5 | Arts & Life
7 | Sports
McNay debuts two new exhibits
Vol. 65, Issue 7
UTSA volleyball goes 1-1 on the road
THE PAISANO Est. 1981
October 11 - October 18, 2022
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Community /PaisanoOnline
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UTSA
Hidden camera discovered at University Oaks
UTSA launched the public phase of “Be Bold: A Campaign for Our Future,” a $500 million fundraising campaign created to support the university’s growth. The campaign has existed in its “quiet phase” since 2017, having raised $311 million so far.
By Zahara Latson Staff Writer A criminal investigation has been opened after a resident discovered a hidden camera in a fake smoke detector in their apartment at the student housing complex University Oaks. An email was sent out by UTSA Housing that following Thursday, Sept. 29, announcing to the residents that inspections and investigations are underway. “This remains an active investigation,” Joe Izbrand, UTSA’s chief communications officer, said. “Inspections of all the smoke detectors in Guadalupe Hall, Chisholm Hall, Alvarez Hall and Chaparral Village have been completed. Nothing unusual was found.” Inspections also took place at Laurel Village on Monday, Oct. 3, and at the University Oaks complex on Tuesday, Oct. 4. UTSA Housing announced in the email that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will be involved in determining the source of the devices used and assessing the general scope of the situation, including any suspects. “As soon as I had seen
Continued on page 2 See “I was really shocked that someone would even set that up’
Texas
Students join the march as protestors make their way across campus.
On-campus protest demands UTSA take official stance on Texas’ abortion ban
By Gauri Raje News Editor On Thursday, Oct. 6, UTSA’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) organized an abortion rights protest on the Main Campus. Other organizations that participated in the protest included UTSA’s chapter of Texas Rising, the San Antonio chapter of the Party for Socialism & Liberation (PSL) and the Mujeres Marcharan (MM) coalition. YDSA also received support from PRISM, Students for Beto and the Secular Student Alliance. “Across the United States, we are seeing an aggressive rollback of abortion and reproductive rights,” Nicolas Solis, co-chair of YDSA at UTSA, said. “Texas is at the center of this. Texas law currently bans abortion from the
NSF grant to support Latino students in STEM By Riley Carroll Arts & Life Editor In September, the National Science Foundation (NSF) granted UTSA $3 million to support diversity, equity and inclusion in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). “We applied for this transformation grant through the National Science Foundation’s HSI program,” Vanessa Sansone, assistant professor of higher education in the Department of Educational and Leadership Policy Studies, said. “And in the grant, we said ‘It’s not so much just enrolling [Latino students].’ We hear that all the time, enroll more, enroll more, but just because you are here on campus does not mean that that best serves you. You showing up [to school] should not be what universities get a pat on the back for. And so in our proposal, we talked about really concentrating on that transformation piece. It is not enough to just say we are going to get more Latino students into STEM. We are going to look at our policies and procedures to see where this [is] disadvantaging Latino students.” With this grant, UTSA will work to implement a more culturally-inclusive curriculum
Dustin Vickers/The Paisano
and address external issues such as housing inequities and food insecurities. “We are addressing policy,” Sansone said. “Specific examples of that are transfer policy, but also how do we onboard students? What happens in advising? What happens when students get into an area of academic dismissal? Maybe those things are not serving our students very well and they need to be looked at again. A lot of times policy is very black-and-white. And it best serves students when it is gray. It is our responsibility to make sure that we are thinking about how to serve you well, because if our policies, procedures and practices don’t reflect what serves our students best then we need to address that.” In addition to addressing student needs, the grant will also assist in funding three Ph.D. fellowships. “There is some funding in there to support students at the graduate level,” Sansone said. “We have, for example, a postdoc position ...” Continued on page 2 See ‘And quite honestly, I love UTSA’
moment of conception. Those seeking [an] abortion, doctors, and even good samaritans can now face life in prison and six-figure fines. These laws are unpopular, authoritarian, and will impact our most vulnerable communities. As socialists, we believe a better society will only be achieved if we fight for economic justice and social justice together. Our current for-profit society thrives on continuing sexist laws and attitudes.” Solis, who is also a Student Government Association (SGA) senator, further explained that while cities like San Antonio and Austin have signaled disapproval of the abortion ban in Texas, the city of San Antonio and Bexar County have not passed any policy to protect abortion and reproductive rights
as of Oct. 9. According to Solis, the protest was organized as a part of the National Day of Action for Reproductive Rights and was one of several events held across the country by other YDSA chapters. The protest at UTSA was motivated by the “confusion and frustration” that YDSA members and students expressed over UTSA’s lack of communication about protecting student access to reproductive healthcare as well as misinformation about reproductive health on campus and intimidation of pro-choice students on campus.and intimidation of pro-choice students on campus. Continued on page 2 See ‘This is clearly an important issue for all at UTSA’
Professor part of new San Antonio Philharmonic By Gauri Raje News Editor After reaching a deadlock in labor negotiations between the Symphony Society of San Antonio and the local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians, the San Antonio Symphony was officially dissolved on Thursday, June 16. The Symphony’s Board of Directors announced the dissolution via a statement posted to their Facebook Page. Along with this, the Board also filed for bankruptcy. As previously reported by The Paisano, negotiations between the Symphony’s management and its musicians led to the latter going on a months-long protest. The protest occurred as a result of a proposed contract that would let go off around 20 players and introduce a severe pay cut. Following the dissolution, musicians from the former Symphony regrouped to form the San Antonio Philharmonic. According to the San Antonio Report, the new group formed from the Musicians of the San Antonio Symphony (MOSAS) performance fund — the nonprofit created after the Symphony went on strike last year. “At that time, right when the bankruptcy happened, we were still operating as MOSAS —
Musicians of the San Antonio Symphony — but when we decided to move forward, several names were proposed and we voted on it and the name San Antonio Philharmonic was chosen, which I really love. I think it doesn’t have any baggage with it other than the name San Antonio. To me, it’s like, Philharmonic sounds even fancier than Symphony,” Allyson Dawkins, associate professor of practice at UTSA, said. Dawkins was the symphony’s principal violist and is now a member of the newly formed Philharmonic. According to Dawkins, all musicians that had a contract with the Symphony were offered a spot in the Philharmonic, and the Philharmonic currently has eight members on its board. “We were all invited to make suggestions [about Board members] and I made several,” Dawkins said. “And they … just have to kind of vet them — talk to them, find out if they’re really interested in being on the board or not. Being on the board is … it’s a big job, it’s a big commitment ...” Continued on page 2 See ‘We don’t have benefits yet’
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) has suspended its entire police department for an unspecified amount of time after it was revealed that a newly hired district officer was one of the first to respond to the school shooting that occurred at Robb Elementary back in May. The officer has since been terminated from the position and is one of many officers currently being investigated for their response to the incident.
U.S. Erek L. Barron, the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the formation of a new Civil Rights and Special Victims Section. According to Barron, the section will be aimed at “protecting civil rights” and “addressing victim-related crimes requiring specialized skills.” The section will be staffed by Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) from the Civil Division and Criminal Division. A group of Russian-speaking hackers, known as Killnet, claimed responsibility for a cyberattack that caused public-facing websites for various U.S. airports to become inaccessible. However, CNN reports that the incident did not affect air travel. w Reuters reports that the United States Food and Drug Administration approved a therapy developed by ScPharmaceuticals Inc. to treat heart congestion caused by fluid overload in heart failure patients. The company’s Chief Executive John Tucker said in a statement patients will be able to self-administer the drug, which is delivered via an “onbody infusor.”
World North Korea’s state media reported that the country’s recent missile launches were aimed at a simulated use of its nuclear weapons to “hit and wipe out” potential South Korean and U.S. targets, AP News reports. The Korean Central News Agency or KCNA for short, further explained that the tests were in response to recent naval drills conducted between U.S. and South Korean forces, which were viewed as a military threat by North Korea.