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Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
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Tuesday, February 4, 2014
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SYSTEM
Cigarroa replies to transparency committee By Madlin Mekelburg @madlinbmek
In a 22-page letter accompanied by 97 pages of notes made public Monday, UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa responded to requests for System-related information made
by the house committee investigating Regent Wallace Hall. Committee co-chairs, state reps. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, and Dan Flynn, R-Canton, sent a letter to Cigarroa in December outlining the committee’s intention to continue monitoring
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the System. The House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations requested a variety of information, including any openrecords requests that regents or System employees plan to file in the foreseeable future. The Transparency Committee
is trying to determine whether Hall overstepped his duties as a regent and whether he should be recommended for impeachment. Hall filed openrecords requests with the University for more than 800,000 pages of information, even though, in his letter, Cigarroa
said the System believes fewer than 100,000 pages were actually provided to Hall. Regents and System employees have made 10 requests since the committee submitted its supervision plan to the System, according to documents included in Cigarroa’s letter. Hall
made seven of the 10 requests. At one Board of Regents meeting in October, board Chairman Paul Foster said he would recommend a new screening process for regent information requests before
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Most football coaches fall short of expectations in first season By Chris Hummer @chris_hummer
While there may be soaring expectations for football head coach Charlie Strong, his predecessors can attest to the challenges — both on and off the field — of being a firstyear head coach in Austin. Since 1950, six Texas coaches have made their Longhorn coaching debuts, featuring a 67.6 winning percentage in their first years. In comparison, former head coach Mack Brown went 9-3 in his first season, but stepped down in December after three seasons in which the program produced a 62-percent winning percentage. “When you’re a top
program in the country, you have to be about championships,” Strong said at a Jan. 15 press conference. Only three of Texas’ 28 previous head coaches won a conference championship in their first season: Eugene Van Gent in 1916, Berry M. Whitaker in 1920 and Fred Akers in 1977. Akers’ team finished 11-0 in the regular season and fell just short of a national title with a loss to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. But even his fruitful first campaign was preceded by challenges, namely the off-field politics of the sport. Although
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In their first-years, six different football coaches averaged a 67.6 winning percentage — just a few percentage points higher than what Mack Brown performed in his last three years. Five of those six are photographed here: Darrell Royal (1), Fred Akers (2), David McWilliams (3), John Mackovic (4) and Mack Brown (5). New coach Charlie Strong (6) will face high expectations come in the 2014 season.
serving nine years on popular head coach Darrell Royal’s staff eased the transition to Austin for Akers, his hire still drew
criticism from many alumni and former players who wanted long-time Royal assistant coach Mike Campbell to take
CAMPUS
over and disagreed with Akers’ elimination of the wishbone system in favor of the ‘I’ formation and single-back sets.
“I was a young guy who didn’t fully understand some
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CAMPUS
Hook the Vote encourages voter turnout Statues move to make By Jeremy Thomas @JeremyOBThomas
Despite changes to Texas Voter ID Law, UT students are not having many issues with voter registration, according to a Hook the Vote official. Beginning with the 2013 fall elections, voters in the state of Texas are now required to present an approved form of photo identification to vote in all Texas elections, according to the Office of the Texas Secretary of State. Acceptable forms of photo identification include a Texas driver’s license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety, also known as DPS, a U.S. passport or a U.S. citizenship certificate containing the
person’s photograph. At a Hook the Vote sponsored event Monday in Gregory Plaza, Arjun Mocherla, Hook the Vote director and Plan II and pre-med senior, said he initially thought out-of-state students without applicable Texas photo identification would be affected the most by the law. Hook the Vote is a bipartisan student organization that promotes voter registration and awareness. “So far we haven’t had that issue,” Mocherla said. “[The Texas Department of Public Safety] was really great about setting up one of the camera stations the week before the election last fall to help make IDs for anyone who didn’t have an ID. It may impact
room for medical school By Alex Wilts @alexwilts
Jarrid Denman / Daily Texan Staff
Business Management senior Courtney Catalani registers to vote in the West Mall Monday afternoon.
people, but, as far as students are concerned, I haven’t heard of any issues.” Monday was the last day to register to vote in the March primaries. Tanner Long,
a government junior and council member of Hook the Vote, said he believes the upcoming Texas gubernatorial
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Charles Umlauf ’s “Three Muses” sculptures received a new temporary home Monday after being removed from Centennial Park on Red River Street to make way for the construction of the Dell Medical School. The sculptures were moved to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum, where they will undergo restoration until being moved back to campus in 2016, the scheduled completion year for the medical school. University Operations spokeswoman Rhonda Wel-
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
ONLINE
Austin agencies work to combat human trafficking. PAGE 3
“No-growth” movement has no place in Austin. PAGE 4
Texas heads to TCU to find its seventh straight win. PAGE 6
UT alumni bring cream puffs to West Campus. PAGE 8
Retirements prompt 10 UTPD promotions.
Duo presents eccentric art to inspire students. ONLINE
Are the Drag’s homeless a threat to student safety? PAGE 4
Strong looks to make mark in first signing day. PAGE 6
A new food publication makes its debut at UT. PAGE 8
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don said the construction plans include straightening out Red River Street, while parts of the school will be built over a section of the Frank Erwin Center’s parking lot and Centennial Park, where an underground time capsule is also located. “[The time capsule] will have to be preserved,” Weldon said. “All of this is going to somehow be incorporated back into the medical district when it’s complete.” Robert Boland, business manager for Vault Fine Arts Services, the company in charge of transporting the sculptures to the museum,
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