Florida International University FIU Digital Commons The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) Special Collections and University Archives 9-20-2007 The Beacon, September 20, 2007 Florida International University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper Recommended Citation Florida International University, "The Beacon, September 20, 2007" (2007). The Panther Press (formerly The Beacon). 244. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper/244 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections and University Archives at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Forum for Free Student Expression at Florida International University Vol. 20, Issue 14 www.beaconnewspaper.com September 20, 2007 PROFESSOR SANTERO ACTING OUT PREYING ON PREDATORS FALLING DOWN Priest teaches Santeria in classroom Theater to stage eclectic season T.V. program poses moral dilemma UM defeats FIU in rematch AT THE BAY PAGE 4 LIFE! PAGE 6 AT THE BAY PAGE 5 SPORTS PAGE 12 COMMUNITY MOURNS LOSS Offi cer’s death not forgotten CHRISTINA VEIGA Asst. News Director Thousands of people filled Pharmed Arena Sept. 18 to pay respect to slain Miami-Dade Police Offi cer and FIU alumus Jose Somo- hano. Somohano, 37, married and father of two, died Sept. 13 after being shot byShawn LaBreet who also injured three offi cers- one of them an FIU student. Sohomano received a degree from FIU in crimi- nal justice. Attendees on the second story of the stadium with only enough room to stand against the railings and look- ing down into a pit of navy, black, brown, green and white-uniformed offi cers. WALTER MICHOT/AP PHOTO REMEMBERED: Police offi cers salute as the casket of slain Miami-Dade county police offi cer Jose Somohano arrives at the Pharmed Arena for the According to Maydel Santana- memorial service held the morning of Sept. 18. For more pictures, visit beaconnewspaper.com. Bravo, director of media relations at FIU, anywhere from 50 to 100 different police agencies from both service, Santana-Bravo said. everyone rose to their feet as if doing inside and outside of Florida were in Before the ceremony, police a somber and deliberate wave seen at attendance at the service. offi cers and color guards lined the sports games. The packed arena fell In anticipation of the additional sides of the street where the hearse into complete silence as the offi cers 5,000 to 6,000 mourners expected to carrying Somohano would pass and waited, hats in hand, for the motor- attend the ceremony, FIU announced bagpipe and drum players practiced cade carrying Somohano to arrive. the day before that morning classes under a tree off to the side. Eight people struggled with the at University Park would be can- “Fortunately or unfortunately, weight of Somohano’s American- celled for the day of the ceremony. we play at all of the police funerals fl ag covered casket as they pulled “I didn’t like canceling classes this way —and we’ve played too it out of the silver and black hearse but, given the situation, I felt it was many lately,” said Frank Moran, a and made their way inside the arena, something we should do to give drum player with the Police Pipe and followed by the offi cer’s family and back to the community,” said Ronald Drum Corps. “It’s just a shame,” friends. At the command of a shout- Berkman, FIU provost, at a Faculty he said. ing offi cer, everyone present saluted Senate meeting held the same day. Inside, the arena was quiet con- simultaneously as the funeral party Closing the University was also a sidering the amount of people pres- processed down the long aisle to the MIGUEL HERNANDEZ/THE BEACON result of the overwhelming number ent. When it was announced that MOTORCADE: Miami-Dade police department’s motors unit cruises in SOMOHANO, page 3 of people who wanted to attend to the the Somohano family was nearing, front of Pharmed Arena to commerate Offi cer. Somohano. Student fees to be used to renovate Aquatic Center NICOLE ACOSTA the left over activities and ser- non-academic buildings within and had been accumulating over Katiana Saintable, BBC-SGC Asst. News Director vices fees from student tutition a University, such as an Aquatic time since the council was not president, was unavailable for administered by the Student Center. aware of it’s existence until last comment about the Aquatic The Biscayne Bay Campus’s Government Association and the As of July, Marbely Hernan- year. Center repairs. Aquatic Center, which originally Division of Student Affairs will dez, University Park’s Student “If we could assist the Uni- Elias Bardawil, associate cost $1.4 million to build, will fund a portion of the repairs. Government Council president, versity in supporting this Uni- director of campus recreation, now undergo an estimated $1.5 Jones said she spoke to both only knew SGA’s funding contri- versity pool, then it’s something said the Aquatic Center’s dam- million in renovations this Fall, SGA councils about helping fund bution would be a “nice chunk of that we’re [going to] look into. ages were due to natural elements according to an e-mail Victor the repairs in a July interview money,” from their accumulated [Arthur “AJ” Meyer] and I want surrounding the facility. Citarella, Facilities Manage- with The Beacon. cash balance account. She also to have a lengthy meeting with “The Aquatic Center is 25 ment’s associate vice president, According to Jones, these did not know an exact dollar Dr. Jones about what we could years old. It runs 24 hours a day, sent to The Beacon July 25. capital improvement funds or amount of the account, only that do because it’s student money,” 365 days a year and it is sur- Rosa Jones, vice president student fees, go toward the it had been controlled mostly by Hernandez said in a July inter- of Student Affairs, confirmed building and maintenance of the Division of Student Affairs view with The Beacon. AQUATICS, page 4 2 The Beacon – September 20, 2007 NEWS www.beaconnewspaper.com UP-SGC president uses opportunity to make a diff erence VANESSA A. ALVAREZ what Hernandez’s SGA administra- Staff Writer tion strives to achieve. This year’s SGA has already accomplished three It is 8 a.m. on a Wednesday of the 12 goals it set for itself this year summer morning. Most college and a fourth goal will be up and run- students are deep in sleep, but for ning sometime this semester. Marbely Hernandez, University The administration wants to Park Student Government Associa- open its doors to students and create tion president, sleep is simply not an an atmosphere of school spirit and option. campus involvement. As a peer mentor in last summer’s “My biggest goal is to see many FIU mentoring program, Hernandez people running next year and wanting was not just up bright and early, but to be involved in SGA,” Hernandez also ready to contribute as much as said. she could to the freshmen experience Katie McGee, the staff director class she helped lead. for the 2007 Miss FIU Scholarship FERNANDO GARCIA/THE BEACON “My purpose as a peer mentor was Pageant and assistant director for the PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: University Park’s Student Government Association’s Marbely Hernandez found to be there for the students and give Offi ce of Student Conduct & Confl ict time between meetings and classes to discuss her future goals and her plans to “leave behind excellence.” them someone that they could relate Resolution, describes Hernandez as a to,” Hernandez said. “trooper” and “beyond dedicated.” The SGC-UP president, who “She just goes above and beyond. The fi rst in her family to attend year after year. amazing daughter and both her father plans to attend FIU Law School after I don’t think people realize how much college, Hernandez opted to dedicate “Marbely, I think, excels at every- and I are very proud. She deserves she earns her bachelor’s in political she cares. She’s very dedicated to herself to the students and to improv- thing she does. I would say she’s it all.” science, has excelled in every arena improving students’ lives here; she ing FIU. extremely committed to all her After she is done with Law School, of SGA. She completed the SGA works tirelessly to give students Besides becoming involved in causes,” Gonzalez said. “She’s a very Hernandez says she wants to become internship program during her fresh- opportunities and to get the students’ SGA, she rushed for the Alpha Xi passionate person and her passion a lobbyist for higher education and man year in Fall 2004 and moved voices heard,” McGee said. Delta sorority, where she held the refl ects in all she does.” work as a representative for state herself up through representative Both Hernandez and McGee position of scholarship and academic Hernandez, who spends most of of Florida. And when referred back positions in both the Lower and helped put together the 2007 Miss achievement chair. her time in the SGA offi ce between to FIU, she says she’d like to leave Upper Divisions in 2005 and 2006, FIU Scholarship Pageant by jointly “That’s the thing about Marbely, classes, also helps her parents with behind excellence. respectively. organizing paperwork and making she is always willing to help,” said their family-run company. “I hope to be remembered as a As president, Hernandez plans to sure that winners were awarded Catalina Gonzalez, president of the Her parents are her biggest sup- hard worker, an achiever; someone guide FIU into new horizons.