20th Sept Edition

the MercuryThe Student Newspaper of UTD

‘The Scrubs’ get down and dirty for football season

Drugs, sex and alcohol, Poetry Slam has it all

0 Page 7

Vol. XXX, No. 11

www.utdmercury.com

Are you racist?

Page 3

September 20, 2010

Crowd goes wild for local multi-billionaire

Owner of the Dallas Mavericks and multi-billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban spoke Sept. 14 in the School of Management building as part of the Entrepreneur Club’s speaker series. Full audio available online: utdmercuryblog.com.

photo by Amanda Duke

Rebecca GomezStaff Writer

[email protected]

Wi-Fi woes unresolved Artist hopes to

expand cartoon audience

Waterview Park apart-ment residents are now required to pay a manda-tory $15 per month fee for the recently acquired AT&T Wi-Fi internet service. Some residents, tired of the unreli-able network, have chosen to pay an additional monthly charge to add Time Warner’s internet service.

Undecided junior Michael Stettler and his three room-mates represent many resi-dents who, after being told that the $15 fee was not cancelable, still found it worth their while to pay for an additional carrier.

Stettler said he and his roommates share a $30 monthly bill for Time Warner internet which provides them 15 megabits (MB) per second speed in addition to the $15 per resident fee Waterview charges for one MB per second speed on a good day.

Residents of Waterview were not charged an inter-net usage fee prior to May, but were notified on their leasing contracts a fee would be imposed once Waterview found a new Wi-Fi provider.

In June 2010, a month after the new service rolled out, Waterview had already begun issuing refund credits

Comic creations for all ages

Close-up of Arts & Humanities graduate Ruben Nieto’s portrait, one of many in his collection titled “POW! La Revolucion!” featured at Centraltrak. Nieto’s pieces included familiar faces from his childhood.

photo by Ben Hawkins

Mari VilaStaff Writer

[email protected]

POW! BAM! WHRUNCH! Batman is here to save the day! His DC Comics nemesis of the month will destroy all of Gotham because of generic daddy issues and a yearning for revenge. That makes per-fect sense to a child, but to Arts & Humanities gradu-ate student Ruben Nieto the narrative is weak.

“POW! La Revolucion!” a collection of comic book style paintings by Nieto, will be on display until Oct. 2 at Centraltrak.

The exhibition is co-spon-sored by UTD’s Center for US-Mexico Studies and celebrates the 200th anni-versary of Mexico’s inde-pendence from Spain.

Nieto’s paintings feature

large blotches of bright color and feature famil-iar yet unsettling images of comic book characters such as Batman and Daffy Duck.

The paintings, which

feature recycled characters and motifs, decompose the narrative and recon-textualize the imagery in an attempt to redefine the

see INTERNET page 4 see COMIC page 9

Beware: cheating is easy

illustration by Laura-Jane Cunningham

Academic dishonesty could stem from unclear policy


[email protected]

Teaching toleranceMSA educates audience on Islamic culture

In hopes of battling ste-reotypes and overcoming prejudices, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) will host a 9/11 commem-oration.

Biology senior and MSA member Sunna Syed said the events’ main purpose is to remember the 3,000 people who lost their lives that day, while a second-ary purpose is to educate

the community about Islamic culture.

Syed said 9/11 often places Muslims under the spotlight, and negative stereotypes often ensue.

“(The event) is sort of a way of saying we were hurt by this too, as equally if not more hurt on 9/11, because it was our reli-gion that was hijacked,” Syed said. “They killed in the name of Islam, in the name of Muslims, in the name of a god and prophet that we hold very

dear and we’re not ok with that.”

Marketing junior and MSA member Azim Sookoor said the actions of a few shouldn’t reflect on the majority of many.

Part of MSA’s hope to educate people about Islamic culture involves an Imam, the leader of prayer at Mosque, who will lecture on Islam and terrorism and then answer

Jessica MeltonEditor-in-Chief

[email protected]

see MSA page 4

Students collaborating on schoolwork without express written consent by their pro-fessors can be guilty of aca-demic dishonesty and possi-bly expelled from UTD.

Fixing how collusion is addressed is not within the scope of the academic-integ-rity policy review committee set to convene this month, said Dean of Students Gene Fitch.

“The reality is that some professors will tell you what the point of collusion is and some won’t,” Fitch said.

Collusion is the point where student collaboration on homework, essays or ex-ams is considered cheating by a professor. Intentional collusion is obvious cheat-

ing like students in different sections of a course sharing exam answers or plagiariz-ing each other’s papers. Collusion can also be unin-tentional; meaning if a stu-dent steals another student’s exam and uses it to cheat both students can be equally guilty of academic dishon-esty.

Accounting junior Paul Im said his rough draft for a final paper was stolen and used by a fellow classmate to write a nearly identical paper.

Im said he explained to Judi-cial Affairs Officer (JAO) Susan McKee in Judicial Affairs (JA) that his notes were taken with-out his knowledge because he had already finished his paper and no longer needed the notes. Im was found guilty of

see POLICY page 6

?

? ? ?? ?

?

?

2 September 20, 2010 www.utdmercury.comOpinion the Mercury

Editorial Board

Jessica Melton, Editor-in-ChiefShane Damico, Managing Editor

James Woolley, Advertising ManagerLaura-Jane Cunningham, Graphics Editor

Alex Hays, Social Media Editor Swaroop Rayudu, Web Editor

[email protected]

The Mercury Editorial Board voted 6-0 in favor of this editorial. The board consists of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, managing editor, advertis-ing manager, graphics editor, social media editor and web editor. The board will discuss, debate and develop editorial positions on issues affecting the UTD community. We welcome your responses at [email protected].

Opinions expressed in The Mercury are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the university administration, the University of Texas System Board of Regents or the Student Media Operating Board.

Editorial and business offices are in Student Union, Room 2.416. Telephone: 972-883-2286. Mailing address; SU 24, Richardson, TX 75080.

Editor-in-Chief Jessica Melton

Managing Editor Shane Damico

Advertising ManagerJames Woolley

Graphics Editor Laura-Jane Cunningham

Web EditorSwaroop Rayudu

Social Media EditorAlex Hays

Photographers

Albert RamirezBrandon Higgins

Media AdviserCristen Hixson

Staff WritersRebecca Gomez

Mari Vila

Contributors

Danelle AdenijiNada Alasmi

Richard ArduengoJameshia Bankston

Anwesha BhattacharjeeAmanda DukeBen Hawkins

Lauren MonsalveMichelle Nguyen

Adita Vira

The Mercury is pub-lished on Mondays, at two-week intervals during the long term of The University of Texas at Dallas, except holidays and exam periods, and once every three weeks during the summer term.

Advertising is accepted by The Mercury on the basis that there is no discrimina-tion by the advertiser in the offering of goods or services to any person, on any basis prohibited by applicable

law. Evidence of discrimi-nation will be the basis of denial of advertising space. The publication of advertis-ing in The Mercury does not constitute an endorse-ment of products or services by the newspaper, or The University of Texas at Dallas, or the governing board of the institution.

Copyright © 2010UT Dallas

E-MAIL:[email protected]

MAIL:800 W. Campbell Road, SU 24, Richardson, TX 75080-0688

the Mercury

“(Cheating) happens frequently and there isn’t anything anyone can do.”

Arvin TanejaBusiness sophomore

“Since we’re in college now it’s more impor-tant.”

Raji PathakMathematics freshman

“I think the policy is taken pretty serious on campus.”

Kaci FromanLiterary studies senior

“Professors should restruc-ture assignments so stu-dents can work in groups.”

Caleb BrackensBusiness senior

“I think it’s high time for the policy to be bet-ter enforced.”

Devan SamineediGraduate student

“In college it’s taken more seriously.”

Garrett TrickeyEngineering freshman

What’s your opinion of

academic integrity on

campus?

Comet Comments

Academic integrity policies are up for review, but the areas that sorely need revision are being ignored.

The prosecution of collusion cases, and the universities definition of the term, deserve more attention as the process currently allows students to be convicted subjectively, but pun-ished objectively.

The judicial affairs website defines collusion as any instance a student participates in an act of scholarly thought with another person.

Cases of collusion are not to be con-fused with cheating which, defined by the university, means one student

took another students’ work without permission.

On the same website it singles out transferring a file from one persons account to another as collusion, and states that any group and study work should be identified on the syllabus.

Under the current definition there is no distinction made between a study group and people who share answers on an exam. With that level of variance, students should be given better warning of policies that could cause them to be sent to the Office of Academic Integrity.

With this system in place, students

could accidentally commit acts of aca-demic dishonesty. Once charged the student must present absolute proof they were not cheating to satisfy the guilty-until-proven-innocent system.

It would be difficult to standardize policies for all classes since differences exist between labs and lectures.

It makes sense for professors to set their own guidelines since they are likely to be reporters of academic dishonesty.

If rules existed from the beginning of each course, there would be no question or gray areas when academ-ic dishonesty is called into play.

Academic integrity policy revision needs refocus, redirectionEditorial Board

‘Too long; didn’t read’ or ‘tl;dr’ is a phrase that’s been popping up more and more on the Internet as a way of telling people their post was too long and warrants a shorter explanation. It’s time for people to learn, if you can’t tell me something in less than 140 char-acters, I don’t care.

And no, I don’t think this is destruc-tive or backwards.

With new websites offering individual perspectives popping up every day, those consumed with it thirst for information in convenient packages.

One reason the Internet and social networking sites have become so popular is because they allow users to build vir-tual communities. As President Obama demonstrated with his Facebook campaign, the ability for users to reply back to posts only furthered the notion that he was a man for the people.

With each social networking site offering a slightly different experience, leaders and their

teams have learned to adapt to audiences. Twitter, for exam-ple, has a 140-character limit. Although packing vital informa-tion in 140 characters might have been a daunting task for leaders accustomed to giving speeches, they adapted flaw-

lessly, and users were able to stay informed, educat-ed and interested without being over-whelmed by lengthy posts.

tl;dr: Leaders like Obama have suc-ceeded in gaining the youth’s favor because of their

ability to be simple and concise.I just wrapped up paragraphs

worth of argument into 113 characters. If this was Twitter, I would have had 27 characters to spare. See my point?

On June 13, 2009, trending topics were almost all exclusive-ly focused on indignation and anger following Iranian elec-tions. Tweets were generated too rapidly for the Iranian gov-ernment to censor adequately, and what resulted was an inside look of what the people of Iran were experiencing.

And is it a coincidence that Twitter, the social networking

website most bashed for being impersonal, was the one to house this revolution? Not in your dreams! If the good people of Iran were taking their sweet time writing blog posts the gov-ernment would have had time to step in and censor them.

tl;dr: Twitter’s speed and effectiveness liberates us and emphasizes the truth.

But screw politics for a second. Think about your best friend and the last time you talked. Was it over the phone? Was it in class? Or was it through text? Some might argue relationships based through text messaging and social networking websites are superficial.

Alright. You got me there. I agree to some extent. However, it all depends on how you utilize your resources. If you’re sitting in class, you can’t talk to your best friend and have meaningful conversations. But does talking about your professor’s awful, lime green button-down shirt lessen your bond? It doesn’t.

tl;dr: Use the information age to your advantage, but don’t forget that some things are too important to summarize in 140 characters.

But not that. Because that was still only 126.


[email protected]

Respecting the message California dreaming

illustration by Laura-Jane Cunningham

Mari Vila

3September 20, 2010www.utdmercury.com Opinionthe Mercury

As a professor at UTD, I notice different students’ attitudes towards identity, religion and ethnicity.

Some students are anx-ious to assimilate – they are self-conscious if their background is noticed and quickly mention they really don’t relate. Others are clearly comfortable with their heritage, reacting with pride and ease.

Yet others seem to require participation in what some call a “grievance lobby,” reacting strongly to any perceived slight and need-ing to address this publicly.

In the wake of the recent anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center bomb-ing, issues dealing with Islam have gotten much press. At UTD we have heard at least one opin-ion suggest that Muslim students suffer unjust per-secution or stigma, post 9/11. We have also heard a student voice support-ing the construction of a mosque at Ground Zero.

There has also been recent mention of a Muslim student who received a Fulbright Award to study Islamic law (i.e., Shari’a) in Egypt. This achievement was suggested to be a type of potential empowerment for Muslim women and a case of “building bridges” to Islam.

As a long-time observ-er of religion and inter-national politics, I have a rather different opinion. First, it seems clear that the Ground Zero mosque is not about tolerance or wor-ship. Rather, it is a planned showcase for Islamic trium-phalism.

Though I don’t doubt it may occasionally be diffi-cult in a campus setting for students who are reli-giously observant, of any religious persuasion, I see little evidence of persecution

against Muslims in America, and not the slightest hint here at UTD.

If one wishes to speak of persecution, it would appear to be quite the opposite. Islam, as a politi-cal institution, has a noto-rious history for oppress-ing minorities worldwide (Copts, Druze, Bahai, Jews, Buddhists, Hindu, Maronites, Chaldeans, etc.), as Dhimmi (minority people under protection) and Kufir (infidel). This situation con-tinues unabat-ed today.

W o m e n ’ s rights fare par-ticularly poorly under Shari’a, and gays and apostates live under a per-petual death s e n t e n c e . Considered from this per-spective, the situation of Muslim students on American campuses today would scarcely constitute persecution.

While any anti-Muslim bigotry is of course deplor-able, study after study shows incidents of religious attacks against Muslims represents a tiny fraction of anti-religion violence in America (the vast propor-tion being anti-Semitism, followed by anti-Christian violence).

Indeed, many of the so-called “Islamophobia” cases one may read about are purposely exaggerated by political front groups such as Committee on American Islamic Relations to advance Islamist causes.

When one reflects that America has suffered brutal attacks from radical Muslim groups at home and abroad and that we have sacrificed soldiers’ lives in an effort to democratize Muslim countries, a more accurate assessment would be how remarkably tol-erant and patient Americans are with the American Muslim community.

While I suppose the notion of sending Muslim UTD students abroad to study Shari’a in Egypt could foster some religious depth, one wonders whether there is any real potential for building bridges or helping women by training univer-sity students in Shari’a.

Unfortunately, many dis-turbing aspects of Shari’a do not agree with modern notions of universal human rights. For instance, Shari’a

is the basis upon which Muslim men may marry women as young as age 9, Muslim women may be beaten by their hus-bands, caned, or stoned to death, apos-tates are

required to be killed and non-Muslims are granted less rights than Muslims.

If UTD and other aca-demic institutions, such as the Fulbright foundation, wish to help the Muslim world, we should spend money to offer those trapped under Shari’a an opportunity to come here and learn Western civili-zation and human rights. Under the guise of political correctness, we are doing things precisely back-wards.

Just as the Catholic Church saw fit not to estab-lish a convent at Auschwitz in deference to the memo-ry of those who perished in the Holocaust, one would hope that sensitive mem-bers of the Muslim com-munity would respect the memory of those murdered at Ground Zero.

Fortunately, most Americans realize how unbelievably offensive and wrong this proposed venture is. Our university should seek to foster true tolerance and not fall prey to a “grievance lobby” mentality.

Thoughts on ‘Islamophobia’

William Katz

Professor opposes ground zero mosque

William KatzProfessor

[email protected]

As a white guy, in the last election I had two choic-es: vote for McCain and you’re a racist, or Vote for Obama and you only did it because you don’t want people to think you’re a racist… because you’re a racist.

These days black peo-ple are rac-ist toward white people, C h r i s t i a n s t o w a r d Muslims and Mel Gibson is just racist. Studies I read s o m e w h e r e show, at current rates by the end of October every-one will be a racist.

Personally, I inadvertent-ly became a racist on Sept. 1. I went to Fort Worth to see a friend play at a bar and at one point in the night a pretty woman from work asked me point blank to guess what race she was.

After ignoring flash-backs to other “does this dress make me look fat?” moments, I told her based on her fair skin and her habit of speaking Spanish that she must be “Spain”-ish.

The conversation moved quickly and she said, amongst numerous Latinos, that she was a “beaner.” She explained they were all “beaners.” I told them I wasn’t com-fortable with that word.

The rest was a blur until I woke the next morning to texts asking what I had said. A friend explained that she called me a racist because at some point I said “you’re too pretty to be a beaner.”

And there it was. One

missing word, one misun-derstood statement, one ill expressed thought I could barely remember and just like that I became a racist.

The thought that I failed to express was “you’re too pretty to be called a beaner”, even if it was coming from the mouth of a Latina.

But I’m not here to argue my case. My e x t e n s i v e fan base has stuck with me despite this s c a n d a l o u s blow to my reputation. I should be in some sort of rehab soon. What I am here to argue

is the difference between ignorance and prejudice.

You can’t be prejudiced without being ignorant, but you can be ignorant without being prejudiced.

Bigotry, intolerance and racism are all born out of ignorance, but that doesn’t mean ignorance is a red flag for racism. They could just be clueless.

It’s stupid to assume all adults are fully aware of the ins and outs of every culture, of the things that make people who they never see who they are.

Now, I’m OK with peo-ple thinking I’m an idiot. What I’m not OK with is how easily witchcraft 2.0 gets thrown around these days.

If someone never acts like a racist, then odds are they aren’t. Tricking them into making a politi-cally incorrect statement or discovering they misun-derstand something about a group of people doesn’t mean you caught them red-handed.

When people yell racism at the slightest misstep, it acts like inflation. The

word loses its value, and it’s far too important a word to be taken lightly.

Think back to some of the awful things people have done to each other throughout history, if you look close enough, you’ll likely find at its heart is racism in some shape or form.

Sept. 9, Rev. Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla. called off his proposed Quran burning scheduled for Sept. 11 in protest of the “Ground Zero Mosque.” He planned to publically insult and hurt over one billion people. This is rac-ism. This should not be taken lightly.

By putting my misstep on the same level as this, it diminishes the signifi-cance of what this man was planning to do, and that is not OK.

Things like disagree-ment, conflict or misun-derstanding aren’t born out of prejudice, they’re born out of ignorance.

Take a closer look at whoever it is you fail to understand, and often it’s not a racist you’ll find, it’s just someone differ-ent from you. The differ-ence between a racist and an ignoramus is whether or not you’re open to understanding this new and strange person you’re encountering.

Look, I like making jokes at the stupid things peo-ple do just as much as the next guy, but when some-one comes along who deliberately hurts another person because of their race, religion or ethnic-ity, we need the tools to recognize that act for how serious it is.

We need words like “racist” to hold their value, otherwise how will we know when to joke and when to save the boy from the wolves?

John McCraryContributor

[email protected]

I am racist(and you can too!)

John McCrary

www.utdmercury.com the MercuryNews4 September 20, 2010

to assuage all the complaints to both them and AT&T.

Per the community bulle-tin issued by Waterview that same month, every resident who had moved in prior to May 1 was to receive a $30 credit on their account for May and June due to either poor service or no service at all. Residents do not receive a bill from AT&T; they pay a technology fee along with their rent each month to Waterview.

Computer science junior Kenny Rodriguez said the problems stem from the use of hotspot Wi-Fi as residen-tial internet for students. Hotspot Wi-Fi generally broadcasts an internet sig-nal from a fixed location that becomes weaker the further you move away from it.

“When I was living in building 29, my roommates and I could only pick up a signal by standing in one

corner of the living room,” Stettler said.

Stettler and his roommates moved to building 31 and are now able to pick up a sig-nal in two of their bedrooms, albeit a slow one.

Rodriguez, who lives in building 8, can only pick up a signal in his living room and sometimes can’t even log on to use it.

“Frequently, the access points are broadcasting but aren’t routing traffic any-where,” Rodriguez said.

Once a student finds a place in his apartments where a signal can be received, the speed of the connection becomes a problem because the more students who share the available bandwidth the slower the speed becomes.

“It was decently fast at the beginning of this school year, then when everyone came back for fall it crawled to like a tenth or a fifth of a MB per second,” Stettler said.

Along with offers of refunds for poor service, the June bulletin said a firmware

upgrade of the signal broad-casting system, the switch from a single band to a triple band system and the upgrade of a primary receiv-ing antenna would result in improved ser-vice.

Stettler said he attempted to use the internet once the anten-na was upgrad-ed but it was still slow and hard to receive a signal.

On Aug. 31 Waterview addressed the c o n t i n u i n g complaints with another bulle-tin, through e-mail, stating that every resident would have reliable internet within the next 7-14 days or else a non-specific contingency

plan would be implemented.“Nobody has actually

stated what will happen if AT&T doesn’t make their service reliable,” Rodriguez

said.” They’ve just vaguely implied that something will happen.”

As of press time no verifi-able improvements have been

made in the reliability of the network and Waterview Park would only offer the bulletins as their official statement on the issue.

INTERNETcontinued from page 1

UTD Police scannerSept. 1•PD responded to three reports of bicycle theft, two at the University Village Apartments (UV) Phases VI and VIII and one at the Waterview Park Apartments (WV) Phase IV.

•PD responded to a report of minor in possession in UV Phase VIII.

Sept. 2•PD dispatched to Lot F in

response to the theft of two pieces of construction equip-ment.

Sept. 3•Subject at the McDermott Library arrested for criminal trespass.

•PD dispatched to Lot B in response to a reported injury.

Sept. 4•PD responded to suspicious activity report in the UV

Phase VIII and at the Green Center.

•PD responded to student report of bicycle theft at Berkner.

Sept. 5•Student reported burglary of their vehicle and theft of a Nintendo DS at WV.

Sept. 7•Employee reported theft of one fourth tank of gas from

a UTD vehicle located near Founders.

•Student reported bicycle theft at WV.

Sept. 8•Staff member reported theft of a UTD property cell phone at Jonsson.

•Two UTD vehicles were involved in a traffic accident in the UTD Police Department parking lot.

questions from the audi-ence.

Electrical engineering senior and MSA presi-dent Muhammad Khan said he hopes people can learn what Islam is really about. He said a lot of groups are not exposed to the Quran, and don’t know what message it contains.

Some people cur-rently portray Islam as an aggressive religion, and it’s culture as anti-western said Sookoor.

“Hopefully people will walk away with a better understanding, and go home and read,” Khan said. “Read about Islam.”

English translations of the Quran will be avail-able for free at the event.

Syed said the best way to change the perceptions is for people to know a Muslim. She said they are less inclined to ste-reotype a group if they know someone who fits inside it.

The commemoration event will take place at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 20 in the Galaxy Rooms.

MSAcontinued from page 1

illustration by Michelle Nguyen

5September 20, 2010www.utdmercury.comthe Mercury Advertisement

www.utdmercury.com the MercuryNews6 September 20, 2010

Changes to UTD Dining Services and logistics for the upcoming voter registration drive dominated discussion at Student Government’s (SG) second meeting of the semester Sept. 7.

Director of Dining Services Keith Foreman thanked sen-ate for their contribution of ideas to improve Dining Services. Foreman gave a recap of the changes that have already taken place:

• Extended dining hall hours of operation to 9 p.m.

• Students can use their meal plan to purchase food at The Pub.

Foreman also noted upcoming changes:

• The addition of up to three cable televisions in

the Dining Hall and near-by hallway.

• The closing of Coyote Jack’s in the Comet Café.

SG was prompted to participate in an optional survey intended to help Dining Services choose a replacement. Current choices include Papa John’s Pizza and Wild Greens, a salad specialty restaurant.

• A potential smoothie shop on campus. Options include Jamba Juice and Fresh Mango. The location is yet to be determined.

Legislative committee chair and business administration junior Zayd Mabruk present-ed a more detailed plan for “Govern the Vote,” the voter registration drive announced during the last meeting.

Mabruk said the voting drive will consist of three phases:

• A two-week period dur-ing which booths set up around campus will offer reg-istration cards to students.

• Two days specifically dedicated to handing out fly-ers advertising voter registra-tion.

• A party offering free food and prizes to newly reg-istered voters.

Specific dates were unavailable due to the late procurement and delivery of supplies.

Mabruk said the voting drive will occur in mid to

late September, before the Oct. 4 deadline for voter registration.

Mabruk requested an allocation of $2,850 to finance the venture and the motion passed unani-mously.

Others issues on the meeting’s agenda were:

• SG approved the appointment of seven addi-tional members to replace senators who had resigned. SG President and political sci-ence senior Grace Bielawski said the resignations had been tendered due to a mis-understanding of senatorial duties.

New SG appointees includ-ed political science junior Brittany Ellenberg, biology freshman Simon Le, politi-cal science freshman Giovani Jonenson and biology fresh-man Nalini Kanthety.

Also confirmed were four

residential senate officers, who will represent on-cam-pus residents.

• Graduate and International Students com-mittee chair and gradu-ate student Mayur Mehta announced a new survey to promote the need for a Walmart-bound bus route to serve students without cars. The survey will seek to quan-tify how many students are in need of this service.

• Vice President and political science senior Dina Shahrokhi announced that applications for a $500 dollar under-graduate research award are now available online at utdal-las.edu/research/. She also announced the formation of an ad hoc committee to advocate for more affordable textbooks.

• Sustainability sub-com-mittee chair and political science sophomore Andrew

Previc said Waterview Park Apartments have agreed to provide additional prizes for the UTD Unplugged environ-ment sustainability compe-tition. The sub-committee has also started to develop a website.

• $500 was allocat-ed toward the School of Management’s town hall meeting, and $250 was allocated to the Residential Student Affairs to print infor-mation brochures.

• Finally, due to the impending retirement of Mehta, nominations were submitted to fill his post as chair of the Graduate and International Students com-mittee.

Stavan Desai and Ashley Wagner both accepted nom-inations. Elections will take place during the next SG meeting Sept. 21 at 5:15pm in the Galaxy Rooms.

Report

Dining Services policy changes announcedRichard Arduengo

[email protected]

Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) courses no longer have to be a mind game now that tutoring is offered at the Gateways to Engagement, Mastery and Success Center (GEMS).

Focus for GEMS, locat-ed in the Conference Center, was originally math and science cours-es, but has widened its scope.

The building is sepa-rated into different areas of study. The math lab, writing center and newly renovated peer tutoring offices are just a few of the other different loca-tions.

GEMS now offers tutor-ing for most BBS courses. GEMS’ website said its mis-sion is to provide opportuni-ties of academic success for undergraduates who seek help in their core classes.

Associate Provost Thom Chensey said due to an increase of students from the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences seeking help the center decided to

add BBS tutoring. The cen-ter offers help with courses such as introduction to psy-chology, statistical decision making and statistics for psychology.

Chensey said that GEMS overall has been a great suc-cess and even though BBS tutoring has just kicked off a good number of students have still shown up.

“We start small and if the demand grows we take off from there,” Chensey said.

P s y c h o l o g y tutor and senior Valerie Richardson began working as a supplemental instruction lead-er last semester. Richardson has a broad psychology background and said she made her-self available when psychology tutor-ing became avail-able in GEMS.

“I work diligently and try to explain things in simple terms,” Richardson said. “And it helps to be able to relate to the students.”

As a newcomer to psychol-ogy tutoring, international political economy sopho-more Dunya Taher said she got what she needed out of it and that Richardson was very helpful.

BBS tutoring sessions are in the Conference Center in CN 1.206. For more infor-mation visit utdallas.edu/ossa/gems.

BBS tutoring added at GEMSDanelle Adeniji

[email protected]

illustration by Aditi Vira

academic misconduct be-cause he couldn’t prove he wasn’t.

“She said they couldn’t rule me out as a co-con-spirator and failed me for the class,” Im said.

McKee refused to com-ment to The Mercury be-cause she said she is not at liberty to discuss indi-vidual cases due to the restrictions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Student Government (SG) president and politi-cal science junior Grace Bielawski created the committee with Fitch because she said the cur-rent academic integrity policy might need to be improved.

Bielawski said she is now reticent to even give classmates advice on schoolwork because that could also be considered collusion.

“Lab partners collect-ing raw data during an experiment is not collu-sion,” Fitch said, “but after that point you must have explicit instructions from your professor on how far you may col-laborate.”

Fitch said that while the policy is being re-viewed now it’s not due to any specific incident but rather to a general perception that the cur-rent policy may not be as fair as it could be.

Data provided by Fitch showed a decline in mis-conduct cases from fall 2009 to spring 2010. In fall 154 accusations of misconduct were brought to JA and 135 in spring. He said out of the accusations, or refer-rals as they’re called in JA, about 4.5 percent of cases were dismissed in spring and 11 percent were dismissed in fall.

Dismissed cases mean no evidence turned up to prove academic miscon-duct actually occurred.

The policy review com-mittee convening this month may take a year to conclude and pres-ent findings, if any, Fitch said.

A separate committee will be formed to decide how to best educate stu-dents on how to avoid academic misconduct. Educating students about how not to collude, Bie-lawski said, is going to be a difficult task.

Fitch came to UTD from Middle Tennessee

State University (MTSU) where he was able to both propose and imple-ment changes to their academic dishonesty policy during his 13 year tenure.

Bielawski said one his changes at MTSU, to replace the previous sys-tem of having one JAO to hear each case with a panel of JAO’s and stu-dents, may be proposed by the committee.

Im said in a case of clear-cut cheating the process he went through with Judicial Affairs (JA) would have been fair, but there wasn’t a straight-forward way to prove in-nocence of unintentional collusion.

“They didn’t know who did what, but rather than go through a process of figuring it out they just took the shorter route and failed us both,” Im said.

Fitch said the best advice he can give stu-dents is to get written documentation from their professors before proceeding in any situ-ation they are unsure of because that is the only way to prove your case should an accusation of collusion be made.

POLICYcontinued from page 1

7September 20, 2010Arts&Lifewww.utdmercury.comthe Mercury

In 2008, health care man-agement freshman Archana Subhash flew 300 miles and spent over 8,000 Indian Rupees to attend an Allah Rakha Rahman concert in India. This time around, the show is in Dallas and Subhash is going for free.

Subhash won a free ticket

to see A.R. Rahman, who is most well known for his musical compositions and his Oscar-winning soundtrack for the 2009 film “Slumdog Millionaire.” Rizwan Moosa, better known as Disc Jockey (DJ) Riz, announced her name as one of the first three winners.

The announcement appeared as a Facebook event Sept. 6, giving out one free ticket every day for two

weeks from Sept. 4 until the day of the show. Those who accepted the invite to the event were entered in daily drawings.

Subhash and her room-mate, finance graduate stu-dent Esha Shah, said they planned on attending the event whether they got free tickets or not.

“I got lucky by winning that pass. I am really excited about the show.” Subhash said.

DJ Riz said he predicts that this concert is going to be Rahman’s best in the United States. The show has a lot of surprises lined up for the audience including moving stages, acrobatics, dances and visual effects.

“It’s a full-fledged produc-tion this time, comparable to a Britney Spears or

Facebook event drawing pays off

Anwesha BhattacharjeeContributor

[email protected]

The International Student Services Offices (ISSO) con-tinues its quest for greater participation among domes-tic students with its latest venture, iFriends.

iFriends is an eight-week program designed to help international teaching assis-tants (TA) gain a better understanding of American students during their first semester at UTD by pairing each TA with an undergrad-uate student.

The inaugural meeting took place Sept. 3 in the Student Union.

Throughout the course each pair will explore top-ics relevant to the American university experience, such as academic decision-mak-ing, extra curricular activities and employment.

Domestic undergraduate students serve as ambassa-dors for their international partners. As part of the program, the undergradu-ate students can take their partners on visits to their workplace, favorite restau-rant or intramural Ultimate Frisbee.

Each week will have a dif-ferent topic, and the pair is required to meet for at least one hour every week. The program closes with a pot-luck party, in which students

and TAs will be encouraged to bring cuisine that reflects their respective cultures.

The program was devel-oped by ISSO Program Coordinator Andrea Wagner, who said she drew inspiration from her own experience as a student at Michigan State University.

Wagner said participation in iFriends can provide an awesome volunteer experi-ence for American youths.

“It’s fun. It opens your eyes, and you learn a lot about other cultures,” Wagner said. “It’s also a great way to make friends.”

The recruitment of domes-tic volunteers has troubled the ISSO. At iFriends’ launch there were only 11 domestic volunteers available for the 18 international TAs signed up. Wagner said this is a source of frustration for the department.

“I don’t know why it is,” Wagner said. “(But) it’s been slow.”

The ISSO is pursuing options to increase partici-pation in iFriends and other programs.

ISSO Assistant Director Lisabeth Lassitor said one initiative seeks increased freshmen awareness. Lassitor said she believes attracting younger volunteers to the ISSO can foster long-term volunteer participation, since

Cultures collide with iFriendsRichard Arduengo

[email protected]

Students are notoriously strapped for cash, and for a gamer, that’s a tough situation. Prices have risen on two out of three next gen-eration consoles, and as a result, buying a $60 game might not be feasible on a weekly basis, but fear not!

“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” is $10 for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Eve rybody ’s seen the movie, and some of you have read the comics. As Scott Pilgrim, you’re a walk-ing warning sign that falling in love with a hipster may not be all that great. In this game you and your friends have the

pleasure of defeating all seven of Ramona’s evil exes.

“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” throws back to the classic side-scrolling beat-em-up. With all the charm of the “Scott Pilgrim” franchise and some added grind elements,

this game has serious play time for a download-able game.

You get to unlock new moves, level up your charac-ters and spend a lot of time being dead. For a game of this genre and time

period, “Scott Pilgrim” has an almost frighteningly high level of challenge. You’ll inevitably spend time collecting coins for upgrades and trying to improve your stats.

When all of that fails, you’ll

still probably die countless times during each level. Since the “Scott Pilgrim” franchise has become so popular, one might reckon that this game would be targeted more toward casual gamers, but this is not the case. This game stays true to its nerd roots and assumes that everyone play-ing it is part of a core gaming group.

The game almost forces you to have a social life, because trying to beat it alone for the average gamer is going to be like trying to beat “Contra” without dying — which is impossible. It’s clearly meant to be played in co-op mode, and that’s especially hilarious considering the game doesn’t allow for drop-in co-op play. And by hilarious I mean ter-rible.

Yes, that means that in order to feasibly beat this game without feeling frustration you

and your three best gamer friends have to sit together on your second-hand couch and drink water from your dirty coffee cups.

You’ve got time to kill any-way. It’s not like you have a paper to write or anything. Besides, this game is every-thing a gamer would want.

It’s Scott Pilgrim plus eight-bit nostalgia and a killer sound-track.

And if you’re not a gamer, I’d advise you to stay away. You’re not going to get the humor and you’re not going to beat the game.

The game’s got seven unique levels, each of which

will have you furrowing your eyebrow as you try to under-stand what just happened. And for 10 bucks, that’s more than plenty.

‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ reverts to old-school gaming

Scott Pilgrim fends off attacks in this side-scrolling brawler from Ubisoft.


[email protected]

courtesy of www.gamerant.com

A passionate explosion of word, poetry and song were the many rings of the Sept. 16 Underground Poetry Circus (UPC).

Hosted by SUAAB advi-sor Jonathan “GNO” White and Dallas slam poet Rock Baby, this circus was the first to feature members of the

newly organized UTD Slam Poetry Team.

Unofficially formed last fall, the team registered as a student organization in August.

“The only difference is now we get money from the school for t-shirts,” said computer science graduate student Camron Quituga.

The team is comprised of an eclectic group of students united by a desire to move a

room with their words.Slam poetry is similar to

rap music with its musical flow of words used to bring a poem to life for a live audience.

It is traditionally competi-tive, and impromptu poets are encouraged to spring from the crowd to “battle” each other for best poet of the night.

The UPC used an “open mic” style, poets signed up

as they entered the room to perform in an order decided by the hosts.

Prior to the circus, mathematics sophomore Alan Lu practiced his performance of “When I am Drunk I Have No Inhibitions and You Are Really Hot.”

Performing as the drunk in the title, Lu

Slam poets take stage

Political science sophomore Andrew Previc (left), Jonathan White and Rock baby perform during the Underground Poetry Circus (UPC) Sept. 16 in The Pub.


[email protected]

see SLAM page 9

photo by Brandon Higgins

Poetry team starts new verse, new semester

Sold out concert tickets awarded to student by chance

Healthcare management freshman Archana Subhash displays her free A.R. Rahman tickets.


see IFRIEND page 9

see TICKET page 9

Commentary

Metroid: Other M

8.5 / 10

8 September 20, 2010 www.utdmercury.com the MercuryArts&Life


[email protected]

Students and their cell phones go hand-in-hand, or rather, phone-in-hand. That being said, it’s important for students to choose the right cell phone to suit their needs and their price range. The following four phones are currently the best available on the market in their respective cat-egories.

Texter - Motorola DROID 2: $99.99 from Verizon

If you’re someone who heavily uses text messaging, you’re probably going to want a full QWERTY keyboard and spacious keys. This phone is roughly 4.6 inches wide and 2.3 inches tall. And when the phone slides out, just about all of that is keyboard space.

Another positive about this phone is its long battery life. It’s got a Li - Ion 1400mAH battery, and if that means nothing to you, it’s alright. More or less, you’re going to get a lot of talk and text time, almost 10 hours worth.

The phone has a nice reso-lution and a large screen size as well, but one of the draw-backs is the phone’s weight. As is the case with most slid-ers that have a large touch screen as well as a full key-board, the extra convenience translates into extra weight.

However, the phone is still only about six ounces, and it won’t weigh down your pockets by any means.

Work - HTC HD2: $99.99 from T-Mobile

For business savvy students who need to work from their phone, this is a wonderful choice. One might think tra-ditional multi-tasking phones are Blackberries or Palms, but

HTC is quickly taking over this market.

The phone runs on a Windows operating system and has one of the fastest processors available, JAVA support and best of all, you’ve got Microsoft Office at your fingertips.

With built-in Wi-Fi support and Bluetooth, synchroniza-tion with your computer is easy.

For business professionals who are used to typing away notes on a keyboard, this phone’s touch screen may take some getting used to, but the auto-correct feature is sensitive and accurate. It also doesn’t hurt that the screen has a roomy feel, so students with bigger fingers can suc-cessfully navigate this phone.

The cons of the phone begin and end with a poor battery life. It only has about six hours of talk time and 49 hours of stand-by time. This means frequent usage throughout the day will

require a spare battery or con-stantly plugging the phone in to charge.

Cheap - Palm Pixi: $0 from Sprint

Having money to spend on a phone is great, but what’s even greater is that there are fantastic free phones in case you’re tight on cash. As a student it’s sometimes hard to justify spending a couple hundred bucks on a phone. If this is you, don’t fret. With a full QWERTY keyboard and Internet access the Palm Pixi will still do everything you need.

The battery life is extremely short at only five hours of talk time, and the camera has a pathetic two mega-pixel reso-lution, but if you’ve already got a camera, what do you care? It’s a Palm with 3G capabilities in a stylish pack-age. And best of all, it’s free with a two year activation.

Overall Best - HTC EVO 4G: $199.99 from Sprint

If you’ve got the money to blow, and you want a nice phone that will last you two years until your contract expires, this is definitely the one to get. It’s good at every-thing and looks beautiful.

It has a screen that’s even larger than the HTC HD2. With an eight mega-pixel resolution and built-in flash and auto-focus the camera is as good as stand alone cameras on the market. It can even shoot movies in true 720p high definition. The res-olution of the actual phone is

impressive as well.Best of all, it runs on

Android. This means the phones comes with hundreds of possible applications you can download for free off the Android marketplace, which is perfect since the phone’s

Internet runs lightning fast both on the 3G network and via Wi-Fi.

The touch screen is respon-sive, the phone feels huge in your hands but tiny in your pocket and it runs smoothly courtesy of its top of the line

processor.No matter what your bud-

get or needs are for your phone, there is one out there to suit all of your needs, and one of these four is probably your best bet.

Commentary

Cell phone guide for budgets of any size

photo by Amanda Duke

Overall best rated phone: HTC EVO 4G

9September 20, 2010www.utdmercury.comthe Mercury Arts&Life

On the first day of RAD, prevention and tactics are discussed via lecture and a slideshow which UTD Police Officer Kristina Herrmann said hasn’t changed much since the course’s introduc-tion in 1989. While the exact nature of the course is kept private, some of the topics covered are basic safety tips which Herrmann said many people don’t take advantage of.

One prevention tech-nique is to lock every door and window and to not have a spare key lying around under a doormat. Another is to always be aware of suspicious behav-ior.

Rape Aggression Defense

(RAD) is a course offered at least once a month by the UTD Police Department. The aim of the basic course, according to the manual, is to prevent the abduction of women. If the abduction does not occur, neither can a rape, sexual assault or forcible sodomy.

“My dad always told me you may not be able to out-muscle someone, but it’s nice to have the element of surprise,” Hermann said. “And the training helps, too.”

The second day of RAD encourages participants to dress casually and com-fortably, and involves the execution of defensive and offensive maneuvers. RAD requires participants to sign off that they will not be competitive during this por-tion of the course. Its aim is

not to compete with other women but to learn how to defend against abduction.

Hermann said the third day is the one participants like the most. They par-ticipate in different abduc-tion scenarios in which they must defend themselves.

Herrmann said once the course is completed, it has a lifetime guarantee. This means the participant can enroll in any similar RAD class in the future free of charge, even if it is a class that normally costs money.

Arts & Technology senior Marianna Torres said she has always wanted to take a self-defense class and liked the convenience of having the course on cam-pus.

“(Sexual assault’s) always been one of my greatest fears since I was a kid,”

Torres said. “And the words ‘free’ and ‘only three days’ drew me in. It seemed rath-er perfect.”

Herrmann said she hopes more students will take advantage of the oppor-tunity and any group of women can contact the UTD Police Department to have a RAD class set up specifically for them. Herrmann said she is flex-ible and will instruct the class to suit the needs and schedules of a sorority, an organization or a small group of friends.

UTD offers only the basic class for women, but RAD is also available in an advanced form for women, basic and advanced classes for men.

To sign up for the course visit utdallas.edu/police.


[email protected]

Women learn defense strategyRAD courses to be offered year round, when requested

COMICcontinued from page 1

TICKETcontinued from page 7

relationships of the charac-ters, said Nieto.

“When I was a kid, I grew up reading American comic books, and I was really interested in the story,” Nieto said. “Now as an adult, the narrative isn’t clear. I’m approaching (the comic books) aestheti-cally as an artist. So I’ve discovered that if I remove the text and recontextual-ize the images, (the piece as a whole) makes more sense.”

In order to emphasize the visual imagery over the text, Nieto eliminat-ed many of the speech bubbles classically seen in comic books. The paint-ings that do feature the speech bubbles have let-ters and words missing, with only the suggestion of dialogue still visible.

The boundaries between scenes are blurred, and characters are obscured. Nieto said this forces the viewer to formulate their own opinions and thoughts about the mean-ing of each scene. The abstractions were helped by modern technology and artistic programs such as Adobe Photoshop.

Mechanical engineer sophomore Alyssa Birchler came to the exhibition’s opening as part of a class assignment, but said she was immediately drawn into the art.

“(The paintings) grab your attention. They grabbed mine,” Birchler said. “They’re more excit-ing than dull classical art, and I think people can con-nect to them.”

Nieto is currently housed at Centraltrak, UTD’s artist residency, but he is origi-nally from Mexico.

He said his paintings cel-

ebrate Mexico’s freedom and his independence. He said because of Mexico’s independence, he had the freedom to live and study where he wanted to. He was able to display inter-nationally in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France and Canada, and now he is able to display in America.

“I decided to use American comic books because as an artist, that’s my style,” Nieto said. “I didn’t use Mexican comic books because I live in this country now, so I celebrate my freedom — Mexico’s freedom — by choosing not to include them.”

Nieto’s friend, Ashley Georgia, said she was impressed with his paint-ings and his unique style.

“There’s something about how he takes comic book scenes and redoes them that’s hard to explain,” Georgia said. “It’s wild.”

IFRIENDcontinued from page 7

Mario parties for 25th birthday

Electrical engineering sophomore McKenna Jackson and Computer engineering sophomore Nick Rotundo celebrate Super Mario’s birthday event hosted by the Student Union Activities Advisory Board.


students who join as fresh-men are more likely to stick with the program through-out their college career.

In addition the ISSO works closely with Student Affairs to spread awareness of inter-national culture. This year’s homecoming will even have an “Around the World” theme.

“(We’re) confident. We (know) we can make it work,” Lassitor said.

Lassitor said this past sum-mer more than 900 inter-national students attended orientation, more than 2000 international students study at UTD and in fall 2009 about 60% of all interna-tional students studied at the graduate level.

International students often arrive in the United States after months of tests, applications, dealing with consulates, forms and inter-views before moving thou-sands of miles from home.

This can take up to a year.“We learn management

even before we come to get our MBA,” said Deepak Rathor, an international TA in the School of Management.

Lassitor said iFriends and programs like it can be plac-es for international students to find Americans who are open-minded and accepting.

“I know it can be really intimidating to come into a new culture,” said Natural Science and Mathematics junior Caitlin Williamson, an ISSO domestic volunteer who just returned from a study abroad in Spain.

Despite the troubles, Lassitor said the ISSO is hopeful the program will be successful enough to con-tinue in the future.

“Once (iFriends) gets start-ed, people will get the word out,” Lassitor said, “and more people will sign up.”

For more information about iFriends or the ISSO please contact Andrea Wagner at 972-883-4084, or visit /www.utdallas.edu/student/international.

Madonna concert. It will be the best Indian music con-cert anyone has been to,” DJ Riz said.

DJ Riz is a UTD gradu-ate student who works as a senior financial analyst in a pharmaceutical company and DJs full time. He has been a DJ since he was 15 years old and now, even 16 years later, performs in 50 - 80 events a year through AsianSoundz, his own event management enterprise.

DJ Riz said Rahman’s July 4 Dallas show was cancelled and most people didn’t know about the Sept. 18 show.

“I created that event on Facebook to spread aware-ness about the show and also to give back to the com-munity by giving out free tickets,” DJ Riz said.

The Facebook event has over 300 hopefuls and the number is increasing. The tickets, most of which are sold out already, range from $39 - $1,000. For many fans, a free ticket is their last chance of getting to the show.

compares the thrill of ine-briated sex to a cocaine high.

Undecided freshman and newest slam poet Joe Rosenbaum performed a piece about love.

“I’m kind of in a rut right now with my poems. They’re all romantic,” Rosenbaum said.

Rosenbaum’s piece, entitled “A Momentary Lapse of Reason,” begins

with a man explaining what it feels like to be in love, as the tone elevates to passion and then drops to the morose once the love is gone.

Quituga and Art & Performance senior Frank Tringali performed “Trophy Husbands,” an ode to what life would be like to be the male arm candy to a wealthy woman.

Quituga also took to the stage with “Somewhere over the Rainbow”, in which he performed as

an angry narrator whose voice rose to a shout because he wanted to know where the rainbow is for all those he sees suffering in stories on the evening news.

“During one meeting someone pointed out a “death and taxes” theme in the poem to me,” Quituga said.

Open mic performers at the UPC included slam team members, individual students from UTD and unaffiliated poets from the around the metroplex.

The main event was the performance by national and world champion poet Joaquin Zihuatenejo with the rollercoaster range of emotions in his poems about suicide and xeno-phobia.

Between acts White and Rock Baby hyped the crowd, screaming out phrases like “I’m Rick James,” to which the crowd replied,” bitch!”

UPC takes place the third Thursday of each month in The Pub.

SLAMcontinued from page 7

10 September 20, 2010 www.utdmercury.comSports the Mercury

Management senior Bailey Williams blocks shot against Mississippi College Sept. 16 men’s soccer game. UTD won the game 1-0.

photo by Albert Ramirez

At 8 a.m. when most students are just waking up to get ready for class, UTD’s men’s and women’s teams were beginning their season on Sept. 13 at the John Bonham Invitational Golf Tournament in Seguin,Texas.

The men’s and women’s teams competed against 10 of the university’s rival colleges including the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor and Texas Lutherans University in an attempt to surpass and sustain a lead for the second half of the tournament the next day.

The first half of the tour-nament lasted until 5 p.m., which meant the teams had

to play during the hottest hours of the day. Fatigued and exhausted, the players continued to play each hole with humility and grace, which made political sci-ence junior Alex Campos a proud team member.

“Two of our players threw up (from dehydration), but they still came back out and played,” Campos said.

Business administration junior Chase Curtis led the men’s team with 79-75 and computer science freshman Nikki DeOcampo with a low of 88-85 for the women’s. But after seven hours and 36 holes the team was left trailing behind in 8th place, five strokes behind A&M International University.

The teams were not discouraged, but rather encouraged by their per-

sonal achievements and they utilized the experience to better their aptitude and motivate themselves for the next day and their future endeavors, Head Coach Eddie Bull said.

At the tournaments end, the women’s team man-aged to sustain their previ-ous position in 8th place with an 2-day score of 799 and the men placed in 10th with a score of 936. For some teams placing that far down the line of suc-cession brought forth their true perception of sports-manship.

From throwing clubs to crying, many of the other team’s players would lose composure when losing, but UTD’s players were the exact opposite.

Though winning the tour-

nament would have been an added benefit, UTD’s teams seemed to be more interest-ed in just doing what they love, DeOcampo said.

“Our main strategy, both days, was to go out there, play well and just have fun,” DeOcampo said.

UTD’s golf teams will be participating in the Rhodes Collegiate Classic golf tour-nament on Sept. 26-27, in Tunica, Miss. Coach Bull, in support of his teams, looks forward to their progress as they proceed in this year’s season, and proudly invites students to come out and support them.

“Come and see us play and practice sometime and you will be swept up by the enthusiasm that the UTD Intercollegiate programs exude,” Bull said.

Jameshia BankstonContributor

[email protected]

Golf teams tee off for semester

Computer engineering senior Brent Marshal at the John Bonham Invitational Golf Tournament.

photo courtesy of Bruce Unrue

With names like “No Punt Intended” and “Our Foot Your Balls,” a total of 77 student teams have signed up to compete in this year’s intramural Flag Football League.

“It’s something to do on campus at night other than play ‘World of Warcraft,’” said graduate student Brian Vaughn.

Vaughn, under his independent affiliation of flag football veterans, “The Scrubs,” has entered both “We Touchdown There” and “I Like Your Steve Breastons” under the corec and men’s divisions respectively.

Flag football is an alternate version of football with no tackling, said intramu-ral sports coordinator Ben Piper.

Everyone wears a flag belt, and rather than tackle, players de-flag opponents and the belt comes undone. It’s a faster game than regular football because it’s 5-10 yard passes.

There are four divisions: Men’s, Women’s, Freshmen and Corec. Each affiliation may enter as many teams as they can find participants for.

The Filipino Student Association (FSA), another repeat-affiliator, has also entered multiple teams including “FSA Pandubs” and “Got Kanin,” both in the

corec division.“‘Kanin’ is Filipino for ‘rice,’ and it’s

a play on ‘Got Milk?,’” said electrical engineering sophomore Carlo Wayan.

Cheeky names aside, “The Scrubs” feel they have a serious edge over all the other teams — they’re old.

“The average age of our team is 25” said fellow Scrub and graduate student Kevin Adamic.

“It’s experience over youth when it comes to winning at sports,” Vaughn said.

After two years playing as an inde-pendent affiliation and even longer before that under other affiliations, “The Scrubs” have proven to be resil-ient.

“Two years ago I collided with a guy from another team and shattered my collar bone, breaking it in eight places,” said graduate student Eric Philibert, “I still played the next year.”

Philibert has a large scar over the seven inch metal plate which had to be screwed in to repair the injury.

Electrical engineering senior Elora Torres, who is going into her fourth year playing for FSA, said the more seri-ously a team plays, the more injuries can happen.

“People may be running to catch a pass and just not see you and push

This year’s tennis team is driven by competitive expec-tations and team chemistry. With a fairly even amount of newcomers and veterans the reconstructed team agrees they have rejuvenated spirit. Throughout the team unity there is a common desire for a winning season.

“We really want to go to the conference tourna-ment and I think we have a

good chance,” said psychol-ogy sophomore, Kathrine Aaslestad.

The team is more condi-tioned than ever this year with more frequent and vig-orous strength training ses-sions said Head Coach Bryan Whitt.

“The fitness and condi-tioning is definitely tougher this year,” said biology soph-omore and returning player Rachel Houston.

The men’s and women’s teams are very supportive of each other, said Houston.

They practice together in the fall and travel alongside each other throughout the season.

“We have a lot of team unity,” Aaslestad said.

Whitt said he has great faith in his players this year, and plans to win as a team.

With their quiet focus, determined competiveness, and team spirit the UTD ten-nis team is setting them-selves up for a winning sea-son said Aaslestad.

Lauren MonsalveContributor

[email protected]

Now serving

Men’s and women’s tennis teams prepare for new season

Neuroscience freshman Mindy Tu taking a shot. The women’s tennis team plays Sept. 24 in San Antonio for the Women’s Southwest Regional Individual Tournament.

photo by Ben Hawkins


[email protected]

Intramurals kick offFlag football teams return to the field for new season

see footBALL page 11

team brings victory home

11September 20, 2010www.utdmercury.comthe Mercury Sports

Women’s soccer loses in overtimeyou over,” Torres said.

“The common thread on ‘The Scrubs,’” said graduate student Allison Britton, “is that everyone is either a cur-rent or former athlete and that’s probably why they take the game so seriously.”

So seriously, in fact, that a Scrub will make it a point to let the referee know when he has made a bad call.

“The refs don’t like it because we know the rules better than they do,” Adamic said.

Torres said she initially started playing flag foot-ball because she ran track in high school and wanted something athletic to par-ticipate in at college. Now she said it’s just a fun way to grow closer to her friends in FSA.

The Scrubs are all older

students with full-time jobs, and in Adamic’s case, a baby on the way, but they con-tinue to make the commit-ment to play.

“The extra effort is made mostly because it’s a fun, social activity,” Philibert said.

FSA and “The Scrubs” were meant to meet on the field in the Sept. 9 “Got Kanin” v. “We Touchdown There” game, but it, like every game scheduled that week, was canceled due to inclement weather.

Piper said the league is now set to get underway on Sept. 13, but even then it might be a washout as rain has also been predicted for that week.

Students can find out when their favorite team will be playing by follow-ing the schedules link on the intramural sports home page.

Biology sophomore Victoria Theobalt prepares to kick the ball in the Sept. 10 women’s soccer game against Trinity University. UTD lost the game 2-1 due to a penalty kick in overtime.


FootBallcontinued from page 10

“Scrubs” team member and business graduate student Eric Philibert plays in Sept. 16 flag football match.


12 September 20, 2010 www.utdmercury.com the MercuryAdvertisements

ClassifiedsTo place a classified advertisement for the next issue, ad copy accompanied by payment must be received the Wednesday before publication.

Classified rates are $10 for the first 30 words and $5 for each additional 10 words. ADVANCE PAYMENT IS REQUIRED FOR PLACEMENT. Call, fax or come by SU 2.432 or mail ad and check to The UTD Mercury, Attn: James Woolley, 800 W. Campbell Rd., SU24, Richardson, Texas 75080.

For more information, Call 972-883-2210 | fax 972-883-2772 e-mail [email protected]

GREAT SELECTION OF CARS AT GREAT PRICESAuto service and sales. The

best selection of cars at the best price. Call 817-525-0075 or visit www.myabcautosales.com.

HOUSING JOBS

550 / 1BR ONE NICE BEDROOM CONDOMINIUM

Cimarron Court Condominiums. Located at 18333 Roehampton Dr. Dallas, TX. First floor 1 bed-room apartment. Close to shopping centers and restau-rants. Unit comes with refrig-erator and stackable washer and dryer in closet. Carpet space is # 482. Nearest Cross Street is (Frankfort-Preston), and Highway President George Bush. To rent the apartment you should pro-vide 2 current payroll state-ment of Full time job, good rental history, no pet, no smoking, minimum renting term is 12 months, secu-rity deposit amount $400. To fill application call 214-505-9731.

GERMAN INSTRUCTORProfessional teacher and

native German instructs up to eight intermediate/advanced students Thursday from 7-8:30 p.m. $10-12 student/session. Call Ms. Dunn at 972-395-0642.

SERVICE

APPOINTMENT SETTERS: NO DIALING, WE’RE FULLY

AUTOMATEDFast growing company

in Richardson with growth opportunities is looking for appointment setters. Your only job is to set appoint-ments. We are fully auto-mated; the dialing system does all of the work for you.

Part time positions avail-able. Telemarketing experi-ence a plus. Hourly pay plus generous commis-sions. Convenient, flex-ible hours: weeknight and weekend hours available. You set your own sched-ule. Comfortable working environment; casual attire and friendly atmosphere. Located in Richardson. For more information email [email protected] or call 877-569-4364.

JOBS

Sudoku Sudoku solutions online at utdmercury.com.

The First Ludite by Laura-Jane CunninghamA Fruitful Investigation by Sumner Anderson

13September 20, 2010www.utdmercury.comthe Mercury Comics

The Pub: Crowded by R. W.

Shedding Some Light by Alison Kwong

The Story of My Life by Pennyworth

Math Puzzle

Try to fill in the missing spaces using numbers 1-9 to complete the equations for every row and every column. Each number may only be used once.

*Remember multiplication and division are performed before addition and subtraction.

Math Puzzle solutions online at www.utdmercury.com.

Instructions:

++

14 10 56

20

3

27/

-

-

+/ +

/ + ++

14 September 20, 2010 www.utdmercury.com the MercuryAdvertisement

20th Sept Edition

Documents

Transcript of 20th Sept Edition