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Thursday, September 22, 2016
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EVENT PREVIEW
SG
Tribfest brings politicians, gun debate
Spending woes halt first-year campaigns
By Sarah Phillips @sarahphilips23
Politicians, journalists and politics lovers alike will be descending upon campus this weekend for the Texas Tribune Festival, a three-day conference that includes panels on timely political topics. Some of the big-name panelists and speakers that will be at the Festival include Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R-OH), independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former Texas gubernatorial
candidate Wendy Davis, to name a few. The weekend will begin with a keynote one-on-one conversation between Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith and Kasich Friday night. The panels will cover everything from issues like the STAAR test and big-time college sports to the 2016 presidential election. One of the festival’s panels will focus on a university-oriented policy issue — campus carry. The panel titled “Campus Carry is the Law. Now What?” will bring in players involved on all fronts of the
issue that sparked campus protests and has been a heavy topic of discussion. One of the panelists in this discussion is Steven Goode, a professor at the UT School of Law and the chair of the Campus Carry Working Policy Group. The group’s mission was to define regulations and rules surrounding campus carry and UT President Gregory Fenves. Goode said the panel will likely revolve around why they chose the policies they did and how they’ve been
TRIBFEST page 2
By Lisa Dreher @lisa_dreher97
Junyuan Tan | Daily Texan file photo
Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith speaks before the keynote conversation at last years Texas Tribune Festival. This year Smith will speak with John Kasich on Friday to kick off the festival.
WEST CAMPUS
APD Report: West Campus rapes in de cline austintexas.gov APD crime stats @KeenanArroyo
The amount of reported rapes in the West Campus area decreased from 33 in 2014 to 13 in 2015, according to crime reports released by the Austin Police Department. Rapes between these years were cut down by over half, a significant change APD said is not easily attributed, and still requires further investigation. “I don’t know why the numbers would change, I do know that sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes that there are,” said APD Sergeant Sandra Benningfield. “That’s something that we always try to get out there — is letting people know that just because they’re a victim of a sexual assault they shouldn’t feel ashamed.” Earlier this year a UT study — headed by Noel Busch-Armendariz, director of the University’s Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault — found 91 percent of sexual assault cases go unreported. Whether this is the mitigat-
2015:
13 sexual assaults in West Campus 2014:
33
sexual assaults in West Campus
91 percent of all Texan sexual assaults go unreported
Infographic by Elizabeth Jones | Daily Texan Staff
ing factor contributing to the steep decline in rapes in the West Campus area is something Benningfield said is difficult to determine, but nevertheless likely. “A 20 case differential
SYSTEM
@PaulCobler
Fossil Free Texas president Matthew Chovanec said he takes UT’s motto, “What starts here changes the world,” very seriously when it comes to combating climate change. Chovanec, a Middle Eastern languages and cultures graduate student, has been working on a grassroots movement at UT to lobby the UT System into imposing stricter regulations on oil and gas companies using UT lands in West Texas. In a press conference Wednesday morning, Fossil Free Texas and Environment Texas released a
in that area or any area is significant,” Benningfield said. “When the number goes down, I don’t think the number of rapes is going down as opposed to the number of people making
the reports are going down.” Samantha Carter, UT Police Department officer, reaffirmed the idea of underreporting playing a role in the decline of reported West Campus rapes, however,
she added that educational awareness could have had an impact. “It could either be the educational programs out
APD page 3
CAMPAIGNS page 2
CAMPUS
McRaven faces pressure for UT system fracking By Paul Cobler
Source: austintexas.gov
By Katie Keenan
The UT Supreme Court broke from past procedures and levied harsher punishments upon this year’s first-year representative candidates for not turning in their campaign spending reports on time. The ruling resulted in the suspension of campaigning and a reduction in spending limits for five candidates the day before elections. Students who run for first-year representative positions are required to submit forms detailing donations and campaign expenses three times to the Election Supervisory Board throughout their campaign. This year, five students failed to submit campaign spending reports by the required second deadline. “Almost every election, the financial disclosures are turned in late by some candidates,” said Justice Blake Richard, a supply chain management senior. “We decided this time to establish a more firm precedent of exact punishments.” Election Code violations are categorized from A to D by increasing severity and punishment. This year’s candidates were all issued a Class C violation, resulting in a 24-hour campaign suspension from Tuesday to Wednesday morning, as well as a 20 percent reduction from their $204 spending limit. Business freshman Nahiyan Khan and finance freshman Camron Goodman, neuroscience freshman Riley O’Hara, undeclared sophomore Seth Sageser and communication studies sophomore Austin Sappington have all
video showing methane being released by drilling on UT lands. Chovanec said Fossil Free Texas was first made aware of methane emissions on UT lands last year, and since have been working on this campaign. “All of our jaws dropped,” Chovanec said. “Suddenly we were handed the terrible truth that not only UT owns land on which fossil fuel extraction is happening directly, but it’s not even abiding by the least decent practices and leading to these methane emissions.” Fossil Free Texas has also been partnering with Environment Texas, a statewide
FRACKING page 2
Black Voices rise in UT support group By Will Clark This semester a new student support group, Black Voices, formed to provide a space for black students to process their experiences as a minority on campus. Kimberly Burdine, diversity coordinator for the Counseling and Mental Health Center, facilitates discussions within the group involving race relations, gender equality, mass incarceration and police brutality, among other issues. Burdine said as more people become aware of anti-black racism, there tends to be a curiosity or confusion among non-black people. She emphasizes that Black Voices is
primarily a place for black students to talk about black issues among themselves. “One of the things that would be very helpful and important to do is not make [understanding black issues] the work of black people,” Burdine said. “Then you’ve made the work of understanding your privilege that of somebody else, and that perpetuates the stress and perpetuates the trauma that people experience.” Psychology freshman Patience Ojionuka plans to attend Black Voices and said an open dialogue between students of all different backgrounds is important for progress on race issues. “Often times the best thing white allies can do is to listen and to support,” Ojionuka
said. “That happens by us having conversations about racism. That is the biggest thing allies can do is to try to make a difference without speaking over the voices of people of color.”
The group meets in the Gordon White Building, the same building that houses the African and African diaspora studies department, an intentional choice, Burdine
REASON TO PARTY
@willclark6323
Zoe Fu | Daily Texan file photo
Kimberly Burdine speaks at a mental health discussion on Novemebr 30, 2015.
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
ONLINE
Group offers opportunities to minorities in advertising. PAGE 3
Texas must lower maternal mortality rates. PAGE 4
Sanya Richards-Ross returns to campus. PAGE 6
Nivana celebrates “Nevermind” album anniversary. PAGE 10
App gives students opportunity to escape textbooks.
Foreign policy expert discusses U.S. pivot to Asia. PAGE 3
E-cigarretes pose no real threat. PAGE 4
Longhorns not panicking after loss to California. PAGE 6
Soft Ground sculpture shown at Materials Lab. PAGE 10
VOICES page 2
Read more at dailytexanonline.com PAGE 7