DVD PROMISES THRILLS, LAUGHS: ‘RED,’ an action comedy starring Bruce Willis, hits store shelves with dynamic explosives and subtle humor.
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Wednesday n January 26. 2011
BREAKING EVEN: Mustangs outpace ENMU Greyhounds at home but fall to Incarnate Word on the road in San Antonio.
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thewichitan
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State budget cuts could force tough decisions Brittany Norman Editor in Chief
President Dr. Jesse Rogers was braced for at least a 10 percent cut from MSU’s state appropriations for the next biennium. The Legislative Budget Board’s initial plan to offset up to $27 billion in projected revenue shortfalls predicts deeper cuts than Rogers anticipated. Rogers said the base budget released by the Texas House of Representatives last week would
slash state university funding by about 15 percent. “That is on top of the 5 percent cut we’ve already made in this biennium,” Rogers said. “A 20 percent cut over a three-year period is beyond anything that I or any of the administration has had to deal with (in the past).” The budget proposal calls for approximately $6 million in cuts from the 2011-2012 MSU budget. When combined with the 5 percent already pulled from the university’s current budget, the
cuts amount to $7.7 million. “This is a very serious reduction for higher education in Texas,” Rogers said. Rogers said he understands that the state must reign in its budget. He said the current deficit projection is an estimate of the debt the state will incur if Texas maintained its current level of services. “However, college presidents have pointed out that thus far, the cuts that have been made in state appropriations – everything
from public schools to higher education, social services, prisons and highways – higher education has absorbed 40 to 41 percent of those cuts,” Rogers said. Higher education comprises only 12.5 percent of the total state budget. Rogers said that as the state’s share of funding the university drops, MSU must make up the difference. “If we want to maintain current services, we have to find some way – either through cuts
Sticker shock
Students shop around to save on pricey textbooks Brittney Cottingham Features Editor English: $72.00 Geology: $192.66 Sociology: $144.85 Math: $180.00 History: $125.20 The look on freshman’s Josh Levine’s face when he saw his $700 bill from the MSU bookstore: priceless. Every year students around the country dish out the big bucks to their bookstores to purchase textbooks for classes. Some are ditching their textbooks in favor of E-books but the hurt to students’ wallets remains. “I thought what I paid was a reasonable price for all of my books,” Levine said. “The people at our bookstore were extremely nice in helping me not only get my books that were required for the class but ones that were recommended. That was until I had conversations with other students.” Levine said he got an eye opener when he spoke to his friends who spent under $200 on the same number of books. “When I told them I bought my books at our bookstore, they laughed at me,” Levine said. “They said it was a freshman mistake. My friends then schooled me on what I should’ve done. So the next day, I returned all of my books that I bought and rented my books from an online site. ” After saving $300 online, Levine strongly believes that the bookstore ripped him off. MSU bookstore manager Jenny Denning admits there’s no way the bookstore can compete with Internet prices. “What we do offer is excellent customer serives and refunds done immediately,
See TEXTBOOKS on page 3
(Photo by: Hannah Hofmann)
‘Son of Hamas’ turns toward peace Chris Collins Managing Editor
Mosab Hassan Yousef is an ex-Islamic terrorist, New York Times Bestseller, public speaker and man on the run. He used to be a real-life double agent, the kind of guy some people think only exist in James Bond flicks. Now the converted Christian lives in California and hopes to bring peace his country with a message of love. The 32-year-old recounted his harrowing tale of espionage and self-discovery to a diverse, eager audience at Akin Auditorium Monday as part of the Artist Lecture Series. “I am young, but I have a rich experience to the deepest level one individual can go,” Yousef said. “I’ve seen things that many people live and die before they see. Things maybe people only see in the movies. I have been re-
Mosab Hassan Yousef spoke at MSU Monday evening as part of the Artist Lecture Series. (Photo by Brittany Norman)
jected and I’m considered a traitor. I’m a fugitive. I’m a stranger in a foreign place, living every month in a different city.” Yousef (synonymous with Jo-
seph in other faiths) is named after an Islamic ambassador who left everything he knew to deliver the message of Mohammed, the speaker said.
His father, who is now imprisoned, is a founder of Hamas, an internationally known Islamic terrorist organization. Yousef described Hamas as an Islamic resistance force bent on destroying the Israelites. “It’s not a fight over land or property here and there,” Yousef said. “It’s a holy war. You could say the fight isn’t between two nations – it’s between two gods.” Throughout his talk Yousef emphasized how destructive the religion of Islam has been to his country of Palestine: that it espouses a message of hate. “I have a big, big problem with Islam,” he said. “I praise a different God and I have a different message.” Yousef ’s family lived near a cemetery in Palestine when he was a boy. He said he would see three or four dead bodies buried
See YOUSEF on page 4
or income – to get back up to the level we’re operating at today,” Rogers said. “I don’t think we can do that.” Rogers said the goal is to maintain services to students and ensure they can take the courses they need to graduate, but students might see larger classes or have fewer sections of the same subject to choose from. “It is also my hope that we’re not yet in a situation to furlough or lay off staff and faculty,” Rogers said. “We are not overstaffed.
Our initial planning indicates that we might be able to make it without doing harm to the university in that way.” The university must also generate revenue to offset the budget cuts. “We have not had an increase in state general revenue funding since 1998,” Rogers said. “That’s the reason tuition has gone up as much as it has. There are other, smaller sources of revenue that we have – yield in investments,
Chris Collins Managing Editor
stolen credit cards had been used at Walgreens and Circle Liquor Store in Wichita Falls within a short time after being stolen,” police wrote in the case report. Armstrong was identified through a photo lineup and video camera surveillance. He was arrested after police saw him driving a vehicle on Kemp. Armstrong was charged with credit/debit card abuse, a state jail felony. His bond was set at $5,000.
See BUDGET on page 3
Student faces charges for credit card abuse MSU student Donnie Armstrong was arrested in early December after using credit cards stolen from an office in Bolin Hall. The victim, Sanjeev Mahabir, is a teaching assistant in the building. He also reported his tennis shoes stolen along with his billfold. “It was determined that the
Visiting artist, director to screen film at MSU Brittney Cottingham Features Editor
No Subtitles Necessary depicts the journey of legendary Hollywood cinematographers Laszio Ovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond. The Emmy nominated documentary will be screened Thursday night at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU. Director James Chressanthis will be on hand at the event to speak to the audience about his time making this film and the inspiration he found in Laszio and Vilmmos. “There were times during the making of this film where I thought I would never be able to finish it,” Chressanthis said. “But with a lot of help and the inspiration from Laszlo and Vilmos themselves I realized that dreams do come true, though not in the way you expect.” Chressanthis explains the film has themes of war, love, loyalty, revolution and two immigrate filmmakers changing world of
n Artist and director James Chressanthis will screen his Emmy-nominated film, No Subtitles Necessary, as part of the Center for Continuing Education’s Speakers & Issues series. The screening will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU.
cinema while living the American dream. “Their amazing story was ‘world famous’ in Hollywood,” Chressanthis said. “I felt I had to
See SCREENING on page 4
United Way program offers help filing taxes Brittany Norman Editor in Chief
The United Way is seeking volunteers with a knack for accounting to help area families and individuals file their taxes. Americorps VISTA, a national service organization focused on fighting poverty, has teamed up with the United Way to offer the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Through VITA, working individuals and families who make less than $49,000 a year can receive assistance preparing and filing basic federal income tax returns. MSU students are eligible to volunteer.
“There are no (previous experience) requirements for volunteers,” said Susan Ward of Americorps VISTA. She said training will be provided for anyone interested in volunteering as a tax preparer. The program is also seeking Spanish-speaking individuals to act as interpreters and greeters, who will welcome clients and check their paperwork. Ward said volunteers will work four hour shifts at various VITA locations between now and April 14. “Volunteering is a good experience,” Ward said. “You learn more about taxes and how the
See TAXES on page 4