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1900
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2019
volume
119,
issue
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
SPORTS
UT grads, state legislators promote education reform and women in the Lege. PA G E 3
UT should have a mandatory presentation on birth control at orientation. PA G E 4
Students consider what makes or breaks a healthy college lifestyle. PA G E 5
Texas finally clicks on offense, picks up season-saving win over No. 11 Kansas. PA G E 6
CITY
88
CAMPUS
City of Austin plans to fence off downtown alley to limit crime rates By Hayden Baggett @HaydenBaggett
The City of Austin is preparing to fence off a downtown alley that city officials have described as criminally-active and bad for business. The alley, which runs through the 700 block of Red River Street and connects to Waller Creek, will be blocked by two 10-foot fences, said Joel Sher, chair of Austin’s Downtown Commission. Sher said the decision to fence the space came in mid-January after the Red River Cultural Districts Merchants Association brought the alley to the attention of his commission. “The businesses in the area have an issue with many of the activities that are going on in that alley, and those issues are mainly around criminal activity,” Sher said. “We have been told it’s everything from prostitution to drugs to, I believe, some assaults.” The Merchants Association previously attempted to curb crime in the alley by hiring security and using additional lighting, Sher said, but those measures ultimately backfired. “A private security officer was there at one point in time, and he had actually been assaulted,” Sher said. “That obviously didn’t
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Cleaning behind the scenes
UT Custodial Services helps students learn in an organized environment day and night. By Mason Carroll @masonccarroll
rank Zambrano starts his day at 5:30 a.m. by unlocking the 183 campus buildings Custodial Services maintains. He has worked at UT since 1992 and is one of the 448 employees that help keep campus clean. There are 14.8 million square feet maintained by Custodial Services, and each employee is responsible for 33,143 square feet, according to the Facilities Services website. Zambrano said while there is a lot of space, it is their duty to keep it clean. “Yeah, it is a big area we have, but we do our best,” Zambrano said. “There are a lot of reasons (that motivate) me — (from) my family, to coming to work and enjoy the other people here.” The earliest shifts start at 5:30 a.m. and the latest end at 2 a.m., so there are custodians maintaining campus more than 20 hours every day. Zambrano said he works the morning shift to go to his second job in the afternoon. “They give me time to do things (after work) and have a part-time (job),” Zambrano said. “It’s a real nice place and good work at the University of Texas. I really enjoy to be here and help.” Sally Moore, associate director of
mackenzie bentley | the daily texan staff Custodian Frank Zambrano is one of many employees who keep our campus clean and functioning behind the scenes. Zambrano has worked at the University for 27 years.
Custodial Services, has worked at UT since she was 19, and 40 years later, she is still trying to inspire change around campus. “I enjoy working in the University environment because the diversity of it is probably far greater than you’d get in any other job,” Moore said. “I’ve also enjoyed bringing in improvement into the workplace and making jobs easier and better for all of our employees.” One change Moore has pushed for since she was promoted to associate director is increasing wages. In 2017, the custodian starting wage was increased from $11 to $13 per hour. Moore said they are still working for better wages.
“That helped a little bit, but we would like to raise the pay again to keep up with a living wage and help our retention and be able to attract applicants more easily,” Moore said. “But we just don’t have that money figured out quite yet.” Zambrano said most students are quiet and do not bother the custodians, but economics sophomore Angela Kwak said their hard work does not go unnoticed. “Students and professors manage their own spaces, but outside of that, somebody has to do the job of the cleaning and the organizing,” Kwak said. “So (their job) is important to the function of the University.”
After spending almost four decades at UT, Moore said she has learned to be patient, and she is thankful for the dedication from the people she works with. “I am proud of them, and they do hard work without a whole lot of thanks sometimes,” Moore said. “We try to make sure that they know we appreciate them.” UT has become a second home for Zambrano, and he said he is grateful for the job he has. “You expect to work here all your life until you retire,” Zambrano said. “Especially when you work in a place like this, you really enjoy and get up and thank God for another day.”
UNIVERSITY
CITY
New initiative aims to assist employee victims
UTPD investigating CapMetro collision
erin mctaggart | the daily texan staff Victims Advocate Network coordinator Mayra Sigala-Ramon, left, and Deborah Sharp conducted the VAN meeting Tuesday afternoon at the University Police Building.
By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
University employees now have an additional campus resource provided by their coworkers that is solely for them — the Victims Advocate Network. The Victims Advocate Network is a group of specially-trained UT staff volunteers who work with the UT Police Department to respond to calls from distressed faculty who have been victims of crime or bystanders in an incident. The responding UTPD officer calls a VAN volunteer to the scene when they think the victim could benefit from psychological first aid and connection to more long-term resources. Psychological first aid includes validation of the emotions the victims are experiencing and letting them know it is okay to seek further help, such as counseling. “Everybody knows about CPR and even recently, there’s been the Stop the Bleed campaign, like being able to stop people’s physical wounds, but mental health
is a big issue too,” VAN volunteer Monica Kortsha said. “Being able to have someone be that mental health first responder (allows) people to handle their emotions and not feel completely overwhelmed in that situation.” Kortsha, a science writer at the Jackson School of Geosciences, said she worked at a crisis hotline and said it’s good for UT to establish this program alongside UTPD. “I know it can be super intimidating, along with having something horrible happen to you, (to have) somebody showing up in a uniform and a badge,” Kortsha said. “We’re not police officers. We show up in an orange vest and blankets and those little squeezy balls if people need a stress ball. It allows the police officers to focus on their job, too.” VAN has been active for about a week since UTPD Chief David Carter announced the program in a campus-wide email, and they have responded to one call since the program started. VAN volunteer Katherine
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joshua guenther | the daily texan staff A CapMetro bus is towed after a fatal accident at the corner of San Jacinto Boulevard and East 23rd Street. UTPD responded to the accident, which occurred Monday night, and closed off a portion of San Jacinto Boulevard.
By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
A man was pronounced dead on the scene after he collided with a Capital Metro bus near Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Monday night. The man dead was pronounced dead by Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services after responding to a report of a person trapped under a CapMetro bus at the corner of San Jacinto Boulevard and East 23rd Street, according to two of their tweets Monday. In a press conference held a few hours after the incident, UT Police Chief David Carter said the bus and the cyclist were both heading northbound on San Jacinto Blvd. when the collision happened. There were eight people aboard the bus and no one else was injured, Carter said. UTPD tweeted Tuesday afternoon
We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the deceased.”
CAPMETRO
the medical examiner confirmed the victim was not a student or staff member of UT. UTPD spokesperson Noelle Newton said UTPD is hoping to get the name of the victim today, and they are currently interviewing witnesses and investigating the accident. In another tweet, UTPD asked for passengers who were on the bus during the crash and left the scene before police arrived to call 512-4714441, ext. 9 to speak with a detective. The portion of San Jacinto Boulevard that was closed when UTPD was on the scene of the crash has since been reopened. CapMetro said they are working with APD and UTPD in an active investigation and cannot provide further details in a statement released Tuesday morning. “We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the deceased,” the statement said.