Texas
In lawsuit, UT-Austin professor accuses Texas A&M faculty program of discriminating against white and Asian men
/static.texastribune.org/media/files/369e11ffa44457667353625ea85bee9e/TAMU%20File%20AG%20TT%2006.jpg "In lawsuit, UT-Austin professor accuses Texas A&M faculty program of discriminating against white and Asian men")
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A College of Texas at Austin professor has sued Texas A&M College claiming a brand new school fellowship program designed to extend range on the flagship college in School Station discriminates in opposition to white and Asian male candidates.
Richard Lowery, a finance professor at UT-Austin who’s white, filed the federal class-action lawsuit on Saturday in opposition to the Texas A&M College System and its board of regents, Annie McGowan, Texas A&M’s vice chairman and affiliate provost for range, and N.Ok. Anand, Texas A&M’s vice chairman for school affairs.
Lowery is represented by America First Authorized, a bunch created by Stephen Miller, a coverage advisor for former President Donald Trump, and Jonathan Mitchell, a former solicitor basic for Texas and the authorized architect of Texas’ six-week abortion ban.
Within the lawsuit, Lowery claims {that a} new fellowship program introduced this summer season inside Texas A&M’s school hiring program referred to as the Accountability, Local weather, Fairness and Scholarship School Fellows program, or ACES, violates Title VI and Title IX, of the federal Civil Rights Act in addition to the 14th Modification’s equal safety clause.
Whereas the ACES program focuses on hiring just lately graduated PhD college students who need to enter academia, the brand new ACES Plus Program focuses on “mid-career and senior tenure-track hires from underrepresented minority teams, that contribute to transferring the structural composition of our school in direction of parity with that of the State of Texas.” It units apart $2 million over the subsequent two fiscal years to assist match a fellow’s base wage and advantages, as much as a most of $100,000.
In accordance with Texas A&M’s announcement this summer season, the college recognized under-represented minority teams as African People, Hispanic/Latino People, Native People, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
“Texas A&M’s proclaimed purpose of building a college whose racial composition attains “parity with that of the state of Texas” seeks to attain racial balancing, which is flatly unlawful beneath Title VI and the binding precedent of the Supreme Courtroom,” the lawsuit argues. “Professor Lowery sues on behalf of a category of all white and Asian males who stand “in a position and prepared” to use for school appointments at Texas A&M.”
In an announcement, Texas A&M system spokesperson Laylan Copelin referred to as the lawsuit an “uncommon job software when Mr. Lowery says within the lawsuit he’s ‘in a position and prepared’ to use for a college appointment at Texas A&M. However our legal professionals will evaluate the lawsuit, consult with Texas A&M and take applicable motion as warranted.”
On its webpage for the bigger ACES program, Texas A&M encourages “ladies, minorities, and members of different underrepresented teams” to use and says they are going to be actively sought.
In accordance with Texas A&M’s range plan, ACES School Fellows Program promotes the analysis, instructing, and scholarship of early profession students who embrace the assumption that range is an indispensable element of educational excellence,” the web site reads. “From this expertise at Texas A&M, fellows ought to develop an understanding of the worth of range and inclusion and the ability that it holds for college students, school, and workers to complement their lives.”
In the course of the fall 2021 semester, there have been 2,658 white school members in comparison with 180 black school members and 335 Hispanic members, based on Texas A&M’s knowledge.
The plaintiff’s legal professionals are looking for declaratory and injunctive reduction from the courtroom on behalf of Lowery. In addition they desire a courtroom monitor appointed to supervise the college’s range workplace and school hiring.
Disclosure: Texas A&M College, Texas A&M College System and College of Texas at Austin have been monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full record of them right here.
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Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson is being called to testify at a state House committee hearing Friday at noon, as ordered by a new subpoena issued this week.
But whether the condemned man will be produced in person is unclear, after the state’s attorney general’s office filed a motion late Thursday allowing the prison to disregard the subpoena pending a hearing to resolve the motion. The office also resisted in October with a similar subpoena for a hearing with state lawmakers.
The new hearing requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to transport Roberson from his prison north of Houston to the state Capitol in Austin.
In a statement issued Thursday, the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton said, “In addition to presenting serious security risks, the subpoena is procedurally defective and therefore invalid as it was issued in violation of the House Rules, the Texas Constitution, and other applicable laws.”
Paxton said in October that there were safety concerns with having Roberson brought before lawmakers and cited a lack of a state facility near Austin that could temporarily house him. The state had said he could testify virtually.
In response, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence offered a compromise that its members could meet with Roberson in prison, saying they were uncomfortable with the video option, given his autism and unfamiliarity with the technology. The meeting, however, never materialized.
A Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson said Wednesday that it “doesn’t have a comment at this time” on whether it would abide by this latest subpoena.
The decision by House committee lawmakers to issue a second subpoena comes after the attorney general’s office challenged the initial one. The original subpoena was an unusual legal gambit that set off a flurry of litigation that put Roberson’s execution on hold mere hours before he was to be executed on Oct. 17. He would have been the nation’s first person to be executed for a “shaken baby” death after long maintaining his innocence. His 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, died in 2002.
The House committee members said they still want Roberson to be able to testify in his case as it relates to a 2013 “junk science” law that allows Texas inmates to potentially challenge convictions based on advances in forensic science.
“Robert’s testimony will shed important light on some of the problems with our ‘junk science writ’ process, a legal procedure Texas lawmakers expected to provide reconsideration in cases like this one,” committee chair and state Rep. Joe Moody, a Democrat, and committee member and state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Republican, said in a statement. “His perspective will be especially valuable as a person on the autism spectrum whose neurodivergence profoundly influenced both his case and his access to justice on appeal.”
Last month, the Texas Supreme Court sided with state officials that lawmakers could not use their subpoena power to effectively halt an execution, but said the committee members could still compel Roberson to testify.
The attorney general’s office has not set a new execution date.
Meanwhile, the lawmakers and Paxton have sparred publicly over Roberson’s case, with each accusing the other of “misrepresenting” details that led to his conviction in his daughter’s death and releasing their own reports in recent weeks rebutting each other’s claims.
Doctors and law enforcement had quickly concluded Nikki was killed as a result of a violent shaking episode, but Roberson’s defense says new understanding of so-called shaken baby syndrome shows that other medical conditions can be factors in a child’s death, as they believe it was in Nikki’s.
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Texas
Freezing start forecast in North Texas for the first day of winter before rain on Christmas Eve
NORTH TEXAS — It was another cold start to the day with temperatures near or below the freezing line; however, the cold didn’t last long: highs in the afternoon topped out in the 60s.
Another freezing morning will also be expected Saturday morning due to a dry front moving across the area. It’s important to remember to bring indoors pets and plants as well as to protect your pipes.
A beautiful weekend is in store for North Texas, with plenty of sunshine and highs in the 50s. Saturday is the official start of Winter Solstice, which is the shortest day and longest night of the year. The high will be 56, which is where DFW normally sits.
The upper-level high-pressure system retreats to the west and a low takes power at the start of the next week. This will cause a big pattern shift, meaning rain will be back in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday.
Conditions look to significantly improve during the afternoon on Wednesday.
Chances for rain return at the end of the next week thanks to another front.
Enjoy Mother Nature’s gift of a beautiful weekend.
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