The People’s Law School, held by UH’s Center for Consumer Law, aims to simplify the intricate process of the justice system.

The free program is open to the public and provides information about legal rights and the role they play in the daily lives of the public, said Richard Alderman, interim dean of the Law Center.

“About 500 people attend the program each year,” Alderman said. “It is designed to help make the law user friendly to the lay person.”

Alderman, also known as the “People’s Lawyer”, developed the program 25 years ago. It is taught by volunteer judges, lawyers, and law professors and students.

The People’s Law School offers classes in a broad range including finding an attorney, bankruptcy, immigration, business law, landlord/tenant law, small claims, consumer law, family law and wills.

“Ultimately, The People’s Law School will help people save money,” said Associate Director for the Center for Consumer Law Robert Johnson. “Knowing your rights is quite beneficial and empowering. When you know your rights you can better protect yourself.”

Twice a year, people arrive early to mingle and share coffee and donuts. Afterwards the program consists of speaking, presentations and answering legal questions for attendees.

“Everything about the law school is enjoyable,” Johnson said. “From interacting with fellow attorneys to having the satisfaction of providing useful information to the public. The entire experience is positive.”

“The program was designed to give the public ease when it comes to knowing the law and protecting themselves,” Alderman said. “It’s the most fun I have all year, being able to see people appreciate the information provided and use it in there everyday lives.”

Graphics design senior Kenneth Manning said he gets a lot out of the program and recommends students of all majors attend.

“The People’s School provided me with so much knowledge,” Manning said. “The public is blind to useful legal information. I am able to understand more, especially when the lack of knowledge has been used against me in my everyday life.”

Everyone who attends gets a free copy of Dean Alderman’s book, “Know Your Rights.” The book is comprehensive, and covers complex legal topics in an easy-to-understand format.

Attendees must register online during open registration to attend.

“Dean Alderman wouldn’t want it, or ask for it, but he deserves all the credit for the success of his program,” Johnson said. “He devotes his life to helping others. The People’s Law School is just another example of what makes him such a unique person and attorney. We are very lucky to have him at the University of Houston.”

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Mosab Hassan, the guest speaker for a Council of Ethnic Organizations event, had to answer to a group of protesters who called him an “Islamaphobe” outside the Houston room on Tuesday. | Dina Kesbeh/The Daily Cougar

The Council of Ethic Organizations’ Tuesday guest speaker was invited to discuss his experience with freethinking, and he was greeted by a group of protestors located outside the Houston.

Some students were outraged that CEO, an organization whose purpose is to promote culture and diversity, would host Mosab Yousef, a former member of Palestinian Islamic political party Hamas and a person with what they consider contradicting views.

“Islam as a religion in general is a lie wrapped with some facts. I’m talking about this with the authority of someone who understands exactly what Islam is all about, and it’s the biggest lie in history in my opinion, and this is the biggest danger,” Yousef told CBC news.

His perceptions changed after he experienced the violence on both sides of what? and his own incarceration, which led him to become a spy for the Shin Bet — the Israel security agency.

Although Yousef said his purpose wasn’t to speak about religion, his background raised many red flags for concerned students on campus who believe he is an “Islamophobe.”

“While I do not have faith myself, I feel it is a right of any individual to be active in their respective beliefs just as it is a right for a person’s faith to be respected by others and safe from being the subject of slander or ridicule,” said theater sophomore Hudson Davis.

CEO members were concerned with Yousef’s statements.

“He talked about the people on the extreme side of religion and them using it for their own agenda,” said CEO Assistant Director Erica Tat, French and Spanish junior.

“We solely invited him here because he wanted to talk about thinking for yourself and making your own choice.”

CEO President Adriann Hobbs, liberal studies senior, said he felt that while the CBC statement was controversial, it wasn’t the subject of the lecture.

“With this event we weren’t focusing on the religious aspect of the individual, but instead him overcoming a lot of the struggles and situations he went through,” Hobbs said.

The group of protestors consisted of about 20 students from different backgrounds, holding signs that read “No hate at UH” and “Choose love, not hate.”

“The speech he gave wasn’t full of hate, but it just seemed that his background — and with the kind of vibe he brings — it was very unfair that they would do that. There are many other ways to get this message across,” said history junior Abdullah Elasmar.

Many students had expressed their concerns online through the Facebook about the speaker, but CEO members quickly removed the posts.

“One thing we wanted to avoid was if that comment was posted on there we didn’t know who would reply. We don’t want to start a string of political or religious argument,” Tat said.

“That was one of our concerns. I also think we felt like because of the students’ reaction we expected that students might want to protest, and we felt like it would be great to have the face-to-face interaction and hear what the students have to say rather than over the Internet.”

Both Tat and Hobbs stressed to protestors that this speech was not about religion, but about thinking freely and how Yousef overcame the path he was set to follow based off of his upbringing.

Regardless of the subject matter of the speech, Davis said he thinks that Yousef should not have been invited.

“I think that boycotting oppressive speech is of upmost importance in a university setting,” Davis said. “Yes, he has a right to say these things, but in a university setting the focus should not be on how oppressive a certain religion is, but how and why it came about and its cultural significance.”

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Pierce Stewart knows what it’s like to go hungry.

“While growing up in a low income area of Houston, not far from the University of Houston, I encountered some days where food was not very plentiful,” he said.

Local non profit, Stop Hunger Now, can package about 10,000 meals in two hours with just 40 to 50 volunteers. | Courtesy of Pierce Stewart

As the community director of Houston expansion for Stop Hunger Now, Stewart, a graduate of the C.T. Bauer School of Business, gets to help people in the same situation he was in.

Stop Hunger Now, an organization created to break the cycle of poverty, will be opening a new location in Houston this year.

“When I researched Stop Hunger Now, I realized that its mission to help the world’s most vulnerable aligned with my personal mission to use my God-given abilities to make the world a better place,” he said.

Chief marketing officer Emily B. Everett said she was inspired to get involved with the organization by its founder, the Rev. Ray Buchanan.

“Stop Hunger Now was created by Ray as an entrepreneurial model for providing rapid, cost-effective responses to international crisis situations,” Everett said. “Driven by a vision of a world without hunger, the organization provides food and life-saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable and aims to create a movement to end hunger.”

Stewart said the organization receives a lot of help from volunteers.

“A group of 40 to 50 volunteers can package 10,000 meals in just two hours,” he said.

Stop Hunger Now is providing more to the community than mere meals; it’s offering a future, Everett said.

“Stop Hunger Now helps break the cycle of poverty for meal recipients through education, skills development and health care, while they also receive much-needed nutrition,” she said. “The majority of our meals go to support school feeding, vocational training, early childhood development programs as well as to orphanages and medical clinics.”

Stewart said there are more than enough resources in the world to be able to keep everyone fed.

“The world has actually produced enough food to feed itself since the 1960s — enough to feed everyone 4.3 pounds of food each day,” he said.

Everett said Stop Hunger Now is expanding so it can share the world’s abundant food supply.

“Stop Hunger Now operates meal packaging locations in 18 cities throughout the U.S. and international locations in South Africa and Malaysia,” she said. “Four new locations are slated to open in 2013, including Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Mexico and Italy.”

Stewart encourages everyone to get involved by visiting Facebook.com/StopHungerNow-Houston for more information.

“Stop Hunger Now will be hosting a meal packaging showcase event in the Greater Houston area on Wednesday, May 8, 2013,” he said. “For more information about the showcase and other local events, visit our Facebook page.”

The organization has expanded, reaching out to various parts of the world, and that is something Everett said she takes pride in.

“Stop Hunger Now has delivered aid and disaster relief supplies in the form of food, medicines, medical supplies, medical equipment, clothing, school supplies and more to thousands of disaster victims and other hungry and vulnerable people in 83 countries,” she said.

Stewart said he believes we can end world hunger soon with a little effort.

“We have the resources. We know where to go. We strive with the hunger community to end apathy towards hunger and create a movement to end hunger in our lifetime,” he said.

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Lindsey Brier, a mathematical biology junior, is representing UH nationwide as a 2013 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar and recipient of an esteemed scholarship from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program.

“The Goldwater Scholarship is a nationally competitive scholarship for undergraduates who are interested in a career in research within science, technology, engineering or mathematics,” said Karen Weber, director for the Office of Undergraduate Research. “We were really fortunate to have four strong candidates from UH this year.”

Established by Congress in 1986 in honor of Goldwater, the Goldwater Scholarship awards an academic scholarship to 300 students nationwide and is considered the most prestigious undergraduate award in the U.S. for science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.

“I am honored to represent UH at the national level,” Brier said. “The University has presented me with so many great opportunities.”

The reception of this scholarship is a wonderful accomplishment for Brier. Her research focuses in determining the cause of the differential toxicity between cholera toxin and enterotoxin to find the influential interactions in the toxin responsible for causing many epidemics.

“This award has only increased the motivation I have to continue to pursue medical research and to hopefully make a meaningful contribution to my field in the future,” Brier said.

Along with the national recognition for her excellence in research, James Briggs, associate professor in the biology and biochemistry department, hopes that the Goldwater Scholarship will bring Brier opportunities for higher education.

“Lindsey excels academically in research and is driven. This is evident in her accomplishments, including those outside of science,” Briggs said. “I believe that the scholarship will help to open the door to graduate studies at the top research institutions in the country.”

Brier would like to one day earn her Ph.D. and is looking forward to continuing her research in the field of drug discovery.

“I find this field to be the perfect blend of mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry and biology topics,” Brier said. “I hope to one day make a contribution that has a great impact on the way we combat certain diseases like cancer.”

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Revisions and policies have been made on food sales for student organizations after a large quantity of violations.

The Center for Student Involvement helped in revising the policies and procedures and took responsibility for sending out notices to student organizations regarding the policy change. Some of these regulations have been around but are now being strictly enforced.

UH Food Safety Specialist Sondra Davis said she wants student organizations to know that food sales policies are developed to ensure compliance with the City of Houston, as well as the Texas Food Establishment Rules.

“The University of Houston is subject to state, city and University of Houston System rules and regulations,” Davis said. “Students were cited for violations of sanitary procedures while handling food during a bake sale by the campus Food Safety Specialist.”

Marketing senior Renan Brandao said he thinks these new policies and a procedure are necessary, and he does not mind following them.

“No one wants to buy food if they feel it is not clean, there are regulations in everything we do so we should get used to following and respecting rules,” Brandao said.

Not following the guidelines will result in temporary suspension of having bake sales.

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A new program is being launched by the University of Houston Police Department to educate the University community on how to respond if there is an active shooter on campus.

An active shooter or shooters, defined by the National Tactical Officers Association, are one or more subjects who participate in a random or systematic shooting spree, demonstrating their intent to continuously harm others. Their objective is mass murder.

As part of this program, the UHPD Crime Prevention Unit will be available for presentations about topics related to active shooters and preventing violence in the workplace.

UHPD is not concerned with preventing only active shooters, but also everyday crimes that have been occurring on campus.

Hit and runs, theft and drunken driving have made up the majority of crimes this semester. UHPD said that it is doing a good job at reporting these crimes.

“An increasing number of reports for crimes such as Driving While Intoxicated indicate an increase in proactive enforcement efforts on the part of our officers,” said Lt. Dina Padovan.

“UHPD takes impaired driving very seriously and makes every effort to remove the threat before the safety of our community is impacted,” Padovan said.

Although there is still a significant amount of theft, reported robberies have decreased since last semester, and some students say they recognize the change.

In spite of this decrease, several thefts are reported each week.

Areas like the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library and the Campus Recreational and Wellness Center are hot places for thefts of unsecured items.

Communications sophomore Wendy Perez said to use common sense to avoid theft.

“Either take your things with you or ask someone you trust to take your things for you,” Perez said.

As for the hit-and-runs, UHPD said cameras and witnesses contribute to their high clearance rate, but it still warns students about the consequences of such an incident.

“Students should realize that they have certain responsibilities if they accidentally strike someone’s vehicle in a lot,” Padovan said.

“Leaving the scene only makes matters worse.”

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Forty-eight years ago from Tuesday, the Astrodome opened its doors. Since then it has housed the rodeo, football and baseball games, and even Hurricane Katrina victims. One graduate, Ryan Slattery, hopes to persuade people of the city to preserve the Houston landmark. | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

What began as a casual conversation with a friend has, within days, received significant media attention and become a prevalent topic of discussion among Houstonians. Former graduate student Ryan Slattery’s idea to reduce the Astrodome to its metal frame and create green space beneath it was made public on Reddit.com and has since been acknowledged on various forums, from the Houston Chronicle to Mayor Annise Parker’s Facebook page.

“It was the first of its kind,” Slattery said. “Literally, there was nothing like it in the world. Houston is slowly becoming a city with no history, and this is a history you want to hold on to.”

Turning it into a parking lot is among the countless ideas under consideration with regard to what should be done with the Astrodome, but Slattery presents an idea, which may appease those concerned with economics and those interested in historic preservation.

Rafael Longoria, professor and co-director of Graduate Studies at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, said all Master of Architecture candidates complete a master project as a capstone of their professional program. The project was designed for students to explore architectural problems they felt needed to be addressed. Slattery completed his project and received his master’s in the Fall.

Slattery said he considered a lot of ideas in Houston before deciding on his project.

“I looked at architectural problems throughout the city — the idea of green vs. gray, historical preservation and responsible repurposing of facilities that have outlived their function,” Slattery said.

He said that because the Astrodome is what people think about when referring to Houston, he used it to further those over-arching conversations about things that need to be addressed across the city — not just the dome. Although his proposal may not resolve the systemic problem, the hope is that it offers some semblance of a solution to the various issues.

“It’s not just, ‘What do we do with the dome?’ The issue has always been bigger than that,” Slattery said.

Slattery also said stripping it down to its metal frame would provide flexible green space, which could be used in a variety of ways.

“This is something we can use to promote the history of our city as well as our ability to preserve that history in a constructive way — one that repurposes built objects in a functional, practical manner,” Slattery said.

Longoria said students present their projects publicly to a group of guest “jurors” from around the country during jury week. They are offered feedback on the relevance of their projects, their design and technical skills, along with the ability to communicate graphically and verbally.

“Having it in the public realm is kind of like a jury. You not only get people who appreciate them and like the idea, but you’re also getting people who have a different way of looking at preserving the Astrodome. And those opinions matter just as much,” Slattery said.

Slattery survived jury week, and he’ll be under a little less pressure the next time his project will be on display — following the University commencement in May, particular students will be distinguished for their master projects at the college’s awards ceremony.

Since the Astrodome is owned by the residents of Harris County, the ultimate decision rests with the Harris County Commissioners Court. Joe Stinebaker, communications director for county judge Ed Emmett, said using the dome’s external structure as a covered shell has been one of the primary uses discussed in previous years.

But as with every proposal, the problem is money.

“Almost everyone in Harris County and Texas has an idea about what to do with the Astrodome,” Stinebaker said. “Ideas are abundant. But the money to implement those ideas is not.”

He said Emmett believes that, ultimately, the fate of the dome will likely be presented to county taxpayers in the form of a bond election.

Slattery said he understands no undertaking of this scale is going to be cheap.

“The idea of millions should give anyone pause,” Slattery said. “But to discard history because preserving it is hard is a problem for me.”

Regardless of the outcome, Slattery said he wants the focus to remain on improving Houston and remaining true to its past.

“(The focus is) how we approach how our city is shaped — as designers, as public officials and as citizens — and how we preserve our history,” Slattery said.

“Yes, these projects cost money and yes, they take time, but conversation is cheap. You don’t lose anything by simply continuing the conversation,” he said.

As a native Houstonian and someone who attended the playoff game against the Atlanta Braves — the last game the Astros played in the Astrodome — this piece of history holds a certain sentiment for Slattery.

“If they demolish the dome, you very well might see a grown man cry,” Slattery said. “But if I can further the conversation in a constructive way, I can take some solace in that.”

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Karen Clarke, the University’s associate vice chancellor and associate vice president of marketing and communications, will no longer be clad in Cougar red. She has accepted an executive position at Temple University in Philadelphia as Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Communications.

A part of UH leadership since 2007, Clarke’s last official day will be Friday.

“I love being a Cougar. No matter where I go, I will always bleed red,” Clarke said. “Luckily for me, Temple’s colors are cherry and white.”

“Temple is a highly-respected university with a number of characteristics similar to UH, so this opportunity is a good fit for me and plays to my strengths, much like my time here at UH.”

In her position, Clarke is responsible for marketing and brand management, university communication, media relations, development communications and web, multimedia and creative services.

As a member of President and Chancellor Renu Khator’s Cabinet and as chief strategist for the University’s branding and marketing campaigns, Clarke played a principal role in UH achieving Tier One recognition from the Carnegie Foundation in 2011.

“Her leadership helped strengthen and enhance the University’s image and reputation, and this had a tremendously positive effect on our drive to Tier One status,” said Executive Director of Media Relations Richard Bonnin.

“She will be greatly missed, not only for her leadership and management style, but for her friendship and mentorship, as well,” Bonnin said.

In the six years that Clarke has been with UH, she also oversaw multiple departments that have been recognized with over 100 awards from the American Marketing Association, the Public Relations Society of America and the International Association of Business Communicators.

“It’s somewhat bittersweet. I have given my heart to UH and it has given its soul to me,” Clarke said.

“In my mind, it’s like seeing our students walk across the stage at graduation. We will always love UH, but we reach a point where it’s time to step into the next adventure on our journey. So, I have a sense of excitement as well as the butterflies that we all have when we embark on a new endeavor.”

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The Turkish Student Association’s and the Turkish American Women Student Association’s Nevruz (Spring) Festival is not limited to just Turkey. Five other countries will be represented including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The free festival will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Butler Plaza.

“Since this event is not for making money but for showcase, the foods will be affordable,” said Tayfun Tuna, member of TSA. “Two types of foods will be served — homemade food prepared by local Turkish families and restaurant food by Nazif Turkish Grill Restaurant in Houston. There will be a field goal challenge: Whoever scores a goal will get a t-shirt or Turkish baklava for free.”

Other activities at the festival will include taking a picture in traditional Turkish attire, field games and giveaways. Some examples of the food attendees can expect are baklava, a layered pastry sweetened with syrup or honey and topped with nuts, doner, a type of meat dish, kebabs, meat served on skewers, Turkish coffee and Turkish delight, an assortment of confections.

“An important part of Turkey is its food. Everyone in U.S. knows the word shish kebab. Many types of kebabs and different vegetable dishes such as stuffed peppers and grape leaves and tasty sweets such as baklava and kunefe are among the food rich Turkish cuisine offers,” Tuna said.

Tuna also shared a few fun facts about Turkey.

“Turkey is a parliamentary democracy and located on both Europe and Asia. It is a bridge between the east and the west. Istanbul is the only city in the world half is in one continent the other is in another. This greatly created a unique and rich culture that has characteristics of both the east and the west. Turkey is also home to more than ten past civilizations,” Tuna said.

The Turkish Festival has been organized and held on campus by Turkish students at UH consecutively for the past five years. Tuna said he encourages students to attend.

“This is a great opportunity for people to experience culture from different countries,”  Tuna said.

A stabbing occurred on the Lone Star College campus in Cy-Fair late Tuesday morning, Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies said.

One suspect has been taken into custody on campus, the campus’s website reports, but another suspect is still at-large.

According to KHOU, 14 people have been injured and taken by helicopter to the hospital.

The campus is in lockdown and the investigation is continuing.

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