1
sports page 7
Life&arts page 12
Destination: Wimberley
texas runners make quick handoff in relay neWs page 9
eat the words right off the page
The Daily Texan Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
Daniela Trujillo | Daily Texan Staff
Gay Muslim offers perspective
GLBT Muslim activist Faisal Alam gave a lecture Thursday about gender identity and religious ideologies. es: The Lives of LGBT Muslims” hosted by the Gender and Sexual-
Esteemed sportswriter speaks to UT students decades he’s covered the sportBy Hannah Jones ing green. Daily Texan Staff A six-time recipient of “U.S. While newspapers used to be the Sportswriter of the Year,” main voice to the public, and regular commentasports could be the new tor on NPR’s Mornlengua franca of the INSIDE: ing Edition as well as world. African American sports symposium HBO’s Real Sports, Legendary sports comes to UT Deford spoke about writer Frank Deford ON page 5 the issues involving brought this message the future of journalism to a gathering of UT and about the difference students and staff at the McGarr Symposium. He spoke between hard news and sports about the significant changes journalism. he’s witnessed in sports culture and sports journalism during the SPORTS continues on page 2
Increased security can’t stop string of PCL thefts By Bobby Longoria Daily Texan Staff Despite increased surveillance and a newly installed warning system, there were more locker break-ins at the Perry-Castañeda Library in March than any month since August 2009. Locker vulnerabilities came to the attention of the UT Police De-
partment and library officials in October 2009, when a series of eight break-ins suggested thieves had become more sophisticated in their approach. UTPD Officer Darrell Halstead said the new string of thefts show the same method of prying open the lock-
PCL continues on page 2
www.dailytexanonline.com
By Shabab Siddiqui Daily Texan Staff Although administrators have partially attributed the Cactus Cafe’s budgetary shortfalls to overpaying bands, the on-campus music venue managed to rake in a profit from music performances every year over the last decade, according to a University Unions budget spreadsheet acquired through the Texas Public Information Act. Over the past 10 years, the cafe made an annual average of about $55,000 in profit when comparing ticket sales to the amount the cafe paid its performers. The figure, however, does not include labor costs and other expenses. When the cafe’s budget is considered as a whole — in which ticket sales and performer expenses only play a part — the venue lost more than $50,000 in each of the last four years. David Puntch, the current director of the Texas Union, was in
Workers pave a new roof a top the Hotel San Jose on South Congress Avenue on Thursday afternoon. The hotel was built in 1939 and offers guests bike rentals, Polaroid camera check-out and has both a music and video library.
Jeff Heimsath | Daily Texan Staff
58
80
Fiscal review shows Cactus made profit
Pitch and Catch
CAFE continues on page 2
Admissions Revenue Performer Expenses
$200,000
$46,813
$44,486
$48,320
$250,000
$74,997
$300,000
$59,329
Net Profit $76,848
$
$48,554
$350,000
$68,749
happening around the world, as the number of people working together to create progress grows. “Islam is not a monolithic religion,” he said. “The people who are trying to hijack our religion have the media’s attention, but Islam is going through a transformation. It’s happening around issues of gender equality and gender equity right now, very similar to what happened within Christianity and Judaism not very long ago.” When Alam was 10, his family immigrated from Pakistan. At age 19, prompted by loneliness and confusion, Alam first started to reach out to other gay Muslims by creating an e-mail group. His religious community shunned him
ity Center on Thursday night. But, he said, there is hope and change
charge of overseeing the cafe for the last seven years as the Union’s associate director of operations. Puntch said one reason for the continuing losses at the Cactus was a sudden surge of the music business in Austin, giving formerly Cactusbound performers other venues to choose from. “The result of that was that we had to pay them more money for every performance because they had a choice of places to play. [This was] especially true of touring acts,” Puntch said. Despite the increased competition, the cafe has still been able to cover all the costs of the performers through ticket sales, including earning more than $59,000 last year. Cactus manager Griff Luneburg could not be reached for comment. Puntch said although the admissions profits have been steady, they
The numbers $400,000
$57,862
By Audrey White Daily Texan Staff When Faisal Alam was 16, he was an active leader within the Muslim community in Connecticut and throughout the Northeast. He was a New England representative for the Muslim Students Association of North America and organized camps and conferences for young people. But two years later, Alam had a nervous breakdown when he realized he was gay. The community he once represented ostracized him when he began working as an activist for GLBT Muslims. Alam addressed a small, attentive audience about the cultural stigmas, personal struggles and legal and religious oppression GLBT Muslims face during an event called “Hidden Voic-
Low
High
$38,862
Friday, April 2, 2010
toMorroW’s WeatHer
1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2006- 2007- 20082000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
GLBT continues on page 2
Roses offered as Holocaust reminder By Radhika Sakalkale Daily Texan Staff The White Rose Society handed out 10,000 roses on Thursday to students and faculty on campus symbolizing the 10,000 people who died everyday at Auschwitz during the Holocaust. The rose distribution was created to encourage Holocaust remembrance and to raise awareness of the genocide, said Margo Sack, director of Jewish student life at Hillel. The society is based on the original White Rose Society in Munich, Germany, which consisted of college students who spoke out against the Holocaust. The outreach group is part of Texas Hillel, an organization that aims to create opportunities for Jewish students at UT The handout takes place every year before Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 11. Next week, the society will hold a symposium featuring human rights activists to promote genocide awareness. “The idea behind having the apathy or human rights symposium and tying it together with the Holocaust is if you can’t learn from those past mistakes, what’s the point?,” Sack said. The White Rose Society has begun to focus on other topics, including child soldiers in the Democratic
Daniela Trujillo | Daily Texan Staff
Seven-year-old Laila Brustin passes out roses on the West Mall in remembrance of Holocaust victims. Brustin, along with her mother and sister, volunteered Thursday in an effort to bring about human rights awareness. Republic of Congo and Myanmar. “We de-thorned all 10,000 roses in four hours, and contacted all different types of organizations — like fraternities and sororities — to volunteer,” White Rose chair Katie
Malaspina said. “We had to fundraise to be able to raise money for 10,000 roses.” The organization raised about $5,000 to help distribute the roses. Along with UT students, stu-
dents from McNeil High School volunteered to hand out roses. Keith Kregel’s German 4 Advanced Placement class has helped hand out roses at this event for the past two years.
TIP OF THE DAY
Report leaky faucets and running toilets to Facilities Management. Water leaks cost us all money and waste a precious resource. Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy
PRESENTED BY
POP internet.net