THURSDAY MARCH 12, 2015
VOLUME 104 ISSUE 68 www.UniversityStar.com
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ENVIRONMENT
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Former SAE member tweets racist remarks Matthew Scaggs reads a book March 11 outside of the Freeman Aquatic Biology building.
MADELYNNE SCALES PHOTO EDITOR
Tree care rooted in campus community
By Kelsey Bradshaw NEWS EDITOR @kbrad5
T
rees on campus do more than just provide shade for students on hot Texas days. The Arbor Day Foundation recognized Texas State as a USA Tree Campus. University officials on the Tree Advisory Council apply for the recognition annually. The university must meet five criteria to be recognized. A committee dedicated to the campus’ trees must exist, a care plan has to be in place and finances must be allocated specifically. Additionally, Arbor Day must be observed and a service-learning project has to happen. Nancy Nusbaum, associate vice president of finance and support services, heads the Campus Tree
Advisory Committee. She said the university has applied since 2011 and has been recognized multiple times. “We value trees on campus, because they provide not only a natural beauty to the campus, but they also cool it, provide shade for people to walk under, sit under, study under,” Nusbaum said. “It’s kind of like, if you’re going to value the trees, you should get recognized for it.” Students in the Woody Plants Materials class work with the university’s landscaping department and commit time to auditing each tree on campus. “(Students in the class) go around and look at every tree on campus and see the state of it and make sure that it’s healthy and growing well,” said Hallie Casey, agriculture business and management senior, who was in the class.
85
trees were planted on campus but
forty-two were removed
for various reasons = number of campus trees removed as a result of the Stage 4 drought in Fall 2014
The university’s 14-page care plan details specific actions taken to guarantee trees are tended to. Funding for trees has changed over the years, Nusbaum said. She said in 2012, over $236,00 was devoted to buying trees, mulching, irrigation, pruning, memberships and volunteer hours. Nusbaum said a chipper was purchased that year.
The Arbor Day Foundation recommends universities spend $3 per full-time student on trees, a number Nusbaum said has been exceeded. A total of $133,149 was spent in 2014 on trees. “If you multiply three times 36,000, it’s a little bit more,” Nus-
See TREES, Page 2
HOUSING
Campus housing, meal plan rates increase By Rebecca Banks NEWS REPORTER @r_banks13 Student housing and meal plan rates will increase for the 2015-2016 academic year. The Texas State Board of Regents approved a 3.5 percent increase to
campus housing rates at Feb. 19-20 meetings. A two percent increase in meal plan rates was approved, said Bill Nance, vice president of finance and support services. The cost of campus housing and meal plans has increased slightly over the last 12 years. The steady rise was proposed
by representatives of the Board of Regents as a way to avoid larger, more infrequent increases. “The philosophy behind this is that you want to do these increases incrementally,” said Joanne Smith, vice president of student affairs. “You don’t want to not do (the increases) for three or four years, then
LARA DIETRICH STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Matt Poehl, computer science junior, serves food to Alec Perez, psychology freshman, Feb. 27 at Harris Dining Hall.
somebody’s going to get a 10 to 15 percent increase all of a sudden.” Smith said officials from Housing and Residential Life and Auxiliary Services present rate proposals to the Board of Regents every February. “(Housing and Residential Life) does not get any money from the State or any money from the university, but we have to pay for everything—so electricity, toilet paper, salaries and student desk workers,” said Rosanne Proite, director of housing and residential life. Nance said both departments have self-supporting funds, and most of the revenue comes from payments for housing and meal plans. “Our concern is we have to make sure that all of our bills can be paid because the university isn’t going to come to our rescue,” Proite said. Proite said payments for campus housing are used to fund department salaries, student workers and payment of loans for new and renovated residence halls. Smith said the expenses for Housing and Residential Life total $1.2 million. Officials with Auxiliary Services use the revenue generated from student meal plans to pay Chartwells staff and fund renovations at Jones Dining Hall. The total cost of renovations will be between $16 million
See PLAN INCREASE, Page 2
NEWS BRIEF
Faculty Senate creates new non-voting adjunct position By Jon Wilcox NEWS REPORTER @thrilcox Faculty Senate has established a new position to better educate untenured faculty about the role of the legislative body at Texas State. The Faculty Senate Fellow assignment was created at a March 4 meeting to introduce a nonvoting participant, said Vedaraman Sriraman, vice chair. The senate met with
members of the President’s Cabinet March 11 to further discuss the fellow position. Sriraman said the adjunct-representing member will most likely be selected from the Adjunct Faculty Committee (AFC) and function as a liaison to the group. The umbrella term “adjunct faculty” refers to a variety of untenured instructors. It includes professors in the process of gaining tenure, those who teach part-time and 16 other
classifications of untenured faculty, said Provost Eugene Bourgeois. Adjunct faculty represent an important segment of the university’s teaching body, especially because of steadily rising enrollment, Bourgeois said. Sriraman said a part-time instructor may be contracted to teach for a singleyearorsemesterifadepartment has a need for an additional section. Bourgeois said he hopes the new Faculty Senate Fellow assignment
will help to inform the AFC on topics including merit raises. “By just being here week after week they’ll gain familiarity with issues that confront the entire campus community,” Sriraman said. “They will share their experiences.” Debra Feakes, faculty senator, said the position has not yet been filled. Senators hope to fill the position to by Fall or Spring 2016. “We’d like to get them in earlier if we could,” Feakes said.
By Kelsey Bradshaw NEWS EDITOR @kbrad5 A Texas State student posted racially charged tweets seen circling social media Wednesday afternoon. Turner Coulson, public administration junior, identified himself as a member of the Texas State Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity in his Twitter biography. His Twitter account, @ PresidentTKC, has since been deleted. The fraternity’s Twitter account, @TexasStateSAE, identified Coulson as one of its members in an Aug. 3 2014 tweet. Twitter user @curlyheadRED posted a screenshot of Coulson’s tweets Wednesday on her account. “Let’s start gangs and shoot each other and attack cops,” Coulson said, according to @curlyheadRED’s tweet. “Then maybe the media will like us.” Coulson made his Instagram account private. The fraternity’s website has been taken down for unknown reasons. Coulson’s tweets included one stating, “If it was black people singing about crackers we would never hear a word about it. #SAltinEs.” Matt Garrity, SAE chapter president, could not be reached for comment. According to a San Antonio Express-News article, Margarita Arellano, dean of students, said Coulson has not been an active member of SAE since February. Coulsoncouldnotbereachedforcomment.
CITY
City officials use activity kits to assess public opinion By Exsar Arguello NEWS REPORTER @Exsar_Misael
San Marcos residents have a second opportunity to assess their subdivisions through “Brand Your Neighborhood” activity kits. The kits are part of a citywide initiative allowing citizens to share concerns and comments about their neighborhoods. Kits are provided by the Planning and Development Services Department. They include questions, maps and other activities about the city will use to assess neighborhoods, said Abby Gilfillan, San Marcos permit manager. “Using the colors red, blue and green, residents can color-code areas they feel need help or preservation in their neighborhoods,” Gilfillian said. Red represents constraints such as abandoned buildings, dangerous routes and environmental hazards, Gilfillian said. Blue represents opportunities for improvement, like empty lots, developments in public space or amenities. Green represents assets such as natural beauties, meeting places and areas to walk. Gilfillan said the kits establish no “limitations” on what residents can write. “There are sections for individual notes and pictures so the city can have a better idea (about) what it is you want to improve,” Gilfillan said. Residents can turn packets in to the Planning and Development Services office, said Paul Murray, representative for the Sessom Creek neighborhood. Kits are due March 31 for recording. Gilfillan said the kit initiative represents the second round of data collecting by the city for the project. Murray said some neighborhoods did not give the city enough feedback and involvement the first time the kits were sent out to the public. The kits are part of the comprehensive plan Vision San Marcos: A River Runs Through Us, Murray said. The comprehensive plan includes the land development code. Code SMTX is a rewrite of the current land development laws. “What Code SMTX is supposed to do is take the comprehensive plan and have it reflected in the land development code,”
See NEIGHBORHOODS, Page 2