2015-03-27 by The Daily Texan

LIFE&ARTS PAGE 6

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STUDENT GOVERNMENT

CITY

By Samantha Ketterer

Council puts Sixth Street busking vote on the shelf

UT Senate backs Invest in Texas @sam_kett

The Senate of College Councils passed legislation Thursday in support of this year’s Invest in Texas platform, effectively finalizing the list of policy goals and setting the stage for the nonpartisan lobbying day next month. Invest in Texas is a student-led, nonpartisan campaign sponsored by more

than 20 student organizations, and student leaders will head to the Capitol to lobby on behalf of the student body on April 9. Both Student Government and the Graduate Student Assembly approved the platform earlier in March. Invest in Texas co-director John Brown, who authored the platform with co-director Taylor Guerrero, Senate president Geetika Jerath and SG president Kori Rady,

said new leaders in the Texas legislature mean new lobbying challenges, too. “It’s been a different year,” Brown said. “We’ve got our ammo, and we’re ready to go to war for higher ed.” The platform is divided into six parts. Students will lobby for capital investment funding for the renovation of Welch Hall, for the continuation of in-state tuition for undocumented students of Texas residency

and for provisions that allow for institutions to determine their own policies and guidelines on campus carry, a law which would allow people to carry concealed handguns on campus with a proper license. “Campus carry has been a big one for me,” Rady said. “A lot of students have voiced their opinions on it, and it’s one that seems to be a hot topic in regards to the student body.”

All of the platform points focus on items that are currently being debated in the Texas Legislature. Students will also lobby in support of continued funding and matching of grants to help UT maintain its Tier One status as a research institution. Further platform points include opposition to tuition regulation and support for a tax holiday for

SENATE page 2

POLICE

Bill would curb ability to film police By Eleanor Dearman @EllyDearman

One Texas legislator is aiming to limit citizens’ ability to record police officers from close distances, but his bill has generated significant opposition. Thursday, Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) postponed a public hearing on his bill, HB 2918, which would make it illegal for citizens to record police officers from closer than a 15-foot distance. People openly carrying firearms would be required to stay at least 25 feet away from an officer to record, Villalba said. Villalba said he did not intend to restrict the rights of citizens with his bill. “We didn’t set out to do that,” Villalba said. “What we set out to do is create a balance between the officers’ safety and security and the ability for people to keep law enforcement accountable.” The Austin Police Department supports mandating space between officers and people with recording devices, according to Jason Dusterhoft, APD support bureau assistant chief. “We are very ‘pro’ people video taping officers,” Dusterhoft said. “It helps us be

Illustration by Albert Lee | Daily Texan Staff

held accountable. We think it helps citizens see things, but we just want it to be done in a safe manner.” Antonio Buehler, founder of the Peaceful Streets Project, which works to limit street violence from police officers,

said he believes the bill limits citizens’ freedom, and especially impacts those who do not have other means of holding law enforcers accountable. “[The bill] would take away the one tool they have to try and hold the police

accountable,” Buehler said. “Because these people aren’t necessarily able to use the political system, they don’t have support in the courts and in regard to public opinion.” According to Buehler, it is not always possible to

WEST CAMPUS

capture detailed recordings from 15 feet away in certain real-life scenarios. “If you’re in a crowded area where there’s a lot of noise, being 15 feet away may be too

POLICE page 2

By Jackie Wang @jcqlnwang

Austin’s street performers, or buskers, are waiting for more clarification on their rights after Austin City Council decided not to vote on city code amendments Thursday. The Council withdrew a proposed amendment change to city code that would have limited buskers from “playing musical instruments and making noise that is plainly audible” and soliciting after 1 a.m. in the city’s entertainment districts. Don Pitts, music program manager of the Economic Development Department, said city staff and the Music Commission agreed 1 a.m. was a good cutoff time. “The current curfew is 10 p.m.,” Pitts said. “Staff agreed with the Music Commission that since the Entertainment Districts have a sound curfew of 2 a.m., conventional wisdom would allow a curfew more in line with the entertainment districts [including Warehouse and Sixth Street].” The proposed amendments were pulled from the Council’s agenda Thursday after a lack of support from stakeholders, Pitts said. Street performers run the risk of arrest because the city code is unclear, according to Linsey Lindberg, who regularly performs and busks. Police officers often ask performers to show a permit or move along. “Right now, it’s so vague that cops can shut you down at their own discretion,” Lindberg said. “Sometimes they’re fine, but, other times, they’d rather not deal with you. The cops still have the right to ar-

BUSKING page 2

RESEARCH

IFC adjusts RoundUp attendance policy Anatomy study leads By Wynne Davis @wynneellyn

Students from around the nation will flood West Campus for the 85th annual RoundUp event this weekend — and the Interfraternity Council is hoping all of them will be college students. This year, the Council tightened the event’s attendance policy to discourage high schoolers from trying to attend. RoundUp is a weekend-long event hosted by the Greek community where fraternities traditionally host parties with big name performers, and sororities host food-based events to profit their philanthropies. This year is no exception, and several parties will feature performers such as Riff Raff, Tyga, Travis Porter and Cherub.

“It’s all the bigname performers that you wouldn’t expect to come to a college party, but Tyga and all these other people are going to come,” advertising sophomore Celina Gimang said. “It will be cool just to get to see them for free, especially for girls since we don’t have to pay for the wrist bands.” In previous years, high school students have flocked to RoundUp for a chance to experience college life, but the Interfraternity Council, which regulates the event, has increased restrictions to keep the events limited to college students. General admission wristbands are available free to all UT students who show their student IDs. Some events require specific wristbands, and men usu-

to online controversy By Sherry Tucci @thedailytexan

Jack DuFon | Daily Texan Staff

Students wait in line to receive their wristbands for RoundUp weekend.

ally have to pay to get into the weekend’s events. This year, all non-UT students will be required to pay $10 for their wristbands, in addition to showing an official college ID. The IFC also changed its wristband distribution system. “Instead of having certain locations at certain

times, we’re having all locations from certain hours, so we’re more spread out,” said Yuriy Dovzhansky, finance and Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies senior. “That kind of makes the lines shorter than they were last year. And the average wait time

ROUNDUP page 2

A recent study by University researchers concluded that men tend to prefer women with specific lumbar curvatures — and its promotion prompted criticism on social media. The study explored the correlation between women’s spinal curves and men’s dating preferences, suggesting that the optimal male preference for a female mate is a 45.5 degree lumbar curvature. The results of the study were based on two experiments with a total sample size of about 300 men, who found images of women with the 45.5 degree angle as the most attractive. “The principal aim of the second [experiment] was to show that what was assumed to be a butt preference is not that,” said David Lewis, lead researcher and UT alumnus, in

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

LIFE&ARTS

ONLINE

Professor lectures on body fat distribution and BMI. ONLINE

Students should help end Israeli apartheid. PAGE 3

Women’s basketball prepares to take on UConn. PAGE 5

Church brings “Homeless Jesus” to Austin. PAGE 6

Former civil rights lawyer speaks about immigration. ONLINE

Abbott should remember disabled Texans. PAGE 3

Rowing set to start spring season in San Diego. PAGE 5

HONK!TX festival good alternative to RoundUp. PAGE 6

Visiting law professor speaks about his past as legal advisor in the Bush administration. dailytexanonline.com

The principal aim of the second [experiment] was to show that what was assumed to be a butt preference is not that. —David Lewis, Lead researcher and UT alumnus

an email to the Texan. “Rather, it appears to be a preference for curvy spines.” When the University’s official Facebook page posted an article about the study earlier this week, it prompted conversations about sexism, feminism and the scientific method generally. The top-liked comment, from UT graduate Carolyn

LUMBAR page 2 REASON TO PARTY

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Friday, March 27, 2015

FRAMES featured photo

NEWS

thedailytexan

Volume 115, Issue 124

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

Michael Baez | Daily Texan Staff

Shawn Rylnder changes his deck at No Comply Skate Shop on 12th Street on Thursday afternoon. After modifying his board, Rylnder tested it at House Park Skate Park, located directly behind No Comply.

SENATE

LUMBAR

continues from page 1

continues from page 1 The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely. If we have made an error, let us know about it. Call (512) 232-2217 or e-mail managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com.

COPYRIGHT Copyright 2015 Texas Student Media. All articles, photographs and graphics, both in the print and online editions, are the property of Texas Student Media and may not be reproduced or republished in part or in whole without written permission.

TOMORROW’S WEATHER

High

Low

We could be reality T.V.

Fusinato, featured frustration about the focus of the study. “Please show me a study about what women like [because] it’s 2015. That is all,” she wrote. Another user called the study “embarrassing” and “shallow nonsense.” Business sophomore Caitlin Walsh said she thought many people showed an unnecessarily strong reaction to the study. “I don’t know why there was such a negative reaction,” Walsh said. “It’s just stating a correlation that was found, but they are treating it as inherently sexist.” Several men and women who commented on the post wrote about women changing their bodies to fit this new standard of beauty. Walsh said she wasn’t sure how much women would be able to do to adjust to beauty standards involving lumbar curvature.

Illustration by Melanie Westfall | Daily Texan Staff

“Are women going to start, like, standing differently, hurting their backs or getting some weird surgery so that their spine is more curvy?” Walsh said. “I feel like it’s not something we can really change.” Lewis said he felt many people misunderstood the purpose

of the study. The research will be valuable to society because it addresses some of the roots of cultural perceptions of beauty, he said. “If we want to create societal change, then understanding the deep roots of [perceptions of

BUSKING

enforcing it. Nothing too subjective or that leaves stuff up to interpretation.” APD Lieutenant Christian Malanka said APD employs the lowest level of enforcement appropriate for an offense committed by a busker. “We most often secure voluntary compliance, but will issue citations for repeat offenses,” Malanka said. “In the rare occasions we have made arrests of street performers, the arrest was the result of outstanding warrants, and not violation of the solicitation or noise ordinance violation.” Sofia Dyer, a Plan II and Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies sophomore, offers mindreading sessions on South Congress. She performs as “The Girl Who Knows,” a mentalist who predicts what objects audience members are holding, or chooses the correct card passersby draw from a deck. “One of the challenges of street performance is it can be very difficult to get people to stop,” Dyer said. “Pedestrians on the street are usually going somewhere. Most of the time, they didn’t come out to see you perform for 20 minutes.” Lindberg, better known as “Mama Lou Strongwoman,” works as a liason between buskers and the Council to advocate for street performers. She said she feels City Council is doing their best to balance busker rights with concerns from people of the city. “Buskers aren’t just people who are trying to make enough money to eat dinner, but truly artists in Austin,” Lindberg said.

continues from page 1 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, David Davis Jr., 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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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 Editorial Adviser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Chen

Issue Staff

Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lauren Florence, Rachel Lew, Caleb Wong Multimedia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Baez, Jack DuFon, Xintong Guo Sports Writers . . . Jason Epstein, Bradley Maddox, James Rodriguez, Michael Shapiro, Jeremy Thomas, Reanna Zuniga Life&Arts Writers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Olivia Lewman, Katie Walsh Page Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rachel Rascoe Columinist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Dolan, Kathleen Feyh, Hayley Fick Copy Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mae Hamilton, Nancy Huang, Selah Maya Zighelboim Comic Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hanna Bernbaum, Andrew Brooks, Jason Cheon, Anna Pederson

Business and Advertising

(512) 471-1865 | advertise@texasstudentmedia.com Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gerald Johnson Business/Operations Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Frank Serpas III Advertising Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Denise Twellmann Account Executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .Carter Goss, Allysun Gutierrez Advertising Assistant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Shukree Shabazz Digital Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Curt Yowell Student Account Executives. . . . . . . . . Keegan Bradley, Emma Brown, Alex Unger, Marianne Locht, Alejandro Diez Student Assistants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MyMy Nguyen, Dito Prado Senior Graphic Designer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daniel Hublein Student Designers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jannice Truong Special Editions/Production Coordinator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stephen Salisbury

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rest you if they feel you are being disrespectful and breaking the rules.” Pitts said any amendments to city code regarding buskers need to clarify buskers’ rights and outline the ways they might potentially violate city code. “It’s putting [Austin Police Department] in a precarious spot to be enforcing something so gray,” Pitts said. “I was not for the permit process for a long time, but it’s a way for us to protect buskers. There just needs to be some code on who is

attractiveness] is critical,” Lewis said. “Without an evolutionary perspective, we might have continued to hold a misconception about the world. Instead, we now have both a clarification of our assumption and a new discovery.”

POLICE

continues from page 1 far,” Buehler said. “People may be walking in between you. You may not be able to get audio. If it’s dark out, you may not be able to good visual representation of what’s happening.” Villalba said modern technology means recording devices are able to capture clear audio and visual information, even from a distance. The bill makes exceptions to the law for members of the media. Media outlets that have the “direct or indirect objective to disrupt or agitate a peace officer during the officer’s performance of duties” would still be restricted by the law. “Personally in the age that we live in, the digital age, everyone has the ability and, I think, the right to consider themselves a journalist of some sort,” Michael Johnston, government senior and volunteer with the Peaceful Streets Project, said. Johnson said there is a common misconception that people recording officers are trying to make an officer’s job more difficult when, in reality, they are trying to monitor police interactions and watch for the safety of officers and civilians. “When you introduce more discretion into a police officer’s role in interacting with citizens, you end up creating a mentality of duty of us versus them,” Johnson said. “That police are on one side, and citizens are on another, and there should be some defined separation, in this case 15 feet or 25 feet.”

college textbooks. “We definitely want [the platform] to be as inclusive as possible,” Jerath said. “We don’t want to make a certain platform that not all students will agree with.” Brown said University officials often push for certain policies without involving students, making Invest in Texas even more important. “Sometimes people tend to forget students,” Brown said. “Some of us do have educated opinions [and] read up on the issues. What we hope to do is remind the legislature … that UT students are down the road, that we can be noisy. We can help.” Many students involved in the legislative student organizations will march to the Capitol, along with any other students who want to join. Longhorn Advocates, a group of 31 UT students, will also attend and be paired with 31 separate senators. Rep. John Zerwas (R-Richmond), the chair of higher education, will speak to students who attend. The Invest in Texas team has been planning the day since last summer and will continue to advocate following the campaign. “We’ve been advocating all throughout, and we’ll be advocating after,” Rady said. “Our Invest in Texas day doesn’t mean the work is done.”

ROUNDUP

continues from page 1 is about seven minutes, and, last year, it was a lot crazier.” Dovzhansky, who helped coordinate wristband distribution, said the Council will cap non-UT students at 20 percent of RoundUp attendees. Despite having to wait in line to get her wristband, geology sophomore Chloe Bell said she is excited for the big crowds and day-long events in West Campus. “[Last year], I saw everyone walking around with their fanny packs and big tank tops — like, when else can you walk around wearing that kind of crap other than RoundUp — so I just thought might as well,” Bell said. “Everyone looked like they were having a good time last year, and then you see the pictures and you’re like, ‘Damn, should have gone.’”

3A OPINION

RILEY BRANDS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / @TexanEditorial Friday, March 27, 2015

COLUMN

Abbott can’t ignore needs of Texans with disabilities By Mary Dolan

Daily Texan Columnist @mimimdolan

This is the time of year when many high school seniors in Texas have received their college acceptance letters, and most of them are probably excited to be going off to school next fall. Many students’ anxieties overlap. They worry about being away from home and getting into the classes they want. However, some students have very different concerns. They want to know that they will be able to get around campus easily and that their disabilities will be accommodated adequately. These students, and others in Texas, should be able to feel that they have the resources they need. Some are troubled, however, by what they perceive to be a lack of state support for disabled Texans. According to the Statesman, Gov. Greg Abbott is the first U.S. governor in almost three decades to use a wheelchair. But many disability advocates are troubled by how Abbott has addressed disability issues in the past. Many are frustrated by the fact that Abbott supports “sovereign immunity,” a legal doctrine that a few states still use in attempts to avoid lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In his support of the doctrine, Abbott has shared his wish to avoid placing court costs from these lawsuits on taxpayers. While Abbott has promised to have a large impact on disability issues, he has also shared a desire for lawmakers to prioritize tax cuts and border security, leading many to assume that disability issues will not soon be addressed.

Students should help end Israeli apartheid By Kathleen Feyh Guest Columnist

In 2010, South African survivor of apartheid and human rights activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu came out in support of student efforts to urge universities’ divestment from “companies that enable and profit from the injustice of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and violation of Palestinian human rights.” He said the following: “I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of Apartheid. I have witnessed the humiliation of Palestinian men, women, and children made to wait hours at Israeli military checkpoints routinely when trying to make the most basic of trips to visit relatives or attend school or college, and this humiliation is familiar to me and the many black South Afri-

“I have witnessed the humiliation of Palestinian men, women, and children made to wait hours at Israeli military checkpoints when trying to make the most basic of trips to visit relatives...”

cans who were corralled and regularly insulted by the security forces of the Apartheid government.” Noting the “leading role” students played in ending corporate “complicity in Apartheid,” he encouraged the same determination – and similar tactics of boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) – in the struggle to end apartheid and occupation in Palestine. With successful divestment resolutions or referenda passed recently at most of the University of California system schools, Stanford, Loyola, Northwestern, and DePaul, and the University of Toledo, among other schools, it is clear that students are heeding Tutu’s call. This is all in addition to growing support for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions among academic and cultural workers, including physicist Stephen Hawking, writer Alice Walker, actor Danny Glover, and many others. In spite of misrepresentations (including false allegations of terrorist sympathies and anti-Semitism) and powerful campaigns to derail BDS around the country, BDS is spreading, and it is time for Longhorns to take a stand against occupation and apartheid and for Palestinian civil society’s call for BDS. Part of that stand includes urging the UT system to divest funds from Alstom, Cemex, Estée Lauder, Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, and United Technologies Corporation, among others, companies that profit from or support the human rights abuses committed by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people. From contributing materials and infrastructure to illegal Israeli

settlements (Alstom, Cemex, P&G), to providing technology for checkpoints (HP) and weapons (UTC), to financial and ideological support for Israel’s discriminatory policies and expanded occupation efforts (Estée Lauder), these corporations are complicit in violations of international law, and UT’s investments in them make our University complicit as well. Indeed, Israeli apartheid and South African apartheid are not identical. In fact, some South African activists consider Israeli policy “more extensive and brutal” than South African apartheid outside the 1967 borders, but more similar inside Israel proper with respect to racial discrimination faced by Palestinians. Years of collective punishment, possible war crimes (as assessed by Amnesty International), and discriminatory laws put the lie to the Israeli government’s claims of self-defense, democracy & equal rights in the occupied territories and support for academic freedom. Popular racism against Arabs, African immigrants and others has been stoked by Israeli officials who seek to stifle dissent and maintain the brutal status quo. UT has a proud history of student activism, including anti-apartheid struggle. We call upon the entire UT community to build on that history. Support the divestment resolution, sign the petition, and help the Palestine Solidarity Committee and allies build BDS on campus. Feyh is a lecturer in Communication Studies and member of the International Socialist Organization and the Palestine Solidarity Committee.

ONLINE Our commentary doesn’t stop on the page. Check out our editorial blog, A Matter of Opinion, on our website, www.dailytexanonline.com, every morning for commentary on the day’s news from members of the Texan editorial board.

Some are troubled by what they perceive to be a lack of state support for disabled Texans. COLUMN Potential issues that disability advocates want to resolve include the aforementioned “sovereign immunity” doctrine, as they wish for Texas to stop fighting ADA lawsuits. They also support efforts to shut down Texas centers for the intellectually-disabled. They want Abbott to throw his support behind them. According to the Statesman, Dennis Borel, executive director of the Coalition for Texans with Disabilities, said, “[Abbott] talks about the economic environment, job creation. He talks about universities getting to top tiers. But very little about health care. That tells me there is ground to be made.” Abbott himself has stated that he thinks the fact of having a disabled governor is beneficial to disabled Texans. According to the Statesman, Abbott says that “having the chief executive of the state be a person with a disability sends a message to employers across the state that they can hire people with disabilities.” Hopefully, reforms will come soon. United Cerebral Palsy, a group that conducts state rankings of disability services, ranked Texas second-tolast after judging the Texas Medicaid programs that are designed to help those with disabilities. While this is discouraging, many support disability reforms in Texas and other states. Rhode Island congressman Jim Langevin—who is a quadriplegic—expressed a desire to help others with disabilities. Lex Frieden, a quadriplegic who helped create the Americans with Disabilities Act, was also quoted in the Statesman, saying, “I don’t think we should depend on Governor Abbott simply because he uses a wheelchair….this should not be an area that any leader ignores.” Frieden is certainly correct. Thousands of people in Texas live with many different types of disabilities that impact their daily lives. Many of them suffer from inadequate healthcare treatment and unemployment. Lawmakers should strive to help a segment of the population that has been underserviced in the past, and allow for reforms that help those with disabilities overcome obstacles. Going back to the students with disabilities, it seems cheesy and outdated to suggest that the college experience should be a four-year party free from worry and responsibility. However, students at UT and across the state should feel that the resources and support they receive will allow them to have the same enjoyable college experience as others, and not have additional stress placed on them. College offers its students many opportunities, and everyone, regardless of ability, should have an equal chance to experience them. Dolan is a journalism freshman from Abilene.

Texas Student Media must invest in Texan website By Hayley Fick Guest Columnist

There is nothing blatantly wrong with the current Daily Texan website. It does the bare minimum, is for the most part responsive across all devices, and it houses a powerful collection of archives. So why does everyone who works there hate it? For one, it doesn’t lend any flexibility to creating new types of multimedia content. To really showcase the diverse work students at the Texan are doing, the website needs to be as much of a blank slate as the pages are in InDesign when the paper is laid out everyday. It also was not built with the workflows of the newsroom in mind. During my time at the Texan we tried rearranging the production schedule, department structure, and even physical layout of the newsroom to make it work, but the website should be adjusted to fit the organization not the other way around. Any student that has worked at the Texan is familiar with long hours, a fast-paced environment, and little to no compensation, but in the end it is all worth it because you gain work experience you can’t find anywhere else on campus. For the web team, this doesn’t hold true. You can only learn so much from a site you have no means of changing, and you don’t have any clips to show for your work at the end of the day. Because of limited resources your realm of possibility is not as open as it is for everyone else working at the Texan. As the Digital Director of the Texan I set out to change this. I thought surely with the vast amount of computer science talent we have on this campus, it would only be a matter of finding the right people and building a good team. The problem is hiring UT computer science students is what every other company in town, and in the world for that matter, is trying to do. The people we could afford, the ones willing to work for little to no compensation, often didn’t have the caliber of skills we needed to pull off a professional-looking product. They were many who were eager to learn and actively looking for experience, but the people that already had the skills we needed were being offered high paying jobs as part time developers from companies we couldn’t compete with. The only resource we really had going for us was passion. The passion that came from knowing that there was something so wrong about a student newspaper that delivers a better print

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.

product than online product in this day and age. We knew the places students go the most to find out what’s happening on campus were the ones we receiving the least amount of attention and that had to change. We truly believed the student body deserved better ways to get information. Unfortunately you can’t completely overhaul a website with passion alone. I’m willing to bet that Michael Baez | Daily Texan File Photo I dedicated more hours Guest columnist Hayley Fick said TSM must invest in the Texan’s website. than anyone has to trying to figure out the dollar to the website unless they can dedicate answer, and after two years I still came up emptyevery dollar the project needs. Any shortcut or handed. Sometimes I would find myself thinking funds thrown at the website here and there will there has to be an easier way. Maybe the tools we just be a drop in the bucket. Ultimately it will not were using were too complex. Maybe we could make a noticeable difference or produce a site simplify and minimize the process somehow, but much better than the one there is now. I know now I know it’s not about the tools at all. We will because I spent two years trying. If TSM truly never find out which tools work and which tools wants an innovative, revolutionary experience don’t until we have the resources to give them an online now is the time to get serious or get out honest chance. Using Drupal or WordPress or any of the business completely and figure out how to other option out there will not fix the fact that we live with what we have. can’t get a team of people to stick around because I by no means am trying to say no progress has we can’t afford to pay them for the long hours, been made digitally at The Daily Texan. We’ve weeks, and months required for projects like this. seen our social media accounts grow exponenIn the current environment at TSM, investing tially, we’ve done original data-driven interactive in a website never gains enough support because pieces, we’ve been given some great mentors in there is no feasible way to monetize it or gain a this new media space, and more students than return through online ads right now. Also, inever before have had a chance to learn online vesting in online initiatives is always at odds with tools used at publications in the real world. More sustaining the monstrous costs of printing the can always be done to take it to the next level paper. The whole is greater than the sum of its though. As I come upon graduation this May, I parts when it comes to the success of The Daily can’t help but wonder if I could have done betTexan brand, and the benefits it will gain from a ter somehow to really make a lasting difference better online presence are not the kind that can when it comes to digital media opportunities be entered into a balance sheet. The way I see for students at UT. I’ve come to realize the only it to really get an online product we’re proud of thing I failed at was not persuading the people that does justice to the great journalism done at who make the decisions to value my work and the Texan there are two options: contracting the the work of all the wonderful students who stuck project out to a full-service web design agency or along for the ride as much as I do. The technolbuilding an in-house team of full-time web deogy is just as vital and valuable as the journalism. signers and developers at Texas Student Media Let’s find a way to invest in them both. that leaves room for students who are interested Fick is a public relations senior from Montgomin learning about the process. I urge the Texas ery. She was digital director of the Texan until DeStudent Media Board to not dedicate a single cember 2013.

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.

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GARRETT CALLAHAN, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansports Friday, March 27, 2015

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Sweet 16 might yield a sweeter result By Jeremy Thomas @JeremyOBThomas

After a season marked by injuries and other setbacks, Texas’ chances at a postseason run looked slim — but two weeks into the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns have yet to falter. “We’re excited to go to the Sweet 16,” head coach Karen Aston said. “There was a point in time where I don’t think anybody saw this coming at all. They thought we were done. I really can’t say enough about our staff and our players who were willing to do whatever they had to do for us to get to a better spot.” Fifth-seeded Texas (24–10) now faces another daunting task. Saturday’s regional semifinal matchup puts the Longhorns against the team many pundits predict will win it all — Connecticut. They’re the top overall seed, two-time defending champions, and a team Texas has never been able to beat. UConn (32–1) has the top-rated scoring offense and defense in the nation, averaging nearly 90 points a game offensively and only allowing about 48 points per game. The Huskies have also advanced to the regional final, otherwise known as the Elite Eight, every year for nine years. Its only loss this year was to Stanford in November. Days later, Texas defeated Stanford. Much has changed for the Longhorns since that victory. The team went through a rough patch, starting 4–8 in conference play. But more recently, they’ve hit their stride; Texas won nine of its last 11 games.

“I think our team is really resilient,” Aston said. “We’re not where we want to be, obviously, but we’re making progress.” In their first two NCAA Tournament games, the Longhorns forced 33 turnovers and outscored their opponents in the paint, 94–34. But the games still remained close. Texas only defeating first-round opponent Western Kentucky by two points and beat California, in the next round, by three. That is one reason Texas will rely on its defense and receive contributions from its bench, which has outscored its two previous opponents’ bench, 54–15. “Defense is something we’ve tried to focus on and make it our identity,” said junior center Imani McGee-Stafford, who has secured back-toback double-doubles during NCAA Tournament play. “We just tried to focus on what makes us, us in the second half [against Cal]. [And] you never really know who could start for us. That’s the beauty of us right now; we are very deep, and whoever we need to matchup with, we can.” Texas will continue to look for production from McGeeStafford, as well as from freshman Brooke McCarty, who is coming off the bench averaging 13 points in the tournament. “I think I just had to go out there and start playing [because] I was really nervous at first,” McCarty said. “I think I just had to get over my nerves. My teammates have really helped me and just believed in me.” Texas and UConn tip off the Albany Regional Sweet 16 on Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN.

SIDELINE NCAAB WICHITA ST.

NOTRE DAME

N. CAROLINA

WISCONSIN

WEEKEND EVENTS Women’s Basketball vs. UConn Saturday 11 a.m. Austin, Texas ESPN Baseball at Nebraska Friday 6:35 p.m. Satuday 2:05 p.m. Sunday 12:05 p.m. Lincoln, Nebraska Big Ten Network The Zone AM 1300 Softball at Kansas Friday 5 p.m. Saturday 2 p.m. Sunday 12 p.m. Lawrence, Kansas ESPN3 (Friday) Texas Relays Friday 9:30 a.m., Saturday 8:15 a.m. Austin, Texas Longhorn Network Marshall Tidrick | Daily Texan file photo

Junior center Imani McGee-Stafford stepped up last weekend averaging 22 points and 13 rebounds in the Longhorns’ two wins last weekend to set up a showdown with UConn on Saturday.

MEN’S TENNIS

TOP TWEET Quandre Diggs @qdiggs6

ROWING

Rowing ready to start spring season Saturday

Sno Cone place open in Angleton? Best in the business!

By James Rodriguez @jamie_rod

Daulton Venglar| Daily Texan file photo

Despite not playing tennis until he was 10, senior Søren Hess-Olesen has become a leader for Texas tennis, taking the ITA All-American award in 2013 and 2014.

Hess-Olesen reflects on his road from Denmark to Texas By Michael Shapiro @mshap2

As he stands at the baseline of the tennis court, senior Søren Hess-Olesen makes his job look easy — but each of his victories and accolades are hard-earned. Hess-Olesen, who was born in Aarhus, Denmark, came to tennis late in his childhood. Unlike many European tennis players, who are enrolled in academies from a very early age, Hess-Olesen didn’t start playing tennis until he was 10 years old. “Soccer was definitely my main sport growing up,” Hess-Olesen said. “Around the age of 10, I started playing [tennis] with my twin brother Esben. It was evident I had talent from early on, but I wasn’t good enough to compete in tournaments.” Even as he moved his way up to the No. 1 ranking among Danish youth, Hess-Olesen wasn’t highly desired by colleges in the United States. Instead, Hess-Olesen reached out to a number of college coaches throughout the country —

including Texas head coach Michael Center. “Honestly, he didn’t have a great résumé of matches and tournaments,” Center said. “[But] we started to call around and found out he’s a very good player, and I jumped on a plane and flew to Denmark as soon as I could.” Playing under Center’s coaching proved integral for Hess-Olesen’s development as a player. Hess-Olesen began his career at the No. 1 singles spot as a freshman — a feat no Texas player had achieved since Dimitar Kutrovsky did so in 2007. “Looking back, playing at the top spot from day one really helped my game,” HessOlesen said. “There was a lot of pressure, especially going up against the top players in the country, but it made me more mentally tough. That was something coach always stressed during practices and matches.” Over the course of his sophomore and junior seasons, Hess-Olesen’s game continued to grow. He earned a long list of awards, including

the International Tennis Association All-American award in both 2013 and 2014. He capped off his junior season with an appearance in the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship, though he fell to the eventual champion, UCLA’s Marcos Giron. Coming into this season, expectations were high for Hess-Olesen, who began the year ranked No. 13 in the nation. Hess-Olesen has managed to blow those expectations out of the water, reaching the No. 1 overall ranking in the most recent ITA polls. As the 2014 NCAA Singles Championship semifinalist, 2014 Big 12 Player of the Year and 2013 and 2014 ITA All-American, HessOlesen is still adding to what will be a lasting legacy. But he said he hopes his legacy is defined in a different way. “I want to be remembered as someone who did whatever he could to help his team,” Hess-Olesen said. “The awards are nice, but what’s really important to me is the work I put in to be the best player I could be.”

Seven years after she began rowing in high school, Texas rowing senior captain Casey Redman still wrestles with the self-doubt that creeps into her mind before each race. Although 2000m races still leave Redman exhausted, she said she finds comfort in her months of training and preparation. “It’s all hard,” Redman said. “There’s nothing easy about it. You can’t breathe; your legs are on fire, and it’s over in six minutes, which, in terms of racing, is pretty long.” Redman and the Longhorns have spent almost seven months training and preparing for their spring season. Their journey toward qualifying for the NCAA Championships will officially begin Saturday at the San Diego Crew Classic, where they will compete in their first regatta of the spring season. Unlike races in the fall, the results of the spring regattas will factor into the NCAA selection committee’s decisions for the at-large bids to the NCAA Championships. Should the Longhorns fall short of winning the Big 12 Championship and the automatic bid, their performance against other Division I schools in the spring will determine whether they make the cut in a selection process that is similar to that of the NCAA basketball tournament. “Those fall races — it’s all about preparing for the spring, and now this is what we’ve trained for,” head coach Dave O’Neill said. “The intensity has increased significantly: on the water, the workouts that we’re doing, the pressure on the athletes [and] the demands from the coaching staff. So yeah, things are really heating up.” The Longhorns will compete in four events both Saturday and Sunday — the first varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four and open eight.

Rowing is different than basketball in that no one can put up a defense that controls what we do. —Dave O’Neill, Head coach

The team’s primary Division I competition will be UCLA, University of San Diego and USC — all teams that competed in the NCAA Championships last year. Despite the increased competition, O’Neill doesn’t want to devote any thought to the other schools. “Rowing is different than basketball in that no one can put up a defense that controls what we do,” O’Neill said. “So if we do our race perfectly, it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing.” O’Neill’s emphasis on ignoring opponents is clear during Saturday practices. The athletes race against each other in boats with opposing teams’ colors to mentally prepare. “We’re pretty much just focused on us,” Redman said. “We kind of just call them other colors. It’s just like, ‘OK, we’re racing red; we’re racing blue; we’re racing purple.’ It’s all about us and what we can do and not what other people are bringing.” The Longhorns’ schedule emphasizes self-improvement over competition. While some other schools begin their spring season in early February, O’Neill prefers to reserve that time for training and worry about competition later in the spring. “If we were to race somebody in February, like a real race, we would be sacrificing a weekend of training, and those February weekends — they’re precious,” O’Neill said. “It goes back to keeping the main thing the main thing and focusing on ourselves. If we go fast, no one can touch us.”

SPORTS BRIEFLY Record run highlights Texas Relays

Although the bulk of the meet occurs Friday and Saturday, there have already been a number of event highlights at the 88th annual Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium. The highlight of Thursday’s events came when former Longhorn Leo Manzano broke the Texas Relays record in the 800m with a time of 1:46.46. In the men’s decathlon, freshman Harrison Williams of Stanford holds a narrow lead at the top of the leaderboard. Texas sophomore Wolf Mahler opened the event with a personal record in the 100m in a time of 10.52 seconds. On the women’s side, the heptathlon has been the premiere event of the meet with Arkansas’ Alex Gochenour leading the pack. After producing solid results in each of her events, she looks to hold her lead to ultimately be named heptathlon champion. Friday morning represents the first test for many college and high school runners, as the track events will kick off with preliminary and qualifying races throughout the morning. At the same time as the morning preliminaries are the finals for field participants in the college ranks. In the afternoon, the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles begin as one of the main events of the relays, while on Saturday, the day starts early with the high school 3200m and closes with the 1600m relays. —Bradley Maddox

KAT SAMPSON, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan Friday, March 27, 2015

ART

Xintong Guo | Daily Texan Staff

Austin’s “Homeless Jesus” statue is located on Brazos Street near Central Presbyterian Church. Pastor Joseph Moore hopes that the statue will bring more awareness to Austin’s homelessness problem, expanding the city’s idea of community.

‘Homeless Jesus’ funds shelters By Olivia Lewman @thedailytexan

The man lies on a bench on Brazos Street near Central Presbyterian Church. At first glance, he looks like a real person — passersby typically avert their eyes — but the man is actually a bronze statue, an art piece called “Homeless Jesus.” Pastor Joseph Moore said most people turn away from the figure until they realize they’re walking by a statue. “There’s this visible change on their face,” Moore said. “Within that change is room for people to look at one another differently, and

we hope that’s what the statue inspires.” Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz first created the “Homeless Jesus” sculpture with the goal of placing the statue in cities across the world. Moore came across Schmalz’s sculpture in 2013 while flipping through a magazine. He then mentioned it during one of his sermons. A few weeks later, an anonymous donor called wanting to bring the piece to Austin. After Moore told the donor the costs of attaining the sculpture, the donor said he’d give him a check within the week. Moore, a board member of the organization

Front Steps, was more than willing to get the “Homeless Jesus” sculpture to Austin. “We had no plans to raise the money... it kind of just fell in our lap,” Moore said. The sculpture finally made its way to Austin in late February, but Moore said the church had to delay installation. Moore wasn’t the only one affected by the piece — Pope Francis had requested the work be placed in Rome after he saw the piece in an art show at the Vatican. “The pope was moved by the piece so much that it was the only piece he stopped at and was praying over,” Moore

said. “He even reached out and touched it.” When the dedication finally took place in late February, community members and executives from Front Steps and ARCH Emergency Night Shelter attended the unveiling. “The [shelter’s] staff has been very moved by the sculpture because it portrays homeless people in a very humane, dignified [and] almost holy way,” Moore said. “Not more holy, but just holy, because they’re human, which is the whole point.” The donor commissioned “Homeless Jesus” in memory of Rose and Jim Lancaster, who were part of the ARCH

program. This prompted their family to create the endowment, which has raised over $100,000 since the dedication. Moore said the fund will help the homeless pay for social workers, toiletries and, in the future, mental health assistance. Moore said Austin has not made homelessness a priority, and it is important to provide mixed, permanent supportive housing. Austin ranks as the number one economically segregated city in the U.S., according to a 2015 report by the University of Toronto researchers. Moore said segregation in the city is a moral issue.

“We’re not glorifying homelessness,” Moore said. “We need to end homelessness, and this city could do it if it wanted to. What we hope is the sculpture elevates homelessness to a point that people are actually motivated to fix it.” Expanding the city’s idea of community and broadening its understanding of family, Moore said, is key in assisting those who struggle to break out of the system. “You can only have a door slammed in your face so many times before you say, ‘I’m not even going to try and open that door anymore,’” Moore said. “As a city, we can keep opening doors.”

MUSIC

‘Honk bands’ bring new dimension to music By Katie Walsh @katiehwalsh_atx

This weekend, a zombie marching band, a New Orleans jazz ensemble, a selfproclaimed “circus-punkbrass” group and 22 other renegade brass bands will perform throughout Austin. Friday kicks off the fifth anniversary of HONK!TX, a festival that brings brass bands, or “honk bands,” of all genres and sizes from around the country for a weekend of free live music. Local volunteers organize the event. Jason Fialkoff, one of the co-founders of HONK!TX, described a honk band as any band that performs without amplification and turns a public space into a stage. HONK!TX performances take place exclusively outdoors in public areas. “HONK!TX works to transform our neighborhoods, parks and public spaces through the power of music,” Fialkoff said. Hannah Rotwein, Plan II and studio art sophomore, said she stumbled across the festival last year while dining on South Congress Avenue. “The neatest part was the atmosphere created by the engagement between the performers and the audience,” Rotwein said. “Everyone was there to have a good time.” HONK!TX drew inspiration

from other honk festivals, such as the activism-oriented honk festival in Somerville, Massachusetts, and the more party-oriented festival, HONK! Fest West, in Seattle. What sets HONK!TX apart is its emphasis on community, Fialkoff said. A group of 12 volunteers who comprise the festival’s organizing committee focus on scheduling performances in different parts of the city so all Austinites can experience HONK!TX. The festival includes shows at homeless shelters and the Boys & Girls Club of Austin and a parade that winds through low-income housing developments on the East side. “You can’t just put [an event] on and say that you are serving the community,” Fialkoff said. “You have to make sure that you are bringing it to them, and that’s what we do.” The first performances begin at 6 p.m. Friday on South Congress Avenue in the parking lots of Jo’s Coffee, Snack Bar and St. Vincent de Paul. Saturday, the music lasts from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Spider House Cafe, and a community parade in East Austin closes the festivities Sunday at noon. Five years ago, the festival showcased 22 bands, and, this year, 26 will perform. Fialkoff said they keep the lineup small

Photo courtesy of Mike*Antares

HONK!TX is a community street band festival that features performances by 25 renegade brass bands in public spaces throughout the city. The festival starts Friday night and runs through Sunday afternoon.

to avoid overwhelming their audience. “We are not trying to grow,” Fialkoff said. “We are not trying to be two weekends of Austin City Limits. [HONK!TX] is more Eeyore’s Birthday than it is ACL.” Chicago-based Environmental Encroachment, one of HONK!TX’s bands, is a 25-piece honk band famous

for donning bunny ears during their performances. Environmental Encroachment co-founder Mike Smith said the band has a circus feel, with performances involving acrobatics, hula hooping, fire spinning, puppeteering and a man who plays a xylophone made out of saw blades. “We wanted to bring art, as many people do, outside of the four white walls,”

Smith said. “We wanted a more experiential type of artwork. We wanted to do something that requires some sort of physical effort or some inclusion and some experience.” Smith said he has attended every honk festival in the country at least once. Sometimes he travels with his band; other times he travels alone and creates a makeshift band

with other “orphans” once he gets to the festival. He said he keeps coming back because the festivals keep him young and inspired. “Honk fests are kind of like an adult playground,” Smith said. “Music can cut through the languages; it can cut through the hatred; it can cut through the emotions. Music is the most important language.”