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Friday, November 8, 2019
Volume 121, Issue 63
CAMPUS
copyright andrew lipovsky, and reproduced with permission
“The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon is joined by students, the Longhorn Band and The Roots during the live taping of the show on Nov. 7, 2019 at the Bass Concert Hall. During the taping, Fallon hosted UT professor McConaughey, Chip and Joanna Gaines and Gucci Mane.
“Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon taped a live show at Bass Concert Hall on Thursday in front of more than 3,000 students, who won tickets to the event through a lottery. By Trinady Joslin @trinady05
dorned in orange and overflowing with references to UT and Austin culture, students said “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” was a nonstop, high-energy experience. After winning tickets through a lottery, more than 3,000 students watched the show’s first live taping Thursday at Bass Concert Hall. Fallon saw UT featured on ESPN College Game Day and said he loved the students’ energy so much that he decided to take the show on the road to a university for the first time. Students erupted in cheers as Fallon opened the taping with a video on-screen, where he said, “We are Texas. I am Texas.” Fallon, who was wearing a black band uniform, was joined on stage by the Texas Longhorn Cheerleaders and the Longhorn Band. Throughout the taping, students waived the Longhorn hand sign in the air and chanted “Texas, Fight” and “OU sucks.” “We didn’t need cues (to cheer),” said Jordan Weatherl, a communication and leadership senior. “We just went for it, which is exactly what Texas does.” After finishing the opening number, Fallon spoke to the crowd and immediately made
a joke about how hard it was to get tickets to the event. “If y’all wanted to be somewhere that was easy to come to, you’d be at A&M,” Fallon said. He then called three students, studio art sophomore Fitzgerald Alan, communication studies sophomore Elizabeth Yun, and
That’s when Jimmy was like, ‘Oh, these phones are great for taking photos and recording stuff.’” ALMA ZAMORA
radio-television-film sophomore
radio-television-film sophomore Alma Zamora to the stage, thanked them and gave them a package of gifts from Samsung. “That’s when Jimmy was like, ‘Oh, these phones are great for taking photos and recording stuff,’” Zamora said. “So we squeezed in, and I thought it was going to be a cute bit but then I
thought, ‘Oh, something is happening,’ and then he said, ‘Samsung wants to go even bigger for you students.’” Fallon then said Samsung was going to pay for the remainder of the three student’s tuition. “I was so freaked out,” Zamora said. “The balloons were falling from the sky, it was so overwhelming but in the best way possible.” Fallon transitioned to his first guest of the night, Matthew McConaughey, who revealed a new slogan, “Keep Austin Austin,” and spoke to students about “cowboy culture” and his class “Script to Screen.” After the interview, the crowd laughed along to a video of Fallon acting as a student in McConaughey’s class. With an oversized pencil, a lunchable and a Bevo figurine, Fallon’s distracted attitude caused McConaughey to throw him out of class for the remainder of the semester. Chip and Joanna Gaines, reality TV stars from Waco, joined Fallon on stage and were met with boos from the crowd after gifting Fallon a Baylor Bears hat. Fallon’s last guest, Gucci Mane, talked with Fallon about his new album “Woptober II” and sang his new song “Move Me” as well as his own version of “The Eyes of Texas.” Fallon closed the show the same way he began — with a performance by the Longhorn Band, this time of “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” “It was incredible,” biology freshman Rachel Acuna said. “The whole time I was just thinking, ‘I love my campus. I love my school.’ It was such an incredible experience; I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
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UT welcomes hundreds of students with ‘First-Generation Celebration Day.’
Students must organize and fight to help prevent the unjust exectution of Rodney Reed.
Up against the ropes, football faces a must-win situation against Kansas State.
UGS course pulls students out of their comfort zone so they can “win at life.”
UNIVERSITY
UT SENATE
Fenves addresses sexual misconduct policy in campuswide email
UT Senate proposes adding to definition of Title IX’s ‘no contact directive’
By Lauren Grobe @grobe_lauren
UT President Gregory Fenves sent a campuswide email Thursday regarding upcoming changes to the University’s sexual misconduct policies. Fenves said the University will be hiring a team of outside experts to review its sexual misconduct policies. He said they will also be forming a staff and faculty working group to internally review the policies. “The University will soon hire a team of outside experts to examine UT’s processes surrounding allegations of sexual misconduct and work to bring further clarity to our procedures,” Fenves said in the email. “We hope to finalize our agreement with them in the coming weeks.” Fenves said the University approved the hiring of three
more investigators for the Office of Inclusion and Equity, which investigates Title IX complaints filed against faculty and staff members. The email was also sent by Dean of Students Soncia Reagins-Lilly and Maurie McInnis, executive vice president and provost. University spokesperson J.B. Bird said the University could not give a more specific deadline as to when the outside experts would begin their review because of the lengthy contracting process. The email was sent after students complained about the University’s faculty sexual misconduct policies during the student organized protest “Sit in for Student Safety” on Oct. 25. Students at the sit-in protested the employment of English professor Coleman Hutchison and Sahotra Sarkar, integrative biology and philosophy professor.
A University investigation in 2018 found Hutchison violated UT’s sexual misconduct policy by making sexual comments to students and failing to disclose a relationship with a graduate student. Sarkar was suspended for one semester in 2017 after a University investigation found he violated UT’s Title IX policies by making inappropriate comments to students, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Protest organizers said they met with University leadership on Nov. 1 after the sit-in. Fenves said in the email that UT leadership will meet with the student leaders again next week. “The University of Texas at Austin is committed to protecting the safety of all students and community members,” Fenves said. “We look forward to working together to address these significant issues.”
By Neelam Bohra @neelambohratx
Social work junior Sara Jane Ross said she opened a Title IX case believing a no-contact directive would stop her assailant from joining her classes. Approximately a week later, she said she learned it would not. “No one told me at the beginning that no-contact directives didn’t cover classes,” said Ross, the SG interpersonal violence prevention director. “If I had known, I probably wouldn’t have opened a Title IX case. That would’ve saved me a year of heartache.” The Title IX can enforce a noncontact directive, which prevents contact between two or more people to protect student safety. Ross said she collaborated with Elena Ivanova, Senate of College Councils president, to write a specific definition of what it covers.
Ross also authored a resolution supporting its addition to the Title IX website, the Office of the Dean of Students website and the general information catalogue. Ivanova, a public health, government and Plan II senior, authored and introduced the resolution at the Senate meeting Thursday. “It is just ensuring that if students have to go through something as awful as having to report something, they should at least know what resources are available,” Ivanova said. “There should be information available about the Title IX process that isn’t in some confusing document.” The proposed definition includes a paragraph about the directive, stating it “does not prevent individuals from being in the same place, class, discussion section, lab or seeing one another on or off campus,” according to the resolution. “It’s important they are given
more information rather than less,” Ivanova said. “It can help them form decisions about proceeding or not proceeding.” Ivanova said Title IX defines terms like “complainant,” “respondent” and “Title IX” but does not define the directive. She wants to work with the Title IX office and UT’s legal team to ensure the definition is as accurate as possible before it is published online. “If this could be looked at legally before we vote, just because people want to see the final look and be a part of the final conversation, it would be useful,” said Praveena Javvadi, a government and Plan II junior and vice president of the Liberal Arts Council. Further defining the directive is a part of the Senate’s agenda, according to the Senate’s legislative agenda for 2019-20. “We started with this idea to allow for increased applicability U T S E N A T E PAGE 3