CHUCK’S CHAMPS
GRAMMYS GALORE
Houston caps Norris’ World Combat League season with inaugural title
Professor Cynthia Gonzales is nominated not once, but twice
SEE SPORTS PAGE 8
SEE TRENDS PAGE 4
DEFENDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT SINCE 1911
WWW.UNIVERSITYSTAR.COM
JANUARY 24, 2007
WEDNESDAY
VOLUME 96, ISSUE 44
Minimum Wage Act awaits Senate approval By Bill Lancaster The University Star When Texas State student Jayme Starrak picks up her paycheck, it pays her rent and nothing else. As a Coffee Pot barista, she uses her tips to buy food and other expenses. But relief may be in sight for workers like Starrak in the form of a minimum wage hike. “My base pay is going to be much more,” said Starrak, prehealthcare administration junior. “I will be able to take more classes (and) I will only have to work five days a week instead of six.” The U.S. House of Representa-
tives passed the Minimum Wage Act Jan. 10, which will, if enacted, raise the minimum hourly pay rate from $5.15 to $7.25. The minimum wage has not increased since 1997. U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, DTX, said in an e-mail that approval of the Minimum Wage Act is a positive development for America and gives pay raises to 1.7 million Texans. “It makes up for a loss in purchasing power that has depressed the minimum wage to its lowest level in 51 years,” Doggett said. Now the bill awaits approval in the Senate. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, said in an e-mail that it is im-
Former professor court case nearly settled
portant to package the increase with tax cuts and regulatory relief for small businesses that are most likely to be impacted by increased costs. Likewise, Janie Loftus, spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, RTX, said the senator supports the increase in minimum wage as long as it is coupled with tax relief. “So, the good news is that here in the early parts of Congress that Republicans and Democrats seem to be working together to try to solve the nation’s problems,” Cornyn said. The bill that passed in the House and is being debated in the Senate raises minimum wage
to $5.85 60 days after it is enacted, $6.55 one year after that and $7.25 one year later. Starrak said $7.25 is the perfect minimum wage even though it will take two years to get the full increase. “I think it needs to continue to rise with the economy,” Starrak said. “Raise it, see what the economy does, and if the corporations still have all the money, raise it again.” Will Edgar, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, said the vote in the Jennifer Williams/Star photo Senate could come as early as this week or as late as next week. WORKING HARD: Jayme Starrak, international studies junior, works at The Coffee Pot making cappuccinos for minimum wage until almost midnight six times a week. See SENATE, page 3
University receives HSI grant
BLOWN OFF COURSE
Chilly blast puts some faculty behind schedule
By Chelsea Juarez The University Star
By Nick Georgiou The University Star It appears the case of Rudnicki v. Texas State University System is in the midst of reaching a settlement deal after the third rescheduled trial was passed on by attorneys Jan. 16. Both sides had said previously that they were confident they could win the trial. “I thought they should have taken it to court,” said University Attorney Bill Fly. Rudnicki said in an e-mail that a settlement offer was made to his attorney Jan. 12, four days before the third rescheduled trial was set to begin. He said Terry Thomspon from the attorney general’s office, who is representing the university, made the offer. “Since it arrived so late, my attorney is opting to postpone the trial while we study the offer,” Rudnicki said. “We have two weeks. If the details can be worked out, we will have a settlement. If not, the trial will be rescheduled.” Fernando Gomez, vice chancellor and general counsel for the Texas State University System, confirmed a settlement offer had been made but could not provide any more information. “There has been some settlement discussions and I’m not at liberty to say where those are,” Gomez said. Ryan Rudnicki, a former tenured geography professor was fired in 2001 after receiving three negative annual evaluations. Rudnicki and his attorney, Doug Becker, sued the university claiming Rudnicki did not receive full due process of law — meaning rules and regulations that set forth the proper procedures for dismissing a faculty member were not followed. At the center of the debate was the controversial post-tenure review process, which was mandated by the state legislature in 1997. Post-tenure review calls for another layer of tenured professor evaluations, even though university rules and regulations already stated conditions under which a tenured professor could be fired. Legislators, however, wanted to increase accountability and eliminate the public perception that tenured professors could not be fired. Fly, who is assisting the attorney generals office, could not shed further light on the status of the case, saying he had been kept out of the loop. “I know the insurance company was going to pay some money and the university was going to pay some money,” he said. With four parties involved including the university, the attorney general’s office, the insurance company and the plaintiff and his attorney, these issues can get complex, Gomez said. He said the insurance company may not want to risk its money, and may prefer to settle the case outside of court. “There’s an insurance company involved on the university’s part so they’re going to want their say,” Gomez said.
Today’s Weather
Partly Cloudy 94˚/70˚
Precipitation: 0% Humidity: 57% UV: 9 Very High Wind: S 15 mph
Monty Marion/Star photo
PLAYING CATCH UP: Professor Richard Warms talks to his Economic Anthropology class Tuesday in the Evans Liberal Arts building. Texas State professors will have to crunch this semester to make up for lost time caused by the two missed days of class. By Christina Kahlig The University Star
S
now days are not a normality in Texas, so when the ice comes, everyone seems to slip up a little. Luckily the two days off last week were a mere schedule delay for professors and students. “My classes are designed so I can adjust my material and concentrate on making sure I’m efficient with my time until I am caught up,” said geography professor Byron “Doc” On the other hand, anthropology professor Richard Warms said he has more information than he can cover in one semester so these class days were a significant loss. “The class follows a regular schedule and if we lose an hour, there’s no way to make it up,” Warms said. “Something else has to squeeze.” He said the university did the right thing by closing, however, because on Thursday morning roads were still icy. “I didn’t work particularly hard those days,” Augustin said. “I got up, drank coffee and read the newspaper. I used the extra time to read data I brought home about the book
I plan to write. It was nice because I wasn’t forced to finish anything.” Warms spent the icy days indoors with his family. “My family was in town so we hung out and rented some movies,” Warms said. “It was nothing special, but probably the same thing a lot of people in San Marcos were doing.” Around campus, students slid around on the ice, throwing snowballs at one another. “I went up to the Woods Street Parking Garage with a blow-up raft and attempted to slide down, but when that didn’t work we ended up throwing snowballs and making different things with the snow,” said Sarah Porter, pre-radiation therapy freshman. She said it has only been about a year since she was out of school for her last bad weather day. “We don’t seem to be behind in my classes,” Porter said, “so I’m not worried about it.” Although Texas temperatures continue to rise and fall, no more extremely cold weather is expected soon. “It was nice to have the extra days,” Augustin said, “but I am glad to be back at work.”
The Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation awarded Texas State a $224,379 grant last semester in an effort to help the university’s goal of becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The donation will be used toward the Making Access and Participation Successful project, which helps Hispanic students bridge the gap from high school to college. The MAPS project is derived from the organization Engaging Latino Communities for Education, or ENLACE. The Texas ENLACE office operates out of the college of heath professions, under Dean Ruth Welborn. In Spanish, “enlace” (which is pronounced en-LAH-seh) translates to “link” or “weave together.” This is the primary initiative driving ENLACE and its MAPS project, which is designed with four unique segments that together act as stepping stools. The segments, called the ENLACE Pathway, connect the different parts of attaining an education so students may continue from one step to the next. The project highlights the support of Hispanic students in their pursuit of an education and development of a path toward graduate school. Philip Ramirez, health and administration graduate student and research assistant, has kept busy designing segment four. In this last segment, Ramirez will facilitate groups of 26 seniors who intend to pursue graduate school at Texas State. Ramirez said he would ensure the students graduate with a bachelor’s degree and See GRANT, page 3
President Bush addresses hostile Congress By Ron Hutcheson McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Facing a Democraticcontrolled — and hostile — Congress for the first time, a politically weak President Bush bowed to political reality in his State of the Union address Tuesday night by focusing on domestic policies that he hoped might win bipartisan support. Little was apparent, however. The president proposed to boost alternative fuels, reduce auto emissions and offer
a tax break for buying health insurance — unless your employer buys an expensive plan for you, and then Bush would make you pay tax on it. On the dominant issue of the day, the president was unyielding on Iraq and his plan to send 21,500 more U.S. troops there, despite bipartisan congressional opposition and polls showing that a large majority of Americans are against it. The war is so divisive it may overwhelm chances for compromise on anything, despite Bush’s invitation to try. “We are not the first to come
Two-day Forecast Friday Mostly Sunny Temp: 98°/ 77° Precip: 10%
Saturday Isolated T-Storms Temp: 96°/ 72° Precip: 30%
here with government divided and uncertainty in the air. Like many before us, we can work through our differences, and achieve big things for the American people,” Bush told a joint session of Congress in the packed chamber of the House of Representatives. The president said he’d considered “every possible approach” in Iraq before deciding to deploy 21,500 more troops. “In the end, I chose this course of action because it provides the best chance of success.” Democrats reacted with skepticism and, on some is-
sues, outright hostility. On Iraq, “the majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military. We need a new direction,” said Sen. James Webb, D-Va., delivering his party’s official reaction to Bush’s speech. On health insurance, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said: “Punish people because they have good insurance? I don’t think they would agree with that. Taxing people who have health insurance doesn’t make sense to me.”
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Texas State University-San Marcos is a member of the Texas State University System
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Environmental groups called Bush’s ideas on energy independence and global warming insufficient. “In fact, the president’s proposals are more likely to make the problems worse,” said Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club. Even some Republican lawmakers seemed hard-pressed to cheer. “He’s facing a legislative body that’s changed as a result of his policies, in large part because of his way of running the worldwide war on terror, especially in Iraq,” said Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif.
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