The Alestle Vol. 75 No. 17

“Great News!

In person & learning.

That’s what we pay for.”

THE

alestle

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

the student voice since 1960

OMICRON

SURGE

These students NEED to be attending class in person!”

“This is disappointing and represents a failure in leadership from the top.

how many people will die

“You know, the longer I go here, the more I question why I go here.”

“Thankful for the opportunity to be back on campus and in person!

Thank you SIUE!”

“It’s simple.

They care more about enrollment than their faculty/staff.”

It is disheartening to see an institution of higher education stick their head in the sand and ignore research and data.

The ones who suffer the most are the staff.”

follow the alestle

“One statistic I have on my mind right now is

as a result of the SIU system requiring SIUE to go back to school in person.”

“I personally believe it should be a choice.

They should have the option for students who feel uncomfortable to go online, and the opposite for students who do not feel comfortable.”

“I am very much hoping that they will really follow through and have in-person classes.

Especially with such large classes!”

Thursday, January 20, 2022 Vol. 75 No. 17

STUDENTS RETURN TO CLASSES AMID “Glad they will be back in the classroom.

My daughter has two labs scheduled this semester plus harder academic classes.”

“I want to go back in person but I don’t think it’s a good idea!

“So you’re aware that we are in the Omicron surge, yet telling us we have to sit in confined areas with 50+ people for at least 50 minutes until the surge subsides?

How does that make any sense?

You’re asking for students to contract the virus.

Way to go SIUE.” “Weekly testing is ridiculous” @alestlelive

@TheAlestle

@Online Editor Alestle

@thealestle

See you on the Internet!

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PAGE 2

Thursday, 01.20.22

Administration says masks and weekly testing will make in-person classes safe ALEX AULTMAN editor-in-chief

The return to in-person classes has been scrutinized by students and faculty, but SIU administrators say this return is safe and the positivity rate should go down in the coming weeks.

SIU System President Dan Mahony said previous testing data has shown campus positivity rates go down throughout the semester.

“As we’ve come back each time, our numbers tend to go down the longer we have students in classes,” Mahony said.

“So, [there has been] the idea that putting students in a classroom might elevate the infection rate [when] actually the opposite has been the case going through all of this.”

Mahony said in order to prevent the semester from being disrupted, the decision was made

by Carbondale and Edwardsville administration to return to in-person classes.

“Unless we really wanted

to spend half a semester online again, at some point, we would have to move forward,” Mahony said. “And again, this seemed to be a reasonable point, given the fact we’ve been able to test as many people as we have and put some of the safety precautions in place.”

Chancellor Randy Pembrook said the peak of the Omicron variant has passed and they are expecting the positivity rate to go down further.

“Yesterday, University of Illinois … announced that according to their data, the peak of the Omicron was on Jan. 8,” Pembrook said. “They expect the positivity rates to drop by half every two weeks. So by Friday, we should be halfway down the curve on the backside of the Omicron surge two weeks later.

So, early February, we should be at a quarter of the peak.”

The CDC still recommends social distancing in classrooms for campuses that are not fully vaccinated, but many classrooms don’t have enough room to do so

according to faculty.

Mahony said the university is relying on masking and weekly testing rather than social distancing in the classroom.

“I think, [with] what we have seen and what we’re hearing from the healthcare professionals, if we do the masking and some of the other things, we’re probably still fairly safe, even without the distancing,” Mahony said. “We’ve seen throughout all of this, not always consistently in those classrooms have there been the social distancing of six feet.”

Pembrook said the level three surgical masks and KN95s the university ordered when classes went online are arriving this week.

“Fourteen thousand [level three surgical masks] are coming in today. Fifteen thousand of the KN95 are coming in on Friday,” Pembrook said. “We have 9000 people, staff and students, that are on-ground.

So, if we have 29,000 masks, I think the answer is yes, [every-

one will get one] and maybe even an extra one.”

COVID-19 Response Coordinator Mike Schultz said there will be enough appointments available for everyone to take their weekly COVID-19 test, but morning appointments are booked fast.

“It might not be the time that someone wants. But yeah, there’s plenty of times [available],” Schultz said. “Like tomorrow, I think the first appointment available is like 12. Last time I checked was like 12:30. So all the mornings are taken.”

Schultz said despite an increase in the volume of tests, people should receive their results in 24 hours.

“What they’ve told us is within 24 hours of the test hitting the lab,” Schultz said.

“With the last test being at 6:30, and then driving it up to Springfield, it’s usually there by 9:00 at night. So I would say by 9:00 the next night, some people will get it.”

Mahony said the SIU system is being more cautious

than many other universities and believes the return to campus is safe.

“We’re still on the high end, when it comes to testing when you compare to the national averages … About 95% [of universities] opened on time, with in-person classes,” Mahony said.

“So we were part of a very small percentage of universities that kind of delayed, so we’ve been somewhat more conservative and kind of delaying for that first week, as well as testing more often than most.”

Schultz said the testing schedule cannot be changed much and students should show up at their designated appointment times and follow the posted signage for testing locations.

When scheduling a COVID-19 test, people should select the “Edwardsville MUC or SSC” location on the SHIELD website.

Pembrook said SIUE would return to its previous policy of testing unvaccinated individuals once the Omicron surge subsides.

SIUE community voices concern about in-person classes NICOLE BOYD online editor

After SIUE announced classes would return to in-person learning, a petition for options in addition to in-person classes has received over 1,000 signatures.

Brittaney Taylor, a freshman social work major from Collinsville, Illinois, created a petition to bring awareness to the number of students who want options besides in-person learning. As a nontraditional student and single mother, Taylor said the petition was a way to include those who aren’t as involved on campus.

“I know a lot of the students that have really wanted to return to in-person classes, just from what I’ve seen, have been the ones that have been a little bit more vocal about you know, ‘Oh, we’re vaccinated,’ or, ‘Paying for in-person classes, I deserve to be on campus,’ and I feel like that has been a lot of the opinion that we’ve seen. But I’ve, looking around, didn’t really see that much support for our administration,” Taylor said. “Our faculty [was trying]to keep us safe by keeping us online until things died out, so I just kind of wanted to give more strength to those voices.”

Michele Lorenzini, president of the Non-tenure-track Faculty Association, said she was completely shocked by the decision to return to in-person classes and said it would have been better to be remote for another week, at least as a transition period to distribute masks and implement better testing procedures.

“The capacity to test 3,000 people in a day, we can’t do that. We don’t have infrastructure to do that. So that’s tricky,” Lorenzini said. “So if they do it another week or two remote, maybe they could ramp it up and open three more locations on campus so we could actually test.”

Ed Navarre, president of the SIUE Faculty Association, said faculty unions want to keep students and faculty safe, as stated in the union coalition statement.

“[It’s] currently unclear if some of cause it’s going to be less kids there, less our buildings meet the CDC guidelines students and less condensed areas, and for filtration and filtering the air is one of it’s just going to work out [beneficially] the ways to reduce transmission of this vi- for everybody.” rus. We’re looking for flexibility in teachAva Ploeckelman, a junior biology ing so that more distancing in classrooms major from Clarksville, Tennessee, said can be done,” Navarre said. the main issue for them is that the univerTaylor said she is asking for options sity set a mitigation framework and didn’t because she knows students who have fall- follow it, which creates distrust in future en behind in policies. school due to “I unonline learnderstand that ing. However, they’re an edshe also said ucational inthe university stitution and should be acthey prioritize commodating education, and to those who I’m thankare immunoful to have a compromised, school that prithose who oritizes our edhave children ucational qualand those who ity. But still, I take care of think the new elderly family numbers are members. like 12.5 per“ W e cent positive should have … and that the opportudoesn’t feel nity of and the safe to me,” options to feel Ploeckel ma n safer, whether said. “I have a that be onlecture of 270 line, whether for my anatthat be potenomy lecture BRITTANEY TAYLOR tially cutting and so to think freshman social work major from Collinsville, the class sizes there’s no soIllinois and breakcial distancing, ing what would be a particularly large how many [COVID-19]positive people class into two, whether that be wiring are going to be in that room before they the classrooms with like webcams and get tested, before they know that they’re speaker systems so that the students that positive? I don’t think anyone’s maliciousare online can still participate in a class- ly going to class, but just to think about room environment without necessarily how many [COVID-19] positive people having to feel like they’re at risk,” Taylor because there is going to be someone.” said. “I feel like if they give the students Ploeckelman said it would be nice who don’t feel comfortable being on cam- to require students to be vaccinated if pus in a safer modality, it’s only going to they’re going to class and to at least offer protect the student body as a whole be- hybrid options, especially for immuno-

“We should have the opportunity of and the options to feel safer, whether that be online, whether that be potentially cutting the class sizes and breaking what would be a particularly large class into two, whether that be wiring the classrooms with like webcams and speaker systems so that the students that are online can still participate

compromised students and students that don’t feel safe, even if they don’t have a medical reason.

“I know some people that are primary caretakers for their grandparents, and so if that were me, I can see how I wouldn’t want to go to class if I was going home to my grandma. So to keep that option for people that feel that they need [it]. But the other thing is, it would be cool if they had a better way to handle absences for COVID-like symptoms, because they say don’t come to class if you’re congested or you have a fever or you’re feeling unwell, but that’s not going to get me an excused absence from a lab,” Ploeckelman said. “I think like if they’re going to have in-person, they might want to try temperature screenings coming in … I think the mandatory testing is good.”

Navarre said if we’re going to be on campus and teaching on campus, the foundation of being able to do that in the middle of the respiratory pandemic would be having high quality masks for faculty, staff and students, widely available.

“The university said that they’ve ordered those and encourages people to use higher quality masks than just cloth.

Those are ordered, but as far as I know they will not be available on Tuesday when we arrive on campus,” Navarre said.

Lorenzini said the university decided to go back to having different classroom caps in Spring 2022 than before COVID-19.

“They did try when they could to not make the rooms packed. For example, an enrollment cap, a class with an enrollment cap of 50 might have been put in a room for 60. But nothing like the [COVID-19] spacing that had been figured out and we had been delayed for what, two semesters?

We have students in the classes. You can’t unenroll anybody,” Lorenzini said. “We already have a certain number of bodies that are supposed to go into a room now.”

For more information, check the SIUE COVID-19 dashboard.

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Thursday, 01.20.22

PAGE 3

BY THE NUMBERS / COVID-19 AT SIUE, SPRING 2022 New confirmed positive cases (from tests conducted by SIUE and self-reporting):

Tests conducted by SIUE:

Jan. 11 - Jan. 17: 204 students, 34 faculty/staff

Jan. 11 - Jan. 17: 3,998

Jan. 4 - Jan. 10: 328 students, 96 faculty/staff

Jan. 4 - Jan. 10: 4,641

14-Day New Positive Cases: 532 students, 130 faculty/staff

14-Day New Tests Conducted: 8,639

All prior weeks positive tests: (Jan. 4 - Jan. 17): 532 students, 130 faculty/staff

All prior weeks tests conducted: Dec. 28 - Jan. 3: 8,639

Total active positive cases: 257 students 46 faculty/staff

Positive cases identified by SIUE testing:

Total Tests Conducted: 8,639

Jan. 11 - Jan. 17: 501 Jan. 4 - Jan. 10: 657

14-day new positive cases: 1,158

Positivity Rate:

800 400

Percentage of isolation/quarantine space available on campus (as of January 18): 74%

200 JAN 11

JAN 12

JAN 13

JAN 14

JAN 15

JAN 16

JAN 17

JAN 18

Afternoons and Saturday day shifts.

Every member of the team is important and adds value.

12.53%

600

Part time sales position in a relaxed fun atmosphere.

No nights.

You are part of a “Team” here— not just a “body” or a “number”

1,158

1000

EDWARDSVILLE 62025

Must be Outgoing and Friendly

Total Positive Cases:

1200

Part Time Sales Position (No Nights)

Opportunity for learning and growth

All prior weeks positive cases: Jan. 4 - Jan. 17: 1,158

MADISON COUNTY DAY BY DAY:

0

HELP WANTED

Source: Health, Reporting, and Testing page on SIUE’s COVID-19 website, as of January 18.

For consideration—email your resume to: katie@to-dos.com

Housing continues to enforce COVID-19 safety, students to return to in-person classes

FRANCESCA BOSTON reporter

Despite the first week of the spring semester being online, University Housing opened for residents to return.

Mallory Sidarous, director of University Housing, said that a commitment was made to stay open while still prioritizing student health.

“This is home for [students’] academics, when they’re here, whether it’s virtual or online, this is where they have the resources to do well academically,” Sidarous said. “On the housing side, then we have that commitment to fulfill for them as well, in terms of being open being available. I think that we are doing a great job and trying to strike that balance. We want to have students back. We also are prioritizing those health and safety features.”

University Housing was open for students to come back during the virtual week, but not all on-campus students returned to university housing during the first week.

Rex Jackson, the associate director of residence life, said around 50 percent of students returned during the first week.

“We can pull data for the residence halls, but for Cougar Village, there’s no central swiping. We assume, guesstimate, about 50 percent of our residents came back. Pretty solid 50 percent in the [resident] halls and Cougar Village is just based on the parking lot and the look of the community. I would say probably 50% there too,” Jackson said.

As classes return to face-toface instruction on Jan. 18, all students are required to be tested weekly regardless of vaccination status, as stated by an email

Despite the online start of the semester, University Housing has been open to residential students the whole semester, despite the pandemic. | Clair Sollenberger / The Alestle

sent by the university on Jan. 12.

Freshman Kylie Nation, a nursing major from Springfield, Illinois, lives in Bluff Hall. She said she feels safe enough returning to the dorm, but is a little hesitant about what returning to face-to-face classes means for students’ safety.

“I feel like housing is decently safe. I mean, it’s been pretty quiet around here. People are kind of staying to themselves for the most part. But I have a feeling that’s going to change a lot once everyone gets back for classes tomorrow,” Nation said.

Sidarous said if a student tests positive while living in University Housing, they should submit a self-disclosure form, and from there the campus COVID Response Coordinator will work with each student to figure out if they should return home or if arrangements can be made for the student to stay on campus.

Sidarous said that if students are able to return home, they should aim to do that, as the university’s spaces are limited and they try to hold those for students who may not be able

to return, such as international students or students who do not have the resources to quarantine away from campus.

“Our spaces are limited in terms of how much isolation and working space available we have. We do ask students who are able to go to their permanent address to do so,” Sidarous said. “We make sure that we have space and resources available for students who were from a different state, a different country, could have some home or food insecurities that prevent them from being able to go home to do quarantine.”

University Housing said they are going to continue to stay open for students and provide support and resources to students during this time.

“We are happy to continue to be a space where our residents and our students feel at home and where they have the support and resources they need to be successful academically and still be connecting with other folks,” Sidarous said. “We know students are continuing to look for that connection. So providing ways to do that safely and prioritizing their health is really important.”

NEXT WEEK: A HOLE LOT OF DONUT REVIEWS

PAGE 4

lifestyles

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

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Thursday, 01.20.22

Businesses shift practices during recent COVID-19 surge to keep community safe FRANCESCA BOSTON reporter LuAnn Locke, the owner of Afterwords Books, has moved to porch pickup sales only as of Dec. 28, due to the increase in cases in the Edwardsville area. She said that the store is too small to maintain safe social distancing, and has had trouble with patrons refusing to wear masks correctly.

“Our space is very, very small. We have about 600 square feet in our store, so there’s really no way to safely social distance. And also, before, when we were open, we did get a little bit of pushback from some folks who didn’t want to wear masks or if they did, they didn’t wear it properly,” Locke said.

She said they have seen a small decrease in sales since moving to porch pick up only, but retail businesses expect the time after Christmas to show a decrease in sales anyway.

Afterwords Books has had to close their doors before due to of COVID-19 and were able to survive on other sale outlets, so adapting to the Omicron wave was not a huge adjustment for the business, according to Locke.

“After the first wave, we were closed almost a year and a half. And we were able to stay open through online sales and using social media to promote book bundles, puzzle bundles, sideline items.

We have an online inventory as well,” Locke said.

Locke said after numbers get back down to a safer number she is hoping to open back to in-person shopping, but may transition to appointment-only shopping, where the customer requests a time to come in and shop.

“Right now we’re kind of toying with the idea of maybe just going to appointments only once [COVID-19 numbers decrease]. Because again, we are tiny and going on three years now of this a yo-yo

The local book store Afterwords Books is temporarily closed for in-store shopping. back and forth between opening and closing,” Locke said.

Local restaurants have also faced challenges with COVID-19. Kate Baumgartner, the owner of Sacred Grounds, has also had supply chain issues, which affected her ability to get ingredients and other supplies for the coffee shop. She said that while the issue more recently has been getting news coverage, she has been dealing with it for

nearly a year, as she opened her business in early 2021.

“I’ve been suffering for almost a year now. I shop from two different distributors. I go everywhere [to find supplies],” Baumgartner said. “Usually, it takes about two or three days to get [supply] boats unloaded and put on [transport]. Now it is taking 14 to 15 days to unload. There is a lack of truck drivers so [the supplies],

Kate Baumgartner, the owner of Sacred Grounds, is now offering 30% off for carry-out orders to decrease chances of COVID-19 transmission. | Emily Sterzinger / The Alestle

| Emily Sterzinger / The Alestle

they’re not even getting to the Midwest.”

Many businesses are also suffering from supply chain issues, and some have had to change what they offer to make sure they have the supplies. A Little Taste of Heaven Bakery had to adapt its menu to fit what ingredients and supplies they are able to get, according to Valerie Maylor, head baker and manager. “{Supply chain delays is] our biggest issue. For instance, it would take us three months to get [coffee cups]. We’re not able to offer everything that we normally would say, pre-pandemic,” Maylor said.

“There are several items that we actually had to take off of our menu because we can’t get the necessary ingredients for it or some of our deliveries might not arrive on time because that distributor doesn’t have enough drivers to give us their delivery.”

Small businesses are often faced with keeping their staff and customers safe.

Baumgartner has began to offer a discount on carry-out orders, hoping to promote safety, while still supporting small businesses.

“I typically have eight baristas and am currently down to four due to exposures and quarantines. If I can offer 30% off carry-out because if I can reward and basically pay you for being safe and keeping me and my staff safe, I will,” Baumgartner said.

Locke said despite all the troubles small businesses have seen in the past few years, she has been extremely lucky and is grateful for the amount of support the community has shown her.

“We’re just so lucky. We have such a great community and people really have rallied not just behind us, but all of the businesses in our community,” Locke said.

Thursday, 01.20.22

EMILY STERZINGER lifestyles editor Since the semester has begun, we’re all trying our best to stay on that grind.

For that, here’s a chill instrumental study playlist with just enough high-energy songs to keep you studying instead of snoozing.

‘Takin’ You For a Ride,’ Pandrezz Starting off the playlist, this song has a steady beat and a pleasant, laid back sound. A standout element is the gorgeous use of soprano saxophone throughout the song, which keeps the tune interesting instead of repetitive.

‘Signals,’ Omniboi Though a bit more busy, this song’s piano instrumental is perfectly emphasized by an understated, yet pleasant percussion. Despite light background vocals, this song lacks the distraction of lyrics, which can definitely help with keeping you focused.

‘Gymnopedie No. 1,’ Erik Satie This song is over a century old, but that doesn’t take away from how graceful they it is. It feels especially appropriate for studying with its gentle, ambient melody.

alestlelive.com

‘Lunar Drive,’ Mondo Loops With a heavy beat punctuating a soft, almost foggy sound in this track, it’s certainly calming. Even so, it has enough intrigue in its melody to keep your mind focused while studying.

‘Naomi’s Joy,’ Kris Baines This sweet, hopeful-sounding piano melody has a heartwarming quality to it.

It’s moving in an optimistic way, which can help through the somewhat arduous task of studying.

‘Moonsetter,’ SudoName Similar to a few others in this playlist, this song has a somewhat peppy piano instrumental as its sole focus. It stands out from the others with its elegant, almost jazzy quality to how it is played.

‘Spicy Boyfriend,’ Shawn Wasabi This electro-pop bop may have a few lyrics, but it’s only one repeated phrase, which means that the song has more time without a vocal track than with one. It’s a bubbly song that’s energetic, but still focused in its tune.

‘Nanou2,’ Aphex Twin A surprisingly calm song by Aphex Twin, its soothing piano melody stands in sharp contrast to the last song. While the instrumental is minimalistic, the volume amps up by the middle of the piece.

PAGE 5

‘Le Sud,’ L’Indécis The gentle snapping at the start soon leads to an incredibly catchy and varied percussion, which is a highlight of the track. This complements the dreamlike, jazzy melody perfectly — leading to something that manages to be simultaneously muted and vibrant.

‘Fireflies,’James Bartholomew This track is a mellow acoustic cover of a song that’s familiar to most of us who were around and listening to pop music in the latter half of the 2000’s. The original song may be over a decade old, but it, as well as its cover seem to have a timeless quality to them.

‘Zelda In Compton,’ June Jissle Yes, this is a remix of a song from a video game, and certainly not the last one in this playlist. Modeled after the sound of hip hop music in Compton, this track manages to mix the fantasy sound of the “Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” soundtrack with something grounded and modern.

‘Starmachine2000,’ Wintergatan Falling in between the opposed genres of folk and electronica, this song gives off vibes of biking on a sunny winter day. This eccentric song is cheery, and a perfect song for motivation during a study session.

‘Sunset Bird,’ Yiruma Brought to you by that one guy who played that one really pretty piano song from “Twilight”, this song — though emotional in how it’s played — is still tranquil. It’s moving, but not in a way that’ll distract you.

‘Smooth Days,’ Mg. This lo-fi song’s ambient rain sound is laid over an engaging, jazzy instrumental that is soothing yet colorful in its overall sound. Sure, it’s short, but that doesn’t stop it from being a quality bop that’s soft and grounded.

‘Dreams,’ Joakim Karud To cap off this playlist, this song has a groovy beat to it that can’t be denied.

Even so, it’s still calming in the way that lying on a warm beach in the summer might feel.

‘Coconut Mall,’ Arcade Player This piece is much more high-energy than the others in this playlist, but don’t let the fact that it’s from a video game stifle you. The vivacious, almost tropical-sounding tune of this song is as good for racing in “Mario Kart” as it is for studying.

To listen to the playlist yourself, scan the Spotify code at the top of this article.

REVIEW: ‘Queer Eye’ season six is for more than the straight guy NICOLE BOYD online editor The newest season of “Queer Eye” has some of my favorite heroes yet, including a powerlifting trans woman and an inspiring healthcare worker.

Season six keeps “Queer Eye’s” standard formula, with the Fab Five teaching each weekly hero how to take care of themselves, dress more confidently and cook, while Bobby Bert remodels their home and Karamo Brown offers a much-needed therapy session.

The season starts out with an episode focused on Terri, a woman in her late fifties who teaches line dancing at a honky tonk and wears booty shorts.

She’s aggressive, confident and unwilling to change. Despite her initial resistance, Tan France, the fashion expert, teaches her to highlight one aspect of her body instead of all of them at once. Brown teaches her and her daughter how to communicate effectively and Jonathan Van Ness, the stylist, styles her wig and teaches her how to regrow her hair.

I loved Terri because she didn’t fit the expectations of how mothers or older women should dress and act. I also loved that she was so confident and true to herself. I was crushed to learn, however, that Yelp reviews accuse her of being racist, a bully and a misogynist, as some women report having been kicked out for what they were wearing. I found this extremely ironic, as much of the episode focused on Terri loving her tank tops and Daisy Dukes. The first episode, which I originally considered to be a strong start for the season, is now tainted.

Luckily, the second episode redeemed the season. Angel is a powerlifter who wears nothing but athletic wear, and her girlfriend wishes she would dress up more for date nights. Angel struggles to feel confident in her appearance as a muscular trans woman, but France and Berk give her an emotional makeover that brought tears to my eyes. Then, in one of the most tear-jerking scenes I’ve ever seen on TV, Brown helps Angel reunite with her estranged father. As soon as they see each other, they hug and cry and get to work on rebuilding their relationship. He helps her lift, and even praises her by saying, “Attagirl.”

While I was disappointed when I googled Terri, I was happy to see that Angel and Van Ness practice gymnastics together and have become friends. Her father can also be seen in some of her recent Instagram posts.

“Queer Eye” has often focused on educating those who have never been around five queer people before. While season six tends to highlight community figures, the third episode does follow this premise. Josh, a conservative cattle rancher, is clearly uncomfortable being around gay men and makes several backward comments. However, when he sits down with Van Ness for his haircut, the two open up a conversation about gender expression and identity. He asks Van Ness about their heeled, lime green boots, to which Van Ness asks, “What’s the deal with your boots? That’s a difference of, like, two inches, right?” Van Ness goes on to explain that they are nonbinary, and that it’s OK to ask how someone would like to be referred to. At the end of the episode, Josh even initiates a group hug

with the Fab Five. While I’m glad that the Fab Five are able to build relationships with people who are ignorant due to never having relationships with queer people before, and I understand that this is important for social progress, I don’t think I could do what they do. I admire their dedication to breaking barriers, but if I were in their shoes, I could not be so dedicated to bettering someone’s life when they appear to be so blatantly prejudiced.

I appreciated that there were several heroic people this season from various backgrounds. There’s a woman who owns a rescue for animals with disabilities for kids with disabilities to play with. There’s a doctor who opened her own clinic to serve underrepresented communities, a man who runs an organization committed to finding housing for unhoused popula-

| Photo courtesy of Netflix tions and a woman who runs a bakery that was vandalised due to anti-Asian violence.

Each was inspiring in their work, and it warmed my heart to see them grow in confidence. After receiving complaints from fans, Berk got more screen time this season. This was nice to see, as he did truly impressive remodeling work, landscaping and even built a barn for special needs animals.

Season six was like previous seasons: heartwarming, emotional and fun. The formula works. I did expect more of a conversation about Van Ness coming out as nonbinary, but it was never mentioned aside from the one conversation with Josh, which is probably better as such. Although not much has changed, I’m already ready to laugh and cry again when season seven comes out.

NEXT WEEK: TRANSPHOBIA IN ATHLETICS HARMS EVERYONE

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LETTERs TO THE EDITOR ALEX AULTMAN Editor-in-Chief

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When will the Pageantry End? New parking policy harms even though there was no vaccine widely available until the students, faculty and staff

LUKE SANDER SIUE student

I am not a doctor, and am not in any capacity claiming to have a vetted medical opinion or be a representative of the medical field. I am just a concerned student.

Earlier this week, the university released its new guidelines and plan for combating the spread of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. I understand the thought behind putting more procedures and restraints in place to greater mitigate the spread of the virus. Howwever, are some of these new procedures even practical?

Take the weekly testing requirement for instance. I, personally, got my test result back on Thursday after taking it on Monday morning. During that waiting period, I could have contracted the Omicron variant, infected hundreds of people, and been completely healthy by the time my Monday test came back negative. Another observation I have heard growing numbers of students make is that even during the height of the pandemic last academic year, we were not required to be tested weekly

spring semester. There was even a period with no vaccines where masks were not required while doing activities in the Student Fitness Center.

I understand the tight spot the university is in with the Omicron variant, so I’ll propose another solution. Many universities across the nation are currently requiring booster shots in order to return to campus for the spring semester. The university could incentivise the booster shot by removing testing requirements for those that are “boosted,” and continuing to test weekly those who choose to go without. This option would be similar to the procedures enacted by SIUE for Fall 2021, Furthermore, the university would not have to worry about the logistics of testing at least 3,000 on-campus residents plus many more commuting students every single week.

In conclusion, I am just a concerned student who will end up following whatever the university chooses to do, all while wondering when the pageantry will finally end and we can go back to some sort of normality.

KAITLYN ROGERS SIUE student

My name is Kaitlyn Rogers. I am a student in the School of Pharmacy. I am responding to the most recent email sent out

by Parking Services in regards to pay-for-parking resuming this semester.

Due to the colder weather, I am not open to the 0.8 mile walk across campus from the 200 Building to the MUC to get a university mandated COVID-19 test. I would venture to say other students feel the same coming from dorms and other buildings away from the MUC. However, I am also not open to $0.75-$1.50 every week simply to park to contribute to public health. I understand it is a small fine, but it adds up over the weeks, and I’m sure it adds up for each student, staff and faculty member who pays to park for their test every week. To me, it sounds like the university is taking advantage of

their own mandatory testing policy to make even more money off of students during a pandemic in which many are scared or struggling to work. Paying for parking at the MUC when it is too cold to walk is going to discourage students from getting tested as well.

I do not mean to attack Parking Services in any way. I would also like to state that I am not against weekly testing in any way, but I will work to decrease the barriers to weekly testing in the interest of public health. My view is it is slightly unethical and counterintuitive for the university to charge student, staff and faculty members for parking in lots A, B, C and E (closest to the testing site) when we are following the university’s policy to begin with. It is in mine, and the university’s best interest to encourage testing in as many ways as possible. I think offering free parking for certain hours of the day would be a great start.

ALESTLE VIEW: Returning classes in-person should not trump students, faculty and staff safety

THE ALESTLE STAFF editorial board

Despite the high COVID-19 positivity rates, SIUE has stood firm on mandating a return to in-person classes on Jan. 18. This puts their students, staff and faculty at a higher risk of contracting the virus than it’s ever been on campus, and without enough preventative measures to account for it.

The campus positivity rate averaged around 1.5 percent toward the end of the Fall 2021 semester, according to the SIUE COVID Information page, and shot up to an average of 13 percent prior to the start of the Spring 2022 semester and early into the first week of classes. This is with the majority of students and faculty being fully online thus far into the semester.

In an email to students addressing the return to campus, SIUE outlines four main points of their “multi-layer approach to safety,” including mandated weekly COVID-19 tests for all campus community members, regardless of vaccination status. While this is a solid measure to track the fluctuation in positivity rates, it should be used as a determination of whether or not it’s safe for members to return to campus rather than a means to justify this return. Currently, most campus

community members are being forced back to in-person modalities while positivity rates are at astoundingly high rates.

While some instructors with classes scheduled to be in-person have taken the initiative of offering their students a hybrid course model, this isn’t a requirement in SIUE’s mandate. Even with this initiative many instructors have taken, they are still being forced to return to campus without any say, having their own comfort levels completely ignored by the university.

A second point in the university’s safety approach is encouraging de-densification of office spaces to the extent possible. Although this helps to protect many of their staff members, it doesn’t address the fact that classroom limits are being restored to pre-COVID numbers rather than distanced numbers. This takes the choice away from students and faculty to distance themselves properly, which is particularly true for class sizes large enough to fill the auditoriums on campus and classes that are held in small classrooms without the space to spread out.

Further, they strongly encourage students to wear more protective masks and have taken the initiative to order level-3 surgical and KN95 masks to be distributed on campus. The issue is these masks

won’t come in by the time they’re mandating students, faculty and staff to return to campus, compromising the safety of those who don’t already have access to this improved protection even more.

The final point in their approach to safety is encouraging students to get the primary series of COVID vaccines along with the booster shot. This is never a bad thing to encourage among any group of people, but without it being a requirement to return in-person, it doesn’t do much toward protecting the safety of the university campuses. Those who choose to opt out of the initial vaccines or booster shot can still return in-person regardless, further increasing the risk of this return and eliminating much of the incentive for those not vaccinated to receive the vaccine.

While SIUE has made an effort to protect their students, faculty and staff through this “multi-layered approach,” it’s completely undermined by this mandate that puts them at an unnecessary risk of contracting the virus.

The preventative measures they have put in place is not enough to warrant allowing a mass return to in-person classes, much less mandating it.

This lack of care being put into looking out for the well-being of their community has led to a lot

of pushback, including a coalition of faculty and staff unions, who have added the fact that Madison County is at a 24 percent positivity rate, further proving these rates show no signs of slowing down.

SIUE must reconsider this mandate in order to protect their campus community members, and should extend the period of online only classes until there’s a clear sign the positivity rates are slowing down. Through the combined efforts of the university’s safety precautions already in place and an extended period of online classes, they will have the means to monitor the fluctuation of COVID rates both on campus through their weekly testing requirement and in the Madison County area.

As eager as many students, faculty and staff are to return to an in-person class model, it’s not worth compromising their safety to do so. If the university extends the online-only class period, they will give themselves the opportunity to monitor these rates further and only allow for a return to in-person classes when they can ensure it is largely safe to do so. Until then, their current mandate is actively harming not only the campus community, but the Madison County community as well, by drawing so many people back into such a highly compromised area.

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Thursday, 01.20.22

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Transgender athletes deserve their own athletic categories BRANDON WELLS sports editor

More openly transgender athletes are competing now, and most recently made headlines with Laurel Hubbard, the first openly transgender female weightlifter who competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Although placing seventh in the Olympics, Hubbard’s career put her at the top of her game in previous years in her career. She won two gold medals since she transitioned in 2012 and started competing in 2017 until suffering an injury in 2018 and recovering to compete in 2019 onwards, according to the Olympics website.

One of the key things to note is that Hubbard had a relatively promising career when she was younger before she stopped weightlifting in 2001, setting a men’s national junior record in 1998, according to New Zealand’s Stuff media company.

With all of her wins, Hubbard had been met with criticism by officials, coaches and scientists, as well as cisgender female peers who competed with Hubbard.

This has been one of the cases that sparked the debate regarding transgender athletes competing against cisgender athletes.

On one hand you have to look at the type of sport and the level of competition, with that determining how pivotal the difference between athletes is. Sports at

high level such as the Olympics and professional sports like track and field are looked at as indicators of the differences.

As different sports are affected directly by different factors such as upper body strength, core strength, lower body strength and general endurance, knowing some of the differences between cisgender and transgender women in these categories is important in determining any actual physical advantage.

According to an article by Sports Medicine, the difference in race times for elite level athletes still put 11 percent ahead of women. This is one of the reasons the sports are in separate categories to begin with.

While 11 percent might not be a large amount in lower levels of competitive sports, that kind of difference at a professional level, especially an Olympic level, can mean winning or losing a race.

According to that same Sports Medicine article, even while transgender women testosterone requirements for competing in different categories and measure at similar levels, the difference with performance comes from a cisgender male’s natural strength still being higher due to factors such as bone density and the amount of muscle that is kept as opposed to being lost.

As an example of this, the article discusses a general strength test in which grip strength,

which is crucial for sports such as weightlifting, shot put, javelin and others, was tested with the results putting transgender women still being at a 17 percent advantage in strength over both cisgender women and transgender men.

The advantage does not come mainly from muscle mass, as hormone replacement therapy takes some of that away, but when transgender athletes transition with hormone therapy after puberty, this can be an issue in regard to general height with certain sports such as basketball and volleyball.

According to Our World in Data, those who are born biologically as men are on average around seven percent taller than those born biologically as women. This means that on average, transgender male athletes who transition after puberty and especially later in life, such as Laurel Hubbard, have already reached their potential in general height, giving them an advantage in that area that hormone therapy can’t change.

At some point in certain sports, people have to realize that transgender women who transitioned after puberty do have a natural advantage, however small it might be, and that at high levels of competition, these small advantages matter more than in casual play.

The same thing can be said

with combat and overly physical sports. In 2020, World Rugby proposed that transgender women should be restricted from the sport of rugby citing safety concerns, according to The Guardian. Rugby already has a high injury rate of about one out of four players being injured during a season, according to First Aid 4 Sport.

Combat sports are no different, and the difference between cisgender women and transgender women who transitioned after puberty comes down even more to the high bone density and broader shoulders that help fighters punch faster and harder, according to an article by the International Journal of Wrestling Science.

In the sense of safety, an advantage that could help increase the physical damage to their opponent is not something that should be allowed to exist. For example, a fighter can change their weight class by gaining or losing weight to some degree, but you can’t change how the body is shaped with bone structure to the degree needed for a fair fight.

According to that same article, bone density can stay around the same for upwards of 12 years, meaning it would take 12 years for that athlete to not have full bone density caused by biological male puberty.

Transgender male athletes likely are in the same boat, with

those advantages not being present even with the added testosterone, while being present in their cisgender opponents and peers.

The most common and crucial opposition to this is the matter of trying to make transgender ahtletes conform to participate with a gender that they don’t identify as. This by itself is a large issue, and according to an article by Current Sports Medicine Reports, one of the biggest issues transgender athletes face is stigmatism.

The problem that it comes down to is social impact or safety and fairness in sports. It needs to be decided as to whether we should preserve the notable reason for the separation of cisgender men and women or change everything without any clear answer.

What it comes down to is that the biological sexes were separated into different categories of sports for a reason. Cisgender men and women are too different physiologically for a competition to be fair, especially in contact sports.

Transgender athletes who have gone through their transition after puberty need to have their own category at the Olympic level, or at the very least need to have more restrictions and tests done to measure factors other than testosterone. The particular sport also needs to be taken into account.

Faculty and staff union coalition opposes SIU System COVID-19 plan Editor’s Note: What follows is a statement from faculty and staff unions regarding SIUE administration’s recent decision to return to campus.

A coalition of the unions representing over 650 faculty and 200 staff at SIUE learned Wednesday that although the COVID-19 rate on campus continues to climb, the SIU Board and System President Dan Mahony have mandated that all classes be returned to face-to-face.

“The Board and President are putting students, faculty, and staff at risk at a time when the positivity rate, both on campus and in the community in which we live and work, has never been higher,” said President Ed Navarre, representing 400 tenure-line faculty.

“We can’t help but feel that we are being treated as expendable.”

The mandate, issued from Carbondale, comes just five business days after faculty and staff

were ordered to shift classes to an online format for the first week of the semester.

The 7-day average for COVID-19 positivity rate among students and employees at SIUE jumped to 13 percent before most students even returned to campus.

According to SIUE’s mitigation plan, a campus positivity rate of 8 percent automatically triggers restrictions. However, students and employees who are symptomatic are excluded from campus data because they are required to test off campus. Additionally, the mitigation plan does not consider the positivity rate in the surrounding community, which has skyrocketed to 24 percent, giving the Metro East a higher positivity rate than the Chicago area.

“We had only two days’ notice to completely overhaul the first week of classes, and now in the middle of the first week, we get two days’ notice to shift

everything back,” added Navarre. “This is not how quality, thoughtful teaching is done, and it is certainly not how faculty and staff want to do things at SIUE.” “The Board and President’s mandate is not well-organized,” added Michele Lorenzini, President of the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association. “For example, there is no mechanism for mandatory campus testing to be enforced. Also, faculty won’t know by Tuesday which students were not tested, or tested positive, and are not allowed in the classroom. The administration promised to provide KN95 masks to all faculty, too, but those masks won’t be here by Tuesday.”

“Meanwhile, offices are required to de-densify, indicating that they know the infection rate is too high to safely be on campus,” Lorenzini continued. “Yet all the classrooms have been re-

turned to full capacity, so faculty and students will not have social distancing.”

The highest positivity rates in Madison County are among 1239 year olds. While the campus has an approximately 80 percent vaccination rate, the booster is not required. Additionally, the SIUE campus includes the Head Start program, serving students who are too young to be vaccinated.

Professional Staff Association President Kim McClellan represents 200 members, both grant-funded employees at the East St. Louis center and Head Start program, and counselors and advisors on the Edwardsville campus. McClellan commented that “jeopardizing student-facing staff during a pandemic goes against the University’s stated values of wisdom and integrity.”

Regarding the lack of guidance in the System-wide mandate for the Pre-K-12 population at the

East St Louis Center, she added, “The community we serve includes families, students, and staff from among the most vulnerable populations. The mandate is silent about how we should keep trying to keep staff and students safe with such limited resources and options.”

“We look at how difficult things are in the District 7 schools in our community,” said Navarre.

“So many people are sick and this variant spreads so quickly.

We want our SIUE community to be as safe as possible, so we’re uncertain why these decisions from the Board and President in Carbondale put our community in danger.”

“SIUE’s eventual decision to shift to remote learning on January 10th was the responsible one,” said Lorenzini. “The SIU System’s decision to go back onground en masse January 18th defies all of the data.”

contact the editor: sports@alestlelive.com 650-3527 Thursday, 01.20.22

sports

NEXT WEEK: PROGRESS ON WRESTLING RENOVATIONS, MEET RESULTS

alestlelive.com

OVC conference movements change rivalries for Cougars, college athletics ALEX AULTMAN editor-in-chief The Cougars will be seeing a change in opponents next season when Murray State and Belmont leave the Ohio Valley Conference and join the Missouri Valley Conference, while the University of Arkansas at Little Rock joins the OVC in July.

Both the basketball and the soccer teams will gain and lose some opponents due to this change. While women’s soccer will no longer compete against Belmont in the OVC, men’s soccer will be facing them in the MVC next season. The Cougars OVC teams will also find new opponents in the Little Rock Trojans next season.

Joe Pott, director of athletic communications and broadcasting. said these conference changes have become more common in recent years.

“I don’t really like the term new normal, but that’s kind of what it is,” Pott said. “And it was like this several years ago, when it kind of started, as did this time, it started with some teams moving in the big football conferences.”

Pott said this wave of conference moves began when it was announced in July 2021 that Oklahoma and Texas would be leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC. SIU System President Dan Mahony said these movements are usually due to finances or reputation.

“So either they think that the allocation or money they’ll get from the conference is greater by moving or they can reduce costs by moving conferences,” Mahony said. “Sometimes it’s more kind of reputational, or they’re trying to raise their profile in some ways.”

SIU Carbondale is also a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, which means the Salukis will be playing against Murray State and Belmont next season. Mahony said the conference change could be due to recruiting region, but isn’t sure.

“For example, I know Murray State recruits a lot in the Carbondale area,” Mahony said.

“I don’t know what their rationale was for changing conferences, but if they believe having regular games in Carbondale would help them recruit students from that area of the state, then they may feel that some reason to do that.”

Mahony said these conference moves can make it difficult for universities to maintain rivalries.

“You’re trying to kind of constantly recreate good ri-

OVC

MVC

Belmont Bruins

Bradley Braves

Eastern Illinois Panthers

Drake Bulldogs

Morehead State Eagles

Evansville Purple Aces

Murray State Racers

Illinois State Redbirds

SIU Edwardsville Cougars

Indiana State Sycamores

Southeast Missouri State Redhawks

Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Tennessee State Tigers Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles UT Martin Skyhawks

Missouri State Bears Northern Iowa Panthers Southern Illinois Salukis Valparaiso Beacons

Page 8

SIUE STANDINGS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

OVERALL OVC

SIUE Murray State UT Martin Belmont Tennessee Tech Southeast Missouri Austin Peay Eastern Illinois Morehead State Tennessee State

6-9 12-5 4-10 9-5 8-7 4-13 11-5 6-9 1-13 9-7

MEN’S BASKETBALL

OVERALL OVC

SIUE Belmont Austin Peay Southeast Missouri Tennessee Tech UT Martin Morehead State Tennessee State Eastern Illinois Murray State

7-9 14-4 4-9 6-11 4-12 6-11 12-5 7-10 2-14 15-2

VOLLEYBALL

OVERALL OVC

Morehead State Murray State Belmont Austin Peay SIUE UT Martin Eastern Illinois Tennessee Tech Southeast Missouri Tennessee State

20-11 18-12 9-20 21-12 6-23 15-17 11-18 16-14 25-8 10-17

All stats are from the OVC

UPCOMING Women’s Basketball vs. Tennessee Tech 4 p.m., Jan. 20

TEAMS EXPECTED TO LEAVE THE OVC:

Track and field at Mark Colligan Memorial Jan. 22

Austin Peay, Belmont and Murray State

Women’s Basketball vs. Morehead State 1 p.m., Jan. 22

TEAMS EXPECTED TO JOIN THE OVC:

University of Arkansas at Little Rock | Kirsten O’Loughlin / The Alestle

valries, which get fans excited and students excited,” Mahony said. “So that becomes a little challenging when you’re constantly seeing that change in conferences.”

Pott said conference changes have also impacted local rivalries.

“A perfect example of this, you know, somewhat locally is Missouri and Kansas,” Pott said.

“They were huge rivals forever and ever and ever, and they were in the same conference forever

and ever and ever. And this year, they played basketball for the first time against one another since Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC [in 2012].”

Mahony said these changes also impact student-athletes if they based their enrollment on the conference their university was in.

“I know, even for athletes, sometimes they want to go say, ‘I’m going to go to this school, because I know a lot of my games

will be in this area based on the other conference members,’” Mahony said. “And then all of a sudden they get there, they change conferences, and now my parents can’t come, my family members can’t come to games regularly, because we’re playing in a different place.”

Mahony said he is interested in seeing if conferences will begin to work together in the future on scheduling to make these changes less volatile.

Women’s Tennis vs. Valparasio 2 p.m., Jan. 22 Men’s Basketball vs. Morehead State 3 p.m., Jan. 22 Wrestling at SIUE vs. Central Michigan 11 a.m., and vs.

South Dakota State 1 p.m., Jan. 23