The Observer, Volume LIV, Issue 26, 4/21/23

Men’s tennis rides 11-match win streak into UAA Championships

Puneet Bansal Sports Editor

The Case Western Reserve University men’s tennis team has gone undefeated in the month of April, extending their win streak to 11 matches and bringing their overall record to 25-4.

On April 7, the Spartans traveled to Illinois to face the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Lake Forest College. CWRU swept the UW-Eau Claire 9-0 after opening the day with wins from fourthyear James Hopper/second-year Ansh Shah in second doubles (8-2), fourth-years Chris Provenzano/Diego Maza in first doubles (8-6) and third-year Sahil Dayal/fourth-year Michael Sutanto in third doubles (8-4). After Hopper won first singles (6-0, 6-2), third-year Vishwa Aduru clinched the match in second singles (6-3, 6-0). Shah, second-year Casey Hishinuma, second-year Ajay Mahenthiran and Sutanto completed the sweep in singles.

The Spartans swept the doubles against Lake Forest, leading to an 8-1 victory. Third-year Daniel French/Aduru won second doubles (8-0), Dayal/third-year Yuvraj Narang won third doubles (8-6) and Maza/Provenzano took first doubles (8-5). First-year Rohan Bhat, firstyear Matthew Plunkett, secondyear Ben Martin, first-year Anmay Devaraj and first-year Justin Prochnow all won their respective singles matches in two sets. The only loss came from Maza in first singles.

Continue reading on page 12

Open letter circulates in Math Department detailing Yost demolition discontent

Shreyas Banerjee Executive Editor

Since 1951, Yost Hall has been a mainstay on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, when it was constructed as a dormitory for the Case Institute of Technology. Later, it transitioned into the home of the Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics. Now, after many decades of service, it is being demolished to make way for the new $300 million Interdisciplinary Science and Education Building (ISEB), which will act as a new research center on the Case Quad with 200,000 square feet of new laboratory space. With demolition of Yost scheduled to begin this summer, the current residents of the hall have started to become uncertain as to what plans are regarding their relocation and whether the new spaces they are moving to will be adequate for their needs. Though the university announced the demolition of Yost in fall 2022, professors within the Department of Mathematics apparently have not been informed as to when they are required to move out, where exactly they will be moving to and whether their new space will be as convenient for students as the current location. This is especially important as the new ISEB will not have new classrooms or office space for the Department of Mathematics, meaning wherever the department moves may well be their permanent residence going forward even after construction is finished.

Due to this mounting frustration, an open letter calling on the administration to communicate with the department more effectively and address their concerns started circulating on April 17, amassing 81 signatures within 24 hours. Signatories included professors, graduate students and un-

dergraduate students from across the department, all expressing concern as to the lack of guidance surrounding the move and how the quality of education provided by the department will subsequently be affected.

According to the letter, various plans have been shown to professors within the department as to where they will be relocating to, with the most recent one being to split the department between converted spaces in the Health Service Building on Adelbert Road and the fifth floor of the Sears Building. The spaces will reportedly be far smaller than the ones that the Department of Mathematics currently use, with the letter expressing concern that they will have “half the size of our current offices and there will not be space in either location for department meetings, seminars or tutoring.” With

The death of a CWRU fraternity

Shreyas Banerjee Executive Editor

There’s a crisis brewing around Greek Life at Case Western Reserve University. For as long as anyone can remember, being a part of a fraternity or sorority has been a huge part of campus life at CWRU, but its presence here is slowly but surely diminishing.

Since the early 2000s, Greek Life participation in the campus population has generally remained around 30%. While there were years of unprecedented growth in the early 2010s, with Greek Life levels reaching 42%, it slowly regressed back to the 30% mark towards the end of the decade.

When Thomas Harrison Rhodes, a current fourth-year computer science student, came to CWRU in fall 2019 and joined a fraternity, 29% of CWRU

undergraduates were part of a Greek chapter, including 28% of men. Just one year later, those numbers would fall to 24% and 20%, respectively. They haven’t rebounded since, with the Greek Life office today reporting a 25% participation rate. While some chapters have been able to maintain stability in their number of members, others continue to shrink. Now, facing their lowest recruitment numbers in history, Rhodes’ chapter is shutting down.

On May 22, the CWRU chapter of Pi Kappa Phi, colloquially known as Pi Kapp, will close its doors for good. But how did it happen? What factors led to Pi Kapp’s struggles? And what can its story over the last four years tell us about the state of Greek Life at CWRU? To find out, I spoke with Rhodes, fourth-year art history student DavidPatrick Ryan and fourthyear psychology student Eric Liu about

the splitting of the department and the lack of meeting spaces, the letter decries the lack of interaction between members of the department that will inevitably occur in the future.

“Without available meeting spaces, we would have no dedicated rooms for departmental tutoring and [supplemental instructor] sessions, no space for our weekly colloquia and seminars, and no space for informal meetings of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students,” the letter states. “For us to do our work, we need to interact with others. You would not have a Biology Department if you didn’t have space for labs. Our labs are the spaces where we meet with colleagues and students.”

Continue reading on page 3

Continue reading on page 4

As a small chapter, Pi Kappa Phi continually struggled to function and meet the expectations of IFC post-pandemic.

Courtesy of Eric Liu

The lack of communication from the administration regarding the new location for the Department of Mathematics has left many professors worried about their ability to hold SI sessions and group meetings. Shreyas Banerjee/The Observer

their time in Pi Kapp and why they ultimately decided to shut down their own chapter.

Student Advocacy Group aims to create crisis support hotline

Shreyas Banerjee Executive Editor

Case Western Reserve University, like any other university, is unfortunately a place where sexual violence, discrimination and harassment are prevalent, with students needing plenty of support to address their crises. While CWRU does offer some resources through the Office of Equity to help students dealing with these problems ensure that proper investigation and action is taken against offenders, there are fewer resources to help students with the trauma of actually going through these experiences.

Often students don’t tell anyone in CWRU administration, or even their resident assistant, due to the fact that any CWRU employee is a mandated reporter. This means they are required to share any knowledge they have about instances of abuse or violence to the Title IX office. If a student is not sure that they want to officially start an investigation with the Title IX office, for any number of reasons, they may feel intimidated and isolated, unable to tell anyone of their predicament without escalating the situation. The Flora Stone Mather (FSM) Center for Women does have one “student advocate” who is able to provide confidential support to students without reporting, giving students the invaluable ability to voice their issues and learn more about what an official investigation into their situation may entail. While University Health Services, University Counseling Services and Cleveland Rape Crisis Center are all confidential resources available for students, the former two have been criticized for having staff unsympathetic to students at times, not following through on promised initiatives and being unable to be held accountable while the latter is an outside organization that

CWRU students often hesitate to contact. This makes the student advocate all the more important. However, with only one student advocate, the availability is limited and their reach stretched thin.

Still, having access to confidential support and resources in these situations can be essential, and makes the need for more advocates evident. That’s where the Student Advocacy Group (SAG) aims to help. Starting as an initiative of the Undergraduate Student Government’s (USG) Diversity and Inclusion (DNI) committee, the SAG was first thought of as a concept to reduce the workload of the existing student advocate, Marina Giannirakis, with members of the DNI committee brainstorming ways to get students to help in the process.

Though there were proposals to scrap the DNI committee entirely this academic year, the group was able to increase its ranks and find new purpose in this endeavor. The idea they came up with, in collaboration with the FSM Center and Office of Equity, was to create a corps of volunteer student advocates who are students themselves that will be able to “provide confidential shortterm crisis intervention, support, resources, and advocacy” via a hotline for students in distress. Students will be able to call a phone number to

speak with a fellow student who can actively listen to them, provide support and explain the various resources available through the university.

“A big part of it was the lack of transparency with the Office of Equity,” second-year outgoing Vice President of DNI

After much deliberation over the legality of having students act as advocates themselves, the program was officially chartered this past month, with plans to bring it into operation over the coming academic year.

With an executive board currently being selected and student volunteers being recruited, the goal is to begin training through a nationally accredited program in fall 2023 and have the hotline officially launch in spring 2024.

Though launched by USG’s DNI committee, it will not be an official USG initiative in the future and instead be an independent group. So far, over 40 students have expressed interest in serving in the SAG, but the group is still looking for more.

“We are looking for people who can handle responsibility, who are passionate about advocacy and are passionate about these issues,” Salem said.

Diversity and Inclusion (DNI) committee, seeks to improve access to confidential support on campus. Members of the DNI committee pictured from left to right are first-year Shruti Kelkar, second-year Kamar Taweel, first-year Abirami Rajasekaran, first-year Chize Ogbogu and second-year Amr Salem. Courtesy of Amr Salem

Amr Salem said. Salem will also serve on the executive board for SAG next year.

“[Students are] not aware of what the role of the Office of Equity is … Or what is the role of the student advocate, what are what is the role of the sexual assault nurse, all this kind of stuff … This initiative is basically to fill this gap between the resources that we have on campus and the students.”

The time commitment would be about three to five hours per week for student volunteers, and all members of SAG are strictly required to be confidential, with an internal judicial board enforcing conduct among members. Volunteers will be assigned certain cases in the short-term so that if a particular student has repeated concerns they can continue talking to the same volunteer and build that relationship. The hotline will also be available over the weekend and during the evening—days and hours which the current student advocacy system is not currently available, making the SAG more accessible for students.

“SAG is just getting started, but we have already made great strides in building a team of dedicated and compassionate advocates,” Salem commented. “We are committed to ensuring that all students feel safe and supported on our campus, and we believe that SAG will play a crucial role in achieving that goal.”

Shaker Heights looks for academic institutions to aid in compost expansion initiative

Sara Khorshidi Director of Print

In the past decade, Ohio has risen in the ranks to become one of the best states for composting in the country, boasting the highest number of composting facilities of any state. However, major landfills here are still seeing over one million pounds of food waste per day entering their facilities, accounting for the highest proportion of landfill material. Even with our state’s high-ranking status, cities all across Northeast Ohio are working to further improve their composting efforts.

Rust Belt Riders (RBR), founded in 2014, is a company that offers various recycling and composting solutions across Northeast Ohio. Additionally, they work with hundreds of businesses to help reduce their food waste, leading to seven million pounds of food waste being diverted from landfills last year alone. However, Daniel Brown, the co-founder of RBR, admits that some of their biggest limitations stem from “a mismatch between the

interest in [their] services and the physical infrastructure that exists to process this material.” A logical next step would be to work with a city to try to alleviate this roadblock.

Michael Peters, the director of sustainability in Shaker Heights, is working with RBR on a pilot program to expand accessibility to composting in the city.

Peters became the sustainability consultant of Shaker Heights in 2019, where he first tasked himself with LEED-certifying (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) the city. This helped him and the sustainability committee understand what the city was doing well— of which there were many things, as Shaker Heights as a whole was certified at “Gold” level—and that the city could considerably improve in how it manages waste.

“Being a relatively small city, we chose to focus on the areas where we could have the biggest impact, and since roughly 30% of municipal waste is food waste, that became a priority,” explained Peters.

It was then that they began working with RBR to expand their pro-

gram, further expanding the access to compost drop-off sites. Shaker Heights soon became the first city within the jurisdiction of RBR to pilot their now widely-offered home pick-up program. Through their work together, Shaker Heights alone was able to divert nearly 300 tons of food waste from entering landfills. Now, Shaker Heights and RBR are collaborating to try to make composting accessible city-wide.

“The ultimate goal is to have citywide food waste diversion through programs like composting and we want to ensure that as many residents as possible have access to the program,” said Peters. “Earlier this year we submitted a proposal to the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District for a Special Projects Grant, which is what is funding this pilot.”

To get this pilot off the ground, the Shaker Heights Sustainability Committee is looking for an academic partner to help them shape and evaluate the program that could help quantify the impact of their efforts. Currently, their biggest limitations in this city-wide expansion involve funding and quantifying their

overall impact on food waste reduction, which is where an academic institution like Case Western Reserve University could come in to assist.

“The composting industry generally is working to quantify the economic and non-economic benefits of composting, and this data is critical to making the argument of why we should be investing in these programs,” explained Peters. “Academic institutions provide both the expertise on designing the pilots and programs but also the analysis on the data we collect. Having an independent expert review of the programs and results is important to establish the validity of the data and trust in the recommendations.”

Through the implementations of their efforts, Peters hopes to see reductions of overall food waste sent to the landfill and to adapt their composting program while they expand. He also hopes that residents become aware of the amount of food waste we create, elaborating, “We don’t see how many pounds of waste we recycle or send to landfill, but think of how impactful it would be if we did.”

Student Advocacy Group, spearheaded by USG’s

Labre Homeless Outreach serves Cleveland with food and faith

Cameron Ward Staff Writer

On Monday nights a white Center for Civic Engagement and Leadership (CCEL) van loaded with hot meals and donations hits the streets of downtown Cleveland. The people in the van are on their way to give meals, companionship and prayers to those experiencing homelessness in our community.

The organization coordinating this outreach is Labre Homeless Outreach, a program put together by Case Catholic Newman Campus Ministry. The students involved work to demonstrate the positive impact that religious groups at Case Western Reserve University can make to the greater Cleveland area.

Labre was one of the winners of last year’s Student Leadership Award for Group Community and Service. The mission of this group is to provide a faith-based community and meals to those in need in the Cleveland area. Fourth-year student Carolyn Neutzling, current co-president of Labre, was excited to describe the organization and all the positive work they strive to do. She stated, “We work to serve those experiencing homelessness by trying to provide for them spiritually, mentally and physically.”

In addition to food, Labre carries clothes, blankets and other supplies. The main goal of Labre is to connect with the community through religion.

“We are a faith-based organization with a mission to also evangelize, witness and pray for and with those we encounter,” said Neutzling.

“Labre does not directly seek converts, nor expects those we serve to share in our religious beliefs, but comes from our own call from Christ to serve, uplift and share in community with the most vulnerable members of our community, wherever that may be,” added fourth-year student DavidPatrick Ryan, the other co-president of Labre.

“And for us that is Cleveland, OH.”

Labre conducts weekly drives through downtown Cleveland with meals, clothes and other necessities. Members of the club will ask if someone would like a meal and then ask if they would like to talk for a minute or pray. The people Labre members meet are often the first to start the conversation, especially regarding religion.

“This community loves us in a way that I hadn’t first expected,” says thirdyear student Lauren Gonzalez, co-vice president of Newman and an active member of Labre. “Often, they have more love and light for us or Jesus than we can bring to them. They are not

afraid to show their faith.”

Bringing someone food often ends in them asking for prayer, telling their story or even a simple “God bless you.”

Another Labre member, fourthyear John Carroll University student Alex Krukemeyer, stated that one of the root causes of homelessness is ruptured relationships. Labre aims to get at the heart of this issue by providing connection. Being in the community is beneficial for Labre members too, with Krukemeyer stating that “Labre helps us come to understand our Christian identity by coming to better understand Christ’s call to serve others, both spiritually and physically.” Labre doesn’t require people to come to them, but rather meets them where they are. Gonzalez, Krukemeyer and Neutzling all echoed that talking to people in Cleveland strengthens their faith and broadens their perspective on issues of homelessness.

After the runs, the members do a prayer and reflection. Notes are taken and shared with other schools around Cleveland, including St. Ignatius High School, where Labre started, and JCU. The goal of the partnerships between these schools is to consistently provide meals and form a connection with people. There are “regulars,” whose names and stories are known, and who love

Basil Yaseen elected USG President

Shreyas Banerjee Executive Editor

The students of Case Western Reserve University voted this past week, between April 14-15, for their representatives within the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). This led to the election of third-year biology and economics student Basil Yaseen to be the USG president for the upcoming year.

Yaseen comes into the job having previously been the USG vice president of finance in the 20222023 academic year, managing the funding of the majority of clubs on campus—the aspect of USG that CWRU students interact with the most. Within the role he worked to streamline the funding process to increase flexibility on club treasurers, increased resources for clubs to access additional funding, rebuilt relationships with the Student Executive Council (SEC) following two failed audits of USG under previous administrations and then convinced the SEC to increase USG’s budget by 18% so that more clubs under USG would get more funding in the future. While his term as VP of finance is coming to a close, he is still working to increase incentives for club treasurers to go to workshops and reduce the number of “resumebuilder” clubs that inevitably die after a year.

All these changes, he believes, have made life easier for club treasurers on campus.

“The club treasurers from the year prior to us just [hated] USG. They

were like, ‘Oh my God, we have to go through them to get our funding, and it’s gonna be so painful to do it,’” Yaseen explained. “So nowadays … they’re perfectly fine with going through our processes. And they

connection and transparency. In announcing his campaign Yaseen stated, “My main goal as president shall be to ensure that the functions of USG are as transparent as possible to the students” and that he would work “to represent the students and solely the students.” He also promised greater communication for USG initiatives and to advocate for issues that the student body actually cared about, such as indexed tuition—a model that would have CWRU increase scholarships at a commensurate rate as their tuition increases.

“It’s not a 100% fix, because, of course, the best solution is a static tuition that you pay the exact same amount every year. But it’s a realistic fix. So it’s very realistic that we can implement this indexed tuition next year, while static tuition is like years down the line.”

seeing the van pull up every Monday.

Labre operates on a donations system, and is supported by the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH). As a larger organization, NEOCH can provide more of the material needs for Labre to give out, such as backpacks or blankets. They can also provide resources for more emergent concerns in homeless populations such as housing, identification services and medical services. Campus organizations such as Pi Beta Phi and the Hillel Center also help out with making weekly food donations.

Any food left over after runs is then donated to St. Herman House in Tremont, a location that offers three meals a day, 365 days a year to those who need it. CCEL has also partnered with Labre for blanket making and donation drives. All of the work that Labre does to provide for the homeless helps build ties between groups across campus.

You can support Labre through donations and, if you’re into that sort of thing, prayers. If you have more questions or concerns, or are interested in getting involved, reach out to Labre at labreinfo@case.edu.

Disclaimer

Cameron Ward is an active member of Labre Homeless Outreach.

their voices heard to USG.

USG’s relationship with the administration has certainly been rocky over the past year, but Yaseen again attributes this to lack of communication between USG and CWRU administration.

USG

promises to foster greater communication between USG and the student body and implement indexed tuition, a system where scholarships increase at the same rate as tuition.

Courtesy of Basil Yaseen recognize that like, ‘Hey, there’s just some limitations that will be implemented,’ but we’re making it as easy as possible for them. We’re trying to give them as much independence as we possibly can.”

With this experience of interacting with so many different members of the CWRU student body through finance, Yaseen ran on a platform of

Yaseen especially noted that often USG feels like a completely separate entity from the rest of the student body and doesn’t necessarily reflect the feelings of CWRU as a whole. Increasing outreach and ensuring that representatives actually listen to their constituents will be a priority, along with increasing communication as to what USG is doing to solve problems. He proposed making the availability of USG meeting minutes and agendas advertised and also sending out a bi-weekly newsletter filled with updates on USG and the university as a whole. By increasing relations with the student body, he hopes to make sure that CWRU students stay informed and are able to make

DEMOLITION DISCONTENT from page 1

Professors within the department who wished to stay anonymous to avoid retribution from the administration made clear that they weren’t defending Yost, but rather wanted to be part of the conversation surrounding the future of the department. The Department of Mathematics teaches among the most credit hours of any

department, making professors feel justifiably central to CWRU’s education.

Sources within the administration have stated that there is a plan for the department’s relocation and are unsure as to why professors haven’t been made aware of them yet, especially as administrative offices within

Yost have already been told of their moving plans. However it is likely that whatever space the Department of Mathematics takes up will be substantially smaller than their current space, at least in the short term. The fact that professors haven’t been informed yet indicates some sort of breakdown in communication with-

“I want to increase that bond with [President] Kaler,” Yaseen said. “I find that the main issue that comes … between us and Kaler is just that communication. If we communicate with him more, we stay respectful, we don’t start being like, ‘Hey, your opinion on this is whacked’ or whatever … and we just communicate regularly, we invite him all the time to [the] General Assembly … I think our connection with him will grow stronger. And I hopefully will be able to … show our ideas to Kaler more so that he’ll be more accepting to potentially [putting] them more into effect and [advocating] for them himself.”

Yaseen hopes to be an effective bridge between the student body and the administration. By increasing transparency and communication on both sides of the conversation, he hopes to effectively transduct the feelings of CWRU students to those in charge of their university.

“The people that really matter are the students,” Yaseen stated. “My position doesn’t matter. I’ve said this earlier, my opinions don’t matter. And as president, I don’t think what I have to say matters a lick. It doesn’t matter at all because I’m not the one being represented. I’m just one of 5,000. The people that really matter are the other 4,999.”

in the College of Arts and Sciences, headed by Dean Joy Ward; the College has apparently been informed even though the department hasn’t been.

The letter with its 81 signatures was sent to Dean Ward on Tuesday April 18, with the letter writers currently awaiting a reply.

President-elect Basil Yaseen, the former VP of finance,

Pi Kappa Phi is shutting down. What led to its demise?

FRATERNITY from page 1

“It wasn’t like most of the fraternities,” Rhodes said. “Some fraternities have their reputations for being fraternities. Pi Kappa Phi wasn’t like that.”

“I really wasn’t interested in Greek Life from the start,” Ryan added. “Pi Kapp made me realize it was a fraternity I wanted to join … I realized it’s a great group of guys that I could have meaningful conversations with and a good social life.”

“We were like the model fraternity,” Liu said, emphasizing the fraternity’s high average GPA and constant commitment to service projects. “We’re not so focused on partying, but our social culture is more service oriented and we focus more on our philanthropy.”

The point that all three emphasized was that they felt Pi Kapp was something truly special. Despite always being relatively small, with around 18 members in 2019, they described it as a vibrant chapter, filled with brothers that all had diverse interests and backgrounds. Something they prided themselves on was the fact that most of their members were “people who didn’t think they were going to join frats, but ending up loving it,” as Ryan put it. All this made Pi Kapp an interesting part of the Greek Life fabric at CWRU. While they may not have had a house, they were able to find a place on campus together, and nonetheless were a home for CWRU students. That home will soon be gone.

There were already signs of trouble in the 2019-2020 academic year, with a rush class of two in the fall and four in the spring; but compared to future rush classes, those would look quite sizable in retrospect. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, activities across all Greek Life chapters suddenly came to a standstill. The reason why most joined Greek Life in the first place—social interaction—was suddenly gone. Unsurprisingly, Pi Kapp

started bleeding members. Many upperclassmen left the chapter for a variety of reasons, and others graduated, leaving behind a small group of mostly underclassmen to deal with the fallout of the social distancing era. Sure, there were remote “Among Us” video game nights and Zoom gatherings, but the fraternity could never go back to how it was before.

Amidst all of this, the @cwru.survivors Instagram account emerged, a space for victims to share their stories of sexual violence at CWRU, many of which happened at fraternities or by fraternity members. As a result, the reputation of Greek Life reached an all time low. Pi Kappa Phi had at least five references in accounts from anonymous survivors— a substantial amount but below the likes of Zeta Psi’s 30 references and Zeta Beta Tau’s 16. Regardless, the CWRU community had begun to reckon with their own culture of sexual violence and fraternities did not come out looking good. Zeta Psi was removed as a chapter at CWRU as a result. Between the lack of actual recruitment events due to the pandemic, the loss of the social benefits of Greek Life, the cost of remaining in a chapter and the besmirched reputation of fraternities, it’s no wonder that participation by CWRU men in fraternities dipped so drastically from 28% in 2019 to 20% in 2020.

While Pi Kapp was smaller than before, members were still optimistic about a rebound once the pandemic eased and people could rush fraternities normally once again. However, once that time came in fall 2021, Pi Kapp still saw abysmally low recruitment numbers.

“I don’t think there was anything more we could have done,” Ryan said, describing how their diminished size impacted their ability to recruit. “Once you become smaller, it becomes more apparent that you’re using all of your energy to do

each event. I think people picked up on it.”

“We put all a lot of our energy into recruitment events, and then the administrative overhead became too much to do much else,” Rhodes concurred.

“Even active members, like members who were active during COVID, found it very, very difficult to deal with the sudden loss of manpower,” Liu added.

With so few members, the chapter couldn’t even fill up their executive board, let alone host the social events that got people interested in joining them. However, the administrative work of running Pi Kapp remained. This created a doom spiral of decreased size leading to more work having to be done by each member and less socialization, which caused people to either leave or not want to join in the first place—all further reducing the size of the chapter.

Requirements from the Interfraternity Council (IFC) didn’t help, with their expectations being the same for Pi Kapp as they would be for a larger fraternity, despite the fact that Pi Kapp did not have enough members to actually attend each required meeting. Liu described the resulting consequences as “bureaucratic burnout.”

“There are mandatory events or mandatory meetings that members of the executive board have to go to that correspond with their position,” Liu explained. “For our chapter, the reason why that was an issue was because having less individuals just doesn’t allow for much forgiveness. If we miss a meeting, because if someone has something come up—like for example, one time we had someone who hurt their foot, and had to get surgery and couldn’t make a meeting, and someone had to cover for them last second. That’s very, very difficult when you have not as many members.”

“We’ve received the punishments because … of our restrictions,” Ryan added. “Because we wouldn’t have the manpower to host all these events properly that were required, and then fill out the forms regarding them to meet standards.

“So, say a large chapter doesn’t host a [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] event or an alcohol training event for their new members. That might be because they didn’t put the time and effort to do it, whereas with Pi Kapp, maybe there’s one of the two because we only could staff one of the two. And then we get in trouble for not being able to do this.”

Missing these meetings and being unable to host all required events led to the chapter being considered to be in “bad standing,” meaning Pi Kapp was unable to request money or support from IFC for their events. As a result it was even harder for Pi Kapp to hold the social, recruitment and service events that drew in potential members because of their lack of funding. Having less dues as a result of their smaller member pool, they also had fewer funds to fall back on when IFC’s support was cut off, making it an even heavier consequence.

“It limits what a small chapter can do, because the effects are disproportional,” Liu said. “Also, because we’re a younger chapter, we don’t have a large alumni network to support the chapter.”

“As time progressed, it became more and more dealing with the administrative side of running a fraternity rather than just having fun,” Ryan stated. “When you have to spend more time doing administrative tasks, there’s less reason to join.”

The group bemoaned the general lack of support from IFC aside from the inflexibility in standards for a smaller chapter. Altogether they described poor communication from those in charge of recruitment surrounding IFC’s plans, a lack of clarity on community standards and enforcement, an organizational structure that leads to disinterested members and unproductive meetings, inadequate promotion of funding options, inadequate planning surrounding mandatory events, a sense of complacency throughout IFC and a refusal to look at the issues leading smaller fraternities to struggle so much, each ultimately causing Greek Life to be diminished even further. Without smaller fraternities being present, a portion of CWRU students not interested in the stereotypical version of Greek Life may just turn away from the system altogether.

“I’m not calling anyone apathetic; I just think they don’t see it as an issue,” Liu said. “But I can assure you that next semester Delta Chi—if they can’t recruit a good sized class—they will also be dissolving next semester, and I feel like the same thing is going to happen [as what happened with us].

“The general body, with the [fraternity] presidents all there, will just hear someone announce that they’re dissolving and treat it as ‘Oh, well. There goes another one.’ And it feels like there’s nothing being done to help us stay on campus.”

“The general body, with the [fraternity] presidents all there, will just hear someone announce that they’re dissolving and treat it as ‘Oh, well. There goes another one.’ And it feels like there’s nothing being done to help us stay on campus.”

UPB Food Truck Festival was a wonderland of free goodies and warm weather

Joey Gonzalez Life Editor

Cleveland finally got its first taste of summer last weekend, and the University Programming Board (UPB) certainly took advantage. Their first food truck-based event since 2018, the Food Truck Festival located at East Bell Commons was an opportunity for Case Western Reserve University students to spend some time outdoors and fill their stomachs with free food. With caricatures, food, drinks, dessert and more, UPB’s Food Truck Festival was a massive success, providing so much more than just free lunch.

To ensure every student got their fill, the festival was broken up into several time slots.

After registering, students received tickets for each category—food, drink and dessert—which could be used at any of the food trucks. And UPB certainly didn’t skip out on the options, featuring all kinds of cuisines in their lineup. There was a chicken truck that served classic bar food like chicken sandwiches, chicken and waffles, fried

However, at the end of the event, one extra ticket was allotted to students that wanted to try something new at the festival, which we happily accepted.

With my three tickets—technically four with the extra—I was able to feast without spending a dime. For my first meal, I chose to go with the falafel wrap, as the truck had both a short line and incredible looking food; it truly was the perfect veggie-filled snack that could cure even the strongest of hangovers. I then moved over to the smoothie truck, which appeared to be a massive hit among CWRU students. I heard nothing but raving reviews about the smoothies and the chicken truck, so I’m sure they will be featured again. The ice cream stand had left by the time I got there, so my dessert was a caramel cupcake. They were a little heavy after eating so much food on such a warm day, but I honestly cannot complain. I went to the festival with my roommate, so I was able to try a little more food than most, and I must say UPB picked some great options. Food wasn’t the only draw of the festival, there were also free caricatures and henna provided. While the lines for these attractions were a

An instant success, University Program Board’s Food Truck Festival encouraged CWRU students to get out, experience the warm weather and

Tarun’s LOLs

Horoscope

The signs as Mario Movie Character

Shy Guy

Weekly Tarot

Read by Gage Bunker and Timothy Kill

The Hanged Man

You are stuck in a mindset that is preventing you from making progress. Try stepping out of your own mindset this week

5 of Cups

Bowser King

Bob-omb

Mario's Dad

What we’ve been listening to

I Think I Am

Sky H1

Shifra Narasimhan

SULA (Paperback)

Jamila Woods

Kate Gordon

Sad to Breathe

The Japanese House

Sara Khorshidi

Ready or Not

Haley Blais

Beau Bilinovich

Dusty Seats

Proxima Parada

Clay Preusch

4EVA

KAYTRAMINE

Sophia Popkin

This World Zero 7, Mozez

Puneet Bansal

Blink

Ruru

Tarun Sepuri

GLITTER BENEE

Auden Koetters

Baby, I Love You

The Ronettes

Shreyas Banerjee

Sasurai

Hako Yamasaki

Lexy Jensen

Spike

Moods are passing and change will occur this week for the better. Don't dwell on the past and enjoy the future.

King of Swords

This week is your chance to make your mark. Be bold this week and you'll be rewarded.

Ace of Swords

The thoughts that have been nagging you recently need to be let out. Time for brutal honesty, let those feelings out.

4 of Pentacles

If you feel like you've been stuck in a rut recently prepare for that to change.

Peach

That one yellow toad that chases

Mario

Donkey Kong

Baby Luigi Luma

Penguins

Cranky Kong

The Stars

Consider the dreams you have for your future and act towards it. The universe is ready to deliver.

Justice

You'll have the chance to do real good this week. Don't shy away from the chance to help others even if it seems scary.

8 of Pentacles

The hard work you put in this week will pay off next week. Celebrate and enjoy the moment.

Wheel of Fortune

Lots of exciting opportunites will present themselves to you this week. Be curious take advantage of even the bad sounding opportunities.

Queen of Pentacles

You are going to see a shift in leadership in your life this week. Take this chance to progress from being led to leading

King of Cups

People may be only seeing your party side, try showing off your more introspective side. You may be shocked at the results it brings

The Moon

Question what you're doing this week. Really think if it is going to benefit you or not. much.

27 *Texter's options for sending faces and symbols

31 Indicate

32 Wriggly, as a fish

33 From ___ Z

36 Like those interested in poetry or painting

37 Road trip expense

background tunes

47 Small houses, in Spain

49 Castle protector

50 Prize for Best Original Score, e.g.

51 At that time

53 Gardener's bagful

57 "I can't even!" ...

or a hint to the answers to the starred clues

60 Start of a countdown

61 Actor Alda or Arkin

62 Carsickness feeling

63 Picnic pest

64 Big name in potato chips

65 Weasel relative

before

How Cleveland is leading the way in the fight against climate change

Editorial Board

As this year’s Earth Day approaches, it’s incredibly easy to fall down the rabbit hole of climate doom. Corporations continue to take minimal steps to change their wasteful ways and national governments never seem to be doing enough. While we can question to what degree local and individual changes make a difference regarding climate change, if enough people take action, the effects can be profound. There are organizations and initiatives right here in Cleveland, Ohio that you can get involved in or root for.

Firstly, it’s important to note that Ohio is the top state for composting, and many initiatives in Cleveland are working to further improve our standing. This includes food waste management companies such as Rust Belt Riders (RBR), which works to make composting more inclusive and convenient. RBR is aware of the challenges of composting in different settings, such as apartments, supermarkets and college campuses. As a result, the company offers both community drop-off services home and pickup services, producing compost from food waste. RBR aims to divert as much waste as possible from landfills and create economic value for our communities. They work with around 3,000 households and 300 businesses in Northeast Ohio and diverted almost seven million pounds of waste last year. However, there is still a mismatch between the demand for their services and the infrastructure required to process food waste. RBR would ideally like to emulate South Korea’s approach to waste management, where municipalities require the separation of organic and non-organic waste, and residents are taxed a small amount for the amount of food waste they throw away. The approach has led to a 20% reduction in food waste in some municipalities—something

we can learn from. RBR also advocates for community building and the role of worker-owned cooperatives in creating a sustainable food system.

Overall, though, it’s clear companies like RBR are making a difference here in our local community and you can be a part of it, even by just signing up for compost curbside pick up for $30 a month. There is more to be done, especially regarding community education about the benefits of composting, advocating for regulations and creating incentives for businesses and individuals to adopt composting practices.

On a city-wide scale, Cleveland’s own Mayor Justin Bibb is preparing the city for ambitious climate initiatives. In cooperation with the Biden administration’s green energy investments, the first electric vehicle charging station on the east side of Cleveland was opened, providing access to underserved communities.

Mayor Bibb’s administration also recently passed the Complete and Green Streets ordinance, which requires the city to restructure its roads to promote environmentally friendly transportation methods— something that U.S. cities have historically ignored.

Despite these exciting green projects, there is much work to be done to ensure that Cleveland can be a clean city for everyone. Lead poisoning from pipes and paint affects communities nationwide, including within the city of Cleveland. Noting this pervasive issue, the Bibb administration has allocated $13 million from the American Rescue Plan to fund the lead-safe housing endowment in Cleveland, in addition to a $50 million investment from the Cleveland Clinic to remove lead paint from every home in the city. Additionally, the Ohio state government is working to remove lead pipes from childcare facilities.

Cleveland’s recycling program has also significantly improved over

the past year after having a nonfunctioning system in past administrations. The program now accepts a range of materials for recycling, including plastic bottles, jugs, cups, metal cans and cups, paper, cardboard, glass bottles, jars and cartons. However, many people are still unsure of what to recycle and how to do so properly; improper mixes can make entire loads unrecyclable. Luckily, the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District has a page on their website, titled “How to Recycle Right,” where they provide helpful tips on how to properly recycle, detailed explanations on the different

varieties of recycling you may find in public and a search engine for certain waste products in case you don’t know how to properly discard them. Lastly, right here at our own university, the Environmental Law Clinic at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law is a valuable resource for the community, representing clients regarding issues of environmental law and policy issues. Its focus on environmental and energy justice concerns in Northeast Ohio make it notable.

Continue reading on page 10

The Case Western Reserve Observer

Established in 1969 by the undergraduate students of Case Western Reserve University

Shreyas Banerjee Executive Editor & Publisher

PRINT

Sara Khorshidi Director of Print

Grace Johnson News Editor

Joey Gonzalez Life Editor

Karuna Lakhiani Opinion Editor

Puneet Bansal Sports Editor

Beau Bilinovich Development Editor

Shivangi Nanda Copy Editor

Lexy Jensen Copy Editor

Rachel Alexander Copy Editor

Elie Aoun Copy Editor

Kate Gordon Copy Editor

DIGITAL MEDIA

Joce Ortiz Director of Digital Media

Sophia Popkin Social Media Editor

Clay Preusch Photo Editor

Shejuti Wahed Video Editor

Collin Wong Web Editor

DESIGN

Tarun Sepuri Director of Design

Shifra Narasimhan Layout Designer

Auden Koetters Layout Designer

Catherine Choi Layout Designer

Tyler Vu Graphic Designer

BUSINESS

Khushali Desai Director of Business Operations

Matthew Chang Business Manager

Ryan Chang Business Manager

The Observer is the weekly undergraduate student newspaper of Case Western Reserve University. Established in 1969, The Observer reports news affecting students and provides an editorial forum for the university community. Unsigned editorials are typically written by the opinion editor but reflect the majority opinion of the senior editorial staff. Opinion columns are the views of their writers and not necessarily of The Observer staff. For advertising information, contact The Observer via e-mail at observer@ case.edu.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be e-mailed to observer@case.edu or submitted on our website at observer.case.edu. Letters can be mailed to Thwing Center 11111 Euclid Avenue, Suite 01, Cleveland, Ohio 44106. For policy and guidelines related to the submission of Letters to the Editor, refer to observer.case.edu/submit-a-letter.

The Observer is a proud member of CWRU’s University Media Board. Follow The Observer on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram @cwruobserver.

Fashion woes: a long road to sustainability

Aambar Agarwal Social Media Manager

There are countless fashion brands that promote their sustainability efforts. “Being naked is the #1 most sustainable option. We’re #2” is the tagline from the fashion brand Reformation. Rent the Runway asks us to “Do Sustainability in Style,” whereas the tagline of its competitor, Nuuly, claims to be “gentler on the planet.” The mother of fast fashion, Zara, has pledged to use 100% sustainable fabrics by 2025, while fellow fast fashion brand H&M plans to use 100% recycled or sustainable fabric by 2030. Luxury brand Louis Vuitton has introduced Life360, a sustainability roadmap for the next three, six and 10 years. Are these initiatives and taglines just platitudes to placate consumers’ demands for change? Are they simply promotional tactics intended to further their brands?

The fashion industry’s record on sustainability has been downright pathetic. It is hard to forget luxury label Burberry’s 2018 annual report, which revealed that $38 million worth of unsold stock was burnt. While shocking to consumers and investors, incinerating unsold stock is a common practice among luxury labels to maintain their pricing and exclusivity. Following intense media scrutiny and outraged consumers, the brand announced that it had stopped this practice and now touts an “Environmental, Social and Governance” (ESG) framework with an emphasis on sustainable practices.

Fashion accounts for up to 35% of the microplastics found in our oceans and has a massive carbon footprint, equaling the combined value of international flights and shipping. Burning unsold inventory made of synthetic fibers adds to the amount of microplastics in the atmosphere. It’s important to note that they wouldn’t have

stopped this burning if it wasn’t for people calling them out. The media’s role in exposing the questionable business practices of fashion houses and educating consumers cannot be overlooked.

Then, there is the small matter of fast fashion’s business model, which is based on products that are trendy, cheaper and meant to be discarded after being worn a few times. Short production times and advanced e-commerce and technology enable labels like Zara and Shein to drop new material more frequently. Synthetic fabrics like polyester—which are derived from non-renewable sources—are preferred to deliver “newness” at low price points.

Overconsumption to a hedonic degree exists in fashion today. How many styles of jeans can a consumer possibly desire? Low, mid or high-waist; cropped, ankle length or culottes; wideleg, barrel-shaped, balloon, straight, narrow, pencil or jeggings; distressed, embellished, paint-splattered, tie-dyed or embroidered; boyfriend, girlfriend, mom or dad styles, all in a dizzying array of washes and colors. The choices are endless. However, eventually it all gets discarded, and the overstock inventory is dumped into landfills.

Fast fashion’s “here today, gone tomorrow” business model stands in stark contrast to sustainable models that focus on people, environment and equity. According to the UN World Commission on Environment and Development, “sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” So, while Zara’s efforts at sustainability matter, it is the business model of fast fashion that requires modification.

Overproduction, current manufacturing practices and overconsumption impact the number of items that get dumped into landfills. Ongoing up-

cycling initiatives appear to fall short in reducing waste in fashion production. It is a daunting task to create new clothing from scraps rather than just using a roll of new fabric. Therefore, the solution to the limitations of upcycling is a material revolution; we must upgrade to biodegradable textiles, re-engineered fabrics and compostable fibers. While the shift to using bio-based substitutes for animal-based (e.g., leather) and fossil fuel-based (e.g., polyester) fabrics has begun, it is fairly recent and requires more research, funding and acceptance within the fashion industry. For instance, sneaker brand AllBirds has upped the game by using eco-friendly materials for their extremely comfortable sneakers, while also working toward a climate-positive goal. Additionally, Adidas is working toward its own sustainability roadmap and claims that by 2025, nine out of 10 Adidas items will be made with environmentally friendly materials. While impressive targets and products, these are but a tiny part of the wider sustainability issue.

Another area that could use a refresh is consumer behavior. How many shirts are too many? Must we hoard every on-trend item? We need to embrace a responsible and ethical attitude towards fashion, while fashion brands need to provide consumers with better options. Furthermore, consumers’ appetites for recycled and reused items could also use whetting. Although some people might be deterred by the higher costs of sustainable brands,others might not be too keen on purchasing “not new” items.

Nevertheless, popular brands are inching towards sustainability. The athletic company Lululemon has added the “Like New” option, where one can trade in gently used gear for store credit. They also added the option to shop for resale items. Rental fashion is also another viable option that

could use some more attention. Rent the Runway, a company who relies on rental fashion, has not shown profitability despite having been around since 2009. As a result, they have burnt through a lot of funding.

Lastly, the most important aspect of moving the fashion industry towards sustainability is regulation. Fashion industry rules should be rewritten and governments need to rethink tax laws. Taxing synthetics and plastics would deter manufacturers from using them and make eco-friendly options more lucrative; fines for textile wastes and burning inventory would force the fashion industry to find sensible and sustainable solutions. Moreover, legislative bills like the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act need to become law. If passed, it would allow New York to hold all fashion brands accountable for their role in the climate crisis. The law would require brands to be transparent about their supply chains, carbon emissions and wages. If brands are in violation of these regulations, they should be fined accordingly. Overall, voluntary sustainability is not viable. Regulatory fashion sustainability is the next step. Fashion defines an era, a culture and a mindset. What do the landfills say about us?

Why CoHo has got to go: A critique of BookTok sensation Colleen Hoover

Rebecca Warber Contributing Writer

Shock rang through the BookTok community when author Colleen Hoover announced casting decisions for the “It Ends With Us” screen adaptation. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are currently set to play two of the novel’s main characters, choices that elicited mixed reactions from fans. Various videos and posts indicate that the casting decisions are almost as controversial as Hoover herself. Since releasing her first book in 2012, Hoover has made headlines both because of her questionable content and her immense popularity despite it. Many of her books center on extremely concerning romantic relationships that tend to idealize toxic behavior. Her writing is also extremely formulaic—both in respect to the plots of her 24 books and the style with which she writes them. However, few readers seem bothered by any of the flaws with Hoover’s writing. Forbes magazine reports that last year, six of the 10 New York Times bestsellers were written by her, a reflection of readers’ poor tastes that requires immediate correction lest this writing becomes even more common.

Hoover’s books, according to her website, are one of two genres: contemporary romance or psychological thriller. “It Ends With Us” is advertised as a romance novel, focused on the main character’s choice between her first love and current boyfriend. The

book is focused on the main character’s experiences with abuse and includes chapters detailing her relationship with an abusive father and years later with an abusive husband. The title itself is a reference to the main character’s choice to end the cycle of abuse, yet the book omits concrete warnings of these dark themes and is replaced by promises of a cliche love triangle. This may seem inconsequential, but including scenes with physical abuse and sexual assault in what is supposed to be a romance novel makes it easier for readers to associate romance with these inexcusable acts. Readers may walk away with potentially distorted perceptions of what relationships should look like.

Hoover’s “November 9” is not much better. A copy remains on my own bookshelf, unread. After reading a synopsis of the book, I was grateful I didn’t waste time reading it. “November 9” is not unlike “It Ends With Us” in that it features a toxic love interest who burned the main character’s house while she was inside. Of course, once the main character learned that he only intended to set the family’s car on fire, she forgave him and they lived happily ever after. Hidden behind a bright cover, are strangely dark themes that seem to glorify every possible red flag a partner can exhibit.

Quality men are not the only thing Hoover’s books appear to be lacking. There is also an overwhelming lack of diversity—both in respect to race and sexual orientation—among virtually all of Hoover’s characters. It is not only with her main characters that this is

apparent, but with her side characters as well. This is both unrealistic given just how many characters Hoover has included in her 24 books, and unacceptable as well, considering that she’s a renowned author with a fanbase just as diverse as her books are not.

A final problem with Hoover’s books is the writing itself. Her books are infamous for signature plot twists likely intended to distance her books from others in the romance genre whose plots are, admittedly, quite predictable. However, in doing so, she has made her books nearly identical. Commonalities include virtually identical main characters, love interests with a plethora of negative traits and unconventional paths to love that make your stomach churn rather than swarm with butterflies. Hoover’s prose is no better than her ability to conjure a new, non-recycled, book idea. Her style is rather basic, lacking any compelling voice for her already lackluster plots. She also includes some strange phrases and dialogue that make me further question her popularity. Possibly one of the worst lines in Hoover’s book is found in “Ugly Love” which garnered some negative attention when pictures of the text circulated on social media. After a particularly unconventional conversation between two main characters, Hoover writes, “We both laugh at our son’s big balls.” Someone notify the Nobel Prize organization.

While Hoover fans are growing excited about “It Ends With Us” movie announcements, let’s not forget that around this time last year, Hoover was

making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Hoover’s then-21-year-old son was accused of sexually assaulting a minor—a minor who allegedly reached out to Hoover asking for help. The author reportedly blocked the girl, though later on Facebook claimed that she had simply not read the message immediately, and contacted her once she realized what it was about. The overall situation is strange and raises questions about how seriously Hoover takes the themes she writes about if she is potentially ignoring allegations raised by her own son. Of course, Hoover could be completely innocent, but given the controversy surrounding her writing, the situation is worth noting.

According to NPD BookScan, Hoover sold more books in 2022 than copies of the Bible. She was even featured on Time’s list of most influential people of the year, a particularly concerning addition to her list of accolades. Her books contain consistently concerning relationships that blur the line between healthy and toxic relationships, which can be particularly dangerous for impressionable readers. Her writing leaves much to be desired in terms of content and stylistically, yet she is obviously quite successful. This reflects poorly on readers who, in buying her books, enable her to continue romanticizing extremely serious and sensitive topics. Hoover’s books possess few, if any, redeeming qualities, and to avoid unnecessarily troublesome books filling shelves, she should become an author of BookTok’s past.

Tyler Vu/The Observer

EDITORIAL from 8

By having students be involved with real-world issues, the clinic is training the next generation of lawyers to be dedicated to making a positive difference in the world by

tackling complex environmental issues. These are just a few of the movements in the Cleveland community that are making essential headway

in the green movement. The more we participate in and support such initiatives, the more we can show our political leaders that we care about our environment.

How to stop procrastinating for finals

Sarah Karkoff Staff Writer

As finals season descends upon students, it’s always important to have a game plan. However, even the best plans can go by the wayside. Every semester, the detailed plan that I create often gets pushed back further and further until I have too many things on my plate at once. While stopping yourself from getting to that point can be difficult, everything can still get done. Just starting to complete goals is often the hardest part. In order to push over this mental battle, I use a few tricks. Hopefully, these can help you if you struggle with the same issues.

To get rid of distractions, completing household chores first can be a great way to create a sterile space to actually start your work. Libby Sander writing for the Harvard Business Review explains that “cluttered spaces can have negative effects on our stress and anxiety levels, as well as our abil-

ity to focus, our eating choices, and even our sleep.” Therefore, although it seems superfluous, removing clutter can be a great first step in ending your work slump.

When finally beginning to work, picking music conducive to staying focused is imperative. While many may prefer silence, having something playing in the background can be helpful. Chamorro-Premuzic, a writer at the Harvard Business Review, states, “If you have to work on a boring or easy task (whether it’s new or old), music can enhance your attention by providing extra stimulation to your brain.” Choosing the right music can be the tricky part. Some of my favorite playlists for getting my brain into gear are upbeat songs without lyrics that provide distraction. A few playlists that I recommend are “Minecraft” music, “Mario Kart” study music and study music-Studio Ghibli.

Once ready to start your tasks, beginning with the small things first can help make the mental load feel smaller. As the name suggests, creating mi-

cro habits involves breaking up a large task into smaller, more manageable ones. Large essays or tests that seem daunting at first glance become easier to start when doled out into bits and pieces. Even if you do not have the time to spread these smaller goals out over weeks, I have found that this technique works even if there is only one day to complete something.

Another technique that is useful for making sure your studying gets done is the Pomodoro technique. Dr. Amrita Mandal, writing for the National Institutes of Health, explains the technique: First, choose your assignment/ work to do; next, set the timer to 25 minutes; work until the timer rings; then, take a five-minute break; finally, take longer breaks (15 to 30 minutes) for every four pomodoro intervals.

There are a plethora of benefits to utilizing this technique. For one, it diminishes stress and mental exhaustion associated with finals. Additionally, it can boost your attention span along with concentration. When starting the daunting task of study-

Hopefully with our own efforts within our communities, we can feel positive about the fight against climate change and the Earth’s future as a whole.

ing for hours, it can be easy to pick up your phone and dawdle for even longer. Implementing a set break that is standard throughout helps build a routine to your workflow without creating burnout.

I have also found that working with a group that holds you accountable can be just as helpful as a sterile environment, depending on the person. Setting a time with others in your class instead of meeting with your friends can be useful. When all together with a common goal, starting that work can feel less intimidating. Moreover, the preparatory tasks that may be necessary for starting the actual process of studying can be split up amongst the group instead of being a solitary problem. Teamwork can simultaneously create a sense of responsibility and ease.

Procrastination can seem impossible to surmount. My individual tricks have helped me get through countless finals seasons. Hopefully, they will be just as useful to you as this semester comes to a close.

Always a victim? You’re likely the problem

Enya Eettickal Staff Writer

A big part of friendship is sharing stories of hardship and seeking advice or support. Personally, I think there’s something special in the shared emotional reactions of a group when listening to one person’s stories. But it’s the same part of me that adores sharing my friends’ emotions that gets unsettled when certain patterns arise. There’s a building uncertainty when a friend tells story after story of them being “done dirty,” being misrepresented or misunderstood and being dropped or hated “for no good reason” by the people around them. Because, while I can understand that happening once in a while, or there being a crazy period in someone’s life, it doesn’t add up when it’s every single time. That person is likely victimizing themself. Watching someone constantly play the victim is tough, mainly because it feels like there’s no way to deal with it. So let’s look into the consequences of being around someone who constantly victimizes themself, as well as ways to deal with it.

Let’s start by defining the scope of what we’re talking about. I use the phrase “playing the victim” very particularly in this article. That’s because a victim complex or mentality refers to when a person believes that they are in no way responsible for any of the shortcomings or problems in their life. While this isn’t a diagnosable condition (in the DSM-5), it is a learned behavior and symptomatic of other conditions. A victim mentality often has roots in former experiences and trauma, making it difficult to escape the state of hopelessness. The individuals this column is referring to are those who argue that their suffering is never ending and unilaterally independent of their actions—not people who are actual victims reacting or responding to the hardships they’re facing. People who play victim rather

than actually being one are also notably vocal about it. They complain about their suffering frequently, but do not care for advice that may alleviate their pain. From my personal experience, people who play victim have an inflated sense of superiority and/or an overwhelming amount of self-pity. They believe they’re too good to cause issues, or they are unable to perceive themselves as anything other than a victim.

Playing the victim can come with some major drawbacks. For one, the statistical chances of one person always being wronged and never being in the wrong is highly unlikely. There’s probably a disconnect between observable fact and what they argue is occurring, meaning it’s hard to reason with them by guiding them to solutions or by pointing out their problematic role in the situation. As a result, their growth is likely inhibited. If they’re unwilling to recognize their actions as a problem, they’re likely to run into the same dilemma again, yielding similar outcomes. Even though friendships aren’t perfect, clashes require fair solutions. Therefore, it can be difficult to justify staying friends with someone who refuses to acknowledge the hurt they’ve instigated as time progresses.

So the big question remains of how to solve these types of situations. Unfortunately, you can’t make someone stop playing the victim, no matter how much you try. What you can do is determine how you want to handle your friendship with them. I propose a series of steps to consider when dealing with someone with a victim mentality.

Step one is to identify the pattern. It’d be far from fair to accuse someone of constantly playing victim unless you see it recur with frequency. As established, sometimes it can feel as though the world is fighting against you. Instead of being antagonistic, give your friends leeway and pose potential solutions or alternative mindsets to help them. If you identify someone who appears to be playing the vic-

tim, double down on your efforts to pose solutions to get them through the situation. If they continually resist the help and become defensive, weigh your next steps. If someone with that mindset isn’t open to change, their actions can actively affect your well-being. Therefore, don’t feel obligated to continue fighting with them. The re

mean they have to be above the consequences. If they continue to refuse to grow, it’s not outlandish for someone to decide that they aren’t able to deal with the drama involved. Watching someone play the victim can be difficult, especially when you don’t know if it’s an active choice or uncontrolled instinct. But you do know how it’s af

W i n t e r B r e a k

0 2 3 - 2 4

The History of London (HSTY 164)

Dr.John Broich

Multicultural

Christian, Jewish & Muslim Coexistence (SPAN 301, RLGN 301, ARAB 303)

Dr Damaris Puñales-Alpízar

Prof Ramez Islambouli

CWRU’s psychology research desert

Carsten Torgeson Staff Writer

“Members of the [Case Western Reserve University] community conduct research daily that makes a lasting difference. But don’t take it from us—the numbers tell our story,” so reads the CWRU’s curated “Research” webpage. The numbers—$373.5 million in competitive sponsored research projects last fiscal year, No. 21 among 100 world universities receiving U.S. utility patents and 270+ recent industry partners—are impressive in a vague and aggrandized sort of way. These statistics, meant to woo and attract prospective students with their scholastic allure, tell a certain story, though exactly whose story is unclear. What is clear is that they do not represent the many psychology—and more broadly, social science—undergraduates who are foiled at nearly every turn in their search for research opportunities.

When I decided to transfer to CWRU from an institution in England, one of the biggest draws was CWRU’s status as a “leading national research university.” Perhaps naively, I foresaw myself participating in research as soon as I arrived. Alas, this did not happen. Two years and many hopeful though ultimately pointless emails to psychology professors later, I have still not been able to participate in any psychology research at CWRU.

However, I want to qualify my position. The troubles I have faced may stem from being a transfer student. With most research labs requiring a commitment of at least two semesters, younger students are automatically preferred for their ability to commit to research labs for longer, and I—as

a transfer student—have never been as young at CWRU as most have. It is also possible that, having taken the majority of my intro psychology classes at another institution, my troubles come from a lack of connections in CWRU’s department of psychology. But even if this problem were restricted to transfer students, and students who perhaps did not choose their major immediately, CWRU—lauded for allowing students to take classes from any department—should be capable of supporting students who choose to explore other areas of study before settling on psychology.

And this problem is not specific to students who cannot get their foot in the door from the very beginning. In my conversations with psychology professors and students alike, I frequently hear that even first year psychology majors are struggling to become involved. These students carry the advantage of not being expected to have any prior research experience, an expectation that students increasingly begin to struggle with the more senior they become.

Two commonly referenced reasons for why it has been difficult to offer more research opportunities include COVID-19 and the burgeoning undergraduate student population. Regarding the increase in student population, President Eric Kaler said during his March 21 USG address, “there shouldn’t be a qualitative change in the quality of the education, the experiences you get with [these] relatively minor or modest quantitative changes in the number of students.” President Kaler—like the statistics arrogantly boasted on CWRU’s “Research” webpage—represents a distant perspective that does not consider how the increasing student population

disproportionately inflates popular majors like psychology and hinders the faculties’ ability to deliver upon their pedagogical duties.

The fact is that CWRU’s psychology professoriate is only numerous enough to support a student to professor ratio of 15:1—nearly two times greater than the university’s average of 9:1. The disproportionately small psychology professoriate is further stressed by the fact that, inherently, the subject of psychology is inseparable from research.

Take the English major at CWRU, which despite having little responsibility to engage students with related research labs, benefits from a student to faculty ratio of 3:1. Considering that undergraduates intending to pursue a career in psychology must have ample research experience—in a way that undergraduates intending to pursue a career in English do not—it is absurd that the psychology department must make due with so few professors. This past semester, while psychology majors fretted over finding research experience to prepare themselves for life after graduating, English majors were invited to sit in on lectures put on by prospective journalism professors. The department sought to not only add another professor to their already vigorous ranks, but to create a new journalism major.

The scarcity of research opportunities in the psychology department is not a result of indolency. The CWRU department of psychology offers an honors program that allows undergraduates to design their own research project with the guidance of a faculty mentor and conduct their study. The requirements on the psychology department’s web page include maintaining a GPA of greater than 3.25 in psychology coursework, an overall GPA of

greater than 3.0 and the completion of the course Research Design and Analysis (PSCL 375). However, the page does not address how, even with a GPA above the requirement and a passing grade in PSCL 375, many will be unable to find a professor willing to sign on as their research advisor. And who can blame them? The psychology faculty are already stretched nearly to their limit, and being a research advisor is no small thing.

The desert of research opportunities I faced in England corresponded with the lack of interest from the student body. I’m happy to say this situation felt much worse than the situation at CWRU, as there were limited research opportunities and a small likelihood for change. However, here, the interest is abundant. Whenever I visit the psychology department offices in Mather Memorial to meet with my advisor, it’s too often that a student’s voice greets me by inquiring about lab openings, barely concealing their desperation to find research opportunities. And as I leave, a student—cautiously eager and soon to be crestfallen—reliably waits in the hallway with a grim expression on their face, perhaps steeling themselves for the answer the words they have been told many times over: “I have no openings now, check back next semester.” Where interest is as intense and widespread as it is in CWRU’s psychology majors, there is bound to be change. And with CWRU attracting intelligent and motivated students, the potential for the psychology department to become one of CWRU’s strongest programs is high. The question is, can CWRU take the steps needed to fulfill its obligation to psychology majors before entire graduating classes fall through the cracks? Only time will tell.

John Barry John Barry

Historian and Author of Historian and Author of The Great Influenza: the Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History The Great Influenza: the Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

“The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and COVID: Comparisons and Lessons”

“The 1918 Influenza Pandemic and COVID: Comparisons and Lessons”

Steven Gordon, MD Steven Gordon, MD

Chairman of Infectious Diseases, Chairman of Infectious Diseases, The Cleveland Clinic The Cleveland Clinic

“Reflections on the COVID-19 Pandemic Three Years Later”

“Reflections on the COVID-19 Pandemic Three Years Later”

MEN’S TENNIS from page 1

his opponent in second singles (63, 6-1). CMU continued to fight and won the fourth and sixth singles, but wins from Sutanto and Mahenthiran completed the 7-2 win.

The Spartans also celebrated Senior Day, honoring Hopper, Kasner, Maza, Provenzano and Sutanto. The quintet led the Spartans to back-to-back NCAA appearances in 2021 and 2022, back-to-back ITA Indoor Championships in 2022 and 2023, and an overall 81-13 record with a 73-4 record against DIII opponents.

“It’s quite an unbelievable class we have to recognize this year,” said Wojtkowski. “These seniors…have been here all four years that started the program [with] first trip to the NCAA finals.”

The players, however, are locked into finishing the season at the top of the DIII. Coach Wojtkowski added, “They really are focused on finishing this mission and finishing stronger than they started so we’re really excited to talk about all the great things that they’ve done for our program this weekend.”

CWRU’s men’s tennis team celebrates after their 9-0 wins against North Central College and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on April 8. Courtesy of CWRU Athletics the beginning to secure their victory. Shah/Dayal won third doubles (8-4), Hopper/Aduru took first doubles (8-6) and Provenzano/Maza won second doubles (8-4). Mahenthiran (6-2, 6-1) and Hopper (6-0, 6-2) clinched the match with their singles wins. Hishinuma, Shah, Sutanto and Aduru completed the sweep.

On Saturday April 8, the Spartans continued their winning ways in Illinois, defeating North Central College and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 9-0 sweeps. Against North Central, Hopper/ Dayal took second doubles (82), Maza/Provenzano won first doubles (8-2) and Aduru/Sutanto cleaned up third doubles (8-3). Maza’s first singles win (6-0, 6-0) and Sutanto’s second singles win (6-2, 6-0) clinched the match. Devaraj, Hishinuma, Shah and Mahenthiran added the cherries on top for the sweep.

The match against Whitewater was a rematch of the 2022 NCAA DIII Championship Round of 16, but the Spartans took control from

Softball

5-1

Game 2: W 10-9

CWRU at CMU (4/15):

Game 1: W 6-2

Game 2: W 8-4

CWRU at NYU (4/21)

Sutanto was named the UAA Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week and the Spartan Club Athlete of the Week after going undefeated in his singles and doubles contests for the weekend.

“We all remembered that [Whitewater] swept us in the doubles at NCAAs last year so we knew we had our hands full at the end of

the weekend,” reflected head coach Todd Wojtkowski. “For us to finish stronger than we started it gave us good momentum heading into this weekend.”

The momentum did indeed carry through as the Spartans defeated Carnegie Mellon University on Saturday April 15 and Kalamazoo College on Sunday April 16 on home court.

CWRU snatched up the doubles against CMU, with Maza/Provenzano winning first doubles (8-1), fourth-year John Kasner/Hopper taking third doubles (8-5) and Sutanto/Shah securing third doubles (8-5). The Spartans clinched the match after Hopper won first singles (6-2, 6-2) and Aduru bested

Scores and Upcoming Games

Track & Field

CWRU vs Outdoor All-Ohio Championships (4/23) :

On April 16, the top-ranked Spartans concluded its 2023 regular season with a 9-0 sweep of Kalamazoo. Sutanto/Aduru won third doubles (8-1), Hopper/Shah took second doubles (8-5) and Provenzano/Maza won first doubles (8-5). This marked the 11th straight match CWRU swept doubles and the 20th time this season. Hishinuma, Mahenthiran, Shah, Aduru, Sutanto and Hopper defeated their opponents in singles. With this win, the Spartans stand at a flawless 20-0 against DIII opponents.

CWRU will now enter the postseason at the 2023 UAA Championships with the top seed for the second-straight season in search of their first conference championship. The tournament will be held in Altamonte Springs, Florida from April 21-23.

Baseball

(18-12,

CWRU at NYU (4/22) - 2 games

CWRU at NYU (4/23) (25-4)

Women’s Team: 1st / 13 (111 pts)

Phung-Rojas breaks school record in 800-m run (2:15.30)

Wachtman wins javelin throw (40.57 m)

Men’s Tennis

CWRU vs CMU (4/8) - W 7-2

CWRU vs Kalamazoo (4/15) - W 9-0

CWRU vs UAA Championships (4/21-23)

CWRU vs Rochester (4/21)

Hopkins wins triple jump (11.39 m)

Men’s Team: 2nd / 13 (132 pts)

Holst wins 1500-m run (3:56.16)

Wins in 4x400-m relay (3:21.75)

CWRU

CWRU vs Ashland Alumni Open (4/28-29)

Women’s Tennis

(13-3)

CWRU vs Oberlin (4/13) - W 7-2

CWRU vs NYU (4/20)

CWRU vs UAA Championship (4/21-22)

vs UAA Outdoor Championships (4/22-23)