Thursday, January 23, 2020

The Cavalier Daily

Vol. 130, Issue 17

Thursday, January 23, 2020

EMMA HITCHCOCK | THE CAVALIER DAILY

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NEWS This week in-brief CD News Staff

U.Va. adopts ‘Inclusive Excellence’ framework University President Jim Ryan and Kevin G. McDonald, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, announced Jan. 16 that the University will be adopting an Inclusive Excellence framework pursuant to the 2030 Plan, which was EMMA KLEIN | THE CAVALIER DAILY approved by the Board of Visitors August 2019.

The framework intends to assist in guiding and In an announcement sent to the University community, Ryan and McDonald explained that organizing existing diversity and inclusion efforts. the 2030 Plan — which aims to make U.Va. the best public university in the country — is deeply connected to themes of diversity, equity, inclusion and excellence.

The Inclusive Excellence model has been used in postsecondary education since 2005. Inclusive Excellence programs also exist at other Virginia universities, including the College of William & Mary and Virginia Tech.

The framework is organized into five dimensions and is designed as “comprehensive but flexible.” The five areas of focus are Access and Success, Climate and Intergroup Relations, Education and Scholarship, Infrastructure and Investment, and Community and Partnership.

Specific definitions for each dimension can be found on the Inclusive Excellence website.

The Inclusive Excellence website also features a sample timeline, which suggests that implementation of action plans developed by the Inclusive Excellence team could begin as early as November.

1.16

1.17

Miller Center hosts impeachment roundtable The Miller Center hosted 200 students and community members in the Rotunda Friday afternoon for a discussion on the ongoing presidential impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

In December, Trump became the third president in U.S. history to be impeached by the House of EMMA KLEIN | THE CAVALIER DAILY Representatives — and now faces a congressional The event allowed attendees to interact with the trial after articles of impeachment were submitted Center’s experts. to the Senate Thursday. Trump is charged with abusing his presidential power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden, as well as for obstructing Congress’ ensuing probe.

Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the Miller Center, moderated a panel that included Law Prof. Deborah Hellman, Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and Chris Lu, former deputy chief counsel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Perry guided the group’s conversation about impeachment, incorporating topics such as Chief Justice John Roberts’ role of presiding over the Senate trial and upcoming steps.

The audience also asked questions, such as whether Congress should have pursued censure instead of impeachment and whether the president has been acting in his own political interest or for national security. When asked about the president’s lack of cooperation with the investigation and trial in Congress, Lu expressed concern over the president’s actions.

“There's always been this accommodation between executive and legislative branches in terms of oversight,” Lu said. “But the president is actually basically saying, ‘I am beyond the reach of legislative oversight.’ I think it should trouble all of us.”

Chief Student Affairs Officer Patricia M. Lampkin announces retirement After serving in higher education at the University for over 40 years, Patricia M. Lampkin, vice president and chief student affairs officer, has announced the conclusion of her tenure. Although Lampkin plans for her official retirement to begin in August, she will remain in the role until the University is able to find a successor.

In her role, Lampkin oversaw areas of the COURTESY UVATODAY University that provide support and services for students, including the Department of Stu- This month, Lampkin announced that she will dent Health and Wellness, the Office of Afri- conclude her tenure as Chief Student Affairs Officer in August. can-American Affairs, Office of the Dean of Students and the University Career Center.

In the announcement, Lampkin described her time at the University as immensely rewarding and professionally satisfying, calling her interactions with students “invigorating” and “renewing.”

She has focused on strengthening student self-governance and the student experience through accomplishments such as the creation of the University Board of Elections, which supervises all University-wide student elections, and the establishment of the Meriwether Lewis Institute for Citizen Leadership, which provides select students with leadership instruction and experience.

University President Jim Ryan expressed his gratitude for Lampkin’s service to the University’s students.

“Her legacy will include, among many other accomplishments, creating more opportunities for student leadership development, helping make the expanded Student Health and Wellness Center a reality, strengthening our system of student self-governance, assembling a terrific team in Student Affairs, mentoring colleagues across the University, and handling a long line of crises – both large and small – with compassion and care,” Ryan said to UVAToday.

The University expects to begin the search process for Lampkin’s successor in the coming weeks.

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1.21

Honor introduces policy regarding cases arising out of Title IX The Honor Committee met Jan. 19 to discuss a proposed bylaw pertaining to cases that arise from Title IX — which receives cases of sexual and gender-based harassment and violence — and CHANDLER COLLINS | THE CAVALIER DAILY their ability to investigate them. The meeting ended without a decision, but the Committee The Committee is currently questioning the plans to continue their discussion Sunday, Jan. 26. language used for a proposed bylaw.

The policy states that the Committee would not re-adjudicate Title IX cases if the Title IX process had already resolved or adjudicated the underlying issue. Any Honor cases brought to the Committee that implicate a Title IX case would be directed to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure that Honor’s hearing the case would not constitute a re-adjudication of the initial case.

Mary Beth Barksdale, vice chair of education for the Honor Committee and fourth-year College student, explained two potential scenarios in which a case that arose out of Title IX could potentially proceed in Honor.

The first type of override could be used in the following example — if an accused party admitted to stealing a bike and that fact was not relevant to the Title IX investigation, Honor could then pursue the offense. This case earned general support from the Committee.

Honor is also considering their ability to make a second type of override viable for future Honor Committees to preserve the University’s integrity.

“If some lie were so catastrophic to the University community and it arose out of Title IX, the same unanimous executive override could be used to take the case and acknowledge that it's Honor's duty to the community to take this case,” Barksdale said.

Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 3

NEWS

Senator Tim Kaine speaks at Batten School on war powers Discussion centered around concerns with overreach of presidential power in Iran conflict Emma Scales | Staff Writer The Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy held a discussion with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., about the origins of and the debates surrounding the constitutional issue of war powers. He then addressed the resolution he introduced to the Senate Jan. 3 that would clarify Congress’s constitutional obligation to deliberate and vote on acts of war.

The senator was introduced by dean of the Batten School Ian Solomon, who was appointed last May. “Senator Kaine wants to protect the constitutional safeguards that govern how and when America goes to war,” Solomon said. “He has posed a policy solution that he will share with us today.”

Kaine spoke about how he became invested in war powers after watching congressional deliberations of the Iraq War unfold and the scheduling of the war vote for October 2002 right before midterm elections. He was spurred into action on this issue because of a report on the War Powers Resolution

of 1973, which was made by a panel convened by the University’s Miller Center of Public Affairs.

“Basically what I’ve done since I came to the Senate in January 2013 is take this initial set of outrage about the 2002 deliberation on the war in Iraq, combine it with the intellectual product produced here at U.Va. and [devote] myself to this particular issue,” Kaine said.

The war powers resolution Kaine introduced to the Senate this month is a privileged motion under the War Powers Act. This means that the legislation is guaranteed a vote, can be passed with a simple majority — more than half of the Senate voting affirmative — and can be called to the floor much sooner than other legislation, as soon as ten days after its filing.

Under the War Powers Act, war powers resolutions can order the removal of U.S. troops from hostilities that are not authorized by Congress. Even though the resolution is likely to be vetoed by President Trump, Kaine emphasized the

importance of Congress’ responsibility to check executive power, especially in manners of war.

“Congress should do what we’re supposed to do, whatever the president does,” Kaine said.

While he acknowledged the strained relationship between the U.S. and Iran, he condemned Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal against the advice of the Department of Defense and top military officials.

The deal, which was established in July 2015, aimed to restrict Iran’s development of nuclear weapons, subjecting them to regular inspections by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency. It was negotiated by President Obama.

Trump has said that the agreement is flawed and ineffective in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Kaine explained how votes on war are especially difficult for him, considering his son serves in the Marines. He emphasized that congressional deliberation on war is

EMMA KLEIN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Senator Tim Kaine (left) was introduced by Ian Solomon, dean of the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy (right).

critical.

“If Congress doesn’t have the guts to have a debate and vote … how dare we say to young men and women who are serving, ‘We didn’t want to vote on this because it’s too unpopular — you go risk your life, you go risk your health,’” Kaine said. “There couldn’t be anything more immoral in the public space.”

Kaine also introduced legislation to amend previous authorizations of war to narrow their focus and prevent them from being used as justifications for acts of aggression that no longer pertain to the original scope of the authorization.

Kaine explained that he values the insight of students and young people in matters of war and peace.

He took questions from students at the end of his talk that covered issues such as time limits on congressional war authorization, proportional response in foreign policy and the fate of diplomacy following the killing of Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani by a strike that was ordered by Trump without the

approval of Congress.

The senator expressed his high regard for the University’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy during his talk.

“I always look forward to interacting with Batten students,” Kaine said. “If you’re going to talk about Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and the potential of a war with Iran, what better place than Batten, where you can talk about weighty matters of constitutional principle, historical figures that we know in Virginia and tough, everyday challenges?”

Solomon stressed the importance of hosting active policymakers.

“Frankly, they [policy makers and leaders] are people who are often in these roles because they care deeply, because they’re passionate to expose our students to that level of care and that passion is inspiring,” Solomon said.

EMMA KLEIN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

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NEWS

22,000 demonstrators rally for gun rights at Virginia Capitol No reports of violence from the event, one arrest made Zach Rosenthal | Senior Writer

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Many individuals feared that the Richmond rally would be an event comarable to the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which turned violent and culminated in a fatal car attack.

Despite concerns that a progun rally in Richmond Jan. 20 might turn violent, demonstrators — some openly armed — remained nonviolent while protesting gun control laws, expected to be passed by the newly-elected Democratic legislature.

The Virginia legislature passed three bills Jan. 16. Included in the bills was a limit on handgun purchases to one per month and universal background checks for all gun sales. The legislature is considering other bills as well, including “red flag” laws and a ban on assault weapons.

In a statement following the event, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., issued a statement applauding the de-escalation of a potentially violent event by law enforcement.

“Thousands of people came to Richmond to make their voices heard,” Northam said. “Today showed that when people disagree, they can do so peacefully.”

In advance of the rally, many individuals feared that the Richmond rally would be an event

comparable to the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which turned violent and culminated in the fatal car attack that killed activist Heather Heyer and caused injuries to two dozen more.

Three men from the white-supremacist group The Base were arrested by the FBI in advance of the rally after they had discussed attending. Nationally, four other men from the group were arrested by the FBI for offenses unrelated to the event.

Groups that attended the rally included far-right groups such as the Proud Boys — which the FBI has classified an “extremist group” with ties to white nationalists — and anti-government movements including the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.

Due to this threat and other information from state intelligence organizations, Northam signed Executive Order 49, which set in place a state of emergency from 5 p.m. Jan. 17 until 5 p.m.

Jan. 21.

Professor Larry Sabato, direc-

tor of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, credited police intelligence units for stopping potential violence.

“They monitored dark web traffic and, sure enough, caught white supremacists who were planning to cause mayhem, death, and destruction,” Sabato said. “Those arrests deterred others from showing up today, no doubt.”

Only one arrest occurred 90 minutes after the rally official drew to a close. 21-year old Mikaela Beschler was arrested for wearing a mask in public after being warned twice about not covering her face with a bandana.

Many rally participants also wore face masks but were not arrested.

Thousands of people at the event were armed, with many wearing body armor and military-style fatigues. Approximately 22,000 people participated in the rally — well short of the 130,000 armed attendees that the organizers of the event predicted.

The protestors were comprised of 6,000 people on Capi-

tol Square and 16,000 outside the fences. Inside the fences, weapons were banned after Northam issued a state of emergency.

Many participants carried military-style weapons on the city streets, including one man armed with a .50 caliber sniper rifle.

The rally was organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a pro-gun activist group.

The VCDL has also spearheaded the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement in Virginia, where cities and counties have passed laws that are intended to impede gun control efforts.

Sheriff Richard Vaughn of Grayson County attended the event in support of gun owners, stating that he will not enforce the gun control laws if they pass as is.

Grayson County is one of many Virginia counties that has become a Second Amendment sanctuary, adopting the measure on Dec. 12, 2019. Out of 95 counties in Virginia, 91 have adopted Second Amendment Sanctuary

resolutions. Of Virginia’s 38 independent cities, 15 have adopted these resolutions.

The City Charlottesville is not a Second Amendment Sanctuary. Nor is Albemarle County, which rejected the passage of a resolution to become a sanctuary Dec. 4.

Sabato stated that he doesn’t expect the rally to have significant political consequences on the Virginia legislature.

“In a democracy like ours, change is determined by ballots, not bullets or rally size,” Sabato said. “Just a few months ago, Democrats running on gun control and public safety legislation scored a major victory and took over both chambers of the General Assembly for the first time in a generation. I predict the legislature will not be deterred by this rally, and will move ahead to pass the legislation that they promised.”

Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 5

NEWS

Center for Politics hosts annual Democracy Conference Speakers and panelists discuss 2020 election, role of women in politics Ali Sullivan | News Editor The University’s Center for Politics hosted its 21st annual Democracy Conference Wednesday in the Newcomb Ballroom, featuring a variety of speakers, including political commentators, news anchors and former representatives. The event, founded by Professor Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics, is part of “Democracy in Perilous Times: Unprecedented Challenges and Controversies” — an ongoing series organized by the Center and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

Sabato welcomed attendees to the event with a few comments on the ongoing impeachment trial in the Senate before announcing the speakers to come — all of whom were women — to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.

“We can still make a little history now and then,” Sabato

said. “I am the first and last male speaker you will be seeing today.”

The first keynote speech was delivered by Mia Love, a former representative for Utah’s 4th Congressional District who served from 2015 to 2019. Love — the first and only Republican Black woman to serve in Congress — spoke about her background as a second-generation Haitian immigrant and encouraged bipartisan discussion and dialogue.

“The civil breakdown and the tear down of each other, I believe, will be our undoing,” Love said. “We are a greater threat to ourselves than other entities out there.”

Love championed individual action and responsibility, which she believes offers the best pathway to effecting political change.

The speech closed with her vision for the future of federal govern-

ment — one in which Congress is limited to its Article One powers and the Executive is limited to Article Two. Erica Hill, lead fill-in anchor and national correspondent for CNN, moderated the following panel. The panel featured Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University, Barbara Comstock, former Virginia Congressional representative and recently appointed resident scholar at the Center, Wendy Osefo, professor of education at The Johns Hopkins University and Leslie Sanchez, a Republican political pundit.

The panel opened with a discussion of gender in politics, which Hill noted was a pertinent topic due to a recent alleged report that democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Senator

Bernie Sanders said a woman could not win the presidency.

Sanders disputed the report, calling it “ludicrous.”

Osefo noted that in order to make sure women’s voices are heard, they need to be at the table.

“One of the notions I hate the most is when people say … ‘I want to be a voice for the voiceless,’” Osefo said. “No, just pass the mic.”

The discussion turned to electability for female candidates and the gender penalty — a phenomenon whereby women running for office are assessed differently than their male counterparts. All panelists agreed that the bar for political candidacy is much lower for men than it is for women.

After the panel’s conclusion, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend delivered the final keynote address.

Townsend, the eldest child of Ethel and Robert Kennedy, currently serves as director of Retirement Security at the Economic Policy Institute and, from 1995 to 2003, served as Maryland’s first female lieutenant governor.

Townsend spoke on women in politics as well as retirement, noting that half of all jobs in the United States don’t offer a retirement plan.

“I talked to all the presidential candidates, and three have a plan [for retirement security], and none of them talk about it,” Townsend said.

Townsend closed her presentation by asking for questions from the audience, with one asking her when she believes a Maryland will elect its first female governor — a question to which she answered an estimated 15 years.

SOPHIE ROEHSE | THE CAVALIER DAILY

The event was part of “Democracy in Perilous Times: Unprecedented Challenges and Controversies” — an ongoing series organized by the Center for Politics and Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Ariana Grande and the problem of racial ambiguity Asst. Professor Jack Hamilton discusses profit, genre and appropriation in the music industry Darryle Aldridge | Senior Writer

ROBIN SCHWARTZKOPF | THE CAVALIER DAILY

How the music industry should address the issue of racial ambiguity — and the profits artists make from it — is a layered question.

It seems as though America knows everything about Ariana Grande, from her PTSD after a terrorist attack at a 2017 Manchester show to her highly publicized breakup with comedian Pete Davidson. The one thing the public has yet to figure out? Her race.

The question of Grande’s race is brought about by her presentation as racially ambiguous. Grande is Italian-American, but her deep complexion — which is a result of tanning — leads many to think otherwise. She was even criticized for her dark appearance on the August 2019 Vogue cover.

The problem stemming from her racial ambiguity is the impact it has on her career — the perception of Grande as racially indeterminate allows her to make both pop and R&B music and may contribute to her success as a pop star.

Even though the “thank u, next” singer’s career has spanned less than a decade, she has managed to amass a wild amount of success. She has been most successful within the last two years of her career with the release of her more R&B and hip-hop oriented albums, 2018’s “Sweeten-

er” and “thank u, next” from 2019.

Grande has always been vocal about her appreciation of R&B and hiphop music — her debut album featured production credits from Babyface, and she cites Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Brandy as some of her musical inspirations.

However, as Grande’s interest in a more urban sound increased, her complexion concurrently deepened, making her appear more racially ambiguous over the years.

Grande’s racial ambiguity has been noticed by fans and scholars alike. Jack Hamilton, an assistant professor in the department of Media Studies and Slate pop critic, explained his thoughts on the phenomenon.

When asked if he thought presenting as racially ambiguous was a conscious decision, Hamilton said, “[with] the rise of social media … you are able to see artists have a little bit more agency in terms of how they are presenting, how they’re identifying, what types of audiences they’re trying to get their music in front of.”

Regarding Grande specifically he commented, “it’s a little bit more

complicated because of her background as basically a child star,” Hamilton said. “Usually with artists when someone breaks into the music industry at a very young age, [they have] a lot less sort of control and say over how they are being marketed.”

The fixation America has with ethnically ambiguous performers is not new. Throughout history, artists such as Grande, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera have achieved success with their ability to cross genres like pop and R&B because of their racial presentation.

“There’s this ... standing sort of cultural interest, if not sort of fascination … fetishization of the ethnically ambiguous performer,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said that while the music industry is becoming more open to non-black artists participating in genres traditionally considered black, this participation must be done with respect.

“People will respect you and appreciate you [as an artist] if they feel like that’s a mutual thing… if you’re bringing a level of respect and a level of appreciation and a level of kind

of love and reverence to the music you’re making,” Hamilton said.

The problem with an artist such as Grande making R&B music is her transition towards this sound coincided with a darker complexion.

“It’s ‘tradition’ in American pop music to have these young, white, teenage stars who are making black-influenced music,” Hamilton said.

While Hamilton noted that Grande’s transition to R&B music has been “smoother” than some of her predecessors and contemporaries, he said that as long as Grande presents herself as ethnically ambiguous, her participation in this genre of music is inherently problematic.

Grande’s transition from child to adult star began in 2016 with the release of her third studio album, “Dangerous Woman” — her first true exploration of hip-hop and R&B music. Between the release of her second and third albums, her sound, complexion and lyrical content changed. She experimented with trap beats and worked with artists such as Macy Gray, Future and Nicki Minaj. During the “Dangerous Woman” era, many were quick to point out that she was nearly the same complexion as Nicki Minaj in their performances together, and her lyrical content became more sexually explicit.

This transition to more promiscuous lyrics and a traditionally black sound coinciding with a racially ambiguous complexion is troublesome, because it perpetuates ideas that black musicians only making vulgar or provocative art, and that women of color are inherently sexual.

Artists who present as racially ambiguous are not only afforded the ability to make such musical transitions, but also the fluidity to revert to pop music. Artists of color, on the other hand, may be pigeonholed into making music that is stereotypically associated with their race.

“There’s a lot more fluidity in terms of these sort of boundary-crossing things that are afforded to white artists,” Hamilton said.

Grande is a prime example of how white artists who present as racially ambiguous are afforded genre fluidity. Upon the release of her 2019 single “7 Rings,” many publications were quick to proclaim Grande a rapper on the song without also taking away her status as a singer.

Contrastingly, Lizzo came under fire in August of 2019 for comparing herself with rappers Future and Swae Lee.

“For African American artists in particular in this country, there’s a real sort of confinement to what audiences think of as being ... what black music is versus white music,” Hamilton said.

Lizzo not being labeled both a rapper and singer, while Grande is hailed as both, highlights the freedom that presenting as racially ambiguous affords Grande and the constraints placed on women of color in the music industry.

However, while Grande is not without fault in presenting herself as racially ambiguous in a way that helps her career, one should consider the role misogyny plays in how her ambiguity is perceived.

Citing Justin Timberlake as an example of this, Hamilton said “he [Timberlake] was really celebrated for [his transition from pop to R&B music]. He didn’t get the same amount of flack.”

How the music industry should address the issue of racial ambiguity — and the profits artists make from it — is a layered question. “[It] is not about the ambiguity aspect,” Hamilton said. “It’s about the profiting from it, and it’s about the exploiting it.”

Hamilton is right. Grande’s darker presentation is not done maliciously. Regardless, she still reaps profits from being white and presenting as ethnically indeterminate.

There is a long history of white artists profiting from the sounds and styles of black artists in the music industry.

This history cannot be undone with just Grande alone — she is just one of many. But it can start with her using her platform.

One solution Hamilton suggests is “[artists] making more space to have open and honest conversations about the way that race and economics works in the music industry.”

As one of the biggest stars in the music industry, what Grande has to say matters. Perhaps it’s a pipe dream in such a highly political industry, but if Grande were to openly address the issue, the music industry would be one step closer to a level playing field for artists of color — and there would be one less problem with racial ambiguity.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

2020 vision: Upcoming albums to get excited for Enjoy some old favorites from artists who have things in store for 2020 Robin Schwartzkopf | Arts and Entertainment Editor

COURTESY WASTED TIME RECORDS

The Dixie Chicks may be returning with their first album in over a decade in 2020.

2019 was a mess! Good thing it’s a new year — and what’s better for a new year than new music? Here are some of the projects to look forward to in 2020, and some old faithful tunes while you wait.

Kesha Kesha’s follow up to her 2017 album “Rainbow” is set to be released at the end of January.

The singer has already dropped three singles from “High Road,” including a collaboration with Big Freedia, the New Orleans-based queen of bounce music. “Rainbow” saw Kesha take control of her creative output and narrative, following the abuse she suffered at the hands of record producer Dr. Luke for much of the decade. The heavy themes on “Rainbow” are evident in the title track as well as the lead single “Praying,” where the singer seems to directly address her abuser by singing, “You brought the flames and you put me through hell / I had to learn how to fight for myself / And we both know all the truth I could tell.”

The album was a triumphant moment for Kesha, garnering her her first Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. Judging from the singles, particularly “Raising Hell,” “High Road” will see Kesha explore more of her personality and poppy vibes, while also letting her slow it down at points.

Normani Normani, previously a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony which announced an indefinite hiatus in 2018, has yet to release her debut album after signing with Keep Cool/ RCA Records in the same year. The pop singer has released songs with Khalid and Sam Smith, gaining her exposure and momentum leading up to the release of her single “Motivation,” which dropped in August 2019. “Motivation” — along with its accompanying music video, which features impressive basketball choreography and a retro-inspired vibe — is a promising hint at what a solo Normani project could be — a fresh, genuine and spirited ode to pop.

Megan Thee Stallion By all accounts, 2019 was the year of Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion. She dropped her first full-length project, “Fever,” coined the term Hot Girl Summer and signed with Roc Nation. Her first studio album, called “Suga,” will drop in 2020. The first single, “B.I.T.C.H.,” is set for release Jan. 24. Megan has teased collaborations with Pharrell, album art and a new

alter ego for the project, while also collaborating with Normani on a song for the “Birds of Prey” movie soundtrack, which dropped Jan. 10. Megan’s creative, complex and hard-hitting style has served her well on tracks like “Realer,” “Cash S—t” and her team-up with Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign, “Hot Girl Summer.” Her new album will likely follow suit and could very well exceed expectations for the rapper.

Lady Gaga When Lady Gaga announced on Twitter in March that she was “pregnant with #LG6,” fans who had been buzzing with anticipation began promptly short-circuiting in excitement. Gaga has since provided a few more — joking? — updates, like suggesting her album’s title will be “ADELE” and tweeting about her lack of bathing with the hashtag #LG6. If the project does come out in 2020, it will no doubt be the latest in a series of successes for Gwaga, which include her 2016 album “Joanne” and 2018 film “A Star is Born.” What the album will sound like is another question — will she return to the pop experimentalism of her earlier albums, the country-inspired spirit of “Joanne,” somewhere in between or something entirely new? All little monsters can do is wait.

Dixie Chicks The Dixie Chicks’ debut album, “Wide Open Spaces,” came out over 20 years ago, but the band began teasing possible new music in 2018. The project, which will be called “Gaslighter,” is a more personal exploration of the lives of band members Emily Robison, Martie Maguire and Natalie Maines — especially since their blacklisting by much of the country music world because of their opposition to the invasion of Iraq and criticism of President George Bush in 2003. The promise of a new album is a welcome one, especially considering the odd gender-skew of the country music charts right now, which seem to be under-representative of female artists.

“Gaslighter” will be the first album for Dixie Chicks since 2006’s “Taking the Long Way,” so the evolution of their sound will be interesting to hear when the new project is released. A hint of their faithful melodies and talent is on Taylor Swift’s 2019 album “Lover,” on the quiet and emotional track “Soon You’ll Get Better.”

Rihanna Please?

Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 7

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LIFE

New Year, new must-try energy bar recipe These easy-to-make vegan bars are energizing and delicious MC Crawford | Food Writer It’s the beginning of the year, and New Year’s resolutions are well underway. People are in “health mode,” determined to work out more, eat healthier and turn over a new leaf. If you’re someone who has been scurrying to the gym recently, I have the perfect recipe for you. These pre- and post-workout energy bars will give you the energy you need to exercise and stick to your New Year's resolutions.

First-year College student Bronwyn Mitchell — who plans to pursue a degree in nutrition — designed this recipe so that these bars are low in sugar, high in protein and completely vegan. Mitchell is vegan herself and has made countless plant-based recipes.

“I am always super intentional with the ingredients I use when developing recipes,” Mitchell said. “My goal with these bars was to create something light enough for a pre-workout snack yet still substantial and free from unnecessary added sugars, unlike most bars you find on the shelves today.”

Making these bars is not only easy and fun but will also save you money. Why buy overpriced protein bars when you can make them on your own for much less? In fact, I have been snacking on these bars all week.

They curb my cravings and give me long-lasting energy throughout the day.

Pre- and Post-Workout Energy Bars Prep time: 20 minutes Freeze time: 45-60 minutes Serving Size: 6-8 bars Ingredients: 1 cup almond butter 4 dates 1 tsp vanilla ¼ tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp salt ½ cup oats 2 tbsp coconut 2 tbsp chia seeds 3 tbsp hemp seeds 2 tbsp cacao powder 1 tbsp melted coconut oil Chocolate chips or cacao nibs for topping (optional)

Be ready to get your hands a little dirty. Your mouth will thank you later.

1. Begin by adding almond butter, dates, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, oats, coconut and chia seeds into a food processor and blend until mixture is smooth and the dates are fully mixed in. It should be fairly dry and thick.

You can also use an immersion blender like I did, but a food processor will speed up the process.

2. Move mix into a bowl.

3. Add hemp seeds, cacao powder and melted coconut oil into the bowl, and mix ingredients with your hands — I warned you things would get a little messy! At this point, the mixture should be thick and sticky.

4. Place the mix in an 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper and smooth it out evenly.

5. If using optional toppings, add on top and pat down.

6. Place pan in the freezer for at least 45 to 60 minutes.

7. When ready to eat, take the pan out of the freezer. Pull the parchment paper out of the pan, and cut as many

squares as you would like. Store in the fridge.

8. Enjoy!

Eating these energy bars is like treating yourself without the guilt.

And for peanut butter lovers like myself, these bars are really good with a generous layer of peanut butter on top, accompanied by a glass of milk or almond milk if you’re vegan. Although these bars are good for both before

and after a workout, eating them with peanut butter is best after you get home from the gym.

I like to store the bars in my freezer rather than my fridge. The frozen crunch is just what I need to cool me down and keep me full after going to the gym. These bars emphasize a new year, a new source of energy and a new you. Make this recipe to fuel your body with something that’s both good and good for you.

MC CRAWFORD | THE CAVALIER DAILY

These bars emphasize a new year, a new source of energy and a new you.

An ‘egg-ceptionally’ simple egg tart recipe Chances are you already have all the ingredients necessary for these elegant custard tarts in your kitchen Yujin Oh | Food Writer One of my favorite winter break traditions is to bake with my family. This year, we chose to venture away from the minimal-effort boxed brownies and opted to take on the challenging feat of egg tarts.

Egg tarts are sweet custard-filled pastries typically made with a dough of a similar consistency to puff pastry. Each individual tart is about the size of a cupcake and

compacted into a couple inches of pastry and sweetened egg custard filling.

These desserts are widely associated with Chinese cuisine and culture, but have actually been derived from the British and Portuguese, with slightly different renditions for each background.

My mother and I made slight alterations to a recipe we found on-

YUJIN OH | THE CAVALIER DAILY

These egg tarts are creative yet flavorsome — a refreshing break from conventional baked goods.

line to match our Korean palates — our final recipe consisted of much less sugar than what the original recipe called for. We didn’t need to make an extra trip to the grocery store, as most of the ingredients were kitchen staples. By the end, we had 12 perfectly shaped egg tarts, just enough to share with friends and family.

The combination of these ingredients “egg-cellently” worked together to produce a subtly sweet taste all in one bite. If baked correctly, the egg custard filling should almost melt in your mouth. The custard itself tastes just sweet enough to distinguish from the subtle egg flavor. The flaky, crumbly crust pairs perfectly with the light custard.

Prep time: 20 minutes Bake time: 35 minutes Total cooking time: Approximately one hour Ingredients/Materials: Muffin tin 4 egg yolks 2 pie crusts 4/5 cup of milk ½ cup of heavy whipping cream 5 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and vanilla extract together. Set aside once incorporated.

3. Place a small pot on the stove top and pour in the milk and heavy whipping cream. Before turning the heat on, add in sugar and stir with a wooden spoon.

4. On low heat, warm up the mixture just before it seems like it will boil, then take the pot off the stovetop to cool down.

5. Once it is completely cooled, slowly combine with the egg yolks and stir gently.

6. Using the mouth of a glass or cup, cut out small circles of the pie crust and mold them individually inside the muffin tin — this is the outer crust of the egg tarts.

7. Carefully pour the filling into each tart, filling the tin about 70 percent, so it has some room to rise in the oven.

8. Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Cool down before eating. Enjoy!

Egg tarts are elegant and intri-

cate in their own way, without all the hassle. Surprisingly simple to recreate, these world-class desserts are tasty enough to impress anyone.

Perfect for potlucks, meetings or simply a night in with friends, egg tarts are creative yet flavorsome — a refreshing break from conventional baked goods.

In the chance that you are left with excess pie crust pieces and/or egg custard mixture, this recipe can be customized into other makeshift treats using staple ingredients such as frozen berries and jam.

My mother and I decided to throw some frozen blackberries and blueberries into the leftover egg tart shells. Once we distributed the leftover few drops or so of the custard filling in with the frozen berries, we baked them alongside the other egg tarts and found ourselves with refreshing and tasteful mini berry pies.

Whether you choose to stick with the original egg tart recipe or make it your own using a compilation of leftover ingredients in your fridge, these “eggs-quisite” treats are worth breaking out of your shell for.

Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 9

LIFE

I have become a little feminist woman How a coming-of-age novel doubles as a feminist manifesto Lucie Drahozal | Life Columnist After watching the most recent “Little Women” movie, I got to thinking about what the story really means to me. I was first exposed to this story at age four or five when I was bored at my grandma’s and begging for some entertainment. She had ingeniously pulled out the 1949 version, featuring classic actresses like June Allyson and Elizabeth Taylor, and my sisters and I fell in love.

The story is simple, yet within this simplicity, it holds so much depth and love. The overarching themes revolve around sisterhood, independence, self-love and pursuing your passions — all of which are arguably more encouraged today than they have ever been.

This story was revolutionary in the 1860s, pushing for the empowerment of women — both in the private and public spheres — by telling the story of four sisters getting to know themselves and each other.

Jo is bold and the most outspo-

ken about female empowerment, explicitly stating that women should be out there living life like the men in the story. Meg is the most OK with being confined to the stereotypical view of what it meant to be a woman at the time, though she, like Jo, also desires the true respect that many men did not show women at the time. Beth is the selfless and caring sister who hopes that everyone can get along and care for each other in whatever capacity they can while Amy is the most direct about wanting to follow her ambitions, knowing full well that a man may be necessary to propel her from point A to point B. These girls serve as important embodiments for who I want to be when I grow up. I want to be respected and passionate, yet respectful and caring. I want to be able to enjoy the same opportunities as men, yet still be hardworking and do all I can to get to where I want to be.

While originally published in 1868, “Little Women” still preaches what people are actively fighting for in popular movements today. It vouches for the equality of genders, but still understands that each individual offers different strengths, perspectives and passions.

Many groups at the University, such as the Young Women Leaders Program, seek to accomplish a goal that author Louisa May Alcott sets in “Little Women” — that women should experience the freedom to do as they wish, just as men do. We live in a world that is coming to accept the equality of the genders more than ever before, and I’m thankful to have been exposed to such positive depictions of women at such an early age.

Sure, at age five, I probably wasn’t thinking too much about the feminist message behind the movie, yet I was enamored by the stark differences between the girls and how each character was paint-

ed as unique and lovable in their own way. I was also fascinated by the ways they cared so much about their family and how all four sisters truly believed in the path they wanted to follow for their lives.

Flashing forward to the present day after watching different versions of the same classic story, I can see that at the intersection of love, freedom, equality and passion is also the ability to change, develop and love yourself through it all. I am someone that is so horrible at change — I dread it, run from it and savor any sort of consistency as long as I possibly can.

However, this story is proof that change is necessary for growth — that the discomfort associated with leaving your comfort zone isn’t always bad. Jo, for instance, extols the need for society to grow and accept women for the strong, loving and powerful beings that they are. In a more overarching sense, Alcott also implores us to self-reflect and consider how to

develop and change alongside the rest of society.

Beyond inspiring my present, I feel as though the pages also ask me to think about how far I’ve come and where I want to go. It’s beautiful in the way that each girl comes to understand their hopes and desires for their own lives while also taking into account how their loved ones fit into their broader plans and ambitions.

For someone with sisters, trying to figure out how I need to grow both for myself and in relation to my sisters and my family has been tough. However, “Little Women” has helped ease my fears of change and taught me to embrace it with the hope of growth.

It shows that, of course, women should be valued, respected and understood but also that we should reflect on what we want to do with both our present and future on this difficult yet amazing earth.

ANGELA CHEN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

“Little Women” has helped ease my fears of change and embrace it with the hope of growth. It shows that we should reflect on what we want to do with both our present and future.

10 | www.cavalierdaily.com

LIFE

Top 10 reasons to take that 8 a.m. class The early bird gets the worm — and here’s why Zachary Anderson | Top 10 Writer

4. Morning coffee

1. Breakfast

It doesn't matter if you drink hot or iced coffee, the bittersweet taste of a fresh cup just hits different in the early hours of the morning. Caffeine junkies can join each other in line to get their preferred morning cocktail of liquid Starbucks energy — a great wake-up call to lighten up the mood for an awesome day ahead.

Food is honestly something worth waking up early for in itself, but breakfast can also be a bit of a social event. Catch up on the hottest weekend drama with friends or get a coffee with your TA to better understand a particular class. These early morning outings are sure to set one in the direction for a great day ahead.

Did I mention that breakfast is the most important meal of the day?

2. The people in the class

the sunrise in the 8. Enjoy winter months

Waking up before the sun has completely risen can feel magical — the orange and pink hues are a refreshing change of pace from an overcast Charlottesville grey. The long shadows cast across the Lawn and the early songs of birds in spring simultaneously serve as idyllic scenery and company for an early-morning walk to class. It’s a guarantee that you’ll be prepared for that day’s weather — once the sun rises, it can only get warmer.

This can be a hit or miss — 8 a.m. classes seem to draw an interesting mix of people. From the all-nighter zombies to the radiant morning people, these differences in personalities can either make a class monumentally tiring or surprisingly energizing, but it also depends on the professor — see tip three. Nevertheless, an early-morning class promises a diverse group of people, which is certain to make the class more interesting and fun.

ANGELA CHEN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

3. The professor understands

Speaking from personal experience, most professors understand that the majority of their students in 8 a.m. classes are sleep-deprived and caffeine-fueled individuals who probably didn't get much of a choice in their class scheduling. Additionally, have you considered that the professor doesn’t want to be teaching a class at 8 a.m. either? Who knows — they could be more accepting of lower efforts from their students because they would rather be sleeping as well.

5. Smaller class size

This is the unspoken benefit of electing to take a class at the most undesirable time — there will certainly be less people in the 8 a.m. versus the 2 p.m. section. It gives you the chance to interact directly with the professor, and it makes it easier to join the conversation in discussion sections. Smaller classes can also cultivate a close-knit squad instead of the typical isolating big lecture atmosphere.

6.

12

12

9

3 6

LAKSHMI POSNI | THE CAVALIER DAILY

Train yourself for the rush of finals season As a student at the University, it is a well-known fact that finding the optimal study space in your library of choice is nearly impossible during finals season. However, those who dedicate themselves to the early morning grind are sure to win the race to claim that study room with soundproof walls. Reserving rooms sometimes just won’t cut it.

7. Become a morning person

Morning people are a rare and elusive breed, but becoming a morning person is not as difficult as it seems. Taking an early class nearly guarantees becoming accustomed to an early morning trek to class. According to wellness experts, being a morning person comes with a healthy assortment of benefits, including higher productivity and better sleep.

Basically, being a morning person can make you a better college student. Who doesn't want that?

ANGELA CHEN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

9. Never “waste” an entire morning

Getting an early start to the day is a great way to take advantage of this crazy thing called “daylight.”

Being awake earlier includes a plethora of benefits — you can be first in line at Rising Roll or actually show up to your professor’s office hours. One of my biggest mistakes so far at the University was choosing to take all of my classes in the afternoon — this made me feel a lot of regret when I slept in rather than taking advantage of my time.

10. Plot twist — more sleep

Taking an 8 a.m. class is a great opportunity to get all of your classes done in the morning, which is an extreme advantage because you have more time throughout the day for extracurriculars and homework, allowing you to get an adequate amount of sleep at nighttime. This also means that you can take a siesta in the middle of the day without having to set an alarm to get to your 3 p.m. on time.

Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 11

LIFE

ISA celebrates harvest festivals of various regions in India The event, hosted by the Indian Student Association, educates others on the diversity of Indian culture Maya Das | Feature Writer With a rich and diverse culture, India is home to individuals who celebrate a wide range of traditions and religious events. As we approach the end of January, many people in India partake in a myriad of festivities to honor the arrival of the harvest season — celebrations which vary based on the region in India they take place.

For instance, in North India, which include the states of Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan, the festival is called Makar Sankranti or Lohri, and those that celebrate them traditionally fly kites or have bonfires. In the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, celebrations are referred to as Pongal.

South Indians, especially those in the Tamil Nadu community, celebrate Pongal with activities that include boiling milk and decorating cows.

To celebrate the beginning of harvest season, the Indian Student Association hosted its first ‘Harvest Festival’ in the Language Commons Friday.

While the event was directly advertised to all ISA members, the event was open to all University students interested in learning more about Indian culture and traditional practices.

An estimated 15 to 20 people joined in on the celebrations.

“Something that we haven’t done in the past was making sure we highlight not just the broad Indian culture, but also some of the more intricate things that make the culture so rich,” said Shivani Saboo, ISA president and fourth-year Engineering student. “So, this is why we really wanted to do this.”

While this event is quite popular in India, it is not celebrated as much among Indian Americans. Because of this, the ISA culture chairs — second-year College student Nidhi Desai and second-year Engineering student Aparna Ramanan — decided to bring this celebration to the Charlottesville community.

Fourth-year Commerce student Urja Jariwala attended the event and enjoyed ISA’s ability to showcase India’s diverse subcultures while still creating an inclusive event that honors all three agricultural festivals — Makar Sankranti, Lohri and Pongal.

“These festivals are each celebrated in different parts of India, and so very few people would have been exposed to all three, which is what made the combination even greater,” Jariwala said.

After receiving feedback from current ISA members, Desai and Ramanan realized there was a lack of South Indian representation in both ISA events and the type of food served. The Harvest Festival marked one of the first events in the past few years that catered towards this, providing a traditional South Indian harvest dish to all attendees. The dish —

known as Pongal — is a popular rice dish that can be made either savory or sweet, and its ingredients include rice, milk, butter and jaggery — a type of brown sugar — if sweetened. At Harvest Fest, ISA members decide to serve both savory and sweet versions of the dish.

However, during planning, Desai and Ramanan realized that finding a nearby restaurant to order from was difficult. While there are plenty of North Indian food options in the greater Charlottesville area, there is a dearth of South Indian restaurants.

“I think this goes to show that there is not just a lack of representation within U.Va. or ISA, but it extends farther into our community,” Desai said. “North Indian culture is portrayed as all Indian culture, which is not true at all.”

As a result, rather than having the Pongal catered from a restaurant, it was homemade by Desai’s and Ramanan’s parents and then driven from Northern Virginia to Charlottesville.

Many other parents of ISA members offered their time and culinary expertise to contribute to the event as well.

Other homemade items included medu vadas, which are savory South Indian fritters, and steamed rice cakes known as idlis.

While food was an important part of the celebration, Desai and Ramanan wanted to make sure the event went beyond simply providing traditional Indian food to its attendees.

Displayed on tables across the room were vegetables, seeds, soil and pots.

All of the vegetables on the tables are typically harvested in India and representative of all three agricultural festivals, and attendees were encouraged to take the seeds and plant their own vegetables.

“I think our biggest goal was to make sure that this was an event that wasn’t just Indian food and talking but had some educational aspect to it, which is a theme we are trying to continue this year as culture chairs,” Desai said.

In an effort to embrace India’s diverse culture and still promote inclusivity, Desai and Ramanan created this ISA event to honor not only Pongal, but all harvest festivals across the country — allowing South Indian students to connect with their cultural roots and North Indian students to learn more about the various cultures and traditions found in other parts of India.

“The mission of our events is to connect U.Va. students here that are missing that Indian cultural identity,” Ramanan said. “This event in particular helps South Indian students actually get that knowledge of Pongal and feel like they are at home.”

COURTESY SHIVANI SABOO

Students enjoy their traditional homemade South Indian cuisine in honor of Pongal.

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12 | www.cavalierdaily.com

SPORTS

The Cavalier Daily

Meet the Virginia Dance Team You see them cheering at every football and basketball game, but what exactly is the Virginia Dance Team all about?

Eva Surovell | Feature Writer Surviving three practices a week, skipping holiday breaks and missing weeks of school at a time are all consequences of being on the Virginia Dance Team.

However, these sacrifices are worth it when dancers get to witness once-in-a-lifetime moments.

For team captain and senior Emily Graffeo, dancing for the school she loved in front of over 70,000 people as the men’s basketball team won the 2019 NCAA national championship was an unforgettable experience.

“I could have never imagined being on a dance team and getting to dance in front of that many people,” Graffeo said.

Getting the chance to have those dance opportunities is no easy task, though. Unlike other teams at the University, members of the team are not recruited. Instead, they go through a tryout process that typically takes place in April, meaning prospective dancers have to be aware of the team’s existence before they even step foot on Grounds.

“I had already known about the team,” Graffeo said. “I’d been Googling, stalking things on Instagram.”

Since tryouts are held prior to National Decision Day in May, dancers are not required to commit to the University in order to try out. In fact, for some, making the team ends up being the deciding factor.

Graffeo, for example, was on the waitlist for another school during tryouts, but once she made the Virginia Dance Team, her choice was clear.

“Once I made the team, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m coming to U.Va., I don’t care about the waitlist thing,’” Graffeo said. “[It was the] best decision.”

At tryouts, dancers are evaluated on their ability to pick up choreography, adapt to the “dance team” style and perform at a high level. However, it isn’t just new dancers being judged — returning members are required to try out again too.

“You have to keep up the skills that you already came in with when you were 18,” Graffeo said.

“Four years older in dance is like 20 years older in human life. Most dancers retire when they’re like 26.”

Out of about 40 dancers who tried out this past year, six made the squad — five freshmen and

one sophomore transfer student.

Freshman dancer Bia Sajjad remembers quickly feeling at home thanks to the older girls.

“At the beginning of the year, all the fourth years invited all the first years to their apartments for brunch,” Sajjad said. “We got to know them really well, and they gave us good advice about the year.”

A rite of passage for new dancers is spending their summer memorizing the team’s 50 or so “ditties” — short routines performed on the sideline at football and basketball games.

Often, ditties are named after former members or specific moments such as “Sweet,” which was choreographed before the 2019 Sweet Sixteen basketball game, or “Champ,” which was created following the championship win that same year.

As captain, Graffeo’s job is to determine which ditties fit the speed of the music being played, decide which one to choose with her co-captain senior Alexandra Stampfl and communicate that choice to the team — a process that must be carried out in a matter of seconds.

Ditties are categorized into four speeds — slow, medium, slightly fast and fast. Songs played at games also fit those speeds, so the captains use the song’s tempo as a starting point to decide which ditty to select.

“At first I was very intimidated by that,” Graffeo said. “Now I’ll hear the drum beat of the marching band and I’ll know exactly what song they’re going to play, exactly what speed, the ditty, and I’ll look at the other captain and she’ll be thinking the exact same thing.”

Ditties can feel like a lot to commit to memory, especially for new members that just graduated high school and are ready to relax for the summer. Now, however, Graffeo feels confident in her memory of them.

“I can do them in my sleep, I can do them backwards, I can do them to the left and to the right,” Graffeo said.

Because the captains call ditties every time music plays, performing can be more exhausting than new dancers are used to from their days on high school dance teams.

“It was more difficult at the beginning of the year just because

COURTESY VIRGINIA ATHLETICS

The routines — both short and long — Virginia dance performs at sporting events are a culmination of hours of hard work.

we weren’t used to it,” freshman dancer Katelyn Ragland said. “We didn’t have the stamina.”

Basketball games allow the team not only to perform ditties but also execute minute-long routines that showcase technique.

They learn a new dance for every game with older members of the team serving as choreographers.

Being on a dance team isn’t always easy — dancers have to smile and remain professional even when they’re exhausted or the team is losing. For Graffeo the men’s basketball team’s loss to UMBC in the first round of the 2018 NCAA tournament was a particularly difficult moment.

However, through this hardship, she ended up learning how to remain resilient and not let emotions get in the way — an experience she later used in cover letters for job applications.

“A big part of dance team is being able to go out on the court and smile and perform and look excited [even] when we’re losing to UMBC by 20 points,” Graffeo said.

The squad practices three times a week in addition to games

and community appearances, which turns the team into a four-day-per-week commitment.

While this might feel like a lot of time for some, it actually has its benefits.

For Sajjad, practice is a blocked period of time during which she doesn’t have to worry about the amount of work she has waiting for her at home and instead can just work out with friends. For Ragland, the demanding team schedule was something she was used to because of her background in the sport.

“I’ve grown up dancing my whole life and being that busy, so I was used to it,” Ragland said. “I like that there is a structure in my life, and there is this thing I can look forward to every day.”

During holiday breaks, dancers must often return to Grounds early when football and men’s basketball have games. For Virginia residents like Sajjad, it’s easy to drive back for the day, but for out-of-state students like Graffeo and Ragland, this often means they can’t return home.

Over Thanksgiving break this year, the seniors decided to stay

in Charlottesville and celebrate the holiday with their families.

The next day, they cheered on as Virginia football defeated Virginia Tech for the first time in 15 years.

The team also sends four dancers to support the men’s basketball team during the NCAA tournament each year, which can be stressful, especially if games happen during midterm season.

Last year, Graffeo Facetimed into classes and even wrote an entire paper in a University of South Carolina library to keep up with school work.

Despite the heavy workload, dancing with the Virginia Dance Team ultimately allows members to express their enthusiasm for something they’re passionate about — the University.

“I just love performing,” Ragland said. “I get to do something I love for a place that I love.”

The Virginia Dance Team’s next performance is Tuesday at the men’s basketball’s game against Florida State at 7 p.m.

Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 13

SPORTS

Missing March Madness is a very real possibility A rough start to the season has Cavalier fans worried about tournament hopes Luke Stievater | Sports Columnist When the Virginia men’s basketball team won the National Championship last April, every Cavalier player, coach, fan and alumnus was able to take a deep sigh of relief. After years of letdown and disappointment, the trophy was finally on its way to Charlottesville.

Going into this season, many fans expressed the sentiment that they would be perfectly content if Virginia did not win another title, solely since there was one now sitting in the halls of John Paul Jones Arena. However, fans should not be content whatsoever with the performance the men's basketball team has turned in thus far and should brace themselves for a very real possibility — Virginia missing the NCAA Tournament.

Since the start of the 21st century, there have been 20 NCAA men’s basketball champions. Of those 20, only four have failed to make the NCAA Tournament the year after winning it — Florida in 2008, North Carolina in 2010, Kentucky in 2013 and Connecticut in 2015. These teams are all similar to the 2019-20 Virginia team in that each lost three or more starters to the NBA. Considering the losses of current

NBA players De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy, it is not surprising that Virginia’s offense has taken a step back. No program in the country would be able to replace that talent in an offseason, let alone one that is known mainly for its defensive prowess. Yet regardless of who went to the NBA or who graduated, the performance that Virginia’s offense has given has been abysmal.

This season, the Cavaliers have averaged 55.5 points per game while shooting 40.4 percent from the field and 26.8 percent from three point range, ranking No. 351, No. 296 and No. 345 in the nation in those respective categories. Last season was the polar opposite, as Virginia scored 71.4 points per game and shot 47.4 percent from the field while sinking 39.5 percent of its shots from behind the arc — ranking No. 185, No. 32 and No. 7. Let those differences sink in for a moment.

Virginia currently sits at 12-6, seventh in the ACC and outside the national Top 25. Of the 12 wins, only one came against a ranked team — No. 7 North Carolina — who has since completely fallen apart and is also on track to miss the NCAA Tournament as well. Four of the six

losses have been tough pills to swallow — a 29-point loss to Purdue, an 11-point home loss to a mediocre South Carolina team, a slip-up at Boston College and an overtime home loss to a Syracuse team that the Cavaliers had already beaten in their season opener.

In contrast, over the past two seasons, Virginia only lost six games total. Since the Cavaliers became a consistent national contender in 2013-14, the most games Coach Tony Bennett lost was in the 2016-17 season when the team lost 11 games. This season feels eerily similar to that one already.

That team was coming off an Elite Eight appearance and lost beloved program stars like Malcolm Brogdon and Anthony Gill. Although it was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, at least that team remained competitive and was ranked in the Top 25 throughout the entire season.

Perhaps the most painful aspect to watch and the most telling sign of a team that may miss the tournament is the lack of consistency and creativity on offense. Senior forward Mamadi Diakite and senior guard Braxton Key show signs of life and shoulder the load, but outside of them there

seems to be nothing. Junior forward Jay Huff is inconsistent, sophomore guard Kihei Clark should not have to be relied on to take 10 to 15 shots a game and the trio of new guards — freshman Casey Morsell, sophomore Kody Stattmann and junior Tomas Woldetensae — have yet to find their rhythm halfway through the season.

All of these contribute to the team's poor performance this season and why the Cavaliers are on track to miss the NCAA Tournament.

In fact, Joe Lunardi, college basketball analyst and ‘bracketologist’ for ESPN, predicts that Virginia will miss out on a spot in the NCAA Tournament. In his most recent edition of “Bracketology”, published Tuesday, Lunardi included the Cavaliers as one of the “First Four Out.” For reference, Lunardi correctly predicted 67 of the 68 teams in last year’s tournament field.

Despite all of these negatives, there are three glimmers of hope. The first is obvious, and that is Virginia’s defense. They force all opponents to play their type of game and remain one of the best in the country at limiting points. The second is Bennett — he is a proven winner. He has led the Cavaliers to NCAA tournament ap-

pearances in seven of the past eight seasons. If someone is going to lead this team out of mediocrity, it is him.

The third, and what could make or break this team, is the complete and utter parity in college basketball this season. There is no clear favorite in the country or the ACC. It seems like it is bound to be the year for a team that gets hot at the right time, and the Cavaliers can hope that is them.

Even though there are ways in which one can hope Virginia will pull it together, it just does not seem likely if you have watched this team play recently. With the amount of losses and close games that the Cavaliers have been in, it feels more and more like a year of disappointment. If Virginia misses the NCAA Tournament this season — which I predict they will — maybe fans will be okay with it since they finally got that elusive National Championship. Others may fall back into their old feelings of letdown and disappointment. Regardless of what happens, one thing is certain — it is sure to be a stressful and headache-inducing road to March Madness if this team keeps playing the way it has been.

EMMA KLEIN | THE CAVALIER DAILY

This year, Virginia has lost three home games — one more than the last two seasons combined — and have yet to reach the halfway point of a brutal ACC schedule.

14 | www.cavalierdaily.com

The Cavalier Daily

OPINION LEAD EDITORIAL

What is ‘Inclusive Excellence’ supposed to do?

President Ryan must identify clear goals for his ‘Inclusive Excellence’ framework to make any measurable impact Only two days after The Cavalier Daily published that CollegeNet had ranked the University within the bottom 15 percent of American colleges and universities for social mobility, President Jim Ryan unveiled his “Inclusive Excellence” framework as a part of his 2030 plan. IE programs are not unique to the University — they have been integrated into many post-secondary education programs across the country since 2005. Although the program is intended “to facilitate collaboration between the Division for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and other offices and organizations across the University,” it does not seem to propose any particular means of pursuing this goal or what kinds of diversity will be prioritized.

Noticeably, the IE is a framework — not a distinct plan. Thus, Ryan is proposing no concrete strategy for improving inclusivity here at the Uni-

versity. Instead, the IE is a form of organizational change that will hopefully hold the University accountable in its mission of becoming a more diverse and equitable institution. However, in order for the University to live up to the values outlined in the IE framework, a more substantive plan is needed to make the University more accessible.

IE plans are not a new concept.

For example, Virginia Tech has its own inclusive excellence program which works to “foster inclusion and success through inclusive pedagogy, addressing implicit biases and issues of climate in STEM classrooms and creating curricular paths that are flexible and embedded with high impact practices.” Virginia Tech’s program, however, focuses on specific ways to improve inclusivity at their institution. In comparison to Virginia Tech’s initiative, Ryan’s IE framework is

quite ambiguous, making it difficult to understand what exactly the University intends to achieve.

While the University has previously tried to make Grounds a more inclusive space, such initiatives have largely been ineffective. For example, Ryan’s tuition promise, unveiled in fall 2018, did not help to sufficiently bring financial aid to more low-income students, but essentially promised what Student Financial Services already grants. At the same time, Ryan has supported proposals that will make the University more difficult for low-income students, such as the recent tuition increase and higher rates for on-Grounds housing. Nevertheless, the University’s endowment recently reached an all-time high of $9.6 billion. The University certainly has the means to bring inclusivity plans into fruition.

It’s no secret that inclusivity is an

issue at the University — the social mobility ranking makes that uncomfortably clear. While the social mobility statistic illustrates the difficulty for low-income students to come to the University and succeed, the issue of diversity is far more widespread.

From difficulty for LGBTQ individuals to feel comfortable amongst groups on Grounds, to shades of anti-Semitism and an overwhelming number of white students and staff members, particulary from higher-income areas of the Commonwealth, the University is clearly an exclusive community. Without publishing any concrete goals from the IE framework, it is difficult to have faith in the initiative’s worthwhile and needed objectives.

There are real issues of inclusivity at the University that students have worked to make clear to the administration and larger community. If the

University wants the IE framework to hold any weight, it must be applied to identifiable initiatives to hire a more diverse faculty, address the corrupt admissions process and rename buildings and memorials that celebrate a racist past. These are just a few of the measures that can help to make tangible differences in the lives of members of the University community.

It’s easy to say that diversity, inclusivity and equity would help make the University a “great and good” place to work and study. What is harder — but more fruitful — is revealing a plan that would actually help achieve that goal.

THE CAVALIER DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD is composed of the Executive Editor, the Editor-in-Chief, the two Opinion Editors and their Senior Associate. The board can be reached at eb@ cavalierdaily.com.

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Thursday, January 23. 2020 | 15

OPINION

Salaries for Charlottesville politicians should be limited Without checks on pay, corruption and complacency will develop in our local government.

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arlier in January, Virginia House Delegate Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, introduced a bill that would remove salary limits for Charlottesville politicians, namely city council members and school board officials. This would effectively bypass limitations instantiated by Virginia state code, which sets salary caps for municipalities proportional to their total population. Currently, maximum annual pay is capped at $18,000 for Charlottesville councilors and $20,000 for the mayor, which Hudson claims is not enough “to raise a family.” While this is not a sentiment I would necessarily disagree with, I think any amendment to political salary limits should be done much more tactfully, with checks still in place. The last thing we want in our representative democracy is for representatives to have unconditional control over how much they’re earning — a breeding ground for corruption and complacency.

According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the requisite hourly salary for a healthy standard of living in Charlottesville, Virginia is $12.49 individually, and $17.16

for each worker in a family of four with two adults. When examining these salaries pro rata — roughly $25,000 annually in the former figure and $35,000 in the latter — it becomes clear that Hudson’s assertion is indeed justified. Wages for Charlottesville politicians are not enough to support oneself, let alone a family. That being said, one must consider the moral question

proficient in little else of merit. Do we really want the people leading us to potentially have no other significant experiences or expertise other than their political tenure? Or, do we want those who have achieved success and financial stability in other fields — the greatest minds among us — to be the ones who make decisions? In my opinion, choosing the former creates com-

decades and amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal assets — much of which stemmed from his enormous $174,000 annual salary — but ultimately did little to better the condition of his Baltimore district, which sported a colossal poverty rate relative to the Maryland average, and a record homicide rate at the time of his unfortunate passing.

In our representative democracy, it is crucial that we the people hold our representatives accountable and ensure that limits are placed on their powers. of whether or not we actually want our local politicians to be able to completely sustain themselves off of their government work. After all, the roles in question are part-time jobs, and were never intended to be full-fledged, self-sustaining careers.

Excessively increasing salaries for these roles would worsen the proliferation of “career politicians” within our local government — individuals skilled in the arts of bureaucracy and grandstanding, but

placency within political ranks, as the individuals in power have neither the competency to bring about any degree of meaningful change, nor the incentives to do so, since the fat checks keep rolling in regardless of what they do.

This is a phenomenon we witness very often in the federal government, with career politicians like former Congressional Representative Elijah Cummings. Representative Cummings served across three

Thus, if the goal is to increase salaries for officials — which is not an unreasonable legislative proposal — why not do so while also maintaining limits, rather than removing the limit completely? Perhaps the bill could set a relatively higher cap than is enumerated in Virginia state code, which would also increase proportionately as the population of Charlottesville grows.

This would make it easier for city officials to maintain a reasonable

standard of living, while also keeping their powers in check. The fact that Hudson’s proposal chooses to bypass this obvious solution is a bit concerning. Though I would not suggest malignant intentions, it seems like an unnecessary power-grab that could easily be avoided while still satisfying all involved parties.

In our representative democracy, it is crucial that we the people hold our representatives accountable and ensure that limits are placed on their powers. While there is truth to the impetus of Delegate Hudson’s proposal, her solution is an immoral quick fix that opens the door for complacency, corruption and career politicians in Charlottesville government. Enacting a moderate pay raise is not the issue.

However, ensuring that reasonable checks on the extent of these burgeoning salaries are maintained will be crucial for the longevity of our local government as a force for good.

MILAN BHARADWAJ is an Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily.

He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.

Abolish gym parking fees It is absurd that the University continues to charge students to park at gym facilities

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s University students get into the swing of the semester, many of us are attempting to fulfill our New Year’s resolutions. One of the most common of these resolutions is getting in shape, which in turn leads to increased gym attendance in the United States during the month of January. However, for those of us who attempt to make good on this resolution and decide to drive from our homes to the gym, a rude awakening awaits in the form of mandatory parking fees at the University’s gym facilities.

Currently, North Grounds Recreation Center, Aquatic & Fitness Center and Slaughter Recreation Center all charge for parking in their lots from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., though North Grounds only mandates this Monday through Friday. In order to access Memorial Gymnasium, it is recommended that you find street parking or pay to park in the Culbreth or Central Grounds Parking Garage. While these fees may strike one initially as perfectly reasonable, in reality, the current parking policy is absurd and presents a serious inconvenience for many members of the student body.

The first issue with these parking fees is that many students are simply unaware that they ex-

ist. Often, individuals discover that the gym parking lots charge for parking when they discover a parking ticket on their dashboard after leaving the gym, or in my colleague Katie McCracken’s case, hurrying back from class. I became aware of the parking fees this year when my roommate received a parking ticket. And while these

ying a tax on students that often need to drive in order to access the facility.

Moreover, many students who choose to drive do so for good reason and are unfairly penalized by the University. Some students have irregular schedules or work during the evenings, so having access to the gym during the day is

already been forced to pay for.

These adverse policies also have a serious impact on the student workers at gyms. Some students who have to get up extremely early to start their shifts before the buses start running or have to leave quickly in order to make it to class during the day often have to drive themselves and pay for parking at

With an endowment of $9.6 billion, I think the University can afford to stop fleecing students who need to drive to the gym during the day.

spots should clearly be reserved for gym patrons, the fact that even student journalists were initially unaware of the need to pay for parking at the gym indicates that the University has done a poor job communicating this policy to the community.

Perhaps this failure to adequately communicate the policy is indicative of how absurd it is to charge for parking in the first place. Full-time students already pay for their gym memberships through mandatory student fees.

Therefore, by levying parking fees on students who have already been compelled to pay for a gym membership, they are essentially lev-

essential. Also, some individuals only have time to go in between classes during the day and don’t have time to wait around for a bus.

Lastly, the most affordable housing is often located farther away from central Grounds, so it takes longer for many of these students to get to the gym on the bus.

This is not to say that all, or even most, students who go to the gym need to drive or go during the day, but it is ridiculous that the University penalizes those who choose the most convenient transportation and time for them. All these fees do is dissuade individuals who need to drive from utilizing workout spaces that they have

the gym. And while the parking fees are not too substantial for a single hour, workers who have to stay there for several hours have to spend a sizable chunk of their paychecks for parking.

Some arguments against fully removing metered parking include that the gym’s parking lot would get filled too quickly and that individuals who are not using the gym would try to park in these lots. While these are serious concerns, they are largely unfounded and can be easily remedied. Many students wait to go to the gym until after 5 p.m. when parking is free. So abolishing parking fees would actually ease congestion by

allowing students to go during the time that best suits them. In order to stop individuals from parking there and not using the gym, it would still be possible to maintain some sort of registration system that would be able to keep track of the cars in the lot and not charge any fees.

Though this may seem like a benign issue, those who are attempting to achieve their resolutions and must drive to the gym during the day will likely see the cost of parking fees add up in their bank accounts. With an endowment of $9.6 billion, I think the University can afford to stop fleecing students who need to drive to the gym during the day. The University should be doing all it can to encourage students to engage in a healthy lifestyle, and by forcing students to pay for accessing the gym in the most convenient way possible, it is not doing that. The University must stop levying these fees immediately — their students will be happier and healthier because of it.

JACOB ASCH is an Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.

The Cavalier Daily

16 | www.cavalierdaily.com

HUMOR How to actually choose your major I’ve heard it ALL: “Major in something you enjoy; what you study doesn’t determine what you do.”

- A legacy student with a cozy job at his family’s company lined up.

“U own like 3 button-downs - you’ll fit in with the pre-Comm crowd.”

- Guy whose mom still has to tie his tie.

“Major in something practical - how else are you going to pay off your loans?”

- My dad, still wishing I went to GMU instead of paying $30k a year to mindlessly swipe through Tinder during lectures and sleep through my 9 a.m.’s.

“If you major in anything besides engineering you’ll never make more than $30k.”

- E-schooler who thinks economics and business are the same thing, wears New Balance sneakers with a suit and is terrified of getting asked what he likes to do for fun in an interview.

Well, I’ve been in college for 3 semesters, and all I’ve truly learned is the perfect amount of time to mi-

crowave ramen and how much coffee I can drink before I can feel my heart through my chest. If, like me, you STILL can’t figure out what in the world you should major in, I’ve got your back.

What your friends are doing Look, college is about the EXPERIENCE. You didn’t bust your ass all of high school, get straight A’s, play varsity lacrosse, volunteer and copy your science fair project from online just so you could go grind for four more years! Your life will be WAY more fun if you can goof around with your bros in class, make fun of the professor’s weird bald spot and point at ugly people in textbooks and say “that’s you.” Just make sure you have one friend in the group who actually cares about their education and will save your ass when it's the day before your econ final and the only monopoly you understand is the board game.

Anything with more than three words “Global security and justice.”

“Environmental thought and practice.” “Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law.” All of these majors are a MOUTHFUL but sound super impressive and cool! It’ll be a great conversation starter for sure, until somebody asks you what you plan to do with it after college and you realize that E-schooler might have had a point.

What your crush is in Do you like a someone, but don’t have the confidence to just talk to them normally or ask them to lunch?

No worries! Just make sure you take every class they’re in, sit right next to them and be their partner on EVERY group assignment! They will be obligated to make small talk, and you can win their heart by helping them with classwork! I promise you, you’ll never miss a class again. But wait! What if they ends up with another person that actually has the tiniest bit of confidence? No worries - just find somebody else and move on! What did you think was the REAL reason that the average college student changes ma-

jors three times?

Computer Science Ah, the money-making, parent-pleasing major. You’ll be seen as “smart” by those around you, throw around buzzwords like “big data” and “machine learning” and have people constantly asking you to fix random computer problems even if you’re completely incapable. Sure, you’ll have to hold your breath every time you walk through Thornton stacks on a hot day (99 percent sure it's against the rules to wear deodorant there), but you’ll laugh all the way to the bank regardless. Just make sure you avoid people who actually understand the field at all; it’ll shatter your ego when they point out you’re just a dumber version of a computer engineering major.

The backup major Unfortunately, a large group of you next semester will have the opposite problem. You came in first semester DEAD SET on McIntire, but didn’t get in. It’s so unfair! JUST because you partied a LITTLE too hard first year

CARTOON How the cookie crumbles Audrey Lewis | Cartoon Editor

and spent a FEW weekends too hungover to do anything and skipped a FEW classes and got C’s in like TWO pre-reqs doesn’t mean you aren’t capable of doing the work! Besides, you told yourself second year was “grind time” and worked SUPER hard until you ran out of steam four weeks in.

How were you supposed to know that rushing Sig Nu and playing pickup spikeball weren’t considered legitimate extracurriculars? Plus, when you actually DID try to join Comm clubs, they all rejected you faster than you could say “I’m interested in investment banking and consulting.” Anyhow, while you’re basically stuck with econ now, the one thing you CAN do is save face by telling friends and family you simply “didn’t like the culture” of McIntire. It’s totally believable!

No matter what you end up picking, don’t sweat it too much! Just remember: at least you don’t go to Tech!

ESHAAN SARUP is a Humor Editor for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at e.sarup@cavalierdaily.com.

The Cavalier Daily

Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 17

PUZZLES WEEKLY CROSSWORD PUZZLE Dan Goff | Puzzle Master

* THE SOLUTION TO THIS PUZZLE CAN BE FOUND IN THE NEXT ISSUE

Across

1. We didn't have class Monday to honor this man 6. Genre of music that is most likely "dead" 11. Trojan hero whose life is memorialized in one of Virgil's epic poems 13. Next month, we'll celebrate people like one-across and others for Black ___ Month 15. Sneakiness 16. Bloom or Brown 17. Beat in a game, say 18. Stricter 19. Simple type of coffee 20. First three letters of an animal often (wrongfully) equated with the alpaca 22. The spare one is usually in the trunk 23. Jewish Passover feast 25. "Don't ___ my chain" 27. First lady, or robot love interest in "WALL-E" 28. Started over 30. Scoffed 32. Military IDs 34. Viparita Karani is also known as "___ up the wall" 38. Slang for mother 39. When plural, card game named for suit 43. Latin phrase meaning "and others" 44. Person who leads prayers in a mosque 46. Circular tents 48. In shipping, weight of packaging 49. Simone of "Baltimore" fame 50. Basic monetary unit of Iran 51. Enormous breed of mastiff 53. As an ABC show, the "g" is an 8 56. Making someone happy 57. Not straight 58. One administering a country in a monarch's absence 59. Shouts 60. Complement of green 61. Rudely look

Down

1. More grown-up 2. Tidal current running with the wind — two words 3. Adjective for shaped stone 4. With "o," it's a gelatinous dessert 5. Indonesian for "flat" 6. Jeanine Cummins's controversial new novel "American ___" 7. ___ of Wight 8. "That's a non-___" 9. Plan, plot 10. Demanded 12. Not with confidence 13. "___ in the highest" 14. "Days of ___" (a long time ago) 15. Combined grasses and soils 21. Tim Allen's sitcom "___ ___ Standing" 24. "Get ___ of that thing" 26. Beer containers 29. Hand of choice 31. Award show for athletic achievement 33. ___ the system means using it to your advantage 34. Combined with 60-across, this is an important, positive day 35. Etsy is an example of this type of seller 36. Trash 37. The weather did this the other day, disappointingly, instead of snowing 40. Halo of light 41. An alcoholic is a heavy ___ 42. Piece of furniture with open shelves 45. One-across had a famous ___ on Washington 47. Snow shovels and garbage can lids can both be used as these w52. One of the characters in "The Wizard of Oz" is made of this 54. Greek god of love and desire 55. Electrical unit

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* SOLUTION FROM LAST ISSUE

R O N W A N D O O F F

L I I F

E L I T I S T S

M S A R W A N A A S P Y G E

I O N A B L T L I S T E E C U S S I T E T A F A J O R I M A D A C L H A L A S S L

N I G H T O W L T W E L V E

T N I T I O N D I N G E D Y S N R O T I O N E L Y R U L E T C R I C A L A L E R I L Y Y

18 | www.cavalierdaily.com

The Cavalier Daily

HEALTH & SCIENCE STEM graduate students advocate for increased diversity Student-led initiative GRIT encourages students, faculty and staff to value and pursue diversity in incoming classes and events Cecily Wolfe | Senior Writer No contribution is insignificant when it comes to fostering diversity and inclusion at the University, particularly in STEM fields, according to Brittany Martínez, co-founder and president of the Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team. With the mentality that small steps forward eventually lead to substantial progress, students, faculty and staff from assorted cultures have joined forces in an attempt to recruit and retain more heterogeneous graduate classes.

GRIT is a student-led organization with faculty and staff from the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, the Department of Biology in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Three graduate students at the University of Chicago founded GRIT in 2017 to promote the recruitment and retention of women, underrepresented minorities, members of the LGBTQ community and those with disabilities to their biological and physical science curriculums. When Janet Cross, Assistant Dean for the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, met one of the GRIT co-founders at a professional society meeting two years later, she realized such an institution had the potential to thrive at the University.

“The diversity, equity and inclusion space is one that I think is very important for our graduate programs and students,” Cross said.

“I want to see this organization become a nucleus of that community.”

Dr. Cross invited the co-founders to speak to students and faculty from the Biomedical Sciences Department, the Biology Department and the Engineering Department at the University about GRIT’s mission and the feasibility of introducing the organization to Grounds.

As a result of what became the first annual GRIT Day in 2018, several graduate students formed their own GRIT organization at the University. Today GRIT aids in coordinating efforts to diversify graduate student populations across the Biomedical Sciences and Biology Departments and the Engineering School.

During the 2018-2019 academic year, Brittany Martínez, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pharmacology, and Kristopher Rawls, a recent alumnus of the Biomedical Engineering Department, championed the new initiative by sharing GRIT’s goals with faculty, students and staff across Grounds.

“We want our students to feel like they are in a place of comfort, that they fit in, where they don’t feel different for any particular reason or stressed about some aspect of the culture, about their relationships with the faculty or just with the town and the University in general,” said Robert Cox, associate professor of biology and director of graduate studies in biology.

Martínez and her colleagues also collaborated with pre-existing groups on Grounds with similar goals of encouraging inclusion in STEM fields, such as the Graduate Society for Women Engineers, the Black Graduate and Professional Student Organization and the Organization for UnderRepresented Students. The nascent network cooperates to advance diversity and inclusion from the moment students decide to apply for graduate programs to their time at the University and beyond.

As part of the recruitment process, GRIT members help lead round table discussions on diversity and inclusion during visits to Grounds for prospective students for the Biomedical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering programs.

Furthermore, GRIT members collected and analyzed data about the demographics of the class accepted into BIMS, Biology and the Engineering School in the past few years. Their findings directly contradict the claim that graduate programs lack students from under-represented groups because such individuals do not apply in the first place because the applicant pool is itself diverse.

The GRIT council, comprised of student and faculty representatives from each of the departments involved, sought to take its message of diversity to all of the faculty and staff within the participating departments and, most importantly, to potential graduate students.

“GRIT is a liaison between the students and faculty,” Martínez said. “[W]e’ve got a really great group of faculty and students that are really willing to put forth some extra effort to make the University a more inclusive place.”

For example, Cross and several GRIT members attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Anaheim, Calif. and the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science in Honolulu, Hawaii this past fall.

While at these events, current grad-

COURTESY DARIUS CARTER

GRIT Day was held in Pinn Hall Auditorium and centered around the data and overview about the program. During the evening, roundtable discussions with students, faculty and staff were held about the successes and failures of GRIT and how to improve upon these issues.

uate students and faculty discussed their efforts to increase diversity at the University.

“The major goals are to have a community of students and faculty who are dedicated and committed to whatever it takes to help diversify our scientific community as a whole,” Cross said. “That includes bringing in a diverse class of graduate students, making sure they succeed once they’re here, positioning them for successful careers after they’re done and helping them find the resources they need to achieve all of those different goals.”

The second annual GRIT Day took place last semester Oct. 8.

Nearly 80 faculty, staff and students attended the event and proposed GRIT members take steps to understand why graduate students leave the University or why they decide not to attend in the first place. Their suggestions including sending surveys to applicants who declined to attend the University, interviewing students who chose to leave and increasing faculty support. Through efforts like these, attendees hoped GRIT could help build an academic community that is more accessible and inviting for a broad range of people.

While the data GRIT collected and analyzed for the most recent

round of admissions could not be made available to The Cavalier Daily, Martínez noted that the results for 2019 showed a marked improvement in the demographic imbalances of all departments, especially within the Biomedical Sciences Department, which, she said, recruited one of its most diverse classes ever.

She attributed this change to increased efforts to recruit racially and ethnically diverse students that attend the University’s research experiences for undergraduate students and the Biomedical Sciences Program’s decision to waive the GRE requirement, a standardized assessment needed to apply to many graduate schools, in 2018.

“That opened the floodgates,” Martínez said. “We got so many amazing and diverse students and that’s seen in the numbers.”

For their most recent project in late 2019, the GRIT council partnered with Women in Medical Sciences to co-author a request for the University to invite professors of varied backgrounds to create a variety of speaker series. The letter offers suggestions for ways to fulfill this appeal, including consulting students about the types of speakers they would appreciate. After receiving the signatures of nearly 17 other organizations on Grounds, GRIT

and WIMS distributed the letter to the faculty and staff that plan seminars. Currently, the heads of two of the three programs participating in GRIT have committed to upholding the petition.

“There’s a really important aspect about seeing your own potential in people that are in positions that you’re aspiring to,” said Amy Clobes, director of graduate programs for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “Having a diverse set of speakers and models that show that [this kind of scientific and technical work] is accessible and can serve as mentors or examples that are relatable to the identities of the student body.”

For the rest of the 2019-2020 academic year, GRIT will concentrate its energies on recruiting events and a town hall focused on retention.

Through these endeavors, GRIT hopes to become one of the core groups on Grounds that encourage and support a diverse student population.

“The one thing we really try to push as GRIT is ‘what are actionable items we know we can bite off and know that we can do?’” Martínez said. “If you can make small changes that impact students positively, then that’s a win, no matter how small they are.”

Thursday, January 23, 2020 | 19

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Researchers study the radicalization of women University departments develop and test a framework to characterize women’s processing of online extremist materials Cecily Wolfe | Senior Writer With the help of a $716,065 grant from the National Institute of Justice in 2016, professors from the University — in collaboration with those at other colleges and the Federal Bureau of Investigation — combined theory with science in their study of the radicalization of women by ISIL. During a two-part project, Janet Warren, professor in the department of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences, aided by Gregory Saathoff, professor in the departments of public health science and emergency medicine and the FBI’s conflict resolution specialist, developed a framework to describe this phenomenon based on accounts of western women who devoted their lives to committing acts of terrorism.

To test their model, Warren and Saathoff turned to founding director of the School of Data Science Donald Brown for help with gathering and analyzing relevant data. Mojtaba Heidarysafa, a doctoral candidate in the department of systems and information engineering, also joined the research project during the data collection phase, in which the team enrolled women ages 18 to 35 from the University and wider Charlottesville communities who volunteered for the study and were compensated for their involvement. Participants attended one of two sessions in which researchers recorded their emotional and physiological responses to propaganda.

As a result, a general pattern emerged regarding women’s reactions to certain types of violent visual stimuli, confirming the possibility that a model could be created to show how women become radicalized. The researchers hope these findings could assist in preventing women from being recruited into terrorism.

Each woman completed a consent form reviewed by the University Institutional Review Board.

Researchers provided women with the ability to discontinue their involvement in the study at any point and reimbursed them regardless of whether or not they completed the study. Furthermore, each participant had access to a tamer set of images, of which two women took advantage, as well as guidance after the study if she felt deeply affected.

Warren noted that similar studies often focus on men. But her consultant work with the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts inspired her to consider the ramifications for women, Warren immediately considered the ramifications for

women.

“I thought it would be really interesting, as we were all together in these meetings talking about risk assessment and terrorism, for the first time to start a study on women,” Warren said. “Most research done on very violent crime is done on men … I have often followed these huge areas of research and asked, ‘How does this apply to women?’”

Saathoff collaborated with Warren to understand the overall trajectory of women’s conversion to terrorism. He stressed the need to characterize the process not only as a means of pursuing criminals but also as a means to provide insights and strategies that could protect women from plots to recruit them.

“In society we often learn through media anecdotes, and that is one way to become aware of these issues, but to truly understand the situation, it’s important to understand how this occurs in a large number of cases,” Saathoff said.

First, Warren, Saathoff and their partners constructed a risk assessment model to outline the radicalization process. To successfully summarize and explain that transformation, the team hoped to find 300 women with sufficiently detailed court and investigation records but doubted the feasibility of that goal. When they uncovered almost five times as many women, researchers chose to analyze the 300 with the most robust court and investigative reports.

Over the next couple of years, Warren, Saathoff and their research team produced a risk assessment model that identifies not only aspects of a person’s life that could increase the likelihood of her radicalization, but also preventative measures to proactively impede radicalization efforts. The hope was to generate a cohesive framework for analysis of potentially dangerous individuals for use in government agencies.

“We were trying to do something that integrated what people in different countries were talking about, what we thought was interesting, what was in our academic research and make something that was more translational and international in terms of its broadness,” Warren said.

The model incorporates the theory that risk and protective factors can be viewed as two ends of a spectrum. The factors in and of themselves are not diametrically opposed aspects of a per-

son’s life. Rather, their intensity and outlets determine someone’s likelihood to adhere to extremist beliefs.

Warren’s three-stage framework pinpointed these elements.

Beginning with the propensity for radicalization, individuals can transition to mobilization and eventually action and capacity for terrorist exploits. Key factors that dictate progression from state to state include morality, self-regulation, setting, physical activity and perception of alternatives.

“Many women we have found who embrace this new identity are doing that because of unhappiness with their current situation,” Saathoff said. “Travel to another country is sometimes an escape, and it’s facilitated by those who would specifically tailor the message to the individual person …

It’s remarkable how compelling and powerful that seduction can be.”

Second, the team looked to Donald Brown, founding director of the School of Data Science, for help with gathering concrete evidence to support their theory, specifically as it relates to propaganda. Warren cited propaganda as a powerful recruitment tool that can persuade people to completely change their outlook.

Though many studies dissecting the conscious reactions to materials disseminated by extremist organizations exist, Warren emphasized the lack of research on physiological indicators of emotional responses.

“We actually know what people are thinking consciously, but we’ve got to try and grab some data about how they’re reacting unconsciously and see what’s more powerful, or we’re never going to get a handle on [propaganda],” Warren said.

According to Mojtaba Heidarysafa, doctoral candidate in the department of systems and information engineering who joined the research team for data collection, the initial phase of the data collection portion of the project consisted of 45 women probing the internet for content they believed could contribute to radicalization campaigns.

With the permission of the University Information Security Department and the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology, researchers enabled women to investigate the dark web, a conglomeration of networks with restricted access that facilitate anonymous, illicit interactions. The U.S. National Secu-

rity Agency reports that terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda utilize the dark web to maintain communication across their global network, as well as recruit new individuals to their cause.

“We were also able to [connect] women and allow them to go into the dark web if that was something they were interested in doing,” Warren said. “The University was fantastic in giving us the freedom we needed to pursue this.”

An additional 45 women who identified themselves as Muslim, non-Muslim conservative and non-Muslim liberal attended four sessions in which they viewed a series of images depicting extremist activities. During these sessions, researchers monitored eye gaze, pupil dilation, heart rate and galvanic skin response — which tracks sweat gland activity — to determine the arousal level and emotional state of participants.

While the first session contained neutral pictures of everyday objects to create a baseline for participant responses, subsequent sessions depicted white nationalist campaign posters and violent acts by jihadist, alt-right and altleft groups.

“We showed them all of these pictures,” Heidarysafa said.

“When looking at hangings or beheadings, all of them had a non-neutral arousal response …

What we found was that no mat-

ter the background, there was a reaction.”

In fact, Warren, Heidarysafa and Brown contributed to a pending publication that suggests pupil dilation and the aspects of images that attracted women’s gaze were largely consistent across participants, regardless of their religious or political affiliations.

In other words, the pictures play a larger role in individuals’ emotional response than certain major components of their identity.

The authors of the study claim the commonalities point to patterns applicable to multiple cases of radicalization.

As this preliminary research project draws to a close, with a portion of the final papers and the results published in 2018 and 2019 and more to come in 2020, Warren said she and her colleagues already applied for an additional grant to expand their efforts and replicate the study with men. In doing so, Warren aims to take full advantage of the resources at the University to create materials useful for the FBI’s observations of and interventions for at-risk individuals.

“Usually academic researchers don’t work with the FBI, and the FBI doesn’t necessarily want to work with academic researchers,” Warren said. “The most important thing is the relationships exist so that we could do this research.”

AUDREY LEWIS | THE CAVALIER DAILY

20 | www.cavalierdaily.com

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