PrairieTuesday, March 6, 2012 Volume 94, Issue XX

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The sTudenT newspaper of wesT Texas a&M universiTywww.theprairienews.com

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InsIdesporTs:WT Equestrian team tops IHSA Regionals.

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news:Public hearing explains possible tuition fee increase.

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online:Check online for additional reporting on Buffs basketball, softball and track photos.

CaMpus life:WTAMU rodeo team competes for the first time in the semester.

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feaTure:Readership WT gets ready to travel to Honduras. Brittany Castillo talks about the experience.

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Designated fee increase to affect student tuition

WTAMU students may have to pay for an additional fee, which will increase tuition in the fall of 2012.

Gary Barnes, vice president for Business and Finance, explained the purpose of additional fees in a public hearing held Feb. 28.

“Basically, the Chancellor is allowing a maximum of $150 dollars to be added to student tuition, to be added under

‘Designated Tuition,’” Barnes said. “One of our top priorities would be salary increase. We want the most competitive staff, the best faculty, the best experience for students, and retaining all the members of staff.”

WT staff positions were found to be 15 percent below the market compared to Canyon and Amarillo staff positions, according to a salary survey.

“The second priority would [also be] for additional faculty positions,” Barnes said.

Employment in sociology programs

and in environmental, electrical and civil engineering programs would be made available.

“No one likes an increase, but most students attending the meeting accepted the priorities,” Barnes said. “[Students with financial aid] wouldn’t need to worry. Federal Financial Aid Grants and Pell Grants would allow those students to have resources.”

Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Don Albrecht said WT keeps low prices for such high quality.

“I think we can keep up with the

bigger schools just as fine,” Albrecht said. “Bigger schools focus on doing everything and having students pay more, but we focus on what we can do well.”

Nick Goettsche, a Political Science major and new student body president, mentioned the importance of student participation in public meetings.

“Not very many students were at the hearing, and nobody likes a tuition pike,” Goettsche said. “In this case, with state funding not being very high, it is necessary.”

sarah floydsTaff wriTer

Retired U.N. economist to lecture on ending povertyJordan frysTaff wriTer

Dr. Donald Lee, a retired United Nations economist and advocate of poverty eradication, will be speaking about efforts to end poverty on March 6 at 7 p.m. in the Mary Moody Northen Recital Hall.

Lee’s lecture, “Ending Poverty: The United Nations and Millennium Development Goals,” will discuss global poverty and what the U.N. is doing to end it.

Lee has worked with the U.N. for 20 years and was formerly an economics professor at Deakin University in

Australia.Lee’s background in economics is

longstanding. It came about from his interest in liberal markets and led to

his concern for global poverty.“There is a huge divide between

people who are earning decent wages and those people who are living below the poverty line,” Lee said.

Lee explained while there are people who are living well beyond their means, there is close to one billion people who are living on less than a dollar a day.

“Global poverty is a matter of human rights and social justice,” he said. “It really motivates you to want to help these people get out of that debilitating situation.”

Salsa formal hits WTAMU

U.N. continued on p. 3

JessiCa ChandossTaff wriTer

Congratulations to Formal Court

Winners

Omar Garcia ( King) Erin Kinucan (Queen)

Jacob Hancock (Prince)Abbey Coufal (Princess)

For more Formal pictures check theprairienews.com

Prince and Princess Jacob Hancock and Abbey Coufal.

King and Queen Omar Garcia and Erin Kinucan.

Editor- Maria MolinaAssistant Editor- Krystina MartinezWeb Editor - Georgia RomigLayout- Kati WatsonAd Manager- Sheri GibbsFaculty Adviser- Butler Cain

The Prairie is a student-operated publication at West Texas A&M University. It functions to inform, educate, and entertain readers accurately and responsibly. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the administration, faculty or students. The editorials that appear on these pages represent the opinion of the Prairie editorial board. The views expressed by other columinsts are the writers’ opinions and do not necessarily reflect the board’s views. Advertising rates are available upon request at (806) 337- 2090 or at theprairiewt@gmail.com. WTAMU Box 60754, Canyon, Texas 79016. The Prairie is distributed on Tuesdays during the semester and has a circulation of 1,500. It is printed by The Amarillo Globe-News.

Reporter- Ashley HendrickReporter- Melissa Bauer-HerzogReporter- Ryan SchaapReporter- Matt WatkinsReporter- Lisa HellierReporter- Brittany CastilloReporter- Chyna Tinney

Prairiethe

Staff 2011-2012Reporter- Jordan FryReporter- Daniela FierroReporter- Monica GambertReporter- Jessica ChandosReporter- Jessica BartelReporter- Sarah FloydReporter- Jacob CainPhotographer- Alex Montoya

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a

redress of grievances.- First Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution

Feature2 March 6, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Brittany Castillostaff Writer

Readership WT Ambassadors prepare to depart to Honduras

Part one of a three part series

Before the spring semester began, I sym-pathized for the lives illustrated in Kelsey Tim-merman’s book, Where Am I Wearing? I pitied the poor workers earning pennies a day, and I could hardly imagine what their sad lives would feel like.

Therefore, I was proud knowing I would be stepping into Central America as an ambassador of Readership WT. I felt great knowing we would bring our expertise to such an underprivileged country.

The Readership group began meeting once a week to learn, bond and prepare for the expedi-tion. In addition to the selected freshmen, our assembly included: author Kelsey Timmerman, experienced traveler Aaron Hunt, and WTAMU’s Dr. Wade Shaffer, Kendra Campbell and Brittany Stewart.

While researching Honduran society, I found many Google images of foreigners with unexpect-ed genuine smiles. The candid photos had more life and more sincere delight than any million dol-lar advertisement I’d ever seen.

The children were barefoot, yet looked cheerful and giddy to be pictured. They did not embody

my stereotypical vision of hungry and deprived people.

Weren’t these people the struggling families who needed American aid?

Curiously studying the picture, I wondered how they could be happy with so little. I later realized how arrogant and naïve I truly was.

Our class continued to learn about the differ-ences of the American and Honduran cultures. The startling facts were informative, surprising and overwhelming.

We also began gathering for Saturday hikes to prepare for the physical demands of our adven-ture. Many times I wondered what the Hondurans would think of our Palo Duro Canyon stroll com-pared to their treks of the Central America jungles.

The following week, my shopping trip became my most prominent global experience to date. Al-most immediately after walking through the doors of a retail store, I felt ashamed of the abundance around me. I was embarrassed by how excessive the American lifestyle could be.

I walked past a shirt that read “Made in El Salvador” and while studying the stitches I won-dered what labor conditions were like there. My thoughts flooded with new questions I had never previously considered.

How did the factory worker feel about mak-ing this shirt? Does he have a family? Maybe it’s a woman. Is she even old enough to be considered a woman?

Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to the article published in the Feb-ruary 28th edition of the paper:

Dear Student Body of West Texas A&M University,

I sincerely apologize for the mix-up on dates for “Q&A in the JBK with Dr. O’Brien”. This has been an extremely busy month for the Executive Branch of the Student Government at West Texas A&M University and I made a mistake in my calendar when I scheduled the Q&A event.

While planning this event I had two dates in mind, Febru-ary 27th and February 29th. I made the reservations for the JBK and Dr. O’Brien for the 27th then wrote the 29th in my agenda as the event date. This error was my fault, and I take complete responsibility for publicizing the wrong date.

In the article written by Ryan Schaap, the event was said to have been “rescheduled”, and students questioned the reasons for the time change. Dr. O’Brien is correct in stating “there was no miscommunication” between our offices, it was an honest mistake on my part.

Sincerely,

Brandy RobertsStudent Body President

GO BUFFS!

Letter to the Editor

WTAMU announced a change to the traffic appeals process on Feb. 20. The new process will allow students to appeal parking tickets prior to payment.

“There was some current concern about paying [the parking ticket] and then appealing it,” Chance Haugen, director of the JBK Student Center, said. “[The change will] make the process go by more quickly.”

The old appeals process required the student to pay the citation before filing the appeal, but Haugen said this caused problems.

“To make the refund, the process takes a while,” he said. “It takes two weeks to give the check back. It’s also harder to make a decision [concerning appeals] because you used to be able to appeal at any time during the semester.”

The new process will require students to file their appeal within 20 days of the citation. Once the appeals committee comes to a decision, the student will either have their ticket appealed or pay the citation.

“I think [the new process] makes more sense,” Colton Harada, a senior Broadcasting major said. “No one is really good about refunding money back.”

David Atkeisson, a junior History major, appealed his only parking ticket

through the old appeals process. “I had to park in Jarrett because

Guenther was full,” Atkeisson said. “I came back later with a ticket because I was parked at a yellow curb with parking lines.”

Atkeisson took pictures on his phone and showed them to Parking Services, where they waived his ticket on the spot.

“They said it was stupid and I didn’t

have to pay at all,” he said. “Later, they replaced the parking line with hash marks.”

Although Atkeisson had special circumstances concerning his ticket, he believes the new appeals process will be more efficient.

“There shouldn’t be a need to take money that they’re gonna give back,” he said. “It seems like an extra step.”

News3 March 6, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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U.N. continued from p. 1WT’s traffic appeal process to changeKrystina Martinezassistant editor

Lee is working to influence change in government policies and creating poverty reduction programs. He says people become locked into poverty and are unable to find a way out.

“It should go beyond handouts, many who are poor don’t want handouts,” Lee said. “The government needs to give assistance where [it’s] needed so they have the opportunities to better themselves and improve their lives.”

As chair-elect of the International Committee for Oct. 17, Lee focuses on global poverty because he feels that poverty needs to be reduced worldwide.

“Poverty exists everywhere and people should think about it,” he said. “Even in countries that are not developing countries, there is always room for improvement.”

In his lecture, he hopes to challenge people by how they see the poverty situation and give new insights.

“Young people, especially college students, are the citizens of the future,” Lee said. “It is their right and responsibility to think about these issues.”

All college students are or will become taxpayers and they will affect how policy is decided, he said.

“I hope to inspire students to take jobs in the United Nations,” Lee said. “People forget that the United States was one of the founding members of the U.N.”

Working with the U.N. gives the opportunity to interact with people of different cultures and influence global politics.

“Students will find that it’s very useful to take part in the dream and to do good,” Lee said.

Courtesy of Wt’s ParKing serviCes.

SportS4 March 6, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Matt Watkinsstaff Writer

Track teams run away at WT ClassicMaking room for one morekeltin WienskWts sports Director

Melissa Bauer-Herzogstaff Writer

Major League Baseball and the players’ union announced March 2 that the two sides are closer to a deal to implement another wild card team in the MLB playoffs.

The new system would allow another team in both the National League and American League to play a one-game playoff game to determine who goes on to the next round. The three division winners would have a first-round bye.

This system would only happen if the two sides can agree on how to squeeze the game into baseball’s post-season, one in which the scheduling for October baseball is already fairly rigid. Also, the teams playing in the one playoff game will have to figure out the logisti-cal nightmare of moving a team or hosting an extra game.

The one-game playoff is not the solution baseball needs to handle an extra team in the playoffs. The best scenario would be for the two wild cards that would play in the first round to play a best two-out-of-three series. Why? A singular baseball game is so volatile. There is just as much of a chance for one team to win as the other. When two teams have to play in a series, there is a better chance of see-ing the best team come forth and win.

Playing the series games in the first round rather than just one game will give the divi-sion winners what they deserve: a quality first-round bye. Baseball is missing a reward for teams that navigate the best through a 162-game regular season and this first-round bye would fix this missing link. But allowing the division winners to rest raises an interest-ing question: will the first-round bye affect baseball, the same way that it does the NFL? In the NFL, when teams have a first-round bye, they tend to not do as well in the second round. The answer to this question is not very concrete.

There are obviously many more logistical problems that MLB has to figure out, but there is time. Baseball’s post-season is already very exciting, but the addition of another team will surely make it much better.

The WTAMU Buffs and Lady Buffs track and field teams hosted the first annual West Texas A&M Classic on March 2-3. WT’s men and women combined for 23 top-five finishes over the weekend.

Junior Servell Dandrigde won the discus for WT with a throw of 57.75m. The Buffs won the hammer throw with a toss of 41.68m by senior Dane Ham-rick. Hamrick also placed fifth and third in the shot put with throws of 14.39m and 15.8m, respectively.

Junior Tanner Dennis placed sec-

ond in the pole vault with a height of 4.65m. The Buffs picked up a win in the 400m when freshman Ellis Maise ran it in 50.62 seconds. Freshman Dylan Doss won the 300m steeplechase with a time of 9:28.26 and junior Jacob Vil-lareal won the 10,000m, running it in 33:35.63.

The Lady Buffs also had a strong showing. Junior Rachel King provision-ally qualified for nationals by placing third in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.31. Two other Lady Buffs finished right behind her to give WT three top-five finishes in one race. Freshman Mackenzie Crane topped the pole vault with a height of 3.05m and junior Jessi-

ca Blakely won the 300m steeplechase with a time of 12:17.36. WT’s last win came when junior Aries Bazaldua took the 5,000m with a time of 18:35.74.

The Lady Buffs also had several sec-ond place finishes including sophomore Casey Nelson’s 12.07m shot put throw. Freshman Jessie Thomas ran the 400m in 58.53 for second place. Sophomore Amber Moore also finished second in the 800m with a time of 2:22.14.

“We weren’t looking to run our best, we were just looking to promote our program,” Student Assistant Coach Gary Newell said. “I can’t wait until April when it warms up and we are at our best.”

Equestrian team tops IHSA regionals

In a big weekend for WTAMU sports, the school’s equestrian team added to the excitement by sending 18 riders to compete at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Zone 7 Region 2 Western Championships on March 4.

The first class of the day was the fastest paced event with nine riders from four schools competing in Open Reining. WT riders took the third through sixth spots with Hannah Agee and Christa Forsberg placing third and fourth respectively followed by Hannah Welter and Kristen Liesman.

In Open Horsemanship, Addie David brought home the Lady Buffs’ first champi-onship of the show. Forsberg and Liesman took the other two top spots of the four rider class. The three WT students showed horses they had drawn earlier in the

day in front of a judge that evaluated their ability to get a horse to perform under an unfamiliar rider. Davis and Forsberg’s placing earned them a spot on the semifi-nals entry list in Ohio later this month.

In Advanced Horseman-ship the Lady Buffs were the only ones to qualify during the regular season to compete in the class. Because they were the only two riders, the girls qualified for semi-finals, making the class a battle for the cham-pionship. Julia Roberts was crowned Regional Cham-pion with Leah Thomas finishing close behind as the Reserve Champion.

Novice Horseman-ship was a challenge for WT. Sarah Schmitt barely missed a spot to semifinals, picking up third place on a ride that flowed around the arena. Lindsay Raften had a good mount that master-fully worked both the rail and pattern portion of

the class, but placed last in the class of five.

Intermediate Horseman-ship would see Lady Buffs all over the arena. Audra Head and Paige Frevert won the top two spots with master-ful patterns that caught the judge’s eye. Head narrowly edged out her teammate for the blue but both would trump the seven others looking for a semifinal spot. Kristi Benedict also earned a top-five placing, finishing fourth with the two other WT riders finishing in the lower half of the class.

The final class of the day was the walk-trot riders in Beginner Horsemanship. The Lady Buffs swept the top spots. Lindsey McNeill piloted her mount around to a near flawless course to earn the Championship. Teammate Jessica Read would follow suit, executing a well-ridden course to earn the number two spot.

“I feel like [my ride] was amazing and great,” McNeill said. “We still have more to go so I’m pretty excited to see what will happen in the future.”

Campus Life5 March 6, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Rodeo team competes in first spring competitionJessica Bartelstaff Writer

The WTAMU Rodeo Team competed in the first competition of the spring semester.

The team of 35 members has been coached by Casey Crow since 2009. Each team member, including six men and four women, competes individually for points.

The team’s first rodeo was held March 1-3 in Weatherford, TX. The top ten leaders from each event

advanced to the finals on March 3. The WT rodeo team competes

along with 15 other teams in the southwest region under the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.

With such aggressive competition, Coach Crow encourages his team to meet expectations.

“Every semester it’s our goal to have both men and women teams make the finals,” Crow said. “I just want to help students achieve goals whether in the rodeo arena or academically, I always tell my students: ‘your goals are my goals.’”

Tally Owens, a senior Agriculture Education Certification major, competes in barrel racing, goat tying and breakaway roping. Owens grew up with an appreciation for the rodeo lifestyle.

“I’ve been in rodeo since before I could walk, I am busy with a lot of other things but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Owens said.

Rodeo member Liz Meech, a senior double majoring in Agriculture Education and Equine Industry, loves competing in the event of breakaway roping.

“I rodeo because it’s in my blood and I can’t get enough of it,” Meech said. “Rodeo is a tough sport and it seems like you’ll do anything to get to the next one.”

Rodeo events include barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, team roping, tie-down roping, breakaway roping and bull riding. Each event is timed for points and money awards.

“Rodeo is a big family, everyone will help one another,” Meech said. “This sport is filled with hospitality.”

Coach encourages team to meet goal of making finals

Music Department hosts 32nd annual Showcase

The 32nd annual Showcase of Music was held at the Amarillo Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts on March 2.

Despite the bad weather, Dean of the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities Dr. Jessica Mallard said she was impressed by the great turnout.

“The last piece of the showcase was impressive,” said Mallard. “You can tell that the people were too when they popped out of their seats.”

Mallard said she could see the appreciation a lot throughout the performance and she enjoyed every recital.

“Donors are touching students’ lives,” said Mallard. “Their support makes a huge difference in their lives.”

Music Department Secretary Kristine Abu-Hantash said this year’s performance venue added tremendous amount to the showcase with its great

location and crowd.“Even though they put together

different types of musical pieces and ensembles, it seemed to work well together,” said Abu-Hantash.

Abu-Hantash also said she loved Dr. Mark Bartley’s 60s Asian-inspired suit.

“He didn’t wear a traditional suit,” she said. “You don’t see it nowadays in western civilization.”

Music Education major Brian Hairston participated in the showcase as a violin player.

“I practiced around 20 hours a week,” Hairston said, “But I wasn’t really nervous since I’ve participated four times already.”

Daniela fierrostaff Writer

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‘Nefarious: Merchant of Souls’ shows at WTAMU

On March 22, a documentary about human trafficking called “Nefarious: Merchant of Souls” will show in the WTAMU Virgil Henson Activity Center Ballroom at 7:30 p.m.

The documentary takes an in-depth look at modern sex slavery in the human trafficking world and also includes interviews with real victims.

“It is incredible,” Social Work major Mackenzie Price said. “It is the best thing for anybody who doesn’t know about human trafficking. It gives you an overview look of what

human trafficking is globally. They show you so many different faces it can take. It is not this one specific thing.”

The document was written, produced and directed by Benjamin Nolot, who is also the founder and president of Exodus City, a human trafficking abolition organization.

“It’s been called the human rights issue of our generation, and it’s gone so unnoticed,” Price said.

Steven Wolf, an event planner and mentor for the Navigators, said he first heard about the documentary at a conference he attended in December. Wolf said he was personally moved by the video,

so he included WT in the college preview tour.

“The entire campus is supporting it,” Wolf said. “We just initiated it and got it going.”

Many students on campus were exposed to the human trafficking issue when The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam was assigned as the book for the Readership WT program.

“There is a lot we accept as socially okay, and we don’t think about pornography use and where that can lead and who is on the other side or where some of that stuff originates,” Navigator’s Director of Operations Mitch Williamson said. “[This is an] educational thing we should be

exposed to.” According to the Nefarious

website, “Nefarious: Merchant of Souls” is the first of a trilogy. The second and third documentaries are currently

in production. The first movie will be available to purchase on DVD May 1.

The documentary showing is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.

Lisa HeLLierstaff Writer

EntErtainmEnt7 March 6, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Last week’s answers

Where’s your bin? Look for the winning card in your copy of The Praire on April 3, April 10 and April 17

to receive a $10 iTunes gift card.

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Maria Molina Editor

WT sets goal to be a Hispanic Serving Institution

College of ESS claims highest student enrollment

The College of Education and Social Sciences can claim the highest student enrollment in the past three full consecu-tive semesters, according to enrollment data from WTAMU Institutional Research.

“It’s the education part of it,” Dr. Gary Kelley, director of WT Institutional Research, said. “The availability of jobs is why the college is so large as a whole, in particular the educa-tion department.”

During the fall of 2010, 2,277

students enrolled in COESS and 2,153 students in the spring of 2011. COESS was able to stay above the 2,000 mark last semester, bringing in a total of 2,129 students.

The College of Agriculture, Science and Engineering and the College of Fine Arts and Humanities enrollment num-bers fell about 300 students short of COESS during the 2011 fall semester, rolling in a total of 1,729 students for ASE and 1,697 for FAH.

“The easy answer is that we started off as a normal school and a normal school was just another way of saying a teach-

ers college,” Dr. James Calvi, associate dean of the College Education and Social Sciences, said.

WT’s history began in 1910 when Normal Colleges were strategically placed around Texas to keep up with the high demand of certified teachers in certain areas, the panhandle included.

“If you had to go as far as Dallas or someplace like that, to get trained as a teacher…it would be very unlikely to come back to the area after years,” Calvi said.

When the 1940’s rolled around, West Texas Normal Col-

lege began to branch away from its teaching roots and tackled bigger scholastic projects. It soon became West Texas State University and later evolved into West Texas A&M Univer-sity.

“Having recently just added engineering to the curriculum, we continue beyond our normal school roots and become a full-fledged research university,” Calvi said.

Nevertheless, WT’s histori-cal roots are just that – strongly rooted in school history that still affects the University to this day as the COESS enrollment numbers consistently beat out

other colleges. “Most of the teachers in the

panhandle have received their teaching certificates from WT,” Calvi said.

Each college on campus does not simply fight for the highest enrollment numbers, but for a more academic purpose. More students enrolled in a college can lead to more funding for that college.

“The higher the head count within the colleges then the more they are eligible for fund-ing,” Kelley said. “So the goal of all of the colleges is just to increase enrollment as much as they can.”

ashlEy hEndrickstaff WritEr

West Texas A&M University set as a goal for the university to become a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) by 2014.

The Hispanic population increase in Texas is one of the factors that influenced this decision. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic population has increased six percentage points from the 2000 to the 2010 census. The percentage went from 32 to 38 percent.

“We want the university to be reflective of the community that we serve, and so since the Hispanic population is growing very quickly in the Texas Pan-handle, we want to make sure that the university reflects that reality as well,” Dr. Wade Shaf-fer, WTAMU associate provost, said.

In order to become an HSI, 25 percent of the entire student

population has to self-identify as Hispanic. WT is close to achieving this goal. In the past ten years, the university’s His-panic population has increased nine percentage points, accord-ing to university records.

“The last two years the fresh-man class has been more than 25 percent Hispanic,” Shaffer said. “So a couple of more fresh-man classes like that we should be very close to achieving that goal.”

The Hispanic enrollment at WT is currently of 21 percent.

Being a HSI brings additional benefits to the University. Ac-cording to the U.S. Department of Education, which admin-isters the program, HSI pro-vides grants to assist Hispanic Serving Institutions to expand educational opportunities and improve Hispanic students prospects.

“It opens the possibility for us to get grant money and to participate in programs that will benefit all of our students that we just don’t have access

to right now because we are not HSI,” Shaffer said.

He also said there are many methods WT is using in order to achieve HSI status. They vary from translating websites and brochures to taking the Mobile Go Center, a trailer with ten computers inside, to schools and communities so students can learn about college and fill their applications.

Although Natalia Rodriguez did not know WT is trying to become an HSI, she said she found the amount of other His-panics on campus helpful.

“It feels great [to be a Hispanic at WT] because I can bring my Mexican pride,” she said. “Now in my sophomore year I start to realize I was making friends with Hispanic people and I can basically keep my Spanish from being forgot-ten.”

Similarly, Junior Izaak Chavez said having other Hispanics around was helpful – at first.

“It kind of felt like the whole ‘birds of a feather flock to-

gether’ thing,” he said. “I kind of felt a little bit like that because when I started going to classes that is who I hung out with for a little when I first got here. As I started to meet more and more people I kind of drifted off into different sections.”

The number of Hispanic stu-dents at WT is recorded by the Office of Institutional Research and is based on self-reported data found on each student’s application for admission. However, some students prefer to leave the ethnicity section

blank.“We feel that probably the

actual number of Hispanics on campus is a little higher than the 20-21 percent that will show officially just because some students are uncomfort-able checking that box,” Shaf-fer said. “And that is an issue because some students feel uncomfortable reporting that. If they leave that blank, and a lot of them do, we don’t have a way of knowing that student is Hispanic.”