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GET CRACKING FOR EASTER
A professor’s 9 a.m. calculus class was interrupted when the Longhorn Band playing UT fight songs barged in yesterday to honor the professor and his achievements.
A large group of mathematics pro-fessor James W. Vick’s friends, co-workers students and members of the Longhorn band gathered out-side of Vick’s classroom to pres-ent the Friar Centennial Teach-ing Fellowship, while Vick taught his class, unaware of the coming award reveal.
The Longhorn band played “The Eyes of Texas,” and Vick was pre-sented with a handful of orange and white, UT-themed balloons and an oversized cardboard check in the amount of $25,000 to use at his dis-cretion. The Friar Centennial Teach-ing Fellowship is one of the most prestigious teaching awards on cam-pus. The UT Friar Society presents this award annually to one under-
graduate professor who demonstrates excellence in teaching undergradu-ates and who contributes to the Uni-versity community. The FCTF has an endowment of more than $500,000
and an annual award of $25,000, making it the largest faculty award at the University.
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THE DAILY TEXANServing the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900
Thursday, April 5, 2012>> Breaking news, blogs and more: www.dailytexanonline.com @thedailytexan facebook.com/dailytexan
Thornhill follows Jungmann’s lead, becomes Longhorns’ ace pitcher
LIFE&ARTS PAGE 10SPORTS 6
‘‘
Calendar
Today in history
Stand-up 2.0Tosh Tour Twenty Twelve brings stand-up comedian Daniel Tosh to the Bass Concert Hall stage for two performances. Shows are from 7-9 p.m. and 9:30-11:30 p.m. at the Bass Concert Hall. Tickets start at $39.50.
‘Eatin’ Shrimp’The Center for Sustainable Development screens “Eating Alaska” and “The Shrimp” as part of its Food for Thought Film Series. Snacks and a discussion will follow the screening. The screenings start at 7 p.m. in GOL 2.110 and is open to everyone.
Student Film & PhotographyEnjoy original film and photography by University of Texas graduate students, along with free food and beverages. Cash prizes awarded for best entries, based on audience vote. The event will be held at the 29th Street Ballroom at Spider House and is open to everyone.
In 1994Iconic Rock singer Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle, Wash. home. Cobain left a suicide note quoting Neil Young’s lyric that its “better to burn out than to fade away.”
— Nathan ThornhillPitcher
TODAY
SPORTS PAGE 6
“You’ve got to stay hungry or else you’re
never going to get better.”
Quote to note
UTPD program to target laptop thefts
Elisabeth Dillon | Daily Texan Staff
Nathan Ochoa plays Wednesday afternoon along Airport Boulevard while his mother and other members of The Light of the World church sell Easter eggs and piñatas to raise funds for the church.
Math professor earns Friar Fellowship
Blogger, government professor exemplifies foreign policy savvy
Associate government professor Terri Givens teaches two govern-ment classes, updates two weekly blogs, runs marathons and insists on holding a family dinner every night.
For Givens, interest in foreign pol-icy with a focus on Europe was in-grained in her early on, she said. Giv-ens said she began learning French in middle school and went on to study abroad in France during her under-graduate years at Stanford Universi-ty. Upon enrolling in graduate school at UCLA, Givens switched her fo-cus from international relations to
domestic politics and began taking German. She now focuses mainly on immigration issues in addition to European domestic politics. Givens was one of 14 professors to attend the Brussels Forum on March 23-25, amidst approximately 200 invit-ed House of Representatives mem-bers, senators, ambassadors, uni-versity professors from around the world and members of the Europe-an Union.
A focus on Europe was a natural choice for her, Givens said.
“Europe has always been fascinat-ing to me,” she said. “I’m continually fascinated by European politics. And the Europeans are equally fascinated
by us, so it’s a two-way street.”Givens, who has attended the fo-
rum several times, said the diversity of attendees this year made the event an enriching experience.
“It was just this amazing array of people from the EU and the U.S.,” she said. “It’s truly transatlantic in
that they get high-level officials from Congress and business leaders and ambassadors. It was just this amaz-ing experience.”
Forum attendees discussed cur-rent environmental, economic and political issues, including recent ac-tivity in Syria and Afghanistan, as
well as discussions concerning ener-gy issues. Givens said the topics dis-cussed encompassed many of her di-rect interests as well as other areas of foreign policy. Givens said oth-er leaders from Europe have mixed
By Rachel ThompsonDaily Texan Staff
GIVENS continues on PAGE 2
VICK continues on PAGE 2
By Alexandra KlimaDaily Texan Staff
A steadily recovering Central Tex-as labor market may mean improved job opportunities for this year’s graduating class.
According to a report issued last week by the Texas Workforce Com-mission, more than 20,000 jobs have been created in the Austin area since this time last year. Unemployment rates have also continued to fall from 6.8 percent last February to 6.1 percent, well below the national un-employment rate of 8.3 percent.
Except for shrinking government jobs, growth occurred in all 11 sectors of the local economy identified by the report. The largest job creation oc-curred in leisure and hospitality, and education and health services, which together account for almost 52 per-cent of the growth in the report.
In terms of employing the local population, the largest sectors of the Austin area economy are still infor-mation technology at 21 percent, util-ities and transportation at 17 percent and professional business services at 15 percent.
Mark Lavergne, spokesman for the Texas Workforce Commission, said these were encouraging signs for peo-ple looking into the job market, and growth could open positions for stu-dents with college degrees.
“Just about all of the major indus-
By Andrew MessamoreDaily Texan Staff
JOBS continues on PAGE 2
Associate government professor Terri Givens was one of only 14 professors cho-sen to attend the annual Brussels Forum last month. The attendees of the confer-ence — which numbered approximately 200 — included several policy makers and academics from around the world.Raveena BhalaraDaily Texan Staff
Chances of recovering sto-len laptops may increase this year with the launch of a new UT program designed to lead
campus law enforcement to the perpetrator.
Larry Bloom, a UT System po-lice inspector, said he first no-ticed laptops were among the highest number of reported sto-len items across the nine UT af-
filiated schools last October. Bloom said he is working on a plan in which UT students can install tracking software on their computers as an extra precaution against theft and hopes to unveil it this fall.
At the moment, Bloom said he is working on finding the right software company for this ser-vice at the most affordable level.
More than 200 laptop thefts
By Jody SerranoDaily Texan Staff
LAPTOPS continues on PAGE 2
Science Scene checks out brain mapping and
DNA sequencing
On the web
How to Play WerewolfThe Madrigal Dinner Committee proudly presents the student-created and produced “Werewolves: A New Musical.” This production tells the story of a small town with a big secret. The production is based off of the card game, Werewolf.
Improving job market brings hope for grads on the hunt
Students give input oncycling conflict areas
In order to avoid the sometimes inevitable collision between bikers and pedestrians, a group is working to make UT-Austin a more pedestri-an and cyclist friendly campus.
UT students gave their input on cyclist and pedestrian interactions yesterday at an interactive mapping event called Mapping Conflicts Ar-eas on Campus, which attempted to identify campus areas of conflict be-tween different modes of transpor-tation, said community and region-al planning graduate student Jared Genova. The event was hosted by the UT Safe Cycling Campaign, whose current focus is gathering input and opinions from students in order to make the University more accessible to both pedestrians and cyclists.
Community and regional plan-ning graduate student Beth Rosen-barger led the event and said she, as a researcher in infrastructure and de-sign, along with the UT Safe Cycling Campaign, is hoping to improve campus for cyclists and pedestrians and create a more environmentally sustainable campus.
“The University has an opportu-nity to be known as one of the most excellent cyclist and environmen-tally friendly campuses in the na-tion,” Rosenbarger said. “With a campus redesign currently in prog-ress, now is the perfect time to reach our potential.”
The event provided multiple ways to gauge University opinion on the good and bad areas for commuting around campus. A large campus map
By Alexandra KlimaDaily Texan Staff
BIKES continues on PAGE 2
Elisabeth Dillon | Daily Texan Staff
Former student government president Natalie Butler congratulates mathematics Professor James Vick for receiving the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship Wednesday morning.
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were reported to campus police at UT System schools between January and November last year, Bloom said, and the UT Police Department received 68 reports of stolen laptops last year.
Bloom said he has a back-ground in surveillance and used to track suspect vehicles before he came to work for UT last year.
Should the program be offered, UTPD will work with the compa-ny tracking the device to recov-er it. He said he did an impromp-tu survey on campus last year and asked about 20 students if they felt laptop theft was a problem and if they would be interested in a tracking software.
According to his survey many students said their laptops had cost between $200 and $1,500 and affirmed they would be interested in purchasing the software.
“No matter how good I think a
program could be, if the students don’t think it has value it’s not any good,” Bloom said.
Individuals caught stealing can face anything from a Class C mis-demeanor, which results from stealing an item valued at less than $20, to a Class A misdemeanor for stealing an item valued at $500 or more. Class A charges will result in a fine and one year jail time.
Bloom said one of the chal-lenges with this service is figuring out how to promote it to students and parents. In addition, the plan would involve a service contract
between the student and the company.
UTPD officer Roberto Gonza-lez said the most commonly re-ported stolen items on campus in-clude laptops, bikes, cell phones and wallets. He said most of these incidents occur because students leave the items unattended in places like Gregory Gym.
UTPD implemented an ongo-ing program to track and catch bike thieves last year with “bait bikes.” With this program, UTPD placed bikes with a GPS tracker in many areas on campus and re-ceive an alert if the bike has been moved. The bait bike program is different from Bloom’s proposed program because UTPD dispatch
receive alerts if the bikes have been moved, and officers can receive the information via phone or email. With Bloom’s program, UTPD will likely get the information from the soft-ware company.
Michael Williams, sociol-ogy and applied learning se-nior, said he once had his lap-top stolen at a retreat off cam-pus and never got it back. Williams said the laptop cost ap-proximately $1,500 and he had to replace the laptop on his own. Williams sits on the UTPD over-sight committee and said he has suggested offering students ways to track their belongings in the past because it is a big concern on campus.
Bloom said the proposed pro-posed program will handle thefts off campus and aim to track be-
longings no matter where they were stolen. Williams said he would be very interested in a pro-gram that would track his belong-ings. He also said although it is a tracking software, he does not consider it an invasion of privacy.
“It wouldn’t be an invasion of privacy if it was an optional fee or something students could opt in to,” Williams said. “You’re giving the option and you take the op-tion if you want.”
was on display where passersby placed various colored stickers on streets that were either good or bad exam-ples of pedestrian/cyclist interaction. Many participants also took a cyclist survey and wrote their opinions on a comment board.
The information gathered will be aggregated and presented at a panel discussion on April 13 in order to plan, design and create bicycle and pedestri-an friendly spaces around campus.
Music junior Ammon Taylor par-ticipated in the interactive mapping and survey and said he cycles to stay healthy, enjoy himself and for many other ethical reasons.
“I have a passion for urban de-sign and have come to the realiza-
tion that cars make cities really shitty,” Taylor said.
Having commuted exclusively by bi-cycle for six years, Taylor said he thinks the most dangerous place on campus for pedestrians and cyclists is on 24th Street near Speedway and the Tower.
“I have seen bikes hit pedestrians in this area numerous times,” he said. “Pedestrians, especially those who text while crossing the street, need to be more aware and watch where they are going, and bicyclists should slow down and take better notice of their surroundings.”
Advertising junior John Aquino said he mainly walks to class and there are times when he crosses the street and cyclists do not stop at all.
“They sometimes even ride on the actual sidewalks,” Aquino said. “Don’t get me wrong, there are good cyclists out there, but many need to read up on the laws and rules concerning bike us-
age on campus.”Civil engineering senior Aloy-
sha King said he chooses to ride bikes to and from campus because it is a fun, efficient way of commut-ing that allows him to be more envi-ronmentally conscious and reduce his carbon footprint.
King said Speedway is a major con-flict area for cyclists and pedestrians, especially on weekdays during the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“People are walking down Speed-way in both directions, and cy-clists don’t seem to have a designat-ed path,” King said. “That confusion added with the construction going on makes it a lot harder to commute for both parties.”
Rosenbarger said cycling can some-times be intimidating for newcomers who have never cycled in urban areas. The best way to get accustomed to cy-cling is by riding in groups and with
people who know how cycling around campus works, she said. The UT Safe Cycling Campaign is in the process of implementing a cyclist/pedestrian ed-
ucation training program into all UT freshman orientations so incoming students have a better understanding about commuting around campus.
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feelings about the United States but demonstrated major interest in the recent primary elections.
“I’d say the most questions I got asked were about the Re-publican primary situation,” she said. “We had a good congressio-nal delegation there with people from both sides.”
The fiscal crisis in Europe was also a major topic of the forum, and Giv-ens said European students are fac-ing a bleaker job market than college students in the U.S., with unemploy-ment rates higher than 40 percent
in Spain.“I tell my students they’re lucky
they’re not in Europe,” she said. “It’s horrible for young people there be-cause unemployment rates are re-ally high. If you want to stay in your home country, it’s really hard right now.”
To keep up with current foreign policy issues during the year, Giv-ens keeps two blogs and uses them in class to generate straightforward information for her students.
“I try to condense things down to a readable format,” she said. “Since I’m actively engaged in these issues, it’s easy for me to see the intercon-nectedness, but I want to be able to write that out in a way that is under-standable for the average person.”
In the classroom, Givens said, cu-riosity is the one thing she strives to instill in her students.
“I tell them at the beginning of the semester, ‘I don’t care what your per-spective is, I just want to show you how interesting things are out there,’” she said. “I want students to be able to go to a cocktail reception and have an intelligent conversation about these issues.”
European studies senior Abi-gail Rakkar said she chose profes-sor Givens to help her with a re-search paper for her major because of Givens’ extensive knowledge in the area.
“Dr. Givens is really person-al,” Rakkar said. “She’s really smart and open-minded without
being intimidating.”Givens also mentors both un-
dergraduates and graduate students because she said her own personal mentors helped push her to success at the beginning of her career and hopes to offer her own students that push in the right direction.
“I was a first generation col-lege student, so I didn’t have any role models in my family,” she said. “But I’ve been lucky to have great mentors along the way, so I want to turn around and pay it forward to others.”
Outside of her life at UT, Givens has two young sons and said she plays many roles during the day.
“I come in and teach, do some writing in the afternoon and im-
mediately shuttle my kids to soc-cer, gymnastics and tutoring,” she said. “And I make time to run because I love running. It’s my ‘me’ time.”
While Givens said she misses the perfect California weather of her college days, she said she and her husband found their niches in the versatility of Austin.
“We love Austin,” she said. “It’s just been great how welcoming the community has been. We’ve just never found any other place that has all the wonderful things that we get here in Austin. We go to the symphony, performing arts center, ACL and South By South-west. We could spend every night doing something.”
Biology senior and Friar Society member Shannon Allport said The Friar Society, established in 1911, is one of the oldest and most pres-tigious UT honor societies. Allport said Vick was the perfect candidate for the FCTF because he deserves to be recognized for all of his achieve-ments. Vick currently teaches math to undergraduates and is the former vice president of student affairs.
“The decision was not hard at all,” Allport said. “Dr. Vick has always been and always will be an outstand-ing member of the UT community.”
Math and economics senior Mar-iana Fanous nominated Vick for the award and said she first met him as a freshman in M 408D, a calcu-lus sequence that Vick teaches. At first, Vick was just Fanous’s calculus professor, but as she began to visit him in office hours and listen to his speeches at various events, she began to have a deeper respect for Vick.
Fanous said Vick has spoken at Tejas Coffee and Spirit and Tra-
ditions Council meetings on top-ics such as how the University came together after the 1966 Tower shooting and the need for a fresh-man seminar class, which ultimate-ly led to Vick founding freshman signature courses. Vick was diag-nosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2008, a disorder of the brain that leads to shaking and difficulty with walking, movement and coordina-tion. He was honored at last years Pancakes for Parkinson’s, an annu-al event that promotes awareness of Parkinson’s disease, she said. Vick has participated in multiple campus
plan initiatives, which help advance the University’s culture and com-munity engagement.
“Dr. Vick’s participation in Pan-cakes for Parkinson’s resonated with me the most because the ex-periences he shared about the dis-ease and event were so heartfelt and genuine,” Fanous said. “I was im-pressed and inspired by all of his fabulous achievements.”
As he accepted his cardboard check, Vick said The Friar Society has done many great things.
“This is terrific and means more to me than I can say,” Vick said. “UT
Austin is a great university because of things that happen here with many people around you who are intelli-gent, excited and willing to give.”
Looking out to the crowd of stu-dents, friends and faculty, Vick said, “You’re the reason why I’m here.”
Vick sent out many thanks to all who support him and those who at-tended his surprise award reveal.
“The last time someone barged into my classroom like this was for my 40th birthday,” Vick said as laughter filled the classroom. “He was holding a clarinet and wearing a turkey suit.”
GIVENScontinues from PAGE 1
VICKcontinues from PAGE 1
tries have grown in the last year, and this is encouraging for any student taking that next step into the work-force,” Lavergne said. “It’s always preferable to graduate into a grow-ing job market.”
Lavergne said further analysis was needed to determine wheth-er the jobs being created required college degrees or if they were entry-level positions.
“Each industry includes jobs that require a variety of educa-tional attainment, although you might see some more requirements in some industries than others,” Lavergne said.
The growing job market did not bring an easier job hunt to computer sciences senior Stephen Moore, who said he recently began an internship with a local software company.
“I found it very difficult and dis-couraging to try to get an internship in technology companies not only in Austin, but for any location,” Moore said. “Most companies did not want to offer an internship to anyone who had no prior work experience.”
This year, UT will graduate about 1,000 students from the Cockrell School of Engineering into Aus-tin’s large information and profes-sional sectors. The school has one
of the highest number of graduates each year, said Jamie Brown, spokes-person for the Office of Student Financial Services.
Almost 90 percent of those stu-dents will want to find a job or at-tend graduate school shortly af-ter graduation, said Michael Powell, director of the Engineering Career Assistance Center.
“A number of our students will wind up finding employment in Austin, roughly a quarter of them,” Powell said. “Certainly last year and this year the market improved for jobs.”
Due to job shortages following the onset of the 2008 recession, offers for graduating engineering students suf-fered to their lowest level during the 2009-2010 school year, Powell said.
“The job market has improved quite a bit since then,” Powell said. “Recruiting for engineering students went up about 20 percent last year, and we are continuing to see increas-es from last fall.”
Moore said companies that come to Austin usually have very large pools of possible employees, and have the option of hiring candidates aside from students.
“The best way to open up jobs for technology students is for companies to see internships as learning experi-ences and for opening up network-ing,” Moore said. “Knowing people who can put a good word in for you goes a long way.”
JOBScontinues from PAGE 1
LAPTOPScontinues from PAGE 1
Shila Farahani | Daily Texan Staff
The UT Safe Cycling Campaign hosted an event Wednesday afternoon to gather input from students to better bicycle safety on campus.
BIKEScontinues from PAGE 1
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Victoria Pagan, Colton Pence, Nick HadjigeorgeSenior Reporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Messamore, Sarah White, Liz Farmer, Jody SerranoEnterprise Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matt Stottlemyre, Huma Munir, Megan StricklandCopy Desk Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elyana BarreraAssociate Copy Desk Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alexandra Feuerman, Arleen Lopez, Klarissa FitzpatrickWire Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Austin MyersDesign Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris BenavidesSenior Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicole Collins, Bobby Blanchard, Betsy Cooper, Natasha SmithSpecial Projects Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Simonetta NietoMultimedia Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ryan EdwardsMultimedia Associate Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jackie Kuenstler, Lawrence Peart, Fanny TrangSenior Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thomas Allison, Elizabeth Dillon, Shannon Kintner, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rebeca Rodriguez, Zachary StrainSenior Videographers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Demi Adejuyigbe, David Castaneda, Jorge Corona. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ashley Dillard, Andrea Macias-JimenezLife&Arts Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katie StrohAssociate Life&Arts Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christopher NguyenSenior Life&Arts Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jessica Lee, Anjli Mehta, Eli Watson, Alex Williams Sports Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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Ryan SanchezSenior Web Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .William Snyder, Stefanie SchultzAssociate Web Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hayley FickEditorial Adviser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Doug Warren
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W/N P3
CAIRO — The head of Egypt’s con-stitutional assembly said Wednesday the committee will forge ahead with its work despite appeals from liberals, Christians and others who walked out in protest against the Islamist domina-tion of the panel.
The walkouts are angry that the Is-lamist majority parliament appointed a panel that they say is not representative of minorities and other political fac-tions. The makeup of the 100-member
panel currently boasts 60 people affil-iated with Islamist groups. The new constitution will determine whether Egypt leans toward more conservative Islam and whether the decades-old system that concentrated power in the hands of the president will be main-tained or replaced by an empowered parliament under an Islamist majori-ty. Liberals and secular-minded Egyp-tians say a new charter should be written by a broad swath of
Egyptian society and not by a parlia-mentary majority. If the walkouts don’t return, reserves will be used to fill all the walkouts’ seats.
Ahmed el-Naggar, a commit-tee member who pulled out, said religious institutions, such as Al-Azhar and the Coptic Church, were underrepresented.
“Islam has become what it means to
the Brotherhood and the Salafis only,” he said.
Egypt’s Islamist groups make up nearly three-quarters of parliament af-ter sweeping the elections. Some Isla-mists on the panel say the number of walkouts is insufficient to call for its dissolution and the creation of a new panel from scratch, while others con-tend that an elected Islamist majority is
entitled to dominate the process.Critics said that the constitution’s
legitimacy could be threatened if the views of those who are boycotting the process — representatives of minori-ties, women, religious institutions and political factions — are left out.
NEW ORLEANS — Five former New Orleans police officers were sen-tenced Wednesday to prison terms for their roles in deadly shootings of unarmed residents in the chaot-ic days after Hurricane Katrina, with the judge lashing out at prosecutors for two hours on their handling of the case.
Police shot six people at the Dan-zinger Bridge on Sept. 4, 2005, kill-ing two, less than a week after Ka-trina made landfall. To make the shootings appear justified, offi-cers conspired to plant a gun, fab-ricate witnesses and falsify reports. The case became the centerpiece of the Justice Department’s push to clean up the troubled New Orleans Police Department.
Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faul-con were convicted of federal fire-arms charges that carried manda-tory minimum prison sentences of at least 35 years. Retired Sgt. Arthur “Archie” Kaufman, who was assigned to investigate the shootings, was con-victed of helping orchestrate the cov-er-up. Faulcon, who was convicted on charges in both fatal shootings, faces the stiffest sentence of 65 years. Bo-
wen and Gisevius each face 40 years, while Villavaso was sentenced to 38. Kaufman received a sentence of six years. Afterward, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt accused prosecutors of cutting overly lenient plea deals
with other officers who cooperated with the civil rights investigation. The former officers pleaded guilty to cov-ering up the shooting and are already serving prison terms.
“These through-the-looking-glass
plea deals that tied the hands of this court ... are an affront to the court and a disservice to the community,” Engelhardt said.
The judge also questioned the credibility of the officers who pleaded
guilty and testified against those who went to trial.
“Citing witnesses for perjury at this trial would be like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500,” Engelhardt said.
W/N P3
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World&NatioN 3Thursday, April 5, 2012 | The Daily Texan | Klarissa Fitzpatrick, Wire Editor | dailytexanonline.com
Police corruption surfaces in shooting trialSusan Bartholemew, whose arm was shot off by New Orleans police, listens as pros-ecutors speak outside Federal Court after sentences were handed down in the case in New Orleans, on Wednesday.Five former New Orleans police officers were sentenced Wednesday to prison terms ranging from six to 65 years for their roles in deadly shootings of unarmed residents in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina.
Gerald Herbert Associated Press
Egyptians protest Islamist constitutional committee majority
First shipment of marines arrive in Australia, base not planned
CANBERRA, Australia — The first detachment of 200 U.S. Ma-rines has arrived in northern Aus-tralia, where a permanent joint training hub is taking shape as part of a U.S. shift of military strength in the Asia-Pacific region. In Novem-ber, the United States and Austra-lia announced plans to send more U.S. military aircraft to Australia and to rotate up to 2,500 Marines through the northern city of Dar-win to better protect American in-terests across Asia. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the rotation will not include heavy equipment, ve-hicles or aircraft. Defense Minis-ter Stephen Smith rejected analy-sis that the closer military ties be-tween Australia and the United States, Australia’s most important security ally, are a response to the growing military assertiveness of China, Australia’s most important trading partner.
Judge’s convictions investigated after drug addiction discovered
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A find-ing that a Tennessee judge was high on prescription pills during the last two years of his career is calling into question convictions in many of the criminal cases he handled. The outcome could overwhelm the court system in Knox County with cases that must be retried. An in-vestigative file on former Knox County Judge Richard Baumgart-ner says he bought pills during courtroom breaks and traded pills for sex in his chambers. Another judge has already overturned sev-eral convictions based on the inves-tigation, ordering new trials in one of the city’s most notorious killings. Prosecutors say Baumgartner pre-sided over more than 1,000, cases his last two years on the bench. He pleaded guilty to one count of offi-cial misconduct last year.
— The Associated Press
NEWS BRIEFLY
By Cain Burdeau& Michael KunzelmanThe Associated Press
— The Associated Press
EDITORIAL P4
4Thursday, April 5, 2012 | THE DAILY TEXAN | Viviana Aldous, Editor-in-Chief | (512) 232-2212 | [email protected]
OPINION
LEGALESEOpinions expressed in The Daily Texan are those of the editor, the Editorial Board or the writer of the arti-cle. They are not necessarily those of the UT adminis-tration, the Board of Regents or the Texas Student Me-dia Board of Operating Trustees.
VIEWPOINT
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RECYCLE
A lack ofcoordination
By Kayla OliverDaily Texan Columnist
Prescribing a healthy debate
A long way from Chicago
The state’s critiquer-in-chief, the Sunset Advisory Commission, issued its verdict on the state’s chief high-er education overseer — and the results weren’t pretty.
Late last month, the commission issued a report that skewered the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for its institutionalized mismanagement and isolated approach to policy decisions.
In one key example of the board’s lack of transpar-ency, non-members may not speak at a meeting with-out first formally requesting permission before the meeting itself — thereby relying on the “savvy” of the general public to navigate the board’s bureaucracy sim-ply to voice their opinions. Even worse, the commis-sion found that “fear of retaliation” prevented many of the board’s naysayers from bothering to engage in the cumbersome process.
In his response to the report, board commission-er Raymund Paredes, writing on behalf of the entire board, agreed with the characterization that the board’s limited input “hinder[s] its ability” to successfully pro-mote Texas higher education. The inclusion of the pub-lic in the board’s meetings will, according to Paredes, begin this month — though there are lingering ques-tions as to why a government report was necessary to change the policy at all.
The commission’s review also scrutinized the board’s near-obsessive focus on Closing the Gaps — a board program that aims to bring Texas universities to par-ity with those in other large states — as a paradoxical commitment that “impedes … strategic management of its own operations.” By adopting Closing the Gaps as its defining mantra, the board was able to simulta-neously pontificate about the value of a college degree while leaving college students out to dry.
The board came under scrutiny in December for making a jarring miscalculation in TEXAS Grant al-locations, leaving UT students who rely on the scholar-ship $3.2 million short, collectively. Now, the board is under renewed scrutiny for the deficiencies of its B-On-Time loan program. The program, which provides a forgivable loan for qualifying students who graduate within four years, has a 22-percent default rate, which is twice that of the federal student loan default ratein Texas.
One of the implicit goals of B-On-Time, along with one of the goals of Closing the Gaps, is to increase the four-year graduation rate of the state’s universities. The focus on pushing students in and out of the college pipeline has found support in key leaders from state legislators to UT itself.
Organizations such as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board exist because of an overarching goal to unite differing groups under the banner of ad-vancing higher education and, as the commission con-cluded, should be preserved. But one of the fundamen-tal problems of the board is its worrisome abdication of that mission. Texas legislators rely on the board for leadership; universities rely on the board for its guide-lines; and, most importantly, students rely on the board for guardianship of their education.
March 28 marked the end of oral arguments at the Supreme Court over the constitutional-ity of the 2010 A� ordable Care Act. � e lawsuit � led by Texas and 25 other states questions the legality of several of the act’s provisions, includ-ing the individual mandate — a stipulation that would require most Americans to purchase health insurance — and the expansion of the Medicaid system. Although deliberation has already begun behind closed doors, the court is not expected to release its decisions untilthis summer.
� e case’s outcome holds serious conse-quences. � ough neither attorneys nor judges mentioned President Barack Obama’s name during the oral arguments, it is tacitly acknowl-edged that the outcome of November’s presi-dential election rests in part on the court’s rul-ing. Obama has built much of his political clout on the A� ordable Care Act, and the degree to which his ideas are implemented is sure to col-or his legacy as president.
� e court’s decision will also a� ect college students, who, under the A� ordable Care Act, would be allowed to stay on their parents’ in-surance plan until age 26. � is would allow them to defer worries about health insurance until a few years a� er college and would free them from the pressure to accept their � rst job o� er out of a need for medical coverage. In addition, the government-sponsored in-surance plans would cover preventive care such as cancer screenings and checkups and
would not discriminate against those withpreexisting conditions.
Still, the provision of quality health care for all Americans should not come at the expense of our Constitution. � e court’s task — and the task that all politically responsible Ameri-cans should attempt — is to separate ideologyfrom legality.
First, and almost comically, the court must decide whether to honor the Anti-Injunction Act of 1876, a rather obscure rule that blocks lawsuits against a tax before that tax has been paid. If the court upholds the act, the lawsuit will be thrown out altogether since the tax in question — the penalty for Americans who do not purchase health insurance — will not be levied until 2014 . However, it appears that in this case the justices will ignore or skirt around the Anti-Injunction Act.
� e court must also address the A� ordable Care Act’s most contentious tenet, the indi-vidual mandate to purchase health insurance. � e act’s defenders claim that the mandate falls within the scope of federal power under the commerce clause, which gives Congress the power to regulate interstate trade. Since health insurance interactions frequently cross state boundaries, it seems reasonable to cite health care as an instance of interstate commerce governable under the Constitution. Critics, on the other hand, � nd the mandate an uncon-stitutional extension of federal power. Judg-ing by the amount of time the court devoted to arguments over the mandate, there is a real chance that several of the justices — particu-larly the court’s � ve conservatives — will deem
it unconstitutional.Finally, the states that � led the suit claim that
the act’s threat that states must accept a Med-icaid expansion program or lose all of their Medicaid funding amounts to coercion. How-ever, those states have conveniently ignored the fact that “the federal government ... expanded Medicaid several times in the past 30 years un-der the same exact terms with no constitutional objections from the states,” an argument the liberal justices made many times, according to Forbes. � is recent conservative anxiety over the alleged aggression of the federal govern-ment may help explain the vehement opposi-tion to the individual mandate as well.
Considering this precedent, it is unlikely that the court will rule against the Medicaid expan-sion. However, if it � nds the individual mandate unconstitutional, the justices must then decide if the act can stand without the mandate. � is question of “severability” has met with various responses among the justices, but it is clear that an act aiming to provide universal health care would be crippled without the provision that mandates the universal purchase of that care.
� e justices are sure to reach di� ering deci-sions that will be complex and contradictory, but the ultimate fate of the A� ordable Care Act has � nancial and medical implications for all Americans. Now that the health care debate has reached the nation’s highest court, it is time for us all to temporarily shelve ideological argu-ments in favor of a rational discussion of the act’s constitutionality.
Oliver is an English and sociology freshman.
By Melissa SuranDaily Texan Guest Columnist
If you travel about 1,000 miles north, you’ll � nd yourself in Obamaville, more commonly known as � e Windy City or Chicago, my hometown. It’s not a secret that many Northerners are a tad bit skeptical of anything south of I-80.
Nevertheless, I decided to take a chance and move to Texas to attend one of the best universi-ties in the country with the best weather — a Chi-cago winter makes Anchorage, Alaska, look like a tropical paradise. Luckily, Austin turned out to be everything that I had hoped for and more, espe-cially when it came to the weather.
But even on the sunniest of days, a� er taking frantic notes during lectures, teaching labs and working on publishable research and theories that are probably anything but ground-breaking, many of us graduate students enjoy relaxing at home and indulging in the little pleasures of life.
As per usual, I came home late one night and turned on the TV before going to bed. “King of the Hill” was on, and in this episode, the main character, Hank Hill, made a deal to sell propane to a Renaissance Faire in Texas. Hank’s wife, Peggy, becomes involved with the Faire as well, but is forced into “female-appropriate” jobs, all of which have titles ending in “wench.” At the end of the episode, Peggy leads a su� ragette movement more than 300 years before its time.
As a female pursuing a Ph.D. in journalism, I re� ected on the fact that even 100 years ago, I would not have had this amazing opportunity.
Reuters features a census from 1911 that indicates only 70 women — nationally — were regarded as reporters, journalists or editors at the time. Jour-nalism was traditionally a man’s job and female journalists like Nellie Bly, one of the � rst female investigative-reporters, had to go great lengths to prove she was just as capable as any man of writ-ing hard news. And according to a reComparison.com article, women only accounted for 30 per-cent of college graduates with journalism degrees as late as in the 1970s. Moreover, as most movie-bu� s can tell you, if you watch Will Ferrell’s “An-chorman: � e Legend of Ron Burgundy,” you can see a satirized glimpse into the world of broadcast news back in the 1970s, which was not the easiest time for a woman to break into the � eld.
UT, which opened its doors in 1883, gradu-ated its � rst female doctorate-recipient in 1916. Now, in 2011, � ve out of the eight doctoral stu-dents in my cohort are women. And out of those � ve women, one is African-American, one is Taiwanese and another is Chinese. � e diversity embraced not only here on campus but also in American society is a beautiful thing.
None of this is uncommon knowledge. But sometimes we forget how fortunate we are, not only to pursue our passions no matter our sex, skin color or religious creed, but we are also lucky that cities like Chicago and Austin exist.
As the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan once stated, “Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.”
Suran is a journalism graduate student.
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EVERYTHING AND MORE: A CONVERSATION ABOUT DAVID FOSTER WALLACE
THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 7 P.M. Literary agent Bonnie Nadell and Little, Brown editor Michael Pietsch speak with Los Angeles Times book critic David Ulin about their work with David Foster Wallace. The David Foster Wallace archive resides at the Ransom Center.
FREE, BUT LIMITED SEATINGDoors open at 6:30 p.m.JESSEN AUDITORIUM Wallace symposium registrants and Ransom Center members receive priority entry.
View live webcast at www.hrc.utexas.edu/webcast.
Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austinwww.hrc.utexas.edu/events512-471-8944
TONIGHT
NEWSThursday, April 5, 2012 5
Jamnesty calls for Olympic sponsor ban
R E C Y C L E
♲ your copy ofThe Daily Texan
Through music and pub-lic speaking, students petitioned Wednesday night for the remov-al of a 2012 Olympic sponsor re-sponsible for a 1984 tragedy.
UT’s first Jamnesty featured two speakers as well as two musi-cal acts. The event, held on Greg-ory Plaza from 6 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, was hosted by UT’s chapter of Amnesty Internation-al, which is a global organization dedicated to enforcing a standard for human rights worldwide.
Jamnesty emphasized Amnes-ty International’s Demand Dignity Campaign, which focuses on giv-ing voice to those in poverty who are at a higher risk of having food and water contaminated by oil companies, according to the Am-nesty International website. Peti-tions available at Jamnesty allowed students to support the removal of Dow Chemical as a 2012 Olympic sponsor because of their direct in-
volvement in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, which resulted in more than 20,000 deaths and more than 200,000 affected by chemical leaks in Bhopal, India. Additional pe-titions moved to have Shell com-pensate victims of the 2008 oil spill in the Niger Delta.
French senior and Amnesty In-ternational president Anne Kuh-nen said the event provided a call to action for students to become educated about issues affecting human rights.
“Demand Dignity is about so-cial, economic and cultural rights, which are access to food, educa-tion, health care and housing,” Kuhnen said. “Jamnesty deals with those issues, specifically regarding adequate housing and the right to a clean water source.”
Amnesty International is the largest human rights organiza-tion in the world, with millions of supporters from around the globe, said sociology junior and Amnesty International treasurer Ian Bratcher.
“It started on behalf of what we call prisoners of conscience, which are people who are arrest-ed and detained for their beliefs,” Bratcher said. “It’s spread through the years to address human rights issues throughout the world. We’re trying to be advocates for people who are kind of left behind by the system at large, and get them em-powered so they can fight their own battles.”
The event featured musical per-formances by Robot Williams, Luis Soberon and Wise Child. Bratch-er said the concert atmosphere al-lowed Amnesty International to reach more students in order to spread awareness even further.
“It’s mainly an awareness event,” Bratcher said. “I figured having a concert would be a good way to get people gathered around to hear about these issues. The more people we get mobilized and ed-ucated, the more we can do to change things.”
Journalism professor Robert Jensen was one of the speakers at
Jamnesty, and gave a talk about the importance of corporate ac-countability in fighting these hu-man right issues.
“The focus on the routine hu-man rights abuses and environ-mental degradation that results from the modern corporation is crucial to understanding contem-porary politics and economics,” Jensen said. “Students are right to follow that, and they’re doing it in the context of a worldwide hu-man rights organization. It’s ex-actly what we should be doing at a university, and I’m happy to be a part of it.”
Students who were initially at-tracted by the musical perfor-mances were able to become in-terested in Amnesty Internation-al’s causes, said government fresh-man Nicholas Vasquez.
“You can always use music to get a point across, and now [these issues] are something def-initely worth looking at for me,” Vasquez said. “I’d like to get more educated.”
Luis Soberon performs
in front of Gregory Gym
Wednesday evening as part of the Jamnesty
event hosted by Amnesty
International. The event
focused on raising aware-ness for those
in poverty who live in areas
contaminated by oil
companies.
Elisabeth DillonDaily Texan Staff
By Hannah Jane DeCiutiisDaily Texan Staff
Spring training has come to a close and the Texas Rangers are taking aim at finishing a job they came within inches of finishing last October.
In 2011, the Rangers roared through the regular season, post-ing a franchise best 96 wins and winning the American League West by a monstrous 10 games. After a bumpy start to the Ameri-can League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Rangers turned it around, taking the series in four games. They rolled through the Tigers in the American League Championship Series and returned to the World Series for a second consecutive season. After a titil-lating series with the Cardinals in the Fall Classic, the Rangers found themselves a single strike away from taking the throne on two separate occasions, before conced-ing the series in the seventh game in heart-wrenching fashion.
Now, the Rangers open 2012 hoping to finish the job once and for all.
It’s mostly familiar faces return-ing for the Rangers, but a busy winter has lead to a few changes heading into the new campaign. Texas returns everyone from the most potent lineup in all of base-ball a season ago, but there is a new face in the rotation. 2011 opening day starter and All-Star pitcher C.J. Wilson went Bene-dict Arnold on the Rangers in the offseason, inking a five-year deal with the rival Angels and leaving a big void in the pitching staff. In his place steps Japanese phenom Yu Darvish, who at the ripe age of 25 has more accolades to his name than most American pitch-ers will see in a career.
Darvish did not come cheap, as the Rangers had to post $51 million just for the right to ne-gotiate with the 6-foot-5 right-hander. After a month of negoti-ating, the Rangers finally signed Darvish to a six-year, $60 million deal in hopes of his past success translating abroad.
Darvish was not the only im-pactful pitcher the Rangers signed in the offseason. After blowing the save in game six of the World Series, the Rangers decided it was time for closer Neftali Feliz to try his hand in the starting rotation. His replacement is former Twins closer Joe Nathan, who comes to Arlington with a career 89 percent save percentage, good for second all-time in the history of baseball. Nathan was robbed of his 2010 season with Tommy John surgery, and had a lackluster return in the first half of 2011. The second half was more telling as Nathan re-turned to form, and the Rang-ers are hoping he can reclaim his perch atop the closing elite.
The Rangers enter the new sea-son as a favorite to return to the World Series again, but the path to the top got a bit murkier since baseball last convened. The Ti-gers added slugger Prince Field-er to their deep lineup. The An-gels added arguably the best hit-ter in the game in Albert Pujols, along with the aforementioned Wilson to a rotation that was al-ready considered one of the best in baseball.
Everyone in baseball knows the Rangers are going to slug with the best of ’em. If Darvish can fill the void left by Wilson and Derek Holland can contin-ue his emergence as a frontline starter, the Rangers will be in fine shape to make another deep postseason run.
SPORTS 6Thursday, April 5, 2012 | THE DAILY TEXAN | Sameer Bhuchar, Sports Editor | (512) 232-2210 | [email protected]
SPTS P6
www.utrecsports.org
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SIDELINE
Rangers reloading, seeking first title
By Ryan HaddoxDaily Texan Staff
Paul Sancya (top) Jim Cowsert (bottom) | Associated Press
The Rangers’ newly-acquired pitcher Yu Darvish (top) carried a hefty price tag for teams wanting to sign him this offseason. Astros catcher Jason Castro (bottom) is finally healthy and ready to contribute in Houston.
Pennant race wide open in 2012
Opening day is upon us and the Houston Astros will be cel-ebrating their 50th anniversary when they take on the Colora-do Rockies on April 6 at Minute Maid Park.
Last season the Astros went 56-106 and finished last in the National League.
The Astros have named five pitchers to the opening rota-tion. Left handers Wandy Ro-driguez and J.A. Happ, along with right hander Bud Norris, return from last season’s main rotation. Rodriguez and Nor-ris will serve as the backbone of the pitching staff.
Last season Rodriguez turned in a season ERA of 3.49 with 7.82 strikes and 3.25 walks per nine innings pitched. He also pitched an impressive 191 in-nings last season which should help keep the bullpen fresh. Ro-driguez is also the only player or coach who remains from the As-tro’s 2005 World Series squad.
Norris’s fastball has helped keep him in the starting posi-tion, and while it has slowed to around 93 mph, his control in the past two seasons has kept it effective. He turned in a 3.77 ERA last season.
Happ did not have an impres-sive 2011 season. Late in the
Friday
6:05 p.m.Guthrie vs. Rodriguez
Saturday
6:05 p.m.Moyer vs. Norris
Sunday
1:05 p.m.Nicasio vs. Happ
Friday
1:05 p.m.Danks vs. Lewis
Saturday
7:05 p.m.Peavy vs. Holland
Sunday
7 p.m.Floyd vs. Harrison
ASTROS RANGERSOpening
Day
Astros undergo overhaul, still among league’s worst
Opening day: It’s a special time of year.
Hot dog vendors are open for business, employees everywhere are calling in sick to work and fa-thers and sons are making lifelong memories watching their favorite team begin the season anew.
All 30 teams start with a clean slate, and every fan believes their team has a shot to be com-peting in October — yes, even Cubs fans.
That dream of reaching the postseason became even more real this season, as the MLB add-ed an extra wild card slot, mean-ing that five teams from each league make the playoffs instead of four.
But realist ical ly, there are
only a few teams from the Na-tional League and the American League that have a shot at a ring each fall.
The American League is wide open, with up to six teams with real pennant aspirations. Offsea-son moves have altered the land-scape of the league, and the bal-ance of power has shifted to the AL with the moves of a pair of su-
By Chris HummerDaily Texan Columnist
Four years ago yesterday, Taylor Jungmann and Nathan Thornhill squared off in an epic pitcher’s duel.
Jungmann, a senior at George-town High School, and Thorn-hill, a sophomore at Cedar Park, each threw three-hitters in a Dis-trict 16-5A clash in 2008. Neither pitcher surrendered a run in the first six innings but Jungmann came through with the game’s only RBI, getting the decisive hit off of Thornhill in the top of the seventh inning as Georgetown triumphed, 1-0.
Both Jungmann and Thornhill would go on to become aces of the Longhorns pitching staff — Jungmann a year ago and Thorn-
hill this season.“He definitely gave me a lot of
grief for that when he was here,” Thornhill said. “That game and the second time around he got game-winning hits.”
The 12th overall pick in last year’s MLB draft, Jungmann was given a $2.525 million signing bonus by the Milwaukee Brew-ers. Jungmann went 13-3 with a 1.60 ERA as a junior last year en route to winning the Dick Hows-er Award for being college base-ball’s best player and helping Texas reach the College World Series. He left big shoes to fill for Thornhill, who is 3-2 with a 3.52 ERA this year. Thornhill will take the mound when Tex-as takes on Texas Tech Thursday evening in Lubbock.
“I have just as much confi-
dence in Nathan as I did in Tay-lor,” said sophomore catcher Ja-cob Felts, who has extensive ex-perience with both Thornhill and Jungmann. “He can throw all of his pitches in any counts that he wants to. He’s got command with all his pitches.”
Last year, Thornhill was pri-marily used as a middle reliev-er with Jungmann, Cole Green and Sam Stafford making up the Longhorns’ rotation, and fresh-man Corey Knebel establishing himself as the team’s closer. In 22 appearances and 38 innings, Thornhill went 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA while striking out 38 and walking only six. However, this season Thornhill was thrust into the role of ace pitcher and
By Sarah Beth PurdyDaily Texan Staff
By Christian CoronaDaily Texan Staff
Sophomore pitcher Nathan
Thornhill (36) throws a pitch
in a recent game. Thornhill
has take over for Taylor
Jungmann as the Longhorns’
ace pitcher.
Rebeca RodriguezDaily Texan Staff
White Sox @ RangersRockies @ Astros
Thornhill settles into role as ace
Opening weekend pitching matchupsSunday
Buchholz vs. Scherzer
Hughes vs. Hellickson
Sanchez vs. Wilson
Wolf vs. Lynn
Saturday
Beckett vs. Fisher
Kuroda vs. Price
Hochevar vs. Haren
Greinke vs. Wainwright
Friday
no game
Sabathia vs. Shields
Chen vs. Weaver
Gallardo vs. Garcia
Red Sox @ Tigers
Yankees @ Rays
Royals @ Angels
Cardinals @ Brewers
MLB continues on PAGE 7
ASTROS continues on PAGE 7
ACE continues on PAGE 7
CARDINALS
MARLINS
CARDINALS
MARLINS
GRIZZLIES
MAVERICKS
GRIZZLIES
MAVERICKS
SPURS
CELTICS
SPURS
CELTICS
On the webSoftball hosts MissouriExpress start season
@dailytexanonline.com
Florida Relays full of Longhorns, outdoor season officially begins
The Florida Relays will com-mence April 6-7 at Percy Beard Track with high school events this morning, but the first Texas athlete will take the field at noon. After placing in the middle of the pack last weekend, sophomore Bertha Sencherey will try to set the stan-dards high from the get-go in the discus throw.
Freshman Morgan Snow will be the sole runner for UT in the 100-meter hurdles — the first Uni-versity event of the meet. Snow, the only Longhorn to compete in the event so far this season, finished 14th at the Texas Relays with the fastest time by any female freshman.
In the 400-meter dash, sopho-more Briana Nelson — who ran anchor in Saturday’s victorious 4x400-meter relay team—will look to continue her reign as Texas’ fast-est 400-meter runner, a title she earned in last year’s outdoor sea-son with a time of 23.69. Joining Nelson will be senior Stacey-Ann Smith and junior Alicia Peterson who, despite competing last week-end in the 400-meter hurdles and the high jump, has yet to run the race outdoors this year.
At 3:00 p.m., Texas’ participation in the meet will shift focus to field events, starting with the polevault. While Natasha Masterson will at-tempt to raise herself high enough to trump her freshman-year per-sonal best of 4.20-meters, just two inches short of the all-time school record, senior Jessica Doyle will need to focus on recovering from her last-place performance at the Texas Relays.
The last running event of the Florida Relays for UT will be the 200-meter Invite at 5:35 p.m. on Friday. Christy Udoh, Allison Pe-ter and Chalonda Goodman — the Longhorns who are scheduled to compete in the event — also ran legs for the Texas team in Saturday’s 4x200-meter relay finals, a race in which UT was held to second place due to a botched baton exchange.
— Kristin Otto
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perstar first basemen to the AL — Prince Fielder to the Tigers and Albert Pujols to the Angels.
The usual subjects in the AL East will be in contention: New York, Boston and Tampa Bay, each of which has loaded pitch-ing staffs and dangerous line-ups. The AL Central on the other hand should be clear-cut, as the Tigers have the reigning AL MVP Justin Verlander and a scary one-two combination of Fielder and Miguel Cabrera in their lineup.
The AL West is top-heavy this season with the two-time AL de-fending champs, the Texas Rang-ers, returning the most potent lineup in baseball while add-ing Japanese import Yu Darvish to lead the rotation. The An-gels also made a splash, inching closer to the Rangers with the signing of the best player in the game, Pujols, and adding former Ranger C.J. Wilson to an already stacked rotation.
In the National League, the pic-ture is just as murky. Perennial powers like the Phillies and World Series champions the Cardinals each lost key pieces this offseason, and each have questions about
their ability to score runs.The other two playoff teams
from last season, the Brewers and the Diamondbacks, aren’t exactly sure things, either.
The Brewers lost their hefty star slugger in the offseason, and they will have to contend with the hard charging Cardinals and Reds for the NL Central crown. Arizo-na, a young squad, has questions whether it can repeat its success of last season while continuing to improve. The Diamondbacks will also have to deal with a talented San Francisco team that returns stud catcher Buster Posey from injury. That’s without even men-tioning the Miami Marlins or the Atlanta Braves, two very im-proved teams that will be players in the race for the postseason.
While it’s tough to predict what will happen 162 games down the road, that’s part of the beauty of opening day. Everyone is even in the standings, and the broad pic-ture is still fuzzy.
So, baseball fans sit back and enjoy the American classic that is opening day. Besides, how many other days of the year can Cubs fans say they were in first?
season, Happ was demoted to the Astro’s triple A affiliate Oklahoma City RedHawks. He posted a 5.35 ERA in 2011 and his offseason performance has coaches hoping he will return to his 2009 or 2010 form where he achieved ERAs of 2.93 and 3.40, respectively. Happ is 1-1 in 2012 spring training games.
Kyle Weiland and Lucas Harrell are the new faces on the mound at the start of this season. Both had ERAs below 4.00 in their respective minor league career. Weiland has posted a 2-1 spring training record this season with a 3.75 ERA. As a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2011, Weiland had a 0-3 record on the mound, giving up 22 runs with 13 strikeouts.
Harrell pitched three games for the Chicago White Sox over two seasons. He posted a 1-2 record for the Sox with a 4.71 ERA. De-spite injuries, Harrell makes up for his lack of a fast ball with his powerful sinker.
Last season’s pitching staff ranked 15th in walks given up and 14th in hits given up and owned a team ERA of 4.55, lowest in the National League.
The two most productive hitters on the roster last season, outfielders Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn, both were traded at the end of the season. Jason Bourgeois returns to the 2012 Astros with the highest batting average from 2011 which was .294.
The offense as a whole scored 615 runs, less than the major league av-erage of 694, and was the second straight season under 700. Only four teams had less production at the plate.
Despite this dismal statistic, the 2011 Astros looked pretty good on paper. They ranked first in the NL in doubles, fourth in batting aver-age, and third in total hits. However, they also ranked 15th (out of 16) in home runs and 13th in runs scored. The lack of runs is what hurt last season’s squad.
In the offseason, the Astros only traded out and not in, as far as hitters go. First baseman Car-los Lee will return to the plate as
the anchor of the Astro’s strug-gling line up. Lee finished with a .275 batting average, a team-high 18 home runs, and a team-high 94 RBIs.
Right fielder Brian Bogusevic is also expected to help Lee out at the plate. The former pitcher hit .287 in 2011, but Bogusevic is inconsistent at best against left-handed pitchers.
In addition to trading their top hitters, the Astros also traded their fastest base runners. In 105 games, Bourn stole 39 bases and, after be-ing traded to Atlanta, went on to fin-ish the league with the highest num-ber of stolen bases. Outfielder Jason Bourgeois, who was second on the team in stolen bases, was traded to the Royals in the offseason.
They are expected to finish about the same in 2012 as they did in 2011 due to the lack of incoming talent.
The 2011 season was the first in franchise history where a squad lost more than 100 games, a statis-tic that most want to forget. Hope-fully the offseason was enough to start the rebuilding process for the Astros as they play their last year in the National League.
Friday starter just his second season at Texas.
“He has [become a leader], not only vocally but from a per-formance standpoint, too,” Felts said. “Whenever we were strug-gling there for a little bit, he was out there on the mound bat-tling his butt off and a lot guys picked up on that and stepped up behind him.”
Thornhill has made seven starts this season, with the first and the last arguably being the best. In the Longhorns’ first con-test of the year, the sophomore hurler tossed five scoreless in-nings against Duke and highly-regarded pro pitching prospect Marcus Stroman in a 4-0, seven-inning win. Thornhill was sharp again last Friday in a 13-3 victo-ry over Cal at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock, allowing five hits and two earned runs over sev-en innings while striking out five and walking none. The outing marked the second time this year that Thornhill had given up less
than three earned runs in at least seven innings of work.
“I’m definitely not satisfied. You’ve got to stay hungry or else you’re never going to get bet-ter,” said Thornhill. “I feel like I’ve done a good job of throwing strikes but I feel that one thing I need to work on is constantly at-tacking the glove and, instead of zoning out occasionally and just throwing to the zone, throwing to the mitt.”
Thornhill isn’t having the sophomore season that Jung-mann had during his second year as a Longhorn when he went 8-3 with a 2.03 ERA but, to his cred-it he is a regular starter for the first time since he was in high school. As a freshman, Thorn-hill had to be prepared to pitch almost every game. This year, he’s slated to take the mound only once a week.
“In middle relief, you go may-be three innings at the most,” Thornhill said. “Pitching more innings take more focus. As a
starter, I’ll be sitting in the lock-er room for two hours just listen-ing to music. I take a shower be-fore I start. It gives me something to do. You have a lot of time in there by yourself so you just look for things to do.”
Jungmann is set to begin his professional baseball career and has a chance to make Milwau-kee’s major-league roster before the end of the season. But he’s still contributing to Texas’ base-ball program. Thornhill texted the 6-foot-6 pitcher for advice before his last start and Jung-mann told him not to long toss and keep warm-up throws in-side 120 feet. Thornhill put the words of wisdom into practice and picked up a win for the first time in a month.
“It seemed to work,” Thorn-hill said. “He was a great pitch-er here, so he’s definitely a guy you want to model yourself af-ter. I’m definitely not as tall as he is, but you still want to pitch like he does.”
Nam Y. Huh | Associated Press
Wrigley Field, home to the Chicago Cubs since 1916, will host yet another Opening Day game this afternoon when the Cubs take on the Washington Nationals. Stephen Strasburg returns from surgery to pitch for the Nationals, while the Cubs will give Ryan Dempster the nod.
MLB continues from PAGE 6
ASTROScontinues from PAGE 6
ACE continues from PAGE 6
ENT P8ENT P8
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Written by Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephen Belber Directed by Dave Steakley
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8 Thursday, April 5, 2012LIFE&ARTS
Puppy ParadeWhat: 13th Annual Easter Pet Parade in celebration of Leslie CochranWhen: Saturday, April 7Where: corner of South Congress Avenue and Annie StreetTime: Noon until 3 p.m.Cost: $10 in advance, $20 at the door to register petsWeb: joscoffee.com and sanjosehotel.com
even tell at first glance if a dog is male or female. I’m anticipating a lot of tutus.”
The parade will begin at noon at the corner of Congress Ave-nue and Annie Street and end at Jo’s Coffee on 1300 South Con-gress Ave.. However, not all locals
are enthusiastic about dressing up their pet.
“I personally would not dress up my dogs and parade them around for people to see, but I would still possibly attend because of the vendors,” said education sopho-more Brooke Novy. “I do like that
you can bring your dogs to the event and not dress them up. Aus-tin is a very dog-friendly place.”
Austin Pets Alive! will have pets ready for adoption at the conclu-sion of the parade.
“It’s our job to provide resourc-es and eventually homes for pets,” Jakstas said. “It’s really cool to see pets that were once at-risk find good, loving homes.”
Austin Pets Alive! will be offer-ing pets for adoption on Saturday. To qualify, potential new pet own-ers must undergo an interview process and a background check.
“It’s a really good cause; it’s true to how Austin really is,” Jakstas said. “It brings the people of Aus-tin together and we’re helping to save the lives of animals.”
The event also features booths by local animal rescue and pet-related organizations, as well as a bounce castle and the Easter bun-ny for children. The event coordi-nators encourage all animal lovers to attend, even if they don’t own a pet.
“You just need to bring your love of animals to have a good time,” Jakstas said. “It’s a very weird Aus-tin event, but that’s what makes it so fitting.”
PETS continues from PAGE 10
It’s in your genes, sort of
While DNA sequencing is com-
ing down in price, and it may be af-fordable in the near future for every-body to have a copy of their own ge-nome, a new study suggests that the
implications may be negligible at best. By studying identical twins, or peo-ple who have the same DNA, the re-searchers discovered that, for most people, genetic risks of a given disease will be relatively low. Even those with the genetic markers only have slight-ly elevated risks and just because a
person tests negative for a particu-lar disease, it doesn’t mean they’re safe from it. In other words, even for things that we think of as being “pure-ly genetic,” there are other factors that are still at work and having a complete printout of somebody’s DNA won’t tell everything about them.
SCIENCE continues from PAGE 10
“I wanted to put together a band with a classic soul sound,” Keith said. “I already had a few original songs written to start with that were rooted in soul music from the ’60s. Eventu-ally, we blended our different influ-ences together and created a more modern edge to our sound.”
Shortly after meeting guitar-ist Jonathon Zemek, Keith took to Craigslist to assemble Soul Track Mind’s current lineup: Mi-chael Mancuso (bass), Sammy P (keys), Zach Buie (trumpet), Doug-las Leveton (drums) and Benjamin George (saxophone).
With the band intact, Soul Track Mind released their first full-length
debut, Ghost of Soul, back in Au-gust of 2010. The album received praise from Austin 360 and Tex-as Music Magazine for its nostalgic ’60s and ’70s R&B sound. For exam-ple, “I Get My Groove From You,” evokes Motown pop sound with its luscious melodies, while “Little Red Heart” is reminiscent of lonely soul-man Smokey Robinson.
The group truly struts their stuff live — Keith becomes a dancing ma-chine, moving his hips and snap-ping his fingers to Leveton’s rocking drums. George and Buie toot their horns with punchy bravado, bob-bing their heads with such devo-tion you can’t help but do the same. It’s easy to get overcome by their upbeat, dance-friendly energy, clap-ping, hollering and knee-slapping until the very end of their set.
“We continue to get better and
better at capturing our ‘live’ sound,” said Leveton. During this year’s South By Southwest, the group had a memorable performance at the “Austin High” film screening party.
“This was our first show where we had a video projector, smoke, lights and lasers,” Leveton said. “We did 100 minutes straight, before en-coring with ‘Shout,’ and everybody went wild.”
The group’s SXSW festivities were kept at a minimum, however — the band was busy recording new mate-rial at the Converse Rubber Tracks pop-up recording studio. Based out of Brooklyn, the recording studio of-fered Soul Track Mind and four oth-er Texas-based bands the opportuni-ty to record material, free of charge, allowing the artists retaining all rights to their work.
“We decided to bring a Converse
Rubber Tracks pop-up recording studio here to Austin because there’s no place that celebrates music and the diversity of music like Austin,” said Converse chief marketing of-ficer Geoff Cottrill. “We just want-ed to give something back to Tex-as and help out those bands that do not have the access to get into a good recording studio.”
The recording session was an en-joyable experience for Soul Track Mind. Using the studio’s equip-ment, the group was able to re-cord new songs, tracking ev-erything live to capture a more organic sound.
“It’s not often that a company comes along and provides an all-ex-penses paid, no-strings attached stu-dio session,” Leveton said. “All in all, it was a great opportunity for us.”
Having taken some time to re-
cord new material, Soul Track Mind is preparing to tour around the country. The band will be per-forming their first major festival debut at this year’s Wakarusa Music Festival, at Ozark, Arkansas’ Mul-berry Mountain. They’ll be play-ing alongside such popular artists as Girl Talk and Matisyahu.
Now the group is competing to play an even larger stage at the music festival: Through the use of a Facebook voting system, the band hopes to get bumped up to a bigger stage.
However, they are still excited to see other bands performing. “I know I’d personally like to see Fitz and the Tantrums, G. Love & Special Sauce, and our fellow Austinite, Gary Clark Jr.,” Keith said.
Soul Track Mind is taking their funk-filled journey one day at a
time. The band will record new songs in some of the towns they stop in, and will be giving ener-gized, enthralling performance.
“We look forward to seeing our old fans again as we travel, as well as saving many new souls,” Keith said.
Senior nursing major Vanessa Ma-yanja hopes that Childish Gambi-no’s show will be as wild as his Fun Fun Fun Fest performance. “Dur-ing his set, the crowd went crazy and
started crowd surfing towards the front,” said Mayanja. “Those of us at the front would throw them right into the security guards.”
Tech N9neDebuting back in 1999 with
his first full-length album, The Calm Before the Storm, rapper
Tech N9ne has released 11 studio albums since then, picking up a de-voted fan base and multiple collab-orations with artists like Lil’ Wayne and Andre 3000 along the way. Slaying his contemporaries with speedy and powerful verses, Tech N9ne, whose real name is Aar-on Yates, received his stage name from fellow rapper Black Walt due to his fast rhyming style.
Opening up for the rapping heavyweight will be several artists, including Krizz Kaliko, Prozak and up-and-comer Machine Gun Kelly (Richard Colson Baker), who won the Breaking Woodie Award at MTV’s Woodie Awards last month, beating out Cloud Nothings, A$AP Rocky and Azealia Banks.
“I was definitely surprised be-cause “MGK” is a very on-the-edge type name,” Baker said. “People ei-ther love me or hate me. Fortunate-ly, my fans are relentless.”
Similar to Tech N9ne, MGK has a l s o b e e n pr a i s e d for his fast rhyming deliver. His major label debut, Half Naked & Al-most Famous, showcases the artist’s ferocious rapping technique and in-your-face attitude. MGK’s punk-rock energy derives from being in-fluenced by groups such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Anti-Flag.
“I love Anti-Flag,” Baker said. “I’m excited to see them perform during this year’s Vans Warped Tour, which I’ll also be a part of.”
Tech N9ne and MGK are sure to be spitting lyrical fire through-out the night, warming up Austini-tes for the weekend performances that await them.
SOULcontinues from PAGE 10
Rapper Childish Gambino, whose
real name is Donald Glover,
performs at last year’s Fun Fun
Fun Fest. He will be making
another stop in Austin at Stubb’s
BBQ tonight with Danny Brown.
Elijah Watson Daily Texan Staff
GAMBINOcontinues from PAGE 10
Photo courtesy of Machine Gun KellyMachine Gun Kelly tags along with rapper Tech N9ne for a show at
Emo’s East.
Soul Track MindWho: Soul Track MindWhen: Thursday, April 5 Where: The Continental Club (1315 South Congress Ave.) Cost: $10 (21+ only)Web: facebook.com/soul-trackmind
Childish Gambino with Danny BrownWhen: Thursday April 5, doors open at 7 p.m.Where: Stubb’s BBQWeb:childishgambino.com
Tech N9ne with othersWhen: Thursday, April 5, Doors open at 7 p.m.Where: Emo’s EastCost: $25-28Web: emosaustin.com
People either love me or hate me. Fortunately, my
fans are relentless.
— Machine Gun Kelly, Rapper
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On Saturday, April 7, Hotel San Jose and Jo’s Hot Coffee will host their 13th Annual Easter Pet Pa-rade, in which pets will be dressed in drag theme in honor of local cross-dressing homeless icon Les-lie Cochran, who died in March, to benefit Austin Pets Alive!.
Tina Rose, stage manager for
the parade and owner of three dogs, one cat and one hamster, has participated in the parade every year. Rose said she has seen the event grow exponentially over the last 12 years.
“It started out real neighbor-hood-y; just folks from around Jo’s Coffee,” Rose said. “Then South Congress grew to be super hipster, and as long as it doesn’t rain, lots of people have been showing up
even if it’s just to show support.”Rose said that every year, the
parade is a memorial with South Austin-style that benefits a local animal charity. This year, all pro-ceeds will go towards Austin Pets Alive!, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organi-zation dedicated to promoting and providing the resources, education and programs needed to eliminate the killing of companion animals.
In addition, Cochran will be re-
membered at the parade as one of Austin’s greatest citizens, a memo-rable figure both for the homeless in Austin, and for the entire city.
Rose noted that Cochran could occasionally be spotted around Jo’s Coffee, and that he was always a great conversationalist.
“He was one of those great Aus-tin people, one of those ‘Keep Aus-tin Weird’ guys,” Rose said. “He was sometimes controversial, but
it’s always sad whenever you lose someone that’s been part of the fabric [of Austin].”
Pet owners are encouraged to dress their pets up in drag attire in Cochran’s memory.
“We usually see everything from Easter baskets to Tina Turner look-alikes,” Rose said of past pa-rades. “People have even entered their chickens in the contest.”
The costume judging will begin
at the conclusion of the parade, and judges will determine which of the pets have the most charisma and are most uniquely dressed.
“I’m interested to see the ex-tremes of costumes we’ll get this year,” said Kristina Jakstas, out-reach coordinator for Austin Pets Alive!. “The drag theme is fun-ny because lots of times you can’t
By Lindsey ChernerDaily Texan Staff
PETS continues on PAGE 8
3-D map shows brain ‘has a lot of nerve’
Funk-rock Soul Track Mind is life of party with layered sound
Photo courtesy of Soul Track MindAustin-based funk-rock ensemble Soul Track Mind will be perform-ing at the Continental Club before heading out on the road for a national tour.
Hip-hop icons to heat up weekend, draw fans
Local group Soul Track Mind have no qualms about bringing the funk. From their melodic, power-ful horn section to frontman Don-ovan Keith’s pleasing falsetto remi-niscent of soul crooner Al Green’s, Soul Track Mind is all about one thing: being the life of the party. The seven-piece funk-rock ensem-ble will be performing tonight at the Continental Club.
The brainchild of Keith, Soul Track Mind came together when the vocalist moved to Austin in January of 2008.
By Elijah WatsonDaily Texan Staff
By looking at the way that water flows through the brain, several re-searchers have been able to put to-gether a clear and beautiful picture of the nerves in the human brain. Though these nerves have been seen and studied before, they haven’t been looked at as comprehensively and systematically as in this paper, pub-lished in Science. The paper noted the three-dimensional grid-like structure of the axons, which are organized in such a way as to allow constant rewir-ing. While the specific reasoning for why the structure is the way it is may be a question currently up for debate,
study author Van Wedeen says he finds it “hard to believe that it doesn’t have an answer.”
Pesticide is the bees’ disease?Two studies this week, both pub-
lished in Science, have linked the re-cent demise in bee populations to pes-ticides, though these reports aren’t without their flaws. The first pa-per suggested that low levels of pesti-cides can affect honeybee brains, caus-ing the bees to have difficulty finding their way home. The second showed that the chemicals prevent bumble-bees from keeping enough food in their hives to produce new queens. Still, the reduction in bees is a com-plicated issue that’s likely a result of many factors, including fewer flowers and more pathogens, in addition to the pesticides studied by these papers. It’s unlikely that there’s going to be one
simple explanation for the cause of the decline in the bee populations.Autism still on the rise
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released a new report suggesting that 1 in 88 children has a form of autism — up from 1 in 150 from a decade ago — and rising to 1 in 54 for male children. Though this rising trend has been observed for quite a while, during which time we’ve studied the disease and devel-oped a better understanding, we still don’t fully understand the reasons behind it. According to Mark Roith-mayr, president of Autism Speaks, the higher rate of diagnosis is a result of “better diagnosis, broader diagnosis, better awareness and roughly 50 per-cent of ‘We don’t know.’”
Hip-hop heads rejoice: Thurs-day will feature two shows sure to appeal to both hardcore rap fans and music-savvy hipsters.
Comedian and witty word-smith Donald Glover, common-ly known as Childish Gambino, will be bringing his punch-line raps and charismatic stage per-sona to a sold-out crowd. Glov-er first gained attention with his hit song “Freaks and Geeks.” In early April of last year, the artist
embarked on his first tour with a full-fledged band, the “I Am Donald Tour.” In fact, Glover has come through Austin on many occasions, including last year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. Opening for Childish Gambino will be the ec-centric Danny Brown, whose un-kempt hair and gap-toothed smile has become a favorite of Austin alternative rap lovers.
Starting out as a graduate from New York University, Glov-er landed a role as a writer for the TV show “30 Rock” back in 2006. Balancing between jobs as
a writer, comedian and musician, Glover found time to make new music. He released his latest al-bum, Camp, in November of last year. Whereas his earlier releas-es showed him relying on gim-micks (2008’s Sick Boi), Campshows the artist tackling more personal subject matter. He goes from talking about a relationship that will never happen (“Heart-beat”), to addressing all of his opposers (“Backpackers”), with-out losing a beat.
By Elijah WatsonDaily Texan Staff
SOUL continues on PAGE 8
GAMBINO continues on PAGE 8 SCIENCE continues on PAGE 8
Illustration by Colin Mullin
Illustration by Colin Zelinski
SCIENCESCENE
By Robert Starr
