Two weeks ago, the UT mock trial team placed third at the National Mock Trial Competition, effectively ranking us third in the nation out of 600 teams from 300 universities that competed. Last year, we placed third and sixth in the nation, and two years ago we placed as well. I am enumerating our accomplishments because The Daily Texan will not.

Despite our continued success as one of the top mock trial teams in the nation, The Daily Texan has never found our organization worthy of coverage. Once a month from November until April, our 15-person team travels across the country, on our own dime, to represent UT in one of the premier collegiate academic competitions.

We realize our group is relatively small and doesn’t deserve as much coverage as issues such as budget cuts or attacks on University research, but surely there is some room in between stories about pet parades and synthetic marijuana bans for a small brief about a group of dedicated, smart and nationally renowned Longhorns. We may not march to the Capitol or stage attention-grabbing events on the West Mall but we are hard-working UT students who regularly represent the University across the nation.

While The Daily Texan doesn’t care to publish this laudable success, it seems other top university papers do. NYU’s paper and UCLA’s Daily Bruin both published stories about the teams that finished just above Texas. The University of Washington and Tufts University also published about their teams, both of which ranked below Texas.

I’m not asking for a front page story or a multi-issue feature, but I’m disappointed that the Texan, for multiple years, essentially says our accomplishments and dedication are not important enough to mention. I realize there are many pressing issues the Texan must cover in finite column inches, but I wish my student paper cared a little more about students.

— Janet Landry
President, UT Mock Trial