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TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019
volume
119,
issue
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
SPORTS
SG officially approved a new voting system to be used in upcoming elections. PA G E 2
UT must make it easier to access information on professor misconduct. PA G E 4
Students transform Twitter discussion into new honor society for students of color. PA G E 5
After sluggish start, Longhorns suffer disapointing loss to West Virginia. PA G E 6
CITY
87
PROJECT
Redesign proposal for State Hospital costs $300M By Chase Karacostas @chasekaracostas
The Dell Medical School unveiled its nearly $300 million plan to remodel Austin State Hospital, the oldest psychiatric facility in the state. Austin State Hospital first opened in 1861 and has expanded several times, but now the campus is falling apart after decades of deterioration. The Brain Health System Redesign, released Monday, focuses on renovating the entire hospital, which has 252 beds, as well as improving local mental health care. A 2014 report conducted for the Health and Human Services Commission found that the hospital, as well as several other mental health facilities around the state, needed not just to be renovated but replaced entirely. “They were built in an era when healthcare was extremely different,” HHSC representative Mike Maples said. “The care inside of the hospitals has been state of the art and continues to be. It’s just the healthcare environment around them has just been so lacking.” The hospital treats both shortand long-term care patients with a range of mental health issues. Many of ASH’s patients find their way there after being arrested and identified as needing mental health treatment. The 85th Texas Legislature gave Dell Medical School $15.5 million for research and planning for the redesign, and now the school and the HHSC will request an additional $283–$330 million for the final proposal. The proposal has already garnered the support of several lawmakers, including state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which controls the state budget. The high price tag on the redesign would only make up a small portion of the state’s budget, which totaled $217 billion during the legislative session. Watson said if the Legislature declines to pay for the improvements now, costs will still incur down the line, as the state’s criminal justice system and homeless facilities are overwhelmed by individuals in need of mental health care. “We are at a point of crisis in some instances, and we’re going to address that,” Watson said. Beyond renovating the hospital, the plan’s other primary
HOSPITAL
page
jeb milling
& rena li | the daily texan staff
Cumberland family asks University for hazing reform
After son’s death, family pushes for transparency in Texas Cowboys and University policies. By Lisa Nhan @lmnhan24
he family of former student Nicky Cumberland, who died in fall 2018 from injuries sustained on the way home from a Texas Cowboys retreat, sent a letter Sunday night to University administration asking for hazing reforms. The letter, written by Nicky’s father Shawn Cumberland, contains reform suggestions for the Texas Cowboys and “broad-based reforms” for other student organizations and was sent to President Gregory Fenves and Dean of Students Soncia Reagins-Lilly. “We want to stop hazing,” Cumberland said to The Daily Texan. “It’s part of remembering Nicky, but it’s also the nature of our family … hard challenges are not something we aren’t going to go after.” Since their son’s death, the Cumberland family has requested an investigation into hazing they believe occured at the retreat. The Cumberland family said they were told by Cowboys who attended that hazing had occurred before the crash. The Texas Cowboys, a University spirit organization, is best known for firing “Smokey the Cannon” at football games. In the letter, Cumberland calls for a ban of the Cowboys
for “an appropriate amount of time” but said the Cowboys shouldn’t be removed permanently. Rather, Cumberland said he wants the spirit organization reformed with a focus on hazing prevention. “The Cowboys should represent an uncompromising force for good, a promoter of equality and protector against humiliation,” the letter said. “In short, The Cowboys should be the staunch anti-hazing organization on campus.” Cumberland also suggested other reforms for the organization such as making Cowboys coed and establishing a new motto and reform committee. The University-wide reforms include disciplining those who keep silent about witnessed hazing and prohibiting organizations from confiscating members’ cell phones. Cumberland said there is one “unifying theme” to these broad reforms. “Transparency,” Cumberland wrote. “Transparency would have prevented Nicky’s meaningless death.” Cumberland said in the letter that he met with many fraternity members who said “hazing exists today within their organizations, they don’t like it, they wish things were different, but there’s nothing they can do about it.” “We talked to this guy who said, ‘What can one guy
HAZING
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CAMPUS
Longhorn EMS submits second proposal to UT, aims to save lives By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
Students may see the establishment of Longhorn Emergency Medical Services as a campus first response organization. Student Body President Colton Becker said in a campus-wide email that a new proposal had been submitted to authorities both on and off campus. Longhorn EMS chief Anthony Liu said the organization didn’t leave enough room for University input in their previous proposal, so this time they left their proposal flexible to meet University needs. “This is a need on campus; it’s not just a perk,” exercise science senior Liu said. “We want to give the University options to put whatever they want within the proposal to make it happen.” Longhorn EMS is a registered student organization with 40 certified emergency medical technicians, though students do not have to be certified as an EMT to join. Nutritional sciences senior Becker said he decided to
promise the establishment of a campus first response organization in his presidential campaign last spring following the death of freshman Harrison Brown in May 2017. “Harrison Brown was a friend and mentee of mine, and I remember the day he passed away,” Becker said. “When the stabbing occurred, the ambulance couldn’t get to the scene because they were blocked off at the check station in front of the PCL … that’s when I really started paying attention to EMS response time on campus.” The University initially had concerns regarding the safety of student EMTs responding to emergencies, but Longhorn EMS captain Jordyn Chang said the EMTs accept the risks. “Once we wear the badge, we assume responsibility,” said Chang, a health and society senior. “If we aren’t working on campus, most of our EMTs do work off campus as EMTs, and they assume that responsibility every day.” The issues of campus inaccessibility and insufficient response times are partially why Mark
Escott, EMS system medial director for the City of Austin and Travis County, is helping Longhorn EMS with their first response organization goal. More than 150 universities across the world have some sort of campus emergency system in place, and having this resource helps prepare not only the student EMTs, but also the community as a whole in an emergency, Escott said. UT-Dallas became the only school in the UT System to have a campus first response organization when it established University Emergency Medical Response in 2017. University EMR chief Scott Bell said UEMR can respond to critical and minor calls within two minutes, which can save lives and put City emergency vehicles back into service faster. “We deal with a lot of life-threatening things and we also deal with a lot of non-life-threatening things,” said Bell, a neuroscience junior at UTD. “Coupling those together, we’re really able to have an all-encompassing effect on campus safety.” Escott said he currently
pedro luna | the daily texan staff Jordyn Cheng, right, and Anthony Liu, LEMS chief of operations, are spearheading a push for integrated EMS within the University. Taking precautions like this is part of Student Body President Colton Becker’s promise in a recent University-wide email to take better safety measures across campus.
provides mentorship to Longhorn EMS and has offered the group his oversight as a physician if they become an official program of the state. “Any one of these
students could be employed by Austin-Travis County EMS and be paid to do this job today,” Escott said. “But we have professionals who are students who are willing to do this for
free, and I think we ought to provide them that opportunity. It’s worth the risk. It’s worth the financial investment to provide this layer of safety to the campus community.”