July 3, 2017
PG 3
TemocNet OIT addresses issues after residential internet switch
PG 5
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PG 3
CentralTrak Graduate ATEC artist space closes after June 24 exhibition
University-wide graduate student association proposed
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UTD revises emergency policies after bomb hoax New measures focus on increased communication MIRIAM PERCIVAL Editor-in-Chief
Following a campus-wide evacuation for a bomb threat later determined to be a hoax, UTD is reviewing its emergency notification and communication policies to help reduce confusion in future evacuations. Chief Larry Zacharias said the police department received a call at 2:01 p.m. from an anonymous person saying a bomb was on campus. The caller then demanded $10,000 within 30 minutes or they would detonate the bomb. Before the dispatcher could ask for any additional information, the caller hung up. “It was determined that since we had not received any similar threats like this before, and considering the things going on around the country and the world, to be precautious and send out the UTD alert telling people to evacuate the buildings,” Zacharias said. While the university sent out a text and email alert at 2:33 p.m. biomedical engineering sophomore Kang Choi was one of the students who did not receive an emergency notification. He was working in his research lab at the Bioengineering Sciences Building when another student told him about the evacuation. “We stepped outside and we got all of our stuff. We were leaving and saw this huge mass exodus of all the researchers,” he said. “Everyone (was) kind of puzzled, kind of confused we didn’t really know what was happening.” Zacharias said the third party alert system, Everbridge, automatically en-
→ SEE HOAX, PAGE 8
STORY BY : ARIANA HADDEN | MANAGING EDITOR GRAPHIC BY : CHAD AUSTIN | GRAPHICS EDITOR After establishing the gender-inclusive housing option last semester, UTD staff are preparing for the fall semester by addressing any problems students have with their room assignments. Director of Residential Life Catherine Pickrel and Matt Johns, assistant director for LGBT+ programs at the Galerstein Gender Center have been working through the implementation process. UTD is the first UT System school to formally adopt a gender-inclusive housing option, and recently received four and a half out of five stars on the Campus Pride Index, which is the premier LGBT+ national benchmarking tool for colleges and universities to create safer, more inclusive campus communities. Pickrel said as of now, 18 percent of first year applicants and 26 percent of non-first year applicants have opted into genderinclusive housing. “Traditionally, we have placed students together based off their gender in the university system,” Pickrel said. “If a student opts into gender-inclusive housing a student can be placed with another student who also opted into gender-inclusive housing. This is done without regard to
biological sex or gender identity.” ATEC junior Emily Wheeler said she ran into trouble with the roommate assignment after applying for housing. She and her friend wanted to room together and went through the process, but discovered they couldn’t select the same room and were separated. When they received their room assignments, Wheeler discovered her housemate was male, which made her uncomfortable. When Wheeler heard about the gender-inclusive housing option, she was under the impression that by selecting the box on the application, the applicant is fine with rooming with someone who identifies as a different gender. “We both clicked yes on the form for gender-inclusive, not aware that it meant anybody who selected that option can be roomed with you,” Wheeler said. “We didn’t realize you could be roomed with a guy, we thought it was if there was a special circumstance where someone identified as a woman.” As her interpretation of the policy did not align with what the Galerstein Gender Center meant, Wheeler’s solution was to send emails and
visit the office to solve her dilemma. Despite her visiting the office three times, she was turned away with no immediate fix to her situation. “I went into their office multiple times to try and talk about how we can fix the situation and possibly live together or at least get me out of having to live with a guy for a roommate,” Wheeler said. “Every time we went in to talk they just said, ‘Have you emailed?’ and that they would get back to us but they just never did and it was very unhelpful.” After attempting to remedy her issues, Wheeler was given the option to decline the current housing offer and go on a waitlist. Even though her living situation worked out, she said it is not fair that her friend is still stuck with a male roommate and the problem might not be the Gender Center, but the application itself. “I understand they probably have a lot of people who are having issues and so it’s kind of hard for them to talk to everybody, but from my perspective, it seems like maybe there is something wrong with the system rather than everyone is messing up,” Wheeler said.
Catherine Pickrel said that if students are running into problems with the process and do not get a response to their email, she encourages them to contact her directly. She also said Galerstein Gender Center is working to educate students on gender -inclusive housing through staff training, follow up emails and including information during housing tours. “We are communicating about genderinclusive housing in multiple ways,” she said. “As with any new program or procedure, we are always open to suggestions and strive to always improve our communication methods.”
Alum launches Kickstarter campaign for card game ‘Bad Actors’ party game created to allow players more creativity, improvisation with alternate game styles allowing flexibility BHARGAV ARIMILLI Life & Arts Editor
A UTD alum’s efforts to bring a new party game called “Bad Actors” to the college scene may become a reality this fall thanks to an upcoming Kickstarter campaign. “We play a lot of party games and what we noticed is that some of the more popular games are fun but they’re a little bit predictable,” said Evan Carr, UTD alumnus and co-creator of the game. “‘Bad Actors’ is a game where you have the opportunity to really bring the creativity and bring the fun through the game itself.” Larry Leon, co-creator and Carr’s business partner, said the level of player involvement in “Bad Actors” sets the game apart from others. “A lot of the games today — and I’m certainly not disparaging any of the games — (come) with pre-answered questions, you’re picking the one you think is the funniest,” he said. “Ours is more of an improv situation where you play a character and you answer the question as if you’re that character.” A few years ago, Leon came up with an idea for a party game called “Crowned,” centered around stereotypical beauty pageant questions. “Crowned,” through several rounds of research and iterative design, gradually evolved into “Bad Actors.” “One of the funniest things in beauty pageants is these questions like, ‘What do you think about world peace?’” Leon said. “I created a whole collection of pageants for men and women — Mr. Macho or Motorcycle Mom or whatever it is — and they were going to answer questions as if they were contestants in these various pageants.” Leon met Carr through a men’s support group and pitched the idea to him. After initial research, they realized their target demographic — primarily college-aged men —
EVAN CARR | COURTESY
Alumnus Evan Carr (left) co-created the game “Bad Actors” with his business partner, Larry Leon. On July 11, the Kickstarter campaign will go live.
didn’t have an affinity for beauty pageants. In August 2016, Carr and Leon scrapped the pageant idea and decided to focus on the mechanics of questions, characters and voting and renamed the game to “Bad Actors.” Since then, they’ve created nearly 15 prototypes and tested their prototypes using different focus groups. “I’ve actually connected with a couple of my fraternity brothers on campus who have given some really great feedback on the game,” Carr said. “The process was really just constant iteration. Putting together a first prototype, playing it, getting feedback and constantly coming up with different prototypes.”
Leon noted that one of the biggest challenges they faced during development was cementing the specifics of gameplay, such as the voting mechanisms or the way in which cards are drawn. Rather than limit the types of gameplay, Carr and Leon decided to leave the mechanics of “Bad Actors” sufficiently open-ended. “You can play (the game) so many different ways — the mechanic is super flexible,” Carr said. “And that’s great because when we’re shipping the game, we’re recommending a bunch of alternate game styles that you can play a little differently.” In “Bad Actors,” one player draws from a
stack of character cards. An adjacent player then draws three cards from a stack of questions and chooses the funniest question. The first player then must answer the question while in character. The rest of the players give a rating of one to five based on the first player’s performance, and the player with the highest cumulative ratings wins. With the “Bad Actors” campaign set to launch in a couple of weeks, Carr and Leon are now gearing up for manufacturing and distribution. “The thing that we’re really doing right now is making sure we’ve done the right amount of planning and that we’ve …
prepared all the necessary things like shipping and logistics,” Carr said. “How do you manufacture something on the other side of the world in China (and) reliably deliver it to people on four different continents? We want to make sure that our backers get the best experience and get the best product.” The Kickstarter campaign will go live on July 11 for a 30-day period. Carr and Leon hope to raise $11,000 to cover manufacturing and shipping costs. At present, backers who contribute $25 to the campaign will receive a deck of “Bad Actors” cards. If the campaign is successful, shipments will start in October.
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THE MERCURY UTDMERCURY.COM Volume XXXVII No. 39 Editor-in-Chief Miriam Percival
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Managing Editor Ariana Hadden managingeditor @utdmercury.com (972) 883-2287
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Contributors Carolina Alvarez Donia Bosak-Barani Sam Lopez Anthony McNair Chiamaka Mgboji Valerie Perez Shannon Ramirez Ian Seamans Matt Strack Dev Thimmisetty Kevin Vanhorn Noah Whitehead
THE MERCURY | JULY 3, 2017
NEWS
UTDPD Blotter June 10 • At 2:33 p.m. UTD police officers responded to a report of a fight at the soccer fields after a game. No one was arrested.
C
B
A
• At 11:14 p.m. an unaffiliated person was arrested after a traffic stop at the corner of Campbell Road and Nantucket Drive. The person was arrested for driving without a driver’s license, other agency warrents for driving without a license, expired registration and for driving without insurance. June 12 • Property was stolen from a construction site near Synergy Park North between 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. the next day.
B
June 19 • At 11:00 a.m. an unaffiliated person was arrested for an outstanding theft warrant and was found to be in possession of cocaine at Synergy Park North.
C
June 27 • At 2:01 p.m. an unknown person called and falsely reported there were bombs on campus. The campus was evacuated, UTD police searched buildings and no explosives were found.
A
A
LEGEND VEHICULAR INCIDENT
THEFT
DRUGS & ALCOHOL OTHER MAP: UTD | COURTESY
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Mailing Address 800 West Campbell Road, SU 24 Richardson, TX 75080-0688 Newsroom Student Union, Student Media Suite SU 1.601
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SOURCE | AMERICAN NATIONAL ELECTION STUDIES
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NEWS
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TemocNet replaces Time Warner on campus Office of Information Technology establishes different provider to improve internet speed, connection despite frustration among students DEV THIMMISETTY MERCURY STAFF
In preparation for fall move-in, the Office of Information Technology is addressing any issues concerning the new residential internet plan, TemocNet. After the university’s contract with Time Warner expired this past February, UTD decided to extend the campus internet to on-campus residential areas. As a result, University Village and University Commons have access to both the campus internet, CometNet, and the new addition of TemocNet. Brian Dourty, the associate vice president and chief technology officer of OIT explained the reason for the switch was an issue of both cost and effectiveness of Time Warner. Student complaints were common and the university saw an opportunity to make the internet situation consistent and satisfactory across campus. In 2008, UTD signed a contract with Time Warner to use its internet and cable services. On Feb. 28, the university decided not to renew the contract, instead electing to duplicate its campus internet in the residential areas. UTD now has a contract with Apogee for internet and TV streaming services. Matt Grief, the associate vice president for Student Affairs, felt that this new solution would be better than continuing with Time Warner. The change began on May 15 when numerous access points, or internet hardware units allowing access to TemocNet and CometNet, were installed in the residential buildings. Although workers were coming in and out of residences to install the units, information technology and systems senior Kyle Campbell, did not see this part of the process as intrusive. “The actual installation of the units was not bothersome at all,” he said. “I think, like a lot of other students, that as long we can get a permanent fix, it’s fine. I’m willing to go through anything for a long-term solution.” CometNet in UC and UV was not enough on its own, so to provide a better internet experience for students, the university created TemocNet, Dourty said. “Our campus internet service … uses enterprise level encryption, and not all devices support that. In residential areas, TV streaming devices or game consoles simply cannot work with that level of encryption,” Dourty said. “Because of this, we instituted TemocNet, which
→ SEE TEMOCNET, PAGE 8 CHIAMAKA MGBOJI | MERCURY STAFF
Boost in graduate resources UTD president approves plan to ensure increased engagement of grad students VALERIE PEREZ MERCURY STAFF
SAM LOPEZ | MERCURY STAFF
President Benson has recently approved the Quality Enrichment Plan, which guarantees the development of a university-wide graduate student association for the future. The QEP’s goal is to increase engagement of all new students as part of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission, which accredits southern higher education institutions. After the reaccreditation, there was a selection process that included proposals and analysis of assessment data to see which goals the University wanted to focus on for 2017, which included the graduate student association. Currently, there are associations in each major school of study, but the benefit of adding this goal to the QEP guarantees funding and collaboration among graduates. Even with the addition of this development on the QEP, Ian Shaughnessy, an undergraduate student in the literary studies Fast Track program, said that he wishes there were more interactive events within the graduate student body. He enjoys the Fast Track
program and the advantage it gives students to start taking classes for their master’s degree, but he feels it lacks in community. “As far as the Fast Track program, in particular, I don’t feel like it’s advertised enough and I don’t feel like there’s enough students that do it and if there are,” he said. “I just don’t know because there’s no organization for that.” Mofei Zhang, a mathematics graduate student, also had the same request. The School of Natural Science and Mathematics offers meetings for the students called ‘key time.’ These help students collaborate to see how differently each student learns and to teach each other their own learning strategies. “I wish the department had more key time meetings because this is helpful, since I feel like sometimes I struggle a bit in class,” she said. “And socials where I could meet other students in other programs.” Marion Underwood, dean of Graduate Studies, responded to this need for community because she wants to provide support for all students. For this reason, she decided to add the development of a graduate student
association to the QEP. “I think so many of our graduate students want to feel part of the broader university community. They have a connection to a program or maybe even just to a lab. They appreciate that, but they want more. They want some sense of broader belonging, Underwood said. “I would really like to partner with Student Affairs to provide more social programming for our graduate students, in addition to the social programming that we offer for our undergraduate students.” Underwood also said adding the development of the graduate student association to the QEP is beneficial because it also provides a systematic way for her to get student input and provide funding for socials and events. This addition also provides the creation of a student engagement board, which makes it more plausible for a larger community, since the university has over 9,000 graduate students. “I very much want a graduate student association and I will make sure it happens, but it will be in collaboration with students, so it’s a part of the bigger process,” she said.
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LIFE&ARTS
JULY 3, 2017 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
UTD stude n Pop & Pop ts perform live at th e si as an exam cles. The event took SUAAB event ple of stud ent life on place June 30 campus.
Interdisciplinary studies sen ior Maya Hook from Maya Piata takes her questions to the plinth to incite student particip ation.
provided Students wait in line for popsicles bands the re befo y enjo to ed by Berry Nak begin their sets. NOAH WHITEHEAD | MERCURY STAFF
The SUAAB event Pop & Popsicles took place during an orientation visit June 30 to show new students a taste of campu life. The event included popsicles provided by Berry Naked, music performed by the band Ish & Emily, and the return of Maya Piata.
New restaurant impresses with food choices Latest Northside eatery provides environmentally friendly variety of fresh vegetarian, vegan options for moderate prices DONIA BOSAKBARANI COMMENTARY
Chopped Halal Grill, serving mediterranean fare, is now the newest restaurant to open its doors at Northside. The New York style eatery is attractive in its atmosphere and variety of options, but not so much in its final presentation and cost. The first thing that stood out was the attentive customer service. When a customer entered the restaurant, they were greeted and the server asked if they had eaten there before, seeing as it’s a new location. The employees explained how to order and clarified the menu. They also asked all of the patrons who dined in for feedback about their meal and created a friendly environment for customers, which improved the experience. My order of a falafel pita sandwich was made fresh and quickly in front of me, including the pita bread itself. This immediately set Chopped apart from similar food chains in the area who use pre made pita bread for their gyros and sandwiches. It was definitively the best and freshest falafel pita
sandwich I have ever had. They also had several topping choices and two house-made sauce choices as well, to top off any customized sandwich or bowl. The variety of entrees was appreciated and could fulfill any food craving. All three entree “styles,” consisting of pita sandwiches, rice bowls and salad bowls, included the choice of vegan falafel instead of halal chicken or kofta beef, and the toppings also included a wide variety of vegetables. As a vegetarian, I noticed that Chopped was relatively more vegetarian and vegan friendly than other restaurant choices on and around campus. I couldn’t try the meat options myself, so a friend of mine accompanied me and tried the rice bowl platter with kofta. My companion said the meat was cooked well and flavorful. The portions of rice, meat and toppings were generous, and the servers even added more if a patron asked. The atmosphere was very bright and natural, with live plants adorning the tables. It looks charming from the outside and even more so on the inside. It wasn’t very busy, likely because it’s summer, Northside doesn’t receive as much traffic and a majority of customers ordered to-go. In the background, a Lionel Richie album played on the speakers, but the tracks sounded broken, ruining the
SAHER AQEEL | PHOTO EDITOR
Chopped Halal Grill opened on June 1 at Northside, offering an array of tasty mediteranean food and an attractive atmosphere.
calm element. They served both the to-go and dine-in bowl entrees in compostable containers, which is a bonus for the environment and for the street-food vibe they were promoting. However, their pita sandwich was just served in foil on a tray, which wasn’t an eye-catching presentation.
Third ‘Cars’ installment disappoints Substandard film offers commentary on relevant social issues, Pixar’s deterioration
Their prices were reasonable considering the portion sizes, but between $6.99 and $8.99 for a base entree can add up for college students. If you don’t have time to dine-in or order to-go and wait for food, Chopped offers their own app to order ahead, as well as a delivery service. Overall, Chopped Halal Grill offers a va-
riety of options, all delicious and authentic, to satisfy a hungry customer. The lively atmosphere makes the halal joint a prime location to share a bite with friends or relax with house-made food and desserts. Since they just opened, they may still be working on their presentation, but the cuisine is the main attraction and the restaurant perfected it.
Action flick stuns with smooth transitions, tasteful music Movie offers indie feel with exceptional script, plot
SUMMER LEBEL COMMENTARY
IAN SEAMANS COMMENTARY
As the latest in the recent line of Pixar sequels, “Cars 3” is a mediocre offering from a film studio known for high quality movies. The film centers around an aging Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) as he struggles to stay relevant when the younger racers begin to pass him. With the help of the same cast of characters from the first two movies, McQueen fights against change by working with Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo), a trainer who wishes she could race in the big leagues. The plot is nothing extraordinary, but that is typical for a children’s movie. It provides a simple story, easy to follow for young viewers while simultaneously offering social commentary for adult viewers. With the introduction of Ramirez and her struggles, it appears as though the film is going to tackle the issue of women in racing, which is still unbalanced in NASCAR. However, it changes course when McQueen and Ramirez meet some former racers who were friends with Doc Hudson, a racing legend and McQueen’s mentor. One of the old racecars was a successful fe-
DISNEY | COURTESY
“Cars 3” was released on June 16 as the third iteration in the Disney Pixar franchise.
male racer, with no fanfare made about her being a woman. It was refreshing to see the writers not go for the obvious plot choice and instead simply make it clear that there was no gender prejudice in this fictional universe. “Cars 3” tackles another hot button issue in the sports world — the debate over the importance of advanced statis-
tics. Mirroring the argument that statisticians are people who don’t understand the sport because they never played the game, a statistical analyst who never raced before joins the broadcasting team. As they check in with her to see why Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer) and the other new racers are succeeding, she ex-
→ SEE CARS, PAGE 8
A car pulls up. The shot changes to that of an iPod. “Bellbottoms” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion begins its opening notes. Three individuals get out of the passenger doors with large duffle bags and walk to a nearby building. The camera pans to Ansel Elgort’s face as he begins tapping along to the song. For approximately the next seven minutes, every environmental sound, from gunshots to car doors and tire squeals are synced perfectly to the beat. As the getaway car pulls away, blowing up smoke, you can’t help but feel excited. "Baby Driver" follows the titular Baby (Ansel Elgort). As a getaway driver with tinnitus, Baby listens to music to drown out the ringing in his ears as he uses his car to evade the cops and criminals in near impossible ways. The first two acts of the movie are an impossibly fun romp as Baby attempts to get out of debt and stay out of crime. In the third act, everything slowly descends
SONY PICTURES | COURTESY
“Baby Driver" was released June 28 and amassed acclamation from critics.
into glorious chaos. From start to finish, the cinematography, sound design, editing and acting are excellent. Normally I would have more critiques than praise for a film, but in nearly every respect, Baby Driver is a good movie. Female characters are
→ SEE BABY, PAGE 8
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LIFE&ARTS
THE MERCURY | JULY 3, 2017
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STORY & PHOTO BY : SAHER AQEEL | PHOTO EDITOR
S ’ K A R T L A R T N CE LAST SHOW
H
ome of UTD’s master's of fine arts students for nine years, CentralTrak is permanently closing its living space to all current and future artists. The closure was announced in December 2016 when the landlord decided to terminate the lease. “This was the last show that ended on (June) 24 and then they had one week after that to move out,” said ATEC graduate student Jessie Budd whose art was showcased in CentralTrak’s last exhibition. Little is known about the future of its relocation, the artists living situations and the ATEC visual arts program itself. CentralTrak serves as a living space for four artists to create and showcase their art in the buildings' gallery as well as aiding them in their career. “CentralTrak is just a resource to those students to help push them further into the art world,” Budd said. “(It) helps them to talk to people, get experience with gallery running, be around that environment all the time and just get a better, full understanding of how things work and make connections.” The building housed undergraduate exhibitions, hosted classes as well as showcased graduate student’s works. Budds work along with two program graduates, Ronald Wu and Russell Mendolla, were showcased in the space’s last exhibition. “This (was) actually a group MFA show,” Budd said. “And I think that’s partially due to some of the space constraints with the gallery space in ATEC gone and also the visual arts building as well.” The program is currently looking for a new space. “Right now there are a lot of growing pains in ATEC with visual arts” Budd said. “I think in the long run it’ll be good if they do move closer to the design district and are able to find a good spot.”
Identity: digital self Jessie Budd
Context: Technology and Translation Russell Mendolla
Zodiac of Virtual and Real Chu Yi (Ronald) Wu
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JULY 3, 2017 | THE MERCURY
COMICS&GAMES
SUMMER REGRETS
ANTHONY MCNAIR | MERCURY STAFF
GRADUATION FEARS
CAROLINA ALVAREZ | MERCURY STAFF
NONE FOR YOU
KEVIN VANHORN | MERCURY STAFF
SHANNON RAMIREZ | MERCURY STAFF
MATT STRACK | MERCURY STAFF
OPINION
JULY 3, 2017 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
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Productive political conversations needed Poor communication between supporters of opposing parties on social media, other platforms contributes to polarization IAN SEAMANS COMMENTARY
The United States is divided, and it isn’t the other party that’s the problem. It’s you. In 2016, the Pew Research Center conducted a series of polls measuring political polarization in the United States. Those polls found an increasing divide between conservatives and liberals as well as increasing resentment toward the other party. According to the data collected, over half of all Republicans and Democrats say the other party makes them feel afraid, frustrated and angry. In an interpersonal context, an increasing percentage of voters wouldn’t want their children to marry a member of the other party. Political discourse in the United States is worse than usual. The aggression is shown in the recent shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, politician’s Twitter rants and each side’s increasingly divergent viewpoints. As individuals, we have power to help change political discourse for the better by not feeding into the negative cycles of conversation. Instead, we can make both our conversations and ourselves better by confronting our own biases and moderating how we approach conversations. Everyone can do something to help the political conversation. Perhaps the easiest first step is to not raise your voice. Often, and especially with older people,
ANTHONY MCNAIR | MERCURY STAFF
I find that there’s a tendency to try to shout your point across. Shockingly, people aren’t more likely to listen to you if you’re yelling at them. Keeping a conversational volume and tone goes a long way towards a better conversation. Aside from how you say it, there’s also what you say. Having a good political discussion is made easier by realizing that most issues cannot be framed in black or white solutions. The discussion
about health care is more than Obamacare vs. Trumpcare, and foreign engagement is more than world policing vs. isolationism. Everything has nuance, and that can easily get lost in a conversation about the merits of a Democrat’s plan versus a Republican’s. Outside of conversation you can also look at your own biases. It’s easy to see how someone else is biased and why their news sources are bad, but it’s hard-
er to turn that lens on yourself. Look out for confirmation bias. Your brain acts as a filter that almost automatically rejects opinions or facts that you disagree with and will even use tenuous claims to reinforce your existing opinions. Check your sources, and when forming a new opinion on an issue, try to see what empirical data exists. You can also learn a lot by reading the news sources that skew towards the other party. Even if
you don’t agree with them, you can still learn what others think and why. No one person is going to make America a more perfect union, but as individuals we can contribute. Even if you’re not going to change the national discourse, you can change how you speak to your friends and family. If you don’t like how angry and polarized politics is, you can help moderate it in the group of people you interact with most.
Comets and Craters Updated Blackboard app
Incorrect traffic sign
A new update to the mobile app for Blackboard is going live. The update comes over the summer as part of the switch from Blackboard Mobile Learn to Blackboard Student.
At the intersection of Frank Johnson Drive and Drive H, there is an inconsistency between the turn sign and the road paint. The sign shows the right lane as having a straight option, which does not match the correct traffic pattern.
Giant fidget spinner
CentralTrak closing
A group of students built a large fidget spinner, weighing 150 pounds and 45 inches in diameter. An application to the Guinness Book of World Records is pending.
UTD’s artist residency program hosted its final exhibition from June 17 through June 24. Featuring artists Jessie Budd, Russell Mendolla, and Chun-Yi (Ronald) Wu who displayed their exhibits.
ECSS celebrates 30 years
New residential internet
The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science celebrated its 30th anniversary with an ‘80s themed banquet. It doubled as an awards and appreciation party for the school.
Students living on campus have complained about router issues following the change from Time Warner to TemocNet. School-issued routers are now required, and there have been reports of packet loss and range issues.
Coach named to WBCA board
Meal plan changes
Polly Thomason, UTD’s women’s basketball head coach, was named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association board of directors. She will hold the position of NCAA Division III legislative chair.
UTD Dining Services will offer different meal plans in the fall. Changes include the removal of the green and orange plans. The Block 80 is a replacement of the green plan, but there is no longer a meal money only option.
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rolls participants’ phone numbers when they enter the university’s system. However, if students aren’t enrolled in classes over the summer, they are removed from the database. As of the previous notification test, almost 15,000 people are currently receiving the alert and the number will rise in the fall when students return to campus. Interdisciplinary studies senior Michael Stout, who was in class at the time of the alert, also experienced confusion during the evacuation. “Our professor tried to lock the doors but our doors didn’t lock, so we were peeking out into the lobby and out of the windows unsure of what was actually going on,” he said. “I’m not going to sprint for my life because of a gas leak in Founders but I will sprint for my life for other reasons,
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can be used with those devices and does not require you to login.” The difference in access between the two is that CometNet is available all across campus while TemocNet is only available in the residential areas for students with devices that don’t support the encryption level that the former utilizes. Both have the same upload and download speeds, but a different method is used to get on TemocNet as compared to CometNet. CometNet still demands login as it does on campus, but TemocNet requires that you register every device via an online form before being able to use it on the internet. This means that guests would have to register their devices as well.
you know? And that’s what we didn’t know.” His class’s confusion dissipated after a student called the campus police and was informed of the bomb threat. At this point, his class evacuated and went to their cars. When Stout tried to drive away from campus, traffic was stalled. “People didn’t have to speed out of here, but they could have been ushered in an orderly fashion and there was no one,” he said. “Not only was there no vehicle guidance, there was no crowd guidance either.” To address similar concerns, Zacharias said there have been several ‘debriefings’ to discuss how communication and notifications can be improved in future emergency situations. Additionally, an email was sent to employees and students detailing changes in policies for future emergency situations such as sending multiple alert messages to reiterate the in-
“The fact that you have to register each individual device is ridiculous. It’s entirely cumbersome,” Campbell said. “To access the form, you have to get on the internet somehow anyway.” Dourty said the reason for this is to make up for security that is lost by the lack of logging in as you do with CometNet. “To mitigate the fact that students no longer have to authenticate, we (have) a preregistration system,” he said. Another issue that plagued Campbell was internet speeds. With the wireless TemocNet connection, he had speeds of 0.06 megabits per second, compared to the usual 30 mbps CometNet provides. However, by using an ethernet connection, he said his speeds jumped up to 800 mbps. A caveat that comes with the new internet plan is the removal of personal routers. For
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structions as well as provide updates on the situation and using speaker systems in buildings across campus to help with the evacuation. Zacharias said several other universities have also received calls similar to UTD’s that the FBI believes originated from California. However, the caller masks their exact location by using spoofing software. “I’m in the process of contacting our FBI university liaison to see if they’ll do a nationwide broadcast to all of the universities … and they will be able to advise all of the universities these (calls) are going around,” he said. The Office of Emergency Management could not be reached for comment for this article. If students are not receiving emergency notifications text UTDALERT to 888777, visit utdallas.edu/textme or email utdalert@utdallas.edu
Campbell, this further complicated his speed issues. “Since we aren’t allowed to use personal routers, I couldn’t even connect through ethernet without having to go out and buy a really long cable,” he said. However, Dourty said this change is beneficial to the residential internet. “Letting people use their own wireless routers can create interference and disturbance,” Dourty said. “We don’t want an individual to negatively affect the experience for their neighbors or anything like that.” Dourty says the hardware is often to blame for malfunctions. “In early June, we lost about 300 access points, and we had to replace about 160 of them. Our biggest issue is problems arising from the hardware,” he said. Despite the troubles, Campbell said he was generally pleased.
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“I don’t believe that it’s a system set out to help students. The given pathway that they have set up (for internet) is simply awful,” Campbell said. “As much as it’s given me a headache, I’d put myself in the pleased category. My internet has gotten a lot better from what it was before.” Grief says that he’s heard a few complaints, but there is a 24/7 help desk set up to help students with any issues. “We put out extensive communication before we made the change so I think that we tried to convey to the students exactly what we were doing,” he said. “There is a specific number open at all hours for any issues, though.” The number to the internet services help desk is 972-8836000.
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plains the math and physics behind their success. This is met with resistance from McQueen as well as other broadcasters, representing the old school versus new school battle over analytics in sports such as baseball and hockey. The majority of the voice actors were a known quantity coming into the third film in the franchise, but new additions like Alonzo and Hammer breathed a little life into the movie. The animation style was nothing game changing either, as it was meant to be in keeping with the previous installments. Audiences have come to expect a new level of animation with each Pixar movie, but the sequels have lacked that innovation. As a whole, “Cars 3” felt mediocre, but that’s a step up from “Cars 2,” which was panned for its poor writing and absurd plot line. It felt predictable, which is
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three dimensional, they’re given narrative importance outside of being love interests and they are not overly sexualized. The cinematography, and moreover, the editing, were very well done. The plot makes logical sense, but isn’t predictable in the least. The movie conveys significant amounts of information using visuals instead of words, and every actor gives a pretty stellar performance. In recent interviews about the movie, director Edgar Wright said he’s been working on the concept since he first started filmmaking, and it shows. The movie clearly has passion behind it, from both the director and actors. Every shot is edited into the next seamlessly, the soundtrack is entirely made up of already released music and every song fits
common for a children’s movie, but not as predictable as it could have been. Nothing was particularly new or inventive. It was another reminder that Pixar is on the verge of becoming what Walt Disney Animation Studios was in the 2000's, a sequel machine that got pushed to the side in favor of newer studios. With Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, there was a rearrangement behind the scenes involving John Lasseter and other key personnel working more on Disney Animation products. Lasseter has remained as the chief creative officer of Pixar, but took on the same position at Disney Animation. As a result, much of his attention has shifted from Pixar to Disney in recent years, along with other animators and creative artists who took on new roles following the purchase of Pixar. In the wake of this, Disney Animation has become much stronger in their current revival as Pixar fades.
its scene perfectly. For a movie with frequent car chases, it does a better job of editing the chases to be more visually coherent than both the Fast and the Furious Franchise and Mad Max. Because of the intentional color choices and characters who you can emotionally connect to, the movie felt more like an indie film than one funded by Sony. Unlike an indie film, however, Wright has a large budget for special effects and talented, established actors such as Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx. This best of both worlds gives the film a wide appeal, for both those looking for action and those looking for a great script and plot. For those reasons, I give the movie five out of five stars. If you have the time, try to catch it in a theater with a friend. It’s one of those movies that’s best enjoyed with somebody else.
While keeping the state of Pixar and Disney Animation in mind, the plot of “Cars 3” becomes a poignant reflection of real life. Just as McQueen’s racing days fade away and he helps Ramirez to take his place against Storm and the newer racers, Pixar has sacrificed many of their key personnel to allow Disney to regain its place atop the pyramid in the face of newcomers such as Illumination Entertainment, who have produced movies such as “Despicable Me.” Following this fall’s original movie “Coco,” Pixar will release two more sequels, “The Incredibles 2” and “Toy Story 4.” It feels as though they seem content to continue to coast on their former success for the next few years, leaving fans without another new franchise until 2020. This is disheartening for those who enjoyed Pixar’s originality, particularly in the wake of the disappointment of this latest addition to the “Cars” franchise.