The Mercury 12/3/18

December 3, 2018

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CHARTWELLS WORKERS

MOVE TO UNIONIZE Former, current employees cite mistreatment as key factor in movement MEGAN ZEREZ Mercury Staff

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ood service workers across campus are seeking to unionize amid allegations of wage withholding, harassment and other unfair labor practices against Chartwells, the primary food service provider at UTD. In April, Chartwells workers at UTD contacted United Food and Commercial Workers, a group that assists workers in negotiating collective bargaining contracts with their employers. Shelley Seeberg, a campaign manager with the national office of UFCW, said these accusations aren’t unique to employers such as Chartwells, but are part of a larger national push for better wages and working conditions.

“When there isn’t a union contract, we see things

like favoritism, pay inequities (and) high-cost health insurance,” she said.

Compass Group, the company which owns Chartwells, and Chartwells Resident District Manager for UTD, Steven Goodwin, declined to comment. UTD’s Office of Auxiliary Services, the office that coordinates with Chartwells, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Mercury spoke to five former and current workers and supervisors at Chartwells about their experiences as employees and their involvement with the union movement.

→ SEE UNION,

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ILLUSTRATION BY: CAROLINA ALVAREZ | MERCURY STAFF

OSA backs request to relocate from SSB Proposal to move to space in Administration Building touts more ground level accessible entrances

AMBER DOAN | MERCURY STAFF

The Office of Student AccessAbility is currently housed in a third-floor space in the Student Services Building.

MARCO SALINAS

Increased permit prices, sales drive strong revenue growth for Office of Parking and Transportation MEGAN ZEREZ Mercury Staff

The Office of Parking and Transportation, responsible for the sale and pricing of parking permits, has a budget that students and faculty members have tried and failed to obtain. In the absence of this data, students and faculty alike have voiced concern over increasing permit prices, a lack of lower-tier spots and accusations of artificially inflated demand for high-tier parking.

ATEC senior Alex Garza said he’s noticed a steady increase in permit costs since he came to UTD. Garza worked in the Office of Parking and Transportation last semester as a student worker.

“My understanding is that the parking permit is to pay for the maintenance of the parking lots,” Garza said. “I just don’t think that those (operating) costs justify the price that we pay for permits, especially as a commuter school.”

Terry Pankratz, vice president for budget and finance, said that at UTD, permit prices are competitive with other universities in the area, but said that the budget structure itself isn’t quite comparable because much of UTD’s parking infrastructure is new and hasn’t been

→ SEE BUDGET,

ALESANDRA BELL | MERCURY STAFF

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Shrine to Hollywood actor discovered under stairwell Framed photo of Steve Buscemi placed in crawl space surrounded by prayer candles, toy phone

Mercury Staff

University officials made a request to relocate the Office of Student AccessAbility from the third floor of the Student Services Building.

Gene Fitch, vice president of Student Affairs, said a room in the Administration Building has been proposed as the new location for OSA. The new location is expected to be more accessible than the current location in the Student Services Building.

Laura Smith, associate dean for health and wellness initiatives, said that multiple factors led to the request to relocate.

“We are looking to move to a location that has closer accessible parking that also can be accessed without the use of an elevator — so a ground floor access point,” Smith said. “And then also just a larger space, so a space that could accommodate more full-time offices and potentially a couple more testing spaces for students.”

→ SEE OSA,

DECODING THE PARKING BUDGET

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CINDY FOLEFACK Managing Editor

Two students discovered a makeshift shrine to actor Steve Buscemi, best known for his roles in “Fargo” and “Reservoir Dogs,” under a stairwell in Green Hall on Wednesday.

Literary studies junior Maddy Gathright and her friend, economics senior Katie Brannon, were walking upstairs to a computer lab in Green Hall to study when they saw traffic cones near the bottom of the stairwell. Brannon said she went to investigate and noticed a small door at the bottom of the stairs was open. After going inside, Brannon found a framed photo of Buscemi, alongside prayer candles, a toy phone and a used pregnancy test, among other items. It is unclear as to who created the shrine.

This comes after the discovery of a Danny DeVito shrine in a New York

college earlier this month.

“I didn’t believe (Brannon) at first — I thought she was just trying to get me down there,” Gathright said. “I go down there to see if I could stick my arm in the door and look around the corner … so I was gonna follow her in there, and (the shrine) was actually there, and I was like, ‘I cannot believe this.’”

Gathright recorded their experience in a video that was later shared on the UTD subreddit and Twitter, where it has received nearly 2,000 likes. Brannon said her original intent in going to the bottom of the stairwell was to take a traffic cone, as she has a hobby for collecting them.

“My other best friend lives in Hawaii, and there’s traffic cones everywhere — there are literally piles in the street,” Brannon said. “(She) and I tried to see if I could lean out the

→ SEE BUSCEMI,

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MADDY GATHRIGHT | COURTESY

A makeshift shrine to actor Steve Buscemi was found in a Green Hall crawl space on Wednesday. Facilities Management officials removed it because of safety concerns.

Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

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Nov. 9 • A vehicle struck a parked vehicle and left the scene at 10:44 p.m. onWaterview Parkway.

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Nov. 12 • A golf cart was taken without the consent of the owner at 3:06 p.m. at Recreation Center West.

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Nov. 14 • A UTD student was arrested for indecent exposure at 2:15 p.m. in Lot A. Nov. 16 • A UTD student was issued a citation for criminal mischief after spray-painting another student’s campaign sign at 4:55 p.m. at Phase 8.

Nov. 24 • A UTD student’s bicycle was stolen from his apartment patio between Nov. 20 and Nov. 24. at Phase 1.

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Contributors Sofia Babool Nikita Bantey Alesandra Bell Sarah Besserer Mansi Chauhan Pranati Chitta EJ Chong Bianca Del Rio Travis Dickerson Amber Doan Winstein Hungbui Christina Jia Ryan Magee Chiamaka Mgboji Elizabeth Nguyen Nadine Omeis Mubaraka Patanwala Anna Phengsakmueang Marco Salinas Anna Schaeffer Medha Somisetty Sarah Streety Pavan Tauh Marisa Williams Madison York Zuhair Zaidi Megan Zerez

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LEGEND VEHICULAR INCIDENT

THEFT

DRUGS & ALCOHOL OTHER MAP: UTD | COURTESY

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Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

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NEWS

Unused meal exchanges find new purpose Students now allowed to donate meal swipes as part of food insecurity initiative from Dining Services

MEDHA SOMISETTY | MERCURY STAFF

A new Starbucks coffee shop is set to open at Northside.

Starbucks opening at Northside MARISA WILLIAMS Mercury Staff

NADINE OMEIS | MERCURY STAFF

UTD Dining Services is spearheading an effort to allow students to donate up to two of their meal swipes per semester to other students who need it.

ZUHAIR ZAIDI Mercury Staff

Student Government and Dining Services teamed up to create a meal swipe donation program to help combat food insecurity on campus.

With close to 22 percent of college students facing very low levels of food security, according to the National Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, the initiative aims to allow students with unused meal swipes to donate them to others in need on campus.

Zehra Rizvi, the chair of SG’s Residential Affairs Committee, said the initiative to start the program began with

students’ input to expand the offerings Dining Services provided for students.

The program works by allowing students with unused guest passes and meal swipes to donate them to a bank of meals operated by the Dean of Students Office who will then allocate them to students for use in the dining hall.

“Food insecurity is unfortunately a really big problem for a lot of students and so, if we can even help one student feel more comfortable about their meals on campus, we can really consider this a success,” Rizvi said.

Students on semester-long block meal plans will be allowed to donate up to two meals a semester to the bank. Students on

the weekly meal plans are allowed to donate unused guest passes. In order to donate for next semester, students must initially sign up at one of the Dining Services and Student Government launch events at the SU and Dining Hall West from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., beginning on Dec. 3. Afterward, students will be able to make donations online for future semesters.

Director of Food and Retail Carrie Chutes-Charley said that existing student services such as the Comet Cupboard initially inspired the program. Chutes said while formulating the program, an emphasis was placed on maintaining recipient anonymity. The only point of contact students will need for the next semester is with

the Dean of Students Office to request meal donations through phone or email.

“There’s an average of $1.4 trillion student loan debt. So, if you’re trying to get through the finances of your education, often times it’s the expendable items like food that get pushed aside,” Chutes said. “We want to get the word out that the program is available and nothing to be ashamed about. Our tagline is ‘We all have insecurities, but food shouldn’t be one of them.’”

Biochemistry sophomore Faisal Syed said the program would be helpful for himself and the overall student population. He said the program would allow him to focus

→ SEE MEAL SWIPE,

PAGE 10

The Starbucks in the Student Union opened in November 2017, but students can expect the opening of a second location in the Northside retail space in the near future.

Northside will see the construction of an additional 6,600 square feet of retail space on its eastern lot of land closest to the intersection of Floyd Road and Synergy Park Boulevard. Vice President for Facilities and Economic Development Calvin Jamison said the square footage of the Starbucks, which will be located in this lot, has yet to be determined.

“Starbucks has a corporate footprint that they utilize in terms of building new stores,” Jamison said. “If Northside Comet Town continues to evolve, and we are just being responsive to the demand that a store like Starbucks has created, not only on campus, but in the community.”

→ SEE STARBUCKS,

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McDermott Library adds smart rooms Interactive screens included to allow students to conduct video conferences, share notes

ANNA PHENGSAKMUEANG| MERCURY STAFF

Director of Cyber Infrastructure Operations Jerry Perez demonstrates the advanced supercomputer he developed, “Ganymede,” designed to help chess players make faster decisions during games.

OIT director develops chess analysis supercomputer New interface for chess team designed to generate strategies more quickly SOFIA BABOOL Mercury Staff

The UTD chess team will soon take a step towards future competitions with the help of supercomputers that will reduce the time it takes to analyze players’ moves.

An effort designed to advance the UTD chess team in national and international competitions, the newly designed supercomputer interface will serve as a tool to further develop existing position analysis for the UTD chess team.

Jerry Perez, the director of Cyber Infrastructure Operations in the Office of Information Technology, designed and implemented a chess analysis interface for the UTD chess team. He named the supercomputer “Ganymede.”

Even the best chess players from

around the world, such as Magnus Carlsen or Fabiano Caruana, take time to make decisions that could be pivotal in their success in the game. Perez said the introduction of the supercomputer — which will be tested by the chess team this semester — will not only allow for players to make the best decisions during a tournament but will also reduce the amount of time it takes to determine which next steps to take.

“There are more chess piece moves than there are atoms in the universe.

It humbles me to think that if everybody had this type of technology, where would chess teams be today?”

Perez said. “At UTD, we are going to give our players more access to chess computing. The contest is about who has the best analytical skills and who has retained the most information.

This is the arena through which we

can test those skills.”

Software engineering junior Angel Arribas Lopez, a member of the chess team at UTD since his freshman year, said although many supercomputers exist right now, the one developed at UTD will have an interface to make the most accurate decisions in the least amount of time. While players must mentally make decisions without the help of technology during an actual competition, these computers allow for the players to anticipate the possible moves of their opponent before they make them.

ChessBase, a widely known program for chess teams, is what UTD chess players currently use to prepare for their national and international competitions. The program creates

→ SEE CHESS,

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MEDHA SOMISETTY | MERCURY STAFF

Two rooms in the McDermott Library were updated to include interactive boards that allow students to digitize notes and conduct video conferences.

WINSTEIN HUNGBUI Mercury Staff

The Eugene McDermott Library installed two new smartboards on the second and third floors earlier this semester, turning old whiteboards into interactive displays that offer more functionality to students and faculty.

Gloria Jean Vik, associate library director for systems, said the new rooms feature a 70-inch television monitor which can detect audio and video. As a result, compatible devices, which range from laptops to tablets and phones, all have increased utility. This means a student connected to the room on their phone can have the same functions and acquire the same informa-

tion as a student on their laptop.

“The room on the second floor is equipped with a large TV monitor that has cameras around the frame,” Vik said. “There is an electronic whiteboard that can send notes to your device. You can put all your ideas on the whiteboard, save them as a file, and send them as an email or put them on your USB drive.”

The new interactive boards help when a group of students utilizing study rooms run out of space on the traditional whiteboards, leading to them writing on the walls and costing the library time and money to repaint the rooms.

“We have whiteboards in every room

→ SEE LIBRARY,

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LIFE&ARTS

Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

Dining Services offers interactive cooking lessons Students, faculty connect with professional chefs while learning to cook unique dishes

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE | COURTESY

“Bridge of Clay” by Australian author Markus Zusak was published Oct. 9.

Zusak’s latest book moves readers ANNA SCHAEFFER Mercury Staff

NOAH WHITEHEAD | PHOTO EDITOR

Chartwells chef Michael Tyler made wild mushroom bisque at the November session of Teaching Kitchen, a monthly food series hosted by Dining Services.

PRANATI CHITTA Mercury Staff

Every month, Dining Hall West hosts the Teaching Kitchen, an event where DHW chefs show students how to prepare a meal.

This meal is dependent on the super food of the month. This month, DHW chefs demonstrated how to make mushroom bisque.

“We are kind of gravitated to the why — where it came from, how it’s created,” said UTD Senior Executive Chef Gene Christiano.

“We created the Teaching Kitchen to connect with our students and also use it as a team building process with faculty and staff.”

Each Teaching Kitchen is conducted in three levels. In the first level, a professional chef demonstrates how to make a dish with the super food of the month.

Next, guests, which include students, staff and faculty, prepare snack sized portions of the entree with the chef. In the third step, guests are able to enjoy a full course meal made by fellow attendees.

“It’s amazing what we find through the Teaching Kitchen,” said Chartwells Resident District Manager Steven Goodwin.

“Some of the students don’t know some of the things we’re already doing.”

Meals made and demonstrated dur-

ing the Teaching Kitchen are often the same meals offered in the dining hall for students and faculty.

“A lot of times, people think cooking is very difficult or expensive,” Christiano said. “What’s awesome about the Teaching Kitchen is that it allows us to talk about how to get to the ending point and not to be fearful of it.”

Christiano started working at UTD seven years ago and began the Teaching Kitchen in 2016 and has since hosted many iterations of the event.

“He did a teaching kitchen with items found in (The Market at DHW),” said

Director of Food and Retail Services Carrie Chutes-Charley. “It was a really neat way to show how you can create simple dishes for yourself.”

The Teaching Kitchen also serves as a forum for students to express their opinions and desires for the dining hall.

“I love that the DHW Teaching Kitchen allows students, who eat here every day, to talk to Gene,” Chutes said. “In turn, he talks with the students and learns a little bit more about them.”

Chefs of the Teaching Kitchen also address

→ SEE KITCHEN,

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I read the final chapter of “Bridge of Clay” — the brand-new release by “The Book Thief” author Markus Zusak — in London while looking out over the Tower Bridge. I thought of my four siblings, the same number of brothers in the family of the protagonist, Clay.

I thought about the process of reconciliation with an estranged loved one and how the gritty, laborious process of constructing a physical stone bridge parallels rebuilding an emotional relationship. I also thought about how I didn’t want the novel to end, because Zusak’s narrative of Clay, his family and a bridge is one that makes it one of Zusak’s best.

The eldest of five Dunbar brothers narrates the story of Clay, the second-youngest in the family. The siblings grew up in Australia in a house of seven with parents whose love story originated with a serendipitously incorrect address for some piano deliverymen. As the older

→ SEE BRIDGE,

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PaKoRa: DeEp FrIeD VeGeTaBlEs PAVAN TAUH | MERCURY STAFF

Shayna’s Place serves sandwiches, pastries, salads and smoothies with several dishes based on Olerio family recipes.

Cafe provides opportunities for employees with special needs MUBARAKA PATANWALA Mercury Staff

Shayna’s Place began as a cafe in Rhode Island built for Shayna Olerio, a selfproclaimed foodie with Down syndrome who enjoys being in the kitchen with her mom. The establishment opened a new location near downtown Dallas and focuses on providing job opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

The cafe, run by the Olerio family, opened its doors near the Bishop Arts District on Nov. 2 and is the family’s second cafe, after its first one opened in Rhode Island in 2015. The cafe is named after the daughter of Matt Olerio, Shayna.

“I know Shayna does a lot at the Rhode Island location,” said Chad Webb, the cafe’s general manager. “They have a DJ booth set up, so she’ll go in and play the playlists for them.”

Lou Olerio, nephew of owner Matt Olerio, owns and manages the West Dal-

las location. The cafe serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The menu consists of sandwiches, salads and smoothies, incorporating Olerio family recipes such as Shayna’s dressing and the Shayna Shake.

The cafe’s mission is to provide employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities. It currently employs three people with special needs and plans to work with more in the near future.

“I have a gentleman with low-level autism and a few other employees,” Webb said. “They came from an organization called Bridges from School to Work.”

Bridges provides opportunities for young people living with disabilities to enter the workforce.

“We work with students and teach them how to write a resume and how to interview,” said Maria Buitron, a Bridges representative.

Job training is provided by the cafe and includes training for the register,

bussing and dishwashing. Jada Ramirez, a part-time employee, said she enjoyed the training process.

“Everyone was very sweet and friendly,” Ramirez said. “The managers even helped me organize my schedule with school and work.”

For the employees with special needs, Webb arranges additional training on an individual basis.

“Shayna’s is inclusive, open minded and friendly,” Buitron said. “It is an ideal place — you want anybody regardless of disability to work there.”

Representatives from Bridges stay in contact with the students throughout the process to ensure the transition from school to work is smooth.

Webb said the organization regularly checks in with the cafe and its employees to ensure a strong partnership and work environment. Weekly reviews last until a

→ SEE CAFE,

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RYAN MAGEE | MERCURY STAFF

CHIAMAKA MGBOJI Mercury Staff

This weekend, we traveled down to the campus dorms to whip up a little something for ourselves to try — pakoras and chai. Pakoras are a deep-fried vegetable snack and chai is a South Asian tea made with milk and brown sugar. Together, these foods form a delightful pair and making them was an enjoyable experience.

Pakora are classified as a type of fritter.

It’s a popular type of street food, but it can also be a household meal. They are eaten

to celebrate Ramadan but can also be enjoyed throughout the year.

I have never heard of pakoras and chai before, much less did I previously have the opportunity to try them. While this initially was a cause for concern — because making something you’ve never eaten before usually is a recipe for disaster — I have a bit of experience dealing with deep-fried foods, as I grew up helping my mother make deep fried Nigerian food like akara. While not prepared exactly the same way, there are some similarities. Akara is composed of beans ground with onion rolled up and then deep fried in palm

→ SEE PAKORA,

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SPORTS

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Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

NOAH WHITEHEAD | PHOTO EDITOR

Healthcare studies freshman and guard Kavin Ezekwe shoots in the first half of the season opener against Hendrix College on Nov. 10. The Comets have an overall score of 6-2 so far this season.

Men’s basketball opens season with wins Team achieves overall score of 6-2 in opening games with 104-60 win against Hendrix College in first match of season TRAVIS DICKERSON Mercury Staff

The men’s basketball team entered the season with high hopes after falling short in the American Southwest Conference tournament last year.

It has been four years since the team won the ASC Tournament and last entered the NCAA Divison III Nationals.

The team lost in the semifinal match of the ASC Tournament after finishing the season with an overall score of 19-8. The season started Nov. 10 in a homecoming

match where the Comets beat Hendrix 104-60. The team lost to Southwestern two days later with a final score of 6176. Head coach Terry Butterfield said the team’s performance both days was a learning opportunity.

“It was a good beginning for us, with a really good atmosphere in the gym,” Butterfield said. “The game against Southwestern was the complete opposite, but sometimes you grow more from a loss and we’re treating it as such.”

The team has no seniors this year but 10 members from the previous season

returned. The returning players include junior guard Dimitrius Underwood, who appeared in all 27 games last season and scored several career highs, including scoring 35 points in a single game. Underwood opened the season by winning 19 points for the team and added 14 rebounds in the game against Hendrix. Butterfield said that though the team is made mostly of returning students, the group is still adjusting to its new dynamic.

“I think that we’re still in a feeling out process, seeing who fits in where,” Butterfield said. “One of our biggest emphasis during

the preseason was defense, and in particular, individual defense and rebounding.”

The team started a five-game winning streak during the fall break, beating Schreiner on Nov. 19 with a final score of 93-56. It then followed with a close game against Hardin-Simmons on Nov. 21 that ended 72-71. Butterfield said that the game came down to the wire for the team.

“It was a back and forth the entire time,” Butterfield said. “It came down to that last shot at the end and we were able to defend it.”

On Nov. 24 the team went up against Whitworth, one of the top 25 teams in the nation in Division III, where the Comets won 88-79 with four players — including Underwood and Burwitz — putting up double digits. The success was followed by two more victories including beating last season’s ASC champions, Sul Ross State, 83-50.

The men’s basketball team will continue to play for the remainder of the semester and into the winter break, with key ASC games taking place against McMurry on Dec. 31 and East Texas Baptist on Jan. 10.

Two players receive ASC East Division honors Men’s, women’s basketball team members gain recognition as season progresses MANSI CHAUHAN Mercury Staff

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are on the road to the finals of the American Southwest Conference, with a player from each team individually recognized by the league.

Interdisciplinary junior and forward Hans Burwitz along with mathematics sophomore and forward Katie Gunther were announced the ASC East Division players of the week on Nov. 19.

Burwitz grew up in Allen and spent his freshman year at Gannon University, where he played 16 games and averaged 6.4 minutes per contest.

“I grew up playing basketball in the backyard and I just fell in love with the game,” Burwitz said. “I really like the team aspect of it.”

During the 2017-2018 season, he played in

23 games off the bench as a transfer sophomore at UTD. He was able to score in double figures in eight games, along with a season high of 27 points.

“We’re playing good together as a team — we’re honestly playing as one,” Burwitz. “I think that’s really helped my own success.”

In the most recent game against Sul Ross State, Burwitz led UTD with 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting and added 10 rebounds, which were both the game highs along with his third “double-double” of the season.

“My goal this year is for us to win conference and just go as far as we can,” Burwitz said.

“Personally, I want to make the ASC team.”

The victory in Alpine, Texas extended the UTD men’s team’s winning streak to five consecutive wins. UTD performed better than 50 percent as a team for the fourth time in seven games.

“As long as we keep working on the little

things that are under our control and hold each other accountable, then we will keep growing and we have a good chance at achieving our goals of winning conference and going forward to nationals,” assistant coach Beverly Lockett said.

From The Woodlands in Houston, Katie Gunther was a two-time all-district pick at Concordia Lutheran High School. She led the team to a district title as a senior. As a college freshman, Gunther made eight starts in a total of 26 games.

“My dad played basketball — that’s how I got introduced to the game,” Gunther said.

“He is my biggest role model — he would always pull me out and coach me on my game.”

Last season, Gunther appeared in 25 games with three starts for the Comets as a sophomore, averaging 2.4 points and 2.2 rebounds per game in 10.4 minutes per outing.

“I usually give three hours a day, six days

UTD ATHLETICS | COURTESY

Interdisciplinary studies sophomore and forward-center Hans Burwitz scored 18 points for the Comets in a Nov. 19 game against Schreiner University.

a week (to basketball)” Gunther said. “We usually have to get treatments for injuries and staying healthy, so that adds another hour or two.”

The UTD women’s team got a 20-9 lead after the opening period and then beat SRSU in Alpine on Nov. 29. UTD outscored SRSU

13-5 with a defensive second quarter. Gunther added 12 points, and the Comets achieved their largest margin of victory of the season.

“Personally, I want to play well and just help my team win in any way that I can,” Gunther said. “I hope we can win the ASC conference and then eventually win nationals.”

CHRISTINA JIA | MERCURY STAFF

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COMICS

Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

A GENTLE REMINDER

O&B: FELINE FESTIVE

SARAH STREETY | MERCURY STAFF

SANTA WHY

ELIZABETH NGUYEN | MERCURY STAFF

SARAH BESSERER | MERCURY STAFF

CARLZ SAYS

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

CAROLINA ALVAREZ | OUTREACH EDITOR

SANTA CARES

CHIAMAKA MGBOJI | MERCURY STAFF

ACTIVITY

RYAN MAGEE | MERCURY STAFF

IT'S THAT TIME

BIANCA DEL RIO | MERCURY STAFF

WHILE YOU WERE BUSY SELF-LOATHING, I STUDIED THE BLADE

MATT STRACK | GRAPHICS EDITOR

EJ CHONG | MERCURY STAFF

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Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

7

LIFE&ARTS

self-care tips to keep you healthy and alert for finals week!

By: EJ Chong Mercury Staff

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OPINION

Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

Parking, uncovered

Transparency needed at Office of Parking and Transportation THE EDITORIAL BOARD Say the word “parking” to any college student and you will almost inevitably be met with pained expressions, exasperated groans and more than a few colorful testimonies detailing “that time I got a ticket.” But for all its importance on campus, many of the decisions made by the Office of Parking and Transportation are shrouded in mystery. Repeated attempts from our reporters to talk to the parking office about details concerning their budget and permit prices have resulted in canceled interviews, refusals to comment and unexplained expenses.

Most commonly, we have been told that the questions which we pose can only be answered by high-ranking officials within the office. Said officials, however, have proven especially difficult to reach. When no interviews could be scheduled without a prior review of questions, our reporters replied with a detailed list of topics which the interview would cover. An interview time was scheduled and confirmed, only to be cancelled by the office hours before.

This cycle of scheduling and confirming an interview, only to lead to cancellation,

CHIAMAKA MGBOJI | MERCURY STAFF

occurred on multiple, separate occasions.

Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the Office of Parking and Transportation’s ambiguity is the lack of access to its budget data, a problem which has extended beyond The Mercury’s requests. For example, in a chain of emails provided to The Mercury, an information technology management graduate program manager within the School of Management requested on Oct. 10 the costs associated with parking to use for a future class project. He was then told by a professor sitting on the Committee on Parking and Transportation that the requested information “either isn’t made publicly available or doesn’t exist.” The professor continued to explain that he himself had requested such information to help “justify the annual parking sticker costs” and was unable to gain access to any specific expenditures. The ITM staff member was then referred by a separate committee member to Parking and Transportation officials who, months later, have yet to provide him with the materials he requested. The budgetary information which was eventually given to The Mercury — after four separate requests — was not provided by the Office of Parking and Transportation, but by the Office of Budget and Finance. Officials within the

Office of Budget and Finance, however, were unable to comment on certain aspects of the monetary allocations, such as why a “benefits” line item jumped from $17,719 to $90,088 and back down to $3,955 over the course of three consecutive fiscal years. Though this discrepancy was said to likely have been the result of a coding error, this cannot be confirmed without direct comment from the Office of Parking and Transportation.

Our reporters also attempted to investigate an increase in “other salaries and wages,” a line item in the Parking and Transportation Office’s budget which jumped from $297,000 to $600,000 in fiscal year 2018-2019. An official at the Office of Budget and Finance said the line item may include student wage and contract wages among other items and referred our reporters on multiple occasions to the Office of Parking and Transportation for detailed itemizations. The parking office was unable to comment.

It has become clear, then, that students, faculty and staff alike have been left in the dark as to the budgetary breakdown of perhaps one of the most essential departments of the university.

As the primary platform for student

→ SEE PARKING,

PAGE 9

DARTing forward

Development of new Cotton Belt Rail Line will benefit UTD, DFW despite large price tag SIDDHARTH SAI VADLAMANI Contributor

How important is public transit to you?

At UTD, we have a large population of students — international students and local residents alike — who do not have cars but need to get around. Their solution? The 100 miles of light rail track and the vast network of busses provided by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit. DART’s latest project, named the Cotton Belt Rail Line, is a rail network that will connect Plano to the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. This rail line, although expensive, is a much-needed infrastructure project for the metroplex as it will open up new transit routes, allow passengers to travel around the metroplex far more efficiently and will very likely pave the way for further developments.

The rail line is expected to be a faster way to transport passengers through the metroplex. Currently, DART does not have a straight east-west light rail corri-

dor, so it would be a needed addition to get to DFW. As of now, if a UTD student wished to travel between the Cityline/Bush station and DFW Airport, the trip would take an average of 1.5 hours, whereas Love Field would take 45 minutes. These figures are based on Orange Line timetables and also consider the fact that the train is already at the platform at Cityline/Bush. Current projections show that the average travel time between Cityline/Bush station and DFW Airport via the Cotton Belt line would be at least one hour at its slowest. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that the rail line will not cross through Dallas Love Field, so passengers will still have to utilize current DART infrastructure to catch their Southwest Airlines flight.

This rail line will change the heavy car culture that has been ingrained in our society for generations. Many transit riders are stuck to the north-south thoroughfares that the current DART system covers. By introducing another rail line that would traverse the metroplex east-west,

users who are heavily car-dependent will get a chance to try a new form of transportation due to the fact that this line will be going through areas that currently do not have rail. Aside from that, light rail is more cost effective when it comes to cost of transport versus paying for gas for an average day’s commute. DART currently already has a fair capping promotion for frequent riders, as well as discounted monthly passes, and as a UTD student, you can get a transit pass for free.

The cost of the proposed Cotton Belt line is projected to be a hefty $1.1 billion. However, students at UTD and those who depend on public transit would agree that this is a no-brainer. Yes, $1.1 billion is not a small amount of money, but there is more than just a convenience benefit with this rail line. A commuter rail network requires the track, stations, transit centers and new infrastructure to support it. Take Cityline/Bush station, for example. When DART constructed the Red Line in the late 1990s, there was no sign of development — it was just a transit station surrounded by fields. Look at that

very same station today. State Farm has a large office campus as part of the CityLine development, which also features hotels, retail outlets and plenty of dining options.

There’s no reason why the same potential for development can’t happen in places such as Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Coppell — principal cities along the Cotton Belt line.

The area around UTD — specifically, the area between Synergy Park Boulevard and Waterview Parkway — will benefit from enhanced economic and infrastructure development with this rail line.

DART has a plan to construct the UTD/ Synergy Park station, which will be placed directly behind Northside. Currently, that area is already developed with retail and high-density residential development, so having a rail line as part of this development will definitely help students and residents in the area. The steep price tag of the Cotton Belt line may deter many taxpayers, but this is definitely an investment that will quickly pay off in spades for DART, UTD and the entire Dallas/ Fort Worth area.

SAMANTHA LOPEZ | MERCURY STAFF

I'm baptized, not brainwashed Digging beyond religious stereotypes leads to mutual understanding

MADISON YORK

Mercury Staff Brainwashed. Indoctrinated. Believing in a higher power to make myself feel better instead of facing facts.

As a Christian, I’ve been either been accused or heard other Christians accused of all these things. At the same time, I’ve heard pastors and orators on my own side of the aisle assert the same about atheists, agnostics or anybody who isn’t Christian. Opposing ideologies point fingers at each other — if not openly, then privately. But what does this say about the nature of indoctrination on either side? Understanding indoctrination in others, then, first means that we must reevaluate indoctrination in ourselves.

Indoctrination is the process of teaching someone to accept a set of beliefs uncritically — with the key term being “uncritically.” Indoctrination brings unsavory images of forcefeeding unquestionable information,

with no room for argument.

To some degree, indoctrination of incontrovertible truths happens to all of us. We’re taught physical truths — the Earth is spherical. We’re taught linguistical truths — some words are polite, and some words aren’t. And we’re taught moral truths — it is, for example, almost universally accepted that murder is evil. However, we are susceptible to numerous other indoctrinations as children. Growing up in a religious household or not can have a strong impact on our personalities and biases. We’re taught to accept certain things as truth, and others as lies.

An example from my own experience is the belief in a young Earth versus an old Earth. I was raised studying the principles of Creationism according to the Bible. Now, as I’ve gotten older and started studying for my physics degree, investigating the objective proof (or disproof ) for my beliefs is an intrinsic part of my life.

One thing to note here is the crucial, potentially dangerous role of confirmation bias. The most obvious

kind of confirmation bias is only researching facts that confirm our original belief, such as being religious and reading just theological and scientific evidence that supports your religion.

However, another, subtler kind of confirmation bias is when you have a doubt about something — or, say, grew up religious, but were pressured not to question or doubt and so rebelled against the religion — and only research the facts that support your doubt. And making a habit of confirmation bias isn’t the only possible pitfall in our mental and intellectual development. Worse, we can become complacent in our beliefs and fail to question in the first place.

Over the last few weeks, I conducted a survey of UTD students to gauge individual experiences with these ideas.

In all, 85 people responded, and of those, atheism was the predominant belief system — coming in at 67.1 percent — while Christianity came next, at 24.7 percent of respondents. When

→ SEE RELIGION,

PAGE 9

SAMANTHA LOPEZ | MERCURY STAFF

Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

9

OPINION

→ RELIGION

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

asked whether someone had ever accused them or someone of their same religion of being indoctrinated, 28 atheists and 20 Christians responded. Of those, 15 atheists and 14 Christians said yes.

Admittedly, this is a relatively small pool of survey respondents. This last data point, however, merits some discussion.

People who are religious aren’t the only ones being accused of indoctrination — it’s happening to atheists, too.

In the same survey, I also asked if respondents often found themselves investigating factual evidence for their belief system. Out of the 25 atheists that responded, 19 answered yes, and out of

the 21 Christians that responded, 14 answered yes. Again, this is a small statistical pool, but in both cases, more than half of the respondents from each belief system were actively searching for evidence for what they believed.

There are several things that can be said for certain. Whether atheists, Christians or other religions, accusations of indoctrination are coming from every side — over half of the survey population is actively questioning and researching their faith.

Invalidating people’s belief — or, again, lack thereof — by claiming they’re indoctrinated isn’t a valid way to argue because it isn’t always true. People are being critical of their own beliefs.

Jesus once told a parable about two men

who each built their own house — one on solid rock, and the other on sand. When a storm came, the house on the rock stood firm, and the house on the sand collapsed.

I’ve talked with people who view faith as blind. And the worst part is that while there are many who do ask question, I’ve still met people who are blind in their faith. They show up to church on Sunday, go through the motions of being a Christian and behave passionately and pedantically when it suits them. They build mansions on the sand.

As we age, autonomy and freedom of thought become increasingly important to us as individuals. Questioning assumptions — particularly things we were told, as children, were unquestionably true —

is healthy for our development as adults.

Investigating factual evidence for our faith (or lack thereof ) doesn’t just give us a way to have objective discussions with people of different beliefs. It also leads us closer to truth.

I extend this challenge to Christians, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus and everyone else in between.

As you investigate what you believe, seek the flaws in your knowledge and the architecture of your ideology. Even better, examine your building process: the logic and fundamental principles with which you’re approaching your structure of belief. The end of indoctrination starts with the re-evaluation of reasoning.

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voices on campus, we consider it our obligation to hold administrative offices and academic departments accountable for their actions.

We cannot keep the student body informed, however, if access to such information is restricted or altogether unattainable. Whether incidentally or on purpose, Parking and Transportation officials at the highest level have put into practice a policy of evasion and ambiguity which can no longer stand. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis commented on the need for institutional transparency by saying, “Sunlight is the best of disinfectants, electric light the most efficient policeman.” It is time for the Office of Parking and Transportation to step out of the shadows and into the light.

SURVIVING THE HOLIDAY SEASON

CAROLINA ALVAREZ | MERCURY STAFF

COMET COMMENTS

What have been your experiences with the quality of food on campus?

Comets and Craters Professors secure federal grant

“The restaurants are pretty good, the dining hall — for the most part — it's pretty good. Somedays it's not so great, but for the most part, it's fine.”

“Food? It's good, actually. Especially the Starbucks coffee and the Subway. It's very good, actually.”

“As a freshman, I'm on the Freshman 19 Meals a Week. The cafeteria food is just — it's OK. There's a lot of options but it still gets bland after a while. I'm really happy with the choices we have at the Student Union, though.”

Brandon Muster Biomedical Engineering Freshman

Brianca Murali Electrical Engineering Senior

Michael Johannesmeyer Healthcare Studies Freshman

Sheel Dodani and Gabriele Meloni, both assistant professors of chemistry, each won a $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

Food safety issues across campus Reddit users posted on Wednesday images of undercooked chicken and moldy bread found at different food outlets on campus.

New student support program Orbit, an initiative developed during UTD's re-accreditation process, is designed to help new students — freshman, graduate students and transfers alike — remain engaged with campus.

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?

Students interested in writing opinions or letters to the editor can email editor@utdmercury.com.

Letters must be 500 words or less.

Students should include their full name, major and year. Faculty, staff and administrators should include their full name and title. Authors may only have one letter printed per edition of The Mercury.

Email letters to editor@utdmercury. com. Although electronic copies are prefered, a hard copy can be dropped off at the reception desk of the Student Media suite (SU 1.601). Please include a headshot.

We reserve the right to reject submissions, and we cannot be responsible for their return. We reserve the right to edit for clarity, brevity, good taste, accuracy and to prevent libel. Apart from your name and photo, personal info will not be published.

Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

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Computer science sophomore Pranjal Satija said he doesn’t know whether opening a Starbucks at Northside will alleviate the lines at the Starbucks on campus because of how far away Northside is.

“If you’re at the SU, it’s going to take 10 to 15 minutes to walk to Northside,” he said. “I just don’t think anyone is going to leave class and instead of going to the SU, take 15 minutes to walk to Northside to go to Starbucks and then 15 minutes to walk back.”

Jamison said it is not known what other retail partners will

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its own recommendations for each move made by the opponent player, which allows for the physical player to choose and move their pieces correspondingly.

“People try to memorize as many positions as they can, but the supercomputer will make the best decisions in any position, so if we come across that position or similar positions later on, we know what to do,”

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on his grades rather than his expenses and alleviate some of the financial burden he would

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student has reached three to six months working on a job. Bridges has an 84 percent job retention rate among their candidates.

“Now that they are working, we’ll keep in touch with the students and employers for about a year or longer,” Buitron said. “We like to turn these job opportunities into career opportunities.”

Andrea Winn, opening manager

NEWS

open locations in the developing east portion of Northside, but the goal is to provide services that cater to the needs of the student and local community and create an area adjacent to campus that has a college feel.

Satija said that, as an undergraduate student, UTD doesn’t feel like a college campus the way other universities do.

“You have to get in your car to go anywhere or to do anything versus if you go to a more conventional school, there is sort of a college downtown area, which you know we don’t have and I think that’s one of the big cultural things missing from UTD that a lot of people com-

plain about,” he said.

As the campus and Northside continues to evolve, Jamison said it is a very exciting time to be a part of the growth of the university, especially as it continues to grow north.

“What made this possible was the fact that we wanted to create a transit-oriented, mixed-use development of residential, retail, restaurant and entertainment,” he said. “ The opening day of the Northside Starbucks has not been decided, but Jamison said the community will be notified when the final details are completed, and they will likely be released in phases as new retail tenants are brought in.

Lopez said.

Preparation for various national and international tournaments often determines the outcome of the matches played. Rade Milovanovic, the UTD chess team coach since 2001, said when he met Perez, who was then working at a lab at Texas Tech University, they often discussed chess and computer algorithms that could advance chess teams during tournaments.

The old computers used during training sessions contain 20-

40 chords, or connections, that allow for a certain speed of calculating strategies. Compared to the old computer used for chess practice, the new supercomputer contains an exponentially larger number of chords.

“With the computer that we use on our laptops, we have to wait like 10 to 15 minutes now,” Lopez said. “The supercomputer is seconds. To have something like this will surely bring our confidence up.”

need to deal with otherwise.

“It’s unbelievable how little we think about where basic things like food will come from unless we actually don’t have any or can’t afford it,” Syed said.

“This program would relieve some of the major stress I have in regards to my expenses and overall well-being. It’ll really give me something to remember UTD for.”

at Shayna’s Place, said the employees with special needs go the extra mile.

“I find so far that the employees with special needs want to work harder and work more,” Winn said. “They ask for help and are willing to learn even if it takes them a little longer.”

Though the cafe recently opened, Lou Olerio is already looking to expand the family business by opening a second location in Dallas and another site later in Fort Worth.

Lou Olerio is also working to establish relationships with the wider com-

munity. Charlie French, an abstract artist with Down syndrome located in Dallas, recently agreed to donate a few paintings. Webb is working to build a partnership with the Notre Dame School of Dallas, an institute for students with developmental disabilities, in order to begin a volunteering program for their students.

“The area’s residents appreciate the vibe of a unique family business versus walking into another chain restaurant even if it’s just for a quick bite to eat,” Olerio said in a press release.

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and we check out markers. Somehow, the board is not big enough, so students keep writing and write on the walls,” Vik said. “We’re having to repaint these rooms every semester.”

Vik said regular study rooms are quickly becoming obsolete, and these new rooms open up more opportunities for networking.

“We do have students that use them for job interviews,” she said.

“Or, say someone on your team is sick and they are missing one of the meetings, they could Skype in and they could be involved.”

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problems such as food security and sustainability.

“What took me by surprise was the many different things you can use that are around

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

oil, which is similar to the way that pakoras are prepared, while vegetables like spinach and onion are coated in batter and then fried.

My lack of experience making pakoras and chai was balanced out by our host Emaan Bangash and our guest Alina Aamir. Both women grew up with these foods and were experts. They brought the ingredients and explained to me the cultural significance of our dish as we cooked. For them, it’s a dish that is present at social gatherings and parties, particularly at iftar dinners, which celebrate the end of daily fasts during the holy month of Ramadan.

In making this dish, they were reminded of memories of home.

Although Bangash and Aamir admitted they hadn’t previously made pakoras on their own, we were able to cook up a pretty

→ BRIDGE

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boys reach their early teenage years, however, doctors diagnose their mother, Claire, with rapidly progressing cancer. She holds on for years, finally asking her husband to help her end it all: physician-assisted suicide.

But Clay sees it happen, and Mr. Dunbar flees from his five young boys, abandoning them to a life on their own.

A decade later, he comes back.

The five boys look at their father — “the Murderer,” they call him — in silence, as Mr. Dunbar explains his need for help in building a bridge. Realizing none of his sons, now so much older than when he left them, will help, he leaves. But Clay follows.

As Clay pores over architectural textbooks and labors until his hands bleed, he learns about his father, and the reader gains an understanding of the fam-

Healthcare studies junior Byron Sula primarily utilizes the rooms with his classmates for group projects and assignments. He said the study rooms help him connect to classmates who can’t be on campus or are sick that day.

“We can share our ideas remotely without having to actually be there. It’s like Skype but with a whiteboard,” he said. “I also use it with my study group because it’s easier when I can write formulas on the board, and everyone can just download what I wrote.”

As the rooms are on a reserveonly basis, they have to be booked at least one day in advance. Sula said demand for the rooms is high during weekdays and class times.

This could affect students who need to contact a classmate or employer.

“The rooms are always taken from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It would be better if the library could put the same technology into more study rooms,” Sula said. “Besides weekends, you have to reserve it early if you want a spot.”

Vik said there are plans to implement the new technology into all 18 study rooms in the library.

“Things change constantly, as far as technology is concerned.

We’re hoping students make the most of these rooms,” Vik said.

“If they see something that would give them a better experience, we would like to know about it.”

you to reduce food waste,” said biology junior Vivian Nguyen.

“By taking such a simple step like not (throwing) away the scraps of the rest of the vegetables you can use, it can contribute to such a big issue for our environment.”

This event is free and open to UTD students, staff and faculty. “(It) is a great way for us to promote what we’re already doing that the students maybe unaware of, it allows us to bridge that gap.”

Goodwin said. “It allows us to be able to tell our story.”

decent batch of pakora and chai ourselves.

The pakora batter is made from chickpea flour, turmeric, coriander powder and cumin.

It’s then mixed together until smooth. We then added onions and potatoes. Bangash chose to add tomato, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, which typically aren’t included in pakoras, but are used in her family’s recipe. Meanwhile, we had the oil heating up for the next step: frying the pakora. We took a ladle-full of batter and vegetables, carefully pouring them into the hot oil. We took the time to make sure they were set individually, so they wouldn’t all clump together. After they were fried, we set them down on a plate and began making the chai.

Making the chai was actually fairly simple — we poured hot water over a sachet of black tea made

in Pakistan. Then we poured in evaporated milk and added brown sugar to sweeten the drink.

The pakoras were delicious.

Fried food usually doesn’t disappoint, but pakoras have a rich flavor paired with some spice. A fair warning to those whose tolerance for spice is low: this dish can get spicy. Although not overwhelming, it has a heat that you can feel go all the way down. The texture is of the food was nice, as well. The crispiness of the fried batter pairs well with the softness of the potatoes and spinach inside. The chai was wonderful.

It’s made from black tea, which is usually has a strong flavor, but the milk and other spices even it out to a sweet taste.

The food and drink paired delightfully together, as flavors from both complemented each other and blended seamlessly. I would definitely recommend this dish for anyone to try.

ily’s past. Stories of Claire’s escape from the Eastern European communist bloc reveal why she forced the boys to learn music at that old family piano, and painful truths about Mr. Dunbar’s first marriage explain why he gave up painting for good. In the long months of a two-person construction project, father and son exchange few words, but the healing process between them continues as every stone finds its place in the massive bridge.

This novel resembles the out-of-the-box writing style of “The Book Thief ” and the bold young protagonist of “I Am the Messenger.” “The Book Thief,” his most celebrated work, follows a child living Nazi Germany and uses a personification of death as a narrator. This historical perspective and unusual narration style make “The Book Thief ” particularly salient; although “Bridge of Clay” doesn’t have the same striking quality, it

reaches the audience in a more personal level.

Zusak’s most recent work is an excellent telling of layered stories out of chronological order, letting the reader in on the story, one bit at a time. Over the course of “Bridge of Clay,” the reader becomes familiar with the title character and the Dunbar family dynamics. Any person who has lost a loved one can identify with five grieving young men and the process of emotional healing. A reader with siblings, especially brothers, will find humor and truth in the boys’ dynamics. A lover of running or architecture can enjoy the specific attention to those topics, written almost as artfully as poetry. “Bridge of Clay” is a worthwhile read — funny but poignant, sorrowful but not without hope, creative and logical.

It is one big beautiful metaphor about the slow process of healing, the power of forgiveness and the strength of a well-built bridge.

Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

11

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The UT Dallas Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi wishes to recognize the following undergraduate & graduate students as well as faculty/staff who were recently initiated into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest, largest, and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Congratulations on their outstanding achievements.

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Dec. 3, 2018 | The Mercury

12 → OSA

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The prospective location is in the west wing of the Administration Building on the second floor.

Fitch said despite being on the second floor, there are still two ground-level entrance points.

Smith said she hopes the relocation will come during the spring semester, but that moving in the middle of a semester before finals could disrupt some of the services offered by the office.

The space is as large or larger than the existing space. Fitch also said that renovations would have to be made if the proposal is approved, but he is not sure how long they would take.

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Since the effort formally began in May, numerous employees at UTD allege Chartwells has targeted them unfairly for suspected involvement with the union. The Mercury obtained copies of anti-union literature which was distributed among workers. According to police reports, two union-affiliated individuals were banned from campus in October after a complaint was filed by the Office of the Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Services.

The reports, obtained from UTD PD, state that UCFW organizer Cassidee Griffin was issued a criminal trespass warning on Oct. 16.

Griffin said she had purchased food from Smash’d and had sat down to eat when she was approached by three officers. The same day, a former employee who had expressed interest in the union was also issued a criminal trespass warning and asked to leave campus.

A university spokesperson justified the decision to remove Griffin in an emailed statement, stating that UTD property and buildings aren’t open for public assembly and speeches, but that their use is restricted to university-related programs and activities.

Since the incident, organizer Bricia Garcia said UFCW hasn’t sent any other organizers to campus.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen and what to expect,” Garcia said. “We don’t want another citation, especially since we found out there’s no appeal process.”

Seeberg said that shortly after trespass warnings were issued, Compass Group gave verbal commitment to support the worker’s rights to unionize. Several workers said that despite the promise, they still felt targeted for expressing interest in the union.

One worker said she suspected managers were discouraging her coworkers from speaking with her after she publicly disclosed her involvement with the union. The worker asked to remain anonymous, citing fears of losing her job and further bullying by management.

“I’ve had a couple of employees tell me not to talk to them because they were afraid managers would see

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fully paid off yet.

“A price increase (for permits) might be in anticipation of this debt that’s coming,” Pankratz said.

In order to fund new parking garages, the university takes on debt in the form of bonds, which are paid off over 30 years at a 4.5 percent interest rate. Construction costs for the next parking structure are estimated at $25 million, Pankratz said. Paid off over 30 years, the total cost will be $45 million.

Funding for the Office of Parking and Transportation, including the debt service, is generated primarily by permit sales.

Pankratz said that in order to get approval for the budget, Parking and Transportation officials must demonstrate that they can generate income that is equal to the debt payment for that year, plus a 10 percent excess to cover other expenses.

According to parking budget documents obtained from the Office of Budget and Finance, revenue from permit sales alone far exceeds that 10 percent figure. Permit sales have consistently been at least twice the amount of the debt service payment for the last five years.

Income from permit sales is so

NEWS

→ BUSCEMI

“Students have certainly expressed desire to have (the) OSA move to a more accessible location,” Smith said. “There certainly have been complaints that if the elevator is out then it’s very difficult to get there, that it seems crowded … that’s hard to hear, that sometimes they can’t use the space, or it is difficult (to get to it). That’s the exact opposite of what you want.”

Fitch said the accessibility of the location is also important for emergencies.

“If there happened to be an emergency while we had students who needed physical accommodations or had physical disabilities in that office, it’s difficult to get them from the

third floor to the second floor or even the first floor to exit the building,” Fitch said.

Kerry Tate, the director of the Office of Student Accessibility, declined to comment on the relocation, as the request is still pending.

The committee for campus accessibility released a memo in support of the relocation. The OSA’s staff was also supportive of the move, Fitch said.

“The important piece for people to understand is that this is a proposal,” Fitch said. “We’ve requested the space, the request for the space is supported by the Office of Student AccessAbility, so now at this point, we’re just in the waiting mode.”

them,” the worker said. “I feel like I’m being followed, and managers will ask me my whereabouts constantly.”

The worker said even before she made her involvement with UFCW public, harassment, favoritism and mismanagement was commonplace.

“Never in my life have I seen any (employer) treat people so badly,” she said.

Several employees reported incidents of withheld payments. One of them is Cristian Otero, a night supervisor at the Student Union. Otero said though he was told he was to be paid biweekly, he didn’t receive a paycheck for the first six weeks of employment.

“I (was) really thinking about quitting,” Otero said. “I needed the money and I have bills to pay.”

Otero said he and other employees weren’t given access to their paystubs, and when they finally were paid, their wages were issued on a reloadable debit card.

A former student worker at Starbucks, who requested anonymity out of concerns of harassment, said that for the first two months of employment, he wasn’t entered into the clock-in system and couldn’t clock in without a supervisor. He said after the first month, supervisors were told to stop helping employees clock in.

“For a month, I wasn’t able to clock in at all, and I didn’t receive pay for that period (until after I complained),” he said. “Then I didn’t have access to my pay stubs, so I had no way to verify that they were paying me for the right number of hours.”

The Mercury obtained a copy of the student worker’s contract, which stated he would receive a weekly paycheck. The student worker said he was later verbally told he’d only be paid twice a month instead. He said when he tried to bring up the problems with management, managers tried to avoid speaking with him face-to-face, and later cut his hours.

“I knew they were agitated because I was pointing out issues,” he said. “Then they cut my hours from 30 to 15. They said they didn’t need me there, but later would try to pressure me into taking shifts last minute on my day off.”

Otero said he’s seen workers verbally reprimanded for discussing wages.

He said he was told such discussions were against company policy. The National Labor Relations Act protects employees’ rights to discuss conditions of employment, including pay.

A 2014 federal mandate issued by the Obama administration further protects this right.

While employees of a federal or state entity, such as UTD, are not covered by the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, Chartwells is an independent business contracted by the university to operate dining services. Its employees are considered private sector workers.

According to data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator, a living wage for a single adult in Dallas County consists of an hourly rate of $11.15 per hour for 40 hours a week.

Otero said when he was promoted to supervisor, the work became harder, but he was not compensated to make up for the promotion. Other supervisors also confirmed this practice, stating that managers had informed them verbally of new responsibilities and a new title, but they never saw a corresponding increase in pay.

For two years, Frances Sanchez worked for Chartwells in Dining Hall West before resigning in October.

Sanchez is a single mother and initially took the job to support her three children. Sanchez said when she was promoted to supervisor, she was told she would receive a raise to $14 an hour.

She said that raise never came, but she ended up having to work extended hours in her new position.

“It got to the point where I barely ever saw my kids,” Sanchez said.

“They are the most important part of my life.”

In Dallas County, MIT’s living wage calculator estimates a single parent with three children must work 40 hours for at least $33.45 an hour to make a living wage.

Earning $12.18 an hour, Sanchez was making about a third of that.

Otero said he and many other workers don’t have reliable transportation and have to rely on ridesharing apps in order to get to and from work. A round-trip commute to and from his home off campus costs him $30, which represents

around three hours of work.

Griffin, the UCFW organizer who was banned from campus, began speaking with Chartwells employees in May. Griffin said that she’d been told wage disparity and stagnation were common issues at Chartwells, especially among international students workers.

Without special authorization, students with a F-1 visa are not allowed to seek employment off campus. For that reason, international students represent a more vulnerable class of worker, according to a report by the Center for Immigration Studies.

“There’s a huge wage gap,” Griffin said. “There are international student workers who’ve been (at Chartwells) for three years and they’re still making $8 an hour.”

Griffin said limited employment options could be one reason why international student workers might be afraid to speak up and ask for a raise.

high, in fact, that for the last four years, the revenue gained from sales alone could pay for the entire operating budget of the Office of Parking and Transportation.

It was only in fiscal year 2018 that operational expenses exceeded permit revenue — but only by 3 percent.

When other revenue streams were factored in, all expenditures were covered, with $1.07 million to spare.

The Office of Parking and Transportation also generates revenue via citation fines and a transportation fee that students pay as part of their tuition.

While the number of citations has gone down, the average price per citation has increased by about $25 over the past five years.

Budget and Finance officials said that there likely won’t be any increase in permit prices next year, but that could change as the budget is sent to the Board of Regents for approval.

Parking permits are priced on a tiered model: a green permit, at $140 per year, is the cheapest. Gold permits are $250, orange permits are $385 and purple permits are $595 and can only be purchased by faculty and staff.

Each permit is priced at an average of 50 percent greater than the tier below.

Garza said that one of the most common complaints among students is the availability of spots for lower-tier

parking permits.

According to data obtained from the Office of Parking and Transportation, the sale of green permits has declined every year since 2014, even as the university’s enrollment grew. In 2015, gold permits overtook green as the most common permit sold. Sales of the two most expensive permits, orange and purple, have increased steadily and outpaced the growth in total permit sales.

Melissa Wyder is the vice president of the Staff Council and a long-time member of the university-wide Committee on Parking and Transportation.

Wyder said she was told that restriping is based on sales from the previous year, as well as the location of faculty and staff offices.

“If everyone in, say, the Physics building wanted to buy purple (permits), then the parking garage next door would get a lot more purple (spots) the next year,” Wyder said.

She said she wasn’t sure if anything was being done to assess student demand for spots. Officials from Parking and Transportation could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts.

Another member of the Committee on Parking and Transportation, JSOM professor Judd Bradbury, said that faculty and staff also had con-

cerns. He said some members of the committee suspected the office might be trying to artificially inflate demand for more expensive permits. Before 2016, gold was the most expensive permit available for students to buy.

“There were some faculty members who were concerned when orange permits were opened up to students,” Bradbury said. “Some were suspicious it was a scheme to raise pricing and demand for the more expensive purple permits.”

Wyder said that she’s long had trouble obtaining budget data from the office, despite her position on the committee.

Fiscal year 2019 will see a 104 percent increase in the budget line item “other salaries and wages,” which Pankratz said likely includes student worker wages and wages for temporary contract workers, but could include other costs.

Student workers within the Office of Parking and Transportation did not report any across the board wage increases. According to figures from the Career Center, hiring numbers for student workers at the Office of Parking and Transportation have declined from last fiscal year.

It is possible that the large increase in this budget item is due to an accounting coding error. Orkun Toros, assistant vice president of budget and

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window and grab a traffic cone without her stopping … we would tuck them into bed and her husband would get (mad), so now I have a thing for traffic cones.”

Brannon said that after finding the shrine, she decided to add to it on her way out of the building.

“I added batteries, a friendship bracelet and a whiteboard eraser,” she said. “I made up the meanings for them after I left, because that’s how my brain works. The bracelet was mine, I found the batteries on the ground and I may have swiped the eraser from a board that doesn’t belong to me.”

After the video was shared

on social media, UTD’s official Twitter account responded with “#OnlyatUTD.” Shortly after the university’s response on Nov. 29, students noticed the shrine was gone, but not before a student edited the university’s Wikipedia page to change the mascot from Temoc to Steve Buscemi. Director of Physical Plant Services Kelly Kinnard said the shrine was removed due to safety concerns.

“When I got (to campus), I went and checked it out and found the shrine. I’m still a little confused by it, quite honestly, but what I noticed is that it’s in a crawl space under a stairwell,” Kinnard said. “Once you’re inside there, it’s completely dark, very easy to get hurt — there’s large

support beams that, if you can’t see them, you’re gonna nail your head on them. There’s electrical conduits. It’s just not a safe place to put the shrine.”

Kinnard said the shrine itself wasn’t an issue, as his concerns were primarily for student safety.

The crawl space originally had a hatch on it that required tools to open it, and Kinnard said he suspects the students who placed the shrine used those tools to open the hatch. The crawl spaces are now padlocked. Kinnard said he’s unsure about what was done with the contents of the shrine.

“We certainly don’t mind the students having fun,” Kinnard said. “We just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

EJ CHONG | MERCURY STAFF

“(Management) knows (international) students are desperate to make some money, so they’re willing to work for minimum wage,” a supervisor said. “These students don’t have a lot in this country — and they don’t always have enough to eat.”

At UTD, international students cannot take work study jobs, and can only work 20 hours a week at most.

Multiple anonymous sources confirmed that international students make between $8 and $8.50 an hour, which averages to $660 per month. “(Management) keeps international students at low wages because they can,” Griffin said. “They’re treated differently, too. Problems aren’t handled as quickly as they are with full time employees or (domestic) student workers.”

Three of the employees who spoke to The Mercury allege that a Chartwells manager had been sending female international students illicit texts, asking them to wear tight-

er clothing, wear their hair a certain way or to wear more makeup. The employees also said another international student was asked to go out with a manager over text.

“She didn’t want to go public with her story because she said she didn’t want to go through the pain again,” one worker said. “I just hope she’s able to talk to someone.

I don’t want her to feel bad like that for the rest of her life.”

Sanchez said that as a supervisor, she felt it was part of her job to look out for the employees under her. Although she has since left her position at Chartwells, she said she remains close with some of the student workers — and without a collective voice, said she’s concerned for their safety.

“After an incident with a manager, one girl was rocking back and forth, saying, ‘I need this job, I need this job,’” Sanchez said. “No one should feel that way — ever.”

RYAN MAGEE | MERCURY STAFF

resource planning, said that a similar error occurred in 2015, which resulted in a 408 percent increase in budgeted employee benefits.

“They accidentally put $90,000 under their benefits and no one caught it,” Toros said. “But it seems like they generated enough revenue that year to cover it anyway.”

Toros said it’s typical for revenue-

funded offices to have control over individual budget line items like benefits and wages, and once the budget gets to the Office of Budget and Finance, they’re only looking at the bigger picture.

“We just look at the bottom line — revenue, expenses, most significant changes and then they’re good to go,” Toros said.