The Alestle, Vol. 76 No. 7

Over one million dollars in grant money dedicated to developing nursing program

BRUCE DARNELL reporter

The School of Nursing plans on using the money to provide opportunities in edu cation and skill building for its nursing students.

The first grant is a Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR) and Reg istered Nurse Training Program (RNTP) grant. This grant totals to around $350,000 dollars a year for three years. It primarily focuses on the training of nurses within SIUE’s program.

The second grant is also a NEPQR grant but is primarily fo cused on incentivizing preceptors to teach nursing students. This grant totals to around $900,000 dollars each year for four years.

Judy Liesveld is the Dean of the School of Nursing at SIUE. She assumed the role this semester.

“We’re so excited to have these two grants,” Liesveld said.

“They’re going to benefit our students so much, as well as our programs. Our faculty are go ing to have wonderful research and scholarship to do with these grants … we’re pretty thrilled about it.”

Angela Andrews is an in structor at the School of Nursing at SIUE, as well as the PI for the first grant. PIs, or Principal Di rectors, direct the projects that are funded by grant money.

“[The grant] uses a four R approach: recruit, retain, readi ness and revision,” Andrews said.

The first R focuses on re cruiting diverse students into the nursing program, as well as re cruiting diverse faculty. The sec ond R focuses on helping nurs ing students progress through the programs successfully. The third R focuses on making sure the nursing students are ready once they leave the program. The fourth and final R focuses on making sure the curriculum is the best it can be for students.

“We have collaborated with several school districts within the area to have the opportunity to have visits at junior high and high schools… we’re going to have a simulation lab on wheels, so in stead of having a simulation lab here, which we do have, we’re go ing to have equipment on a mobile unit so we can do some handson [teaching] and show them some exciting things.”

The School of Nursing has also collaborated with nearby hospitals to provide job shad owing for students so that they can see how the job works. They also plan on having re cruitment efforts at conferences for faculty diversity.

Bernadette Sobczak is an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, she was also the Principal Director for this grant.

“There’s a shortage of pre ceptors—that’s people in ad vanced practice nursing, like certified registered nurse anes

Edwardsville Police Department hosts drive-through food collection

LIV KRAUS reporter

To help prepare the Glen-Ed Pantry for the upcoming holiday season, the Ed wardsville Police Department partnered with the Eden Church of Edwardsville to create a drive-through food collection on Oct. 8.

Jane Ahasay, director of development for Glen-Ed Pantry, said that due to the larger number of people in need of assis tance, the Glen-Ed Pantry is in need of more supplies. She said the Edwardsville Police Department and the Eden Church of Edwardsville reached out to the pantry, notifying them that they were orchestrat ing this event.

“We could not exist without the do nations of the community, the support through their financial gifts and our vol unteers,” Ahasay said.

Ahasay said the Glen-Ed Pantry has had to spend a good amount of money on laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, shampoo and toilet paper every month.

“Those are items people can’t get on their SNAP or their food stamps, so every family takes one of those every 30 days when they come shopping,” Ahasay said.

Ahasay said all items are appreciated, but the Glen-Ed Pantry is more in need of rice, boxed mac and cheese and personal hygiene items.

Edwardsville Police Chief Mi chael Fillback said this is the first time the department has orchestrated an event like this.

“The hope is to try to help collect as

many of those items as we can’t keep their shelves full and help them assist members of our public that are in need of that kind of assistance,” Fillback said.

Fillback said the department’s main role in planning the event was advertising flyers.

“The nice thing about this is it’s more about showing up the day of the event and getting the word out,” Fillback said.

Fillback said the Eden Church of Edwardsville and the Glen-Ed Pantry are great organizations to work with and greatly support citizens in the communi ty. He said Roberts is their department’s chaplain, so they are used to working with the church.

“They work with us all the time on things and support orders in many differ ent ways,” Fillback said.

Senior Pastor John Roberts said the Eden Church of Edwardsville’s congrega tion had been invited to help volunteer at the Edwardsville Police Department and collect donations alongside the officers.

“My role is basically raising up the volunteers, getting people committed to come to help,” Roberts said.

Roberts said it’s encouraging to know the partnership is helping peo ple in need and events like this are great for the community.

“In today’s economy, where a lot of people are struggling, that really makes even more of an impact,” Roberts said.

Ahasay said the Glen-Ed Pantry doesn’t only benefit those on food stamps, but anyone who is struggling financially.

“It’s people that receive assistance, but it’s also people who don’t, that just have a need and that’s what we’re here for, to help them through that difficult time and help them try to keep healthy as best as we can,” Ahasay said.

Roberts said this event is a great opportunity to bring the community together.

“Our hope is that we have a good turnout, that a lot of people come by and deliver items for the pantry,” Roberts said.

“It’s always in need and we’re looking for an opportunity to better connect with our local police officers, and encourage them as we work with them.”

thetists and nurse practitioners. But also, there’s a lack of precep tors for nurses who work floors,” Sobczak said.

Preceptors are practicing nurses that offer mentorship and education to nurses being taught the profession.

“This grant that we wrote was meant to address that prob lem and make preceptors feel sup ported,” Sobczak said. “There’s not a lot when you’re a new teacher, or a new person out in the field and you’re taking in stu dents out of the goodness of your heart, there’s not a lot of mentor ship for you to teach you how to give good feedback to students. That’s the purpose of this grant, to encourage and give some ed ucation and discuss how to best precept students.”

The plan also involves mul tiple other states, such as Wis consin and Indiana. For more information, visit the School of Nursing’s website or their office in Alumni Hall.

10.01.22

A debit card was found in the MUC.

A wallet was also found in the MUC.

10.03.22

Two separate pairs of air pods were found in the MUC.

A wallet was also found in the MUC.

10.04.22

A traffic accident was reported in Parking Lot P2. 10.05.22

A traffic accident was reported near Cougar Lake Drive and Arboretum Lane.

A credit card was found in the MUC.

10.06.22

A traffic accident was reported in Parking Lot 7. Another laptop was found in Peck Hall.

Community children offered free appointments on Dental campus in Alton

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

Dental faculty and students volun teered for annual Give Kids a Smile Day on Oct. 10 at the SIU School of Dental Medicine campus in Alton, Illinois.

Katie Kosten, director of community dentistry, said that around 120 kids were treated by faculty and dental students over the course of the day. Kosten said that all services offered by the school were free of charge during this event.

“We know there are a lot of children within the community that have diffi culty accessing dental care,” Kosten said. “This day is a way to try and reach out to those who have been seeking dental care but have had a hard time finding it.”

Kosten said the School of Dental Medicine does everything from routine hygiene visits and cleanings to fillings, crowns and extractions. Kosten also said that all faculty and students present for Give Kids a Smile Day were volunteering on their own time.

Not all student volunteers worked di rectly with teeth, however. First-year den tal students, such as Ben Herring, oversaw all kinds of activities in the gym adjacent to the treatment building. Herring said that, in addition to balloon animals and dino saur tattoos, the first-year students were there to educate the kids on the importance of dental hygiene.

“[We want to] show them that it’s not so terrifying,” Herring said.

Kosten also said that the school’s ul timate goal for today was for the kids to leave with better knowledge of how to take care of their teeth.

“We certainly want to help chil dren who have cavities and fix them. We don’t want kids in pain,” Kosten said. “But, even better, we want to try and prevent that from even happening in the first place.”

Kosten also said she hopes that those in need of a primary dentist might come back to SIU for their checkups.

“A lot of patients don’t have any where to call home for their dentist,”

Kosten said.

Derek Forrester, director of clin ic operations, said he is glad to see Give Kids a Smile Day return to its pre-pan demic state. Before the pandemic, For rester said there was a gym filled with tables, booths and activities for the kids to participate in. However, because of the pandemic, this annual event had to drastically restructure.

“We had to begin scheduling folks because we couldn’t afford to have 300 people in the same room all at one time,” Forrester said. “This is the first year we’re able to re-open the gym for the kids.”

Forrester said that despite the chal lenges the pandemic introduced, he was impressed by how flexible and adaptive the School of Dental Medicine was. Ac cording to Forrester, dental classes start ed back up just three months after the pandemic began.

“I was really proud of everybody,” Forrester said. “We were only out for three months, and we were able to begin treating patients again on June 1.”

Herring said he wishes to open his own independent dental practice after his time in college, and that working with kids in events like Give Kids a Smile Day has helped shape his vision for his future practice.

“I’m hoping to open my own practice one day,” Herring said. “I kind of like the idea of having fun stuff for kids.”

Herring said he was pleasantly sur prised that many of the kids took the time to go to the informational booths on den tal hygiene and healthy diets that were set up in the gym. Kosten also said that she hopes the children and parents both will be better able to take care of their teeth after this event.

“The number one driver of cav ities in children is what they eat and drink,” Kosten said. “We want to do as much as we can to prevent cavities on the front end.”

For more information on the SIU School of Dental Medicine, visit its website.

Backpacks on the quad set up to spread mental health awareness

Trigger Warning: This story contains discussion of mental illness and suicide.

Personal stories of student suicide covered the quad in the Send Silence Packing display last week.

Send Silence Packing is a traveling display put on by Active Minds, with each backpack in the display representing a college student who took their own life. Aaron Plattus joined just before the pandemic and is now a tour coordinator for the display with Active Minds.

“When I started the job, I hadn’t lost anyone to sui cide,” Plattus said. “I have now, which is unfortunate, but I was equipped to deal with it.”

Plattus said that he joined the organization because his friend at Virginia Tech was the president of the chapter there.

“We were going to work to gether, but then 2020 happened. I stuck with it, and here I am,” Plattus said. “I sort of rode out the storm.”

Plattus said that Active Minds did not lie dormant during the pandemic, but fo cused on developing new meth ods with which to reach out to people.

“A lot of what we did was digitized, which is partially where Behind the Backpacks came from,” Plattus said.

Behind the Backpacks is the name of a virtual program put together by Active Minds during the pandemic featuring personal stories from victims of suicide and survivors. The website de scribes it both as a complement to the Send Silence Packing dis play and a standalone unit.

Lisa Thompson-Gibson said that SIUE was able to host Send Silence Packing this year because of a state grant. Thompson-Gib son is associate director of Coun seling Services at SIUE.

“We hosted Send Silence Packing for the first time in fall of 2016, when we had a SAM HSA grant,” Thompson-Gibson said. “We were very pleased with hosting in 2016.”

Thompson-Gibson said the most important lesson to take

away from the backpack display is the universality of suicide.

“It doesn’t discriminate upon identities, socioeconom ic status, the level of wellness or level of struggle someone is experiencing,” Thompson-Gib son said. “It is clear that, on some level, [all] folks are impacted by suicide.”

Thompson-Gibson helped set up the display on the morn ing of Oct. 6, saying she was as tounded by the amount of bags being unloaded from the truck. Each bag contained five or six backpacks, and many of the back packs contained personal letters or stories from the students they were meant to represent.

“Seeing the magnitude of

the bags being unloaded from the truck was a bit jarring,” Thompson-Gibson said. “Each of the bags is a personal rep resentation of someone’s life and lived experiences.”

Thompson-Gibson said she hoped to convey the impact each individual backpack represented.

“Understanding that the backpacks are not necessarily just objects occupying a space on our lawn [is important],” Thomp son-Gibson said. “They really are a testament to each individu al and the vacancy they have left by leaving the world.”

Plattus said his work with Active Minds helped him, as well as others, in his personal experi ence with loss.

“I was more ready to be there for the people that sur vived them because of this job,” Plattus said.

In her line of work, Thomp son-Gibson said it is vital that she understands the experience of the college student and is able to help the student deal with po tentially harmful thoughts.

“In the scope of my work, it’s important that I be com petent in supporting students when they’re having thoughts of suicide or experience a loss to suicide,” Thompson-Gib son said. “It is relatively com mon for folks to think about existential questions.”

Katie Medford, a fourthyear pharmacy student, volun teered to hand out information about counseling at SIUE during the display’s runtime. Medford said Kelly Gable, a professor in the School of Pharmacy, had her students participate in the event as part of their rotation in behav

ioral health.

“Dr. Gable had us volunteer to pass out flyers … and direct students to counseling services just because not a lot of students know about it,” Medford said.

Medford said that even those who have not been af fected by suicide can still learn from the display.

“Just ask people how they’re doing,” Medford said.

Plattus said he wants to en courage people to ask for help when they feel they need it.

“Be strong enough to be vulnerable. Let your friends know when you need help, and be strong enough to be there for them when they need help.”

More information about SIUE Counseling Services can be found on its website. Anyone who is dealing with thoughts of suicide, or knows someone else who is, can call the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988.

suffering from thoughts of suicide, or know someone who is,

DYLAN HEMBROUGH

Every hill on the Quad was topped with many backpacks, each with the story of its owner and their story as a victim of suicide. | Clair Sollenberger / The Alestle

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‘Hedda Gabler’ is ‘thrilling, confusing, and heartbreaking’

Hedda Gabler, a play written by Hen rik Ibsen in the late 1800s with a mod ern adaptation by Patrick Mar, is the opening performance of the academic theater season.

Leta DeBardeleben, a senior theater major from Prairie Town, Illinois, plays Hedda Gabler, the lead character. She said the show is a bit of an exciting mind game, with her character at the center of messy situations and conflicting emotions.

“This idea of being stuck, knowing you want to leave, but you don’t know how, you can’t figure it out,” DeBarde leben. “And you have all these different relationships going on to the point where it’s like, ‘Why? Why would I leave when I’m trying to find something in one of them?’ But none of it is what [she wants].”

The cast is small, with only seven characters, which DeBardeleben said is important for the show to succeed. She said that the show deals with heavy mate rial, such as suicide and addiction, which adds an extra layer of importance for a tight-knit cast.

“I think it’s just been one of those things where we’re on stage so much, and we’re watching each other grow. I think once you start adding too many characters into the show, it will take away from how much emotion is between each person and how much these relationships mean to each person,” Debardeleben said. “Our relationships with our characters and then our characters’ relationships with each other has been a very beautiful moment for a small cast.”

Edwin Navarrete, a senior theater performance major from Houston, Texas, plays Ejlert Lövborg, a recovering alco

holic who is the academic rival of Hedda Gabler’s husband. Navarrete said the show has no true protagonist; it is a house of multiple characters who aim to get some thing from each other.

“I would say that it’s a house full of power hungry people who always want to get one over on another one. And they use each other over and over again. They see no problem with it. They just see it as part of having a relationship with someone,” Navarrete said.

The show employs a white noise that plays in the background throughout the whole show, that the audience may not notice until it is shut off during cli matic parts of the show. Nararrete said that while the characters talk most of the show, silence does play a major role in conveying emotions.

“But even in that silence, the focus is on the characters,” Navarrete said.

Tiffany Ellison, a senior theater per formance major from Chicago, Illinois, plays Thea Elvsted, a character she said started the whole conflict in the show and which makes her a fun character to play.

“I feel like Thea is a very interesting character, not just because I’m playing her. If Thea had not showed up, none of this would have happened,” Ellison said.

“Having a role as big as that, knowing that you’re causing this downfall, it’s a really interesting character to play.”

Navarrete said the show has a lot of foreshadowing and dark humor, which adds an extra depth to the show, dividing the audience’s loyalty to the characters.

“It’s a little funny because these aren’t exactly the best people and so you’re not exactly rooting for them, but you are be cause you spent so much time with them,” Navarrete said.

Hedda Gabler, played by Leta DeBardeleben, is threatened by Judge Brack, played by Brandon Greenwald, who abuses his postion of power of Hedda. | Francesca Boston / The Alestle

Ejlert Lövborg, played by Navarrete, kneels before Hedda Gabler, played by DeBardeleben, after she arrives back from her honeymoon. Lövborg had come to the house to show Hedda’s husband his newest book, which is on the piano bench, despite their tense relationship. | Francesca Boston / The Alestle

Student Government gives students free sustainable alternatives

NICOLE BOYD opinion editor

In its first sustainability week, Student Government gave out tote bags, potted plants and pumpkins, hosted a clothing drive and gave students informa tion about sustainability through QR codes.

Kenzie Richards, a junior psychology major from Granite City, Illinois, said she knew a lot of other organizations were doing things for mental health awareness week, so she wanted to do something new for stu dents. She said one of the big sustainability issues is single-use plastic bags like the ones in the dining area, so they wanted to give out reusable bags. She said

giving away microgreens or herbs is also a great way to maximize sustainability in a small way.

“It limits going to the store and buying basil in a little plastic single use container and things like that,” Richards said. “And it’s also nice to be able to do that.

All of the pots that we have … they were donated by the garden and we just spray painted them, so people are going to be able to paint over them if they would like to. We are using recycled pots for that, which I think is great be cause otherwise they would have just been thrown away.”

Richards said she wanted students to see that being sus tainable doesn’t have to be ex pensive. She said by having a clothing drive to limit fast fashion

waste and giving out herbs stu dents can grow in their dorms, Student Government wanted to show students little things they can do, even if that just means going outside or respecting na ture a little bit more.

“A lot of times I feel like sustainable practices can be kind of classist in terms of there’s a lot of things that you need to get to be sustainable and it’s not always feasible budget-wise and financially for a bunch of college students to buy only reusable recycled materials all the time,” Richards said.

Lucas Wolf, a junior studio art major from Evansville, Indi ana, is the head of the Honors Student Association community garden committee. He said the

Student Government reached out for help with sustainability week, and they mainly wanted people to be able to grow their own food.

“We ended up choosing little pots of dirt … with some lavender seeds in them, and then we had people paint the pots and take them home just to learn how to grow herbs,” Wolf said.

Wolf said HSA also sold pumpkins to raise money for a greenhouse in the Gardens so they can plant early in the fall and still keep the plants warm, as well as expand their growing.

“One of the issues with gar dening is over the summer with all the students gone, summer [is] the big produce [season]. So we plant stuff in the spring and

then there’s really only a couple students who can do that in the early fall and in the summer can only pick and take care of the garden,” Wolf said. “We really don’t want to put that on two students [to] take care of the whole garden because it’s a lot of work.”

Ava Austin, a member of Alpha Phi Omega, helped pot the plants in preparation for the fundraiser. She said she thought sustainability week was a great idea.

“Sustainability is a good thing to kind of like try and ob tain, but it’s really hard to do that as a college student, so I really liked how they were try ing to get the word out there,” Austin said.

Annual chili cook-off draws big crowds to downtown Belleville

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

Belleville’s 39th annual chili cook-off brought crowds of peo ple downtown over the weekend of Oct. 7 and 8.

Wendy Pfeil, president and CEO of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce, said that the festi val has been running for 39 years and originally began as a much smaller event.

“It started out as a way to bring people downtown to get to know downtown merchants,” Pfeil said.

Pfeil estimated that of the 40 vendors, around 37 were selling chili on Oct. 7 and 8. In addition to a wide variety of chili types, including hot, mild, white and vegan, Pfeil said many of the vendors sold food for those who attended the festival but may not like chili.

“There really is something here for everybody to eat,” Pfeil said.

Pfeil said that, for the Bel leville Chamber of Commerce, preparation for the cook-off in

volves work with numerous city departments for months leading up to the festival.

“We work with the city real ly closely … and historically it’s always been downtown,” Pfeil said. “It really, truly is a commu nity event to come down here.”

Preparation takes several months for the vendors as well. Nick Lombardo, a firefighter with the Belleville Fire Depart ment, said phone calls are made starting as early as July.

“It’s a pretty big operation,” Lombardo said.

Lombardo, who was chosen to be chairman of the chili cookoff operation, said the fire de partment has to coordinate with several different organizations to make and sell the amount of chili they do.

“I believe it’s over 800 gal lons,” Lombardo said. “We use 1,600 pounds of ground beef.”

Though the ground beef comes from off-site, Lom bardo said the fire depart ment takes care of the spice component themselves.

“It’s our own recipe that we

mix in-house,” Lombardo said.

Lombardo said the fire de partment has participated in the chili cook-off for the last 30 years, including during the pan demic. The remote chili cookoff of 2020 featured a drive-up service at the fire department, but no in-person festivities.

“It’s great to be back out,” Lombardo said.

Shane Joellenbeck is a much newer face on the scene. Joellen beck was representing Allstar at the festival, a duct cleaning and janitorial services business. Joel lenbeck said Allstar first entered the chili cook-off last year, where altogether, the business sold around 200 gallons of chili.

Joellenbeck said the festival preparation, though a phenom enal effort, is worth it to see the community enjoying something he had helped put together.

“It was very, very trying,” Joellenbeck said. “It takes a lot of hours, a lot of time, and really good employees and people that volunteer to make it happen.”

Pfeil said the Belleville Chili Cook-off is all about family fun

and giving back to the commu nity through support of local vendors and organizations.

“Each year, over $100,000 is given back to the community through this event,” Pfeil said.

Joellenbeck said that even though he was there to promote the business, the best part of the festival to him is the people.

“It’s not about the money to me,” Joellenbeck said. “It’s really just about the community and giving back.”

Rick Jones, the owner of Washington Kettle Corn in Troy, Illinois, said this is his best event of the year.

“People know us, so it draws more crowd and helps the other vendors make money

too,” Jones said.

Jones said he first bought Washington Kettle Corn 17 years ago and began participat ing in the chili cook-off two years afterward. In addition to the chili cook-off, Jones said he has also attended Belleville Ok toberfest and events at SIUE in the past.

The winners of this year’s chili cook-off were Joe and Oney’s in the restaurant and ca tering category and Truman’s Chili in the non-restaurant cat egory. The people’s choice cat egory, which raised $2,500 for the Community Interfaith Food Pantry, was won by the Belleville Fire Department.

REVIEW: Poke Munch brings bold Hawaiian flavors to Edwardsville

EMILY STERZINGER editor-in-chief

If you want a taste of Ha waiian culture but don’t have time to travel or even drive out of town, Poke Munch is your best bet.

For those who may not know, poke is a Hawaiian dish which traditionally includes diced raw fish and vegetables over rice. At Poke Munch you aren’t limit ed to just raw fish, but that’s the traditional definition.

On first impression the at mosphere doesn’t bring much to the table, but as it’s a fairly new location, I was willing to let that slide. It was certainly plain on the inside, but there was nothing offensive about the general ap pearance. The service, however, was phenomenal, with friendly employees who prepared orders in a timely manner.

The setup of the restaurant is a little like a Subway, so if you order a “build your own bowl,”

the bowl is passed between a few employees as each adds some in gredients. The bowls were a bit pricey, coming out to about $16 with tax, but it was definitely worth it.

I’ll have to admit, before I got the meal that I based this review around, I had already stopped by a few times. This time around I got a salmon bowl with carrots, edamame, scallions, “aloha sauce” (a garlic infused soy sauce,) crispy garlic, sesame seeds and a base of white rice.

To start off, as someone who really likes salmon, I thought the fish itself was delicious, and seemed to be of pretty good quality. It had a nice mild fla vor, and the texture was just as pleasant.

The vegetables I chose were the right choice as well, with the scallions and thinly sliced carrots adding a certain freshness to the overall flavor. The edamame, too, had this great, nutty flavor to it. Though I chose a limited

palette of vegetables, the texture and flavor did well to comple ment the rest of the bowl.

If nothing else, I am abso lutely a garlic girl, and the aloha sauce and the crispy garlic deliv ered on that front. It made the meal overall taste a little more garlicky, but not so much that it overpowered anything else in the bowl. One complaint: The crispy garlic was less crispy and tougher at times, but that may be due to the way they store it.

The aloha sauce, along with bringing in extra garlic flavor, added an umami-ness to the meal that definitely topped off the milder tastes of the fish, rice, and vegetables.

Overall, the poke was great. Not the best I’ve had in my life, but I’m a sucker for good poke, so I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Poke Munch is located at 1063 IL-157 Suite 11 - 12 in Edwardsville. For more informa tion or to order online, check out their website.

OPINION

DAMIAN MORRIS Multimedia Editor

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Free speech doesn’t mean free from criticism

THE ALESTLE STAFF

In light of the controversial speaker on the quad each Tuesday, there have been many questions about the right to free speech, what qualifies as hate speech, and why SIUE cannot ban certain speakers on campus.

As the only student-run publication on campus, we strongly believe in the rights given in the First Amendment. The freedom of speech, press, assembly and the right to petition the government is the very basis of this country. If we want the right to freedom of speech, it must be acknowledged that it cannot be banned from certain people. Freedom

of speech is the freedom to ignore what others say or protest in return.

Hate speech is not illegal in the U.S, but calls for acts of violence are. The general definition is when a speaker is wording to vilify, humiliate or incite hatred against a group of people.

Hate speech is technically protected by the First Amendment, following several Supreme Court decisions. Hate speech can only be punished when it directly incites imminently criminal activities or it contains threats of specific violence towards a person or group.

The First Amendment allows people to say cruel and harmful things because it also protects

person’s right to say what they believe, even if other people disagree.

SIUE cannot tell anyone to not speak on campus, because it is a public university, funded by the state. Freedom of speech is speech protected from the government, not from private citizens. The government cannot tell someone to stop talking about what they believe in. When the freedom of speech and the freedom or religion are part of the same issue, it can add another layer to the conversation.

However, Freedom of speech is not freedom from criticism — no person has the right to talk without consequences. Because speech is free and open on both

sides of a conversation, both sides must be open to critique and criticism. The same First Amendment that protects Pastor Tom also protects those who vehemently disagree with him. Peaceful counter-protests that obey the rules are the best way to counteract hateful speech. The same rules that protect Pastor Tom also protect the students who are protesting.

At The Alestle, we try to be inclusive in our work, and we may disagree with what is being said on our campus. But we strongly believe that people have the right to say what they believe and that everyone has the right to make their voices heard. Exercise your freedom of speech today and stand up for what you believe in.

It’s time for students to ditch the all-nighters

Everyone’s heard of the cliche of college students staying up all night to do work, and many live that lifestyle — but it’s time to end it.

The negatives of not having enough sleep can end up impacting classwork, which is counterproductive to the goal of staying up that late to do homework.

Most if not all college students have been there; having an assignment due by the beginning of class and staying up late to get it done. Sometimes you need to do that, but making it a habit out of procrastination as opposed to necessity can cause health problems on top of making you feel awful.

Sleep itself is necessary for general health, and being deprived of it can have many conse-

quences that build up over time. According to an article from the peer-reviewed journal Drug Invention Today, sleep loss can cause a number of different symptoms including fatigue, weight loss or gain, and more.

According to the same article, it can also cause lack of motivation, which can cause issues with learning and subsequently doing future assignments, especially when under the pressure of so many classes.

On top of classes, extracurricular activities and athletic performance can also suffer due to the physical toll taken on the body. For students who aren’t athletes, other physical activities can suffer. According to the Asian Journal of Sports Medicine, factors such as reaction time slowly decrease over time as sleep deprivation occurs.

How a student performs in

athletics is limited by sleep deprivation, but the physical health of all students is adversely affected due to weight loss and weight gain. This can mean that regardless of the work you put in to managing your weight and being active, sleep deprivation will nullify part of it.

Without enough sleep, the body can’t grow properly, thus disrupting the natural functions that occur on a daily basis such as muscle repair and general bodily maintenance.

One such function that is disrupted is metabolism. According to an article from Sleep Medicine Reviews, sleep deprivation can cause a lack of activity, an alteration in metabolism and an irregular appetite. This contributes to weight gain, and in some cases can end up leading to risks of diabetes as the glucose metabolism is changed.

One issue that causes sleep deprivation in college students specifically can be linked to time management skills and saving the assignment that needs to be done until midnight before it’s due. Sometimes this is with good reason, but other times it comes from not wanting to do the assignment.

If this cycle of staying up late to do all of your assignments continues, then you’ll lose more and more sleep. From someone who used to do this while having to work an 8 a.m. shift or go to 8 a.m. classes on other days, it ends up making you feel miserable after you do it for months getting less sleep.

The one thing you don’t want to do as a student is ruin an entire semester because you made it a habit of not sleeping enough. Schoolwork is a priority, but health is too. Get some sleep.

GABRIEL

letter to the editor

NOAH SUTLIFF student

Hey there! I’m currently typing this out on another Tuesday of Pastor Tom be ing here on campus, and I can’t help but reflect on all the things I saw last week when he initially returned to SIUE.

Despite being Christian myself, I cer tainly do not agree with all the things that Tom preaches. I personally believe that God loves everybody, and that He cares more about a person having a good heart and positively contributing to society than anything else. For someone to openly condemn others for who they are as a person, despite them not doing anything morally wrong, is an absolute disgrace to

the good name of the Lord.

Organize an event that

However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, I believe the approach toward protests have been less than helpful. I was able to count multiple students in the crowd that “protested” by shouting pro fanities at the top of their lungs, insulting Pastor Tom with no remorse or thought whatsoever. The previous article on the man pointed out that he has a full body camera on him, which says to me that he is purposely trying to elicit such a reaction from the crowd so that he, in turn, can take a “holier than thou” high ground. In short, protesting by shouting a bunch of horrible things at Tom isn’t going to solve the problem.

After seeing the protest last Tuesday

letter to the editor

STEVE WOODSON

Pastor Tom is apparently bringing god’s word to young people who only think they know what the Bible professes. By their own comments, it is evident that

and thinking on this for a long time, I wish to propose a solution that could pos sibly result in aiding this cause: Whenever Pastor Tom comes to speak on campus, organize a sort of event or gathering around him that pays him no mind. It could be campus activities, fraternity/so rority events, or students simply coming together to have a good time.

Be loud, have fun, and paint the pic ture right in front of Pastor Tom that we don’t need him and his wrongful interpre tation of God’s word. I saw small glimpses of that in the previous protest and, as someone who doesn’t like to stir the pot, I legitimately enjoyed myself. Everyone was being goofy and having a good time, and, while those folks weren’t insulting anyone else, you could tell Tom was getting visi

bly frustrated with it.

If I could throw my hat in the ring, I’ve been having a lot of fun with the new Splatoon game and noticed that it fosters an incredibly healthy LGBTQ+ com munity (there’s no gender in the game, only style!). On top of that, it has a killer soundtrack that’s an absolute bop to listen to (If you don’t believe me, then go online and take a listen to the track “Fly Octo Fly”. I’ll be waiting).

So, what if, at the next time Tom comes to preach, someone brings a speak er and we can blast some Off-the-Hook Splatunes! Everyone can dress in their freshest clothing and come together to enjoy themselves in the festivities, all while proving that God’s already blessed us all without the need for a half-baked preacher.

Pastor Tom’s messsage shouldn’t be feared

they have little idea what his word teaches. Albeit unpopular, pastor Tom’s message shouldn’t be feared. He loves his audience enough that he is willing to tell them what they do not want to hear. Like the prophet Ezekiel, pastor tom is defying what the

false prophets teach, as they tickle the ears of their listeners. Pastor Tom knows his message of repentance requires the hearer to change, and no one wants to be told they need to change. Change is hard and its frightening. Its much easier to remain

as we are. Pastor Tom cares enough about the students at siue that he is willing to be a lightning rod for controversy if he can steer them from doom. Pastor Tom has the right to speak. His audience has the right to walk away, as well.

American elections are undemocratic for most people

BRUCE DARNELL reporter

The upcoming midterm elections are a reminder that a core part of our country’s systems relies upon the population voting, and that the system we use is inherently broken. While popular-with-people can didates such as the U.S. Senate nominee John Fetterman (D-PA) trail ahead of their opponents, the system that elects these individuals often doesn’t represent the majority’s choice.

The most notorious example of this is senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Sanders ran in 2016 and 2020 for the demo cratic nomination for president, but lost out both times to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in ’16 and current president Joe Biden in ‘20. Despite a promising campaign in 2020, Sanders just

couldn’t make it to the presidency, and it may have been better for his legacy that he didn’t. It’s disappointing to wonder about what could have been.

The electoral system did not choose the most popular candidate to run in 2020, nor did it elect the most popular candidate in 2016. Articles suggested that sanders was the most popular candidate going into super tuesday, with somewhere around 29% of voters supporting him, and yet Biden still won out in the end. Clinton lost the electoral vote, but had the popular vote, which allowed for donald trump to take office and set-up countless issues that america’s political and socie tal landscape will face for years to come. How can someone call a system fair when it exemplifies the exact opposite?

The thing about elections in the U.S., And democracy in general, is that it is built upon unfairness. The people do not

have nearly as much say as they are led to believe. At one point in time, injustice was the law, with segregated policies such as the grandfather clause, literacy tests, or the poll tax. Now it is much harder to see, because there are no physical restric tions (though, there are some attempts at bringing them back, such as attempts at instating voter ID laws). For example, there is no national holiday for voting, which means that, in many cases, workers simply cannot vote because they are too busy working.

Even if the unlikely happens and a popular-with-people candidate is elected, they are always broken down by their peers and forced into submission. This notably happened with representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who won a house seat in the 2018 midterm elections. She ran on the basis of being a progressive politician among the likes

of Sanders, but has been able to do little because her peers are not as progressive as she is, forcing her into voting on bills that she doesn’t believe in. The only reason this didn’t happen to sanders is because he has been in politics for decades.

With a system that doesn’t favor the common voter nor allow for the voter’s candidate to make necessary changes, it makes the campaigns that declare your vote necessary seem less impactful. How can our vote matter when it has been proven time and time again that it doesn’t? This creates the question of what should be done otherwise? Democracy is still the answer, but it must be a democracy for all in every system of governance and life, not just a democracy for few within the high est stages of our political processes. So long as the latter remains, our votes will never truly matter, and it will continue to be that way until we change it.

OVC honors two SIUE athletes in its soccer weekly honor for game performance

AHMAD LATHAN reporter

The Cougars women’s soc cer team got off to a good start in conference play this past week.

The Ohio Valley Confer ence honored Taylor Spiller and Matea Diekema due to their solid defensive play for the squad.

Both Spiller and Diekema

ma said they pushed one another in practice, and it always helps them perform better in games.

Spiller said she would not have received the award if the entire team had not played good defense overall.

“Having our defense be as good as we’ve been is a huge rea son I have received this honor,” Spiller said.

so it was awesome seeing her get one,” Diekema said.

Spiller said she was hap py to see her teammate be a part of this weekly honor.

“I am excited and every game she makes incredible runs,” Spiller said. “I’m happy to see her get the recognition that she deserves.”

Spiller said the team’s goals

Women’s basketball plans for big team trip to Italy next summer

AHMAD LATHAN reporter

The women’s basketball team announced that they have organized a trip to Italy in June of 2023. As this is the first Euro pean tour for the team, the staff and student athletes are looking forward to the experience.

Ariel Massengale, the team’s assistant coach, said Coach Sam Smith made this experience pos sible at her past institution and also wanted to make it happen at SIUE.

“It was an experience that she had at a previous institution before and it turned out to be ex tremely successful,” Massengale said. “When she came here, she was very adamant about being able to provide our student ath letes with the same experience.”

K.K. Rodriguez, senior guard from St. Louis, Missouri, said she is blessed for the oppor tunity to go out of the country to play basketball with her team mates.

“I think it will be an overall fun experience for everyone with different cultures and how they approach the game of basketball,” Rodriguez said.

Brad Bruno, assistant coach, said he heard Smith speak about transformational opportunities for the team throughout the planning process.

“She always preaches about life-changing experiences, and I think the rewarding factor of tak ing other groups to see that hap pen is something that motivates her too,” Bruno said.

ITALY’S BASKETBALL HISTORY

Since the early 20th century, basketball has made its way throughout the world after initially being invented in the U.S..

Basketball as a sport soon spread to countries such as Italy, which established its first professional league in 1921 with the Italian Basketball Federation after the National Basketball League was first set to play in Italy.

Since the league has been active, it has seen much success with its men’s team appearing in its first national championship in 1920 and the women’s team in 1930.

The federation has also seen Olympic success, having its first appearance in 1936.

Sophomore midfielder Matea Diekema of Grand Rapid, Mich igan, dribbles the ball towarda a Loyola player in an Aug. 28 game.