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College chooses owl mascot EDDIE
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Research shows exercise boosts cognitive function
THE DAILY TEXAN Friday, September 24, 2010
WEEKEND FRIDAY ‘Laugh for Kids’
A comedy showcase featuring eight local comedians will raise money to help kids in India fight hunger and illiteracy. Baal Dan Charities and Pratham UT will be selling tickets at the Jester center and at the West Mall for tonight’s event at 6:30 p.m. in the Texas Union Theatre.
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TOMORROW’S WEATHER
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UT System leases oil land for $207 million By Collin Eaton Daily Texan Staff The UT System leased a record $207 million in oil- and gasrich West Texas land Wednesday to hundreds of companies and investors as the high expectations for the price of oil and technological improvements led to the topdollar land deals.
More than 190,000 acres were leased at an average of $1,000 an acre. The auction shattered the previous record — $54 million in April. In a few years, the revenue will boost payments from the Permanent University Fund to UT’s endowment, providing extra money for enhanced academic programs, research competitiveness and re-
cruiting and retaining top faculty and grad students. The PUF funds UT System and Texas A&M System institutions with low-percentage payouts, which do not rise immediately when revenues or investment values increase. Jerry Patterson, chairman of the PUF’s Board for Lease of University Lands, said new technologies
that increased oil well production, as well as expectations that the price of oil will remain high, spurred the high bids for the University-owned land. “Things are just technologically more advanced than when they put Santa Rita No. 1 over there on campus,” Patterson said. According to a statement from
Group raises funds for flood victims
Celebrate the opening of the Visual Arts Center on campus with a dinner, live music, art exhibits and performances. The party is in the art building from 9-11 p.m. and is $30 for admission or free with a UT ID.
SATURDAY Parkour Jam
Hang out with Texas Parkour at Waterloo Park at their last summer event as they celebrate and raise awareness of the philosophy of parkour. Food will be provided by Young Palettes and the free event is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Pecan Street Festival
SUNDAY ‘Dexter’ Season 5 Watch Party Join other fans to watch the season 5 premiere of “Dexter.” The free watch party is downtown at Jo’s Coffeehouse on West Second Street starting at 8 p.m.
Flyleaf and Story of the Year
Alternative rock bands Flyleaf and Story of the Year take a stop in town and take the stage at Stubb’s BBQ. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets start at $15.
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Quote to note “I think sometimes people think motorcycle riders are mean. Some of those big, burly guys you see though are some of the nicest, bighearted guys I have ever met.” — Diane Collman Austin Motorcycle Riders Group LIFE&ARTS PAGE 10
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Grand Opening Celebration
The annual, weekend-long event features live music, performances, food, magicians, vendors and more. The free festival attracts about 300,000 people to Sixth Street from Brazos Street to Interstate 35. Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Thomas Allison | Daily Texan Staff
Senior Elizabeth Bolton gives a Henna tattoo as members of the Fighting the Flood organization rap in the background on the West Mall to raise awareness for their Pakistan flood relief fund. By Allison Kroll Daily Texan Staff Hafeez Jamali’s family in Chowki Jamali, Pakistan, evacuated their village in August just before it was flooded by monsoon rains. But about 4,700 small villages like his were left stranded in the flood waters.
“All of the houses in these villages were destroyed,” said Jamali, an anthropology graduate student. “The crops and wildlife were also destroyed, which is what small farming villages rely on. Many are living as refugees, because aid is very slow in reaching to the area.”
Rapping, poetry and inspired chanting of “Share the love, fight the flood” could be heard throughout the West Mall on Thursday afternoon, as members of the UT organization Fighting the Flood attempted to raise awareness and collect donations for the disaster in Pakistan.
Students who donated were given free Henna tattoos, a symbol of Pakistani culture. Fighting the Flood volunteers, including accounting graduate student Muneera Ali, held up signs that read “remembering the lives
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the UT System, the highest peracre bid was more than $3,500 and the highest bidder, El Paso Exploration & Production Company, paid more than $180 million for nearly 125,000 acres. “We expected it to be good but not this good — breaking the re-
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University leads way in diversifying study abroad By Amyna Dosani Daily Texan Staff UT is ahead of the curve in its proportion of minority students who study abroad, according to a recent national study and UT’s study abroad office. Eighteen percent of all study abroad participants nationwide in 2007-08 were minority students and 35 percent of full-time students enrolled in college were minorities, according to a study conducted by researchers from Augustana College and the University of Iowa. Minority students made up about 38 percent of all of UT’s study abroad participants in 2008-09 and 45.5 percent of students enrolled were minorities, according to statistics from the UT Study Abroad Office. While the nation’s gap between minority students studying abroad and minority students enrolled full-time in college widened in the past decade, UT’s steadily shrank. “One of our goals is to have study abroad participation mirror the demographics of the University,” said Heather Barclay Hamir, director of the Study Abroad Office. Journalism junior Ariel Min, who plans to study in Bristol, England, said she wanted
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Health law takes effect, eases stress on student caps for patient treatment, along By Daniel Sanchez with several other provisions of Daily Texan Staff Isbah Raja said a huge weight the health care bill. Raja is one of 161,000 young on her and her family’s shoulders was lifted when several pro- people in Texas who will benefit visions of national health care re- from the new insurance policies, according to Texas Public Interform kicked in Thursday. The Plan II junior said that a est Research Group. The group few years ago, she went to her announced the changes Thursgeneral physician complaining day on the south steps of the UT Tower. of fatigue. Later, At the Texher father had to PIRG press conchange insurance ference, state companies beRep. Elliott Nacause of a change ishtat, D-Ausin employment. Young adults need tin, said TexThe new insurance health care and that as has the highcompany rejectest rate of unmeans they need ed her coverage i n s u re d p e rbecause of her fainsurance.” sons in the natigue symptom. tion at 26.1 per— Elliott Naishtat Raja was again About 6.4 rejected for coverState representative cent. million Texans age after being diare uninsured, agnosed with lupus including 1.3 at 19 years old. million children “I remember and 1,062,000 when my dad told young adults me I didn’t get acages 19 to 25, he said. cepted by insurance. I was kind “Young people do get sick,” of appalled,” Raja said. “My parents pay my tuition for UT and to Naishtat said. “Young think that they have to pay even adults need health care more because of my health — it’s and that means they need insurance.” very stressful.” Student Government After Thursday, insurance comPresident Scott Parks said panies can no longer deny pathe increase in time that stutients coverage because of prior dents can spend under their conditions. The reforms also alparents’ insurance plans will low young people to stay on their make sure they don’t face parents’ health care plan until the age of 26 and ban lifetime benefit HEALTH continues on page 2
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Thomas Allison | Daily Texan Staff
Students petition on the West Mall to have the date of the 2011 Red River Rivalry moved to avoid conflict with the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.
Jews protest scheduling of TX-OU game By Audrey White Daily Texan Staff Jewish students may have to choose between the holiest of Jewish holidays and the rowdiest of college football games on Oct. 8
2011, because under the current schedule, Yom Kippur coincides with the Texas-Oklahoma game. A group of Jewish students is circulating two petitions to encourage the athletics department to consider an alternative weekend that would still allow the game to be played at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair of Texas. The 2011 football schedule is in flux because of the departure
of the University of Colorado and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from the Big 12. “If it’s something that’s a possibility, there’s no reason it shouldn’t happen, and we haven’t heard a good reason not to move it,” said Ben Freed, a Middle Eastern studies and broadcast journalism senior who is one of the
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For more on Longhorn football, see Double Coverage