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NEWS University researchers awarded roughly $5 million for cancer research.
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Friday, September 6, 2019
Volume 121, Issue 18
SPORTS Texas has a top-10 matchup vs. LSU, one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the year.
LIFE&ARTS Festival featuring women and nonbinary artists is a total BABES FEST.
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CAMPUS
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UNIVERSITY
Partnership made for safety
Graduate students express concern about tuition gap
UT Police Department partners with the School of Social Work to research campus policing and introduce hands-on learning in a new course.
By Lauren Grobe
By Emily Hernandez
@grobe_lauren
@emilylhernandez
Graduate students struggling to pay their tuition are being temporarily assisted by a supplement to their current university aid, but some students are concerned about paying tuition when the supplement is no longer provided after spring 2020. Certain graduate students working 20 hours or more as assistants receive $3,784, and students working 10 to 19 hours receive $1,892 from the Tuition Reduction Benefit during the fall and spring, according to the Graduate School website. Daina Berry, associate dean for Graduate Education Transformation, said the benefit previously reduced the tuition bill of graduate students to zero. However, Berry said tuition increases have led to a gap between the benefit and remaining tuition costs. In May, the Graduate Education Task Force recommended reinvesting the $10 million provided by Maurie McInnis, executive vice president and provost, into a supplement for these students to address the gap. Berry said the Graduate Education Task Force was formed last spring to determine long-term solutions to problems graduate students are facing, such as the tuition gap. “We’re hoping one of the recommendations from the task force will be to eliminate the gap (after Tuition Reduction Benefit is applied),” Berry said. “It’s something that we can hopefully make sure that students don’t have to deal with.” Berry said eligible students will receive the supplement until Sept. 13 for the fall and spring semesters. Future plans will be addressed before the end of December in the task force’s report to the provost, Berry said. “We’re looking at all the things that affect grad students,” Berry said. “How can we be supportive so that they have a positive experience here?” Christina Baze, graduate
he UT Police Department and Steve Hicks School of Social Work are partnering to examine the challenges of policing campus, protecting UT students and improving the utilization of UTPD’s resources. Social work professor Michael Lauderdale and UTPD Chief David Carter began developing the project in the spring to take an indepth look at how UTPD operates. Lauderdale and Carter have worked together for about 20 years, since Carter worked for the Austin Police Department. During an Aug. 29 press conference, Carter said the partnership will help UTPD address homelessness around campus. “UTPD is currently partnering with the School of Social Work to look for … finding potential solutions as a city and (to) look for housing and mechanisms to house (people who are homeless),” Carter said during the press conference. Lauderdale said the project will focus in part on training officers in community policing and investing in technology to help UTPD better communicate with the UT community. “(We’ll be) looking at the composition of the UTPD as a patrol force and what kind of current and future challenges they have,” Lauderdale said. “One of the challenges is homelessness on the campus and in various housing areas like West Campus, basically with a concern of, ‘How do we provide safety and protection for students, for staff and for faculty?’” The School of Social Work launched the Public Safety certificate in 2017, and Lauderdale is teaching the introductory course, Social Work and Public Safety. Lauderdale said he plans to use classwork from the course as research for the project. “(My students will) do research with regard to
things like geographical risk area for students, what are the times during the day when students feel they’re most at risk and then what are the issues within which we deploy UTPD’s resources,” Lauderdale said. “One of the things I’m concerned about … is the safety of students that live elsewhere in Austin where housing is inexpensive, and often those are neighborhoods where they’re not as safe as other neighborhoods.” Pre-social work junior Emily Ballard said she changed her schedule so that she could take Lauderdale’s public safety course. She said Lauderdale told the class they will be doing hands-on work with UTPD, including visiting the
station and interviewing officers. “The thing I think is the most interesting is that the perspective he really wants to teach on this semester is about community policing and policing in a way in our nation that starts with, ‘How do we make the police a part of the community,’ not just, ‘How do we put away criminals?’” Ballard said. Ballard said she wants to go into social work to collaborate with police because the knowledge social workers would bring into a police department would be valuable in handling people in crises. “If you think about the crises that police officers are called to, why wouldn’t you want them to be trained in how to work in the community at large or even work with people on an individual basis to understand their needs and be able to assess them?” Ballard said. joshua guenther
/ the daily texan staff
Social work professor Michael Lauderdale researches how to improve campus safety with the UT Police Department. Coursework from the School of Social Work’s new course will complement Lauderdale’s research by allowing undergraduates to work hands-on with UTPD.
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CAMPUS
CITY
Trayvon Martin’s mother discusses her advocacy
Austin Police district representatives help protect UT students off campus
By Sara Johnson @skjohn1999
Sybrina Fulton, the mother of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin who was killed in a 2012 shooting, shared her experiences and future plans with students on campus Thursday evening. Hundreds of students attended the event hosted by Events + Entertainment’s Distinguished Speakers committee and the African American Culture committee in the Hogg Auditorium. After the death of her son, Fulton became a spokesperson for improving civil rights and preventing violence toward children. Fulton said although she knows people assume she is a strong woman all the time,
she is an average woman at her core. “I know things are different now,” Fulton said. “I have become somebody else, but I’m still me, and I’ll always be me.” Fulton said she was deeply depressed immediately following her son’s death, and she described her son’s funeral as “the worst day of (her) life.” “He looked to me like he was at peace,” Fulton said. “I couldn’t believe I was looking at my son and wondering, ‘How? Why?’ And I said, ‘How could this happen?’” In May, Fulton announced her intent to run for Miami-Dade County Commissioner in Florida to continue her advocacy in response to her T R A Y V O N PAGE 3
By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
The Austin Police Department works to help off-campus students with nonemergency issues and safety concerns through its district representatives and events like Coffee with a Cop. Students who live in off-campus homes can contact Austin Police Department officers for nonemergency issues or if they have safety concerns. APD splits Austin into 10 districts, each led by a commander, with four district A P D PAGE 3
renee koite
/ the daily texan staff