TRU Issue 15 Final.Indd 1 2/2/17 6:55 PM Contributors & Staff
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The Valentines Issue 1 The independent student voice of NMSU since 1907 . Volume . 118 Issue 14 . Monday, February 6, 2017 TRU Issue 15 Final.indd 1 2/2/17 6:55 PM contributors & Staff Corey Stevens Albert Luna Rush Allen Katie Kilbane Executive Director Editor-in-Chief Lead Designer Marketing Director truexec@nmsu .edu truprint@nmsu .edu trudesign@nmsu .edu trumktg@nmsu .edu (575) 646-3743 (575) 646-5434 (575) 642-5140 (575) 646-7680 Derek Gonzales David Mares Jianna Vasquez Isaiah Silva Sports Editor Photo Editor Cultural Editor Academic Editor trusports@nmsu .edu truphoto@nmsu .edu truculture@nmsu .edu truacademic@nmsu .edu Vanessa Chavez Donovan Duran Joseph Fullbright Luis "Luigi" Finston Advertising Director Comptroller Staff Writer Staff Writer truads@nmsu .edu donovanl@nmsu .edu trunews@nmsu .edu trunews@nmsu .edu Armando Arellano Nick Arias President Bryan Chavez Larry Jackson Carlos Trujillo Vice President Larkins Legacy Photography Photography Fundraising Chair Larkins Legacy Intern Intern Larkin's Legacy 2 TRU Issue 15 Final.indd 2 2/2/17 6:55 PM Photos by: David Mares Contents In this issue Legal By: ALBERT LUNA The season of love is now upon us, and with it comes Why Equestrian Had To Go . 4 mixed emotions across the board for many . What was once Academic Life a day of exchanging store-bought cards and candy in ele- mentary school, has now matured into typically spending the Elena Davidson: Computing Her Future . 6 day exclusively with one special person . At least, that’s what a fraction of people will say about February 14th . However, Culture for another segment of the student population, Valentine’s is NMSU's Chicano Programs .. 9 simply just another day . Keeping with the theme, we have de- cided to give Valentine’s Day its proper due this issue, while Kiss and Tell . 10 also realizing it is not the only thing that occurs on the 14th . So, for the love birds and singles alike, we have something Sports for each crowd . Whether it’d be tips for a special Valentine’s Men's Basketball . .. 13 Day date or reading about the accomplishments of a com- puter science student here at NMSU, we have it covered in Softball Preview .. 14 the next few pages of TRU . We are proud to submit to you our fifteenth issue of the school year as we present “The Val- TRU Opinion . 16 entine’s Day Issue ”. I hope you enjoy, give us feedback, and as Dixie & Dusty . 17 always, keep your ears to the ground and continue to write your own story . 3 TRU Issue 15 Final.indd 3 2/2/17 6:55 PM TRU legal Luna: Why Equestrian Had to Go By: Albert Luna The New Mexico State Equestrian team reached its unceremonious end on Friday, January 20, as the NMSU Board of Regents voted to dissolve the team, eff ective, July 1st . The last season of Equestrian being a sport sponsored and fi scally supported by the University is thus offi cially underway, with a win over top ranked Texas A&M, occurring just a week later on January 28th . The team, as documented previously in TRU, was initially cut by the University, in conjunction with the Athletic Department, last summer during the period the University had to make over $12 million in cuts across the board . Howev- er, after a local public outcry concerning the decision, President Carruthers stepped in and vowed to make the numbers work for just one more year, ensuring the team would be able to compete for at least one more season; after that, they would be on their own . As a result, it should come as no surprise when the team, after being almost $200,000 short of the roughly $480,000 needed to be self-sustaining, was formerly voted out as a sponsored sport . There was still a fair amount of public criticism in regards to the move . However, many may not realize that as diffi cult as it was for the all parties in- volved (especially the student athletes), it simply had to be done . A few points that should be considered when evaluating this decision: The Cuts Had to Come from A Women’s Sport NMSU is already at the NCAA minimum (six) number of Men’s sports . In order to be in good standing with the NCAA and still be able to compete in other sports, the cuts had to come from the Women’s side . The entire program being cut itself was also not done simply from the University administration just picking out a women’s sport of their choice . Instead, this was an internal cut, meaning that the Department of Athletics evaluated its allotted budget for a fi scal year and deemed this the best course of action for the department to make up that money going forward . The decision was then presented to the University administration and the Regents at a time that many other departments across the board were required to report cuts with a now reduced and limited budget . So, the decision to cut the Equestrian team likely stands out more because it was a standalone cut in January, instead of being a part of a wider group of cuts, many of which went widely unnoticed, that were primarily carried out in the summer . Another reason that Equestrian cut was highlighted was simply because it was the most popular of the cuts . Rarely do universities cut programs, so it mer- its a little extra media attention . Equestrian Was Not Revenue Generating Both on the men’s and women’s side, there are a handful of sports that are able to generate some sort of revenue for the University . This certainly does not mean that the Athletic Program is making money off of these other sports, (in fact roughly less than 20 Universities in the nation make a profi t off of football, let alone any other kind of sport) . Additionally, the cost of maintain the horses for competition could also begin to become expensive in its own right . The program was never expected to bring back a return on investment for the University, but simply keeping up with the expenses, in exchange for a minimal number of fans and essentially no revenue in the form of tickets, or even merchandising seemed to have caught up with the program . It should be noted as well that within the athletic department, there were cuts taking by seemingly every sport in this process; Equestrian was not the only one that felt an impact . 4 TRU Issue 15 Final.indd 4 2/2/17 6:55 PM The Sport Is Still Too Young As noted previously, the sport has come close on a few occasions of being taken off the NCAA list for emerging women’s sports . This is in large part due to a stagnated growth, from a popularity standpoint, amongst fans . Like any sport, there are a fair number of good knowledge and caring supporters of equestrian, however, not nearly as much public interest as sports such as softball, basketball, or even track and fi eld . As a result of a smaller public interest, it can lead to less people being aware of exactly how the sport, in terms of how rules and certain events, even work . This culminates in simply more common sporting fans being less inclined to attend any of the events the team hosted or keep up with them on a contest-by-contest basis . NMSU is not alone in this either . To date, there are about a total of 17 school sponsored and funded Equestrian teams around the nation, a number that has been declining in recent years . The University Did Not Leave Them Out to Dry With the extra year of funding, courtesy of Carruthers, the team was able to compete one more season, as opposed to having to simply cease all operations in the summer . With this, it gave student-athletes within the program an extra year to fi nd a new home if they wished to continue their athletic career, or to have a last season and a proper send off to the program . It should also be noted that, in credit to the University, all scholarships that were given to the student-athletes will still be honored in their entirety until they graduate (or until 2022, whichever comes fi rst) . It has also been suggested that there is a possibility of converting the team into a club team (similar to the NMSU Rugby Team), as there is already over 300 groups around the nation with that struc- ture . Ideally, no athletic program should be cut from the university and have to endure what the members of the Equestrian team has had to endure these past 8 months, however, given the hand NMSU was dealt, it simply had to be done . This is not a result of the team not being important to the University and Las Cruces community as a whole, but instead this was simply due to a shrink- ing budget and a sport that only exists in a few number of universities, with no signs of growing in the near future . It is unfortunate for the student-athletes, yet it necessary to keep not just the athletic department, but the University, in a better fi scal position going forward . 5 TRU Issue 15 Final.indd 5 2/2/17 6:55 PM TRU academic Elena Davidson: Computing Her Future By: Isaiah Silva Before her junior year of high school, Elena Davidson “About halfway through that semester, I realized that had many different ideas of what she wanted to do in the future .