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MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2019
volume
119,
issue
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
SPORTS
YCT Chairman attends executive order signing at the White House. PA G E 2
Forum contributors discuss limits on campus freedom of speech. PA G E 4
Lutheran Campus Ministry creates food pantry to curb student food insecurity. PA G E 8
Longhorns’ season ends in Oregon after being upset in NCAA Tournament. PA G E 6
STATE
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UNIVERSITY
Cowboy Nicky Cumberland’s family backs anti-hazing legislation
UT limits scooter speed The University declares 8 mph speed limit for dockless scooters in trafficked areas.
By Chase Karacostas @chasekaracostas
State Rep. Angie Chen Button dabbed away tears as Shawn Cumberland described how his son Nicky died from injuries sustained in a car crash as he left a Texas Cowboys initiation event. “I’m sitting here dropping tears, messing up my makeup,” said Button, R-Richardson, who is from Taiwan and mentioned she had never heard of hazing before coming to the United States. “I’m just absolutely horrified … this (creates) such a bad reputation for all American universities.” Cumberland, Jay Maguire — the founder of Parents and Alumni for Student Safety — and two other anti-hazing advocates testified in front of the House Higher Education Committee on Wednesday in support of House Bill 1482, a revamped version of Texas’ current anti-hazing statute. Cumberland’s son died in October, and the events surrounding his death are the subject of several active investigations into alleged hazing by members of the Texas Cowboys. “Out of a dozen students that I talked to, only one told me that their fraternity doesn’t haze,” Cumberland said. “The majority narrative that I got was four points: hazing exists in my fraternity, I don’t like it, I wish it did not exist and there’s nothing I can do about it.” The bill expands the definition of hazing to include forcing others to consume an alcoholic beverage and creates immunity from civil liability for reporting an act of hazing. Previously, the law only gave immunity to criminal prosecution. The legislation also would require universities to provide a list each semester of organizations found to have hazed
HAZING
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emma overholt
By Jackson Barton @thedailytexan
ockless electric scooters from companies such as Lime, Bird, Jump and Lyft will be limited to 8 mph in campus areas with heavy pedestrian traffic starting Tuesday, according to a campus-wide email sent by Parking and Transportation Services. Although most scooters can travel up to 15 mph, a campus work group recommended an 8 mph speed limit for dockless electric scooters over winter break. PTS announced the 8 mph speed limit would
be coming sometime during the spring semester in an email sent Jan. 22. The speed limit will be enforced by a virtual geofence using GPS. Once a scooter enters the geofenced area on campus, the device will gradually decelerate down to 8 mph. The new geofenced speed zone is a precautionary measure for the safety of everyone on campus, according to the PTS email. PTS director Bobby Stone said the department worked with all four scooter companies licensed to operate on campus and arrived at 8 mph as an agreeable speed limit. “We wanted to make sure
that the speed that we use was at the rate which we thought was safe to mix with pedestrians, but we also wanted to make sure that the speed allowed the scooter to continue to operate safely,” Stone said. While the new speed zones encompass much of campus, including the Speedway Mall, the stretch of San Jacinto which passes by the football stadium will remain at 15 mph. Stone said the department paid special attention to busy streets such as San Jacinto where scooters often mix with cars. “We’ve got cars parked there,” Stone said. “We’ve got
| the daily texan staff
buses parked there, and we weren’t (sure if) operating at 8 mph on (San Jacinto) would be safe.” Other universities have adopted similar measures. The University of California at Santa Barbara has also adopted an 8 mph speed limit for dockless electric scooters, while St. Edwards University has banned the devices on campus entirely, according to the UT Work Group Recommendation Report. In January, after PTS first announced the speed limit change, some students tried
SCOOTER
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NATION
CAMPUS
Higher Ed Commitee suggests FAFSA changes
Transgender students seek gender-inclusive housing
By Savana Dunning @savanish
By Laura Morales @lamor_1217
A committee of higher education leaders and faculty from across the U.S. released a list of recommendations to the Department of Education March 13, enumerating ways to help students enroll in, pay for and graduate from college. Among the three dozen recommendations are measures that would permit students to file one Free Application for Federal Student Aid for multiple years, simplify the FAFSA form and provide more accessible information about financial aid to students. The Higher Education Committee of 50, actually made up of 47 individuals, was created in 2017 with help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, which advocates for removing financial barriers to college. These recommendations come as Congress plans to reauthorize the Higher Education Act of 1965, a set of rules that govern how higher education is run on a federal level. The reauthorization process updates the act and adjusts it to suit it to modern needs. Consuela Perez, director of enrollment resources for Southern Methodist University and
andrew choii
one of the three committee members from Texas, went to Capitol Hill on Thursday to advocate for the recently released recommendations. “Given that we have that policy window, our timing couldn’t be better to be there advocating for higher education policies that are going to benefit not only students, but families, students and taxpayers alike,”
Perez said. “I really do believe that some of our recommendations may sink through into reauthorization this year.” The committee split into four divisions to tackle different barriers for student financial aid — access, affordability, transparency and accountability. Stephanie Huie, UT System’s vice chancellor for
| the daily texan staff
the Office of Strategic Initiatives, was a member of the transparency division of the committee. She said her focus was making the complex financial aid process understandable to students. Huie’s department at the UT System is responsible for seekUT, a resource for students and families financially planning for college.
FA F S A
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As housing contracts are sent out for the coming school year, some transgender students have to navigate more gender-inclusive housing options. Housing is assigned by the gender a student is listed as in the registrar, said Aaron Voyles, director of Residence Hall Operations for University Housing and Dining. However, some transgender students said they would not be comfortable living in a gender-specific space. Plan II freshman Sloan Touchet said he changed his gender marker on his birth certificate before coming to UT, so he was placed with male roommates. He requested to room with people he knew rather than have a random roommate assignment. “I liked the guarantee that my roommates would not be aggressively transphobic,” Touchet said. “But honestly, my only issue with living in an all-boys floor is that there is piss on the toilet seat a lot, but other than that, it’s all fine.” University Housing and Dining works with transgender students on an individual basis for housing accommodations, Voyles said. The student must reach out to the office themselves because there is no indication of being transgender on the housing application. “Every student is different, and where they might be comfortable on campus is going to be different, so we want to work with the student on that individual basis so that all of our
students feel safe in that living environment,” Voyles said. Options for transgender students include private rooms, rooming with friends or changing their gender marker in the registrar through a signed request. Jay Crawford, a visual arts studies freshman, said he
Every student is different, and where they might be comfortable on campus is going to be different, so we want to work with the student on that individual basis so that all of our students feel safe in that living environment.” A A R O N VOY L E S
DIRECTOR OF RESIDENCE HALL OPERATIONS FOR UHD
applied as female even though he identifies as male. He said the people in his dorm have been accepting and respectful of his gender identity. “It was kind of weird at first,
HOUSING
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