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Friday, August 26, 2016
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CAMPUS
WEST CAMPUS
UT community celebrates Austin PRIDE
Rio Grande road work to continue into 2017
By Briana Stone @bristone19
The 26th annual PRIDE celebration this week concludes tomorrow with a festival and parade. Several LGBT organizations at UT are showing support for Austin PRIDE by hosting special events, collecting donations and participating in the parade. “Pride is about making relationships,” said Austin Dennis, network chair of the Pride Alumni Network for Texas
Exes. “Our network exists to keep LGBTQ alumni connected with the University and to connect current LGBT students in order to build relationships and advocate for issues.” Dennis said the Network will be tabling at the festival and will participate in the parade this upcoming Saturday. “At the festival there will be tons of groups, organizations and businesses promoting themselves and showing support for PRIDE, in addition to vendors, rides and
performers,” Dennis said. “It’s great to hangout and enjoy the community.” Dennis said that one way UT could work to be more inclusive is to include more gender options on University applications. “Make it more welcoming for people who don’t fall in the binaries, and let them apply as who they are,” Dennis said. On Tuesday, the Gender and Sexuality Center held an open house to inform stu-
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By Sarah Phillips @sarahphilips23
Junyuan Tan | Daily Texan Staff
Mr. and Miss Gay Texas drive down Congress Avenue during Pride Austin in August 2015.
CAMPUS
BLOQ party commemorates Pulse victims By Lisa Dreher @lisa_dreher97
Queer People of Color & Allies hosted its annual BLOQ party Thursday night to welcome students to campus on the East Mall. The BLOQ party theme this year was “Just Keep Dancin’” to remember those affected by the June shooting at the PULSE Nightclub, which left 49 people dead and others injured in Orlando. It was also “Latin Night” at the Florida club the night of the shooting, a theme which attracted mainly those of Hispanic background. “It really breaks my heart because not only was it queer people but also those of the Latino community,” said Alejandrina Guzman, director of Latin Community Affairs for the UT Multicultural Engagement Center. QPOCA is a student organization aiming to debunk stereotypes against students of color, queer students and their allies as well as support them, according to the center website. “We work to create a space of self-empowerment for queer people of color and to increase the visibility of people of color,” said Javier Rivera, QPOCA director of operations. “That’s what we strive for, but our meet-
Emmanuel Briseño | Daily Texan Staff
This years annual BLOQ party attracted hundreds of students to West mall where they enjoyed free pizza, T-shirts and information about multiple student organizations aiming to support students of color, queer students and their allies.
ings and events are open to everybody.” QPOCA is one of six agencies within the engagement center and has held BLOQ parties for at least the past five years, Rivera said. “I think it’s really wonderful because it builds community,” said Jay Wilk, QPOCA member and English senior. “It helps people connect to one another and
know there’s support out there for them even in informal ways.” Students grabbed free pizza, T-shirts with the organization’s logo to tie-dye and brochures about multiple social activism groups. About a hundred students gathered at the event, where groups like the Queer Students Alliance and Gamma Rho Lambda, an all-inclusive sorority, informed
passerbys about further involvement on campus. Neuroscience freshman Madison Scott said events like the BLOQ party help bring out people wanting to support such groups. “We need more events like this because it shows you don’t have to be queer to support queer people,” said Scott, who identifies as an ally. “It brings awareness that you can be an ally and
still come and support.” Turnout was still good despite the move to East Mall due to construction, Rivers said. “Queer and trans people are targeted all over the country, and when you measure it out, most of the time it happens to people of color,” Rivera said. “It puts things into perspective and makes what [QPOCA] means on this campus.”
Road construction in West Campus is a common sight for students who traverse Rio Grande Street, a road lined with off-campus condos and Greek system houses. The construction, occurring between 24th and 29th streets, has been an ongoing project since February and is a part of an initiative to improve the functionality and aesthetic of the largely residential street. Austin voters approved an allocation of $103.1 million supplied by bonds and notes in 2006 to improve Austin streets. Rio Grande Street was one of the targeted roadways. Courtney Black, a public information specialist handling the Public Works project, said the construction will include new storm drains, a waterline, bigger sidewalks and a two-way bicycle track, improvements similar to what has already been done on the rest of Rio Grande Street. “This is gonna help improve the infrastructure, make the street look better and make it more bicycle and p e d e s t r i an - f r i e n d l y,” Black said. The addition will also provide bike racks, benches, trees, trash bins and improved lighting, Black said. Judy Paulk, Alpha Epsilon Phi house mother of 22 years, said having the construction in front of the sorority house she manages has been horrible. “The city has been as helpful as they could be, but the problem is I don’t know the purpose of it,” Paulk said. “The worst thing is they’re making it one lane, one-way and
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STUDENT GOVERNMENT
CITY
SG to introduce new safety campaign
DWIs rise following exit of Uber, Lyft
By Paul Cobler @paulcobler
Student Government, in collaboration with the University, plans to unveil the new Be Safe campaign in mid-October. The campaign will encourage students, staff and faculty to be safer when traveling to, from and while on campus, said Cindy Posey, associate director for Communications for University Operations and public information officer.
Safety has become a primary concern for student representatives and campus officials since the murder of Haruka Weiser in April. “We started the Be Safe campaign about a year ago when we were hearing more and more stories west of campus and on campus involving the criminally transient population,” Posey said. “So we were trying to educate the campus on what
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By Catherine Marfin @catherinemarfin
Zoe Fu | Daily Texan Staff
The expansion of SURE Walk, a program run by Student Government, will be a priority in the new Be Safe campaign. The SURE Walk service now operates seven days a week.
Driving while intoxicated incidents have steadily increased since the ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft left Austin in May. On May 9, just days after a ballot measure in support of the ride-hailing companies failed in Austin, Uber and Lyft stopped their services in the city. Passage of the law would have overturned previous City Council resolutions
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QPOCA hosts first BLOQ Party since Pulse shooting. PAGE 3
Don Zimmerman is unfit to serve on City Council. PAGE 4
Volleyball gears up for title rematch with Nebraska. PAGE 8
UT alumni to march in upcoming Pride parade. PAGE 12
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Ride-hailing exit could be cause of increased DWIs. PAGE 3
Donald Trump elevates the worst parts of the right. PAGE 4
Connaster tries to lead Longhorns to first win. PAGE 8
FLAGS organization gives LGBT sports opportunities. PAGE 12
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imposing regulations such as city-run fingerprint background checks. Ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber arrived in Austin in 2014. From May 2013 to May 2014, the Austin Police Department reported an average of 525 DWIs each month. One year later, the average of DWIs in the city had gone down 5 percent, with 500 incidents per month. In the following year, from May 2015 to May 2016,
DWI page 2 REASON TO PARTY
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