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Monday, April 25, 2016
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CAMPUS
Texas Revue showcases diverse talent By Bharath Lavendra @burreth
Almost 900 students were in attendance Saturday at Texas Revue 2016, one of the largest talent shows on UT’s campus. Public relations junior Abby Bollinger worked on the event as the social media publicity officer of the Texas Traditions committee of Campus Events + Entertainment. She said the committee strives to make the campus tradition better each year, and said this year’s Revue was a huge success.
“Texas Revue had been a tradition a long time ago at UT, but the Texas Traditions committee has brought it back and has been putting on the show for about ten years,” said Bollinger. “This year is a little more diverse. We’ve never seen a brass band in the past, and we’ve also never seen a beat boxing and dance group before.” Bollinger said she was glad Texas Revue was moved back to Hogg Memorial Auditorium this year, since they were not allowed to use the venue last year because
of renovations. “Last year we were in the ballroom at the Texas Union, which was unfortunate because we couldn’t fit as many people,” Bollinger said. “We had to turn hundreds of students away, but this year we didn’t have to.” Reshma Ahuja, co-captain of Nach Baliye, a Bollywood fusion dance team at UT, led the group to win the “Best Overall” award and a $1500 cash prize at the show. “I love that you can share
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CAMPUS
UT, Oregon communities raise funds to honor Weiser By Zach Lyons & Cassandra Jaramillo @thedailytexan
Carlos Garcia | Daily Texan Staff
Nritya Sangam performs “Yatra” on Saturday at Texas Revue, one of the largest talent shows on campus. Nritya Sangam won the “Technical Excellence” award for their performance.
OBITUARY
Family, friends pay tribute to Haruka Weiser By Cassandra Jaramillo @cassandrajar
BEAVERTON, Oregon – As the Austin and Portland communities continue to mourn Haruka Weiser’s death, her funeral service on Saturday morning asked the crowd to remember the way she lived — and how one instance of violence has brought forward several acts of kindness. “Death and evil does not have the last word,” Father Dave Gutmann from the Holy Trinity said. Haruka Weiser’s funeral began with the same song she danced to for her final senior show. Claude Debussy’s classical, dreamlike piano sounds of “Clair de Lune” filled the Holy Trinity church that has a 900 capacity, where few seats remained open for the service that brought together Haruka’s family members, former educators and many of her UT
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Cassandra Jaramillo | Daily Texan Staff
At the Arts & Communications Magnet Academy, dozens of flowers and candles have accumulated in front of the school in Haruka’s honor. Haruka was a 2015 ACMA graduate before attending UT.
Following the tragic death of dance freshman Haruka Weiser on campus earlier this month, organizations from both UT and her high school alma mater in Oregon are raising funds to honor her life. Before joining UT’s theatre and dance program, Weiser graduated from the Arts and Communication Magnet Academy (ACMA) in Beaverton, Oregon, a town just outside of Portland. In the weeks following Weiser’s death, ACMA established the Haruka Weiser Memorial Scholarship to support upcoming artists. ACMA principal Michael Johnson said the scholarship wasn’t initially an institutional effort, but one led by a caring community. “Almost immediately there was a community interest to turn this tragedy into something positive,” Johnson said. Portland jazz artist Tom Grant has joined the community in raising funds for the scholarship and plans to play a benefit concert in her honor. The UT community has similarly come together to make gifts in Weiser’s memory. J.B. Bird, director of media outreach for UT, said in an email that Weiser’s family requested gifts be directed to the Haruka Weiser Memorial Fund. “There has been an outpouring of support, and
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CAMPUS
BIOLOGY
Scientists find genetic links in fish, humans Criminal trespassing rates By Laura Zhang @_the_laurax3
Neil Shubin, professor of anatomy at the University of Chicago, said becoming a fish paleontologist has altered his perception of people. “If you look at Albert Einstein, you see the pinnacle of human achievement,” Shubin said. “I look at Albert Einstein and I see a big, old, evolved fish.” On April 21, Shubin gave a lecture at UT hosted by the Dean’s Scholars Honors Program. Shubin spoke about the expeditions that led him and his team to discover Tiktaalik, an ancient fish that filled a crucial gap in the evolutionary journey from sea to land. Tiktaalik lived over 375 million years ago.
Though it has scales and fins like fish do, Tiktaalik has arm bones inside its fins, as well as wrists and finger-like structures similar to those of humans. New evolutionary structures, such as necks, shoulders and ribs, suggest that it could live in shallow waters and make short trips on land, according to Shubin. “Every time you bend your wrist or shake your hand, you can thank Tiktaalik and its cousins,” Shubin said. Shubin and his team discovered Tiktaalik after eight years in the Canadian Arctic. The years of practice allowed Shubin to immediately distinguish the Vshaped fossil stuck in the rock, which showed the flat-headed fish. For Shubin, discovering
on campus steadily climb By Mikaela Cannizzo @mikaelac16
Mike McGraw | Daily Texan Staff
Neil Shubin, professor of anatomy at the University of Chicago, speaks to a packed audience on Thursday. His lecture discussed the discovery of the Tiktaalik, which filled an important gap in evolution.
Tiktaalik has paved the way for more scientific discoveries in the similarity between embryos of humans and other creatures. These similarities arise as a result of Hox genes, a set of genes that help control development.
Alanna Self, a senior in the Jackson School of Geosciences and undergraduate research assistant in a vertebrate paleontology lab, said she is fascinated by the relationship
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Criminal trespassing rates on University grounds have been on the rise throughout the past several years. According to statistics from the University of Texas Police Department, warning citations for criminal trespassing increased by 25 percent between 2012 and 2015, while the number of campus arrests related to trespassing increased by approximately 72 percent. In 2016, there have been 101 citations issued and 29 arrests made in connection with criminal trespassing on campus, as of April 21. UTPD Captain Don Verett said he classifies criminal trespassing as an ongoing issue, but not necessarily a significant problem. Verett said the
warnings and arrests for this offense generally occur on the periphery of campus or in buildings near the edge of campus, such as the Union Building and Walter Webb Hall. “The University is not a public place,” Verett said. “The University is accessible to the public and we invite the public to come to campus, but people have to know that the University itself is reserved for students, faculty and staff.” According to the Texas Penal Code, a person commits criminal trespassing when they proceed to enter an area from which they are clearly prohibited or have received notice to depart, but failed to do so. “A person commits an offense if the person enters or remains on or in property of
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