Austin, TX

What is a pro-Palestine protest? Here’s why U.S. college students are protesting

Published

8 months ago

April 24, 2024

What is a pro-Palestine protest? Here’s why U.S. college students are protesting

Dozens of protesters at the University of Texas were arrested Wednesday during a peaceful, pro-Palestinian protest hosted on the campus by the Palestine Solidarity Committee.

“UT Austin does not tolerate disruptions of campus activities or operations like we have seen at other campuses,” the UT Division of Student Affairs said in a statement before the protest.

After about 45 minutes of the crowd marching south on the mall from the Gregory Gym area, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and campus police ordered the protesters to disperse or “be arrested as per the penal code.”

Here’s why UT-Austin students are protesting:

What is a pro-Palestine protest?

Pro-Palestinian protests are demonstrations in support of Palestinian rights, typically calling for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Protests began in the wake of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the Palestinian militant group’s assault on Israeli communities Oct. 7, killing almost 1,200 people.

Israel’s subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians — militants and civilians; men, women and children — and has fueled a dire humanitarian crisis.

Where is Palestine located?

Palestine is recognized as an independent state by the United Nations and more than 135 of its members, but it is not recognized by the U.S., according to History. The UN considers it a single occupied entity, but the official borders are undetermined, BBC News reported.

Though its borders have shifted over the years, Palestinian territories used to be what is now Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

When searching for “Palestine” on Google Maps, the map zooms in on the Israel-Palestine region, and both the Gaza Strip and West Bank territories are labeled and separated by dotted lines. But there is no label for Palestine.

In an email statement, Google said it doesn’t label the borders because there isn’t international consensus on where the Palestinian boundaries are located.

Why are college students protesting?

The Palestine Solidarity Committee, a registered UT student group and a chapter of the national Students for Justice in Palestine, planned a protest Wednesday at the UT campus in solidarity with students across the U.S., including at Columbia University, Yale University and New York University, who are calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

Across the country, pro-Palestinian student protesters have occupied campuses in tent encampments this week in a campaign to urge their universities to divest, an action students over the decades have demanded from their schools’ administrators.

At pro-Palestinian rally at UT-Austin, protesters arrested

Multiple protesters on UT-Austin’s campus were arrested during a pro-Palestinian rally held by students.

What is ‘divest’?

The word “divest” refers to diverting money from a university’s endowment — the pool of money a college has and tries to grow through investments. Some of the biggest university endowments in the country total nearly $50 billion and comprise thousands of funds.

The protesters opposed to Israel’s military attacks in Gaza say they want their schools to stop funneling endowment money to Israeli companies and other businesses, like weapons manufacturers, that profit from the war in Gaza.

“The university would rather enforce and put money into policing our communities and policing their own students then they would to supporting them,” said Anachí Ponce, a UT student who attended the protest. “These are students who are protesting a genocide and the lack of action from UT administration for the way that they haven’t been super helpful against hate crimes against Muslim students on campus.”

“It’s like, why is our money being used to fund bombs overseas?,” said Layla Saliba, a student protester researching endowment investments with the group Columbia University Apartheid Divestment. “Let’s reinvest this money in our community instead,” she said.

In addition to divestment, protesters across the U.S. are calling for a cease-fire and student governments at some colleges have also passed resolutions in recent weeks calling for an end to academic partnerships with Israel.

Are universities investing in Israel?

Protesters have called for a halt to investments in Israel, but experts say that might be too simplified a take on what colleges have done with their funds. To begin with, it’s difficult to define what an “investment” in Israel entails, said economist Sandy Baum, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who studies college finances.

She said bigger investments are more obvious than smaller ones tucked away in mutual funds — an investment tool that pools money and spreads it out over many assets, and a type of financial tool on which many colleges rely.

Universities hire private companies to manage their endowments to preserve their funds over the long run, Baum said.

Debates about the investments of college endowments are complicated, Baum said, because some university stakeholders argue the money needs to produce the biggest return on investment possible to fund teaching and necessary programming and services.

“The purpose of the endowment is to have money that will allow the university to permanently provide educational opportunities so that they don’t have to go out and raise new money every year to continue operating,” she said.

The bigger a university’s endowment, the more is at stake. That’s one reason why pro-Palestinian student protesters at wealthy universities are fighting so hard this week, she said. There’s a lot of money involved.

“There are always going to be differencesof opinion about what you don’t want to invest in,” Baum said.

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Austin, TX

Clemson vs. Texas Prediction: Tigers look to upset the Longhorns in Austin

Published

7 hours ago

December 20, 2024

Press Room

Clemson vs. Texas Prediction: Tigers look to upset the Longhorns in Austin

The winner goes to Atlanta and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The loser goes home for the winter. It’s the College Football Playoff and two national brands that have never faced each other. Will it be a shootout in Texas? We find out Saturday.

12-SEED CLEMSON (10-3, 7-1 ACC) at 5-SEED TEXAS (11-2, 7-1 SEC)

WHEN: SATURDAY, DEC. 21, 4 P.M. ET
WHERE: DKR-TEXAS MEMORIAL STADIUM (100,119), AUSTIN, TEXAS
TELEVISION: TNT (Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek, Taylor McGregor, Laura Rutledge)
RADIO: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
RADIO: ESPN Radio (Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb, Dana Boyle)
SATELLITE RADIO: SiriusXM 81

NOTABLE

*This season, Clemson earned its seventh College Football Playoff berth since the format’s inception in 2014. Clemson’s seven berths trail only Alabama (eight) for the most in the nation. Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney‘s seven CFP berths are the most of any active coach and one shy of Nick Saban (eight) for the most of any coach all-time.

*Though the game features two high-profile quarterbacks, the matchup will also feature two of the game’s emerging young stars on defense. Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons (12.5) and Clemson linebacker Sammy Brown (10.5) rank first and second in the nation, respectively, in tackles for loss by freshmen this season.

*Clemson is attempting to win multiple postseason games (conference championship, bowl game and/or national championship game) in a single season for the fifth time in school history (two in 2015, three in 2016, three in 2018 and two in 2019).

*Clemson attempting to produce its 12th 11-win season in program history, joining the 1948, 1978, 1981, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 seasons. It would be Clemson’s ninth season of 11-plus wins under Head Coach Dabo Swinney.

*The winner advances to play Arizona St. in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. That game is set for Wednesday, Jan. 1st at 1 pm.

ABOUT TEXAS

The Longhorns featured the nation’s No. 18 offense (445.4 yards per game), with quarterback Quinn Ewers leading the way. He has thrown for 2,665 yards (233 for 352, 66.2 percent) with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Backup Arch Manning has played in eight games (61-of-90, 939 yards with nine touchdowns and two interceptions).

However, Ewers is more of a dropback passer and has 42 attempts for minus-62 rushing yards. Unlike the NFL, in college a sack is counted as negative rushing yardage. Manning is more of a dual threat and has 21 carries for 100 yards.

Quintrevion Wisner is the leading rusher (176 carries for 863 yards, 4.9 yards per carry and 71.92 yards per game). Jaydon Blue has carried it 112 times for 564 yards, giving the Longhorns a true two-back tandem.

Alabama transfer Isaiah Bond was the big news in the offseason at wide receiver, but he tallied just 33 catches for 532 yards and five touchdowns [According to ESPN, he faces “long odds” of playing due to recovering from a high ankle sprain still]. Matthew Golden leads Texas with 738 yards on 47 catches, but tight end Gunnar Helms is Ewers’ go-to guy on third down – he has 49 receptions for 611 yards.

Defensively, the Longhorns are ranked third nationally in total defense, giving up just 249.5 yards per game. Texas is ranked second nationally in scoring defense, giving up just 12.5 points per game. Texas ranks 15th nationally against the run (106.38 yards per game) and No. 1 nationally against the pass, giving up just 143.1 yards per game.

Texas gave up over 100 rushing yards seven times, twice to Georgia (108 and 141), and a season-high 197 against Florida. Kentucky managed just 21 yards on the ground in its loss.

Only two teams cracked the 200-yard mark through the air against Longhorns – Michigan (204), and Kentucky (211). Florida is the only school to crack 300 yards of total offense, with 329 yards. That 329-yard mark would serve as the fourth-lowest for the Clemson defense this season.

Texas is ninth nationally in sacks with 38 and recorded six sacks on four occasions (Miss St., Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky). Freshman edge Colin Simmons leads Texas with eight sacks, while sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill registered 4.5 sacks. Fourteen different players have a spot in the sack column.

The Longhorns are seventh nationally in tackles for loss, with 95 (for 402 yards lost). Texas is third nationally in interceptions, with 19 (San Jose St. and BYU each have 20), and it collected a season-high three against Georgia in October.

FIVE KEYS TO A CLEMSON WIN

1. Take care of the football. The Tigers are ranked fifth nationally in turnover margin (plus-16) with 25 takeaways against just nine turnovers. Texas is opportunistic on defense, but also lost 22 turnovers (the same as Clemson last season). Clemson is attempting to win the turnover margin for a sixth straight game. It would be Clemson’s first time winning the turnover margin in six straight contests since a nine-game streak in 2019.

2. Find the running game. Phil Mafah won’t be entirely healthy until he has surgery, but the Tigers still have to run the football enough to keep that dangerous Texas defense honest. To me, that means quarterback Cade Klubnik is going to have to be a huge part of the run game, along with those short throws that act as part of the run game.

3. Score points! That sounds simple, but the Tigers put up yards and plays against both Louisville and South Carolina but didn’t turn those into points.

4. Play complementary football for four quarters. The Tigers will have two good quarters out of the offense, and three good quarters out of the defense, or vice versa, and then it all goes hooey. Teams that should have been put away have crept back into games because of a conservative offense and a conservative defense.

5. Stop the Texas run game. As we’ve noted, Texas is prone to turning it over, and if the Tigers can stop the Longhorn rushing attack and make Ewers one-dimensional, the defense can stymie them enough to win the game.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

I was running through the keys to the game with a former player – one who wears a couple of big-time rings – and he told me, “Hope isn’t a gameplan.”

That’s the critical thing for me. Clemson needs to do things it hasn’t done this season – score points on a really good defense, stop a dominant rushing attack, and play four quarters of good football. It can happen. Clemson has a chance to stroll into Austin and steal one from the Longhorns, but it will take its best effort of the season.

I don’t see it happening. The Texas defense leads the way to a win.

FINAL SCORE: TEXAS 27, CLEMSON 17

TigerNet picks

David Hood – TigerNet senior writer – 27-17 Texas
Mickey Plyler – The Roar 105.5 morning show host – 31-17 Texas
Nikki Hood – Staff writer – 20-17 Clemson
Brandon Rink – Associate editor – 24-22 Clemson
Tony Crumpton – Associate editor – 24-23 Clemson
Ryan Kantor – Contributing Writer – 23-14 Texas
Ariana Pensy – Intern – 27-21 Texas
Merrell Mann – Photographer – 27-24 Clemson
Brooks Thomason – Intern – 30-10 Texas
Grayson Mann – Staff writer – 20-17 Texas

Game	Actual	David Hood	Plyler	Nikki Hood	Rink	Crumpton	Kantor	Pensy	M. Mann	Thomason	G. Mann
Georgia	34-3 UGA	27-24 CU	23-21 CU	24-17 CU	29-20 UGA	27-20 UGA	28-21 UGA	24-17 UGA	17-14 CU	27-21 UGA	27-23 UGA
App State	66-20 CU	34-14 CU	30-16 CU CU	38-17 CU	34-17 CU	31-17 CU	35-10 CU	30-10 CU	31-10 CU	31-13 CU	28-10 CU
NC State	59-35 CU	34-13 CU	38-16 CU	42-20 CU	30-13 CU	28-10 CU	35-14 CU	34-17 CU	38-17 CU	31-10 CU	31-10 CU
Stanford	40-14 CU	44-20 CU	48-17 CU	38-10 CU	44-16 CU	42-14 CU	41-17 CU	45-17 CU	48-21 CU	40-20 CU	41-17 CU
FSU	29-13 CU	41-13 CU	42-10 CU	42-17 CU	38-16 CU	35-14 CU	40-14 CU	55-7 CU	44-20 CU	31-16 CU	45-14 CU
Wake Forest	49-14 CU	47-20 CU	44-20 CU	52-14 CU	45-20 CU	48-13 CU	48-14 CU	35-14 CU	42-13 CU	38-17 CU	45-10 CU
Virginia	48-31 CU	38-16 CU	42-17 CU	38-17 CU	44-20 CU	45-14 CU	47-14 CU	45-17 CU	45-13 CU	42-20 CU	41-17 CU
Louisville	33-21 UL	44-28 CU	40-25 CU	45-24 CU	40-21 CU	34-21 CU	49-31 CU	37-27 CU	42-27 CU	41-28 CU	38-21 CU
Va Tech	24-14 CU	30-23 CU	30-20 CU	28-17 CU	26-22 CU	24-17 CU	41-28 CU	28-24 CU	30-24 CU	31-20 CU	23-21 CU
Pitt	24-20 CU	27-16 CU	31-17 CU	28-12 CU	31-16 CU	31-21 CU	35-17 CU	27-20 CU	34-24 CU	24-21 CU	31-17 CU
The Citadel	51-14 CU	52-6 CU	44-14 CU	55-7 CU	44-7 CU	56-7 CU	46-14 CU	45-10 CU	42-17 CU	52-17 CU	56-17 CU
SC	17-14 SC	26-20 SC	27-24 CU	28-20 CU	24-22 CU	28-24 CU	31-30 SC	34-33 CU	35-31 CU	20-17 CU	30-21 SC
SMU	34-31 CU	31-23 CU	30-27 CU	30-28 SMU	27-23 SMU	28-24 CU	28-21 SMU	24-20 CU	27-24 CU	31-24 SMU	27-26 SMU
Points	–	14	13	15	16	17	14	11	10	19	11

* Points: 3 pts for best correct prediction of the week (tiebreaker is Clemson score), 2 pts for picking score exactly, 1 pt for picking the correct winner

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Austin, TX

Where is Cade Klubnik from? Hometown, high school and more about Clemson QB's Texas roots | Sporting News

Published

15 hours ago

December 20, 2024

Press Room

Where is Cade Klubnik from? Hometown, high school and more about Clemson QB's Texas roots | Sporting News

When Clemson travels to Austin to play Texas in the College Football Playoff on Saturday afternoon, it will be a bit of a homecoming for the Tigers’ quarterback. Cade Klubnik grew up in Austin, Texas, and he will be returning to play football in the area for the first time since leaving to attend Clemson.

As a member of the ACC, Clemson doesn’t typically travel to Texas for games, so Klubnik may not have expected to play close to where he grew up in college. But not only is he getting a chance to return to his hometown, he does so in the most important game of the season for either team.

While the 21-year-old junior is trying keep his focus on beating Texas, he did mention the excitement in playing in his hometown again.

“Obviously I’ve had quite a few people reach out to me in the last week and a half,” Klubnik said, via On3. “I think like last Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, I just kind of embraced it and just kind of got to sit there and enjoy the feeling of, ‘Hey, I’m getting to go home.’ You know, the guys I’m getting to be playing, the people that are going to be there, and just kind of enjoyed that for one or two days.”

Ahead of Clemson’s showdown against Texas in Austin, here is a breakdown of Klubnik’s history growing up in Austin, Texas.

MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS:

Cade Klubnik high school

Before starring at Clemson, Klubnik attended Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, which is just 20 minutes away from the University of Texas’ campus. If that high school sounds familiar, it’s because Westlake High School has many famous alumni athletes that graduated over the years.

Among famous Westlake graduates include Drew Brees, Nick Foles, Justin Tucker and Sam Ehlinger, the latter two players stayed close to home by attending Texas in college.

Additionally, in 2020, Klubnik helped lead Westlake to the state title, and he did so by beating then-Southlake Carroll quarterback Quinn Ewers in the finals. On Saturday, Klubnik and Ewers will meet for the first time since that game in January of 2021.

Cade Klubnik high school stats

Year	Games	Completion Percentage	Passing Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions
2019	12	76.8%	680	8	1
2020	14	67.7%	3,495	35	3
2021	13	71.1%	3,215	43	3

Klubnik was a star in high school, which led to him becoming a five-star recruit in the class of 2022. According to 247 Sports, Klubnik was ranked No. 13 in the country, and No. 2 among quarterbacks, when he chose to attend Clemson for college.

Cade Klubnik college stats

Year	Games	Completion Percentage	Passing Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions
2022	10	61%	697	2	3
2023	13	63.9%	2,844	19	9
2024	13	63.7%	3,303	33	5

Klubnik took over as Clemson’s starter in 2023, and after an unspectacular first season, he improved his play in his second as a starter this year.

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Austin, TX

Austin mother charged with capital murder in death of 6-week-old infant son

Published

23 hours ago

December 19, 2024

Press Room

Austin mother charged with capital murder in death of 6-week-old infant son

AUSTIN, Texas (KWTX) – Jacqueline Mendoza-Ramirez, 21, of Austin, is charged with capital murder in the death of her 6-week-old infant son.

On Nov. 27, Austin police say officers responded to the Dell Children’s Medical Center, located at 4900 Mueller Boulevard, for a dead person call.

The parents of a 6-week-old infant had taken their baby to the hospital as he was not breathing, police say.

Hospital staff attempted life-saving measures on the infant but were unsuccessful, and the infant was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to police.

Additional authorities responded to process the scene, and their initial investigation showed the infant had several trauma injuries on his body, police say.

Police say CPS was notified and the parents of the infant were interviewed.

On Dec. 18, an arrest warrant for capital murder was issued for Mendoza-Ramirez in the death of the infant. She was arrested the same day, according to police.

Anyone with additional information is asked to call Austin police at 512-974-8477.

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