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Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
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Tuesday, November 15, 2016
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NATIONAL
Democrats promote summer Pell Grants By Van Nguyen @nguyen__van
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing to bring back yearround Pell Grants, which allow students across the nation and at UT to access federal aid during summer semesters. Currently, Pell Grants, which are capped at $5,815 and are expected to last the entire school year, are
accessible to students who express financial need. Yearround Pell Grants, which give students additional aid for the summer, lasted for three years until the program was cut by President Barack Obama in 2011 because the plan cost more than budget experts and policy makers expected, according to a paper released by think tank New America in 2015. It was estimated to cost around $400 million but
ended up at $2.1 billion, five times more than anticipated. Congressman Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, and 123 other House Democrats sent a letter to the House and Senate committees on Appropriations and Labor, Health and Human Services and Education on Nov. 1 to reinstate Pell Grant funding during the summer. Scott is a ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
The letter urges those in the Committees on Appropriations to not cut the funding Pell Grants receive for Fiscal Year 2017 but rather distribute the $7.8 billion surplus of funds from unused Pell Grants to students who require financial assistance during the summer. “Any rescission to the Pell Grant surplus is a direct threat to educational opportunity for our nation’s low-income
students,” members of Congress said in the letter. Bringing back the yearround Pell Grant to help fund the summer sessions aligns with the goals of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to have students graduate in four years, as well as recommendations the board is making to the Texas Legislature for the upcoming Legisla-
@sarahphilips23
FILING page 3
@mcohanlon
Emmanuel Briseno | Daily Texan Staff
Briana Torres, a Plan II and government freshman, will be attending the 17th annual Texas Conference for Women in Austin. The conference was created to provide networking and career development opportunities for women.
am by no means jaded. I have to pay that forward.” Doreen Lorenzo, the director of the University’s Center for Integrated Design, will lead a session titled “Strategies to Stand Out, Step Up and Get Noticed in a Male Dominated Environment.” In light of accusations that president-elect Trump made derogatory comments toward women, Lorenzo thinks women’s equality is especially
By Sarah Philips
CONFERENCE page 2
By Morgan O’Hanlon
said. “When it came down to it, my response to him was ‘God forbid anybody ever tell your daughter that she’s too ambitious.’” Since realizing these discrepancies, she’s decided to help other young women further their careers. “I’ve had an awesome career and have been helped by a lot of men and women along the way,” Piñeyro-Sublett said. “I’ve been very fortunate and
State Reps. prepare for upcoming bill-filing
important to keep in mind. “You must stick to your moral compass and keep doing the right thing,” Lorenzo said in an email. “Women just don’t get a break. It is clear based on the election we still have a lot of work to do.” Young women such as Briana Torres, a Plan II and government freshman, are excited to get a leg up in their
GRANTS page 3
Conference addresses women’s inequality
Years later, when PiñeyroSublett received negative feedback from a boss for having too much ambition, she decided she wanted to work toward eradicating gender inequality. “I tried to remember if there was anything about my actions that made it seem like I was operating from a place of blind ambition, but I couldn’t really think of anything,” Piñeyro-Sublett
STATE
State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, announced Monday she will explore whether the University of Texas could opt out of the campus carry law and the potential bathroom bill Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is touting as a priority this legislative session. When campus carry was passed, private universities were given the option to opt out of the law. At a House Democrats press conference, Hinojosa said she wants UT to have the same option. “It’s my understanding that all but one private university in the state [opted out],” Hinojosa, who was elected last week, said after the press conference. “I think that our families that choose our great public universities, especially UT-Austin, should be afforded that same right. So that if UT wants to opt out, then they’re allowed to. If A&M wants to have their guns, they can have their guns.” Patrick outlined his top 10 priorities for this session in a press release Monday, one of them being the Women’s Privacy Act, sometimes referred to as a “bathroom bill,” which would restrict bathroom access based on the gender listed on a person’s birth certificate rather than the gender they identify as. “A majority of Texans in both political parties and in every ethnic and demographic group believe that women and girls should have privacy and safety in their restrooms, showers and locker rooms,” Patrick said in a news release. “Unfortunately, legislation is necessary to assure that
CITY
Pantsuits and briefcases, symbols of professional feminism, will be abundant at the 17th annual Texas Conference for Women, where women will fight patriarchy by building their careers. The Texas Conference for Women is part of a national series created to provide networking and career development opportunities through workshops given by some of the top women in various fields. Among the list of women speaking today at the Austin Convention Center are Olympic soccer player Abby Wambach and international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. UT alumna Carla PiñeyroSublett, the chief marketing officer at Rackspace, has been a member of the conference’s board for three years. This year, she will be a panelist in a session about the barriers against women’s upward mobility in the tech field — obstacles she hadn’t always been aware of. “When I was in college, I turned a blind eye to the role that gender plays in career paths,” Piñeyro-Sublett said. “But once you start to look at the statistics on women’s representation in corporate boards and on the number [of] women in leadership positions, you start to realize that we actually do have a problem.”
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CAMPUS
ENGINEERING
Indigenous students host history awareness event
Students engineer model mission to Mars
By Hannah Daniel @hannnahdaniel
Following an acknowledgment that the event took place on stolen land, “Feast on This” attendees took part Monday in a Native American prayer, ate tacos, listened to various speakers and watched live performances. The Native American and Indigenous Collective hosted the event, an annual dinner and discussion of issues facing indigenous communities, in collaboration with the Native American and Indigenous Peoples Association last night in the Student Activity Ballroom.
NAIC Co-President Kristian Byrd said the two student groups have traditionally hosted the event to dispel myths surrounding Thanksgiving, because people don’t typically hear the full story. “The perspective of the Native Americans, which is an important part of the story, is usually left out,” said Byrd, a civil engineering senior. Maria Rocha, executive director of the Indigenous Cultures Institute, said Native Americans can’t simply forget about the atrocities
INDIGENOUS page 2
By Julianne Hodges
A UT research team presented their manned Mars mission design at Johnson Space Center in May 2015.
@JayHodges2018
A group of UT students is reaching for Mars by designing their own manned Mars mission and raising questions in the spaceflight community about how best to send humans to the red planet in the near future. The research team, comprised of seven undergraduate students and one graduate student, developed a manned mission to Mars that includes designs for entry, descent and landing, according to team lead and aerospace engineering senior Joe Lingren. The group first presented their mission designs at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in
Photo courtesy of Saeyone Balasekar
May 2015 and again earlier this month at the 2016 New Worlds Conference in Austin. They are currently working to publish a condensed version of
their paper. The team works with UT researcher Humboldt Mandell and aerospace engineering professor Hans Mark.
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
ONLINE
Fenves addresses concerns following the election. PAGE 3
Superdelegates divide voters and establishment. PAGE 4
Men’s basketball cruised to their second victory. PAGE 6
SanghaLink brings community to LGBT students. PAGE 8
Lecture connects vampire stories to present day. PAGE 3
Superdelegates allow for well-balanced opinion. PAGE 4
Women’s basketball drops season opener. PAGE 6
Tat-Tuesday: Students share their ink stories. PAGE 8
Check out the latest story from The Daily Texan video department on UT Mariachi at: dailytexanonline.com
The project is based off a 1991 student-led undertaking; although that team was
MARS page 2 REASON TO PARTY
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