The Alestle Vol. LXXIII No. XVIII

the

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TAKE A DIVE INTO EDWARDSVILLE’S MINING HISTORY page 6 thursday, 01.30.20

TENNIS AIMS TO KEEP SERVING UP WINS page 7 vol. LXXIII no. XVIII

The Student Voice Since 1960

Updated expressive activity policy reviewed by SG JENNIFER GOECKNER managing editor

Governor Pritzker addresses a room full of students, faculty and community members about the new health services facility and equipment coming to SIUE to better educate aspiring healthcare providers. | Mackenzie Smith / The Alestle

Future health sciences complex will help alleviate state nursing shortage MADISON LAMMERT editor-in-chief

Students in white lab coats and scrubs joined faculty, staff and other curious students in SIUE’s Meridian Ballroom Thursday, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the release of over $10.5 million to fund the design phase of a new health sciences building.

The total cost of the project is expected to fall around $105 million, and the building will be over 221 thousand square feet, making it the largest on SIUE’s campus to date. According to Vice Chancellor for Administration Rich Walker, administration has proposed it be located in University Park, between the current School of Pharmacy administration building and Woodland Hall, and will house multiple health-related fields.

“It will house the nursing

program, the School of Pharmacy program and the related health sciences programs,” Chancellor Randy Pembrook said Thursday.

“This design will allow nursing, pharmacy and the allied health disciplines to share instructional resources and foster collaboration between programs.”

According to Pembrook, it has been a long-standing goal of SIUE to bring together its health-related fields. Pritzker said this will produce more graduates, and also believes it will attract future students to SIUE. “[It] will connect all the health sciences programs, so whether it’s pharmacy or nursing or nutrition, they’ll all be able to connect and this interdisciplinary effort will make the students much better off as graduates from those programs, and will help attract more students to this state

and to this region,” Pritzker said after the announcement.

Throughout the Thursday speech, Pritzker addressed the importance of improving campus infrastructure, especially after a two-year span without a state budget under his predecessor, former Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Pritzker said due to budget concerns, the state has seen not only an “out-migration” of students who go elsewhere because the cost of college is too high, but also an out-migration of faculty who are fleeing due to the perception of an unstable state government following the budget crisis.

“So many of them got poached by other universities,” Pritzker said. “That has to end, so we need stability.”

Prtizker said he wants to attract faculty into Illinois to work at institutions with “world-class

facilities.”

Not only does Pritzker believe the new building will help the SIU system, he also said it will address the health care needs of the state. Illinois is facing a nursing shortage, and the new space will allow the School of Nursing to admit more students.

“Perhaps just as importantly, this building will increase the School of Nursing’s enrollment capacity at a crucial moment because Illinois faces a nursing shortage across a number of specialties, and that means the students who learn at this facility will be preparing for good-paying jobs that are already there in a field that is growing, and the high quality of the programs here means that our students will be the leaders in that profession,” see BUILDING on page 2

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jeffrey Waple spoke at the Student Government meeting Monday night about proposed changes to the Policy of Expressive Activity.

These proposed changes follow a town hall meeting held in November to discuss the policy, in the wake of a series of protests sparked by “Pastor Tom” Rayborn’s regular Wednesday appearances on the Stratton Quadrangle.

One proposed change to the policy is a limit on the use of amplification, prohibiting amplification above 80 decibels. The updated policy would also limit outdoor reservations to a 50-foot radius, unless justification is provided for why additional space is needed.

The draft of the updated policy also includes proposed changes to the reservation process. If the new policy is approved as is, reservations may be made up to 30 days in advance, rather than for any time in the current semester.

In this revised reservation process, student activities would be given priority over events planned by outside groups in the case of conflicting reservation requests. Additionally, groups and individuals would be required to use a space after reserving it. If a reserved space goes unused, the group or individual may be unable to reserve another space in the future.

The Policy of Expressive Activity applies equally to all non-university-sponsored activities, including those hosted by students and student organizations, as well as outside groups and individuals.

The final draft of the Policy of Expressive Activity will be presented to the Policy Council to be enacted.

JENNIFER GOECKNER

650-3527 jgoeck_alestle jgoeckner@alestlelive.com

New Military and Veteran Resources Center opens in fall JOHN MCGOWAN reporter

SIUE veterans and military service members will soon have access to a dedicated lounge when the Military and Veteran Resource Center opens up on the second floor of the MUC some time this fall.

Currently, SIUE’s only dedicated service center for veterans and military members is a small booth in Rendleman Hall.

The new center will be established where Event Services is located now, while Event Services will move into The Alestle’s current space, and The Alestle will move to @thealestle

the lower level of the MUC. The location will include a lounge space for veterans and service members to relax, computers and Common Access Card readers. A Common Access Card is the identification card service members carry that give them special benefits.

President of Student Veterans of America, junior economics major Nathan Peery, of Highland, Illinois, said SIUE is lacking in services compared to other campuses. “[Student Veterans of America’s] other schools [in California] have 600, 500, 300 veterans, and they have huge veteran buildings,” Peery said. “So, for us to say we’re at over 700 veterans and we don’t have a veteran

@thealestle

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center – that’s kind of unheard of.”

The center will help to consolidate different educational and financial needs for veterans, like parking, advising and admission, as well as applying for and using their Illinois Veteran’s Grant, GI Bill and tuition assistance.

Kevin Wathen, director of Military and Veteran Services at SIUE, said these topics can pose issues for veterans.

“You can imagine the added difficulty that veterans have to go through, and we’re just talking paperwork wise,”

Wathen said.

The center will also aim to help veterans mentally and socially. Along with the lounge area, they are planning see VETERANS on page 2 alestlelive.com

page 2

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Beet Box short on produce, will return in fall sistent student turnout, which gradually drove local farmers away from the project, according to DeSpain.

“We would have days when it would be great — there would be a lot of students and they’d be really excited — and then days when it wouldn’t be,” DeSpain said. “It was hard for [vendors] to devote the time if they didn’t

Spain said. “It’s us with the vegetables, so that was just a much easier way for us to handle it.

The Beet Box has replaced So that was our solution to still the SIUE Goshen Farmers Marserve campus.” ket as a means to provide students According to Jennifer Zuerwith fresh fruits and vegetables. cher, an assistant professor in the The SIUE Goshen Farmers Department of Applied Health, Market first came to campus in the biggest advantage to having Fall 2017 and was supported by the Beet Box on campus is its acthe Food Sustainability Consorcessibility. tium, a collaboration be“[The Beet tween faculty in multiple Box] makes it a departments — including really convenient English, sociology, applied way for people to health and more — as well get fresh produce,” as the Kimmel Student InZuercher said. “It’s volvement Center and the great for students Goshen Market Foundathat live on camtion. pus or in Cougar The market made its Village, as well last appearance on campus as for faculty and in Spring 2019. Accordstaff.” ing to Jessica DeSpain, an Taylor Hoeg, English professor and the a senior nutrition president of the Goshen TAYLOR HOEG major from RockMarket Foundation, many senior nutrition major from Rockford, Illinois ford, Illinois, and factors contributed to the the current presidecision to no longer bring the know it was going to be prof- dent of the Food and Nutrition market to campus. One of the itable, so slowly over time we Club, said she has been to the biggest challenges was finding started to lose a lot of farmers.”

Beet Box a couple times and the right time to hold the marAt the same time, the Beet thinks it is a good addition to kets.

Box (or Market on Wheels) was campus.

“When you start farm- established in Spring 2018 to “It’s always great to see a ers markets, you have to have a provide nutritious foods to areas way to give nutritious foods ‘show up and hope other people with little to no access to healthy cheaply to college students bewill show up’ attitude,” DeSpain produce. The Beet Box previous- cause food is so expensive for said. “It takes a long time to es- ly only stopped in Cougar Vil- college students,” Hoeg said. tablish that, and it was really hard lage, but starting in Fall 2019, it “That’s part of the reason why to find the right time when stu- came to the Quad. According to you hear the stereotype of coldents would be on the [Stratton DeSpain, the Beet Box was a way lege students just eating ramen, Quadrangle] naturally and then to continue serving students with but really, your brain can’t funcalso have time to get vegetables a smaller operation. tion well without having nutrior whatever it was to their cars, “The thing about the Beet tious foods.” and same thing with faculty.”

Box that is nice is you don’t have Due to weather and a lack of Another obstacle was incon- to rely on other people,” De- produce in the spring, DeSpain

JENNIFER GOECKNER managing editor

“It’s always great to see a way to give nutritious foods cheaply to college students because food is so expensive for college students. That’s part of the reason why you hear the stereotype of college students just eating ramen

VETERANS I COVER

to offer therapy for those with depression, anxiety and PTSD, and they want to promote connectivity and socialness between veterans. Peery said this is important because veterans often stand out from their peers.

“They’re coming in, and he or she doesn’t fit in well with their 18 or 19-year-old peers that have absolutely no life experience … so they just automatically segregate themselves,” Peery said.

The current Veteran’s Services is a small booth in the Stu-

dent Services Center in Rendleman Hall that is usually staffed by student veterans. Because of how small they are, they’re only able to meet with a few veterans and service members each day.

A worker at the booth, freshman history major Matthew Hanks, of St. Louis, said he’s excited to socialize at the new center.

“It’s going to pretty much be a new home for veterans. When I started here before I started working at the veteran’s service, this was the only place I would go to. I would just sit outside [the booth],” Hanks said.

Another worker at the booth, junior computer management and information systems major Jacob Vignone, of Jacksonville, Illinois, said the new center will help the Student Veterans for America.

“Our chapter will be able to base themselves out of there to get their information out and help people out and recruit people as well,” Vignone said.

Service members and veterans can check out the center when it opens this fall, but for now they can go to the Veteran Services booth in Rendleman Hall room 1309 for any of their needs.

Graham disperses Student Body President Report ELIZABETH DONALD copy editor

Weather policies, student fees and free blue books were among the highlights of this year’s Student Government report.

Student Body President Jacob Graham issued the annual report of SG activity for the year, which included a number of policy items as well as student life: • In October, the Student Senate passed a resolution asking the university for more transparency, standard metrics and a regulated time for decid-

ing whether to close the university for inclement weather.

• The Senate also voted against the FY21 fee proposal due to the use of student fees toward athletic scholarships, which was then dropped from the fee proposal.

• The student discount program has been updated and expanded; SIUE students can get discounts at dozens of area businesses, including AMC Theaters, Source Juicery, Bella Milano, Wang Gang, Penn Station, China King, Denny’s and many more.

• SG began distributing free Scantrons and blue books to students and started a “syllabus

bank” allowing students to view sample syllabuses before registering for class.

• SG hosted “I Have a Reason,” a mental health awareness program to encourage understanding and reducing stigma attached to mental health issues on campus.

Moving forward, SG will be conducting a student survey on what changes should be made for fall Homecoming; asking the administration to discuss motorized scooters in campus, among other initiatives.

One can read the entire report linked under “current initiatives” on the SG website.

In 2018, then-sophomore art studio major Ash Hupperts, of St. Louis, holds a plant she purchased at the Goshen Market on the Stratton Quadrangle. | Alestle File Photo

said the Beet Box will primarily be a fall project moving forward.

Customers of the Beet Box can use their Illinois Link Cards and receive coupons allowing them to match their purchases of up to $25 for additional fruits and vegetables.

BUILDING I COVER

Pritzker said.

In keeping with the Board of Trustees’ recent discussions about improving rural health across the state, Pritzker told The Alestle he believes the construction of the building will help remedy this problem by providing the area with more health care professionals.

“We have to do it in combination with other things to make sure that we’re affecting in a positive way rural health, but the fact that we’re educating so many more people here and we’re doing it in a world-class fashion means we’ll have graduates who are here, who come from here, they’ve spent four years here or more sometimes in undergraduate and graduate programs, and who can be attracted to stay because they’ve seen what a great region this is,” Pritzker said.

However, Pritzker recognizes merely constructing the new building will not solve all of the concerns surrounding rural health.

“But, you have to do it in combination with other things, like we have to make sure our critical access hospitals in rural communities stay alive, that they’re thriving, and they can pro-

For more information, visit the Goshen Market Foundation’s website or Facebook page.

JENNIFER GOECKNER 650-3527 @jgoeck_alestle jgoeckner@alestlelive.com

vide health care needs for people across southern Illinois and central Illinois,” Pritzker said. “Then the last thing is we need more clinics across southern and central Illinois. It shouldn’t be that people have to drive for hours from where they live in a rural community to get somewhere where they can get their health care needs met.”

So far, the government has only released money for design, but Walker said approximately $95 million is expected to be released at a later date for construction.

“The funding that was released will cover all of the design fees from beginning to end, so that’s very good news, and hopefully then, the plan is that [once the] first year of design work is done, then the rest of the money will be released for construction,” Walker said. “So, as long as the rest of the money is released for construction, then we’re looking at about a three-year time period in total.”

The Alestle will continue to provide updates on the progress of the new building’s progression.

JENNIFER GOECKNER 650-3527 @jgoeck_alestle jgoeckner@alestlelive.com

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Greek life organizations uphold similar alcohol, drug policies across councils 01.24.20

JENNIFER GOECKNER managing editor

A suspicious odor was reported in the Engineering Building. A building engineer and the responding officer both advised the smell was coming from the concrete and asphalt making room.

SIUE is home to four Greek life councils — the Interfraternity Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Panhellenic Council and United Greek Council. Each group of organizations promotes different values and causes; however, organizations in various councils express similar policies regarding drugs and alcohol.

In the Student Success Center, an officer took a report of an individual providing their social security number and birth date to a possible scammer.

An officer responded to a report of a subject saying suspicious comments at the Main Dental Clinic building on the Alton Campus.

At the Walgreens on Collinsville Crossing Boulevard, an officer took a report regarding an SIUE employee receiving an email scam asking them to purchase gift cards and send the codes. The employee said five $100 gift cards were purchased and the codes were sent.

01.25.20 Allison D. Huene was arrested for driving under the influence. Huene was transported to the SIUE Police Department where she was fingerprinted, photographed, processed and released after posting $100 bail and forfeiting her driver’s license. A state citation was also issued for speeding.

A fire alarm was activated by a kitchen fire in Cougar Village. The responding officer reported flames in the oven, and the fire was put out using a fire extinguisher. The Edwardsville Fire Department also responded and cleared the scene. The fire resulted in possible damage to the oven.

At the Morris University Center, an officer responded to a report of a male subject who was possibly intoxicated. The officer made contact with the individual, and he left the area.

01.26.20 Edwardsville Fire Department was dispatched to Stadium Drive in response to a report of a vehicle’s gas tank scraping on the ground and leaking fuel.

01.27.20 SIUE Police received a report of two subjects in Prairie Hall who were not allowed to be in the building. The responding officer advised the subjects to leave the building and told them to contact Student Affairs.

Kappa Sigma (IFC) Kappa Sigma President Alec Hageman, a junior finance major from Jacksonville, Illinois, said his fraternity has several rules regarding drugs and alcohol. These include prohibiting active members from consuming any drugs or alcohol during recruitment or when wearing their fraternity letters, even after they turn 21.

According to Hageman, the fraternity enforces these rules primarily by monitoring the social media accounts of individuals associated with the organization.

“We do have people who are monitoring all social medias of our potential new members, our active members and our alumni,” Hageman said. “If we decide something is not allowed, then we’ll basically just reach out to that person and say, ‘Hey, man, this doesn’t kind of coincide with our rules and regulations. Could you please take the picture down and make sure not to post anything like that again?’”

Hageman said there are multiple reasons having these policies in place and enforcing them is important, namely to accurately present the organization to potential new members.

“We make sure that the [new members] coming in are joining us for the people that we are, not the people that these substances make us,” Hageman said.

Another reason these policies are important is because of the negative portrayals of Greek life organizations in movies and TV shows, according to Hageman.

“Obviously, the media portrays fraternity and sorority life as not what it is, especially here on campus,” Hageman said. “So, we want to make sure we uphold a good reputation of young men and women who are just trying to do good in the community and help out in any ways that we can.”

Alpha Xi Delta (PHC) Alpha Xi Delta Chapter Life Vice President Ally Smith, a junior sociology major from Decatur, Illinois, said her sorority has similar alcohol policies as Kappa Sigma. With the legalization of marijuana, Smith said her sorority’s policies regarding weed were decided by the organization’s na-

tional office.

“When it came to discussing what to do about weed within our sorority, it was actually a national’s decision,” Smith said.

“Within our national bylaws, we have to follow federal laws on things such as drugs and alcohol, so nothing has really changed for us within our organization when

and being able to maintain a presence at SIUE. “I think that it is important to have these policies to ensure the safety of our members and others around us,” Smith said.

“It’s also important to uphold the standards and regulations that our organizations and SIUE hold us accountable to, so these poli-

“It’s a big thing because, with sorority and fraternity life, there’s already some negative connotation, and if we’re posting those types of things, people are looking at us like ‘What are their values?’

Au’Reon Hopkins

president of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

it comes to dealing with policies.”

Smith also described a similar monitoring and enforcement process to ensure drug and alcohol policies are followed.

“Policies are enforced by rereading them every semester at the beginning and instilling in our members that when they joined, we all agreed to these policies,” Smith said. “And these are more closely monitored by our executive board. When instances happen, the executive board reaches out, if they comply about it, that’s really about it. If they don’t comply with our reaching out, then they get sent to our honor board.”

Like Hageman, Smith listed a number of reasons these policies are enforced, including safety, the organization’s reputation

cies help all of Greek life stay organizations on campus. They also help us to promote Greek unity throughout our campus.”

Sigma Gamma Rho (NPHC) Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority President Au’Reon Hopkins, a senior psychology major from Chicago, said her sorority also rules about what kinds of events their organization can advertise, in addition to policies similar to the ones described by Hageman and Smith.

“We are not allowed to have alcohol at any of our events,” Hopkins said. “If it has anything to do with the sorority, if our name is on it, we can’t have alcohol at all, and same with drugs.

It’s no tolerance.”

Hopkins said this policy also applies to events co-hosted by another organization, which cannot be associated with Sigma Gamma Rho at all.

Like Smith, Hopkins said these policies are in place in part to protect the chapter from receiving disciplinary action from the university or the sorority’s national office.

“Anything [the sorority posts] that breaks any rules, we could get in trouble,” Hopkins said. “We could get privileges taken away. If it’s something really serious, we probably wouldn’t even be active on campus for a short period of time, depending on what it is.”

Hopkins, like both Hageman and Smith, said her organization wanted to maintain a positive reputation, despite the stereotypes people often hear about Greek life.

“One thing that we’re really strong on is self-image and just having a positive image on campus and how people perceive us,” Hopkins said. “It’s a big thing because with sorority and fraternity life, there’s already some negative connotation, and if we’re posting those types of things, people are looking at us like ‘What are their values?’ And that’s not what we want, we don’t want any negative attention.”

For more information about Greek life organizations at SIUE and their policies, visit the Kimmel Student Involvement Center or their website.

JENNIFER GOECKNER 650-3527 @jgoeck_alestle jgoeckner@alestlelive.com

NEXT WEEK READ ABOUT CHAOS MAGICK PERFORMANCE page 4

lifestyles alestlelive.com

contact the editor: lifestyles@alestlelive.com 650-3527 thursday, 01.30.20

Mysterious sculpture in Peck was a social experiment NICOLE BOYD copy editor A new sculpture in Peck Hall has disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.

Peck Hall had a new addition for a few days — an abstract sculpture on the main floor. Junior sculpture major Matt Meyer of Naperville, Illinois is the artist behind the sculpture.

Meyer said the sculpture was performance art, as he hoped to gauge the students’ reactions to art.

“I wanted to do a performance piece, or a social experiment type thing, where I put a sculpture in Peck for a couple days and see how people react to it … if they look at it, if they just kind of disregard the fact that there’s art there, or what happens, what changes in their life,” Meyer said.

According to Meyer, students’ reactions changed depending on which side of the building they entered.

“I noticed that people who came from the side of Peck, they didn’t really look at it, they just kept going about their business.

Most of them were on their phones. Then the people who came from the front, some of them stopped and looked, and then kept going. Some people took pictures and stuff like that,” Meyer said.

All of Meyer’s sculptures share some similarities, due to his artistic process.

“All of my sculptures are abstract, [and] stem from moments in time in my life. I take pictures of everything I’ve done and I’ll take a certain figure in that picture … so they start out figurative but then they go into abstract,” Meyer said.

Meyer used two different materials to create the sculpture.

“It’s made out of rebar. I welded it together and then the back side is [a] steel

After Meyer’s social experiment, the sculpture was relocated from Peck to the outside of the Art & Design building.

I Mackenzie Smith / The Alestle

plate,” Meyer said.

Meyer also has another sculpture displayed on campus.

“It’s the giant face. It’s right behind the MUC. It has all the colors and stuff,” Meyer said.

Senior art and design major Joseph Ovalle of Collinsville, Illinois, said that art students often work on their projects together.

“It’s like a free-for-all. It’s mostly eight

Junior scupture major Matt Meyer, of Naperville, Illinois, smiles next to his sculpture in Peck Hall.

I Photo courtesy of Matt Meyer

or 10 of us in a room, all helping each other out and and working on our own stuff. It’s really cool,” Ovalle said.

Ovalle shared his thoughts on Meyer’s sculpture in Peck, as well as the role campus administration plays in promoting art on campus.

“I think it’s interesting. I think the rock in it creates a tension where I would be like ‘Oh, somebody’s gonna take it.’ I really think the administration, I think it’s cool that they let us put sculptures up, [and] I know Rich Walker does a lot. I think it’s really interesting to put something random in a random place,” Ovalle said.

Ovalle hopes the sculptures on display will have a positive effect on campus by giving students the opportunity to appreciate art.

“I really hope it just gives people exposure to art and maybe encourages them to go see more. I think access to public art is really important. It’s kind of like entertainment, something people can feed on,” Ovalle said.

According to Vice Chancellor for Administration Rich Walker, art is just one discipline of student learning the administration strives to encourage in order to benefit the student body.

“I’ve always seen my role as a partnership with academics, and do whatever I can on the administrative side of the house to support student learning, whether it’s in the arts department, or whatever department,” Walker said.

Walker said the art displays throughout campus are just one of the great things SIUE has to offer.

“Another great thing about our campus is the sort of museum without walls concept, so that our museum collection is out and about on campus, both indoors and outdoors and all the buildings,” Walker said.

Walker also said there are a number of ways for students to learn about SIUE’s art program.

“We have the museum collection, of course, and they have their own website and their own collection. And then, of course, there’s the department initiative as well. And when I say the Art and Design department, of course they’ve got multiple disciplines within the department, not

just sculptures,” Walker said. “They’ve got some interesting things going on with metals, with painting, drawing, 3-D, ceramics, et cetera.”

Meyer is currently working on a new project for the summer.

“Right now I’m working on a new sculpture for Bonnaroo, the music festival.

I want to be a music festival artist,” Meyer said.

Students wanting to learn more about the art department can visit https://www. siue.edu/artsandsciences/art/index.shtml.

Mark your calendars:

There’s nothing worse than a missed deadline, or one that sneaks up on you. Here is a compiled list for important deadlines, events and campus closures for the Spring 2020 semester.

-Feb. 7: Last day for partial refund in class withdrawal -Feb. 21: Deadline for second spring installment payment -March 6: Last day to change pass/ no credit status -March 9-15: Spring Break -March 20: Deadline for third spring installment payment -March 23: Summer 2020 web registration begins, Fall 2020 priority registration for undergraduates with 90 or more earned credit hours and all graduate students -March 26: Fall 2020 registration for undergraduate students with 60 or more complete credit hours -March 27: Last day for class withdrawal without adviser/ instructor permission -March 30: Fall 2020 registration for students with 30 or more completed credit hours -April 17: Final payment for Spring 2020 due -May 4-8: Final Exams -May 8 and 9: Commencement

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WHERE TO BE AT THE ‘E’: FEBRUARY FRIDAY, JAN. 10 - FRIDAY, FEB. 21

Faces of India Student Gallery, Edwardsville Arts Center

THURSDAY, FEB. 6

Non-Greek No More Cancer Rally 6 p.m., Goshen Lounge Dancing with Dunham 7:30 p.m., Dunham Hall

TUESDAY, FEB. 4

Free Sunrise Yoga 7 a.m., Gateway Arch Visitor Center

FRIDAY, FEB. 7

Pop-up Exhibit, Black Business Expo 2020 5 p.m., Goshen Lounge

SATURDAY, FEB. 10 TUESDAY, FEB. 18

Poetry Night 6 p.m., MUC Conference Center

Black Mental Health Awareness 6 p.m., MUC Conference Center

SATURDAY, FEB. 22 TUESDAY, FEB. 25

Game Night 6 p.m., Goshen Lounge

Mardi Gras Saint Louis 2020 9 a.m., Soulard, St. Louis

THURSDAY, FEB. 27 The Vagina Monologues Dunham Hall Theater

Abandoned coal mines have lasting effects on region

JENNIFER GOECKNER managing editor

While coal mines that once littered the Metro East are no longer easily visible, they continue to pose a threat to those living in the area.

Today, many people living in the Metro East may be unaware of the region’s roots in the coal mining industry. According to Jeffrey Manuel, an associate professor in the Department of Historical Studies, coal was discovered in the area very early compared to other regions in the U.S., and the Metro East was located on a significant supply.

“This area has a history of coal mining that goes back a really long time,” Manuel said. “Geologically, we’re part of the Illinois Basin, this big geographical formation of coal, a coal seam that runs under most of southern Illinois, into parts of western Kentucky and a little bit of Indiana.”

Following the discovery of coal, many mining towns popped up in the area. According to Bruce Schottel, an engineer in the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Mines and Minerals, these coal mining towns ran north and south of what is now Edwardsville.

“Most people don’t realize that this entire Metro East area from pretty much Bethalto down to Millstadt, all the towns that line the bluff through here were all coal mining towns,” Schottel said.

While experts are unsure of the exact date when the first coal mine opened in the area, coal mining in Madison and surrounding counties ran from the early 1800s to the mid 1900s, and peaked around the turn of the century. During this period, coal was used for a variety of personal and industrial purposes.

“Coal mines mostly provided fuel for heating — back then, people mostly heated their homes with coal — and for industrial use in the St. Louis region,” Manuel said.

“St. Louis was a coal-fired town at the time, [and] had horrible soot and smoke problems.”

While coal mining no longer takes place in this region, reminders of this past can still be seen, according to Manuel. This includes the town name ‘Glen Carbon,’ which means ‘Valley of Coal.’

“Today, there’s not active coal mining in Madison and St. Clair counties, but in some ways we still have these remnants of it,” Manuel said. “You can see museums, the town of Glen Carbon, and most directly, people deal with some of the problems of it through mine subsidence.”

According to Schottel, there are two main types of subsidence caused by past mining activities that can be seen in this region.

“When [abandoned mines] fail, depending on how close the mine is to the surface, it can result in either what we call sinkhole pits, which is a hole in the ground anywhere from 10 to 12, maybe 12 to 16 feet in diameter, and anywhere from a few feet to 8 to 10 feet deep. And those are kind of rare in this area, but they do happen,” Schottel said. “The other one is what we call sag subsidence, where the ground drops over a large area.”

Schottel said subsidence is a big risk in the Metro East because of the large area that was mined and the unpredictability of subsidence.

“If your house is over a mine, there’s a chance it’s going to subside,” Schottel said.

“Now, in geological terms, the question is ‘When is that going to happen?’ Well, it could happen today, tomorrow, it could happen a thousand years from now. We don’t know, there’s no way to predict when that’s going to happen.”

In his role at the Office of Mines and Minerals, Schottel works on some of the most severe cases of subsidence in the region, including the Interstate 72 bridge outside of Springfield, Illinois.

“My agency and our office here in particular, we handle what are called the emergencies,” Schottel said. “These are the things that occur that are life-threatening.

So, we have to investigate it first to deter-

mine, whatever it is that happened, ‘Is this life-threatening or not?’ And we have to make a judgement call on that.”

In a partnership that has already lasted more than twenty years, students in the Geography Department are hired to help the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in two primary areas — developing digital maps of mine locations and surveying mine subsidence.

“We have two ongoing contracts with the Geography Department,” Schottel said.

“One does mine maps for us, where they have been working with the old mine maps for the state of Illinois and constructing a Geographical Information System with it.

The other contract we have supplies students and personnel to survey some of our sites.”

Students hired to collect data to monitor the situation at abandoned mine sites become a part of the Subsidence Monitoring Response Team. The team travels to different locations in the southern twothirds of Illinois and devotes most of their time to sites in Madison and St. Clair counties, according to the group’s adviser, Kerry Doyle, a research associate in the Geography Department.

According to Doyle, this job provides students with the kind of hands-on experience that is difficult to receive within a classroom setting.

“This job, it’s a decent enough job [for the students] — it pays well and it’s outside — but also you get more context, more history, more knowledge about things like ‘Why was there coal mining? What else is here? What is the ground doing? What’s happening to this building; is it crumbling?’” Doyle said.

This on-the-job experience is also something future employers look for, giving these students an advantage following graduation, Doyle said.

“Perspective employers like the fact that someone has hands-on experience in their discipline, in their field,” Doyle said. “It shows that they’re employable, and beyond

employable, that they can take initiative and show an interest in what they’re doing.”

Freshman geography major George Hayes, of Belleville, Illinois, joined the Subsidence Monitoring Response Team at the beginning of this semester. Hayes said he sees this experience not only as a learning opportunity but also as providing a service. “[It is] data collection for a kind of community service because whoever lives in the houses that we’re surveying around in that whole stretch, then they know that they might be sinking into the ground.”

Doyle echoed this, saying he feels ethically obligated to inform homeowners when subsidence is occurring, even though

“Today, there’s not active coal mining in Madison and St. Clair counties, but in some ways, we still have these remnants of it.

JEFFREY MANUEL

Associate professor in Department of Historical Studies

that is not within his job description.

“A lot of times you run into people with some level of distress because their biggest investment in life, their house, is crumbling, and it’s like ‘What do we do?’” Doyle said. “We try to prepare them gently for what might be going on [and] try to calm them down when necessary or perhaps alert them to watch for something.”

For more information about mine subsidence and the history of mining in Illinois, visit the website for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Mines and Minerals, visit the website for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Office of Mines and Minerals.

opinion

STAY TUNED FOR MORE OPINIONS NEXT WEEK page 6 T H E

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thursday, 01.30.20

Kobe’s death reminds us to never take life for granted

MADISON LAMMERT editor-in-chief

DAVID DEWEESE MIKAYLA WILHELM ad consultants

share your thoughts: opinion@alestlelive.com 650-3527

T H E

alestle view

Everybody needs to take a minute to breathe THE ALESTLE STAFF editorial board

It can be hard for students to keep up with everything. Some of us attend school full-time and work multiple jobs just to keep our debt from building up quicker. We don’t have absolute control over our circumstances, and it can be pretty hard just to get by. If you can’t keep up with it all, it’s not your fault. Planning can only account for so much. You might be able to do something about it though, if you know how to relax.

Even time that is set aside for relaxation gets spent on chores or emotional labor. The things

we want to do when we can finally relax will turn into another checklist. We feel like we are not relaxing correctly. Then we get frustrated with ourselves for not knowing how to relax in a way that is rejuvenating enough to keep us on schedule with the impossible list of tasks various people expect us to perform.

There may not be a single easy solution to this problem, and what works for some people might not work for others. Many people meditate, smoke marijuana, and some people like to immerse themselves in a hobby, or even go on social media cleanses. It’s impossible to guarantee what will work for one person

in particular, although it’s common knowledge that maintaining a healthy diet and good sleep schedule help.

While it might take quite a bit of trial and error when finding what helps you chill out, it is well worth it. Being able to relax makes it easier to perform other tasks as well, so it’s worth learning how to do it effectively.

However, relaxation is also its own end. It feels good when you do it. Relaxation does not need to be justified by being productive. Find what is relaxing to you and always make time for it, just as you probably make time to go to class, go to work or spend time with your partners.

In the wake of the tragic news of basketball legend Kobe Bryant’s passing this week, we are all reminded to hold our loved ones close.

Kobe Bryant, a five-time NBA championship winner and two-time Olympic gold medalist, is arguably one of the best shooting guards and small forwards of all time.

The recently retired Los Angeles Lakers’ athlete, Bryant died with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant, coming as a shock to the entire nation.

The helicopter crashed into a hillside close to Calabasas, California, at approximately 10 a.m. on Jan. 26 — none of the 9 passengers are reported to have survived.

Even those among us who we believe to be indestructible, such as famous athletes and celebrities, are at a constant risk of death.

According to both psychology and philosophy, the fallacy of permanence is to blame for us taking life for granted. The fallacy demonstrates the false belief we all have of the permanence of our existence and the existence of those we love.

We maneuver through life as though no harm can come to us. However, this is far from the truth.

Bryant, survived by his wife and three other children, died alongside his second oldest daughter — was likely unaware of the events to come from his helicopter trip.

Many of us live our lives every day with little consideration of whether or not we will live or die.

While we should not live in fear of death, we should take both Bryant’s life and death as a lesson on living life to its fullest — telling loved ones how much we care for them, pursuing our dreams and fulfilling our life’s passion and purpose.

Take your time online before jumping into dating MADISON LAMMERT editor-in-chief

Let’s be real for a second: You probably don’t look as hot as you do in your Tinder profile pictures as you on any average day. Whether you’re looking for a quick hookup or something “real,” we all comb through our camera roll to find the perfect pictures. It’s standard practice, it’s human nature, and there’s not necessarily anything wrong with it.

Key word: necessarily. According to Eharmony, 22 percent of those looking for love online asked their friends to help them create their profiles. If a simple picture has caused so much conversation among you and your friends, how much thought did you put into your bio? Everything is intentional. After all, the whole

point is to attract others.

My point is that dating profiles might not be the best representation of a person, and when we surprise ourselves and actually find a cutie that meets all our criteria for an actual relationship, things can get a bit tricky.

Online dating makes it harder to really see what a person is like right off the bat -- you handpick everything, communicate when and how you want and if it doesn’t work, many resort to ghosting. Because of all this, one who is looking for something serious online, or anything more than a hookup, might want to rethink jumping into a relationship right away with one of their matches.

Unfortunately, I have experience with this one. I found the cutest guy online and we really hit it off. We quickly started spending so much time together. I jumped

in head first, and even though we never had the “What are we?” conversation, we had a pretty good understanding we weren’t even looking at anybody else.

But then things got weird.

He was very defensive and quick to turn everything into a pity party for him. While I know I should’ve handled certain things better, something became very off about the guy. He was not who I thought from what little communication we’d had online.

However, I should have followed what worked previously for me with online dating: not jumping in right away. Before I dated my most serious boyfriend, we had been messaging for months.

Eventually we met up, and by the time we did, I knew him pretty well. I was comfortable, and so was he. I felt like I had a better idea of who he was and

what his values were. I knew how he communicated and vice versa.

We had gone on several dates and spent so much time together before we became official.

While (spoiler) our relationship ended eventually, I never once felt as if I didn’t know him.

It was still the best relationship I’ve had to date, and I can’t help but think part of the reason was because I had gotten to know him so well before getting too serious.

The moral of this short story is that online dating can work, and it’s not bad. However, for those looking for genuine connection, remember it’s easy for someone to seem so good for you from what little info we can gather from a profile or messaging back and forth, so save yourself some heartache and don’t jump in right away. In the end, it might save you some trouble.

sports

contact the editor: sports@alestlelive.com 650-3527 thursday, 1.30.20

WOMEN’S TENNIS VS. CHICAGO STATE IN THE NEXT ISSUE page 7

alestlelive.com

SIUE Standings

A close one ...

MEN’S BASKETBALL

OVERALL OVC 15-5

Murray State

14-7

Austin Peay

9-12

Eastern Kentucky

14-7

Belmont

12-9

Tennessee State

11-9

Eastern Illinois

9-12

Jacksonville State

9-12

Morehead State UT Martin

6-13

Tennessee Tech

5-16

SIUE

Southeast Missouri

8-0 8-0 6-2 5-3 4-4 4-4 4-4 3-5 2-6

5-16

2-6

4-17

0-8

2-6

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

OVERALL OVC

Tennessee Tech

15-4

8-0

UT Martin

11-8

7-1

11-8

5-3

8-12

4-4

9-10

2-6

3-16

1-7

Belmont

Southeast Missouri Eastern Illinois

Jacksonville State Morehead State Austin Peay

Murray State

Eastern Kentucky SIUE

Tennessee State

12-7

7-1

14-5

6-2

8-11

4-4

11-8

2-6

8-11 2-16

2-6 0-8

WRESTLING

OVERALL MAC

From left, Guard Cam Williams takes on UT Martin guard Parker Stewart in the close-scoring game Jan. 25, at the First Community Arena in the Vadalabene Center. The final score was 79 UT Martin, 76 SIUE. | Emma Davis / The Alestle

Tennis starts year off with top scores SHANE WHEATLEY copy editor

Women’s tennis returns for the new year with a 6-1 win in their first game against Chicago State last Sunday.

The Cougars got off to a great start as they won all three doubles matches and continued their streak going into singles play as well.

The Cougars won the first four matches before Chicago State’s Katarina Dukic defeated SIUE’s Caitlyn Sporing 7-6, 5-7, 10-7.

The following two matches each resulted in a win for SIUE,

with the last match ending 7-5, 6-0 to close out the event with a strong finish from the Cougars.

Junior Lara Tupper won her singles match along with two doubles matches. Tupper said the team’s main focus when it comes to their games is staying high energy and keeping consistency in future matches.

“We’re hoping to keep the streak going,” Tupper said. “We want to keep the high energy and playing well. They [Chicago State] have always been a really good and strong competitor for us to compete against.”

Freshman Melissa Vizcardo saw wins in one doubles set and

one hard-fought singles match, winning two out of three sets against Chicago State’s Lizi Morgoshia. Vizcardo highlighted the differences between singles and doubles matches when playing.

“In singles it’s just you out there,” Vizcardo said. “You have no one to pump you up, where as in doubles you need to pump yourself and your teammate up to stay motivated, and also have someone to lean on.”

Head Coach Adam Albertsen is proud of his team’s performance during the season opener. Albertsen said that it was great to be able to have Chicago State as a competitor to push the Cougars to be

strong when going out to play.

“It was a great first match just to be pushed. We had a lot of close matches in singles and I thought we came out really strong in doubles,” Albertsen said. “We played them last year, and won 4-3. The team really competed well and you never know what to expect from the first match back.”

The Cougars continue their season this Friday at 2 p.m. at the Edwardsville YMCA against Bradley University.

SHANE WHEATLEY

650-3527 @shane_Alestle swheatley@alestlelive.com

EAST DIVISION Rider

9-2

5-1

Clarion

8-5

5-3

Lock Haven

6-5

Old Dominion

6-8

Edinboro

9-7

George Mason

7-5

Bloomsburg

2-5

WEST DIVISION Missouri

10-5

7-0

8-4

3-2

7-3

3-3

Ohio

Northern Illinois

Central Michigan Cleveland State Buffalo

Kent State

SIU Edwardsville

4-2 3-4 2-3 2-4 0-4

5-5

3-2

3-4

3-2

7-8

3-4

1-10

0-7

6-9

2-4

SIUE Basketball vs Morehead State

Thursday, Feb. 6 First Community Arena Women: 11 a.m.

Men: 7 p.m.

SJ Warriors lose to Sixers in first Philly NBA game since Kobe Bryant’s death WES GOLDBERG Mercury News

Wearing a pair of camouflaged Kobe sneakers, Warriors forward Draymond Green set the ball down and watched 24 seconds tick away on the shot clock as chants of “KO-BE” swelled within Wells Fargo Center.

In the first game played in Kobe Bryant’s hometown since his helicopter crashed in Calaba-

sas on Sunday — killing him, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others — the Warriors’ 115104 loss to the 76ers on Tuesday night held more significance as a tribute to Bryant than its impact on the league standings.

Though much of Bryant’s formative years were spent in Italy, he was born in Philadelphia where his father, Joe Bryant, played for the 76ers for four years in the late 70s. As a teen-

ager, he returned to Pennsylvania to attend Lower Merion High School and led the Aces to the 1996 state championship before going straight to the NBA, where he played 20 years and won five championships.

With Bryant’s No. 33 Aces jersey displayed at midcourt, a sold-out crowd of 20,854 honored Bryant with 33 seconds of silence.

After both teams took vi-

olations to start the game — an 8-second and a 24-second violation — the first several possessions were played without the heavy bass of music that usually fills NBA arenas.

“The beginning of the game, it didn’t feel like it was a game,” said guard D’Angelo Russell, who was a rookie with the Lakers during Bryant’s final season in 2016. “A few minutes into it you start to snap back into it, but it

was weird.”

The somber contest was void of the usual pregame ritual of player introductions and hype videos. Instead, a video of Bryant’s final introduction at Wells Fargo Center in 2016 played on the Jumbotron. Teary-eyed players lined up on the court as saxophonist Mike Phillips held the high note of “The Star Spangled see BRYANT on page 8

page 8

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BRYANT I page 7

Banner” for 24 seconds.

As far as the game itself, the Warriors (10-38) finished the first three quarters trailing by four, before the 76ers (31-17) used a 9-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter to push their lead to 13.

Center Joel Embiid, who swapped his usual No. 21 for

Bryant’s No. 24, led the 76ers with 24 points.

Russell finished with 28 points on 10-for-22 shooting, five rebounds and seven assists while forward Glenn Robinson III, who frequently wears Bryant’s signature shoes, added 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, five rebounds and three assists.

“It’s tough to play in these

thursday, 01.30.20

environments,” Robinson said.

“But I thought tonight we did the best job of playing together.”

Green, who considered Bryant a close friend, had nine points, nine rebounds and 12 assists. During the game’s first timeout, 76ers guard Ben Simmons crossed to the other bench to check on Green’s well-being.

“We always talk about the

brotherhood of the NBA or the relationships you build on your team, this is one of those moments where you all can lean on each other,” Green said. “Everybody is feeling the same thing, not just in this locker room but across the league.

“Everyone can lean on each other because, one way or another, we’re all affected.”

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