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Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Volume 121, Issue 32
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
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UT Biodiversity Center researchers study Texas eels.
We can improve emergency response time with Longhorn EMS.
CAMPUS
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
UT senior vice president calls for ban on homeless camping By Lauren Girgis @laurengirgis
UT senior vice president Darrell Bazzell asked Mayor Steve Adler and the Austin City Council to prohibit homeless individuals from camping along the perimeter of the University and West Campus in a letter Wednesday. “As you continue to review possible changes to city ordinances, I hope the Council will work to improve public safety by prohibiting camping by members of the public in areas along the entire perimeter of campus, as well as in the area west of campus where many students live, work and gather,” Bazzell said. “These are high pedestrian areas that are not the safest or most humane places for homeless people to gather and where public safety risks or hazards could exist for our students.” The Austin City Council approved an ordinance that went into effect in July that lifted bans on where homeless individuals are allowed to camp in Austin. But they’ve since been deliberating making changes to the ordinance, deciding last week to postpone their vote until the week of Oct. 10. “We are firmly committed to protecting the safety of our students, employees, visitors and all Austinites both through the short-term policies discussed above and long-term strategies that we must develop together,” Bazzell said. In his letter, CFO Bazzell cited two incidents within the last week as indicators for changes to the camping ordinance. On B A N PAGE 2
Raveena Aurora talks album production and creative experiences.
Longhorns take down Cyclones in first Big 12 matchup of the season.
Gun Free UT signs in limbo SB 18 puts campus sign policy under review, task force provides reccomendations. By Lauren Grobe @grobe_lauren
he University’s policy on outward facing signs has been under review since last September, when the University mandated that all Gun Free UT signs be taken down. The passage of Senate Bill 18 this month might prevent future restrictions on faculty free speech. The University’s previous policy banned hanging outward facing signs in office windows, according to chapter 13 of the Handbook of Operating Procedures. This policy was suspended last year and is currently under review by a faculty task force, University spokesman J.B. Bird said. SB 18 now makes all outdoor common spaces on college campuses available for free speech activities for anyone. The task force, chaired by law professor Jordan Steiker, submitted their report reviewing the sign policy to UT President Gregory Fenves over the summer for consideration, Steiker said. According to the report, the task force recommended changing the policy to allow outward
anthony mireles
facing signs in office windows. History professor Joan Neuberger has a “Gun Free UT” sign displayed in her window. She said she did not remove her sign when the administration ordered so last September, but said “word trickled down” that the University would not enforce the sign policy. “I wasn’t planning to take my sign down until someone officially came and made me,” Neuberger said. Gun Free UT, a protest that occurred after Senate Bill 11 was signed in June 2015, was a response to a law that allows licensed individuals to
carry concealed firearms on campus. Neuberger said faculty cannot ban firearms from their classrooms. “I think having loaded guns in classroom is first of all, dangerous, and second of all, distracting from the practice of teaching,” Neuberger said. “(Students should) be able to talk without any restrictions” Neuberger said restricting the signs would be a violation of the faculty’s rights, as they are expressing their views legally through the signs. “We have freedom of speech, just like everyone else on campus,” Neuberger said. In the task force’s report,
SB 18 is mentioned as a concern, because the public could interpret it as allowing signs anywhere on campus. “Some members of the public might argue … the public would enjoy a right to place signs on the exterior building walls,” the report said. However, government department chair Alan Sager said he thinks the public is unlikely to come to this conclusion. “I don’t think they should be able to plaster the walls of my building,” Sager said. “But we’re talking about people’s right to speak, including members of the community.”
CAMPUS
By Emily Hernandez
Red River Street approved to be vacated for new arena By Graysen Golter @graysen_golter
@emilylhernandez
steph sonik
my Johnson, assistant vice president for campus safety. Completed recommendations on main campus include increased lighting and reduced vegetation along walkways, increased security cameras and emergency call boxes and new building access security systems, Johnson said. He said the University is working toward
Neuberger said all sides of an argument should be allowed to be expressed on campus even if that includes pro-campus carry signs. “That’s a visual dialogue, that’s what universities are about,” Neuberger said. The Gun Free UT signs bring awareness to SB 11 and make students aware of how the law affects them, Neuberger said. “It’s our responsibility to make sure that everyone who comes to school here knows what the law is and knows what the possibilities are for their participation in class,” Neuberger said.
CITY
University Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan safety items still in progress A student campus climate survey and improved safety measures at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus are some of the things students should see in the coming semesters as a result of the University’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. The plan, created in 2017, has several safety items marked as “in progress,” meaning work needs to be done to reach each item’s goal. These items concern the 2016 recommendations made by the Texas Department of Public Safety after the death of dance freshman Haruka Weiser, comprehensive campus climate surveys and the Police Oversight Committee, according to the action plan. In 2016, Texas DPS made recommendations after performing a safety audit of the University after Weiser’s homicide. While the action plan states the recommendations had a targeted completion date of 2018, the University plans to use the DPS funding until Aug. 2020, said Jim-
/ the daily texan file
The University has attempted to reinforce its signage policy and convince professors who have signs facing outward toward campus in their office windows to comply. The policy has been under review since last September and the new Senate Bill 18 might prevent such future restrictions on free speech.
implementing these same security measures at the Pickle campus, establishing call boxes and stationary maps at every campus parking garage and encouraging students to use well-traveled pathways by building physical barriers to unsafe shortcuts. “One of the challenges when we looked at the way students travel on campus is
/ the daily texan staff
there’s primary, secondary and tertiary pathways,” Johnson said. “We (want) students to exclude those dirt means of travel, (even) if it meant we put up a wall, or we changed the configuration with landscaping so that you can’t take that shortcut anymore.” A student campus climate P L A N PAGE 2
The Austin City Council approved an ordinance last Thursday to vacate a portion of Red River Street for its realignment and the construction of a new University arena. The University and the city of Austin agreed in February to narrow Red River Street from four lanes to two lanes and adjust it according to its historic alignment, according to the interlocal cooperation agreement. Council member Kathy Tovo said the new arena will replace the Frank Erwin Center and host sporting events, graduations and other large-scale community events. Darren Hale, the interim associate vice president of Facilities Services, said construction will most likely begin this December or January and end in 2022. He said Robert Dedman Drive will be improved and used as a connection between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and east Dean Keeton to replace the vacated part of Red River Street. “As a partner, the city of Austin is working … to make sure that we’re facilitating that process and making sure (the University has) the ability to construct and implement
their vision,” Tovo said. “I see it as net benefit for our community because … UT will have the ability to hold those large sporting events, as well as be a place that some of those large events that are appealing to … the community can take place as well.” Council member Natasha Harper-Madison said she is excited for the project’s potential benefits. She said she is concerned about the difficulty traffic commuters will have navigating the area, particularly bicycle and scooters riders, when they are rerouted during the construction period to streets like San Jacinto Boulevard. In response to these concerns, University representative Richard Suttle said the University will take all possible action to accommodate commuters, including adding bike lanes on both sides of the new Red River Street. “The University of Texas commits to working with the city on a safe bicycle path during construction,” Suttle said. Eric Wang, a shop coordinator at the Orange Bike Project, said bicyclists such as himself have great difficulty navigating streets such as San Jacinto Boulevard. He said narrower roads will increase the risks bicyclists face while comA R E N A PAGE 2
RING WEEK ENDS TOMORROW! September 23–27 • 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Etter-Harbin Alumni Center
TexasExes.org/Rings COMPLETED HOURS REQUIRED: Undergraduate, 75; Graduate, 16