The Daily Texan 2020-02-11 by The Daily Texan

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

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Volume 120, Issue 97

NEWS

OPINION

SPORTS

LIFE&ARTS

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Texas Theme Park Engineering Group prepares for Engineering Week.

Students should take their own safety precautions when walking on or around campus.

Austin photographers feel pressure to compete in small creative market on Instagram.

Texas men’s basketball drops another conference game against No. 1 Baylor.

STATE

Judge dismisses two-year class action lawsuit

Texas falls behind in 60x30TX

By Neha Madhira @nehamira14

A federal judge dismissed a two-year classaction lawsuit Monday in which eight women, three of whom are UT alumna, claimed Austin and Travis County officials did not properly handle their sexual assault cases or those of 6,000 women in the county. Judge Lee Yeakel granted a defense motion to dismiss a lawsuit from September 2018, ruling that many of the plaintiffs’ claims had been addressed by laws regarding the handling of sexual assault cases that were passed in the Texas Legislature’s 86th Regular Session in 2019. “We appreciate the judge’s thoughtful and thorough deliberation in this matter and agree that the case should be dismissed,” said David Green, media relations manager for the city of Austin. “Regardless of the court’s ruling, though, the city of Austin remains committed to treating all sexual assault survivors with dignity and respect and will ensure our officers have the appropriate resources and training to investigate all such cases appropriately.” Three women filed the original lawsuit in June 2018 against the current and former Travis County district attorneys, the current and former Austin police chiefs, the city of Austin and Travis County. The suit alleged years of failures with sexual assault cases at the Austin Police Department’s crime lab and the Travis Country District Attorney’s Office, including not submitting sexual assault kits to labs in a timely manner and using labs that did not have the capacity to accurately test the kits. The women argued the defendants violated the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution by refusing to investigate women’s sexual assault cases and discriminating against female survivors, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs requested for the court to order city and county officials to make changes in current practices used when investigating J U D G E PAGE 3

Harrison Keller, Texas higher education commissioner, answers questions from The Texas Tribune about his goals in his position. Keller said that Texas may not meet its education goal of 60% of the population having a postsecondary degree or certificate by 2030 if the rate of graduates keeps slowing.

Low degree rates in Texas prompt higher education commissioner to reevaluate innovation and board’s role. By Laura Morales

@lamor_1217

exas is falling behind on its education goal, known as 60x30TX, which aims for 60% of the Texas population to earn a postsecondary degree or certificate by 2030, said the Texas higher education commissioner in a conversation with The Texas Tribune on Monday. The 2019 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board progress report to the legislature indicated

that less than half of Texans have a postsecondary degree from a college or technical school. There was a 1.2% increase in graduates from 2017 for 1 43.5% of Texans to graduate in 2019. Commissioner Harrison Keller said the 60% goal will not be met by 2030 at this rate, and progress has slowed in higher education institutions. “If we keep making the same kind of incremental progress we are making, we are not going to hit it,” Keller said in the talk. Keller said although the completion rates should be concerning, it is not an entirely accurate metric for success. “I am more interested in credential production than graduation rates because there are a lot of folks that are left out of traditional calculations of graduation rates,” Keller said. “Some of our institutions, two-thirds of their students aren’t included in their graduation rate calculations because they have so many part-time students.” Keller said to help institutions meet these goals, he wants to restructure the role of the board. Currently, the board must approve all degree programs and

core curriculum courses. He said he wants to allow higher education institutions more freedom in deciding the core curricula and degree plans. “We are going to reposition the coordinating board from a more traditional, regulatory posture to be more of a resource,” Keller said. “I envision a different role for the coordinating board, particularly around our educational and workforce data for the state.” He said the coordinating board will instead evaluate the educational data and set goals and strategies for the state. “We need to encourage and support more local innovation,” Keller said. “(The board has) zero students, zero faculty. We award zero degrees. If we are going to get anything done, it is going to be through partnering with the institutions.” Considering Texas has the 10th largest economy in the world, Keller said educational systems need to meet the demands for the technically skilled workforce of the growing Texas economy. Keller proposed the

coordinating board focus on increasing technical and vocational certificates. “We want to understand what is driving the variants around earnings and feeding the information back into how curricula are put together,” Keller said. Keller said he aims to address affordability among low-income students, middle class students outside of the income range for aid and older students returning to higher education to complete their degrees. Gary Susswein, UT-Austin’s chief communications officer, and Jay Dyer, deputy to the president for government relations, have worked with Keller for several years and attended the event. Susswien said UT-Austin is working internally to promote accessibility and affordability in education. “This is an important part of the 60x30 goals, ensuring more Texans have access to full bachelor’s degrees that prepare them for the workforce,” Susswein said. “We really do feel like we create a more vibrant Texas and are a drive in the strong economy.”

SYSTEM

RESEARCH

Health Biobank to consolidate System research

UT researchers help find new data on coronavirus

By Areeba Amer @areeba_amer

The UT System is consolidating research samples and data from different institutions so that researchers across the UT System can access them in one single biobank instead of several. The UT System Health Biobank will consolidate research from eight academic and research institutions in the system, including UT Health Science Center at Houston and MD

Anderson Cancer Center. The eight institutions formed the UT System Health Biobank Consortium to standardize and expand access to specimens from all institutions, according to its website. A biobank is a collection of specimens and data from volunteer patients that allows researchers to access other researchers’ data for future inquiry, said Dr. Benjamin Greenberg, a professor at UT Southwestern

Medical Center. The biobank connects researchers who are looking for certain data or samples to those who have already collected it, Greenberg said. “If there’s a colleague in Houston who’s going to be doing research on the brain … they could go online into a website that we created and research to see who in the state has brain tumor samples and then reach out to them and form collaboration,” Greenberg said. Dr. Jennifer Beauchamp, associate professor of research with Cizik School of B I O B A N K PAGE 2

dan martinez

/ the daily texan staff

By Anna Canizales @annaleonorc

Two UT researchers helped discover that the new coronavirus likely spread beyond Wuhan into other cities before Chinese officials could initiate a quarantine, according to the UT News website. Coronavirus is a viral respiratory illness. The newest version to infect humans, 2019-nCoV, was first discovered in December in Wuhan and has killed almost 1,000 people, according to the Feb. 10 novel coronavirus report by the World Health Organization. The UT researchers involved in the seven-person team conducting the monthlong study were Zhanwei Du, computer scientist and doctor of

philosophy, and Lauren Ancel Meyers, a mathematical epidemiologist and professor of integrative biology. “We were immediately concerned when we learned that the outbreak was growing in Wuhan, knowing that China was about to enter its Spring Festival period,” Meyers said. “This is the period where hundreds of millions of people travel all around China to celebrate the Lunar New Year. One of the big questions was, ‘How was the increase in travel over the next few weeks going to cause the virus to spread all over China?’” The team, which also included researchers from Hong Kong and France, used historical road, train and air travel data for the Spring V I R U S PAGE 3

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020

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NEWS

Texas Theme Park Engineering Group discusses new attractions ahead of E-Week By Tori Duff @torianneduff

The Texas Theme Park Engineering Group met Monday to go over new amusement park attractions opening around the world in 2020 and discuss the upcoming Engineers Week on campus. The student organization, TxTPEG, helps students hoping to enter the amusement park industry gain an understanding of career paths and innovations within the field. “This organization has opened my eyes to the theme entertainment industry. It has given me a gateway in,” said Kylie Stamey, external vice president for TxTPEG. “We show people what the theme industry is like, and we have speakers that talk to people about different companies and how to get different jobs.” Mechanical engineering junior Stamey is a three-year member of TxTPEG and said the group has aided her career. “I got an internship with Premier Rides this past fall, and I was a project engineering intern,” Stamey said. “The biggest thing I have learned from this group to help me with that job is communicating with professionals.” At the group’s meeting in Burdine Hall, members were alerted to 20 new rides coming in 2020. They discussed rides in United States parks such as SeaWorld San Antonio and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and in

chloe bertrand

/ the daily texan staff

Texas Theme Park Engineering Group leaders Katie Kohutek, Scia Verma and Kylie Stamey present 2020’s latest roller coasters and attractions to their members at their second general meeting. international parks such as Tokyo Disneyland and Polish amusement park Energylandia. The group also discussed Engineers Week at the Cockrell School of Engineering, which is an event for all engineering students in which they compete in activities throughout Austin. The Student Engineering Council will host Engineers

Week from Feb. 14-Feb. 23 at multiple locations around campus, including the Texas Union. “There are awesome activities like a dramatic textbook reading, karaoke, a scavenger hunt and the most exciting event, Dr. Ramshorn Pageant,” TxTPEG President Scia Verma said. Verma, a mechanical

engineering and design strategies senior, said the pageant is the main attraction of E-Week and features a contestant from each engineering organization. The contest showcases the different organizations and disciplines in engineering, according to the Student Engineering Council website. The festivities will kick off

Friday from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. on the lawn of the Engineering Education and Research Center and is open to any engineering student in an organization. “This will be my first E-Week,” said Julian Fritz, electrical and computer engineering sophomore. “It seems like a good way to get involved and participate in competition with other students.”

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Nursing at UT Health Science Center at Houston, said the UT System Health Biobank is unlike other biobanks because it is virtual instead of a physical building. “We’re kind of that connection in between, and that facilitation is really needed to help move research quicker and faster and further,” Beauchamp said. Beauchamp said the UT System contacted her in 2016 to lead the initiative of the systemwide biobank. The UT System dedicated $3.5 million to support the biobank software platform, according to the press release. Beauchamp said without this biobank, it can be difficult to identify whether data that a researcher needs exists and how to obtain it if it does. “Often what happens now is (the researchers) have to find the funds, the resources and the time to go out and collect that data or samples themselves,” Beauchamp said. “(The biobank) actually

provides them with opportunities to maybe find where data (is) … to just analyze that data or samples that are already existing.” Greenberg said the institutions who conducted the study still own the data. “The consortium doesn’t own them and doesn’t tell people what to do with them,” Greenberg said. “We’re like the Match.com for specimens within the UT Health System.” Beauchamp said the biobank only allows research where patients consented to share the data collected in a study. Beauchamp said the consortium is working toward making the process of matching researchers more automatic by providing more details for each available set of data online. “It (would take) the burden off of the person who has the sample and data,” Beauchamp said. “A person who needs it already has a really good idea of exactly what they need and doesn’t even contact (the sample’s owner) unless they know (they) absolutely have what (the researcher) needs.”

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NEWS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020

PHOTOGRAPHY

Artist Elia Alba discusses diversity in media, photo project By Jasmine Lopez @jazzilo99

An award-winning artist who documents the intimate conversations people have at the dinner table spoke in the Christian-Green Gallery in Jester Hall on Monday afternoon. Elia Alba’s photo project, “The Supper Club,” brings artists together through photography and communal meals to examine issues related to race and identity in the United States. Alba launched the project in 2012 because of the lack of representation of people of color in media at the time. “I think their voices were necessary, and that’s how the concept of dinner came up,” Alba said. “It’s about images of representation that I don’t feel like I see, images that are empowering. That’s the biggest role (of photography).” The first dinner was polarizing, Alba said. She does not attribute the polarization to people’s anger but to their disconnection in a space where she had hoped to present a connection. “We know what our differences are. It’s discussed,” Alba said. “I was interested in the dynamic of all these cultural groups coming together.” That is when Alba said she felt the need to continue the dinners beyond the three she initially planned and continue the conversation about race and identity with the people she was photographing. Jasmin Hernandez, a dinner guest that was not photographed by Alba but

barb daly

featured in “The Supper Club,” spoke about racial identity. “Our identity is so fluid,” Hernandez said. “We’re constantly navigating between different spaces.” Alba’s focus with the project shifted toward themes of identity and race in 2014 and 2015 with events such as the

deaths of Eric Garner, Mike Brown and Freddie Gray, who are black men that died after interactions with police. “I was really interested with people, with this spectrum of blackness and brown, how they interacted and reacted to these political events, and it just kind of evolved from that point,” Alba said.

T H R O U G H T H E LENS

Alba said she likes to have dinners with people of different ages and backgrounds. “What was really cool about that (dinner) was that some people were talking about sanctuary when they were younger and thinking about sanctuary now, but it was the same answer: people still don’t

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Festival season to chart human movements between 371 cities in China, Du said. The Spring Festival season lasts from Jan. 10 to Feb. 18. “We were able to obtain data on daily travel patterns in and out of Wuhan to 370 other cities around China,” Meyers said. “We did a very rapid analysis to predict where and when we would expect this virus to appear in other cities by travelers who got infected in Wuhan.” Du said when the team began their research around Jan. 5, there were few cases of the novel coronavirus reported in China. “As soon as the quarantine was imposed, we refocused our

research on how importations to other cities probably happened prior to the quarantine,” Meyers said. “There was just so much more uncertainty at the time we started. The information coming out of China was indicating that this was a virus that was not spreading from person to person.” 2019-nCoV can spread from person to person through contacts at or under six feet and when an infected person coughs or sneezes, according to the CDC’s website. Du said when they began their research, the Wuhan government said the virus was only spread from animals to humans and had only reported 9% of cases in Wuhan by Jan. 12, partly because they did not have data on every case that had occurred. “Now almost 300 cities have confirmed cases,” Du said. “We estimated before (the January

report) almost 10,000 people in Wuhan (were) infected. However, (the Wuhan government) only reported a small handful of those.” Meyers said the researchers are analyzing potential safety measures that may need to be taken in the U.S., such as isolation and travel restrictions. Texas Global added China to its UT Restricted Regions list Jan. 29 to bar undergraduates from traveling to the country, a week after the Chinese government imposed a quarantine on Wuhan and 15 other cities. “We are working with agencies like the CDC to try to analyze when and where might we see introductions of this disease around the U.S. and the world,” Meyers said. “If and when that happens, (we want to determine) our best strategies for trying to contain the spread.”

feel safe,” Alba said. Public relations sophomore Yazmin Dominguez attended the event for class. “I came to see the expression of diversity in media,” Dominguez said. “Obviously it’s not something we’ve seen a lot of, and it’s growing now.”

Featuring the best from the photo department.

Justin Gonzales, a rhetoric and writing sophomore, studies outside of Mezes Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

virus

| daily texan staff

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women’s criminal sexual assault allegations, such as increased training and supervision, according to the suit. In December 2018, the court had a hearing about the defendants’ motions to dismiss and delayed further consideration of the case until the close of the Texas Legislature’s 86th Regular Session. The legislature passed bills to change how sexual assault offenses are investigated and prosecuted. The primary reform bill passed was the Lavinia Masters Act, which requires law

enforcement agencies to report the number of kits that have not been tested and to submit backlogged kits for testing by Jan. 15, 2020, where all kits will be compared in relevant databases by 2022. Yeakel dismissed other claims because prosecutors in the district attorney’s office are protected by an immunity that gives them discretion over which cases to pursue. “We are pleased with Judge Yeakel’s ruling,” district attorney Margaret Moore wrote in a statement to the Austin American-Statesman on Monday. “With this lawsuit no longer impeding us, we can have candid conversations with stakeholders about the hard work of making our system more responsive to victims and still ensure the rights of the accused.”

Apply to copyright zhanwei du, and reproduced with permission

/ the daily texan file

A federal judge dismissed a two-year class action lawsuit Monday in which eight women, including three UT alumna, claimed Austin and Travis County officials did not properly handle their sexual assault cases.

judge

Two UT researchers helped discover that the new coronavirus likely spread beyond Wuhan before Chinese officials could initiate a quarantine.

/ the daily texan staff

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SPENCER BUCKNER

Editor-In-Chief | @THEDAILYTEXAN

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020

OPINION COLUMN

COLUMN

junie yoo

/ the daily texan staff

UHD needs to create shortterm housing for students emily maccormack

/ the daily texan staff

By Hannah Lopez

Don’t rely on new safety measures to protect you By Abby Springs Associate editor

Austin is a big city. With nearly one million people, it’s the 11th largest city in the United States — and the UT campus is right smack dab in the middle of it. Living in a large, urban environment has its benefits: good food, nightlife and plenty of things to do. But like any downtown area, those benefits inevitably come with occasional crime. Several weeks ago, two UT students were attacked on 6th Street. In response, Gov. Greg Abbott said he heard “urgent pleas” by UT students for increased lighting and security tools, sparking an announcement by Fenves for new security measures. Although new safety measures are coming to West Campus, it’s important that you don’t let your guard down. Don’t rely on police or lighting or cameras to save you — there’s not much indication that some of these safety measures will actually protect you from crime. Research that lighting reduces crime has been mixed for decades. One study found little to no effect on crime levels in American cities, while another found that crime levels actually increased in well-lit urban areas. Furthermore, security tools around campus don’t seem to do much either. From 2013 to 2018, the yellow emergen-

cy call boxes were not used to report any on-campus crimes. Areas around campus will also see new surveillance cameras, called High Activity Location Observation cameras. Already in use by the Austin Police Department, these cameras are effective — in catching criminals after the crime has already occured. However, like urban lighting, studies don’t always show that cameras actually deter crime from happening. They’ll help the police catch the person who attacked you but won’t necessarily stop you from getting attacked in the first place.

Street lighting, for example, often makes people feel safer than they actually are. That’s why it’s important to take your own precautions.” While the new safety measures may or may not reduce crime, it is possible that they will give students a false sense of security. Street lighting, for example, often makes people feel safer than they actually are. That’s why it’s important to take your own precautions when going out at night rather than relying on the new safety measures to protect you.

LEGALESE | Opinions expressed in The Daily Texan are those of the editor, the Editorial Board or the writer of the article. They are not necessarily those of the UT administration, the Board of Regents or the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.

Associate editor

For some students, summer is a time to worry about classes, internships or anything else that pertains to their academics. For others, summer is a time to worry about whether they’ll have a place to sleep at night. To help students in need of a place to stay, University Housing and Dining should add a short-term housing session during the month of August for students who are in between leases. While taking classes last summer, neuroscience sophomore Nichole Jeong resorted to living on her friends’ couches after having her sublease end two weeks before her new lease began. “During those two weeks I was virtually homeless,” Jeong said. “I was basically couch surfing with friends, and I had to live in a hostel next to campus for a bit — it was not a fun situation to be in.”

“If you’re going out, have a plan,” UTPD chief David Carter said. “Have friends using a buddy system because there’s always safety in numbers.” If you’re going to be drinking, try to bring a sober friend along with you. The incidents that sparked the new safety measures took place downtown — an area where students are often impaired. Carter said the same rules apply whether you’re on 6th Street or in West Campus. “In the last calendar year … there was a number of violent crimes that did occur around the campus area. So there’s no single area in the city where you should feel like you should let your absolute guard down.” Students often choose to protect themselves using personal safety devices like pepper spray or brass knuckles. When it comes to these tools, it’s essential that you train yourself to use them properly. “If you’re going to have a legal means to protect yourself, you need to make sure you understand how it works and also the limitations of it,” Carter said. “Recognize that any kind of self defense mechanism can be at times used against a person.” While you can’t always control the actions of other people, you can control the actions you take when going out at night. Don’t trust that these new safety measures will protect you — trust yourself. Springs is a government and political communication sophomore from Dallas.

They don’t adequately accommodate students with off- campus apartments who only need housing during the first couple weeks of August.”

GALLERY

charlie hyman

/ the daily texan staff

SUBMIT A FIRING LINE | Email your Firing Lines to editor@dailytexanonline.com. Letters must be more than 100 and fewer than 300 words. The Texan reserves the right to edit all submissions for brevity, clarity and liability.

It’s hard to tell how many students end up like Jeong. Typically, student property leases begin in middle to late August and finish towards the end of July, creating a short gap of time between leases. “I know a lot of people who are in between leases (over the summer),” Jeong said. “I definitely think that if UT offered emergency housing, a lot of people would be spared from having that same problem.” Currently, UHD offers four different kinds of summer housing sessions. According to their website, sessions range from May 30-July 11, July 12-August 18, May 30-August 18 and May 30-August 1. The pricing ranges from $2,392 to $6,967 depending on the contract. These sessions might work for students who live on campus during the school year, but they don’t adequately accommodate students with off-campus apartments who only need housing during the first couple weeks of August. The latest housing session that UHD offers starts on July 12. Therefore, a student would not only have to pay their rent for the month of July, but also another $2,392 for summer housing. When you add that to how much they’re spending on summer tuition, many students can’t afford that price tag. According to Ryan Colvin, assistant director of occupancy management for UHD, summer housing opening and closing dates are scheduled to coincide with the full length of summer sessions. However, if the demand for shorter term housing was high enough, UHD would look into forming another session. “If the demand was high enough where we felt like that was a service that was needed for the students, we could try to incorporate it into our summer school operations,” Colvin said. “I was looking at that nine-week term session that ends on August 1, and there is a possibility that whatever space we were using for the nine weeks, we can clean it and turn it around and use it for the remainder of that August summer session.” UHD should seriously consider making this a viable option. If short-term housing was created, students would finally have a safe, stable place to live while they studied for their summer courses. Hopefully, by this August, students will no longer have to worry about not having a home. Lopez is a rhetoric and writing sophomore from Nederland, TX.

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LIFE&ARTS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020

FOOD

Local bakery Skulls and Cakebones contributes to growing vegan industry By Maya Shamir @thedailytexan

What started as an attempt to modify family recipes to accommodate her lactose intolerant daughter led Sascha Biesi to become co-owner of local vegan bakery Skull and Cakebones. Seven years after opening the bakery, her products are sold at local Austin businesses and large retailers and have become an Austin City Limits Festival favorite. After selling vegan cupcakes and desserts at her daughter’s school, Biesi’s partner, Yauss Berenji, said she saw an opportunity to expand the pastry stand and develop a business. Berenji said she noticed a lack of vegan pastries during a visit to Whole Foods and decided to ask a cashier about it. “I asked if they don’t have anything vegan because nobody wants it or because they don’t have any vegan options,” Berenji said. The cashier told her they had a huge demand but no vegan options. Shortly after, Biesi and Berenji met with Whole Foods without knowing much about running a company. “We didn’t know what we were doing, so everything was an unexpected setback,” Biesi said. Since 2013, Biesi and

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not be the girl for you.” But Cope said she struggles with equating her personal worth to the success of her business.

Berenji have learned the ropes of running a business and have expanded their company. In 2017, they won $25,000 and shelf space at H-E-B in the H-E-B Primo Picks Quest for Texas Best Contest. Their products have also been sold in Violet Crown Cinema, Bennu Coffee and Jo’s Coffee, among other Austin businesses. Along with selling out of various shops, Skull and Cakebones has been a food vendor at ACL since 2014. This past year, the bakery partnered with Beyond Meat to sell plant-based burgers to festivalgoers. “That was crazy,” Ruby, Biesi’s daughter, said. “It’s mainly because my mom and Yauss were able to sell (their brand) really well, and of course, everything was delicious.” After solely selling their brand out of other stores, in 2017, the couple was able to open a Skull and Cakebones brick and mortar in Dripping Springs, Texas. They began to expand their menu past pastries to include vegan grilled cheese sandwiches and burgers. “I feel like (the company’s growth) all flowed,” Ruby said. “The menu is always changing.” In recent years, Biesi said she has seen the vegan industry grow. Biesi and Berenji both said they’re excited to

have a hand in the evolution of the vegan scene. “Everything has come so far,” Biesi said. “Our tagline is ‘Shh, they’re vegan’ because the word vegan was like a bad word back then, just seven years ago, but now people are looking for that word.” Aside from selling vegan pastries and food made from locally sourced ingredients, Biesi and Berenji said mental health advocacy is at the core of what Skull and Cakebones does. Last May, the bakery participated in the Depressed Cake Shop event in honor of mental health awareness month. During the month, a portion of their proceeds went to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “I do Depressed Cake Shop because of my own mental health issues,” Biesi said. “I feel like it was a great way to come forward and tell my story so people might see that whatever they’ve got going on, they can still be successful and happy.” Along with their advocacy, Biesi and Berenji hope to continue to change Austin’s vegan scene. “Our long-term plan is to continue to be able to make a plant based product both affordable and cutting edge,” Berenji said. “Our goal is to make the best product that we can without it tasting different than its traditional counterpart.”

While searching for vegan pastries for her lactose intolerant daughter, Sascha Biesi noticed a hole in the market, thatw she filled with her bakery, Skull and Cakebones.

“The most challenging part is getting my worth as a person from how many jobs I have or how many bookings I’m getting,” Cope said. Because Instagram plays a key role in the photography business, Cope said anyone has access to

everyone’s work. Seeing a photo that mimicked one of her own used to upset her, but she now views it as flattery. “When you hold on to that resentment, anger and bitterness, then you’re not going to continue to make

great art, and you’re not going to continue to take good pictures,” Cope said. “The sooner you let it go, the sooner you can level up.” Originally inspired by colors captured by wedding photographers in the Pacific Northwest, Solano said

his photos have a moodier color tone that attract clients. Unlike some photographers and despite feeling the pressure to compete, he is eager to share his curated look, including custom Adobe Lightroom presets and shooting locations,

Solano said. “If somebody else wants to come in and they have ideas, and it’s better than my look, then it’s better than my look,” Solano said. “Anybody can do this. All the knowledge is on YouTube. Tutorials are waiting for you.”

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Longhorns fall to Baylor

joshua guenther

/ the daily texan staff

Redshirt sophomore guard Andrew Jones moves through Baylor defenders en route to the basket during Texas’ 52-45 loss to the Bears on Feb. 8 at the Frank Erwin Center. Monday’s loss is the Longhorn’s third straight in the past two weeks.

Baylor’s staunch defense forced Texas into its 7th conference loss of the 2019-20 season. By Stephen Wagner

@stephenwag22

t only took the No.1 Baylor Bears 38 seconds to prove a Texas team ravaged by injuries was no match for them in the Longhorns’ 52-45 loss on Monday night. After the Bears knocked the ball out of redshirt sophomore Andrew Jones’ hands on the opening possession, Texas inbounded the ball to junior

forward Jericho Sims. The big man surveyed the court, took a few dribbles and challenged Freddie Gillespie, one of the elite shot-blockers in the Big 12. The Baylor forward met Sims at the rim and pressed his dunk attempt against the backboard. Seven seconds later, Baylor redshirt junior guard MaCio Teague drained a 3-pointer. “Defensively, they’re phenomenal,” Texas head coach Shaka Smart said. “But they really do a good job of making you pay in those situations.” The Bears aggressively blitzed and double-teamed any ball screen involving Texas’ guards, resulting in five first-half turnovers. The Longhorns shot a painful 13% in the first 10 minutes before Matt Coleman connected on Texas’ only 3-pointer of the first half. “When we shoot that poorly, the margin for error on defense is paper thin,” Smart said.

“This goes against our formula, getting outshot from 3. We’re going to have to shoot the ball better (moving forward), and we’re going to have to make better decisions from our guards then we

We’re going to have to shoot the ball better (moving forward), and we’re going to have to make better decisions from our guards then we had tonight.” SHAKA SMART head coach

had tonight.” Baylor’s six-point halftime lead reminded the 9,433 fans in attendance why the

Bears have now won 21 consecutive games. But with their season on the line, understanding that a loss to Baylor would effectively end any remaining hope they had of making the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns scratched and clawed to keep up with the top-ranked Bears. A fast 4-0 run out of the locker room briefly shot a jolt of energy throughout the Frank Erwin Center and brought Texas within two points. But against Baylor’s ball-hawking defense, two points seemed like a mountain. Baylor’s narrow lead exploded from two to 15 in around nine minutes, leaving Sims pulling his hair and Smart burying his head in his hands. Smart stayed out of his full court “Havoc” press until the eight-minute mark, when Texas already trailed by 16. “That (run) was the difference in the game,” Smart said. “You can’t let them get free

for any of the looks they want to get.” A late rally would cut the lead to five in the final minute, but wouldn’t be enough to push the Longhorns past their I-35 Rival. “(With two) in-state schools competing in the back half of conference (play), you know each other well,” Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. “When they call a play, we know what to do. Everyone knows everyone’s stuff, so now it comes down to mano a mano and players making plays.” The worst news for Texas fans is yet to come. With their third straight loss in the past two weeks, the Longhorns’ hopes for a tournament berth all but rest on winning their last seven games. “We still have seven games left on our schedule,” Coleman said. “You’ve got the (Big 12) Tournament. There’s still light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve just got to grab hold of it and step up to the challenge.”

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Longhorns miss Febres, Jones in home loss to Baylor By Wills Layton @willsdebeast

The basketball gods have not been kind to the Longhorns this season. Early on in the season, Texas was spared, only losing a player to injury after sophomore Gerald Liddell’s concussion sidelined him for the season opener against Northern Colorado. However, since the beginning of 2020, the Longhorns have been bitten several times by the injury bug, and the team’s depth at forward has been affected. Against No. 1 Baylor, Texas head coach Shaka Smart had to send out a new lineup that had yet to start together this season, and the Longhorns couldn’t overcome, falling 52-45 Monday. Losing two starters would hurt any team down the stretch, but this particularly hurts for a Texas team already struggling mightily with consistency. Against the Bears on Monday, the loss of both players was heavily pronounced. The absence of freshman forward Kai Jones allowed Baylor more offensive success down low, and the Texas offense desperately needed junior guard Jase Febres’ shooting on a night they shot 17% from three. Injuries have plagued the Longhorns since the turn of the decade. Sophomore forward

Kamaka Hepa and Liddell both suffered additional injuries this calendar year, with Liddell’s stress fracture in his back putting him out of commission indefinitely. Hepa was able to make his return in a losing effort to Texas Tech. “It was fine,” Hepa said following the loss. “Once the adrenaline finally got going, it was fine. I was getting up and down the court. In that same game, the Longhorns lost both Febres and Jones to injuries just minutes apart. While the loss of Febres could be supplanted by talented freshman guard Donovan Williams, the loss of Jones hurt with limited depth on the bench at his position. “Kai sprained his ankle,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “There was no break or anything like that. He’s in the process of working his way back.” While the team has guards to spare on the bench, the shooting ability of Febres has been sorely missed in his absence. His ability to make shots from anywhere beyond the arc, as evidenced by his clutch 3-point shots against TCU, was absent from the remainder of the game as Tech made a comeback. “Jase and Kai went out and changed things a little bit lineup wise for us,” Smart said after the loss to Tech. “When that

happens in the game, you have to go with who you have.” The game against the Red Raiders saw a Texas team give away a 16-point lead. While the injuries clearly hurt the team and upset the healthy teammates that had to continue to play, the Longhorn’s had no

choice but to move on quickly. “I mean, during that time we probably did, but like during the flow of the game I didn’t think much about it,” junior guard Matt Coleman III said of the injuries to his teammates. “I don’t think we talked much because we just wanted to win.”

Moving forward, the Longhorns will have to make do with what they have and will have to rely on players stepping up to keep their slim NCAA Tournament chances alive. “One thing that always strikes me is how much it affects our players when one of

their teammates gets hurt,” Smart said following the loss to Baylor. “I think because they relate to each other. I thought our guys did a really good job saying, ‘Hey, here’s who we got to be. We’re short-handed, but we have to step up and help each other.’”

joshua guenther

/ the daily texan staff

Junior guard Jase Febres claps on the Longhorn bench during Texas’ 52-45 loss to Baylor on Feb. 10. Febres sustained an injury in Texas’ 62-57 loss to Texas Tech on Feb 8.

COMICS

A L E K K A H E R N A N D E Z & B A R B R A D A LY

Comics Editors| @THEDAILYTEXAN

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020

The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Crossword ACROSS 1 Break-dancer, slangily

33 Triage locales, briefly

9 Big, fat mouth

34 Bottom-left PC key

15 “Silkwood” screenwriter Ephron 16 Bigger than big 17 “Hello” singer, 2015 18 Nickname for baseball’s Reggie Jackson

4 2 2 8 6 3 5 4 2

8 6

4 1 9 2 7 6 3 7 5 4 9 6 2 4 1 3 7 6 3 7 8

Today’s solution will appear here next issue

1 7 9 3 6 2 8 5 4

2 2 6 7 8 4 9 1 3

4 3 8 1 5 9 6 2 7

7 4 1 2 9 5 5 4 6

Lorem ipsum

2 6 3 8 7 1 2 6 9

8 9 5 4 3 6 9 8 1

9 5 7 6 4 8 1 3 2

6 1 4 5 2 3 7 9 8

3 8 2 9 1 7 4 6 5

32 On vacation

5 Not yet out of contention 13 Gun, as an engine

SUDOKUFORYOU

28 Very slight probability

35 Beyond welldone 37 Audiophile’s rack contents 38 Ream unit 39 What the “E” stands for in HOMES 40 Trifling amount 41 Subj. for an M.B.A. student

54 Relative via remarriage 57 Reaction to the Beatles in 1964, e.g. 58 Give a smooth surface 59 Hoppy quaffs 60 What a lenient boss might cut you 61 Gave the heaveho 62 Turndown from Putin 63 “Let It Go” singer in “Frozen”

DOWN 1 Spoiled sorts 20 Long jumper, in 42 Picture from 2 One monopolizing hoops Ansel Adams, say a mattress 22 Call to the 46 H.S. math class 3 Describing one’s U.S.C.G. 47 “___ favor” bathroom routine in detail, say 23 One of 10 felled 48 Island ring in a strike 4 Time for a TV log 49 Wall St. debut 5 How LPs were 24 Big name in 51 What 20-, 28originally lighters and 42-Across recorded 25 Terse affirmative are 6 “Me neither” 7 Cell window ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE fixtures 8 Military science V A C A T E G E N T G E M subject A R A B I A E L I A A N Y 9 Hammer-wielding R U B I E S E M E R A L D S Norse god G A T T U N I C G L U T S U N S N A R E T O R E 10 Cause chafing, perhaps E L A S T I C A S A P E R W A S H E D U P F U S S Y 11 969, for Methuselah at A M E T H Y S T S his death S C A M P D E C R E A S E 12 One ___ C O G E E G S H A D I E R customer A C I D A L L E N L A G 14 Gets a furtive N A T O R A I S A R E S glimpse of D I A M O N D S P E A R L S 19 Part of I.T., for A N T W E L T P A N O U T short L E E E D Y S S T I N G Y 21 “Alas!”

Edited by Will Shortz 1

5 14

23 28

51 54

No. 0107

45 49

53 57

60 63

PUZZLE BY ROSS TRUDEAU

25 Like some flagrant fouls

38 Splits that may give rise to sects

26 Lot unit

40 Nova ___ (Halifax native, say)

27 Go soft 29 Dominated, in gamer lingo 30 Sick and tired 31 “Gesundheit!” elicitor 35 ___ Fleck, banjo virtuoso

41 Sword with a sensor

51 Essay offering an alternative viewpoint 52 Drink similar to a Slurpee

43 Like cocoons and 53 In fine fettle cotton candy 44 Like Liesl, among 54 Place where one might get a manithe von Trapp pedi children

36 River of Eurasia

45 Public perception, in political lingo

55 Line on a bill just above the total

37 In a crude way

50 Port of Honshu

56 First lady

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

T R I N A DY J O S L I N

Life&Arts Editor | @TRINADY05

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020

ART

LIFE&ARTS

Instagram feeds competition

Austin millennial photographers face social media pressures to create the perfect account and aesthetic. By Aisling Ayers @aisling_ayers

ompeting in a city full of creatives, millennial photographers have to find ways to set themselves apart or get lost in an endless Instagram feed. Ultimately, photographers said balancing the pressure to compare everything from Lightroom presets to digital strategy processes can be exhausting. Lauren Parr, a wedding and lifestyle photographer, said her main marketing tool is her Instagram page. She said she posts photographs with warm tones and pops of color to highlight her emotion-driven style. When she began her professional account, Parr said she committed to posting multiple times a day, using hashtags and trying to boost follower engagement. Three years and 6,000 followers later, Parr said her initial tactics

evan l'roy

/ the daily texan staff

Lauren Parr, a professional wedding and lifestyle photographer, pauses in between exposures while working a portrait session with a couple on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge on Saturday. Parr is one of many millennial photographers who are finding the procedure of balancing business with the creative process increasingly more complex in an age that is reliant on social media more than ever. drained her. “If I haven’t posted in a week, it’s not going to hurt me,” Parr said. “I’ve gotten to a more comfortable place because it feels good not to have to worry about that all the time.” When Danny Solano, a lifestyle, portrait and family photographer, began with

700 Instagram followers, he said he was obsessed with creating the perfect account. Now with over 13,000 followers, he said he learned how to show his personality through his page and no longer places his audience on an imaginary pedestal. While Instagram provides the perfect market, Solano said he feels pressure to

remain relevant and constantly compares his work to that of others. Constantly seeing others’ work can sometimes make photographers forget about the opportunities they have, Parr said. “You (have to sit back) and stop comparing their highlight reel to your full

story,” Parr said. Courtney Cope, a portrait and wedding photographer, said she isn’t concerned with the pressure of securing clients among a competitive industry. “The people who hire me are hiring me for me,” Cope said. “I don’t

necessarily want to do work with those people if they’re not the people who want what I’m offering.” Cope’s website reads, “If you’re looking for a photographer to completely recreate someone else’s ‘look’ or style … I might PHOTO

PAGE 5

STUDENT LIFE

TELEVISION

UT organization prioritizes destigmatizing mental health

Netflix's 'Locke & Key' offers generic fun, tonal inconsistencies

By Sana Hameed @sana21hameed

Alumna Anvita Jain had her first panic attack the spring semester of her senior year. She said she had never dealt with anxiety before and did not understand what was happening and did not know who to talk to. “You would be surprised by how many people silently suffer from mental health issues. Everyone has their struggles, whether they have been diagnosed or not,” Jain said. Jain found power in sharing her story on social media. After finding a community there, she discovered the online platform MannMukti, a national nonprofit founded in 2017 to destigmatize discussions involving mental health in the South Asian community. This stigma surrounding mental health in the South Asian community generally originates from the “desire to preserve reputation and status at all costs and to prevent community gossip,” according to the MannMukti website. The website said an added pressure is the model minority stereotype. Now, Jain is the vice president of development and outreach for the national organization and works with organizations across the country to destigmatize mental health. The UT chapter of MannMukti was founded in the fall of 2019 by co-presidents Jaish Bhojwani, management information systems junior and Fatima Hameed, public relations junior. Hameed said she struggled with her mental health during her transition into college, and it was not until she opened up to her friends and sorority sisters that she learned that she was not alone. “There’s so much pressure,” Hameed said. “(I felt like) I couldn’t reach the goals and standards my parents would set. No one really talks about the real issues or if they’re dealing with that on a daily basis to the point that they can’t get out of bed.”

With this organization, Hameed said she hopes to create a space for conversations about mental health on campus. On a national level, MannMukti puts together social media campaigns, testimonies and podcasts sharing South Asian stories surrounding mental health. The UT chapter aims to be there for students on a more personal level. “For this community to see someone talk about their journey through mental health and know they actually go to campus and know that they can see them face to face and talk about it, there’s a connection,” Bhojwani said. UT’s MannMukti’s chapter facilitates these conversations through social media and events. In December, the chapter organized “Chai Ki Raat MannMukti Ke Saath,” which translates to “Chai Night with MannMukti.” They provided free tea, samosas and a safe space for students to de-stress during finals season.” This month, the UT chapter visited the dance practice for UT Nritya Sangam, a South Asian competitive classical dance team for a mental health check-in. Rutuja Joshi, one of the captains of the team and management information systems junior, said they received an email from the chapter and wanted to invite them to the practice so the team knew they had resources available and people who cared. “I’m glad that our generation of students is trying to make (mental health) a priority and an ingrained part of the way that we run our organizations,” Joshi said. Bhojwani said UT MannMukti will also be launching two new events this semester: Slam the Stigma, where panelists from South Asian backgrounds will come together to talk about their mental health journeys, and a charity ball to celebrate the end of the semester and relieve stress from exams. “MannMukti is geared toward removing the stigma,” Jain said. “The more you reach out, the more groups you touch, the more dialogue you create. That’s where it starts — with that awareness.”

sai vogirala

/ the daily texan staff

Jaish Bhojwani and Fatima Hameed are co-presidents of the UT chapter of MannMukti, a nonprofit aimed at destigmatizing mental health conversations among South Asian communities.

Connor Jessup portrays Tyler Locke in the new Netflix show, “Locke & Key.” The TV adaptation of Joe Hill’s comic series follows the Locke family and their discovery of hidden magical keys around their ancestral mansion. By Noah Levine @ZProductionz

Maybe opening this locked door was a bad idea. “Locke & Key” is a new Netflix original based on the horror fantasy comic series of the same name by Joe Hill, son of acclaimed writer Stephen King. The show follows the Locke family as they move into their ancestral mansion. While adjusting to a new school and town, the Locke children discover a plethora of keys with magical abilities hidden around their estate. Unfortunately, there are others after these keys, and not all of them have good intentions. The key players in “Locke & Key” are Nina, Tyler, Kinsey and Bode Locke. The youngest of the cast, Bode, is played by “It” star Jackson Robert Scott. His outgoing and curious personality shines throughout the dark tale, but his consistent overacting and line emphasis are very distracting. Tyler, played by Connor Jessup, serves as the most confident and assertive member of the Locke family. His sister Kinsey, played by Emilia Jones, is extremely stubborn, self-centered and one-dimensional. Nina, the Locke children’s mother, played by Darby Stanchfield, is frustratingly oblivious despite being extremely protective of her children. Similar to Scott, her over-the-top acting would better be suited for a sitcom or

soap opera. Laysla De Oliveira plays antagonist Dodge, who is nicknamed “Well Lady” by young Bode. What should’ve been a menacing and equally unsettling adversary ends up being a generic and one-sided “evil” character with a knack for violence. Oliveira’s line delivery is cold but lacks any uniqueness or personality. She feels extremely uninspired and isn’t very enjoyable to watch. The highlights of “Locke &

Poor writing and mediocre performances create an uncomfortable contrast with the intended tone of the show.” Key” are the sporadic fantasy sequences incorporating wild and visually intriguing special effects. Standout moments include a supernatural, out-ofbody experience, a harrowing invasion of shadow creatures and a trip to a bright mall located within the mind of a protagonist. These scenes are the apex of fantasy horror potential in “Locke & Key.” Unfortunately, “Locke & Key” is tremendously weighed down

"Locke & Key"

GENRE

SCORE

Drama

by lackluster dialogue and tonal inconsistencies. Every episode features a handful of horrendous lines. Characters are rarely subtle in their communication, often blurting out exactly what they are thinking or intending in unnatural exchanges. Many of these deliveries come off as bad punchlines, considering how embarrassingly obvious and simple the statements are. Poor writing and mediocre performances create an uncomfortable contrast with the intended tone of the show. For a story revolving around adult themes, such as familial death, gun violence, suicide and child murder, it is unfortunate for the show to have such a juvenile approach in its other aspects. When characters dish out bad lines, overreact or simply get mixed up in generic love triangles and cheesy jokes, the more serious elements of the story are hard to take seriously. “Locke & Key” might be an enjoyable piece of horror fantasy entertainment for a younger audience, but older fans of the genre and the comic series will be disappointed by its uneven tone and distracting writing.