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December 5, 2016
On a campus where 70 percent of survey respondents reported experiencing depression, students and faculty are working to offer support and
THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
FIGHT THE STIGMA STORY BY : CARA SANTUCCI | MANAGING EDITOR
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hirty-four percent of college-aged students have felt depressed at least once in the past few months, according to a survey conducted by the Associated Press. UTD fits into that national narrative regarding depression. In a survey conducted by The Mercury, out of 303 respondents, about 74 percent reported experiencing depression, and 40 percent of those who’ve experienced depression have been diagnosed by a medical professional.
Virginia Beam, an arts and performance senior, is one of the many students on campus with depression. She has shared her story with two other students who have struggled the way she does. Although each of them has a unique version of the disorder, they all agreed with Beam’s basic description. “If I listened to my brain, where it’s saying ‘It’s too hard, it’s too much work, it’s not worth it,’ I would never go anywhere or do anything,” she said.
→ SEE DEPRESSION, PAGE 12
(Left to right) Virginia Beam, Mimi Newman and Caitlin Rogers support one another to help cope with their depression.
Fire delays bldg progress
SAHER AQEEL | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
UTD reaches Tier One status
Officials unsure of effect on new Phase 7 project President announces distinction after university meets external benchmarks MIRIAM PERCIVAL News Editor
DEV THIMMISETTY Mercury Staff
A fire damaged the roof of a building under construction in the new Phase 7 apartments on Nov. 30. The Richardson Fire Department responded to a call Wednesday morning at 2:55 a.m. from a police officer driving down Campbell Road who noticed the fire. They arrived at 3:02 a.m. with a total of eight units on the scene. The fire was extinguished in less than an hour. “We were actually pretty fortunate under the circumstances that it didn’t burn the whole thing down,” said Interim Fire Chief Ed Hotz. “If it had been a long time before it was reported, it could’ve been.” Geoscience junior Siloa Willis was driving to her job on campus when she saw the fire. “As I was getting closer to UTD, I saw these huge, black clouds and I thought that was weird,” she said. “I looked across the hedges by Campbell and the top of one of the apartment buildings was completely on fire.” The investigation into the source of the fire is still ongoing, but Hotz said the fire marshals believe the cause was the spontaneous combustion of a cloth mop left in a bucket of hot tar. “Something like that, they estimate the fire doubles in size every two minutes,” he
President Richard Benson declared Dec. 21 as Tier One Day to mark UTD’s achievement in reaching Tier One status. For years, UTD administrators have pursued the goal of making UTD a Tier
SAHER AQEEL | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
A fire, caused by the combustion of a cloth mop in a bucket of hot tar, damaged the roof of an apartment building under construction in Phase 7 on Nov. 30.
said. “(The firefighters) said it was rolling pretty good when they pulled up on the scene.” Director for Physical Plant Services Kelly Kinnard said the school is still assessing damages from the fire. All costs associated with the incident will be covered by the construction insurance. “It will probably take us a good couple of weeks to get a good handle on the cost of the damage, they are still removing the top portion of the roof,”
→ SEE FIRE, PAGE 12
ANDREW GALLEGOS | PHOTO EDITOR
After UTD reached Tier One status, UTD President Richard Benson named Dec. 21 Tier One Day.
One university. They aimed to demonstrate UTD’s progress in influencing the Metroplex as a premier institution. “Tier One was my predecessor David Daniel’s rallying cry, which was to take UTD from being a very good university to one that truly had a national impact through its research and the students we graduate,” Benson said. Tier One status itself is not sharply defined because there is no official set of criteria. Certain external benchmarks determined by institutions like the Texas state government and Indiana University must be met, but school administrators make the announcement after looking at a variety of other factors as well. These include the academic ability and size of the student body, the facilities available, the research capacity and more. One of the first steps in external recognition is being listed in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, which is determined by the Indiana University School of Education. In February 2016, the Carnegie Classification, which is released every five years, labeled UTD as R1 for the first time. R1 indicates that UTD is one of the top 115 schools in the nation based on
the level of research activity. “For years they have sort of clustered universities really based on research magnitude. For a very long time, we were sort of in that second echelon (which was) very good, but we have moved into the top tier,” Benson said. Besides the Carnegie R1 classification, a multitude of other factors go into being a Tier One university, such as student academic level, research programs and infrastructure. “(Tier One status) is somewhat ill defined but you know when you’re there. You know it because of the sorts of students who apply, the research projects you can attract (and) the sorts of new faculty and staff you are able to hire,” he said. Another classification that helps determine if UTD is Tier One comes from the state. “The state of Texas also has put out some benchmarks for what they call national research university fund, or NRUF. To make our university eligible for a nontrivial investment, about $9 million from the state, we have to hit certain benchmarks (for two years in a row),” Benson said. UTD is about to hit its second year of
→ SEE TIER ONE, PAGE 11