The Daily Texan 12-02-09

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THE DAILY TEXAN LIFE&ARTS PAGE 12

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Brunch beats breakfast Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900

Committee recommends tuition hike

By Viviana Aldous Daily Texan Staff A committee of students and administrators recommended Tuesday that the University increase tuition by slightly less than 4 percent per year over the next two years.

Including a $65 per semester fee for the construction of the new Student Activity Center, the increase translates to about $240 more in tuition each semester for UT undergraduates.

According to the recommendations, without a tuition increase, the University would face budget shortfalls of more than $17 million during the 2010-2011 school year and more than $14 million the following year.

The increases will not generate new funds to pursue President William Powers’ goals of hiring top faculty and graduate students and retaining current employees.

Limited growth in state support and declining payouts from the Available University Fund Endowment has led to the shortfalls in the projected budget.

The Tuition Policy Advisory Committee, which is composed of four student leaders and five faculty members, made its annual recommendations after three months of weekly meetings and discussions. The committee will host

two open forums on its proposals Jan. 20 and Jan. 26 before Powers makes his recommendations to the UT System Board of Regents on Jan. 31.

Committee members said the recommended increases strike a balance between funding UT’s growth and maintaining affordability.

The committee has recommended that the University increase tuition by 3.95 percent per year for the next two years.

Including the new fee, the average semester tuition for a Texas-resident undergraduate student would increase from $4,468 to $4,709 next year. In 2011-2012, tuition would cost $4,895. Nonresident undergraduates who entered UT after the spring of 2006 could pay up to $714 more next fall.

Resident graduate students, who now pay on average $3,882, would pay $218 more next year and another $162 in 2011-2012. Nonresident graduate students who enrolled after spring of 2008 could pay an increase of up to $379 next fall.

Tuition increase recommendations for four graduate student programs are decided by the Office of the Provost: Master in Professional Accounting, MBA,

TUITION continues on page 2

Average Undergraduate Tuition Rates per Semester Average Flat-Rate Tuition (in dollars)

Source: TPAC

Illustration by Thu Vo & Olivia Hinton | Daily Texan Staff

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City supports AIDS victims

Photos by Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff

Above, Sydney VanBerg hangs a bell on the AIDS Bell Banner in honor of AIDS/ HIV victims at A Service of Remembrance and Hope held at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Below, J.J. Lara Jr., listens as Caitlin Morris reads personal messages by clients of The Care Communities, a non-profit organization that supports individuals living with AIDS.

Austinites promote awareness, celebrate World AIDS Day

By Molly Triece Daily Texan Staff Enduring the rain and cold, runners gathered by the Mopac pedestrian bridge for the first World AIDS Day 5K Fun Run on Tuesday.

The race was organized by Capital City Front Runners, a gay and lesbian running group, and was one of the many events that took place around Austin in honor of World AIDS Day. Among others were the 12th annual Service of Remembrance and Hope, hosted by the Care Communities at the Austin Presbyterian Seminary, and the third annual World AIDS Day Conference, organized by students and professors at UT. “We’re hoping it can become an annual event and become more interesting in terms of current development,” said conference coordinator Neville Hoad.

The panels addressed issues ranging from HIV in the transgender population to how volunteers care for persons with AIDS. In addition to professors and students, there were also speakers from AIDS Services of

Austin, the Care Communities and Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services.

“The aim of the conference is to bring different faculty members working on different facets of the problem into the conversation. It’s truly interdisciplinary and we’re presenting stu-

SG focuses on minority recruitment

By Viviana Aldous Daily Texan Staff Student Government members collaborated with student leaders of two organizations that serve underrepresented communities Tuesday to improve their representation within the governmental body.

SG’s Underrepresented Student Recruitment and Retention Agency invited about 80 organizations to the Underrepresented Student Leaders Study Break, which allowed leaders of the different organiDaniela Trujillo | Daily Texan Staff zations to discuss projects. SG Amanda Lopez, Chair of the Finance Committee, speaks Tuesday reminded the organizations night at the Underrepresented leaders meeting. The meeting to apply for SG’s early spring covered issues such as the campus-wide referendum vote. funding and to vote in this week’s University-wide refer“A lot of these organizations “We can do so much more if endum that would amend the have similar missions,” said we all come together as one.”

SG constitution. agency director Cecilia Lopez.

The agency is compiling a

guide of resources, programs and organizations for underrepresented students. “[Information for] the programs is scattered all over the place,” Lopez said. “It’s hard to find, especially for firstyear students.”

Berenice Medellin, social work and sociology senior and member of Kappa Delta Chi, a service-based sorority that mostly serves Hispanic communities, and government senior Jose Torres of the University Leadership Initiative were the only two non-SG members in attendance.

Medellin said most Kappa Delta Chi members did not know about the referendum.

“A lot of our members are

DIVERSITY continues on page 9

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dent research,” Hoad said. “We want to publicize the materials we have.”

Students organized their research findings onto posters and displayed them at the conference. FACE AIDS president Sydney VanBerg created a

AIDS continues on page 2

Former Aggie takes adviser, A&M to court

By Jordan Haeger Daily Texan Staff When Jennifer Temple, a former Texas A&M University student, failed two classes her freshman year, her hopes of transferring to UT were lost.

Now, Temple is suing A&M and the academic adviser who suggested she fail those classes as part of the University’s first-year grade exclusion policy.

The policy permits freshmen who fail a class to exclude that failing grade from their grade point average. When Temple expressed to her A&M adviser, Sofia Fuentes, that she was having difficulty in two classes because her instructors did not speak English clearly, Fuentes suggested she

take advantage of the policy.

It is unclear whether or not the adviser knew of Temple’s intention to transfer to UT to pursue a degree in interior design, a major A&M doesn’t offer. The grade exclusion policy is exclusive to A&M, and Temple’s GPA was too low to transfer to UT because of the failed classes, the suit claims.

Fuentes, a defendant in the suit, told Temple if she dropped the classes, she could be removed from her parents’ insurance policy, which Temple’s attorney, Gaines West, said is not true.

Representatives from A&M’s General Academic Programs advising office did not return phone

SUIT continues on page 2

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AIDS: Groups organize to raise awareness of victims

CONTACT US

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poster about the organization and its daily campaign on campus. “It gets kind of tiring to do what we do because sometimes we feel like our message isn’t being heard,� VanBerg said. “That’s why conferences [such as] these are really important and inspiring.�

She said this is the chapter ’s first year participating without any of its founding members, but the organization continues to fulfill its daily routine of tabling on the West Mall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tablers accept donations, recruit new members and sell AIDS-awareness pins. “FACE AIDS employs individuals who have been affected by HIV, and they make these pins,� VanBerg said. “For these pins they are paid a stipend.�

Each pin costs $5, and the profits are sent back to central FACE AIDS offices, where the organization Partners in Health has donors to match each chapter ’s sales. VanBerg said Partners in Health and FACE AIDS build clinics, schools and other

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 Web Office: (512) 471-8616 online@dailytexanonline.com Sports Office: (512) 232-2210 sports@dailytexanonline.com Life & Arts Office: (512) 232-2209 lifeandarts@dailytexanonline.com Photo Office: (512) 471-8618 photo@dailytexanonline.com Retail Advertising: (512) 471-1865 joanw@mail.utexas.edu

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alleges adviser gave bad advice From page 1 calls by press time. “She was not told that her overall GPA would include those courses that she eventually flunked, and she wasn’t able to get into UT,� West said.

West said his client is suing A&M, as well as several individuals in the advising department because Fuentes’ allegedly poor advice was a violation of the law.

According to the suit, Temple’s right to pursue an education has been denied by A&M, without due process, which is a violation of the Texas Constitution.

West said he has heard from several students who have similar complaints about academic advisers at A&M. Temple is suing A&M for the cost of her legal fees, which will be substantial, West said.

He said he expects the trial to take six to nine months and that A&M, represented by the Texas Attorney General’s Office, will try to drag the process out as long as possible. “A&M has stuck their head in the sand in terms of responding,� West said.

resources in communities devastated by AIDS. “They want it to be community-centered. They have a lot of individuals in the community go out and provide medication to people who can’t leave their homes,� VanBerg said.

Jaclyn Markovich, a member of Student Global AIDS Campaign, said students can get involved in the cause without even joining an organization. She took a course on the history of AIDS, which she said encouraged dialogue between students about the effects of the disease from sub-Saharan Africa to Austin.

In 2008, students in the class surveyed about 300 students across campus on their knowledge of HIV and AIDS. Markovich said most of the answers “fell in line with common knowledge� but some people used information from episodes of “South Park� or asserted that AIDS was so widespread in Africa because they have sex with monkeys.

According to the United Nations, roughly 33 million people in the world live with HIV, 22.4 million of whom are in sub-

Sara Young | Daily Texan Staff

Emily Davis, left, distributes flowers to runners before the World AIDS Day 5K run and ceremony hosted by the Capital City Front Runners.

Saharan Africa. Agency spokes- have the disease. man Micah King of AIDS Servic“World AIDS Day is an impores of Austin estimates that near- tant date for remembering those ly 6,000 people in Central Texas we’ve lost in the epidemic and

TUITION: ‘The 3.95 percent increase is very ... modest’ Average Graduate Tuition Rates per Semester

From page 1 Doctor of Pharmacy, and law.

Using the committee’s recommendations, Powers develops his own tuition recommendation and presents it to the Board of Regents, which is responsible for setting tuition.

Source: TPAC

Impact on the Budget Even after the tuition increase, the University will have to continue making reallocations within the budget to pay for Powers’ priorities. “The [increase] merely cuts the deficit back to about zero,� said Kevin Hegarty, committee co-chair and UT’s vice president and chief financial officer.

The committee does not make decisions about how the budget, aside from tuition, should be handled. Cutting the budget by more than $17 million, if tuition is not raised, could result in reductions of course availability, staff, equipment and academic and student-support services, Hegarty said. He said because the average salary of staffers is about $50,000, including benefits, cutting the budget by $17 million could eliminate more than 300 jobs.

An increase of nearly 18 percent per year over the next two years would be required to fund the University’s critical priorities, according to the recommendations. “The 3.95 percent increase is very,

Illustration by Olivia Hinton | Daily Texan Staff

very modest,� said Lauren Ratliff, Senate of College Councils president and a TPAC member. “Without the increase, students are already feeling the impact of the economic situation, [including] fewer classes being offered. Even with the increase, we’re going to lose quality, academic programs and student services.�

Doug Dempster, dean of the College of Fine Arts and a committee member, said he does not think the increase will affect enrollment numbers within the college but believes that the school may not have the resources and programs

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reflecting on where we are in preventing the disease and treating those who suffer from it,â&#x20AC;?

King said.

Average Flat-Rate Tuition (in dollars)

THE DAILY TEXAN

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Shabab Siddiqui, Molly Triece, Jordan Haeger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Israel Perez, Vidushi Shrimali Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Daniela Trujillo, Eric Ou Life&Arts Writers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gerald Rich, Molly Wahlberg, Katherine Kloc, Allistair Pinsof Columnist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Calvin Sloan Copy Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vicky Ho, Michael Moran, Kelsey Crow Sports/Life&Arts Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Megan Jones Wire Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Waldman Page Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mustafa Saifuddin, Lindsey Estes, Chris Benavides Comics Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Emery Ferguson, Michael Bowman, Alex Diamond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jeremy Johnson, Connor Shea, Monica Tseng, Ryohei Yatsu Web Technician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jonathan Damrich Videographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blas Garcia

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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.

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to increase its diversity.

Dempster also said the increase will still leave the college with financial shortages needed to sustain curriculum and programs.

Student Response Some students say there should be alternatives to tuition increases to remedy the budget deficit.

Perla Carrasco, a communication studies senior and president of the Hispanic Student Association, said she thinks an increase could affect minority enrollment at UT because minorities are among those who have financial problems when paying for tuition. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tuition is a little too overpriced for what resources are available to students,â&#x20AC;? Carrasco said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think if it increases even more and the economy stays the same, a lot of students will have more problems trying to come up with the money they need to pay for tuition.â&#x20AC;?

Chris Neighbors, the Longhorn American Indian Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s co-director of operations and a radio-television-film junior, said he would not be surprised if an increase reduces the number of minority students on campus. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see as many lower-income students or independent students because they simply canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford it, and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have to opt for a less expensive education,â&#x20AC;? Neighbors said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[Administrators] shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get comfortable with increasing tuition.

They should implement preventative measures to avoid deficits so they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just increase tuition when thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a problem.â&#x20AC;?

The Tuition Policy Advisory Committee was created in 2003 after the Texas Legislature deregulated tuition, which consequently allowed public universities, rather than the state, to set tuition rates.

Tuition is set every two years, but the committee meets weekly every fall. Committee meetings are not open to the public.

Four of the nine committee members are students: Ratliff; Stu-

dent Government President Liam Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke; President of the Graduate Student Assembly Daniel Spikes; and SG at-large Representative Cecilia Lopez.

Along with co-chairs Hegarty and Provost Steven Leslie; Dempster; Victoria Rodriguez, vice provost and dean of graduate studies; and Pauline Strong, chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee on Budgets, sit on the committee.

Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke said if tuition is not increased modestly, there will be negative ramifications. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As a student who pays his way through and is on financial aid, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d rather pay a little more for good teachers, classes and services,â&#x20AC;? Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t getting funded adequately from the state. Higher education is not a priority for the state Legislature, and if they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fund higher education, then the money has to come from somewhere.â&#x20AC;?

Last spring, University Democrats and College Republicans joined to urge a reversal of tuition deregulation at the Capitol, encouraging the Legislature to take back tuition-setting powers from System Regents.

The regents already cap year-to-year tuition increases at 4.95 percent.

College Republicans President Mikael Garcia said he does not think raising tuition is the only way to solve budget problems. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure there are other things we can do here on campus, that the administration can do to cut costs elsewhere and not have to raise tuition,â&#x20AC;? Garcia said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just trying to use scare tactics to have us agree with it.â&#x20AC;?

The committee will post its report on its Web site for students to view before the University-wide forums in January. The site will also be equipped for public feedback.

The committee will present its recommendations to the Senate of College Councils at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Glenn Maloney Room, G1.310A, of the Student Services Building. The committee will hold University-wide forums at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20 and at 1 p.m. Jan. 26.

SPECIAL ELECTION: Vote on the Election Reform changes to the SG Constitution on Dec. 1 & 2

Visit: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/student_gov/sg_election.WBX

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Wire Editor: Beth Waldman www.dailytexanonline.com

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

T he Daily Texan

UN slams Swiss Obama’s aunt fears deportation ban on building mosque minarets

By Bradley S. Klapper The Associated Press GENEVA — The United Nations called Switzerland’s ban on new minarets “clearly discriminatory” and deeply divisive, and the Swiss foreign minister acknowledged Tuesday the government was very concerned about how the vote would affect the country’s image.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said Sunday’s referendum to outlaw the construction of minarets in Switzerland was the product of “anti-foreigner scare-mongering.”

The criticism from Pillay, whose office is based in Geneva, comes after an outcry from Muslim countries, Switzerland’s European neighbors and human rights watchdogs since 57.5 percent of the Swiss population ratified the ban.

The Swiss government opposed the initiative but has sought to defend it as an action not against Islam or Muslims, but one aimed at improving integration and fighting extremism.

“These are extraordinary claims when the symbol of one religion is targeted,” Pillay said in a statement. She said she was saddened to see xenophobic arguments gain such traction with Swiss voters despite their “long-standing support of fundamental human rights.”

The referendum doesn’t affect Switzerland’s four existing minarets or the ability of Muslims to practice their religion. It only bans the towers used to put out the Islamic call to prayer.

But wealthy Arab tourists might think twice now about spending their money in Geneva and other Swiss cities, and the neutral country’s efforts to mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could also suffer.

Sweden, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, said the United Nations should reconsider its presence in Geneva, where it employs thousands of people and holds hundreds of conferences each year.

“Questions could very well be raised within the U.N. about holding meetings and activities in Switzerland, even if the Geneva canton belonged to those which voted against the ban,” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on his blog.

Bildt said the vote was a poor act of diplomacy on Switzerland’s part.

“Even if this is Switzerland, it sends a very unfortunate signal to large parts of the rest of the world about attitudes and prejudices in Europe,” Bildt said. “We all have an interest in showing that this impression is false and in the longterm even dangerous.”

In Athens on Tuesday, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said the government was worried about the ban.

“We are very concerned with this referendum. The reality of our societies in Europe and throughout the world is that each limitation on the coexistence of different cultures and religions also endangers our security,” Calmy-Rey said.

By Rodrique Ngowi The Associated Press BOSTON — President Barack Obama’s aunt buried her face in her hands and sobbed as she described her anguish over no longer having contact with him and his family after the revelation she had been living illegally in the United States in public housing.

Zeituni Onyango (zay-TUH’nee awn-YAHN’-goh) told The Associated Press in an interview that she is troubled that her immigration woes have made her a political liability to her nephew.

Onyango, the half sister of Obama’s late father, said she has exiled herself from the family after attending Obama’s inauguration because she didn’t want to become fodder for his foes. Obama and his family have not reached out to her either, she said.

“Before, we were family. But right now, there is a lot of politics, and me, I am not interested in any politics at all,” said Onyango, whose appeal for asylum from her native Kenya is before an immigration judge in Boston.

The Obamas are her only family in the United States, she said.

“It is very sad when such a thing happens. There are people, outsiders, you know, they come in between, they divide a family,” she said last week. “It’s not easy.”

Onyango, 57, is protective of Obama and said she never asked him to intervene in her case and didn’t tell him about her immigration difficulties.

“I carry my own cross,” she said. “He has nothing to do with my problem.”

The White House said Obama has had no involvement in his aunt’s case and believes it should run its ordinary course.

Demonstrators protest on Tuesday against the results of a vote that bans new minarets in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Onyango helped care for the president’s half brothers and sister while living with Barack Obama Sr. in Kenya. She moved to the United States in 2000 and applied for asylum in 2002, but her request was rejected and she was ordered deported in 2004.

However, she did not leave the

country and continued to live in public housing in Boston. She had been a health care volunteer but not since her status became public. She refused to discuss how she affords to live now or who is paying for her attorney.

Onyango said she previously had no trouble visiting Obama

US seeks aid in Afghan war from NATO nations In conjunction with new US troop deployments, Obama turns to Europe

Jean-Luc Barmaverian | Associated Press

Josh Reynolds | Associated Press

President Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, becomes emotional during an interview at her home in Boston on Nov. 24.

when he was a state senator in Illinois or after he became a U.S. senator, though she declined to discuss details of how often she had contact with Obama and his family. Her tiny apartment, in a modest subsidized public housing complex for seniors and the disabled, is adorned with photographs of her with Obama at the Illinois Statehouse, the president’s official portrait, his family, the inauguration, her children and African wildlife.

She is disabled and learning to walk again after being paralyzed for more than three months because of an autoimmune disorder called GuillainBarre syndrome.

Her status as an illegal alien was revealed in October 2008, days before Obama was elected. Obama said he did not know his aunt was living in the U.S. illegally and said he believes the law should be followed.

A judge agreed to suspend Onyango’s deportation order in December and reopened her asylum case. A hearing will be held in February, when Onyango can present her reasons for seeking asylum. The judge will then decide if she will be deported.

Her attorney, Margaret Wong, said Onyango first applied for asylum because of violence in Kenya, an East African nation fractured by cycles of electoral violence every five years. People who seek asylum must show that they face persecution in their homeland on the basis of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.

Immigration experts say Onyango’s relationship to the president could strengthen her claim that she would be subjected to danger at home.

By Slobodan Lekic The Associated Press BRUSSELS — President Barack Obama is asking European members of NATO to contribute up to 10,000 additional troops to the international force in Afghanistan, officials with the military alliance said Tuesday.

A diplomat from a European nation said the troop figure was included in an official NATO document compiled on the basis of information received from Washing-

ton before Obama’s planned announcement later Tuesday of new U.S. troop deployments.

Paris was being asked to provide 1,500 troops, said the official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Apart from 30,000 additional troops Obama is expected to send to Afghanistan, the French total would be the single largest new contribution to the expanded NATO-led force, the official said.

A second official, from another European NATO member nation, also said Europe was being asked for up to 10,000 more troops.

They said that although Obama wants more combat troops from

the allies, the prime emphasis will be on military instructors to train the expanding Afghan army. Other top priorities will include funding to pay for the training program, the new Afghan troops, and new equipment.

Committing additional troops for Afghanistan will be a tough sell for many allied governments at a time of economic crisis and shrinking defense budgets. Polls show that most Europeans oppose sending more soldiers into what many consider an unwinnable conflict.

So far, only Britain, Slovakia, Turkey, Georgia, South Korea and tiny Montenegro have indicated a

willingness to cooperate and contribute more troops to the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan.

The U.S. now has 71,000 troops in Afghanistan, while other NATO members and allies collectively have 36,000 service members there. With the added forces, the international force would grow to more than 140,000 soldiers.

The Afghan army has about 94,000 troops, and the Afghan police number about 93,000 members. They face an estimated 25,000 Taliban insurgents.

At the height of the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, its forces in that country totaled 118,000 troops.

American woman petitions Chinese government on behalf of fiance

By Cara Anna The Associated Press BEIJING — She joins the crush of Chinese petitioners outside the high, well-guarded gates on cold Beijing mornings. Like the others, she has a grievance against the government — in her case, a fiance jailed on a charge she says is untrue.

But unlike the others, Julie Harms is American and a Harvard graduate. And as she haunts government offices in a long search for justice, even the officials stare.

“She got in!” others called out, cheering a rare success at getting past the gate.

Harms said later she didn’t make it past security. Despite

what the crowd might expect of a foreigner, she has made little progress. Her boyfriend faces his second trial on trespassing charges on Wednesday.

Chinese citizens have brought grievances about corruption and injustice to Beijing for centuries, first to the emperor and now to the ruling communist party. Some stay in the capital for months or years, camping out under highways. Some are grabbed off the streets and sent home, often being held in unofficial detention centers petitioners call “black jails.”

Harms is believed to be one of the few, and perhaps the first, foreign petitioner. Largely spared the rough treatment Chinese petition-

Wella Certified Master Colorist

ers often receive, the results are no different. She finds official suspicion, indifference and the desire that complainers would go away.

The 30-year-old Harms met Liu Shiliang a decade ago at a post office while she was traveling in China and majoring in East Asian studies at Harvard. They were engaged in 2007.

Their wedding has been delayed after a neighbor beat Liu up in their village later that year in Anhui province when Liu was home to visit family. The neighbor already was accused of attacking some of Liu’s relatives, and his family wonders whether Liu’s arrival was mistaken as an attempt at revenge. Liu went to the hos-

pital with serious injuries, Harms said. The neighbor went to jail.

But Liu ended up facing a trespassing charge in the incident. He was arrested in June in the southern city of Shenzhen, where he runs a shipping company, and has been jailed without bail ever since, Harms said.

She has seen him once, in handcuffs, at a trial that ended two months ago with the case being sent back to prosecutors, a move which usually means the judges think the evidence is shoddy.

Harms started petitioning about a year ago, when she learned her fiance was on a local “most wantNg Han Guan | Associated Press ed” list for the trespassing charge.

U.S. petitioner Julie Harms continues her quest in Beijing Nov. 19.

She found it absurd.

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

OpiniOn T he Daily Texan

Editor in Chief: Jillian Sheridan Phone: (512) 232-2212 E-mail: editor@dailytexanonline.com Associate Editors: Jeremy Burchard David Muto Dan Treadway Lauren Winchester

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VIeWPOINT

What tuition increases mean

The University of California’s recent decision to hike tuition rates by 32 percent next fall will serve as a benchmark in the years ahead — a figure that public universities nationwide, facing budget shortfalls and losses in state financing, will run from as they mull tuition increases while hoping to avoid aggressive pushback from students.

That 32 percent, which UC system regents approved in response to the state’s unprecedented financial strains, makes the UT Tuition Policy Advisory Committee’s recent tuition-hike recommendation — nearly 4 percent per year for the next two years — look like a win for Texas students.

But the recommendation — which UT President William Powers received Tuesday and will likely heed while preparing recommendations of his own to present to the UT System Board of Regents on Jan. 31 — serves as a reminder of the difficulties the University faces in balancing quality of education and affordability during an economic downturn. The committee noted in its recommendation that, even with the tuition increase, the University will be forced to continue with cost-cutting measures to maintain academic standards.

Knee-jerk attacks on tuition increases of any sort are understandable, especially as the University continues on its questionable path toward prioritizing Powers’ goals of recruiting top faculty and graduate students, even as a recession forces layoffs and program cuts.

But students should remember that these are only recommendations. The advisory committee will hold forums in January at which students will have the opportunity to voice their opinions.

Students should also remember that efforts to fight tuition hikes have drawn considerable bipartisan support in the past from political organizations on campus, including University Democrats and College Republicans. The two groups teamed up in the spring to press for tuition re-regulation, which would put tuition-setting power back in the hands of the Texas Legislature.

The two organizations would be wise to continue to focus on this local political issue in which they have a direct stake, both as students looking to influence tuition-setting power as well as students at the helm of groups that should be looking to educate the student body on critical issues.

Again, as it proves to be annually, rising tuition is ripe for discussion and debate on a campus in which students wield not only considerable influence by way of political organizations, but also individual influence with the power to speak out. Debate and protest may not reach the confrontational heights it did on California campuses two weeks ago, but students should be eager to participate in — and listen to — these discussions concerning their futures.

— David Muto for the editorial board

eNDOrseMeNT

Vote yes on Student Government referendum Students can vote online today in a campus-wide referendum election to amend the Student Government Constitution.

We recommend a vote in favor of the amendments, which will, among other changes, dilute the SG president’s power over elections. If the referendum passes, the Election Supervisory Board and its chairman will no longer be appointed by the SG president.

Rather, the board will be selected by representatives from all entities that opt to use the code. Board decisions will now be appealed directly to the UT Law School’s Appellate Court rather than SG’s Judicial Commission.

This is an appropriate response to last year’s election scandal, in which the SG president and the supervisory board chairman he appointed stirred controversy after campaigning for current SG President Liam O’Rourke.

Voting started Tuesday and will continue today until 5 p.m. To vote, visit https://utdirect.utexas.edu/student_gov/sg_election.WBX

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

Afghanistan becomes Obama’s war

By Calvin Sloan Daily Texan Columnist On Tuesday morning, President Barack Obama announced the deployment of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

Since taking office, Obama has already sent 21,000 additional troops in April and quietly deployed 13,000 more in October.

Without a doubt, Afghanistan has become Obama’s war. Perhaps in the near future it will be viewed as his Achilles’ heel.

The question is: why? What are the real goals for occupying the country?

The stated objectives are clear.

We need to stop terrorism overseas to prevent 9/11-like attacks here at home. In his momentous speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in June, Obama said, “We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan, and now Pakistan, determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can.”

Yet the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report show that the attack was planned and carried out by al-Qaida operatives in Paris; Hamburg; Falls Church, Va.; and Sarasota, Fla. Furthermore, these operations were

funded not by Afghanistan but primarily by Saudi Arabia.

Al-Qaida is a nebulous network. It does not need a home base to operate. As reported by The Washington Post, there remain fewer than 100 members of the group left in Afghanistan. So what are the real motivations behind continuing the eight-yearplus occupation of the country?

The views of Obama advisers such as Zbigniew Brzezinski expose the veiled truth. In an interview with PBS, Brzezinski, the former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter said that he is “not an energy expert, but just using common sense and the knowledge available to all of us, it seems to [him] evident we’re going to be dependent on natural gas and oil for some decades to come, even if we do things that we need to do.”

It makes logical, imperial sense for the United States to expand its empire in these areas, in what Brzezinski labels as “the Global Balkans.” As suggested

by Brzezinski, “for us to have a strong position in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf is not only an economic necessity; it’s potentially a source of enormous strategic leverage on others.”

Although Afghanistan is not a fossil-fuel giant like Iraq, its

geographical position is consequential for the world’s energy order. There exist valuable deposits of oil and natural gas in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, all of which either border or are in close proximity to Afghanistan.

As of April 2008, the U.S. brokered a deal between India and Turkmenistan over Caspian resources. The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, if successfully negotiated and constructed, will allow Turkmenistan’s natural gas to flow via pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan and into India by 2015. Such a possibility explains the intensity of geopolitics in the region. The deal isolates Iran and its ability to market its gas abroad.

In what has been dubbed the “Af-Pak war,” the state of Pakistan is now intricately involved in U.S. Overseas Contingency Operations. The Pentagon is surely eyeing Balochistan, the southern-most state of Pakistan, which is rich in natural resources and contains three Arabian seaports. As reported by Jeremy Scahill at The Nation magazine, Xe Services, the company formerly known as Blackwater, has been actively assassinating targets in Karachi, a port city just east of Balochistan. Ensuring that government officials of these vi-

tal seaports are pro-Western will be vital for future pipeline and shipping agreements.

It is bad enough that U.S. AfPak policies are masked behind counterfeit altruism, but what is even more embarrassing is that these policies are failing miserably. The corrupt re-election of Hamid Karzai, and Obama’s endorsement of it are examples of where the war in Afghanistan is headed.

More failures will be celebrated and more mistakes will be compounded.

The facts on the ground are foreboding. In 2002, there were 5,200 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. By the end of Obama’s surge, there will be more than 100,000. The war casualties, particularly IED fatalities, are rising exponentially, with 2009 going on record as the bloodiest year to date.

As journalistDahr Jamail has written, the Median and Persian empires, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids, the Indo-Greeks, the Turks, the Mongols, the British and the Soviets all failed to conquer and occupy Afghanistan.

Regardless of Obama’s increase, the U.S. will not be the exception.

Sloan is a government junior

Texas needs comprehensive sex education to protect its teens

By Jennifer Brute Daily Texan Guest Columnist Do you remember that fateful night when your parents sat you down for “the talk”? You were trapped awkwardly on the opposite side of the dining room table as they rattled off about the birds and the bees. Or that junior high afternoon spent giggling over tampons and condoms as your gym-teacher-turned-sexeducator anxiously tried to explain particular anatomy to a hormonal classroom.

Pivotal moments in our lives that helped mold a foundation for the ideals of love, conversations on sex and relationships are becoming extinct concepts in area schools. Consequently, Texas teens are living in jeopardy of unplanned pregnancies and contracting life-threatening viruses.

Information provided by the Centers for Disease Control indicates that Texas is currently ranked fifth in the nation for teen pregnancies and, according to the Kaiser Foundation, ranked fourth for highest number of AIDS cases nationwide.

In the Austin-Round Rock area alone, 12.5 percent of the population is living with HIV and

13.1 percent living with AIDS, according to a 2007 surveillance report provided by the CDC. Implementing a statewide comprehensive sex education program will offer students information about safe-sex practices and significantly decrease teen pregnancy rates and sexually transmitted infections and lower the risks of contracting HIV overall.

By taking a step into Texas classrooms and maintaining sensitivity for all moral viewpoints on sexuality, as well as staying informed about the consequences of risky sex practices, we can better assess the necessity for sex education that not only encourages teens to abstain, but also teaches them what to do when faced with challenging circumstances.

Currently, sex education is not required in Texas schools. However, if a district does opt to offer a course, Texas law mandates that it devote more time and put more emphasis on abstinence, while condom distribution is forbidden.

According to information provided by the Sexual Information and Education Council of the United States, Texas received

more than $18 million in federal funding for abstinence-only programs in 2007. Who wouldn’t save themselves with an incentive like that?

Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating that abstinence education be completely thrown out the window. Abstinence, whether rooted in personal morality or religious belief, is a noble endeavor and a challenge in a world in which explicit messages soil our eyes and ears beginning in our youth. With many teens balancing on that rickety see-saw of temptation, providing them with safe-sex information and condoms may seem like a recipe for failure.

On the contrary, if handed a pamphlet and a condom, would you be dashing for the nearest hotel room or pull-out mattress?

Simply equipping our teens with the tools to protect themselves and consequently lowering their vulnerability to pregnancy or contracting infections is not handing them a license to “get it on.”

Bringing comprehensive sex education programs into our schools will cause a significant decrease in the rate of teen pregnancy and STDs. Some startling

statistics prove that our teens deserve the opportunity to receive medically accurate and honest information about sexual activity to protect themselves.

Recent research conducted by the CDC has found that abstinence-only programs cause no significant decrease in risk-related behavior, while there is evidence that comprehensive riskreduction programs are effective.

Research may offer an overview of the issues Texas youth are facing but certainly won’t solve any problems.

Whether you are a teen, a parent of a teen or were a teenager once yourself, the lack of comprehensive sex education in our schools touches every citizen of this state.

Do not mistake supporting comprehensive sexual education programs for compromising values. See it as an opportunity to save someone you care about.

Working with a local school and writing letters to your state representative are small steps you can take to transform education and influence the decisions of those in power in our community.

Brute is a marketing senior

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Panel highlights political history of Latin America Historians highlight significance of common colonial past of region

By Jordan Haeger Daily Texan Staff As the bicentennial of the Mexican War of Independence approaches in September, historians have the unique opportunity to review Mexico’s history and that of other Latin-American countries.

Mauricio Tenorio, a professor of history at the University of Chicago, Roberto Breña, a visiting professor from El Colegio de Mexico and Jose Antonio Aguilar, a professor from Mexico’s Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas, made individual presentations about the history and the current state of Latin America in a panel discussion Tuesday.

Tenorio discussed the history of democracy and monarchy in Latin America and the connection of the history of the United States to that of Mexico’s.

“Nobody seems to be willing to defend democracy as the structure of the state,” said Tenorio.

Mexico has become a weak nation, militarily and economically, he said.

Aguilar ’s presentation focused on Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, and how his administration diminished the significance of the commemoration of the anniversary of Mexican independence from Spain.

Over the past three years,

Calderón has employed several different historians to organize nationwide events to commemorate the anniversary. Historians believe the Mexican government doesn’t care about history, or this occasion, Aguilar said. The people of Mexico seem disengaged from historical events as well, he said.

“Mexicans used to be enamored with their history,” he said. “Mexicans are more concerned about the future now.”

Breña said the history of Latin American independence should not be thought of as just the wars fought in Mexico or the imperialism of Spain, but as the collective past of the monarchy of Spain and the several colonies it once controlled, including Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and several other Latin American countries.

“When you study the Thirteen Colonies, you have to understand what was going on with England,” he said.

“You have to study all the territories, not one individually.

That’s what we’ve been doing in Latin America for a very long time.”

Rosalba Ojeda, the Consul General of Mexico in Austin, said this event brings awareness to Latin American issues as well as celebrates the bicentennial.

“It’s a way to showcase different views about history and politics in different countries,” Aguilar said. “That’s part of what makes universities interesting.”

Eric Ou | Daily Texan Staff

Roberto Breña discusses the history of democracy and independence in Latin America as the 200th anniversary of the Mexican War of Independence approaches.

Daniela Trujillo | Daily Texan Staff

Executive Vice President and Provost Steve Leslie discusses tuition increases and its effects at the Student Government meeting Tuesday, which was the last meeting of the semester.

SG amends its election timeline Students vote in support of UT domestic partner benefits, discuss tuition

By Shabab Siddiqui Daily Texan Staff Student Government unanimously passed legislation establishing a timeline for the upcoming student body election during Tuesday’s general assembly meeting.

The Assembly also passed legislation in support of domestic partner benefits, and the meeting featured a visit by UT Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hegarty and Executive Vice President and Provost Steven Leslie, who spoke as representatives of the Tuition Policy Advisory Committee.

The major dates established by the election timeline slots Feb. 9 as the last day to apply for candidacy, Feb. 17 as the first day of campaigning and March 2 and 3 as election days, with announcements also on March 3.

The timeline, which was fasttracked to give potential candidates advance warning of the schedule before school lets out for the winter break, underwent two amendments.

Liberal Arts Representative John Lawler suggested all dates be moved forward one day so

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that campaigning could end on a Monday as opposed to a Friday.

Lawler cited the importance of name recognition the day before the election and the relatively lower campus traffic on Fridays.

“This is something that’s very important to me, and everyone who ran as an individual,” said Lawler. “You wanted that extra day, that extra moment.

Why can’t we have that for everyone?”

The amendment passed with a simple majority, and a subsequent amendment was added by co-authors and University-wide Representatives Carly Castetter and Alex Ferraro to place new dates for financial disclosures.

The assembly also passed AR 26, which advocates ben-

efits, including health insurance and bereavement leave, for domestic partners.

John Woods, a graduate representative and co-author of the resolution, said denying these benefits cripples the University’s ability to attract top faculty.

“If we want UT to meet its goal of becoming the top public institution in the country, then this is really an issue,” Woods said.

Hegarty and Leslie, co-chairmen of TPAC, spoke at the assembly regarding the committee’s final tuition recommendations after three months of weekly deliberations. The committee suggested a 3.95 percent increase per year and will hold public hearings open to all students Jan. 16 and

Jan. 20 to receive feedback.

The recommendations are submitted to University President William Powers, who after making his own recommendations, submits them to the UT System Board of Regents, which ultimately makes the tuition decision in March.

Hegarty said the tuition increase is just enough to cover operation costs and does not provide funds for increasing salaries, recruiting faculty and implementing new programs.

“Even with this tuition increase, the University has to look within its own budgets,” Hegarty said. “We can’t go another year like we did this year without giving faculty and staff salary increases.”

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN AND THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS announce

THE KEENE PRIZE FOR LITERATURE $50,000 award Three runners-up will be awarded $17,000 each.

The Keene Prize will be awarded to a University of Texas at Austin undergraduate or graduate student who writes “the most vivid and vital portrayal of the American experience in microcosm.”

You may submit poetry, plays, and fictional or non-fictional prose.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Submission forms and rules available at: www.utexas.edu/cola/student-affairs/Programs/ Keene-Prize.php

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The Keene Prize is named after Mr. E. L. Keene, a 1942 graduate of The University of Texas. Mr. Keene envisioned an award that would “encourage the writing of good American literature” and “enhance and enrich the prestige and reputation in the world market of American writers both now and in the future.”

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Yale Press refuses to print cartoons for fear of violence

By Shabab Siddiqui Daily Texan Staff The American Association of University Professors criticized the Yale University Press on Tuesday for its decision not to reprint controversial cartoons attacking the Prophet Muhammad, calling the decision a compromise of academic freedom.

The statement came in response to Yale University Press’ August decision not to reprint controversial cartoons satirizing Islam and the Prophet Muhammad because of the possibility that their publication could lead to violence. The so-called “Muhammad cartoons” were to appear in “The Cartoons That Shook the World,” a book

by Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen. The 12 cartoons were published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005 and set off a wave of protests in Islamic countries around the world in 2006 that resulted in scores of deaths.

The rest of the book will be published as planned and will be released late in December.

The AAUP said the press’ decision to not include the cartoons, though reluctantly agreed to by the author, compromises a commitment to the free exchange of ideas.

“The incident at Yale … casts serious doubt on their, and our, commitment to freedom of expression in general, and academic freedom in particular,” the statement said. “The failure to stand up for free expression emboldens those who would attack and undermine it. It is time for colleges and universities in particular to exercise moral and intellectual leadership.”

In an official statement, the press, which is affiliated with but financially autonomous from Yale University, maintains its support for the book

but said it consulted several experts before coming to a decision to ultimately not print the cartoons. The group said the decision had nothing to do with avoiding a political backlash but rather a fear of causing real violence.

“The press would never have reached the decision it did on the grounds that some might be offended by portrayals of the Prophet Muhammad,” the press said in a statement. “Indeed, Yale University Press has printed books in the past that included images of the Prophet. The decision rested solely on the experts’ assessments that there existed a substantial likelihood of violence that might take the lives of innocent victims.”

UT College of Communications lecturer David Donaldson said Yale has the right to legally remove the cartoons from the book, just as Klausen has the right to have it published elsewhere.

“One side of the equation is that if [the book has not] been published, the authors get to decide whether they want to accept those changes,” Donaldson said. “If it’s a smart decision for Yale not to print the cartoons because they have a proven propensity to cause violence, it is free to make those decisions one way or another.”

Donaldson said he would like to have the cartoons printed in the book, but it is important to consider political sensitivity.

“I think in the overall context, in the teaching process, I would want to see and to be able to understand the political power of those cartoons,” Donaldson said. “[But] I can understand Yale’s decision that they don’t want to do it that way. I didn’t think they were that inciteful. Of course I’m not of that religious view, and I don’t know what it means to them.”

Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff

M. Anwar Sounny-Slitine, a geography and environment graduate student, is one of two UT students who will attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Sounny-Slitine was chosen from more than 10,000 members of the Association of American Geographers.

UT students head to Copenhagen

By Israel Perez Daily Texan Staff When representatives from 192 nations meet in Copenhagen for a 12-day conference about climate change, two UT students will be among the dignitaries.

M. Anwar Sounny-Slitine, a geography and environment graduate student, and government junior Rachel Aitkens were selected to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference by two national organizations and will be present as official United Nations observers.

The nations will meet Dec. 7 through Dec. 18 to decide on an international strategy for fighting climate change. The White House announced Wednesday that President Obama will speak at the conference on his way to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.

Sounny-Slitine was chosen from thousands of applicants as a mem-

Professor endorses Web tools

By Vidushi Shrimali Daily Texan Staff In an age where adults blame new gadgets and social networking sites as the cause for students’ misconduct and poor educational performance, Allan Collins, a professor at Northwestern University, is encouraging students and teachers to use iPhones and Web sites, including Facebook, not only as entertainment, but also in the classroom.

Anthony Petrosino, a professor in the College of Education, asked Collins to speak at UT after he saw a posting on Collins’ Facebook page about his tour for “Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology,” a book Collins co-authored with peer Richard Halverson. Collins spoke at the University on Tuesday as part of UTeach’s Lecture Series. “[His book] spoke [about] a lot of issues and topics we are grappling with,” said Petrosino. “Collins’ work already has a huge influence on our graduate and undergraduate program. There are very few classes we offer in which an article by Dr. Collins is not present.”

Collins spoke on the benefits of what he calls new education, a growing internal movement that turns to technology to provide individualAllan Collins, professor emeritus at Northwestern University, spoke Tuesday about restructuring educational approaches to include current technologies in his “Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology” tour.

Sara Young Daily Texan Staff

ized instruction.

“We don’t let [students] use books, calculators or the Web when taking a test. But what matters in the real world is how well you can mobilize different sources like the Web to try to solve problems,” Collins said.

Collins summarized the history of education in three eras.

“In the apprenticeship era, education was personal, resource intensive, and engaging,” Collins said. “In the schooling era, education was mass-oriented, efficient and bureaucratic. In the lifelonglearning era, education is becoming customized, highly interactive and learner-controlled.”

In new education and virtual and online high schools and colleges like the University of Phoenix, books are at least supplemented, if not replaced, with the Web, and students are given more freedom to choose what they learn.

Children as young as three or four years old use handheld devices similar to the Kindle or iPhone, with stories, animations and voice recordings to practice reading skills, and students of all levels and ages have access to Web tutors and computer-based learning software that will allow them to work at their own pace and pursue individual interests.

Collins suggested questioning the current education systems, including the system of a high school, and replacing them with home schooling or a form of more individualized education.

“One of the problems with school is that we teach these things that in no context are relevant to real life,” Collins said. “Most students learn calculus and have no clue why they are going to use that in real life. I certainly didn’t and most teachers don’t.”

Brad Armosky, an employee at the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University, pointed out that university professors have the opportunity to pursue alternative teaching methods that elementary education teachers cannot.

“At university, if a faculty member wants to try something new, if it works, great.

If it doesn’t, faculty and students can make up for it, no harm done. K-12 teachers can’t afford to take such a risk. They can’t say, let me try something totally new, using a level of technology we can’t use. If it doesn’t work, the two, three days you invested in the present topic, the kids didn’t learn what they needed to learn. What are the repercussions of missing that piece of information?” Armosky said.

ber of the Association of American Geographers, a national organization of geography experts.

“I’m excited to be able to represent the University of Texas,” Sounny-Slitine said. “I’m most excited to see how global issues such as climate change are dealt with on an international basis.”

Sounny-Slitine was one of 13 members chosen from more than 10,000 members of the organization, said Patricia Solis, Association of American Geographers spokeswoman, who was part of the selection committee.

“The members who have been chosen to attend the conference will serve as sort of our eyes and ears and report back to us what they find,” Solis said.

She said she is excited that members of her organization will get to interact with policymakers and bring a scientific background to them.

“Science is part of the whole process of forming policy,” she said. “Scientists can speak out on what they know to be happening during the conference.”

Solis said it is critical to be aware of changes to the environment.

“The world is becoming more and more interconnected,” Solis said. “We can’t afford not to know about the rest of the world. We live on the same planet.”

Rachel Aitkens was one of 16 members of the Sierra Student Coalition chosen to attend the climate-change conference.

“I thought it was a long shot,” Aitkens said. “But then they called and said I was chosen, and I was like, ‘Wow.’” She said she was looking forward to her first international trip to Copenhagen.

“I applied for a passport the next day,” she said. “I just can’t wait.”

Aitkens said she wants the

world to know that the U.S. cares about climate change.

“It’s really an issue that will affect everyone,” she said. “With [President] Bush, we had an executive who wasn’t willing to do anything [about] climate change.

With Obama, it’s a little different.”

Brittany McAllister, president of UT’s Sierra Student CoalitionTexas Chapter, said her organization would do its part by holding a “Final Copenhagen Countdown” phone bank in conjunction with OxfamUT on Tuesday evening.

“We’re calling Sierra Club members in other states asking them to ask their senators to support a climate change bill,“ she said. “We’re really hoping these senators will vote for a strong climate bill.”

McAllister said she hopes the Obama administration will take stronger action on climate change.

“The future is in our hands,” she said.

Creating some holiday spirit

Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff

Freshman Sharilyn Stone paints the window of frozen yogurt shop Swirll on Guadalupe Street for Texas Spirits on Tuesday.

Researcher earns grant for addiction study

By Lena Price Daily Texan Staff UT researcher Jane Maxwell has received a $418,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to research changes to the methamphetamine market in Austin over the next two years.

Maxwell, a senior research scientist in the School of Social Work, said she will survey active users about why they rely on the drugs and how they get them, as well as the socioeconomic status of users and whether they are more prone to criminal activity than non-users.

“One of the goals will be to find out what kind of benefits people who use methamphetamine think they are getting,” Maxwell said.

“This will, in turn, help us develop more efficient treatment options.”

The grant money will allow Maxwell to spend time finding interview subjects. All participants in the study will be volunteers from the Austin area.

Forms of methamphetamine, in-

cluding crystal meth, are known for their mood-enhancing qualities, and can quickly become addictive. Certain forms of methamphetamines can be made from common allergy and cold medications, like NyQuil or Sudafed.

‘‘

This will, in turn, help us develop more efficient treatment options.”

— Jane Maxwell senior research scientist

Maxwell said the methamphetamine culture in Austin has changed drastically over the past several years. Because state law limits the availability of certain medications that are used in methamphetamine production, Maxwell said there has

been a scarcity of the drugs coming in from California or Mexico. But small-scale laboratories have been popping up around the city.

“You’ll see people buying the limit of these medications and then making a day’s worth of meth,” Maxwell said.

George Thrash, an agent in charge of the Austin office of the Drug Enforcement Agency, said people obtaining methamphetamine from the U.S.-Mexico border is still a major problem.

“It’s not the most prevalent, but it is definitely a drug of concern,” Thrash said. “We don’t typically see more use of these drugs among college students.”

In addition to studying the impact of methamphetamine in Austin, Maxwell has also researched usage patterns overseas.

“In both Australia and the United States, drugs have been used by people working long hours,” Maxwell said. “Most commonly, they use meth.”

7 SPTS

SPORTS

7

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Sports Editor: Austin Talbert E-mail: sports@dailytexanonline.com Phone: (512) 232-2210 www.dailytexanonline.com

T HE DAILY TEXAN

SIDELINE NCAAM TOP 25 Florida A&M 59 No. 17 Florida 80 Wake Forest 58 No. 6 Purdue 69 Texas Southern 57 No. 24 Cincinnati 94 No. 9 Michigan State 82 No. 11 North Carolina 89

NBA Washington 106 Toronto 102 Boston 108 Charlotte 90 Phoenix 99 New York 126 Golden State 107 Denver 135 Miami 107 Portland 100 New Orleans 99 LA Lakers 110

NHL Toronto 3 Montreal 0 Columbus 3 Chicago 4 F/SO Ottawa 2 San Jose 5

Stephen Keller | Daily Texan Staff

Senior quarterback Colt McCoy looks for an option as he runs out of the pocket last weekend against Texas A&M. Because of McCoy’s efforts this season, he was named Big 12 offensive player of the year. Head coach Mack Brown was also honored by the Big 12 as coach of the year.

Los Angeles 4 Anaheim 3

SPORTS BRIEFLY Damion James breaks records with 1,000 points, rebounds Senior guard/forward Damion James was named Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Player of the week for the second time in his career on Monday.

James averaged 12.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game as he led the Longhorns to the championship of the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic last week. He was named MVP of the tournament.

In the semifinal game against Iowa, James became the third player in UT history to record at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. He is only the sixth player in Big 12 Conference history to reach the 1,000 career rebound plateau.

So far this season, James leads in scoring with 15.4 ppg, and in rebounding with 10.2 rpg.

— Laken Litman

Horns clean up with Big 12 accolades

By Blake Hurtik Daily Texan Staff As the Longhorns worked toward bringing home their third Big 12 title, the players received their fair share of recognition Tuesday when the conference announced its yearly awards.

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy topped the list as Big 12 offensive player of the year, marking the fifth time a Longhorn has earned the distinction and the latest since Vince Young received the award in 2005.

Head coach Mack Brown was also named Big 12 coach of the year for the second time. His first time was also in 2005.

The Longhorns had three players named to the All-Big 12 first team (McCoy, wide receiver Jordan Shipley and safety Earl Thomas) and five named to the second team (center Chris Hall, tackle Adam Ulatoski, defensive end Sergio Kindle, defensive tackle Lama-

TOP 10

Longhorn fans should be weary of the ‘deathstar’

By Austin Talbert Daily Texan Columnist

Beware eager fans: Staring at the mammoth, seven-story tall television dangling in front of your nose for a prolonged period of time may cause motion sickness or insanity.

Somehow, in the midst of building his billion-dollar baby—which includes—among other extravagances, Cowboy-blue speckled Italian marble floors, Jerry Jones forgot to install warning signs in Cowboys Stadium.

And when I could pry my eyes away from the pulsating orb of light hovering over the field, I looked. I searched through multiple levels of club seats — and I found nothing. I wandered through a labyrinth of suites — field level, hall-of-fame level, ringof-honor level and entirely-toomuch-money level — and while I found the opportunity to buy a $60 pizza, I couldn’t find a single sign warning me of the impending doom waiting to zap my brains.

Last weekend, in my tireless research to provide you — the Longhorn fan — with the best possible and sometimes even practical information, I traveled out to the Shangri-La of football stadiums to scoop out a true first-hand fan experience. And while I was trying to

take notes on the ridiculousness, I found myself continually lost, with eyes scorched and aching.

It is the death of the live football experience, and it is ready to destroy yet another college football game. Imagine two of Darrell K Royal’s Godzillatrons, but bigger, sandwiched back-to-back and hung just above the field, and you almost have it. Next, crank up the brightness, zoom in on the action, rendering Baylor quarterback Blake Szymanski 60 feet tall, and wait for the impending destruction.

And be warned, while Jerryworld may have more bells and whistles than a truckload of iPhones, the game-watching experience at the “deathstar” is less than sparkling, though the stadium’s exterior — which Jones may or may not use as a mirror to marvel at his ego — certainly is.

Rarely on the gigantic scoreboard — which, from my excellent seat squarely on the 50-yard line in the second level, gave my pale skin a scorching sunburn — is the score, or the quarter or the time ever displayed on the screen. Instead of getting actual information — like the down and distance or pertinent statistics, your optical nerves get 11 defenders of vibrant colors and blitzing motion.

Somewhere shortly after halftime begins and the action retreats

TOP 10 continues on page 8

rr Houston and linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy).

The Longhorns will try to view the accolades as team awards. If McCoy can win the Heisman Trophy, his teammates will be the first people he thanks.

“Any of the personal awards, we view as team awards,” Hall said. “For Colt to get to win the Heisman, that would be so special because we feel like we get to be a part of that, as well.

As far as worrying about it, we’re going to worry about winning the football game.”

Suh-perman In order to get that Big 12 championship this Saturday at Cowboys Stadium, McCoy will have to best the Big 12 defensive player of the year, Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. The 6-foot, 4-inch, 300-pound tack-

le is considered by many to be the best defensive player in the nation — even Heisman-worthy. He’s got the stats to back up the hype: 7.5 sacks, 70 tackles (16 for loss), 10 pass break ups, 22 quarterback hurries, three blocked kicks and one interception.

“Suh is as good a player as there is in college football. Get some video, and just watch him. He’s unbelievable,” Brown said. “He’s 300 pounds and can run, so he makes you, like [Gerald] McCoy at OU, understand where he is on every play.”

Texas players and coaches described Suh as “crafty,” “athletic” and “intelligent.”

“I always see him pushing [linemen] into the quarterback and tossing some lineman around, so you know he’s strong,” said Texas tackle Adam Ulatoski.

But the Longhorns will have to wor-

ry just as much about the Cornhuskers’ other tackle, Jared Crick. The sophomore leads Nebraska with nine sacks and is right behind Suh with 67 tackles (14 for loss) and 14 quarterback hurries.

They lead a Nebraska team that’s third in the nation in scoring defense (11.1 points per game) and 11th in total defense (291.4 yards per game).

“They’re probably the best defense we’ll face,” said Texas guard Charlie Tanner.

Kick-return woes, again Marquise Goodwin did more than just ensure a Texas victory with his fourth-quarter kick-return touchdown against Texas A&M — he may have saved the special teams a few extra laps at practice for another lackluster

FOOTBALL continues on page 8

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

NO. 17 TEXAS 94, ORAL ROBERTS 80

Arriaran leads team to victory with 23 points

By Dan Hurwitz Daily Texan Staff While the weather was cold outside, the shooting by Erika Arriaran and the Longhorns was red-hot inside the Frank Erwin Center during Texas’ 94-80 win over Oral Roberts Tuesday night.

Arriaran, who had only made six three-pointers in the first six games of the season, sank seven in her seventh game to total a careerhigh 23 points.

“We knew it was coming,” said head coach Gail Goestenkors. “Erika had been making them in practice but not in the games. I’m glad she chose tonight to start making them.”

The Longhorns needed every point they could get while playing the top scoring team in NCAA. The Golden Eagles were averaging 92.4 points per

game before Tuesday’s match.

Arriaran was thankful for her shooting opportunities and took full advantage of them.

“My team getting me wide open shots is always nice,”

time and space to do what she does best.

“For our opponents, it makes it really difficult for them to guard us (when Arriaran is making shots) because they know me and AT (Fontenette) are going to drive, but if they help out, we have Erika and Kat (Nash) out there,” Raven said. “So either way we are going to score.” ...I’ve been Her teammates were just thinking about pleased that she chose to take my shot a lot.” her shots tonight.

“All of us get on Erika when — Erika Arriaran she doesn’t shoot or when she Guard has second thoughts,” said Raven. “If we work to get her a good shot, she better take it, and if it is not falling, we know it eventually will.” said Arriaran.

Arriaran was starting to The penetration of guards Brittainey Raven and Ash- stress after shooting only 20 leigh Fontenette resulted in Arriaran having plenty of BASKETBALL continues on page 8

‘‘

Corey Leamon | Daily Texan Staff

Senior Erika Arriaran looks to pass to teammate Cokie Reed on Tuesday night.

GUEST EDITORIAL

A word from UT women’s athletic director . . .

A Worthwhile Watch I attended a touching memorial service Saturday for Dr. Gaylord Jentz, one of Chris Plonsky the true giants Guest Columnist of collegiate teaching (business law, UT’s McCombs Business School).

Jentz was an active, ubiquitous campus legend. He and spouse of 50-plus years, JoAnn, attended every type of University arts, sports, educational and theater event and many community functions, as well. He will be sorely missed.

While leaving the service, I ran into a business professor, and we commented on Jentz’s contributions and loyalty to UT. We also discussed the great football season the Longhorns have enjoyed. He predicted that Saturday’s pending

Big 12 Championship game had huge implications for retail business — especially for such outlets as the University Co-op and Longhorns, Ltd. stores, where our avid, loyal Longhorns fan base flocks to buy memorabilia.

As one who witnessed our team’s 12th victory at Texas A&M on Thanksgiving Day, but also one who cherishes all of our teams’ successes, I told this professor that, not only did the football team have a chance to create his-

tory, but so did our No. 2 ranked women’s volleyball team, which was preparing for its final regular season home match against Kansas on Saturday.

“Yes, but the volleyball team doesn’t sell T-shirts,” said the professor. Somewhat stung, I thought about the words our former UT president and chancellor, Dr. William Cunningham, said in his eulogy during Jentz’s service: “Gay-

PLONSKY continues on page 8

8 SPTS

8

SportS

footBAll: Horns will be at

full-strength for Nebraska From page 7 performance.

Brown was unhappy with the Longhorns’ blocking on kick returns and on kick coverage. By his count, they missed eight tackles on kick offs a week after missing nine against Kansas.

“We’re missing too many tackles,” Brown said. “We’ve got the guys there. They’ve just got to tackle better.”

Brown said part of the problem was injuries, the scariest of which came when Deon Beasley was carted off the field after a helmet-to-helmet hit and just getting worn down.

“That’s just something that happens,” Brown said.

Injury update The Longhorns will be at almost full strength for the Big 12 title game. Only reserve defensive back Clark Ford is listed on the injury report (ankle).

That means that cornerback Aaron Williams (knee), wide receiver John Chiles (ankle) and Beasley are all expected to be in action. Brown wasn’t sure exactly what Beasley’s injury was but said it was likely a pinched nerve.

Big 12 Awards 2009 Individual Award Winners Coach of the Year Offensive Lineman of the Year Defensive Lineman of the Year Offensive Freshman of the Year Defensive Freshman of the Year Special Teams Player of the Year Defensive Newcomer of the Year Offensive Newcomer of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Offensive Player of the Year

Mack Brown, Texas Russell Okung, Oklahoma State Ndamukong Suh , Nebraska Christine Michael, Texas A&M Aldon Smith , Missouri Brandon Banks, Kansas State David Sims, Iowa State Daniel Thomas, Kansas State Ndamukong Suh , Nebraska Colt McCoy, Texas

2009 All-Big 12 Football First Team Offense Pos. QB RB RB FB WR WR WR TE OL OL OL OL OL PK KR/PR

Player Colt McCoy ** Daniel Thomas Keith Toston Bryant Ward Jordan Shipley Danario Alexander Dezmon Briscoe Jeron Mastrud Russell Okung ^ Trent Williams ^ Nick Stringer Brandon Carter Nate Solder Grant Ressel Brandon Banks

Defense DL Ndamukong Suh ** DL Gerald McCoy ^ DL Von Miller DL Brandon Sharpe DL Jared Crick LB Sean Weatherspoon ^ LB Jesse Smith LB Travis Lewis DB Earl Thomas DB Perrish Cox DB Dominique Franks DB Prince Amukamara DB Larry Asante P Derek Epperson

School Texas Kansas State Oklahoma State Oklahoma State Texas Missouri Kansas Kansas State Oklahoma State Oklahoma Kansas State Texas Tech Colorado Missouri Kansas State

Class Sr. Jr. Sr. Jr. Sr. Sr. Jr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Jr. So. Sr.

Nebraska Oklahoma Texas A&M Texas Tech Nebraska Missouri Iowa State Oklahoma Texas Oklahoma State Oklahoma Nebraska Nebraska Baylor

Sr. Jr. Jr. Sr. So. Sr. Sr. So. So. Sr. Jr. Jr. Sr. Jr.

** : Unanimous Selection ^ : Repeat first team selection from last season.

Source: Big12sports.com

plonsky: Volleyball team earns

respect among UT community From page 7 lord should have been president of the 80-20 Club ... you know, that club where 80 percent of the work is done by 20 percent of the people.”

Jentz was just that active, that dedicated and that type of contributor. He knew worthy causes when he saw them.

Perhaps that’s why Jentz faithfully attended most home women’s volleyball matches this fall. I imagine he was thoroughly intrigued by this group of young women, who have lost only one match (at Iowa State, out of five games) and possess the qualities Jentz appreciated most: passion, spirit, dedication, excellence, humor, personality and accomplishments logged the right way.

So perhaps we at UT should not have been so surprised when a sellout crowd of nearly 4,000 fans — a throng for a holiday weekend — arrived at Gregory Gym Saturday night. What a reward to watch the crowd provide electricity, energy and support for this team that will begin working toward the national championship with a match against Texas State this Thursday at 6 p.m. in Gregory Gym. They are the No. 2 seed overall in the NCAA field of 64.

Sell T-shirts?

Saturday, I observed a diverse audience of students, senior citizens, parents with young children and teenage volleyball team members, buy something different. They bought into the zest and camaraderie of a team that is a very real asset to UT. Here’s what else is impressive about UT women’s volleyball this year: *A cumulative team GPA of 3.21 this academic year *Senior-class leadership of fouryear starters Ashley Engle, Heather Kisner and Destinee Hooker *Three consecutive Big 12 Cham-

pionships, with the 2009 crown won outright with a 19-1 record *Three-year post-season run as 2008 NCAA Final Four qualifiers and 2007 and 2006 NCAA regional finalists.

Engle, a Californian, chose to attend Texas over other schools in her home state to be a part of building something special in Austin. Hooker is a three-sport, All-American, multitime national indoor and outdoor track high jump champion and an All-American in volleyball. An athlete like Hooker comes around, oh, once every quarter-century or so.

Kisner was admitted on her own to UT and started as a non-scholarship walk-on. She has a 3.57 GPA. Coach Jerritt Elliott has patiently built this program to elite level. He’s like a father to his players, much as he is to his two sons and his soon-to-be superstar athlete 12-year-old daughter.

It’s been a joy to watch him develop into one of the nation’s best coaches.

He’s also signed four consecutive top 10-ranked recruiting classes. UT Women’s Athletics has a reputation for excellence, for graduating nearly 97 percent of its participants and for providing an environment that features rigid training and competition, life skills and career development and community connection.

The student-athletes work through brutal itineraries on-and-off-season, compete in the classroom, strive to win championships and eventually go out into the world stronger, smarter and more productive young women. And if, by chance, this team wins another six games? Well, there will be a tower to light and a few T-shirts for sale. The University Co-op has a Center for Excellence in UT Women’s Athletics.

While shopping, check out the listings of champions, Olympians and UT Athletics Hall of Honor inductees are on display there. This group belongs among them.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

top 10: Allure of stadium becomes a distraction

falling into a comatose state and refusing to call plays. from the field, you will wake up “I was waiting for George Jetin a cold sweat, ponder briefly son and Elroy and the dog to where you are and then realize come out and start doing some you are being stuff and to brainwashed buzz around by a humonand do their gous television thing,”Leach set that is forcsaid. “But it [the I was waiting for ing you to igstadium] is very nore the football George Jetson and impressive and field. And this is the quality they in what might Elroy ... to come out.” said it is. So it be the absolute — Mike Leach was fun.” best seat in the But what Texas Tech head coach house for actuLeach might ally watching call fun, I would the field. Who label torture. knows how While I somestrong the effect of it is in the uptimes enjoy reading my trainper reaches of the stratosphere, where the screen may actually wrecks disguised as columns, I am far from a masochist. impede your view of the field.

And call me old-fashioned, I wish I could blame my negabut I enjoy my college football tive experience on the game — a thrilling showdown pitting his- games without a side of physitoric rivals Texas Tech and Bay- cal suffering.

From page 7

‘‘

lor — but, alas, the game was mildly thrilling and the crowd — was surprisingly energized.

The lure of it nearly destroyed the Red Raiders, who by the time they looked away from it, found themselves behind a Robert Griffin-less Baylor team. Mike Leach, who routinely looks lost in the relatively boring city of Lubbock, must have been entranced by it,

too much” — for the Longhorn defense’s inability to tackle Aggie receivers or Johnson.

2 3

Florida Tim Tebow.

Alabama

Somehow the Crimson Tide’s close call against in-state rival Auburn on the road proves their toughness and grit. Yet, Texas’ “scare” against a “weak” A&M team is proof that the Longhorns are a fraud and one play away from being out of the national title hunt.

Keep dreaming, SEC-obsessed media.

4

TCU

Instead of hoping for a Texas loss this weekend, Horned Frog fans should begin lobbying strongly for a playoff system because, sadly, their shot of playing in the BCS national title game is slim Texas Luckily Colt McCoy to none. We would much rathrefused to let the lack of er see a SEC title game rematch defense cost Texas, and he slight- — right? ly out-gunned Jarrod Johnson in Cincinnati their prime-time re-creation of Tony Pike is back. the exact game they played earWill he be enough to lier in NCAA Football 2010.

McCoy sticks by the explana- overcome the power of Dave tion — “that he used the hit-stick Wannstedt’s mustache?

1

5

6

Boise State

The biggest fans for Texas this weekend are the boys in Boise. They are hoping for no final weekend upsets, so they can secure a spot in the BCS. And who wouldn’t love to see TCU and Boise square off in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl rematch for the Mid-Major National Championship presented

by Tostitos at the Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.?

7 8

Oregon I am flat-billed out of duck jokes.

Georgia Tech

SEC fans rejoice: the eventual ACC champion lost to a team from your superior conference. SEC! SEC! SEC!

9 10

Ohio State

The Buckeyes are busy preparing for their yearly BCS loss.

Iowa

I ran out of pithy things to say about the Hawkeyes six weeks ago.

BAsketBAll: Composure helps Arriaran find her groove these last few games I have been thinking about my shot a lot,” Arpercent from behind the arc, but riaran said. “I finally let it fly and she kept her composure. stopped thinking about it.”

“I think I put a lot of pressure Goestenkors was not worried on myself, and I know that during because she knew that Arriaran

From page 7

was going to begin making her shots as well as contribute elsewhere on the court.

“She has really improved her defense and her rebounding, so even when she isn’t hitting,

she knew we needed her on the floor,” Goestenkors said.

The shots were also falling for Nash, Raven and Fontenette who scored 19, 16 and 15 points, respectively.

NFL

Bengals will start RB Benson against Lions

By Joe Kay The Associated Press CINCINNATI — Cedric Benson is expected to return as the focal point of the Cincinnati Bengals’ new run-based offense, one that’s become quite adept at grinding down defenses.

Benson sat out Cincinnati’s 16-7 victory over Cleveland on Sunday, the second consecutive game he missed because of a sprained hip. Newcomer Larry Johnson filled in and ran for 107 yards, showing he’s got a lot left to give the Bengals (8-3) — if they choose to use him.

Coach Marvin Lewis said on Monday that Benson will start next weekend against Detroit, but he declined to say how he plans to handle his trio of running backs — four, if thirddown specialist Brian Leonard is included. Rookie Bernard Scott has a case of turf toe that could limit his availability.

“The only thing I have to figure out is how to win the game, right?” said Lewis. “I have one job.”

Having three potential starters at running back makes it easier, though diplomacy will be involved. The last thing that the AFC North leaders need is something to divide the locker room as they get ready for a potential breakthrough game.

A victory on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium would give the Bengals only their second winning season in the past 19 years. They’ve made their turn-

around from a four-win season by emphasizing the running game and defense. The priorities were clear in how they approached the Browns (1-10).

They ran the ball 45 times for a total of 210 yards, the second time this season that they’ve rushed for more than 200. The defense allowed only 169 yards, its stingiest showing in 26 years.

The Bengals signed Johnson two weeks ago after Kansas City decided to release him as he was ready to return from a suspension. Lewis called him an insurance policy in case another running back got hurt.

With Benson out and Scott hurting his foot, Johnson ended up playing a lot more than he expected.

The game plan was so conservative on Sunday that fans at Paul Brown Stadium occasionally booed.

“Sometimes people are spoiled as far as they don’t see the 80-yard passes or the 90yard runs like they’re used to,” said Johnson. “But this is the [AFC North] division; this is what it is.”

Now, Lewis has to figure out how to divvy it up.

Benson expects to regain his role as primary running back.

Before he was hurt, Benson led the league in rushing attempts with 205 in nine games.

When asked after the Browns game whether he has any idea how the running backs would share the role, Benson said,

Ed Reinke | Associated Press

Cedric Benson runs against the Baltimore Ravens a few weeks ago. Benson will return to the Bengals’ starting line-up this week.

“I don’t know. That’s a weird question. I wasn’t aware I had to share time.”

On Monday, Palmer said the players expect Benson to get most of the carries.

“Cedric’s the guy,” Palmer said. “That’s not going to change, and Larry knew that

coming in. Cedric is our running back.”

Johnson doesn’t have a problem with moving back into a low-profile role.

“I just came here for a second chance,” said Johnson. “I’ll just take everything in stride and move on.”

MEN’S BASKETBALL

No. 10 Tar Heels beat No. 9 Spartans, 89-82

By Aaron Beard The Associated Press CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — New season, different lineups, same result.

Ed Davis scored a careerhigh 22 points Tuesday night to help No. 10 North Carolina beat No. 9 Michigan State 8982 in a rematch of last season’s national championship game won by the Tar Heels.

Larry Drew II had a careerbest with 18 points for the Tar Heels (7-1), who led most of the game before having to hold off a rally in the final minutes.

North Carolina shot 58 percent and led by as many as 19 points early in the second half, beating Michigan State (5-2) for the second straight year in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Raymar Morgan scored 18

helped the Spartans get as close as six points late before the Tar Heels hit enough free throws to hold on.

The teams met twice last season at Detroit’s Ford Field, with North Carolina beating Michigan State by 35 points in the early season Challenge. Then came the 8972 win in April for the program’s fifth NCAA championship, a game in which North Carolina led by 24 points in the first half.

It was a performance that put a damper on the Spartans’ thrilling tournament run that had galvanized the economically battered state of Michigan.

Gerry Broome | Associated Press Coach Tom Izzo had said he North Carolina’s Ed Davis reaches for the ball between Michigan didn’t plan to use last season as State’s Raymar Morgan and Delvon Roe Tuesday night. motivation, though some of his players admitted they were eapoints to lead the Spartans, 2 of 20 from 3-point range. Ka- ger for another shot at the Tar who shot 43 percent but were lin Lucas added 15 points and Heels.

9 CLASS

9

News

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Austin investors to put big money on wind energy David Miller, Texas Tech’s vice chancellor of commercialization, said the project is critical to the state as it seeks to be a hub for research and development of alternative power sources.

“Texas is the leader of wind energy in the nation,” Miller said. “We are very focused on continuing to grow production in the state.”

Miller said 90 percent of wind energy in the state is produced in West Texas and that number will increase in the next few years.

“There is a lot of growth happening,” he said. “New jobs will be created not only here in Texas, but across the country as a result.”

The project should be operational within three to five years, Miller said.

UT engineering professor Michael Webber said Texas has always been a leader in energy.

“We’ve always led in the production [of] oil and natural gas, but there’s no [reason why] we shouldn’t be a leader in renewable energy,” he said. “We’re one of the leading states in terms of the potential for wind energy in the nation.

There are a lot of people [in] California and Iowa that would love to overtake us.”

Miller said the production of alternative energy sources will have less damaging effects on the environment, which will benefit everyone.

“The decisions we make now will affect us many years into the future,” he said.

By Israel Perez Daily Texan Staff Several local businessmen are betting that renewable energy has a bright future, particularly in West Texas.

Republic Power Partners LP and the West Texas Municipal Power Agency are raising money to finance a project that would sell alternative energy generated in West Texas, said John Crew, a cofounder of Republic Power Partners.

Crew said the 6,000-megawatt project would generate electricity through wind, solar and biomass, and would be good news for the state.

“It’s a good project that would benefit the Panhandle and the rest of Texas,” he said. “Eventually, the nation will also benefit from the project.”

Crew is looking for $40 million in commitments for the venture, which he hopes to raise by the end of the year.

“We’re close,” he said. “We’ve got some great prospects.”

The project could end up costing $10 billion to build, but the benefits can outweigh the costs, Crew said.

“Texas is an energy-rich state.

Some of the best wind energy production is in the Panhandle,” he said. “If we can get the infrastructure in place, it will be an asset to the state of Texas for many, many years.”

Republic Power Partners is teaming with Texas Tech University for the alternative-energy project.

Wind turbines could be used in a $10 billion project to sell day, month day, 2008 alternative energy generated in West Texas.

Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff

Grace Eckhoff, a Plan II and biology senior, received the Marshall Scholarship, an award that allows students to perform graduate-level work at any university in the United Kingdom. Eckhoff was one of 40 students nationwide to receive the award.

UT senior wins Marshall award

from the beginning of their colBy Molly Triece lege career when being considDaily Texan Staff Grace Eckhoff, a Plan II and bi- ered for the scholarship.

“It calls for extremely good ology senior, was one of 40 university students from the Unit- academic records and great reed States awarded the 2009 Mar- cords of leadership positions,” Carver said. shall Scholarship.

Eckhoff spent the summer The Marshall Scholarship enables university students to at the Pasteur Institute in Pardo graduate-level work in any is, where she studied drug resisfield of study at the institution tance to tuberculosis. The previ1 ous summer, she worked in Afof their choice in the United Kingdom. The scholarship cov- ghanistan with the Afghan Miners tuition, books, travel and istry of Public Health and the living expenses, at an estimat- country’s National Tuberculosis LASSIFIEDS Program studying the same subed value of $70,000.

“It’s an extraordinary award. ject. She collected 500 samples of It’s very competitive,” said Larry saliva from TB-infected patients Carver, director of the UT Liber- and brought them back to UT in the fall for analysis of drug-resisal Arts Honors program.

Carver said students are in- tant mutations.

“Probably even before high formed about the award during their freshman year because school, that was my interest, just their efforts in academic and ex- because I grew up in Haiti and I tracurricular activities count was very exposed to problems in

C

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global health,” Eckhoff said.

Her parents were doctors at a small hospital in Haiti, and Carver said the family also worked on establishing an orphanage in Kabul.

“There are so many things that people in the U.S. take for granted, like having clean water come out of the tap,” Eckhoff said. “In other countries, getting clean water can be a full-time job, and kids can spend hours going to the nearest tap.”

Carver worked with Eckhoff through the liberal arts department, but Eckhoff is also involved in research with the College of Natural Sciences. Eckhoff, who wants to work in the public health sector, was able to conduct research on antibiotic resistance as part of the Freshman Research Initiative laboratory.

“There are a lot of issues in

the developing world: illiteracy, infrastructure, health,” Eckhoff said. “Any changes have to address these multiple issues, and for me, I want to work in the health sector.”

Eckhoff will be furthering her research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she hopes to earn a Master of Science degree in public health in developing countries and then continue on to medical school.

“The faculty at London are all involved in projects and research in global health, and all their classes focus on practical issues such as health screening ... and epidemiology,” Eckhoff said. “Also, my fellow classmates come from all over the world and are working in public health. I think just my classmates will be a huge resource.”

3B

Weekly Rates: $100 – Large $50 – Medium $25 – Small

Contact Joan at 512-232-2229 or email joanw@mail.utexas.edu

Diversity: SG wants to ‘reach all parts of campus’ From page 1 not familiar with SG and its projects,” Medellin said.

“Events like these allow me to get the information I need so I can pass it on to our sorority members.”

The agency aims to ensure the underrepresented commu-

Paul Wentzell Daily Texan file photo

uns ad irne for onl d wor

ad s

on l y

claim to represent. We wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t have discussions about the different needs of different groups.”

SG has sponsored two “Mix at 6” events this semester before its meetings to encourage students to meet representatives. Brown said members

CLASSIFIEDS THE DAILY TEXAN

E! E R F

nity is being served by SG, Lopez said.

SG has held similar events this semester to reach out to students, said SG communications director Danielle Brown.

“At UT we have a very diverse student body,” Brown said. “We want to make sure we’re including everyone we

hope to hold the event every month next semester.

“We want to make the best effort to reach all parts of campus,” Brown said. “It’s SG’s initiative to bring people from different colors and ethnicities together to collaborate on projects and to let them know what other things SG can do for them.”

ADVERTISING TERMS There are no refunds or credits. In the event of errors made in advertisement, notice must be given by 10 am the first day of publication, as the publishers are responsible for only ONE incorrect insertion. In consideration of The Daily Texan’s acceptance of advertising copy for publication, the agency and the advertiser will indemnify and save harmless, Texas Student Media and its officers, employees and agents against all loss, liability, damage and expense of whatsoever nature arising out of the copying, printing or publishing of its advertisement including without limitation reasonable attorney’s fees resulting from claims of suits for libel, violation of right of privacy, plagiarism and copyright and trademark infringement. All ad copy must be approved by the newspaper which reserves the right to request changes, reject or properly classify an ad. The advertiser, and not the newspaper, is responsible for the truthful content of the ad. Advertising is also subject to credit approval.

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All Transportation, Announcement, Services & Merchandise ads are 50%off regular rates and appear online at no charge unless you opt for enhancements which will incur additional nominal charges.

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1 block north of UT! New construction, 2/bed-2.5/ bath plus study/optional 3rd bedroom, Hardwood floors, granite countertops, ceramic tile, crown molding, and stainless appliances. Big balcony with view of UT football stadium. Move-in now, Spring 2010, Summer 2010, or Fall 2010 semester. 1150 sq. ft. $329,500. www.speedwaycondosphase2.com Call 512-467-9852 for a showing!

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EMPLOYMENT

790 Part Time Cellular Sales of Austin Office Assistant Needed ASAP. Part-Time. $10/hour.

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BARTENDING! $300/DAY POTENTIAL No experience necessary. Training provided.

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CUSTOM BEER GLASS STORE needs seasonal help with in-store sales, internet sales.

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NANNIES NEEDED We are looking for fun, active, academically focused students to be NANNIES! M-F, 3-6:00pm, starting in Jan. We also have other PT, FT, and Live-In positions available! Apply at collegenannies.com.

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860 Engineering-Technical

ENTRY LEVEL HELP DESK Full-time IT opportunity for hard working recent graduate. Send resume to careers@catapultsystems.com

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

11 ENT

VIDeO gAmes: Classic game

features â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cleverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; additions From page 12 medium take chances on new properties, so it came as a surprise when â&#x20AC;&#x153;Assassinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creedâ&#x20AC;? came out in 2007 with record sales.

While it was original in many ways, it was frustrating in many more. So, I approached the sequel with trepidation, only to be completely surprised by the amount of detail, depth and thought that Ubisoft has instilled into the game this time around. First off, the setting of Renaissance-era Italy has to be one of the most inspired and well-realized virtual worlds since â&#x20AC;&#x153;Grand Theft Auto IVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Liberty City. Even better is how the game takes you on a history lesson, giving you detailed backgrounds on real-world locations and historic characters you will meet throughout the game.

The biggest complaint about the original was the lack of variety in missions and locations, which isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a problem here. Whether you are chasing a group of Templars on horseback through the Tuscan hillside or walking the rooftops of Venice at night, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Assassinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creed IIâ&#x20AC;? manages to weave plenty of distractions into the exciting story just in case you ever get bored. The game is much more than a simple refinement of its predecessor. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Allistair Pinsof

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;New Super Mario Bros. Wiiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Wii) Almost every kid in the late â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;80s to early â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90s played or, at the

very least, watched a friend play some form of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Super Mario Bros.â&#x20AC;?

For some, the jump to 3D in later Mario games required too much input to master, making many long for another classic 2D-console Mario. It has been a long time coming, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finally here with â&#x20AC;&#x153;New Super Mario Bros. Wii.â&#x20AC;?

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry. The title is the worst part.

Feelings of nostalgia are to be expected, as NSMBW follows â&#x20AC;&#x153;Super Mario Bros. 3â&#x20AC;? structure, levels, art and design very literally (not to say that additions from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and DS sequels have been ignored). In fact, my biggest gripe about the game is that it would have been better if Nintendo had gone with a more retro or hand-animated look ala Super Paper Mario.

Despite how iconic Mario and friends are, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be too caught up in the insanity of playing to care for long.

The game can be especially frantic when played with friends.

Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll often find yourself accidently pushing another player to his death, as you try to land a tricky jump. Despite being a great multiplayer game, this is still a new Mario with classic level design and clever new additions that hold up as well as any before it. Just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect it to be easy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not like the game plays itself when you die eight times.

Wait, actually it does. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A.P.

Courtesy of Ubisoft

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Assasinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creed IIâ&#x20AC;? gives players a history lesson, providing detailed backgrounds on real-world locations and historic people players will meet throughout the game.

brunch: Cafe serves fresh ingredients From page 12

3

Daniela Trujillo | Daily Texan Staff

Russellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bistro, on West 38th Street, offers a variety of homemade pastries and coffee beverages. Pictured above is the bistroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house cappuccino.

otherâ&#x20AC;? shmoozing that many of us were raised to enjoy, there is something sobering about this sort of honesty. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great that the BDSM community is open about what they are into,â&#x20AC;? Elyse said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They really have to put themselves out there because they awknowledge that there may not be a lot of people who are into the same thing ... I feel that what the vanilla community can learn from the BDSM community is honesty.

So many dating sites try to play around the idea that sex will happen. They talk about all these nonsexual aspects of relationships.

[But] a lot of people want sex in a relationship, so wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it be nice if people could be upfront about what they want to do?â&#x20AC;?

But after I created my profile and began to peruse the site, the honesty aspect began to make me feel less at ease. It seemed to me from reading the lists of interests on many of Fetlife.comâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s member profiles that the site is a harbor for dangerous people. For example, many male

members of Fetlife have interests on their profiles that read like this: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fisting (giving), Anal (giving), Slapping (giving) ...â&#x20AC;?

By reading these profiles, the idea that these men really just want an excuse to hurt women became glaringly clear to me.

But Elyse saw the situation a little differently. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to acknowledge that there is a [woman out there] who loves being fisted, who loves having anal sex,â&#x20AC;? Elyse said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know a lot of people canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think from that perspective ... [They think] â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh my gosh! That [man] is a misogynistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and [they think] that no [woman could want that], but there are.

And when a man discloses his interest in [that kind of domination play] in the first place and attracts only people who are equally interested in receiving what he is interested in giving, it can actually be an even exchange.â&#x20AC;?

But whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more important is that Fetlife.com provides members with a safe place to view potential partners. In the past, many of the people interested in the BDSM community had to put themselves

Eastside CafĂŠ

Venture to East Austin for brunch in a quaint old hometurned-restaurant that has been a respected establishment since 1988, when the founders discovered the old house for rent on an acre of land complete with its own organic vegetable garden.

Twenty years later, the menu still features dishes made with ingredients grown in that very garden or eggs from the chickens that roam around it.

Try the Blueberry Blintzes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; four crepes filled with sweetened ricotta and cream cheese, topped with blueberry sauce and sour cream and served with three pieces of crisp bacon or garlic cheese grits for $10.

Brunch is served starting at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. www.eastsidecafeaustin.com 2113 Manor Road (512) 476-5858

refugee: Family survives Fall of Saigon, escapes to U.S. From page 12 attacked two months before we expected them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;After what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been through though, any hardship is really nothing.â&#x20AC;?

Mai Tran, Haiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, quickly went to the U.S. Embassy but by the time he arrived, it was already overrun by people trying to escape.

Instead of waiting, he decided to check the harbor for another possible escape route and noticed an abandoned cargo ship. While other fleeing Vietnamese began to commandeer the ship, he frantically gathered his family and took them on board.

As other ships tried to leave the harbor only to be sunk by the North Vietnamese, everyone on the old cargo ship began to pray. A torrential downpour covered their escape route as Saigon fell, Tran said.

Tran and his family would spend

hump: Site protects users through safety rules From page 12

11

Life&Arts

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

into physical situations. BDSM community groups are in-person activities that some people who are not ready to â&#x20AC;&#x153;outâ&#x20AC;? themselves as BDSM might not be ready for, and the other option is a Craigslist hook-up which poses much more of a threat than Fetlife.com because of the lack of credible information on the other person involved. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The consensual nature of BDSM is always an issue, and the BDSM community is always emphasizing that no matter what you do, it has to be consensual,â&#x20AC;? Elyse said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are still some people who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand this idea, and they are looked down on heavily in the BDSM community.â&#x20AC;?

Although there are no formal background checks to join Fetlife or any of the Google groups, there are rules and restictions protecting members from non-consensual activity. Just life Facebook, members must accept friend invitations and other invites, and there are security settings. In many ways, Fetlife is not so different from Facebook, aside from the fact that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members are open and honest about their sexuality and their intentions.

a total of seven days at sea â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sleeping standing up at night with no food to sustain them during the day â&#x20AC;&#x201D; until they were picked up by a U.S. Destroyer. They then spent a year at an American encampment in the West Indies before they were sponsored by a Baptist church in San Marcos to enter the U.S. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My father was a policeman and a master electrician back in Vietnam, but he couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get the right permits to do that kind work in America,â&#x20AC;? Tran said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He went to Austin one day, walked around the University and noticed there werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t many restaurants for the students.â&#x20AC;?

The next day, his mom made 20 egg rolls and set up her box and chair in front of the UT Co-op. â&#x20AC;&#x153;No one bought anything for the whole day until a professor came up and bought a couple egg rolls,â&#x20AC;? Tran said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He apparently told some of his TAs, and then they came and bought some, too.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been selling egg rolls ever since then.â&#x20AC;?

Eventually Saigon Egg Rolls, as it was originally named, bought three food carts and opened a small restaurant called Maiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Egg Rolls. However, the restaurantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contract was cancelled in 1986 after Mai and other owners protested a threefold increase in the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business rent. Then, six years ago, the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third cart, on Dean Keeton Street, was unable to renew its city permit after another unaffiliated egg roll cart was caught selling stolen student goods to the homeless. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It took two years to fully dissociate ourselves from them,â&#x20AC;?

Tran said.

All eight of the Tran brothers worked at the egg roll stand before Hai, the youngest brother, took up the trade several years ago and expanded the business to include Longhorn Fried Rice which will open at the same time

that the businessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Web site goes up Dec. 13.

Longhorn Fried Rice will offer catering and delivery year round.

People will be able bring in their own meat and have it made into egg rolls for special occasions.

With this recent increase in business, Tran has been able to further support his family and business expansion. Thirty percent of his profits go back to helping his retired parents. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not rich, but they own their own home,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retired now. He mainly spends his time volunteering as a handyman at his church. I guess you could say theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just making it.â&#x20AC;?

His father remains an important source of support, despite his lack of knowledge in certain areas. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My dad is really old school, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been helping out with all this new stuff,â&#x20AC;? Tran said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But in it all, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just been saying, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Go for it!â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

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12 LIFE

Life&Arts

12

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Life&Arts Editor: Leigh Patterson E-mail: lifeandarts@dailytexanonline.com Phone: (512) 232-2209 www.dailytexanonline.com

T he Daily Texan

PLAY REVIEW

The Santaland Diaries

Play exposes ‘not-so-jolly’ side of elf life in Santaland

Eric Ou | Daily Texan Staff

Hai Tran finishes up a transaction at his food cart in front of Littlefield Fountain. The Tran family has been selling egg rolls since 1976 and will soon offer catering and delivery services as well as a new Web site.

Vietnamese refugees start business

By Gerald Rich Daily Texan Staff Every weekday, Hai Tran, the youngest Tran brother who is now in charge of the family business, pulls up to the cart in front of the fountain and raises a blue umbrella that protects him and his customers from the elements.

Since 1976, the Tran family has sold egg rolls and other assorted fast foods from modest carts outside

the UT Co-op and in front of the Littlefield Fountain.

The process begins early — 3 a.m. every day — when Tran wakes up to make the egg rolls he will sell later in the day.

“It’s not just about me and my wife,” Tran said.

“I’m working for my family.”

But life for Tran and his family hasn’t always been this simple.

They were some of the few refugees who managed

to escape during the Fall of Saigon, the day in 1975 when the communist North Vietnamese forces swept through the city and began the communist reign.

“Our uncle was a colonel in the South Vietnamese army and said that once the U.S. troops left, South Vietnam would fall,” Tran said. “We began to sell what we could, but the North Vietnamese

REFUGEE continues on page 11

FOOd REVIEWS

Austin brunch spots offer Kerbey Lane alternatives 1601 West 38th St. #1 512-467-7877

By Molly Wahlberg Daily Texan Staff Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but for those who like to sleep in a little on the weekends, brunch reigns supreme.

And no offense to Kerbey Lane, but after a couple of years of pumpkin pancakes, most UT students are ready for some alternatives to satisfy their late-morning munchies.

So, with quality, variety and affordability in mind (as well as the availability of free coffee refills), we scooped out a few restaurants that might hit the spot.

1

2

Russell’s Bistro

Evolving from the original Russell’s Bakery on Hancock Drive, Russell’s Bistro boasts a delicious selection of cakes, pies, cookies and other pastries. But it is their weekend brunch that has taken the spotlight.

On Sundays, Russell’s features local music, usually instrumental, classical or chamber, which creates a lovely ambiance for the mosaic of young families, business people, 20-somethings and elderly couples to enjoy a quiet, leisurely meal. Leisurely being the operative word, because while

Daniela Trujillo | Daily Texan Staff

Russell Millner, owner and head chef of Russell’s Bistro on 38th Street, sits with house brunch specialties including strawberry mimosas, fresh fruit plate and the Bistro Omelette. there is rarely a wait for a table and the service is good, eating at Russell’s generally takes at least an hour.

Try the Bistro Omelette — a mushroom, spinach, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, red onion and avocado-filled omelette served with seasonal fruit — a fresh warm croissant from the bakery and strawberry butter for only $9.

For those with a morning sweet tooth, order the Crème Brulee French Toast — a round of freshly baked bread from the bakery soaked in a crème brulee batter with a splash of brandy — served with seasonal fruit, also $9.

Brunch is served starting at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. www.russellsbistro.com

Sagra

To quote one glowing review of Sagra: “From the moment you enter the door at Sagra, you’ll be taken in by the soothing décor, the relaxing atmosphere and welcoming wait staff [and] the glow of [their] wood-burning oven.”

Weekend mornings at the homey restaurant include $1 bellinis and mimosas to pair with a unique brunch menu. Try the Eggs Sagra, Executive Chef Gabriel Pellegrini’s spin on traditional eggs Benedict. The dish includes foccacia bread with poached eggs and a choice of either smoked salmon or prociutto covered in hollandaise sauce and asparagus slices served with roasted potatoes and mixed greens for $12.

Every brunch dish includes fresh fruit, bread and muffins with honey butter on the side.

Brunch is served starting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. www.sagrarestaurant.net 1610 San Antonio St. (512) 535-5988

By Katherine Kloc Daily Texan Staff Poor Thanksgiving. The moment families rise from the dinner table Thursday, the Christmas music begins playing, plans are made for Black Friday shopping and lights spring up throughout the neighborhood.

The end of Thanksgiving marks the official beginning of the Christmas season. It is in this vein that “The Santaland Diaries” premiered at Zach Scott Theatre Friday. The show is a stage adaptation of David Sedaris’ essay chronicling his experience as a Christmas elf in a Macy’s Santaland display.

Now in its 12th year at Zach Scott, the show employs a two-person cast of Meredith McCall, a seasoned “Santaland” cast member who has been a part of every production at Zach Scott, and Espie Randolph, who is returning to the show after his performance last year.

“The Santaland Diaries” comprises only half of the two-hour play; the first half consists of a series of songs and monologues performed mostly by McCall, which are loosely linked by a holiday theme.

McCall becomes a secondary character during the title scene in which Randolph delivers an engaging and hilarious hour-long monologue as Crumpet the elf. Randolph’s take on the role is refreshingly original and entertaining, even for those familiar with Sedaris’ essay.

Randolph describes his experience as a Santaland elf with precise, self-deprecating detail, beginning with the surprisingly complex and competitive application process. To get the job, Randolph must complete a 40page application, go through an intensive multi-part interview and submit a urine sample. It is at this point that Randolph realizes that the only thing more pathetic than getting a job as a Christmas elf is not getting hired as a Christmas elf.

Randolph’s grim recounting of his experience as Crumpet the elf provides a welcome change from entertainment’s standard approach to the subject of Christmas. Not only does it center around the not-so-jolly world of shopping mall Santalands, but Randolph describes this world in blunt and unforgiving detail.

The first half of the show explores a similar theme of holiday disappointments and unpleasantries but is otherwise not cohesive with “The Santaland Diaries.”

McCall’s vocals are impressive, and she has a strong stage presence, but the highlight of the first half is Randolph’s performance of “Six to Eight Black Men.” It is another work by Sedaris that tells the story of Holland’s version of Santa Clause, Saint Nicholas, his crew of six to eight black men and their interesting antics during the holiday season. It is the only piece that seems truly compatible with “The Santaland Diaries.”

The success of “The Santaland Diaries” rests in the cast’s ability to interact with the audience, which is aided by Zach Scott’s characteristically intimate stages. The stage itself is circular and surrounded on all sides by rows of seats, allowing Randolph and McCall to make use of its entirety and to mingle with the audience during the show. Due to this setup, members of the audience are unwittingly integrated into the development of the show while still remaining in their seats.

“The Santaland Diaries” provides an appreciated counterbalance to the warm, feel-good classics such as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Story” with Crumpet’s stark humor.

BRUNCH continues on page 11

Web site provides sexual connections for BDSM community

HUMP DAY

By Mary Lingwall

“Fetlife.com is like Facebook for kinksters,” said Elyse, a UT student and member of the BDSM community (who wanted to keep her last name private).

I met Elyse at my first “munch,” an informal meet and greet for members of the BDSM communtiy, hosted by a local chapter of a national BDSM group called The Next Generation. After I told her I was interested in learning more about BDSM and the people who participate in it, she told me that Fetlife.com was one of the best places to find the connections I needed.

“The Internet has made it much easier for people [in the BDSM community],” Elyse said. “[We] used to have to go through covert channels. Now there

cial network, for anyone who is kinky or has a fetish,” according to Baku’s Fetlife profile.

In an interview with The Montreal Mirror last September, Baku stated that, “Instead of asking you what books you read, [we ask] what fetishes you are into.”

On Fetlife.com, member profiles list things like gender and sexual orientation, but unlike Facebook, users are also asked to identify their “roles.”

In addition, a Fetlife.com member is able to curtain his or her profile with kinky interests. As Baku mentioned, there isn’t much beating around the bush on this site. Visiting a Fetlife.com member’s profile is straightforward and clear-cut. Either you like what Illustration by Edgar Vega | Daily Texan Staff they like, or you don’t, and you move on. And while this removes some of are [online] groups and e-mail lists and launched the site in January 2008 with the traditional “getting to know each Fetlife.com.” the vision that it could become “the John Baku, Fetlife.com founder, best community, dare I even say soHUMP continues on page 11

Forbidden Fruit Austin’s Original Erotic Boutique Show your student ID for 10% off!

512 Neches 512.478.8358

108 E. North Loop Blvd.

512.453.8090

www.forbiddenfruit.com

Courtesy of Kirk R. Tucke

Meredith McCall shows off her vocal talents in Zach Scott’s production of “The Santaland diaries,” an adaptation of a short story by david Sedaris.

VIdEO GAME REVIEWS

Assassin’s Creed presents variety, depth in sequel ‘Assassin’s Creed II’ (PlayStation 3/ Xbox 360) It’s not too often that we see companies in this

VIDEO GAMES continues on page 11