facebook.com/theutdmercury | @utdmercury
March 7, 2016
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR ELECTION SEASON
PAGE 5 THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
TITLE IX CONFUSION Students, faculty express uncertainty about UTD’s sexual assault policy ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS Editor-in-Chief
Editor’s note: This story contains mentions of sexual assault and rape. Disagreements between faculty and Student Government and the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance on UTD’s Title IX policy are resulting in a division between the two sides on how the university should handle sexual assault cases. Various faculty members are claiming James Dockery — UTD’s Title IX coordinator in the OIEC — is mishandling the presentation of the university’s policy and overstepping the boundaries of the law by forcing them to report any incidence of a possible sexual assault, even if it is not confirmed. Dockery was hired last year when UTD’s administration wanted to designate a specific office to handle Title IX complaints, which include those of sexual harassment, sexual assault and discrimination. Before, an employee in the Human Resources office was handling these complaints on a part-time basis. Background
THE KEY PLAYERS
→ SEE TITLE IX, PAGE 134
JAMES DOCKERY James Dockery was hired last year as UTD’s Title IX coordinator. He oversees the operations of the Title IX office and acts in a more administrative role.
SAHER AQEEL | MERCURY STAFF
Brandy Davis is UTD’s deputy Title IX coordinator. She focuses on the day-to-day operations of the Title IX office and is the one conducting investigations into allegations of sexual assault, harassment and other violations.
Members in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers have spent the last year working on their fuel-efficient car . RAMAH JARADAT Mercury Staff
A BREAKDOWN OF THE TITLE IX POLICY → PAGE 134 THE MERCURY’S TAKE ON TITLE IX → PAGE 34
Game Lab fosters innovation Students in ATEC course help produce video games, learn real world skills such as teamwork BHARGAV ARIMILLI Mercury Staff
→ SEE GAME LAB, PAGE 12
Group of engineers looks to improve on last year’s vehicle
BRANDY DAVIS
After he was hired, Dockery — along with Brandy Davis, UTD’s deputy Title IX coordinator — helped to implement UTD’s policy after the UT System’s Office of General Council instituted a new Title IX policy to meet standards set by the Office of Civil Rights for all member schools to adopt last spring. Additionally, last summer the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring all state universities to adopt a Title IX policy. Dockery and his office weren’t solely responsible for the creation of that policy, however. He said a committee made up of faculty, counselors, campus police, student leaders and others helped to vet the policy before it was implemented on campus. The faculty then signed off on the policy unanimously. Under Title IX, any incident of sexual assault told to a “responsible employee” must be reported by that employee to the university so it can investigate. Last semester, the OIEC started to conduct training for responsible employees, which according to Section 3.2 of UTD’s Prohibited Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Sexual Misconduct Policy, includes faculty, staff, and anyone who can be reasonably construed as having the responsibility to report a sexual assault. That’s when problems started to arise. “(Dockery) is interpreting (the law) as saying, ‘Whenever a faculty member hears about what might be an instance, they must report it to him,” said Murray Leaf, a professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences and the former speaker of the Academic Senate. “Including if a student comes in just to ask a question about something they’re not sure of. And the faculty rejects that.” Leaf said the faculty wants to be able to talk to students to determine if there is substantial evidence that an incident has occurred and then see if the student feels they want to report. He said Dockery is telling faculty anything that could be inferred as alluding to a sexual assault must be reported. “The federal mandate is you should report incidences, actual occurrences,” he said. “That’s not the same as reporting anything you’ve heard that might be an occurrence. What he’s saying is we don’t have the authority, right or latitude to determine if it’s a real incident and we disagree.” He said that the faculty as a whole agrees they should be able to use their own judgement on being able to look into if an incident occured. Denise Boots, an associate professor in EPPS, said another problem is
A creative director mimics running in slow motion as artists around him take notes, brainstorming ideas for character movement. Executive producers meet with the engineering team in the corner, reviewing the latest software build. Level designers in another room sketch the many environments to be included in the game. This is a typical day for students enrolled in the Game Production Lab course — more commonly known as Game Lab. The course, which has been offered since 2008, serves as a hub for collaboration and creativity while giving students the opportunity to see what it’s like to have a profession in gaming. “Most, if not all, of the students in Game Lab want to go into the game industry and are considering that as a career,” said Michael Breault, a clinical professor in Computer Game Design and co-teacher of the course.
Team builds eco-car
GAME LAB | COURTESY
“Push and Pull,” one of the games that was developed in the Game Lab, focuses on moving objects with the power of magnetism to achieve goals.
Students in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers are finding innovative ways to create fuel-efficient vehicles to compete in the annual Shell Eco-Marathon Americas. After competing for the first time and placing third in the Marathon last year in Detroit, the students in ASME are tweaking the interior of their vehicle in hopes of increasing their chances of winning. The competition is held worldwide, with a division in almost every continent. If the team gets second place this year, they will be able to go to London to compete in July. Within each division are two categories to compete in — Prototype and UrbanConcept. Prototype doesn’t have many restrictions, and the team builds a smaller model of a car where the driver lays flat. UrbanConcept — what UTD ASME is competing in — is where a mix between a go-kart and a car must be built. The rules for UrbanConcept are stricter because there must be more safety features and the interior must be similar to that of a car. “We started design work in the spring semester of 2014,” said mechanical engineering sophomore Aaron Quigge. “We didn’t actually start building until 2015 fall. This is where we started laying up the body.” In 2014, ASME officers heard about the competition from a YouTube web series about motor vehicles called “Jay Leno’s Garage.” The officers looked into it, and — as more people expressed interest in the competition as a good project for the organization — the member count grew from 10 people to 15 people and the team started designing for the 2015 competition. “The competition is just fun in general,” said mechanical engineering sophomore Alec Stuchell. “Mostly I like to work on the design.” Though the group began preparations for the competition early on, they are still overcoming hurdles in their processes. “The team structure does need a little more work, which is on me entirely,” Quigge said. “We haven’t laid out a way to get everyone up to date constantly because we’re constantly working. But that’s also a strength in the fact that we are always working. Students don’t have to be in the lab to be involved — they can do computer designing or researching.” Last year, ASME members reached a fuel efficiency of 138.9 mpg. This year, they are striving to accomplish 500-600 mpg. The students are keeping the body of the vehicle created last year, but are making everything on the inside more efficient and fixing any imperfections. The team has a chance of winning $2,000 in prize money if they win. “The whole point of this project isn’t about winning,” Quigge said. “It’s about getting everyone educated. It’s giving everyone a chance to do engineering work without having to go do an internship or a job. We do everything from design,
→ SEE CAR, PAGE 12