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Thursday, February 23, 2017
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CITY
Bill calls for looser ride-hailing rules By Mikaela Cannizzo @mikaelac16
Uber and Lyft might have the opportunity to return to Austin if a bill proposing restrictions on the city’s regulation of transportation network companies passes during this legislative session. Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, authored Senate Bill 113, which would limit government’s involvement with ride-hailing services. He
said he wants to allow users, rather than the government, to determine the success of the companies. “I believe in the free market and allowing consumers to choose winners and losers,” Huffines said. “(My bill) levels the playing field for all ride-sharing companies, opens up the free market and (lets) the consumer be the regulatory body.” The current law permits local government to set require-
ments for all ride-hailing services including taxis and limousines. This law enables the city to regulate the number of drivers operating each service, set rates charged for rides and implement safety and insurance policies. Huffines said his proposed bill deregulates government and will eliminate these controls. When Uber and Lyft left the city last May, Austin felt the effects of these
RIDE-HAILING page 2
LEGACY
Colleagues remember Tillerson’s time at UT By Lisa Dreher @lisa_dreher97
Illustration by Lexi Acevedo | Daily Texan Staff
CAMPUS
UT president hosts town hall meeting By Kayla Meyertons @kemeyertons
Students and UT administrators came together in an open forum Wednesday afternoon to discuss the current state of UT’s campus climate, but in a matter of two hours, the conversation became overwhelmed by shouts from the audience. The town hall was hosted by President Gregory Fenves, Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement Gregory Vincent, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Soncia Reagins-Lilly and Provost Maurie McInnis. This event was primarily inspired by posters containing hate speech that appeared around campus last week and were promptly removed by students and faculty. Management information system sophomore Racha-
TOWN HALL page 2
bit.ly/dtvid
Joshua Guerra | Daily Texan Staff
Law student Mohammad Nabulsi confronts UT President Fenves during the UT Town Hall at the SAC Wednesday afternoon.
LECTURE
In the 1970s, then UT undergraduate Jack Randall befriended a freshman percussionist in the Longhorn Band who frequented barbecue joints as a drummer in a country western band. Decades later Rex Tillerson, former chair and CEO of Exxon Mobil, told his college friend Randall he planned to retire, but a job offer as Secretary of State put those plans on hold. “I am absolutely satisfied that the reason he was able to postpone his retirement and take this job was out of a sense of duty and out of a sense of service,” Randall said. Tillerson, a Boy Scout and Wichita Falls native from a middle-class family, enrolled at UT in 1970 as a civil engineering major. Tillerson haas said his favorite professor, mathematician James Vick, brought him out of a dip in his grades. “If what we did in class and what we did talking outside of class helped him, then that’s, to me, exactly what we’re supposed to be doing,” Vick said. Over a dinner with several engineering students in the mid-2000s, Tillerson and Randall were invited to give career advice. The dialogue turned into a playful recollection of their days in the UT marching band fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi.
TILLERSON page 2
POLICY
Barbara Jordan National Forum hosts Committee moves to Senfronia Thompson as guest speaker end tuition set-asides By Albert Zhao @thedailytexan
State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, the longest-serving African-American and the longest-serving woman in Texas legislative history, discussed her experience Wednesday in government during the Barbara Jordan National Forum at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Thompson, a civil rights activist, said she felt trepidation after her election in 1973, because she would have been stopped for the color of her skin if seen walking around the Capitol building as an unelected citizen. “That was a time I couldn’t even walk on the grounds of the Capitol because I was African-American,” Thompson said. “Yet African-Americans built the building.” LBJ Professor Peniel Jo-
seph described Thompson, who works extensively for women’s and minorities’ rights in Texas, as one of the “unsung champions” of the Civil Rights Movement’s legacy. “When we think about Representative Thompson, she is really somebody who speaks truth to power,” Joseph said. Joseph listed Thompson’s numerous achievements, such as authoring the state’s first alimony bill and the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act, which increased penalties for crimes that targets minorities, gay people and others after the 1998 murder of an African-American male in Jasper, Texas. Thompson said she had to defend herself in the Legislature against racial discrimination, which was sometimes in the form of sexual harassment.
By Claire Allbright @claireallbright
Joshua Guerra | Daily Texan Staff
State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston was the keynote speaker at the Barbara Jordan National Forum at the LBJ School Wednesday afternoon.
“One of my colleagues called me ‘his black mistress,’” Thompson said. The state has made historic progress in rectifying discrimination, Thompson said, but people must be prepared to raise their voices against further injustice. “We cannot afford to
be silent,” Thompson said. “It’s up to each one of us (to) speak up about what’s wrong.” Thompson said the Texas Legislature has still not resolved issues that have been debated since she
FORUM page 2
After a back-and-forth debate, a Texas Senate Committee pushed a bill to the Senate floor Wednesday which would do away with the requirement for public institutions of education to participate in the tuition setaside program. The Senate Committee on Higher Education voted 4-2 along party lines in favor of Senate Bill 18, authored by the committee chairman, Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo. The tuition set-aside program, established by the Legislature in 2003, requires public universities and colleges to put at least 15 percent of tuition cost above $46 per credit hour toward financial aid programs. Wednesday’s hearing centered around the uncertainty as to how the legislation would impact the cost of tuition or the availability of financial aid.
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Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, said tuition setasides are “a hidden tax on kids.” Seliger said while schools would not have to continue the set-aside program under the bill, they could if they wanted to. Keeping college affordable is important, but the Legislature “shouldn’t do it for some students on the backs of others,” Seliger said. Many proponents to tuition set-asides said the program makes it possible for poorer students to afford an education. “The main reason students drop out of college is because of financial aid,” Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, who was present but didn’t vote, said. “We really don’t know the full impact of the bill.” Raymund Paredes, Texas Commissioner of Higher Education, said $459 is the average amount set aside annually per student across Texas who pay tuition. If the bill is passed and
TUITION page 2