The Daily Texan 2015-02-25 by The Daily Texan

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LIFE&ARTS PAGE 8

NEWS PAGE 3

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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

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UNIVERSITY

Safe Ride at UT lacks ADA compliance By Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett

Student Government officials are in the process of institutionalizing Safe Ride at UT, but the program must first comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, SG President Kori Rady said. Safe Ride uses uRide, an Austin-based car service

startup, to pick up students from the downtown area and drop them off in West Campus or East Riverside. Safe Ride operates between 11:59 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Thursday–Saturday at no charge for students. Rady said the program, which is in its pilot year, has reached almost 4,000 people since its implementation in September 2014. But in order

for Safe Ride to become an official program through the University, the program must, by law, be fully accessible to students with disabilities. “Because this is just a pilot program, and we weren’t sure it was going to continue, we didn’t have any ADA[-accessible cars], but, in the future, now that it’s going to be implemented institutionally, the

ADA aspect will be a part of it,” Rady said. Safe Ride will be ADAaccessible by the start of the fall 2015 semester and will go through the institutionalization process in the following weeks, according to Rady. Rady said Safe Ride primarily did not have ADA-accessible cars at the outset because

of a lack of resources to fund ADA-accessible cars in full. “It’s definitely difficult to see a program like Safe Ride, when it’s starting out, having [an ADA] car [available] — it obviously costs more,” Rady said. “It’s going to be a required aspect.” Safe Ride’s funding doubled

SAFE page 2

FRAMES featured photo

Ellyn Snider | Daily Texan Staff

STATE

Bill filed to add median grade on transcript By Eleanor Dearman @ellydearman

Bills proposed in the state House and Senate would require a class’s median or average grade be posted alongside a student’s individual score. Rep. Scott Turner (RFrisco), the main proponent of HB 1196 — or what he calls the “Open Transcript Bill” — said in an email the bill would reveal grade inflation on college transcripts at Texas public universities and colleges. The policy would not be applicable to classes with 10 or fewer students. Sen. Konni Burton (RColleyville) filed an identical bill to Turner’s, SB 499. Her staff declined to comment. Turner said his bill would increase transparency in higher-education grading. “Grade inflation is a serious problem among post-secondary universities, making it increasingly difficult for employers to evaluate potential candidates and nearly impossible for parents and students to determine the true value of their college investment,” Turner said in an email. Some students, such as Edwin Qian, management information systems and economic senior, agree that posting the median or average grades on transcripts would work to prevent grade inflation

Austinite Connor Watkins practices poi at a Longhorn Circus Jam on Tuesday night.

CITY

bit.ly/dtvid

GRADES page 2

CAMPUS

Austin leads nation Police: Cable locks leave bikes exposed in economic divide By Wynne Davis @wynneellen

By Sherry Tucci @sherritucci

A report The Martin Prosperity Institute, a Torontobased economic think tank, issued Monday said Austin has the most economic segregation of any major metropolitan area in the U.S. According to the report, the segregation in Austin exists across more areas than just race and ethnicity: It includes segregation of people based on aspects such as educational background and knowledgebased work versus serviceoriented work. One reason Austin is seeing this economic segregation is because it hasn’t demographically changed from its original city layout with race segregates, according to Brandelyn

Franks Flunder, director of the Multicultural Engagement Center. “The master plan in [the 1920s] designed Austin exactly the way that it looks now,” Franks Flunder said. “Austin just hasn’t progressed in a way that shows a difference.” On the City of Austin website, demographic maps from 2010 show a majority of white residents located in West Austin and a majority of Latino and black residents located in East Austin. The University is seeing similar disparities, with higher-income students living in areas close to campus, such as West Campus, and low-income students living in farther away places, such as Riverside,

INEQUALITY page 2

Fifteen out of 17 bicycles that have been reported as stolen since the semester began in January were locked using a cable lock, according to William Pieper, University of Texas Police Department officer. “Most cable locks can be easily cut by a pair of wire cutters, which are small and easy to carry,” Pieper said. “Bicycle thieves find it easy to conceal such tools while walking up to a bike rack, cut a lock and ride off.” Cable locks are lightweight and easy to use, which is why a lot of students prefer to use them, but Pieper said they do not provide the best security for bikes. Jeremy Hernandez, bicycle coordinator for Parking and Transportation

Services, said the more resistant U-locks are the best option for students wanting to secure their bikes on campus. “A cable lock can simply be cut with a hand tool … but, if you use a U-lock … [the thieves] will have to get a power tool involved, and those are very loud, cause a lot of commotion,” Hernandez said. When securing bikes to racks or other fixtures, Hernandez said students should lock more than just the frame of the bike. Thieves will steal parts of the bike, such as the seat or a single tire, if they cannot get away with the entire thing, according to Hernandez. “You always need to incorporate the back tire and the frame to what you’re locking it to or the front tire and the frame and what

Illustration by Albert Lee| Daily Texan Staff

you’re locking it to,” Hernandez said. “When you just lock the frame, you’re still really exposed.” Students can purchase U-locks at any of the University parking garages. Hernandez said the University also provides more parking

Multimedia To learn more about bike securit check out our video at dailytexanonline.com.

LOCKS page 3

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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

NEWS

CAMPUS

LBJ Library exhibit honors Selma march By Sebastian Herrera @SebasAHerrera

Volume 115, Issue 107

CONTACT US Main Telephone (512) 471-4591 Editor-in-Chief Riley Brands (512) 232-2212 editor@dailytexanonline.com Managing Editor Jordan Rudner (512) 232-2217 managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com News Office (512) 232-2207 news@dailytexanonline.com Multimedia Office (512) 471-7835 dailytexanmultimedia@ gmail.com Sports Office (512) 232-2210 sports@dailytexanonline.com Life & Arts Office (512) 232-2209 dtlifeandarts@gmail.com Retail Advertising (512) 475-6719 advertise@texasstudentmedia.com Classified Advertising (512) 471-5244 classifieds@ dailytexanonline.com

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TOMORROW’S WEATHER

Low

High

Ginny’s thirsty.

An exhibit honoring the 50th anniversary of the Selmato-Montgomery marches, one of America’s most pivotal civil rights events, is now on display at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. The first half of the exhibit, “March to Freedom,” features photos, documents and videos from the Selma-to-Montgomery marches that occurred from March 7–25, 1965. The marches, which civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis led, were vital to the national support of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that ultimately led to its passage. The second half of the exhibit displays photos from the 2014 Civil Rights Summit in Austin, which took place at the LBJ Library. President Barack Obama and Lewis, who is now a U.S. representative from Georgia, both attended the

SAFE

continues from page 1 from $26,000 in the fall semester, to a $52,000 budget this spring. A portion of that money funds the use uRide vehicles: eight Thursday nights and 10 Friday and Saturday nights, according to Rady. In order to make vehicles ADA accessible, however, more funding will still be required, said Erin Gleim, SG assistant agency director for Students with Disabilities. “Funding has been requested to make [Safe Ride] accessible or more accessible,” Gleim said. The cost or method of implementation has not been agreed upon yet, according to Gleim. However, Rady said he has reached out to groups for donations to ensure the program’s longevity. Making Safe Ride ADA accessible might mean mobilizing a University vehicle for the program or paying to use an already accessible vehicle, Gleim said. “There’s kind of different options they’re looking into,” Gleim said. “It’s a big program, so it’s a lot of different things to pull in.” Rady said he thinks the program has been well-received,

This issue of The Daily Texan is valued at $1.25 Permanent Staff

Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Riley Brands Senior Associate Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Noah M. Horwitz Associate Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Olivia Berkeley, Cullen Bounds, Olive Liu Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jordan Rudner Associate Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brett Donohoe, Jack Mitts News Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julia Brouillette Associate News Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anderson Boyd, Danielle Brown, Chanelle Gibson, Adam Hamze, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Natalie Sullivan Senior Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wynne Davis, Eleanor Dearman, Samantha Ketterer, Jackie Wang, Josh Willis Copy Desk Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Taiki Miki Associate Copy Desk Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Liza Didyk, Matthew Kerr, Kailey Thompson Design Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alex Dolan Senior Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Virginia Scherer, Kelly Smith, Iliana Storch Multimedia Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Resler, Lauren Ussery Associate Photo Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amy Zhang Senior Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Carlo Nasisse, Griffin Smith, Ellyn Snider, Marshall Tidrick, Daulton Venglar Senior Videographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Conway, Hannah Evans, Bryce Seifert Editorial Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Antonia Gales Senior Opinion Columnists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jordan Shenhar Life&Arts Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kat Sampson Life&Arts Associate Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Danielle Lopez Senior Life&Arts Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cat Cardenas, Marisa Charpentier, Elisabeth Dillon Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Garrett Callahan Associate Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Evan Berkowitz Senior Sports Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nick Castillo, Claire Cruz, Jacob Martella, Aaron Torres Comics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lindsay Rojas Associate Comics Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Albert Lee, Connor Murphy Senior Comics Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crystal Marie, Isabella Palacios, Amber Perry, Rodolfo Suarez Special Projects Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amanda Voeller Tech Team Lead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miles Hutson Social Media Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sydney Rubin

Issue Staff

Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Matthew Adams, Lauran Florence, Sebastian Herrera, Wesley Scarborough, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sherry Tucci Multimedia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack Dufon, Mariana Gonzalez, Rachel Zein Life&Arts Writers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Olivia Lewman, Charles Liu, Jeff Scajda Columnist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lauren Ferguson, Anne Lewis, Thomas Palaima, Rohan Ramchand, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harrel Sharrick Page Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Izabella Arnold Copy Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benjamin Aguilar, Ashley Dorris, Sarah Lanford Comic Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Pesina, Leah Rushin, Melanie Westfall

Business and Advertising

(512) 471-1865 | advertise@texasstudentmedia.com Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerald Johnson Operations Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frank Serpas III Broadcasting and Events Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carter Goss Campus & National Sales Associate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carter Goss Student Advertising Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rohan Needel Student Account Executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrea Avalos, Keegan Bradley, Danielle Lotz, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Destanie Nieto, Xiaowen Zhang Senior Graphic Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daniel Hublein Student Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Silkowski, Kiera Tate Special Editions/Production Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Salisbury

Civil Rights Summit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Don Carleton — the executive director of the Briscoe Center for American History, which houses many of the photos that were selected for the exhibit — said it was symbolic to show photos from both the 1965 marches and the Civil Rights Summit. “There’s beautiful symmetry in having a photo [at the exhibit] of John Lewis, who was beaten in those marches, hugging President Obama 50 years later,” Carleton said. “[The University] has been in the business of promoting African-American history and documenting it for a long time.” The exhibit has a powerful message that should reach American generations both past and present, according to Ben Wright, public affairs officer for the Briscoe Center. “The photos, images and and he said he has not heard complaints regarding a lack of accessibility. “Plenty of students have had an incredible response to it, and, with the hopeful institutionalizing of the program, we’ll be able to fully encompass everyone and every UT student, including those with the ADA aspects,” Rady said. Dylan Murray, a biology junior who uses a wheelchair, said he has not personally used Safe Ride, but he said he could see it being a problem for other students with disabilities. “I’ve been in instances where I’ll go to do something, and I’ll get there and can’t,” Murray said. “It seems weird that they would leave [ADA accessibility] out in Austin. They definitely should have gotten it done before they initiated [the program].”

Social work professor Yolanda Padilla’s UGS class, ‘How To Change the World,’ tours the March to Freedom exhibit at the Lyndon Baynes Johnson Presidential Library.

Jack DuFon Daily Texan Staff

documents are a reminder to us all about the triumphs and tragedy of the 1960s and of the civil rights movement,” said Wright. “There was horrendous brutality and intimidation, and, yet, there is also encouragement, hope and progress. We see those together in the exhibit.” Displays such as “March to Freedom” create a more inclusive university environment

GRADES

continues from page 1 at universities. Qian said that while there are situations in which having the average or median grade could be detrimental, such as receiving an ‘A’ when an ‘A’ was the average grade, having the class score present could be beneficial. “For students in programs such as computer science and engineering, where the courses are a little more challenging and difficult, they might want that on their transcript because it would show that the average of the course is actually a ‘C,’ but, guess what, I got the ‘A,’” Qian said. Santiago Sanchez, Plan II and biochemistry junior, said he does not support the idea of showing average

for underrepresented minority students, said Khady Diack, a human development and family sciences junior and member of UT’s Afrikan Americans Affairs organization. “I feel like, [at UT], I am very unrepresented since African-Americans are less than 5 percent of the total University population,” Diack said. “To have a bit of our history displayed and represented is or median grades on transcripts. He said in some difficult classes in which the average grade is an ‘A,’ displaying the average would mislead others into thinking the class is easy. “I just don’t think it would be helpful, and it could hurt people if that context gets misread or misunderstood,” Sanchez said. UT astronomy professor Derek Wills said it would not be difficult for professors to include the class’ composite grade, even in large lecture classes. However, Shelby Stanfield, vice provost and registrar at the Office of the Registrar, said posting median grade averages to transcripts is not quite that simple on the administrative side. According to Stanfield, to accommodate the

very important.” Diack said she believes UT could do more to represent African-Americans. “I want the University to do more things like this because one of the reasons more African-Americans don’t come here is because they feel like it’s an underrepresented community,” Diack said. The exhibit will be on display until April 12. legislation, many details would have to be worked out, including combined class grades across the University. Stanfield said some of these changes include rewriting the registrar software to determine the scores. He said they would also have to look at courses with multiple unique numbers within one course, such as a lecture course with labs. “It gets real complicated because the way our curriculum is set, not simply every class is its own standalone entity,” Stanfield said. Stanfield said it is unclear how the median grade would be interpreted in other states that don’t require the class scores on a transcript. “We would want to make sure that in doing this we do it for the intents and purposes behind the legislation and not have any unintended consequences that would actually work to our students’ detriment,” Stanfield said.

NEWS BRIEFLY Van de Putte leaves Texas legislature

State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) stepped down Friday after 24 years in the senate. Van de Putte announced she would leave the Capitol in January, after loosing the race for lieutenant governor to Dan Patrick in November. The now former San Antonio senator said she plans to run for mayor of San Antonio. In an emotional farewell on the Senate floor, Van de Putte thanked members of the legislature, their staffs and the press for their work at the Capitol. “We are all so very blessed to be part of a legacy blazed long ago in this most deliberative body,” Van de Putte said. “The Texas Senate is a place where you work hard, and you work hard to find common ground despite the political differences.” In the speech, Van de Putte said her stay as senator would not have been possible without her constituents. “I thank my fellowconti San Antonians for allowing me the privilege and the honor of being their voice here at the state Capitol for almost a quarter of a century,” Van de Putte said. Senator elect José Menéndez (D-San Antonio) will succeed Van de Putte. His swearingin will take place next Wednesday.

INE

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Texan Ad Deadlines

2/24/15

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NEWS

HEALTH

UT research reveals harmful chemicals in ‘BPA-free’ bottles By Lauren Florence

pro@thedailytexan nda GS A UT researcher reported To that products made without

bisphenol A (BPA) emit-

s ted more synthetic estrogen o hibit than products containing on the chemical. nson Neurobiology professor George Bittner published l

an article with the results of research from testing commercially-available plastic products advertised as BPAfree. BPA is a chemical plastic additive often found in household products, such as taff baby bottles. According to the article,

FLY

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

the researchers found almost all the sampled plastic products released chemicals with estrogenic activity. Bittner and his team were unavailable to comment on the report’s findings. Synthetic estrogens can cause health-related problems, including early puberty in females, reduced sperm counts in males, altered functions of reproductive organs, obesity and increased rates of certain cancers, according to the report. Fetuses and young children are particularly sensitive to very low doses of chemicals with es-

trogen activity, according to the report. Chemistry senior Meredith Ward said that plastic is “bad, in general,” because of the environmental effects it causes and how much of it ends up in landfills. “I’ve always known that plastics were dangerous, but I guess the public has a misconception of BPA-free plastics being safe when they really aren’t.” Ward said. Consumers should realize that they’re not just looking for BPA-free plastics anymore but for plastics that don’t leach synthetic estrogens,

said Clemens Lee, mechanical engineering student and member of Engineers for a Sustainable World. “I believe that, as a consumer, it is important to realize what we are looking for in terms of health safety in our products,” Lee said. “It is also important for a consumer to see beyond the product marketing, but that in itself can be very difficult and require much more research on the consumer’s end.” Lee said he hopes, with more evaluation and research, there will be safeto-use products which do not have adverse health ef-

fects. Synthetic estrogen has been found in other chemicals, according to Lee, and he said there is progress being made in eliminating estrogen activity from plastic products. “Now that we have found [estrogen activity] in other chemicals, I believe there should also be a movement towards producing consumer plastics that are [estrogen] free,” Lee said. “Instead of pursuing a ban or elimination of each possible chemical that has [estrogen activity], we should be looking towards creating products that are safe to use.”

Illustration by Melanie Westfall Daily Texan Staff

CITY

Lecturers relate urbanization to increasing water depletion By Matthew Adams @thedailytexan

Drought conditions aside, Texas faces a potential water crisis because of the increase in urban populations, according to a lecture the Humanities Institute presented Tuesday. As Texas looks at the problem of water going forward, Andrew Sansom, director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, said the state has to address the fact that its population will double in the next 50 years. Sansom said this raises questions of where the increased population will get water.

LOCKS

continues from page 1 alternatives for students who wish to keep their bikes in bike lockers in the garages. Chemical engineering senior Zack Dotson said he has had two of his bikes stolen during his time at UT.

“[Texas] has already given permission for more water to be withdrawn from most of our rivers than are in it today,” Sansom said. Although Sansom painted a dim picture of the future of Texas’ water supply, he cited El Paso as an example of innovative water collection. “In El Paso, they are putting immense amounts of energy into desalinating brackish water, which is closer to the customers and cheaper to desalinate than gulf water,” Sansom said. Katherine Lieberknecht, community and regional planning lecturer for the UT School of Architecture, cited a chart from the 2012 State Water Plan predicting the amount of urban water use

will surpass the agricultural use of water in 2060. Lieberknecht said this statistic helped her better understand the relationship between supply and quality of water in cities. Lieberknect said, despite water-saving methods Austin currently employs, such as recycling wastewater and collecting rainwater for irrigation, the City needs to work on limiting its water consumption. “The U.N. estimates that humans should have 13 gallons a day,” Lieberknecht said. “The average use of water around the world is 40 gallons per day. Austin’s conservation goal is to get us down to 140 gallons per day.”

Efforts to conserve water at the University included reducing the use of fountains, changing the sprinkler systems from manual to digital and continuing to look at other methods

of landscaping. Jim Walker, director of the office of sustainability, discussed how the University plans to limit its water consumption. “One [way] is our natu-

ral resource conservation plan that lays out 40 percent water reduction of total use from our high in 2009 and, by 2020, reduce[s] of half from non-potable sources,” Walker said.

One of the thefts occurred on campus when the bike was secured to a pole with a cable lock in front of the Recreational Sports Center. Dotson said he decided to use a cable lock around campus for convenience and a Ulock when he locked his bike at home.

“I used to place the U-lock on the bar in between the seat and the handlebar while riding, however, that messed up the brake system, and that … significantly scratched the bike,” Dotson said. Hernandez said the options for students when locking their bikes is to use one of

the racks provided on campus so bikes are grouped together and out of the way for pedestrians and potential thieves looking to steal one during the day. In order to inform more students about the best practices when it comes to bike security, the BikeUT pro-

gram offers bike safety courses and seminars throughout each semester, according to Hernandez. Instead of using a single lock, Pieper said students should consider doublelocking their bike with both a U-lock and a cable lock. “U-locks require a pry-

ing device which is long and more difficult to carry,” Pieper said. “Using a quality U-lock and a cable lock at the same time provides even better protection as a thief would need to carry two different tools and spend more time defeating two different types of locks.”

CAMPUS

Series to connect fine arts, health By Wes Scarborough @westhemess13

The College of Fine Arts will host a lecture series to better relate how degrees in the fine arts can be applied to health care reform. The lecture series is intended to expand the ways in which art degrees can be applied to health care, according to Holly Williams, associate dean for College of Fine Arts. Each speaker will address applications of art, such as design, dance and music therapy, to different fields of health care reform. “With the Dell Medical School coming up, it seemed like a smart and interesting idea for our students to start thinking about the kinds of things that intersect these areas,” Williams said. “A lot of them are interested in these areas anyway. They just don’t know that there are applications.” Guest lecturer Stacey Chang, an independent strategic advisor to entities trying to change health care, will discuss how design affects the health care environment, such as the psychological effects of hospital lighting on patients, according to Williams. “He believes there’s potential for rethinking a lot of things

INEQUALITY

continues from page 1 Franks Flunder said. “If you’re having to come from Riverside onto campus, and you, possibly — because of traffic or whatever it is — miss your class, then of course it’s going to affect how you do academically,” Franks Flunder said. Being further from campus allows students to save money but alternatively prevents them from accessing campus resources, economics senior

that we just take for granted,” Williams said. Guest lecturer David Leventhal is the program director for Brooklyn-based dance studio Dance for PD, which he helped found to better treat people living with Parkinson’s disease. Patients partake in therapeutic dance classes which help alleviate the pain the disease causes, according to Williams. “Parkinson’s patients feel so trapped in their bodies, that this is a way for them to feel like their bodies are still working with them as opposed to against them,” Williams said. Dance and economics freshman Lizzy Tan said she has an interest in health reform as a fine arts student. In 2013, she hosted a dance benefit for the Alzheimer’s Association, and

she has volunteered at nursing homes throughout her life. “I have always had a strong interest in nonprofit work, and I am very interested in how the arts can be used to provide therapy for certain people,” Tan said. Douglas Dempster, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said the lecture series is meant to inform students of the possibilities to apply their art degrees to practical fields, such as health care. “We are looking into ways that enhance health care,” Dempster said. “We’re not rushing into them, but this lecture series will help explore those possibilities.” The series will begin next Wednesday at the Bass Lecture Hall.

Andrew Sansom, director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, speaks at a lecture the Humanities Institute presented Tuesday evening.

Mariana Gonzalez Daily Texan Staff

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Aleks Malin said. “I lived in Riverside initially because I wanted to save money,” Malin said. “But I wasn’t taking part in study groups as much. I would just go to campus one time and wouldn’t go back.” Sociology professor Javier Auyero said economic segregation is not a new concept, especially to Austin. “I don’t think it should be shocking for anybody,” Auyero said. “When you have highincome groups of the kind that have moved into Austin and

the kind of labor market you have in Austin, inequality is almost inevitable.” According to Auyero, the lack of resources available to some students limits the quality of the education they can receive, and it translates over with them into the University. “You see those really stark differences in the classroom,” Auyero said. “It’s something that I, as a professor who teaches first-year freshmen, have to deal with.”

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4A OPINION

RILEY BRANDS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / @TexanEditorial Wednesday, February 25, 2015

COLUMN

Admissions report disappointing to meritocrats Focus on past in new campus exhibits spurs examination of race relations By Thomas Palaima Guest Columnist

In my UGS 303 Ethics and Leadership class, my students and I are now dealing with questions of how those who are on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic and political ladders of their societies feel when they believe injustice has been done by those who wield power and make decisions. The ladder metaphor is a good one. It is used in Bob Dylan’s classic song “Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.” That songs reminds us how those who have “rich, wealthy parents to provide and protect them” and “high-office relations in the politics of Maryland” can do things with a “shrug of their shoulders” that have serious negative effects on the lives of those way down below them. Their cavalier actions can destroy the confidence that common people have in fairness and justice in their lives. In “Hattie Carroll,” a judge makes a show that “the ladder of law has no top and no bot-

The ladder metaphor is a good one. ... [It] reminds us how those who have ‘rich, wealthy parents to provide and protect them’ ... can do things with a ‘shrug of their shoulders’ that have serious negative effects on [others].

tom.” But his court decision, a wrist-slap sentence in a manslaughter case, makes clear that the ladder is controlled by whoever stands on the uppermost rungs. The ancient Greek working-class songster Hesiod felt social injustice deeply and for the same reasons. The petty big men who controlled the court system in his backwater community rendered decisions crookedly, an offense against the abstract principle of Justice that the Greeks viewed as a sacred daughter of Zeus. In this context, I asked my students how they felt about the finding of an independent outside report that President William Powers Jr. kept from the public the fact that he has used his power as president to put preferential “holds” on as many as 300 students per year. Many of these students were then admitted over the objection of the admissions committee as special favors to members of the Texas state legislature, the UT System Board of Regents and donors to our University. Some students viewed it as an inevitable fact of life now that state support for a public university like ours has declined to less than 14 percent of our annual operating budget. They argued that UT Austin depends on donors and the support of people of power and influence, and such people expect favors to be done. This is not quite good ethics, nor does it say much about the donors, legislators and regents involved, but it is has inspired a robust cynicism among the very students who are asked by the regents, president and faculty to follow the code “What Starts Here Changes the World.” What we could not understand is why, if there is a need to do favors for people of money and power, it was not done openly as it is at

places like Yale University. We may also wonder now what the going rate was to buy what is euphemistically called a “hold.” Is it like selling skyboxes and club seats? Will donating $2 million get your son into the School of Engineering and a mere $250,000 into the School of Social Work? While Powers has claimed that no students were displaced by the practice, the fact that additional students were admitted through favoritism clearly shows that more students could have been accommodated on merit alone. Some of my students picked up on this. They imagined what it would feel like to have been turned down and then find out that the same kind of favoritism that got George W. Bush into Yale University, a private institution that can do what it damn well pleases in this regard, was secretly being practiced at a public institution where the playing field, at least in its propaganda, is supposed to be level. Hundreds of applicants who should be here now have been denied a UT education. Promises of future transparency from UT System Chancellor William McRaven are welcome but sound like the kind of business as usual that glosses over the severity of the long-term moral damage done to others here. I come from a working-class background and vicariously take the injustice here personally. I have spent almost 30 years now as a professor at UT Austin. I have been proud to teach at the top of the public university ladder in our country, a place that I thought admitted all deserving applicants solely on the basis of their hard work, talent and achievement. And so it goes. Palaima is the Armstrong Centennial Professor of Classics.

Q-AND-A

Geosciences dean discusses goals, opportunities Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of Qand-A’s with UT’s deans. This interview has been edited and condensed. Sharon Mosher has been dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences since 2009. The Daily Texan: Can you tell us a little bit about the school and some of the interesting projects going on right now? Sharon Mosher: A little bit about the school: We have one academic department and two major research units. Two-thirds of our school are research scientists. One-third are faculty and students. We are the largest academic geoscience program in the country. We graduate the most geoscience students at every level. We work on everything from the core to the atmosphere and also the planet. We work to increase students’ knowledge. We get them involved in internships so they can see what practicing geoscientists do. We even involve undergraduate students in research projects. By doing research, they learn how to solve problems and think quickly. We have a lot different projects going on. A lot of people working on the Texas drought. Everything from soil, soil moisture, interaction between land surface and atmosphere, rivers and river flow. We have large programs in Antarctica and also in Greenland. DT: Can you tell us a little bit about the genesis of the school? Mosher: [Geologist and philanthropist] Jack Jackson bequeathed his estate to UT — it was worth $241 million then. He felt very strongly about two things. One was the importance of geoscience in terms of understanding energy, water, minerals and resources in the environment. The other thing he felt strongly about was UT. In particular, it bothered him that UT’s geoscientists were spread out across several units. We didn’t report to the same people and interact. He felt like we were less than the sum of our parts and that if he could get us to become a school and work together, we could do amazing things. That’s the reason he donated the money. DT: What is your primary goal for the school?

Mosher: My goal is to have the Jackson School be the best it can be. Or the best in geoscience education. And to have a school where people from different units work well together, a school that is pushing the frontier of science but also very community based that can help the students meet their potential. We are asked to try to build a national community for future geoscience undergraduate education. DT: What is your greatest challenge as dean? Mosher: The whole University is in severe financial straits at the moment. So one big challenge is to keep everything moving forward in a positive way and yet have less budget every year. Since we became a school, we doubled the size of the faculty, and we also doubled the size of each of the research units. We hire extremely collaborative, interdisciplinary people. My other biggest challenge is keeping other universities from stealing my staff and faculty away from me.

Photo courtesy of the Jackson School of Geosciences

Jackson School of Geosciences Dean Sharon Mosher.

DT: Speaking of the shrinking state budget, do you find you have to fundraise more than you used to? Mosher: I always fundraise. As of July I will have been dean for six years. Every year I have been dean, I have had to cut my budget. I fundraise all the time. I spend at least two days out of every month out raising funds. Some months more. DT: What do most students do after graduating? Mosher: It depends on if they are undergraduate or graduate students. A large percentage of undergraduate students go to graduate school. Up until this year, with the oil boom, a lot of the undergrads went directly into industry, working mostly for surface companies but also in environmental

consulting and for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, different state agencies and the U.S. Geological Survey. Sixty to 70 percent of master’s students will go into energy. A small fraction will go into environmental consulting. The rest will go on for Ph.D.s. DT: Is there anything else you want students to know about the school? Mosher: Two things. One thing in particular that makes us unique is that we are field-intensive. We make sure our students have the opportunity to go out not just locally, but internationally and really see geology. And we do that both at the undergrad and graduate level. That’s a really important part of their education. The other emphasis is students doing research. It’s a very vibrant and intellectually stimulating place.

FIRING LINE

Aggie auctioneer’s comments not welcome at PRC

I was at the UT surplus auction Feb. 18 out at the Pickle Research Campus and was taken aback by the auctioneer’s comments about the University during the auction. There was a pallet of UT cups that he said wouldn’t sell because they were “UT” cups. He also went on

to call Bevo a cow. This would be kind of funny and expected coming from an Aggie, Jim Swigert, president of Swico auctions, under normal conditions. But since when do we hire Aggies to come in and disrespect the University on a PA system on our dime? Maybe I’m

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.

wrong, but isn’t the Pickle Research Campus part of the University of Texas? Whoever hires these guys obviously doesn’t have any pride in the University or they wouldn’t put up with that kind of thing on our turf! — Harrel Sharrick, UT alumnus

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.

By Lauren Ferguson Daily Texan Columnist @LaurenFerg2

Both the Blanton Museum of Art and the LBJ Presidential Library have recently opened exhibits discussing the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The Blanton’s exhibition, Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties, focuses on how art influenced the civil rights movement in the ‘60s, while March to Freedom, the LBJ Library’s exhibition, focuses on the 50th anniversary of the Selma marches. Both exhibitions come during February, America’s celebration of Black History Month, but they coincidentally have come during a time of heightened racial tension in the United States. Between the six-month mark of the Ferguson protests, Fiji House’s racist theme party, the Muslim-centered West Campus bomb threats and the deaths of the three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, it is becoming clear that we do not live in a post-racial America. The campus exhibitions, although focused on the past, contribute to the conversation about race for those of the UT and Austin communities because of the striking parallels between the civil rights movement and today’s racial tension. Witness, the Blanton’s exhibition, uses several key pieces to discuss civil rights, one of those being Nina Simone’s song “Mississippi Goddam.” Part of Witness is dedicated to Simone’s performance, and the video of her performance is featured in the exhibition. Simone’s song echoes through the galleries, urging listeners to “just try to do your very best/stand up be counted with all the rest” in regard to political activism, and for those in power to “just give me my equality.” The song, while written specifically for the civil rights era, is applicable to today’s racial protests. Similarly, the LBJ Library’s exhibition on the Selma marches closely parallels the recent protests against police brutality. In addition to documents and quotes on marches during the civil rights movement, the exhibit features photographs of the March 7, 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, that infamously became violent and resulted in the injuries of 50 people. The rare images will give museum-goers a glimpse of the violence 1960s black Americans faced. However, the parallels between the “Bloody Sunday” March and today’s racial tensions are striking. Following the early August murder of Michael Brown and the subsequent Ferguson protests, America was able to discuss the protests instantly via social media such as the revitalization of #BlackLivesMatter on Twitter. Protesters from around the nation were able to organize quickly and discuss race relations directly. The online display of race discussion and action caused the Ferguson protests to gain hundreds of supporters, sparking protests all across the nation. Similarly, Bloody Sunday was one of the first televised protests, and when Americans viewed the violent actions, the movement garnered huge support and resulted in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Both the Selma marches and the Ferguson protests had a similar desire: to establish basic human rights for black Americans, and March to Freedom highlights this fact. Unfortunately, the exhibitions bring up the fact that few race issues have been resolved in the last half-century. People of color’s lives are still at risk due to the underlying racism in America. However, these exhibitions, while inciting discussion, also present hope. The civil rights movement resulted in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and expanded black rights. In 2015, UT students are dedicated to continuing the work of the civil rights period and providing a safe campus for all students — regardless of race. The exhibitions give the Austin community a glimpse of the past, which lead us to think about our future. Ferguson is an English and art history junior from Austin.

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.

OPINION

4A OPINION 5

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

COLUMN

Now is the time for a dedicated ‘College of Computer Sciences’ By Rohan Ramchand Guest Columnist

Every semester, the Department of Computer Science offers a three-hour seminar on mobile computing. It is considered to be one of the best and most interesting classes to take while at UT by aspiring computer science students. As a result, it has become one of the most difficult classes in which to secure a seat. It’s not the only popular class in the department, either. By the end of the first week of registration for this semester, 25 out of 31 classes, many of which had multiple sections to accommodate higher levels of student interest, were either completely filled or waitlisted, including multiple classes required for graduation. If you were unlucky enough to have second-week registration, getting into an upper-division computer science class was close to impossible. According to the UT Statistical Handbook, the department currently houses close to 1,900 computer science majors, a number that has jumped by 128 percent in the last eight years. This surge in enrollment reflects a significant change in the nature of the global economy; the Labor Department estimates that nearly 140,000 new software engineering jobs will be added by 2018. More tellingly, the student-to-faculty ratio has jumped from 14.1 in 2006 to 26.7 this year. The College of Natural Sciences, under which the department is housed, has maintained a roughly constant ratio over the same period (24.6 in 2006 to 23.8 this year). Meanwhile, the department has gone from awarding degrees to close to 27 percent of its enrolled population (252 out of 935 students) in 2005 to awarding degrees to just 14.5 percent (255 out of 1762 students) last year. The University of Texas is a world-class institution. Its department of computer science has been consistently ranked in the top 10 programs for graduate study and is sought after for the quality of its faculty and the caliber of its students. The University must both accommodate the increasing number of students who are interested

in computer science and simultaneously maintain a standard of excellence. However, given the current resources made available to the Department of Computer Science, it has become virtually impossible for the department to accomplish its mission. One of two things must happen. One option is for the department to reduce enrollment, and given the current student-tofaculty ratio, the department must cut 500 students to continue to deliver the quality for which it is known. However, reducing enrollment in computer science discourages applicants from trying to study computer science in the first place and would affect growth of a discipline that is becoming increasingly important in the marketplace. There is another solution. UT took an unusual route in marrying computer science with mathematics in the very early years of its existence. This environment was perfect for researchers like Edsger Dijkstra and Alan Emerson, both of whom ended up winning the Turing Award, the Nobel Prize of computer science. Now, however, the department is branching out into new fields, such as computer vision and natural language processing, as it continues to make theoretical advances in algorithms and formal verification. This is the perfect storm in which the University must rise to create a new college: the College of Computer Sciences. We have the intellectual rigor, we have the student interest, but above all, we have a mission to serve the people of the state of Texas. There are some immediate advantages of such a solution. As it stands right now, there are five programs at UT whose missions are related to computer science: the Department of Computer Science, which is within the College of Natural Sciences; the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, which is within the College of Engineering; the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences and the Texas Advanced Computing Center, both of which are under the Office of the Vice President for Research; and the School of Information, which is a separate school altogether. It makes little sense to keep these programs separate when there is much to

COLUMN

Rachel Zein | Daily Texan Staff

The Gates Computer Science Complex opened in March 2013. Located on Speedway, the complex consists of two buildings and a connecting glass atrium.

be gained from joining forces to achieve the goals they share. Moreover, whereas currently the department receives funding through the college, an independent college would support itself. Such a transition is not without precedent. The Jackson School of Geosciences, which for more than a century was a department in the College of Natural Sciences, split off in 2005 to become a separate college. As a result of its strategic plan, Jackson has, since 2007, been able to hire more than 25 new faculty members. Just as the prospects of a specialized school like Jackson attracted philanthropy — the School was created by a $322 million gift — a clear plan for a college of computer science could have the same effect. Even in the field, the department would not stand alone: In 1968, realizing that computer science would help define the following century of science, Carnegie Mellon University elected to create its School of Computer Sciences from existing programs in its natural sciences division. Today, the SCS is consistently ranked among the top five computer science programs in the

world and has attracted funding from the likes of Bill Gates and businessman Henry Hillman. It is time for the University to ask itself a fundamental question: whether it wants to respond to trends and wait for other schools to elevate computer science before following suit, or whether it wants to take the lead in investing in what is quickly becoming a highly sought-after area of study around the world. We cannot allow ourselves to fall behind in an area in which we have demonstrated ourselves to be so clearly and undeniably capable of greatness. To do anything less is to sacrifice the incredible progress the University has made in the field of computer science. It is time for us, as we have so many times in the past, to take the lead and define the next era of scientific progress. We must act as we believe: that what starts here changes the world. Ramchand is a computer science and mathematics sophomore. He is a Turing scholar in the Department of Computer Science.

GALLERY

National Adjunct Walkout begs reflection on state of US faculty By Anne Lewis Guest Columnist

With the National Adjunct Walkout taking place Wednesday, I find myself thinking about the basic conditions of my employment — as well as that of thousands of adjuncts in our city. Through decades as a working artist, I never imagined teaching as a profession aside from the occasional workshop. However, circumstances after I moved away from a Kentucky arts cooperative made it necessary that I find employment. I was offered a job teaching film editing for a semester at the University of Texas at Austin. I found the work inspiring. My colleagues were kind and helpful; most students were eager to learn. I had access to all kinds of technological knowledge thanks to the University staff and became a student myself, auditing classes. And I have never based what I did for a living on how much money I made. As a result, for the past 15 years I have been part of what is known as the “academic precariat,” a clever combination of precarious and proletariat. My situation, while better than the typical adjunct who averages $2,987 a course, contains all the associated problems: semester-bysemester employment on an as-needed basis, lack of paid medical benefits, the need for survival strategies during occasional summers and a pay level capping at less than half that of professors teaching the same classes. At times, I even felt as though I was a kind of academic scab, eroding tenure, pay and benefits for my colleagues. Then an op-ed in the Pittsburgh PostGazette written by the general counsel of the United Steelworkers union broke everything open. Margaret Mary Vojtko taught French at Duquesne University. She worked semester by semester with no health benefits for 25 years. Even though many of her students gave her glowing evaluations and she never missed a class, her teaching load was reduced to one class a semester. Her electricity was turned off and she resorted to sleeping in her office. University police were called to eject her. Vojtko died sick, impoverished, disrespected and unemployed Sept. 1, 2013. That story hit many of us hard. The conditions we might have accepted in order to be part of this country’s great universities became a rallying cry for justice. Adjuncts, including graduate students, make up 75 percent of college instructors, and our average pay is $25,806 annually. Seventy-

Photo courtesy of Anne Lewis

Anne Lewis, senior lecturer in the Department of Radio-Television-Film.

five percent of us don’t get paid health insurance, and few adjuncts participate in faculty governance. Most of us work many more hours than we are paid, a kind of wage theft that makes our hourly wage less than the federal minimum. We have begun to organize across the country in a variety of labor unions and in associations like New Faculty Majority. Next week, thousands of us plan to participate in what the American Federation of Teachers is calling “Adjunct Awareness Week.” At UT-Austin, the Texas State Employees Union, TSEU-CWA 1686 plans a teach-in at noon Wednesday in the West Mall free speech area for those adjuncts not teaching at the time and their allies. There’s one more part to the story about Vojtko. It belongs to Daniel Kovalik, the lawyer with the Steelworkers union who broke the story, and to Jim Hightower, the journalist who wrote about what came after. At the time of Vojtko’s death, adjuncts at Duquesne had already voted overwhelmingly to join the union — that’s the context of Vojtko’s relationship with Kovalik. But the administration at this Catholic school asked for a religious exemption from labor laws, claiming that unionization would in some way prevent the teaching of Catholic values. The progressive president of the USW, Leo Garard, appealed in the name of social justice and human rights, as Hightower says, “not to the courts but to the Pope!“ In this day and age, that should not be necessary. Lewis is a senior radio-television-film lecturer.

Erica Ndubueze | Daily Texan Staff

ONLINE

Our commentary doesn’t stop on the page. For more of our thoughts on the issues of the day, check out our blog, A Matter of Opinion, at dailytexanonline.com.

6 SPTS

GARRETT CALLAHAN, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansports Wednesday, February 25, 2015

SIDELINE

MEN’S BASKETBALL

TEXAS

VS.

(20) W. VIRGINIA

Texas tailspin continues in Morgantown By Evan Berkowitz

Sophomore guard Isaiah Taylor and the Texas guards struggled with turnovers in Morgantown, West Virginia, as the Mountaineers used a full-court press. Taylor had four of the Longhorns’ 17 turnover.

@Evan_Berkowitz

Texas’ tailspin continued Tuesday night after No. 20 West Virginia held on to its early big lead for a 71–64 victory. It’s the third loss in a row for a slumping Texas team — now 6–9 record in Big 12 play — that is confirming its status as a bubble team for the NCAA tournament. West Virginia (22–6, 10–5 Big 12) overwhelmed Texas’ ball handlers with a relentless full-court press that set the tone early. Using an 11-man-deep bench, the Mountaineers were able to keep the pressure on Texas’ thin corps of ball handlers and force them into 17 turnovers. The constant pressure got the Mountaineers off to a blistering start, as it looked as if they were going to run the Longhorns out of Morgantown. They opened an 18-point first-half lead, converting turnovers into easy points and forcing their way into the paint against the Texas zone. But Texas wasn’t going to give in that easily. Sparked by sophomore guard Kendal Yancy’s corner three, Texas began the uphill battle. The Longhorns scored in four straight

(5) WISCONSIN

(14) MARYLAND

NC STATE

(9) NOTRE DAME Amy Zhang Daily Texan Staff

possessions, cut the deficit to 10 and were right back in it. They took advantage of their low 15-shot first-half total, making 73 percent from the field. But then frustration boiled over for struggling senior forward Jonathan Holmes. In the waning seconds of the first half, West Virginia forward Devin Williams set an illegal screen that went uncalled as he checked Holmes in the back. Holmes

retaliated, swinging his elbow and catching Williams in the face. Holmes was given a flagrant two and ejected from the game as Texas entered halftime trailing by 11. “I thought our effort was really good,” Huggins said after the first half. “I thought our patience was really good on offense.” The start of the second half was a complete reverse of the first as Texas cut the

double-digit halftime lead to two in a hurry. They began to beat the press and find easy buckets, forcing West Virginia into a 1-3-1 zone defense. But that’s as close as Texas would get. West Virginia opened it back up quickly, going on a 13–2 run of their own. On multiple occasions, Texas cut into the lead, putting pressure on West Virginia, but, ultimately, the hill proved too steep to climb. Junior guard Demarcus

Holland came off the bench to lead Texas with 14 points, and sophomore point guard Isaiah Taylor added 13 points and six assists. However, each committed four turnovers. Coming off a 29-point performance, Yancy was a quiet 4-for-8 with 9 points. The Longhorns’ path doesn’t get any easier either, as they go to the Phog for a road game against No. 8 Kansas on Saturday.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

By Courtney Norris @courtneyknorris

Amy Zhang | Daily Texan Staff

Sophomore guard Kendal Yancy more than doubled his previous career high with a 29-point outburst against Iowa State on Saturday. In his last three games, he’s scored 51 points.

Kendal Yancy fills scoring void as he begins to find his rhythm When sophomore guard Martez Walker left the University following multiple arrests in the fall, it was unclear how his minutes would be distributed among the backcourt. Walker scored double figures in four of the last five contests of his freshman campaign, overcoming early-season struggles and demonstrating his potential value to the 2014—2015 squad. With his departure, there was a gaping hole in the Texas backcourt alongside sophomore guard Isaiah Taylor. Junior guard Demarcus Holland likely would have started but, while he is an elite defensive player, he does not have a scorer’s mentality. Junior guard Javan Felix, on the other hand, can score in bunches but struggles on the defensive end. By default, Texas’ best hope for a complete guard rested in the maturation and development of sophomore Kendal Yancy. But could the guard who averaged only 3.4 points per game as a freshman take the necessary leap in production? Early in the season the prognosis looked negative. When the 2K Classic concluded, he was only

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averaging 4.25 points per game while making less than 38 percent of his shots from the field. However, because of injuries to both Taylor and Felix, Yancy was inserted into Texas’ starting lineup when it returned to Austin to face Saint Francis. His response was 12 points and six rebounds, tying his then careerhighs in both. In the win, Yancy attempted 10 shots. He wouldn’t match that number again until setting a new career-high in points with 14 in a 74–71 overtime loss to Stanford. The performance was one of the most efficient efforts of his career. He finished with an effective field goal percentage of 65 percent and a true shooting percentage of 67 percent. Effective shooting percentage adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth one more point than a 2-point field goal, whereas true shooting percentage takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals and free throws. Despite these efforts, the sophomore played less than eight minutes per game against Texas’ first eight conference opponents, scoring 1 point per contest. Following concussions to Felix in a loss at Baylor and to

senior forward Jonathan Holmes in a loss to Oklahoma State, Yancy once again was thrust into the starting lineup and, this time, was determined to stay. In wins over Kansas State, TCU and Texas Tech the sophomore did not produce very eye-popping numbers, but he appeared to be a positive presence on the floor. However, in losses to Oklahoma, Iowa State and West Virginia, Yancy asserted himself on the offensive end and did all he could to help out a team that struggled to hit baskets. He scored a career-high 29 points against Iowa State— the most a Longhorn has scored in a game since Myck Kabongo dropped 31 points in Texas’ 22-point come-frombehind victory over Oklahoma in 2013. Perhaps even more impressively, Yancy sunk six threes in the loss — the same amount he hit during his entire freshman campaign. Yancy appears to be gaining confidence each and every game, and he is finally settling in as a threat when shooting the basketball. While his elevated play may not be quite enough to salvage the season, he could be setting himself up for a very productive junior season.

Winners of three straight games, the Longhorns return home to face Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. Wednesday with a new face sporting a jersey on the bench. Junior guard Emily Johnson, who previously served as a team manager, will be joining the team. However, she will not compete this season, according to head coach Karen Aston. Johnson will officially join the injury-prone Longhorns next season with two years of eligibility remaining. The worst loss for the Longhorns came with senior forward Nneka Enemkpali’s season-ending ACL tear in January. She the surgery to repair the ACL last Wednesday. “I think it’s the first of a two-part surgery,” Aston said. “We’ve acknowledged we want to play the remainder of the season on her behalf.” After losing six of seven since Enemkpali went down, the Longhorns are finally settling in — on and off the court. On the court, they have won three in a row. Off the court, Texas leads the conference with eight studentathletes named Thursday

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to the 2015 Academic AllBig 12 Conference Women’s Basketball Team. Additionally, the Longhorns are seeing more productivity from the young leaders of the team. Freshmen guards Ariel Atkins and Brooke McCarty continue to deliver strong double-digit performances, proving themselves as key players to Texas’s offense. Starting the past 10 games for Texas, McCarty was named Phillips 66 Big 12 Freshman of the Week. Both Atkins and McCarty have won the award twice. Oklahoma State (18–8, 8–7 Big 12) head into Austin with a similar record to the Longhorns (18–8, 7–8 Big 12). In Stillwater, Oklahoma, for the first of the two matchups this year, the Cowgirls escaped 60–66. The game will air on the Longhorn Network.

Mariana Munoz | Daily Texan Staff

Freshman guard Ariel Atkins has come up big for the Longhorns in their current three-game win streak. Teaming up with fellow freshman Brooke McCarty, the Longhorns are finding their groove again after a mid-season slump.

Baseball postponed to Wednesday for Texas

Late Monday night, Texas announced its home game against UT-Pan American (5–2) scheduled for Tuesday will be postponed until Wednesday “due to potential winter weather.” No. 6 Texas (7–2) is coming off a four-game sweep of Minnesota in which they allowed no earned runs and tallied 31 runs for themselves. First pitch will be at 6 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. —Evan Berkowitz

Texas swimming hosts Big 12 championships

For the ninth time in conference history, Texas will host the men’s and women’s Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Wednesday through Saturday. The No. 2 men’s team will compete against only TCU and West Virginia, the only other sponsored men’s swimming and diving teams in the Big 12. Texas has won all 18 Big 12 Championships and 35 straight conference titles. Neither the Horned Frogs nor the Mountaineers are ranked in the top 25. The No. 6 women’s team is looking for its 13th Big 12 title as they take on unranked West Virginia, TCU, Kansas and Iowa State. —Rachel Wenzlaff & Brooke Daily

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8 L&A

KAT SAMPSON, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan Wednesday, February 25, 2015

CAMPUS

Art of Living UT makes yoga accessible, fun By Olivia Lewman @thedailytexan

For UT alumnus Sanjeev Mathur, a community outreach volunteer at The Art of Living Center in Austin, meditation is about having fun. “Seriousness is dangerous,” Mathur said. “Treat the mind like a child. You must be playful with it.” The Art of Living, where Mathur volunteers, is a nonprofit organization that teaches yoga, mediation and breathing. The organization has centers in more than 150 countries. When he’s not volunteering with The Art of Living, he’s working with Austin business owners on startups. Through weekly workshops on campus, Mathur teaches stress management skills with the tangible goal of guiding students to live life in the present and keep a positive mindset. He has volunteered on campus since 2008 with Art of Living UT. The student organization, an extension of the international nonprofit organization, hosts free yoga, mediation and breathing workshops for students. Mathur found meditation in 2006 while he was earning an MBA from UT in general management. Around that same time, he heard of the breathing techniques The Art of Living taught in India. He attended a workshop in Austin, and, before long, he was practicing everyday. During this time, he

Every emotion we experience is tied to a breathing pattern. Instead of letting our emotions control our breath, we can use our breath to regulate our emotions. —Shreya Kulkarni, President of Art of Living UT

realized the importance of finding motivation in practicing activities he loved rather than in external rewards. Mathur has volunteered with Art of Living UT from its beginning. He said he is excited to share the benefits he believes will make for a more positive college experience. Nutrition senior Shreya Kulkarni, current president of Art of Living UT, said the yoga and mediation practices over the past three years have had an incredible impact on her life and her ability to maintain a positive state of mind. “Every emotion we experience is tied to a breathing pattern,” Kulkarni said. “Instead of letting our emotions control our breath, we can use our breath to regulate our emotions.” Mathur said it is common for students to suffer from internal conflict that often exists between personal

Ellyn Snider | Daily Texan Staff

UT alumnus Sanjeev Mathur volunteers for The Art of Living, a nonprofit organization that teachers yoga, mediation and breathing. Weekly, Mathur teaches stress management and breathing workshops on campus for the UT chapter.

ambition and the stress endured to achieve that ambition. The solution he offers to his students is to take risks, to not be afraid of making mistakes and to constantly foster peace of mind through breathing and meditation. “When a person is not pursuing something they are passionate about, then the mind wanders all over the place and picks up stress from here or there because there is confusion,” Mathur said.

FOOD

The Art of Living offers several happiness workshops, such as Yes!+, a workshop series tailored to university students. The workshops offer students the tools and a setting that allow them to slow down from the constant demands of life and practice relaxation skills. Mathur said pursuing activities on a daily basis that release stress helps students to be present and focused. “Stress can be defined as

the mind vacillating from the past to the future — life is in the present,” Mathur said. “When one is reeling in regret from the past and anxiety for the future, it becomes difficult to make decisions for the present.” He emphasized focusing the mind within and not to search for external rewards. He said it is only these activities that can sustain the spirit for the long run. “The inside focus is on the

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feeling,” Mathur said. “How the activity is making the person feel rather than thoughts of the activity. The spirit is the source to enthusiasm.”

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Roland’s Soul Food provides Film industry lacking diversity Southern-style comfort food By Charles Liu

Daily Texan Columnist @CharlesInDaHaus

Rachel Zein | Daily Texan Staff

Brothers Freddie, (left), and Eddie Roland created Roland’s Soul Food: a local, unassuming gem of a restaurant in East Austin. What the establishment lacks in grandeur, it makes up for in hearty food and genuine soutern hospitality.

By Jeff Svajda @jeffsvajda

Newer is, generally, better, but brothers Eddie and Freddie Roland of Roland’s Soul Food know that historic southern cuisine, done right, doesn’t need to be reinvented. It’s easy to overlook a local establishment, such as Roland’s, because Austin is home to an array of celebrity chefs and has one of the most innovative food scenes in the country. Yet, Roland’s has remained a cornerstone for the disappearing, native East Austin community. “Good Food For Good People.” That’s the motto Eddie Roland wrote in big, bold letters at the top the dry erase board that greets customers as they enter 1311 Chestnut Ave. The brothers share the day-to-day responsibilities — Eddie manages the kitchen while Freddie mingles with the customers. They often visit with patrons and share conversations as prolific as the food that comes from the kitchen. They’ve been doing it this way for upward of 40 years. These two drew upon their time spent in rural

Buda, Texas, and put together a menu and restaurant that reflects not just themselves, but an entire culture. Staples on the menu include pork chops, collard greens, black eyed peas and oxtails. The decor is minimal. Although Freddie and Eddie said they lack musical talent of their own, they encourage customers to play the white baby grand piano sitting in the back of the restaurant. There is no soda fountain and no commercial products. Instead, gallons of homemade sweet tea, cherry Kool-Aid and lemonade line the counter. Chairs come studded with tennis balls on the legs to provide optimal comfort and minimal marking. Form follows function at Roland’s, but what these two lack in interior designing, they make up for in their cooking. Come here for homestyle cooking but don’t expect an organic or vegan menu. Roland’s is likely to be serving favorite southern family style recipes, but better: pork chops that have been conservatively battered, fried and then smothered with their own

gravy for $10.99. For the same price you can opt for equally savory beef tips have been slowly braised for hours atop a bed of rice. But the jewel of the menu is the stewed oxtails that are messy, fatty and simply delicious. Side choices include tender collard greens, yams that have been reduced to bring out their sweetness or black-eyed peas that have been stewed with a healthy portion of bacon. The collard greens, although tender and flavorful, were admittedly, overly-seasoned with too much salt. Ask for some butter or honey for the piece of cornbread — crispy on the outside and moist in the middle — that accompanies most plates. Roland’s accomplishes what so many white-tablecloth restaurants aspire to produce: A product that resonates throughout the community. But, unfortunately for so many, exposure to southern soul food is, paradoxically, more foreign to Austinites than sushi. But as long as Austin has “Good People,” expect Roland’s to provide “Good Food.”

Films like “Selma” are rare. Few movies further the ideals of racial equality in terms of casting and production. “Selma” is an anomaly in a time when the film industry infrequently creates African-American stories that explore their perspectives. While the depiction of blacks in film has significantly improved over the past century,a strong black voice is the exception, not the rule, for the film industry. Since its inception, the film industry has had trouble fairly portraying African-Americans in their stories. “The Birth of a Nation,” which D.W. Griffith directed and released in 1915, depicted AfricanAmericans as violent sexual predators and the Klu Klux Klan as heroes. Radio-television-film associate professor Mary Beltrán, who specializes in the connection between film and race studies, said African-Americans at the time vehemently protested the movie. “Some of the chapters of the NAACP were [made] in order to fight ‘The Birth of a Nation,’” Beltrán said. In spite of efforts to ban the picture, “The Birth of a Nation” became a commercial success. Other films, such as “The Littlest Rebel” and “Gone with

the Wind,” portrayed AfricanAmericans in subservient roles. Black actors often appeared as servants who rarely questioned their position in society such as Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy, the family maid in “Gone with the Wind.” McDaniel’s role — as problematic of a character as it may have been — earned her an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1940, making her the first African-American to win an Academy Award. It wasn’t until the 1950s and the 1960s that African-Americans’ representation in film began to improve. AfricanAmerican film stars appeared after the Civil Rights Movement raised awareness of racial discrimination. Performers such as Eartha Kitt and Harry Belafonte rose to prominence and captured public affection. In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.” “Sidney Poitier [was] really important,” Beltrán said. “His stardom [was] in some ways a turning point in Hollywood.” In spite of African-Americans’ gains in films, many black movie stars often ended up playing supporting roles or sidekicks. Film studios feared movies with African-Americans in the lead roles would not be financially successful

overseas and cast whites as the main characters instead. “Just a few stars have broken through: Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Denzel Washington and, more recently, Will Smith,” Beltrán said. “But that’s pretty much it.” Blacks are not as heavily involved in the creative side of filmmaking as whites, according to Beltrán. As a result, it is less common for black perspectives to be represented in movies. “If we look at issues of employment — issues of writers and producers and directors — the number of African-Americans working in executive and creative capacities is still extremely low,” Beltrán said. Beltrán said studios have become more inclined to greenlight films with ethnically varied casts because of the increasing diversity of audiences. She said we can expect to see more films with minorities in the leads. Major films with black leads are now in the works, including “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” starring John Boyega, and the superhero film “Cyborg,” starring Ray Fisher. Although a century has passed since “The Birth of a Nation,” blacks are still underrepresented in today’s films. But movies such as “Selma,” however, offer hope that the film industry is progressing in the right direction.

Illustration by Albert Lee | Daily Texan Staff