1
serving the university of texas at austin community since
@thedailytexan |
thedailytexan . com
1900
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
volume
119,
issue
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
SPORTS
UT swimmer placed on probation for 2017 trespassing charge. PA G E 3
UT needs to give freshmen more information on self-defense. PA G E 4
Cookie delivery gets a homemade touch from nurse-turnedbaker. PA G E 6
Softball dominates at home and inches closer to a conference championship. PA G E 5
NATION
134
UNIVERSITY
Varied costs across colleges
Trump proposes new cuts for arts budgets By Brenna Hinshaw @brenna_hinshaw
The Trump administration has called for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in the government’s 2020 budget proposal. These federal agencies provide grants to museums, institutions and other programs to help fund the preservation of languages, historical research and artistic projects, according to their websites. “(The National Endowment for the Humanities) and (National Endowment for the Arts) are major funders of research and public engagement projects in the humanities and arts at the University of Texas, across the state and across the nation,” said Pauline Strong, UT Humanities Institute director. If approved, the budget would provide the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities with $29 million and $38 million respectively for the “orderly termination of all operations over two years.” “Eliminating funding for (these organizations) would make it much more difficult for artists, curators, teachers, librarians and scholars to carry out creative work that directly impacts both UT and the general public,” Strong said. The budget proposal awaits congressional approval. “As National Endowment for the Humanities awaits congressional action on the president’s proposed budget, the agency is continuing normal operations and will announce our latest round of (fiscal year) 2019 awards this spring,” said Jon Parrish Peede, National Endowment for the Humanities chairman, in a statement. Since 2009, the National Endowment for the Humanities and National
TRUMP
page
sue dinh
Differences in undergraduate tuition leaves some students wanting more. By Emily Hernandez @emilyhernandez
ndergraduate students enrolled in McCombs School of Business, which has the highest tuition rate of the UT undergraduate colleges, pay about $750 and $2,600 more per semester for instate and out-of-state tuition, respectively, than those enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts, which has the lowest tuition rate. Joey Williams, communications director in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, said the tuition differences between the colleges exist because each college offers their students different programs and resources. “McCombs, for example, might have more career service opportunities or different
programs for students,” Williams said. “The cost of delivering the education to a student in McCombs might just be different because they know they need different equipment in their classrooms or whatnot.” The dean of the college is responsible for deciding what kinds of resources to make available for students, Williams said. Marketing senior Wendi Liao, who pays instate tuition, said she was surprised to learn McCombs was the most expensive school for UT undergraduates. She said despite the prestige associated with the McCombs name, she does not understand the higher price tag. “I don’t like that it’s the highest,” Liao said. “That does kind of sting a little bit because I think I paid the same amount even when I was taking most of my classes for my minor at Moody. Hearing (about) all the resources (my Moody friends) have, that’s pretty comparable. What is the extra $800 going towards?” Liao said she thinks recruitment by companies and networking opportunities are major standouts for McCombs. “It’s more about the brand to me,” Liao said. “It definitely fosters a more competitive environment, but I do feel like (McCombs doesn’t) really go out of their way in terms of resources and helping you out and stuff like that. It’s pretty much on average.”
| the daily texan staff
Liao, whose minor is in communication studies, said she has been to both McCombs and Moody College of Communication’s advising offices, and her experiences sometimes surprise her. “McCombs (doesn’t) necessarily do a better job,” Liao said. “Sometimes my experience has been actually the opposite where I’m surprised, and I would expect the business school to be a little better.” McCombs is ranked the sixth best undergraduate business program by the U.S. News and World Report. McCombs had about a 20% acceptance rate this school year approximately 10% below the University-wide acceptance rate and 30% below COLA’s, Williams said. However, Williams said there is no correlation between tuition rates and acceptance rates. Sociology sophomore Griffin Boutwell, who pays in-state tuition and is interested in pursuing law, said he is satisfied with the resources he has within COLA. “They have career services, which is really nice, so they’ll help you search for internships and (postgraduate) opportunities,” Boutwell said. “They bring in law school recruiters from all over the country. I think it was about a month ago (when) they had Stanford Law people here, and they host big events and bring in speakers all the time, which is really cool.”
2
STATE
UNIVERSITY
Proposed bill to require overdose response trainings at Texas universities
Mental health advice line counsels students
By Katie Balevic
By Benita Lee
@KatelynBalevic
@benitalee
The state of Texas may soon require residential advisors and officers of student organizations to complete drug and alcohol overdose response trainings with House Bill 3658. The bill’s author Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, explained HB 3658 to the House Higher Education committee on Wednesday. “We need to ensure that those most likely to witness an overdose, such as residential advisors and student organization leaders, have the training they need to potentially save a life,” Turner said. “This minimal requirement will go a long way towards increasing students health and safety.” Turner referenced a 2015 law that allows for universities to have prescriptions on-hand to combat opioid overdoses, such as naloxone. Turner said this law is an “important step forward,” but his bill will ensure students have the training to react in overdose situations. UT already has a required training for presidents of student organizations, Texas Belles president Hayley Naples said. Resident assistants are also required to complete a similar training, according to previous reporting from The Daily Texan. “They talked about a lot of different things (at the training) — a lot of it was drug related, alcohol related, sexual harassment related and how to deal with instances like that,” said Naples, a corporate communication sophomore.
Worried for a friend showing depressive symptoms, Carol Li said she called the Behavior Concerns Advice line. “I was really worried about my friend to the point where I was shaking,” said Li, a business honors and management information systems sophomore. “After being able to talk to someone else on the phone about it, I felt a lot better.” The Behavior Concerns Advice Line is a service for students, faculty and staff to discuss a variety of concerns about anyone on campus, said Kelly Soucy, Student Emergency Services director. Li said she hesitated to call the advice line because she didn’t know what to expect. Li said she was worried she would be pressured to share too much information and betray her friend’s confidence. Li said she was glad she didn’t have to disclose her friend’s identity and felt supported by the advice line staff. “Number one, (our staff)
anthony mireles | the daily texan staff Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, center, explained HB 3658 to his colleagues on the House Higher Education committee on Wednesday morning at the state Capitol.
Everyone who testified about the bill mentioned the opioid epidemic. However, Turner’s bill makes no mention of naloxone or the opioid crisis that, in 2017, claimed 1,458 Texan lives, according to data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. A staffer from Turner’s office said the bill does not mention opioids specifically because that would limit the effect of the bill to just one drug. Shannon Hoffman, a policy fellow at the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, testified on the bill and said people ages 18 to 25 are more likely to use illicit drugs. “This age group is really susceptible and is at a really high risk of overdose,” Hoffman
said. “Because early intervention is so important and so crucial in saving a life, education and training how to respond is incredibly critical. The United States (Department of) Health and Human Services, as well as the U.S. surgeon general, have recognized this importance as well as the importance of access and education on naloxone.” Hoffman said the bill would allow students to prepare in case an overdose ever occurred but leaves the enforcement up to universities. “House Bill 3658 really leaves the training and awareness component up to the school,
BILL
page
3
want to know what the concerns are (and) really provide advice and resources,” Soucy said. “Since we know the caller will make the most impact on that person’s life, we encourage the caller to be the one to say they’re worried.” Li said the advice line responder asked her if the person she was concerned about was at least 18 years old, how urgent the situation was and how likely her friend was to harm themselves. She was also given a list of additional resources. The first time Li called the advice line was at night, and the call ended after giving her student ID to the respondent, Li said. The advice line called her back the following afternoon. During business hours, Student Emergency Services staff who are trained in threat assessment answer Behavior Concerns Advice line calls, Soucy said. After hours, ProtoCall, a support service for crisis lines focused on immediate safety concerns, answers calls, Soucy said. “There was a noticeable user experience difference
ADVICE
page
2