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UT prepares teachers for Bible classes By Ryan Moore Daily Texan Staff Over four days, UT professors and scholars from the Department of Religious Studies prepared high school teachers to teach a new and controversial addition to the state public school curriculum — the Bible. During the 2007 legislative session, Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill that requires Old Testament and New Testament history and literature to be added to Texas high school curriculum. The legislation states that all school districts must offer a course as an elective for the 2009-2010 school year if more than 15 students show interest. “We can’t impart a particular viewpoint on students, but we
also must acknowledge that other viewpoints exist and respect that,” said L. Michael White, a UT classics research professor. The “Teaching the Bible in Texas Public Schools” Summer Institute was hosted by the religious studies department and designed to give teachers the framework to instruct their students about the Bible in an academic and scholarly context. White, one of the biblical scholars who instructed the class, said the mandate came about without a set curriculum or training for the teachers, so they felt obligated to provide it. Some critics harshly oppose providing a Bible course in public schools, saying that it would
Sotomayor confirmed as Supreme Court justice By Hudson Lockett Daily Texan Staff The U.S. Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic justice of the Supreme Court on Thursday, although both Texas senators voted against the appointment. The vote for the 111th justice and third woman to serve on the court was 68-31 and largely followed party lines, The Associated Press reported. All but nine of the 40 Senate Republicans voted against her, while Democrats voted unanimously in favor of the appointment. U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., suffering from terminal brain cancer, was the only senator absent, according to the AP. Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison voted against the confirmation, both having released statements during and after Sotomayor’s judicial hearings, respectively. “The hearings were an opportunity for Judge Sotomayor, and, ultimately, in my view, a missed opportunity,” Cornyn said in a statement released late last month. “She did not explain her legal reasoning or the constitutional arguments she found persuasive.” Hutchison, in a statement released the next day, said she would oppose the appointment due to concerns about Sotomayor’s position on Second Amendment rights and statements about the role of federal appellate courts in policy making. “Sotomayor’s appointment to the Supreme Court is not going to bring about change at all,” said Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political science professor. “She’s a moderate to liberal justice, and she’s replacing a moderate to liberal justice.” Jillson said that the appointment still leaves the court 5-4 in favor of a conservative vote, and that the pronounced debate in the senate over Sotomayor’s appointment was an effort by Republicans to send a message rather than an effort to successfully oppose her appointment. “What the debate in the Senate was about was Republicans were putting down markers for the next Supreme Court nominee,” Jillson said. “The debate this time was not over whether she would be
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be nearly impossible to keep religious bias out of the classroom. “Clearly, the motivation is religious. It obviously violates the establishment clause,” said UT philosophy professor Sahotra Sarkar. “There is no question this is motivated by religious extremism.” On March 5, the American Civil Liberties Union won a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of a Bible course that was taught in a West Texas public school. According to the lawsuit, the course promoted religion, which is something the institute is trying to stop in these new course electives. The institute devoted the first day of the class to First Amendment rights. White stressed that it is essential for the classes to re-
main unbiased and examine the documents in a literary context. “There’s a constitutional issue there, and that’s when lawsuits happen,” White said. Other pitfalls in teaching such a class include upsetting someone who has been taught to interpret the Bible in a certain way according to their tradition, which may not match up with the way it is taught in their class, White said. The summer institute covered nearly the entire bible in less than a week, as well as the legal dangers that teachers and schools face when discussing what is a very personal subject for some people.
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Edmarc Hedrick Daily Texan Staff
L. Michael White, UT classics research professor, delivers a biblical lecture to educators from around the state on Thursday.
Performing immigration’s history
Jordan Smothermon | Daily Texan Staff
Taylor Garcia talks with fellow Living Newspaper Project cast members after their last performance on Thursday at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Garcia and other cast members wrote their parts and perform them at least three times daily.
‘Living Newspaper Project’ teaches young minds in non-traditional way By Jessica Whitfield Daily Texan Staff In the tradition of the “Living Newspaper Project,” Central Texas middle school and high school students researched and performed the history of immigration at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum on Thursday. During the first week of the five-week program, students toured an immigration exhib-
it and researched contemporary human rights from an immigrant perspective. Throughout the past month, students were challenged to think about how they could tell the story of the exhibit with the knowledge they had gained through their research. After writing scripts, the students rehearsed their performances for tour groups. “An important thing is that
the students are encouraged through the process of doing this research, which is primarily about human rights, to become civically engaged in their communities and their country,” said Tessa Farmer, program director of the project. Farmer said the program is part of the legacy of the living newspaper project which started out as a federal works pro-
Fusion centers draw outcry from local residents Mayor Lee Leffingwell facilitates a City Council meeting Thursday morning.
Edmarc Hedrick | Daily Texan Staff
By Ben Wermund Daily Texan Staff John Bush stood before city council Thursday morning, his face half-hidden behind a red plastic mask. “You’ll have to excuse the mask,” he said, taking his place at the podium. “The whole idea of these fusion centers has me a little paranoid.” Bush was one of several Austin residents — some of whom’s faces were also concealed behind colored plastic — speaking out against the creation of a new Austin fusion center, a place where the police department will collect and monitor information on criminal activity. But the residents were concerned the center will have its eye on more than just criminal activity. Fusion centers, which began popping up across the U.S. with the purpose of preventing terrorism in a post9/11 America, started as a joint effort between Homeland Security and the
Department of Justice to coordinate intelligence between federal agencies and local police forces. The Austin City Council approved a resolution for the use of Homeland Security grants to turn an existing Department of Public Safety building into the new Austin Regional Intelligence Center. The issue will be brought before Austin residents and council again before the fusion center begins operation. The cost of transformation of the building was capped at $200,000. Laura Martin, an American Civil Liberties Union of Texas policy analyst, said already-existing fusion centers across the nation have tracked information beyond just criminal activity. “The ACLU of Texas believes these fusion centers undermine our basic right to privacy,” Martin said.
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gram of the New Deal. Farmer said the summer program was created to provide students with an experience in conducting research and performing. “The program encourages the students to do a few different things,” Farmer said. “One is to learn materials in a different way because they’re doing things with
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City workers protest new budget proposal Plan would suspend incentive pay, institute furlough program By Ben Wermund Daily Texan Staff Austin city employees gathered on the steps of City Hall on Thursday evening to say “enough is enough” to a budget proposal they feel asks the most loyal of them to shoulder too much of a burden. “They’re really smacking the loyalists the hardest,” said Greg Powell, a local member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union which helped organize the protest.
The employees argued against two main points in the proposed city budget: the suspension of incentive pay for city employees and the furlough program, which mandates employees take up to three vacation days without pay and which garnered backlash from council members when City Manager Mark Ott proposed the budget. Many employees said they rely on the incentive pay, which is up to $1,500 given as an annual bonus to employees who have worked for the city for at least five years.
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