march 21st edition of the utd mercury
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March 21st Edition of The UTD MercuryTRANSCRIPT
the MercuryThe Student Newspaper of UTD
Rough sport gainsfans on campus
On pace for bestseason in years
Page 9 Page 11
Vol. XXXI, No. 5
www.utdmercury.com
What UTD guys and gals are looking for
Page 5
March 21, 2011
Student Government elections are set for March 28-30.
In preparation for campaigning that began March 21, The Mercury interviewed the candidates running for the offices of SG president and vice president.
As of March 18, the only candidates running for the two offices were Brittany Sharkey, Art & Performance junior, for president, and Cody Willming, political science sophomore, for vice president.
Both Sharkey and Willming are running on the same ticket labeled
“Students United for Progress,” or “SUP.”
The Mercury: What are your qualifications for this office?
Sharkey: I do have a wide variety of experiences at UTD and a lot of differ-ent perspectives that I can bring to the table.
I have been everything from a worker in The Pub to a research assistant. I’ve lived on campus and recently moved off cam-pus, so I’ve had the on-campus experience, the commuter experience and
One ticket to run for office
Brittany SharkeyPres. candidate
Cody WillmingVP candidate
The UT System Student Advisory Council, a group consisting of two student representatives from each System school, met for the third and last time this semester March 4-5. The following is a list of the key recom-mendations and resolutions forward-ed to the UT System Board of Regents for consideration:
• Recommendation to enforce a System-wide smoking ban
• Resolution to minimize cuts to the state’s higher education budget and the Texas Grants program
• Recommendation for system din-ing facilities to post nutrition facts
• Recommendation that academic dishonesty hearing panels include stu-dent representation
see ELECTION page 7
Like many college stu-dents, when Steven Rosson checked his mailbox he often found it stuffed with clutter — credit card appli-cations, directories and coupon booklets.
But no matter how annoying these documents became, Rosson could not find a suitable option to stop them from flowing in.
That’s when Rosson and Paul Ingram, both UTD
alumni, decided to create a technology to reduce junk mail.
The pair created SlotGuard last fall and are now hoping to make a
career from the system.“(Steven and I were hav-
ing) a conversation,” said Ingram, a 2008 graduate in economics. “I remem-ber him saying he kept on
getting all this junk mail. It was a side thought that turned into something.”
Nada AlasmiStaff Writer
Advertisement exterminators
Election Q&A
Alumni stop junk mail at its source
About 83 percent of exist-ing mass in the universe is known as dark matter — it is not made of atoms, cannot be seen, and scientists do not know what it is made of.
They do know dark mat-ter exists because it affects the motion of galaxies and because it bends light from distant sources.
In collaboration with the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, UTD physics professors and scientists hope to one day understand dark matter.
CERN is the world’s largest center for nuclear research and includes the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, an underground ring in which
Nada AlasmiStaff Writer
Prof aids $9 billion explorationCERN research could help explain origins of the universe
UTD alumni Steven Rosson and Paul Ingram are the creators of SlotGaurd, a service intended to block any unwanted postal advertisements.
photo by Brandon Higgins
see GUARD page 6
see CERN page 6
Voting for the Student Union Expansion Fee and Green Fee, originally sched-uled to take place along with Student Government elections March 28-30, has now been postponed indefinitely.
The fee votes have been
delayed, possibly until the fall semester, said Darrelene Rachavong, vice president for Student Affairs. One reason they will not be voted on this semester is due to the possibility of more budget cuts by the Texas Legislature, she said.
All student fee increases
Anwesha BhattacharjeStaff Writer
UTSSAC decision summary
• The SU Expansion Fee will include a $70 addi-tion to Student Fees to support the $45 million plan which will expand the SU by 112,000 sq. ft.
• The Green Fee would add $5 to Student Fees and be allot-ted to a student-run sustainabil-ity committee to implement green projects
Fees in brief
Vote moved to later date
bearingarms
oncealed handguns may soon be allowed on UTD campus if a proposed piece of legislation passes this year.
Texas legislators are set to vote on a bill that, if enacted to law, would allow people to legally
carry their weapons onto public university campuses.
This could make Texas the sec-ond state in the U.S. to allow people with Concealed Handgun Licenses, or CHLs, to bring their weapons onto university prop-erty.
The issue took center stage on March 10 when more than 150 students, staff and faculty members attended an open forum in the Conference Center to voice their opinions
Paul DangContributor
Is it a right or a privilege?
see CHL page 6
C
Fate of the SU Expansion Fee and Green Fee will not be determined this semester
see FEES page 6
photo illustration by Albert Ramirez
Students weigh in and share
their opinions
on page 4
2 March 21, 2011 www.utdmercury.com the MercuryNews
UTD Police scanner
The following is a break-down of key topics raised at the March 1 Student Government, or SG, meeting. Full minutes of meetings can be found at www.sg.utdallas.edu.
• Matt Grief, assistant vice president for Student Affairs, visited senate and announced that rent for all residents of the Residence Hall and University Village will increase by 4 percent starting fall 2011.
This rent increase, among other things, is planned to be used for operations and renovation of the older apart-ments, Grief said.
These renovations will include LAN connection replacements, kitchen top and appliance replacements and improvements to the exterior of apartment build-ings, he said.
• Lewis Chang, academic affairs committee chair and neuroscience senior, said his committee is working to open group study rooms in the library 24 hours a day. The committee is also looking into keeping the library open longer on Saturdays and open earlier on Sundays, he said.
• Dypti Lulla, residen-tial affairs committee chair and graduate student, said the results for the lease sur-vey conducted by the com-mittee among residents of Waterview Park are back and indicate that residents at Waterview Park prefer to share the lease on a bed-
room, which Waterview Park does not currently allow.
The committee is in the process of talking to Waterview Park manage-ment to work out a way to implement lease sharing for residents, she said.
• Dina Shahrokhi, SG vice president and political sci-ence senior, said she and Grace Bielawski, SG president and political science senior, met with UTD President David Daniel regarding stu-dent concerns about the new transcript fee and how the fee could be implemented with less cost to students.
The new fee is one of the university’s steps to cope with the budget cuts, Shahrokhi said.
Students will still be able to receive unofficial tran-scripts for free, as before, she said.
• Shahrokhi also said stu-dents have expressed con-cerns over parking on cam-pus and that she is working closely with parking officials to create a frequently asked questions page for Facebook, to increase communication and answer the questions and comments students have.
• Bielawski said SG elec-tions will take place March 28-30.
• The senate approved the appointment of Sandy Yeh to the Judicial Board. The board is responsible for resolving disputes over election deci-sions, Bielawski said.
Feb. 25• A student reported her laptop computer was stolen from the Student Union.
Feb. 26• A non-affilliated person was arrested for outstand-ing warrants following a traffic stop.
Feb. 27• A non-affiliated person was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated.
• Five burglaries of a motor vehicle were discovered in Phase III.
Feb. 28• A subject was arrested for Driving While License Invalid and Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility.
March 2• A student was arrested for Delivery of a Controlled Substance in University
Village.March 3• A student reported his cell phone was stolen from the SOM.
• A student reported his wallet was stolen from the Comet Café the previous week.
March 4• A student was arrested in Phase I, apartment build-ing 6, for assault.
• Officers responded to the theft of a motor vehicle in Phase II.
March 5• A non-affiliated person was arrested for assault in Phase IX, building 66, and was issued a Criminal Trespass Warning for the campus.
• A Chartwells employee was cited for Minor in Consumption of Alcohol and another Chartwells
employee was cited for Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor, at the Dining Hall.
• An un-affiliated male was arrested for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and disregarding a red light.
March 6• A student reported the theft of $12 from the McDermott Library.
March 8• A student was arrested on Drive A after a traffic stop.
March 9• A student was cited for loud music in Phase III.
March 10• A student reported an ex boyfriend of her roommate was outside her Phase I apartment and refused to leave.
March 11• A non-affiliated person was arrested on Campbell Road for their second
offense of Driving While Intoxicated.
• A non-affiliated person was arrested on Synergy Park Boulevard for pos-session of a controlled substance, after a traffic stop.
March 12• A non-affiliated person was arrested along Rutford Avenue for Criminal Trespass and issued a cita-tion for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
March 14• UTD staff reported a theft at the Activity Center.
March 15• A non-affiliated male was arrested for outstanding warrants after a traffic stop on West Drive.
March 17• A student reported his car had been burglarized while parked in Phase II.
News brief
UTD PD theft update
Car thefts and burglar-ies are slowly becoming a growing trend at UTD, said Lt. Ken MacKenzie.
The most recent occurred March 4, when a car was stolen from Phase II, MacKenzie said.
The 2004 Dodge Intrepid was broken into and hot-wired at 10:30 a.m., then driven to DFW Airport. The Intrepid was unlocked at the time of burglary.
The Richardson Police Department informed UTD Police that someone
attempted other thefts in the area that morning. MacKenzie said he suspects the car was stolen by the same individual, and there-fore likely not a UTD student.
The vehicle was recovered that night around 6 p.m., MacKenzie said. There was no reported damage to the car except to the steering column, which had been broken to start the car.
On Feb. 27, two men unaffiliated with UTD bur-glarized 12 cars around Campbell and Floyd Roads — five of the vehicles were located in UTD parking lots — between 6-10 a.m.
The two men had report-edly drank alcohol the night before and confessed to police they were looking for unlocked cars, MacKenzie said. The most valuable item stolen was a digital camera.
While MacKenzie admits on-campus car-related thefts are on the rise, he said it is important to note that in all recent cases, the cars were unlocked.
MacKenzie said in 50 percent of car thefts and burglaries, the victim’s car was unlocked, and 20 percent of burglar-ized cars have keys inside.
Other recent on-campus
thefts include a laptop sto-len from the Student Union on Feb. 25. A student left her laptop in the Phoenix Room overnight, and the laptop remains missing.
On March 3, a cell phone was stolen from the School of Management. The phone was left unat-tended for a couple of hours, MacKenzie said, and has yet to be found. Another cell phone was stolen from the Activity Center on Feb. 19.
MacKenzie said steps as simple as locking a car could prevent a theft or burglary and is urging students to take those precautions.
3March 21, 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
Staff WritersNada Alasmi
Anwesha BhattacharjeJohn D. McCrary
ContributorsPaul Dang
Rebecca DeButtsAkshay Harshe
Michelle NguyenChristopher 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
“Theoretical Concepts of Calculus, it’s the interpretive proof class. It’s definitely a differ-ent way of think about mathematics.”
Tyler MartiezMathematical sciences junior
“Frederick Turner’s Western Literary Tradition. He’s one of your stereotypical British professors with the patches on his elbow. He’s one of the most brilliant people I’ve gotten to talk to.”
John DeesArts & Humanities junior
“I like Medical Neuroscience with Dr. Miller, it was pretty interesting plus it was what he did it for a living so coming back here and telling us all his crazy stories — it was fun.”
Whitney O’Hearn Neuroscience senior
“I liked a philosophy class on Nietzsche taught by Charles Bambach, the guy was really bright and he had a lot of insight into Nietzsche and just reading philosophy in general.”
Brandon Lee Molecular biology junior
What’s the best class you’ve
taken at UTD and why?Comet Comments
This March, students have the opportunity to vote for their Student Government representatives for the 2011-2012 school year.
Students will elect 44 stu-dent representatives: seven freshmen, seven sopho-mores, seven juniors and seven seniors from each academic school, 14 gradu-ates, and the president and vice president.
The primary role of Student Government is to advocate on behalf of student interests to UT Dallas administration, the city council, the Texas Legislature, and The UT System Board of Regents.
Student Government has tackled an array of issues over the years, from imple-menting the Comet Cruiser for better transportation, to getting “student” removed from personalized e-mails earlier this year, just to name two examples.
Our constituents often shape where Student Government focuses its
advocacy work, but sena-tors themselves also priori-tize which services to tackle for students’ benefit.
Two issues that Student Government has chosen to prioritize this year are in the form of fee referenda that students would have the chance to vote on in a school-wide election.
The Green Fee and Student Union E x p a n s i o n Fee referenda would provide funds for envi-r o n m e n t a l l y s u s t a i n a b l e projects and an expanded Student Union, respectively, if passed by the student body.
The Green Fee and Student Union Fee refer-enda could come before students as early as next fall, though these two issues will not appear on the Student Government Election ballot this March.
The current climate at The UT System level will
not allow for us as stu-dents to effectively move forward with fee referenda while the Texas Legislature is in session and faces such extreme budget deficits.
We in Student Government certainly
do not want to give false expectations by getting every-one involved prematurely in a school-wide vote when the fees might not be approved at a higher level.
If pursued next year, there would still
be ample time to present referendum results to The UT System and the Texas Legislature before the Student Union Expansion Fee’s original enactment date in fall 2014.
The Green Fee, if passed next year, could be imple-mented as early as fall 2012.
The effective pursuit of these two issues depends on next year’s Senate, as they will be the ones to
take the lead once the Texas Legislature has concluded and the financial climate becomes more favorable for the institution of new fees.
This year’s Student Government has conducted much of the background research to bring these two referenda before the stu-dent body, but it will be up to next year’s leaders to continue moving forward with these efforts.
By voting in the Student Government Elections this March, students have the chance to determine who represents them not only on these two issues but on any student concern that arises next year.
Voting for Student Government President, Vice President, and sena-tor positions takes place March 28-30 online at sg.utdallas.edu.
This site also provides information for those inter-ested in becoming officers or senators on Student Government for the 2011-2012 term. The deadline to file paperwork as a candi-date for election is March 23 at noon.
Grace BielawskiContributor
Election changes, updates
Grace BielawskiSG President
They’ve been used to advertise on-campus clubs, promote fundraisers and at least one time they’ve been used to propose a marriage (she said yes).
The Spirit Rocks are at the center of campus, and can be a reflection of what students are excited or passionate about. But, recently they’ve primarily been used to demonstrate other ideals.
In a recent edition of The Mercury there was a photo, which showed a student in front of the rocks with the UTD Police. It was taken moments before the rocks were painted over, not with a new message, but simply cleared because someone had defaced the Israeli flag previously painted upon them.
This is just one incident in which students showed pride in their culture and were then belittled.
Now, this isn’t to say we shouldn’t paint over mes-sages on the rocks. There have been several organiza-tion feuds depicted on them, all of them aimed to show theirs was “the best.”
But putting down someone else’s religion or coun-try, especially in a university as diverse as UTD, doesn’t accomplish much more than leaving passersby with a bad taste in their mouths.
This could include any visitors pass by the rocks and view whatever message is written on them as a representation of our student body.
Through the past academic year UTD has opened four new buildings and completed redesigning the SU mall. These construction projects have placed the mall back into the center of campus as an easily accessible area, which one could easily see is in use by students.
On top of that our student body has made its way past the 17,000 mark and we’re continuing to expand. It only makes sense that we follow the momentum set in place by those before us and quit breaking each other down and start building each other up.
Seeing Spirit Rocks that actually show spirit can only make us better as a university and group of peers. Seeing what other students are excited about could lead us to discover a new club or lead us to grab a paintbrush of our own. It is what we make of it.
Spirit Rocks lack their namesake
Editorial Board
Jessica Melton, Editor-in-ChiefShane Damico, Managing Editor
Laura-Jane Cunningham, Graphics EditorAlbert Ramirez, Photo Editor Bobby Karalla, Sports Editor
The Mercury Editorial Board voted 5-0 in favor of this editorial. The board consists of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, managing editor, graphics editor, photo editor and sports editor. The board will discuss, debate and develop editorial positions on issues affecting the UTD community. We welcome your responses at [email protected].
Opinions expressed in The Mercury are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the university administration, the University of Texas System Board of Regents or the Student Media Operating Board.
Editorial and business offices are in Student Union, Room 2.416. Telephone: 972-883-2286. Mailing address; SU 24, Richardson, TX 75080.
Editorial Board
Guns (un)controlledby Laura-Jane Cunningham
www.utdmercury.com the MercuryOpinion4 March 21, 2011
Possibility of on-campus concealed carry draws attentionFacts, statistics show reason to permit CHL at Texas universities
All angles should be considered before allowing guns at UTD
In right-to-carry states, the violent crime rate is 24 percent lower than the rest of the U.S., the murder rate is 28 percent lower and the robbery rate is 50 percent lower.
Now, although this data does not account for other factors that affect crime rates (such as pov-erty, illegitimacy rates, cultural differences, etc.), as it would be impossible to control all of those vari-ables, the numbers are still astounding.
For those who are against or are fearful of the new legislation that may pass allowing for concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons on campus, I feel that, before you for-mulate your stance on the matter, you should be pre-sented with the facts.
I know a lot of people are concerned that allow-ing concealed handguns on campus would create an unnecessary hazard or
that many of you feel that people owning guns at all is dangerous.
However, contrary to what many may assume, banning handguns does not mean that crime or murder rates will decrease.
Take Great Britain for instance. In 1968, the U.K. passed a law that made their previous hand-gun law stricter by requir-ing citizens to obtain a certificate from their dis-trict police chief in order to obtain any firearm. In 1997, Britain then passed a law that required citi-zens to surrender all pri-vately owned handguns to the police.
Since, the British homi-cide rate has averaged 52
percent higher after the outset of the 1968 gun control law and 15 per-cent higher since the out-set of the 1997 handgun ban.
Although the U.S. does have a much higher homi-cide rate per capita, this is not necessar-ily due to our right to pos-sess firearms.
As Gary Kleck, a crimi-nologist at Florida State U n i v e r s i t y stated, “The U.S. also has a far higher rate of murders c o m m i t t e d with knives, but I doubt that cutlery ownership is any higher in the U.S. than in Japan, Germany and the U.K…America is more violent than other nations in ways unrelated to guns and for reasons having nothing to do with the rate of gun ownership.”
In states with right-to-carry laws, citizens are allowed to obtain a per-
mit to carry concealed firearms in most public places if they meet certain criteria, or completion of a background check and gun safety course.
In 1996, Texas passed its own right-to-carry law.
At first, many skeptics worried this would inevi-tably lead to chaos (street-corner fire fights, road rage shootings, etc.).
However, none of these fears manifested.
In fact, since the onset of the law, the Texas mur-der rate has averaged 30 percent lower than it was before the law took effect, which is 2 percent lower than the national average.
According to data from the Violence Policy Center,
Concealed Handgun Permit Holders have killed 151 people since May 2007 (published March 2010).
The total number of homicide victims in the U.S. from the years 2007 to 2009 totaled at 42,776,
a c c o r d -ing to the FBI Uniform C r i m e Reports.
Of those, 28,803 were c o m m i t t e d using a fire-arm.
This means that only 0.5 percent of homicides by firearm were
committed by concealed handgun permit holders.
That is 12.4 percent less than the number of people killed using knives or other sharp instru-ments, 3.9 percent less than those killed by blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.), and 5.5 percent less than those killed with “personal weapons” (hands, feet, fists, etc.) during the same period.
It should also be noted that justifiable homicides are included in those 151 people killed by CHL hold-ers.
The people whom our nation and campuses should be worried about aren’t those who obtain their concealed carry licenses and/or handguns in a legal manner.
We should be concerned by those who commit the heinous acts such as the incidents at Virginia Tech or UT Austin and do not care about the legality of bringing the weapon onto school property.
If someone were to bring an illegally con-cealed weapon onto cam-pus, they are probably already doing it or would do it regardless of the law.
The biggest pro of pass-ing the law allowing CHL holders to possess their guns on campus is that in the event that something does happen, we as stu-dents would then be able to protect ourselves.
Kalyn HansonContributor
Over Spring break, I took advantage of the week off and drove to the East Coast.
On the way I passed through Blacksburg, Va., home of Virginia Tech.
In light of the recent debates on Texas gun leg-islation I felt the need to visit the campus as well as the memorial marking one of the largest school shootings in history.
As I walked around the campus I kept thinking about how the environ-ment of the university would change if people were actually allowed to have firearms.
(Texas) Sen. (Jeff) Wentworth argues that if people are armed, inci-dents like Virginia Tech would be stopped before it got out of hand.
The thing is, how do we know this for sure?
How do we know if the right people are being shot in the chaos?
There is too much uncertainty in people’s behavior and judgment.
Wentworth argues that getting a CHL is difficult, but when you lay out the requirements it is no more difficult than obtaining a driver’s license.
He also argues that by permitting guns on campus we are actually protecting our students, faculty and staff from an active shooter.
But more college stu-dents die each year from alcohol poisoning than all college school shootings combined.
Perhaps instead of arm-ing students, faculty and staff, we can be proactive against violent behavior by education and preven-tion.
We need to work on recognizing the signs and symptoms of potential violence and not be afraid to address them.
A university’s primary goal is education; this means offering a safe and hospitable learning envi-ronment.
The threat of having more guns in people’s hands does nothing posi-tive for the learning envi-ronment because it adds increased fear, anxiety and stress.
For one thing, since the minimum age of getting a CHL in Texas is 21, this creates a two-tier system on the univer-sity campus: those who (potential ly) carry guns, and those y o u n g e r undergradu-ates who can-not. This is not to men-tion the large number of international students who also would not be eligible to carry a firearm.
This could make under-graduates perceive them-selves as defenseless against their own peers, and make them feel like easy targets.
Perhaps even more sig-
nificant is the probable increase in student sui-cides.
Students would have easier access to some-thing with which they statistically tend to harm themselves.
Since everyone is wor-ried about the budget cuts, these laws have the potential to create pro-found operational chal-lenges for the university as an institution.
Has anyone thought about the fact that it may be difficult to get qual-ity professors to work in such an environment thus resulting in the necessity to offer higher wages and
compensation for entice-ment?
Secondly, school recruit-ment to Texas state col-leges would become more difficult.
If the student has the means to go to a private or out-of-state college rather than a gun-per-
mitting pub-lic university, what percent-age actually will?
W o u l d n ’ t this thus result in the pos-sibility of less e n r o l l m e n t and tuition money?
Also, as i l l u s t r a t e d
in the recent incident at Texas Woman’s University, verbal threats alone are enough to put an entire university under lock-down.
By allowing guns on campus, the threats alone will be elevated in serious-ness.
There is no doubt that lockdowns will increase and the education of stu-dents will be disrupted.
And how would allow-ing guns on campus change the dynamic of teaching and grade allo-cation?
This should be our weapon: open dialogue along with available means of support and help.
We need to encourage each other and help each other in times of stress and need.
With proactive mea-sures our universities are becoming safer.
It is important to con-sider what will happen when someone who is legally carrying a gun feels that a situation is threatening and decides to prematurely pull the trigger.
Are we ready to invite the university’s gun-car-rying students, faculty and staff to make life and death decisions for all of us?
Wouldn’t it be better to do what we can to help people make better life decisions before it leads to gun violence?
Julie GavranContributor
Kalyn HansonBiology junior
Julie GavranA&H grad student
There is no doubt that lock-downswill increase and the educa-tion of students will be disrupted
— Julie Gavran
We should be concerned by those who commit the heinous acts...and do not care about the legality of bringing the weapon.
— Kalyn Hanson
5March 21, 2011www.utdmercury.comthe Mercury Opinion
Dating at UTD can be a fairly difficult process for people not involved in campus groups or organi-zations.
For many guys, as if finding a date wasn’t hard enough, the more difficult issue remains: What women want.
Aside from being the title of a medio-cre chick flick starring Mel Gibson prior to his openly anti-Semitic days, the question itself has boggled the minds of men for ages.
On the other hand, many women readily assume they already know what those of the less-fairer sex want — and in what measurements, too. Just listen to a certain Sir Mix-a-Lot song for the answer.
But as the saying goes, men are from Mars and women are from Venus, and the lines of communi-cation between the sexes can become blurred by gender differences leaving both men and women con-fused as to what the other wants.
I ventured on a comet ride to see what the inhab-itants of both planets had to say, questioning random subjects about their experi-ences and preferences in regards to dating and rela-tionships.
What are the guys and girls of UTD looking for, besides a place to park?
After probing the minds of almost a dozen students in a completely nonscientif-ic study, I discovered some-thing shocking.
Everyone wanted the same thing.
Here’s the catch: The difference was when they wanted it.
Meet Justine Fowler. Justine is a sophomore
studying biology for pre-med.
She’s currently in a four-month rela-tionship with her boyfriend whom she met at UTD through friends in Greek Life.
Then there’s A m a n d a Billingsley, an a c c o u n t i n g junior.
Amanda is also in a relationship with someone she met at UTD. Her relationship is in its fifth month.
They both want the same thing from the opposite sex.
“Commonalities and personality are both impor-tant,” Billingsley said. “(They) don’t have to be the most amazing looking person, but you do have to be attracted to them.”
Fowler shared the same views and stressed the importance of personality over physical attractiveness. But while they both have the same preferences, their outlook on dating slightly differs.
Billingsley said she took the idea of marriage at her age seriously, but Fowler on the other hand didn’t really consider the thought of marriage at this point in her life.
“I’m still a sophomore,” Fowler said. “So I’ll play it by ear and see how things go. If it was a three year relationship, I’d be like, where’s my ring?”
Beyonce would be proud of Fowler, but another song had to be played for
the boys.Kyle Morris is an account-
ing junior, and Edgar Segura is an Emerging Media and Communications fresh-man. Their relationship sta-tuses on Facebook match the chorus to that one Lil Wayne song: “Single.”
Despite the so-called gender gap, the guys’ pref-erences in potential part-ners were actually virtually identical to the girls.
“I’m looking for a girl that respects herself,” Morris said. “And has the
same family values as me. Obviously she has to be somewhat attractive, but more important is her per-sonality.”
Segura wanted the same qualities as Morris for his
ideal girl, but he also want-ed her to have a specific character trait.
“She’s got to be able to keep a good conversation going,” he said. “Funny, cute of course, and she has to like monkeys.”
Wait, monkeys?Segura was obviously
joking. However, in his jest he revealed his lax atti-tude towards dating and relationships. He said that while he was open to the possibility of a girlfriend, he was just keeping it casual
for the moment. “Most of the girls here
already have boyfriends,” Morris said.
Morris’ words rang true. The trend was the same: Most of the girls were in
relationships and most of the guys were single.
Was it simply because there are more guys than girls at UTD? Or was there some sinister predisposition that made women think of wedding dresses while men thought about birth-day suits?
I refuse to believe the latter.
Both gentlemen were open to a potential relation-ship and had the same pref-erence for personality over appearance like the girls. What distinguished every-one, regardless of gender, was his or her timing.
Billingsley contemplated her relationship further down the line than Fowler did. Segura was more con-cerned with the present than Morris. What’s impor-tant to note, though, was that they all desired the same thing in a partner. They all wanted someone with a good personality and a decent enough appear-ance that they could be attracted to. Their sex had nothing to do with what they wanted.
Maybe miscommunica-
tions between partners don’t come from the gen-der gap and differing views on what they want from each other. Maybe disputes are actually over the time-frame. Some people are thinking long-term while others are thinking short-term.
What I hate hearing is the whole spiel about how all men want is sex and how we’re noncommittal creatures. Conversely, I also hate hearing about how women are relationship driven and become Stage 5 Clingers. Untrue on both counts, I say. I’ve seen plen-ty of noncommittal women and just as many clingy men.
And while this study was merely a nonscientific observation, I’m willing to bet that the distance between Mars and Venus isn’t as far as some would like to believe. It’s about time men and women both come back down to Earth and pragmatically work their issues out as human beings and not as though they were from different worlds.
Paul DangContributor
Wedding dresses, birthday suitsWhat women, men really expect from relationships
Commentary
illustration by Laura-Jane Cunningham
While this study was merely a nonscientific observation, I’m will-ing to bet that the distance be-tween Mars and Venus isn’t as far as some would like to believe.
— Paul Dang
6 March 21, 2011 www.utdmercury.comNews the Mercury
about the proposed legislation.There was just as much
inquiry into the issue as there was opinion. Of the 12 people from the audience who spoke, four supported the legislation, four were against it and four expressed mixed feelings or shared questions about the bill.
“I’m inclined to agree with (UTD Police Chief Larry Zacharias) that this act will certainly not make campuses safer,” said Murray Leaf, pro-
fessor of economics. “It will probably also not make it nota-bly more dangerous.”
Zacharias briefed the audi-ence on the history of con-cealed handgun laws which currently require CHL holders in Texas to be at least 21 years of age, U.S. citizens and residents of Texas, in addition to other strict requirements.
“This particular bill makes very little changes to the existing law on the Concealed Handgun License,” Zacharias said. “What it changes are some definitions regarding institutions of higher
education and premises.”Supporters of the bill said
they believed the presence of licensed gun owners on the premises would provide addi-tional safety in the event of a school shooting like the one that claimed 32 lives in 2007.
Paul Landfair, a business administration graduate stu-dent, keeps a close eye on the legislation. He said cam-pus safety is important, and it’s hard to argue with him. Landfair is a survivor of the UT Austin campus shooting in 1966, when Charles Whitman killed 16 people from his sniper post atop the UT tower.
“I’m on the pro-carry side — I’m a CHL holder myself,” Landfair said at the March 10 forum. “But I’ve been around guns all my life and guns make me nervous in other people’s hand.”
Landfair also served as a Marine and was no stranger to gunfire. He estimated that active duty police officers on campus would have 44 seconds, at best, to get to the site of an incident of on-campus violence. Landfair said 44 seconds was too long in that kind of crisis.
University officials acknowl-edge the fact that the deci-sion to pass this legislation is completely up to the state. If passed, UTD would have no say in whether or not carried concealed handguns would be allowed on campus.
This didn’t sit well with Pia Jakobsson, an academic advisor, who expressed her fears of being in the proxim-ity of armed individuals.
“This potential legislation makes me very, very ner-vous,” she said. “My under-standing of this bill is that I would still be able to tell (students) not to bring their laptops, but I wouldn’t be able to tell them to not bring their guns. I would not be able to decide what is a safe work environment for me.”
Her concern elicited applause from the audience, but her rationale led bill proponent Jeff Nanson, another Marine and business graduate student, to explain how CHL holders are required to conceal their firearm in a manner in which no one
would be able to tell whether or not they carried a weapon at all.
Nick Hinojosa, a business graduate student, objected to the legislation for an entirely different reason much more specific to UTD.
“I believe universities should have a right to determine whether guns are good or bad for their campus,” he said. “We’re different from other schools. I feel like legislators in Austin don’t necessarily know that. If I don’t want to go to a university that has handguns, I should be able to make that choice, not the state of Texas.”
The forum also served as an opportunity for students to ask questions about the CHL law and to clear up any misconcep-tions.
“My concerns are acci-dents,” said Cynthia Edmond, a graduate student in humani-ties. “What if somebody else gets to (the gun), and shoots someone else?”
Zacharias said that the train-ing required for a CHL would lessen the chance of making those kinds of mistakes.
UTD officials said the uni-versity will host additional forums if the proposed legis-lation passes.
CHLcontinued from page 1
Jeffery Nanson, business graduate student and former marine, speaking at the March 10 forum concerning the legislature which could allow concealed handguns on university property. Nanson spoke in favor of the legislature as did the following speaker, Kalyn Hanson (right), biology junior.
photo by Brandon Higgins
must be approved by the UT System Board of Regents, said Grace Bielawski, SG president and political sci-ence senior.
Even if students voted in favor of the refer-endum, it is likely the Regents would not approve the student fee increase at this time, Bielawski said.
A special election may take place fall 2011, but
it is unknown whether students will be asked to vote on one or both referendum if such a ses-sion is called, Rachavong said.
If there are no spe-cial elections, the refer-endum will appear on
the SG election ballot in 2012, she said.
The delayed voting on the referendum will not affect the planned time-line for the SU expansion project which is intend-ed to begin in 2013, Rachavong said.
FEEScontinued from page 1
Concealed handguns may be allowed on university property with the correct license as soon as August if the proposed legislature passes.
photo illustration by Albert Ramirez
On site at ATLAS, in Switzerland, where UTD professor Joseph Izen is one member on the team that searches debris resulting from nuclear collisions looking for clues to find what dark mater is.
courtesy of Joseph Izen
physicists collide protons or lead nuclei. The ring is 17 miles in circumfer-ence and is located under both French and Swiss territory.
Along with other researchers from around the world, UTD’s CERN team “sees” the collisions with ATLAS, a nuclear detector found on the LHC.
ATLAS searches the debris that result from nuclear collisions “look-ing” for certain particles such as those associated with dark-matter.
The ATLAS experiment runs 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, and the physicists involved take responsibility for running the experiments.
UTD Physics professor Joseph Izen is spending this academic year con-ducting research at CERN, but will resume teaching on campus in the fall.
Izen leads a 13-person shift crew in the ATLAS Control Room during the night shift.
“It’s humbling to sit at the helm of a billion-dollar detector while the rest of Europe is at home and in bed,” Izen said.
The UTD team has helped commission and operate the ATLAS detec-tor during the past four years, and ATLAS has been accumulating physics data
since March 2010, Izen said.
While the ATLAS experi-ments only take place at CERN, analysis of the data takes place all over the world through a world-wide computing network.
Xinchou Lou, a phys-ics professor involved with ATLAS, said UTD’s research aims to find not only dark matter but also new, previously undiscov-ered, particles.
Though dark matter does not interact directly with light and cannot be seen, graduate student Wei-Cheng Wong said it might be detectable.
If dark matter is cre-ated during the collisions at CERN and then decays, Wong said, the ATLAS
detector may then “see” the decayed particles.
The research could help scientists better under-stand the origins of the universe.
“All matter comes from the big bang, so we need to understand (dark mat-ter to understand the big bang),” Wong said.
UTD’s CERN team includes two professors, Izen and Lou, two postdoc-toral researchers, Mahsana Ahsan and Kendall Reeves, and a team of graduate students.
Major discoveries are anticipated during the coming two years, Izen said, and research with the Large Hadron Collider is expected to continue beyond 2020.
CERncontinued from page 1
Since it was created in October 2010, SlotGuard has grown through acquired contracts with both indi-vidual subscribers and apart-
ment complexes, Ingram said.
SlotGuard provides its subscribers an online profile on which to specify the type of junk mail they do not wish to receive.
Mail can be blocked from certain companies or within categories such as magazine offers.
While Ingram said that it is possible to individually send mail opt-out requests to advertisement compa-nies, SlotGuard simplifies the process by submitting requests on behalf of their users.
Rosson, former Student Government president and vice president of the Chi Phi fraternity, said being involved on campus taught him skills he needed to cre-ate SlotGuard.
“(Being involved) taught me a lot more about deal-ing with adversity, com-promising, budgeting (and managing) administrative tasks,” he said. “Most of the responsibility I learned is from . . . being involved.”
Ingram, a McDermott Scholar, tells potential entre-preneurs that success comes down to hard work.
“If something was not working and if there was a problem, we did everything we could to actually reach out and try (to fix it),” he said. “They say you make your own luck . . . (and) whether you’re 20 or 60 I do not believe the rules change.”
GUARDcontinued from page 1
Ready to rumble
Jessica Tsing (left), finance junior, and Lisa Varghese, molecular biology junior, duke it out at Chinese Market Night, hosted by the Student Union & Activities Advisory Board, March 3 at the SU Mall.
photo by Albert Ramirez
They say you make your own luck... (and) whether you’re 20 or 60 I do not be-lieve the rules change.
— Paul Ingram
7March 21, 2011www.utdmercury.comthe Mercury
I’ve used different resourc-es.
As far as leadership, I’ve been vice president plus co-founder and co-captain of the Slam Poetry team which is an organization I helped found last year.
I am currently chair of the University White Committee, which is the auxiliary services commit-tee.
As far as general SG experience, I have been a senator for two years now, and I’ve spent the past year as secretary.
The year before that I served on the Residential Affairs Committee.
If I do win (the election), the transition will be much smoother than it would if I didn’t have this experi-ence.
Willming: I can’t claim
to go as far back as Sharkey, since I’m a fresh-man.
In the time that I have been here, I’ve tried to take advantage of this.
I was elected president of Residential Senate, and I’ve had experience with leading an organization and working with several
people. I’m a member of SG and
was appointed to several committees that I served on for the year.
The first was the Academic Calendar Committee, and I helped give student opinion on the academic calendar that we’re getting next year, which is much better than we had this year, with a longer winter break.
I was also on the Student Union Expansion com-mittee and have recently been appointed to the University White Auxiliary Committee, which Sharkey chairs.
I wrote the Green Fee referendum, I served on the Legislative Affairs Committee in SG, along with the Sustainability Committee in SG.
I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of how the university works.
Sharkey: Thankfully there’s very little overlap, and between the two of us we can reach out to the entire student body.
Willming: Since I live on campus, I feel I also bring the freshman per-spective, and the popula-tion of freshman is only going to grow.
The Mercury: What kinds of changes would you like to see in student life if you are elected?
Willming: The primary thing that’s on our mind is the budget cuts.
As we know, SG is going to take a dip in its budget and while we feel that doesn’t mean we should be stingy with spending money or that we should stop spending money, we certainly need to be smart-er with how we spend
money. What we want to do
is have some in-house reforms with SG, as far as budgeting for each com-mittee.
We want to give each
committee a suggested spending proposal so that we don’t go halfway through the year with over half of our budget spent.
Sharkey: In addition to that we are also going to see the issue come up a lot where the budget concerns become such an overreaching issue within the university that you’ll have students worrying that other issues that are already a big deal now, like parking and course offer-ings, are just going to be ignored.
One of the big powers of SG is advocacy, and we’re going to make sure that all student concerns are heard.
With the budget cuts one of the things that we see being opportune for us to move into is more sustainable efforts.
Having budget cuts is going to affect a lot of the ways the university oper-ates.
We’ll have the oppor-tunity for streamlining, whether that means get-ting rid of multiple forms, doing more things online, pushing for the university to make things that we
have online, easier to use. Willming: Another
thing that Sharkey and I are passionate about is try-ing to see if we can find alternate ways for student organizations to advertise
on campus.We don’t feel that the
flyering system that every-one tends to utilize right now really works.
We have potential ideas but we don’t know which direction we’re going to go with it.
We want to create a centralized format for peo-ple to advertise on cam-pus rather than flyering because it’s not sustain-able.
The Mercury: What is your stand on the proposed change in Texas law to allow concealed handguns on college campuses?
Sharkey: If I recall, a couple of years ago SG sent forth a resolution — or maybe a recommenda-tion — saying that the student body of UTD was not going to take a stance, because they had found there was an even split (in student opinion).
Staying consistent with that, I don’t think I could take a stand if I were to be elected president.
I don’t think I could give an opinion either way without going through the process of taking student input.
The Mercury: The inter-national student popula-tion is growing at UTD. Do you have any ideas on making the transition easier for them?
Sharkey: One of the things the Residential Affairs Committee did last year was set up a poll trying to get information about graduate housing.
We found a pretty large support in numbers for graduate housing to be increased.
With the second resi-dence hall opening up, there will be spots avail-able for undergraduate international sophomores and juniors to move into the freshman apartments,
which will be vacated now.
Even if we don’t see a whole lot of openings on campus, I would like to see more resources shared with the international stu-dents before they come to the U.S.
Willming: Sharkey and I understand how difficult it is for all our international students to get around.
We will also be looking at finding ways to improve existing ways of moving around for international students who don’t have cars.
— Question and answer session conducted by Mercury Staff Writer Anwesha Bhattacharje
NewsELECTIONcontinued from page 1
One of the big powers of SG is advocacy and we’re go-ing to make sure that all stu-dent concerns are heard.
— Brittany Sharkey
We want to create a centralized format for people to advertise on campus rather than flyering be-cause it’s not sustainable.
— Cody Willming
Student Government Election quick facts
• Elections will take place March 28-30
• Students can vote online at www.sg.utdallas.edu using their NetID and password
• “Students United for Progress” are currently running uncontested. Brittany Sharkey and Cody Willming are running for President and Vice President, respectively
• Votes will also be collect-ed to elect the new Student Government officers
• For Grace Bielawski’s, the current Student Government president, input on the ongoing elections, see page 3
8 March 21, 2011 www.utdmercury.comAdvertisement the Mercury
9March 21, 2011Arts&Lifewww.utdmercury.comthe Mercury
John D. McCraryStaff Writer
Good date movie, not much else
Paul DangContributor
Mixed martial arts gains popularity in U.S.; UTD club approved to practice fighting style at off-campus gym
Jason Mefford, a mechanical engineering junior, practices the teep kick at the Fuller MMA Time gym. Mefford is one of more than 20 UTD students involved in the Mixed Martial Arts Club, which now practices cage fights.
photo by Ben Hawkins
Most universities can’t boast a circus club as part of their extracurricular groups.
UTD however, isn’t like most universities. And with a number of students who have the same unique tal-ents in performance arts, a club has growing potential.
Cameron Childress, a bio-chemistry sophomore, leads the charge for such a club. He hopes to teach other
students how to perform the stunts that he’s picked up over the years.
“Someone on my street gave me a unicycle and I was stubborn enough to learn how to ride it,” he said. “I found this camp in California that teaches fire spinning to kids and I started a unicycling program there. The rest is history.”
The potential club would require little equipment or funding from the school, Childress said.
“Luckily people that are
interested in this usually already have some props,” he said. “I have enough of my own personal collection where I could set them out there and we could have a circus jam. We don’t actually have to have props bought by the school, but what we’re hoping for is getting some assistance from the university in getting an aerial silks rig.”
These aerial silks are long sheets of silk hung from
Paul DangContributor
This house is a circusClub aims to teach fire tricks, acrobatics
Left to right, Daniel Young Cameron Childress and Anthony Nguyen perform some of the stunts they hope to teach other students if a circus club is founded.
photo by Brandon Higgins
Mixing it up
John D. McCraryCommentary
In his new film, Josh Radnor, of “How I Met Your Mother,” tries his hand at writ-ing and directing with moderate success, but the happy vibes sent out by this cute little dramedy just might leave you asking for “more please.”
With a diverse cast of new and immensely talented young stars, Radnor’s “Happythankyoumoreplease” sets out to tell the loosely connected sto-ries of a group of 20-something friends living in New York City, waiting to grow up and tired of their reflexive cynicism as they search for hap-piness.
The movie begins as the central character of Sam, played by Radnor, rushes to get to a meeting. On the way he witnesses a kid get separated from his foster family on the subway and inadvertently ends up taking the boy in for the next couple weeks.
From there Sam goes about his life as a writer and crosses paths with his various friends who inhabit the different subplots of the scattered story.
Sam is also an avid pursuer of women, one in particular named Mississippi, played by up-and-comer Kate Mara, who is adorable and very charming as the wounded singer/bartender.
Sam’s alopecia-stricken best friend Annie, a completely bald Malin Akerman, acts just as much as Sam’s sounding board as he does hers, as she tries to reconcile pursuing the man who hurt her with the dork, Tony Hale, of “Arrested Development,” who is pursuing her.
The stories are rounded out by an almost complete-ly inde-p e n d e n t s u b p l o t concern-ing Sam’s childhood f r i e n d M a r y Catherine as she tries to define her rela-t i o n s h i p with her longt ime boyfriend as they are quickly forced to address a number of different life choices.
Radnor’s occasionally funny and occa-sionally touching script is surprisingly fresh. His dialogue is sharp and satisfying without sounding overly contrived, with all of his characters making natural but astute statements throughout.
While considerably smarter than “How I Met Your Mother,” the story centralizing around a group of young adults looking
His dialogue is sharp and sat-isfying without sounding overly contrived...making natural but astute statements
— John D. McCrary
see HAPPY page 10
see CIRCUS page 10
Twenty years ago, mixed martial arts, or MMA, was nonexistent in the U.S. — now UTD has its own MMA
club.With the days of the bare knuckle, Vale
Tudo or no-holds-barred mentality in the past, MMA has evolved into a legitimate sport. The Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, has since reformed its blood sport history under the direction of its current president, Dana White.
“The sport is getting increasingly popular every year,” Jimmy Cardoza, an accounting junior, said.
“I think it still has a ways to go though. There are still states that are ratify-
ing to make it legal within their state, but it’s only
a matter of time now before every state
ratifies it and pretty soon we can see it in the main media.”Cardoza and a group of students that trained Brazilian Jiu-
Jitsu with him at a gym called Machado’s were disappointed by the university’s lack of approval for their Jiu-Jitsu grappling sessions, which they call “rolling.”
“Me and my friends would always go and roll every Sunday night on the mats,” he said. “Then the school said we couldn’t do it anymore because other people would take out the mats and not put them back up. We asked them how we could get access to those mats because we wanted more mat time. We ended up form-ing the MMA club.”
A l e xande r Lao, a UTD alumnus,
Jason MeffordClub member
see MMA page 10 James Norwood, an undeclared
f r e s h m a n ( l e f t ) practices his p u n c h i n g technique with a f e l l o w MMA club member.
photo by Ben Hawkins
10 March 21, 2011 www.utdmercury.comArts&Life the Mercury
Josh Randor, of “How I Met Your Mother,” (right) discusses relationships of all kinds in his first directed film, “Happythankyoumoreplease.”
courtesy of flixter.com
shared the same inter-ests in martial arts with Cardoza and became a co-founder of the club.
“Well, I always wanted to learn martial arts as a kid, but I never had the time,” Lao said. “My junior year, I met Joe Al-Kirwi, who introduced me to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Right away I fell in love with the sport. At the place I trained, I met Jimmy Cardoza, who was also a UTD stu-dent.”
Lao added, “little did I know that the three of us would later create the UTD MMA club.”
Mixed martial arts, like its name implies, mixes all the fighting systems from around the world into a comprehensive combat sport that uses the most efficient tech-niques from all martial arts.
“You have your strik-ing which combines anything from boxing to Muay Thai or American kickboxing,” Cardoza said. “We’ve even seen guys from karate and Tae Kwon Do make a good living in MMA. You also have your wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or some guys even use different things like Sambo.
“It’s just combining different martial arts, putting them togeth-er,” Cordoza added. “It’s probably the most technical sport out there right now because it’s not just one thing, it’s a
whole bunch of things combined.”
Despite its newfound publicity, the novelty of MMA can bring about misconceptions of the sport.
“People still don’t understand the sport, they still see it as barbar-ic,” Cordoza said. “They see it as two guys in a cage beating each other to a pulp; they don’t see the technique behind it. On the other side of that, some people will see the Jiu-Jitsu and the wrestling as just hugging or whatever, but there’s
actually a lot of tech-nique behind it. It takes years of experience. You have your Olympic wres-tlers and world cham-pions in Jiu-Jitsu going into MMA.”
Jason Mefford, a mechanical engineering junior, joined the MMA club after his decorat-ed years in high school wrestling.
Being the young-est captain for his high school wrestling team and winning regional and state competitions, Mefford boasts a wres-tling record of 45-5 as an All-American wrestler.
“MMA is really the
only athletic alterna-tive for wrestlers after college,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in Jiu-Jitsu and MMA but I never wanted to spend the money to go to a gym. Whenever I got to UTD and found all these clubs that were free, I gave it a shot. It’s cool to get a variety of people together and learn from everybody.”
Cardoza’s and Lao’s Jiu-Jitsu sessions began to attract members of all disciplines, and what was once advertised by word of mouth became
a growing club.“What we’re try-
ing to do is meet up at a local MMA gym and start doing some of our training sessions there,” Cardoza said. “It’ll be good because they’ll have equipment we don’t have access to at UTD like an actual MMA cage which is an important aspect of the sport.”
The university recently approved the off-campus training, and Cardoza and other students in the MMA club now meet up on Fridays at 2:30 p.m. to train at the Fuller MMA Time gym.
MMAcontinued from page 9
for love in New York feels like it draws on storylines that could just as easily be found in the manufactured world of Radnor’s sitcom.
Each of these narratives is independently endearing and just interesting enough to keep from the label of boring, but their overall function together as one cohesive film is much less effective.
At his important meet-ing with a publisher at the beginning of the film, Sam is told that while his short stories are good, his novel is just a whole lot of “kinda.” It’s kinda funny, kinda sad, kinda exciting, but it’s not really much of anything.
This could very well be
a commentary on Radnor’s own shortcomings as a writer, but the shortcomings remain nonetheless.
The film’s focus on hap-piness and gratitude are ultimately its saving grace. Without those themes it would very quickly feel like a bunch of successful but dissatisfied adults whining about their relationships, and the lack of urgency in the plot would quickly become unbearable.
Instead it’s about that newfound awkward age between youth and adult-hood where pessimism reigns supreme and the time comes to start looking for something more.
HAPPYcontinued from page 9
“Happythankyoumoreplease”
7/ 10
ceilings that can be climbed. They are one of Childress’ many routines, including jug-gling and fire spinning, which he combines with his unicy-cling.
His circus acts have gar-nered attention from other students at UTD. Childress said many students have approached him during his performances and suggested he start a club.
Students like Anthony Nguyen, a neuroscience junior, use tricks like fire spinning, or Poi, as a stress-relieving hobby.
Poi is a performance art originating from New Zealand that involves the spinning of weights on a rope. Oftentimes these weights are lit on fire to create an aesthetic illusion.
“Well it’s a funny story,”
Nguyen said. “My friend and I spin Poi, and we were think-ing about starting a group but we didn’t know enough people on campus so we were like, ‘We should ask that kid that rides the unicycle to do it.’”
As the club is still in its pri-mary steps of starting up, the main issue remains the safety of the club.
“It’s all up in the air right now,” Childress said. “I’ve spoken to the dean of stu-dents about some of these things. There would be all kinds of risk management inevitably, but I’m sure we could start a club.”
Unicycling and juggling bring up some risk manage-ment issues, but Childress said the university was more con-cerned about the fire stunts.
“With the fire, we’re com-pletely safe,” Childress said. “I know exactly what I’m doing.
Every session at camp there would be about 20 kids who would learn and we would approve them and they would light up with fire props — sometimes with 8-year-old kids. You know your safety, you know what the person can do, you know that they know it and it’s safe. It’s as dangerous as you want it to be.”
Despite the inherent risks that come with circus stunts, Childress said injuries are uncommon if safeties and precautions are made a pri-ority.
Daniel Young, a computer science senior, has been on the wheel of a unicycle for a year now and said he really wanted a club to practice at. His experiences with injuries have been minimal.
Childress said he hopes to have the club started by fall 2011.
CIRCUScontinued from page 9
People still don’t understand the sport, they still see it as barbaric. They see it as two guys in a cage beating each other to a pulp; they don’t see the technique behind it.
— Jimmy Cordoza
11March 21, 2011www.utdmercury.com Sportsthe Mercury
Brandon Greene dunks against Concordia University in the quarterfinals of the ASC Tournament. Greene was one of three seniors on the Comets squad that hosted the tournament. Mary Hardin-Baylor eventually knocked UTD from contention, also ending its season-long 10-game winning streak.
photo by Ben Hawkins
BACK TOEARTHBACK TOEARTHWhile both seasons ended in defeat, UTD’s 2010-11basketball teams had their share of significantachievements
While their seasons ended in defeat, UTD’s 2010-11basketball teams had their share of significantachievements
First baseman Caysie Norum attempts a tag at first base against Austin College. The Lady Comets swept the double-header, winning 5-3 and 6-2.
photo by Albert Ramirez
Lady Comets softball start-ed the season with a new coach in Cassie Crabtree and hopes of improving on last year’s forgetful 16-24 season.
They are well on their way
to doing just that.After going 5-31 two sea-
sons ago and posting 16 wins last season, the Lady Comets are off to their best start in years.
At 12-6 (1-1 in the ASC), the Lady Comets have start-ed the season on the right foot heading into the thick of ASC conference play.
UTD kicked off ASC play by going 3-1 at the ASC First Pitch Tournament in Farmers Branch.
Its only loss came in an 8-7 thriller to Concordia University, with the go-ahead runner on second base with two outs in the top of the
Bobby KarallaSports Editor
Softball starts ASC play
Despite first round exit, men’s season still a success
Lady Comets see program ascend to new heights
Something special is going on when a first-round loss on the road in the NCAA Tournament is a disappoint-ing end to a season.
UTD’s men’s basketball team lost to Mary Hardin-Baylor, or UMHB, 86-77 in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Division III Basketball Championship on March 3 in Belton, Texas.
UMHB also knocked the Comets out of the ASC Tournament in the semi-finals and went 3-0 against UTD this season.
What makes this a disap-pointment?
The Comets went 21-7 this season and lost their final two games. They had a 10-game winning streak heading into the ASC Tournament — that UTD was hosting — before finally losing to a sharpshooting UMHB team.
This season comes on the heels of a Sweet 16 run last season and a trip to the Elite Eight in 2009.
For most teams, not get-ting as far as they did the previous season is consid-ered a disappointment, and there is no question that the Comets planned on playing further into the postseason. Could the end to this season be considered a disappoint-ment? Yes.
Should it be considered a failure? Absolutely not.
Less than one-tenth of more than 400 D-III teams in America won 20 games. Only one team beat the Comets more than once this season, and UTD was
The Lady Comets set their fair share of milestones this season.
For the first time ever, a senior class left the program with four winning seasons. They tied a university record with 21 wins. Most impor-tantly, they finally captured their first postseason victory.
Head coach Polly Thomason has transformed UTD’s women’s basketball program in six seasons. Before Thomason arrived, the Lady Comets went 52-121 through seven sea-sons, never finishing a sea-son with a winning record.
In the last six seasons, UTD has gone 100-56 and finished above .500 four consecutive seasons.
Give credit to the coach-ing. Thomason has clearly done her part. She inher-ited a program with a los-ing pedigree and has quickly instilled a winning attitude in her players.
Give credit to the players. This year’s team had out-standing talent, chemistry and teamwork. The players had fun with each other on the court. They play a smart brand of basketball, rarely make mistakes and take advantage of what defenses give them.
Tarneisha Scott and Lyndsey Smith have scrib-bled their names on just about every individual offen-sive record UTD has. Let’s not forget about the team as a whole, either. The Lady Comets had an outstanding season as a unit.
They gave up 57.6 points per game. Only one team in the ASC gave up fewer. Only one team shot the ball better than UTD’s 42.4 per-cent clip.
Three Lady Comets fin-ished in the top-10 in the ASC in assists per game. Tawni Ichimura, Nikki Kosary and Smith (sixth, eighth and
Bobby KarallaSports Editor
see MEN’S page 12 see WOMEN’S page 13
UTD tennis is off to a hot start in 2011.
After finishing last season 3-2 in ASC play, UTD’s women’s tennis team started confer-ence season 3-0 and is 5-2 as of March 18.
Megan Tan (4-1) and Rachel Houston (5-1) have had the most suc-cess in singles play.
In singles play overall, the women are 23-13.
Freshman Mindy Tiu was named ASC East Player of the Week on March 9, the first Comet to receive the honor this season.
The men have already eclipsed last year’s ASC wins total as well.
Bobby KarallaSports Editor
Serving up victoriesTennis team takes on ASC opponents
see TENNIS page 13
photo by Ben Hawkins
Rachel Houston serves as Megan Tan awaits the return. UTD’s women’s tennis team started the 2011 season 5-2, and 3-0 in conference play.
see SOFTBALL page 13
UTD softball competes for ASC Tourney berth
Commentary
Bobby KarallaSports Editor
12 March 21, 2011 www.utdmercury.comSports the Mercury
unlucky enough to play it twice in a row, the latter game coming in a tourna-ment that is supposed to be national, not regional.
A combination of financial savings and convenience led the NCAA to schedule the three qualifying ASC teams against each other in the first two rounds of the tourna-ment.
After playing three games against UTD and winning them all, UMHB proved it was the better team this sea-son. But, that does not mean
UTD isn’t deserving of some praise.
Throughout the history of sports, certain teams simply have other teams’ numbers. It happens every season.
In the 2006-07 NBA sea-son, the 42-40 Golden State Warriors beat the 67-15 Dallas Mavericks three times in the regular season and won their first round playoff series 4-2.
In 2010 the 8-8 Oakland Raiders went 6-0 against AFC West teams, including two wins against both the 9-7 San Diego Chargers and the 10-6 Kansas City Chiefs.
While those are only two examples, they both show
some teams simply struggle against others, for whatev-er reason. No disrespect to UMHB, either. The Cru went 15-6 in conference play this season. They are no under-dog.
UTD head coach Terry Butterfield said UTD and UMHB play very similar styles, and after watching the two teams play, it is easy to see the comparisons. Both teams have timing-based offenses, high shooting percentages and excellent perimeter defense.
The Comets beat their fair share of good opponents this season, but just could not find a way to beat UMHB.
It may be upsetting that one team can alter another’s success so much by knocking it out of two tournaments, but a team should never measure its season based
on performance against one team.
Twenty-one victories is a great accomplishment. This year’s Comets might look back and say all they are con-cerned with is 0-3 — their record against the only team they could not beat.
Every team sets goals at the beginning of the sea-
son. The 2010-11 Comets wanted to win the ASC, then look towards making a deep run in the NCAAs. While neither happened, they still had a spectacular season by the numbers.
They led the ASC in scor-ing defense (65.9 PPG) and scoring margin (+9.5). No team made more assists (16.3 APG) or had a better assist/turnover ratio (1.1).
How do these numbers translate to the floor?
The Comets did not allow teams to score. They played aggressive — but smart — defense, contested shots and did not give up easy bas-kets. They scored the ball as well, enough at least to beat teams by more points per game than any other in the ASC.
Only 21 other teams in the country had more assists
per game. The Comets had weapons everywhere on the floor this season, and they shared the ball. Unselfish play leads to victories. Not turning the ball over is also a huge key to winning games, and a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio is a solid mark.
The season did not end the way they wanted, hoped
or expected, but posting a 21-7 record and calling it a disappointment is good in its own way.
It means UTD has now established itself as a bas-ketball power. The best way to do that is win a national championship, but the pro-gram is still in its growing stages.
This is the third 20-win season in a row for the basketball team. Add three NCAA berths and an ASC Title to that and it spells success. For a program that had just its eighth winning season, this is a quick rise to the top.
Butterfield and his play-ers may have to wait on that national championship, but they have taken the first few, important steps in that direction. No one can win a championship overnight, but the Comets are quickly on their way to becoming a contender.
Good teams score. Great teams share the ball and play defense, and statistically no one in the ASC passed or defended better than UTD.
Yes, MHB swept the Comets. But 21 wins, stellar team defense and unselfish offense add up to future suc-cess.
Curtis Davis crosses over a LeTourneau University defender on Senior Day, when he, Brandon Greene and Wells Adams were honored. The Comets won 83-47 in their final regular season home game.
photo by Ben Hawkins
Greg Chiasson dunks against East Texas Baptist University, a game the Comets won 71-60.
photo by Ben Hawkins
MEN’Scontinued from page 11
It may be upsetting that one team can alter another’s success so much by knocking it out of two tournaments, but a team should never measure its season based on performance against one team.
— Bobby Karalla
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Kellie Loukanis jumps for a loose ball against a LeTourneau University defender. The Lady Comets won the Senior Day game 56-41, closing out the regular season with their twelfth home victory.
photo by Ben Hawkins
10th respectively) found the shooters both on the perim-eter and inside in what was a very well-rounded, versa-
tile offensive system.Ichimura and Scott will be
gone next season, but they have certainly left their mark on the budding program.
In six seasons, the Lady Comets have evolved from mediocre to dangerous. They have averaged 20.3 wins the past three seasons and qualified for the ASC Tournament five straight seasons.
This season, UTD went 12-1 at home. The Lady Comets won games they were supposed to win. Their loss in the ASC Tournament came on the road against
Howard Payne University, the champions of the West Division.
Each season, UTD has taken another step forward. Under Thomason’s guid-ance, the Lady Comets have risen at a rapid pace to the top of the East. While they did not get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, a postseason win is still a step in the right direction.
The Lady Comets have done an excellent job build-ing on the previous year’s success, and the foundation is in place for another good season next year.
WOMEn’Scontinued from page 11
Lyndsey Smith
391 points - fourth
most in a season
14.5 PPG - fourth
highest in a season,
ninth in ASC
135 FG - fifth most
in a season
59 3s - second most
in a season
41.5 3-pt% - second
highest in a season,
second in ASC
87.3 FT% - highest
in a season, led ASC
Tarneisha Scott
470 points - most in a season17.4 PPG - second highest in a season, led ASC175 FG - most in a season52.9 FG% - highest in a season, third in ASC105 FT - second most in a season223 rebounds - sec-ond most in a season8.3 RPG - second highest in a season
Team
42.4 FG% - highest in a season151 3s - most in a season34.5 3-pt% - second highest in a season71.9 FT% - second highest in a season15 APG - highest in a season107 BLK - most in a season16 ASC wins - sec-ond most in confer-ence24.7 DEF 3-pt% - 5th in nation
BASEBALL RECAP
After their hot start to the season, the Comets hit a brick wall March 4. They suffered through a 1-5 stretch that in-cluded an 0-2 show-ing at the Abilene Classic at Hardin-Simmons University. Heading into their
three-game week-end series against Mississippi College on March 18-19, the Comets have since won three games in a row to snap out of their worst slump of the young season, recovering against a loss to University of the Ozarks by win-ning the next two games of the series, and then beating Austin College 7-3. Against Austin Col-
lege, Joseph Killgore hit a pinch-hit grand slam to top off a six-run 7th inning. Killgore — who suf-
fered an injury ear-lier in the season — chose the right time to hit his first home run of the year. Derek Dallas is off
to an outstand-ing start. Through March 17, Dallas is 4-0 after five starts, with a 1.22 ERA and a team-leading 36 strikeouts.
Note: All statistics and records are as of March 18, before UTD played a three-game series against Mississippi College.
Currently, they are 7-3 and in third place in the ASC East.
Antonio Alda (7-2 in), Bryan Leib (7-2) and Sebastien Leitz (6-2) lead the Comets in singles play.
Wayne Chang and Clint Laukhuf have seen suc-cess in doubles play, going 5-1 and 1-0 in conference matches.
Perhaps the men’s most important victory came out-side of ASC play.
The Comets beat D-II
Dallas Baptist University, 6-3, on March 1.
A win against higher com-petition can provide a boost to a program.
UTD won five of its six singles matches to complete the upset.
The men are 7-3, and 2-1 in conference through March 18.
In their most recent match-es on March 14, the women beat Central College 7-2, and the men won 8-1.
Both the men and women return to action at home March 21 at 2 p.m. against Whitworth College.
TEnnIScontinued from page 11
7th inning. The Lady Comets went on to defeat nationally-ranked Louisiana College in the first leg of a double-header.
Heather Foust struck out seven batters en route to a
complete game victory.At the time of the upset,
Louisiana College was ranked No. 2 in Division III.
Caysie Norum got off to a stellar start, hitting .500 through 18 games.
Norum leads the Lady Comets in nearly every major offensive category
and is putting up All-Conference numbers..
She is first in the ASC in batting average, first in slugging, first in on-base percentage, tied for first in home runs, fifth in total bases and tied for third in walks.
Norum has already matched her home run
total from last season — six — and has dramatically improved in all other statis-tical areas.
Should the stretch of solid performances contin-ue, the Lady Comets will be in position to improve and build upon their lackluster previous few seasons.
UTD’s last winning sea-
son was in 2006 — for-mer head coach Kim Sotomayor’s first full season in charge.
At this point, the Lady Comets have a shot at more than just a winning season.
They could compete for their first ASC Tournament since 2005.
The Lady Comets have
already nearly matched their win total from last season and are on pace to have their best season since 2005.
Their next game is a March 22 double-header at LeTourneau University, then they return home April 2 in another double-header against LeTourneau.
SOFTBALLcontinued from page 11
Commentary
Sebastien Lietz and Jeff Trinh compete in doubles. The two have combined to go 3-2 overall in doubles, and 1-0 against ASC opponents.
photo by Ben Hawkins
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