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Vol. 60, Issue 1
Est. 1981
August 26 - September 3, 2019
The Paisano
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Community /PaisanoOnline
/ThePaisano
@PaisanoMedia
@ThePaisano
Graphic by Emma Reeves
By Joseph Torres Co-News Editor ASecureLife, a security research company, named UTSA the 2nd safest campus in the state of Texas and the 30th safest campus in the nation. The report, which analyzed campus safety, reviewed criminal activity from 320 college campuses over a 10-year period. They collected data from four-year institutions with an average enrollment of 10,000 or more students, and reviewed the number of assaults, thefts and burglaries reported from 2007 to 2017.
Chief Gerald Lewis Jr., UTSA associate vice president of public safety and chief of police, explained the impact this recognition has on the UTSA community. “For an outside agency to look at it and say OK you guys are number 30 in the country and number two in the state is something really to be reckoned with and something to be proud of,” Lewis said. UTSA landed at number two behind Sam Houston State University but ranked above other universities which included: The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University
and Baylor University. “Number one, it’s personal for us. Number two, it’s a credit to our personnel and that includes our police officers, public safety officers who are our security guards, our dispatchers, our support staff and everyone,” Lewis said. “We take great pride in keeping our community safe and our university community safe.” Safety on campus is a top priority for the Department of Public Safety (DPS), and they encourage students to pay attention to their surroundings, report any suspicious activity and look out for each
www.Paisano-Online.com other. The DPS actively works with the Office of Environmental Health, Safety, Risk Management, Facilities, SGA and Disability Services to cover a variety of safety concerns. “What we do annually is we walk both of our campuses, the Main Campus and the Downtown Campus, and we identify any lighting issues, any places where we feel brush needs to be cut back to allow people to see better, tripping hazards, I mean all of these different things. So, when you talk about safety, it includes all of these things,” Lewis said. The DPS at UTSA has layered security measures in place through a variety of programs. Located across both campuses are blue light phones that provide an immediate response to the campus dispatch center. Strategically located security camera systems across facilities provide additional security oversight for students and faculty. UTSA also provides a free app, LiveSafe, which produces additional real-time safety resources and UTSA specific information. LiveSafe allows students, staff and faculty to instantaneously notify UTSA police of their location if an emergency arises. The app provides a “Safe Walk” feature which allows individuals to share their location with friends who can virtually escort them to ensure they arrive at their destination safely. Additionally, individuals can upload photos, videos and text messages of any suspicious activity for law enforcement to review. LiveSafe currently has 1,385 student users, 388 staff users and 80 faculty users. “Overall, crime has gone down as a whole. We’ve seen a decrease in thefts, which is always good,” Lewis said. “As Continued on page 2 See “University recognized for safety”
UTSA seeks European collaboration Texas legislature denies funding for campus expansion By Heather Montoya Co-News Editor
By Josh Peck Staff Writer The College of Business (COB) is the centerpiece for phase one of President Taylor Eighmy’s 10-year plan to expand the Downtown Campus. This project was the first legislative priority but UTSA did not receive the $126 million in tuition revenue bonds it proposed to the Texas legislature to fund its construction. The university still received the following: a $26.1 million increase in formula funding over the next two years, $80 million in statewide funding for Texas Grants to assist students needing financial aid, funding for a new Foster Care Pilot Program, $10.4 million to support UTSA faculty development through the Core Research Support Continued on page 2 See “UTSA did not receive requested funding”
UTSA announced expansion efforts of its International Study Center at Urbino, Italy (ISCU) that will include communicating with other European universities such as universities in Germany, France and Istanbul to create study collaborations. “We at the College of Architecture Construction Planning have had conversations with the University of Rome Sampensia; the university in Valencia, Spain; Istanbul; technical universities and other big collaborations that we initiated,” John D. Murphy, construction and planning dean, said. Murphy, who has been with the ISCU since its creation in 2009, has been named executive director of the Photo courtesy of UTSA The university that UTSA collaborates with in ISCU and associate vice provost for Italy: Universita degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo global initiatives. As executive direcmyself within Lisa Montoya’s operator, Murphy will oversee operations in homebase through research programtion of global initiatives. So, I will Urbino and will work with Lisa Monming and faculty exchange,” Murphy report to her and most of what I will toya, vice provost for global initiasaid. be doing will be interactions with Gertives, to aid in collaborations between Continued on page 2 many, Spain, France, other universities universities. See “Study abroad opprtunities “The associate vice provost for glob- in Italy and how they can collaborate expected to increase” not only in Urbino, but in with UTSA al initiatives is a way for me to locate
Task group analyzes classroom management etiquette By Heather Montoya Co-News Editor The 21st Century Learning Environment task group established in the Spring 2019 semester continues their outset as the fall semester begins and aims at providing Dr. Kimberly Andrews Espy with recommendations in November on improving the learning environment in UTSA classrooms. “The charge of this group is to consider what is needed to create a learning environment that encourages critical thinking, communication, collaboration
and creativity, and the group also acknowledges those social and cultural changes that have occurred from the 20th century into the 21st century and our readiness of both our faculty and students to negotiate these changes,” Dr. Heather Shipley, senior vice provost of academic affairs and dean of university college, said. This task group was created as a result of an investigation that occurred last spring into Dr. Anita Moss, a human anatomy and physiology professor at the time, and her classroom management. The investigation report recommended the implementa-
tion of this task group, led by Shipley, to provide guidance on classroom management and behavior. “Times have changed from what traditionally happens in the traditional classroom to what the 21st century is,” Shipley said. “I think it is a good time to stop and think about what learning environments encourage aspects of this along with the things students need to be successful out in the workforce.” Since the announcement of this task group in February, the group has developed a charge, collected general background, looked into different prac-
tices and is currently finalizing members. According to Shipley, the group will be made up of members of the faculty senate and offices that deal with student success, affairs or life as well as a wide range of students. “So, we’ll have the SGA representatives and somebody coming from the president’s student advisory council. We sought nominations of students from various areas on campus to have a broad representation of both faculty and students on this,” Shipley said. Shipley plans on convening in September to provide the provost with the recommendations by
the end of November. The group plans to initially meet every two to three weeks and may create smaller groups within itself to work toward their goal. “The goal is, by the end of November, to have the recommendations to the provost and then go with whatever implementation or further task groups or working groups that need to come from those recommendations,” Shipley said. The task group is not expected Continued on page 2 See “Classroom civility review continues”