Making a deal with the devil

“I don’t have any policies to advance, but I do have a college to advance. I would go and talk to the devil himself, if necessary, to explain what a wonderful place we are to invest in.” — Roderick Hart, dean of the newly renamed Moody College of Communication, on his commitment to fundraising for the school.

Hall promises Powers’ head 

“[Hall] told Sexton that UT leadership was most likely going to change during the year, and maybe the timing would be better a year or two later. Specifically, he made the statement [that] Bill Powers wouldn’t be here at the end of the year.” — Tom Hicks, brother of UT System Regent Steven Hicks, in a letter made public Wednesday evening. Tom Hicks admitted that he, along with his brother and Wallace Hall, the embattled regent under investigation for possible impeachment, had called Jimmy Sexton, University of Alabama coach Nick Saban’s agent, to ask if he might be interested in replacing current head coach Mack Brown. 

Voting problems

“There is a misconception that because a student is only here for a certain amount of semesters, they shouldn’t participate in decisions being made about this area. I think students should pay more attention to local issues because even if the outcome won’t affect them, odds are it will affect future students who won’t have had the opportunity to cast a vote on the issue.” — Nathan Roberts, Hook the Vote agency assistant director, on low student voter turnout.

“My concern is for every 100 people who cast a provisional ballot, how many are going to come back and cure it? We don’t have 100 people who have cast a provisional ballot so it’s not a significant issue right now, but next year in the governor’s race, who knows what it’s going to look like when you have 10 times the people voting?” — Travis County Tax Assessor Bruce Elfant on the new difficulties posed by voter ID.

Recovering from sexual assault

“Healing from this trauma isn’t a straight line. It’s more like a mountain you’re climbing around. Sometimes you’ll end up at that same rough point in the mountain, months or even years later, and you’ll feel like you haven’t progressed — but you’re still higher than you were.” — Art history senior Kaila Scheeden on her experience of healing from sexual assault.