11.1.16

Page 1

SINCE 1981

VOLUME 54

ISSUE 11

November 1 - November 8, 2016

UTSA A fall 2016 undergraduate architecture studio course at UTSA has been accepted into the 2030 Curriculum Project, a national pilot recognizing innovative teaching efforts that focus on energy use, emissions and resiliency. “San Antonio 2040: New Housing Models for the Flat City II,” led by assistant professor Ian Caine and assistant professor Rahman Azari of the UTSA College of Architecture, Construction and Planning. The 2030 Curriculum Project is an initiative of Architecture 2030, a non-profit think tank that seeks solutions to climate change problems.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday filed an amicus brief with the Texas Supreme Court urging the allRepublican court to reconsider a Houston case challenging the city’s benefits policy for married same-sex couples. In a 8-1 ruling, the court in September declined to take the case, allowing a lower court’s decision, which upheld the benefits for same-sex couples, to stand.

U.S. The FBI decided to restart its investigation of Hillary Clinton and her aides possibly mishandling classified information after discovering emails on former Congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop. The warrant came two days after FBI Director James Comey reported the existence of the emails in a letter. Law-enforcement sources said the emails were linked to Huma Abedin, top Clinton aide and former wife of Congressman Weiner.

World A powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake rocked central Italy on Sunday morning, injuring at least 20 people, in the strongest tremor to hit the country in more than three decades. The earthquake follows tremors last week and comes on the heels of a devastating quake in August, which killed nearly 300 people and flattened entire villages.

Class is canceled Ethan Pham, The Paisano

Courses were cut across COLFA’s departments, resulting in decreased pay, loss of benefits, or letting go of faculty.

COLFA loses faculty, courses to budget constraints Gaige Davila News Assistant

@gaigedavila news@paisano-online.com This is the first installment in a series on COLFA’s budget situation. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) and Faculty Senate are voting on a resolution containing recommendations for handling dramatic budget cuts within the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. The proposal comes after COLFA non-tenure track (NTT) faculty were notified that departmentwide cuts were to be made on their course loads for the spring 2017 semester. The resolution, which came out of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, cites a number of concerns that have risen from the budget constraints, including the loss of health care benefits for some faculty members, the possibility of successful instructors to seek full-time employment at other institutions, the undermining of research and teaching relationships between tenure/tenure-track (T/

TT) and NTT faculty, and the disproportionate effect of the budget shortfall on NTT faculty. A tenure-track faculty member is hired on the possibility of gaining tenure—a permanent position within the university—within a set amount of years based on evaluation. Non-tenure track faculty members are hired on contract to teach certain courses and are not offered the possibility of tenure. According to a memorandum sent to COLFA faculty by COLFA Dean Daniel J. Gelo, the college incurred an overage that was, in past semesters, offset by other available sources of funding. These sources, or any other college or university funds, are no longer available. In the memo, Dean Gelo takes full accountability for the decision to reduce courses across COLFA departments (approximately 50 percent for NTT faculty without contracts) and to suspend six out of nine planned tenure and tenure-track faculty searches. “No one saw it coming,” classics lecturer Dr. William Duffy said. “My

department had hired several more NTT’s, both full and part-time, and a lot of them aren’t going to have classes at all.” Duffy originally was scheduled to teach five classes for the spring 2017 semester; his course load has now been reduced to two. Duffy suffered a pay cut and his health insurance benefits went from fully paid for to only half. “It’s exceedingly unusual to have this sort of change happen between semesters,” Duffy said. “Very few of us would’ve had the chance to apply for other jobs or make financial preparations.” In the memorandum, Gelo stated that “no courses taught by fulltime faculty, either tenure/ tenure-track or non-tenure track, will be removed.” Duffy, who is on a one-year contract with the university, believed he would not be affected by the cuts due to his fulltime position. “One of the real surprises for me was that the memo said that full-time NTT’s weren’t going to be affected. But when I went to check (if my courses were cut), I found that only

full-time NTT’s on threeyear contracts were not affected. “People who think they’re in the clear now might be in for a surprise in the next week or so.” Duffy plans to teach at other institutions next semester to offset the losses he faces from the course cuts. He warned that because other affected faculty are likely to do the same, this may impact an instructor’s dedication to students. “Be prepared that a lot of your faculty have a lot more jobs now and might not be able to give you the time and attention you’re used to,” Duffy said. Another COLFA professor, who asked to remain anonymous, expressed similar concern. “If faculty are forced to find other teaching jobs or other forms of employment outside of UTSA, our time is going to be spread, and we’re not going to be able to be here offering advice for graduate programs, writing letters of recommendation, or helping students with their applications for study abroad programs,” said the faculty member. This professor, who also

experienced a reduction in courses, pay, and benefits, continued, “Students come to my office to ask about their careers, about applying for graduate school--and if I’m thinking that I need to go teach this class at another college-then I’m not going to be here to do that.” The resolution suggests the allocation of funds or a loan to offset the budget deficits for the time being until faculty can make long-term financial or employment plans. The resolution also calls for the creation of a short-term task force consisting of faculty senators who will meet with the Provost, Dean, and department chairs to discuss plans to reduce or avoid the course reductions entirely. A longterm task force consisting faculty, administrators, students, and other stakeholders within COLFA and every other college to ensure everyone is operating within budget is also proposed. The resolution will be presented to Dean Gelo and Interim Provost C. Mauli Agrawal if it reaches a majority approval vote by at least half of the Faculty Senate.

The Humane League condemns Aramark

UTSA food provider petitioned to end abuse against chickens Isaac Serna Staff Writer

@ThePaisano news@paisano-online.com UTSA’s dining vendor, Aramark, is under pressure from The Humane League (THL), a nonprofit that aims to end animal suffering and adopt progressive welfare standards for the chicken they source. “Stop Abusing Chickens,” a THL petition directed at Aramark, has garnered nearly 90,000 signatures on its change.org petition. THL is campaigning at UTSA to engage with students about humane factory conditions. Its “Agony at Aramark” campaign is active at over 50 universities. “(Chickens) are bred to grow unnaturally fast and often suffer from painful crippling, organ failure and heart attacks,” THL stated in an open letter to Aramark. “At the slaughterhouse, they are violently handled,

painfully shocked and cut open at the throat—often while still alive and able to feel pain.” The petition’s attached letter states that the chickens raised to be sold as meat to Aramark deserve better than “the filthy, windowless sheds they live in.” THL asks for the birds to be raised in reasonable conditions instead of “being forced to live in their own waste and toxic ammonia fumes due to lack of space.” Additionally, THL admonishes the current breeding and slaughtering practices of Aramark’s poultry providers. THL calls for an end to the current practices and suggests less cruel practices like Controlled Atmosphere Stunning, in which oxygen from the chickens’ environment is removed and slowly replaced with a nonpoisonous gas that puts the birds to sleep while they are still in their transport crates.

Zoey Wright, the Human League, holds a photo of a chicken bred to grow unnaturally fast.

Aramark has managed UTSA’s dining services since 2008. The company was selected by a food service evaluation team comprised of students, faculty and staff. Aramark partners with

approximately 500 colleges and universities across North America including UT-Austin, Baylor and Texas Woman’s University. Karen Cutler, Aramark’s vice president of corporate

Isaac Serna, The Paisano

communications, assured concerned clients and customers that Aramark is committed to animal welfare. She cited their current

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