Photo by Treyson Abe<\/a><\/p>\nRecently, national discourse regarding sexual assault incidents on college campuses has raised awareness of the issue.<\/p>\n
In September, a former Cornell University student filed a civil lawsuit alleging that she was drugged and sexually assaulted in a university fraternity house in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cFortunately and unfortunately, you start to see more reports come up because now people are aware. The same thing with hazing, right? When there\u2019s one big hazing incident, suddenly people start to become more aware, they pay attention and then they report more,\u201d said Andrew Miller, dean of students and senior associate vice president for Student Affairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Miller said that the Dean of Students office tries to use those moments to reeducate students about consent and the resources available to them.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 1, UTA Police issued a campus safety bulletin regarding two sexual assault incidents that were alleged to have happened in West Hall.<\/p>\n
The Dean of Students website serves as a one-stop shop for students\u2019 critical needs, such as Title IX and hazing reporting forms, referral resources, and the Community Advocacy, Response, and Engagement Team, Miller said.<\/p>\n
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education and consists of regulations detailing how schools should respond to reports of sexual harassment, according to UTA\u2019s Title IX website.<\/p>\n
If students fill out the wrong form, the Dean of Students office can redirect students to the proper resource. Additionally, general emails are available for students to reach out to if they have questions, Miller said.<\/p>\n
The CARE Team includes a case manager and the team itself. The case manager works directly with students to meet their needs, including helping facilitate academic breaks for students in crises or taking care of basic needs such as helping them through food and housing insecurity, he said.<\/p>\n
The CARE Team itself works to triage reports it receives from across the campus and provide additional services, Miller said.<\/p>\n
When students put in a report through a UTA reporting form, they will typically hear back from either the CARE Team case manager, the Relationship Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention office or UTA Police Crime Victim Services, Miller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The incident will then be passed to Title IX for further investigation, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes folks are afraid to reach out because of the nature of what the office does,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThe reality of calling or emailing that office to say \u2018Hey, I would like an appointment or I need some help\u2019 can be so scary to folks because there\u2019s a piece of acknowledging the reality of what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that, if needed, a member of their team can accompany students who are afraid to attend their first meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf having a friendly, supportive face and that presence helps them get through the front door and sit in the chair for the meeting, we will do that,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
Additionally, he said the office can assist students while calling to schedule an appointment with another service to give them added support.<\/p>\n
Whether or not students want to make an official police report, they have access to resources within the police department, including being able to talk to a crime victim coordinator.<\/p>\n
When students contact the department for any person-type crimes, including domestic violence and sexual assault, the department sends an officer to provide support and make sure they are connected to resources, said Emily Augustin, UTA Police crime victim coordinator.<\/p>\n
Augustin said she tries to be up front when she meets with someone and let them know that they are in charge of what happens at that point. She also explains the types of questions that students will be asked and what the reporting process looks like, she said.<\/p>\n
In cases of sexual assault, she said she talks to the victims about taking a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner exam. The exams are free and voluntary for the person who makes the report.<\/p>\n
The exam is conducted by a specially trained medical professional who will do a physical examination to help identify any physical evidence relevant to the case, ask questions about the incident and document it, said Tim Ciesco, Arlington Police Department spokesperson, in an email.<\/p>\n
If incidents occur outside the UTA Police jurisdiction and within city limits, the Arlington Police Department will be in charge of the investigative process.<\/p>\n
Ciesco said that when students call the department, they should expect an officer to go to their location and speak with them about what happened, gather information and ask if they are willing to go to a medical facility to get a SANE exam.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether a victim chooses to report to police immediately or not, it\u2019s important they get a SANE exam within that timeframe,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as a SANE exam is completed within five days, a detective can always go back and collect that evidence if the victim makes a delayed report.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the exams can take several hours and the victims will likely be asked to repeat details of the incident, Ciesco said it\u2019s important to remember that the professionals conducting the exam are trained in trauma-informed care and are there to help them.<\/p>\n
Augustin said she can meet with students on campus if it makes them more comfortable.<\/p>\n
She said a misconception students might have is thinking they might have to go to court and see the person who caused them harm, but that would happen further down the line, if at all, if the victim decides to go in that direction.<\/p>\n
Augustin said the process can seem overwhelming in the beginning with the exam and officer interviews, and then it calms down while the investigation is happening.<\/p>\n
Resources available for students:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Students can report Title IX incidents or hazing, reach out to the CARE Team or report a concern anonymously through the Dean of Students website.The Relationship Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in Ransom Hall Room 301. Walk-ins are welcome.UTA Police Crime Victim Services is in the Center for Innovation Building on East Border Street and can be contacted by calling 817-272-9254. The UTA Police emergency phone number is 817-272-3003, and the nonemergency number is 817-272-3381.Counseling and Psychological Services can provide one-on-one counseling and psychiatric help. Enrolled students have six free individual sessions per semester, and each session after that is $10, according to the CAPS website. Students can call 817-272-3671 to schedule a counseling visit or consultation, or 817-272-2771 to schedule a psychiatry visit.The TimelyCare app provides 24\/7 access to virtual care services, including counseling, psychiatric sessions and health coaching, according to the CAPS website. Students don\u2019t need insurance to use the service.<\/p>\n
@_.lexlie_<\/p>\n
news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Office of Legal Affairs operates within the University Administration Building on Oct. 19. The building is on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1086,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-472964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-campus","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6ad68dac0b7ee.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n