Christmas is fast ap-proaching, but stores began stocking gift items and deco-rations months ago. Christ-mas shopping has become something akin to an Olym-pic sport, with Black Friday being the biggest event.

Everyone has heard the horror stories of middle-aged women fist-fighting over a blender, or of people being literally trampled as the doors to a Wal-Mart opened.

With stores opening ear-lier on Thanksgiving and closing later on Christmas Eve each year in addition to extended holiday hours, retail workers have to work longer shifts and more of them.

Freshman Kevin Hackler, who works at Old Navy in Rogers, said he usually works four-hour shifts, but during the holidays he often works eight hours at a time. He worked one shift at midnight Black Friday and another lat-er in the day, plus the week-end after Thanksgiving, he said. Hackler said he would

have been fired if he didn’t work these shifts.

Junior Moses Gomez, who worked as a cashier at Wal-Mart during the holidays last year, said he had to work Sat-urdays and Sundays in addi-tion to his hours during the week. He said he could only work nights because he had class all day, which made studying for finals a night-mare.

“I remember having to study while I was working and my boss got on to me for studying and I just thought, ‘shoot, I can’t do anything,’” Gomez said. “If I had a test the next morning, I would have to stay up until 2 a.m. at least or have no sleep in order to do well on the test.”

On top of making school-work difficult, working retail during the holidays is a diffi-cult job on its own.

Stores are much busier in December, with checkout lines wrapping around the store, Hackler said. Custom-ers can also be more difficult.

“The people are really nitpicky about the sales and everything,” Hackler said. “They’re like ‘I thought it said this!’ and I’m like ‘well, no.

I can get someone to check that but I work cash rack so I don’t really know what all the prices are. If it’s ringing up as this, it’s probably this.’”

Retail workers have to deal

with double the normal amount of angry people during the hol-iday season because people are more stressed and hurried, said senior Ashley Wheelus, who is a manager at Wal-Mart.

Working Black Friday is terrible and crazy because there are an entire day’s worth of people in the store in just an hour, Gomez said. He said he was stationed at

a specific register and given a bunch of special codes in order to ring items up cor-rectly.

University of Arkansas Student-Run Newspaper Since 1906Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015 Vol. 110, No. 15

PAGE 4

Shelter Rates to Double As temperatures drop in winter months, the number of homeless staying at the Salvation Army doubles.

PAGE 7 PAGE 9

Former Bus Driver Remains in TouchFormer UA bus driver Carl Durrett stays friends with students who rode his Pomfret Express route.

Football Wraps Up Regular SeasonDespite a shaky start, the Hogs finished 7-5 and won five of their last six games.

While some students stand with Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s attempt to block Syrian refu-gees from entering Arkansas, others expressed strong dis-agreement with his stance.

Hutchinson, along with more than two dozen other governors, said that he will not allow refugees to come to Arkansas following the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13. Most of the governors, in-cluding Hutchinson, said the reason is concern about the potential for terrorists to slip under the radar.

Brock Hyland, College Re-publicans president, said he is in agreement with this stance.

“Under normal circum-stances I would not side with any governor attempting to ban immigration from spe-cific ethnic groups, but to-day’s circumstances are not normal,” Hyland said.

However, some students are less than ready to accept Gov. Hutchinson’s response to the immigrant crisis.

“I think Gov. Hutchinson’s response to the refugee crisis is disheartening,” graduate student Nathan Watson said. “We’re a nation built on im-migrants with the notion of a better life for everyone. It’s

disappointing to see the gov-ernor take a political stance when innocent lives are at risk.”

As governors continue to declare that refugees will not be accepted into their states, opinions vary on whether or not this is commendable.

“The goal is not to cause racial tension or to persecute a group of people, but to pro-tect our borders, schools, citi-zens and democracy,” Hyland said. “Safety is No. 1 and we must keep that in mind.”

The debate that continues to rage in most circles is that of safety versus sanctuary. That is, whether the govern-ment has a responsibility to protect those who are dis-placed by war and misfor-tune.

Watson said he thinks the governor should help the ref-ugees.

“I think each governor has a responsibility to the people of their state to govern how they see best fit, but I can’t help but see these moves as governing from fear or politi-cal opportunity,” Watson said. “It is sad to see that so many governors have called for a rejection of refugees though.”

Another argument that is prevalent among those who want to bar immigrants

Students share opinions on refugees in Arkansas

Angelos LambisStaff Reporter

Police say scooters are easy to steal, on-campus thefts up 80 percent

There have been 45 re-ports of stolen scooters on UA property since January, an 80 percent increase from the 25 reports in the 2014 year.

Scooter theft is the most common motor vehicle theft in Fayetteville,Fayetteville PD Sgt. Craig Stout said.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the most common crime in Fay-etteville, but it is certainly one of the most popular,” Stout said. “We get multiple reports each week.”

Scooters are easy to steal because of their size, UAPD Capt. Gary Crain said.

“If they’re not bolted to the ground, people can just pick them up and put them into the bed of a truck,” Crain said.

One student said he thinks this is how his scooter was stolen.

“My scooter was stolen five days after I bought it,” sophomore Phillip Sais said. “I walked outside of my apartment one day, and it was gone.”

After he found out his mo-

tor scooter was stolen, Sais said he looked for it around his apartment complex with his roommate.

“After we were positive it

was gone, we gathered the information and went to the police,” Sais said. “We got lucky and found a police offi-cer at a gas station. He helped

us file the report and told us he would contact me if they found anything.”

Shelby EvansSenior Staff Reporter

continued on page 3

Devynne Diaz Staff PhotographerScooters are being stolen from student parking lots, often from lots far from campus.

continued on page 3

Page 6

CommunityShows Support

for Veterans

Wal-Mart is one of the many stores where students work over the holidays. The season means more custom-ers for the stores and more hours for the students.

Frederick Cochran Staff Photographer

continued on page 6

Students work more hours at retail jobs during holiday seasonSydne TurskyStaff Reporter

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper

Page 2 Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015

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UofA ranked on ‘Best for Vets’ list

Organizations have recog-nized the UofA as a military-friendly university, but one organization is giving the UofA this recognition for the first time.

The UofA was ranked No. 41 on the “Best for Vets: Col-leges 2016” list in the Mili-tary Times, said Erika Gam-boa, director of the Veterans Resource and Information Center.

The Military Times de-termines rankings based on a survey, according to their website.

Additionally, they pulled information from the U.S. Department of Veterans Af-fairs, U.S. Department of Defense and three education department databases for information on everything from veteran-related policies to average salaries after grad-uation, according to the site.

The Military Times asks several questions, Gamboa said.

“They compare everything from our total student popu-lation to our student veteran population,” Gamboa said.

Among other things, the Military Times asks if there is a center for military-affiliated students, whether or not the school works with depen-dents or service members and if there are counselors avail-able.

Air Force ROTC cadets, veterans, dependents and those on active duty are all considered to be military af-filiated.

“There are a lot of compo-nents that a military-friendly campus should have,” Gam-boa said.

There were 175 schools on the 2016 list, according to the website.

“I’ve always wanted to be in the military,” said junior Daniel Hendrix, an Air Force ROTC cadet. “But Air Force is a lot easier on your family.”

With other jobs, people get hired and fired repeatedly whereas in the military, it is not about being just a num-ber, Hendrix said.

“Because of UofA, I’ve made a lot of connections with the Air Force ROTC,” Hendrix said. “I’ve gotten so

many internship opportuni-ties that other students might have to do an interview for.”

Air Force ROTC cadets and veterans also get dis-counted or free football tick-ets sometimes, Hendrix said.

The Military Times is not the only organization that has recognized UofA for being a military-friendly campus.

Victory Media gave UofA a survey to take as well, Gam-boa said.

Though Victory Media had no ranking for their sur-vey, UofA still received the 2016 military friendly school designation, Gamboa said.

“We’ve had that designa-tion of being military friendly for six or seven years,” Gam-boa said.

Victory Media measures whether or not an institution is military friendly by assess-ing the military recruiting program of each institution, according to Victory Media’s website.

Out of 94 schools, the UofA ranked top 10 for Vet-Success on campus, a collab-orative program that connects VA counselors to veterans on campus, said Brian Burgess, a VetSuccess on-campus coun-

selor and a veterans rehabili-tation counselor.

“We do quite a few surveys so we can make sure we’re right where we’re supposed to be,” Gamboa said. “I believe our numbers are getting con-tinuously better.”

The university’s programs and services are seen as one of the best throughout the na-tion, Gamboa said.

The UofA keeps adding to these programs, but it is not all about ranking, Gamboa said.

“We do it so that our stu-dents receive the best services possible so they can succeed,” Gamboa said.

Some programs and ser-vices that the UofA offers are specific to military-affiliated students, Gamboa said.

The UofA offers resources and veteran programs, reme-dial services, advising and fi-nancing to keep students on the right track. Gamboa said.

“We don’t only work with our students on campus,” Gamboa said. “We work with any service member and their family who wants to come to college regardless if they’re on campus or online.”

When it comes to enroll-

ing, the UofA is very flexible, Gamboa said.

Students can be in a lot of different situations, but the university works with them so they can finish their de-gree, Gamboa said.

The employees that work closely with military-affili-ated students do their best to meet the needs of the stu-dents, Gamboa said.

“The university gives a lot of support to veterans to help them make that transition to college and academic life,” said Lt. Col. Buster McCall, who works closely with Air Force ROTC cadets.

The UofA is a place where veterans can come together and be around other veterans, McCall said.

Additionally, an Air Force ROTC cadet can have a sense of belonging when they come to UofA, McCall said.

“A bunch of like-minded people come together and can identify with others as people who want to serve their na-tion,” McCall said.

There is also an Air Force ROTC living learning com-munity and around 25 room and board scholarships, Mc-Call said.

Meleah PerezSenior Staff Reporter

Adams Pryor Photo EditorThe UofA was ranked No. 41 by the Military Times on the “Best for Vets: Colleges 2016 list.” Lt. Col. Buster McCall of ROTC said the university provides lots of support to veterans.

RIC representatives vote to cut bottled water at events

The Residents’ Interhall Congress adopted a policy Nov. 9 to “Ban the Bottle” within the organization, meaning that the group can no longer buy bottled water with RIC money.

Sustainability Director Kenneth Hamilton spear-headed the movement. He spoke to RIC members at their meeting before they de-bated and voted on the issue. The organization voted in fa-vor of the policy, thus putting it into effect.

Hamilton said his main reasoning behind his sup-port of the campaign is based in the cost of water bottles as opposed to the cheapness of tap water.

“Tap water and bottled water go through the same health and safety regulations, and if people truly want to claim that bottled water tastes better, the easy solution is to simply buy a tap-water filter,” Hamilton said. “It’s a solution that, in the end, saves you a lot of money.”

The UofA is new to the Ban the Bottle scene, but this organization has been around since 2009, when the Univer-sity of Winnipeg in Canada banned the on-campus sale of plastic water bottles, ac-cording to the Ban the Bottle website.

“More than 70 schools across the nation have already successfully run campaigns such as this to ban or partial-ly ban bottled water sales on campus,” Hamilton said. “And I want the UofA to be the next one.”

The RIC will be working with the Associated Student Government and the Student Sustainability Club to imple-ment this campaign on campus and to stir student awareness of conservation on campus.

Freshman Kellie Audrain said she was supportive of the bill.

“It makes sense and it’s a way for the RIC to have more money for other things,” Aud-rain said. “So I guess it’s a good way to cut back on the trash production.”

Freshman Blakeley Yancey said she thinks most students do not want to drink water.

“I don’t know that it would work if water weren’t easily ac-cessible, especially since most students would prefer some-

thing besides water,” Yancey said. “Maybe organizations could hand out reusable wa-ter bottles instead of plastic ones.”

The Ban the Bottle web-site has a host of facts about the pollution caused by water bottles, and there are tools available for people to start their own Ban the Bottle cam-paigns.

Making bottles to meet America’s demand for bottled water uses more than 17 mil-lion barrels of oil annually, not including the oil used for transportation, according to the Ban the Bottle website.

Hamilton used statistics from to defend the Ban the Bottle campaign. US citizens spend $11.8 billion on 30 bil-lion water bottles annually, and the cost of one bottle of water is about $1.45, accord-ing to Statistic Brain Research Institute Website.

Hamilton cited the cost of water bottles versus tap water to show that the RIC will be saving a lot of money by us-ing re-usable bottles instead of one-time-use bottles. He wants this effect, as well as the con-servation benefits, to spread to the rest of the campus.

“The actual legislation itself simply states RIC’s opinion on the matter and bans the purchase of bottled water with money obtained through RIC, but we’re not stopping there,” Hamilton said. “ This is just a first step.”

Jordan WhiteleyStaff Reporter

“It’s a solution that in the end saves you a lot of money.”

Kenneth HamiltonRIC Sustainability Director

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015 Page 3

ASG members pass bill to expand grade forgiveness

Members of Associated Student Government passed a bill Nov. 11 that would ex-pand the university’s grade forgiveness policy, the co-author of the bill said.

The intent of the legisla-tion is to increase the grade forgiveness policy from D’s and below to B’s and below. This means that students who receive a B or below in any of their classes would have the opportunity to re-take the course and replace their grade.

The bill is the result of the Finish in Four Initiative that ASG President Tanner Bone is trying to implement, said Bridget O’Shaughnessy, co-author of the legislation. The initiative aims to create and amend academic poli-cies to improve students’ academic performance, so more students graduate in four years, compared to five or six, she said.

Junior Bryton Thomp-son said he agreed with the policy.

“I really don’t see any downsides to it,” Thomp-son said. “Giving students that ability to retake classes would be a huge benefit to those who really want to put in the effort.”

O’Shaughnessy met with multiple faculty members, including the provost and Vice Provost Terry Martin, who approved of the initia-tive, she said.

O’Shaughnessy will meet with the chair of the Faculty Senate and will be working with the body in the coming months to potentially enact this policy for the 2016-17 academic term.

Many universities have grade forgiveness poli-cies that are more liberal than the one at the UofA, O’Shaughnessy said.

“I do think that the cur-rent policy requires some revision considering oth-er Southeastern Confer-ence schools, some Big 12 schools and some Big Ten schools have policies that al-

low their students to utilize grade forgiveness if the stu-dent did not receive an A in the course,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Some of these schools, like Vanderbilt for example, are still academically rigor-ous institutions with high graduation and retention rates.”

Students said that ex-tending the current policy to both B’s and C’s would be a positive change.

“Personally, I would have just added C’s to our current policy at first, but I think it was really smart of them to add B’s,” Thomson said. “If a student didn’t do as well in a class as they would have liked. they should be al-lowed to retake it.”

While the updated policy will allow more students to take advantage of grade for-giveness, there will still be restrictions on how many times a student can utilize the program. The grade forgiveness policy stipu-lates that students can only use grade forgiveness twice during their time in college, O’Shaughnessy said.

“I think it’s important to keep it limited to two attempts so students don’t see grade forgiveness as an excuse not to try and get it right the first time,” she said. “This policy is effective in terms of improving gradu-ations rates, and students aren’t here indefinitely redo-ing courses.”

Some students are seeing how this can fit into the uni-versity’s plan to raise reten-tion rates.

“I can see how this would improve our gradua-tion rates,” Thompson said. “People wouldn’t be as in-clined to drop out if they make a bad grade in a class.”

There are many students on campus who would un-doubtedly like to take ad-vantage of the program if it were implemented, she said.

“Expanding the grade forgiveness policy was sort of personal for me,” O’Shaughnessy said. “I cer-tainly took some classes early on in my college career and passed, but I didn’t do as well as I wanted by my

Angelos LambisStaff Reporter

Clarification: In the Nov. 18 issue, The Arkansas Traveler ran a graphic with the story “Increasing tuition prices make attend-ing college difficult.” The title of the graphic read “Tuition and Fees at the UofA.” We would like to clarify that the graphic represented non-resident tuition and fees only. See the graph at uatrav.com. The Traveler strives for accuracy and clarity in reporting and presenting visual representations of facts.

The police called Sais later that week and reported finding his motor scooter in a ditch near Harps. The scooter was dam-aged.

“I got lucky that time,” Sais said. “I was still under the 30-day warranty and was able to trade in my damaged one for a new one.”

Sais’ luck changed four months later.“I started putting more security into

my scooter, but it didn’t matter,” Sais said. “About a month ago, I walked outside and it was the same situation, it was gone.”

A lot of scooter theft is committed by ju-veniles, Crain said.

“A lot of young people under the age of 18 steal scooters,” Crain said. “They’ll watch videos on YouTube that show them how to hotwire a scooter and they take it out for a joy ride.”

Once the scooter runs out of gas, it is common for the bandit to just leave it wher-ever they stopped, Crain said.

If the scooter is abandoned, the police will usually find it and contact the owner, Stout said.

“The Fayetteville police contacted me when they found my scooter,” junior Dalton McCall said. “They found it three days after it was stolen, but it was at an impound lot.”

Despite having proof that his scooter was stolen, McCall still had to pay $200 to get his scooter out of the impound lot.

“I was upset that I had to pay, but I got it back,” McCall said. “The damage was only cosmetic, so it’s not too bad. Police said this kind of thing happens all the time.”

Despite the increase in motor scooter theft, there isn’t much to do to prevent it, Crain said.

Stout suggested that all scooter owners try to park in a well lit area, preferably a

garage, but that is not possible for UA stu-dents.

Students park their scooters in designat-ed scooter parking lots around campus. The lots are not heavily monitored are the loca-tions where most thefts occur, Crain said.

“The best way to secure your scooter would be to keep it locked to the ground, but that isn’t possible in any of the UofA lots,” Crain said. “The next best thing would be to place a bar in it so the wheels can’t move.”

Crain also suggested checking on your scooter regularly to make sure it hasn’t been stolen.

Sais said he has still not heard anything back from Fayetteville PD about his stolen scooter.

“I filed a police report, but I guess it’s gone for good this time,” Sais said. “It was my only mode of transportation. Now I’m just walking everywhere or taking the bus.”

On-campus scooter theft increases 80 percentcontinued from page 1

from entering their states is the number of homeless in the United States. Many are claim-ing that, by taking in immigrants while there are still homeless Americans, the government is prioritizing immigrants over United States citizens.

There are about 1.56 million homeless people in the United States, according to the Depart-ment of Housing and Urban Development.

“I think that’s a silly argument,” Hyland said. “We need to be taking care of our homeless prob-lem regardless of whether or not we’re receiving an influx of immigrants.”

Watson had a similar stance on the argument. However, he felt that the nation not only has op-portunity to take in refugees from these affected areas, but also a duty to.

“Not only is America in a position to take im-migrants, but we have a responsibility to,” Watson said. “These people are being killed in their own country and are caught between their own gov-ernment, who they oppose, and numerous rebel groups backed by different foreign powers.”

The United States has accepted just over 1,800 Syrian refugees since 2014. The Obama admin-

istration plans to accept at least 10,000 more throughout 2016, according to the New York Times.

Many have questioned whether or not gover-nors have the legal authority to keep immigrants out. While many governors have made claims to not letting immigrants into their states, few have given citations to where that power exists.

Most claim that is their duty to protect the residents of their states from any perceived threats. Some have claimed that they have enough immigrants in their state as is. A few political celebrities, including Senator Ted Cruz and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, claim that the government should only be allowing Christian immigrants into the nation, accord-ing to press releases from both figures.

The Refugee Act of 1980, which was passed by the Congress, allows the president to accept any and all immigrants that come to the United States. This law does not give the president the power to place those immigrants in any state, though.

However, in 1943, the issue of immigrants in the United States was addressed by the Supreme Court. In an opinion written by Justice Black, the Court declared that state laws that have a disparate impact on the movement of citizens were unconstitutional.

Students react to governor’s stance on Syrian refugees after Paris ISIS attackscontinued from page 1

Devynne Diaz Staff PhotographerStudents participate in a candlelight vigil in light of the Paris attacks at Pomfret Hall on Nov. 22. Students from the international community discussed governors’ efforts to ban Syrian refugees from the United States.

The Department of Music at the UofA is offering a new course, Music and World Cul-tures, for the first time this se-mester, a music professor said.

The course will be offered every semester, Professor Mat-thew Milhalka said. There is one section of the course. Forty-two students are taking the class. The music department could add more sections if student in-terest increases.

Professor Justin Hunter is scheduled to teach a section of the course next semester, Mil-halka said.

“While the specific geo-cul-tural subjects may change from semester to semester, the over-all themes and theoretical con-tent will remain quite similar,” Hunter said. “Courses like these allow each professor to explore subjects that are interesting to them.”

While the course may ex-pand to include more sections, the course will cover the same bases, Hunter said.

“We are in agreement that the class should be taught the-matically rather than geograph-ically or historically,” Hunter said. “Teaching in themes al-lows for better cross-cultural examples of similar conceptual ideas so students can gain a wide knowledge base of material.”

The university has not of-fered any courses with content similar to this course, Mihalka said.

“The Music in World Cul-tures course was primarily created because music in non-Western cultures was a neglect-ed area in our course offerings,” Mihalka said. “This course ap-proaches music more from a cultural perspective, examining how music is used and viewed

by different people through-out the world, and helps bring greater awareness to unfamiliar musical styles and traditions.”

The university began ex-panding course offerings to cover non-traditional options, last year when the department offered a course on popular mu-sic, which will be taught again next semester. The Music in World Cultures course is a re-sult of the further broadening of course offerings, Mihalka said.

Students do not need to be music majors to enroll in the class, Mihalka said.

“I am a pianist and a per-cussionist,” senior Katherine Sargent said. “As such, this class combines two of my greatest passions – music and the study of other cultures.”

Teaching a new course is familiar territory, Mihalka said. This class is the third new course that Mihalka has taught at the UofA. He developed most of the curriculum for the course.

“New courses in general require a bit more effort and planning, as the course needs to go through the approval pro-cess at several different levels,” Mihalka said. “Then once it is approved, it takes more prepa-ration since the course is start-ing from scratch.”

Another problem that oc-curs while developing a new class is promoting it and get-ting students interested, Mi-halka said.

“A unique challenge with this course was obtaining the

resources so that students could see some of the mu-sic and instruments we were studying performed live,” Mi-halka said.

Students in the class have attended lectures and demon-strations on Latin American percussion and Sacred Harp singing that originated in the South. There are also plans for a performance of music from southeastern Europe later this semester, Mihalka said.

“In the future, I hope to fur-ther increase the involvement of faculty members, local per-formers and student groups, as this course is an avenue through which cultural traditions can be shared and greater understand-ing of cultural practices can be fostered,” Mihalka said.

Music department offers new courseLauren JacksonStaff Reporter

Frederick Cochran Staff PhotographerMatthew Mihalka, a music professor, started a new class this semester combining mu-sic and world cultures. This is the third course Mihalka has begun at the UofA.

“I think Gov. Hutchinson’s response to the refugee crisis is disheartening.”

Nathan Watson Graduate student

“Safety is No. 1 and we must keep that in mind.”

Brock Hyland College Republicans president

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper

Page 4 Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015

Transit adjusts bus routes to improve efficiency

At the start of the fall 2015 semester, UA Transit officials closed one Yellow bus route and added one Green bus route after reviewing their ef-ficiency reports, a UA Transit official said.

In order to serve more people with the resources they have, Transit officials monitor the efficiency of each bus route daily, said Adam Waddell, associate director of UA Transit. The main statistic they look at is the ridership of each route.

If a bus experiences a low number of riders for a long amount of time, the route may be considered an inef-ficient use of resources and be reduced or cancelled, said Barry Schiller, Transit opera-tions supervisor. This was the fate of one Yellow route this summer.

However, if a route expe-riences high ridership, an ad-ditional service may be added to it, as with the Green route.

“I’m glad that the school keeps up with how well the buses are doing,” said senior Kennedy Holloman. “I ride the buses every now and then, and when I do I want them to be as fast and reliable as possible.”

In order to make the most impact with their routes, Transit officials listen to the comments from riders and bus operators, Waddell said. When the Yellow route was cancelled, officials opened the new Red Express route partly

because of the interest in such a route from riders.

In particular, riders from the Uptown Campus spoke of a faster route to get them to and from the main campus, Waddell said.

Another factor that led to the opening of the Red Ex-press route was the updated infrastructure in the area, Waddell said. When looking at ways to update routes, new roads or highway features can have a large impact on deci-sions.

“We want to create the

most efficient system possible with the resources available,” Waddell said. “If there are new streets or other features on a route that will make the route more efficient, we like to take advantage of them.”

Along with looking at up-dates in infrastructure, Transit officials look at the traffic in the area to see if changes are nec-essary, he said. This is an area where officials rely on the re-ports of bus operators.

Transit efficiency is some-thing that should be important to riders, Waddell said.

“The more reliable we can make it, the better it is for ev-eryone,” he said.

If a bus is running late, it may not be because it is inef-ficient, Schiller said. Riders should keep unexpected cir-cumstances in mind.

“One thing to keep in mind: weather incidents, road con-struction, building projects and detours associated with them, accidents, traffic and the board-ing and alighting of mobility devices will cause delays,” Schil-ler said. These are oftentimes unexpected and unannounced.

It is also important for rid-ers to note that the posted schedules are only an estimate of when to expect buses where, and if a bus is less than six min-utes late, it is not considered to be behind schedule, Schiller said. These buses are often still efficient.

Riders should be at their bus stops a minimum of five min-utes before the approximated time, he said.

Transit officials will con-tinue to monitor the efficiency of their routes in order to serve more people, Waddell said.

Andrea BreckenridgeStaff Reporter

Michael Morrison Staff PhotographerJunior Natalie Irvin waits for her bus to arrive at the Union Station. UA Transit officials have adjusted several routes to make the bus system more efficient.

UA officials rename ISIS

The name change of the Integrated Student Infor-mation System to UACon-nect was not the result of the name’s association with the terrorist organization ISIS, said the manager of Media Relations.

There has been a change in policy amongst the tech-nical community to avoid acronyms as the names for websites, Steve Voorhies said. Programmers have in-stead started to try to make website names more rel-evant to their purposes.

“Changing it because of the association was a bonus but not the purpose,” Voor-hies said.

In August, UA program-mers proposed the name change as a way to remain in agreement with prec-edent set by the technologi-cal community, Voorhies said.

“Certainly, with the neg-ative connotations ISIS has in the world, we’re ready to make this move as soon as possible,” said Dave Daw-son, associate vice provost for Enrollment Services and University Registrar.

Despite this, UA stu-dents still see the name change as a way to distance the university from the ter-rorist organization.

Joseph Chidiac, a UA student from Lebanon, said he thinks that changing the name of ISIS to UAConnect gives the terrorist organiza-tion more power.

“ISIS is a first name,” Chidiac said. “It’s an Egyp-tian god. It’s a spy agency. It’s all sorts of things. It’s a word, and giving it up for yourselves to let these criminals have it, you’re ac-knowledging this fake state that they think they have.”

Chidiac said he thinks that changing the name gives the Islamic State more attention.

“They don’t deserve at-tention from us,” Chidiac said. “They don’t deserve us going over there and bombing Syrian houses and schools and hospitals to get rid of them.”

Iranian student Mary-amsadat Amirvaghefi, said the name change is a good thing.

Because ISIS was the name of the student web-site, it made ISIS a conver-sational word, which Amir-vaghefi said that she did not think was a good thing.

Amirvaghefi said she thinks that it is sad that Americans associate the Middle East, which is the place she grew up, with ISIS. Amirvaghefi did not want the UofA to be asso-ciated with ISIS either, she said.

“If a group is from a specific part of this world, it doesn’t mean that all the people of the Middle East are dangerous,” Amirva-ghefi said.

The university is in the process of updating all of its information systems. The UA website will undergo a major upgrade in 2017. This first update is only the first of many, Dawson said.

Alex GladdenAssistant News Editor

Adams Pryor Photo EditorInterim Chancellor Daniel E. Ferritor presents former chancellor G. David Gearhart with a resolution that renames Ozark Hall to G. David Gearhart Hall on Nov. 20.

New Building, New Name

Dropping temperatures send homeless inside

As temperatures drop in winter months, getting as low as 31 degrees in January, the Salvation Army will begin opening the doors of its emergency shel-ters to the 2,462 homeless of Northwest Arkansas.

Of the 2,462, 690 were living on the streets or in an emergency shelter. The rest were either living in a transitional housing apartment, with a friend or rela-tive in permanent supportive housing, in a treatment facility or in a hotel or motel, according to the report.

Not only do the regular beds at the Salvation Army fill up, but workers con-vert “activity rooms” into places where more people can stay at the shelter, said Mary Matthews, area commander and core officer of the Northwest Arkansas Salvation Army.

“Not only are our shelters full but then we open cold-night shelters, which are overflow rooms, so we might have double the capacity,” Matthews said.

The Salvation Army in Fayetteville has room for 40 to 50 people without the overflow shelter, and as they open the doors to the overflow shelter, they can have as many as 100 people in a night, Matthews said.

From June 2014 to July 2015, 2,532 stayed in the two Salvation Army shel-ters in Northwest Arkansas, said Lind-sey Strong, the volunteer and public

relations coordinator for the Salvation Army.

This is because some of the people who live in the woods most of the year try to get inside as it gets colder, she said.

“The people who choose or the peo-ple who are chronically homeless may be living outside in the rest of the year, but as the temperatures drop, they can-not handle that,” she said.

The chronically homeless make up 28 percent of the homeless living in Washington and Benton counties, according to the final results of the 2015 Community and Family Institute Homeless Report. The Department of Housing and Urban Development defines “chronically homeless” as any-

one who has a disability and has been homeless at least four times in three years, or has been homeless for a year or more.

The two mostly commonly reported are anxiety and paranoia, according to the report.

Despite the increase in the number of people in the shelter, there could be as many as 30-40 people living outside in Northwest Arkansas, even during the coldest months of the year, said Kevin Fitzpatrick, UA sociology professor and homelessness researcher.

“That clearly is, that’s an unacceptable number,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick said that the change in weather and those who live outside brings to light the question of whether

or not there is enough service provided for the homeless in Northwest Arkansas.

“If we want to get rid of this unshel-tered population and the threat of cold weather that is most severe to them, then I think the thing to do is to build a mi-cro-shelter village,” Fitzpatrick said.

This micro-shelter village would con-sist of 15 to 20, 10-by-10 foot shelters. These would have no utilities or electric-ity but would provide somewhere clean and dry for the homeless to stay. They would also have lockable doors, he said.

Transitional housing can provide an easier way for the homeless to ease into permanent housing, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website.

It would also make it easier for shel-ters to provide services to the home-less because instead of being scattered throughout the woods, mostly in areas in south Fayetteville, they would be all at one location, Fitzpatrick said.

The shelters would be used to help people get out of the woods or shelters and get into a house, Fitzpatrick said.

“I wouldn’t characterize these as per-manent,” Fitzpatrick said. “These are temporary and it’s a stopping-off point to where they move into the continuum.”

A continuum of care is a planning body that coordinates housing and ser-vices funding for homeless families and individuals, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

James Bush contributed to this report.

Ginny MonkNews Editor

Ginny Monk News EditorThe homeless camp in the woods near Walker Park in south Fayette-ville is one of several scattered throughout the city.

“Certainly, with the negative connotations ISIS has in the world, we’re ready to make this move as soon as possible.”

Dave Dawson Associate Vice Provost for

Enrollment Services and University Registrar

Opinion Editor: TJ Stallbaumer

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper Page 5Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015

Talk is cheap, change is rare

The way the cursor blinks on a blank page is intention-al. It’s a taunt, which anyone familiar with real writing is all too aware of. Each blink in blank space serves as a re-minder of the greatness you have yet to put forth. Every second, it repeats the ques-tion, “have you got it in you?”

This week, I’m losing the battle. This week, each blink feels further removed. My mind is reeling, because I should have so much to say, but I don’t. And the more I think about what would be appropriate, the angrier I be-come. I shouldn’t be mad, I think to myself. It’s one ar-ticle. It’s for the school news-paper. If 27 people read this, I’ll have had a phenomenal week.

But here I am. I’m not mad that my page

stayed blank for so long. I’m mad that I have so much to write about, but all of it scares me.

If I tackle Trump, it’ll be negative in two senses: The first, is that talking Trump empowers Trump, and I hate the idea of empowering Trump. The second, is that I’m so strongly opposed to racism, bigotry, fear-monger-ing and the ascension of the lie to the universal political principle, that I fear any more discussion of Trump will alienate the conservatives in my life, who would no doubt realize I think someone will-ing to vote for that man must share his views, which, of course, is an issue to someone opposed to the things refer-enced above.

Then I thought, “Hey, I’ll talk about guns! That’s a hot-button issue.” But the reality of it is, I know nothing about guns. I am proud to say that I have shot a gun one time in my life, and that was plenty. I’ll leave the articles to those with more available research.

It shouldn’t be scary to

voice your opinion. Though I believe we ought always go into battle prepared, it is be-coming more and more evi-dent that the very act of dis-agreeing with someone even on the basis of things like facts and logic is becoming passé.

We are living in a world so polarized, so divided by its own institutions, that writing something with the aim of altering peoples perspectives even in the most minimal sense can be terribly frustrat-ing. It’s not my job to con-vince people of anything, but I would be overjoyed were someone ever to read my words, and be given a new perspective.

The only person with a new perspective this week is me. I’m far too young to be a jaded journalist, but I wish I had a cigarette and a cup of black coffee—I would undo my tie just enough to suggest my complete and utter resig-nation at the hands of a world that continues to deal cards comprised of total negativ-ity, compounded by what I see as a failure on all sides of the fence to entertain any rhetoric that disagrees even slightly with the established way of thinking.

We have all these prob-lems, and we talk so much about them. But we only talk to people who agree with us. Talking to people who dis-agree with us is frightening, and is more likely to lead to anger and angst, than to some sort of positive conclusion.

Yet here I am, talking away. It’s a vicious cycle, if you conceive of it with such cynicism.

There often exists some way out of such circles, and in this instance, I imagine it has to do with framing. If anyone could imagine a problem, like Donald Trump, gun violence, or climate change, in a sense other than the one they’re used to considering, maybe we could bridge the gap.

But people are too busy deciding why they’re right, and you’re wrong, to think about the possibility of meet-ing in the middle.

TJ Stallbaumer is a graduate

assistant in the Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism and the Opinion Editor of The Ar-kansas Traveler.

TJ StallbaumerOpinion Editor

Editorial Board

The Arkansas Traveler welcomes letters to the editor from all interested readers. Letters should be at most 300 words and should include your name, student classification and major or title with the university and a day-time telephone number for verification. Letters should be sent to traveler@uark.edu.

Traveler Quote of the Day“ISIS is a first name. It’s an Egyptian god. It’s a spy agency. It’s all

sorts of things. It’s a word, and giving it up for yourselves to let these criminals have it, you’re acknowledging this fake state that they think

they have.”

Joseph Chidiac, graduate student

“UA officials rename ISIS,” pg. 4

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor

Opinion Editor

Isabel Dobrin Julia Trupp TJ Stallbaumer

Academia’s arrogance: loudest liberal not always right

In wake of the Thanksgiv-ing holiday, many socially con-scious people took to the in-ternet to announce that Syrian refugees have the same plight as our pilgrim forefathers did. After thinking on it, others re-sponded by pointing out that the pilgrims ended up murder-ing the natives. Indeed, it ended up not being the best compari-son.

As the debate rages over what role the United States will undertake in helping the millions of Syrians who have watched their homes and cities ground into gravel by bombs and projectiles, many stu-dents believe that helping such people is virtually the motto of this country. Indeed, the many waves of immigrants and refu-gees from the world round to pass through Ellis Island have seen the famous text engraved at the foot of our lady liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.” O.K.,

that last bit is hyperbole because the text is pretty small and you can’t see it from the boat. The point is that the United States has been known for generations to be a beacon of hope, some-where that is freer, cleaner, and richer than the hellhole into which you were born.

The foreign masses often dream of America as a place where the streets flow with milk and honey and where their chil-dren will grow to become sur-geons and physicists. Of course, when they get here, they may see that it was all a naïve fan-tasy. Life for the immigrant in America can be alienating and the work can be tough.

The radical left is also under the spell of fantasy. Their Amer-ican utopia is one where all who apply are welcome with open arms and fair work. They see a society where all are tolerant of each other, and gender and race are brute constructs of the past. Sadly, this is a view of the world through rose colored glasses.

The tragedy of modern America is that for us to be over here, they must stay over

there. We are among the richest in the world because others are the poorest. Many who call for the border gates to be thrown open are also those who enjoy hefty doses of privilege. The stereotypical leftist academic looks with one eye toward the advancement of human rights and relaxation of immigration policy, while with the other eye they check to see if their radical professors and colleagues are taking notice to the loudness of their voice.

This is not a conservative reactionary piece. Locking the borders and throwing away the key isn’t the solution either. Clearly, the United States and the European Union carry deep responsibility for the horrifying destabilization of the Middle East, and aid must be given where it’s due.

But the mass adoption of im-migrants in Europe has proven to be a can of worms. In Germa-ny, the project of multicultural-ism has, in the words of Chan-cellor Angela Merkel, “utterly failed.” The result is the creation of neighborhoods that have a

high density of immigrants, and among these immigrants a high rate of unemployment. Integration doesn’t happen for many them, and what results is a subculture. The same can be said for other western European countries, perhaps most notori-ously France.

With the acceptance of masses of immigrants, integra-tion is slow to happen, espe-cially when most nations have a scarcity of fair paying work even for the highly educated na-tives. On the other hand, carpet bombing the radical Islamists who are rendering large swathes of the Middle East unlivable isn’t a great option either, seeing as we’ve been trying to for years and it has only served to create a power vacuum for ever more violent fundamentalists to fill. I wish I could conclude with a neatly stated proposition, but this deeply tangled issue threat-ens to become a legitimate catch-22.

Peter Kramer is a senior Eng-lish major and a staff reporter for The Arkansas Traveler.

Peter KramerStaff Reporter

Les Miles drama gives students perspective: At least this isn’t LSU

There are few things I dislike more than Louisi-ana State University and the football team it maintains, so when I see the chance to talk bad about said team, I always take it.

After a 7-0 start this sea-son and a number two rank-ing, LSU took a terrible turn for the worse. First, they lost to Alabama, but then they did the unthinkable and lost to Arkansas. Though everyone here in Arkansas knew LSU would lose to us, this caught the people of Louisiana off guard. Startled, LSU decided to do the only logical thing, and threaten to fire Les Miles.

To fire Miles, LSU would have needed a $15 million buyout and $2 million in buy-outs for his assistants.

Yet there was a time when the school was willing to go to great lengths, financially,

to hire their renowned coach, despite the fact it was only a few months removed from fi-nancial exigency. In short, the boosters at LSU were willing to overlook the school’s giant financial woes in the name of sports.

According to ESPN, Les Miles’ winning percentage is 77.5, compared to Nick Sa-ban’s 75.0. Though he may be unorthodox, and eat grass oc-casionally, Miles knows how to win. Yet, the moment he had a slip-up, LSU was ready to throw his loyalty and 11 years out the door.

Bret Bielema is not Les Miles. At Arkansas he does not have a winning record, and he hasn’t led us to any na-tional championships (yet). However, our outlook here at the UofA is a little bit uncom-mon.

I noticed it at the very first football game I attended here this year. I attended the game against Toledo, and we lost. We lost to Toledo, not

some glamorous SEC school. Yet, maybe 45 minutes after everyone was finished being sad that we lost to Toledo, we went back to the belief that we were destined to win next game, which we didn’t. No matter how many upsetting losses we faced, Razorback fans never seemed to lose their optimism. When we went on to beat Auburn, Ole Miss, and LSU no one in Ar-kansas was surprised because we always have the mentality that we will win.

When we lost to Toledo no one decided the best op-tion would be firing Bielema. Arkansas fans decided the best option would be to keep pushing, moving forward, and getting better. Though we aren’t always the best team, I think we always have the best fans.

Miles lost to us on the field this year, but I think LSU lost to us in spirit as well. It seems like a pretty awful thing LSU tried to do to a coach who has

been with a program for so long, and I am glad Arkansas has never done this, at least to a coach who didn’t crash his mistress-bearing motorcycle.

Miles may eat grass, but that doesn’t make him a bad coach. He has been with his players for a long time, and is like family to them. Unfor-tunately LSU didn’t recognize his importance because he lost a few games and they got nervous.

Arkansas has seen our team suffer some pretty bad losses this year, but we faced those losses with more opti-mism for the next week. Nev-er did we think to threaten our head coach because we were frustrated that we lost to Toledo. At the end of the day, our record may not be as good as LSU’s, but at least we don’t go to LSU.

Summer Stallbaumer is a freshman business major and a staff reporter for The Arkansas Traveler.

Summer StallbaumerStaff Reporter

Ho-Ho-Hold On: the holidays keep coming earlier and earlier

The pine trimming was abundant. Plans of Christmas light hangings and present buying were all being made. The turn of the air that nec-essarily precludes the holiday season was starting to creep into the evenings. The prob-lem: it was only October.

Every year, it becomes more and more evident that the holidays come earlier. Christmas has passed not only Thanksgiving and Veter-ans Day, but Halloween too. Advertising has come earlier, as papers publish more cou-pons than news the day after Thanksgiving, entreating par-ents to get the hottest new drone, or make sure Fallout 4 has a place under the tree.

I shudder for those who work in retail – I can-not imagine being forced to listen to the same Christmas soundtrack for weeks on end. Despite having the voice of a horny angel, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is

You” can only be enjoyable for so long. The lengthy hours and early opening times would also add to the duress. The holidays could become the hellidays if you’re working at a Target on the Friday follow-ing Turkey day. Some families have started having Thanks-giving breakfast, so that they can go to sleep at noon, then wake up at midnight to get in line at Best Buy – saving $300 on a television is much more important than spending time with family.

The common trope in the media is that Christmas is becoming far too commer-cialized. From an economic standpoint, the holidays bring with them a reliable uptick in revenue that many businesses require to stay afloat. Bring-ing the season early can only do more to increase the profit margin – which, in itself, isn’t a bad thing. Christmas and the economy, a love story to define a generation.

The right will argue that Christmas has been taken away from religion, which

does carry some merit. The advent calendar in the Chris-tian faith begins on December 1st. In return, the left will bick-er about it all becoming too monetized and money crazy. The true season of goodwill does seem to be focused less on good will, and more on money, as the years go by.

Spending three months to prepare for what amounts to roughly 36 hours is abso-lutely exhausting. Christmas should be a time to spend with family and reflect upon our blessings, or if you prefer, positive vibes. Nobody should be breaking the bank in order to afford so many Christmas presents or stress over wheth-er a gift was “just right” for a friend.

We should avoid the holiday hustle and return to the values that are important. Peace and goodwill to all men on earth. A season is being ef-fectively ruined when its open-ing day results in viral videos of fighting moms, or chil-dren having gifts wrenched from their tiny hands. If the

Christmas season is ushered in by the trampling of more than two people, there is a se-rious issue. We have sunk too far into stress when we spend more time concerned with questions of which gadget to get our parents, than the time we plan to spend with them.

This season, make plans to be present. And I don’t mean wrapped, as a gift. I’m suggesting you should plan to be a part of your surroundings – to enjoy the time you have with the people you love, and away from school and doing whatever it is you do back in the town you spent your for-mative years. There will come a time when these things, too, will be distant memories. Perhaps the only thing that won’t be a distant memory is Michael Buble’s buttery voice serenading you for the thou-sandth time. I hear Christmas will come earlier next year.

JP Gairhan is a freshman political science major and a staff reporter for The Arkansas Traveler.

JP GairhanStaff Reporter

The winter season brings several holidays with it, and businesses have to accommo-date for the extra commerce. Christmas is a common theme that is seen among businesses around this time of year, but many other businesses try to stick to secular messages and advertising.

“A certain level of toler-ance is important in running any kind of business. I do not think that people should be offended if someone working for a specific business wants to tell you have a ‘Merry Christmas’ instead of a ‘happy holiday,’ or vice versa,” senior Taylor Little said.

Employees at The Perk, a coffee shop located on West Wedington Drive, like to tell their customers ‘Merry Christmas’ and said it is what keeps their customers happy and coming back.

“A lot of the customers are steady, they are like friends, so we tell them Merry Christmas or have a good day,” The Perk employee Patty Brumley said.

The manager at a restaurant just a short walk away from The Perk, Joe’s Italian Grill, said that they keep their holiday mes-sages secular, but do not think it will affect business in a nega-tive way.

“We have been saying Hap-py Holidays rather than Merry Christmas. I do not think it will affect business. People just go along with it. I think people are just overthinking it,” manager Monica Terrell said.

Not everyone dismisses the problem as much as the UA stu-dents have.

“There is one customer who always comes through the drive through. She always says she has a personal cup, so we can put her coffee in there because she wants nothing to do with the red cups,” said Bryan Cor-vera, sophomore and Starbucks employee.

Starbucks has received a lot of social media attention after releasing an ombre cran-berry red cup. When Star-bucks released these cups, people immediately started to display their disapproval of the design and frequently wrote that the company was taking ‘Christ out of Christ-mas.’

“I think it is funny that Christians are saying we are taking the meaning out of Christmas by focusing on the material things, and Chris-tians are mad now that there are not material things on these cups,” said Katie Wann, junior and Starbucks employ-ee.

“Our customers do not seem to really care,” Wann said. “We have had the high-est tips last week since we opened in May.”

Despite the negativity, stu-dents had neutral responses to businesses staying secular and think it is the customers trying to start unnecessary drama.

“I think it is best if busi-nesses are accepting of all be-

liefs and on should not have priority over another. Lately, in the media it is almost dif-ficult to not to get the impres-sion that people are looking to be offended by small things like the red Starbucks cup,” junior Christian Ransonette said.

Corevera said he thinks the design of the cup was misinterpreted by customers.

“I was reading an article and read that the reasons the cups are just red is so you can draw your meaning of Christ-mas on them,” Corevera said.

He also mentioned that the simple design of the cups is part of a vintage theme that Starbucks is implementing throughout the store and re-cent products that have been released.

With many holidays around the corner that go hand in hand with Christian-ity, Judaism and others, busi-nesses will have to make the decision on whether or not to be secular with their advertis-ing and marketing. Opinions on the issue are seen all over social media, but many stu-

dents said that people are be-ing too dramatic.

“I think we should all just appreciate that someone is wishing us well and try not to take things to heart so much,” Little said.

Old Main is lit up for the holidays, as are many homes and businesses in Fayetteville.

“People got super mad at me because I didn’t know how to do something that they taught me that day,” Gomez said.

However, it can sometimes be fun when the store is crazy because it means time flies by, Wheelus said.

“It is somewhat hectic,” Wheelus said. “But for the most part you’re so busy that you don’t have time to really think about how hectic it is.”

Perhaps the most obvious drawback of working retail is that it often means working on holidays when other people usually have the day off. Each year, stores open earlier than ever for Black Friday, so the sales begin before Friday actu-ally does. J.C. Penney opened at 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving this year, Old Navy opened at 4 p.m. and Wal-Mart and Target opened at 6 p.m., all before or during the average family’s Thanksgiving feast.

Stores also continually extend their Christmas Eve hours so that shoppers can purchase last-minute gifts.

Hackler said he was unsure if he would be able to visit his mom over Thanksgiving be-cause he had to work so much.

Gomez said his family had

Thanksgiving dinner in the afternoon last year so that he could present for it, because he had to work 5-10 p.m.

Students agreed that the only upside to working over the holidays is a fat paycheck. Working on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve sometimes means workers get paid time-and-a-half, Hackler said.

“I got paid like a ton of money,” Gomez said. “It was like working two days for half a day’s work. That was really the only nice thing about it.”

Freshman Evangeline Beaumont, who worked at Impressions Boutique & Gifts during the holidays last year, said “it sucked to get up early and go, but I didn’t mind it be-cause the paycheck was awe-some.”

Despite the extra money, students who work retail were dismayed by the way their jobs take over their lives from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

It would be better if Black Friday started exactly at mid-night instead of intruding on Thanksgiving, Gomez said.

“It’s a lot of pressure for a lot of students,” Hackler said. “I have a hard enough time trying to get my work done as it is, but at the end of my pay cycle I’m run dry so I kind of have no other option.”

The Arkansas Traveler NewspaperPage 6 Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015

Companion Editor: Alex Golden

Lead Designer: Alyssa Napaisan

“Making the Traveler’s Journey Worthwhile”

Driving home in the after-noon, students may see sever-al homes and even businesses with a green light glowing in the porch or window.

The UofA has joined Wal-Mart to carry out the Green-light A Vet movement, a cam-paign to raise awareness for veterans and to show them the community supports them.

There are different ideas on the Greenlight A Vet’s website, and one of them is simply buying a green light and shining it somewhere vis-ible to show veteran support, said Erika Gamboa, USAR veteran and director of the Veterans Resource and Infor-mation Center.

“In all walks of life, a green light means go, and that is what veterans are known for, their ability to take action

quickly no matter the chal-lenge. They demonstrate great leadership skills and repre-sent the best of America,” said Scott Markley, senior manag-er of national media relations for Wal-Mart.

Students at the UofA are participating and showing strong support for veterans.

“I found out about it through social media,” said Morgan Farmer, student body vice president.

“Me and my sister, who I live with, were browsing through our newsfeed, and did some reading about it. Of course, there was a promo-tional video, so that is when it kind of first got planted in our minds.”

Farmer and her sister later went to Wal-Mart to go gro-cery shopping, and saw the green light bulbs on a special display at a discounted price. They purchased the bulbs and installed them on their front porch.

“It is really important that our troops know that they are supported, and you know, even just as a college kid, buying this 90 cent bulb and shining it once a night is something so easy, but I know that they ap-preciate it,” Farmer said.

Another student found out about the campaign from his neighbors.

“The guys who live next door, we are really good friends with them,” Hayden Thrasher, senior, said. “We got

a text message from them the day before Veteran’s day and asked if we had heard about this.”

Like Farmer, Thrasher thought the light was an easy way to show support.

“My grandpa and two of my uncles are both veterans, so we really like noticing them and letting them know that we know that they have done this great thing for our country,” Thrasher said. “If we can in any way make a public way of

recognizing them, even some-thing as small as changing our light, we are willing to do that.”

Markley provided other ways that anyone can green-light a vet including helping a veteran find a job, start a men-tor relationship, raise aware-ness on social media or volun-teer with veterans’ groups in local communities.

Wal-Mart is also no strang-er to the UofA when it comes to helping veterans.

“Wal-Mart has provided

us support in several differ-ent manners, and some of it is their time, and some financial for our veterans’ emergency fund. They are current chair of the board, and our previ-ous chair of our Veterans Re-source and Information advi-sory board,” Gamboa said.

The Veterans Resource and Information Center on campus provides several ser-vices to more than 900 stu-dent veterans on campus.

“We provide dependents

and service members current and previous, information about what type of military educational benefits they can apply for,” Gamboa said.

“We work with them on financial aid, the admissions process and what it takes to get enrolled in classes,” Gam-boa said.

Farmer praised the efforts the VRIC provides to student veterans and hopes the work the department does contin-ues.

Alex GorskiStaff Reporter

Community Supports veterans with green lights

The Veterans Resource and Information Center inside the Arkansas Union provides services to prospective and current student veterans.

Emma Schock Staff Photographer

continued from page 1

Holiday Retail Jobs

Students celebrate Panama’s Independence Month on Nov. 24 in the Union.Andre Kissel Staff Photographer

community recognizes secular, religious aspects of holidaysAlex GorskiStaff Reporter

Emma Schock Staff Photographer

“In all walks of life, a green light means go, and that is what veterans are known for – their ability to take action quickly no matter the challenge.”

Scott MarkleyMedia Relations Manager, Wal-Mart

Students celebrate Panamanian independence

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015 Page 7

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WEEKENDERHunkr Down, Sugarvision and The Jingle Bell Jog

Brittany WilliamsStaff Reporter

Art and Theater

UA graduate art students will have artwork on dis-play at the sUgAR Gallery.

The exhibition will include art made from several mediums. The MFA exhibit will also be the inaugural show for sUgARvision. sUgARvision is a compilation of undergraduate and graduate digital media that will be in the gallery and on public access television on a later date.

The reception for the exhibit will be 6-8 p.m. Thurs-day at the sUgAR Gallery. Art enthusiasts can view the art until Dec. 30 during the gallery’s regular hours.

TheatreSquared will continue its tenth season with a Tony award winning revamp of Peter Pan.

“Peter and the Starcatcher” is a play based on a novel written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and is told by 100 characters through acting, juggling and music.

The premiere performance of Peter and the Starcatcher starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Studio Theatre at Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios. Tickets ranging $10-45 can be purchased on the Wal-ton Arts Center’s website.

Music

Canadian band Black Tiger Sex Machine will play at a popular Fayetteville venue.

Black Tiger Sex Machine is a trio of DJs that mix music live wearing their trademark Tiger Helmets. London’s jackLNDN will provide electric disco music before Black Tiger Sex Machine’s part DJ, part live set. To get hype for the show, music lovers can check out jackLNDN’s latest project “Summer Never Ends - Vol. 2.”

Doors for the jackLNDN-BTSM show will open two hours prior to their 9 p.m. performance Thursday at George’s Majestic Lounge. Tickets costing $18 can be purchased on stubs.net.

Local favorite Hunkr Down will reunite and cel-ebrate its 22nd anniversary with a show this weekend.

Hunkr Down is a four-piece alt-rock band that was extremely popular in the 1990s. After the band got over 65 likes on a Facebook post, the band decided to play for the first time in two years.

Hunkr Down’s 22nd anniversary show will start at 9 p.m. Friday at Ryleigh’s, a 21+ venue. Admission for the show is $7.

Fun On and Off Campus

University Programs Comedy Committee is host-ing another free stand up comedy event before finals.

Comedian and writer Matt Koff will bring his Emmy nominated jokes to the UofA. Koff’s work can be seen during the upcoming season of Adam Devine’s House Party.

Matt Koff is scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. Satur-day in the Union Theater.

Northwest Arkansans can be charitable and health conscious at the 2015 Jingle Bell Jog 5K and Reindeer Fun Run.

Patrons of all ages can also enjoy music, enter to win door prizes and meet special guests. Participants with the best costumes and run times will receive prizes.

The event will start at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Bo-tanical Garden of the Ozarks. Registration fees for the races are $10 and $25. Runners can register at the gar-den, Fleet Feet Sports or online. All proceeds from the event benefit the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks.

The reception for an MFA art exhibit will be 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the sUgAR gallery.

Courtesy Photo

Black Tiger Sex Machine will perform Thursday night at George’s Majestic Lounge.

Courtesy Photo

Comedian Matt Koff will perform 7 p.m. Saturday in the Union Theater.

Courtesy Photo

For many years, he in-spired and impacted UA stu-dents who rode the Pomfret Express Bus route on a daily basis.

Several students remem-ber him not as the bus driver who gave good advice and memorable catch-phrases, but as a lifelong friend.

Carl Durrett was a UA bus driver for more than five years after working in coun-seling psychology for most of his life.

He searched for a job that would be more satisfying than sitting behind a desk all day, and eventually landed the university job. Durrett found that being a bus driver was more enjoyable than his expe-rience as a psychologist, but somehow he managed to find a way to intertwine the two.

“I just got tired of being locked inside of a building all day long and I wanted to be outside. I had this big pic-ture window that I looked at the world through every day,” Durrett said.

That part of it alone was wonderful, but the best part of it was all the people, good people with whom I became friends.”

Durrett left Razorback Transit in 2013 and has been retired since he was diagnosed

with terminal cancer several years ago, but he isn’t too af-fected by it, Durrett said.

He still keeps in touch with students, who he calls his bus family, and has meetings with some monthly.

“Some of those bus family members when I left bid me a fond farewell and then they went on with their lives, but some people became perma-nent real friends and there are still many of those,” Durrett said.

Students keep in contact with Durrett through social media sites like Facebook and meetings in person for lunch or coffee.

Senior Bailey Moon met Durrett her freshman year of college, and rode his Pomfret Express route daily. He was caring and uplifting to all stu-dents, Moon said.

“As a freshman, you have such a unique perspective on campus, like living on cam-pus but you also have the part where you are used to being taken care of and you have to figure out being on your own and to have someone on cam-pus looking out for you when he doesn’t have to, it was like a major blessing and a huge help,” Moon said.

The “bus family” started when Carl began talking to students, and even though he had roughly 400 students rid-ing his bus daily, Durrett still managed to try to get to know them.

He discussed things with them from all across the spec-trum including careers, aca-demics and anything that was happening in the students’ lives.

“Additionally I was con-tinuing to practice my profes-sion,” Durrett said.

“It was social and emo-tional counseling all in like seven minute increments, but we could pick up the next day where we left off and we fre-quently did,” he said.

Durrett’s words and advice impacted many of the stu-dents living in Pomfret Hall, and stayed with them over the years, Moon said.

One of the most memora-ble moments of Durrett’s ca-reer was the phrases he said at the end of every bus ride.

It was generally about spreading peace and positiv-ity, Moon said.

The most frequent one used was “Spread peace, joy, love and kindness wherever you go, don’t cost you nothin’ and does a world of good,” Durrett said.

There were several others that he said daily each with different words and phrases, but with the overall same message including, “go out there and do well, do well and do good in the world,’ and “be bold don’t take anything from anybody, don’t let life push you down.”

Durrett enjoyed not only the students he worked with,

but the job itself, and he made students his number one pri-ority.

“The bus drivers as a whole group, I’m not saying they are jerks or mean, but they are very like ‘I’m driving the bus, I’m stopped, you’re not here and I don’t care if you’re one foot from the door, I’m clos-ing the door,” Moon said. “If Carl saw someone running he would just wait, he would al-ways take that extra initiative to help someone even when he didn’t have to.”

Durrett drove the express route for Pomfret Hall and did not have to make stops unless there were people waiting and made sure students always got to class on time.

It was his job to get them up the hill in a timely manner, Durrett said.

“Every day was a pleasure. Most jobs you are eager to have a doctor appointment or get sick or anything to not have to go to work, but I hated that. This is the first job I ever had where I hated missing work,” Durrett said.

“It wasn’t work to me, it was pleasure and I viewed it as having to miss an episode and when I returned I had to catch up.

“Why I am driving a bus around in a circle?” Durrett said. “It’s not because it’s fun, but because I am there to help my friends and also to enjoy my friends and be with them and interact with them.”

former BUs driver remains in touchLauren RandallStaff Reporter

Former UA bus driver Carl Durrett stands outside Union Station on Nov. 30. Durrett drove the Pomfret Express route.

Devynne Diaz Staff Photographer

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper

Page 8 Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015

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continued on page 11

n response to a grow-ing enrollment, the UA Board of Trustees

approved University Rec-reation officials’ plans to build more fields for intra-mural and club sports.

The fields will be on the corner of Cato Springs and Razorback Road, behind Indian Trail by Sonic and on Lewis Fields near As-bell Elementary, said Mike Johnson, vice provost of Fa-cilities Management.

This project will be paid for through the student facilities fee and some re-served money, University Recreation Director Jeremy Battjes said.

The project will cost about $20 million, according to the Board of Trustees’ No-vember meeting agenda.

The fields are about nine acres and should be three times that size to serve a student population of al-most 28,000, Battjes said.

There are 29 active club sports, 10 of which use the playing fields. There are more than 30 intramural sports. About 3,000 stu-dents participate in intra-mural sports every year, according to the University Recreation webpage.

“They’re worn out,” Bat-tjes said. “We use those fields for any and every-thing. Having additional facilities would give us the opportunity to offer more sports and more variety in times.”

University Recreation uses a nine-acre outdoor sports complex for intra-mural and club sports. It includes multi-purpose fields and two sand vol-leyball courts. The fields can be converted into four playing fields for sports like

flag football, soc-cer and ultimate frisbee, or two softball fields, according to the University Rec-reation website.

The university has bought about 100 acres for the fields over the past several years, Johnson said.

The project will take three to four years to be completed as the money comes in, Johnson said. It is scheduled to be completed by 2019, according to the Board of Trustees agenda.

The largest space will be at Cato Springs and Razorback Road and will include six flag football or soc-cer fields, four softball fields, three basketball courts and four volleyball courts. It will be about 72 acres, ac-cording to the agenda.

The other two locations will have three club sport fields and up to twelve ten-nis courts. The location south of MLK Boulevard will be about 9 acres. The

Ginny MonkNews Editor

They will also help keep students from having to be out on the fields late at night practicing. Night practices can go as late as 9 or 10 p.m., Battjes said.

The new fields will be ben-eficial to students because it

UREC plans new intramural fields

I

end up being late. The wom-en’s rugby team often shares the field with the men’s rug-by team during practice, she said.

The team does not know the practice schedule for next semester, which makes it harder to recruit new players, Sims said.

“It’s just like class,” Sims said. “If you have to miss one class every week, you’re going to lose all that infor-mation, so it’s hard to not get to choose your practice time.”

Adrienne Rose contributed to this report.

t has been one of the wildest seasons in recent memory for coach Bret

Bielema and company. What started off as a complete di-saster for the Hogs turned out to be an impressive season, finishing 3rd in the SEC West

and trending the program up-ward for the future.

Offensively, it all starts with the senior quarterback Bran-don Allen. The Fayetteville native got over the hump and was able to turn in an All-SEC caliber performance in his final act as quarterback, throwing for 3,125 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Allen was able to save his best for his final season, including a six-touchdown performance

I

against Ole Miss and a seven touchdown passing perfor-mance against Mississippi State (tied for an SEC record). He made all of the strides nec-essary for the Hogs to take the next step.

The next thing you can point to the Razorbacks’ suc-cess is the ever-consistent ju-nior running back Alex Col-lins. After senior Jonathan Williams suffered a season-ending injury in training

Razorbacks finish season strong despite shaky start

Chandler CarsonStaff Reporter

“They’re worn out. We use those fields for any and everything.”

UREC director Jeremy Battjes

location on Mount Com-fort Road will be about 25 acres, according to the agen-da.

The fields will have some artificial turf and some natu-ral turf so that when it rains the games do not have to be postponed or cancelled.

will increase field availabil-ity and flexibility of practice times, said Allison Sims, Women’s Rugby Club presi-dent.

The women’s rugby team has to work around other club sports’ schedules to find a practice time, which often

camp, many wondered what he would be able to do with-out his sidekick. It’s safe to say people got the message as the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, na-tive racked up 1392 yards and 17 touchdowns. Collins be-came the third running back in SEC history to have 1,000+ rushing yards in his first three seasons.

The one-two punch of Al-len and Collins has made this offense the most balanced of-

fense fans have seen in years. A lot of that credit deserves to go to first year coordina-tor Dan Enos. His experience in developing quarterbacks has turned Brandon Allen into a star, and having a toy like Alex Collins in the back-field, a massive offensive line, emerging receivers and an All-SEC tight end in Hunter Henry, made the first crack at it a smooth one for Enos.

While the offense was a huge improvement, the de-fense took a step back af-ter losing four starters to graduation. The Razorbacks finished last in the SEC in scoring defense and passing defense. While the defensive line was stout, the inability to stop the pass ultimately over-shadowed and created the stigma that Arkansas strug-gled on defense. Through all of the bad, there were a lot of good signs to point to the future of this side of the ball, especially at linebacker.

Freshman linebacker Dre Greenlaw was a rising star all

season for the Razorbacks, recording 93 tackles. Pair him with junior Brooks Ellis, who finished 6th in the SEC with 101 tackles, and you have a dynamic duo heading into the future.

The defensive line had some balance all season long, with the combination of Taiwan Johnson, Tevin Beanum, Deatrich Wise Jr. and Jeremi-ah Ledbetter providing con-sistent play to stop the run and get after the quarterback.

The season was a roller-coaster, no doubt about it. After starting 1-3, no one thought the Razorbacks would be competitive in the SEC. Fast forward a few months later (including a 4th and 25 lateral), and Arkansas finishes 5-3 in conference play.

This year has been one of the craziest in recent memo-ry, for better and worse. Fans should be thankful the team continues to spark interest. The future continues to look bright in Fayetteville.

Alex Collins greets teammate Matt Emrich during the Mississippi State game. Collins rushed for 1,392 yards and 17 touchdowns this season.

Head coach Bret Bielema guides the Hogs to a second straight bowl game this year.

ormer Razorback Jer-maine Love may have had a few setbacks

throughout his playing career, but the Texas native is using his playing days at Arkansas to build a solid foundation as a motivational running back coach for Shelton High School in Dallas.

Love, who played for the Razorbacks from 2007-2010, was a four-star recruit when he played for North Garland High School in Texas. When he committed to the Razorbacks on January 4, 2007, the outside linebacker had high hopes that he would become a key cog in the linebacker rotation for a team that had gone 10-3 in 2006, and had lost in the Capi-tal One Bowl to Wisconsin and Badger head coach Bret Bielema just three days before.

The linebacker was drawn to playing for a players’ coach like Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt and really clicked with Razorback hard-hitters like Sam Olajubutu.

“At that time, with Houston Nutt there, the program was on the rise,” Love said. “So when I went there and took my visit and met the guys, I really want-ed to be a part of that.”

As a true freshman, Love played in seven games and reg-istered three assisted tackles. While the numbers were rela-tively low, Love expected to see the numbers rise as his playing career continued under then-defensive coordinator Reggie Herring’s tutelage. After the Razorbacks beat No. 1 Louisi-ana State University in Baton Rouge during the 2007 season, Nutt resigned to take the va-cant coaching position at Ole Miss and the majority of the staff, including Herring, were removed after newly-hired head coach Bobby Petrino took over the job later that year.

When Petrino began his ten-ure at Arkansas, the idea of a players’ coach in Fayetteville were all but forgotten. Petrino’s harsh coaching style brought the impressive win-loss num-bers that the coach desired, but it also created a disconnection between his players and him-self. Love felt the effects of this harshness throughout his play-ing career.

“There were many times where Petrino would say things that, as a young man that looked at Petrino as a fa-ther figure, there were things that he said and that we had to do that really affected me,” Love said. “Some players it af-fected where, as men now, they kind of have a grudge, but me, I took it as motivation instead of holding a grudge against him. Some of the things that he said to players I didn’t agree with. For example, because I was highly recruited by Houston Nutt, the way he treated me wasn’t fair.”

Because Love’s mother had passed away when he was in middle school and he had nev-er met his father, Petrino was the closest parental figure who the linebacker could look to for guidance. When Love tried to seek help from the coach, he said Petrino would respond by telling him that he could just transfer to whichever school he wanted to. Love said that Petrino had no real intention of allowing him to transfer, but he would use these kinds of mind games to keep players under his thumb.

Love said the reason he stayed at Arkansas during these tough times was the love of the fans. While transferring crossed the linebacker’s mind several times, the family atmosphere at the UofA was more than enough to keep him in Fay-etteville. Staying proved to be a good decision for Love, as he played in 11 games as a senior

F

Former Hog looks to leave mark as coachAndrew EppersonStaff Reporter

Frederick Cochran Staff Photographer

Adams Pryor Photo Editor

By Ginny Monk

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015Page 10

The Arkansas Razorback men’s basketball team will be playing two games this com-ing week.

The Hogs have come on slow this season with a 2-3 record before Tuesday’s game going into this week, with losses to Akron, Georgia Tech and Stanford. The only two teams that Arkansas has victories over are Charleston Southern and Southern Uni-versity.

The Razorbacks will head to North Carolina to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Friday.

The Deacons have had a decent year thus far, as they have already knocked off tra-ditional powerhouses Indiana and UCLA. The team is led in scoring by Devin Thomas, a senior forward who averages over 17 points per game. Not far behind are sophomore

forward Cornelius Hudson and freshman guard Bryant Crawford.

Wake Forest is 5-2 this sea-son with losses against the Richmond Spiders and the Vanderbilt Commodores of the Southeastern Conference.

The Hogs will return to Fay-etteville to take on Evansville Tuesday. The Purple Aces are 5-1 with its only loss coming at the hands of Providence College. D.J. Balentine leads the Aces with 20 points per contest alongside senior cen-ter Egidijus Mockevicius, who averages over 17 points per game.

The Razorbacks come into this week after a disappoint-ing showing in the NIT Sea-son Tip-Off. The Hogs are led in scoring by guard Dusty Hannahs, a junior who trans-ferred from Texas Tech and is averaging over 17 points a game. Senior guard Anth-lon Bell follows Hannahs in points with 16 per game.

The leader of this year’s team thus far has been sopho-more Moses Kingsley, who is averaging a double-double

Arkansas gears up for this week’s nonconference games

Men Women

Peter RoulierStaff Reporter

through five games with 15.8 points a game and 10.2 re-bounds.

After two losses in Puerto Rico, the Lady Razorbacks will look to redeem them-selves against Missouri State in Bud Walton Arena Wednesday. The Lady Hogs are riding a four-game losing streak and will look to take down the 3-4 Missouri State Bears.

Led by head coach Kellie Harper, the Bears will at-tempt to keep their winning streak going in Fayetteville.

The Bears are an all-around ball club with three players that average double figures. Liza Fruendt, Kenzie Wil-liams and Tyonna Snow all average over 10 points per contest.

The Hogs’ junior forward Jessica Jackson has had six consecutive double-digit scoring games to start the year. Jackson will look to keep her streak going while averaging 21.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.

The Lady Razorbacks will head to New Jersey to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Saturday. The Knights are 5-2 with losses against Seton Hall and St. John’s. Rutgers is riding a four-game winning streak and will face the Flor-ida State Seminoles before hosting the Razorbacks.

The Hogs must bring their losing streak to a halt if they want a berth to the NCAA Tournament in March.

For coverage of the North-western State game, check out

uatrav.com.

he Razorback volleyball team finished its regular season with a four-set

loss against the Southeastern Conference-leading Texas A&M Aggies Saturday.

Junior Pilar Victoria led the Razorbacks with 19 kills and 15 digs, both team-highs. It was her 15th double-double of the season. Victoria also had three blocks in the match.

Fellow junior Barbara Dapic had 13 kills to along with three blocks. Clark-Bibbs finished with 12 kills, five digs and three blocks of her own.

Freshman Okiana Valle earned 14 digs while Adrien Wohlschlaeger and Kori Or-tiz combined for 10 digs. Wohlschlaeger also had 49 as-sists.

Victoria and Valle earned All-SEC honors last week. Vic-

toria was named to the All-SEC team after leading the conference in kills per set and overall points.

Victoria had a career-high 35 kills against Ole Miss on Nov. 6. It was the second highest single-match total in program history and her third 30-kill performance of the season.

Valle, who is the only fresh-man libero in the conference, was picked to the SEC All-Freshman team. She finished eighth in the SEC in digs with over three per set.

Valle’s best statistical game came last week when she finished with 32 digs and four assists against South Carolina, becoming the eighth Razorback in program his-tory to notch 400 digs in a season.

The two All-SEC honorees en-sure that despite losing Clark-Bibbs, Bollinger and Fortado to graduation after this year, the team will be in safe hands. Clark-Bibbs led the Hogs in blocks and was second on the team in points and kills. Fortado contributed with 114 kills and 29 digs on the season.

Victoria and Valle will be joined

Austin AraujoStaff Reporter

Hogs fizzle out at end of successful season

T

VOLLEYBALL

Adams Pryor Photo Editor

on next year’s team by ju-niors Breana Jones, Dapic and Wohlschlaeger. Jones finished first in the SEC in hitting percentage and third on the team in kills per set. Dapic finished fourth on the Hogs in kills per set and to-tal points. Wohlschlaeger led Arkansas in assists per set and was fourth in the SEC in the same category.

Sophomores Bailee Han-kenson and Ortiz will look to take bigger roles on next year’s team. Hankenson was second on the team in as-sists per set. Ortiz was third on the team in digs per set and played in all but two sets throughout the season.

Saturday’s loss marked the fourth straight match that the Razorbacks came up short against an opponent. It was their second streak of at least four losses in a row of the year. They finished the regular season with a 17-13 overall record including a

7-11 record in conference play.

The Razorbacks’ 17 wins are the highest under head coach Robert Pulliza since 2012 when his squad won 22 matches. Last year, the Hogs won nine conference match-es en route to a 15-16 overall record.

Arkansas’ seven conference wins are its lowest total since 2009 when they also won seven.

The Razorbacks started the season off with a 13-2 record that included wins over then No. 11 Wisconsin and No. 9 Florida. The Florida match was a five-set thriller in Barnhill Arena that turned out to be one of only two Ar-kansas victories in the month of October, as they went on a five match losing streak in conference play.

Next season, coach Pulliza will have experienced players like Victoria, Valle, Wohlsch-laeger and Jones to rely on.

The Lady Razorbacks celebrate during a match. They finished the season 17-13 overall, 7-11 in conference.

ot much has changed in this week’s edition of the College Football

Playoff Committee Rank-ings. Just before Conference Championship Week kicks off, Selection Committee Chair Jeff Long and his peers have released their rankings.

No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Ala-bama, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Iowa and No. 5 Michigan State remained unchanged. While four of the top-five teams will be battling to keep their spot, the Sooners will stay put without a Big 12 championship game to play. Oklahoma made a solid impression on the CFP com-mittee with a 58-23 beating of No. 17 Oklahoma State.

The most meaningful game of the week will take place between the No. 4 Hawkeyes and the No. 5 Spartans Sat-urday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The winner of the game is almost guar-anteed a spot in the final top four.

Clemson will seek to win the ACC when they take on conference-foes No. 10 North Carolina on Satur-

CFP rankings before championship weekMatt VigodaAsst. Sports Editor

day. The Tar Heels moved up four spots after coming out victorious in its rivalry game against North Caro-lina State. The Tar Heels have a chance to crush the national title hopes of the Tigers, and possibly make a playoff case of their own with a win over the nation’s No. 1 team.

The Crimson Tide will face a Florida team that was embarrassed this week. The Gators fell six spots to No. 18 after a woeful perfor-mance against in-state rival Florida State. The Semi-noles’ 27-2 victory launched them to a No. 9 ranking this week.

The Stanford Cardinal climbed to No. 7 after de-feating No. 8 Notre Dame in a 38-36 thriller, knocking the Irish out of the playoff picture.

The Razorbacks remain unranked after its 28-3 win over the Missouri Tigers in the annual Battle Line Ri-valry.

Conference Champion-ship week will determine the final-four playoff teams in the coming week. The final week of CFP rankings will be announced next week.

N

Andrea Johnson Staff Photographer

17 ppg Leadi ng Scorer: Dusty Han nahs

Razorback Facts

Women's Leading Scorer : Jessica Jackson

19 ppg

10.2 rpgLeadi ng Rebou n der: Moses Ki ngsley

8.3 rpgWom en's Le a d i n g R e b o u n d e r: J essica Jackson

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper

Page 11Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015

PRO HOGS Vol. XII

ouston Astros’ pitcher Dallas Keuchel was awarded the 2015

American League Cy Young Award after the former Hog put on a dominant perfor-mance last season. The lefty received 22 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers As-sociation of America to win comfortably over David Price of the Detroit Tigers and Sonny Gray of the Oakland Athletics.

Keuchel, who was relatively unknown in professional baseball before the season be-gan, made an improbable leap to the top of the food chain as he led a young Astros team to the playoffs for the first time since 2005. Many experts

Andrew EppersonStaff Reporter

Keuchel wins AL Cy Young award

did not believe that the As-tros had a legitimate shot at the playoffs before the season started, but that all changed when Keuchel trotted out to the mound on opening day.

By the time Keuchel’s sea-son ended, the pitcher won 20 games and led the American League in innings pitched. His home record at Minute Maid Park in Houston was absolutely incredible, as he went undefeated at home. The Astros’ ace became the first pitcher in MLB history to go 15-0 at home when he outclassed the Texas Rangers September 27. The 27 year old threw three complete games, two of which were shutouts.

Keuchel’s journey to the top was not an easy one. After be-ing drafted by the Astros in the seventh round of the 2009 MLB Draft, the pitcher strug-

H

gled to stay consistent in his first two seasons in the ma-jor leagues. In 2012, Keuchel posted an uninspiring 5.27 ERA to go along with a 3-8 record. The 2013 season saw much of the same, as Keuchel went 6-10 and posted a 5.15 ERA.

When Keuchel’s ERA dropped to 2.93 in 2014, his win numbers improved to above .500. The pitcher went 12-9 that season, showing a drastic improvement in his overall pitching. Still, no one in baseball could have ex-pected what would happen last season. Keuchel went 20-8 as the Astros’ ace and lowered his ERA to 2.48, tak-ing both the state of Texas and all of Major League Base-ball by surprise.

With the award, Keuchel became just the third Astros

pitcher to earn the coveted Cy Young. The former Razor-back joined some exclusive company, as legendary pitch-ers Roger Clemens and Mike Scott won the awards in 2004 and 1986, respectively. As for former Razorbacks who have won the award, Keuchel joined 2008 Cy Young win-ner Cliff Lee, who played for the Hogs in the 1990s.

When Keuchel was at Ar-kansas, his career took a similar path that his profes-sional career has. As a fresh-man, Keuchel registered a gaudy 5.88 ERA. The pitcher was still effective despite the high run average, as he was able to earn six wins to go along with only three losses. Keuchel’s sophomore season saw a slight drop in ERA, as he registered a 4.58 on the mound.

Much like Keuchel’s profes-sional career, it took three seasons for the pitcher to re-ally get in a groove. As a ju-nior, Keuchel went 9-3 and posted a 3.92 ERA before declaring for the draft. After being drafted, Keuchel played several seasons in the minor leagues, where he played for the Tri City Valleycats, Lan-caster JetHawks, Corpus Christi Hooks and Oklahoma City RedHawks before finally earning a spot on the Astros’ major league roster.

While it certainly was an improbability that Keuchel would become one of base-ball’s top pitchers, the former Razorback defied all odds and climbed his way to the top. By earning the 2015 Cy Young Award, the pitcher has now joined an elite fraternity of pitchers, and it will be in-teresting to see if he can con-tinue his dominance.

fter an incredible sea-son for both the men and women, the Ra-

zorback cross country teams had solid outings in Louisville, Kentucky, during the NCAA Championships.

In a fitting end to an illustri-ous career at the University of Arkansas, redshirt senior Dominique Scott finished third at the NCAA Cross Country Championships as the Lady Razorbacks took ninth place.

The runner capped off a sea-son that saw her finish with three first-place finishes, two third-place finishes, her third SEC individual title and an NCAA South Central Region-al individual title.

“Dominique Scott did exact-ly what we’d hoped for,” head coach Lance Harter said. “She was sixth last year as a junior. She ended up in third this year in contention to win it.”

More importantly, Scott did what she set out to accomplish.

Earlier this season, the se-nior said she wanted to secure a top 10 finish for the team and the team responded, placing ninth in a field that saw heavy-weights New Mexico and Col-orado finish first and second, respectively.

“Obviously we were really excited,” Harter said. “Anytime you can be top ten in the na-tion, you’ve got to be ecstatic.”

Entering the meet, Arkansas was ranked third behind these two teams in the official stand-ings. The Lobos have domi-nated the cross country field all season and that dominance was on display at the cham-pionships. The Lobos had all scoring five runners place in the top 20 for a score of 49.

To put that in perspective, Colorado, who finished sec-ond, recorded 129 points and

had two runners finish in the top 20.

The Razorbacks tied Notre Dame with 276 total points, with Scott being the only run-ner to place top 20 for the Hogs.

Oregon (3), Providence (4), North Carolina State (5), Mich-igan (6) and North Carolina State (7) and Washington (10) rounded out the top 10 teams at the championships.

Freshman Devin Clark placed 48th to end her season on a high note. The Texas native placed second overall twice in the season in the University of California Riverside Invita-tional and Chile Pepper Festi-val. Clark placed inside the top 20 at both the SEC Champion-ships and Wisconsin Adidas Invitational.

“She’s a future great talent for Arkansas,” Harter said.

Junior Regan Ward placed third on the team and 103rd overall. Sophomore Kelsey Schrader followed Ward and finished 111th in the field. Red-shirt senior Kaitlin Flattmann rounded out the top scoring five by placing 127th.

Redshirt freshman Sydney Brown and junior Valerie Reina finished 178th and 217th, re-spectively.

The ninth place finish was the team’s worth this season. The team is more used to winning than anything else. The Lady Hogs took first place in five of the seven meets this season and finished second in the other two.

The men’s team fared better in the meet, finishing sixth overall.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” head coach Chris Buck-nam said. “Unbelievable sea-son. It’s great to get back up near the top five.”

Sophomore Jack Bruce led the way for the Razorbacks, fin-ishing 23rd and racking up 19 points for the team. The meet marked the first time the Aus-tralian native finished first for the Razorbacks.

His previous best finish was fifth for Arkansas and 13th

Cross country slows previous pace at NCAA championshipsAlex NicollStaff Reporter

A

Men

Women

overall in the Chile Pepper Festival. His highest plac-ing this season was in the SEC Championships that saw him cracking the top 10.

“I’m really proud of all of our guys,” Bruce said. “I think we all got out there and did every-thing we could to contribute to our finish.”

J u n i o r Frankline Tonui finished second on the team and 40th overall. His season ended with one of the more impressive showings for the Razorbacks and he had four top 5 finishes on the season, even taking first at the Iona Meet of Champions.

Senior Gabe Gonzales fin-ished behind Tonui at 48th and sophomore Austen Dalquist was the next Razor-back to cross the finish line, placing 89th. Senior Cale Wal-lace rounded out the scoring five after recording 90 points and placing 112th.

Junior Christian Heymsfield and sophomore Alex George finished 170th and 176th, re-spectively.

The Hogs’ performance capped an impressive sea-son that saw the team claim the SEC title and the NCAA South Central Regional title. It also had five top 5 finishes, with first place finishes in the aforementioned races and the Chile Pepper Festival.

Syracuse (1), Colorado (2), Stanford (3), Oregon (4), Iona (5), Louisville (7), Washing-ton (8), Michigan (9) and Georgetown (10) rounded out the top 10 for the meet.

The 2016 cross country sea-son will begin for the men’s and women’s team next fall.

continued from page 9

Former Razorback Dallas Keuchel throws some heat for the Hogs back in 2010.

Love returns home to Texas for coaching job

and registered 13 total tackles as the Razorbacks made it to their only BCS Bowl in pro-gram history.

When Love decided to be-come a coach, he used some of his experiences at Arkan-sas to give him an edge that most coaches would not have.

“It has motivated me to be a great coach, but also give back to my community in Garland with my camps,” Love said. “One thing Petrino did, he always told us to be account-able as great men. Even if we sometimes fall short, we need to always do the right thing. The way he treated us as play-ers motivated me to be a great coach, but even more than that to be a great father.”

While his motivational skills developed because of his time at Arkansas, Love was also able to learn a few things about the running back position because of a few key players that he was teammates with during his

playing career. Future-pro-fessional running backs Dar-ren McFadden, Felix Jones, Peyton Hillis and Knile Davis all played for the Razorbacks while Love was playing, so his time with those players truly benefitted his transition to running backs coach.

“When I coach my backs, I coach them pretty much with that style that Darren McFad-den ran with. Knile Davis and Peyton Hillis. My coaching style is pretty much the way those guys ran,” Love said. “My first running back that I coached, Taylor O’neal, al-most ran for 2,000 yards and it only was his first year play-ing.”

With the foundation that Love was able to build at Ar-kansas, and even though it may have come with its ups and downs, the former line-backer has made a seamless transition into coaching. It’ll be interesting to see just how far the young coach can climb once he starts picking up steam and making a name for himself.

Jermaine Love and the 2010 Razorbacks celebrate a 31-23 win over the LSU Tigers. Arkansas went on to play in the Sugar Bowl.

NCAA Championship weekAll games will be played Saturday, Dec. 5SECNo. 18 Florida vs No. 2 Alabama 3 p.m. CBSPAC-12No. 20 USC vs No. 7 Stanford 6:45 p.m. ESPNBIG 10No. 5 Michigan State vs No. 4 Iowa 7 p.m. FOXACCNo. 10 North Carolina vs No. 1 Clemson 7 p.m. ABC

Courtesy of RazorBlogger

Traveler Archive

Redshirt senior Dominique Scott leads the pack at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.

Courtesy of Kyle Terwillegar/USTFCCCA

Page 12 Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015

The Arkansas Traveler Newspaper

he Arkansas Razorback men’s and women’s basketball teams saw

lots of action this past week, with plenty of early-season challenges for both squads.

Head coach Mike Anderson and his team tasted defeat for the first time in the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off, falling to Akron 88-80 at Bud Walton Arena. The Hogs struggled to guard the perimeter defensively, allow-ing the Zips to open a three-

point barrage, going 13-for-28 from beyond the arc.

Junior big man Moses King-sley posted 17 points and snagged 11 rebounds in a los-ing effort. Senior guard An-thlon Bell scored 23 off the bench for the Razorbacks, ty-ing his second highest scoring total of his career. Redshirt ju-nior Dusty Hannahs dropped 16 points in 30 minutes, while Manuale Watkins reached double digits for the first time in his career with 10.

In their next matchup, the Razorbacks were victorious against Charleston Southern 93-75 behind perfect three-point shooting from Hannahs, who went five-for-five from long range. Arkansas led the Buccaneers by 17 at halftime, and shot nearly 60 percent

from the field in the first 20 minutes. The team distributed the ball well, dishing 23 dimes in the contest.

The Hogs traveled to Brook-lyn, New York, for the semi-finals of the NIT Season Tip-Off against Georgia Tech. The Hogs fell to the Yellow Jackets 83-73 at the Barclays Center. Hannahs, Kingsley and Bell all scored in double figures for the fourth time in four games this season in the loss. Kingsley finished one rebound shy of his third double-double of the season, while Hannahs shot 67 percent from three-point range.

“Their experience versus our inexperience was very evident,” Anderson said. “This team will continue to grow and learn how to win.”

In the final game of the NIT Season Tip-Off, the Hogs fell to the Stanford Cardinal 69-66 in a late-game thriller. Bell was hot from three-point range, hitting 5-for-7 from beyond the arc, while Kingsley cap-tured his third double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

“I’m disappointed in the out-come of the game,” Anderson said. “I’m very disappointed we didn’t get the win, but like I always say, the sun will come up tomorrow and we will get the opportunity to go out and get better.”

The team’s next matchup will be against Wake Forest on the road Thursday as they look to move above .500 once again in the early portion of the season.

The women’s basketball team has lost four straight contests dating back to Nov. 18.

Jessica Jackson, Kelsey Brooks and Jordan Danberry posted double figures in their

Leonce DeLochStaff Reporter

first loss of the season to South Dakota State, but the team fell 76-69.

Jackson recorded her 1,000th career point as a Razorback in the contest. Jackson is the 27th player and second fastest player in Arkansas history to accomplish the feat. The junior from Jacksonville finished with 24 points and nine rebounds.

Tulsa handed head coach Jimmy Dykes’ squad it’s sec-ond loss of the season 74-67. The team shot poorly offen-sively, only notching about 37 percent from the field and go-ing 13-for-21 from the charity stripe.

Jackson scored 29 of the team’s 67 points and also add-ed seven rebounds and four blocks for the game. The team shot a season low 29 percent from the field in the first half, trailing the Golden Hurricanes 22-31 after the first 20 minutes of play.

Hog basketball week in review

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Women

Arkansas went 4-for-14 in the third quarter from the field, prompting a 15-point deficit to Tulsa heading into the final quarter. The Hogs handed Tulsa it’s first victory of the season.

The Lady Razorbacks trav-eled to Puerto Rico Friday for the San Juan shootout. The Ladybacks’ first matchup came against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, who defeated the Hogs 67-59. Jack-son and Brooks both reached double digits in scoring, while Melissa Wolff snagged double digit boards.

The game was close until the fourth quarter, where a 21-9 by Louisiana-Lafayette was the difference maker as the Hogs went cold from the field.

The Razorbacks faced sev-enth-ranked Oregon State in their last game in Puerto Rico, where they fell to the Beavers 63-47, despite double digit

scoring from both Danberry and Jackson. Danberry fin-ished the game tying her ca-reer best with 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting from the field.

“We out-fought the No. 7 team in the country,” Dykes said. “I like how we fought. We had a couple of minutes where we couldn’t stay with them but we’ll get better at that. We will take these les-sons, go back home and get ready for our next game.”

Arkansas trailed OSU by three heading into the final quarter. But, inside scoring from the Beavers proved to be too much for the Razor-backs to handle, as the lead increased by as much as 15 in the final quarter.

The women’s basketball team will look to get back on track against Missouri State in Bud Walton Arena Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Junior forward Jessica Jackson attempts a layup against the Sam Houston State Bearkats.

Junior guard Dusty Hannahs attempts to make a move against the Akron Zips.

Nik: After the start we had to this season? Yes.

Matt: Nope. It’s SEC Cham-pionship or bust right now for the Hogs. Typically, I mark success as national champi-onship or bust. In the case of the Razorbacks, I’m giving them a chance to warm up to Bielema for one more year. They finished off strong, but that doesn’t make it a success.

Alex: It depends on the bowl game. If we win, it’s a success. If we lose, it’s not. The team improved on its re-cord but it also gave up the most points in the SEC. The defense struggled through-out the season and that will have to be top priority in the offseason. The Hogs did have impressive wins against Ole Miss and LSU and improved its conference record so that is a success in and of itself.

Andrew: Any time a team can improve its record from the previous season is a suc-cess in my book. With all the injuries the team amassed throughout the year, winning five conference games is a tes-tament to quality coaching.

Austin: It probably was. This class was always go-ing to peak at seven or eight wins. But the fact that Ar-kansas might lose its starting quarterback, running back and most of its stellar of-fensive line after the season means that this year was the last chance for Arkansas to make some serious noise for a while.

Chandler: Improving from two conference wins to five has got to count for some-

Was the Razorback football season a success?

Football Roundtable: final takeAfter a 7-5 season from the Razorback football team, The Traveler sports staff got together to discuss some final thoughts before bowl season

thing. It was a successful sea-son for the future of Razor-back football when you take into account what this team has overcome.

Leonce: I wouldn’t call it a success, they didn’t achieve their goal of being the best team in the west. But they did improve their record and they look to be heading for an eight win season. I don’t think it was successful but it wasn’t a failure either.

Nik: Austin Allen. I think the competition will be stiff through spring, but he’s got the experience so he gets the nod for now.

Matt: Austin Allen. Plain and simple.

Alex: My heart wants to say Ricky Town but my head knows the truth. Austin Al-len has the most experience at quarterback of any of the backups. Town has a better arm and could finally be that 1-2 punch with the Arkansas running game that will give Dan Enos one of the most dy-namic offenses in the SEC.

Andrew: Either Austin Al-len, Ty Storey or Ricky Town could start. Allen has the most experience, but Town will come in with a chip on his shoulder after transfer-ring from USC. I’m going to go with Town just because he has the big arm that could be a counter to Arkansas’ running attack.

Austin: It’s going to be Aus-tin Allen but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a battle in

the spring over the starting job between Allen and Ricky Town to make the offseason a little more compelling.

Chandler: Austin Allen will be the guy unless Ricky Town makes an impression too big for Enos to pass up. From all I’ve seen, Town has the bigger arm, so it could expand the coordinator’s play book down the road. But for now, the next Allen will be under center.

Leonce: More than likely it will be Austin Allen. He has in-game experience; he has learned under his brother for years. But Ricky Town is an extremely talented quarter-back; a former Elite 11 finalist coming out of high school. If he grasps the playbook quick-ly this offseason, it should be open competition.

Nik: I think so. I could see him performing well in the bowl, the senior bowl and the combine. All are good chanc-es to boost his draft stock and get him in the draft. I think the earliest he goes is 4th round.

Matt: Yes. Brandon Allen has more upside than any oth-er quarterback in the SEC and has a good shot to be a fifth or sixth round pick.

Alex: I would say that he would be a late-round pick if he did get drafted. He’s the prototypical pocket passer that the NFL loves so I would not be surprised if a team picked him up to be a backup. I still consider him the best quarterback in the SEC and his performances this season will interest some teams.

Andrew: I would not be surprised if Allen sneaks in during the sixth or seventh round. A low risk pick could definitely be spent on a player like Allen who has a lot of up-side. His size is a question, but a team will give him a shot.

Austin: Some team will take a flyer on him. Allen has been one of the best quarterbacks in the conference this year and made such big strides in improving his game the last two offseasons.

Chandler: Yes. Look at his track record and the im-provements he has made. NFL scouts have been saying all season he will be drafted based on his production. Al-len has the ideal size, accu-racy, awareness in the pocket and mobility for a young quarterback.

Leonce: I would be sur-prised if he wasn’t drafted af-ter the season he has had. He’s made huge strides with his game and his statistics show it.

Nik: I think Arkansas should have their most successful sea-son under Bielema next year. The schedule plays in their favor. He has to get them pre-pared and they have to play well early in the season, be-cause it seems late in the sea-son that the Hogs are almost untouchable.

Matt: They’re almost there. It’ll be one more year for Coach B and the Hogs to take it to the next level. If Austin Allen can

continue what Brandon Allen started, a 10 win season could be closer than people think.

Alex: Maybe not next season, but I would say within the next five years Arkansas will win 10 games. The team has improved each season under Bielema and that improvement will carry into the future. Bielema will bring in the recruits and turn them into players who will contend with Alabama for the SEC West crown.

Andrew: I believe the Hogs have been in the process of “turning the corner” for the last two seasons. If Arkansas can have a season where they put it together both offensive-ly and defensively, this team could win 10 games without question. It will happen soon enough.

Austin: Bielema hasn’t made Arkansas a perennial contender for the SEC West but he has done a great job of legitimizing Fayetteville as a desirable destination for recruits. He’s helping build a program. I don’t think 10 wins are in the team’s imme-diate future.

Chandler: Ten wins are coming, no question about it. Bielema has the team trend-ing up and with everyone re-turning next season, it may not be out of the question to say they will get 10 wins then.

Leonce: Bielema has the team heading in the right di-rection, but the defense has to improve next season for 10 wins to be realistic. Quarter-back play has to be consistent-ly solid and the running game has to be as good as it has been the past few years, despite de-partures. Maybe 10 wins in a couple more seasons. They’ll be in the 7-9 range until then.

Who will be the starting quarterback for the Hogs next season?

Has Bret Bielema turned the corner as Arkansas head coach? Will the Hogs ever win 10 games under Bielema?

Will Brandon Allen be selected in the 2016 NFL Draft?

Andrea Johnson Staff Photographer

Emma Schock Staff Photographer