Astronaut Bernard Harris spoke for the second time at University of Houston on the empowerment of youth, especially in minorities, in a lecture hosted by the UH Urban Experience Program Tuesday night in the UC World Affairs Lounge.

“Many young kids lose the ability to dream because they are not encouraged,” said Harris of his “Dare to Dream Program,” which helps students with challenging backgrounds and difficulties to dream starting in elementary school.

“Many college students are clueless about what they want to do — they are afraid to dream because dreams are powerful, and they empower us,” Harris said.

A panel of successful African-Americans, such as former NFL player Tyrone Smith and Emmy award-winning journalist Linda Lorelle, also spoke about their efforts to engage minority students to dream and succeed.

“Things happen in our lives and we see it as a failure,” Harris said.

“We can run up against obstacles, and we think it is all over or meant to be when it could just be a redirection to something greater.”

Harris told the audience about his own failure — the first time he applied to be an astronaut, he was turned down.

“You need to tweak what you are doing or turn and deviate just a little bit and it will lead to something greater,” he said.

He later worked for NASA, built a reputation, reapplied to be an astronaut and was selected for the mission.

Harris also says that not all students come from the same backgrounds and situations in his  book “Dream Walker.”

“We connect with great people that are advocates of this program such as Mayor Annise Parker and Dr. Bernard,” said Naeem Abdullah, a technology senior.

“They look out for … the well being of students, because not everyone comes from the same background.”

Harris encouraged students to pursue studies in math, science and technology.

UEP also hosts a tutoring service, conducts workshops and connects students with mentors.

UEP tries to assist students who come from foster-care homes or other difficult circumstances, said Sneha Samala, a computer science graduate student who works with UEP.

“Urban experience (tries to) empower, embrace, enlighten and encourage,” Abdullah said.

“Believe that you can dream and believe in each other and lift as you climb. We are open to all students that want to come in and follow that motto.”

For almost 30 years, Larry Adams woke up each morning, put on his UH police uniform and headed to campus to serve the students of the University.

Adams has worked under seven UH presidents, knew Shasta when he was a real cougar and was helping students more than 10 years before University of Houston System at Sugar Land existed. Adams’s stay at the University of Houston ended Jan. 31 when he retired.

“Larry is one of the most honorable individuals I have ever had the privilege to meet,” said Malcolm Davis, UH Chief of Police. “Larry had a great outlook on life.  He always had a smile on his face and knew where the cookies were. Larry understood that life was not always fair, accepted it, and concentrated on what was good in life.”

Most people on campus referred to him not as Officer Adams, but as “Officer Larry.” Adams loved interacting with the community. He enjoyed walking around campus and talking with people.

Davis’s first impression of Adams was his smile and attitude toward life and work, and that impression never changed, he said.

“He always gave the individual he was working with his full attention. He was a man of his word. If he told you he was going to do something, he did it,” Davis said.

Adams won 18 Employee of the Month awards, eight distinguished duty awards, 22 certificates of merit and two service awards all within just his first 15 years of working at the UHPD. He started working at UH around 1984.

“While Larry was highly decorated for the cases he worked and solved, the incident that I remember most vividly was when he was able to talk a distressed individual who was going to jump from an upper floor on one of our buildings out of committing suicide,” Davis said.

Adams was never concerned with moving up to higher positions or becoming a supervisor, although he was always there to help mentor new employees and show them the ropes.

“He loved his job and the Cougar community, and it showed in everything he did,” Davis said. “Larry is an amazing individual. He will be greatly missed campus wide.”

The fair pricing bill, the grade replacement bill and the student-teacher stipend have been on the agenda since the beginning of the semester, and an earlier form of the GENDA bill was passed last semester before being sent back to the SGA by the Board of Regents.

“The main reason (for the delay) is just politics,” said Michael McHugh, author of the GENDA and Good Samaritan policy. “These bills are going to become law; there’s no doubt in my mind. They just want to make sure they have widespread political support.”

McHugh said there will be no more action on the new GENDA bill. The SGA is dropping the bill in its current form and intends to push the original resolution, which would protect faculty and staff as well as students, through the proper channels.

The SGA will attempt to bypass the Board of Regents on the old GENDA issue, as it is no longer considered a “major policy change.”

Also on the agenda, the Medical Amnesty Protocol, or Good Samaritan bill, will grant students academic amnesty if they call for help from medical or law enforcement officials, although they will still be required to “undergo counseling or psychological services.”

“Students need to be rewarded for doing the right thing. After all, this is a public health issue,” McHugh said.

At the meeting, the senate will discuss the resolution to provide student teachers with stipends, a bill implementing the Good Samaritan Act, the grade replacement bill and the University Testing Services fair pricing bill.

At the time of this writing, the GENDA bill had not yet been removed from the agenda.

Since the beginning of the semester, students can tune in to Coog Radio’s “Mo-Jo Sports Radio Show” for talk radio focused on the Cougars.

The show airs from 9 to 11 a.m. Fridays at coogradio.com and is hosted by broadcast journalism senior Mohammed Haider and media productions senior Josue Garcia.

“With a university this big, I was surprised to find that no one had started a sports talk show,” Haider said.

Haider said he overheard students conversing about Coog Radio, and later that day learned he shared a class with Sofia Straus, Coog Radio’s operations director.

Haider and Garcia decided to start their own Coog Radio, which they named “Mo-Jo Sports Radio Show.”

“We never had any DJs … that expressed any interest in doing a sports show, a lot of people were just into music,” Garcia said.

“We need that; it’s going to bring another aspect to UH radio.”

When people think college radio, they think obscure music, spoken word and poetry, Garcia said.

“People don’t equate college radio with sports just because sports is a very mainstream thing,” said Garcia.

It is important for UH to have a radio show giving students Cougar-focused content, something that other Houston sports radio shows don’t offer, Haider said, especially considering the University’s imminent move to the Big East in July of 2013.

The Mo-Jo Sports Show focuses on UH athletics, but it also covers major league sports and other related topics.

“We love to talk sports, but we also like to (add some) humor to our show,” Haider said.

To get the word out about the Mo-Jo Sports Show, Haider has reached out to local radio station hosts Matt Thomas and Dylan “Mighty” Gwinn of Sports Talk 790 and is using Facebook and Twitter.

Haider, who hasn’t worked in radio before, has found co-hosting Mo-Jo to be a great experience and hopes it will get his “foot in the door,” he said.

The pair have already begun generating content for the show.

“We plan on having a special guest come in the studio with us, and we are getting ready for the draft at the moment,” Haider said.

The Mo-Jo Sports Show has no plans for expanding their time slot and will stay on Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m. through the spring semester.

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“There’s a big difference between politics and issue-based advocacy,” said James Lee, president of the TFN chapter at UH. “We definitely feel the need to bring up different issues that our representatives in Congress or our Senators can’t because they are limited to different political agendas.”

The organization has teamed up with the LGBT Advocates, a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender organization on campus to educate students on a number of progressive issues, such as sex education and LGBT equality  —  two of their main concerns. Yesenia Chavez, new president of LGBT Advocates and active member of TFN, said UH is a great place for advocacy because of its diversity.

“This is something we should be focusing on our campus because it is so diverse,” she said. “A lot of people on campus aren’t really politically motivated; they’re just apathetic towards politics. (It is) a really sad fact that the youth are not involved in politics as they should be.”

In an effort to bring more activism to UH, the two organizations will be co-hosting a Valentine’s Day event called “Kiss In.” Their goal is to rally 214 people at Butler Plaza, in front of M. D. Anderson Memorial Library, between 12:30 to1 p.m., to commemorate a march held last year in support of LGBT faculty and staff. This year, they’ve made things a little sweeter.

“We’re bringing attention to the fact that our LGBT faculty and staff aren’t treated equally to their heterosexual counterparts,” Lee said. “We’re getting all these students from different organizations and different parts of campus to come, show up on Butler Plaza and at a specific time everyone is just going to kiss. It’s going to be this big thing just to show support.”

Kissing is not mandatory nor will it be the only way students can participate. There will be signs in shape of hearts and lips that read, “I support my LGBT faculty because…” and students will be able to fill in the blanks.

“The students who come to the event can fill out these posters and make it something that they really believe in or that they really feel passionate about,” Lee said. “We’re also going to be passing out condoms because (sex education) is one of the things we do as a student chapter. We make sure people have a means to get contraceptives.”

TFN also plans to host a music festival later in the year and will continue to be an available source for students who want to become more politically involved or reach out to the community. And although Chavez encourages people to become more involved, she says education is the ultimate goal.

“The more people that are involved in this, the more we’ll be able to do,” Chavez said. “The most important part of this organization is to get information to students so that they can get mobilize on their own if they wish to do so.”

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Gabrielle Hecht, a University of Michigan Ann Arbor history professor, asked during her lecture on Thursday at the Rockwell Pavilion, “What explains the power of this phrase: Uranium from Africa?”

Hecht discusses this question in her book “Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade,” which will be released at the end of the month.

During the Cold War, Africa supplied 20 to 50 percent of the western world’s uranium, Hecht said.

George W. Bush thrust African uranium mines into worldwide attention with his 2003 State of the Union speech, in which he told the public that “the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

Since Bush’s speech, uranium from African mines has become a constant source of speculation and discussion.

“Africa remains the dark continent. We need new histories for Africa,” Hecht said. “That’s what this book tries to do.”

The low ventilation within the mines caused health problems for the miners from Niger, Gabon and Namibia, who are portrayed in Hecht’s book.

“The miners got more exposure of radon,” Hecht said. “Exposure became overexposure.”

Radon is a decay product of uranium and can stick to dust particles that, if inhaled, increases the risk for lung cancer.

Mine workers are also specifically told to ignore safety standards, Hecht said.

Hecht says his book is not as much about the plight of African uranium miners as it is an effort to show readers how to go about the parameters of political debate.

“I think it’s important for people to understand global discussions — in this case nuclear industry — and to also know the stories of faraway places,” Hecht said.

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Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Esmeralda Valdez will be presenting future renovations on the UC, the new cafeteria, dubbed the West Dining Hall, and culinary additions to the first floor of the new parking garage.

Don Yackley, executive director of the Residential Life and Housing department will be discussing the increase in meal plan prices.

Also to be discussed at the meeting will be the five percent student-housing fee increase; the new roommate matching process; Cougar Village 2, which will be complete by June 2013 and have 1,144 beds; and the new sophomore housing where Cougar Place used to be.

“The Town Hall meeting is a great way for students and faculty to be aware of the changes and improvements going on around them.” Billy Garner said.

The topics of this meeting will be discussed again from 12 to 1 p.m. Wednesday in the E.E. Oberholtzer Residence Hall.

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Students flocked to the polls in record numbers Tuesday and Wednesday to vote in the student service fee referendum. They cast their votes for or against the increase in student fees by $45 a semester for the construction and renovation of athletic facilities.

Of the 9,923 votes casted, 7,334 were in favor. According to Vice President for Student Affairs Richard Walker, the 26.1 percent student turnout is the largest in the history of UH, beating the previous highest turnout of 15 percent for the UH Campus Recreation and Wellness Center student referendum in 1998. He said the high turnout is tied to the general momentum of the University, both academically and athletically.

“If you really track the notoriety the University has gotten on the national stage, and even on the international stage in the last year, it has just been tremendous,” Walker said.

“People are really taking a serious look at the University of Houston.”

Jared Gogets, Student Government Association senator-at-large, said he was impressed, but not surprised by the high student turnout.

“Try to tell somebody that you guys don’t care about UH now because you went out there and you showed that you care about moving us forward, you care about Tier One and you care about the athletics program,” said Gogets, who also serves as the president of Student Program Board, after the results of the referendum were announced on Thursday.

“I see athletics facilities as the front porch of the University. It puts the University on a national stage,” Gogets said. “Right now, we’re on the regional stage.”

Athletics Director Mack Rhoades said the passage of the referendum was a game changer for the athletics program and will help increase the national visibility of the University.

“Fifteen years from now, 20 years from now, we are going to look back at this day and say that was a significant moment in the turning point of our intercollegiate athletics program,” Rhoades said.

“Bottom line, we want to be the best. We want to make sure that we have an athletics program that every one of our students can be proud of. That we can have national visibility, that we can win championships, compete nationally, but do it the right way.”

Walker said UH desperately needed to upgrade its athletic facilities now that it is moving into the Big East, and the passage of the referendum ties strategically to that move. He said the conference move coupled with the construction of the new stadium will help bring more students to UH.

“We’re becoming very competitive with other institutions. We’re one of the places people are seriously looking at now as an institution of choice,” Walker said. “Students really want to come here, and I think that is all a part of that momentum.”

Walker said the rise of the University’s reputation and its general momentum is going to allow the University to increase its fundraising efforts.

“Clearly you want to take advantage of the excitement of the University of Houston both locally and on the national scene,” Walker said. “That is a good indication that people want to give back to something that’s an exciting thing to be a part of.”

Walker also said it is important for Tier One institutions to have nationally competitive athletic programs.

“I think it’s all part of the package: Overall good academic programs, a good student life experience, a good campus experience, strong research, strong athletic programs,” Walker said. “To me it’s all part of the pieces that are put together to make a great Tier One institution.”

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The student body has given their approval of the athletics referendum. The official results of the referendum were announced at noon today in the UC World Affairs Lounge. According to Executive Director of Learning and Assessment Services Patrick Daniel, the referendum was passed by a 4,745 vote margin.

“Of the 9,923 ballots casted, there were 7,334 in favor of the referendum,” Daniel said. “That means the referendum passes.”

UH students will start paying an additional $45 in student fees per semester to fund the construction, renovation and operation of athletic facilities if the increase is approved by the UH Board of Regents at their special meeting on March 27. If approved, the fee increase would take effect this fall.

Through the efforts of SGA, the athletics program and the Department of Student Affairs, 26.1 percent of the student body was mobilized to vote in the referendum.

According to Vice President for Student Affairs Richard Walker, this is the highest turnout ever for a UH student referendum. The previous highest turnout was in 1998 when 15 percent of UH students voted in the referendum for the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

“What a great day for athletics, and really I believe a great day for this university,” said Athletics Director Mack Rhoades.

“This is a game changer. Fifteen years from now, 20 years from now we are going to look back at this day and say that was a significant moment in the turning point of our intercollegiate athletics program. Bottom line, we want to be the best. We want to make sure that we have an athletics program that every one of our students can be proud of. That we can have national visibility, that we can win championships, compete nationally, but do it the right way. So what a great day, and certainly you did not get here without a great team effort. I just can’t quit smiling.”

SGA Senator Jared Gogets credits the team work between the athletics department, the Department of Student Affairs and UH students for the success of the referendum.

“Before I say anything, anyone in SPB that wants to go back to the office, you can turn off the Adele and put my ice cream away because it passed and I don’t have to go in there and be depressed for the rest of the day,” said Gogets, who is president of Student Program Board.

Gogets said the passage of the referendum was an prime example of how the students, faculty and staff of UH can come together as one in order to move the University forward.

“Thank you to the thousands of students that went out and set the record for voting. Try to tell somebody that you guys don’t care about UH now because you went out there and you showed that you care about moving us forward, you care about Tier One and you care about the athletics program.”

Two of the seven books being removed from classrooms were published as a part of Arte Público Press’ Hispanic Civil Rights series.

“Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement” by Arturo Rosales and “Message to Aztlán: Selected Writings” by Rodolfo Gonzales were banned, said a UH news release.

Both books deal with the Mexican American civil rights movement, and their removal follows the dismantling of Mexican studies in schools in the beginning of the year.

According to the news release, APP has moved into a larger location at UH’s Energy Research Park. They now have more storage space for books, additional offices for their staff, and room for state-of-the-art book scanners and equipment necessary for working with EBSCO to digitize recovered work written by Latinos from the colonial period to present day.

APP is the nation’s largest and most established publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by US Hispanic authors. Books in the series highlight women’s activism, immigration reform, educational equity, citizen participation in a democratic society, civic culture and racial/cultural relations.

“Twenty-five years ago, our books were stored in university classroom closets, and now they sit in a massive warehouse. But in Arizona, they’re going back into the closet,” said Marina Tristán, APP’s assistant director, in the release.

Faculty members in the history department of UH who deal with Mexican-American history also commented on this recent controversy.

“The decision by the school district to ban Chicano studies courses and ban the books taught is based on the flawed notion that Mexican-American history is not American history,” says Raul Ramos, also an associate professor.

“These policies will have the opposite effect legislators intend, resulting in division and discord rather than unity and mutual understanding.”

By removing records of any single period of history, the school district is keeping its students from fully understanding other historical events, said Monica Perales, an associate professor.

“I am truly saddened by the events taking place in Tucson,” Perales said.

“The thing about history is that there is no single narrative of the past; there are multiple intersecting and sometimes conflicting perspectives. The tragedy here is that not only are Latino students being denied the right to have their history and culture valued, but that all students are going to miss out on understanding the richness and complexity of the American experience.”

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The bill outlines the need for students to come forth and “do the right, responsible thing” when it comes to reporting incidents, particularly drug and alcohol-related situations, political science senior Michael McHugh said.

“Fear of police involvement is the number one reason why many drug and alcohol related incidences are not reported. Students think they may get in trouble, and they stay quiet,” McHugh said.

According to the Students for Sensible Drug Policy’s website, this bill would encourage people who witness or suffer an overdose to call 911 by assuring them they will not be arrested, charged or prosecuted for drug or paraphernalia possession or under-age alcohol possession.

Many prestigious universities have already adopted the bill, including Cornell, Duke and Harvard, McHugh said.

“With this policy, students will be (up to) two and a half times more likely to call for help immediately when witnessing alcohol incidents,” McHugh said. “Saving lives should never be considered criminal.”

The grade replacement bill discussions, a bill designed to allow students to retake a failed class and have the grade replaced, have come to a halt—for now.

“We’re not voting on the grade replacement policy tonight,” said Speaker of the Senate Reyes Ramirez. “We’re dealing with concerns from the Faculty Senate.”

According to Academic Affairs Chairman Maggie McCartney, she approached Faculty Director Simon Bott about the bill.  Bott then told her the grade replacement policy comes before the Faculty Senate every few years and every few years it is rejected.

The Faculty Senate’s concerns with the bill consist of implementing the program correctly and taking into consideration the students and the retention rate. The goal is for UH to continue to be recognized as Tier One and help students at the same time, according to Mike Nguyen, a former College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences senator.

“We’ll leave it in committee until we can get everything finalized,” McCartney said.

The proposal of the amended GENDA bill by McHugh is being put on hold.

“We figured we should take care of the students first, starting by holding off on this legislation. We (should) have more details on this by next week.”

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Approximately 15 students escaped the rain yesterday to enjoy hot cups of soup with the Council of Ethnic Organizations  in the University Center Spindletop room.

Students learned from members of the Council how to make Pistou, a French vegetable soup, and Egg Drop Soup with chicken.

“In each of our lessons, we try to have a vegetarian option and a meat-eater’s option,” said Jimmy Mai, a pre-pharmacy freshman.

Complications with the maximum heat of the electric stoves that the cooks were using — which were chosen because they allowed the group to avoid dealing with fire permits — led to some problems with the soup.

“I didn’t expect this not to boil at all,” French sophomore Erica Tat said about her Egg Drop Soup. “It’s a disaster.”

The Council chose soup for this event because January is National Soup Month, Mai said, but in this year alone, they have hosted four other cooking lessons.

“We’ll definitely be doing more,” Mai said.

The fact that the cooks did not have immediate access to a sink also made things difficult, Tat said.

“We can’t readily wash out utensils or pots to use again,” Tat said. “We have to find really, really simple recipes with as few ingredients as possible.”

The program “Let’s Talk” is open to all UH students, faculty and staff and is recommended for students who aren’t sure about counseling, students who have a specific problem, students who want guidance to help a friend with an issue and faculty or staff members who are concerned about a particular student or individual, said Kay Brumbaugh, outreach coordinator and psychologist.

“We understand that meeting with a therapist can be anxiety-provoking. What’s great about ‘Let’s Talk’ is that it’s a drop-in service where students can have informal consultations without committing to therapy,” Brumbaugh said.

“What we have discovered is that some students feel more comfortable after ‘Let’s Talk’ and decide to make a follow up appointment at CAPS for continued services.”

After the 15 minute session, a therapist will make recommendations as to what the best option for help would be, which may be a referral to CAPS, another UH department or an outside agency, Brumbaugh said.

“I believe this program will absolutely help students with their problems,” Brumbaugh said.

“It’s a great opportunity to casually speak with a therapist, hear what recommendations they may have, and see how counseling might help.”

The “Let’s Talk” therapists are staff from CAPS and consist of licensed psychologists, post-doctoral fellows and advanced graduate trainees in counseling and clinical psychology, said Brumbaugh.

For more information on this and other CAPS programs, go to www.caps.uh.edu/.

The only change, Speaker for the Senate Reyes Ramirez said, will be the inclusion of a talk by Faculty Director Simon Bott.

The senators will discuss — and possibly vote on — a grade replacement bill which will, under specific circumstances, allow students who have failed a class to have their grade replaced upon retaking the class, rather than have both grades factored into their GPA.

The senators will also be taking a look at a resolution that would officially set the stance of the SGA in support of providing stipends for students who must teach at elementary or secondary schools as part of their education.

Students who work as student teachers usually find it difficult to find employment elsewhere, according to the resolution’s text.

If the resolution is passed, SGA would work with other organizations to provide the students with stipends, the text said.

Michael McHugh will also introduce the new version of the GENDA bill, which would add gender identity to the non-discrimination section of the student handbook.

A resolution asking the Board of Regents to make the change was passed last semester. However, the Board returned it to the SGA, saying the senate was better suited to make minor changes in the student handbook.

The increase will go towards the construction of a new football stadium, the renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion, and the operation of athletic facilities.

Students can vote from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Athletics/Alumni Center, the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, Cougar Village, the Engineering Complex, M.D. Anderson Library, Melcher Hall, Moody Towers, the Moores School of Music, Philip Guthrie Hoffman Hall, the Science and Engineering Research Center, the University Center and the UC-Satellite.

Students need their peoplesoft ID number and date of birth to vote.

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Instead of collecting recyclables for weekly weigh-ins, the competitors must spread the word about recycling. This new strategy will still bring on friendly competition, but will also encourage the University to work together as a whole for the national contest to increase awareness and recycling on campus.

Students, faculty and staff can put together their own teams and are put in different categories based on the number of members. The three winning teams from each category will win a $100 catering credit and a certificate of recognition.

“(In the new competition) large teams aren’t bound by the amount of waste they can haul, and small teams aren’t bound by how much waste they create,” said Leah Wolfthal, program coordinator for sustainability. “The message reaches more people on campus, and we are modeling recycling and waste behaviors.”

Teams have until Feb. 6 to submit their registration packet, which they can find online at www.uh.edu/af/recyclemania/index.htm.

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The Recruitment Committee is looking for “students who have the desire to connect with the residents and also serve as resources for them” in potential resident assistants, said Jamica Johnson, area coordinator for Cougar Village.

The selection process entails a written or typed application, a group interview and an individual interview, Johnson said.

Betsy Galicia, a psychology pre-med senior, has been an RA since her sophomore year.

“As a senior RA, I guide the RAs in their responsibilities to get to know the residents. I can work with their skills, and I like that when they have a problem they actually come to me,” Galicia said.

She said the most rewarding part of being an RA is the leadership skills she has acquired and getting to know her fellow students better.

“It’s one of the jobs where I’ve had to really get to know people and not just casually. You actually live with these people,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like a job — it just feels like a social thing.”

Freshman Catherine Martin says her RAs have helped ease her into college life.

“They definitely pep up people by giving out cookies on rainy days or just asking how your day went,” she said.

Armando Hernandez, an architecture junior, said the RA job is much more than just desk hours and on-call shifts.

“I’m responsible for a male floor that consists of a little over 30 students,” he said. “I respond to issues they might have with school, roommates, relationships and pretty much anything they come to me with, positive or negative.”

Although every RA is required to work a certain number of hours at the desk per week and be available to assist the students living in their dorm, they are compensated with free housing and a meal plan.

Hernandez said he loves the people he has met — the residents as well as his RA team.

“I’m taking so much from this RA job, and I’m very thankful I was given the opportunity to become a part of RL&H on campus,” he said.

Applications are due Friday for the 2012-13 academic year, and must be turned in at the area coordinator’s office in Cougar Village. Students can find the application at housing.uh.edu/res-life.

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Students from UH and other Texas universities have researched and developed a levee system under the direction of Thomas Colbert of UH’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and in association with Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evaluation from Disasters Center.

The new levee would not only provide a safer alternative to Galveston’s outdated sea wall, but looks to attract more jobs while preserving a national park designed to protect the area’s ecosystem for the future generations, Colbert said.

“Enclosing the north side of Galveston to complete the levee system started by the seawall 100 years ago is necessary to attract economic development and growth to this historic and important economic center,” Colbert said. “People are not going to be attracted to build there if it’s not safe and it’s been repeatedly flooded.”

Cristhian Bisso, a fourth-year architecture student, visited Galveston and found an empty parking lot across the strand where his vision of landscapes, shops and even a theater would help create an attractive atmosphere for the visitor center.

“Levee systems are seen as something like an eye sore,” he said. “I wanted to create a very live-beat area around the levee system. This issue could be a great investment for the city — very beneficial.”

Projects of this caliber are presented to fourth- and fifth-year architecture students who are well-prepared to face serious challenges and offer different possible solutions, Colbert said.

Fourth-year student Mel Fuentes spent hours researching Galveston’s history and conducting site analysis and said this project has been a vital part of his educational process.

“It’s beneficial for us as architecture students to understand the reality of Galveston,” Fuentes said. “This is a new phase of growing, and it’s important for us to understand what’s happening in the real world of architecture.”

The Galveston levees project took three-and-a-half months to prepare and is the first project that Fuentes has been a part of that is being seriously considered.

“I personally hope that all the difficult politics and budgetary issues will be set aside so that this wonderful historic part of (the) Texas coast can be preserved for future generations,” Colbert said.

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This marks the second year that students walking through the University Center Arbor may have been set upon by lions.

The Council of Ethnic Organizations held a celebration of the Lunar New Year, a Chinese holiday, Monday.

“(Lunar New Year) is an opportunity to showcase the vibrancy of the culture,” said Sieda Omar, an economics senior and Council director.

Along with free dumplings and milk tea, the event featured the Son Long lion dance group.

The dancers are carrying on a tradition that is “thousands of years old” and were taught at Linh Son Temple, Southwest, said Long Le, a business junior.

The performers, dressed as colorful lions, danced to a heavy drum-and-cymbal rhythm and were given fruits and vegetables to “scare away bad spirits,” Le said.

One of the great things about the UC Arbor, Omar said, is the fact that students who walk by will often be enticed to stay and watch.

“It was a really great and fantastic event,” said language senior Huáng Long Lê.

The event was originally going to be held on Wednesday, the date of the holiday, but was postponed because of the rain, Omar said.

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