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Thursday, October 3, 2019
Volume 121, Issue 37
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
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New Institute for Military and Veteran Family Wellness offers support to student veterans.
UT should revise its academic dishonesty policy to allow for collaboration in class.
Littlefield descendant talks historic family home, rumors of ghosts.
Volleyball takes down TCU in straight set win, marking their third conference victory.
UNIVERSITY
CITY
APD sexual assault cases to be audited by external evalutor
Summer enrollment drops Enrollment in summer classes has been decreasing since 2015, causing last-minute class cancellations as students opt for community college and online classes.
By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
The Austin Police Department will meet this month with an external evaluator to perform an audit of the department’s sexual assault cases over the past seven years. Austin City Council approved up to $1 million Sept. 19 to pay the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based police research and policy nonprofit, to perform the evaluation along with the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia and the Wellesley Centers for Women in Wellesley, Massachussetts. In January, the Texas Department of Public Safety found that APD incorrectly classified about a third of sexual assault cases from January, November and December 2017 as exceptionally cleared, according to the DPS audit. Cases can be classified as exceptionally cleared when police know who to arrest but cannot pursue it because of elements outside of their control, such as the offender’s death or the victim’s refusal to cooperate, according to the FBI’s uniform crime reporting guidelines. City Council unanimously passed a resolution Jan. 31 introduced by council member Alison Alter to fund an indepth external evaluation of how APD investigates sexual assault cases and why a large number of reported cases are not prosecuted. “When I began to delve deeper into the numbers and how few cases were being brought to trial and heard the stories from survivors about how their cases were being handled or not handled through the process, it seemed to me that we had a responsibility to change the way the system was functioning,” Alter said. “It’s hard not to look at what’s going on and not suspect a gender bias A P D PAGE 2
By Areeba Amer @areeba_amer
otal summer enrollment at UT decreased about 12% from 2015 to 2019, according to data provided by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. All colleges, except for three, saw decreases in their summer enrollment over the past five years. The School of Undergraduate Studies and the Jackson School of Geosciences experienced the largest drops of nearly 50%, according to the data. Carolyn Connerat, associate vice provost for Enrollment Management, said the University implemented initiatives that encourage students to take more classes in fall and spring semesters to help their four-year degree plan, which may be a reason for the trend. However, the office did not necessarily expect a decrease in summer enrollment, Connerat said. “It wasn’t something that I think was planned,” Connerat said. A summer class is canceled if it cannot reach its minimum enrollment cutoff. Susan Somers, academic advising coordinator for the College of Liberal Arts, said she noticed decreasing summer enrollment from the time she began advising about nine years ago, especially with lower-division classes. This created “uncomfortable” situations with new faculty, Somers said. “If we were offering someone a job to teach and then their class didn’t make (the enrollment cutoff), we had to say, ‘Oh,
no, we’re going to cancel (your class),’” Somers said. Jeff Handy, interim director and Title IX liaison at the Vick Center for Strategic Advising and Career Counseling, said his student advisees have enrolled in summer classes that were later canceled due to low enrollment. “Depending on how much notice they have, they might be able to find something else,” Handy said. “But in certain cases, that can … affect someone’s ability to graduate.” Somers said the departments work to make sure they are offering classes students will actually take. “It’s really important to offer the things that people really need,” Somers said. “If we offer the wrong thing, that creates a lot of repercussions.” The amount of online course offerings at UT has doubled in the past five years, according to data provided by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. Somers said the Latin program was not able to maintain enrollment when it offered in-classroom courses, but by offering classes online over the summer, enrollment increased. Brent Iverson, dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies, said he’s noticed how many core classes are now being offered online. “Several years ago, classes were mostly face-toface,” Iverson said. “Now, it’s almost all online.” Handy said his advisees prefer taking summer classes at local community colleges due to the lower cost. The average fixed tuition to enroll in one ENROLL
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reneé koite
/ the daily texan staff
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
CITY
First-year representative elected after 2 Supreme Court hearings
Abbott demands Adler to alleviate homelessness, threatens intervention
By Neelam Bohra
By Lauren Girgis
The UT Student Government Supreme Court held two hearings concerning violations of first-year representative Sid Puranik in the week leading up to the first-year representative election. Freshmen elected Puranik, a government and Plan II freshman, and government freshman Isabelle Riback as the campuswide first-year representatives Sept. 27. Voters ranked the eight candidates, and Puranik received about 23% of the first ranking. Riback received 18% of it. At two hearings on Sept. 23 and 26, other candidates alleged Puranik’s campaign submitted financial disclosures
Gov. Greg Abbott addressed a letter to Mayor Steve Adler and the Austin City Council on Wednesday demanding the city improve the issue of homelessness, or the state would take action. City Council has disagreed about a homelessness ordinance passed in June, which lifted restrictions on where people could camp in Austin. After the ordinance was passed, Abbott said in a tweet that the state would override the ordinance permitting camping on city streets. City Council will vote Oct. 17 to update the camping ordinances. “If Austin does not fix this homeless crisis by November the first, I will unleash the full authority of every state agency to protect the health and safety of all
@_neelam_b
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@laurengirgis
jamie hwang
/ the daily texan staff
The UT Student Government Supreme Court holds a hearing with Roosh Bhosale, an economics and Plan II freshman and Sid Puranik, a government and Plan II freshman on Sept. 23 about Puranik’s financial disclosure discrepncies.
Texans,” Abbott said in a video posted on Twitter. In his letter, Abbott said businesses are struggling to keep people experiencing homelessness off sidewalks, encampments are interfering with the flow of traffic, and feces and used needles are accumulating in public spaces. Abbott said in the letter he could direct state agencies to act if the crisis does not improve, including the Department of State Health Services, the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Transportation. Abbott said these agencies could conduct investigations to control disease, add troopers to areas of Austin that “pose greater threats” and remove homeless property blocking roadways. At a press conference Wednesday, Adler said while he understood Abbott’s rhetoric both as L E T T E R PAGE 3