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Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
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Thursday, April 23, 2015
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LEGISLATURE
CAMPUS
Bill could increase off-campus work-study
UTDirect to be replaced by new portal next semester
By Wynne Davis @wynneellyn
Lawmakers are working to increase the number of off-campus work-study opportunities in the private sector. On Wednesday, the House Higher Education Committee heard HB 2365,
which, if passed, would expand off-campus workstudy opportunities for the Texas College Work-Study Program, a state-funded program that offers parttime jobs to students with financial need at private and public institutions. State schools would offer off-campus programs
based on the size of the city in which the institution is located. The bill, authored by Rep. Jim Murphy (R-Houston), was left pending in committee. The Senate gave final approval to a similar bill last Thursday requiring that institutions offer up to 50 percent of their work-study
jobs off campus. The current version of Murphy’s bill would require UT to have at least 25 percent of its workstudy options located off campus. Universities in cities with more than a million people would need 50 percent of their opportunities off campus.
Murphy said the bill would provide work-study students the opportunity to get experience working in their chosen field while still using work-study benefits. “Employers today, we’re hearing, want to have people with real-world, rele-
from Texas businesses is important for millennials to see, Shortall said. “Millennials are overwhelmingly showing that LGBT rights and being included and welcoming
LGBT page 2
NEW PORTAL page 2
WORK-STUDY page 2
Austin businesses support LGBT community By Jackie Wang @jcqlnwng
Graphic by Alex Dolan | Daily Texan Staff
president of the Gay Business Student Association, said the pledge is symbolically important. “It … lets [LGBT students] know there is a safe place to work and that people are actively trying to make an effort for their
voice to be heard,” Ballard said. “In a lot of companies, especially in conservative industries, LGBT things are not recognized.” When Texas Competes formally launched its mission on April 14, it had 100 signing members, with
which it had worked since last November. Now, Shortall said, Texas Competes has more than 200 signatures. Southwest Airlines, IBM, Intel and Whole Foods Market are some of the signing companies. Seeing such a strong response
@caleber96
This fall, students will log in to a new, customizable portal called MyUT to access common functions, such as registration and class schedules, instead of the current UTDirect system. Administrators said MyUT will show users information tailored to their classification and major and allow students to add links to their individual portals. “It’s completely customizable,” said Joey Williams, communications coordinator for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. “It’s going to be tailored to the user. It’s all about getting the information you need as efficiently as possible.” Williams said administrators decided to switch from UTDirect to MyUT because UTDirect could not display custom information for each student or appear in a natural format on all electronic devices, such as mobile phones or tablets. “Technologies have changed quite a bit,” Williams said. “A lot of what’s behind the EID right now isn’t responsive. It’s not customizable.” Jody Couch, program director for student administrative systems, said MyUT will gradually include more features that integrate student data after fall 2015. “Over the next year, we will roll out features like
CITY
Some Texan businesses are banding together to show their support for the LGBT community through Texas Competes, a coalition of businesses and pro-business organizations working toward workplace equality, according to a Texas Competes spokeswoman. “As far as we know, this is a historic first that businesses around Texas are saying in a unified voice that the brand of LGBT needs to change as an economic imperative — especially businesses in Texas that have progressive policies,” Texas Competes managing director Jessica Shortall said. “It varies — for some businesses, it’s a value thing; others see it as a competitive advantage. But in talking to business leadership, we started to realize that while individual workplace measures are important and necessary, they are not going to protect the competitiveness of Texas when it comes to getting top talent.” Mercedes Ballard, international business senior and
By Caleb Wong
LEGISLATURE
CAMPUS
Legislators seek to ban red light traffic cameras
Students aim to light Tower blue for autism
By Eleanor Dearman @ellydearman
The Texas Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would ban red light cameras throughout the state. SB 714, which state Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) authored, will prohibit all red light cameras throughout the state because he said they violate the constitutional rights of individuals to be able to talk with the person who witnesses the violation. If the bill passes the House, it will go into effect in September. Throughout the bill, Hall cited a study which claimed that the presence of cameras didn’t contribute to safer roads. Austin currently has 10 intersections with active red light cameras, which
helps Austin Police Department officers patrol intersections, APD Lt. Robert Richman said. “The red light cameras that we have assist us because we don’t have enough officers to be able to be out at every single intersection monitoring it 24/7,” Richman said. People run red lights at all times of the day, Richman said. “In 2014, there were 11,571 citations issued for running red lights at those locations,” Richman said. “If you take a look at that and think about how many of those were issued by officers, about 9,000 of those were issued by officers. Running red lights is probably the third-highest factor besides impairment and
RED LIGHT page 2
By Matthew Adams
A student signs a petition Wednesday afternoon in support of the Longhorn Autism Alliance’s goal to light the Tower blue for Autism Awareness Month in April 2016.
@MatthewAdams60
A student group is attempting to turn the Tower blue, instead of its typical burnt orange, for autism awareness. Longhorn Autism Alliance is calling for the University to light the Tower blue on April 2, 2016, for World Autism Awareness Day, according to Alec De Jong, biology junior and volunteer chair for the alliance. “Families of those affected with autism live this every day and [Autism Speaks] are asking that as many people as possible recognize that for World Autism Day,” Jong said. Special education studies sophomore Lindsey Robertson said she is glad to see awareness being
Rachel Zein Daily Texan Staff
raised about autism. “This is an awareness for all students,” Robertson said. “Autism affects so many lives, and in many ways, people do not know about it. This is a different and unique way to raise awareness.” Autism Speaks, a national
autism advocacy organization, started the movement Light It Up Blue, which lights up landmarks blue around the world to raise autism awareness. Some of these places include the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls in Canada and the Great Pyramids of Giza
in Egypt. Jong said the group knew the idea of lighting the Tower a color other than burnt orange was possible after it was lit blue during a graduation ceremony in 2013.
AUTISM page 2
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