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Friday, April 4, 2014
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Photos courtesy of Associated Press
Sixty-four years after the first black student was admitted to the University of Texas, the landscape of civil rights has changed significantly. As we approach the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, questions of equality are still of paramount importance on and off campus.
First black Longhorns share struggle
The path to desegregation at Texas
By Leila Ruiz
By Leila Ruiz
Leon Holland could live in the dorms but was not allowed to eat in any cafeterias. Holland could attend classes but could not take part in nearly any student organizations. He could cheer for his school’s football team but could not expect to see any athletes who looked like him. In the fall of 1956, Holland was a member of the first black undergraduate class allowed into the University. Today, Holland is a proud member of the Precursors, a group of some of the first black students to attend and
Although the Civil Rights Act was signed into law in 1964, full integration of Texas universities was still elusive well into Jimmy Carter’s presidential term. In February 1978, Joseph Califano, then U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare, announced plans to conduct reviews in several states’ higher education systems that had practiced segregation in spite of the Civil Rights Act. The review lasted for nearly three years, with a conclusion of noncompliance released
@leilakristi
@leilakristi
Pu Ying Huang / Daily Texan Staff
Leon Holland and his wife Peggy hold up a picture of Leon with Peggy and his mother at his first military commission.
integrate the University. Lonnie Fogle, the current president of the Precursors, said the
organization was originally an
PRECURSORS page 2
January 15, 1981 — the last week of Carter’s administration — in a letter that Cynthia Brown, assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote to Texas Attorney General Mark White. “[Texas] has failed to eliminate the vestiges of its former de jure racially dual system of public higher education,” Brown declared in the letter. After 30 months of negotiations and several court orders, White encouraged Texas universities to voluntarily follow a desegregation plan by recruiting more African-American and Latino students.
Texas Assistant Attorney General Jim Todd said the Office of Civil Rights was created primarily to handle investigations into Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin for any program receiving federal financial aid. “The Office of Civil Rights investigates, and they have the authority to do one of two things: They can cut off federal funds, or they can recommend someone to the justice department,” Todd said.
INTEGRATION page 2
CAMPUS
CITY
Mind over body: zero training, 50-mile run
SXSW victims to receive funds
By Garrett Callahan @CallahanGarrett
Last spring break, in a lastminute decision, mechanical engineering senior Steve Guillen packed a backpack, grabbed his helmet and biked 738 miles east to Destin, Fla. He had no plans and no set accommodations, just the will to challenge himself. After getting kicked off highways and even enduring an upper respiratory infection, Guillen completed his journey in eight days. Now, more than a year later, he has decided to up the ante. While most other college students will spend their Saturdays on the coach, Guillen will spend his attempting to run the 50-mile Hells Hills Endurance Trail Run in Smithville. Guillen will complete his new “unthinkable challenge,” as he puts it, with no
training, His only motivation is the desire to question and challenge his own perceived limits. “Most of the time there is nothing real stopping people from doing what they want to do,” Guillen said. “It’s perceived. They make up all these excuses. For me, I always wanted to run one of these ultramarathons, so I asked myself, ‘Why am I not doing it?’ There’s not going to be a better time to do it. The time is now.” While he has juggled the idea in his mind for quite some time, Guillen didn’t decide to participate in the run until a week ago. It was another last-minute decision, but this time he is doing it for charity and as an experiment. Guillen is attempting to raise 50 bitcoins for the Texas
BITCOIN page 7
By Julia Brouillette @juliakbrou
In the weeks after a suspected drunk driver plowed through a crowd of people at South By Southwest on March 13, service organizations have been left to decide how to distribute more than $180,000 in funds raised to assist victims and their families. The Austin Police Department’s Victim Services Division, the Austin Community Foundation and the American Red Cross are working to evaluate the expenses of more than a dozen victims, whose injuries ranged from mild to critical. “We’re assessing other needs they may have beyond what Crime Victims’ Compensation will cover or what their own insurance will cover,” said Kachina Clark, manager of APD Victim Services. “We are working with the Austin Community
Shelby Tauber / Daily Texan file photo
Police block the roads after the SXSW accident March 13. Service organizations have been left to decide how to distribute more than $180,000 raised to assist victims and their families.
Foundation and the Red Cross because they have experience dealing with large-scale incidents and distribution of funds that are raised.”
The organizations will grant victims a portion of the funds based on their personal needs and available resources, Clark said.
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While the city works to combat a rising population with various initatives, traffic is set to get even worse in Austin. PAGE 3
We asked: Will you attend the Civil Rights Summit? PAGE 4
Texas seeks to shed .500 conference record. PAGE 7
Concert Crawl takes music students out of the theater. PAGE 8
“Black Graduation” can have its downsides. PAGE 4
Track and Field set for Stanford Invitational. PAGE 7
A UT student competes in Triple Threat comedy show. PAGE 8
Watch three teams of journalists race across MoPac, Lamar and I-35 during rush hour. See who wins at dailytexanonline.com
“We’ll have to come up with some additional guidelines for distribution, but
SXSW page 5 REASON TO PARTY
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