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Groups face off on health care
Mary Kang | Daily Texan Staff
Republican Christian Collins, a government and journalism junior, and Democrat Garrett Mize, a government and religious studies senior, debate health care at the Graduate School of Business Building on Thursday evening.
Timely debate on merits of reform leaves some unmoved By Jordan Haeger Daily Texan Staff The words flew Thursday night as members of College Republicans and University Democrats debated health care reform, but some students in the audience were unimpressed. The two groups met in the Graduate School of Business to debate what changes, if any, should be made to the U.S. health care system. University Democrats argued for swift reform to make health care accessible to every American, while College Republicans argued for more delay to discuss the implications of new reforms. University Democrats debater Doug Luippold said health care is such a big issue because no one knows when
he or she may need treatment or what it would cost. The College Republicans argued that the public option, which would be open to some Americans without insurance, would undermine competition from private insurance companies and the free-market system. “We do need reform, but not the public option,” said College Republicans debater Colin Harris. “Competition works.” The debaters’ passion did not necessarily translate into informative commentary, according to students in the audience. Management senior Alex Ferraro, who has followed the national health care debate closely, said he did not learn much from the debate.
But psychology sophomore Arielle Ennis said the debate was helpful for each side to strengthen its stances. “It’s important to get the opposing side’s view because then you are better equipped to argue with them,” she said. The Democrats argued that there are several industries in which private companies flourish despite having public competition, including education and mail delivery. “Republicans want to delay change, delay reform,” said University Democrats debater Grace Zheng. “They don’t want to piss off businesses.” Garrett Mize, a University Democrats debater, said military health care coverage, which is free or subsidized to
all members, is the “golden standard” by which all government-run agencies should be measured. Both groups agreed that the government can efficiently run a medical coverage plan, but Republicans voiced concerns about taxing the wealthiest members of society to pay for health insurance. Republican debater Christian Collins said the government should not force some Americans to pay more to enact health care reform because the terms “rich” and “poor” are subjective. “It is fair that wealthy people who have benefited the most from society should have to give back to it at a
Campus crime spree reveals false sense of security at PCL By Bobby Longoria Daily Texan Staff Students have been losing more than just sleep at campus libraries in recent weeks. UT police officers have reported a rise in campus thefts — in particular at the Perry-Castañeda Library — throughout the month of October. UT officials are warning students to keep a constant watch on their belongings in light of the recent slew of locker breakins by brazen thieves. Thirty-five incidents of oncampus theft, not including stolen bikes, have been reported to UTPD since Oct. 7, accruing a total estimated value loss of $13,994. At the PCL alone, there have been 19 incidents of theft, comprised of eight lockers being broken into and 11 instances of items being left unattended either on the floor or on desktops. Jenifer Flaxbart, PCL head librarian for reference and information services, said the recent uptick in thefts is highly unusual for this time of the semester. She has filed incident reports at the library for the past five years. A more ambitious set of thieves has set its sights on the PCL, said UTPD Officer William Pieper. Thefts have included not only unattended items, but also those left within secured lockers. “Sometime in the past month
Michael Baldon | Daily Texan Staff
Cemre Mengu, computer science junior, studies alone on the third floor of the Perry Castaneda Library on Thursday. or so, a thief realized there are a lot of opportunities [at the PCL],” Pieper said. “They may have a particular tactic they use to defeat the locker. They may have some knowledge or some tool that allows them to do it proficiently.” “The key thing is kids have to guard their books, their purses and their bags better than they are doing,” said Kenneth Jones, owner of Beat the Bookstore, where some thieves have attempted to sell back stolen books. “You want to think things are safe, but there always seems to be some kind of predator.”
Jones and Pieper both referred to a theft that occurred at the Texas Union on Oct. 20, in which a female student was working on her laptop and using headphones when her backpack — with her books and wallet inside — was stolen from under her seat. The student, after realizing the disappearance of her backpack, immediately notified UTPD and began searching in bookstores and on the Drag. “She actually had written on one of the pages in her textbook a unique identifying number
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Zilker greens reopen after ACL damage By Rachel Platis Daily Texan Staff Zilker Park’s Great Lawn will reopen to the public today after four weeks of rest and recovery from the rain and mud that accumulated during the Austin City Limits Music Festival weekend, Oct. 2-4. The city will replace about one acre of the 46-acre lawn in the spring, as the Parks and Recreation Department projected this summer. Park staff have aerated the lawn since its closure, and have been working to remove the mud that developed over the grass, said Victor Ovalle, spokesman for the Parks and Recreation Department. “We felt that we should turn it over back to the public at this point,” Ovalle said. “The lawn should start to come back naturally.” To minimize damage to the turf, park patrons should be cautious of some saturated areas in the park. The turf should return to its green state in the spring, Ovalle said. “We’re hoping the weather will stay warm for a while, so the grass won’t go into dormancy,” he said. When temperatures drop, grass
will stop growing, which could delay repairs to the park. City employees are also working on a drainage system and on putting soil back in different areas to restore the lawn, he said. C3 Presents, the company that produces ACL, will pay for any repairs to the grass. “C3 has told us that they will spend whatever expense to make sure the lawn is restored as it was found before the festival,” Ovalle said. “We have a great commitment from them.” Despite the park being closed earlier this summer in preparation for ACL and after the festival, Ovalle said the number of visitors to Barton Springs and the Zilker Park area have increased from last year. Barton Springs Pool saw an increase of 50,000 visitors this year, he said. They also saw an increase in attendance for the Zilker Park Kite Festival. “The Great Lawn is only 13 percent of Zilker park,” Ovalle said. “The park represents a high quality of life that Austinites expect, and it’s a great opportunity for
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Karina Jacques | Daily Texan photo
An ACL-goer crosses a puddle during the last day of festival. The heavy rain during the festival turned the ground at Zilker Park into mud.
Employee union targets UT layoffs By Lena Price Daily Texan Staff More than a thousand students, professors and faculty have put their names on a petition to protest proposed layoffs during the new budget cycle. The Texas State Employees Union is organizing the petition and asking participants on campus to call the UT Board of Regents, UT President William Powers and state legislators with their concerns. Organizers cannot say what kind of impact the petition will have on the UT administration. French lecturer Peter Fazziola said he has seen the petitions posted in hallways, but has not done much to circulate them. “I am opposed to the cuts,” Fazziola said. “But I do, perhaps rightly or perhaps wrongly, have a sense of futility in stopping them. The UT administration controls the money, and if they don’t release it to the department, there is not much we can do.” The union began circulating the petition this month to raise opposition to proposed cuts to the College of Liberal Arts budget. Union secretary James RubarthLay said the response to the petition has been mostly positive and a definitive end date for the campaign has not been set. “The petition is meant to put pressure on the administration to reconsider the emphasis they want to place on hiring presti-
gious faculty,” Rubarth-Lay said. “We’re still discussing a definitive plan, but we will bring it to the administration.”
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The petition is meant to put pressure on the administration to reconsider the emphasis they want to place on hiring prestigious faculty.” — James RubarthLay Union secretary
Union members gave the copies of the petition to faculty, staff and lecturers, who then distributed them to their classes and posted them on notice boards around campus. To free up funds to pay for the new Liberal Arts building and to support newly hired faculty, Liberal Arts Dean Randy Diehl announced in August the college would reallocate between $10 million and $13 million, in part by eliminating lecturer and teaching assistant positions. Because of a flat budget for the upcoming academic year, the University has asked all colleges to internally reallocate resources to cover hiring, faculty and staff
raises and any new initiatives. Powers recognized the college in his State of the University address as one that is taking steps toward meeting the overall priorities of the University. “These are very difficult decisions to make in Liberal Arts,” Diehl said in a statement. “We’re trying to accomplish this in ways that have the least impact on student education and faculty research.” Diehl eliminated a proposal to revamp the foreign language curriculum by cutting required credit hours — and possibly increasing class sizes — last week after an overwhelmingly negative response from faculty. Marcin Rusinkiewicz, a comparative literature graduate student, has worked with the Union to circulate the petition. He said that keeping the same requirements was not an “unqualified victory.” “It’s not entirely clear what else is going to be cut in order to make up for it,” Rusinkiewicz said. Because the foreign language changes were taken off the table, each department will be responsible for reallocating funds. Discussion about where the money will come from has already started among department chairs, but nothing has been solidified. Linguistics sophomore Rixon Rouse heard about the petition
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