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Tuesday, March 18, 2014
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CAMPUS
Students may need to pay for web By Nicole Cobler @nicolecobler
A new proposal may require all students to purchase bandwidth each semester to receive Internet access. William Green, director of networking and telecommunications at Information Technology Services,
said over time the amount of bandwidth allocated to students is not sufficient. As of fall 2013, 50 percent of students have purchased additional bandwidth. “We are watching those percentages grow and are afraid people are suffering needlessly when they get put on the second-class
network because they don’t realize it’s not enough bandwidth to do their daily activities,” Green said. Currently, students are allowed 500 MB of external bandwidth they may use each week at no cost — amounting to less than an
RESNET page 5
Bandwidth by the numbers Expenses UT took in $132,000 last spring but spent a total of $750,000
Usage University computers: 52 percent Wireless, nonresident computers: 48 percent (not including students living on campus)
FRAMES featured photo
Shelby Tauber / Daily Texan Staff
Henry Saltmarsh, 7, and Ian Andrews, 7, ride an attraction at St. Patrick’s Day Austin at the Shoal Crossing Event Center on Monday evening.
bit.ly/dtvid
UNIVERSITY
Conflict aside, Shared Services moves ahead across campus By Madlin Mekelburg @madlinbmek
Administrators call the program a cost-saving, centralization initiative. Student protestors and some members of faculty council claim the plan will “dehumanize” certain University services, lead to an undetermined number of layoffs and increase the pressure on the staff who remain. Amidst the controversial claims, one fact is certain: as Kevin Hegarty, vice president and chief financial officer, told The Daily Texan in January, “Shared Services is not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.” The Committee on Business Productivity, a group charged with identifying ways for UT to cut costs, first introduced the idea of Shared Services in January 2013. Since then, the Shared Services Steering Committee has worked to determine how to implement the initiative on campus. The committee presented its final report and recommendations to President William Powers Jr. earlier this month. Since its introduction, Shared Services has been defined in many ways by different parties across campus, and the steering committee itself has undergone multiple roster changes at the request of student and faculty governance groups. Student protestors also oppose the involvement of Accenture, a consulting firm with a controversial history, in the plan’s development. Meanwhile, across the country, other universities have begun to
SHARED page 3
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SYSTEM
Task force petitions in favor of stealth dorms
Hall accused of lambasting Cigarroa
By Alyssa Mahoney @TheAlyssaM
Student Government members are trying to increase student action against a city code change, proposed in November, which may further limit the number of students who can legally live together in a house. If Austin City Council passes the change, the number of unrelated adults who may live together in duplexes and singlefamily houses would be reduced from six to four. These high-occupancy houses are also known as “stealth dorms.” The council approved the proposed change on its first reading — though the council must hear the change twice more before it is
finalized — but suggested that an economic study be conducted to assess the proposed change’s impact on area housing affordability. The council will hear a second reading of the proposed amendment at its meeting Thursday. The SG-city relations task force has been developing legislation against the proposal since the beginning of the semester, according to Jordan Metoyer, urban studies and economics senior who founded the task force. According to Metoyer, SG has attempted to educate students about the issue and increase their involvement in the city’s decision-making process. SG will pass a resolution against the change on
DORM page 2
By Madlin Mekelburg @madlinbmek
In an email to UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, Paul Foster, chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, suggested Regent Wallace Hall accused Cigarroa of not doing his job weeks before Cigarroa announced his resignation. Foster praised Cigarroa in the email, which was originally obtained by The Dallas Morning News, and said “virtually all” of the regents appreciated the work he did as chancellor. “I absolutely do not agree with [Hall’s] tactics in trying to pressure you into taking an action that you do not feel is in the best interests of UT-Austin or of the UT System,” Foster said in the email. “It is clear what he hopes to accomplish, but to disparage your reputation
Amy Zhang / Daily Texan file photo
UT System Regent Wallace Hall at the regents’ February meeting. A letter from the board chairman to the outgoing chancellor reveals Hall accused the chancellor of not doing his job.
in the process is neither fair nor is it appropriate.” State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, a member of the legislative committee investigating
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Hall, submitted a letter Friday to State Reps. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, and Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, after he saw the email, asking them to reconvene to hear
testimony from Cigarroa and Foster. Flynn and Alvarado are co-chairs of the House
HALL page 5