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November 14, 2016
THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
COMETS OPEN “AVENUE Q”
The Comets fell to Southwestern in the regional final of the NCAA tournament held on campus from Nov. 11 to 13.
ROMAN SORIANO & YASH MUSALGAONKAR | MERCURY STAFF
NOVEMBER MADNESS A busy Saturday for athletics highlights growth of department across all sports ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS
PG. 6 BEST OF HOMECOMING 2016
Mercury Staff
A
s players from Southwestern University hoisted the NCAA regional trophy high in the air atop the green and orange “Comets” logo at the midcourt of the Activity Center gym, UTD’s volleyball team could do nothing but stand and watch in silence. After a nearly two-and-a-half hour match that saw the Comets come back after trailing two sets, the Southwestern Pirates finally put the Comets to
rest, winning the fifth set 15-13 to move on to the Elite Eight. But it didn’t come easy. In front of a rowdy home crowd, the Comets scraped and clawed their way back from the brink of elimination multiple times, including holding off six straight match points by Southwestern in the fourth set.
We’ve kind of grown up a little bit and the expectations continue to get a little higher because we’re at that point. — Bill Petitt, Athletic director
→ SEE NCAA, PAGE 10
bottled up Students speak out about legal, illegal stimulant usage NIDHI GOTGI Editor-in-Chief
His parents still wanted him to go to dental school. As pressure built for Max to bring up his grades, he looked to Adderall — a stimulant that acts as a cognitive enhancer Max hesitantly popped a small capsule — to help concentrate on his studies. “When I studied science, I didn’t really into his mouth and swallowed. It was the night before a big test, and he was study- enjoy it because I felt like I wasn’t really ing with a friend — a friend who’d given learning. … So I would need an added boost to keep me interested and just keep him the pill. Waiting for the effects of the medication me up for longer periods at night,” he said. Max was wary of the effects of the drug the to kick in, Max distracted himself with Youfirst time he used Adderall, Tube videos. One video and his use grew when he led to another and Max I was always came to UTD. remained hooked to his worried about “When I first started on computer screen, forgetting it, I was scared to do it,” he he had to prepare for a test. (my grades), so said. “I was like ‘I’m going “I just got too into whatit added stress to overdose and die.’ So ever I was doing,” Max I didn’t take it that often said. “(My friend) was like to my life, just and I just got comfortable ‘Dude, you’re on Adderall because I was with the (side effects) and right now, you should start more concerned I started using it more. doing your homework.’” Once I’d transferred here, That was Max’s first about studying I kind of needed it because time using non-prescripwhenever I was it was so competitive.” tion Adderall to study for Of The Mercury suran exam. In a survey contaking it. vey respondents who said ducted by The Mercury, — Max, they’d used a non-preabout 17 percent of the finance senior scription stimulant medirespondents, like Max, cation for study purposes, said they’ve used a stimulant medication without a prescription to about 61 percent have taken a stimulant one to five times in their college career. finish school-related work. Most of these participants attributed time *** Before Max, a finance senior, came crunches and a need to concentrate as reato UTD, he attended UT San Antonio, sons for using a non-prescribed stimulant where he was enrolled in a competitive to finish academic tasks. Max, who was enrolled in 18 credit pre-dental program. During his second semester as a freshman, Max was dis- hours during the fall 2015 semester at missed from the program for not maintaining the required GPA. → SEE STIMULANT, PAGE 12 Names of some sources have been changed to protect their identities due to legality concerns.
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*Note: not all 305 particpants responded to each question due to the design of the survey.
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HAMID SHAH | GRAPHICS EDITOR