December 6, 2021
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THE MERCURY
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Honors college Dean retires TYLER BURKHARDT Editor-in-Chief
After 23 years as the Director of the Collegium V Honors Program and seven years as dean of the Hobson Wildenthal Honors College, Edward Harpham will be stepping down from his administrative post, effec-
tive January 1. Harpham, a political science professor, will be taking a year-long sabbatical, after which he intends to return to the University in a faculty position. Douglas Dow, current associate dean of the Honors College, will assume the position of Interim Dean of the Honors College while
the University conducts a national search for a permanent replacement. “I’m excited to be turning things over to [Dow]; it couldn’t go to a better person,” Harpham said. “This is a personal decision, for family reasons, but I’m very excited because we’ve got to keep building this program, and it’s good for a new generation
to take over that project. The Honors College was created to promote excellence across the board at the University. We’ve got a good base to build from, and I hope it continues to grow. And Dow is a great person to be leading that. There’s a lot of changes coming, and I think they’re pretty exciting.”
SG fall campaign promise check-in FATIMAH AZEEM Opinion Editor
The Mercury tracked Student Government’s progress with President and political science senior Ryan Short’s and Vice President and business administration sophomore Imaan Razak’s campaign promises. The following is our breakdown: Promise 1: Uplift student concerns around UTD’s continued COVID-19 response Update: Met with UTD administration to address student concerns over inaccuracies in COVID-19 cases on UTD’s COVID-19 dashboard at the beginning of the fall semester. Dashboard was updated with accurate COVID-19 case data. Met with the Dean of Students
Office, which handles contact tracing, to discuss student concerns around testing, vaccination numbers and general COVID-19 updates. Passed de-densification, attendance policy, seating chart and lecture recording resolutions centering around the classroom response to COVID-19. Polled students for de-densification and classroom policy resolution to gauge desire for extending de-densification and student health concerns with in-person instruction, of which the majority voted in favor of de-densification and expressed health concerns with face-to-face lectures. The resolutions ultimately did not pass through the Academic Senate to be implemented into the University. Promise 2: Strengthen SG’s commitment to student advocacy
SEE PROMISES, PAGE 10
THAOVY NGUYEN | MERCURY STAFF
Spring COVID plan Spring intramurals announcement Spring protocols won't differ greatly from the fall's TYLER BURKHARDT Editor-in-Chief
As finals conclude and students set their eyes on returning to campus next semester, UTD is doing the same with regard to its COVID-19 protocols. By and large, Vice President and Chief of Staff Rafael Martín says that the current plan is to treat the spring semester as they had planned this fall before the Delta variant was introduced to the DFW area. This means that UTD will essentially return to the current status quo — full density in-person classes, Daily Health Checks, encouraged mask-wearing and random testing across campus — unless circumstances dramatically change over the next month. If positive trends continue into the spring as boosters become more accessible, the University may
eventually return to “normal” operations. “The plan right now — which, of course, big asterisk, is subject to change — is to come back full density just as we are now at the start of the spring semester,” Martín said. “We will obviously be monitoring local cases throughout the break, and if things start to take a turn for the worse, and especially if we start to see
SEE PROCEDURES, PAGE 10
CASEY RUBIO | MERCURY STAFF
LAUREN DOUGHERTY Life and Arts Editor
After a semester of limited operations, intramural sports will return to full force for the spring semester with a lineup that includes basketball, FIFA and wiffleball leagues as well as special events like table tennis, Overwatch and a version of Battleship played on canoes in the AC pool. Ben Piper, associate director of programs for UREC, said that the biggest change from the fall is that basketball and soccer, the two primary leagues, will be back in their full formats — a five-week regular season and twoweek playoff. Piper is also working to bring more of the one- and two-day tournaments and special events, which he said were popular during the fall semester. “You always run into things like weather if we’re working outside, or sometimes life happens across campus and we have to make adjustments,” Piper said. “But I think the students, in those situations where we had that ALESANDRA BELL | GRAPHICS EDITOR
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Cross country team prepares for spring Men and women's teams retrain for track season after eventful fall semester TYLER BURKHARDT Editor-in-Chief
DAVE WESTER | COURTESY
Winter Activities page 5
UTD’s cross country teams concluded the year on a high note and now turn their focus to preparing for the track season. Beset by a number of difficulties, including injuries to Graeme Maclean – the defending ASC 1,500 and 800m champion – both the men’s and women’s cross country teams
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fell short of the ASC conference title this year, although head coach Danielle Kcholi said she was proud of how the teams performed given the circumstances. But, in the last meet of the season, the men’s team put up its best NCAA divisional meet performance in program history, despite moving to a stronger division this year. “Moving into the new region in the west, that was definitely an eye-opening experi-
ence,” Kcholi said. “To put it all in perspective and realize we went to a region where two of the teams were in the top 10 at nationals last year – and one was the national champions – it was a really good experience for everyone to see where we eventually want to be.” Now, UTD’s runners turn their attention to the track season as they begin individually
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SEE TRACK, PAGE 10