Student Union Fee Passes, Athletics Fee Fails

Over 6,000 Comets voted in both referendums, Athletics fee fails by 212 votes

FATIMAH AZEEM Managing Editor

Comets voted in favor of a new Student Union and narrowly voted down an increased athletics fee in the recent fee referendum polls. UTD's next steps for a new SU are to secure approval from the state legislature to

UTD Mental Health App aims to help

A mental health text line will be available through the UTD app for students to get emotional support from peers.

Kavya Kannan, neuroscience sophomore and creator of the help line, collaborated with several campus departments including OIT, the Wellness Center and UTDesign to increase the availability of mental health resources to students. In her first semester of freshman year, Kannan proposed an innovative solution to facilitate support systems on campus and alleviate stress. Her app acts as a text line where students who need mental health support can anonymously message a trained student volunteer for help. While the app is still being developed, it is expected to be ready for use by the end of the fall semester.

“The main idea behind this project was basically to create this first line of support,” Kannan said. “So before you escalate and reach out to a mental health professional, which may seem like a hard task and isn’t always realistic, you can tell someone who you feel like you can relate to but who is also trained to help you.”

After pitching her app, several department directors, professors and CS students helped Kannan implement her idea. Ravi Prakash — a computer science professor and Collegium V honors college faculty member — has been overlooking this project and advising on possible improvements. Similarly, Kacey Sebeniecher, the director of the Student Wellness Center, has been helping Kannan work out the legalities of the project. Finally, several senior CS students have been working on the app through the UTDesign program to include many of the features that Kannan believed would be beneficial to UTD students.

SEE APP, PAGE 2 legally raise the fee cap. If passed through the legislature, the new SU fee – $100 per semester – will go into effect in fall 2023.

Over 6,000 students –a bout 20% of UTD's population – voted in both polls. Vice President of Student Affairs Gene Fitch said this referendum vote was one the highest turnouts in the history of the University.

“We never get that, not even in Student Government elections,” Fitch said. “This is beyond significant – it shows us that students care. Now what’s disappointing, obviously, is