By Kalyn Story | Staff Writer Baylor Media Communications announced that President Ken Starr will continue his role as Chancellor and law Professor as Dr. David Garland is named interim university president. Baylor head football coach Art Briles will be suspended with intent to terminate after his 8 seasons with the Bears. Athletic Director Ian McCaw is sanctioned and placed on probation, and Baylor will self-report to the NCAA. “We have made these decisions, because, above all, we must safeguard our students and our campus,” said Richard Willis, chair of the Baylor Board of Regents. “We must set a…
Author: Baylor Lariat
By Liesje Powers | Lariat Photo Editor The last remaining structure of Floyd Casey Stadium was imploded at 7 a.m. on Saturday, May 14. Public access was denied during the operation, and warnings were given at both five and one minute prior to the implosion. A number of locals watched from nearby parking lots. The implosion had been a planned part of the demolition since early March, according to Vice President John Satterwhite of the demolition company, Lloyd D. Nabors Demolition. The stadium, which was home of the Baylor football team for over 60 years, has been under deconstruction since January,…
Make friends, fight crime: All in a day’s work for Kandy Knowles By Jessica Hubble | Lariat Staff Writer Kandy Knowles, the Baylor Police Department’s crime prevention officer, is well-known in the Baylor community and has deep connections with students. Students, eager to talk to Knowles as she makes her way around campus on her bicycle, often call out to her from across the street and stop her in the store to introduce her to their family and friends. Of all the issues she deals with on campus, sexual assault prevention is something that is very close to Knowles’s heart…
Walter Abercrombie returns to his roots after playing for NFL By Kendall Baer | Lariat Assistant Web Editor Football has been a major part of Baylor University’s history since 1898. Many players have passed through the team, leaving their marks. One particular player, Walter Abercrombie, a standout running back for Baylor from 1978-1981, continues to impact Baylor campus after his collegiate and professional football days by serving as executive director of the Baylor ‘B’ Association. Abercrombie, a Waco native and the son of a Baptist preacher, said Baylor was always a natural connection for him. “I had one of the…
Local hat-maker keeps cowboy culture values relevant By Hunter Hewell | Lariat Reporter The cowboy hat is not just a symbol of the Wild West or of days gone by. The cowboy hat is an expression of the American spirit. The cowboys who wore them remind us of freedom, self-expression and the pursuit of happiness. As the era of technology seems to grow and the number of cowboys seems to lessen, the cowboy hat has come to embody those ideals and represents a lifestyle and spirit that is all but gone. No one understands this better than Cameron Morris, the…
By Sawyer Smith | Lariat Reporter Jon Ker has a story that demands full attention. As somebody who claim status as a veteran, lawyer, educator, politician and family man, his life experiences are fascinating and admirable. He is a warm and interesting person who has lived a life filled with great achievements, including his current position in the Baylor community as a seminary student. His exotic boots, cowboy hat and southern twang give away the fact that Ker is Texan through and through. From Dallas to Waco, this is his native land. Though travels and work have taken him afar…
By Kalyn Story | Lariat Staff Writer When Dr. Darryn Willoughby saw that his student was distracted in class, he did whatever he had to to make sure she could focus on the lecture; in this case, that meant picking up her baby and holding her for the duration of class. Earlier that morning, Deadwood, S.D., junior Katy Humphrey was driving to Baylor from her home in Salado when her babysitter called and said she was sick and unable to watch Humphrey’s daughter, Millie. Humphrey asked her to stay with Millie for the morning because she had a physics test…
By Gavin Pugh | Assistant City Editor The Bicyclist His bicycle’s chain is rusted, the brakes are shot, and the seat is missing the screw that keeps it upright. The logo that once identified the bicycle as a Pure Fix is worn beyond recognition, yet his is arguably the best-known bike on Baylor campus. “I call it my magic bike,” Dallas junior William Harkness said. Sometimes carrying a hula hoop and always blaring hip hop, Harkness has made a reputation for himself as the guy who rides his bike with no hands. “He takes you back, and then makes you…
By Dane Chronister | Lariat City Editor Not many people can say they have had the opportunity to work with Jean Michel Cousteau, but Baylor senior lecturer, Curtis W. Callaway has done that and then some. As a kid, Callaway grew up watching the Cousteau Society when they first started showing underwater films and first started exploring around the world. He always thought underwater videography and photography would be something he would like to do some day. However, he never thought he would get to work for the son of his childhood hero. “I met one of the Cousteau divers…
By Heather Trotter | Lariat Reporter Dr. Rena Bonem’s love for coral reefs began with a passion for geology in high school. She was initially interested in paleontology, the study of fossilized animals and plants, but later became interested in studying coral reefs. Today, she is one of the most influential women in coral reef ecology, working with NOAA, the YMCA, PADI, the Geological Society of America and many more science-based organizations where she has held high-ranking positions. She is currently a professor of geology at Baylor University. In March of 2001, Bonem was inducted into the Women Divers Hall…
Carroll Science made its Hollywood debut 16 years ago By Kalli Damschen | Lariat Reporter The Carroll Science Building may not have its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but the historic building did make a big-screen debut at the beginning of the early 2000s. The building made an appearance in a scene of the feature film “Where the Heart Is.” The movie was released in April 2000 and starred Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing and Joan Cusack. In 1999 the film’s co-producer Susan Cartsonis told the Lariat that the producers chose to film the second-to-last shot…
By Jacquelyn Kellar | Lariat Reporter Life is biology; biology is chemistry; chemistry is physics. Therefore, physics is life. That’s exactly the attitude these two associate physics professors Dr. Jay Dittmann and Dr. Kenichi Hatakeyama had during their contributions to the Nobel Prize- winning research that led to the discovery of the Higgs boson. Dittmann and Hatakeyama were brought on board the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland, to work on the Large Hedron Collider, a four-story tall machine residing 100 meters underground that makes it possible for protons to collide at 7 TeV, or 7 trillion electron…
An assistant director keeps his passions present in his work and in his relationships By Brauna Marks | Lariat Reporter In a small room located on an outer wing of the McLane Student Life Center, a man sits surrounded by motivational sayings, frames full of relationships, old college t-shirts and Greek paraphernalia. He leans back in his chair, glancing from computer screen to phone screen to agenda and back again. A Baylor student hangs in his doorway, and he stops and they talk. Then he’s off to another destination, to another motivation. As he closes the door to his office,…
Baylor couple gains perspective with art and altitude By Jessica Babb | Broadcast Managing Editor Imagine flying an airplane and peering out your window to see the clouds floating beneath you and the sky in front of you painted with a mix of bright oranges and yellows. Better yet, imagine being able to capture the full beauty of the evening sky with paint on a canvas. David and Priscilla Henry don’t have to imagine. As a couple, they can do those things, and over the years, they have. However, many people might not know that. The Henrys are typically known…
Reed’s Flowers serves the community for more than 80 years By Liesje Powers | Lariat Staff Writer Downtown Waco is no stranger to history. Driving down one street can reveal dozens of shops, each with their own story. Among these is Reed’s Flowers. The large sign spelling out R-E-E-D-S and old-timey mural that decorate the outside of the building easily distinguish it from other shops on Austin Avenue. The building that people see is not the original Reed’s Flowers. The company began when Albert and Tom Reed migrated from London to America in the early 1900s. They worked in greenhouses…
Filmmakers reflect on viral video, new adventures since By Ashlyn Thompson | Lariat Reporter It’s been almost a year since Round III Media released its viral video of Waco’s BSR Cable Park Super Slides. The video, which uploaded to YouTube in June 2015, has attracted more than 34 million views, putting both the media platform and BSR on the map. One year of radical adventures and “squad goals” later, the crew reflects on how their experiences, as well as their brand, have evolved. Ben Hamner and AJ Aguirre both grew up adventurous spirits, both also interested in filmmaking. Sharing the…
A dollar may not mean much to many people, but for one Baylor student and one Baylor family, it does.
Making it to commencement is a feat that the average student spends four years trying to achieve. After years of tests, projects and just trying to make life work, the prospect of graduation is exciting. However, there is still one last hurdle before students make it to the real world: sitting through the longest two hours of their lives. Anyone who has been to a Baylor graduation can vouch for this. The ceremony is boring and takes forever. To be fair, most commencements are. However, colleges around the nation have made efforts to send their seniors off with something memorable,…
At the beginning of April, California became the third state to allow the sale of over-the-counter birth control, after Oregon and Washington. This new system allows patients to get contraceptives pills, patches and rings from a pharmacy without a doctor’s prescription. Instead, patients visit a local pharmacy at any time, complete a questionnaire with a pharmacist, get a pharmacist’s prescription and then receive their birth control. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that birth control is used by more than half the women of reproductive age in the U.S. Despite the prevalence of contraceptives, birth control is…
Diverse representation on American currency received a new wave of support after it was announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury last year that a woman would appear on the $10 bill. Almost a year later, public opinion helped push the boundaries of what was originally planned for the future of U.S. currency. Last week, the department announced that the $20 bill, and not the $10 bill, would get Harriet Tubman, an African-American abolitionist and woman, to grace the front of the bill. Taking it a step further, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced that the $5 and $10…
The majority of Americans seem to think there is a war on police in our country based on a 2015 survey by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. With the number of fatal police interactions increasing, there has been a call to put more measures in place to increase transparency and accountability of officers. One solution, has been implementing body cams. The body cams are small cameras police officers can wear to record their interactions with others while they are on duty, which can provide audio and visual context to any given situation. Body cams can provide more than…
Baylor recently appointed Dr. Elizabeth Palacios as the special assistant to diversity to address diversity on campus.
By, Jonathon S. PlattOn the morning of May 2, 1963, thousands poured out of 16th Street Baptist Church and onto the streets of Birmingham, Ala. Their goal was to integrate the downtown businesses regardless of segregation laws, Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene “Bull” Connor or his jails. “The only thing that we did wrong was waiting in the wilderness too long,” a lone voice began. Then, thousands joined: “Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on. Hold on.” Birmingham was such a nasty place in the mid-century its nickname was “Bombing-ham.” It’s said Jesus told a black man to get…
There has been an onslaught of static regarding the presidential nomination process, particularly on the Republican side. The current frontrunner of the Republican race, Donald Trump, has been the catalyst for the complaints of an apparently “rigged” system and an unfair nomination process, in his words. Now before we continue any further, let it be clear that this is not an editorial designed to bring down Trump and promote any of the other candidates in the race. As Americans, working for a fair nomination process should be a concern for all of us involved in the election. However, Trump and…
When asked the question how much should someone spend on an engagement ring, many people might already have a preconceived price tag. Some believe the special number is somewhere around $5,000. Others might be bargain shoppers and find a ring for a few hundred dollars without breaking the bank. Meanwhile, there are some who have a standard in mind when it comes to the amount someone should spend on an engagement ring. Maybe parents or older generations have influenced this decision. According to the most recent data from a 2013 report by Jewelers of America, couples spent an average of…
The Baylor Bears Acrobatics and Tumbling team won their second straight title Tuesday night against the Oregon Ducks.
Exams, term papers, projects. Every student is familiar with the onslaught of final responsibilities that come with tying up the semester’s loose ends. In the midst of all that hustle and bustle, it’s tough to make time to complete what is essential to evaluate the quality of the semester – course evaluations. In most classes, course evaluations are optional. Students receive emails from Baylor Institutional Research and Testing, the department in charge of administering course evaluations, when the surveys are made available. They’re also likely to receive verbal reminders from instructors to complete evaluations. Some instructors, however, have made course…
In almost every field of work, questions of ethics will arise. Baylor helps prepare students for the inevitable, tough decisions by offering a variety of ethics classes. From environmental to business to journalism ethics, these classes force students to explore situations from an ethics-based standpoint. These situations occur outside of the classroom daily, and local journalists had to face a tough issue recently. The issue was whether or not it was acceptable to release former Baylor football player Shawn Oakman’s name prior to his arrest on sexual assault charges last week. Some bloggers and reporters apparently had no qualms with…
In preparation for the National Championship, the Baylor Acrobatics and Tumbling team has been hard at work preparing to defend their title.
