SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900 @THEDAILYTEXAN | THEDAILYTEXAN.COM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2018
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 104
N E WS
O PI N I O N
S CI E NCE &TE CH
S P ORTS
LIFE&ARTS
The Drag becomes less “weird” as property values increase in the area. PAGE 2
Columnists challenge administration from diversity to the plus-minus grading system. PAGE 4
UT researchers collaborate with the U.S. Army to teach robots. PAGE 5
Baseball set to begin season with weekend series against Louisiana-Lafayette. PAGE 6
“Black Panther” may be the best Marvel Studios movie yet. PAGE 8
CAMPUS
Black Empowerment Week kicks off By Brianna Stone @bristone19
tudents are coming together to support the premiere of Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” movie, followed by a week dedicated to celebrating blackness and honoring Black History Month. Black Empowerment Week, a week of events hosted on campus by various black student organizations, kicks off Saturday and ends Friday, Feb. 23. It is preceded by the premiere of “Black Panther,” for which a student, Christopher Plummer, rented out a movie theater for students to be able to experience the movie together. Plummer, government junior, rented out the theater at the Galaxy Highland 10 for tonight and planned a night of “Black Panther” celebration for UT students. Tickets quickly sold out, with an expected 293 students to fill the theater Friday evening. “This movie is big on an international scale because it’s the first black superhero who is on this big of a pedestal,” Plummer said. “Marvel is a pretty big pedestal. The director is black, most of the main cast is black, Kendrick (Lamar) made (the) whole album as the soundtrack. (The movie) appreciates African culture.” Plummer said there will be a social before the movie, a red carpet, a photographer after the movie and an after party. “This movie is actually representing us,”
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Plummer said. “This movie signifies unity for the black community.” The week occurs every February in honor of Black History Month. Some of the hosting organizations include the Multicultural Engagement Center, Afrikan American Affairs, Black Student Alliance, African Student Organization, Umoja, UT-Austin NAACP and
‘Black Panther’ premiere initiates week of festivities celebrating black culture.
more. Events begin with a community service event Saturday at the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center. Other events include a health seminar, game night, hair convention, food cook-off and movie night. “(The overall purpose of the week) is to learn more and be more appreciative about our black culture,” said Dayjah Harris, marketing junior and Umoja president. “We go to a (predominantly white institution), so we don’t get to see our black culture a lot. We only get to see it through each other and through the black organizations we are part of.” Harris said students will be able to learn from the events and feel at home. All events are inclusive and the hope is for all students, black and non-black, to learn more about the black community, Harris said. “There’s always more that can be done,” Harris said. “During Black History Month, a lot of UT accounts have been tweeting cool facts about black history, but I feel like it needs to be bigger than just social media. The impact needs to be a lot better than that. UT as a whole should have a black history event.” Mickelyn Washington, president of the UT Student Circle of the Association of Black Psychologists, said the week will also allow a discussion about mental health within the community. “It’s a week to celebrate blackness and empower those individuals in the black community to embrace themselves and their blackness,” said Washington, a sociology and African diaspora studies senior.
mel westfall | the daily texan staff
STATE
CITY
Gov. Abbott reveals plan to end sexual misconduct at Capitol
APD, University join for sexual assault kit research
By Sami Sparber @samisparber
When journalism senior Christine Vanderwater accepted a full-time position as a legislative aid for a Texas State representative last year, she thought she knew what to expect. Handling constituent cases, directing media relations, analyzing legislation — these were all fair game. What Vanderwater didn’t expect was to come face-to-face with sexism and sexual harassment at the Texas State Capitol. To help combat this culture, Governor Greg Abbott recommended in his “Preventing Crime, Protecting Texans, Punishing Criminals” plan on Feb. 6 that the Texas Rangers’ Public Integrity Unit be placed in charge of collecting and investigating allegations of sexual misconduct by legislators, statewide elected officials and other Capitol employees. Abbott’s recommendation will cost the state an estimated $1.9 million, according to Abbott’s campaign website. Vanderwater said she remembers being at the Capitol one day discussing the Brock Turner case,
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By Raga Justin @ragajus
For years, hundreds of sexual assault kits lay untested in Austin’s evidence rooms, spurring lawmakers and activists to take action in recent months. Although most of those kits have been moved into testing centers, the city is determined to keep a backlog from happening again. The City Council passed a resolution Thursday authorizing the partnership between the Austin Police Department and the University’s Institute for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, granting $230,000 for research on the city’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, SAKI. The institute is a collaboration between UT’s School of Social Work, School
NATION
of Law, School of Nursing and the Bureau of Business Research. SAKI is administered by the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, which recently granted Austin $2 million to fund research on sexual assault kit testing and other services for victims. Sexual assault kits typically contain DNA evidence collected from victims’ bodies and clothing, as well as evidence from the crime scene. Caitlin Sulley, director of UT’s Sexual Assault Research Portfolio, said the partnership aims to create a community response to sexual assault cases, develop a victim–centered approach to untested sexual assault kits and prevent another kit backlog. “There is a growing movement to test all sexual assault kits that are in property rooms,” Sulley said.
anthony mireles | the daily texan staff From left, Armando Garcia, Cynthia Mireles and Alan Mireles wade their way through floodwaters to check up on their home.
Disaster fund grants Texas overdue relief
KIT page 2 By Sami Sparber @ samisparber
ravi teja | the daily texan staff A partnership between the APD and the Institute for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault has been authorized. The institute works with UT’s School of Social Work, Law and Nursing.
For Texans affected by Hurricane Harvey, more substantial federal disaster funding is helpful, but long overdue. On Feb. 9, President Donald Trump signed into law a budget bill allocating $89.3 billion in disaster aid to states affected by last year’s hurricanes and wildfires. Just prior to being passed, 12 Texans in the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to U.S. Senate leaders, urging them to vote quickly on the bill, which had languished on the Senate floor for over a month. “We have constituents who after almost six months, remain in transitional housing
and homes that lack weatherization as Texas remains in the grip of an unusually cold winter,” reads the letter, which was sent Feb. 1. “It is past time for Congress to act.” In a press release, Gov. Greg Abbott expressed his gratitude for the Texas delegation and leaders in Congress for delivering on a “crucial step forward” in the post– Harvey recovery process. “The much–needed funding included in the bill for flood mitigation projects, housing and infrastructure repairs will provide a meaningful benefit to Texas,” Abbott said. “While Texans will continue to struggle in Harvey’s wake long after today’s vote, our resilient spirit remains strong, and we will continue working at the federal, state
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