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New PCL polling location officially confirmed for November midterms. PA G E 2
Gregory Gym needs to stop throwing away reusable water bottles. PA G E 4
Despite backlash, Netflix series “Insatiable” is renewed for a second season. PA G E 8
Over 103,000 fans flock into DKR to set a new attendance record in Austin. PA G E 6
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CAMPUS CAMPUS
Laptop checkout program opens for students By Tehreem Shahab @turhem
samantha dorisca
| the daily texan staff
Seven out of 58 scholars in the Turing Program at UT are women. The Turing Program is a computer science honors program.
‘Something we want to fix’ Out of 58 freshman Turing Scholars, only seven are women. By Neelam Bohra @_neelam_b
ut of the 58 freshmen who joined this year’s Turing Scholars Program, seven are women. Created in 2002, Turing, the computer science honors program, allows students to take more challenging classes and find elite job opportunities. This year, the
program admitted 129 freshmen, 37 of which are women. Of the 37, only seven decided to attend UT. “Our department’s numbers, while not great, are about the national average,” said Calvin Lin, director of the Turing Scholars Program. “I think fundamentally, we have a pretty good environment for our students. It’s not perfect, and the gender ratio is something that isn’t right. It’s something we want to fix.” Lin said the male and female students in the program have similar graduation rates, which sets Turing apart from other computer science schools in the country. The Turing website advertises a program with 22 percent women in comparison to
a 13 percent national average of women in computer science. For the class of 2018, the program is 12 percent women. “In high school, there was this gender gap in STEM, but I never really felt it, and I never felt intimidated by it,” freshman Turing Scholar Niti Malwade said. “The moment college started, I felt it. It was so strong for me, and it was always in the back of my head for the first two weeks. It definitely defined my introduction into Turing.” All seven women said they experienced struggles with STEM being a male-dominated environment. Malwade said one boy would quiz her every day on why Turing
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UT offers options to check out laptops for students who cannot afford one or whose equipment is being repaired, but resources are limited and vary within each college. The McCombs School of Business, the College of Education and the School of Architecture offer laptop checkout services to their students and those taking their courses. McCombs has about 50 laptops available to checkout two nights a week for its 5,000 students. The College of Education has 20 laptops available, but they cannot be checked out overnight. The college also requires laptops for students entering the professional development program for future teachers, said Ryan Baldwin, the College of Education’s director of information technology. If a student cannot afford a laptop, the requirement allows them to receive financial aid to help them buy one, Baldwin said. It’s a similar case for the School of Architecture. They have a dozen laptops available for checkout for 700 architecture students. “We want to make sure that since we ingrained those laptops in the way we do our courses and our curriculum, the students can keep working if they’re having hardware trouble,” said Eric Hepburn, the School of Architecture’s director of information technology.
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NATION
CAMPUS
FDA proposes Juul ban to decrease youth addiction
APD vs UTPD: Who polices West Campus?
By Chad Lyle @LyleChad
The Food and Drug Administration announced last week it is considering a ban on flavored e-cigarettes in an effort to curb underage use of the product. Alexandra Loukas, principal investigator of UT’s Tobacco Research and Evaluation Team, said the ban would be effective at cutting down use by young people. The most common flavored e-cigarettes on the market are those made by Juul Labs, according to marketing analytics company Nielsen. Unflavored e-cigarettes would not be included under the possible ban. “A flavor ban would be a really good idea,” said Loukas, a health education professor. “For example, flavored cigarettes were on the market because they were easier (to smoke). Tobacco is harsh … but adding menthol, adding other kinds of flavors, makes it easier to accept that product. Flavors do attract younger people. We know that.” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb described youth use of e-cigarettes as a problem that has come to a fever pitch in a speech at
the agency’s headquarters last Wednesday. “We see clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion,” Gottlieb said. Loukas said one of the reasons for this is the increasing popularity of Juul, a compact e-cigarette with prefilled nicotine pods. “Juul’s popularity really exploded over the past year or so, even though it’s been on the market for a little bit longer than that,” Loukas said. “Juul tends to have a higher concentration of nicotine than most other e-cigarettes. And so that’s one of the problems … the nicotine content is so high.” According to Juul Labs, all of its cartridges, referred to as “pods,” contain about 0.7 mL of nicotine, which is roughly equivalent to the nicotine content of two packs of cigarettes. Health and society sophomore Sydney Stringer said she believes most people get hooked on Juuls for cultural reasons. “I think usually what happens is people get exposed to it in a social setting,” Singer said. “I feel like it’s really become part of the party
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STEER CLEAR!
TEXAS ATHLETICS GAMEDAY CLEAR BAG POLICY
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By Megan Menchaca @meganmenchaca13
Students living in West Campus often see two different police departments patrolling the area — the Austin Police Department and the University of Texas Police Department. But the roles of the these two departments are slightly different. APD handles all police-related calls within the city limits of Austin, including those in West Campus. APD Lt. Robert Smith said the department has around 12 officers patrol the West Campus area who respond primarily to criminal trespassing and vehicle thefts. “UTPD is only contacted if the event happens on UT property,” Smith said. “They aren’t called if it occurs off UT property. The only exception is that if it is a violent crime. In the interest of public safety, we will notify UTPD.” UTPD Chief David Carter said the APD communications center will contact UTPD if they want assistance with investigating a violent crime and then officers will respond. UTPD officers on patrol will arrest people they see committing crimes if APD is not present. “If somebody reports that their bicycle was stolen or something like that happened, we don’t respond to those calls
albert lee
because APD has the primary responsibility to investigate anything that has occurred off campus,” Carter said. Carter said despite being funded primarily to police the main UT campus, UTPD increased the number of officers patrolling West Campus in 2013 to support the significant number of UT students who live in the area. “I recognized that we had issues in West Campus at that time, involving negative interactions between some of our students and homeless individuals,” Carter said. “So now you will frequently see
UTPD officers on bicycles or on foot or even driving through West Campus.” Anthropology junior Sarah Dolphin, who lives in West Campus, said she has had positive interactions with APD when they have responded to her calls, but she wishes UTPD could dedicate more officers to the area. “Since West Campus is literally across the street from the University, I feel that UTPD’s presence should be stronger,” Dolphin said. “Their response times would likely be much quicker than (those of) APD, and I know that it would make
APPROVED BAGS • Bags that are clear plastic and do not exceed 12” x 6” x 12” • One-gallon clear resealable plastic storage bags • Small clutch bags or purses that do not exceed 4.5” x 6.5”
PROHIBITED BAGS • Backpacks, purses, diaper bags, cases (camera, binocular, etc.), fanny packs, printed pattern plastic bags, reusable grocery totes, mesh or straw bags, duffle bags, large totes
TexasSports.com/clearbag
| the daily texan staff
me and my friends feel safer.” Carter said if students report a crime to UTPD that did not happen on campus, UTPD will collect any information about the crime and then connect students to Student Emergency Services and APD. “If it’s a member of our community, we’re going to support them in whatever way we possibly can,” Carter said. “Sometimes a student may come and report they were sexually assaulted off campus. We recognize that it’s important to provide support for that
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