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SPORTS PAGE 6
LIFE&ARTS PAGE 4
Texas and TCU battle for a trip to Omaha
Designer Linda Asaf reflects Austin through retro styles in tune with nature
OPINION PAGE 3
Strategies for having your parking ticket appealed
THE DAILY TEXAN Friday, June 11, 2010
Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
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Committee authorizes travel WEEKEND despite US safety warnings FRIDAY
ROT Rally begins The Republic of Texas Biker Rally’s 11-mile parade begins at 7:00 p.m. in front of the Travis County Exposition Center and ends in front of the Capitol.
World Cup
South Africa takes on Mexico at 9 a.m., and Uruguay and France square off at 1:30 p.m.
By Collin Eaton Daily Texan Staff UT’s International Oversight Committee has not blocked any summer programs or graduate students looking to conduct research in countries with the U.S. State Department’s travel warnings, the University’s director of international public affairs said Thursday. The committee is charged with
the task of reviewing all travel requests to countries with warnings, including Mexico, Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel. The committee, composed of international travel and risk specialists, faculty members and academic leaders, is led by Janet Ellzey, vice provost of international programs. Christian Clarke Casarez, director of international public affairs, said the committee has not reject-
ed any graduate student’s request to travel abroad. “The committee is committed to preserving academic freedom and the University’s robust research agenda while ensuring the safety of its community of students and scholars as they travel around the world,” Casarez said. “With strong academic preparation and
SYSTEM continues on page 2
Mary Kang | Daily Texan Staff
Geography graduate student Lindsey Carte plans to research migration patterns in southern Mexico.
Man’s best friend
GOP convenes
The Republican Party of Texas begins its 2010 convention today in Dallas.
Colorado to join Pac-10; others may leave Big 12
SATURDAY World Cup
South Korea plays Greece at 6:30 a.m., and Argentina and Nigeria take the field at 9 a.m.
Who let the dogs out?
Southern rapper Pitbull performs at Austin Music Hall at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $44.50 online.
SUNDAY World Cup
Old rivals U.S. and England face off at 1:30 p.m.
‘My hours are long, and my pay is low’
Junior Brown and Tanya Rae take the stage at the Continental Club at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15 at the door.
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Quote to note “They said if you call the local police station [in my region in Mexico], you’d have a better chance of being kidnapped than helped.” — Josh Rudow geography graduate student NEWS PAGE 2
TRY OUT FOR THE TEXAN! We are currently hiring in all departments. Come pick up an application in the basement of HSM and sign up for tryouts.
THROUGH JUNE 23
Chris Kosho | Daily Texan Staff
Shane Cormier cools off with his dog at the Barton Creek Greenbelt on Thursday. Cormier was surprised to see so little activity after Wednesday’s rainfall, which usually draws more people to the area because of the increased water level.
TEXAS 40
Cyclists begin journey, find rhythm the afternoon riding to Run- for the beginning of our journing Brushy Middle School, ney: heat. The temperature rose our home for the night. The steadily into the upper 90s as Oasis provided refreshments friends and family made their for the evening, and we all way along the 25-, 50- or 70settled in for a brief mile options to the finnight’s sleep. The ish line at a winery. ON THE WEB: team was roused The finish line was early in the morna tremendous relief, Read the report from ing, and everyone with cold drinks, the first week on the rushed to pack barbecue and Coastal Route their bags and live music. @dailytexan By Sam Kutscha hop on their bikes. Day Two began online.com Daily Texan Guest Columnist Members of the Auswith last year ’s TexRocky Mountain Route tin cycling communias 4000 riders leading Three days ago, the whole ty had gathered to see us off. us in our most important trateam rode out of Austin with The Sense Corp Texas 4000 for dition: the ride-dedication cirthe flashing lights of the Austin Cancer was the guest of hon- cle. Everyone in the circle dedPolice Department protecting or on the ATLAS ride, an an- icated their day of riding to us. After a lunch of hot pizza nual charity ride to Lampasas. someone who has had experion an even hotter day, we spent The ATLAS ride set the tone ence with cancer. This is how
Editor’s note: Riders from the Sense Corp Texas 4000 for Cancer corresponds with The Daily Texan through a series of articles from the road. Each week over the 70-day trek, riders from the Rocky Mountain and Coastal routes will describe their experiences along the journey, depicting the places they pedal through and the people they meet along the way.
the Texas 4000 personalizes its mission. After hugging goodbye the teammates who were not on our own routes, we rolled out. We slogged through 102 degrees and blinding sunlight. The downhill stretches provided a welcome breeze that cooled us down and kept us going. Making it through to the end of the day was a tough but important rite of passage. With the stinging heat of Day Two still fresh in our minds, we set out the next day for Cresson. Our team members had woken up together for the second consecutive morning and
RIDER continues on page 2
By Dan Hurwitz Daily Texan Staff The Big 12 is on life support after Colorado officially announced it has accepted an invitation to join the Pac-10 yesterday morning. One by one, more teams are expected to depart from the 14-year-old conference, starting with Nebraska, who will reportedly join the Big Ten. But apart from Colorado’s commitment to the Pac-10, nothing is official. Texas and Texas A&M presidents and athletic officials met yesterday morning to discuss the possibility of conference realignment, though they did not reach any decisions, The Associated Press reported Thursday. A Baylor representative was also present at the meeting. According to the AP, an anonymous source INSIDE: briefed on More on the the meetmeeting between ing said evTexas and A&M eryone was on page 6 waiting for Nebraska’s decision. Over the past week, reports and rumors have spread throughout the sports world, which if true would affect the entire landscape of college sports. The chitchat includes reports that five other Big 12 universities, including Texas, will follow Colorado and merge with the Pac-10 to create a 16-team “super conference.” Expected to follow suit would be Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. This scenario would leave Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State without a conference. If the five aforementioned teams were to follow Colorado, the new Pac-10 would feature two divisions — eastern and western. The eastern division would include the six former Big 12 schools in addition to Arizona and Arizona State. The western division would feature the
BIG 12 continues on page 2
Grant money to aid highway patrol By Michael Sherfield Daily Texan Staff The Austin Police Department has quietly ticketed and cited their way to safer interstates and highways in Austin. Through a unique grant program that has provided more than $1 million a year in overtime to off-duty police officers, APD has significantly reduced collisions and fatalities on Interstate Highway 35, U.S. 290, Research Boulevard and Mopac Expressway in the past three years. The third edition of the yearly grant — which provides $895,514 for enforcement and pays for more than 9,000 man hours — was accepted by City Council on Thurs-
day. It also provides $303,089 for traffic safety education, such as public service announcements and programs targeted at high school students. “So far we’ve done very well reducing fatalities, collisions and serious injury collisions,” said APD Lt. Craig Cannon, who oversees highway safety for APD. “We’re down dramatically over the last year so far. Last year we had 34 [fatalities], and [so far] this year we have 18.” Collisions on Austin highways have decreased from 44,989 in 2007 to 39,039 in 2009, even as the city’s population and traffic volume continue to increase. In 2007, APD requested and received a grant usually reserved
for highway patrols from the DOT to help enforce traffic laws on major roads. “We’re the only municipality in the United States to get this grant because of the INSIDE: way Austin APD’s motorcycle is set up,” initiative focuses on Cannon ROT Rally safety said. “I’m on page 2 highway-enforcement commander. There are Bruno Morlan | Daily Texan Staff not a lot of cities that have a highwayenforcement command. We are the APD Assistant Chief Patti Robinson talks with a fellow officer while highway patrol of the city of Austin. Central Bureau Cmdr. Patrick Ockletree listens to the changes to the We know in the past it’s been given to City Council’s agenda. The council accepted a unique grant to APD from the U.S. Transportation Department on Thursday that provides funding for highway patrols and traffic safety education. PATROL continues on page 2