TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2019 VOLUME 93 ■ ISSUE 70
NEWS Faculty discuss need for balanced exercise in college.
SPORTS
ONLINE
Check out our photo coverage from Monday’s fall practice in Jones AT&T Stadium as the Texas Tech football team gets ready for the 2019-2020 season.
Follow the DT @DailyToreador on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and check out our website for content throughout the week.
PG 4
PG 2
INDEX
ONLINE
NEWS SPORTS CROSSWORD CLASSIFIEDS SUDOKU
2 3 3 3 2
CAMPUS
CAMPUS
Experts discuss climate change knowledge among college students
Vietnam oral histories to become more accessible
By ADÁN RUBIO
By MALLORY ROSETTA
News Editor
Climate change has garnered a lot of attention over the years and continues to be debated. But the need to increase awareness of the issue among college students may still be an area of concern. Whether it be through the media or during a lecture, there are different ways a college student could gain knowledge on climate change and its local effects. But one may not have all the proper knowledge about how climate change impacts his or her home. Mark Conder, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service in Lubbock, said the awareness of climate change among college students varies. “Overall, they are probably fairly aware of at least the general impacts,” he said. “But most of them aren’t too in tuned with the specifics.” Regarding the effects of climate change, Conder said people must know that there are hardly any immediate impacts or occurrences that result from the issue. “When people talk about the effects, we’re really talking about these long-term influences on the weather conditions,” he said. “So, it’s not something on a day-to-day basis.” Correlating a single weather event to climate change is one misconception Conder said some people have, as they do not know that the consequences of climate change are more long-term. For those in the West Texas area, Conder said some long-term effects of climate change can include gradually warming temperatures that can lead to hot days and warming nights, higher frequency and severity of heatwaves and droughts and more moisture in the air that leads to more heavy-rain events. Some of these trends, such as the heavy rainfall and heatwaves, along with the rising sea levels also can be seen on a global scale, Conder said. “On a global scale, you’re also concerned about maybe shifting patterns where some areas dry out and some areas get wetter,” he said. Regardless of the consequences that can arise from climate change, awareness of these trends is another aspect of climate change education that may fluctuate. “I definitely think it’s getting better or people are getting more aware of the topic,” Conder said. “I think, in general, the media does a pretty good job at introducing the basics of climate change.” In addition to more people being aware of the issues of climate change, Conder said
Digital Content Manager
some people have misconceptions, such as climate change resulting in immediate effects, and there are a lot of debates about what is causing these long-term effects. Through the media, college students may gain a variety of information about climate change and develop opinions on the issue. Nan Li, assistant professor in the Texas Tech Agricultural Education and Communications department, said climate change being presented in the media is nothing new. “If you look at media coverage in the past two decades, it definitely experienced a lot of changes,” she said. “What research has found
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Beard makes proposal for engaged fan By MAX HENGST Sports Editor
A Texas Tech basketball fan could have a local celebrity, head coach Chris Beard, make an appearance at her wedding after a tweet she made on August 1. Sophomore Rylee Albracht followed the men’s basketball team as the Red Raiders had one of the most historic seasons in program history, ending in the national championship game of the NCAA Tournament. “I just finished up my first year at Tech and following the basketball team around this season was absolutely amazing,” Albracht said. “I’ve always been a huge basketball fan and a huge Tech basketball fan, but just being a student this year made it so much more cool. I followed them to New York City to play at Madison Square Garden and then followed them to Minneapolis to play in the Final Four so I was just really emotionally invested in this basketball team and loved cheering them on.” Albracht’s fiancé Justin Joyce also traveled to the Red Raiders’ games in Minnesota and New York, making it feel like he was a part of the team. “It was a lot of fun,” Joyce said. “It felt like we were a part of the team because we went to all the early season games and
went to every home game we could go to, so it was a lot of fun.” While the two enjoyed watching the Red Raiders, Albracht said she also liked Beard because she could relate with him. “I just think that he is a good Christian man that I share a lot of interests and values with and a lot of viewpoints with,” Albracht said. “I really just like the way that he lives life. I just am inspired by him.” After being emotionally invested in the team and Beard, Albracht tagged the head coach in a tweet the day after Joyce proposed to her, asking him how many retweets she needed for him to officiate her wedding, thinking she would not get a response. “I kind of tweeted it, obviously with high hopes, but I know the man is busy and Twitter is probably the least of his worries,” Albracht said. “I think I might have hyperventilated when he answered me.” Beard quickly replied about five hours after Albracht made the tweet, congratulating her and asking when the wedding was. Two days later, Beard replied for a second time, telling her that if the student section is 100 percent filled with 4,500 students at Tech’s first home game of the season he will attend and buy everyone Whataburger at her wedding.
SEE BEARD, PG. 3
is that the media is always trying to put different opinions side-to-side. Even though there is a dominant scientific consensus on the happening of climate change, the media always wants to quote the other side as well.” Because of this method of presenting information, Li said a lot of challenges and questions arise among the general public. “I think right now, you don’t see that many debates on the media,” she said. “But still, you see this giant difference between parties and outlets.”
SEE CLIMATE, PG. 2
Upon receiving a $95,740 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Texas Tech Vietnam Center and Archive will be able to upload its entire collection of oral interviews. This collection will include interviews, which are conducted by the VNCA Oral History Project, that are transcribed and edited from multiple Vietnam war veterans and their families, according to a Tech news release. “Our interviews provide a human face to the conflict, offering insight into the emotional and psychological costs of war that researchers cannot get from traditional government and military documents,” VNCA Director Steve Maxner said, according to the news release. “This level of comprehension is critical, not just for students and scholars, but for military and government officials who make the policies and ultimate decisions that send our military men and women into harm’s way.” The backlogged collection consists of 185 interviews comprising about 725 hours of audio, according to the news release. Although these interviews are already available through the Virtual Vietnam Archive, which is an online portal with open-access to the digital holdings of the VNCA, they are not easy for researches to access because researchers may have to listen through hours of recordings to find a specific piece of information. However, the NEH grant funding will allow the VNCA to hire student assistants who will transcribe and edit the content over the next two and a half years, according to the news release. These transcriptions will allow the interviews to be searched by keyword, making them more accessible for researchers. “These interviews with veterans and their loved ones can offer invaluable insights into an individual’s experiences of war, sacrifice and service, and thus enrich society’s understanding of warfare, while giving them a vital and intimate link to the people of the Vietnam generation,” VNCA Associate Director Amy K. Mondt, said, according to the news release. The project will run through Dec. 31, 2021, according to the news release. Mondt said she hopes the transcripts of these interviews will provide researchers and patrons of all generations access to insight on military service and its lifelong influence on an individual. @MRosettaDT
FALL FOOTBALL
ADRIAN ROMERO/The Daily Toreador
Texas Tech wide receivers run drills during practice at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, August 5, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium. Texas Tech Athletics invited the media to a summer practice before the regular season begins. Find more photos on page 4.