SERVING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900 @THEDAILYTEXAN | THEDAILYTEXAN.COM
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 88
N E WS
O PI N I O N
LI FE&A RTS
SPORTS
Lecturer tries to make general education requirements interesting. PAGE 2
Thoughts on Austin infrastructure and appropriation of funds. PAGE 4
Learn about a UT alumna’s delicious journey to food blog stardom. PAGE 8
Texas’ gameplan for Thursday’s matchup with Baylor is simple — score a lot. PAGE 6
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SG surveys for interest in donating to senior class gift
CAMPUS
CMHC clarifies counseling limitations No hard limit on shortterm counseling exists, but resources are limited. By Stephanie Adeline @stephadeline
D
espite misconceptions across campus, the Counseling and Mental Health Center has no concrete limit to the number of counseling sessions available to students.
By Katie Balevic @ thedailytexan
Seniors received an email from Student Government yesterday with a survey gauging class interest in donating to a senior gift — something SG hopes will become a new Longhorn tradition. “Our senior class wants to pay it forward so that no student feels that they can’t be at UT,” said Cameron Maxwell, SG external finance director. “For students who are struggling to get by day to day, this project is for them.” The survey, which was emailed exclusively to seniors, listed a variety of options. Students could check all items that they would consider donating to, including a general scholarship fund for future students, donations to the CMHC and a Longhorn silhouette sculpture on campus. “This really has to be something that students want to do and that students get behind,” finance senior Maxwell said. “I view it as a way that the senior class can come together and express some of that spirit that we have about UT and have that camaraderie with fellow classmates.” The objective of the gift is to
Marla Craig, associate director for clinical services at CMHC, said although there is no fixed number, the CMHC only offers shortterm counseling for students, and the average student completes three sessions. When a student first comes to the CMHC, a counselor conducts a brief assessment and suggests counseling options based on their needs. If short-term counseling at CMHC is deemed best for the student, they are scheduled for four weekly appointments.
At the end of the four weeks, the student is scheduled for two follow-up appointments, which serve as a re-evaluation of the student’s needs. These two phases make for a combined total of six sessions — but during the follow-up appointments, the counselor and student may decide there is a need for more sessions. “We’ll always be looking at what the need is because not all students are going to fit into the same resource,” Craig said. “Some of them are done
within three sessions, but we at least schedule the four so they have it. Others are going to need more than four, they’re going to need more than six.” After President Gregory Fenves announced last week that CMHC counseling sessions, which previously cost students $10, would now be fully subsidized, many students expressed concerns about a session limit. Craig said the CMHC has made many changes to their clinical system in the past few years and does not recall having information on a
CMHC page 2
mel westfall| the daily texan staff
GIFT page 2 CAMPUS
UNIVERSITY
New parking equipment poses challenges in Brazos
Students reflect on new LGBTQ studies minor, certificate
By Allyson Waller @allyson_renee7
A new year is bringing new changes to University parking garages. This semester, UT Parking and Transportation Services is installing new parking machines in campus garages. However, the change is causing some problems for frequent garage users by requiring them to obtain
new credentials. “The change impacts everyone with access to (a) garage,” PTS director Bobby Stone said. “It will have a bigger impact on faculty and staff because the credentials that they use to enter with will need to be changed.” The new machines introduce a bar code scanner as one of the methods of reading permits, making PTS’ operation more efficient. While rearview mirror
channing miller | the daily texan staff
permits will be compatible with the new machines, non-permit holders will have to obtain new passes that are compatible with the new equipment and other permit holders will no longer be able to use proximity cards to enter garages. PTS is making sure to send out emails to those impacted by the change, Stone said. While the upgrade is intended to be more efficient, students and faculty have encountered problems with the new system. Emily Howell, health promotion and behavioral science senior, said she was stuck in the Brazos Garage for about an hour last week because of a system malfunction. “I had just gotten off work the same time that the UT basketball game had gotten out, and I was trying to leave the garage, as were all of the people that were at the game,” Howell said. “It ended up (that) every single kiosk that was in the garage was jammed and so no one could leave.” Vicente Lozano, University Writing Center systems administrator, also had trouble leaving the garage at the beginning of the month. Lozano said PTS should have had people physically there to help, and he would have preferred there be more warning about the new changes. “There (was) next to no signage about the change,” Lozano said. “I think (emails) are one valid way for the word to
BRAZOS page 2
By Brianna Stone @ bristone19
After many years of planning, the LGBTQ Studies Program launched for the 2017–2018 academic year last fall, bringing a new track of coursework for students. LGBTQ studies offers a transcript-recognized minor and certificate for undergraduates and a LGBTQ/Sexualities track for graduate students working on the graduate portfolio program in women’s and gender studies. “(The idea for bringing LGBTQ studies to UT has) been there for as long as LGBTQ studies scholars have been researching and teaching at UT, which would take us back to at least the 1980s and 1990s, when scholars such as Lisa Moore (in 1991) and me (in 1987) joined the faculty,” Program Director Ann Cvetkovich said in an emailed statement. “We’re already teaching many courses, and have been for quite some time, so this impact is ongoing … The courses provide an opportunity for LGBTQ-identified students to learn about their own history, culture and politics, and they also afford all students the opportunity to become more knowledgeable about issues of gender and sexuality that affect all of us.” LGBTQ studies is led by an advisory council made up of LGBTQ-affiliated faculty and staff from various departments. The program builds from the LGBTQ/Sexualities research cluster that was founded
mallika gandhi | the daily texan staff in 2004. When asked about the possiblity of a LGBTQ studies major, Cvetkovich said they are likely to continue partnering with the WGS major. “We are hoping to see WGS become a department in the coming years, which would in turn create more resources for (LGBTQ) studies,” Cvetkovich said. Marketing sophomore Aleyiah Pena is currently working on the LGBTQ studies minor. She added the minor after taking Intro to LGBTQ Studies and thought it would be interesting
to learn about the history. “Since I’m a marketing major, I have to know how many different people think, because you have to market toward them and really know your audience in order to do it right,” Pena said. “I feel like with this (LGBTQ studies minor) I’m diversifiying my knowledge of different people and learning about where they come from and what they’ve been through.” As someone who identifies with the LGBTQ community, Pena said taking LGBTQ
LGBTQ page 2