Joyous excess of music and fun at FFF Fest: Online Record-tying performance in exhibition win: Page 7 Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio
November 6, 2012
Volume 47
Issue 24
School districts suing state over funding, standards Lorilee Merchant Intern
Burk Frey / The Paisano
news@paisano-online.com
UTSA PD has coordinated with the Office of Business Community and Emergency Management to stay ready for a possible bomb threat.
UTSA staying prepared for UT Austin-style bomb threat Bridget Gaskill Staff Writer
news@paisano-online.com Due to recent bomb threats made to several universities within the state of Texas including the University of Texas at Austin, Texas State and Texas A&M, there has been a refocus on collegiate emergency response procedures. UT Austin received a phone call early on Sep. 14 that suggested there was a bomb on campus, triggering a massive evacuation. The campus reopened later that day and student activities for the evening were uninterrupted. Shortly after, on Thursday Oct. 18, Texas State received an email from Brittany Henderson, a former student, threatening to “blow Texas State up to small little pieces.” Henderson was also connected to a bomb threat the next day at Texas A&M, where students were evacuated but no threat was found on the College Station campus. Henderson was arrested the following Tuesday. The UTSA Office of Business Continuity & Emergency Management (BCEM), in cooperation with the UTSA Campus Police Department, is
“committed to openly engaging the university community to prepare, respond, and recover from local emergencies through an all-hazards approach,” and maintains emergency evacuation procedures for situations ranging from natural disasters to security threats, according to the BCEM website. There are multiple systems that “the university utilizes to be able to keep people updated on emergencies,” said Director of BCEM Lorenzo Sanchez. UTSA operates two systems to keep the campus informed. The first is an emergency notification system that students, faculty and staff can register with to receive a voicemail, email, text message or a combination of these to stay informed during emergency situations. The second, the “Giant Voice Mass Notification System,” is a network of indoor and outdoor fire alarm panels as well as five outdoor siren towers that will sound during an emergency. Although several buildings on campus are considerably older than others, Director Sanchez reassures that “all evacuation routes fall under National Fire Protection Association codes, federally regulated mandates that state there has to be so much space to evacu-
ate from a building.” Thus, some of the older buildings have been renovated to accommodate a growing university population. “We do the best that we can with the available resources to make sure that we have a secure and safe environment for people to go to school, to work, and to come visit and take preparedness very seriously on multiple levels,” said Sanchez. UTSA has been fortunate in the sense that there have not been any major incidents. Captain Sonego mentioned that there have been a couple of fires and instances of hazardous material, but mostly false alarms and that “a lot of students, faculty and staff have prepared just from practicing” the evacuations. Should there ever be an emergency situation, however, Captain Sonego said that contacting the police is always the safest option. To become better informed, there are flip guides that can be found in every classroom, meeting space and hallway that display different procedures for different types of emergencies. For more information about these procedures, visit: www.alerts.utsa.edu.
New curriculum on the horizon Jonathan Pillow Intern
news@paisano-online.com As UTSA pushes toward Tier One status, the university has been re-evaluating and reshaping its core curriculum in an effort to make courses more efficient and more relevant to all new students. The Freshman Experience Task Force, which consists of professors and administrators from around the campus, has reviewed the core curriculum and recommendations for new core courses have been considered. Pending the approval of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, UTSA has determined which changes it will make to its core curriculum in fall of 2014. “All public institutions are in the process of revising their core curriculum. It
will be implemented statewide in 2014,” said UTSA Assistant Vice Provost Nancy Martin. The Freshman Experience Task Force was charged with the task of determining which classes are absolutely fundamental to student success in college, regardless of their major. The main courses the task force identified included Freshman Composition classes, Math, Academic Inquiry and courses from the new Quantitative Literacy Program (QLP). The number of required hours in the core curriculum will remain at 42, but the core requirements will get a makeover. “One difference is that, in the current catalogue, we have the World Society and Issues component, and that’s gone away,” said Martin. “Right now, everyone is required to take an economics course. Economics would be an option in the core. We will also have a
new component called Language, Philosophy and Culture. We will have, the plan is, a new course called Academic Inquiry and Scholarship.” According to Martin, the new Academic Inquiry and Scholarship course is designed to introduce students to college and show them how a university is different from high school. Academic Inquiry and Scholarship will go far beyond a simple study-skills course, giving students an understanding of how knowledge is dispersed and created at UTSA and how different disciplines conduct research. “The Academic Inquiry and Scholarship course is intended to introduce students to how it is that various disciplines conduct research: how do they approach it, how do they think about it?” said Martin. In order to ease a student’s transiSee CURRICULUM, Page 2
In many parts of Texas, school districts are in the throes of a heated debate concerning the state’s “constitutional obligation to provide an adequate and efficient public education,” according to the Texas Tribune. Six lawsuits were filed on behalf of about two-thirds of the state’s school districts that educate about 75 percent of the state’s roughly three and a half million students. They have been rolled into a single case, which opened on Oct. 22 before State District Judge John Dietz in Austin. The lawsuit was filed after the state Legislature cut $4 billion dollars in state funding to schools, along with a 1.4 billion dollar cut to grant programs in 2011. This case has been reopened after the 2005 ruling that mandated, “the existing system was an impending crisis, but not a present crisis.” Attorneys representing children across Texas claimed, “Texas’s school financing system is so hopelessly broken that it violates the Constitution while keeping students from being prepared for the well-paying jobs of tomorrow.” David Thompson, a partner at the Thompson & Horton law firm out of Houston, referred to Article VII, Section 1 of the Texas Constitution which states, “Support and maintenance of system of public free schools: A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient
system of public free schools.” Section 2 of Article VII calls for a permanent school fund from the state. Thompson said, “Our group of plaintiffs represent all parts of the state. The system wants the state to support high standards, if you are to meet those standards, you need equitable and adequate systems for schools and students to meet those standards.” Funding for these demands is an ongoing problem. “Our districts [in San Antonio] have to use their available taxing capacity just to try to meet state requirements, and therefore, lack any real control over setting their local tax rates. The result is a de facto property tax,” said Mark Trachtenberg, attorney with Hayes & Boone LLP. Texas school districts argue that students are at a disadvantage when it comes to their education. Allegedly, there is not enough funding for wellqualified teachers, needed programs or small class sizes where students could benefit from one-on-one attention from their teachers. According to the plaintiffs, these deficiencies are making it harder for students to do well on more difficult testing standards imposed on them by the state. Recently, the Legislature implemented the Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STARR) to replace the former standardized test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). Weissert stated, “Texas has imposed increasingly more difficult standardized tests that high school students must pass to graduate. The districts claim that funding cuts have forced them to lay off teachers, increase class See TRIAL, Page 2
Violence at the Outpost continues Natalie Frels News Assistant
news@paisano-online.com Last week, San Antonio Police responded to two armed robberies in three days at the Outpost Apartments on UTSA Blvd. Police reported that at 1:15 a.m. on Wednesday, three men broke into a unit where a party was taking place at the Outpost apartments. Investigators said three men were pistol-whipped before the robbers collected wallets and cell phones. The suspects were seen in a gold Ford Taurus. This incident Daniel Switter followed another Outpost General report of armed robbery a few days earlier. On the morning of Oct. 30, the San Antonio Police Department searched the Outpost apartments property for both of the armed robbers. Investigators reported that around 11 p.m. Oct. 29, two suspects broke into an apartment and held two UTSA students at gunpoint while the robbers ransacked the apartment. One suspect, armed with a shotgun, forced the young couple into another room while the suspects stole a number of items. A concerned neighbor told investigators that he responded to the noise and
encountered the two robbers as they exited the apartment. One robber attempted to hit him over the head with the shotgun, but the neighbor was able to escape the blow, according to KENS5 News. SAPD stated that two of the three suspects involved in the incident on Wednesday match the description of the suspects in the robbery on Monday. However, investigators said that it is too early to determine if they are the same men. On Thursday, following the two incidents, Outpost residents received an email from General Manager Daniel Switter addressing the additional secuManager rity measures that will be implemented, including the installation of a fence and a gate, an increase in the number of security guards and the extension of patrolled hours. These armed robberies follow the Oct. 17 shooting at the Outpost apartment complex. Charles Duoto was rushed to University Hospital in critical condition after he was robbed and shot in the chest while walking to his apartment. “We will not tolerate the increased crime in the area,” stated Switter. No arrests have been made in the case.
“We will not tolerate the increased crime in the area.”