PET FEST
HORNED FROGS SPIKED
Four-legged friends and San Marcos residents unite to benefit Pet Prevent a Litter of Central Texas
Volleyball turns away TCU in 3-0 sweep, extends win streak to six
SEE TRENDS PAGE 7
SEE SPORTS PAGE 12
DEFENDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT SINCE 1911
WWW.UNIVERSITYSTAR.COM
THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
VOLUME 97, ISSUE 13
University, city officals unite for change on Sagewood By Nick Georgiou and Sean Batura The University Star San Marcos and Texas State officials made a tour of Sagewood Circle Wednesday as part of the ongoing effort to address the complaints of area residents. Included among the group was Denise Trauth, university president, Susan Narvaiz, San Marcos mayor, Chris Jones, city councilman and Reagan Pugh, Associated Student Government president. Fire Marshal Ken Bell attended the tour as well. He said tickets are handed out every night, 90 percent of which are noise and alcohol-related. He said 10 percent of the violations involve parking. “Some folks are having difficulties understanding how the culde-sac parking works (and it) is problematic because it they don’t park correctly, we can’t get emergency vehicles through,” Bell said. He said another problem is too many occupants living at a residency. “In a nutshell, we’ve gone over the occupancy load for these types of buildings, and I think that’s one of the issues that’s a driving factor,” Bell said. Law enforcement, as directed by the San Marcos City Council two weeks ago, has increased its presence on the street, but in a Sept. 11 University Star article, Howard Williams, chief of the San Marcos Police Department, acknowledged it would only be a temporary solution. There was a general consensus Monty Marion/Star photo
WHAT’S UP?: Sagewood resident Henry Smith (right) talks with city and university representatives about issues concerning the area Wednesday evening outside his home.
Diversity faces challenges
See SAGEWOOD, page 4
Faculty drug testing policy revisited By Scott Thomas News Reporter
Minority percentage
20 On campus black
On campus black population population
15
On campus hispanic population On campus hispanic
population
10
5
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003 2004 Fiscal Year
2005
By Karen Little, Bill Lancaster at Texas State has remained around 2001 2004 the past 2005 and Nick2002 Georgiou 2003 5 percent 10 years. 2006 The University Star Fiscal Year About 35 percent of Texas’ population is Hispanic. The Hispanic stuIn a state where the minority dent population at Texas State has population continues to grow, the increased approximately 3 percent, diversity of the student population from 19 to 22 percent, during the at Texas State has remained rela- past decade. tively stagnant during the past deAlthough the Texas State student cade, according to figures from the population is not reflective of the university’s online fact book. state’s demographics, the number While blacks comprise about 12 of minorities on campus has inpercent of Texas’ population, the creased every year. total percentage of black students “Increases in diversity are show-
2006
2007
2008
ing up in a more pronounced way in 2007of undergraduate 2008 students,” terms said Michael Heintze, associate vice president of enrollment management. “If we look at the freshman class this year, 25 percent are Hispanic students as opposed to 23 percent a year ago.” There has been more of an incentive to enroll Hispanic students more so than blacks. When the student Hispanic population at Texas See DIVERSITY, page 4
Fresh grievances, as well as some reiterated ones, were voiced Wednesday when the Faculty Senate discussed the controversial university drug policy. Senators decided to push for a single drug policy document that would cover both faculty and staff. The document would not include any random drug testing. “We need to stand with the staff on this one,” said Faculty Sen. J. Nathan Bond, assistant curriculum and instruction professor. In the current version of the statement, faculty is excluded from the section mandating random drug testing. “Even if this is just staff policy, we have huge problems here,” said Faculty Sen. David Wiley, health, physical education and recreation professor. The decision to stay with one document was not unanimous. A vote was taken by Faculty Sen. Chair William Stone, criminal justice professor, with the alternative being to push for two separate policies — one for faculty and another for staff. “Staff has staff council to look out for their best interests,” said Faculty Sen. Gary Winek,
engineering and technology professor. The vote passed 6-5 with two abstaining and one absence. Reasons for senators voting in the affirmative were the desire to keep the document simplified and support the staff. “I think tenure gives us a freedom to talk about this others might not have,” said Faculty Sen. Ian Davidson, associate music professor. Wiley asked if it was possible to have two separate documents and still fight for the staff. “That’s a slippery slope,” said Faculty Sen. John McGee, finance and economics professor. “They’ve got staff council. Are we going to start taking on staff problems now?” Some other issues with the current policy senators voiced were with the wording and structure. While faculty was exempted from the section mandating drug testing, they were not exempted from punishment for refusing a drug test. McGee, an attorney as well, said it could be interpreted in court; the ambiguity negates the exclusion. Still, more controversy was caused by section 3.03 of the policy, which defines perforSee FACULTY, page 4
Erin Brockovich-Ellis encourages students to ‘make a difference’ By Nick Georgiou News Editor Courtesy of University News Service
As a legal clerk at a law firm, Erin Brockovich-Ellis was filing papers when she came across some medical records that caught her attention. Erin Brockovich-Ellis She conducted some research and discovered a toxic substance leaked from a nearby Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s compressor station into a California town’s groundwater, causing many people to become sick. She began an investigation that brought about the largest toxic tort settlement in U.S. history. Brockovich-Ellis will be on campus Tuesday, as the featured speaker for this year’s Common Experience
theme “The Water Planet: A River Runs Through Us.” She will give a speech at 8 p.m. at the LBJ Mall, which is located between the Alkek Library and the LBJ Student Center. The event is free and open to the public. Pam Wuestenberg, assistant dean of university college and Common Experience co-chair, said she is hoping for a large turnout. “The more students that come to these things, then the better we get at it, and plus we can bring bigger and bigger names to campus for our students and that’s kind of what our purpose is — to expose students to new ideas.” Previous Common Experience featured speakers have included Spike Lee, Maya Angelou, Isabel Allende and Edward James Olmos. Wuestenberg said people who attend the event should be able to learn about
Today’s Weather
Cloudy 92˚
Precipitation: 20% Humidity: 61% UV: 9 Very High Wind: ENE 9 mph
Two-day Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy Temp: 91°/ 67° Precip: 20%
Saturday Sunny Temp: 90°/ 68° Precip: 20%
“E
ven though she was one person, she knew the resources to go to to help eliminate this problem and garner attention for how important this issue is.”
—Florine Oyakhire psychology senior and forums coordinator for SACA
the power of the individual. “Here was a woman that was not necessarily powerful,” she said. “(She was) someone who noticed something and followed her instinct, and discov-
ered all this and researched it and made a huge difference in the world.” Wuestenberg tried to put BrockovichEllis’ experience into perspective for the Texas State and San Marcos community. “Imagine if somebody had been allowed to pollute (the San Marcos River)?” she asked. “What would we miss? And I think that’s why this thing is so important to all of us. We need to learn to be caretakers.” Florine Oyakhire, psychology senior and forums coordinator for Student Association for Campus Activities, said she admires BrockovichEllis’ determination. “Even though she was one person, she knew the resources to go to to help eliminate this problem and garner attention for how important this issue is,” Oyakhire said. The story of Brockovich-Ellis was made famous in the 2000 film Erin Brockvich.
Actress Julia Roberts portrayed Brockovich in the film, which was nominated for several Academy Awards. Roberts won the award for Best Actress. The film made the real life Brockovich-Ellis a part of popular culture. “Her story was important to the people of California, but after the movie, the story was important to the U.S,” Wuestenberg said. “She has certainly gained name recognition through the movie.” The film will be shown 7 p.m. Monday at the LBJ Teaching Theater. The event is free and open to the public. On her Web site, Brockovich-Ellis writes: “From the exposure of the movie, I became a reluctant public figure. Over time, I realized I could use my notoriety to spread positive messages of personal empowerment and for me to encourage people to stand up and make a difference.”
Inside News ........ 1,2,3,4 Opinions ............ 5 Trends .......... 6,7,8
Texas State University-San Marcos is a member of the Texas State University System
Diversions .......... 9 Classifieds ....... 10 Sports ......... 11,12
To Contact Trinity Building Phone: (512) 245-3487 Fax: (512) 245-3708 www.UniversityStar.com © 2007 The University Star