SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900 @THEDAILYTEXAN | THEDAILYTEXAN.COM
TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2018
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 146
N E WS
O PI N I O N
LI FE&A RTS
SPORTS
Attorneys set pretrial hearing to discuss evidence in Haruka Weiser case. PAGE 2
Columnists critique financial bars, computer science plagiarism standards. PAGE 4
Austin’s psychedelic music festival, Levitation, returns with a new format this week. PAGE 8
Zach Zubia looks to get back on track against defensive-minded Cougars. PAGE 6
EDUCATION
Students choose rigor or low tuition for summer courses
STATE
By Mason Carroll @masonccarroll
With summer right around the corner, students must decide if they want to take summer courses at a fouryear university like UT or at a community college like Austin Community College. Depending on the school, summer classes can range from $1,200 to more than $1,400 per hour, according to the UT Tuition website. According to the ACC website, summer classes cost $50 per hour. Aerospace engineering junior Caroline O’Neal has taken summer classes at both UT and at a community college and said value is a huge benefit of community college courses. “For bang for your buck it’s more community college over UT, in my opinion,” O’Neal said. “When you get that diploma, it says, ‘UT,’ not, ‘Also classes taken at this community college.’ And at the end of the day you’re getting a degree from UT but not paying as much for those summer classes.” Joey Williams, director of communications, said there are many advantages to taking summer classes at UT, and students can only take their first-year signature course on campus. “We encourage students to take the courses that they can at UT to make sure that you’re taking classes with a really high level of rigor so you really get the benefit of
SUMMER page 3
anthony mireles | the daily texan staff Undeclared sophomore Joshua Deleon walks past the school suppiles section inside the basement of the University Co-op’s Guadalupe location on Monday afternoon. The Co-op is attempting to re-focus its business model as online retailers and other local stores are undercutting the Co-op’s prices, causing a five-year streak in operation losses.
Co-op combats five years of losses The University Co-op focuses on main store in order to break even. By Meara Isenberg @mearaannee
T
he University Co-op has faced hard financial times over the past five years, posting millions of dollars in operating losses and closing multiple satellite stores across the state, according to the Austin American-Statesman. However, the Co-op has made
an effort to turn this around by focusing the past two years on improving its main store on Guadalupe Street, and CEO Cheryl Phifer said it may make a fiscal profit for the first time since 2013. “We are in fiscal 2018 now … and we’re probably going to break even,” Phifer said. “We might be just slightly positive, or just slightly losing money, but that’s a huge turnaround from where we were.” The Co-op closed three satellite stores in Fort Worth, Houston and on Dean Keeton Street in Austin during 2016 and 2017. Its two remaining satellite stores, located in San Antonio and Plano, will close
when their leases are up in December and 2021, respectively. Phifer said the Art and Supply Co-op, also located on the Drag, will be closed and consolidated with the main Co-op store when its lease is up in a few years, but there won’t be any changes to the inventory or staff. Michael Hasler, senior lecturer and chairman of the Co-op board, said the rise of online shopping has decreased the need for the satellite stores to stay open. “The profitability of those satellite stores has dropped pretty significantly with the advent of e-commerce,” Hasler said. Hasler said closing these stores
CAMPUS
is part of the Co-op’s plan to refocus its attention on the main store on the Drag. The store has undergone many changes in the past few years, which Hasler said has contributed to the Co-op’s increased profitability. Those changes include adding non-UT and Austin-related merchandise, emphasizing the online store and changing the layout of clothes in the store to be less packed in. “The products are displayed in a different way where it’s a lot nicer, neater (and) a lot more open and
CO-OP page 3
CAMPUS
It’s On Us organization hosts first Spring Week of Action By Stephanie Adeline @stephadeline
As Sexual Assault Awareness Month comes to a close, UT’s chapter of It’s On Us is hoping to make an extra push for sexual assault prevention through its first-ever Spring Week of Action. It’s On Us, a student organization sponsored by
UT’s Title IX office, will host events throughout the week focusing on promoting consent, bystander intervention and supporting survivors. Briana Torres, It’s On Us campus organizer, said through these events, the organization hopes to emphasize that sexual assault prevention is everyone’s responsibility. “It’s not just on the sur-
vivor to reach out for assistance,” said Torres, a Plan II and English sophomore. “It’s on us, it’s on you, it’s on me.” Their first event, Coffee for Consent, will be Tuesday in the West Mall, where students can get free coffee and discuss what consent means, how to ask for consent and what consent is not.
ACTION page 2
ashley nava | the daily texan staff Not On My Campus group members wear denim in solidarity of “Denim Day” to spread awareness of victim blaming. NOMC is a student organization commited to ending silence surrounding sexual assault.
Not On My Campus fights sexual violence with Denim Day By Madelyn Reiter @madireiter_
Student organization Not On My Campus will bring Denim Day to UT on April 25 in an effort to raise awareness about sexual assault and the effects of victim blaming. In 1992, a driving instructor
in Italy was convicted of raping an 18-year-old student in a secluded alleyway. However, his conviction was later overturned in 1998 when the Italian Supreme Court ruled that because the victim wore tight jeans it must have been consensual sex. “Basically, it was blaming what she was wearing because
this man wouldn’t have been able to remove (the jeans) himself,” said Maddi Weinstein, NOMC director of outreach. “So they inferred that she had helped, in which case it would be consensual.” The court’s appeal initiated an international movement to
DENIM page 2
mel westfall | the daily texan staff