Tuesday, October 16, 2012 // Issue 29, Volume 78 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
N E W S P A P E R
O F T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
H O U S T O N
Health director to be selected Laura Gillespie Staff writer
Eileen Dondero is a candidate for UH Health Center director along with Terry Fisher. The former is from Florida Coast University while the latter is from the University of Texas. | Hendrick Rosemond/The DailyCougar
Within two weeks, the UH Health Center will chose a new director. Director Floyd Robinson, after holding the position since 1994, was promoted in January to assistant vice president of Student Affairs. The two candidates visited campus last week and held forum open to students and faculty in the University Center. Associate vice president for Student Affairs Daniel Maxwell coordinated with Student Government Association President Cedric Bandoh to bring the process to students. “Any time there is a vacancy of a leadership post that has direct impact on students, like the director of the Health Center,” Bandoh said, “Students are always asked to come in to provide feedback on the different candidates, to make sure that students have a say in the different people that we hire.”
Robinson’s replacement were narrowed down to Terry Fisher — program manager for the Center for Emergency Preparedness at the University of Texas — and Eileen Dondero, nurse practitioner in Student Health Services at Florida Gulf Coast University. The candidates visited UH for two days: Fisher on Oct. 8 and 9, and Dondero on Wednesday and Thursday. The meetings for students were complimented with the posting of the candidates’ resumes and itineraries on the UH website. “The Health Center is a pretty complex portfolio, working with mostly students with all kinds of potential medical issues,” Maxwell said. “We were looking for somebody who understood what it would take to offer health services on a college campus … and to continue the good work that has already been happening in our Health Center.”
Contributing writer
After the major power shift in the 2010 midterm elections, redistricting became a priority when 2010 Census granted Texas four new seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The point of contention for these district lines, laid out by Democratic congressman Gene Green representing the 29th U.S. Congressional District of Texas, will now affect the November congressional elections. “Early on after the 2010 census,
we did have some of us who sat down with our Republican members, and generally we agreed — now of course, (congressmen) don’t have a vote; the legislature is the one who actually does it — to split the four seats two and two,” Green said. “As Democrats we would still be competitive in the two we lost in East Texas and West Texas and so we had a chance to pick up four seats.” For Democrats like Green, a topic of concern during redistricting was the common practice of
gerrymandering, a process where districts are drawn to favor one political party or another. Political science professor Jennifer Clark says that gerrymandering is an active issue in most states, including Texas. “The redistricting process has important consequences for voters. In some states, incumbent legislators work together to protect their own seats, which produces less competition in the political system,” Clark said. “Voters may feel as though they do not have
a meaningful alternative to the incumbent legislator. Legislators who lack competition in their districts have less incentive to adhere to their constituents’ opinions.” A poll conducted by the Support for Independent Redistricting Commission in July 2008 found that 45.5 percent of respondents favored the creation of an independent redistricting commission — compared to 19.5 percent who opposed and 35 percent who were unsure — with broad support across party lines. CONGRESS continues on page 3
UH is a home for students of all backgrounds Jessica Portillo Contributing writerr
An increasing number of students — up to 40 percent, according to The Washington Post — are nontraditional. According to the National Center
for Education Statistics, nontraditional students are classified by the following traits: a student who doesn’t attend college immediately after high school, attends college part time, works full time, is considered financially independent for the purposes of financial aid, has dependents other
than a partner, is a single parent or doesn’t have a high school diploma but has an alternative certificate of high school completion. Chemistry junior Amelia Guzman is one of these students. After being out of school for 11 years, she decided to go back and get
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OPINION
Hang up on hook-up culture LIFE+ARTS
ACL hits TX capital SPORTS
news@thedailycougar.com
Redistricting to affect November election Aaron Manual
S I N C E
her degree. Despite having two children to take care of, she is determined to graduate, even if it takes longer than expected. “I don’t regret having my family,” Guzman said. “But I always wanted to STUDENTS continues on page 3
UH walk on contributes GET SOME DAILY
thedailycougar.com
CORRECTION The Daily Cougar reported that burglaries at UH rose by 500 from 2010 to 2011. They actually rose by 500 percent.
COUNTDOWN
15
Days until Halloween.
Better pick out your costume soon.