INDEX:
2|ENTERTAINMENT
3|CAMPUS
4|OPINION
6|AD
5|SPORTS
Thursday November 9, 2017 Volume 92 Issue 10
TAMUK SEES 7.8 PERCENT DROP IN ENROLLMENT Kaitlin Ruiz Copy Editor
Percentages are partial pictures, pieces of a puzzle. There are narratives behind numbers—which, for Fall 2017, amount to a decrease of 728 students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. This semester, enrollment at TAMUK shows a 7.8 percent decline. It’s a problem of numbers that requires the university to repackage its message to potential students. “Are we telling our story well enough to say, ‘This is what Kingsville will give you…and how can you chase your own dream?’” said Dr. Allen Rasmussen, interim provost.
On the 20th class day, 8,563 students were enrolled at TAMUK, according to the Office of Institutional Research. Last fall, overall enrollment rang in at 9,291. Enrollment is sliced-andstifled among two groups in particular: incoming freshmen and international grad-
uate students. This semester, the university has lost roughly $3 million in tuition and fees, connected to the drop in resident undergraduates and non-resident graduate students. Most enrollment loss is among international students seeking master’s degrees -
576, almost all in Engineering. In the past, “about 70 to 80 percent of our international students were [coming to TAMUK through] word-ofmouth,” Rasmussen said. However, applications, which began wavering last January, have continued to decline.
The political climate under the Trump administration has left some prospective students uncertain of their place in the United States. “Our international students are afraid to come to America,” President Steven Tallant said. “They’re afraid that if they come and have
to go back home, they won’t be able to get back in [the U.S.]. They’re afraid that if they come and get a degree, they won’t be able to stay and work.”
Enrollment continued on Page 3
A premature poof
Experiment goes wrong in Nierman Crystal Zamarron Editor-in-Chief
Photo by Crystal Zamarron
The air generators and hazard signs outside of Room 260 General Chemistry Lab due to the smoke
At about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7, Nierman Hall had to be evacuated because of a smoke bomb experiment gone wrong. No one was injured. On the 2nd floor in Room 260 General Chemistry Lab, a lab class was working on creating a smoke bomb as part of their assignment when it created heat and smoke instead of having the gold harden mold in the cup. “A red spark went off and then smoke was everywhere,” said Lindsey Angeli-
co, kinesiology major. There was no fire and nothing hazardous was released, said Officer Jesus Montes, University Police Department. Everyone was safe to go back inside after 30 minutes of safely securing the building by the UPD. “[A smoke bomb] got over-cooked in there which created smoke and everything caused the smoke alarms to go off,” Montes said. The students went back to class to continue their class time while air generators circulated the hallway. “We added sodium nitrate and [Juan Nava] stirred it. It was supposed to be cool, but
Program earns $5.2M Upward Bound targets area high schools Darcy Ramirez Managing Editor
Funding has arrived. Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s Upward Bound program has earned $5.2 million. The money received by the program will be divided and distributed into four different programs over five years. Each Upward Bound program provides high school students with academic tools like tutoring, advising, financial literacy, assistance in completing FAFSA, career explorations, cultural activities, campus visits, and guidance when applying for college. “The programs matricu-
Photo by Pablo Villanueva
University Police Department at the front of Nierman Hall responding to a smoke bomb experiment causing smoke throughout the building
he stirred it while it was hot. So it started to bubble and smoke,” said Kat Villarreal, environmental engineering major. Nava wasn’t too nervous about the experiment gone wrong. “It got really big and the
teaching assistant told me to get out of the way and it just blew up and smoke was everywhere,” said Nava, natural gas engineering major. “It was awesome.” Smoke was the ultimate outcome, just not indoors. “It was supposed to be a
normal mixture and after it cooled off we were supposed to take it outside and light it on fire out there, and the smoke was supposed to be a certain color,” Angelico said. “Reading directions is the key [to keep] in mind now.”
41st Annual Bilingual Conference
Building Cultural bridges through Bilingual Education C.R. Neal Reporter Courtesy photo
late students to higher education by bridging them at the university and fostering an institutional climate for success by preparing them from the ninth or tenth grade to recognize that college is for them and to provide rigorous curriculum that they commit to in the summer and provide experiences like dual enrollment,” Dr. Mary Gonzalez, associate vice president for the office of student access, stated in a press release. The money will fund two Upward Bound and two Upward Bound Math and Science programs. Each program will benefit 60 students who fit the program criteria. The students accepted into the programs must
be first-generation college students, come from low-income households or be at risk of dropping out. The Upward Bound program targets students who have or will face many obstacles in their life, and helps these struggling participants by creating an easier transition into a college-ready atmosphere. “I’m proud to be a product of Upward Bound. The program made such a huge impact in my life because of the academic and personal support I received from the UB Program Staff, teachers and mentors. The challenges
Upward Bound continued on Page 3
The Department of Teacher and Bilingual Education at Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK) held its 41st Annual Bilingual Conference from Nov. 2 – 4 at John E. Conner Museum and Kleberg Wildlife Center. The conference focused on building bridges of acceptance and inclusion through bilingual education. One of the presenters at the conference was Dr. Francisco Guajardo, a professor at the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley and Founding Executive Director of the B3 Institute (Bilingual, Bicultural, Biliterate). Guajardo’s presentation was entitled: “From Taming a Wild Tongue to Building a Bilingual, Bicultural, and Biliterate University.”
“[To] build out coursework in Spanish or bilingual in culturally relevant ways,” Guajardo said was the message of his presentation. “My office created [House Bill 2678] to make the Rio Grande Valley a bilingual zone.” The bill would have made all public records in the Rio Grande Valley available in English and Spanish. The bill never made it out of committee. Dr. Ari Sherris, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher and Bilingual Education at TAMUK attended the conference. Sherris’s favorite moment at the conference was reading a quote by George L. Sanchez. “To treat a child to genteel segregation because he knows only Spanish is a frightening distortion of good intentions. Then, too, to attach the idea of deficien-
cy and handicap to so beautiful and valuable a language as Spanish hardly fits in with modern educational thought and national policy. For those well-intentioned souls who have endorsed these programs, one can only ask for forgiveness, for they know not what they do,” Sanchez wrote. The quote was written in 1959, but Sherris felt it could have been written yesterday because of its modern message. “[Bilingual students] are being measured against monolingual standards, as if the monolingual is some standard in the world,” Sherris said. “We have the technology to assess people in ways that take into account their individual linguistic
Bilingual continued on Page 3