Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Volume 121, Issue 52
NEWS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFE&ARTS
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Sophomore creates a startup company to connect students with work opportunities.
UT should teach new students about the racist origins of ‘The Eyes of Texas.’
‘Sin Nombre, Sin Cuerpo’ documents Latinx trans experience.
Longhorns sweep Bears in dominant home win over the No. 1 team in the country.
UNIVERSITY
Staff tuition assistance changes Updated State Employees Training Act requires state employees to gain approval from a third party, classes relevant to job. By Areeba Amer @areeba_amer
he University is planning to implement restrictions on tuition assistance for University staff to comply with an updated state law passed in 2015, said Steven Blackwell, Human Resources benefits manager. The Staff Tuition Assistance Program reduces tuition for eligible staff members who would like to pursue a degree or take classes at the University. Currently, staff members can apply to receive tuition to cover either one class or three-credit hours a semester, Blackwell said. In 2015, the Texas Legislature updated the State Employees Training Act, requiring state employees to gain approval from a third party that courses relate to current or prospective job duties before receiving tuition assistance, Blackwell said. “Essentially, we always want to make sure that our programs are compliant with statutes by the legislature,” Blackwell said. “We certainly want to do that in this particular instance.” Blackwell said the University delayed applying the change, because it had to review the policies before considering implementation. However, there is no set date for the change to begin. “Ultimately, we’re still going to take Staff Council leadership’s feedback, but at the end of the day … we are going to do what is (compliant with state law),” Blackwell said.
steph sonik
Dannielle LaMonte, development specialist in the Moody College of Communication, said she received tuition assistance to pursue a degree in history and graduated in May 2019. She said if she had to go through a supervisor, she is not sure if her degree would have been approved. “(The Staff Tuition Assistance Program) would stop being a benefit because there are a lot of jobs that are not necessarily aligned with the degree plans that are offered (at the
University),” LaMonte said. “It just makes it harder to even attempt it.” Staff Council chair Sandra Catlett said taking classes at the University improves staff members’ work because it teaches them skills such as writing and communication. “You might be being trained to be an astronomer … but when you actually get a job as an astronomer, you’re also going to also going to need to interact with people and run meetings and write papers, etc,” Catlett said.
On average, about 158 staff members used the program in fall 2018, and it is consistently about 150 staff members each semester, Blackwell said. He said most staff members have to apply to the University and fill out an application as if they were an incoming or transfer student. They must be accepted to receive the tuition assistance, Blackwell said. Blackwell said the main reason the participation number is so low is because of the admissions process.
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Catlett said adding further restrictions may further reduce the number of staff who use the program. “I personally … (am) dreading that rule change coming when it happens,” Catlett said. “It gives more power to a supervisor or gives more opportunity for a supervisor to say no (to tuition assistance).” Blackwell said he could not speculate on the impact this change could have on staff members who are considering the tuition assistance program.
UNIVERSITY
Task force to find ways to handle triggering class material
However, she said this practice still faces some resistance, because there are many misconceptions surrounding the practice. “One of the criticisms that we get a lot that’s just not at all supported by our research is the idea of coddling students,” Le Pichon said. Le Pichon said traumatic experiences are common, and although trauma is difficult to define and quantify, about 94% of students have had a traumatic experience in their lifetime. “We’re acknowledging that students can’t leave their experiences at the door when they walk into our classrooms,” Le Pichon said. While the Faculty Council created the task force, students are also represented on the task force by three undergraduates and three graduate student representatives, according to the Faculty Council website. “There are (six) student voting members on Faculty Council, and any of them can propose resolutions for Faculty Council as individuals like any other member,” Evans said. Student Government vice president Amie Jean is one of the student representatives and said she wants to learn more about handling difficult content. “I hope to gain insight about the emotions tied to triggering information,” Jean said. Le Pichon said professors, such as
By Lauren Grobe @grobe_lauren
Faculty, staff and students will be discussing strategies to address traumatic class material, such as sexual violence, at a task force meeting this Friday. The Faculty Council approved the formation of the Task Force for Difficult Dialogues and Trauma-Informed Pedagogy last spring. The task force will meet for the first time this week, Faculty Council chair Brian Evans said. He said the need for the task force came from a student government resolution last April. Trauma-informed pedagogy is a practice that involves understanding how someone may be impacted by trauma, French graduate student Sarah Le Pichon said. “The idea behind trauma-informed pedagogy is to recognize the prevalence of trauma,” Le Pichon said. “In the classroom, that can mean implementing really small practices, so it’s not meant to be an overhaul of anyone’s teaching method.” Le Pichon said using trauma-informed pedagogy strategies can help students succeed in the classroom and may help some students engage with difficult material. “They (would know) that they could step back from it, if they needed to, and that the professor would understand so they wouldn’t be penalized,” Le Pichon said. “In the end, it helps students.”
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