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Tuesday, October 6, 2015
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CAMPUS
Students participate in fire safety training By Rund Khayyat @rundkhayyat
Students fought a live grease fire, tested their fire extinguishing skills and brainstormed exit strategies with fire marshals to kick off Campus Safety Week at the Gregory Plaza on Monday. Campus Safety Week, hosted annually by Student Government, promotes safety and well-being through activities that address topics such as transportation and bike safety, self-defense and cyber security.
SG invited the Fire Marshal and the Austin Fire Department to raise awareness and educate students about disaster training. Students put out controlled fires using fire extinguishers and learned how to respond to real emergency situations, according to Joe Limon, Austin fire battalion chief. “I don’t take it for granted that even a 40-year-old doesn’t know how to use a fire extinguisher,” Limon said. “We have a lack of knowledge and education because we are so buried in our lives,
we don’t think of safety.” In a simulation, students fought grease fires to learn that using water actually makes fire spread when oil is involved, and smothering the fire is more effective, Jamie Perkins, outreach coordinator of the Texas Fire Marshal’s Office, said. The fire marshals stressed the importance of finding two exit strategies wherever you go, Perkins said. “We’ve found that most students we talked to had never even considered this,” Perkins said. “It is so
important to consider how you will get out and how practical your plan is.” Campus Safety Week exposes students to important messages students do not necessarily receive if they do not live in residence halls, Julianna Masabni, Kinsolving resident assistant and biology sophomore, said. “This is really awesome and important because safety is something people take [for granted], especially in the residence halls,” Masabni said.
SAFETY page 2
Qiling Wang | Daily Texan Staff
Roosevelt C. Easley, UT Safety Specialist II, teaches a student how to put out a controlled fire using a fire extinguisher on Speedway Street during Campus Safety Week on Monday afternoon.
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CAMPUS
Working group hosts campus carry forum
Statement from UTPD calls threat non-credible
By Matthew Adams @MatthewAdams60
UT held its last public forum Wednesday to discuss how concealed carry on the UT campus will be implemented. The working group, formed by UT President Gregory Fenves, hosted the forum to collect input from students, faculty, staff and the general public on campus carry. Although only an estimated 150 people attended the second public forum, both sides held strong feelings on the issue of campus carry. Chuck Hempstead, executive director of the Texas Association of College Teachers, said the University should understand how the faculty feels. “In my position, we want to protect the faculty and staff at this University by limiting the places where guns can legally be on campus,” Hempstead said. “The faculty needs to be asked about whether they think weapons should be legally allowed in their office or office buildings. ” Brayden Eychner, military veteran and biology junior, said he supports the passage of Senate Bill 11 but does not
By Zainab Calcuttawala @zainabroo94
Joshua Guerra | Daily Texan Staff
Javier Auyero, Sociology professor and member of the Gun Free UT organization, holds a sign that reads “300 UT faculty refuse guns in our classroom” at the second campus carry forum Monday afternoon.
have any issues with restrictions the University decides to implement. “Just as it is my right to choose my teachers on registration day, it should be [the professors’] right to decide what is and is not
CAMPUS
allowed in their classroom,” Eychner said. “If they choose to restrict it, I will be more than willing to conceal it elsewhere.” Members of Gun-Free UT, a group of faculty, parents and students opposed to
campus carry, had numerous speakers present and a sign reading, “300 UT faculty refuse guns in our classroom.” Ellen Spiro, a group member and radio-television-film professor, thanked UPTD, which stopped a student
from taking her own life in the Student Activity Center last spring. Because it takes a mental toll on students and their families, a conversation about campus carry is
CAMPUS CARRY page 2
A 4chan post that has since been deleted spread on Facebook and Twitter on Monday afternoon when an anonymous user urged students to not go to school Tuesday if they are in Austin. UT sent out a safety alert that said the threat was deemed non-credible by UTPD and associated law enforcement agencies, despite its resemblance to a 4chan post from last Wednesday night that warned students in the Northwest against attending school on Thursday — the day of the Umpqua Community College shooting in Oregon that led to the death of nine people. The complete text of the Austin post read, “Some of you guys are alright. Don’t go to school tomorrow if you’re near Austin. happening thread will be posted later. so long, space robots.” This follows similar threats from 4chan to colleges and universities around the Philadelphia area.
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UT team to receive Food waste significantly decreases on campus Engineering Emmy By Nashwa Bawab
The most recent annual projected plate waste accumulated from UT dining halls has gone down from 43.59 tons to a projected 35 tons since fall 2014, according to a study by the Division of Housing and Food Service. The almost nine ton decrease in food waste comes from a larger plan to decrease waste on campus from a current 45 percent diversion rate to a 90 percent diversion rate by the year 2020, according to Hunter Mangrum, environmental specialist with DHFS. Diversion rate is the amount of solid waste and materials being collected
and transported away from the landfills, such as recycling. According to Mangrum, the average student wastes 12 ounces of food — the size of your typical can of Spam — every time they eat at the Kinsolving dining hall or J2. Mangrum said UT will attempt to decrease food waste and increase the diversion rate each year by making sure students who eat on campus are well-informed about how to dispose of food waste properly. “Through behavior changes and creating awareness, people are wasting less food, which creates less waste, and thus, it is a diversion method in a different way,”
@nashwabawab
By Rachel Freeman @rachel_frmn
At the upcoming 67th annual Engineering Emmy Awards, an engineering team from UT will be honored with the Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development award in Hollywood. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will present the award to Alan Bovik, an electrical and computer engineering professor, alumni Zhou Wang and Hamid Sheikh and collaborator Eero Simoncelli on Oct. 28. The team is the first academic group
to receive the Primetime Emmy Engineering Award statuette since its inception in 1948. The team developed an advanced algorithm — the Structural Similarity (SSIM) Video Quality Measurement Model — to estimate human perception of video quality, according to a statement from UT. This technology predicts the human assessment of video quality to let video producers know how much to compress videos when they are transmitted. Due to its computational
EMMY page 2
Qiling Wang | Daily Texan Staff
A student sets dirty dishes on the conveyor belt at J2 Dining Hall on Monday afternoon. Food waste has decreased about nine tons since fall 2014.
Mangrum said. One way DHFS has informed students and lowered plate waste is through the Clean Plate Club initiative that started in
2013, according to Mustafa Monk, geography senior and sustainability student assistant at DHFS.
REASON TO PARTY
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UT Law panel discusses capital punishment. PAGE 3
Students should support farmworkers’ rights. PAGE 4
Volleyball seniors ready for last shot at NCAA title. PAGE 6
UT desktop support specialist does voicework for KUT. PAGE 8
IBM engineer speaks about sexism, racism in tech. PAGE 3
Point/Counterpoint: Are study drugs ethical? PAGE 4
D’Onta Foreman breaks out in second year. PAGE 6
UT alumna runs popular beauty blog. PAGE 8
Check out music writer Chris Duncan’s recommendations for two movie soundtracks at dailytexanonline.com
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