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Tuesday, April 22, 2014
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UNIVERSITY
CAMPUS
Medical School to begin construction
Oddly hued bluebonnets to remain on campus
By Madlin Mekelburg @madlinbmek
The University launched construction of the Dell Medical School on Monday during a groundbreaking ceremony with state, city and University officials in attendance. The medical school will feature an education and administration building, a research building, a medical office building and a parking garage, totalling 515,000 square feet. The predicted cost is $334 million and will
be located at the intersection of 15th Street and Red River. Seton Healthcare Family, which runs several hospitals in Austin, committed $295 million last year to build a teaching hospital for students enrolled at the medical school. The school is scheduled to accept its first class of students in 2016. At the ceremony, President William Powers Jr. asked the speakers at the event and community members in attendance to write one word on a poster board, summarizing their individual hopes
for the medical school. Powers wrote, “Innovation.” “If we all express our hopes and then pull together to make those hopes a reality, we will have a true treasure in our community and a great new source of health and healing,” Powers said. Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School, said he wanted to focus on advancing medical practices in the new facilities. “We have a responsibility
DELL page 2
By Christina Breitbeil @christinabreit
The mysterious maroon bluebonnets on campus are here to stay, and their origins seem to be more from UTbased roots than the previously speculated Texas A&M ones. Alpha Phi Omega, a UT service fraternity, planted the bluebonnets in spring 2012, according to Sam Faries, environmental sciences junior and APO president. Faries said the organization planted the flowers, which weren’t intended to be maroon, in a few different places on campus as part of a service project. “I don’t really know where all this conspiracy A&M stuff came from,” Faries said. “[The flowers] were all blue when we got them.” Markus Hogue, program coordinator for irrigation and water conservation, said UT would uproot the flowers early last week, but the University released a statement Thursday saying the flowers would remain on-campus. Jerry Parsons, former A&M horticulturist who is credited with assistance in the creation of the maroon bluebonnet, said the flowers on campus were not a prank but, rather, a seed mix-up during packaging, which is common when mass-producing seeds. “Shame on those folks who blamed the innocent Aggies,” Parsons said in an email. Parsons said the flowers were too pink to be A&M’s color. “That’s not the true maroon anyway,” Parsons said. “If they want some real maroon, we can plant real maroon.”
Jonathan Garza / Daily Texan Staff
Clay Johnston, inaugural dean of the Dell Medical School, speaks after Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony.
CAMPUS Illustration by Crystal Garcia Daily Texan Staff
Snake-watchers Herpetologist studies snakes in Waller Creek By Natalie Sullivan @natsullivan94
For Travis LaDuc, UT’s assistant curator of herpetology, wading through Waller Creek to grab snakes is part of what he calls “snake CSI.” LaDuc, assistant curator at the Texas Natural Science Center, tracks and studies blotched water snakes, a species of nonvenomous water snake that lives throughout Texas. LaDuc said the snakes could potentially be harmed by the construction of a tunnel under Waller Creek if it physically divides the population. Every six weeks, LaDuc and several students go out to the creek to capture the snakes and collect data on their habits and habitat preferences. He uses both microchips and radio technology, which he inserts into the snakes under anesthesia in order to track them. “It’s a serendipitous sport,” LaDuc said. “You see a snake, reach in to grab it and hope you come up with one. The radio telemetry lets us track snakes 24/7, so we get an overall snapshot of the creek and how they use their habitat.” Biology junior Andrew
Coulter, who went out to track and study the snakes in his vertebrate natural history class, said working with snakes allowed him to learn more about their behavior and misconceptions people have about snakes. “I feel like a lot of people think they’re aggressive and want to bite you, but they’re actually pretty calm,” Coulter said. LaDuc said he chose to study the snakes in Waller Creek because the population was large and easy to access. “They’re the largest, most common snake in the area, so not a lot of people study them,” LaDuc said. “I wanted to find out how the population has been able to persist, despite everything that’s been thrown at it.” Despite living near the University in an urban habitat, the snakes still manage to survive and thrive, according to LaDuc.
BUSINESS
SNAKES page 2
CAMPUS
Perfumery launches Former Obama aide shares experiences Longhorn fragrance By Jeremy Thomas
By Christina Breitbeil @christinabreit
Longhorn fans can now purchase University-themed cologne and perfume fragrances, released by Masik Collegiate Fragrances, a company that distributes perfumes and colognes for 20 state universities. The fragrance company received input from students, faculty and staff to inform its decision regarding ingredients for the scent. Katie Masich, founder and CEO of Masik Collegiate Fragrances, said the UT men’s cologne includes a hint of soft leather reminiscent of the boots worn during football season, and the women’s perfume includes spring scents reminiscent of the Texas bluebonnet. “These signature scents are inspired by unique
elements, such as the school colors, campus style, flowers and trees, traditions, and location,” Masich said. “We pitch our perfumers a ‘fragrance brief’ that outlines these school specific elements along with pictures of the university campus, sporting events, students and alumni. Once we formulate scent options for the school, the universities conduct smell sessions to determine which fragrances they like best.” The UT fragrance, which both the Co-op and the company’s website are selling for $39.50, was released directly following the launch of a fragrance for the University of Oklahoma, though Masich said the coinciding releases had nothing to do with the schools’ rivlary.
FRAGRANCE page 3
Reggie Love, a former personal aide to President Barack Obama, spoke at the Student Activity Center on Monday evening.
@jeremyobthomas
From his experiences as President Barack Obama’s former personal aide, Reggie Love said in an oncampus lecture Monday that, when dealing with crisis, people must be empathetic, understand their opponents’ points of view and allow them to express their feelings. Known as President Obama’s “body man,” Love spoke to about 50 people at the SAC auditorium as he shared his experiences and life lessons as a personal aide. Love worked in that position alongside the president from the 2008 campaign until 2011, when he left his position to complete his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania.
Shelby Tauber Daily Texan Staff
Love said it is important for people to focus on how they can negotiate with each other. “It may not be an equivalent one-to-one swap, but the gesture is typically appreciated,” Love said. “I think solutions are important, but, in some cases, there’s not an actual solu-
tion out there that is going to be 100-percent [admissible] to all parties within the ecosystem.” Love said he began his work in politics after becoming a staff assistant in then-U.S. Sen. Obama’s office. He worked in the mail room, where he received what he called his RIL
AP
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For the biggest, tastefully vulgar laughs around campus. UT’s Student Humor Publication. TODAY
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“big break” by digitizing the mailing process for every letter received and sent back to constituents. People working on Obama’s campaign then promoted Love to work as Obama’s personal aide during the 2008 presidential campaign.
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