2019-10-09 The Daily Texan

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Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Volume 121, Issue 41

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

LIFE&ARTS

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Former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus comes to campus, gives advice to students.

University of Texas dancers need more space to practice on campus.

Women executives incubator to debut Spring 2020.

Texas offense looks toward the Red River and talk about QB Jalen Hurts.

CAMPUS

SG

UT plans to make 3 buildings ADA compliant

SG proposes resolution to excuse absences on Election Day

For students like Naili Salehuddin, this improvement will make campus more accessible for students with disabilities.

By Neelam Bohra @neelambohratx

In an effort to increase student voter turnout, Student Government proposed a joint resolution to excuse student absences during election days at its meeting Tuesday. The resolution, made in collaboration with the Senate of College Councils and the Graduate Student Assembly, would only excuse students from class if they vote. After voting, students would scan a QR code, and professors would receive information from the QR code system to grant excused absences, according to the resolution. Kerry Mackenzie, the ethics and oversight committee chair, and Jack Bumgardner, co-director of SG’s Hook the Vote agency, authored the resolution. “We understand this legislation isn’t going to solve every voting-related issue, but it is going to ensure that students don’t have to choose between going to class and casting their ballot,” said Bumgardner, an international relations and global studies sophomore. “We encourage all students to vote during early voting, but we want this legislation to help people who might fall through the cracks.” The resolution would allow students two hours

By Laura Morales @lamor_1217

uring her freshman year, Naili Salehuddin, who is legally blind, got lost for two hours trying to find her classroom. Advertising sophomore Salehuddin said she was looking for her Chinese class scheduled to be in Robert Lee Moore Hall (RLM) on the fifth floor but couldn’t find her classroom because the rooms on the floor didn’t have braille signage. She said she walked into the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (CPE) building when she thought she had the wrong building but said some of the rooms in the building also didn’t have proper braille signage. She said she then went back to RLM, took pictures of every door she passed by and zoomed in on the numbers to eventually find her classroom. “This was one of my worst experiences at UT,” Salehuddin said. “It felt alienating to find out that the room numbers weren’t accessible. There’s a lot of other places on campus that are not accessible as well. It’s really sad.” But by the end of the summer, a new UT project plans to help make sure missing braille signage is no longer a problem in the CPE building. lauren ibanez

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/ the daily texan staff

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CAMPUS

CITY

Reports of dating, domestic violence on campus decline

CapMetro planning to release proposal to make routes safer, more efficient

By Lauren Girgis @laurengirgis

Reported incidents of dating violence and domestic violence at UT decreased for the second year in a row, according to the most recent Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. According to the report, total on-campus reports of dating violence decreased from 22 to nine from 2016 to 2017 and then to five in 2018. Total on-campus reports of domestic violence decreased from nine to five from 2016 to 2017, and then to one in 2018. “My hope is that (the decrease) is attributed to a decrease in any domestic violence cases,” UTPD sergeant Samantha Stanford said. “On our website, we have resources available to … the UT community. So my hope is that they’re bringing forth (reports) to Title IX or other available resources as needed.” Crime data from various campus security authorities, such as Title IX and the University of Texas Police Department, are made available in the Annual Security and Fire

Safety Report, which was released last week. The crimes in the report include sexual assaults, thefts, disciplinary referrals and Violence Against Women Act offenses, which includes dating violence and domestic violence.

My hope is that (the decrease) is attributed to a decrease in any domestic violence cases.” SAMANTHA STANFORD utpd sergeant

Off-campus reports of domestic violence decreased from eight in 2016 to three in 2018, according to the report. The report also said off-campus dating violence decreased from one in 2016 to zero in 2018. Dating violence is similar to domestic violence, but domestic violence occurs between

two people in a longer-term relationship, Stanford said. Reports can be directed to UTPD or Title IX, which conducts administrative investigations to determine if University rules and policies have been violated, Stanford said. “(Reporting) allows us the opportunity … to try to get (a victim) out of that potentially dangerous situation,” Stanford said. “Their safety is the first and foremost issue. Secondly, it provides us the opportunity to address the situation and hopefully investigate it and forward it onto the expert system for suggested research.” Undeclared freshman Nicole Hernandez said she sees students tend to jump into relationships quickly in college. Sharon Hoefer, Voices Against Violence prevention and outreach coordinator, said this is a common warning sign of an unhealthy relationship. Hernandez said she thinks UT can do a better job informing students of how to report concerns throughout the entirety of students’ time at UT. “In the AlcoholEDU they make us do, they showed us C L E R Y PAGE 2

By Sara Johnson @skjohn1999

CapMetro is planning to release a billion dollar bond proposal by 2020 to improve reach and accessibility of public transportation in Austin. CapMetro board member Jeffrey Travillion said the spe-

cific details of the Project Connect CapMetro transportation bond haven’t been finalized. However, he said the bond will set aside funding for bus line extensions, general service route maintenance and initiatives to improve accessibility for areas underserved by the current routes. “A lot of the communities getting left out by these routes

are communities of color that are getting more and more removed from the city by gentrification,” Travillion said. “These are people who rely on public transportation to get to work more than anyone else in the city. We can’t allow these communities to be shut out of jobs because they can’t get CAPMETRO

joshua guenther

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/ the daily texan file

UT Students Ashley Pham, Christine Pham and Koger Darden board the 801 MetroRapid bus from the UT/Dean Keaton stop on Sunday, April 1, 2018.


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