QUAD QUESADILLAS
Texas State rugby bound for Colorado for Western Playoffs
Hispanic Business Student Association serves theirs hot
SEE SPORTS PAGE 13
SEE TRENDS PAGE 6
WESTERN WARRIORS
DEFENDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT SINCE 1911
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APRIL 5, 2007
THURSDAY
VOLUME 96, ISSUE 73
Both ASG presidential candidates pushing for Division 1-A By Jacob Mustafa The University Star The push for Texas State football to become a Division I-A program will be a hot-button issue in the upcoming Associated Student Government elections, with both of the major student body presidential candidates having their say on the matter. The Division I-A move has been a topic brought up at ASG meetings, message boards and The University Star for some time, but with a June 1 deadline
approaching, ASG candidates are bringing the message to the masses. The NCAA’s bylaws state in order to be considered for a move to Division I-A, a university must submit a confirmation by June 1 detailing its strategic plan and philosophy. Presidential candidate Reagan Pugh argued the move would be beneficial to school pride and prestige, as does his opponent Chris Anderson. “If we want to go in the right direction then on June 1, (Texas State President Denise) Trauth
needs to sign off on us going Division I(-A),” Pugh said. According to Athletic Director Larry Teis, the immediate move would make the team become independent of a conference, which could cause Texas State to lose its outside funding and be left without anyone to play. “There’s no way this school will be ready to go by June 1, because to do that, you’d have to go independent and you lose all your schedules and then you lose all your NCAA funding and all of your conference funding,”
Teis said. “The only way this school could do this down the road is to align ourselves with a conference. June 1 is basically impossible.” Teis said the team could actually have a shot at the move in upcoming years if the students of Texas State support the team like the school’s numbers indicate. “I’ve talked with conference commissioners and they’ve all told me, ‘You need to keep filling up those stands and if you want to talk about moving up,
you need to make yourself attractive,’” Teis said. “It’s great to throw around that we have 28,000 students, but one of the conference commissioners said, ‘Well, then your stadium should be full every week.’” Pugh thinks the team can join Conference USA, which includes Rice University , University of Houston, University of Memphis and University of Tulsa. “There’s no sports culture; look who we’re playing,” Pugh said. “No offense to McNeese (State), but think about if we had
Bad timing
C-USA teams. You had friends who went to those schools. You almost went there or you transferred from there. It’s one of those things where it’s like, would you rather be losing to McNeese State or to Rice or SMU?” Anderson said Pugh might not be cognizant even if Trauth and Teis sign the confirmation; the team will still go through a two-year grace period to allow the program to prepare for the See DIVISION 1-A, page 5
State funding dominates Faculty Senate By Scott Thomas The University Star
Austin Byrd/Star photo Sophomore shortstop Alex Newton delivers the throw to stop Texas’ Shannon Thomas a step too late, letting the runner advance to second. The Bobcats allowed five stolen bases Wednesday night in a 2-0 loss to the Longhorns. SEE SPORTS, PAGE 14
Growing up as a Native American By Karen Little The University Star Growing up in the 1950s, Ray Duncan was not allowed to speak his native language. At the Phoenix Indian School, students were required to speak English, and were sometimes hit for speaking in their native tongue. Students’ traditionally long hair was shortened upon arrival and all pupils were isCotton Miller/Star photo sued the same outfits. Duncan, a full-blooded CheroSTONE STILL: Mario Garza allows Megan Reddick, the Native kee and Vietnam veteran, spoke American Cultural Awareness Conference coordinator and and pre- of his experiences Wednesday communication design sophomore, to paint his portrait after Garza at the Native American Cultural spoke Wednesday in the LBJ Student Center. Awareness Conference in the
LBJ Student Center. Before attending the Phoenix Indian School, Duncan never left his county. His elementary school had only three classrooms. “For seven years I was really happy,” Duncan said. That was until his mother sent him to the Phoenix school. “The (school) was a fenced, enclosed, concrete building that looked like a military facility,” he said. Duncan said the students were not allowed to leave the grounds and were returned by the police if they did not have a pass. Besides confinement to
school, he said he received a schedule where he was only enrolled in shop, carpentry and a general math course. “I went to the counselor and said, ‘I don’t want these — I want English, geography and things to get into college with,’” he said. “She said, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t have them because we don’t do that here.’ To me, I thought getting an education was a way of getting ahead.” Duncan’s father was a carpenter. Although Duncan appreciated his father’s work, he wanted
The Texas State University System hired a new lobbying firm in December to have a presence in Washington, D.C. and assist the nine universities on their legislative agenda. Bill Covington, associate vice president for research, said the company, called The Normandy Group, is a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. that is under contract with the Texas State
University System. As Congress boosts the amount it awards each year in earmarked, or noncompetitively awarded, funds, colleges are increasingly looking to outside firms like The Normandy Group for help in getting their share. While public universities cannot legally use appropriated money or federal money to hire these firms, they can use money generated locally. “The money we use to pay The Normandy Group is local
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funds, or money not given to us by the government,” Covington said. Roland Smith, vice chancellor for finance, said the funds used to pay the firm came from a twice-annual bill sent to the nine universities in the system. “The amount each university is charged is based on the enrollment of each institution,” Smith said. “We typically bill the institutions in January and again in August. The local funds contributed to The Normandy
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Group include auxiliaries, gifts, local fees and local tuition.” The Texas State University System spent $83,900 in 2006 to pay its previous firm, Advocacy Group, Smith said. Texas State acquired 39 percent of that cost, contributing $32,737. The university system dropped Advocacy Group in December and employed The Normandy Group. Spending numbers for the 2007 fiscal year have not been totaled. “The group is currently work-
See SENATE, page 5
Bus merger under Council consideration By Zach Halfin The University Star
ing to lobby Congress on funding for programs that include water research, law enforcement and school safety,” Covington said. He said the water lobbying relates to an advanced project on the Rio Grand River headed by Sul Ross State University, a member of the Texas State University System. The project is related to the study of invasive plant and animal species, water usage and factors that affect the
A Transit Task Force report concluded public transportation costs would be reduced by combining the city busing system with Texas State’s TxTram. The San Marcos City Council heard a presentation Tuesday covering the findings of the report, which is titled “The Coordination of Public Transportation.” Currently, the Capital Area Rural Transportation System provides the CARTS Around Town bus service, made available with funds rural communities with populations under 50,000 are eligible for. The annual net operating cost for CARTS is $573,500, with a majority of that total coming from state and federal funding. The Texas State bus service, TxTram, is a contracted service with First Transit, which is funded by student fees and costs $3.2 million annually. The Transit Task Force is comprised of representatives from the city, university, CARTS, Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas
See CONSULTING, page 5
See COUNCIL, page 5
See NATIVE AMERICAN, page 5
University system employs Washington, D.C. consulting firm By Philip Hadley The University Star
University President Denise Trauth updated the Faculty Senate Wednesday on a number of state-level legislative items concerning that she said directly affected funding for the university. One of the most discussed aspects was state funding for the university’s nursing program. With a new item on the Senate’s agenda that would allocate $1 million a year to support nursing programs statewide, Trauth said the university is exactly where it wants to be. Trauth said one bill would allocate $1.5 million to the River Systems Institute and another bill suggested by the governor would give universities money for graduating students. Trauth said no updates could be given on the governor’s incentive bill, but it would be known what the Legislature would do with it when the session ends May 28. “(The Legislature) is the biggest funnel in the world, lots of
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