The Alestle, Vol. 76 No. 13

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

The results of a recent campus climate survey indicate that 54 percent of all fac ulty of color reported not feeling treated equally to their white colleagues – a trou bling trend for a university that prides itself on diversity.

SURVEY SHOWS A MAJORITY OF NON-WHITE FACULTY FEEL THEY ARE TREATED UNEQUALLY

Timothy Lewis, an assistant professor in the political science department, said he took part in the survey. Lewis is a Black faculty member and offered his thoughts on the results of the survey.

“That’s more than half, and when you just take into consideration about 23 percent of all employees at SIUE are not white, that’s over 500 people, [and] the majority of those people don’t feel like they’re being treated equally,” Lewis said. “So either hundreds of people are experi encing the exact same hallucination at the exact same time, or there is some validity to the differential treatment on campus expe rienced by minority faculty and staff versus white faculty and staff.”

One of SIUE’s “points of pride,” as list ed on the university’s website, is a commit ment to anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion. Despite SIUE’s diversity awards, its faculty have differing opinions on the university’s commitment to inclusion.

“It is very evident that there is a pre vailing culture at SIUE that doesn’t even see the need for diversity,” Lewis said. “[When] you look at some of the narratives written by people who identify themselves as white … The focus on diversity is offen sive to them, or it’s unfair to them.”

Florence Maätita, professor of sociolo gy, said she noticed the common theme of “diversity fatigue,” or an overemphasis on diversity on campus.

“I don’t know what to make of that,” Maätita said. “As a sociologist who teaches a wide variety of students, I know there are students that are going to walk into these classes and are not going to be convinced that racism is an issue in 2022.”

Maätita said it is important for all fac ulty and administration to come together to have discussions about race and racism.

“[There is an] argument that racism exists because we continue to talk about race, but who are the folks who are most vocal in that argument? They tend to be white people. It requires a great deal of buy-in from everybody,” Maätita said. “It’s not just about the racial and ethnic minori ties waving the banner … It requires buyin from more of our white allies [and] it requires buy-in from the administration.”

Maätita is half-Indonesian and half-Mexican, and said that though she has not experienced any major discrim ination due to her racial identity, she has witnessed it in the classroom and with other colleagues.

“I’m kind of in the unique position where a lot of folks don’t know where I sit. I would imagine that a lot of folks see me as being white-adja cent,” Maätita said. “I don’t mind … using my own biography as a lens to understand racial dynamics with in the classroom, outside of this class room, outside of this campus.”

The results of the campus climate survey showed that white fac ulty reported feeling much more welcomed than faculty of color. 80 percent of white faculty felt “very” or “somewhat welcome” compared to 65 per cent of Black faculty, and even lower figures for Asian and His panic/Latin faculty at 64 percent and 31 percent, respectively.

chairs of departments.

“I haven’t seen a lot of instances where the chairs or the deans have supported the faculty,” Maätita said. “Rather than just talking about diversity, rather than just talking about the campus cli mate survey, do some thing about it.”

Snipes described himself as a racial re alist and said he hopes the university will work with faculty to promote inclusive programs.

diversity and inclusion training for all fac ulty, alongside other mandatory trainings that are already in place.

“We have several trainings as faculty that are mandatory, everything from eth ics to sexual harrassment … I do not un derstand what is the barrier to making di versity and inclusion training mandatory,” Lewis said. “I’m not saying that would fix things, but it would prevent the common excuse given by people who exemplify rac ism that they didn’t know what they were doing was racist.”

Maätita said she tries to foster a climate where race can be discussed freely in the classroom, often using analogies to com municate a broader point.

“We live in this culture of colorblind ness where we’re not supposed to talk about race and we’re not supposed to no tice difference, and I think that damages so many aspects of our culture where we have to have these conversations to understand, to make connections,” Maätita said. “If I don’t want to pay my bills, and I don’t talk about them, I still have the bills. It doesn’t solve the problem.”

J.T. Snipes, an as sistant professor with the School of Educa tion, said racism is a tightly interwoven as pect of American society. Both Snipes and Lewis said SIUE is a small-scale represen tation of wider American society, and this applies to racism.

assistant professor of political science

Timothy

“I come from a philosophical tradition that says racism is endemic to American so ciety, and it is not occasional or random, but it is the status quo,” Snipes said. “Our campus is a microcosm of the world. Rac ism exists in our world, [and] it exists on our campus … It’s a part of the normalized experience of Black faculty on campus.”

EXPERTS CITE PAST INCIDENTS AS EXPLANATION FOR SURVEY RESULTS

Snipes recalled the experience of re tired faculty member Patrick Long, who Snipes said had to go to extreme lengths to get university administration to take action against a white colleague who spat on his vehicle.

Lewis said there is too much tolerance at SIUE for bigotry and that many faculty of color no longer view bias incident re ports as worth their time due to inaction on the university’s part.

“It’s gotten to the point where Black faculty and staff do not even want to go through the process of issuing bias reports … because nothing comes of them,” Lewis said. “Even if the investigation is in favor of the Black faculty, nothing is done. That person is not fired, that person is not termi nated [and] there are very little disciplinary consequences.”

Maätita said she has seen several stu dents over the years take complaints about faculty and staff directly to the deans and

“A part of being a racial realist is an ac knowledgment that racism will always be with us,” Snipes said. “I hope it goes away … but the historical record, to me, speaks otherwise. I think what we can do as an institu tion of higher learning is focusing on educat ing faculty, staff and students to create more inclusive communities, so our vice chancellor of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Dr. Jessica Harris is creating programming, work ing with faculty … To help them think about ways to make the classroom more inclusive to students across areas of social difference.”

Vice Chancellor for Anti-Racism, Di versity, Equity and Inclusion Jessica Harris said she wishes to take action on these issues. Harris also said the results were troubling and thanked the faculty who spoke up.

“I was concerned when I saw those numbers, and I’m really grateful for the ini tiative of some of our Hispanic faculty and staff in terms of their wanting to develop the group,” Harris said. “My job is to sup port them and listen and do all that I can along with others to improve their experi ences on campus.”

Harris said her duties generally involve working with other departments within the university to ensure that diversity and inclusivity are maintained.

“I wanted to know how I could, based on the results, do something and act ac cordingly,” Harris said. “There were some of the results that were heartbreaking, and I would say disappointing, but they were real, and the whole goal of the survey was to assess people’s perceptions and to learn more about people’s experiences.”

FACULTY OFFER POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS

Some of the faculty also suggested potential solutions for creating a more welcoming and inclusive environment on campus. In addition to a zero tolerance for racism policy, Lewis suggested mandatory

Maätita also said that if the university has a commitment to retaining students, faculty and staff of color, it should actually set aside room in the budget for following through on promises of diversity, equity and inclusion.

“If there is a true commitment to keep ing faculty, to keeping staff, to keeping stu dents, in my mind, there are ways to find that money,” Maätita said.

Harris said any response to the climate survey to improve the experiences of nonwhite faculty would require a lot of collab oration. One example of such collaboration is work being done to form a Hispanic Fac ulty and Staff Association.

“One of the things that I’m doing, along with Lindy Wagner in the Hub, is we’re supporting the creation of a Hispan ic Faculty and Staff Association, which I think will be really helpful in terms of creating community and bringing members of the Hispanic faculty and staff together to not only voice their concerns and share more about their experiences, but I’ll be able to work directly with them to try and address some of these issues and concerns,” Harris said. “I was concerned when I saw those numbers, and I’m real ly grateful for the initiative of some of our Hispanic faculty and staff in terms of their wanting to develop the group … My job is to support them and lis ten and do all that I can along with others to improve their experiences on campus.”

Harris said the survey results indicate a number of successes on SIUE’s part, but also point to areas that need a lot of work.

“There is always room for improve ment, and I think the campus climate survey is evidence of that,” Harris said. “There’s things that we are doing well, but there’s things we can be doing better.”

The results of the SIU system campus climate survey can be viewed online.

“

About 23 percent of all employees at SIUE are not white, that’s over 500 people, [and] the majority of those people don’t feel like they’re being treated equally,”

Lewis,

11.23.22

A fire alarm went off in an apart ment in the Cougar Lake Apart ments.

11.24.22

The fire alarm went off in the same Cougar Lake apartment as the day before, as well as others.

11.26.22

A vehicle was parked incorrectly in Parking Lot 8. It also had signs of major damage and was leaking fluid. The owner was not reached and the vehicle was towed.

11.28.22

A traffic accident was reported in the Bluff Hall Parking Lot.

12.01.22

A wallet was found in the MUC. A student in the Cougar Lake Apartments was reported for having a firearm on campus. The student allowed SIUE PD to search their apartment without a warrant, and nothing was found.

12.05.22

A parking hangtag was stolen from a vehicle in Parking Lot B. A traffic accident that resulted in personal injury was reported on Circle Drive near Residence Drive. A credit card was found in the MUC.

First-year business student dies of leukemia in St. Louis hospital

A first-year student studying for his business degree died on Monday, Nov. 21 at Cardinal Glennon Chil dren’s Hospital in St. Louis.

The university announced the death of Zion Ratchford, 18, of Gran ite City, Illinois, on Dec. 2. Ratchford was a 2022 graduate of Father Mc Givney Catholic High School, as well as an online student at SIUE.

Ratchford was diagnosed with leukemia in Oct. 2019, and his jour ney with cancer was documented on the Facebook page “Zion Strong” by his parents, Ben and Laura Ratchford.

“Our hearts are very heavy, but we celebrate his life and the knowl edge that he is now in the presence of Jesus!” Ben Ratchford said in a Face book post.

Zion Ratchford was a podcaster and amateur film critic, according to his obituary, and had received a brown belt in Taekwondo. He was a member of Champions Communi ty Church in Valley Park, Missouri, where his father is lead pastor.

“Zion had a strong faith, very determined, and always put oth ers before himself and believed that with God all things are possible,” his obituary said.

In Zion Ratchford’s obituary, his family thanked the staff of Car dinal Glennon Children’s Hospi tal for the care they had provided since his diagnosis.

Funeral services took place Sat urday, Nov. 26, at Irwin Chapel in Granite City.

Junior nutrition student dies Nov. 17

The university announced the death of St. Louis native Lamoree “Moree” Moore on Dec. 2. Moore was a junior at SIUE studying to wards a degree in nutrition.

Moore died on Nov. 17 at the age of 24. Her celebration of life was held on Dec. 3, followed by interment at St. Peter’s Cem etery and Mausoleum, according to her obituary.

SIUE Counseling Services can be reached at (618) 650-2842 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, and more information is available at its website.

Onanusi elected as new Student Government

Vice President

On Monday, Dec. 5, Student Government unanimously elected Fatimot Onanusi, a senior nursing major from Lagos, Nigeria, to serve as the new Student Government vice president after Nicole Burbach had to step down due to personal reasons. Onanusi had been serving as a senator for the school of nursing.

Kaia Ford was also unanimous ly elected as Election Commission er. Ford was serving as the senator for the School of Education, Health wand Human Behavior.

Places to volunteer during the holiday season

LIV KRAUS reporter

While volunteering is im portant all year-round, the holiday season is a great time to volunteer or donate to local organizations.

Edwardsville Public Library

The Edwardsville Public Li brary’s Teen Advisory Board is hosting a winter wear drive un til Jan. 1. Donation baskets will be placed at the adult and youth circulation desks where people can donate items including hats, coats, gloves, socks, boots and other winter essentials.

The library is located at 112 South Kansas St. in Edwardsville. For more information, you can call 618-692-7556, email info@ edwardsvillelibrary.org or visit their website.

Edwardsville Neighbors Edwardsville Neighbors is a charity organization dedicated to helping ease the financial burden for families dealing with medical emergencies within the Edwards ville school district.

For more information on ways to donate or volunteer, you can email info@edwards villeneighborsinneed or visit their website.

Neighbors Bakeshop

Run by Edwardsville Neigh bors, Neighbors Bakeshop is a nonprofit bakery that donates its proceeds to families in need.

Neighbors Bakeshop is look ing for volunteers during the holiday season to participate in assisting customers with their or ders, working the cash register, stocking shelves, washing dishes, cleaning, putting together pack

aging and other tasks.

Neighbors Bakeshop is lo cated at 1010 Enclave, Suite B in Edwardsville. For more infor mation on volunteering, you can find them on Facebook or visit their website.

Glen-Ed Pantry

The Glen-Ed Pantry is cre ating Christmas meal boxes for families in need. On Monday, Dec. 19, they will host a drivethru pickup event from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Ideal donations in clude hams, scalloped potatoes, macaroni and cheese, canned pineapple and cake mixes, as well as any other food donations to the pantry. Monetary donations are also accepted.

During the month of De cember, the Glen-Ed Pantry is looking for volunteers to help sort and stock canned goods, as well

as assist with upcoming events.

The Glen-Ed Pantry is locat ed at 125 5th Ave. in Edwards ville. For more information on how to volunteer or donate, you can call 618-656-7506, email info@glenedpantry.org or visit their website.

Collinsville Food Pantry

The Collinsville Food Pantry is looking for volunteers for a va riety of different positions for the holiday season. The Collinsville Food Pantry is located at 2009 Mall St. in Collinsville. For more information on volunteering, you can call 618-346-1861, email di rector@collinsvillefp.org or visit their website.

Partners for Pets Humane Society

Partners for Pets is dedicat ed to finding loving homes for

dogs and cats. They are looking for items including paper towels, dishwashing soap, non-retract able leashes, collars, scoopable litter, pet toys and more.

For more information, you can visit their website.

Hope Animal Rescue

Hope Animal Rescue is a dog rescue located in Godfrey, Il linois, and is dedicated to saving dogs from animal control. They are looking for items including canned dog food, puppy pads, trash bags, disinfectant wipes, dryer sheets and new or gently used dog beds.

Hope Animal Rescues is lo cated at 231 N. Main St. in Ed wardsville. For more informa tion on donating, you can call 618 979-1908, email admin@ hoperescues.com or visit the Hope Animal Rescue website.

Public scholar Angel Jones uses social media to provide access to education

CHLOE WOLFE photographer

Academics are usually told to write and talk in a more formal tone for any thing they do, but that is exactly what SIUE visiting associate professor An gel Jones is trying to challenge with her book “Street Scholar.”

“Street Scholar,” according to Jones’s website, is “an unapologetic call-to-action that challenges the Academy to thought fully and intentionally engage in public scholarship.” Jones delved more into what it means to be a public scholar and a street scholar in her book reading held on Nov. 29 in the Morris University Center.

According to Jones, there is a key difference between a public scholar and a street scholar. In her book, Jones wrote, ”In my opinion, a public scholar is ex actly what it sounds like - a scholar who has chosen to share their work with the public. And while a street scholar does that, it doesn’t just start and stop there. A street scholar is someone whose mission, movements, and motivation are rooted in a community.’

Jones talked about her journey through academia as a woman of color as well as her presence on social media. She said accessibility is one of the most import ant things for academia.

“I think about accessibility in a couple ways,” Jones said. “One, making our actu al work accessible to folks, like physically being able to read articles or learn from us. But then also the language I use is very effective. The way I talk to my mama, it’s how I’m talking to y’all, it’s how I talk to my students, it’s how I write. I don’t be lieve in writing articles that the people I’m researching cannot read themselves.”

To combat what she sees as inacces sibility within academia, Jones argued for public scholarship or street scholarship so that everyone has the opportunity to be educated.

“Meaningful change is not going to happen in these four walls of our institu tions,” Jones said.

As her form of street scholarship, Jones uses her social media platform, which now has over 60,000 followers, to bring aware ness to issues faced by students of color within academia as well as issues frequently faced by Black people.

“I do what I do because I want to create a change,” Jones said, “I want to educate, right, I want to advocate, for me specifically, for the Black community. I want to help liberate those that have been marginalized,” Jones said.

For example, Jones has used her so cial media platform to raise awareness for

Julius Jones, a former death row inmate whose sentence was commuted to life im prisonment four hours before his sched uled execution last year.

She said that many people were able to attend in-person protests against his im pending execution, but others were not. So Jones used her platform on Instagram to hold a virtual rally. Jones invited people to speak on her live feed.

“You want to be able to feel like you’re in a community, so I was able to use social media to do this,” she said.

Using Instagram, Jones developed a podcast titled “Counterstory,” which ac cording to Jones, discusses critical race theory. She also does a show called “Un apologetic” with her colleague, Kate Slater.

Although Jones uses social media as her platform, she believes that is not the only way to share a message.

As alternatives to social media, Jones cited her Emmy award-winning friend Em mai Alaquiva. “He uses art and photogra phy,” she said. “He just had an opening in Pittsburg and he had this whole showcase where he interviewed the mothers of the black men who had been murdered by the cops. And it was a powerful thing. Right, so he’s educating folks, he’s talking about social justice but in a way that doesn’t re quire academic jargon.”

Jones also mentioned Assistant Pro

fessor of Educational Leadership Candace Hall, who produced a documentary titled “Clusterluck” which documents the expe riences of Black faculty members in a pre dominantly white institution. “It’s rooted in her research and it’s really dope social justice work. But she did it as a documen tary,” Jones said.

Jones also argued for the importance of Through her work, Jones has faced a lot of threats and denial of her work. “I get death threats and things like that on a reg ular basis…This is my life, and this is just a regular thing,” she said.

Jones also shared that her follow ers do help minimize the effects of these comments. Jones described an incident where a man threatened her life and her followers helped inform the FBI of his hate crime. Jones said the man was a correctional officer.

“I’d never advocate for folks go ing into this work without also letting you know the potential consequences,” Jones said.

She also describes the effects of these comments as being physical and professional.

Jones’s podcast partner Slater has also seen these consequences. Accord ing to Jones, Slater was doxxed last sum mer with pictures of her house posted all over the internet.

“To me, she is the epitome of what white allyship should look like,” Jones said, “She had every reason to just stop the movement. She took a break for like a week, then was right back on social media.”

Another difficulty Jones faced is how she should publish her book. Although Jones is challenging academia through her book, she also acknowledges how neces sary it is to remain within the system. Jones stated that she published her book through academia so that it would be respected, but she also said, she’s not doing it for aca demia but for her community.

Jones’s final form of public scholarship mentioned is hip-hop. In her book, Jones starts every chapter with a different hiphop lyric. For chapter 10, Jones described the reasoning behind the lyrics.

“I started this chapter with lyrics from ‘Juicy’ for several reasons,” Jones said. “First, I will never miss an opportunity to rep Brooklyn, rest in peace Biggie. Second, to acknowledge the reach and impact of hip-hop. And lastly, to remind us that the potential of something is not determined by our ability to see it. Hip-hop was un derestimated but has flourished anyway, the same is true for the evolution of public scholarship and social media.”

For more information, visit Jones’ website.

“Street Scholar’s” chapters are all named after hip-hop songs, which Angel Jones cites as one of the most affective and popular forms of public scholarship.

| Chloe Wolfe / The Alestle

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

City Foundry STL is a fairly recent development in Midtown St. Louis. In 2021, the former engine factory was transformed into a retail space, with a grocery store and the Food Hall hosting 17 vendors serving foods from West African cuisine to ice cream. We took it upon ourselves to try some of the vendors and review them.

Foundry’s Buenos Aires Café gives a warm, inviting taste

BRANDON WELLS sports editor

After reading about the empanada options online at the Buenos Aires Café, I was excited to taste them, and they didn’t disappoint.

When we arrived at the cafe, the staff were very attentive once we got up to the counter and quickly answered our ques tions about when the next empanada op tions were available.

While there were options of veg gie, beef, chicken and Spanish chorizo and cheese, I opted for both a beef and a chicken empanada.

In total, the order of two empanadas came out to $7, which I think is reason able for the meal.

The empanadas came in a small bag, and no sauce options offered This ended up not affecting the meal the empanadas did not need sauce to taste good.

While both were good, the beef em panada blew us away with how savory and delicious the beef was, with just the right amount stuffed in it. The chicken empana da on the other hand, while also good, was not nearly as satisfying as the beef, and the chicken was slightly too dry for my taste. The warm crispy outer crust of the empanada also enriched the flavor of both of them.

Reviewing Patty’s Cheesecakes was an excellent idea

DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter

Patty’s Cheesecakes is a little stand coated in bright colors that contrasts the otherwise industrial feel of the St. Louis City Foundry.

For $8 a slice, or you can choose between several varieties of cheesecake. Among them was my choice: banana pudding cheesecake. The price prevented me from going back for seconds, but the restaurant was otherwise an inviting place.

The cheesecake itself looked the part:

atop the cheesecake was a layer of banana pudding with chunks of Nilla wafers sprin kled throughout. It looked amazing, and when I dug in with the fork the restau rant offered me, I thanked my past self for signing up for the cheesecake review portion of this edition of Metro East Eats. Creamy and cakey at the same time, Pat ty’s Cheesecakes did not disappoint.

My only suggestions are to nudge the price down a couple dollars and of fer customers a plate instead of a little plastic container. I think those subtle changes would improve the experience.

NICOLE BOYD opinion editor

As a vegetarian and lover of spicy food, I was overwhelmed by the options at Kalbi’s Taco Shack.

You can choose tacos, a rice bowl, a protein bowl or a burrito, with one of sev eral proteins. For vegans, they offer aio li tofu, sweet and spicy jackfruit, roasted sweet potatoes or cauliflower. For meat eaters, they offer chicken and pork cooked in various sauces.

I opted for the protein bowl with jack fruit, which included jasmine rice, lettuce and pickled carrots, and a side of sweet chili sauce for $13.50 (a little more than I wanted to pay, but oh well). The worker warned me that it was spicy, and she was

right. The sauce was a delightful blend of spicy and sweet, and the jackfruit was pre pared the same way. The jasmine rice was cooked to perfection. My only negative criticism was that although the jackfruit’s flavor and texture were delicious, I would have preferred it to be shredded, or at least cut into smaller pieces.

Kalbi’s Taco Shack also offers three flavors of boba tea: mango, watermelon and Vietnamese coffee. I tried the water melon, which was refreshing and fruity without tasting unnaturally sweet. The boba pearls were some of the best I’ve had in terms of texture, size and flavor.

If you’re looking for plant-based op tions, or even just healthier options with out sacrificing flavor, Kalbi’s Taco Shack is the place to go.

I Dylan Hembrough / The Alestle

I Brandon Wells / The Alestle

I Rating Graphics and Header by Kirsten O’Loughlin

Kalbi’s Taco Shack is a must-try for plant-based diets

I Nicole Boyd / The Alestle

Fordo’s Killer Pizza in the Foundry was fantastic food

BRUCE DARNELL reporter

While pricey, the food made up for the cost in great taste. Fordo’s Killer Pizza is located all the way on the left side of the Foundry, near a small courtyard of tables and old machinery. The outside had col umns of pizza boxes stacked a few feet in the air, and the menu listed “Pizza” and “Not Pizza” options. I ordered a supreme pizza and birthday cake gelato.

The price totaled to be around $30, as

the supreme pizza cost $20 by itself. While rather expensive, the food was great, and I could tell the pizza was made with care. The gelato was cheap compared to the pizza –– it was $4 for a large scoop –– and tasted just as good.

Definitely being one of the better piz za places I’ve eaten at, Fordo’s Pizza is a good stop for anyone going out to eat at the Foundry. However, it’d be best to go with multiple people so the price can be justified. If you’re eating alone, get some gelato instead.

The fries at Intergalactic Burgers are fun, but too indulgent

GABRIEL BRADY managing editor

There are two kinds of burgers that I think are valid: a medium-thick burger is a good classic, and a thin, diner burger, also called a smashburger, is better. If you like incredibly thick, meaty burgers that stack up incredibly high just because the meat is so tall, you are wrong. You just like eating meat, you don’t like eating a burger with toppings and seasoning.

The burgers at Intergalactic burger are not thin, but they are delicious. For a review of their work, I felt that getting their basic Home World burger was the best call. I did want to try some of their

more creative options, so I also ordered Wookies – fries with cheese, white and green onions and their house sauce, which also came on the burger.

When I paid at the counter, I was surprised by the price, but when I got my meal, I understood the mistake I made when I had to pay around $20 for the burger, fries and a soda. The Wookies were not a side, they were big enough to be a separate meal. The sauce was an amazing addition to my burger, but the Wookies were a bit much. The fries, with all their toppings, had way too much going on fla vor-wise. I barely put a dent into the fries, but I finished the burger.

Hello Poke wasn’t quite the Poke bowl I was looking for

EMILY STERZINGER editor-in-chief

Hello Poke is generally good, but one topping didn’t quite taste right.

As some may know, I already have ex perience with reviewing poke, but Hello Poke was definitely a different experience than Poke Munch in Edwardsville.

For one, the atmosphere of the Found ry really added to the experience. The in dustrial vibes give the place a unique feel.

I ordered a salmon bowl with teriya ki sauce over white rice with green onions, edamame and furikake (a Japanese rice seasoning) on top. Almost everything was good quality and tasted pretty great, but the furikake had this weird funky taste that was hard to get past.

On top of all this, the price was very reasonable for poke at $15 for a large bowl, and the service was quick.

So overall, I endorse it, but you should avoid the furikake.

Even average ravioli is better than having no ravioli at all

CHLOE WOLFE photographer

STL Toasted takes an STL classic but makes it better. Toasted ravioli is one of my favorite foods, so I was super excited to try this restaurant. The food was great and the staff was even better.

The menu is pretty basic, featuring classic ravioli flavors and other more inter esting flavors like mushroom pot pie. They even offer a seasonal dessert ravioli which I thought was interesting.

For four homemade fried ravioli, two original beef and two three-cheeses, with a side of marinara sauce, my total came out to $11.32 which I did not find too pricey.

The wait was virtually nonexistent as well, even though they made the ravioli

upon order.

As for the taste, I was not really im pressed nor disappointed. It was ravioli. I will say that it was the most filling I’ve ever had in ravioli. Sometimes ravioli deflates, but not this one.

My favorite flavor was the threecheese ravioli. The beef ravioli was not my favorite; you can tell it’s well-seasoned high-quality beef, but it just tasted like a breaded salty meatball.

In my opinion, the marinara sauce took away from the flavors. I do not really like marinara sauce in the first place, but it tasted store-bought.

Overall, I would recommend this restaurant if you want an STL classic; they do a pretty good job.

Press Waffle Co. puts a spin on the classic Belgian Waffle

WINTER RACINE photographer

Handcrafted in-store, Press’ waffles come in a variety of combinations, with op tions available for those with a sweet tooth or a savory side. The shop is chic, brightly decorated with pops of yellow and ambient lighting. The employee was friendly and took my phone number. In less than five minutes we received a text stating our food was ready.

I ordered the Hot and Spicy Chicken and Waffles, which is exclusively offered at their STL location. The price point was high, set at $15.84 without a drink.

The presentation was good, although I would’ve preferred a plate over the brown to-go container.

Having gone in with high hopes, I was disappointed. The waffle was good, but not worth $15. The dish was imbalanced, with the spice overpowering any sweetness. I’d suggest they go heavier on the syrup in or der to pull the flavors together. The dish felt more like chicken with an accidental side of waffle. The waffle itself was dense, so much so that it tasted stale. They were not as fluffy as you’d expect from a waffle. Although I was disappointed with this par ticular dish, Press Waffle Co. has a variety of other creations that I’d love to try.

I Bruce Darnell / The Alestle

I Gabriel Brady / The Alestle

I Emily Sterzinger / The Alestle

I Chloe Wolfe/ The Alestle

I Winter Racine / The Alestle

Edwardsville lights up the night with tree lighting ceremony

The City of Edwardsville held the second annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

| Winter Racine / The Alestle

“We are so grateful to have such a great community,” Mayor

Art Risavy said.

“Any time we can get people together like this is important.”

| Winter Racine / The Alestle

Families were able to have conversations and enjoy themselves while standing near heated poles.

| Winter Racine / The Alestle

OPINION

Thursday, 12.08.22

alestlelive.com

KIRSTEN

ELIZABETH

EMILY STERZINGER Editor-in-Chief

GABRIEL BRADY Managing Editor

FRANCESCA BOSTON Lifestyles Editor

BRANDON WELLS Sports Editor

DAMIAN MORRIS Multimedia Editor

NICOLE BOYD Online/Opinion Editor

AMINA SEHIC Office Clerk

TAMMY MERRETT Program Director

UDIT NALUKALA Circulation Manager

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PUSHING THROUGH! CRYING. HANGING IN THERE. Questions

SIUE has long way to go to be accessible

THE ALESTLE STAFF editorial board

Accessible services provided for disabled students often break or don’t serve the students ade quately, which creates difficulty in their day to day lives.

The Americans with Dis abilities Act ensures that SIUE’s campus has accessible buildings for every student. However, SI UE’s campus leans more toward having the bare necessity for its disabled students, rather than havinga functional environment.

Doors are an example of this. SIUE’s buildings have doors that with the press of a button, will open for several seconds. Bath rooms also have these automatic doors. But there are times when these doors simply won’t open. When the button is pressed, the door will make a sound and

stay shut. This can make it sig nificantly harder for a disabled student to navigate campus, as they would have to either find another accessible door or use the non-accessible doors.

Since the doors are for bath rooms as well, there could be an issue where an accessible bath room door breaks and won’t open with the button. In this case, the student may have to try and find another bathroom or try and push on the accessible door –– which takes significantly more force to open than normal doors on campus.

Some halls, such as Peck, only have accessible bathrooms on the first floor of the building. This means that any disabled stu dent on the third floor of Peck will have to go all the way down to the first floor to be able to eas ily use the bathroom.

Housing is also subject to some of the pitfalls of SIUE’s ac cessibility. Accessible rooms for students are typically in the back of dorm buildings and may not even be on the first floor. In Ev ergreen, every accessible room is on the fourth floor of the build ing. This isn’t ideal for students with disabilities, as the room being on the top floor makes leaving the building much more difficult than if they were on the first floor.

The size of the campus also introduces difficulties. There are many steep hills, and there are no alternatives to campus paths be sides driving. If you don’t want to take the long paths to class, you’ll have to drive. Having to drive ev ery day to class, especially if you live in a dorm, is costly. If you don’t own the right parking pass, you may have to pay for parking

each day, as well as pay for gas for driving each day. While there may not be a way to make SIUE’s paths fully safe and accessible, there could be ways of making al ternatives cheaper and better for people to take, such as allowing disabled students to park in the green lots on campus.

Leftists must educate, not alienate

NICOLE BOYD online/opinion editor

While conservatives tend to act as a unified voting block, di vision within the left prevents us from getting anything done.

As a leftist who spends too much time online, I’ve noticed a few trends on social media in po litical discussions. On the right, conservatives seem to be willing to engage with those who have different points of view and ex plain their own. On the left, however, leftists and liberals tend to shut down those who present a different view, even on the same side of the political spectrum, and expect others to already be educated on a particular topic. It can feel as if left-wing individuals (particularly online) try to out do one another with their pro

gressiveness, gatekeeping leftism from those who don’t share the exact opinions they do.

One common argument is that in the era of social me dia, there’s no excuse to not be educated on a particular topic. However, when we are so over saturated with an abundance of information, and misinformation is so widespread, that’s not a fair assertion to make.

Another, more understand able argument is that marginal ized communities shouldn’t have to do all the emotional labor of educating others. But that’s a cool thing about social media – those who want to engage in a conver sation can, and those who don’t, don’t have to.

Recently, there were calls to withdraw support from Maxwell Frost, the first member of Gener

ation Z elected to Congress, after he accepted money from a pro-Is rael PAC and made conflict ing comments to pro-Israel and pro-Palestine groups. Of course, he should have to publicly answer for this, and absolutely deserves to be criticized.

However, his opponent Cal vin Wimbish would have intro duced legislation to deny funding to higher education institutions promoting “Critical Race The ory” and supported the contro versial Parents’ Bill of Rights, otherwise known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Meanwhile, Frost is young, Afro Latino and a sur vivor of gun violence, running on addressing climate change and election reform. We can criticize him while acknowledging that he’ll be better for leftist move ments than Wimbish.

Conservatives do tend to excuse grave moral mistakes for the sake of their party, and I’m not saying we should go that far. But we can call for accountability without writing someone off.

I myself held some opinions I’m not proud of when I was younger. Luckily, there were peo ple in my life who educated me calmly without judgment. Had they taken a more aggressive ap proach, I might have moved fur ther right and been a very differ ent person than I am today.

This type of holi er-than-thou, binary thinking is what turns many progressives away from traditional ideologies. Let’s not foster this mindset in our own communities. We need to rally together so we can actual ly make a difference.

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sports

Bradley fells men’s basketball despite strong season

GABRIEL BRADY managing editor

The six game win streak men’s basketball was enjoying was stopped by Bradley University in their game Tuesday night.

After a short stalemate at the start, sophomore guard Demar co Minor scored the first basket of the game in the midst of the Bradley defense. However, Brad ley quickly responded with a bas ket of their own in the paint.

Less than 10 seconds after Bradley’s basket, redshirt junior forward Lamar Wright scored a strong 3 to give SIUE the lead once again. Redshirt sophomore guard Ray’sean Taylor continued the lead with another basket in the paint. Taylor kept the energy up with another basket at 17:00, bringing the score to 3-9.

Over the course of the next 75 seconds, Bradley attempted to bring their score back up, but the SIUE lead was maintained by graduate student guard Jalen Hodge, who scored a 3 at 15:47. About 2 minutes later, he scored another 3, bringing the score to 11-15 at 13:05.

At 11 minutes left in the first half, the teams had both been steadily increasing their scores, bringing it to 15-18. The teams were evenly matched as they spent the next minute after scoring no points and holding the scores. However, a 3 from Bradley tied and another basket thereafter gave them the lead at 9:22.

Redshirt sophomore Des mond Polk scored a basket at 9:07 that brought the tie back, and red shirt junior guard Shamar Wright turned the lead around to SIUE again. Minor and Shamar Wright both scored 3s, cementing the SIUE lead of 28-20 at 6:24. Not about to be outdone by his twin, Lamar Wright stepped up with a 3 of his own at 4:49.

The rest of the half continued with Bradley scoring few bas kets and SIUE maintaining the

lead. The final basket of the first half came from Taylor with four seconds left, leaving the game at 33-25.

The second half began sim ilarly to the first, with neither team gaining any ground for the first two and a half minutes. The first baskets were scored by Brad ley at the foul line. For the next two minutes, Bradley steadily took back the lead. The score was 37-35 at 14:57.

Hodge scored his second 3 of the game 30 seconds later, but Bradley responded with a bas ket shortly after, barely keeping their lead of 38-39. Bradley fol lowed it up with a 3 to strengthen their lead.

The fight to take back the lead by the end of the game began with sophomore forward Ter rance Thompson scoring a basket in the paint.

After a 3 from Bradley, Sha mar Wright got SIUE two more points at the foul line. Another minute and a half passed and Hodge scored SIUE a basket, and Bradley responded with one as well 30 seconds later.

From 8:34-5:34, the only basket was from Bradley. The game was dwindling down and Bradley still had a strong lead. However, in the next 40 seconds, Shamar Wright scored a basket, and Thompson dunked a bas ket, bringing the score to 48-49. Bradley scored another basket, but Lamar Wright got SIUE two points on the foul line.

The final 10 seconds of the game were incredibly tense. The score going in was 55-52. At :07, Lamar Wright had a layup in the paint, bringing it to 55-54. A final foul line shot from Bradely with one last second on the clock cemented their win at 56-54.

Men’s basketball goes to Illinois State University for a game Saturday. The next home game is 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8 against Illinois Institute of Technology.

the Sidelines:

BRANDON WELLS sports editor

Despite growing up in a household that root ed for the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears, I became a Cardinals fan early on because my father brought me to as many Cubs versus Cardinal games as he could.

I was never pressured to pick a sports team to root for, and even my mother was a Cardinals fan before she met my father.

I developed my own opinions and subsequently be came a New Orleans Saints fan because of their strong team.

I see different types of inter

Team

net memes related to sports teams all the time, usually making fun of other teams or players. This is all good fun, but sometimes people can take rivalries too far and resort to just flat-out bully ing or even worse, violence.

An example of this can come from the Football War, which was a short conflict be tween El Salvador and Honduras in 1969.

War nearly began over soccer games where players were reportedly mistreated while vis iting, which escalated as they visited each other’s countries for a series of games.

In a less serious matter, rivalries can end up hurting

friendships over how heated anything surrounding sports can get.

According to a study from West Virginia University, aggression related to a person’s team identification, or which team they root for, can influence the likelihood for them to act violently towards opposing teams, verbally or physically.

Unnecessary violence or negativity from sports team identification and rivalry is nev er okay. Sports are meant to be fun. Insulting others based on their team preference can keep people away from the sport you enjoy, and it doesn’t contrib ute in any positive way.

Sophomore guard Ray’Sean Taylor of Collinsville, Illinois, goes for a layup as Bradley’s Malevy Leons attempts to block his shot. | Chloe Wolfe / The Alestle

From

rivalries are fun, but they should not be taken too far