Daily Toreador The
THURSDAY, FEB. 28, 2013 VOLUME 87 ■ ISSUE 100
World powers coax Iran into saving nuclear talks ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — World powers offered broader concessions than ever to Iran in attempts Wednesday to keep alive diplomatic channels that seek to rein in the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and prevent it from building an atomic weapon. The offer was hailed by Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top official at diplomatic talks in Kazakhstan, who said it represented a “turning point” by world powers to compromise on Tehran’s uranium enrichment program after years of delicate negotiations that nearly dissolved last June. The proposal allows Iran to keep a limited amount of highly enriched uranium — but not make any more — stops short of demanding the full shutdown of an underground nuclear facility, and offers to remove some trade sanctions that have hurt Iran’s economy.
Algerian in Jihad Jane plot faces US extradition DUBLIN (AP) — An Algerian man wanted by American authorities over the abortive “Jihad Jane” plot to assassinate a Swedish artist was arrested while leaving an Irish courthouse Wednesday and could face U.S. extradition demands within hours. Ali Charaf Damache, 47, had just walked free from a court in Waterford, southeast Ireland, after three years in an Irish prison when detectives acting on an American extradition warrant rearrested and escorted him, handcuffed, to an unmarked police car. Court officials said his extradition proceedings could begin Thursday in Dublin High Court.
OPINIONS, Pg. 4
Smith: Facebook brings together, distances families
Students participate in belly dancing class -- LA VIDA, Page 3
INDEX Classifieds................7 Crossword......................2 Opinions.....................4 L a Vi d a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Sports........................6 Sudoku.........................6 EDITORIAL: 806-742-3393
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Small explosion occurs in CASNR Annex By CATHERINE MCKEE AND MATT DOTRAY THE DAILY TOREADOR
The smell of gas was evident on 15th Street and Detroit Avenue after a small explosion occurred at approximately 9 p.m. Wednesday in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Annex at Texas Tech, in which no injuries were reported. Chris Cook, managing director of the Office of Communications and Marketing, said there was a gas leak in an interior wall and a maintenance worker went to investigate. When the worker flipped the light switch, he said it triggered a small explosion. The Lubbock Fire Department, Lubbock Police Department and Tech Police Department responded to the scene. No fire followed the explosion, Cook said, and the leak was contained. However, he said he was unsure what caused the leak. Cook said he had no confirmation of
anyone being in the building at the time of the explosion. Blane Potts, a first-year landscape architecture major from Lubbock, said he was working in a lab in the annex with two other students and smelled gas prior to the explosion. He said upon smelling the gas, he and his friends reported the odor to professors, but did not think anything of it. Potts said he and his friends knew something was wrong when they saw flashing police car lights outside their window. After evacuating the building, Potts said he spoke with an uninjured student who said he was in the graduate studio next to the room in which the explosion occurred. The student, Potts said, told him what happened in the explosion. “Something in the wall, the gas in the wall ignited or something, and it blew a hole supposedly this big,” he said, making a footand-a-half square with his hands. EXPLOSION continued on Page 2 ➤➤
PHOTO BY ISAAC VILLALOBOS/The Daily Toreador
POLICE AND FIRETRUCKS surround the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Annex building Wednesday. Chris Cook, managing director of the Office of Communications and Marketing, said there was a small explosion and no one was injured.
SGA senator writes child care legislation By CAROLYN HECK STAFF WRITER
One Student Government Association senator is attempting to pass legislation, which would push for Texas Tech administration to approve affordable, on-campus child care for students, faculty and staff. Katherine Lindley, a budgeting and finance graduate senator from Colleyville, said the day care provided by the Child Development and Research Center is too expensive, and with a waitlist of up to a year or more, is not a reasonable option for today’s student. “The CDRC is for anyone to use,” she said. “You don’t have to have a tie to Tech to be able to send your kid there. And the tuition cost to go there is not affordable for a student to be able to send their kid there.” Lindley said she wrote the child care legislation, which calls for the university to assemble a task force to look into the issue of child care on campus. The task force would then make recommendations to administration on whether or not a new center is necessary, she said. “All we are doing is asking that Texas Tech create a task force that can investigate this and come up with plans as to where we could put the location,” she said, “plans as to how would we build it, how would we run it — really get the ball going.” Even though the details are not for SGA to decide, Lindley said her ideal child care center for Tech would be either on campus or within five miles, and provide services specifically tailored to Tech students, faculty and staff. “It would be at an affordable cost,” she said, “but it would also use developmentally appropriate practice and would hopefully go beyond the state minimum requirements in providing education for students.” This is not the first time Tech has investigated the issue of child care, Lindley said. One instance was in 1999. “They created a committee charged to go out and see if child care was an issue for students, staff and faculty,” she said. “And they came back and found that, yes, this was a big issue — that our student, staff and faculty needed an affordable place to send their kids while they’re at work or school.” Nothing ever resulted from the findings, she said, until about 2010, when university administration created a similar, smaller task force that looked into the same issue and came back with the same ADVERTISING: 806-742-3384
recommendation to build a facility. “And to my knowledge,” she said, “and all the research I’ve done and people I’ve talked to, nothing really came of this.” Dominick Casadonte, interim dean of the Graduate School and a supporter of the legislation, said one reason the recommendation was never answered was most likely a lack of funding. Issues such as liability, staffing, available facilities and level of care may also have been problematic, he said. However, Lindley said she believes the cost of building a child care center would be offset by the tuition of the students it would attract. “One of the speculations that we haven’t built one yet is the cost,” she said. “But just to put this in perspective, this is something that our competitors, like University of Texas, have already in place for students, so if we, too, build this, it might help us attract more students.” For graduate students who attend Tech or who look at Tech as a potential school, a center could seal the deal, Casadonte said. More graduate students are parents now than ever, he said, so when a university makes itself invested in both their academic and personal success, it creates a win-win situation for both the university and the students. “I think as we push toward increasing our enrollment,” he said, “one of the things I think we really have to do to set ourselves apart is to let people know that, once again, that beside providing quality academics, we want to provide quality life characteristics for our students and faculty as well.” Rachel Engler, a human development family studies graduate student from Canyon, went to West Texas A&M for her undergraduate degree while raising her daughter as a single mother. During her first year at A&M, she was unable to put her child in day care on campus, which made balancing classes and taking care of her daughter difficult. “Some of my classes would be in the morning,” Engler said, “and I’d have some evening classes, so it just created some logistics problems for getting her.” She was eventually able to enroll her child in on-campus day care, she said, which meant she could see her in between classes with little trouble. “It’s nice to be able to go grab your kid for a little while and eat lunch with them,” Engler said. CHILD CARE continued on Page 2 ➤➤
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PHOTO BY EMILY MCCARTHY/The Daily Toreador
NOEL DUBAK, A director of recruitment and development for Bartlett Tree Experts, talks to Trevor Denies, a senior crop and soil science major from Houston, about working for Bartlett during the CASNR Career Expo on Wednesday in the Student Union Ballroom.
Ag students attend career expo By EMILY GARDNER STAFF WRITER
The College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and University Career Services hosted their annual career expo from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Student Union Building Ballroom. The career center partnered with CASNR to host the expo, said Jared Lay, assistant director of the career center and CASNR liaison. The expo has been offered to students for 20 years. “(The purpose of the expo) is just to have our
employers meet our students,” he said. “And, like I said, a lot of these students are coming from all across the country or local, and they’re just — they’re trying to find our seniors full-time jobs, our graduates full-time, and even our alumni can come to this.” The expo is used to provide students and future employers with face-to-face meetings used for networking purposes, especially because job applications can be completed online now, Lay said. EXPO continued on Page 2 ➤➤
Honors College offers more than extra work By NIKKI CULVER STAFF WRITER
To some students, being in the Honors College sounds like a lot of extra work. In reality, the Honors College at Texas Tech requires students to take 24 hours of honors work as part of their 120 required to graduate, maintain a minimum GPA and enjoy the many benefits. The Honors College offers many things, from small classes to research opportunities for its enrolled students. Stephen Fritz, dean of the Honors College, said the college has the benefits of both a private and public college. “We have small classes,” he said. “You have an adviser in the Honors College, you’ve got an adviser in your major. It’s about critical thinking. It’s not about showing that you can work harder because you’ve already proven that. If you’re admitted to the Honors
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College, you’ve already shown that you’re academically capable.” Admission to the college requires a minimum SAT score of 1200 or the equivalent ACT score, but no minimum GPA, Heather Medley, director of admissions for the Honors College, said. “We look for lots of community service, leadership opportunities and students who have challenged themselves academically through their coursework in high school,” she said. “There is not a set GPA requirement because everybody is on sort of a different scale in their high school, so we like to see lots of As, not many Bs and probably no Cs.” Once a student has been admitted to the Honors College, Medley said they must keep a minimum GPA of 3.25 and take 24 hours of honors courses as part of their 120 hours to graduate.
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