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INSIDE
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
dailytexanonline.com
Decision 2012 offers nonpartisan election watch party.
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Brown labels horns down symbol disrespectful and a double standard. SPORTS PAGE 6
LIFE&ARTS PAGE 10
OPINiON
The editorial board’s take on the election, and the top 10 reasons to vote TODAY.
5 NEWS
Students are partnering with local restaurants to raise money for orphans.
6 SPORTS
Texas-Texas A&M matchup real possibility in Cotton Bowl.
SYSTEM
ELECTION 2012
Regent joins PACs in support of Prop. 1
Candidates stay close in home stretch
By Alexa Ura UT System regent R. Steven Hicks donated $1,000 to Keep Austin Healthy, a political action committee supporting the establishment of a proposed UT-Austin medical school. The Keep Austin Healthy PAC supports Proposition 1, an initiative on Tuesday’s
ballot that would increase the county property tax rate from 7.89 cents to 12.9 cents per $100 of assessed property value to help fund the proposed UT medical school. The Harden Healthcare Texas PAC, a committee for senior health care services provider Harden Healthcare, which Hicks’ private investment firm Capstar Partners, LLC oversees, also
donated $5,000 to Keep Austin Healthy. Hicks is the top contributor to the Harden Healthcare Texas PAC, contributing $25,000 in 2009. Filings with the Texas Ethics Commission show Hicks and Harden Healthcare Texas PAC donated to the Keep Austin Healthy PAC in August.
Partisan groups spur student turnout at polls By David Loewenberg R. Steven Hicks
PROP 1 continues on page 2
UT system regent
CAMPUS
10 LIFE & ARTS
Tournaments and Games Committee puts on “Halo 4” preview.
TODAY Bevonomics 101 Budgeting and Building Credit
Learn the basics about budgeting, building credit and saving money from 2 to 3 p.m. in GEA 114.
“The Many Nobody Knew” screening “The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA spymaster William Colby” will be screened from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in ACE 2.302 followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Carl Colby.
What do you do when there’s an active shooter?
UTPD Police Chief Robert Dahlstrom will explain what to do in an active shooter situation in this lecture hosted by University Future First Responders. It will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. in SAC 2.120.
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Quote to note The horns down are disrespectful for players on the field. If horns down are OK, we ought to have guns down be OK. — Mack Brown, Head football coach SPORTS PAGE 6
Today in history In 1934
Parker Brothers, now a board game giant, acquired the patent for Monopoly from its original patent holder Elizabeth Magie.
Students at UT will join voters from across the nation Tuesday as they head to the polls to select the next president and shape the next Congress. After a year and a half of campaigning, debating and fundraising, President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remain neck and neck in national polls leading up to Election Day, although Obama appears to hold a slight lead in several key battleground states. Senior government lecturer John McIver said he predicts a very tight race that could possibly continue beyond Tuesday night. “I think the short-term question will simply be whether or not we have a decision [Tuesday] night,” McIver said. While Texas will not be the center of attention in the presidential race, students have the opportunity to
VOTE continues on page 2 Fanny Trang | Daily Texan Staff Charli Kilpatrick and her chocolate Labrador Dudley became Internet celebrities after the government senior directed a video called “Ruff Dog Day.” The video, which has attracted over 1.4 million viewers so far, was created for a UT class focusing on the circulation of entertainment and people.
Viral video stars ‘ruff dog’ By Joan Vinson
When the role of a UT student’s dog in her video “Ruff Dog Day” helped attract more than 1.4 million viewers, a communications professor found the perfect example of entertainment circulation at work.
Celebrity Culture, a class offered at UT, focuses on the circulation of entertainment and people, including celebrities and politicians who circulate as images that reappear on computer, television and cinema screens. Students in the class split into groups to create either a blog or YouTube video to
UNIVERSITY
attract as many hits or visitors as possible. The project did not focus on the development of the blog or video; instead, it focused on publicizing the project. Government senior Charli Kilpatrick and four other students banded together to make a YouTube video titled “Ruff Dog Day,”
starring Kilpatrick’s Labrador, Dudley. The video shows Dudley performing common morning rituals with human hands. The video gained much publicity and appeared on “Good Morning America,” NPR, “Anderson Live” and other
DOG continues on page 2
Following the privatization of more than 1,500 jobs at Texas A&M University this summer and thousands of other positions across the state, UT students are working with state-worker advocacy agencies as a measure to prevent the same from happening at UT. Members of the UT chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops are collecting signatures on a petition started by the Texas State Employees Union with the goal of restoring funding cuts to higher education during the 82nd state legislative session. According to the petition, the funding cut during the 2011 Texas legislative session led to “radical increases in tuition and fees charged to students and forced the elimination of thousands of university teaching and staff positions” statewide. Representatives from the organizations said they fear widespread privatization of staff jobs at UT.
Polls open
7 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Vote on campus
• Flawn Academic Center • University Co-Op on Guadalupe
Bring one
• Voter registration card • Driver’s license • Utility bill with current address
CAMPUS
Fear of job privatization initiates student action By Dave Maly
oting information
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There is no such thing as hiding when this kind of thing goes down ...They will privatize and they will not spare anyone. — Jim Branson, Texas State Employees Union
“The only thing you have to be afraid of is if you don’t do anything, you are going to get hit in the head,” Jim Branson, assistant organizing coordinator for the Texas State Employees Union, said. “There is no such thing as hiding when this kind of thing goes down. There is not hiding. They will privatize and they will not spare anyone.”
JOBS continues on page 2
Hermelinda Zamarripa and LBJ first-year graduate student Julian Garza from the Office of the Police Monitor explain to students ways to file complaints about the misconduct of APD officers during a forum on racial inequities. Fanny Trang Daily Texan Staff
Forum addresses racial injustice By Taylor Hampton Students who are victims of racial discrimination have resources available on campus to help address the issue, according to speakers on a panel hosted by the Black Homecoming Planning Committee and the Black Graduate Student Association. Timothy Bailey, executive co-chair of the Black Homecoming Planning Committee, said there is a lack of conversation between marginalized
groups and the majority. To create dialogue, he said they have begun the “End to the Injustice” initiative to create a space where leaders from different organizations can educate each other on what is offensive or acceptable. Bailey has clear goals for the initiative. “Create knowledge between the majority and minority to decrease the acts of discrimination,” Bailey said. Stacey Jackson, secretary of the Black Graduate Student Association, said
the goal is to educate students so they can become empowered. “There is a system, and now that we know the information, we can hold the University accountable,” Jackson said. Mary Beth Mercatoris, assistant dean of students, said every complaint that comes to the office is investigated to determine if the incident violates any University rules. She said the office uses an educational proactive approach
FORUM continues on page 5