The Daily Texan 2017-10-20

Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2017

@thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com

Volume 118, Issue 48 CAMPUS

CITY

Research publication subscription costs rise, affect budget

By Maria Mendez Senior News Reporter

Austin police officers, the APA renegotiates its contract with the city every few years. For several months, APA and the city have been debating increased wages for police officers along with new oversight measures.

Advocacy groups have been pushing to end the “180-day

A messy publishing system drives up the costs of research journals every year, straining UT Libraries’ budget and the University’s access to research information.

UT Libraries spends a yearly $10–11 million on academic journals, databases, magazines and newspapers, but the total cost of subscriptions for recurring publications, known as serials, has risen by about $500,000 every year, said Colleen Lyon, UT’s scholarly communications librarian.

“The problem is that the prices just keep going up every year,” Lyon said.

“So it’s difficult to try to find that balance between making sure that we’re providing enough content for (students) and faculty but also working with the reality of a budget that doesn’t get bigger.”

UT students, faculty and staff can currently access 449,228 different publication titles under UT Libraries, said Susan Macicak, the UT Libraries central and electronic collection strategist.

UT Libraries pay thousands of dollars on subscription contracts, which vary by

COUNCIL page 2

LIBRARIES page 2

anthony mireles| daily texan staff

Multiple advocacy groups came together to push the City Council to vote “no” on the Austin Police Association’s renewal contract on Thursday.

‘Take a Knee’ comes to City Council Demonstrators attend meeting to protest Austin Police Association contract

By Chase Karacostas Senior News Reporter

As Mayor Steve Adler started Thursday’s City Council meeting, two dozen protesters silently got up from their seats, took a knee and held up a banner that read “End Austin Police Brutality.”

The Austin Justice Coalition,

Grassroots Leadership and several other advocacy groups assembled in the Council chamber to protest the Austin Police Association’s contract with the city, which was entering its final hours of negotiations at the time.

Chris Harris, Grassroots Leadership data analyst and campaigns coordinator, said he

saw the recent debate about the meaning of the “Take A Knee” protest as an opening to discuss the contract.

“We saw that using that approach as a means to draw attention to the police union contract really (makes) it clear it’s about police brutality and racial inequality,” Harris said.

As the union representing

STUDENT LIFE

RESEARCH

Internships abroad can prove Professor’s algorithm may make brain surgery easier beneficial for future careers

By Stephanie Adeline News Reporter

Finance junior Luke Jenison was looking for a way to fit a summer study abroad program into his four-year college plan, but it didn’t seem possible until he found his solution — interning abroad.

“In the business school, there’s such a pressure to get

By Brooke Vincent internships over the summer that I was hesitant to dedicate a summer to go abroad,” said Jenison, who interned in Barcelona last summer. “(With interning abroad), you get good work experience and you can go abroad.”

UT’s International Internship Program helps students gain full-time internship

experiences in cities such as Barcelona, Shanghai and Singapore for either an eight- or 12-week summer semester.

Internships abroad set students apart in job applications, said Amy Shaffer, assistant director of study abroad initiatives at the UT

ABROAD page 2

copyright jeannette tang, and reproduced with permission

Students gain professional and personal experience from study abroad internships, available through the UT International Internship Program for summer semesters.

News Reporter

In an effort to transform brain surgery, engineering professor George Biros and his team will begin clinical testing early next year on their algorithm designed for in-depth analysis of tumors.

Currently, radiologists are constrained by time and lack of resources in their tumor analysis. Biro’s algorithm uses machine learning to analyze tumors in brain scans, which allows for more in-depth characterization of tumors compared to the traditional manual method.

Biros said this specialized characterization of the tumor would allow for a higher confidence in treatment and surgery.

“No one has time to look through all of this information manually,” Biros said.

“Radiologists know where to look (on the scans) and they have experience, but we are trying to assist them. We’re nowhere close to actually replacing physicians.”

For the last 10 years, Biros has partnered with Christos

copyright the university of texas institute for computational engineering sciences, and reproduced with permission

Engineering professor George Biros and his team will begin clinical testing of their algorithm next year.

Davatzikos, radiology and engineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania, on the overall tumor segmentation project that began during Davatzikos’ doctoral studies.

“We want more sophisticated and complex measures such as the texture, shape, properties that relate to infiltration, and multimodal characteristics that tell us if there is a mutation,” Davatzikos said.

“We want to have an atlas of the normal human brain as a guide.”

Students who worked on different machine learning techniques for the project

recently competed in the online Multimodal Brain Tumor Segmentation Challenge in Quebec City, Canada. The algorithm system scored in the top 25 percent of competitors.

“With (brain tumor analysis) you have to be 97 or 98 percent sure because it’s something so critical,” said Muneeza Azmat, computational science, engineering and mathematics graduate student. “When you’re identifying a tumor, you need to be pretty damn sure about it.”

The hands-on experience

NEWS

OPINION

LIFE&ARTS

SPORTS

SCI&TECH

Report finds low-income students most affected by education cut. PAGE 3

Forum contributor highlights his struggle with drug addiction. PAGE 4

Halal Guys and Halal Bros highlight their differences.

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Texas’ defense faces tough test against No. 10 Cowboys. PAGE 7

Researchers study Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Texas’ coasts. PAGE 5

BRAIN page 3

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“No matter what, when an employer sees (international internships) on a resume for a student, that’s one of the first questions they ask,” Shaffer said. “It sets somebody apart … because it shows they were willing to go outside their comfort zone.”

Shaffer said she has seen a recent trend in interested students who seek international internships to improve their chances at domestic internships and jobs.

UT alumna Sonia Montejano interned in Singapore in 2015 and currently works at Cleary Gottlieb, a New York law firm. Although Montejano does not have a law degree, she was able to get her job through a connection with a former coworker in Singapore.

“I graduated and I already had this job lined up and I’m financially independent now in a way that I didn’t think I would be for awhile after

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discipline and publication.

This year’s subscription for Cambridge University Press journals costs $106,641, which will increase to $116,077 for the fiscal year 2018.

The general price of consumer goods went up by 73 percent between 1986 and 2004, but the price of serials increased by 273 percent, according to Tufts University. Macicak said in an email that UT Libraries’ threeyear subscription contracts can help cap inflation, but it is rare for the cost to go down for a journal.

UT Libraries’ rising expenses are part of a “serials crisis” research institutions worldwide have experienced since five large commercial publishing companies began dominating the academic journal market in the 1970s, Lyon said.

After buying out smaller publishers, the companies Reed-Elsevier, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell, Taylor & Francis and Sage gained control of price negotiations with universities.

Lyon said publishing companies further profit because they do not pay researchers publishing their articles. Instead, universities pay faculty, who must often give up the copyright of their work to the journal publisher.

“We end up paying twice,

college,” Montejano said.

“That’s because I took that step and made it a point to network and talk to people.”

Jenison said his internship abroad experience has helped him in job interviews.

“Usually, if I’m in an interview … they definitely ask about it and they’re usually like, ‘Oh, Barcelona? That’s really cool,’” Jenison said.

“They’re just interested, and it makes it easy for a more casual conversation rather than very formal, which is always good.”

Despite the valuable lessons students can learn interning abroad, this experience is not for everyone and can have a challenging adjustment period, Shaffer said.

“Whatever image you have in your mind about what this experience will look like, it’s going to look anything but that,” Shaffer said. “Even getting off the plane and finding your way to your accommodations is a big challenge to overcome, but it instills confidence.” which really seems unfair, but it’s always been this way,” Lyon said. “It’s only in the last 20, 30 years that it’s become a problem because of the rising costs of the journals.”

With profit margins of 30 to 40 percent, Lyon said these publishing companies often profit even more than pharmaceutical or oil companies.

“There’s all this research that could be very useful that we can’t allow people to have access to unless they’re part of the subscription model,” Lyon said.“It doesn’t necessarily have to be that way because you don’t need a 35 percent profit margin to be a good business.”

The continuing trend has caused UT to eliminate subscriptions to less frequently used academic journals.

“At this point, all libraries are really struggling with trying to keep up with the costs of these journals,” Lyon said. “What’s going to happen 10 years from now, when we’ve already cut all the stuff we can reasonably cut?”

Carolyn Cunningham, a social sciences librarian liason, said students and even professors sometimes do not realize the cost of accessing research, which is often funded by federal or state grants.

“If you think about it, everybody as a taxpayer helps

COUNCIL

continues from page 1 rule,” which states that officers cannot be disciplined for actions that violate city policy 180 days after the incident occurred. They have also been fighting to reduce the 48-hour period officers have to make a statement after an incident involving the use of force. During that time, officers have access to police cruiser dashboard camera footage.

Harris said these policies make police oversight more difficult. The 180-day rule allows officers to avoid punishment for violating law enforcement policies, and the 48-hour time limit to submit a statement gives officers a chance to “get their stories straight” — a luxury average citizens do not receive, Harris said.

“It helps create a culture of secrecy and impunity, not just in Austin but across the country,” Harris said.

Following the silent demonstration in the Council chamber, the

By the numbers Rising cost of journal access at UT Libraries Every year UT spends

$10 - 11 million to get students access to academic journals, newspapers, and research databases.

Every year there is a

$500,000 increase in the cost of these subscriptions SOURCES: Colleen Lyon of UT Libraries

pays into the money that makes that research possible,” Cunningham said.

“But then if it’s in a journal that not everyone can get access to, the results of that funding are locked to a small (population).”

Psychology senior Stephanie Jeanneret worked in a research lab outside of UT and said information sharing is integral to the work of students and scholars.

“The whole point of being a part of a scholarly community is being able to share information and learn from each other,” Jeanneret said.

CORRECTION The Thursday, Oct. 19 edition of The Daily Texan incorrectly stated “Speedway construction delayed” in a headline.

This error has been fixed in the online edition.

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Army ROTC cadet Vernon Marsh evades a defender during tryouts for the upcoming Tri-service President’s Cup on Thursday morning.

protesters filed outside for a short press conference where several spoke, including Monique Nobles-Kelly, aunt of Landon Nobles, who was shot and killed by an Austin police officer in May. “I’m here today to pray that the City Council will find it in its heart to vote no to the police union contract,” Nobles-Kelly said. “We’re tired of the violence done by the police department.”

According to an article from KXAN in May, the Austin Police Department said that Nobles fired a gun at the police officers who were chasing after him.

In response, the two officers fired back, and Nobles was killed.

Biology sophomore Jason Cohen said he feels protesting is necessary to keep elected officials accountable.

“As a minority, I feel it’s my duty to protest police brutality and stand in solidarity with other oppressed minorities,” Cohen said.

APA president Ken

Casaday told the Austin American-Statesman in August that APA was committed to ensuring that the contract would maintain their position as one of the most transparent police depart-N ments in the country.

Casaday was unavailable Thursday for comment due to ongoing contract negotiations.

Harris said the new contract’s lack of critical oversight measures will only maintain the status quo rather than offering the city the chance to reduce police brutality in Austin.

“We are at the point now where we don’t think a contract can be reached with the union that’s going to give us as a community the right amount of accountability, transparency and oversight that a city requires of its police force,” Harris said.

Once the contract is finalized, both APA’s members and the Council must vote to approve it. There is currently no set date for the Council’s vote.

CAMPUS

Report: Budget cut affects low-income students most

By Allyson Waller News Reporter

Low-income students and students in need of additional support have suffered most from an over $5 billion funding hole, according to a recent report by UTeach and the Center for Public Policy Priorities.

The Texas Legislature’s 2011 $5.3 billion cut to public education led to substantially less funding for bilingual programs and accelerated education among low-income students in the K-12 age range, according to the report released on Oct. 5.

“There’s kids who’ve lost almost their whole elementary education because of decreased funding,” said Chandra Villanueva, co-author of the report. “They weren’t getting the in-depth resources that they needed, the individual attention from their teachers (and) the in-depth programming and tutoring that the programs provided.”

Villanueva, senior policy analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, co-authored the report with Michael Marder, co-director of the UTeach program. Marder said he and Villanueva analyzed data from school districts all over Texas.

“We had discussions with districts as the cuts were happening, and so we knew stories of the things that were going on,” Marder said. “This is an attempt to see if stories we were hearing were just

isolated incidents, or whether the pictures we had in our head from the stories were true.”

Villanueva and Marder found there has been 21 percent less spending on academic support programs and 40 percent less spending on bilingual education at elementary schools with the highest percentage of low-income students.

Districts were pushed to reduce school funding due to many factors, including a loss of funding from the 2009 federal stimulus package and the $5.3 billion cut in 2011, according to the report. Public education funding returned to pre-2011 levels in 2015.

“The kids are coming faster than the funding is being restored,” Villanueva said. “We haven’t quite gotten up to the same per student levels of funding that we were before.”

In 2011, school districts brought a case against the state in response to the $5.3 billion cut, UT education professor Norma Cantu said. In 2016, the Texas Supreme Court upheld an appeal court’s ruling that all students require the necessary resources and funding, but struck down all other claims that the funding of public schools was unconstitutional.

“The constitution uses the language, ‘The state shall deliver a general diffusion of knowledge,’” Cantu said. “The constitutional right to have an access to that general diffusion of knowledge belongs to every Texas child.”

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Friday, October 20, 2017

LECTURE

Activist discusses power of immigrant caretakers

By Emily O’Toole News Reporter

Ai-jen Poo, one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2012, gave a lecture on the power of immigrant caretakers in a lecture Thursday afternoon.

In her lecture, “Immigration & The Future of American Families,” Poo, executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, compared the life of her grandmother, who is still alive thanks to female caretakers from China, to that of her grandfather, who passed away after three months of living in a nursing home with poor conditions.

“He was alive to tell me he was afraid. What’s become clear to me … is that we as a country don’t have a plan,” Poo said. “My story is part of a much larger story of what’s happening in this country.”

Along with families not being able to afford sufficient care, caretakers themselves are not making enough income, Poo said.

“At a time when we need more care, we actually have less of it …

angela wang| daily texan staff

Activist Ai-jen Poo responds to audience questions following her lecture, “Immigration & the Future of American Families,” in a question and answer session facilitated by UT faculty members Thursday.

our care work force is working hard, and earning poverty wages (of $13,000 a year),” Poo said.

“Those working in the field of care don’t earn enough to care for themselves.”

Poo said this sector of the economy relates to female immigrant rights as they make up a large portion of caretakers, “Forty percent of our direct care workforce is immigrant,”

Poo said. “Their work is essentially the work of upholding the dignity of the people who cared for us.”

Ashley Salinas, government and humanities sophomore,

said she thinks there should be more attention on caretaking as a legitimate part of the economy.

“Nowadays we are kind of forcing people either to go to work or take care of (their) child,” Salinas said. “If we were a more caring society, our economy would be a lot better, that’s for sure. A lot of people can’t work because of family obligations.”

Poo’s plan to address America’s need for caretakers includes developing “Universal Family Care,” a social program that provides funding to American adults to afford paid family leave and care for their children and elders.

“It’s times like these when we need big, bold solutions,” Poo said. “The risks of not doing it are incredibly great … we can’t afford not to.”

Raj Patel, research professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs, said caretakers in our society are undervalued in his opening remarks for Poo. “The modern economy wouldn’t be possible without care,” Patel said. “Care really is going to save us all.”

BRAIN

NATURAL SCIENCE

continues from page 1 for the graduate students allowed them to be a part of engineering with real world applications, Azmat said.

“I’ve always wanted to do something that was not just pure mathematical or pure theoretical,” Azmat said. “If you do good work, it’s going to change people’s lives and make them better, which is a big motivating factor in

whatever research I do.”

Davatzikos is working on collecting a sample of patients for the upcoming trial, but in the meantime Biros continues working toward a better algorithm and adding more characteristics to be analyzed.

“There are new versions of the software and new algorithms,” Biros said. “We’re always trying to improve our work. I’ll probably work on this until I die.”

NATURAL SCIENCE

Science in Plain English simplifies complex ideas

By Jessica Shu S&T Reporter

alec blair| daily texan staff

Members of the UT community gather to celebrate the creative side of the College of Natural Sciences. The Visualizing Science Photography Contest was held yesterday as students and faculty submitted and were judged on their best science-related photography.

CNS contest shows artistic side of science

By Shezaz Hannan S&T Reporter

Natural Science Council and the College of Natural Sciences celebrated the artistic side of science in fields from astronomy to biology as they unveiled the winners of the 2017 Visualizing Science contest at the Art in Science event on Thursday afternoon.

“There’s so much art, whether it be genetics, or even just nature and the botany side of science. We take it for granted sometimes,” said Ashley Kim, a biology junior and academic affairs chair of Natural Sciences Council.

Swetak Pradhan, a neurobiology senior and the administrative director of Natural Science Council, said the event is an avenue for science students to display their personalities while also showcasing their scientific work.

“The College of Natural Sciences is the biggest college in the University so it’s really easy for people to

lose a sense of individualism … it’s easier to generalize everyone as this sort of scientific mind,” Pradham said. “This event allows students to display their individualism through their artwork.”

The winners of the 2017 Visualizing Science competition were announced at the event, which took submissions from students, staff and faculty from the College of Natural Sciences. The submissions were put to a vote on Facebook, and then a panel of the CNS communications staff judged the social media winners, Pradhan said.

Awards included the Facebook Favorite, three honorable mentions and three top prize winners.

The winner of the Facebook Favorite award is Alec Blair, an environmental science and Plan II journalism sophomore who used his passion for photography while on a class field trip to capture a picture of a bee on his friend’s hand.

A panel awarded the rest

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of the awards based on the beauty and scientific merit of the submission. The three honorable mention winners are Arun Debray, a third year mathematics Ph.D. student; Patrick Rall, a physics graduate student; and Luisa Gil Fandino, a textiles and apparel lecturer.

Specifically, Debray’s piece is a colorful rendition of a Newton’s fractal, which is a pattern that repeats to infinitely small scales, in this case resulting from Newton’s method.

“Newton’s method is used in calculus to find where a function is zero,” Debray said. “(It’s) numerically unstable, which is bad for finding the root of a function but good for creating pretty pictures.”

Lukas Gradl, the third place winner and a master’s physics student, simulated a process known as diffraction limited aggregation in which two chemical solutions react and the resulting particles stick together to form “trees” in a fractal

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pattern known as a Brownian tree. He was motivated to submit his piece after seeing past winners.

“I was working on this as a hobby which came from a project I once did in class, so I ran a new simulation and submitted it,” Gradl said.

The second place winner is Travis LaDuc, a curator of amphibians and reptiles in the Department of Integrative Biology. His submission of a reconstruction of bony skin plates on a Komodo dragon’s skull is featured on the Facebook banner for the event.

The first prize went to Benny Tsang, a sixth year Ph.D. student in the astronomy department, for his image of a supercomputer simulation of a cluster of stars.

“I was inspired because astronomy is very cool,” Tsang said. “What you’re seeing (in the image) is the distribution of gas that are forming stars. You’re basically seeing star formation in action.”

What do Popeye and cancerous tumors have in common?

Enough to lend insight to a possible treatment for T-ALL, a specific type of leukemia, according to biology senior Wesley Godfrey.

On Thursday night, 14 UT undergraduate and graduate students participated in the Science in Plain English contest, where they presented complex scientific research to a lay audience. Given three minutes each, contestants were challenged to use simple language and surprising analogies to illustrate technical concepts in an interesting manner. Judges scored them on brevity, clarity, avoidance of jargon and speaking style.

“The contest, which began in 2015, aims to encourage student researchers to learn how to talk about their research so that non-scientists can understand and recognize the importance of doing so,” said Roxanne Bogucka, the event organizer.

Savannah Troy, an undergraduate biology student, won the audience favorite award. Troy’s research concerns the resiliency of whitecrowned sparrows.

The overall winner was Lisa Strong, a biochemistry senior who gained a last-minute opportunity to speak when a contestant withdrew earlier in the week. She researches possible drugs that prevent cell processes that regulate cell division from malfunctioning and possibly leading

to cancer. She compared the difficulty of drug-molecule binding to breaking into the CIA. “I want to be a professor, so, naturally, I love the challenge of presenting a topic in a variety of ways,” said Strong, who recounted testing her speech out on her 14-year-old sister.

The first-place prize is $350 and entry to the 2018 American Association for the Advancement of Science conference, where Strong will present her research to the scientific community. The Austin Radiological Association, which funded the event, donated both prizes.

“It’s important to support student initiatives and get young people engaged in the scientific community,” said Dr. Rob Milman, a diagnostic radiologist and representative of the Austin Radiological Association.

Clear communication is key to fostering public understanding of science, according to Norah Ashoura, a judge and the winner of the 2016 Science in Plain English contest.

“There’s a disconnect between what we do and what’s being conveyed in the media,” Ashoura said.

Researchers should keep the “headline,” or the most important part of their work, in mind when communicating to the public, similar to how journalists communicate information, according to Milman.

“People want to get excited about science, but jargon loses the audience,” Milman said.

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evelyn moreno| daily texan staff

Biochemistry senior Lisa Strong wins the judges’ choice award at the Science in Plain English contest.

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JANHAVI NEMAWARKAR & VIK SHIRVAIKAR FORUM EDITORS

@TexanOpinion

Friday, October 20, 2017

GUEST COLUMN

A drug with a barcode At The Daily Texan, we search for personal narratives that shed light on campus issues.

Addiction is one that affects many students. Today, we highlight one UT student’s story of their addiction to Adderall.

By Journey Bailey Forum contributer

The fluorescent orange pills were making my heart beat irregularly. Nausea hit me in wave after wave. I pressed my left hand against my sweaty chest, and googled “Adderall overdose” with my right.

I was prescribed one pill per day.

That morning, sitting in my car parked outside my high school, I had consumed six.

After the Google search results found no definitive overdose limit, I tried to collect my scattered psyche.

“Everything will be okay,” I told myself. As I repeated this mantra, the beads of sweat rolling down my face began to dissipate and so did my anxieties of overdosing.

I took a deep breath of relief, wiped my brow with an old gym shirt, and, when my heartbeat finally steadied, I reached for the prescription bottle and popped my seventh. Risking health hazards was worth squeezing the pills for every last drop of their gilded euphoria. Addiction owned me.

The beginning I tried Adderall for the first time when my older brother’s friend offered me a short-acting tablet version in the locker room before gym class. Anxiously, I put the tablet in my mouth and ground it between my molars. The sensation was love at first bite. Never in my life had I felt so energetic, confident and ready to take on the world. From that day forward, I began soliciting my ADHD friends for their Adderall as often as I could.

Later that fall, my life took a dramatic turn when I suffered a traumatic brain injury while playing in a junior varsity football game. An ambulance rushed me to a nearby hospital where surgeons removed part of my skull in order to drain the swelling blood clot that was smashing my brain against my cranial wall.

Following the surgery, I spent most days laying on the sofa, watching TV and fighting a sense of doom. When I wasn’t being a couch potato, I was attending appointments with neurological specialists, one of whom offered to prescribe me antidepressants to improve my mood. I declined, but her offer revealed an opportunity. I persuaded her that I desperately needed Adderall to help compensate for my brain injury. She wrote the script, and instantly I had access to 30mg of Adderall — just in time for my return to high school the following semester.

With a refillable stockpile, my bad habit morphed into a crippling addic-

tion. I was in denial at first, but after months of continuously increasing my dose I was no longer taking Adderall for fun — I was taking it to function. It was time to hit the emergency break and I knew it. Five times, I failed quitting cold turkey. If I was ever going to climb out, I needed to be somewhere I wouldn’t have access to the pills. There was only one relative I could think of who lived far enough away where Adderall would be unreachablet: my uncle from Austin, Texas. As soon as my senior year of high school concluded, I called him, confessed my sins, and I asked if I could stay with him over the summer. He agreed, and a few days later I touched down in Austin.

Quitting The withdrawal symptoms felt like undergoing an exorcism. Many times, I fantasized about finding an excuse to fly home, or tracking down a doctor who would write me a new prescription. I wanted to relapse, but I held.

The only way to stick to my new script was to not refill my old one.

My perseverance paid off, and by Autumn the withdrawals had drifted away like the leaves on the oak trees.

Finding motivation in my sobriety, I decided to get my life back on track.

Dennis suggested that I enroll in Austin Community College, or ACC. That was a very frightening proposition for me. I hadn’t succeeded in school since my brain injury. If I was going to begin a new life in college, not only would I have to learn how to learn again, I had to do it without the pills.

Collegiate courses were fierce, but so was my determination. After one year at ACC, I had achieved twelve straight As in a row. Rolling with the momentum, I decided to apply to the University of Texas. A few months later, on the morning of my 20th birthday, I opened up my email and saw a notification that I had been accepted.

Two years had passed since I quit Adderall, and I had never felt higher.

Today, I am a senior with a 3.8 GPA and am expected to graduate with high honors. Thanks to a supportive family, the financial resources to afford that plane ticket, and eligibility for student loans, I was able to get an education at a good university. Addiction no longer owns me. I have finally found fulfillment, but, let’s be frank, I got lucky. I am deeply grateful for my second chance, but recently it’s been making me wonder. What about the millions of addicts without monetary resources, a support system, or the law on their side — do they get a second chance too?

illustrations by Priyanka kar | daily texan staff

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.

The other side nearly identical to that of meth and coIf Adderall was an illegal drug like its caine. Opiate pills prescribed by family chemical cousins — meth and cocaine doctors are pharmacologically indis— a felony charge could have resulted tinguishable from heroin. Psychedelic in me being incarcerated for a minidrugs, like magic mushrooms and LSD, mum of five years, never being allowed which are highly illegal, have killed less to vote, losing eligibility for my student people in recorded human history than loans, being systematically barred from the 16,500 killed by aspirin every year. employment due to a criminal record MDMA, the active ingredient in Ecstaand, consequently, subjected to a life sy, has shown success in clinical studof poverty. In other words, it wouldn’t ies of helping treat war veterans with have mattered whether I eventually got PTSD. Most astonishingly of all, none clean or not – the arrest would have ruof the illegal drugs I just listed are more ined my future either way. deadly than perfectly legal tobacco and Today’s most alarming drug crisis is alcohol, which kill roughly 568,000 the overprescription and abuse of opiate Americans annually. By contrast, if all pills. Since 2014, prescription overdoses the deaths caused by the aforemenhave surpassed automobile collisions tioned illegal drugs (i.e. heroin, meth, and firearms as the leading cause of accocaine, ecstasy, magic mushrooms, cidental deaths. Painkillers account for and LSD) were added to the body count three-fourths of these casualties, makcreated by tobacco and alcohol, the illeing pharmaceutical opiates as deadly gal drug deaths would make up only 4 as heroin and cocaine combined. As a percent of that total. former pill addict, I’m thankful society Laws aren’t created in the spirit of recognizes painkiller addicts as medical prohibiting anything and everything patients, but we’re that could be neglecting the abused or misother half of the used, nor should opioid crisis. Herthey be. An outoin abusers, the doorsman could “What about the milshameful half, armisuse a gun lions of addicts withen’t draped in hosby accidentally pital gowns, only shooting a buddy out monetary resourcorange jumpsuits. during a huntThe Associated ing trip. High es, a support system Press (AP) recentschool boys are or the law on their side ly reported on the glorified for playheart-wrenching ing football, but — do they get a second tale of a father livcriminalized for ing in Buffalo, New smoking marijuachance too?”

York; a city ravaged na. I can tell you by the opioid epifrom personal demic. Last spring, experience that the man’s daughter only one of those was arrested for possession of heroin ever required a scalpel to be plunged and scheduled for a court appearance into my skull, and it wasn’t the one my later that month. Tragically, she never state-funded health textbooks warned made it. “The father arrived instead to me about. In a nation birthed out of a tell the judge his daughter and her boyrebellion against tyrannical regulations, friend had (overdosed) the night before,” surely it’s time to repeal this double writes AP. Nothing can bring this dad’s standard. daughter back into his arms, but the city I am writing this from my commoof Buffalo is determined to prevent othdious studio apartment, enjoying my er parents from experiencing his pain. final year at UT with the hope of law In May of this year, their criminal courts school on the horizon. If not for a simmade history by offering a rehabilitation ple twist of fate, all of this could have option to arrested heroin offenders. So been taken from me. I was an unhapfar, none of the program’s 80 participants py kid looking to self-medicate after a have overdosed. If such a policy kept just traumatic brain injury. There are other one family huddled around their dinner kids out there suffering from their own table instead of a casket, perhaps it’d be traumas and trying to self-medicate, worth starting a compassionate reevalubut we’re not showing them the same ation of why we continue to treat illegal empathy that I received. While I dream drugs differently. of the day I’ll be a lawyer with the bar I can almost hear my old high school exam behind me, another twenty-twohealth teachers screaming at me, “No! year old is dreaming of the day he’ll be a It’s not the same! Illegal drugs are more citizen no longer behind bars. The difdangerous — that’s why we treat them ference between his mistake and mine: differently!” But were they correct?

I abused a drug with a barcode.

The molecular structure of Adderall is Journey Bailey is a government senior.

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5

JULIANNE HODGES SCIENCE&TECH EDITOR

@thedailytexan

Friday, October 20, 2017

ENVIRONMENT

RESEARCH

UT researchers study Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Texas coast

Professors awarded $4.6 million to further research on health

By Sabrina Tran S&T Reporter

After Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf coast of Texas in August, researchers from the UT Institute for Geophysics studied what impact the hurricane had on the coast itself.

The researchers collected data from Aransas Pass and the Lydia Ann Channel in Port Aransas, two critical pathways for water and sediment transport along Texas’ southern coast, to assess Hurricane Harvey’s impact on sediment.

The research focused on Harvey’s effect on the sedimentary addition and removal in the area and the effect on sedimentary constructs and the barrier islands.

“The islands themselves provide critical support and protection for coastal communities and the wetlands ecology,” senior research scientist John Goff said.

The team’s main concern is that the storm may have caused a net loss of sand in the barrier reef island system, Goff said. If the sand is not replaced either natu-

rally or artificially, the coast could degrade and would be increasingly vulnerable to rising sea levels.

The team compared their new post-Harvey data with data taken in 2009 and 2012 by the Marine Geology & Geophysics undergraduate field camp course.

In the Lydia Ann Channel, Aransas Pass and the Corpus Christi area, satellite imagery showed that strong air flowed outward from the storm system in an outflow event, possibly associated with wind-driven bay water movement towards the sea.

The researchers also examined evidence of a surge high enough to pass over the top of the Lydia Ann Channel, which caused water and debris to float over the southern region of San Jose Island.

Collecting data was far from simple in an area hit by a major storm, Goff said.

“The marina where we launched and moored our boat was hit particularly hard,” he said. “Many boats were sunk at their moorings or significantly damaged, as were most of the docks.”

To collect data, the team

brought a multi-beam sensor to map the seafloor, a sidescan sensor to collect sonar imagery and a device called CHIRP to help determine sedimentary layer thickness.

The CHIRP system had technical issues and could not collect data, but the researchers obtained useful data from the multi-beam sensor and side-scan sensor.

Another device collected sediment samples. The team used this device to look at grain size to determine the types of sediment that were transported through the waterways.

The team found that the hurricane caused significant erosion along the Lydia Ann Channel and Aransas Pass edges. The deepest parts of the channels saw large accumulations of sand, showing the large transportation of sand through the waterways during the outflow event.

“Findings can help or even change engineering practices for maintenance of waterways and infrastructure,” researcher Daniel Duncan said. “Just our short presence there can provide assurance that UT is there to help.”

illustration by esther shin | daily texan staff

By Kevin Dural S&T Reporter

The National Institutes of Health awarded UT professors Yuebing Zheng and Xiaolu Cambronne with the NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards on Oct. 5, which include a research grant of $2.3 million each.

NIH director Francis S. Collins said the award program enables biomedical innovation by encouraging inventive researchers.

“I continually point to this program as an example of the creative and revolutionary research NIH supports,” Collins said. “The quality of the investigators and the impact their research has on the biomedical field is extraordinary.”

Xiaolu Cambronne, who will start at UT-Austin in spring 2018 as a molecular biosciences assistant professor, said that the award’s impact extends far beyond monetary benefit.

“This NIH grant is undoubtedly very important for carrying out research because we simply need to fund it,” Cambronne said. “What’s also wonderful about this award, however, is that it brings recognition to the University, student scholarship and recognizes us as amazing and impactful at a scientific level.”

Cambronne’s research program studies how metabolic ability is related to health.

Cambronne said the team seeks to understand why age is a risk factor in diseases and why the body’s mechanisms began to fail with age.

“These are big mysteries — there is evidence that this is due to the falling level of free NAD,” Cambronne said. “Our research directly addresses the model of how, when and where NAD may be impacted due to age.”

illustration by nicole pena| daily texan staff

NAD is a molecule that plays a vital role in energy generation for the body. Cambronne said the potential benefits of her research include both scientific and public health advancements.

“The benefit of this is multifold: This helps further NAD biological research, but it’s also important for health of the population as a whole,” Cambronne said. “Determining how diseases arise can lead us to potential treatments and interventions.”

Mechanical engineering assistant professor Yuebing Zheng also works to fight against disease. He said the grant lifts a financial burden off of him and his students’ shoulders.

“This grant is definitely the right amount,” Zheng said. “It is completely appropriate for our research. This makes everything easier for not just me, but my group of students as well.”

Zheng and his team develop microchip technology to explore intracellular communication. The benefits of this include understanding how cancer-fighting cells

communicate with each other.

“We seek to understand how cells work and communicate in order to detect disease at earliest stage,” Zheng said.

“By understanding just how these cells work, we can engage appropriate measures like cancer treatment.”

He also added that earning this award would not have been possible without proficient students and a research-friendly campus.

“UT-Austin is a very favorable and accredited environment,” Zheng said. “The ability to attract capable students along with our infrastructure gives us a tremendous opportunity to apply to clinical solutions.”

As for her favorite aspect of researching at UT-Austin, Cambronne said she enjoys the energy among the students and her colleagues.

“They’re not afraid to ask difficult questions or challenge the status quo,” Cambronne said. “UT-Austin is bold to push boundaries in a meaningful and thoughtful way.”

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Friday, October 20, 2017

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MICHAEL SHAPIRO SPORTS EDITOR

@texansports

Friday, October 20, 2017

FOOTBALL

Rudolph presents tough test for Texas’ defense

By Trenton Daeschner Assoc. Sports Editor

Week in and week out, there is little room for error for defenses in the Big 12.

The conference has been a hotbed for gunslinging quarterbacks and innovative offensive coordinators for years. One week you can face one of the most dynamic players in college football, a quarterback who can slip out of tackles just as easily as he can throw the ball downfield. The next week you can face one of the finest pocket passers and NFL prospects in the country.

Such is the case for the Longhorns (3–3, 2–1 Big 12) at the moment. Texas is going from facing Oklahoma senior quarterback Baker Mayfield to Oklahoma State senior quarterback Mason Rudolph in the span of a week.

“If you ask me, I wish we can have that every week — have the best of the best quarterbacks playing against us,” junior cornerback Holton Hill said. “Because even if we’re not as good as them, they can push us to want to be just as good as them.”

Through six games, Rudolph leads the nation in passing yards per game, averaging 394.7 yards through the air. Rudolph is also tied for third in the country in passing touchdowns with 19 and ranks third in passing efficiency.

“I know (Rudolph) is very

gabriel lopez| daily texan file

Junior linebacker Malik Jefferson makes a tackle in the Longhorns’ 40-34 double-overtime victory over Kansas State on Oct. 7. Texas’ defense will have its hands full against a high-powered Oklahoma State offense on Saturday.

poised in the pocket, and he’s very good,” junior linebacker Malik Jefferson said. “He’ll stay in there if need be and take a shot. But after a couple shots, I think eventually he’ll get tired of it. It’s gonna be very important to stop the run first

so we can get to that point where we can start rushing and getting after him.”

Rudolph also has plenty of weapons at his disposal, including bigplay wide receivers in seniors James Washington and Marcell Ateman

and junior Jalen McCleskey. Washington, who ranks second in the nation in receiving yards with 882, is considered one of the most dangerous wideouts in the country.

“I think the biggest difference is knowing how far (Rudolph) can

launch the ball,” sophomore safety Brandon Jones said. “Our biggest thing is just not letting them get over our head. They have some really fast receivers that can make really good plays in the open field.”

During Tuesday’s media availability, multiple players were asked if they feel that Saturday’s home contest against No. 10 Oklahoma State is potentially season-changing. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, Saturday does mark a pivotal point in the schedule for the Longhorns.

A win over a top-10 team to move to 4–3 and 3–1 in the Big 12 could put an entirely different outlook on the rest of the season for the Longhorns. But a loss would mean two straight losses for Texas, pinning the Longhorns at 3–4 and 2–2 in the conference.

And with five games remaining on the schedule after Saturday’s matchup with Oklahoma State, the pressure to make a bowl game in head coach Tom Herman’s first season would be amplified if the Longhorns sat at 3–4.

“My challenge to our coaches this week was we got to get our guys playing smarter,” Herman said in his Monday press conference. “If that means we got to simplify some things on both sides of the ball, we will. We’ve got to reduce the amount of self-inflicted wounds.

There’s never been a perfect game played, but we got to get a lot closer to it than where we’re at right now.”

VOLLEYBALL

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Texas rides nine-game winning streak into Red River rivalry

Longhorns travel to Waco as regular season nears its end

By Keshav Prathivadi

By Dalton Phillips

Sports Reporter

Senior Sports Reporter

Almost 20 games into the season, the No. 3 Longhorns are more familiar with the asphalt than the hardwood. That’s how long they’ve been on the road.

Coming off of a 3-0 sweep at Texas Tech, the Longhorns look to ride their momentum into their Red River rivalry matchup at Oklahoma on Sunday.

Texas (15–2, 7–0 Big 12) has won nine straight games, maintaining its unblemished conference record atop the Big 12. But while the Longhorns’ record might suggest smooth sailing up until this point, the team’s success hasn’t come without a few obstacles along the way.

“Just trusting our routines and trusting the scouting reports and game plans that our coaches are giving to us (are key),” senior middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu said.

“Just having confidence in ourselves.”

A tough Texas Tech team pushed the Longhorns to the brink Wednesday night, earning a set point after going up 24-20. But Texas exhibited the toughness it’s shown all year, fighting back to even the set and clinch the frame, 27-25.

Texas also found itself down two sets to one on two separate occasions

No. 10 Texas prepares for the only Big 12 team more suffocating defensively than itself as the team heads to Waco on Friday for the final stretch of the regular season. The Longhorns will hit the turf two more times before the Big 12 Championship in November, with a match against Baylor on Friday, followed by a home matchup with No. 24 Oklahoma State a week later to close out regular-season play. Both have now become must-win games in a tightly contested conference postseason race.

Barring a team upsetting Big 12 leader West Virginia over the next week, a win on Friday over Baylor would make Texas’ final regular season game against Oklahoma State a fight for the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament. Only four programs in the Big 12, including Texas, boast a single conference loss. A second or third defeat could see the Longhorns finish as low as No. 6.

The Lady Bears enter Friday’s match allowing the fewest goals per game in the conference, as well as the most shutouts of any Big 12 team. Texas sits a spot behind at No. 2 in each category. And the similarities don’t stop there. Each team features a true freshman who plays

brooke crim| daily texan file

Senior middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu goes for a spike in a match earlier this season. The Longhorns face archrival Oklahoma in Norman on Sunday at 3 p.m.

this season on the road but still found a way to fight its way back to victory in both contests.

This kind of poise exhibited isn’t something that can be coached but a mentality that the players have to adopt.

“Just staying calm,” freshman outside hitter Lexi Sun said. “Focusing on what we can do … pays off in the end.”

The Longhorns have struggled defensively on a number of occasions this season, leading to lost points and early deficits.

This was evident in their matchup with then-No. 9 Kansas, who battered Texas’ defensive alignments with relentless attacks.

Errors have hurt Texas as well. A total of 138 serving errors cost the Longhorns crucial points in serving situations, a key factor in

each of their two losses on the year.

“Once we start cleaning up some things, it starts going our way,” Sun said.

“We (tend to) get better at the end.”

Texas knows it is near the top of the college volleyball world, and each night, the Longhorns get the best from teams around the country.

“We know our potential,” Ogbogu said. “So as long as we keep working to that, we’re gonna be okay.”

On Sunday, Oklahoma (5–15, 2–5 Big 12) will enter its contest with the Longhorns fresh off of a sweep of TCU. Texas will look to take advantage of the Sooners’ poor defense, which has allowed a .256 hitting percentage this season.

First serve is set for 3 p.m. in Norman, Oklahoma.

a pivotal role for the program. The Longhorns lean on forward Haley Berg to generate offense, while Baylor’s defensive identity revolves around goalie Jennifer Wandt holding things down inside.

Texas boasts a stronger all-around roster. The Longhorns are stronger offensively in nearly every facet, earning higher goals and assists than the middle-of-the-pack Baylor offense. The Longhorns look to run up their time of possession in each match, limiting opponents chances to score. The Lady Bears, on the other hand, excel at stalling opposing offenses and launching lethal counterattacks.

But that isn’t to say Texas’ identity exists solely at the offensive end. Head coach Angela Kelly has repeatedly emphasized her vision of the Longhorns as

defensive juggernauts. A strong offense is just one more step in building an unbreakable defense.

“I’m most pleased about our performance as a defensive unit,” Kelly said after the team’s road shutout of Kansas State, later adding, “There are still things we need to polish up this week to prepare for a great squad in Baylor.”

For many of the Texas players, these final two matches are about more than postseason positioning. It is a point of pride as the team continues to establish itself as one of the nation’s top programs. After bouncing back from a three-game winless streak, a strong finish would cement just that.

“We know we can stand in this country (with the top teams), seeing how we started the season 11–0 with 13 games undefeated,”

carlos garcia| daily texan file

Freshman forward Haley Berg has been a key contributor for the Longhorns on offense this season. Texas has two regular-season matches left, beginning at Baylor on Friday.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Durant, Aldridge, Tucker make 2017–18 debuts this past week

By Henry Corwin Sports Reporter

The 2017-18 NBA season kicked off on Tuesday night with three Longhorns in action. Six more former Texas players began their seasons the night after, and they will look to carve out contributing roles on teams with playoff aspirations. Here’s how three Longhorns fared to start their seasons.

P.J. Tucker – Forward, Houston Rockets: Tucker was a solid contributor

for the Toronto Raptors during the 2016-17 season, shooting 40 percent from three-point range. And this past offseason, Tucker took his talents to Houston, signing a fouryear, $32 million contract with the Rockets.

In Tuesday night’s season opener against the defending champion Golden State Warriors, Tucker had 20 points, including two late free throws to give the Rockets a late lead they wouldn’t relinquish. When the final buzzer sounded at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Tucker’s team escaped with a 122-121 victory.

LaMarcus Aldridge – Forward, San Antonio Spurs: After an injury to Kawhi Leonard in the 2017 Western Conference Finals, Aldridge could not deliver as the go-to scorer, averaging just 15.5 points per game as the Spurs were swept in four games. However, that was not enough to deter the Spurs from keeping Aldridge, who signed a three-year, $72 million extension with the team before the start of the season.

With a new contract in tow, Aldridge excelled in San Antonio’s season opener. He tallied 25

points and 10 rebounds, leading the Spurs to 107-99 victory. Look for Aldridge to be a key cog in the Spurs’ offense moving forward, especially with Leonard still nursing a leg injury that held him out of the opener.

Kevin Durant – Forward, Golden State Warriors: Durant enters 2017-18 as the most notable former Longhorn after capturing his first NBA championship and Finals MVP award last season. However, that was not enough to keep Durant out of headlines this summer. In addition

to criticizing his teammate Stephen Curry’s shoe brand, Under Armour, Durant posted tweets on his Twitter account criticizing his former teammates and coach in Oklahoma City.

But the off-the-court drama dimmed on Tuesday night as Durant took the floor in Golden State’s season opener. He poured in 20 points on 7–15 shooting, dipping below his career average of 27.2 points per game. But don’t expect Durant’s scoring totals to stay so low. The former No. 2 overall pick has led the NBA in scoring four times in his career.

8

MORGAN O’HANLON LIFE&ARTS EDITOR

@thedailytexan

Friday, October 20, 2017

FOOD

A tale of two restaurants: Halal Guys & Halal Bros

By Hannah George L&A Reporter

When UT students think of halal food, most think first of the gyro over rice at Halal Bros, which has served the campus community since 2010, but most aren’t aware of the dish’s origin story.

Halal Guys, which opened a location in Austin over the summer, started as a food truck in New York in 1990. The three original owners started as hotdog vendors, but became famous for being the first to mass produce halal food via food truck.

“They saw the need for something different. That’s when they introduced chicken and gyro over rice, with halal meat,” said Adil Maknojia, owner of Halal Guys’ Austin location.

Maknojia said Halal Guys was able to garner such widespread popularity for the quick and convenient food catered to New York’s cab drivers, most of whom are immigrants of Muslim faith. “(The cab drivers) were looking for fresh food, hot food, halal meat — that’s how Halal Guys gained their popularity,” Maknojia said.

Because of their success in New York, Halal Guys decided to expand their franchise nationwide.

Today, they have 400 franchise units worldwide.

Halal Bros, an Austin restaurant on Guadalupe Street, Maknojia said, “used Halal Guys’ name”

illustration by audrey williams | daily texan staff

without their knowledge.

“When they started, they started with the name, Halal Guys,” Maknojia said. “The famous New York name helped the Halal Bros get their start.”

Maknojia said Halal Bros ultimately changed their name in 2013 after three years of operation as Halal Guys, but Maknojia said tension has remained between the two restaurants because of their similar names, products and customers.

“It’s creating a confusion in the market right now,” Maknojia said.

“People think either we are the

same or we are associated with each other somehow. We’re two different, independent businesses.”

Most UT students are familiar with the restaurant Halal Bros’ huge portions available to college student-sized wallets. Humza Ahmed says it’s the Bros’ ragsto-riches story from food truck to brick-and-mortar that isn’t common knowledge.

“The owner came down from New York with his family and cousins and started a food truck,” said Ahmed, rhetoric and writing junior and Halal Bros’ public relations manager. “That food truck

RESEARCH

got popular and then they built this place, their first brick and mortar.”

Mohammad Zakzuk, an electrical engineering senior and owner of Halal Bros, said Halal “Bros” are exactly what their name implies: brothers. The Attal family likes to say they run Halal Bros’ three locations the same way they run their family.

“This is not just a money investment. This is more like a life investment,” Zakzuk said. “That’s why we treat it so well. It means a lot to us.”

As a locally founded business,

Zakzuk said Halal Bros tries to treat their community like family as well.

“We are friends with our (local) produce and meat distributors,” Zakzuk said. “That’s what makes us stand out.”

They may not boast a large network of local providers, but Maknojia said Halal Guys stays true to their roots by using the same providers as their New York locations and staying committed to their signature dish.

“The longer the menu, the worse the food is,” Maknojia said.

Ahmed said he acknowledges Halal Guys’ culinary legacy in New York, but recognizes the Bros’ place apart from it.

“I’m not going to lie, they’re one of the most influential halal food places out there, but the issue is that they franchise — and when you franchise, you lose quality,” Ahmed said. “We’re still local.”

Ahmed said Halal Bros even has dedicated customers from as far away as Dallas.

“They’ll drive four hours to come eat Halal Bros,” Ahmed said.

“That tells you how much impact Halal Bros has in the South.”

With Halal Bros’ Austonian roots, Zakzuk said he isn’t worried about sharing customers with Halal Guys or other campus halal businesses.

“Halal Bros will be here for a long time, God willing,” Zakzuk said. “It’s obvious who the originals

FEATURE

UT professor’s research analyzes Program coordinator helps college, archaic notions of race, skin color professional women find success

By Hannah George L&A Reporter

Americans relish their individualism, but from college applications to research surveys, they often find themselves having to fit neatly into one of only a few racial categories.

At UT, the options are White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Native American or “Foreign,” but history of science professor Alberto Martinez says groups such as these erroneously place people into narrow groups.

Through his research, Martinez argues that the main problem in our classifications of race is that they’re based around an unreliable factor: skin color.

In surveys from 2014–2017, Martinez offered 350 UT students a range of 33 skin tones, from light to dark, and asked them to choose which ones constituted “white” and “black.”

The results were all over the map. Martinez said this stemmed from students’ inability to find a consistent definition of either category. For example, two black students chose vastly different definitions of black skin: one student said six of the presented colors counted, whereas the other said 22.

“What this survey is showing is we disagree far more about what these concepts actually mean than what we imagine,” Martinez said. “You might be at a public place where you have a concept of how many minorities are there, and how many white people

are there — (but) someone sitting right next to you has a totally different concept and totally different count.”

Martinez said he and many of his students were initially puzzled by the survey’s results.

“The reason why this never comes out is because we never ask each other,” Martinez said.

“We assume whatever (these categories mean) to us is some sort of empirical reality, and that’s what everyone is seeing.”

Unlike other participants, Yvan Ntwali was not surprised

Although science dispels skin color as a lens for race, people will not let go of this construct. ...

Institutions should offer more options when they request people to identify their race.”

—Alberto Martinez History of science professor

by the survey’s results. The history and philosophy senior from East Africa said, unlike his dark complexioned peers, he chooses not to describe himself as black, but Rwandan instead.

“I feel like there’s a social script that Americans fall under,” Ntwali said.

Martinez said the typical racial categories people see are not rooted in science, but

traced back to five color categories designed by 18th century German scientist Johann Blumenbach. The archaic categories were white, black, yellow, brown and red. “(Blumenbach) didn’t even know what evolution was back then,” Martinez said.

“The problem is we’re using non-scientific categories to differentiate people, and that’s alarming.”

Last week, the New York Times covered a recent study published in the journal Science, which conducted the first wide-scale study on the genetics of African skin color.

The results demonstrated that “old color lines” were essentially meaningless. Geneticists discovered shades of light and dark skin were already present in human ancestors before we evolved, and genetic variants in skin tone had already been widely distributed. One example was the gene that lightens skin for Europeans is also present in hunters and gatherers in Botswana, a country in Southern Africa.

Martinez said although science dispels skin color as a lens for race, people will not let go of this construct. A solution, he argues, is institutions should offer more options when they request people to identify their race.

“We can learn to think about race as a spectrum rather than this quantum of color,” Martinez said. “I think it’s more empowering to think of ourselves in terms of spectrum of diversity, where the colors are interconnected than different.”

illustration by mel westfall | daily texan staff

Editor’s note: In 300 words or fewer, this series spotlights people in our community whose stories typically go untold.

By Andrea Tinning Senior L&A Reporter

From empowering college students to helping professional women address the wage gap, Nancy Ewert’s job is to help young women succeed.

As a program coordinator at the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies office, Ewert oversees two leadership programs at the university dedicated to helping women prepare for the professional world.

“There still are areas where women face inequalities through no fault of their own,” Ewert said. “It gives them tools so that they can figure out how to succeed not only at school, but in their careers.”

In 2009, she was instrumental in creating INSPIRE, an organization dedicated to helping undergraduate women of all majors succeed at the University. Ewert said a major benefit of this organization is

evelyn moreno | daily texan staff

Nancy Ewert, a program coordinator at the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies office, oversees programs dedicated to helping women succeed in their future careers.

it fortifies women, especially STEM majors who may be outnumbered by men in the classroom, and helps them adjust to a large university in general. The effect is that many members of INSPIRE are able to break the glass ceiling in the professional world.

“Many go on to grad school, medical school (and) law school and have fantastic careers,” Ewert said.

But to get there, Ewert said, women need change, beginning in the realm of public policy. NEW Leadership Texas, another organization Ewert coordinates, brings together women from across the state who are interested in someday running for political office. Every summer, women involved

with the organization meet in Austin to network and support each other in their efforts to break the status quo in politics.

“Women make up about 20 percent of Congress,” Ewert said. “We need more representation.”

Ewert said one of the best parts of her job is helping women succeed in any way that she can. She was reminded of this recently when an alumna of NEW Leadership Texas successfully ran for city council in Hyattsville, Maryland.

“She said she never could have done it without NEW Leadership because she reached out to people in her group for help with her website and fundraising that she didn’t have the time for,” Ewert said.

6232/McCombs School of Business; Process color