February 13 2014

Page 1

VOLUME 103, ISSUE 56

www.UniversityStar.com

THURSDAY

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

Defending the First Amendment since 1911

VIDEO | UniversityStar.com

SPORTS | B5

Brother Jed: Students express their views on the traveling preacher’s religious speeches in The Quad.

Recruitment Report: This week The University Star features a three-day series on the 27 recruits Coach Dennis Franchione signed for the 2014 class.

CRIME

HIGH RANKING

HOUSING

University leads state in drug arrests By Traynor Swanson News Reporter

Texas State

N

ot only are Bobcats being busted for drug possession more than any other students in the state, but the university is also ranked in the top 20 in the nation for campus drug arrests, according to a recent study. Rehabs.com, a website that aims to provide professional medical help for people who struggle with substance abuse problems, found Texas State to have the most campus drug arrests in the state. The study UTSA ranks Texas State 16th in the country for drug arrests, the only school in the state to 4.58 drug arrests place in the top 50. per thousand students The site’s researchers recorded Texas State as having approximately 7.5 drug arrests per thousand students in 2011, the most recent year that statistics were available. Ranking second and third in the state are UTSA and the University of Texas at Austin with an estimated 4.58 and 1.5 drug arrests per thousand students respectively in 2011, UT—Austin according to the study. The State University 1.5 drug arrests of New York Oneonta took the number one per thousand students spot, having about 13.61 arrests per thousand students. The University of Colorado at Boulder had the second highest number of arrests in the nation with an estimated 13.57 per thousand. Jon Millward, lead researcher in the study, said the data is gathered —Jon Millward, Rehabs.com from college crime statistics distribresearcher uted by the Office of Postsecondary Education, a branch of the Department of Education. The apparently high number alcohol or drug crimes in some colleges could be due to stricter law enforcement on campuses, Millward said. “The more you catch, the more it appears you have, whereas a really druggy or boozy college that does nothing to police its campus might appear to have a clean crime record,” Millward said. 7.5 drug arrests per thousand students

The more you catch, the more it appears you have.”

CRIME

1st in Texas

Allison Brouillette | Staff Photographer The Moore Street Housing Project will be located next to the West Campus Housing Complex, which is currently under construction.

New residence hall to open fall 2016 By Maggie Montes News Reporter

16th in the U.S.

Numbers courtesy of Rehabs.com

An interesting point to consider is the database does not specify which types of drugs were involved in the arrests, Millward said. “50 marijuana arrests aren’t equivalent in any sense to 50 heroin arrests,” Millward said. “This is one of the many reasons the results need to be interpreted with caution and ideally seen as an extra reference point in the drug debate as opposed to the final word on the matter.” Daniel Benitez, University Police Department captain, said Texas State is transparent with arrest information by making it available online. “I haven’t seen this (Rehabs.com) research, so I’m not sure of where they got their information and what their numbers are, but we do have a database online that includes all the incidents with UPD,” Benitez said. Possession of any illegal drug is grounds for an arrest, Benitez said.

See ARRESTS, Page 6

University officials are working with architects to design a new housing complex set to open August 2016 in West Campus near Blanco Hall. Canyon and San Saba Halls as well as the West Maintenance building will be demolished to make way for the Moore Street Housing Project, which is estimated to cost $57 million, said Rosanne Proite, director of Housing and Residential Life. The complex is expected to house 600 beds, said Bill Nance, vice president for Finance and Support Services. “If everything goes as planned, we will start demolition this summer and (the new hall) will open August 2016,” Nance said. The new project will resemble the North Campus Housing Complex because the same company will be constructing it, Proite

said. The room designs for the new residence hall will be similar to those in Gaillardia and Chautauqua Halls, except nine students will share a bathroom rather than 30, she said. The new housing complex will also feature two separate halls with connecting community buildings, Nance said. “SpawGlass Construction was used for our north campus housing and west campus housing, and we’re very happy with their work so we are using them for our Moore Street complex as well,” Proite said. Plans for the Moore Street Housing Project include two living room spaces with kitchens and TV viewing areas, along with pingpong and pool tables, Proite said. The complex will have meeting rooms so students can work on class projects together, she said. “Recreational features are still under development

See MOORE, Page 6

TRANSPORTATION

Gold storage permit possible next fall Home invasion death investigation completed By Juliette Moak News Reporter

By Nicole Barrios Assistant News Editor

The investigation of the death of a man who was allegedly shot by the owner of the home he was burglarizing last month is now complete, and will be sent to the district attorney’s office for review. The sheriff’s office responded to a report of a burglary in progress Jan. 31 at about 2:30 p.m. on the 800 block of Crest Circle Drive, according to a Jan. 31 press release. The homeowner informed deputies that two people were possibly inside the residence, and the Hays County SWAT and Crisis Negotiation Teams were called in. The SWAT team entered the home after “unsuccessful attempts to have the suspect(s) surrender,” according to a Feb. 1 press release from the county. Inside, officers found the body of Kevin Ray Rodriguez of Buda, 20, according to the release. Deputy Tom Ormsby, public information officer at the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, said he did not know if Rodriguez was a student or had any connection to the homeowners. The homeowner reported

Kevin Ray Rodriguez

hearing two people in the house, but only one person was found when SWAT cleared the residence, Ormsby said. Subjects provided information to confirm that Rodriguez acted alone in the burglary, according to Lieutenant Dennis Gutierrez in the release. The case will be presented to the grand jury once the district attorney’s review is complete. “ (The district attorney’s office) will make the determination for it to go to the grand jury,” Ormsby said. “But it will go to the grand jury regardless because someone’s life was lost.” Ormsby said he does not know if the homeowner will face any charges at this time.

Changes to the university parking system are possible in fall 2014 pending final approval of a proposal to designate a “storage” zone in the Mill Street parking lot. An increasing number of residential students are choosing to purchase perimeter permits, necessitating a change in the parking system to ensure spaces for commuters, said Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of Transportation Services. “We’re losing spaces in the Speck lot in the Loop 82 construction, and we’ve lost over 300 in the stadium construction, so we’re just trying to make sure our commuters have some place to park,” Nusbaum said. According to the terms of the proposal, students who live in residence halls would have to choose between purchasing green residential or gold storage permits. Those who purchase the gold permits would pay $115 to temporarily store their vehicles in the Mill Street lot. The proposal includes a price reduction for residential permits, which would be sold at $435 rather than the current price of $485 per year, Nusbaum said. “We wanted to provide residential students with an alternate option,” said Stephen Prentice, assistant director of Transportation Services. “The gold permits would be for those students who made the determination that they don’t need access to their vehicles on a daily basis.” Some residential students who rely on perimeter parking near

Danielle Charles | Staff Photographer Students living in residence halls will no longer be able to purchase perimeter permits. their dorms are upset about the potential changes, said Nicole Shipes, Residence Hall Association president. “It’s very unfair that the only affordable option requires us to park so far away,” Shipes said. “Students just want to be able to park near their homes.” Transportation Services estimates about one-third of the 974 spaces in the Mill Street lot will be designated for gold permits as part of the proposal, since about 800 residents bought perimeter parking permits last year, Prentice said. “There’s no history to it, so the estimation is speculative,” Prentice said. Transportation Services does not anticipate a need to create zones for storage permits in any other lots at this time, Prentice said. “There will be no expanding that

I can envision,” Prentice said. “I don’t know how popular (the gold permits) will be based on how far away the Mill Street lot is.” Shipes said she believes students will choose to purchase the most financially viable permit available even if that means they have to park in the Mill Street lot and ride a bus to campus. “It will be interesting to see what happens because I think everyone will opt to buy a storage pass,” Shipes said. The proposal will be taken to the Texas State Staff Council and the Transportation Services Advisory Council before being presented to the President’s Cabinet for final approval, Nusbaum said. “There could still be some changes made at this point,” Nusbaum said. “But I don’t think there will be any more.”


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