Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Monday, February 3, 2020
Volume 120, Issue 91
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
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Hindu Students Association celebrates harvest festival, encourages mental health.
Today is the last day to register to vote in the primaries. Look inside for the registration form.
CITY
UNIVERSITY
UT, Dell to provide $20k to Pell-eligble freshmen
Billie Eilish video editor John Paul Horstmann talks work with artist.
Courtney Ramey’s late 3-pointers powered Texas past Iowa State on Saturday.
paying tribute to kobe
By Neha Madhira @nehamira14
A partnership between UT and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation will provide certain incoming Pell-eligible freshmen with $20,000 in financial support starting fall 2020, according to a UT press release sent out Friday. The Dell Foundation will commit $100 million over 10 years to grant freshmen from families “with the greatest need” admittance into the Dell Scholars program, a scholarship and college completion program. “(The partnership) will reinforce our commitment to students and their families by providing them personally tailored support services to thousands of UT-Austin students along with life-changing scholarships for those with the most financial need,” UT President Gregory Fenves said. For Texas residents, the $20,000 will be added on top of the University’s Texas Advance Commitment, which guarantees financial aid to cover tuition and fees for families earning $65,000 or less each year. The Dell family and Fenves announced this partnership in the Perry-Castañeda Library on Friday. “Many of these kids are first-generation college students,” Dell Foundation co-founder Susan Dell said at the Perry-Castañeda Library reception event. “Their families are unfamiliar with how to navigate the landscape of upper education, and it’s been a struggle for a lot of them. It’s been very insightful for us to hear directly from the students what some of their challenges are in college.” These students will also receive support from UT for Me – Powered by Dell Scholars, a
jack myer
/ the daily texan staff
A fan reflects in front of the mural of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant on the back wall of Sushi Hi on Sunday. Bryant, his daughter and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26.
Graffiti artists design mural on Guad for Austin community to mourn loss of Kobe, daughter Gianna. By Austin Martinez @austinmxrtinez
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o honor the lives of NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter
Gianna Bryant, local graffiti artists designed a mural featuring the father and daughter to provide the Austin community a place to pay their respects. Bryant and his daughter died in a helicopter crash which killed seven others in California last week. The mural, which took eight hours to complete, is located on the wall behind the Sushi Hi restaurant on 2912 Guadalupe St. Felix Jaimes, one of the mural’s artists, said the mural is bringing people together during a tragic time. “This mural, to us, is our
way of paying our respects to those in the accident who passed away,” Jaimes said. “Fan or not a fan of Kobe, everybody knows about him. He made a huge impact on a lot of people.” Biochemistry freshman Lorenzo Molina visited the mural on Saturday and said Kobe was a major influencer in his decision to start playing basketball as a kid. “It meant a lot to me because I didn’t think I was going to have anywhere to go to remember Kobe and what he’s done,” Molina said. “I’ve seen pictures of the murals that are in Los Angeles and New York but
His impact really can’t be calculated. This mural means a lot because he’s impacted an entire generation, basketball-loving or not.” LORENZO MOLINA biochemistry freshman
I didn’t expect one to pop up here in Austin, so I’m very grateful for this one.” Molina said although he is a San Antonio Spurs fan,
CAMPUS
KOBE
By Brooke Ontiveros @Brookexpanic
Dell Med launches initative to fight obesity among young girls By Hannah Williford @HannahWillifor2
rocky higine
Although students may receive a delivery confirmation from the company they ordered the package from, they can only access their packages after Jester Mail sends them a confirmation email. “Every year, there are more and more packages that come because we (order online more) instead of going to the store, so every year it’s just been increasing,” Castro said. Castro said Jester Mail cannot do
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Jester Mail Center backed up with books Students can expect delays on early semester shipments due to an increase in packages at the Jester Mail Center said JD Castro, the assistant director for residence life at UT. Jester Mail Center typically takes about an hour to process packages and email students for pickup but at the beginning of semesters, processing may take up to a day or more, Castro said. Many students order books for their classes, which end up at the few mail stations on campus. Jester Residence Halls accommodate roughly 3,200 students, so the Jester Mail works to process the 500 or more daily shipments, Castro said. Psychology sophomore Joiada Munoz said she was frustrated Jester Mail did not get her package processed after Amazon sent the delivery confirmation. “I’m new, so I don’t know how it works, but I was frustrated about not receiving my package in time,” Munoz said. “It’s different when you get it from Amazon directly versus getting it from the Jester Mail. Amazon tells you the exact date and time, and it’s usually dropped off then. You don’t have to deal with like a secondhand person.” Castro said Jester Mail doubles their staff at the start of the semester to help assign tracking numbers, log and handwrite names on packages and get them to students as fast as possible. “Students might be feeling that it’s especially backed up because they’re used to Amazon giving them a notification that it arrived that day,” Castro said. “But we still need to make sure that we process it through our system.”
he recognizes the large impact Kobe has had on the game of basketball. Molina said he witnessed this impact when he heard the entire crowd roar every time Kobe touched the ball during a game Molina attended as a fourth grader. “His impact really can’t be calculated,” Molina said. “This mural means a lot because he’s impacted an entire generation, basketball-loving or not.” Public health senior Kassa Kassahun said he was always amazed by Kobe’s talent when he
/ the daily texan staff
much to expedite package processing for students with impending quizzes or assignments, but staff will look into packages held for more than a couple of business days. “We’ll take down their information to make sure that we have collected the package,” Castro said. “Maybe, they said that was supposed to be here a while ago J E S T E R PAGE 2
Dell Medical School launched an initiative last week to prove shortterm intervention can lead to healthier eating habits and prevent obesity-related illnesses in preadolescent girls. The initiative is part of a larger UT program, Factor Health, which focuses on improving patient health through lifestyle changes that include healthy eating and exercising. The new program will partner with The Boys & Girls Club of the Austin Area, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and Lone Star Circle of Care, said Mini Kahlon, executive director of Factor Health. In collaboration with these groups, Factor Health identified target areas where they can improve girls’ health within a six-month period and reduce health care costs, Kahlon said. “For health care payers … (insurance companies) are really driven by changes that we can make in less than two years,” Kahlon said. “To make
the business case, we must start with some of these shorter-term ones, and we believe the evidence is there now, more than there was before … that you can make these changes if you do it right in shorter-time periods.” Kahlon said the program will have regular checkups with test subjects where they will provide advice on lifestyle changes the girls can make at home. Although there have been mixed results on changing a young person’s health with shortterm intervention, other studies on the same issue tend to have more success when family participates, Kahlon said. Although Kahlon said most research done on obesity has been gender neutral, Factor Health decided to focus exclusively on girls because fundamental differences exist between men’s and women’s health. Kahlon said girls tend to gain weight and are exposed to notions of what their health should be during preadolescence. O B E S I T Y PAGE 3