Office of Student Affairs 2007-5-01 A Modest Proposal, vol. 3, no. 8 Kimberly Allen, et al. © 2007 A Modest Proposal Find more information about this article here. This document has been made available for free and open access by the Eugene McDermott Library. Contact [email protected] for further information. T H E E UTO STUDE N T PUBLICATION Mindless Markllp· Waterview tenants pay for Utley's greed page 4 ~·--- INSID E The Trinity River Project scandaJ to the courtroom Dallas's Central Park vision page 8 ~-~~~ is becoming a reality page 16 S UMMER 2007 • VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 8 AMP.UTDALLAS.EDU 2 CoNTENTS SUMM ER 20 07 • Vo LuMe 3 • Issu e 8 In 1his Issue. • • AR TS & L EISURE E DITORs' Buzz Student Government's Failure 12 Listening for the Summer 3 The closed SG meeting opposes the central An overview of the hottest albums responsibility of the organization. and concerts coming this summer EDITORIAL BY JORDAN YOUNGBLOO Editors Fatty J's Picks Kimberley Allen Summer selections for food Liam Skoyles C A M PU S LIFE near campus. Benedict Voit BY JAMES FICKENSCHER Jordan Youngblood Millionaire's Payday 4 A continued in-depth investigation into the Utley Foundation's financial history. S ociAL CoMM ENTARY BY KIM ALLEN I 5 Rooting for the Underdog 6 No Vacancy Knowing the odds were against you Contributors can help make the not-so-sunny Why there is a desperate need to overhaul (create?) results a little more satisfying. a UTD system of reserving rooms on campus. Richard Badgett BY JONATHAN LANE BY LIAM SKOYLES Charlie Cliff Jonathan Coker Working to Avoid Work 16 A Bridge to the Future Ben Dower 7 The Trinity Trust Project is a bold James Fickenscher Fun ways to waste that oh-so-precious time. and needed step to revitalize the Hannah Frank BY HANNAH FRANK area and boost the national image of Dallas. Jessie H arpham G LO BAL P OLITIC S . BY JONATHAN COKER Paul Ingram Jonathan Lane 8 D evilish Duke Dealings ' Luke M cKenzie The scandal of the Duke Lacrosse Molly Wurzer case turned out to be the litigation. L ETTE RS TO THE E D IT ORS BY BENEDICT VOlT 18 SG Serving a Great Purpose New Era of Debating Mistakes are made, but this institution is 9 The 2008 Presidential campaigns are the first in a new benefiting the: UTD student body. era of politics to connect personally across the web. FROM FELICITY LENES Write to Us . BY BEN DOWER Website Responses Comments? Suggestions? 10 Searching Politics for Answers Flattery? Fan-mail? The shootings at Virginia Tech became a Email amodestproposal forum for advancing political age ndas. ~ @gmail.com today! PuzzLES & GAMES BY BENEDICT VOlT ~ ­ I I The Lively Abortion Debate 20 Puzzles Page Listening to both sides of any debate is • • •• II challenging, but ever more crucial. I II 22 The Uranus BY MOLLY WURZER Disclaimer Cover des•gn by Luke McKenzie. Uranus cover des•gn by Ben Dower and Bened•ctVoJt. Opinions expressed in this r------------------ -- ---------------------------------• puhlicatirm are those ofthe editor or writer ofthe articlt join AMP! and ttre not necessarily those of the Univmity administration, tht Board ofRegents ofthe This coupon entitles the bearer to one free submission. No purch~se necessary. Participant Univmity ofTexas System or must be a UTD stuqent or faculty member. AMP not responsible for lost or stolen coupons. the Board ofthe puhlication. Coupon valued at $0.0001 We're your voice. Why not use itl [email protected] I , I ------------------~-----------------------------~----~ E o 1I o R s 'l!f---B<---Joou---..z~z~---- 3 SG slams door on students Student Government exists for one mittee report. She called for a "point of being hijacked by Benhalim for just that reason and one reason only-to repre­ privilege" for the meeting to be closed purpose. There was a sense of urgency by Senators who sent the interest of students. When it to everyone except members ofSG. Her some senators to pass the amendment as voted to close becomes non-responsive to students or, justification? From an audio recording soon as possible; support for the amend­ even worse, excludes them from partici­ of the meeting obtained by this paper, ment would wane beca1,1se the leaders of the meeting patory aspects to which they are entitled, Kwong states: "Recently there was a par­ the movement are leaving SG. • Zeeshan Abedin it is nothing more than a vehicle for rep­ ty thrown by SAE, one at which I was Fortunately, the amendment failed to • Jessica Amber Ahmed resentatives' self-serving interests. A stu­ blacklisted, and I don't feel comfortable pass; following, for the most part exact • Bruce August dent government that arbitrarily bars the giving my report with so many hostile party lines, 22 voted for the amendment • Harrison John Boyd Jr. students it represents from the meetings members in the room." (According to and 15 voted against. Taking a gander • Clinton Brennan it holds is an abject failure. high-ranking members of the fraternity, at the Facebook pictures of some of the • Snir Cohen On April 24th, SG held its final she never even made an appearance that proponents of this amendment, their call • Farzan Ghodsianzadeh meeting of the year, one that would evening; her excuse does not stand under for "higher standards" rings hollow. The • Maria Islam prove to be decisive in determining the scrutiny.) amendment serves as an example of how • Haseeb Jangda . integrity of its constitution. A controver­ Steven Rosson, Cohen's ' running easily SG could be abused for personal • Nicholas "Kyle" Keller sial amendment to the SG constitution mate in the election, agreed: SG is not interests~ SG members have resorted to • Iris Kwong was on the docket. As worded, it would used to having this many students in a party politics, prioritizing the interests of • Cassiopia Lippold effectively remove any SG representa­ meeting, and their presence would be a few over the well-being of the entire • Shamin Masrour tive from office who was charged with "distracting." This move had been obvi­ student body. • Sarha Mavrakis any offense that could be "possibly pun­ ously choreographed, as Kwong and fel­ We make no effort to hide that Vice­ • MiaoMiao Qu ishable by disciplinary proceedings," re­ low SG members were intent on passing President Ben Dower served as an edi­ • Steven Rosson gardless of whether the representative the amendment behind closed doors. tor of this newspaper for the past two • Jason Stephen was ever found guilty. In anticipation of There were voices of dissent. Isn't SG semesters; we also make no effort to hide • Ana Tavares this discussion, the meeting drew an un­ supposed to be accountable to its con­ the fact that he, in a show of respect to • Chris Toolin usual crowd of 15 students. stituents? SG regularly displays a sign the responsibilities of his office, stepped • Adit Wongsaroj While standards are necessary for outside its meetings encouraging stu­ down from his position as editor after • Yen Yoon any governing body, it is the editors' dents to.attend, but few ever do. Why, the election. This editorial is motivated opinion that former SG President Ba­ then, does SG reject the students when not by personal political interests, but by sheer Benhalim had ulterior motives. It's they finally come? a desire to show the truth behind the re­ Senators who now well-known that newly elected SG The motion to close the meeting was cent actions of SG. President Manfred Mecoy was issued put to a vote and passed, and all non­ This is not an editorial that should voted to keep an alcohol-related citation just days af­ senator students were asked ·to leave, need to be written. Individuals at the the meeting open ter being elected to office. Benhalim saw including two AMP editors. According collegiate level should act in a mature the opportunity to exploit Mecoy's mis­ to the recording, the senators debated and honorable fashion; however, as these • Eraj Akhtar take and replace him with Snir Cohen, whether members of the press should be events have demonstrated, this rarely • Ben Dower who Benhalim had personally groomed let back in to the meeting. Certain sena­ happens. We at A Modest Proposal write • Julie Evans to be his successor. Benhalim threw his tors questioned whether AMP could this editorial in the hopes that the stu­ • George Graham weight behind Cohen for the election: even be considered a press organization. dent body will become aware of the ac­ Scott Hooker openly campaigning for him and releas­ Fortunately, we are officially recognized tions of those in office, and that those • Paul Ingram ing a diatribe in the Mercury expressing in SG's by-laws, and one AMP editor representatives are ultimately held ac­ • William Kelly his disappointment in the student body was allowed back in the room. countable for them. Mter all, it is to this • Felicity Lenes for electing Mecoy, saying he thinks As soon as all the students were out student body that our student govern­ • Arie Litovsky "students didn't make an informed deci­ of the room, Benhalim immediately ment answers to-a fact, we are afraid, • Megan Malone sion." changed his tone. He began the discus­ that has been sorely forgotten. • Shubham Manchanda After the Executive Committee re­ sion of the amendment with this state­ • Manfred Mecoy fused to select Cohen as senator of the ment: "Let's talk about the elephant in Sincerely, • Tiffany Ornelas year, he invented a special award to give the room, everybody. What everyone • Juliann Peterson Cohen instead.