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1900
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2018
volume
119,
issue
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
SCIENCE&TECH
SPORTS
A nonprofit founded by UT students offers after school sports program to kids. PA G E 2
Current students should be consulted before policies are changed. PA G E 4
Burrito Factory brings authentic Mexican cuisine, family atmosphere to 40 Acres. PA G E 5
Toxic shock syndrome is a rare but deadly bacterial infection for tampon users. PA G E 7
Texas linebacker has more than just a conference championship at stake. PA G E 8
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CITY
CAMPUS
City invites community feedback on new mobility system
Deaf students struggle to request last-minute interpreters
By Raga Justin
By William Kosinski
@RagaJus
@WillKosinski
A $1 billion project to overhaul Austin’s current mobility system is in the works and up for community discussion until Dec. 21, according to city officials. Draft maps of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan were released last week and reveal the city’s proposals for transportation improvements. The plan has several goals, including repairing sidewalks throughout the city. It also contains specific projects, such as streamlining the busy intersection between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Guadalupe Street near campus. Liani Miller, projects manager for the plan, said it will re-imagine transportation in the city for the next 20 years. Previous transportation plans focused on individual “modes” — such as pedestrians, cyclists and vehicular transportation — but the plan will pull all of those together under one umbrella, Miller said. “These plans can complement each other rather than compete to make us more safe and mobile going forward,” Miller said. Miller said the plan was developed in part because of concern over the city’s rapid growth, with current transportation infrastructure not sufficient or sustainable enough for the way the city is expected to grow in the next few decades. Ultimately, project managers hope to see congestion improve and the number of traffic-related fatalities decline, Miller said, “We’re setting a vision for our future,” Miller said. One of the plan’s main partners is Capital Metro. The draft maps recommend that the city adopt CapMetro’s plans to develop high-capacity transit, known as Project Connect, which have been in development for several months. Jacob Calhoun, a transportation planner with Capital Metro, said a project as ambitious as high-capacity transit requires a cohesive plan like the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan to pull it
MOBILITY
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FROZEN IN PLACE jeb milling
| the daily texan staff
Student sexual assault survivors share what it’s like dealing with PTSD on a daily basis. By Francesca D’Annunzio
@ftcdnz
Editor’s note: Julia and names have been changed to their anonymity.
W
Sarah’s protect
hen Julia is having a bad day, she may be in class, but, for more than half of the day, she’s mentally checked out. “My body would be in this frozen mode, (and) I would not recall any of the major points that had been made in class,” Julia said. Julia suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by sexual violence, making her one of roughly 50 percent of all sexual assault survivors who suffer from PTSD following their assault. The term PTSD first appeared in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, a guide for psychologists, in 1980 and was typically a diagnosis reserved for soldiers returning from combat. Recently, the scientific community has begun to recognize that anyone who suffers from a traumatic experience can develop symptoms of PTSD. Dr. Michael Telch, an internationally renowned psychologist and UT professor who studies anxiety disorders, said the likelihood of a person — man or woman — developing PTSD after sexual trauma is much higher than it is for other traumatic events. “Not all traumas are created equal (in terms of likelihood of developing PTSD),” Telch said. “Sexual trauma has the highest conditional probability. For women, that is the single most potent event that can lead to full-blown PTSD.” The pain of Julia’s sexual trauma spilled over into her personal life, making it hard for her to
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PTSD
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As finals approach, students are scrambling to attend extra review sessions, last-minute office hours and group study sessions, but some deaf students said their inability to secure an American Sign Language interpreter on short notice may leave them out of these opportunities. The Services for Students with Disabilities’ policy requires deaf students to submit requests for interpretation services outside of class hours with at least three days’ notice. Several deaf students said professors and other classmates often change times or locations of meetings at the last minute, meaning students may not be able to find an interpreter in time. “A few weeks ago, my professor made last-minute office hours,” said Jacob Cheek, a communication sciences and disorders junior who is deaf. “On the same day, he said the review session would be moved back an hour. I can’t do anything about that. I knew that if I submitted a request, I would not get (an interpreter).” Environmental engineering sophomore Rebecca Giuntoli said the complexities of engineering are hard to translate into ASL and present communication barriers between herself and her interpreters. Giuntoli said when she is able to find interpreters on short notice, they often cannot appropriately translate engineering concepts. “I can’t go to office hours, tutoring or study groups last minute,” said Giuntoli, who is also deaf. “Everything has to be three business days in advance. That is very challenging to me because professors and classmates often don’t put that into consideration.” Interpreters from an independent company are called in by the school when UT interpreters are unavailable, SSD Executive Director Kelli Bradley said. Nonetheless, situations still arise where both UT and independent interpreters are booked, so Bradley encourages deaf students who need interpreters quickly to contact SSD as soon as possible. “We are fully aware that unexpected situations can come up, and that is why our office will always try to arrange
INTERPRET
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CAMPUS
Students take precautions while using dating apps By Hannah Ortega @_HannahOrtega_
Cat Kline said there is a lot of stigma surrounding dating apps, and occasionally for good reason. After all, it was just last month a person she connected with on the Badoo app tried to pressure her into having sex. “Of course I resisted all pressure,” Kline, a music education freshman, said. “And I was going to file something, and I found out that I didn’t know their name, their correct name, because they used a … fake name.” Because she didn’t know her harasser’s real name, Kline couldn’t reach out to the Office of the Dean of Students for help. However, if identification can be provided, UTPD detective Eliana Decker said the office can assist students who encounter unsafe situations through dating apps. Decker also encouraged students to contact UTPD. “Typically we’ll tell people, ‘If you’re uncomfortable about something or you feel suspicious or something just doesn’t feel right, let us know,’” Decker said. “We like to be a resource for students and try to guide them on how to handle situations, make sure they are staying safe and then how to move forward.”
Who you chose to date and how you choose to do that is a personal decision ... I’m just encouraging you to try to do it in as safe a manner as you feel comfortable with.” ELIANA DECKER UTPD DETECTIVE
Decker estimates UTPD receives at least one report regarding dating app concerns every semester. She recommends students keep personal information private, meet in public for dates and clearly express to the other person what is acceptable — and what isn’t — in order to stay safe. Architectural engineering junior Grace Hannemann, who primarily uses Tinder, said she protects herself on dating apps by trusting her gut. “If I get a bad vibe or as soon as a conversation starts with somebody I feel like we already don’t want the same thing, I just end it right there,” Hannemann said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just stopping replying to somebody, especially if you’ve only exchanged four or five texts.” Decker said in stressful or potentially dangerous events stemming from dating apps, UTPD wants “to help each person figure out what’s best for their situation.” “We as police understand that these are personal situations,” Decker said. “Who you chose to date and how you choose to do that is a personal decision. It is not my place as a law enforcement officer to tell someone how they should do that. I’m just encouraging you to try to do it in as safe a manner as you feel comfortable with.”
bixie mathieu
| the daily texan staff