The Pine Log

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Thursday, February 24, 2011
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Volume 90
Issue 8
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Monday, February 28, 2011
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The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University
Page 4
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Page 6
PINE LOG
Ladyjacks face
Islanders on
Saturday
Rush speaks
out for the
women of
America By Colin Marchand
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
SFA and the Nacogdoches community
were honored at the state capitol this past
week during the 82nd Legislative Session.
Under HJR 252 and HJR 374, legislators
“recognized Feb. 16 and 17 as Nacogdoches/
SFA Days at the state capitol,” honoring the
University’s staff and students as well as
community leaders, city officials and the
Nacogdoches Chamber of Commerce.
Legislators representing Nacogdoches’
voting districts welcomed attendants by
emphasizing the importance of the citi-zen’s
role in the democratic process.
“The state legislature is merely com-prised
of public servants to whom we [vot-ers]
have given bits of power,” Rep. Wayne
Christian said. “In other words, the law-makers
work for us.”
Fellow legislator Sen. Robert Nichols
added comments showing appreciation for
all in attendance.
“This capitol belongs to all of you,”
Nichols said. “Let me remind you we [legis-lators]
are just tenants in your building.”
Among the topics addressed to the capi-tol
visitors included an emphasis on pub-lic/
higher education and the importance of
building on the East Texas economy during
the session’s budget shortfall.
“The state budget [over the next two
years] has been cut this session by 14 per-cent,”
Christian said. “Even though there
is a shortfall, elected officials will never let
our state go into debt because our balanced
budget constitution prevents the state from
spending more money than it has.”
To ensure a prosperous future during
this recession, public officials have placed
the importance of spending in three areas.
“We are constitutionally mandated to pro-mote
the interests of public/higher education,
transportation and public safety,” Christian
said.
Lawmakers emphasized to the SFA com-munity
that even though there is a reces-sion,
education will always be valued in
Texas.
“Education will always be the number
one issue in Texas,” Nichols said.
Guest speaker Sen. Ken Armbrister, leg-islative
director for the office of the gover-nor,
explained how much spending goes
into Texas’ education.
“Fifty-four percent of our spending in
our $186 billion budget falls under two
categories—public and higher education,”
Armbrister said. “After we take in to ac-count
public safety and transportation,
legislators are only left with about $5.8 bil-lion
on the rest of state projects.”
Though budget cuts have created prob-lems
in the state’s spending, Christian reas-sured
SFA and the Nacogdoches commu-nity
East Texas will prevail.
“Just like families have to spend their
money wisely to compensate for unexpect-ed
costs, public officials must appropriate
the state’s funds wisely to ensure economic
stability for future generations. I will not
stand in the way of jobs and opportunities
to expand East Texas’ economy,” Christian
said.
By Colin Marchand
Contributing Writer
Congressman Rand Paul, Republican sen-ator
from Kentucky, was the keynote speaker
at the Young Conservatives of Texas annual
convention this past weekend in Dallas.
Paul, son of Texas congressman and for-mer
presidential candidate Ron Paul, spoke
to YCT members primarily about his involve-ment
with the Tea Party movement as well as
his views on limited government and fiscal
conservatism.
Paul described himself as an “agitator”
in the current makeup of national politics,
adding “the Tea Party [movement] is con-cerned
with eliminating the national debt. I
am concerned with eliminating the national
debt. The ‘powers that be’ are not concerned
with this, and it is time to shake things up in
Washington.”
Paul put America’s $14 trillion debt into
perspective by paralleling it with seconds in
time and how much money each American
household would have to pay to eliminate it.
“The severity of our debt it quite detri-mental,”
Paul said. “For example, 1 million
seconds would take us back 11 and half days.
1 billion seconds would take us back to the
year 1979; 1 trillion seconds: all the way back
to 30,000 B.C. This means each American
would have to pay $500,000 to the federal
government this year to eliminate America’s
debt.”
Paul said solutions in debt elimination
include limiting the taxation by the federal
government, the promotion of free enter-prise,
and cuts in military spending.
“Just as the budget is being cut in non-mil-itary
spending,” Paul said, “cuts in military
spending would help eliminate the national
debt.”
Members of SFA’s YCT chapter were in
attendance and commented on Paul’s pro-posed
actions.
“Cutting defense spending is not easy to
address and I believe, in some cases, can
be considered taboo,” Chris Taliaferro, Arp
junior, said. “Though military cuts are con-sidered
controversial, I am interested in what
specific types of cuts Senator Paul has in
mind.”
Paul also explained the need for a bal-anced
budget for the federal government. A
balanced budget – meaning the government
cannot spend more money than they have
– limits government spending and keeps it
from facing debt.
“A balanced budget at the federal level
would eliminate overspending and hold gov-ernment
officials accountable,” Paul said.
“Just like American families have to balance
their budget and make sacrifices during the
current recession, White House officials need
to reflect these ideals. You [the American
people] have entrusted us [congress mem-bers
and officials] in representing your fam-ily
and your future – we should be held ac-countable
to our public service.”
SFA members lauded Paul’s emphasis
on “citizen’s first” and Paul’s punctuality
and honesty in addressing his solutions to
America’s economic problems.
“I love the fact that Senator Paul was so
straightforward with his intentions as a pub-lic
servant,” Taliaferro said. “Paralleling the
need for elected officials to view their deci-sions
through the eyes of working American
families says a great deal about his purpose
in office.”
Along with his political viewpoints, Paul
reflected over his time as a YCT member, un-dergraduate
at Baylor, and made a few comi-cal
remarks about seeking public office.
“I never thought I’d want to seek public
service again after losing an election as a
Student Council representative when I was in
the sixth grade – I was scarred for life,” Paul
remarked. “I gave it one more shot when an-nouncing
my candidacy in 2009 – it was all
or nothing.”
Senator Rand Paul assumed his position
as junior Senate member from Kentucky Jan.
3, 2011 after defeating Kentucky Secretary
of State Trey Grayson. He is serving his first
term as U.S. Senator.
By Sydney Jones
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The College of Liberal and Applied Arts and
ARAMARK are working together in the Recycle
Mania program, cutting back on waste in both
campus cafeterias and the Liberal Arts Building.
Recycle Mania is a nationwide collegiate tour-nament
where schools compete in several catego-ries
for eight weeks to determine how much waste
schools produce and recycle. There are 630 col-leges
participating in the tournament that began
on Feb. 6.
SFA is currently participating in the Benchmark
Division, which prohibits the school from winning
any categories, but allows the coordinators to keep
track of how SFA compares to campuses around
the United States.
Dr. Brian Murphy, dean of liberal and applied
arts, is aiding in both the Recycle Mania program,
as well as the Center for a Livable World, a depart-ment
in the college of liberal arts focused on sus-tainability
development.
“With the help of Dean Murphy, the College
of Liberal Arts is beginning to collect white copy
paper and cardboard. We hope that Recycle Mania
will spread to the whole campus and we can par-ticipate
in the Competition Division next year,”
SFA Dining Dietitian and SFA Dining Sustainability
Manager Caroline Sullivan said.
“ARAMARK’s goal is to engage the campus com-munity
in activities that encourage sustainable
food programs and recycling.”
ARAMARK is collecting corrugated cardboard, a
material commonly used for shipping purposes and is
recycled by SFA year round, in addition to white copy
paper. Students may place cardboard in the dumpster
outside of the student center along with the cardboard
put there when the cafeterias receive shipments, and
white copy paper can be placed in one of three recycle
bins located in the student center.
Promotional programs will begin every other
week in the student center or dining halls, and the
Recyclelympics, a program geared to teaching stu-dents
about sustainability, will begin in April.
Although SFA cannot currently compete in the
Recycle Mania program, ARAMARK recycles ap-proximately
4,200 pounds of corrugated card-board
per week, which is picked up and weighed
by the Nacogdoches Waste Management.
“In the Benchmark Division, SFA is number
nine overall (per capita pounds of cardboard per
person). We are currently ahead of Sam Houston
State in the Benchmark Division with our average
cardboard recycling rate of 0.38 pounds per per-son
while their average is 0.08 pounds per person,”
Sullivan said.
This semester, ARAMARK plans on hosting
a “Weigh the Waste” program, to illustrate the
amount of food waste the SFA cafeterias produce.
ARAMARK will also look into reusable to-go boxes
to reduce styrofoam waste in the cafeterias.
Government spending focus at Young Conservative convention
SFA, Nacogdoches honored
at state capitol by legislators
HARDY
MEREDITH/SFA
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
SFA visitors in
front of the Texas
State Capitol
Building are,
from left, Dean
of Students
Dr. Adam Peck,
Trevor Amie,
Kathryn Grace
Portillo, Ryan
Dierich, Sarah
E. Feye, Student
Regent Sydni
Mitchell, Nick
Raddick, Alex
Ranc, Jeffrey
Jefferson and
Andy Teel.
ARAMARK, Liberal Arts to compete in Recycle Mania
THOMAS MOTYKA/THE PINE LOG
Jay Harris greets Lumberjacks
Jay Harris, ESPN sports anchor, signed autographs and spoke with
SFA students at a meet-and-greet Wednesday afternoon before
speaking at the SFA produced event “A Conversation on Sports
and Media” later that evening. Harris spoke alongside New Jersey
sports anchor Tony Cornish Jr. and NBA legends Robert Reid and
Kevin Loder.