april 8, 2004

It seems that in the last months, withfad diets and advertisements for weightloss pills, people have become moreaware of the increase in obesity andother related health issues.

With the nation and state taking stepsto a healthier living, The University ofTexas-Pan American is doing its part inpromoting fitness and wellness oncampus.

Gov. Rick Perry is challenging allTexans to get physically active byjoining the Texas Round-Up. As theProvost’s Initiative on CampusWellness, which directly targets facultyand staff, UTPA has been registered tobe part of this movement to a healthierliving.

“The initiative that we have startedthrough my office, is really to try andcreate a greater level of awarenessabout the need to engage in activitiesthat improve the health and well-beingof the members of the faculty andstaff,” said Provost and Vice Presidentfor Academic Affairs, Rodolfo Arevalo.

Arevalo explained that the reason

behind trying to host events in this areahas to do with thefact that in the lastthree years, therehas been a largemention in themedia about thegrowing lack offitness ofindividuals.Specifically, therehas been a numberof articles writtenabout the level ofobesity found inthe Rio GrandeValley. TheValley’s growingproblem withdiabetes has alsobeen linked todiabetes.

Health issuesare not the onlyreason that ismotivating theuniversity toconcentrate moreon fitness andwellness. The

university would also be losing moneyif faculty or staff were tomiss work due to healthrelated issues.

“We are trying to bothprovide education abouthealth and wellness aswell as the opportunityfor staff and faculty tobecome engaged inhealth and wellness[activities],” saidArevalo. “I think it isvery important becauselike any largeorganization, the abilityof the organization toreduce the amount ofdowntime because ofillness either by staff orfaculty helps us in termsof improving the qualityof life. However,indirectly it assists theuniversity because wehave less of an expensebecause people aregone.”

In terms of faculty

THURSDAYApril 8, 2004

An Inside Look:

■ News ............................................2■ A & E............................................7■ Sports ........................................16

T h e S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Te x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n

PanAmerican

Days

See Page 2 & 7for details

EVENTS

High turnout for SGA electionBy CLARISSA MARTINEZThe Pan American

Wellness promoted by UTPA staff By ANGELA I. CANALESThe Pan American

See ROUNDUP page 12

Franco Caballero/The Pan American

SIGN UP— Freshman RubySaldaña and son Gabriel registerfor Tuesday’s wellness event at theQuad.

President/Vice PresidentMike Jones and Adrian Sandoval

803*Nathan Schwartz and NadyaMaldonado 764

Senators-at-largeBen Abbitt 968*Jose “Joe” Garcia 956*Lara Goins 919*Clarissa “Clari” I. Garza 1044*Cyntia “Cyn” Venegas 979*Angelia Barrera 843

Arts & HumanitiesOscar Garza 189*Business AdmistrationCarina C. Garza 177*Rebaca “Becky” Villanuela 166*

EducationNo candidates

Graduate SchoolNo candidates

Health Sciences & Human ServicesNo Candidates

Science & EngineeringDiana Elsa Ramirez 269*Joey Nochols 276*Maha Maglinao 260*Omar Jasso 258

Social & Behavioral SciencesNo candidates

Welness-Recreation CenterSupport 1401*Do not Support 217

Total Votes 1686Invalid Votes 34

Official results of the Student Government Associationelections, held on March 29, 30, 31, and April 1.Election results for The Student

Government Association are in,and the results are a bit surprisingto some.

According to ChristinaCarruthers, the days that were mostpopular for voting were highest onMonday and then again onWednesday. A total of over 1,600votes were received, and thatexpanded the administratorsexpectations, Carrutherscommented.

Although the campaigns took astep forward concerning creativity–campaign material included t-shirts promoting candidates andmessages in chalk lining thewalkways– a number of studentsstill did not have the motivation tovote.

“I didn’t get a chance to vote thisyear,” Alex Medina, a freshmandrama major said. “I was thinkingabout stopping at one of the posts,but I just never had the opportunitybecause I was busy with an examand things came up during theday.”

TIPA awardsIt was a weekend that applauded a year’s work

for student publications across Texas.The 2004 Texas Intercollegiate Press

Association held its annual convention in AustinApril 1-3. With dozens of universitiesrepresenting the pride of their publications, theUniversity of Texas-Pan American proved it canrun with the big schools.

Both The Pan American Newspaper and TheGallery Magazine won 3rd place Overall, awardshonoring the achievement a student newspaperand magazine has accomplished with the entireproduction process. This year’s award marks thehighest ranking the newspaper has accomplished.At the prior convention, the newspaper ranked 8thin its division.

But the newspaper isn’t the only studentpublication at UTPA that received awards at theconvention.

The Gallery, a literary magazine, took 2ndplace in Sweepstakes for winning several awardsfor photos, illustrations, and the cover design.Diana Corpus-Garza took third place for heraction photo titled “Pasale Toro,” Sonia Y.Salinas received honorable mention for her coverdesign, Esteban Ortiz won 3rd place for hisfeature black and white photo titled, “February.”

Illustrators for the magazine also won 1st and3rd places. Troy Stanley’s piece “InfiniteRegression” and Gustavo Fonsela Olivarez’s“Marianifa” took the honors, respectively.

As far as writing, in the poem category JavierL. Salazar took an honorable mention for hisentry “Kansas,” while Elizabeth V. Pena receivedthe same honor for her short story “The Gypsies.”

Established in 1909, TIPA is the oldestcollegiate student press association in the UnitedStates and includes various student newspapers,magazines, literary magazines and yearbooks. Theassociation is not limited to the print world. It isalso home to student radio and television stations.

This year nine Pan American staff members,and two Panorama Magazine members traveled toAustin and competed in the live competition.Arianna Vazquez and Edwina Garza won in live,timed events that required the reporters to coveran event and write an article in an hour.

Ed Chrnko submitted to TIPA a piece of workfrom The Pan American sports section andreceived an honorable mention for his sports pagedesign.

Texas Intercollegiate PressAssociation

Newspaper-Overall3rd Place

Pan American

Features Writing1st Place

Edwina Garza

Spanish News Writing2nd Place

Arianna Vazquez

Newspaper-Sports Page DesignSports Feature

Honorable MentionEd Chrnko

Happy Easter !

The NCAA men’s basketball championship,which was held in San Antonio, was not the onlymajor collegiate sporting event going on in Texas.

The Texas Relays, the premier track event in thestate, was held in Austin over the weekend and theUniversity of Texas-Pan American track and fieldteam took a handful of athletes to compete at thestate capital.

Track Head Coach Ricky Vaughn believes hiskids performed well, but also feels his team wasoverwhelmed by the competition.

“You have to learn to compete at the big meets.Overall we had an OK meet,” Vaughn said. “Wehave to find the positive and negative things fromthat meet and improve on them by our nextcompetition.”

Weslaco native and senior Hugo Cervantesfinished 18th in the 3000-meter steeplechase with atime of 9:52.75 and he looks to improve his time inthe meets to come.

“I missed qualifying for an NCAA Regional bytwo seconds last year so I want to qualify,”Cervantes said. “Texas Relays was a stepping stoneto get to my goal at the end of the season.”

Cervantes believes this meet was a learningexperience and now he knows what it takes tocompete at that kind of level.

“It was a good meet where you could see a higherlevel of competition so you can judge where youstand,” Cervantes said.

For senior Rashaad Ben it was a homecoming.The Austin native started slowly, but finished strongand hurdled his way to a second-place finish in hisheat and was 18th overall with a time of 14.35 in the110-meter hurdles.

Ben was happy with the simple fact that he got toreturn home and compete at a high level in front ofhis friends, family, and former teammates.

“I want to give big shout outs to Coach Rob,” Bensaid. “It was nice; it’s always good to run back atthe homestead.”

Ben stumbled out of the blocks and feels that inbig meets like this one you can not afford to haveany mistakes.

“The hurdles are a technical race anyway andlittle mistakes affect you,” Ben said. “You have tobe as perfect as possible.”

The Broncs will hit the road and travel to CollegeStation to participate in the Texas A&M InvitationalApril 10.

Coach Vaughn hopes the experience gained thispast weekend will help them compete at a higherlevel for the remainder of the season.

“This meet will be a big meet too,” Vaughn said.“It’s going to be a highly competitive meet. Thosewho competed this past weekend will be able tocompete at a higher level.”

The Valley will be the object ofinternational attention April 14 whenMexican First Division fútbol hits the areafor the first time in history with a friendlymatch between Pumas of UNAM andTigres of UANL at McAllen VeteransMemorial Stadium at 8 p.m.

Mexico City-based Pumas are currentlyin second place in the Mexican League’sClausura 2004 tournament standings withan 8-1-4 record, while Tigres is last

season’s runnerup.The Monterrey club had an impressive

run last year and boast Mexican soccer’smost supportive fans, however, they havebeen struggling this season and sport aless than impressive 4-7-2 record.

“It’s the first time that we’ve had asporting event of this magnitude come tothe valley,” said Omar Rodríguez, deputydirector of McAllen Parks and Recreation.

In January, the Texas Title Belt’sBoxing Series that included a specialappearance by Oscar De La Hoya luredover 6,000 fans to Dodge Arena inHidalgo, but it still does not come close towhat the exhibition fútbol or soccer matchbetween Pumas and Tigres signifies.

The only other professional sportingevent held in the Valley was in 1985 whenMcAllen hosted a USFL football gamebetween the San Antonio Gunslingers andthe Houston Gamblers. Jim Kelly was thequarterback for the Gamblers.

“This event is Division 1 soccer whichis the equivalent of Major LeagueSoccer,” Rodríguez compared. “It’s thetop level of that sport for that country. InMexico, it’s equivalent to our NFLseason.”

UNAM (National AutonomousUniversity of México) is led by legendarystriker turned Head Coach Hugo Sánchez,who is in his second stint with Pumas astechnical director.

“Hugo Sánchez is probably one of

Mexico’s biggest names as far as socceris concerned,” Rodríguez said. “Histeam is doing very well. I think peoples’expectations is to see some of thestarters of both Tigres and Pumas comeand play.”

“Hugol”, as he was known during hisplaying days played five seasons withPumas, migrated to Spain, and made abigger name for himself withinternational powerhouse Real Madridwhere he obtained five pichichis, orscoring titles, as well as the covetedGolden Boot that is awarded by UEFA,European soccer’s governing body.Sánchez scored 38 goals for RealMadrid in the 1989-90 season.

Tigres is led by Argentine HeadCoach Nery Pumpido, who steeredParaguayan club Olimpia to the 2002Copa Libertadores title, the mostprestigious club tournament in theWestern Hemisphere.

“Tigres is playing Monterrey thisSaturday, Pumas on Wednesday, andthen América,” Rodríguez said. “Sothey’ve got a pretty big week ahead.”

Although Tigres have not lived up tolast season’s performance and will havea busy week, they are not a club to beunderestimated. UANL have a potentoffense and are ranked second out of 20teams in the league in scoring with 24goals in 13 matches. Pumas are tied for

■ Soccer. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

■ Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

■ Sports Clipboard . . . . . 13

PAGE 16

SPORTSFútbol mexicano comes to Valley for first time

Courtesy of www.tigres.com.mx

Argentinean striker Walter Gaitán is one of Tigres’ most potent offen-sive weapons. Gaitán is one goal short of tying his 10-goal output oflast season when Tigres reached the Finals and was runnerup.

By ED CHRNKOThe Pan American

By MATT HALLThe Pan American

UTPA represent at RelaysSee FUTBOL page 14

Broncs tennis facetough week on road

The University of Texas-PanAmerican men’s tennis team (0-2conference, 6-6 overall) is on thebrink of being a serious contenderin the Southland Conference andwill be pushed to the limits thisweek with a slew of matches.

With the men’s team facing twoconference opponents this week,Lamar (0-3 conference, 2-11overall) and SoutheasternLouisiana (1-1 conference, 6-7overall), UTPA has anopportunity to jump ahead in theconference if they take advantageof their opponents’ records.

“We are ready for this weeksmatches,” said Assistant CoachKati Gyulai during a recentpractice at the UTPA Cox TennisCenter.

The Broncs’ current two-gameskid is not indicative to the waythat they have performed this

season. Sitting at .500 overall,the men have garnered a stamp oflegitimacy that should carry overinto conference play.

With more than half of theseason completed, Texas-PanAmerican will seek improvementin the win column of both themen’s and women’s teams.

In singles play, Gary Bianco(15-7), Oliver Steil (11-8),Jeremy Salvo (10-10), RehmanEsmail (8-7), Sebastian Aspillaga(7-5), Nik Porter (8-9), TomMangelschots (6-9) and ArmandoMartínez (1-7) will continue toimprove barring injury.

The duo of Bianco-Esmail (5-2)spearhead the men’s doubles. Therest of the men’s tandems will belooking to bring life into the wincolumn once this week is all setand done.

A possible factor that couldphysically be detrimental to

By STEE RAMÍREZThe Pan American

What: Fútbol MexicanoWho: Pumas of U.N.A.M. vs. Tigres ofU.A.N.L.When: Wednesday, April 14 at 8 p.m.Where: McAllen Veterans MemorialStadiumRecords: Pumas (8-4-1, 28 pts.);Tigres (4-7-2, 14 pts.)Last meeting: Pumas defeated Tigres2-1 on March 14 in Week 10 ofClausura 2004 tournament.Next match: Tigres vs. Monterrey inClásico Regiomontano, Saturday at 5p.m.; Pumas vs. Puebla, Sunday atnoon;.

vs.

See TENNIS page 14

1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539(956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122

http://www.panam.edu/dept/panamerican53rd Year – No. 25

Layout Designers

Dägoberto Pérez

Ginmarie Mabry

Reporters

Vanessa Castillo

Julian Cavazos

Edwina Garza

Dulce Gonzalez

Matt Hall

Christina Harris

Aaron Lozano

Vanessa Lucio

Clarissa Martinez

Amy Medellin

Photographer

Franco Caballero

Copy Editor

Joe Anna Moreno

Student Pub. Secretary

Jo Anne Murphy

Adviser

Dr. Greg Selber

The PANAMERICAN isthe official studentnewspaper of TheUniversity ofTexas-PanAmerican. Views presentedare those of thewriters and do notnecessarily reflectthose of theuniversity.

The Pan Americangladly acceptsletters fromstudents, staff andfaculty regardingnewspaper contentor current issues.The Pan Americanreserves the rightto edit submissionsfor grammar andlength. Please limitsubmission lengthto 300 words. ThePan Americancannot publishanonymous letters,or submissionscontaining hatespeech orgratuitous personalattacks. Letters areprinted at thediscretion of theeditor and mustinclude the writer’sname, class/titleand phone number.

Letters policy

April 8 2 0 0 4

Readers with dis-abilities mayrequest an alter-native format ofthis publicationat The PanAmerican busi-ness office. For special assis-tance to attendany event listedin this publica-tion, contact thecoordinator of theevent at least oneweek prior to theadvertised date.

Sports EditorEd Chrnko

[email protected]

A & E EditorOmaira [email protected]

News EditorClarissa Martinez

[email protected]

Graphics EditorDaniel Aguilar

[email protected]

EditorArianna Vazquez

[email protected]

OPINION l e t t e r s ■ e d i t o r i a l s ■ c a r t o o n sPAGE 2

Dear Editor,

The article about the "Passion" was the most rude andoffensive article I ever read, I feel I speak for thousands ofstudents when I say that you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Worst of all is your timing. Remember next week is GoodFriday and Easter. I will not rest until I see to it that this kindof injustice and blatant disregard for the religion of billionsceases. There will be a reckoning and you will answer for youractions.

Phillip Winger

Dear Editor,

Just wanted to congratulate you on such an entertaining andcreative issue of The Pan American today. We need a littlelevity at this time of the semester. It’s a great issue!

Juanita E. Garza, History Lecturers

Editor,

I think the Pan American April Fools edition was a mistaketo get published. Nobody thought the articles were funny,especially with the picture of the two masturbators on page 3.

P.S. I enjoy reading the true Pan American. What needs to beadded in my opinion, is a section where students can writeabout anything about student life.

Juan Flores

Dear Editor,

Congratulations on the best issue yet of the PANAMERICAN. It is a joy to see deep, hard hitting, no-holds-barred stories that tell the truth about the university and worldevents. The depth of your journalistic endeavors is to becommended. These young, idealistic students sere as great rolemodels or the jaded old journalists that populate and polluteour professional media's evil empire.

Marian Monta

CCAALLEENNDDAARR

P a n A m e r i c a n D a y s 2 0 0 4A p r i l 1 3 - 1 6

April 13Keith Harer Senior Staff

Attorney, Native AmericanRights Fund

Student Union Theater, Noon

South Texas Indian DancersUTPA Ballroom, 7 p.m.

“Perspectives on the foundingof The Pan American Union”Speakers: Dr. Angela Vergara

and Dr. Michael FaubionSBC 101, 10:35 a.m.

“Latin American Professionalsin South Texas”

Speakers:Leo Montalvo-Mayorof McAllen, Adele Licea-

Kinesiology, Dr. Raul Pinto-Medical Doctor

BA 113, 2:30 - 4 p.m.

April 14Lazaro Cadenas Batel

Media Theater7 p.m.

April 15“The Shaman’s Path in Hichol

Indian Culture”Speaker: Dr. Stacy Schaefe-California State University

SBS 125,10:35 a.m.

Sandra Levinson ExecutiveDirector of The Center for

Cuban StudiesStudent Union Theater

Noon

“Higher-EducationInstitutions at Both Sides of

the Rio Grande”Speakers: Dr. Jose Barragan

Codina-Universidad Autonomade Nuevo Leon, Dr. Angelica

Cortes-moderator

Capoeira DemonstrationXochitl Room, UC 122

6 p.m.

Valley Symphony Ensembleand Reception

Student Union Theater6 p.m.

“Contemporary Cuba”Speakers: Ms. Sandra Levinson,

Dr. Gary MouceSBS 109, 7:10 p.m.

For more information you cancontact the Office of

International Programs.

April 8, 2004 Sports Page 15

Team W - D - L GF:GA PTSChiapas 10 - 2 - 1 27:14 32U.N.A.M. 8 - 4 - 1 27:13 28Guadalajara 7 - 2 - 4 15:15 23Toluca 5 - 4 - 4 19:8 19América 5 - 4 - 4 23:20 19Necaxa 4 - 5 - 4 17:15 17Club San Luis 3 - 4 - 6 13:21 13Irapuato 5 - 3 - 5 16:24 18Monterrey 2 - 8 - 3 17:16 14Tigres 4 - 2 - 7 24:26 14U.A.G. 3 - 2 - 8 23:30 11Querétaro 3 - 7 - 3 19:21 16Atlas 5 - 5 - 3 21:18 20Pachuca 5 - 5 - 3 19:19 20Puebla 4 - 4 - 5 20:16 16Atlante 3 - 5 - 5 18:21 14Santos 5 - 1 - 7 19:18 16Veracruz 3 - 5 - 5 17:20 14Cruz Azul 3 - 3 - 7 18:23 12Morelia 4 - 3 - 6 17:21 15

Group I Group II20 - Atlas 28 - U.N.A.M.20 - Pachuca 19 - América19 - Toluca 16 - Santos16 - Puebla 16 - Querétaro14 - Monterrey 11 - U.A.G.

Group III Group IV32 - CHIAPAS 23 - Guadalajara15 - Morelia 18 - Irapuato14 - Tigres 17 - Necaxa13 - San Luis 14 - Atlante12 - Cruz Azul 14 - Veracruz

Week 13 results April 3-4: Tigres 2,U.A.G. 1; Morelia 3, América 6;Guadalajara 4, Cruz Azul 3; Necaxa 0,U.N.A.M. 1; Toluca 2, Veracruz 3; Puebla6, Irapuato 0; Pachuca 1, Atlas 1; Atlante 2,Santos 1; Querétaro 4, Monterrey 4;Chiapas 4, San Luis 2.

Week 14 schedule April 10-11: Veracruzvs. Guadalajara; Monterrey vs. Tigres;Cruz Azul vs. Necaxa; San Luis vs.Pachuca; Atlas vs. Morelia; U.N.A.M. vs.Puebla; Irapuato vs. Atlante; Santos vs.Chiapas; U.A.G. vs. Toluca; América vs.Querétaro.

Pumas-Tigres PreviewFútbol Mexicano

Marioni

IñiguezAugusto

Fonseca

Verón

López

Beltrán

Bernal

Galindo

Pineda

Castro

Defense Offense

Pumas

Pumas vs. TigresHead-to-Head

Season Results WeekInvierno 97 Pumas 4 - 2 Tigres 9Verano 98 Pumas 2 - 0 Tigres 9Invierno 98 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 16Verano 99 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 16Invierno 99 Tigres 3 - 1 Pumas 13Verano 2000 Tigres 2 - 0 Pumas 13Invierno 2000 Pumas 3 - 1 Tigres 15Verano 2001 Tigres 2 - 0 Pumas 15Invierno 2001 Pumas 1 - 0 Tigres 10Verano 2002 Tigres 1 - 0 Pumas 10Apertura 2002 Pumas 3 - 2 Tigres 12Clausura 2003 Pumas 2 - 2 Tigres 12Apertura 2003 Pumas 1 - 1 Tigres 10Clausura 2004 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 10

Pumas Clausura 2004

Schedule / Results

Date Pumas Score W-T-LJan. 18 at América T 1-1 0-1-0Jan. 25 Atlas W 3-0 1-1-0Jan. 31 at San Luis T 0-0 1-2-0Feb. 2 Santos W 3-2 2-2-0Feb. 14 at Atlante W 4-2 3-2-0Feb. 22 Chiapas L 0-1 3-2-1Feb. 25 at Pachuca W 3-0 4-2-1Feb. 29 Morelia W 2-1 5-2-1March 7 at Querétaro T 3-3 5-3-1March 14 Tigres W 2-1 6-3-1March 21 at Toluca T 2-2 6-4-1March 28 Guadalajara W 3-0 7-4-1April 3 at Necaxa W 1-0 8-4-1April 11 Puebla NoonApril 18 Irapuato NoonApril 24 at Cruz Azul 5 p.m.May 2 Veracruz NoonMay 9 at U.A.G. 4 p.m.May 16 Monterrey Noon

Tigres Clausura 2004

Schedule / Results

Date Tigres Score W-T-LJan. 17 at Chiapas L 2-4 0-0-1Jan. 24 Pachuca T 3-3 0-1-1Jan. 31 at Morelia W 2-1 1-1-1Feb. 7 Querétaro L 1-2 1-1-2Feb. 14 Irapuato W 3-1 2-1-2Feb. 21 at Toluca L 2-3 2-1-3Feb. 25 Guadalajara W 4-2 3-1-3Feb. 28 at Necaxa L 1-2 3-1-4March 6 Puebla L 2-3 3-1-5March 14 at U.N.A.M. L 1-2 3-1-6March 20 Cruz Azul T 1-1 3-2-6March 27 at Veracruz L 0-1 3-2-7April 3 U.A.G. W 2-1 4-2-7April 10 at Monterrey 5 p.m.April 17 América 5 p.m.April 24 at Atlas 8:45 p.m.May 1 San Luis 5 p.m.May 9 at Santos 4 p.m.May 15 Atlante 5 p.m.

Mexican Soccer 101

The Mexican Soccer League iscomprised of 20 clubs and twotournaments, Apertura (opening)and Clausura (closing), are playedper year.

Each club plays 19 games pertournament and face each team inthe league one time per tourna-ment.

The league uses two forms ofstandings: overall and group.

The four group standings decidewho goes to the Liguilla or play-offs. Normally the top two clubs ineach group advance to the Liguillaalthough if a third place club has abetter record than a second placeteam, a wildcard spot can beobtained and the Liguilla wouldinclude a Repechaje or reclassifi-cation round.

The overall standings are used todetermine a league leader and aplayoff order.

The most popular clubs inMéxico are América, Guadalajara,and Cruz Azul, usually in thatorder.

A look back...1977-78 Final

First Leg, May 24, 1978Tigres 2, Pumas 0Estadio UniversitarioMonterrey, Nuevo LeónScoring:Tigres - Mantegazza (17’ and74’)Pumas - None.

Second Leg, May 26, 1978Pumas 1, Tigres 1Estadio OlímpicoMéxico, D.F.Scoring:Tigres - Mantegazza (59’)Pumas - Olivera (75’)

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, the homeof the Pumas, has a capacity of 68,000.

A brief history...Pumas

Founded: 1954Debut in First Division: 1962League titles: 1976-77, 1980-81, and 1990-91Runnerup: 1967-68, 1977-78,1978-79, 1984-85, 1987-88

Tigres...Founded: 1967Debut in First Division: 1974League titles: 1977-78, 1981-82Runnerup: 1979-80, Invierno2001, and Apertura 2003

Estadio Universitario is the home of Tigresand has a capacity of 52,000.

Hugo Sánchez playedwith Pumas for five sea-sons (1976-1981) beforemigrating to Spain wherehe won five scoring titles,four of them with RealMadrid. Sánchez playedone season with theDallas Burn in 1996 andretired in 1997.

Club GP W - T - L GF:GA DIF PTSPumas 15 8 - 3 - 4 25:21 +4 27Tigres 15 4 - 3 - 8 21:25 -4 15

Note: Head-to-head matches only includeshort-tournament season results that start-ed at end of the1995-96 full season. Tigresplayed in the First Division “A” during theInvierno 96-Verano 97 seasons. Hometeams in bold.

Sánchez

Suárez

Ruiz

BriseñoBalderas

Soares

Olalde

Campagnuolo

Rergis

Sancho

Gaitán

Offense Defense

Tigres

Striker Bruno Marioni of Argentina is in his first sea-son with the Pumas. He has 12 goals in 13 games.

AP Photo

Registering for classes at the Universityis a rite of passage, with seniors andjuniors receiving first dibs.

However, a different company ofupperclassmen is reaping the benefits ofpriority registration. High school seniorsand juniors concurrently enrolled at UTPAare allowed to register before thetraditional population.

Preference is given to the studentsbecause of their conflicting high schoolschedules and because commonregistration avenues, such as telephoneand online methods, are not available tothem.

The concurrent enrollment program,which started in the mid-1990s, gives highschool seniors and juniors the opportunityto enroll in university courses, earningcollege credit while still in high school.

“It’s really cool because when I startschool in the fall, I’ll be a sophomore,”said Samantha Jarvis, a senior at EdinburgHigh School. “I get to see what college islike without having lots of pressure,” saidthe future Latin American studies major.

To gain admission to the program, a

student must have an ACT compositescore of 22 or be in the top 10 percent ofthe class. Recommendations must also besubmitted from high school counselorsand principals.

Jarvis, one of over 300 concurrentlyenrolled high school students thissemester, is taking her third class at theuniversity.

“We are very pleased with theconcurrent enrollment program,” said Dr.John Edwards, vice president forEnrollment and Student Services.

“The concurrent enrollment programkids can certainly take the seats of currentstudents, but we monitor that verycarefully,” Edwards said. “As we noticethat classes are filling up, we add moresections.”

And despite increasing enrollment, theprogram’s recruiting ability benefits theuniversity, Edwards said.

“What makes this so important is thatwe’re planning on raising our admissionstandards in the next five years,” Edwardssaid. “This program recruits the better-prepared students.”

Also, the retention rate for concurrentlyenrolled students is higher than it is forentering freshman, Edwards added.

High School to University Services isthe department that oversees theregistration process for the program. “Wewant students to succeed,” said itsdirector, Susan P. Miller.

Because many of the students are first-generation college attendees, Miller said,advising them on which classes to take iscrucial.

“We don’t want to place them in thewrong classes and have them not want togo back to college,” Miller said.

“Some of these kids are really ready fortaking college classes,” said NormaCeballos, a counselor at Edinburg HighSchool. Counselors, along with theprogram coordinators at High School toUniversity Services, are also involved inthe advising process. High school studentsusually register for introductory classes,Ceballos said.

“We’ve all heard about how thefreshman year weeds out students – ‘thesurvival of the fittest,’” Ceballos said.“With the concurrent enrollment program,students become a lot happier and a lotmore motivated.”

April 1 was the priority deadline forstudents to enroll in the program for the

April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN

Concurrent enrollment high, lowsBy CLAUDIA L. FARIASThe Pan American

NEWS■ Student Awards . . . . . . . . . 4■ Diabetes . . . . . . . . . . . . 5■ Maquiladoras . . . . . . . . . . . 6

See CONCURRENT page 12

New generation liberal to gay unions

While Britney Spears got away withmarrying in what some media watcherscalled a ‘drunken stupor,’ celebritieslike Rosie O’Donnell, Meg Ryan, EllenDeGeneres, Elton John, and MelissaEtheridge have been fightingthe battle in support ofmarriage of all kinds – gay,straight, and perhaps evendrunk.

As the debate on whethersame-sex marriages shouldbe allowed in each stateacross the U.S., a recentstudy by the AnnenbergPublic Policy Center of theUniversity of Pennsylvaniashows that young adultsfrom the ages of 18 to 29 areOK with same-sex marriage.

The study, which surveyedalmost 2,000 individualsfrom around the country inFeb. of this year, touchedissues such as the U.S.Constitution saying that nostate can allow people of thesame-sex to marry eachother.

In the 18- to 29-year-oldbracket, 58 percent of theinterviewees said theyopposed such an idea. Withinthe 45- to 64-year-oldbracket, 45 percent opposed theamendment. While in total, 48 percentof the interviewees around the countrythought such an amendment should notbe around.

But why is this the case? What makesthe younger generation OK with same-

sex marriages while it makes theirparents and grandparents cringe?

It appears to be about timing. While the youth of today have grown

up with men kissing men and womenkissing women, the idea of themmarrying one another doesn’t seem far-fetched for them. In an age where maleimpersonators dress like Madonna for

extra cash during the weekends, whywould that same man marrying a man heloves be awkward?

A UTPA student English major said itisn’t about trends.

“I think this generation is more opento different ideas,” the 20-year-old said.

“We can accept things that aren’ttraditional.”

The Elsa native said that thisgeneration, his generation, could growto understand and accept something thatisn’t “normal” because his generationhas grown up with all sorts of strangethings that the older generation mayhave never fathomed.

“Don’t peg this ideainto any other trendeither,” he said. “It’snot a trend, no one isjust going along with itbecause it’s cool. Theygo along with itbecause they believeit.”

As an openly gayman, he wished to beanonymous whenmentioning his ownthoughts on gaymarriage.

“I think it’s wrong tosay someone can’tmarry someone else,”he said.

Any future plans formarriage?

“No,” he said. “Idon’t think I will evermarry, we could livetogether, but I’ll nevercall him my husband.”

He said that perhapsa reason manyopposers of same-sex

marriages feel the way they do hassomething to do with the seriousnesssurrounding the issue.

“People might think that a gay couplewon’t take it serious, plus they think it’snot right,” he said.

By EDWINA P. GARZAThe Pan American

See MARRIAGE page 11

Thoughts on the U.S.Constitution ban on same-sexmarriage:

Total: 41% (Favor) 48% (Oppose)

Women 39% (Favor) 50% (Oppose)

Men 44% (Favor) 46% (Oppose)

Subjects were asked if theywould favor or oppose a lawin their state that would allowgay and lesbian couples tomarry:




Source: Annenberg Public PolicyCenter of the University ofPennsylvania, 2004.

Same-Sex MarriageResults from polling data taken between Feb. 14 and 23. A total of1,943 people around the country were polled.

Editorial banBy CLARISSA MARTINEZThe Pan American

The life of a college student varies depending onwhich college they are attending. Some campuses areknown for being 'party' schools while others such asBaylor University, have a reputation for beingconservative private schools. The priorities of theschools are reflected on the students, and in Baylor'scase, students seem to be resisting the values theiruniversities have build their foundation on.

Baylor's university student newspaper, The BaylorLariat, ran an editorial criticizing the administrationfor denying an openly gay student a ministerialscholarship. Soon after, the editorial staff voted 5-2 torun another editorial supporting same-sex marriages.The can of worms was opened, and the universityofficials began retaliation against the paper.

When Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. releaseda statement denouncing the paper's editorial anddeclaring it to be in conflict with both Scripture anduniversity policy. The response he received from theuniversity and the public has been both positive andnegative.

Some individuals felt it was a proper decision forthe university to step up and put it's foot down ontheir moral standards, while others said the conflictdoes not benefit anyone.

Cristina Chavez, a junior at Baylor University, saidshe first heard about the controversy from a localnews report.

"It was reported that our student government votedto ban the university newspaper. The Baylor Lariat,from publishing material that [goes] against theChristian views that Baylor University was first builton, including same-sex unions," Chavez explained."Not long afterwards, Baylor Truitt Seminaryannounced that one of its student's scholarships wasrevoked based on his sexual orientation."

Chavez, a 21-year-old geology major said that thedemonstration and editorial received about the sameattention and has been associated together due to thesubject of homosexuality. She first heard about thedemonstration and how it was started because of thescholarship that was being withheld from a student.

With the controversy being stirred up by theeditorial, several students also began giving attentionto the student who lost his scholarship. Matt Bass, 24,was a student at Baylor's George W. TruettTheological Seminary and claimed to have beenapproached by Truett officials, and would not answerto questions about his lifestyle, but did admit tosupport gay rights and marriage.

Soon after, he was notified that he would lose hisscholarship, a scholarship that he depended on toattend school.

Recently, Bass and other students helped in ademonstration on the Baylor campus to support thebelief that all students should have the same rightsand opportunities, whether they are gay or not.

According to the Associate Press, Bass made thestatement "I believe I am gay and that God made methat way," while at the rally.

"I believe this is a civil rights movement. We're notlooking for any special class or treatment but equalprotection under the law," Bass continued.

"I feel that any attempt to suppress freedom of thepress or speech, even if the university is private, iswrong," Chavez said. "Also, the [same-sex] unionsshould go on and a ban on anything based on sexualorientation or any other physical or emotionalattribute is discrimination."

Although Chavez doesn't agree with the measuresthe university is taking to stifle students' personalbeliefs she expects the change on her campus to be alengthy process.


After finishing second in theHal Sutton Invitational in 2001as a freshman, Rudy Celedon,member of the University ofTexas-Pan American men’s golfteam, wanted to make a biggeri m p r e s s i o nwhen theBroncs wereinvited to playagain this year.

The seniork i n e s i o l o g ymajor fell noth-ing short of thatTuesday finish-ing first overallwith a 36-holescore of 208,while theBroncs finishedthird with atotal score of896, moving upfrom sixth place on the final dayof play.

“I’m pleasantly surprisedabout our play,” said UTPAMen’s Head Golf Coach DrewScott, in a recent interview. “I’mnot stunned because I knew we

were capable of playing to thislevel. Rudy deserved to win thetournament; he has just been on aroll over the last few months.”

Along with finishing on top,Celedon’s final round total of 66put him only one stroke behindLuis Arechiga, who shot a UTPA

men’s bestround score of65 in 1997.Also, his 208total tourna-ment scoremade Celedononly the sixthBronc in his-tory to shootunder 210 fora three-roundtournament.

“This winhelps give methe positiveattitude that Ineed to go

into my last twotournaments,” Celedon said. “Ihave been having a good semes-ter and this time everything justfell into place; I wanted to goback and make a good impres-sion after finishing second at thistournament my freshman year.”

By AMY MEDELLÍNThe Pan American

Celedon winsat Hal Sutton

Fútbol continued from page 16

UTPA is the humidity in and around theHouston-Beaumont region.

Despite the different weather conditionsthat Texas-Pan America will endure duringtheir four-match road trip, junior ArmandoMartínez believes the weather will not affectthe team.

“We do not worry about becoming fatiguedunder any conditions and expect to competefull strength into the weekend.” Martínez said.“Against our toughest opponents, we have hadthe opportunities, but as always, those littlemiscues lose us the match.”

Sunday’s loss to UT-Arlington marked thelast match for senior Tom Mangelschots. Hefinished among the top 15 in UTPA history forwins in singles as well as overall.

Women’s tennisThe women’s team will dive into a

physically demanding schedule this weekwhen they start a four-day, five-match swingagainst Texas Southern (0-1 overall), PrarieView A&M (0-5), Lamar (3-11), Texas State(7-7), and McNeese State (11-4).

The Lady Broncs are led in singles byVanessa Hedinger (8-8), Ana Peña (5-6) andAlanna Breen (5-5), while their doubles countwith the services of González-Peña (2-1) andFife-Sloan (2-4).

Although the women have lost four in arow, they are optimistic about the remainderof the season.

“Our women had the day off today[Tuesday],” Gyulai said. “To concentrate onacademics and allow their bodies to rest afterpracticing so hard.

Gyulai noted that the team is transgressingin the right direction so far throughout theseason despite the departure of Head CoachEduardo Provencio for undisclosed reasons.

Tennis continued from page 16

Rudy Celedon

first in the offensivecategory with 27.

The two clubs last facedeach other in Week 10 ofthe current Clausura 2004season. Pumas came awaywith a 2-1 victory onMarch 14 on a pair ofgoals by former Américastriker MoctezumaSerrato. Forward JesúsOlalde, a former Puma,scored Tigres’ lone goal.

Tigres appears to be thelocal favorite due toMcAllen’s proximity toMonterrey, although thefact that Sánchez is thePumas’ coach can makefor an interesting debatein the stands.

“There is a strong fanbase, especially here inthe border,” Rodríguezsaid. “Tigres have a strongfollowing and the intrigueof the Pumas is the coach,Hugo Sánchez.”

Aside from a placingthe international spotlighton the Valley, especiallyMcAllen, the soccermatch exposes the area tothe world’s game as it isplayed and lived – withpassion. It also couldprovide the kind ofsupport Valley soccerneeds in an area where

football reigns supreme.“It brings another

professional sport [to theValley],” Rodríguez said.“I know its exhibition, butit exposes theopportunities that may beout there for this sportalong the border andopens up the door tofuture soccer events.”

The man behindbringing fútbol mexicanoto the Valley is formerTigre and Mexicannational soccer teammember Francisco Javier“El Abuelo” Cruz, thepromoter of the Pumas-Tigres match.

“He did an event inLaredo,” Rodríguez said.“It was a success inLaredo and it’s a muchsmaller stadium, half thesize of here. He’s fromMonterrey and thoughtthat Mcallen could beanother venue to belooked at to bring anevent.”

Cruz is already“considering” anothersoccer exhibition matchfor July, but this timebetween Mexico Citypowerhouses and long-time rivals Cruz Azul andAmérica.

- S p o r t s W r i t e r s- C o p y E d i t o r s- G r a p h i c D e s i g n e r s

POSITIONS AVAILABLE

For more informationcall 381-2547 or e-mail

[email protected]

April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN

Students recognized for achievements

Activist for Valley citizens maintains loyalty

The air thickens, a warm, humid blanket veiling the lateafternoon sun. Beads of sweat swell up in his forehead; hestops his farm work, reaching to wipe his sweat. Heremembers his morning Bible meditation. He rememberspatience. He remembers endurance.

Fast forward. He looms over a casket, speakingwords of comfort and peace. There lies a perfectlyfolded American flag over the casket. People aroundhim, mothers and fathers, cry incessantly. He mustbe strong; he wears a white collar.

Fast forward. He sits in front of a large conferencetable, listening as the others passionately discussmethods for school funding. He speaks; his focusrests solely on maintaining well-funded borderschools with good teachers, good facilities, andultimately good students.

Mike Allen, monk, priest, president, lobbyist,founder, chairman, husband, and chief executiveofficer, lived a life of change by holding strongly tohis unchanged ideals throughout life. He knew hissatisfaction and pursued it earnestly.

Allen was born in Pennsylvania and grew up inTexas. He spent his high school years at a catholichigh school, St. Anthony’s. Shortly after graduation,Allen decided to follow his innate selflessness andentered a monastery. He was 19.

"I was young, very idealistic," Allen said. "I wantedto help out and make a difference."

He spent his first year at St. Peters Monastery onthe border in Los Limas, Texas. Mornings werereserved for solitary meditation, afternoons for farm work.One year and a day later, Allen left the monastery to becomea priest and interact with people. He worked for Sacred HeartChurch in McAllen, helping the impoverished borderresidents. There, Allen first noticed the lack of job forAmerican and Mexican border residents and the dismalresults.

A couple of years later, Allen transferred to the Universityof Texas-Pan American chapel working with Methodists,

Catholics, Disciples of Christ, and other religions. As apriest, Allen enjoyed a peaceful and satisfying life. However,America was not.

During his time serving at Pan Am, the Vietnam War ragedoverseas and confused political belief and faith in people.Dead bodies were shipped off planes in hundreds; Pan Amalso felt the blow.

"It was very difficult,” Allen said. “I buried five or six

kids. We also visited the homes of the families. When theysaw a priest and a military officer coming, they knew. Theyknew what happened."

Then, after over a decade in the priesthood, Allen made alife-altering decision. He left.

"That was my hardest decision," said Allen. "It was hard toleave but I changed my mind."

Allen moved to Austin, and lived there for 13 yearsworking in a government job. However, the ideals he had as

a young man still thrived inside him. Helping people wasembedded in him and he longed for that satisfaction. Allenremembered his years as a priest and the downcast jobsituation that existed.

In 1987 he founded the McAllen Economic DevelopmentCorporation (MEDC), an organization that recruits andexpands industries increasing jobs in the McAllen/Reynosaarea.

"The issue of helping people have jobs was alwaysimportant to me," Allen said. "Now I know how to doit."

Allen does it well. In the past 15 years, MEDCrecruited over 429 companies and 90,000 jobs to theborder region. He also founded and serves aschairman of the Texas Border InfrastructureCoalition, which secured $1.1 billion for borderhighway funds and brought additional job training tothe region.

Allen coordinated developing support for the I-69Highway, served as a uniting force to bring newlegislation that would result in swifter movement oftrade commerce and originated the construction of theRegional Academic Health Center. He currentlyserves on the Rio Grande Valley Council ofGovernments, Governor Task Force on Managementand Relations, and the Border Trade Alliance. Herecently was elected to the STCC board of trusteesand will take office in May.

"I’m going to listen and learn there," Allen said."STCC and Pan Am are indispensable for economicdevelopment. They are the two most fundamentalinstitutions in the Valley."

However, Allen realizes his awards, credentials, andachievements spring from that omnipresent desire to helpothers. Love for people motivated him, a feeling strongerthan the struggles, stronger than money, stronger than time.

"We have affected the live of 60,000 people," Allen said."That brings a satisfaction that is worth more than money."

He paused, thinking of his life as a priest, a husband, andpresident of MDEC.

"You have to be true to your ideals and have a sense ofintegrity," Allen said. "Don’t compromise your values."

By CECILIA CASTANEDAThe Pan American

The 25th annual awards and recognitionconvention was held Sunday, April 4, to recognizeoutstanding achievement among students at UTPA.

Some of the awards received were "Who's WhoAmong Students in American Universities andColleges," Academic Dean's Outstanding Students,""Dean of Students Outstanding Student Leaders,"and "Student Government Association President andVice President Recognition Awards."

Speakers and presenters included Dean of StudentsDr. Jerry M. Price, Provost Dr. Rodolfo Arévalo,College of Arts and Humanities Dean Dr. RodolfoRocha, Dr. John Emery, Dean of the College ofBusiness Administration, Dr. Hilda Medrano, Deanof the College of Education, Dr. William McIntyre,Dean of the College of Health Sciences and HumanServices, Dr. Miguel Eastman, Dean of the Collegeof Science and Engineering, Dr. George P. Avellano,Interim Dean of the College of Social andBehavioral Sciences and Dr. Miguel Nevarez,University President.

Exceptional campus leadership, scholastic andcommunity achievements as well as GPA were takeninto consideration and revised by the members of theUniversity Awards and Recognitions Committee inthe selection of the recipients. To be eligible,juniors and seniors at this University must have acumulative 3.0 GPA or higher, while graduatestudents must encompass a GPA of 3.5 or higher.These prestigious awards are granted to those whoexemplify excellence.

By VANESSA R. CASTILLOThe Pan American

Ceci Castaneda/The Pan American

MULTI-TASK— Mike Allen founder of the McAllen Economic DevelopmentCorp., has had various job descriptions in the name of his beliefs on helpingthose in need.

Tanzeer Amed

Jacqueline Bruce

Raul Cabrera

Norma N. De Leon

Kayla D. Dreyer

Marco Antonio Esquivel

Edward Gamboa

Blanca Garza

Ramon Garza III

Maria de Lourdes Garza

Wilfredo Garza

Maylin F. Gerardo

Sharon H. Gerardo

Joachim Grass

Judith Hernandez

Erika Jaramillo

Tatyana G. Korotkova

Egan

Sharifa Llemit

Myra J. Lopez

Maha B. Maglinao

Trisha Marc

Elvia Martinez

Javier Martinez

Melisandra Mendoza

Leslie Moya

Michael A. Mungia

Norma L. Olivarez

Shirin M. Oveyssi

Rene Palomar

Edith Pena

Vanessa L. Perez

Gloria E. Pora

Ana Christina Ramirez

Melissa Ramirez

Leticia Reyes

Christabel Rivera

Ricardo Angel Rivera

Christina Rodriguez

Nancy Trevino

Arianna Vazquez

Carmela Zamora

Maria del Sagrario Zuviri

Marialicia Andrade Luis Alfonso LopezAmanda R. AguilarRaul CabreraSunaiana Chugani

Hiram J. CoronaJaime DuranIrma Doris MendiolaKathy De La PenaLeticia Castillo

Cynthia RiosVanessa SanchezRamon CortezNisha VargheseAna Isabel Leos

Josefa MataBlanca Elvia Ruiz

Francisco “Paco” Vielma(SGA President)Oscar Garza (SGA Vice President)

Raul CabreraMaria de Lourdes GarzaSheryl Milford

WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

ACADEMIC DEAN’S OUTSTANDING STUDENTS AWARD

DEAN OF STUDENTSLEADERSHIP

STUDENT LEADERSHIPAWARDS

Clemens, Astros shut down Giants

Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros shut down BarryBonds and the San Francisco Giants 10-1 before a sell-outcrowd of 42,863.

Clemens’ pitches rocketed past Bonds and the Giants’other hitters by allowing them one hitin seven innings.

The victory was Clemens’ 311thcareer win in 21 seasons.

Last season, Clemens had called itquits and retired - for 78 days.

Clemens struck out Bonds twice fora total of nine strikeouts.

The Clemens-Bonds matchup wasthe first time in history that a pitcherwith 300 wins faced a batter with 600home runs.

Jeff Bagwell hit his 420th home runand drove in three runs, while JeffKent connected for a three-run blastand Richard Hidalgo also homered.

Clemens limited the Giants to fourhits.

Dorados’ Thomas awarded

Rio Grande Valley Dorados line-man Karleton Thomas was namedthe ADT Defensive Player of theWeek after the Dorados defeatedthe Laredo Law 37-6 in their homeopener at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo.

Thomas had five tackles andthree sacks.

The Dorados will travel toOklahoma City Saturday to face the

Yard Dawgz, who also won their opener.

Browns CEO Policy to step down

Cleveland Browns CEO Carmen Policy announcedWednesday that he will step down and let someone elserun the organization.

Policy will let go of the reins on May 1, but will stay on asa consultant for the 2004 season.

The 61-year-old will be replaced by John Collins, theNFL’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. Collinsreceived a five-year contract from the Browns.

Avalanche take 1-0 lead over Stars

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 inthe first game of their Western quarterfinal best-of-sevenseries.

The series will continue Friday at Colorado. Face off is at8:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2 and TSN.

March 8, 2004 Sports Page 13

SSPPOORRTTSSCCLLIIPPBBOOAARRDD

Date Opponent Time/Results

Jan. 19 Trinity W 4-3

Jan. 19 Texas A&M L 1-6

Feb. 6 Eastern Kentucky W 6-1

Feb. 7 Dayton W 5-2

Feb. 7 Xavier W 6-1

Feb. 14 Saint Louis W 4-3

Feb. 21 TAMUCC L 2-5

Feb. 26 Laredo College (Exh.)L 3-4

March 11 Abilene Christian L 3-4

March 13 Texas Southern W 4-1

March 26 UTSA L 2-5

April 4 Texas-Arlington L 0-7

April 7 Texas Southern TBA

April 8 Prairie View A&M TBA

April 8 Lamar 3

April 9 Southeastern Louisiana Noon

April 16 TAMUCC 1

April 30 SLC Championships

May 1 SLC Championships



Feb. 6 UTEP L 0-7

Feb. 13 Sam Houston State L 3-4

Feb. 15 Stephen F. Austin L 1-6

Feb. 26 Laredo College W 7-0


March 13 Texas Southern L 3-4

March 27 Air Force 8:30 a.m.

April 3 TAMUCC 2

April 7 Texas Southern 2

April 8 Lamar TBA


April 9 McNeese State 9 a.m.

April 10 Texas State-San Marcos TBA

April 16 IPFW TBA

April 16 N. Colorado TBA

April 17 TAMUCC 2




Date Tournament Result

Feb. 9-10 Rice Intercollegiate 14 of 14

March Bearkat Invitational 14 of 16

14-15

March Lindsay Collegiate 15 of 15

29-30 Classic

April 5-6 Hal Sutton 3 of 10

Intercollegiate

April 23-24Andrea Brotto Cavalier

Classic

May 7-9 National Minority

Golf Championships


Feb. Bronc Intercollegiate 4 of 8

23-24

March St. Croix Collegiate 9 of 14

12-14 Classic

March Baylor/Tapatío Springs 18th

19-21 Shootout

March Arkansas-Little Rock 4 of 15

29-30 Invitational


Golf Championships

Date Opponent ScoreNov. 1 Green and White GREEN, 2-1

Jan. 31 Texas State-San Marcos L 7-8Feb. 1 Texas State-San Marcos L 2-6

Feb. 3 Texas Kingsville W 6-3, 3-2Feb. 6 Lamar vs. Kansas 3-2Feb. 6 Sam Houston State L 2-7Feb. 7 Kansas W 8-6Feb. 7 Lamar vs. Sam Houston 7-4Feb. 8 Sam Houston vs. Kansas 8-8

Feb. 8 Lamar W 2-1Feb. 15 Lamar (DH) L 1-16, W 8-6Feb. 16 Lamar L 4-6Feb. 18 Texas A&M-Kingsville W 15-5Feb. 20 Sam Houston State L 6-10Feb. 21 Sam Houston State L 5-10Feb. 22 Sam Houston State L 4-6Feb. 27 Washington State W 3-2Feb. 28 Washington State L 3-15Feb. 29 Washington State L 6-15March 6 Arkansas W 4-1March 7 Arkansas W 11-4March 9 TAMUCC W 2-0March 9 TAMUCC W 10-5March 12 Texas-San Antonio W 6-4March 13 Texas-San Antonio L 1-3March 14 Texas-San Antonio ppd.March 16 Texas-Arlington W 7-5March 17 Texas-Arlington L 5-13March 19 Oral Roberts L 0-1March 20 Oral Roberts L 10-12March 21 Oral Roberts W 4-1March 23 Texas-San Antonio L 11-12March 24 Texas-San Antonio L 6-21March 26 Dallas Baptist L 7-11March 26 Dallas Baptist L 6-10March 27 Dallas Baptist L 6-8March 30 Texas L 1-10April 6 Texas State-San Marcos L 5-6April 7 Texas State-San Marcos 1April 9 TAMUCC (DH) 1April 13 Texas-San Antonio 7April 14 Texas-San Antonio 2April 16 Arizona 9April 17 Arizona 9April 18 Arizona 3April 23 Dallas Baptist (DH) 4April 24 Dallas Baptist 1May 7 Southeastern Louisiana 7May 8 Southeastern Louisiana 7May 9 Southeastern Louisiana 1May 11 Arkansas 7:05May 12 Arkansas 7:05May 14 Oklahoma 7:05May 15 Oklahoma 7:05May 16 Oklahoma 1

Date Opponent Score

March 6 Border Olympics None

March 13 Angela Proctor Invit. None

March 19-20 Whataburger/UTSA None

Relays

March 27 Bayou Classic 5 of 8

April 1-3 Texas Relays None

April 10 Texas A&M

Invitational

April 18-19 Southwestern Bell

Classic

April 24 Rice Twilight

May 1 Tom Tellez Invitational

May 15 Texas A&M All-Comers

Meet

May 27-29 NCAA Regional

Championships

June 9-12 NCAA Outdoor

Championships

Local / RegionalCoverage

Date Dorados vs. Time/Results

April 3 Laredo W 37-6

April 10 at Oklahoma City 7:30

April 24 Oklahoma City 7:30

May 1 at Laredo 7:30

May 8 Wichita 7:30

May 15 at C. Valley 9:30

May 22 Laredo 7:30

May 28 at Tulsa 7:30

June 12 Tulsa 7:30

June 18 at Boss-Shreve. 7:30

June 26 at Birmingham 6:30

July 3 Wichita 7:30

July 10 Oklahoma City 7:30

July 17 at Tulsa 7:30

July 24 Arkansas 7:30

July 31 at Wichita 7

Friday, April 9

Anaheim at Texas, 1:05

Houston at Milwaukee, 3:05

Saturday, April 10



Sunday, April 11



Monday, April 12


Houston at St. Louis, 7:10

Tuesday, April 13

Oakland at Texas, 7:05


Thursday, April 8

Utah at Dallas, 7:30

Friday, April 9

Portland at San Antonio, 7

Denver at Houston, 7:30

Saturday, April 10

Dallas at Seattle, 2:30

Houston at Utah, 8

Sunday, April 11

Dallas at Golden State, 8

San Antonio at L.A. Clippers, 8:30

Monday, April 12

San Antonio at Portland, 9

Houston at Seattle, 9

Tuesday, April 13

Memphis at Dallas, 7:30

Wednesday, April 14

Denver at San Antonio, 7:30

Dallas at Houston, 8:30

UTPA HOME GAMES IN BOLDAll games p.m. unless noted.

NBA

Men’s Track & FieldIndoor Season

FOR THE RECORD

Broncs Baseball

af2: RGV Dorados

MLB

Men’s Tennis

Women’s Tennis

Men’s Golf

Women’s Golf

AP Photo

Roger Clemens struck outnine in his debut with theHouston Astros.

Despite the knowledge that al-Qaeda terrorists wereresponsible for the attack on the World Trade Center in2001, years before, another attack had occurred, butonly that time students were responsible. Since then,along with the Sept. 11 attacks, the US governmenthasn’t taken any second chances this time around.

Under the Department of Homeland and Security, orDHS, the Student and Exchange Visitor InformationSystem SEVIS, was initiated to collect, maintain, andmanage information regarding international foreignstudents and exchange visitors while staying inside theUnited States, according to DHS.

The whole idea behind SEVIS is to trackinternational students and prevent possible terrorism inthe country from foreign students with visas.According to DHS, all international students will berequired to register through SEVIS to receive theirvisa. This is only for first-time visa applicants, not forrenewals. Information required for applicants includebiographical data, address, area of study, and thestudent’s social security number. There are currentlyover 1 million foreign students and exchange visitorsalready on SEVIS records, as stated in SEVIS doctine.

From the World Trade Center bombing incident in1993, it was found that one of the convicted men, EyadIsmoil, was actually an international student fromJordan who at one time attended a university in Kansas.Ismoil had a student visa. Then, after dropping outthree semesters later, he became a member of a groupof Islamic terrorists, and bombed the WTC, accordingto DHS doctrine.

Congress reacted, and started requiring acomputerized foreign student tracking system to beestablished by January 1, 2003. That system is nowknown as SEVIS. All student fees will go towardsactual SEVIS funding and maintenance.

“It’s just an additional $100 after they [first] ordertheir visas, and after that they won’t have to pay this[anymore],” said Phillip Clay, UTPA AssociateDirector for International Student Advisement.

Clay further explained that the $100 for SEVIS is afee that the governmentwill soon implement topay for additionalSEVIS services at U.S.Consulates. However,this does not addressthe individual fee astudent will be chargedby a university.

When internationalstudents at theUniversity ofMassachusetts foundout the university wasrequiring them to paymore money to study inthe U.S., they were notamused. In fact, theyare currently protestingthe student fee towardthe university and arenow risking bothdismissal from theuniversity, and theirstudent visa.

An article in TheBoston GlobeNewspaper reportedthat the $65-per-semester would providebills that would help make up for cuts in theuniversity’s International Programs Office Budget.

Critics of the fee say that students should not beasked to pay for their own surveillance and that

international students should not be asked to “shoulderthe burden of paying for international programs bythemselves.”

SEVIS has raised much controversy since itsimplementation, being described as some as both unfair

and insulting to foreign students.SEVIS is not a university-drivenorganization, but rather onecreated and instituted by thegovernment. The university hadno say on whether or not toaccept SEVIS.

On the other hand, Clay isn’tbothered by it.

“I have no problems with itbecause [international students]want to come to the US to study.Because of 9-11 [thegovernment] had to hireadditional people to dobackground checks,” Clay said.

Due to an increase inrecruitment efforts and thequality of the university, UTPAhas seen an increase ininternational students. There are602 international studentscurrently attending UTPA thisspring semester, primarily fromMexico (439), India (38), thePhilippines (11), and Canada(11). This is an increase of 23people compared to fall 2003’stotal of 579. Clay predicts thatby spring 2004, there will be at

least 700.Francisco Garcia, president of the International

Students Association, says international students can

April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 12

Clarissa Martinez/The Pan American

being replaced, it costs the university moreto replace these individuals becausestudents still need to be educatedexplained Arevalo.

The university is continuing theinitiative by signing up UTPA to be part ofthe Texas Round-Up.

“Right now I think there is a number ofadministrative people that are going toparticipate especially people from ourboard of health office,” said Arevalo. “Ithink it continues to indicate that thecampus including the administration isinterested in promoting wellness which isbasically the purpose of the round-up andso as much as we can do to heighten theinterest of this activity is helpful to us.”

The Texas Round-Up is open to anyfaculty and staff member that would liketo go on a volunteer basis. Because oflimited funds, the university is unable topay for everyone interested, however, it isopen for any faculty or staff member thathas time to participate.

“Well, at this point, we do not have theresources to send that many people,”Arevalo said. “If certain people want tovolunteer to participate that would beallowed. “

The Provost, however, is not the onlyone taking an initiative on campus forwellness and fitness. The Office of StudentDevelopment is holding a weeklong eventthat is promoting fitness and wellness forstudents as well-known as The BroncRound-Up-Saddle-Up for Wellness.

“This is actually the third year that wecoordinate health awareness programs thatare being offered on this campus,” saidAssistant Dean of Students, DavidMariscal. “I noticed that in the springsemester we were doing all these things atdifferent times so last year we had a full-blown week of wellness week and we callit Wellness Week.”

Mariscal also said that when they werepresented with the new graphic theystarted to brainstorm on what to call thewellness week and at that time theyfigured that the state is doing this is the

governor’s initiative Texas-round up, sothe idea of Bronc Round-Up came about.

However, the weeklong event is not theonly time when fitness and wellness arebeing promoted. There are other eventsthat are held on campus throughout theentire semester to offer students, faculty,and staff an opportunity to be part of thisfitness and wellness initiative.

“One of the other things we alsoencourage is to do events thought thesemester instead [of] just in that oneweek,” said Mariscal. “For example, wedid the dance fitness all semester onThursday afternoons, we did the FunWalks Monday afternoons, recreationalsoftball for faculty and staff on Mondayand Wednesday afternoons, and we havedone several brown bag lunches that haveto do with nutrition and fitness.”

The university is interested in promotingfitness and wellness in many ways otherthan just holding these initiatives. TheOffice of Student Development is trying toget a new recreational facility built for theyear 2007 to help promote this attitude oncampus.

“Certainly the primary reason we wantto do this is for students to have theopportunity to learn skills and habits thatare going to help them lead a healthierlife,” said Dean of Students, Jerry Price.“Traditionally for college students theymay or may not have been exposed to thetype of diet and exercise information thatthey need to make good decisions andhaving this on campus is giving them thisopportunity.”

The hope for building this kind offacility is to allow the older students, whomay have jobs or children to attend to, theopportunity to have somewhere they cango and exercise.

“It’s our hope that having this availablein the evenings and on the weekends thatthe full-time student that maybe worksuntil five and goes to school at seven theycan come here and exercise in betweenwhich are options that they do not haveright now,” Price said.

ROUNDUP continued from page 1

By JULIAN CAVAZOSThe Pan American

International students face upcoming fee

Most people don’t believe in fate. They areeducated, realistic, and grounded. However, mostpeople aren’t Hispanic, aren’t overweight, and don’thave a history of disease. This selectgroup, so common to the Rio GrandeValley, clearly sees the looming, dauntingfate: diabetes.

“It’s almost inevitable,” said one Valleypractitioner, Dr. Javier Murillo of Mission.

For thousands of Valley residents theirfuture is inevitable, as they stand a goodchance of contracting Type 2 diabetes,genetically common to Hispanics,especially those who are overweight.Some studies indicate that 20 percent ofValley residents will some day bediabetics.

Victims of Type 2 diabetes learn tocontend with high glucose levels, or sugar,in their blood. According to the NationalInstitute of Diabetes, this leads to othercomplications such as increased risk for heart failureand heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness, nervedamage, and tooth loss.

However, Dr. Ralph DeFronzo, a researcher at theTexas Diabetes Institute in San Antonio, is trying toalter the fates. He directs a nationwide study thattests whether the drug pioglitazone (Actos) canprevent the onset of diabetes in high- risk patients.Previous studies suggest drugs such as Actos canguard against diabetes. But most still consider dietand exercise as the best preventative maintenance.

Yet, diet and exercise will not rid the problem ofdiabetes, especially with those who are geneticallysusceptible.

“Weight, diet and exercise will only postponewhen patients have diabetes,” said Murillo. “Butthey’ll still get it.”

Maybe not with pioglitazone. The hope is thatcombined with diet andexercise, pioglitazonecan help.

“With Actos(pioglitazone), you maynever know if theydeveloped Type 2diabetes,” Murillo said.“They’ll be just likenormal people withnormal blood levels.”

T h e o r e t i c a l l y ,pioglitazone, diet, andexercise would be theperfect solution forbattling diabetes. The

war would be won. Yet, the study is not nearcompletion. Worse, there are complications.

According to the Texas Diabetes Institute, thestudy, which will include counseling on diet andexercise, will last at least 39 months. Until then,doctors remain uncertain as to the effectiveness ofActos as a preventative treatment.

"In order to see if it works, they need to test in ona bunch of people," said Dr. Desi Canales, a diabetesspecialist in Mission. “This takes a long time.”

Another complication is liver disease, a possibleside effect of pioglitazone. Serious liver damage isjust as dangerous as diabetes, and can cause death.

Some patients on pioglitazones such as Actos, havereported cases of liver disease, according to the June2001 Food and Drug Administration ConsumerMagazine. As a result of DeFronzo’s study, patientstaking pioglitazones will increase. Doctors predictan increase of reported liver disease.

“As Actos is used more widely, there will be moreside effects,” said Canales. “It may not be safe; it candamage the liver.”

Aside from time delay and liver problems, somepatients will still react reluctantly to diet andexercise, even with the hope of diminished diabetes.Diet and exercise work, but are very difficult tomaintain. To many, the root of the problem for Valleyresidents is bad diet.

“It’s not just that they’re [Valley residents] areMexican,” Murillo said. “There are more diabetes inthe Valley because of the high-carbohydrate diet.The Valley gets more diabetes than Mexico, wherethey eat more fruits and vegetables.”

Therefore, patients at high risk for diabetes needmore than diet, exercise and pioglitazone. They needeffort, help, and counseling to endure, to bepersistent and to ultimately succeed.

“You got to attack the problem from differentaspects; most people need everything fromcounseling, exercise, diet and medications,” Canalessaid. “It’s a multi-factor team approach: the doctor,the nutritionist, the pharmacist.”

Pioglitazone may prove to be a step in preventingdiabetes, but it still possesses flaws. Optimally, itcan change the fate of many overweight ValleyHispanics, giving them hope of a diabetes-freefuture. However, it is not a miracle drug.

“Ideally, they’re right,” Murillo said. “Practically,no.”

By CECI CASTANEDAThe Pan American

Diabetes a long-term dilemma for Valley

See SEVIS page 12

CONCURRENT continued from page 3

summer and fall sessions. “It’s neat because right now we’re in the process of recruiting sophomores who’ll be

juniors after this term,” said Jaime Garza, program coordinator. “The potential is there.”University faculty are getting the message that concurrent enrollment is a benefit to them

as well.“Instructors are beginning to learn that these students are more than capable and are

recruiting them to their particular majors,” Miller said.Dr. Robert J. Affeldt, assistant professor in the English Department, has taught concurrent

enrollment students in his basic composition class in past semesters.“[A high school student] stood out as one of the better students in the class,” Affeldt said.

“She was very motivated. The concurrent enrollment program has been successful,” headded. “I am very optimistic about that experience.”

WAITING— Students wait outside the COAS Bldg. on Wednesday morning. A 30-minute blackout forced students to be evacuated until the electricity was restored.

You got to attack the

problem from different

aspects; most people

need everything from

counseling, exercise, diet

and medications.

““

- Dr. Desi Canales,Diabetes specialists

International Student FeeInformation

☛Under The US Department of HomelandSecurity, the Student and Exchange VisitorInformation System (SEVIS) collects, man-ages, and maintains information on foreignstudents and exchange visitors in the U.S.

☛After the World Trade Center bombing in1993, one of the convicted bombers wasfound to be an international student at a uni-versity in Kansas.

☛The $100 fee will be required by all first-time student visa applicants.

☛SEVIS was created to prevent terroristsfrom entering the U.S. on student visas.

☛SEVIS has been implemented sinceJanuary 1, 2003.

SEVIS continued from page 5

gain much from studying here.“It’s something positive. It’s good that international students come here to the

Valley for their studies and experience different cultures,” Garcia said.Though the US government hasn’t required the fee for UTPA yet, international

students here are currently listed under SEVIS records. Garcia feels being ongovernment records is something inevitable if students wish to pursue an educationin the United States.

“If you decide to study here as a student, changes are constant. I don’t mind [theadditional fee],” Garcia commented. “For students here, being on [SEVIS records]really hasn’t bothered them. It’s just something you have to do if you want to finishyour studies here.”

Today is the last day for early voting inthe Democratic Party Chair runoff. Therunoff presents Hidalgo County citizenswith the opportunity to choose a newrepresentative to lay the flag of theDemocratic Party.

The position of party chair has beenstrongly contended. This year, fivelawmakers filed for the candidacy. The onlyrequirement to run for the position is to be aregistered voter in the county. Now withthree candidates eliminated from the race,democrats can now decide to cast theirvotes to either of the remaining candidates,Juan Maldonado and Buddy de la Rosa. Inthe first election, Maldonado received 38.14percent of the votes while de la Rosa gained27.12 percent.

The party chair is not an official elected by thepublic but rather by party members, i.e. democratvoters. Once a candidate is elected for the position,he will hold the position for a term of two years andwill serve several statutory functions. One of theseis serving as a member of the Election Commissionintegrated by the Republican Party chair, the CountyClerk, the County Judge, and the County Tax

Assessor Collector.The Election Commission holds periodic

meetings that fall within the Open Meetings Act.Since the commission has no funding or enforcingpower, it relies heavily on the making ofrecommendations. Such recommendations can varyfrom administration functionaries to new votingmachines. Based on these, the Commissioners Courtmakes a decision.

Outgoing party chair Bobby Guerra, who served

for two consecutive terms, believes voters have atough decision to make on Election Day, April 13.According to Guerra, the office holder must createunity among party members. In fact, one of thereasons he decided to run for the position was to endthe increasing division within the party at the time.

“The position doesn’t pay a dime,” Guerraexplained “That is why whoever runs for it musthave some strong motivation. When I decided to run,the party chair was endorsing one candidate overanother in the primaries.”

He also said that when a chair takes sides, healienates those people who favor another candidateand this creates a problem during the generalelection when he has to reach for the generaldemocratic support.

For this reason, Guerra has remained uninvolvedin the current runoff at his party. In the time he hasserved, he believes he has accomplished his goal ofpromoting the spirit of union among his Democrats.Moreover, the experience in the job has given himgreat satisfaction.

“It has been very rewarding,” Guerra said. “I’vemet presidents, vice-presidents, and ambassadors.”

He is quick to mention the five presidential visitsof recent years.

“The Valley is the third fastest-growing area in thecountry. Those visits speak strongly about that,”Guerra said.

April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 11April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN

County Democrats in run-off for party chairBy LUIS SAAVEDRAThe Pan American

George McLemore/The Pan American

HIGH PRICED— Political commentator Jim Hightower spoke at STCC Tuesday nighton a number of topics. Hightower cut the college some slack by decreasing his usualfee for speaking.

Even though the youth opposes anamendment that bans same-sex marriage,they are against the idea of a law in theirstate that allows marriage.

The poll states that 52 percent of 18- to29-year-olds oppose the idea of a law intheir state that allows gays and lesbiancouples to marry. Their grandparents, 65-years-old and up, had an 81 percentopposing rate.

“I think in a few years, same-sexmarriage will be OK,” said Jake C., 18, ofWashington. “You’ve got Will kissingJack, Queer as Folk, gay men in themilitary and all over sports – it’s justinevitable, I think.”

Jake C., a homosexual, says he’s not surewhether he’ll ever marry, but he’ddefinitely like the option when the timecomes.

“If I get married, I want a big churchwedding with all my friends and family,”he said.

He said that the exposure to the idea forso long is what has the younger generationsmore enthusiastic about the same-sexmarriage debate. There’s nothing in thewater, he jokes, it’s just that this generationhas had time to let the idea marinate longer.

“We live in a world where it is OK to goand bomb and hate, but it’s not okay forlove to be expressed,” one communicationsdepartment student said. “If politicianswould just start concentrating on thepositive effects of same-sex unions,politicians would concentrate more onpulling back troops instead of putting upfronts about why two people in love shouldnot be married.”

UTPA sociology professors were unableto comment about the recent poll and whatit could mean.

Consequently, since other ideas from thepast have been put away in a file with theOld Testament, gay activists think same-

sex marriage taboo ideas are well on theirway also.

“We have managed to destroy othertraditions of equal standing: slavery,women as property, polygamy, bans oninterracial marriage – and this argument isin grave danger of being flushed,” wroteone gay man on the Internet websiteEpinions.com.

The anonymous homosexual from theNorthwest then alluded that the idea, if notthe chaos of same-sex marriage, hasalready begun.

“Somehow, if I marry the man I love,everyone else’s marriage will sufferirreparable harm. It will also harm societyin a fundamental way – in fact, we will besubject to complete and irrevocableanarchy, including unlimited reality TV,and quite possibly a revival of bellbottoms,” he teased.

While the debate on who should marrywhom goes on, same-sex marriagesupporters battle on and ask this country’sleaders, as Rosie O’Donnell did, “Whatabout liberty and justice for all?”

Despite it’s slow movement anywhere,tough questions as ‘Is gay marriage OK forthe country?’ should be directed to MagnusHirschfeld, a German sex researcher andpioneering gay activist, who once saidsometime before he died in 1935, “Justicethrough knowledge.”

The first same-sex marriage was alesbian couple from San Francisco whohave maintained their relationship fornearly 51 years. Britney Spears’ marriagelasted a whole 55 hours. Jordan R. ofTulsa, Okla. asks, where’s the justice inthat?

“In any case, it makes me sick thatBritney Spears’ little fling is OK in theeyes of the law, while my relationship isevil, terrible, [and] destructive to the‘sanctity of marriage,’” he concluded.

MARRIAGE continued from page 3Maquiladoras Assisted

The South Texas Minority BusinessOpportunity Committee or STMBO, aproject that is managed by UTPA butfunded by the U.S. Department ofCommerce Minority BusinessDevelopment Agency, is organizingmonthly Maquiladora Bus Hops. TheseBus Hops provide an opportunity forlocal Rio Grande Valley businesses todo business with maquiladoras.

When asked to define what amaquiladora is, Terry Fuentes,International Trade Specialist for thecommittee stated, “A Maquiladora is aMexican corporation, wholly orpredominantly owned by foreigners,that assembles products for export tothe U.S. or other foreign countries.”

The STMBO Committee’s mainfunction is to facilitate a long-termrelationship between minority ownedbusinesses, small or medium sized, andother foreign countries to reach the goalof exporting products into marketsoutside of the country of Mexico.

According to Fuentes, during the BusHops, local suppliers who want to selltheir product/service to a maquiladoraor who may want to expand theirclientele are introduced to purchasingmanagers/buyers in variousmaquiladoras in theReynosa/Matamoros area.

Meetings are arranged based onbusiness profiles for each local supplier

and each maquiladora but so farSTMBO has facilitated four successfulBus Hops to Mexico that began inAugust of 2003, mid April will be thefifth successful hop.

Fuentes stated, “My job consists ofasking local suppliers in the States whatthey are in demand of or what productstheir business could use. This isbecause it might be difficult for themaquiladoras to set up an appointmentwith the suppliers.”

The committee, which is anaffiliation of UTPA, allows the leewayfor maquiladoras and causes thesuppliers to become more willing tonegotiate with maquiladoras managers.

Participating companies, with amaximum of five companies are drivenon a 15-passager van to approximatelythree to five maquiladoras where eachintroduces what their company has tooffer.

Participating maquiladoras haveincluded: Impresora DonnecoInternacional, Wells Manufacturera,Panasonic/Matsushita ElectricComponents and produce differentproducts like air filters, office suppliesauto parts and hi-tech assemblymerchandise.

Other trade services include TradeMissions into Mexico, trade seminars,market research, and locatinginternational buyers.

“If students at UTPA are interested inentrepreneurships, this would be a greatopportunity for them and localbusinesses,” stated Fuentes.

By VANESSA L. LUCIOThe Pan American

UTPA continues in its search for anew president as Dr. Miguel Nevarezprepares to step down from the positionin August.

An advisory committee was created inOctober to search for possiblecandidates for president. The committeewill eventually present a final list ofcandidates to the UT System Board ofRegents for the final decision to bemade.

“The advisory committee is currentlyin the position where it is interviewingcandidates and checking theirreferences,” said Francisco Vielma,Student Government AssociationPresident. “Dr. Nevarez has done suchan outstanding job, they want to findsomeone who will continue to guide thecampus in the right direction.”

The advisory committee will present alist of 5-10 candidates to the Board ofRegents after the interview process isfinished. The Board will then announceits list of finalists, conduct their owninterviews, and then reveal the selectionof the new president.

The list of candidates to beinterviewed was partially gathered fromthe search firm Jan Greenwood andAssociates. The search firm collectednominations and applications for theposition and checked references.Nationwide, advertising was used bythe firm to bolster UTPA’s image as a

quality institution of higher learning todraw in more candidates.

“We’re looking for someone whowould bring the vision, the ability, andthe budgetary skill,” said Dr. TeresaSullivan, Executive Vice Chancellor forAcademic Affairs for the UT Systemand chair of the advisory committee.“UTPA is a growing campus, and withthat growth comes growing pains.Growth is good, but it needs someonewho can handle it.”

Sullivan said that the advisorycommittee was looking at candidateswith substantial university experienceas well as those that had managed largecompanies. Sullivan said that, while nota requirement, being able to speakSpanish was considered an advantage.

Sullivan described the advisorycommittee as being a diverse group thatcould pick a candidate that would bestsuit the campus. Faculty, staff, andstudent representatives in the committeeare able to choose among candidatesand find a balance of what they arelooking for in a president.

“I think our search firm did anexcellent job finding applicants,” saidSullivan. “The university got goodpublicity during the search as well.People who may not have noticedbefore now see the university in ahigher standing.”

The advisory committee hopes tohave a finalized list of candidates forthe Board of Regents when thecommittee meets April 15.

Search continuingBy ARTHUR HAGEYSThe Pan American

HIDALGO COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CHAIRCANDIDATES

JUAN J. MALDONADO 38.14%

VICTOR M. CARRERA 17.00%

JOSE TORRES JR 8.61%

BUDDY DE LA ROSA 27.12%

VICTOR "LUCKY" BENALCAZAR 9.13%

Today is the last day for early voting inthe Democratic Party Chair runoff. Therunoff presents Hidalgo County citizenswith the opportunity to choose a newrepresentative to lay the flag of theDemocratic Party.

The position of party chair has beenstrongly contended. This year, fivelawmakers filed for the candidacy. The onlyrequirement to run for the position is to be aregistered voter in the county. Now withthree candidates eliminated from the race,democrats can now decide to cast theirvotes to either of the remaining candidates,Juan Maldonado and Buddy de la Rosa. Inthe first election, Maldonado received 38.14percent of the votes while de la Rosa gained27.12 percent.

The party chair is not an official elected by thepublic but rather by party members, i.e. democratvoters. Once a candidate is elected for the position,he will hold the position for a term of two years andwill serve several statutory functions. One of theseis serving as a member of the Election Commissionintegrated by the Republican Party chair, the CountyClerk, the County Judge, and the County Tax

Assessor Collector.The Election Commission holds periodic

meetings that fall within the Open Meetings Act.Since the commission has no funding or enforcingpower, it relies heavily on the making ofrecommendations. Such recommendations can varyfrom administration functionaries to new votingmachines. Based on these, the Commissioners Courtmakes a decision.

Outgoing party chair Bobby Guerra, who served

for two consecutive terms, believes voters have atough decision to make on Election Day, April 13.According to Guerra, the office holder must createunity among party members. In fact, one of thereasons he decided to run for the position was to endthe increasing division within the party at the time.

“The position doesn’t pay a dime,” Guerraexplained “That is why whoever runs for it musthave some strong motivation. When I decided to run,the party chair was endorsing one candidate overanother in the primaries.”

He also said that when a chair takes sides, healienates those people who favor another candidateand this creates a problem during the generalelection when he has to reach for the generaldemocratic support.

For this reason, Guerra has remained uninvolvedin the current runoff at his party. In the time he hasserved, he believes he has accomplished his goal ofpromoting the spirit of union among his Democrats.Moreover, the experience in the job has given himgreat satisfaction.

“It has been very rewarding,” Guerra said. “I’vemet presidents, vice-presidents, and ambassadors.”

He is quick to mention the five presidential visitsof recent years.

“The Valley is the third fastest-growing area in thecountry. Those visits speak strongly about that,”Guerra said.

April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 11April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 6

County Democrats in run-off for party chairBy LUIS SAAVEDRAThe Pan American

George McLemore/The Pan American

HIGH PRICED— Political commentator Jim Hightower spoke at STCC Tuesday nighton a number of topics. Hightower cut the college some slack by decreasing his usualfee for speaking.

Even though the youth opposes anamendment that bans same-sex marriage,they are against the idea of a law in theirstate that allows marriage.

The poll states that 52 percent of 18- to29-year-olds oppose the idea of a law intheir state that allows gays and lesbiancouples to marry. Their grandparents, 65-years-old and up, had an 81 percentopposing rate.

“I think in a few years, same-sexmarriage will be OK,” said Jake C., 18, ofWashington. “You’ve got Will kissingJack, Queer as Folk, gay men in themilitary and all over sports – it’s justinevitable, I think.”

Jake C., a homosexual, says he’s not surewhether he’ll ever marry, but he’ddefinitely like the option when the timecomes.

“If I get married, I want a big churchwedding with all my friends and family,”he said.

He said that the exposure to the idea forso long is what has the younger generationsmore enthusiastic about the same-sexmarriage debate. There’s nothing in thewater, he jokes, it’s just that this generationhas had time to let the idea marinate longer.

“We live in a world where it is OK to goand bomb and hate, but it’s not okay forlove to be expressed,” one communicationsdepartment student said. “If politicianswould just start concentrating on thepositive effects of same-sex unions,politicians would concentrate more onpulling back troops instead of putting upfronts about why two people in love shouldnot be married.”

UTPA sociology professors were unableto comment about the recent poll and whatit could mean.

Consequently, since other ideas from thepast have been put away in a file with theOld Testament, gay activists think same-

sex marriage taboo ideas are well on theirway also.

“We have managed to destroy othertraditions of equal standing: slavery,women as property, polygamy, bans oninterracial marriage – and this argument isin grave danger of being flushed,” wroteone gay man on the Internet websiteEpinions.com.

The anonymous homosexual from theNorthwest then alluded that the idea, if notthe chaos of same-sex marriage, hasalready begun.

“Somehow, if I marry the man I love,everyone else’s marriage will sufferirreparable harm. It will also harm societyin a fundamental way – in fact, we will besubject to complete and irrevocableanarchy, including unlimited reality TV,and quite possibly a revival of bellbottoms,” he teased.

While the debate on who should marrywhom goes on, same-sex marriagesupporters battle on and ask this country’sleaders, as Rosie O’Donnell did, “Whatabout liberty and justice for all?”

Despite it’s slow movement anywhere,tough questions as ‘Is gay marriage OK forthe country?’ should be directed to MagnusHirschfeld, a German sex researcher andpioneering gay activist, who once saidsometime before he died in 1935, “Justicethrough knowledge.”

The first same-sex marriage was alesbian couple from San Francisco whohave maintained their relationship fornearly 51 years. Britney Spears’ marriagelasted a whole 55 hours. Jordan R. ofTulsa, Okla. asks, where’s the justice inthat?

“In any case, it makes me sick thatBritney Spears’ little fling is OK in theeyes of the law, while my relationship isevil, terrible, [and] destructive to the‘sanctity of marriage,’” he concluded.

MARRIAGE continued from page 3Maquiladoras Assisted

The South Texas Minority BusinessOpportunity Committee or STMBO, aproject that is managed by UTPA butfunded by the U.S. Department ofCommerce Minority BusinessDevelopment Agency, is organizingmonthly Maquiladora Bus Hops. TheseBus Hops provide an opportunity forlocal Rio Grande Valley businesses todo business with maquiladoras.

When asked to define what amaquiladora is, Terry Fuentes,International Trade Specialist for thecommittee stated, “A Maquiladora is aMexican corporation, wholly orpredominantly owned by foreigners,that assembles products for export tothe U.S. or other foreign countries.”

The STMBO Committee’s mainfunction is to facilitate a long-termrelationship between minority ownedbusinesses, small or medium sized, andother foreign countries to reach the goalof exporting products into marketsoutside of the country of Mexico.

According to Fuentes, during the BusHops, local suppliers who want to selltheir product/service to a maquiladoraor who may want to expand theirclientele are introduced to purchasingmanagers/buyers in variousmaquiladoras in theReynosa/Matamoros area.

Meetings are arranged based onbusiness profiles for each local supplier

and each maquiladora but so farSTMBO has facilitated four successfulBus Hops to Mexico that began inAugust of 2003, mid April will be thefifth successful hop.

Fuentes stated, “My job consists ofasking local suppliers in the States whatthey are in demand of or what productstheir business could use. This isbecause it might be difficult for themaquiladoras to set up an appointmentwith the suppliers.”

The committee, which is anaffiliation of UTPA, allows the leewayfor maquiladoras and causes thesuppliers to become more willing tonegotiate with maquiladoras managers.

Participating companies, with amaximum of five companies are drivenon a 15-passager van to approximatelythree to five maquiladoras where eachintroduces what their company has tooffer.

Participating maquiladoras haveincluded: Impresora DonnecoInternacional, Wells Manufacturera,Panasonic/Matsushita ElectricComponents and produce differentproducts like air filters, office suppliesauto parts and hi-tech assemblymerchandise.

Other trade services include TradeMissions into Mexico, trade seminars,market research, and locatinginternational buyers.

“If students at UTPA are interested inentrepreneurships, this would be a greatopportunity for them and localbusinesses,” stated Fuentes.

By VANESSA L. LUCIOThe Pan American

UTPA continues in its search for anew president as Dr. Miguel Nevarezprepares to step down from the positionin August.

An advisory committee was created inOctober to search for possiblecandidates for president. The committeewill eventually present a final list ofcandidates to the UT System Board ofRegents for the final decision to bemade.

“The advisory committee is currentlyin the position where it is interviewingcandidates and checking theirreferences,” said Francisco Vielma,Student Government AssociationPresident. “Dr. Nevarez has done suchan outstanding job, they want to findsomeone who will continue to guide thecampus in the right direction.”

The advisory committee will present alist of 5-10 candidates to the Board ofRegents after the interview process isfinished. The Board will then announceits list of finalists, conduct their owninterviews, and then reveal the selectionof the new president.

The list of candidates to beinterviewed was partially gathered fromthe search firm Jan Greenwood andAssociates. The search firm collectednominations and applications for theposition and checked references.Nationwide, advertising was used bythe firm to bolster UTPA’s image as a

quality institution of higher learning todraw in more candidates.

“We’re looking for someone whowould bring the vision, the ability, andthe budgetary skill,” said Dr. TeresaSullivan, Executive Vice Chancellor forAcademic Affairs for the UT Systemand chair of the advisory committee.“UTPA is a growing campus, and withthat growth comes growing pains.Growth is good, but it needs someonewho can handle it.”

Sullivan said that the advisorycommittee was looking at candidateswith substantial university experienceas well as those that had managed largecompanies. Sullivan said that, while nota requirement, being able to speakSpanish was considered an advantage.

Sullivan described the advisorycommittee as being a diverse group thatcould pick a candidate that would bestsuit the campus. Faculty, staff, andstudent representatives in the committeeare able to choose among candidatesand find a balance of what they arelooking for in a president.

“I think our search firm did anexcellent job finding applicants,” saidSullivan. “The university got goodpublicity during the search as well.People who may not have noticedbefore now see the university in ahigher standing.”

The advisory committee hopes tohave a finalized list of candidates forthe Board of Regents when thecommittee meets April 15.

Search continuingBy ARTHUR HAGEYSThe Pan American

HIDALGO COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CHAIRCANDIDATES

JUAN J. MALDONADO 38.14%

VICTOR M. CARRERA 17.00%

JOSE TORRES JR 8.61%

BUDDY DE LA ROSA 27.12%

VICTOR "LUCKY" BENALCAZAR 9.13%

Despite the knowledge that al-Qaeda terrorists wereresponsible for the attack on the World Trade Center in2001, years before, another attack had occurred, butonly that time students were responsible. Since then,along with the Sept. 11 attacks, the US governmenthasn’t taken any second chances this time around.

Under the Department of Homeland and Security, orDHS, the Student and Exchange Visitor InformationSystem SEVIS, was initiated to collect, maintain, andmanage information regarding international foreignstudents and exchange visitors while staying inside theUnited States, according to DHS.

The whole idea behind SEVIS is to trackinternational students and prevent possible terrorism inthe country from foreign students with visas.According to DHS, all international students will berequired to register through SEVIS to receive theirvisa. This is only for first-time visa applicants, not forrenewals. Information required for applicants includebiographical data, address, area of study, and thestudent’s social security number. There are currentlyover 1 million foreign students and exchange visitorsalready on SEVIS records, as stated in SEVIS doctine.

From the World Trade Center bombing incident in1993, it was found that one of the convicted men, EyadIsmoil, was actually an international student fromJordan who at one time attended a university in Kansas.Ismoil had a student visa. Then, after dropping outthree semesters later, he became a member of a groupof Islamic terrorists, and bombed the WTC, accordingto DHS doctrine.

Congress reacted, and started requiring acomputerized foreign student tracking system to beestablished by January 1, 2003. That system is nowknown as SEVIS. All student fees will go towardsactual SEVIS funding and maintenance.

“It’s just an additional $100 after they [first] ordertheir visas, and after that they won’t have to pay this[anymore],” said Phillip Clay, UTPA AssociateDirector for International Student Advisement.

Clay further explained that the $100 for SEVIS is afee that the governmentwill soon implement topay for additionalSEVIS services at U.S.Consulates. However,this does not addressthe individual fee astudent will be chargedby a university.

When internationalstudents at theUniversity ofMassachusetts foundout the university wasrequiring them to paymore money to study inthe U.S., they were notamused. In fact, theyare currently protestingthe student fee towardthe university and arenow risking bothdismissal from theuniversity, and theirstudent visa.

An article in TheBoston GlobeNewspaper reportedthat the $65-per-semester would providebills that would help make up for cuts in theuniversity’s International Programs Office Budget.

Critics of the fee say that students should not beasked to pay for their own surveillance and that

international students should not be asked to “shoulderthe burden of paying for international programs bythemselves.”

SEVIS has raised much controversy since itsimplementation, being described as some as both unfair

and insulting to foreign students.SEVIS is not a university-drivenorganization, but rather onecreated and instituted by thegovernment. The university hadno say on whether or not toaccept SEVIS.

On the other hand, Clay isn’tbothered by it.

“I have no problems with itbecause [international students]want to come to the US to study.Because of 9-11 [thegovernment] had to hireadditional people to dobackground checks,” Clay said.

Due to an increase inrecruitment efforts and thequality of the university, UTPAhas seen an increase ininternational students. There are602 international studentscurrently attending UTPA thisspring semester, primarily fromMexico (439), India (38), thePhilippines (11), and Canada(11). This is an increase of 23people compared to fall 2003’stotal of 579. Clay predicts thatby spring 2004, there will be at

least 700.Francisco Garcia, president of the International

Students Association, says international students can

April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 5April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 12

Clarissa Martinez/The Pan American

being replaced, it costs the university moreto replace these individuals becausestudents still need to be educatedexplained Arevalo.

The university is continuing theinitiative by signing up UTPA to be part ofthe Texas Round-Up.

“Right now I think there is a number ofadministrative people that are going toparticipate especially people from ourboard of health office,” said Arevalo. “Ithink it continues to indicate that thecampus including the administration isinterested in promoting wellness which isbasically the purpose of the round-up andso as much as we can do to heighten theinterest of this activity is helpful to us.”

The Texas Round-Up is open to anyfaculty and staff member that would liketo go on a volunteer basis. Because oflimited funds, the university is unable topay for everyone interested, however, it isopen for any faculty or staff member thathas time to participate.

“Well, at this point, we do not have theresources to send that many people,”Arevalo said. “If certain people want tovolunteer to participate that would beallowed. “

The Provost, however, is not the onlyone taking an initiative on campus forwellness and fitness. The Office of StudentDevelopment is holding a weeklong eventthat is promoting fitness and wellness forstudents as well-known as The BroncRound-Up-Saddle-Up for Wellness.

“This is actually the third year that wecoordinate health awareness programs thatare being offered on this campus,” saidAssistant Dean of Students, DavidMariscal. “I noticed that in the springsemester we were doing all these things atdifferent times so last year we had a full-blown week of wellness week and we callit Wellness Week.”

Mariscal also said that when they werepresented with the new graphic theystarted to brainstorm on what to call thewellness week and at that time theyfigured that the state is doing this is the

governor’s initiative Texas-round up, sothe idea of Bronc Round-Up came about.

However, the weeklong event is not theonly time when fitness and wellness arebeing promoted. There are other eventsthat are held on campus throughout theentire semester to offer students, faculty,and staff an opportunity to be part of thisfitness and wellness initiative.

“One of the other things we alsoencourage is to do events thought thesemester instead [of] just in that oneweek,” said Mariscal. “For example, wedid the dance fitness all semester onThursday afternoons, we did the FunWalks Monday afternoons, recreationalsoftball for faculty and staff on Mondayand Wednesday afternoons, and we havedone several brown bag lunches that haveto do with nutrition and fitness.”

The university is interested in promotingfitness and wellness in many ways otherthan just holding these initiatives. TheOffice of Student Development is trying toget a new recreational facility built for theyear 2007 to help promote this attitude oncampus.

“Certainly the primary reason we wantto do this is for students to have theopportunity to learn skills and habits thatare going to help them lead a healthierlife,” said Dean of Students, Jerry Price.“Traditionally for college students theymay or may not have been exposed to thetype of diet and exercise information thatthey need to make good decisions andhaving this on campus is giving them thisopportunity.”

The hope for building this kind offacility is to allow the older students, whomay have jobs or children to attend to, theopportunity to have somewhere they cango and exercise.

“It’s our hope that having this availablein the evenings and on the weekends thatthe full-time student that maybe worksuntil five and goes to school at seven theycan come here and exercise in betweenwhich are options that they do not haveright now,” Price said.

ROUNDUP continued from page 1

By JULIAN CAVAZOSThe Pan American

International students face upcoming fee

Most people don’t believe in fate. They areeducated, realistic, and grounded. However, mostpeople aren’t Hispanic, aren’t overweight, and don’thave a history of disease. This selectgroup, so common to the Rio GrandeValley, clearly sees the looming, dauntingfate: diabetes.

“It’s almost inevitable,” said one Valleypractitioner, Dr. Javier Murillo of Mission.

For thousands of Valley residents theirfuture is inevitable, as they stand a goodchance of contracting Type 2 diabetes,genetically common to Hispanics,especially those who are overweight.Some studies indicate that 20 percent ofValley residents will some day bediabetics.

Victims of Type 2 diabetes learn tocontend with high glucose levels, or sugar,in their blood. According to the NationalInstitute of Diabetes, this leads to othercomplications such as increased risk for heart failureand heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness, nervedamage, and tooth loss.

However, Dr. Ralph DeFronzo, a researcher at theTexas Diabetes Institute in San Antonio, is trying toalter the fates. He directs a nationwide study thattests whether the drug pioglitazone (Actos) canprevent the onset of diabetes in high- risk patients.Previous studies suggest drugs such as Actos canguard against diabetes. But most still consider dietand exercise as the best preventative maintenance.

Yet, diet and exercise will not rid the problem ofdiabetes, especially with those who are geneticallysusceptible.

“Weight, diet and exercise will only postponewhen patients have diabetes,” said Murillo. “Butthey’ll still get it.”

Maybe not with pioglitazone. The hope is thatcombined with diet andexercise, pioglitazonecan help.

“With Actos(pioglitazone), you maynever know if theydeveloped Type 2diabetes,” Murillo said.“They’ll be just likenormal people withnormal blood levels.”

T h e o r e t i c a l l y ,pioglitazone, diet, andexercise would be theperfect solution forbattling diabetes. The

war would be won. Yet, the study is not nearcompletion. Worse, there are complications.

According to the Texas Diabetes Institute, thestudy, which will include counseling on diet andexercise, will last at least 39 months. Until then,doctors remain uncertain as to the effectiveness ofActos as a preventative treatment.

"In order to see if it works, they need to test in ona bunch of people," said Dr. Desi Canales, a diabetesspecialist in Mission. “This takes a long time.”

Another complication is liver disease, a possibleside effect of pioglitazone. Serious liver damage isjust as dangerous as diabetes, and can cause death.

Some patients on pioglitazones such as Actos, havereported cases of liver disease, according to the June2001 Food and Drug Administration ConsumerMagazine. As a result of DeFronzo’s study, patientstaking pioglitazones will increase. Doctors predictan increase of reported liver disease.

“As Actos is used more widely, there will be moreside effects,” said Canales. “It may not be safe; it candamage the liver.”

Aside from time delay and liver problems, somepatients will still react reluctantly to diet andexercise, even with the hope of diminished diabetes.Diet and exercise work, but are very difficult tomaintain. To many, the root of the problem for Valleyresidents is bad diet.

“It’s not just that they’re [Valley residents] areMexican,” Murillo said. “There are more diabetes inthe Valley because of the high-carbohydrate diet.The Valley gets more diabetes than Mexico, wherethey eat more fruits and vegetables.”

Therefore, patients at high risk for diabetes needmore than diet, exercise and pioglitazone. They needeffort, help, and counseling to endure, to bepersistent and to ultimately succeed.

“You got to attack the problem from differentaspects; most people need everything fromcounseling, exercise, diet and medications,” Canalessaid. “It’s a multi-factor team approach: the doctor,the nutritionist, the pharmacist.”

Pioglitazone may prove to be a step in preventingdiabetes, but it still possesses flaws. Optimally, itcan change the fate of many overweight ValleyHispanics, giving them hope of a diabetes-freefuture. However, it is not a miracle drug.

“Ideally, they’re right,” Murillo said. “Practically,no.”

By CECI CASTANEDAThe Pan American

Diabetes a long-term dilemma for Valley

See SEVIS page 12

CONCURRENT continued from page 3

summer and fall sessions. “It’s neat because right now we’re in the process of recruiting sophomores who’ll be

juniors after this term,” said Jaime Garza, program coordinator. “The potential is there.”University faculty are getting the message that concurrent enrollment is a benefit to them

as well.“Instructors are beginning to learn that these students are more than capable and are

recruiting them to their particular majors,” Miller said.Dr. Robert J. Affeldt, assistant professor in the English Department, has taught concurrent

enrollment students in his basic composition class in past semesters.“[A high school student] stood out as one of the better students in the class,” Affeldt said.

“She was very motivated. The concurrent enrollment program has been successful,” headded. “I am very optimistic about that experience.”

WAITING— Students wait outside the COAS Bldg. on Wednesday morning. A 30-minute blackout forced students to be evacuated until the electricity was restored.

You got to attack the

problem from different

aspects; most people

need everything from

counseling, exercise, diet

and medications.

““

- Dr. Desi Canales,Diabetes specialists

International Student FeeInformation

☛Under The US Department of HomelandSecurity, the Student and Exchange VisitorInformation System (SEVIS) collects, man-ages, and maintains information on foreignstudents and exchange visitors in the U.S.

☛After the World Trade Center bombing in1993, one of the convicted bombers wasfound to be an international student at a uni-versity in Kansas.

☛The $100 fee will be required by all first-time student visa applicants.

☛SEVIS was created to prevent terroristsfrom entering the U.S. on student visas.

☛SEVIS has been implemented sinceJanuary 1, 2003.

SEVIS continued from page 5

gain much from studying here.“It’s something positive. It’s good that international students come here to the

Valley for their studies and experience different cultures,” Garcia said.Though the US government hasn’t required the fee for UTPA yet, international

students here are currently listed under SEVIS records. Garcia feels being ongovernment records is something inevitable if students wish to pursue an educationin the United States.

“If you decide to study here as a student, changes are constant. I don’t mind [theadditional fee],” Garcia commented. “For students here, being on [SEVIS records]really hasn’t bothered them. It’s just something you have to do if you want to finishyour studies here.”

April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 4

Students recognized for achievements

Activist for Valley citizens maintains loyalty

The air thickens, a warm, humid blanket veiling the lateafternoon sun. Beads of sweat swell up in his forehead; hestops his farm work, reaching to wipe his sweat. Heremembers his morning Bible meditation. He rememberspatience. He remembers endurance.

Fast forward. He looms over a casket, speakingwords of comfort and peace. There lies a perfectlyfolded American flag over the casket. People aroundhim, mothers and fathers, cry incessantly. He mustbe strong; he wears a white collar.

Fast forward. He sits in front of a large conferencetable, listening as the others passionately discussmethods for school funding. He speaks; his focusrests solely on maintaining well-funded borderschools with good teachers, good facilities, andultimately good students.

Mike Allen, monk, priest, president, lobbyist,founder, chairman, husband, and chief executiveofficer, lived a life of change by holding strongly tohis unchanged ideals throughout life. He knew hissatisfaction and pursued it earnestly.

Allen was born in Pennsylvania and grew up inTexas. He spent his high school years at a catholichigh school, St. Anthony’s. Shortly after graduation,Allen decided to follow his innate selflessness andentered a monastery. He was 19.

"I was young, very idealistic," Allen said. "I wantedto help out and make a difference."

He spent his first year at St. Peters Monastery onthe border in Los Limas, Texas. Mornings werereserved for solitary meditation, afternoons for farm work.One year and a day later, Allen left the monastery to becomea priest and interact with people. He worked for Sacred HeartChurch in McAllen, helping the impoverished borderresidents. There, Allen first noticed the lack of job forAmerican and Mexican border residents and the dismalresults.

A couple of years later, Allen transferred to the Universityof Texas-Pan American chapel working with Methodists,

Catholics, Disciples of Christ, and other religions. As apriest, Allen enjoyed a peaceful and satisfying life. However,America was not.

During his time serving at Pan Am, the Vietnam War ragedoverseas and confused political belief and faith in people.Dead bodies were shipped off planes in hundreds; Pan Amalso felt the blow.

"It was very difficult,” Allen said. “I buried five or six

kids. We also visited the homes of the families. When theysaw a priest and a military officer coming, they knew. Theyknew what happened."

Then, after over a decade in the priesthood, Allen made alife-altering decision. He left.

"That was my hardest decision," said Allen. "It was hard toleave but I changed my mind."

Allen moved to Austin, and lived there for 13 yearsworking in a government job. However, the ideals he had as

a young man still thrived inside him. Helping people wasembedded in him and he longed for that satisfaction. Allenremembered his years as a priest and the downcast jobsituation that existed.

In 1987 he founded the McAllen Economic DevelopmentCorporation (MEDC), an organization that recruits andexpands industries increasing jobs in the McAllen/Reynosaarea.

"The issue of helping people have jobs was alwaysimportant to me," Allen said. "Now I know how to doit."

Allen does it well. In the past 15 years, MEDCrecruited over 429 companies and 90,000 jobs to theborder region. He also founded and serves aschairman of the Texas Border InfrastructureCoalition, which secured $1.1 billion for borderhighway funds and brought additional job training tothe region.

Allen coordinated developing support for the I-69Highway, served as a uniting force to bring newlegislation that would result in swifter movement oftrade commerce and originated the construction of theRegional Academic Health Center. He currentlyserves on the Rio Grande Valley Council ofGovernments, Governor Task Force on Managementand Relations, and the Border Trade Alliance. Herecently was elected to the STCC board of trusteesand will take office in May.

"I’m going to listen and learn there," Allen said."STCC and Pan Am are indispensable for economicdevelopment. They are the two most fundamentalinstitutions in the Valley."

However, Allen realizes his awards, credentials, andachievements spring from that omnipresent desire to helpothers. Love for people motivated him, a feeling strongerthan the struggles, stronger than money, stronger than time.

"We have affected the live of 60,000 people," Allen said."That brings a satisfaction that is worth more than money."

He paused, thinking of his life as a priest, a husband, andpresident of MDEC.

"You have to be true to your ideals and have a sense ofintegrity," Allen said. "Don’t compromise your values."

By CECILIA CASTANEDAThe Pan American

The 25th annual awards and recognitionconvention was held Sunday, April 4, to recognizeoutstanding achievement among students at UTPA.

Some of the awards received were "Who's WhoAmong Students in American Universities andColleges," Academic Dean's Outstanding Students,""Dean of Students Outstanding Student Leaders,"and "Student Government Association President andVice President Recognition Awards."

Speakers and presenters included Dean of StudentsDr. Jerry M. Price, Provost Dr. Rodolfo Arévalo,College of Arts and Humanities Dean Dr. RodolfoRocha, Dr. John Emery, Dean of the College ofBusiness Administration, Dr. Hilda Medrano, Deanof the College of Education, Dr. William McIntyre,Dean of the College of Health Sciences and HumanServices, Dr. Miguel Eastman, Dean of the Collegeof Science and Engineering, Dr. George P. Avellano,Interim Dean of the College of Social andBehavioral Sciences and Dr. Miguel Nevarez,University President.

Exceptional campus leadership, scholastic andcommunity achievements as well as GPA were takeninto consideration and revised by the members of theUniversity Awards and Recognitions Committee inthe selection of the recipients. To be eligible,juniors and seniors at this University must have acumulative 3.0 GPA or higher, while graduatestudents must encompass a GPA of 3.5 or higher.These prestigious awards are granted to those whoexemplify excellence.

By VANESSA R. CASTILLOThe Pan American

Ceci Castaneda/The Pan American

MULTI-TASK— Mike Allen founder of the McAllen Economic DevelopmentCorp., has had various job descriptions in the name of his beliefs on helpingthose in need.

Tanzeer Amed

Jacqueline Bruce

Raul Cabrera

Norma N. De Leon

Kayla D. Dreyer

Marco Antonio Esquivel

Edward Gamboa

Blanca Garza

Ramon Garza III

Maria de Lourdes Garza

Wilfredo Garza

Maylin F. Gerardo

Sharon H. Gerardo

Joachim Grass

Judith Hernandez

Erika Jaramillo

Tatyana G. Korotkova

Egan

Sharifa Llemit

Myra J. Lopez

Maha B. Maglinao

Trisha Marc

Elvia Martinez

Javier Martinez

Melisandra Mendoza

Leslie Moya

Michael A. Mungia

Norma L. Olivarez

Shirin M. Oveyssi

Rene Palomar

Edith Pena

Vanessa L. Perez

Gloria E. Pora

Ana Christina Ramirez

Melissa Ramirez

Leticia Reyes

Christabel Rivera

Ricardo Angel Rivera

Christina Rodriguez

Nancy Trevino

Arianna Vazquez

Carmela Zamora

Maria del Sagrario Zuviri

Marialicia Andrade Luis Alfonso LopezAmanda R. AguilarRaul CabreraSunaiana Chugani

Hiram J. CoronaJaime DuranIrma Doris MendiolaKathy De La PenaLeticia Castillo

Cynthia RiosVanessa SanchezRamon CortezNisha VargheseAna Isabel Leos

Josefa MataBlanca Elvia Ruiz

Francisco “Paco” Vielma(SGA President)Oscar Garza (SGA Vice President)

Raul CabreraMaria de Lourdes GarzaSheryl Milford

WHO’S WHO AMONG AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

ACADEMIC DEAN’S OUTSTANDING STUDENTS AWARD

DEAN OF STUDENTSLEADERSHIP

STUDENT LEADERSHIPAWARDS

Clemens, Astros shut down Giants

Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros shut down BarryBonds and the San Francisco Giants 10-1 before a sell-outcrowd of 42,863.

Clemens’ pitches rocketed past Bonds and the Giants’other hitters by allowing them one hitin seven innings.

The victory was Clemens’ 311thcareer win in 21 seasons.

Last season, Clemens had called itquits and retired - for 78 days.

Clemens struck out Bonds twice fora total of nine strikeouts.

The Clemens-Bonds matchup wasthe first time in history that a pitcherwith 300 wins faced a batter with 600home runs.

Jeff Bagwell hit his 420th home runand drove in three runs, while JeffKent connected for a three-run blastand Richard Hidalgo also homered.

Clemens limited the Giants to fourhits.

Dorados’ Thomas awarded

Rio Grande Valley Dorados line-man Karleton Thomas was namedthe ADT Defensive Player of theWeek after the Dorados defeatedthe Laredo Law 37-6 in their homeopener at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo.

Thomas had five tackles andthree sacks.

The Dorados will travel toOklahoma City Saturday to face the

Yard Dawgz, who also won their opener.

Browns CEO Policy to step down

Cleveland Browns CEO Carmen Policy announcedWednesday that he will step down and let someone elserun the organization.

Policy will let go of the reins on May 1, but will stay on asa consultant for the 2004 season.

The 61-year-old will be replaced by John Collins, theNFL’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. Collinsreceived a five-year contract from the Browns.

Avalanche take 1-0 lead over Stars

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 inthe first game of their Western quarterfinal best-of-sevenseries.

The series will continue Friday at Colorado. Face off is at8:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2 and TSN.

March 8, 2004 Sports Page 13

SSPPOORRTTSSCCLLIIPPBBOOAARRDD


Jan. 19 Trinity W 4-3

Jan. 19 Texas A&M L 1-6

Feb. 6 Eastern Kentucky W 6-1

Feb. 7 Dayton W 5-2

Feb. 7 Xavier W 6-1

Feb. 14 Saint Louis W 4-3

Feb. 21 TAMUCC L 2-5

Feb. 26 Laredo College (Exh.)L 3-4


March 13 Texas Southern W 4-1

March 26 UTSA L 2-5

April 4 Texas-Arlington L 0-7

April 7 Texas Southern TBA


April 8 Lamar 3

April 9 Southeastern Louisiana Noon

April 16 TAMUCC 1





Feb. 6 UTEP L 0-7

Feb. 13 Sam Houston State L 3-4

Feb. 15 Stephen F. Austin L 1-6

Feb. 26 Laredo College W 7-0


March 13 Texas Southern L 3-4

March 27 Air Force 8:30 a.m.

April 3 TAMUCC 2

April 7 Texas Southern 2

April 8 Lamar TBA


April 9 McNeese State 9 a.m.

April 10 Texas State-San Marcos TBA

April 16 IPFW TBA

April 16 N. Colorado TBA

April 17 TAMUCC 2





Feb. 9-10 Rice Intercollegiate 14 of 14

March Bearkat Invitational 14 of 16

14-15

March Lindsay Collegiate 15 of 15

29-30 Classic

April 5-6 Hal Sutton 3 of 10

Intercollegiate

April 23-24Andrea Brotto Cavalier

Classic


Golf Championships


Feb. Bronc Intercollegiate 4 of 8

23-24

March St. Croix Collegiate 9 of 14

12-14 Classic

March Baylor/Tapatío Springs 18th

19-21 Shootout

March Arkansas-Little Rock 4 of 15

29-30 Invitational


Golf Championships

Date Opponent ScoreNov. 1 Green and White GREEN, 2-1

Jan. 31 Texas State-San Marcos L 7-8Feb. 1 Texas State-San Marcos L 2-6

Feb. 3 Texas Kingsville W 6-3, 3-2Feb. 6 Lamar vs. Kansas 3-2Feb. 6 Sam Houston State L 2-7Feb. 7 Kansas W 8-6Feb. 7 Lamar vs. Sam Houston 7-4Feb. 8 Sam Houston vs. Kansas 8-8

Feb. 8 Lamar W 2-1Feb. 15 Lamar (DH) L 1-16, W 8-6Feb. 16 Lamar L 4-6Feb. 18 Texas A&M-Kingsville W 15-5Feb. 20 Sam Houston State L 6-10Feb. 21 Sam Houston State L 5-10Feb. 22 Sam Houston State L 4-6Feb. 27 Washington State W 3-2Feb. 28 Washington State L 3-15Feb. 29 Washington State L 6-15March 6 Arkansas W 4-1March 7 Arkansas W 11-4March 9 TAMUCC W 2-0March 9 TAMUCC W 10-5March 12 Texas-San Antonio W 6-4March 13 Texas-San Antonio L 1-3March 14 Texas-San Antonio ppd.March 16 Texas-Arlington W 7-5March 17 Texas-Arlington L 5-13March 19 Oral Roberts L 0-1March 20 Oral Roberts L 10-12March 21 Oral Roberts W 4-1March 23 Texas-San Antonio L 11-12March 24 Texas-San Antonio L 6-21March 26 Dallas Baptist L 7-11March 26 Dallas Baptist L 6-10March 27 Dallas Baptist L 6-8March 30 Texas L 1-10April 6 Texas State-San Marcos L 5-6April 7 Texas State-San Marcos 1April 9 TAMUCC (DH) 1April 13 Texas-San Antonio 7April 14 Texas-San Antonio 2April 16 Arizona 9April 17 Arizona 9April 18 Arizona 3April 23 Dallas Baptist (DH) 4April 24 Dallas Baptist 1May 7 Southeastern Louisiana 7May 8 Southeastern Louisiana 7May 9 Southeastern Louisiana 1May 11 Arkansas 7:05May 12 Arkansas 7:05May 14 Oklahoma 7:05May 15 Oklahoma 7:05May 16 Oklahoma 1

Date Opponent Score

March 6 Border Olympics None

March 13 Angela Proctor Invit. None

March 19-20 Whataburger/UTSA None

Relays

March 27 Bayou Classic 5 of 8

April 1-3 Texas Relays None

April 10 Texas A&M

Invitational

April 18-19 Southwestern Bell

Classic

April 24 Rice Twilight

May 1 Tom Tellez Invitational

May 15 Texas A&M All-Comers

Meet

May 27-29 NCAA Regional

Championships

June 9-12 NCAA Outdoor

Championships

Local / RegionalCoverage

Date Dorados vs. Time/Results

April 3 Laredo W 37-6

April 10 at Oklahoma City 7:30

April 24 Oklahoma City 7:30

May 1 at Laredo 7:30

May 8 Wichita 7:30

May 15 at C. Valley 9:30

May 22 Laredo 7:30

May 28 at Tulsa 7:30

June 12 Tulsa 7:30

June 18 at Boss-Shreve. 7:30

June 26 at Birmingham 6:30

July 3 Wichita 7:30

July 10 Oklahoma City 7:30

July 17 at Tulsa 7:30

July 24 Arkansas 7:30

July 31 at Wichita 7

Friday, April 9



Saturday, April 10



Sunday, April 11



Monday, April 12



Tuesday, April 13

Oakland at Texas, 7:05


Thursday, April 8

Utah at Dallas, 7:30

Friday, April 9

Portland at San Antonio, 7

Denver at Houston, 7:30

Saturday, April 10

Dallas at Seattle, 2:30

Houston at Utah, 8

Sunday, April 11

Dallas at Golden State, 8

San Antonio at L.A. Clippers, 8:30

Monday, April 12

San Antonio at Portland, 9

Houston at Seattle, 9

Tuesday, April 13

Memphis at Dallas, 7:30

Wednesday, April 14

Denver at San Antonio, 7:30

Dallas at Houston, 8:30

UTPA HOME GAMES IN BOLDAll games p.m. unless noted.

NBA

Men’s Track & FieldIndoor Season

FOR THE RECORD

Broncs Baseball

af2: RGV Dorados

MLB

Men’s Tennis

Women’s Tennis

Men’s Golf

Women’s Golf

AP Photo

Roger Clemens struck outnine in his debut with theHouston Astros.

Registering for classes at the Universityis a rite of passage, with seniors andjuniors receiving first dibs.

However, a different company ofupperclassmen is reaping the benefits ofpriority registration. High school seniorsand juniors concurrently enrolled at UTPAare allowed to register before thetraditional population.

Preference is given to the studentsbecause of their conflicting high schoolschedules and because commonregistration avenues, such as telephoneand online methods, are not available tothem.

The concurrent enrollment program,which started in the mid-1990s, gives highschool seniors and juniors the opportunityto enroll in university courses, earningcollege credit while still in high school.

“It’s really cool because when I startschool in the fall, I’ll be a sophomore,”said Samantha Jarvis, a senior at EdinburgHigh School. “I get to see what college islike without having lots of pressure,” saidthe future Latin American studies major.

To gain admission to the program, a

student must have an ACT compositescore of 22 or be in the top 10 percent ofthe class. Recommendations must also besubmitted from high school counselorsand principals.

Jarvis, one of over 300 concurrentlyenrolled high school students thissemester, is taking her third class at theuniversity.

“We are very pleased with theconcurrent enrollment program,” said Dr.John Edwards, vice president forEnrollment and Student Services.

“The concurrent enrollment programkids can certainly take the seats of currentstudents, but we monitor that verycarefully,” Edwards said. “As we noticethat classes are filling up, we add moresections.”

And despite increasing enrollment, theprogram’s recruiting ability benefits theuniversity, Edwards said.

“What makes this so important is thatwe’re planning on raising our admissionstandards in the next five years,” Edwardssaid. “This program recruits the better-prepared students.”

Also, the retention rate for concurrentlyenrolled students is higher than it is forentering freshman, Edwards added.

High School to University Services isthe department that oversees theregistration process for the program. “Wewant students to succeed,” said itsdirector, Susan P. Miller.

Because many of the students are first-generation college attendees, Miller said,advising them on which classes to take iscrucial.

“We don’t want to place them in thewrong classes and have them not want togo back to college,” Miller said.

“Some of these kids are really ready fortaking college classes,” said NormaCeballos, a counselor at Edinburg HighSchool. Counselors, along with theprogram coordinators at High School toUniversity Services, are also involved inthe advising process. High school studentsusually register for introductory classes,Ceballos said.

“We’ve all heard about how thefreshman year weeds out students – ‘thesurvival of the fittest,’” Ceballos said.“With the concurrent enrollment program,students become a lot happier and a lotmore motivated.”

April 1 was the priority deadline forstudents to enroll in the program for the

April 8, 2004 THE PAN AMERICAN Page 3

Concurrent enrollment high, lowsBy CLAUDIA L. FARIASThe Pan American

NEWS■ Student Awards . . . . . . . . . 4■ Diabetes . . . . . . . . . . . . 5■ Maquiladoras . . . . . . . . . . . 6

See CONCURRENT page 12

New generation liberal to gay unions

While Britney Spears got away withmarrying in what some media watcherscalled a ‘drunken stupor,’ celebritieslike Rosie O’Donnell, Meg Ryan, EllenDeGeneres, Elton John, and MelissaEtheridge have been fightingthe battle in support ofmarriage of all kinds – gay,straight, and perhaps evendrunk.

As the debate on whethersame-sex marriages shouldbe allowed in each stateacross the U.S., a recentstudy by the AnnenbergPublic Policy Center of theUniversity of Pennsylvaniashows that young adultsfrom the ages of 18 to 29 areOK with same-sex marriage.

The study, which surveyedalmost 2,000 individualsfrom around the country inFeb. of this year, touchedissues such as the U.S.Constitution saying that nostate can allow people of thesame-sex to marry eachother.

In the 18- to 29-year-oldbracket, 58 percent of theinterviewees said theyopposed such an idea. Withinthe 45- to 64-year-oldbracket, 45 percent opposed theamendment. While in total, 48 percentof the interviewees around the countrythought such an amendment should notbe around.

But why is this the case? What makesthe younger generation OK with same-

sex marriages while it makes theirparents and grandparents cringe?

It appears to be about timing. While the youth of today have grown

up with men kissing men and womenkissing women, the idea of themmarrying one another doesn’t seem far-fetched for them. In an age where maleimpersonators dress like Madonna for

extra cash during the weekends, whywould that same man marrying a man heloves be awkward?

A UTPA student English major said itisn’t about trends.

“I think this generation is more opento different ideas,” the 20-year-old said.

“We can accept things that aren’ttraditional.”

The Elsa native said that thisgeneration, his generation, could growto understand and accept something thatisn’t “normal” because his generationhas grown up with all sorts of strangethings that the older generation mayhave never fathomed.

“Don’t peg this ideainto any other trendeither,” he said. “It’snot a trend, no one isjust going along with itbecause it’s cool. Theygo along with itbecause they believeit.”

As an openly gayman, he wished to beanonymous whenmentioning his ownthoughts on gaymarriage.

“I think it’s wrong tosay someone can’tmarry someone else,”he said.

Any future plans formarriage?

“No,” he said. “Idon’t think I will evermarry, we could livetogether, but I’ll nevercall him my husband.”

He said that perhapsa reason manyopposers of same-sex

marriages feel the way they do hassomething to do with the seriousnesssurrounding the issue.

“People might think that a gay couplewon’t take it serious, plus they think it’snot right,” he said.

By EDWINA P. GARZAThe Pan American

See MARRIAGE page 11

Thoughts on the U.S.Constitution ban on same-sexmarriage:




Subjects were asked if theywould favor or oppose a lawin their state that would allowgay and lesbian couples tomarry:




Source: Annenberg Public PolicyCenter of the University ofPennsylvania, 2004.

Same-Sex MarriageResults from polling data taken between Feb. 14 and 23. A total of1,943 people around the country were polled.

Editorial banBy CLARISSA MARTINEZThe Pan American

The life of a college student varies depending onwhich college they are attending. Some campuses areknown for being 'party' schools while others such asBaylor University, have a reputation for beingconservative private schools. The priorities of theschools are reflected on the students, and in Baylor'scase, students seem to be resisting the values theiruniversities have build their foundation on.

Baylor's university student newspaper, The BaylorLariat, ran an editorial criticizing the administrationfor denying an openly gay student a ministerialscholarship. Soon after, the editorial staff voted 5-2 torun another editorial supporting same-sex marriages.The can of worms was opened, and the universityofficials began retaliation against the paper.

When Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. releaseda statement denouncing the paper's editorial anddeclaring it to be in conflict with both Scripture anduniversity policy. The response he received from theuniversity and the public has been both positive andnegative.

Some individuals felt it was a proper decision forthe university to step up and put it's foot down ontheir moral standards, while others said the conflictdoes not benefit anyone.

Cristina Chavez, a junior at Baylor University, saidshe first heard about the controversy from a localnews report.

"It was reported that our student government votedto ban the university newspaper. The Baylor Lariat,from publishing material that [goes] against theChristian views that Baylor University was first builton, including same-sex unions," Chavez explained."Not long afterwards, Baylor Truitt Seminaryannounced that one of its student's scholarships wasrevoked based on his sexual orientation."

Chavez, a 21-year-old geology major said that thedemonstration and editorial received about the sameattention and has been associated together due to thesubject of homosexuality. She first heard about thedemonstration and how it was started because of thescholarship that was being withheld from a student.

With the controversy being stirred up by theeditorial, several students also began giving attentionto the student who lost his scholarship. Matt Bass, 24,was a student at Baylor's George W. TruettTheological Seminary and claimed to have beenapproached by Truett officials, and would not answerto questions about his lifestyle, but did admit tosupport gay rights and marriage.

Soon after, he was notified that he would lose hisscholarship, a scholarship that he depended on toattend school.

Recently, Bass and other students helped in ademonstration on the Baylor campus to support thebelief that all students should have the same rightsand opportunities, whether they are gay or not.

According to the Associate Press, Bass made thestatement "I believe I am gay and that God made methat way," while at the rally.

"I believe this is a civil rights movement. We're notlooking for any special class or treatment but equalprotection under the law," Bass continued.

"I feel that any attempt to suppress freedom of thepress or speech, even if the university is private, iswrong," Chavez said. "Also, the [same-sex] unionsshould go on and a ban on anything based on sexualorientation or any other physical or emotionalattribute is discrimination."

Although Chavez doesn't agree with the measuresthe university is taking to stifle students' personalbeliefs she expects the change on her campus to be alengthy process.


After finishing second in theHal Sutton Invitational in 2001as a freshman, Rudy Celedon,member of the University ofTexas-Pan American men’s golfteam, wanted to make a biggeri m p r e s s i o nwhen theBroncs wereinvited to playagain this year.

The seniork i n e s i o l o g ymajor fell noth-ing short of thatTuesday finish-ing first overallwith a 36-holescore of 208,while theBroncs finishedthird with atotal score of896, moving upfrom sixth place on the final dayof play.

“I’m pleasantly surprisedabout our play,” said UTPAMen’s Head Golf Coach DrewScott, in a recent interview. “I’mnot stunned because I knew we

were capable of playing to thislevel. Rudy deserved to win thetournament; he has just been on aroll over the last few months.”

Along with finishing on top,Celedon’s final round total of 66put him only one stroke behindLuis Arechiga, who shot a UTPA

men’s bestround score of65 in 1997.Also, his 208total tourna-ment scoremade Celedononly the sixthBronc in his-tory to shootunder 210 fora three-roundtournament.

“This winhelps give methe positiveattitude that Ineed to go

into my last twotournaments,” Celedon said. “Ihave been having a good semes-ter and this time everything justfell into place; I wanted to goback and make a good impres-sion after finishing second at thistournament my freshman year.”

By AMY MEDELLÍNThe Pan American

Celedon winsat Hal Sutton

Fútbol continued from page 16

UTPA is the humidity in and around theHouston-Beaumont region.

Despite the different weather conditionsthat Texas-Pan America will endure duringtheir four-match road trip, junior ArmandoMartínez believes the weather will not affectthe team.

“We do not worry about becoming fatiguedunder any conditions and expect to competefull strength into the weekend.” Martínez said.“Against our toughest opponents, we have hadthe opportunities, but as always, those littlemiscues lose us the match.”

Sunday’s loss to UT-Arlington marked thelast match for senior Tom Mangelschots. Hefinished among the top 15 in UTPA history forwins in singles as well as overall.

Women’s tennisThe women’s team will dive into a

physically demanding schedule this weekwhen they start a four-day, five-match swingagainst Texas Southern (0-1 overall), PrarieView A&M (0-5), Lamar (3-11), Texas State(7-7), and McNeese State (11-4).

The Lady Broncs are led in singles byVanessa Hedinger (8-8), Ana Peña (5-6) andAlanna Breen (5-5), while their doubles countwith the services of González-Peña (2-1) andFife-Sloan (2-4).

Although the women have lost four in arow, they are optimistic about the remainderof the season.

“Our women had the day off today[Tuesday],” Gyulai said. “To concentrate onacademics and allow their bodies to rest afterpracticing so hard.

Gyulai noted that the team is transgressingin the right direction so far throughout theseason despite the departure of Head CoachEduardo Provencio for undisclosed reasons.

Tennis continued from page 16

Rudy Celedon

first in the offensivecategory with 27.

The two clubs last facedeach other in Week 10 ofthe current Clausura 2004season. Pumas came awaywith a 2-1 victory onMarch 14 on a pair ofgoals by former Américastriker MoctezumaSerrato. Forward JesúsOlalde, a former Puma,scored Tigres’ lone goal.

Tigres appears to be thelocal favorite due toMcAllen’s proximity toMonterrey, although thefact that Sánchez is thePumas’ coach can makefor an interesting debatein the stands.

“There is a strong fanbase, especially here inthe border,” Rodríguezsaid. “Tigres have a strongfollowing and the intrigueof the Pumas is the coach,Hugo Sánchez.”

Aside from a placingthe international spotlighton the Valley, especiallyMcAllen, the soccermatch exposes the area tothe world’s game as it isplayed and lived – withpassion. It also couldprovide the kind ofsupport Valley soccerneeds in an area where

football reigns supreme.“It brings another

professional sport [to theValley],” Rodríguez said.“I know its exhibition, butit exposes theopportunities that may beout there for this sportalong the border andopens up the door tofuture soccer events.”

The man behindbringing fútbol mexicanoto the Valley is formerTigre and Mexicannational soccer teammember Francisco Javier“El Abuelo” Cruz, thepromoter of the Pumas-Tigres match.

“He did an event inLaredo,” Rodríguez said.“It was a success inLaredo and it’s a muchsmaller stadium, half thesize of here. He’s fromMonterrey and thoughtthat Mcallen could beanother venue to belooked at to bring anevent.”

Cruz is already“considering” anothersoccer exhibition matchfor July, but this timebetween Mexico Citypowerhouses and long-time rivals Cruz Azul andAmérica.

- S p o r t s W r i t e r s- C o p y E d i t o r s- G r a p h i c D e s i g n e r s

POSITIONS AVAILABLE

For more informationcall 381-2547 or e-mail

[email protected]

1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539(956) 381-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122

http://www.panam.edu/dept/panamerican53rd Year – No. 25

Layout Designers

Dägoberto Pérez

Ginmarie Mabry

Reporters

Vanessa Castillo

Julian Cavazos

Edwina Garza

Dulce Gonzalez

Matt Hall

Christina Harris

Aaron Lozano

Vanessa Lucio

Clarissa Martinez

Amy Medellin

Photographer

Franco Caballero

Copy Editor

Joe Anna Moreno

Student Pub. Secretary

Jo Anne Murphy

Adviser

Dr. Greg Selber

The PANAMERICAN isthe official studentnewspaper of TheUniversity ofTexas-PanAmerican. Views presentedare those of thewriters and do notnecessarily reflectthose of theuniversity.

The Pan Americangladly acceptsletters fromstudents, staff andfaculty regardingnewspaper contentor current issues.The Pan Americanreserves the rightto edit submissionsfor grammar andlength. Please limitsubmission lengthto 300 words. ThePan Americancannot publishanonymous letters,or submissionscontaining hatespeech orgratuitous personalattacks. Letters areprinted at thediscretion of theeditor and mustinclude the writer’sname, class/titleand phone number.

Letters policy

April 8 2 0 0 4

Readers with dis-abilities mayrequest an alter-native format ofthis publicationat The PanAmerican busi-ness office. For special assis-tance to attendany event listedin this publica-tion, contact thecoordinator of theevent at least oneweek prior to theadvertised date.

Sports EditorEd Chrnko

[email protected]

A & E EditorOmaira [email protected]

News EditorClarissa Martinez

[email protected]

Graphics EditorDaniel Aguilar

[email protected]

EditorArianna Vazquez

[email protected]

OPINION l e t t e r s ■ e d i t o r i a l s ■ c a r t o o n sPAGE 2

Dear Editor,

The article about the "Passion" was the most rude andoffensive article I ever read, I feel I speak for thousands ofstudents when I say that you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Worst of all is your timing. Remember next week is GoodFriday and Easter. I will not rest until I see to it that this kindof injustice and blatant disregard for the religion of billionsceases. There will be a reckoning and you will answer for youractions.

Phillip Winger

Dear Editor,

Just wanted to congratulate you on such an entertaining andcreative issue of The Pan American today. We need a littlelevity at this time of the semester. It’s a great issue!

Juanita E. Garza, History Lecturers

Editor,

I think the Pan American April Fools edition was a mistaketo get published. Nobody thought the articles were funny,especially with the picture of the two masturbators on page 3.

P.S. I enjoy reading the true Pan American. What needs to beadded in my opinion, is a section where students can writeabout anything about student life.

Juan Flores

Dear Editor,

Congratulations on the best issue yet of the PANAMERICAN. It is a joy to see deep, hard hitting, no-holds-barred stories that tell the truth about the university and worldevents. The depth of your journalistic endeavors is to becommended. These young, idealistic students sere as great rolemodels or the jaded old journalists that populate and polluteour professional media's evil empire.

Marian Monta

CCAALLEENNDDAARR

P a n A m e r i c a n D a y s 2 0 0 4A p r i l 1 3 - 1 6

April 13Keith Harer Senior Staff

Attorney, Native AmericanRights Fund

Student Union Theater, Noon

South Texas Indian DancersUTPA Ballroom, 7 p.m.

“Perspectives on the foundingof The Pan American Union”Speakers: Dr. Angela Vergara

and Dr. Michael FaubionSBC 101, 10:35 a.m.

“Latin American Professionalsin South Texas”

Speakers:Leo Montalvo-Mayorof McAllen, Adele Licea-

Kinesiology, Dr. Raul Pinto-Medical Doctor

BA 113, 2:30 - 4 p.m.

April 14Lazaro Cadenas Batel

Media Theater7 p.m.

April 15“The Shaman’s Path in Hichol

Indian Culture”Speaker: Dr. Stacy Schaefe-California State University

SBS 125,10:35 a.m.

Sandra Levinson ExecutiveDirector of The Center for

Cuban StudiesStudent Union Theater

Noon

“Higher-EducationInstitutions at Both Sides of

the Rio Grande”Speakers: Dr. Jose Barragan

Codina-Universidad Autonomade Nuevo Leon, Dr. Angelica

Cortes-moderator

Capoeira DemonstrationXochitl Room, UC 122

6 p.m.

Valley Symphony Ensembleand Reception

Student Union Theater6 p.m.

“Contemporary Cuba”Speakers: Ms. Sandra Levinson,

Dr. Gary MouceSBS 109, 7:10 p.m.

For more information you cancontact the Office of

International Programs.


Team W - D - L GF:GA PTSChiapas 10 - 2 - 1 27:14 32U.N.A.M. 8 - 4 - 1 27:13 28Guadalajara 7 - 2 - 4 15:15 23Toluca 5 - 4 - 4 19:8 19América 5 - 4 - 4 23:20 19Necaxa 4 - 5 - 4 17:15 17Club San Luis 3 - 4 - 6 13:21 13Irapuato 5 - 3 - 5 16:24 18Monterrey 2 - 8 - 3 17:16 14Tigres 4 - 2 - 7 24:26 14U.A.G. 3 - 2 - 8 23:30 11Querétaro 3 - 7 - 3 19:21 16Atlas 5 - 5 - 3 21:18 20Pachuca 5 - 5 - 3 19:19 20Puebla 4 - 4 - 5 20:16 16Atlante 3 - 5 - 5 18:21 14Santos 5 - 1 - 7 19:18 16Veracruz 3 - 5 - 5 17:20 14Cruz Azul 3 - 3 - 7 18:23 12Morelia 4 - 3 - 6 17:21 15

Group I Group II20 - Atlas 28 - U.N.A.M.20 - Pachuca 19 - América19 - Toluca 16 - Santos16 - Puebla 16 - Querétaro14 - Monterrey 11 - U.A.G.

Group III Group IV32 - CHIAPAS 23 - Guadalajara15 - Morelia 18 - Irapuato14 - Tigres 17 - Necaxa13 - San Luis 14 - Atlante12 - Cruz Azul 14 - Veracruz

Week 13 results April 3-4: Tigres 2,U.A.G. 1; Morelia 3, América 6;Guadalajara 4, Cruz Azul 3; Necaxa 0,U.N.A.M. 1; Toluca 2, Veracruz 3; Puebla6, Irapuato 0; Pachuca 1, Atlas 1; Atlante 2,Santos 1; Querétaro 4, Monterrey 4;Chiapas 4, San Luis 2.

Week 14 schedule April 10-11: Veracruzvs. Guadalajara; Monterrey vs. Tigres;Cruz Azul vs. Necaxa; San Luis vs.Pachuca; Atlas vs. Morelia; U.N.A.M. vs.Puebla; Irapuato vs. Atlante; Santos vs.Chiapas; U.A.G. vs. Toluca; América vs.Querétaro.

Pumas-Tigres PreviewFútbol Mexicano

Marioni

IñiguezAugusto

Fonseca

Verón

López

Beltrán

Bernal

Galindo

Pineda

Castro

Defense Offense

Pumas

Pumas vs. TigresHead-to-Head

Season Results WeekInvierno 97 Pumas 4 - 2 Tigres 9Verano 98 Pumas 2 - 0 Tigres 9Invierno 98 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 16Verano 99 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 16Invierno 99 Tigres 3 - 1 Pumas 13Verano 2000 Tigres 2 - 0 Pumas 13Invierno 2000 Pumas 3 - 1 Tigres 15Verano 2001 Tigres 2 - 0 Pumas 15Invierno 2001 Pumas 1 - 0 Tigres 10Verano 2002 Tigres 1 - 0 Pumas 10Apertura 2002 Pumas 3 - 2 Tigres 12Clausura 2003 Pumas 2 - 2 Tigres 12Apertura 2003 Pumas 1 - 1 Tigres 10Clausura 2004 Pumas 2 - 1 Tigres 10

Pumas Clausura 2004

Schedule / Results

Date Pumas Score W-T-LJan. 18 at América T 1-1 0-1-0Jan. 25 Atlas W 3-0 1-1-0Jan. 31 at San Luis T 0-0 1-2-0Feb. 2 Santos W 3-2 2-2-0Feb. 14 at Atlante W 4-2 3-2-0Feb. 22 Chiapas L 0-1 3-2-1Feb. 25 at Pachuca W 3-0 4-2-1Feb. 29 Morelia W 2-1 5-2-1March 7 at Querétaro T 3-3 5-3-1March 14 Tigres W 2-1 6-3-1March 21 at Toluca T 2-2 6-4-1March 28 Guadalajara W 3-0 7-4-1April 3 at Necaxa W 1-0 8-4-1April 11 Puebla NoonApril 18 Irapuato NoonApril 24 at Cruz Azul 5 p.m.May 2 Veracruz NoonMay 9 at U.A.G. 4 p.m.May 16 Monterrey Noon

Tigres Clausura 2004

Schedule / Results

Date Tigres Score W-T-LJan. 17 at Chiapas L 2-4 0-0-1Jan. 24 Pachuca T 3-3 0-1-1Jan. 31 at Morelia W 2-1 1-1-1Feb. 7 Querétaro L 1-2 1-1-2Feb. 14 Irapuato W 3-1 2-1-2Feb. 21 at Toluca L 2-3 2-1-3Feb. 25 Guadalajara W 4-2 3-1-3Feb. 28 at Necaxa L 1-2 3-1-4March 6 Puebla L 2-3 3-1-5March 14 at U.N.A.M. L 1-2 3-1-6March 20 Cruz Azul T 1-1 3-2-6March 27 at Veracruz L 0-1 3-2-7April 3 U.A.G. W 2-1 4-2-7April 10 at Monterrey 5 p.m.April 17 América 5 p.m.April 24 at Atlas 8:45 p.m.May 1 San Luis 5 p.m.May 9 at Santos 4 p.m.May 15 Atlante 5 p.m.

Mexican Soccer 101

The Mexican Soccer League iscomprised of 20 clubs and twotournaments, Apertura (opening)and Clausura (closing), are playedper year.

Each club plays 19 games pertournament and face each team inthe league one time per tourna-ment.

The league uses two forms ofstandings: overall and group.

The four group standings decidewho goes to the Liguilla or play-offs. Normally the top two clubs ineach group advance to the Liguillaalthough if a third place club has abetter record than a second placeteam, a wildcard spot can beobtained and the Liguilla wouldinclude a Repechaje or reclassifi-cation round.

The overall standings are used todetermine a league leader and aplayoff order.

The most popular clubs inMéxico are América, Guadalajara,and Cruz Azul, usually in thatorder.

A look back...1977-78 Final

First Leg, May 24, 1978Tigres 2, Pumas 0Estadio UniversitarioMonterrey, Nuevo LeónScoring:Tigres - Mantegazza (17’ and74’)Pumas - None.

Second Leg, May 26, 1978Pumas 1, Tigres 1Estadio OlímpicoMéxico, D.F.Scoring:Tigres - Mantegazza (59’)Pumas - Olivera (75’)

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, the homeof the Pumas, has a capacity of 68,000.

A brief history...Pumas

Founded: 1954Debut in First Division: 1962League titles: 1976-77, 1980-81, and 1990-91Runnerup: 1967-68, 1977-78,1978-79, 1984-85, 1987-88

Tigres...Founded: 1967Debut in First Division: 1974League titles: 1977-78, 1981-82Runnerup: 1979-80, Invierno2001, and Apertura 2003

Estadio Universitario is the home of Tigresand has a capacity of 52,000.

Hugo Sánchez playedwith Pumas for five sea-sons (1976-1981) beforemigrating to Spain wherehe won five scoring titles,four of them with RealMadrid. Sánchez playedone season with theDallas Burn in 1996 andretired in 1997.

Club GP W - T - L GF:GA DIF PTSPumas 15 8 - 3 - 4 25:21 +4 27Tigres 15 4 - 3 - 8 21:25 -4 15

Note: Head-to-head matches only includeshort-tournament season results that start-ed at end of the1995-96 full season. Tigresplayed in the First Division “A” during theInvierno 96-Verano 97 seasons. Hometeams in bold.

Sánchez

Suárez

Ruiz

BriseñoBalderas

Soares

Olalde

Campagnuolo

Rergis

Sancho

Gaitán

Offense Defense

Tigres

Striker Bruno Marioni of Argentina is in his first sea-son with the Pumas. He has 12 goals in 13 games.

AP Photo

It seems that in the last months, withfad diets and advertisements for weightloss pills, people have become moreaware of the increase in obesity andother related health issues.

With the nation and state taking stepsto a healthier living, The University ofTexas-Pan American is doing its part inpromoting fitness and wellness oncampus.

Gov. Rick Perry is challenging allTexans to get physically active byjoining the Texas Round-Up. As theProvost’s Initiative on CampusWellness, which directly targets facultyand staff, UTPA has been registered tobe part of this movement to a healthierliving.

“The initiative that we have startedthrough my office, is really to try andcreate a greater level of awarenessabout the need to engage in activitiesthat improve the health and well-beingof the members of the faculty andstaff,” said Provost and Vice Presidentfor Academic Affairs, Rodolfo Arevalo.

Arevalo explained that the reason

behind trying to host events in this areahas to do with thefact that in the lastthree years, therehas been a largemention in themedia about thegrowing lack offitness ofindividuals.Specifically, therehas been a numberof articles writtenabout the level ofobesity found inthe Rio GrandeValley. TheValley’s growingproblem withdiabetes has alsobeen linked todiabetes.

Health issuesare not the onlyreason that ismotivating theuniversity toconcentrate moreon fitness andwellness. The

university would also be losing moneyif faculty or staff were tomiss work due to healthrelated issues.

“We are trying to bothprovide education abouthealth and wellness aswell as the opportunityfor staff and faculty tobecome engaged inhealth and wellness[activities],” saidArevalo. “I think it isvery important becauselike any largeorganization, the abilityof the organization toreduce the amount ofdowntime because ofillness either by staff orfaculty helps us in termsof improving the qualityof life. However,indirectly it assists theuniversity because wehave less of an expensebecause people aregone.”

In terms of faculty

THURSDAYApril 8, 2004

An Inside Look:

■ News ............................................2■ A & E............................................7■ Sports ........................................16

T h e S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r o f T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Te x a s - P a n A m e r i c a n

PanAmerican

Days

See Page 2 & 7for details

EVENTS

High turnout for SGA electionBy CLARISSA MARTINEZThe Pan American

Wellness promoted by UTPA staff By ANGELA I. CANALESThe Pan American

See ROUNDUP page 12

Franco Caballero/The Pan American

SIGN UP— Freshman RubySaldaña and son Gabriel registerfor Tuesday’s wellness event at theQuad.

President/Vice PresidentMike Jones and Adrian Sandoval

803*Nathan Schwartz and NadyaMaldonado 764

Senators-at-largeBen Abbitt 968*Jose “Joe” Garcia 956*Lara Goins 919*Clarissa “Clari” I. Garza 1044*Cyntia “Cyn” Venegas 979*Angelia Barrera 843

Arts & HumanitiesOscar Garza 189*Business AdmistrationCarina C. Garza 177*Rebaca “Becky” Villanuela 166*

EducationNo candidates

Graduate SchoolNo candidates

Health Sciences & Human ServicesNo Candidates

Science & EngineeringDiana Elsa Ramirez 269*Joey Nochols 276*Maha Maglinao 260*Omar Jasso 258

Social & Behavioral SciencesNo candidates

Welness-Recreation CenterSupport 1401*Do not Support 217

Total Votes 1686Invalid Votes 34

Official results of the Student Government Associationelections, held on March 29, 30, 31, and April 1.Election results for The Student

Government Association are in,and the results are a bit surprisingto some.

According to ChristinaCarruthers, the days that were mostpopular for voting were highest onMonday and then again onWednesday. A total of over 1,600votes were received, and thatexpanded the administratorsexpectations, Carrutherscommented.

Although the campaigns took astep forward concerning creativity–campaign material included t-shirts promoting candidates andmessages in chalk lining thewalkways– a number of studentsstill did not have the motivation tovote.

“I didn’t get a chance to vote thisyear,” Alex Medina, a freshmandrama major said. “I was thinkingabout stopping at one of the posts,but I just never had the opportunitybecause I was busy with an examand things came up during theday.”

TIPA awardsIt was a weekend that applauded a year’s work

for student publications across Texas.The 2004 Texas Intercollegiate Press

Association held its annual convention in AustinApril 1-3. With dozens of universitiesrepresenting the pride of their publications, theUniversity of Texas-Pan American proved it canrun with the big schools.

Both The Pan American Newspaper and TheGallery Magazine won 3rd place Overall, awardshonoring the achievement a student newspaperand magazine has accomplished with the entireproduction process. This year’s award marks thehighest ranking the newspaper has accomplished.At the prior convention, the newspaper ranked 8thin its division.

But the newspaper isn’t the only studentpublication at UTPA that received awards at theconvention.

The Gallery, a literary magazine, took 2ndplace in Sweepstakes for winning several awardsfor photos, illustrations, and the cover design.Diana Corpus-Garza took third place for heraction photo titled “Pasale Toro,” Sonia Y.Salinas received honorable mention for her coverdesign, Esteban Ortiz won 3rd place for hisfeature black and white photo titled, “February.”

Illustrators for the magazine also won 1st and3rd places. Troy Stanley’s piece “InfiniteRegression” and Gustavo Fonsela Olivarez’s“Marianifa” took the honors, respectively.

As far as writing, in the poem category JavierL. Salazar took an honorable mention for hisentry “Kansas,” while Elizabeth V. Pena receivedthe same honor for her short story “The Gypsies.”

Established in 1909, TIPA is the oldestcollegiate student press association in the UnitedStates and includes various student newspapers,magazines, literary magazines and yearbooks. Theassociation is not limited to the print world. It isalso home to student radio and television stations.

This year nine Pan American staff members,and two Panorama Magazine members traveled toAustin and competed in the live competition.Arianna Vazquez and Edwina Garza won in live,timed events that required the reporters to coveran event and write an article in an hour.

Ed Chrnko submitted to TIPA a piece of workfrom The Pan American sports section andreceived an honorable mention for his sports pagedesign.

Texas Intercollegiate PressAssociation

Newspaper-Overall3rd Place

Pan American

Features Writing1st Place

Edwina Garza

Spanish News Writing2nd Place

Arianna Vazquez

Newspaper-Sports Page DesignSports Feature

Honorable MentionEd Chrnko

Happy Easter !

The NCAA men’s basketball championship,which was held in San Antonio, was not the onlymajor collegiate sporting event going on in Texas.

The Texas Relays, the premier track event in thestate, was held in Austin over the weekend and theUniversity of Texas-Pan American track and fieldteam took a handful of athletes to compete at thestate capital.

Track Head Coach Ricky Vaughn believes hiskids performed well, but also feels his team wasoverwhelmed by the competition.

“You have to learn to compete at the big meets.Overall we had an OK meet,” Vaughn said. “Wehave to find the positive and negative things fromthat meet and improve on them by our nextcompetition.”

Weslaco native and senior Hugo Cervantesfinished 18th in the 3000-meter steeplechase with atime of 9:52.75 and he looks to improve his time inthe meets to come.

“I missed qualifying for an NCAA Regional bytwo seconds last year so I want to qualify,”Cervantes said. “Texas Relays was a stepping stoneto get to my goal at the end of the season.”

Cervantes believes this meet was a learningexperience and now he knows what it takes tocompete at that kind of level.

“It was a good meet where you could see a higherlevel of competition so you can judge where youstand,” Cervantes said.

For senior Rashaad Ben it was a homecoming.The Austin native started slowly, but finished strongand hurdled his way to a second-place finish in hisheat and was 18th overall with a time of 14.35 in the110-meter hurdles.

Ben was happy with the simple fact that he got toreturn home and compete at a high level in front ofhis friends, family, and former teammates.

“I want to give big shout outs to Coach Rob,” Bensaid. “It was nice; it’s always good to run back atthe homestead.”

Ben stumbled out of the blocks and feels that inbig meets like this one you can not afford to haveany mistakes.

“The hurdles are a technical race anyway andlittle mistakes affect you,” Ben said. “You have tobe as perfect as possible.”

The Broncs will hit the road and travel to CollegeStation to participate in the Texas A&M InvitationalApril 10.

Coach Vaughn hopes the experience gained thispast weekend will help them compete at a higherlevel for the remainder of the season.

“This meet will be a big meet too,” Vaughn said.“It’s going to be a highly competitive meet. Thosewho competed this past weekend will be able tocompete at a higher level.”

The Valley will be the object ofinternational attention April 14 whenMexican First Division fútbol hits the areafor the first time in history with a friendlymatch between Pumas of UNAM andTigres of UANL at McAllen VeteransMemorial Stadium at 8 p.m.

Mexico City-based Pumas are currentlyin second place in the Mexican League’sClausura 2004 tournament standings withan 8-1-4 record, while Tigres is last

season’s runnerup.The Monterrey club had an impressive

run last year and boast Mexican soccer’smost supportive fans, however, they havebeen struggling this season and sport aless than impressive 4-7-2 record.

“It’s the first time that we’ve had asporting event of this magnitude come tothe valley,” said Omar Rodríguez, deputydirector of McAllen Parks and Recreation.

In January, the Texas Title Belt’sBoxing Series that included a specialappearance by Oscar De La Hoya luredover 6,000 fans to Dodge Arena inHidalgo, but it still does not come close towhat the exhibition fútbol or soccer matchbetween Pumas and Tigres signifies.

The only other professional sportingevent held in the Valley was in 1985 whenMcAllen hosted a USFL football gamebetween the San Antonio Gunslingers andthe Houston Gamblers. Jim Kelly was thequarterback for the Gamblers.

“This event is Division 1 soccer whichis the equivalent of Major LeagueSoccer,” Rodríguez compared. “It’s thetop level of that sport for that country. InMexico, it’s equivalent to our NFLseason.”

UNAM (National AutonomousUniversity of México) is led by legendarystriker turned Head Coach Hugo Sánchez,who is in his second stint with Pumas astechnical director.

“Hugo Sánchez is probably one of

Mexico’s biggest names as far as socceris concerned,” Rodríguez said. “Histeam is doing very well. I think peoples’expectations is to see some of thestarters of both Tigres and Pumas comeand play.”

“Hugol”, as he was known during hisplaying days played five seasons withPumas, migrated to Spain, and made abigger name for himself withinternational powerhouse Real Madridwhere he obtained five pichichis, orscoring titles, as well as the covetedGolden Boot that is awarded by UEFA,European soccer’s governing body.Sánchez scored 38 goals for RealMadrid in the 1989-90 season.

Tigres is led by Argentine HeadCoach Nery Pumpido, who steeredParaguayan club Olimpia to the 2002Copa Libertadores title, the mostprestigious club tournament in theWestern Hemisphere.

“Tigres is playing Monterrey thisSaturday, Pumas on Wednesday, andthen América,” Rodríguez said. “Sothey’ve got a pretty big week ahead.”

Although Tigres have not lived up tolast season’s performance and will havea busy week, they are not a club to beunderestimated. UANL have a potentoffense and are ranked second out of 20teams in the league in scoring with 24goals in 13 matches. Pumas are tied for

■ Soccer. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

■ Golf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

■ Sports Clipboard . . . . . 13

PAGE 16

SPORTSFútbol mexicano comes to Valley for first time

Courtesy of www.tigres.com.mx

Argentinean striker Walter Gaitán is one of Tigres’ most potent offen-sive weapons. Gaitán is one goal short of tying his 10-goal output oflast season when Tigres reached the Finals and was runnerup.

By ED CHRNKOThe Pan American

By MATT HALLThe Pan American

UTPA represent at RelaysSee FUTBOL page 14

Broncs tennis facetough week on road

The University of Texas-PanAmerican men’s tennis team (0-2conference, 6-6 overall) is on thebrink of being a serious contenderin the Southland Conference andwill be pushed to the limits thisweek with a slew of matches.

With the men’s team facing twoconference opponents this week,Lamar (0-3 conference, 2-11overall) and SoutheasternLouisiana (1-1 conference, 6-7overall), UTPA has anopportunity to jump ahead in theconference if they take advantageof their opponents’ records.

“We are ready for this weeksmatches,” said Assistant CoachKati Gyulai during a recentpractice at the UTPA Cox TennisCenter.

The Broncs’ current two-gameskid is not indicative to the waythat they have performed this

season. Sitting at .500 overall,the men have garnered a stamp oflegitimacy that should carry overinto conference play.

With more than half of theseason completed, Texas-PanAmerican will seek improvementin the win column of both themen’s and women’s teams.

In singles play, Gary Bianco(15-7), Oliver Steil (11-8),Jeremy Salvo (10-10), RehmanEsmail (8-7), Sebastian Aspillaga(7-5), Nik Porter (8-9), TomMangelschots (6-9) and ArmandoMartínez (1-7) will continue toimprove barring injury.

The duo of Bianco-Esmail (5-2)spearhead the men’s doubles. Therest of the men’s tandems will belooking to bring life into the wincolumn once this week is all setand done.

A possible factor that couldphysically be detrimental to

By STEE RAMÍREZThe Pan American

What: Fútbol MexicanoWho: Pumas of U.N.A.M. vs. Tigres ofU.A.N.L.When: Wednesday, April 14 at 8 p.m.Where: McAllen Veterans MemorialStadiumRecords: Pumas (8-4-1, 28 pts.);Tigres (4-7-2, 14 pts.)Last meeting: Pumas defeated Tigres2-1 on March 14 in Week 10 ofClausura 2004 tournament.Next match: Tigres vs. Monterrey inClásico Regiomontano, Saturday at 5p.m.; Pumas vs. Puebla, Sunday atnoon;.

vs.

See TENNIS page 14

april 8, 2004

Documents