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July 8, 2019
THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
“Maybe those killings wouldn't have happened.” Former worker details history of aggression after ex-Chartwells employee charged with murder CINDY FOLEFACK Editor-in-Chief
AMINA HUSSAIN | MERCURY STAFF
Business administration sophomore Eric Aaberg launched an online petition in June urging the university to build a statue of Temoc, the school mascot.
Student starts online petition for Temoc statue
After a former Chartwells employee was charged with two counts of murder in early June, a former student worker has come forward with allegations of physical and sexual harassment as well as drug abuse in the workplace. Dallas police took Kendrell Lyles, a former dishwasher who worked in the Student Union, into custody on June 5 after receiving a tip, and later charged him with two counts of murder. Another former worker, who chose to remain anonymous, said Lyles showed signs of aggression prior to his arrest. “It was known that he would verbally or physically harass people at work,” the source said. “It was common to see him physically grab or shove people. He would make sexual comments about the female employees there at work. That was very common from him.” The former worker said that while Lyles’ harassment was reported to upper management, his behavior didn’t change. They added that Lyles would routinely show up to work while under the influence of drugs and sold drugs to
other student workers. The source also provided a photo geotagged to UTD showing Lyles in his work uniform dividing up a white powdery substance with a card. “He would come in absolutely reeking of marijuana,” the former student worker said. “Everyone knew about that because he would come in and you could smell it throughout the entire back area.” Richard Franklin, Lyles’ attorney, declined to comment for this article. Chartwells corporate officials released a statement after Lyles’ arrest, declining to answer further questions due to the ongoing criminal investigation. “First and foremost, our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones impacted by these heinous acts,” the statement read. “At the time of his arrest, Mr. Lyles was not actively working for us, nor is he scheduled to return, and his employment has been indefinitely suspended pending the course of the criminal investigation.” The statement goes on to say that Lyles underwent a comprehensive background check prior to
employment. Chartwells officials declined to comment on the use of drug tests in the hiring process. The former student worker said that they were not required to take a drug test prior to employment. Chartwells officials declined to comment as to whether or not the company would be making policy changes in response to Lyles’ arrest. The former student worker said that had more complaints been filed against Lyles, and had those claims been properly investigated, the murders may have been prevented. “There’s a decent possibility that if he was reported through the proper channels — probably the police — he might have been put in jail and maybe those killings wouldn’t have happened,” the former student worker said. “Honestly, I think that’s something that’s on everyone, not just Chartwells upper management. It’s on us.”
EMAAN BANGASH Managing Editor
This June, a student started an online petition to create a statue of Temoc on the roundabout at the campus main entrance. The petition has since amassed over 460 signatures. Eric Aaberg, a business administration sophomore, said he first thought of having a Temoc statue after noticing the emptiness of the roundabout and proposed it to his friends. He received mixed responses at first, but ended up contacting Student Government President Ayoub Mohammed and was instructed to create a petition to generate more support. “I truly think when people are entering UTD, they have that cool idea of the roundabout, however I think that the mascot would just add to the campus beautifying vision that higher ups have at UTD,” Aaberg said. “And it establishes what our mascot is, and that way people could be like ‘Oh my God, that’s Temoc.’” Aaberg said he envisions the statue to be about 10-20 feet tall, made of metal such as bronze and standing on a concrete platform. He added that the statue could be crossing its arms, holding a comet or catching a comet. Aaberg said he had other suggestions for things around the statues such as crosswalks so students could safely cross and take photos with the statue, having lights on the statue and flowers around the platform. Aaberg said despite people not being sure about how they feel about Temoc or being scared of him, his love for Temoc made him pursue this project and improve school spirit overall. “I love Temoc, and I think truly we need to embrace that school spirit and (have) a statue in a place where people could take photos and things like that and (have) an actual physical piece of Temoc rather than just the old costume in the Visitor’s Center building for whenever he comes out,” Aaberg said. “It’s a sign that UTD’s dedicating its spirit to our mascot.” Aaberg reached out to multiple campus departments including officials at the Alumni Center, who supported the idea.
→ SEE TEMOC,
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SAMANTHA LOPEZ | OUTREACH EDITOR
University research team develops pain-free drug delivery system Group produces 3D-printed microneedle patches as cheaper, more efficient alternative to traditional methods RUHMA KHAN Mercury Staff
A joint research team from UTD’s Gassensmith and Smaldone labs are using 3D printing to streamline drug delivery systems, making the process of receiving medications such as vaccines less painful. The team is achieving their goal through the development of a 3D printed microneedle. Principal investigator Jeremiah Gassensmith said the dissolvable nature of the needles makes them ideal for delivering drugs in a way that limits medical waste and cuts the cost of treatment. “Microneedles are very small drug delivery vehicles. They’re like needles except they’re too small to inflict any pain. This is born out of the idea that nobody likes to get injections,” Gassensmith said. “It’s essentially a way to introduce drugs into the body without introducing any pain.” The lab was able to find a way to print microneedles using commercially available printers, he said. Gassensmith added that one of the challenges with designing the microneedle was printing it in a way that would make the needle small and sharp enough not to cause pain. “The 3D printer you buy off the shelf has too low of a resolution to produce a painless needle. If you were to push them into the skin, they would hurt,” Gassensmith said. Michael Luzuriaga, a chemistry Ph.D. student who served as the leader of the project, developed a technique to sharpen the needles by dissolving parts of it in a
MICHAEL LUZURIAGA | COURTESY
Chemistry Ph.D. student Michael Luzuriaga and a colleague look at one of their 3D-printed microneedles. The researchers hope to use the patches as an alternative to common drug delivery methods such as vaccines.
basic solution. “Michael’s idea was that the plastic the needles are made of can be etched and is dissolvable in the tissue, but that process can be sped up by putting it into a really basic solution,” Gassensmith said. “He had a technique where he dissolved it a little and then flipped it over and dis-
solved it a little more so you get a really sharp tip. Ultimately, a big part of the innovation was creating this sharp tip from the chemical etching.” 3D printing microneedles provides a faster and more cost-effective method to create prototypes, Luzuriaga said. “This is a great way to make different
types of prototypes of microneedles. With molds, you’d need to make the mold first and then make the microneedle,” he said. “It’s cheaper: it’s only a thousand dollars for one 3D printer and you can print 40 microneedles in one hour. It’s a pretty
→ SEE MICRONEEDLES,
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WHAT’S INSIDE?
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One student's Austria-based research combines her love of cognitive science and art history.
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Two coworkers are launching a new food delivery service that will be cheaper than other appbased platforms. Deliveries to UTD start on July 15.
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