the rambler, vol. 92, no. 18
DESCRIPTION
Rambler Issue number 7TRANSCRIPT
Cowboys overenthusiastic after winOpinion, page 2
The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917
WEDNESDAYOctober 14, 2009
Vol. 92 • No. 19
ONLINE: www.therambler.org
The RamblerThe life and times of Willie the RamSports, page 6
Will students rock the vote?Jonathan [email protected]
While the 2008 presidential election churned out young voters in record num-bers, the upcoming November elections may only produce a trickle.
Apart from vot-ing for local officials, voters will cast their ballots in favor of, or against, 11 different propositions ranging in topics from univer-sities to public beaches and municipal issues such as city taxes.
Jessica Rodriguez, junior chemistry ma-jor, wasn’t aware of the upcoming elections.
“I hadn’t heard any-thing about it,” Rodri-guez said. “If I knew more about it, I would probably go and vote.”
Kenisha King, assis-tant voter registration supervisor for Tarrant County, said it is not unusual for people to be unaware when lo-cal elections occur.
“A lot of times, peo-ple are not aware of elections going on,” King said. “It’s that or they don’t understand what’s on the ballot.”
National elections generally garner more
attention than local elections according, to the voting and democ-racy research center.
Ashly Spencer, se-nior education major, believes that voting at a local level is just as important as vot-ing at a national level but some people don’t agree.
“It’s not as big of a deal for people,” said Spencer, whose in-terest in voting was sparked as a child by her father who worked in Washington.
Rockthevote.com is a Web site that pro-motes voting at both the national and local level. According to the site, the organization’s mission is “to engage and build the political power of young peo-ple in order to achieve progressive change in our country.”
According to Rock the Vote, there was a nearly continuous downward turnout trend in younger vot-ers since 1972 until 2004.
“Turnout among 18-29 year olds was up significantly in 2004 and 2006 and more than doubled in the 2008 primaries,” ac-cording to the organi-zation.
Long-time community activist supports Texas Wesleyan
Business expert to speak on campusDaniel [email protected]
Business students and other members of the Wesleyan community will hear from the newest member of the Texas Wesleyan Business Hall of Fame Oct. 20. Southwest Bank Chief Executive Officer and President Vernon Wilson Bryant Jr. will speak at 9:30 a.m. in Martin Hall.
“It is because of Mr. Bry-ant’s great leadership in Texas banking, in addition to his many other contributions to the local community, that make him such a great choice for the Executive of the Year Award and induction into the Business Hall of Fame,” said Dr. Hector Quintanilla, dean of Wesleyan’s school of busi-ness.
The Hall of fame is a part-nership between Wesleyan, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and the Fort Worth Business Press that honors individuals based on achievements.
A board composed of for-mer hall of fame recipients makes the selection for new inductees. Members of the Hall include W.R. “Bob” Watt, head of the Fort Worth Stock Show, and U.S. Rep. Kay Granger.
Bryant, who has been known as a leader in the Texas banking community for near-ly 30 years, headed TexasBank from 1989 until 2000, when he left to become CEO of Southwest Bank. He became a member of the Texas Wesley-an board of trustees in June. He is also a board member of the Van Cliburn Foundation and the First United Meth-odist Church Foundation, as well as the chairman of the Tarrant County United Way Campaign.
Bryant will be formerly in-ducted into the hall of fame at a black tie dinner at the Fort Worth Club Oct. 27. Proceeds from the event fund scholar-ships in the school of business.
Renee Greer| Staff PhotographerWhile some students plan to make their way to the polls Nov. 3, others remain ambiguous.
Revenue up, raises feasible Jonathan [email protected]
Recession or not, some Wesleyan faculty and employ-ees will receive up to a 3 per-cent raise this year, according to Bill Bleibdrey, senior vice president of finance.
The salary raise is due to better-than-expected enroll-
ment and an increase in reve-nue, Bleibdrey said. Pay raises weren’t originally expected for the 2009-2010 school year, he said, because of uncertainty of how the current economy would affect school enroll-ment.
“We had to be very cau-tious,” he said, referring to promising raises at the begin-
ning of the fiscal year. The raise, scheduled to take
effect by the end of the month, is retroactive to June, the be-ginning of the fiscal year.
Wesleyan President Dr. Harold Jeffcoat said faculty is subject to a performance re-view before a raise is issued. The performance measures in each department depend
on the nature of the work, he said. Some may receive more than a 3 percent raise while others won’t receive one at all.
“We reward those who are the top performers,” he said. “We don’t want to reward those who are just going through the motions.”
The raises are usually expected. Bleibdrey said
salary increases are common every year, with 2002 or 2003 being an exception.
Wesleyan’s pay increase comes at a time when other schools in the country are facing opposite troubles. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Badger Herald
RAISE, page 3
VOTE, page 3
BROWN, page 3
Renee [email protected]
G. Alfred Brown Jr. sits in his favorite seat in the Dora Roberts Dining Hall almost every day with a partial smile on his face as he takes in what he calls great scenery. But who is he, some ask.
Brown is many things to many people, including a donor and friend of Texas Wesleyan. He recently gave the school of education a financial donation to make possible the telecon-ferencing of classes between the main campus and the Burleson site.
The education school is close to his heart. In 1962, Brown was an education major at Texas Wesleyan University.
“I live to help,” Brown said.His desire to give and to serve
things near and dear is some-thing he acquired from his par-ents. Throughout his life, Brown was inspired by their example.
Brown’s mother, Opal John-
son Brown, was a volunteer at Harris Hospital for more than 50 years and gave guidance to several other places of service and need, according to the Cen-tral Link United Methodist offi-cial publication.
His father, Dr. G. Alfred Brown, was a Methodist minis-ter who left a long list of accom-plishments. He earned five col-lege degrees, was the previous superintendent of Fort Worth Independent School District in an interim appointment and was the representative of the Central Texas Conference for several years.
Brown said he was heavily influenced by his parents’ devo-tion to serve God and was deter-mined to do good as he saw his parents do.
In recognition and in memory of the lives of his parents, Brown established the G. Alfred and Opal Brown Ministerial Schol-arship that was awarded for the first time this year, according to
the official publication for the Central Texas Conference.
Brown spends most of his days offering help to a commu-nity that offered him so much when he was a younger man. He has volunteered in the Fort Worth ISD for more than 20 years. He received the Man of the Year award in 2001, and he continues to be active in the sur-rounding public schools in the Fort Worth area.
“I’ve never been married and never had children, but 280 kids call me dad,” Brown said.
He said that his payment for volunteering is the hugs and
love he receives when he walks into some of his kindergarten classrooms.
He doesn’t forget the older kids either. Polytechnic High School endured some challenges this year, facing possible closure after years of poor standardized test scores. Brown fought on the front lines supporting them all the way.
“I want to see the schools like Polytechnic High School stay open,” said Brown. “I was able to watch Polytechnic High pull through till the end, and I was Renee Greer | Rambler Staff
G. Alfred Brown has spent more than 20 years serving the community.
“I’ve never been married and never had children, but 280 kids call me dad.”
G. Alfred BrownWesleyan friend and donor
Opinion2 | October 14, 2009 The RambleR | www.rambler.org
What do the Cowboys need to keep winning?
Oscar Lazarky,sophomore business
“Need to protect Romo and play better defense.”
Erica Moore,freshman science
“They suck right now. Get rid of Tony Romo.”
Joy Millard,junior theater
“Let Romo out of the pocket.”
Daniel Torres,junior psychology
“Get rid of Romo. He’s the problem. ‘Nuff said.”
Justin Payne,senior poltical science
“On third and goal run the ball not have Romo
throw it.”
Jonathan Resendez, news editorLaurence Sheehan, opinion editorConner Howell, college life editorJoakim Söderbaum, sports editorChuck Fain, entertainment editorLaura Rosser, photo editorRachel Horton, multimedia editorLaShawnda Mayhorn, social media directorDaniel Bravo, advertising managerKelli Lamers, faculty adviserDr. Kay Colley, faculty liaison
Member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press As-sociation, Associated Collegiate Press, Student Press Law Center, College Media Advisers and College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers.
Opinions expressed in The RambleR are those of the individual authors only and do not neces-sarily reflect the views of the Texas Wesleyan community as a whole.
RambleR Contribution Please send all news briefs to [email protected]. Submissions due by noon Friday to see brief in the following week’s issue.
Letters to the editor: The RambleR, a weekly publication welcomes all letters. All submis-sions must have a full printed name, phone number and signature. While every consider-ation is made to publish letters, publication is limited by time and space.The editors reserve the right to edit all submis-sions for space, grammar, clarity and style. Letters to the editor may be subject to response from editors and students on the opinion page.
“We are not afraid to follow the truth ... wherever it may lead.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Address all correspondence to:Texas Wesleyan UniversityThe RambleR1201 Wesleyan St.Fort Worth, TX [email protected] contact The RambleR
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The RamblerFounded in 1917 as The Handout
Publisher: Harold G. Jeffcoat
Hope doesn’t air on the Fox News channel.
The Fox News station is no-torious for its talking heads of Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. These men make it no secret that they are not fans of the Obama administration, and the Obama administration makes it no secret they don’t care for Fox News.
Recently reported by the As-sociated Press, President Barrack Obama granted interviews to ev-ery news station but Fox News. Why? The talking heads of Fox News have poked, prodded and ridiculed the Obama administra-
tion for every decision they have made.
The White House said Glenn Beck was just telling “lies” on his program. If anyone has watched Beck’s show, you would know this host is very charismatic and cares deeply about this country. Does he spin what is the truth? Possibly.
On his commentary show, he tells people what he sees from his own point of view. He is not a news reporter, and he has scruti-nized the former administration just as much as the current.
My only problem with the White House and anyone else
taking offense to Fox News’ criti-cism is this: Didn’t everyone do that to George W. Bush admin-istration? Did we not and are we still not complaining about the damage the Bush administration has done and the drain it left on the economy?
God forbid you point out the fact that under Clinton’s admin-istration, Fannie and Freddie were pressured by ACORN and other left wing groups to lower their standard of home loans and begin this conundrum that is the economy. Because we all know Clinton did no wrong, right?
I like Obama, but I don’t like
some of his most recent politics. His administration reminds me of that kid on the playground that would get upset because he lost and now he’s taking his ball and going home.
The White House claims its sharp tone is to combat some of the “unfounded claims” by Beck. Doesn’t a talk show host have the right to criticize anything an ad-ministration is doing? Especially when they don’t agree with it? If they are not allowed to question what they see, aren’t we limiting their first amendment rights?
Is putting a muzzle on a talk-ing head you don’t agree with the
right choice?Why not just turn the chan-
nel off or cast the talking heads to the side as right-wing crazies? Because these right wing crazies have gained some legitimate ground in their snooping of the Obama administration.
Do you know who blew the top on ACORN? Fox News. Do you know who found out about the former CZAR Van Jones? Fox News. Who was the inspi-ration behind the Tea Parties? Oh yeah, Glen Beck and the 912 project. These guys must be crazy.
You shouldn’t criticize a media
that is looking out for the Ameri-can people. Even if you don’t like Fox News, you should at least listen to what they have to say, if not you’re as closed minded as what you are accusing these men of being.
I watch Fox News as an enter-tainment value, but when a point is brought up I find interesting, I then research it on my own and draw my own conclusions, as everyone should do. Don’t take one piece of information as a vi-able source. If you don’t like what you hear on Fox News, it may be because once again they are right on the money.
Laurence [email protected]
Fox News gets no help from Hope
This summer, I canceled my Facebook. Yep, I clicked “de-activate account,” and I was free!
Free from status updates letting me know my ex-girlfriend from ninth grade was eating a tuna sandwich. Free from invites to groups called “Girls that wear Ugg boots are responsible for the spread of STDs.” Free from annoying quizzes tell-ing me which Final Fantasy VII character I would be. Facebook had become a distraction. I could liter-ally spend all day looking at friends’ pictures, taking quiz-zes, sending gifts, playing Scrabbulous, commenting on posted links, commenting on friends’ comments, com-menting on comments made about other comments, etc.
Instead of taking occa-sional breaks from writing school papers to check my page, it was the other way around. My self-control was nonexistent. I browsed for an hour, or more. Like a heroin addict, I knew what I was doing was destroying me but was unable to stop. I also slowly began to feel a social isolation from my fellow living, breathing hu-mans. My mother, who has a Facebook, said to me one day, “Wow, you have 600 friends!”
Sheepishly, I had to tell her, “Yeah, but Mom, that includes the kid who sat next to me in freshman history and my
12-year-old brother’s friend who has a crush on me.” So I had plenty of acquain-tances. But what of friends? And so, Mark Zuckerberg be damned, I quit, like Odysseus
strapping himself to the ship’s mast to avoid the temptations of the Sirens. I went into de-tox, removing Facebook from my bookmarks bar, sent texts to my friends with my rev-elation and even blocked the page on my Internet browser. Immediately after, I felt up-lifted, like a man who’d found God. I found peace, began to live less cluttered and, most importantly, began to put more stake in my relation-ships.
My thought was, when the veil is removed, when we no longer have a custom-made page to present to others how we want to come off, the fo-cus returns to genuine expe-rience, genuine relationships. I had definitely lost this in the age of Facebook and Twit-ter, Blackberry and iPhone. As time went on, I began to have doubts, not about what constitutes a well-lived life, but about how realistic it is
as a college student in today’s world not to have a Facebook.
Plus, Facebook hooks me up with people I would have no idea how to find other-wise, including my old best
friend who moved to Texas in fourth grade. I can in-vite, all at once, old friends from a past study abroad experience for a reunion party at my house. I can eas-ily gather volunteers for an October canned food drive. I re-entered my relationship with Facebook, but only after making a serious pact with myself. I would only use the social networking platform for, well, social networking. I would do my best to avoid time wasters like quizzes and reading incessant status up-dates. And I would take time for my real friends, the ones with blood and hearts and lungs and not profile pictures and Mafia Wars rankings. It is still possible to live in 2009, enjoy the beauty of living and have a Face-book page. We just have to work a little harder on it. Now, back to my Scrabbu-lous game... doh!
The ending of an era. The death and life of my Facebook accountChristopher HookDaily Kent Stater, Kent State-Uwire
Letter to the EditorI noticed in [the Sept. 29] Campus Comments section of The Rambler that every
response provided was against the banning of smoking on campus with one indif-ferent exception. I have at my fingertips the names of well over 100 students on campus who are in favor of banning smoking on campus. It would not have been difficult to give some diversity of opinion. As a student at this university, I expect to look at The Rambler for a fair and bal-anced approach to controversial issues. I am deeply disappointed that dialogue with the students was clearly not sought on such an important topic.
-Kasey Cantrell sophomore
“My self-control was nonexistent. I browesd for an hour or more. Like a heroin addict, I knew what was destroying me but was unable to stop.”
Please submit all Letters to the Editor to:Laurence J. [email protected]
CampusThe RambleR | www.therambler.org October 14, 2009 | 3
In 2008, 44 million 18-29 year olds were eligible to vote in the national elections. Ac-cording to civicyouth.org, a nonpartisan research center studying youth civic engage-ment and civic education, an estimated 23 million voters under the age of 30 partici-pated in the election, which was an increase of 2 to 3 per-cent from the 2004 national election.
Often, eligible voters ab-stain from voting because they claim ignorance of the issues.
Justin Keller, senior exer-cise science major, falls into that category of voters.
“I don’t know enough about it to really vote for any-one,” Keller said.
However, he would vote if one of the issues was impor-tant to him.
“Cutting taxes would probably draw me to the polls,” he said.
Regardless of whether it is a national or local elec-tion, people choosing to vote or not vote impacts oth-ers, King said. Their vote or lack thereof affects neigh-bors, relatives and complete strangers.
“Someone casting a ballot is the same in any election,” she said.
reported that officials there would actually be taking a 3 percent pay cut because of mandatory furloughs for all university employees because of strenuous economic times.
The tough times have spared Wesleyan this fiscal year, at least. Likewise, Jeffcoat said Wesleyan needs to remain re-
spectful to the economics that drive this institution – which is the cost of students to at-tend.
“We haven’t fired a soul for financial reasons,” he said. “But we’re not going to raise tuition and fees just to pay someone more.”
Bleibdrey said he’s happy to
be able to grant the raises and said Wesleyan wants its peo-ple to have purchasing power as the price of everything goes up.
“We’re happy to be able to do it,” he said. “And it’s our in-tention to continue that prac-tice.”
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excited to see the outcome.” Brown said that while he appreciates
the school, he wanted to see some im-provements in the curriculum.
“I grew up during the days of segre-gation, and I think the schools should spend more time teaching not just american history but the history of the great African-American heroes that paved the way for so many today.”
He shares that same passion for edu-cation with Texas Wesleyan.
Brown shook hands with Wesleyan President Dr. Harold Jeffcoat Oct. 2 in front of a plaque on the wall that was dedicated to Brown for his contribu-tions to the video conferencing equip-ment in Dan Waggoner Hall.
Brown also established an endowed scholarship for the school of education. He remains active on campus and wants to reach out to the community through some of the campus organizations.
“I’m just happy to be a small part of the education offered at Texas Wesley-an,” Brown said. “I love Texas Wesleyan, and I love being around the staff and students because everyone is so nice to me.”
Brown said that he is always wel-comed with open arms when he walks the campus.
“The students even open the door for me,” he said.
Brown shared a few words of wisdom with Wesleyan students.
“Staying in school can be a challenge during the recession,” he said. “But stay in school because your education is go-ing to be very valuable in the end.”
VOTE continued from page 1
RAISE continued from page 1
State HighlightsProp 1
Grants municipalities a method to raise revenue to acquire land to provide a buffer zone or open space to prevent encroachment from development, or fund infrastructure to protect the mission of local military in-stallations.
Prop 9Establishes the public’s
unrestricted access to pub-lic beaches as permanent easement and authorizes the legislature to enact laws to protect the public access to the beach and the easement form interfer-ence and encroachment. There would be no right of private enforcement.
Prop 4Establishes a National
Research University Fund and would disperse those funds to emerging re-search institutions with the goal of producing top-tier public research universities like the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University.
Prop 11Spells out that, in order
to take a property by emi-nent domain, the property must be owned, used and enjoyed by the public at large, state or local gov-ernment or other agency with the power of eminent domain. It prohibits taking private property for eco-nomic development or to enhance tax revenues.
Renee Greer| Rambler StaffG. Alfred Brown
BROWN continued from page 1
Early voting: Oct. 19-30During early voting, registered voters may
vote at any early voting location in Tarrant County. Find them at www.tarrantcounty.com/evote.
Source: League of Women Voters
In Brief...Pink Out
The volleyball team is selling items to sup-port breast cancer awareness and support its upcoming match. The team will “pink out” its conference game against South-western Assemblies of God University at 7 p.m. Oct. 15 in the Sid Richardson Gym.
Modern MusicBoth students and faculty are part of
Wesleyan Music at the Modern, a free concert at the Modern Art Museum. The
show takes place at 2 p.m. Oct. 17 and will feature vocal and instrumental music by individuals as well as the Wesleyan Chamber Choir, Brass Quartet and Jazz Quintet.
Got yogurt? Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Soror-
ity is collecting Yoplait yogurt’s pink lids through Nov. 6 for Breast Cancer Aware-ness Month. Drop boxes are located in the SUB and the library. For every lid turned in, Yoplait donates 10 cents to breast can-cer research.
Mustafa Saifuddin Daily Texan
A new state law allows police to draw blood from suspected drunk drivers in some situations without a warrant.
Police officers are now allowed to take blood samples without consent almost immediately af-ter arresting a person for driving under the influence of alcohol if the driver has a history of offens-es or if a serious injury or child passenger is involved. Critics of the new law claim that it violates the Fifth Amendment’s protec-tion against self-incrimination.
The new law is intended to ad-dress the lack of evidence that often results from drunk driv-ing cases in which Breathalyzer or blood tests are delayed by the process of obtaining warrants.
Beginning last Halloween, Texas has run “No Refusal” weekends on holidays and dur-ing celebrations such as Super Bowl Sunday, when surges in drunken driving are expected.
“No Refusal” weekends before the new law required police of-ficers to always obtain a warrant before drawing blood. Austin Police Department Cpl. Scott Perry recalls as many as 30 ar-rests on a single night during past “No Refusal” weekends but remains optimistic about their efforts to minimize drunken
driving incidences.“Our expectation is that no
one will drink and drive. But if anybody is caught drunk, they will be arrested,” Perry said.
APD expedites the warrant process on “No Refusal” week-ends by obtaining a warrant and conducting tests within as little as an hour after an arrest.
“Drunk driving is a continu-ing problem and a growing problem,” Perry said. “The pur-pose of ‘No Refusal’ weekend is to obtain as much evidence as possible so that when we go to court the jury can make a deci-sion.”
This year’s don’t drink and drive campaign, titled “Choose Your Ride,” features a hybrid be-tween a police car and a taxi cab and asks people to choose one or the other if they have been drinking. The actual vehicles will be parked in entertainment dis-tricts throughout the state along with internet banners, posters featuring cab phone numbers, billboards and window clings that look like parking tickets.
“Our approach was to remind people at every stage,” Tracie Mendez, Program Director at the DOT, said. “We’re not tell-ing people not to drink. We just hope that people choose a safe ride and do not get behind the wheel if they have been drink-ing.”
Drinking law tightens
College Life4 | October 14, 2009 The RambleR | www.therambler.org
Ram Parent AssociationGiving helicopter parents a place to land
Josephine [email protected]
The Wesleyan Psychology department’s student organi-zation, Psi Chi, plans to gather support for soldiers in a cam-pus-wide donation drive.
Psi Chi is a lifetime mem-bership psychology program and honor society that recog-nizes the academic achieve-ment of students who are psy-chology majors.
“We stress community ser-vice as well as helping others to succeed in meeting their academic and professional goals,” said Paula Turnage, Psi Chi president and senior psy-chology major.
Turnage said this semester, Psi Chi is carrying out a dona-tion program for the Soldiers’ Angels organization in Iraq by providing soldiers with much needed items to make their tenure more bearable.
Turnage encourages stu-dents to donate toiletries and female sanitary products by dropping them off at boxes throughout campus.
Boxes are located in the ad-ministration building, the ed-ucation building, the success center and the West Library.
Students are encouraged to donate products in their origi-nal packaging to help preserve authenticity as well as avoid contamination, Turnage said.
“Last year, Psi Chi also con-ducted a donation program and was able to collect up to 13 boxes of toiletries, which were sent to Liberty Camp in Baghdad,” Turnage said.
She said the group expects a lot in student donations to provide a helping hand to those in need.
Turnage said Psi Chi also wants clubs that want to offer voluntary services to register with the organization.
The group will organize vol-unteer projects where inter-ested and willing students can
dedicate both their time and resources to the local com-munity.
“We accomplish this by cleaning the community; cooking for low income fami-lies, and offering counseling services in preparation to lead in the working world,” Tur-nage said.
But Turnage said the ulti-mate goal of Psi Chi is to en-courage, stimulate and main-tain excellence in the science of psychology.
Sonia Brown, a senior psy-chology major, said she joined Psi Chi because she wanted something more geared to what she was doing.
”My focus was to show that I can be at the top of the class as well as be involved in an or-ganization where I can show that I am seriously involved in psychology,” Brown said.
Dena Hughes, a senior psy-chology major, said Psi Chi also offers grants, scholarships and a chance to network.
”Psi Chi recognizes my aca-demic achievement and gives me a lifetime honor,” Hughes said. “That is the main reason why I joined it, because being a part of it will help me serve
the community well.” On Nov. 20, Psi Chi is cook-
ing a Thanksgiving dinner for families of soldiers at the Ronald McDonald House in Fort Worth.
The McDonald House of-fers families of children suf-fering from cancer and related health issues a place to live during their children’s treat-ment at the Fort Worth Hos-pital District.
“A visit to such families, especially for psychology stu-dents interested in the coun-seling program, may prepare them on what it takes to coun-sel families going through ter-minal illnesses,” Turnage said.
Turnage joined Psi Chi to improve her resume, but re-alized she wanted to be its leader after exploring its lead-ership opportunities.
”I started out as a VP of Technology during the spring 2009 semester, then to presi-dent in the fall semester,” Tur-nage said. “My aim is to help others through study groups, American Psychological As-sociation style editing, or just being a familiar face who can offer help to transfer students and freshmen.”
Psi Chi raises donations for troops
Conner Howell | Rambler StaffJosephine Okoth signs a petition for the citizens arrest of Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, at the Invisible Children’s rally Oct. 7.
Conner [email protected]
Parents began to take initia-tive in support of their new Wesleyan students through the kick off of the Rams Par-ent Association on Sept. 25.
The new organization is de-signed to give parents a forum to communicate with one another to stay in touch with campus news and events.
Melody Fowler, director of student support programs and services, said the new pro-gram offers parents a chance to get involved with their new student’s experiences at Wes-leyan, but still gives students breathing room.
“[Parents] liked the idea of knowing what’s going on without having to rely on their students,” Fowler said.
Parents had the opportunity to sign up for the association during freshman orientations in the fall.
“They jumped all over it,” Fowler said.
Close to 100 parents signed up for the association, and its first meeting took place on Sept. 25.
In the meeting, parents were asked what they would like to accomplish through the association, but Fowler said their response was some-what surprising.
“Parents asked what they could do to help the students and for the school,” Fowler said. “They just want to be in-volved.”
Fowler said that the group discussed financial aid ap-plications, student life events, finals week and how to begin
funding a Wesleyan Parent Scholarship.
The host of the meeting, Michael Greer Hall, assistant director of the academic suc-cess center, serves as a liaison between the parent associa-tion and the university.
Hall researched other schools of similar size and culture that had their own parent associations to see how one could be implemented at Wesleyan.
She said she pulled ideas from other schools, but want-ed to address issues she saw everyday at Wesleyan.
“So many freshmen have to adjust to doing things on their own, they get scared,” Hall said. “That’s the side I see ev-eryday.”
Hall said that she will coor-dinate the resources the uni-versity has to offer with the efforts and ideas of the asso-ciation.
“I wanted [parents] to know we have all these resources circled around your students, and we’re not going to let them fail,” Hall said.
The group will host meet-ings each month. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 23.
The association will also communicate through a chat room that allows local and in-ternational parents to stay in touch.
“It’s a place where they can support one another,” Hall said.
She also said some local parents want to show their support by inviting interna-tional students to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families during the breaks.
“Students may not admit it,” Hall said, “but the support of their parents is something they want.”
Conner Howell | Rambler StaffMichael Greer Hall talks with parents at the first Ram Parent Association meeting on Sept. 25.
This Week in Pictures
Conner Howell | Rambler StaffDean of Freshman Joe Brown puts finishing touches on the newly painted Wesleyan symbol in the Academic Success Center.
Week of global learning
“We stress community service as well as helping others to succeed in meeting their academic and professional goals. ”
Paula TurnagePresident of Psi Chi
Josephine OkothStephanie [email protected] [email protected]
Students of Wesleyan will have the opportunity to em-brace global culture through the events of International Week Oct. 19-22.
The week begins 11:30 a.m. Oct. 19 in the international programs office in the Brown-Lupton Campus Center.
International student advis-er, Tami Brunelle said, “The opening ceremony will serve as a way of welcoming every-one to our new space.”
The highlight of the week will be the International Fair at noon Oct. 22. The fair is an opportunity for Wesleyan’s in-ternational students to show-case their cultures with foods and displays from their native countries.
‘With a few days ahead of international week, students have already started preparing their presentations,” said Ol-iviu Vasilca, president of the international club.
Vasilca said that the club will continue to host social events to help international and local students connect.
The week will feature sev-eral events across campus in-cluding a viewing of the docu-mentary The Devil Came on Horseback to raise awareness about genocide in Sudan.
“My hope is that Interna-tional Week will help students, faculty and staff become a bit more culturally aware and ex-cited about international edu-cation and to get more Ameri-can students to study abroad,” Brunelle said.
Arts & EntertainmentThe RambleR | www.therambler.org October 14, 2009 | 5
Chuck’s Cheap Thrills: Flix on the Net for lessChuck [email protected]
As college students, we find ourselves in short supply of many things: time, money and patience. This should help with the first two – you’re on your own with patience.
Through their tireless ef-forts, the Chuck’s Cheap Thrills team has compiled for you a list of online movie rental resources that are cheap and easy to use. Many of the services offer downloadable movies, so you can rent a vid-eo while you do your home-work… or right after you fin-ish your homework, whatever.
Blockbuster Online. www.blockbuster.com: The movie rental giant moved into the on-line domain, and while it may not be the cheapest, it seems to offer the most perks. First, as is the case with many of these services, you must make a pro-file with personal information (such as favorite movies and other intrusive questions), then you can browse Block-buster’s extensive list of mov-ies and buy or rent movies just by downloading them to your computer – or Xbox.
The download and rent option allows you to watch the movies right off of your computer, you can even be-gin watching the movie while it is still downloading. Once you click “play,” you have 24 hours to view the movie, as many times as you want. After the 24 hour period, however, the file becomes unavailable. When you purchase a movie in the downloadable format, which is usually much cheap-er than purchasing the DVD, the movie is yours to keep.
You can also trade the movie
in at any Blockbuster for a free rental or a discounted game. With their premium plan, you can get up to five free rentals a month.
Plans start at $8.99 and go to $19.99 a month.
Netflix. www.netflix.com: Netflix has been around for a while now and is synonymous with the business of online movie rentals. I like Netflix better because of their selec-tion (try getting a director’s cut of Pink Flamingos from Block-buster) and if you’re a movie buff or someone who likes movies of a morally askew cali-ber, this is where you can find most anything.
They have many of the same features as Blockbuster (downloadable movies, mail rental system) and their plans are similar ($8.99 – $14.99 a month), but Netflix has no resource for video games and no option to buy. Still, they of-fer a “limited plan,” which is the cheapest of all the plans around. It is $4.99 a month, Beware, if you are part of the Blu-Ray crowd, it’s an extra fee with Netflix.
CinemaNow. www.cin-emanow.com: This site ex-clusively handles download-able movies. Nothing to mail back, no discs to keep up with, just pure entertainment plugged into your computer. Downloading is also avail-able through the Xbox. Cin-emaNow also has no monthly fees, making it the cheapest of all the options – depending on how you use it. Movie rentals are good for 24 hour. You can buy and rent movies starting at .49 cents and going up to $3.99.
The product features are formatted like an Amzon.com
page. A picture sits to the left, purchasing information to the right and a synopsis and list of recommendations printed at the bottom. The format is fa-miliar and easy to use. You can buy music videos, but no video games.
Café DVD. www.cafedvd.com: Café DVD has a great selection as well. Hard to find titles are easily found here. They also have a specific gen-era list and cool category lists of movies such as “1001 mov-ies you must see before you die,” “popular independent” and “top Shakespeare adapta-tions.”
Several plans are available, such as $14.95 for six rentals a month (probably the most generous plan, as most oth-ers are $8.99 for one DVD a month) to $24.95 for 10 rent-als a month. Café DVD has no downloading option it only uses snail mail, but shipping is free. Sorry, gamers, Café DVD carries only DVDs – as the name implies.
DVD Avenue. www.dv-davenue.com: This is another snail mail service, but you browse their selection, or-der movies and make your queue online. They have a very friendly search engine, also, in which you can browse by “Title, Synopsis, Actor or Director.” They have no games available, either, but they have an extensive gen-era list including “Cult,” “Gay and Lesbian,” “Anime” and “Adult.”
Plans range from $9.99 for one DVD a month to $24.95 for four. They have a simi-lar plan to Blockbuster and Netflix where you can keep a movie as long as you like, and cancel at any time.
Triple threatActor, singer, songwriter teems with talentTiffany Hubbard [email protected]
At a very early age, Chase Burnett began to realize his strong passion for the theater and acting. It’s a passion that eventually led him to being a theater major at Texas Wesleyan, but it started when he was a small child.
“I can remember in second grade, I de-cided to stop playing baseball because I al-ready knew I wanted to be in theater,” Burnett said.
His mother, Christy Tracy, supported her son’s love of acting and provided him the op-portunity at an early age to explore this inter-est by enrolling him in acting classes at the Casa Manana Theater.
“He felt better about himself as an actor than a baseball player. He had already begun imitating people when he was only 3-years-old,” Tracy said.
During those six years, Burnett’s talent and love of acting grew as he landed parts in four plays. One of those plays was Scrooge and another was Rumplestiltskin.
“My most memorable play as a young child was that of a forest creature in Rumples-tiltskin,” said Burnett, but they were all impor-tant. “No matter what the role, I agree with the old adage there are no small roles, just
small actors.” His most memorable acting part while
at Texas Wesleyan was in Terra Nova earlier this year. He was most recently in Theatre Wesleyan’s production of LaRonde.
Burnett’s decision to attend Texas Wes-leyan was influenced in part because of its theater department, but, in addition, the lo-cation allows him to remain close to his fam-ily.
“Family and God are the most im-portant things I tried to teach Chase while growing up,” his mother said.
“I am so proud of my son. He has worked hard all his life to get where he is today,” Tracy said. “I’ve heard him de-scribed by family members and friends as ambitious, creative, outspoken and car-ing.”
He might also be described as hard-working. Chase has worked in various jobs in the
food industry in customer service, but he also works for the Boy Scouts for three weeks during the summer months and has traveled to build churches in Reynosa, Mexico. In addition to working his required hours in the theater department working on sets and costumes, he currently works as a waiter at Chili’s.
In his spare time, however, he likes to turn his attention to music.
Burnett is a one-man band writing his own music and playing the guitar. He has per-formed for private functions and publicly at the Aardvark and Bulldog.
Burnett has written eight songs and goes by the stage name of Chase Christian. He has been playing profession-ally for close to three years and plans to continue. How-ever, his main focus for his future lies in acting.
Burnett’s plans are to re-main in Texas for approxi-mately two years until he can better establish himself as an actor. He ultimately hopes to
hire an agent and pursue a professional acting career in New York City.
He finds his passion for acting in the
chance to open people’s minds. “I want to change the way people look at
things and broaden theirs views,” Burnett said.
$$Rams Stimulus $$Package
• Monday: Chick Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
• Tuesday: Two Enchiladas, Refried Beans & Rice
• Wednesday: Hamburger, Fries & Small Drink
• Thursday: Loaded Baked Potato
• Friday: Grilled Chicken Club
• Saturday Grilled Ham & Cheese, Small Salad
Only $3.99!Hours of OperationMonday- Thursday: 7:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 2 p.m.Sunday: closed
Only @ the Sub:Located in the Brown-Lupton Student Center
Photo courtesy of Theatre WesleyanChase Burnett in Wesleyan’s production of Terra Nova.
Photo courtesy of Theatre WesleyanChase Burnett and Wesleyan alumnus Ben Phillips in Stones in His Pockets.
Sports6 | October 14, 2009 The RambleR | www.therambler.org
1935: The Rammer was born on Oct. 2 in the form of a male sheep.
1959: Willie III was born and lived on campus.
1962: Willie IV strutted around.
1965: Alpha Phi Omega, a men’s service fraternity, secured a new ram, the 2-year-old buck, Willie V.
1975: Now two-legged Willie dresses in a muscle-en-hancing body suit and increases the size of his head.
1979: Willie is back on four legs, participates in the Stock Show Parade in downtown Fort Worth and meets Wilma.
1984: Winnie was born.
1985: Wesley-Anne was born.
2007: The modern Willie was designed as a two-legged mascot.
“The term ‘genius’ is inapplicable to anyone in this game. A genius is Norman Einstein.”
Joe TheismannFormer Pro-football Player
Willie the Ram: a faithful supporterJacueline [email protected]
Like his leg-acy, Willie the Ram re-mains young at heart. T h r o u g h the decades, Willie has transformed into an excep-tional mascot. He changed his name, became a father and even altered his ap-pearance. Yet, Wil-lie remains the most honored and viva-cious Ram at Texas Wesley-an.
H i s j o u r n e y began in 1935, when a new live mascot was chosen to lead the Rams to victory. The u n i v e r s i t y ’s mascot, The Rammer, a ram of no-ble bear-ing, was born.
The male sheep, the Ram-mer, was presented to the school by the sophomore class president Chuck Her-ring on the evening of Oct. 2, 1935.
Not satisfied with his figure in 1975, then two-legged Willie dressed in a muscle-enhancing body suit and even changed the size of his head.
“Having a live mascot again would be a good symbol for the college and something that would en-
courage support for Wes-leyan athletics as well as other activities,” said Class President of 1979, Jon Fleming.
Regretting the alteration to his appearance, Willie decided to return to the outdoors after 14 years of being locked in the stor-age closet at night. Back on four legs, Willie lived like royalty in his own blue and gold trailer donated by the Ram Club.
Impressive, big-horned Willie wanted to show off
his Texas Wesleyan pride and rode in the 1979 Stock Show Parade in down-town Fort Worth.
The Ramrods, a spirit group begun by
University President Jerry Bawcom in 1979,
cared for Willie and fed him his daily ration of oats and alfalfa. Willie made ap-
pearances at the basket-ball and baseball games while the Ramrods cleaned up after him.
Confident and popu-lar, Willie attracted himself a mate, Wilma. Willie and Wilma lived happily in a pen on the south side of campus.
Willie and Wilma’s keepers, Don Wil-helm and Scott Wat-kins, noticed Wilma was fluctuating be-tween gaining weight and then losing that weight, but assumed it was just the reflec-tion of any chang-ing college student. However, Wilma was pregnant. A new ad-dition to the Ram family came Hallow-een night in 1984. The proud parents named
their first ewe (female sheep), Winnie.
Current Texas Wesleyan University Archivist, Louis Sherwood, was a student at Wesleyan at the time and recalls the pen next to Stella Russell Hall where he could go visit Willie, Wilma and Winnie.
“It was neat to have a live mascot,” he said. “It put us on par with big schools, like the University of Texas, that all had live mascots. I enjoyed being able to stop by and see them.”
Tragically, Winnie died that summer, but the Ram family managed to stay strong. In June 1985, Wil-ma gave birth to their sec-ond ewe, Wesley-Anne.
While Wilma was busy caring for her young, 250-pound Willie went to work with the Ramrods who chauffeured him to sporting events on campus.
According to Sherwood, Willie’s physical changes continued. “After he be-came a widow in the late 80s, he wandered for a few years,” he said.
Despite the family trag-edy, Willie was to come back stronger and more motivated than ever before. Coming to terms with real-ity, he wanted to keep up with modernization and requested to return indoors and walk on two legs again. The new Willie was spe-cially designed in 2007 and finally came to life in 2008 with a new attitude. Willie wanted to look more fierce, but not too scary for small children’s sake.
“Willie is a link for all past, present and future Wesley-an students,” said current SGA President Heath Scott. “His legacy unites everyone and has been the founda-tion of school spirit for decades. Willie stands for everything Texas Wesleyan stands for: tradition, pride and spirit.”
Always representing Wesleyan, Willie has seen both personal and physi-cal development in differ-ent forms. Originally, the old Willie was baggy and smiley. Today’s Willie is made from a special fiber and foam material, adding muscle to his furry appear-ance. The head has an elec-
tric fan and cooling pack-ets that rest on the chest and back, a key to keeping Willie energetic at athletic events.
Transforming from The Rammer to Willie the Ram, Texas Wesleyan’s mascot has prevailed in the last 70-plus years with style and
grace. “Willie is a true symbol
of Wesleyan character,” said Cheerleading Coach Caro-lyn Ikens-Owen.
Willie appears at all home basketball games, various athletic events and any campus event when re-quested.
Game Time/Place
Thursday
Men’s Soccer vs.Northwood UniversityWomen’s Soccer vs.Northwood UniversityVolleyball vs.SW Assemblies of God University*Golf at NAIA Preview Invitational
1 p.m.Cedar Hill3 p.m.Cedar Hill7 p.m.Sid W. Rich.
Deere RunSilvis, IL
Friday Golf at NAIA Preview Invitational
Deere RunSilvis, IL
SaturdayMen’s Soccer vs.Southern Adventist U.Women’s Soccer vs.Southern Adventist U.
7 p.m.Martin Field9 p.m.Martin Field
Upcoming Sports
WesleyanWeek-in-Sports
•The Lady Rams Volleyball team (10-13, 4-4 RRAC) suf-fered a 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-13) loss at Our Lady of the Lake University Oct. 8. and lost 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-18) at 11th-ranked UT Brownsville Oct. 9. before picking up a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-21) win on the road against Huston-Tilotson University Oct. 10.
•The Lady Rams Soccer team (9-4, 3-1 RRAC) took a thrill-ing 2-1 win against Our Lady of the Lake University Oct. 8. Senior captain Jaimie Romaguera scored the game-winning goal with only 21 seconds left to play. The Lady Rams then fell 2-1 to UT Brownsville Oct. 10. The Lady Rams will take on their rivals from Northwood University Oct. 15.
•The Rams Soccer team (8-5, 1-3 RRAC) suffered a 3-2 overtime loss to Our Lady Lake University Oct. 8 before losing 2-0 to UT Brownsville Oct. 10. The Rams next game is at their local rivals, Northwood University, Oct. 15.
•The Rams Golf team finished sixth at the Grand Canyon Invitational Oct 6. Entering the last round in seventh place, the Rams, lead by senior Drew Koonce, moved up to tie for sixth with the hosts, Grand Canyon University. Koonce finished fourth individually at -1 (215) after fin-ishing with a 70 (two under par). Armando Villareal just missed the top-10 and finished tied for 11th place.
TheWeekly Sports
Quote
Archive PhotoWillie and Wilma in 1981.
The Life of Willie
*Breast Cancer Awareness PINK OUT
7-7 Flag Football StandingsName Wins Loses TP Scored TP Against ByesPickles 6 0 153 18 0BOHICA 3 3 35 21 0TapOut 3 3 67 97 01 L's 3 3 68 103 0Twisters 1 5 7 47 0Pink Dragons 1 5 21 48 0
Fantasy FootballPig Skin Pick'Em
Leaderboard Name Pts.Jeremy Newton 48Michael Greer 46Rachel Loftin 45Jason Simpson 44Phillip Blockinger 44Oscar Lazarki 44Fabiola Duron 44June Johnson 43Cara Lumpkin 43Ryan Amador 42Terry Waldrop 42Sandy Gonzalez 42Trey Bomar 41Michael Chaney 41Keith Wright 40Barbara Kirby 40