The Daily Texan 2015-04-24

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LIFE&ARTS PAGE 6

SPORTS PAGE 5

COMICS PAGE 4

Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900

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Friday, April 24, 2015

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SYSTEM

Hall fights to access student files By Jordan Rudner & Josh Willis @thedailytexan

UT System Regent Wallace Hall is appealing to the attorney general to review student information, despite UT System Chancellor William McRaven’s admonition that Hall’s requests go “well beyond any reasonable desire to be better informed as a regent.” In a letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office earlier this week, Hall’s attorney asked Paxton to intervene

after McRaven denied Hall access to requested material. Hall is seeking files used in an independent investigation into admission practices at the University. In early March, Hall asked to be provided with the documents Kroll Associates, Inc. used to review admissions. The results of the investigation, released in February, found that UT President William Powers Jr. had exerted influence in the admission of a handful of students but concluded that no formal rules were broken.

Three regents voted to support Hall’s requests, but the Chancellor said Hall would not be given the records unless the Board authorized such access by majority vote, according to the letter Hall’s lawyer sent Paxton, first obtained by the Texas Tribune. “The Chancellor asserted that giving Regent Hall access to the Kroll records constituted reopening the investigation of student admissions practices or involved FERPA-pro-

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UNIVERSITY

As search goes on, Bernhardt named Moody interim dean By Samantha Ketterer @sam_kett

Xintong Guo | Daily Texan file photo

UT System Regent Wallace Hall is continuing his investigation into the University’s admission practices.

FRAMES featured photo

thedailytexan

Michael Baez | Daily Texan Staff

Undeclared freshman Kenzie Harrison takes care of a rabbit as part of Chi Kappa Phi service society’s Pet-a-Bunny Day on the SAC lawn Thursday afternoon. For the second year in a row, KPhi partnered with local animal shelter House Rabbit Resource Network to give students a chance to relax and socialize with bunnies.

BUSINESS

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After a months-long search for a new dean of the Moody College of Communication yielded no results, UT Provost and Presidentelect Gregory Fenves named Jay Bernhardt as interim dean Thursday. Bernhardt is currently a professor in the Department of Communication Studies and the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations. He helped launch the Center for Health Communication and serves as its director. Bernhardt will begin his position as interim dean on Sept. 1. Bernhardt said although he has been at UT for about a year, he is impressed with the talent of the students and faculty at the Moody College. “As interim dean, I plan to use my academic, government, and industry experience to make sure that Moody College continues on the path of excellence and leadership in all aspects of our teaching, research, practice, and production,” Bernhardt said in an email. The dean search committee initially brought three finalists to campus to interview for the position and also planned on interviewing a fourth candidate. According to an email Fenves sent in March, the fourth candidate, whose name administrators declined to provide, dropped from the search process. Fenves announced last week that he would continue the search for a permanent Moody dean. Barry Brummett, co-chair of the dean search committee and communica-

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ART

Goat project aims to Pop goes the artist at annual Push4Art help Valley families By Rebecca Fu

By Sebastian Herrera @SebasAHerrera

Business senior Samuel Garcia had an idea. What he needed was goats. Garcia, who is from the Rio Grande Valley, wanted to help families living in colonias — communities along the border that often lack basic living necessities, such as potable water. To help improve families’ living conditions, Garcia launched the Sustainable Dairy Goat Initiative, a business plan that he hoped would allow people to make a profit from donated dairy goats. The University awarded

the Initiative with the University Union’s Pal—Make A Difference Award, an annual honor given to a student who significantly impacts lives either on campus or in the broader community, last week. Garcia said he was driven to found the initiative out of a desire to help families in the colonias the ability to send their children. As a native of the Valley, Garcia said he directly witnessed first-hand what it’s like to be without a source of stable income. “[People living in

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@thedailytexan

With the push of a button, students wandering campus this weekend can summon a sudden performance from a string quartet, a guitar-strumming vocalist or a magician lying nearby in wait. The artists are performing as part of Push4Art, an annual, campus-wide series of pop-up performances that feature student talent and aim to be a accessible way for students to appreciate art in a casual setting. Hook’em Arts, an organization that aims to increase engagement with and awareness of Texas

Performing Arts, hosts the event and will celebrate its two-year anniversary Friday. Theatre and dance senior Sean Tecson, who helped create last year’s Push4Art, said the pop-up performances provide students with any special talents to perform. “The Texas Performing Arts tours professional artists, but, for me, there’s a lot of merit in young artists,” Tecson said. “It’s a fun way to engage in performing arts, and it’s a fun way to explore young talent.” For the event, members of Hook’em Arts constructed and painted a wooden

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Illustration by Lindsay Rojas | Daily Texan Staff

Sign President Powers farewell and help support student media. Only $10 for students visit farewellpowers.com to find out more


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