SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900 @THEDAILYTEXAN | THEDAILYTEXAN.COM
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 129
N E WS
O PI N I O N
S CI E NCE &TE CH
S P ORTS
LIFE&ARTS
Events + Entertainment hosts annual Cesar Chavez Legacy dinner. PAGE 2
Is it justified to refer to the Austin Bomber as a terrorist? PAGE 4
Lemurs’ digestive systems are affected by their social groups, research has found. PAGE 5
Struggles on the mound cause baseball first loss of road series against Kansas State. PAGE 7
Violent video games might be bloody, but they won’t make you bloodthirsty. PAGE 8
christopher plummer:
Editor’s Note: This is The Daily Texan’s fourth installment of The 5% Project in collaboration with the UT-Austin chapter of National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
Plummer’s efforts in organizing events brings black community at UT together. By Kamari Esquerra
G
overnment junior Christopher “Slim” Plummer didn’t experience racism until coming to UT. However, he uses his negative experience to make a positive impact by unifying African-American students through planning community events, such as the “Black Panther” premiere watch party last month. After some time at UT, many African Americans, including Plummer, had negative encounters with non-minority students. “During the spring semester of my freshman year I was in West Campus and a group of
I want to give people a chance to build what they love to do while they’re here and while they’re getting their education.” Christopher Plummer, government junior
white students were throwing bottles at me (and my friends) … saying the ‘n’ word,” Plummer said. “It’s not discussed much, but there’s a lot of racist graffiti in West Campus. I was shocked. That was my first eye opener to racial issues.” Going to a university with a black population of less than five percent, Plummer said it is common for black students to go throughout their day seeing thousands of people, but rarely see someone who looks like them.
@ _kamari_
These experiences inspired Plummer to organize events to bring the black community together to celebrate, share and support the culture of African Americans. Plummer said he wants others to know that black students can thrive at a university where a majority of the students look different from them, and is starting his own organization called Impetus, which focuses on helping students plan similar campus events of their own. Plummer hopes through these events, students can gain experience marketing themselves and their talents. Impetus also plans to integrate student talents through dance, photography, videography and other creative outlets to help students build their own brand. Plummer said the organization is planned to launch this coming fall and is open to everyone. “Although students typically come to the University to pursue academic goals, many of them also have passions outside of their major they do not know how to go about working towards,” Plummer said. “I want to give people a chance to build what they love to do while they’re here and while they’re getting their education. I have high hopes for it.” A recent event Plummer organized was the “Black Panther” premiere watch party, where he rented out a movie theater and invited black UT
angel ulloa | the daily texan staff
CAMPUS
CAMPUS
Black, Asian, Latinx alumni speak about segregation at UT
Comedians, students stand up for refugees with charity event
By Stephanie Adeline @stephadeline
Based on their experience as minorities at UT, three alumni told students they have the power to advocate for change in a panel on Thursday night. The panel was hosted by the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement as a preview to the book “As We Saw It,” which documents stories of African-American alumni at UT. Although the book only includes perspectives of African-American students, the panel was a way
to explore experiences of other minority groups. Colonel Leon Holland was one of the first African-American undergraduates who attended UT and the first African-American ROTC officer commissioned from UT. Holland said he grew up in a diverse community in San Antonio and did not expect to be exposed to so much racism coming to UT. When he was watching his first UT football game, the crowds were making racist comments about an African-American football player from USC, and he said that was when he knew his
four years at UT were going to be challenging. “I came to the University of Texas naive, not thinking there were gonna be racial issues, and that turned out to be the highlight,” Holland said. Holland graduated in 1961, 11 years after Heman Sweatt became the first African-American student admitted to the UT School of Law. Thursday’s panel was part of the 32nd annual Heman Sweatt Symposium. Martha Cotera, a Latina who attended UT-El Paso in
PANEL page 2
By Nicole Stuessy @nicole_stuessy
The Student Activity Center auditorium was filled with laughs Thursday night, but the reason behind the event was much more serious. The second annual Stand Up for Refugees night brought together 150 people to watch dance performances and four comedians, and donated all proceeds towards Refugee Services of Texas, an organization which offers resettlement and legal services to refugees in the state. The event was hosted by members of the Ismaili Muslim
Events like this really bring people together and help us build bridges not only within UT but within the greater Austin society.” Inaara Jamal,
vp of external affairs, imsa
Students Association, Management Information Systems Association and OneWay South Asian Intervarsity. Inaara Jamal, the vice president of external affairs for IMSA, said she personally knows a few refugees in her hometown of Dallas and wants to raise awareness for ways to help people on a similar journey. “There are a lot of ways we can support them and unfortunately not everyone knows how to support them,” said Jamal, a management information systems junior. “So partnering with Refugee Services of Texas
CHARITY page 2