Goodbye, Heartland the The women’s basketball team advances to the regional championships while the men’s team falls to University of Incarnate Word. A St. Mary’sratt Student Publication since 1925 • Vol. 97 Issue 9 • Marchl 10, 2010er • STMURATTLERNEWS.COM PG. 20 Campus roads Trading need fixing By Matthew Rodriguez Spaces Staff Writer Founder’s Hall residents prepare to Campus roads have suffered downgrade room size and possibly through water, age and other damag- upgrade number of roommates. ing factors so much that various cracks By Azhmir Acosta and room gives preference to and potholes have emerged and have Amanda Cano students with a high “lot- caught the attention of students. One Staff Writers tery number.” Lottery num- student, Jon Ellis, a senior international bers are calculated based on The time for room selec- relation and international business ma- a student’s GPA and com- tion has arrived, and while jor, has gotten so frustrated that he cre- pleted semester hours along students can decide whether ated a Facebook group titled “STMU with other factors. Those they want to live on campus FIX RATTLER DRIVE!! & CHANGE with higher lottery numbers or would rather commute, THE SPEEDBUMPS!!” have a higher chance of get- their decision about where “Potholes, cracks, dips, and over- ting the room of their choice. to reside on campus may not sized jagged speed bumps should not The lottery number system be entirely up to them, but welcome anyone to a college campus. has been in place for about rather up to the residence And with how much we are paying five years and was imple- life office. for tuition, I’d assume this would be mented to give priority to This year’s room selec- only a minor expense to fix. Hopefully those students who have tion process will take two someone will see this group and fix our been at the university for a weeks because of the in- street,” said Ellis on the group’s Face- longer period of time as well creased student population book page. as to reward those who have – a direct result of the addi- As of March 6, this group has add- done well academically. tion of Founder’s Hall, the ed 421 members. On the page, mem- During the first week freshman only dormitory, bers, like sophomore entrepreneurial of room selection, applica- according to Director of Res- studies major Payton Reiff, have left tions will be taken for Leies, idence Life James Villarreal. Cont. on PG. 3, SEE “POTHOLES” Chaminade and Treadaway In past years, the process has Halls, the Marian Science been a one week event. Living and Learning Center A new room selection and some Outback tripled process is not the only rooms. Freshman will not change students can expect be able to participate during Inside: when trying to decide where the first week of room selec- to reside. There is also a tion and must wait until the Evaluate St. Mary’s higher possibility that rooms second week. will be tripled in many Out- Survey responses provide Villarreal acknowledges back buildings, including the opportunity for campus that tripling rooms can have Marian, Lourdes, Dougherty a negative impact on aca- improvements. and even Founder’s Halls. demic performance, but said PG. 3 Some rooms in the age 21 that tripling rooms can cre- and up Chaminade Hall ate a community among stu- may also be doubled. Single dents where experiences can rooms will still be available Inked Up be shared. in Treadaway Hall and Leies Despite judgment, students Freshmen are most lim- Hall will remain a single, ited in the room selection declare the true significance quad style residence hall. process because they will of their ink. An increased student population, due partly to the building of Founder’s Hall, has The process to select a PG. 9 resulted in big changes to the room selection process. Photo by Felix Arroyo Cont. on PG. 5, SEE “ROOM ” A Hairy Situation Beard owners share the Commencement venue change causes mixed feelings story behind their unique By Nancy Perez an issue, the idea has been under consider- for the fall semester are usually held in the facial hair. Senior Staff Writer ation since the fall of 2008, according to Andre Alumni & Athletics Convocation Center, and Hampton, vice president of academic affairs. commencement exercises for the spring com- PG. 12 This year’s spring commencement ceremo- The board, which is largely composed of mencement are commonly held in the Free- nies will be held on campus in the Alumni & university alumni, wanted to bring gradu- man Coliseum, where typically over-atten- Athletics Convocation Center on May 8, not in ation back on campus grounds to make an dance is not an issue because of the large size Sweet Treats a larger venue as it has usually be done in the on-campus graduation ceremony a tradition. of the venue. Tasty treats take the form of past – a change that has garnered both posi- They also wanted to move the location as a “We created a task force to see the feasibil- tive and negative reactions from students. flavorful frozen yogurt at lo- sense of pride for the beautification process ity of having both graduations on campus. We The idea of moving graduation back to cal shopping hotspots. the school has been under since the construc- wanted it to be a full circle, the commence- campus originated from a decision made by tion of the Barrett Memorial Bell Tower. ment which is the beginning and graduation PG. 17 the Board of Trustees. Although the concern Traditionally, commencement exercises of decreased available space for guests was Cont. on PG. 3, SEE “VENUE” 2 The Rattler March 10, 2010 www.stmurattlernews.comNews Calendar March 24 10 a.m. Employee Benefits Fair University Center Conference Room A March 24 5:30 p.m. Battle of the Bands Pecan Grove March 30 to April 1 President’s Peace Commission Spring Program April 10 7 a.m. Rattler Run V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium Police Blotter 2/19/10 Disturbance at Treadaway Hall. Students playing loud music and consuming alcohol in dorm room. 2/22/10 Sick/Injured person at Dougherty Hall. Student fainted and struck head as the individual hit floor. Social sorority Alpha Phi Omega sponsored AIDS Awareness Week from March 1-5. Members pretend to be dead to raise awareness. Student’s roommate revived student and escorted There are 1.2 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS, according to HIV.org. Photo by Robin Johnson the Student Health Center. NEWS IN BRIEF 2/24/10 Telephone harassment at St. Louis Hall. Staff Six killed in Arizona bus crash Campus celebrates Women’s History Month member received unsolicited phone calls from un- A rolled over bus has killed six people and left 15 others injured. known male. March 23 The crash happened on west-bound IH-10, approximately 25 University Center, Conference Room A miles south of Phoenix. The bus rear-ended a pickup truck and 12:30-1:30 p.m. 2/24/10 hit a tractor-trailer. The crash happened on Friday morning and Duty upon striking at Lot D. Unknown vehicle closed off that section of IH-10. backed into another and left scene of accident. Marisa Belausteguigoitia, Ph.D., director of university program Source: NPR.org of gender studies at UNAM, presents Zapatista Spirals: Ascent Shooting at Pentagon creates havoc 2/27/10 and Descent in Indegenous Women’s Rebellion. Alcohol-involved argument between boyfriend and girlfriend. John Patrick Bedell shot and injured two officers at the Pen- tagon on Thursday night. He was holding two 9 millime- Poll shows Perry winning in gubernatorial race 2/27/10 ter semi-automatic weapons with magazines. A third offi- A recent Rasmussen telephone poll shows that Governor Rick Unconscious female found in Marian Hall hal- cer shot Bedell in the head. EMS picked up Bedell and was in Perry (R) is leading over former Houston mayor Bill White (D) way. DOD and EMS contacted for treatment and custody until he died late Thursday night. Bedell had post- 49 percent to 43 percent. These statistics are from a survey of 500 response. Female transported for further treatment. ed videos on YouTube ranting about the government and likely voters. 9/11 conspiracies. Officials are unsure whether he had any Source: Rasmussenreports.com 3/3/10 terrorism links or not. Source: WDEF.com Vehicle/Pedestrian accident Rattler Dr. at Lot W. Ve- Recent H1N1 deaths reported in Bexar County hicle hit pedestrian crossing roadway. Director on Bexar County has high binge drink percentage duty contacted. Three Bexar county residents have died within the past two A report by The San Antonio Council on Alcohol and Drug weeks due to the H1N1 virus, one of whom was a pregnant 3/3/10 Abuse has determined that 7 percent of county adults are heavy woman. Drug offense at Criminal League and Social Jus- drinkers, which is 2 percent higher than state and national av- tice Center. Non-student civilian found urinating erages. Seventeen percent of San Antonio area adults admit to The H1N1 vaccination has not been used because local resi- on school property. Civilian was in possession of binge drinking, compared to the national average’s fifteen per- dents believe that the contagious disease is overly-exaggerated. cocaine and marijuana. cent of adults. Others fear that the vaccination is more deadly than the virus. Source: Mysanantonio.com Source: Radio.woai.com Index City hits unemployment record rate The city reached its highest unemployment rate record, 7.7 per- President Ahmadenejad calls 9/11 ‘a big lie’ cent, in January.