1 THE DAILY TEXAN Serving the University of Texas at Austin community since 1900 WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA DINO TRACKS THE WILLIE WAY UT Quidditch teams prepare for Texas Memorial Museum to receive Countryman performs upcoming games, tournaments fossilized dinosaur tracks for science at new ACL venue LIFE&ARTS PAGE 12 NEWS PAGE 6 XXXX PAGE XX >> Breaking news, blogs and more: dailytexanonline.com @thedailytexan facebook.com/dailytexan Tuesday, February 15, 2011 Obama’s proposed cuts could impact Pell Grants TODAY By Lauren Giudice Grants, need-based grants for low-income up to $5,500 in the fall and spring and $2,775 ly as effective as they had hoped it would Daily Texan Staff students, could undergo drastic cuts. The in the summer. Obama’s proposed bud- be,” said Miguel Wasielewski, assistant to the federal government provides the money for get would cut funding for the summer Pell director at Student Financial Services. President Barack Obama proposed cut- Pell Grants, and students do not have to re- Grant program, which the government in- The Pell Grant could be further impact- Calendar ting higher education by $89 billion over the pay them, said Thomas Melecki, UT’s direc- stituted three years ago, and increase the in- ed by a House bill that would decrease the Women’s next decade to ease the impact of the pro- tor of Student Financial Services. terest rates for some student loans. His plan maximum grant from $5,500 to $4,705. jected $1 trillion budget deficit Monday. “Pell Grants usually go to our poorest stu- would also remove the subsidized portion of “That is the major change that [the Basketball The cuts to higher education spending dents who are least able to pay for college,” student loans for graduate students. House is] looking at,” Wasielewski said. Texas Women’s basketball will will be reallocated for primary and second- Melecki said. “What Obama’s proposal seems to point play Nebraska at 7 p.m. at the ary education, according to the budget. Pell Currently, students can receive Pell Grants to is that the summer Pell Grant is not near- GRANTS continues on PAGE 2 Frank Erwin Center. ‘Hors de prix’ Powers home This 2006 French film, featuring Audrey Tautou and Marie- Christina Adam, will be shown from hospital; free at 7:30 p.m. in GAR 1.126. date of return ‘Scream Blacula Scream’ unconfirmed Alamo Drafthouse Ritz will be playing the film “Blacula” at 9:45 By Katrina Tollin p.m. in honor of Terror Tuesday Daily Texan Staff and Black History Month. Tickets are $1. Doctors released UT President William Powers Jr. from St. Da- vid’s South Austin Medical Center Stand Up on Sunday following treatment for a pulmonary embolism. Comedy Powers, 64, is resting at home Kick Butt Coffee at the Triangle and being kept current on Univer- is hosting a stand-up comedy sity affairs, said Don Hale, UT’s vice open mic at 8 p.m. president for public affairs. “There is no definite date set for his return to the office,” Hale said. Today in black Doctors discovered history the blood clot on Feb. In 1804 8 during an New Jersey became the last examination, Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff northern state to abolish new and Powers slavery and enacted legislation UT freshman Andre Treiber marches toward the Human Resources building with members of the Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association entered the during a rally to advocate same-sex partner insurance benefits and symbolically enroll partners for benefits. Although all private schools in that slowly phased out existing hospital that Bill Powers Texas offer competitive benefits for same-sex partners, UT does not. slavery. day, accord- ing to a press release issued by the University. Faculty, students march across campus According to the Austin Ameri- can-Statesman, Powers started ex- Campus watch for same-sex partners’ equal benefits periencing chest pains while at the Super Bowl in Arlington. Classic coming- UT violates its own anti-discrimina- in love with equality” to promote com- A pulmonary embolism is a of-age tale tion policy because of its failure to pro- petitive insurance benefits including blood clot that blocks blood flow 100 W. 21st St. RALLY vide insurance benefits for same-sex coverage for same-sex partners for UT to the lungs. Usually originating A UTPD guard reported a very partners of faculty and staff, a UT staff- faculty and staff. in the leg, the clot can be caused intoxicated subject being FOR er said at a rally on Monday. Students, faculty and staff members by prolonged sitting or inactivi- carried by two other people EQUALITY The Pride and Equity Faculty Staff spoke before the group of about 60 as they ty, said Dr. Steven R. Bailey, a vas- on the north side of the Association held signs bearing slogans marched to the North Office Building cular surgeon and director of the University Teaching Center. By Allie Kolechta such as “Gays are family members, too,” The intoxicated subject was “Value all Longhorn families” and “Fall RALLY continues on PAGE 2 POWERS continues on PAGE 2 a UT student celebrating his 21st birthday. He could not walk, stand or sit on his own. His clothes were covered in vomit and he was also having a wardrobe malfunction. The student was released to EMS and transported to the hospital FOWL PLAY for possible alcohol poisoning. Quote to note “Quidditch is not Derek Stout | Daily Texan Staff just ‘some nerdy Bruce Porter, James Fan and Ken Baker watch Watson, an automated game, ‘you may question-answering machine they helped IBM research and develop, compete on a televised episode of “Jeopardy!” on Monday afternoon. look a little off on a broom, but this sport is physical. Two ‘Jeopardy!’ champions We have at least two broken brooms contend with AI computer every game, and By Yvonne Marquez at 74 games in the show’s histo- Daily Texan Staff ry, and Rutter won more mon- Erika Rich | Daily Texan Staff seeing someone ey than any previous contestant at On any given Sunday, Ginny’s hosts Chicken Shit Bingo, a game that packs every square inch of bleeding has Students and faculty watched a $3.25 million. the tiny bar on Burnet Road. The game has been attracting a crowd for the last ten years with its historic “Jeopardy!” match Mon- At the end of the first show, high stakes — a $2 ticket can win $100 — and popular country music acts that provide toe-tapping become natural. I day between two human champi- Watson was tied for first place music. love this sport.” ons and a machine made possible, with Rutter. The match will con- in part, by the research of three tinue through Wednesday. UT professors. On the web: UT alumnus James Fan, an IBM Check out a video slideshow of a Sunday afternoon of Chicken Shit Bingo at — Erik Rangel Watson, a deep question-and-an- researcher and one of the Watson Civil engineering swer computer, competed against developers, spoke at the watch par- Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon sophomore “Jeopardy!” champions Ken Jen- ty to answer audience questions @dailytexanonline.com nings and Brad Rutter. Jennings LIFE&ARTS PAGE 12 has the longest winning streak MATCH continues on PAGE 2 2 2 NEWS Tuesday, Febraury 15, 2011 THE DAILY TEXAN RALLY Volume 111, Number 147 continues from PAGE 1 A where faculty and staff attempt- CONTACT US ed to fill out insurance forms for their partners. Main Telephone: Lindsey Schell, women’s studies li- (512) 471-4591 brarian and chair of the association’s Editor: competitive insurance benefits com- Lauren Winchester mittee, said the demonstration was (512) 232-2212 meant to point out flaws in the sys- [email protected] tem. Twenty-three faculty and staff members signed up to fill out forms prior to the rally, she said. Managing Editor: All private colleges in Texas in- Claire Cardona cluding Rice University, South- (512) 232-2217 ern Methodist University, Trini- managingeditor@ ty University and Baylor College of dailytexanonline.com Medicine offer competitive insur- ance benefits for their employees, News Office: Schell said. (512) 232-2207 “It’s very telling that even a school [email protected] as conservative as Baylor recogniz- es that in order to keep their medi- Multimedia Office: cal and dental schools competitive, (512) 471-7835 they need to offer these kinds of [email protected] benefits,” she said. The association held a rally in fall 2008 with roughly the same turnout Sports Office: and success but no results, Schell (512) 232-2210 said. UT must begin offering these [email protected] kinds of benefits to retain GLBT Tamir Kalifa | Daily Texan Staff faculty and staff members and keep At the conclusion of the rally for same-sex partner benefits, Carl Matthews, associate professor in the College of Architecture, and other mem- the competitive edge required of bers of the Pride and Equity Faculty Staff Association, fill out insurance forms to symbolically enroll their partners for insurance benefits while Life & Arts Office: the UT and Texas A&M University inside the elevator of the Human Resources building. (512) 232-2209 systems by state law, she said. [email protected] “The real travesty here is that have the authority to offer compet- A small group — formed by “Many people think that this isn’t staff and faculty, said Sarah Car- we’re still having rallies about this itive insurance benefits based on President William Powers Jr. that a student issue because it only ap- swell, who graduated from the Uni- in 2011,” she said.