02 20 2013 Section A

VOLUME 102, ISSUE 57

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Painting Hispanic Pride Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos presents Mixtos, a collection of artwork by Sam Coronado that celebrates hispanic culture. To learn more, go to UniversityStar.com.

Committee takes steps toward research funding City Council votes to prohibit Zelicks’ live music

By Nicole Barrios News Reporter

Texas State officials have set their sights on meeting monetary and research criteria required to become a major research university.

The university is now striving to become eligible for money from the National Research University Fund, which is achieved by meeting four of six criteria set by the Texas

Higher Education Coordinating Board. A strategic research plan has been put together to determine how the university will meet the standards of the criteria. Provost Eugene Bourgeois said the Executive Research Plan Committee will complete a final draft and then do a campus wide review of the plan.

Michael Blanda, associate vice president for Research and Federal Relations, said the committee

will complete the plan by April 15.

Blanda, the committee chair, said the plan will be presented to the coordinating board for approval in May. Blanda said the committee had to assess which of the six criteria Texas State was likely to meet in the next eight to 10 years before the plan was developed. The com-

READ FUNDING, PAGE 3

SPIRIT SALES

John Casares, Staff Photographer

Two new bills, Senate Bill 236 and House Bill 421, would allow liquor stores to stay open on Sundays if passed.

Bills propose extension to liquor store hours

By Nancy Young News Reporter Two bills recently introduced to the Texas Legislature could expand the hours of liquor sales and potentially pour more revenue into the local economy.

State Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, have filed companion bills that would abolish the state’s “blue” laws limiting alcohol sales on Sundays. The bills, Senate Bill 236 and House Bill 421, would stretch the hours of liquor store operation during the week.

Texans currently have 66 hours per week to legally buy alcohol. Package and liquor stores are allowed to operate Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The bills would extend store hours Monday through Saturday, allowing them to stay open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. The stores would be allowed to operate on Sundays from noon to 10 p.m. Stores would still remain closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Thompson stated in a press release Texas’ “blue laws” are antiquated rules that prohibit the sale of

Widely-used software costs lead officials to search for alternatives

By James Carneiro News Reporter A popular statistical analysis program may be phased from campus computers this fall, raising concerns from faculty members who depend on the software.

Licenses for SPSS Statistics, a software program used for analysis by many professors, have become more expensive since IBM bought the program in 2010. The least expensive version of the SPSS Statistics Standard bundle costs $2,320 per license, according to the IBM website. As a result, Instructional Technologies Support may drop SPSS by next fall and begin searching for an alternative program for faculty members and students to use.

Milt Nielsen, associate vice president of Instructional Technologies Support, said SPSS was once offered at “beneficial” prices to all Texas colleges. He said the cost shot up to “outrageous” levels after the software was bought by IBM. Texas State is now required by IBM to purchase a separate copy of SPSS for every computer on campus that uses the software.

Nielsen said sticking with the program would be too expensive for the school.

Nielsen said he and members of the ITS Department are looking for alternatives to replace the statistics program. Faculty

members will be given time to “reassess and modify” curriculum and update their labs once a replacement software is selected. Nielsen will be making these changes in close consultation with statistics professors.

There is a chance IBM might back down from its high prices or shortfalls may be found with alternative statistics programs, Nielsen said. These possibilities will be evaluated and examined by ITS. He said the main goal is to “not do anything rash” and make sure the replacement program is well implemented.

SPSS has become the dominant statistics program at universities and businesses in the United States, according to the IBM website. It is seen as an industry standard and is used in research fields like marketing and education. Users generally regard SPSS as user-friendly with a layout similar to Microsoft Excel, making it accessible to people with a basic knowledge of computers.

William Kelemen, director and chair of the Psychology Department, is one faculty member concerned about the possibility of SPSS being dropped.

“If it turns out the university is not going to support SPSS, I’m very anxious to know what alternatives they’re going to have,”

READ STATISTIC, PAGE 3

READ LIQUOR, PAGE 3

By Karen Zamora News Reporter Members of the San Marcos City Council affirmed prohibiting Zelicks Icehouse from having live, outdoor, amplified music during their Feb. 19 meeting.

The councilmembers voted 5-2 in favor of an appeal to Zelicks’ conditional use permit from Barry James and his wife Brenda Smith. Live outdoor music will no longer be allowed at the bar. Councilmembers Jude Prather, Place 2, and Ryan Thomason, Place 5, were the dissenting votes.

James and Smith own the Young Building across the street from the bar and appealed Zelicks’ conditional use permit because of concern about the high volume of noise during evenings. Councilmembers first approved James’ appeal during the Jan. 15 meeting, sending the conditional use permit back to the Planning and Zoning Commission upon the request of Chairman Bill Taylor. The commission reapproved Zelicks’ permit with a 5-2 vote on Feb. 12. The city council still had the final vote, despite the bar receiving the commission’s approval.

Discussion lasted late into the night. Councilmembers initially debated whether Zelicks and neighboring business should agree upon allowing the bar to have live music on certain days of the week or a set number of times per year. The councilmembers ultimately decided to do away with live music altogether after 30 minutes of discussion.

Prather said it does not matter how many days Zelicks would be allowed to have amplified music because the city should not tell small businesses how to run their companies. He argued the compromise should be between the neighbors.

Councilman Wayne Becak, Place 4, made a motion to allow Zelicks to have outdoor amplified music under the condition the inn and bar mutually agree upon it. The city council denied Becak’s motion.

Councilwoman Kim Porterfield, Place 1, said she was not convinced Planning and Zoning commissioners understood allowing live music was part of the conditional use permit they approved during their Feb. 12 vote.

Zelicks owners Chase and Seth Katz received noise complaints in the past from the owners of neighboring Crystal River Inn, according to a Feb. 8, 2012 University Star article. The complaints led to a short-term renewal of their permit in December 2011. The Katz brothers came to a settlement in December with the bed and breakfast’s owners, Cathy and Mike Dillon. However, keeping the noise level down for Crystal River Inn was a concern for several residents during Tuesday’s citizen comment period.

Councilman John Thomaides, Place 3, considered Crystal River Inn during his vote. Thomaides said he does not want to do anything that would not allow the bed-andbreakfast to thrive.

Resident Nicci Harrison said during the citizen comment period she has enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at Crystal River Inn, her husband’s aunt’s home, since she moved to San Marcos in 1946. “(The Crystal River Inn) is one of the only classy places left (in San Marcos),” Harrison said.

Harrison said she wishes Zelicks could become a place for “mature adults” in San Marcos to talk and interact, like Palmer’s Restaurant Bar and Courtyard.

New management changes apartment complex name

By Wil Slade News Reporter After three years in San Marcos, the Aspen Heights apartment complex has changed its name to The Village on Telluride due to a recent change in ownership and management.

Stuart Watkins, the complex’s director of public relations, said a “major investor” bought the apartment in 2012. Aspen Heights kept the management rights to the property, located on Mill Street, until the buyer decided to mainstream

READ APARTMENT, PAGE 3

John Casares, Staff Photographer

The Aspen Heights Apartment Complex will soon be known as The Village on Telluride.

A2 | Wednesday February 20, 2013 | The University Star

OPINIONS

For more viewpoints or letters to the editor, e-mail staropinions@txstate.edu

City of San Marcos needs to heed Freedom of Information Act Although San Marcos takes pride in government transparency, documents that are lawfully open to the public are being kept behind closed, ambiguous doors.

An Austin man was stabbed and killed at a Feb. 3 party on Allen Street, according to a Feb. 7 University Star article. A University Star reporter filed an open records request Feb. 11 for the arrest affidavit of the murder suspect and the search warrant of the house where the crime took place.

Multiple attempts of requesting the information from the Justice of the Peace, the District Clerk, the San Marcos Police Records Department, the County Jail and more were met with confusion and uncertainty as to where the documents were if they could even be released. An open records request was sent Feb. 12 and prompted the same befuddlement as it passed through multiple government departments.

The appeal was eventually passed to the Attorney General’s office to discern if releasing the requested documents could impede the incident’s investigation.

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, “it shall always be made known to the accused under what authority the arrest is made.” The code goes on to say “any affidavit presented to the magistrate in support of the issuance of the warrant, is public information, and…the magistrate’s clerk shall make a copy of the warrant and the affidavit available for public inspection in the clerk’s office during normal business hours. A person may request the clerk to provide copies of the warrant and affidavit on payment of the cost of providing the copies.”

The law does state information that would interfere with the investigation does not have to be released. However, the law states that basic information of the arrest still needs to be made public. Though the city is currently not violating laws, its behavior amounts to little more than a stalling tactic.

“Usually governmental bodies, particularly if it is something sensitive, will go through the attorney general even when they know they are going to lose,” said Joe Larsen, lawyer with the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. “Even if they are going to lose it is going to take the attorney general time to look at it and time to tell the city.

They have 45 days that means that’s another two months you have to wait.”

While correctly investigating an incident is of the utmost importance, residents’ rights to information should not suffer because of it.

This long, tedious process encountered by The University Star is a prime example of why the city needs to improve its efficiency regarding the accessibility of open government documents. Residents and students are entitled to request records by law because of the Freedom of Information Act. The people deserve a right to open government information and should not have to endure a

flurry of multiple phone calls and departments to find information like an affidavit for an arrest.

It does not appear city workers know where these important documents are or who to contact to locate them. By law, city employees must be properly trained in working with the FOIA to supply open records for requests in a timely manner. There appears to be a lack of employee training or overall knowledge regarding the location of these important documents, which is absolutely unacceptable on the city’s part.

San Marcos officials are failing to provide these open documents freely to the public. The University Star reporter knew the correct officials to speak with and the stipulations behind the FOIA when making the open records request for information regarding the Feb. 3 crime incident. Unfortunately, the average resident or student in San Marcos would likely not know the correct process to request open records information if he or she were in need of similar information for his or her own purposes.

Accountability needs to be strength-

Emmanuel Ramirez, Star Illustrator

ened in San Marcos, especially if the city takes pride in transparency and open government.

The Main Point is the opinion of the newspaper’s editorial board. Columns are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the full staff, Texas State University-San Marcos Student Media, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication or Texas State University-San Marcos.

Artwork wall could provide inexpensive creative outlet

By Molly Block Opinions Columnist

C

ity and university officials should consider building an art wall in Sewell Park to discourage vandals from tagging buildings, saving both money and time.

Graffiti on Texas State property has been an issue for university administrators in recent months, according to a Feb. 7 University Star article. Students and residents should have pride in the university and the city, and must strive to keep the surround-

ings beautiful. Graffiti vandals are breaking the law and disrespecting the individuals who put so much time and effort into maintaining the grounds of the university.

Chalk graffiti is normally washed off with a water-based solution and does not require much money or manpower to clean, according to the article. However, the recent tagging of the word “look” onto university property is not so easily cleaned up. Cleaning up tags around campus can be expensive and time-consuming, depending on the type of paint used.

The Facilities Department responded to 94 requests for graffiti removal last year, and the costs for these cleanups ranged from $26 to $853, according to the same article. It is clear funding is needed for other projects and services around campus. It is unfortunate the university has to spend thousands of dollars each year to clean up graffiti carelessly tagged on school property.

In addition, the punishment for those

caught applying graffiti can be severe. Howard Williams, San Marcos police chief, said applying graffiti is considered a Class B misdemeanor, according to the same University Star article. It is difficult to catch people in the act, but the fine for offenders can be up to $2,000 and can result in a six-month stint in the county jail.

The consequences of applying graffiti to state property can be high, but it is impossible to stop vandalization on campus.

San Marcos officials erecting a wall where students and residents could freely showcase artwork in a mural-type format would discourage individuals from vandalizing property on campus or in town. People may disagree on the impact the wall could have on reducing graffiti incidents. However, the artwork might be an appealing addition to the city.

In Austin, there are several murals around town that give residents an outlet on which to express their creativity. These walls are

open for people to add to or simply admire.

Baylor Street Art Wall is one of the more well-known places where Austin residents can display their artistic side, according to an article on 365thingsaustin.com. San Marcos officials should consider building a similar wall in a popular location like Sewell Park. The city could make a rule that artwork painted on the structure must be preserved and not painted over. Nonetheless, the main purpose of the wall would be to encourage people to create artwork without fear of consequences.

The vandalization of Texas State property needs to come to an end, but there is a solution for local graffiti artists itching to display their work. Building a graffiti wall in an area such as Sewell Park would allow students to create meaningful artwork without destroying Texas State or San Marcos property.

-Molly Block is a mass communication junior.

Parking permit price increase will not solve debt problem

By Savannah Wingo Assistant Opinions Editor

T

he university’s recent proposals to hike up the costs of parking permits are unfair, and Parking Services officials should instead opt to increase the prices by a more gradual amount over time.

Parking permit prices are set to go up next fall and will increase anywhere from 8 percent to 135 percent, according to a Feb. 5 University Star article. Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of transportation services, cites debt within Parking Services as one of the main reasons for the proposed rise in permit costs.

Debt has been mounting within the department because of parking garage

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construction expenditures and a reduction in revenue from permits and tickets.

The largest rise in permit costs will be for apartment and dorm parking, which are both proposed to more than double in price. Students currently spending $245 for a silver or green permit may be forced to pay $575 for a pass to park in the same spots during the upcoming fall semester.

It is understandable that Parking Services officials would eventually need to raise permit prices in order to pay off debts.

However, how can it considered reasonable to more than double certain permit fees within the time period of a semester?

It is a little crazy that Parking Services officials seem to think raising the permit prices by these amounts is a realistic option. Parking Services officials should consider raising permit costs gradually over time by increments of approximately $25 to $50 each semester instead of increasing prices by such a drastic amount in the fall. Even a small increase such as a $25 permit price raise would add up to a large sum that could help pay off Parking Services operations and debt more gradually.

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Some students living in campus apartments pay less than $575 for a month’s rent and rely on their cars to get them to and from work. There are students who can barely afford their rent, and it is ridiculous to expect them to pay double the current amount to simply purchase a permit to park their car. The rate at which permit prices are expected to rise in one semester may cause these students to fear that the prices will continue to increase.

Furthermore, most nonuniversity affiliated complexes provide convenient, free parking for their residents, and students may opt to rent these higher-end apartments instead. These students may choose to use the tram service already paid for in their tuition so they do not have to live in a campus complex and pay a high fee for a permit. The major attraction of campus apartments is affordability, and raising the permit prices will deter many students from living in those complexes.

The debt incurred by Parking Services is an issue that needs a solution. However, that solution is not to price gouge students already struggling to pay off heightened tuition costs. Furthermore, the fact that

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this proposed hike coincides with the decision to cancel the interurban tram services smells fishy. Commuters who previously relied on the tram services to get them to class daily will now be forced to buy permits, which Parking Services plans to make even more ridiculously expensive.

However, Parking Services may find that their plan to drastically increase permit prices backfires. Students living locally may opt to carpool, take advantage of the Bobcat trams or even bike or walk to class when faced with record-high permit prices. This will only drive permit sales even further down, worsening the debt problem that drove the price increase proposal in the first place.

Instead of raising prices so drastically in such a short period, Parking Services officials should increase permit costs bit by bit.

--Savannah Wingo is a mass communication sophomore.

The University Star is the student newspaper of Texas State University-San Marcos and is published every other Wednesday in the summer semesters. It is distributed on campus and throughout San Marcos at 8 a.m. on publication days with a distribution of 6,000.

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NEWS

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FUNDING

LIQUOR

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

certain items on Sunday.

“In a modern economy, blue laws and hour restrictions on sales no longer make sense,” Thompson said.

“Allowing spirits retailers to keep additional hours is not only the fair thing to do but will also generate new revenue for Texas.”

Desiree Castro, policy analyst staff member for Hinojosa, said a report released by the Legislative Budget Board projects $7.8 million in tax revenue will be generated if the bills pass.

However, Castro said stores will not be required to change their hours of operation if the bills pass.

It will be up to each store owner whether hours should be altered.

mittee decided the university could meet the criteria on research spending, endowment dollars, achievements of the freshman class and faculty accomplishments.

Nance said the coordinating board has appropriated $51 million in funding for institutions that meet four of the six criteria. The University of Houston and Texas Tech University are currently the only Emerging Research Institutions that have met the standards and have access to the fund.

Bill Nance, vice president for Finance and Support Services, said one mandatory criterion is the university must spend $45 million per year in restricted research dollars, which are external sources of funding. Blanda said as of December, the university was at $22 million in restricted research expenditures. Blanda predicts it would take about eight to 10 years to reach the $45 million minimum based on the university’s growth rate.

Bourgeois said grants will help the university achieve this goal.

“On our way to becoming a National Research University, we definitely need to increase the number of grants, especially research grants, that we submit and hopefully win through awards,” Bourgeois said.

The university plans to meet the criterion of gaining $400 million in endowments, Blanda said. Texas State has raised approximately $131.1 million in donations as of Jan. 9, according to the University Advancement webpage.

Blanda said another criterion the committee feels confident in meeting is the mandate on high academic achievement of the freshman class.

Blanda said the university has filed a petition for membership for both faculty and students in the Phi Kappa Phi honors society. This membership will meet the criterion addressing research recognition and scholarship. The committee is confident in meeting this criterion because of a plan for Alkek Library to become recognized in the Association of Research Libraries.

Blanda said the committee believes the university can meet the criterion addressing high quality faculty. Certain faculty need to have membership in national or state academies such as the National Academy of Sciences. Texas State does not have any members in those types of academies currently, but there are a growing number of National Science Foundation CAREER Award holders, which qualifies professors.

Blanda said the committee did not feel the university could meet the criterion requiring 200 doctoral students to graduate per year. He said Texas State is currently not “cranking out” a large enough volume of doctoral degrees.

“I think everybody would recognize we are well on our way to being this National Research University,” Blanda said.

Bourgeois said Texas State will gain prestige and visibility once it is eligible for National Research University funding.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Hussain Mohammed, cashier at the Korner Stop Food Mart next to Sewell Park, said the store would stay open for more hours to sell alcohol if the bills pass. He said 40 percent of the store’s sales come from alcohol.

Mohammed said he has to stop two to three people at the door on Saturday nights when the store closes.

“Staying open later would be a benefit because most people leave the bar and rush here,” Mohammed said. “If they had more time (to buy alcohol), they wouldn’t have to rush.”

Autumn Downey, manager of Gabriel’s Wine and Spirits Outlet, said

she would consider having the store open on Sundays if the bills pass.

The Gabriel’s in San Marcos is one of about 62 chain stores, so some of them could start opening on Sundays. Downey said the San Marcos store gets more business than many others in the chain, so it would probably be one that would consider staying open on Sundays.

“I don’t think it is a bad bill being pushed, but I will say I do enjoy my Sundays off. So, personally I wouldn’t enjoy it,” Downey said.

Downey said Saturdays would not be as busy for Gabriel’s if the bills were passed. She said people wouldn’t feel the need to rush out on Saturdays to buy alcohol.

APARTMENT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 its portfolio. Aspen Heights then abandoned the property management agreement, and the complex’s name was changed to The Village on Telluride, effective Feb. 1.

Asset Campus Housing is the property management firm now overseeing The Village on Telluride.

According to the company’s website, Asset Campus Housing builds and manages properties that serve the needs of residents, their parents, universities and academic communities.

The firm manages more than 50,000 student housing beds in more than 60 locations across the United States. The Village on Tellu-

ride will be the second property in San Marcos the firm manages. Asset Campus Housing manages State Flats apartments near Aquarena Springs Drive and Interstate 35, according to its website.

The internal staff who worked for Aspen Heights were transitioned over to work for The Village on Telluride, Watkins said.

General manager Nikki Holliday was one of these employees. Holliday said the Aspen Heights locations in San Antonio and College Station have gone through the same process with different buyers.

“Everything is going to be the same: same employees, same staff,”

Holliday said. “The only thing that is different is the management and the name change.”

Assistant general manager Melissa Figueroa is another employee experiencing the transition. Watkins said Figueroa has been working at the San Marcos Aspen Heights location since she was a student.

“We want people to know that we will be delivering the same exact product,” Figueroa said. “Nothing is changing, same customer service, and we are honoring everything residents have signed for in the past.”

Holliday said as of now all rules and policies of the complex are remaining the same.

STATISTIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Kelemen said.

Kelemen said he understands the price issue and knows Nielsen is in a “tough spot” regarding the expensive software. However, he said SPSS’s long history and ease of use in the classroom are why several departments, including psychology, sociology and political science, use the software. “(SPSS) is the leader in its class,” Kelemen said. “It would be like not supporting Microsoft Word. To take it away would require a pretty big shift for us and for other units on campus as well.”

Maria Czyzewska, professor of

psychology, said SPSS is such an essential part of many courses that the thought of it being phased out would be “disturbing.” Canceling the SPSS program might put Texas State students at a disadvantage when compared to the majority of other colleges in the nation that use the program. Because students and faculty are already familiar with SPSS, if it “rapidly disappears” it will become an issue that must be looked into.

A possible replacement for SPSS is a free program called “R,” but Czyzewska said it is much less user-friendly and requires advanced programming skills. These drawbacks make it “ab-

solutely not suitable” for students and many of the faculty, Czyzewska said.

“These days, people use things without really having advanced skills,” Czyzewska said. “We expect (a) menu-driven, friendly interface and being able to click what we want.”

Czyzewska said switching out SPSS for another program is “not a good idea,” and not realistic for the purpose of training students.

The possibility of switching to “R” is an issue, and should be done while in close contact with faculty and the departments who use SPSS often, Czyzewska said.

A4 | Wednesday February 20, 2013 | The University Star

TRENDS

Q&A

Bryan Poyser

Photo courtesy of Brian Poyser

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Texas State lecturer and film director

By Jordan Gass-Poore’ Trends Reporter The trials and tribulations of two former couples play out in Lecturer Bryan Poyser’s latest film “The Bounceback.”

The romantic comedy may not have been possible without the help of some of Poyser’s former students from Texas State and the University of Texas who served as crewmembers on the set.

Poyser, former Austin Film Society director of artist services, said though the students’ roles were unglamorous, he believes the experiences were educational and beneficial to understanding the ins-andouts of filmmaking. Nearly every crewmember makes an appearance in the film.

Actors Sara Paxton (“The Last House on the Left”), Ashley Bell (“The Last Exorcism”) and Marshall Allman (“True Blood”) star in “The Bounceback,” which premieres next month at the South by Southwest Film Festival.

JGP: What was the casting process like for “The Bounceback”?

BP: It was almost a year, actually, that we spent casting from when we started sending out the script to when we started shooting. That was kind of a frustrating year because it was my first opportunity to really cast things the normal way, like by submitting the script to agents and managers. Our producer on the movie, Trace Sheehan, the guy

who actually optioned the script and brought it to (producer) Megan Gilbride and I, handled a lot of that process. The process is essentially sending the script to some of the major agencies such as William Morris and having them read it. Some agents would send a list of some of their clients they thought were good for the movie. We would be getting a couple dozen names for each of the parts. I’m someone who doesn’t watch a whole lot of TV and a lot of the names that we were being sent were people who have been on TV shows. I had to do a lot of research by watching movies and TV shows and familiarizing myself with the people’s work. But there were a couple of people who I really knew and really wanted to try to get in the movie, like Sara Paxton. She is someone I came to know through this movie called “The Innkeepers,” a ghost story by Ti West that actually played at South by Southwest a couple of years ago. I just thought she was really great, so we met her and ended up casting her as one of the leads.

JGP: When you were co-writing the screenplay for “The Bounceback,” was it always going to be set in Austin?

BP: Yeah. The script came to me through our sales agent for my last film (“Lovers of Hate”) when it played at Sundance. His company had optioned the screenplay. It was actually called “The Rebound” when we got it, and it was written

Texas State faculty help found new musical theatre program in Chile

By Fiona Riley Trends Reporter After years of intensifying interest in musical theatre, a school’s officials in Chile reached out to Texas State for help with starting a program for their own students.

The Pro Jazz Institute’s School of Music had already been working with Texas State’s Jazz Studies Department for years when they decided to start a musical theatre program.

A member of the jazz studies faculty referred those at the Chile institute to Texas State’s musical theatre program. Those at the Chile institute then looked at the musical theatre program’s YouTube channel. They decided to contact professors Kaitlin Hopkins and James Price, senior lecturers in the Department of Theatre and Dance, for help founding the new program.

“We worked with them for about a year via email and Skype,” Hopkins said. “Then we went down there for a week and got to interact with the faculty for a day and help prep them and talk to them about the curriculum at Texas State.”

While in Chile, Hopkins and Price helped open the building in which the musical theatre training program will be housed. Hopkins and Price additionally brought books the program would use and taught several classes to students once its first semester began.

“We got to teach the first class there, which was really exciting,” Hopkins said.

“We had about 70 students show up for it.”

A grant provided by the U.S. Embassy in Chile funded the professors’ trip and the supplies they were able to bring to the Pro Jazz Institute’s program.

by these two other guys, Steven Walters and David DeGrow Shotwell. Steven is actually a Dallas guy, but he was on “Friday Night Lights” and actually spent quite a bit of time in Austin getting to know it. Through personal experiences he became inspired to write the story and set it in Austin. When the script came to me I wanted to try to put more of Austin, or at least my experiences of Austin in it. So, there are quite a few scenes that take place in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. That’s something I brought to the script and wanted to present—an authentic version of Austin. I wanted to only shoot in places where we could use the names.

JGP: I saw on your Facebook that you said you had just watched the “oh-so-nearly-final-final cut of ‘The Bounceback.’ ” What did you think?

BP: I really love it. It’s a different movie than other stuff that I’ve done. I think it’s a movie that’s less challenging for an audience. The other films that I’ve done have been sort of deliberately tough to watch sometimes in terms of the subject matter (or) in terms of what the characters do. (“The Bounceback”) is a movie that’s supposed to be fun. It’s supposed to be entertaining and funny. That was the goal with every scene. We asked, “How can we make this funnier? How can we make this more ridiculous?” It’s a movie that still makes me laugh.

It’s good medicine!

Being a music school, the Pro Jazz Institute already had faculty ready to teach singing.

However, it needed to obtain acting and dancing teachers to begin a musical theatre training program.

The program will be the first of its kind in Chile, Price said.

“We can show them productions of existing American musicals, but I’m very interested in helping them develop their own indigenous art form and telling their own stories,” Price said.

Chileans are already starting to put their musical theatre knowledge to use. Hopkins said one company is starting to write and produce its own musicals in Spanish.

“Helping a country start a journey to explore what is a relatively new art form to them is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Hopkins said.

Adventure Club promotes outdoor recreation, campus zombie game

By Zach Mayer Trends Reporter Among the stresses and demands of college, one group on campus is making fun and adventure a priority.

The Adventure Club was formed by Ryan Elliott, international studies senior, in spring 2011 as a recreational organization to host activities on and off campus. He currently serves as the club’s president.

“We do a whole myriad of events,” Elliott said. “We play capture the flag in The Quad bi-monthly, we go camping (and) we go hiking.”

Elliot said Adventure Club’s most popular activity is Humans Versus Zombies, derived from an event by a similar group from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. The activity has attracted a swarm of participants. Approximately 500 students were in the last round.

The game starts with one player as the zombie, wearing a bandana on the head. Everyone else starts as a human, armed with a Nerf toy weapon, sock balls and a bandana tied around the arm. The zombie players try to “infect” all the human contestants, and usually the undead population grows. The humans try to “survive” for a week.

“We look like a giant group of kids playing around,” said Sally Fox, club

event coordinator.

The activity had its first round in spring 2011, but has since stopped from conflicts with campus administration. Elliott remains confident the club will resolve its differences with the school and resume the activity.

Other Adventure Club activities include capture the flag, held every other Monday in The Quad, and river cleanups.

“I love our river cleanups,” Elliot said. “It’s just a nice, chill time. You get to relax, you get to hang out in the sun, hang out with friends and clean up the river. Now that the weather is so beautiful, as it is today, we will be doing a lot more river activities.”

Club meetings take place 5 p.m.

Thursdays at the LBJ Student Center. Leaders schedule and coordinate events, but suggestions for new activities are allowed from regular participants.

“Anyone who wants to come out to a meeting, or just to talk to me or Ryan—their input is really valued,” said Catie Pennington, environmental studies senior and club vice president.

“We welcome what everyone wants to do. We did hiking in Purgatory Creek because someone suggested it.”

Adventure Club events are free, and participants are welcome to provide their own supplies.

The Adventure Club can be contacted by email at theadventureclubtxst@gmail.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/adventureclubtxst/ (Texas State email is required for group page access).

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Professional Journeymen Second inning gives Bobcats

By Jordan Brewer Assistant Sports Editor Once student athletes conquer the collegiate sports world, some set their sights on becoming professionals.

“It’s a blessing to be out there chasing your dream,” said former Bobcat offensive tackle Ty Nsekhe. “It (was) an adjustment from the AFL (to the NFL). It’s been awhile since I’ve played 11 on 11.”

Nsekhe and many other once-Bobcats have made their mark at the NFL, CFL or AFL levels. Nsekhe is the latest to reach the NFL, where he is extended through the 2014 season with the St. Louis Rams.

“As a kid (I watched) the games and wanted to play at the highest level,” Nsekhe said.

Twitter: @jbrewer32

Ty Nsekhe Offensive tackle St. Louis Rams -2003: Graduated from James Bowie High School in Arlington, TX. -2003-04: Played with Texas State University.

-2005-06: Transferred to and played for Tarleton State University.

-2009: Started professional career with the Corpus Christi Sharks of the Arena Football League 2.

-2010: Signed with the Dallas Vigilantes of the AFL. -2011: Signed with the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL. -2012: Signed with the San Antonio Talons of the AFL. -Aug. 1, 2012: Signed by the Indianapolis Colts.

-Sept. 1, 2012: Released by the Colts.

-Sept. 2, 2012: Signed by the St. Louis Rams.

-Sept. 16, 2012: Played first career NFL game against the Washington Redskins.

-Sept. 27, 2012: Released by the Rams.

-Sept. 29, 2012: Claimed off waivers by the Rams, placed on practice team.

Frederick Evans Defensive tackle Minnesota Vikings

Photo courtesy of the Miami Dolphins

trouble against Baylor

By Jordan Brewer Assistant Sports Editor A four-run second inning by Baylor University Tuesday evening once again put the Bobcats in an early hole and was enough to hand Texas State a 6-3 loss in Waco.

Freshman pitcher Andrew Boes got the start and lasted an inning and two thirds. He gave up five earned runs on seven hits while striking out two and walking one batter. The Bobcats used six total pitchers in the game.

Only one other pitcher gave up a run.

Senior catcher Andrew Stumph singled to left, and after a Baylor throwing error, sophomore shortstop Garrett Mattlage scored the Bobcats’ first run.

The game was tied 1-1 after the first inning.

The second inning was not so fortunate for Texas State.

Boes was able to get out the first two batters he faced, but then let up a double before a single, scoring one. Baylor’s Duncan Wendel started the second inning hitting a single to right center, scoring after a double and an eventual sacrifice fly out.

Catcher Nate Goodwin then hit an RBI single to make the score 3-1. Right fielder Nathan Orf, who was 3-4 on the night, doubled to right field, scoring another point for the Bears. Baylor scored its fourth run of the second inning after a Boes wild pitch.

Baylor won despite having five errors and allowing the Bobcats one earned run. Texas State’s two other runs scored resulted from throwing errors.

The offensive woes continued with six hits against Baylor. The Bobcats had nine hits to-

tal in their first two games of last weekend’s CenturyLink Invitational and a .170 batting average, worst in the WAC’s young season.

Texas State’s batting average against the Bears improved slightly to .176.

Stumph had two of the Bobcat’s six hits after batting 2-11 in his first three games. Freshman first baseman Cory Geisler was the only batter to record an RBI, which came in the ninth inning, knocking in senior third baseman Nick Smelser after a single.

Mattlage led the teams in runs scored, both coming off the aforementioned throwing errors by Baylor. The short stop was 1-3 from the plate. Sophomore right fielder Brooks Orton was 1-5 after going 1-14 over the weekend.

Senior relief pitcher Mitchell Pitts made his first appearance of the season. Pitts gave up one earned run on two hits in one inning and two-thirds work. Freshman pitcher Jeremy Hallonquist made his first trip to the mound. He pitched two innings, striking out four batters while giving up a walk and a hit.

For the fourth straight game, the lineup was different for the Bobcats. Sophomore Colby Targun, who has started at second base and left field previously, was the designated hitter on Tuesday.

The Bobcats will face the University of Houston this weekend starting with a 6:30 first pitch on Friday. The Cougars are 3-1, recently beating Sam Houston State University 6-3, a team Texas State lost to last weekend 10-9.

The coach and players were not made available for interviews before deadline Tuesday evening.

Twitter: @jbrewer32

Photo courtesy St. Louis Rams

Earned Second-team All-North Central Community College Conference.

Junior season Texas State: 33 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks.

Senior season Texas State: 1st Team AllSouthland. 55 tackles, 5 sacks Seventh season in NFL. 79 tackles, 3 sacks.

-2002-03: Played both offensive and defensive line at College of DuPage in Illinois.

-2004-05: Transferred to Texas State.

-2006: Drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the seventh round (212).

-Dec. 31, 2006: Made debut for the Dolphins vs. Colts.

-June 23, 2007: Arrested on Miami’s South Beach for getting into dispute with cab driver and refusing arrest while on probation for possession of marijuana.

-June 28, 2007: Released from the Dolphins.

-2007: Signed with the Minnesota Vikings.

-Dec. 21, 2008: Made first NFL start vs.

Atlanta Falcons.

Jan. 4, 2009: Started in his first NFL playoff game. Recovered fumble forced by Jared Allen.

April 6, 2009: Signed extension with the Minnesota Vikings through 2013 season.

Star File Photo

Texas State baseball fell to the Baylor Bears 6-3 Feb. 19 in Waco. The Bobcats’ record is now 1-3 overall.

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