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NEWS PAGE 5
Crew team ‘Rows Across Texas’ with fundraiser
SPORTS PAGE 6
Team’s fresh faces come off bench, play strong role in Longhorn victory
LIFE&ARTS PAGE
Deaf student participates, appreciates music making
THE DAILY TEXAN Wednesday, November 17, 2010
TODAY Calendar Foreign film night
International Education Week will screen several foreign films — including Germany’s “The Edukators,” Russia’s “Country of the Deaf” and Mexico’s “Rojo Amancer” — around campus beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
By Audrey White Daily Texan Staff Ethnic studies centers and the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies may fall under the swinging axe of University budget cuts, and members of a new student organization called The Students Speak said they will do whatever it takes to fight back. The College of Liberal Arts announced
last week that under a recommendation from the Academic Planning and Advisory Council, 15 centers and institutes stand to lose a combined $1 million, with the centers for African and African American, Mexican American and Middle Eastern studies taking the largest hit. In response, members of Chicano advocacy group MEChA organized the first Stu-
dents Speak meeting Tuesday night with about 50 students from different area studies majors, as well as Student Government representatives and other interested students. They said they hope that through protests, education and working with student leaders and the administration, they can reduce cuts they say could irreparably harm the education of students who use the
‘Fight’
UT playwright Kimber Lee’s production about a female boxer will premier at 8 p.m. in the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre. Tickets start at $15.
Today in history In 1973 Richard Nixon infamously told a group of reporters “I am not a crook.”
Campus watch Unsolved robberies
Illustration by Camri Hinkie Source: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Texas ranks fourth among all U.S. states in the number of guns sold that are eventually used in crimes. One of every 50 guns recovered by Texas law enforcement agencies during criminal investigations in 2009 can be traced to Austin. The city ranked ninth among all municipalities in Texas for guns used in crimes, following Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, among other cities, according to statistics from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The bureau says Texas is the nation’s fourthlargest interstate exporter of guns involved in criminal matters. Pistols and rifles made up nearly 70 percent of the weapons recovered by Texas authorities, 256 weapons out of a total of 16,149 recovered statewide last year. “Texas has really weak gun laws and a number of interstates,” said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “The sheer volume of firearms in Texas may also have something to do with it.” The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
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Explosives estimated that there were about 48,000 firearms dealers nationwide and 3,800 firearms dealers, or nearly 8 percent, in Texas. Casey Watnon, an owner of Tex Guns in South Austin, said ATF agents inspect his store and records at least once a year. “If you’ve been in business for any amount of time at all, you’ll have at least one gun trace,” Watnon said. The ATF’s National Tracing Center began taking gun-tracing requests in 1988 as a result of the Gun Control Act of 1968. The federal law stipulated regulations on owners’ firearms, including requiring dealers to maintain records. The center traces guns for domestic and international law enforcement agencies that need to know the gun’s owner in criminal investigations. The bureau traced more than 343,000 firearms across the world in 2009. Once agents receive a request, they will handwrite records to trace the firearm from the manufacturing company to the retailer, then to the first purchaser. The bureau is not allowed to collect records in a computerized method because of government restrictions on registration databases.
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Cuts endanger UT jobs, programs By Collin Eaton Daily Texan Staff The latest round of 3-percent budget cuts to state agencies could mean a reduction of about $9 million in UT’s state funding. But University officials could not say a day after the cuts were announced which jobs or programs might be vulnerable. The University received $300 million in state funding for the 2010-2011 biennium. Leaders of the Texas House and Senate an-
nounced further budget cuts after setting the state’s spending limit for the next legislative session at a meeting of the Legislative Budget Board on Monday. About 14 percent of the University’s overall budget comes from state funding, compared to 47 percent in 1985. Kevin Hegarty, UT’s chief financial officer, said the University does not yet have a plan to deal with the new budget cut, but there will likely be
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Do you think the Food and Drug Administration should have banned energy drinks, like Four Loko, that contain alcohol?
Michael Baldon | Daily Texan Staff
Josue Joseph of the Haitian National Amputee Soccer Team moves to keep Austinite David Escame from gaining control of the ball.
Vote at dailytexanonline.com
Haitian amputees tour United States, compete at Capitol
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Quote to note
LIFE&ARTS PAGE 10
centers for classes, research, programs and organizational support. “I started school at Brown, and I transferred here because of the Center for Mexican American Studies,” said Diana Gomez, a Mexican American studies senior. “We’ve agreed that this organization needs to be a
Confiscated firearms leave officers on gun-tracing campaign
Independent journalist Nir Rosen will speak about his reporting in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan from 7 to 9 p.m. in TCC 1.110.
— Jannifer Wilkins UT studio arts major
www.dailytexanonline.com
By Aziza Musa Daily Texan Staff
Wars in the Muslim world
“It’s really eyeopening to see that music really shapes all aspects of life. The way that music changes, remixes and grows to become popular over time really fascinates me.”
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TOP TEXAS CITIES UP IN ARMS
A panel of five Austin-based video game programmers will lead a discussion about how to break into the industry from 3:30 to 6 p.m. in UTC 2.102A.
Online Poll
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Liberal Arts deficit jeopardizes ethnic studies
Game on
Two robberies occurred in West Campus over the weekend of Nov. 14 with the same suspect description. In both cases, the victim was walking down the street when a white or cream colored sedan pulled up alongside of them. The three suspects exited the vehicle and robbed the victims at gunpoint. If you have any information on these cases contact Detective Steve Boline with the Austin Police Department at (512) 9745000.
TOMORROW’S WEATHER
Elaine Thomas | Associated Press
Alcoholic energy drinks are seen in a cooler reflecting overhead lights at a convenience store. Four Loko has been under investigation by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Four Loko to eliminate caffeine
By Ahsika Sanders Daily Texan Staff The makers of the popular caffeinated alcoholic drink Four Loko announced Tuesday that they would remove caffeine and other stimulants from their products. Phusion Projects made the announcement after it became apparent the Food and Drug Ad-
ministration would rule caffeine is an unsafe additive to alcoholic beverages. The three founders of Phusion Projects insisted that Four Loko and other alcoholic energy drinks were still safe but acknowledged the products had received increased scrutiny recently. Four states have banned caffeinated
alcoholic beverages such as Four Loko and Joose. “We are taking this step after trying — unsuccessfully — to navigate a difficult and politically charged regulatory environment at both the state and federal levels,” the statement said.
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By Yvonne Marquez Daily Texan Staff Emmanuel Ladouceur was on the bottom floor of a three-story building with his family when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti last January. A goalkeeper for a local soccer team, Ladouceur lost his parents when the building collapsed, and only he and his sister survived. After the loss of his left arm in the quake, he is determined to continue playing the sport. Of the 15-member Haitian soccer team, three players lost their limbs in the earthquake. The team played on the Texas Capitol grounds Tuesday afternoon as part of their national tour. The team faced representatives from various nonprofit groups, including Dennis Borel,
the executive director of Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, and Jerry Davis, Goodwill of Central Texas CEO. “People with disabilities are typically the most disadvantaged group demographic in every society,” Borel said. “These folks are coming from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. These folks have demonstrated that given the opportunity and the encouragement that they can do incredible things.” Ladouceur and his teammates played on forearm crutches on a field smaller than one used in professional soccer games. They could not use their crutches to detour the
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