october 25, 2012
DESCRIPTION
volume69number9TRANSCRIPT
panamericanonline.com
Keeping it GreekNew sorority blog post covers campus events
Volume 69, No. 9 October 25, 2012
Page 11
Page 10
Page 6-7
South Texas experiences first fear convention
Volleyball program improving with second-year coach
All the facts about national, state and local elections
Page 8
Candidate credentials
Horror Con
One-Year MBA
Growing with Yale
UTPA launches first accelerated program
Rotting Flesh Factory Rotting Flesh Factory Harlingen Haunt draws
Halloween fansPage 10
Funding for “Women’s health care” is not in and of itself an issue of great debate. It’s when the term is used as a euphemism for abortions, or referrals to abortion centers, that the issue becomes more grave. This is where the two sides of the issue really differ. Almost all valley doctors ac-cept Medicaid, so funding for genu-ine medical health care exists. From here, the discussion generally moves to “women’s rights” and “viability” or other such points, so its those points we should explore.
Let’s start with Viability or de-pendency. When determining the vi-ability of a life, what is taken into ac-count? Is it that the life is dependent on the mother? When does that de-pendency end? When in the womb? When out of the womb? At age 1yr? 5yr? 9Yr? College? The problem is, regardless of where the arbitrary line is drawn, we are discussing, in reality, the death of a child. A death decid-ed by that child’s mother.
Now let’s turn our attention to the child. The child is an indi-vidual, genetically distinct from the mother and father. The child is alive, that is to say, they are metabolizing . And they are distinctly human, not a monkey, not a dog. Make no mistake, the life destroyed is that of a unique individual now existing in this world.
But what about the women’s rights? The women’s right to choose (liberty rights) cannot supersede the child’s right to life. There is a reason that the decla-ration of independence says life, liberty, and the purist of happiness. There is a very critical and necessary order. You cannot have a liberty right without the right to life (you would be dead). It was wrong when the supreme court said that a white slave owner’s prop-erty rights were more important than a
black person’s liberty rights. They got it backwards. These rights, life and lib-erty, are recognized to be intrinsic, that is, to be within us because of the very fact that we are human and alive. No person gave them to you, they are yours by the nature of your very existence. To say that a woman’s right to terminate her child’s life is okay, is to say it is okay to own slaves.
We can discuss nuisances and guidelines and put arbitrary dates on when life begins till the cows come home, but when looked at through an objective, scientific, rational and unbiased lens, the only logical conclu-sion is that a metabolizing, genetically unique, genetically human life is cre-ated at conception. And that single human cell is just as deserving of his life rights (or health care) as is a lumpy collection of 16 trillion human cells. Any other conclusion is purely sub-jective and at the whim of the person declaring the definitions.
The McAllen Tea Party asks you to recognize the importance of intrinsic rights when. Only by us understanding and respecting these rights can we, as individuals, elect people worthy to represent us.
2 opinionOctober 25, 2012
The Pan American is the official student newspaper of The Univer-sity of Texas-Pan American. Views presented are those of the writ-ers and do not necessarily reflect those of the paper or university.
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We can discuss nuisances and guidelines and put arbitrary dates on when life begins...
but when looked at through an objective, scientific, rational and unbiased lens, the only logical conclusion is that... life is created at conception.
The controversy surrounding the funding for Women’s healthcare in my opinion is unnecessary. The Texas Women’s Health Program benefits over 100,000 low income women that cannot otherwise afford neces-sary health services. Amongst these 100,000 low income women are col-
lege students that are strug-gling to keep up with finances and stay healthy. In our own Hidalgo County there are around 66% of women between the ages of 18-39 that do not have insurance.
A few health services provided in-clude but are not limited to pregnancy preventive care, clinic breasts exams, and pap smears. In 2011 the WHP saved the state around $23 million by preventing over 8,000 births. Aside from saving money for the state the program is keeping women healthy and providing a security that they have somewhere to go if they are faced with a health issue. Women are being provid-ed with knowledge on how to prevent a pregnancy that can potentially hurt them in two ways, financially and emo-tionally. If a woman is not ready for all the duties and responsibilities that come with motherhood they should be
able to seek out information on how to prevent that situation. The safety and security of women should outweigh the politics that are surrounding the WHP.
The politics surrounding the WHP are centralized around “Planned Parent-hood.” Planned Parenthood is a health-care provider that assists more than half of the women enrolled in the Texas Women’s Healthcare Program. In our Hidalgo County there are very few alter-
native health care providers for women enrolled in the program to go to. It is safe to say that a lot of women will lose health care altogether if PP is cut.
The stigma that surrounds Planned Parenthood is that it is a place that provides abortions. Even though the PP in the Valley does NOT pro-vide abortions, it is being threatened to be cut from WHP. PP does not push the option of abortion on any-one. In fact, if women decide to go through with their pregnancies PP of-
fers prenatal care and if that clinic does not provide prenatal care they will refer women to a clinic whose primary focus is gynecology.
I am a struggling college student that has benefited from being a part of the Texas Women’s Health Program. The provider I chose to go to was Planned Parenthood. My education and my fu-ture are the most important things to me. In order to achieve my goals I need to make sure that I keep myself healthy. The WHP along with PP have made that possible for me. I am able to prevent many obstacles that keep my peers from graduating by going to PP and being ex-amined and taking measures to prevent any unseen obstacles.
In the end, the controversy of fund-ing WHP is unnecessary. Clearly the benefits of WHP outweigh the politi-cal agenda against PP. It comes down to these women needing a service that can only be properly accommodated by an organization that only wants the best for women.
The Pan American accepts letters of 300 words or less from stu-dents, staff and faculty regarding recent news-paper content, campus concerns or current events. We cannot pub-lish anonymous letters or submissions contain-ing hate speech or gratu-itous personal attacks.
Please send all letters to:thepanamerican
@gmail.com
Francisco Rodriguez / The Pan American
Letters to the Editor
In response to last week’s opinion: It is doubtful the “Daily Texan,” University of Texas at Austin, or any other reputable campus newspaper in the na-tion, would feature a one page “don’t vote” editorial. And no ar-ticle of equal length, supporting the good sense of voting? Where was fairness? Where were the Editors? Where was a competent Faculty Advisor?
Compliments to the artist, Franciso Rodriguez, for agreat cartoon. Interesting choice for the pro—vote “Angel”(President Obama) and the “don’t vote “Dev-il” (Governor Romney). Actu-
ally, the Republican Party is dev-ilishlytrying to suppress the vote, especially of ethnic minorities.Judges, appointed by an “unim-portant” President, by the way, have partially blocked those anti-democratic tactics.But, Republi-cans didn’t count on help from an ethnic minority, Mr. González. Way to go, Mr. “Apathetic, Angry, Abstaining AND Brag-ging About It.” Who needs Rom-ney’s millions when we got you?
A good course on logic might be needed. (Calling yourself Re-publican or Democrat is “sheer stupidity”)?Also, a few clichés might have been dropped. (“My
vote doesn’t matter”)? Some irrel-evant, non-sequiturs might have been left out. (“I have my own problems”). Forget blatant contra-dictions. (“I fail to ascribe impor-tance to elections” vs., VERY next paragraph, “I know elections are a big deal”). What of plain ol’ facts? (Gonzalez’s right wing mantra: “We live in a republic, not in a democracy.”)And need we men-tion lack of use of Grammatique? (“LIKE I mentioned before”). Just suggestions.
“Active, Semi-happy, and Voting,”
Victoria Zepeda and Agapito López, Political Science Seniors
Letter to the Editor : ‘Active, Semi-happy, and Voting’
‘Women’s health care’ and deadly euphemisms
Spotlight on women : Tea Party vs voxWHP controversy
unnecessary
The stigma that surrounds Planned Parenthood is that it is a place that
provides abortions. Even though the PP in the Valley does NOT provide abortions, it is being threatened to be cut from [the Women’s Health Program].
By Samantha MagdalanoVOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood
By James GarciaMcAllen Tea Party
Francisco Rodriguez/The Pan AmericanComic
the pan americanOctober 25, 2012 Page 3
COSTUME CONTEST
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the pan american October 25, 2012Page 4
the pan americanOctober 25, 2012 Page 5
THE PAN AMERICANTHE PAN AMERICAN October 25, 2012 October 25, 2012 Page 7Page 6
Barack Obama
Dale Henry
Alex RiosAlfredo Salinas
Keith Hampton
Marisa B. Perez
Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa
Nora Longoria
Don Willett
Sharon Keller
David M. Williams
Raul Torres
Tom Greenwell
Barbara Parker Harvey
Elsa Alcala
Paul Sadler
Ruben Hinojosa
Jill Stein
Chris Kennedy
Josh Wendel
David B. Collins
Mitt Romney
Christi Craddick
Robert Pena, Jr.
Sources: Gathered from candidates, websites and interviews to them or their representatives.
Carmen Gonzalez
Ciro Trevino
Irma Salazar Pena
Xavier Salinas
Jaime Solis
Barry Smitherman
Ted Cruz
Dale A. Brueggemann
Gary Johnson
Vivekananda (Vik) Wall
RS Roberto Koelsh
Lance Stott
Mark W. Bennett
William Bryan Strange, III
Jaime O. Perez
John Jay Myers
Ron Finch
The Pan American’s guide: 2012 ElectionsKnow the candidates, know their platforms, cast an informed vote
Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals
Member, State Board of Education, District 3
Texas Senator, District 20
Justice, 13th Court of Appeals District, Place 2
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 8
Railroad Commissioner
Legend:
President of the United States
National Democrat Republican LibertarianGreenState County City
School Board Trustee, Place 1
School Board Trustee, Place 6
School Board Trustee, Place 7Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2
Railroad Commissioner, Unexpired Term
Texas Senator
United States Representative, District 15
Pass the Green New Deal, an economic plan to create jobs and affordable housing
Forgive student debt
Universalize healthcare
Build a post-fossil fuel economy
Amend the constitution to state that corpo-rations are not people
Base foreign policy on cooperation with all nations
End wars, create jobs of the future and reform the tax code
Lead the world in college graduates by 2020
Expand access and lower costs to health care
Protect the environment, consumers and mineral owners
Partner with other entities to develop a plan for Texans’ water needs
Make sure the Railroad Commission is on site for cement surface casings
Safety of children (should not be negotiated)
Increasing future teacher pay
Accountability
Student performance
Pay increases for all employees
Advocates clean, renewable energy
Protect access to affordable healthcare
Economic development through energy, education and infrastructure investment
Rebuild the economy by supporting small businesses, strengthening banks, creating jobs
Protect funding of Pell Grants and Federal college loans
Provide veterans with health care and education
A United States Representative is a member of the House of Representatives. The House passes federal legislation with the U.S. Sen-ate. Other powers include the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach officials, and elect the U.S. President in the special case that there is no majority in the Electoral College.
The Railroad Commissioner regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, surface coal and uranium mining. Ironically, the office does not regulate railroads.
The Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, can tell the president that his/her actions are not allowed by the Constitution and can tell Congress that a law it passed violated the U.S. Con-stitution and is, therefore, no longer a law. It can also determine if the government of a state breaks a rule in the Constitution. It has ultimate (but largely discretionary) appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases.
End the two party-system
Cut wasteful spending
Smaller government through better management
Promote energy independence
Take care of the environment by making sure oil drilling is properly monitored
Bring home the troops
Lower taxes
End the War on Drugs
Downsize government
Reduce taxes
Appeal laws at the national level
Cut the deficit, increase access to domestic energy resources
Strengthen and simplify the financial aid system
Repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act
Ensure the Texas oil and gas industry is healthy
Oppose unnecessary federal regulation
Provide private property rights
Manage growth and the budget cuts
Implement internal audits to manage revenues and expenses
Save money and be more responsible as taxpayers
Continue legacy of academic excellence Stand guard on future employment and current employees should financial troubles arise
Work with administration to secure safety of students
Keep up with trends (like technology)
Provide developmental support for schools and students
More involvement with parents
Assist district in finding funding for an after-school children’s safety program
Relieve some of the money the state is holding on to
Keep up to date with technology, look beyond the administrative level
Independent
Wants more transparancy
Fairness in awarding contracts for school board-funded projects Fiscal responsibility
Develop a fiscal strategy
Reallocate resources for teaching levels (more tutors, higher quality education and higher quality students)
Incorporate district as part of community (city, University, county)
Provide stable, transparent regulation to the oil and gas industry
Secure energy independence by ex-tracting oil and gas from new areas
Protect the rights of property owners
Repeal Obamacare
Secure the borders
Smaller government
Protect 2nd Amendment rights
Encourage farmers to plant fruits, veg-etables and organic crops through the 2012 Farm Bill
Secure the border to stop spillover violence and illegal activity
Neida Vidaurri Rodriguez Bradford M. Condit
Justice, 13th Court of Appeals, Place 4
Gina M. Benavides Doug Norman
Justice, 13th Court of Appeals, Place 5
John Devine
Charles E. Waterbury
Tom Oxford
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 4
Michele Petty Nathan Hecht
Jim Chisholm Mark Ash
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 6
City Proposal: Civil Service would apply to Edinburg’s 21 career firefighters, put-ting in place a consistent process for hiring, promoting, granting seniority and implementing disciplinary action paid firefighters.
County Proposal: This will be a federal bond or loan that will allow a six-mile ditch to be built from the Edinburg river to a bay. Should the grant be ap-proved, 25 new projects will also be worked on. Due to rising urban areas (cities), water or hail no longer has the ability to go into drains which were built over 40 years ago for agricultural use. In case the Valley should receive another and more powerful Hurricane Katrina, we will be able to move the water to the bay and pre-vent the buildup of the water in the cities. This will be paid back with a $25 dollar increase on property taxes for 20 years for those who own property.
Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño Robert Caples
County Sheriff
Expose corruption
Put an end to nepotism in political system
Bring back old-fashioned law enforcement to fight crime on the streets
Continue improving community outreach program
Reduce violent crimes
Fight county corruption
Research by: Jaime Leal
THE PAN AMERICANTHE PAN AMERICAN October 25, 2012 October 25, 2012 Page 7Page 6
Barack Obama
Dale Henry
Alex RiosAlfredo Salinas
Keith Hampton
Marisa B. Perez
Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa
Nora Longoria
Don Willett
Sharon Keller
David M. Williams
Raul Torres
Tom Greenwell
Barbara Parker Harvey
Elsa Alcala
Paul Sadler
Ruben Hinojosa
Jill Stein
Chris Kennedy
Josh Wendel
David B. Collins
Mitt Romney
Christi Craddick
Robert Pena, Jr.
Sources: Gathered from candidates, websites and interviews to them or their representatives.
Carmen Gonzalez
Ciro Trevino
Irma Salazar Pena
Xavier Salinas
Jaime Solis
Barry Smitherman
Ted Cruz
Dale A. Brueggemann
Gary Johnson
Vivekananda (Vik) Wall
RS Roberto Koelsh
Lance Stott
Mark W. Bennett
William Bryan Strange, III
Jaime O. Perez
John Jay Myers
Ron Finch
The Pan American’s guide: 2012 ElectionsKnow the candidates, know their platforms, cast an informed vote
Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals
Member, State Board of Education, District 3
Texas Senator, District 20
Justice, 13th Court of Appeals District, Place 2
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 8
Railroad Commissioner
Legend:
President of the United States
National Democrat Republican LibertarianGreenState County City
School Board Trustee, Place 1
School Board Trustee, Place 6
School Board Trustee, Place 7Justice, Supreme Court, Place 2
Railroad Commissioner, Unexpired Term
Texas Senator
United States Representative, District 15
Pass the Green New Deal, an economic plan to create jobs and affordable housing
Forgive student debt
Universalize healthcare
Build a post-fossil fuel economy
Amend the constitution to state that corpo-rations are not people
Base foreign policy on cooperation with all nations
End wars, create jobs of the future and reform the tax code
Lead the world in college graduates by 2020
Expand access and lower costs to health care
Protect the environment, consumers and mineral owners
Partner with other entities to develop a plan for Texans’ water needs
Make sure the Railroad Commission is on site for cement surface casings
Safety of children (should not be negotiated)
Increasing future teacher pay
Accountability
Student performance
Pay increases for all employees
Advocates clean, renewable energy
Protect access to affordable healthcare
Economic development through energy, education and infrastructure investment
Rebuild the economy by supporting small businesses, strengthening banks, creating jobs
Protect funding of Pell Grants and Federal college loans
Provide veterans with health care and education
A United States Representative is a member of the House of Representatives. The House passes federal legislation with the U.S. Sen-ate. Other powers include the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach officials, and elect the U.S. President in the special case that there is no majority in the Electoral College.
The Railroad Commissioner regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, surface coal and uranium mining. Ironically, the office does not regulate railroads.
The Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, can tell the president that his/her actions are not allowed by the Constitution and can tell Congress that a law it passed violated the U.S. Con-stitution and is, therefore, no longer a law. It can also determine if the government of a state breaks a rule in the Constitution. It has ultimate (but largely discretionary) appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases.
End the two party-system
Cut wasteful spending
Smaller government through better management
Promote energy independence
Take care of the environment by making sure oil drilling is properly monitored
Bring home the troops
Lower taxes
End the War on Drugs
Downsize government
Reduce taxes
Appeal laws at the national level
Cut the deficit, increase access to domestic energy resources
Strengthen and simplify the financial aid system
Repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act
Ensure the Texas oil and gas industry is healthy
Oppose unnecessary federal regulation
Provide private property rights
Manage growth and the budget cuts
Implement internal audits to manage revenues and expenses
Save money and be more responsible as taxpayers
Continue legacy of academic excellence Stand guard on future employment and current employees should financial troubles arise
Work with administration to secure safety of students
Keep up with trends (like technology)
Provide developmental support for schools and students
More involvement with parents
Assist district in finding funding for an after-school children’s safety program
Relieve some of the money the state is holding on to
Keep up to date with technology, look beyond the administrative level
Independent
Wants more transparancy
Fairness in awarding contracts for school board-funded projects Fiscal responsibility
Develop a fiscal strategy
Reallocate resources for teaching levels (more tutors, higher quality education and higher quality students)
Incorporate district as part of community (city, University, county)
Provide stable, transparent regulation to the oil and gas industry
Secure energy independence by ex-tracting oil and gas from new areas
Protect the rights of property owners
Repeal Obamacare
Secure the borders
Smaller government
Protect 2nd Amendment rights
Encourage farmers to plant fruits, veg-etables and organic crops through the 2012 Farm Bill
Secure the border to stop spillover violence and illegal activity
Neida Vidaurri Rodriguez Bradford M. Condit
Justice, 13th Court of Appeals, Place 4
Gina M. Benavides Doug Norman
Justice, 13th Court of Appeals, Place 5
John Devine
Charles E. Waterbury
Tom Oxford
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 4
Michele Petty Nathan Hecht
Jim Chisholm Mark Ash
Justice, Supreme Court, Place 6
City Proposal: Civil Service would apply to Edinburg’s 21 career firefighters, put-ting in place a consistent process for hiring, promoting, granting seniority and implementing disciplinary action paid firefighters.
County Proposal: This will be a federal bond or loan that will allow a six-mile ditch to be built from the Edinburg river to a bay. Should the grant be ap-proved, 25 new projects will also be worked on. Due to rising urban areas (cities), water or hail no longer has the ability to go into drains which were built over 40 years ago for agricultural use. In case the Valley should receive another and more powerful Hurricane Katrina, we will be able to move the water to the bay and pre-vent the buildup of the water in the cities. This will be paid back with a $25 dollar increase on property taxes for 20 years for those who own property.
Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño Robert Caples
County Sheriff
Expose corruption
Put an end to nepotism in political system
Bring back old-fashioned law enforcement to fight crime on the streets
Continue improving community outreach program
Reduce violent crimes
Fight county corruption
Research by: Jaime Leal
Twenty-two years after receiv-ing her bachelor’s of business ad-ministration in accounting, UTPA alumna and Director of Auxiliary Services Leticia Benavides will hit the books once again, but this time for online courses un-der the University’s new acceler-ated master’s of business admin-istration program.
The new program, a year in the making, will offer students the opportunity to receive their MBA degree within one calen-dar year. UTPA faculty initiat-ed the program, according to Cynthia Brown, vice provost for graduate studies.
In the past, Benavides looked at many online MBA programs available at other universities. However, when UTPA developed the new program, she didn’t look any further and applied during the summer.
“I want to balance my time between family, work and educa-tion,” said Benavides, who graduat-ed from McAllen High School and first came to UTPA in fall 1984 for undergraduate work. “I real-ize that I will be dedicating numer-ous hours to my studies but at least I will do so from home and still be accessible to my husband and kids.”
“The accelerated MBA pro-gram allows for that flexibility but it also is an intensive program that, I expect, will be very challenging,” she said. “In order to balance fami-ly, work and school, I needed a pro-gram that would allow for versatili-ty in how I managed my time.”
Each of the program’s online courses will be offered in seven-week terms, with a one-week break after each course. Six terms will be offered within one calendar year.
The upcoming fall session will begin Oct. 24. The MBA program consists of 12 courses, totaling 36 credit hours. Courses include fi-nancial administration, marketing policy and management and so-cial media in business. Tuition for the accelerated degree program is $14,500. The program will require the same admissions criteria as the graduate degree offered on campus.
“It’s accelerated in terms of time. Through the program, you get to do in a week what you’d normally do in two, it speeds up a traditional MBA within a year,” said Dave Jackson, director of the
MBA program. “Online learning will be a huge boom for UTPA stu-dents and working adults, allow-ing them the comfort and flexi-bility to take their courses at their own convenience.”
The University will also of-
fer the master’s of education in ed-ucational administration along with the MBA this fall, includ-ing the master’s in public admin-istration set for spring. The mas-ter’s in accountancy is also expected to join the accelerated program in the future.
With 15 students enrolled for the first seven-week term for the ac-celerated MBA program, Jackson
says the number of applicants in the waiting line for the spring mod-ule is expected to grow.
“The demand for the new ac-celerated program is high,” Jackson said. “We started out with an av-erage number of applicants for the
first seven-week term since we didn’t have enough time to market the program.”
Jackson explains that students will receive the same quality of education as in a classroom, as cours-es are built online to help students keep up, using software programs such as Blackboard Learn.
“It won’t just be notes posted online; short instruc-tional videos will be upload-
ed through Tegrity as well,” Jack-son said. “As a finance instructor, my students will be able to see me solve problems step-by-step as they would in a classroom.”
While the online program is primarily targeted to working adults, to increase their ability to obtain an MBA degree in less time, it is not suited for everyone. UT-PA will continue to offer the tradi-
tional classroom MBA program on campus as well as online, both tak-ing an estimated two calendar years to complete.
“Some students will just pre-fer the face-to-face classroom envi-ronment,” Jackson said. “If you get behind three or four days, forget it, it’ll be difficult to keep up.”
With 97 percent of the en-rolled students from South Tex-as, Jackson hopes the accelerated MBA degree will serve and ben-efit students throughout the Val-ley’s geographically dispersed region who can’t always commute to and from Edinburg.
An MBA is the second most popular graduate degree in the na-tion, following a Master’s in Edu-cation, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
“A good portion of the appli-cants are engineers and medical doctors seeking to understand how to operate their own businesses. We also have working adults in the tra-ditional MBA program that want to make the switch to the accelerat-ed one,” he said. “They want to get in, get qualified and return to the job market as soon as possible.”
Amy Reyna is currently em-ployed, and has Career Services to thank for that.
The rehabilitative service major has used the UTPA pro-gram before, but this year, they offered something new for stu-dents like her looking for a job. Career Services, a UTPA program that provides career counseling to students, has a database on its website providing a list of all avail-able jobs on and off campus.
Previously, only work-study jobs were listed on the database. Because of this, only work-study students, those awarded financial aid to receive employment, had access to the database.
On the other hand, direct-wage students, those directly em-ployed by the University, didn’t have access. They had to personal-ly go out to find a job on campus.
Now, direct-wage jobs have been included on the database, meaning that direct-wage stu-dents now have access to it.
Reyna, who used the database to find a direct-wage job as an of-fice aid for the Library Writing
Center and as a Sophomore Aca-demic Mentor, sees the change as a big help for students.
“Before the database, I had to personally go to differ-ent departments to see if they had any jobs available, and a lot of the times walk away dis-appointed,” the Penitas native said. “Now that all the jobs are listed online, it’s so much eas-ier, you can tell who’s hiring. I even direct people to it.”
The changes, according to Career Services director Lourdes Servantes, are meant to help students receive more and better employment op-portunities on campus.
“There’s a lot of diverse career opportunities on campus and we don’t want students to miss out on that.” Servantes said. “The da-tabase will help students provide better job access.”
The idea was initially pro-posed by UTPA President Rob-ert S. Nelsen during the Fall 2011 convocation. After the proposal, the Career Services staff set out with a training schedule to have the new system in place by the current school year.
According to Nicole Pala-cios, assistant director, one reason why Career Services is interested in getting students employed on campus is to promote more uni-versity involvement with students through a career.
According to the Office of Institutional Research and Effec-tiveness, the 2012 UTPA reten-tion rate in 2011 for full-time freshmen who enrolled fall 2012 is 75.4 percent. The change in ca-reer services is designed to help improve this rate.
“There’s a lot of focus say-ing that the more a student is in-volved in a university, the more the student will stay until gradua-tion,” Servantes said. “We’re mak-
ing it with the hope that it will help with graduation and reten-tion rates for the University.”
According to Servantes, the system had fewer than 500 ac-tive members before the new database. Now, the system has processed 1,200 direct-wage em-ployees and 600 work-study stu-dents. Servantes estimates that by August 2013, Career Services will have processed 3,000 students.
Palacios hopes that more students take advantage of the program.
“We’re here to help students get to the end result of getting a job to get a complete college ex-perience,” she said.
October 25, 20128
Francisco Rodriguez/The Pan American
Before the database, I had to personally go to different departments to see if they
had any jobs available, and a lot of the times walk away disappointed.
- Amy ReynaUTPA Student
By Karen PerezThe Pan American
Career Services centralizes job postingsBy Jose Salvador IIIThe Pan American
UTPA unveils one-year mba
It’s accelerated in terms of time.Through the
program, you get to do in a week what you’d normally do in two, it speeds up a traditional MBA within a year.- Dave JacksonMBA program director
news
the pan americanOctober 25, 2012 Page 9
Mission native Jorge Cardenas makes the trip across the Valley to the Rotting Flesh Factory, with the rush of the previous year’s scare in mind.
“Last year was my first time coming. It was so cool,” he said. “The whole time you’re inside, you’re totally scared. There’s a lot of adrenaline in there.”
The Rotting Flesh Factory is an old building that looms in a seem-ingly deserted plaza, right across the street from a park. At night, the haunted house is lit only by a few street lamps and with John Car-penter’s Halloween theme song playing, gives off an eerie feel simi-lar to that of a horror film.
Although the Rotting Flesh Factory opens its doors at 8 p.m., people begin to arrive at 7 p.m. By 7:30, the line trails far down West Van Buren in Harlingen, where all that can be heard are unearth-ly shrieks coming from the inside.
Open every weekend in Oc-tober, the haunted house draws hundreds of Halloween enthusi-asts looking to experience the un-known. The excited crowd var-ies from pre-teens to middle aged, who flock to the Harlingen loca-tion from all over the Valley.
As the story goes, the patients in the factory have experienced sudden death, better known as “Voodoo Death,” which is brought on by intense fear. This Halloween, the Rotting Flesh Factory invites those daring enough to observe evil psychiatrist Dr. Wolf without be-coming another victim.
In line, visitors boast about their bravery and make bets with each other, promising to maintain their fearless façade. The crowd’s anticipation hangs as thick as the fog that greets visitors upon enter-ing the haunt. Off-duty police of-ficers are on call in case of trouble, and under a lonely street lamp, a woman offers henna tattoos.
Within the factory, Dr. Wolf is using methods like solitary con-finement, electroshock therapy and sheer force to test clinically insane patients in order to help them over-come their fears.
Several people waiting for the factory to open this past Saturday have been there more than once be-fore. Melissa Gomez, who was one of the first ones to arrive, also attests to the graphic details of the haunt.
“The little scenes in each of the rooms are awesome,” the Don-na native said. “It’s definitely worth it. The actors get really into it and scare you.”
The actors, referred to as the
Legion, not only work to scare in-side the haunt, but also entertain those waiting in line. Clad in cus-tom-made masks, detailed face paint and costumes sported as comfortably as if they were born in-to them, the monsters range from a deranged doll to a hoard of drool-ing zombies to an ax-wielding pig.
“Souls, bodies, everything is up for the taking. We’re going to get
what we want,” promised a tall and blood-smeared vampire, deeply en-grossed in his character.
The monsters are brought to life by the brush of Susanna Fan-tich, self-proclaimed “freak,” make-up artist and co-owner of the Rot-ting Flesh Factory, along with her husband and stepson, Marc and Eric Fantich.
The Fantich family purchased the Rotting Flesh Factory last year from previous owner John Cook. However, the trio is not new to this line of work. They used to run
Scream Factor with other partners before starting Dead Farm at Don-na’s Corn Maze, which they con-tinue to operate. After eight years of working with haunted houses, they felt they were ready to take Rotting Flesh to the next level.
“We have had rave reviews; a lot of our patrons have come back three times this year,” Susanna Fantich asserted. “It’s a very state-of-the-art haunted house. We’ve spared no expense in making it bet-ter and we just believe in putting on a really good show.”
At Fantich’s request, detailed information about what goes on inside the haunt will not be shared, since it would ruin the element of surprise for future patrons. None-theless, it can be said that visitors can expect to experience visual light
effects and temperature changes, as well as various scents and smells within the haunt. These mecha-nisms are meant to attack the sens-es, so that all visitors are locked in a constant state of fear.
“We want you to feel like you’re stepping into a horror mov-ie, where reality is suspended and you step in here to our dimension,” Susanna Fantich explained.
This ‘dimension’ created by Fantich and her team churned out groups of people that exited the haunt, running and out of breath. Almost all of them wore a clear look of relief to be out of the ter-ror trap.
“It’s just so real!” Melanie Loza-no of San Benito exclaimed. “It’s re-ally like being in a movie. I would definitely come again.”
Jennifer Garcia of Los Fresnos also recommended this haunt for anyone.
“You’ll get a really good scare and it’s definitely worth the mon-ey,” she said. “Everything was scary. There was non-stop suspense and a lot of things going on at once.”
Fantich attributes the success of the haunt to her team, noting that everyone they hired shares the
same love for scaring people, which shows in the camaraderie in the makeup room as they prepare for the night’s event.
Aside from operating the Rot-ting Flesh Factory and creating ghostly characters, Susanna Fan-tich is also a published author whose book, “A Cat’s Tale” came into print last week. She has a pas-sion for horror, and has been a fre-quent visitor to haunted houses all over the world. With this gathered inspiration, she shared some of the goals her team has in mind for the Harlingen haunt.
“We want to expand it into two rooms, and we definitely want to also keep it open to where it’s on a couple of times a year, not just for Halloween,” she shared. “We want to do a ‘Nightmare Before Christ-mas’ type thing, or a ‘Bloody Val-entine’ for February, where people can take a break from the holidays and do something different.”
Until then, the Rotting Flesh Factory is open every weekend in October, including Halloween night. Admission is $20 and the haunt is located on 602 W. Van Buren in Harlingen.
October 25, 2012 arts & life10
Elyssa “Dolly” Ramirez, an actress at the Rotting Flesh Factory in Harlingen, walks outside the venue to frighten costumers waiting to enter. The entry fee is $20 for any-body who dares to visit.
Souls, bodies, everything is up for
the taking. We’re going to get what we want.
Macabre menagerie
Adrian Castillo/The Pan American
Harlingen Haunt draws Halloween fans
'Pay to get in,
pray to get out'
Belen Diaz/The Pan American
-A tall, blood-smeared vampire, deeply engrossed in his character
Elvis was undead this weekend.
The rock and roll icon, whose death has been the subject of much debate among fans around the world, showed up this weekend at the McAllen Convention Center.
He arrived covered in blood, with a guitar strapped around his tattered jacket, and stood front and center on a makeshift stage adorned with cardboard tomb-stones and stuffed owls.
However, Zombie Elvis did not arrive to perform any of his hit ‘50s
songs. Instead he arrived to offici-ate the wedding between eight cou-ples. Actually an ordained minister named Matthew Rios, he arrived in costume as part of South Texas Hor-ror Con, held Oct. 19 and 20.
The zombie-themed wed-dings were part of the many events featured at South Texas’ first Hor-ror Convention, a two-day event that attracted a large gathering of fans of the macabre that sold 6,000 pre-sale tickets ranging from $25-75.
Attendees were treated to near-ly 150 booths from local businesses and sponsors, costume and tattoo contests and more. The event was
hosted by Ramsey Ramirez, a UT-PA alumnus who owns Kaboom comics in McAllen and is the edi-tor of the local entertainment mag-azine MagX.
Ramirez came up with the idea for the convention because he and his friends have attended several of them in cities like Austin, Dallas, and Chicago for the past 20 years. They noticed the Valley lacked a similar attraction.
“We figure that maybe 10 per-cent of the Valley has ever attended a convention outside of here,” said Ramirez, who graduated UTPA with a bachelor’s in graphic design.
Hordes of people zig-zagged through the exhibit hall, tak-ing photos as they browsed through the Halloween and horror themed booths.
Gerald and Lydia Penning-ton, Dallas natives who moved to the Valley two years ago, were one of the couples that renewed their vows at the themed expo.
The zombie groom, dressed in a shredded coat with grime covering his face, explained that he and Lydia have been married for 21 years, but couldn’t afford a ceremony at that time. He saw the gathering as an opportunity to make up for it.
Lydia, the blushing undead bride, was dressed in a dirty grey wedding gown that looked as if she had been buried and then ex-humed in it. She explained why they’re both fans of the genre.
“It’s a different reality and its a safe way to experience chaos,” she said. “It’s nice when you have a bad
day, and then you pop in a movie or read a book and see that someone is having a worse day than you are.”
The biggest draw for many at-tendees were the celebrity guests, which ranged from cult film stars like The Crow’s Rochelle Davis to Machete star Danny Trejo.
Horror Con also provided an opportunity for stars, such as The Walking Dead’s IronE Singleton, who portrays T-Dog, to meet fans.
“It’s always great to go out to places you’ve never even heard of before, and find fans,” Single-ton said. “The convention is really great, the people are great, honestly, I’m having a blast.”
South Texas hosts first horror conventionBy Jose S. De Leon IIIThe Pan American
Arturo Sustaita and Johnathan Martinez wander the South Texas Horror Con as clowns Oct. 19.
By Nina AvilaThe Pan American
COntinued OnlinepanaMericanonline.coM
11October 25, 2012
Sam Williams, pioneer of collegiate basketball in the late 1950s, the “Father of Broncs Basketball,” UTPA Hall of Fam-er and men’s basketball head coach emeritus, passed away Monday due to natural causes. He was 88.
“Williams was at the fore-front of integration and pre-sided over the most successful period of Broncs men’s bas-ketball so certainly he’s meant a lot to the program. He also gave the community a team to rally behind,” Athletic Di-rector Chris King said. “It is important to remember that Williams also taught for more than 30 years at Pan Am, so between his former players and students, there are countless people in the Rio Grande Val-ley today who were touched by Williams.”
Williams’ best-known leg-acy is that of his team winning the NAIA National Champion-ship in 1963, drawing attention to Pan American College. He was also awarded the NAIA Na-tional Coach of the Year award. The next year the Broncs played their way to the title game before losing, their third post-season ap-pearance in a row.
The Field House center court was rededicated in Wil-liams’ honor and he was named head coach emeritus, Nov. 20, 2010. Williams and UTPA Hall of Famer Al Ogletree are the only two coaches in school history to earn that exalted status.
“Sam Williams is one of the greatest coaches that ever worked at this institution. He’s the Father of Bronc Basketball,” King said. “He helped to lay the foundation that got this program to the NCAA Division I lev-el and allowed us to expand to where we are today.”
MORE THAN A COACHWilliams’ players always
saw their coach, who guid-ed Pan American from 1959-1973, as a father figure, the one to go to when they had problems on and off the court. He was respected by all.
“He was always there when you needed him, whether it be just a little bit of help with your studies or just with your family,” said Jim Board, who played for Williams in the mid-1960s. “He was always a big help. He helped my wife get a job.”
Board, who graduated from Pan American College in 1965
and was part of the ’64 title game finalist, credits his late coach for helping him finishing his college education at Pan American after Board decided to leave St. Ed-ward’s University.
Williams brought players from all over the nation, hail-ing from New York, Indiana and from different parts of Texas, such as Houston.
“He just put it all together. Everyone bought into his pro-gram,” Board said. “That made a bunch of guys just play together.”
According to Board, Wil-liams was ahead of his time. The UTPA Hall of Famer was one of the first coaches to integrate his team, welcoming black players onto the court in the late 1950s. Board recalls making a trip to Dallas with the team and not being allowed in restaurants be-cause of the black players.
“It just seemed like he did the right thing all the time,” Board said. “I’m sure there were some mistakes that he and every-body makes in their lifetime, but he put everything together.”
PAYING TRIBUTEMemorial services for Sam
Williams will be held Oct. 26 and 27. Friday’s gathering will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Kreidler Funeral Home, locat-ed at 314 N. 10th St. in McAl-len. The memorial service will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. also at Kreidler Funeral Home.
UTPA Athletics will host a special celebration in Williams’ honor during homecoming at the Field House Feb. 16, 2013.
In lieu of flowers, Williams’ family is asking that donations be made to the Sam Williams Endowed Scholarship fund. In-terested parties should make the check out to the UTPA Foun-dation, with “Sam Williams En-dowed Scholarship” in the memo and send it to UTPA Athletics at 1201 W. University Dr. in Edin-burg, 78539.
Carving the right path
Norma Gonzalez/The Pan American
Bronc leader setting winning ways for volleyball teammourning a legendFormer UTPA coach dies at 88By Norma Gonzalez The Pan American
Volleyball Head Coach Brian Yale hugs and thanks Debra Patterson after the UTB match Sept. 15. Patterson, who is Krysta Freitas’ grandmother, presented the team, Coach Yale, Andrew Haring and Chris King with gifts and leis from Hawaii.
There’s a new aura sur-rounding the UTPA volleyball team. Maybe it’s the fact that more and more fans are fillings once-empty seats during home matches, or perhaps it’s the new behemoth of a scoreboard add-ed onto the west section of the Field House that is creating a new buzz.
OK, maybe not the lat-ter, but the Broncs are proving that they are no longer a push-over. Something about the vol-leyball program gives the impres-sion of the tide finally turning for UTPA.
The person most credit for that is none other than second-year head coach Brian Yale.
“It’s a slow process, but we’re trying to set a winning mentality,” Yale said. “I know this program’s never even been .500 in conference. We’re looking at (a) 4-4 (record) or something at-tainable, that’s what we have in mind. We’re close (to that goal).”
The Houston Baptist Huskies (16-10, 4-1 GWC) swept the Broncs 3-0 at the Field House on Saturday, but don’t let loss to misguide you. The Broncs had not been at .500 or bet-ter since 2010 when an Angela Hubbard-coached team went 2-1
through the first three weeks of the program’s second season as a Great West Conference member. UTPA ended 4-8 in league play that year.
The recent loss to the Hus-kies set the Broncs back to 2-2 in GWC play and 9-14 overall - still a major improvement since last year’s 7-24 season that featured only one conference win.
The Broncs have been 9-30 the past four years, not achieving a home record of at least .500 since 2008’s 4-4 sea-son. A stable record, along with a change in personality in his players, is what has characterized Yale’s squads.
“They see the progress and they see how far we’ve gotten. We have won much more than we did (at this point) so this is prog-ress,” Yale said before the match against the Huskies.
Yale, who took over as head coach in 2011 after six sea-sons as an assistant at Stephen F. Austin, has achieved this prog-ress with only three seniors on the team; the majority of the ros-ter has kids he personally recruit-ed. Yale will have some of these key players for another two to three years.
Last year he saw his younger players com-mit repetitive mistakes in crucial parts of match-es. Now, he’s seen less and less of what he calls ‘freshman matches.’
“Our sophomore class definitely got expe-rience. Krysta (Freitas) and Diara (Reynolds are) looked at to play a bigger role,” Yale said. “Haley (Durham) has stepped in as a freshman. She had
some incredible matches for us. She hasn’t had many freshman matches, where she’s worked out of sorts.”
Still, the lone seniors on the team - libero Juri Franzen, outside hitter Ijanae Holman and middle blocker Sarah Davis - are the stalwarts on an underclass-men-laden team.
Yale says the burden may fall on them to win in their last year, but it’s something they have taken in stride.
“They’re our senior lead-ership core. They’re a big part of that. Everyone has their own role (and) it may change day to day, match to match,” Yale said. “They’re feeling that urgency, as the season goes on, that last mer-ry-go-round.”
Another change for the team has been the sway of crowds at the Field House, playing a big-ger role as a 12th man. Last sea-son, the Broncs average 226 fans in 10 home games; the biggest crowd was 563 in a sweep loss against Utah Valley. This season’s home opener on Aug. 28 against Texas A&M-Corpus Chris-ti (UTPA lost 3-1) drew 1,218 fans, while the next two games pulled in more than 1,000 spec-tators. The fact that the team is now winning is a huge contribu-tor to the bigger crowds.
Add that to the nucle-us of the team and for once, the Broncs appear be headed in the right direction.
“It’s a great crowd,” Yale said. “It’s a plus, we’re drawing crowds, but we’ve put an excit-ing product on the floor. We got a strong core that’s played volley-ball.... our future looks good.”
UTPA has four remaining GWC games, only one at home against NJIT on Nov. 1, and closes out the season on the road at HBU nine days later.
By Alex E. PeñaThe Pan American
Courtesy PhotoEveryone has their
own role (and) it may change day
to day, match to match. They’re feeling that urgen-cy, as the season goes on, that last merry-go-round.
- Brian YaleHead coach
Sam Williams
the pan american October 25, 2012Page 12
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