Students Face New Challenges Finding Transportation Home for the Holidays
Reporting Texas November 14th, 2024
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AUSTIN, Texas – Complaints against intercity bus services have mounted during the fall semester as the number of bus lines have dwindled. The bus troubles represented a new challenge for students at University of Texas at Austin as they made plans for the upcoming Thanksgiving break.
Popular bus line Megabus ceased its operations across Texas in August amid bankruptcy proceedings for its corporate parent Coach USA. The retraction of Megabus left car-less UT students with one fewer option for long-distance travel. In the next few months , another popular bus line, Red Coach, racked up a number of complaints from students who alleged that buses frequently arrived late and customer service was poor. Neither Megabus nor Red Coach responded to requests for comment.UT junior Corey’l Sams, who frequently used Megabus to travel home to Houston, had to switch to Flix-Bus when Megabus ended service this year. Sams said he’s had trouble finding good timing options, and there can be significant price hikes when booking last minute.
“I actually flew twice from Austin to Houston,” he said. “I don’t feel like going through all of that.”Sams also said that he’s chosen to visit home less frequently, choosing to focus on major holidays to avoid the hassle.
Transportation engineering professor Kara Kockelman said that intercity travel is much more difficult, not just in Texas, but the U.S. as a whole compared to similarly developed countries.
“The cities are older and the countries are much smaller, so the cities are closer together,” she said. “(Trains have) been largely used for passenger rather than freight in those countries . . . here train is mostly used for freight.”Adi Bharad, a masters of community planning student at UT, said he enjoyed the novelty of Amtrak on a trip to Dallas, but found it too inconvenient to use regularly.
“It’s really cool because it goes through, like, the backcountry,” he said. “The only thing is that it does take like six and half hours.”Instead, Bharad turned to the rideshare app Hitch for intercity rides.
“I really enjoyed my experience with Hitch,” he said. “It’s very functional. They provide multiple pick up and drop off locations in the respective cities.”
Professor Kockelman agrees that rideshares, as well as student organized carpools can be an important travel option as bus lines falter.
“It’d be great if we could, you know, get together and share the vehicles that already exist,” she said. “It’s best to go with somebody who’s already headed straight there.”
Some students like Sams, just aren’t comfortable with long-distance rideshares, and for them the bus remains an important, if imperfect travel option.
“That’s an ick to me,” Sams said of rideshares. “At the end of the day it’s trust and efficiency, that’s what we care about.”
Students Turn to Gaming for Relief from Midterm Stress
Reporting Texas October 24th, 2024
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AUSTIN, Texas – As students trudge through projects and exams at the height of midterms season, The Latinx Pop Lab hosted Video Game Day for students to take a break from their studies.
The Latinx Pop Lab , located on the fourth floor of Patton Hall, was organized by Professor Frederick Luis Aldama, known to his students as Professor Latinx. While it primarily focuses on Latinx representation in media, Aldama has also created a space for students to escape the pressures of college life. In addition to Video Game Day, the lab hosts a weekly “Unplugged” series aimed at combating tech addiction.
Professor Aldama was out of town during Video Game Day, but one of his teaching assistants, Rose Padilla, attended the event.
“Video games are always good escapism,” Padilla said. “Combining the gaming and the socialization aspect, by just playing games together, I think it really helps build community while also relieving that stress at school.”
The event was small in scale. There were just a handful of students around a table playing games on a classroom projector, but for those who came, it appeared to make an impact.
“As soon as I got here, I said hi and it felt inviting,” said Bratt Dircio, a sophomore finance major who attended the event.
Dircio doesn’t typically turn to gaming for escapism but approaches it like his studies – by practicing and studying the material. Still, he finds gaming to be therapeutic.
“It’s more relaxing,” he said. You don’t have the external pressure of, oh my God, am I going to get a horrible grade on this?”
Experts say that reaching out for help when stress begins to feel overwhelming is important.
“Students have a lot that they’re balancing,” said Laura Kinch, the Associate Director of Communication and Marketing for the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC). “It’s important to get help because you’re not alone.”
The CMHC offers a range of services including a 24-7 crisis phone line to help students with mental health challenges. During the 2022 school year, Over 46% of students who sought care at CMHC reported experiencing academic stress.For some students, relief can be as simple as connecting with others through a shared interest like gaming.
“we’re really just all about building community here,” Padilla said. “Having this type of open forum where people can come by for as long as they’re able to . . . I think it’s a really cool way to showcase the affordances that games have, which is, again, to build community.”
CORRECTIONS: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the Latinx Pop Lab was on the fifth floor of Patton Hall, it is on the fourth floor of Patton Hall. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Rose Padilla organized Video Game Day. Padilla is a volunteer at The Latinx Pop Lab and attended Video Game Day, but Paloma Aguirre, another of Professor Aldama’s Teacher’s Assistants, was the showrunner for the event.
Student Government Passes Proposal to Expand Big Ticket Section at DKR
Reporting Texas October 18th, 2024
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AUSTIN, Texas — Negotiations to expand the Big Ticket section at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium began after Student Government at the University of Texas passed a bill calling for an expansion of the Big Ticket section on October 1.
The student government bill came against the backdrop of the Longhorns’ first season in the SEC, which had brought a surge in demand for tickets. The demand has placed new strain on the Big Ticket program, with many students frustrated at the ticket claiming process and what they have described as an overcrowded Big Ticket section.
In response, Student Government passed AR-5 that calls on Texas Athletics to expand the Big Ticket section. The bill called for switching team benches, expanding the Big Ticket section around the north end zone, and making empty alumni seats available to Big Ticket holders.
“There’s two students in that one seat,” said Alexandria Finch, a Big Ticket holder. “We’re packed in like sardines.”
A UT Spokesperson said there was overcrowding when Texas Athletics sold tickets for a second Big Ticket section, but those ticket holders entered the original Big Ticket section instead. The spokesperson said the overcrowding only occurred at the first two home games, and Texas Athletics stopped selling the second section in response.
Emma Daniell, Student Government Representative for the College of Liberal Arts, proposed the bill to expand the Big Ticket section. She said the problems students have experienced this fall have been going on for years.“Right now, you have a lot of people continuously buying the big ticket, and there’s no transparency on how many have been sold,” she said.
Daniell said there are more students who would like to attend games than the current Big Ticket section’s roughly 12,000 seats can hold. She said the size of the expansion will depend on obtaining sales figures from Texas Athletics. She also said that the UT’s student section is smaller that of similar-sized schools.A UT spokesperson said Texas Athletics has not, and will not oversell the Big Ticket section, as some students have speculated.
Professor James Dalthorp said Texas has a different sports culture than other schools, which makes it difficult to compare student sections. Dalthorp is professor of practice at the Stan Richards School of Advertising and PR and specializes in the business of sports.
“There’s a confidence that we have here at Texas,” he said. “We don’t have a tradition in place that has big, massive sections, cheering sections other than the Longhorn Band.”
Professor Dalthorp said that maintaining an active student section is important to university athletics and can even tilt the outcome of a game. However, he says that expanding the Big Ticket section and taking seats away from alumni and other season ticket holders would be difficult.
“You pass those seats down from one generation to the next,” he said. “I just don’t personally see how that’s feasible or possible.”As for Finch, she said she’ll continue to attend Texas Football, but that she’d like to see a change.
“As years go on a lot more people will buy the big ticket,” she said. “I feel as though UT Athletics will just gain a lot more backlash.”