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January 14, 2019
THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
UREC addresses dress code petition
“Uneasy.” “Offensive.” “Unspeakable.”
Incident that led to outcry resulted from miscommunication, university officials say
Food service workers accuse Chartwells management of misconduct
T
he harassment, she said, be-
MEGAN ZEREZ Mercury Staff
ward her and other women at work.
gan gradually. When she first
The former student worker is one
started at the Chick-fil-A on
of five current and former Chartwells
campus, she noticed she seemed to at-
employees who allege managerial mis-
tract more attention from the manager.
conduct and workplace grievances. She
workers alleged verbal abuse, unfair
Other workers said the manager had a
said she was a target of sexual harass-
labor practices and sexual harass-
reputation of favoritism, and that he
ment by a Chartwells manager and
ment, came amid efforts by workers
preferred a particular type.
agreed to speak to The Mercury on the
Editor’s Note: The Mercury’s publication of a Dec. 3 report, in which former and current Chartwells
to form a union, with the support of
By 2017, she said, the manager
a local chapter of the United Food
would regularly make inappropriate
and Commercial Workers.
comments and suggestive gestures to-
condition of anonymity and only after her graduation on Dec. 19.
→ SEE CHARTWELLS,
PAGE 7
NOAH WHITEHEAD | PHOTO EDITOR
A petition launched on Jan. 6 called for an end to a “fingertip length” shorts rule allegedly enforced in UREC facilities. ANNA SCHAEFFER Mercury Staff
Students launched an online petition last week criticizing an alleged decision by University Recreation to enforce a “fingertip length” shorts dress code in UREC facilities. UREC officials have since responded, stating the incident that sparked the petition resulted from a miscommunication. A Reddit post published on Jan. 6 claimed UREC had banned girls from wearing certain shorts in the gyms on campus, citing the enforcement of a “fingertip length” rule. Users then began to circulate the petition, entitled “Stop Enforcing the Finger-Tip Length Rule for Shorts at UTD's UREC,” which has since garnered over 150 signatures. UREC Director Tricia Losavio said the miscommunication stemmed from one student employee conflating UREC’s employee dress code — which requires employees, including student workers, to wear clean and appropriate shorts or pants — with the athletic wear standards for patrons using UREC facilities. “Somebody asked what the dress code policy was, not knowing they were different for the patrons and for the staff,” Losavio said. “That’s when it went off the rails. People were being told to leave or told they couldn’t work out in this, this and this, and once it got full circle to us, we did our own investigation. (The dress code) is for student staff when they’re at work, not for people who work out.” Chris McAlpine, UREC’s associate director of facility operations, said there was no policy change, contrary to what was discussed in the Reddit post, and said that UREC has no “fingertip length” policy. “Anyone’s welcome to wear whatever length athletic shorts they like, assuming they are an appropriate piece of clothing,” McAlpine said. “For the most part, if somebody complains about something being offensive or they’re offended by it, we ask that party to please come back with a change of clothes that is more appropriate. Losavio said she and McAlpine sent an email to all employees after the incident to clarify that UREC has no “fingertip” or “short-short” rule. The staff will meet in February to reiterate information to student and professional staff and resolve the miscommunication. “If you’re unsure, ask,” Losavio said. “We just want everybody to have a comfortable, safe and clean environment.”
ACADEMIC ADVISING: WHERE DO UTD STUDENTS STAND? Survey suggests most students across different programs have positive experiences with academic advisors MADISON YORK Mercury Staff
A quick search of the UTD’s Reddit page will yield several anecdotes from students detailing their struggles in finding an academic advisor who is willing to help them. Posts such as these tend to quickly gain traction on the site, prompting other users to share their own negative experiences with academic advising. However, a recent survey conducted by The Mercury suggests that the notion among students that advisors can’t or won’t help may not be accurate — and that most students, in fact, have positive experiences with their advisors. Just over 180 respondents — varying from freshmen to graduate students, across all UTD schools — reported whether they found their academic advisors useful or helpful and what main issues they had, if any, with their academic advising experience. Respondents also had the opportunity to write additional comments if they desired. 71 percent of respondents said they met with their advisor one to three times per year,
and when asked how useful their advisor was in their overall academic career, 82 percent of respondents said extremely, very, moderately or slightly useful. In contrast, only 18 percent said not useful at all. “ECS degree plans can be difficult to understand, and the advisors do the bare minimum to help students with any information they need or issues with their records,” one anonymous respondent said. “Actively making students aware of what resources they can use can resolve many common issues.” Stephanie Taylor, a biomedical engineering freshman, said while she found her degree plan to be organized, her biggest issue was being unable to see her advisor in person. “I haven’t actually met my advisor because every time I go to his office, he either isn’t available or they won’t allow us into the offices, which is really not helpful,” Taylor said. “But I have been in touch with him by email, and he gave a little bit of help, but as far as actually helping me with planning my schedule and
→ SEE ADVISING,
PAGE 7
SAMANTHA LOPEZ | MERCURY STAFF
Freshman launches community Discord server Server initially designed for student gamers expands scope to encompass all aspects of student life EMAAN BANGASH News Editor
MADELINE AMBROSE | MERCURY STAFF
Students rebranded an existing Discord server as “CometLife” to better cater to the general student body.
Two students started a UTD student version of Discord, a popular chat server, to provide information about campus events and foster social interaction between incoming students. Business administration freshman Eric Aaberg initially started a Discord server for incoming freshmen in the summer of 2018. He was later joined by sociology sophomore Jack Greul to help manage and operate the server as it grew. Last month, Aaberg rebranded the server to “CometLife” and expanded its scope to include all UTD students.
Established in 2015, Discord is a voice and text chat app that was first designed for gamers to communicate with each other as they played, but the app has since expanded to other uses beyond gaming. Aaberg initially started an Instagram account for the class of 2022 to update users on campus events and giveaways. Additionally, the class had a GroupMe chat with over 200 followers, but Aaberg said the chat ran into problems when people’s phones began crashing because of too many notifications. “When there’s too many people in a GroupMe, it’s not that stable. The reason
→ SEE DISCORD,
Join the Chew Crew as they try authentic Brazilian food.
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