5 | Arts & Life
7 | Sports
The colors painted on campus
Vol. 59, Issue 6
Athlete of the week: Kylee Kato
Est. 1981
February 19 - February 26, 2019
The Paisano
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Community /PaisanoOnline
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#ChangeRapeCulture protest at the Sombrilla By Alfonzo Mendoza Staff Writer
Continued on page 2 See “Students advocate for change”
Passerby covers ears while walking by protest.
The Fifth San Antonio Conference on Stem Cell Research & Regenerative Medicine took place Feb. 7 and 8 at the Wyndham Garden Riverwalk Hotel. RegenMed SA, an organization promoting stem cell research between institutions and individuals, hosted the conference. UTSA biology professor John McCarrey, Kleberg Distinguished University Chair in Cellular & Molecular Biology and Director of San Antonio Cellular Therapeutics Institute, founded RegenMed SA. “RegenMed SA grew out of an initial effort coordinated by BioMed SA to catalogue biomedical assets and expertise on various medically relevant topics within San Antonio,” McCarrey said. “RegenMed SA represents entities at all levels – from basic stem cell biology to tissue engineering to regenerative medicine in the clinic to manufacturing of products relevant to these areas by local biotechnology firms. The primary objective of RegenMed SA is to serve as a conduit to bring together scientists from all parts of San Antonio who are interested in
these topics.” The conference had presentations on how stem cells can: regrow tissue for burn victims, target tumors, be used as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease and help to understand how bipolar disorder happens from the makeup of the cell. Stem cells provide new research that can be used in bone marrow transplants to replace cells that were lost during chemotherapy. “[This conference featured] updates of ongoing research related to stem cells and regenerative medicine taking place at local universities, medical schools, research institutes, military medical installations and biotechnology companies,” McCarrey said. The conference gathered 150 cell researchers from across the country and they will all have discussions on the many different uses for stem cells. They focused on the science behind stem cells and how stem cell research can be used in health technology. People from all across San Antonio including BioBridge Global, Texas Biomedical Research Institute and UT Health San Antonio attended. The conference was a success and McCarrey explained
By Alejandro (AJ) Lopez Co-News Editor
President Taylor Eighmy announced the President’s Initiative on Preventing Sexual Assault and Misconduct on Feb. 11. The goal of this initiative is to create a zero tolerance environment for sexual assault and misconduct at UTSA. “Our students deserve to live, work and study in an environment with zero tolerance for sexual assault,” LT Robinson, UTSA interim dean of students and director of the Student Leadership Center, said. Robinson was appointed by President Eighmy to lead this initiative. She regularly reports updates and feedback to President Eighmy. Jack Myer/The Paisano
Jack Myer/The Paisano
Conference focuses on regenerative medicine By Kaylee Boggan Staff Writer
New initiative strives for zero tolerance environment
UTSA students filled the Sombrilla in protest, calling for a far-reaching and immediate change in sexual assault proceedings and rape culture on campus on Feb. 12. The protest occurred the day after the announcement of President Eighmy’s Initiative on Preventing Sexual Assault and Misconduct. The plan builds upon several past initiatives such as Culture of Respect Collective and Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, and aims to achieve a zero tolerance environment for sexual assault. The protests included a variety of signs with references to the procedural questions students are asked Protestors pose with signs in front of Student Union. when bringing forth a sexual assault case as well as popular movement hashtags: Me Too, Change Rape Culture and What Were You Wearing? Gerald Lewis, UTSA associate vice president of public safety and chief of police, commented on UTSA PD’s protocol when on-campus rallies occur. “Our goal is to ensure that protests and rallies are conducted in a peaceful manner while allowing students to exercise their First Amendment rights. UTSA PD officers observe campus rallies, provide a visible police presence to encourage a peaceful event and respond as appropriate if safety issues were to occur,” Lewis said.
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more about their goal. “[The goal was] to bring together investigators working in San Antonio who are interested in stem cell research, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and related biotechnology applications,” McCarrey said. “This topic holds great promise for new approaches to otherwise incurable diseases. These new approaches will involve cell-based therapies designed to restore normal physiological function in tissues or organs in which the patient’s normal functions have failed.” Stem cell research can be very useful to pharmacies because they can test drugs on stem cells instead of endangering human subjects. Stem cells can also be used in organ transplantation by researching how cells enable the body to accept foreign substances such as tissue. “Stem cells can be used to model any cell type in the body to facilitate studies of cells in petri dishes that can be used to a) better understand the molecular etiology of diseases, b) improve Continued on page 2 See “Researchers discuss uses for stem cells”
Immediately upon President Eighmy’s arrival in fall 2017, he was briefed on the results of the Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments (CLASE) survey. The survey was conducted by UT Austin researchers on behalf of the UT system; it quantified sexual assault and misconduct at each UT system institution based on student surveys. From there, President Eighmy conducted an external review of the Title IX office and its policies and procedures. Since that time, students, faculty and staff members have provided additional input on how to cultivate a zero tolerance environment. “All of that information has progressively led to the creContinued on page 2 See “University aims to change policies”
Students led silent protest
Protesters march in Sombrilla.
By Alejandro (AJ) Lopez Co-News Editor The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) hosted their annual Silent Library Protest on Feb. 14. This year’s protest focused on change for school
Alejandro (AJ) Lopez/The Paisano
systems and the challenges that minority students, faculty and staff face. Protesters started their march at 2 p.m. and walked to several locations on campus. Protesters carried signs with quotes attributed to UTSA administration, faculty and staff.
Student government develops videos for mental health By Breahna Luera Contributing Writer UTSA’s Student Government Association (SGA) is putting together a series of mental health videos. The videos, which will include student athletes who share their mental health testimonies, will be posted on social media. Brittany Garcia, senior public health major and SGA President, and Anjali Shah freshman kinesiology major and SGA’s Student Health Action Committee (SHAC) coordinator, are orchestrating the development of these videos. SHAC has been struggling with providing helpful information to students in a way that interests them.
“It’s [the videos] kind of a revamp of SHAC. Before, it used to be a lot more event based, but they weren’t getting a good amount of students to come out. We noticed that and I felt like the past two years the SHAC directors just felt a lot of disappointment,” Garcia said. According to Garcia, the idea to post the videos on social media came from the realization that people are more likely to watch a short video that informs them rather than go to a session to get the same information. Garcia hopes that this revamp provides students with the information they would Continued on page 2 See “Committee advocates for awareness”