Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Volume 120, Issue 102
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
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Hindu Students Association hosts events during Hinduism Awareness Week.
The CMHC should be used as a resource by students of all backgrounds and identitites.
Benson Center exhibit of Cuban comics shows subversive socialist ideologies.
Charli Collier has another double-double in Texas’ 50-44 victory over West Virginia.
CAMPUS
UNIVERSITY
Polls open on campus
Students will be able to vote early at the PCL and FAC starting Tuesday.
Staff Emergency Fund provides relief for struggling staff By Lauren Grobe @grobe_lauren
jonathan sherchand
/ the daily texan staff
Early voting for Travis County begins Tuesday and runs through Super Tuesday on March 3. Voters can vote on campus at the Perry-Castañeda Library and the Flawn Academic Center from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. By Hannah Williford @HannahWillifor2
arly voting will kick off Tuesday, allowing Travis County voters to begin choosing their primary nominees and determining local elections. Those who registered 30 days before election day, March 3, can vote on campus from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Perry-Castañeda Library and the Flawn Academic Center, according to the Travis County Clerk website. Janae Steggall, the civic engagement alliance chair for TX Votes, said she encourages people to take advantage of early voting, vote with friends and use social media to get other
voters interested. “(Early voting is) 10 whole days of essentially no line at any polling station, which just makes it so much easier and faster to go out and vote,” said Steggall, a government and international relations and global studies sophomore. “My past two times doing early voting, I’ve had a five minute wait one time and then no (wait) the other. I just walked straight into the polling station.” Democrats will vote for a presidential primary candidate from a pool that includes Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, billionaire Tom Steyer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Although University Democrats does not endorse national candidates,
It’s time for change in Travis County. It’s time for people of color to stop being disproportionately represented in our jails.” ALEX EVANS plan ii freshman
Alex Evans, communications director for University Democrats, said her advice for choosing who to vote for is to do research and follow your gut. John Cornyn, United States Senate incumbent, will run for the
Republican senatorial nomination against business owner Dwayne Stovall, investor Mark Yancey, software developer Virgil Bierschwale and attorney John Anthony Castro. Twelve candidates are vying for the Democratic Senate nominee, according to the Travis County sample ballot. Taylor Frontera, the administrative director and state liaison for College Republicans at Texas, said she feels confident in Cornyn because of his experience in the legislature and his ability to work across the aisle. “He’s trying to be a true representative to his constituents,” Frontera said. “Even though you’re a Republican candidate in office, you get phone calls from
When Fran Peña realized she was having a mental health emergency, she did everything right. She went to an emergency room and checked herself into a mental health hospital, but before she could leave, she had to pay a bill. Then, another bill came in the mail. And another. And another. “For some reason, they won’t allow you to leave until you pay something,” said Peña, administrative program coordinator for the Latino Research Institute. “To me, (the hospital is) bringing more anxiety when they want money, when you’re supposed to be working on (anxiety).” Peña was able to pay her medical bills after a friend recommended she apply for the Staff Emergency Fund, which is offered through the Employee Assistance Program. “(I) got a check in the mail, and I was so relieved,” Peña said. “It really helped ease that burden and anxiety of having all these different bills.” The staff emergency fund is available to all University staff when they face unexpected outof-pocket expenses they are unable to pay, said Jeff Stellmach, a University senior social worker. The maximum award for an individual is $1,000. “Primarily, we’ve had people who have had medical emergencies utilize it,” Stellmach said. “But it’s not limited to just those.” The fund is supplied through donations from UT Cares, the Staff Council and, for the first time, HornRaiser. Kellie Sullivan, associate director for annual giving for the University Development F U N D PAGE 3
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CAMPUS
UT scientists create fossil board game, foster learning By Anna Canizales @annaleonorc
Two UT scientists developed a game of chance to help students understand taphonomy, or how fossils are formed, in a classroom setting. UT alumna Anna Weiss and Rowan Martindale, an assistant professor in the department of geological sciences, created “Taphonomy: Dead and Fossilized.” Weiss, who was Martindale’s teaching assistant for the Life Through Time course in spring 2018, said the topic of taphonomy is complex, and developing a board game would make it more engaging for students. “There’s a really specific, random set of factors that have to happen in order for a fossilization to occur and then for the fossil to be found,” Weiss said. “(The game) mimics the chance aspect of it and the inherent randomness that goes into (something) eventually becoming a fossil.” In the game, players are paleontologists who travel through time and find fossils. Over 700 students at 20 different United States universities,
including UT, have played the game, Martindale said. She said one of the main goals of the game is accessibility, so there is a free printout version available on the Texas Data Repository website. “As long as you can access a printer and some cardboard, you could make the game yourself,” Martindale said. “The idea was if you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and have no teaching budget ... the students can still learn the same material they would in a wealthy institution.” Martindale said they developed the game to not only teach students about taphonomy, but also to provide a lab activity that students would have fun participating in. “We tried to make the game as interesting as possible while still having a degree of scientific accuracy,” Martindale said. “The act of playing the game helps you learn the material.” Weiss said they are also developing a Spanish language version and working to expand the game to high school classrooms. The game can be adapted to play with different age groups beyond high school and college, Martindale said. “It could be a great resource for a lot of different people at various ages,” geology
sophomore Michael Chiappone said. “It doesn’t necessarily get too complicated so that it’s harder for younger people to understand it, but it’s not so dumbed down that older people can’t enjoy the experience.” Students who have played the game generally have a better understanding of the material than in previous classes, Martindale said. “Students were actually getting what we wanted them to get out of it,” Weiss said. “They were intuitively understanding (the concepts), and that’s really important for actually learning.” Weiss said they came up with the concept and rules for the game over the course of an afternoon and had people who were interested in board games test it out. “It takes a topic that isn’t often talked about in general media dealing with paleontology and (makes) it really interesting using game mechanics,” said Chiappone, who played the game in the Life Through Time class. “It takes an educational risk that some professors don’t take. When you can get your students to be hands-on in really different ways ... it can make a memorable experience.”
rocky higine
/ the daily texan staff