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Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
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Tuesday, September 17, 2013
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SYSTEM
UNIVERSITY
Counsel sets rules for Regent hearing
Concerns arise over privacy issues in UT policy
By Jacob Kerr @jacobrkerr
Moving forward with its investigation into UT System Regent Wallace Hall, the House Select Committee on Transparency in Stage Agency Operations decided Hall’s attorneys would not be allowed to cross-examine witnesses during the upcoming hearings. The decision, which came after the committee spent more than 1.5 hours in executive session at its meeting on Monday, was based on
advice from special counsel Rusty Hardin. Hardin, who was hired by the committee in late August, explained that no cross-examination should take place since the committee is not trying Hall. “We intend to make this as absolutely fair as we can to Mr. Hall,” Hardin said. “This is an investigation, not a trial. Our investigation may determine that nothing is to happen after this.” If the committee decides to proceed with impeachment after the hearings process, articles of impeachment
would be presented by Hardin to the Texas House of Representatives. If a majority in the House votes in favor of charging Hall with impeachment, the Senate would conduct a trial in which Hall’s attorneys would be allowed to cross-examine witnesses. A two-thirds vote in the Senate would be required to remove Hall. At the meeting, Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton and committee co-chairman, said the
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By Anthony Green @AnthonyGrreen
Jonathan Garza / Daily Texan Staff
Houston Attorney Rusty Hardin speaks with Allan Van Fleet about the allegations of Hall’s actions Monday afternoon.
FRAMES featured photo
Amy Zhang / Daily Texan Staff
A student walks into the McCombs School of Business on Monday afternoon.
POLICE
Faculty members voiced concerns at a Faculty Council meeting Monday about how a comprehensive new policy designed to disclose potential conflicts of interests among University employees could invade employees’ privacy. The policy, known as UTS180, would create an online public system to document employee activities outside UT that run the risk of creating conflicts of interest or commitment. The disclosure policy was meant to take effect in April after the UT System Board of Regents approved it in January, but System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa delayed its system-wide implementation for further review. Now, the policy will not take effect until January 2014. Kinesiology professor Jody Jensen said the System would gather information unrelated to faculty members’ activities outside of UT that should not be published online, but didn’t specify what information was unnecessary for determining conflicts “The relevant information is in the case of a conflict of interest,” Jensen said. “Everything else seems irrelevant yet is still stored.” Article 6.2 of the policy says faculty must disclose their activity if they determine it constitutes a conflict of interest or commitment and their outside compensation exceeds $5,000. President William Powers Jr. said at the meeting that he understands faculty concerns about privacy, but believes much anxiety over the policy’s implementation stems from faculty’s
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CITY
Ole Miss student in CapMetro defends cuts to routes critical condition By Amanda Voeller
By Alberto Long @albertolong
Carson Otter, a senior at the University of Mississippi, was hospitalized with lifethreatening injuries following an assault near the intersection of Trinity and Seventh Street Saturday night. Otter is being treated for brain trauma at the University Medical Center where he remains in critical condition. Candy Otter, the mother of Carson Otter, posted on Facebook on Sunday that Carson was showing signs of progress.
“Today Carson was able to breathe on his own for a few hours, still on ventilator but showing great signs!,” Candy Otter said on Facebook Sunday. “Considering his surgery was only 30 hours ago, he is doing fantastic!!” In the post, Candy Otter said that the doctors caring for him were pleased with his progress and that he had been responsive, opening his eyes and nodding at her. According to Veneza Bremner, a spokeswoman for the Austin Police
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@Amandaliz94
At a public hearing Monday, Capital Metro explained its rationale for significantly reducing two shuttle routes and heard criticism from students affected by the suggested change. CapMetro has proposed reducing the Cameron Road route’s scope to only serve the Camino la Costa area beginning in January. Students who live around the Cameron Road and Mueller areas would be directed to the 37 route. CapMetro has also proposed eliminat-
ing the Wickersham Lane shuttle route, and suggested students use either the 20 or the 100 route. Blanca Juarez, the UT Parking and Transportation Services alternative transportation manager, defended the proposal, saying the transition to CapMetro‘s mainline service instead of the UT shuttle service would benefit students because it would offer longer operational hours as well as 365-day service. Juarez said the shuttle system is funded by the Student Services Budget Committee and, because of flat funding, the UT shuttles
had to cut 10 percent of the service to remain within budget. “As long as funding remains flat to the [budget committee], then we will continue to face operational challenges,” Juarez said. Juarez said the motivation behind the changes is students’ use of a service, rather than their presence in the area. “The issue isn’t how many students may or may not live in the area but how many students utilize the shuttle,” Juarez said. The number of people who ride the shuttle is recorded by automatic pas-
senger counters, which are infrared beams at the front and rear doors of the buses that track the number of people who board and leave the bus, according to CapMetro. The Cameron Road and Wickersham Lane routes serve 1 percent of the total shuttle riders while using 7 percent of the hours that the shuttle operates, Juarez said. “Our role is to ensure that the shuttle operates in a ways that serves the greatest number of students since they all pay equally into the system,” Juarez said.
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