The Mercury 04 05 21

APRIL 05, 2021

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reimagining sg Ryan Short new president elect, Imaan Razak default VP after opponent leaves race THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

SG opposes HonorlockSenate passesresolution discouraginguse SEE PAGE 4

UTSouthwestern opensvaccination site on campus SEE PAGE 5

‘CanYouFindthe Gun?’: virtual art festival explores social justice SEE PAGE 9

Men’s crosscountryteamwins thirdconsecutive ASCchampionship SEE PAGE 10

April 5 2021 | The Mercury

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEWS

04-07

STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS, SG RECOMMENDING NO HONORLOCK...................................................04 VACCINE VOLUNTEERS, COVID DEMOGRAPHICS....................................05 SAFEDISH APP, GRAD SCHOOL APPEALS................................................06 GRIDER FOLLOW-UP.................................................................................07

COMICS

08

LIFE & ARTS

09

SOCIAL JUSTICE FESTIVAL, LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS..............09

SPORTS

10-11

CROSS COUNTRY ASC WIN, BASEBALL...................................................10 SMASH UPDATE, ROCKET LEAGUE UPDATE............................................11

OPINION

12-13

ASTROLOGY MISAPPROPRIATION...........................................................12 MISSION TRIPS, FEMALES IN STEM.........................................................13

14-16

SECTION JUMPS

Visit utdmercury.com for more stories in your orbit!

“Finding alternatives to Honorlock is a moral, achievable goal as a student government.”

- History junior Rutendo Chando, SG vice president, on the recent student Senate resolution.

SEE PAGE 4

“There’s this genuine desire for people to help after feeling powerless for so long, and the opportunity to get vaccinated was also there.”

- Rafael Martín, UTD vice president and chief of staff, on the Comets who volunteered with the vaccination effort.

SEE PAGE 5

“I believe that this shouldn’t be a one-anddone thing, because it’s important to continue to have people’s voices be shared.”

- ATEC senior Jonavon Ignont on participating in the social justice art festival.

SEE PAGE 9

Apr. 5, 2021 | The Mercury

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NEWS

UT Southwestern opens vaccination site on campus Over 1200 Comets volunteer to help administer vaccines FATIMAH AZEEM Mercury Staff

Chemistry senior Roberto Ramirez stands outside UT Southwestern’s COVID-19 vaccine site at the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center, smiling as he greets people walking in to get vaccinated. A woman who just received her first dose stops in front of Ramirez to chat. She tells him she appreciates the little decorations scattered outside the site and, more importantly, Ramirez and the other volunteers’ kindness. It was moments like these, Ramirez said, that made him feel like his three days of volunteering had paid off.

Ramirez is one of the 1,276 UTD students, staff and faculty members that Vice President and Chief of Staff Rafael Martín said signed up to volunteer at the on-campus vaccine site hosted by UT Southwestern. Volunteers were

originally eligible to get vaccinated under Phase 1A but can now be vaccinated without the designation if they’re an adult over 16.

Martín said for the UTD vaccine site to run smoothly, UT Southwestern needed personnel to manage the greeting, screening and general functionality of the site. To help, UTD opened volunteer registration in early March for four-hour volunteer slots taking place in March, April and May. Martin said within 12 hours, the portal shut down.

“It was an overwhelmingly successful effort,” Martín said. “Slots were already filled through the end of April and May, and so many people registered, we actually broke the tool people were using to sign up. I think there’s this genuine desire for people to help after feeling powerless for so long, and the opportunity to get vaccinated was also there.”

JOHN KYLE | COURTESY

The site is located in the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center.

SEE VACCINATION, PAGE 14

COVID demographics: who’s getting sick on campus?

Overview of COVID transmission at UTD this past year CHRISTINE JACOBS Mercury Staff

Since lockdowns began – and as of March 6, 2021 – there have been a total of 676 reported cases of COVID-19 and one virus-related death among UTD-affiliated individuals. Now, with on-campus cases currently in decline, the university continues to focus on testing and keeping track of vaccinated Comets.

Of the nearly 700 people who reported testing positive for COVID-19, 470 were students, 164 were staff, 20 were faculty and eight were visitors or others. Mariah Phipps, director of the Office of Emergency Management and Continuity Planning (OEMCP), said that cases have historically increased about 10-14 days after a break or holiday where people have been gathering together.

ALESANDRA BELL | OUTREACH EDITOR

“We did see a spike in January and right before Thanksgiving,” Phipps said. “I think what kept numbers down on campus was the fact that we did not come back on campus at the end of the semester.”

Phipps said she has noticed a promising downward trend in on-campus cases in the past few weeks.

“Part of that may be attributed to the recent (winter weather) where people were forced to stay home, but we are also seeing a general decline in cases,” Phipps said. “We do have an increase in vaccine availability here in north Texas and in Texas in general, and I do think that is beginning to make an impact.”

So far, 830 people have self-reported vaccination against the coronavirus, and 386 have reported receiving their second dose if required.

Karlynda Poage, COVID-19 health screening and training program coordinator for UTD, said that one of the ways university administration keeps track of COVID-19 cases is through the Daily Health Checks that are emailed each day.

SEE DEMOGRAPHICS, PAGE 14

April 05, 2021| The Mercury

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NEWS

Safe eating with SafeDish Students create app making restaurant health inspection data accessible LAUREN DOUGHERTY Mercury Staff

After a recent bout with food poisoning, a UTD student co-created SafeDish, an app that makes it easier to find health inspection information for nearby restaurants.

Computer science senior Caleb Jiang noticed how inaccessible health inspection data is when he got food poisoning after eating at Chipotle.

Jiang said that while restaurants are required to have copies of their latest health inspections available upon request, the data can be very difficult to find online.

“We thought, you know, it would be pretty cool if we could make this hard-to-find government data much more accessible to everyone so they could be more informed consumers about what food they eat,” Jiang said.

SafeDish aggregates health inspection data from food establishments and displays inspection scores, sanitary violation information, and links to the inspection reports. Users can search for restaurants or use their location to view data for nearby restaurants.

According to the coverage map, data is available for restaurants in the DFW and Austin areas, as well as for Chicago, New York City, San Jose and munici-

palities across Tennessee and Georgia.

Jiang said that current coverage depends on how easy it is to get data from different areas: – Tennessee and Georgia have a statewide system that handles health inspection data, and they use the same software as Tarrant County, so the code could be reused.

“When we do write new features for new regions, we try to prioritize the amount of people covered per hour [of work],” Jiang said.

Jiang co-developed the app with Blake Bottum, a friend from high school who is now a computer science student at UT Austin. Bottum said that he recalls looking for health and sanitation information for a restaurant in Austin before the two conceptualized SafeDish. He was unable to find any data online.

“To be honest, that may have been a failure of the state health department, and if that’s the case, then the app doesn’t solve that anyway,” Bottum said. “But just knowing where to look was half the problem.”

The two came up with the idea for SafeDish in September and started working on the front and back ends over winter break, Jiang said. While they

SEE SAFEDISH, PAGE 15

ANNA PHENGSAKMUEANG| PHOTO EDITOR

SafeDish aggregates health inspection data from food establishments and displays inspection scores, sanitary violation information and links to the inspection reports.

ISABELLE VILLEGAS| MERCURY STAFF

Denied from grad school?

Here’s what you can do.

UTD administration breaks down how to appeal a grad school rejection FATIMAH AZEEM Mercury Staff

As graduate school decisions are released, appealing and reapplying for future cycles are the options available to students who are unsatisfied with denials.

Dean of Graduate Education Juan González said UTD has a decentralized graduate appeals system like other universities without a graduate school. This means that graduate appeals go directly to departments and programs instead of the graduate dean.

In contrast, universities such as UT Austin follow a centralized graduate appeals system where students appeal their denial directly to the graduate dean.

González said the process for appealing Ph.D. and Master’s program rejections are generally similar to one another, but admission for doctoral students is more rigorous.

“There’s a lot more that is expected from those candidates,” González said. “Remember that in most our programs and departments, those Ph.D. admissions are supported students, so it is a lot more competitive.”

González said that submitting new material helps increase the chances of a successful appeal to a Master’s or Ph.D. program, but a new application isn’t necessary. New pieces of information include updated letters of recommendation, recent awards or an improved GRE score for aspiring Master’s students.

González said that if new material isn’t submitted, it’s unlikely that the appeal will be effective. “(Graduate) denials are usually based on the fact

that the student doesn’t have the preparation, doesn’t have the background and then might not succeed,” González said. “So, there needs to be something new to the plate for the committee to consider.”

In the instance of a Title IX issue, the appeal should be sent to the graduate dean. Title IX issues involve sex-based discrimination in educational programs and activities.

“I’ve never handled one as a graduate dean,” González said. “But there is a process that we can do and additionally, refer to the Title IX office so they can do an investigation. But… this is very rare.”

If students need support with the appeals process, graduate advisors are available in each department and program to contact. González said these advisors keep track of a student’s applications and send reminders about what they need to send.

“For example, sometimes the student failed to send their transcript or failed to send one of the letters of recommendation,” González said. “So (graduate advisors) give follow-ups to that application to make sure that they are complete and considered.”

When it comes to MBA denials, MBA Program Director Lisa Shatz said the rule is usually that students reapply for another semester. However, if there is an error, the program is willing to look back on the decision without a formal appeal.

“In the 12 years I have been at UT Dallas, I have not seen a single (formal) appeal to an MBA deci-

SEE GRAD SCHOOL, PAGE 15

April 05, 2021| The Mercury

7

NEWS

Alumnus held in federal custody now released under certain conditions Chris Grider must remain in Texas, wear ankle monitor, maintain curfew

PALAK DAVE Mercury Staff

As decided by U.S. Magistrate Susan Hightower, Grider is held under custody at Limestone Detention Center due to strong evidence depicting his role as an active participant in the Capitol riots. Evidence suggests that Grider aided a man trying to break a glass window by handing him a helmet, was seen in multiple locations at the Capitol and was caught on camera directly outside the Speaker’s lobby. Hightower ruled that Grider will be held in custody until his trial.

Brent Mayr, Chris Grider’s attorney, filed for a motion to invoke Hightower’s decision twice and was rejected from a hearing both times.

After Hightower refused to reopen the detention hearing for the second time, she said that she no longer held jurisdiction over Grider’s case since it had been transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. On Jan. 22, the court held a hearing to reopen the detention.

Mayr said there are four factors that the judge had to consider before making a decision: the

nature and circumstance of the offense, the ruled against the detention charge, Mayr said, weight of the evidence against the defendant, Grider would be willing to comply with local suthe nature and characteristics of the defendant pervision that the judge decided upon. Furtherand the levels of danger posed to the communi- more, the U.S. pre-trial services office in Waco ty if Grider were released. said they were willing to supervise Grider Mayr said he does not believe and monitor his location. that Grider deserves detainU.S. attorney Candance ment since he was not one Chiu Wong said that Gridof the people who preer’s character is not meditated the riot. enough to determine “I saw people carhis innocence. While rying out their plans, referring to the varand the others, the ious counts Grider law-abiding citizens, was charged with, who were there to see Wong said that the their president for one nature of the charge last time. Grider was is serious because of one of the others,” Mayr the substantial weight said. “It would be a sad of the evidence. When ALESANDRA BELL| Outreach Editor chapter to keep Grider locked Grider used his bare fist up with the planners of this riot.” to smash the glass door to the Additionally, Mayr said that since Speaker’s lobby, the potential for danGrider turned himself in, he did not presume ger was apparent. danger and was filled with shame and regret for District of Columbia judge Ketanji Jackson what he saw that day at the Capitol. If the judge said in the hearing that Mayr’s claim lacked ev-

idential burden because all of his claims were solely based on Grider’s character. While reviewing the facts, Jackson said that Grider told the police that people were getting crushed during the riots. However, Jackson said it was notable that Grider did not retreat from the mob and provided a helmet to assist the breaking of a glass door, and those actions can justify the need for detention.

“This was a very close call; Grider had put himself in the center of this situation,” Jackson said during the hearing.

Jackson ultimately ruled that Grider will not be held under federal custody and would be released. However, he is required to abide by certain conditions: he must remain in Texas, cannot travel to D.C. unless required by law, is required to wear an ankle monitor, has a curfew from 10 PM to 6 AM and cannot engage in excessive drinking.

“He’s being supervised under high-intensity supervision where once a week, he has to check in with a supervision officer in Waco to make sure he complies with certain conditions,” Mayr said.

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April 05, 2021 | The Mercury OFF TO WORK

TEXAS SNOWMAN

MAYBE NOT

ISABELLE VILLEGAS | MERCURY STAFF

COMICS

QUINN SHERER | MERCURY STAFF

REDBULL GIVES YOU WINGS

ISABELLE VILLEGAS | MERCURY STAFF

REGRESSING

ELIZABETH NGUYEN | MERCURY STAFF

CHARLIE CHANG | MERCURY STAFF

LIFE&ARTS

April 05, 2021 | The Mercury

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‘Can You Find the Gun?:’ virtual art festival explores social justice Thirteen different projects focus on impacts of pandemic, BLM SMRITHI UPADHYAYULA Mercury Staff

ISABELL VILLEGAS | MERCURY STAFF

Social distance makes the heart grow fonder How virtual relationships have flourished during the pandemic CALIS LIM

Mercury Staff

Due to social distancing measures and generally reduced in-person gatherings, traditional relationship interactions are no longer as feasible, making long-distance relationships more prevalent.

Regardless of whether a couple lives in the same city or on opposite sides of the world, nearly all communication is now virtual. Pavan Govu, a computer science senior, has been in a mostly virtual relationship for a little over a year.

“The way we contact has kind of evolved over the year,” Govu said. “At first, we really began mainly through Snapchat, and then we would occasionally text each other. As it stands now, almost exclusively FaceTime.”

One quirk of the pandemic, said psychology professor Regina Ybarra, is that unless a couple is living together, the relationship can feel long-distance.

“The biggest thing that keeps long-distance relationships going is being able to communicate,” Ybarra said. “The entire relationship exists in what we can communicate with one another because we don’t necessarily get to do stuff together, and you don’t get to experience the person in how they’re doing things.”

Karen Prager, a professor of relationships and intimacy, said that virtual communication now plays a large role in relationship maintenance.

“Now with Skype and Zoom and other kinds of communication, people can connect so much more vividly than we’ve ever been able to do before,” Prager said. “I know it’s been a whole year, which can be forever in a short relationship, but I would like to think that couples could keep something going through these platforms.”

According to a pre-pandemic study of more than a thousand participants in both long-distance and geographically close relationships, individuals in long-distance relationships were not at a disadvantage: rather, other individual and relationship features were better predictors of relationship quality.

However, there are still a host of other problems for couples to consider – including lack of physical touch.

“I would just argue for lots of Skyping, FaceTiming and all of that. Trying to stay in touch as much as you can, but you are bound to feel affection and sex-starved,” Prager said. “Deprivation is the name of the game under these conditions.”

Even though Govu and his girlfriend are within relatively short driving distance, Govu was only able to meet up with her for a couple days throughout the whole year. This lack of physical presence has been a challenge, Govu said.

“If she’s ever feeling sad or if she’s feeling pained about something, comforting her is just

SEE DISTANCE, PAGE 15

In response to a year marked by discussions on social and racial justice, ATEC is hosting a virtual Social Justice Art & Film Festival (SJAFF) for students to showcase work that engages with these topics.

The festival showcases 13 projects that include short films and documentaries, animated shorts, an interactive digital archive and a video game. The pieces engage with topics ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality to domestic violence and the impacts of the pandemic on different communities. The festival culminated in a panel event on March 31, but the works remain viewable on the SJAFF website.

Though the mediums and themes reflect the diversity of their creators, the works share one thing in common: a willingness to engage with complex and difficult topics. In an animated short entitled “The Pandemic Perspective,” an artistic rendering of COVID-19 comes to life, at first appearing playful but then morphing

into something almost demon-like, conveying how personal experience and socioeconomic status impact one’s view of the virus. In the preschool-style video game “Can You Find the Gun,” the stories of people shot by police pop up when the user selects the item they were holding – a wallet, for example – when they were killed.

Kara Oropallo, a creative project management professor and one of the organizers of the SJAFF, said that the idea for the festival came about last summer, when ¬– in response to the Black Lives Matter movement – ATEC established a social justice initiative committee to examine how to better create space for students to be represented and to share their voices.

“I’m thrilled that our students are so passionate about the multitude of social justice issues and the intersection of these issues on our campus and within Texas,” Oropallo said.

“They’re looking not only to provide a space

SEE FESTIVAL, PAGE 15

RILEY CAREY, FIONA HABORAK, COLIN HANCOCK, CYNTHIA O’NEILL, DAVID N. WILSON | COURTESY

Check out the full short film on the SJAFF website

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SPORTS

April 05, 2021 | The Mercury

Men’s cross-country team wins third consecutive ASC championship Women’s team misses first place by only one point SMRITHI UPADHYAYULA Mercury Staff

UTD men’s cross-country team won their third consecutive ASC championship in early March, while the women’s team took second place.

On March 13, teams from eight universities competed in the race at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Texas. The UTD men’s team finished 21 points ahead of runner-up LeTourneau University, with four Comets – senior Trent Sakakini, sophomore Graeme Maclean, junior Griffin Davis and graduate student Andres Uriegas - placing in the top 10.

Sakakini is a mechanical engineering senior who ran cross country throughout high school and college. He said that having a shortened semester due to the pandemic and the snowstorm significantly impacted the amount of time the team had to prepare for the conference.

“Usually, we start end of August and are done by mid-November,” Sakakini said. “This season was a lot shorter than we were usually used to. We started in January and we had our conference race by early March.”

The conference was originally scheduled to take place during the snow week. When it was postponed, the team had to adapt quickly and work with the limited information they had.

“We didn’t know what would happen,” Sakakini said. “[The conference] could be tomorrow, it could be a week from now, it could be two weeks

from now. But we needed to keep training so that we would be ready for it.”

Throughout their training, the team had to adhere to COVID guidelines such as wearing masks while not running and not running in groups to minimize contact between people. Sakakini said he’s proud of his team for their success despite these challenges.

“Everyone could’ve easily said ‘Oh, I don’t want to go through COVID restrictions and have to worry about training and all that stuff when I could just call it a day and not do it,’ but everyone stuck to it, did what they needed to, and it showed,” Sakakini said. “The commitment from all the guys and everyone being there for each other really helped to motivate our spirits and get us ready for conference, so it was nice to come out with a win.”

The UTD women’s team was only one point behind the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Their top finisher was sophomore Maddie Ellis, who placed fourth, followed by senior Hannah Bennett in seventh. Senior Anna Schaeffer, meanwhile, made the All-ASC second team.

“Maddie’s been focusing a lot of her time on school right now, so we haven’t been working together as much as we normally would, but she went out with that pack and ran smart,” head coach Danielle Kcholi said. “[Bennett and Schaeffer] worked together and had an amazing race.”

Computer science freshman Jocelyn Heck-

DAVE WESTER | COURTESY

When the conference was postponed, the team had to adapt quickly and work with the limited information they had. enkamp said she’s thankful for everything the cross-country team has been able to do this year. Although some runners chose to stay home during the fall, she said that they all returned in the spring and were able to participate in the conference. She was also impressed by how the team pushed through the snowstorm.

“We did experiment with running in the snow,” Heckenkamp said. “Half of our team is from the north, so we’re used to running in the snow all the

time, but in Texas, without the salt or the sand, it’s a lot slipperier. It’s physically difficult to run on top of ice.”

Kcholi said the team adapted well to the circumstances, despite it being a rollercoaster of a year.

“They are far more resilient than we give them credit for,” Kcholi said. “I cannot believe that we were actually able to race this conference championship, let alone be [there] with everybody present.”

Comets batter up after delayed season Baseball team maintains a current winning record of 13-7 ELLIS BLAKE HIDALGO Mercury Staff

ROSHAN KHICHI | MERCURY STAFF

Jacob Perry hit a game-winning triple in the team’s March 2nd game against the Southwestern Pirates.

Following several delays, the UTD baseball team’s spring season has begun in full. With a roster composed predominantly of younger players, the Comets have managed to maintain a steady series of wins over their competition.

Scheduled to begin in early February, the Comets’ season was pushed back in light of the freezing temperatures brought on by the polar vortex. Seven games were canceled over a series of ten days; the first game finally took place on Feb. 26.

The cold weather was responsible for baseball teams across the country facing cancellations, with neighboring teams like the Howard Payne University Yellowjackets and the Southwestern University Pirates having a similarly delayed start to their season.

The season’s delayed start only extended the Comets’ nearly year-long hiatus, as their 2020 season was ended only weeks in as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their time off the field ended with a bang against the HPU Yellowjackets, as the Comets won 27-8. The Comets have maintained their momen-

SEE BASEBALL, PAGE 16

April 05, 2021| The Mercury

11

Sports

Comets place first in Rocket League qualifying tournament Team will have to beat UNT, LSU to qualify for nationals BEN NGUYEN Opinion Editor

ANNA PHENGSAKMUEANG | PHOTO EDITOR

Benny “lubey” Lube in competition.

UTD just started play in the CRL Spring League after placing first in the Spring League Qualifying tournament.

After finishing top eight in the Fall National Championships for CRL, UTD’s Rocket League team is going into their second semester with a major win and substantial growth in team cohesion.

Shortly after winning the qualifier, they’ve gone 2-3 in league play thus far, including close losses to UNT and LSU. Despite a rough start, mechanical engineering junior and player Dalton “Dalton”

Cadieu is confident in the team’s ability to rebound.

“It’s just the beginning of the season. We can bounce back. When we started one and two, I think last season ended nine and six. And we’re capable of doing it again,” Dalton said. “I just think we have to get in the mindset of the competitive season again and get situated.”

After being underestimated in their initial season and placing fourth in the West, Dalton said that he’s happy with how the team has progressed. Since their entry into CRL play, UTD’s team has evolved a pass-heavy play style, separate from a solo carry

SEE ROCKET LEAGUE, PAGE 16

Comets seize a regional win for Super Smash Bros Smash team heads to CSL Nationals as reigning champions BEN NGUYEN Opinion Editor

The Smash team took top seed in the national qualifying regional after a loser’s final versus UT Arlington and a grand final win against UT Austin.

The Comets cinched the regional win after being sent down to the loser’s bracket by UT Austin, forcing them to fight a loser’s final against the second seed team UT Arlington. The Comets said they expected to play against UT Arlington in the grand finals, but a surprise burst from UT Austin had sent both teams down to the loser’s bracket to duke it out. ATEC senior and student head coach Chaynen “Sun” Casas said that the Longhorns played amazingly in their initial face-off.

“For the first time in a long time, they played out of their minds,” Sun said. “They caught us off guard and it still went down to the wire.”

In the loser’s finals, the game started with UTD’s “graffetti” dropping all three stocks to UTA’s “Army,” which computer science junior Gabriel “Kazma” Hernandez said was due to them believing UTA would start a different player first. This ultimately led to a favorable matchup for UTA. However, computer science sophomore Sean “Fox” Fox would bring his Terry into play next, which Kazma said started to propel their momentum in the game.

“At first, I’m not going to lie, it didn’t look super great,” Kazma said. “But Fox really brought it back, taking two from Army without dropping one, then

taking three from their next player, sleepyhead, and then taking one from kurry, and giving us such a really big lead. Big plays for Fox, much appreciated.”

Kazma then went on to sweep up most of the rest of UTA, along with ATEC junior Garrett “dezly” Olaes tagging in for the final finish. The grand finals turned out to be a much cleaner win for UTD in the rematch against the Longhorns, with Kazma saying that they won fairly convincingly. For Fox, the CSL qualifier was a wake-up call for the team.

“When you get used to stomping people, you can kind of just not put in as much effort as sometimes you should,” Fox said. “The CSL qualifier finals was kind of the waking up being like ‘Hey, even though we’re doing this good, we still need to put our full effort in and claim the win.’”

Winning the regional also guaranteed that UTD would be attending CSL Nationals, which they won in the inaugural season. Because COVID canceled last year’s CSL season, UTD will be headed to the online version of CSL Nationals as the reigning champions, and Sun says they’re ready to repeat.

“We’ve established we’re the new number one school, and people who weren’t trying against us before – who didn’t take us seriously – have to because we have that title. And that’s just going to make everything harder for us, which we welcome with open arms,” Sun said. “Try to beat us. And we’ll still prove to you that it wasn’t a fluke, and we’re just better than you.”

ANNA PHENGSAKMUEANG | PHOTO EDITOR

Smash player “Fox” turned the loser’s final around for the Comets.

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OPINION

Apr. 05, 2021 | The Mercury

JACKY CHAO | MERCURY STAFF

Cultural Appropriation Rising How astrological, spiritual symbols are being misused KEERTHI SRILAKSHMIDARAN MERCURY STAFF

According to Google Trends, words such as “astrology chart” and “rising sign” have peaked in early 2021, and many professional astrologers report that business has boomed in the past few months. With the current uptick in astrology and spirituality consuming social media, it is necessary to understand their cultural significance before advertising or promoting these practices online.

To clarify, posting Tik Toks about your healing crystals or manifestation is not necessarily cultural appropriation. Rather, it is pairing these practices with insensitivity and ignorance towards their ancient origins that can lead to cultural appropriation.

When astrological and spiritual symbols are appropriated, it can hurt and diminish the significance of communities that actively practice these rituals.

Astrology and spirituality have been deeply rooted in Hinduism since the Vedas were written. Hinduism and

ancient Indian practices, moreover, are home to some of the symbols we see popularized on social media such as the third eye, the Om symbol, Hindu deities and the Bindi. There are of course more cultures from which modern-day astrology has evolved from such as Geomancy from North Africa and Feng Shui from China, but as an Indian Hindu, it seems only right to talk about cultural appropriation as it relates to my culture.

To see the current astrology trend further popularize aspects of our culture by people that don’t understand its importance and receive praise for it – while people from my culture get shamed for it – fuels insensitivity and ignorance towards discussions about cultural appropriation. Am I saying that only Hindu people can wear the Om symbol or talk about astrology? Of course not. But people should be cautious of what they post and purchase if it originates from other cultures and also understand that context is critical.

For example, wearing a Bindi to a pop concert is out of context and would be

considered cultural appropriation because it has nothing to do with Indian culture. On the other hand, wearing a Bindi to an Indian wedding or a Hindu festival is appropriate and demonstrates appreciation.

One of the most recent examples of how the normalization of astrology and spirituality in the media can cause cultural appropriation was Rihanna’s Instagram post around two weeks ago.

We see her topless wearing a necklace with a huge pendant of Ganesh, a Hindu God. Here, wearing the Ganesh pendant in a post promoting her brand in a non-Hindu context makes this cultural appropriation. Her refusal to delete the post or even talk about it – and repeat this mistake after her various other instances of appropriation in the past – not only hurts a community but suggests to her millions of followers that cultural appropriation is permissible.

Corporations are also benefitting from this trend, normalizing the usage of sacred symbols for profit. Just one search for “third eye jewelry” on

Google curates hundreds of pages of companies selling these for fashion.

Likewise, Macy’s and Forever 21 have sold shirts with the Om symbol and Indian designs on them, making them accessible to hundreds of people who may not understand their importance and simply wear them as a fashion statement.

Some people may argue that the widespread usage of these symbols is actually beneficial because it makes other cultures seem less foreign. I am all for increasing awareness of my culture, but wearing these symbols in a non-cultural context – concerts, mall trips, parties – do nothing to appreciate other cultures except simply normalize their traditions.

Wearing cultural clothing and symbols should be saved for when you’re in that cultural context. As part of a diverse student body, I want people to hold corporations and celebrities accountable for instances of appropriation and take steps to do their own research on the cultural significance of certain practices as well.

OPINION

April 5, 2021 | The Mercury

13

We Need Women in STEM Women provide valuable insight but can’t get their foot in the door AISHNI SHRIVASTAVA MERCURY STAFF

ALESANDRA BELL | OUTREACH EDITOR

“Too emotional for science.” Phrases like this have continuously hindered women trying to break the glass ceiling in STEM. Why are these barriers still alive and well in the new decade?

There’s no denying that the number of women entering STEM has significantly increased since 1990. However, when we look at the rapid rate at which society has modernized over the past 20 years, we find that the overall growth of women in these fields has been objectively low.

According to the National Science Foundation, women make up 50% of the total U.S. college-educated workforce but only 28% of the science and engineering workforce.

Contrary to prior belief, the lack of girls’ aptitude for STEM does not explain why this gap exists. A 67-country analysis found that girls performed about as well or even better than boys on science in most countries, and in almost all countries, girls would have been capable of college-level science and math classes if they had enrolled in them. In truth, societal stigmas and a lack of role mod-

els are two major causes of the gender gap. When young women rarely see people like them going into STEM, they have fewer examples to follow. The lack of role models here is understandable, as the efforts of female researchers over the past few years have been continuously discounted.

Female principal investigators commonly publish papers in less prominent scientific journals and are subjected to blatant bias. In a double-blind study done in 2018, 127 science board faculty at renowned research universities rated a male applicant for a laboratory manager position as “significantly more competent and hirable” than a female applicant, even though the application materials were identical. When female students are aware of their increased likelihood of being unfairly overlooked, what incentives are left for them to go into scientific fields?

Urging women to participate in STEM is about much more than just women’s empowerment. It’s about the general health and wellbeing of the female population. The lack of women in research means that there is a lack of a much-needed diverse perspective on critical matters. This makes existing scientific views increasingly male-centric, especially in fields such as SEE HEALTHCARE, PAGE 16

Mission: Impossible (to help) Short-term mission trips do more harm than good FATIMAH AZEEM MERCURY STAFF

At first glance, short-term mission trips might seem like a good way to get involved in humanitarian work, but they are actually more harmful than helpful to the communities they seek to assist. Mission trips seek to help disadvantaged communities, usually in other countries, by doing activities such as building houses and schools, caring for children and providing medical assistance. Trips are frequently church-sponsored, and most mission trips available to college students are short-term trips that are one or two weeks long. While accessible, these trips are too short to have long-lasting helpful impacts. Their brief duration allows for short-lived solutions such as bringing food to communities, instead of long-lasting sustainable solutions like working closely with communities to allocate resources such as machinery for improved crops.

Another fatal flaw in short-term mission trips is that they seek to fix rather than to help. These trips aim to rescue disadvantaged communities from their problems and believe that their methods are globally applicable regardless of the history, current affairs and needs of specific communities. Because of this, mission trips can offer unhelpful solutions that stunt community growth and lead to counter-productivity. For example, a common activity in short-term mission trips is building homes, but iron-

ically, those trips are most populated by teenagers and college students who have limited or no training in building infrastructure. Sending a bunch of college students to construct a house that a local could’ve built better or was entirely unneeded is uncalled for, wastes the community’s time and presents the community with the unnecessary work of figuring out what they’re supposed to do with an unhabitable or unneeded home. Mission trip activities like building houses also strip natives of financial opportunities. There are already builders, teachers, farmers and other natives with expertise in disadvantaged communities who can perform their craft better than college students from another country. Trying to do local specialists’ craft for them presents them with unnecessary financial competition by temporarily taking away a job they could’ve gotten paid for. Short-term missionaries fail to understand communities’ core needs and thus disempower them by spreading the message that they must depend on foreign assistance, even with tasks they can already handle. Additionally, mission trips are exploitative when they serve as a glorified vacation instead of a genuine humanitarian effort. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s heard missionaries talk about how mission trips have forever changed them, pulling up pictures of them posing with poor children as evidence. However, if a missionary’s main goal is to broaden their perspective, expose themselves to the

SEE INJUSTICES, PAGE 16

JUHI KARNALKAR | MERCURY STAFF

April 05, 2021 | The Mercury

15

NEWS/LIFE & ARTS SAFEDISH

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 are continuinge to work on adding data for new cities, Bottum said, it’s a time-consuming process made more difficult by the fact that inspection data isn’t standardized., Bottum said.

“Our expansion plans are dependent on if we can find other places that are easy to fetch,” Bottum said. “A lot of counties and a lot of municipalities in

GRAD SCHOOL

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 sion,” Shatz said. “Each semester, however, we have many students that we work with to submit additional information, retake a test score or do other things to make their application more marketable.”

If a student wants their denial to be reconsidered, Shatz said they should

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so hard because I have to do it entirely through words when a hug speaks a million words. Sometimes that’s all that’s necessary to make someone feel better,” Govu said.

“But hey, I can’t hug someone through a phone screen. There’s

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for people to have a voice, but they also have these strong opinions and they’re looking to make changes and to make waves as we move forward.”

Oropallo said that the fact that the SJAFF is virtual is an advantage: since people are more likely to view content on a website than to attend an event on campus, the works will likely have greater visibility. Students have been excited for the festival, and Oropallo said that she is

this country do not have easily formatted data sets to access programmatically.”

Jiang said that the biggest challenge in the creation of the app was writing data scrapers that could automatically read data from each city. Because the data publication method differs greatly across municipalities, they often have to write completely new code for different areas. For example, North Richland Hills publishes scores in a PDF that’s

not computer- readable, while Arlington has a database that’s in a completely different format, Jiang said. The Park Cities area of Dallas, meanwhile, doesn’t have any kind of digitized records.

“If you want all the health reports, you have to file a public information request and pay a bunch of money,” Jiang said. “Even in DFW, it’s very hard to get full coverage of everything.”

Jiang said that user response is difficult to measure, since people tend to

use SafeDish just once or twice to check scores on restaurants they frequent. Because users don’t reopen the app once they have the information they need, the user retention rate is low.

“Our app is more of a tool than something that’s supposed to suck you in, like Facebook, that constantly refreshes with new content,” Jiang said. “I don’t see how we could have refreshing content considering we’re limited by the data the city provides.”

Jiang said that, ultimately, SafeDish can help people be more informed about what’s happening in the background to keep communities safe and healthy.

“Your local government does a lot of things for every aspect of environmental and public health that you just don’t know because 99% of the time, it goes smoothly,” Jiang said. “I think that if people have access to that data, they can make a lot more informed choices about day-to-day things.”

first talk to the MBA program about the decision and then the school’s graduate program dean. If necessary, students can contact the graduate dean of the university if they are still unsatisfied.

“Very few, if any students ever appeal beyond the program,” Shatz said. “The program does a terrific job of guiding the student to another degree program that might better suit their profile or they will tell them realistically if they

can improve upon their own application to the MBA program.”

With medical school rejections, Doyen Rainey, director of Health Professions Advising Center, said that he’s never heard of a successful appeal. He said it’s a more realistic – and more common – option for students to reapply to medical school the next year.

“If they do things to improve their application during that year, their

reapplication receives a completely fresh read,” Rainey said. “HPAC always recommends that applicants work with their pre-health advisor to improve their applications during the two semesters they’re waiting on med school acceptances.”

Appealing rejections is more common in law school, though. Director of Pre-law Advising Center Barbara Kirby said that appealing a law school

rejection typically requires reporting a change in status such as a higher LSAT score or a GPA improvement.

“I have found that law school admissions staff are always willing to talk to a student about what they can do to improve their application if they want to reapply in the next cycle,” Kirby said.

“So, I tell my students not to hesitate to reach out to get feedback about why their application was rejected.”

only so much I can do.”

The lack of traditional interaction has also limited relationship development, especially when a relationship can only grow through deepening emotional connection.

However, Ybarra said, this could be a good thing.

“Relationships don’t jump as

fast; you really get to know the person before we ever make that leap to be in-person,” Ybarra said.

“With traditional long-distance relationships, it just means we need to make the commitment of the time and money to be able to travel somewhere. Now, I need to take a risk and a leap of faith to interact

with you in some sort of way. So before people choose to do that, there’s that kind of buildup of that trust in the relationship that has to happen.”

Govu said that while long-distance relationships often get labeled as impossible, heading in with a positive mindset is key.

“Understand that there are certain parts that make long-distance tricky, but there are good parts to it too,” Goyu said. “It just really comes down to communication and working with each other to find a system and being understanding that there’s no really easy way to do this.”

happy with the level of contributor interest, especially for it being the first event of its kind.

“A lot of students [used] this as the impetus, as the drive to complete a project, and it was really rewarding to not only help inspire people to do something, but also to work with them and offer some mentorship along the way,” Oropallo said.

When ATEC senior Jonavon Ignont heard that ATEC administration was considering how to better engage with students on social jus-

tice issues, he decided to reach out to share his perspective as a Black student and ended up getting involved in the creation of the SJAFF. He created a documentary entitled “College Students on Black Lives Matter,” which combines material from three interviews with footage from racial justice protests.

“I think the best thing I can do during this time, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, is to amplify the voices of others,” Ignont said. “That’s what sparked the creation of the short documentary and

for me the creative process.”

Ignont said that the creative process was a good learning experience; he wants to eventually be a film producer, and this was the first documentary he’s ever created.

In addition, he said he enjoyed the opportunity to hear people’s stories and bring them to the forefront.

“It goes to show that we as young people can express our voices in an intelligent manner,” Ignont said. “I believe the great thing about this festival is that you really get to understand the motivations of people

who create the projects and what their views on the world are and what circumstances are behind their thoughts and beliefs.”

Going forward, Ignont said that he hopes that ATEC administration will continue to organize events like the SJAFF that allow students’ perspectives to be heard.

“I believe that this shouldn’t be a one-and-done thing, because it’s important to continue to have people’s voices be shared and also helps people really get the point of what this is all about,” Ignont said.

April 05, 2021 | The Mercury

16 ROCKET LEAGUE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 or more high-pressure play style, which both Dalton and Assistant Coach and computer science junior Kevin “Sporti” Vigil said are essential to UTD’s success.

“Our passes are very out of the blue, and it feels like it’s out of the blue because every single time we get those pass-

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 tum, accruing a winning record currently standing at 13-7.

Infielder and business administration senior Jacob Perry said that self-motivation was essential for the team over the last year, with each player having had to maintain a self-imposed training regimen prior to resuming team activities in the spring. “[The past year] was a long break, and it felt like forever. It’s just made me a lot

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as healthcare. In fact, just around 30 years ago, the term “bikini medicine” was coined under women’s health, selectively referring to breast and ovarian cancer, pregnancy and menstrual cycles. For the body parts that are the same in men and women – hearts, kidneys, brains – the subjects and researchers of study were mainly men. This means that up until the 1990s, the chances of women receiving heart treatments specifically tailored for them were

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injustices of the world or experience culture, then a humanitarian trip isn’t the right place to achieve it.

Furthermore, missionaries who go on mission trips solely to spread

SPORTS/OPINION es off, they’re always caught off guard,” Sporti said. “There’s a lot of teams that kind of do it. UNT is very pass-heavy, Oregon is relatively pass-heavy, OSU is also pass-heavy. And they’re really good teams, but I think when we do our passes, something’s different; and I think we have some crazy pressure that just builds up every time.”

In addition to building up pressure against rival teams, the pass-heavy play

style is inherently more team-oriented, which Sporti said is a big counter to other play styles. Another factor in the growth of the team so far is the timing of its creation: it started competing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which Sporti said really hampered team chemistry. Even with this restriction, however, Dalton said they were able to learn a lot from their time competing at a national level and evolved their play style.

“As we came to the end of the fall, our play style really started to become dominant,” Dalton said. “Every time we are passing and we’re on our game, I think we’re unstoppable and it’s really evolved to be our main play style.”

Regarding their mental game, Sporti said that the team is very momentum-based, able to snowball wins from winning positions in series but also losing focus if they get into a losing sit-

uation. Despite this, the team has won against top teams UNT and LSU in the past and will have to do so again in order to qualify for CRL Nationals. Only the top two teams from each region will advance to the top competition.

“Knowing that it’s only top two, we have to beat them out, but I think we could definitely do it,” Dalton said. “We have to show that we want it more.”

more grateful to be back,” Perry said.

“We got that taste of not being able to play maybe ever again, so there’s this urgency this year to work even harder and just appreciate the fact that we’re getting to play the game again.”

The team’s early success came alongside a substantial change to their roster, with nearly half of the 47-member team now made up of freshman players. With 22 new players, the Comets’ 2021 roster marks the largest freshman class in the team’s history.

Having graduated various team

veterans since the sudden end of the 2020 season, the number of upperclassmen, and especially seniors, has shrunk. Nonetheless, Perry said many of the Comets’ most experienced players continue to lead both at-bat and on the field.

“We’ve still got the same core from last year, so we’re really picking up where we left off,” Perry said. “It’s been good for us older guys because there’s competition. There are young guys coming in, and they’re hungry for a spot. It keeps us on our toes.”

Perry and healthcare studies junior A.J. Liu have headlined the Comets’ offense, with Perry notably hitting a game-winning triple in the team’s March 2nd game against the Southwestern Pirates. Perry said that strong at-bats like his own are most impactful when they revitalize team spirits.

“In a ball game like that, it just takes one moment to switch the momentum,” Perry said. “Once you do that, you can really take off from there.”

Currently ranked fourth overall in the American Southwest Conference

(ASC), the Comets are likely to qualify for the ASC playoff tournament this year. Having last attended the tournament in their 2019 season, the team was defeated in the first round by the Louisiana College Wildcats. For the first time since, the two teams will play again in mid-April.

“Right now, (…) we’re definitely going to make it,” Perry said. “But our goal is to have the best conference record and host the tournament. We’re on a good track right now, but we’ve still got some work to do.”

appallingly low.

This can also extend into drug research and development. Just eight years ago, the FDA released a report reducing the recommended dose of Ambien for women by half, since women take longer than men to metabolize the sleeping pill. So for over two decades prior, women were obliviously driving with the pill still in their systems. Garnering a greater number of female researchers and developers is absolutely necessary in order to call for lab research to be tailored to women as much as it is to men. A female’s perspective would

also allow for many directed advancements in the effective treatment of diseases responsible for annually impacting an inordinate number of women.

Time and time again, women have demonstrated that they are more than capable of excelling in the complex world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

American policymaking institutions need to ensure that proper resources are being allocated towards K-12 programs and postsecondary education establishments to motivate women and young girls to pursue

opportunities in STEM. An example of such an initiative is the Texas Girls Collaborative Project, which connects primary and secondary educational institutions with companies and organizations across Texas. Its goal is to motivate girls to explore careers in STEM, providing them with role models and helpful information about the field. UTD also has a plethora of programs such as the STEM Symposium for Girls and the Women in STEAM LLC, which are continuing to gain popularity on campus.

Ultimately, the outdated stereo-

types and prevalent sexism have no place in our ever-modernizing society. State governments should be implored to pass effective pieces of legislation that prioritize investing more into STEM education for young girls. Let’s do our part and support local initiatives that push for equality in science and technology. In the long run, any step taken towards greater female representation is still one step closer to demolishing that glass ceiling.

the Gospel to non-Christian communities are disingenuous.

Attempting to convert a disadvantaged community’s religion is unfair and wastes their time as they would likely prefer actual aid over Bible study. Humanitarian efforts that can’t offer qualified help while spreading Christ could

run the risk of becoming a serious detriment. Renee Bach was an American religious missionary who said she felt compelled by God to run a children’s hospital in Uganda despite having no medical background. 105 children died under her care by the time the hospital shut down five years later.

There are better ways to support disadvantaged communities than going on harmful short-term mission trips. Donating money to charitable organizations – like Me to We, KIVA, and the Water Project – that work closely with communities to help boost their economy, allocating scarce

resources and empowering native workers are all more effective options. By donating to charitable organizations, you are ensuring that all your money goes toward its intended cause.