The Alestle Vol. 74 No. 38

FACULTY TV SHOW FEATURES STUDENTS AND ALUMNI page 4

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CHEER AND DANCE TAKE WINS IN FIRST VIRTUAL COMPETITION page 7

The Student Voice Since 1960

vol. 74 no. 33

News in brief Deepfakes — Artificial Intelligence causes New COVID-19 stir on social media, international security testing guidance for fall

Students, faculty and staff will now be required by the university to get weekly COVID-19 screening tests unless they meet the school’s exemption requirements.

According to an email sent to students Thursday afternoon, students, faculty and staff commuting to Alton, East St. Louis, Edwardsville campus and clinical settings will be submitted to weekly COVID-19 testing. Those who are exempt from the weekly screenings are either fully vaccinated two weeks from the date of their last vaccine, tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 90 days or are taking a fully online class schedule and aren’t coming to campus.

To request an exemption, visit https://forms.office.com/r/6nt3nDPcUL. On the exemption form, students will need to submit vaccine information and any positive COVID-19 results from the past 90 days. The university is highly encouraging students to get vaccinated.

To learn about the vaccine and find a location to get vaccinated, visit the Illinois Department of Public Health’s website. As time gets closer to the fall semester, SIUE will update the community on any further requirements and how to schedule tests.

Direct any questions to COVID-19 Response Coordinator Michael Schultz at covidtesting@siue.edu.

DANA MCLENNAN copy editor

The SIUE School of Business and the Canadian telephone company TELUS Communications recently co-sponsored and hosted the International Telecommunications Society webinar “Deepfakes: The Coming Infocalypse with Nina Schick,” addressing synthetic media and its broad implications.

Nina Schick, an author, speaker and adviser who specializes in how technology is transforming geopolitics and society said deepfakes are a piece of synthetic or fake media that’s been manipulated or entirely generated by artificial intelligence.

“It can be an image, it could be a video, it can even be a piece of audio — and really, this amazing ability of artificial intelligence to create fake media is a cutting-edge develop-

ment which [has] only been possible for the last five years or so, thanks to the recent revolution in [deepfake] learning which is moving AI from the realm of science fiction into practical reality,” Schick said.

A recent example would be the deepfake created by Belgian visual effects specialist Chris Ume of Tom Cruise working on his golf swing and shared on social media reported on by ABC news. While something as simple as pretending a celebrity is playing golf doesn’t seem harmful, it could be when you consider what this technology could do to reputations and national security, Schick said.

“The potential for harm is tremendous,” Rep. Adam Schiff said in an interview with Morgan Radford on TODAY in 2019. “And what psychologists will tell you is if you see a video of someone saying something distasteful or racist or criminal or whatever, even if you’re later persuaded that wasn’t them, you can never completely lose the lingering negative impression of that person.”

Stanford Levin, emeritus professor of economics and finance and consultant for TELUS Communications said that deepfake technology will likely have a big impact on society.

“This is the same sort of thing that Facebook and other social media are struggling with. ‘How do you know that something that was put on-

line is correct? Or you’re getting data or you’re watching something … is it artificial? Or is it real?’” Levin said.

“So, we’re going to have to come to terms with how to verify things.”

Schick said the technology that used to take a long time to synt hesi ze or clone voices needs less training data to be created, is becoming more automated and can now be created in seconds, making it accessible to more than just AI researchers.

“Already, five seconds of an audio recording of someone’s voice is enough for AI to learn to clone it. So hypothetically, that means if there is a five second recording of you somewhere like on your camera roll, on an Instagram story, on a LinkedIn post, on a YouTube video, on a WhatsApp voice recording, that can potentially be used to hijack your identity,” Schick said. “The AI’s ability to clone real people is of course not only limited to audio, amazingly it extends to fake video too, even if that person is already dead.”

Schick used synthetic voice/ deepfake videos of long-dead artist Salvador Dalí that was created by the Dalí Museum

in Florida and a synthetic voice clone of comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan to explain processing fluency of humans.

“If I primed you and told you that the Rogan voice and the Dalí video were fake, could you have believed that they were real?

The answer is that many would have, because as humans we’re wired to want to believe something that looks and sounds right,” Schick said. “It’s actually a cognitive bias known as processing fluency. So, it should come as no surprise then that media manipulation has a very long and prolific history as a very powerful tool to shape the collective human perception.”

Corporations are already using AI to develop training videos and business platforms, Schick said, creating a synthetic future and having some positive applications.

“It also offers an opportunity for real social good. Some companies, for instance like VocaliD … are developing synthetic voices … for those who cannot speak due to debilitating diseases like cancer or stroke, or Parkinson’s,” Schick said. “So, I think you can see DEEPFAKES on page 3

Mass comm student earns honorable mention at Mid-America Emmys

EMILY STERZINGER opinion editor

Carlos Dulcamara, a senior mass communications major from Mascoutah, Illinois, earned an honorable mention in the Mid-America Emmys. His video, “Honey Bunches of Oats Commercial,” was entered in the Craft Editor category.

The Mid-America Emmys is a regional chapter of the Emmys award show that covers specific areas of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. Dulcamara’s entry was under the section for College Production Awards.

Dulcamara produced the video for Mass Communications 330: Advanced Broadcast Writing, which was taught by Mark Poepsel, associate professor of mass communications.

“He asked us to create a

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script for a commercial, but the thing is, he wanted us to produce the actual video as well,” Dulcamara said. “I don’t know where I thought of this, but I thought, ‘You know what? It would be cool to do a cereal commercial, like the ones you see on TV with all the cool effects on it.’ So I went ahead and recreated it my own way.”

Poepsel said that as a student, Dulcamara is a joy to have in class.

“He was always attentive during in person classes and willing to contribute in Zoom classes. He’s the kind of student who helps other students get better because he has a passion for mass communication and the art of producing mass media,” Poepsel said.

The video is 30 seconds long and narrated by Dulcamara’s sister. It was filmed and edited at his home in Mascoutah.

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“I ended up recording all of that in my house. So I have a backdrop, and I have my camera and all the cereal and the bowls and the props and stuff like that — I did all of that,” Dulcamara said.

Cory Byers, an instructor in the mass communications department, was the one who encouraged Dulcamara to submit his project to the Mid-America Emmys.

“I thought it was really well done. It was part of his demo reel or something else, but I thought it was pretty high quality. I had judged the Emmys before; I judged them every year, and it looked like it was up to that level that he could compete. So that’s why I suggested that he should submit to it,” Byers said.

At first, the honorable mention took Dulcamara by surprise.

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“When I first saw the video of all the awards and I saw my name for a second, I thought I actually won so I freaked out,” Dulcamara said. “But then I saw ‘honorable mention’ and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s just an honorable mention,’ but that’s still pretty good.”

Dulcamara has been involved in editing videos since 2017, and credits his time at SIUE with understanding production at a professional level.

“I’ve transferred with many colleges, and so the SIUE program helped me realize the more professional side of video production. It gives me more hands-on production and understanding of how scripting works, or how it will be in the professional world. I feel like that the sense of professionalism kind of influenced me to proceed in my love for video production,”

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@thealestle

Dulcamara said.

Poepsel said he wasn’t surprised Dulcamara had been acknowledged at the Mid-America Emmys.

“Carlos makes us all look good. I do think that there’s some element of our mass communication education — our standards that we have are pretty high. It makes me really glad that I started adding a production element to a class that used to be much more focused on writing,” Poepsel said.

“But professors always want to take credit for students’ work, and so we really shouldn’t do that. He just did an awesome job and the awesome work got recognized because it’s great work.”

The video is available on Dulcamara’s Vimeo page, and more information on the Mid-America Emmys can be found on their website.

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Ninian Edwards statue taken off pedestal, future location uncertain

Yes. Did he gain more slaves? No. He was County Historical Society to gauge their inthe father of a brother-in-law to Abraham terest, seeing it as a logical place for the statue.

“I had heard that the Madison CounLincoln. I understand that he was workNOTE: The opinions expressed by city ing to keep Missouri from becoming a ty Historical [Society] did not want the council members in this piece are solely rep- slave state,” Stack said. “Yes, they did kill statue, and so I wanted to see if there resentative of those individuals, not on be- some indigenous people that were fight- was any truth to that and find out if not, why not?” Morrison half of the entire Edwardsville City Council. ing against them in said. “If in fact they Edwardsville’s most controversial the War of 1812, would take it, then statue was removed from its pedestal late that had gone to kill I think that’s somelast month, but remains in the newly-re- settlers, but those thing the council named downtown plaza. While some that fought with the should be presented hope to display a different side of the militia from Illinois with as an option.”

Ninian Edwards story at the site, others were given land.

Faust said even want his story told somewhere else en- Ninian Edwards if the committee tirely — though exactly where is unclear. helped Benjamin votes to acquire the Ezra Temko, assistant professor of Stephenson actualstatue, there’s no sociology and member of Our Edwards- ly sign treaties and clear decision yet ville — a local group who called for [gain] more land for on how it would the statue’s removal on the grounds of the expansion westbe displayed — or racism — said he doesn’t think the ac- ward with the [Nawhether it would tions of the city go far enough, partial- tive Americans].” be displayed at all. ly because their priorities lie elsewhere.

This is one of “Just because “I don’t think it makes sense, remov- many sides to Edwe have something ing the statue to take away the pedestal wards’s personal hisdoesn’t mean it gets and then putting it right back. Its loca- tory which the city displayed. Could we tion there in the downtown plaza still hopes to display in put that statue outcontinues to honor Edwards’s legacy,” the form of a plaque side because it’s deTemko said. “I think most people that are or lithograph, a signed to be outside? on Edwardsville City Council love our move Temko said Yes, we could,” Faust community and are interested in making would be pointsaid. “Could we put sure the roads don’t have potholes and less in City Plaza. it in storage with everything like that, but … I wish that “It doesn’t the other things? the council would take more bold action make any sense to Yes, we could.” that reflects the values that Edwards- add a lithograph at While a potenville professes about our community.” the current site. I The City of Edwardsville removes pedesWard 4 Alderman S.J. Mor- mean, the point of tal from the controversial Ninian Edwards tial new site has yet rison said while the statue hasn’t a lithograph ... is statue in the newly renamed “City Plaza.” to be determined, moved much, he thinks it’s ultimate- for people to read | Damian Morris / The Alestle there is no shortage of strong feelings ly moving in the right direction. it,” Temko said.

“I think it’s a good first step. Person- “It’s not a plaza that’s really used, it’s one concerning the statue’s possible relocation. ally, I would like to see it moved to a mu- that people drive by as they kind of enter Stack said she thinks relocating the statue seum or educational institution where it and leave the downtown. And so people is a waste of resources which would erase can be interpreted, and I think it’s more aren’t going to be reading … people are a significant portion of the town’s history.

“Quite frankly, I don’t understand. appropriate in a location like that ... rather still just going to see the statue and they than in such a prominent place at an en- won’t interact with the information, so I mean, I know that [relocation supporttry point into our downtown,” Morrison it won’t serve that educational purpose.” ers] are upset, but I would like to see said. “At a miniTemko said he them put their energies in things that are mum, I was a proand Our Edwards- more beneficial to those that are considponent of removing ville are calling for ered oppressed,” Stack said. “I feel like it from the pedestal the space to become sometimes they jumped on the band— both literally and more welcoming wagon trying to do something, and I figuratively taking to the community. want it to be more constructive, I want Ninian Edwards According to Tem- it to be more long-lasting. And I think off this pedestal.” ko, the first step in to move it would get it out of sight, out According to achieving this goal of mind and then everybody washes Ward 3 Alderman is finding a new their hands and says, ‘Okay, we’re done.’”

Temko said while the relocation Janet Stack, this home for the statwas the city’s atue, a process which movement is gaining momentum, it’s tempt to listen to both Our Edwards- also gaining some misconceptions.

“As people learn more about Ninian all sides of the issue. ville and some of the “I saw it as a city council has tak- Edwards’s history, and as they learn more compromise been upon themselves. about why people support relocating the tween those that “We’ve asked statue, more and more people come on didn’t want it moved city council mem- board. And there’s certainly people who at all and those that bers to brainstorm are dead-set against even the removal of wanted it changed,” and use their net- the pedestal, but they’re also against a lot Stack said. “I think works, but we hope of other values that Edwardsville seeks to we’re trying to say to do that on our have in our community,” Temko said. “I that we’re being end as well, reach- also see a lot of misinformation thrown out sympathetic and ing out to potential there, and a lot of labels like, ‘You’re trying understanding of sites,” Temko said. to destroy history,’ or other things that concerns, but that Fred Faust, just aren’t true … I think it’s just a matter we also respect president of the of continuing to educate the community those that didn’t Madison County about Ninian Edwards’s history, and about want it moved.” Protesters in Fall 2020 cover the Ninian Historical Society, what statues do and don’t represent.”

Faust said the Madison County F o r m e r l y Edwards statue’s head with a burlap sack said he received a known as “Nin- and place chains around its feet as they call from Morri- Historical Society will have their next ian Edwards Pla- honor the victims of Edwards’ actions. son last month ask- meeting on July 15, during which the | Khoi Pham / The Alestle ing if the society acquisition committee will make their za,” Stack said the site of the statue would be interest- recommendation to the board of direchas been renamed “City Plaza.” She said ed in hosting the statue. He brought up tors, who will cast the deciding vote the city will eventually install a complete the call at their June meeting, setting in on whether to accept the statue or not.

The statue was erected in the sumaccount of Ninian Edwards’s person- motion their standard acquisition process. al history in the plaza, though it has not “Anytime someone wants to give mer of 2008 — if relocated, it will have yet been determined how this history us something … it goes to our Acquisi- spent just 13 years in what is now known will be displayed, nor when the installa- tions and Ascension committee, and what as City Plaza. The sculptor, unable to tion will take place. According to Stack, they do is they evaluate it — ‘Does this determine Edwards’s actual height, part of this history will attempt to paint fit us,’ ‘Do we want it,’ all those things sculpted his bronze likeness at her esa more well-rounded picture of Edwards. — and that committee will meet some- timate of five feet six inches tall — now “I do think that there’s a side of him time in the [near future],” Faust said. standing on ground level, it towers that’s not being told. Did he own slaves?

Morrison said he called the Madison over far fewer Edwardsville residents.

DALTON BROWN copy editor

wednesday, 07.14.21

News in brief

Metro East StartUp Challenge, new categories announced This year, the Metro East StartUp Challenge has expanded to include Fayette and Montgomery counties and two new prize categories. The annual competition aims to help mentor and provide support to small businesses.

The competition is held by the Illinois Small Business Development Center for the Metro East. Jo Ann Di Maggio May, director of the SBDC, said those interested should submit their application and executive summary by the initial entry deadline of Aug. 8.

“The executive summary really is the last thing you write when you put together your business plan, but for our competition, it’s the first thing,” Di Maggio May said. “It’s that snapshot that talks about, ‘What is the business idea, who are you and why do you think you can accomplish this business and what’s going to make you successful?’”

Di Maggio May said this year, in addition to Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph counties, Montgomery and Fayetteville counties will also be eligible. She also said two more prize categories have been added this year.

“With the addition of those two counties, we are hopeful that we will have additional sponsorships and prize money to hand out,” Di Maggio May said. “To really sustain the overall value of the competition and the overall presence that we’ve sustained over this time, we want to incorporate two new prizes with those funds. We will have a Rural Business of the Year as well as a Woman, Minority or Veteran Business of the Year prize.”

Di Maggio May said winners of the new prize categories will receive $1,500 each. Requirements for entry into the new categories can be found on the MESC website.

The top four winners will take home $10,000, $6,000, $4,000 and $2,000, respectively, along with professional business services or mentoring.

Each leg of the competition has independent reviewers composed of business professionals, a panel of judges for mock business pitches and then the final judging panel to determine the winners. Di Maggio May said the SBDC assists with pitches, mentoring and organizing the competition, but does not decide finalists.

Businesses must be for-profit to be eligible. Existing businesses must have been established after April 30, 2018.

Businesses must be headquartered in one of the 11 counties. Winners will be announced Nov. 5, 2021.

wednesday, 07.14.21

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Former Theater Chair retires after 26 years NICOLE BOYD copy editor

Peter Cocuzza, former chair of the Department of Theater and Dance, has retired after 26 years at SIUE. In that time, he was involved in creating several projects, such as Xfest.

Cocuzza said his retirement plans are not to write a novel or change the world, but to not plan anymore.

“For 26 plus years, I’ve been planning lessons, planning classes, directing shows, creating field trips and I’m not going to plan anymore. The plan is to actually live each day as fully as I can, see what gets presented in front of me every day, take advantage of it and if it leads me to doing something monumental, then it will,” Cocuzza said. “At this point it’s like hitting the reset button, which is kind of freeing.”

Cocuzza said he decided to retire because he feels like it’s his turn after over 40 years of being in the workforce.

“I still have enough of my health, so I’m still moving around well, that I want to enjoy some time with my wife, whatever that means, whatever that brings to us, while I can … It’s not that anything was going badly,” Cocuzza said. “It felt like I’ve done what I could do.”

During his time at SIUE, Cocuzza created a number of projects, one of which was the Cougar Theater Camp, a summer theater camp for elementary school, middle school and high school students. Cocuzza said while the department had been doing summer shows, he wanted a way to earn additional money to create scholarships or take students on field trips.

“I went to the Dean at that particular time, who was Dixie Engleman, and said, ‘Do I have your permission to create a summer camp?’ and her first question was, ‘What’s it going to cost?’ And I said, ‘Nothing, because whatever money I charge, that’s what I’m going to use to pay for the camp,’ and she said, ‘OK.’ So we did our first camp in, I think it was 1998 … It was a great success,” Cocuzza said.

Cocuzza also helped create the Cougar Theater Company, a group of actors that toured a show across schools in the area.

“Not only was it a great way for the students to make a little money, but then to be in a show, and it was great outreach for community service. It checked off a lot of boxes,” Cocuzza said. “We created that with Lana Hagan, who was the director of theater education at the time, and it was

meant for theater [education] students to like to do a dialect, I knew what it was like do just that, to pick a theater-friendly, chil- to work in dinner theater, Christian thedren’s or family-oriented show, and then ater, an outdoor theater, children’s theater, tour it.”

Shakespeare, and I found myself being Cocuzza and a colleague also came up able to teach these things as an adjunct,” with the idea for Xfest, a week-long theater Cocuzza said. “There was a time when I festival. realized I am a better teacher than I am “I talked to a colleague about doing a an actor. It was funny, my mentors in my summer festival that we could run in the MFA program, they knew that I was gosummer that was an experimental theater ing to be a teacher well before I did. It just festival. We would bring in theater com- took me a while.” panies that did avant-garde theater, and Kathryn Bentley, assistant professor then maybe put them in resiof theater, said Cocuzza was dence and then invite people her colleague for 17 years, to buy a subscription,” Coand that she, Cocuzza and cuzza said. “Not only could Chuck Harper worked tothey see a summer show gether in the performance and a musical and get their specialization of the Departkids involved, but then they ment of Theater and Dance. could see all these wonderful “It was the three of things that they would nevus, and we collaborated on er see somewhere else. That classes that we offer, we was the kernel of the idea.” collaborated on the producCocuzza said the idea tion, collaborated on student has grown. Xfest now takes mentorship and our voice in / photo courtesy place during the first semesthe department. We had a of University ter, because many students very cohesive trio between Marketing and go home for the summer. the three of us in our work Communications Cocuzza also said Xfest puts together,” Bentley said.

SIUE in the national spotlight, makes the Bentley said Cocuzza was a great mentheater department unique among other tor to her in the department. departments at SIUE and gives students “Seventeen years ago, this was my first the opportunity to see productions from teaching gig, so I learned a lot from him as across the country because they get to see far as developing a curriculum and classmany performers in one place. room management. I learned a lot from “It helped them understand that it’s him, so it was a great collaboration,” Bentnot just about Broadway … There’s many, ley said. many, many ways you can have a career in Tiffany Ellis, a sophomore theater mathe theater arts and not be on Broadway,” jor from Chicago, said she had Cocuzza for Cocuzza said. “Just having this festival is THEA 112, which is a first-year theater a great way to let the students know that class that theater majors take. Ellis said Cohere are these great artists coming in who cuzza took time to make sure the students are not on Broadway, but have a career, understood what he taught. who are creating their own work, present“We did a couple of scenes from a couing their own work, marketing their own ple of plays that we were reading throughwork, doing all the marketing, graphics, out the year, and with those, he didn’t realdirecting, and so it encompasses all of the ly tell us what to do or how to do them. He things we’ve been trying to teach our stu- let us figure it out for ourselves, and then dents.” he asked us guiding questions to make us Cocuzza said he got into theater after figure out what our purpose was for that quitting his job as a chemist. He said he scene,” Ellis said. “He gave us notes but went back to school at Ohio University and really he was just good at guiding us in orgot a BFA and an MFA, and was then de- der to figure out what we could improve termined to be an actor before he realized ourselves.” he wanted to teach.

Ellis said Cocuzza was a really good “For five, six years, seven years, I was teacher, so she’s sad that he’s leaving. auditioning, getting small parts, doing “I’m really sad to see him go, since I commercials, being an extra in a movie, only got to spend one semester in his class. and I found myself getting all of these I got to audition for one of the plays that varied experiences. I knew what it was like he was doing. But he’s a really good guy,” to be on a movie set, I knew what it was Ellis said.

07.06.21 Officer assisted Alton PD with traffic control while Alton PD took a subject into custody.

07.08.21 Officer took a report regarding an employee stating that she was receiving phone calls and text messages from a contractor and wanted the SIUE PD to be inform. Officer advised the incident took place outside of SIUE. Troy PD was contacted for a full report.

Officer advised there was a subject that was lighting fireworks off in Cougar Village. Officer advised subject that fireworks were not allowed on campus.

Officer took possession of the fireworks.

Subject left without incident.

07.09.21 Officer assisted Glen Carbon PD with searching a female subject with negative results.

07.11.21 Officer assisted Edwardsville PD with trying to locate subject in a vehicle.

Officer advised the subject nor the vehicle were located.

Officer assisted Edwardsville PD with locating a subject in the MCT parking lot. Officer advised subject that the lot was closed at night. Subject left area without incident.

07.12.21 Officer responded to a report of a found item. Officer advised the item was drug paraphernalia. Item was destroyed at the Police Department.

Officer responded to a report of a female subject laying on the ground. Officer made contact with subject. Subject did not need police assistance.

Officer responded to a report of a male subject laying on the ground. Officer made contact with subject. Subject did not need police assistance and left area without incident.

Leadership Exploration and Development program revamps for fall KRISTINA JOHNSON sports editor

The LEAD program is heading into their third year at SIUE with new revisions to allow more students to get involved.

Assistant Director of Leadership Program Melinda Stitzel said she started the program two years ago in hopes of adding leadership to the list of skills students at SIUE can obtain. With a rocky pandemic year, which Stitzel said lowered their participation and attendance rates, she knew changes needed to be made.

“I had started asking questions to students in the LEAD program about why they weren’t going to be completing it, what they liked, what they didn’t like,” Stitzel said. “We noticed especially during [COVID-19] we were not getting a lot of people submitting reflections, which is a required component.”

To start their revisions, Stitzel said the program is removing their point system.

This system was put in place to show students what they had completed within the program and see their progress. She said it

ended up being more confusing than helpful and may have been deterring students from wanting to complete assignments.

“There are a couple other components that we have cut by proxy of cutting out the point system,” Stitzel said. “We are also hoping to have marketing materials to be more clear about what the LEAD program is and that is something my summer practicum student is helping me with.”

Geography master’s candidate Brett Bertok of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, has been involved with the program since 2019 and has held a variety of positions, including being a student committee member, which helped develop the framework of the program.

“I transferred to SIUE in 2019 to finish my undergraduate degree and from the get-go I got involved with the leadership programs on campus,” Bertok said. “I had some previous leadership experience before SIUE, but I thought, ‘There is always room for growth.’”

With multiple years of leadership experience at SIUE and his previous college, Bertok said the LEAD program allows students who are interested in leadership

to learn as they go and at their own pace, which he believes could be enticing for future members.

“LEAD is a very self-paced, independent program that doesn’t take a lot of monitoring,” Bertok said. “It really lets students complete it as they can with their time and capacity. Because the program is well-rounded it can become kind of dense with students who are just starting it.”

Sophomore mechanical engineering student Ashlen Knabach of Black Jack, Missouri, will be serving as the LEAD liaison on the student leadership council. She said she joined the group to learn more about leadership, a skill she knows she’ll need in the future.

“Honestly leadership kind of scares me. I don’t have too much leadership experience and I thought this would be a great way to jump in and grow a lot,” Knabach said. “I will be part of the onboarding experience and I will help students get involved in the program by welcoming them and explaining what they need to do to complete it.”

The program is designed to be able to be completed in a minimum of two years,

Stitzel said, but she also saidstudents don’t have to graduate from the program but have to keep up with the requirements.

“It is a multiple year endeavor for most students,” Stitzel said. “It’s part tracking system for things you may already be doing but with some guided reflections. At the end of the program every student completes a portfolio. We have them look at their pre-assessment and post-assessment scores and compare if they have grown, if their numbers have gone down [and] why they think that might be.”

The last step is an exit interview. Stitzel said this is where students can show their leadership style and what they have learned throughout the LEAD program in a mimicked job interview setting.

“The LEAD program with the revisions is really for any student,” Stitzel said.

“Whether you are a second year graduate student or someone who is just starting at SIUE, there is a path to get you from that pre-assessment all the way through to the end.”

Visit the LEAD program website for more information on the program and how to get involved.

NEXT WEEK: BLACK WIDOW, MARVEL MOVIES, AND FEMINISM page 4

lifestyles alestlelive.com

contact the editor: lifestyles@alestlelive.com 650-3527 wednesday, 07.14.21

Alumnus takes initiative in fight against lunch shaming BRANDON WELLS reporter The concept of being shamed for not being able to pay for lunch is an unfortunate truth in the United States. While some states, including Illinois, have decided to combat lunch shaming at the source, many states still have no policies against it.

Wygal said he first learned about lunch shaming in a summer course taught by Anni Reinking, the director of development & education research at the CS Education Research Resource Center.

“I did a whole section of my course on lunch shaming and he really seemed to be interested in it and did one of his final projects on it,” Reinking said.

Reinking said lunch shaming is part of a much broader issue in society.

“Lunch shaming is part of what’s called “monetary shaming” and “food shaming.”

Under that umbrella is really shaming children who are eating reduced lunch or have overdrawn lunch accounts and put them in a different place in the cafeteria to give them a different lunch,” Reinking said.

With the betterment of children in mind, alumnus Zach Wygal, a special education teacher at the Hillsboro Junior High School in Hillsboro, Illinois, said he started his journey to learn about lunch shaming in a class about Poverty In Schools at SIUE. After the class, Wygal said he realized the school he teaches at had a problem.

“I came back to my school and was talking to the superintendent — I was friends with the school board president and I was like, ‘Hey how can we get rid of this at our school,’” Wygal said. “[In] our entire district ,if you owed over $25, students were not given a regular lunch. They were just given a cheese sandwich.”

As soon as he heard that it was happening at his workplace, Wygal

said he decided he was going to do something about it.

“I realized that at the school that I taught at, we were doing that there. I never really thought much about it, I just thought that it was normal. I didn’t think too deeply into it, I don’t think a lot of people did,” Wygal said.

Reinking said some of her reasoning for focusing on the subject in her class comes from personal experience through teaching and being a mother.

“My son is in seventh grade now so within the last seven or eight years this has happened with children in his school. I’m hearing him come home and saying, ‘Little Tommy had to sit at a different table today because they said he didn’t have enough money on his lunch account,’ or in some schools that I have been in as an observer [I would see that] some students have marks on their hands,” Reinking said.

Wygal said many administrators don’t want to enforce policies that lead to things like lunch shaming, but with a growing lunch debt, many schools had to make a choice. “[The school board] said that the lunch debt went down considerably when they started doing this to kids. They didn’t like doing it, but parents started paying their lunch debt,” Wygal said. “It didn’t really make sense to me because now I’m thinking, ‘Hey, this kid’s caught in the middle. My eighth grader’s not going to go out and get a job to pay down his lunch debt.”

To devote his attention to the problem, Wygal said he changed his graduate program from Curriculum and Instruction to Diversity and Equity in Education directed by Jennifer Logue, a professor in the department of Educational Leadership.

“His passion is obviously advocating for social justice in schools, and then he found our program and realized, ‘I can

Another story of lunch shaming somes from the Alabama Real-Time News, which reported elementary students with debts were being stamped with the message “I need lunch money,” on their arms. | Johnathan Borba / Unsplash

In 2019, the Star Tribune reported some schools in Minnesota had been denying graduating students of their caps and gowns due to outstanding lunch debts. | Qearl Hu / Unsplash actually do this and get a degree for it,’” Logue said.“Zach and our program were a perfect match. The nicest thing to see is students who continue the work they started in our program.”

Logue said she first heard about lunch shaming from Wygal when he had a class with her. Growing up in Ontario, Canada, Logue said she had never realized “lunch shaming” was a term.

“One of the major differences between Canada and the U.S. is funding for education. In Canada, the funding is federal, we have federal funds that school’s rely on, so there’s far less gaps,” Logue said.

Regardless of the money involved, Reinking said she still believes this is something that directly punishes children for something they can’t control.

“This shaming of students and this idea that young children, not just high school students, but young children in elementary schools are ... being punished for an adult action. It’s not the child’s fault that they don’t have money in their lunch account,” Reinking said.

Wygal said he decided that the research he’d done was only going to be useful if he did something about it, so he took his research straight to Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

Upon realizing that the process was going to be slow, Wygal said he made a website to raise awareness about lunch shaming and help people get in contact with representatives and lawmakers in their states.

| Graphics Manager Kirsten O’Loughlin / The Alestle

wednesday, 07.14.21

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New TV pilot led by Mass Comm. instructor

page 5

Alumni and students featured as production crew, actors BRANDON WELLS reporter

The TV show “Scramble” was a project written and directed by Mass Communications Instructor Josh Bovinette with John Patrick Costello being the producer of the show. Filmed in Belleville, Illinois, the show primarily takes place at a golf course and adds comedy and drama to the often serious nature of golf.

Bovinette said the current focus of the pilot episode is to increase the chances of a continuation of the series. Bovinette also said the series was something he and Costello talked about together before deciding to go along with the idea.

“The show is about weekend golf [and] about guys who take it very seriously but they’re amateurs. They play in tourna-

The crew sets up the rain machine between shots. | Brandon Wells / The Alestle

ments called scrambles. A scramble game is a game where everyone on the team hits a ball and then you get to choose the best hit out of those balls and everyone has to hit from that ball, so you’re constantly hitting from the best ball,” Bovinette said.

To help accomplish his goal of organizing a talented group of people for filmmaking projects like this, Bovinette said he enlisted the help of different organizations around St. Louis.

“I went to SIUE, where I knew there were some talented people, Webster University, SWIC, local community theaters, local improv groups, local talent agencies and slowly started finding all the people we needed,” Bovinette said.

Mass Communications Instructor Cory Byers worked on set as assistant director of the show and said the project has been interesting due to the amount of people involved.

“It’s been really interesting to see the variety of characters in these roles. [Bovinette] wrote the script, so he cast the right people as well,” Byers said.

Regardless of how difficult it might be sometimes, Byers

said he believes that doing projects like these ends up being fun.

“It’s a lot of work and it can be stressful, but it’s fun. The creative process of the story and how the actors portray it, to where you decide to put the camera, and how you [do the sound work] and everything is just fun to experience,” Byers said.

Senior Theater and Dance major Sadie Harvey of Knoxville, Tennessee, was one of the many actors involved and said this role is the first larger project she had been a part of.

“When I first got here, I was horribly nervous. I had never done anything like this before.

[Afterwards] I got to see some of the ropes and immediately my nerves calmed down — everyone was very respectful, everyone was having a good time and I’m just making art, and I really like that,” Harvey said.

Harvey said this project was part of her goal to be involved in different types of filmmaking.

“I want to do anything acting-wise that comes my way — and non-acting, but this is definitely a very nice first step into the world of film

and television,” Harvey said.

Alumnus Garret Green of Belleville, Illinois, who helped with the camera work, said he had been a student of both Bovinette and Byers and worked with them on a movie before this project.

“It’s kind of funny. When you’re in class with them you look at them as your teacher or professor and then they become — at least in terms of [Bovinette], he kind becomes your boss,” Green said.

Due to a majority of the filming being outside, Green said one of the main problems he had was the heat.

“My camera kept overheating. There’s always something that goes when you’re on sets like this, so you’ve got to be prepared for anything. But that’s the good thing about having a lot of people — we had three different cameramen, so I had to step out for a couple scenes and they were still getting good shots,” Green said.

Bovinette said his hope is that the show is picked up by a streaming service or channel after the project is finished in order to continue it past the pilot.

REVIEW: COVID-19 and streaming Alumnus receives Officer of the Year Award arned at SIUE were things he appreciated have changed movie theaters knowing before going into his career as a BRANDON WELLS reporter

KRISTINA JOHNSON sports editor

After not seeing a movie in theaters since 2019, the experience at the movies is quite different compared to the once chaotic scene at a blockbuster movie debut.

I went to the movies on a Tuesday afternoon and it was rather empty — even for the 30 percent discount on the tickets since it was before 5 p.m.

Similar to a majority of businesses in the area, the Edwardsville AMC theater is following the current CDC guidelines by requiring unvaccinated individuals to wear a mask during their time spent in the building, but vaccinated individuals aren’t required to wear one. They are also taking the extra precautions of having pre-selected seating, less touch points for customers, air filters and more.

The animated movie “The Boss Baby: Family Business” is a PG rated movie which I was certain would bring out groups of younger children and teenagers. Since it is summer and school is out of session, I assumed there would be a handful of moviegoers — that wasn’t the case.

The 4:30 p.m. movie had four people inside the theater and no one came in after the movie trailers. Even though the movie was released July 2, it seemed as if nobody was coming to see it in theaters.

Other than COVID-19, a possible explanation for this could be the rise in popularity of streaming services, and some TV subscription plans offer streaming of movies and shows before they are released. “The Boss Baby: Family Business” was released in theaters, but was also released for subscribers of Peacock TV before the release. The service, which has a variety of plans going up to

$9.99 a month, partners with certain TV providers to allow them to bypass the subscription by logging into their TV subscription service.

Other subscription services, such as Hulu and YouTube TV, have plans which include various live TV channels.

For some people, it may seem enticing to indulge in these packages, and get rid of their cable subscriptions and turn to online streaming services instead.

Another explanation could be people don’t want to spend the money on movie tickets, popcorn, candy and more for a couple hour long movie — instead they can just watch it at home. There are a handful of subscription services that will stream the movie at a later date. A Netflix subscription can be as cheap as $8.99 a month, whereas a movie ticket is $8 at a discounted price.

Another potential downside about going to the movies is all the other items you can purchase there. The typical moviegoer will buy a bag of popcorn and a drink, but children may want a box of candy. A newer feature at the Edwardsville AMC is the addition of a bar where adults could get a drink as well. With those highly priced food and drinks, you could potentially end up spending $30$40 on a movie night, or sit at home and watch a movie or TV show on your couch through a subscription.

The overall experience at the movie theater hasn’t changed much. All the same features are available as pre-pandemic, but you may find yourself watching a movie in an empty theater and this may be a bonus for some. Besides the potential of wearing a mask and the workers cleaning more often, operations are as normal from the customer’s perspective. You can still see the newest movies, eat a bag of buttery popcorn or drink a huge soda.

Justin Schulz, an alumnus who majored in criminal justice studies, recently received the 2020 Officer of the Year Award at his police department in Gulf Shores, Alabama which he joined after graduation.

While seeing it as an honor, Schulz said he wishes the award was able to be given to his squad as a whole instead of just him.

“I don’t want to accept awards solely for myself. Truly, the squad that I was on last year, we all played a great part in the calls for service and a lot of the high priority calls that led to more serious actions that needed to be taken,” Schulz said.

Schulz said one of the situations he thinks was a part of receiving this award was a life-saving event he was involved in. “[An individual who was driving] suffered cardiac arrest, so I was the first person on the scene,” Schulz said. “He was extracted from the vehicle and life-saving procedures were given, and ultimately he’s here to live another day.”

Six months after the incident, Schulz said he was able to meet the person he saved.

“Those types of incidents, no words can describe that — no materialistic item [like] an award — but the highest award or anything you could receive is seeing that man being reunited with his family and being able to walk and live life,” Schulz said.

Kevin Cannon, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, said he remembers Schulz well due to how outgoing he was.

“He was a very good student. His attendance was good, his work in class was good and he was a very nice kid outside of class. I remember talking to him a lot and he had a very lively personality,” Cannon said.

Schulz said many of the things he le-

police officer.

“The professors definitely laid out a very strong foundation in terms of pushing and as far as [having] a background in law enforcement. The different courses that [were offered] helped pave the way until I got established with the department and then carried on that knowledge to the police academy,” Schulz said.

Gulf Shores Police Chief Edward Delmore said he’s known Schulz for almost eight years, and believes he is an exemplary police officer and field training officer.

“He’s one of the top performers of the department, and one has to be considered highly effective by our command staff in order to be placed in [the field training officer] position and retained in that position,” Delmore said.

Delmore said the award given to Schulz comes from a year-round selection process based on the top performing officer for each month.

“There are four patrol squads in the patrol division, and every month the watch commander, which is a command sergeant, is required to nominate one of their officers for Patrolman of the Month. Typically the officer that receives that award the most times in a 12 month period, in a calendar year, is then named the Officer of the Year,” Delmore said.

Schulz said he went on to join the GSPD soon after graduating to follow a family legacy of police officers, but there are various other reasons he enjoys his job. “[I enjoy] the camaraderie, being close to your officers and truly trying to make a difference, but at the end of the day it’s being able [to make sure everyone gets] to go home safely — everyone, not just the officers, everyone who you interact with, who you have dealings with … it’s making sure everyone gets to walk home safely, and everyone one hundred percent goes home so we can answer that call the next day,” Schulz said.

Next Week: Policing Women’s Bodies

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Unpaid student requirements are inevitably classist THE ALESTLE STAFF editorial board

Unpaid opportunities and requirements for college students, such as internships and student teaching, have long been normalized as stepping stones for students to enter the workforce and gain valuable experience.

It’s important to acknowledge, however, the inherent classism within the idea of these unpaid “marketable” experiences.

While hours may vary, internships typically require about 10-20 hours per week during the school year, and 40 hours per week during the summer. Student teachers are held to the same standards as certified teachers, so they often spend 30-35 hours per week in their classrooms. Although these time commitments are comparable to full-time jobs, students aren’t always paid for their time and effort.

Some argue that they are be-

ing paid with “experience.” This idea is utterly ridiculous. “Experience” will not pay rent, put food on the table or help students afford basic necessities. The notion that “experience” is an acceptable substitute for a wage is incredibly privileged.

Oftentimes, companies use unpaid positions to push work that needs to be done onto people they do not have to pay, thus saving them money and helping the bottom line. College students or those who have just graduated present the perfect opportunity, because they don’t have much choice. People desperate for a job or to make connections, with limited options, are more likely to put up with being exploited.

For those whose families are in a position to help them through this period until they finally secure a paid position, this might be an inconvenience, but they will not be affected to the same extent as those who do not have that

extra financial help. Those who must work to survive are in a far different situation.

Students who, for whatever reason, must generate their own income to get by are disadvantaged in numerous ways. They may be unable to even consider such opportunities, which limits their choice of careers, as employers often pick more decorated resumes. They may try to juggle working a paying job and an unpaid internship, which leaves little time for focusing on schoolwork or taking care of themselves. Taking an opportunity without earning money is hardly an option.

These practices serve only to keep students from lower-income families stuck in their financial class, while giving others a leg up. Those who do not rely on paid work to survive are free to pursue whatever careers they please and acquire opportunities that make them more likely to be hired, while still focusing on their

grades, having time for hobbies and spending time with friends and family.

While we know that students have limited power to change these practices, we hope students that are able to do so demand to be compensated fairly for their work. More importantly, however, we hope employers understand that there is an entire category of the population that, despite the ambition or intelligence of individuals within it, is barred from gaining experience and making connections, which hurts their chances of being hired. While it is easy to see the advantage of offering unpaid opportunities from an employer’s perspective, there is no denying their broader effects.

Is it really wise to have entire career fields absent of the working class — that is to say, those who have had to work for what they have and appreciate the value of someone’s time? We at The Alestle say no.

tends to prioritize being pretty and likeable above other qualities.

Rooting self-worth in appearance often leads to an unhealthy relationship with sexuality by adolescence, which can lead to STDs, early pregnancy and even intimate partner violence and sexual abuse.

Restrictive socialization starting from a young age is also likely to impact self-esteem for women, with many women underestimating themselves compared to similarly skilled male peers. This dynamic established early on often prevents girls from wanting to pursue STEM fields when they go to college, not to mention the further sexism any woman who pursues STEM ends up facing.

Even though misogyny is a systemic problem, boys aren’t safe from the danger of forced gender stereotypes. The way boys are socialized often involves repression of emotion, reflecting the cultural idea that crying — or otherwise needing help — is a sign of weakness. This, along with the depiction of masculinity as being tied to violence, leads to a higher

rate of death by suicide for men, because even though on average women attempt suicide more often, men often choose more violent methods.

Suicide isn’t the only risk when it comes to gender roles impacting boys and men long term.

Men’s socialization often encourages risk-taking behavior, such as substance abuse, unsafe driving and gun usage.

One of the groups most impacted by harsh gender roles is LGBTQ youth. Current estimates of how many children from 1317 identify as LGBTQ total are about 9.54%, and even before children are aware of their identity, they can be hurt by homophobia and transphobia. Most of the more harmful gender roles are rooted in heteronormativity and cissexism, which are assumptions that everyone is heterosexual and cisgender respectively.

The idea that gender is binary, defined by sex and controls behavior is antiquated and can cause severe turmoil in children who struggle with dysphoria, or

even just gender-nonconforming children. Forcing a cisgender boy to wear a dress when he begs to wear boy’s clothes would be seen as abusive behavior, and the same should be true for female children, whether they are actually transgender boys or simply tomboyish girls.

Traditional gender roles also prioritize heterosexuality, emphasizing the idea that heterosexual relationships and marriage are the only option for the future. This is alienating for young gay and lesbian children, and can prevent bisexuals from coming out until significantly later in their lives, by assuming that since they are capable of heterosexual attraction that they can ignore any tendency toward the same gender.

At the end of the day, gender roles aren’t inherently terrible.

Many children conform to gender norms completely, and that is fine as long as it is their choice.

But before saying “that’s just for boys” or “that’s too girly” to your daughter or son, consider why that was your first thought.

Restrictive gender roles can permanently harm children

EMILY STERZINGER opinion editor

Why be your child’s first bully? Shaming a child for breaking gender norms damages self esteem, mental health and even future life opportunities.

Restricting your child from harmless behaviors because they don’t fit their gender role is hurtful. If your daughter loves princesses and your son loves race cars, that’s great, but if the opposite is true, that’s great too.

Additionally, making children believe in a narrow idea of gender roles will lead them to pushing those ideas on their peers. I was lucky enough to never be told by my parents that I couldn’t do something because I was a girl, but that didn’t stop my peers with less progressive parents from telling me that my interests — such as video games and computer science — were “for boys.”

Though this kind of restriction hurts in the moment, the long-term issues are even worse.

The way girls are often socialized

SPORTS

contact the editor: sports@alestlelive.com 650-3527 wednesday, 07.14.21

NEXT WEEK: WALDO PROMOTED TO SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH page 7

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Cheer, Dance teams place 1st, 2nd in respective competitions NICOLE BOYD copy editor

The competitive dance team won first place in Division I Poms, and the competitive cheer team placed second in the All-Girl Division I Intermediate category with zero-reduction routine for the first time in SIUE history.

Michelle Deets, head coach of the competitive dance team, said the team competed virtually in the preliminary round and placed first, and then competed virtually again in the final.

“We had to submit our video with our routine, so we took the judges’ feedback, our choreographer gave us some feedback and we tweaked it to make it a little better because we assumed the rest of our competitors would be doing the same thing,” Deets said. “So then we submitted our video again for the final evaluation.”

Danielle Gallahan, a graduate student and member of the cheer team from St. Charles, Missouri, said competing virtually was different because nobody on the team had done it before, and some teammates even quit because they didn’t want to compete virtually.

“It was a unique experience, because normally at cheer competitions you have pretty much

one shot to do it. For virtual, you could go seven, eight times, and find the best recording and then send it in. So really, we got multiple chances, so this was the year to really hit your best,” Gallahan said.

Deets said while the team normally competes with two routines, after missing months of practice due to COVID-19, they decided to compete with one pom routine this year, which is a fast-paced routine that incorporates pom-poms.

“It showcases creative pom work, but it also highlights that they’re very excellent technical dancers,” Deets said.

Competitive Cheerleading Coach Casey Driemeyer said the cheer team’s routine was unique this year because they weren’t allowed to bring in a choreographer.

“We used … the routine that we received for the 2020 nationals and we fixed it to make it our own and perform it virtually. It’s two minutes and 15 seconds of tumbling, leap passes, two separate stunts and a pyramid involving multiple inversions and dismounts,” Driemeyer said.

Deets said the team wasn’t allowed to practice until September, and they weren’t allowed to practice from November through the end of January, so they had about a month and a half to put

| Photo Credit to SIUE Cheer and Dance Facebook Page

their performance together.

Victoria Lefler, a junior history and dance major from Lebanon, Missouri, and a member of the dance team, said it was very stressful because they usually learn their routines in October.

“It definitely caused us to get a lot closer than what we were before, because we spent so much time together trying to squeeze in all those necessary practices to get to where we wanted to be for competition,” Lefler said.

“But it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it and I wouldn’t change it for anything because being able to compete was definitely a luxury, because we didn’t think we were going to be able to

compete for a little bit.”

Lydia Blaies, a senior exercise science major from Troy, Illinois, said one of the challenges the cheer team had to overcome was not being able to stunt until a month before the competition.

“For a long time, we couldn’t tumble because we didn’t have mats, so we couldn’t tumble and we couldn’t stunt. We could do jumps and we could do exercises together, but we had to be six feet apart, so that part was challenging,” Blaies said.

Deets said she is proud of the dance team, and they deserve all the recognition they’ve received for their achievement.

“It’s also something that

SIUE should be proud of, that they have a nationalswinning program at the university,” Deets said. “We’re so excited to represent SIUE as a nationals-winning team.”

Driemeyer said the cheer team overcame the challenges of the past year with grit and determination. “[I’m] really proud of the team as a whole and what they tried to overcome and what they accomplished as teammates and lifelong friendships that they gained — and the zero-reduction routine that we threw for the very first time in school history, which was pretty phenomenal,” Driemeyer said.

Tarasenko trade request complicates Blues’ expansion draft list JIM THOMAS St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Jul. 8 — It’s looking more and more as if Vladimir Tarasenko has played his last game for the Blues.

Late last month, the Daily Faceoff reported that the Blues were exploring a trade of Tarasenko and that Tarasenko appeared to have alerted the Blues about several teams to which he’d be willing to be dealt.

On Wednesday, The Athletic took it a step further, reporting that Tarasenko had in fact requested a trade.

The Post-Dispatch confirmed

Wednesday night that Tarasenko has asked for a trade. A source familiar with the situation told the Post-Dispatch that Tarasenko has submitted a list of teams he’s willing to go to via trade and that he wants out of St. Louis.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong declined comment Wednesday night. Tarasenko’s new agent, Paul Theofanous, did not respond to a request for comment.

Beyond the trade request, the source told the Post-Dispatch that Tarasenko was upset over the Blues’ handling of his shoulder issues. He has had three shoulder surgeries over the last three years

Tarasenko (center) playing the Calgary Flames in a 2014 game.

and three months, with two of the three surgeries believed to have been performed by members of the team’s medical staff.

Tarasenko has not gone public with any complaints about the Blues’ medical staff to this point Trading Tarasenko will be difficult, especially in terms of getting much value in return. He carries a salary cap hit of $7.5 million over the final two seasons of his contract, including a base salary of $9.5 million this season according to Capfriendly.com.

Since his second shoulder surgery, early in the 2019-20 season, Tarasenko has played in only 32 of 140 Blues regu-

| photo by Dan Carno on Flickr

lar-season and postseason games, scoring six goals with 10 assists.

Before the shoulder issues, Tarasenko was one of the most feared offensive weapons in the National Hockey League. Over a five-year period, from the start of the 2014-15 season through the 2018-19 campaign, Tarasenko scored 182 regular-season goals — the third-highest figure in the league behind only Alex Ovechkin (236) and John Tavares (183).

But since scoring 33 regular-season and 11 postseason goals for the Blues’ Stanley Cup championship team, his production have been derailed because of ongoing shoulder problems.

Besides those issues, Tarasenko also missed eight of the team’s final nine regular-season games this season because of a groin injury.

After playing in all four playoff games in the Blues’ first-round ouster by Colorado, he surprised most observers by deciding to play for Team Russia in the World Championship, registering two assists and a game-winning shooting goal in three contests.

There could be other factors at play in Tarasenko’s decision to seek a trade, including his unhappiness over not being named Blues

captain before the start of last season. (Ryan O’Reilly was named team captain instead.)

“Of course when you play for eight years at a club and have been an assistant (alternate captain) for a long time you count on it,” Tarasenko told Russian website SPORT24 through Google translate.

He added in that interview: “There were hopes, but how it happened, it happened. I just have to accept it, go out and play.”

Once Tarasenko returned to action in early March, there were ups and downs in his play. The team was 14-8-2 before his return to the lineup, and then went into a 2-8-4 tailspin once he returned. As the season wound down, Tarasenko was moved to the net front on the first power-play unit, yielding his trademark spot on the flank to Mike Hoffman. There were also a few occasions when he wasn’t on the first power play unit.

“Obviously, he wasn’t happy and neither were we (with his season),” coach Craig Berube said in his season-wrapup Zoom conference. “He didn’t get going like maybe we thought or he thought.

“Listen, he’s been out for two years, really. It’s almost two years that he was out and then he’s back, so I think it takes some time for sure.”

page 8

alestlelive.com

DEEPFAKES | cover begin to understand just how profound synthetic media will be for the future of, not only human communication, but actually even commerce.”

Schick said there is no doubt in her mind that we are at the start of an AI paradigm change when it comes to the future of content production, communication and human perception and that the future is synthetic.

“This synthetic future is exciting … in terms of how it will democratize content creation, … what it might mean for the future of creative industries like advertising, entertainment — but it holds risks, too,” Schick said. “Synthetic media is going to be an amplifier of human intention, and there is no doubt that this powerful technology will be weaponized by malicious actors, it can, it will and already is being weaponized.”

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bles every six months, Schick said.

The troubling part is its nonconsensual nature and a gendered phenomenon where women are usually the target, but increasingly the majority of deepfake porn is being aimed at regular women, not just female celebrities.

“These are your wives, your colleagues, your friends, and alarmingly, even your daughters.

Because now deepfake porn of minors has really started to become a phenomenon as well. All that’s needed to create a deepfake porn is some training data, which in this case would be authentic media of a target which could pretty easily be scraped off social media,” Schick said. “I believe that this is simply a harbinger of things to come. The use of AI in fake porn heralds to me a much larger data privacy and civil liberties issue.”

According to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, 48 states, Washington, D.C. and Guam have passed anti-revenge porn laws, which protects someone from

being cyberbullied by having sexually explicit photos or videos of them distributed online without their consent.

In October of 2019, the senate passed a stand-alone act, “The Deepfake Report Act of 2019,” which requires Homeland Security to report each year on the uses of deepfake technology. These reports are to include the way this technology is evolving and its potential to cause harm to national security, civil rights, detection methods and much more.

Schick said synthetic media is already corroding trust in all authentic media because if videos can be faked, which we tend to see as an extension of our own perception,then everything can be denied.

“There is a profound societal and political risk as well, especially in the context of an information ecosystem in which we already face an epidemic of mis[information] and disinformation that has become abundantly clear to all of us in the context of the pandem

wednesday, 06.16.21

school agreed to be the academic sponsor for the deepfake webinar after being contacted by Levin, who also serves as a board member at ITS, once they heard what the topic was.

“While it certainly has an effect on business. I think it’s much, much broader than that and I don’t think it just affects businesses, but it affects citizenship and people’s daily lives,” Schoenecker said. “I would think it could be equally interesting to mass comm students, or pre-law students, or political science students or computer science students. The topic has very broad applicability.”

According to an article by Kristina Libby in Popular Mechanics, deepfakes were created

by Dr. Ian Goodfellow in 2014, a PhD student who now works for Apple. The technology is based on GANs, generative adversarial networks. More about how GANs are used to create deepfakes can found at DeepAi.org.

To watch the full webinar with Nina Schick visit the ITS website, itsworld.org.

ic of the past 12 months or so,” Schick said.

Suman Mishra, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Mass Communications said while there are a lot of negative aspects to this kind of technology, it will also open up new creative areas in the field of Mass Communications when it comes to film, television and advertising.

“With any technology, I think if you see the history of things, there [is] a lot of good that is done. Ultimately it becomes about intention … if you are using [it] as something to really do something very creative and positive in the world, excellent. This is just another level of sophistication,” Mishra said. “There are a whole lot of people [who will use it for] power or money and they will exploit this technology.

Porn and politics [are]always at the forefront of exploiting any technology.”

School of Business Dean Tim Schoenecker said the business

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