1
Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
@thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
CAMPUS
Volume 118, Issue 14
CITY
UTPD stress SB 4 will not change how they operate on campus By Maria Mendez Senior Reporter
San Antonio federal court Judge Orlando Garcia temporarily blocked Senate Bill 4, the “anti-sanctuary” law, on Wednesday, two days before it was set to be implemented. The UT Police Department stressed that the law, should it be enacted, will not change campus police operations for UT. Garcia’s decision prevents implementation as Texas cities, including Austin, continue contesting SB 4, which allows local law enforcement to question individuals about immigration status and requires cooperation with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement detainer requests. Last spring semester, while the state legislature drafted the bill, a student network called Sanctuary UT collected about 400 signatures from UT faculty, staff and students for a petition to make UT a “sanctuary” for undocumented students. International relations
SB 4 page 2
Put down your phone
After a decade-long battle, a statewide texting-and-driving ban goes into effect today.
Joshua Guerra | Daily Texan File Photo
Sen. Judith Zaffirini speaks on the Texas Senate floor. Zaffirini sponsored the bill in the Senate, where it passed for the first time since 2011.
By Chase Karacostas Senior Reporter
Texas House Representative Tom Craddick’s texting-and-driving ban goes into effect statewide today after four failed attempts at passage. The ban, known as House Bill 62, prohibits reading, writing or sending electronic
messages using a portable electronic device while driving. “I was elated not only that the state would have this, but for all of the people that had worked hard on it,” Craddick, R-Midland, said of the bill’s signing by Gov. Greg Abbott. “It’s all about safety and to guarantee that when you back out of your driveway, that you’re driving on the safest
street or highway as possible.” Anyone who writes, reads or sends an electronic message using a portable wireless communication device while driving will receive a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $99. However, if the defendant causes the death or serious bodily injury of another person while texting and driving, then they may be charged with a Class A misdemeanor with a
fine of up to $4,000 and a jail sentence of up to one year. When Craddick filed the ban in 2011, it passed both the Texas House and Senate but was vetoed by then-Gov. Rick Perry. The next two times Craddick tried to pass the ban, it passed in the House only to be killed in the Senate. State Senator Judith Zaffirini sponsored the bill in the Senate where it passed for the first
time since 2011. In June, when HB 62 was signed by Gov. Greg Abott, Texas was one of only four states to still lack a texting-and-driving ban. Two of those four states, however, banned it for minors. After Craddick failed to get the ban enacted the first time, Midland, the major
TEXTING page 2
UNIVERSITY
University files to dismiss statue lawsuit According to UT law and history experts, Littlefield statue plaintiffs have no grounds to sue By Chase Karacostas Senior Reporter
Forrest Milburn Enterprise Reporter
On Wednesday, the University filed to dismiss a lawsuit against President Gregory Fenves for his recent decision to remove four statues from campus, claiming the plaintiffs have no grounds to sue. On Aug. 23, Steven Littlefield, a descendant of the former Confederate leader George Littlefield, who commissioned the statues in his will, filed a lawsuit against Fenves. The plain-
tiffs claim the University’s decision went back on its agreement to uphold the “Southern perspective of American history,” one of the stipulations spelled out in George Littlefield’s will and other documentsin return for donations to the school nearly a century ago. The Daily Texan spoke to two experts who affirmed that the plaintiffs in the case likely lack standing to sue the University. It is highly unlikely Steven Littlefield and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, another plaintiff, could win the case on their claim that the removal violated the will, said law professor Mark Ascher, an expert on trusts. After a person dies, the deceased may leave a gift to an entity in their will and set certain conditions that must be upheld. But the recipient is only held accountable to these con-
ditions if they made a formal agreement with the deceased prior to death or with the deceased’s estate, Ascher said. “(The will) is not binding on the University unless they agreed to it,” Ascher said. “The question then becomes, ‘How meritorious is the lawsuit?’” Before it gets to that point, Ascher said he suspects the lawsuit would either be dismissed or that the University would settle because legal fees could end up outweighing the benefit of winning. If the University did engage in an agreement with George Littlefield or his estate to meet the requirements included in the will, then they would be bound to its terms and could be forced to repay the modern value of the approximately $250,000 left to them in the will to erect the statues. After almost a century of inflation, the current value
Carlos Garcia | Daily Texan File Photo
Confederate statues were removed from the Main Mall in the middle of the night Aug. 20 on President Gregory Fenves’ orders.
of the statues is now worth more than three million dollars, according to the lawsuit. Because the land included in the will was directed for the purpose of
building the Littlefield Residence Hall, it would not be included in the the amount the University would be forced to pay. David Gracy, a
great-grandnephew of George Littlefield, is a historian and retired UT professor who is
LAWSUIT page 2
UNIVERSITY
Daily Texan archives reveal UT’s mascot was almost armadillo By Morgan O’Hanlon Life&Arts Editor
In central Texas, we cherish horned cows as the patron gods of football games. Longhorns are everywhere in Austin, but the city seems to host more than its fair share of mascots: from the bats underneath our bridges to the salamanders
in our springs. But above all these other beasts, the armadillo reigns supreme. Our love for the endemic nine-banded variety is so strong that we nearly abandoned our identity as ‘horns to call ourselves the ‘dillos... …Or at least that’s the story that ran rampant through both local and national media outlets in
5962/Arbor Car Wash; Process color
the late fall of 1971. After The Daily Texan ran an article in its November 3, 1971 issue reporting that the Student Senate had unanimously passed a resolution “to determine grassroots support for the mascot change within the student body,” even The New Yorker paid attention. According to Bob Binder, student body president
at the time, UT students never actually voted on the issue. Nonetheless, Binder said the resolution was able to attract a lot of attention because of the audaciousness of the idea. As one dissenter, James Cartwright, wrote in an op-ed published in The Daily Texan: “I protest. The Student Senate stands condemned
as murderous, bloodthirsty, rapacious direspectors of life. That they would have the audacity to suggest the armadillo as mascot of Texas under the guise of its being peaceable and ‘ecologically minded’ reveals its true colors … studies showed the armadillo to be rapacious in its actions.” Despite backlash from students, alumni and
legislators, Binder said the resolution made sense to students in the Senate, who happily adopted armadillos as a symbol of their generation. The armadillo symbolism had in fact been previously popularized by Austin icon and artist Jim Franklin, who had already
ARMADILLO page 3