SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900 @THEDAILYTEXAN | THEDAILYTEXAN.COM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2018
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 99
N E WS
O PI N I O N
S CI E NCE &TE CH
S P ORTS
LIFE&ARTS
Free-range community bikes, also know as dockless bikes, are coming to Austin. PAGE 2
News media needs better language for discussing mass shootings PAGE 4
A program to create virtual reality videos allows journalists to tell more immersive stories. PAGE 5
Men’s basketball needs near-perfect performance in Fort Worth. PAGE 6
“Fifty Shades Freed” doesn’t come close to climaxing — and its audiences won’t either. PAGE 8
CAMPUS
UT groups fight for equal pay among all faculty By Brianna Stone @bristone19
University members recently expanded their efforts to bridge inequity gaps among women and faculty members of color. Men and white faculty are paid more, receive more endowments, more promotions and more timely promotions, according to data produced by the University and The Texas Tribune . Two UT groups, the Faculty Gender Equity Council and the Council for Racial and Ethnic Equity and Diversity, have been working to ensure fairness for all faculty members. The average salary for male employees is $62,400, and the average female salary is $52,000, according to The Tribune’s Government Salaries Explorer database. There are also salary disparities among different races and ethnicities: about $63,460 for white employees, $56,260 for Asian employees, $45,000 for black employees and $42,600 for Hispanic or Latino employees. These numbers were last updated in July 2017 and include both faculty and staff members. “There’s a market base that dictates the salary,” said Tasha Beretvas, member of the Gender Equity Council. “For example, for a faculty member in the College of Education, their salary will look very different from someone with a similar rank in the business school.”
CAMPUS
UTPD’S NEWEST
GOOD BOY
anthony mireles | the daily texan staff Meet Beta, a 15-month-old German Shepard in the driver’s seat of his patrol car. Beta and his handler, Officer Jeanne Hall (not pictured) are the newest members of the UTPD’s K-9 unit. The purpose of UTPD’s K-9 unit is twofold: sniffing out narcotics and detecting explosive devices in and around campus.
UTPD welcomes Beta: the most recent canine to join the K-9 Unit. By Tehreem Shehab @turhem
W
ith the University of Texas Police Department’s newest K–9 officer Beta sitting next to her, Officer Jeanne Hall said K-9 handlers usually look for determined and hardworking dogs.
“When we went to go see (Beta), we threw a ball in the field and timed him to see how long it took him before he gave up on looking and came back to us,” Hall said. “He never stopped looking. So you want a dog that is going to continue to work to do his job.” Beta, a 16-month–old German shepherd, joined UTPD’s K–9 unit in November, becoming the third dog to join the unit. Beta’s calm personality is much like hers, Hall said. “They like to try and match personalities of the dogs to
the handlers,” Hall said. “I’m a really laid back person, he’s a really laid back dog … He still gets a little bit anxious once in a while. But it’s pretty easy to reel him in and get him to calm down.” Hall said she began getting acquainted with Beta before attending a training facility in Arkansas where they trained together for two weeks. “I had him for a week just to start a bonding process because it takes a while to bond with these dogs,” Hall said. “He knew how to do everything
because he was trained before I got him so (training) was mostly me learning how to work with him.” Hall started working at UTPD about two and a half years ago and became a K–9 handler in November. Since she and Beta are both new to the unit, Hall said she is not ready to have Beta deployed yet because she wants him to get more oriented with his surroundings. “Right now I’m working with
UTPD page 2
PAY page 2 NATION
UNIVERSITY
Butler School of Music sits in state of disrepair By Brooke Vincent @brooke_e_v
Early Saturday morning, music studies sophomore Pablo Estrada walked into the recital hall of the Butler School of Music to find a pile of broken fiberglass ceiling tiles had fallen near the elevators. Then Estrada took his frustration to social media. Estrada and his friends shared photos of the rubble on Twitter, voicing their anger about the building they say is falling apart and posing a safety hazard to guests and students who might tour the building. But the ceiling tiles are only a part of the larger
issue, Estrada said. “What was embarrassing (is the tiles fell) and no one came to pick the tile up after we reported it,” Estrada said. “I personally threw it in the trash can. I thought it was disgusting. I think it diminishes the school’s quality. It says that (the administrators) don’t take care of this building.” Insulation for the original, 50-year-old heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is worn down, said director of Facilities Services Dean Hansen. The ceiling tiles fell because of exposed duct work and refrigeration lines, which caused
MUSIC page 2
zoe fu | the daily texan staff In October 2016, the Young Conservatives hosted a controversial bake sale which sparked an all-day proteset. Republicans in Congress have written a 590-page bill to amend the 1965 Higher Education Act which would include protections for conservative free speech.
Bill seeks to protect students’ free speech By Sami Sparber @samisparber
The 590-page higher education bill currently making its way through Congress comes with, as expected, lots of controversy. The Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity
through Education Reform Act is advertised by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce as a way to “help more Americans earn a lifetime of success,” according to a press release. However, readers of the bill may be surprised to find that the PROSPER Act also contains various provisions to combat what some
Republican congressmen perceive as hostility toward conservative beliefs on college campuses. Under the bill, religiously-affiliated colleges could ban same–sex relationships and all schools would allow religious student organizations to exclude peers of a different faith from joining, according to The New
York Times. The act also makes it easier for controversial speakers to make on–campus appearances. “Free speech has been constantly threatened by universities and their staffs and it has been on the rise since the election of President Donald Trump,” said Caroline
SPEECH page 2
andre fernandes | the daily texan staff The Butler School of Music’s maintenance issues are causing students like music performance senior Zoe Cagan to voice their opinion via social media.