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Thursday, December 1, 2016
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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
CAMPUS
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
CONCERT page 2