The Alestle Vol. 73 No. 22

T H E

ALESTLE

thursday, 03.05.20

The Student Voice Since 1960

vol. 73 no. 22

Attendees of the Lovejoy Library escape room use a legend to decipher messages. The event transported participating students to the past as it centered around Elijah Lovejoy, the journalist, minister and abolitionist who the library was named after. Read more on page 5.

UPCOMING CENSUS sparks conversations of state political influence | page 2

OPINION: FAMILY HISTORY is an important part of you | page 6

WOMEN IN BROADCASTING face unique challenges | page 7 | Dominick Oranika / The Alestle

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Illinois political power in jeopardy due to upcoming census ALEX AULTMAN reporter

The 2020 census may cause Illinois to lose another seat in the House of Representatives if the population continues to decline, meaning SIUE could lose a voice in Washington.

Senior mass communications major Allison McDonald, of Perryville, Missouri, has been tabling for the Illinois Public Interest Research Group to get students to pledge to participate in the census.

“It is your civic duty to complete the census, and if people don’t do the census, they’re not getting counted,” McDonald said. “If they’re not getting counted, then we could lose seats in the House of Representatives.”

The census was originally intended to determine how many representatives each state gets, but the way the data is used now raises the stakes. James Hanlon, a geography professor, says this could mean less funding for federal programs in certain states.

“Government funds are often allocated for various programs on the basis of population,” Hanlon said. “So if people go uncounted, then from the government’s point of view there are fewer people living in this location, and that can mean less funding.”

States don’t always lose seats due to declining population.

Sometimes they lose them in order to make up for states that are experiencing a rapid increase in population. Hanlon said Texas is the most likely to gain seats.

Number of State Representatives: Illinois - 18 Indiana - 9 Iowa - 4 Kansas - 4 Kentucky - 6 Michigan - 14 Minnesota - 8 Missouri - 8 Nebraska - 3 North Dakota - 1 Ohio - 16 South Dakota - 1 Wisconsin - 8

States where majority of representatives are: Republican

ND SD

Democratic

MN

WI

IA

NE

IL

KS

MO

MI IN

OH KY

This map shows how many U.S. representatives each state in the Midwest currently has, prior to the 2020 census. | Summer Bradley / The Alestle

“Places in the sun belt, like Texas, are growing so they’re going to get more seats and the total is fixed at 435,” Hanlon said. “With Illinois kind of being in the rust belt and not seeing a lot of population growth, places like Illinois, Michigan or Minnesota are going to be more likely to lose seats, so it’s not unique to Illinois. Some collection of states are going to have to give up a seat, at least to make up for the sun belt states that are growing.”

Many have been speculat-

ing which district the state may be losing. Andrew Theising, a political science professor, believes it will be District 15.

“I think it’s the 15th District that’s going to go away and that’s what’s being vacated by [Representative] John Shimkus,” Theising said. “John Shimkus is a Republican in Illinois, [which is] a Democratic state. Shimkus was very powerful in his position but because he’s not running again he can’t quite say we’re throwing this politician out, but rather he’s

not running again and we’re not going to let anybody fill that seat.

So District 15 will just make one less Republican seat in a Democratic state. That’s my guess.”

The state of Illinois losing District 15 could mean SIUE has one less advocate in Congress.

“SIUE has a lot of national government grants that help make things go, so we need a good relationship with our national government. Technically the campus is in the 13th District, but Glen Carbon is in the

15th [District] and you could be in Glen Carbon in 2 or 3 minutes,” Theising said. “I know John Shimkus has been a voice for our campus in Washington and has been our advocate there, as I’m sure Representative Rodney Davis is too. That’s just one less voice for SIUE in Washington. I hope that the representative who takes over the piece of land that was the 15th district will be a strong voice for SIUE as well.” see CENSUS on page 8

Students ask Counseling Services, ‘Why can’t you help me?’

DAMIAN MORRIS reporter

For some SIUE students who have sought help from Counseling Services, they were left with more questions than answers.

According to Director of Counseling Services Courtney Boddie, Counseling Services does an initial assessment with patients before deciding how to move forward.

However, undecided freshman Trinity Lowe, of Fairview Heights, Illinois, said her experience with the initial assessment was not what she was expecting.

“I talked to a person that’s not one of the counselors and they tried to match [me] with a counselor. I talked to her for almost an hour” Lowe said. “In the end, she said she can’t help me because ‘We are goal-orientated,’ and you have to accomplish your goal in the time that you determine with the counselors.”

Lowe was not the only one who had an experience like this.

Sophomore international studies major Pandora Lynn, from Oakford, Illinois, also spoke out regarding her initial assessment.

“I went down and I had my initial assessment, and ... they told me after my assessment that they couldn’t work with me and they emailed me a list of places where I could possibly go to,” Lynn said.

“If I had insurance, they had a list of people with insurance, and if I didn’t, there was free grief counseling because I had recent-

ly lost a few family members.” some agencies to be able to come According to Lynn, the rea- on site and offer care for our son she was given for why Coun- students, so there are situations seling Services couldn’t work where people might be referred, with her was because her problem but then they come right back was too complex for 10 sessions. here to be seen weekly, just by “They told me that they only an external entity,” Boddie said. do 10 sessions per student and Boddie also said the decithat my problem was too big to sion about how to move forsolve in 10 sessions,” Lynn said. ward with a student’s treatment However, Boddie said that is not one-sided, but is instead while they used to have limits on discussed with that student. the number of sessions a patient “When a person sits down can have, this is no longer the case. for an initial assessment and a “It has been true in the past, but I’ve been the Director of Counseling Services now for three years, and that has never been the case since I have been here,” Boddie said.

Many students also expressed being confused about why they had to look off-campus for counPANDORA LYNN seling. Boddie explained sophomore international studies major this using a metaphor. from Oakford, Illinois “Many students come in thinking that they have a common cold and find out decision is made collaborativethat they have the psycholog- ly, we don’t just tell people, we ical equivalent of lung cancer, say, ‘Here’s what you got going and so we say, ‘Do you go to on, if you want to try and treat your primary care provider for lung cancer, or its psychological lung cancer, or do you go to equivalent, in general practice, an oncologist?’ We’re trying to these would be the consequenchelp that person connect with es of doing that,’” Boddie said. the oncologist,” Boddie said.

Another concern students Boddie said they do this have is with getting into Counthrough contacts with agen- seling Services in a timely mancies willing to come on-cam- ner. Lowe said it took two pus and meet with students months to get in for her first who fall into this category. visit to get her initial assessment.

“We do have contracts with Alumna Caitlin Lally said

while her experience using Counseling Services was great, she feels that it was her status as editor-in-chief for The Alestle at the time that got her in as quickly as she did.

“When I was in Counseling Services at SIUE, it honestly saved my life,” Lally said.

“I really think that I’m a special case when it comes to Counseling Services because everything I’ve heard has been not the same experience as what I had had.”

She recognizes while she was able to get in on a regular basis, even weekly at one point, she doesn’t seem to see this as the norm.

“When I talked to other people about Counseling Services, they said they would have to wait months to get in, and they could only have so many appointments” Lally said.

Boddie said they do the best they can regarding long wait times, but they do have limits to the extent they can offer services.

“We’re an outpatient setting, and in outpatient settings, which include colleges and universities, we often are limited in the frequency we can offer care because we don’t have as many providers as people outside of, and higher, may have,” Boddie said. “What we offer is every student at the institution who pays the fee and who’s enrolled needs to have a way to get in [to Counseling Services] relatively soon,” Boddie said.

“They told me that they only do 10 sessions per student and that my problem was too big to solve in 10 sessions.

According to Boddie, this is complicated due to the number of students who need help versus the number of providers available, but Boddie said Counseling Services does their best to make sure that counseling is available to all students.

“In order to create a scenario in which that’s possible, we have an initial assessment process, which is the first visit that a client is seen for, and during that initial assessment, which is a comprehensible review of the whole profile of the person, we evaluate ‘What could our system offer you that doesn’t necessarily create a situation where we can’t help somebody else who comes in?’” Boddie said.

Boddie said they never turn students down from Counseling Services, but rather support students in finding help if they require more than biweekly appointments.

“Every student who comes in to be seen with us is one, cared for. This is one of our SIUE students that we want to be psychologically well because we know that when students are well, they can thrive in this environment,” Boddie said. “And two, if we determine that there is a need to be seen more frequently than our system can handle, which means for individual therapy that’s biweekly care, then we help that person make that appointment.”

For more information, visit the Counseling Services’ website at www.siue.edu/counseling.

thursday, 03.05.20

SPRING BREAK HOURS: MORRIS UNIVERSITY CENTER SPRING BREAK HOURS: (Sunday 3/08) CLOSED (Monday 3/09 - Fri. 3/13) 7 am. - 6 p.m.

(Saturday 3/14) CLOSED

SIUE DINING SERVICES SPRING BREAK HOURS: (Friday 3/06) • Center Court: 7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

• Kaldi’s: 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• Starbucks Coffee: 7 a.m. – 3 p.m.

• Auntie Anne’s: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• Union Station: 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• Chick-fil-A: 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• Pizza Hut Express: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• Cocina: 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• Fixins’: 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• Freshens: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• All other Dining Service areas: closed (Saturday & Sunday 3/07-08) • All other Dining Service areas: closed (Monday 03/09– Friday 03/13) • Center Court: 7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

• Chick-fil-A: 10:30 a.m. 2 p.m.

• Starbucks Coffee: 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• Unions Station: 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• All other Dining Service areas: closed (Saturday 3/14) • All Dining Service areas: closed • • • •

(Sunday 3/15) Center Court: 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Starbucks Coffee: 10 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Union Station: 10 a.m. – 11 p.m.

All other Dining Service areas: closed

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SIUE professor publishes Spokane Prize-winning book GABRIEL BRADY reporter

Valerie Vogrin, an English and creative writing professor, shared excerpts with the SIUE community from her collection of short stories, “things we’ll need for the coming difficulties,” which she recently published after it won the 2018 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction.

The book reading was held in the Cougar Store for a crowd of roughly 50 people on Feb. 27.

The Spokane Prize takes many submissions from around the country, and publishes the winner through Willow Springs Books. Vogrin said she felt very proud for receiving the award.

“They have this contest every year. I don’t know how many submissions they got, but it’s fairly prestigious,” Vogrin said.

Vogrin also said the contest was helpful in getting her work published, as short stories aren’t as heavily sought out as novels.

“It’s harder to publish short stories than it is to publish a novel. Agents are much more interested in novels just because they think they make more money and they’re more sellable,” Vogrin said.

The collection contains stories from as far back as 12 years ago, all the way up to about a year ago.

Vogrin said that this was not her first book, but it was her first collection of stories.

Instructor Nicola Schmidt is both a peer and a good friend of Vogrin. Schmidt said Vogrin’s previous, and first, novel, titled “Shebang,” was published in March of 2004.

“I’ve read the novel. She published it when she started here [at SIUE]. So, it’s been a little while,” Schmidt said.

Vogrin said the biggest differences between her two books were the characters and setting, both of which she based around her own experiences at the time.

“The novel was written after grad-

English and creative writing professor Valerie Vogrin reads excerpts from her award winning book, “things we’ll need for the coming difficulties” at the Cougar Store on Thursday, Feb. 27. | Mackenzie Smith / The Alestle

uate school, and I went to school in Alabama, and so it’s set in Tuscaloosa. And the characters were pretty young. The main character is about 28, and her nephew is 17,” Vogrin said.

Vogrin also said the short stories were set in the Midwest, near St. Louis, with more main characters closer to her current age.

At the reading, Schmidt introduced Vogrin, mentioning the specific way Vogrin writes her characters, which she refers to as the Valerie Vogrin Rule.

“There are probably lots of Valerie Vogrin Rules, but the one that sticks with me the most is this: fiction writers should let their characters be as smart as they can,” Schmidt said.

After an introduction, Vogrin read her work, using a number of props and minor costume changes to accentuate and help visualize certain parts of her stories. There were two plants, one dead and one healthy,

a coin purse and a handful of loose change.

Throughout the reading, Vogrin put on a shawl, a bandana and rubber gloves at various times to add to the imagery of the characters she was reading.

Vogrin read excerpts from her story “The Next Thing: A Story With Chorus,” and followed this by reading the stories “Overqualified” and “If Only” in full. She ended the reading with the titular story, “things we’ll need for the coming difficulties.”

Senior art major Michaela Dean, of Greenville, Illinois, is a student who had Vogrin for some classes in the past.

Dean said she was excited to hear Vogrin’s new work read by the author herself.

“I thought it was great. She’s got a very nice control of diction and I’m excited to read the book,” Dean said.

Anyone interested in the book can find it in the Cougar Store, or on Vogrin’s website.

SG connects students to administration GABRIEL BRADY reporter

SIUE’s Student Government is all about keeping the students in touch with administration, and vice versa. However, not every student feels like their voice is heard.

Junior business economics and management major Jacob Graham, of Paris, Illinois is the current student body president within Student Government. His job is to help Student Government work to bridge the gap between the students and the administration. One of the many ways they do this is through sitting with administration members on boards at SIUE. “We serve on university committees, such as the University Center Board, Parking and Trafficking Board, University Planning and Budgeting Committee,” Graham said.

Graham also said that by sitting on these boards and committees, he gets students’ voices heard more directly, and, in turn, hears what administration wants directly.

Another way Graham gets information from students to administration is through frequent meetings with the heads of the university. Graham meets with the Chancellor on a monthly basis, and also meets with the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs every other week.

“We do invite administration to our senate meetings, and if there was ever an administrator that a student would want to give feedback to, or talk to, they could always let us know, or talk to their representative,” Graham said.

And it does work to some degree- at least some students, like senior history major Liam Elliott, of Petersburg, Illinois, think so. Elliott said administration and students have a good connection.

“I feel like we have the capacity to reach out to administration, though I don’t know the process personally. But I do know I could more than likely look it up on

the website and figure it out,” Elliott said.

Elliott said that SIUEs administration does a good job of using technology to get information to the student populus.

“I have my email alerts on. At any time, I get so many emails about SIUE and things changing, like buildings being closed, so as far as that goes, they stay pretty on top of it,” Elliott said.

However, Elliott admitted there were still some issues that administration could address.

“The only issue is individual voices, I believe we’re only heard en masse, so I think there’s a lot of different perspectives that kind of get overlooked,” Elliott said.

On the other hand, students like freshman mass communications major Jared Engelman, of Alton, Illinois think they do not have much of a say in what goes on at SIUE. “I don’t voice my opinion often, but if I did, I feel like administration probably wouldn’t care, because I’m one person out of, like, 30,000 students that go here,” Engelman said.

Engelman also added that he wouldn’t care much about changes administration might make, but that he would discover them eventually anyway.

“If they’re pretty significant changes, I guess I’d have to find out about them at some point, but at that point my opinion wouldn’t really matter,” Engelman said.

Engelman also said he didn’t even know who administration was or what their names were, but he did explain a possible solution to that problem.

“Maybe administration could do something to let students know about them, instead of just talking to a couple students, because those students can’t reach everybody,” Engelman said.

For those interested in having their voices heard through Student Government, the senate board meets every other Monday in the Goshen Lounge at 6 p.m.

02.26.20 In Science East, an officer took a report of an unknown male subject masturbating in the building.

An euphonium (musical instrument) was reported stolen in Dunham Hall.

02.28.20 An officer responded to a disturbance in Cougar Village and reported a domestic battery. The victim refused to press charges.

02.29.20 In the Engineering Building, an officer took a report of a man approaching a woman and asking her for entry into the building. The woman did not let the man into the building, and he was not in the area when the officer arrived.

03.01.20 A fire alarm was triggered in Woodland Hall. A lot of smoke but no fire was reported. Edwardsville Fire Department was dispatched and cleared the smoke before allowing residents to reenter the building.

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lifestyles alestlelive.com

contact the editor: lifestyles@alestlelive.com 650-3527 thursday, 03.05.20

MSA brings to light why religion and culture should not be viewed as one in the same DAMIAN MORRIS reporter At the Culture Affair hosted by the Muslim Student Association, people of the Muslim faith came together to celebrate belief. They put cultural differences aside for the sake of bringing together their brothers and sisters of Islam.

Every attendee came wearing the clothes representative of their own culture in order to represent the diversity present within Islam.

SIUE alumnus Zia Ansari, rather than giving a speech, opened up a discussion for everyone who attended. He focused on separating the cultural aspects of life from Islam as a religion.

“The new generation who are living in this community is really confused about ‘What is culture? Are we allowed to do this because of our culture, or are we doing this because of Islam?’” Ansari said. “So they are getting really confused. What is happening is they don’t know if they are Muslim or not.”

According to Ansari, separating culture and religion is an important distinction to make because it causes confusion for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

“We blame non-Muslims for the stereotypes they have against Islam, but we do not see that we are part of the problem too. So if we are confusing our own kids, just think about how much we are confusing the people who really do not know about Islam,” Ansari said.

Public administration graduate student Rima Abusaid spoke specifically

“We blame non-Muslims for the stereotypes they have against Islam, but we do not see that we are part of the problem, too.

ZIA ANSARI

SIUE alumnus, of Edwardsville

about how blending culture and religion creates division between people.

“Everybody likes to feel like they’re superior, and that’s where culture came to existence. Every tribe, every nation, as a group we all like to feel like we’re superior to other groups,” Rima Abusaid said.

She went on to explain how this is still a problem that needs to be addressed before there can be unity.

“If we’re really going to be honest with ourselves, this still exists today. We need to basically acknowledge that it’s still happening today for it to go away later,” Rima Abusaid said.

Alumna Faiza Khan went on to give her perspective on how being culturally different is OK as long as it does not affect important areas of the Islamic faith.

“I personally feel like it’s okay to be different on cultural basis, but when it comes to reading the laws or when it comes to fasting, when it comes to read-

Alumna Faiza Khan and engineering graduate students Emad Murad and Khader Pasha, all of Edwardsville (left to right), listen to alumnus Zia Ansari, of Edwardsville, speak at the Culture Affair.

I Dominick Oranika / The Alestle

ing Quran, there might be a different veil reading it, but your core needs to stay the same,” Khan said.

Ansari expressed his ideas of what part Muslims should play in helping to create the distinction for those viewing from the outside.

“We are the ambassadors of Islam. We should first properly follow Islam,” Ansari said. “Showcase culture, but do not follow wrong ones.”

Rendeh Abusaid, of Florissant, Missouri, spoke about the importance of individuals embracing that they are Muslim and separating the cultural aspects from the religion, as people of any culture can be of the Muslim faith.

“The person that really comes to mind for me, believe it or not, is Malcolm X. I actually took a class back in college where our professor had spoken about Malcolm X, and one thing that Malcolm X really believed in was being an African American and really embracing that culture,” Rendeh Abusaid said.

She told a story about when Malcolm X performed the rites of Hajj, an annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and thought only people of color were a part of Islam, but realized this was not true.

“When [Malcolm X] ended up going to Hajj, he was amazed by what he saw,” Rendeh Abusaid said. “He was able to go to Saudi Arabia and see that, ‘Oh, wow, this person is white,’ and the one quote that stood out to me was, ‘I saw somebody who was white with blue eyes,’ and said, ‘That’s a Muslim, that’s a fellow Muslim.’”

For more information, visit the Muslim Student Association’s Get Involved page at siue.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/msa.

DAMIAN MORRIS 650-3527 @damian_alestle dmorris@alestlelive.com

Electrical engineering alumnus Zia Ansari, of Edwardsville, presents Islam vs. Culture at the Culture Affair held in Evergreen Hall on Feb. 28.

I Dominick Oranika / The Alestle

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Lovejoy Library transformed into murder mystery escape room JOHN MCGOWAN reporter Students solved a mystery shrouded in secrecy while trying to find a way out of Lovejoy Library in an escape room held by the SIUE Honors Student Association on Friday, Feb. 28.

Through escaping the rooms, students learned of the mysterious true history of Elijah Lovejoy’s death. Lovejoy, an abolitionist who printed anti-slavery newspapers, died defending his printing press from confederate supporters from Missouri. It was up to the students to find his final words, the key to escaping the library.

The event stretched into the early hours of Saturday morning. The event took place throughout the entire library, using the first floor as an instructional area while the other two floors and the basement each held an escape room. Each floor held its own unique puzzles, layouts, and challenges.

Students who participated all shared similar thoughts on the escape room. Sophomore civil engineering major Isaac Moss, of Decatur, Illinois, said he was unsure of what to expect.

“I was definitely excited for this. I’ve been looking forward to it all week to do it with my friends. I didn’t really know what to expect – this is my first one – but it was a blast,” Moss said.

Senior computer science major Derek Lopez, of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, said it lived up to his expectations.

“I went to one that was actually similar to this where it was put on by students and peers. It was actually pretty good last time, so I had my expectations pretty high for this one and it didn’t disappoint,” Lopez said.

Though the event was originally supposed to take place on Friday and Saturday, the second night was cancelled due to low sign-ups. One of the planners of the event, sophomore business administration major Colin Boysen, of Chicago, said keeping it to one night actually turned out positive.

“We were a bit stressed on our volunteer levels – it was a bit tricky to get those – but then within the last few days with people knowing it was [Friday night] only … we just got volunteers en masse,” Boysen said.

The idea for the event started when director of the honors program Eric Ruckh and first-year pharmacy major Nathan Cuizon, of Peoria, Illinois, wanted to start a project that would engage the students in the honors program but be open to all.

After deciding the storyline and budget, three teams were formed: a logistical team for running the event itself, a production and advertising team in charge of any media for the event, and a prototyping team that would work on laying out the rooms themselves. The project was run by four main planners: Boysen, Cuizon, sophomore pre-dental major William Hall, of Macomb, Illinois, and sophomore biomedical sciences major Noah Drewes, of Springfield, Illinois.

Cuizon said the development of the rooms was stressful but the team effort made things easier.

“Logistics is not my thing, and that was the one thing that stressed me out so much over the course of the last year. I’m very thankful that these people who have various backgrounds in extracurricular activities, fraternities, that kind of thing, were able to take that load from me and really push it into what it needed to become,” Cuizon said.

On finally seeing the event realized, Assistant Director of the honors program Ian Toberman said he very much appreciated the dedication that was put into the project.

“It’s just remarkable ultimately that this was done by students on a volunteer basis with just minimal guidance from faculty,” Toberman said. “It’s a remarkable achievement.”

A looted case of clues on the third floor of Lovejoy Library.

I Dominick Oranika / The Alestle

The true story of the life and death of Elijah Lovejoy Elijah Lovejoy, the namesake for Lovejoy Library, was a staunch abolitionist. Using his printing press, he would print issues of his newspaper, The St. Louis Observer, which contained anti-slavery and anti-confederacy rhetoric.

After having his press destroyed multiple times, the paper was moved to Alton and become The Alton Observer.

One might assume Lovejoy would

have been safe in Illinois, a union state, but Confederacy supporters in Southern Illinois had an agenda against Lovejoy. He would always get back to printing after having his press destroyed, but they came for him one last time.

“It all ended with him trying to defend his printing press again. He was trying to print more newspapers and as the mob that was attacking him tried to de-

stroy it, he defended it, and they ended up killing him in the process … Little is known about the exact events that went down there,” Collin Boysen, a sophomore business administration major from Chicago, said.

The mysterious circumstances of Lovejoy’s death were used as the basis for the escape room in the Lovejoy Library.

Local glass artist makes glass work look effortless, visits SIUE campus ISOBEL ABBOTT-DETHROW reporter Glass work is one of the most precise media of art and has been around for thousands of years. The St. Louis area is home to a few local glass artists, including Sam Stang.

Stang demonstrated the range of his profession during a visit to SIUE’s glass studio in the Art and Design Building on March 3.

Stang was the second glass artist to visit SIUE in a series after Tony Cray came the day before. Stang was accompanied by his wife, Kaeko Maehata and an assistant, who helped Stang complete his glass works.

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in a blistering-hot room with three different glass kilns and an open garage door letting in cool air, Stang exhibited his talents in forming glass creations with precise method and process thinking. Using a hollow, heated metal rod, Stang picked up glass from the middle kiln, kept at 2100 degrees. Then, Stang rolled the rod to shape the glass in ways he wanted and used tools such as big tweezers, cherrywood blocks, wooden paddles and a graphite paper pad to finish the glass’ shape. Stang also used the “glory-hole,” a heated chamber that is smaller in size than the middle kiln, where the glass work gets heated to keep it from cooling as he continued working on it.

The first few demonstrations Stang did were creating a pitcher, vase, bowl and various canes, stretching the glass as far back

as 30 feet. The heat mirage from the glass could be seen. When the glass works were finished, Professor of glass Jeremy Lampe put the works in a 930 degree chamber, where they sat for the course of the day.

This was not Stang’s first visit to the

was a glass symposium at the old Wagner building when I was at Washington University.”

Stang began glass work the same year he first visited SIUE for the glass symposium and has continued ever since. Today,

Visiting glass artist Sam Stang trims off excess glass to form a new neck for the vase.

Stang owns his own glass studio in Augusta, Missouri.

I Morgan Jackson / The Alestle

leville, Illinois.

SIUE’s shop tech Steve Vick has visited Stang’s glass studio and has seen the artist many times before. “[Stang] makes glass work look so easy,” Vick said. “[Stang]’s work is smooth, effortless and constantly professional. There is no struggle. Everything has a purpose and is flawless.”

Vick had been taking the same glass class for years before being hired by SIUE. Graduate ceramics student Noah Kildoo of Grove City, Pennsylvania, also watched Stang’s glass demonstrations. Although he is a ceramics student, Kildoo worked with glass for the first time in the fall semester.

“I absolutely loved it,” Kildoo said.

“One of the most interesting components about glass work is the setup. If you don’t have the right setup, you’re not gonna do what you wanted to.”

Kildoo had heard about Stang before and researched him before his visit.

“This is my first time seeing him,” Kildoo said. “I’ve seen his work before on the shelves, but seeing him do it in-person makes a lot of sense. He is very process-oriented about it.”

To learn more about Sam Stang’s artwork and his career as a glass artist, check out his website at www.samstang.com.

SIUE campus.

“I have visited a few times,” Stang said.

“The last time I visited was about ten years ago; the first time was in 1981 when there

ISOBEL ABBOTT-DETHROW 650-3527 @isobel_alestle iabbottdethrow@alestlelive.com

he owns his own glass studio in Augusta, Missouri with Maehata and has showcased his work in many different art galleries and events, including Art on the Square in Bel-

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Out of class for summer shouldn’t mean out of work for students THE ALESTLE STAFF editorial board

SIUE students should be allowed to work on campus over the summer without being required to enroll in summer courses.

During last week’s meeting, Student Government passed a resolution to amend SIUE’s student employment policy. Under the current policy, undergraduate students must be enrolled in at least three credit hours and graduate students in at least two credits to work on campus over the summer.

The amended policy would allow students to work on campus over the summer even if they are not enrolled in a summer course. To do so, students would now only need to maintain parttime student status in the spring

semester before and fall semester following the summer they want to work.

We at The Alestle support this resolution and believe it should become official university policy.

Requiring students to pay for a summer class in order to keep their on-campus jobs between the spring and fall semesters places an unfair financial burden on students. Domestic tuition and fees for three credit hours costs $1,221.90 for undergraduate students and $1,329 for graduate students. These rates are more than double for international students.

Similarly, graduate assistants only get a summer fee waived for every two semesters they’re enrolled in classes. For every other summer, they are required to pay tuition and fees for at least one class if they want to work.

For students working parttime, this means they may be expected to pay more in tuition and fees than they are able to make over the summer. However, many students cannot afford to not work over the summer and also have to consider how they are going to pay for housing and other expenses.

To add to the financial burden faced by students, many scholarships do not cover courses taken over the summer. For example, both the Meridian and Provost Scholarships do not cover summer sessions. This forces students to pay out-of-pocket or to take out more loans, increasing their student debt.

Summer courses are also accelerated, lasting between three and 10 weeks, rather than the 16 weeks typical of a semester-long course. This accelerated learning does not work for all students and

can be detrimental to a student’s academic standing.

From an employer’s standpoint, The Alestle consistently has trouble staffing over the summer because of the requirement for student workers to be enrolled in classes. This means most of our student workers at the end of the spring semester are not able to continue working for the paper over the summer. Finding replacements is difficult because students not only need to be enrolled in classes but most also need to live on or near campus to continue providing relevant and accurate coverage over the summer.

With all these disadvantages to requiring students to take summer classes in order to work on campus, we at The Alestle strongly believe that the university should accept Student Government’s resolution and make it official policy.

Learn about your family history before it’s too late ISOBEL ABBOTT-DETHROW reporter

When I was with my family in England over winter break, I found an envelope of family photographs which dated back to the last years of the Victorian era. I sat on the floor at the foot of my 102-year-old great-grandmother’s chair. She still knew every name of every person I asked her about, along with their family histories.

This is one of my last bonding memories of her, alone together in her cottage in Great Bardfield, Essex, just asking her any question that came to mind. She always had an answer.

Today, when I put on “Greatma’s” amethyst necklace or my great-great-grandmothers’ gold band wedding rings, the energy I feel shifts and I can feel them in the pendant. It feels daunting holding something of incredible meaning to an ancestor many years ago, but today, that meaning

has changed.

“Great-ma” passed away two weeks ago and now we have lost a bridge to the past few generations of my British family. When “Great-ma” died, my grandma and I went straight to the little library of photographs, uncovering photos of her from when she was a young girl up to the last years of her life. These photos also give a glimpse of society at different times, based on attire, photo production, hairstyle or whether there are other people in the background.

There are two binders in my grandparents’ house full of family records, one for each side of the family. My grandpa’s lineage dates back to George Abbott, who was the first person in our family to immigrate to the U.S. from England; this makes me his thirteenth generation. I feel lucky and privileged to be able to obtain family records dating so far back.

Not many people are able to, es-

pecially descendants of enslaved people and most immigrants. According to Kristen Green, family history websites such as Ancestry. com cater more toward white customers, as there is more documentation and family records, whereas black families have a harder time tracing their histories. The transatlantic slave trade separated uncountable families over hundreds of years, making it extremely difficult for descendants to truly find out where they came from.

There are other alternatives to finding family history readily available. Popular ancestry tests such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA and MyHeritage have been sparking conversation lately. These tests are a growing business, as more people become curious about where they came from. People either get reaffirmed about their family history or their world completely changes. However, they are expensive, nearing $100.

While these tests are beneficial

when it comes to knowing what genes you have that could link to cancers, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s, etc., it should be affordable and not burn a hole in your wallet to find out this helpful information. It would be more beneficial for everyone to have access to their family records at affordable prices, but unfortunately it is a big business.

It is important to access information about your ancestors, as far as they can go with what resources are available to you. We all come from somewhere and everybody has a story to tell. If you are able to, go and look through your family photo albums, at your parents’, grandparents’, or great-grandparents’ houses and ask questions. Finding out about past relatives and their lives is one of the most life-changing things and makes you realize you have the weight of an entire lineage on your shoulders.

contact the editor: sports@alestlelive.com 650-3527 thursday, 03.05.2020

sports

THE ALESTLE WILL NOT PUBLISH OVER SPRING BREAK

Poston takes first in men’s high jump, many gained personal records at OVC GABRIEL BRADY reporter

Track and field stunned at the Ohio Valley Conference with several stellar performances.

Ethan Poston took first in the men’s high jump, with 2.14 meters. Additionally, many students broke their own personal records.

One of those students was sophomore Alexis Hutchins, who participated in the weight throw.

“Honestly, I didn’t even think I had broken the record until they told me, just like last time I broke my record,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins has thrown weights for track and field since her junior year of high school, and even though she had a later start than some other athletes, Hutchins said that track and field feels natural to her and she’s proud of the whole team for their success at the conference.

“We do have less seniors than before, but we did well, and a lot of the other athletes are getting a decent start for getting into it,”

Hutchins said.

As for getting a start on the track and field team, freshman Cameron Woodard broke a personal record of his own, running the mile in 4 minutes, 30.71 seconds.

“I’ve been running since I was 8 years old, but I started running competitively in the sixth grade,” Woodard said.

This is Woodard’s first season with SIUE, but he still thinks the team could do better.

“It is my first year, but I also think the team didn’t do as well as they normally do. We all put in our best efforts, though,” Woodard said.

Senior Keri Burmester competes in the 3k and 5k, and she agrees the team fell somewhat short this year.

“A lot of us had injuries this season. I actually had a hamstring injury myself earlier in the season. Our team is good about pushing through the pain, but we also know our limits,” Burmester said.

SIUE

Standings MEN’S BASKETBALL OVERALL MAC

Poston, named OVC Freshman of the Year last academic year, clears the bar. / Photo Courtesy of SIUE Athletics

Burmester also said although there were weak points this year, there were still plenty of positives.

“I’m really happy with the field events specifically. We did really well with them this year,” Burmester said.

Some other personal track and field records broken at the OVC were Emily Ellis running

the women’s 3k in 10 minutes, 35 seconds, Roland Prenzler who ran the men’s 3k in 8 minutes, 45 seconds, Rachyl Anderson who threw shotput 12.52m, and Gabby Wood who ran the mile in 5 minutes, 35.06 seconds.

The track and field team look forward to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama on March 13-14.

The Gender Female sports broadcasters face gendered challenges Games

Belmont Murray State Austin Peay E. Kentucky Tennessee State Eastern Illinois Morehead State Jacksonville St. Tennessee Tech UT Martin SIUE SEMO

24-7 22-8 20-11 15-16 17-14 16-14 13-18 13-18 9-22 9-20 8-23 7-24

15-3 15-3 14-4 12-6 9-9 9-9 7-11 8-10 6-12 5-13 5-13 3-15

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL OVERALL OVC

Belmont UT Martin SEMO E. Illinois Tennessee Tech Jacksonville St. Austin Peay Murray State Morehead State E. Kentucky Tennessee State SIUE

21-8 20-9 22-7 18-11 17-12 14-15 18-11 14-15 10-20 11-18 4-24 3-26

16-2 16-2 14-4 12-6 10-8 10-8 9-9 7-11 6-12 5-13 2-16 1-17

WRESTLING

JOHN MCGOWAN reporter

This international women’s day, the Blues/Blackhawks game will be covered by an all-female broadcast team, something largely unheard of in the world of sports. According to the 2018 Associated Press Sports Editors Racial and Gender Report Card, only 10 percent of sports editors were women, sparking conversations about the large disparity in the field.

The announcement was made by NBC Sports on Feb. 16. In NBC’s statement, Kathryn Tappen, the main anchor planned for the game, said she wanted the event to send a message.

“We hope our broadcast will help inspire young women watching to follow their dreams,” Tappen said.

In a profession largely based around male sports and a male audience, women in sports casting are often left on unequal ground compared to their men in the field.

“I’ve been broadcasting for 17 years, and yet the very first broadcast I did with a female producer was just two years ago,” Tappen said in the press release.

Sydney Daniel, of Bethalto, Illinois, is a former SIUE student who has interned for the Blues and worked for the Gateway Grizzlies. She said she experi-

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alestlelive.com

OVERALL CONF

enced discrimination and sexism when she entered the field.

“When I first went in for my interviews to be the emcee for the Gateway Grizzlies … I got a lot of backlash saying, ‘Are you able to do this?’ [and] ‘Can you fill a man’s shoes?’” Daniel said. “I was told I needed to lower my voice Someone suggested I should start drinking whiskey and smoking cigars.”

Not only does sexism exist for young hires in the field, but it’s prevalent among more experienced women as well. Madeline Kenney, a sportswriter for the

Chicago Sun Times, spoke on women in sports media at an Illinois College Press Convention.

She said she receives constant comparison to men in her field.

“Sometimes you have to prove yourself more than the next person. Like I’m constantly getting quizzed about my sports knowledge … I feel like sometimes people think that women should just cover women’s sports, and that’s not how equality works,” Kenney said.

Like Daniel, Kenney dealt with sexism when she was new.

When she was a sports editor at

The Phoenix at Loyola University, people would often give information to her male assistants while she was left in the dark.

Daniel said young women entering the field should find the ability to brush off negativity and do the best they can.

“Keep following your dreams. There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to tell you no and a lot of people that are going to say hurtful things to you, but you have to be able to just shake that off and go out there and do your best,” Daniel said.

EAST DIVISION Rider Old Dominion Clarion Lock Haven George Mason Edinboro Bloomsburg

12-3 10-9 10-6 7-7 9-9 10-10 3-10

7-1 6-2 7-4 3-4 3-5 3-6 0-8

WEST DIVISION Missouri Northern Illinois Cnt. Michigan Ohio Cleveland State Buffalo Kent State SIUE

12-7 13-4 8-4 9-8 9-6 9-11 6-12 2-14

8-0 7-2 7-2 5-4 5-5 3-7 2-7 0-9

Joe Gisondi, a journalism professor at Eastern Illinois University, said that there’s no reason it should be a male dominated field.

“Women being there is just a natural progression of the way things ought to be, and newsrooms need to cultivate that,” Gisondi said.

Students can watch the all-female Blues broadcast on NBCSN on March 8.

JOHN MCGOWAN

650-3527 @John_Alestle jmcgowan@alestlelive.com

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alestlelive.com CENSUS I page 2

Hanlon, however, thinks the loss of a seat won’t have a significant impact for the campus.

“The funding part shouldn’t be affected very much because the funding for SIUE depends a lot more on the political climate in the state,” Hanlon said. “As we know, we have a governor now that has quite a different outlook on funding for higher education compared to the previous governor. Those kinds of factors matter a lot more than, say, population counts.”

Regardless of the new population count, each state is required to redistrict because the population within a state may move around. This is where partisan motivations come into

play,

according to Hanlon.

“Redistricting happens no matter what after a census and that is a very contentious process. There are always conflicting interests particularly along partisan lines. As far as who controls where the boundaries get drawn, in Illinois and most states it’s the party that’s in power,” Hanlon said. “There are a few states that have independent commissions that are meant to draw boundaries in a way that is not partisan, favoring one party or another, but in most states like Illinois it’s the party who’s in charge who has the pen to draw the lines on the map.”

Hanlon believes those partisan borders are even apparent in our district, District 13.

“If you look at the district

thursday, 03.05.20

it reaches down and grabs Edwardsville and SIUE, it reaches over and it grabs Springfield, it reaches up and it grabs Bloomington, it reaches over and it grabs Urbana-Champaign,” Hanlon said. “It’s got some bumps around the edges that look very consciously like attempts to create a district that would be more likely to vote Democrat.”

Despite pushes by the Trump administration, there will not be citizenship question on the 2020 census. Theising believes that discouraging immigration as President Trump has hurts the economy.

“We need that as part of a growing, dynamic economy and we just aren’t seeing that. Immigrants play a big role in Illinois’s economy and St. Louis’s

economy and even here at SIUE, think about how many international students and teachers and administrators we have here,” Theising said. “When the national government says we want to curb immigration we should be thinking about how that curbs our local economy, that curbs our university’s potential. That means our districts aren’t going to grow and that means we risk losing another congressional seat.”

According to the census website, invitations to participate in the census will arrive March 1220, and households can complete the census once they receive this letter. Participants will fill out the questions for wherever they are living on April 1, which means students will fill it out for their location rather than their hometown.

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