Trinitonian Serving Trinity University Since 1902
Volume 115 Issue 16
spotlighting
ACCESSIBILITY Students share varied experiences with mental health accommodations CATHY TERRACE | NEWS REPORTER cterrace@trinity.edu Trinity University provides several different outlets for those seeking assistance with their mental health. Depending on students’ diagnoses, support ranges from in-class accommodations to temporary counseling sessions. For those who possess a diagnosis, registration through Student Accessibility Service (SAS) can help provide support to students’ campus lives. “There’s not really a comprehensive list of accommodations because we start where the student is at,” said Alyse Gray, student accessibility specialist. “When they come, they discuss their disability, and how that impacts their campus life — so academics, housing, dining, extra-curricular activities — all of that we work with, so that students can get equal access to higher education.” Accommodations provided through SAS can take many different forms, included modified attendance, extensions on assignments and access to the Accommodated Testing Center (ATC). However, this department differs from others, such as Counseling Services. “Accommodations are always through student accessibility services, but [Counseling Services] doesn’t provide accommodations or documentation for accommodations; what we can provide to students dealing with mental health issues are a consultation, potential shortterm counseling or a referral if the student needs longer term or more specialized treatment,” said Richard Reams, associate director of counseling services. “We see 90 percent of the students who come here in the counseling center — maybe 10 percent would get a referral off campus.” But students’ experiences with disability differ, and consequently, so do their experiences with seeking accommodations. Several students opted not to initially register with SAS, such as senior philosophy major Michael Drozdiak. “For this more independent chapter of my life, I tried to not seek accommodations until it became an absolute issue for me. Before, I relied basically on the empathy of my professors to understand, as I would occasionally talk to them about it,” Drozdiak said. “When it became difficult for me to accomplish what I needed to in classes, it wasn’t always easy for me to articulate what could have helped.” After students have registered through SAS, they must go and talk individually with their professors about receiving accommodations per class. Several students have cited overall positive experiences with the process of registering through SAS. “Most of [my professors] are pretty understanding, but others are more skeptical, and will say you need to email SAS to make sure it’s legitimate ... I always have to give them paperwork,” said Dinda Lehrmann, a sophomore art major diagnosed with anxiety and depression. continued on PAGE 5
JANUARY 26, 2018
Study abroad paves a new pathway Trinity in Spain students surprised with lack of credits upon return KATHLEEN CREEDON | NEWS EDITOR kcreedon@trinity.edu Last semester, 10 students and one professor flew to Madrid for Trinity’s first full-semester study abroad program, Trinity in Spain. Though the students were warned that they might not get credit for some of the classes, many were disappointed at how few credits they actually received. In the program, the students took five classes. Of these classes, two were taught by Bladimir Ruiz, the associate professor of Spanish that joined the students in Madrid. Those classes count towards the students’ GPAs, but were not brought to the University Curriculum Council (UCC) with credit toward Pathways. The Pathways curriculum features three requirements: Approaches to Creation and Analysis, Core Capacities and Interdisciplinary Clusters. In theory, students can be credited for a Capacity from any institution; however, the Approaches and Clusters must be fulfilled through Trinity courses. “The difference is that Capacities at Trinity are not necessarily the focus of the entire course. They may be included within a course in context,” said Glenn Kroeger, associate professor of geosciences and vice chair of the UCC. “Every component of the Pathways curriculum has very well-defined student learning outcomes, and for a course to be approved, the course syllabus has to demonstrate that those learning outcomes can be achieved.” If a student can prove that a course at another institution fulfills a Capacity, such as digital literacy or written communication, the credit will transfer. Study abroad experiences also automatically fulfill the global awareness capacity. However, study abroad courses that are not taught by Trinity professors do not count towards the Approaches or Clusters. “There’s no way to know, without an
Ten students pioneered the Trinity in Spain program in Madrid. Upon return to the United States, the students were surprised with how few of their credits applied to Pathways, Trinity’s curriculum. photo provided by KATSUO NISHIKAWA
enormous amount of work, that a course taken elsewhere would achieve all of those goals,” Kroeger said. This caused trouble for students who were part of the Trinity in Spain program, since this policy does not allow the classes they took with IES, a third-party provider that offers international education, to count towards Pathways. “I know that you have to get your Pathways credits on campus, but what’s disappointing for me is that I was going to use this for my Cluster,” said Trey Foster, a junior business administration and Spanish double major. “I’m doing a film Cluster, and I took a film class while in Spain, but it didn’t count because it wasn’t at Trinity, even though this was a Trinity program intertwined with the Spanish department and everything. It’s just a little disappointing.”
Though it seems obvious that a course will fit a Cluster perfectly, such as Foster’s film course for his film Cluster, Kroeger explained that the policy is more complicated than appearances. “Right now, the curriculum says that the Cluster must be done at Trinity,” Kroeger said. “The reason for that was that a Cluster is supposed to be a group of courses that are articulated with one another, that the faculty talk to each other and know what they’re doing.” Kroeger acknowledged the inconvenience that this may cause for some students, and reminds students that they can design their own Cluster if a situation like Foster’s occurs. To do this, a student must propose and provide evidence for the self-design Cluster to the UCC.
San Antonio’s City Council decided to raise the age after listening to advocates from an organization known as Tobacco 21. Tobacco 21 is an organization dedicated to reducing the usage of tobacco in society, most often by raising the age for purchasing tobacco from 18 years to 21 years. The decision was made by the city council after a concerted effort by Tobacco 21 and overly active high school students attempting to bloat their resumes for college admissions. The only group that put forward semi-serious opposition to the ordinance were small business owners who said that the ordinance would affect their income. The reasons given for raising the age for tobacco purchase were simple. Raising the age prevents underage high school students from bumming a smoke off of their friends who are 18. High school is an interesting grey zone of legality. At the youngest end of the scale, high school students can be as young as 13 or 14 years old. At the oldest side of the scale, high school students can be legal adults by being 18
or 19 years old, capable of filming pornography, voting and smoking tobacco. Tobacco 21’s website makes the case that the primary cause of students becoming addicted to tobacco is that they bum a smoke off of their older high school friends. By raising the age to 21 for purchasing tobacco, they break the chain and thus save high school students from becoming the next smokers. Raising the age for tobacco is a progressive policy that makes criminal what has traditionally been a legal activity. The policy is based on self-congratulation — passing the policy makes those who advocated for it feel better because they believe that they stopped people from developing lung cancer. I am not advocating that cigarettes don’t cause cancer. I am not that kind of conservative. My disapproval of the policy change comes from my belief that punishing people who are 18 or older for smoking tobacco will do more harm than good.
continued on PAGE 6
Opinion: Tobacco 21 harmful for SA MANFRED WENDT COLUMNIST mwendt@trinity.edu
The San Antonio City Council rang in the new year by raising the age required to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21. I was personally very disappointed by the decision, but not surprised at all. San Antonio, after the past year’s local elections, has a very progressive city council. The city has eight progressives on the city council and only two conservatives. Its mayor, Ron Nirenberg is a self-styled progressive, whom many of Trinity’s progressive student body heartily supported. If you want evidence, just take a look around Coates and you will see someone with a “Nirenberg for Mayor” sticker on their laptop.
continued on PAGE 10
Life of Robert Foye celebrated at service
Love, loss and experience on display at the Mini
Women’s basketball team shares game day rituals
After the student’s passing earlier this month, family and friends came together.
The student artists behind this year’s art installation talk about what inspires their art.
A peek into the daily routines that have lead to the success of the team.
PAGE 11 PULSE
PAGE 17 A&E
PAGE 18 SPORTS