By Kayla Meyertons @kemeyertons
Red, white and blue lights flashed outside of Natalia’s apartment, as she voluntarily got into a cop car, pulled out her phone and loaded UT Canvas to notify her professors of her suicide attempt. “I guess I kind of thought that was my responsibility to tell them because it was my fault I was going to the hospital,” Natalia said. “... I didn’t know what UT would do for me just as a person (and) as a student. I didn’t know how far they extended their reach.” Natalia described her episode as a “fullon, unprovoked mental breakdown,” due to severe depression combined with work and relationship stresses. As Natalia was getting ready to go through with the attempt, a friend intervened and told Natalia to call the cops. Natalia was admitted to a mental hospital on March 18 and received treatment for one week. Natalia has asked The Daily Texan to withhold her year, major and last
name for anonymity purposes. She is currently a student at UT. If a student attempts suicide and is hospitalized, professors will be notified by Student Emergency Services that a medical emergency has taken place, as with any other type of student hospitalization. UT students have to notify their professors of a suicide attempt on their own unless the student asks to sign a release of information with Student Emergency Services, allowing the office to inform professors for the student, said Sara Kennedy, spokesperson for the Office of the Dean of Students. It is up to faculty discretion as to whether to excuse the student for the missed class dates due to the attempt. This blanket notification to professors is in place to protect the confidentiality of survivors who don’t wish to disclose the details of their attempts to their professors, said SES Director Kelly Soucy. “We leave it up to the individual
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| the daily texan staff
student to tell us how much they are comfortable with sharing,” Soucy said. “If a student wants us to help them have that conversation with a faculty member, we’ll do what we can to support them.” SES can be notified of a student’s mental health-related emergency by Austin-area hospitals and emergency rooms, the University of Texas Police Department or UT’s Counseling and Mental Health Center, CMHC Director Chris Brownson said. April Foreman, licensed psychologist and board member for the American Association of Suicidology, said it is perfectly legal for a university to offer an optional release of information for students seeking to
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CAMPUS
Dozens rally for sexual assault survivors, blockade Speedway By Megan Menchaca @meganmenchaca13
Even as rain began to pour, dozens of people linked their arms together and chanted “We believe survivors” and “Survivors united will never be divided” Tuesday afternoon on Speedway. During the Stand with Survivors rally, organizers and attendees provided support and resources for sexual assault survivors and emphasized ways to engage in self-care. In
between participating in chants, speakers also shared stories of their sexual assaults and gave advice for organizing as a community. After the Young Conservatives of Texas demonstrated in support of the confirmation of then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh last week, Sarah Kerr, an international relations and global studies sophomore, said she wanted to create an event to support the UT community of sexual assault survivors. Kavanaugh was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice
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sarah el-zein | the daily texan staff Joyce Gomez, right, is left in tears while chanting with attendees at the Stand with Survivors rally.
on Saturday. “I thought if we didn’t respond … people are just going to think that the harm that was caused this week is just going to go unhealed,” rally co-organizer Kerr said. “We wanted to respond and show that we’re going to fight back (and) that survivors on campus deserve to feel safe.” Rally co-organizer Angel Bierce helped attendees form human blockades on both sides of Speedway, forcing students on the street to walk around the protesters. Bierce said they wanted the inconvenience of the
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blockades to mirror the inconvenience of sexual assault. “UT needs to see that people on this campus feel silenced,” said Kaci Pelias, a theater and dance junior. “Everyone on campus needs to feel safe, especially survivors. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue.” According to the UT System’s 2017 Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments report, 15 percent of female undergraduates at UT-Austin have been sexually assaulted since
SURVIVORS
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