The Paisano Volume 48 Issue 23

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Award winning author Ben Fountain visits UTSA page 6

UTSA football loses 27-21 against the Rice Owls, their thirdstraight home loss. page 9

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Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

{SINCE 1981}

UTSA UTSA is currently taking applications for the UT System student regent and student member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Volume 48

Issue 23

October 15, 2013

{WWW.PAISANO-ONLINE.COM}

Minds Wide Open UT Board

of Regents: Who are they?

San Antonio

LOCAL

Four new positions have been added to the SAWS Board of Trustees to represent the Northwest, South, Southeast and Southwest sectors of San Antonio.

Mark Zavala Intern

Sarah Gibbens / The Paisano

news@paisano-online.com

Texas Co-Founder and Director of Geekdom, Nick Longo, gives a talk about how human nature and emotions can shape a successful business and community.

LOCAL Sarah Gibbens News Editor

news@paisano-online.com

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell remain hopeful that negotiations can be successful and an agreement reached that would reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling.

Minds Wide Open was the theme of the TEDx San Antonio event Saturday, Oct. 12. TED conferences began in 1984

Sports This coming Friday and Saturday, UTSA women’s volleyball will play in conference games against Rice and UNT in the Convocation Center.

and cancer patients. “The root of all cancer is a cancer stem cell,” explained Frantz. Rather than eliminating the stem cell, Frantz hypothesized that changing the inherent task of the cell itself could offer possibilities in the way of treatment. See TEDx, Page 3

Residents debate Non-discrimination Ordinance LOCAL

news@paisano-online.com

Sunday, Oct. 13, leaders at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund claimed that if the U.S. does not raise its debt ceiling there will be massive disruption worldwide.

contributions to the San Antonio community. Doug Frantz was the first from UTSA to speak. An associate professor of chemistry, Frantz has published 50 peerreviewed scientific papers and is listed as an inventor on eight U.S. patents. His talk centered on the use of stem cells for the purpose of regenerative medicine, specifically in heart attack

The fight continues Gibson Hull News Assistant

World

in Montgomery, California and are now undertaken and organized internationally. Held in the offices of Rackspace Hosting, the event featured a series of 19 talks, each 20 minutes or fewer, that ranged from discussions on bacteria, space travel, death and sex. Five of the 20 speakers were UTSA scholars who were chosen based on their innovative

Repealitsa.com is a website created to repeal the Non-Discrimination Ordinance the City Council of San Antonio passed by an 8 to 3 margin on Sept. 5, 2013. According to the website, they have until Oct. 15 to gather signatures from 10 percent of the population in order to force the City Council to repeal the ordinance. If the deadline is not met, the repeal will be placed in the hands of San Antonio Voters. The Ordinance compacted all of the Non-Discrimination Ordinances into Chapter 2 of the city code under Article 10, “Non-Discrimination Policies.” It also added to the existing ordinances by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status. The city’s official website states that the Ordinance does not add any new employment regulations on businesses operating within the city that do not contract with the City of San Antonio, require any busi-

ness to provide domestic partner benefits to their employees, establish a Human Relations Commission or require adding any personnel, have an impact on the city’s budget, amend the city’s charter or change any bathroom, dressing room or locker room policies currently in place. Repealit.com sees the ordinance as discriminatory towards certain people’s religious beliefs and convictions. Their main example is “If a transgender individual now wants to use the bathroom or locker room of the op- “Don’t let my sister share a bathroom with boys.” (Left) “These people are lying and misinformed.” (Right) posite sex and you as a business owner stop them to counter protest the groups col- our city. The people collecting protect the rights and privacy lecting petitions. Hannah Beck, signatures are spreading misof other clients they could file a Co-Founder of MOVE San information through inflamed a complaint against your busi- Antonio, explained the scene. language. Their signs say things ness.” “Our signs said things like, like ‘don’t make my sister share They also cite references to ‘these people are lying or mis- her bathroom with boys!’ but problems with these ordinanc- informed, ‘save our students — the ordinance wouldn’t make es in other cities, explaining tolerance, not fear’ and ‘honk if that law. that business owners are being you support equality.’ We stood “Their petition says that the heavily fined or jailed for deny- outside for hours counter pro- councilor members in favor ing people business based on testing.” of the NDO voted ‘against the religious convictions. When asked why they were people,’ but a majority of people MOVE San Antonio, an orga- protesting, Beck explained, are in favor of equal opportunization created to raise aware- “We’re opposed to their move- nity protections. They are using ness about local and national ment because the ordinance is emotional appeals and scare politics, has joined GLBTQ a solid move toward progres- tactics to gather signatures and at UTSA and NOW UTSA to sive workplace protections for it’s despicable.”

Courtesy of Hannah Beck

Local groups, such as the Latino Healthcare Forum, have been targeting Latinos in Texas, encouraging them to enroll in the Affordable Care Act.

For more than 100 years the Board of Regents has been the governing body of the UT system; 214 Regents have governed the UT System since its establishment. Currently, the board consists of nine individuals. A closer look at these individuals reveals one common factor: none of them has a background in education. These nine individuals make all policy and operations changes for the UT system. Each of the Regents is selected by the Texas Governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate. Regents serve a six-year term that is staggered so that three members’ terms will expire on Feb. 1 of odd-numbered years. The Governor also elects a Student Regent for a one-year term beginning June 1 each year. The current roster consists of Paul L. Foster (Chairman), Wm. Eugene Powell (Vice Chairman), R. Steven Hicks (Vice Chairman), Robert L. Stillwell, Alex M. Cranberg, Wallace L. Hall, Jr., Brenda Pejovich, Ernest Aliseda and Student Regent Nash M. Horne. While the appointment of the nine regular Board members is left to the determination of Gov. Perry, the Student Regent election process involves the cooperation of the nine universities and six health institutions in the UT system. Each university recommends a student that has submitted an application for the position. All applications are submitted by that university’s president on behalf of that university’s student government. The Student Regent is granted the same rights as the other nine appointed board members except one: the right to vote. The Board members are divided into committees. According to The University of Texas Systems Rules and Regulations of the Board of Regents Rule 10402, there are six committees “to consider policies for the government of all major areas.” To read more about each of the UT Board of Regents, visit: www.paisano-online.com


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