population,” PRODUCTIVE continues on page 6 he said.
Baseball playoff games affect productivity, says assistant professor.