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Thursday, November 6, 2014
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CITY
STATE
No backup with derailed Prop. 1 By Jackie Wang @jcqlnwng
With Austin voters rejecting Proposition 1 on Tuesday, the city will have to look at new options in order to continue its efforts to improve Austin’s transportation infrastructure. Prop. 1 proposed allocating $600 million in bond money toward a 9.5-mile urban rail line running from East Riverside to ACCHighland, with three of the proposed stops located
along the east side of the UT campus. The plan also required the city to acquire $400 million to complete road improvements. The bond proposal was defeated Tuesday with 57.2 percent of voters against the plan. One of the plan’s biggest supporters, Mayor Lee Leffingwell has repeatedly emphasized that the city had no backup plan to improve transportation infrastructure. John Julitz, Capital Metro and Project Connect spokesman, said the city
and CapMetro will continue working to improve traffic congestion but, in light of the urban rail plan failing, will have to step back to look at the situation. “The mayor has said it — there’s no plan B right now because we felt it was the best plan,” Julitz said. “We need to look at it from a system perspective for what the next step is going to be.” According to Julitz, voters against the
RAIL page 2
Abbott lays out plans for term as governor By Madlin Mekelburg @madlinbmek
Governor-elect Greg Abbott reiterated points from his campaign platform and discussed upcoming meetings at a media briefing Wednesday morning. “It is an honor to have been elected governor of the state of Texas, but, as I told people last night, it’s time to put the election behind us and begin the process of getting to work, and that is exactly what we are doing,” Abbott said. “The people of Texas elected me to do a job and we began working on that job today.” Abbott, the current state attorney general, said he has several different meetings scheduled throughout the week, including a meeting with Kyle Janek of the Health and Human Services Commission on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the Ebola virus. “Things have improved with regard to the current situation about Ebola, and the extent to which Texans can be exposed to the disease,” Abbott said. “However, we can never let up on these challenges because of how deadly the disease is. … We need to be vigilant going forward knowing that Ebola still exists in West African countries and could travel to other places.” Abbott said Texans can expect him to live up to the
Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff
People walk past a Proposition 1 sign outside the Flawn Academic Center on Wednesday afternoon.
CAMPUS
FAC begins around-the-clock service By Eleanor Dearman @ellydearman
The Perry–Castañeda Library is no longer the only study spot on campus to be open for all-nighters. On Wednesday, Student Government President Kori Rady announced in an email to students that the Flawn Academic Center will remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the rest of the semester. The FAC previously closed at midnight on weekdays. The plan to extend the hours has been in the works since the start of the semester, when Rady co-authored a resolution with other SG members in support of the initiative. “Initially, I was confident that it would get done this semester, and it did,” Rady said. This is not the first time SG has worked to open a
FAC page 2
Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff
Undeclared sophomore Marilu Sanchez studies at the Flawn Activity Center on Wednesday evening. The FAC is currently in a trial phase but could be open 24/7 permanently if the trial is successful.
UNIVERSITY
@ellydearman
The TA Task Force, a group of 22 teaching assistants and academic instructors from the College of Liberal Arts, decided Wednesday to extend its research time for about two months longer than originally anticipated. With this decision, the task force will postpone the delivery of its final recommendations to COLA administrators so they can continue researching issues related to graduate students in the college. The task force was previously planning to make its final recommendations at the beginning of the spring 2015 semester but will now continue their research until Jan. 28. “We’ve basically given ourselves an extra two months over the break to finish up our research and make our recommendations,” said Justin Doran, task force member and spokesman. Since September, the
ABBOTT page 3
CITY
COLA TA Task Force to extend research into 2015 By Eleanor Dearman
bit.ly/dtvid
students have been meeting to examine issues related to COLA TAs and AIs. The task force is divided into five committees that work to establish guidelines with professors, define TA responsibilities, examine job security and assignments, work to make sure employment and degree plans align and set standards for TA workload and compensation. According to Doran, they are determining this information through extensive surveys that will be sent to administrators and faculty members. He said they are also conducting student surveys, for which responses have been collected. The task force will then report their findings to administrators for consideration. “We want to function as mediators between the COLA administration and the department chairs,” Doran said. “So, [we want to be] both fact-finders and then
TA page 2
Panel recaps midterms, voter turnout By Josh Willis @joshwillis35
Professors and campaign professionals gathered at the Belo Center for New Media on Wednesday to dissect and analyze Tuesday’s election results at an event hosted by the New Politics Forum at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life. Election Day in Texas saw Republican candidates win all statewide races with large, double-digit margins. At Wednesday’s election debriefing, Regina Lawrence, journalism professor and Strauss Institute director, said voter turnout is what makes the democratic process effective. “Elections are kind of an imperfect way of measuring the will of the people, and they get less and less perfect, the fewer and fewer people who show up,” Lawrence said. “In a way, elections are all about who shows up.” Lawrence said the election Tuesday demonstrated the increasing popularity of
Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff
Sharon Navarro speaks on a panel at the 2014 Post-Election Debriefing hosted by the New Politics Forum at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life.
early voting in Texas. Actually we saw, in a continued trend, an increase in early voting so that we had about one-third of Texas registered voters actually voting before yesterday,” Lawrence said. Voter turnout across the
state has been low, but Lawrence said Texas had the lowest turnout in the country in 2010. “I’m here to tell you that the early returns suggest that Texas was not dead last yesterday,” Lawrence said. Ross Ramsey, executive
editor and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, said turnout is always an issue when it comes to election time. “There’s a big emphasis in politics, not just in this
POST-ELECTION page 2
NEWS
FORUM
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
ONLINE
REASON TO PARTY
Professor says tectonics led to biological explosion. PAGE 3
Student Government, Senate of College Councils and Graduate Student Assembly leaders discuss ongoing initiatives. PAGE 4
Volleyball dominates in sweep of Texas Tech. PAGE 7
Wanderlust Festival throws a yoga “block party.” PAGE 8
Longhorns 2-0 with Strong’s orange turtleneck. PAGE 7
“Poor Boys’ Theater” to open at SAC on Friday. PAGE 8
Tired of the rain? Enjoy the rain? Indifferent to the rain? Check out The Daily Texan’s website for the latest campus stories. dailytexanonline.com
PAGE 7
Guest lecturer discusses Latino identity. PAGE 3