4.03.18

5 | Arts & Life

7 | Sports

DIY Day

UTSA Football hosts NFL pro day

Vol. 57, Issue 11

Est. 1981

April 3 - April 10, 2018

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Community /PaisanoOnline

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Tuition increase incoming

Photo Courtesy of UT System

The UT System Board of Regents met to discuss all tuition and fee proposals for each UT school.

UT System Board of Regents approves tuition and fee proposal

By Kenyatta Battle Editor in Chief’s Assistant The University of Texas System Board of Regents has approved UTSA’s two-year tuition and fee increase proposal.

According to Kathryn FunkBaxter, UTSA vice president for business affairs, the proposal, which the Regents approved March 19, will generate additional funds to support student success programs, covering needs such as advising, technology and the First-Year Experience program.

“Our (proposed) tuition increases were some of the lowest across the University of Texas System,” Funk-Baxter said.

Additional revenue will be allocated to financial aid, filling gaps in aid packages for low

and middle-income students to ensure that UTSA students with the greatest financial need can continue to pursue their education.

Earlier this year, the Paisano reported that the tuition and fees proposal consisted of increases to both graduate and undergraduate tuition for residents and non-residents. The proposal also included plans to raise certain mandatory and student fees.

Undergraduate and graduate students who are Texas residents and who use the traditional tuition rate can expect a four percent increase in designated tuition and a 3.2 to 3.5 percent increase in student fees, making the total academic cost (TAC) for undergraduates $5,301.33

by Fall 2019 and $4,552.06 for graduate students by Fall 2019.

Non-resident students us-

ing the traditional tuition plan can expect a nine to 10 percent increase in designated tuition, and a 3.2 to 3.5 percent increase in mandatory fees, making the TAC $12,697.08 for undergraduate students and $13,190.40 for graduate students by Fall 2019.

The Student Services Fee will increase by $0.39 per Semester Credit Hour (SCH) per year over the next two academic years. The Student Services Fee is currently $15.40 per SCH, with a maximum of $184.80 per semester able to be charged to students.

The Student Services Fee for the 2018-2019 academic year will be $15.79 per SCH, and $16.18 per SCH for the 2019-2020 academic year. The fee supports academic support services on campus, such as the Counseling Center, One-Stop

Enrollment Center, Enrollment Services, Student Activities, Career Center, Supplemental Instruction, Tutoring Services and the Testing Center.

The Automated Services Fee will increase by $1.50/SCH per year over the next two academic years. The Automated Service Fee is $25 per SCH, increasing to $26.50 for the 2018-2019 academic year and $28.00 for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Revenue will go toward network maintenance and upgrades, student success technology and software and additional technology support for early morning, late night and weekend classes.

The proposal states that differential tuition rates are to supply students in their respective colleges with technicians, increased course availability, an answering service for student questions,

more undergraduate internship opportunities and enhanced learning spaces.

The differential tuition will apply to students in the College of Business (COB) and the College of Engineering (COE).

COB students will pay $42 per SCH for each upper division course they take, and COE students will pay $55 per SCH for undergraduate courses. COB graduate students will pay $129 per SCH. COE graduate students would not have an additional charge.

“Our goal is to have as little financial impact on students as possible while having maximum impact on their success,” FunkContinued on page 2 See “Service Fees Increase”

In Texas, falling behind on student loan payments can cost you your license to work

By Shannon Najmavadi The Texas Tribune When Roderick Scott Sr. submitted an application to renew his teacher’s license in the summer of 2015, he thought the matter was handled. He had no idea that, months later, a decades-old Texas law would nearly derail his career as a middle school teacher in north Dallas because he’d defaulted on his student loans.

Over the course of three years, Scott said he swiftly lost a “dream job,” was evicted, had his bank account garnished and eventually filed for bankruptcy.

He’s not the only one who’s suffered such dramatic repercussions. Texas is among several states that bars teachers, dentists, nurses and other professional license holders from renewing their licenses if they are in default on their student loans.

The ban was designed to push people to pay off their debt — or face the consequences. But even

in Texas, a state that holds more than $70 billion of the country’s $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loans, critics call the practice counterproductive since it can impede people’s ability to work and make it even harder for them to pay back their debt.

There is no comprehensive source of data on how frequently this happens in Texas. Records from multiple organizations and agencies suggest more than 4,215 people in the state – including security guards, cosmetologists and pharmacists – were at risk of losing their license because of student loan default in 2017.

Since 2010, 530 nurses were unable to renew their licenses because they were in default on their student loans, according to information provided to The Texas Tribune through a public information request. And nearly 250 teachers, like Scott, had an application for a license renewal denied for this reason over the

Roderick Scott, in his Dallas classroom on March 12, 2018

course of five years, data from the Texas Education Agency shows.

For Scott, 43, the first sign of trouble came one day in the fall of 2015. The school’s head of human resources called Scott into an office and asked why he hadn’t renewed his teacher’s license – a certification most Texas educators must have. Scott said he was confused. He’d submitted an online application and

Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune

paid the fee to renew his license weeks ago.

It took one frantic phone call to discover there was a major problem. Scott’s renewal hadn’t been processed because he had fallen behind on his loan payments, and he quickly realized he was about to lose his best chance of getting back on track: his job as a teacher.

The practice in Texas dates back to 1989, when the Legis-

lature passed a bill making loan default grounds for not renewing a license. At the time, Texas was experiencing historically high rates of student loan default, much of it coming from a burgeoning sector of lightly-regulated for-profit schools. Suspending professional licenses, state staff Continued on page 2 See “Falling behind on student loan payments”

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UTSA UTSA’s energy conservation practices have saved the university $3.1 million from 2007 to 2017. Efforts made

by UTSA include the use of energy efficient equipment, air conditioning setbacks and renewable energy. UTSA has made investments to conserve energy such as solar installations which resulted in $481,000 in rebates from CPS Energy.

Amber Chin/The Paisano

UTSA’s student services fee and automated services fee will increase incrementally over the next two years, beginning Fall 2018.

Texas

Service fees increase amongst others

Crosby residents are suing an Arkema Inc. chemical manufacturing powerplant for the results of chemical fires that occurred during Hurricane Harvey flooding in August. Plaintiffs claim that the company’s chemicals contaminated the air and water, which caused people to have respiratory problems, pneumonia, headaches, nausea and dizziness. In Sept., the Environmental Protection Agency reported that the samples they collected did not exceed the state’s limits.

Continued from Page 1 Baxter said.

“Our tuition proposal included differential tuition rates for students taking upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses in the Colleges of Engineering and Business, emulating similar models at several other UT System institutions.”

Blane Salamoni, the police officer who fatally shot Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, was fired on March 30. A recent video of the incident has been released and shows Salamoni shouting profanities at Sterling, slamming him into a car and then killing him. Howie Lake II, a fellow officer involved, has been suspended for three days.

World An Indian Army killed at least 12 militants on April 1.

The army operation is against Indian rule in Kashmir Valley which has been in a territorial dispute between India, Hindu-majority, and Pakistan, Muslim-majority for decades.

revenue generated by differential tuition will go toward financial aid for students in business and engineering.

Engineering undergraduates and business graduate students will likely see the highest increase in their differential tuition; however, the differential tuition increase will not be adopted until 2019. UTSA President Taylor Eighmy does

Falling behind on student loan payments Continued from Page 1

U.S.

Differential tuition applies to juniors, seniors and graduate students. No course fees will be charged to students with differential tuition. Differential tuition reflects the higher cost of very specific services to be offered for these courses, while offsetting impact by reducing or omitting course fees for those students paying differential tuition.

Fifteen percent of the additional

not want seniors to be impacted by the new tuition increase. “(Eighmy) wanted to ensure that students in the College of Business and College of Engineering will have the opportunity to benefit from the initiatives the additional revenue will fund prior to graduating,” Funk-Baxter said.

“Adopting differential tuition now would have impacted seniors who might have graduated without receiving the added services funded by differential tuition.”

The proposal also includes a $5 per semester, per student tuition increase allocated to university-wide sustainability initiatives, requested and approved by the UTSA Student Government Association. This money will go to additional rooftop solar panels, hydration stations and maintenance of the UTSA community garden.

The tuition and fees proposal did not include the transportation and athletic fee since neither fee passed the student vote. All universities in the UT System have an opportunity to submit tuition and fee proposals to the UT System Board of Regents every two years.

said then, could create “a powerful incentive for a person to stay current on his payments.”

Already, lenders and loan guarantors had an array of financial hammers they could use to jolt borrowers into repayment.

Tom Melecki, a long-time financial aid officer, said the rationale for the law might have been that it could be another “effective tool at kind of bludgeoning [borrowers] back into repayment.”

Members of the state commission that helped pass the law are deceased, could not be reached or did not remember details about its passage. But a legislative liaison who met with government staff about the law said he recalls thinking that it “wouldn’t really address the problem” of defaults in the forprofit sector.

“It may be helpful, but the defaults you see out there are largely among those who went

to private trade schools and who probably didn’t get certified in what they went to school to be,” said George Torres, then the governmental relations director for the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, a public nonprofit that’s since been privatized and renamed Trellis Company.

Suspending licenses penalized a different group of students, he said – those who’d graduated, gotten a certification, and had a lower risk of not paying back their loans. Still, Torres said, it was a tool proposed by legislative staff — one that could be fine-tuned later, if needed.

“The money is needed around the house” The threat of losing his license — and therefore his job — pushed Scott, the Dallas middle school teacher, to take drastic action.

He immediately paid the loan collector — borrowing money to do so — and entered into a repayment plan that let him keep

his license. But during the time it took him to sort out the paperwork, his students were moved to a different teacher and he lost a department-chair position that came with an added stipend – making it even harder to make the loan payments, he said.

Scott then made a string of financial sacrifices to afford the more than $300-a-month payment his loan collector asked for.

He put the loan payment before rent and other bills. He was

evicted, stayed with his brother and considered setting up a GoFundMe page to help ends meet. He tried to hide the trouble from his students, and from his 11-year-old and 3-year-old kids.

“I just did not have that discretionary amount available,” Scott said. “If I was single, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. But, you know, being married and having children, it’s a different story. The money is needed around the house.”

This story has been edited for length.

Unlocking Your Sacred Puzzle Box Book Discussion (purchase not required) Thursday, April 5, 7:30–8:30 PM UC Magnolia Room, 2.01.30

Want help facing your problems and and spiritual challenges? Life is a puzzle box, but the right spiritual exercises and connections can help you unlock its secrets to find more hope, courage, and fresh perspectives.

Info:

Mitziani: rbo233@my.utsa (Eckankar Student Org.)

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Visit www.Alpinparksa.com or stop by

15726 Chase Hill Blvd San Antonio, TX 78256

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A p r i l 3 - A p r il 10, 2018

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opinion College readiness raises retention and graduation rates Editorial Raising retention and graduation rates at UTSA is often described as a priority of the university. It is the measure that identifies how many students are receiving an education and completing their degree on time.

The steps leading up to the undergraduate level contributes significantly to student success in college. Area college readiness initiatives serve UTSA’s goal to boost our graduation and retention rates.

President Taylor Eighmy has

addressed retention rates through his task forces, including Coordinated and Linked Approaches to Student Success (CLASS), UTSA professors have partnered with area high school teachers and the Paisano has worked with KIPP, the Knowledge is Power Program, to assist their students with their own publication.

Preparing area high school students for post-secondary education can improve UTSA’s retention and graduation rates.

Our freshmen demonstrate how much more successful UTSA could be if they were

better prepared. Professors, peer mentors and UTSA community members have recounted stories about freshmen that are startling.

From issues with multiplication problems to disastrous studying strategies, we hear that UTSA freshmen have room for improvement time and time again.

The preparation our freshmen needed ought to be provided by their high schools, but data shows our schools have come up short in preparing students.

According to a National Assessment of Educational Progress report in 2016, only about a

third of U.S. high school seniors are prepared for college-level coursework in math and reading.

Better prepared freshmen are more consistent and stable, but these results aren’t the only reason college readiness may boost retention and graduation rates.

In an interview with the Paisano, chemistry professor Dr. Hector Aguilar pointed out that better prepared students can test out of particular courses, which in turn shortens their time at UTSA. More students graduating ahead of schedule means higher retention and graduation

rates for UTSA. College readiness is a leading topic in discussions concerning Texas education, and it’s no secret, funding is an issue.

High schools must do their part, but what’s promising is that the work UTSA community members are doing now can grow and qualify for funding once they have more data and results to report. Supporting college readiness programs in San Antonio won’t only help high school students, it will help our university.

Is this the end of Facebook? Charter school rebuttal Commentary

By Anish Rao Contributing Writer You may have heard about Facebook’s shady business practices and malicious data handling in the news cycle recently.

Facebook is an integral part of everyone’s life whether we want to admit or not; it’s on almost every company’s commercials (“make sure to add us on Facebook”)—discussed by friends & family and used by government agencies. Naturally, we are all asking the same question—what does the news mean for Facebook’s future?

Facebook’s future includes a sullied reputation. In 2015, a UK consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica (CA), bought an Academic License from Facebook to gain user information and data to be used for psychological research.

CA then created a Facebook application called “this is your digital life” to study the behavior of users, which lead to some severe privacy issues.

The app was downloaded by more than 270,000 users, but by agreeing to the app’s terms and conditions the user also agreed to a collection of their friends data, bringing more than 50 million additional users. This data was then sold to research

firms and political campaigns. It became a hot button issue when news broke that the users data was used in the 2016 presidential elections.

Afterwards, the data was handled by advertising firms with the aim of creating “psychological” ads to influence voting and purchasing habits. Facebook had knowledge of this act going on, which is why both companies are under fire.

The silver lining to the situation is that now public attention has zeroed in on how Facebook and similar business models profit from their users.

Users have voluntarily allowed their data to be mined.

Upon hearing how their data was used in 2015 by Cambridge Analytica, consumers began a discussion on the matter of data security.

The discussion won’t bring an end to Facebook though.

Facebook currently has a market capitalization of $465.9 billion; they will not be going away anytime soon. In the short term future, they will be hit with a massive fine from the Federal Trade Commission for “consent decree,”which means enabling third party access to user information without user permission.

The truth is, Facebook has so much data on its 1.2 billion daily users that it can continue to fund operations by selling this information to advertisers. Not to mention, its acquisition of Instagram a while back, which sealed Facebook’s fate as one of the world’s top technology companies for a very long time.

The Paisano Isaac Serna | Editor-in-Chief Editor@paisano-online.com Ethan Pham | Managing Editor Manager@paisano-online.com Kenyatta Battle | Editor-in-Chief’s Assistant

NewsDavila | Co-News Editor Gaige News@paisano-online.com Samual De Leon | Co-News Editor News@paisano-online.com Heather Montoya | Assistant News Editor

Commentary

By Justice Lovin Senior Copy Editor In the March 27 issue of The Paisano, there was an op-ed that advocated for charter schools.

It did so by presenting statistics without context in a way that erased the detrimental effects charter schools have on the communities they prey upon.

Charter schools are a project of right wing ideology. They do nothing to address the problems they identify in the current school system, which to be clear is far from perfect, but indeed make those problems worse by dismantling the structures public schools use to ensure equitable treatment of students.

The author cites studies that found lower crime rates among male winners of charter school lotteries as evidence of the advantages of charter schools, but does not acknowledge the ways in which these lotteries act to exclude working class families.

Charter school lotteries require parents to come to meetings that working people often can’t attend. Rather than address poverty and the ways poverty creates higher crime rates and lower educational attainment, charter schools self-segregate and leave

Photo Chase Otero | Photography Editor Photo@paisano-online.com Ricky Galindo | Assistant Photography Editor

Online Kat Joseph | Multimedia Editor Multimedia@paisano-online.com Ricardo Rodriguez | Web Editor Web@paisano-online.com Oscar Torres | Assistant Multimedia Editor Brandon Armstead | Assistant Web Editor

Magazine Samantha Ceballos | Magazine Editor Magazine@paisano-online.com Diana Amaya | Assistant Magazine Editor

Arts & Bonilla Life | Arts & Life Editor Enrique Arts@paisano-online.com Katrina Clements | Assistant Arts & Life Editor

Sports

the problem to fester, failing in one of their primary obligations to the community.

Another way that charter schools segregate students is one they proudly advertise: their small class sizes. Charter schools, because they are publicly funded (for profit) schools, are “open to everyone”; however, unlike public schools, charter schools can cap admissions and turn students away.

Is it any wonder then that charter schools use their admissions processes to select (either through explicit policy or through tricks like the “random” lottery) only the most able students (and subsequently leave public schools with less funding over all for a student population with more learning disabilities and special needs)?

Charter schools also use these tactics to exclude undocumented people and refugees, who are legally entitled to (and innately deserving of) a free public education despite their needs as English language learners.

There are of course charter schools that target low income and minority populations in their admissions process. Many of these are like ECOT, an online charter school in Ohio, which misrepresented the number of students it was serving and made minimal efforts to actually monitor the quality of student work, functioning essentially as a state funded pyramid scheme. Charter school advocates, I’m sure, would be quick to condemn the use of charters to defraud the taxpayers of their money and

students of their education, but only on this large scale.

I say this because charter schools, even if they get less funding per student as last week’s op-ed claims, typically have higher administrative costs than public schools while spending less on instruction. They are able to do this by providing lower pay and fewer benefits for teachers, who are already notoriously overworked and underpaid.

Whether or not the school winds up closing is beside the point, the for profit logic of charter schools and school privatization will always spend less than they could on students—that’s the ‘for profit’ part. No one should profit off of taxpayer money, especially not by taking it from children and schools.

In the same way mass incarceration has replaced slavery, charter schools are replacing segregation. By dressing up “separate but equal” policies in the language of choice (and using the machinery of racialized economic inequality instead of outright force), conservatives insidiously belie the true nature of their political project: entrenching and expanding status quo inequality that is racist, sexist, ableist and classist.

If charter schools genuinely improved outcomes for all students, I would be the first to endorse them, but they do not and they cannot until they address the systematic oppressions that are responsible for inequitable treatment and outcomes.

Advisory Board

Diane Abdo | Advisor Diane.Abdo@utsa.edu Steven Kellman | Advisor Jack Himelblau | Advisor Stefanie Arias | Advisor Sandy Norman | Advisor Red Madden | Advisor

Staff

Justice Lovin | Senior Copy Editor Ryan Nobles | Staff Maya Halabi | Staff Ryan Thompson | Staff Mackenzie Dyer | Staff Emily Hubbard | Staff Kimiya Factory | Staff Natalie Hollenbeck | Staff AJ Lopez | Staff Sydney Zamora | Staff Amber Chin | Staff Zachary Truesdale | Staff Ryan Garza | Staff Edward Monsibaiz | Staff

Business

Frank Leal | Sports Editor Sports@paisano-online.com

Will Stransky | Business Manager Business@paisano-online.com

Connor Zimmerlee | Assistant Sports Editor

Valery Assad | Marketing Manager Marketing@paisano-online.com

Jenelle Duff | Advertising Liason Ads@paisano-online.com Kristy Olson | Social Media Coordinator Amanda Avalos | Marketing Staff Ray Hagimoto | Marketing Staff The Paisano is published by the Paisano Educational Trust, a non-profit, tax exempt, educational organization. The Paisano is operated by members of the Student Newspaper Association, a registered student organization.

The Paisano is NOT sponsored, financed or endorsed by UTSA. New issues are published every Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters, excluding holidays and exam periods. The Paisano is distributed on all three UTSA campuses — Main, Downtown and the Institute of Texan Cultures. Additionally, Paisano publications are distributed at a variety of off-campus locations, including Tri-point and a variety of apartment complexes near the UTSA Main Campus. All revenues are generated through advertising and donations. Advertising inquiries and donations should be directed to: 14526 Roadrunner Way Suite 101 San Antonio, TX 78249 Phone: (210)-690-9301 © 2018, The Paisano The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Handbook of Operating Procedures states in 5.03 that: The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will not exercise control over the format or content of Student Publications, but will regulate distribution on campus. Student Publications will be free of censorship and advance approval of copy, and their editors and managers are solely responsible for editorial and content policies and decisions.

Editors and managers of Student Publications will not be subject to arbitrary suspension/expulsion or removal from their positions within a Registered or Sponsored Student Organization (Student Organization) by the University because of student, faculty, administrative, or public disapproval of editorial policy or content. Student Organizations that distribute Student Publications are afforded the same rights and privileges as Student Organizations that do not distribute Student Publications.

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Arts & Life

DIY day UTSA Musicians of Business return with fourth installment of grassroots DIY fest, UTSA Underground, on national DIY day.

A

Enrique Bonilla Arts & Life Editor

rriving this weekend for a fourth installment is UTSA Underground, a collaborative event headed by UTSA’s Musicians of Business (MOB) in affiliation with Roadrunner Productions and the UTSA Student Union. UTSA Underground will bring the sounds and sights of our UTSA community on April 7, 2018 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m just hours after Music Biz Day, the largest free music symposium in the United States.

The festival has grown in size since its inception in 2015 and stays true to the vision of hosting underground artists literally underground. The festival takes place beneath portions of the Sombrilla, Flawn Science building, the Arts building and the Multidisciplinary Studies building in the auxiliary tunnels, as well as the lawn stage. Last year, the festival expanded its reach by including the work of art students.

This year, UTSA Underground audience members will have the option to shuffle between the 23 musical acts and 19 visual artists that have made their way onto the growing festival’s lineup. 2018 marks the fest’s largest lineup, having doubled since last year’s.

The festival is truly a grassroots UTSA student event. The event is run by students, with student performers and a studentbased audience. It not only provides an event for people to share music and art, but provides an environment where students can immerse themselves in the technical aspects of creating and managing a multi-disciplinary event.

“It gives students a chance to get really hands on experience with putting together such an event and the chance to see all the things that go into such a large project, but it also gives you a chance to do it in a controlled environment,” Dylan Illseng, UTSA graduate and former president of MOB said. Ilseng was part of the original UTSA Underground when it was a project for a music marketing class, before the rebirth of MOB in later times.

As the festival grows, technical challenges constantly appear, making for a robust, interactive experience that requires intuitive critical thinking.

The student body element

Photo courtesy of Veeny France Revilla

Above: An excerpt of “Subconscious, My Twin”

by Veeny France Revilla.

Right: Cassidy Fritts 2D mural work was shown this past January at The Upstairs Studio.

makes it an event that encourages communication and cultural exchange.

The confirmed list of artists include various artists working with different mediums. New media will have a heavy presence at the festival.

Oscar Alanis and Rachael Oelson will exhibit a piece that “focuses on excess information in social media and how light is used to transfer information from one side of the world to the another,” according to their artist statement for this piece. The large piece involves water pumps, ceramic models and wooden structures among other mediums.

Also stated in their artist statement, “allowing people to experience this art with all their senses to provide feelings of resentment to the face to face contact we are missing our culture today.”

Luis Nuñez will be displaying video projections. Walden Booker will present 2D work that symbolizes periods of his life displayed through still lifes. Watercolorist Veeny France Revilla will present works focused on themes of the subconscious mind.

Edward Harris’ interactive installation environment will reflect his style, which according to Harris.

Robert JC Wilson “consists of working with the self and working with connections,” will be debuting a new projection installation at this year’s Underground. Natasha Shirley will put on a performative art piece “wearing hosiery filled with small fleshy balls with balls of yarn tied to her ankle.” Her work aims to emphasize the role the audience plays by responding, focusing specifically on empathy.

“Each piece is a collaboration between me and those interacting with it,” Shirley stated.

Student organization Clay Fusion will have an interactive piece set up with two pottery wheels creating vessels in real time while audience members are invited to throw these vessels through a target. Printmaking for non-majors and 2D Foundations will also be making an appearance.

Interdisciplinary artist and Near Orbit member Domeinic Jimenez will blend mediums in an eccentric style to explore themes of identity and purpose. 15-year-old Kalle Duncan explores the identity, race, gender and the intersectionality of the three.

Noah Sala a.k.a. WAR-

BY will be presenting a collection of work that appeals to a viewer’s perception of innocence and familiarity. Aaron Pozos, President of the Bon A Tirer (B.A.T.) Printmaking Club, primarily focuses on printmaking using symbolism to create visual poetry.

Kira Knible will present video projections. These will focus on “the complexities of humanness, both physical and mental, its relationship to natural ‘truths’ through process exploration and personal intimacy,” according to Knible.

Selika De Los Santos will return to this year’s Underground event with 2D artwork. Vero Caceres will present alternate reality through video projection, challenging her viewers to question their role in the world and their own communities.

Kayla M. Valadez will present 2D drawn pieces that capture her object’s expression in candid situations.

Vegan artist Eros will present his brand of vaporwave-reminiscent visuals. Austen Shankle, Sarah McMahon and The Gemini Project will present. Bobby Lopez and Jacob Martinez will present together.

Cassidy Fritts, a San Antonio painter, muralist and mixed media artist is also contributing an installation piece to this year’s fest.

Upon surveying people on their college experience, including those who may have dropped out or didn’t have a typical college experience.

The four-panel installation made entirely of recycled cardboard will represent the various stages of college experiences and the outside pressures contributing to the pursuit of academics.

“For me the biggest challenge of presenting work in this setting will be the installation process.

We can’t necessarily suspend things from the ceiling or drill or nail things into the walls, but that’ll just teach me another way of installing work,” Fritts remarked.

The invitation to include visual art was challenging as the traditional functional aspects of a gallery aren’t available in the concrete and steel covered tunnels. Artists not only have to create work to present, but the presentation of the art itself has to also be taken into account.

Due to safety guidelines, lights cannot be turned off and everything brought into the tunnel must be be removable.

Photo courtesy of Cassidy Fritts

Photo courtesy of UTSA MOB

Above: UTSA Ensemble, Sonora Correcaminos goes off at last year’s UTSA Underground.

Right: Rachel Long as “Merlin” at UTSA Underground ‘17.

Fritts continued, “I think the challenges are necessary and should be embraced because the setting is so unique...It’s an interesting way of making art accessible to the public or a different audience than that which would normally go into a gallery.”

Rachel Long, co-curator of UTSA Underground’s art, will also be returning this year to don “Merlin,” a character she becomes when wearing a hand-made amber fish mask-piece during a performance piece as well as display alongside Rebeka Hurst, who is also a co-curator. Her solo performance, she says, is a different approach to art than her 2D painting work, “I love theatre and dressing up, and I don’t get a chance to incorporate that with the painting side of things the way my art goes, so I wanted to explore that in this setting where it’s a little bit softer because it’s not a museum setting, it’s not a gallery setting, so its something a little more experimental a little more open.” Along with presenting, Long must also deal with the technical aspects of the unforgiving tunnel environment.

“Artists with video projections have a hard time

UTSA Underground Rae Lopez 7:00 Lil Spicy 7:30 Grown Folks Collective 8:10 AMEA: 9:00 Haunter 9:50 Junkie 10:30

MS Stage

Andy Ashley and Colt Cassidy 7:00 Mariachi los Paisanos 7:40 Sonora Correcaminos 8:30 Vanessa Lynn Bird 9:20 UC Cadillac Muzik 10:20

Lawn Stage

because of the lighting situation...One of the biggest deals is there are hardly an outlets as well. Last year, we had to use power strips and extension cables like crazy.”

Tasked with managing the chaos of the large festival is Leon Camacho, MOB president.

“Being in MOB gives you a chance to see what it takes to put on a festival of that magnitude. Because it’s not a small three act concert, its a four stage 20 plus artist event...This is a great place for students to get a first-hand hands-on experience.”

Nuevo Leon, MX native Camacho has seen the fest grow having worked it in previous years, and now oversees the blossoming staple in the UTSA cultural calendar.

“The festival showcases the culture found at UTSA. All the performers are UTSA students. Some are Music Dept. staff.

Some are alumni. All of the visual artists are art students. It showcases the talent the university has.

What other school has a

Photo courtesy of Rachel Long

homegrown festival with 23 artists and 19 visual artists for students by students. It’s a great asset to UTSA for recruiting and highlighting the people in our community with artistic talent.”

Camacho was also part of the team working with Music Marketing Director Dr. Stan Renard in creating an app used to capture, store, analyze, manage and present music-centric geographic for San Antonio.

The data captured using geographic information system (GIS) technology to map the scope and scale of San Antonio’s live music scene.

MOB has presented a beautiful communal event three years in a row and are showing signs of outdoing themselves on their fourth. UTSA Underground is free. Support DIY.

Art Stage Joey Botello 7:10 Beachside Manor 7:50 Don X 8:20 God Hates Figs 9:00 Andria Rose & the Youth 9:40 24th Street Music 10:20

Bio Stage Mirame 7:00 River Tones 7:30 Down for the Count 8:10 Postcards from the Moon 9:20 Roshii 10:00 Remnants 10:40

Ximenez Parking Garage Chase Otero/The Paisano

A pri l 3 - A pri l 10, 2018

6 | arts@paisano-online.com

Listen local

Staff picks of UTSA Underground acts.

Katrina Clements Arts & Life Asst. Editor

Andria Rose & The Youth

Chase Otero/ The Pasiano

I

n 2017 frontwoman Andria Rose played as a solo artist and since has “fallen in love with the environment and intimacy,” so this year she created an indie pop band.

Andria Rose & the Youth just came off tour with The Maria’s and celebrated being back in SA by performing at The Paisano Plus’ Empowerment issue launch party.

“UTSA Underground exposes students to new local artists and provides an opportunity for these artists to grow. The festival is becoming a looked forward to notion in the SA music scene, bringing more attention to the university as a whole” Andria Rose said.

Haunter

Photo courtesy of Haunter

Junkie

Pop Surf Rock trio, Junkie, from San Antonio had quite a busy year in 2017.

Playing Luminaria festival, hosting multiple shows in SA in collaboration with other bands, as well as playing at SXSW this past month. This year is no different. To celebrate coming back from their run to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, they will be playing in their home city at UTSA Underground.

“The importance of this fest is what we’ve always done from the beginning is bringing art and people together to smile and enjoy, and UTSA doing this Photo courtesy of Oscar Moreno amplifies that. UTSA Underground brings together all types of people with all types of talent for art, and that’s special because that is what helps grow love” Junkie said.

AMEA

R

eceiving her undergraduate and masters degree this past December, Amea is a proud UTSA alumna. The R&B singer songwriter recently performed at The Paisano Plus’ Empowerment issue release party, and has otherwise been recording videos for her upcoming album ‘The Learning Tree Part 1’.

She will be opening for Homeshake at Paper Tiger on April 23, and later travel to perform in Atlanta.

Her manager, also Photo courtesy of Oscar Moreno a UTSA alumni, Walter Montecinos said that UTSA Underground “highlights that there is creative talent at UTSA” and how the student population has become more involved in the arts community.

L

ocal to SA, Haunter, progressive black death metal band has had a busy past two years. In 2016, they released their first full length “Thrinodia.” 2017 brought forth 2 splits on vinyl LP. Having toured extensively throughout the United States, they recently wrapped up their first international 2-week long stint in Mexico alongside Colorado’s Wayfarer.

“I’ve always been a fan of the DIY nature of the fest. I hope all the bands stick around, watch each other play and network,” said frontman, Bradley Tiffin.

Haunter plans to release their next full length later this fall with another international tour overseas to support the release.

UTSA Underground may be the last show they play for months as they record and prepare to head north for 71Grind Fest in Colorado Springs, Colorado in June.

C

oming together in February, Mirame had their debut show at The McNay to showcase their funky latin R&B sounds. New music from them is in the works, but you can see them perform at Brick at Blue Star on April 4 and Imagine Books and Records on the 21. Angelo Salgado said “UTSA Underground just keeps getting better every year, and we wanted to be a part of that growth. Having a UTSA student organization support us really adds strength to our creative community.”

The Weekend APRIL First Friday Southside Edition/ Free 7 p.m. - 2 a.m.

Franky Diablos Celebrating first Friday with local business-

6

es from Southside SA. Bringing Latin flavors with food trucks, vendors and micheladas.

Mujeres de la Luna III / $5 7 p.m. - 12 a.m.

St Mary’s St Music Showcasing women/POC/queer artists,

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businesses and musicians. Vendors, vegan food, and free drinks for those 21 & up.

Thomas “Rufus” Paulson / Free 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Rubio Gallery-South Opening night of “My America”, Paulson

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creates paintings, photos, drawings and mixed media works with a minimalistic approach.

7

Lollapalooza ‘94 / $7 4 p.m.

Paper Tiger Local bands performing as iconic bands from the 90’s.

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P.W.A. Open Mic / Free 7 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Martini Ranch P.W.A.- Poetry without apology provides a place for spoken word artists, musicians, activists & comedians to perform.

To feature your event in “The Weekend” Photo courtesy of Austen Shankle

email the arts editor at arts@paisano-online.com

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A p r i l 3 - A p r il 10, 2018

sports@paisano-online.com | 7

Sports UTSA football hosts NFL pro day Handful of players take their first step towards pro career

QB Dalton Sturm throws to receiver Josh Stewart during his quarterback drill as friends and family look on.

By Frank Leal Sports Editor

S

couts and representatives from all 32 NFL teams made their way to the UTSA campus for UTSA’s pro day last Wednesday.

At the pro day, players from the Roadrunner football team performed various workouts and skill challenges for NFL scouts in the hopes that their talents might be noticed. In a sense, pro day is one of the biggest job interviews out there.

The possibility of a future professional football career depends largely upon how each player performs. With so much attention revolving around defensive end Marcus Davenport, other players on the team such as Dalton Sturm, Nate Gaines and Devron Davis were finally given the chance to prove themselves

and show the NFL scouts what they’re capable of.

The day began in the weight room, where scouts watched each individual perform the broad jump, vertical jump and bench press. As expected, some athletes shined while others struggled.

Quarterback Dalton Sturm’s athleticism was on full display.

Sturm impressed scouts with a 10’ 1” broad jump and a 34.5 inch vertical jump.

Sturm was not invited to the NFL scouting combine back in February like Davenport was, but both of those numbers would have placed first among all other quarterbacks at the combine.

His jump totals outshined the likes of projected first round picks such as Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield and UCLA’s Josh Rosen. Sturm didn’t hesitate to generate a buzz about him among the scouts.

“I feel like I had more in the tank,” Sturm said about his broad jump. “I’ve done a 10’ 3”

Nate Gaines takes part in the 3-cone drill.

before, and my best jump today got called back, but a 10’ 1” sits perfect with me.”

As the weight room workouts continued, wide receiver Brady Jones posted the best vertical jump of the day at 35.5 inches.

On the bench press, offensive lineman Austin Pratt carried out an astonishing 33 reps of 225 pounds as scouts looked on with approval at his arm strength.

After the weight room workouts, the pro day activities moved to the practice fields. The players would do the 40-yard dash, 20 and 60-yard shuttle runs, the 3-cone drill and the position workouts out on the practice fields.

Family and friends of the participating athletes lined the perimeter of the field in support.

There was quite a crowd, and the athletes were no doubt feeling the pressure.

“It means a lot that my family would come out here to support me for my next step in my career,” Sturm said.

Ricky Galindo/The Paisano

Ricky Galindo/The Paisano

Having already done most of the drills at the combine, Davenport did not participate in them with the exception of position drills. However, he still showed up hours before he had to go on the field to support his teammates.

“These guys are like my family and because of them I was able to grow into myself,” Davenport said about his teammates.

Nobody particularly shined in the 40-yard dash, but wide receiver Dannon Cavill posted the fastest time of the day with a 4.57 run. Cavill also posted team’s bests on both the 20 and 60-yard shuttle runs.

After a small hiccup in which he tripped twice on the 3-cone drill, it was time for Sturm to do some quarterback drills.

Scouts huddled around with their clipboards to watch the former walk-on throw some passes.

Sturm’s footwork was consistent, and despite missing a couple of throws, he showed the scouts he could do what UTSA

Marcus Davenport observes his teammates working out.

fans already know he does best — throw on the run.

“All I need is an opportunity,” Sturm said. “I think if I get my foot in the door I can open some eyes.”

Thanks to Davenport’s skill and popularity, UTSA football had their largest pro day in their short history. Players who have been overshadowed by Davenport’s dominance finally got their opportunity and it’s already paying off.

After the pro day, cornerback Devron Davis was invited to visit with the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks.

Overall, the UTSA pro day was a huge success. With all 32 team reps coming down to visit and scout players, chances are that at least a handful of them got noticed and will be given a chance. Perhaps Davenport won’t be the only draft pick from UTSA come later this month.

Ricky Galindo/The Paisano

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8 | sports@paisano-online.com

A look back at some UTSA basketball greats

By Zach Truesdale Staff Writer

The Roadrunners came off a successful season that involved a trip and second-round exit in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). UTSA, like many college basketball programs, has had some ups and downs over the course of their program history. Roadrunner basketball has added some notable players to their growing list of all-time greats, but some fans are unaware of the history of UTSA’s basketball program.

There are two Gervin’s who have left their mark in San Antonio. One is San Antonio Spurs legend George Gervin; the other is Derrick Gervin, George Gervin’s little brother.

Derrick Gervin attended UTSA for three years and held the all-time scoring title until 2002.

Before declaring himself eligible for the NBA draft in 1985, Gervin averaged 25.6 points per game, the highest in UTSA history.

Though he only played for three seasons at UTSA (198285), Gervin left campus with records in the books. He scored the most points in a half, season and all-time; highest scoring average in a season and career; most field goals made in a game, season and career; most field goals attempted in a game, season, and career; and highest rebound average in a season and career.

Gervin went on to play basketball on and off for the next sixteen years, but he predominantly played overseas.

You can find his jersey hanging in the rafters of the Convocation Center.

Chase Otero/The Paisano

Young stars Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace catch a breather.

Another UTSA basketball great, and probably the most notable, is Devin Brown.

Brown was a shooting guard who attended South San Antonio West Campus. When he graduated in 1998, he went on to stay in his hometown and attended UTSA from 1998-2002.

In 2002, he did not get drafted to an NBA team, but he continued playing basketball for the Kansas Cagerz, a team in the United States Basketball League (USBL) as well as the Fayetteville Patriots of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL). His rookie year, Brown won both the USBL and NBDL Rookie of the Year awards.

His talents were quickly

noticed and he was invited to the San Antonio Spurs’ training camp later on that year. He was cut, but wound up coming back and getting signed at the end of 2003 after his time with the Patriots. Brown went on to help play a role on the Spurs’ championship team for the 20042005 season, the same season he posted career highs in all categories. Brown was able to play on the big stage for all three levels of sports.

Devin Brown and Derrick Gervin are the only UTSA basketball players to have their jerseys retired. Brown broke Gervin’s all-time Roadrunner scoring record in 2002. The San Antonio native is the all-time

leading scorer in UTSA history with 1,922 career points.

LeRoy Hurd was a small forward/shooting guard who had attended the University of Miami for his first two years before transferring to play for the Roadrunners from 2002-2004.

In his first year at UTSA, Hurd was named the Southland Conference (our conference at the time) Newcomer of the Year.

For the 2003-2004 season, Hurd averaged 19.4 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game, giving him the Southland Conference Most Valuable Player Award.

That same year, UTSA became the Southland regular season and tournament champi-

ons along with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Years after they left UTSA, Hurd, along with Devin Brown were named Southland Conference 2000’s Co-Player of the Decade. Hurd went undrafted but played some time with the Columbus Riverdragons (later relocated and changed their name to the Austin Spurs) and played basketball overseas.

These three players have left their legacies for UTSA, as well as the city of San Antonio. As current and future Roadrunners come through the university and attempt to add to the history of UTSA, fans from all over are excited to see what the program has in store for the future.