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Volume 93
Issue 1
Next Publication:
Thursday September 13, 2012 61
WEDNESDAY
H
Monday, September 10, 2012
PINE LOG The
The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University
Page 7
60
H
By Gabrielle Rambo
Staff Writer
In an IFC Greek tradition known as
Steps, pledges revealed their letters to
their new brothers and the University
Saturday.
Every Fall Semester SFA fraternities gath-er
in front of the Austin Building on cam-pus
to reveal their pledges. The fraternities
group together, wave their flags and chant
to pump up their future brothers.
The process is exciting and nerve-wrack-ing
for the pledges. The decision they make
is one that will play a major role in defin-ing
their college experience. Going Greek
means joining a specific brotherhood where
those people will essentially be in their lives
forever.
“I am super nervous. This is a big deci-sion,
and I am excited so let’s get weird!”
Anthony Baez, a freshman, said.
The pledges line up inside the Austin
Building and when their name is called they
walk out and rip their over-shirt off, allow-ing
everyone to see their chosen fraternity.
After presenting their letters the pledges
go to their brothers and are thrown into the
air and caught in the ultimate trust fall.
Not only actives and pledges get together
for the revealing; some graduates come
back to meet and support their new mem-bers
who are officially becoming part of
their family.
“I am proud to know I can come back to
my alma mater and it doesn’t matter if you
are a graduate or an undergraduate, you are
By Kasi Dickerson
Feature Editor
The Young Conservatives of Texas will place
298 American flags on the lawn of Baker Pattillo
Student Center Tuesday, Sept. 11, in memory of
the 2,977 people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
“It is really important that it [9/11] is
remembered and not just cast aside because we
had so many people who lost their lives,” said
Hunter Wright, Chairman of SFA YCT. “We had
a big feat of heroism and a great unity in the
nation from the tragedy of the event and I really
want to get back to the nation of unity we had
before.”
YCT members will place the flags this
evening to allow for maximum exposure. Each
flag represents 10 individuals who died on 9/11.
“We wanted to make an impact so people
would remember and stop and say a prayer or
just keep it [9/11] in their memories,” Wright
said. “The more people that see them, the better
it is.”
Members will arrange the flags in the
shape of the numbers nine and 11. YCT invites
individuals to hold a personal moment of
silence at 9:11 a.m. for those who lost their lives
11 years ago.
“While many people have begun
to associate 9/11 with the Afghan war,
or solely with the Bush Administration, the
truth of the matter, however, is that 9/11 was a
direct attack on the United States of America.
As a nation, it does not bode well for society to
forget the attacks,” said Karina Erickson, YCT
Secretary. “Two thousand nine hundred and
seventy-seven American lives were lost on the
tragic day; society must respect those whose
lives were taken by memorializing this event.”
This memorial is YCT’s first event
commemorating 9/11.
YCT is a non-partisan conservative youth
organization that has been fighting for
conservative values for more than a quarter
century in Texas. Members are dedicated to
the preservation of the American dream and a
strong and free America.
The main purpose with the 9/11 memorial
display is to commemorate the attacks and
remind students of the day’s importance.
“The left and in particular the Obama
administration has tried to turn an attack on
our nation into a day that has been completely
sanitized. With this in mind, YCT decided that,
in line with Project Never Forget, all those
who were tragically murdered needed to be
recognized,” Erickson said. “With this memorial,
we hope that students will pass by and think
about the atrocities that occurred on Sept. 11,
2001.”
kdickerson@thepinelog.com
Greek Fall pledge classes revealed at Steps
Flag display to honor September 11 attacks
IFC 2012 pledges join new brothers at annual recruitment event at Austin Building
Jennifer Rogers/Pine Log Photo
By T.K. Nickleberryww
Staff Writer
Commuters are experiencing new features
in their commute to school with a new bus
system and added parking features.
A new shuttle service called Jack Track
runs a route of six stops to pick up and drop
off commuters and students to their next
class.
Previously, the commuter bus only made
two stops—from the commuter parking lot at
Lot 46 to behind the Steen Library.
The daytime shuttle is run by Robert
Coker, manager of
transportation ser-vices,
and the evening
shuttle is run by Jane
Wilcox, director of
parking and traffic.
Wilcox said Parking
and Traffic wanted to
find a better way to
serve the needs of the
community.
Jack Track, a system
of three buses during
the day and one bus at
night, began Aug. 26.
The daytime shuttle
runs Monday through
Friday from 7:20 a.m.
to 5:20 p.m.
The daytime shuttle begins at Lot 46 (com-muter
parking) and progresses to the Ag
Building/Wilson garage on Wilson Drive,
the Rec Center, The Miller Science Building,
the BPSC, and lastly East College at Raguet
Street.
The evening shuttle runs Sunday through
Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
“It was longer than I was used to but was
very comfy, had great AC and the radio isn’t
static-y anymore,” one commuter said.
Fraternities throw their brothers and rush helpers into the crowd at the annual steps show Saturday.
Cody Derouen/Pine Log Photo
Steps, page 5
By Jocelyn Wallace
Contributing Writer
Dr. Archie McDonald, a longtime SFA
professor of history and executive director
of the East Texas Historical Association,
died Thursday, Aug. 16, after a long battle
with cancer. A memorial service attended
by hundreds from East Texas and the SFA
community was held in the University’s
Grand Ballroom Monday, Aug. 20.
McDonald most recently served SFA
as a community liaison, representing the
University in many venues and at many
public events. He served in this position
after retiring as executive director of the
East Texas Historical Association, head-quartered
at SFA, in 2008.
Dr. Troy David, former history depart-ment
chair, said McDonald’s death is an
“immeasurable loss” for SFA and the his-tory
department. Not only was he a pillar
of excellence at SFA, he was well known
across the country for his contributions
to Texas history, as well as being active
in the East Texas community, Davis said.
McDonald had been a member of
the SFA faculty for well over 40 years
and, with his family, was a “fixture” in
Nacogdoches, according to a statement
issued by SFA Provost and Vice President
for Academic Affairs Dr. Ric Berry. He was
the author or editor of many books, jour-nals
and articles, Berry said. In addition,
he provided columns for the Nacogdoches
Daily Sentinel and weekly commentary
for NPR’s Red River Radio.
McDonald’s love of all things histori-cal
and his enthusiasm for sharing that
knowledge resonated with his students.
A former student, who first encountered
the popular professor when she was a
19-year-old first-generation college stu-dent,
said she owes him a debt of grati-tude.
“Dr. McDonald was the first profes-sor
I had that made me feel smart,” she
recalled. “He made me feel like ‘I can do
this.’ I accidentally ended up taking a se-nior-
level Texas history course during my
freshman year and I didn’t know how to
Celebrated history
professor dies at 76
Commuters get cool new rides
Jack Track, page 5
McDonald, page 6 Jennifer Rogers/Pine Log Photo
SFA Lumberjacks fall to
SMU in Dallas Saturday
at the second game of
the season.