The Daily Texan 2015-03-11

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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

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STATE

Daylight saving bill to have public hearing By Eleanor Dearman @EllyDearman

Texas Rep. Dan Flynn (RCanton) wants daylight saving time removed in the state. Flynn filed a bill in November calling for legislators to end daylight saving time, and the public hearing for his bill is Wednesday. “It was November of last year when we did the fall back, and I’m sitting there changing all of the clocks in my house and in my cars, and I’m … thinking, ‘Why in the world do

we do this?’” Flynn said. The bill, if passed, would mean Texas could opt out of the twice-a-year time change, which the Uniform Time Act of 1966 established. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act set nationwide start and end times for daylight saving time — the last Sunday in April and October. Since the act’s implementation, daylight saving time has been moved to the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. The act also allows states not to follow daylight saving.

Currently, Hawaii, Arizona and some parts of Indiana do not practice the time change. Flynn said he has found that removing daylight saving time in the state would not negatively impact farmers or increase energy usage. Additionally, he said mothers have expressed concern about leaving their children at bus stops when it is darker in the mornings because of daylight saving time. “I think the trouble that [daylight saving time] causes far outweighs any benefits

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Thalia Juarez | Daily Texan Staff

Ralph Hackemack, a supporter of ending daylight saving time, holds up two signs outside the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon.

Photos by Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff

Student Government executive alliance candidates Braydon Jones, second from left, and Kimia Dargahi, far left, will compete against fellow candidates and Texas Travesty editors Xavier Rotnofsky, second from right, and Rohit Mandalapu, far right, in a runoff election starting Wednesday and ending Thursday. Neither candidate was able to get 50 percent of the vote, resulting in the third runoff in SG history.

The third executive alliance runoff election in Student Government history will take place this week between candidates Braydon Jones and Kimia Dargahi, and fellow candidates Xavier Rotnofsky and Rohit Mandalapu. Since SG began electing executive alliances in 2009, only two other campus-wide elections have ever resulted in an executive alliance run-

off. The two alliance runoffs took place in 2010 and 2011, and no other alliance runoffs have occurred until this year. Runoff elections happen when no candidate or alliance achieves a majority of the vote. This year, JonesDargahi polled at 46.34 percent, and Rotnofsky-Mandalapu received 26.9 percent of the vote. “At the beginning, we were a bit surprised but also not too much,” Election Supervisory Board chair Nick Molina said. “Around the

office, we’d heard a lot of buzz around Rotnofsky’s team and also Braydon and Kimia’s.” Before 2009, presidential and vice presidential candidates ran separately. The candidates ran as part of a “party,” and the party that had the most elected SG officials gained “control” of the Assembly. This year’s election yielded SG’s highest voter turnout since 2009, as almost 19 percent of students cast a vote. The number of students

Airport off-limits to Uber for SXSW @thedailytexan

Candidates compete in first runoff since 2011

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CITY

By Jackie Wang

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

By Samantha Ketterer

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I guess the four teams definitely helped this year, as opposed to the two last year. Different types of candidates decided to run, I think that helped.” —Kori Rady, Student Goverment president

who voted increased by 14 percent from spring 2014 to spring 2015. “I’m obviously pleasantly surprised,” SG President Kori Rady said. “I guess the four teams definitely helped this year as opposed

to the two last year. Different types of candidates decided to run, and I think that helped.” SG was known as the Student’s Association until 1996. Between the

RUNOFF page 3

Days before the start of South By Southwest, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport officials said Uber will not be able to operate out of the airport during the festival next week. Airport officials offered to form an agreement with two ride-hailing companies, Uber and Lyft, but Uber declined to accept, according to airport spokesman Jim Halbrook. “We offered both Lyft and Uber the same deal,” Halbrook said. “Lyft accepted it, and Uber has declined. I’m not in the negotiations, but what I am told from my business partners is they declined, and they didn’t give a reason.” The agreement mandated the ride-hailing companies give 10 percent of their gross revenue to the airport, Halbrook said. “That means, at a $25 fare, the airport gets $2.50,” Halbrook said. “The airport is a revenue generating facility. We generate our own revenue to pay for operating costs like water or electricity or road repairs and future improvements. When we build a new piece of terminal, we may get a grant, but we draw a lot out of our capital fund.” All businesses working at the airport must have a formal agreement with the airport, according to Halbrook. “Anybody doing business at the airport, whether they be

UBER page 2

UNIVERSITY

SYSTEM

Dean to look into SAE allegations

UT institute develops learning app

By Samantha Ketterer

By Josh Willis

Two days after a viral video showed Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity members from the University of Oklahoma chanting racial slurs, President William Powers Jr. announced the dean of students would investigate whether UT’s SAE chapter has traditionally used a similar chant. In the viral video, SAE members use multiple anti-black slurs and reference lynching, singing, “You can hang them from a tree, but they’ll never sign with me.” In the hours following the release of the video, OU President David Boren severed ties between OU and the SAE chapter

and ordered all fraternity members to move out of the SAE house, effective immediately. Boren also expelled two students who, he said, played a “leadership role” in singing the chant. In Powers’ press release, he said the OU administration’s actions raised questions about UT’s response to a “border control” party the Fiji fraternity held in February. The dean of students investigated the event in which guests wore ponchos, sombreros and construction gear with names such as “Pablo Sanchez” written on them and concluded the party did not violate any University rules and would not re-

sult in any penalty for the fraternity. “Both of these incidents were hurtful and offended many,” Powers said. “I deplore this behavior, which is contrary to the core values of The University of Texas at Austin.” Powers said the dean’s office is still working with Fiji. “Our dean of students has worked extensively with the group to educate its members on the harm it has caused and to reconcile it to the greater community,” Powers said. “The FIJIs have apologized, have been fully engaged with the dean of students’ efforts, and have reached out to Latino groups. … Much work remains but this is a

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LIFE&ARTS

ONLINE

Professor details struggles for LGBT teachers. PAGE 3

Student Government needs serious leaders. PAGE 4

Multiple home runs help Texas beat Cardinals. PAGE 6

UT beekeepers swarm to campus. PAGE 8

Former U.S. Reps discuss congressional gridlock. ONLINE

Travesty campaign is about more than satire. PAGE 4

Longhorns require consistency for sucess. PAGE 6

Wonder who lights the Tower orange? So did we. PAGE 8

Check out The Daily Texan’s website for the latest updates on campus happenings.

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The UT System Institute for Transformational Learning introduced a new learning platform that uses competency-based education in an attempt to more actively engage students. The institute developed the platform, known as TEx, to support competencybased education throughout the UT System. The program was unveiled at SXSWedu on Tuesday. According to a statement from the UT System, competency-based programs are meant to allow students to advance based on their abilities and mastered skills instead of time spent in a classroom. Marni Baker Stein, chief

Mariana Gonzalez | Daily Texan Staff

Marni Baker Stein, UT System chief innovation officer, unveiled UT System’s new learning platform at the SXSWedu event Tuesday.

innovation officer at the UT System’s Institute for Transformational Learning, said the new platform is meant to work for students of all backgrounds. “It is a unified user

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experience that connects to lots of different technologies and services and applications,” Baker Stein said. “That gives it a lot more flexibility for [students]…

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Volume 115, Issue 117

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Rachel Zein | Daily Texan Staff

A student walks outside of the McCombs School of Business on Tuesday afternoon.

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a restaurant or ground transportation provider, has an agreement to do business at the airport,” Halbrook said. “That’s a city ordinance.” Airport officials have previously worked with Uber and Lyft to reach an agreement about their services at the airport since the two ridehailing companies were permitted to operate in Austin last October. The likelihood of Uber reaching an agreement in time to operate at the airport during SXSW is marginal, according to Halbrook. “If they come back with something, we could potentially continue to [negotiate],” Halbrook said. “We’ve kind of got what we want and how we like

to do it.” Uber drivers may receive citations if they operate at the airport. Uber issued a statement Tuesday to say it is working to come to a solution. “With service in 292 cities in 55 countries, visitors arriving at Austin Bergstrom [sic] International Airport expect to be able to request a ride from the airport using the Uber app,” the statement said. “We are currently working with the city on a solution to ensure the tens of thousands of visitors arriving in Austin for SXSW have access to an affordable, hassle-free ride after they touch down. We look forward to working together to resolve this issue in the immediate future.”

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INSTITUTE

continues from page 1 where you really want to create lots of different types of learning experiences for different types of study pathways.” The program will be launched at UT-Rio Grande Valley in fall 2015, said Amy Shackelford, director of strategic partnerships at the institute. The platform will then be used for students in continuing and professional education, such as health care, beginning in spring 2016. The program will be expanded the following year to include 10 degree programs for fall 2017, which is when it will be first introduced to UT-Austin. Steve Mintz, executive director of the institute, said the platform has the potential to reduce the cost of textbooks aside from making material easier to access. “By creating these ‘textbooks on steroids,’ we can dramatically cut the cost of textbooks because we can create, at scale, using open resources, using other resources, using resources that we create and pass the savings [to the student],” Mintz said. “There is an expense, but that is being picked up elsewhere.” Baker Stein said the creation of a personal profile that remains with students

OPINION

throughout their educational experience sets TEx apart from other platforms. “From the moment that you start in a program — even before, perhaps, in affiliated high schools — you have a profile in the system you are building,” Baker Stein said. “You are setting your goals; you are collecting your network; you are collecting, in a sense, credits or badges or certificates or degrees.” Shackelford said students would have a coach who watches their progress and checks in on them aside from the ability to contact faculty and teaching assistants. “You have a coach who is not academic, but this coach is actually monitoring your progress,” Shackelford said. “So, if something is going wrong, and they see you are behind, they can proactively reach out and say, ‘Hey, is everything okay? I noticed that you’re behind for this week.’” Mintz said developers reworked the learning platform to make it more attractive for students to use. “Our view is that if we are going to give [students] electronic resources, they need to be as engaging and as interactive as the best materials that you interact with,” Mintz said. “That’s what this is about — it’s creating a user experience that is elegant, intuitive, exciting [and] addictive.”

that it could possibly have,” Flynn said. There is not a clear answer as to whether daylight saving saves energy. According to a recent Dallas Morning news article, a 2008 study in Indiana found residential energy use increased by 1 percent when daylight saving time was implemented statewide. On the other hand, a 2008 report from the U.S. Department of Energy found extended daylight saving hours, established in 2007, saved 0.3 percent of the year’s energy. Engineering junior Rohan Nagar said he thinks daylight saving time is pointless in today’s society and would like to see it abolished nationwide. “Currently it’s up to the states to decide whether they want to follow daylight saving or not, but I think that causes a lot of confusion, especially if half the states are following day light saving and half aren’t,” Nagar said. Martha Habluetzel, a retired postal carrier, organized a gathering at the Capitol on Tuesday against daylight saving time, and she was one of a handful of people to attend and speak with Flynn about his bill. If Texas were to stop using daylight saving time, Habluetzel said she thinks other states in the central time zone and eventually the U.S. as a whole would stop using the measure. “If Texas [abolishes] daylight saving time … then I think it will be easy for it to be abolished nationally,” Habluetzal said. “[Texas is] so large.” Engineering junior Oriana Wong said she is tired from losing an hour of sleep on daylight saving. Nevertheless, Wong said if Texas were to eliminate daylight saving time, there would be confusion, especially for business people working across state lines. “Just by driving home to their workplace, they would have to remember to changeRES their clocks everyday,“ Wong said. Flynn said he does not foresee this being a problem. “They will be able to adjust to whatever [the time change] is,” Flynn said. “I personally kind of feel like B this is what I’m going to call ‘Texas Time.’”

St be

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SG Assembly submits bill on Davis statue

The Student Government legislative Assembly sent legislation to the Student Affairs Committee on Tuesday supporting the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue on campus. SG executive alliance candidates Xavier Rotnofsky, Plan II and linguistics junior, and Rohit Mandalapu, Plan II and economics senior, co-wrote the bill, and Braydon Jones, their presidential opponent and government senior, co-sponsored the resolution. “Jefferson Davis is someone whose values and ideals directly contradict the values of the University of Texas at Austin,” Mandalapu said. Several students asked for the statue to be taken down. “It’s telling that it took [Rotnofsky and Mandalapu’s] satirical campaign … to get something as obliquely and disgustingly racist as the statue of Jefferson Davis statue removed off this campus,” computer science senior Mukund Rathi said. Some members of the Assembly expressed concern that other Confederate symbols would remain on campus after the removal of the statue. Rotnofsky and Mandalapu said the Davis statue is just the start. “We have a list of things we want to work on,” Mandalapu said. “Not all three ‘Toy Storys’ were made in one day.” —Samantha Ketterer


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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

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App may allow deaf to hear

Group hosts baby goats on SAC lawn for charity

Executive alliance candidates Xavier Rotnofsky and Rohit Mandalapu used kids to gain votes Tuesday — baby goats, that is. Hundreds of students lined up at the Student Activity Center to see the baby goats that members of the Sustainable Dairy Goat Initiative (SDGI) brought to campus. Each student donated a dollar to hold the goats, and the proceeds are going toward donating dairy goats to Colonia families in need. “Our ultimate goal is to get 30 or 40 families together and united into a dairy cooperative,” said Samuel Garcia, SDGI member and business honors and marketing junior. Rotnofsky and Mandalapu worked the event by quizzing guests with goat trivia and assembling barber shop quartets. “We do support what SDGI is doing, and people really responded well to it,” Rotnofsky said. “We support baby goats on campus.” —Eleanor Dearman

By Sebastian Herrera Hearing Association Texas @SebasAHerrera

Photo by Jack DuFon | Daily Texan Staff

A graduate researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine has developed a sensory device that gives deaf individuals the ability to communicate sound to their brains. The device, called a Versatile Extra-Sensory Transducer (VEST), is a sensory vest that collects sounds from a mobile app and transforms them into vibrations on the shoulders and back, giving deaf people the ability to connect those signals to spoken words. Scott Novich, electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student at Rice University, conducted the research for the VEST under Baylor College of Medicine neuroscientist David Eagleman. Novich discussed the invention via Google Hangout at a National Student Speech Language and

RESEARCH

Lecturer: LGBT teachers face balancing act By Rachel Lew @thedailytexan

Gay and lesbian teachers face challenges that their heterosexual colleagues do not, according to a visiting professor from Boston University. Catherine Connell, researcher and sociology assistant professor, spoke Tuesday about the professional struggles of gay teachers in California and Texas and how those educators balance their sexual identities in the context of the professional expectations of their careers. “Gay and lesbian public school teachers negotiate two demands — they are expected to present a sexually neutral iden-

tity in the classroom, but the movement for gay pride calls for them to be open about who they are,” Connell said. Connell said student age and teachers’ gender and race also make a difference in how students interact with them. “I found that it was particularly difficult for gay and lesbian teachers of color because they faced added discrimination,” Connell said. Kendall Gerdes, rhetoric and writing assistant instructor and a self-identified “butch lesbian,” said her gender identity is often perceived as more masculine because she wears clothing typically associated with men.

“My gender … comes with some privileges usually given to men, such as respect and authority,” Gerdes said. There are several Texas counties that protect gay and lesbian teachers from discrimination in the work place, but the majority do not have ordinances that include sexual orientation under their list of protections, Connell said. While the legal context of laws and restriction matters, the culture and receptiveness of each school is also important, according to Connell. Gerdes said coming out can be challenging for students or teachers, but it can be helpful for other LGBT students to have teachers as

RESEARCH

Study: hand-writing notes better for memory retention By Sherry Tucci @thedailytexan

Although use of computers for note-taking purposes at the University is up to each professor’s discretion, research shows that students who take handwritten notes typically perform better than those who use a computer. According to a study, which the Chronicle of Higher Education released last week, out of 95 students who responded, 86 percent of them said they paid the same or more attention in class without using a laptop. Management Information Systems professor Clint Tuttle said test results in his Business System Development class showed that students fared better on exams when they wrote their reference sheets by hand as opposed to digitally making and printing them. “I let them bring in a resource sheet … but they

have to write it,” Tuttle said. “One semester, I allowed people to copypaste from my notes and stuff like that, and a bunch of people brought digital sheets. [Students] did a little worse because they didn’t force themselves to write it all out.” At the beginning of each semester, Tuttle used to employ a no-technology policy, only allowing students to use laptops after the first exam. “By not giving them the crutch of the laptop, like, they had to work a little harder to focus,” Tuttle said. “Once they did it … they just stuck with it.” Note-taking style depends on individual students, said Ruben Cardenas, government and communication studies junior. He said using printed versions of the professors’ PowerPoint slides and writing alongside each slide is his method for both note-taking and studying.

“That’s how I learned how to study — just writing out my notes because it reinforces what I’m learning and I’m seeing it again in my mind,” Cardenas said. “I get better grades doing that, but to someone else, it may be different.” Journalism professor Robert Jensen said using technology for notes can be useful in lab-based classes. “The laptop and the smartphone is a tool we use in journalism, so they’re incorporated much more easily [in class],” Jensen said. Jensen also said using laptops in lectures may distract other students. “Using a laptop in the classroom is not only frequently undermining [one] particular student’s ability to focus, but it also undermines other students,” Jensen said. “It’s an effect on the atmosphere of the class, [which is] a collective experience.”

role models. “Scholars have argued about whether and how coming out might benefit our students,” Gerdes said. “I think because my gender is non-conforming, I’m out in the classroom whether I say anything to come out or not.” A school’s atmosphere can also affect how willing gay or lesbian teachers are to come out in the classroom, according to sociology graduate student Carlos Barreto-Beck. “It’s not just laws that affect whether gay and lesbian teachers come out in their workplace,” BarretoBeck said. “It’s also the social and cultural environment of their school,” Barreto-Beck said.

Chapter meeting. The VEST, which is still in scientific production, could become a practical option for the deaf if it reaches commercial use, according to Novich. “We have run simple experiments with both hearing and deaf participants,” Novich said. “As they use [the VEST] more, they get feedback and know whether they are right or wrong and start to memorize patterns. People are able to identify words they have never encountered before.” Novich and Eagleman’s invention could potentially alter the way speech development is taught on campuses such as UT, association coPresident Lindsey Foo said. “As speech pathologists, we help people gain communication,” Foo said. “The VEST … could change the playing field in our profession”

RUNOFF

continues from page 1 organization’s name change in 1996 and the change in voting structure in 2009, five presidential candidates competed in runoff races. In SG’s 20 years, fewer than half of the top ticket – president and executive alliance – races have gone into runoff elections. Senior administrative associate Becky Carreon said the runoffs typically occur when many people compete in the race. Carreon has worked in the legislative student organization office for 28 years and has seen all of the elections in that time. “When you have a lot more candidates, it’s much harder,” Carreon said. “When you have two or three candidates, it’s easier. … And when you have the

Foo said the VEST is a less invasive solution to deafness than procedures such as cochlear implants, which are electronic medical devices that replace the function of the damaged inner ear but require surgery. The research team raised more than $47,000 in August for VEST research, according to Novich. The VEST could get mixed reviews in cities such as Austin, which has a large deaf population, if it ever becomes widely available, according to speech pathology senior Robyn Ward. “It would be controversial here at UT and Austin because we have a big Deaf education community and sign language community,” Ward said. “Just like Spanish and any other language, sign language has a culture around it. So, if the VEST gets really big, it could have the potential to impact a whole cultural group.” president and vice president going together to get the majority, you get more votes.” Natalie Butler and Ashley Baker were the last executive alliance candidates to win a runoff. In 2011, they led in votes in the general election and won in the runoff election. But, during the 2010 election, executive alliance candidates Scott Parks and Muneezeh Kabir trailed in the general election and ended up winning the runoff election. In both 2010 and 2011, fewer people voted in the executive alliance runoffs than they did in the general election. Voting for the two executive alliances will take place at utexasvote.com Wednesday and Thursday. Results will be announced in the Main Mall at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

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RILEY BRANDS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / @TexanEditorial Wednesday, March 11, 2015

4

Q-AND-A

LBJ School of Public Affairs dean discusses time on 40 Acres Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of Qand-A’s with UT’s deans. Ambassador Robert Hutchings is dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, UT’s graduate public policy school. He assumed the position in 2010 and recently announced that he will be stepping down in August. From 1992 to 1993, he served as a special adviser to the secretary of state with the rank of ambassador. The Daily Texan: Could you tell us a little bit about the LBJ School? Robert Hutchings: We are one of the larger schools of public policy and one of the oldest. We have been around almost 45 years. We have 350 students, more or less. We have got a reputation, certainly in Texas, as being the gold standard for public policy schools. One of the things we are trying to work on is to strengthen our image globally. We are opening the LBJ Washington Center, admitting that first class right now. It really makes it more competitive with the other public policy schools that are either in Washington or closer to Washington. So the students will spend one year here [in Austin] and be in Washington to launch their career there. The other initiative is the executive master’s in public leadership. This is long overdue, I think. And it’s the only one in the state. In a capital like this, with so many state agencies, legislative staffs and nonprofit organizations, it’s natural to offer working professionals the chance to get a degree, studying alternate weekends so they don’t have to leave their day jobs. DT: What does the budget look like now for the LBJ School? Hutchings: We are in pretty good shape. My whole deanship has seen a net drop in state support for the LBJ School. Frankly, the

competition in terms of the faculty salaries has gotten really dramatic. We have to fund those on our own. Now we are entering a period where the financial outlook is much better, with the governor’s positive attitude toward UT Austin and the Legislature’s friendly attitude toward funding.

Some are quite active: Law, Middle Eastern studies, Latin American studies, even Engineering and Business. That’s a way to keep us linked academically with the rest of campus.

DT: How important do you find fundraising these days?

Hutchings: That relationship has really taken off. We have one faculty member with a dual appointment at the Seton Medical Center, which is the first ever such appointment. We have very strong faculty in health policy and health economics. We actually collaborate with Dean Clay Johnston [of the medical school] on a number of things. One is to share office space in Washington, D.C., because he has in mind a Washington presence as well. We are working on a joint curriculum. As they staff up, they will have a joint M.D. and master of public affairs degree.

Hutchings: It’s very important. I find it’s pleasant and enjoyable… because everything I fundraise for is tied up to a program that I care about. I know for students entering public service careers… it’s hard for them to incur loan debt. That will drive them to the private sector, which is not what we are about. DT: How much time do you spend on fundraising? Hutchings: A quarter to a third of my time is related to fundraising, either directly or indirectly. DT: Where do LBJ students go after graduating? Hutchings: It’s all over the map. Both figuratively and literally. The largest group of our students are here in Austin. Washington is second, with Houston in third and Dallas a very distant fourth. They are in elective office, federal government, at the domestic and international levels. They are all over state government and city government. Seventyfive percent, over time, go into public service. About 25 percent enter the private sector.

DT: How about with the new medical school?

DT: Why are you stepping down? Hutchings: I really had the view that one term [six years] was going to be enough. You really need to give the opportunity to someone else with a different set of ideas. I expect to be back as a faculty member for several years. DT: What do you think your legacy is?

DT: How does the school collaborate with other colleges on campus?

Hutchings: I think the legacy is a number of programs that will last into the indefinite future. The Washington Center, the executive master’s program and the international program. I hope people look back at my tenure and say despite the difficult financial situation, the school built up really important things. It transformed the public image in reality.

Hutchings: We have lots of specializations and joint degree programs — 27 in total.

DT: What are you trying to do for the rest of your term?

Photo courtesy of Sasha Haagensen

Ambassador Robert Hutchings has served as the dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs since 2010. He is stepping down in August.

Hutchings: I have six months left, and I want to do as much as I possibly can. One thing that we have been working hard on is a diversity initiative. We have been working with our counterparts in African studies, Latino Studies, History, Government and a couple of other departments. Every public policy school I know struggles to have a diverse faculty and student body. You don’t attract a diverse student body unless you have a diverse faculty. You don’t hire diverse faculty unless there are programs that they are excited about coming to.

POINT/COUNTERPOINT

Jones-Dargahi alliance seeks to Rotnofsky-Mandalapu campaign listen to students, not tell jokes aspires for more than just satire By Nicole Kruijs Guest Columnist

Jon Stewart is hilarious. But I wouldn’t want him to be president of the United States. Similarly, Xavier Rotnofsky and Rohit Mandalapu, the Texas Travesty candidates for Student Government president and vice president, have been entertaining for us all, yet they should not be elected to lead SG. SG is the official voice of students. If you want your voice to be taken seriously, vote not for joke candidates but for leaders who will listen to you and represent you well. These leaders are Braydon Jones and Kimia Dargahi. Though I am not involved in SG, I am a student leader who has seen SG work from the outside. I have seen SG succeed, and I have seen SG fail. For example, SG is the reason the Student Activity Center exists. SG has created study spaces accessible to students at all hours. SG allows student leaders to advocate on behalf of students from all backgrounds to the Capitol, UT System Board of Regents and the city of Austin. Despite these accomplishments, SG is at times disconnected from the student body. Jones saw this disconnect and launched a campaign for president with a very open and sincere theme of “Let’s Talk Texas” to involve the rest of the student body. This campaign is the first I have seen in SG to emphasize student input as the top priority. Furthermore, the platform points Jones and his running mate, Dargahi, have gathered include important issues such as increasing student safety, quality of campus life, and building bridges across communities. The primary role of the SG president is to navigate between the students, faculty, System chancellor and regents, University president, alumni and all other involved parties to convey student concerns and wishes. Next year is pivotal, with an Austin mayor, Texas governor and UT System chancellor all with less than one year of experience in their positions. Jones is the only candidate who has already established

SG is the official voice of students. If you want your voice to be taken seriously, vote not for joke candidates but for leaders who will listen to you and represent you well.

the essential relationships with administrators, faculty and staff. These relationships are crucial for an incoming SG president, who needs to effectively advocate for students during this time of extreme change. That is the reality of how SG operates on this campus. The portrayal of Rotnofsky and Mandalapu as reformists who are going to make SG relevant to all is false advertising. It is impossible to reform a system unless you’ve been there — as an insider — to see that system fail and succeed. The candidate who is elected to lead SG needs to have experience within the system and knowledge of how the University works. Jones is that candidate. Jones has the experience within SG, serving previously as chief of staff for Horacio Villarreal and currently as speaker of the Assembly. He knows how to work within the system while also understanding the issues and necessary changes to improve student life on campus. Dargahi brings a different perspective, with a brief stint in SG as an agency director and a wide variety of outside experience through other organizations. This team would not need a semester to learn the ropes. Jones’ wide experience, paired with Dargahi’s fresh perspective, would catalyze the changes that we want to see on our campus. Many people have latched onto what they believe are ideological inconsistencies in the campaign’s rhetoric. The most notable of these is campus carry, on which Jones’ stance has been misrepresented. When the Texas Senate introduced SB 11, a bill enabling campus carry, a group of students, including myself, grew concerned and reached out to Jones to help us voice our opposition formally through SG. This resulted in AR 30 being passed in SG, urging lawmakers to consider student safety by opposing campus carry, a sentiment echoed by Chancellor William McRaven. AR 30 could not have succeeded without Jones’ support. Jones and Dargahi are the only candidates who have the experience, relationships and understanding necessary to work with the Texas Legislature to effectively lobby for the student body. I have seen a lot of student leaders in my time at this University, and no one is more passionate about the University, about making a difference at UT and about reaching out to the many student groups here than Jones and Dargahi. If you care about the future of our University and want our student voice to be taken seriously, vote for Jones and Dargahi on Wednesday and Thursday at utexasvote. org. Kruijs is a Plan II and public health senior from The Woodlands. She is not officially involved in the Jones-Dargahi campaign.

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 Ciaran Dean-Jones Guest Columnist

In her op-ed piece, Nicole Kruijs provides an uncharitable and one-sided description of the Rotnofsky-Mandalapu campaign for Student Government president and vice president. She emphasizes the satirical elements of their message without paying heed to the substance that undergirds that satire. Fairness demands a more considerate treatment of their candidacy. “Jon Stewart is hilarious,” Kruijs says. “But I wouldn’t want him to be president of the United States.” This analogy is disingenuous in that it presumes the qualities required of the two offices — president of SG and president of the United States — are identical. This is fallacious. As commander-in-chief of the armed forces and custodian of our nuclear arsenal, the president of the United States must obviously possess attributes that extend beyond compassion and a willingness to listen to the people who elected him. This is not so for the executive officers of Student Government. Their role — their only role — is to be a faithful representative of the student body — the whole student body. Kruijs concedes this much later in her piece. Rotnofsky and Mandalapu evince a desire to fulfill such a representative role. As evidence of this fact, I direct the reader’s attention to their profile in the Daily Texan, in which Mandalapu provides an eloquent response to the question of what’s wrong with Student Government, namely that it’s unrepresentative. Mandalapu has noted that only 15 percent of the student body voted in last year’s election, which — amusingly — was considered a record turnout. Mandalapu attributes this lack of participation to the fact that SG has recently been dominated by Greek and spirit organizations, an arrangement that inhibits less represented student organizations from receiving SG funding. While I can’t prove this beyond a reasonable doubt, I do have reason to believe it is true. As treasurer of UT’s Undergraduate Classics Society, I have seen SG and Senate financial officers ignore my organization’s request to borrow the required credit card after completing the mandatory steps to receive funding for an event. Without attributing any malicious motives to the other two candidates, I do assert that they undeniably fit the profile of the unrepresentative elements whose influence within SG is alleged to be disproportionate. This is precisely why I support the Rotnofsky-Mandalapu ticket: a consideration of what the two campaigns stand for. That students do not engage in such a consideration is no fault of their campaign.

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.

Kruijs also suggests that the Jones-Dargahi slate, unlike Rotnofsky and Mandalapu, will “listen to you” as the official representatives of the student body. This allegation I find generic, insincere and unsubstantiated. Consider the recent Assembly resolution to remove the Jefferson Davis statue from the Main Mall. Rotnofsky and Mandalapu, taking into account the discomfort the statue’s presence creates for students of color, are taking action to bring about its removal. Though Jones admittedly signed on as a co-sponsor, this resolution should be adduced as an example of the RotnofskyMandalapu ticket’s willingness to listen to students. I find it more reassuring than a Twitter hashtag. Indeed, all the measures Kruijs attributes to the Jones-Dargahi ticket — “building bridges across communities,” for instance — are ill defined; they’re broad, and what’s more, they’re not accompanied by specific examples of how Jones and Dargahi propose to accomplish such an objective, other than “relationships” (more on that below). This is precisely the sort of electoral laziness that Rotnofsky and Mandalapu seek to ridicule when they propose Adam Sandler movies as a method by which the Assembly and the Executive Board can develop greater rapport. I find their humorous attempts to underscore the insincerity of conventional responses to such issues less insulting that their opponents’ assumption that they can walk away with the election with empty phrases. Kruijs seems to assume that the campaign’s satire is gratuitous, that it isn’t directed at any systemic shortcomings. This I find overly simplistic. Finally, Kruijs attributes the connections Jones has established with alumni, faculty and administrators during a time of administrative transition as reasons to support his candidacy. She provides no assurances that such connections are representative — that they fulfill precisely the role she says SG should play in conveying the concerns of the student body to higher authorities (I find the allegation that any bill adopted by state legislators depended upon the support of a UT student ludicrous on its face; Kruijs provides no evidence — short of the fact that she and her colleagues “voiced their support” — that Jones was instrumental in SR 11’s or AR 30’s passage). I would appreciate confirmation that Jones can use his connections responsibly, or at the very least evidence suggesting he is capable of so doing. Vote Rotnofsky-Mandalapu in Wednesday and Thursday’s runoff at utexasvote. org. Dean-Jones is a Plan II, history and classics senior from Austin. He is not officially involved in the Rotnofsky-Mandalapu campaign.

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.


CLASS 5

SPORTS

5

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

CLUB SPORTS

Club player finds way to continue passion By Corey Tatel @corey_tatel

Chemical engineering senior GJ Sequeira had offers to be a preferred walk-on at Vanderbilt or Rice, but he decided to come to Texas with hopes of playing at DischFaulk Field. When those plans fell through, he found his way onto Texas’ club baseball team, and he is making quite the impact. During his freshman year, Sequeira did not make the varsity squad under head coach Augie Garrido. He then failed to make the club team. Sequeira still wanted to play ball, though, so he started playing in a fast-pitch adult baseball league and intramural softball. “I kind of used that as incentive,” Sequeira said. “If they didn’t want me, then I was going to work as hard — if not harder — to [make sure] I’m always improving.” Sequeira still did not play for the collegiate or club baseball teams during his sophomore

year either, but he continued to train. He worked with Jason Kanzler, then-Minnesota Twins minor leaguer, Genesis Fitness and Performance in Houston as well as other high school and college players with similar aspirations. A year later, as a junior, Sequeira finally made a team — becoming part of the 25-man club team. He wasn’t satisfied just making the team; he wanted to be a contributor. Sequeira spent extra time in the batting cage and consistently studied videos of his swings and throwing motions to determine how he could improve. “He’s got one of the best work ethics of anyone I’ve ever played with,” team president Blake Sandall said. “He’s always at practice and will regularly stay late to hit on his own.” Sequeira worked his way into the starting lineup, becoming the definition of a utility player. He found himself at seven different positions, only failing to make an appearance

at catcher and first base. With Texas on the brink of missing out on regionals in a close game with A&M last season, Sequeira drove a twostrike curveball up the middle for the game-winning run, keeping the group’s run alive. The club team ultimately advanced to the National Club Baseball Association World Series over the summer — but only for a short stay. Texas was eliminated in two games, and Sequeira could only watch from during the second match because of full-body cramps. “It was disappointing because I couldn’t help my team physically,” Sequeira said. “But, I used that as incentive to train harder and make sure that anything like that doesn’t happen again.” During the offseason, Sequeira did various aerobic trainings to get rid of lactic acid in order to ensure he wouldn’t get cramps again. Many of his teammates have noticed, commenting on his added speed

and strength. “He does everything the right way,” freshman pitcher Connor Kraus said. “From warm-ups to practice, he takes everything seriously, and it shows.” The extra work is paying dividends for him and Texas this season thus far. Sequeira has evolved into a senior leader and boasts a .375 batting average and a .444 on-base percentage in league play. Beyond his personal improvements, Sequeira has helped the team earn a 6–1 league record and tie for first place with Texas A&M in the Gulf Coast League South Division. The club team is staring another World Series appearance directly in the eyes. “I had to prove myself every step of the way,” Sequeira said. “Every opportunity I got, I had to make sure that I made the most out of it. I try to make that a point to the new players coming in. Whatever position or situation you come in, do your best to perform in it.”

RECAP

BARNES

The Texas men’s and women’s diving teams earned a host of NCAA Championship qualifying scores at the NCAA Zone “D” Diving Meet. The meet, held at the University of Iowa, was one of several across the country. Teams divided into specific “zones,” in which divers competed in their final chance to earn a bid to the upcoming national championship meets. The top-eight divers in the women’s 1-meter event finals were guaranteed qualifying scores. Junior Meghan Houston and senior Emma IvoryGanja snagged top-six finishes, assuring their places atop the springboard at the NCAA Championship next week.

that made the NCAA tournament, similar to Brown’s struggles against teams that went bowling. Using Lunardi’s projections, which are bracket projections, to fill in the 2015 tournament field, Texas is 21–45 against opponents that make the Big Dance, including 13–35 against conference foes. Brown, on the other hand, went 16–19 against teams that played in bowls, including 11–16 in conference play. Likewise, both coaches’ records against teams in the AP top 25 are comparable. Brown went 4–15, and Barnes posted a record of 10–32 — both winning percentages of under

continues from page 6

SWIMMING AND DIVING | RACHEL WENZLAFF In the 3-meter competition, only a top-10 finish was needed to qualify. Both Houston and Ivory-Ganja, along with sophomore Murphy Bromberg, who took first, earned NCAA berths in the event Monday. This feat will mark Bromberg’s second-consecutive championship appearance, as well as Houston’s first and Ivory-Ganja’s fourth. On the men’s side, the event proved a success. In the 1-meter diving finals Monday night, Cory Bowersox, junior and two-time All-American in the 1-meter event, senior Will Chandler and sophomore Mark Anderson earned NCAA qualifying scores as they finished among the top four.

Bowersox’s has earned NCAA qualification each of the three years he has been on the team. Additionally, Chandler is heading to the championship meet for the fourth consecutive year. The men’s diving trio tacked on another impressive qualifying finish in Tuesday night’s 3-meter finals as each posted a one, two, three finish. Chandler took the top spot. The men’s platform competition is scheduled for Wednesday, and the corresponding NCAA Championships will be in the same pool on March 26–28, and the women hit the water for the Championships March 19–21.

Photo Coutesy of GJ Sequeira

25 percent. From the 2011–2012 season to the present, the basketball team is 35–37 in regular season conference play under Barnes, but it is only 22–36 when excluding Texas Tech and TCU, the perennial cellar dwellers from the record. From 2010–2013, Brown went 18–17 in conference play but was only 12–16 when excluding Kansas and Iowa State, the two worst teams in the Big 12 over this stretch. In addition, the two times Brown and Barnes each finished below .500 in conference play occurred in their past four seasons. If Barnes continues to follow Brown’s decline, he may end up with the same fate.

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off against No. 10 Texas Tech in Kansas City, Missouri at 8 p.m. Wednesday. A loss could end their tournament dream. A win would help them avoid disaster and keep their tournament résumé void of that bad loss. “We’ve got another game right now with Texas Tech,” Barnes said. “We got to go play. This is as big a game as we’ve played all year.” A win against Tech would pit them against No. 2 Iowa State in a quarterfinal matchup Thursday night. “We’re never going to feel like we’ve done enough,” Holland said. “We got to take care of our next couple games.”

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6 SPTS

6

GARRETT CALLAHAN, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansports Wednesday, March 11, 2015

BASEBALL

TEXAS

INCARNATE WORD

VS.

Offense getting into the swing of things By Jacob Martella

Freshman third baseman Bret Boswell had a nice game against Incarnate Word on Tuesday night in a 7–1 victory. His RBI double in the third drove in two runs to propel the Longhorns to their thirdstraight win.

@ViewFromTheBox

The last time the Longhorns played at Disch-Falk Field, they mustered only two runs in 18 innings of play. However, against Incarnate Word on Tuesday night, the Texas offense exploded for seven runs on 11 hits, including two home runs. The Longhorn pitchers kept the Cardinals in check for a 7–1 win. “I thought the best part about the offense was that we scored in the first three innings,” head coach Auggie Garrido said. The No. 12 Longhorns (11–6) wasted no time getting on the board. Junior left fielder Ben Johnson jumped on the first pitch Texas saw to lead off the bottom of the first with an infield single. He then advanced to third on a throwing error that the third baseman made. The next batter, senior right fielder Collin Shaw, attacked the first pitch he saw for a double down the right field line to score Johnson. After bringing across another run on a safety squeeze bunt in the second inning, Texas struck again in the third because of freshman third baseman Bret Boswell’s RBI double,

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which glanced off the left fielder’s glove to bring in two runs. Boswell then scored on the next batter when freshman catcher Michael Cantu singled to left. Sophomore catcher Tres Barerra and senior second baseman Brooks Marlow closed out the scoring with back-to-back home runs in the seventh — the first time Texas has hit back-to-back homers since 2010. Five of Texas’ runs Tuesday came with two outs, something Garrido said it

MEN’S BASKETBALL

hasn’t done lately. “Today was the first day where we really, with two outs, capitalized on the one out we had left and kept the rallies going,” Garrido said. The Longhorns also got solid outings from each of their four pitchers from the mound. Freshman pitcher Tyler Schimpf, who made his first collegiate start, retired each of the first seven batters he saw. His lone blemish came when he hit a batter in the third and didn’t make it out of the inning.

Schmipt, who previously had a 3.86 ERA in three appearances out of the bullpen, said he’s starting to get comfortable pitching for Texas. “Coming from high school starting, it was a little bit different being a reliever, so getting my first start today was nice,” Schimpf said. “It felt like the old times throughout high school.” Sophomore pitcher Jon Malmin, freshman pitcher Jake McKenzie and junior

pitcher Travis Duke followed up with at least one inning pitched each and combined to give up only one hit, while striking out two. Senior pitcher Ty Marlow closed out the game with two near-perfect innings, allowing a run on two hits with two strikeouts in his second appearance after Tommy John surgery. The Longhorns open up Big 12 play with a three-game series against West Virginia beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.

STAT GUY | MEN’S BASKETBALL

Barnes’ struggles look familiar

VALPARAISO

NORTH DAKOTA ST.

SOUTH DAKOTA ST.

TOP TWEET Joe Schwartz @joeschwartz25

Wheels up to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament! #BusinessTrip

By Drew Lieberman @DrewLieberman

Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff

Senior forward Jonathan Holmes started the year as the go-to scorer but has fallen off the past couple of weeks. This inconsistency has been the theme for Texas this year.

Texas’ inconsistency consistently an issue By Evan Berkowitz @Evan_Berkowitz

Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. That’s all Rick Barnes wants heading into tournament play. However, his team is riddled with inconsistency. Senior forward Jonathan Holmes, who was the most consistent Longhorn, just turned in a disaster of a month. Junior center Cam Ridley seems to pick and choose when he shows up to play. Sophomore guard Isaiah Taylor goes from 40 minutes one night to 15 minutes three games later because of his poor defensive effort. Freshman forward Myles Turner plays like the Big 12 Freshman of the Year some nights and then like a true freshman the others. Sophomore guard Kendal Yancy transformed from passive role player to slick-shooter overnight. And Barnes has no idea which one of his players will show up on any night, leaving him frustrated. “We need Jon Holmes. We need Cam Ridley. We need Javan [Felix],” said Barnes, frustrated after the Iowa State game at home. Only junior guard Demarcus Holland “has been as steady as a rock all year.” Holland locks down defensively each and every night; he hustles after loose balls, and his shots result in a 49 percent clip from deep to lead the team. “I embrace my role,” Holland said before the season. “If

it takes me guarding the best player, I’ll do it. If I have to rebound, I’ll do it.” Now, Barnes just needs to get the rest of his players to embrace their roles. “All we are simply trying to do is to get each guy to do what he does best,” Barnes said Monday morning in a teleconference. “If we can get the consistency of that, we feel good about where we are at.” Texas has as much talent in the Big 12 as anyone, yet, because of its inconsistency, the team enters Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday as the No. 7 seed and on the bubble of the NCAA tournament. Just look at the top of the Big 12 standings to see what consistency can do. Junior forward Perry Ellis has been leading No. 1 seed Kansas, and junior point forward Georges Niang heads No. 2 Iowa State. Junior guard Buddy Hield guides No. 3 Oklahoma. Junior forward Rico Gathers leads No. 4 Baylor, and senior guard Juwan Staten is a veteran for No. 5 West Virginia. Those players — who also make up the All-Big 12 First Team — have been as consistent as any in the nation all season. Game in and game out, those teams know what they are going to get out of their stars. With its NCAA tournament hopes on the line, Texas is going to need everyone to make a difference. The Longhorns start

TOURNAMENT page 5

When Rick Barnes and Mack Brown were introduced as head coaches for men’s basketball and football, respectively, their careers were somewhat destined to be compared. In the 1996–1997 season, then-men’s basketball coach Tom Penders led the Longhorns to the Sweet 16, and then-football coach John Mackovic won the Big 12 Championship game over heavily favored Nebraska. Both coaches followed that up with losing seasons in their 1997–1998 campaigns, leaving Barnes and Brown to turn the programs around after achieving success in the ACC. The majority of their tenures were filled with victories. Barnes’ teams qualified for the NCAA tournament in the first 15 of his 16 seasons coaching Texas men’s basketball, whereas Brown won 10 or more games every season from 2001–2009. Barnes led the Longhorns

WEDNESDAY TEXAS SPORTS Men’s basketball vs. Texas Tech Kansas City, Missouri, 8:30 p.m., ESPNU Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff

Head coach Rick Barnes talks with sophomore guard Kendal Yancy. In Barnes’ last four seasons, his numbers have been eerily similar to the former football head coach Mack Brown’s.

to the Sweet 16 or better five times in a seven season stretch from 2002–2008, including the school’s first Final Four appearance since 1947. Brown coached the Longhorns to their first national title since 1970 in 2005 and almost won a second title in 2009. But the programs’ success hasn’t carried over into this decade. Much like Brown’s tenure ended, Barnes has struggled to bring Texas basketball back to the level of success he set the bar to in the mid-2000s. In each coaches’ last four years,

their numbers are eerily similar — and not in a good way for Texas. Both coaches had similar winning percentages in this time period. Brown posted a 30–21 record (58.82 percent), and Barnes sits at 79–55 (58.96 percent). In the first three quarters of their tenures, both coaches won at a much higher rate; Brown won 82.58 percent in his first 12 seasons, and Barnes won 72.12 percent in his first 13. Barnes’ teams compiled a poor record against teams

BARNES page 5

RECAP

WOMEN’S GOLF | BRIDGET BONASORO Because of strong team play and fair weather, the Texas women’s golf team grabbed a secondplace finish this Tuesday with a three-round team score of 900 (+36) at the UNF Collegiate in Jacksonville, Florida. For the second event in a row, and the fifth time this season, senior Bertine Strauss led the Longhorns in scoring, shooting a 74 (+2) in the final round and finishing with an overall score of 218 (+2). For Strauss, the 65th-ranked player in the nation, the performance at the UNF Collegiate was good for a second-place tie. Among the other participating Longhorns,

sophomore Anne Hakula shot well, finishing with an overall score 226 (+10) in a tie for 12th place. Hakula shot a secondround score of 72, which met par and was her personal-best score for a round this season. Sophomore Julia Beck finished a stroke behind Hakula in a tie for 15th place with an overall score of 227 (+11). To round out the Longhorns’ participation at the event, junior Teriza Abe and junior Natalie Karcher finished with the same overall score of 234 (+18), which was good for a 35th-place tie. Despite the strong play and three straight 300 (+12) scored rounds, the Longhorns did not

Bertine Strauss Senior

do enough to surpass the tournament winner, Houston, which posted an overall score of 885 (+21). The Longhorns’ next event is the Texas-Hawaii Classic on March 21st at the Kapalua G. C. Bay Course in Kapalua, Hawaii.

Men’s and women’s diving NCAA Zone ‘D’ Diving Iowa City, Iowa all day Men’s golf Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters, Las Vegas, Nevada, all day

SPORTS BRIEFLY Turner named to All-District VII team

The United States Basketball Writers Association named Myles Turner, freshman forward and Big 12 Freshman of the Year, to the group’s AllDistrict VII Team. District VII includes all Division I programs in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. The other members of the team are Kyan Anderson (TCU), Rico Gathers (Baylor), Jarell Martin (LSU), Jordan Mickey (LSU), Bobby Portis (Arkansas), Taurean Prince (Baylor), Michael Qualls (Arkansas), Thomas Walkup (Stephen F. Austin) and Zeek Woodley (Northwestern State). In his first year in Austin, Turner claimed spots on the All-Big 12 Third Team, Big 12 All-Defensive and the Big 12 AllNewcomer teams. Turner, a freshman forward, is averaging 10.8 points per game, 6.6 rebounds per game and leads the Big 12 in blocks with 87 this season. —Evan Berkowitz


COMICS 7

COMICS

7

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

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8 L&A

KAT SAMPSON, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan Wednesday, March 11, 2015

8

CAMPUS

Buzz on campus: Students start beekeeping By Emily Fu @efu_utexas

Three UT students have created a buzz on campus with the introduction of the University’s first beekeeping club. The founders are trying to raise awareness for urban beekeeping, which is the practice of keeping bee colonies in urban areas. Beekeeping, the maintenance of honeybee colonies, includes practices such as collecting honey and other products the hives produce. In addition, beekeeping also pollinates crops and produces bees to sell to other beekeepers. Nutrition sophomore Melanie Brown founded the BEEVO Beekeeping Society with environmental science senior Justyn Huckleberry and Plan II freshman Seton Uhlhorn. The club aims to teach UT students, faculty and staff about beekeeping practices as well as offer hands-on beekeeping experience. For the three students, this will be the first time they experience beekeeping. “The purpose for starting this club is definitely due to the decline in bee populations across the world because of colony collapse disorder,” Uhlhorn said. “For that reason, I think that beekeeping, in general, will become very important in the years to come in order to keep the bee population sustainable.” The lack of a beekeeping

club at UT surprised Uhlhorn, who has been trying to start a beekeeping club for a semester. “I’ve always been fascinated by the way we use land and plants,” Uhlhorn said. “I remember watching a lot of documentaries about bees and their dying population, and I thought UT should have one of these clubs because we’re in Austin and we’re supposed to be environmentally sustainable.” The Green Fee, a fund that takes $5 from every UT student’s tuition and awards money to students with environmentally sustainable initiatives, funds the beekeeping club. Brown and Huckleberry initially applied for the Green Fee and received the fund for their beekeeping initiative. They then heard that Uhlhorn was also trying to start a beekeeping club but was facing obstacles without funding, so the three students joined forces. Huckleberry said they teamed up with Austin Bees’ master beekeeper Brandon Fehrenkamp, who agreed to give the club workshops, hive demonstrations and hive-installation help. “[Fehrenkamp] has been really helpful throughout the whole process,” Huckleberry said. “He’s helped us consult on a beehive site on campus, and he’s going to also help us install the hives.” The group is trying to find

Griffin Smith | Daily Texan Staff

From left, freshman Seton Uhlhorn, nutrition sophomore Melanie Brown and environmental science senior Justyn Huckleberry stand in the possible future sight of the BEEVO Beekeeping Society.

an outdoor site to house the club’s hives. As of now, the club is interested in a site on Speedway and 27th Street. If the group acquires the site, the members will start building hives the week after spring break. The group has already bought a bee suit and a hood so that members have the opportunity to interact with the hives.

“The hives don’t need to be constantly looked over,” Uhlhorn said. “They can thrive on their own, but you can take out the honeycomb and show people the different parts of the hives and how the bees work together and the science behind that. So I think that will be a big part of our hands-on experience.”

The club’s plans for this semester include taking field trips to urban farming locations, learning the fundamentals of beekeeping and creating structure within the organization. “It’s a beautiful opportunity to learn something new,” Brown said. “We’re excited to make a difference on a larger scale.” Brown, Huckleberry and

Uhlhorn said they hope to eventually build bee hives in locations all over campus. “To me, this club means being civically responsible,” Uhlhorn said. “I think it’s something the majority of people should learn to do, and I’m passionate about urban beekeeping and the effects it can have on the world.”

CAMPUS

CAMPUS

UT associate dean for research, Noël BuschArmendariz, is the principal investigator of the Texas Slavery Mapping Project.

Man behind the Tower shines a light on University achievements By Rebecca Fu @thedailytexan

Carlo Nasisse Daily Texan Staff

Associate dean begins work on human trafficking project By Cat Cardenas @crcardenas8

When Austin law enforcement reported its first human trafficking first case in 2003, it called in a response team. Noël Busch-Armendariz, UT associate dean for research, was part of that team. As director of the University’s Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Busch-Armendariz said that the response to the first case revealed several problems. From finding shelter to legal counsel, few resources were available for survivors of human trafficking. Busch-Armendariz is the principal investigator of the Texas Slavery Mapping Project — a two-year initiative to gather data from law enforcement and antitrafficking organizations from documented cases, catalog the services available for survivors and map out where trafficking occurs most in Texas. The project’s funding comes from The Criminal Justice Division of the Governor’s Office, which recently granted BuschArmendariz and her team $500,000. Busch-Armendariz’s interest in interpersonal violence began when she worked with incarcerated women who had killed their abusers. She said the women brought the statistics to life for her. “After talking to these women, I realized their stories affected everyone,”

Busch-Armendariz said. “I think 20 years ago, people thought of that kind of violence as something that didn’t belong to them, something that didn’t pertain to them. But it does.” Over the years, Busch-Armendariz said she witnessed a shift in the conversation. According to Busch-Armendariz, people have become more willing to talk about important issues, such as domestic violence and trafficking. She said talking about the problem is the first step to finding a solution. “These are things that affect everyday people,” Busch-Armendariz said. “It’s something we haven’t talked about in so many decades that it’s made us complacent. The more we talk about it, the more informed and compelled we can be to make a change.” Nicole Levy, director of the Mapping Project, said working with Busch-Armendariz opened her eyes to the scope of human trafficking across Texas. Levy said the project made her realize how crucial their research was in making a difference. “[Busch-Armendariz] has always told me that research should mean something,” Levy said. “We’re not just sitting in our offices and putting data into a journal. We’re providing data that agencies and people really need to create programs that will hold traffickers accountable and help survivors.” The most rewarding part

of her job, Busch-Armendariz said, is talking to survivors. She said they motivate her to continue taking steps toward bettering the lives of human trafficking victims. “It’s so gratifying to watch survivors really dig down and make the journey to recovery,” Busch-Armendariz said. “They’ve come out of pretty horrific circumstances, and it’s so inspiring to see them overcome those circumstances and lead healthy lives again.” Busch-Armendariz said it’s important for people to realize that human trafficking isn’t uncommon. The National Human Trafficking Hotline received more than 25,000 reports in 2013 alone. “Human trafficking is something that happens in plain sight,” Busch-Armendariz said. “Most people think of it as a problem abroad, but it can happen in your own backyard. People just need to know the wwarning signs.” Despite her 20 years of working on cases of sexual assault, trafficking and domestic violence, Busch-Armendariz said she doesn’t see work as a career. Instead, she sees it as her life’s calling. “I had never planned on doing this,” Busch-Armendariz said. “Once I got into it, it became so compelling that I didn’t see it as a paycheck. It’s a way to contribute and alleviate the suffering of other people.”

Steve Giannascoli, UT electric shop crew leader, remembers the first time he lit the Tower orange. “I was in charge of flipping the switch,” Giannascoli said. “My boss gave me the cue right before the fireworks started, and that was memorable because I was very nervous. I worried what if it didn’t come on.” Giannascoli, one of the people responsible for lighting the Tower after receiving notice of significant achievements, lit the Tower for the UT commencement speech four years ago. Giannascoli said it simply takes a flip of the switch to turn on Tower lights after the Office of the President requests the occasion to recognize an accomplishment. He said the biggest Tower-lighting events of the year are UT Commencement and Gone to Texas. Neil Crump, plant management and construction services manager, runs the Tower-lighting team. He said preparing for largescale events takes a significant amount of time. To get ready, he and his team coordinate count-offs and the raising and lowering Tower-window shades to form numerals. Crump said the Tower provides a good medium for showcasing the University’s achievements. “It’s architecturally significant, and it symbolizes the University of Texas,” Crump said. “It’s their pride and joy.” Giannascoli said lighting the Tower makes up a very small but significant portion of his job. “Not everybody gets to light the Tower,” Giannascoli said. “My kids even think it’s cool. They tell the other kids that their dad lights the Tower. That’s probably the coolest part of my job.” Giannascoli said the power used to light the Tower goes to monitors,

projectors, equipment and lighting across campus when the orange lights aren’t shining. Mechanical engineering junior Jeremy Priest is the creator of the website whyisthetowerorange.com. Priest said in an email that he started the website after spending a frustrating amount of time trying to find out why the Tower was orange one day. He researches daily to find out why the Tower is lit, and then he updates his website. “Tower lightings are sometimes a little on the secretive side,” Priest said. “I manually edit the message each day that the Tower is lit, after finding the reason. Typically it’s found on the UT Know news website, the TexasSports news site, or a few others. At times I take to Twitter if I exhaust my usual resources.” Priest said he launched

the website to make it more convenient for students to find out UT achievements and what is happening on campus. “The most rewarding thing that comes from my website is seeing the groups, whether athletic or academic, be recognized fully for their achievement,” Priest said. “With a view of my website, the entire student body can know that our very own Quidditch team won the World Cup, or that the Satellite Design Lab won 1st at a national competition.” Priest said the tradition of lighting the Tower reinforces school pride and awareness. “It is a huge honor,” Priest said. “The students around campus knowing exactly why and for whom it is lit contributes to the prestige of that honor.”

Illustration by Albert Lee | Daily Texan Staff


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