VOLUME 103, ISSUE 39
www.UniversityStar.com
WEDNESDAY
NOVEMBER 20, 2013
Defending the First Amendment since 1911
VIDEO | UniversityStar.com
TRENDS | Page 5
Remembering Camelot was an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy.
Winter fashion: Winter is viewed by many as a standout season for fashion because it is the one time a year that brings scarves, hats, gloves, coats, sweaters and boots into style.
CITY COUNCIL
Smoking e-cigarettes to be allowed in vape shops after ordinance amendment By James Carneiro News Reporter
City councilmembers voted unanimously Tuesday to exempt “vape” shops from the citywide public smoking ban, which was passed early last month. City Manager Jim Nuse defined a vape shop as a store selling electronic cigarettes where people can pick out flavors of tobacco and “vape” in the establishment if desired. Vape shop owners voiced concern that the ordinance would force them out of business. Under the recently approved ordinance, smoking is prohibited in any public place or park, in enclosed areas owned by the city and enclosed workplaces.
smoking, said Mayor Daniel Guerrero. Vape shops needed this amendment in order to stay in business as well, Guerrero said. The conversation then turned to how a vape shop would be defined. Cosentino said a business is called a vape shop if electronic cigarettes are the primary source of business. Thomaides asked if people could smoke in a convenience store since it sells cigarettes. Cosentino answered no, saying cigarettes do not make up the majority of a convenience store’s business. “Vape is their main stock and trade, so they can sell them,” Cosentino said. Thomaides said the definition of “primary” could be
Numbers courtesy of Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of Transportation Services
RAM S T L TOTAEL COST DIES
FY 2011 $460,000
FY 2014 $823,000 FY 2015 $900,000+ TRANSPORTATION
(projected)
Bus fees rising next fall to fund new contract, increased oil prices
“If you allow this to occur in these shops, does that mean you are allowing a bar to sell (vapes)?” —John Thomaides, City Council Place 3 Much of the council’s discussion revolved around whether it was appropriate to amend the ordinance after much debate and work had been put into the recently approved one. Councilman John Thomaides, Place 3, said the council had discussed the current ordinance a number of times already and reached a consensus on it. “Now we are being asked to change it,” Thomaides said. Thomaides said he was concerned about inconsistencies popping up if vape shops were exempted from the ordinance. “If you allow this to occur in these shops, does that mean you are allowing a bar to sell (vapes)?” Thomaides said. City Attorney Michael Cosentino said the language of the amendment would ban bars from selling vapes, thus clearing up the inconsistency. Thomaides asked whether simple tobacco stores would allow people to smoke inside. Tobacco stores would allow
subjective, and amending the ordinance might lead to unintended consequences in the future. The legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington is resulting in marijuana shops popping up all over those states, Thomaides said. “This is the last thing I’ll say,” Thomaides said. “If marijuana becomes legal, we’ll have to allow it in (San Marcos) shops.” Cosentino said the chances of San Marcos stores eventually selling marijuana were not likely, even if it was legalized in Texas. Above all, the ordinance would keep the same definition of smoking, Cosentino said. “It doesn’t matter what’s in the pipe, it just has to be smoked,” Cosentino said. Councilman Wayne Becak, Place 4, proposed an additional amendment stating 85 percent of a vape shops’ revenue must come from electronic cigarettes in order to be exempted from the ordinance. The councilmembers approved this and the main amendment unanimously.
Chris Motz | Star File Photo
By Liza Winkler Managing Editor
T
he Bobcat Tram system will undergo a facelift to improve operations and budget efficiency once the student bus fee increase is implemented in fall 2014. Students passed a referendum in April that will raise the bus fee from $78 to $95 next fall. The bus fee increase will help sustain the university’s contract with Veolia Transportation, which will replace First Transit as Texas State’s bus provider. Veolia will be fully operational in late August, bringing with it a fleet of 43 new 40-foot buses, said Nancy Nusbaum, interim director of Transportation Services. The buses will begin arriving in May and will continue to funnel in throughout the summer, Nusbaum said. Veolia was se-
lected this past spring to replace First Transit through an interview, presentation and reference checking process with input from students and administrators. In addition to the new bus fleet, Veolia’s maintenance facility will soon be under construction on Posey Road and is scheduled for completion in May, Nusbaum said. The First Transit buses currently in operation are each about 10 years old, said Steven Herrera, interim shuttle service manager. “They are different fleets, so they were bought at different times,” Herrera said. “They’ve been in service a long time, and First Transit has done a good job of maintaining what they have. When equipment gets that old, it’s difficult to keep it in a likenew state.” Herrera said Aug. 8, 2014 will be First Transit’s last operation
date at Texas State, and the following day Veolia will take over the tram system. Veolia will conduct simulation routes during the week of Aug. 11, 2014 with safety instructors, drivers and operators in preparation for the school year. Any dollar a fee is raised by is one less dollar that can be increased elsewhere, said Gordon Thyberg, assistant vice president for Budgeting, Financial Planning and Analysis. University officials must consider potential hikes “holistically,” Thyberg said.
“We don’t have the luxury of throwing lots of money at the shuttle system.” —Steven Herrera, interim shuttle service manager The rate with Veolia will cost $84.32 per service hour, an estimated $10 increase from the current contract with First Transit, Nusbaum said. Officials may have needed to use reserve funding, cut back on service hours or eliminate routes if Veolia charged a higher price for ser-
See BUSES, A2
UNIVERSITY
College sees record enrollment, produces most teachers in state By Autumn Bernhart News Reporter
Texas State is continuing its historic trend as the highest teacher-producing university in the state, with over-
Top teacher-producing universities National Ranking
1. University of Phoenix 2. Illinois State 3. Arizona State 4. Texas State
all and freshman enrollment numbers in the College of Education reaching record levels this fall. According to reports by the office of Enrollment Management and Marketing, the College of Education had a total of 4,517 students in fall 2011. Institutional Research’s preliminary student enrollment numbers show 4,646 students enrolled in the College of Education this fall. Historically, the university is one of the largest producers of teachers in Texas. Texas State is currently ranked number one as the largest university-based preparer of teachers in the state, said Patrice Werner, chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education. According to Jim Van
Overschelde, assistant professor for Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education, Texas State is ranked fourth in the nation in the same category. He said the university only falls behind the University of Phoenix, Illinois State and Arizona State. “We are still down in numbers of producing teachers compared to other years, but the numbers entering our program are coming back up,” Werner said. “This means we haven’t seen the results on the output end of it yet, but we are hopeful that in two years time we will be back up to the numbers we had in the past and surpass them.” In fall 2011, 776 freshmen entered the College of Education, according to student enrollment data from Institutional Research. This
Bethanie James | Star Photo Illustration Leticia Aguilar, education sophomore, aims to teach second grade Spanish in the future.
fall, 849 freshmen are enrolled in the College of Education, the largest amount in 11 years, which has nearly doubled the numbers recorded a decade ago when 444 were enrolled in 2003. Job prospects for bilingual, spe-
cial needs, elementary, science and math teachers have been positive lately and are in high demand, Werner said. “I choose Texas State purely be-
See EDUCATION, A2