The Texas Senate ad-opted a three-fifths rule, lowering the number of senators required to bring a bill to the floor for de-bate, after a heated dis-cussion Wednesday. The procedural shift will ef-fectively prevent Senate

Democrats from blocking debates and votes on even moderately well-supported Republican legislation.

Until Wednesday, a two-thirds rule, which had been in place in the Texas Senate since 1947, required 21 of 31 senators’ votes to bring a bill to the floor. Under the new three-fifths rule, presented by state Sen. Kevin Eltife

(R-Tyler), only 19 senators’ votes will be required.

Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston), who opposed the rule change, said the three-fifths rule will deter-mine which bills are given full consideration during the session.

“This is one of the most important things we will do as a body because it lays out

the road map of what we will and will not accomplish,” El-lis said.

Although Eltife argued that the resolution was not a partisan issue, the vote to change the rule split largely along party lines. Sen. Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville) was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the new rule.

“It’s not just about Demo-crat versus Republican is-sues,” Eltife said. “It’s about better governing.”

Eltife said that while he has historically supported a two-thirds rule, he thinks the switch to a three-fifths rule will make the legisla-tive process more efficient.

Next summer, more than 500 students will be able to move into a new 20-story apartment complex at 21st and San Antonio streets.

The complex, “Univer-sity House,” will include 188 rooms, 504 beds and a five-story parking garage.

The property is under the joint administration of two Lutheran campus ministry organizations, which agreed to lease the space to Inland American Communities, a national student housing company. Inland signed a 75-year lease with the minis-try organizations to develop and manage the property. On its ground floor, the com-plex will house the the apart-ment complex will house facilities for the ministries’ student center.

Michael Newman, a rever-end in Texas District of the Lutheran Campus-Missouri Synod, helped Lutheran Campus Ministry initiate the partnership with Inland. Newman said he believes additional housing in West Campus will benefit the UT community.

“We wanted to go with a developer that served stu-dents well and we could work with well,” Newman said.

Paul Collinson-Streng, pastor at Lutheran Cam-pus Ministry, said students in the ministry were in-volved in building-developer selection process.

“Students really lead in the ministry and can make important decisions,” Col-linson-Streng said. “It’s not that often you have college

When students came back for the spring semester, they were in for one hull of a surprise.

Greeting them was a 50-foot-tall structure com-posed of roughly 75 boats, suspended from a steel frame-work by a mass of cables. The sculpture, outside the Hacker-man Building, looms over the corner of Speedway and 24th Street and features canoes jut-ting out at all angles.

The structure, completed Saturday, is the newest piece in the Landmarks collection, which is the University’s pub-lic art program. The piece, called “Monochrome for Aus-tin,” was designed as part of a larger collection by Nancy Rubins, and it cost $1.4 mil-lion to produce, including the cost of materials, labor and payment to the artist.

A portion of the boats used in “Monochrome” were dam-aged boats donated by boat-ing rental companies, accord-ing to Nick Nobel, external affairs coordinator for Land-marks. The rest of the boats were bought specifically for the project.

The structures in the col-lection are made to stand

soundly in any part of the world, but “Monochrome” was constructed specifi-cally to withstand Austin’s heavy winds, according to structural engineer Jaime Garza. Garza, a UT alum-nus, assisted Rubins in the

piece’s construction. A small percentage of the

capital cost of new construc-tion and major renovations of campus buildings is al-located toward funding of Landmarks projects such as “Monochrome,” as per a UT

System policy, Art in Public Spaces, which was instituted in 2005. Nobel said the allo-cation is augmented by pri-vate contributions and sup-port from foundations.

The funding used for “Monochrome” came from

the overall cost of the Hacker-man Building, which opened in 2009 and cost $219 mil-lion. Nobel said the money came entirely from the funds designated for Hackerman

After winning a $100,000 award in the IBM Watson University Competition, a group of seven computer science students plan to develop an mobile app that connects users to local so-cial services, such as cloth-ing banks and health insur-ance programs.

As their winning entry, the students developed a proto-type app named “CallScout,” aimed at meeting the needs of users in Central Texas.

Bri Connelly, computer sci-ence senior and project mem-ber, said CallScout will provide useful information directly to callers in need, so callers won’t have to find or wait for human representatives.

“Right now, when people

have questions about social services, like where to find a homeless shelter, or if they need help paying their rent, they call the 211 hotline,” Connelly said. “Through the app, people can ask those questions and Wat-son will answer them, and they’ll also be able to do things that they can’t nor-mally do over the phone, like have favorites and rate and

review services.”The Callscout app uses

IBM’s automated question-answering software, known as “Watson.”

According to Bruce Por-ter, computer science de-partment chair and class instructor, IBM’s Watson software was popularized by its appearance on “Jeopardy,” when it played against human opponents and won.

“It’s a program that en-ables computers to interact with people in English — for a person to ask Watson a question, and Watson to deliver a specific answer,” Porter said.

The students began work on the app in September as part of a capstone projects class, which was designed to combine education and ca-reer-oriented research.

Connelly said with the

help of the Longhorn Startup Lab, an on-campus group that helps students form start-up companies, the team will use the award money to

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COMICS PAGE 5 SPORTS PAGE 4 LIFE&ARTS PAGE 6

LEGISLATURE

Senate approves three-fifths ruleWEST CAMPUS

New housing complex set to open by next summer

By Jackie Wang@jcqlnwng

By Eleanor Dearman@ellydearman

SENATE page 2

CAMPUS

Public sculpture makes waves on campusBy Samantha Ketterer

@sam_kett

Marshall Tidrick | Daily Texan Staff ACC professor John Blum admires the new sculpture, entitled “Monochrome for Austin,” next to the Hackerman Building at the intersection of Speedway and 24th Street. The artist, Nancy Rubins, created similar sculptures in Paris and Chicago.

SCULPTURE page 2 HOUSING page 2

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Students create social services app, win Watson competitionBy Josh Willis

@joshwillis35Through the app, people can ask those questions and Watson will answer them, and they’ll also be able to do things that they can’t normally do over the phone, like have favorites and rate and review services.

—Bri Connelly, Computer science senior and project manager

Charlotte CarpenterDaily Texan Staff

(Left to right) Computer sci-ence seniors Matt Ebeweber, Bri Connelly and Niko Laz-aris display their $100,000 award from the IBM Watson Univer-sity competition. They were among seven students who worked to develop the pro-totype app called CallScout.

WATSON page 2

2

2 NEWSThursday, January 22, 2015

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Volume 115, Issue 83

TOMORROW’S WEATHER

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Can we stagger Lizzie McGuire and flamenco?

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Marshall Tidrick | Daily Texan StaffStudents walk back to their homes after a cold and rainy day in Austin.

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“Unfortunately, what I have seen happening over the past 10 years is we are experiencing an increased number of ways to get around the two-thirds rule, including special or-ders and special sessions,” Eltife said.

The Texas Senate was called into a well-publi-cized special session in 2013, when former state Sen. Wendy Davis filibus-tered against Senate Bill 5, a restrictive abortion bill. The bill, which resulted in the closure of more than 30 abortion clinics in Tex-as, became a lightning rod that brought thousands of pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion protesters to the Capitol.

Ashley Alcantara, com-munications representa-tive for the University Democrats, said the two-thirds rule allowed Davis, whose party made up a minority in the Senate, to voice her opinion on the bill. If the three-fifths rule had been enacted during the 2013 Senate session, Davis would not have had the opportunity to filibuster.

“I think it’s important

that, even though Demo-crats are minority, they are still able to influence bills like that,” Alcantara said.

College Republicans at Texas declined to comment on the rule change.

Opponents of the three-fifths rule, such as Sen. José Rodríguez (D-El Paso), said he thinks the rule change will stifle the voices of minorities and the sena-tors who represent them. Rodríguez said he and other Senate Democrats represent nearly 60 percent of African-Americans and Hispanics in Texas.

“These senators will be unable, as a result of this change, to prevent a bad bill from coming to the floor,” Rodríguez said.

In addition to the three-fifths rule change, the Sen-ate voted to restrict access to the Senate floor to state officials, permitted guests and authorized members of the press.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he was pleased with the decision in a statement re-leased by his office.

“Today’s action will make the Texas Senate even better, and it will help us deliver a conserva-tive agenda a majority of voters elected us to pass,” Patrick said.

and said no money came from tuition funds.

The sculpture immedi-ately made waves around campus on the first days of school, largely because of the piece’s size and promi-nence. Some students, oper-ating under the assumption that the sculpture was fund-ed through tuition, started a change.org petition asking the University to return stu-dents’ tuition money.

“I feel like the money could have been used better else-where,” said Kara Jencks, Plan II and biochemistry junior. “Art should be appreciated, but I don’t know if we needed over a million dollar sculpture.”

Other students said they have trouble understand-ing the meaning behind “Monochrome.”

“I don’t even know what to think about it,” biomedical engineering senior Chris Su-arez said. “It’s definitely inter-esting, but I’m so confused as

to what exactly it’s represent-ing, what its meaning is.”

Suarez said that although he does not fully understand the sculpture’s message, he does appreciate its visual appeal.

“I think it’s absolutely amazing,” Suarez said. “Leave it up to UT to always have some interesting work of art. I came back to school, and my mind is blown.”

Nobel, the Landmarks coordinator, said the artist did not necessarily intend to convey one specific meaning.

“Since it is a contemporary piece of art, a lot of what it represents or what it means conceptually is in the eye of the beholder,” Nobel said. “Our goal was to bring some-thing to campus that would make a statement, something that would show that Uni-versity of Texas at Austin is a cultured campus. We want this campus to be distinctive and creative, something that people want to walk around

— [it’s] something that really makes our campus stand out.”

Beyond its visual promi-nence, “Monochrome” is also a landmark in one other respect — it is the first large-scale commission of public art by a female artist for the Land-marks collection. Rubins, the artist, declined to comment publicly on her piece.

“We are definitely very proud that this is our first commissioned art by a female artist, and, in a lot of ways, she is a powerhouse of the public art world,” Nobel said. “She’s done a lot of amazing art around the world.”

The sculpture will ulti-mately serve as one part of a larger art project — eventu-ally, the stretch of Speedway from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Dean Keeton Street will be transformed into a scenic gateway, ac-cording to Landmarks di-rector Andrée Bober. Bober said each new work of art the

program members select is oriented toward this vision of a pedestrian walkway.

“These projects come into the campus, and they are available for all people to en-joy — 24/7 and free of charge,” Bober said. “I think that’s what distinguishes public art from any other piece of art — to be able to engage with it without anything between you and the work is a pretty good thing.”

juniors and seniors getting to sign off on a multi-million dollar development project.”

Jordan Connell, English senior and president of the ministry council, said stu-dents worked with members of the ministry’s property board to determine which developer would best serve the ministry’s needs.

“We saw a few presenta-tions, and Inland was the one that I felt was most willing to work with us and most un-derstanding of our situation — that we wanted to stay on the bottom floor and main-tain a presence,” Connell said.

David Pierce, senior vice

president of development at Inland, said pre-leasing will begin this summer, and the building will be open for move-in by summer 2016.

produce the application.Porter said he believes the

students won the competi-tion because their project focused on helping people in the real world.

“My guess is that one dif-ferentiating factor was that the students here built a system for a real client, in this case, the United Way of Central Texas,” Porter said. “It wasn’t just a class project.”

Niko Lazaris, computer science and finance senior and project member, said the group learned more than what they expected from a comput-er science class.

“I think what we expected to learn was a lot more tech-nical insight into how Watson works, and we did learn that, but I think what kind of sur-prised us was the whole prod-uct development that goes behind it and figuring out a vi-able pitch to the competition,” Lazaris said.

SCULPTURE continues from page 1 WATSONcontinues from page 1

HOUSING continues from page 1

Ellyn Snider | Daily Texan StaffThe University Lutheran Student Center undergoes construction Tuesday evening. On 21st and San Antonio Streets, the center will be relocated underneath new “University House” apartment complexes.

SENATEcontinues from page1

BY THE NUMBERS

75 BOATS USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION

$1.4 MILLION TOTAL COST

50 FEET TALL

It’s not that often you have college juniors and seniors getting to sign off on a multi-million dollar develop-ment project.

—Paul Collinson-Streng,Pastor at Lutheran Campus Ministry

Last semester, Forum began as a new biweekly addition to The Daily Texan — serving as a place for students and professors to engage in a discus-sion regarding pressing issues of the moment. This semester, though the Forum continues its

mission to supplement the daily Opinion page, the focus will be a bit different. Rather than tying stories to the news in the traditional paper for-mat, each Forum issue will have a predetermined theme, allowing for a more in-depth analysis of the areas important to students at the University of Texas.

Today, the Forum has focused on the work

UT students have been doing at all levels of government. We have one piece from a student interning at the Texas Legislature, another from a student who recently finished up a semester in Washington, D.C., through the Archer Fel-lowship Program and a third piece from Invest in Texas, a student-led, nonpartisan campaign dedicated to advocating for UT students to the

Texas Legislature. Take a moment to read the perspectives

shared in these articles. After all, what UT stu-dents do within our government and all areas of our country, stands as testament to the fact that “what starts here changes the world.”

Malik is a Plan II, finance and business honors junior from Austin.

Aside from breakfast tacos, one of the big-gest advantages of attending college in Austin is the easy access to the state Capitol just blocks from campus. As the buzz of the legislative session begins, hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students will intern and work in various capacities related to the state of Texas. From legislative to lobbyist work, students from the University of Texas will be doing ev-erything from answering phones to helping draft legislation.

I intern in the Texas Senate Committee of Health & Human Service and so far have taken meetings with stakeholders, researched other states’ health care plans and helped catalogue the Sunset Commission’s recommendation to consolidate the five health agencies. This year the Sunset Commission, a commission dedi-cated to assessing the need and functions of the state’s agencies, recommended consolidat-ing the five health agencies into one agency. Should the Legislature choose to follow and implement this recommendation, Texas could see a large restructuring effort of state health services.

I have had the opportunity to see some of the inner workings of policy development and bill drafting and have been amazed by how even small contributions could make an impact. Real people from all sorts of backgrounds and levels of influence have an important voice in the process that influences the results of public decision-making. For example, Jordan Dixon, a longtime Senate staffer and current commit-tee director, asked me to look into what Mis-souri has done with community mental health centers and how they have integrated mental health and primary care with some of their Medicaid recipients. Dixon then asked me what I thought of their programs and if they might be a possible model for Texas to inves-tigate and perhaps even implement. Honestly, I was surprised that my limited research into state programs could have an impact on legis-lation development, but it might. This legisla-tive session, I hope to learn more about health care policy and the development of our state’s health systems while at the same time having an impact on the health of Texans.

Students have a lot more of a voice than I previously realized, and I would like to stress that anyone and everyone can have an impact in this state. Whether it is a niche lobbying firm or a state agency, UT students can influ-ence this state by interning or working in some capacity across the variety of organizations and institutions involved in keeping the wheels of our government turning, particularly in the area of higher education, where their voices are noted and held in high regard. This legislative session, with a new UT System chancellor, an exiting president and a variety of higher educa-tion issues being considered, the University has a vested interest in the goings-on at the Capitol.

As students, we should take greater owner-ship of the issues affecting our school and not let those who don’t see the educational land-scape through our eyes make all the decisions. In front of us right now are a plethora of issues, including financial aid, research and innova-tion, the Texas Dream Act and tuition deregu-lation, all of which will have a serious impact on students in this state. From Invest in Texas, the student lobbying movement, to UT Ad-vocates, a program run by the Texas Exes and Student Government to meet with state offi-cials, student initiatives to engage in the public discourse are already underway.

With the legislative session coming into full swing, I look forward to students playing a more active role in the development of state policy and student issues. There are a multitude of is-sues that face us as students at the University of Texas and a multitude of solutions that we can explore. While the majority of internships and jobs at the Capitol are already underway, there are many unofficial, and arguably more impor-tant, ways to voice one’s opinions. We should show up to committee meetings, write to rep-resentatives, meet with stakeholders, research and develop policy proposals and work toward leaving an impact on state policy. As students, participating in the process can be an incredible addition to our college experience and might be something that we take with us beyond the 40 Acres. What starts here can change the state of Texas for the better.

Mocherla is a Plan II and public health junior from Midland. He is also a member of the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees, which oversees the Texan.

AMIL MALIK, FORUM EDITOR / @TexanEditorialThursday, January 22, 2014

3A BIWEEKLY PUBLICATION OF THE DAILY TEXAN EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

This week, Forum focuses on student involvement off campus

Illustration by Connor Murphy / Daily Texan Staff

What constitutes a classroom? For Archer Fellows, the classroom is the Lincoln Memo-rial, the Smithsonian Museum of the Ameri-can Indian and the top of the Washington Monument. The classroom transcends physi-cal spaces — the classroom is 2 a.m. conversa-tions on living room floors and it is a vibrant GroupMe that is abuzz with political (and non-political) insights and jokes. Education that transcends the traditional classroom fa-cilitates constant curiosity and learning. The Archer Fellowship Program, founded in 2001 by former Congressman Bill Archer, creates a space for experiential learning by bringing together UT students for a semester of liv-ing, learning and interning in Washington, DC. Each semester, 40 students are selected from across the nine participating UT System schools for a semester in the nation’s capitol. I am grateful to have served as an Archer Fel-low last fall where I constantly had the oppor-tunity to learn from my peers in the program, from my work with the United Nations and from the city itself.

The Archer Fellowship Program houses stu-dents in historic townhouses minutes away from the Supreme Court and U.S. Capitol. The opportunity to live and take classes with students from attending different UT System schools is a unique one. Despite attending schools within the same University system, students from across the various UT campus-es typically have little academic interaction. As an Archer Fellow, I got to hear perspectives from students attending UT Pan American and UT-Brownsville on the merging of the two schools and learn about the culture and traditions of nine different UT System schools that were represented.

The Archer houses quickly become a micro-cosm of D.C. itself, with students interning at the White House, the Supreme Court, the U.S. Capitol, government agencies, think tanks, NGOs, IGOS and in the private sector. House-hold and traditional classroom conversations with Fellows interning at these various orga-nizations served as a model for understand-ing how different stakeholders in DC work to-gether to examine issues and solve problems.

During my semester as an Archer Fellow, I worked at the United Nations Information Center, one of 63 United Nations Information Centers around the world, each dedicated to serving as a resource to the country within which it is located. The mission of the United Nations Information Center in Washington is to serve as a focal point for UN news and information for the US government, NGOs, civil-society organizations and the American people. I was specifically working on outreach by developing a pilot project that frames the world’s news through the lens of the UN and consolidates various UN initiatives into one easy-to-read email product. I also designed and delivered presentations on the UN’s work to colleges in and around D.C. and performed research on issues like South Sudan and the Post-2015 Goals.

The city of Washington served as a space for learning in itself. One Archer course, “Historical Memory and the Building of Washington,” took us to the very spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech and had students deliver lines from that speech to the class. In this course, we visited memorials and museums across the city and learned how to examine our own humanity in the context of the political and social realities that we (and the monuments) reside within.

Like many programs where students spend time away from their home universities, par-ticipation in the Archer Fellowship Program comes with a certain level of privilege. Many students in the program expressed frustra-tion with the higher cost of living in D.C. (in terms of food, housing and transportation) and noted that there was a subtle divide be-tween those who could more easily afford to live in D.C. and pursue primarily unpaid full-time internships and those who could not. An explicit acknowledgement of this divide, along with an increase in financial support for students hoping to pursue learning away from their home universities, can help mitigate this issue going forward.

The Archer Fellowship Program reconcep-tualizes traditional notions of classrooms by emphasizing the opportunity for learning that is contained within each moment. As I begin my spring semester back on the 40 Acres, I will remember that classrooms can be created within all of the spaces that I occupy and that it is important to contextualize my learning in the real world.

Kumar is a Plan II junior from Austin.

Archer program takes UT to DC

COLUMN

By Savannah KumarGuest Columnist

By Arjun MocherlaGuest Columnist

Students show political initiativeCOLUMN

Have you ever wondered who conveys your in-terests as a student at the University of Texas to the state Legislature? Invest in Texas is a student-led, nonpartisan advocacy effort dedicated to advocat-ing for the University and students across the state.

Invest in Texas, which is a joint effort led by the Senate of College Councils, Student Government and the Graduate Student Assembly, and support-ed by various organizations around campus, has fought in the past to make the University affordable, competitive and safe. It is critical to have our voices heard at the Capitol, so this year, the co-directors and operational committee of Invest in Texas are working hard to represent the voice of students on important higher education matters.

The campaign is currently under the direction of Taylor Guerrero from the Senate of College Councils, John Brown from Student Government and Ryan Muetzel from the Graduate Student As-sembly. The co-directors receive assistance from the operational committee that is split up into three teams/sub-committees: communications, outreach and policy oversight. This is where students of the University are heavily encouraged to participate. Students are needed to form each subcommittee to ensure Invest in Texas has a successful semester.

In addition to a consistent advocacy effort, Invest in Texas sponsors the Legislative Day March to the Capitol each year. In the past, hundreds of students have participated in the march and sat in on hear-ings and committee meetings. On this day, Invest in Texas holds a press conference in which student leaders and key legislators speak about key issues that affect our University. In previous years we have been successful in keeping students represented on the Board of Regents and have been successful in al-lowing UT to determine its own “guns-on-campus” policy.

This year, the platform for the advocacy cam-paign has not yet been finalized, but the operational committee is open to suggestions and opinions of the student body. While the platform has yet to be set in stone, the main objective of the campaign is to keep the University affordable and safe in addition to ensuring the student body is well represented on governing boards. The operational committee hopes that participation in subcommittees and in the March to the Capitol will grow tremendously.

Guerrero is a history and government senior from Van Vleck.

UT invests in Texas By Taylor Guerrero

Guest Columnist

By Amil MalikForum Editor

@amil_malik94

COLUMN

4

4GARRETT CALLAHAN, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansportsThursday, January 22, 2015

SIDELINE

Regulars in the audience at the Frank Erwin Center know that women’s basketball head coach Karen Aston finds it hard to sit still, even in the best of circumstances. Aston can almost always be found squatting, pacing or bouncing around chairs on the sidelines — unable to contain her note-worthy enthusiasm.

Aston is only the fourth coach for the program and in her eighth season overall as a head coach. In Waco on Mon-day, her Longhorns attempted to earn her 150th career vic-tory — and fell short, largely because senior forward Nneka Enemkpali tore her ACL before halftime.

As Aston watched from the sidelines, hands over her mouth, No. 8 Texas lost, 75-58, against No. 3 Baylor.

Aston is one of the best-known female coaches in Texas, and she’s on the brink of a great victory — but con-sidering the Longhorns have lost three of their last four games, Aston’s upcoming career milestone is probably not her focus. And as a deco-rated Longhorn coach, Aston can be certain her day will come soon.

What Aston is focused on is Enemkpali, whose injury represents a much more ur-gent concern for the team as a whole.

Enemkpali has been on a hot streak lately, a large part of Texas’ 13-0 start to the season. As Aston worked to rebuild the program, she re-lied upon Enemkpali, an All-American candidate and Big 12 leader in rebounds.

Before her injury early in

the game Monday, Enemkpali co-led the team with sopho-more center Kelsey Lang at six rebounds each — but her ACL injury means her season is over.

“It is never easy to see a student-athlete’s career cut short like this,” Aston said. “My heart goes out to Nneka because she has grown so much during her career at the University of Texas.”

Aston, whose 150th vic-tory is just around the

corner, said she hopes En-emkpali will be by her side to watch when the Longhorns return to action.

“Nneka has been the heart of our program for quite some time, and, as we move forward, she will con-tinue to play a vital role on this team from the sidelines,” Aston said.

The Longhorns have won 13 consecutive games at the Er-win Center, but going forward,

Enemkpali will not be able to rebound and assist. When Tex-as faces off against Iowa State in Austin on Sunday, it will do so without its veteran forward. Iowa State defeated Texas ear-lier this season with a 2-point lead at the buzzer.

Enemkpali ends her col-legiate career ranked ninth in total rebounds, 30th in total points for Texas, and currently holds first place in the Big 12 for rebounds.

Head coach Charlie Strong’s inaugural football season is behind him, but the challenges he faces are only beginning. As he looks toward 2015, Strong finds himself losing upwards of 15 key contributors from last season’s team — pri-marily graduating seniors, but also a handful of players who intend to declare for the NFL Draft or transfer schools. Strong and his staff will have to prioritize find-ing replacements for key players as the new season draws closer.

Beyond the players who graduated in December and those who plan to graduate this May, three of Strong’s underclassmen players have also declared their inten-tion to leave, even before their Longhorn eligibility ends. Star defensive tackle Malcom Brown, who has a wife and two children, de-cided the best plan for his family was to forego his se-nior season and declare for the NFL draft. His decision will likely pay off — Brown, who is an All-American, is expected to go early in the draft, with most ana-lysts predicting his name will be called late in the first round.

Brown isn’t the only play-er leaving the 40 Acres early. Earlier this month, Horns Digest reported that a few players were considering transferring after Strong’s

first season. Sure enough, junior tight end M.J. McFar-land announced early Fri-day that he would transfer to UTEP for his senior year. McFarland, a native El Pa-soan, decided to head back home to play for the Miners in an offensive scheme more suited to tight ends.

A day after McFarland’s announcement, sophomore offensive lineman Curtis Riser announced on Insta-gram he would be transfer-ring to Sam Houston State. Riser saw limited action under offensive coordinator Joe Wickline, even though the offensive line was the thinnest unit of 2014.

Despite the vacancies he must fill, Strong does have a promising pool of tal-ent coming in the next few years. Next season’s seniors have the chance to be a ma-jor factor in Texas’ success in 2015, as many have al-ready had valuable playing time, giving Strong a much more experienced team than he had in a 2014 team hampered by dismissals and injuries.

The offense will see the most returners of this group, with junior run-ning backs Johnathan Gray and Daje Johnson joining junior wide receiver Mar-cus Johnson as playmakers for the Longhorns. Junior offensive guard Sedrick Flowers will once again be the most experienced player in the trenches, and junior center Taylor Doyle looks to cement his role

as a starter when spring practices start.

The other side of the ball will also see valuable upperclassmen return, al-though they’re experienc-ing a much bigger loss than the offense. With Brown, Cedric Reed, Jordan Hicks, Quandre Diggs and oth-ers departing, the defense, which was arguably the best in recent years, might struggle to find solid re-placements. Strong and his staff are expected to be looking at junior defensive end Shiro Davis to step up during camp after hav-ing an inconsistent junior year, and junior corner-back Duke Thomas will need to be more consistent to keep his spot in the sec-ondary. Junior linebackers Peter Jinkens and Dalton Santos also have the op-portunity and ability to play a vital role in defen-sive coordinator Vance Bedford’s defense.

Shoutout to my brothas @JHicks_3

& @qdiggs6 showing out in the

Senior Bowl!

Cedric Reed@Ced_Reed88

TOP TWEET

TODAY IN HISTORY

1857The National Association of Baseball Players is founded.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Texas seeks Aston-ishing milestoneBy Courtney Norris

@ courtneyknorris

FOOTBALL FOOTBALL | COLUMN

Quarterbacks fixing to battle in spring

Ohio State quarterback Car-dale Jones kick-started his college career by lighting up the score-board against some of the best competition in the nation and winning a national champion-ship in his first three games. The offensive outburst by the redshirt sophomore prompted an out-pouring of praise for Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer and his ability to recruit and coach a roster with three All-American caliber quarterbacks.

Back on the 40 Acres, the mood was a little more gloomy. Jones’ downfield rockets and Meyer’s bold and creative play calling stood in stark contrast to the Longhorns’ dismal perfor-mance at the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl, where the burnt orange and white accumulated only 59 yards of total offense.

If the Longhorns want to re-join Ohio State as college foot-ball royalty, they will need to find a quarterback and coach-ing duo to lead the way. The options at quarterback look promising, as Texas will likely burn freshman quarterback Jerrod Heard’s redshirt next season, and sophomore quar-terback Tyrone Swoopes will have the off season to develop. Kyler Murray, five-star quarter-back recruit and Texas A&M commit, even stopped by the University of Texas campus for a visit Wednesday.

The tutelage of Shawn Wat-son, Texas’ assistant head coach for offense and quarterbacks, who coached current Minne-sota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater at Louisville, is set to launch one of the Longhorn quarterbacks into All-American consideration. At this point, however, it is hard to tell if Wat-son is the right man to coach

Heard, Swoopes or any other quarterback on the roster.

Watson was a member of head coach Charlie Strong’s staff at Louisville when the Vikings drafted Bridgewater, but it is still unclear at the moment whether it was Watson who bolstered Bridgewater to prominence or the other way around.

When at Louisville, Bridge-water was a mobile quarterback who could still thrive when sit-ting back and embracing his role as a pocket passer. Watson tried to run a similar offense in his first year of play-calling du-ties at Texas, but to no avail.

Swoopes showed he is not Bridgewater, as he often looked uncomfortable dropping back and scanning the defense — a requirement for a pocket passer. When the offense went down-hill in the Kansas State game, Watson and the rest of the staff seemed to make little effort to change the game plan in order to attempt to use Swoopes’ pow-erful legs to their advantage.

Heard is the clear next-in-line if the “Tyrone Swoopes experi-ment” does not work out, but his blazing speed appears to be better suited for an offense that avoids under-center sets and embraces the option. It has yet been determined whether Heard can achieve success when sitting back and reading a defense. If he cannot do so, the Longhorns will have to spend springtime courting pocket passers or start making serious changes to the offense.

Watson showed moments of brilliance as a play caller, even with a patchwork offensive line. But if Watson’s young quarter-backs prove incapable of being pocket passers during spring practice, he will have to put Lou-isville’s formula for success be-hind him and tweak the offense in a way that better incorporates his quarterbacks’ skill sets.

Strong to face challenges after loss of key players

By Brooke Daily@brookelynndaily

SPORTS BRIEFLYDirecTV now offers Longhorn Network

On Wednesday, the Longhorn Network got a few more viewers.

ESPN announced Wednesday that the Longhorn Network is now available to Direc-TV, bringing the long-awaited 24/7 channel to more viewers.

The deal, which is part of a larger agree-ment between DirecTV and The Walt Disney Company, gives cus-tomers nationwide ac-cess to the channel through TV and online streaming. DirecTV is the sixth major service to carry the Longhorn Network. Other carriers include AT&T U-Verse, Dish Network, Time Warner Cable, and Ve-rizon FiOS. Many other local services, such as Grande Communica-tions in Austin, carry the channel.

The Longhorn Net-work is currently in the fourth year of a 20-year agreement between ESPN and Texas athletics.

—Garrett Callahan

NBA

NHL

Shelby Tauber | Daily Texan file photoJunior defensive tackle Malcom Brown has announced he will be entering the NFL Draft. Brown is one of several players leaving big shoes for head coach Charlie Strong to fill.

Shelby Tauber | Daily Texan file photoSophomore quarterback Tyrone Swoopes looks to recover from an inconsistent season and fight to remain the starter.

By Daniel ClayDaily Texan Columnist

@dclay567

MAVERICKS

TIMBERWOLVES

HEAT

HORNETS

MAPLE LEAFS

SENATORS

BLACKHAWKS

PENGUINS

THUNDER

WIZARDSEthan OblakDaily Texan file photo

Senior forward Nneka Enemk-pali suffered a season-ending injury in the first half of Texas’ 75-58 loss against Baylor. Texas’ third loss in four games keeps head coach Karen Aston searching for her 150th career win.

With Brown, Cedric Reed, Jordan Hicks, Quandre Diggs and others departing, the defense, which was ar-guably the best in the last few years, might struggle to find solid replacements.

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KAT SAMPSON, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan 6Thursday, January 22, 2015

Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on blood donations. The first installment focused on what happens during the blood donation process. The second focuses on what happens to blood after it has been donated.

It only takes five to 10 min-utes for a trained medical professional to draw a pint of someone’s blood for donation. However, once the blood’s in the bag, it still has a long way to go before it can be given to a recipient.

After the blood is drawn, it is separated into individual components — red blood cells, platelets and plasma — all of which have different shelf lives.

Plasma lasts the longest of the three components: a full year. Red blood cells can go six weeks without expiring. Platelets, which must remain at room temperature, are more likely to harbor bacte-rial growth and can only last five days.

It takes six to 10 blood do-nations to generate enough platelets for a recipient, so cen-ters encourage direct platelet donations. During a two-hour platelet donation, blood from a donor’s arm passes through a machine where a centrifuge removes platelets. The ma-chine then returns the blood

into the patient’s arm. With this technology, a healthy in-dividual can provide up to 24 platelet donations every year.

During either donation process, the technician draws an additional three vials of blood — which sounds like a lot — but isn’t even enough to fill a shot glass. These vials go to a separate facility where they undergo 14 tests. One of them is a cholesterol test so that frequent donors can keep tabs on their levels. Other tests check for blood compatibility, as well as for sicknesses such

as syphilis, hepatitis and the big one — HIV.

These tests reduce the risk of transmitting these illnesses down to practically zero. There are 30 million transfusions per year, and the last time one resulted in a confirmed transmission of HIV was in 2008. In this case, a donor had only recently become in-fected, and the level of HIV antibodies in his system was too low to detect. He also had anonymous sexual encounters with both men and women outside his marriage and lied

about them during the donor screening process.

While hospitals sometimes know they are going to need blood in advance — such as in planned surgeries — the cen-ter mostly provides blood for the unexpected, such as auto-mobile accidents.

In the unfortunate and rare case that blood expires before finding a proper host, medi-cal companies can use the blood to test equipment they are developing. Very little blood is wasted.

The bigger concern is blood

shortages, as it is hard for hos-pitals to anticipate when there will be a high demand. When a tragedy occurs, it’s easy to convince people to donate, but those donations take sev-eral days to process and can’t be used right away. Hospitals need blood in anticipation of the disaster — not afterward.

For this reason, it is best for eligible donors to make giving blood a habit. If you are in good health and weigh more than 115 pounds, consider donating a pint yourself today.

SCIENCE SCENE

Blood drive asks students out for a pint

By Robert Starr@robertkstarr

Marshall Tidrick | Daily Texan StaffKen Brock calmly sits as he donates blood to The Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas. Brock, along with many other healthy donors, donates as frequently as he can.

Cindy Brown | Daily Texan file photoAfter noticing a large number of malnourished stray cats across campus, an anonymous UT emplyoee began feeding the felines, earning himself the title “cat man.”

Cat crusader joins forces with coalition to save felinesTHROWBACK

In 1997, more than 100 nameless felines roamed UT’s campus in search of food scraps and com-panionship — and shelter from UT’s former policy of euthanizing strays. One UT employee, whom most students knew only as “cat man,” provided the cats with food while maintain-ing anonymity.

For the Jan. 21, 1997, issue of The Daily Texan, reporter Mike Carr shed some light on the enig-matic figure.

“He prefers to keep his name a secret and work in the shadows because someone might learn where his feeding loca-tion is and try to harm the cats,” Carr said in his article.

The cat man said he be-gan feeding the cats when he discovered some of them nearly starving a few years before. He provided their nightly meal without fail. According to the ar-ticle, the cat man spent up to $30 a week on cat food — $1,500 a year from his own earnings. Although most of the wild cats were skittish at first, the cat man’s routine care al-lowed them to grow more

comfortable with him. “I’ve known them lon-

ger,” the cat man said. “They trust me.”

Hunger was not the only concern the cats dealt with. In the early ’90s, the University’s official cat policy was to euthanize strays. In 1994, officials euthanized 17 campus cats after declaring them health hazards. This ex-termination prompted the creation of the Campus Cat Coalition, a group of about 50 members, who captured stray cats and had them vaccinated and neutered before setting them free. The Coalition, which counted the cat man as a member, oper-ated under national cat-protection organization Alley Cat Allies.

“Periodic cat extermi-nation was UT policy at the time, but this particu-lar extermination sparked outrage from students and staff,” Carr said.

Peg Berdahl, wife of then-University Presi-dent Robert Berdahl, said she was deeply disturbed when she learned about the exterminations.

“I’ll never forget it. It really upset me,” Berdahl said. “I expressed to [Pres-ident Berdahl] that I was upset about it. He didn’t

like what had happened to the cats either and said it should be stopped.”

With the support of the faculty and students, the Campus Cat Coali-tion put the trap-neuter-and-release method into practice. According to the article, Gary Monroe, the director of the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, said his office would average one-to-two complaints a week con-cerning the feline popula-tion before the Coalition began neutering the cats.

By the time the Texan ar-ticle was printed, the Cam-pus Cat Coalition had neu-tered 40 cats — although officers said completion of the neutering process was still five years away.

Club member Janice Shrode said the cat man’s dedication to the animals and his willingness to sac-rifice his time and money made him stand out.

“He’s really unique,” Shrode said. “He really cares about his cats.”

According to Carr, the cat man insisted there was nothing special about him despite his long-term commitment to caring for all cats.

“I’m just a small cog in the machinery,” the cat man said.

By Mary Cantrell@mkcant

… it is best for eligible donors to make giving blood a habit. If you are in good health and weigh more than 115 pounds, consider donating a pint yourself today.