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February 20, 2017
On the spectrum
THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
UV app privileges under classmen
UTD’s resources help students with autism navigate college
New tiered system to increase transparency
BHARGAV ARIMILLI | LIFE & ARTS EDITOR
J
MERCURY ARCHIVES
The new housing application, which works in a tiered system, is open until Feb. 27 for students to sign up. LOGAN HARLESS Mercury Staff
Motivated by student feedback regarding widespread issues with the old online application, Residential Life has overhauled its process to account for the high demand in leasing out its limited housing space. “We needed to make a bigger change than just small tweaks here and there,” said Ryan White, assistant vice president of Residential Life. The most important and visible of these changes revolved around the online “intent to sign-up” process. “Last year we opened sign-up at 10 a.m. At 10:03 a.m., we were full. … People had class, people had work. ... When it fills up that fast its going to be disadvantageous to students. …We knew that first-come, first-served was not student friendly,” White said. Not only did registration fill up within three minutes, the volume of students applying put stress on the servers and caused them to fail. Neuroscience junior Udit Bhatt recounted his experience during the fall 2015 application period when he was leaving the dorms and applying for an apartment in University Village. “When we first did it, it actually didn’t work at all and that was a big fiasco. Because it was at 10 a.m., something like that, in the middle of a school day, I was in (general chemistry) and everyone was refreshing their page to try and open the housing app and it never opened,” Bhatt said. For this semester’s round of applications, Res Life is implementing a priority-based system that will improve transparency and present a more student friendly interface. The portion of the process called the “intent to signup” — which caused the most problems in the past — occurred without incident on Feb. 6. Students have now formed their roommate groups and are waiting until Feb. 27 when the highest priority housing signups begin. The new method uses a tiered system. Students are assigned a priority number based on a variety of factors. The number determines the order in which students can apply for housing. After lease renewals are addressed, the signup priority is given to McDermott, Terry and National Merit scholars followed by, rising sophomores, rising juniors, rising seniors and finally graduate students. Commuters who lived off campus can only apply for spots on the waitlist. If students decide to apply as a group of roommates and not individually, their priority numbers are averaged.
→ SEE HOUSING, PAGE 13
ennifer Partin was on her shift social interaction and communication looking after children when she and encompasses a range of sympsaw a young boy with autism toms, skills and disabilities. According grabbed and forced to make eye con- to a CDC report published in 2014, about one in 68 children have been ditact with another worker. “I wanted to say something, but I agnosed with ASD. UTD is home to one of the nawas just a lowly respite worker,” she said. “Every now and then I get pes- tion’s largest populations of students simistic, so what I try to do is just diagnosed with ASD. According to the Office of Student AccessAbility, 450 raise understanding.” Partin, a psychology senior who students have registered for autismwas diagnosed with autism spectrum related accommodations. A New York disorder in 2016, started doing so at Times article published last November UTD. She founded a student group reported institutions such as Westcalled For Autistic Empowerment ern Kentucky University and Adelphi University had — the first of its similar accommodakind on campus — tion programs that that provides supThere’s a tenserved between 45 port for individuals and 100 students, with autism. dency towards far less than UTD. “On one hand, awareness raisA 2012 study in we want to create a ing. Awareness the journal Pediatrics community where found that 34.7 peryou don’t have to without educacent of adolescents worry about people tion leads to fear with ASD attended judging you for becollege and 55.1 ing autistic,” she and stigma. percent were only said. “The other side employed within of the mission is to — Jennifer Partin, the first six years afspread education President of For Autistic ter high school. For about what autism Empowerment Noah Sasson, a prois and what it’s like. fessor in the School There’s a tendency of Brain and Behavtowards awareness raising. Awareness without education ioral Sciences who specializes in autism research, these statistics reflect a larger leads to fear and stigma.” problem in the way resources for individuals with autism are allocated. *** “A huge problem is getting support Autism spectrum disorder is a de- for adults with autism because a lot of velopmental condition that can impair public services for kids with autism
SAHER AQEEL | PHOTO EDITOR
Jennifer Partin, a psychology senior and president of For Autistic Empowerment, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in 2016. She founded FAE, the first group of its kind, to offer support for individuals with autism.
(are) tied to the school system,” Sasson said. “They’re very few of these kinds of resources for students once they age out of those.” UTD’s large number of autistic students receive support from the OSA, which works to ensure they receive adequate accommodations based on paperwork filed with the office after acceptance into the university. Kerry Tate, the director of the OSA, said the office makes every effort to tend to personal needs. “Each student is unique because they’re each going to have different en-
vironments,” Tate said. “It may be that they need different color paper when they’re taking their exam. It could be a variety of things, but once the documentation supports it, we are trying to meet their need.” *** The relatively high number of students with autism at UTD can be attributed to the university’s strength in certain fields, Sasson said.
→ SEE SPECTRUM, PAGE 14
CentralTrak closed indefinitely A&H administrators look for alternatives after lease termination causes artist residency program to close ist residency by philanthropists Ruthie and Jay Pack. It was supposed to be Mercury Staff matched by the Edith O’Donnell InCentralTrak, UTD’s artist residency stitute of Art History at UTD, but now program, is closing after nine years of that CentralTrak is closing, the money housing students and international has been retracted. “(The Pack’s) gift was based on the concreatives. Administrators and directors on campus are working toward estab- tinuation of CentralTrak at the present location. Given what has lishing a similar prohappened, it is now null gram that will fill the We are acand void,” said Richard void left by the closure. Brettell, director of the The program protively engaged Edith O’Donnell Instivided a living space for in planning and tute of Art History. four artists who had the ability to exhibit in According to the think about the building’s gallery Dallas Observer, the how to keep space. The gallery had landlord of the buildthe concept also allotted space for ing decided to termilocal art groups, classes nate the lease as he did of CentralTrak and other events. not wish to continue alive ... accommodating the Dennis Kratz, the university program. dean of Arts and Humanities, hasn’t com— Dennis Kratz, The original date of mitted to the conDean of A&H closure was December 2016, but after negotiatinuation of a UTD artist residency, but tions, it was changed to said he is currently the end of June. looking for possible locations for eiFrank Dufour, the interim director ther moving CentralTrak or creating of CentralTrak, said an artist residency is necessary for both students and the a new program. A few months before the closure reputation and legitimacy of the arts was announced in mid-2016, a gift departments. He also cited pricing and of $50,000 was presented to the art- availability of buildings for why moving IAN SEAMANS
CHRIS LIN | MERCURY STAFF
Clayton Harper, an artist in residence at CentralTrak, will have to move out of the living space after the lease ends in June. Harper said he is waiting for new information as faculty looks for alternative space for a similar or new program.
would be difficult. “We want to be able to have something in place in the fall … but we do not have a time frame,” Dufour said. Clayton Harper, an artist in residence at CentralTrak, said he understands why decision making may take time but he would like answers about the future of the program. “I would almost rather hear that for sure they’re terminating the program or something like that and be able to take
actionable steps on what I’d do next year in terms of living situation,” Harper said. Both Kratz and Dufour agreed that some sort of residency is needed for UTD’s art department, but a future program may be somewhat different from what students were used to at CentralTrak. “We are actively engaged in planning and think about how to keep the concept of CentralTrak alive, but it’s premature at this point to give … any more information,” Kratz said.