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SYSTEM
Abbott appoints new System Regents By Julia Brouillette & Eleanor Dearman @thedailytexan
On his second full day in office Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed two new members to the UT System Board of Regents and reappointed Vice Chairman Steve Hicks for another term. Abbott’s two new appointees, Sara Martinez Tucker and David Beck, will replace current regents Robert L. Stillwell and Vice Chairman William Eugene Powell if approved by the Texas Senate. Stillwell’s and
Powell’s terms are set to expire in February, while Hicks’ will be extended until 2021. “I am appreciative and happy to help Governor Abbott as he seeks to improve higher education in Texas,” Hicks said in an email to the Texan. “I’m especially excited about UT Austin and assisting their aspirations to be the best public university in the world.” Sara Martinez Tucker, CEO of the National Math + Science Initiative, served as undersecretary of the Department of Education during the Bush administration and as
CEO of the California-based Hispanic Scholarship Fund. Beck is a senior partner at the Beck Redden law firm in Houston. They are both UT alumni — Beck graduated from the UT School of Law, and Martinez Tucker received an undergraduate degree in journalism as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University. Martinez Tucker said she and Beck were instructed not to comment on their appointments. Seemingly across the board,
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UNIVERSITY
Committee to reevaluate centralization pilot program By Josh Willis @joshwillis35
Joe Capraro | Daily Texan file photo
Gov. Greg Abbott reappointed Vice Chairman Steve Hicks. Abbott also appointed UT alumni Sara Martinez Tucker and David Beck as new regents, pending Senate approval.
FRAMES featured photo
Griffin Smith | Daily Texan Staff
A UT student exits the University Teaching Center on Thursday with umbrella in hand.
Shared Services, a plan to centralize the University’s human resources, information technology, finance and procurement services, will be implemented differently in future pilot programs as a result of feedback from the first round of voluntary implementation. After months of discussion last spring, Shared Services’ implementation was scaled down to a few pilot programs in the College of Education and the Provost Portfolio, an administrative unit that oversees academic and professional areas in the University. The scaling down of the program was a result of recommendations made by the Shared Services Steering Committee. In February 2014, the Committee released a report calling for the University to conduct a pilot version of Shared Services so administrators would have more information about the effectiveness and impact of the program before rolling it out to the entire campus. Now that pilot programs have been active for one long session, administrators are working to see what has gone well — and what could be going better. Jamie Southerland, associate vice president for Shared Services and Business Transformation, said the College of Education’s pilot program revealed issues as the semester went on. “As the fall progressed, it became clear that the academic units involved in the pilot did not desire to reduce [their own] cost and/or administrative staffing, and therefore
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CAMPUS
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
LBJ Library recognizes baseball Hall of Famer
Study: Couples prefer equal relationships
By Matthew Adams @thedailytexan
The LBJ Presidential Library hosted its annual Tom Johnson Lecture Series on Thursday, recognizing baseball Hall of Famer Henry “Hank” Aaron. Johnson served as executive assistant to President Lyndon Johnson during his presidency and later served as chairman emeritus of the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation. Each year, Johnson recommends a person who best represents the values of President Johnson to
lecture in the series. Aaron, this year’s honoree, is best known for breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record. During his 23-year career, Aaron won three Gold Glove Awards and the 1957 World Series with the Milwaukee Braves. Aaron and his wife, Billye Aaron, founded the Chasing the Dream Foundation in 1999. According to Johnson, this foundation helps minority children achieve their goals. “Both have been very
LIBRARY page 2
By Sebastian Herrera @SebasAHerrera
Sociology assistant professor David Pedulla co-authored a study that shows young men and women in the U.S. prefer to have a relationship in which work and home life are shared equally between partners. Using the help of the GfK, a market and consumer research center based in Germany, the study surveyed unmarried, childless men and women between the ages of 18 and 32.
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Illustration by Albert Lee | Daily Texan Staff
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Friday, January 23, 2015
NEWS
CITY
Council invites community participation By Jackie Wang @jcqlnwng
Volume 115, Issue 84
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The Austin City Council attempted to boost public participation in Council meetings Thursday by projecting a livestream of community members’ texts and tweets on the wall. Although most of the messages were relevant to the meeting agenda, the word-clouds and texts the Council presented also prominently featured Internet memes, such as “doge,” as well as the word “poop.” Eventually, the Council disabled the text-stream service. At the meeting, Council members also discussed the formation of a public engagement task force, which will include UT experts. Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo said she plans on launching a separate student advisory council. “I see it as a separate project, but I hope the public engagement task force would have some representatives on [the student advisory council],” Tovo said. “This would be a student group to advise my office and make sure we have
Shared Services offered no benefits to the units,” Southerland said. To remedy this problem, administrators will recruit departments with a more active interest in implementing the pilot program’s services. “We are also exploring the idea of offering services that any campus department could opt-in to,” Southerland said. “We know that there are processes that no one is happy with. We are in the process of determining how we can combine re-engineered processes into a service that campus finds valuable.” Although groups such as the UT Save Our Community Coalition insisted that Shared Services would result in mass layoffs, one year after the pilot programs began, no jobs have been terminated, Almasy said. “I think we’re now at the very least a year, if not two
good communication.” Robert Svodoba, co-director of the UT Student Government City Relations agency, said the group plans to meet with Tovo to establish a mutually beneficial relationship. “We already talked to her during the campaign, but just from a City Relations standpoint to introduce ourselves and present ourselves as a resource and outlet for students,” Svoboda said. “[We wanted her] to gauge student opinion and to find out how she can reach out to students and how we can reach out to her.” Tovo said the Council will discuss restructuring City Council meetings to make them more accessible. She said she anticipates future Council meetings will be shorter and more frequent. “We are trying to improve the process so we have more and more effective public input earlier in the process,” Tovo said. City Council members Sheri Gallo, Ann Kitchen, Ora Houston and Leslie Pool are working with the mayor’s office to have a draft resolution establishing the task force ready for next week’s City Council meeting.
Rachel Zein | Daily Texan file photo
As part of an initiative to increase public participation during meetings, Austin City Council displayed texts and tweets from local residents on a projector screen throughout it’s Thursday meeting.
The task force will report back to the Council after six months to make recommendations on how to further improve community engagement in Council meetings. “We only talked about it as a general idea,” Tovo said. “The task force, as I understand it, would not be Council
It just didn’t work well when they tried to merge so many functions — so many individual functions, that served Provost or faculty, into one kind of automated system. —Anne Lewis, Radio-television-film senior lecturer
years, from when this discussion began, and there have been no layoffs or firings,“ Almasy said. University officials are now looking for another department or college willing to implement a pilot program in order to collect another round of data. “We are in conversations with other departments who are exploring a move to Shared Services, but we are not in a position to announce anything yet,” Southerland said. Radio-television-film senior lecturer Anne Lewis said the University’s small-scale attempts at using Shared Services have not succeeded. “It [has been] a miserable failure,” Lewis said. “It
just didn’t work well when they tried to merge so many functions — so many individual functions, that served provost or faculty, into one kind of automated system.” Southerland said the Provost Portfolio experience with Shared Services was a positive one. “Thus far, the Provost Portfolio has been pleased with the quality of service from both the [Central Business Office] and [Academic Technology Support],” Southerland said. “They estimate that the switch to Shared Services has saved more than $1 million annually, most of which has already been reinvested in academic programs across the campus.”
members. It would be something we kick off to help us revise our process — but not comprised of Council members. That’s one thing my colleague has taken up and is working on a resolution for next week’s agenda.” Pool said she is optimistic about the City’s plan to expand
and diversify public input at Council meetings. “Building on this sort of engagement we’re having this evening, the entire Council feels it’s a key component of our ability to work in a transparent and accountable way if we understand the various avenues of public engagement,” Pool said.
REGENTS
especially our flagship,” Zaffirini said in an email to the Texan. “Each brings expertise and experience that will be valuable assets in interacting with the legislature and in understanding that students are our top priority.” Zaffirini said she is confident all three appointees will be confirmed by the Senate. “Today is a fine day for Texas and, especially, for the Longhorn Nation,” Zaffirini said. Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin), vice chair of the Senate Committee on Higher Education, said he would be pleased to see Hicks return to the Board of Regents. “Vice Chairman Steve Hicks has been an excellent leader on the board, and I look forward to continuing our close working relationship,” Watson said. Watson said he thinks Beck and Martinez Tucker are wellqualified candidates. “The two new additions … will also be great assets,” Watson said. “I’m impressed by Sara’s background and educational expertise. I’ve known David for 25 years and he’s smart, and thoughtful, and loves UT.”
continues from page 1 key players in Texas’ higher education community lined up to praise Abbott’s appointments. UT System Chancellor William McRaven, who took over from former Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa earlier this month, said he felt strongly supportive of Beck and Martinez Tucker and was excited Hicks was up for reappointment. “I could not be more pleased with Gov. Abbott’s announcement,” McRaven said. “If confirmed by the Texas Senate, I am confident that these three individuals will serve the University of Texas System with fervor and dedication and contribute their immense talents to making all our institutions even better.” Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), a member of the Senate Committee on Higher Education, said she also felt enthusiastic about Abbott’s selection. “These three strong, intelligent, dynamic Texas Exes love UT and undoubtedly will be leaders in the quest for excellence at all UT institutions,
LIBRARY
Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Henry ‘Hank’ Aaron spoke as a part of the Tom Johnson Lecture Series on Thursday night.
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active in civil rights, education, and active in the support of policies on the right side of history,” Johnson said. “They have supported many great black mayors and the legacy of President Johnson.” Aaron said his father influenced his career path. “I remember getting into baseball because my father had his own baseball team,” Aaron said. Throughout his career, Aaron said he always remembered his conversations with fellow baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson. Aaron said Robinson taught him baseball was about “touching home plate.”
STUDY
continues from page 1 When asked which type of relationship they would prefer, the majority of participants, regardless of gender and education level, said they would pick a lifestyle that equally shares all responsibilities in the household, such as budgeting and familial duties. A second survey conducted for the study found that more women would prefer an egalitarian relationship if certain policies were in place, such as more flexible scheduling, parental leave and subsidized child care. Co-author Sarah Thébaud, a professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara, said it’s well known most
Michael Baez Daily Texan Staff
“For many years, I led the league in runs scored and runs batted in — or runs scored simply — because I focused about what Jackie always said,” Aaron said. Augie Garrido, Texas
baseball head coach, said Aaron’s legacy is in keeping with the University’s philosophies. “Walter Cronkite once said, ‘What starts here changes the world,’” Garrido said. “In addition to
that statement, our goal is to educate one student at a time for better society. [Aaron] is a man of integrity that has moved mountains for this country. He has changed the world for the better.”
people are interested in more equal relationships. “What is novel and different about our study is that we are able to show that we would see even more people being egalitarian if these policies were in place,” Thébaud said. Pedulla and Thébaud sought to prove that certain social policies are the main hindrances to more equal relationships between men and women. Pedulla said it’s important for young people to understand roadblocks to equality in relationships because he believes they are the future of potential policy changes. “I hope that, as young people read this, they can see that there is a majority
of young men and women who want these types of relationships,” Pedulla said. “I think it’s important so that they can create institutions and environments where [they] are able to live their life the way they want to.” Jackie Salcedo, program coordinator for academic affairs at the Center for Women’s & Gender Studies, said she agrees policy changes would make equal sharing of responsibilities easier but said changes are difficult to implement. “I think [policy makers] don’t see an immediate benefit to change,” Salcedo said. “I think culture still needs to change — and our expectations as people. The culture and policies contribute to each other, so if more
studies come out like this, then there can be more support for that kind of work and family balance.” Thébaud said some have questioned the point of the study because of the difficulty in making policy changes. She said she believes major cultural shifts must build upon subtle policy changes. “We know that even small changes can make a big difference,” Thébaud said. “Even small changes in scheduling have proven to make a difference. It’s an incremental thing, and that’s also a message for university students who want to change the world. We all have to collectively come in agreement that this is good for society and what people want.”
RILEY BRANDS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / @TexanEditorial Friday, January 23, 2015
EDITORIAL
3
EDITORIAL
Best of luck to Pointe residents Write for the Texan to uphold a tradition going back 115 years
Jessica Lin | Daily Texan Staff
As reported in the most recent Daily Texan article regarding Pointe on Rio’s status, the apartment complex “delayed its move-in day for the fourth time Wednesday, forcing would-be residents to move in five months after the originally anticipated date in mid-August. In an email sent to leaseholders, managers said the building will now open [Saturday], four days after the beginning of the spring semester. The management of the complex has been notoriously difficult in this time of uncertainty. Despite clear signs that the building could not be finished by the originally proposed deadline, the owners soldiered on in dunderheaded obstinacy and assured everyone that there was no reason to fear. Besides the painfully obvious — that leaseholders have gone an entire school semester without being in their intended place of residence, when (knock on wood) residents are able to finally move in, the move-in process will most
likely be hectic, as it is with any large West Campus apartment. Regardless of whatever move-in schedule Pointe establishes, the combination of angry residents, large furniture and limited elevators is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. This is not the end of Pointe’s problems, but instead, the beginning. Surely paying back Dobie for providing temporary housing to Pointe residents and keeping construction workers on their payroll is not cheap. If the five months of delays, confusion and miscommunications say anything about the management style of Pointe on Rio, the upcoming months look bleak. For those looking to get out of their leases with Pointe, a $500 fee is required. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, or rather, homelessness and Dobie, peeved residents might be forced to keep their leases, prompting more resentment toward Pointe. For the time being, though, everyone will wait to see if the fourth time really is the charm.
COLUMN
Editor’s Note: Tryouts for opinion and all other Daily Texan departments are currently underway and will continue until Friday, Feb. 6. Apply online at www.dailytexanonline.com/ employment or walk into our basement office at 2500 Whitis Avenue. If you’re a student at UT, either just starting or returning, it’s safe to assume that you’re interested in learning valuable skills, preparing for a career and making a name for yourself. If you fit that description and don’t have a multimillion-dollar NFL contract awaiting you, there’s no better place at UT to accomplish all three of those goals than The Daily Texan. However competent a writer you are before you start at the Texan, your skills will grow more than you ever expected as a result of the job. At the Texan, you’ll learn through practice and example how to quickly produce intelligent, professional and compelling work on a deadline. The Texan provides the chance to hone ways of thinking that are different from what you’ll learn in a classroom. You’ll represent something much bigger than yourself alongside some of the most talented and driven members of the UT community, while developing friendships with people who will both encourage and inspire you. The friendships you’ll make while working toward a common goal will likely be some of your strongest. As an opinion columnist in particular, you’ll have your views read, considered and critiqued by an audience of thousands on one of the nation’s biggest university campuses. You’ll choose your topic so you can find what’s important to you, and you’ll have a space to show the rest of the 40 Acres why your issue of choice should be important to all of us, too. As wide-ranging as your column’s impact can be, the words will be yours to show off, now and for years to come.
Of course, you’re not at all limited to the opinion pages. The skills you’ll learn as a columnist will help prepare you to work in most other departments of the paper, although it isn’t necessary to write opinion columns before working in other areas of the Texan. The versatility of this publication allows people to try out the writing departments, as well as the more visual and behind-the-scenes aspects of the paper, sometimes even simultaneously. Once you graduate, it’s difficult to find the chance to work in so many different areas of an office over a short period of time, but at the Texan, this is not only allowed, but encouraged. The Texan began as a weekly publication in 1900 and began publishing twice a week in 1907. In 1913, the student body voted to make the publication daily, and in 1915, the paper became free to the public — a subscription had formerly cost $1.25 per year. Texan staffers report not only campus and local news, but also more wide-ranging, historical news, sometimes traveling across Texas — or even the U.S. — for a story. The Texan has thoroughly covered stories ranging from President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 to the 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in West. Our first priority is ensuring students remain wellinformed of news developments — both local and national — that affect their lives, and as a Texan staffer, you can play an important part in this mission. Obviously, this is a hiring pitch, but let it also serve as a word to the wise. The Texan is one of the largest and most award-winning student newspapers in America, and Texan staffers go on to great things in a multitude of industries. Many of them can attribute much of their success to their time here. Don’t let the opportunity go to waste.
Paris gunmen’s actions horrific, COLUMN but so, too, is hatred of Muslims UT students’ response to Hebdo a slippery slope to full censorship By Syed Rizvi
Daily Texan Columnist @SyedMuzziRizvi
On Jan. 7, gunmen attacked the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing a total of 12 people, including the Editor Stephane “Charb” Charbonnier and two policemen. Later, a third shooter was killed during a hostage situation at a grocery store, but not before he murdered four of the 19 hostages and a policewoman in a separate incident. The gunmen were Islamic radicals, and by committing this act of terror and violence they have clearly demonstrated their ignorance of Islam and rejected their human conscience. Tragedies like this demand prayers for the victims and their loved ones and condemnation of the transgressors. Such a faraway incident affects us even here in Austin. For good reason, ideas of life, speech and cultures play an integral role in our diverse community. However, I am compelled to shed light on two issues concerning the general reaction to this tragedy. The first issue is this incident being mainly portrayed as an attack on freedom of speech. Such a claim would give the terrorists too much credit. They are not enemies of freedom of the press as much as they are enemies of civil society by the standards of any moral person. Consider the perspective of these gunmen. In their words, they claim that they “avenged the Prophet.” What they really sought was to provide retributive punishment for the sin of blasphemy. The Wahhbi/Takfri extremist ideology that these gunmen took on before they were killed by police without a doubt puts limits on freedom of speech where it violates their interests, but that does not justify murder. The issue athand is not that there is an organization hellbent on destroying the institution of freedom of speech, but it is the very existence of the Saudi-funded Wahhbi/Takfri movement, born against the backdrop of western colonialism. Does anyone really believe that these terrorists saw themselves as people who would limit free speech by shooting up a cartoonist that saw a decline in circulation in recent years, publishing only up to 60,000 copies and only selling 30,000? The terrorists’ immediate effect was to violate the freedom of life, not the freedom of speech, of these people. That is an issue that has not received enough screen time — witness the barely audible story of Ahmed, the Muslim cop, who died protecting the magazine’s staff. But for those still compelled to rally behind the cause of freedom of speech, I would argue that we must have an honest discussion that does justice to an issue that I value dearly. Let’s be clear, Charlie Hebdo should not be revered as the flag-bearer for freedom of speech like Martin Luther King, Jr. was for civil rights, Ghandi was
for nonviolent protests or Hussain ibn Ali was for fighting against oppression, because Charlie Hebdo fired French cartoonist Maurice Sinet in 2008 for making an allegedly anti-Semitic remark. Furthermore, the magazine’s cartoons are not particularly renowned for their quality, but instead, have become more racist and sacrilegious. Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons attacked and ridiculed a revered Prophet for billions of people, in addition to attacking others such as black French justice minister Christiane Taubira, who was drawn as a monkey. As we honor the deaths of the staffers as an attack on freedom of speech and a violation of civility, we must not view their work through rose-colored glasses if we wish to honor the very value that their lives were taken away for. While supporting freedom of press we must abstain from promoting obscene and racist content. As the pope recently suggested, there is a bright line between what is legal and what is immoral. Furthermore, through a quick consideration of the status of freedom of speech in the western world, we would find it in pieces. Because of the various policing and anti-terrorism laws in the United States and across Europe, French bans on expressions of religion in public spaces, freedom of speech is restricted and even violated to meet the interests of governments. Even the general public, using social media, has shout down blatant racism, such as the case of former owner of the L.A. Clippers who was forced to sell his NBA team as a result of his racist remarks against African-Americans. We must recognize that the type of freedom of speech that we exalt and support in light of the murders of the magazine’s staff and their peers simply does not exist. We regulate, both informally and formally, the press, speech, religion, etc. In the process, we apply a double standard. Case in point, since the “glorious free speech march” France has already “ordered prosecutors around the country to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism,” resulting in 54 criminal cases. Here in America, an NAACP office in Colorado was bombed the same week as the Paris shootings; yet, most major media organizations seemed to gloss over this attack, as did celebrities touting pins with “I am Charlie.” The extent of regulation on freedoms varies by country and society. Yet what has become increasingly and disproportionately acceptable is the hatred toward Muslims. This trend of collective punishment and marginalization of the Muslim community plays into the hands of extremists because tensions between peaceful Muslims and their neighbors will further escalate and provide extremist recruiters real evidence to their claims of Muslims being attacked and oppressed by the west. This serves as a reminder for us to be more vigilant in the fight against forces that will disunite our community here in Austin and abroad. Rizvi is a government senior from Dallas.
LEGALESE | Opinions expressed in The Daily Texan are those of the editor, the Editorial Board or the writer of the article. They are not necessarily those of the UT administration, the Board of Regents or the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.
By Jordan Shenhar Senior Columnist @jshenhar
Last fall, the Young Conservatives of Texas planned a mock sting operation to protest President Obama’s support for immigration reform, in which students would compete for prizes by tracking down activists posing as undocumented immigrants. Outraged liberal groups called for the event’s cancellation and planned counter-demonstrations. UT’s administration condemned the rally as well, but affirmed the group’s right to host it. When the Young Conservatives did call off the event, the administration reiterated that it had nothing to do with the decision. There’s probably no better symbol of twenty-first century activism than a group of college students going viral with a buzzy, outrageous protest that never wound up happening. But a university letting them get away with it in the name of free expression? That, unfortunately, is a pretty novel concept. Colleges did, once upon a time, stand firmly behind the notion that a student’s First Amendment rights are not shed at the schoolhouse gate, as the U.S. Supreme Court described it when siding with Vietnam War protesters over the Iowa high school that had sanctioned them. But outside of the Lone Star State, that ideal is fading even faster than tuition costs are rising. During this school year alone, schools in California have shut down Christian groups for stipulating that their leaders must be Christian, and individuals at Brandeis University complained after a student publicly criticized a peer who had tweeted her support for the murders of New York police officers. And just last week, even as 3.7 million people poured out onto the streets of France in support of free speech, Duke University cancelled a Muslim call to prayer because of violent threats from Christian extremists. UT, by virtue of its tolerance for student expression, is part of a dying breed. That’s why I was surprised to see so many students across the country, and especially at UT, calling for a suspension of that privilege in the wake of this month’s Paris attacks. Screeds on the perils of free speech have cropped up across the Internet, manifested as semi-coherent Facebook posts and trendy thinkpieces from the likes of Vox and Buzzfeed. That reaction dovetails with a broader backlash against First Amendment protections in the U.S. A YouGov poll from last October found that 51 percent of Democrats support criminalizing vaguely defined “offensive speech,” while 51 per-
SUBMIT A FIRING LINE OR GUEST COLUMN | E-mail your Firing Lines and guest columns to editor@dailytexanonline.com. Letters must be between 100 and 300 words and guest columns between 500 and 1,000. The Texan reserves the right to edit all submissions for brevity, clarity and liability.
cent of self-described “religious” folks support laws banning the equally fuzzy concept of “desecration.” In that regard, extremists on the left and on the right have found common cause. They both want restrictions on speech that offends particular groups of people, even if they can’t agree on what “offensive” means or on which groups’ sensibilities need to be protected. And, in the interest of accommodation, too many universities are taking both of their sides by disciplining any student who dares to voice an unpopular opinion. But prioritizing so-called “groups” over individuals is ridiculous on its face. Doing so gives a terrifying degree of power to those in a position to determine whether a group deserves protections. For instance, could a school that bans speech against Christianity, Islam or Judaism allow a cartoon mocking Pastafarians? Or if disgruntled steer wranglers decide that the Dallas Cowboys is a derogatory name, should the U.S. Patent Office cancel Jerry Jones’ trademark? If anything that offends a “group” is banned by authorities, any form of discussion, productive or not, could be instantly shut down. Equally troubling is the idea of confining people into ideological boxes based on the “group” to which they belong. At a school as large and diverse as UT, it’s easy to see that no one is confined to a particular value system by the color of their skin, the building in which they worship or even their preferred political party. You can find both Democrats and Republicans involved in LGBT advocacy groups, African-Americans in Jewish organizations and Christians of all denominations in Arab-interest associations. Even the cancelled anti-immigration rally was organized by a group led by a Hispanic student. That degree of cross-cultural engagement shouldn’t come as a surprise. No community is a monolith, and no human being is onedimensional enough to see their reflection in a cartoon or a joke or a demonstration. Whether or not an expression of speech is offensive or hurtful is ingrained within an individual, not as an innate quality of the particular group with which they identify but as a consequence of their personal experiences, beliefs and prejudices. By insinuating otherwise, speech-code activists — and the schools that kowtow to their demands — deprive students of the right to choose what does and doesn’t bother them. That delivers a more damaging message than a colored pencil or a megaphone ever could. Shenhar is a Plan II, economics and government sophomore from Westport, Conn. He writes about campus issues.
RECYCLE | Please recycle this copy of The Daily Texan. Place the paper in one of the recycling bins on campus or back in the burnt-orange newsstand where you found it. EDITORIAL TWITTER | Follow The Daily Texan Editorial Board on Twitter (@TexanEditorial) and receive updates on our latest editorials and columns.
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GARRETT CALLAHAN, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansports Friday, January 23, 2015
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Horns face challenge against Kansas
SIDELINE NBA SPURS
By Peter Sblendorio @petersblendorio
No. 11 Kansas has won the Big 12 regular season title for 10 consecutive years. The last time someone other than the Jayhawks won the conference, freshman forward Myles Turner was in the third grade. Let that sink in for a minute. Yes, it’s been a while. But, in the preseason, many deemed this year as the one in which Kansas’ conference dominance could come to an end — not because the Jayhawks lacked the depth and talent of previous years, but because Texas finally seemed capable of dethroning the reigning conference kings. Saturday at 1 p.m., the Longhorns have their chance to make good on those predictions. Of course, it won’t be easy. The Jayhawks boast depth and balance few teams in college basketball can match. Kansas poses threats both inside the paint and around the arc. Turner and the rest of Texas’ big men will have their hands full between junior forward Perry Ellis, who leads the team with 12.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, and freshman forward Cliff Alexander. Kansas also boasts an impressive trio of guards: sophomore Frank Mason III, freshman Wayne Selden Jr. and freshman Kelly Ourbre Jr. Texas just might have a shot, as they seemed to be clicking on all cylinders in the last
BULLS
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NCAAB GEORGIA TECH
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STANFORD Ethan Oblak | Daily Texan file photo
Junior center Cameron Ridley has bounced back from his injury with 29 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks in the past two games. This comes after Ridley only scored 7 points in the two previous games, both losses for the Longhorns.
two games. The Longhorns won convincingly over No. 18 West Virginia and on the road against TCU after a pair of ugly losses early in conference play. Following an up-anddown start to the season, junior center Cameron Ridley seemed to have found himself in the last two wins. He totaled 29 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks in the two victories
after scoring only seven points in the previous two games. After the win over West Virginia, Ridley said his goal against Kansas is to replicate what he did against the Mountaineers. “[I want to] just come in the game with the same confidence and play as hard as I can,” Ridley said. “You play hard and good things happen, so that’s what I’m
WEEKEND RECAPS/PREVIEWS
going to keep focusing on doing.” The Longhorns need a strong performance from Ridley to combat the Kansas big men. Same goes for sophomore point guard Isaiah Taylor against the Jayhawks’ loaded backcourt. After making only 19-of-40 field goal attempts in his first four games back from a broken left wrist, Taylor exploded
against TCU on Monday for 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while racking up seven rebounds and six assists. The Longhorns could use a similar performance Saturday to bring down Kansas. The Big 12 has waited a long time for someone to finally dethrone Kansas as the conference’s tyrant. Saturday, the Longhorns might do just that.
MEN’S TENNIS | JASMINE C. JOHNSON
WOMEN’S TENNIS| REANNA ZUNIGA
The No. 9 Longhorns men’s tennis team will host the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center this weekend. The Longhorns need two victories in the ITA Kick-Off to qualify for the ITA National Indoor Championship, which will be held in Chicago from Feb. 13-16. Texas is one of 22 universities selected to host the start of the 2015 spring season. In the current system, three visiting schools travel to a host team’s courts for a four-team tournament. Coming off consecutive road victories against No. 41 Tulsa and No. 58 Arkansas, the Longhorns look to build on their 2-0 start when they face No. 49 Minnesota, No. 34 Florida State and No. 42 Michigan. The event will feature seven ranked singles players — including two-time All-American senior Søren Hess-Olesen and fellow senior Adrien Berkowicz, who led the Longhorns in singles wins last fall. Hess-Olesen and Berkowicz have a combined seven singles wins and eight doubles wins, and they
For the first time in three years, No. 22 Texas women’s tennis will play in Nashville, Tennessee — this time, to face off against opponents in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Texas has hosted the KickOff Weekend the past two years, but the Longhorns will not have the home-court advantage as they play No. 46 DePaul to start the spring season. Fifteen venues around the nation are hosting the fourteam women’s tournament, and each venue will adhere to the standard dual match elimination system. The Longhorns will play the Blue Demons on Saturday at 2 p.m. before facing off against either Harvard or Vanderbilt the next day. The lineup for this weekend is led by a single upperclassman: junior Breaunna Addison, a twotime All-American and reigning Big 12 Player of the Year. Addison is in the singles lineup alongside three sophomores – Ratnika Batra, Pippa Horn and Neda Koprcina – and two freshmen – Ryann Foster and Danielle Wagland. Last week, the Longhorns debuted two new coaches in the Miami Spring Invite. Head coach Danielle McNamara took over the program last fall and hired former UCLA All-American
Adrien Berkowicz
Søren Hess-Olesen
enter this season ranked No. 13 and No. 48, respectively. They are 1-1 together in doubles play. Junior Nick Naumann and freshman John Mee look to continue their impressive doubles play in a potential, consolation-play matchup against Florida State’s junior duo Marco Nunez and Benjamin Lock, who are ranked 24th in doubles. Naumann and Mee, who hold a 4-0 doubles record, could also face Minnesota’s senior Leandro Toledo and freshman Felix Corwin, who are ranked 58th in doubles. Freshman Adrian Ortiz-Ruiz is also off to an impressive start. OrtizRuiz, a Mexico native, picked up his first career dual match singles
victory against Arkansas and currently holds a 3-2 singles record. Junior Michael Riechmann holds a 4-1 singles record. He and Ortiz-Ruiz have a 2-2 doubles record as partners. Senior All-American Lloyd Glasspool and sophomore George Goldhoff will remain on the sidelines during this tournament because of minor injuries, but they went undefeated at the UT Invitational in both singles and doubles play earlier this month. The tournament begins at 10 a.m. Saturday with UT squaring off against Minnesota, followed by Florida State versus Michigan. Consolation play begins at 10 a.m. Sunday, and the championship match will follow at 1 p.m.
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fifth-ranked women’s team, which includes senior Ashley Spencer, junior Courtney Okolo and sophomore Kendall Baisden, who are all ranked inside the top seven for the 400 meters. In the 3,000-meter run, All-American senior Craig Lutz will compete against defending national champion Edward Cheserek from Oregon, as well as fellow All-Americans Kemoo Campbell of Arkansas and Johnny Gregorek of Oregon. Lutz also holds the second-best time in the nation this year in the 5,000 meters. The action in Kentucky starts Friday, with combined events in the morning, field events at 2 p.m. and running events at 6:20 p.m. The SEC Network will broadcast Saturday’s events.
Breaunna Addison Junior
Ratnika Batra Sophomore
Courtney Dolehide as assistant coach. On the last day of the Invite, Texas landed five wins, including singles victories from Wagland, Foster and Horn. The championship match between the two winning teams from Saturday will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday. The winner of that game will qualify to compete in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship next month at the University of Virginia.
Shelby Tauber Daily Texan Staff
Crouser looks to start his trek toward a national champion repeat in the shot put. Arizona and Stanford are two of the prominent teams competing in
Preciate all the Birthday wishes from everybody! Just finished up practive and it’s no way I’l see them all but trust me I appreciate em!!
TODAY IN HISTORY
Willie Mays is elected to the Hall of Fame. The center fielder won 12 Golden Glove awards and hit 660 home runs in his 22-year career.
SPORTS BRIEFLY
Senior Ashley Spencer looks to improve her No. 2 ranking in the 400 meters this weekend in Lexington, Kentucky.
In New Mexico, the Longhorns will compete in the shot put, weight throw and pole vault at the Lobo Collegiate Invitational. Junior Ryan
Quadre Diggs @qdiggs6
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TRACK & FIELD | JAMES GRANDBERRY The Texas indoor track and field team will split up for two meets this weekend. Most of the team will compete in the Rod McCravy Memorial in Lexington, Kentucky, and the pole vaulters and throwers will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to participate in the Lobo Collegiate Invitational. At the McCravy Memorial, which is typically a challenging meet with stacked fields, Texas will face off against eight men’s and women’s top-25 teams, including No. 1 Florida and Oregon, which has a secondranked men’s team and thirdranked women’s team. Texas is still a contender, however, bringing in the eighthranked men’s team and the
TOP TWEET
these events. The Lobo Collegiate Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, starts at 11 a.m. Friday.
Texas picked to finish third in Big 12
For the fourth straight year, Big 12 coaches picked Texas softball to finish third in the conference Wednesday. Oklahoma picked up all six possible first-place votes, coming out as the preseason conference favorite for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. Baylor came in second after reaching the Women’s College World Series last year for the third time in school history. The Longhorns will return seven position players who saw substantial playing time last season en route to the Lafayette Regional in the NCAA tournament. Junior outfielder Lindsey Stephens, who led the team with 16 home runs, and sophomore pitcher Tiarra Davis are two of the team’s key returning players. The Longhorns are also bringing in two highly-touted freshmen: pitcher Erica Wright and shortstop and outfielder Alyssa Angel. Texas will begin the season Feb. 6-8 at the Kajikawa Classic in Arizona and will face off against No. 2 Oregon, No. 16 Arizona State, Northwestern, Stanford and UCSB. —Jacob Martella
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KAT SAMPSON, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan Friday, January 23, 2015
MUSIC
Austin folk band consists of Beaumont natives By Cat Cardenas
UT law student Luis Soberon, biomedical engineering senior Nick Soberon, Tré Carden, University of Notre Dame visual communication and industrial design graduate, and Mason Hanmaker, UT jazz performance and neuroscience senior, make up the band Sons of Santos. The band describes its sound as “Andrew Bird meets the Punch Brothers.”
@crcardenas8
When brothers Luis and Nick Soberon decided to name their alternative folk band Sons of Santos, they weren’t just aiming for alliteration — they also hoped to honor the man who first got them interested in music. Santos Soberon, the boys’ father, was the one who taught them how to play. The brothers settled on the name after performing at Mellow Mushroom while their band was still nameless. When they asked the audience for band name suggestions, one listener proposed the boys dub the band after their father — and Luis and Nick quickly agreed. Although Luis, a UT law student, and Nick, a biomedical engineering senior, initially kept their band a duo, Sons of Santos eventually expanded to include the brothers’ high school friend Tré Carden, a University of Notre Dame visual communication and industrial design graduate. They met the fourth and final member of the band, Mason Hanmaker, jazz and performance neuroscience senior, after meeting him at a gig. In 2013, Sons of Santos released its first EP, “Wounded Healer,” and the group now has its sights set on a new record with a more focused sound — the band members describe their style as “Andrew Bird meets the
Marshall Tidrick Daily Texan Staff
Punch Brothers.” “We’re in the very early stages of figuring out a new record,” Carden said. “We were such a young band when the EP came out; it felt scrapbooked together. But after we went on tour and were shoved together in a little truck, it let us grow closer as a band. It did a lot to make us a more cohesive unit.”
Spending time away from home allowed Sons of Santos to reach new audiences, and being on the road meant the group had time to work on new material. As the band travelled from Austin to Athens, Georgia, the members worked on blending their different musical styles into one cohesive sound. Between Hanmaker’s training
in jazz and Luis’ wide-ranging musical background — when pressed, he admits he was part of a punk rock band in high school — the band was able to draw influences from a number of different genres. “It’s like a melting pot,” Hankamer said. “We have different backgrounds; we have different playing styles. Tré is more
subtle. Nick shreds his cello. Luis plays more aggressively. And those different things make up our sound.” Despite their differences, the boys share one thing in common — they all call Beaumont their childhood home. Carden, who made frequent trips between Beaumont and Austin before moving to Austin
permanently for the sake of the band in June, said the band draws inspiration from both of their home cities. “Austin has helped me grow immensely as a musician,” Luis said. “There are so many great musicians here that you’re constantly inspired, but you’re also constantly challenged to be better as a musician.”
ALUMNI
Texan alumnus finds life-long passion for fiction By Briana Zamora @whateverwillbri
After 18 years of working in a newsroom, UT alumnus Antonio Ruiz-Camacho only knows how to write at one speed: quickly. As a result, when Ruiz-Camacho turned his attention to writing a novel — his fiction debut — he finished the process in less than a year. “Barefoot Dogs: Stories,” which will be released in the spring, chronicles the misadventures of a large wealthy clan in Mexico trying to cope with the blowback from the disappearance of the family’s patriarch. Ruiz-Camacho said writing the novel allowed him to explore the personal effects and consequences of violence in Mexico on people’s everyday lives — something he could not focus on at length as a reporter. “As a journalist, you jump in, get the story and get out — already pursuing the next story,” RuizCamacho said. “I’m most interested in investigating what happens to the people who have to live through those events even
after the media has left.” A fiction writer since middle school, Ruiz-Camacho said he never considered his hobby a viable professional option. Before focusing his efforts on his fiction, Ruiz-Camacho worked in almost every position in a newsroom, working for publications in Europe, Mexico and the United States. Most recently, he served as senior publisher at Univision Interactive Media. Ruiz-Camacho said that after spending many years in leadership positions — first as an editor-in-chief and then as a managing editor — he realized he felt disconnected from the storytelling process. “I didn’t write stories,” Ruiz-Camacho said. “I didn’t assign stories and didn’t even get to edit stories.” In 2009, Ruiz-Camacho was one of 21 recipients of Stanford’s Knight Journalism Fellowship, which involves an engaging 10-month program that seeks to instill creativity and exploration in its writers. “The feedback and encouragement at Stanford for the first pieces I wrote was so incredible [that] I decided
to give fiction writing a real try,” Ruiz-Camacho said. “I thought that, as long as people keep reacting positively to this and giving me opportunities, I will keep doing it.” After completing his fellowship in 2010, Ruiz-Camacho went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from UT’s New Writers Project, to win the prestigious 2014 Dobie Paisano Fellowship, and to see his work published in dozens of publications — including The New York Times. Ruiz-Camacho, a Mexico native and Austin transplant, admits writing fiction is, at times, a challenge because English is his second language. “[When writing my novel,] I felt I didn’t have complete control of the grammar and all the idioms you only acquire when you use a language — things no one is going to teach you in a class,” Ruiz-Camacho said. “Getting rid of that self-consciousness was the hardest part.” English associate professor Oscar Casares has been RuizCamacho’s friend and mentor since the two met in 2010,
FILM REVIEW | “BOY NEXT DOOR”
‘Boy Next Door’: bad as it sounds
Ellyn Snider | Daily Texan Staff
UT alumnus Antonio Ruiz-Camacho ended his 18-year career in journalism to publish his first work of fiction, “Barefoot Dogs: Stories.”
while Ruiz-Camacho was pursuing a graduate degree at UT. Casares said Ruiz-Camacho’s status as a bilingual author contributes to his distinct voice. “Part of what makes [RuizCamacho’s] voice so unique is that he’s mastered English without losing the cadence of his Spanish,” Casares said.
Ruiz-Camacho said he rarely begins a story with a deliberate intention or theme in mind. He said the inspiration for most of his pieces emerges from striking images or scenes of distinctive characters who cross through his imagination unsolicited. “I feel I am receiving visitations from these characters,
as if they were like ghosts or dead people haunting me, asking me to tell their stories,” Ruiz-Camacho said. “I start investigating, asking myself, ‘Who are these people, and what do they want?’ For me, answering those questions and forming a narrative around those answers is thrilling.”
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By Alex Pelham @TalkingofPelham
“The Boy Next Door” bills itself as a thriller. But it isn’t — it’s a bad counterfeit. The film wants to be taken seriously, but that’s a hard feat when the film is inherently humorous because of its poor production. Recently divorced English teacher Claire Peterson (Jennifer Lopez) is attempting to regain a sense of normalcy in her life for the sake of her teenage son Kevin (Ian Nelson). Everything changes, however, as the young, attractive new neighbor Noah (Ryan Guzman) arrives. Noah instantly entices Claire, despite their drastic age difference. Although the two share a passionate one-night stand, Claire’s sense of guilt causes her to regret her own affair, but the sociopathic teenager is not so willing to let go.
Courtesy of Universal Pictures
“The Boy Next Door” explores the twisted and unconvincing relationship between school teacher Claire (Jennifer Lopez) and teenage psychopath Noah (Ryan Guzman).
There’s little suspense in this thriller — I never felt afraid for any of the characters — and the film does little to show the ramifications of stalking. Director Rob Cohen and screenwriter Barbara Curry aren’t interested in providing
terror or fear, but they sure love sex scenes. The dialogue is cringe-worthy, and the actors aren’t convincing enough to pull off these already weak characters. At best, “Boy” serves as a bad movie that’s fun to laugh at.
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