The Daily Texan 2019-03-05

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1900

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

volume

119,

issue

NEWS

OPINION

LIFE&ARTS

SPORTS

UT libraries can’t keep up with the growing costs of journal subscriptions. PA G E 2

UTPD needs students’ help to make campus a safer environment PA G E 4

UT alumna encourages civic service, female presence in government in anthology. PA G E 8

Poor offensive effort results in Longhorns’ worst loss of the season. PA G E 6

112

STATE

UNIVERSITY

Texas lacks maternity leave

Payroll system switch causes pay issues for UT student employees

As employees at UT voice concerns, HB 1559 proposes paid family, medical leave.

Maternity Leave UT has different policies depending on the type of leave an employee wishes to take. Some leave is unpaid but offers job protections while other forms of leave are paid.

By Katie Balevic @KatelynBalevic

ardly any bills have been filed in the Texas Legislature concerning parental leave policies, but some UT employees think more could be done to support employees who have children.

“It’s crazy that the U.S. is so behind when it comes to paid parental leave because I think that we’re one of the only industrialized nations that doesn’t offer paid parental leave,” said Sarah, a UT employee whose name has been changed to protect her job. “Employers need to catch up to that and recognize that women should be compensated while they’re on leave, and they should be guaranteed their job when they return.”

Another UT employee, Jane, whose name has also been changed, said she was a teaching assistant when her child was born and didn’t qualify for any time off.

“I was back at the lectern as a guest lecturer and TA when my son was 17-days old,” Jane said in an email. “He came to class with me to teach over the course of about seven weeks that semester.”

State Rep. Thresa Meza, D-Irving, said employers are hesitant to provide paid maternity leave because of the cost.

“They don’t want to incur the cost of the leave and (lose) the money that it would take to pay someone to be out if (the employers are) not getting the productivity from the person,” Meza said.

MATERNITY

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Paid Time Off Holiday & Vacation Military Leave Sick Time Off Jury Duty Service Dog Training Volunteer Emergency Responder Parental Leave

sue dinh

3

| the daily texan staff

By Brenna Hinshaw @brenna_hinshaw

As someone who works on campus, mechanical engineering senior Steven Salazar said he has experienced payroll issues before. However, within the past few months, Salazar said the issues have worsened.

In November, UT switched from its old payroll system to Workday, a cloud-based system that replaces dozens of systems related to human resources, payroll and employee data.

Student employees on campus have voiced their concerns on Twitter with regards to not being paid the correct amount on time since the switch.

“I’ve noticed that my boss has been late in submitting my time sheets repeatedly,” Salazar said. “This was never really an issue before we switched to Workday.”

Salazar believes it may be a managerial issue.

“I have spoken to many friends of mine who work in different departments, and they have the same problem with their managers forgetting to approve their time sheets after the swap,” Salazar said.

UT Human Resources provided training on the Workday system in various forms, including videos, training events and step-by-step guides online at the time of the switch.

However, these trainings were not mandatory.

“We weren’t given any mandatory training or any real updates once this switch happened, so it wasn’t a very smooth transition for me or my staff,” said a manager within the College of Liberal Arts. “The website is confusing to navigate and took a lot of

WORKDAY

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UNIVERSITY

CITY

Professors struggle in responding to mental health needs

Free HIV, STD testing center forced to East Austin by rising rent, funding cuts

By Benita Lee @benitaslee

Over the course of his 30 years of teaching, undergraduate studies professor Lee Walker has experienced panic and concern for students and their mental health. In these instances, Walker tries to check up on students one-on-one, but if the student doesn’t respond, he is unsure of what to do next.

“I think the number one duty of a teacher is to notice students and then pay attention to them, and it flows from there,” Walker said. “If you’re in distress, I think I’m going to notice.”

Walker said the resources UT offers for professors who are concerned for their students’ mental health are difficult to navigate in times of need.

“What I would like to have is a button,” Walker said. “But instead, now I start searching. The Counseling and Mental Health site shouldn’t be at the bottom of the UT homepage in the same small font and section as links to site policies and jobs. (The CMHC website) to me is all numbers

and not actually people.

This is bureaucratic. I still haven’t found a professor (concerns button).”

Missing classes, dropping classes, dropping class performance, falling asleep in class and changes in appearance can all be signs of mental health struggles professors can notice in students, Austin psychiatrist Elizabeth Truong said.

“After some conversation with the student first, sometimes the professor is really concerned,” Truong said.

“Sometimes helping the student (learn about campus resources) or contacting that organization on behalf of the student is really helpful.

Because if it’s their first time experiencing or struggling with mental illness, it’s really scary to get help. And most of the time, they don’t even know where to turn.”

The dean of the McCombs School of Business notifies their faculty of resources they can use when worried about student well-being, such as the Behavior Concerns Advice Line and attendance failure notices, at

DROPPING

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nikita sveshnikov | the daily texan staff “The Q,” a facility that offered free STD testing for students and the community, now lies vacant and crumbling due to heightened real estate costs and a loss of $135,000 in funding from Travis County. “The Q” now operates in East Austin as well as at a different location on campus during limited hours.

By Chase Karacostas @chasekaracostas

Every time Tony Hernandez went to get STD testing by himself, he got nervous and his hands would sweat. Sometimes it even felt like he was about to receive a death sentence.

“But the Q made me feel (like) I wasn’t alone, regardless of the results,” said Hernandez, who graduated from UT last spring, in an email.

Last September, after five years of serving students and the LGBTQ community near UT, the Q Austin closed its facility on Medical Arts Street

and Dean Keeton and moved to East Austin, more than three miles away from campus and next door to the two zip codes with the highest HIV incidence in the city. The Q, which is overseen by its parent organization AIDS Services of Austin, provided the University area with free HIV and STD testing, free

condoms and educational services about sexual health on weekdays and some weekends.

The move followed several years of rent hikes from the landlord of the Medical Arts location and the loss of $135,000 in funding through

THE Q

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TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

UNIVERSITY This issue of The Daily Texan is valued at $1.25

PERMANENT STAFF Editor-in-Chief Liza Anderson Managing Editor Forrest Milburn Assoc. Managing Editors Catherine Marfin, Andrea D’Mello Director of Digital Strategy Alexandria Dominguez Assoc. Editors Bella McWhorter, Emily Caldwell, Angelica Lopez Forum Editors Jennifer Liu News Editor Claire Allbright Assoc. News Editors Anna Lassmann, Sami Sparber News Desk Editors Gracie Awalt, Meghan Nguyen, Meara Isenberg, Hannah Daniel, Raga Justin Beat Reporters Chase Karacostas, Tien Nguyen, Chad Lyle, Katie Balevic, Hannah Ortega, Savana Dunning, Rahi Dakwala, Mason Carroll, Nicole Stuessy, Jackson Barton, Emily Hernandez Projects Editor Ellie Breed Projects Reporters Maria Mendez, London Gibson, Lisa Nhan, Morgan O’Hanlon, Kayla Meyertons Projects Designer Rena Li Copy Desk Chief Kirsten Handler Associate Copy Desk Chiefs Jason Lihuang, Brittany Miller, Jimena Pinzon, Haylee Reed Design Editor Mireya Rahman Associate Design Editor Renee Koite Senior Designers Christiana Peek, Kendall Jordan, Nila Selvaraj

Video Editors Sarah Tang, Peyton Young

UT library struggles to afford scholarly journals

Assoc. Video Editors Faith Castle, Bonny Chu Photo Editor Katie Bauer Assoc. Photo Editors Anthony Mireles, Carlos Garcia Senior Photographers Eddie Gaspar, Angela Wang. Joshua Guenther, Ryan Lam, Pedro Luna Life&Arts Editors Tiana Woodard, Jordyn Zitman Assoc. Life&Arts Editor Brooke Sjoberg Sr. Life&Arts Writers John Melendez, Landry Allred, Trent Thompson Sports Editor Ross Burkhart Assoc. Sports Editors Steve Helwick, Keshav Prathivadi Senior Sports Reporters Robert Larkin, Donnavan Smoot, Cameron Parker Comics Editors Channing Miller, Bixie Mathieu Assoc. Comics Editor Lauren Ibanez Senior Comics Artists Alekka Hernandez, Andrew Choi Social Media Editor Ryan Steppe Assoc. Social Media Editor Tirza Ortiz Engagement Editor Megan Menchaca Newsletters EditorPeter Northfelt Sr. Digital Staffers Iris Bilich, Alexis Green Audio Editors JT Lindsey, Morgan Kuehler Audio Producers Sara Schleede, Eric Kiehnau Editorial Adviser Peter Chen

ISSUE STAFF Comic Artists Nikole Pena, Gianna Shanded, Sophia Solomon, Leslie Tang, Haley Barngrover, Michelle Peck Copy Editors Alicja Zapalska, Adriana Van Tho, Connor Tolany Designers Emma Overholt, Katherine McMahan

Illustrators Albert Lee News Reporters Grace Dickens, Benita Lee, Brenna Hinshaw, Bonny Chu Photographers Nikita Sveshnikov, Armin Panjvani, Jacob Fraga Sports Reporters Stephen Wagner, CJ Vogel

CONTACT US MAIN TELEPHONE (512) 471-4591

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Liza Anderson (512) 232-2212 editor@dailytexanonline.com

MANAGING EDITOR Forrest Milburn (512) 232-2217 managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com

NEWS OFFICE (512) 232-2207 news@dailytexanonline.com The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely. If we have made an error, let us know about it. Call (512) 232-2217 or e-mail managingeditor@ dailytexanonline.com.

AUSTIN WEATHER TODAY Mar. 5

HI LO

48º 32º

TOMORROW Mar. 6

HI 57º LO 46º

We use the word “jock” very loosely.

| the daily texan staff

armin panjvani

New books line a single shelf in UT’s Life Science Library with the journal section remaining largely empty aside from the Verne Grant Collection.

By Bonny Chu @bbbonny_

The UT library budget has remained consistent for nearly a decade, while the cost for journal subscriptions have continued to rise annually, according to budget reports spanning from 1997 to 2017. Because the libraries can’t keep up with the growing expenses, their ability to collect and provide scholastic material for academic research is in jeopardy.

“A major institution needs a strong and stocked library,” said Jennifer Ebbeler, chair of the Collections Subcommittee of the Task Force for the Future of UT Libraries. “We must ensure that UT libraries can support the faculty and research staff who make UT-Austin the great university that it is.”

In the last nine years, UT libraries have received $12 million

in funding annually. However, some individual journals can cost up to $10,000 annually, said Chris Carter, director of organizational effectiveness of UT Libraries. The University also subscribes to vendors who collect many journals under one annual cost. For some vendors, the University pays more than $1 million per year for access.

Because costs for journals increase 5 percent annually, the budget currently falls short by $5 million, or 41 percent of its annual funding.

Alicia Montecinos, a doctoral student in the College of Education, said the lack of funding could greatly impact students’ ability to conduct research. “(A continued lack of funding) would be devastating,” Montecinos said. “I use the library system mainly for journal access almost on a daily basis … and that would be at least one book per class.”

The University also lost 53

library employees — 20 percent of the library staff — in the last seven years, said Travis Willmann, UT Libraries communications officer.

While some employees retired or were lost through automation, Willman said budgeting also impacted these staff cutbacks.

“Obviously, it would be optimal to maintain both staffing and resource levels,” Willman said. “But given budgetary realities, … decisions about resources had to be made to ensure that the libraries are meeting the basic mission requirements for an academic research library.”

Alberto Martinez, history of science professor, said libraries cannot operate without their staff.

“I do research; I need the books, but I also need the staff people,” Martinez said. “We don’t just make the discoveries ourselves.

There are these individuals who are experts on the collection. To have lost more than seven people per year for seven years in a row —

it’s simply astonishing, staggering and heartbreaking.”

The inability to collect journals not only impacts traditional fields but emerging fields as well, said Lydia Fletcher, librarian of physical and mathematical sciences. UT is developing new programs that the library can’t support, she said.

“There’s just too many journals and articles being published for everyone to keep up,” Fletcher said. “It’s difficult to add things without losing something to make up that gap or negotiating what we can get access to.”

Martinez said the libraries should compare the budgets of various departments at the University in order to remain a top research facility.

“We should articulate the mission of libraries as creating magnum content so that researchers come here ... so this can remain an intellectual center,” Martinez said.

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the beginning and middle of the semester, McCombs academic adviser Lovelys Powell said. But Walker said the time between needing and receiving the information

It’s really scary to get help. And most of the time, they don’t even know where to turn.”

ELIZABETH TRUONG PSYCHIATRIST

albert lee

| the daily texan staff

can cause professors to lose track of which resources to use.

“It’s fairly common for a professor to call or email me asking about what to do about a student who hasn’t been attending class,” Powell said. “I think students would be surprised

how often faculty notice students missing.”

But even after a student drops a class, including in instances related to mental health, professors are not sent resources on how to help struggling students.

Instead, they receive an email asking if the student

who dropped was involved in academic dishonesty, Powell said.

“I think that’s representative of a mindset that is not optimum here at all,” Walker said. “We should be addressing student mental health needs before students are even considering

dropping out of class or that semester.”

Plan II sophomore Matthew Aufiero, who has dropped a course for mental health reasons before, said professor support is most effective early on, before students think of dropping classes or withdrawing.

“I feel like when you’re at the point where you’re ready to actually drop a class, you may not be wanting to think about talking to your professor since you’ve already made up your mind,” Aufiero said. “I’d missed lots classes before dropping, and no one noticed.”

the q

but I kept going to check my health as part of my routine,” Hernandez said. “I left feeling comfortable with myself.”

The Q still offers free testing for HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea and Hepatitis C at the Gender and Sexuality Center on campus every Tuesday from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Last year, adjustments were made to how Ryan White funding, the primary federal support for HIV treatment and primary prevention, can be spent and only allowed money to be spent on helping people who already have HIV. Local jurisdictions such as cities and counties serve as arbitrators for handing out the federal money.

The combination of the

funding loss — just under half of AIDS Services of Austin’s primary prevention support — and rent increases made running two locations for the Q unsustainable, and they had to lay off a member of their staff, Barragan said.

AIDS Services of Austin actually receives more total support now from Travis County for its other services. For the 2018 fiscal year, AIDS Services of Austin got $391,000 from the county and now receives $467,000. These services include non-medical case management — connecting people living with HIV to healthcare and ensuring they have housing and other basic needs — and the Helping Hands Food Bank.

However, none of that

funding can be spent on primary prevention, which the Q location by UT focused almost exclusively on. The federal government now wants Ryan White funding to focus more on a different idea: treatment as prevention.

This area instead focuses on the approach that if HIV-positive people are fully treated, they will reach a level where the disease is undetectable and cannot be transmitted to another person, said Glenn Selfe, HIV Resources Administration Unit manager for Austin Public Health. However, even at the point of being undetectable, the person is never fully cured and must be actively taking the medication to treat the illness.

The City of Austin and Travis County do provide financial support for primary prevention, but it will not fully replace the funding AIDS Services of Austin lost.

Social work senior Eli Cortez, who worked with the Q last year, said it was upsetting to see the funding cuts, but nevertheless he feels that AIDS Services of Austin will still be able to help a lot of people.

“It was a big part of our funding that was being provided, so when it was cut we were really disillusioned,” Cortez said. “(Regardless), I appreciate that they have upheld the impact they provide to the community and are focusing on providing other resources.”

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Travis County to support HIV primary prevention services — funding that would make sure people do not contract HIV in the first place.

“It was definitely a shock for us,” said Alberto Barragan, AIDS Services of Austin’s director of health promotion.

“As best as we could, we recovered and … we have been able to still do a lot with what we have.”

Hernandez, who went to the Q several times for testing, said its convenience and friendly staff made getting tested a much less stressful experience.

“I never tested positive,

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CLAIRE ALLBRIGHT NEWS EDITOR @THEDAILYTEXAN

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

CITY

New City of Austin plan brings safety, efficiency to streets

jacob fraga | the daily texan staff The Austin Transportation Department released a new mobility plan last month to reduce traffic congestion and make roadways safer. For UT students, this means more buses for popular routes and designated pathways for other forms of transportation.

By Grace Dickens @dickensgrace

The final draft of Austin’s Strategic Mobility Plan, the City’s newest effort to reduce traffic congestion and make roadways safer, was released by the Austin Transportation Department on Feb. 22. To accomplish those goals, the plan will add more buses to busy routes and create designated pathways for various forms of transportation, such as bicycles.

For UT students, these changes may sound familiar. Last summer, Capital Metro announced a revamp of more than 50 bus routes to add more frequent

m at e r n i t y continues from page

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Meza filed House Bill 1559, which would require employers to allow their employees to take 30 days of leave not just for childbirth but also other life-changing encounters, such as sexual assault. Under HB 1559, employees must be able to use accrued paid sick leave for all of these things, something UT already does.

“Our (bill) is more of a compromise bill between what you and I might think of as the ideal thing for employers to do for us women when we’re having a baby,” Meza said.

UT employees don’t get a separate policy for maternity or parental leave.

Instead, they dip into their accrued sick leave or work out other arrangements with their superiors.

service along popular routes. Within four months, students reported overcrowding and inconsistent bus stops on those same routes, as previously reported by The Daily Texan.

Annick Beaudet, Austin Transportation Department assistant director, said it is possible these problems were the result of a lack of coordination between the City of Austin and CapMetro. Under the new plan, the City and CapMetro are working as a team, Beaudet said.

“This plan means we can support CapMetro’s plans to help the city,” Beaudet said. “We will be complementary, not competing.”

Radio-television-film sophomore

“There is not a leave referred to as ‘maternity leave,’” said Adrienne Howarth-Moore, interim associate vice president for Human Resources, in an email. “However, the University does provide a variety of state governed paid and unpaid leave options to support employees that choose to expand their family through birth, adoption or foster care placement.”

UT employees have paid time off for vacations, sick days and military leave. Since UT is a state agency employer, employees can also get paid time off for training a service dog, donating blood and voting.

Under current state law, Texas does not have paid maternity leave, instead offering employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave and a guarantee of returning to the same job they left.

Howarth-Moore said UT

is unable to create new leave types, such as maternity leave. Instead, UT allows employees to supplement their 12 weeks off with other forms of paid leave.

“Employees will use their accrued paid sick leave concurrently to provide salary continuation while they are on job-protected leave recovering from a medical event, such as a birth event,” Howarth-Moore said.

Employees can also file disability claims to supplement their leave or use the sick leave pool in which colleagues can donate sick leave hours to each other, Howarth-Moore said.

Sarah said there’s a lot more work to be done to support working parents.

“The more that we as a society can value working moms and working parents, the more benefits we’ll hopefully get,” she said.

Taylor Tatom said she welcomes the changes proposed in the mobility plan.

Tatom said she uses the bus to travel to and from school every day.

“The buses are so crowded, half of the time that I don’t have a seat, and the hooks are so hard to hang on to,” Tatom said. “We need more buses in highly populated areas like Riverside.”

Through the mobility plan, the City is aiming for about 50 percent of Austin’s commutes to be in the form of bus and bike rides by 2039.

In January, a cyclist was struck and killed on the UT campus by a CapMetro bus. Beaudet said such scenarios are why safety was made the number one

priority in the plan.

Eric Wise, urban studies and geography senior, said he has been riding his bike for most of his life and uses it to get to campus every day. Wise said he often has close encounters with cars and scooters, but sees the mobility plan as a step forward.

“I think the (Austin Strategic Mobility Plan) is great,” Wise said. “I think it does a really good job of highlighting what needs improvement. The 2014 bike plan was a good starting point, but this puts a lot of those things into practice.”

The plan is open to public comment and will go to the City Council for review and adoption later this spring.

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poking around to figure out what you were looking for.”

Adrienne Howarth-Moore, interim associate vice president of Human Resources, said there are systems in place to aid managers in approving time sheets on time including alert mechanisms and email reminders from HR prior to payroll deadlines.

“Anything that’s through the system before that deadline will be paid on the next payroll date,” Howarth-Moore said. “Anything that’s outstanding ... those hours won’t be picked up until the next pay cycle.”

Salazar said he believes these errors take too long to correct.

“They should shorten the retroactive pay schedule, or establish consequences for managers submitting their time sheets late,” Salazar said. “As someone paying their way through college, rough spots like this often result in more stress on top of school. It’s disappointing. It’s infuriating.”

Howarth-Moore said the main issue with Workday is the training and managers’ familiarity with the system.

“With a brand-new system, we realize that there’s a learning curve,” Howarth-Moore said.

“We do our very best to make sure that there’s training that’s been provided.” alekka hernandez

1303 SAN JACINTO • HOUSTON, TEXAS • 713-659-8040

| the daily texan staff

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LIZA ANDERSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @TEXANOPINION

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

GUEST COLUMN

University police need students’ help to make campus safer Editor’s note: This column is in response to a Letter from the Editor addressing how quickly UTPD releases information about incidents on campus.

By David Carter Chief, UTPD

he UT Police Department strives to share information across various media formats including but not limited to email, Facebook, Twitter, texts, the siren/PA system and University websites. An “emergency notification” is sent anytime UTPD receives a threat to life call that is in progress or has just occurred. While the vast majority of police calls do not rise to that level, there are some that clearly do, such as a shooting or stabbing.

In a situation where we need to immediately communicate that you need to take action to potentially protect your life, we will send out a text in addition to the other formats mentioned above.

We sent out a message about what was initially reported as a robbery last Monday night. Our students heeded the message and quickly contacted us, which eventually led us directly to the suspect. That very incident showed the importance of police and community engagement. When police and the community effectively communicate, there is no doubt our community remains safer.

I recently met with The Daily Texan editor-in-chief Liza Anderson regarding our communications about incidents occurring on or near campus. Our discussion included what students need to know or do in such situations. I believe

the following things are important for students to consider: 1. Call 9-1-1 immediately if you personally observe violence or threatening behavior.

2. Ask if anyone has called 9-1-1 if you are texting friends, posting on social media or using a form of chat room discussing something potentially dangerous happening on campus. Police may not be aware of an incident.

When police and the community effectively communicate, there is no doubt our community remains safer.”

3. Recognize that social media is replete with incorrect information that sometimes comes from “third-hand” parties who are unintentionally passing on misinformation. For example, when a disturbance was reported at the Union Building last month, there was talk of a handgun being displayed or that a robbery had occurred, which

was not factual. No firearm was involved at any time.

4. UTPD does not have the capacity to continually monitor social media, so we may not be aware of what information is being transmitted.

5. We need the public’s help to keep our campus safe. We routinely put information on our social media feeds even if it does not meet the true “emergency notification” category.

There are any number of incidents or situations that may cause fear. Please know that we will respond to those issues as quickly as possible. As I have mentioned in the past, our first priority is to respond and control the situation at hand. Second, your police have a responsibility to get out correct information as soon as possible. As a reminder, the “text” is reserved to give you specific directions as to how to take action and protect yourself or others when in a dangerous situation. We are on the verge of further enhancing our two-way communication process between students and UTPD — more on that soon. In the meantime, please don’t forget to consult with your district representative officers to discuss this matter in greater detail. You may email them directly by using our interactive map found at https://police.utexas.edu/meet-your-officers-district-map or through a link on the front of our home page.

Carter is the chief of police for the University.

GUEST COLUMN

Opinion page must be platform for productive dialogue Editor’s note: Spencer Buckner is currently running in an unopposed election to become the next editor-in-chief of The Daily Texan. For this column, he was asked to address how the newspaper should treat controversial opinions within the opinion department.

By Spencer Buckner Opinion designer

There is only so much you can fit on a single opinion page in The Daily Texan. When only two or three columns get printed daily, it is the job of the editor-in-chief and editorial board to determine what makes the cut.

The Daily Texan has consistently struggled to represent the voices of the over 50,000 Longhorns attending UT. Every day, the opinion department has a choice in how it reflects the voices and beliefs of campus, and every day it is our job to do so accurately and productively.

How do we, as an opinion department, do that?

Our columnists consistently bring to the table problems they experience on our campus and solutions for how to better them moving forward. Every Monday, our forum contributors bring a discussion on any given topic. Our readers bring feedback and op-eds that reflect their experiences.

As a publisher of campus-sourced op-eds and columns, the opinion department’s job is not to indiscriminately run everything we’re sent. It’s also not our job to impose our beliefs on the rest of campus. Instead, our daily opinion page is a conversation between

columnists, students and professors on life at UT, and how it can be made better. My job as editor-in-chief will be to create a productive platform for these conversations.

Including differing and sometimes controversial opinions is crucial in maintaining a healthy campus dialogue. With a campus so large, it is important to provide an outlet for the beliefs of what can be a divided student body. Ideas and arguments that are based on facts always have a place on our opinion page.

What does not have a place, however, is hate speech.

Hate speech, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, is speech that targets a specific group, often a marginalized community, that is “intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or discrimination.” If it is our job at the opinion department to create productive dialogue, hate speech does the opposite — it intimidates and silences. There is only so much room on an opinion page.

None of it should ever be reserved for hate speech.

Luckily, there is a simple system we as a department can use to keep hate speech far away from print — fact-checking. A good opinion column is a news story with an argument. As such, we as a department hold our columnists to the same expectations as news does its reporters. They

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.

interview experts, get the facts and act professional. Simply ensuring that all of the content we run on the opinion page is factual all but guarantees that hate speech stays off of our page. Racism, sexism and homophobia have no basis in fact, and therefore no way to make our page.

This isn’t controversial — it’s how good newsrooms function.

Constructive dialogue is more than what we won’t publish, though. It also must include voices that we have consistently failed to publish. The Texan must better communicate with underserved and underrepresented voices on campus.

We cannot do our job reporting on campus if we exclude or misrepresent members of our student body. A good opinion page, then, is one where both our writers and our content are inclusive.

The most sure-fire way to have more representative content is to have a more representative staff. Join The Daily Texan. Staff applications for 300 positions in 13 departments open at the beginning of every semester. If you don’t want to join but still want your voice to be heard, send us an op-ed. If you want to talk about what we as a paper can do better, email me at sbuckner@utexas.edu or find me in the office — my door will always be open.

Buckner is a Plan II and journalism sophomore from Austin.

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.

anthony mireles

| the daily texan staff

RECYCLE | Please recycle this copy of The Daily Texan.

Place the paper in one of the recycling bins on campus or back in the burnt-orange newsstand where you found it.

EDITORIAL TWITTER | Follow The Daily Texan Editorial Board on Twitter (@TexanOpinion) and receive updates on our latest editorials and columns.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

BASEBALL

Longhorns ride momentum into weekday matchup

By CJ Vogel @cjvogeldt

The concourses of UFCU Disch-Falk Field looked extra clean following the abundance of brooms in the crowd Sunday afternoon as Texas completed a three-game sweep of then-No. 1 LSU in walk-off fashion.

But the high of the sweep and 10-spot rise to No. 12 in the D1Baseball poll will quickly wear off for the Longhorns as they are set to return to work when UTRio Grande Valley (9–3) visits Austin for a non-conference game Tuesday night at 4:30 p.m.

UTRGV will not be bringing the prestige or No. 1 ranking that accompanied the Tigers when they packed the third base dugout over the weekend, but Texas (10–3) is well aware of the importance of maintaining the same level of confidence regardless of who the opposing team may be.

“We can play with anybody in the country, we’ve got enough arms, we’ve got a gritty team and we’re growing,” Texas head coach David Pierce said. “That (series was) a great confidence builder.

An awesome, awesome atmosphere from our fans. Even with the weather conditions, everybody hung in there with us.”

Fortunately for the Longhorns, the volume of purple and gold from LSU fans that filled parts of the stadium is unlikely to be matched by the orange and navy of Vaquero fans making the five-hour drive from Edinburg, Texas, especially with the change in start time.

A University spokesperson sent out a release Monday afternoon announcing the first pitch will be moved up two hours to 4:30 p.m. due to “forecast

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victory against Iowa State and taking down Kansas State in Manhattan — two things Texas has been unable to do this season.

So what does a loss in Fort Worth mean for the Longhorns?

It means that, with a West Virginia upset win over Baylor, Texas could potentially drop as low as sixth in the Big 12 and secure its worst regular season finish since Aston’s first year at Texas in 2012-13, when the team finished ninth.

Williams, who will play

in her last true road game Tuesday night, understands the importance of winning in Fort Worth. And she knows how important it is for the Longhorns to fix their issues quickly.

“The games (where) we’ve been successful, we come out and punch first,” Williams said. “We get after it from the jump. That’s what we’re missing right now. I’m not really sure how we fix that, but we need to talk about it in the locker room.”

Time is running out for Texas to find a solution to its poor starts. After Tuesday, the Longhorns will have a quick turnaround

eddie gaspar | the daily texan file Catcher Michael McCann talks to Texas fans following the Longhorns’ 7-6 victory against the LSU Tigers on March 3 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

temperatures” as low as 32 degrees.

Though the weather may be on the cusp of freezing in Austin, the lineup coming out of Edinburg is scorching hot.

UTRGV swept a four game series with Rhode Island this past weekend with an impressive average of 9.75 runs per game, whereas the Longhorn pitching staff has allowed more than that figure just one time this season.

before beginning the Big 12 Tournament on Friday.

With Baylor having already secured the regular season championship and Texas out of the picture to host in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, every game is now of utmost importance for the Longhorns to win.

“You never want to lose,” Williams said.

“That’s never fun.”

But, ever the optimist, Williams refuses to be held back by failures and disappointments.

“Tomorrow’s a new day, a new opportunity to adjust and get better,” Williams said.

It’s likely the black ski masks the Longhorns broke out Sunday will make a return Tuesday as Texas looks to sustain its success from the weekend and avoid a second straight weekday loss.

“We’re here to compete,” said catcher Michael McCann, who threw out an LSU baserunner in all three games of the series. “We’re not going to go down lightly, so come at us because we’re going to

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presence known everywhere from the recruiting trail to the field. “(Herb’s) been a great addition to our staff,” Herman said during his National Signing Day press conference. “He did a really nice job of developing the guys that were there. They were able to be much more cohesive.”

In 2017, Texas played eight different offensive line combinations. However, the following season, which was Hand’s first in Austin, there were only three different starting combinations. “(Hand’s) a coach you can’t pass up on, especially with

come at you.”

With hopes to carry on the momentum from the weekend sweep, the Longhorns must bear at least nine more innings of baseball in frigid conditions before they head out west to Palo Alto, California, this weekend for a meeting with No. 6 Stanford.

“Playing in this (weather) is no fun,” McCann said. “I cannot wait for the heat.”

my desire to go on and play at the next level after college,” Majors said.

After committing in January, Majors cited his relationship with Hand and Parr as instrumental in his decision to commit early. “(Logan) has the same determination, desires I have and wants to make Texas great again,” Majors said.

But that determination goes beyond just the gridiron.

“We’d love to bring a lot of players from Texas,” Parr said.

“We’re working on a couple offensive lineman — we all have a Twitter group chat together — that’d we love to play with at the next level. It’s really cool being able to commit early and

being able to shape our recruiting class.”

Included in that group chat is Garth and other 2020 recruits such as Chad Lindberg and Damieon George. One week after speaking with Parr, Garth announced his commitment to Texas as well.

When it’s all said and done, Texas might end up with all three committed, but it’s evident a dominant offensive line could be in the future for Texas behind Majors, Parr and Garth, among others.

“We want to bring back that trench dominance,” Majors said.

Parr added to Majors’ comment, saying, “It’s going to be crazy. Nothing will be able to stop us.”

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ROSS BURKHART SPORTS EDITOR @TEXANSPORTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Longhorns stumble in Lubbock

joshua guenther | the daily texan file Texas head coach Shaka Smart questions a call during the Longhorns’ 71-64 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats on Feb. 12 at the Frank Erwin Center. After Monday’s loss to Texas Tech, the Longhorns move to 16-14 on the season.

Offensive woes result in Texas’ worst defeat of the season against Texas Tech.

By Robert Larkin @r_larkintexas

ome coaches will urge their players to immediately discard a game from their minds following a bad loss. If Texas head coach Shaka Smart believes in that mantra, Monday night will certainly qualify for his team.

In front of a boisterous crowd on senior night in Lubbock, Texas Tech smothered the Longhorns and cruised to a 70-51 victory, marking Texas’ most lopsided margin of defeat this season.

“You have to give Texas Tech a lot of credit for the unbelievable defensive energy they played with,” Texas head coach Shaka Smart said during a postgame radio interview with the Longhorn IMG Radio Network. “They’re already a phenomenal defensive team, but the level of energy they played with was what you should have on senior night.”

The separation started on the offensive end for Texas, where it couldn’t find its rhythm against the Red Raiders.

There was no motion in half-court sets. No easy transition buckets. No layups at the basket. And the Red Raiders completely removed the Longhorns’ big men from the game.

As a result, Texas scored a season-low 51 points and shot a season-low 30 percent from the field.

“When we got in the paint, we didn’t make those shots,” Smart said. “There were other plays we didn’t get the movement we needed to get, and they did a good job of bottling us up.”

In the first half, the Longhorns’ offense struggled mightily against a Texas Tech defense that ranks as the

third best in all of college basketball in points per game. Texas managed only nine points through the first 13 minutes and failed to create shots for their hottest shooter — guard Jase Febres — who only had three shot attempts in the first half.

Texas scored only 23 first-half points and shot 30 percent from the field, a season-low for a single period.

While the Red Raiders struggled similarly on the offensive end to start, they caught fire midway through the period. Texas Tech went on a 19-6 run during an eight-minute stretch that gifted it complete control of the game.

The Tech lead grew to as high as 15 points, but a short Texas run capped by an Elijah Mitrou-Long three cut the lead to nine before halftime.

The Longhorns’ woes, however, persisted in the second half. Any halftime adjustments didn’t amount to significant change, with Texas again meeting difficulties in finding open shots. Most of the second half consisted solely of Longhorn players driving to the basket one-on-one and chunking up a contested shot.

But the Red Raiders finally found

their groove on the offensive end. They made seven threes in the period and did what Texas couldn’t by finding open men and making difficult shots.

Texas Tech guard Matt Mooney bailed out the offense with great shots despite having a defender in his face.

Fellow Red Raider guard Jarrett Culver added 12 points of his own, recording a team-high 16 points on the night.

The two led a Red Raider effort in the second half that pushed the game out of reach.

Now, with only one game left on the schedule and its tournament hopes dwindling, Texas must hope it can beat TCU on Saturday. After a tumultuous season, the Longhorns will have to put together one final strong performance for a chance to make the NCAA Tournament.

“I told the guys in the locker room that this is how your senior day is supposed to go, like Texas Tech experienced tonight,” Smart said. “What goes into that is getting back on the practice floor, working on a variety of areas where we have continued to move forward, but where tonight we weren’t at our best.”

FOOTBALL

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

2020 recruits seek to restore Texas’ dominance on the offensive line

By Cameron Parker @camerondparker

andre fernandez | the daily texan file Guard Danni Williams drives to the basket during the Longhorns’ 82-73 loss against the Iowa State Cyclones on March 2 at the Frank Erwin Center.

Pressure mounts on seniors to perform in final games

By Stephen Wagner @stephenwag22

Following Saturday’s disappointing loss against Iowa State on senior night, head coach Karen Aston sat at the podium with a look of concern, stress and disgruntlement on her face. She didn’t need to speak for anyone to understand her discontent with her team’s inconsistent play this season.

“I think that’s kind of been the personality of this team: You have a good day and then you don’t have a good day,” Aston said after Saturday’s loss.

“I think it’s been the personality of this team that I have not been able to fix.”

As the Longhorns enter their final regular season matchup against TCU on Tuesday, guard Danni Williams, a graduate transfer from Texas A&M, feels the pressure as a leader while Texas currently rides a two-game losing streak.

“It’s on me, it’s on the seniors to understand that these are our last few games, our last few practices,” Williams said Saturday. “We’re aware that if we practice (poorly), we’re not playing as (well). That’s on us to fix.”

With the loss Saturday,

Texas dropped to third in the Big 12, a full game behind Iowa State. Unless last-place Kansas manages to upset the Cyclones in Ames, the Longhorns will finish outside of the top two in the conference for the first time since 2015.

Despite Texas losing only three of its 45 meetings alltime with TCU, the sixth-place Horned Frogs aren’t an opponent to be taken lightly.

TCU has lost only two games at home this season and has improved considerably since their loss in Austin on Jan. 19, racking up a home

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There has been something missing from Texas football for the past ten years, and it’s not victories and trophies but a dominant offensive line.

As the football program floundered in mediocrity, the days of tough-nosed offensive linemen such as Justin Blalock and Jonathan Scott disappeared. Between 2009 and 2017, Texas had zero taken in the NFL draft altogether.

Yet, as Tom Herman wrapped up his 2019 recruiting class with his second consecutive top-three ranking, the

third-year head coach already began working on the 2020 class that is shaping up to be bigger and better than the stellar 2019 class.

Less than a few weeks away from National Signing Day, when Herman announced the addition of four-star offensive lineman Javonne Shepherd, Texas received five commitments for the 2020 class. Of those five include Jake Majors, Logan Parr and Jaylen Garth, three offensive linemen who will have a huge say in the future of Texas football.

Standing between 6-foot3-inches and 6-foot-6-inches and weighing roughly between 280 and 290 pounds each,

Majors, Parr and Garth seem like your typical linemen. Beyond the four-star ratings, the trio of commits are part of Herman’s makeover, both on the field and off it.

Among the three of them, Parr committed first in October 2018.

“I was always told that every place is going to have crazy facilities and they’re all going to be amazing, but it’s the people at the place that makes it worth your while,” Parr said.

Those “people” include Herb Hand, a second-year offensive line coach at Texas, who has made his

FOOTBALL

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copyright jake majors, and reproduced with permission Offensive line coach Herb Hand (middle) poses with 2020 Texas commits Logan Parr (second from left) and Jake Majors (second from right).

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TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

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, March 5, 2019

Crossword

SUDOKUFORYOU 6

8

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1 6

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2 4 5 1

3 5 9

4 1 7 6 4 6 8 7 8 1 5 6 7 7 6 4 2

Today’s solution will appear here next issue

4 6 2 9 7 1 3 5 8

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3 8 7 4 5 6 9 1 2

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2 3 9 6 4 8 1 7 5

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ACROSS 1 Barred from competition, briefly 5 Prefix with economics 10 Sportsbook offering 14 Liqueur with a licoricelike flavor 15 Psychologist Alfred 16 Stumble around in a daze 17 Empty talk not backed by action 19 Screenwriter James of “The African Queen” 20 Santa ___, Calif.

21 Slender 22 Play loudly, as music 23 Like all natural numbers: Abbr.

24 Boost after appearing on a certain old Comedy Central show

27 Malia Obama’s sister 29 Use an oar 30 Lion in the heavens 31 In effect 35 Arkin of “Catch-22” 36 Product from RCA or LG 39 Something traced to draw a turkey 40 Get, as from a will 41 “___ the least I can do” 42 Groceries holder 43 Sedan alternative 47 Symbol of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad 52 Upper extreme, informally 53 Stockpile 54 Work without ___

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE A T F I R S T

D E N T A L

N A R R A T O R R O O M I E

K N E E B O N E O N T I M E

L E Y A E C Y H U E K P S I C L O A E A S P T H S Y E T K I E L S T

N U C L E I

55 Gift for which you might reply “Mahalo” 56 Happening now, as a telecast 57 Sport hinted at by the ends of 17-, 24-, 36- and 47-Across 60 Universal donor type, for short 61 Paragon 62 Christmastime 63 Exchanges “I do’s” 64 Sounds from a pet owner’s lap 65 Column on a flight board, for short

I S L A N D S

D E S E M P I R C K I A A T

C H E H E R I N G S O T E H U E E S S H A F I C N E E N D S T A S T E A

D O E P S A N S T T L O I L F I E V E R T E T M I

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S T A P L E

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PUZZLE BY BENJAMIN KRAMER

25 Orange Muppet 26 Whirler on a whirlybird 28 “Please ___” (secretary’s words) 32 Water with the Alps in its logo 33 Men’s gymnastics event 34 Bit of volcanic fallout 35 Apropos of 36 Luke Skywalker’s home planet

37 Forced into bondage 38 Fine point 39 Poker variant in which the worst set of cards splits the pot 42 The first “B” of B&B 44 German mark 45 Spanish rice dish

49 Primitive kind of diet 50 Holiday guest that a couple might fight over 51 Starting points in shipbuilding 57 Get-up-and-go

46 Banishees

58 Payment of tribute?

48 Bottom of the barrel

59 “Ciao!”

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.

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TIANA WOODARD & JORDYN ZITMAN LIFE&ARTS EDITORS @THEDAILYTEXAN

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2019

FEATURE

Women working in the White House

copyright the booth for business and reproduced with permission

Taylor Lustig spent four years working in the Obama White House. Alongside nine young, diverse female staffers, she sheds light on what it’s like to work in government.

Alumna Taylor Lustig, other female Obama staffers share stories in new book ‘Yes She Can.’

By Jordyn Zitman @jordanzitman

T alumna Taylor Lustig, who graduated in 2012 with highest honors and dual degrees in government and psychology, said the story of her career in the White House is one of many left untold.

A group of 10 young, diverse female staffers who served during the Obama administration came together to publish “Yes She Can,” coming out on March 5. The anthology includes one chapter written by each author detailing a meaningful and personal anecdote or experience from their time on staff. The book has received high praise from influential feminist voices such as activist Gloria Steinem and actress Amy Poehler.

Lustig worked in the Obama White House from age 22 to 26 in various offices before the end of the administration in 2016. While at UT, she qualified for the Archer

Fellowship, which sends students to intern in Washington, D.C., while taking classes at night. Up until her junior year, Lustig said she had never considered a career in government.

“That experience was really what opened my eyes to Washington, D.C., and made me start thinking about career paths here,” Lustig said. “There was a lot of interesting stuff happening, and I kind of loved it.”

After graduation, Lustig volunteered on the Obama campaign in Chicago.

She was later offered a full-time position as an intern in the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Her work focused on church-state policy and religious community outreach.

When she began working in the White House, Lustig said a pecking order was established quickly.

She said that the willingness of her colleages to provide guidance and mentorship slowly chipped away that intimidation.

“You’re taught that there’s definitely a hierarchy, and you’re not going to march into the Oval Office and talk to the president or any senior staff,” Lustig said. “But people were so nice and willing to share career advice and were really invested in the young people.”

Jaimie Woo is another contributing author to “Yes She Can,” and worked in the White House Office of Management and Administration at 24 years old. She said young staffers can sometimes feel out of place in the

But we hope that putting out these stories from a diverse group of young women will inspire the next army of young women and young people.”

TAY L O R L U S T I G UT ALUMNA

high-stakes environment.

“When you’re surrounded by such incredible people, you feel what I call ‘imposter syndrome,’ like, ‘What am I doing here?’” Woo said. “Getting past that is about believing in yourself but also finding a community of other people who align with you and support you.”

Despite an increase in visibility of youths in the political sphere, many remain hesitant to pursue a career in government.

Roderick Hart, a Shivers Chair in Communication, government professor and founder of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, said this can be attributed to cynicism

toward government.

“There’s a culture of cynicism that’s aided and abetted by a variety of people, and I think that’s a big part of it,” Hart said. “Young people are more impressionable and also have more of a herd mentality. It’s harder to adopt opinions and positions outside the established order.”

The authors’ hope for “Yes She Can” is to encourage young women and people everywhere to engage in civic participation, as well as demystify what it means to work in government and lead policy.

“This book is really meant to inspire and to assure women that they belong and that there are people who come from all backgrounds that were able to make their way to the White House,” Woo said. “It’s meant to serve as that inspiration and also tool to young girls who maybe never thought about a career in government as an option.”

Although their individual stories may not be of wide interest, compiler Molly Dillon relayed the idea to the women that their collective experiences at the White House were important to share.

“It’s always a little scary putting your story out there,” Lustig said.

“But we hope that putting out these stories from a diverse group of young women will inspire the next army of young women and young people to consider or pursue careers in public service at all levels.”

MUSIC

Alumna, motivated by faith, gives ‘American Idol’ second try

By Landry Allred @l2ndry

The crowd booed her off stage in elementary school when she performed The Cheetah Girls’ songs at a lip-syncing show. “American Idol” dismissed her after the group round at 17 years old.

Every UT a cappella group she auditioned for denied her, yet none of that stopped Courtney Penry.

Penry, a UT human relations alumna and founder of UT’s first all-female a cappella group Beauties and the Beat, will be on “American Idol” on March 6. After graduating UT in 2015 and undergoing four years of vocal training, she aims to make a comeback to show her growth since her last “Idol” audition and fulfill her purpose of singing for others.

She said developing her artistry takes time, which is why she wasn’t ready in 2011. Penry has grown up performing since elementary school and said humbling experiences pushed her to grow.

“Every time I got kicked down, it gave me motivation to be where I want to be,” Penry said. “It hasn’t been an easy ride, but everything happens for a reason, and I stand proudly as who I am today.”

Penry’s vocal coach

Winkie Jamail said Penry has matured as a human and a performer.

“As you mature, you’re the same person but more refined in connecting with people,” Jamail said. “Her performances are becoming more refined, connecting with her audience and conveying her messages.”

Despite the challenges she has faced, Penry said she loves the performance aspect of singing because she can feel the crowd’s energy.

Berkeley Mashburn, one of Penry’s close friends in Beauties, said she has always enjoyed performing alongside Penry.

“She’s so lively, energetic and expressive, (which) made people come watch us in Beauties,” Mashburn said.

Penry said anxiety contributed to her passion for performing as it allows her to express her soul through music. “(Anxiety) has always been something I’ve dealt with,” Penry said. “I take all those feelings it’s giving me and put it into my music and performance.”

Penry said she’s beginning to realize the importance of voicing her anxiety because she values authenticity.

“I should talk more about (my anxiety) because that’s part of my truth,” Penry said.

“It needs to be shared so people

copyright amber deadoff, and reproduced with permission Courtney Penry, founder of Beauties and the Beat and UT alumna, tries for a second time on “American Idol,” airing on March 6. She plans to fulfill her purpose of singing for others.

don’t feel alone.”

This authenticity drives Penry’s life. She said the music industry pushes an image onto artists, making them into something they’re not.

“If you’re not speaking your truth with every song you write

or sing, then why are you doing it?” Penry said. “That’s what music is all about — speaking your truth, inspiring others and making people feel better with your music.”

Today, she aims to show her true self through

exploring different genres, although she previously stuck to country. Newly married and currently working on her first album in Abilene, Texas, Penry performs on the side.

Ultimately, she said she perseveres through hardships

because singing isn’t for her own satisfaction.

“What motivates me to keep singing is God,” Penry said.

“He’s given me this gift and wouldn’t have given it to me if it wasn’t supposed to be used for a purpose.”