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Tuesday, November 4, 2014
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UT early voter turnout unchanged By Eleanor Dearman and Jackie Wang @thedailytexan
This election season’s early voting turnout increased by only 39 votes on campus since the last gubernatorial and midterm election in 2010. This year marked the start of new changes in Austin:
City elections were moved from May to November to coincide with state and federal elections, and the Austin City Council was restructured from six citywide members to 10 members, each representing geographic districts. Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said she thought the new districts in Austin, as well as the county’s
updated ballot, would increase voter turnout. “This ballot is kind of a record breaker,” DeBeauvoir said. “It’s the longest ballot we have ever had, and it is new in the sense that it’s the first time that the City of Austin has done singlemember districts. It’s the first time that we’ve had all of our large local entities on
the November ballot. This is all brand new for Travis County voters.” Max Patterson, director of Hook the Vote, a Student Government agency focused on increasing student voter turnout, said he thought the publicity of this year’s race would increase the number of early voters at the University. At the Flawn Academic
Center, 6,164 voters cast their ballot, compared to 6,125 in 2010. “You would think that they would be a little bit higher, and I think they will be on Election Day, as opposed to in 2010 just because it’s a little bit more popular race,” Patterson said. “More
Griffin Smith | Daily Texan Staff
Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School, gave a talk to students from the School of Undergraduate Studies on Monday. The talk was aimed at helping students see that medical education and research goes beyond the classroom.
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technology. It’s actually gotten more and more expensive.” Johnston identified several issues he saw within the health care system and urged students to think critically about those issues, including the requirement to visit the doctor’s office when patients have the flu or that hospital gowns exposing a
By Natalie Sullivan
HEALTH CARE page 2
By Ariana Guerra
it inefficient, but, with new innovation, it increases the cost of health care. … People are not benefitting from the new technology. The cost of banking and telecommunication has gone way down, so it’s changed the way we live our life, but that’s not true in health. Drugs are not getting cheaper with
Student on Ebola flight to return to University
patient’s rear are still used. Johnston also evaluated the gap insurance companies create between patients and the value of their care, as well as the “lone cowboy” physician who underplays team and community efforts. “Just accepting that
VOTING page 3
Johnston talks about changing health care
reach patients? [It’s] horribly inefficient and everyone is suffering from this,’” Johnston said. His criticism of the standard method for conducting research studies influenced his concern with other areas in the medical field. “A new issue comes up,” Johnston said. “Not only is
UNIVERSITY
President William Powers Jr. announced in a University-wide email Monday afternoon that the monitoring period for a UT student who was on the same flight as a nurse diagnosed with Ebola ended Monday. According to Powers, the student did not display any symptoms of Ebola during the 21-day quarantine. “Local health officials report that the student never showed any symptoms of Ebola and does not pose a risk to the campus community. This student has resumed classes and activities on campus,” Powers said in the email. The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department said in a statement the monitoring period for the student, who was considered a low-risk contact, ended at 5 p.m. Monday. According to the statement, health officials followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and monitored the student with daily temperature checks. The student stayed home from class at his/her personal residence during the quarantine, Powers said. “The UT student … has been monitored by [Austin/ Travis County Health and Human Services Department] staff twice daily for temperature readings for 21 days, which is consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines,” the statement said. “Staff continues to monitor three
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Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School, emphasized in a lecture Monday the importance of not accepting the status quo when looking for new solutions in the health care system. Johnston was hired as the inaugural dean of the Dell Medical School in January. Currently under construction, the school is scheduled to open in fall 2016. Johnston said medical schools have become multibillion dollar enterprises that see any new business models as threats to their structure. “They get stuck,” Johnston said. “And promoting health isn’t the priority — but helping the sick.” During the lecture in Burdine Hall for the School of Undergraduate Studies signature course speaker series, Johnston said, as a researcher focusing on stroke prevention, he was frustrated with the process of executing research studies. He felt the procedure took too long and did not effectively reach the patients. “There were few people saying, ‘How do we make research faster? How can we reorganize the structure in order to accelerate studies to
bit.ly/dtvid
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Poll: Students pro-environment Professor discusses human rights By Christina Noriega
By Matthew Adams
Americans below the age of 35 tend to support candidates running on an environmentally friendly platform, according to a new study from the UT Energy Poll. According to the poll, which was conducted in early September, 65 percent or more of young Americans would vote for a candidate who supports reducing gas emissions and coal use, increasing science and research funding and expanding financial incentives for renewable energy. In contrast, 50 percent or less of Americans above the age of 65 would vote for a candidate supporting these issues. The disparity in responses could reflect distinct priorities between older and younger
generations, according to poll director Sheril Kirshenbaum. While older Americans tend to support federal spending in social security and the military, younger generations prefer federal money to go toward the environment and education, Kirshenbaum said. “Younger Americans are more invested in the future,” Kirshenbaum said. Despite more mainstream conversations about sustainability, Kirshenbaum said series of UT Energy Polls showed responses favoring more environmental policies tended to stay at the same levels. In regards to environmentally friendly legislation, Kirshenbaum said young Americans could shape the future of the nation if voter turnout among youth increases. According to the online poll, 87 percent of older Americans
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Keep track of Tuesday’s top election races in the top state and city races with The Daily Texan’s live blog. dailytexanonline.com
America could use new, younger leaders. PAGE 4
Mykkele Thompson sees football more clear. PAGE 6
Austin Facial Hair Club attends Fun Fun Fun Fest. PAGE 8
In campaigns, social media is a key to success. PAGE 4
Texas football sets up a big recruting class. PAGE 6
Sophomore builds app for iTunes App Store. PAGE 8
Voting today? That’s cool. You should also follow The Daily Texan on Twitter and keep track of the latest campus news. dailytexanonline.com
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Do the millennials represent where the nation and the globe is headed? Are we going to cut carbon emissions and being more environmentally minded? —Sheril Kirshenbaum, Poll director
said they were likely to vote in contrast to 68 percent of young Americans who said they would vote. “Do the millennials represent where the nation
ENERGY page 2
George Annas, public health professor at Boston University, said during a lecture in Townes Hall on Monday that human rights could be in danger as technology advances. Annas has extensive experience working within the field of human rights and is the author or editor of 19 books on bioethics. Before beginning his lecture, which was part of the Rapoport Center’s Colloquium series, Annas began by showing a picture of a storm cloud over the future. “The point here is that no one can predict the future, but we have to deal with it,” Annas said. “But, as lawyers, we want to discover ways to mitigate it.”
Lauren Ussery | Daily Texan Staff
George Annas, public health professor at Boston University, spoke in Townes Hall on Monday evening about human rights.
Annas said the biggest human rights threat could be from human violence arising over combining humans with machines. “Realistically, it is not in humans to harm other humans,” Annas said. “When we decide to dehumanize
them, we treat them like animals. [When that occurs], who knows what we are capable of.” Annas listed Google’s Calico company, which seeks to figure out a way to prevent
RIGHTS page 2