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Wednesday, April 9, 2014
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Tuesday’s panels see surprisingly low turnout
CIVIL RIGHTS SUMMIT
Carter: ‘We are not above reproach’ By Alyssa Mahoney @TheAlyssaM
At the Civil Rights Summit on Tuesday, former President Jimmy Carter said there are still racial and women’s rights issues that the U.S. needs to address with conversation. In the conversation, hosted by LBJ Library Director Mark Updegrove, Carter said in his work with the Carter Center — an organization Carter founded with his wife in 1982 to advance human rights — he has seen extraordinary prejudice against women and girls, including female genital mutilation, female infanticide and sexual slavery. “Slavery, at this moment, is greater than it ever was in the 19th century,” Carter said. “I don’t want to shock people too much, but it’s the worst human rights violation on earth.” According to Carter, sexual abuse is a major problem not only in countries around the world but also in universities in the U.S. “In this country, we are not above — I hate to say condemnation — but we are not above reproach,” Carter said. “The number one place for sexual abuse is the United States universities.”
By Madlin Mekelburg @madlinbmek
peace. Carter, a leader in the organization, helped create a coalition in 2011 called Girls Not Brides with the goal of ending child marriage.
According to individuals at the Civil Rights Summit, attendance was low during the three panels held Tuesday, the first day of the summit. The summit is being held at the LBJ Auditorium, which seats 967 people. Attendees received a ticket to see one of four presidents speak or to see all of the panels on one day of the summit. According to University spokesman Gary Susswein, all available tickets were distributed for the presidential addresses and daytime panels, so the turnout rates were not a result of lesser ticket distribution. “We would assume that people are coming to what they’re able to come to and trying to be there the best they can,” Susswein said. “We would love for every seat to be filled at every moment, but we realize some people who hold tickets may need to go to class or
CARTER page 3
AUDITORIUM page 3
Photo courtesy of Ralph Barrera / The Austin American-Statesman
Former President Jimmy Carter speaks with Mark Updegrove, director of the LBJ Presidential Library, on the first day of the Civil Rights Summit on Tuesday evening.
Carter said sexual abuse on college campuses is underreported because university faculty and administrators worry that reporting rape will tarnish a university’s reputation. Carter also
said he thinks the fact that Title IX allows federal funds to be withheld from universities if college administrators fail to properly address sexual assault cases will help solve the problem.
In a blog post in March, Carter presented his concerns about religious and cultural interpretation hindering gender equality to The Elders, an organization hoping to establish international
Speakers address immigration laws By Nicole Cobler @nicolecobler
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro both said they felt optimistic that immigration laws would be passed in 2014 and agreed the U.S. government must do more to address the issue of immigrants who overstay their visas, during a panel at the Civil Rights Summit hosted by the LBJ Library on Tuesday. “We haven’t done much about people who overstayed their visa,” Castro said. “And ensuring that we have a way to track who comes in, and then whether they leave, in a more effective and efficient way is an important part of this.” Barbour said the U.S. shouldn’t deport employed immigrants because it wouldn’t be economically practical. “Three, four, five million of these people who have
bit.ly/dtvid
Musicians influence civil rights evolution By Hannah Smothers @hannahsmothers
Shweta Gulati / Daily Texan Staff
Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro discussed immigration laws at a panel during the LBJ Civil Rights Summit on Tuesday afternoon.
had the same jobs for years, for decades — about the stupidest thing we could do, economically, is make them leave,” Barbour said. “We
don’t have anybody to replace them with. The impracticality of sending everybody home should be obvious to everybody.”
Barbour said this creates a problem while passing laws through Congress because
IMMIGRATION page 3
The Music and Social Consciousness panel on the first day of the Civil Rights Summit gave a nod to popular culture’s involvement in the civil rights movement. Mavis Staples and Graham Nash, two musicians known for their contributions to pop culture and the civil rights movement, spoke Tuesday afternoon, followed by a four-song performance given by Nash. Both Staples and Nash talked about how the civil rights movement and political atmosphere influenced their careers in music. Singer-songwriter Patty Griffin introduced the speakers, and the panel was moderated by Bob Santelli, the executive director of the
GRAMMY Museum. Staples, a rhythm and blues and gospel artist from soul group The Staples Singers, said she attributes her lifetime as a gospel singer to meeting Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. early in her career. “I think that, if he can preach it, we can sing it,” Staples said. “That was the beginning of our writing of civil rights songs, freedom songs, message songs and the first one was ‘March Up Freedom’s Highway.’” Throughout the beginning of her career, Staples spent time with King. She said her favorite memories with the man most people saw as stoic and serious were moments of laughter. “[I] just loved to hear Dr. King’s laughter,” Staples said.
MUSIC page 3
Proposition 8 attorneys discuss same-sex marrriage during panel By Madlin Mekelburg Although attorneys David Boies and Theodore Olson once argued against each other in front of the Supreme Court, they said they are of one mind about the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. Boies and Olson joined moderator John Avlon, editorin-chief of The Daily Beast, Tuesday at the first panel of the Civil Rights Summit, “Gay Marriage: A Civil Right?” In the 2000 Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore, Boies and
Olson were legal foes. But the two joined forces in 2009 and fought to overturn Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage, a battle they discussed at the panel. Boies said he thinks samesex marriage is the defining civil rights issue of today, and there are clear similarities between the fight for equal rights for same-sex couples and the civil rights movement. “For a long time, people denied that [same-sex marriage] was a civil rights issue,” Boies said. “They defended it on religious grounds, on
constitutional grounds, on grounds of tradition, on grounds of protecting the family — all of the ways that we have, over the course of the history of our country, tried to deny one group of our citizens the equal rights that our Declaration of Independence and Constitution promises to everybody.” Olson, a well-known conservative, said he views same-sex marriage as a constitutional issue rather than an ideological one. “I would get some messages, and I would get some
people who were reported in the press as saying I was ‘a traitor to my principles’ and so forth,” Olson said. “If you have principles, you have to be true to your principles and not have other people identify your principles for you.” According to Boies, 30 judges have considered the issue of same-sex marriage since last June, and all of them have ruled that marriage is a constitutional right regardless of the sexual orientation of a couple. Boies said people who
Jonathan Garza / Daily Texan Staff
MARRIAGE page 3
David Boies speaks with John Avalon about the constitutionality of gay marriage at the LBJ Auditorium on Tuesday afternoon.
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
ONLINE
A UT student is running for local government. PAGE 5
Civil Rights Summit needs to connect with students. PAGE 4
Longhorns drop rematch against No. 21 Rice. PAGE 6
WWI memorial’s planning isn’t commonly known.
Commencement speakers have been mostly male. PAGE 5
Yik Yak app breeds racism, sexism. PAGE 4
Ashley Roberts exits Texas after up-and-down career. PAGE 6
UT alum Jennifer Chenoweth created a map of Austin that takes personal experience into account.
@madlinbmek
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SG confirms all appointed executive board members. dailytexanonline.com
REASON TO PARTY
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