The Daily Texan 2016-09-07

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COMICS PAGE 7

SPORTS PAGE 6

LIFE&ARTS PAGE 8

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Wednesday, September 7, 2016

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CITY

County to increase voter registration By Sarah Philips @sarahphilips23

Travis County is aiming to register 90 percent of the county’s eligible citizens to vote before Election Day, which would break a record, according to the Travis County Tax Office. Bruce Elfant, Travis County’s tax assessor and voter registrar, started the initiative last September. To meet its goal, the county must register 15,000 more voters by the end

of September, Voter Registration Month. The county currently has almost 700,000 voters, according to the county’s tax office. The county needs exactly 715,495 registered voters in order to meet the goal. “Texas prides itself in being bigger at everything, but it is small when it comes to casting ballots to elect our leaders and deciding about ballot initiatives, such as bonds that tax homeowners and changes in laws,” Elfant said in a statement.

As for the UT campus, organizations are working on “get out the vote” campaigns to get students registered to vote. UT Votes is an organization on campus that organizes events and voter education programs to increase political engagement on campus. Deanna Hausman, UT Votes vice president, said the organization is participating in Voter Registration Month by competing

VOTING page 2

Emma Acosta | Daily Texan Staff

Students register to vote outside of Gregory Gymnasium on monday Feb. 1 2016.

By Paul Cobler @paulcobler

Brooke Crim | Daily Texan Staff

President Gregory Fenves delivers a speech regarding the possibility of the addition of BYU to the Big 12 Conference. Student Government’s second meeting covered football politics and gender inclusive norms on campus.

couraging the student body to be more involved with the University’s process. “It is very important that I work with students on the major issues,” Fenves said. “We have a number of mechanisms to do that, such as Student Gov-

UT ConTex commences partnership with Mexico @nguyen__van

Fenves address key issues at SG meeting

championship game.” Finally, Fenves extended an invitation to the entire assembly to attend his State of the University Address next week, saying he will announce initiatives for the coming year during the speech, and en-

SYSTEM

By Van Nguyen

STUDENT GOVERN-

University President Gregory Fenves spoke to the Student Government assembly Tuesday night, showing his support for SG and speaking on several key issues involving the University. Campus safety, affirmative action and campus carry were key parts of Fenves’ speech before he opened the floor to the student representatives for questions. “Student government plays a very important role in our University with student life and issues that affect students,” Fenves said. “I want to listen to issues that are important to students, as well.” Fenves fielded a wide variety of questions regarding University policy and plans for the future from the assembly. Fenves also answered a question about the possible Big 12 expansion, saying that no decision has been made by the conference, but one could be expected around late October. “We are going through a process, but there has been no decision made on whether we are going to add teams, and if we are going to add teams, which ones they will be,” Fenves said. “The announcement we have made that I think is a good one is that we are going to add a

bit.ly/dtvid

ernment and the Academic Advising Council.” After Fenves’ speech, SG sent A.R. 7 to committee, a bill that supports incorporating genderinclusive bathrooms in all preexisting buildings. In committee, the authors

of the bill will have an opportunity to speak more about the bill before it is voted on at next week’s meeting. “We as a University can and should strive to create as

GENDER page 2

The UT System established the ConTex office last week to oversee the partnership between UT System institutions and Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology, also known as CONACYT. The ConTex office will facilitate programs that will provide Mexican Ph.D. students educational opportunities at UT System institutions, allow for the exchange of postdoctoral and faculty fellows, and enable visiting students to participate in research projects. The ConTex office is located on the UT San Antonio campus and will support the new programs created in the partnership with CONACYT. UT System Chancellor William H. McRaven signed an official memorandum of understanding with CONACYT last year to strengthen ties with Mexico, as well as create joint academic and research programs in STEMrelated fields at all 14 UT System institutions. “Mexico is more than just our friend,” McRaven said in a statement. “Each one of our academic and health institutions benefits from our proximity to and relationship with Mexico, and the same can be said of Texas itself. Our partnership with CONACYT is essential to building a knowledge exchange to make new discoveries in science, health care and technology.” In addition to the memorandum, an official agreement of cooperation was established and signed in June 2016. The collaboration’s programs are currently being developed and will start in the fall of 2017.

CONTEX page 3

STUDENT GOVERMENT

CAMPUS

Gun rights advocates SG criticizes BYU for anti-LGBT policies defend campus carry By Paul Cobler @paulcobler

By Van Nguyen @nguyen__van

While some on campus have protested the implementation of campus carry since the beginning of the semester, other students, faculty and members of the Austin community support the law and wish to educate others who may be uninformed. The law, which went into effect on Aug. 1, has been a controversial topic among students and faculty members since it was proposed last year, and was met with a number of protests during the first week of the fall semester. Gun right advocates on and off campus want to help people under-

stand that campus carry isn’t as dangerous as some on the anti-campus carry side are saying. Brian Bensimon, government sophomore and director for the Texas chapter of Students for Concealed Carry, said educating those on campus on the law is one of the main goals of his organization. “A lot of people don’t know you have to be 21 [and] go through a background check and the background checks are done by the FBI themselves,” Bensimon said. “For me it’s about individual rights, it’s about individual liberty and I want to push the ball forward in

LTC page 3

Several members of Student Government are co-authoring legislation in an effort to criticize Brigham Young University’s admission to the Big 12 Conference, because of BYU’s honor code banning “homosexual behavior” by all members of its university. The code states, “Homosexual behavior is inappropriate and violates the honor code,” in a 10-line passage that was first brought to Student Government president Kevin Helgren’s attention earlier this month, who then told the Student Government Assembly of his plans to write the legislation. Helgren was made aware of the passage through an email from Iowa State’s student

body president, whose student governemnt is planning similar legislation. “I went to BYU’s website and thought to myself, ‘Wow that’s pretty out of touch. That’s pretty outlandish,’” Helgren said. “I think I am in a unique position because, sure, I’m the student body president, but I’m also a gay male. It’s something that means a lot to me.” In July, UT President Greg Fenves spoke in support of the University of Houston entering the conference and says he will take any legislation from Student Government into consideration. “I don’t have any other comments about any other schools at this time, but I do look forward to hearing the students voice’s on this issue,” Fenves said. Fenves, who sits on the con-

Brooke Crim | Daily Texan Staff

Student Government president Kevin Helgren spoke on BYU and their admission to the Big 12 Conference.

ference Board of Directors, also said no decision has been made at this time as to whether or not the conference will expand, but expects a decision by the end of October. BYU is a private university sponsored by The Church

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

LIFE&ARTS

ONLINE

SURE Walk expands services to meet demands. PAGE 3

Bernie supporters mustvote Hillary to win election PAGE 4

Longhorns emphasize fast starts to spark win streak. PAGE 6

UT students share drag performance experience. PAGE 8

VAV promotes services at first meeting of the year. PAGE 3

Gentrification further problems with diversity PAGE 4

Texas makes huge leap in polls after impressive win. PAGE 6

Married geology lectuers share their love story. PAGE 8

New exhibit highlighting effect plantations left on Barbados set to open in September. Read more at dailytexanonline.com

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and bases its honor code off of the church’s teachings. Carri Jenkins, the assistant to the president for University Communications at BYU, said

BYU page 3 REASON TO PARTY

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