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Tennis needs a place in football-ruled USA

By Phillip Ericksen
Reporter

Along with VCRs, fanny packs and Rosie O’Donnell, the great sport of tennis has been an American afterthought for years. This is a sad fact, because the excitement of the game goes far beyond a recorded episode of “The View.”

Basketball, baseball and football are the three major American sports. I could never argue against that because I love watching each of them. Not since we were in grade school has there been such high quality of truly dominating tennis players showcasing their unique styles in all four Grand Slam tournaments. While Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe owned the early 80s, Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander dominated the late 80s and Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras ruled the 90s, the top players of today, known as the Big Four, are just as fun to watch. Over the last decade, Roger Federer of Switzerland has won an astounding 17 majors, the most all-time, securing his place as the greatest to ever play. Not far behind is Spain’s Rafael Nadal with 11. He is most dominant on the clay courts, but his 2008 Wimbledon victory over Federer is easily one of the most exciting and shocking events in sports history.

The third of the group is Novak Djokovic of Serbia, currently ranked No. 1 in the world. He has six majors to his name, including the last three Australian Opens. His game has matured along with his personality, as he was originally known for his hilarious impersonations of top-ranked men and women players.

Andy Murray of the United Kingdom has arguably faced the most pressure of them all. He faces high expectations from his own country every summer during Wimbledon, the prestigious tournament played on grass and held in London. He won his first major last year at the U.S. Open, becoming the first Briton to win a major since 1936. After losing to Federer in last year’s Wimbledon final, he gave an emotional speech addressing a nation to which he has given so much hope. Though all four players remain examples of humility and sportsmanship, the ever-increasing rivalries among them grow tenser with each tournament. Edge-of-your-seat tiebreakers and five-set matches have become the norm for these semifinal and final matches.

Not only is the product on the court incredible to watch, but the storylines are as riveting as any in basketball or football. Federer plays the 31-year-old veteran, and despite his overwhelming career success and deadly forehand, has struggled recently. Nadal, the master of clay, has unseeded Federer before, but injuries have deterred Nadal slightly. “The Djoker” is the current king of tennis. His speed and agility around the court is second to none, and his entertaining play has made him a fan favorite. Murray is still destined for greatness, and the only way to break through is with a Wimbledon title. No other athlete has an entire kingdom so desperate for a victory.

Though tennis is a more worldly sport and doesn’t get as much coverage in America, the excitement level is equal or even greater to our generic SportsCenter highlights.

It may take a marketable, American player along the ranks of these four to truly get this country excited about the game once again. But the next time you’re flipping channels and see tennis on ESPN2, giving it a try might be worth it.

Puppies try their paws competing in football

This undated publicity photo provided by Animal Planet shows dogs playing on the field during "Puppy Bowl IX," in New York. The “Puppy Bowl,” an annual two-hour TV special that mimics a football game with canine players, made its debut eight years ago on The Animal Planet. Dogs score touchdowns on a 10-by-19-foot gridiron carpet when they cross the goal line with a toy. Associated Press
This undated publicity photo provided by Animal Planet shows dogs playing on the field during "Puppy Bowl IX," in New York. The “Puppy Bowl,” an annual two-hour TV special that mimics a football game with canine players, made its debut eight years ago on The Animal Planet. Dogs score touchdowns on a 10-by-19-foot gridiron carpet when they cross the goal line with a toy.  Associated Press
This undated publicity photo provided by Animal Planet shows dogs playing on the field during “Puppy Bowl IX,” in New York. The “Puppy Bowl,” an annual two-hour TV special that mimics a football game with canine players, made its debut eight years ago on The Animal Planet. Dogs score touchdowns on a 10-by-19-foot gridiron carpet when they cross the goal line with a toy.
Associated Press

By Greg DeVries
Sports Editor

Millions of people will plant themselves on their couches on Sunday and stuff their faces with nachos and pizza for one of the best traditions that the United States has to offer.

As an avid sports fan, my heart races with excitement at the thought of watching championship football, but the Super Bowl isn’t the only event circled on my calendar on Sunday.

Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl should be part of everybody’s Sunday itinerary. If you have yet to watch a Puppy Bowl, then you are in for a treat.

The Puppy Bowl features dogs between the ages of 8 weeks and 4 months. The dogs are placed in a miniature football stadium, about 19 feet by 10 feet, with various chew toys and water bowls scattered about. For the next two hours, hearts melt as the puppies run around and play.

This year, Animal Planet added a puppy hot tub and a “Cute Cam” for slow motion replays. Surely this will enhance my viewing experience. While the Puppy Bowl might sound basic and dull, it is anything but. It’s a unique combination of adorable dogs and excitement that captivates viewers.

A constant smile will be draped across my face as I watch to see if Biscuit, a Puerto Rican sato, will be able to steal the chew toy from Cash, a pit bull. Maybe Harry, a shorthaired Chocolate Dachshund, will fall in the water bowl in the end zone. Will Fitz, a Catahoula mix, fall asleep at midfield late in the second half? The cute possibilities are endless.

I know Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis is going to try and lay some big hits across the middle to San Francisco’s offensive players, and that certainly has its time and place on Sunday evening. But on Sunday at 2 p.m., I want to see puppies run around and play. It’s been a busy week in the Lariat newsroom, and cute dogs are nature’s stress relievers.

The game may seem chaotic, but there are rules. While puppies are allowed to tackle and bite each other, they are penalized for doing their “business” on the field. A puppy touchdown occurs when a toy football crosses the goal line, and timeout is called when the water bowl runs low.

A Most Valuable Puppy is also named after the game. Last year, Fumble, a Chihuahua/terrier mix, was given MVP honors. As the announcer put it, Fumble “combined offensive firepower with doggie defense. He not only put points on the board, he outworked and outhustled every other Fido on the field.”

This year marks the ninth time Animal Planet has blessed us with its lovable Puppy Bowl, but it wasn’t always as successful as it is now. The first Puppy Bowl drew around 300,000 viewers. Last year, the game drew 10 million viewers and was the second most-watched social television program in America. Geico has even purchased naming rights to the stadium.

There is more than just entertainment at the Puppy Bowl. Each year, a small segment is included that gives viewers information about where to adopt rescued dogs and how to volunteer at their local animal shelters. There are opportunities to volunteer in the Waco area, and I encourage you to help out if you have time, but you’re definitely going to want to check out the Puppy Bowl this weekend.

BU lecturer creates shining spiritual icons

Baylor lecturer Carol Perry wrote this icon which represents St. Michael. Curtis Callaway | Lecturer in journalism, public relations and new media
Carol Perry
Carol Perry

By Rebecca Fiedler
Reporter

Carol Perry is a Baylor lecturer who does things a little differently.

Perry is a full-time lecturer in journalism, public relations and new media. When she’s not performing her instructional duties, however, she’s connecting with God in a way that many Christians have never even heard of: she’s writing icons.

Iconography is a symbolic style of religious painting, though the creation of an icon is typically referred to as “writing,” not “painting.” Perry said she creates icons through 15th century Russian methodology. Perry majored in art when she was a college student at Texas Christian University and gained an interest in Byzantine art. Her paintings are usually of Christ, the virgin Mary, John the Baptist or one of many saints.

The Rt. Rev. Jeff Fisher, a bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and former director of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Waco, knows Perry through his time spent serving at St. Alban’s, where Perry attends.

“Making an icon is not like painting,” Fisher said. “It’s a spiritual practice where every layer in the making of an icon leads you down a spiritual journey. That’s how Carol experiences it.”

Making an icon is a long process that begins with a layer of gold, Fisher said. People will request Perry to make an icon for them, he said. Perry will talk to them to learn details about their spirituality, praying about that person as she creates the icon, Fisher said.

“We are not trying to interpret what was done,” Perry said of iconographers. “We are trying to honor the tradition and be true to the tradition. Even the process of making the paint – we make our paint the same way they made their paint in the early medieval days. And that’s to honor the tradition they did.”

Baylor lecturer Carol Perry wrote this icon which represents St. Michael.  Curtis Callaway | Lecturer in journalism, public relations and new media
Baylor lecturer Carol Perry wrote this icon which represents St. Michael.
Curtis Callaway | Lecturer in journalism, public relations and new media

The process of making icons is divided into three different levels, Perry said. The key is going from darkness to light, she said. The first level of painting involves natural light, which represents light before humanity existed. The second level is concerned with man’s light or human understanding. The last level represents spiritual progression toward God’s light, which is what the gold leaf symbolizes.

“It’s a prayerful process,” Perry said. “Sometimes you’re consciously praying as you’re working, and that’s part of the gift to those of us who do the work; the tremendous peace that comes with the work.”

Icons are written with paints made from all natural materials, Perry said.

She makes her own paint, and the ingredients come from all over the world. She gets azurite, a blue shade from Afghanistan. One kind of yellow, called ‘Indian Yellow,’ is made from camel urine. One color of paint even uses mercury.

Iconography, however, is not only a spiritual practice for the creators of it but also for those who enjoy looking at it.

Dr. Blaine McCormick, associate professor in the Hankamer School of Business, has commissioned icons from Perry.

One of those icons, an image of Christ, sits in his office by his computer screen. He calls this his “traveling icon” and has taken it with him to Africa and Central America. McCormick uses this painting for personal devotional practice, he said.

“Moving pictures have come to dominate our lives,” McCormick said. “You see that icon? It never moves. It’s an oasis of quiet there, right by my computer screen, and that icon teaches me every day. It never moves, and it teaches me consistently, and this is due to Carol’s good work.”

McCormick said to work with an icon means to look at it and use it to focus one’s thinking. It’s not about clearing the mind, though – it’s filling the mind with the correct things, he said.

“It’s not like magic,” Fisher said. “It’s just a tool – some people get on their knees to pray, some close their eyes, some say the same phrase over and over again – it’s just a tool that people use to get their mind off of themselves and put their minds onto God.”

Fisher said he sees icon usage as a form of sacrament. What a sacrament means, he explained, is that God speaks to people through material things, such as through bread, wine or the water in baptism.

“Icons allow you to have a different kind of partner in prayer – a different tool, no different than a prayer book,” McCormick said. “And, in its deepest essence, an icon should be a window to heaven.”

McCormick said Perry’s icons have special meaning to him as opposed to a generic printed icon because he knows Perry, who prayed specifically for him while she wrote his icon.

“It’s a real gift to me,” Perry said of icon writing. “It’s the perfect marriage of art and faith.”

‘How I Met Your Mother’ renewed

By Yvonne Villarreal
Los Angeles Times

Mother’s Day has come early at CBS: Its veteran comedy “How I Met Your Mother” will indeed return next season —and it will be the final one for the series.

The entire gang is set to return for the show’s swan song. And patient viewers of the long-running comedy will finally learn the identity of the enigmatic mother in the title.

CBS and 20th Century Fox TV made the news official Wednesday after much speculation about the show’s fate. CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler had hinted earlier this month at the Television Critics Assn. press tour that a renewal announcement was imminent.

The series, from Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, premiered on CBS in September 2005 and became a strong performer for the network among adults 18-49 and among total viewers. This season it is bringing in around 10 million viewers.

“Through eight years, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ has mastered the art of leading-edge comedy, emotional water-cooler moments and pop culture catch phrases,” Tassler said in a statement. “We are excited for Carter, Craig and (executive producer) Pam Fryman and this amazing cast and to tell the final chapter and reveal television’s most mysterious mother to some of TV’s most passionate fans.”

Last September, Bays and Thomas had said the uncertainty of the show’s future had them planning out the eighth season as its last _ and expressed needing a firm “yes” or “no” soon so they could adequately resolve story lines.

“It’s going to be more and more work that we have to throw out if this isn’t our last season,” Bays said in September. “We’d like to know as soon as possible. If this is the last season of ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ it’s everything we’ve dreamed of and more _ that being said, do we have a ninth season within us? Absolutely. We could do a ninth season, if it was possible.”

What might fans expect in the final run of the series?

“We have a plan to bring back many people we’ve had on the show,” Bays said. “Not to steal their idea, but I loved the ‘Seinfeld’ finale where you saw everyone that’s ever been on the show. We have a way to do it that sort of fits in with the universe of our show.”

McLane honored for support of Texas higher education

By Kate McGuire
Staff Writer

Baylor alum Drayon McLane Jr., longtime Baylor benefactor has given the biggest gift in Baylor history as well as receiving the most prestigious award in Texas higher education.

McLane, regent emeritus and philanthropist was presented the 2013 Mirabeau B. Lamar Award for Higher Education on January 23.

This award was presented by President Judge Ken Starr and Mary-Hardin Baylor President Randy O’ Rear along with Marc Nigliazzo, president of Texas A&M University, and Thomas Klincar, chancellor of Central Texas College.

“This award was given in recognition of his contribution in education in Texas,” Starr said.

The Lamar medal is awarded to those who have made huge contributions in funding to higher education in Texas.

In regard to why McLane received the award, Starr said, “It was the extent of his giving and the amount of his giving.”

McLane graduated from Baylor in 1958 after living in Cameron, outside of Waco, his whole life. At that time Baylor had around 5,000 students McLane said.

Although he was first interested in studying history, McLane was influenced by his father’s work to switch to business.

He began taking business courses the start of his sophomore year.

Through his academics, he was taught teamwork, self-worth, and self-value.

He began graduate school at Michigan State University, where he received his MBA in 1959.

“This was considered a bold move at the time because people didn’t travel very much and we didn’t have a lot of resources,” McLane said.

Graduate school helped him mature as a young businessman so that when he returned to Texas he began work at his father’s grocery distribution company.

In 1966 he helped his father move the company to Temple.

In Temple, his family started selling to big discount merchandisers.

Once the company took off there was no looking back. McLane then became CEO of the McLane Co. in 1978 as it helped to sell to restaurants, grocery stores and discount merchandisers as well as selling restaurants themselves.

Throughout his life he has grown in his Christian faith and recalls that Baylor helped him grow even stronger during his time here.

In 1959 he became the deacon and chairman of his hometown church.

He believes his biggest accomplishments in life were marrying his wife Elizabeth and raising his two sons, Drayton McLane III and Denton, as well as being a grandfather to his five grandsons.

In 1993 McLane bought the Houston Astros major league baseball team for around $1 million and sold it in 2005 for around $6 million.

Now, McLane is working on continuing his philanthropy at Scott and White and to universities like Baylor, Mary-Hardin Baylor and other colleges and universities.

Students may recognize the McLane’s’ name when they hear of the McLane Student Life Center, the McLane Carillion in Pat Neff Hall, or the McLane Organ in Jones Concert Hall.

“I always got excited to hear the carillons and then they stopped working in the 80s so my family and I saw the need to have them ring again,” McLane said.

McLane has contributed to the largest gift in Baylor’s history which students may know of as the new Baylor Stadium.

“Being the only Big 12 school that didn’t have a stadium on campus — as well as to get the recruiting that we needed, we had to get a new stadium put together,” McLane said. With the gift comes the chance to name the stadium, which McLane and his family named Baylor Stadium instead of naming it after their own family.

“I think too many stadiums get named after corporate officials so we thought that naming the stadium after Baylor was more important than our family name,” McLane said.

“They are very generous, very humble and the stadium is something our alumni can rally for,” athletics director Ian McCaw said.

McLane served on Baylor’s Board of Regents from 1991-2006 and was named Regent Emeritus in 2010.

He then served as chairman for the Board of Regents and Board of Trustees, and Trustee for the Baylor College of Medicine.

McLane also served on President George W. Bush’s Presidential Steering Committee in hopes of bringing the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum to Waco. The library’s final location was settled in Dallas.

In regards to the upcoming stadium McCaw said, “The stadium costs around $260 million and holds 45,00 seats, and will include 45 suites and 79 loge boxes. We think it will be great for families.”

“Drayton is a wonderful individual. That is why he received the Lamar Award. He wanted Baylor to be the best in the country,” McCaw said.

Scholars will discuss ancient Judeo-Christian texts today

Hurtado
Hurtado
Hurtado

By Brooke Bailey
Reporter

Researchers from Edinburgh and Oxford are traveling to Baylor to give insight about papyrology, the study of papyrus manuscripts.

Dr. Larry Hurtado, professor of New Testament language, literature and theology at the University of Edinburgh, and Dr. Dirk Obbink from Christ Church College Oxford will be talking to students and faculty about their research.

All students are welcome to hear Hurtado speak about papyrology at 3:30 p.m. today in the Armstrong Browning Library. Space is limited to 45 students.

Hurtado will lead the workshop today. He will present his research in his lecture “The Codex, The Nomina Sacra and the Staurogram: Visual and Material Expressions of Early Christianity.” Hurtado’s research specializes in New Testament manuscripts.

Hurtado and Obbink will discuss the Green Collection, one of the largest collections of Judeo-Christian ancient texts and items. today and Friday, Dr. Jeffrey Fish, associate professor of classics, said. Hurtado and Obbink will also present their work on literary texts with Baylor faculty and students today and Friday.

The research includes text fragments of ancient Greek literature and classical works, such as the Homer’s “Iliad.” Samples of Christian Scripture will be discussed as well.

The event is in connection with students participating in the Green Scholars Initiative. The initiative is a national program that hosts its academic headquarters at Baylor. Students are selected to apply for the program and conduct upper-tier research with manuscripts.

“These scholars are world-renowned and top of their field,” Dr. Melinda Neilson said, a faculty mentor in the Initiative program.

Fish organized the Initiatve-sponsored event in collaboration with the Baylor Institute for Studies in Religion and the classics department.

Browning Library’s love story contest to honor poet namesake

contestBy Josh Day
Reporter

Even in late January, love is in the air.

Today is the last day for any faculty, staff or student to enter Armstrong Browning Library’s second annual “How Do You Love Thee” love story contest.

In the spirit of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, which begins with the words “How do I love thee, let me count the ways,” the staff of the library will be judging love story entries no longer than 200 words.

In order for a love story to be considered, the entrant must submit his or her story by midnight tonight. According to the Armstrong Browning website, an entry must also include “an appropriate photo of you and your Valentine.” Entries should be emailed to mktcommitslib@baylor.edu.

Last year, a group of Baylor library staff invented the contest and decided to host the contest again this year.

“People enjoyed writing the stories and others enjoyed reading them afterward,” said Allison Pruett, marketing and communications coordinator for Baylor libraries. The stories must be a real and personal experience from the person who submits it.

“We’re accepting all Baylor love stories,” said Jessica Mejia, Armstrong Browning’s public relations and facilities supervisor. She also said if a story includes themes relating to Armstrong Browning, Baylor, the Brownings or Sonnet 43 itself, it would gain special consideration.

The grand prize includes one couples’ ticket to Armstrong Browning’s Fifth Annual Valentine’s Day Extravaganza, on Feb. 9. The event will consist of a performance of romantic duets in the library’s foyer, followed by a dessert reception. The prize also includes a copy of the Armstrong Browning Library souvenir book and a Sonnet 43 inspired ornament.

The second place prize is the souvenir book and the ornament and the third place prize is the souvenir book.

Further rules and explanations can be found on the Armstrong Browning website, www.browninglibrary.org.

Lariat Letters: Gender differences must be recognized in domestic violence cases

I’m writing in response to the Lariat editorial “New definition of rape will lead to justice for unrecognized” which ran on January 24.

Specifically, I’m responding to two paragraphs in the editorial that address the Duluth Model, a philosophy for responding to domestic violence that was created at the Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, where I work, in Duluth, Minn.

The paragraphs name fairly common criticisms of the Duluth Model: that it unfairly targets men as the sole perpetrators of domestic violence; that it is based in “sexist, outdated beliefs that fail to reflect reality”; and that domestic violence is a gender-neutral issue—that men and women in relationships use violence against each other with equal frequency, purposes, and effects.

Our experiences tell us that men who use violence against women most often do so to gain or assert power and control in their relationships, and that women who use violence against men most often do so to resist or defend themselves against men’s abusive power and control. From a certain perspective all that violence can seem identical in purpose and effect. From a perspective developed by talking to men and women who have used violence and had violence against them in relationships, and by paying close attention to the short- and long-term effects of violence on men and women, differences between battering and resisting become obvious.

We acknowledge that there are women who batter men. Our experiences tells they are FAR less common than men who batter women, and that men’s violence against women is overtly and subtly supported by many forms of culture and socialization that teach boys and men to dominate and girls and women to be deferential.

We resist notions of gender neutrality in domestic violence because our experiences tell us it doesn’t exist.

We’re always eager to have conversations about these matters. We’re confident in what our work and experiences tell us, but we’re also grateful for opportunities to learn from and share with folks whose experiences are different from ours.

—Chris Godsey

National Training Project

Co-Coordinato, Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs

Duluth, Minn.

Viewpoint: College and concealed carry: Don’t buy guns just because you can

By Taylor Rexrode

Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, people across the country have been shaken. Federal and state governments have tried to find an answer through gun laws and legislation.

While President Obama has worked to put restrictions on certain types of firearms to prevent mass casualties by a gunman, Texas Senator Brian Birdwell has filed legislation this month that allows concealed handguns on college and university campuses. If it passes, the Campus Personal Protection Act will allow anyone over 21 years old with a concealed carry license, including students, faculty and staff, to carry handguns on campus.

When I thought about the potential reality—a Baylor with on-campus guns—I was torn between two sides of myself. Luckily, the university has said it will opt out of any potential legislation as a private university, but if the legislation passes, and the university changes its mind, it could happen.

There’s the part of me that grew up around guns. Like many families, my family used guns for hunting and guns for self-defense for as long as I can remember. I recognize the benefits of a firearm and could use one if I had the need.

That part of me wants to believe that students, faculty and staff secretly carrying firearms will make campus life safe. After all, no one would open fire on a group of students who could easily defend themselves. Everything would be the way it was—but safer—since no one would know that so-and-so has a loaded gun in the classroom.

There’s another side of me that, regardless of safety, knows that campus life would never be the same should guns be introduced. Whether students realize it or not, concealed carry on campus would disrupt the learning environment and forever change our “Baylor bubble” and the community that surrounds it.

I’m glad that Birdwell’s legislation does have some restrictions. It does not support gun carrying at sporting events and it lets individual campuses choose whether or not students can have firearms in dormitories. Nonetheless, I find it disconcerting that people could be carrying guns while at the SUB. Or at the library. Or at Christmas on 5th, Homecoming or Diadeloso. The sense of security felt on campus would be disjointed, at best.

I am a defender of the Second Amendment just as much as anyone else, I really am. I think that responsible gun handlers should have firearms for self-defense in their car or residence, especially with the armed robberies that occur off-campus.

But when I see legislation pop up, and at the same time pawnshops and sports stores are getting cleaned out of their stock of assault weapons, I can’t help but feel that this responsible decision to carry a firearm has evolved into a craze; a craze that has made people unnecessarily paranoid and hungry for the chance to exercise their Constitutional right to bear arms.

While we shouldn’t idly allow shootings to occur without changing policy, we also shouldn’t, as citizens, let recent events escalate us into a fit of gun frenzy. A mass shooting is not a call to live a life of paranoia where the fear of one person with a gun creates a sea of people walking across Fountain Mall with pistols in their backpacks.

I can’t change what happens in Austin. I know that the Campus Personal Protection Act could pass and that public universities would have to adopt its policy. In turn, private universities like Baylor could follow suit if they so chose. My hope is that, no matter what happens in legislation and no matter how Baylor responds, students won’t feel the need to go out and get a concealed carry license just so they can feel powerful carrying a gun on campus.

I hope that students think about the implications of concealed carry and I hope that, should Texas and Baylor adopt this legislation, whoever chooses to carry a firearm will never have to use it.

Taylor Rexrode is a junior journalism major from Forney. She is a staff writer for the Lariat.

Editorial: It’s time to rethink CL requirements

Christian%20CL%20Comic Editorial011331

 

 You get accepted to Baylor.

You move in during Welcome Week.

You’re away from home for the first time, alone in a new environment without your parents and no idea what do to about your laundry. Who do you call?

Your Community Leader, (CL) is there to welcome you and provide guidance.

During this rough transition from home life to college life, it is essential to have someone with experience to whom you can put questions. A CL serves as a year-round mentor, rule enforcer and friend to the students who live in Baylor housing and are under his or her care.

CLs are crucial and necessary jobs which, due to the responsibility involved, require excellent candidates who will be supportive and caring toward students while still enforcing university policy.

Strict criteria, of course, are used to determine an applicant’s credibility. Listed in the basic requirements is “demonstrated Christian faith.”

While we applaud Baylor’s effort to provide Christian leadership to its students in keeping with its mission, having exclusively Christian CLs is both unnecessary and unfairly excludes students of other faiths who may need the economic benefits of Community Leadership.

In the first place, although Baylor is a Christian school, it is not limited to Christians – students of other faiths can and do attend Baylor. Some of them even hold jobs on campus.

Since non-Christians are invited to attend and can even hold other on-campus jobs, it seems unnecessary to bar them from this one.

Also, having exclusively Christian CLs is a redundancy, as the spiritual needs of the students who live in the residence halls are attended to by resident chaplains who live in there in the halls with them.

If non-Christian CLs were to be hired, they could simply direct students in need of Christian guidance to the resident chaplains who live in the halls for that purpose. Having a non-Christian CL would not impede Christian students who need religious guidance because of the resident chaplains, who are surely only too happy to offer Christian counsel.

Once that obstacle is cleared, it seems obvious that in every other function, a non-Christian could perform just as well as a Christian. Regardless of religion, students who choose to come to Baylor are subject to its moral codes and behavioral requirements, meaning that they, too, must accept university values. And religion is not a factor that affects any other aspect of the job: non-Christians are able to be on-call and perform administrative functions just as well as Christians.

Furthermore, excluding non-Christian students from being hired as CLs deprives them of an important economic benefit.

CLs receive a scholarship for the cost of housing and an 11-meal-per-week plan, in addition to a stipend (anywhere from $400 for a first-time CL to $1200 for a CL mentor, an experienced CL who counsels other CLs).

Let’s add it up, using the cheapest options available:

A double-occupancy room that shares a community bathroom in a traditional residence hal costs $5312 per person per year. The Classic, a meal plan option offering 11 meals per week plus an additional $300 in Dining Dollars per year, costs $3844.10. CLs are offered 11 meals per week, so by subtracting the $300 for Dining Dollars, we have a rough estimate of $3544.10 We’ll add to that a $400 stipend.

The total economic benefit is $9256.1 using the cheapest options. Students who are excluded from becoming CLs on the basis of their religion are missing out on nearly $10,000 that could help them to afford their education, or potentially more, depending on several factors including housing placement and if the student in question has served as a CL before.

When all of these factors are considered, excluding non-Christians from the post seems both unnecessary and unfair, and the university should consider re-evaluating this requirement.

Sudoku solution: 01/31/13

01:31:13

 

Crosswords Solution: 01/31/13

013113

Men’s basketball gears up for physical game against Okla.

No. 2 forward Rico Gathers dunks the ball in the game against Hardin-Simmons on Jan. 19, 2013. Monica Lake | Lariat Photographer
No. 2 forward Rico Gathers dunks the ball in the game against Hardin-Simmons on Jan. 19, 2013.
Monica Lake | Lariat Photographer

By Daniel Hill
Sports Writer

The Baylor Bears will have a showdown tonight against the Oklahoma Sooners at 6 p.m. in the Ferrell Center.

The two teams are opposites in many ways. The Sooners boast frontline experience and talent but lack depth in the backcourt.

While the Bears are experienced in the backcourt with senior guards Pierre Jackson and A.J. Walton, they lack experience in the frontcourt with freshman center Isaiah Austin.

“I think this is a team that in the frontline they provide a lot of experience and in the backcourt (Steven) Pledger brings that experience but most of their other guards are inexperienced,” head coach Scott Drew said. “So we have the experienced backcourt and they have the experienced frontline. Both of us are playing very good basketball, both of us have good RPI’s and it should be a good game.”

The Bears expect this matchup with Oklahoma to be the most physical game of the year due to the Sooners’ imposing frontcourt.

“(Senior forward Romero Osby has) been tremendous this year and that’s what you expect from fifth-year seniors,” Drew said. “(Senior forward Andrew) Fitzgerald is a fourth-year player. (Junior forward Amath) M’Baye is a fourth-year guy. They have a lot of experience up front. Osby’s not only one of the more skilled guys in the league, but he makes good passes and good decisions with the ball.”

Baylor junior guard Gary Franklin is in a groove after going a perfect four-for-four from behind the three-point line against TCU.

“I think my role has grown over the years,” Franklin said. “At first last year, I was one of those guys who was asked to make open shots and this year I’ve been asked to defend a little more. Offensively, I think as time goes on I’ll be asked to be more aggressive and that’s what I tried to do in the game against TCU. I took more shots than I usually would and they fell, which made me more comfortable to take the shots. I think it’s becoming a huge role for myself.”

Aside from his shooting, it’s his defensive improvement and effort that has earned him more playing time.

“Gary’s been tremendous,” Drew said. “He not only shot the ball well and is taking care of the ball. But on the defensive end, he’s really been solid and done a great job of picking up his level of play from last year on the defensive end and he’s been somebody that we’ve put him on the other teams leading scorer and he’s done well. Gary stretches the defense and now they can’t just focus on (junior guard) Brady. The big improvement, that statistically doesn’t always show is what Gary’s done on the defensive end. He’s been outstanding, especially in conference play and on the defensive end.”

Senior guard Pierre Jackson acknowledges that the foundation of Baylor basketball is on the defensive end and that it’s his responsibility to maintain the defensive effort.

In conference play, the Bears have played defense with added focus and hope to continue the trend against Oklahoma. The Sooners also shoot over 74 percent from the free-throw line, which is good for second-best in the Big 12.

“That’s where it all starts,” Jackson said. “Just getting stops and securing the rebounds. We all know we got some great scorers and we all can get buckets any time we want. We just preach defense and it starts with the guards.”

Freshman forward Rico Gathers has embraced the sixth man role for the Bears and brings added physicality and intensity from the bench.

“Being a freshman, anytime you’re able to come off the bench and you’ve got a senior point guard like Pierre and a lot of great players and you can be the spark, that’s a great role,” Gathers said. “I just took it with open arms. I just want to be the best sixth man I can be.”

The Bears are 14-5 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Oklahoma is just behind with a 13-5 overall record and 4-2 in conference play.

The game will air on ESPNU.

Baylor tennis rallies back to win in style

Senior Nina Secerbegovic returns a volley during a tennis match against Iowa State on Monday at the Hurd Tennis Center. David Li | Lariat Photographer
Photo File

By Larissa Campos, Reporter

The Baylor women’s tennis team beat No. 36 Florida State and No. 21 Texas Tech this weekend in the ITA Kick-off Weekend to earn a spot in the ITA National Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., from Feb. 8-11.

The team opened up the weekend on Saturday against Florida State with a 4-1 win. The Lady Bears secured the doubles point with a win from sophomore Ema Burgic and freshman Victoria Kisialeva. The match started off favorably with a 2-0 lead from the pair. After dropping three games in a row, the duo found themselves tied 4-4. The players finished strong with four straight games to win the doubles point.

Florida State defaulted one doubles match and one singles match due to lack of players. Going into singles play, the Lady Bears were up 2-0.

Junior Alex Leatu was the first to close out a singles match with a win in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, against FSU’s Kristina Schleich. Coming back from shoulder surgery, Leatu has been a positive addition in her first few matches with the Bears.

“Alex has been getting better of every day,” head coach Joey Scrivano said. “I loved the way she fought in the second set. She was down and came back to get that point on the board and that gave us a big boost.”

After Leatu’s win, freshman Kiah Generette lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, to the Seminoles’ Amy Sargeant in her first match of the season. This left the overall score at 3-1 in favor of Baylor.

Playing on the No. 1 singles court, Ema Burgic downed No. 37 Daneika Borthwick in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to clinch the win for the bears.

“Ema did a great job today,” Scrivano said. “She was playing one of the top players in the country today and to beat her in straight sets with some adversity, it was a good match.”

Despite the win, the team had little time to celebrate with a match the following day against Texas Tech for a spot in the ITA National Indoor Championships for the eighth straight season.

“It was really important for us to recover mentally and physically after Florida State,” said junior Megan Horter. “Texas Tech is a great team and we need to come out focused on our game plan.”

To start the match, Baylor dropped the doubles point with a loss from the No. 2 duo of Jordaan Sanford and Kiah Generette against No. 1 duo Burgic and Kisialeva.

Going into singles play down 1-0, Burgic responded with a quick 6-2, 6-0, win over Tech’s Samantha Adams to tie the match up.
The Red Raiders responded with two more singles victories to put them up 3-1, and the Lady Bears found themselves at risk of not making the championship event for the first time since 2005.

The Bears battled back with a 7-5, 6-3, win from Sanford and another victory from Horter to tie the match 3-3. The match ended with a heated battle between Baylor’s Generette and TTU’s Elizabeth Ullathorne. Generette would take the game into a third set and win three straight games to secure the match for the Lady Bears.

01/30/13: The Baylor Lariat

Let’s talk adventure

The Outdoor Adventure club will hold an information meeting about spring break trips to Florida, Paria Canyon and the Grand Canyon. The meeting will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. Feb. 6 in 314 McLane Student Life Center. The group leaders will answer any questions students may have.

Battle of the keys

The Baylor/Waco Piano Competition will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in the Jones Concert Hall and Meadows Recital Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building. There will also be performances in the Roxy Grove Hall and Recital Hall II of Waco Hall at the same time. These events are free and open to the public.

End in sight for East Village dorm

Baylor University's East Village is expected to be completed and open for student residency by August 2013. Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
Baylor University's East Village is expected to be completed and open for student residency by August 2013. Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
Baylor University’s East Village is expected to be completed and open for student residency by August 2013.
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

By Madison Ferril
Reporter

This August, East Village will open to provide 701 beds for students.

Dr. Jeff Doyle, dean for student learning and engagement, said the construction of East Village is on target.

After East Village opens, Baylor will begin refurbishing older residence halls, starting with South Russell Residence Hall.

With the addition of East Village to Baylor’s facilities, Baylor could see an increase in the number of students living on campus.

“The percentage of students living on campus could go from 39 percent to 44 percent,” Doyle said.

The refurbishment of South Russell Hall means the university will not have the 280 beds in South Russell for use next year.

“All of our relatively older residence halls will be refurbished over the next eight to 10 years,” Doyle said.

Doyle said East Village is innovative on a national level because of its different room layouts.

“We’re trying to return to an era where a dorm is more like a home,” Doyle said.

Cove suites, which consist of four rooms that share a bathroom, are primarily for freshmen.

Semi suites, which are two rooms that share a bathroom, are primarily for sophomores, with residential apartments mainly for juniors and seniors.

Doyle said they will give the programs housed there some autonomy with regard to who lives where.

“I think it’s going to change how people feel about the campus,” Doyle said. “The community will feel larger and more connected.”

Doyle said, though Baylor considered closing a dining hall when East Village opened, they decided to keep all five dining halls open and study the effects.

If keeping five dining halls open proves too expensive or if students stop frequenting a certain dining hall, then they will consider closing one down.

Dr. Ian Gravagne, who will serve as faculty-in-residence for East Village, said he understands the role a residential college can play for students because he personally benefited from living in a residential college as an undergraduate at Rice.

“Our most important goal is to provide an environment as conducive as possible to the academic success of every student living there,” Gravagne said.

Gravange said that the Engineering and Computer Science Residential College in East Village will contain similarities to other residential colleges such as Brooks, but that there will be differences as well.

“One of the important things is working with community leaders,” Gravange said. “We want to give them the language to say what they want their community to be.”

Student Body President Kelly Rapp said Baylor is trying to get more students to live on campus.

“I think it’s great that we can create a community where students with the same major can live,” Rapp said.

Gravange said studies have shown that Living and Learning programs help students succeed in their field, though further study will show exactly why this occurs.

“Maybe the community helps students succeed, or maybe the community attracts high capacity students,” Gravange said. “I’m inclined to believe it’s a little bit of both.”

Doyle said that he believes that Living and Learning programs have a positive impact on the students who choose to participate in them.

“Seeing a university like Baylor realizing the importance of residential communities of students is great,” Doyle said.

Collins is not closing

By Kara Blomquist
Reporter

Collins Cafe is here to stay.

The dining hall will remain open contrary to rumors on campus after discussions of closing the facility took place in the spring of 2012.

The discussions came in the wake of the announcement of the opening of a dining hall in the East Village Complex.

Dr. Kevin Jackson, vice president for student life, said the decision occurred during fall 2012, before prospective students ranked their residence hall choices for the fall of 2013.

While the addition of East Village Dining Commons will add additional operating costs to the university, students won’t be seeing that cost in their meal plan prices.

“The meal-plan price of the students won’t reflect any additional cost related to it,” said Brett Perlowski, director of Dining Services.

Jackson said four main factors played a role in the decision: student needs, nutritional needs of the Baylor community, cost and convenience.

“We bring it all together, analyze and project,” he said.

Perlowski said the university had to discover the best way to utilize its resources.

“It’s a cost-benefit conversation,” he said.

The cost of the additional dining hall may not be affecting students, but many have noticed the benefits of Collins Cafe.

Jessica Gallippo, unit marketing manager for Baylor Dining Services, said she realized how the dining hall makes Collins Hall more attractive to students as a prospective living space.

“A selling point when you tour new students through Collins is that it has a residential dining hall affiliated with it,” she said.

Lake Jackson freshman and Collins resident Natalie Jasper has experienced this selling point firsthand.

“It would probably be annoying not to have a dining hall down here,” she said. “It’s easy just to come down here and go back upstairs and finish getting ready.”

Los Angeles second-year graduate student Max Seib sees another benefit of keeping Collins open.

“I think it’s a good decision to keep it open. It balances the crowds of people between each dining hall,” he said.

The addition of the East Village Dining Commons may impact the dining patterns of students, Jackson said.

Currenlty, Collins Café serves breakfast to a fair number of its residents, Perlowski said.

However, people visit the café for more than just breakfast.

The clientele becomes “a melting pot at lunch time,” Perlowski said.

With the addition of the East Village Dining Commons, that may change, Perlowski said.

Perlowski said he believes East Village Dining Commons will attract the crowds at lunchtime, predicting that the dining hall will be the busiest residential dining hall on campus during lunch.

He said the layout of campus, with many of the classrooms located near East Village, is one reason the new dining hall will attract crowds.

One goal of the East Village Dining Commons is to have an inviting atmosphere, Perlowski said.

“The intent is for it to be welcoming to everybody,” he said.

Baylor will be gaining the new dining hall in the fall of 2013, Perlowski said.

The fall 2013 hours of operation for each residential dining hall has not yet been decided, he said.

The university will continue to assess students’ living and dining areas both annually and throughout the year, Jackson said.

“We’ll go into assess students’ needs and cost and make the best decision we can,” he said.

Professor shares Middle East photos with libraries

By Josh Day
Reporter

In the course of his travels as a Foreign Service officer, photographer and professor, Dr. Colbert Held has taken photos in every country in the Middle East.

Out of the 19,000 individual Kodachrome slides he personally took, 175 pictures will be spread across different displays in all of the Baylor libraries starting Feb. 7.

According to Corrine Peters, the Ohio graduate student working closely with Dr. Held on the display, the exhibit “is a visual representation of the small amount of information that his collection could possibly share.”

Dr. Held described his exhibit as “visually attractive, but informative and even instructive.”

Held was born in Stamford on Sept. 3, 1917, and is the son of a Baptist minister.

Before beginning his photographic career, Held attended Baylor and was a photographer for the Round Up Yearbook staff.

He graduated from Baylor in 1938 and recieved a master’s degree from Northwestern University in 1940.

After a brief teaching career at Mississippi College, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1942, where he attended the Air Photographic School.

He retired from the Air Force Reserve in 1954 as a lieutenant colonel and began working as a photographer for the Foreign Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of State.

When Held began his journey into what would become an expansive photographic record of the massive infrastructure and societal changes in every Middle Eastern country, neither he nor his superiors knew the full significance.

Regarding the photos he took in his life, Held said, “I never thought of them as having any permanent value.”

Held began his job as a geographic attaché.

Held said attachés were expected to keep the Department of Foreign Affairs informed about all the ethnic, road and topographic maps as well as the publications and dictionaries of each Middle Eastern country that were being produced.

This was in addition to giving reports on the culture, language and governments.

For a period of 20 years, Held worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of State and the embassy.

His photos and records were one of the few sources of information the U.S. had about the Middle East.

Even to many in the U.S. government, Middle Eastern geography and culture was relatively unknown.

“The Middle East was still a mystery, so a picture of Kuwait was many times the first time they had ever seen a picture of Kuwait,” Held said.

At the time, now-familiar places like Dubai were in their infancy.

“They weren’t known and they weren’t much to know. They were just fishing villages,” said Held.

His last trip was in 2003.

“When I returned, I took pictures of high-rises,” he said.

From 1956 through 1976 Held went from country to country, revisiting each of them in five-year increments.

Each time he returned, he would walk the streets and document the changes with his camera.

Over the years, a dirt pathway would become a four-lane highway and the “ratty hotels with roaches” in which he once stayed would turn to elegance.

Even though he retired from the Foreign Service in 1976, he continued his work while fulfilling his duties as both Baylor’s diplomat-in-residence and professor of geography.

His knowledge and experience contributed to his book “Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples and, Politics,” which is still currently still used at Baylor.

Held said he enjoyed his 50-year career in photography, but he feels that as a 95-year-old he no longer could.

“I’d go back in a minute if I thought I could carry luggage, climb steps and ride elevators,” Held said.

Former court justice emphasizes caution in new gun control laws

In this April 11, 2012 file photo, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor speaks during a forum to celebrate the 30th anniversary of O’Connor’s appointment to the Supreme Court, at the Newseum in Washington. O'Connor on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013 warned against a rush to judgment in a New York gun ownership dispute, citing the recent killings of 20 Connecticut schoolchildren and six educators. Associated Press

By Larry Neumeister
Associated Press

NEW YORK — Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor warned Tuesday against a rush to judgment in a New York gun ownership dispute, citing the recent killings of 20 Connecticut schoolchildren and six educators.

Sitting on a federal appeals court panel, O’Connor cited the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in commenting on the role that courts play in interpreting gun control laws. The three-judge panel is considering the federal rights of a man who was denied a gun permit in New York after he moved from New York to Louisiana.

“The regulation of firearms is a paramount issue of public safety, and recent events in this circuit are a sad reminder that firearms are dangerous in the wrong hands,” she wrote. “Questions like the one before us require a delicate balance between individual rights and the public interest, and federal courts should avoid interfering with or evaluating that balance until it has been definitively struck.”

Writing for the panel, O’Connor said that before deciding the federal constitutional issue, the panel wants to hear from the New York Court of Appeals on whether state law permits a part-time resident to get a New York gun permit.

“Moreover, the New York Court of Appeals has made clear that the question whether to read ‘residence’ as requiring residence or domicile requires interpretation of the value and policy judgments of the state legislature,” she noted.

Alfred Osterweil applied for a handgun license in May 2008, when his Summit home in Schoharie County was still his primary residence and domicile. Before his application was decided, he moved to Louisiana, maintaining the Summit residence as a part-time vacation home. A county judge rejected his application because New York was not his primary residence.

Osterweil claimed his federal rights were violated, and filed a lawsuit seeking a federal judge’s order requiring the state to issue him a license, but the judge ruled for the state.

O’Connor said Tuesday that the three-judge panel, on which she sat in late October, was facing a “serious constitutional question.” She said the state court’s interpretation was important.

She rejected an argument by Osterweil’s lawyer that the state should not be drawn into the case but credited his depiction of the dispute as raising a serious constitutional question — an element of the case that she said was good reason to ask for input from the state court but was “not a reason to race ahead.”

The 82-year-old O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court in 2006 after 25 years.

She has decided cases before in the Manhattan appeals court. Retired justices have occasionally sat on federal appeals courts as visiting judges.

Private land owners reap royalties from gas drilling

By Kevin Begos
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH — Private landowners are reaping billions of dollars in royalties each year from the boom in natural gas drilling, transforming lives and livelihoods even as the windfall provides only a modest boost to the broader economy.

In Pennsylvania alone, royalty payments could top $1.2 billion for 2012, according to an Associated Press analysis that looked at state tax information, production records and estimates from the National Association of Royalty Owners.

For some landowners, the unexpected royalties have made a big difference.

“We used to have to put stuff on credit cards. It was basically living from paycheck to paycheck,” said Shawn Georgetti, who runs a family dairy farm in Avella, about 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

Natural gas production has boomed in many states over the past few years as advances in drilling opened up vast reserves buried in deep shale rock, such as the Marcellus formation in Pennsylvania and the Barnett in Texas.

Nationwide, the royalty owners association estimates, natural gas royalties totaled $21 billion in 2010, the most recent year for which it has done a full analysis. Texas paid out the most in gas royalties that year, about $6.7 billion, followed by Wyoming at $2 billion and Alaska at $1.9 billion.

Exact estimates of natural gas royalty payments aren’t possible because contracts and wholesale prices of gas vary, and specific tax information is private. But some states release estimates of the total revenue collected for all royalties, and feedback on thousands of contracts has led the royalty owners association to conclude that the average royalty is 18.75 percent of gas production.

“Our fastest-growing state chapter is our Pennsylvania chapter, and we just formed a North Dakota chapter. We’ve seen a lot of new people, and new questions,” said Jerry Simmons, the director of the association, which was founded in 1980 and is based in Oklahoma.

Simmons said he hasn’t heard of anyone getting less than 12.5 percent, and that’s also the minimum rate set by law in Pennsylvania. Simmons knows of one contract in another state where the owner received 25 percent of production, but that’s unusual.

By comparison, a 10 to 25 percent range is similar to what a top recording artist might get in royalties from CD sales, while a novelist normally gets a 12.5 percent to 15 percent royalty on hardcover book sales.

Simmons added that for oil and gas “there is no industry standard,” since the royalty is often adjusted based on the per-acre signing bonus a landowner receives. While many people are lured by higher upfront bonuses, a higher royalty rate can generate more total income over the life of a well, which can stretch for 25 years.

Before Range Resources drilled a well on the family property in 2012, Georgetti said, he was stuck using 30-year-old equipment, with no way to upgrade without going seriously into debt.

“You don’t have that problem anymore. It’s a lot more fun to farm,” Georgetti said, since he has been able to buy newer equipment that’s bigger, faster and more fuel-efficient.

The drilling hasn’t caused any problems for the farm, he said.

Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella said the Fort Worth, Texas-based company has paid “well over” $1 billion to Pennsylvania landowners, with most of that coming since 2008.

One economist noted that the windfall payments from the natural gas boom are wonderful for individuals, but that they represent just a tiny portion of total economic activity.

For example, the $1 billion for Pennsylvania landowners sounds like a lot, but “it’s just not going to have a big impact on the overall vitality of the overall economy,” said Robert Inman, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school. “I think the issue is, what difference does it make for the individual families?”

Pennsylvania’s total gross domestic product in 2011 was about $500 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Inman noted that total gas industry hiring and investment can have a far bigger effect on a state or region, and companies have invested tens of billions of dollars just in Pennsylvania on pipelines, infrastructure, and drilling in recent years.

For example, in North Dakota the shale oil and minerals boom contributed 2.8 percent of GDP growth to the entire state economy in 2011, according to Commerce Department data.

Multimillion-dollar cancer agency network shuts down

By Paul J. Weber
Associated Press

AUSTIN — A fledgling Texas cancer trials network announced Tuesday that it had shut down after auditors found more than $300,000 in expenses deemed inappropriate in the latest blow to the state’s troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting agency.

The Clinical Trials Network of Texas received a $25 million grant from the state in 2010, though it had only received about $7 million in taxpayer dollars before running out of money last month. State officials began halting payments after auditors raised questions that included how the network even won funding in the first place.

The clinical trial network, or CTNeT, obtained the largest grant ever awarded by the embattled Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which now adds this failure to a litany of woes. Those include an ongoing criminal investigation, mass resignations and rebuke from lawmakers and scientists over controversial awards and accusations of political meddling.

A scathing report of the institute released by state auditors this week revealed that Patricia Winger, the chief operations officer of CTNeT, was paid $160,000 in bonuses on top of her base salary. CTNeT also spent more than $116,000 for interior decorations and furniture, which auditors said are expenses “unallowable or questionable” for a research grant under state agency rules.

Dr. Charles Geyer, chief medical officer of CTNetT, told The Associated Press the nonprofit needed to set up offices for its 36 employees. He said he wasn’t involved in the decisions surrounding Winger’s bonuses but defended her role, saying she used her own money to help get the effort off the ground.

Attempts to reach Winger through CTNeT and others affiliated with the network were not immediately successful Tuesday.

“I understand the appearance. But I know Ms. Winger, and she did a lot,” Geyer said. “She worked basically for three months before she got her first paycheck. …She made a lot of sacrifices because she was committed to this.”

Geyer said he did not know Winger’s salary. Thirty employees with CTNet have been laid off, and Geyer said the remaining six are working at minimum wage to finish winding down the initiative.

Geyer said the trial network is folding just as progress was finally being made. Just a week ago, Geyer said, the network was on the verge of enrolling patients in its first clinical trial.

“The real irony is that we were really on the cusp of launching the thing in a very serious way,” Geyer said.

Bill Gimson, the former executive director of cancer institute who resigned last month as problems with the state agency mounted, said in an email to the AP that the intent of the network was to provide more opportunities for Texas cancer patients to enroll in clinical trials. Only 3 percent of Texans with cancer are in clinical trials, Gimson said.

“CTNeT was created for Texas to help cancer patients in the State access a higher level of care,” GImson said. “It is groundbreaking, imaginative and revolutionary and does not fit the mold of, nor can be judged as, a typical state-funded effort.”

The cancer institute was a darling of the scientific community and some of the nation’s biggest advocacy groups, including the American Cancer Society, after launching in 2009 as an unprecedented cancer-fighting effort on the state level.

The agency oversees the nation’s second-largest pot of cancer research dollars, next to only the federal National Institutes of Health.

That money is now frozen, with the institute under a moratorium until confidence in the agency is restored. Prior to CTNeT shutting down, most troublesome to the state agency was awarding $11 million to a private biotech firm in Dallas despite never reviewing the company’s proposal.

That led to public corruption officers in Travis County and the Texas attorney general’s office launched separate investigations. No one has been accused of wrongdoing.

Lady Bears look to stay hot through Big 12 play

No. 42 post Brittney Griner blocks Texas A&M’s No. 34 center Karla Gilbert on Saturday evening in the Ferrell Center. Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

Women's Basketball vs. Texas A&MBy Parmida Schahhosseini
Sports Writer

The No. 1 Lady Bears will take on Texas Tech at 7 p.m. today in Lubbock, and will try to build on the nation’s largest winning streak.

Baylor (8-0 Big 12, 18-1 overall) and Texas Tech (6-2 Big 12, 16-4 overall) are the top two teams in the conference.

Both teams have similar numbers in scoring defense. Baylor allows an average of 53.2 points per game whereas Texas Tech allows 53.4.

However, Texas Tech has to stop the Big 12’s best scoring offense.

Texas Tech comes in to the game winning four straight conference games, including an overtime victory over West Virginia.

The Red Raiders scored an average of 66.5 points per game in those four games. They also average 11.6 steals per game and 37.5 rebounds per game with three players averaging over five rebounds.

Baylor comes into this game having won 92 of 96 games dating back to the 2010-2011 season. They also hold the nation’s longest winning streak at 16 games as well as the nation’s longest regular season conference winning streak at 30 games. Baylor leads the Big 12 in scoring offense, blocked shots, assist turnover ratio, assists, field-goal percentage, 3-point shooting percentage and field goal percentage defense.

Senior center Brittney Griner will try to break the Big 12 scoring record after falling two points short on Saturday against No. 21 Oklahoma. Griner leads the NCAA in dunks with 11 and in blocked shots with 665. She was also ESPNW’s National Player of the Week and the Big 12 Player of the Week.

“It was unbelievable, really, the timing,” Oklahoma’s head coach Sherri Coale said after Saturday’s game. “It was gone from (Ellenberg’s) hand for several seconds before she blocked it. How do you deal with that?”

Junior guard Odyssey Sims is scoring 12.5 points and 5.5 assists per game. Sims is also second in the Big 12 in free throw shooting going for 42 of 49 this season.

Senior forward Brooklyn Pope is having her best year with 11.1 points per game.

Baylor has been playing well, but head coach Kim Mulkey wants perfection.

The Lady Bears have had trouble holding onto leads when Mulkey pulls out the starters, and they recently have had problems foul shooting in the second half of games, including the game against Oklahoma.

“I thought shooting 60 percent from the field with six players in double figures against the number two team in the league right now is very good,” Mulkey said. “But then you have to evaluate yourself and say, ‘If you shot like that and had that many players in double figures, why did you only win by 17?’ It goes back to two things. One, missed free throws. They make free throws, we missed 14 free throws. That’s unacceptable.”

The Lady Bears are experienced and have many veteran leaders. Mulkey knows what needs to be fixed and will get on her team about going back to business.

They did have many positives in their game, such as their transition game, which led to multiple scoring runs by the Lady Bears.

Big decisions to be made about Big 12 future plans

By Stephen Hawkins
Associated Press

Big 12 athletic directors worked Tuesday to determine the league’s preferred bowl lineup with the anticipation that the Cotton Bowl will become part of college football’s new playoff system.

The discussion about bowl alignment took up a bulk of the agenda as the athletic directors wrapped up a two-day meeting with Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and other league officials that also involved football scheduling.

Most of the first day was spent discussing the makeup of the 10-team league and “what-if” scenarios about staying at that number or eventually expanding.

“We feel very good about our current lot in life. We like our revenue distribution, we like our competition, we like our composition. We feel very good about where we are,” Bowlsby said. “Beyond that, we’d be unwise to be oblivious to all that is going on around us. We need to be constantly vigilant. I think in coming out of these meetings we’re prepared very well for that vigilance.”

According to Forbes, the Big 12 will generate about $26.2 million per team this school year through network television deals, bowl games and NCAA tournaments.

That’s the highest per-team average of any conference.

The Big 12 had nine of its 10 teams play in bowl games this past season. No other league had ever sent 90 percent of its teams to a bowl in the same season.

Bowlsby said Tuesday started with a quick recap of what was discussed the first day to make sure there was nothing else the ADs wanted to talk about after thinking about it overnight.

There was none.

“There was nothing more on conference composition today at all,” Bowlsby said.

So they moved on to the primary agenda items of bowls and schedules.

While the first semifinal games in the new playoff system at the end of the 2014 season will be played in the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl, the site of the first championship game hasn’t been selected. Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, where the Cotton Bowl is played, seemingly a front-runner for that title game and then to be in the rotation for semifinal games after that.

When all that is finally settled in the next few months, the Big 12 will be ready to work on other bowls.

“Once we know the host bowls, we’re going to be anxious after that to put some deals together and we’ve got to go to that bowl which we think we want to have first after the so-called system, and try and get a deal with them. And then go to the second one after the system,” Bowlsby said. “This was just a way to sort of identify our priorities.”

Under current arrangements through the 2013 season, the Cotton Bowl gets the top pick of Big 12 teams not in the BCS.

Bowlsby said it would be a “fair projection” that the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, which now has the next pick after the Cotton Bowl, or the Meineke Bowl in Houston could move up in the picking order it the Cotton Bowl is in the playoff rotation.

“They’ve both expressed a desire to move up and-or maintain a high level of association and Texas is always going to be our core,” Bowlsby said. “It meets the priorities from a destination and travel standpoint, so yeah, they’re certainly in the mix to replace it.”

Another priority for the Big 12 is getting a tie-in with one of the Florida bowls.

Bowlsby said the league has had conversations with Gator Bowl officials and two other bowls in Florida.

“California, Florida and Texas comprise more recruits than the whole rest of the country combined,” Bowlsby said. “That’s been a shortcoming of our bowl lineup in the past, and we need to fix it if we can.”

The Big 12 already has a bowl agreement with the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

On scheduling of conference games, Bowlsby said the main topic there was putting together future schedules based around a set of principles, such as not having more than two road games in a row, instead of particular matchups.

The commissioner did say the Oklahoma-Texas game would be kept in the first three weeks of October during the State Fair of Texas.

“We’ve got this set of principles, we’ll send you a schedule that meets the principles. And some years you’re going to get a better schedule, and other years you’re going to get a worse schedule,” Bowlsby said. “But it has to be acceptable if it meets the principles, so that’s what we spent our time on.”

Robots exhibit combines man and machine at Mayborn

Baylor University's Mayborn Museum Complex presents the Robot's+ Us exhibit, on display from Jan. 26 to April 28, 2013.
Baylor University’s Mayborn Museum Complex presents the Robot’s+ Us exhibit, on display from Jan. 26 to April 28, 2013.

By Taylor Rexrode
Staff Writer

The Mayborn Museum Complex brings together man and machine with the new “Robots + Us” traveling exhibit.

The exhibit, rented from the Science Museum of Minnesota, was displayed in Amarillo last fall and arrived at Mayborn for the exhibit’s grand opening last Saturday.

Rebecca Tucker Nall, changing exhibits manager at Mayborn, said she likes all that “Robots + Us” offers interactivity and family-friendliness.

“We want to be both fun and educational,” Nall said. “We booked this exhibit in the spring so that we could have school groups come and interact. That’s the main goal of museums, always, educating and sparking interest in people.”

The exhibit offers many hands-on attractions such as the Robot Arm. A cylindrical case in the middle of the exhibit holds the white robotic arm, similar to those robots used in assembly lines that perform repetitive tasks. Participants can challenge the arm to a race where they have to put together a small puzzle faster than the robot.

Mark Smith, assistant director of marketing, promotions and events at Mayborn, said he likes challenging the Robot Arm.

“It presents a mental challenge,” Smith said. “You have to put together a puzzle and you have to race against a piece of hardware that seems a whole lot smarter than you are.”

Upon winning, the Robot Arm “gloats” with a robot victory dance and then puts away his puzzle pieces, waiting for the next challenger. The best strategy for beating the robot arm lies in the two-player feature of the attraction. Two people can take on the Robot Arm on opposite sides of the display, dividing the attention of the machine.

“That’s when you can usually win,” Nall said.

Other interactive areas include the Leg Lab, which allows museum-goers to rearrange legs on a small bot and watch it walk inclines and climb stairs. Another point of interest is the Mobile Robots Arena, where small robots on wheels avoid obstacles, such as walls and other bots, while they follow lights shined in front of them.

There are other educational pieces along the walls as well, showing the progression of the technological age and people’s draw to artificial beings as companions.

“What the exhibit does is compare the beginning urges of people wanting to animate,” Nall said. “It compares popular culture and fiction to what we can do with robots. There’s a video that talks about the trend toward having more artificial friends than pets and what that says about our society.”

According to the exhibit overview on the Science Museum of Minnesota website, the exhibit works to show people’s humanity. It explores our fascination with creating things like us. But even Lena, a computer program Chatbot that simulates conversation, shows museumgoers that there are limitations to our humanlike creations.

“Chatbots are logic systems of advanced statements,” Lena said. “We look for keywords and then say the answer that fits best. I can talk about this exhibit but not much else.”

The “Robots + Us” exhibit will show at the Mayborn Museum until April 28.

The Mayborn Museum will host special events on Saturdays in February. Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology (BEST) robotics groups from Central Texas will demonstrate their homemade robots at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Mayborn rotunda. The McLennan County Sheriff Department will show its bomb detection robot at the museum on Feb. 9.

General admission at the Mayborn Museum is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and $4 for children 18 months to 12 years.

Baylor students receive free admission with a student ID. The museum offers free admission on the first Sunday of every month.

Al Miraj offers downtown eclectic Mediterranean cuisine

swordfish basil garlicBy Ashley Davis
Copy Editor

Al Miraj, a new Mediterranean grill downtown, has the latest word in ethnic cuisine in Waco. This new restaurant has only been open since Tuesday and already the place has received dozens of positive customer reviews.

Located at 416 Franklin Ave. right off of Fifth Street, the Al Miraj Mediterranean Grill is one of the first of its kind in downtown Waco.

The restaurant features dishes, desserts and beverages from several different countries, including lamb kabob plates, curries and gyros.

The manager of the restaurant, Amir Zakirali, has lived in Waco for 26 years.

He said he always wanted to open a restaurant, and saw the growth of diversity in Waco for the past few years as an opportunity to make that happen.

Zakirali said the food at Al Miraj is a representation of the Mediterranean as a whole and does not come from solely one country. The menu also features familiar plates like burgers and French fries in addition to authentic Mediterranean and Indian cuisine.

Amanda Carlyle, a hostess at the restaurant, said Al Miraj has been busy from the start.

“My favorite thing about this place is the vibe. It’s really upbeat,” Carlyle said.

Zakirali said the growing number of differing cultures in Waco encouraged him to bring Mediterranean food to the area.

Zakirali said he thinks the restaurant is a symbol of downtown Waco’s cultural growth.

In light of several renovations and additions to downtown buildings, the opening of Al Miraj can be included in the long list of changes that are taking place in Waco’s city center.

“Cultural authenticity is very important to us. Our goal was to bring together the cultures of several different countries through food that will appeal to everyone,” Zakirali said.

The restaurant décor has a distinctly Persian theme, featuring small Persian rugs on the walls and floors.

Small ceramic artifacts from countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea, such as Greece, Italy and Egypt, are arranged on shelves around the ceiling.

As customers eat their meals they can hear a mixture of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean music in the background.

Zakirali said there is also a back patio where customers can sit and enjoy fresh air.

There are the beginnings of a mural on the walls surrounding the back patio.

Zakirali said the mural will eventually resemble an Arab-style palace.

He also said he plans to have belly dancers performing in the restaurant by next month.

He said many local bands and musicians have already approached him about performing in the restaurant.

Zakirali said he hopes to see the restaurant become a major part of the Waco community in terms of bringing Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food to Waco.

“I want to see it grow in connection with the community center, with Baylor and certainly with local churches,” Zakirali said.

“It’s important to us to bring these tastes to people who may not have tried them before.

Al Miraj is open seven days a week.

WikiLeaks founder obtains leaked film script, says film is an attack

Associated Press
Associated Press
Associated Press

By Raphael Satter
Associated Press

If you’re making a movie about WikiLeaks, this is the kind of thing you probably see coming.

Julian Assange says he has obtained a leaked copy of the script for “The Fifth Estate,” a DreamWorks film about the maverick computer expert and his famed secret-busting site.

In a speech before the Oxford Union debating society earlier this week, Assange said his unauthorized sneak peek has left him convinced the film is a hit piece.

“It is a mass propaganda attack against WikiLeaks, the organization (and) the character of my staff,” he said, adding that the movie — the opening scenes of which Assange described as taking place in Tehran and Cairo — also hyped Western fears over the Islamic Republic’s disputed atomic energy program. “It is not just an attack against us, it is an attack against Iran. It fans the flames of an attack against Iran,” he said.

A DreamWorks spokeswoman declined to comment on Assange’s claims. In a telephone interview late Friday, Assange said that the film’s plot revolves around a fictional mole in Iran’s nuclear program who discovers that the country has nearly finished building an atom bomb and will soon be in a position to load it onto ballistic missiles. The film has the informant fleeing to Iraq when WikiLeaks publishes his name among its massive trove of classified material.

Assange says the whole story is “a lie built on a lie,” claiming that the U.S. intelligence community generally believes that Iran stopped comprehensive secret work on developing nuclear arms in 2003, and that, in any case, the world had yet to see evidence of a case in which WikiLeaks had exposed a CIA informant.

“They tried to frame Iran as having an active nuclear weapons program. Then they try to frame WikiLeaks as the reason why that’s not known to the public now,” Assange said, comparing the movie to Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty,” another film whose artistic liberties with recent history have drawn allegations of political bias.

Assange declined to say where he got the script, although he hinted that he had been supplied with several copies of it over time. He also declined to say whether the script would be posted to the WikiLeaks website, saying only that “we are examining options closely.”

“The Fifth Estate” stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange and Daniel Bruhl as Daniel Domscheit-Berg, an early Assange ally who eventually fell out with WikiLeaks.

The film is due for release in November, and in a statement earlier this week director Bill Condon was quoted as saying that those behind the movie want “to explore the complexities and challenges of transparency in the information age” and “enliven and enrich the conversations WikiLeaks has already provoked.” Assange made his comments to the Oxford Union on Wednesday via videolink from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he has been holed up for more than six months in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden as part of a long-running sex crimes case.

Kerry receives State Dept. nomination with wide approval

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., sits before the committee he has served on for 28 years and led for the past four as he seeks confirmation as U.S. secretary of state, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry, who is likely to face friendly questioning on a smooth path to approval, is President Barack Obama's choice to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who is stepping down after four years as America's top diplomat. Associated Press
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., sits before the committee he has served on for 28 years and led for the past four as he seeks confirmation as U.S. secretary of state, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry, who is likely to face friendly questioning on a smooth path to approval, is President Barack Obama's choice to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who is stepping down after four years as America's top diplomat.  Associated Press
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., sits before the committee he has served on for 28 years and led for the past four as he seeks confirmation as U.S. secretary of state, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry, who is likely to face friendly questioning on a smooth path to approval, is President Barack Obama’s choice to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who is stepping down after four years as America’s top diplomat.
Associated Press

By Donna Casata
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed President Barack Obama’s choice of five-term Sen. John Kerry to be secretary of state, with Republicans and Democrats praising him as the ideal successor to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The vote Tuesday was 94-3. One senator — Kerry — voted present and accepted congratulations from colleagues on the Senate floor. The roll call came just hours after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved the man who has led the panel for the past four years.

No date has been set for Kerry’s swearing-in, though a welcoming ceremony is planned at the State Department on Monday.

Obama tapped Kerry, 69, the son of a diplomat, decorated Vietnam veteran and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, to succeed Clinton, who is stepping down after four years. The Massachusetts Democrat, who had pined for the job but was passed over in 2009, has served as Obama’s unofficial envoy, smoothing fractious ties with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Sen. Kerry will need no introduction to the world’s political and military leaders and will begin Day One fully conversant not only with the intricacies of U.S. foreign policy, but able to act on a multitude of international stages,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who will succeed Kerry as committee chairman.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the panel’s top Republican, called Kerry “a realist” who will deal with unrest in Egypt, civil war in Syria, the threat of al-Qaida-linked groups in Africa and Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Kerry, a forceful proponent of climate change legislation, also will have a say in whether the United States moves ahead on the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, a divisive issue that has roiled environmentalists.

Obama had nominated Kerry after Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, removed her name from consideration following criticism from Republicans over her initial comments about the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Voting against Kerry were three Republicans — Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas. Absent from the vote were Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and John Hoeven, R-N.D.

“Sen. Kerry has a long history of liberal positions that are not consistent with a majority of Texans,” Cornyn said in a statement. The senator is up for re-election next year and could face a tea party challenge.

Kerry’s smooth path to the nation’s top diplomatic job stands in stark contrast to the harsher treatment for Obama’s other national security nominees — Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary and John Brennan to be CIA director.

Hagel, the former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska, faces strong opposition from some of his onetime GOP colleagues who question his support for reductions in the nuclear arsenal and cuts in defense spending. Lawmakers also have questioned whether he is sufficiently supportive of Israel and strongly opposed to any outreach to Iran.

Democrats have rallied for Hagel, and he has the announced support of at least a dozen members in advance of his confirmation hearing on Thursday. Six Republicans have said they would vote against him.

Brennan faces questions from the GOP about White House leaks of classified information and from Democrats about the administration’s use of drones.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., threatened to block the nomination of both men until he gets more answers from the Obama administration about the assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Two former chairmen of the committee — Democrat Sam Nunn of Georgia and Republican John Warner of Virginia — plan to introduce Hagel, according to officials close to the confirmation process. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the committee has not formally made an announcement.

As a White House emissary, Kerry has tamped down diplomatic fires for Obama. He also has stepped ahead of the administration on a handful of crises. He joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as an early proponent of a more aggressive policy toward Libya, pushing for using military forces to impose a “no-fly zone” over Libya as Moammar Gadhafi’s forces killed rebels and other citizens. He was one of the early voices calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down as revolution roiled the nation two years ago.

During his tenure, Kerry has pushed for reducing the number of nuclear weapons, shepherding a U.S.-Russia treaty through the Senate in December 2010, and has cast climate change as a national security threat, joining forces with Republicans on legislation that faced too many obstacles to win congressional passage.

He has led delegations to Syria and met a few times with President Bashar Assad, now a pariah in U.S. eyes after months of civil war and bloodshed as the government looks to put down a people’s rebellion. Figuring out an end-game for the Middle East country would demand all of Kerry’s skills.

The selection of Kerry closes a political circle with Obama. In 2004, it was White House hopeful Kerry who asked a largely unknown Illinois state senator to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Boston, handing the national stage to Obama. Kerry lost that election to President George W. Bush. Four years later, Obama was the White House hopeful who succeeded where Kerry had failed.

President, Congress begin to tackle immigration

By Darlene Superville and Julie Pace Associated Press
By Darlene Superville and Julie Pace Associated Press
By Darlene Superville and
Julie Pace
Associated Press

By Darlene Superville and
Julie Pace
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — Declaring “now is the time” to fix the nation’s broken immigration system, President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined broad proposals for putting millions of illegal immigrants on a clear path to citizenship while cracking down on businesses that employ people illegally and tightening security at the borders. He hailed a bipartisan Senate group on a similar track but left unresolved key details that could derail the complex and emotional effort.

Potential Senate roadblocks center on how to structure the avenue to citizenship and on whether legislation would cover same-sex couples — and that’s all before a Senate measure could be debated, approved and sent to the Republican-controlled House where opposition is sure to be stronger.

Obama, who carried Nevada in the November election with heavy Hispanic support, praised the Senate push, saying Congress is showing “a genuine desire to get this done soon.” But mindful of previous immigrations efforts that have failed, he warned that the debate would be difficult and vowed to send his own legislation to Capitol Hill if lawmakers don’t act quickly.

“The question now is simple,” Obama said during a campaign-style event in Las Vegas, one week after being sworn in for a second term in the White House. “Do we have the resolve as a people, as a country, as a government to finally put this issue behind us? I believe that we do.”

Shortly after Obama finished speaking, cracks emerged between the White House and the group of eight senators, which put out their proposals one day ahead of the president. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, faulted Obama for not making a citizenship pathway contingent on tighter border security, a central tenet of the lawmakers’ proposals.

“The president’s speech left the impression that he believes reforming immigration quickly is more important than reforming immigration right,” Rubio said in a statement.

House Speaker John Boehner also responded coolly, with spokesman Brendan Buck saying the Ohio Republican hoped the president would be “careful not to drag the debate to the left and ultimately disrupt the difficult work that is ahead in the House and Senate.”

Despite possible obstacles to come, the broad agreement between the White House and bipartisan lawmakers in the Senate represents a drastic shift in Washington’s willingness to tackle immigration, an issue that has languished for years. Much of that shift is politically motivated, due to the growing influence of Hispanics in presidential and other elections and their overwhelming support for Obama in November.

The separate White House and Senate proposals focus on the same principles: providing a way for most of the estimated 11 million people already in the U.S. illegally to become citizens, strengthening border security, cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants and streamlining the legal immigration system.

A consensus around the question of citizenship could help lawmakers clear one major hurdle that has blocked previous immigration efforts. Many Republicans have opposed allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens, saying that would be an unfair reward for people who have broken the law.

Obama and the Senate lawmakers all want to require people here illegally to register with the government, pass criminal and national security background checks, pay fees and penalties as well as back taxes and wait until existing immigration backlogs are cleared before getting in line for green cards. Neither proposal backs up those requirements with specifics.

After achieving legal status, U.S. law says people can become citizens after five years.

The Senate proposal says that entire process couldn’t start until the borders were fully secure and tracking of people in the U.S. on visas had improved. Those vague requirements would almost certainly make the timeline for achieving citizenship longer than what the White House is currently proposing.

The president urged lawmakers to avoid making the citizenship pathway so difficult that it would appear out of reach for many illegal immigrants.

“We all agree that these men and women have to earn their way to citizenship,” he said. “But for comprehensive immigration reform to work, it must make clear from the outset that there is a pathway to citizenship.”

Another key difference between the White House and Senate proposals is the administration’s plan to allow same-sex partners to seek visas under the same rules that govern other family immigration. The Senate principles do not recognize same-sex partners, though Democratic lawmakers have told gay rights groups that they could seek to include that in a final bill.

Most of the recommendations Obama made Tuesday were not new. They were included in the immigration blueprint he released in 2011, but he exerted little political capital to get it passed by Congress, to the disappointment of many Hispanics.

Some of the recommendations in the Senate plan are also pulled from past immigration efforts. The senators involved in formulating the latest proposals, in addition to McCain and Rubio, are Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Also Tuesday, in another sign of Congress’ increased attention to immigration issues, a group of four senators introduced legislation aimed at allowing more high-tech workers into the country.

The bill by Republicans Rubio and Orrin Hatch and Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Chris Coons would increase the number of visas available for high-tech workers, make it easier for them to change jobs once here and for their spouses to work and aim to make it easier for foreigners at U.S. universities to remain here upon graduation.

Julie Pace and Erica Werner contributed to this report.