FACEBOOK FUND-RAISER
BACK ANGLE
Comedian raises $10k using his favorite waste of time
Bobcats show signs of depth after back-to-back wins
SEE TRENDS PAGE 6
SEE SPORTS PAGE 12
TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
www.UNIVERSITYSTAR.com
SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
THURSDAY
VOLUME 95, ISSUE 9
Students: Incident doesn’t detract from positive message By Zandria Avila News Reporter Although the African American Leadership Conference was disrupted by an incident with police early Sunday morning, Keemon Leonard, president of the Black Student Alliance and pre-mass communication junior, said the incident should not dampen the many positive aspects of the conference, including workshops, social events and speakers. “It was a great educational conference with outstanding workshops and exceptional speakers,” Leonard said. “I commend the AALC committee in organizing a magnificent conference.” The 13th annual AALC began Friday evening with students gathering for a mixer in the LBJ Student Center Ballroom. Shortly following the mixer, lights were dimmed in the Ballroom, and the conference opened with entertainment provided by the Neo Soldiers, a poetry organization based out of Austin. The audience was drawn into the Neo Soldiers’ lives with eloquent anecdotes and original melodies. Many pieces addressed issues of the African-American community, urging the audience to break stereotypes of AfricanAmericans. “We use red frequently in our poems because red has a flavor. Many associate red with a happy memory — Kool-Aid, popsicles, red soda. As some African-Americans obtain advance educations they use their education as a reason to break away from their community. Red reminds them where they came from,” said a member of the Neo Soldiers who only gave his stage name, Korim. This year’s initial stages were unique, with entertainment setting the continued mood and the first Gospel Fest featured in any AALC held at the university. Performers featured budding recording artists such as James and Roy Jacobs of Double Portion, singer Cheryl McWilliams, who is also the grant director of Multicultural Student Affairs,
and Notori Blue, from the University of Texas. Also performing was special guest Denise Tichnoer, a world-renowned gospel artist. Tywaun Watkins, sociology senior, said he attended an all-male conference Friday. “It was great and mind-empowering,” Watkins said. Saturday’s activities included four workshop sessions for conference attendants to choose from, each with various speakers.
Enrollment trends at Texas State were the main focus of the Faculty Senate meeting Wednesday. President Denise Trauth and Provost Perry Moore were present to address the Senate. The senators, along with Trauth and Moore, mulled over statistics compiled by the enrollment management office, which included the enrollment rates of undergraduate and graduate programs as well as
enrollment at the Round Rock Higher Education Center. While Texas State’s total enrollment is up by 1.4 percent, graduate programs have suffered a decline of 5.3 percent overall, including a 20.6-percent drop in post-baccalaureate students. The drop in these students, Moore said, is not indicative of the entire graduate program since many students in the post-baccalaureate program are only seeking teacher certification and do not represent the typical graduate
Undergraduate students Fall 04
Undergraduate students Fall 05
0
0
Today’s Weather Precipitation: 20% Humidity: 63% UV: 10 Very High Wind: S 11 mph
15000
20000
25000
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
UARY Coming soon: The Sanctuary Lofts, located on the corner of Hutchison Street and North Street, will feature a renovated space with newly developed living quarters.
— Keemon Leonard Black Student Alliance president
See AALC, page 4
10000
Graduate students Fall 05
organizing a magnificent conference.”
“We are trying to recruit and retain minorities and one way we do that is to have them engage in the campus right away. One way we do that is the AALC,” said Jonnie Wilson, assistant director of multicultural student affairs. “It also prepares leaders who will be on this campus.” One of the speakers in the first session on Saturday, Shona Johnson, presenter of “Free Yourself,” aimed to inspire listeners to release themselves from situations they were unnecessarily bound to, from bad relationships to bad job situations. She offered her testimony, saying her belief in God had a positive effect in her life. Being a victim of domestic violence, Johnson said she suffered low self-esteem and mental anguish. Johnson advised those in attendance not to “remain in a disaster area. God sees you in your most perfect and holy way in spite of your faults.” Students posed questions like “how could you begin to see yourself in the manner God sees you” and “how could you remove yourself from the ‘disaster area?’” Johnson presented three steps to begin the healing process and cautiously promised that while
5000
Graduate students Fall 04
commend “I the AALC committee in
Adam Brown/Star photo To conclude the African American Leadership Conference, Jarvis Clark spoke to a large crowd at the LBJ Student Center with an inspirational and practical message on Sunday. Clark excited the crowd with anecdotes of his experiences in different churches and spoke of how to succeed in life.
95˚/73˚
See SENATE, page 4
SUBURBAN SANC
Jeremy Craig/ Star photo
Former First Baptist church to become shopping, living area By Anna Heffley Special to The Star
An artistʼs rendering of the new Sanctuary Lofts.
Rather than destroying the old First Baptist Church at 303 W. Hutchison St., developers are converting the building to new apartments, dubbed the Sanctuary Lofts. The First Baptist Church had been looking for land on which to build a new church for 10 years, Rev. Mark Newton said. Newton said even after numerous remodels, the
Image courtesy of www.thesanctuarylofts.com
See LOFTS, page 4
PAWS takes initiative to keep students in school with interactive program By Kathy Martinez News Reporter
Mostly Sunny
student. Moore pointed to the 18.8-percent increase in doctoral students at Texas State as more indicative of the trend in graduate school. “Increasing the graduate enrollment is the top — the top priority of the university. We will be working throughout this year to develop a marketing plan, program by program, for the graduate level,” Moore said. Moore called attention to the
(In number of students)
By Clayton Medford News Reporter
Texas State Enrollment, 2004-05
AALC weekend holds Trauth and university provost address Faculty Senate ‘mind-empowering’ workshops, speakers
Over the last several months, the Division of Student Affairs has developed and launched a new student-retention initiative in an effort to increase student retention rates at Texas State. The Positive Action With Students is an early alert Web-based warning system that allows faculty and staff to make referrals to help students throughout their college career. Interim Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Jennifer Beck said faculty and staff members can file referrals with PAWS regarding any concerns about students facing challenges with their academic career. Categories and subcategories under which faculty and staff referrals may file were based on information collected from graduation exit interviews and assessment data administered and collected by the university about common concerns and
“I
t’s about time the university take a pro-active role in the live of their students. We are what makes this university.”
Saturday Mostly Sunny Temp: 95°/ 71° Precipitation: 20%
By Paige Burrer Special to The Star
struggles students face. Only faculty and staff will have access to the system to make referrals by logging on to the PAWS alert system. “The protocol for the program involves the faculty or staff member submitting a referral based on his or her observation of a student in their class that seems to be having some sort of
Sept. 16 marks Mexico’s 195th anniversary of the beginning of the battle of their independence from Spain. Celebrations throughout Mexico and in the United States will take place to commemorate Mexico’s victory against Spain. Cinco de Mayo is the official day Mexico gained its independence after a 10-year struggle against Spain. However, Hispanics everywhere declare Sept. 16 as Mexico’s Independence Day because it signifies the beginning of the revolt. Originally, the war against Spain was not planned to start until Oct. 2, 1810. However, Spain discovered their plans to gain independence, and Mexico was left with only two choices: either fight now or lose the revolt indefinitely. Fortunately, Mexico decided to start the revolt early. On Sept. 16, 1810, a group of local conspirators sounded the church bells and yelled for ev-
See STUDENTS, page 3
See MEXICO, page 3
— Jude Prather public administration junior
Two-day Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy Temp: 95°/ 71° Precipitation: 10%
Dieciséis de septiembre events honor Mexico’s independence day
Inside
TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
Classifieds Comics Crossword News
10 9 9 1-4
Opinions Sports Trends
To Contact The Star: 5 11,12 6-9
Trinity Building Phone: (512) 245-3487 Fax: (512) 245-3708 www.UniversityStar.com © 2005 The University Star