febraury 28th 2011 edition of the mercury
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Febraury 28th 2011 Edition of The MercuryTRANSCRIPT
the MercuryThe Student Newspaper of UTD
Tennis team gets into the swing of things
Mother, daughter bond at UTD
Page 11 Page 7
Vol. XXXI, No. 4
www.utdmercury.com
As temperatures rise, SU mall comes to life
Page 6
February 28, 2011
More than 500 students from across the nation will be coming to UTD for the National Debate Competition, which UTD will host from March 24-28.
Members of UTD’s debate team, some of the highest ranked in the country, will be participating in the event.
“The competition is con-sidered the Super Bowl of college debate,” said Christopher Burk, director of debate.
UTD’s debate team cur-
rently ranks 12th in the nation based on votes by college debate coaches, Burk said.
Two UTD debaters, Collin Roark and Andrew Baker, have been invited to the competition.
Baker said the competi-tion is like a combination of sports even and a very long test.
“We wake up at 7, have one hour to prepare for debates and do that at a minimum of two to three times a day,” he said.
Nada AlasamiContributor
UTD hosts nat’l debate tourney
The words “Tier One” have likely been heard by every student, but what the phrase means may not be clear.
It entails more than a brand name, and as the uni-versity expands under this initiative, students are like-ly to see changes through upcoming years in aspects
Anwesha BhattacharjeContributor
‘Tier One’ gets definedWhat this status means for students
Sophomore Daniela Hagenasr works with Carbon Nano Strands. Tier One status would promote more research such as Hagenasr’s at UTD.
photo by Akshay Harshe
Shane DamicoManaging Editor
Fee could result in bigger SU
Plan aims to expand Comet Café
Paul DangContributor
The first wave of com-plaints came during the summer of 2010: there’s nowhere to sit.
A year ago, students began complaining to Darrelene Rachavong, vice president for Student Affairs that the Comet Café’s dining area was often crowded or at full capacity during busy times.
Student Government leaders began approach-ing Rachavong suggest-ing that opening the Comet Lounge to diners might relieve the buildup students were then com-plaining to their offices about.
UTD deans were even reporting dining space was a common issue discussed at their Dining with the Deans event, at which point Rachavong made up her mind —
perhaps UTD needs a larger Student Union.
Currently the SU’s pool and table tennis tables are all used, there’s not enough dining space for students and study areas are minimal, Rachavong said.
The problem could get worse in coming years.
According to UTD
President David Daniel’s 2010 annual report, stu-dent enrollment should reach 20,000 by 2015.
“If we’re at 17,000 and it looks like this now, how is it going to look when we’re at 20 to 25,000?” she said.
The first step in answer-
For students who frequent the crowded Comet Café, the Comet Lounge might provide additional space to eat and mingle.
Daniela Huerta, a political science sophomore, and her friend Nazish Taj, a speech language pathology sopho-more, are both commuters. They go to the Comet Café to hang out but seldom buy the food there.
“We meet here every Thursday with another friend,” Huerta said. “I usu-ally bring my own lunch.”
The convenient locations of the dining places can make them a hot spot on campus for students who want to meet between classes.
Azim Sookoor, a business marketing junior, comes reg-ularly to the Student Union to see his friends.
“If I want food I’ll eat at
Students crowd into the Comet Café to meet, eat and study. Plans are in place to provide more space to the popular locale.
photos by Brandon Higgins
The Middle East is chang-ing. From the souks of Morocco to the streets of Iran, citizens have been pro-testing for democracy and an end to corruption.
In the midst of this change, two UTD students, one from Tunisia, the other from Egypt, reflect on their countries and the changes that have recently fallen upon them.
Salsabeal Hassanin is
biology senior from Egypt, where protests against pov-erty, unemployment, and government corruption took place in January.
Hassanin said there are two words that describe Egyptian people, and those words are “funny” and “courteous”.
“We are light hearted and fun to be around,” she said. “People cannot sit with us and not laugh, even when we are being serious.”
But Hassanin said some Egyptian people in the country were losing their
charm. They were evolving into a frustrated people who sometimes fought with each other in the streets.
Two reasons for the change, she said, were increasing poverty and unemployment, things she knows because she visits Egypt every summer and because her mother and two sisters live in the country.
“My mom says that (the price of) books, papers, pen-cils and especially medicines, have all skyrocketed,” she said. “A loaf of bread is so expensive to some people to
the point that bakers make two different types of bread, one for the poor and one for the rich (people).”
Not only were many Egyptians poor and unem-ployed, she said, but they also were unable to express their opinions without fear of persecution.
“(My people) were oppressed politically, not religiously,” she said. “There was no freedom of speech and people lived in fear for
Nada AlasmiContributor
Mid-East conflict felt at UTD
Sarah Berriche, a spring 2010 UTD graduate, reflects on her experiences in Tunisia, where her family felt the effects of January’s political protests.
courtesy of Sarah Berriche
see SU page 4
see DEBATE page 3 see TIER ONE page 4
see CAFE page 4
C R O W D C O N T R O L
see PROTESTS page 5
2 February 28, 2011 www.utdmercury.com the MercuryNews
UTD Police scanner
The following is a break-down of key topics raised at the Feb. 15 Student Government, or SG, meet-ing. Full minutes of meet-ings can be found at www.sg.utdallas.edu.
Darrelene Rachavong, vice president for Student Affairs, visited senate and presented the details of a proposal call-ing for the expansion of the Student Union building.
Based on the calculations performed by a contracted architect, with the guidance of a student committee, either a $22.5 or $45 mil-lion plan was recommended. Senate voted in favor of the $45 million plan. (Note: For more on the Student Union expansion, please refer to Page 1.)
Joseph Michel i , Sustainability Sub-committee chair and physics sopho-more, announced that a referendum asking students to pay a sustainability fee, also known as the green fee, is planned for addition to the upcoming Student Government elections bal-lot, as well.
Micheli said the approval of the $5 fee would help support and improve the sustainability efforts on cam-pus.
Grace Bielawski, SG presi-dent and political science senior, announced that start-ing March 15 the Comet Cruiser will make stops to Walmart on Fridays and two daily stops to the Waterview
Science and Technology Center, also known as West Tech.
An increasingly larger amount of student park-ing related complaints have traveled through Bielawski’s office, she said. Bielawski said she, along with Dina Shahrokhi, SG vice presi-dent and political science senior, will meet with UTD parking administrators to address the issue.
Bielawski reported she will meet with UTD President David Daniel to discuss the recent decision to charge a fee for official transcript requests. Bielawski said she will keep students updated with the final results of the fee. She also noted unof-ficial transcript requests will still carry no charge.
Lewis Chang, Academic Affairs Committee chair and neuroscience senior, said he would like feedback con-cerning student interest in offering a film minor and business oriented foreign language courses at UTD.
Lastly, Chang said the McDermott Library operat-ing hours are being evalu-ated and he would like stu-dent feedback on that issue, as well.
The Wellness, Academic Calendar, Academic Integrity and Education Policy univer-sity committees are seek-ing any students interested in filling recent vacancies within their committees, Shahrokhi said.
Feb. 4• Police dispatched to University Village Apartments in reference to a fire alarm
• Police dispatched to a reported assault in Phase VIII
Feb. 7• Student arrested for pos-session illegal substances and drug paraphernalia after he consented to a search of his vehicle and apartment
• Student arrested for pos-session of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, a stu-dent and another person were issued citations for Minor in Consumption
Feb. 8• Person arrested for driving while intoxicated after a traffic stop in Phase IV
• Two students arrested pursuant to an active arrest warrant
• Student reported the theft
of jewelry• Student reported theft of his laptop
Feb. 12• Person received a Richardson City violation for possession of an alco-holic beverage in a motor vehicle after a traffic stop
• Unknown suspect broke the front drivers side win-dow of a car with a beer bottle in Phase VI
• Student was taken to Richardson Methodist Hospital
Feb. 15• Student reported a delayed assault by contact
Feb. 16• Student arrested for evad-ing detention and driving while intoxicated after a traffic stop
• Student arrested during a traffic stop
Feb. 17• Person arrested for driving
with a suspended license and outstanding warrants after a traffic stop
• Student arrested during a traffic stop
• Student issued a citation for consumption of alco-hol by a minor
Feb. 18• Person arrested for driving while intoxicated after a traffic stop
• Police received report of a theft
• Person reported a minor accident involving an unat-tended vehicle
Feb. 19• Police issued two citations for possession of alcohol by a minor
• Student reported her cell phone was stolen
• Person arrested for driving while intoxicated
• Person issued a Richardson City citation for possession drug paraphernalia and possession of alcohol in a
vehicle• Student issued a Richardson City citation of consumption of alcohol by a minor
• Person arrested for public intoxication and consump-tion of alcohol by a minor
• Student arrested for pos-session of marijuana and cited for possession of drug paraphernalia
Feb. 20• Police dispatched to a noise complaint where an affiliated person was cited for possession of drug par-aphernalia
• Person arrested for driving while intoxicated
• Police initiated an investi-gation to University Village apartments based on the odor of burnt marijuana coming from an apart-ment
Feb. 21• Person arrested for mul-tiple traffic warrants
News briefs
Fraternity seeks out UTD
A new fraternity has its sights set on UTD and plans to begin gain-ing support for a chap-ter as early as fall 2011.
Pi Kappa Phi is a social male fraternity and would be the fifth organization sitting on
UTD’s Interfraternity Council, or IFC, follow-ing the spring 2010 addi-tion of the FIJI fraternity.
Zach Shirley, assistant director of Fraternity & Sorority Life, said Pi Kappa Phi’s arrival would strengthen IFC and allow more points of view to be heard in meetings.
The fraternity will also introduce a charitable
organization to campus, known as Push America. The group hosts numer-ous events every year that aim to serve indi-viduals with disabilities.
“The thing about Push America is that Pi Kappa Phi created that philanthropy themselves. Whereas there are some fraternities and sorities that partner with (other
organizations), Pi Kappa Phi created their (own) organization,” Shirley said.
More Greek organiza-tions might continue to consider joining UTD, and at the moment they will all be welcome, Shirley said.
“We definitely would like Greek life to grow to being an extreme-ly large presence on campus,” Shirley said.
3February 28, 2011www.utdmercury.com Opinionthe Mercury
Editor-in-Chief Jessica Melton
Managing Editor Shane Damico
Advertising ManagerJosh Moncrieff
Graphics Editor Laura-Jane Cunningham
Photo EditorAlbert Ramirez
Sports EditorBobby Karalla
Web EditorDhamodaran Subramanian
Media AdviserChad Thomas
PhotographersBen Hawkins
Brandon Higgins
ContributorsNada Alasmi
Anwesha BhattacharjePaul Dang
Rebecca DeButtsAkshay Harshe
John D. McCraryMichelle Nguyen
Christopher Wang
The Mercury is pub-lished on Mondays, at two-week intervals during the long term of The University of Texas at Dallas, except holidays and exam periods, and once every three weeks during the summer term.
Advertising is accepted by The Mercury on the basis that there is no discrimina-tion by the advertiser in the offering of goods or services to any person, on any basis prohibited by applicable
law. Evidence of discrimi-nation will be the basis of denial of advertising space. The publication of advertis-ing in The Mercury does not constitute an endorse-ment of products or services by the newspaper, or The University of Texas at Dallas, or the governing board of the institution.
Copyright © 2010UT Dallas
E-MAIL:[email protected]
MAIL:800 W. Campbell Road, SU 24, Richardson, TX 75080-0688
the Mercury
What are your
plans for
spring break?
“Working — my work-place schedules my hours when I’m off school.”
Chelsea BokmanCriminology sophomore
“I’ll be celebrating my birthday, which is the first day of spring break.”
Tanner KellyEngineering junior
“I’m going to India to meet my family after two years.”
Anshul SinghBusiness graduate student
“Hanging out with friends.”
Ahmed MianoorPsychology senior
“I’m going to Califor-nia to meet my sister.”
Thanneermalai NarayananManagement graduate student
“Studying — I need to catch up on my work.”
Rebekah SpencerPsychology sophomore
Comet Comments
Bristol Palin approves this messageby Laura-Jane Cunningham
Through the past two years as a staff member at The Mercury, and therefore an invested observer of Student Government, I’ve seen senate take hours to discuss what might seem to some like trivial matters.
I’ve witnessed SG take hours to come to an agreement on the perfect ratio of pink bras to T-shirts for Breast Cancer Awareness Day. I’ve watched patiently as they took nearly half an hour pontificating whether they should invest in hood-ies or sweatshirts for their senators, taking care to weigh the positive and negative attributes for each. I’ve even seen them take more time to dis-cuss the correct form of discussion than the actual content of the meeting.
But on Feb. 15 when it came time to vote on a recom-mendation for a $45 million Student Union expansion project, it took less than five minutes, only one round of
votes and no debate to pass the motion with not a single ‘nay’ uttered.
I’m not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but it defi-nitely is something that caught my attention. When discus-sion for the SU expansion began, I had mentally prepared myself to camp out for a while to hear points from senators in favor of the proposed $22 million plan as well the $45
million plan.Instead, the vote happened so quickly, at first
I wasn’t sure if I missed a change of topic.When I asked a senator about the limited
discussion, I was told an SU expansion commit-tee was created and they brought forward the recommendation only after it was researched in detail. Some people on the committee have been proposing ideas for long enough to know the questions that will come up, and addressed them in the first presentation of a project.
Now, I believe this. This year’s senate has a strong, expe-rienced core, but the other senators seem to rely on them to make the decisions.
For those of us who attend senate meetings and don’t view the behind the scenes action, such quick agreements may seem lacking, especially when there are senators who only speak up for roll call at meetings.
While this method can get results, what’s important to remember about SG is that each one of these senators was chosen to represent our student body. So instead of hav-ing more than 17,000 people discuss the way student fee money is allocated, we have around 40 people to decide what would be best for the university as a whole.
If these senators, who represent the student body, are going to remain silent during discussion of changes that so widely impact all students, it effectively silences 17,000 voices.
With seniors at the helm of SG this year and elections coming up at the end of March, I wonder who will step up to fill the main roles.
From the outside I see SG leaders work hard to get the most for students. But the rest of senate should follow their example and step up on bigger issues than just those concerning T-shirts and outerwear.
Jessica MeltonEditor-in-Chief
Senate seats are filled, some not fulfilled
News
“Exhaustion is prevalent and stress is high. “
Still, he said, the team hopes to do well in the tournament.
“As a team that has experience in crucial debates, we are on our game very well,” he said. “We are hoping for a big push.”
Just like chess at UTD, debate attracts competi-tors from across the nation and is a full-time commit-ment.
Debaters can spend from two to six hours each day preparing for debate, Roark said.
“I debated through high school and I got used to balancing school with debate,” he said.
The team travels about once every two weeks to participate in debate competitions, said Wesley Dwyer, another member of the debate team.
“It is very stressful,” he said. “There was one time in January where we had four tournaments back to back, one every week.”
Because of other time commitments, Dwyer said he sometimes wonders if he places too high of a priority on debate.
“A lot of us will ques-
tion whether it is worth it at times, that maybe if we should spend more time developing relationships with people,” he said.
But Dwyer, who has been debating since 8th grade, said he is happy to have found debate.
“I like its competitive
aspect,” he said. “It is really a good feeling when you beat a school like Harvard.”
For the first time UTD’s debate team will host a national tournament. Currently ranked 12th in the nation, two UTD debate team members were automatically invited to compete.
courtesy of Karah Hosek
DEBATEcontinued from page 1
4 February 28, 2011 www.utdmercury.com the MercuryNews
of student life.A Tier One ranked uni-
versity will have faculty who change the world, whose students also change the world, said Hobson Wildenthal, executive vice president and provost.
Susan Rogers, vice presi-dent for communications, said Tier One means stu-dents will have more and better of everything.
“It means students would have more choices academi-cally,” Rogers said. “We’ve added more than 33 new academic programs in the past five years. It means hav-ing more choices, more fac-ulty, having a larger student body.”
Rogers said students who are enrolled in the next few
years may not see much of a difference while they’re at UTD, but as alumni the value of their degree will increase if the brand and the accom-plishments of the university are better.
She said UTD already admits highly qualified stu-dents with some of the best SAT scores among public schools in Texas. Wildenthal said UTD has a reputation for rigorous education and quality students.
Good students and great alumni help towards recruit-ing great faculty, he said.
Rogers said among things like funding and research expenditures that need to be increased to become a Tier One university, student housing on campus needs to improve and the new Residence Halls are a step in that direction.
Both Rogers and Wildenthal
agree there are many defini-tions of being a Tier One university. UTD was ranked as a Tier One university by U.S. News & World Report for the first time in 2010.
The admission into the American Association of Universities is another goal under the Tier One initiative, but universities must be invit-ed to this association. One thing universities can do to help the process, Rogers said, is aim to become a better by increasing research pro-duction and student success after grauation.
Wildenthal said most of the well known universities that are currently ranked Tier One have built their reputation over hundreds of years and are financially well endowed and larger in size.
“Reputation, expenditure per student, expected grad-uation rate versus realized
graduation rate, alumni giv-ing are the criteria for a Tier One ranking,” Wildenthal said.
Rogers said in addition to U.S. News & World Report rankings, a Tier One univer-sity may be defined in many ways including as a major national research university known worldwide.
Each way of ranking a uni-versity as Tier One has its own criteria that need to be met. UTD’s Tier One initiative origi-nally grew from bill enacted by the Texas Legislature that set up the National Research University Fund, or NRUF, Rogers said.
The NRUF has been estab-lished by the Texas Legislature to provide research funding for emerging research uni-versities, she said. Seven uni-versities in Texas have been named as emerging universi-ties and UTD is one of them,
Rogers said. UTD has to meet the criteria stated by the NRUF in order to gain access to the funds, she said.
Wildenthal described the NRUF as a positive step. He said while UTD’s research per faculty is much more than any of the other six universi-ties, the amount spent on research at UTD is small, compared to the other uni-versities which are larger than UTD.
To have access to the funds, the universities need to show $45 million spent on restricted research annually and currently UTD falls short by a few million, Wildenthal said.
But that’s not the only criteria to be called a Tier One university, Wildenthal added. To truly become a Tier One university UTD needs to increase the amount it spends on research each
year, Rogers said.“We’re not where we
need to be to be ranked Tier One, but we’ve made a lot of impressive progress,” Wildenthal said.
Nevertheless, Wildenthal said the budget cuts may make progress tougher.
“It’s much easier to grow fast and grow well when you have money,” he said. “We won’t have as much money as we want or need. So the cuts are not going to speed it up. We’re not going to go backwards, but it’s going to be tougher and it’s going to be slower.”
Wildenthal said the Tier One initiative has been a very positive influence on the uni-versity.
“People like to have a vision, a cheer. Students like it, faculty like it. We like that race, that competition,” he said.
TIER OnEcontinued from page 1
ing Rachavong’s question was made Feb. 15 when Student Government voted in favor of supporting a $45 million dollar plan to expand the Student Union.
The expansion plan con-tains a multitude of sug-gestions made by a student committee, including a large multifunction room.
The room would possibly have televisions, pool tables, lounge chairs, gaming sys-tems, study areas and consist of a high ceiling and large glass windows, Rachavong said. The area could be used to casually study, take a social break between classes or eat lunch.
Other suggestions includ-ed expanding The Pub, con-
structing a theater for SU events, adding more meet-ing rooms and creating a retail space intended for a convenience store or anoth-er designated purpose.
Senate chose this plan over a $22.5 million pro-posal that featured a more modest expansion.
SG’s vote means Rachavong has begun draft-ing a referendum that will be added to this semester’s SG elections. The referen-dum will ask students if they would be willing to increase their student fees by $70, for a total of $130, effective fall 2014 when it is estimated the SU construction would begin.
Rachavong said adding the referendum to the ballot will put a unique twist on the upcoming elections.
“If the referendum at the
end of March does not pass, then it’s dead. It will not go forward,” she said.
If students vote in favor of the fee increase it will travel to Austin and be assessed by the Texas Legislature, which won’t meet again until 2013.
If the fee is approved by the legislature, then UTD would add it onto the next fiscal cycle fall 2014.
Rachavong said it’s too early to forecast the SU’s future for sure, the plan is composed of suggestions only and will be subject to change, dependent on stu-dent desires when the design is made.
“I can’t predict how it will go. I really can’t,” she said. “I think Student Government is going to educate (students) and ask them to come out and vote.”
SUcontinued from page 1
The Pub, but I usually hang out at the Comet Café,” Sookoor said. “The atmosphere is better and there’s a greater chance of seeing people you know. All my friends tend to hang out there.”
With students convening in addition to the students eat-ing, the Comet Café and The Pub can get congested during busy hours. University officials have acknowledged the need for more space, and plans to
reconstruct the Comet Lounge have been made.
“Students have basically said that they need more space,” said Mary Walters, the Student Union director over-seeing the project. “It gets pretty packed during peak hours. It’s open to students walking by, so they sit down and socialize. It’s also fast and cheap so a lot of students eat there.”
The current Comet Lounge, which doesn’t allow food, serves as a study lounge.
“We want to open up the Comet Lounge,” Walters said.
“It was meant to be a sort of library type setting for stu-dents who wanted a quiet area to study in the Student Union, but that’s just not con-ducive anymore.”
Walters said the plan would involve tearing down the walls of the lounge and rearranging furniture to allot more seating capacity.
Walters noted that renovat-ing the Comet Lounge will precede the expansion of the Student Union, but dates have not been set for when the rebuilding of the Comet Lounge will take place.
CAFEcontinued from page 1
5February 28, 2011www.utdmercury.comthe Mercury News
The above map of the Middle East illustrates the varying types and locations of conflicts in each country including Egypt and Tunisia.
illustration by Michelle Nguyen
PROTESTScontinued from page 1
quite a bit of time.”When protests took place
in January, Hassanin said she was both happy that her peo-ple were fighting for their rights and also proud of them for conducting a relatively peaceful protest.
“Even at the hard times their mannerisms during the protests were great,” she said. “Muslims stood and guarded the (Christians) during their mass and the (Christians) guarded the Muslims as the prayed.”
She said three of her friends participated in the ral-lies, which were conducted by young, educated Egyptians.
“One of my friends is in medical school, one is study-ing engineering and the third is in high school,” she said. “They were sick and tired of the way they were growing up.”
Hassanin said protests in Egypt were greatly inspired by those in Tunisia.
Protests in the Middle East first began in Tunisia on Dec.7.
Sarah Berriche, a Tunisian Spring 2010 aluma, said before the protests, people did not know what Tunisia was.
“Whenever I would tell people I was from there I would draw blank stares,” she said in an email to the Mercury. “I think I am just really excited about the fact that now people know where Tunisia is on a map.”
Berriche said she was sur-prised that the protests took place because many Tunisians are well off financially.
“There are people who live lavish lifestyles and those who are really poor, but there are average people as well who have internet access, cell phones and just enjoy life as we do here,” she said.
She also said her people were generally free from gov-ernment suppression.
“People were very free to dress how they wanted, mingle with each other and do what they wanted,” she said. “People work side by side, there are churches, mosques and we even have a synagogue which many Jews come to do pilgrimage. It’s a great example of how peo-ple should be in the Middle East.”
But life in Tunisia is not so excellent for all, Berriche said. There are many Tunisians who live (economically) on a day-to-day basis and cannot find jobs.
In addition, she said Tunisians lacked many politi-cal freedoms, such as the
freedom of speech. “Most of the complaints I
hear is that there was dissatis-faction that people could not speak their minds,” Berriche said. “People always lived in fear of (protesting), the thought was always that the government would put any-one into jail who did some-thing like that.”
Berriche said Tunisians are excited to see what happens next.
“It was about time that the country took the next step forward into becoming a more developed country,” she said. “I don’t think the protesters were a minority, I think they are representative of what everyone was want-ing to do.”
According to the National Journal website, protests have spread to at least 9 Middle Eastern countries thus far.
Protests in Iran began on Feb. 14 and while many may speculate that nothing will change in the country, Dr. Meryl Nason, Senior Lecturer in the School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences, said it is possible for the regime to fall.
“If Iran is foolish enough to kill opposition leaders, some-thing it said it might do, that might trigger protests and the downfall (of the Iranian Regime),” said Nason.
As of Feb. 23, protests in Libya have been the most violent, according to the Guardian website.
Muammar Al Gaddafi, 40-year autocrat, said he would exterminate the greasy rats, the protestors, and that he would only leave Libya as a martyr, according to The Sun website.
So far 640 Libyans have been confirmed dead, according to the Arab Times Online.
Reginald Shaw, Political Science senior whose Jewish name is Betzalel Chanak, studies the Middle East both in his classes and on his own.
He said he is deeply con-nected to the region, espe-cially to Egypt, which he said he may one day want to visit.
“Even though I’m not Egyptian, I also identify with Egypt (as) many Jewish tribes of lived there,” he said.
He said if the Middle East as a whole were to become democratic, the result would be a better world.
“We would operate in a way that would break down borders and open trade,” said Shaw. “There would be (more of) an interconnected world, an international community.”
He said what the future holds for the region, however, will only come to show.
Q&A with Fulbright scholar Samia Hossain
The Mercury reporter Nada Alasmi caught up with Fulbright scholar Samia Hossain through e-mail.
Hossain graduated from UTD fall 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in International Political Economy. In May 2010, she received a nine-month Fulbright award to study Arabic in the American University of Cairo.
Q. Where were you when the protest began? Where are you now?
A. I happened to be in touring Morocco with a friend with whom I studied in Jordan. We were there for a week visiting different sites and cities. The grant I am studying under in Egypt (sent) a mandatory order of evacuation after the protests became heated in early February. Due to the evacuation order, I came up to Spain.
Q. Will you return to Cairo? A. We will receive further instruction
on March 1, including whether or not our grants will continue. I am hopeful to go back shortly after March 1 (and) will be resuming my Arabic studies when I return.
Q. Did you have any idea that the protests were going to take place?
A. After Tunisia ousted (its president) Ben-Ali (in January), the air was palpable. It felt that gears were shifting, and something was finally going to give. I had a conversation with my landlord’s assistant,
Waleed, that morning. (He) told me it was Egypt’s turn, now or never, and we both agreed that some-thing big was about to take place. The next day, a man set himself on fire in front of Parliament. The following day, two more. And the rest is history.
Q. What do the Egyptians you know feel about Mobarak leaving?
A. Egyptians I know are elated and still in disbe-lief. To be born under such a regime and have lived your whole life under it and wake up to this, it’s just unbelievable.
Q. What is a typical day for you like in Cairo? A. I spend a lot of my time in Arabic
class and doing Arabic homework, but on my free time I like to hang out at cafes with friends, grab some fresh juice and a taamiya (Egyptian falafel) to go, visit old mosques, and walk through the winding alleys around Al-Azhar (University).
Q. What has surprised you the most about being there?
A. What has most surprised me is, within the chaos and government cor-ruption, there is such a care for human
relationships in Egypt. Cabbies, competing with one another for fares and traffic space, address one another with endearing terms like “Basha” (from the Turkish “pasha”), “Captain,” and “Prince.” Siblings walk arm in arm, shopkeepers remember your name...it’s really beautiful
Samia Hossain
UTD is the first university in the UT System to receive the highest rating of sustainability offered by the U.S. Green Building Council, or USGBC.
The Student Services Building, or SSB, was awarded the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, or LEED, platinum rating for sustainability from the USGBC.
The SSB is constructed from environmentally friendly materials, senses the amount of ambient lighting and adjusts energy usage accordingly and office lighting is motion activated to prevent energy waste, said Richard Dempsey, associate vice president for Business Affairs.
Dempsey said sustainability is a significant value and desire to UTD’s student body, and the SSB reflects this value set.
photo by Aksheay Harshe
SSB goes platinum, receives sustainability cred
6 February 28, 2011 www.utdmercury.com the MercuryNews
Before his assassina-tion in the early 90’s, drug lord Pablo Escobar overran Colombia with the spread of drugs and crime.
Since his death in 1993, the focus for the Colombian town of Medellín has been the establishment of com-munity programs, an infra-structure and civil plan-ning.
Colombian architect Giancarlo Mazzanti has been an integral part of Medellín’s transformation.
UTD was the second of two collegiate stops for Mazzanti who lectured on his previous work and his philosophy on architecture Feb. 22. Mazzanti also spoke at Colombia University in New York in Feb. 14.
After an open, anony-mous competition, Mazzanti was awarded the commis-sion to design the library, Parque Biblioteca España, a project in conjunction with the civil planning initiative in Medellín.
Mazzanti spoke about this project and other civil projects he participated in.
Throughout the lecture, Mazzanti stressed the idea of using architecture as a vehicle for social change.
The idea of producing social inclusiveness through architecture was important in the project for the library, and Mazzanti’s other proj-ects.
These designs were made specifically for places like
Colombia that experience a great presence of pov-erty and violence, Mazzanti said.
“(I like to) think about architecture as a way to produce social inclusive-ness in a specific context such as Colombia with a great presence of violence and poverty,” Mazzanti said, through his translator, Victor Pineres. “(These) are projects developed for the depressed areas of the city and places with a lot of poverty and violence.”
Mazzanti described his work as variable.
The design of each build-ing discussed in his lecture, specifically the library in Medellín has the ability to expand and change accord-ing to the needs of the community.
The ability of this build-ing to be variable to what the space is needed for is useful in assuring that the library acts as a community center and place for public use.
Discussed a great deal in his lecture, was the idea of developing buildings to be iconic.
Mazzanti said that if this is achieved the community is able to develop a sense of pride and ownership in their community.
The library itself is built over an area that Escobar and other drug-trafficers used to inhabit, a site that held a stigma to the mem-bers of the community.
“It was a city that had a lot of violence and so our goal was to develop a
project that would change the perception, the image of that area and would become the symbol of that city’s transformation.” Mazzanti said.
Mazzanti also discussed at great length the need for architecture to relate to the geography of its site.
The library in Medellín was designed to stand in a valley surrounded by moun-tains. He wanted the build-ing to become a part of the landscape and based his
design on his assessment of the topography of the loca-tion, said Mazzanti.
“More than a building we wanted to present a landscape based on these geographic conditions.” Mazzanti said. “The project is born out of the moun-tain.”
When designing, Mazzanti said he frequent-ly uses diagrams to clarify the project and ensure that the project is left with the potential to be added to.
Many of his designs act like tessellations.
Mazzanti stressed the idea of leaving a building looking unfinished so it can be added to if the commu-nity needs.
To draw inspiration, Mazzanti said he reads a lot of philosophy and soci-ology and tries to under-stand what is going on the world presently in terms of human behavior.
When looking into archi-tectural movements of the
past for research and inspi-ration, Mazzanti said he is most interested in what the architects of the past were able to produce.
“I’m very interested in what has been taught in the past but more from the standpoint of what they were able to produce, rath-er than forms and shapes.” Mazzanti said. “How they were able to impact human behavior more so than the style and design and shape of a building.”
Rebecca DeButtsContributor
Architect hopes to inspire social change
Jennifer Holmes (left), Giancarlo Mazzanti and Sheila Pineres after attending Mazzanti’s lecture on architecture Feb. 22. Mazzanti spoke about his experiences creating buildings for developing countries.
photo by Christopher Wang
7February 28, 2011Arts&Lifewww.utdmercury.comthe Mercury
Lisa and Ashley Cardenas defy the old adage that says the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
While Lisa is exploring the realm of creativity as an Arts & Technology graduate stu-dent at UTD, Ashley stud-ies the inner workings of the mind as a neuroscience sophomore.
“We’re opposites basi-
cally,” Lisa said.Despite their opposite
paths in life they are still supportive of each other’s choices. Ashley helped her mom prepare for her first solo art exhibition at the Eisemann Center, entitled “Metaphoric Landscapes: Then and Now.”
Large multicolored paint-ings hung from the walls of Lisa’s studio in the Arts & Humanities classroom, a hint of what was to be expected at the Eisemann
Center.“I’m an abstract paint-
er,” Lisa said. “I use oils and acrylics. Physically, I like moving around and express-ing myself through paint. It’s about using my emotions. It could be dreams, it could be a just a feeling — it could be a scent.”
Lisa believes she always had a knack for art, but didn’t commit to it until later in life.
Paul DangContributor
Different strokesATEC student, mom shows off art skills with help from neuroscience student, daughter
Lisa (left) and Ashley Cardenas at the opening of Lisa’s first art exhibit in the Eisemann Center, on display until March 7. Lisa is an ATEC graduate student and mother of Ashley, a neuroscience sophomore.
photo by Brandon Higgins
Minecrafting UTD
Computer engineering freshman Joel Valesquez plans to spend the next few months creating each structure on UTD’s campus in the computer game Minecraft.
photo illustration by Brandon Higgins
Many of us here at the UTD have at least some sense of Texas culture, so most people are aware of the cam-paign to “Keep Austin Weird.”
Well while Austin has to work at it, Fred Armisen of SNL fame and indie-rocker Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney think that Portland is just plain weird, and for the folks in Oregon apparently weird comes easy.
With their six-part IFC Original short-based comedy series “Portlandia,” Armisen and Brownstein take all that’s strange about Portland and pack it into dozens of hilarious char-acters and skits.
They both play the centerpieces of every sketch but manage to make all their characters unique and fully inhab-ited.
The show has a feel much like “The Office,” with more naturalistic acting and everything seemingly normal at first glance, but things quickly spiral into the
absurd and the lives of the residents end up a lot more like the char-acters dreamt up in the sketches of Saturday Night Live, which Armisen has a penchant for.
A good example of this is the couple that
is insistently o r g a n i c . They inter-rogate their w a i t r e s s and go from asking what their chicken ate, to looking at its file (his name was Colin), to actually
going to the organic farm outside the city and end up joining the polygamist compound (led by SNL costar Jason Sudeikis) for five years before returning to the restaurant to ultimately order the salmon.
They take this formula of progressively more ludicrous circumstances and personalities and implement it to the oth-erwise mundane.
The brilliance of the show lies in its ability to draw out the ridicu-lous in so many situa-tions that have become almost ordinary.
With the show Brownstein and Armisen
John D. McCraryContributor
Like hipsters only more hip
The darling of this year’s SXSW film festival, “Brotherhood” is an indie flick loaded with plenty of dumb adolescent testos-terone.
For most who decide to pursue Greek life the idea of joining a fraternity has a sense of prestige.
The community, the tra-dition, the parties. Few agree to the grueling pro-
cess of hazing thinking they might be putting their lives in danger, because every so often initiation does lead to tragedy.
“Brotherhood” explores the dark side of pledging with unwavering clarity and brutal honesty.
In the opening scene, a red van flies through empty streets and behind a grungy gas station, with three pledges and the head of their fraternity sweating anxiously in the back.
Once stopped, the older
student turns to the first pledge and hands him a gun, insisting that if he wants into the exclusive “sigma zeta chi,” he has to steal $19.10 from the clerk.
The mask goes on and the young man lunges out of the car, only to return a few minutes later with a sack of cash in hand.
Trick is that another member of the fraternity was waiting for him out-
John D. McCraryContributor
Indie flick ‘Brotherhood’ is exhilirhating, exhausting
Fraternity pledge (left), is shot, but instead of having a doctor treat him a med student is called on to keep hazing situation under wraps.
courtesy of indiemoviesonline.com
see BROTHERS page 9
see HIPSTERS page 9
see ART page 8
UTD is quite in tune with its digital side.
Virtual on-campus events have been hosted in Second Life, course lectures have taken place in World of Warcraft and now one stu-
dent has decided to recre-ate UTD’s entire campus in Minecraft.
Minecraft, a unique down-loadable computer game, tosses players into a never-ending landscape where everything is made of cubes. There are few rules to the game and players aren’t given any kind of instructions, but
the goal quickly becomes clear — mine and craft.
“It’s like a virtual Lego land,” said Joel Velasquez, a computer engineering fresh-man who began minecraft-ing the UTD campus early February. “My roommate and I were discussing how it reminded us of Legos when we were kids, but (Minecraft)
has more freedom.”Players manipulate the
game-world’s surface with pickaxes, shovels and other tools and then collect the hidden resources they find as they dig deeper into the world. An almost infinite amount of structures can
Shane DamicoManaging Editor
see MINECRAFT page 8
Freshman decides to create a 1-to-1 scale of UTD in video game
Show takes aim at recent culture with hilarious results
Commentary
8 February 28, 2011 www.utdmercury.comArts&Life the Mercury
“I didn’t really get into it until seven years ago,” she said.
For Ashley, her mother’s passion for painting never rubbed off on her.
“I’m actually not artistic at all,” she laughed.
Her mother said she was being too modest.
“She’s a good photogra-pher and doesn’t know it,” Lisa said.
Ashley’s main focus in the analytical field of neu-roscience diverges from her mother’s emotional con-nection with painting. Her mother appreciates this contrast. Lisa’s free-spirited demeanor gives Ashley all the independence a college student could ask for from a parent.
“I think it’s great that she’s choosing what she wants to do,” Lisa said. “I don’t push anything. I give her space. I just let her be.”
In addition to working in the Visual Arts Building and setting up artwork there, Ashley also helps her moth-er set up her paintings. Lisa appreciates her daughter’s involvement in her art.
“It’s just exciting to know that she looks at me and she admires my stuff,” said her mother. “I didn’t know
that till recently.Ashley’s knowledge of
psychology gives her moth-er additional insight into her abstract paintings.
“She reads psychology textbooks,” Ashley said about her mom. “And a lot of her art is based on interpretations of dreams. It’s related in a way.”
Lisa recalled a specific dream she had that inspired a serene blue painting she hung in her studio.
“I saw water through a window and it was engulf-ing me, and there were these big fish,” she said. “I was on these black sofas and I looked around and there were these people and they were so calm. I just felt at peace.”
Ashley relates this to her neuroscience studies.
“It’s the subconscious coming out,” she said.
Lisa said painting is often-times an escape from the outside world. She covers the windows on her stu-dio door and blares tech-no music as she works, absorbed and undistracted.
“I see the speed and I’m trying to find some kind of calmness,” she said. “I’m trying to balance how we live in such a fast paced chaotic world and trying to have a space of calm.”
Family is an anchor for
Lisa, and she emphasized the role it plays in her art. Married for 26 years with three daughters, Lisa is the lone artist of the family. Her husband, an engineer, builds the frames for her
paintings while her daugh-ters manage and promote her artwork.
“I would not have any-thing to do with art if they were not supportive,” she said. “Everybody’s busy, but
we help each other out.”Her family was at her side
for the opening of the exhi-bition, which was a major chapter in Lisa’s career as an artist because it showcased 26 of her paintings.
“It’s exciting,” Lisa said. “It’s probably my first step going in the professional direction.”
Lisa’s abstract and surreal paintings will be open to interpretation by the public
ARTcontinued from page 7
Lisa Cardenas’ paintings from her first professional exhibit went on display this month at the Eisemann Center. Cardenas has more than 20 pieces of art featured.
photo by Christopher Wang
Fraternity remembers a prohibition era legend
Feb. 24 fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon honored the death of their brother, Paddy Murphy, a prohibition era bootlegger. An annual tradition, the fraternity reenacts the funeral procession through campus.
photo by Albert Ramirez
be crafted using the game’s building blocks, but Velasquez wants to create UTD’s campus.
Velasquez said after seeing other player cre-ations online, such as the Enterprise from Star Trek and the Hogwarts campus from the Harry Potter film series, he felt inspired to create some-thing of his own.
His strategy was to begin on the outside and build inward. He started by creating the perim-eter of the UTD campus, outlining his creation using Google Maps to measure the real lengths of each side of the cam-pus.
Because every block in Minecraft is equiva-lent to one meter cubed, Velasquez placed an in-game marker for every 10 meters, or 10 blocks, of land he cleared, to make sure the dimen-sions were perfect.
“There’s one side
that’s 1,600 meters. So I literally had to do that 160 times,” he said.
While structural accu-racy is the goal, some objects won’t be perfect. Doors on campus can’t be easily created using cubed meters, Velasquez said. He’ll only be able to make the dimensions as close as he can.
Five days of work wasn’t enough to even finish creating the perim-eter of campus, and Valasquez said at the rate he’s going, it will take him months to fin-ish the entire project.
But with a little help, he might be able to reach his goal sooner.
“I was thinking about asking for more help soon because I obviously don’t know the campus too well because I’m a freshman,” he said.
When he finally finish-es the project, Velasquez said he plans to share his UTD game world online with the Minecraft com-munity.
MINECRAFTcontinued from page 7
9February 28, 2011www.utdmercury.com Arts&Lifethe Mercury
take aim primarily at hip-ster culture and modern technology and do so with astute insight that makes all that’s crazy and weird a b o u t P o r t l a n d surprisingly relatable.
Whether it’s install-ing Mind-Fi, trying to choose a cell phone plan or composing a theme song over voicemails the duo manages to bring out
some perceptive humor in the preposterous nature of technology.
Their most heavy hand-ed satire is at the expense of hipster culture and the various fads coming and going throughout it.
The opening sequence of the series is a song called “The Dream of the Nineties” glorifying every-
thing from tattoos to clowning to double-decker bikes.
They go on to explore art festivals, adult hide and seek leagues and dumpster divers, but some of their best characters are the
feminist b o o k -s t o r e owners and the interior design-ers who special-ize in “ b i r d
art.”But while many cases
are simply the now cus-tomarily odd taken to the
extreme, some of their weirder subjects take them into the outlandish and somewhat uncomfortable.
A lot of the characters seem like little more than an opportunity for Armisen to cross dress. So the show isn’t always for the tradi-tional or faint of heart.
At the end of the day, it’s a couple of hipsters making fun of their own kind and will probably be appreciated most by the hip, but for everyone else there is still plenty of funny to go around.
The pair of Carrie Brownstein (left) and Fred Armisen take IFC television show “Portlandia” to seemingly usual places with usual appliances. As part of the show this duo dresses up for skits to show sometimes forgotten items, such as dumpsters, in a new light of humor.
courtesy of Spinner.com
“Portlandia”
7/ 10
At the end of the day it’s a couple of hipsters making fun of their own kind...but there is still plenty of funny to go around.
— John D. McCrary
HIPSTERScontinued from page 7
side the store with money in hand. His commitment was tested with no harm done.
But when the last pledge makes his plunge into the unknown, with no brother to reveal the punch line of the prank, he attempts to rob the store with an unloaded gun.
From there the film spi-rals out of control, with each new problem met with this same kind of pig-headed plan-ning one might expect from a frat guy.
The film, directed by Arlington native Will Canon, is an experiment in stupidity within a per-fect storm of disaster.
The film manages to capture all the electric-ity, stress and frustration one could expect to find in the middle of all the accumulating catastro-phes as they build on each other.
This movie is frenetic and infuriating as the boys attempt to avoid having their traditional initiation ritual discov-ered by the authorities and make one bad deci-sion after the next.
“Brotherhood” may be furious but to its credit it is also fast at 70 min-utes.
So the somewhat unbe-lievable punch of one cri-
sis after the next carries the audience along like a candy binge, not quite ever allowing the crash to happen until the very end.
The characters are sim-ple, two dimensional frat guys.
The central of which are played pitch perfectly by Jon Foster and Trevor
Morgan. The pair
manage to capture the feel of a desperate ly bew i l de red average col-lege student but that u l t i m a t e l y amounts to little more than every-
one yelling at one anoth-er.
That being said the sometimes shrill acting is in the film’s favor as it manages to capture the moment authentically.
This cautionary tale is ultimately just as affect-ing as it is exhausting.
The ending packs a powerful punch.
As soon as it’s over all the horrors that flew past at dizzyingly high speed begin to make sense leav-ing the audience with a potent feeling of disgust at the cocky and risky nature of frat life.
By the time you’re done you might feel you’ve just been hazed yourself.
BROTHERHOODcontinued from page 7
Commentary
“Brotherhood”
6/ 10
10 February 28, 2011 www.utdmercury.comSports the Mercury
UTD’s baseball team returned from the Arizona Desert Classic with a 2-2 record against some of the top-ranked teams in the country.
UTD beat Whitman College 11-1 behind a solid start from pitcher Marvin Prestridge and nationally-ranked Pacific Lutheran 15-14. Outfielder Chase Brown had 10 total hits in the four games.
The Comets (5-2) fell to nationally-ranked Linfield College and also George Fox University before return-ing home. Since the tourna-ment, the Comets have also won against Texas Wesleyan and Arlington Baptist.
Although they went 2-2 in Arizona, victories over ranked opponents in a tournament environment can help bring credibility to
the program and also build momentum amongst the players, said Head Coach Shane Shewmake.
“Hopefully it just builds confidence and we just keep rolling, knowing that we can beat some of the best teams out there,” Shewmake said.
The Arizona tournament ran from Feb. 10-13. In the weeks leading up to the tournament, the Richardson area saw ice and snow, which restricted the Comets to practicing inside. They could not fully practice at home, but were finally able to run normal practices once the team reached Arizona, Shewmake said.
The win against Pacific Lutheran did not come easy, though. The Comets led 15-8 heading into the 9th inning, but No. 27 Pacific Lutheran scored six runs — including four off a grand slam — before finally
Bobby KarallaSports Editor
Baseball team tees off for 2011 seasonComets baseball back home, 5-2
Jake Wyand beats out a throw to first base against Bates College on Feb. 23. The Comets won the game in extra innings and started the season 2-0 at home after returning from a national tournament in Arizona.
photo by Albert Ramirez
The Lady Comets won 20 games this season for the second time in the pro-gram’s history.
Their 16 conference wins tied for the second-best fin-ish in history as well, add-ing to head coach Polly Thomason’s quickly-estab-lished basketball program.
The Lady Comets have now posted four consecu-tive winning seasons. Before the 2007-08 season, the team had never finished with a winning record. UTD also qualified for the ASC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
Overall, the Lady Comets won 10 of their last 12 games in the regular season and clinched second place in the ASC East behind nationally-ranked Louisiana College.
Louisiana handed the Lady Comets their first and only home loss of the season Feb. 12. Their only blem-ish on an otherwise stellar home court performance gave them a 12-1 record at home, improving on last year’s 10-2 mark.
While Louisiana defeated the Lady Comets 71-43, Thomason said the team was ready to move on to a crucial matchup with third-place Mississippi College Feb. 14.
“After a loss like Saturday, this game is a character test for you. How are you going to handle that adverse situa-tion?” Thomason said. “We didn’t have time to dwell on it and throw a pity party for ourselves. We had to get ready for Mississippi.”
The Lady Comets over-came Tarneisha Scott’s foul trouble and Ashley George’s ankle injury to defeat the Mississippi College Lady Choctaws in a solid per-formance, winning 75-68. Lyndsey Smith picked up the scoring slack with 29 points, hitting five three-pointers.
“Lyndsey is Lyndsey. It’s nice to see her really find her rhythm,” Thomason said after the game. “I could tell this was going to be her game. You just can see it when she’s focused.”
That gave the Lady Comets their second victory over the Lady Choctaws this season,
Bobby KarallaSports Editor
Lady Comets win 20 games
see WOMEN page 11
Scott, Smith lead women in historically successful season
The UTD men’s basket-ball team is part of an exclusive club this year.
The 2010-11 Comets were one of just 33 teams nationwide to finish the regular season with 20 or more wins. There are more than 300 schools with Division III basketball pro-grams.
“Twenty wins is just a great marker for our bas-ketball program when you think about a 25-game season,” said head coach Terry Butterfield. “I think it puts us in really good company with some of the other teams around the nation. More than that, I’m really pleased for our guys because they’ve worked so hard to get to this point.”
The Comets (20-5), won the ASC East, posting a 16-4 conference record. They have won the division for the second consecutive season and for the third time in program history.
UTD also hosted the ASC Tournament Feb. 25-27. (For results, check www.utdmercury.com)
The team’s final four regular season games all came over an eight-day stretch, after the game against Mississippi College was rescheduled due to the weather. Butterfield called it a “pro-like sched-ule,” but admitted every team was thrown for a
loop because of the unex-pected storm.
The first game of the tough stretch came against Louisiana College, a game the Comets won eas-ily, 92-67. The team’s 92 point output was the high-est total since Jan. 6 when UTD torched Concordia
University 101-74.“If we’re not dog tired
by next Saturday, then we haven’t played very hard, because I expect three dog-fights coming down the stretch here,” Butterfield said after the Louisiana
Bobby KarallaSports Editor
In elite companyMen win 20 games, ASC East title
Curtis Davis attempts a shot while LeTourneau forward Kendrae Carter attempts a steal Feb. 19 at the Activity Center. The Comets won the Senior Day game 83-47 in Davis’ final regular season home game.
photo by Ben Hawkins
see MEN page 11
Final Men’s ASC East Basketball Sandings
ASC Rec. Overall Rec.
UTD 16-4 20-5
East Texas Baptist Univ. 13-7 17-8
UT Tyler 11-9 12-13
Mississippi College 10-10 13-12
Louisiana College 10-10 11-13
Univ. of the Ozarks 3-17 6-19
LeTourneau Univ. 2-18 3-22
Final Women’s ASC East Basketball Standings
ASC Rec. Overall Rec.
Lousiana College 18-2 22-2
UTD 16-4 20-5
Mississippi College 12-8 17-8
Univ. of the Ozarks 10-10 14-11
UT Tyler 9-11 11-14
East Texas Baptist Univ. 7-13 9-15
LeTourneau Univ. 1-19 2-23
see BASEBALL page 11
11February 28, 2011www.utdmercury.com Sportsthe Mercury
game. He was right.The Comets’ next two
games were decided by a combined four points as they took down the Mississippi College Choctaws and UT Tyler.
The final few seconds of the game against the Choctaws were perhaps the most exciting and nerve-racking moments of the season.
Up 54-51 with 8.9 sec-onds left, leading scorer Chris Barnes missed two foul shots.
The Comets missed four of six free throws over a 45-second stretch.
Mississippi College then immediately hit a three-pointer to tie the game.
Brandon Greene tried a long lob pass down the court with five seconds left, and the Choctaws stole the pass.
However, just like Chris Webber did for Michigan in the 1993 National Championship, the Choctaws called a timeout that they did not have and were given a technical foul.
“Certainly that was a gift put in our lap, but Curtis Davis still had to step up and shoot the free throws and knock the free throws down,” Butterfield said after the game.
Davis, third in the ASC in free throw percentage (84.5 percent), knocked down both free throws and Mississippi went on to miss a desperation shot as the Comets escaped with a
gritty 56-54 win.“At this point in the year,
you try to survive it and move on. That was as ugly as ugly can get,” Butterfield said.
Mississippi was the only ASC East team to defeat UTD all season, as the Comets finished with an 11-1 record in-division.
The next game was not as dramatic as it was terrify-ing for UTD.
The Comets led the UT Tyler Patriots 75-63 with 2:15 left in the game, before the Patriots unloaded 11 straight points in 2:09 to bring the game to 75-74.
Brandon Greene knocked down a free throw before Tyler missed a last-second shot and the Comets again came away victorious.
“You want to go in to the tournament feeling confi-dent, and feeling you’ve got some momentum,” Butterfield said. “When you go to war and you’re in a tussle like that, it can only help you. It can’t hurt you.”
Butterfield was not pleased with the second-half defense though, as the Comets gave up 52 points over the final 20 minutes of the game.
“How do you play such a great half defensively and then turn around and give them 52?” Butterfield said. “That doesn’t jive with me and I’m not happy about it, but I am happy that we won.”
Immediately after the Tyler game, the Comets played LeTourneau University on
Senior Day, where seniors Greene, Davis and Wells Adams were honored.
They could not have ended the season on a bet-ter, swifter note than they did against LeTourneau, winning in blowout fash-ion, 83-47.
Barnes scored 30 points in 23 minutes, and shot 11-of-13 from the field in an extremely efficient per-formance.
Barnes’ 84.6 percent shooting was good for the third-best single-game shooting percentage in UTD history.
He led the ASC East in scoring (18.1 PPG) and was third overall in the ASC.
Notes: Barnes’ 18.1 PPG is the third-best single-season scoring average in UTD his-tory… Davis has made 87 free throws, tied for sixth-most in a single season in UTD history. He made 88 last season, fifth-most all time… This year’s team has the second-highest points per game average (75.2) of any team in UTD history.
MENcontinued from page 10
completing a sweep of one of their toughest divi-sion opponents. Louisiana College and University of the Ozarks were the only East teams to beat the Lady Comets this season.
Scott continued her his-toric season against the UT Tyler Lady Patriots, padding her reputation as a great scorer by hitting a layup off a pass from Nikki Kosary with under seven seconds left in the game to give the Lady Comets a 67-66 victory.
Just before Scott’s game-winner, she missed two free throws that could have given them the lead. Thomason went right back at her, though.
“That’s what you do with a good player. You just go right back at them and give them another opportunity,” Thomason said after the game.
Scott and the Lady Comets made the most of that opportunity, clinching second place in the divi-sion.
“We’re trying to build up some momentum and steam, so when we get to the tournament we’re ready to play,” Thomason said. “This was a great contest for us. We learned a lot about ourselves and learned how to win in a situation like this.”
On Senior Day, the Lady Comets honored Scott and guard Tawni Ichimura. They represent the first class of women to leave UTD with a winning record each of their
four seasons on the team.The game didn’t start off
in an honorable way, as the Lady Comets committed 18 first half turnovers against LeTourneau, the worst team in the ASC East. However, they led 21-17 at halftime and pulled away in the second half, playing much more efficient basketball as they cruised to a 56-41 vic-tory.
Thomason glowed when describing Scott and Ichimura.
“There’s so much to say about them. They’re just two special women,” Thomason said. “I would love for them to stick around and play longer or be a part of our program. These two, you want more time with them, because they’re that spe-cial.”
Senior Tawni Ichimura sprints down the court against LeTourneau University Feb. 19 at the Activity Center. The Lady Comets won 56-41 in Ichimura’s and Tarneisha Scott’s final game at home. The Lady Comets ended the season going 10-2 over their final 12 games.
photo by Ben Hawkins
WOMENcontinued from page 10
Tennis season underway
UTD tennis began its 2011 campaign at home Feb 12. against Louisiana College with a 9-0 victory, then fell 6-3 to Mississippi College on Feb. 19.
photos by Ben Hawkins
grounding into a game-ending double play.
While Shewmake said they survived a nail-biter in a game that should not have been that close, the experience can help the team hold onto leads in the future.
“You like to go ahead and shut people down, but it shows that you just keep playing, and even if they’re scoring runs, just make good pitches and make routine plays and normally you’ll get out of a jam like that,” Shewmake said.
Another issue the Comets faced was a hamstring inju-ry to third baseman Joseph Killgore that kept him out of the last two games.
He has not played since, but both Killgore and Shewmake said he should be ready by March.
“We’re wanting to make sure we have him ready for conference, so we’re not going to rush him back,” Shewmake said.
Killgore tweaked one hamstring before the sea-son started, recovered and then immediately hurt the other in Arizona.
Shewmake siad once Killgore returns, he will hit clean-up. But the Comets have been fine without him in the last two games.
Prestridge had another
strong outing against Texas Wesleyan in a 4-3 Comets victory, improving to 2-0 on the season. Through his first two starts, Prestridge has thrown 12 innings, given up just three earned runs and struck out 17 bat-ters.
It was Derek Dallas’ turn to pitch Feb. 17 against Arlington Baptist. Dallas threw eight strong, quick innings, gave up one un-earned run and fanned seven batters.
The Comets stepped up the offense, scoring 14 in their 2011 home debut and walked away with a 14-1 victory.
The first four Comet runs came on Kyle Guest’s first inning grand slam, which came on a full count. Guest saw the pitch and drilled it over the fence in left field to give the Comets a 4-0 lead, and they never looked back, adding four more runs over the next three innings.
Shewmake said the slam was a great way to start the game.
“Sometimes that’s what you need. Momentum car-ries you a long way, and that was huge,” Shewmake said.
The Comets then won in extra innings against Bates on Feb. 23.
With a 5-3 lead in the top of the 9th inning, Max Willard took the mound
and gave up two runs. The Comets could not score in their half of the 9th, so the game went to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Willard gave up just one hit and got three quick outs.
Grant Friddell led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk, then was moved to second base by Clint Dunham’s sacrifice bunt.
Friddell immediately scored off Guest’s game-winning single.
It was Friddell’s third run of the game. He also had three RBI, two coming on a double in the first inning.
Friddell finished the game 2-3. Dunham and Jacob Starnes both had two hits, and Guest’s walk-off was his first hit of the afternoon.
Willard gave up two runs in two innings and picked up the win.
Cameron Brown got the start for the Comets. He threw five innings and gave up one unearned run.
The Comets improved to 5-2 on the season after the victory and improved to 2-0 at home.
They opened up confer-ence play Feb. 25 against McMurry, and played a double-header Feb. 26.
Note: The Comets’ stats and record are as of Feb. 25 before the three-game series against McMurry.
BASEBALLcontinued from page 10
I’ve seen (Tarneisha Scott and Tawni Ichimura) grow up from being little freshmen and quiet and shy, to being the leaders. They’ve done so many good things for the program. They’ve raised our bar of competitiveness. It’ll be sad to lose them but I’m glad they’ve had the senior year they’ve had. It’s exciting to see that.
— Polly Thomason on women’s basketball seniors
Wells (Adams) has been just a tremendous team person and fun to work with. He’s got very high char-acter and he’s a yes-sir no-sir kind of guy. Brandon (Greene) and I have been together for five years. We didn’t recruit him. He recruited himself to UTD and I’m sure glad he did. It didn’t take me long to fig-ure out he was pretty good. Curtis (Davis) came as a transfer from McMurry. He was looking for a new op-portunity. I didn’t know much about Curtis either. I’m just ecstatic that he came here. I’m so glad he did. I don’t know where we’d be without him.
—Terry Butterfield on men’s basketball seniors
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13February 28, 2011www.utdmercury.comthe Mercury Comics
Story of My Life by Pennyworth
Vertically Challenged by Michelle Ngyuen
College Food Pyramid by Brandon Higgins
The Distant Future by Jake Corona
Sudoku
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The First Candy by Laura-Jane Cunningham
14 February 28, 2011 www.utdmercury.com the MercuryNews
photos by Ben Hawkins
International Chess Grand Master Julio Sadorra plays blindfolded against several challengers during ChessFest on Feb. 22 in the SU mall.
photos by Akshay Hershe
A student practices parkour around campus. Parkour is the discipline of traversing a path and overcoming any obstacle by adapting one’s movement to the environment.
photos by
Albert Ramirez
Students place red dots on posts with events they identify with, during the UTD chapter’s of the InterVarsity C h r i s t i a n Fellowship. The group spoke to students about difficult issues and events pertaining to young college students.
photos by Akshay Hershe
Daniel Young, a computer science senior, shows off some of his Hackey Sack skills in the SU mall.
SUMallcomes to life