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1A1 THE DAILY TEXAN LIFE&ARTS PAGE 12 SPORTS PAGE 7 TOMORROW’S WEATHER High Low Hems up, heels high Guard lets her guard down for spring fashion 66 59 Tuesday, January 26, 2010 Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900 www.dailytexanonline.com Powers seeks U faculty input on budget President addresses key ed, representative body. Powers said that the letter does issues of gender equity, not ask the University to cut 5 percent of its total budget, but in- Mack Brown’s pay raise stead, 5 percent of state general By Shabab Siddiqui revenue. In 2009-2010, state gener- Daily Texan Staff al revenue made up about 30 per- President William Powers Jr. cent of the University’s academ- told faculty members that the ic core budget. The academic core University is working with the UT budget primarily covers faculty System to address the letter from and staff salaries but also includes Gov. Rick Perry’s office that asks scholarships, utilities, mainte- state agencies to prepare a plan to nance and operation. cut 5 percent of their state-provid- The University received $333 ed budgets. million in recurring state gener- The Jan. 15 letter, signed by Per- al revenue this school year and ry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and expects to receive a 1-percent in- Speaker of the Texas House Joe crease for each of the next two Straus, requires the UT System years. Powers said a 5-percent cut and other state agencies to sub- in general revenue from the 2010- mit a prioritized plan of poten- 2011 biennium would amount to a Kari Rosenfeld | Daily Texan Staff tial cuts by Feb. 15. The state bud- $29 million cut from the Universi- A firefighter emerges from the smoke during the planned burn of a grassland near the intersection of MoPac Boulevard and get for the 2010-2011 biennium, ty’s budget. Interstate Highway 45 on Monday. The burn is part of a plan to restore the land and improve the quality of the water that flows from which was set by the Legislature Spokespeople at the UT System the grassland to Barton Springs. in the summer of 2009, is expect- said the Regents, the chancellor ed to face a deficit by the 2011 leg- and presidents from UT System INSIDE: Read more about the grassland fire on page 9 islative session due to insufficient schools were working to figure sales-tax revenues. out the letter’s intention during a All faculty members were in- meeting Monday, but refused to vited to attend Monday’s gener- comment on precise meeting de- al faculty meeting with Powers, tails after it had concluded. which was followed by the semes- Powers addressed pre-submit- Online texts lower costs for French, German students ter’s first Faculty Council meeting. The council is the faculty’s elect- BUDGET continues on page 2 By Priscilla Pelli classes each semester. each year on textbooks, Blyth said. Italian at the University, said she Daily Texan Staff The instructional materials are The popularity of online text- uses the online instructional ma- With the help of a grant recent- published online and allow open books has affected the conven- terial to show her class videos of ly awarded by the U.S. Depart- access to students for a fraction tional textbook industry. Since the students’ experiences in France to ment of Education, students en- of the price of commercially pub- 2010 fall semester, there has been help them learn French visually. rolled in the University’s intro- lished textbooks. a 10-percent drop in textbook pur- “Basically, for motivation, it ductory German and French for- Carl Blyth, director of the Tex- chases due to the availability of can’t be beat because we’re using eign language classes will pay as Language Technology Center, textbooks online, said University our students [and native speak- less than $20 for their textbooks. said the materials are more dy- Co-op President George Mitchell. ers] as models of teaching a lan- The Texas Language Technolo- namic than regular textbooks be- “A lot of data shows that stu- guage,” Kelton said. gy Center of the College of Liber- cause professors can add infor- dents spend about $900 to $1000 Other higher-education insti- al Arts received a $263,000 grant mation to keep the instructional a year on books alone,” Blyth tutions across the state, includ- in October to create online in- materials up to date. said. “It keeps people out of the ing Rice University, Texas Chris- structional materials, which will The online textbooks can en- market when entering higher ed- tian University and the Lone Star provide alternatives for students courage more students to enter ucation.” College System, will collaborate who are required to have text- higher education by reducing the Karen Kelton, senior lecturer to keep the instructional materi- books for French and German amount students have to spend in the Department of French and als current. Mary Kang| Daily Texan Staff Jon Olson, an associate engineering professor, listens during a Faculty Business school applicants decrease nationwide Council meeting Monday afternoon. McCombs sees reduction Students con- verse in front in applications but stays of the stock ticker inside constant in enrollment the McCombs Julie Bissinger Business Daily Texan Staff School on Faculty Council Monday A recent, nationwide trend that shows a decrease in applicants to afternoon. business schools across the U.S. McCombs has can also be seen at UT. experienced a applauds decision declining rate The percentage of freshmen of freshman applying to business schools na- applicants tionwide fell from about 17 per- which echoes to keep eld lab cent in 2008 to more than 14 per- the nation- cent in 2009, according to a sur- wide decrease statement. vey released Sunday by the of business Board of Regents agrees The approximately 500-acre Higher Education Research Insti- majors. to keep Brackenridge lab Brackenridge Tract was donated tute. According to the survey, the by Col. George W. Brackenridge economic recession of the past out of redevelopment to UT in 1910. Along with the lab, few years played a hand in the By Shabab Siddiqui the tract boasts the Lions Munici- numbers, since the study found Mourin NIzam Daily Texan Staff pal Golf Course and graduate-stu- a correlation between the cur- Daily Texan Staff The Faculty Council passed a dent housing. rent applicant pool and appli- tine Garza, deputy director of Analysis. This number had hov- [classes].” resolution — to a rare round of The lab was created in 1967 cants to business schools in 1974. admissions. ered at 12 percent during previ- Business freshman Jackie Kre- applause — during its first meet- and remains as a center for biodi- This was the last time the num- Despite the drop in business ous semesters. da said that the economy did not ing of the semester, thanking the versity research at the University. bers were so low and a year that applicants, the number of stu- Information management pro- have an influence on her choice Board of Regents for unanimous- It houses hundreds of species of also experienced an economic dents enrolled in McCombs has fessor Prabhudev Konana said he of major. Interested in commer- ly agreeing to keep the Bracken- plants, insects and birds and more recession. remained relatively constant, hasn’t noticed much change in cial real estate, she said she ap- ridge Field Laboratory at its cur- than a dozen types of animals. It McCombs saw a 6-percent de- about 800 students, since 2006. the number of students enrolled plied to McCombs because of the rent location. is used frequently by UT students cline in the number of freshmen Eleven percent of those admit- in his classes. finance department’s real estate “The field lab is an incredible and faculty for research purposes, applicants from 2008 to 2009. ted to the University during the “There hasn’t been a decrease concentration option. opportunity,” said Janet Staiger, and it serves as a center for work- More than 6,700 students applied summer and fall of 2009 declared in the number of students, just “People talk about how the radio-television-film professor shops and field trips. to McCombs during the summer business as their major, accord- more sections with smaller economy is bad, but nobody real- and the Council’s chairwom- In 2006, the Regents’ Bracken- and fall of 2008, while about 6,400 ing to statistics from the Office classes,” Konana said. “There ly says that it’s affecting their ma- an. “By working on the field ridge Tract Task Force hired Coo- students applied during the sum- of Information Management and is a continued demand for jor,” Kreda said. lab, the students in bio-scienc- per, Robertson & Partners, a New mer and fall of 2009, said Augus- es have this incredible academ- York-based architecture and ur- ic resource.” ban design firm, to create a plan The Dec. 22 decision to keep the for the 350 acres of undeveloped TPAC Open Forum lab was made by a special advi- land. The firm submitted two pro- sory committee composed of Re- posals in June that would turn the Who: The Tuition Policy Advisory Committee Why: The committee proposed in December a 3.95-percent tuition in- gents Janiece Longoria, Printice land into commercial and residen- crease per year over the next two years. The Regents, responsible for Gary and Eugene Powell. tial areas, bringing revenue to the What: open forum setting tuition, will vote on the proposal in March. TPAC is gathering “After several discussions, it University.