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Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017
@thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Volume 118, Issue 18 CAMPUS
NATIONAL
Past DEA agents give accounts on hunt for Escobar By Michael Hankins Issue Reporter
andre fernandez| daily texan staff
Activists protest in front of State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office after President Donald Trump’s DACA decision on Tuesday.
US court will hear SB 4 arguments By Chase Karacostas Senior Reporter After a temporary block, U.S. 5th Circuit Court will tune their ears. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals announced Thursday it will hear arguments Sept. 22 on Senate Bill 4 following State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to stay the temporary block of the law.
After SB 4, the “sanctuary cities” law was signed by the governor in May, a legion of counties and cities, including Austin, began filing lawsuits against the state to have the ban on sanctuary cities declared unconstitutional. Federal judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio issued a temporary injunction on Aug. 30 to temporarily block the Sept. 1 implementation of SB 4. The plaintiffs of the case requested the injunction to maintain the status quo, arguing that the law
could cause irreparable damage if enforced. “There is overwhelming evidence by local officials, including local law enforcement, that SB 4 will erode public trust and make many communities and neighborhoods less safe,” the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas said in the injunction. In response, Paxton asked the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the decision because the court deemed even voluntary
compliance of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainer requests unlawful. He also called the court’s conclusion that the state violated the Fourth Amendment by complying with these requests “fundamentally flawed” because local officials have cooperated with federal officials in enforcing immigration laws for decades. “The district court’s order should be immediately stayed
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Eager students crowded into Hogg Auditorium Thursday night to hear a talk given by former Drug Enforcement Agency agents who led the hunt for infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. Agents Javier Pena and Steve Murphy gave their accounts of the events leading to Escobar’s downfall at the event, hosted by UT Campus Events + Entertainment. Escobar recently became a household name because of the increasing popularity of the Netflix original show Narcos, which follows Escobar’s early and criminal life. According to the agents, Escobar worked his way up through the Columbian criminal underground before he founded the Medellin drug cartel. Pena said Escobar committed petty crimes throughout his youth before finally venturing into smalltime drug trafficking in the late 1970s. “Pablo Escobar grew up poor,” Pena said. “He grew up in Medellin, Colombia, with his first cousin, Gustavo Gaviria. They started stealing hubcaps, cars and all of a sudden they started moving one, two, three keys of coke.” After Escobar’s first foray into drug smuggling, he expanded his operation rapidly, Pena said. His operation soon
ESCOBAR page 3 UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY
Grant funds first-ever Siberia by Southwest study abroad program
New McCombs graduate school building will open in December
By London Gibson Senior Reporter
Students and educators from 12 states will convene at UT next summer before departing for the first ever Siberia by Southwest, a new study abroad program in one of the most remote regions of the world. The UT Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies was awarded a grant from the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) program of the U.S. Department of Education in July to start the 10-week program,
which will take place at Irkutsk State University in South Central Siberia. “It’s actually a very exciting opportunity for people to explore a part of the world that is very remote and hard to get to,” said Julia Mickenberg, interim director of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. “It’s very unusual in terms of study abroad.” The program will focus on Russian language and culture with an emphasis on geography, energy and the environment, Mickenberg said. The region is known for its environmental significance;
Irkutsk State University is near Lake Baikal, the deepest and largest freshwater lake in the world, as well as a variety of energy resources. “It’s a really beautiful city that’s also got this interesting mix of indigenous culture, but also classic Russian culture,“ Mickenberg said. “There’s also interesting energy and natural resources going on.” The grant, worth almost $200,000, fully funds airfare, housing, tuition and some meals for the people selected. Though the participants will
By Tehreem Shahab Issue Reporter
Robert B. Rowling Hall, a graduate school for the McComb’s School of Business, is scheduled to open in December 2017. The approximately $185 million project started construction in December 2014. The building will span 497,500 square feet and is located on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Guadalupe Street, adjacent to the AT&T
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brooke crim| daily texan staff
Rowling Hall, located on the intersection of Guadalupe Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, is expected to open in December 2017.
NATIONAL
Betsy DeVos announces plans to change Title IX By Maria Mendez Senior Reporter
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced her plans to change Title IX System guidelines for sexual assault and harassment cases on college campuses in a press conference at George Mason University Thursday morning. Emphasizing universities’ failure to protect students, DeVos said the
current guidelines set in place by the Obama administration are not clear enough and cause universities to neglect students’ right to due process. “Washington has burdened schools with increasingly elaborate and confusing guidelines that even lawyers find difficult to understand and navigate,” DeVos said. “The truth is that the system established by the prior administration has failed too many students.”
Under former president Barack Obama’s “Dear Colleague” letter, universities were strictly directed to take sexual assault accusations seriously or risk being defunded. Following this directive, universities, including UT-Austin, moved quickly to accommodate sexual assault survivors and punish accused students while also receiving a wave of lawsuits from accused or expelled students.
UT President Gregory Fenves was sued over Title IX in August by a UT student who was suspended for five semesters after being accused of sexual assault in the spring of 2016. The lawsuit said the student, who was declared innocent by a University Title IX hearing officer, was wrongfully suspended and that Fenves’ action sets a precedent that would “result in the suspension of thousands of young men and
women who attend the University and would unjustly interrupt their access to public education.” After hearing students’ complaints and the stories of lawsuits, DeVos said she consulted various universities and legal experts, ultimately deciding to draft new guidelines. “Survivors, victims of a lack of
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