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THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019
volume
119,
issue
129
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
SPORTS
More than 10,000 people petition against UTEP’s new president. PA G E 2
UTPD needs to make self-defense information more accessible. PA G E 4
UT Missed Connections group produces Einstein Bros. Bagels couple. PA G E 8
Softball adds another win under its belt after shutting out Texas State. PA G E 6
CAMPUS
UT senior campaigns for unique RLM name change By Hannah Ortega
WEST CAMPUS
Letter reveals drugging at Roundup
@_hannahortega_
Malcolm Over Moore, a campaign created by electrical engineering senior Vikram Sundaram, embraces absurdity by supporting a unique name change for Robert Lee Moore Hall. The movement calls for the building to be renamed after Ian Malcolm, a UT mathematician from “Jurassic Park.” “I’m reading through the book (‘Jurassic Park’) and … I was like, ‘Wow, this is the answer to the problem,’” Sundaram said. “It’s a character that single-handedly symbolizes caution and not doing things impulsively, and that’s really the idea of or at least the impetus behind changing it to Ian Malcolm.” Sundaram began the campaign after learning about the racist comments Moore made while serving as a math professor at UT. He has been pushing for the name change on Facebook and the Student Government website, though it is not officially SG-supported. “(Moore) made some pretty remarkable contributions to teaching and to mathematical topology,” Sundaram said. “The purpose of this movement’s not to destroy his legacy in that respect. It’s to just say that we don’t need to be honoring people who did abhorrent things just because they did a few things that were good for society.” Sarah Boatwright, a Plan II and sustainability studies junior, helps Sundaram with Malcolm Over Moore and said the outlandish nature of the campaign is its
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lauren ibanez
Reports of students drugged at Roundup addressed in letter from Not On My Campus. By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
n open letter released Wednesday by a sexual assault prevention organization addressed reports of students being drugged without their consent at Roundup parties last weekend. The Not On My Campus
executive board released the letter to highlight three reports made by students stating their drinks were drugged at Roundup parties but were not sexually assaulted, Not On My Campus president Rylee Trotter said. Roundup is an annual spring event hosted by the UT Interfraternity Council, with fraternities hosting parties serving alcohol in both cans and open cups. Not On My Campus sent the letter directly to several University offices and to student body president Colton Becker, who is the former Interfraternity Council’s vice president for philanthropy. “Drugging students without their consent is wrong and dangerous and unacceptable,” Becker said. “We know this happens, and groups like Not
| the daily texan staff
On My Campus are working to create a culture of care where students look out for each other and know how to intervene if they see behavior like this occurring.” Trotter, a management information systems junior, said she submitted an incident report around 5:15 p.m. Wednesday to the Office of the Dean of Students including the limited information she has so the University has a record of the incidents. She said the students who reported to Not On My Campus said they were planning to submit reports, and the organization is encouraging them to report to the Office of the Dean of Students. “The (letter’s) intent as a whole was a call to action to
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STATE
CITY
Multiple free speech bills aim to protect speech on college campuses
Homeless population largest in 8 years
By Katie Balevic
By Jackson Barton
@KatelynBalevic
A Texas House representative is putting forth a bill he says would strengthen free speech on college campuses more than other bills with a similar aim. Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, proposed House Bill 2100 to protect free speech on campuses by guaranteeing everyone who is “lawfully present” has the right to express themselves. Out of a handful of testimonies, no one testified against the bill, which was left pending in committee. “The bottom line of what this bill does is it’s creating a traditional public forum in these outdoor spaces and goes well further than what the Senate does,” Cain said at the House State Affairs Committee meeting on Wednesday. The bill would include professors and employees in its protections, something Cain said is lacking in Senate Bill 18, a similar bill that aims to protect free speech. Cain said he wrote the bill based on experiences he had himself, recalling October 2017 when he was supposed to speak at Texas Southern University on behalf of The Federalist Society, an organization that researches the state of legal systems. Cain said once he arrived and began speaking, the event
@Jackson_Brton
anthony mireles | the daily texan staff Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, appears before the House State Affairs Committee to present on HB 2100 at the state capitol on Wednesday morning. The bill aims to protect the free speech rights of students on campuses by guaranteeing everyone who is “lawfully present” the right to express their opinion without fear of being censored.
was shut down. “Before I was able to speak, protest began, which is fine,” Cain said. “I wasn’t offended by that. At one point, the president of the undergraduate university of TSU comes out … he takes the mic and says, ‘This is an unapproved event,’ and shuts it down.” Cain said the event had been previously approved, and the proper paperwork was filled out.
“You guys can see that if it could happen to me, of course it can happen to you, and so there’s a problem with that,” Cain said. Thomas Lindsay of the Texas Public Policy Foundation said free speech is a precondition for political debate. “The First Amendment is not itself
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Three months ago, more than 500 volunteers scoured the city before dawn to count every single individual experiencing homelessness. The number of people experiencing homelessness in Austin increased by 108 individuals since last year to a total of 2,255 people, according to an Ending Community Homelessness Coalition report released last Tuesday. This is the highest recorded population since 2011 and is the second year in a row the homeless population increased by 5%. District 9, which encompasses downtown and West Campus, has the highest number of people experiencing homelessness in Austin, with more than a fifth of the total homeless population. It also saw the greatest increase in people experiencing homelessness in the city. Greg McCormack, executive director of Front Steps, a program meant to address the needs of Austin’s homeless community, said while the increase is not surprising, it is not acceptable. “The Austin population over the past five or 10 years has
grown so much, it’s not surprising to me that the homeless population has also increased,” McCormack said. “That’s not acceptable. We do not want to see the homeless population increase at all.” Front Steps is a nonprofit organization that manages the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, the primary men’s overnight shelter in Austin. Currently, the facility has 130 sleeping mats for the homeless. Only 30% to 40% of individuals staying at the center are assigned a case manager, who provides support and resources for finding housing and an income through weekly planning meetings. In late January, Austin City Council voted to reduce the number of sleeping mats by 60 and in turn, provide case management to all remaining 130 residents. “What we’ve seen in the past is that people engaged in case management, the likelihood of them getting into a housing situation is far greater than going in on their own,” McCormack said. City Council member Kathie Tovo, who represents District 9, said it is not uncommon for individuals experiencing homeless-
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