Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Volume 121, Issue 30
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
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University Health Services launches its annual flu shot campaign.
The University should reconsider its relationship with the ROTC.
RESEARCH
Kendra Scott comes to campus, talks female leadership in the boardroom.
Longhorns take much-needed bye week following litany of injuries against Cowboys.
UNIVERSITY
UT auto admission threshold stays at 6%
Good Systems project aims to use AI for society’s benefit By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
Good Systems, the third grand challenge in the Bridging Barriers initiative, was launched in a campus-wide email Friday by Daniel Jaffe, the vice president for research for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. The Bridging Barriers initiative, first planned in 2016, takes three broad research themes and uses UT researchers from all disciplines to try to solve world issues in eight years. First announced Sept. 18 by UT President Gregory Fenves during the 2019 University Address, Good Systems is a multidisciplinary, campus-wide project which focuses on how to ethically use artificial intelligence to society’s benefit. Kenneth Fleischmann, faculty chair for the Good Systems executive team and School of Information associate professor, said focusing on ethical technology is an important endeavor because of how ingrained artificial intelligence is in everyday life. He cited an AI-based technology created to predict the likelihood of criminals becoming repeat offenders which used racially biased algorithms based on historically racist data. “We’ve come to appreciate in society that technology in general, AI in particular, is a life and death matter,” Fleischmann said. “We don’t have very many ethical checks on IT development. If you want to release a new app on the app store, you just need Apple to approve it. It’s tremendously easy to release a new software product, but it could have very severe, potentially life-threatening consequences.” Students, staff and faculty from a majority of UT’s schools and colleges are collaborating on the Good Systems project by researching smaller projects called one-year funded projects. Fleischmann said 10 projects,
Increasing number of in-state applicants contributes to decision to keep auto admit threshold at 6%. By Neelam Bohra @_neelam_b
T’s automatic admission threshold will remain at 6% for the 2021-22 application cycle, according to a letter sent by President Gregory Fenves to the Texas Education Agency. Senate Bill 175 requires the University to offer automatic admission to 75% of the University’s enrollment capacity for in-state, first-time undergraduates. The University determined that automatically admitting Texas high schoolers in the top 6% of their 2021 graduating class will meet this requirement, according to a Sept. 11 letter delivered to Mike Morath, the Texas Education Agency commissioner, which the University provided to The Daily Texan. Joey Williams, director of communications for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, said the University still considers students who do not meet the automatic admission criteria in the remaining pool of applicants. “We set the automatic criteria in adherence with state law and the need to ensure we are able to effectively support the success of our
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incoming students,” Williams said. “Future review and automatic criteria setting will continue to ensure we meet the dual enrollment goals of access for students from across Texas and our ability to effectively support student success.” The growing number of students attending Texas high schools and applying to UT contributed to the threshold decision, according to the letter. 50,576 first-time freshmen applied and 19,482 were admitted last year. The University’s threshold percentage has followed a downward trend since SB 175 took effect in 2011, but the threshold has remained at 6% for three application cycles, according to the letter. According to the Texas Admissions website, 48.5% of 2018-2019 in-state applicants were admitted, 19.5% of which were nonautomatic admissions. “As we work to enhance our
“I would say I wasn’t in top 6% and people made faces. It’s a new environment I’m trying to adjust to ... it feels like you’re out of the culture.” BRINDA KHAREL
nutrition science freshman
Texas student enrollment efforts, we are seeing increasing recruitment competition for our students from out-of-state colleges and universities due to declining high school populations elsewhere in the country,” Williams said. Nutrition science freshman
/ the daily texan staff
Brinda Kharel said she did not receive automatic admission because of her small graduating class. “I went to a pretty tough school, academically challenging, where they make you take all pre-AP and AP courses,” Kharel said. “My (graduating) class was very small, with less than 110 people, so it was sort of hard to be in the top 6% because there were only six people who were the top six (percent).” Kharel said this made automatic acceptance less important at her school. When she arrived at orientation, however, she said her perception of it changed. “I didn’t realize so many people were in the top 6%, but here it feels like everyone was,” Kharel said. “I would say I wasn’t in top 6% and people made faces. It’s a A D M I S S I O N S PAGE 3
S Y S T E M S PAGE 3
CAMPUS
CAMPUS
New career center to be built in FAC
UT voter turnout expected to increase for 2020 elections
By Laura Morales @lamor_1217
By Victoria May
The new Center for Career Exploration and Development, which will give recruiters a renovated space to meet with students, is moving into its design phase. The facility on the second floor of the Flawn Academic Center will include 40 meeting rooms, a waiting room and two multi-purpose rooms which will accommodate 150 people, said Robert Vega, University Career Engagement deputy director. The project has completed planning and programming, but the schedule is still being finalized, said Melissa Loe, director of communications for financial and administrative services. The new center is projected to cost $9 million. This new center will replace the current career center in the Student Services Building which contains 12 interview rooms and a waiting room but
After voter turnout more than tripled at UT during last year’s midterm elections, experts said they expect the trend to continue throughout the 2020 election season. The national percentage of registered voters more than doubled from 2014 to 40% in 2018, according a national report released Sep. 19 by Tufts University and the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement. UT experienced an even greater turnout rate, to where more than a quarter of UT students voted in 2018 compared to 8.2% in 2014. In Travis County, 61.3% of registered voters took to the polls in 2018. Bruce Elfant, Travis County tax assessor and collector and voter registrar, said he expects more people to vote during the upcoming election season, with a predicted 70% voter turnout. “I am beyond impressed by the voter turnout here in Travis
@toricmay
pedro luna
/ the daily texan staff
With the goal of providing equal opportunity for every student, the new University Engagement Center will provide career advice to all who seek it with up to 30 advisers helping students in a variety of fields. does not have a large event room or computers for online interviews. Norma Guerra Gaier, University Career Services executive director, said the new center will help in-
crease access to the services they provide to students. “We want to make sure we level the playing field,” Gaier said. “Every single UT student should have the ability to en-
gage in career exploration and have the opportunity to compete for full-time employment and be competitive for graduC E N T E R PAGE 2
County,” Elfant said. “We have not seen this drastic of a voter turnout in decades. That being said, I want to caution young voters against thinking their vote doesn’t matter because numbers
I am beyond impressed by the voter turnout here in Travis County. We have not seen this drastic of a voter turnout in decades.” BRUCE ELFANT
tax assessor and collector
are so high. Everyone needs to continue to vote. This is their generation. They have the power to enact real change.” Elfant said the voter turnout
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