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State might cut UT budget By Shabab Siddiqui & Alex Geiser Daily Texan Staff At a Staff Council meeting Thursday, UT Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hegarty said it was still unclear how statewide budget cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Perry’s office could impact the University. All state agencies, including the UT System, may have to make 5-percent cuts to their budgets beginning in 2011, according to a letter issued by Perry’s office on Jan. 15.
“We have to figure out what we’re facing first,” Hegarty said. “We don’t know the nature of the cut or the size of the cut.” The letter, signed by Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus, asks agencies to identify “savings in priority increments” and to submit their proposals to the governor’s office by Feb. 15. Hegarty said the University is trying to sort through several uncertainties presented by the proposed statewide budget cuts,
Survey examines graduate student views of program By Audrey White Daily Texan Staff Starting Feb. 7, graduate students will have the opportunity to tell UT administrators more of what they want from the University. A survey created by sociology professor Chandra Muller and a team of three graduate students will examine how graduate students view their academic training, quality of life, department environment, work-family balance, mentoring and advising. Although other universities such as the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley have conducted broad surveys of graduate students, Muller said UT’s study, the first of its kind at the University, is broader in scope. It fully encompasses both academic and external aspects of graduate-student life and can be used for all disciplines and schools. Muller ’s team modeled the survey after a 2008 gender-equity forum held for faculty and staff that sought information about discrepancies in pay, hiring, promotion and governance. As was the case with the faculty forum, the team hopes to use the results of the graduate-student study as a springboard from which to submit policy recommendations to the administration. “We know pressingly little about graduate education in terms of what works and what doesn’t,” Muller said. “We’re hoping to inform the University administration about how to improve life here for graduate students and
make it so they can be more successful in their pursuits.” Sociology graduate student Anna Mueller, one member of Muller’s team, said she believes the survey accurately evaluates the key aspects of graduate-student life in a comprehensive manner. While creating the survey, the team consulted with students from all of UT’s graduate departments to help form a wide range of questions. As a result, the survey will be vital in informing the administration about what graduate students are looking for in their programs, Mueller said. “I’m excited that instead of just submitting complaints or talking about problems within departments, the survey will be able to pick up the more macro-level problems at UT,” she said. Daniel Spikes, Graduate Student Assembly president and educational administration graduate student, said he hopes the survey will serve as a new link between students and the administration. In an effort to increase participation in the survey, Spikes said the assembly has been working to encourage students to respond once the survey comes out by sending them informative e-mails. “This survey shows the University is really interested in hearing what we have to say about what helps us to be successful and improves our experience,” Spikes said. “I think students will be encouraged and empowered to give their voice. For those who are not, it’s our responsibility as the GSA
such as whether they are a onetime cutback or a permanent, recurring reduction. “If it’s a one-time thing, we can take a look at cash balances we’ve accumulated over the years and try to write a check,” Hegarty said. “But if it’s a recurring thing, then we’re going to need to make some major changes.” Hegarty said UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, as well as the Board of Regents, will also need to determine how to distrib-
ute the proposed cuts. The UT System encompasses nine public Texas universities and six health institutions, with each receiving different levels of state funding. Hegarty said a 5-percent cut would cost the System about $200 million total while it would cost UT about $29 million. Hegarty said the state’s reduction request is a result of lowerthan-anticipated sales-tax revenues due to people spending less
BUDGET continues on page 6
Linhao Zhang | Daily Texan Staff
Senior academic adviser Jackie Dana speaks out at the Staff Council meeting held Thursday afternoon.
Troopers arrest Capitol shooter
Peter Franklin | Daily Texan Staff
A man peers out of a window as Texas Department of Public Safety officers investigate a shooting that occurred at the south entrance of the Texas Capitol Thursday afternoon.
Gunman charged with deadly conduct after firing shots into air By Bobby Longoria Daily Texan Staff A normal Thursday on the Capitol grounds, complete with tourists snapping photos and families lying on the grass, was cut short moments after noon when a man on the south steps raised a handgun and fired several rounds into the air. Within a minute, Texas
Department of Public Safety troopers apprehended the man, who presented some resistance as he was taken away, said DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange. The man has been identified as Fausto Cardenas, a 24-year-old resident of the Houston area who is now being held at the Travis County Jail on charges of deadly conduct.
“I commend the [DPS] troopers who responded swiftly to a shooter on the south steps of the state Capitol,” said Gov. Rick Perry in a statement Thursday. “Thanks to their efforts, no one was injured, and the shooter was apprehended immediately and taken into custody.” Cardenas was not aim-
ing at any person on the grounds, and he did not fire at troopers, said DPS spokeswoman Aidee Trottier. There is no report of injuries, and as of Thursday afternoon, it had not been released whether the man was using a legally registered weapon. Officials said they
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Campus lab aids energy conservation research Austin ranks high among By Michael Moran Daily Texan Staff The School of Architecture unveiled a new laboratory this week that may help businesses and homes conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Werner Lang, a UT architecture professor and head of UT’s new Thermal Lab, explains the details of the lab’s data-loggers behind him on Thursday.
Peyton McGee Daily Texan Staff
The Thermal Lab is open to both professors and students for learning and experiments. Sitting on a steel support structure protruding from the south face of the West Mall Office Building, the lab is the first of its kind in the nation.
Researchers will use data buildings. One of the aims of refrom 72 sensors to test the abil- searchers working in the lab is ity of various blinds, shutters to develop materials that will aland types of glass to reflect sun- low a building to produce more light and trap cool air. The sen- energy than it consumes. sors, located inside and outside The School of Architecture has the lab, measure the tempera- partnered with the Pecan Street ture and power consumption Project to develop shades, coatof the lab’s cooling and heating ed windows and photovoltaic systems. panels, which convert sunlight The total cost into electrical enof the lab was ergy, to be used about $240,000, on building fathe most expencades. sive part being Werner Lang, The lab was [a] the steel struca UT architecture ture that supprofessor and prototype and had ports the lab, head of the lab, not been done before. proposed the idea which cost about It took longer than I to the UT admin$160,000. The School of Archiistration in 2007 hoped it would.” tecture, in colas part of his aplaboration with — Werner Lang plication to bethe Cockrell a professor. architecture professor come School of EngiHe said the lab neering and priis necessary bevate contractors, cause individuals constructed the studying architeclab, which measures 14 feet by ture need hands-on experience. 16 feet and is 10 feet tall. Despite the lab’s lengthy conAccording to UT’s Center for struction time, Lang says he is Sustainable Development, com- excited that the lab is ready for mercial buildings use up to experiments. 55 percent of the electricity in “The lab was [a] prototype America. Lighting, heating and and had not been done before,” air conditioning appliances consume most of the power in those LAB continues on page 2
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‘most congested’ US cities
By Rachel Burkhart Daily Texan Staff Austin is catching up to Los Angeles when it comes to traffic congestion, according to news Web site The Daily Beast. By comparing travel times during and after rush-hour traffic, the Web site ranked the 75 cities with the worst commutes in the country. Austin placed fourth, while Los Angeles topped the chart.
The Daily Beast relied on information garnered from INRIX, a traffic services company that aggregates information from more than 1.5 million drivers on its network. Of all the major choke points in the Austin metropolitan area, which encompasses Travis, Hays, Bastrop, Caldwell and Williamson counties, northbound Interstate Highway 35, especially
TRAFFIC continues on page 6
Jeff Heimsath | Daily Texan Staff
According to a recent study, Austin has the fourth-worst traffic in the nation.