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WE ASKED. YOU ANSWERED: ‘MONOCHROME FOR AUSTIN’
LIFE&ARTS PAGE 6
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Monday, January 26, 2015
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WEST CAMPUS
LEGISLATURE
By Samantha Ketterer
Legislators may make textbooks tax exempt
Pointe on Rio announces fifth delay @sam_kett
After five months of temporary housing in Dobie Center and five openingday delays — the latest of which was announced Friday afternoon — the only thing standing between Pointe on Rio leaseholders and move-in day is two incomplete sidewalks. Friday afternoon, Pointe on Rio managers delayed move-in for the fifth time, promising residents the
building would open no later than Jan. 31. Residents had planned to move into the building Saturday. In an email sent to leaseholders, management said the fire marshal and building inspector declined to grant Pointe a certificate of occupancy because the building did not meet standards laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires accessibility to exit pathways. Two of the building’s wheelchairaccessible exit pathways
have not been poured with concrete because of weather delays. Pointe management said leaseholders are allowed to move in as soon as the building is certified. Move-in was originally slated for Aug. 16, 2014, then pushed back to Oct. 15, Jan. 10, Jan. 17 and Jan. 24. Pointe management attributed those delays to ongoing construction and inspection problems,
POINTE page 2
By Eleanor Dearman @ellydearman
Charlotte Carpenter | Daily Texan Staff
A man walks past ongoing construction at the Pointe on Rio apartment complex Sunday.
CAMPUS
A cappella group blends pop cultures By Marisa Charpentier @marisacharp21
A pitch pipe echoes through an auditorium. Eleven students dressed in black and gold salwars and kurtas — loose clothing worn in South Asia — sway across the stage as a beatboxer emerges for a solo. Hum A Cappella is about to do what it does best: fusing American pop songs with Bollywood hits. Hum A Cappella, UT’s only South Asian fusion a cappella group and second oldest a cappella group on campus, placed first at the national Anahat A Cappella competition in November. The students competed against eight other South Asian groups from colleges across the nation. For economics sophomore Ruchir Elhence, the group’s financial director, musical mashups were key to Hum A Cappella’s success.
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Griffen Smith | Daily Texan Staff
Members of Hum A Cappella, a South Asian fusion a cappella group, practice a pre-performance ritual during a rehearsal Jan. 19. The group plans to host an a cappella event called Riyaaz on campus Feb. 14.
STATE
In a continued effort to prioritize higher education in this year’s legislative session, a group of six legislators are working to provide a tax exemption on certain textbooks. Rep. Mary González (D-El Paso), Rep. Ana Hernandez (DHouston), Rep. Eddie Lucio III (D-Brownsville), Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown), Rep. Terry Canales (D-Edinburg) and Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), individually filed bills that would offer part-time or full-time students at accredited public or private universities a tax exemption on textbooks each semester. If passed, each of the bills would set a time period during which students could purchase textbooks tax-free. “As we discuss curving tuition cost and financial aid opportunities, it was important for us to look at the spiking cost in textbook costs that students have to purchase each year,” Hernandez said. Canales, Hernandez and Schwertner’s bills set aside a week-long exemption period at the start of each semester. Zaffirini’s bill set aside 10 days, Lucio’s set aside one month and González’s set no time limit on the tax exemption. Michael Kiely, course materials director at University Co-op, said the first week of the semester is typically the busiest for textbook sales and said the store would support sales tax exemptions. “I’m not entirely sure what
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HEALTH
Med school dean calls for health care reforms By Sarah Alerasoul
Clay Johnston spoke at the AT&T Conference Center Friday about building a new health care “ecosystem.” Dr. Johnston is the inaugural dean of the Dell Medical School and will begin his tenure March 1.
@thedailytexan
Illustration by Albert Lee | Daily Texan Staff
Lawmakers file bills to aid student voters By Eleanor Dearman @ellyDearman
Four Texas lawmakers are making voter turnout among college students a priority by proposing bills that would make university-issued ID cards an acceptable form of voter ID. The bills, filed in both the
House and Senate by Rep. Terry Canales (D-Edinburg), Rep. Celia Israel (D-Austin), Sen. Carlos Uresti (D-San Antonio) and Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin), would allow students to present a universityissued photo ID as a valid form of voter ID.
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Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School, called for a health care revolution in a speech Friday at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. Johnston said he hoped to build a new health care “ecosystem” by shifting the industry’s focus to developing innovations in education and information processing. He said the health care industry should adopt the Lean Startup model, a plan that emphasizes preventative health care measures. “We need experts in health care redesign and people who understand population health,” Johnston said “We can be much more influential by coordinating not just with the physician community, but with the broader community to get it to move forward.”
Xintong Guo Daily Texan Staff
Johnston said the health care system is outdated, with discrepancies between modern technology and the technology used in the health care field. “Health care accounts for 18 percent of the U.S. economy, and, yet, it’s powered by technology that’s really 50 years old,” Johnston said.
The McCombs Healthcare Initiative sponsored the event. Edward Anderson, director of the Initiative and professor at the McCombs School of Business, said Johnston’s vision of coordinating health care with the community could lead to a technology boom in Austin similar to that of the 1960s.
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“We have the potential for doing, here in Austin, what was done back in the late ‘60s with high-tech manufacturing,” Johnston said. “It did great things for Austin and put Austin on the map. I think we’ve got a good shot, particularly with this man and this
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