SECTION JUMPS

GRADUATION

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ment,” which covers the logistical planning of ceremonies, Barnes said. The budget for UTD’s commencement, according to the 2021 Operating Budget, is about $200,000. Since 2016 (the oldest operating budget available online), that number has not changed. Vice President of Budget and Planning Terry Pankratz said that this number is decided by the Commencement Committee and can often be added to as needed. The money comes from grants and gifts to the university, not tuition. Pankratz said in his conversations with other campus leaders, he ascertained that the more important factor was holding the ceremony on campus, rather than just costs.

“The reason we stay on campus is not necessarily about costs – that’s certainly a factor, but we really think there’s value in having commencement on campus. We think we lose something if we go to a neutral location,” Pankratz said.

Nearby universities with comparable student populations have different budgets. University of Texas at Arlington, with a student population of 34,000, alloMay 3, 2021 | The Mercury NEWS

cates about $525,000 to commencement and holds their ceremony in the Globe Life Field baseball stadium. University of Houston’s commencement ceremony is budgeted at around $310,000, with 46,000 students, and is located at TDECU (their own stadium). Barnes said the Commencement Committee has previously recommended venues such as Globe Life Field, Allen ISD Stadium and Star Ford Center, in addition to on-campus venues such as the mall or soccer fields. However, the Activity Center remained the chosen venue because it was the more “efficient” option, Barnes said.

In the same Mercury survey, when asked how important it was to hold commencement on campus, 83 students chose “Not at all important,” 23 chose “Very important” and 36 chose “Neutral.” Barnes declined to comment on the Mercury survey results, but she said that in feedback received from graduates, an overwhelming majority want commencement on campus. This was based on a formal survey Barnes received that was conducted prior to her working at UTD. Additionally, over the years, student representatives on the Commencement Committee were asked to gather information on student attitudes on commencement in the Activity Center. No other formal surveys were conducted aside from recent focus groups conducted on the virtual ceremonies.

“Every year, we have a concern, you know, voiced on it, but it’s out of 5,000 graduates and you get two – that’s a very low number or whatever that number might be,” Barnes said. “No matter what we do, let’s say we did take this off campus, we’re going to hear from students who aren’t happy about that as well. We’re never going to please every single student, but we can do our best to make it meaningful and of value.”

CEREMONY

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The university also committed to holding in-person ceremonies this summer for virtual graduates who want to physically walk the stage to receive their diploma. Barnes said the graduation committee is not yet sure how many new degree holders plan to attend the make-up ceremonies. Opt-in invitations for the in-person ceremonies will be sent out at the end of April.

David Kim, a biology senior, says that he will be attending the virtual ceremony in May, but he hasn’t made a decision about the fall.

“The graduation effort is good,” Kim said. “It’s good to see that they actually care, but it also seems very procedural, which is honestly a bummer after enduring years of school.”

Barnes said that while the university is always looking at possible venue options, the plan is to hold the ceremonies at the Activity Center – which seats about 2,500 people – like in past years.

“It will be limited tickets to ensure safety there,” Barnes said. “We will be able to accommodate about 450-500 graduates in each of the school ceremonies. We have always done our ceremonies by school, but starting in the fall, we will be shifting towards a model used by other schools like UT Austin with a large commencement ceremony … and then all of the graduations will be led by the deans.”

Barnes says that the university is committed to celebrating all of its graduates and providing the most memorable experience possible.

“We made this promise to our graduates, and we want to deliver on it,” Barnes said.

ANXIETY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 vent vaccine anxiety. Seeking out information about the vaccine from reliable sources, avoiding online forums that fuel your anxiety and not allowing yourself to be carried away by “what-ifs” can help you feel more confident about getting your shot.

There are also some practical measures you can take on the day of your vaccination to help stave off anxiety. Helfrich suggested reading a book or listening to music at your vaccination appointment in order to create a pleasant distraction. If unanswered questions about the vaccine or potential side effects are the source of your anxiety, most providers administering the vaccine would be happy to answer them.

“Definitely stick to whatever your routine is. If your appointment is at 11:00 and you usually have a bagel and some water for breakfast at 9:00, stick to that,” Helfrich said. “If you need to, have a friend drive you there and back. Keep drinking water – stay hydrated. Do things that are good for your body.”

FRAUD

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ning individuals. All they need is a couple of stepping stones to go into the web and get a complete profile of you.

Scammers can also use people’s vaccine cards to profit off their vaccination status. Thuraisingham said that scammers can create fake vaccination cards from information posted online to sell to third-party individuals or other scammers without needing to hack into any databases. Scammers may also choose to sell personal information they discover on vaccine recipients online.

“The thing is, [scammers] likely wouldn’t have even been able to do that if you hadn’t posted your card online,” Thuraisingham said. “They could do a random Google search and find information to use that way, but this is something like gold that you’re just handing to them, making yourself the target.”

Thuraisingham said a more unsuspecting scam that doesn’t require people to post their cards is scammers offering fake or blank vaccine cards. These offers can come in the form of advertisements, social media posts or phone calls and can target anyone. Thuraisingham said the danger in purchasing these fake or blank cards is that scammers will have direct access to the purchaser’s credit card information, from where the scammer can steal money and make expensive purchases.

Of the UTD population, Thuraisingham said younger people – especially students – excited about vaccination and unvaccinated international students worried that they need vaccine passports to attend UTD in person are most susceptible to vaccine scams.

“I know we’ve been in this pandemic for a long time, but that excitement for doing your part and getting vaccinated doesn’t need to translate into showing the world your vaccine card,” Thuraisingham said. “Everyone, especially [these] groups, should be taking preventative measures to protect their information.”

Thuraisingham said the best – and most simple – way the UTD community can protect itself is to avoid posting “vaccine selfies.” If a student has already posted their vaccine card online, Thuraisingham said, immediately taking down the post can minimize exposure to scammers. Additionally, Thuraisingham said avoiding purchase or response to inquiries from vaccine-card-selling entities is essential. If a student loses their vaccine card, there’s no need to buy a blank one to fill out; instead, the Washington Post says that vaccine recipients can contact their vaccine provider to coordinate a new card. There’s also no need for international students to purchase vaccine cards; regardless of vaccination status, they can still attend UTD in person because of Executive Order GA-35, which prohibits publicly funded institutions from requiring vaccine passports.

“Practice cyber hygiene,” Thuraisingham said. “Don’t give out information to strangers about your COVID-19 vaccine or vaccine history. You wouldn’t post your driver’s license online, so don’t post your vaccine passport.”

For those who are already experiencing identity fraud, Thuraisingham said to get professional help and avoid trying to handle the situation yourself to avoid further damage. Companies that specialize in identity protection, such as LifeLock, charge a fee but are most equipped to assist.

“COVID-19 vaccines have become such a hot topic,” Thuraisingham said. “It’s something you absolutely need. These scammers know that and are on edge for that golden opportunity. They are going to be on the lookout for what we are posting. We are going to see more and more fake vaccine cards being sold, and more and more real cards being stolen and identities being stolen as well. Keep yourself safe, and don’t post what you don’t need to.”

GAME SHOW

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“I’m continuing to use that money to further be able to be more creative and not to work so much. Rent out here is expensive, so it’s nice to be able to have that cushion for a little while so I can focus more on my arts and my creative side,” Nevarez said. “And then of course finishing my degree. I’ve been in school off and on for almost six years now and I’m tired. I’m ready to be done so I can finally get my bachelor’s degree and move on with my life.” After the show, Nevarez said he emerged with a newfound respect for people who can speak on national TV. That being said, he doesn’t foresee himself being on another game show any time soon.

“The universe tends to reward the crazy, outlandish decisions. Anything that’s ever happened to my life that’s been good or amazing or fantastic comes from a decision that was made on a whim, or was a risk,” Nevarez said. “It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime things. I’m just glad I can check it off the bucket list: I did a game show.”

May 3, 2021 | The Mercury L&A/SPORTS/OPINION

SKYLINE

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reach and partnerships with local businesses.

“My goal was to have Skyline do everything in Richardson. I wanted the players to stay in Richardson, I wanted to play in Richardson, I wanted to just do everything and be a part of the Richardson, Texas community,” Mack said.

In addition to the team’s use of the Activity Center for practices and home games, Mack said that Skyline players who live outside of Dallas will live on campus for the duration of the season.

Pam McElrath, associate director of Residential Camps and Conference Services, said that the opportunity to house professional athletes on campus is unique: typically, she works with camps, conferences and corporate interns who need summer housing. Citing privacy reasons, McElrath declined to say exactly where the players are staying but said that student residents remain the priority.

“We do have our guests in the same area as our students, but we have a lot of parameters we look at – is this somebody that could normally be in or close to our student population?” she said. “We were able to get them in based on the number of bed spaces that we have available, [but] our students obviously come first.” Petitt said that it’s not unusual for external groups to use the athletic facilities. In the past, the university has hosted summer camps for the Dallas Mavericks and NCAA team practices around the conference tournament time. This is the first time that UTD is hosting professional games since former women’s basketball team the Dallas Fury played at UTD in 2004.

“It’ll be a chance to kind of expose the campus to this group of people,” Petitt said. “I’m not sure what the attendance figures will be like for them, but we feel pretty proud of the facility and feel like it’s another way to market UT Dallas.”

OVERWATCH

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Blank cited the game as the highlight match, despite being down 0-2 heading into the hope for a reverse sweep.

“The first two maps we took extremely seriously. Maybe too seriously. And we were really stressed about it,” Blank said. “There’s just a mental shift where everyone just kind of came back after break and we’re just calm. It felt like practice. Everyone’s just in the zone and it wasn’t hype.”

The team eventually took back two maps to even the score to 2-2 – what both players say was the most hype play to save the match for UTD.

“We had four people dead on our side, and then Luey ends up killing three or four [enemies] just by himself as Reinhardt,” Kinetic said.

This comeback play fueled UTD’s momentum to save the game. Following the top-eight finish, the team went on to win the UGC League and the USF Invitational. And while UTD isn’t among the top three college teams yet, Kinetic said that the Comets are only getting better.

“I’m going to call out the higher level of collegiate: I think they kind of discounted us a bit,” Kinetic said. “I think they’re still discounting us, and to them, I say they should watch out because we’re going to keep improving. We’re going to keep getting better. We’ve already proven it here, and you should watch your backs.”

RECORD

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journey. Restricting access to recordings for students or not requiring professors to conduct recordings impairs learning and doesn’t support students in need of more flexibility.

Furthermore, Smallwood said that UTD is in fact storing videos that professors have been uploading to Microsoft Stream during the pandemic. For repeated classes, UTD can simply provide these recordings or allow professors teaching the same class with the same curriculum to provide them so that new recordings don’t have to be filmed during class time next school year. This eliminates any sort of distractions or technical difficulties that could arise from recording in class. A few professors may be concerned that some material may have changed between this year and the upcoming year, but posting these recordings is better than having no lecture material to view at all.

Students deserve to have an accommodating and flexible education, and recording classes during the upcoming fall semester will help achieve that goal. As students, we can encourage and ask both our professors and the UTD administration to consider moving forward with posting class recordings online.

COMMA

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balance of American politics. Moreover, the debate over the Oxford comma has had tangible impacts to the tune of $10M, as ambiguity in a Maine statute led to Oakhurst Dairy being sued for additional overtime salaries in 2017.

Presiding Judge Barron laments “for want of a comma, we have this case” in his decision. And while The Mercury probably won’t be turning out legal codes for some time yet, clarity is still central to our organizational goal of providing quality, relevant content to the students of UTD. A newspaper can only claim to be effective if its readers understand the content being produced.

It is for precisely this reason that I believe we should use the Oxford comma, both as an organization of Student Media and as a society in our day-to-day lives.

Consider the following example: “In the White House, Alice took a picture of her parents, the President and the Vice President.” Written according to AP guidelines, Alice has an impeccable political pedigree. But if Alice has no relation to prominent politicians and the intention was simply to recount Alice’s trip to Washington, D.C. as part of a school-sponsored chess competition, the lack of a comma has actively introduced ambiguity into the sentence’s meaning.

It is situations such as these where the Oxford comma shines. “Alice took a picture of her parents, the President, and the Vice President” clearly conveys four separate objects of amateur photography. Returning to the opening sentence of this piece, we see another unnecessarily ambiguous statement caused by the omission of a serial comma. Why I chose to thank the greatest baseball player of all time and the leader of the free world remains an equally valid question either way, but “I’d like to begin by thanking The Mercury’s most dedicated readers, Babe Ruth, and President Biden” leaves the true readership of this paper clear.

Detractors of the Oxford comma may claim that ambiguous cases are few and far between and that standardizing the use of the Oxford comma will lead to unnecessary punctuation at every turn. But this response is uncompelling for the same reason that we do not regularly omit articles such as ‘the’ from communication. With such an omission, could meaning still be conveyed? Yes – if I asked you to “meet me for walk by Love Jack on campus,” you could probably decipher my message without the inclusion of the words ‘a’ and ‘the.’ However, clear communication is more important than using fewer characters for minimalism’s sake, and thus we persist in using articles in daily communication. So, too, should we view the Oxford comma.

The point of language is communication, and the aim of journalism ought to be facilitating better communication, so why are we splitting hairs over clarity-inducing conventions? If it adds clarity, use the Oxford comma in all of your writing, whether it be news, satire, or academic assignments.