L)ULHQG EULQJV WRJHWKHU GLYHUVH FXOWXUHV LQGLYLGXDOV
&RPHWV SUHSDUH IRU QHZ VHDVRQ 6HH VWRULHV DQG VFKHGXOHV LQ 6SRUWV
PAGE 11
VOLUME XXXIII NO. 12
PAGES 16-17
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF UTD — WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM
AUGUST 26, 2013
Welcome back to school! | Like us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/theutdmercury | Follow us on Twitter, @utdmercury
Murder on McCallum
'DOODV 3' UHDFKHV RXW WR LQW O VWXGHQWV ZRUNV RQ VFDOLQJ FXOWXUDO EDUULHUV
ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEE Web Editor
A Kenya native on a two-year student visa was shot and killed in a suspected armed robbery early morning Aug. 3 on McCallum Blvd. No arrests have been made in the case so far. UTDPD has confirmed that the victim, Elisha Ogolla, was never a UTD student. The 32-year-old was visiting his brother at the Gables on McCallum apartment community on 7780 McOGOLLA Callum Blvd. When he walked down to the parking lot with his brother, two armed men allegedly demanded money from them at gunpoint. While the brother ran and hid behind cars, the gunmen shot Ogolla several times despite no resistance, before rifling through his wallet and allegedly fleeing in an old silver or blue SUV, according to a press release from the Dallas Police Department. This is the second murder on the 7700 block of McCallum since the beginning of this year. The other homicide at McCallum Corners apartment on Jan. 10 occurred when a homeowner fatally shot an intruder breaking into his apartment. Since March 2012, there have been 42 instances of crime reported to the police in the Gables complex alone of which there were 12 assaults and 10 property thefts, according to statistics obtained from Dallas PD’s website. These crimes comprised 9.9 percent of all crimes in apartment communities on McCallum Blvd., which were a total of 425 during the same time period, including 78 assaults and 116 property crimes. Many of the property thefts occurred last year when two individuals repeatedly stole electronics from residents on McCallum Blvd., said Sgt. Israel Herrera from the Crime Patrol Unit of Dallas PD’s North Central Operations Division. Despite property thefts constituting the single largest type of crime — 27.3 percent of all crimes on the street since March 2012— there is a perception among students living on McCallum that the area is unsafe, Herrera said. Amit Bhaisare, a new supply chain management graduate student who will start renting an apartment on the street first week of school, said although he had personally not faced any trouble on McCallum, he had been afraid while taking the bus there at night. “A lot of (students) living there informed me of
VHH 085'(5 SDJH
Sui cide
e th
5HDO WLPH GLVSOD\V WUDFN DYDLODEOH VSRWV MADISON MCCALL Mercury Staff
UTD opened the first of three planned parking garages that will add 750 parking spots to the campus on Aug. 26. The parking garage is located behind the new Edith O’Donnell Arts & Technology building on the corner of Drive G and Drive A. The
ing
the
irdl coll eading egia k ma ns, iller o f b k e u S T see t ne Amer ILLU ORY STR B ica king w a ATIO Y ANW NB ESH hel ttitud n Y A AND CATHR BHAT p e as e s CHR YN P TACH ISTO LOE ARJ ier. PHE HN, EE, W GR R EB A
Vei l
ME WAN APH IC EDIT RCU G RY , PHO S EDIT OR SPE TO E OR CIA L R DITOR EPO RT
Suicide rates and patients with mental illnesses are on the rise among many age groups nationally, and suicide is the third leading cause of death among college students nationally, according to a 2012 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As state health departments slash mental health care budgets across the nation, according to a 2011 report by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the United States has averaged at 105 suicides per day in 2010, stated the same CDC report. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students in Texas as of 2008, according to the latest data available from Texas Suicide Prevention, an initiative sponsored in part by the Texas Department of State Health Services, or TDSHS. One person in the age group of 15-24 dies due to suicide each day in Texas, according to another 2009 statistic from the TDSHS. Jenyce Gush, crisis line supervisor at the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas, said the number of suicide calls the crisis center receives has gone up steadily, although those in the age group of 60 and above are the most affected. There has also been an increase in the number of suicidal war veterans in their early or midtwenties, Gush said. While there is a lack of research
and statistical evidence on increased suicide rates specifically among college students both in Texas and in the country, practicing mental illness experts are noticing an increase in suicides among all age groups, said Sherry Cusumano, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Dallas. The National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, is the largest non-governmental mental health care organization in the nation, with hundreds of state organizations and affiliates. According to Cusumano, Texas was 50th in the nation in per capita funding for mental healthcare last year and has since moved up one position because Idaho lost some of its state funding. “(The lack of funding has) certainly been a problem across the state of Texas, Dallas county and north Texas,� she said. While north Texas has no wait lists, as a result of low funding the number of mental health patients on waiting lists are going up in many other parts of the state and treatment is limited to crisis management and outpatient visitations for mental health patients, Cusumano, a licensed practitioner at Green Oaks Hospital in Dallas, said. “Inadequate state funding for mental health services often leads individuals with mental illness to
Parking garage opens 750 spaces
CATHRYN PLOEHN/GRAPHICS EDITOR
Lif t
is th
location places students just a few steps away from the Jindal School of Management, typically considered a long walk from the larger lots on campus, such as Lot A and B. According to the Director of Parking and Transportation Services Cristian Aquino, the five-level garage spans 251,000 square feet and cost $11.4 million to build. The sale of parking permits — the prices of which have increased every year for the past three years — will be used to recoup the cost of construction. “All of these features are part of the auxiliary service that is parking, and it needs to fund itself,� Aquino said. The new garage utilizes renewable energy sources and is fully loaded with LED light fixtures. The garage also has real time displays of available spaces on each level with wireless sensors to keep track of the number of spots open. The electronic displays are located at each entrance, one on Drive A and another on Drive G.
VHH *$5$*( SDJH
seek care in hospital emergency rooms, which are expensive,� said Greg Hansch, policy coordinator for NAMI Texas in an email to The Mercury. “The Texas prison system also becomes a de facto treatment provid-
depression, bipolar disorders and schizophrenia — and treatment for conditions such as PTSD, another leading cause of suicides, is sparse, Cusumano said. “Would we have fewer suicides
Counseling Center sees higher demand JOSEPH MANCUSO Mercury Staff
More students are using the Student Counseling Center as UTD continues to face record enrollment this fall, according to the counseling center director. In early August, the center filled a new partial position to help accommodate the rising student population. The hiring places UTD in contrast to an overall trend of reducing the amount spent on mental health services, as outlined in a 2011 report by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. er ‌ Additionally, it obstructs recovery because individuals with mental illness have trouble accessing and affording the treatment resources they need.� In addition, the available funding in Texas focuses on only three types of mental disorders — major
“When I came here in 1997 there were over 7,000 students and only 3 staff (members),� said Director of the Counseling Center James Cannici. “Now we are expected to have about 22,000 students and 11 staff (members).� More employees are added to the counseling center to meet demand, based on factors such as the number of visits the center receives and the length of wait lists for those visits.
VHH &2816(/,1* SDJH if we had more funding? That’s (an answer) I’m not sure of,� she said. “I do know in other parts of the state where they do have waiting lists there have been occasions where people
VHH 68,&,'( SDJH
&RQWUDFWRUV UHDG\ 0 $7(& %XLOGLQJ IRU ILUVW GD\
SHANTANAU MENDHEKAR/STAFF
A worker looks up to the balcony of the 1,200-seat auditorium of the Edith O’Donnell Arts & Technology Building. The facility opened on time despite the crane collapse in July 2012 that took the lives of two men.