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Tuesday, January 14, 2014
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SYSTEM
Regents approve Strong’s contract By Garrett Callahan & Madlin Mekelburg @thedailytexan
At a specially called meeting Monday morning, the UT System Board of Regents unanimously approved new
football head coach Charlie Strong’s five-year contract and authorized President William Powers Jr. to conclude negotiations. Although Strong had already accepted the position, the board must approve any
athletic contracts exceeding $250,000 per year. According to the term sheet provided by the UT System, Strong will be paid a minimum of $5 million annually for a fiveseason term ending in 2019, with $100,000 increases
per year, starting in 2015. Strong will be granted bonuses if he meets certain goals, such as meeting teamwide GPA standards. If the team’s average GPA reaches 2.9, 3.0 or 3.1, Strong will receive bonuses in increments
of $25,000 every time a new standard is reached. Strong will also receive bonuses if the team appears in bowl games — they’ll be higher if the
CONTRACT page 2
Branching out
San Pedro de Atacama, Chile | Shweta Gulati / Daily Texan Staff
DT staffers document their winter travels / Page 3 CAMPUS
bit.ly/dtvid
CITY
Route plans, funding for light rail to be explored By Alyssa Mahoney @TheAlyssaM
This month, Project Connect — a coordinated effort between the City of Austin, Capital Metro and Lone Star Rail — will begin mapping out routes and pursuing funding for a high-capacity transit system for Austin. Joe Black, Lone Star Rail director, said Project Connect’s goal is to coordinate a public transportation system in which people can use buses, light-rail and trains to travel the Austin area seamlessly. “[Transit customers] want a system that offers good quality and frequent service that is affordable,” Black said. Jake Gutekunst, the president of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, said he thinks the project would especially help students in North and East Austin. “It provides an alternative to the bus system, which is useful but is sometimes unreliable on student-heavy routes,” Gutekunst said. Black said if the project goes according to plan, a portion of the rail will be in service in five to six years. He said it could take up to 10 years to build the entire system. “We’re not under any kind of illusion that the traffic problems will get better,” Black said.
CONNECT page 2
CAMPUS
Bush catches fire next to Belo building By Madlin Mekelburg & Nicole Cobler @thedailytexan
Jonathan Garza / Daily Texan Staff
President William Powers Jr. and Moody College Dean Roderick Hart sing the alma mater in celebration of the jounalism school’s 100th anniversary Monday afternoon.
School of journalism celebrates centennial By Christina Breitbeil @christinabreit
The Moody College of Communications’ journalism school kicked off its 100-year anniversary celebration at a ceremony Monday, during which speakers addressed the school’s successes over the last century, while also discussing recent developments including the tense relationship between
President William Powers Jr. and the UT System Board of Regents. Powers praised the journalism school’s faculty and said the school’s diversity and vitality are due mainly to the leadership of its professors. “In the future, we will maintain a … journalism education [that emphasizes] not only the ‘how,’ but also
Saving you
from the
textbook headache
100 page 5
The Belo Center for New Media was evacuated Monday after a bush caught fire outside the building. The fire, which affected several bushes lining the sidewalk on Dean Keeton Street, did not appear to damage the building itself. According to UTPD spokeswoman Cindy Posey, UTPD felt confident the fire was caused by a cigarette. Bert Kivell, a private contractor for the University who was on the scene at the time, said he contained the fire using a fire extinguisher before emergency personnel arrived at the scene and put out the fire. The Belo center was evacuated after an unknown individual pulled the fire alarm. Posey said the fire alarm should not have been pulled. “We ask people, when they see a fire outside, to call 911,” Posey said. Students inside the building were directed to the
Pu Ying Huang / Daily Texan Staff
UT contractor Bert Kivell extinguishes a brush fire that ignited outside the Belo Center for New Media on Monday afternoon. The source of the fire is believed to be a cigarette, according to UTPD.
street after the fire alarm sounded. They were asked to remain a safe distance away from the fire while it was being put out. “I didn’t know the emergency procedure,” said Davina Bruno, a public relations
The alarm told us to leave the building, but [outside the building] was where the hazard was. I don’t know what they would have done if the situation got more serious.
FIRE page 2
—Davina Bruno, Public relations senior
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