VOLUME 103, ISSUE 58
www.UniversityStar.com
WEDNESDAY
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
Defending the First Amendment since 1911
VIDEO | UniversityStar.com
SPORTS | Page 5
Bryan Poyser is a faculty member at Texas State who directed a movie called “Love & Air Sex.”
Extra innings defeat: The Texas State baseball team took an early lead against Rice in Houston, but lost 4-3 in the bottom of the 11th.
CONSTRUCTION UNIVERSITY
Regents to convene at Texas State New bill will require meeting to be accessible to community online By Sarah Pollok News Reporter
Demolition of Clear Springs Apartments is planned to begin next month. The area will be converted to parkland.
Madelynne Scales | Assistant Photo Editor
CLEARING OUT
University apartment complex to be demolished for parkland By Kelsey Bradshaw Senior News Reporter
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n lieu of costly renovations, officials have decided to demolish the closed university-owned Clear Springs Apartments to convert the riverside property into parkland. The complex closed at the end of September 2013 after it was deemed an “uninhabitable living situation” for it residents, said Bill Nance, vice president for Finance and Support Services. Plans are now in motion to turn the property into an “extension” of Sewell Park. Clear Springs did not meet any of the university’s safety codes, Nance said. The cost to renovate the complex into a livable environment for students was —Juan Guerra, proposed to be around $10 associate vice president million, and converting the of Facilities apartments into offices was expected to total an estimated $20 million. The proposed renovations would be too costly, so officials developed a new plan for the space, Nance said. The apartment complex consists of four buildings sitting along the San Marcos River across the street from Sewell Park and near Saltgrass Steak House.
It will be a nice green space where the concrete used to be.”
The Clear Springs Apartments lot was used as a perimeter parking zone during the fall 2013 semester. All of the buildings will be demolished, as well as the Hillburn House located on the property, said Juan Guerra, associate vice president of Facilities. All of the apartments’ foundations will be demolished, and the asphalt of the parking lot will be removed beginning in March. The parking lot behind the Korner Stop convenience store, located next to the complex, will remain, Nance said. The demolition of Clear Springs and the creation of a grassy recreation and leisure park on the prop-
See CLEAR SPRINGS, Page 2
The university will host the first board of regents meeting under a bill passed by the Texas House of Representatives last year requiring more transparency from the system later this month. Under House Bill 31, all meetings of “the governing board of a general academic teaching institution or a state university system” must be accessible by the general public online. The webcasts are required to be archived for future viewings. Governor Rick Perry signed the bill into law in June. The meeting will be held in the LBJ Student Center Feb. 27 and will be available as a webcast online. The board of regents is the governing board for Texas State and other universities in the Texas State University System (TSUS), said Robert Gratz, special assistant to the university president. The board is governed by nine members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate, according to the board of regents website. Mike Wintemute, director of communications for the board of regents, said the quarterly meetings rotate to various universities within TSUS. Students normally cannot attend every meeting because of their locations, but by having the meetings available online students have “an opportunity to view them from wherever,” he said. It is not known how many people are expected to watch the meeting online since this is the first time it will be streamed. Attendance at meetings vary depending on which issues are presented, but most meetings have anywhere from 50 to 100 people present, Wintemute said. Administrators are not concerned about any technical difficulties in streaming the event. “We think we’ve developed a good plan,” Gratz said. “We look forward to the opportunity to provide this service.” Matthew Russell, student regent, said the structure of the meeting will remain the same. The upcoming meeting’s webcast, as well as all future meetings, will be available on the TSUS website under the board of regents page, Wintemute said. Russell said he hopes students will watch the meetings so they can learn about the board of regents. “I always encourage students to come and watch,” he said. “It gives a sense of transparency.”
UNIVERSITY
Trauth opens doors again for spring semester By Nicole Barrios
Assistant News Editor
More Texas State students attended this semester’s Open Door session with President Denise Trauth Tuesday than in the past. The first session of the semester was held in the LBJ Student Center, with 12 students in attendance as opposed to the nine that attended last spring semester. They were able to speak with Trauth and Joanne Smith, vice president of Student Affairs. The students were allowed 15-minute sessions of one-on-one time to voice their issues with Trauth and Smith in a private meeting room. “It was interesting,” Trauth said. “At least half of the students came asking for advice.” Students asked her how to set goals and overcome adversity. “Several of the students were first generation college students, and they were asking these kinds of questions in that context of ‘how can I, as a first generation college student, set goals for success in college?’
See OPEN DOOR, Page 2
LIBRARY
‘False alarm’ evacuates Alkek By Kelsey Bradshaw
Senior News Reporter
Madelynne Scales | Assistant Photo Editor Eamon Bachari, computer science junior, Colin Iliff, environmental studies junior, and Courtney Eberhard, environmental studies sophomore, prepare for a discussion Feb. 18 with President Denise Trauth regarding plans for their organization at the Open Door session.
Students were evacuated from the Alkek Library and teaching theater Tuesday morning after a smoke alarm was set off during elevator maintenance work. Workers escorted students, faculty and staff outside and marked the library with caution tape around 9 a.m. John Guerra, University Police Department officer, said the evacuation was prompted by dust that set off the smoke alarm. “Elevator maintenance is working on the elevator and some smoke blew up into the smoke detector and it just set off the alarm,” Guerra said. “It was just kind of a false alarm type thing.” The students, faculty and staff evacuated from the teaching theater did not resume class after officials reset the smoke alarm.