STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSIT Y- COMMERCE SINCE 1915XCVII, No. 21, 8 pages www.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012

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The easT TexanOverseas programs closedJones shuts down the graduate programs, Langford put on leave

Have a seatChief EditorNick Bailey

With so many changes happening across campus, from buildings being demolished to a mascot make-over, one renovation that many students may have overlooked in the first week of school is the new seat-ing in the Ferguson Auditorium.

Over the summer, hired hands worked diligently to remove the old seats and replace them with an army of new seats to be used beginning in the fall semester. The new seats feature deep blue cushions to better reflect the university’s colors.

Students will have multiple opportunities to have a seat in the new furnishings, including a number of convocations, public debates, and the annual step show, Cold War, which is held in the spring semester.

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The university divides a department, the IFC revives formal rush week, and Dr. Ballotti has high hopes for Commerce.

Things have changed with the introduction of two weekly columns, a new comic strip, and interesting perspectives.

The Morris Recreation Center celebrated this year’s birthday bash and a local sexual assault raises concerns for campus safety.

Edgar Pulido tells his story of hardship and overcoming obstacles, and the new “Greeks Speak” section features an ad.

Get a look at the entire calendar of the arts here at A&M-Commerce. Local advertising at its finest.

The Lions start the football season on a losing foot, and two teams considering leaving the Lone Star Conference.

CAMPUS STATS

ReporterAaron Carcuffe

On-campus housing has set a record this year, with statistics showing that the Texas A&M University-Commerce has a total of 1,910 students living on cam-pus. Currently, the university has a total of 2,000 beds for students on campus, and that number will grow within the next two years as A&M-Commerce adds a new on-campus housing facility for sophomore students.

A study from San Diego University indicates that students living on-campus continue to academically out-perform their peers living off-campus.

“Residential students averaged a 2.81 GPA while off campus students averaged a 2.38,” the study explains. “30% of stu-dents living off-campus were placed on academic probation compared with 14% of residential students.”

These numbers come after the uni-versity’s decision to require incoming freshmen to live on campus for at least two years. Interim Director for Residen-tial Living and Learning Dennis Koch explained that universities all over the country have similar requirements.

“About 40 percent or more of the uni-versities and colleges in the U.S. are re-quiring a sophomore living requirement,” Koch said. “And part of that is that we see sort of a slump in the sophomore class, of people getting disconnected and dropping out.”

Chief EditorNick Bailey

Texas A&M University-Commerce announced recently that graduate business programs in Belgrade, Morocco and Sarajevo have been shut down indefinitely as internal investigations con-tinue to review administrative actions.

Associate Vice President of Marketing Communications Randy Jolly explained the matter in an interview with The Commerce Journal.

“Simply put, those three programs, while they are accredited, weren’t set up using proper proto-col,” Jolly said. “There is a series of things you have to do with the [Texas A&M] Board of Regents and SACS, and consequently those programs were shut down,”

A&M-Commerce President Dan Jones elaborated on the situation in a statement from mid August.

“The programs were set up and adminis-tered inappropriately according to established protocol,” Jones said. “As part of an ongo-ing internal investigation, I am putting in place personnel and oversight procedures that will rectify the situation so as to prevent

similar occurrences in the future.”With these programs shut down indefinitely,

Jones sought the counsel of Dr. Dan Edelman, a forensic accountant and interim associate provost, to explore the facts and determine the extent of the issues. Based on the findings so far, A&M-Commerce has added personnel in key positions, tightened internal controls and created firm pro-cesses for program oversight.

Jolly assured that the university is taking steps to resituate any students that were involved in the programs.

“Their degrees are valid,” Jolly explained. “If there were any students in a program they will be taken care of. There is some discussion about trans-ferring those students. The university is handling that on a student-by-student basis.”

In addition to the closing of the programs, former dean of the College of Business and Entrepreneurship Dr. Harold Langford has been placed on administrative leave while the investiga-tion is ongoing. Dr. Dale Funderburk has taken to position of interim dean in Langford’s absence.

“[Langford’s absence] shouldn’t effect the department at all,” Jolly said. “The other non-academic stuff will be handled by the provost.”

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Marketing coMMunicationsDr. Harold Langford has been placed on administrative leave while investigations continue within the programs.

Chief EditorNick Bailey

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents recently approved the recommendation by A&M-Commerce President Dan Jones to name the Science Building in honor of former university president Keith McFarland, Ph.D.

“It came as a complete surprise to me, and I don’t know anything that the uni-versity has done for me over the years that was more gratifying than that,” McFar-land said. “I was just thrilled and honored at the same time.”

McFarland’s retirement in 2008 came two years after formal dedication of the $28 million state-of-the-art building. When he found out during the design process that there might not be a planetarium added, McFarland interjected thoughts echoing his original statement at the dedication that individuals, businesses, institutions, and governments that do not keep up with

the times are doomed to failure. As a histo-rian, McFarland was then aware of the im-portance of and need for change, and stood by this belief when commenting about the building plans.

“I said I won’t interfere,” McFarland said. “But then when the plans were drawn, they had the planetarium as an optional piece of construction, I said ‘I told you I wasn’t going to, but I am.’ It is absolutely essential that we have a planetarium in there because it’s going to be so important for our outreach to the school districts in this Northeast Texas area.”

No date has been set for a formal dedication of the Keith D. McFarland Science Building.

McFarland was the university’s 10th president. Prior to his presidency in 1998, McFarland served in various roles at A&M-Commerce as a history profes-sor, department head, and dean of the graduate school.

Community EditorGizem Baydar

This semester 20 more students from Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea have been added to the Texas A&M University-Commerce family in collaboration with the Konkuk Global Frontier Program. The total number of Korean students is recorded 155 as of Fall 2012.

On the beginning of Spring 2012, 149 South Korean student registered for classes and by the end of the summer, 135 made it back to Commerce due to issues including being called from the Korean military or not successfully finishing through the spring semester.

The Konkuk Global Frontier program is a “one to three” program, meaning that Konkuk University students will spend the first year tak-ing English Language Institute (ELI) courses as well as the freshman required courses that A&M-Commerce accepts. Students who com-plete the requirements with a minimum GPA of 2.0 get to spend another three years here at A&M-Commerce.

Currently, 107 Korean students are in the

program completing the first year of their educa-tion with Konkuk University. Between 90-95 are expected to come some time in January according to Dr. Kenneth Clinton, Director of International Studies for A&M-Commerce.

In addition to the Konkuk Global Frontier Program, A&M-Commerce has made similar arrangements through a program with Nam Seoul University in South Korea. Clinton said the pro-gram is a different format, explaining that instead of a “one to three” program, these students will spend two years in Nam Seoul and will be trans-ferred to A&M-Commerce for their junior and senior years. The first group, approximately 30 students, is expected to come around January 2013 according to Clinton.

During the summer of 2012, 11 Korean students from Nam Seoul University arrived at A&M-Commerce to take computer science cours-es. Clinton said the students enjoyed their time here in Commerce with the only complaint being the sweltering weather.

“[The feedback from the Korean students] has been extremely good,” Clinton said. “We only had five or six that didn’t do well aca-

demically. Our surveys with [the Korean stu-dents] have been extremely positive. They are very pleased with the activities provided by the Rayburn Student Center.”

According to Clinton, the biggest challenge for the Korean students is – like any other student – finding something to do on the weekends since they don’t have vehicles. The university’s plan for that challenge is to increase the number of the trips to Dallas. Students will be asked to pay $10 where the other part will be covered by the university.

“This opportunity will be provided to all of the international students to take them to shop-ping malls,” Clinton said. “We will do a couple of special ones with the Koreans through their student association.”

Through more programs similar to the Konkuk Global Frontier Program and the Nam Seoul University Program, A&M-Commerce’s glo-balization is expanding the cultural experiences for many students, and the size of the student body.

“The growth [in A&M-Commerce] for our students to have conversations with somebody from the other part of the world to learn what is it like there is beneficial” Clinton said.

Globalization programs continue growth

McFarland earns honors

nick bailey / the east texanThere is no official date set for the building dedication as of late.

nick bailey / the east texanThe early stages of installing new seating in Ferguson.

OPINIONwww.theeasttexan.comThursday, Sept 6, 2012Page 2

The East Texan, official student newspaper of Texas A&M University-Commerce, is published 12 times per semester during the Fall and Spring by students in reporting and editing classes. Content is solely the responsibility of the student editors and writers. The comments and views expressed in The East Texan do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of other students, staff, faculty, administration, or the Board of Trustees. The East Texan is located inside the Journalism building on the east side of campus in room 113. Single copies are available in Journalism 113 for an additional 25 cents.

Letters to the editor are welcome and should be limited to 350 words. They may be edited for spelling, grammar and libelous or malicious statements. We reserve the right to refuse publication. Letters should be typed or e-mailed and must include a signature, legal name, classification (grade level) and telephone number. Mailing address is The East Texan, P.O. Box 4104 Commerce, Texas 75428.

Chief Editor Nick BaileyManaging Editor Keyania CampbellSports Editor Ridges MunnerlynCampus Editor Josh StoltenbergEntertainment Editor Jordan WrightCommunity Editor Gizem BaydarStaff Cartoonist Arielle McMahon

Email TheEastTexan@gmail.comNewsroom 903-886-5985Website TheEastTexan.comAdvertising 903-436-9307Faculty Advisor Fred Stewart

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THE EAST TEXAN

If you follow college sports, then you might know that last year our football team almost made history by having one of the worst seasons in our university’s career, 1-9 barely above the 2003 season of 1-10. I don’t really care much about the stats, after all you win some and you lose some – or in their case, win one and lose nine – but the one thing that I continued to debate with my friends and colleagues was simple, “Why do we keep throwing money into a losing team?” We haven’t had a winning season in over a decade, but yet the university continues to spend the big bucks on a losing horse.

Why is it that despite a steady decline in perfor-mance, the football team is one of the most heavily funded programs at our uni-versity? I can’t be the only one who wonders this, but I may be one of the few people to have looked into the issue.

The university budget shows that Texas A&M Uni-versity-Commerce is spend-ing over $400,000 on the program and almost $500,000 on scholarships specifically for the football players. To put that in perspective, chances are, if you’re not an athlete then your respective depart-ment probably isn’t getting half as much as that. I’m not alright with this.

For years, we’ve heard teachers complain about the higher-ups wanting them to “do more with less” but these are the people that are educating and cultivating the next wave of profession-als. Why don’t we award de-partments with more money for their various awards and achievements? We have stu-dents in the science depart-ment who are doing cancer research alongside professors,

and many other students making great strides in their fields, but most of them won’t receive much more than a pat on the back from the univer-sity for their hard work.

In many cases, success isn’t always easy to measure, I can understand that, but I know winning one game is not much of a success. Our football stadium has the second largest scoreboard in the NCAA Division-2, but we can’t get better equipment for classrooms?

How is our university’s budget divided? A&M-Com-merce spends more money on homecoming ($25,000) than it does it does on some departments and facilities. Granted, I understand that football is second only to the Bible in Texas, but we should at least remove the near $500,000 in football scholarships until they begin to show progress. The Univer-sity of Mount Union doesn’t offer athletic scholarships and yet their football team has won 18 consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference cham-pionships and 10 NCAA championships. Maybe we should take a page from their playbook and get players that are here because they want to play, instead of paying for lackluster performance. I bet $500,000 could help make a lot more things possible for programs that are already winning awards throughout the university. Imagine being able to receive a scholarship from the university because you did well at a competition in your field of study.

I’m not saying we should make the football team go back to the leather helmets of the 1930s, but I am saying that we as a university should really ask why we are giving money to a failing program. After a disappointing,

losing season in 2011, the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions football team prepares to kick off the 2012 season against Southeastern Oklaho-ma on their home turf at Me-morial Stadium at 6 p.m.

I believe this is a great op-portunity not only for incom-ing freshmen, but for all Lion fans and the student body to come out and support the team for their first game.

Despite the fact that the Lions finished 1-9 and last place in the Lone Star Con-ference, I feel that team has worked hard since the begin-ning of August when they first reported to practice. They’ve spent countless hours in prepa-ration for not only Saturday’s game but for the 2012 season.

Coming from last season’s rapport, I think that Head Coach Guy Morriss and his team have reached a different outlook on the way they want to approach the season. I feel new Head Strength and Con-ditioning Coach Lance Farmer has put a lot of hard work and dedication in strengthening the team and getting their minds focused on the season and what needs to be done to win. He has also been an impact on the players as far as staying healthy, injury free, and taking care of their bodies on and off the football field.

The record shows that last season the football team lost a lot of respect from the student body and the community because of the lack of wins and support for the team. I know that, even after a few winless games, people were walking around campus saying that their attendance at the foot-ball games would be limited

or they just decided that they wouldn’t go anymore because they didn’t see the purpose of going if we weren’t winning games. I thought we would’ve done better because we had impact players that were multi-year starters like Taylor Fore, Marcus Graham, J.J. Harp, and Corey Whitfield who was named an NFL prospect going into his senior season here at A&M-Commerce. I thought that knowing that those leaders were on their team would give the team a boost and motiva-tion to win football games. After those senior players left, Morriss and his staff were quick to make adjustments and change the game plan going into this season with the new team and its returning starters. I was also under the impression that Coach Morriss wasn’t as strong of a coach as people said he was. In three seasons here at A&M- Com-merce, Coach Morriss has won only nine football games. I think Morriss will play his part and turn things around this season knowing that he has a stronger team.

Heading into this season, I think the Lions have a lot ahead of them and they’re excited. I feel that the team is more focused, committed, and disciplined to win more games this season. I’m looking forward to seeing what the team has in store for the fans and the community because I know they want to prove ev-eryone wrong. After watching a couple of practice sessions, I believe they’re stronger and that they’re ready for any chal-lenge that comes their way. Most important, I know that they want to win.

Managing EditorKeyania Campbell

The election season is here, and it’s taking over all news outlets and academic discussion amongst political science stu-dents. I have always been fond of this hype and wish I could experience it annually. It’s hilarious, completely serious, and is argu-ably one of the biggest events in the world. Not much is greater.

One thing that bothers me and many other socially conscious citizens is the apathy among our fellow Americans, especially young people. The complaint is typically that young people aren’t informed, and that we don’t care about the future of America, but I believe it’s much deeper than that. What I see is a culture of inauthentic knowledge that fools young voters into thinking they know enough to elect and campaign for a candi-date, when in truth, they are simply regurgi-

tating general criticisms of both parties.I do understand why one would use

canned facts such as “Obama will make college affordable” in a political discussion. It makes them seem informed, and no one will shake a finger at them for not knowing whom the Vice President is or what he does. But what they don’t realize is that not only in a discussion of politics, but in life in general, it is better to admit when you don’t know something and ask questions, rather than remain ignorant about the subject, especially when the general welfare and state of the country relies on it. I absorb as much as I can about government affairs, not only because I find it interesting, but also because I feel a responsibility to let my peers know what is going on. Though it’s incredibly frustrating that many of my peers would rather watch the Kardashians instead of the news, I accept this choice and explain the current state of affairs in layman’s terms, on Facebook if

I have to, rather than be condescending toward them for this decision. It would be much better for them to formulate their own opinion from what they read themselves, but I meet them where they are. American gov-ernment is much too important to leave to the nerds or to the wealthy. It completely vio-lates the basic principles of democracy.

We’ve acknowledged the fact that politics affects young people deeply. This is the first issue in fixing the apathy. But we haven’t gone much further than that in many communities. I want to see more questions instead of statements, no matter how many times the pure facts and the pundits’ opin-ions have been broadcasted and talked about. If you don’t know how the administration can create jobs in America, ask. If you don’t know the basics of Obamacare, ask. Even if you don’t know what the Supreme Court does, please, for your sake, ask. The worst that will happen is a little education.

Political thought makes a difference

Entertainment EditorJordan Wright

As many students on campus do before getting into the grind of classes each and every day, I spent several days before the official start of the semester checking my weekly schedule of courses. Being an activity that is usually stress free, imagine the feelings of anxiety that I had when confronted with a class in western literature that had no listed time or place on my class schedule. Two days and a panic attack later, I learned through my professor via email that the class in question was an online course and I felt rather silly for stressing over virtually nothing, although the lack of clarification rather irked me.

I for one have nothing against online classes. I find the atmosphere in online classrooms

to be generally friendlier than that of regular classrooms and I’ll never argue about the benefits of having more free time in my already busy schedule. However I do believe that better markers for such classes should exist beyond a letter signifying web interactiv-ity in the course number.

A small problem has small fixes and if the class was simply specified as being online explicitly from the get go rather than filling an unidentified time slot on my schedule, it could have been easier. Furthermore profes-sors, I encourage you to email your students before the start of the semester to reaffirm that they are taking an online course. Hopefully with these simple steps taken into place, future students will be able to avoid the sched-uling headaches that I nearly broke down from before the year even began.

OnMIND

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with Nick Bailey

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with Ridges Munnerlyn

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~Disagree with a column or article? Tell us about it. ~Want to discuss a specific topic? Send it in. ~Want to spread some words of wisdom? Here’s how!

Give us a good 400 words and we’ll do our best to run it in the next issue of The East Texan. Longer letters may be edited for length, with the full version available online.

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news www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Sept. 6, 2012 Page 3

Campus EditorJosh Stoltenberg

The Greek life experi-ence for students this year will be quite different, as the fraternities are returning to a formal rush.

“In the past we have had informal recruitment where fra-ternities could just go around and recruit whoever, whenever they wanted, which was effec-tive, but it kind of turned into the wild wild west for a little bit, so they needed a little more structure,” said Graduate Assis-tant to the Assistant Director of Greek Life Josh Hamilton.

The new formal style will be similar to what the Panhel-lenic sororities do, but with less restrictions in place for the fraternities.

“The goal that Zach [Shir-ley], the Assistant Director of Greek Life and I have is to take IFC and give them more structure in order for people to understand that fraternity life is not all about what you see in the stereotypical movies, and we think that bringing back formal recruitment will not only help curb that stereotype, but it will also give those people who don’t know anything about Greek life a place to go and get information about Greek life,” Hamilton explained.

Hamilton stressed the in-formative aspect of this recruit-ment process since in the past students have not been prop-

erly informed when they have made fraternity choices, and it has led to bad experiences for those students.

For guys who want to go through the formal recruit-ment, they must first sign up for it in the Office of Greek Life. They will then go through a five-night recruitment process starting on Sept. 10.

On the first night, which is called Meet the Greeks, stu-dents will go to the Rayburn Student Center conference rooms and each fraternity will give a short pitch to the stu-dents about their fraternity. On the second night students will be taken to each one of the fra-ternity houses so they can see the houses and interact with the fraternity members. For the third night students will get to choose two houses they want to revisit and get a more thorough look at two fraternities.

“The goal with those first three nights is for students to make an informed decision,” Hamilton said.

On the fourth night, stu-dents get to go with the fra-ternities to the Harvey Martin Classic football game in Ar-lington to support the football team and bond with each other outside of the university. On Friday, students will be doing the Running of the Hill where they will sign bid cards to which fraternity they have pledged to and will go down the hill to be with their new brothers.

Rush week returns

The Commerce JournalCaleb Slinkard

The Commerce Parks Foundation took approximately 10 local skaters to the Al-liance Skate Park of Grand Prairie Sat-urday afternoon in an event that served as both a thank you to their sponsors and a fund-raiser.

“It was an opportunity to repay Beta Skateboards and Rhythm Skateshop, who are both located at Alliance Skate Park,” Commerce Parks Foundation President Barbara Lenington said. “It also gave our kids the chance to have a fun day of skat-ing and check out a really cool skatepark. We were there for four to five hours, and I don’t think any of our kids sat down for more than 30 seconds.”

Skater Justin Hall raised the most mon-ey, bringing in $150, including a sizeable donation from Grace Fellowship Christian Church. Barbara’s son, Hunter, brought in the second most with $90.

“The park was pretty amazing, and I can’t wait to go back,” Hunter said.

Through donations of sponsors and other skaters at the park, the foundation raised approximately $800 toward their goal of building a skatepark at Centennial Park in Commerce.

“Were were disappointed that we didn’t have more skaters from Commerce come out,” Lenington said. “But we had kids at the park coming up, asking us where we

were from and where Commerce was,” Lenington said. “If we build this skatepark, they will travel out to Commerce.”

The foundation gave out prizes for im-promptu competitions throughout the day, including hats, T-shirts and backpacks from the A&M-Commerce TRiO pro-gram. The foundation provided transpor-tation to the skatepark.

The trip also allowed Lenington to re-search various skatepark elements that the foundation will want in their park.

“We learn something new every time we visit a skatepark,” she said. “We found out that the kids would prefer a non-concrete half-pipe, which will be cheaper to construct.”

Sponsors for the event included Trin-ity Lutheran Church, Alliance Skate Park of Grand Prairie, the A&M-Commerce branch of Pi Kappa Alpha, Beta Skate-boards, Rhythm Skateshop, Benson Broth-ers Wrecker Service, the Erwin family, the Wade family, AmRo Group Roofing, HEXBUG, Personalized Printing, At-mos Energy, East Texas Bookstore and the TRiO Program.

The Commerce Parks Foundation will be joining with A Space Gallery in down-town Commerce to raffle off bois d’arc-themed photographs and paintings from local artists. A kick-off event will be held on Sept. 6 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the gal-lery and refreshments will be served. Win-ners of the raffle will be announced at the

Bois d’Arc Bash, held in downtown Com-merce on the third week of September.

The Commerce Parks Foundation is dedicated to building a concrete, durable skatepark at Centennial Park in Com-merce. The foundation has been actively planning the park and collecting dona-tions for more than a year, and has held four SKATE competition fund-raisers at the City Park.

The foundation has begun two spon-soring programs at the beginning of the year to both promote donations and honor donors. The corporate donor recognition program allows companies and organi-zations to donate either cash or in-kind donations to the Parks Foundation and receive an engraved marble tile that will be permanently mounted and displayed at the skatepark.

The Commerce Parks Foundation re-cently received a $5,000 donation from the prestigious Tony Hawk Foundation, the city of Commerce, and the First United Methodist Church of Commerce.

For individual or smaller donations, the Parks Foundation began a engraved brick paver program. The pavers will be engraved as well and featured in one of the walkways leading to the skatepark. All donations are tax deductible as the Parks Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity.

For more information on the foundation or the project, call 903-886-7697 or email: commerceskateparkproject@gmail.com.t

The Commerce JournalCaleb Slinkard

Texas A&M University-Commerce is partnering with United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and Wells Fargo to help create more opportunities for students.

The partnership was orchestrated by Rodney Baker, senior admissions recruiter, who met Mrs. Monica McCluney, national director of strategic alliances and corporate relations for the UNCF in 2011 when the Empower Me Tour (EMT) came to Dallas, Texas at Paul Quinn College.

The tour platform was created to em-power a movement among young people, motivating them toward academic excel-lence, personal responsibility and fiscal health through relevant program content and celebrity engagement. Now in its fourth year, the tour delivers holistic touch points, engaging young people at crucial life stages through self-efficacy, person-al finance, college readiness and career success messaging.

Baker believes that life is all about making connections, establishing rela-tionships and building a network and saw an opportunity to share the EMT with current and prospective students by

hosting it on campus.“Once making the connection with

Mrs. McCluney, I followed up with her in regards to establishing a partnership with Education is Freedom,” Baker said. “That was a success, and we stayed in contact.”

Education is Freedom (EIF) is a dedi-cated team providing comprehensive col-lege access services and producing life changing results.

Baker discussed possibilities with Mc-Cluney of hosting the tour at the univer-sity several months ago when he found out it would was scheduled for early spring next year.

“Mrs. McCluney met with their pre-senting sponsor, Wells Fargo, and they ap-proved,” Baker said. “Thanks to Dr. Mary Hendrix, vice president of student access and success, we will now host the UNCF Empower Me Tour on our campus.”

There will be a luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on July 24th at the Alumni Center where McCluney will present an overview of the tour to university administration. Also in attendance will be Education is Free-dom administrators, key staff members and student leaders.

“This partnership will show the uni-versity is vested in diversity in this area

of East Texas and to further the dialogue of the President’s Initiative of Globaliza-tion,” Baker said. “The EMT program content areas are financial education, college readiness, career readiness, entre-preneurship, health and wellness, service and philanthropy.”

Baker is hoping to build greater aware-ness of A&M-Commerce to surrounding areas by hosting the Dallas, Texas tour date of this national event in Commerce. More than 1,000 event attendees are expected, and there will be many sponsor engage-ment opportunities, access to college and career services, workshops, and celebrity panel discussions.

“This is an absolutely exciting event that will expose the region to our beautiful campus, students and staff. We are eager to work in support of the United Negro College Fund and the Empower Me Tour,” said Stephanie Holley, dean of enrollment and retention. “I am especially thank-ful to Rodney Baker for the work he has done to create this wonderful opportunity with UNCF and for the students we will serve as a result.”

The UNCF Empower Me Tour will be held at A&M-Commerce Saturday, Febru-ary 23, 2013.

University partners with UNCF

Commerce skatepark project putting the ‘fun’ in fundraising

Chief EditorNick Bailey

This year, Texas A&M University-Commerce will begin to see change within the Office of Graduate Studies and Re-search. Beginning Sept. 1, the office will be divided into two administrative units: the Office of Graduate Studies, and the Division of Research. While the two units will share some resources, the functions will be differentiated.

Dr. Larry Lemanski will transition from his current role as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs to led the new division for its first year of operation as its executive director and chief research officer. During his career in research and research administration, Dr. Lemanski

is credited with bringing in $22.5 mil-lion in funded extramural research grants and an additional $28 million in insti-tutional grants through federal agencies and appropriations.

University President Dan Jones is pleased to have Dr. Lemanski on board with this change, given his record and past achievements.

“We thank Dr. Lemanski for his achievements as provost, including the suc-cessful reorganization of Academic Affairs from three colleges to four, and the critical role he played in helping bring our nurs-ing program to the verge of fruition,” Jones said. “He was intimately involved in bring-ing at A&M-Commerce the EDUCAUSE grant to develop the Texas Affordable Baccalaureate Program, commonly know

as the $10,000 Degree.”Dr. Gary Peer will serve as interim

provost as the new changes take shape. Dr. Peer served in the same capacity in 2009 as well.

“I feel strongly about the privilege it is to serve as any university’s chief academ-ic officer, and to be asked to do so twice by the same university is indeed a special one,” Dr. Peer said. “I look forward to re-newing prior relationships and developing new ones with [university] faculty, staff, students, and administrators. It’s good to be a Lion again.”

A national search for a perma-nent provost and vice president for aca-demic affairs will be undertaken during the coming year.

University department division to advance global role, research

Community EditorGizem Baydar

The Texas A&M Univer-sity-Commerce family and community are stepping into a new era as the mass media, communication and theatre de-partment’s senior lecturer Dr. John Ballotti has been elected Mayor of Commerce in the May 12 election.

Dr. Ballotti has been liv-ing in Commerce for 10 years and has had a chance to observe the major issues of the city. Ac-cording to Ballotti, there are several issues that the city is faced with. Ballotti’s first in-tention after taking office is to set up the Code of Records, where code violators will be ticketed and appeals will be handled in Commerce.

One of Dr. Ballotti’s biggest goals for improving the Com-merce community is to take a look at the infrastructure sys-tem. “Infrastructure is certainly a problem. Sidewalks around my neighborhood were built 96 years ago” Ballotti said.

Harlow Road is being ripped up shortly, and the re-constructions of Lee, Stonewall, and West Neal streets are ex-pected to be completed in the next two or three years, accord-ing to Ballotti.

“By the time freshmen that are coming in now gradu-ate, we will have new roads in Commerce,” Ballotti said. “My ideas have been to build the symbiosis between the city and the university and to work on beautifying the city.”

“One of the problems that happens is people move here, work here but leave somewhere

else,” Ballotti said in an interview with the university.

Dr. Ballotti is aiming to beautify the city as the mayor to encourage more students to consider living in Com-merce after graduating from A&M-Commerce.

The official numbers show that A&M-Commerce has reached 12,000 students with the Fall 2012 enrollments, and the city population grows with the university. Ballotti is plan-ning on building up businesses to benefit the community.

“The university is bringing the students in and I think the city should do as much as they can to try to keep the students [in Commerce]. I am certainly encouraging new businesses with the city counsel recently about how can we bring new businesses into town, get started, and sustain and then hopefully some of the new businesses will be appealing to the students,” Ballotti said.

Besides the infrastructure system of Commerce, Ballotti is interested in trying to get Com-merce a designation as a retire-ment community. “There is a lot of people that are retiring in Dallas area and they want to get out of the Dallas area and [the lo-cation of Commerce] is an ideal situation for that because within the 50-60 miles, Commerce is an hour away from the major airports,” Ballotti said.

The 2013 budget for the City of Commerce will be approved at the city coun-sel meeting on Sept. 18. The funds, plans and ideas for the development of the city will also be discussed.

Mayor Ballotti hopes to expand city growth

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONSDr. John Ballotti hopes to strengthen the city’s economy.

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www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Sept. 6, 2012Page 4 Campus

Managing EditorKeyania Campbell

One of the highlights of Lion’s Roar is the Morris Recre-ation Center’s annual Birthday Bash. The event typically boasts over 2,000 attendees and drew in even more with last night’s pirate themed celebration, fea-turing various games and carni-val style food.

The event’s reputation and Lion’s Roar advertising pro-pelled many students to check it out this year.

“I missed it last year, and I really wanted to go,” Texas A&M University-Commerce Senior Irene Essien said. “The line was out the door!”

Many students came for and praised the food, which included nachos, hot dogs, corn dogs, funnel cakes, and snow cones.

“I came for the free food, the ladies, and the drinks,” freshman Larry Lamb said.

Alongside refreshments, the highlights were the DJ, in-flatable basketball court, Velcro wall, and the tall inflatable pi-rate shaped slide.

“I came because a friend told me there was food, but my mind was blown when I walked in. My favorite part is the Vel-cro wall,” senior Muhtasim Ra-fid said. “It’s a good activity.”

Senior Stephanie Norman enjoyed the events and plan-

ning by the staff. She also added alongside her comments about the events and the different things were available to do.

“The Pirates of the Carib-bean slide is so much fun! And I won a race against my friend,” she said. “I waited about 20 minutes to get in, but they did a good job organizing this.”

The green screen photos, used at many campus events, are still a hit with students also.

“My favorite part was tak-ing pictures,” sophomore Da-toine Ruffin said.

“I came to help celebrate with my fellow college stu-dents,” Ruffin said. “It was great. You can’t top an event like this.”

A birthday bash to behold

Entertainment EditorJordan Wright

The freshmen “Back 2 School Barbecue” was held recently at the outdoor pool section of the Mor-ris Recreation Center. The event, held annually and sponsored by the Alpha Epsilon Chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, of-fered freshmen an opportunity to meet their peers on campus as well as accommodate members of the Texas A&M University-Commerce community seeking to have a fun night.

The event began at approxi-mately 7:20 p.m. as advertised, featuring a DJ playing and mixing music and an outdoor grill cook-ing hamburgers and hotdogs.

Although the outdoor sec-tion was not reserved for the bar-becue alone, the event attracted the largest crowd of the section, bringing in many patrons look-ing to unwind from the stress of the first week of the semester.

“Just starting the year off right with a little barbecue and meeting new people,” A&M-Commerce senior Ernest Rick-ett said. “Lovely place out here; food, music, games, pool, all that good stuff.”

As the guests made their gradual arrivals, they were greeted with a variety of activi-ties to enjoy. Many of the crowd danced to the music, while oth-ers settled down at tables to play

cards or dominoes. Several other attendees were simply content to enjoy the good music and each other’s company.

“I just wanted to see every-one around campus and get to know one another while trying to meet new people,” sophomore Abdulkarim Mekonen said. “Just trying to have fun, and I’m hav-ing fun with everybody.”

In addition to the festivities of the party, the sorority also of-fered free school supplies to event attendees on a first-come, first-served basis in the spirit of start-ing the semester off properly.

As the event drew to its close, the planners of the event expressed their gratitude for the high turnout that the party gar-nered, proclaiming the event to be a success.

“We looked to feed about 200 but we ran out of food so I’d say the turnout looked to be about 300 plus,” Vice Presi-dent of Phi Beta Sigma Keith Booth said. “It was a pretty great turnout and everybody got to have fun.”

President of Zeta Phi Beta sorority inc. Raven Parker echoed Booth’s sentiments, as well as commenting on the large number of upperclassmen in attendance. Parker claims that although it’s catered to the freshmen, “We want everybody to come out so the freshmen can meet new people.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MORRIS RECREATION CENTERWith this year’s birthday bash having a pirate theme, it was only appropriate that the event featured a sea monster (above) destroying a pirate ship. Land-loving stu-dents, enjoyed various activities at the event, including pirate hats and dancing (below).

Zetas host BBQProgram gets large turnout

SEND US YOUR PHOTOSThe East Texan would love to feature student photosIf you would like your photos featured alongside a story, please include your name and a short description of the photo.

Email photos to:TheEastTexan@gmail.com

KETRScott Harvey

Oklahoma authorities say 64-year-old Gary Burton drowned Thursday afternoon while kayaking on the Moun-tain Fork River in southern Oklahoma, about three miles east of Broken Bow.

According to the Okla-homa Lake Patrol, a witness reported seeing Burton’s kayak flip, then saw Burton swim-ming toward the kayak when he stopped swimming.

Investigators say the wit-ness was able to pull Burton to shore but was unable to resus-citate him. Burton was wearing a life vest, the patrol reported.

A state medical examiner will perform an autopsy on Burton to determine if a medical issue contributed to his death.

Flags at Texas A&M University-Commerce flew at half staff Wednesday to honor Burton. Visitation for Burton, who joined the Texas A&M University-Commerce faculty in 1996, is Friday at 9 a.m. at Bright Holland Funeral Home in Paris, 2601 Lamar Avenue. Services will follow at 10 a.m.

Burton, of Quinlan, was an associate professor and the-atre director in the department of Mass Media, Communica-tion and Theatre at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Chief EditorNick Bailey

Commerce police are in-vestigating a possible sexual assault that many have in-volved a date rape drug. In an effort to keep Texas A&M University-Commerce students from falling victim to sexual violence, the University Po-lice Department (UPD) sent out a warning email with tips on social safety.

“Always keep your eye on every beverage you drink,” the email read. “Once you lose sight of your drink, do not consume it anymore.”

According to UPD Lt. Jason Bone, though the inci-dent happened off campus, it is important for A&M-Commerce to know the

risks and to be safe.“There was no sexual assault

on campus,” Bone said. There was a possible one off campus that the commerce police are investigating. That is all I know other than a date rape drug may have been used. That’s why we did the warning.”

The warning email goes on to explain that unusual feel-ings should not be ignored, and that if they occur, individuals should take heed.

“If you start to feel strange or unusually intoxicated, seek help from a friend, “ the email read. “A stranger who offers to take you home from the event could have slipped you a drug.”

Any suspicious behavior should be reported to the Uni-versity Police Department at 903-886-5868.

University loses a LionAssault raises concerns

www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Sept. 6, 2012 Page 5Community

Ideas or questions for the Counseling Corner? Drop us an email at: counselingcornertamuc@gmail.com.

Counseling CornerPreventing a statistic

HealthWatch

Special ContributorMarty Marsh Jacobs

Imagine a tornado tear-ing through the center of campus. Next, imagine the emotional after effect on our community. Now imagine that instead of a tornado, there is a death by suicide. One of the most difficult experiences to cope with is the loss of someone you care about. When the loss is be-cause of a conscious deci-sion to end life, the result is devastating. September 9th through 15th is National Suicide Prevention Week. The entire campus commu-nity should be aware of the risk of suicide not only this week, but every day.

Most sources cite sui-cide as the second leading cause of death among college students. The University of Virginia published a study in November, 2011 reporting suicide as the leading cause of death among the 157 in-stitutions and more than a million students surveyed.

Suicide is preventable and most suicidal persons have some desire to live; they just can’t see a solution to their problem. The number one cause of suicide is un-treated depression.

Going to college can be a difficult transition period

for many students. Students may feel lost, lonely, con-fused, anxious, inadequate or stressed. Suicidal think-ing increases with a signifi-cant loss such as the death of a loved one, relationship break-up, loss of job/status or prestige, serious health is-sues, or recent injury.

If you know someone displaying signs of depres-sion or suicide, it is impor-tant to get them help. Talk-ing to someone about suicide does not cause that person to become suicidal. They may welcome a chance to talk. If they are not suicidal, you have still expressed concern.

If someone you know ex-presses the intent to commit suicide, don’t ignore the situ-ation. Take action. Many people who commit suicide have verbalized the intention at some point prior to acting. You may be worried that you are overreacting. The safety of your friend or someone you care about is important. Don’t worry about strain-ing your relationship when someone’s life is at stake. You aren’t responsible for preventing someone from taking his or her life, but intervention can help the person see that there are other options and treatment is available.

It’s important to be aware of the warning signs that can lead to suicide:

•Extreme hopelessness•Losing interest in activities•Withdrawing from friends•Giving away prized possessions•Feeling trapped •Writing about death or suicide•Heightened anxiety•Insomnia or excessive sleeping•Abusing alcohol or drugs•Acting recklessly•Marked change performance•Talking about suicide

The following are some ways to talk with someone who might be suicidal:

Listen. Help the individual feel understood by rephrasing. Use statements such as, “It seems like you are saying/feeling…”

Be Supportive. Express that you care about the person. Offer to assist in finding help. Express that suicidal feelings are usu-ally temporary. Depression can be treated and problems can be solved.

Don’t judge. Avoid expressing how suicide will hurt others or how much the individual has to live for.

Be direct. Ask, “Are you thinking about suicide?” Don’t be afraid to ask! The person may be relieved to talk about it or grate-ful for your concern if not suicidal.

Evaluate the risk. Do they have a plan? Do they have the means (pills, weapons, etc.)? Do they have a time?

Protect them and yourself. Never leave a person who has a plan and method alone. Get help. In order to protect yourself, you may have to leave if the person is armed.

Reach out. Recognize your limits and share your concerns. Do not be bound by secrecy.

Encourage professional help. Offer to accompany the individual to the Counseling Center or be with them when they make the call.

In the event of an attempt or imminent suicide: Contact UPD at 886-5868 or contact the Counseling Center at 886-5145. Off campus call 911.

Monday 9-10 - Meet the Greeks 6:30 p.m. RSC 2nd FloorCome meet the IFC Greek Organizations. This night is intended for those gentlemen

who are interested in the Greek system here at Texas A&M University-Commerce but may not know much, or perhaps anything, about what Greek Life actually is. Each fraternity in the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) will be on-hand to give a brief presentation about their chapter. Potential new members will get a better understanding of what each organization has to offer, and be provided with basic facts about the foundation of the

fraternity.

Tuesday 9-11 - House Night Outside the RSC at 5:30 p.m.You’ve seen the show - now experience the cribs of our Greek fraternities. The Office

of Greek Life will take you on a tour of the cribs via university vehicles. At each crib, groups will get 30 minutes to hang out with the brothers and then depart to their next location. This gives you a chance to see each fraternity in not only their cribs or meeting

areas, but on a more personal level.

Wednesday 9-12 - Pref. NightOn this night, you must visit at least two of the houses that you visited the previous

night. Remember, you must sign in at two different houses for attendance verification in the Office of Greek Life. If you are in need of transportation, please feel free to call or

come by the Office of Greek Life and we can try to help you.

Thursday 9-13 - The Red ZoneThis is the night of the Lone Star Classic. We are encouraging fraternity men and

potential new members to attend this event together. This is a great opportunity to get out of Commerce in a social setting and support our team.

Friday 9-14 - Bid Day - Running of the HillAll potential new members who have gone through at least 3 days of recruitment

will meet in the BA building to potentially sign a bid with a fraternity. Upon signing of all bids, the potential new members will “run the hill” to their new brothers awaiting at the bottom.

Chief EditorNick Bailey

Every person has his or her own story to tell, whether they survived a tragic experience or traveled to distant lands, but one student on the Texas A&M University-Commerce campus has an interesting story of struggle, hardship, and progress.

Edgar Pulido, a new student to A&M-Commerce, comes from Arlington, Texas and is the first person in his family to gradu-ate high school.

“I’m the first male not only within my family, but within my family’s family to graduate high school, get my diploma, and go to college,” “That’s actually the biggest step I’ve taken so far.”

Having come from a struggling family, Pulido made many tough decisions growing up, including choosing his family’s wellbeing over his own education when he dropped out of high school.

“I dropped out for a whole semester,” Pulido said. “My family was having financial issues, and I thought I could help them out more by providing for them. I saw my par-ents struggle a lot so decided to drop out.”

Pulido got a job with a locally Hispanic market, where we excelled and began work-ing his way up the promotional ladder.

“I worked there for a few months,” He explained. “When [the new manager] got fired they were looking for someone. I was 15

years old, and I took charge for about three months, then I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted. I was working probably between 70 and 80 hours a week, and I just wasn’t feel-ing it. I was making good money, but it just didn’t feel like that’s what I wanted.”

After finding discontent working with the grocery store, Pulido chose to give his education another chance.

“I decided to go back to school because I felt that that was the best choice, and where I was wasn’t going to get me anywhere,” Pu-lido said. “It was a big struggle. I was a four-year varsity player in soccer. [My coach] was disappointed, but he aid he was proud of me for coming back.”

Off the field, Pulido ran into many other obstacles, but persevered and moved forward.

“It was a huge struggle coming back,” he said. “I faced a lot of rumors, and a lot of criticism and I fell behind. When I dropped out I lost a lot of confidence, and I was so lost when I came back. I felt worth-less, and stupid, but deep down I felt like I really wanted it.”

Things were still difficult for Pu-lido at home, and he began to wall into the familiar pattern.

“I hated seeing my mother have to get up so early to go to work,” “After school, sometimes after soccer, I would go help her until late at night. My grades started drop-ping then.

After facing many difficulties, Pulido and his family made the decision to transfer him to Summit International, a preparatory school in Arlington. There, Pulido excelled in a robotics program, and found a balance between school, work, and himself. Pulido graduated soon after arriving at the prep school, and looked to the future.

“When I graduated high school, I didn’t feel anything, I don’t feel accomplished yet,” He explained. “When I get my Mas-ter’s and my professional engineering cer-tificate, hopefully then I’ll feel accomplished and satisfied.”

Now that he’s at A&M-Commerce, Pulido keeps in touch with his family back home, and keeps them close to his heart.

“I talked to my mom the other day, and she never really realized how much she loved me,” Pulido said with a smile. “I don’t miss home yet, but I know that I will. My mom told me she’s proud of me. That’s something she hasn’t done in four years. I feel like I owe her a lot, she deserves better than that.”

Pulido is hoping to double-major in engineering and business management, so that he can provide a better life for his entire family.

“One of my goals is to help out [my parents] with their business and set goals,” he said. “I have a lot of cousins that know a lot about certain topics, but they don’t have that one little push to get them started, and I want to help them.

Overcoming all the oddsHard work drives student to college after dropping out

NICK BAILEY / THE EAST TEXANEdgar Pulido hopes to be able to provide a better life not only for himself, but for the rest of his family so that they won’t have to struggle in the future.

entertainmentwww.theeasttexan.comPage 6 Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012

SportS www.theeasttexan.com

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012 Page 7

Lions tailgate with pride

This year, the Texas A&M University-Commerce

community came together and celebrated the first Lions football game of the season in good fashion with multiple events at tailgate. Many Greek organizations came out to show their support including Pi Kappa Alpha, who was re-cently welcomed back on the A&M-Commerce campus.

With performances from the Lion Pride Marching Band, the cheerleaders, and A&M-Commerce’s new dance team, festivities were in full effect. Even university president Dr. Dan Jones got into the spirit, and rode the mechanical bull at the event.

PHOTOS BY NICK BAILEY

Sportswww.theeasttexan.comThursday, Sept. 6, 2012Page 8

1 Seth Smith WR So. 2 Aaron Wingfield DB Jr. 3 Cortney Craig DB Jr.4 Justin Gomez QB Jr.5 Byron Brooks WR Fr.5 Tony White DB So. 6 Wayne Chapman WR Jr. 7 Robert Wheeler CB So.8 Darryl Thompson WR Jr. 9 Deric Davis QB Jr.10 Chris Sampson DB So. 11 Kevin Bevans WR Sr. 12 Joel Wren DB Jr.13 Kevin Vye QB Sr. 14 Joshua Brown QB Fr.14 Austin Smith QB Fr. 15 Taurean Bundage LB RFr 15 Ryan Lusby QB So.16 Tevin Godfrey WR RSo 17 Marcus Fore DB Jr. 18 Justin Duncan QB Jr. 19 Trever Lasseter QB Fr.19 Cole Pitts FS Fr. 20 Israel Hughes DB RSr 21 Danny Mason LB Sr. 22 Shaquelle Massey FS Jr.

23 Travis Zacharie RB Sr. 24 Marlin Terrell DB Sr.25 Corvellas Cage DB Jr. 26 Kristoddie Woods LB RFr 27 Jamar Mosley RB Sr.28 Kaylon Alexander RB RFr 29 Kamryn Howard DB Fr.31 Jeremy Dotson DL Jr.32 Ryan West WR Fr. 33 Alan Beatty LB Jr. 34 Dre Dunbar DB So. 35 Pablo Vasquez DB So.36 Carrington Brown FB Jr. 37 Jalen Jones SS Fr.38 Gage Windsor LB RFr 39 Marcus French RB Jr. 40 Blake Ohm TE RFr 41 LenZell Fulcher DB Fr. 42 Corey Ware DB So. 43 Jarrett Golightly TE Sr. 44 Kylon Higgins DB Fr.45 Vondrick Jackson DB Fr. 46 J.T. Bates LB Sr. 47 Lazarri Middleton DB Jr. 48 Troy Dorsey LB Fr.49 Chase Thrasher K RFr

50 Kirwyn Moncriffe LB RFr 52 Jordan Betz OL RJr53 Charles Leslie LB So. 54 Darik Walker LB Fr.55 Ricky Berroa DE Jr. 56 Matt Claggett LB Jr. 57 Gabe Conner LB Fr. 58 Stephen Ford LB Jr. 59 Ortavious Simmons DL Jr. 60 John McKenna OL Fr. 61 Duncan Koonce LS So.62 Jaylyn McDuffie OL Fr.63 Austin Fisher LS So.64 Ben Honeywell OL RSo 65 Fernando Sanchez OL Fr.66 Dimitre Wells DT Fr.67 Trevor Goodale OL Jr.68 Ethan Lierman OL Fr. 69 Landon Rackley OL RFr 69 Connor Wise OL RJr70 Gary Aguilar OL Jr.71 Josh Stafford OL So. 72 Sam Shearin OL So. 73 Sheldon Staton OL RSo 74 Derek Morrison OL RJr74 Andrew Weidel OL Jr.

75 Shane Thompson OL So. 77 Brandyn Hinnrichs OL So. 78 Zach Rice OL Jr. 79 Cade Burks OL Sr. 80 Andrez Brewster WR RSo81 Nathan James WR RFr 81 Garrett Smith WR Jr. 82 Tyler Rawlings WR Sr. 83 Salim Zongo WR RFr84 Darrian Gilmore WR Fr. 85 Kevin Thomas WR RFr 86 Tre Jones WR Fr. 87 Tory Minor WR RFr 88 Kerry Fellers WR Fr. 89 Ricky Pelzer WR Fr. 90 Jacob O’Neil K So. 91 Tevin Moore DL Jr. 92 James Conyers DL Sr. 93 Tristian Davis DL Sr. 94 Quincy Sims DL RFr96 Cameron Frosch P Jr. 97 Khari Ferrell DL RFr98 Brandon Turner DL So. 99 Jake Williams DL Jr.

Sports EditorRidges Munnerlyn

As of Tuesday Aug. 21, the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) revealed its intentions to leave the Lone Star Conference (LSC) and affiliate their athletic pro-grams with the Southland Conference (SLC).

Commissioner of the Southland Conference, Tom Burnett, officially invited Incarnate Word to join the league. This will take in effect in 2013 and the con-ference is to be notified by the university on June 30, 2013 of its intentions of withdrawing from mem-bership of the LSC. The membership will coincide with the San Antonio-based institution’s four-year tran-sition to NCAA Division I.

“We have been recruit-ing Division I athletes, with Division I coaches, and now we have a Division I to enter,” UIW President

Dr. Louis Agnese said in a press release. “We are truly blessed to be joining such an outstanding conference like the Southland. We look forward to a long and fruit-ful relationship with the SLC that will be equally rewarding to our students and the residents of San Antonio.”

According to confer-ence policy, Incarnate Word must compete in all ath-letic competitions with the other LSC members until the effective date.

The LSC has also been informed by Abilene Christian University that their board will consider this weekend in a meeting a similar invitation to join the Southland conference. The conference anticipates that its school leaders will notify them soon thereaf-ter ACU’s intention to with-draw from LSC membership under the same parameters and timeline as UIW.

Lions football team 2012

Staff ReporterBrandon Walker

With last season behind them and winning the Lone Star Conference in mind the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions football team kicked off their season against the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm. The Lions won the coin toss and chose to defer. On the Savage storms first drive they witnessed the Lions physical defense going 3 and out with their quarter back #10 Jercolby Bradley during that drive #98 Brandon Turner recorded a sack. After the Lions and the Savage storm traded two back to back 3 and outs this games had the showings of being a tough and physical defensive game.

On the Lions 3rd drive of the first quarter their offense began to show some sparks of light starting from their own 23 yard line they began to move the ball effectively #9 Deric Davis quarterback for the Lions completed two consecutive passes including a 36 yard catch and run by wide out #8 Darryl Thompson. This drive came to end when a pass by Davis was picked off and ran back for a 79 yard intercep-tion return by#27 Savage storm safety Houston Slemp. This happened to be Davis’s first interception throw in 4 years. As the first quarter ended the score stood as 7- 0 Southeastern Oklahoma State.

Southeastern Oklahoma State had possession of the ball to start the 2nd quarter. Starting at their own 46 yard line they put together a drive that put them into the Lions red zone. In the

trenches the Lions defense stopped the Savage Storm from scoring with the help of #21 Danny Mason standout linebacker who recorded a sack on 3rd down. On 4th down the Savage Storm kicked a 28 yard field goal which extended their lead to 10-0 with just a little over 8 minds to go in the 2nd quarter. The Lions next possession was a tough one. Starting at their own 46 yard line two long yardage pass plays where called back because of holding penalties killing their momentum forc-ing them to punt the ball.

On the Savage Storms next posses-sion they were firing on all cylinders starting at their own 27 yard line they put together a drive that produced a 30 yard pass to #16 Tight end Ryan Shelley and with less than 2 minutes left in the quarter the Savage storm scored on a 23 yard touchdown run by #20 running back CJ Kirk making the score 17-0. The Lions went into the locker room at half-time not happy with their performance trying to come up with adjustments for the second half. The Lions finished the first half averaging 3.8 yards.

Since the Lions choose to defer at the being at the game they had posses-sion of the ball starting the 3rd quarter. The Lions first drive of the 2nd half showed the adjustment they had made at halftime marching their way down field. With 10:45 minutes left on the clock the Lions stood in the red zone for the first time where #9 Deric Davis threw a 3 yard touchdown pass to #16 wide out Tevin Godfrey unfortunately the extra point was no good This drive took 10 plays and the Lions covered 70 yards in 5:44 making the score 17-6. On

the Savage storms 1st possession com-ing out of halftime they showed that they had made improvement as well going 71 yards in 4 plays capped off their drive with a 38 yard touchdown pass to #1 wide out Anthony Gale expanding their lead to 24-6 with 7:35 remaining in the 3rd. Midway through the 3rd quarter fans began to leave disappointed and not satisfied with the Lions play. The Lions had chances to increase their score but miss on their opportunities. With 2:53 minutes left in the 3rd #90 kicker Jacob O’Neil missed a 28 yard field goal which ended the 3rd quarter.

The 4th quarter of this game was a quarter the Lions wish they could have back. #20 Israel Hughes returned a punt return for a touchdown but had the touchdown called back due to unsportsmanlike conduct and, things didn’t get better after that. On the Savage Storms next possession starting at their own 1 yard line they marched 99 yards in 12:00 minutes finishing the drive with a 1 yard touchdown run by #20 running back CJ Kirk making the lead 31-6. In the entire 4th quarter the Lions only had possession of the ball for 43 seconds.

One of the most noticeable things that hurt the Lions in this game were penalty which they accounted for 13-103 and their completions on 3rd down didn’t help them either stand-ing at 2 of 11. The Lions will go back to the drawing board and try to fix all of the problems and mistakes they made on the field so that they will be ready September 8th when they play University of Texas-San Antonio.

Lions drenched by Savage Storm 31-6

Conference may lose teams soon

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