SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900 @THEDAILYTEXAN | THEDAILYTEXAN.COM
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2018
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 116
N E WS
O PI N I O N
LI FE&A RTS
SPORTS
Austin Police Department prepares increased security measures for SXSW. PAGE 2
Columnist critiques lack of diversity in University faculty, encourages proactivity. PAGE 4
UT students make it possible for you to rate friends’ raging parties with a new app. PAGE 8
Late-game push falls short for the Longhorns in Big 12 Championship. PAGE 6
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
CAMPAIGNS RESPOND TO RUMORS, CRITICISM juan figueroa | the daily texan staff
HANNAH MCMORRIS VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
juan figueroa | the daily texan staff
MEHRAZ RAHMAN
GUNEEZ IBRAHIM
VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Ibrahim uses social media post to address discrimination claims against campaign. was stalked, her family was threatened and she was told she should commit suicide. “Why? Because we spoke up. Betudent body president cancause we tried to stand up for mididate Guneez Ibrahim renorities in a way that has never been leased a message on her social done on this campus,” Ibrahim, a media platforms Saturday sociology and design addressing the way senior, said in the she and her runpost. “It has made ning mate Hannah us utterly miserable, McMorris were haa constant reminder rassed throughout that our experiences their campaign. are relentlessly inThe post came validated in a society one day after the where women and Colton–Mehraz expeople of color are ecutive alliance was second tier.” announced winDays before the ner of the Student results of the SG Government elecelection were antion. As of Sunday, nounced, McMorris, however, the SG a journalism and Supreme Court has African and African nullified the results diaspora studies juof the election, nior, shut down her pending approvTwitter account in al from the Dean an effort to avoid of Students. harassment. She has In the post, IbraGuneez Ibrahim, since reactivated her him said she was student body presidential candidate account and placed called a terrorist it in private mode. and a Nazi, and Many of the posts came in response was accused of being anti-Semitic and anti-white because of social me- to year-old tweets that surfaced where McMorris described daily frustration dia activity by the official campaign
By Chase Karacostas @chasekaracostas
S
Why? Because we spoke up. Because we tried to stand up for minorities in a way that has never been done before on this campus.
Twitter account and past tweets by McMorris. Ibrahim also said she
IBRAHIM page 2
COLTON BECKER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Responding to rumors and harrasment, Becker confronts controversy on Facebook. pending approval from the Dean of Students. Nutrition senior Becker, whose n a Facebook post Monday, campaign platform included increasColton Becker, who won the Stuing support for survivors of sexual dent Government executive alliassault, wrote that online harassance election last week, attemptment made him feel like he had to ed to dispel the rumors of sending address the rumors. sexually harassing “I would like to messages and nude apologize to anyone SnapChat photos who has felt frusto multiple women trated or confused last year. by the lack of visible The rumors, and accessible inforwhich Becker said mation surrounding were untrue, surthis rumor. I was faced on several initially hesitant to social media platmake a post on soforms during the cial media for many SG campaign pereasons,” Becker riod and continsaid in the post. “But ued to circle after I’ve now realized it ended. that addressing peo“After the elecple’s concerns on an tion results were individual basis is announced, I not enough.” couldn’t even celeBecker denied brate,” Becker said. sending any photos “There was just an and filed a Title IX Colton Becker, explosion of tweets report in December student body presidential candidate that were bringing to dispel the rumors. up this information One individual, not that was utterly false, but that peomultiple, did accuse Becker of sendple were latching onto because they ing nude photos, according to the needed to vent their frustration.” Title IX report, which was viewed by On Sunday, the SG Supreme Court nullified the election results, BECKER page 2
By Chase Karacostas @chasekaracostas
I
. . . You wonder, ‘Have they heard this rumor, do they think you’re an abuser?’ It’s just a very dark state of mind to be in.
UNIVERSITY
University faculty consists mainly of white professors By Mason Carroll @ masonccarroll
When environmental engineering sophomore Sandra Solis thought back about all the professors she has had during her time at UT, she was shocked to realize all but one of her professors were white males. The overwhelming majority of UT professors are white, making up 75.4 percent of the faculty. Asian follows with 11.3 percent, Hispanic with 8.1 percent and Black with 3.8 percent of the faculty, according to the UT Statistical Handbook. Solis said these statistics can be discouraging to students like her. “I think (diversity) is important
because you look up to those people,” Solis said. “If a student sees the majority of their professors are male or are white, as a Hispanic you wonder, ‘Will I be able to reach that some day?’” The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan was created last March to help ensure diversity within the University, and a diverse faculty recruitment plan was a part of the document. Leonard N. Moore, interim vice president for Diversity and Community Engagement and history professor, said diversity in the classroom is important to all students. Moore, in his classes like Race in the Age of Obama, has taught about issues concerning race and the black experience in the U.S.
“I think when you have people from different backgrounds it makes the learning environment that much better,” Moore said. “We grow as humans when we are around people with different experiences.” Moore said there are a few factors contributing to the low number of minorities teaching at the University level. For example, black professors could only teach at black colleges until the 1970s. “I think the pool (of minorities) is a little smaller,” Moore said. “There’s competition for the talent, plain and simple. The reality of it is you will probably have to pay more for a black or Latino professor than you would for a white professor.” Megan Cadena, biomedical
engineering sophmore, said she never sees any Hispanic, Native-American or African-American professors. Although she said a professor’s ethnicity will not affect the learning of a subject, Cadena, who also had a majority of white professors, said it can affect a student’s comfort level. “(Diversity) plays into culture and cultural understanding,” Cadena said. “So if none of the professors are understanding or tolerant towards minorities or other ethnic groups then it’s harder for students who have those cultures in the classroom setting.” Solis said as a Hispanic student, she thinks it will be unlikely to see an increase in representation anytime soon, but she wants to
be the one to rewrite the rules and make a difference for people like her. “The fact that (professors) don’t look like me makes me think, ‘Will I be able to do that’ in a sense, but it also makes me think that maybe I’ll be a pioneer or one of the first to make that change in the future,” Solis said. Cadena said she has met many people of different backgrounds at UT, but in the statistical side, there is a lot of room for improvement. “While I see a diverse population, we need to do better,” Cadena said. “I think it can help students grow better and actually gain from the educational experience, because they are not afraid or out casted to an unheard people group.”