The Daily Texan 2015-04-14

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LIFE&ARTS PAGE 8

COMICS PAGE 7

SPORTS PAGE 6

Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900

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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

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CITY

Adler gives first State of City address

By Jackie Wang @jcqlnwng

Steve Adler said at his first State of the City address Monday that Austin has snagged number one spots in three lists: best cities for tech industry, best cities for wildlife and the most economically segregated cities.

“Those three ‘number one’ rankings tell the state of the city,” Adler said.

“We have a great economy.

Our values are strong, and

we need to protect them.

And we have inequalities we need to address and fix.”

The City must address economic inequalities at the root of the problem, and people of all income levels must have the same access to employment, education and job training, Adler said.

Valentina Tovar, a senior at Akins High School, spoke about her ideal Austin at the State of the City event. She said all teens

should have the same educational opportunities, regardless of their zip code.

“Every child who lives in Austin deserves a superior education from the day they enter kindergarten to the day they receive their diploma,” Tovar said.

Adler hit his top issues, mobility and affordability, in his hour-long address.

Austin’s traffic problem is growing and needs a regional-wide solution,

include health class, in which sex education was usually taught. When sex education is offered, the state’s guideline is that the curriculum must “present abstinence as the preferred choice of behavior for unmarried persons of school age” and

Following Presidential Student Advisory Council appointments this week, a number of Student Government members have voiced concern about one of the selections.

Student Government president and vice president Xavier Rotnofsky and Rohit Mandalapu appointed Zachary Stone, a Judicial Court justice, to PSAC. The current SG Constitution states that no justice can serve concurrently on the executive and judicial branches.

Stone’s appointment is in question because of confusion regarding whether PSAC is part of the executive branch.

Stone said PSAC is classified under the Office of the University President and is, therefore, not a part of the executive branch.

“I do not think there’s the potential for conflict of interest between PSAC and Judicial Court,” Stone said.

Cameron Crane, SG Rules and Regulations chair, said he and many of his fellow Assembly members believe PSAC falls under the executive branch because PSAC members are appointed by the executive branch itself.

“I don’t see how you could argue he’s not on Exec [branch],” Crane said.

Stone said he believes he was justified in applying to PSAC because the duties of PSAC and Judicial Court do not interfere.

“Precisely because PSAC

SEX ED page 2

PSAC page 3

Michael Baez | Daily Texan Staff

Mayor Steve Adler speaks Monday night as a part of the first State of The City event at the Austin Independent School District Performing Arts Center.

ADLER page 2

Texas sex ed emphasizes abstinence @thedailytexan

When radio-televisionfilm sophomore Holly Cook first came to UT, she had never taken a formal health or sex education course. Cook, who attended Clear Lake High School in

abstinence. Across the board, UT freshmen arrive on campus with wildly varying sex education experiences.

“The breadth and depth of how sex ed is taught is really determined locally, so you can have quite a difference in approach within one county,” Texas Education Agency spokesperson Debbie

Presidential committee appointment under review @sam_kett

Graphic by Virginia Scherer, photos by Daulton Venglar and Carlo Nasisse| Daily Texan Staff

Houston, learned what she knew about sex from her father, who is a biology teacher, and from friends and the Internet.

Cook’s story is not unique.

Many Texas high schools do not offer any sex education whatsoever. Most high schools that do offer sex education focus heavily on

SG

By Samantha Ketterer

CAMPUS

By Eleanor Dearman & Jackie Wang

bit.ly/dtvid

Ratcliffe said. “In one community they may only talk about abstinence, and in the other ones, they may have lengthy discussions about all the different types of contraception. ...It can impact [students] pretty dramatically.”

Five years ago, Texas stopped requiring that high school curriculums

CAMPUS

LEGISLATURE

Powers discusses high student-to-faculty ratio

Students weigh in on DREAM Act bill

By Josh Willis @joshwillis35

UT president William Powers Jr. addressed concerns regarding UT’s unchanged student-faculty ratio at the faculty council meeting Monday.

Powers said using University funds to attract a higher quality faculty should come before putting significant resources toward a rapid expansion of faculty.

“I think it is not [a] good strategy to go and expand when we’re not competitive and not get the faculty we want,” Powers said. “Getting our student-to-faculty ratio better is still a priority,

but it would put the cart before the horse to go out and try to do that before we first try to correct the problem of being more competitive.”

The student-faculty ratio during the 2014-2015 academic year was 1:18.62, according to the UT Office of Institutional Reporting, Research, and Information Systems.

According to a report from UT, beginning in 2001, UT president Larry Faulkner wanted to hire nearly 300 new faculty members to reduce the student-faculty ratio over the course of ten years.

SENATE page 3

By Eleanor Dearman

Students hold up signs in front of the Capitol in support of the original Texas DREAM act which was approved in 2001 and is at risk of removal this session.

@ellydearman

Authors of the original Texas Dream Act, HB 1403, gathered at the Capitol on Monday to advocate for the policy — originally passed in 2001.

The bill, which is at risk of removal this session, gives undocumented students who meet certain requirements, including having lived in-state for at least three years and graduated from a Texas high school, in-state tuition at public higher education institutions. The measure first passed unanimously in 2001 with bipartisan support.

A bill proposed this session

by Sen. Donna Campbell (RNew Braunfels), SB 1819, would repeal the original measure. Last

Carlo Nasisse Daily Texan Staff

week, a Senate subcommittee recommended the bill for passage in the Veteran Affairs & Military Installations Committee after a public hearing that

went well into the night. On Monday, the bill passed out of the Senate committee.

Three of HB 1403’s original authors attended the hearing

to support the policy’s continuance, including the primary author of the bill and former Rep.

DREAM page 3

visit farewellpowers.com to find out more

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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

FRAMES featured photo

SEX ED thedailytexan

Volume 115, Issue 136

CONTACT US Main Telephone (512) 471-4591 Editor-in-Chief Riley Brands (512) 232-2212 editor@dailytexanonline.com Managing Editor Jordan Rudner (512) 232-2217 managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com News Office (512) 232-2207 news@dailytexanonline.com Multimedia Office (512) 471-7835 dailytexanmultimedia@ gmail.com Sports Office (512) 232-2210 sports@dailytexanonline.com

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ADLER

continues from page 1 Adler said.

“We simply cannot pave our way out of congestion,” Adler said. “We have to get more cars off the road.

So we’re going to adopt staggered work hours and telecommuting.”

The increasing problem of housing affordability is also a priority, Adler said.

“We must make housing affordable for families at all income levels and stages of life,” Adler said. “A healthy community supports all income levels, so we have to look beyond the median income level. Neighborhoods with affordable housing are rapidly gentrified, and costs are rising all around the city.”

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successful we are at preserving what makes us special, the more people will come.”

Adler gave his address at the AISD Performing Arts Center to 800 people. Unlike his predecessors, such as former Mayor Lee Leffingwell, who gave their speeches in venues such as hotel ballrooms and City Hall, Adler decided to make the annual speech more of an event.

Slam poet Christopher Michael, who opened the evening, touched on the inherent inequality of Austin in performance.

“Texas I-35 is the spine that bridges the north to the south, brings people, commerce, puts food in our mouth and in Austin; it separates east

Our growth rate is highest in the country by a wide margin. The ironic twists: the more successful we are at preserving what makes us special, the more people will come.

—Steve Adler, Mayor of Austin

from west, UT from HT,” Michael said. “It’s the great gulf between ‘got’ and ‘lack.’ … We be the bat hiding from the light of day pretending we don’t see the problem. Instead of hiding under bridges, let’s build more.”

RECYCLE

your copy of

TOMORROW’S WEATHER

High

In order to meet the existing and growing need for affordable housing, Austin needs to construct 100,000 new houses by 2025 and save another 35,000 units from gentrification, Adler said.

He also voiced concern for Austin’s quickly growing population and the city’s inability to keep up with the growth.

Austin is the 11th largest city in the United States, with 885,000 people living in Austin and an additional two million living in the metropolitan area, Adler said. In 25 years, he added, those numbers will almost double.

“Our growth rate is highest in the country by a wide margin,” Adler said.

“The ironic twist: the more

Low

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continues from page 1 “devote more attention to abstinence than to any other behavior.”

Beyond that, sex education is up to the discretion of each individual district, Ratcliffe said. The result is a state-wide patchwork of sex education levels.

In summer and fall 2014, the University enrolled 6551 first-year students from a combined 908 feeder schools.

Santiago Sanchez, Plan II and biochemistry sophomore, attended Seven Lakes High School in Katy, where a health course was required. Sanchez said the course emphasized abstinence above all else.

“I do not consider my sex education to be have been ‘good’ or useful,” Sanchez said. “How to properly put on and store a condom – the latter was not covered at all, if I remember correctly.

Consent is another critical component of sex education that was, at least, conspicuously absent from my school’s curriculum.”

Michelle Zhang, Plan II and business honors freshman, took sex education as part of an optional health course her sophomore year at Westwood High School in Austin. She said she does not recall learning safe-sex or contraceptive methods.

“I just remember it being really weird for everyone, and I remember, ‘these are different STDs, and here are the symptoms for them,’” Zhang said. “It made me pretty scared about STDs, so they accomplished one thing.”

Although he took an online health class while at Highland Park High School, Thomas Mylott, Plan II and American studies junior, said the majority of what he learned about sexual behavior came from his parents, on the Internet and a middle school program promoting abstinence.

“My parents instilled in me a good sense of being responsible,” Mylott said.

Susan Tortolero, a public health professor at The University of Texas School of Public Health who researches sex education in Texas, said she has found even the best courses are only so effective on students and, ultimately, parents have the most influence on sex education.

The type of sex education taught is not as important as the effectiveness of the curriculum.

“It really only matters if the curriculum is effective in making behavior changes,” Tortolero said. “There have been some abstinence-only programs that have been shown to be effective in changing behavior.”

Last month, the Texas House approved a budget amendment that would move $3 million from the state HIV and STD Awareness fund to further fund abstinence education.

The amendment will not take effect unless it is included in the final state budget jointly determined by the Senate and the House.

UT does not require that students take health classes — or any classes — that address sexual education. The extent to which sexual issues are covered for all incoming students is at freshman orientation, when orientation advisers act in a play called “Get Sexy, Get Consent.”

Still, Zhang said, she feels she figured out what she needed to know eventually.

“I feel like most of the dialogue surrounding sex doesn’t come from class — it comes from the people around you and living life,” Zhang said. “Honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with who you hang out with — and with the personal experiences everyone has.”

ge 1

W&N 3

NEWS

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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

CITY

People rally against anti-LGBT legislation

By Eleanor Dearman @ellydearman

With signs reading “Don’t Indiana My Texas” in hand, more than 100 people rallied outside the Capitol for Freedom Advocacy Day to lobby against certain anti-LGBT measures proposed this legislative session.

This session, bills have been filed in the House and Senate that, if passed, opponents say would limit rights for the samesex community.

English and biology junior Laura Tanter and Middle Eastern studies senior Julian Munoz Villarreal, representing UT’s chapter of the Texas Freedom Network and advocating against such legislation, were among the crowd at the Capitol.

“As a queer person myself, these issues are really personal for me,” Munoz Villarreal said.

“They impact me personally.

They impact people I know personally and in a lot of ways.

I’m really just passionate about trying to create a more equal world for my friends around

PSAC

continues from page 1 is not a part of Student Government but is a part of the Office of the University President, Judicial Court will never review an action by PSAC,” Stone said. “We don’t have that ability.”

Mandalapu said he and Rotnofsky do not think PSAC falls under the executive branch.

“Working under the fact that PSAC isn’t under the Executive Branch, we think [Stone] is fine,” Mandalapu said. “That being said, we do understand that it’s a linguistics thing.”

Crane said he thinks Stone’s appointment prevented other students who are not currently in

me for future generations.”

Tanter said policies she and other rally attendees plan to oppose include limitations on bathroom usage for transgender students, the alteration of Texas’ religious freedom restoration act and restrictions on the freedom to marry.

Texas currently has a religious freedom act, but Tanter said certain legislators would like to add measures that could prevent service to individuals, including the LGBT community, based on religious grounds.

“They are trying to amend it so that individuals and businesses can discriminate against whoever they want to if they can claim it’s a religious burden against them,” Tanter said.

Two legislators spoke at the rally to support attendees.

Rep. Mary Gonzalez (D-Clint) said human stories would help prevent anti-LGBT laws from passing.

“When we humanize policy, we create good policy,” Gonzalez said. “When we disconnect it from people’s lives, we negatively SG from being in PSAC and having their voices represented.

“It makes us look bad,” Crane said. “We should pick as many people as we can who aren’t already in Student Government.”

Crane said he is drafting a bill in his committee that would officially codify all appointments in the SG Constitution, as he said many external appointments are not officially in the rules, even if the positions are considered to be a part of SG. The Judicial Court also met for deliberation Monday to draft an advisory opinion on whether Stone can concurrently serve on PSAC and Judicial Court. The court has not issued the opinion at press time.

Carlo Nasisse | Daily Texan Staff

Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) speaks outside the Capitol against certain anti-LGBT measures proposed this legislative session.

impact people’s lives. … I know sometimes they are extremely personal, but today is a day to be brave, to share, to not let people not recognize the negative consequences of these laws.”

Rep. Ron Reynolds

(D-Missouri City) compared the civil rights movement to current efforts to remove discrimination based on sexual orientation, saying it would take hard work to gain equality.

“When I see that, in 2015,

right here in Texas, we are still discriminating, not based on race or color — we’re discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and that, ladies and gentleman, is dead wrong,” Reynolds said.

SENTATE

of UT community members made the recommendation to Powers.

“We are already committed to hiring 125 more to complete our 300 faculty expansion,” Powers said in his speech. “Beyond that, we need an additional 145 new faculty to attain the Commission’s goal.”

However, Powers said once the recession struck in 2008, and the budget was restricted, the initiative’s progress came to a halt.

“In 2008-2009, we had a budget crunch, and, at that point, I think it was well understood, certainly well stated, that we certainly did not have the financial wherewithal to continue adding 30 faculty members net, year after year,” Powers said.

Power said the

University began to focus on increasing salaries for faculty and graduate students during the same time frame to attract higher quality applicants for both positions.

Associate history professor Alberto Martínez questioned the initiative at the faculty council meeting in March. He said there is still work to be done in comparison to other universities.

“I worry that the overall, average faculty salaries can be raised just by hiring a few new professors at very high pay scales,” Martin said. “Instead, I know that we can hire similarly excellent faculty at more moderate salaries, thus being able to hire more faculty in order to improve our ratios as well.”

continues from page 1 Powers said the initiative was strong for the first few years and explained why it had not met its goals of decreasing the ratio of students to faculty.

“We introduced a program over a decade adding 300 net new tenure, tenuretrack faculty members, and each year for the three or four years at that rate, we added 30 new faculty members,” Powers said.

In his 2006 address to the University, Powers went beyond Faulkner’s plan. He said the initiative should be taken even further, calling for an additional 145 faculty members to establish a student-faculty ratio of 1:16. A commission made

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continues from page 1 Rick Noriega (D-Houston).

At the rally, Noriega said it is unfortunate that lawmakers are working to repeal the bill, and people should be reminded why the Texas DREAM Act was enacted 14 years ago.

“We are standing here to … remind ourselves and educate folks on why we did this in the first place: because it was good public policy, because it was good for the state of Texas, because it was the morally right thing to do,” Noriega said.

Former State Representative Carl Isett (R-Lubbock), a co-author of HB 1403, said in-state tuition for undocumented students should be a policy based on principle rather than partisanship.

“It was then keeping with my idea that we should be a community or a state that gives opportunities to people to be successful,” Isett said.

Some of the students who testified at last week’s hearing attended the rally Monday.

Lizeth Urdiales, ethnic studies junior, spoke at the rally about her experiences growing up in Texas as an undocumented student and the opportunities HB 1403 granted her.

“I didn’t know HB 1403 existed until I was in the tenth grade, and that was amazing for me because I finally knew I had an opportunity to go to college — that the straight A’s I had in high school weren’t for nothing,” Urdiales said. “It led me to go to The University of Texas on a full ride scholarship.”

Cynthia Ramirez, finance and health promotion senior, said she wants legislators to know that she thinks keeping in-state tuition for undocumented students will benefit the state.

“I think we’ve really heard today that the common sense, logical thing to do that’s really best for the economy and is best for Texas families and our society in general is to keep HB 1403 the way it is,” Ramirez said.

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4 OPINION

4

RILEY BRANDS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | @TexanEditorial Tuesday, April 14, 2015

COLUMN

COLUMN

Student Government should Support for BDS is support oppose boycott legislation for justice and open dialogue

By Walker Fountain Guest Columnist

Editor’s Note: The Texan received this piece around the same time as Mukund Rathi’s piece (opposite). They are not intended to be read as a point/counterpoint.

At the University of Texas, we pride ourselves on our commitment to fostering cutting edge research, high quality education and open dialogue and discussion. Over the past few weeks, a movement known as BDS, or Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, has begun on campus and stands counter to these ideals.

The movement, taking the form of a piece of legislation written by members of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, will be introduced at the second Student Government assembly meeting on Tuesday. The aims of this campaign are ostensibly to encourage the University of Texas Investment Management Company to divest from certain companies that do business in the State of Israel. However, the true motives behind this movement are less than clear.

Several key BDS activists, including one of its founders, have used BDS as a tool to advocate for the delegitimization and the demolition of the Jewish State, Israel.

Even assuming best intentions on the part of the organizers at UT, it is clear that the proposed legislation is problematic and our campus community would be well served by a careful discussion of the dangers posed by this divisive campaign.

A group of students at the University, myself included, have launched a campaign called Unify Texas. Our goal is to show the student body and UT community that one does not have to be proIsrael to oppose BDS legislation, which would divide the student body and alienate certain groups on campus.

Unify Texas has made clear that it is open and willing to facilitate discussion with anyone — be they pro-Israel, antiIsrael, indifferent or anywhere in between. However, Unify Texas is attempting to draw a distinction between the positive dialogue that is possible between people who share opposing ideologies and the negative, one-sided divestment resolution proposed before Student Government, which we view as extreme.

UT Divest’s claim that this legislation will be helpful to Palestinians is mislead-

ing. In fact, BDS damages the Palestinian economy and negatively affects the tens of thousands of Palestinians who are employed by companies in Israel and the West Bank, compounding the struggle for each side to achieve the mutual goal of peace. This is crucial to understanding this ultimately flawed legislation.

Unify Texas will remain sincere in our effort to unite our campus community.

We will not label BDS proponents at UT or attempt to supply their motives. We reject the notion that they attempt to incite anti-Semitism. However, as students at the University, we are obligated to examine the potential effects of the legislation and observe how similar campaigns have negatively affected other campuses.

The passage of BDS would be extremely damaging to campus atmosphere. If our Student Government votes to endorse a one-sided view predicated on delegitimizing and demonizing the State of Israel, it will alienate and isolate many students whose opinions differ. It would not be acceptable for our Student Government to declare to a large group of students on this campus that their passionately held views are irrelevant or misguided.

Students who feel differently than the sponsors of the resolution would feel antagonized and isolated by our student government, because of deep familial and emotional ties to the issue at hand.

Student Government is not the correct vehicle for UT Divest because of these undeniable facts. The complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict merits a much more nuanced and inclusive approach, one that accounts for the sensitivities of all sides.

We strongly encourage Student Government to take a stand for unity on our campus by opposing BDS legislation.

Representatives should make an unequivocal statement to their constituents that advocating for one side in a debate need not bring down the others. Decisions concerning political and business relationships with Israel should be made on Capitol Hill and in corporate boardrooms, not in the Student Activity Center. We strongly encourage a dialogue on campus regarding the issue, yet abide in our conviction that passage of BDS legislation would do a great disservice to our University and our campus community.

Fountain is a government junior from Pelham, New York.

Several key BDS activists, including one of its founders, have used BDS as a tool to advocate for the delegitimization and the demolition of the Jewish State of Israel. Even assuming best intentions on the part of the organizers at UT, it is clear that the proposed legislation is problematic and our campus community would be well served by a careful discussion of the dangers posed by this divisive campaign.

By Mukund Rathi Guest Columnist

Editor’s Note: The Texan received this piece around the same time as Walker Fountain’s piece (opposite). They are not intended to be read as a point/counterpoint.

In February, Harvard University’s Hillel center for Jewish students co-sponsored a civil rights panel on “Selma to Ferguson,” which included Jewish civil rights veteran Dorothy Zellner. Zellner is also an unapologetic supporter of the Palestinian people and their call for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This caused confusion, however, because Hillel International (which I’ll call “International”) disallows engagement with individuals or entities that support BDS or “demonize” Israel.

International typically requires its chapters to react far more sharply to undogmatic speakers. In January of 2014, the Hillel chapter at UC Santa Barbara rescinded its invitation for Jewish author David Harris-Gershon to speak on his book about reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Harris-Gershon committed the sin of backing the BDS movement (though he still supports the twostate solution), so Hillel decided his presence would lead to a “hurtful distraction.”

Shortly after the Harvard panel, Zellner and other civil rights veterans were barred from speaking at Hillel chapters at UMass Amherst and MIT. Just last month, the Hillel chapter at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania decided to host Zellner and others on a panel and was threatened with legal action

by International.

International stated that the panel would be acceptable so long as the discussion was restricted to American civil rights and did not take up BDS and the occupation of Palestine. At Harvard, Zellner explained the problem with this perspective: Her support for BDS is simply a continuation of “the work that I learned from black people” in the civil rights movement. International’s standards thus cause a serious contradiction for civil rights activists and their underlying principle of justice.

The Swarthmore Hillel realized this contradiction in December of 2013 and made a choice to err on the side of justice, passing a resolution to “become an Open Hillel.” They charged International with trying to present a “monolithic face” that does not represent American Jewish diversity, falsely equating Israel with Judaism and generally obstructing open discussion with its restrictive standards.

The legal threats by International have culminated in Swarthmore Hillel’s effective expulsion from the organization. Open Hillel has since become a larger movement of Jewish students who believe that dialogue with Palestinians and anti-Zionist Jews are important and should not be subject to International’s authority.

Justice-minded students at UT Austin now have a similar choice to make. The Palestine Solidarity Committee has formed the UTDivest coalition, which calls on UT to end its multimillion dollar investments in corporations that facilitate the Israeli occupation

of Palestine.

They hope to pass such a resolution in Student Government and demonstrate student support through a petition. Of course, International is against such activism and so the Texas Hillel chapter is campaigning against UTDivest for its similarity to the BDS movement. They have formed a “Unify Texas” campaign that, on its Facebook page, calls for “open dialogue” and “peace and justice.” They do not provide any alternatives to BDS. They do not mention Texas Hillel and did not answer repeated requests from me to publicly or privately clarify their relationship.

That relationship is incredibly important for understanding Unify Texas, as outlined in an anti-BDS email that Texas Hillel circulated. Even while acknowledging that some of its members “struggle with some of Israel’s policies,” Hillel advocates International’s standards of restriction and states that its members “must speak with one voice,” particularly a pro-Israel and anti-BDS voice.

The unity and open dialogue that Unify Texas is calling for is a sham, as it rests on a core of restrictive standards and official dogma.

Moreover, as UTDivest supporter and SG representative Mohammed Nabulsi explained to the Texan, the first prerequisite of open dialogue is justice. Nabulsi explained that “BDS is a step toward leveling the negotiating playing field so that the Israeli government is forced to take Palestinian demands seriously.”

PSC has consistently followed this standard of open and just debate, having recently hosted public demonstrations and events to discuss Palestine and BDS when their criticisms of Texas Hillel were ignored or deleted. They will host yet another public forum Wednesday to discuss UTDivest and BDS with the UT community before their SG resolution is voted on next week.

Students who actually care about justice should stand with movements like Open Hillel, UTDivest and BDS. This is not simply a “foreign policy squabble”, as the Texan editorial board wrongly framed it.

Those who stand against justice on the basis of “open dialogue” are not only paradoxical, but also on the wrong side of history. We should all reread Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous letter from a Birmingham jail in which he rejects the deception of white liberal calls for patience and unity, because freedom “must be demanded by the oppressed.” Do not forget that King himself was a striking point of disunity, having been overwhelmingly hated by white America and sabotaged by the federal government for his radical allegiance to justice.

We should honestly consider the statements on Palestine by South African antiapartheid leaders such as Nelson Mandela, who stated that “we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Do not forget that Mandela was considered to be a terrorist by the United States for decades. Justice is justice even if it goes against the will of power, and all peoples deserve it, including the Palestinians.

Rathi is a computer science honors junior from Austin.

COLUMN

One-size-fits-all rankings do not reflect UT’s true value

By Jordan Shenhar Senior Columnist @jshenhar

A ranking is only as useful as its underlying methodology. If it relies on an algorithm that reasonably weighs empirically measured variables against one another, it might have some value. But if its components fail to reach that standard, it’s about as useful as a BuzzFeed quiz.

So as encouraging as it is to hear fiscally conservative Gov. Greg Abbott promote high-quality public education, I’m concerned by his severely flawed approach to reforming Texas universities.

Abbott routinely emphasizes his goal of pushing five schools in Texas into the top 10 of U.S. News and World Report’s annual ranking of public universities. But the U.S. News formula’s reliance on subjective data makes it statistically useless, and its emphasis on alumni donations and retention rate leaves it inherently biased against schools as economically diverse as Texas’.

In other words, there’s no way to achieve Abbott’s goal without forcing most of the state’s public universities to deviate from their educational missions.

According to the U.S. News website, 22.5

percent of a school’s ranking is tied to how well it fares in a survey of high school guidance counselors and college administrators. The rationale, the magazine claims, is that the counselors can accurately measure a college’s notability, while administrators can rate “intangible” characteristics like “faculty dedication to teaching.”

But guidance counselors at public high schools, if they’re doing their jobs right, tend to concern themselves with helping stressed and indecisive teenagers navigate the process of finding and applying to suitable colleges. They aren’t equipped to evaluate the quantity or quality of a university’s research output, nor are they experts on how well a school’s donor base reflects overall alumni satisfaction.

In the same vein, effective school administrators are probably more worried about making sure their own campuses run smoothly than about whether they’re fairly evaluating another school’s “faculty dedication to teaching.” Indeed, I’d be somewhat concerned if David Laude, a chemistry professor and UT’s senior vice provost for enrollment and graduation management, could accurately measure whether Texas Tech’s sociology professors infuse their lectures with a sufficient amount of gusto.

LEGALESE | Opinions expressed in The Daily Texan are those of the editor, the Editorial Board or the writer of the article. They are not necessarily those of the UT administration, the Board of Regents or the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.

In essence, then, U.S. News is banking almost a quarter of its rating system on the expert testimony of non-experts. And while I’m sure that some counselors and administrators are knowledgeable enough to turn in accurate evaluations, the rest probably base their opinions on the information most readily available to them online, which includes rankings like those published in U.S. News. That creates a feedback loop in which a school’s ranking largely depends on how highly it has been ranked in the past.

Another 22.5 percent of the ranking comes from a combination of a school’s sixyear graduation rate and its freshman retention rate. That’s bad news for schools as socioeconomically diverse as UT. Accepting a large number of students from underperforming high schools inevitably leads to higher dropout rates and lower graduation rates when those unequipped for the rigors of college life either quit school or stick around long enough to retake courses they’ve failed.

To remedy that problem, UT has become something of an education policy laboratory, implementing all sorts of innovative strategies to support flailing students from underprivileged backgrounds.

SUBMIT A FIRING LINE | E-mail your Firing Lines to editor@dailytexanonline.com. Letters must be more than 100 and fewer than 300 words. The Texan reserves the right to edit all submissions for brevity, clarity and liability.

But U.S. News doesn’t recognize those efforts. As far as its ranking is concerned, UT would become a better school if it just didn’t accept those students in the first place. So if Abbott is serious about fulfilling his promise, he could start by abolishing the top 7 percent rule, thereby preventing bright students in underserved areas from accessing the state’s premier public universities.

Other factors in the ranking, from the percentage of donating alumni to studentto-faculty ratios to professor salaries, favor small schools over big schools; rich schools over poor schools; and, most damningly for UT, homogeneous schools over diverse schools. The only feasible path toward pushing Texas universities up the ladder involves radically changing the makeup of their respective student bodies.

In that regard, playing the rankings game isn’t beneficial to public universities of UT’s size. Texas taxpayers subsidize universities so that they can affordably and effectively educate the state’s future leaders.

It’s unclear how tailoring those universities to suit an arbitrary list from an arbitrarily chosen magazine furthers that goal.

Shenhar is a Plan II, government and economics sophomore from Westport, Connecticut.

He writes about education and campus issues.

RECYCLE | Please recycle this copy of The Daily Texan.

Place the paper in one of the recycling bins on campus or back in the burnt-orange newsstand where you found it.

EDITORIAL TWITTER | Follow The Daily Texan Editorial Board on Twitter (@TexanEditorial) and receive updates on our latest editorials and columns.

CLASS 5

LIFE&ARTS

5

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

COMFORTER

WEST CAMPUS BLOCK PARTY 2015

TIDAL

laid-back attitude seeps into their branding. Curtis designs the band’s minimalist album covers and logo — a baby pink Jesus sandal over psychedelic wicker. Upstairs in Kismet, Curtis wore a pink button-up with a flamingo on the pocket, and Thompson had on a T-shirt from the 1996 Olympics.

They described their sound as “safe-sex fraternity surf.”

“Safe sex is key to that, though,” Thompson said.

“It’s very safe sex.”

The band is not always a hit with the critics. Gerard Cosloy, co-owner of indielabel Matador Records, caught one of Comforter’s shows last year and posted a negative review online.

“He dissed us hard, dude,” Thompson said.

“He’s like a 45-year-old dude and he said, ‘They’re so pedestrian you can’t wait to run them over.’”

Laughing, Curtis and Thompson said they have since proudly used the adjective pedestrian to describe Comforter.

Although the band members are excited about their success in the Austin music scene, Curtis said they

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conference have equal share of the company. Many critics boiled this down to rich artists asking for more money.

Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford recently spoke out against Tidal, saying the service shouldn’t make ownership exclusive to big-name musicians.

“I think smaller bands should get paid more for it, too.” Mumford said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “Bigger bands have other ways of making money, so I don’t think you can complain. A band of our size shouldn’t be complaining. And when they say it’s

continues from page 8

ultimately want to perform for a larger audience.

“I think we need to go on tour and step it up,” Curtis said. “We’re realistic about it. Not to say I’m not stoked about the progress we’ve made, but there is a long way to go.”

Comforter is part of local indie-music collective Merderhaus Records, which includes bands such as Loafer and Hola Beach. The duo said the supportive community of young, talented musicians challenges Comforter to work harder.

Comforter’s upcoming tour may have a hectic schedule with nine shows in different cities every night, but Curtis said the band is just looking forward to opportunities to relax on the road.

“We’re gonna get a hotel room, hopefully one with a hot tub, and just sit in the hot tub,” Curtis said.

continues from page 8

ROOM

continues from page 8 decade later, fans still attend several nationwide midnight screenings where they dress up as the characters, reenact scenes and openly mock the film.

Communication sciences and disorders sophomore Taylor Boswell first saw “The Room” during her freshman year. She said she is excited to attend the screening and relive the insanity.

Illustration by Topazia Hunter | Daily Texan Staff

artist-owned, it’s owned by those rich, wealthy artists.”

Some artists are unconvinced that controlling streaming is the root of the problem. A recent study by record label trade group SNEP revealed that major labels walk away with almost 50 percent of revenue

made from Spotify, while artists get 7 percent. Artists enter these contracts with the promise of having their music played worldwide, but Powell said artists are the ones who lose in the end.

“The myth is that streaming will help get your music worldwide,” Powell said.

“The likelihood of that is very low for many musicians. There just isn’t a mechanism in place for them to find any prosperity.

If you were hungry or starving, you would eat anything; you’d do whatever it took to stay alive, and that’s what musicians have to do now.”

“You don’t think a movie can be done that badly but still be good at the same time,” Boswell said. “It’s just interesting that [Wiseau] created this horrible movie that he, to this day, thinks is a piece of cinematic gold.”

A majority of the interest surrounding the film centers on Wiseau and his flamboyant personality. He is famous for his broken English — although he claims he grew up in Louisiana — and his odd mannerisms, such as his

affinity for always wearing sunglasses, even at night.

When Kistner contacted the film’s official email asking for permission to screen the film in Austin, he never expected the director himself to respond.

“He gave us [the film rights for the screening] for free for Christmas,” Kistner said. “He kept calling me ‘Marhal.’ He also sent us a package of his official underwear line and wanted us to show them off at the first screening.”

Despite its status as cult hit, a large, growing fanbase will surely immortalize the film as a memorable look at how filmmaking can go wrong. Boswell said the film will continue to get recognition for years to come, similar to cult hit “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” today.

“I think it can still be viewed by generations to come,” said Boswell. “I think everyone should see ‘The Room’ at least once in a lifetime.”

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GARRETT CALLAHAN, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansports Tuesday, April 14, 2015

BASEBALL

Texas searches for wins as losses pile up

SIDELINE MLB ANGELS

By Nick Castillo @Nick_Castillo74

When Texas dropped its third-consecutive threegame series Sunday, associate head coach Skip Johnson decided to deliver a “sermon” after the game.

After a 3–2 loss to Oklahoma, in which the Longhorns had 11 hits but only scored twice, Johnson’s message was simple.

“You got to do better,” said Johnson.

“You got to convert and take quality at-bats in timely situations,” head coach Augie Garrido said. “That’s really the problem. Last series at Oklahoma State, they had 17 RBIs, and we had five. It’s about RBIs.” Texas has struggled lately to bring runs home. In Friday’s game against the Sooners, the Longhorns had the bases loaded in the first inning but only scored one run. Texas had the bases loaded Sunday, but, again, it brought just one run home.

“We hit balls hard, but they just didn’t fall for us,” freshman catcher Michael Cantu, who had four hits and four walks against Oklahoma, said.

“We squared some balls up with runners in scoring position; they just didn’t fall.

It’s frustrating.”

While the players were frustrated with the lack of

RANGERS

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NBA TRAILBLAZERS Lauren Ussery | Daily Texan Staff

Freshman catcher Michael Cantu has been a bright spot during Texas’ struggles. Cantu had four hits and walked four times this weekend against Oklahoma.

clutch hitting, Garrido was upset about the many losses the team has accumulated.

The Longhorns have lost nine of their last 11 games — five of the last six conference games — and they have fallen from first to fifth place in the Big 12. “[This weekend] was more frustrating because the losses are piling up,” Garrido said.

“If you look at it, you know that’s what it’s about. … It’s just the number of losses that

are frustrating.”

Although the losses have been frustrating, Cantu said the team needs to keep grinding and focusing on one game at a time.

“We just need to stay focused and composed,” Cantu said. “Baseball is a frustrating game, and it’s just how you react to it and keep rolling.”

Texas (19–17, 6–6 Big 12) will look to have a positive reaction to Johnson’s

BIG 12 NOTEBOOK

postgame comments when it takes on Sam Houston State (19–19) Tuesday night at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

The Bearkats enter the game on a five-game winning streak, including a three-game sweep of Incarnate Word, a team the Longhorns defeated, 7–1, on March 10.

With Sam Houston State in town, Texas will try to get back on track. With a little over a month of baseball

remaining, Garrido said the team is in danger of failing and missing out on its goal of a return trip to the College World Series.

“We still have a mission to follow,” Garrido said. “If we win the conference and don’t go to the regionals or lose in the first round of the regionals, this season was a disaster. … If we don’t go to the super regionals [or] if we don’t go to the College World Series, we have lost.”

ROWING

Rowing gives walk-on unexpected experience

By James Rodriguez @jamie_rod

Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan file photo

Oklahoma junior catcher Anthony Hermelyn was named the Big 12 Player of the Week after hitting .529 last week in four games.

Oklahoma catcher earns conference weekly award

By Nick Castillo @Nick_Castillo74

Oklahoma’s junior catcher Anthony Hermelyn was named Big 12 Player of the Week, and Texas Tech’s senior pitcher Cameron Smith earned Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors.

Kansas’ freshman third baseman Matt McLaughlin and Texas Tech’s junior pitcher Blake Smith were named co-Big 12 Newcomer of the Week award.

This week’s awards were the first for Hermelyn, McLaughlin and Smith.

This is Smith’s second Big 12 pitcher of the week award this season.

Losses create Big 12 chaos Upsets this weekend set two top teams in the Big 12 back.

No. 8 TCU, the conference’s second-ranked team going into the weekend, lost two games against Kansas State. The Wildcats piled on 14 runs on 18 hits Friday in a 14–4 win over the Horned Frogs. TCU evened the series Saturday with a 9–0 win. However, Kan-

sas State prevailed 6–2 Sunday, and the series loss dropped the Horned Frogs into a third place tie with Texas Tech in the conference.

Kansas (15–21, 3–6 Big 12) upset No. 15 Oklahoma State, dropping the Cowboys from sole possession of first place to a first-place tie with Oklahoma. The Jayhawks lost Friday’s opening game, 2–7, but rallied to win Saturday’s game, 3–2, and clinched the series, 4–2, Sunday.

Five Big 12 players named to Golden Spikes Award Midseason List The list, which is composed of 60 NCAA Division I baseball players, features three TCU pitchers — junior Riley Ferrell and seniors Preston Morrison and redshirt sophomore Mitchell Traver – Oklahoma State’s senior pitcher Michael Freeman and Texas’ senior left-fielder Ben Johnson.

The award honors the country’s best amateur player. The list will be cut to 30 players and semifinalists’ names will

be announced on May 22. The winner will be named on June 23.

Big 12 teams remain ranked TCU is ranked in the top 10 in four of the national polls, despite losing two games this weekend. The Horned Frogs are ranked as high as No. 6 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

Oklahoma State is also ranked in four of the major polls, ranked as high as No. 10 in the Collegiate Baseball. The Big 12 has one other team ranked, with Texas Tech at No. 25 in Baseball America’s poll.

Oklahoma received votes in two polls.

West Virginia opens new stadium West Virginia opened a new baseball stadium this weekend: Monongalia County Ballpark.

The Mountaineers christened their new stadium with a 6–5 walk-off win against Butler in front of a record crowd of 3,110.

West Virginia went on to sweep the Bulldogs with an 8–0 win on Saturday and a 12–4 win

From an early age, Latin American studies freshman Rachel Fleming knew she would be attend The University of Texas. The daughter of two Texas graduates, she applied to only one school her senior year, having already decided upon a burnt orange future.

Fleming planned to study in UT’s top-notch Latin American studies program.

However, there was one part of her college experience she never anticipated — becoming a Division I athlete.

Rowing, unlike most collegiate sports, often fields walk-ons at the Division I level. Every fall, members of the rowing team scour campus looking for potential rowers to recruit to the team.

While walk-ons often play integral roles in the top boats of many schools, making the varsity teams is difficult. Out of an initial pool of 60 walk-ons, Fleming is the only freshman walk-on currently rowing in one of the top-two boats.

“Rowing is very hard, and there’s a lot of expectations that go with it, but we’re also given a lot,” Fleming said. “And those to whom much is given, much is required. I knew that D-I athletes worked hard, and I knew that it was hard to do it, but getting to be a part of it has been so cool, and I feel blessed.”

After walking onto the rowing team in the fall, Fleming quickly rose through the ranks to earn a spot on the second varsity eight boat. But, initially, she had no interest in joining the team.

“I was walking through the West Mall, and one of the current teammates handed me a flyer and was like, ‘Come to our informational meeting about rowing,’ and I didn’t know anything about rowing so I told

her, ‘No thanks, I don’t row,’ and I handed her back the flyer,” Fleming said. “But she insisted that I come, so I did.”

“Plain and simply, rowing is a physical sport with a skill element,” head coach Dave O’Neill said. “But rowing is a sport where, if you just want to work hard, and you can endure pain, and you can keep just grinding it out, we can teach you the skill. If they can just have the right physical makeup and learn the skill, they can take off.”

After learning the basics of rowing and focusing on fitness in the fall, Fleming spent the winter break training intensively in the hopes of making one of the top boats.

“When we left for winter break, coach Mara [Allen] and coach Danielle [Bartz] told us that there would be one walk-on that came back and was really, really strong and fit and would kill it, and I hoped to be that person,” Fleming said.

Fleming’s performance after the break earned her the opportunity to row in the second varsity eight boat at the San Diego Crew Classic. Her boat won first place at the regatta and was named the Big 12 Conference Boat of the Week.

“It was really cool for me, being new, but it was even cooler for me to watch how excited my teammates were because I knew they’ve been working for this for a long time,” Fleming said.

“Watching just how happy they were when we crossed the finish line was unlike anything else.”

Fleming said the experience, while challenging, has been worth the sacrifices.

“The first time I got a Texas rowing t-shirt, I can’t even describe the feeling,” Fleming said. “It was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m actually doing this rowing thing because it’s something that I never would’ve thought I’d be doing.’”

THUNDER

PELICANS

TIMBERWOLVES

TODAY’S EVENTS Baseball Texas vs. Sam Houston State UFCU DischFalk Field 6 p.m.

TV: Longhorn Network Radio: AM 1300 The Zone

TOP TWEET Quadre Diggs @qdiggs6

Crazy how many people get your number when the draft rolls around..

Seen it with my brother now seeing it for myself.

TODAY IN HISTORY

1968

The New York Knicks defeat the San Diego Clippers at Madison Square Garden in the first NBA game.

SPORTS BRIEFLY Volleyball sweeps at F.A.S.T. Tournament

Texas Volleyball continued its spring season on Saturday at the F.A.S.T. Tournament in Houston.

The Longhorns won all three games they played at the tournament. Texas beat Texas State, 2–1, University of Louisiana, 2–0, and Rice, 2–1.

Texas continues its spring season at the Collegiate Showcase in Dallas, Texas on April 18.

—Nick Castillo

COMICS 7

COMICS

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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

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KAT SAMPSON, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan Tuesday, April 14, 2015

8

CITY

Comforter does not want to get too comfy

By Mary Cantrell & Emily Gibson @thedailytexan

Tucked away in Kismet Cafe’s loft, The Daily Texan talked to local band Comforter about hot tubs, average middle-agers and the process of releasing their first full-length album.

Ryan Curtis, BJ Thomas, Russell Cole and accounting junior Hunter Thompson created Comforter after connecting on Craigslist.

The offbeat, surf-pop fourpiece has since released a live recording of their set on KVRX Local Live and an EP titled Extra Pure.

Although the band has not yet named its freshman album, which will come out in June, Thompson said the album shows how Comforter has matured since the band first formed in February 2014. Thompson said the band members’ live performances and latest two song release, “What You Run” and “Angela,” are more indicative of their musical direction.

“Our first stuff is pretty disjointed because we didn’t know each other at all,” Thompson said. “Then we started playing more, and it kind of fell into something.”

The band members are playing at the West Campus Block Party on April 25 before they leave for a 10-day tour, which will take them to cities such as Nashville, Tennessee,

Marshall Tidrick | Daily Texan Staff

Ryan Curtis, left, and accounting junior Hunter Thompson are two members of Austin-based band Comforters. The band is preparing to embark on a 10-day tour and launch its first full-length album.

Lafayette, Louisiana, and Dallas. Curtis said touring will be an opportunity to spread the band’s sound and face new audiences.

“We don’t want to get too comfortable playing with the same people over and over

again,” Curtis said. “Austin’s cool, but every city is so different. [Touring] is just something you have to do.”

In Austin, the band members appeal to audiences with their quirky onstage antics and minimalist aesthetics.

Geography sophomore Kouros Maghsoudi first heard Comforter when they played on Local Live in October.

“They have a beachy, chill vibe, but they’re also upbeat, and you can dance to them,” Maghsoudi said.

Maghsoudi said he was intrigued by the band’s slightly strange performance on Local Live. The band paid “average middle-ager” Victor Steele to dance during their set.

“Not only did [Steele] do

it, but he committed, and he loved it,” Thompson said.

“He’s figured it out. He wasn’t outrageous with it, but he was definitely confident.”

The band members’

COMFORTER page 5

MUSIC

Music streaming sites spark revenue discussion

By Cat Cardenas @crcardenas8

Beyoncé, Rihanna and Madonna rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars every month from Spotify, while lesser-known artists are left struggling for commercial success.

Gary Powell, composer, producer and senior lecturer,

said this struggle is not uncommon for most artists.

Since licensing his work to Spotify, Powell has received 50 checks, amassing around a dollar in revenue.

That figure is then split up between labels, producers, songwriters and artists. Powell said streaming services are just the music industry’s latest enemy.

“In the old days, a hundred purchases of a song paid the owner $90, and now it just gets you a penny,” Powell said. “That model is what we [musicians] are up against, and until it changes, it will continue to add to our demise. It only works for the companies.”

In an attempt to give artists more control over their

Illustration by Lindsay Rojas | Daily Texan Staff

Travesty to host ‘The Room’ screening in Union Theater @TalkingofPelham

During the Texas Travesty’s screening of the cult classic movie “The Room,” audience members will chunk plastic spoons at the screen, participate in a costume contest and openly crack jokes.

The satirical news organization will host its second annual screening of the sobad-it’s-good masterpiece “The Room” on Tuesday.

The film follows a romantic triangle between a man named Johnny, his fiancée, Lisa, and his best friend, Mark. Subplots involving many of Johnny’s friends unfold, but several disappear or

$9.99 or $19.99 plan.

The service provides users with songs, artist-made playlists, videos, exclusive content and, for premium subscribers, higher-quality sound.

Unlike Spotify, Tidal will not rely on ad revenue to pay its artists. Without a free tier, the company claims it will pay its artists more in royalties, but, as it recently

revealed, artists are only paid more when premium listeners stream their songs.

While the artists behind Tidal set out to bring value back to music, critics express concern for the future of smaller artists on the streaming service. Currently, the 16 artists who attended the press

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CAMPUS

By Alex Pelham

music, Jay-Z recently purchased the music streaming service Tidal. Jay-Z, along with 15 other big-name acts, such as Kanye West, Coldplay and Alicia Keys, attended a press conference March 30, intending to use Tidal to regain control of their music. The service doesn’t offer a free option, so subscribers must choose between the

go nowhere.

In one scene, Lisa’s mother reveals she has breast cancer, but it is never brought up again. The film is notorious for its terrible acting, inconsistent storyline and cringe-worthy dialogue.

Entertainment Weekly labeled it “the ‘Citizen Kane’ of bad movies.”

Radio-Television-Film senior Marshall Kistner, who organized the screening, said he’s excited to give fans of the bizarre drama an opportunity to get together for a night of hilarity.

“My hope whenever someone goes to a wide screening of this movie is that they have the same experience I

“THE ROOM” SCREENING When: Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Where: Texas Union Theater Admission: Free

had,” Kistner said. “If you go in with an open mind and see the true absurdity and passion that’s put into it, it’s almost weirdly inspiring.”

Shortly after the film’s 2003 release, it developed a cult following. The horrible script and director Tommy Wiseau’s bizarre acting made the movie a comedy gem. More than a

ROOM page 5