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Austin GLBT employees receive aid By Vidushi Shrimali Daily Texan Staff The office of City Councilman Bill Spelman declared Monday that the domestic partners of the more than 200 city employees who are in same-sex relationships will continue to receive health insurance benefits in the event of their termination from a job or the divorce or death of their partner. Previously, same-sex domestic partners of employees were offered the same benefits as those in opposite-gender marriages only until the termination, divorce or death of the employee. Families of employees only continued to receive health insurance benefits if the employee was in an oppositegender marriage. The issue of the lack of coverage of partners in same-sex relationships came to light when the partner of a deceased city employee who worked in Spelman’s office was denied health coverage. Spelman’s office took the issue to City Manager Marc Ott, who calculated that increasing health insurance benefits to the around 200 city employees in same-sex relationships would be under the limit required to OK the action with City Council approval. The federal Defense of Marriage Act defines a “spouse” as a husband or wife in an oppositegender marriage, and therefore
Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff
Dean of the McCombs School of Business Thomas Gilligan explains the reasons for the recent cut of 16 staff members at a town hall meeting held at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.
College copes with staff cuts By Lena Price Daily Texan Staff To address issues related to the layoffs in the McCombs School of Business, Dean Thomas Gilligan gave a brief overview of the effects the cuts will have on remaining employees and fielded questions at a town hall meeting Tuesday. Sixteen staff members were given their 90-day-notice by their immediate supervisors Monday — cuts that were first announced in September, but were not finalized until the beginning of the month. The audience at the meeting, made up primarily of McCombs staff and faculty, raised
concerns about the readjusted workloads in the college and the potential for a future round of layoffs. In his presentation, the dean explained why the cuts were necessary in order for the college to move forward in a competitive market. Employees were not laid off because their contributions were insubstantial, Gilligan said. “We simply didn’t have the budget to support these positions while moving forward with our initiatives,” Gilligan said. A total of 24 positions were eliminated from the school. Three staff
Voters pass all 11 amendments to Texas constitution More than 30,000-person voter turnout exceeds poll worker’s expectations By Rachel Platis Daily Texan Staff All 11 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution passed after 30,068 Travis County voters and other Texans hit their precinct polling places Tuesday. Proposition 4, which sparked debate from campus political groups including Young Conservatives of Texas and University Democrats, was approved by a vote of about 56 percent at press time. Prop 4 establishes a National Research University Fund to create more top-tier research universities. About 81 percent of voters said yes to Proposition 11, which restricts eminent domain to pub-
lic purposes, while about 68 percent of voters voted for Proposition 2 at press time, which requires homesteads to be appraised only on their value as residential property. About 5 percent of registered voters cast their vote in Travis County. John McEvoy, an election judge at the Flawn Academic Center, the polling place for Precinct 148, said the number of people who came out to vote Tuesday exceeded his expectations. McEvoy has been involved in elections for 15 years, nine of which were spent on campus. “One year, we had as few as nine people show up to vote, which proves to be a long day,” McEvoy said. “It all varies
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members retired, five resigned and 16 were laid off. Andrew Smith, marketing and admissions coordinator in the Texas Executive MBA Program, was one of the 16 staff members who was laid off. He has worked for the school since January 2004, and previously worked for McCombs from 1998 until 2000. He said he knew he would be one of the people to get laid off when he heard about the cuts in September. “There are currently more people working in marketing admissions
McCOMBS continues on page 7
the 200 GLBT employees cannot be covered by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which gives health insurance benefits to the spouses of the deceased, divorced or fired employees. While public institutions need regional or federal approval to overstep COBRA, municipalities can choose to individually offer financial support the partners of same-sex marriages, which is the case in Austin. The change made Austin the first city in Texas to extend such health care benefits to employees, but Spelman spokeswoman Heidi Gerbracht said she does not think Austin will be the last. “Every city who does it will push another city to think about doing it,” Gerbracht said. Karen Landolt, chairwoman of the UT Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association’s Domestic Partner Benefits Committee, applauds the city’s move, but she does not think it will help UT employees in same-sex partnerships. Since UT is a public institution governed by the laws of the Texas government, it also only provides health insurance benefits to those in a marriage with a person of the “opposite sex.” “While I think it’s awesome the
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Students discuss language changes in forum By Viviana Aldous Daily Texan Staff Though proposals to change the foreign language curriculum requirements were dropped two weeks ago, UT administrators listened as students expressed their opinions on language requirements Tuesday evening. The Liberal Arts Council and Senate of College Councils hosted a forum that provided students with the first opportunity to voice their opinions on the proposed changes. Of the more than 100 students in attendance, nearly 20 posed their concerns, comments and questions to liberal arts Dean Randy Diehl, associate deans Richard Flores, Marc Musick and Esther Raizen, Spanish and Portuguese language program director Rafael Salaberry and professors from the college. “We’re the ones in the classroom, and our voices have been noticeably absent up until this point,” said Mykel Estes, Liberal Arts Council president. “There’s been a lot of confusion and not a lot of transparency to the students.” The proposed changes would have reduced the number of required foreign language hours from 16 to 12
and would have taken effect for the 2010 incoming freshmen class. The deadline for changes to the 201012 catalog passed before the changes were approved, but the college is still accepting input on the changes for future catalogs. Because the proposals were dropped, the requirements will remain the same, and individual departments within the college are being asked to reallocate approximately $10 million to pay for debt service on the new liberal arts building and faculty salaries. Last month, the administration proposed a curriculum in which students would take two six-hour classes to complete their language requirements, and department chairs negotiated for a plan that would require one six-hour course followed by two three-hour courses. Graduate students who instruct courses each teach two sections. Last fall, it cost more than $1 million to fund lower-division Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and German courses, which cost $5,000 per section. But next year, assistant instructors will teach only one section,
DEAN continues on page 7
Erik Reyna | Daily Texan Staff
Urban studies sophomore John Lawler argues for the replacement of the current foreign language course requirement with two six-hour course requirement.
Clinic counsels immigrants at reformed detention center
Derek Stout | Daily Texan Staff
The T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas houses hundreds of illegal immigrants during court proceedings.
By Bobby Longoria Daily Texan Staff While struggling to attain asylum, hundreds of immigrant women are kept behind chain-link fences within a former medium security prison, no more than an hour away from the state Capitol. The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement T. Don Hutto immigration detention center in Taylor detains illegal immigrants during their immigration court proceedings. The UT Immigration Clinic, led by director Barbara Hines, has provided legal counsel with
her students to low-income immigrants at the center since the summer of 2006. The clinic promotes an on-field approach, which allows some students to visit the center. The center opened in 2006, and was initially used to detain immigrant families. Lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the clinic in March 2007 stated children were being held under inhumane conditions. A settlement was made five months later, but it was not until August 2009 that ICE announced it would stop housing families.
A review of detention centers released on Oct. 6 by Dora Schriro, the former director of the U.S. Office of Detention Policy and Planning, made recommendations for detention centers. Janet Napolitano, U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary, announced reforms for facilities soon after. According to one reform, the center, which released the last family on Sept. 17, would detain women only. It has worked toward consolidating the female populations from three other facilities: Willacy, Pearsall and Port Isabel.
“By more fully utilizing the facility’s capacity and consolidating the female populations from multiple facilities, this change will yield substantial savings each month,” said ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda. Hines said Hutto was initially “run like a prison,” with routine cell counts, limited movement and limited medical care. Due to reforms, a gym has since been added and there is more prevalent free movement. “Many of the settlement’s
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CliniC: Facility undergoes reformation From page 1 improvements that we achieved we hope will be continued to be maintained for the women, but the government is not bound by any settlement agreement,” Hines said. UT law student Ruth Rosenthal works at the clinic and has visited the center with former UT law student — and current attorney for American Gateways — Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, who also worked at the clinic. Rosenthal provided counsel for 25 women and assisted a woman from El Salvador, resulting in the reduction of her bond at the center and subsequent release in October. “She had a really good asylum claim. Also, at Hutto she developed numerous medi-
cal conditions,” Rosenthal said. “There were a lot of humanitarian concerns that compelled her release at Hutto.” Pruneda said facilities have arrangements with nearby medical centers to provide health care if specific services needed are not available at the facility. The facility maintains a population of 512 and remains substantially full, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said the facility has remained true to the settlement, giving it “a residential feel, rather than a correctional feel,” but policies dictating the retention of detainees may require reformation. “[Detainees] should be paroled out as soon as they pass a credible fear interview,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said. “You have to show you have been
persecuted in the past or [have] a well-founded fear of future persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.” Pruneda said the average stay for detainees nationwide is 31 days. However, LincolnGoldfinch said some women may end up staying six to nine months “because their cases are a bit different.” Lincoln-Goldfinch said alternatives, such as probation or an ankle-bracelet program, are a more cost-effective means of monitoring illegal immigrants. “I would hope at some point there would be no Hutto facility in the sense that people would be released into the community more regularly and the government would explore alternatives to detention,” Hines said. “There are other means to ensure immigrants appear at their hearings, which is the rationale the government makes for detaining them in the first place.”
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The Daily Texan
NEWS BRIEFLY
Volume 110, Number 106 25 cents
Public library branch reopens after delay caused by moisture The reopening of the Howson Branch of the Austin Public Library has been delayed until April 2010 due to moisture found in the building’s foundation. The library, located on Exposition Boulevard, has been closed since May for renovations and removal of asbestos, installment of a new roof and enlargement of the computer area. In addition, the library is set to feature new audiovisual presentation for the meeting room, new air conditioning units and a fully handicapaccessible entrance. In the process of renovating the library, contractors discovered the moisture intrusion, said Kanya Lyons, spokeswoman for Austin Public Library. “It’s something that absolutely has to be done,” she said. “We want to make sure that it’s safe and clean and nice when we open it, so we don’t have to close it again.” The delay will not affect the completion of the new central library. — Jordan Haeger
CONTACT US Main Telephone: (512) 471-4591 Editor: Jillian Sheridan (512) 232-2212 editor@dailytexanonline.com Managing Editor: Stephen Keller (512) 232-2217 managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com News Office: (512) 232-2207 news@dailytexanonline.com Photo Office: (512) 471-8618 photo@dailytexanonline.com Retail Advertising: (512) 471-1865 joanw@mail.utexas.edu Classified Advertising: (512) 471-5244 classifieds@dailytexanonline.com
The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely. If we have made an error, let us know about it. Call (512) 232-2217 or e-mail managingeditor@dailytexanonline.com.
CORRECTIONS The art installation in the photo for Tuesday’s story, “Blanton sheds light on sculptures,” should be titled “Graphite.” The pull quote in Tuesday’s story, “Groups rally to guarantee public access to Texas coast,” should be attributed to State Rep. Wayne Christian. The Texan regrets the errors.
COPYRIGHT Copyright 2009 Texas Student Media. All articles, photographs and graphics, both in the print and online editions, are the property of Texas Student Media and may not be reproduced or republished in part or in whole without written permission.
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Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jillian Sheridan Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stephen Keller Associate Managing Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David R. Henry, Ana McKenzie Associate Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeremy Burchard, Dan Treadway, David Muto, Lauren Winchester News Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sean Beherec Associate News Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pierre Bertrand, Austen Sofhauser, Blair Watler Senior Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viviana Aldous, Bobby Longoria, Rachel Platis, Lena Price Enterprise Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Kreighbaum Enterprise Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hudson Lockett Copy Desk Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Green Associate Copy Desk Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cristina Herrera, Nausheen Jivani, Matt Jones Design Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thu Vo Assistant Design Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Shatha Hussein Senior Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Taylor Fausak, Lynda Gonzales, Olivia Hinton Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May-Ying Lam Associate Photo Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bryant Haertlein, Peter Franklin, Caleb Miller Senior Photographers . . . .Karina Jacques, Mary Kang,Tamir Kalifa, Peyton McGee, Sara Young Life&Arts Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leigh Patterson Associate Life&Arts Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brad Barry, Francisco Marin Jr. Senior Features Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Audrey Gale Campbell, Lisa HoLung, Ben Wermund Senior Entertainment Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Doty, Mary Lingwall, Robert Rich Senior DT Weekend Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amber Genuske Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Austin Talbert Senior Sports Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Will Anderson, Wes DeVoe, Blake Hurtik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Hurwitz, Laken Litman, Michael Sherfield, Chris Tavarez Comics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carolyn Calabrese Web Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annika Erdman Associate Web Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erik Reyna Multimedia Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Juan Elizondo Associate Multimedia Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kara McKenzie, Rachel Schroeder Editorial Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Richard Finnell
Issue Staff
Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Vidushi Shrimali, Molly Triece, Israel Perez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jordan Haeger, Shabab Siddiqui Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erik Reyna, Eric Ou, Anne-Marie Huff Sports Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rishi Daulat, Jordan Godwin, Sameer Bhuchar Life&Arts Writers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Ross Harden Copy Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vicky Ho, Kelsey Crow, Michael Moran Sports/Life&Arts Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Megan Jones Page Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mustafa Saifuddin, Chris Benavides, Lindsey Estes Comics Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ryan Hailey, Nam Nguyen, Jermaine Alfonso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabe Alvarez, Katie Smith, Amelia Giller, Rachel Weiss, Kathryn Menefee Wire Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Waldman Web Technician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jonathan Damrich
Advertising
Director of Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jalah Goette Retail Advertising Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Brad Corbett Account Executive/Broadcast Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carter Goss Campus/National Sales Consultant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Bowerman Assistant to Advertising Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C.J. Salgado Student Advertising Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathryn Abbas Student Advertising Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ryan Ford Acct. Execs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lauren Aldana, Anupama Kulkarni, Ashley Walker, Natasha Moonka Taylor Blair, Tommy Daniels, Jordan Gentry, Meagan Gribbin, Darius Meher-Homji Classified Clerks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teresa Lai Special Editions, Editorial Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elena Watts Web Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Danny Grover Special Editions, Student Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kira Taniguchi Graphic Designer Interns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amanda Thomas, Lisa Hartwig Senior Graphic Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Felimon Hernandez The Daily Texan (USPS 146-440), a student newspaper at The University of Texas at Austin, is published by Texas Student Media, 2500 Whitis Ave., Austin, TX 78705. The Daily Texan is published daily except Saturday, Sunday, federal holidays and exam periods, plus the last Saturday in July. Periodical Postage Paid at Austin, TX 78710. News contributions will be accepted by telephone (471-4591) or at the editorial office (Texas Student Media Building 2.122). For local and national display advertising, call 471-1865. For classified display and national classified display advertising, call 471-1865. For classified word advertising, call 471-5244. Entire contents copyright 2009 Texas Student Media.
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N. Korea seeks meeting with US, expands arsenal By Jae-Soon Chang The Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea claimed Tuesday that it has successfully weaponized more plutonium for atomic bombs, a day after warning Washington to agree quickly to direct talks or face the prospect of a growing North Korean nuclear arsenal. The announcement underlined Pyongyang’s impatience over securing one-on-one talks with Washington, as well as the difficulties in dealing with a regime that resorts to threats to get what it wants. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said North Korea had finished reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, which experts say would provide enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least one more nuclear bomb. The claim may not mean much, since North Korea is believed to already have enough weaponized plutonium for half a dozen nuclear weapons. But the timing, a day after Pyongyang warned it would beef up its nuclear arsenal if
the U.S. refused to agree on bilateral talks, shows the regime is flexing its atomic might to push Washington to act, analysts said. “North Korea is trying to show off its nuclear might as a way to pressure the United States to agree to the talks,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s university. North Korea has long sought direct nuclear negotiations with the U.S., believing that it is the easiest, fastest and surefire way of ensuring the survival of the totalitarian regime and win economic concessions to rebuild its moribund economy. On Monday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry warned that “if the U.S. is not ready to sit at a negotiating table with the (North), it will go its own way,” an apparent threat to bolster its nuclear arsenal. Pyongyang has claimed it needs atomic weapons to defend itself against the U.S., which has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea to protect its ally. The U.S. says it has no intention of attacking the North.
NATION BRIEFLY
Although they’re confident they’ll succeed, Democratic leaders have yet to nail down the votes they’ll need to pass their sweeping bill. They’re aiming for floor action to begin as early as Friday and finish before Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Or, as Majority Leader Steny Hoyer put it when asked when the House would take up the healthcare bill, “Friday or Saturday or Monday or Tuesday.” “We want to make sure it’s correct,” Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Monday.
Officials expect health care bill to advance in House this week WASHINGTON — Just a few unsolved problems and one final sales job stand between House Democratic leaders and a landmark vote on Obama’s promised remake of the nation’s current health care system. Unfortunately for the Democrats, the unresolved issues are among the most vexing out there: abortion and immigration.
— The Associated Press
Jacqueline Larma | Associated Press
Picketers on strike with the Transportation Workers Union Local 234 in Upper Darby, Pa., pass out signs at a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority station Tuesday. This union is the largest in the Philadelphia Transit System.
Transit strike hurts Philadelphia By Kathy Matheson The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — Even in the best of times, waking up to a surprise transit strike is like a bad dream come true. When the sudden walkout comes during an economic downturn, it becomes more like a nightmare. The Philadelphia transit system’s largest union went on strike early Tuesday over wage and pension issues, stalling the city’s bus, subway and trolley operations and forcing thousands of commuters to find another way to work — and to Election Day polls. “I think they have a lot of nerve to ask for more money in this economy,” said Robert Washington, a resident of west Philadelphia, who relied on his bicycle to get to his office job downtown. “There are people who don’t have
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jobs who would love to have one of their jobs. It’s arrogant.” The strike by Transport Workers Union Local 234 crippled the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which averages more than 928,000 trips each weekday. No new negotiations were scheduled Tuesday. Labor experts agree that a walkout over wages in a down economy is a hard sell. Striking transit workers may have a tough time earning the sympathy of passengers who are losing their own jobs, said Harley Shaiken, a labor studies professor at the University of California-Berkeley. “For public employees during a tough recession, it’s more difficult, but not impossible, to gain broad-
er support,” Shaiken said. “The key is convincing people that your victory benefits them rather than comes at their expense.” Gov. Ed Rendell, who helped mediate negotiations for the past four days, was stunned when the union walked out on a proposed deal that included an 11.5 percent wage increase over five years. Given the recession and layoffs in other sectors, Rendell said SEPTA’s offer was “sensational.” As recently as Monday evening, union officials had given no walkout deadline as talks continued. So early morning commuters were bewildered and frustrated Tuesday by locked subway stations and vacant bus stops. “Everybody hates SEPTA, and
this is why,” said Ranisha Allen, who said she had no option but to count on the kindness of car-owning neighbors to get her to work in the mornings.“These people go on strike and they don’t think about people they hurt, people who can’t get to work, kids who can’t get to school.” There were complaints that voters scrambling to find alternate transportation would be left with no time to cast ballots. A judge turned down a request to keep polls open an hour later. Wednesday will be another test as the Philadelphia public schools, which were closed for Election Day, reopen. On most weekdays, about 54,000 public and parochial students take SEPTA to school.
OPINION
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Editor in Chief: Jillian Sheridan Phone: (512) 232-2212 E-mail: editor@dailytexanonline.com Associate Editors: Jeremy Burchard David Muto Dan Treadway Lauren Winchester
T HE DAILY TEXAN
GALLERY
VIEWPOINT
Gagging the bloggers At Butler University, junior Jess Zimmerman is learning firsthand what it’s like to face coercion and castigation at the hands of the school administration to a degree that would make Joe McCarthy proud. And it all started with a blog. In 2008, Jess Zimmerman started an anonymous blog titled “The True BU” under the name “Soodo Nym.” The blog was a place for readers to talk about Butler University and, most importantly, share concerns and raise critical questions about the administration. In the blog, Zimmerman targeted the actions of Peter Alexander, the dean of the Jordan College of Fine Arts, and Jamie Comstock, the provost, calling their decisions on campus issues “inexcusable” and “not consistent with the Butler way.” Zimmerman’s comments led the school to threaten him with legal action. Of course, they had to figure out who he was first. After receiving notice in January that “Soodo Nym” was being sued (under the name “John Doe”), Zimmerman shut down the blog, hearing little about the case until June when he was shocked to discover he was still being sued. The university had searched through his university e-mail account to find “proof” that he was the blogger. The school had no case to fall back on, no proof of libel or damage that Zimmerman’s comments may have caused. Instead, officials resorted to a questionable standard. According to an e-mail from Zimmerman, “Amazingly (and sickeningly) they justified their actions by referencing the massacre at Virginia Tech, claiming that unless they acted they might be held responsible for a similar situation.” At that point, national attention was focused on the University, and the school dropped the suit out of fear of a negative backlash. It was the one logical decision they made. Despite a win on the legal side, Zimmerman now has to face a much more questionable and judicially suspect form of trial — campus disciplinary proceedings. According to Zimmerman, the president of the school has already sent out three memos to faculty alleging that he acted in a way that endangered students and attempted to blemish the school’s image. The procedure will involve a trial in front of a board of either a faculty members or students. Zimmerman must speak on his own behalf and will only be allowed one person to act as legal counsel. In effect, now that the case is out of the state legal system and into the university’s hands, Zimmerman is guilty until proven innocent. Unfortunately for Zimmerman, Butler is a private university, and his tuition is in essence a contract with a private company that obviously doesn’t grant him the rights we as UT students enjoy. Instead, he has to rely on the mature and sensible members of the university — clearly not the administration — to secure his rights and vindicate him of any wrongdoing. While free speech and press are not guaranteed on private campuses, we applaud Zimmerman’s use of off-campus press to spread news of the administration’s tyrannical response to critical speech — likely curbing similar oppression of speech at other private institutions. Officials at Butler are bullying students, which makes the school look terrible, but the truly frightening aspect of their actions is the message they are sending and the precedent they are setting for other private institutions around the country. If they punish Zimmerman, it will be out of childish anger and folly, not out of respect for the institution. Butler University’s administration has already managed to embarrass the university and taint its professional image on a national level far beyond anything a mere blog could do. We hope that Butler, and universities around the country, learn that in a nation of free thinkers and speakers, sometimes the best way to ensure a message is spread is to try to oppress it. — Jeremy Burchard for the editorial board
GALLERY
Fight human trafficking By Daniel Earnest Daily Texan Columnist Partly due to abundant West Mall solicitation, students here at the University are quite cognizant of the various ills that exist in our imperfect world. Face AIDS, Save Darfur and Invisible Children are only some of the multifarious organizations on campus that have become sexy for college students to rally behind. But (and with all due respect to the students who participate in the above causes), there is one social calamity that does not receive the attention it warrants: human trafficking. Human trafficking — the coercive and deceptive abduction of individuals, often women, who are then forced to work for little or no compensation — can take many forms and includes various types of prostitution and forced labor. Those who track trafficking estimate that across the globe, more than 27 million individuals are now living in slavery — more than at any other period in history. In fact, human trafficking is a multibillion dollar industry, with estimated revenues between $9 billion and $32 billion annually — numbers that put human trafficking second only to drug deal-
ing as the largest criminal industry in the world. While you may think that human trafficking is more of a global issue, it is much more prevalent in the United States than you would think. According to the National Human Rights Center, there are currently about 10,000 forced laborers in the U.S., including domestic servants. It is also estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, mainly women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually. Additionally, our great state of Texas serves as the biggest point of illegal entry into the U.S., largely because traffickers are able to move people across the border without documentation. Like most states in the U.S., Texas sees human trafficking in the form of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Thankfully, an organization is dedicated to eradicating human trafficking. The International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that, according to its mission statement, “secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression” with the help of lawyers and investigators who prosecute human trafficking and promote public justice. While all of this is great, you may
be wondering where you can fit in to help exterminate this dreadful and shocking practice. This week, the Veritas Forum is partnering with several student organizations at UT, including the student chapter of the International Justice Mission, to increase awareness of the global and local reach of human trafficking, specifically the trafficking of children for sex. Two speakers, Blair Burns and Vinoth Ramachandra, both of whom have firsthand experience with human trafficking, will be on campus speaking at the forum, addressing not only why we should be aware and care but also tangible ways we can get involved. There is no better time to concern yourself with a great cause than right now. The fight to stop human trafficking needs good people advocating on behalf of innocent victims who are so appallingly being taken advantage of. If stopping human trafficking is something that you feel passionately about, or if you just want to learn more about the issue, attend the forum tonight at 7 in Hogg Memorial Auditorium. Earnest is a finance senior.
UT and the public option By Joshua Avelar Daily Texan Columnist
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Last week, students claiming to represent the ideals and perspectives of both major American political parties debated the merits of the proposed health care reform bills in Congress. While College Republicans and University Democrats mostly relayed arguments that their respective parties have been making throughout the year, something about this debate struck me as interesting. I found it ironic that arguments against government expansion into health care were being made at a public institution by public university students. The University’s enrollment shows that more than 50,000 trust the government to provide educational alternatives to the private sector. Current UT students, and in many cases their parents, could have said no to so-called “government takeovers” by opting for another institution not funded by tax dollars. Not attending a public university such as UT would have kept your hard-earned money, or your parents’ hard-earned money, in the free, private market away from those troublesome government bureaucrats. This is not the case for the students walking across this campus. Aspects of UT led thousands of individuals and their families to select a product of government ingenuity to cultivate their minds and set the path for their careers. Similar aspects may have motivated current UT students to apply to other public institutions around the state and the nation before reaching a final decision to spend their college years on the 40 Acres. In the debate Thursday night, College Republican Co-
lin Harris told The Daily Texan that health care needed reform, but not a public option, stating that “competition works.” Harris is right in saying that competition works but fails to realize that public institutions, in any industry, increase the level of competition. Using education as an example, UT currently ranks No. 47, alongside Penn State and the University of Florida, among the top national universities list compiled by US News & World Report. UT edges out Tulane, a private university, seated at No. 50. Further ahead on the list lies UC-Berkeley at No. 21, breathing down the neck of No. 20 Notre Dame and edging out two more private universities, Carnegie Mellon at No. 22 and Georgetown at No. 23. Competition does work, and it works better when more players enter the game. The government has a chance to enter the realm of health insurance, assuring millions of citizens coverage they desperately need and otherwise would never have. Many students here at UT can thank the state government for erecting an establishment that made it possible for them to go to college, knowing that tuition rates at a private university may have made it extremely difficult to make ends meet while pursuing an education. The situation many of us would have faced had there been no public option in higher education is the exact situation those without health care coverage are facing today. Had the debate last week taken place a few miles south at St. Edward’s University, then the College Republicans’ argument against a public option may have been more valid. However, UT’s establishment in 1883 did not ruin higher education in Texas, nor did it put St. Edward’s out of business. If anything, it gave both institutions an incentive to be better. Avelar is a government senior.
5 AD
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News
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Minnows away!
Commission eyes use of gender in college admissions According to statistics, private universities may favor male applicants
Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff
Children from the Alamo after-school program play sharks and minnows on a basketball court in East Austin.
UT introduces GPA calculator with plus-minus grading By Israel Perez Daily Texan Staff Students eager to calculate their grade point average this semester don’t have to pull out their TI84s, not since the introduction of the University’s new GPA calculator on the registrar’s Web site. Last semester, the University announced that undergraduate instructors would have the option of adding plus and minus to letter grades. Graduate instructors were already using the plus-minus grading system. The introduction of a GPA calculator is important because the new plus-minus grading makes it difficult for students to manually calculate their grades, said David
Liu, chairman of the Curriculum Committee of the Senate of College Councils, which passed legislation recommending the tool to the University. “Since knowledge about a student’s GPA is so important in general, we thought it would be useful for students to have a GPA calculator as a tool to increase that knowledge,” he said. Liu said the Academic Counselors Association, which is made up of all academic advisors at UT, brought the idea of a GPA calculator to the Senate at the end of the spring semester. The Senate introduced and passed legislation to create a Universitywide GPA calculator during the or-
ganization’s first general assembly meeting this fall, Liu said. “After the resolution was passed, the registrar actually initiated contact after learning about our initiative through The Daily Texan,” he said. “We then had a series of meetings with the registrar’s programming staff along with the Academic Counselors Association to provide feedback on what the registrar had done so far.” After making more changes and debugging the program, the UT GPA calculator was released in time for spring semester advising and registration. Associate registrar Michael Allen said the GPA calculator is something the student body has been asking for.
“There has been a desire for it for a long time,” Allen said. “The GPA calculator is, in the larger scheme of things, not as important as other things, so you make choices on how to allocate resources. This is an idea whose time finally came up.” Pre-journalism sophomore Danielle Villasana, who transferred this semester from Austin Community College, said the new GPA calculator would be useful. “I’m happy to know there’s an easy way to calculate my GPA,” she said. Villasana said she was worried about UT’s new plus-minus grading system because ACC uses a grading system of only letter grades. “I’m not excited [about the new grading system.] I’m usually a lowA student, so the sliding scale works against me,” she said.
By Molly Triece Daily Texan Staff The U.S. Civil Rights Commission launched an investigation Oct. 30 into possible discrimination by private liberal arts universities against women in the admissions process. Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, public universities are not permitted to make admissions decisions based on an applicant’s sex, but private institutions are exempt from these provisions. Nationally, on average, more women are applying to college than men, while ratios on campus do not always reflect this trend. Some universities are dominated by males, while many private liberal arts colleges enroll mostly females. These institutions favor male applicants in efforts to avoid the “tipping point” where the female population is so large that neither sex wants to apply to the college, said UT sociology professor Chandra Muller. Muller said that for universities to maintain levels of applicants, the school’s gender ratio cannot become too imbalanced. Muller said men are given an easier time during the admissions process at some private universities because they cannot compete with the number of achieved female applicants who probably make up a majority of the top 10 percent. “I think that using gender in admissions and discrimination might be different things,” Muller said. At UT, 15,117 men applied for fall 2009 and 6,366 were
accepted. For women, 15,799 applied and 7,699 were accepted. Augustine Garza, deputy director of UT admissions, said this is because more women are in the top 10 percent than men, giving them automatic admission to UT. Garza said UT follows the Title IX restrictions and does not discriminate. “Women are now the breadwinners,” he said. “They’re wanting to take charge of their lives in these days and times, so they work harder.” The UT population is approximately 51 percent female and 49 percent male, but within the individual colleges, things are not so evenly distributed. The college of education has a population of 1,263 women and 484 men, the school of social work has 383 women and 58 men and the college of engineering has 665 women and 2,750 men. Some private liberal arts institutions also employ tactics to attract more male applicants, such as establishing football teams. “It’s becoming a real challenge to recruit men,” said Michael Strysick, spokesman for Austin College. Austin College is a private, liberal arts university in Sherman, Texas that has managed to keep its male population in step with the females. But, Strysick said that in recent years, Austin College has had to be careful in making its recruitment efforts more compatible with the male population. “We can’t seem like we’re trying too hard to recruit guys, but we’ve done things like be sensitive to color designs.” Strysick said. “One palette design a few years ago had too much lavender, so we changed it.”
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dean: Foreign language courses ‘indispensible’ From page 1 increasing the cost of each section to an estimated $7,500, Musick said. The fall 2010 foreign language budget is less than $1.3 million. Without the changes, the total cost will rise to more than $1.5 million, leaving the remaining budget at nearly $250,000 in debt. Increasing the number of students in each section to 20 from 25 will still leave the budget at more than $50,000 in debt. The proposed 6-6 model with an average of 20 students in each section would leave more than $500,000 remaining in the budget and with 25 students would leave more than $650,000 remaining. The 6-3-3 model with 20 students in each section would leave more than $100,000 remaining in the bud-
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
get and with 25 students would leave more than $350,000 remaining. “If we don’t do anything, you can see that [the remaining budget] is negative,” Musick said. “There isn’t enough budget for these three departments to do that. The money is literally not there. Something has to change. We can’t go with the status quo. Now it’s up to the departments to figure out how with the money they have available to meet their demands.” Government senior Chad Stanton said he was in favor of the changes. “A lot of students don’t even take the foreign language classes at UT,” he said. “They go to [Austin Community College] because the classes there aren’t as challenging as they are at UT, so they’re getting a subpar education. People treat [the lan-
guage requirements] as a task, a four-semester hurdle. I’m probably going to have a better chance of learning something if I’m [in class] for six hours.” Biology senior Zach Farhood said he is against adjustments. “I don’t think downsizing the program will help students to become more proficient any better,” Farhood said. “I think it’ll actually deter them from becoming proficient. If anything, we should have more classes so they’d have more time to speak and practice.” Diehl said the issue has generated a lot of interest and that he appreciated the input. “My own view,” Diehl said, “is the College of Liberal Arts is fundamentally about the study of culture, and language is the key to the study of culture and is indispensable to the study of liberal arts.”
Tuition soars at private universities By Molly Triece Daily Texan Staff While most UT students pay less than $30,000 in tuition, fees and room and board, 58 private universities now set students back at least $50,000 per year. The costs of maintaining top faculty and inflation have caused many universities to increase tuition. Because private universities do not receive state funding and their staff are paid more, their tuition remains the highest in a national comparison, said Kevin Hegarty, UT’s vice president and chief financial officer. “At public institutions, you find people who take pride and have a sense of public service and don’t expect to get paid like a CEO,” Hegarty said. Hegarty said the difference in paychecks and the amount of funding for public universi-
ties are factors that allow public university professor is $98,808, universities to provide cheap- compared to the $84,488 averer education. According to the age of a public university professor. He said although students pay $9,000 in tuition each year, the actual cost of a student’s yearly education at UT As much as people is around $24,000. State funding are concerned with and public donations make up tuition increases on the difference and cover nearly $15,000 of the actual cost. campus, it’s still a “As much as people are congreat value for what it cerned with tuition increases on actually costs.” campus, it’s still a great value for what it actually costs,” He— Kevin Hegarty garty said. Although the price dispariUT’s vice president and ty for attending a private over a chief financial officer public university can amount to as much as $30,000, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports that many of these instiAmerican Association of Uni- tutions have not seen a drop in versity Professors, the aver- demand. age annual salary of a private Sociology professor Chandra Muller said that universities won’t be short on students anytime soon as long as education maintains its status as a requirement for establishing a career. She said the recession also increases the demand for education. “In tough economic times, people tend to go back to school to learn more methods for dealing with the bad economy,” Muller said. Hegarty said that demand is elastic and private university tuition is near its snapping point, after which students will flock to more affordable alternatives. Overall, students are satisfied with what they pay at UT, he said. Some student organizations on campus, including University Democrats, say students are paying too much for tuition. University Democrats President Melessa Rodriguez said she hopes to organize students to take a stand against tuition increases scheduled for 2011. “The actual, final say at the end of the day on tuition isn’t even influenced by students,” Rodriguez said. “It’s unfortunate, but you still have other voices outweighing students.”
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MccoMbs: Dean
doesn’t expect any more layoffs From page 1 than needed,” Smith said. “From the point of view of the administration, I can’t really disagree with the staff cuts.” Although Smith is unsure about what he will do after his position is eliminated, he said he appreciated the notice. “I appreciate it not just on a personal level, but it also reflects well on the MBA program as a whole,” Smith said. G i l l i g a n re i t e r a t e d t h a t counseling will be available for staff members who were laid off as well as for those who remain at the school. “Some of the pressure resulting from these layoffs may come in a psychological sense from the feeling of no longer having some friend within your work groups,” Gilligan said. “But we are also in an environment where we still have the same level of work to do across a smaller level of people. The goal is not to work everyone to death.” The budget reallocations may also have an impact on the number of teaching assistants within the school, as well as the ability of faculty to travel for seminars or research. “At this time, I don’t anticipate another round of layoffs,” Gilligan said. “Having said that, it is always hard to tell in this economic climate.” The dean also said that trimming some services might be necessary to move forward as a college. “We should not have the rule that we need to satisfy every student demand,” Gilligan said. Gilligan encouraged the staff to find ways to cut costs within their own departments, and post notifications informing the students why the services are no longer available. “I am not interested in cutting for the sake of cutting,” Gilligan said. “I am interested in cutting to ultimately improve the services we offer at the University.”
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Sports Editor: Austin Talbert E-mail: sports@dailytexanonline.com Phone: (512) 232-2210 www.dailytexanonline.com
T he Daily Texan
SIDELINE Big 12 FootBall standings North
1. Kansas State 2. Nebraska 3. Iowa State 4. Kansas 5. Missouri 6. Colorado
South
1. Texas 2. Oklahoma State 3. Oklahoma 4. Texas Tech 5. Texas A&M 6. Baylor
nBa
Washington 90 Cleveland 102 Denver 111 Indiana 93 Boston 105 Philadelphia 74 Orlando 80 Detroit 85 Phoenix 104 Miami 96 Milwaukee 81 Chicago 83 LA Lakers 101 Oklahoma City 98 F/OT Utah 85 Dallas 96 Atlanta 97 Portland 91
sPoRts BRiEFlY Women’s tennis looks to build on recent tournament success In the ITA Texas Regional Championships in Waco on Oct. 20, three players on the Texas women’s tennis team earned impressive wins. The Longhorns look to lengthen their winning streak as fall tournament play continues at the ITA National Indoor Championships on Thursday, Nov. 5, in New Haven, Conn. This tournament will be Texas’ second of three national tournaments this fall season. After a dominating performance at the ITA Regioinal Championships a few weeks ago, freshman Aeriel Ellis obtained a berth for this week’s tournament. Ellis currently holds a 14-2 singles record and only has a month of collegiate tennis experience. The Longhorns will compete against some of the nation’s top collegiate tennis players in both the singles and doubles rounds at the ITA National Indoor Championships. Maria Mosolova of Northwestern and Irina Falconi of Georgia Tech are the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, for the singles matches, and Caitlin Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota of Tennessee are the No. 1 seed for doubles. — Alex Carreno
Ut soccer lands nine on academic all-Big 12 teams The Big 12 named nine Texas soccer players to the 2009 Academic All-Big 12 teams on Tuesday. Seven Longhorns earned First Team honors led by seniors Emily Anderson (accounting/MPA) and Casey Mogk (accounting/MPA), who were two of 11 in the league to post perfect 4.0 GPAs. Texas’ nine overall selections are its most since 2007 and the third most in program history. Joining Anderson and Mogk on the First Team was senior Stephanie Gibson (3.86, business honors/ finance), juniors Erica Campanelli (3.83, sport management) and Alisha Ortiz (3.26, government) and sophomores Kylie Doniak (3.65, liberal arts) and Courtney Goodson (3.37, education). Junior Kate Nicholson (3.00, English) and sophomore Amanda Lisberger (3.22, education) earned Second Team selections. Nominated by each institution’s director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, the soccer academic all-league squad consisted of 84 first team members combined with 19 on the second team. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, and the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA. To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher, either cumulative or during the two semesters prior to joining and must have participated in 60 percent of her team’s scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible during their first year of academic residence. — Laken Litman
McNeal slaps stunning serves By Jordan godwin Daily Texan Staff It doesn’t take long for opponents to notice the unique character of freshman Sha’Dare McNeal’s serves. She begins her serve several feet behind the norm, makes a running charge, jumps slightly and spanks the ball without rotation. The racing knuckleball that ensues is often difficult for the defense to handle. Two weeks ago, McNeal led the nation’s freshmen in services aces per set, and she ranks second among freshmen in the Big 12 Conference. “I think the way that I serve the ball gives me an advantage,” said McNeal. “I have a different style, and it probably throws people off when they see it.” McNeal’s unique style generates velocity behind her serves, and the result is a hybrid between the power serves of Destinee Hooker and the fluttering serves of Ashley Engle. Not long ago, McNeal was a sprinter at Fallbrook High School in San Diego, and the faster-paced style of college volleyball hasn’t had an affect on her. “The speed of the game is different, but not having my parents around is probably the biggest change,” McNeal said. Like any freshman, McNeal has felt a bit homesick 1,300 miles away from San Diego’s beaches. McNeal’s parents have made the trip to Austin three times this season to see her play, and whenever they can’t be there, her father, Darrell, who was in the military for 21 years, watches the games online. “My dad has always pushed me to play hard and try my
GUIDE continues on page 9
Peter Franklin | Daily Texan file photo
Freshman Sha’Dare McNeal reaches to spike the ball against an opponent earlier this season. Head coach Jerritt Elliott has said McNeal plays a vital role coming off the bench for the No. 2 Longhorns.
woMEN’S goLF
Fourth-place finish ends fall season for ‘Horns By Shabab Siddiqui Daily Texan Staff The Longhorns capped off their fall season with a fourth-place finish at the Challenge at Onion Creek in Austin Tuesday afternoon. The two-day tournament featured a field of 21 teams, the largest the Longhorns had faced all season. “I thought overall we played well,” said Coach Martha Richards. “The conditions were great, and this golf course isn’t set up to separate people. This was the time to step up and separate yourself from the pack. We didn’t do that too well all the time, but we’re young, and every tournament is a great experience.” Freshman Katelyn Sepmoree tied for 25th with a 5-over-par 215, including a 1-under-par and even on the second and third rounds, respectively. Shannon Fish finished second on the team with an 8-overpar 218. Richards said she thought the scores were good but would like to see more consistency. “Consistency is the difference between good teams and great teams,” she said. “We need to be consistently really good. I think that will come with a little bit more time and a little bit more experience.” The three-round, 54-hole tournament was suspended during the second round because it was too dark. So far this fall season, the Longhorns have also dealt with rain cancellations and fog delays. The tournament was the team’s first competition in Austin. Richards said the
SPRING continues on page 9
FootBaLL
Longhorns lead nation with rushing defense
Stephen Keller | Daily Texan file photo
Defensive tackles Kheeston randall (91) and Lamarr Houston (33) put pressure on the oU running game. texas’ defense has worked hard to solidify the interior line this season.
SoCCEr
Buffaloes first threat in Big 12 tournament By Sameer Bhuchar TODAY: No. 6 Texas (8-8-3, 4-3-3) Daily Texan Staff vs. No. 3 Colorado (9-9-0, 6-4-0) Texas’ soccer players have only WHERE: Blossom Soccer one thing on their minds as they Stadium, San Antonio head into the Big 12 Championship tournament today — winning. WHEN: 2 p.m. “There is only one thing that we have on our minds, and it is LIVE STATS: Big12Sports.com winning the championship,” said head coach Chris Petrucelli. “We championship.” are going there to win, we play to The first road block to this goal win. We are not going there to en- is No. 3 seed Colorado, who the joy ourselves or to just have good MARSHALL continues on page 9 time in the city. Our only focus is a
Bruno Morlan | Daily Texan file photo
Freshman Hannah Higgins sprints past a Colorado defender earlier this season. texas will face CU today in the Big 12 tournament.
By Blake Hurtik Daily Texan Staff Texas’ slender and quick defensive backs may have been the ones to come down with the four interceptions in the Longhorns’ 4114 rout of Oklahoma State, but all four gave credit to the big boys up front for creating havoc in the OSU backfield. After giving up 217 rushing yards to the Cowboys last season, the defensive line made it a point of bottling up OSU’s rushing attack. The Cowboys only averaged 3.1 yards per carry on 43 carries. “We wanted to stop the running game,” said Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. “They’re a running team, and we wanted to put the ball in the quarterback’s hands.”
Stopping the run has become a routine occurrence for the Longhorns. They have ranked in the top six in rushing defense nationally each year since 2006. There were concerns about how this season’s line would fare after losing tackle Roy Miller and end Brian Orakpo. Consider all those concerns put at ease. The Longhorns lead the nation in rushing defense (52.9 yards per game). Players and coaches credit defensive tackles coach Mike Tolleson for his ability to simply reload after losing a star player like Miller. “He’s got a lot of first-round draft choices and a lot of guys in the NFL,” said Texas coach Mack Brown of the players Tolleson has coached. “When he speaks, they listen to him because they know
he knows what he’s doing.” This season, Lamarr Houston, Kheeston Randall and Ben Alexander have solidified the interior line. “Everybody has their role here, and everybody has their time to step up,” said Alexander, who has 20 tackles, five for loss. “I just had to wait my turn and be ready when they called my number.”
Cure for complacency It doesn’t take anything special to get the Longhorns fired up these days. A non-conference game against Central Florida right in the middle of the conference schedule? No problem. To avoid becoming complacent,
ATTITUDE continues on page 9
MEN’S tENNiS
Kutrovsky continues winning streak By rishi Daulat Daily Texan Staff Talk about dominating your own tournament. At the Texas Invitational held over the weekend in Austin, seven Longhorns reached the quarterfinals, three reached the semifinals and both finalists were from UT. Senior Dimitar Kutrovsky won the tournament by defeating teammate Ed Corrie in a threeset thriller, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5. Kutrovsky and Corrie have both been on fire recently, justifying their high national rankings and their spots as Texas’ top-two singles players. With his latest result, ITA No. 6 Kutrovsky has now, in consecutive events, won the Texas Invitational, reached the semi-finals of the ITA Texas Regional and made the finals of an ATP Futures tournament. Corrie, the ITA No. 46 from London, has reached the finals of the Texas Invitational and, last week, won the ITA Texas Regional. ITA No. 47 Kellen Damico has also begun his season well; in just his second tournament of the fall semester, the junior from Colorado reached the semifinals before falling to his doubles partner, Corrie, 7-6, 6-4. In the doubles draw, Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala bounced back
Rachel Taylor | Daily Texan file photo
Senior Dimitar Kutrovsky leads the Horns in wins. His most recent one came last weekend at the texas invitational. from a disappointing showing set by their lofty standards in the ITA Texas Regional and won the Texas Invitational. The ITA No. 13 duo defeated Rice’s Michael Nusslein and Christian Saravia in the finals, 8-4. Texas’ head coach Michael Center had to have been impressed with his recent recruiting class since four freshmen — Vasko Mladenov, Daniel Whitehead, Chris Camillone and Alex Hilliard — reached
the quarterfinals. Senior Rook Schellenberg had put in a strong performance as he reached the consolation finals before falling to Laredo CC’s Cledson Carvalho in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0. Next up for Kutrovsky and Corrie is a trip to New Haven, Conn. to play in the esteemed ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship, a tournament with 36 of the best players in the country.
9 SPTS
attitude: Team not satisfied yet From page 8 the players simply think about how they felt after losing to Texas Tech, a game in which they admit complacency took hold. “We know how it felt to get complacent last year,” said defensive end Sergio Kindle. “I’m pretty sure nobody on the team wants to have that feeling again.” They’ll need to sustain that attitude. Without another ranked opponent remaining on the schedule, there has been much talk about the Longhorns being locks for the national championship game Jan. 7. But none of that is taking place inside Texas’ locker room. “We had a huge team meeting [Sunday] just to say, hey, don’t relax, don’t give up, there’s still a long road ahead of us, lots of games to play and lots of room for improvement,” said quarterback Colt McCoy. “I really feel like the attitude on our team is really good and wants to get better.”
days as rivals in the ACC when Brown was at North Carolina and O’Leary at Georgia Tech. According to Brown, the Longhorns could just as easily dig up game tape from 1997 and be prepared for the Golden Knights. O’Leary has stuck with the same strategy through the years: a rush-heavy offense and a conservative defense. “They’ll be very sound. They won’t be very complicated,” Brown said. “They only blitz about 16 percent of the time, and he’s a guy who wants to run the ball on offense from the I[-formation].”
Injury update
Cornerback Aaron Williams is listed as day-to-day after injuring his right knee in the first quarter against Oklahoma State. If he doesn’t play, safety Earl Thomas will slide over to nickel back again, and Nolan Brewster will play safety. Tackle Mason Walters (foot) and defensive tackle Calvin Howell (concussion) are both out for Saturday’s game. Both Same ol’ O’Leary are true freshmen but won’t Brown and Central Flori- make a decision about redshirtda coach George O’Leary have ing for the season until they are a history dating back to their at full health, Brown said.
guide: Faucette plays sister role From page 8 best, and my mom has always been there to make sure I’m happy,” McNeal said. “I usually make sure to talk to them three times a day because it makes me feel close to home.” As the No. 5 nationally ranked recruit of 2009 by PrepVolleyball.com, McNeal was coveted by elite schools all over the country. That’s one of many things she has in common with junior outside hitter Juliann Faucette both were highly recruited players out of San Diego. “Juliann has been like a big sister to me, helping me every step of the way,” McNeal said. “She’s definitely someone I look up to.” Faucette, who exploded onto the scene as a freshman in 2007, said McNeal has made a splash
9
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
for the undefeated, secondranked Longhorns. “Every day in practice, she comes in here with a determination that she’s going to get better, and, as a freshman, you have to have that mentality if you want to get on the court,” said Faucette. “She’s grown a lot, and I’m really excited to see where she goes over the course of the rest of the season.” Head coach Jerritt Elliott has taken notice of McNeal’s stellar play and has considered moving McNeal into the starting lineup for previous games but that she has been most productive in the substitution role. “I told Sha’Dare in a meeting the other day, I don’t know how I’m keeping her off floor,” Elliott said. “She does so many good things for us, coming off the bench, and that’s where her numbers have been best.”
spring: Horns show competitive edge From page 8 experiences are valuable, especially for the four freshmen. “It’s great to have all these experiences already,” she said. “Sometimes you go on the road, and you don’t have some of the distractions you have at home. I think we did pretty well in tuning out distractions, and we got better from it.” Winner Texas A&M was one of several Big 12 teams featured in the tournament. The Longhorns finished ahead of Texas Tech, Nebraska, Baylor and Missouri. Combined with a win over the 2008 conference champion Oklahoma State in October, Richards said the team has established itself as a top contender. “I think we’ve shown that we can be one of the teams that can win it this year,” Richards said. “There are a lot of good teams in this conference. It should be a heck of a shootout [at the Big 12 Tournament] in the third week of April.” With Sepmoree’s team-leading finish, all six of the Longhorns that have competed so far have each led the team at the end of a round at least once. Richards said the scores are a tribute to the team’s depth. “We have six golfers fighting for five spots and four more trying to get in there as well,” she said. “I think it’s encouraging to see how well we all played.” The Longhorns do not compete
Edmarc Hedrick | Daily Texan file photo
Senior Shannon Fish waits her turn to tee-off at a tournament earlier this season. Fish and the women’s golf team recently finished in fourth place at the Challenge at Onion Creek on Tuesday. again until the end of February. Richards said the team will work on strength and conditioning through the stagnant period. “I think it’s important to charge our batteries a little bit,” she said. “It’s a chance to improve our game
in a different way.” Richards said the team’s approach going into the spring season will not change. “I think there’s a little salt in the wounds [from finishing fourth in the season finale],” she said. “But
I don’t anticipate our approach will be drastically different. It’s still about playing our kind of golf and playing to the best of our ability. It’s still about taking care of business. We’ll be that much more savvy as the spring goes on.”
Marshall: Texas looks to shut down Colorado’s No. 1 player From page 8
Longhorns play today at 2 p.m. at Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio. On paper, this pairing seems to be an early stroke of luck for the Longhorns. Texas (8-8-3, 4-3-3 Big 12) owns the series record over Colorado (9-9-0, 6-4-0) with a 10-4-2 record. In the past six matches between the two teams, the Longhorns have only lost once, and most impressively, they have only conceded two goals to Colorado in the past five matches. The last time Colorado faced Texas in the opening round of the Big 12 Championship was on Nov. 7, 2007. The two teams played to a double-overtime tie, and the Longhorns sent the Buffaloes packing after winning the game by way of penalty kicks. Petrucelli, however, is not paying
IT’S TIME AGAIN
attention to history and numbers. “We may have beat them [a few weeks ago], but we beat them in a very even game,” he said. “All the history and games in the past don’t really matter for this game. When you look at our team and their team, it is extremely even.” The Longhorns have been forced to play with an extremely young squad of girls. The majority of the team has never experienced the pressures of the Big 12 tournament, but Petrucelli does not seem fazed by this. Texas’ young crop of players have actually made a positive impact on the season thus far, as they have accounted for 18 of the Longhorn’s 22 goals this season.
“The pressure that they could face remains to be seen,” Petrucelli said. “We are going to find out how they react in this type of environment, but they’ve all played tournaments before. Obviously, the only difference is that they’ve never played it on this high of a level.” The Longhorns will have their hands full when they are forced to defend the hot foot of Colorado’s all-time leading scorer, Nikki Marshall. She holds the Buffalo record with 93 points and is expected to attack the Texas backline all afternoon. “Without a doubt, I think she is the best player in the conference. She is strong, she is fast and she
works like crazy,” Petrucelli said. “[Stopping Marshall] is probably the key to the game. Can we shut her down? It will be tough.” The nature of the tournament is unforgiving, as one loss will send a team home. If Texas wins Wednesday’s match, they will face the winner of No. 2 Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Baylor on Friday. Overall, Petrucelli is looking forward to this week. He is no stranger to the Big 12 Championships, as he is taking the Longhorns to their 14th straight championship tournament. Wednesday’s other games include No. 1 Missouri vs. No. 8 Kansas and No. 4 Nebraska vs. No. 5 Oklahoma State.
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10 NEWS
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Voters: Many show up in wrong precinct Exhibit showcases Texas land records From page 1 depending what is on the ballot and how it affects students. I know there was a big push for Prop 4 on campus this year.” He said that a big problem was voters not knowing which precinct they were in, because voters must cast their ballot in the precinct determined by the address they put on their voter registration card. “It’s a problem every year,” McEvoy said. “Students are not properly informed about where to go to vote.” Polls were open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and by 6:15 p.m., about 50 people had cast their ballots at the FAC. McEvoy said 116 people had shown up to vote at the FAC who were in the wrong
precinct. “By redirecting people, hopefully they’ll know what to do next time,” McEvoy said. “We do this job to give students a positive voting experience, and hopefully, they’ll be lifelong voters.” Music performance sophomore Torsten Knabe said he followed the amendment conversation through early voting and cast his vote Tuesday at the FAC. “I care most about Prop 4 and Prop 11, but I think everyone should vote, period, end of story,” Knabe said. “We need a research fund for universities to better our higher education system, and I’m against allowing people to steal land for the Trans-Texas Corridor.” He said that a lot of people
may not have been aware that there was an election Tuesday. “People are apathetic or unaware, and there’s not really a face attached to these constitutional amendment elections like there are in elections for officials,” Knabe said. Marketing sophomore Leah Horsch said that she became aware of the elections when she saw signs outside the FAC and members of University Democrats tabling outside. She said that it’s important for students not to vote just for the sake of voting but to be educated about what’s on the ballot. “I know that I can get consumed by the campus environment, and it’s easy to forget that there’s a world beyond it,” Horsch said.
By Israel Perez Daily Texan Staff The Texas General Land Office celebrated Stephen Fuller Austin’s 216th birthday Tuesday. He is known by many as the “Father of Texas” for leading the colonization of the state when it remained under Mexican control during the 1820s and ‘30s. The office invited the public to tour the extensive collection of Stephen F. Austin’s land records, including Austin’s original registry of the land titles for the Old Three Hundred settlement. Karie Meltzer, spokeswoman for the office, said Austin’s story must be maintained. “[Austin] is the father of the Texas we know today,” Meltzer said. “The Texas General Land Office protects these records so that they can be enjoyed by ev-
eryone, from history buffs to students.” The Old Three Hundred refers to settlers who received land grants as part of Austin’s first colony in Mexico during the 1820s, said Galen Greaser, Spanish translator for archives and records at the land office. “There were few Mexicans who wanted to come to Texas, so the government of Mexico decided to open [its] borders,” Greaser said. “Mexico wanted to settle the vacant lands in order to make the area productive and offer protection from Indian attacks on the settlers.” Before Austin could settle the Old Three Hundred, he had to travel to Mexico to get his contract approved and become a Mexican citizen, Greaser said. In an original letter housed at the Texas General Land Of-
fice dated May 20, 1823, Austin writes about his pride in being a citizen of “the great Mexican nation” and his allegiance to the country. Austin signed the letter as “Estevan F. Austin.” After his return, Austin began to recruit settlers to Mexico, Greaser said. He said the Mexican government welcomed settlers on the condition that they were of good, moral character and identified as Roman Catholic. The 1824 Mexican Constitution defined Roman Catholicism as the state religion. Greaser said settlers were easily able to get around the requirement because the Mexican government had no way of verifying one’s religion. Austin was able to settle his original “Three Hundred” in Texas and secure hundreds of other contracts, Greaser said. “When I think of Stephen F. Austin, I think of his role as a consolidator trying to bridge the gap between settlers,” Greaser said. Meltzer said the Save Texas History campaign, a historic preservation project within the land office, is dedicated to saving and preserving the maps and documents of Texas history, some of which are hundreds of years old. The office has already saved thousands of historic maps, but at least 400 more maps still need help, according to the organization’s Web site. “After a while, they start crumbling and get old, so we have to conserve them,” Meltzer said. “Being able to preserve these maps is preserving a window into Texas history that otherwise wouldn’t exist.”
benefits: UT’s
policy prompts staff departure From page 1 city is doing that, it won’t impact UT directly,” Landolt said. The UT Domestic Partner Benefits Committee has been working with Texas House Representative Elliott Naishtat to pass House Bill 861, which will alter the Texas Insurance Code to authorize the University of Texas and Texas A&M University school systems, which currently are restricted from extending health care benefits to those in same-sex relationships. The bill is currently pending, but Naishtat said he will work to get it passed next session. “I would like to see domestic partnership benefits offered at whole levels,” Naishtat said. “Unfortunately, most members of the Legislature regard Austin as extremely liberal in many of its municipal policies. The fact that Austin did it doesn’t carry much weight; if Dallas or Houston did, then it would.” The Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association released a report in April arguing that UT is suffering because of the inequalities in health benefits for GLBT employees. In April, assistant professor Deborah Vargas turned in a resignation letter explaining her decision to take a job at UCLA. Vargas stated that, despite her personal wish to stay at UT, she could not afford to pay for her partner ’s health condition without the domestic health care benefits that the University of California system offered and UT did not. Vargas is among the multiple employees cited in the report that have left UT because it does not offer the same benefits to same-sex domestic partners as it does to those of opposite genders. Graduate student Corina Cantu cofounded Burnt Orange Benefits after attending the hearing of the bill. The organization supports extending UT employee health care benefits to those in same-sex domestic partnerships. “They had gotten to a point where they needed students to support this. Ultimately we are the consumers of what the University provides,” Cantu said. “Faculty and staff are leaving or not coming in the first place. We need to look long-term and [know] that inequality is not going to be physically sound.”
11 CLASS
11
News
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Commissioner extols value of e-learning
Eric Ou | Daily Texan Staff
State Rep. Eddie Lucio, D-San Benito, speaks about the importance of self-promotion in business and life.
Politician plays up self-marketing 1
day, month day, 2008 By Jordan Haeger Daily Texan Staff State Rep. Eddie Lucio III, DSan Benito, spoke to a Foundations of Marketing class E Tuesday TISimportance T eveningAabout of DVERthe UDinENallN!areas of T marketing Roneself S U in Ibusiness. IO YOjust life, not N ZAT A G R Lucio, O the son of state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, graduated from the UT School of Law in 2005 and was elected to the Texas Legislature in 2006. He recently launched an urban clothing line inspired by Latino mixed martial arts fighters and urged students to market themselves. Lucio explained to the class how he marketed himself to overcome the disadvantages facing him in his campaign, such as his young age, rumors of infidelity and comparisons to his father. He believes this young age is an advantage to him in politics.
“No one wants to think all the policy ... is formed by people of the same age, socioeconomic background and gender,” he said. Business lecturer Herbert Miller said he wanted Lucio to speak to his class mainly about his product and how he markets it. “He’s talking about the importance of marketing yourself for success, and that’s what I speak about in class,” Miller said. The businessman and politician stressed the importance of establishing a personal relationship with clients. Business owners should let their clients know they’re not just in business for the money, he said. Lucio, a mixed martial arts fan, said he was inspired to create his own clothing line when he saw Hispanic and Latino fighters dressed in clothing that
CLASSIFIEDS said he still learned a lot about
did not allow them to express themselves or their culture. The clothing line is called Ganas, which means “desire” or “will” in Spanish, Lucio said. The T-shirts feature images of Dia de los Muertos skulls, matadors and religious images that reflect Latino culture, he said. Lucio said it is important when starting a business to not grow too fast, thus setting yourself up for failure. As a young designer, Lucio is working on getting Latino celebrities, including Eva Longoria Parker and George Lopez, to promote his line. He said he is also going out and promoting and selling his clothing himself. “I’ve come from debating high-level issues to selling my clothing at a trade show,” Lucio said. “There’s no shame in my game.” If his business fails, Lucio
Campus
small business that will translate into his policy. He said his small business helps him better understand how what he does as a legislator affects other small business owners. “There are no bad experiences,” he said. “Even if you’re hurt from an experience, you’ll learn a great deal.” Lucio said the undergraduate marketing program at UT, of which he is an alumus, taught him the importance of his image and how people perceive him. The 30-year-old politician said he wanted to speak to students because he was always inspired by people who shared their experiences with him when he was a student. “Seeing someone doing what you’re learning is motivating,” Lucio said.
CORKBOARD
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By Shabab Siddiqui Daily Texan Staff Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott spoke to a crowd of 130 about state educational policies and initiatives at the annual Austin Chamber of Commerce roundtable Tuesday afternoon. His talk included topics of e-learning, accountability and college readiness. Scott, a graduate of UT’s law school, has served as commissioner since being appointed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2007. The commissioner, along with the State Board of Education, is responsible for overseeing all of the state’s 1,200 school districts and charter schools. Scott endorsed the development of e-learning and said it helps both students who drop out come back to school, and rural students, who do not have access to many of the resources students in urban and suburban areas do, and thus fall behind at the college level. According to a 2008 study conducted by the UT Office of Admissions, students from rural, independent or stable non-metropolitan schools made up only 9 percent of the University’s freshman class in 2007, but made up 26 percent of the state’s school population. Scott focused much of his talk on teacher accountability, and said it was important not to let a school’s average test scores cover up the scores of underperforming
Contact Joan at 512-232-2229 or email joanw@mail.utexas.edu
Erik Reyna | Daily Texan Staff
Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott speaks at the annual Austin Chamber of Commerce Education roundtable Tuesday.
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students for the sake of boosting the school’s image. “Teachers care about kids,” he said. “Individuals in this room care about kids. [Accountability] is designed to make the system care about kids too. We have an accountability system to get data ... so that we can use that data to make better decisions.” He also said it isn’t necessary to overhaul the recently updated state curriculum, but simply to add any components that may be federally mandated. He said many of the proponents of a national education curriculum are businesses, such as textbook companies, who are looking to make a greater profit through one large federal government, as opposed to 50 different state governments. “I worry that the economy of scale — that [the businesses] are trying to get — gives up the ability of innovation and nimbleness at the state and local districts,” he said. Drew Scheberle, the chamber’s senior vice president of education and workforce development, said it was important for the community to know where the commissioner was leading education, especially in regard to technology. “Basically, we want to know if we’re keeping up, if we’re ahead of the curve or if we’re falling behind,” Scheberle said.
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13 ENT
pump: Pumpkin spreads
impart more subtle taste flavor, was reminiscent of a pureed pumpkin pie. tortellini, pumpkin ravioli and, After quickly throwing it of course, cream cheese pumpinto my basket, I picked up kin pie. Preparing for my parsome sea salt crackers and ty, I thought even the Mad bread to accompany. As The Hatter couldn’t create a feast Black Eyed Peas would have as creative as mine. said, “Tonight’s gonna be a I was disappointed, howevgood night.” er, while browsing in Central Alas, I did not find much else Market; apparently the pumpin the store that screamed “I’m kin feast existed only in my the embodiment of pumpkin wildest dreams. There was no pumpkin wine, innovation,” but on my journey home, I deno pumpkin macided the only ple syrup, no preway to get what made pumpkin you want is to do Apparently the lasagna, no such it yourself. pumpkin feast thing as a pumpTherefore, in kin quiche and, existed only in my my little kitcheven when I did wildest dreams. en, with an apron find the pumpkin and whisk in tow, tortellini, I was too I created my own dejected to care. pumpkin panWhere was my culinary fairy godmother? I cake syrup, made with pumpneeded her to wave her wand kin puree, pumpkin-pie spice and maple syrup. I even conand work her magic. Continuing down the aisles, ducted a divine pumpkin-dip I decided to keep my chin up, symphony composed of pumpand I reorganized my search kin puree, powdered sugar and party. I was determined to cream cheese. Pumpkin condiments are find the pumpkin outcasts in a perfect, subtle way to treat this store. Finally, when I turned the cor- guests to pumpkin flavor withner, there was my white knight: out causing a pumpkin overdose. If people wanted pumporange pumpkin butter. The gooey texture was like a kin so badly, wouldn’t they marriage of peanut butter and just take a knife, carve the top jelly. It was both creamy and off and spoon the stringy subsmooth. The best part of all, the stance into their mouths?
From page 14
Holiday films promise to please By Robert Doty Daily Texan Staff This is not an Oscar prediction. Many of the heaviest contenders have yet to enter the ring. But, as the end of the year approaches, these contenders will collide to create some of the best filmwatching months of the year. And even for those uninterested in the pretentious, award-chasing films, Thanksgiving and Christmas releases provide more accessible fare, as well. Here are some films to watch for as the year comes to a close. First, Peter Jackson’s adaptation of “The Lovely Bones” looks to capitalize on the best-selling novel by Alice Sebold. The story of an adolescent girl who, after being raped and murdered by a neighbor, watches her family from heaven, has been on many cinephiles’ radars ever since Jackson signed on to direct. From the look of the trailer, the film will be visually stunning, at least. A musical adaptation of the Federico Fellini Classic, “8 ½”, titled “Nine,” is also causing a stir. With Daniel Day-Lewis, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Marion Cotillard starring and veteran musical director Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) at the helm, “Nine” has assembled one of the most impressive rosters in recent history. Can they sing? Who knows. But with a cast like this, anything short of fantastic will be a bust. Though both trailers have received lukewarm receptions, anyone counting out James Camer-
trailer: Loaded, filling breakfast tacos also available From page 14 people, often the homeless, who may need a chance to turn their lives around. The relationship amongst the employees helps explain the atmosphere within and around the trailer as a constantly friendly and exciting one. The stand’s menu is limited, featuring only a few items, but that doesn’t keep the customer
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Life&Arts
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
from being able to tell just how important barbecue really is to Texas Picnic Company. Lunch meals average at around $7, and items range from the pork sandwich to barbecue wraps loaded with flavor. If customers are looking for something a bit less filling, the trailer also features breakfast tacos for the hungry student. Loaded with eggs, bacon, potato, sau-
sage and cheese, these tacos provide costumers with a full stomach at a low price. The Texas Picnic Company has only been on campus for about a semester, but expect to see the little brown trailer, smoking throughout the day, around for quite a while. Texas Picnic Company is located on 21st and University Street, and is open from 7:30 a.m. — 8 p.m., Monday-Friday.
APPLICATIONS are being accepted for the following student position with Texas Student Media
Daily Texan Managing Editor, Spring 2010 Application forms and a list of qualifications are available in the Office of the Director, Texas Student Media, HSM, Room 3.304. The TSM Board of Operating Trustees will interview applicants and appoint a Managing Editor for Spring 2010 at 2:00 p.m. on November 20, 2009 College of Communications (CMA), LBJ Room #5.160
DEADLINE Noon, Friday, November 6, 2009 Please return completed applications and all supporting materials to the Director’s Office. Interested applicants are invited to stop by and visit with the Director to discuss student positions.
on’s “Avatar” probably hasn’t been to the theater in the past 20 years. The man behind the “Terminator” series, “Aliens” and “Titanic” has wanted to make this film for 15 years and has been less than subtle about calling its use of 3D filmmaking a cinematic revolution. Whether it lives up to Cameron’s hype remains to be seen, but regardless, “Avatar” will be one to watch for. Previous adaptations of Pulitzer Prize-winning novels like “Gone with the Wind,” “Grapes of Wrath,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Color Purple” and “The Hours” rank among some of the most-loved films in history. It gives the coming adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” a lot to live up to, but it gives us a lot to look forward to. Critics have assailed Wes Anderson for many things. They say he is more interested in quirky characterizations than character depth. They say he is past his prime, but no one
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
Director Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s classic “Fantastic Mr. Fox” has Anderson fans anxiously anticipating its release. has ever accused him of creating an uninspired visual atmosphere. And from the trailer for the stop-motion “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” it looks like no one ever will. Adapting Roald Dahl’s muchloved children’s novel of the same name, Anderson looks to have a hit on his hands, and early re-
views have already claimed that Anderson is back to “Royal Tenenbaums” form. If that is the case, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” will be a must-see this Thanksgiving. So save up your pocket money, and check out your theater listings.
14 LIFE
LIFE&ARTS
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Life&Arts Editor: Leigh Patterson E-mail: lifeandarts@dailytexanonline.com Phone: (512) 232-2209 www.dailytexanonline.com
T HE DAILY TEXAN
Males provide top oral-sex advice to confused females Yes I’m one of those ‘prudes’ who are ‘waiting for marriage.’” Hopefully this array of voices can help appease those in need of blunt answers to the question of “how to give great oral to a man.”
HUMP DAY 5 By Mary Lingwall
Anyone who has ever browsed the magazine racks at the grocery store has noticed, women’s magazines give a lot of advice about how to please men in bed. Although they are meant to give guidance about what turns men on, most of these articles are actually written by women. The plethora of opinions on male preferences about sex isn’t just limited to women’s magazines. A little more than a month ago, Alex Dibranco published “The Student Sex Column Movement” in “The Nation” in which she highlighted the fact that the majority of college sex columnists are also female. As a college female writing about sex, I can be considered a part of this statistic. Even so, I find that this female monopoly of campus sex writing seems a bit unfair. With no intention to discredit the women who are paving the way for cutting-edge dialogues about topics of sexuality, I think it is high time that we give the space on this platform to men. Last week, a friend of mine told me about the frustrations of trying to find “real-world” advice for giving “great” oral sex to her boyfriend. When she read through “Cosmopolitan,” it was the same old answers as we try to walk the delicate line of decency and political correctness. I decided to help my friend, not by telling her my own techniques or the techniques that self-identified sexperts and sex researchers deem “the best,” or by sending her to watch hours of porn, but by asking some males for their own advice, in their own words. The five tips documented below are from a variety of men who fall into different age groups, nationalities, political identities and orientations. To give you a sense of the differences between all of these voices, one self-identifies as a “man slut,” while another wrote me the following disclaimer to his submission: “I have never had oral sex.
“It’s been said to the point it is a cliché, but the mind is the most important sex organ. Act like you are really into this and want it.”
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“By all means necessary, don’t forget the balls. I don’t care if she’s more into holding them, caressing them or actually licking them as long as she doesn’t forget about them.”
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Rance Simpson makes a pulled-pork sandwich Friday at Texas Picnic Company located next to the Dobie Center on 21st Street.
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By John Ross Harden Daily Texan Staff Try walking anywhere near 21st Street on campus, and you’ll experience something that students along that route have noticed since the start of the semester — the robust smell of smoked meat on the fire pit. For years, Texas’ tasty barbecue has been held in a class of its own, and now, Texas Picnic Company is helping to solidify that. Based in the parking lot next to the University Catholic Center, owners Marc Stimak and Mark Avalos can be found daily in their small wooden trailer churning out endless pounds of savory meat.
“The girls I’ve been with have varied from being able to give deep throat and just licking the tip, but it’s really that in between feeling that is best. Feeling the back of someone’s throat bang against the tip of my [penis] really doesn’t turn me on any more than when a girl concentrates so much on the tip that it makes my [penis] sore. The best [oral sex], for me, is when there is steady movement and her mouth is warm, wet and generally just feels like a vagina. Eye contact during oral is a big turn on too.” “Having a routine technique and time for oral makes it less fun, in my opinion. I like it when I don’t know it’s coming, like in the middle of sex, after penetration ... or some other spur-of-the moment opportunity. The rush of getting the [oral sex] is not the biggest [turn on of oral sex], but it is up there.”
1
“Honestly ... everyone says ‘every guy is different,’ and there is probably some merit in that. But I think that standard-issue “good [oral sex]” is based just as much on how excited [the giver] is as it is on the techniques used. There are basic things to avoid like dry mouth, too much teeth and rubbing the tip raw, but other than that, lots of the excitement comes from [seeing someone] willingly and enjoyably caress my [penis] with something as [intimate] as a mouth.” If you would like to join the dialogue and have your voice heard in an upcoming Hump Day column, please send your comments and/or questions to: lifeandarts@ dailytexanonline.com
Illustration by Carolynn Calabrese
Anne-Marie Huff | Daily Texan Staff
Barbecue trailer draws crowds Stimak and Avalos bought the trailer in 2008, and shortly after, the pair decided to add barbecue to the traditional Texas Picnic Company menu of gourmet sandwiches and bakery items. Texas Picnic Company’s original location off Sixth Street serves a spread of sandwiches, but the location near UT is primarily barbecue, a decision which has proven valuable for the pair. “We serve about 200 tickets a day,” Stimak said. “And more so, about 20 percent are repeat and daily costumers.” Beginning in March 2009, Texas Picnic Company’s barbecue was enjoyed first by crowds at the Austin Convention Cen-
ter. Stimak claims that business at the convention center was outstanding. “On the first day, we’d have to hand out some flyers and menus,” he said. “But by the second day, we got really busy. Then for the rest of the week, we had lines of people waiting for some good barbecue.” So how did the barbecue trailer end up on UT’s grounds? The decision to move the business to campus was a careful one, Stimak said. “We literally came to the [UCC parking lot] and said a prayer that a door would be opened,” he said. After many local businesses had tried for over 15 years
to set up an establishment in the lot, the center gave Stimak and Avalos the nod of approval. Soon after, the tandem began producing the same fingerlicking barbecue that attracts crowds today. Through the theme of trailer dining, eating on the run has spread throughout Austin. However, Stimak and Avalos’s work ethic allows them to stand apart from the competition. “Here, we like to create opportunity,” Stimak said. “We have given people jobs and chances to work who normally wouldn’t have a job.” The Texas Picnic Company has created jobs for numerous
TRAILER continues on page 13
FOOD REVIEW
Texas Picnic Company
Savory sauces add zest to sandwiches, wraps By Gerald Rich Daily Texan Staff The smokey aroma of barbecue wafts up from the small wooden Texas Picnic Company next to Dobie Center, clinging to clothes and spurring memories of passionate football games with close friends and family. In many ways, it’s that same smell that serves as an olfactory lighthouse to safe harbors and great comfort food. Immediately, travelers are greeted by a simple menu of meats: pulled pork, barbeque chicken, chopped beef or sausage. The Texas Picnic Company’s only seemingly unique menu item is the “Texas 2-Step,” which is really just a combination of barbecued meats. After selecting which meat you prefer, the only thing left to do is decide whether you want it as a sandwich or wrap with chips and a drink. “The food is really simple but really good at the same
Erik Reyna | Daily Texan Staff
The California Club is a triple-decked wheat sandwich with lettuce, tomato, bacon, avocado and your choice of two meats. time. It doesn’t have to be really complicated to be good,” said Thomas Wang, UT biology sophomore and Texas Picnic Company enthusiast. At first bite, the rich flavors immediately shock the senses. Texas Picnic has not only mastered the fire of barbecue pit, but
it perfects it to a science; all of its meats are smoked overnight at their store on sixth and Sabine Street over pecan wood, bringing out sweet and tender flavors and then enhancing them with inimitable sauces. Take, for instance, their juicy, succulent barbecued chicken.
This already beautiful meat is further enhanced by the restaurant’s 12-ingredient white sauce. Although the sauce is really just dressed-up mayonnaise, Texas Picnic expands on it with numerous spices and vinegars until it becomes an entirely new complimentary flavor that bears no resemblance to its original form. Texas Picnic Company’s other popular meat, the pulled pork, is equally flavorful and topped with a rich, sweet, spice-enhanced barbecue sauce. Even though the sauces can be a bit messy at times, they are so sweet that simply wiping, rather than licking them off, feels like some sort of atrocious waste. The only complaint could be that they do run out of certain foods or sauces from time to time. “Usually, when they don’t have one of my favorites, I’ll just order something else off the menu,” Wang said. “Everything on the menu is great, so in the end it all balances itself out.”
Lack of pumpkin products incites creativity about anything. Imagine it: the girl has no dress, no shoes and no form of transportation to the party of the century. With the wave of a wand, the most miniscule pumpkin in her patch transforms into a pimped-out ride. But the limited reality of pumpkin possibilities came to a head when I was planning a pumpkin-themed dinner party last week. Writing my grocery list for the extravaganza, my realm of imagination had no limits: pumpkin wine, pumpEditor’s Note: This is the seventh kin pancake mix, pumpkin part in a series about the autumnal maple syrup, pumpkin dinobsession with pumpkin. ner rolls, pumpkin lasagna, I blame Cinderella for brain- pumpkin quiche, pumpkin washing the world into believPUMP continues on page 13 ing that pumpkins can do just
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Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff
Lynch created her own pumpkin pancake syrup with pumpkin-pie spice and maple syrup. Pumpkin condiments are a perfect, subtle way to treat guests to pumpkin flavor without causing a pumpkin overdose.