North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 48, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 16, 2011 Page: 1 of 8
eight pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
64° / 38
aking the Field
Looking at UN 's chances of adding a baseball team
Sports I Page 6
Show Time
Student-produced shows receive awards
Arts & Life | Page 3
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Volume 98 I Issue 48
Q ntdaily.com
N :• rtI • Tex s ] ailv
News 1, 2
Arts & Life 3
Sports 4, 5, 6
Views 7
Classifieds 8
Games 8
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
Stal f voices concerns about termination policy
Alex Macon
Senior Staff Writer
More than 150 UNT
employees expressed concern,
confusion and in some cases
open hostility about a poten-
tial change in the UNT System's
employment policy at two public
meetings Tuesday
The switch to an at-will
employment policy proposed by
Chancellor Lee Jackson would
allow the UNT System to fire
staff members for any "lawful"
cause.
Employee input from the
meetings will be assembled
and presented to Jackson,
said Richard Escalante, vice
chancellor for administrative
services for the UNT System and
member of the committee that
recommended changes to the
existing employment policy
"It should be clear that the
chancellor has made no deci-
sion on the at-will status, and
will not do so until he has heard
your comments," Escalante
said,
Jackson, who was not present,
notified UNT System employees
of the possible change in an
email on Nov 4. The change in
employment policy would not
affect faculty or employees with
existing contracts, but would
apply to UNT staff.
The recommendation for
at-will employment came as a
response to reviews of current
policies and procedures, which
Jackson said "are out of step
with the policies of most other
Texas public institutions of
higher education."
Escalante, who moderated
the meetings, said they are not
intended to be question-and-
answer sessions, and deferred
most questions to an FAQ form
on at-will employment.
See EMPLOY on Page 2
Alumnus wins
award or film
Dylan Rogers
Staff Writer
What began as a class project
for a capstone film course resulted
in a national cinematography
award for UNT alumnus Joshua
Spires.
Spires was recently named
one of four winners in the Kodak
Film School Cinematography
Competition for his camera
work on "The Whale," a short
film directed by UNT alumnus
Jaime Chapin.
The awards are given to
student cinematographers and
recent graduates from each
major region of the world - the
Americas, Europe, Asia and
Africa. Winners are given the
opportunity to screen their films
in February at the 2012 Clermont-
Ferrand Short Film Festival.
Though the award was given
to Spires individually, he gave the
utmost credit to the crew, which
Chapin said was close to a dozen
strong, and his instructor, Eugene
Martin of the radio, television and
film faculty.
"It was incredible how much
support we got from friends and
family and friends of friends for
this project," Chapin said.
"UNT is really supportive.
Everyone I've talked to since
I've graduated can't believe
how much support UNT gives
to their students."
The film, which runs about
14 minutes long, is about a boy
escaping into his imagination
to repress a cycle of paternal
abuse, according to the Kodak
press release.
"The Whale" debuted at
UNT just days before most of
the group's graduation, and
has since been shown at the
Zero Film Festival in New
York and throughout North
Texas.
"Everybody came together
better than you could even
expect or ask for," Spires said.
"Mostly I'm just grateful for my
crew; they made it happen."
The film was shot on loca-
tion at Caddo Lake near the
Texas-Louisiana border over
the course of three weekends.
Most of the budget was raised
independently through social
media outlets, Spires said.
See KODAK on Page 2
Photo Courtesy of Olivia Divecchia
UNT alumnus Jason Spires was named one of four winners in Kodak's Film
School Cinematography Competition for a film that he made for a project in
his radio, television and film class.
\
J
Photo by Anam Bakali/Contributing Photographer
The University Union serves many purposes for students and faculty. At the meeting Tuesday evening, the Master Plan committee met for the first time with mem-
bers of Perkins + Will, the architectural firm selected for the upcoming Union renovation. The committee members shared their ideas with the architects, saying
students would like to see more signage to make it easier to navigate, an enhanced Mean Green presence, and better usage of natural light in the new building.
N' ' announces nion architect
Nicole Balderas &
Isaac Wright
Senior Staff Writers
Chicago-based architec-
ture firm Perkins+Will Inc.
begins its first day on the
job today as the company
selected to construct a reno-
vated University Union,
the largest project in UNT
history.
The Union's renovation
is estimated to cost around
$100 million according to
the Dallas Business Journal,
though Union director Zane
Reif said it might be too soon
to talk numbers.
"This is the same team that
"This is the same team that
has done several unions
here in Texas already."
Ron Stelmarski
Student life expert for Perkins+Will Inc.
has done several unions here
in Texas already," said Ron
Stelmarski, student life expert
for Perkins+Will. "One at UT
San Antonio ... We have a
lot of experience working in
Texas."
Members of the Perkins+Will
team who will work on the
Union design met with UNT
administrators Tuesday to
discuss how student input
would influence the new
building's design.
A photo survey would be
one method of identifying
what students want to see in
the Union, Reif said.
"Students vote with their
feet," Stelmarski said. "You
can tell what they want by
where they go. I think the idea
of asking them to take photos
of the places they go is a really
good one."
Members of the company
as well as other university
officials went on a tour of the
Union Tuesday to scope out
damages to be repaired before
beginning renovations.
See UNION on Page 2
ouncil postpones approval of power line route
Isaac Wright
Senior Staff Writer
Denton residents successfully
appealed to the City Council
Tuesday in their request to
reconsider approval of a contro-
versial transmission line resi-
dents say poses safety hazards
and hurts land value.
The city approved one
proposed route for a Denton
Municipal Electric transmis-
sion line project and delayed
approval of a second line after
residents voiced concerns.
"After all the drama that we
had to go through, I'm really
happy that it was resolved,"
Denton resident Christina
Watson said. "I'm sad to see a
similar situation arising again.
I would like to hope [the City
Council] considers the issue
equally."
The approved route, or purple
route, stretches 4 miles, begin-
ning west of Loop 288 and
ending just south of McKinney
Street and would cost $20.2
million to construct.
The purple line was drafted
in September as a response
to homeowners who feared
the "red route" DME initially
proposed would affect their
property.
The red route would have run
through six houses in Denton's
East Oaks subdivision.
The city delayed approval on
DME's "yellow route" in order
to look for alternate routes
that would affect fewer home-
owners.
DME proposed building the
transmission line along Hercules
Lane from East Sherman Drive
to the North Denton Power
Substation on Locust Street,
a route Denton residents say
poses safety concerns for nearby
homes.
Watson, a resident of East
Oaks, said she believed the
city made the right decision in
rerouting the purple line and said
the same consideration should
be extended to homeowners on
Hercules Lane.
"We need a real crunching
of the numbers on some alter-
natives that may be helpful to
get that thing out of the way,"
District 4 Councilman Chris
Watts said. "This is why we have
this process."
The proposed yellow route
would cost $7 million, said DME
general manager Phil Williams;
however, DME will begin working
on new ways to reroute the yellow
line to affect the fewest number
of homes, he said. Photq by Andrew Williams/Staff Photographer
Denton resident Johnny Davis offers an alternative route for transmission lines during Tuesday's City Council meeting.
See CITY on Page 2 Davis suggested that the transmission line be placed around Loop 288 instead of Hercules Lane.
Inside
SGA raises money for cancer research
News I Page 2
Coaches help senior forward recover from injury
Sports | Page 5
At-will employment spells trouble for UNT
Views | Page 7
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Pherigo, Josh. North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 48, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 16, 2011, newspaper, November 16, 2011; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth209202/m1/1/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.