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THEATER & DANCE
POLICY
New arts program embraces diversity
TX Senator Watson lays out mental health plan
By Lisa Dreher @lisa_dreher97
Students and faculty celebrated the beginning of a long-awaited organization for students of color in theatre and dance at a launch party Wednesday afternoon in the F. Loren Winship Drama Building. After about a year of brainstorming, Andrew Aaron Valdez, theatre studies and biology senior, and theatre studies senior Si Mon’ Emmett brought their
idea to fruition by creating the Students of Color Organization for Performance and Engagement. “I think it’s more of like just a gathering place … for us to come and interchange our ideas, our ideals and also more than anything, our art,” Valdez said. Emmett said SCOPE will provide a safe space for these students to talk, network with professionals and eventually showcase their art. Members said they hope to expand the organization
to other fine arts majors as well. “Especially at a school as big as UT, you kind of lose touch of where your people [are],” Emmett said. “It’s easy to get lost in such a large university.” About 20 students, faculty and alumni crowded around the tables full of chips, soda and fruit, and exchanged stories and business cards before guest speakers talked. Matrex Kilgore, Creative Action associate program
SCOPE page 2
By Will Clark @_willclark_
Karen Pinilla | Daily Texan Staff
Two students and a professor attend the launch of SCOPE on Wednesday afternoon.
CAMPUS
Muslim students protest with open prayer By Jenan Taha @Jenan_a_taha
Nearly 50 Muslim students openly prayed Wednesday in the Main Mall to protest Israeli restrictions on mosques’ call to prayer. The Israeli government recently passed a bill that bans mosques in Jerusalem — including Al-Aqsa, one of the holiest mosques of Islam — from announcing the call to prayer, or adhan, aloud. The adhan, which is played loudly enough to be heard across the city, was deemed disruptive for non-Muslim citizens. Government senior Kareem Abdi, who regularly leads prayers at the Nueces Mosque in West Campus, performed the adhan over a loud speaker. “I have to stand up for my religion, especially in this time when my religion is being banned from a country that’s very holy, very sacred,” Abdi said. “If I wasn’t standing up for my Palestinian brothers and sisters, it would definitely be a shame.” Law sophomore Noor Wadi, an organizer of the event, said she can’t imagine not hearing the centuries-
Katie Bauer | Daily Texan Staff
The Palestine Solidarity Committee held a call to prayer in the Main Mall on Wednesday afternoon. The students protested Israel’s new law that bans the call to prayer to be sung aloud.
old adhan play when she visits Jerusalem. “Listening to the call to prayer is one of the most healing, soothing, beautiful
STATE
experiences, and to know that in the future I won’t have the privilege of hearing that, that’s one of the many things that makes this such an awful
law,” Wadi said. As students prayed on a lawn of the Main Mall, about 20 others created a barrier around them and silently
held signs that read “Protect Muslims” and “No to statesanctioned Islamophobia.”
PRAYER page 3
Texas State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, addressed the annual Austin meeting of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Wednesday night on the future of healthcare for those with mental illnesses. Watson is a former Austin mayor and was elected to the Texas Senate in 2006. NAMI is a national advocacy group with a chapter on UT’s campus, and Watson’s speech addressed ways of rethinking how to care for those with mental illnesses and sustain mental health in Austin. “We can make it a statement of hope for people to be able to say, ‘I have a mental illness or a brain condition, and I’m getting treatment in Austin Texas,’” Watson said. Watson said several recent developments make it possible to reach this goal, naming the Dell Medical School as a catalyst for improving care in Austin. “Hope matters,” Watson said. “I believe that we can provide world-class care and meet the brain health needs of simple Texans while also facilitating the research and educational program that pushes the edge of science and care to improve brain health outcomes for all people regardless of their socio-economic status. Think about the hope that creates.” Watson said he has been working with the state to improve local hospitals. “The state must do something about the Austin State Hospital,” Watson said. “Usually you can only get money out of the state
WATSON page 2
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Ken Paxton elaborates Music concert brightens student spirit for finals on campus carry law By JT Lindsey @juliotoronto
By Sarah Philips @sarahphilips23
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced community and junior colleges would not be able to generally prohibit guns on campus for occasions when minors are involved at the schools in an opinion released Wednesday. The opinion was filed in response to a query from state Rep. Abel Herrero, DRobstown, asking if campuses could prohibit guns for programs such as College
for Kids, in child care centers or in cases where minor students attend classes on the campus. Paxton’s statement provides legal clarification on the gun laws passed in the past year. The campus carry law, originally passed on June 13, 2015 during the 84th legislative session, took effect on college campuses on Aug. 1, 2016. Before the law was fully implemented, each institution of higher education was allowed to “establish reasonable rules,
The Pans of Texas held an end-of-semester concert on the West Mall Wednesday, looking to brighten spirits on campus as final exams approach. Dozens of students, faculty and family members of the band attended the concert to watch members perform on the steel drums of Trinidad and Tobago. The band battled back against the brisk winter air by playing warm weather favorite ”Margaritaville,” Rick Astley’s Internet meme “Never Gonna Give You Up” and the seasonal “All I Want For
Christmas is You,” along with many others. Music graduate student Diana Loomer, director of the Pans of Texas, said the music the group plays encourages people to enjoy themselves and move in ways that other concerts cannot. “I enjoy the type of music that we play, because it’s meant to be fun,” Loomer said. “It’s meant to be played where the audience can move around, instead of being in a setting where you have to sit still.” For many members of the band, this performance is their only chance during the semester to showcase
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Brooke Crim | Daily Texan Staff
The Pans of Texas play their rendition of “Magaritaville” by Jimmy Buffet at the West Mall on Wednesday afternoon.
the music and talents they have learned. Chemical engineering sophomore Heath Koch, first-year member of
the Pans of Texas, said his favorite part of playing in the
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Volume 117, Issue 78
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regulations or other provisions regarding the carrying of concealed handguns by license holders.” Paxton addresses the ability of campuses to prohibit guns for special programs or events where minors may be in attendance at junior and community colleges, stating officials cannot ban concealed handguns based on the presumed presence of minors. “Unless the classes or special programs about which you ask are actually sponsored by a school instead of the community or junior college, this phrase similarly does not prohibit concealed handguns on a junior or community college campus,” Paxton wrote in the opinion. “[The law’s] prohibition is based on premises and activities, not on the demographics of the
people in those locations or on the people participating in those activities” Paxton states institutions are allowed to prohibit concealed handguns in certain areas and rooms on campus, as long as those restrictions are only targeted toward those specific rooms where minors are present. “Those rules do not operate to ‘generally prohibit or have the effect of generally prohibiting license holders from carrying concealed handguns on the campus of the institution,’” Paxton wrote, also pointing out that handguns are not banned in places such as movie theaters and museums because of the presence of minors. This opinion comes four months after the introduction of campus carry on Texas university campuses, which allows licensed concealed handgun owners to carry on public campuses.
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Editor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alexander Chase Associate Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Benroy Chan, Mubarrat Choudhury, Michael Jensen, Emily Vernon Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jackie Wang Associate Managing Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Megan Hix, Iliana Storch News Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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continues from page 1 ensemble is the joy that the members and the audience bring to the performance. “I love the energy everyone brings to it and how much fun everyone has playing,” Koch said. “It’s a great stress
SCOPE
continues from page1 director, Amissa Miller, interactive theatre specialist for Voices Against Violence, and Andrew Carlson, theatre and dance clinical assistant professor, spoke about the necessity of the organization. Carlson said he has heard students and faculty express for a while the need for such an organization for students of color to share their experiences concerning cultural differences. “I’ve been talking to students for the five years that
Thomas Negrete | Daily Texan Staff
Texas State Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin) responds to the community’s concerns surrounding mental health legislation. He spoke of his vision to make Austin a model health city.
WATSON
when you have your hands right around its neck.” This vision requires putting the various pieces together to
make a model healthy city, Watson said. “Our brand new medical school with the new psychiatric department is the chocolate. The imminent need and the mandate to replace Ash
is the peanut butter,” Watson said. “Put ‘em together and you have a peanut butter cup. By the way, in my opinion that is essential to a model healthy community: peanut butter cups.”
reliever, and people can just stop and listen on their way to the FAC or the Drag.” For students in attendance, the concert was a pick-me-up during a difficult part of the semester. Mathematics junior Eita Yamaguchi said the timing of the concert was perfect to boost
student morale. “It’s pretty cool they do it during midterms week, it feels like a breath of fresh air,” Yamaguchi said. “Live music is always a plus, I’ll never turn that down.” Studying as he listened, radio-television-film freshman Ryan Chang said the concert
was a good place to study and break up the monotony of his normal study habits. “I needed a change of pace, I guess,” Chang said. “I study a lot at the PCL, and I thought I needed a change of setting to keep the mood up, and with the steel drums going, it’s a great atmosphere.
I’ve been here,” Carlson said. “I’m just really grateful that it’s happening now.” Kilgore, who graduated from UT in 2015 with a degree in dance and theatre, said he felt out of place concerning casting as a black male. “In the past, when I was a student, we didn’t have many shows that allowed people of color to play people of color,” Kilgore said. Kilgore said the department has changed its attitude toward their students and how the programs will include them. “There were some
faculty members who wouldn’t speak to us raising questions [about diversity],” Kilgore said. “The fact that they [now] have a mission statement on diversity and inclusion is leaps and bounds beyond what it was when I was a student.” The focus is on students of color, but Emmett said there may be a few meetings which include white allies. “We don’t want to be exclusive at all because it’s not, but we do have times where it will just be students of color,” Emmett said. J.J. Cortez, a theatre and dance sophomore, said he
sometimes felt unsure if he was denied or accepted a role for a show because of the color of his skin and said he was glad such a group can allow him to express that feeling. “I know it’s not looked at like that, but I feel like when I audition for a role, am I not going to get it because of my skin color or do I get called back because of my skin color?” Cortez said. “That being said, I think it’s super important to have an organization that represents us and to have our work shown and performed, because we have a voice too.”
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Thursday, December 1, 2016
FILM
Film screening educates on climate change By Reagan Ritterbush @Reagan0720
From deep inside the rainforests to the depths of the sea, our planet provides answers to our future. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, known for his roles in films such as “The Revenant” and “Inception,” currently stars in a new environmental awareness film in order to help Americans find answers to pressing climate issues. To coincide with this year’s election, UT’s Campus Environment Center screened “Before the Flood,” a documentary about climate change featuring and produced by DiCaprio, on Wednesday night. Released by National Geographic in late October, the documentary is available to UT students on various media platforms, including YouTube. CEC works to enable UT students to learn about the environment and to collaboratively build a culture of sustainability on campus. Chemical engineering freshman Susan Ward, a member of the CEC’s social squad, said the point be-
hind screening DiCaprio’s film was to show students the importance of climate change following the election and for the future of the world. “It gives us a bigger perspective on the issue at hand,” Ward said. “DiCaprio did all this research and compiled all those statistics so it’s easier for us to understand and visualize.” Economics junior Hank Freeman said the documentary hit on all the critical reasons why the world needs to continue dealing with the effects of climate change. “Climate change isn’t something that hurts one person,” Freeman said. “It affects aspects of everyone’s lives.” The documentary, directed by Fisher Stevens, follows DiCaprio to places such as Canada and Greenland, where global warming is posing a threat to the environment. It also features DiCaprio’s personal journey to stop climate change ever since former Vice President Al Gore brought it to his attention in the 1990s. “We wanted to create a
Courtesy of National Geographic
To coincide with this year’s election, UT’s Campus Environment Center screened “Before the Flood,” a documentary about climate change featuring and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, on Wednesday night.
film that gave people a sense of urgency, that made them understand what particular things are going to solve this problem,” DiCaprio said in the film. “Basically, sway a
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capitalist economy to try to invest in renewables, to bring less money and subsidies out of oil companies. These are the things that are really going to make a
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massive difference.” “Everything he was saying to me about climate change sounded like some nightmarish horror film, except everything he says
is real and it’s happening right now,” DiCaprio said in the film. “The more I learn about climate change, the more I realize all the things I don’t know about it.”
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ing Gabriel Lopez | Daily Texan Staff
Project Skills, or Skills and Knowledge of Intervention for Language Learning Success, helps develop speech and language communication skills.
UT provides free training for parents of children with autism By Meraal Hakeem @meraal_hakeem
Parents across Texas now have access to specialized training on UT’s campus to help develop the speech and language communication skills of their children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Project SKILLS, or Skills and Knowledge of Intervention for Language Learning Success, was initiated by two assistant professors at the Moody College of Communication to give parents access to this free training. “SKILLS is a project to give parents the skills and knowledge to facilitate their children’s learning language,” said SKILLS Co-director Jesse Franco, a Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders assistant professor. “We hope to reach families with children with autism across Texas.” Funding by a grant provided by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board makes it possible for
PRAYER
continues from page 1 Although she isn’t personally affected by the new law, petroleum engineering senior Faith Carter, who attended the event, said she feels it is a crucial issue. “I think everyone has a duty to recognize that just because it doesn’t impact you directly, it’s important to pay attention to,” Carter said. “It’s important to show
parents to access eight sessions of training at the UT Speech and Hearing Center for their children aged one to six years old, free of cost, Franco said. “The free aspect of the SKILLS project can help and provide families like those that may not be familiar with autism and may not have access to resources that can help them raise an autistic child with support and experience that will be useful for them to have,” pre-public relations freshman Tiffany Su said. The project strives to help children with autism grow to be successful in their academic career by equipping parents with various intervention strategies. “We are providing a model of parent training and hope to share that model with the greater autism community,” Franco said. “We focus on parent coaching and teach parents techniques based on Evidence Based Practice. The interventions are geared toward early
language development.” Psychology freshman Sonia Patel said SKILLS is a good program because it benefits families who would otherwise not have access to these specialized resources. “Projects like SKILLS are crucial to children with autism because it can help develop their communication skills, which leads to lower anxiety levels felt by the child and higher success rates in their various endeavors late in life,” Patel said. “Specifically, kids from a lower socioeconomic background need programs like this to help support them and keep them on track both socially and academically.” Franco said she expects the project to grow in the near future. “We are already working with a few families this semester and have seen great progress,” Franco said. “We are refining our methods and procedures and will offer therapy via videoconference starting next spring.”
as much solidarity as I can with the Palestinian people here, especially with some of the new policies coming out of Israel.” Sustainability studies sophomore Karina Gonzalez, who held a sign at the event, said she opposes the law. “It’s kind of ridiculous, they’re just praying,” Gonzalez said. “I think it’s an affront to their rights.” Wadi said she wanted
to make others on campus aware of the issues Muslims face abroad, because she believes Muslims in the U.S. could face the same problems. “The fears that we have as Muslim-Americans under Trump, those are the fears that Muslims in other countries are facing — it’s their reality,” Wadi said. “We see what they’re going through, and we won’t sit and let that happen silently.”
4 OPINION
ALEXANDER CHASE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | @TexanEditorial Thursday, December 1, 2016
4
COLUMN
Texans must advocate for water protection bills By Albert Zhao
Daily Texan Columnist @_AlbertZhao
Texas lawmakers have filed approximately a dozen gun bills for the 2017 legislative session, most concerned with protecting a Texan’s right to carry, yet zero bills have been filed protecting Texans from the more immediate threat of water pollution. According to a 2014 Environment Texas report, Texas ranks second in the nation for total pounds of toxic release in its waterways, right behind Indiana. In terms of toxicity, Texas pollutes more than twice the output of the rest of the United States, heightening risks of cancer, fetal death, birth defects and other maladies in affected areas. Industrial practices are the primary cause, and Texas has done little to protect its waterways from them. Current state institutions — such as the Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality — have failed in their roles to curb such damage and even document them. Earlier this August after an oil spill in Lake Houston, the TRC could not identify the company responsible for the leaking tank battery. Even more dangerously, the Commission did nothing about potential downstream leaks to houses nearby Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. In the same month, when a state senator from El Paso sent a request to the TRC for its documentation of oil spills since 2014,
In terms of toxicity, Texas pollutes more than twice the output of the rest of the United States, heightening risks of cancer, fetal death, birth defects and other maladies in affected areas. the data the Commission sent back was found to be insufficient and only extended back to 2015. In 2014, Ramona Nye, spokeswoman for the TRC, told the Associated Press that state regulators have not confirmed any cases of water-well contamination caused by the oil and gas industry in the past 10 years despite consistent complaints. And state incompetency applies to agribusiness practices too. In 2014, Pilgrim’s Pride, Tyson Foods and Sanderson Farms released millions of pounds of toxic discharge into Texas waterways, not including conventional pollutants. Though the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has the power to pursue “administrative, civil and criminal penalties” for such violations, they have failed to exercise this and these industrial practices continue unabated. And thus, when a state like ours fails to adequately protect its citizens and waterways, federal agencies such as the Environmental
Illustration by Melanie Westfall | Daily Texan Staff
Protection Agency must provide crucial services, such as clean-up operations. But after the Clean Water Act broadened its water protections, Texas and two other states sued the EPA, claiming federal overreach and infringement upon property owners’ rights. Texas now traps itself in an untenable position: Incapable of addressing its severe water pollution yet intolerant of aid if it comes from the federal government. Should Texans endure the state’s desperation in fighting the EPA, then pressure
must be mounted on the upcoming legislature to pass water pollution bills. Important measures would be forcing industrial plants to pay for their pollution and adopt safer chemicals, closing loopholes that allow them to avoid reporting toxic releases and providing public access to information of each plant’s output. Otherwise, we may drink arsenic-tainted water as we display our holsters. Zhao is a history and corporate communications junior from Shanghai, China.
COLUMN
President Obama’s legacy warrants our gratitude By Nahila Bonfiglio Daily Texan Columnist @NahilaBonfiglio
With the inauguration of President-elect Trump looming, the legacy of our current president has already started to fade. Despite his many critics, President Obama has accomplished some truly incredible things in his two terms, and many Americans dread the end of his time in office. This opinion is not merely due to his charisma and charm. President Obama has worked hard over the past eight years to accomplish ambitious goals including but not limited to: economic growth, creating and implementing Obamacare, pushing for better climate conservation and global accountability with the Paris Climate Accord and legalizing gay marriage. Still, not a single one of these accomplishments have been universally approved of. Many people will tell you that Obama has ruined our economy, but the Obama administration has created 14.4 million jobs and the unemployment rate has fallen from 10 percent in 2010 to 4.9 percent today. On top of this, the housing market has finally evened out, though the average worker’s pay has remained stagnant. Resentment towards stagnant wages has been exacerbated by the sometimes (un)Affordable Care Act. Obamacare has been widely criticized, but there are many who are grateful for the (usually) lower prices and spending caps. The Affordable Care Act allows for far more people to be insured, puts price caps on
Despite his many critics, President Obama has accomplished some truly incredible things in his two terms, and many Americans dread the end of his time in office. out-of-pocket spending and makes it so insurers can no longer penalize people for pre-existing medical conditions. However, the criticism it has faced is not unfounded: Often the price is higher than desired due to a consistent lack of competition — resulting in higher co-pays for many and low enrollment rates by healthy young people. The most unfounded criticism of Obama can be found in the area of climate change. The threat of global climate change has been looming for years, but President Obama has done more to combat climate change and take responsibility for the damage done by the U.S. than any other president. On top of leading this worldwide endeavor, Obama cut carbon emissions, made massive investments in clean energy and reduced both air and water pollution. The long term impacts of this imperative work cannot be overstated. Despite sound criticism of most endeavors he has pursued, perhaps the most controversial of all was legalizing gay marriage. Marriage equality is a touchy subject for many people, particularly those with a
Rachel Zein | Daily Texan file photo
President Obama waves to South By Southwest Interactive attendees on March 11. Despite incessant criticism, President Obama’s policies have been a benefit to our nation.
strong religious influence in their lives. The Bible is often cited as argument against a same sex marriage, but regardless of dissent President Obama made the call and allowed approximately 390,000 couples to achieve the dream of marrying the person they love. Those people will remember his legacy every time they get to check “married” on their taxes and return home to a life, and a partner, that they chose.
No President has ever been universally loved, but Obama has solidified his place in history as well as in many of our hearts. He strove for eight years to make our country a better place despite constant criticism and obstruction. For everything that he achieved, and for everything that he fought for, we thank him. Bonfiglio is a journalism junior from Oak Creek, Colorado.
COLUMN
Austin stands to benefit from sanctuary city status By Laura Hallas
Daily Texan Senior Columnist @LauraHallas
Austin is poised to be Texas’ first so-called sanctuary city, and the christening couldn’t come at a more difficult time. With a president-elect and state legislature vowing to slash funding for sanctuary cities, unity is being challenged in unprecedented ways. Austin officials must focus inward to make a sanctuary policy based on community and evidence, not divisiveness. Though there is no formal definition, a “sanctuary city” commonly refers to jurisdictions opposed to working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Although the word opposition is used loosely, this can mean anything from formal policies to public statements. Local law enforcement and ICE have worked together before, but the relationship comes with the baggage from past policy failures. A previous deportation policy called Secure Communities required jails to hold undocumented persons for a time limit not exceeding 48 hours,
even if criminal charges were resolved. The goal was to go after “criminals,” but the program disproportionately affected people with minor offenses such as traffic tickets and ran into some legal problems itself after being widely criticized as unconstitutional. The detainer program has since been replaced by the more targeted Priority Enforcement Program, which lessens the active role of local law enforcement in deportation. But Barbara Hines, founder of UT Law’s immigration clinic, said that we might be slipping back toward the damaging policies of the past. “Some communities are saying they aren’t going to [cooperate] for nonviolent crimes,” Hines said. “The Trump administration’s rhetoric is we are going to deport everybody. So the Priority Enforcement Program could be changed. It’s not a law; it’s a policy, so it could be changed on January 20.” The unconstitutionality of past deportation movements combined with the current climate provides plenty of reason for caution. From this perspective, sanctuary city status is less a statement of protest than an enforcement of currently accepted priorities.
LEGALESE | Opinions expressed in The Daily Texan are those of the editor, the Editorial Board or the writer of the article. They are not necessarily those of the UT administration, the Board of Regents or the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.
Alejandra Zendejas, mathematics junior and undocumented student, said that the potential for deportation expansion is particularly concerning to the hundreds of undocumented students on campus, even if such policies are only meant to address more serious offenders. “You kind of live in fear that even if you don’t commit a crime [you could] get asked for your documents, and not knowing when or where that could happen is really scary,” Zendejas said. “Raids are a very real and frightening thing. Even though they are illegal because they often do not have warrants, they still do happen. This is when it becomes so important to know your rights.” This sense of fear also harms other aspects of law enforcement. Police departments are working harder than ever to build trust, but forcing cooperation with ICE would cripple the relationship officers have with the community. Without trust in the system, undocumented persons are less willing to testify in courts and report crimes for fear of their information being passed to ICE. Law enforcement suffers as a result. A 2009 study of Austin’s community
SUBMIT A FIRING LINE | Email your Firing Lines to editor@dailytexanonline.com. Letters must be more than 100 and fewer than 300 words. The Texan reserves the right to edit all submissions for brevity, clarity and liability.
Without trust in the system, undocumented persons are less willing to testify in courts and report crimes for fear of their information being passed to ICE. Law enforcement suffers as a result. policing showed that supporting undocumented communities actually decreased crime — even our own past supports the effectiveness of sanctuary policies. Public statements on the desire for sanctuary status have come from undocumented immigrants, newly elected Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez and even UT Student Government. The voices of our leaders and the lessons of our past have proven the benefits of making Austin a sanctuary city. Hallas is a Plan II, health and society and economics sophomore from Allen.
RECYCLE | Please recycle this copy of The Daily Texan. Place the paper in one of the recycling bins on campus or back in the burnt-orange newsstand where you found it. EDITORIAL TWITTER | Follow The Daily Texan Editorial Board on Twitter (@TexanEditorial) and receive updates on our latest editorials and columns.
EVA FREDERICK, SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Thursday, December 1, 2016
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INNOVATION
Dell Medical saves green by going green, puts trees to good use By Julianne Hodges @jayhodges2018
Trees removed from the Dell Medical School construction site are getting a second life, being reporposed into furniture for places around campus. The construction site for the medical school is located in an area that previously had over 100 trees. While building new buildings on campus, facilities services and construction crews try to preserve and relocate as many trees as possible. According to urban forestry assistant manager Jim Carse, about 60 trees have been transplanted from construction sites around campus over the past 15 years. Unfortunately, not all of the trees at the medical school site were good candidates for moving. “In a perfect world, we’d be able to save more trees on these sites, but it’s
difficult,” Carse said. “You don’t want to build and have a liability with a tree because it’s been mistreated.” Instead of throwing all of the trees away or turning them into mulch, UT contractors are using them to build furniture and construction materials for the new medical school and other buildings around campus. According to Carse, almost all of the trees from the site have been salvaged and reused. The construction contractor for the medical school, Hensel Phelps, subcontracted Buda Woodworks to craft wood from the native pecan and elm trees into paneling for some of the walls and large desks in the Dell Medical School administrative and research buildings. UT has used wood from the Dell Medical School site for other similar projects over the past couple of years,
and carpenters are still finding new ways to use it. Last year, the UT Carpenter Shop used the wood to make tables and benches for a courtyard in the nursing school building, UT Carpenter Shop supervisor Armando Blanco said. They are now making benches and tables, also from pecan and cedar elm wood, that will go in the Union. Project manager Nina Hammoudeh said the courtyard, which was created by an addition to the nursing school building in 2009, was empty and gray before the nursing school added the repurposed wood furniture. “The nice thing about the wood is it really gave it some warmth, because it lacked that,” she said. “We were trying to keep it really organic with the plants, and that was really the main reason why none of the benches were exactly the same, to give it
that uniqueness.” Since the pieces are all hand-crafted by Blanco and the other UT carpenters, each piece of furniture in the courtyard is different. Hammoudeh said the space is now more inviting for students and faculty. “We didn’t want it mass produced,” she said. “We can purchase pieces that are mass produced, but it was important as part of the medical community to bring back what is unique, what is organic.” Hensel Phelps’ project manager Erik Larve said they saved on the Dell Medical School construction project as well by not paying to throw the trees away and not buying more wood for construction. Normally on construction projects, they would clear the land and send the trees to the landfill and then buy new wood to use in the building, he said.
Courtesy of Jim Carse
A desk in the Dell Medical School research building uses wood paneling made out of pecan and cedar elm trees from the medical school construction site.
“It’s almost reusing it twice,” Larve said. “Instead of paying someone to throw it away, you’re reusing it and you save on the final cost.” Carse said that repurposing wood from trees that would normally be thrown away is like giving the trees a second life. “For this project, it was
really important to just make a push forward to get this stuff back into the building so that we can showcase it, be sustainable, and tell a story,” he said. “When you think about it, some of those trees are hundreds of years old. The thought that they’ll get another hundred years of life, that’s what makes me the most happy.”
BIOLOGY
UT Southwestern study uses mice to investigate human sleep genetics By Jerry Stenglein @thedailytexan
Through a genetic study of sleep defects in mice, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center recently discovered two genes that could help unlock the mysteries of sleep. The study produced two pedigrees, called Sleepy and Dreamless. While mice with the Sleepy mutation need approximately 21 hours of sleep, 50 percent more than a normal mouse, Dreamless mice have a severe reduction in rapid-eye movement, or REM, sleep. According to Joseph Takahashi, chairman of the Department of Neuroscience at UT
Southwestern Medical Center and a researcher in the study, these mutant mice could greatly improve scientists’ overall understanding of sleep. “Sleep in mice and in humans is almost identical,” Takahashi said. “So the mouse is actually a very good model organism. If we understand sleep in mice, that knowledge will likely transfer almost directly to human sleep.” To introduce the sleep defects, the researchers used a chemical that randomly changed a single base pair in the mouse’s DNA. Takahashi said a typical mouse in the study had about 50 of these changes made to its genes.
Because these changes were random, the researchers had no way of knowing beforehand whether they would cause sleep defects. Instead, they used an electroencephalogram, or EEG, to measure the brainwaves of the mice. According to Takahashi, this was a labor-intensive process. “The reason no one has done this before is because you have to hook up electrodes to every single mouse,” Takahashi said. “It requires surgery, and we screened about 8,000 mice. The procedure takes about an hour. Maybe an expert could do six to eight mice a day — that’s pretty slow.” Once they attached the
electrodes to the mice, the researchers measured a continuous baseline for two days. Then, they placed the mice into cylindrical cages that rotated randomly, depriving the mice of sleep for a day. Finally, they measured their recoveries from the sleep deprivation. At this point, Takahashi said they had to breed the mice to make sure the offspring could have the defect as well, proving the defect was due to genetics. The offspring were then put through a process called linkage analysis which showed the specific genes that caused the defect.
The gene modified by the Sleepy mutation encodes a type of protein called a kinase that modifies other proteins by adding phosphate to them. “We don’t really understand why they need more sleep, but this gives us the first clue,” Takahashi said. “This protein could be a target for drug development, if human patients have defects that cause too much sleep or not being able to sleep.” Linkage analysis on Dreamless mice revealed that their mutation affects sodium channels in the brain, causing neurons to fire more than usual and reducing REM sleep. Takahashi said this might also
be a potential target for drugs in the future. Takahashi said that moving forward, he would like to determine whether the Dreamless mice have other abnormal tendencies due to loss of REM sleep and discover how the kinase protein that was modified in Sleepy mice affects sleep. “We need to get a much better picture of the genetic underpinnings of sleep,” Takahashi said. “Typically when you find many genes, you begin to see connections. That’s a very important goal for us, to understand how different genes work together to control sleep.”
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EZRA SIEGEL, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansports Thursday, December 1, 2016
FOOTBALL
Foreman chooses to forego senior season By Tyler Horka
Junior running back D’Onta Foreman announced he will not return to Texas next year, opting to enter the NFL draft. Foreman ran for 2,028 yards this season in 11 games.
@TexasTy95
D’Onta and Armanti Foreman both sported burnt orange Texas gear as they sat next to each other in front of a throng of cameras Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t the first time the two sat in front of a microphone together at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. But it will likely be the last. D’Onta Foreman decided Wednesday afternoon to declare for the NFL draft. The junior running back leaves behind his twin brother, who he’s suited up with on game days ever since junior high. “We’ve played together a whole lot,” D’Onta Foreman said. “I was very emotional after the [TCU] game. I cried on more than one occasion.” But cash calls, and Foreman said he’d like to play for “anybody that would give [him] some money.” He’ll get that opportunity, as many draft analysts project Foreman going off the board no later than the second round. Foreman put together a historic junior season on the 40 Acres. His 2,028 rushing yards placed him ahead of every other player in the nation. He said he’d like to be remembered as one of the best running backs in Texas history. “I’ll be a Longhorn for
Texas’ men’s and women’s swimming teams competed in the first day of the Texas invitational Wednesday, with the men taking third place and the women finishing first in the 800 freestyle relays. The Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center was packed with fans from all over the country, spanning from California to Massachusetts. The Longhorn men’s top rally team featured seniors Jack Conger and P.J. Dunne along with sophomores Jeff Newkirk and Townley Haas. The quartet took third place with a time of 6:20.85, barely failing to reach the NCAA automatic qualifying cut. The reserve rally team featured freshman Jacob Huerta, junior Jonathan Roberts, and seniors Will Licon and Clark Smith. They finished seventh with a time of 6:25.72. The women’s team fared better than its male counterparts on day one of the Invitational. The burnt orange won the 800 yard freestyle relay by five seconds and took down the school record by nearly a full
THUNDER
WIZARDS
CELTICS
PISTONS
RAPTORS
Gabriel Lopez Daily Texan Staff
the rest of my life,” D’Onta Foreman said. “I feel like I worked for it … I gave it my all every time I stepped on the field.” Although Foreman’s Texas teams never accomplished much success during his time as a Longhorn, the Texas City native shined enough by himself to make the leap to the next level. Armanti Foreman said his brother’s success will carry over into the NFL. “I think he’ll still be an amazing running back in the NFL,” Foreman said. “We always see him play with a chip on his shoulder, so I don’t think that’s going to change.”
Although D’Onta Foreman leaves big shoes to fill at the tailback position, Chris Warren III enters his junior season primed to carry the load. Warren rushed for 366 yards on 5.90 yards per carry before suffering a knee injury in week four, cutting his sophomore campaign short. Warren’s injury left the door open for Foreman to have a breakout season. Foreman ran the ball nearly 30 times per game while racking up almost 170 yards per contest. He said Texas’ running game won’t take much of a hit despite his departure.
“They have a lot of great backs in that room,” Foreman said. “Honestly, those guys work so hard … Chris [Warren], y’all see what he can do on the field.” Foreman garnered consideration in the Heisman race with his stellar performances throughout the year. His decision to declare for the draft early contrasts that of Longhorn legend Ricky Williams, who chose to stay for his senior season in 1998. Williams won the Heisman that year. If not for Texas’ 5–7 record this season, Foreman had the statistics to win college
football’s most coveted award. He joined Williams as the only other player in Texas history to rush for 2,000 yards. Although the Heisman is a long shot, Foreman still has one order of business left to officially leave his mark as one of the best runners in Texas history: He wants to win the Doak Walker Award, given to nation’s best running back. “I feel like I should win that, honestly,” Foreman said. “I was consistently productive for my team. I did everything I could to help us win.”
two seconds. “I’ve been waiting a long time to put the right people together to make that happen,” head coach Carol Capitani said. “That event has changed since it’s the first event of the NCAA Championships and it can set the tone for that week. It was a lot of fun, and they earned that school record.” Texas completed the relay with a time of 6:56:52, with second place Arizona behind at 7:01:08. Ten-time All-American senior Madisyn Cox started Texas off strong with a split of 1:43:62, the sixth best time in school history for a 200 freestyle. Sophomore Joanna Evans maintained the lead with a split of 1:46:31. Freshman Claire Adams nearly bested Cox and put the Longhorns in great position to win in the third leg. Senior Tasija Karosas anchored the relay with a split of 1:43:54, giving the Longhorns a comfortable victory. With the first event of the Invitational now out of the way, the Longhorns now look toward day two of the tournament on Thursday. The preliminary round begins at 10 a.m. with the finals beginning at 6 p.m.
TOP TWEET D’Onta Foreman @D33_foreman
“ Thank you for everything, @Longhorn_FB!! #HookEm”
TODAY IN HISTORY
1984
Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie wins the 50th Heisman Trophy Award.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Texas shines in first day of Invitational @thedailytexan
NBA
GRIZZLIES
SWIMMING
By Turner Barnes & Wills Layton
SIDELINE
SPORTS BRIEFLY Former Longhorns prepare for playoffs
Joshua Guerra | Daily Texan Staff
Senior center Kelsey Lang will look to lead the Longhorns to wins over two top-15 opponents over the weekend, beginning with a matchup on Thursday against No. 3 South Carolina. Lang has averaged over six points per game this year in four contests.
Texas prepares for difficult slate against premier teams By Sydney Rubin @sydneyrrubin
The No. 14 Longhorns have a loaded weekend on deck. Texas hosts No. 3 South Carolina on Thursday as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge before hitting the road to take on No. 2 Connecticut in the Jimmy V Classic. The two games will mark the Longhorns’ third and fourth top-15 matchups of the early season. Head coach Karen Aston said the Longhorns’ rigorous non-conference schedule, which includes five opponents currently ranked in the top 25, allows the team — especially the young players — to prepare for the depth they’ll face when it comes time for conference play. “[It’s] good for our team to go on the road [and] to be able to play the type of opponents that we’re gonna see day in and day out in the Big 12,” Aston said. “I do think our league may be as good as it’s been since I’ve been here.” The Longhorns have a winning history while playing on their home court, posting a 48–5 record since the start
of the 2013-14 season. And after dropping two tough games on the road to ranked opponents, the Longhorns are excited to take on a top-5 opponent in front of their home crowd. “You’re always excited to bring a game of this caliber and a team of the caliber of South Carolina on our campus and in the Erwin Center,” Aston said. “It should be a great environment.” Senior center Kelsey Lang said the home court advantage and the strength of the burnt orange crowd will play a huge role for Texas as it faces a poised South Carolina team. “We’ve been trying to get more and more fans each game throughout my entire career here,” Lanh said. ”I think that for Thursday, we would love to have a full lowersection and have students there supporting us. I just think it would make for such a great environment for us to play in.” Equipped with a mature starting lineup, South Carolina boasts a perfect 5–0 record this year. Senior center Alaina Coates has posted four double-
doubles in five games for the Gamecocks while averaging a team-high 16.6 points and 12.8 rebounds. The Gamecocks have four players on their roster averaging 14-plus points this season, contributing to an efficient scoring offense that ranks No. 8 in country. Thursday’s showdown also marks the third top15 matchup for South Carolina this season. The Gamecocks picked up a season-opening win over then-No. 7 Ohio State on Nov. 14 and are currently coming off a 83-59 victory over then-No. 4 Louisville on Sunday. The Longhorns have had just over a week to prepare for South Carolina since defeating Northwestern State 86-39 on Nov. 23. They look to junior guard Brooke McCarty, who leads the Longhorns in scoring with 16.3 points per game. Junior guard Ariel Atkins and freshman forward Joyner Holmes join McCarty as the team’s double-digit scorers, averaging 13.5 and 11.5, respectively. Texas and South Carolina tip off at 6 p.m. at the Frank Erwin Center.
With only five games left in the regular season, the NFL playoffs are lurking around the corner. Longhorns in the league are buckling down for the last leg of the season. And many have already made headlines this year. Texas legend Justin Tucker — who kicked the game-winning field goal in the program’s final game against Texas A&M in 2011 — continued his impressive NFL career on Sunday. A Pro Bowler in 2013, Tucker went 3/3 on kicks against the Cincinnati Bengals, including a season-long 57-yard boot. He has now made all 27 field goals attempted this year. Linebacker Jordan Hicks of the Philadelphia Eagles has been on fire in recent weeks, pulling down two interceptions and 30 tackles since the end of October. His division rival Keenan Robinson, a linebacker for the New York Giants, has also racked up approximately 60 combined tackles this season. However, injuries have piled up for several former Longhorns. Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas missed his the first game in seven seasons this weekend after injuring his hamstring against the Philadelphia Eagles the week prior. Buffalo Bills safety Aaron Williams also remains sidelined after injuring his neck against the Miami Dolphins in October; he will miss remainder of the season. Dallas Cowboys tight end Geoff Swaim will also miss extended time after tearing a pectoral muscle. —Nick Sauseda
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Thursday, December 1, 2016
Today’s solution will appear here next issue
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ELIZABETH HLAVINKA, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan Thursday, December 1, 2016
YES SHE CAN Editor’s Note: In 1980, the proportion of women in the Texas House and Senate was less than 10 percent. Although the proportion of women rose to 21 percent in 2013, they are still underrepresented. This compilation of stories spotlights the achievements of three women involved in Texas politics.
Courtesy of Larry Kolvoord, Texas Senate Media and Tamir Kalifa
Left: UT alumna Liz Carpenter was a reporter, author, humorist and political advisor who notably worked under the Johnson administration before she died in 2010. Center: UT alumna Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) was the first Hispanic woman elected to the Texas Senate. She was recenly awarded the Moody College of Communication Outstanding Alumna Award. Right: Sarah Weddington was one of five women in her UT Law class before winning the Roe v. Wade case in 1973.
Liz Carpenter Judith Zaffirini Sarah Weddington Political Journalist State Senator Roe v. Wade Lawyer By Rajya Atluri @rajyaatluri
To some she was a trusted political advisor and speechwriter, to others a gutsy news reporter and author. To many she was one of the funniest women in politics. Whatever the task, UT alumna Liz Carpenter was always working toward bettering society. “She was as authentic as the Texas soil. And she took the lessons she drew from it to the nation’s capital, to the White House, to the Shah’s palace in Iran and to the mansions of the rich and mighty,” Christy Carpenter wrote in a eulogy for her mother. While at UT, Liz Carpenter wrote for The Daily Texan and served as the first female vice president of the student body. Liz Carpenter began her career as a reporter in Washington D.C. after launching the Carpenter News Bureau with her husband Les. She covered all the political happenings on Capitol Hill, and after President John F. Kennedy was elected, she became the first female executive assistant to the vice president. In 1963, Liz Carpenter was in Dallas during the assassination of JFK and wrote Lyndon B. Johnson’s famously succinct 58-word address to the nation. Once he became president, Liz Carpenter worked in the White House as the staffer director and press secretary for Lady Bird Johnson. “Like her boss, Lyndon Johnson, she did not believe in idle hands,” Christy Carpenter wrote in the eulogy. “No standing around permitted and no task too big or too small. Whatever needed to get done, figure it out and do it. And you’d better not complain.” Christy Carpenter said both of her parents worked a lot when she was a kid, meeting the country’s movers and shakers. Their network
included everyone from Al Gore, Sr. to former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. “I did not grow up with a housewife mother, which is what was typical during the 1950s and 1960s,” Christy Carpenter said. “It was a very stimulating experience being around my parents because they were always seeking to be in the center of action … we’re talking about action that was of national importance.” Through her parents, Christy Carpenter was exposed to powerful people and a number of women who, like her mother, were professional journalists. She too became an activist for women’s rights. “When the Women’s Movement came along when I was college-aged, I was very active and supportive of [it], but it wasn’t a leap for me because I had grown up in an environment with working and accomplished women,” Christy Carpenter said. Liz Carpenter was also the co-chair for ERA America, which strove to get the Equal Rights Amendment adopted in the 1970s. Described by her daughter as a “strong feminist,” Liz Carpenter spent a large part of her life advocating for women. “She believed if you’re a woman, you have an obligation to help other women professionally,” Christy Carpenter said. “Getting the first woman elected to run the country would have been a dream that she would’ve loved to see realized.” Christy Carpenter said she thinks of her mother as someone whose life centered around trying to have a positive influence. “Writing was one of the main ways she pursued that life purpose, but she also pursued it through political work, ,” Liz Carpenter said. “All of the things she did fit into that larger ambition of wanting the world to be a better place, a more humane place.”
1821
By Alessandra Jara @thedailytexan
When State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) first visited UT to attend a football game at 15 years old, she wasn’t thinking of going to college. Three degrees from UT later, she became the first Hispanic woman elected to the Texas Senate. A Laredo native, Zaffirini is the second-highest-ranking senator as well as the highest-ranking woman and Hispanic senator. She holds a 100 percent voting record and has passed more bills than any other legislator in Texas history. “After I was elected in 1986, people kept asking me, ‘Aren’t you proud to be the first Mexicana in the Texas Senate?’ and I said, ‘Well, no. I’m really very disturbed it’s taken so long to elect the first Mexican-American woman to the Texas Senate,’” Zaffirini said. When the subject is brought up today, Zaffirini questions why it took so long to elect a second Hispanic woman to the Senate and even longer to elect a third. Currently there are only two Mexican-American women in the Texas Senate. “I believe very strongly that the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress should reflect the demographics of the state and of our country, respectively,” Zaffirini said. “We should have more women in the Senate and in the House, and we certainly should have more MexicanAmericans, especially Mexican-American women.” During her time at UT in the ’60s, Zaffirini was keenly aware of the lack of gender and ethnic diversity around her. Nearly all her classmates were white men, and all her professors were male. Because she was married and under 25 at the time, her grades were no longer delivered to her parents but to her
1971
Connecticut becomes the first state to pass a restriction on abortions, barring those administered during
New York passed a law that permitted abortions only if the mother’s life was in jeopardy.
“quickening.”
1873
Congress passes the Comstock Law, a federal act that criminalized the circulation of the drugs used in abortions, erotica, contraceptives and sex toys.
husband, who was also a UT student, instead. Having experienced underrepresentation in the classroom, Zaffirini entered politics hoping to promote diversity. With 13 years of teaching experience under her belt, Zaffirini began advocating for education, health and human services. UT alumna Diana Fuentes, a student in two classes Zaffirini instructed at Laredo Junior College in the late ’70s, worked for the senator during her first term and reported on her years later while covering the Legislature in Austin. “[For Zaffirini], being able to do a good job doesn’t have to do with whether you’re a man or a woman, it has to do with whether you have the ability [and] the skills to get a job done,” Fuentes said. “Politicians sometimes don’t realize the effects of what they do at the legislative level and she cares, it really matters to her. It is nice to see her put into practice what she had taught.” Throughout her career, Zaffirini has received more than 900 awards for her work in the Legislature, public service and communication. UT named her a Distinguished Alumna in 2003, awarded her the Presidential Citation in 2013 and The Daily Texan inducted her into its hall of fame in 2016. Earlier this year, Zaffirini also received the Moody College of Communication Outstanding Alumna Award. Zaffirini said she encourages young people who are interested in government to get involved as early as possible, whether it be through securing an internship at the Capitol or campaigning for a candidate. “There are so many ways for young people to participate,” Zaffirini said. “Whatever a student’s course of study is, whatever degree a student has chosen, there is always a way to participate in the governmental decision-making process.”
2013
Texas House Bill 2 is signed into law. Abortion doctors have admitting privileges at hospitals located within 30 miles of the clinic where the abortion was performed. If the fetus is 20 or more weeks, an abortion is illegal.
1973
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that abortions were legal, protecting women’s rights under the 14th amendment.
By Cat Cardenas @@crcardenas8
Dr. Jane Hodgson’s medical license was on the line. As she drove to Florida in the pouring rain, she listened as Walter Cronkite’s voice came on the radio. “In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court today legalized abortions.” Three years prior, Hodgson was approached by a 23-year-old mother with rubella. Fearing birth defects, Hodgson performed an abortion, becoming the first and only person in the U.S. convicted of performing the procedure in a hospital. Following the ruling, she phoned Sarah Weddington’s office. “[Hodgson] said it was raining cats and dogs, but when she heard the decision on the radio, she was crying harder than it was raining,” Weddington said. At 27 years old, Weddington became the youngest person to argue a successful Supreme Court case. Later, she served as both the first female Texas representative and U.S. General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture. But before all of this, she wanted to be a teacher. “I thought I was going to teach eighth graders to love ‘Beowulf,’” Weddington said. “But once I tried it, it didn’t work out so well. So I went to the Dean of Students at McMurry University and told him I was thinking about law school, and he said ‘No woman from this college has ever gone to law school.’ So of course that’s when I decided I was going.” When Weddington arrived at UT in 1964, she was one of five women in her class of 120. When she began looking for work, one firm in Dallas told her she would make a good lawyer, but they had concerns about her gender. “They told me I’d have
to work late, which I’d certainly done before. I didn’t get the position, but some of my male colleagues did,” Weddington said. Back on campus, Weddington and her friends joined the women’s liberation movement. At that time, abortions were illegal in Texas and unmarried students couldn’t get birth control from UT’s health center. Weddington researched abortion law while friends like now-professor Barbara Hines helped women looking for birth control. When women approached them seeking abortions, they referred them to a doctor in Mexico. Weddington knew what it was like to have to travel over 200 miles for an abortion — she had made the trip her third year of law school. “I was lucky,” Weddington said. “I had the money because I worked three jobs.” Her friends worried they’d be prosecuted for aiding and abetting an offense. Their fears weren’t unfounded; Hines later found out she had been under FBI surveillance. The group grew tired of operating underground and approached Weddington, wanting to file a lawsuit challenging Texas’ laws. Weddington searched for plaintiffs until a friend referred Norma McCorvey, a 21-year-old looking for an abortion. Their case made it to the fifth circuit, where a federal judge ruled in their favor, but the case was soon appealed to the Supreme Court. Months later, Weddington received a telegram alerting her that she had won the case. “I thought ‘Wow, we’ve won this battle and now we can move on to the next one,’ I never imagined we would be where we are today,” Hines said. “It feels very depressing. But, I have faith that women are going to fight back.”
2016
Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt overrules parts of HB2. The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that requirements for physician to have admitting privileges and for facilities to be certified ambulatory surgical centers were unconstitutional.
October Strict additions made to House Bill 2, abortion clinics must meet the standard requirements to be classified as ambulatory surgery centers.
2014
March Whole Woman’s Health closes in McAllen. This was the last clinic open in the Rio Grande Valley.
Infographic by Megan McFarren | Daily Texan Staff