Sept 11

Page 1

THURSDAY

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014 VOLUME 104 ISSUE 15

D efending the First Amendment since 1911

www.UniversityStar.com

COMMON EXPERIENCE

JOHN STALSBY STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Keith Needham, English senior lecturer, sits next to signs used for the Common Experience theme celebrating 50 years of desegregation.

Texas State celebrates 50 years of integration By Benjamin Enriquez NEWS REPORTER

I

n fall 1963, Dana Jean Smith, Georgia Hoodye, Gloria Odoms, Mabeleen Washington and Helen Jackson walked onto the Southwest Texas State campus and became the first African-Americans to attend, marking the beginning of what has now been 50 years of integration at the university.

The 2014-2015 Common Experience theme, “Exploring Democracy’s Promise: From Segregation to Integration,” aims to show the struggles of desegregation and the importance of integration. The theme raises the question of how people internalize change. Keith Needham, English senior lecturer and member of the Common Experience committee, loaned two signs to the university that say “White

Waiting Room” and “Colored Waiting Room.” Needham said he acquired the signs by chance 25 years ago. The signs originally hung in the Santa Fe railroad station in Lubbock, Texas until President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “When you see them for the first time, it really does kick you in the stomach because it brings to reality the whole Jim Crow era,” Needham said. The signs represent the past and

now are a means to show how attitudes and times have changed, he said. “People often say we haven’t come very far, but there’s no way you can look at these signs and say we haven’t,” Needham said. “I know prejudice and racism is very much embedded in the American culture, but it is no longer the law of the land, and that demon-

strates how far we’ve come.” Needham acquired the signs when he was a student at Southwest Texas State in the mid 1980s driving through an Austin neighborhood with a friend. They passed a woman in her front yard about to set fire to a burn pile, and the two signs were on the top of the pile.

SEE INTEGRATION, PAGE 2

When you see them for the first time, it really does kick you in the stomach, because it brings to reality the whole Jim Crow era. People often say we haven’t come very far, but there’s no way you can look at these signs and say we haven’t.” —Keith Needham, English senior lecturer

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

UNIVERSITY

Student Government officials New campus solicitation rules force some organizations to find alternative funding discuss rebranding tactics By Nicholas Laughlin NEWS REPORTER Student Government (SG) is attempting to repair its reputation on campus after a negative evaluation from an outside consultant last spring. Formerly known as Associated Student Government, the organization dropped ‘associated’ from its name following an evaluation from W.H. “Butch” Oxendine Jr., executive director of the American Student Government Association (ASGA). Oxendine came to the university to determine how ASG was operating. A number of changes were made after his report. The number of senate seats was reduced, and a new constitution was written in hopes of adding more programming for the student body. “The report was a rude awakening,” said Tiffany Young, student body president. “It was extremely brutally honest. It was a lot of stuff that we were aware of, but it was definitely hard to read.” The report that the ASGA put out was “extremely helpful” and was a great document to reference back to during the restructuring process, Young said. “We are working on it,” said Chief Justice Cody DeSalvo. “We will never be complete with working on the organization.” Student Government rewrote its constitution to make the rules more succinct. “We had rules in a lot of places,” DeSalvo said. Senate terms are shorter, and the number of senators has decreased to

make SG more effective. The first meeting of the fall went well, said Christian Carlson, senate pro tempore. This year the SG senate has many new senators who haven’t been a part of student government before, he said. “We have taken the advice of the consultant who came down, and we have definitely changed things,” Carlson said. “With all these new incoming senators, it’s very eye-opening to them.” Since decreasing the size of the senate, SG has tried to diversify the senators to hopefully make the chamber more effective than before, Carlson said. “We don’t want people that are here for resume builders,” Young said. “We really want to make sure that students are here to do their job.” Part of the rebranding was dropping ‘Associated’ from the organization’s title. “Everyone abbreviated it to ‘ASG,’ and no one really knew what that meant,” Young said. The new name change will hopefully make the organization stronger, Young said. “It’s more blatant as to who we are,” Carlson said. SG has plans in place to rebrand its new role on campus by updating its logo and seal, revamping the website and mission statement and recreating how it is seen on social media, Young said. Advocacy, service, democracy, leadership and integrity are the core values or “pillars” of SG, Young said. The ASGA included a question as

See SG, Page 2

By Karen Munoz NEWS REPORTER This year, some student organizations might have to find alternative ways to raise money. According to the University Policy and Procedure Statement No. 07.04.03, student organizations can use only gas grills between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., booths may be approved for no more than ten university days per month and solicitation that involves the sale of items

found at the University Bookstore is prohibited. Apparel has to be approved by Auxiliary Services, and the director of University Marketing must approve use of the university’s logo. Additionally, registered student organizations are prohibited from co-sponsoring solicitation with non-university entities. Chartered student organizations can still receive co-sponsorships. Eligible locations for solicitation were also updated through the policy change, now allowing organizations to solicit at Bobcat Trail. Before the ad-

dition of Bobcat Trail, students were allowed to solicit at The Quad, the LBJ Student Center Mall and the LBJ Student Center Patio. Some of these changes, like the gas grill-only policy, are necessary for safety reasons, said Brenda Lenartowicz, associate director of Student Involvement. The changes mean that organizations like the Hispanic Business Student Association (HBSA), which usually earns most of its revenue through

See SOLICITATION, Page 2

UNIVERSITY

Students petition against development of Cape’s Camp, Thompson’s Island By Houston York NEWS REPORTER In the November 2012 elections, three quarters of San Marcos residents voted in favor of acquiring 70 acres of riverfront property for parkland, located at IH-35 and River Road, that is known as Cape’s Camp and Thompson’s Island. The Thornton family, who owned the property, were not willing to sell the land to the city, and it would have had to have been acquired through eminent domain, which 51 percent of the voters opposed.

The Thorntons intended to sell the property to developers, who would build a 306-unit, 1,000-bedroom student housing project, said Mayor Daniel Guerrero. They pursued a planned development district, a negotiation through which they were allowed to move forward with their plans and donate 20 acres of riverfront property to the city for parkland use free of cost. City council voted 5-2 in favor of a zoning change that would allow the construction of student housing known as The Woodlands on 45 acres of the property. The agreement for the housing and

20-acre parkland donation has some students concerned. Katie Smith, biology junior, started a petition on Change.org appealing to the council to stop construction on the San Marcos River. Smith said her main goal with the petition was to create awareness so people will know about the issue in hopes that something can be done. “I’m not doing this to bash city council,” Smith said. “I just think they should reconsider what they did.” Ulises Gonzalez, economics and

See PETITION, Page 2


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