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Sexual assault at Cougar Village sees the arrest of teenager

A student reported that she was sexually assaulted in her Cougar Village room by Keon Mark Whitehead, 19, while she was drunk April 13.

According to the criminal complaint filed against Whitehead, the student said she could only vaguely remember what happened, but she recalled Whitehead, an acquaintance of her roommate and her, standing beside her bed after she had been drinking for several hours.

She then said her legs had fallen off of the bed, and she remembered Whitehead picking them up, and according to the complaint, Whitehead confirmed — via telephone the next day — that the two of them had sexual intercourse and that he did not use a condom.

According to the complaint, Whitehead had videotaped the student sleeping until her roommate told him to stop. He also admitted to the UH Department of Public Safety that he knew she had been drinking, and that he engaged in sexual contact.

According the UHDPS’ daily crime bulletin, she reported the assault shortly after midnight April 15.

Whitehead was taken to Harris County Jail with a bail set at $30,000, and his next court date is May 16.

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International students get what they need

The International Student and Scholar Services Office provides UH’s almost 4,000 non-immigrant international students with the tools to begin their American education and take it back to their country of origin.

International students who come to the University with a temporary visa are greeted on their arrival with a check-in process.

“They have to check in with us and the reason is because our office is in charge of the responsibility of ensuring that the student is on an appropriate visa for study,” said Anita Gaines, director of ISSSO. “There are some types of visas that don’t permit study. Or there may be cases when the international student may have a concern or problem before getting here that we need to see.”

During check-in, the entire staff meets each student individually, who then walks through stations that provide information about everything from how to get housing and how to pay bills to how to obtain a drivers license. The office has trained peer advisors, both American and international, who help with the process.

“There is a lot of information to guide them through when first arriving here,” said Jin Zhang, associate
director of ISSSO.

To help the students feel more comfortable in their new environment, ISSSO has an International Friendship Program that connects them with other students from their country.

Gaines said the process gives arriving students everything they need while studying in America.

“It gives us the opportunity to give them information about how to get started here,” Gaines said. “Beyond check in, we have a two-day orientation where we provide information about the American educational system, about the city, about the University and about the things they are going to need to know to be successful in this country. They have so many additional obstacles that they need to cross, and at least they know where to go for different services.”

The services are available to all international students at UH. According to the Fall Semester 2012 Annual Enrollment Report, there is a total of 40,746 enrolled students at UH, of which 3,520 are non-immigrant international students.

Most non-immigrant students come from China, India and Vietnam, the report said.

These students are also given the opportunity to get work experience on- and off-campus while at UH. ISSSO does this through several training programs designed for different types of international student according to their immigration documents.

“In either case we are involved in helping them with the process to gain authorization to work,” Gaines said. “It has to be related to their major.”

Zhang said that while some students do stay in the U.S. to begin their careers, she thinks most non-immigrant students go back to their country to work. The current economic situation in each country varies, affecting the decisions of students to either stay or go back.

“Some students find that the company likes them and they like the company, so they stay here,” Zhang said. “Some students return home, and I think that is almost always the case. These days we do see more students return home than before, especially people from developing countries.”

India-native Rahul Parthasarathi, an international accounting graduate student, has a different perspective. He said students from underdeveloped countries like his feel that that staying in the U.S. will give them the chance to get back what they put in to their degree.

“People from India actually pay more, because the cost of living here is expensive,” Parthasarathi said. “I spent $40,000 in undergrad. I would like to get that back by working here. Any job here pays more than anything back home. India is at the bottom of the economy chart, because it provides cheap labor among other things. But the U.S is at the top.”

Whether they stay or if they go, both Zhang and Gaines said they are proud to offer all the services they can through the ISSSO to current and future international students. Gaines said having such a prominent international community on the UH campus helps everyone at the University.

“Our university being such a diverse campus, the second most diverse research institution in a city that is known to be the most diverse city in the U.S., puts us in a really unique position to be able to celebrate the diversity here,” Gaines said. “It helps everyone in the community to be better educated about the world. Many people don’t get the opportunity to travel to another country, but you can learn a lot from someone who is from another country.”

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Calendar: April 25 to April 28

TODAY

Remembrance: From noon to 1 p.m. at the A.D. Bruce Religion Center, the annual memorial service, UH Day of Remembrance, for members of the UH community who passed away in 2012 will take place.

Intramural sports: Starting at 1 p.m. at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, intramural sports will host its version of the NFL Draft Combine. Admission to this event is free.

Breaking the Silence: From 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Room 124 at the Classroom Business Building, Impact Congo Students Association presents its first “Breaking the Silence” lecture with guest speaker Kambale Musavuli. The event is aiming to educate students and faculty on what is being called “Africa’s World War,” a conflict that has taken the lives of 6 million people, with countless women being raped since 1996 in the D. R. Congo. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided.

FRIDAY

Reforming Mexico’s Oil Sector: From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Room 328 at the Classroom and Busineess Building, the CICS Spring Mini Conference “Reforming Mexico’s Oil Sector” roundtable discussion with four noted experts: Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center; David Enrique, energy lawyer at Goodrich Riquelme y Asociados; Eduardo Andrade Iturribarria, corporate director at Iderdrola; and Ricardo Colmenter, regional general council at Weatherford International, will take place. Admission to this event is free with an RSVP, and lunch will be provided.

Opening Reception: From 6 to 9 p.m. at the Blaffer Art Museum, the UH School of Art annual student exhibition opening reception will be held. Admission to this event is free.

Dance Works: From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Wortham Theatre, whether you’re a dance aficionado or a dance newbie, you’ll enjoy this annual show featuring contemporary works by faculty and guest artists with our pre-professional dance company, the UH Dance Ensemble. Student tickets are $10.

SATURDAY

As You Like It: From 8 to 10 p.m. at the Quintero theater, a play by William Shakespeare, directed by Sara Becker will display Shakespeare’s perennial crowd pleaser. This comedy includes mistaken identity, cross dressing, wrestling, fools, snakes and lions. Rosalind and her cousin Celia flee the dangerous court and travel into the mysterious Forest of Arden, kicking off a grand adventure that changes everyone involved. Student tickets are $10.

Dionysia: From 8 to 10 p.m. in the Rockwell Pavilion of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library, Dionysia 2013 presents an adaptation of “The Iliad,” Homer’s classic tale of war and suffering, entitled “Ilium.” Jen Sommers of the School of Theatre and Dance choreographs and directs, with music composed and conducted by Moores School of Music vocal performance major Alyssa Weathersby. An RSVP is recommended.

SUNDAY

March of Dimes: From 9 to 11 a.m. at the corner of Cullen Boulevard and Elgin Street, UH will serve as the host site for this year’s March for Babies walk, one of the most successful walking events in the area. This will mark the 17th year that UH will participate, bringing more than 30,000 participants to campus. UH’s is the nation’s largest and best-attended walk site, and last year, its volunteer team ranked No. 25 among the top 100 teams in the Houston area.

Students help in design of Houston high school

High School of the Performing and Visual Arts is going to look as art-savvy as its students once UH architecture students transform their designs into reality. | Courtesy of Jose Martinez

Houston’s High School for Performing and Visual Arts has cultivated this city’s artistic youth for more than 40 years and is now ranked nationally by U.S. News & World Report.

As Houston continues to progress and advance into the future, HSPVA is following at its heels with plans to move to a new facility, designed with help from UH students.

The project, led by associate professor and director of the Graduate Design/Build Studio Patrick Peters, has given 13 architecture students the opportunity to apply their knowledge to a real-world development in which they must work with clients and their concerns.

“I typically assign projects that are impacted by real-world constraints as a catalyst to incredible creative
thinking,” Peters said. “I have seen the students grow tremendously through their work on this very challenging project.”

The participating students have been given the opportunity to speak with HSPVA administrators, faculty
and students, as well as work with architects, including former UH professor Barry Moore, who helped
design HSPVA’s current campus, in order to formulate their designs.

Speaking with all these people to get a great idea of the realities of the project has been the most
rewarding part, said architecture and environmental design senior Longinos Gutierrez.

Yet, as the designs must accommodate both studios and performance spaces alongside academic
classrooms, the students have been faced with many challenges as they undertake this mission.

“The most difficult aspect about this project is solving the floor plans while keeping in mind what rooms
are located on the adjacent floors,” Gutierrez said. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle.”

Although the students’ designs will not be built, they have the potential to influence the final scheme of
the building as they present their visions to the Houston and HSPVA communities today.

“My design is not meant to be chosen; it’s just a study for future architects to analyze,” Gutierrez said. “I want to design a building that is flexible and simple while being as functional as possible. The building is meant for the students to inhabit and transform according to their talents. It is somewhat of a canvas for the people who occupy it.”

As the students have worked on their designs, HSPVA principal Robert Scott Allen has shown his anticipation and enthusiasm for the project.

“My vision is a state of the art facility that has the spaces needed to provide an excellence arts education to the high school students of Houston in dance, theater, creative writing, visual arts and music,” Allen said. “I think that having students downtown in the arts district is going to add an exciting energy to the city of Houston. … I can’t wait.”

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Inconsistent alerts keep everyone up all night

In a world filled with stabbings, shootings and bombings, awareness has never been more important. Knowing what is going on around us is a necessity. This is why UH has an emergency alert system.

David Delgado/The Daily Cougar

This alert system is designed to reach students through email and cellphone. This system is also used to notify students of school closures and bad weather conditions.

While some students get notifications in real time, others may not get them until hours after. If there is a robbery or assault on campus, emails have been known to arrive up to three hours after the incident. When assaults and robberies occur, I would like to be notified immediately.

This is no reflection on the work of the UH Department of Public Saftey; however, when the University is faced with reports of a serious incident in progress — like a possible gunman — the UH Alert System has been seen to react more quickly than with other cases.

On March 5, students were alerted that there was a sighting of a possibly armed “Asian mail” around Philip G. Hoffman Hall. Students received text messages and emails advising them to stay indoors. Less than an hour later, students were notified that everything was “all clear.” The suspect was merely carrying a hand-held scanner; but it was comforting to receive a prompt text message to let me know it was safe.

The system is not the problem. It works, but high traffic crashes the alert system website. Immediate information is not impossible; it just seems to take a high priority incident to get this information quickly.

Many factors go into the relaying of this information, which may be why it takes longer than some would like. David Johnson, executive director of Technology Services and Support, said the system operates as a chain of events.

The process begins with an incident being reported to UHDPS. From there, the message is entered into the interface of an emergency notification system called Pier. The computer then decides whether this notification should be sent out over email, text or both. The alert is then sent to the server to be compiled and then the information is sent to a pre-generated list of email addresses and cell phone numbers. If the option to send it to a cell phone is chosen, the alert must then go through each student’s specific cell phone provider company before it is received by the student.

Factors such as students being out of range of a cell phone tower, having their phone off or having the wrong phone number in the UH system can increase in the amount of time it takes to receive a message.

“We would like our students to receive the message within five minutes,” Johnson said. “We know that that’s not always going to happen because there are a lot of factors that go into it. We usually try to say five to seven minutes.”

In a world dependent on technology and speed, Johnson and the UHDPS are constantly looking for ways to improve the system.

“You can’t just depend on one message system,” Johnson said. “We are looking to integrate into our digital cyber system. We just signed a campus-wide agreement for digital signage.”

Digital signage is information kiosks and slideshows that would be displayed on screens when students walk into a building. Pictures of students and information about upcoming events would be seen. When there is an incident occurring, the alert would override the system, and the message would be displayed directly on the screen.

Starting in the fall, students will receive emails, text messages and be able to see alerts on the screens in buildings. This system would notify students of bad weather conditions and dangers on campus.

This system sounds like a step forward. There is the concern of what level of alarm students would want to be notified. While some students may become annoyed with possible false alarms, others, like creative writing sophomore Nicolas Montoya, would rather be notified too often than not enough.

“Being notified not enough would mean that we are being ignorant to what is happening around us, and we would have a false sense of security,” Montoya said. “I would rather be on the cautious side.”

The steps that the UH Alert System is taking to ensure that students are aware of what is happening around them are a step in the right direction to get information out quicker. The longer it takes to receive an alert, the better the chance that someone else could be walking in to danger. Situations should be treated like a high profile case until proven otherwise.

Kelly Schafler is a print journalism sophomore and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.

Renu Khator stays humble

President Renu Khator

To celebrate President Renu Khator’s five-year anniversary at UH, The Daily Cougar got a chance to interview her while she is away in San Francisco. Among University-related topics, the Cougar and Khator discussed her most defining learning moment from a student, favorite dishes, style secrets and blog.

The Daily Cougar: You were instrumental to UH becoming a Tier-One-recognized university; what goals do you have for the next five years?

Renu Khator: First of all, getting to Tier One was a team effort. It took all of us to focus and create the synergy required to accomplish the task. As for the next five years, our goal remains the same: to be nationally competitive in everything we do, from student success to research productivity to athletics. We will grow our Health Science Center, strengthen the Energy Research Park, enhance our arts connections, but above all, be relevant to the community.

TDC: Is there anything you would have done differently in the five years you have spent in Houston?

RK: You always look back and say, “I could have done this earlier, faster or better,” but that is a necessary part of learning. Overall, I am grateful for all the opportunities that were presented to me personally and professionally, and I feel blessed to have been at UH. But, yes, there is one thing. I adopted a dog last year. I should have done it five years ago.

TDC: You’ve said, “If it’s crucial to Houston, it’s crucial to UH.” The University has seen the addition of several health-related buildings and course offerings; what else do you believe is crucial to our city and campus that has yet to be addressed?

RK: A university is a reflection of its community. We have to work hard to stay relevant to our community and our nation in these changing times. We have several strong economies in the region: energy, health, port, NASA and the arts. We have an obligation to prepare our diverse students to play transformational roles in all of these sectors.

TDC: If I understood your Texas Monthly interview correctly, Indian students don’t have the choice to graduate if it takes more than four years. Do you think a “four-year-degree plan” is realistic considering the economy, job availability related major changes and working students?

RK: Let’s talk about four-year degree completion. It is neither feasible nor desirable for everyone, but for those who wish to do it, there must be every tool in their toolkit to get it done. If a student joins the University as a full-time freshman, it is clear that the student has every intention of graduating in four years. As an institution, our focus should be doing what we can to help with that journey.

TDC: I enjoyed watching the inspirational speech about “bold dreams” you gave at the International Conference of Academic Institutes earlier this year (it’s posted to YouTube). When you were in college and graduate school, what did you have to find courage to go after?

RK: My dream was to get the highest degree possible, which I knew was a doctorate. It was illogical for a girl growing up in a small town in India and in a community where there were no role models. Bold dreams often are illogical. That dream kept the fire burning in my belly. Then, of course, I got lucky and came to the land of opportunities, the United States of America.

TDC: Tell me about a student you have met, other than those you’ve introduced in your blog, who taught you a lesson you never expected.

RK: My most defining learning moment from a student occurred more than 10 years ago. I had just become the provost (at the University of South Florida), and I was telling a group of freshmen why it was important for the university to become a nationally ranked university. A 17-year old student with the most innocent eyes raised his hand and asked, “Will it help me?” I was speechless for a few seconds. Since then, I have never been able to think of any university plan or strategy without asking myself, “Will it help my students?” That question changed my paradigm forever.

TDC: I love the idea that you have your own blog and actually write your own posts; how has publishing your personal reflections online been rewarding?

RK: In my very first blog, I said that I had decided to blog to highlight the unsung heroes around me. It has been extremely rewarding for two reasons: One, it has made me more observant of people around me and my interactions with them. Two, it makes me feel less guilty when people give me more credit than I deserve. It is my way of sharing the joy of our success and giving credit where it belongs. Above all, it keeps me humble.

TDC: How has the birth of your two grandchildren affected you and your outlook on life?

RK: I am starting to think long-term and also optimistically. For instance, as a university president, any disruptive change seems like a hurdle. When I think of the learning opportunities it will create for my grandchildren, I find it exciting and inviting. I am more willing to deal with tomorrow’s challenges today and more eager to get them right for the sake of Kai and Anya.

TDC: Everyone knows that you travel the world and advocate for UH and what it stands for; tell me about the most surprisingly inspirational experience on your travels. And where are you currently?

RK: Currently, I am in San Francisco, giving a presentation to a conference for board trustees from all over the nation. My best moments are the times when I am able to leave the audience dazzled by the accomplishments of the University of Houston. I rarely ever get up to speak without wearing red and without bringing at least four examples from UH regardless of the topic.

TDC: Houston has a very diverse collection of culinary options because of the “melting pot” of cultures that have settled here; do you have any favorite dishes or restaurants that you’ve discovered or been introduced to?

RK: I am discovering culinary delights every day. I do not eat meat, therefore, my list may not be fair to the Houston landscape. I have many favorites from food trucks to dog-friendly patios to the fanciest nooks. When I have had a rough day, I like to go to Pappasito’s for a cold beer at the bar. When I have had a good day, I may head to Uchi for the chef’s new selection.

TDC: You are always so immaculately dressed; do you have any secrets to your style? Have you always been a fan of red or did that come after starting at UH?

RK: Red has always been my color. In fact, I used to joke that if I ever became president of a school where the school color was not red, I would change it. As for my dressing style, I like to mix-and-match — skirt from J. Crew, jewelry from Delhi, shirt from a Chinese street vendor, jacket from a Paris boutique, shoes from Brazilian leather market and a Cougar bracelet from eBay — anything goes.

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