The Pine Log

              CMYK
By Dakota Cowley, Jacey Gaddy & Alicia
Washington
Special to The Pine Log
Students taking pride in their grades
is important throughout college, but
to take pride in the place that helped
them achieve that four-year degree is some-thing
only shown through the support re-turned
to that university. The SFA Athletics
department and the Student Government
Association have recently proposed an “ath-letics
fee” that will give students a chance to
improve the school as a whole and to better
the campus for future Lumberjacks.
“To get better at anything in life there
has to be a change. No one’s ever said they
wanted to remain stagnant,” said Dennis
Hagans, SFA’s student body president.
That’s exactly what SFA is trying to do
with specific athletic facilities—change.
SFA Athletic Director Robert Hill said he
had to look far into the future when think-ing
about how to keep SFA’s athletic depart-ment
on par with those of other universities
such as Sam Houston, Texas A&M, Lamar
and Texas State. All Southland Conference
Universities benefit from an athletics fee;
all except SFA.
Just as SFA attracts students with the up-to-
date facilities including the recently ren-ovated
student center and the recreational
center, sports is another area that students
look to when deciding whether they want to
attend or not.
“We are really kind of the advertising arm
for the University in that we want to put out
a good image, so we need to find a way to do
it,” Hill said.
This new athletics fee will be separate
from the student services fee that is cur-rently
included in tuition. As of right now,
the student services fee is $12 per credit
hour and a portion of this money goes
toward SFA’s athletic department. The pro-posal
of the new athletics fee will take $3 off
of the current student services fee, leaving
it at $9 per credit hour. This will allow the
entire student services fee to go toward im-proving
the academic aspects of SFA rather
than to the athletic side.
However, the new athletics fee of $9 per
credit hour, including the $3 taken from the
student services fee will be solely for im-proving
SFA’s athletic program. Other uni-versities
that SFA recruits against have been
levying an athletics fee to their students to
help with the costs of what goes into a suc-cessful
athletics program. Although Hill
said they receive generous donations from
a handful of sources, he believes this is a
smart way to keep future athletes wanting
to join the program.
The athletic department also receives
funding from what is called “designated
tuition,” which is anything the school can
charge over and above what the state’s tu-ition
is, and can be used for anything. Hill
said they will reduce the amount of money
they take from that, leaving more money
available to other organizations on campus.
After Hill proposed this idea to the SGA,
By Sara Zavorka
Contributing Writer
Dr. Adam Peck, the dean of student affairs,
has been elected to serve on a statewide stu-dent
personnel board, the TACUSPA (Texas
Association of College and University Student
Personnel Administrators,) as vice president
for both educational and professional develop-ment.
TACUSPA is an association comprising
members of varying educational professions
in higher education. Through this volunteer
position, he will be working with the scholar-ship
committee, overseeing the creation and
development of new educational programs
and the actions of the graduate education and
research committee and working to develop
knowledge communities.
Peck will strive for continued growth in all
aspects, as well as continuing to develop pre-existing
committees and offerings. He will be
serving a one-year term alongside more than
500 other individuals, including administra-tors,
staff and students, all collectively repre-senting
70 Texas institutions.
His past experience of serving on this
group’s Finance Advisory Board and as chair
of the Texas Deans of Students Council allows
him to get more than a mere taste of what to
expect.
Peck aims to “strive to systematically assess
the needs of [TACUSPA’s] members” and also
“the expertise within [the] association to meet
these needs.” With this approach, he hopes for
success with overall more engagement with
membership and consequently the strategic
goals of the association.
the SFA dean earned a Bachelor of Arts de-gree
in theatre, Master of Arts in communica-tion
studies and a Doctor of Philosophy.
Peck has worked in higher education for over
16 years, and as part of his position at SFA, he
works alongside the student regent. Towards
that job, he expresses the ideology of looking
at it, as well as many other activities in life as
“a learning experience more so than an advo-cacy.”
Peck values the ideas of “getting the most
out of your college experience,” and helping
one to “succeed academically and to engage
in co-curricular learning.” Helping to cor-roboratively
develop “The SFA Way” honor
code, which is insistent upon setting forth the
characteristics of respect, care, responsibility,
unity, and integrity, he is an individual who
daily works to “[strive] for personal excellence
in everything that [he does].”
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Volume 93
Issue 21
Next Publication:
Monday, December 3, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
PINE LOG The
The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University
Page 6
Lumberjacks keep
Saturday.
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45
Dean Peck to serve
as vice president on
TACUSPA board
Grant Korbel/Pine Log Photo
The proposed athletics fee could help improve facilities campuswide, including the Fieldhouse at Homer Bryce Stadium.
Athletics, page 5
By Justin Ikpo
Special to The Pine Log
The SFA lacrosse team is made up
of 10 dedicated players. Each season,
these players use their strong drive to
elevate themselves to the next level.
“I play lacrosse because it is the most
difficult sport I have ever tried to play,”
said Taylor Kimmerle, senior. “The
challenge of it drew me in, and I never
looked back.”
Lacrosse is a contact sport in which
the goal of a team is to put the small
rubber ball into opposing team’s goal
by throwing it up the field using a long
stick. The stick, referred to as a “crosse,”
is a long pole with a sewn mesh net at
the end of it, used to catch and propel
the ball long distances. Each team has
10 players: three attackers, three de-fenders,
three midfielders and a goalie.
The SFA Lacrosse Team was started
in 1991. The club grew quickly over the
years and began to branch out and play
surrounding schools in tournaments
and competitions. The team currently
is in the Lone Star Alliance confer-ence
and is a part of the MCLA (Men’s
Collegiate Lacrosse Association).
“I enjoy playing other schools be-cause
it shows off what we can do,” said
Robby Hicks, junior. “We all practice a
lot together and it’s a good way to stay
in shape.”
Like all sports, teamwork plays a
huge role in the game.
“We play with a lot of pads and stuff,
so it gets pretty physical,” Jeff De Leon,
senior, said. “The other team’s players
are going to do whatever they can to get
the ball just like you, so I have to know
that my teammates are going to have
my back. That’s one thing we work re-ally
hard on.”
The origins of the game of lacrosse
can be traced back to early Native
Americans. Different branches of the
sport sprung up throughout the 1800s
and were played primarily in Canada
and on the east coast. Lacrosse soon
became a prevalent sport played on
the high school and college level in the
1970s.
The SFA lacrosse season starts in the
spring. During the pre-season, students
can find the team practicing on the
football field or at the intramural fields.
During practice time, the team focuses
on different skills including: stretches,
stick skills, conditioning, play calling,
and offensive and defensive tactics.
“When I am on the field, I try to think
of the next three to four moves I need to
do,” said Kimmerle. “It all depends on
what I anticipate is about to happen.”
Kimmerle, who is one of the team’s
attackers, has been playing lacrosse for
eight years. He began in high school
and continued throughout college
starting out at Texas Tech, before trans-ferring
to SFA.
“I am very motivated to succeed,” he
said. “But when I am on the field, the
support of my family is a huge factor in
my performance. Nothing can top the
feeling of hearing families cheer you
on in the important seconds of a game.”
Some members on the team have
special rituals that they do before and
after games.
“I like to watch YouTube videos
and listen to music before games,”
Kimmerle said. “That’s the only way I
feel that I can get properly pumped up.”
“The team also eats out together a lot
of the time after games,” De Leon said.
“I feel like whether or not we win or
lose, I still feel like I earned the meal.”
Some players also have their own
personal superstitions on the field.
Lacrosse, page 2
Analysis
SFA lacrosse challenges
players to the next level
Chief Caddo as they
top Northwestern State
Students to vote on ‘athletics fee’