September 17 2015

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TO SEE MORE GREAT DATE PLACES go online to star.txstate.edu THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 VOLUME 105 ISSUE 13

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UNIVERSITY

Over 2,500 classified presidential daily briefs released from LBJ, JFK presidencies By Alexa Tavarez NEWS EDITOR @lexicanaa

The Central Intelligence Agency released over 2,500 highly classified daily briefs from the Johnson and Kennedy presidency Wednesday. CIA Director John Brennan and other top national intelligence officials gathered at the LBJ Presidential Library at the University of Texas to release the collection of day-to-day summaries

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of intelligence and analysis. The presidential daily briefs (PDBs) addressed the national security issues from 1961-1969 under Texas State alumnus Lyndon B. Johnson’s and John F. Kennedy’s presidential terms. “It is all here with the story of our time, with the bark off, ” Brennan said, quoting Johnson himself. The daily briefings are the first presidential PDBs to be released to the public. Brennan said PDBs from

the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford will be released next year. “Public releases of historical significant documents like this don’t just happen,” said Joseph Lambert, director of information management services. “They require a great amount of collaboration and work.” Readers can find “sporty and eyebrow-raising” language in the collection of PDBs, Brennan said. In a daily brief prepared on Oct.

17, 1964 for President Johnson, PDB writers paralleled the disposal of Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev and former Yankee Coach Yogi Berra. “In the last few days the ax has been falling all over the world,” the document states. “Not only has it cut down such diverse figures as Khrushchev and Lord Home, but it has shown itself no respecter of either victor or vanquished. Both the Cardinal’s Johnny Keane and the

“PUBLIC RELEASES OF HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS LIKE THIS DON’T JUST HAPPEN. ­—JOSEPH LAMBERT, DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Yankee’s Yogi Berra have felt its edge.” Brennan said PDBs are a vital part of how the modern presidency and White

House operates. The documents have grown in length and sophistication.

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COMMON EXPERIENCE

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STATE

Lower AP scores may be accepted under HB 1992 By Exsar Arguello SENIOR NEWS REPORTER @Exsar_Misael

Future Bobcats may receive more college credit from Advanced Placement exam scores than before due to lower requirements implemented by new legislation passed by the 84th Texas Legislature. House Bill 1992, passed this spring, grants higher education institutions the option to lower AP score requirements. According to the bill, the departments of universities and colleges will have the discretion to lower AP score requirements. The House approved the bill April 16 and the Senate followed suit May 20. The bill became a law June 3, in time for the new school year. Eugene Bourgeois, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said the university’s departments have until Oct. 15 to decide whether or not they will change the AP score requirements. “I have asked academic units for those departments that require a high score to do analysis on their academic success based on their AP scores,” Bourgeois said. “From the results that I have seen, some students who received a three on an AP test do better than students who don’t.” Currently, students who wish to receive credit for the university’s introductory level history courses must receive a minimum score of four on the AP history exam, Bourgeois said. A recent study conducted by the history department suggests students who receive a three on the exam tend to perform better on introductory courses than those who did not receive at least a three, Bourgeois said. “From what we’ve collected, it’s evident that these students are excelling more than those who didn’t take AP in high school,” Bourgeois said. The history department reported 80 percent of students who scored a three on the AP history exam passed History 1310 and 1320 with a C or higher, Bourgeois said. “I learned nothing from my (AP) classes and getting help from a college professor who has dedicated their life to a subject is a lot more helpful towards my education,” said Sarah Marshall, history sophomore.

See HP 1992, Page 2

Distinguished film director Robert Rodriguez speaks at a Common Experience Lecture Sept. 16 at Evans Auditorium.

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Acclaimed film director speaks at LBJ Distinguished Lecture series By Anna Herod ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR @annaleemurphy

Students and faculty packed Evans Auditorium Wednesday evening to listen to critically acclaimed screenwriter, film director and producer Robert Rodriguez deliver a speech for the Lyndon Baines Johnson Distinguished Lecture series. Rodriguez’s lecture was the first in an LBJ speaker series as part of this year’s theme “Bridged Through Stories:

Shared Heritage of the United States and Mexico, an Homage to Dr. Tomás Rivera.” This year’s Common Experience was named after Tomás Rivera, Texas State alumnus of the class of 1958. Rivera was recognized nationally as an author of Chicano literature and served as an educator until his passing in 1984. Rodriguez is the founder and CEO of El Rey Network and was involved in writing and producing The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava-

girl, From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado, the films of the Spy Kids franchise and more. As this year’s LBJ Distinguished Lecturer of the year, Rodriguez took the opportunity to talk about his experience in the film industry as a Hispanic. Rodriguez said he was shocked Hispanics were underrepresented in the mainstream film industry. Hispanics only made up two to three percent of the presence in front of and behind the camera, even though Hispanics

ENVIRONMENT

Utility fee ordinance for city beautification under review By Clayton Kelley NEWS REPORTER @Claytonkelley

A proposal to implement an additional utility fee for citizens and business owners was made at the Sept. 1 city council meeting. Amy Kirwin, coordinator for Keep San Marcos Beautiful, said the money collected through the fee would provide extra funding for environmental projects. “Keep San Marcos Beautiful is a great program which helps manage environmentally friendly projects and helps coordinate countless cleanup initiatives in the city of San Marcos,” Kirwin said. If approved by city council, the additional charge

would be enforced starting next January. Kirwin said businesses would be required to pay $5 toward the bill while residents would only be charged $1 if the utility fee was implemented. “I believe this proposition would be a great and well deserved one for the city of San Marcos,” Kirwin said. “City council has been discussing beautification for years and they haven’t really put very much money behind it.” The initiative began in 2009, but was never a recurring item on the city budget until last year, she said. “Last year, city council gave Keep San Marcos Beautiful $20,000 to help with the project,”

Kirwin said. “It was clear that this was not enough to accommodate all of the beautification initiatives that needed to be done in San Marcos.” After the proposal was made, city council members directed Kirwin to conduct research and form a detailed plan about how the fee would be implemented by the city. The Mural Arts Commission, a program encouraging the creation of mural paintings instead of graffiti, would receive funding from the fee as well, Kirwin said. “Ever ything is still currently in the works,” Kirwin said. “We have to figure out how we will as-

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make up 17 percent of the nation’s population. He said when he pitched the idea for Spy Kids, the studio wanted to know why the family “had to be Hispanic” and worried the cast’s ethnicity would minimize the audience. “You don’t have to be British to enjoy James Bond,” Rodriguez said. “By making (the characters) specific, (the story) becomes more universal.” Rodriguez said if he wasn’t Hispanic he probably would

have “folded” and allowed the characters to be Caucasian actors instead. “I created a network called El Rey Network in order to get more talent in front of and behind the camera that could make those arguments like me,” Rodriguez said. The characters of the movie were based off of Rodriguez’s own family, he said. El Rey Network is in the business of “promoting more diversity and cultivating people’s voices.”

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CITY COUNCIL

City Council candidate Melissa Derrick visits College Democrats Meeting By Lexy Garcia NEWS REPORTER @lexytg

Melissa Derrick, Place 6 city council candidate, attended Texas State’s College Democrats meeting on Wednesday evening. College Democrats formally endorsed Melissa Derrick unanimously. After eating pizza and distributing yard signs, Derrick took questions from students. When asked how she will keep people in San Marcos with the issue of gentrification, Derrick pointed to jobs. “We’ve got a regional economic development team working in conjunction with an incentives board,” Derrick said. “We’ve also got Amazon. The jobs have

decent wages with benefits, which is something San Marcos is seriously lacking.” Derrick proposed a $10 fee for public access to the San Marcos River to pay for river conservation efforts. “We need to attract the right kind of people than just a free-for-all,” Derrick said. “People can just drive up and jump out with a 12-pack and drink all day, sitting in the water.” Derrick said the $10 fee would attract a demographic that can afford to pay for access to the river. The fee would fund more trash receptacles and hire additional park rangers, she said. “Tourist dollars are big for us,” Derrick said. “With that tax revenue we can do

See DERRICK, Page 2


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