Let’s get wild: Page 5
London troupe takes on Shakespeare: Page 6
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio
September 18, 2012
Volume 47
Issue 18
David Smith Intern
news@paisano-online.com When the plus/minus grading system was implemented last year it was a hotly debated issue, but over the last year, the debate has cooled. As the new system has become an accepted part of academic life, it has brought with it unique changes and challenges. The shift to plus/minus went into effect at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, and before then a task force was appointed to make a recommendation to the Provost, who oversees UTSA’s academic community. “There were outstandingly strong opinions when we first started,” said Dr. Bennie Wilson, a professor in the college of business and chairman of the
task force. However, when asked how the faculty has dealt with the change, he responded, “I think it’s been very civil.” The Provost decided to allow the faculty to implement the new grading system at their own discretion. Some departments voted on whether to adopt the new system; others did not. Wilson admitted that he was unsure if his department took a vote but decided to use the new system regardless. “All I know is everyone knows I do it, and nobody cares,” he said. The faculty of the English department did vote, however, and decided to adopt the plus/ minus system. Dr. Bridget Drinka, chair of the Department of English, claims she “hasn’t heard too many complaints” from her colleagues, even though not all favored the decision. Wilson explained that ultimately the professor is in charge of giving grades:
“You cannot force them to use or not use the system.” When the registrar records the grades, the numerical scores are not recorded, and the computer does not discriminate by department. Professors simply input the letter grades and pluses/minuses. Technically, professors can give a student a plus or minus grade if they so choose; however, professors are required to include how grades will be distributed on the course syllabus. The new system has academic implications, most notably that a plus or minus grade affects a student’s grade point average (GPA). According to Wilson, “the biggest advantage is that it provides the opportunity to distinguish between different levels of accomplishment,” a sentiment shared by other faculty. See Plus Minus, Page 2
UTSA partnering with University of New Orleans to provide relief to businesses affected by oil spill Bridget Gaskill Staff Writer
news@paisano-online.com The University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of New Orleans (UNO) have teamed up to assist institutions affected by the Gulf oil spill. The Gulf Oil Spill Disaster Adjustment Assistance Center (GOSDAA) is a program established by UTSA in March 2011 to administer support to businesses within 60 geographical miles from the Louisiana and Texas coast and marches impacted by the British Petroleum oil spill in 2010. GOSDAA is a federally funded assistance program with a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration. With this funding, the program will directly provide specific consultations focused on expanding each business’s capital. “I’ve seen everything from cash
grants to adjusted loans, to tax credits for labor, and training programs for the workforce,” Robert Velasquez, director of GOSDAA said. “There is no other program like ours, offering this level of direct assistance, not just a loan or a grant.” UTSA’s Institute for Economic Development maintains twelve centers that are committed to growing businesses, alleviating unemployment and expanding the economic market for coastal industries such as service companies and seafood distributers. The institute raises community awareness in order to develop greater economic involvement, as well as engage multiple levels of federal, state and local participation. To achieve eligibility for assistance, clients must have experienced a five percent loss in profits or employment since the oil spill. Analysts determine this percentage by examining a business’s sales for the 2010 year and com-
paring the numbers to a six month period of 2009. If eligible, the business is funded and periodically reviewed to monitor progress. GOSDAA clients can access a number of resources within a network of consultants to address topics such as specialized training, developing profit margins, improving market positions and reducing daily costs in order to improve their businesses. “The majority of small businesses have limited funds or capacity to accomplish these strategies, and the GOSDAA program can give them access to these services,” said Velasquez. John Williams, Dean of the college of business, believes it is a “wonderful opportunity for our institutions to work together.” He continued, “The University of New Orleans has been at the forefront of the recovery outreach in our regional business community, and we recognize and appreciate the vitally important work of GOSDAA.”
Photo courtesy of Becky Schmader
Stephen Whitaker/The Paisano
Professors, students still split over plus/minus grading
University of Texas defends bomb threat response Associated Press
news@paisano-online.com University of Texas officials were defending their decision to wait more than an hour before evacuating due to a bomb threat, one of three such incidents reported at U.S. college campuses in a span of just a few hours. Tens of thousands urgently heeded evacuation warnings Friday amid the threats at the University of Texas at Austin, University of North Dakota in Fargo and much-smaller Hiram College in northeast Ohio. The Texas school received the first threat around 8:35 a.m. from a man claiming to belong to al-Qaida, officials said. The caller claimed bombs placed throughout campus would go off in 90 minutes, but administrators waited more than an hour before blaring sirens on the campus of 50,000 students and telling them to immediately ``get as far away as possible’’ in emergency text messages. Authorities said they started searching buildings for explosives before the alert was issued. ``It’s easy to make a phone call ... the first thing we needed to do was evaluate,’’ UT President Bill Powers said. ``If the threat had been for something to go off in five minutes, then you don’t have the time to evaluate, you just have to pull the switch.’’ Not everyone agreed. ``What took so long?’’ student Ricardo Nunez said. ``It should have been more immediate.’’ Recent violent protests outside U.S. embassies in the Middle East also stirred nervous tension among some students, and Texas officials acknowledged global events were taken into account. Sirens wailed on the Austin campus and cellphones pinged with text messages when the initial alert when out. Students described more confusion than panic as they exited the sprawling campus, where police blocked off all roads heading in as lines of cars sat in gridlock trying to get out. Tania Lara, a graduate student at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, said she was at work inside a central campus academic building
when she got a text message to get as far away was possible. ``It was calm but nobody knew what was going on,’’ she said, describing a crush of students heading for the exits. ``No one was yelling `get out of here’ or anything like that.’’ North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani said about 20,000 people left the Fargo school’s campuses as part of an evacuation ``that largely took place in a matter of minutes.’’ FBI spokesman Kyle Loven said NDSU received a call about 9:45 a.m. that included a ``threat of an explosive device.’’ Police and school officials said the evacuation was as organized as could be expected, with one campus employee describing people as ``being North Dakota nice’’ while driving away. ``Nobody was panicked and nobody was trying to speed or run over anybody,’’ said Juleen Berg, who works at the NDSU heating plant. ``Everybody was waiting their turn.’’ Graduate student Lee Kiedrowski of Dickinson, N.D., said he was walking on the NDSU campus when he got a text message telling him to evacuate within 15 minutes. ``The panic button wasn’t triggered quite immediately,’’ Kiedrowski said. ``But there was definitely the thought that we live in a different world now, and with everything that’s going on with the riots at the U.S. embassies in the Middle East, your brain just starts moving. You never really know what’s going on.’’ Hiram College received an emailed bomb threat about 4 p.m. and ordered everyone on campus to evacuate. Hiram spokesman Tom Ford said safety teams with bomb-sniffing dogs checked ``room by room, building by building’’ on campus, which is about 35 miles southeast of Cleveland where about 1,300 students are enrolled. The campus was deemed safe and reopened about six hours later. Ford said the college was fortunate the threat came in late evening, when many students were getting ready for the weekend. ``A lot of kids just piled into their friends’ cars and were out of here,’’ he said.