Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Volume 121, Issue 27
NEWS
OPINION
Removing kiosks from campus betrays student’s right to free speech.
LIFE&ARTS It’s 25 years later, but “Friends” has a lasting impact on TV and students.
SPORTS Coordinators discuss team’s growth, development in recent years.
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Dell Medical School receives $250,000 for Alzheimer’s research.
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY
Fenves’ annual address
McCombs Field to add new indoor facilities for training
State of the University address highlighted improvement in Univeristy housing, scholarships, graduate tuition. New graduate fellowship program to launch in 2020.
By Laura Morales @lamor_1217
“It’s clear that we need to take action to make University housing more widely available,” Fenves said. The University approved a $10 million one-time allocation for tuition and support for graduate students during this year, Fenves said. “This is just a first step, and I’m looking forward to receiving additional recommendations from the task force in December,” Fenves said.
Baseball and softball players will be able to avoid the Texas heat because new extensions to the Red and Charline McCombs Field will add an indoor training facility for both teams. The facility will include a pitching lab, batting cages and a new weight room, said Kevin Rodriguez, assistant sports information director. The project will extend the existing stadium to the northwest, costing an estimated $9.9 million, said Veronica Trevino, media manager for financial and administrative services. She said this project is planned to be complete by July 2020. UT is currently one of the few universities in the Big 12 Conference that does not have an indoor softball and baseball training facility, said John Bianco, senior associate athletics director of communication. Currently, both the softball and baseball teams practice on the outdoor fields, which are also used for games. In order to compete with other programs in the Big 12 Conference, athletic director Chris Del Conte said the teams need these facilities to train. “Our goal for all of our sports will always be to be a top 10 program,” Del Conte said in an email. “Our expectations are high, and it’s our job to provide our coaches and student-athletes with the resources necessary to compete at the highest level.” Head softball coach Mike White said the facilities are
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eddie gaspar
/ the daily texan staff
President Gregory Fenves presents his State of the University address on Sept. 18, 2019. In his address, he announced plans to expand on-campus housing, scholarship, and the University’s leadership role in society. By Areeba Amer @areeba_amer
T President Gregory Fenves announced plans to have enough housing for all undergraduate freshmen in the State of the University address on Wednesday. He also announced initiatives for graduate students such as a $10 million one-time allocation for tuition. Fenves said there are currently only 7,400 spaces in University
housing for 50,000 students, which has become a problem in Austin’s current housing market. The University will work with a consulting firm to conduct a study on the current state of UT student housing and use their recommendations to inform future plans, Fenves said. “That’s a barrier to success. And, as a university with a history of denying equitable access to qualified students, it’s our responsibility … to create opportunities for students of all backgrounds,” Fenves said. To address these needs, Fenves
said in the fall of 2020, the apartment building 2400 Nueces will be available as a University housing option, which adds about 700 spaces. Fenves said the University recently purchased the building. Fenves said the University plans to eventually demolish and replace the Creekside Residence Hall, which was built in 1955. The new building will provide an estimated 700 to 900 new spaces. The University is also planning to begin a project for graduate student housing on the east side of campus.
CITY
STATE
Recent data indicates which Austin streets are most accident-prone
Texas leads nation in poll closures after 2013 Supreme Court ruling
By Lauren Girgis @laurengirgis
The Austin Transportation Department utilizes a data-informed planning tool to identify areas in Austin that have a relatively high number of serious traffic injuries and fatal crashes. These areas, called the High-Injury Network, are where 70% of the city’s accidents occur and consist of 8% of the Austin street grid, said Joel Meyer, Vision Zero transportation planner. Vision Zero is an international movement to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2025, and part of the Vision Zero movement includes creating the High-Injury Network. Guadalupe Street, 24th Street, MLK Boulevard and San Jacinto Boulevard are all part of the network. According to the Vision Zero website, city officials use the network to determine areas where safety, infrastructure and education efforts should be focused to
have the greatest impact on improving safety. “What (the High-Injury Network) is looking at is concentrations of serious injuries and fatal crashes across the (city street) network,”
We’re going to mainly use it as … a high-level tool to identify streets across the city that all have common characteristics that we think crashes are likely to occur in the future.” JOEL MEYER
Vision zero transportation planner
Meyer said. “(The tool) helps capture longer street segments where we think I N J U R Y PAGE 2
By Victoria May @toricmay
With over 750 polling locations shuttered throughout the state, Texas has closed the most polling places in the nation since 2012, according to a new report released by The Leadership Conference Education Fund on Sept. 10. In 2012, a Supreme Court ruling said states no longer had to get preapproval from the federal government before making changes to the election process. Following this ruling, Texas has closed hundreds of its polling locations. The Leadership Conference Education Fund is an education and research initiative led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a civil and human rights coalition, according to their website. The report said many counties that close polling locations engage in “potentially discriminatory” relocations or closures. However, the report also said there are legitimate
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reasons for relocation or closure, such as population decreases or a reduced demand for in-person voting. Travis County has closed 67 locations since the 2012 Supreme Court ruling, according to Travis County clerk Dana DeBeauvoir. She said she thinks the report is
incredibly important. “(The report is) right about so many things,” DeBeauvoir said. “The Supreme Court should have never gotten rid of the Voting Rights Act, especially Section 5 that deals with preclearance, because that’s the part that has always protected voters in Texas
/ the daily texan staff
from Texas’ very long-standing habit of discrimination against voters.” DeBeauvoir said Travis County has closed some locations in an effort to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, moving V O T E PAGE 2