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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019
volume
119,
issue
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
SPORTS
Campus Events + Entertainment welcomes students with first day event. PA G E 2
Mixed race students need specialized resources from MEC. PA G E 4
Jesse McCartney bares his ‘beautiful soul’ to fans while on tour. PA G E 8
Shaka Smart ignites the energy on the bench by inviting Matthew McConaughey. PA G E 6
CITY
83
CAMPUS
Continuing construction
B-Cycle to add monthly $1 fee after UT refuses to fund operations By Jackson Barton @Jackson_Brton
Students who signed up for the formerly free Austin B-Cycle student membership will be out $1 when they wake up Wednesday. Elliott McFadden, Austin B-Cycle executive director, said the nonprofit will now be charging a $1 monthly fee for student memberships to stay self-sufficient. “Our nonprofit, which operates Austin B-Cycle … has been subsidizing all of the costs of (offering free student memberships), and we discussed with the University, now that the program has been a success, in helping to fund our costs,” McFadden said. “At this time, the University is not able to do that.” Jeremy Hernandez, Parking and Transportation Services bike coordinator, said PTS is largely self-funded and cannot afford to subsidize B-Cycle’s $120,000 yearly campus operating costs. McFadden said operating costs consist of paying for B-Cycle’s field staff, which move bikes between stations, bike mechanics and customer service lines. Austin B-Cycle’s planned 18-month campus pilot program kicked off last February with the City paying $272,000 for nine new bike stations in and around campus. As of Wednesday, 14,000 students have taken advantage of the free 60-minute rides with the student membership for 255,293 total trips, according to an email from McFadden.
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pedro luna | the daily texan staff West Mall will soon open to larger foot traffic once construction comes to a close. “We’re estimating project completion by next week, but that’s subject to weather,” project manager Tony Guzman said.
Ongoing renovations in West Mall and other campus locations will wrap up soon, making walks to class easier. By Nicole Stuessy @nicolestuessy
tudents can expect the completion of a few ongoing construction projects to make campus easier to navigate this spring. West Mall entryway construction is in its final stages and will be completed by the end of
January. Project manager Tony Guzman said construction on the new entryway began in July 2018 and was set to finish in December, but was delayed by weather conflicts. “We are about a month behind schedule because of the weather and all the rain that we experienced this fall,” Guzman said. “Because the project involved a major amount of excavation and underground utility work, it was very
Five women in the Texas House of Representatives formed the first LGBTQ caucus the state Legislature has ever seen. State Rep. Jessica González, co-chair of the caucus, said their goal as a group is to make sure all Texans feel represented at the Capitol. “This new caucus sends a powerful message to Texas youth that whoever they are, wherever they are, and whoever they grow up to be, they will be seen and their voices will be heard,” said González, D-Dallas. In previous years, the Texas House had anywhere from zero to two openly LGBTQ members, González said. This year, there are five. “This is the most outLGBTQ members that we’ve ever had,” González said. “For decades, LGBTQ Texans have fought for a seat at the table, and with this caucus, we’re planting a flag permanently in Texas’ halls of power.” The caucus, which has not had an official meeting yet, is open to LGBTQ-allies and is still inviting members to join, González said. Rep. Julie Johnson, another member of the caucus, said the group is ready to work with other members of the Texas legislature to make sure all Texans are treated fairly.
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NATION
New LGBTQ caucus forms in Legislature @KateylnBalevic
forward to the completed entryway because the current construction causes heavier foot traffic in the West Mall area. “West Mall has been very busy with construction lately, which makes it difficult to get around sometimes,” Mutammara said. “But I think anything other than the fountain that was there before will be more
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LEGISLATURE
By Katie Balevic
susceptible to weather impact.” Over winter break, construction teams poured concrete for the entryway, which was a large step toward completion, Guzman said. “We are kind of in the last steps of this project right now,” Guzman said. “Planting trees and installing the signage are some of the last big visual steps.” Chemistry junior Alex Mutammara said he is looking
“The point of having a caucus is to come together as a group of people to promote and foster legislation that benefits the LGBT community, as well as have a coalition of people ready to oppose any anti-LGBT legislation that may be filed,” said Johnson, D-Dallas. The formation of the LGBTQ caucus comes after legislators during the 2017 legislative session debated the so-called “bathroom bill,” which would have forced transgender people to use public bathrooms aligning with the sex designated on their birth certificate instead of their gender identity. “After the bathroom bill last session, there still are a lot of members of the Legislature that do not support LGBT equality,” Johnson said. “We want to be prepared to be able to respond to anything that may come up. The importance of that is collaboration but also to let people in Texas know that it’s an important issue, and we intend to … make sure that all LGBT citizens in Texas are treated equally and fairly.” Erika Slaymaker, a sociology graduate student, said while anti-LGBTQ legislation is an attack on a marginalized community, it also mobilizes support for LGBTQ citizens. “People had to come together and fight against
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Government shutdown could affect financial aid applications, UT research By Chase Karacostas @chasekaracostas
The government shutdown could affect federal student financial aid applications and, down the line, federally funded research projects at UT. The federal Department of Education oversees FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and is unaffected by the shutdown, but the Internal Revenue Service, which provides some of the forms required for FAFSA is mostly shuttered. The majority of students submitting their FAFSA will not need any forms from the IRS. However, the small percentage of students who are required to complete the additional verification need a copy of their family’s income tax transcript from the IRS. While the department is closed, students are allowed to send in a signed tax return until the government reopens. Throughout the application, there are also several “matches” that occur to determine a student’s eligibility to receive financial aid, such as a citizenship match or registration with the Selective Service, required for males 18-25. These matches, which come through the Department of Homeland Security and the Selective Service System, are not functional under the shutdown. As a result, UT’s Office of Financial Aid said it is manually determining matches to verify each student’s eligibility for financial aid.
lauren ibanez
“While OFA is prioritizing the work on files for impacted students, these workarounds do have the potential to delay students’ receipt of their financial aid funds,” UT’s Office of Financial Aid said in a statement. “We are collaborating closely with Student Accounts Receivable, which is ready to assist affected students with payment plans or other options as needed.” University spokeswoman Shilpa Bakre said in an email that the impact on continuing students would be limited, but it could be felt more so by prospective students. A dozen federal departments that support research
at UT are closed because of the shutdown, meaning the federal government is not issuing new awards for research. UT is unable to collect reimbursement for grant expenditures and reviews for grant proposals have been halted. Affected departments include the National Endowment for the Humanities, NASA and the National Science Foundation. UT has 350 active accounts with the NSF. “I want to express my sympathy to those colleagues who are waiting to learn the fate of their submitted proposals,” Daniel Jaffe, vice president for research, said in an email to researchers.
| the daily texan staff
“We all believe strongly in our mission to produce and share new knowledge and to educate the next generation of researchers and scholars. The disruption that the current shutdown is not furthering that mission.” For now, the University is covering the costs under existing grants without reimbursement. “If the shutdown continues long term, it is possible that the University would no longer be able to sustain spending without reimbursement,” Bakre said in an email. “If that happens, it would have campus-wide impact — but it does not yet.”