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Volume 71, No. 19 February 19, 2015
Page 4Journey Stories exhibit makes rounds in Library
Smithsonian comes to UTPA
panamericanonline.com
ONLINE CONTENT
Black Butler review
Anime Blog
Weekly updates on current events
SGA constitution
Preparing for the merger
Broncs start first weekend 2-2
Described by his current golf coach as a quiet guy who likes to keep to himself, Ricardo “Ricky” Solis II is anything but shy on the golf course. The four-time high school
MVP player and tournament-conquering college student has shown that great athletes can be produced in the Rio Grande Valley.
Born in Corpus Christi, Solis and his family moved to McAllen when he was a few
weeks old. While playing many sports in school, he took a par-ticular interest in golf because his father was an avid linkster. Solis said he enjoyed “hanging out” with his dad and his dad’s friends, and eventually started to beat him at the game.
Solis played golf at McAllen High School, from which he graduated in 2012. There, he quickly became a star golfer.
“In high school, all four years, I was our MVP with the
lowest scoring average,” the 21-year-old said. “My junior year I was co-MVP. My senior year I got first team all-district and second team all-state.”
CONTINUES ON PAGE 7
By Elsa Cavazos The Pan American
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J u n i o r g o l f e r p r o v e s l o c a l s h a v e t h e g o o d s
Season begins
Jon Nutt/ The Pan American
February 19, 20152 opinion
The Pan American accepts letters of 300 words or less from students, staff and faculty regarding recent newspaper content, campus concerns or current events. We cannot publish anonymous letters or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks. Please send all letters to:thepanamerican@
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Vol. 71, No. 19
The Pan American is the official student newspaper of The Univer-sity of Texas-Pan American. Views presented are those of the writ-ers and do not necessarily reflect those of the paper or university.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Tweet at and follow us@ThePanAmerican
Birthday suits tailored here!
People in #UTPA need to learn to walk on the pe-destrian lines, NOT THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!!!
Gotta love pan am, girls in thigh high boots & dudes in onesie pajamas #diver-sity #utpa #coldAF
-@_____Joie_____
-@itzah21
-@utpa_wellness
The logic that allowing guns on campus will prevent a pos-sible shooter from killing or at-
tacking others is flawed. It’s the same as fighting fire with fire - someone will get burned.
As a college student, you already know how much GPAs matter.
Your grade point aver-age determines whether or not you keep your scholarships. It affects your chances of getting into grad school. It could be the tie-breaker when you’re competing for a job.
But grades also matter because they are supposed to reflect what you know and can do.
While everyone wants good grades, it’s generally a bad sign when everyone gets them.
If that’s happening, the bar for “excellence” is too low. Some people are get-ting high grades for doing less, cheapening the value of an A so that truly excep-tional students don’t stand out.
A recent report, Easy A’s and What’s Behind Them, by the National Council on Teacher Qual-ity (NCTQ) looks at more than 500 colleges (includ-
ing University of Texas – Pan American) and finds that, on average, about 30 percent of all students at these schools graduate with grade-based honors.
What’s troubling for NCTQ, a research orga-nization that advocates for improving the instruction of K-12 students by im-proving the preparation of their teachers, is that Easy A’s also found that teacher candidates at the schools we reviewed are nearly 50 percent more likely than their peers across campus to graduate with honors.
At the University of Texas – Pan American, however, there is no wor-risome discrepancy be-tween the proportion of teacher candidates who earn honors and other majors. Specifically, insert 25.5 percent of soon-to-be teachers at the University of Texas – Pan American graduate with honors, which com-
pares with 22.54 percent for all programs on cam-pus.
We hope to see more institutions follow this example. For teacher can-didates and all other stu-dents, if virtually everyone has stellar grades, an easy A doesn’t really help you get a job, and it definitely won’t help you keep it.
-Kate Walsh
President of the Na-tional Council on Teacher Quality in Washington D.C.
ediTors-in-chief: Andrew VeraMay Ortega sPorTs ediTor: Marco TorresarTs & Life ediTor: Nerio CelayaPhoTograPhy ediTor: Jon Nutt design ediTor: Francisco Rodriguez muLTimedia ediTor: Michael AguilarsociaL media ediTor: Nathaniel MatacoPy ediTor: Andy De Llano adviser:Dr. Greg SelberadminisTraTive associaTe: Anita Reyes adverTising manager: Verónica RodríguezWebmasTer: Sharath Kumar Aitha
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FEBRUARY 3 - MARCH 12, 2015TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS
REC MAIN GYM6:15 - 7 A.M.
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Andrew VeraCo-Editor-in-Chief
Nearly 50 years ago Charles Whitman opened fire at the University of Texas at Austin, ultimately killing 16 people and injuring 31 more. A week ago, the Senate State Affairs Com-
mittee approved the Campus Carry Bill that will allow guns on university grounds across the state. Without taking this fatal incident (or any others, for that matter) into account, lawmak-ers voted 7-2 on the issue, al-lowing licensed gun owners to carry on a college campus.
The bill came with great sup-port and much opposition. The issue cuts right through party lines with Republicans sup-porting the bill and Democrats widely disagreeing with it.
Support for the bill came from Committee Chairwoman Joan Huffman, R-Houston, and Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp. Oppos-ing the bill, however, is newly appointed University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven.
Supporters argue that allow-ing students to carry on campus creates a “safer environment” in case of a shooting. They might
even rely on statistics, like the ones stated in Campus Safety Magazine, that say one out of every four college campus po-lice departments are not pre-pared for an active shooter situ-ation. But what statistics show safer numbers for John Doe car-rying a gun?
The logic that allowing guns on campus will prevent a pos-sible shooter from killing or at-tacking others is flawed. It’s the same as fighting fire with fire - someone will get burned.
Huffman said this bill is giv-ing people the right to “protect themselves in a legal way.” First Amendment laws are all fine and good when you are sitting on your property or protecting your home, but a college cam-pus has a much greater popula-tion than your backyard.
By allowing guns on college campuses, lawmakers are open-ing the door for more trouble and are perpetuating a far more concerning issue: suicide.
According to Emory Uni-
versity’s website, one in 10 col-lege students have made plans to comitt suicide. Also, there are more than 1,000 suicides on college campuses each year. Easier access to guns not only worsens these stats, but creates an unsafe environment for stu-dents.
Lawmakers are looking at this issue from one side: gun rights. But without looking at the wider scope, they fail to realize many more lives are put in danger.
The solution here is a simple one: train the law enforcement of our college campuses. By putting trust in the men and women who serve to protect these mini-cities, students, fac-ulty and staff can feel safer and far more protected. Rather than allowing a person who could have no gun training at all to control a deadly situation, why not train a professional to care for his or her constituents?
So you think you can carry?Why allowing guns on college campuses is a huge mistake
Members of the Minority Affairs Council gather in reaction to Brownsville Judge Andrew S. Hanen’s granting of a preliminary injunction on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and De-ferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) Feb. 18. MAC serves as a support system for mi-norities in the Rio Grande Valley and stands up for minority issues.
Juanita Renee Rivas/ The Pan American
The upcoming establishment of University of Texas Rio Grande Valley through the merger of the University of Texas at Brownsville and UTPA has placed students from both universities through a series of changes. The next step in deciding the future of UTRGV was taken at the beginning of the spring semester with the hiring of the new chief of police, Raul Mun-guia.
The law enforcement vet-eran is scheduled to serve as UTRGV’s first chief starting this fall. The police department in Brownsville, currently under the leadership of Chief Michael Holguin, is looking for a new as-sistant chief. UTPA’s acting chief, James Loya, will remain in the Edinburg department as assistant chief. While Munguia is excited about his appointment, making history as the school’s first chief requires serious changes in Mun-guia’s life and career.
For Munguia, the last 31 years have been all about serving Austin. After graduating from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls with a bachelor’s in applied arts and science, he began his career in law enforcement by joining the Austin Police Depart-ment in 1983. Years of working for Austin P.D. led him to the position of assistant chief in 2010. Three years later he was appointed chief of staff. His retirement from Austin P.D. marked the beginning of a new phase in his life.
For the recently appointed Austin native, his new role isn’t
just a job. Accepting the position of chief of police of UTRGV re-quired life-changing steps.
Assimilating to a different re-gion and culture was the easy part of moving away from Austin. He said leaving his community, friends, neighbors and family were the real challenges. His fiancée, a Harlingen native, is one of the few familiar faces Munguia will have in his future home in Brownsville. He said finding a place to live and building a new life with her have been some of the most significant features of his move to the RGV.
While Munguia will miss Aus-tin dearly, he embraces the chal-lenges of moving to the Valley and looks forward to building a life here.
“The people are very friendly and welcoming in the Valley,” Munguia said tothe PanAmerican. “I can’t wait to settle down and start mixing with the community down there.”
Although this is the first time he will serve an academic institu-tion, Munguia believes this job will not be too different from his previous work experience.
“Providing public safety is what I’ve been doing for Austin for the past 30 years. It’s very similar to what I’ll be doing for UTRGV. The end goal is everybody’s safe-ty,” he said.
In his previous job, Mungia had the opportunity to serve commu-nities surrounding the University of Texas at Austin. The experience gave him the knowledge needed to work with student populations. Once it falls under his command, the UTRGV Police Department will continue UTPA’s mission of
public safety.“We want to ensure an envi-
ronment conducive to learning for the UTRGV community,” the 54-year-old said. “My goal is to pro-vide a safe learning environment to UTRGV students and staff.”
Munguia plans to become familiar with students once UTRGV’s first semester kicks off. As a father of a college student, he hopes to help the Vaqueros feel at home and understands that the first years away from home can be tough times, especially for international and out-of-state stu-dents.
“For most students it’s their first time away from home and some of them are naïve,” he ex-plained.
According to Munguia, the most common issues univeris-ity departments deal with relate to public disturbances, such as breaking curfews and excessive drinking.
He believes a fear or lack of trust in law enforcement is a lead-ing cause of most preventable crimes. One of the most com-mon problems to go undetected among students, he said, is dating violence.
“We can’t address (crimes) if we don’t know about it,” the new chief said.
Munguia said he hopes to avoid this by reaching out to stu-dents, staff and the community. He aims to deter those types of crimes by analyzing and improvis-ing the department’s response.
“We want to ensure that when there is trouble or suspicious ac-tivity, students will not hesitate to call the police,” Munguia said.
The changes taking place un-der UTRGV may be confusing for new and returning students alike. The police department hopes to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“We are considering an open forum to address any questions or concerns students may have about safety and other issues,” the for-mer patrol officer said.
In the meantime, organizing the police departments in Brownsville and Edinburg is Munguia’s major task. He plans to coordinate and oversee the performance of the de-partments; a task that will require frequent travel of more than 60 miles between both campuses. All officers currently employed with both universities have been of-fered extended employment under UTRGV. Once the semester kicks off, Munguia plans to consolidate and evaluate the department’s re-sources and personnel.
“We need to consider the man-power needs before the decision to hire new staff is made,” Mun-guia said.
Loya’s 22 years of experience serving the UTPA community will be a valuable resource for the new police chief. The assistant chief has served UTPA’s Police Department since 1993 and has become one of the most familiar police figures on campus.
“Both campuses are already op-erating under one set of policies and procedures set in place by the UT system,” Loya said.
He is familiar with the police department in UT Brownsville, having worked with them on many occasions. Loya’s history and position have provided him
with a unique glance at what the future of the department holds.
“UTRGV will formally unify both departments but we have been working closely with UT Brownsville for several years now,” Loya said.
The departments have re-ceived training together and often assist each other with cam-pus events. Loya had the oppor-tunity to meet Munguia a few weeks ago and is pleased with the latter’s appointment.
“He has a lot of experience that he is bringing to us and I look forward to working with him,” Loya said.
Munguia considers his leader-ship style as “hands-on” and plans to use his experience patrolling the streets of Austin to learn more about key issues facing the Rio Grande Valley, such as organized crime and drug trafficking.
“I plan to be more proactive when it comes to applying the law and want to be transparent about what we are doing,” he said.
He begins his new role this month working on the consolida-tion of the departments. A com-missioning ceremony was held for the new chief of police on Tuesday at the Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen.
3news February 19, 2015
Austin native makes UTRGV history Raul Munguia to serve as school’s first police chiefBy Denise GarzaThe Pan American
Keeping the dream aliveUTRGV officials, students advocate a stay for Texas Dream ActBy Claudia LemusThe Pan American
New University of Texas Sys-tem Chancellor Bill McRaven has expressed his support for keeping in-state tuition for un-documented students after sev-eral legislators filed bills repealing or altering House Bill 1403, bet-ter known as the Texas DREAM Act.
“My job is to help educate the young men and women of Tex-as,” McRaven said in an article published in the Texas Tribune earlier this month.
“If we have been doing that for these undocumented students for, at a minimum the past three years as they’ve made it through high school - and in many cases since they were in elementary school - I think it’s appropriate to continue to educate them.”
According to an article by the Rio Grande Guardian published
Jan. 24, former Gov. Rick Perry signed the Texas DREAM Act in 2001. The bill allows certain non-immigrant and undocu-mented students to attend Texas universities and pay in-state tu-ition rates, along with qualify-ing for state financial aid like the Texas Grant and the Top 10 Per-cent Scholarship.
As a result, undocumented students who meet the follow-ing requirements outlined in the Texas DREAM Act were granted access to public institutions of higher education in Texas:
• Have resided with a par-ent or guardian while at-tending high school.
• Graduated from a public or private high school or have a GED.
• Lived in Texas for three years leading to their high school graduation or receipt of their GED.
• Provide a signed affidavit
to the institution stat-ing their intent to apply for permanent resident status as soon as they’re able to.
Based on financial informa-tion on UTPA’s website, in 2014 non-Texas residents paid $17,182 in tuition and fees, nearly three times as much as the estimated amount for Texas resi-dents, $6,134.
Because of the higher cost of tuition to non-Texas residents, lawmakers such as Rep. Mark Keough, R-The Woodlands, have filed bills to repeal or alter HB 1403, claiming it is unfair to citizens in other states.
In a statement to San Antonio Express News in a January article, Keough explained the purpose of his bill.
“HB 360 will take steps to reduce the magnetic draw or al-lure that exists within Texas due to programs that provide benefits
to those who are here illegally,” he said.
Another bill designed to al-ter the Texas DREAM Act was HB 209, filed by Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford. It is meant to eliminate provisions allowing undocumented students to qual-ify for in-state tuition and would get rid of the provision for Texas high school graduates.
While Texas was one of the first states to offer in-state tuition for undocumented students since 2001, about 16 states have taken similar steps via legislative action, according to the National Con-ference of State Legislatures. The other states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Min-nesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ore-gon, Utah and Washington state.
Despite numerous states offer-ing in-state tuition for undocu-mented students, there are those
like Arizona, Georgia and Indi-ana that have opted to prohibit such measures.
As UTPA Vice President of University Advancement Ve-ronica Gonzalez said in a recent interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, UTPA and the UTB have the highest number of un-documented students in the UT System. This makes sense given the institution’s proximity to the border with Mexico.
Because of this, the vice president said the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will be one of the loudest Universities supporting in-state tuition for DREAMers.
“UTRGV’s position is that in-state tuition has helped so many of our students to be productive citizens, so we are very support-ive,” Gonzalez said. “We have 880 (undocumented) students between UTPA and UTB who benefit from in-state tuition.”
As a result, during the inter-view the former State Represen-tative from 2004 to 2012 ex-plained how a repeal of the Texas DREAM Act would impact un-documented students.
“We keep talking about what a great state we are and we have so much hope and we do not want to kill dreams,” Gonzalez said. “This (repeal of HB 1403) would kill dreams for so many students if they were not allowed in-state tuition because … taking away the in-state tuition you have ba-sically killed the opportunity for them to go to school.”
To read the full article, visit our website: www.panamericanon-line.com
Paul Chouy/ UT Brownsville
THE PAN AMERICAN THE PAN AMERICAN February 19, 2015 February 19, 2015 Page 5Page 4
Story by Scarlet SawyerPhotos By Sarah Carvajal The Pan American
UTPA houses traveling Smithsonian Journey Stories Exhibition
nueva sucursal en edinburg, TX 2801 w. university DR. STE. 12 (956) 287 4228
Calle 10 al Sur Frente a HEB (956) 627 2853
PROXIMAMENTE AL NORTE DE LA CALLE 10
I
__
_
Some came in chains, some looked for a fresh start and oth-ers were forced to move from their homes. These souls comprise America’s history as a nation of im-migrants. The Smithsonian Journey Stories exhibition shows what is was like to be mobile from colo-nial to modern times in America, whether the movement was volun-tary or not.
Virginia Gause, a media and marketing librarian at UTPA, at-tended training for the event last September in the East Texas town of Marshall in order to put the ex-hibit together. She is now running the weeklong exhibit that opened to the public Tuesday, Feb. 17 in the UTPA Library’s Shary Room. It will close March 27.
“Journey Stories” is a Museum on Main Street Project, which is a
travelling exhibition program that caters to small-town audiences. According to Gause, the goal is to get members of the community to come together and celebrate their heritage.
Gause, graduated in 1973 from George Peabody College for teach-ers in Nashville, receiving her mas-ter’s in library science. She said she is looking forward to the com-munity’s connection with history being brought to life through nar-rative voices, photos and artifacts that capture this human experi-ence.
“I think it is a grand opportu-nity for (UTPA),” said Gause, who has worked at the UTPA library for 42 years. “I know there are some people enrolled here that just may not get to go to Washington D.C. or New York and not get to see a Smithsonian Institution museum. Maybe it will inspire students to go and see what the Smithsonian
has to offer.”The exhibit is geared toward
people of all levels of education and divided into sections that de-pict each type of trek to the Ameri-cas. The tales told encompass some taking a one-way trip in search of religious freedom, African Ameri-cans ripped away from their homes by slavery, and Native Americans being forced off their land, and the shifting of borders to allow some to take over foreign soil.
Six years ago the exposition got its start in Utah with the ambition to reach all the United States. Tex-as is getting its turn this year, with six destinations hosting a three-dimensional 8-foot-tall setup with instructional floor guides. Edin-burg is the 12th stop on the exhibit journey, which heads to three more Lone Star cities-Claude-Bryan and Alpine-before venturing overseas to Guam.
In an article by The Victoria
Advocate, Journey Stories is the first Smithsonian exhibit of its kind to come to Texas. Donald Zuris, who works with the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., is responsible for bringing it.
“Our nation really has been a nation of immigrants and once we arrived here we migrated within the country,” the Corpus Christi native said. “We are one of the most mobile people in the world and for the younger students it is important to look on their older generation as a resource for family history and the struggles they went through to get here.”
Along with the exhibit, there will be a myriad of guest speakers throughout the week including faculty members as well as local historians, each focusing on cru-cial parts of America’s diverse his-tory. The week started with a book launch of Living the Dream: New Immigration Policies and the Lives
of Undocumented Latino Youth, by author and associate professor Jessica Lavariega Monforti of the UTPA political science depart-ment. Her book wasn’t influenced by the exhibit but shares a timely common interest.
“It was really great timing that they were coming on to campus and the book was coming out, so we decided to pair up,” the Ohio State and Florida State University graduate said. “But I think that shows the importance of the issue, the fact that we have major institu-tions like the Smithsonian talking about people’s journeys at the same time we have major policy happen-ing. It’s really at the top of people’s minds.”
Some attendees of the book reading were junior Andrea Salinas and freshman Larry Sanchez, who are a part of the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP).
“My dorm mentor told me
about the book reading and I felt like it was a good idea to come and check it out,” Salinas said.
According to the U.S. Depart-ment of Education, the CAMP program helps students who are migratory workers or are children of such in the funding of their first year of undergraduate stud-ies. It has been active at UTPA since 1972.
“I came because I was inter-ested in learning more about her book and the issues going on around the border,” Sanchez ex-plained.
Crossing boundaries and com-fort levels, immigrants have made America what it is today, and this exhibit shares only some narra-tives of these experiences and asks through a tagline, “everyone has a journey story, so what’s yours?”
Everyone has a journey story
THE PAN AMERICAN THE PAN AMERICAN February 19, 2015 February 19, 2015 Page 5Page 4
Story by Scarlet SawyerPhotos By Sarah Carvajal The Pan American
UTPA houses traveling Smithsonian Journey Stories Exhibition
nueva sucursal en edinburg, TX 2801 w. university DR. STE. 12 (956) 287 4228
Calle 10 al Sur Frente a HEB (956) 627 2853
PROXIMAMENTE AL NORTE DE LA CALLE 10
I
__
_
Some came in chains, some looked for a fresh start and oth-ers were forced to move from their homes. These souls comprise America’s history as a nation of im-migrants. The Smithsonian Journey Stories exhibition shows what is was like to be mobile from colo-nial to modern times in America, whether the movement was volun-tary or not.
Virginia Gause, a media and marketing librarian at UTPA, at-tended training for the event last September in the East Texas town of Marshall in order to put the ex-hibit together. She is now running the weeklong exhibit that opened to the public Tuesday, Feb. 17 in the UTPA Library’s Shary Room. It will close March 27.
“Journey Stories” is a Museum on Main Street Project, which is a
travelling exhibition program that caters to small-town audiences. According to Gause, the goal is to get members of the community to come together and celebrate their heritage.
Gause, graduated in 1973 from George Peabody College for teach-ers in Nashville, receiving her mas-ter’s in library science. She said she is looking forward to the com-munity’s connection with history being brought to life through nar-rative voices, photos and artifacts that capture this human experi-ence.
“I think it is a grand opportu-nity for (UTPA),” said Gause, who has worked at the UTPA library for 42 years. “I know there are some people enrolled here that just may not get to go to Washington D.C. or New York and not get to see a Smithsonian Institution museum. Maybe it will inspire students to go and see what the Smithsonian
has to offer.”The exhibit is geared toward
people of all levels of education and divided into sections that de-pict each type of trek to the Ameri-cas. The tales told encompass some taking a one-way trip in search of religious freedom, African Ameri-cans ripped away from their homes by slavery, and Native Americans being forced off their land, and the shifting of borders to allow some to take over foreign soil.
Six years ago the exposition got its start in Utah with the ambition to reach all the United States. Tex-as is getting its turn this year, with six destinations hosting a three-dimensional 8-foot-tall setup with instructional floor guides. Edin-burg is the 12th stop on the exhibit journey, which heads to three more Lone Star cities-Claude-Bryan and Alpine-before venturing overseas to Guam.
In an article by The Victoria
Advocate, Journey Stories is the first Smithsonian exhibit of its kind to come to Texas. Donald Zuris, who works with the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., is responsible for bringing it.
“Our nation really has been a nation of immigrants and once we arrived here we migrated within the country,” the Corpus Christi native said. “We are one of the most mobile people in the world and for the younger students it is important to look on their older generation as a resource for family history and the struggles they went through to get here.”
Along with the exhibit, there will be a myriad of guest speakers throughout the week including faculty members as well as local historians, each focusing on cru-cial parts of America’s diverse his-tory. The week started with a book launch of Living the Dream: New Immigration Policies and the Lives
of Undocumented Latino Youth, by author and associate professor Jessica Lavariega Monforti of the UTPA political science depart-ment. Her book wasn’t influenced by the exhibit but shares a timely common interest.
“It was really great timing that they were coming on to campus and the book was coming out, so we decided to pair up,” the Ohio State and Florida State University graduate said. “But I think that shows the importance of the issue, the fact that we have major institu-tions like the Smithsonian talking about people’s journeys at the same time we have major policy happen-ing. It’s really at the top of people’s minds.”
Some attendees of the book reading were junior Andrea Salinas and freshman Larry Sanchez, who are a part of the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP).
“My dorm mentor told me
about the book reading and I felt like it was a good idea to come and check it out,” Salinas said.
According to the U.S. Depart-ment of Education, the CAMP program helps students who are migratory workers or are children of such in the funding of their first year of undergraduate stud-ies. It has been active at UTPA since 1972.
“I came because I was inter-ested in learning more about her book and the issues going on around the border,” Sanchez ex-plained.
Crossing boundaries and com-fort levels, immigrants have made America what it is today, and this exhibit shares only some narra-tives of these experiences and asks through a tagline, “everyone has a journey story, so what’s yours?”
Everyone has a journey story
February 19, 20156
During the most recent Ally training at UTPA in Novem-ber, a student came out as gay during the “Coming Out Let-ter” activity where students write a pretend coming out letter to a family member or friend. It was an emotional moment for the student and everyone in attendance, in-cluding Intercultural and Di-versity Programming intern Claudette Guerrero.
“It was hard to contain your-self. The student started crying and it helps you empathize how emotional the process can get,” the 26-year-old said. “Ev-eryone gathered around and they were very supportive.”
Students are encouraged to participate in the “Coming out Letter” activity. According to Guerrero, this helps them put themselves in the “shoes” of those involved.
Ally training has been ac-tive at the university for four years and is part of the Office
for Student Involvement’s In-tercultural and Diversity Pro-gramming. The next training is scheduled for Feb. 20 at the Student Union in Palmetto Room 2.418 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Its purpose is to provide a network of safe and supportive allies to the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and ques-tioning (LGBTQ) community at UTPA.
“Participants are trained on what to do if someone comes out (as gay) to them or if they hear others on campus using the terminology incorrectly,” Guerrero said. “We teach them how to be an advocate and at the end of the training they choose whether to become an ally or not.”
Trainings usually last three hours as attendees are educated in depth on LGBTQ symbols and meanings such as the rain-bow, transgender, pansexual and bisexual flags. Phrases used within the LGBTQ com-munity are also discussed and explained as well as the extra hurdles Latinos and African
Americans have had to over-come when coming out within their respective cultures. Ac-cording to Guerrero, language differences often make finding resources and support difficult for Latinos in a state that is Re-publican and a culture where the dominant religion is Ca-tholicism. Meanwhile African Americans face racism within the broader LGBTQ commu-nity.
A list of resources includ-ing UTPA’s Counseling and Psychological Services and the Office of Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention are pro-vided should students who de-cide to become allies need help with any issues that may arise.
Guerrero serves as a mod-erator with small groups of five to six in each meeting. Topics discussed during training in-clude the benefits and risks of becoming an ally. Following these topics is becoming less locked on gender role expec-tations, such as how a person should dress, talk and act based on their sex.
Students who decide to become allies are put on the UTPA Student Ally Contact List, comprised of 56 faculty, staff and students, where they can be contacted by anyone in the UTPA community regard-ing LGBTQ issues or if a stu-dent needs someone to talk to. Everyone who becomes an ally also receives a rainbow triangle decal.
STANDING UNITEDOne ally is UTPA gradu-
ate student Natalie Tupta. The West Virginia native decided to join in fall 2013 because she believes it’s an important step for creating a safe space for learning and growth. Ac-cording to Tupta, becoming an ally is her contribution to the effort.
“I hope that my attending the training was beneficial to others in that they could see me standing in solidarity with them. No matter what your sexual identity, it’s nice to know you’re not alone in the way you think,” said Tupta, an
English as a second language master’s student. “I hope that my presence at the training and my name on the official cam-pus ally list shows others that they are not alone.”
The training has helped Tupta understand the views of people in the Rio Grande Val-ley, plus how issues have been historically handled at UTPA. The meeting gave her insight on how she fits into the local community with her beliefs.
“I’ve been fortunate to at-tend universities in the past that embrace diversity and wel-come the conversation about tough issues,” the 23-year-old said. “I understand that many people in the Valley are not ac-cepting of people who identify as LGBTQ and I think UTPA has a responsibility to be a place of progress, justice and equality in the community.”
During the November train-ing, Tupta recalled, a student shared an campus experience involving a professor who used an offensive, anti-gay example to demonstrate a course con-
cept in a chemistry class.
Guerrero remains hope-ful as the program only has two employees. She hopes that with the new univer-sity, OSI will expand the Intercultural and Diversity Programming to become its own department and include more staff. She’s also kept in contact with the student who came out privately during the last meeting.
“It’s a process. It’s not something that happens overnight for them and it’s all about timing,” Guerrero said. “But that’s what allies are here for - to show their support.”
By Ramiro RiosThe Pan American
Training provides safety zone for students
arts & life
In attempt to address the is-sue of addiction, in April 2014 UTPA introduced the Zen Re-covery Center to help students suffering from addiction to alco-hol or drugs.
The Zen Recovery Center is funded by the University of Texas System in order to help students maintain their sobriety and get back on track with their studies. According to Center Di-rector Miguel Saenz Lopez, the Center helps them by allowing them to talk to others facing the same struggles. The people who use the resource learn how to de-velop healthy relationships with family, friends and peers.
“It was developed once uni-versities across the nation real-ized that alcohol and drugs are a big cause as to why students are dropping out school and discon-tinuing their education,” Lopez said.
According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence approxi-mately 1,700 college students between the ages of 18-24 die from alcohol-related injuries and 600,000 students are injured while under its influence. In ad-dition, one-fifth of college stu-dents abuse prescription stimu-lants, 36 percent use marijuana
and 39 percent use illicit drugs. Having worked in the field of
addiction for more than 30 years, Lopez has seen how debilitating such problems can be and the extense of the road to recovery, especially with the way drugs are so easily attainable in the Rio Grande Valley.
“Living in the RGV and so close to the border gives people more of an accessibility to dif-ferent drugs and making them more addicting since they are a lot more pure here,” said Lopez, a licensed chemical dependency counselor.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, South Texas – including Laredo - is a major trafficking point, account-ing for 55 percent of all drugs crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Zen Recovery Center currently helps more than 35 stu-dents who are refocusing on their education and straying from ad-diction.
Electrical engineering major and Zen member Sam explained how he first heard about the pro-gram at the University Center through Counseling and Psycho-logical Services in April 2014.
“I would attend individual sessions at the counseling center with Lopez and from there he re-ceived a grant to open the Center and I wanted to become part of it,” Sam said.
The Counseling and Psycho-logical Services is located in the first floor of the University Cen-ter, which is staffed by licensed mental health professionals. They mainly meet with students individually to help them with any personal issues.
Although the campus has a counseling program, the Zen Re-covery Center was made to focus on substance abuse. They have group meets in the University Center in room 102 every Tues-day at 6 p.m. where they have group discussions and members share stories of their progress. Ev-ery Thursday they meet at noon in the same room and have “12 step pizza.” This is the program’s form of Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12-steps. Similar to the original program, 12 step pizza is meant to help students understand the guiding principles to their sobri-ety. This includes admitting to a problem, examining past mis-takes with attempting recovery, making amends with those mis-takes and learning to live a differ-ent lifestyle.
Kait, a Zen Recovery member, discussed how helpful the group meetings have been.
“It is a place where I can go and get away from everybody,” Kait said. “I can go there and talk about drugs and everyone understands the issues with de-pendency. If you ever need to go
vent, there is someone there.” Not only does the program
have group meetings, but it hosts events that are open to all students and faculty to help them deal with stress, anxiety and depression. An example
of one of these events is Tai Chi, a form of martial arts which is offered every Monday and Tues-day from 9 to 10 a.m. in the Uni-versity Ballroom.
“It is really helpful, especially for students that are trying to stray from their addictions, in that it helps them focus on their mind and body as well as allows them to work on their social skills with others outside of drugs and alcohol,” said Lopez, a certified anger resolution therapist.
In addition to Tai Chi, the Center hosted a Canvassing for Recovery Workshop Feb. 12 at the University Center room 102 which was not only for those in recovery, but for anyone that would like to express themselves through art. The event consisted of an instructor that taught how to create a canvas step by step while still allowing the students to be creative. The canvases will be displayed around the Student Union the week prior to Spring Break.
The Zen Recovery Center also began a Women’s Recovery Support Group where women with addictions can discuss their recovery and personal problems in confidence that might be dif-ficult to talk about with a larger group. UTPA graduate Elda Garcia is a faculty member at the Zen Center as well as a coordina-tor of the women’s group. With a bachelor’s in rehab counseling,
she can understand the issues that addicts have and how to support them. The group’s meet-ings take place every Wednesday and Friday from 10 to 11 a.m. in the University Center in room 102.
The Center can also be a study hall for the students by providing snacks, coffee and computer ac-cess to assist in their studies.
“It helped me find a pattern, a routine to study,” business man-agement major Kait said. “If I am there I am forced to study. It is something that I need.”
Lopez said the Zen Recovery Center’s main priority is to help students through their struggles in any way possible and make sure they are being encouraged along the way.
“The hardest part is fighting the addiction,” 21 year-old Sam said. “The drugs are everywhere.
The best thing for me, in my situation, was to avoid people and environments that were sur-rounded by drugs. Zen Recovery has been helpful in that way.”
After visiting the Center, one can ask for one-on-one time with a counselor and eventually meet with the group or they can keep it individual. The Center’s office is located at the University Cen-ter in room 102 and their contact number is 665-2660.
For Kait, Sam and the other members, fighting their addic-tion is a daily battle. The Zen Recovery Center is a place where students can face the same strug-gles together.
“I can go here and not feel judge,” Sam said. “I can become myself here at the Center. This is my second home.”
By Tabitha TrujilloThe Pan American
UTPA offers students help in recovery from addiction
Omar Casas/ The Pan American
An ally on campus
Zen the mind into recovery
February 19, 2015 7sportsAfter graduating from high
school Solis received a full-ride scholarship to UTPA. His books and tuition were covered as long as he continued to play golf for the Broncs. Once he arrived on campus, his success continued and his game im-proved.
Solis’ freshman year proved to be a stellar start to his col-legiate golf career. At his very first college tournament in the fall 2012 he placed 11th and in his first career round went two under par. According to Solis, most players are nervous at this initial tournament and have trouble placing at all.
Next, he took home first place at the Chicago State In-vitational in fall 2013. This was the first tournament of his sophomore year which was preceded by a freshman year of traveling; he had qualified at every tournament he played as a fish.
Armen Kirakossian, men’s golf head coach and a UTPA alumnus, said that Solis’ tal-ents will take him far beyond college in the golf world.
“I’m hoping that from now
until (he graduates) he can de-velop the fine-tuned skills that he needs to elevate his game to the next level,” said Kira-kossian, who graduated from UTPA in 2010 with a bach-elor’s in business management, and was an excellent Bronc golfer himself. “As far as the physical abilities, he’s got it. If we sharpen up his golf mind a little bit, he can really take off.”
Aside from success in nation-al tournaments, Solis noted the experiences he’s had traveling around the U.S. Never having left Texas before beginning at UTPA, he said he’s seen things he may not have had he not joined the team.
“San Francisco was nice. My previous coach took us out and we went to see a bunch of stuff. He knew I hadn’t been (fur-ther) than Corpus (Christi),” the criminal justice major said. “Going to California was su-per nice. Chicago was another one; seeing big buildings. I had never seen that before.”
As for Solis’ future with the sport, he and Kirakossian are both optimistic. Solis plans to pursue a professional career
post-graduation in hopes of making it big.
“My dad is giving me a couple years of playing, quali-fiers, travel, to see if I can do something with it,” said Solis, who plans to graduate with his bachelor’s in spring 2016. “But he’s only gonna give me a couple years to play and if I don’t make it, I have to go look for work.”
Kirakossian has faith that with a mix of talent and hard work, Solis has a chance at be-coming a professional golfer.
“You can never really tell who’s going to make it and who’s not (in pro golf ). All I can tell you is that I will be his biggest advocate and his big-gest help. I will let him know my experience and try to guide him down the best path that I think he should take and what I think is the best path to success,” the 26-year-old said. “Ultimately, I think with his attitude he’s got a great chance.”
Some notable UTPA alumni who have gone pro after play-ing on the Bronc team include Mike Brisky who played from 1984-1987, Manuel Inman and Luis Arechiga who both
played from 1998-1999, and Kirakossian who played from 2006-2010.
UTPA’s spring golf season began Monday with the Bronc Intercollegiate held at Los La-gos Golf Club in Edinburg. Playing this tournament was UTPA, Arkansas State, Loyola-Chicago, Prairie View A&M, and Abilene Christian. The 54-hole event featured 36 holes on Monday and the remaining 18 holes on Tuesday.
Solis had a combined score of 246 which tied him for 20th. The team will go at it again in Louisiana Feb. 23 for the Atch-afalaya Intercollegiate hosted by Nicholls State University.
Solis showed excitement for the start of this season and said he and his team’s hard work are precursors to the remainder of the season.
“We have a conference com-ing up; we always look for-ward to that. A lot of these tournaments build us up to the conference and we have to perform there,” he said. “That’s the main title right there, so we can advance to regionals.”
Left-handed individuals tend to have difficulties in day-to-day ac-tivities, according to UTPA ten-nis player Camilla Trujillo, such as using scissors or avoiding smudg-es when writing with a pen. Most things are made for right-handers, as they comprise the lion’s share of people in the world. However, be-ing a “lefty” on the court can be an advantage. This season five of the nine ladies for the Broncs women’s tennis team lead with their “for-eign” hand.
Trujillo, a psychology major, said meeting fellow “lefties” is excit-ing because they’re rare. According to ABC News only 10 percent of the world’s population is left hand-ed, but it can be boon in head-to-head sports like tennis, boxing and fencing. Greek native Katia Stav-roulaki has brought her left-hand-ed skills to the team for two years and is aware of the uniqueness in the current roster.
“The most important thing is that, compared to right-handed tennis players, we’re not so many. I know that our team has more left-handed and that’s unusual, but on other teams they don’t have a lot of left-handed people,” the 21-year-old explained. “For the other teams it’s a disadvantage when they play us because they have a lot of left-handed people in front of them so
it’s completely different.” From serves to returns, lefty
gameplay is distinct. Instead of hit-ting the ball crosscourt, left-handed players send it to their right-handed opposite’s backhand. After the fuzzy yellow target is ricocheted off the lefty’s racket, its topspin revolves in the opposite direction, throwing off the opponent’s response.
Being left-handed does not guarantee a great tennis player, al-though there have been some suc-cessful ones in tennis history, one being Rod Laver. He won all four Grand Slams twice - in 1962 then again in 1969 - a feat that no oth-er player has ever accomplished. In 2010 left-handed Spaniard Rafa-el Nadal came close to winning all four in one year, but a loss at the Australian Open dashed that pos-sibility. He is one of the best ever, nonetheless.
At UTPA, head coach Stepha-nie Vallejos said such athletes pos-sess beneficial skills such as the “kick serve.” This means the ball bounces high and twists away from the opponent, increasing physi-cal and mental effort needed to re-turn the serve. Instead of reacting with the usual forehand, the receiv-er must often use a hurried back-hand swing, increasing the possi-bility of an out.
“I think it’s a little bit of a chal-lenge for your opponent when you don’t get a lot of practice
against a lefty, if you’re against a lefty player with your typical lefty serve and spin, just because it’s a different type of spin that’s coming at someone,” said Valle-jo, who is in her fourth season as a Bronc coach. “For us, it is now just a normal thing, so when we come across opponents who are lefties it’s basically another match and there’s no additional factor in there for us.”
A left-handed player’s returns are the complete opposite from a righty’s, according to Stavroulaki, often playing at No. 1 this season. She explained that this is yet anoth-er plus especially when it comes to doubles matches with her partner, Reegan Greenwood. Stavroulaki is left-handed Greenwood is a righty, so the pair keeps the ball coming in every which way and they can cov-er the entire court with their strong racket hand.
“I have differences from my partner. I have a different game style,” said Stavroulaki, a kinesi-ology major. “My ball for exam-ple is higher with lots of spin and hers is flat. So you can imagine in the same point we play complete-ly different balls, a variety of shots. So of course the opponents feel like ‘What is happening here?’”
Being right-handed, British product Greenwood said practicing with and against lefties on a regular basis has improved her game.
“When I first (joined the Broncs) it was hard for me be-cause left-handed players are quite rare, but now with our team … I’m kind of used to that now,” the 20-year-old said. “It’s different, the spin they put on it. Sometimes if you’re not used to play-ing a left-handed play-er you have to adjust to that spin on the ball. I think I’m used to it now.”
Vallejos, who was a successful college player at Northern Arizona Uni-versity, feels that Green-wood isn’t the only one who’s gained something from the team’s rare variety.
“I think if anything it’s benefitted us because they have sort of be-come comfortable with (playing lefties) now,” she said. “You might hear in other match-es, ‘She’s left handed, I can’t get used to the way her ball is kicking on the serve,’ especially in doubles when you’re rotating service games. That does have a fac-tor and it’s not so much a disadvantage if our opponents are left-handed.”
The team currently stands at 3-4 after losing against the Uni-versity of Texas-Arlington Mav-ericks Feb. 14. Their next match will take place in San Marcos against Texas State University Feb. 20. Following that game, the
women return home to player re-match against Texas A&M Uni-versity-Corpus Christi Feb. 26, after losing a match to that squad earlier in the month on the road. The Broncs tackle University of Incarnate Word the following day.
By May OrtegaThe Pan American
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Wo m e n ’s t e n n i s t e a m h a s a b u n d a n c e o f “ l e f t i e s ”
Junior “Ricky” Solis chipping out into the fairway Feb. 16 at the Bronc Intercollegiate, where he finished in a tie for 20th place.
Jon Nutt/ The Pan American
After practice the women’s tennis team gets together and breaks from the day’s workout Feb. 5 at the Orville Cox Tennis Center in Edinburg.
Michael Aguilar / The Pan American
Renee Alicia Rangel/ The Pan American
February 19, 2015ADVERTISEMENTPage 8
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