SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900 @THEDAILYTEXAN | THEDAILYTEXAN.COM
TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2018
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 126
N E WS
O PI N I O N
LI FE&A RTS
SPORTS
Rez Week allows students to explore faith with events on the Gregory Gym Plaza. PAGE 2
Columnist outlines the benefits of collaboration between disciplines in the classroom. PAGE 4
Students encourage creativity in an interdisciplinary club focused expanding fine arts. PAGE 8
Texas looks to keep rolling with a battle against the Bobcats. PAGE 6
STATE
CITY
Social work students from across Texas gather at Capitol
UTPD, APD clarify comments on bomber By Allyson Waller & Eilish O’Sullivan @allyson_renee7 @evosullivan
jpshua guenther | the daily texan staff Social work senior Margot Twomey (left) and Alexis George, program coordinator for the Social Work Undergraduate Program, listen to colleagues speak at Social Work Student Day at the Capitol. Among the speakers, State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, commended those involved in social work and encouraged them to meet with lawmakers.
Social work students from Texas colleges meet legislators. By Meara Isenberg @mearaannee
S
peaking out about everything from gun reform to helping homeless veterans, hundreds of social work students from colleges across Texas met at the south steps of the State Capitol on Monday afternoon as part of Social Work Student Day at the Legislature.
“A lot of us don’t feel equipped to really be advocates to the fullest extent possible,” said Lynn Panepinto, social work graduate student and event organizer. “Having events like this helps us to come together and not only remember that this is part of our role as social workers, but also be empowered by one another and just know we are in this together.” The event, hosted by UT every other year, filled the Union Ballroom with students. They listened to speakers and a student panel discussion. From there, some chose to march to the Capitol, where students
were invited to speak out about their passions and attend pre-scheduled visits with state legislators. Social work professor Barbara Anderson, who helped organize Social Work Student Day, said the event is held at UT because of its close proximity to the Capitol. With visitors from social work programs at various universities, including Texas A&M University-Commerce and Texas State University, the event allowed social work students to put their studies into practice. “We don’t prescribe the issue that they’re elevating, that’s kind of something that
each participant will determine for themselves,” Anderson said. “What we try to do with a big gathering is build up their excitement, and expand their understanding (of issues).” Students stepped up to a mic in front of the Capitol to share what they were passionate about with the crowd of their peers, tackling subjects such as domestic abuse prevention and public transportation funding. Emily Gilbreath, junior at Tarleton State University, spoke about funding for people with disabilities.
SOCIAL WORK page 2
Both the Austin and UT Police Departments have faced criticism for public comments on the Austin bomber’s attacks, sparking debate on whether or not the bomber can be classified as a terrorist. Brian Manley, APD’s interim chief, came under fire after he did not call the Austin bomber a terrorist in a March 21 press conference. Response to Manley’s remarks differed from those of UTPD Chief David Carter’s. One day before the suspect’s death, Carter told the Dallas Morning News that the bomber’s acts were terroristic but did not explicitly call him a terrorist. “In my opinion most people would agree that the community was in fact being terrorized and therefore that was a terrorist act,” Carter said. “Whether that individual’s motivation fit the criminal definition or rose to the level of the terrorism offense is a separate issue.” Police said Mark Conditt killed two people and injured four in Austin using bombs he created. One more was injured in San Antonio. Police located Conditt on March 21, but he was killed after detonating a bomb in his vehicle. Later that day, police obtained what they said was Conditt’s 25-minute taped confession. “What I can tell you having
By Sara Schleede @saraschleede
Gallup poll: students insecure about rights By Estefania Rodriguez @estefania_rdz13
A Gallup/Knight Foundation survey released this month found that college students feel less secure in their ability to express their First Amendment rights. Of the five rights promised in the First Amendment, the survey showed students were the most insecure about their right to peacefully assemble. “(At) a lot of peaceful protests and rallies, people try to rile them up,” biology freshman Paloma June said. “That threat makes students a lot more scared to go out and speak their opinion.”
Students who felt that the freedom of the press is secure dropped the most, from 81 percent of students in 2016 to 60 percent in 2017. “I can see why if people aren’t careful about what they … publish online or on the news or in any kind of media outlet, then they’re obviously going to lose sponsors. They’re going to lose relationships and viewers,” said Antonio Vela-Garcia, advertising and radio-television-film freshman. “People have a lot less tolerance on what others say.” The survey revealed that
GALLUP page 2
College Students on First Amendment Rights “Do you think each of the following rights is very secure, secure, threatened, or very threatened in the country today?”
100%
anthony mireles | the daily texan staff R.B. Brenner, director of the Moody College’s School of Journalism, awards Jenna Bush Hager the William Randolph Hearst Fellows award at the Belo Center for New Media on Monday afternoon. She urges journalism students that their potential role as reporters is important in today’s society. at UT and said she was always determined to work in urban education. After graduation, she worked for UNICEF in Latin America and at charter schools with marginalized communities, a job she called rewarding but draining. “Our culture doesn’t appreciate the job of teaching enough — how hard it is, how dynamic it is,” Hager said.
“My job doing live television is less stressful than teaching in inner city Baltimore.” Since starting at NBC in 2009, Hager said she has been able to satisfy her love for storytelling and interview “extraordinary ordinary people” with perspectives she would not have otherwise known. “I feel surprised, but it also feels like something that was
meant to be,” Hager said. Hager said the current political climate has created stronger biases and stereotypes, meaning the press’ job to report with an open mind and accurate sources is especially vital. “Writing authentic, genuine pieces is more important (than ever),” Hager said. “That’s sad
HAGER page 2
% Very Secure or Secure
Jenna Bush Hager said she believes in hope. “You can’t ever lose hope that your voice is going to be heard because then you’re not living in a democracy,” Hager said. Hager discussed her childhood, her career and the press at the Belo Center for New Media on Monday for the 2018 William Randolph Hearst Fellows Award Lecture. First known to the public as former president George W. Bush’s daughter, Hager is now a news correspondent for NBC’s “Today,” author, editor-at-large of Southern Living magazine, and Next Generation Initiative chair for UNICEF. She is a former teacher. “She has an awfully rare perspective of someone who was covered by media … and now with the ‘Today’ show is in media,” said R.B. Brenner, director of Moody College’s School of Journalism. Hager said she remembers running from the press during her father’s presidency and never expected to work as a journalist. Hager majored in English
POLICE page 2
NATION
CAMPUS
UT hosts NBC correspondent, former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager
listened to this recording, he does not at all mention anything about terrorism, nor does he mention anything about hate,” Manley said in a press conference. “But instead it is the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life that led him to this point.” The controversy around classifying the bomber as a terrorist stems from the fact that the traditional definition of terrorism requires a political motive, Carter said. “The federal definition (of terrorism) in terms of what the law says and what the police or law enforcement have to prove in a criminal court is what is considered the elements of the crime, and that includes (that) basically there has to be some motivation based on ideology or trying to affect a political system,” Carter said. Manley’s comments about Conditt’s confession attracted public criticism, which he addressed in an interview with KVUE. Manley said he is not at all sympathetic towards Conditt. “What my comments were, were a reflection of what his comments were,” Manley said in the interview. “They are not belief, they are not my opinion. My comments were meant to summarize what I heard him say (in his confession) … My opinion is that he created terror in our community.”
2016 2017
-9%
-9%
-4%
-21%
-9%
50%
0%
Petition
Speech
Religion
Press
Assemble
Source: Gallup/Knight Foundation
mingyo lee | the daily texan staff