the mercury 02/09

February 9, 2015 facebook.com/theutdmercury | @utdmercury

WHAT'S BELOW? CELEBRATING BLACK LEADERS AT UTD

THE VACCINEDEBATE

CROSS WORDS!

HEALTHYMINDS

Why opponents of vaccinations are a threat to public health

Campus emails switch to O! ice 365 // PG 4

Seniors set to lead baseball, so" ball teams // PG 10

Take a crack at our '90s music-themed puzzle

Students jumpstart organization promoting mental health

OP // PG 3

PLUS +

PG 13

PG 4

YANG XI | MERCURY STAFF

Eighteen-year-old Brooke Lopez, who is also an SG senator, first got involved in politics when her friend was murdered with a firearm in 2012. Since then, she has campaigned to pass a law that will make it more di! icult for minors who commit a crime with a firearm to have their records expunged.

BALLOTBOUNDPublic affairs sophomore Brooke Lopez runs for Wylie City Council

BY ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEEWEB EDITOR

ULBRICHT FOUND GUILTY Ross Ulbricht, a 2006 UTD graduate accused

of running an online drug market, has been found guilty of seven crimes, including narcotics tra! cking and money laundering.

FBI agents arrested Ulbricht in 2013 in San Fran-cisco. He went on trial on Jan. 13 in New York facing allegations from the FBI and other federal agencies claiming he created and operated Silk Road, a website where users could buy and sell illegal products, using

the name Dread Pirate Roberts.He faces a minimum of 30 years in federal prison.

" e maximum punishment is a life sentence. According to various media reports, Ulbricht’s attor-

neys will appeal the decision. Sentencing is set for May.During the trial, federal agents brought several

pieces of incriminating evidence against Ulbricht, in-cluding a journal detailing how he planned, created and ran the website.

Former FBI special agent Ilhwan Yum testi# ed that the FBI traced $13.4 million in bitcoins, an

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS Managing Editor

THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

Black History Month

HUMZA KHAN | MERCURY STAFF

When the late historian Carter G. Wood-son started the Association for " e Study of Afro-American Life and History in 1915, his aim was to document the past and tri-umphs of African-Americans. He com-memorated what he called Negro History Week in 1926.

In 1976, the U.S. government designat-ed February as African-American History Month or Black History Month. " is year marks the 100-year anniversary of Wood-son’s aims to celebrate the feats of Black Americans.

African-American leaders have been an important part of UTD since the

early years of the university.Among many black leaders on campus,

George Fair, dean of the School of Inter-disciplinary Studies and vice president of diversity and community engagement, may be one of the most prominent.

“History has a lot to do with where we are today and so I think it’s important that we help students to understand what the history of African-Americans has been in this country,” Fair said. “Just to give them a better understanding of where we are and how far we can go and how far we still need

PABLO ARAUZLife & Arts Editor

! SEE LEADERS, PAGE 6 George Fair

Black leaders on campus discuss community, success

The Sunday morning of April 1, 2012 dawned bright for Brooke Lopez and her family, as they prepared for their weekly fishing trip.

They were sitting in Mojo’s Pizza, a little parlor in Wylie, at around 11 a.m. when Lopez, now a public affairs sophomore, got a call that would change her life.

Her friend called to say that Nahum Martinez, Lopez’s close friend and cross-country teammate at Wylie East High School, had been murdered in a dispute over a girl earlier that morning. The two teenagers charged for the murder were also Wylie East students.

The grief and horror hit first. Then, the anger came.

“I tell the Martinez family every day — and I’m really close with them — that without Nahum, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she said. “With tragedy comes grace, and the grace I received was knowing what I was going to do for the rest of my life.”

And just like that, Lopez decided she didn’t want to be a lawyer or a ballerina like she had wanted when she was younger but a politician who could make change.

On May 9, Wylie will elect its city council, and the 18-year-old, who is also a Student

Government senator, is one of the candidates for City Council Place 4.

The stepping stones

On Nov. 8, 2012, six months after Martinez’s murder, a Collin County judge announced the teen accused of killing him would be tried in juvenile court.

Lopez and the Martinez family were upset and shocked to hear that these students, who had used a firearm to kill Martinez, could possibly resume

! SEE ULBRICHT, PAGE 14

! SEE LOPEZ, PAGE 14

ULBRICHT

2 THE MERCURY | FEB. 9, 2015 NEWS UTDMERCURY.COM

UTDPDBlotter

LEGEND

VEHICULAR INCIDENT

THEFT

DRUGS & ALCOHOL

OTHERMAP: UTD COMMUNICATIONS | COURTESY

THE MERCURYUTDMERCURY.COM

Volume XXXVNo. 3

ContributorsJennifer Chi

Michael GordonHumza Khan

Sejal MaliLina Moon

Sunayna RajputCara Santucci

Ranjit SreenivasPraveen Subramanian

Justin ThompsonRebecca Tull

Senior StaffNidhi GotgiEmily Grams

Priyanka HardikarLinda NguyenArun PrasathTim Shirley

Parthasarathy S.K.Yang Xi

Editor-in-Chief Miguel Perez

[email protected](972) 883-2294

Managing EditorEsteban Bustillos


Web EditorAnwesha

[email protected]

Photo EditorConnie Cheng

[email protected]

Copy Desk ChiefLauren Featherstone

[email protected]

Social Media Manager

Joseph [email protected]

Life & Arts EditorPablo Arauz

[email protected]

Assistant Graphics Editor

Ian [email protected]

Assistant Photo Editor

Andrew [email protected]

Ad Sales RepresentativesNaaema Abedin

Monisha [email protected]

Media AdviserChad Thomas


Mailing Address800 West Campbell

Road, SU 24Richardson, TX

75080-0688

NewsroomStudent Union,

Student Media SuiteSU 1.601

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JUST THE FACTS

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Jan. 26

someone took his wallet in the Eng-lish Learning Center at 11:23 a.m.

Jan. 27

items with a stolen credit card from the campus bookstore at 3:10 p.m.

Jan. 28

accident with a student at 8:02 a.m. in Lot A.

Jan. 30

Lot I for possession of marijuana, po-session of drug paraphernalia, and other

Department at 1:43 a.m.Jan 31

on W. Campbell Road for driving while intoxicated at 12:31 a.m.

Feb. 1

possession of alcohol by a minor and possession of drug parphernalia in Lot H at 12:23 a.m.

Feb. 2

criminal trespass warning for the entire campus while in Green Hall at 11:37 a.m.

Feb. 2

iPod was stolen from the Student Union around 1 p.m.

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Corrections:

In the Jan. 26 edition of !e Mercury, in the article titled “Native art showcased at CentralTrak exhibition,” Janeil Engelstad’s name was misspelled.

In the article photo spread titled “Coming out of hibernation,” in the section titled “Candy Skulls Face Painting,” Meteor !eater and Intercultural Programs were the hosts of the event.

!e Mercury regrets these errors.

644

Saul CabralEMACjunior

“Would someone your age running for political o!ice incentivize you to vote?”

Do you think the federal government is doing enough to help students?

I don’t think I care.

Yes, they do enough. We don’t want a welfare state.

No, they don’t.

“I totally would vote for some-body my age.

Without think-ing about it, I think that I

could relate more to that person.”

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Students interested in writing opinions for The Mercury can email the editor-in-chief at [email protected].

Letters must be 250 words or less. Stu-dents should include their full name, major and year. Faculty, sta! and administrators should include their full name and title.

Email letters to [email protected]. Although electronic copies are preferred, a hard copy can be dropped o! at the recep-tion desk of the Student Media suite (SU 1.601). Please include a headshot.

Authors may only have one letter printed per edition of The Mercury.

Apart from your name and photo, personal info will not be published.

We reserve the right to reject submissions, and we cannot be responsible for their return. We reserve the right to edit for clarity, brevity, good taste, accuracy and to prevent libel.

The next issue of The Mercury will be pub-lished on Feb. 23. Contact us by Feb. 11, and submit your opinion by Feb. 16.

Tell us what you think about young people running for o!ice and answer our poll at www.utdmercury.com.

RESULTS FROM LAST ISSUE“If someone around

my age would be (run-ning), they’d be more in tune with what I would be thinking

politically, so it would incentivize me to be

more politically active.”Pavneet Matharoo

Electrical engineeringsophomore

COMET

COMMENTS

The online poll was open from Jan. 26 to Feb. 8 and had 64 participants.

FEB. 9, 2015 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COMOPINION 3

Yes, but not they could do

more.

Funding community

college isn’t the answer.

VACCINES ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE

The recent outbreak of measles in the United States has rekindled the debate over immunization, a debate that should have been settled a long time ago.

From Jan. 1-30, 102 cases of measles were reported in 14 states. Most of these stem from an outbreak that started in Disneyland earlier this year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion. The sad thing is that all of this could have been avoid-ed.

The vaccine for the disease has existed since the ’60s, and the CDC declared measles eliminated in 2000.

Since then, there have been numerous outbreaks of the disease. In 2014, there were 644 cases, the most since 1994 according to The New England Journal of Medicine. According to the CDC, most people who get measles are unvaccinated.

The reason that this out-break is even happening is because there are still people in modern-day America who believe that vaccines are either wrong or hurtful.

Every state requires students to get vaccinated for diseases such as polio, but there are ex-emptions to these laws. Some are for medical reasons, but others are for much less sub-stantial reasons.

According to the National Conference of State Legisla-tures, at least 20 states allow exemptions for vaccinations based on parents’ personal be-liefs. These can be anything from to philosophical to reli-gious justifications.

One of the main reasons people have taken a stance against vaccination is the spread of rumors about the side effects they cause. In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, who at the time was a licensed doc-tor, published a study in a British medical journal that linked autism with the measles vaccine.

The effect was almost im-mediate. In 2002, a survey

done by the BBC reported that approximately 50 percent of British medical profession-als said parents were less will-ing to allow their children to be vaccinated.

Even though this study was discredited in 2010 when it was discovered that Wakefield stood to gain money from his findings, the damage done by this “study” have been long lasting.

Not only do the vaccina-tions not cause autism, but they also have been proven to prevent the diseases they are made to fight. No parents in their right minds would ex-pose their children directly to something that would hurt them, but that is what they are inadvertently doing when they oppose vaccinations.

For years, people who have held personal choice over pub-lic safety have stood in the way of the simplest measures to ensure the well being of oth-ers. Because of this, the Unit-ed States has fallen behind in its rate of vaccinations.

The World Health Organi-zation recommends that chil-

dren be vaccinated for measles at least once before their first birthday.

According to WHO, Libya, Russia, China, Zimbabwe and Iran all have higher immuni-zation rates for 1-year-olds than the United States. That’s just a short list. Nearly every country in Europe is more ef-fective at immunizing their young. All told, 113 countries have higher immunization rates than the United States for 1-year-olds.

As the world continues to advance in medical technol-ogy and science, it some-times seems society is taking one step forward and two steps back. For the first time in history, humans have the chance to wipe diseases that have caused so much pain and struggle off of the face of the planet.

By not using vaccines, peo-ple are choosing to allow those diseases to flourish. If choice continues to make more sense to people than logic and sci-ence, those choices will con-tinue to cause unnecessary pain.

By opting out of vaccinating children, parents are putting greater public at risk, opening door for preventable diseases to flourish

MIGUEL PEREZ | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOSCOMMENTARY

“Yes, because they would

have the same mentality, to a certain

degree.”

Laraib AhmedSpeech pathology

junior

36% 25% 20% 17% 2%

IAN LAMARSH | ASST. GRAPHICS EDITOR

Mariam Allahrakha awoke suddenly to her phone ringing in the middle of the night. Her best friend was on the other line, frantic. She was having a panic at-tack.

Allahrakha discovered that her friend had been diagnosed with an anxiety dis-order the year before, and she was afraid that people would see her di!erently, so she didn’t reveal her condition. For her friend, whom she’d known since elemen-tary school, to keep her in the dark out of fear made Allahrakha realize the extent of social stigma toward mental illness.

“I tried hard to help her, but I couldn’t,” she said. “I wanted to do more but I had to understand that the best thing I could do for her was just be a good friend.”

In light of this experience, Allahra-kha, a "nance and accounting freshman, founded a new organization on campus called Empowered Minds aiming to re-duce the negative attitude toward mental illness and increase preparedness in help-ing peers in trouble.

Since receiving approval on Jan. 16, the o#cers of the organization hope to in-form students about mental health as well as work toward reducing ignorant judg-ments associated with mental illnesses. It had its "rst meeting on Jan 26.

“When we hear about someone with a cast, we run towards them to sign it. When we hear about someone with de-pression, we run the other direction,” Al-lahrakha said.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four adults aged 18 to 24 have a diagnosable mental illness, and 40 percent of these students do not seek help. $e primary concern among these students is fear of public opinion about their problem.

“When you transition to university, it’s a di#cult time because you’re leaving family. You’re leaving home, and that’s when a lot of students tend to be in a vul-

nerable state,” Allahrakha said. “I wanted to have an organization that would be a safe space. If people came to us who were a!ected, we could lead them to someone who could help them.”

$e organization is planning to host speaker events with professional sta! such as assistant dean of the School of Behav-ioral and Brain Sciences Joanna Gentsch and Outreach Coordinator and sta! psychologist for the Student Counseling Center Neetha Devdas.

Following speaker events, the o#cers want to have discussion panels that could be both informative as well as personal, depending on what members are inter-ested in.

Recordings of these speaker events and motivational messages will be shared on the club’s social media pages to help raise awareness. Allahrakha said o#cers will focus on sharing information on depres-sion, anxiety and suicide, as they a!ect the

most people but will also include material on less common issues as well.

Student Government wants to coordi-nate with the organization to launch an awareness campaign by integrating stu-dents of di!erent backgrounds and help-ing them overcome language and cultural barriers to understand that mental illness is a universal issue, said Grant Branam, freshman senator and head of the cam-paign. $is campaign will take e!ect this spring semester, but he said it’s still in the preliminary stages of planning.

Senators discussed at a SG meeting what is not being addressed in terms of mental illness, and decided that the nega-tive stigma and students being unfamiliar with mental health services on campus were some of the most pressing issues.

“$ere is a general consensus that men-tal health is viewed in a negative way and modes of recovery aren’t publicized,” Branam said. “Even though resources are

there physically, students face a lot of emotional barriers to receive help.”

Empowered Minds is planning a sepa-rate initiative tentatively called De-stress Week for April 27 through May 1, the week before "nals.

$e group is working with Random Acts of Kindness to bring therapy dogs on campus. It will also collaborate with TEDxUTD President Srikant Chari to present an informative video about de-pression and stress on April 29 from 7 to 8:30 P.M.

$e group’s long-term goals include spreading to other campuses if they don’t have an equivalent program and reaching out to middle school students in mentor-ship programs and speaker events.

“We want to have a strong start by col-laborating with other organizations this "rst semester, and have our own impact


SG REPORT

PARTHASARATHY S K | MERCURY STAFF

Mariam Allahrakha, president of Empowered Minds, and vice president Ashley Levi (le!) said they hope the new club helps reduce the stigma of mental illness. Student Government will coordinate with the group to launch a mental health awareness campaign.

Students start new club to promote mental health

University email accounts are be-ing moved from Zmail to Microsoft O#ce 365 to give users better acces-sibility, security and user experience. $e Information Resource depart-ment is overseeing the transition.

$e O#ce of Information Re-sources is transferring approximately 40,000 student and legacy accounts with an initial budget of $100,000.

Director of Technology Customer Services Don Davis said one of the reasons for the switch was because O#ce 365 o!ers better features in terms of connectivity and integra-tion.

“Microsoft brings in a more robust user experience than Zmail,” Davis said. “Microsoft Outlook has a better feel and usability”.

David Nguyen, associate vice pres-ident of Information Resource Op-erations, said the need for an upgrade of the hardware hosting Zmail was another reason for the switch.

“Migrating to O#ce 365 was a more logical option given the uni-versity had a pre-existing agreement with Microsoft,” he said.

According to Information Resourc-es’ website, the new email accounts will have 50GB of space per user, whereas Zmail provides 1000MB per user. In addition to the email service, students will also be licensed for the latest versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Out-look Access and Publisher. $e pro-grams can be installed on up to "ve PCs, Macs and other mobile devices including Microsoft Windows tablets and iPads.

! SEE MINDS, PAGE 14

Student Government made the decision not to join the Texas Student Transportation Infrastructure Alli-ance, a nonpartisan coalition that supports the Texas Central Railway project at their meeting on Feb. 3. Project leaders plan to build a high-speed railway sys-tem connecting the DFW metroplex to the Houston area.

$e coalition wishes to gain student approval from universities in Texas. Drew Carson, a senator from Sam Houston State University, met with SG over video chat to propose that UTD should be the "rst school from the UT System to join this alliance.

“$ey already have three schools in the student al-liance and they want UT Dallas to be the next one,” said SG Vice President Nancy Fairbank. “However, our Senate does not feel like we are tasked with hav-ing a "rm position on projects that take place outside the scope of the university and outside the scope of our students. We prefer to focus on the direct needs of our students as they currently stand and we also don’t believe in supporting private companies speci"-cally.”

Bob Fishbein, assistant vice president of Auxiliary Services, also discussed the expansion of new food ven-ues on campus including an IHOP Express that will be open until 1 a.m. that is scheduled to open in April. $e school also plans to transform the dining hall next to the Student Union into a food court that will pro-vide a larger Chick-"l-A, Moe’s Southwest Grill, To-matoe and a Panda Express. A Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor will then replace the current Chick-"l-A in the Comet Cafe. Fishbein said the plan is to "nish con-struction on these projects during the summer before students come back for classes.

Fairbank also brought up two proposals for discus-sion, one for the expansion on the drink limit in the

Pub and one about introducing “Bring Your Own Beer” tailgates. $ese proposals are still in their draft forms.

SG proposed that the Pub change their alcohol pol-icy so that students that are of drinking age can pur-chase up to two alcoholic beverages between 5-8 p.m. and one drink each subsequent hour. Students are not allowed to purchase more than four alcoholic bever-ages in one evening, Fairbank said.

Fairbank said students could only get two drinks between 5 and 8 p.m. because administration was con-cerned about students drinking before evening classes.

Another proposal discussed was introducing BYOB tailgates. Currently, UTD only hosts one main tailgate where beer is provided by the Student A!airs depart-ment. For future tailgates, SG suggested that the ath-letic department, spirit programs and SG be allowed to sponsor BYOB tailgates in designated parking lots on campus.

If any student organizations wish to host their own tailgate, they would have to ask permission from these departments, "ll out a form that would need be ap-proved by the O#ce of the President, reserve a space in the parking lot, and inform the campus police at least one week in advance.

Technology Committee Chair Charlie Hannigan announced that his committee is up-dating the campus map for it to be more legible, adding foot openers to bathroom doors, and at-taching table outlets to electrical power so they can be useful for students around campus. He also said that more blue phones and security cam-eras will be placed on campus to ensure the safety of the students. $200 were allocated for the Senators Club reward card prizes and $50 were allocated for the promo-tion of SG events.

$e next SG meeting will be held on Feb. 17 at 5:15 p.m. in the Galaxy Rooms in the Student Union.

JENNIFER CHIMercury Sta!

Student emails

move to O!ce 365

PRAVEEN SUBRAMANIANMercury Sta!

! SEE EMAIL, PAGE 14

NIDHI GOTGIMercury Sta!

5THE MERCURY | FEB. 9, 2015 NEWSUTDMERCURY.COM

Author decodes gender mythsAs the little sister of three brothers, author Lise

Eliot spent her childhood absorbed in Lincoln logs, Legos and cars – not necessarily the tradi-tional girls’ pastime.

Eliot said she wonders if that made her more interested in math and science, which research shows is an e!ect of growing up with an older brother or if she was just hardwired this way like common scienti"c beliefs indicate.

#is thought sparked her interest in gender dif-ference and led her to write her latest book, “Pink Brain, Blue Brain,” where she debunks the world-wide view, saying it is misinterpreted and over-sold.

Eliot, now a professor of neuroscience at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and author of two books and over 60 pub-lished works, spoke at the Jonsson Performance Hall as part of the Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology’s lecture series on Jan. 29.

“Gender di!erence is always a sexy topic,” Eliot said. “I discovered that a lot of the stu! in these books was based on one study that was chosen because it con"rms stereotypes not because it was representative of the "eld as a whole.”

Director Matthew Brown and associate director Magdalena Grohman of the Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology organized the event.

“Dr. Eliot isn’t denying the di!erences, but she’s pointing out that they’re di!erent than we’d like to think,” Grohman said. “#ey’re blown out of proportion.”

From the "rst moments of birth, parents and even trained nurses talk di!erently about their sons and daughters, Eliot said. A video revealed a highly trained nurse giving the Apgar test, a test that measures how healthy a baby is one minute after birth.

Eliot noticed if the baby was a girl, the nurse would often comment on the one-minute-old baby’s beauty but if the baby was a boy, the com-ments revolved around his intelligence and size.

“We set up this status hierarchy at an age where there’s no physical di!erence in size between boys and girls,” Eliot said. “#ey really don’t change until after puberty.”

Gender identity solidi"es at around three years of age, when children become active agents of their own gender divergence.

However, the scale of the di!erences isn’t as large as most may believe. #ere are the clear-cut di!erences such as men having larger brains than women and boys having larger brains than girls. Boys are 10 percent larger than girls, both physi-cally and in brain size throughout their life cycles.

Another proven di!erence is that girls mature more quickly than boys, as a result of hitting pu-berty one to two years earlier.

Similarly, the brain development "nishes one to two years earlier as well. #at explains school performance in the eighth grade where the gender gap is most evidently seen.

Aside from those two big di!erences, there is no clear research that links to the behavioral dif-ferences, despite what prior studies may lead one to assume, Eliot said.

Brown said it’s important for people going into these "elds to have an awareness of the issues that arise and to think of themselves as decision mak-ers in research and design that will have a social impact.

“#at’s nothing special in technology and sci-

ence. #at’s just ordinary ethics,” he said. One of the other di!erences between girls and

boys is in spatial skills; the di!erence arises at age four or "ve, and grows larger throughout the years because boys play more with blocks, video games and other targeted visual spatial games.

#e classic test is a mental rotation, where a person is shown three-dimensional blocks and must decide which block is the same one rotated. Men outperformed women in this task, Eliot said.

“Believe it or not, toys have stronger gender la-bels now than when they did in the ‘70s and ‘80s,” Eliot said. “When Legos were "rst developed, they had no gender to them at all. #ey were just primary colored blocks for boys and for girls.”

But as di!erent themes began to associate with the Legos like Star Wars, 80 to 90 percent of Legos were purchased for boys.

“#at’s a huge lost opportunity for girls espe-cially when you have those two-dimensional con-struction sets you use to build a three-dimension-al object,” Eliot said. “#at’s exactly the spatial visualization that’s important for architecture,

engineering and lots of mechanical skills.” However, Eliot admits that developing research

on children is di$cult. Eliot said her main chal-lenge in writing “Pink Brain, Blue Brain” came when she decided to completely %ip her thesis half way through. Originally, it was a book for parents about their sons and daughters and portraying how they are di!erent in their behavior and in their brains.

“I didn’t realize how bad the evidence on sex di!erences were,” Eliot said. ”I remember the ah-ha moment when I realized that my book was go-ing to be about debunking, not selling.”

As a mother of two sons and a daughter, Eliot is incorporating her values in her personal life.

“When kids become teenagers, they don’t like to listen to their parents much, so all my nagging about their brain development probably started to back"re,” Eliot said. “#ey understand that males and females have absolute equal potential in the world and what you do with your time is going to determine what your brain is good at. I like to think that their attitudes are more open-minded.”

RANJIT SREENIVAS | MERCURY STAFF

Lise Eliot gave a lecture about the science of gender differences at the Jonsson Performance Hall on Jan. 29. She discussed how basic factors such as what toys are given to boys and girls play a large factor in gender perception. Eliot is a professor of neuroscience at the Rosalind Franklin University.

Neuroscience professor at Rosalind Franklin University highlights misinterpreted di!erences in feminine, masculine roles in society PRIYANKA HARDIKAR

Mercury Sta!

FEB. 9, 2015 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM6 LIFE&ARTS

ARUN PRASATH | MERCURY STAFF

ARUN PRASATH | MERCURY STAFF

to go.”Fair moved to Texas from Pennsylvania in 1975

after one of his former colleagues and head of the math department at the time asked him to work as an assistant professor here at UTD.

Back then, the school was an upper division university meaning that it was only for juniors and seniors with most of the classes held in the eve-nings. Compared to the rich diversity of the cam-pus today, he said things were quite di! erent then.

“It was less diverse for sure at that time. Our diversity has increased over the years,” Fair said.

" roughout his forty-year tenure, Fair moved up in the ranks of the university # nally getting to the position that he’s at today as dean of one of the university’s seven schools. As a Black leader, he said being where he is now gives him a feeling of accomplishment.

“It’s satisfying and gratifying that I came here, and I’ve been able to have some career success,” he said.

Fair’s contributions to the university also in-clude extensive research and community outreach for homeless children. He’s the primary coordina-tor for Kid’s University, a program that provides children living in high-risk situations with the tools and knowledge to overcome their barriers.

Another respectable leader on campus, vice president for student programs Yolandé Ev-

ans is responsible for various aspects of campus life that include student involvement opportunities and activities.

Originally from Lousiana, Evans moved to the Dallas area with her then-husband # fteen years ago. At the time, she was unemployed and found her way to UTD one day on a scenic drive through the area.

“I decided that the next day I would get dressed and go to HR,” Evans said. “" ey had a job open-ing for academic advisor and so I # lled out an ap-plication and got an interview.”

Soon thereafter, she was given a better posi-tion as a program coordinator for the excellence scholarship program and over the years, worked her way up to position she holds now. As a Black woman in a leadership role, she said that she wants to exemplify how far Black America has come.

For Black History Month, Evans said that it’s more to her than just a month to celebrate the community’s accomplishments.

“I really try to do that on a daily basis,” she said. “Especially with UT Dallas being so diverse, there are a lot of cultures who have never interacted with our culture so it’s about bringing knowledge to our cultures and experiences, debunking the ste-reotypes and the myths.”

As for future UTD leaders, Evans said that it’s important for students to know their worth.

“I believe to whom much is given, much is re-quired,” she said. “" ese are students who are basi-cally going to take over the world and prepare for persons coming behind them so it’s just for know-ing your worth and knowing your value.”

Arthur Gregg is director of the Multicultural Center and the assistant vice president for

Multicultural A! airs. In his o$ ce, shelves are piled with awards, gifts

from students, photos and UTD swag. Many of the photos are of his fraternity brothers from Al-pha Phi Alpha, a black fraternity that he helped to charter here on campus. He’s also facilitated the start of countless other groups and organizations for students such as Delta Epsilon Psi, the South Asian social service fraternity and the Palestinian Arab American Club.

Gregg attributed a story by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to explain the livelihood and future of the university.

“We’re like his story about a family who will in-herit a house and we all have to live in this house together,” Gregg said. “Are we going to make this a house that will succeed or are we going to make this a house that will fail? I think that UTD is growing into a house that will be a great place to be.”

Gregg # rst came to UTD in 1998 with the mindset that his job would be a stepping-stone in his career. At # rst, he applied for two other jobs to no avail. On his third attempt, he got a job at the Multi-Cultural Center as coordinator working with students of all backgrounds. " en, he knew it was his dream job.

“I am a Comet at heart because I believe in what UTD provides and the type of students that we have here,” he said.

For Gregg, being a leader on campus is all about the passion inside. Sometimes, he said he feels like a father, not just to African-American students but to all students on campus who seek his help.

Bruce August Jr. is assistant director of pro-gramming and marketing at the Multi-Cul-

tural Center. He’s been working on campus for # ve years and was promoted to his current leader-ship position last fall.

As one of the organizers at the center, August oversees the center’s role in creating a variety of cultural programs for UTD.

August said that for this month, the center has planned movie screenings, interactive events with other student organizations such as the Black Stu-dent Alliance and African Student Union. " e center will round o! the month with " e Big Dinner that will consist of a movie screening, live performances and soul food.

Keshia Neal, neuroscience senior and vice president of the BSA works closely with the

center as a volunteer. Her work extends to helping organize this month’s events.

“We’re small but we’re big,” Neal said of the African-American community on campus.

Neal also said groups like the BSA and the Multi-Cultural Center helped her get through the struggles of college life and living far from home.

“" is school can be quite di$ cult as far as the expectations go, but it’s nice to know that you do have an organization that is like your extended family. " ey’re going to help you,” she said. “It’s about uplifting the community.” Bruce August

Arthur Gregg

Billboard art spurs discussion on racial equity

A billboard-based art initia-tive about racial equity is going to the national stage with the help of CentralTrak artists.

Titled “Dialogues on Race,” the project is directed by Make Art with Purpose (MAP), a Dallas-based organization that collaborates with artists to cre-ate projects that positively af-fect communities all over the world.

Janeil Engelstad, the founder of MAP, partnered with New York design firm World Studio to help spread the project.

Engelstad said the idea be-hind addressing current racial strife stems from the fact that since the Civil Rights era, in-terest in movements for racial equity has slowly declined.

“’Dialogues on Race’ is part of a new movement in the United States because really we all thought that things had changed with legislation like the Voting Rights Act,” Engel-stad said. “I think people kind

of laid down their activism and now we see we can’t do that.”

The initiative includes four billboards, two local school murals and a community con-versation at UTD’s Central-Trak artist residency. Engelstad selected the artists based on their unique cultural heritage and artistic emphasis on social issues

The four billboards are lo-cated throughout the city. Two artists worked on each bill-board.

CentralTrak resident artist Chris Blay worked with local artist Gerardo Robles on one billboard. Its black background features five amber, peach, dark brown, and olive brown angu-lar, segmented stick figures.

The figures have their hands raised in the familiar “Hands up, don’t shoot” pose popular-ized by protestors of Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson, MO. To one side of the canvas is a stylized red fist supported by the words “Fruitvale, Flor-ida, Ferguson” in reference to the shootings of Oscar Grant

in California, Michael Brown in Missouri and Trayvon Mar-tin in Florida.

Artists Jin-ya Huang and Thania Dominguez McElroy created another billboard in-spired by Michelangelo’s Sis-tine-Chapel fresco “The Cre-ation of Adam.”

On the board two arms are outstretched, one black and one white and heavily tattooed; their hands almost touch. The white hand holds a human heart. Captioned above the picture is the statement “We’re all the same color at heart,” in reference to the fact that race is not an issue during organ do-nation.

Artists Rebecca Carter and Daryll Ratcliff made a bill-board that emphasized the human genome. Behind the phrase “We are all Black,” a grey-cast, magnified picture of genes curves on the dark fa-çade.

Engelstad partnered with MAKE ART WITH PURPOSE | COURTESY

CentralTrak resident artist Chris Blay and local artist Gerardo Robles created a billboard to promote Dialogues on Race for Make Art With Purpose. The angular figures are meant to represent racial unity.

Dallas-based art organization collaborates with artists to create signboard projects with a focus on activism, positive change

! LEADERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

REBECCA TULLMercury Sta!

! SEE MAP, PAGE 9

Celebrating Black Leaders

“IT’S ABOUT UPLIFTING THE

COMMUNITY.”Keshia Neal, VP of the Black Student Alliance

7THE MERCURY | FEB. 9, 2015ADVERTISEMENTUTDMERCURY.COM

UPCOMING EVENTS

TROPES VS. WOMEN IN VIDEO GAMES

Feb. 11, 7:30 PM, ATEC Lecture Hall

Media critic and blogger Anita Sarkeesian visits to discuss portrayals of women in the video game industry.

TEA TUESDAYS

Feb. 10,10 AM - 4 PM, Galerstein Women’s Center

The Galerstein Women’s Center will be serving tea for the rest of the semester.

WHO’S AFRAID OF CHUCK AND GEORGE?

Feb. 13, 8-10 PM, CentralTrak

CentralTrak presents a visual arts roast of Dallas artist duo Brian Jones and Brian Scott.

LOVE LINE

Feb. 11, 7 PM, The Pub

The Student Wellness Center hosts a panel of experts on sex, relationships and dating. Free dessert and educational items will be handed out.

VARIETY COMEDY SHOW FEAT. GODFREY

Feb. 18, 8 PM, Clark Center

SUAAB hosts a night of laughs with comedian and actor Godfrey.

“DEAR WHITE PEOPLE” SCREENING

Feb. 12 , 7:30 PM, Clark Center

with director Justin Simien.

8 THE MERCURY | FEB. 9, 2015 LIFE&ARTS UTDMERCURY.COM

PINPOSSIBLE

Every issue, The Mercury’s craft connoisseurs will scour Pinterest and craft blogs in search of the best and worst DIY projects. Show us your results on social media using #pinpossible.

@utdmercury

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I’ve been scouring Pin-terest in search of the perfect Valentine’s DIY project. I thought I’d bring back an old friend, and a fairly popular project: melted crayon art. ! ere are also other variations of this project, so even after Valen-tine’s Day, it’s still something you can do with some of your friends.

! is is a really simple project and it’s perfect for an afternoon activity.

LINDA NGUYENCOMMENTARY

LINDA NGUYEN | M

ERCURY STAFF

DIY Melted Crayon Art

1. Organize the crayons in the color scheme and shape you want2. Hot glue the crayons in place3. Using the hair dryer, melt the crayons

Overall, this project is incredibly simple, but it really makes something that could fit into any color scheme, depending on the crayons you use.

One thing I did learn was that you definitely have to rotate the canvas around to get the crayon wax radiating out, and if you don’t put something in the middle to prevent the wax from going into the center of the heart, you’ll have some imperfections. Honestly, I

liked that about my heart, but I can see why some people wouldn’t. The other alternative is to allow the wax to harden in between

each section you melt. Another thing to keep in mind is that since you’re using hot glue

to adhere the crayons, the hair dryer could cause the crayons to fall off entirely, but that’s a simple fix since you can just re-glue the crayons on.

CrayonsCanvas boardHot glue gunHair dryer

(Above and right) UTD alumnus Evan Gordon Weaver performs under the alias Beardface Dogman as part of Bare Mountain, his noise-art project. Weaver organizes concerts for local bands to play at his house that’s been dubbed The Compound. (Top right) Punk rock band Konklin plays at the venue.

Beardface Dogman spotted at The CompoundPHOTOS BY ANDREW GALLEGOS | ASST. PHOTO EDITOR

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

CONNIE CHENG | PHOTO EDITOR

At night, the campus can get very quiet. Dim-ly lit parking lots with only a few people can turn into an unsafe situation.

To help people get across campus safely after hours, UTD Police employs students in a pro-gram known as Student Patrol. Equipped with orange flashing batons, jackets and vests, these students escort people to their destination, pa-trol campus for stolen items and observe the campus for any suspicious activity.

They can be seen walking around the univer-sity Monday through Saturday, from 6 to 11 p.m. Moreover, from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. the escorts are assigned to certain parts of campus to provide heightened security and to help stu-dents and faculty get to their cars safely.

During this one hour time frame, the escorts are assigned to A and B bridge, C and D bridge, parking structure 1 and sometimes the JSOM crosswalk.

In 2009, Chief of Police Larry Zacharias start-ed the campus escort program to provide stu-dents and faculty with a safe and reliable service to use whenever necessary.

“We are the eyes and ears of the police depart-ment,” said Shaw Nawaz, a computer science graduate student and campus escort.

Edwin Hampton, a psychology and child learning development senior has been with the

program for about three and a half years. Back in 2012, when 2 construction workers

fell to their death from a crane, Hampton was

present at the site keeping students at bay and preventing them from taking pictures of the in-cident or going too close to the site.

Not everyday has something as provoking as the crane incident, however,

“It can be kind of boring, because you’re go-ing in circles for hours,” Hampton said.

At times, the areas they patrol are devoid of people to escort. Hampton said this is only one of the downsides of the program. Student Patrol Officers are required to work in the cold of win-ter, the heat of the summer and are paid $8.00 an hour, working up to forty hours a week.

Moreover, campus escorts aren’t in charge of monitoring around the residence halls or apart-ments, an area where a lot of students are com-ing and going throughout the day and at night.

“The department has in their budget to have 12 to 15 campus escorts in total, [but] for a population of 20,000 (students) is that really enough to cover a campus?,” Hampton said.

Hampton is one of the more senior members of the campus escort group having been with the program for three and a half years, but he feels that his work isn’t appreciated as much.

Despite these drawbacks, Senior Public Safety Officer David Spigelmyer said the Student Pa-trol is a good service to have so that students can have someone to walk with.

“We have people that walk around at a lot of different hours, going to labs, classes, and librar-ies. It’s just a good thing to have out there. Why invite trouble when we can keep our people safe?” Spigelmyer said.

9THE MERCURY | FEB. 9, 2015 LIFE&ARTSUTDMERCURY.COM

Moreshin Allahyari to create an online, electric billboard. It features a search box with the static question “Are people from the Middle East?” and common completed search options “Different Colors,” “All in war” and “All Muslim.”

Engelstad said she chose billboards as a medium because of their accessibility to every member of a community. Even those without access to com-mon electronics like computers, televisions and cell phones can easily view a billboard.

The large size of billboards is another useful feature, Engelstad said. It not only makes artwork highly visible, but also creates media buzz. Subse-quent reports and interviews about the billboards prompt community discussions about race issues.

“(Billboards) get media attention and that’s re-ally important because so much of what we do as society is impacted and shaped by the media,”

Engelstad said. “So if we can, as artists and activ-ists, take hold of that media and start to shape the conversation, then we are starting to contribute to the conversation.”

The scale and visual interest provided by the billboards make them into conversation pieces that create a prime environment for what Engel-stad calls “the next step,” or sit-down community dialogues.

CentralTrak hosted a community discussion for

“Dialogues on Race,” on Jan. 22. From this discussion, Engelstad said many of

the individuals who attended gained new insight into the experiences of others in their community.

“The biggest response I heard was, ‘Wow, I never knew,’ Engelstad said. “The fact that edu-cation is happening increases the possibility of knowledge and understanding and makes for more possibility in terms of social justice and ra-cial equity.”

Engelstad’s work in Dallas serves as inspiration for the movement of “Dialogues on Race” to new cities throughout the United States.

Rather than personally choosing the cities for future billboards, Engelstad finds great impor-tance in the grassroot aspect of community in-volvement. As such, interest from artists in other cities will propel the project.

There is already interest for billboards in dif-ferent cities. Artists in St. Louis have contacted Engelstad, and New York City is a clear choice for “Dialogues on Race” because of MAP’s partner-ship with World Studio.

Engelstad hopes that these conversations will lead to greater empathy between community members and stronger efforts to actively mend relationships within the community.

“The billboard is the activator of the conversa-tion,” Engelstad said. “Hopefully from that there is increased understanding and increased will-power.”

! MAPCONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

Student Patrol keeps vigil on campus

ANDREW GALLEGOS | ASST. PHOTO EDITOR

Information technology and management master’s student Kishore Kumar (le!) makes the rounds around campus as a member of the Student Patrol alongside Edwin Hampton, a psychology senior.

SEJAL MALIMercury Sta!

(Billboards) get media attention and that’s really important because so much of what we do as society is impacted and shaped by the media...

— Janeil Engelstad, founder of Make Art with Purpose

710 FEB. 9, 2015 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM SPORTS

The 2013-14 season was one of the most success-ful in the history of the men’s basketball program. Led by five seniors, the team went 27-4, including a 20-2 conference record, en route to a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.

This year, the Comets have had to face the loss of that talent. Four brand new players have taken start-ing positions on the roster despite having no previous playing time at UTD.

The freshmen

Freshmen Caleb Banks and Reagan Keogh have

taken starting spots straight out of high school. Keogh, who earned first team All-State honors as a senior at Antonian Prep in San Antonio, has been starting all season for the Comets.

The 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound forward commit-ted to the team in October of his senior year of high school.

During that year, he tore his ACL, leaving him at a disadvantage heading into his college career. Along with that, Keogh had to adjust to the speed and intensity of the game at the next level.

“The college game is a lot faster. It’s a lot more physical,” he said. “It’s no longer you’re the best per-son on the court. Everybody is coming from being the best player on their high school (team).”

Still, Keogh knew early on that he had a chance to

play. An offseason injury to sophomore center Ryan Horton meant that there was an open spot for a big man in the frontcourt.

Along with that, the drop off in talent from the previous year made it necessary for young players to step up. Keogh said head coach Terry Butterfield told him the team needed help in the post.

“When (Butterfield) first started recruiting me, he said, ‘Hey, look, we’re graduating five guys. Three of them are post men,’” he said. “He never guaranteed me anything. He didn’t say, ‘You’re getting any play-ing time.’ I kind of set a goal for myself early on that I wanted to start. Once I realized that was a possibility, it just pushed me even harder to go and get that done.”

Keogh is currently averaging 6.1 points a game,

along with 5.7 rebounds, the third highest on the team. He said his role on the team is to play defense and get boards.

Banks’ path to a starting position was much differ-ent. Unlike Keogh, he came in at a late point in the recruiting process.

“Caleb was a very last minute addition,” Butterfield said. “I didn’t even meet with him, I was out of town but Caleb came over on a whirlwind visit and decid-ed to come at the last minute.”

Banks, who led North Crowley High School in Forth Worth to a district title his senior year, spent much of the year filling in for senior guard Nolan Harvey. He came in when Harvey needed time to rest on the bench.

The softball team is looking to expand upon its recent streak of playoff appearances as it heads into the 2015 campaign.

This will be the fourth year the Comets are with head coach Brad Posner. When he first started in 2012, the team had been under two coaches in two years and had gone through six straight losing seasons.

Since Posner has taken the role, the team has had three straight 20-win seasons as well as back-to-back ASC tournament appearances.

“When I came here three years ago, I think I was charged with turning the program around,” Posner said. “I believe the last couple of years, especially last year, was the culmination of really getting the program on the right track.”

The team went 23-19 last year, including a 16-17 mark against conference opponents. The Comets went toe to toe with several of the nation-ally ranked teams in the conference last year but couldn’t manage to overcome them. As the team heads into the future, the goal is no longer to sim-ply hang with the stronger teams but to beat them, Posner said.

A key weakness for the Comets last season was not having any seniors on the roster. This year, however, the team is led by six seniors heading into the season. This will be the first class that has been under Posner for its entire four years.

Senior pitcher Megan Aragones said having those seniors will be a big advantage for the team, and shows how much the program has been able to grow.

“Even when the seniors were freshmen, (the team) had a really bad losing streak and hadn’t really had a winning season at all,” she said. “Finally hav-ing seniors that are sticking through all four years throughout the program is huge. We’re leaving our legacy here.”

Aragones, who had a 3.21 ERA and was 3-1 as the starting pitcher last year, is the only senior member of the pitching staff this year. This means she has to set the tone for the rest of the players on the mound, she said.

One of the benefits of having players with experi-ence is the amount of depth the team now boosts. Last year, the team finished with 19 players, com-pared to this year where it will start with 24.

This means players will not have to switch roles to fill in positions because there will be someone to

The baseball team enters the 2015 season boasting a deep and veteran pitching rotation interjected with a cast of strong batters.

The teams 2014 campaign ended in the semifi-nals of the ASC Tournament after it earned its 13th straight 20-plus win season, finishing 27-17.

The league’s preseason poll has UTD finishing second in the ASC this season. The team had four first-place votes, ranking only behind Concordia, which had 19.

Senior Tyler Dauer and junior Brandon George were listed as ASC Players to Watch.

George, an infielder, has been making headway since transferring into the program last spring, hit-ting a team-high .356 with four home runs.

He led the Comets with 36 RBIs and eight doubles last year.

After leading the Comets in nearly every vital pitching statistic last season, pitcher Dauer posted a 7-1 record with a 3.12 ERA in 86.2 innings pitched.

Dauer led the league with 93 strikeouts, earning second team All-ASC honors last season.

“Offseason preparation helped me break out last season, but this season I’m focused on winning for

the team and striking out as many batters as I can,” Dauer said.

Head coach Shane Shewmake will flaunt one of the most experienced squads of his 14-year tenure with 15 seniors and 9 juniors on the Comets’ roster.

One key addition for the team will be new pitch-ing coach Jonathon Armold.

“He’s had a chance to be where the players want to go,” Shewmake said. “He has the experience and does a great job talking to the guys and pushing them to be the best.”

Dauer said his two years of experience in the Major League Baseball farm system, playing for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and his ability to relate to the players is helping them improve their games.

“Coach Armold relates to us, he has been work-ing us hard and it’s apparent in our performance,” Dauer said.

Players say they are especially enthusiastic about freshman pitcher Andrew Leilich.

Leilich, the 6-foot-3 inch, 172 pound pitching prospect from The Woodlands will be looking to make an immediate impact.

“I’m excited to see what he can do, he has a pow-erful arm and the coaches are happy to be able to

Baseball team strong in depth, experience

NEW FACES, NEW PLACES

PLACESESTEBAN BUSTILLOS

Managing Editor

YANG XI | MERCURY STAFF

Freshmen Reagan Keogh (45) and Caleb Banks (5), along with sophomore Kyle Coulter (44) and senior Rafael Farley (34) have all taken starting positions in their first year playing for the Comets.

Four brand new players start for the men’s basketball team, face challenges of adjusting to new environment

! SEE NEW PLAYERS, PAGE 11

Culture, seniors key to softball success

MICHAEL GORDONMercury Sta!

! SEE BASEBALL, PAGE 11 ! SEE SOFTBALL, PAGE 11

ESTEBAN BUSTILLOSManaging Editor


The baseball team finished last year with a 27-17 record and was one game shy of advancing to the conference championship. The team has been predicted to finish second in this years ASC race.


Unlike last year, when the team had no seniors, there will be six seniors on this years roster. The so!-ball team, which hasn’t won a playo" game in 10 years, has been predicted fin finsh sixth in the ASC.

Head coach Brad Posner vying for first win in conference tourneyFi"een seniors, 9 juniors look to lead team through ASC scrum

11THE MERCURY | FEB. 9, 2015 SPORTSUTDMERCURY.COM

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYER RECEIVES ACADEMIC HONOR

Madi Hess, a senior guard on the women’s basketball team, was named a Capital One Academic All-District honoree by the College Sports Information Directors of America on Feb. 2. To be eligible for the award, play-ers must maintain a 3.30 GPA, have played 50 percent of the games in the season and be at least a sopho-more. Hess, who has a 3.82 GPA, currently leads the team in points, steals, rebounds and assists per game, and is the only basketball player in the conference, male or female, to earn the award this season.

— Esteban Bustillos

SPORTS QUICK HITS

That all changed when Harvey went down with a broken hand that brought his season to an early close.

Banks, who is the smallest member of the team at 5 feet, 7 inches and 145 pounds, had to step up to take the role of the sidelined team captain.

“When I found out (Harvey) was out for the whole season, I had to change my whole mindset,” he said. “I had to take over the reins of the starting point guard. Now, I have to make sure that we get done what we need to get done.”

Banks is currently averaging 4.1 points a game and dishes out 2.8 assists per game.

When it became obvious that Harvey was done for the season, Butterfield said Banks knew the responsi-bility placed upon him.

“Obviously that changed the whole dynamic of our team,” Butterfield said. “We went from a sea-soned, senior veteran to a freshman that was still feeling his way. And I must say, to his credit, he’s handling it very well, considering his newness to the program.”

The Transfers

For the other new starters on the team, a longer route was taken to get to UTD.

Sophomore forward Kyle Coulter played bas-ketball, baseball and football while at Travis High School in Richmond. He was named a first team all-district quarterback and had several offers from Division I teams to play on the gridiron.

His father, who was an offensive lineman at Rice University, encouraged him to continue playing football, but Coulter had always enjoyed playing basketball more. As a senior, he was named second-

team all-district and was a Houston Area Basketball Coaches Association All-Star.

That love for the game, along with several concus-sions he suffered playing football, encouraged him to attend Concordia University his freshman year of college to play basketball.

After his first year there, however, he transferred to West Texas A&M to take another crack at football.

The team’s propensity to throw the ball and how it developed passers attracted Coulter. However, once he started to play, he realized how much he missed the basketball court.

“In college, you have to love the sport to play it,” Coulter said. “I didn’t feel that passion about football as I do basketball.”

Once he knew football wouldn’t work out, he decided to start to look for schools that he could transfer to play basketball at. Butterfield’s system and recent streak of success, along with the school’s close proximity to members of his family, convinced him to apply and attempt to join the basketball team as a walk-on.

After having a year off from basketball, Coulter had a lot of ground to cover to make it on the squad. Even though he had a resume of college playing time, there was no guarantee Coulter would even be given a roster spot.

“Our message to him was, ‘Kyle, if you want to come and give it a go, we’re more than glad to have you come do that,’” Butterfield said. “‘But we want you to be aware that if we don’t think you’re going to meet our standard, if you’re not good enough, we’re not guaranteeing you anything.’”

Coulter’s first day to prove himself was the first day of practice for the team, leaving him with little time to catch up, but it didn’t take long for him to earn his spot.

He has started every game of the season for the Comets. The forward is the third highest scorer on

the team, averaging 10.6 points per game. He also has the third most three-pointers on the team with 35 buckets from beyond the arc this season.

Senior guard Rafael Farley also had stints at two colleges before stopping in Richardson. Recruited by UTD out of Klein Forest High School in Houston, he opted instead to play his first two years at Ranger College, where he averaged 17 points a game as a sophomore.

After his days at Ranger were over, Farley trans-ferred to Abilene Christian University, a Division I school. While he was able to play against some of the best competition in the country, he also saw the more serious side of the game.

“I lost a lot of the love for (basketball) because it became more of a job than just a game I loved to play,” he said.

While at ACU, Farley averaged 4.6 points a game. After the season was over, Brian Burton, a former UTD player who was an assistant coach for the Wildcats, encouraged Farley to take advantage of his last year of eligibility and transfer to UTD.

Since his transfer, Farley has had one of the most prolific scoring seasons in program history. He cur-rently leads the conference in points scored and tied the school’s record of the most points in a single game when he dropped 40 against The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor on Jan. 17.

He averages 22 points a game, the second most in the conference, and leads the team and the confer-ence in three-pointers made.

Having a transfer senior, especially one who scores like Farley, is something that is not commonplace for Butterfield.

“(Farley) is the first Division I transfer that I can recollect, and he’s the first one-year player we’ve ever had,” he said. “There are some schools that make a living on one- and two-year players, but we’re not one of them, so it’s a highly unusual situation.”

Butterfield said Farley has been able to adapt to the system because of the high level of skill he has. His ability to create his own shot has been one of his biggest strengths.

Even though the competition at the Division I level is more athletic, Farley said the skill level is still high in Division III. The experiences he had at differ-ent schools and facing such a wide array of competi-tion helped him hone his game.

“I feel like experiencing all those different aspects, all those different schools and different players, I think it kind of trained me for my last year,” he said.

Growing Pains

The most difficult part of having so many new players is getting every player on the same page, Butterfield said.

“Adapting to a new coach with a new style, I think that that’s a huge issue,” he said. “I think adapting to a new team with a new culture, new personalities, new friendships, new relationships; I think it can be very challenging for a new player.”

Even though the team has had struggles with the learning curve, losing back-to-back games for the first time since 2012, it is still in a position to make a run in the conference tournament.

Butterfield said this time of the year is one of the most critical moments as the team jockeys for posi-tion in the league.

Even though the team lacks the veteran leadership it had in the past and has yet to find a consistent groove, there is still a sense from the players that when everyone is communicating effectively, the team is hard to beat.

“We struggled with some teams that are .500, but we can beat the best teams,” Farley said. “We don’t have a great chemistry, but when we are clicking, we can be one of the best.”

! NEW PLAYERSCONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

! SOFTBALLCONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

! BASEBALLCONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

back them up on the depth chart. This increase in numbers also means an increase in competition for playing time.

“Every single position on the field has mul-tiple people challenging for playing time,” Posner said. “That kind of works itself out through the course of the year, but to have that early on, to have people pushing each other. I think it helps every one of our players to raise their level if they feel as if their posi-tion is being challenged for.”

One of the players who will be competing for a spot this year is sophomore infielder Kendall Moore. Moore had 21 starts at third base last year and had a hitting average of .231, scoring eight runs and get-ting seven RBIs in her first year.

Moore, who is competing with junior infielder Sara Navarro for the third base spot, said the com-petition has helped both players to improve.

“We both have a very competitive edge to us,” Moore said. “But we’re not mean to each other or any-thing. If she messes up, I’m like, ‘Hey, make sure you do this.’ We’re competitive, but I think that it makes us better, and that’s a positive because we have two third basemen who are going to get the job done.”

Posner said the level of play shown by the players in the preseason has made it hard for the coaching staff to begin to choose who is going to be playing.

“Our players are doing such an unbelievable job of making this decision for the coaches so difficult at every position,” he said.

Changing the culture was one of the biggest goals Posner had when he came in four years ago. The norms and standards he wanted to establish when he started have now become common for the team.

He said that this current senior class had been put in a difficult position when he came in. They could either continue to play here for someone who had not recruited them, or they could go on to some-where else and start from scratch.

Now, with their final year of play coming up, Posner said he has a tremendous amount of grati-tude for their perseverance.

“This year’s seniors have the potential to leave here as the winningest four-year group in history,” he said. “They could (have) four-straight above .500 years. Four straight winning seasons. They’re on a pace. I’d love to see them not only go to a third straight conference tournament, but to go deep into the conference tournament.”

The team has yet to win a tournament game under Posner, something he said is unfinished busi-ness for the team to resolve.

This year will be very important for the future of the team and the program as a whole, he said.

“We’re not still trying to turn a program around. We’ve accomplished that,” he said. “And now we’re trying to look toward what is the next step for us.”

SCORING UPDATES

BASEBALL

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FEB. 2: UTD 57-Hardin-Simmons 64 FEB. 5: UTD 67-Louisiana College 53

MEN’S BASKETBALL

FEB. 6: UTD 0-Linfield 6 FEB. 7: UTD 8-Pacific Lutheran 11 UTD 3-Pacific Lutheran 8 (DH)

FEB. 2: UTD 68-Hardin-Simmons 62 FEB. 5: UTD 92-Louisiana College 88 (OT)

throw in there,” Dauer said.While the majority of the 2014 team is back, the

Comets experienced some turnover on the mound.“We feel like these freshmen have a great chance

to step in and have a big impact,” Shewmake said.Led by Dauer, this year’s bullpen will benefit from

the injection of new talent and returning players coming into their roles.

“We have a lot of depth this season.” Dauer said. “It doesn’t matter who is in. We will do well with the guys we brought in this season.”

This team is returning a pair of key performers on the mound in seniors Nick Cummings and Micah Easterling.

Easterling made a massive leap in his second year with the program in 2014. He was named honorable mention All-ASC East as a sophomore, posting a 6-3 record with a 3.75 ERA.

Cummings led the team with three pickoffs, fin-ishing with a 3.03 ERA last season.

While the pitching is stocked with returning tal-ent, the offense enters the 2015 season with the most uncertainty.

Most of the questions center around who will bring home the runners’ consistency.

“We have added a couple freshmen and transfers we really like with strong bats, but we need guys to

step up,” Shewmake said.George, who led the team in hits, batting average

and runs last year, has the most returning experi-ence as a starter.

Senior Brandon Clounch and junior Jimmy Norris, who combined for 88 hits and 35 RBIs will also play a big role.

The team is returning a loaded group of infield-ers and outfielders, including seniors Tanner Gandy and Clounch.

The Comets will also have transfer junior outfielder Haden Johnson, who spent two seasons at Northern Oklahoma College help-ing that team reach conference and regional championships.

The baseball team hasn’t won fewer than 20 games since it began in 2002. With key contribu-tors returning and insertion of fresh prospects, the team is ready for the season to get started.

“This is one of the deepest teams we have ever had, they are capable of getting to nationals,” Shewmake said.

The team hasn’t made it to the NCAA Tournament since the 2007 season.

To get there, they will have to do well at the con-ference level. The Comets want to enter the ASC Tournament hitting the ground running.

“With the new guys coming in and the leader-ship we have throughout the team, we can be a real contender this season,” Dauer said.

712 FEB. 9, 2015 | THE MERCURY COMICS&GAMES

Outside

Formatting

Thursday

Flat and Bulgy

291 (Ep. 2)

by Emily Grams

by Justin Thompson

by Tim Shirley

by Tim Shirley

by Emily Grams

FINISHTHE MAZE!

’90s Music

Across

Down

Do you think you have what it takes to make it through this three-part maze? Our illustrators think not!

Created By:Lina Moon and Sunayna Rajput (top), Ian LaMarsh and Justin Thompson (middle), Emily Grams and Tim Shirley (bottom)

Puzzle by Miguel Perez

1. Suspicious robots

2. Oh, just forget it1. A king’s son

10. Roswell theme song

9. The boy is definitely hers, not yours

7. Desert haven

4. Whistle register

15. ointment or lotion

12. New York State of Mind

18. Infamous and large

5. Chilli, T-Boz and —

3. Plane crash death

13. Step 1: get with my friends

11. Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang

8. Impartial dairy

6. If you want to destroymy sweater...

17. She’s been a bad, bad girl

14. Former Sugarcube

19. Grunge band’s debut

Crossword

20. Oops...

16. Ice Ice —

13THE MERCURY | FEB. 9, 2015 COMICS&GAMESUTDMERCURY.COM

1. 3.

6.

5.

7. 8.

9. 10. 11.

12.

13. 14. 15.

16.

17. 18. 19.

20.

2.

4.


! ULBRICHTCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

their normal lives once they turned 18, while Nahum had been taken from this world forever.

In December 2012, Lopez sat down with her father, David Lopez, a retired army sergeant, and tried to figure out how else to charge the boy who had murdered Martinez.

David, who has a federal firearms license and sells weapons, pointed out that the teenagers responsible for Martinez’s death would be allowed to carry fire-arms legally once they get out of juvenile detention.

She decided she wanted to start working on draft-ing a new law that could address the situation. With the help of local judges, Rockwall District Attorney Kendra Culpepper, the Collin County Teen Court coordinator Julie Monge and her high school teach-ers Dianne Boone and Amy May, Lopez was able to draft a law.

If passed, Nahum’s Law, as it will be called, will ensure that “a person charged as a minor with a felony involving a fire arm loses the privilege to have their records expunged.”

After several failed attempts to get a Congressperson to back Nahum’s law in the Texas legislature, Rep. Jodie Laubenberg finally agreed to push the law, and it is up for discussion in the spring 2015 legislative session.

Lopez’s mother, Jenny, said that it was hard at first to convince people to back the law, because they perceive the law to be a form of gun control. But, it’s not gun control; it’s simply a punishment, Jenny said.

“We are in support of being able to carry firearms, but we believe as a family, as the law states that you have to be mentally sound to be able to carry that firearm,” she said. “If you proceed, at any age, with an action that causes the death or the harm of some-one via a firearm, you should no longer be able to legally own a firearm.”

If passed, the law would also deliver justice to another Wylie East teenager who was murdered in 2014, for the same reasons as Martinez — a dispute over a girl. Ivan Mejia was murdered behind their high school and the accused were also Wylie East students.

The two murders, so close to each other, rattled something within Lopez.

“I just don’t understand why all of a sudden this has happened,” she said. “I mean, we had only one murder in the 130 years of being the City of Wylie, and it was an axe murder over a cheating husband.”

Neither of the murders made sense since both stu-dents were kind, straight-A students, she said.

Part of the problem in Wylie is the lack of a sup-port network that a teenager can reach out to during

troubled times, Lopez said. “I think, in our city, there’s really no one you can

go to and tell them ‘I’m feeling this anger,’” she said. “People get made fun of for having disorders. It’s a much different environment, and I really wish I could change it in some way, somehow let the teach-ers see and help in some way, improve communica-tion.”

City Council platform

Lopez’s desire to bring change to her community has spurred her into action, and she filed her papers for the elections last month.

In order to do so, she had to gather 25 signatures on her petition from local community members.

UTD baseball player and mechanical engineering freshman Will Peters, who helped her get signatures, said the reaction from people they approached was mixed.

While some people were very supportive, others wondered why someone so young wanted to run for city council and what she could do for them, he said.

When she went around getting these signatures, many thought she was getting them for one of her parents, Lopez said.

“It made me realize how uneducated people are about politics in a local area,” Lopez said. “They don’t know how much local politics affects their local area. They don’t know how much the city council actually controls.”

Lopez realized how easy it was to run for office and how simple the requirements were, so much so that criminal background checks are not required for candidates. As a result, there are council members on the current council who have arrest records to their name, she said.

Lopez is campaigning for two issues that affect Wylie: water conservation in Lake Lavon, Wylie’s pri-mary water source, and restoration of the Blackland Prairie.

Wylie used to be a small city, and as it grows, fish-ing roads are getting paved and crop land is being eaten up by uncontrolled real estate development. While Lopez isn’t opposed to growth, she misses the land and the Wylie she knew.

In the past 15 years, Wylie’s population has grown exponentially; there are 12 elementary schools as opposed to the one before, and as each new school filled up, the city added a new one. Ten thousand new students have been added to the school district in that time.

With the growth, there’s been an increase in waste water from pressurized wood treatment facilities going into Lake Lavon, which provides all of Wylie’s water, causing longer filtration times and a strain on

the city’s resources. If elected, Lopez hopes to strategize and plan

Wylie’s growth and bring in more regulations on water and land use that might slow down growth initially but will result in steady revenues for the city in the long term, she said.

Lopez’s sophomore year English teacher Dianne Boone said it was important for the people of Wylie to realize the significance of such a strategic plan.

“I think that she has a pulse on the future of Wylie, of where her challenges might be for the city in the future, especially with water conservation — and it’s not just Wylie, of course. To run with that on her platform is really important,” Boone said.

The biggest challenge for Lopez is to get people to come out and vote. Last year, only 442 of the registered 29,000 voters, or 1.97 percent, voted for city council. Lopez wants to make voter education accessible to the youth to encourage them to cast their ballot.

“Those 442 people are deciding for all of us and I think, to be honest, if I wasn’t so involved in politics, I would have no idea where I’m supposed to register, what I’m supposed to do, where I vote. It’s all stuff that I’ve researched,” she said. “But, people who don’t have the time to research, who don’t care as much, are not going to do it.”

Her parents and her siblings have backed her on the decision to run, Lopez said. Most of her day goes in planning her campaign and putting together her campaign website. Peters has been helping Lopez with building the website, and often, when she needs a second opinion on her platform and work, she calls him up to use him as a sounding board.

For Lopez’s mother, Jenny, pride and fear come hand in hand, particularly as her daughter enters politics.

“I’m wary and I’m scared and I believe that in this day and age, media tends to twist things as soon as you put yourself in front of the public,” Jenny said. “I do get concerned; I imagine there will be some nega-tivity at some time and how will we handle that as a family, but other than that, I couldn’t be more proud of her and I look forward to seeing what she does.”

Lopez draws her communication skills and her community spirit from her mother, she said.

“(My mom) may not have graduated high school, but she’ll damn well run a campaign no matter what you put in front of her,” Lopez said. “She will sell you any item that you could have never wanted before.”

Lopez’s father has also been a source of inspiration for her, and his willingness to lay his life on the line for his country inspired a sense of patriotism in her and the desire to always do the right thing.

For Lopez, it’s more important that she not let her family down, and she feels she’s living out her

parents’ legacy before they had children. “No one in my family has graduated high school

yet. My parents haven’t. My older brother hasn’t, and they just want to see me succeed,” Lopez said.

Meanwhile, Lopez has been selected as one of the top 10 national semifinalists for a young women’s political program, Run for Running Start. Lopez will have to collect enough votes to move on as one of top three finalists.

If she qualifies for the next round, she will be able to go to Washington D.C. for a week to learn more about politics and to donate $5,000 to a charity of her choice.

She has designated that money in advance toward the Wylie Education Foundation under the Nahum Martinez scholarship.

Connecting with her roots

Even as she embarks on her campaign for city council, Lopez hasn’t forgotten Martinez.

With some help from Jenny and Boone, Lopez almost single-handedly organizes Nahum’s Run, a 5K in his memory every year.

Through the process of getting the run together, Boone worked with Lopez as the teacher liaison to be able to provide her access to district utilities and witnessed Lopez’s resourcefulness, as she found a way to overcome challenges no matter what.

“I just like being around her when she does that. It is so amazing to watch,” Boone said. “I like to see her eyes light up when she talks about what she’s passionate about, and she’s passionate about doing the right thing.”

Lopez, who was hurt after a concussion in a soc-cer match her freshman year in high school, still has panic attacks when she’s in stressful situations. Yet, she is working 20-hour days trying to put together her campaign, juggle school and a part-time job.

As Nahum’s Law comes closer to passing after all the work she has put in, Lopez knows that winning or losing the election doesn’t matter to her. There will be ways for her to get where she wants to be, serv-ing her country through politics, making the lives of others better.

Lopez might be the catalyst for change in youth politics, as she shows other students in Wylie what true leadership is like and that students also have a voice, Boone said. It was impressive to see how Lopez, with her determination and passion, managed to channel her grief into something proactive and positive, she said.

“UTD is lucky to have her, for the leadership that she can bestow on her campus, her community and someday on our world,” Boone said. “She is some-thing special.”

! LOPEZCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

O!ce 365 also o"ers 1 terabyte of cloud storage space on OneDrive, which can be used to store #les and photos that can be accessed from anywhere us-ing the Internet. Users will have access to O!ce Online, where they can use lighter versions of Of-#ce applications accessible using any web browser and can be used to create, edit and save documents.

Student already owning university accounts with Microsoft will have their mailing system integrated to the already existing ones. $e accounts will now

show an icon for Microsoft Outlook, which was un-available for earlier accounts.

Students must use their full NetID for logging in, personalized email addresses will not work. But the PEA will be active, meaning mails can be received using the ID.

$ere will be no change in email addresses, Davis said. $e emails currently stored on Zmail will be copied to O!ce 365. However, address books, cal-endar items and anything over 25 megabytes will not be carried over.

Students will need to set up email forwarding in Outlook as forwarding settings will not automati-cally carried over. If students have Zmail synched to

their phones, they will need to recon#gure them to continue recieving emails.

Technology Services will email students 14 days, seven days and one day before the change. Final no-ti#cation will be sent two weeks after completion of the transition, after which the Zmail account will be deleted.

Five hundred email accounts will be moved in each phase of the process. Migration is planned to occur each night. Bu"er days have been put in to ensure no complications occur for the #rst couple of weeks. As there is no #xed deadline by which the process is to be #nished, Information Resources hopes to be on track and #nish the process as soon as possible.

! EMAILCONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

next fall during Mental Health Awareness Week in October, “ said Aaminah Farooq, social media head for Empowered Minds.

One of the challenges of establishing the orga-

nization was trying to make it clear that the o!cers and members are not and will not be substitutes for professional mental health counselors, Allahrakha said.

However, they will be available to serve as a liai-son between students seeking help and the Student Wellness Center. Although the o!cers haven’t met

with a representative from the SWC to discuss their goals yet, Allahrakha said she hopes the SWC will agree to sponsor talks at Empowered Minds meet-ings.

“I think more people will be willing to seek the help they need if they’re not so afraid of what other people will think,” she said.

! MINDSCONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

online currency, from Silk Road servers in Iceland and Pennsylvania to Ulbricht’s laptop.

Along with the government's testimony, Richard Bates, another UTD graduate and former acquain-tance of Ulbricht, testi#ed that Ulbricht confessed to him that he created Silk Road.

Ulbricht’s attorneys said that while he created Silk Road as an economic experiment, he gave up control to others who then transformed the website into an ille-gal drug hub. $ey said that Mark Karpelès, the former CEO of Mt. Gox, a now bankrupt bitcoin exchange, was possibly the true identity of Dread Pirate Roberts.

$e defense argued that Ulbricht’s laptop had been hacked and #les that were incriminating against him were placed there.

Joshua Dratel, the lead attorney for Ulbricht, called for a mistrial several times. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest overturned each request.

Dratel could not be reached for comment.Ulbricht is also facing a murder solicitation

charge in Baltimore for allegedly hiring a hit man to kill a Silk Road user who was attempting to extort Ulbricht for $500,000.

Defenders of Ulbricht have called the trial unfair and one-sided.

In an interview with CNNMoney, Lyn Ulbricht maintained her son’s innocence.

“$e most frustrating thing is that evidence that is favorable to Ross is being suppressed,” she told CNNMoney.

the mercury 02/09

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