Wednesday, March 10

The Emory Wheel Since 1919

Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Volume 102, Issue 4

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Printed every other wednesday

Students Say ‘Rest Days’ Aren’t Restful

By Isabella Roeske Contributing Writer

A lly Hom/Contributing

The Student Government Association unanimously passed a resolution on March 8 supporting the renaming of the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.

SGA, CC Support Renaming Schwartz Center

By Tanika Deuskar and Jareer Imran Senior Staff Writer and Contributing Writer The 54th legislature of the Student Government Association (SGA) unanimously passed a resolution in support of renaming the Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, named after Donna Schwartz (62C) and Marvin Schwartz, who contributed $8 million to create the building.

The move comes two weeks after

the 65th College Council (CC) passed a similar resolution on Feb. 24, which passed with 18 votes in favor, one vote against and six abstentions.

The SGA resolution was sponsored by Young Democrats of Emory President Alex Chanen (21C) along with seven other SGA members.

Second-Year Legislator Sachi Madan (23C), who is also a part of Young Democrats of Emory, sponsored the resolution in CC. The resolutions come over a year after the Wheel reported that Marvin

Schwartz sponsored conservative political commentator Heather Mac Donald to address students at an event held by Emory College Republicans and the Emory Law Chapter of the Federalist Society.

Mac Donald’s speech sparked outcry across campus after she accused students of color of victimhood and downplayed campus rapes, calling them “voluntary hookups.”

“I’m interested in seeing diverse

See STUDENT, Page 3

University’s cancellation of spring break.

“While I understand how keeping In an effort to prevent student trav- everyone on campus is safer, not havel during the pandemic, Emory can- ing a spring break is just resulting in celed spring break for the spring 2021 more fatigue,” Brandon Joseph (24C) semester. In its place, the University said. “I don’t think that’s talked about implemented three “rest days” with no enough. Countless Zooms and online assignments back classes on February to back with limited 17, March 16 and April time off leaves stu14. The Emory College “My rest day was Faculty Senate also dents exhausted.” basically any other passed a resolution Many students day of the semester. said they experirecommending professors implement a I still had lectures to enced burnout, an “no assignment” week effect of higher than watch.” from March 14 to 19. normal and proIn lieu of spring longed stress levels.

— Ania Korpanty (22C) Numerous studies break, the rest days and the “no assigncorroborate that vacament” week give stutions from work can dents a chance to take a break from improve psychological well-being and productivity. their classes.

Diana Kerolos (23C), an internaHowever, some students reported varied levels of compliance among tional student currently studying in professors with the rest day require- Egypt, said the lack of a spring break ments after the first rest day on Feb. 17. has taken a toll on her mental health, “My rest day was basically any other which has only been diminished by the day of the semester,” Ania Korpanty eight hour time difference.

“Last semester I was and I still am (22C) said. “I still had lectures to watch, I still had assignments due super burnt out, like violently burnt on the day and I still had one of my out,” Sarah Gordon (22C) said. “It is classes meet. There was genuinely no simply impossible to maintain that ‘rest’ about it, which I think everyone quantity and quality of work when knew was going to be the case from there are: A) no outlets for any of us the very moment Emory announced it and B) no breaks.”

The University announced the plan would implement these days.”

However, some students have expressed disappointment over the See NO, Page 2

Emory Reports 300 COVID-19 Violations in Fall

By Ninad Kulkarni News Editor Emory University received over 300 complaints of students in violation of the COVID-19 community compact, according to a March 9 email to the Wheel from Senior Director of Communications in Campus Life Tomika DePriest.

The violations included failing to wear a mask, socially distance and test. The University estimates 280 students received warnings and “somewhere between 30-50” had to repeat the campus onboarding process. One student was removed from campus housing.

The University declined to provide the number of COVID-19 compact violations within Greek Life or if certain chapters have faced sanctions.

“There is currently a review underway by not only the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life and the Office of Student Conduct, but also other University offices that advise specific student groups identified as potentially non-compliant with Covid-19 protocols,” DePriest wrote.

The number of violations was pro-

NEWS Emory Professor

Creates COVID-19 Air PAGE 3 Sensor ...

P

vided after over a month of correspondence spanning February and early March between Wheel reporters and multiple Campus Life departments.

Specifically, Wheel reporters asked for the total number of violations, consistent violations, the nature of the penalties and case numbers in Emory Greek Life.

“Emory doesn’t have the same data referenced in comparison by the Wheel staff because in the fall its public health approach prioritized education and helping the community better adopt measures to stay safe and healthy versus a punitive model,” the email read.

Peer institutions including Duke University (N.C.), Harvard University (Mass.), Dartmouth College (N.H.), Vanderbilt University (Tenn.) and Cornell University (N.Y.) have publicly released information about students and organizations who were sanctioned for violating COVID-19 guidelines.

In January, Harvard released an interim report of COVID-19 violations during the fall that detailed how many students were removed from campus housing, a figure Emory has

See 1, Page 2

EDITORIAL

Conservatives, Inclusion is a PAGE 4 Two-Way Street ...

Caelan Bailey/Senior Staff

The bottom floor of the Jolley Residential Center is reserved for Oxford students who test positive for COVID-19.

Oxford Students Criticize Isolation Protocols

By Caelan Bailey and Grace Lee Senior Staff Writer and Staff Writer

isolated in Jolley Residential Center’s (JRC) Bonnell residence hall.

Unlike the Atlanta campus, where both COVID-19 positive on-campus students and close contacts are housed at the Emory Conference Center Hotel, Oxford students isolate in campus residence halls — the bottom floors of JRC’s Bonnell and Stone Halls and the

Emory’s Oxford campus isolation and quarantine system is facing a new stress test, with the 17 COVID-19 positive cases recorded since Dec. 30, 2020, already outpacing the six total

recorded last fall.

Oxford students described a porous isolation system that allows positive students to leave their isolation areas and outside students to come in. Those in quarantine struggled with an abrupt transition and lack of information.

“They immediately moved us in and were like, ‘Here’s the key. Bye, good luck,’” said Rachel Tupler (22Ox), who

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Gardner Brings 70 Plants to Out Lack of School Spirit ...

Back Page PAGE 9 Oxford ...

2

NEWS

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

The Emory Wheel

Students Report Being Able to Leave Isolation Spaces Continued from Page 1 first floor of Haygood Hall — and quarantine at the Hampton Inn Conyers.

The rooms in JRC and Haygood Hall were chosen for “how the dorms were laid out,” said Senior Associate Dean of Finance, Operations and Technology Danielle Miller. Floor setups in these buildings include doors that corrall the halls and a shared bathroom, as opposed to the open floor plan of newer dorms.

When students first test positive, an isolation and quarantine team transports them to the isolation dorms where they receive a care package and meet virtually with Student Health Services (SHS) staff daily, Miller said.

Close contacts undergo the same process.

Proximity to Other Students In JRC and Haygood Hall, three designated “offline” floors have signs around entrances that warn students not to enter but do not explicitly indicate that the floors are used for isolation. Doors to all floors are unlocked and accessible via communal stairwells, and the floors are attached to outside exits.

Students live in floors above and in halls near the closed isolation floors.

Arushi Dhillon (22Ox), who lives in JRC’s Dickey residence hall near Bonnell Hall, said she had “no idea” she would be living near the isolation floor before arriving on campus, and Oxford did not notify residents that “offline” floors are for isolation.

Dhillon said she “might’ve accidentally opened the door” to the Bonnell isolation floor in the past and that a fire alarm last semester required all JRC residents to exit the building at once.

“Why would they send the people that don’t have COVID, that were exposed to someone with COVID, to

the hotel and not the actual person with COVID?” Dhillon asked.

Miller said that while both campuses share similar public health goals, safety protocols vary because of resources and population size. Assistant Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Laura Diamond wrote in an March 8 email to the Wheel that isolated students’ proximity to SHS and the dining hall allows staff to “provide maximum healthcare and wraparound services.”

Mixed Emotional Support Riya Khanna (22Ox) recently left isolation in Stone Hall. While Khanna’s symptoms have largely abated, she said post-isolation communication from SHS has been “poor.”

“I definitely don’t feel 100% back to normal — there’s definitely an impact that COVID had on my body — but they haven’t checked on me at all,” Khanna said, who provided her temperature and blood oxygen level in daily telehealth meetings. SHS also provided a phone number that Khanna could text.

SHS allowed Khanna’s isolation group to request escorted outdoor walks through a nearby Oxford neighborhood “as many times as [they] want[ed],” also allowing them to eat lunch in the JRC courtyard.

Following a Super Bowl watch party, Tupler tested positive for COVID-19 and went into isolation in Bonnell.

She recounted feeling shocked as she processed the news.

“They never really stop to ask you, ‘How are you doing?’” Tupler said. “I definitely cried because it was kind of scary.”

Tupler described her time in isolation as “kind of a nightmare,” noting, “It was lonely … I actually had to reach out to the counseling services just because I wanted to talk to somebody.”

She expressed frustration at the fact that close contacts, who tested negative and were asymptomatic, were transported to the Hampton Inn. Lack of Security Isolation areas are not monitored by staff, and isolated students recounted instances outside of chaperoned time when they did or could have left their halls.

Tupler noted that, on one instance, she locked herself out of her room and had to leave the building to notify a staff member to let her back in.

William Dougherty (22Ox) isolated

“They never really stop to ask you, ‘How are you doing?’”

— Rachel Tupler (22Ox)

in JRC’s Bonnell last semester. Aside from the door exit, Dougherty noted that Bonnell’s windows opened to ground level.

“It was a lot based on your own values if you were going to actually go out,” Dougherty said. Tupler said he had heard of individuals who left their halls while in isolation.

However, Miller assured that the building and the integrity of the protocol was secured, saying, “We haven’t had any incidents or any cases where students left without our knowledge.

We trust that [students] will listen to the recommendations.”

Miller described off-campus houses reserved for isolation as the “first go-to” for a backup plan if residential isolation dorms on campus were overcrowded due to a surge in cases.

Caelan Bailey/Senior Staff

Some students in isolation said they could leave their hallways.

Derek Newton (22Ox) briefly isolated in a house near campus after experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. After self-reporting symptoms to the screening questionnaire, he was prompted to call SHS. The process was “a little bit more complicated” than he anticipated, given he had to navigate to Oxfordspecific information and call multiple times before receiving a response.

SHS then organized a telehealth meeting as well as two rounds of rapid and PCR tests. Once those tests returned negative, Newton was allowed to return to his dorm.

Close Contacts For close contacts, the quarantine experience at the Hampton Inn is taxing. Kenneth Wingate Jr. (22Ox) said he felt “a little ill-informed” after being given three hours to pack his belongings.

The food was “probably the worst part of quarantine,” Wingate said, as students could not choose from the dining hall, and most ordered takeout from local restaurants. The staff created a Google form to ask for students’ preferences a week in, but Wingate Jr. said that requests often remained unfulfilled.

SHS staff transported residents in quarantine to receive COVID-19 test-

ing twice during their stay. Wingate Jr. tested negative both times.

“We were actually pretty upset because the people in isolation, who actually tested positive, got out earlier than the close contacts who tested negative,” Wingate said.

Despite staff efforts to care for students’ needs, Wingate said that he “will do everything I can to not have to go back” because “it was actually terrible.”

Calvin Bell III (22Ox) described a similar experience when he quarantined after being identified as a close contact despite receiving a negative saliva test result earlier that day. A first-year senator for the Student Government Association, Bell plans to create a podcast for students to voice qualms with isolation.

Though Miller noted that close contacts are tested twice during the 10-day quarantine period, Bell said he was only tested once.

Bell wished that there were more resources for students’ mental health while in quarantine, explaining, “It would’ve been nice to get to talk to other students in quarantine and isolation, maybe over Zoom, to foster that community.”

— Contact Caelan Bailey at cjbail3@emory.edu and Grace Lee at grace.lee4@emory.edu

No Spring Break Intensifies Burnout 1 Student Removed

From Housing in Fall

Continued from Page 1 for the spring semester in an Oct. 21 email. Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Joanne Brizinski wrote that after hearing from students and faculty about the challenges they faced in the fall semester, they decided to implement the three rest days to “create some breathing room in the flow of the semester.”

Some students, such as Aviel Rodriguez (23C), found the rest days to be helpful and a nice break.

“All my professors abided by the rest day guidelines and made sure not to assign us any work for sure,” Rodriguez said, also noting that his accounting professor postponed the class homework and canceled a lecture.

“The administration is doing what’s right at the moment, considering how much school we’ve lost due to the extended break,” Gustavo Lopez (24C) said. “I also understand the COVID risk posed by letting students have spring break. Although these aren’t my ideal circumstances, they are a welcome improvement to my quality of life this semester.”

In a virtual town hall on Oct. 16, Interim Provost Jan Love advised students to “plan ahead … so that you would be able to rest on a day when there are no classes.” These comments and the decisions of the administration have left some students feeling unheard and misunderstood.

“Having a whole week of rest can-

Continued from Page 1

Illustration by A lison Barlow

celed and replaced with jumbled three days in the entire semester is absurd and makes me more furious than having no break days at all,” Kerolos said.

“It shows just how much the administration does not understand our struggles academically or mentally.”

On April 14, no classes will be held and instead will occur on April 12.

While some students, like Lopez, anticipate the upcoming “no assignments” week, others believe it will not make up for the loss of spring break.

“I understand what the administration is trying to do, trying to limit travel, and that is totally acceptable,” Gordon said.

“But even as someone who cares about COVID, there has to be a better way and there has got to be another way to relieve some of the pressure not just on students, but also on professors and educators.”

— Contact Isabella Roeske at bella.roeske@emory.edu

not provided despite several inquiries.

Harvard’s report also detailed the differing forms and tiers of violations students could face.

At Emory, students who miss screening tests will face restricted internet access to entertainment sites such as Netflix and Hulu. The March 9 email added that additional consequences include restricted building access, parental notification and a revocation of housing privileges.

Violations can be logged through a webpage form, which is managed by the Emory Compact Response Team.

Assistant Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life Joshua Gamse stated in a Feb. 26 email to the Wheel that the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life is “investigating contact patterns and will shift to better understanding personal and group compliance failures in the future.”

He did not respond to multiple questions about the number of COVID-19 cases within Greek Life or if certain chapters have faced sanctions.

Cornell announced that it began investigations into two fraternity chapters for “breaking behavioral compact rules,” a Feb. 26 story in the Cornell Sun reported.

To better understand compact

violations on campus, Wheel reporters contacted various members of the Office of Student Conduct and Compact Coordinators in Residence Life, which were eventually directed to Senior Director of Residence Life Scott Rausch, DePriest and Director of Student Conduct Julia Thompson.

Thompson did not specifically address queries relating to the number or each type of violation that occurred. She further declined to provide how many students were removed from campus housing in a Feb. 17 email. Thompson did not explain why this information, which was provided to the Wheel in the March 9 email, could not be publicized at the time.

At the end of its fall semester, Dartmouth College removed 86 students from campus housing, with Provost Joseph Helble announcing the penalties in a livestream to students, according to reporting from the campus student newspaper The Dartmouth.

Emory has not publicly announced such violations data to the student body at large during the 2020-21 school year.

— Contact Ninad Kulkarni at nkulka7@emory.edu

NEWS

The Emory Wheel

Prof. Creates COVID-19 Air Sensor

By Madison Hopkins and Sarah Du Senior Staff Writer and Contributing Writer

In Emory’s Atwood Chemistry Center, Associate Professor of Chemistry Khalid Salaita and his lab are developing cutting-edge technology to detect COVID-19 particles using indoor air sensors.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) granted Emory University $883,000 in December 2020 to develop a device using a technology the Salaita lab has dubbed “Rolosense,” which would detect airborne SARSCoV-2 viruses that cause COVID-19.

The grant is part of the Radical Acceleration of Diagnostics Radical program, which funds “new, non-traditional approaches … that address current gaps in COVID-19 testing,” according to the program’s website.

The program provides funding for 49 projects and grant supplements across 43 U.S. institutions, including methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 viruses in wastewater, COVID-19 breath tests and touchscreen devices that detect SARS-CoV-2 through direct contact.

The human body utilizes DNA motors to carry various proteins, lipids and other enzymes necessary for survival from one area of a cell to another.

These motors move by attaching one DNA strand to the cell and moving another strand of DNA forward, mimicking a walking motion.

For decades, scientists have been unable to generate synthetic versions of such DNA motors without compromising either their speed or accuracy.

In 2015, Salaita and his team developed and published the discovery of Rolosense technology, which creates synthetic versions of DNA motors that travel 1000 times faster than any other synthetic motor.

The 2015 Rolosense study began out of an unintentional discovery.

While the scientists in Salaita’s lab believed that enzymes attached to a particle would catalyze reactions and move from one target molecule to the next in a lawnmower-like fashion, they accidentally discovered that the particle“rolls like a wheel,” according to Salaita.

The motors are built with over 1,000 DNA strands, which are placed onto an RNA-coated surface or chip.

When the DNA strand comes in contact with RNA, the two bind together, but that piece of RNA is then quickly broken up by an enzyme.

The DNA strands are then released from the RNA chip and move to bind

to another piece of RNA on the chip.

The process of binding and releasing happens repeatedly, guiding the DNA motor in rolling across the chip surface.

Users can capture this movement with a microscope lens attached to a smartphone camera.

The Rolosense device captures the motion of microparticles involved in the rolling, enabling it to detect DNA mutations and foreign viruses by placing disease antibodies on both the motor and the chip.

To detect COVID-19, Salaita and his team placed antibodies from the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the virus strain for COVID-19, onto the DNA motor and RNA chip.

If the virus is present, it will stick to the antibodies on both the motor and the chip, causing the motor to stall, indicating the presence of a SARSCoV-2 infection.

“That’s a flag that says we have a possibility of a virus, of a virus-aerosolized particle, in this location at this time,” Salaita said.

Rolosense devices could be adapted to detect SARS-CoV-2 variants or other viruses by switching the antibodies or other virus-binding particles on the chips and motors to ones that bind to the virus in question.

But the Rolosense motor isn’t just for virus sensing. Salaita and his colleagues found that the Rolosense motor could detect a single base genetic mutation, called a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). SNPs are the cause of some heritable diseases such as sickle cell anemia.

By placing the mutated DNA on the motor and coating the chip with standard RNA, Salaita and his colleagues found that the speed of the motor was different compared to its interactions with regular DNA. Scientists could use the speed of the motors to detect the presence or absence of a genetic mutation.

While unconventional, the benefit of using DNA motors for virus sensing and detecting SNPs is convenience, Salaita explained.

“The difference is that we have the potential to do diagnostics and sensing at the point of care or in a remote setting because you can use something like a camera on a cell phone,” Salaita said. “You don’t need an external power outlet to drive this.”

The air sensor technology is unique from other COVID-19 devices on the market because people will be able to use the devices in any setting from the comfort of their smartphone.

“If you’re in the field and you want to find out the GPS coordinates and the timestamp associated with the detection event, that becomes con-

The Emory Wheel Volume 102, Issue 4 © 2021 The Emory Wheel Alumni Memorial University Center, Room 401 630 Means Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322 Business (404) 727-6178 Editor-in-Chief Madison Bober madison.bober@emory.edu

Founded in 1919, The Emory Wheel is the financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University in Atlanta. The Wheel is a member publication of Media Council, Emory’s organization of student publications. The Wheel reserves the rights to all content as it appears in these pages, and permission to reproduce material must be granted by the editor-in-chief.

The statements and opinions expressed in the Wheel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Wheel Editorial Board or of Emory University, its faculty, staff or administration.

The Wheel is also available online at www.emorywheel.com.

Corrections

• In the Feb. 24 issue, “COVID-19 Cases Surge, Emory Expands Testing” incorrectly stated that the University recorded 174 new cases between Feb. 15 and Feb. 22. They recorded 180 cases, 174 of which were students and six were faculty members.

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Student Gov. Resolutions Cite 2020 Mac Donald Event to do programming with the Schwartz Center.”

CC legislators spent nearly 30 minopinions on all campuses,” Schwartz told the Wheel after the event. “I utes debating the resolution’s lanthought I would like to invite a speaker guage, eventually adding an amendof great renown on the conservative ment that removed a reference to side to address the student body.”

Emory University while maintaining When presenting the resolution references to the Emory College of to legislators, Chanen referenced Arts and Sciences. Legislators were Schwartz’s praise of Mac Donald after concerned about sounding as though her speech. they were speaking on behalf of the “Now, students — many of whom whole University, not just the College. are affected directly by the event — are Madan said that Marvin Schwartz forced to enter a building named after should still be held accountable for the man who brought Mac Donald the sentiments expressed at the event to campus to attack because he provided them, tell them that financial support. they do not belong “It’s my belief that “I think this and tell them that money speaks just as transcends politics. their experiences are loud as words,” Madan I’m sure we want to said. “If you’re paying invalid,” Chanen said.

Chanen added that do programming with for a white supremawhile he is a “firm the Schwartz Center” cist to come to cambeliever” in Emory’s pus, I think that impliOpen Expression — Ben Rushin (22C), cates you.”

Policy, he believes that When asked to Third-Year Legislator “people behaving like comment on her deciSchwartz” should not sion to abstain, Thirdbe rewarded “with the Year CC Legislator honor of their name Katherine Cui (22B) on a building.” said, “I 100% support antiracism.

Young Democrats of Emory sent However, in this specific situation, a letter to the University Committee Mac Donald is the person who delivon Naming Honors, which is charged ered this speech, instead of Schwartz. with reviewing names associated with I think it should be at the discretion buildings, stating that Schwartz’s of the Emory Administration team to name being honored on an Emory investigate more and make a decision building is “in direct opposition to the on it.” values [Emory] hold[s] as an instituNone of the legislators who tion” and an “unpleasant reminder of abstained or voted against the bill the continued legacy of white suprem- raised issues during the debating of the bill, nor did they oppose a motion acy at Emory University.”

SGA Vice President of Finance Ben to vote on the bill.

Next steps include building supWiener (21C) said the platform given to Mac Donald is “not given to other port for the resolution, Chanen said, student groups or other donors” who particularly because the University are not as wealthy as Schwartz.

Committee on Naming Honors will “Just because someone has wealth submit recommendations for name doesn’t mean they get two hours in changes to University President White Hall where they get to peddle Gregory L. Fenves by April 1. their misogyny and racism,” Wiener “Part of this is that we are drumsaid. ming up more support to show that At the Feb. 24 meeting, some CC it’s not a small group on campus, legislators raised concerns about but a University-wide commitment,” Schwartz serving as a major donor of Chanen said. CC has also informed the arts at Emory, financial backlash and Committee about the passage of the CC being barred from holding pro- resolution. grams in the Schwartz Center.

“There is a lot of influence from — Contact Tanika Deuskar at these donors,” Third-Year Legislator tdeuska@emory.edu and Ben Rushin (22C) said. “I think this Jareer Imran at transcends politics. I’m sure we want jareer.imran@emory.edu

Continued from Page 1

Courtesy of Emory Photo

Khalid Salaita, Associate Professor of Chemistry

venient, in that sense,” Salaita said.

“That’s where … we see the technologies becoming useful in a real-world setting is in those contexts where you don’t have the clinic or the hospital available to you.”

The development of the COVID19 indoor air sensor requires copious amounts of time and collaboration with experts from various fields. Since the technology is still new, it could be years before Rolosense devices are commercially available.

Other project team members include Gregory Melikian, a virologist studying HIV at the Emory School of Medicine, and Yonggang Ke, an expert in structural nucleic acid nanotechnology at the Emory Winship Cancer Institute.

While Melikian develops synthetic, non-hazardous versions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Ke assists the team by creating small DNA structures on the nanoscale level, which helps the DNA motor stick to the virus more lightly, Salaita said. “[Ke]’s trying to make DNA-like structures that act like Velcro to sort of really envelop the virus,” Salaita said.

“So that when the motor encounters a virus it locks, it doesn’t move.”

Selma Piranej (24G), a doctoral candidate working at the Salaita lab, hopes the Rolosense technology will “become a fully automated electronic sensor that continuously measures for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the environment in real-time.”

Salaita hopes that the project will not only change the future of virus air sensors, but future biomedical technologies as well.

“There’s also a lot of technology that is yet to be tapped that it’s sort of — it’s science-fictiony. It’s high-risk, highreward,” Salaita said. “And it could transform the way we do diagnostic testing, and not just for COVID, but for all future viral pandemics.”

— Contact Madison Hopkins and Sarah Du at mhopki6@emory.edu and sydu@emory.edu@emory.edu

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The Emory Wheel

O������ W��������, M���� 10, 2021 | Opinion Editors: Ben Thomas (ben.thomas@emory.edu) & Brammhi Balarajan (bbalara@emory.edu)

EDITORIALS

Conservatives, Inclusion Is a Two-Way Street A recent Wheel news article detailed conservative Emory students’ complaints that campus culture excludes and isolates them on the basis of their political views. No student should feel like an outcast at their own school, including conservatives in the predominantly liberal spaces of higher education.

However, as ideological outliers on Emory’s campus, conservative students must ask themselves: why don’t others want to engage? Good faith political discourse is a two-way street, albeit a self-selecting one. No student is required to engage with peers on the opposite side of the political spectrum, even if spirited discourse is best achieved when those who disagree with one another buy into it. For some students, politics is rooted in lived experience; it is personal, emotional and even traumatic.

If inclusion is their goal, then Emory conservatives must do more to distance themselves from the immoral racism

and white supremacy that plague conservative spaces. Only then will other students be more willing to accept their attempts to start dialogue or approach them for political discourse. Even so, conservatism — just as other political ideologies — is the product of its adherents’ identities and socioeconomic backgrounds. Conservatism is not a monolith. While Trump’s disastrous presidency hurt its reputation as a political movement and stoked hatred within its ranks, we need to acknowledge that not all conservatives support him or his policies.

Conservatism, like progressivism, is a spectrum.

However, some radical conservatives’ beliefs fundamentally exclude other groups, and such students cannot expect the same communities that their ideology marginalizes to embrace them. For example, students who uphold white supremacy cannot demand that a community that values racial equity entertain their racist

views, and students who cling to patriarchal ideals cannot expect meaningful engagement with a majority that believes in gender equality. Radical conservative students abandon all notions of inclusion by adhering to beliefs that oppress Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Instead of demanding that others accept their invitation to debate, conservative students should seek explanations for why liberal students are less inclined to engage their arguments.

Emory College Republicans (ECR) President Jasmine Jaffe (22C) noted in the article that both the Emory International Relations Association (EIRA) and Young Democrats of Emory “rejected” requests from the ECR to debate because those groups claimed they “don’t want to legitimate [ECR’s] policy or [ECR] as an organization.”

Whether or not this is true, Jaffe and her peers in ECR should be more

strategic in reaching out to opposing groups moving forward. As Young Democrats of Emory President Alex Chanen (21C) said, he and his peers were busy organizing for the election — presumably what ECR would also have been focused on. Good faith discourse and debate should not detract from the priorities of groups ECR seeks to engage.

The founders of the Emory Whig, a conservative publication started by students who were former Wheel writers, have complained the Wheel fails to represent conservative voices.

The truth is, however, that some articles submitted by these students to the Wheel did not meet publication standards. For example, one draft implying that systemic racism effectively did not exist would have constituted misinformation and could have harmed racial minorities. Their article fundamentally goes against the standards of harmlessness and truthfulness the Wheel seeks to uphold, and thus

they should not expect either lowered standards — that is a fact independent of ideology.

So how, then, should conservative students maneuver a space in which they are the minority opinion? The answer is simple: first, listen to those most opposed to engaging with them.

Those willing to engage in this conversation may find a common ground that is equally engaging for both parties.

Learning from various minority groups that must always embrace outsider status may prove to be more intellectually stimulating than throwing ideas and beliefs into a space and expecting discourse to flow freely and evenly.

When asking for a seat at the table, you must first prove that you are willing to listen and learn from those around you. A truly meaningful exchange of ideas requires two willing participants, but if one of them espouses beliefs that deny others’ lived experiences, there is no room for real discussion.

Beleaguered Amazon Workers Need Unions Recently, actor Danny Glover and Georgia politician Stacey Abrams voiced their support for Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, who have been trying to unionize amid substandard and unsanitary conditions during the pandemic.

Employees at Amazon’s Bessemer fulfillment center, most of whom are Black, are currently voting on whether to unionize. Amazon has repeatedly challenged their efforts by appealing to the National Labor Relations Board and claiming that the Bessemer group represents a small portion of its employees. Amazon’s bad faith actions are reflective of its opposition to organized labor and long history of exploitation — one that’s made clear during the pandemic. Amazon’s long history of opposing unionization and ignoring continuous abuses and racial bias patterns in the context of dangerous working conditions has been

exacerbated by poor health practices amid COVID-19.

Since its inception, Amazon, which currently has 1.13 million employees worldwide, has prevented union organizing at all costs. In 2000, the Communications Workers of America began a campaign to unionize 400 customer service employees. Amazon retaliated by closing the call center where they worked. A leaked Amazon training video from 2018 further revealed the company’s antipathy toward unions: "We are not anti-union, but we are not neutral either,” an animated man in a bright vest said in the video. “We do not believe unions are in the best interest of our customers or shareholders or, most importantly, our associates."

During the pandemic, the company faced increased attempts to unionize as working conditions deteriorated due to crowded workspaces and a lack of

social distancing. These oversights by Amazon led to almost 20,000 domestic employees contracting the virus within the first six months of the pandemic. At the time, there were at least 10 deaths due to COVID-19 among employees. In spite of these concerning numbers, Amazon did not prioritize the release of comprehensive data related to the COVID-19 outbreaks. In regions with greater populations of racial and ethnic minorities and low-income individuals, such as Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, COVID-19 cases are at an all-time high. Health and social inequities, along with Amazon's record of employee mistreatment, has led to one of the largest pushes to unionize in Amazon history.

In a running document created by Amazon employees, workers have cited many experiences of discrimination in the workplace. These instances of mistreatment include patterns of racial

bias, such as being passed over for promotions in favor of or treated differently than white individuals and being withheld from mentorship opportunities. Though Amazon’s leadership team has been holding “listening circles” with Black employees, workers like Johnnie Corina III, who filed a discrimination complaint against the company, reported a repeated failure to acknowledge racist graffiti in the bathrooms of a Los Angeles company warehouse. In response to complaints from employees in Bessemer, Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski, stated, “We encourage anyone to compare our overall pay, benefits, and workplace environment to any other company with similar jobs.”

The union drive at the Bessemer fulfillment center is a fight for basic human rights. Employees have stated that they are unable to take water and bathroom breaks, as those few tracked

minutes away from their work stations can mean the difference between employment and termination. At the Bessemer fulfillment center, employees are paid an hourly wage of around $15.3, below the local warehouse average of $18 per hour. Through unionizing, employees hope to achieve increased job security, fairer work treatment, better wages and shorter work hours.

This pandemic has worsened Amazon’s already untenable conditions.

When more than a quarter of Amazon’s 500,000-person domestic workforce is composed of Black people, Amazon must do more to acknowledge their complaints and prioritize their employees’ safety, especially during COVID19. And that starts with letting them unionize. Anything short of unionization constitutes an abusive infringement on workers’ rights.

The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board is composed of Sahar Al-Gazzali, Brammhi Balarajan, Viviana Barreto, Rachel Broun, Jake Busch, Sara Khan, Sophia Ling, Martin Li, Demetrios Mammas, Meredith McKelvey, Sara Perez, Ben Thomas, Leah Woldai, Lynnea Zhang and Yun Zhu.

The Emory Wheel Volume 102 | Number 4

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MADISON BOBER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ISAIAH PORITZ EXECUTIVE EDITOR AYUSHI AGARWAL MANAGING EDITOR RYAN CALLAHAN MANAGING EDITOR CAROLINE SILVA MANAGING EDITOR JACQUELINE MA Copy Chief NINAD KULKARNI News Editor ANJALI HUYNH News Editor BEN THOMAS Opinion Editor BRAMMHI BALARAJAN Opinion Editor ANGELA TANG Emory Life Editor JESSICA SOLOMON Sports Editor SARU GARG A&E Editor STEPHEN ALTOBELLI A&E Editor FORREST MARTIN Photo Editor JACKSON SCHNEIDER Photo Editor

CAILEN CHINN Chief of Digital Media JADA CHAMBERS Copy Editor PHYLLIS GUO Copy Editor GABRIELLA LEWIS Multimedia Ed BECCA MOSZKA Multimedia Editor SARAH DAVIS Asst. News Editor MATTHEW CHUPACK Asst. News Editor SOPHIA LING Asst. Opinion Editor YUN ZHU Asst. Opinion Editor LAUREN BLAUSTEIN Asst. Emory Life Editor KAITLIN MOTTLEY Asst. Emory Life Editor

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The Emory Wheel welcomes letters and op-ed submissions from the Emory community. Letters should be limited to 300 words and op-eds should be at least 500. Those selected may be shortened to fit allotted space or edited for grammar, punctuation and libelous content. Submissions reflect the opinions of individual writers and not of the Wheel’s Editorial Board or Emory University. Send emails to emorywheelexec@gmail.com or postal mail to The Emory Wheel, Drawer W, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322.

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The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Cancel Slack Ben Thomas “An easier, more organized way to work.” This is what Slack, the workplace communication app, promises its customers. Maybe it’s an easier way to work, but it’s definitely not a happier way to live.

Since COVID-19 struck over a year ago, the workplace has invaded Americans’ homes, destroyed our work-life balance and eviscerated our mental health. Some of that decline is an inescapable consequence of lockdowns and social distancing needed to combat the pandemic, but much of it is our own fault. Apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams might feel necessary to navigate the remote workplace, but in reality, they are poisoning our personal lives and pointlessly crushing our productivity. They were here long before COVID-19, and unless we stem their infection of the workplace now, they could be here to stay.

For my own sake and yours, I hope they aren’t. Both apps and their competitors allow their users to turn off their notifications, but as I found out when I became an editor at The Emory Wheel, it’s not that simple.

At the Wheel, there are no such things as working hours; editors are on call all day and every day, unless we specifically request time off. Wheel culture is so oriented toward constant availability for meetings, editing, discussions and writing that switching off notifications in the app feels like cheating, like falling behind. I finally muted mine a few weeks ago, but only because the weight of my course load, internship and other commitments gave me no choice. I felt like a failure for doing it, but my only offense was taking care of myself.

But this problem extends beyond

the Wheel. For clubs, companies and organizations all over the world, Slack and Teams can blur the boundaries between work and life so completely that the concept of work-life balance loses its meaning.

When Teams messages blow up your phone at 10 p.m., a personal life divorced from work starts to feel like a pipe dream. The advent of remote work this year has already broken the physical barrier, and now the technology we use to facilitate that is hampering our ability to mentally separate the two as well.

As unfortunate as it is, we need Slack, Teams and all the rest to survive in the age of COVID-19.

Even though these platforms’ myriad benefits cannot erase their toxic effects, they can still incentivize us to adapt them to our needs. If you run a workspace, set hard and fast rules for when the people with whom you work can message each other. Even if you are not in a position to make those decisions unilaterally, you can still model that behavior for others. If you’re too busy, stressed or tired to respond, don’t. Set personal boundaries and stick to them. Your health is more important than your boss’ baby pictures.

We are living in an extraordinarily fluid time. The workplace norms that are forming around us now will shape the professional world for decades to come. For that reason, setting a strong precedent against overusing pernicious workplace communication apps is of the utmost importance.

Use them sparingly, if at all. The choice is yours, but for my part, I plan to keep my Slack muted while I’m working or in class. If you really need to talk to me, send me an email.

Ben Thomas (23C) is from Dayton, Ohio.

5

Georgia GOP Is Assaulting Democracy Jake Busch It’s been a rough few months for anti-democracy crusaders in the United States. A record number of Americans voted in the most recent presidential election — nearly 160 million — and the wannabe authoritarian lost and then proceeded to incite a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol because of the lie that he lost an election he did indeed lose.

If you thought any of that would prevent Republican state legislators in Georgia from gutting voting rights, think again. House Bill 531, which passed in a party-line vote on March 1, is chock full of barriers to voting and is currently in the Senate, where it is likely to also pass along party lines.

Among other changes, the bill will limit early voting on weekends to one optional Sunday for each county, force officials to place ballot drop boxes inside early polling locations, thus limiting their number and effectiveness, and prevent volunteers from providing voters waiting in line free drinks and food.

The Georgia GOP’s posturing is clear: they simply can’t stand that democracy threatens their future electoral prospects.

If they succeed in gutting Georgians’ voting rights with this bill and others, they will regret it. Those whom this legislation implicitly targets — Black, Indigenous and people of color and young Georgians — will be even more motivated to maintain high turnout and morale moving forward. This assault on democracy will not be without a strong backlash from activists committed to a Georgia that expands, rather than circumscribes, voting rights for its increasingly diverse population.

State Republicans have stressed

efforts to “restore confidence” in elections following their losses in November’s presidential race and the Jan. 5 Senate runoffs, but this language is as disingenuous as the bill it tries to legitimize. In reality, Georgia election officials found no evidence of massive, or even minor, voter fraud in the recent contests. Recounts and audits verified the results time and again, even as Trump cried fraud and abrogated his presidential duties.

For these reasons, the argument that the GOP is restoring confidence in elections by making it harder for more Georgians to vote is simply absurd. In fact, these attacks on voting will likely cause confidence in election security among the majority that elected President Joe Biden, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (DGa.) to plummet.

Georgia Republicans are not seeking to restore faith in the electoral process.

They are taking steps to ensure they can still win, even as changing demographics render them a political minority. They want to claim victory even when the numbers just don’t add up.

That is not restoration. It’s suppression.

Georgia is no stranger to the backlash caused by a diversifying electorate, and turning to historical examples helps give us an idea of what the response to the latest anti-democratic actions of the state’s GOP could look like.

When the post-Civil War Reconstruction period ended in 1877, white powerbrokers in Georgia sought to “redeem” the state from the perceived ills of Black voting power and general equality among the male voting population.

Nearly a century of Jim Crow, lynchings and segregation followed.

Despite these serious hurdles to expanding the franchise, Georgia still

had 125,000 registered Black voters by 1947. This was the result of a combination of Black grassroots activism, the abolition of white-only primary elections and poll taxes, and a reduction in the voting age from 21 to 18.

For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. So, too, with voting.

The Georgia GOP would be wise to look to history to understand what’s coming for them. The evils of racism were no match for the will of the people who for too long were disenfranchised because of the color of their skin.

Following her loss to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial race, which was itself marred by voter suppression, Stacey Abrams led the building of a voter registration machine that put Biden, Ossoff and Warnock over the finish line. As the GOP has tried its best to hold Georgia back, it has been met with fierce opposition from those tired of regressive politics.

If state Republicans succeed in further curbing voting rights, they should expect more resistance from their rivals, who believe in doing everything possible to expand the franchise and promote democracy. In fact, we should all do something to resist, protest, as some already have, and organize against such brazen attacks on our democratic institutions.

Call and email your state representatives, register more people to vote and make clear to family and friends how you feel about this assault on our freedoms. The GOP’s anti-democratic agitation in the Trump era will ultimately fail to overcome the massive reaction it will inspire.

You reap what you sow, Georgia Republicans. You won’t be able to hold onto power that is not rightfully yours.

Any attempts to do so will surely fail.

Jake Busch (22C) is from Brookhaven, Georgia.

Conservatives, You Can Speak. We Don’t Have to Listen.

Brammhi Balarajan and Rachel Broun Engaging with the “other side” is easy when it doesn’t degrade, dehumanize and deprive you of your identity.

As highlighted by a recent Wheel news article, some conservative students are hesitant to openly discuss their views on campus.

They noted it is especially difficult to engage in debates with organizations and students with differing views.

Despite their inability to find spaces and desire to debate their views, conservatives and Republicans across campus are not entitled to have others engage with them, particularly when their views are hateful.

Our peers on the Editorial Board affirmed in an editorial that conservatives should adapt to their environment if they want left-leaning students to debate with them. We agree that conservatives are not entitled to special treatment by virtue of their ideology; however, we wrote this dissent to express our discontent with the trivialization of the harm some conservative ideology has done and the comparison of minorities’ barriers in academia to the so-called oppression of conservatives. We’re eager to engage with opposing viewpoints to solve issues of systemic racism, homophobia and misogyny, but we’re not willing to engage with people who deny or minimize their very existence.

Conservatives’ hesitation is not solely limited to our University: a research study at Tufts University (Mass.) highlighted that conservatives

fear being called a bigot for their views, and thus disproportionately take solace in “outrage-based” media, which largely attempts to invoke an emotional response. In this study, every single conservative brought up a fear of being called racist, echoing the concerns of many conservatives on our campus.

So what did Emory conservative students point to as examples of campus hostility? Conflict on election night, liberal organizations’ unwillingness to debate them and Heather Mac Donald’s visit last year. Racism is often perpetuated under the guise of free speech, and Mac Donald’s visit was no exception. Some conservative students such as Colin Stelmach (23C), who did not think Mac Donald was openly attacking anyone, took the response to Mac Donald’s visit as an incident of left-leaning students being unwilling to engage with the opposite side.

In reality, this event highlighted another incidence in which BIPOC were expected to suffer in the name of free speech.

As a previous editorial noted, left-leaning students engaged with Mac Donald, and they only disrupted her due to confusion over the event’s format and shock over her harmful rhetoric. In fact, current and former members of the Editorial Board pointed out that the “only time that [her] voice came close to being drowned out was when the audience erupted into exclamations of shock after [she] said that ‘the vast majority of what is called campus rape is voluntary hookups.’” Furthermore, her repeated claims that many Black, Indigenous and students of color are

not qualified to be at institutions like Emory and that the oppression they face is a delusion are nothing less than racist and vile. To Emory Republicans and conservatives, we ask this: how do you expect us to engage in respectful dialogue when you bring people to campus who don’t respect our very existence?

Forcing students to engage in racist discussions for the purpose of “productive discourse” is mentally and emotionally damaging to minorities on campus. While white conservatives and

Black, Indigenous and people of color should not be forced to entertain racist ideologies.

Republicans may be able to engage in such discourse without reliving trauma related to oppression, Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) should not be forced to entertain racist ideologies. Survivors of sexual assault should not be forced to hold space for rape apologists or deniers. The personal is political, and no one should have to subject themselves to repeated trauma because other people are complaining that their viewpoints — which directly oppose marginalized peoples — aren’t being heard. Politics isn’t a game. It permeates every aspect of our

lives, and having to engage in discourse with beliefs that threaten our lives is harmful and wrong. Recent mainstream media has branded Trumpian ideology as the epitome of neoconservative thought. Former President Donald Trump was certainly brazen in his racist actions, but racism is also subversive and not always explicitly stated. Even if conservatives adapt their rhetoric to make their views more palatable for debate, it does not ignore the racism, classism and sexism that often pervades their stances. Polite oppression is still oppression.

Minorities are forced to adapt to racist environments, and attempting to use their struggles as something from which conservatives can learn is laughable and cruel. The very basis of conservatism — a dedication to tradition and resistance to change — is rooted in upholding structures which marginalize BIPOC. At the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, only 27% of Republicans strongly approved of the nonviolent protests. As journalist Peter Beinart noted, conservatives historically call for policies that target marginalized communities, such as strict drug laws on marijuana and crack cocaine in efforts to criminalize African Americans, but oppose such policies for the mostly white opioid or powder cocaine addicts.

Furthermore, many conservatives’ viewpoints on issues such as health care and the minimum wage continue to limit marginalized communities’ access to a more equitable society.

Conservatives must reckon with the hypocrisy and unjust nature of their platforms which demean BIPOC, low-

income and LGBTQ+ individuals while protecting their own constituents.

Racist and classist tropes perpetuated by those who oppose welfare programs continue to harm homeless individuals and welfare recipients by denying them access to resources needed to survive.

These policy platforms, while perhaps not as incendiary as direct and blatant discrimination, still yield the same devastating results, and even more so as these policies become ingrained in our government. As such, even if conservatives shift the tone of their rhetoric, they cannot expect BIPOC to immediately welcome them with open arms.We stand against the trivialization of the deep-seated harm that conservatism often espouses. Respectful racism is still racism. And even if one claims to not assert racist views themselves, supporting the policies and standing behind the politicians who do is equally harmful. To be clear, we do not condone or excuse racist language and harmful policies from left-leaning politicians and individuals.

We condemn them all the same, but we cannot ignore the tremendous harm some conservative ideals have on marginalized groups. We recognize the likelihood that our words will be whittled down to notions of victimology. We respect Emory conservatives’ right to express themselves under the Respect for Open Expression Policy and understand the difficulty of holding viewpoints to which the majority do not conform. But we don’t owe them our humanity.

Brammhi Balarajan (23C) and Rachel Broun (23C) are members of the Editorial Board.

The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

6

Replace Diplomas With Swords Pass the Citizenship Act so gives rise to security concerns and imminent value of diplomas as a way of testing one’s credibility and qualifications.

Though the Diploma Company does create fake credentials, many customers who use the Diploma Company also provide photographs of real degrees, asking for a replica to keep their original in safekeeping.

People cherish sentimentality. We constantly attach meaning to objects.

I would like that quintessential mantelpiece that reminds me that even though I struggled, I still made it through.

We can’t simply remove the diploma from society. We need a replacement that is harder to replicate and able to

A diploma bears an extraordinary, almost laughable level of significance.

Yes, a piece of paper is nice, but I want something more worthy.

From pelting graduates with We deserve something commensuketchup in Argentina to parading rate with those all-nighters, countless around town in the back of a pickup cups of coffee and 2 a.m. cramming truck in Sweden, there are special sessions. traditions, dress attire and customs In Finland, new PhD holders are that mark graduation day. given a PhD sword and hat during their But let’s not deceive ourselves; what Conferment Ceremony. we actually look forward to is rubbing Though the swords and hats vary by our fingers along the engraved name of university and discipline, the general our school on the diploma cover. meanings of both are similar.

A diploma in our hands signifies The hat, akin to a top hat with a completion. rounded top, is “a symbol of liberty… of It wasn’t until my middle school scholarship and freedom of research.” graduation that I realized how ridicuOn the other hand, the sword is “a lous graduation was — going through symbol for the scientist’s fight for what all these steps just for a piece he or she, in rigorous research, of paper with my name on it. has found to be good, right and So, what does a diploma true.” mean? Nothing, really. It’s Similarly, in Poland and merely a certificate of Ukraine, doctoral students carry achievement. a stylized baton, or a Bulawa, to In reality, it is not even the signify their graduation status. diploma that is valuable, but For the Finnish, their swords its accompanying idea: living and hats are less about an end to proof of qualifications in a education, but rather a testaparticular subject or field of ment to their endless pursuit of study. their passions.

It symbolizes sentimental The garb encourages stuvalue, but is also a constant dents to never stop learning and reminder of the hefty tuition continue searching for what is you paid for a piece of paper. right and true.

But perhaps the pricelessPerhaps we desire to be ness of education and knowlunique and award students with edge makes up for that. engraved spears, symbolic of In the 2018-19 year, Emory leadership and honor, or teleawarded 4,930 degrees that all scopes, to encourage students to look exactly the same, disrebe curious, skeptical and always garding the name of your questioning. degree.

The meaning of education is Diplomas are essentially subjective to all who pass unimpressive and meaningthrough the halls of academia. less, especially when we conBut whatever we replace the sider the ease of forgery in diploma with, we should protoday’s digital age. mote the purpose of education Obtaining an education is and the values we hope to often at the forefront of social uphold, rather than wait for a progress: students develop piece of paper to gather dust on valuable skills they hopefully ILLUSTRATION BY ALISON BARLOW a mantle. carry for the rest of their lives.

Imagine your graduation Finnish doctoral graduates don swords and Thus, despite constant hats for their Conferment Ceremony. day: everyone donning tailcoats complaints about homework or suits, wearing a top hat on and lack of consistent sleep your head and a sword schedules, everyone still trudges for- retain sentimental value. sheathed at your side. ward, waiting for graduation day.

Diplomas are traditionally given to It will be the Instagram photo and It seems almost insulting that diplo- students at the conclusion of their the memorabilia that we continue to mas can be easily counterfeit and mass education — whether in kindergarten talk about, its symbols and sentiment printed to suit customer needs. or college — and is a milestone that that help us ascend toward the phrase, In fact, in today’s digital age, The symbolizes a beginning and end of a “education is power.”

Diploma Company prides itself as the chapter of students’ lives.

Let’s abolish diplomas and adopt the “Internet’s most trusted supplier of Though its purpose and significance Finnish sword and hat. professionally printed fake degrees.” varies, the cream-colored paper with Despite grounds for criminal charges of blackletter typeface is proof of acaSophia Ling (24C) is from Carmel, fraud, the simplicity and potential to do demic achievement.

Indiana.

Sophia Ling

Braden White Amid the brutal winter, countless communities across the U.S. are suffering, particularly immigrants. Immigration detention facilities continue to lack adequate heat and water to protect against the weather and pandemic, leaving detainees vulnerable to freezing nights and COVID-19.

In particular, the Juvenile Detention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, was discovered to have lied about their facility operating with heat and water after local Texans who tried to donate blankets were turned away. Despite the grave reality of the current situation, the neglectful treatment of U.S. immigrants is not an isolated issue. Abuse against immigrants has persisted for many years in the American citizenship and asylum processes at the federal and local level. Federally-enforceable progressive legislation is the first step to reforming the injustices observed at the level of state and local governments.

During President Joe Biden’s campaign, he made numerous promises, such as a 100-day pause on deportations and reversing Trump-era asylumseeking regulations, to reform the U.S. immigration and citizenship process.

However, they have yet to come into fruition. With Biden in office for 41 days now, over 20,000 deportations have been reported. On Feb. 18, House Democrats introduced Biden’s U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, one of the most extensive attempts at immigration since 1986. At the heart of the bill is an eight-year pathway to citizenship for migrants who arrived before Jan. 1.

Also included are increased opportunities for obtaining visas and green cards, initiatives to end family separation and protection against worker exploitation.

Many human rights and immigration advocates have praised the bill, but the hope of implementation is faced with the main obstacle of passing in the Senate.

Without any Republican incentives to vote on the bill and little indication of Democrat compromise, the future of the Citizenship Act is bleak. Since the bill was proposed by House Democrats, it lacks critical immigration policies sought by Republicans, who are keen to add increased border protection and to delegate more power to immigration enforcement operations.

For the legislation to pass in the Senate, 10 Republican votes are required, but there are currently zero

prospective senator “yays.” Without 10 votes, a senate filibuster by Republicans is likely, and Democrats have yet to propose a concrete outline for how they plan to ensure the bill passes.

To combat the introduction of a filibuster or death of the bill altogether, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested on Feb. 18 the potential implementation of a “piecemeal” approach. The idea is to break the Act into a series of refined bills instead of one piece being passed at once. By creating multiple smaller bills with content that is easier to digest and debate, compromise between Democrats and Republicans becomes more likely. However, the problem with a piecemeal approach is that the most reformative and left-leaning policies are likely to be abandoned first in the pursuit of compromise.

Republican senators have emphasized on how policies of mass amnesty like the eight-year citizenship pathway and increased access to green cards and visas are too progressive to consider passing.

As distinct plans for compromise have yet to be outlined, these policies are likely to die away at the hands of a deal made in the Senate. Yet actionable items like these are the ones with the most potential to systemically reform the immigration process, which is what makes the lack of transparency in the bill’s status most concerning. We cannot let Biden’s administration turn back to the status quo of feeble immigration advocacy, though.

It is crucial for Congress to establish a clear methodology to pass the Citizenship Act. If compromise is necessary to move forward, the bill’s progressive nature must be preserved as much as possible.

If legislators involved understand the potential relief at stake within the bill, they must also recognize the need for urgency in its progression through Congress. Immigration populations have been suffering under the brute of negligent administrations for years.

Legislators have only finally demonstrated an interest in supporting the vulnerable population against injustice. While one piece of legislation will not undo the structural violence immigrants have experienced throughout U.S. history, the Citizenship Act is the most accessible starting point. If Congress wants to prove their ability to institute reform, now is their chance to prove it.

Braden White (24C) is from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Vaccinated? Doesn’t Matter, Wear a Mask Sara Khan Since last March, the U.S. has struggled to get Americans to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. The slew of public health misinformation from former President Donald Trump has convinced many Americans that the virus is no more serious than an annual flu outbreak, causing only mild, manageable symptoms. Americans cling to misleading COVID-19 survival rate statistics, assuming that they’ll get the virus, recover in a week or two and be immune forever. Many also believe that a vaccine will be an immediate cure for the pandemic, refusing to acknowledge the gradual process of herd immunity.

Ultimately, the country’s failure to curb this pandemic stems from American selfishness: our failure to understand that our actions can harm those around us even if we escape unscathed.

To control COVID-19 outbreaks nationally, Americans must continue to wear personal protective equipment,

promote prosocial behaviors within their communities and encourage government officials to enforce socially distant policies.

Many Americans employ lofty rhetoric to justify their mask-wearing aversion. The Brookings Institution found that 40% of Americans claim that, as U.S. residents, they have the right to forgo wearing a mask in public.

Additionally, 24% of Americans state that wearing masks is too uncomfortable. These largely individualistic excuses fail to account for the real reason why we must wear masks in public: to protect others from COVID19 and mitigate the virus’ spread. When evaluating public health guidelines from a population-based lens, it’s important to remember that our individual actions can help account for discrepancies in mask-wearing and social distancing nationwide.

The Swiss Cheese model accurately outlines the gradual process of curbing viral spread. Coined by Professor Emeritus at the University of Manchester James Reason, the holes in swiss cheese symbolize the need for several

layers of protection. For example, wearing a mask is only one layer. Some masks are less effective than others if they do not have a filter, are continuously used after they should have been disposed of, washed or sanitized properly. Additionally, no mask is 100% effective. As such, we need more preventative measures to account for each layer’s “holes” and maximize our chances to put an end to this pandemic.

Moreover, the U.S. government must restructure its strategies to reduce COVID-19 spread nationwide, emphasizing safe behaviors over gatherings and improper mask-wearing.

Americans must pressure their government officials to structure COVID-19 messaging to emphasize positive behaviors instead of drawing attention to unsafe gatherings in our respective communities. According to Cristina Bicchieri, the director of the Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania, the tactics government officials use to encourage COVID-safe behaviors might actually be reinforcing unsafe actions. When government officials

publicly blame COVID-19 outbreaks on house parties instead of reiterating proper behaviors, they normalize non-socially distant activities. Instead, governments tailor their responses to their audiences and appeal to authorities whom the public trusts.

In a recent study, Biccheri found that when people expected many of their fellow citizens to practice and approve of socially distancing and staying at home, they were 55% more likely to do the same. Researchers also suggested that ad campaigns illustrating whether the majority of individuals were following COVID-19 guidelines, aside from just wearing a mask, can meaningfully improve compliance among a population. David Rand, the director of the Human Cooperation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, stressed the importance of making “it so that other people will know if you’re practicing COVIDsafe behaviors” or not. Ultimately, to prevent further outbreaks, we must show each other that we take COVID19 guidelines seriously. We must use our resources to encourage govern-

ment officials to completely restructure their COVID-19 messaging.

As more Americans receive vaccines in the coming months, we cannot forgo social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines. No one line of protection will help us return to normal, and that includes vaccines. We must continue to account for the holes or gaps that arise when implementing these guidelines by engaging in preventative measures whenever possible. Moreover, the government must also help Americans understand the importance of prosocial behaviors: engaging in actions that benefit both our communities and ourselves. If the government can’t influence Americans to be cautious, the responsibility ultimately falls in our hands to end this pandemic. In documenting our COVID-safe actions extensively and showing others that the majority of Americans are doing the right thing, we can become safer and healthier moving forward, ending the COVID-19 era once and for all.

Sara Khan (23C) is from Fairfax, Virginia.

&

The Emory Wheel

Arts Entertainment Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | Arts & Entertainment Editors: Saru Garg (saru.garg@emory.edu) & Stephen Altobelli (saltobe@emory.edu)

ARTS & ACTIVISM

Poetry Commemorates John Lewis, C.T. Vivian

the idea that art can promote social change.

The three panelists were Associate Professor of Political Science Andra The use of artistic expression and Gillespie, civil rights activist Doris civic involvement may be one of the A. Derby and Associate Professor of most central, and yet overlooked, ways English at Morehouse College (Ga.) to prompt discussion and transforma- Francine L. Allen Adams.

The event began with a film screention today. People use art to bolster their contemporary movements and ing of “The Baptism,” a visual poem missions, from Black Lives Matter pro- commissioned by the Lincoln Center testers to feminists subversives work- and created by Rux. The short film was a poetic offering; a reading paired ing behind the Iron Curtain.

The effectiveness of these strate- with a soft orchestral soundtrack and a selection of vidgies has been substantiated, as repeos of the natural world. resentation and I could have support for Black listened to Rux’s artists and discusWe must dwell in these discussion of his sions of restitution have grown expobuildings of activism and work for hours simnentially during ply because of the continue to build upon the pandemic. sonorous, profound The possibili- them ourselves, using the nature of Rux’s ties for art and foundation of activism to voice. Once “The Baptism” began to activism are endfight for equality in our play, however, I was less, and a March own world. just as moved by 7th lecture “Arts the film as I was by Meets Activism: the depth of Rux’s John Lewis, C.T own voice.

Vivian, and The Rux’s utilization of concepts of Baptism,” reiterated the power of this regenerative, constantly expanding relationship.

The event, hosted by Emory, the architecture to address ideas of ongoTrue Colors Theatre Company and ing life in his poem showed an unusual the Morehouse College Martin Luther approach to describing the legacy of King Jr. Collection, featured a panel of icons of Black history like Lewis and experts who discussed the poem “The Vivian.

Baptism” by Carl Hancock Rux. “Think of these two men as one The discussion commemorated the building,” Rux said in “The Baptism.” anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the “No building is wasted. … Remember legacies of late civil rights icons John Lewis and C.T Vivian, underscoring See EVENT, Page 8

By Zimra Chickering Senior Staff Writer

Robert Fuhriman/Contributing

Tori Tinsley’s “Island with Two Lava Pits and Water Table” on display at the Atlanta Contemporary until Aug. 1.

ATL Contemporary Biennial Opening Disjointed

By Robert Fuhriman Contributing Writer A thick layering of plaster and paper mache coats a sprawling amebic form titled “Island with Two Lava Pits and Water Table” in the promotional material for the Atlanta Contemporary 2021 Biennial show, “Of Care and Destruction,” on display through Aug. 1. Landscape greens and soft pinks are applied in thick textured smudges.

They carry the latent sense of touch, care and placement by local artist Tori Tinsley, whose sculpted topography of child-like imagination can be carefully analyzed like a map but is more readily entered into as a fantasy world.

This year’s Atlanta Biennial, curated

by American University’s Department

of Art Professional Lecturer Jordan Amirkhani, features the lively work of 36 Atlanta-based artists. A wall of text at the entrance explains the show is dedicated to Stacey Abrams, Helen Butler, Felicia Davis and Nse Ufot — Black women in Georgia whose activism and faith in democratic processes are awkwardly juxtaposed with the exhibition in a trite gesture common to much of the curator’s commentary.

A cryptic quote attributed to Toni Morrison reads, “... perhaps art is just all our care in extensive form?” Unlike Amirkhani’s commentary across the museum labels, the works themselves are anything but stale. The works on display are original, provocative and utterly absorbing, making this thematically incoherent exhibition worth

FEATURE

Like me, Evan Amaral (21C) grew up in a small, rural town in South Georgia. Fascinated with avant garde and non-Western cinema, Amaral hoped moving to Atlanta would allow him to see movies outside of the local AMC blockbusters and Western film canon with which he was familiar.

“Short answer,” he said, “it didn’t.”

Amaral’s new virtual film series, programmed as his honors thesis project for the Department of Film and Media and presented by the Emory Cinematheque, runs through March 19 and features six film screenings followed by Zoom conversations with a panel of Emory faculty.

The aptly named “New Cinematic Directions” aims to celebrate contemporary cinema that pushes the medium of film into new territories while telling stories that relate to shifting definitions of home and the future from rich and varied cultural contexts.

When describing his vision for the

See MUSEUM, Page 8

WOMEN’S MONTH

Emory Student-Run Film Festival Celebrates the Unconventional

By Isabel Packard Contributing Writer

visiting.

Indeed, the objects featured in this year’s Atlanta Contemporary show lack subtlety, which is perhaps why the curator’s desperate attempts to thematically link them under groupings like “care and destruction” fall flat.

The works advocate only for themselves and resist the imposition of a narrative. Consideration of material properties, artistic labor and intersectionality are not new to contemporary art.

Despite the curator’s best efforts at branding, a slogan like “Of Care and Destruction” does a disservice to the works in an unsuccessful attempt to make them comfortably digestible

project, Amaral said that he was originally motivated by a desire to “fill the gaps’’ in the film offerings in Atlanta.

As a sophomore, this passion led Amaral to the creation of his first series, “Not Coming to a Theater Near You,” which featured films that premiered within the past year but were not streaming in Atlanta theatrically.

But when the second edition of this project was canceled in March 2020, Amaral had to rethink his programming in the virtual sphere.

Amaral decided to incorporate three of the movies from his previously canceled screening into “New Cinematic Directions”: Dominga Sotomayor’s “Too Late to Die Young” (2018), Pedro Costa’s “Vitalina Varela” (2019) and Khalik Allah’s “Black Mother” (2018).

Joining them are Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “To the Ends of the Earth” (2019) and Ephraim Asili’s “The Inheritance” (2020).

The centerpiece of the festival will be a four-film viewing of Sarah

See NEW, Page 8

#Girlboss Scream Queens for International Women’s Month

By Jada Chambers Copy Editor

Traditionally, women in horror films have been relegated to submissive background roles. From being nameless pairs of breasts slated for an erotic murder to enduring sexualized violence, women in horror are rarely permitted their agency — if they survive. Recently, these depictions are changing. Women are becoming main characters in horror, the ones who go through hell and back or even do the sexy slashing themselves. To see women subverting long-standing tropes of the genre is exhilarating.

Just in time for International Women’s Month, here are some of my favorite horror films spotlighting women.

“Ginger Snaps” (2000) Ginger Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle) and her sister Brigitte (Emily Perkins) are just two edgy goth teens trying to stay cool in their lazy suburb.

On the night of Ginger’s first period, she’s attacked by a werewolf that’s been terrorizing the town. The girls’ lives become much more complicated than dealing with popular kids:

Brigitte must help Ginger hide symptoms of lycanthropy — increased hunger, mood swings, even a tail — while seeking a cure.

“Ginger Snaps” is a landmark in feminine horror that’s still relevant today. “A girl can only be a slut, a bitch, a tease or the virgin next door,” Ginger explains to Brigitte, attempting to justify her strange behavior. The film is a must-watch for the feminist analyst; it explores sisterhood, misogyny and the body horror of growing up, all through the lens of campy lycanthropy.

“Jennifer’s Body” (2009) Needy Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) is an average, quiet girl and her best friend Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) is the hottest, most popular girl in school, making them an odd pair. After a near-death experience, Jennifer begins acting strange. She’s been possessed by a succubus — a flesh-eating sex demon — due to a satanic sacrifice gone wrong. Jennifer’s killers believed she was a virgin, but since she wasn’t, they mistakenly invited a succubus into her body. Needy attempts to stop Jennifer from eating every teenage boy in their town while combating her

repressed feelings for Jennifer.

“Jennifer’s Body” is explicitly about female sexuality. Jennifer makes frequent commentary on misogyny, even after she becomes a boy-eating demon.

Moments between the two friends, before and after Jennifer’s possession, point toward their unspoken mutual feelings. An early scene even features a student calling Needy “lesbi-gay” when she waves at Jennifer during a pep rally, disregarding that Jennifer waves back, equally enthusiastic.

While it’s unclear if the succubus can be expelled from Jennifer’s body, or if the real Jennifer is still even in there, Needy persists in stopping the demon.

She loves Jennifer enough to spare her loved ones the horrific reality of the succubus and preserve her best friend’s memory.

“Excision” (2012) Possibly the most tragic horror movie I’ve ever seen, “Excision” is now one of my top coming-of-age films. Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord) is a high school senior who dreams of becoming a surgeon. Like many eldest

See FEMALE, Page 8

8

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Female-Centric Horror Movies Empower, Frighten

Continued from Page 7 daughters, she desperately desires her mother’s (Traci Lords) approval and loves her little sister more than life itself. By day, Pauline is a nuisance to her classmates and mother. By night, she’s wracked with bloodsoaked, erotic dreams in her own personal operating room, and her bullies are the patients.

She knows her psychosexual surgical suite fantasies are wrong — and though she seeks help — no one in her sunny suburb listens, not her pushover father, overbearing mother, teachers nor the town’s reverend (John Waters).

McCord’s performance is award-worthy; I cried during scenes with Pauline and her mother that ultimately build up to the heart-wrenching ending.

Pauline, though disturbed, is simply a frightened girl trying to mature. The fact that she pleads for help and is ignored until it’s too late is perhaps the most horrific part of all.

“Carrie” (1976) Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a lonely outcast who’s teased by her peers. Like Ginger Fitzgerald, Carrie’s

story begins with her first period.

Terrified, she seeks the aid of the girls in her gym class, only to be brutally assaulted with pads, tampons and taunts. This is when Carrie’s telekinetic powers manifest.

While I wanted to love Carrie and her ultimate revenge on her horrible classmates and mother (Piper Laurie), I couldn’t ignore the disgustingly obvious sexism with which director Brian De Palma handled the film. Tracking shots of Carrie, her gym class and gym teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley), are deliberately eroticized; a later parallel scene of Carrie isn’t given the same treatment, only emphasizing the earlier sexualization.

Carrie’s mother is also difficult to stomach. Laurie seemed to affect an Old Southern accent for the character, which was nearly comical for a film set in Maine.

Despite being dated, “Carrie” arguably paved the way for most of the films here, and should be paid its dues for that arduous task.

— Contact Jada Chambers at jada.chambers@emory.edu

A&E

Museum Exhibit Absorbing But Incoherent

Continued from Page 7

and thematically cohesive when these works would be better understood on their own.

A remixed Angolan folk song spilleds into the gallery space as part of an installation “There are other hues of blue” by Le’Andra LeSeur. LeSeur’s moody beats work well in the gallery space, adding vibrancy onto the dull concrete floors and white walls. The installation’s songs feature beats better known as samples or remix lesser known tunes, sonically paralleling the accompanying glitched video of the sky from the Facebook live video of Sean Reed’s killing by police.

The music overwhelms other sonic installations, however, such as Adam Forrester’s video “Dirty Filthy Coat” (part of a different curation within the Biennial) whose brooding aura of mystery is ruptured by remixed world beats and Tarika Blue’s “Dreamflower.” Showcased within the intimately tapered “Sliver Space,” Forrester’s work also consists of assorted prints from Emory’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library in a broader multimedia

Event Pays Homage to Civil Rights Leaders

Zimra Chickering/Senior Staff

Moderator Vicki Crawford, Carl Hancock Rux and panelists Andra Gillespie, Doris A. Derby, and Francine L. Allen Adams examine ‘The Baptism.’

Continued from Page 7 them well because they are over and over and never die.”

Comparing the two activists to the permanence of buildings, Rux revealed a perspective on legacy to make us aware of the immortal impact of the dead which remains for us to build upon.

The first of the three panelists to respond to the poem was Adams, noting that both Vivian and Lewis experienced a sort of baptism, as they were beaten by police, plunged into suffering and resurrected in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Emerging from suffering into resurrection allowed the activists to create legacies, or “buildings,” if we are to follow Rux’s poetic analogy.

We must dwell in these buildings of activism and continue to build upon them ourselves, using the foundation of activism to fight for equality in our own world.

“Art is so important to understanding and delving deeper into social jus-

tice,” Adams said.

Derby said that art engages community members in ways that otherwise would not occur, and this can slowly begin to immerse people in the political side of activism.

Art is thus an effective gateway to the political.

Art is thus an effective gateway to the political.

It is crucial to the struggle for equal rights, and Rux’s artwork exemplifies that significance.

Ultimately, the three panelists at the event — as well as Rux, True Colors Artistic Director Jamil Jude and Morehouse College

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Martin Luther King Jr. Collection’s Executive Director and moderator Vicki Crawford — all took the responsibility of remembering legacy through art very seriously.

Despite their varying ages and levels of expertise, all panelists embraced their role and offered their talents and thoughts about the significance of art and activism.

This diverse group of event contributors, which included an American Sign Language interpreter, promoted accessibility, further highlighting how both artistic and activist pursuits are readily available for all people to engage.

As Rux’s poem states, “nothing ever really dies,” and so the great legacies of Lewis and Vivian have never died; instead, they are preserved and sustained in the diverse art and activism that the next generations of passionate youths take part in.

— Contact Zimra Chickering at zimra.chickering@emory.edu

installation about the repressed dark history of his hometown of Phenix City, Alabama.

Despite the aural dissonance, many of the works are thematically linked, especially along racial and gendered lines. Myra Greene’s “Piecework #49” is an angular explosion of gossamer textile dyed in complementary warm browns, yellows and purples, drawing attention to exploitative colonization and appropriation of Indonesian and West African textile art and the broader legacy of cotton in America.

Meanwhile, Yanique Norman’s towering “Chytrids” overlays massive protruding headdresses on the photographed head of an unnamed 19thcentury white woman as part of her aesthetic praxis of “Black fungibility.”

The sculpture materially resists the flattening of the Black experience in a white-dominated society.

Jose Villalobos’ “We Have Always Been” likewise calls into question hierarchies of race and gender with his construction of camply masculine cowboy gear suspended in front of a dizzying burst of yellow flowers. The museum label highlights the desire

of the artist to reconcile the artist’s pride in his Norteño heritage with the oppression he faced as a queer man in a hypermasculine culture. The work seems almost too obvious, corny even; the fake hummingbirds shown crushed between deconstructed layers of cowboy boots are particularly on the nose. This lack of subtlety is, of course, expected in a piece designed to celebrate campness, but the constructed space fails to provoke deeper contemplation.

Ultimately, the moments of continuity that persist between the distinct works at the Atlanta Contemporary Biennial show are actively suppressed by the uncompelling and shallow narrative of “Care and Destruction.” The works are far too radical and thoughtprovoking to be subject to meaningless categorization, and the intersectional analysis within the museum labels add little beyond a superficial level. The works themselves, however, demand the viewer face the struggle against oppression head-on.

— Contact Robert Fuhriman at rfuhrim@emory.edu

‘New Cinematic Directions’ Enriches Emory Film Scene Continued from Page 7

unavailable … is much less intimidatMaldoror works from March 10 to ing,” he said.

March 12, followed by a presentation When discussing the future of and discussion with Maldoror’s daugh- film screenings at Emory, Bernstein noted that Emory has a longstandter, Annouchka de Andrade.

When addressing his selection of ing commitment to the Atlanta film films for the series, Amaral noted, community.

“These are the According to kinds of hidden him, Emory’s stories in film hisCinematheque, a film series that protory that people are “I really hope students really, really lookvides weekly screenfeel empowered and ing hard for right ings free and open now.” inspired to do something to the public, was Maldoror’s films with the department and designed to expose hold special sigAtlanta residents to see about working with to “movies that are nificance in this respect, as she them because I know [the off the beaten path” and “worlds that we became the first professors] would not otherwise woman of African would love it.” see.” descent to write and The cinemadirect a feature film — Evan Amaral (21C) with “Sambizanga.” theque is pro“New Cinematic grammed by Directions” is dedifaculty memcated to her memobers, and Amaral ry, as Maldoror passed away on April remarks that, in the future, 13, 2020, due to complications with he would like to see deeper collaboraCOVID-19. tion between students and the film According to Film and Media Studies department, including more students Department Chair Matthew Bernstein, participating as programmers alongAmaral’s series diverges from conven- side faculty.

“I really hope students feel tional senior film theses.

“We’ve had students who sponsor empowered and inspired to do … individual screenings … but not a something with the department series,” Bernstein said. “And it’s a lot and to see about working with them because I know [the professors] of work.”

Amaral echoed this, claiming would love it,” he said. that the project was a process that Art intimately changes our perspec“took an entire village.” From finding tive on the world by offering nuanced viable distributors and an affordable iterations of the human story.

When we have access to stories that platform to streamlining a process of disseminating information and creat- connect us with life outside of what we ing sign-up links for virtual viewings, know, our worldview transcends our the operation took “a lot of trial and direct experience. Exposure to nontraditional and non-Western cinema error.”

But according to Amaral, the payoff is integral to this process of widening makes all of his previous labor worth our perspective on the world so that we can propel ourselves in new directions. it.

“Ultimately, what I want from all of this is a place where this — Contact Isabel Packard at kind of cinema that is usually very isabel.packard@emory.edu

g

The Emory Wheel

Emory Life

Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | Emory Life Assistant Editors: Lauren Blaustein (lblaust@emory.edu) and Kaitlin Mottley (kmottle@emory.edu)

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

MUSIC

How an Emory Student Became Quarantine The Face of a Google Collaboration Music to Break

The Monotony

By Allison Reinhardt Contributing Writer Over the past two decades, Google has become synonymous with the quest for information and learning more about the world around us. The mere phrase “Google it” proves our reliance on this monumental technology company that serves to inform us about what is happening in the world and provide us answers to our own curiosities.

Beyond supplying information, the major tech company has begun using its platform to incite social and political change through various grants and investments.

In January 2020, Google announced that they would provide a $3 million grant to the NAACP’s AfroAcademic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), a program designed to give Black high school students the opportunity to pursue their passions through a variety of academic fields.

Google launched a Black History Month campaign this past February to highlight their partnership with ACTSO. Through this partnership, ACTSO alumnus Calvin Bell III (22Ox) became the face of their social media movement.

“They wanted to not only spotlight the connection between the NAACP and Google through that partnership, but they also wanted to show that there are young black leaders right now who are doing great things,” Bell said.

During his time in ACT-SO, Bell

By Rebecca Frischling Contributing Writer If you’re like me, you probably agree that the right song can transform a boring, possibly not so great day, to a more exciting and cheerful day.

No matter what you’re doing — studying, walking, driving or exercising — having a playlist to accompany every activity can help fight monotony that easily creeps into our days stuck inside.

Because of this, I’ve put together a compilation of playlists to match almost any quarantine mood.

Studying

Courtesy of Calvin Bell

Calvin Bell (22Ox) poses with one of his projects, a mobile encephalography that allows him to study how music affects the brain. competed and excelled in computer science, medicine and health, and oratory, three categories that helped him pursue his passions for technology, poetry, music and, above all, politics and social justice.

Bell carefully curated his projects to combine his skills with social justice initiatives, creating an app that allowed for direct communication

between communities of color and their local representatives.

“I think the biggest thing is finding the issue within the world and just narrowing down on how technology can uplift those issues in a positive way to alleviate some of the problems that come with that issue,”

See NAACP, Page 10

If you ask any two people what type of music they like to listen to while they study, you will probably find two vastly different answers: slow and moody or upbeat and loud. Students can benefit from a wide variety of music; classical music helps focus and upbeat pop music helps get you energized.

I personally like to find songs that hit just the right balance between mellow and motivating.

If you’re looking to maximize your time, the ideal study playlist should have a mix of mid-tempo songs, generally with lyrics that provide some variety of warmth, optimism or empowerment.

If you’re in a study grind, check out: “Leaning On You” by HAIM, “Back

In My Body” by Maggie Rogers, “All Will Be Well” by Gabe Dixon, “Stupid Deep” by Jon Bellion and “Cigarette Daydreams” by Cage The Elephant.

Cheery Walks As the pandemic rages on, many are taking more time to reflect, and walks are the perfect way to enjoy some alone time.

Going outside to walk my dog each day is one of my essentials to self-care, and I love to listen to music while doing so.

Relatively upbeat music sets me up for the outdoors for it seems to encapsulate the energy of the warm weather.

Whether you’re walking in 90-degree, sunny weather or in a below 30-degree blizzard-like area, adding some tunes to your walk can be a great way to uplift your mood.

Songs that fit this upbeat vibe include: “Don’t Take The Money”

by Bleachers, “Harmony Hall” by Vampire Weekend, “Lisztomania” by Phoenix, “august” by Taylor Swift and “Sunflower, Vol. 6” by Harry Styles.

Midnight Drive to Nowhere A slightly odd but deeply cathartic coping mechanism that I have come to enjoy throughout quarantine is taking random drives with no real destination

See THE, Page 10

STUDENT HOBBY

Student Gardener Brings 70 Plants, Community to Oxford

By Caelan Bailey Senior Staff Writer

Vines trail the window sill, leaves crowd out desk space and dozens of pots sit peacefully on an extra bed.

Housing a total of 70 plants, Natalie Rodriguez-Ema’s (21Ox) dorm is doubling as a greenhouse this semester.

Rodriguez-Ema started indoor gardening as a quarantine hobby last June. What began then with a Calathea Medallion and Alocasia Morocco has grown into a collection of 80 plants spanning 22 genuses and 57 species now split between her Oxford dorm and New Orleans home.

“Plants are a very slippery slope.

Ask anyone who likes houseplants,” she said.

“You get one and then suddenly your collection multiplies and you have no idea how it happened.”

Despite her now-flourishing green thumb, Rodriguez-Ema’s gardening start was rocky. Her original Calathea, a genus popularly known as “prayer plants” for their opening and closing leaves and infamous for their demanding maintenance, almost died on her windowsill, scorched by direct sunlight.

After extensive online research, Rodriguez-Ema saved the plant, even through later bouts of root rot and spider mites. Following the initial challenge, she eventually found easier plants to care for and now rehabilitates

others’ damaged plants.

“Obviously, the more plants I got, the more my knowledge expanded,” Rodriguez-Ema said. “People tend to think I’m like an expert on plants, but it’s not even been a whole year that I’ve been doing this … I just dove into it and I love it.”

Rodriguez-Ema emphasized that, amid the economic strain of the pandemic, supporting small businesses is a priority when expanding her collection.

Going from a first-year student who hated her Biology 141 botany unit to becoming an avid gardener in a few months, she frequented local nurseries and met plant experts along the way.

“It’s honestly sometimes better than the Internet,” she said. “And it’s also just nice that like everyone in the plant community [in New Orleans] knows each other, and it was just nice to join a little community.”

Rodriguez-Ema said gardening not only became a way to develop new relationships but also a way to cope with quarantine stress during an online semester.

“It’s almost like some people say that their pets are the reason why they get up during the day — for me it was my plants,” she said. “I was like, ‘oh my Monstera really needs water today, I have to go water it then I’ll go back to nap.’ It became an incentive for me to get out of bed when my mental health was at its worst.”

When Rodriguez-Ema prepared to return to campus for the first time since last March, she knew she wanted to bring as many of her new plants with her as possible.

“Being in school all the time online is pretty draining, and it’s something that I can finally shut off my computer and my phone and I can just be there, when I’m alone with them,” she said.

Packing a total 70 plants into her car for the drive required “some serious Tetris.”. Through careful box stacking and a worry-filled overnight stay in the car, all plants survived, with injuries limited to one accidental leaf break.

Rodriguez-Ema also packed plant food, a humidifier and a myriad of other plant care items.

“I’m a helicopter mom with my plants, and it’s kind of a good and bad thing,” Rodriguez-Ema said. “I was über prepared for not knowing what dorm I was going to be in.”

Rodriguez-Ema also noted that when she Zooms into online meetings, the foliage behind her sparks conversations.

Associate Director for Student Involvement and Leadership Veronica Roman (09Ox, 11C) and Advising Support Center Program Coordinator Asia Wynn both connected with Rodriguez-Ema over their shared love of houseplants.

Roman said she practiced gardening as self-care for years and noted the pandemic had “given people time

Courtesy of Natalie Rodriguez-Ema

Natalie Rodriguez-Ema (21Ox) poses with some of her plant collection. to explore things.” She said that student interest in plants has increased recently since the ritual of gardening can become a “creative outlet.”

Wynn, who met Rodriguez-Ema during first-year orientation, said they

reconnected during an advising call after Rodriguez-Ema mentioned gardening was her way to find a sense of “purpose and community,” as Wynn

See DORM Page 10

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EMORY LIFE

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

The 4 Playlists You Need During the Pandemic

Continued from Page 9 in mind. Traveling around to parts of my city that I generally don’t frequent has helped me feel less trapped, and I absolutely love the opportunity to sing random music at the top of my lungs without having to worry about volume. Fill this sort of playlist with any bangers you want to scream-sing in the car, no matter the genre or artist.

Some examples that I will always belt out include: “Green Light” by Lorde, “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas, “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift (if I’m being honest, really anything from her entire discography fits the bill), “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood and “Don’t Stop Me Now”

by Queen.

Throwback Bops Nothing energizes me more to clean or be productive like some good old early-2000s music.

Upbeat bops that remind me of prepandemic memories have been the best way for me to make mundane tasks more enjoyable — and, really, it’s much more fun to do the dishes if you

COOKING

can dance around a little.

Song examples that take me back include: “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, “Bye Bye Bye” by *NSYNC, “Everytime We Touch” by Cascada, “Hey Ya!” by Outkast and “Hot N Cold”

by Katy Perry.

Conclusion At the end of the day, everyone has different music tastes, and each of us should just try to find songs we can connect with because it helps get us through our daily challenges. There is no one right or wrong answer about what you should listen to.

Everyone should explore and try to find the types of songs that put them in the right headspace, whether that be for dancing or studying.

Think about your daily routine to create your own perfect playlist and don’t be afraid to venture into new genres!

— Contact Rebecca Frischling at becca.frischling@emory.edu

Illustration by A llison Barlow

Illustration by A llison Barlow

Cooking in College: From an Amateur Chef to Another

By Twisha Dimri Contributing Writer As someone who has struggled with depression for most of my adolescence, I have a strained relationship with food. Making and eating food are two completely different activities, and I struggle with both.

Since the switch to apartment-style living on Clairmont campus, kitchen responsibilities were a daunting prospect and I was completely lost in the beginning. With some help from my therapist, family and friends, I’ve cultivated a much healthier relationship with food.

First, I reframed the act of cooking in my mind. Instead of viewing it as a chore or a task, I began to think of cooking as a way to take a break from the stress of schoolwork. Instead of laying in bed or watching Netflix when I don’t feel like studying, I cook. It’s a far more productive way to recharge and, when I’m ready to eat a meal later, I already have food waiting for me in the fridge. Additionally, since cooking is partly a waiting game, and I am definitely an impatient person, it still gives me the opportunity to binge some Netflix.

But what to cook and where to start?

Before I head to the grocery store, I go through the dozens of TikTok recipes I have saved and write down a few that I’d like to try. It makes grocery shop-

NAACP, Google Partner to Highlight Black Leaders Continued from Page 9 Bell said.

Bell’s achievements led him to be selected for a program called STEAMage, which sent a group of students from various ACT-SO branches to California for an array of networking opportunities, including a tour of Google and YouTube’s facilities.

While on the trip, Bell not only attended Google’s announcement of their three year deal with ACT-SO, but was specifically selected to speak at the event as a representative of the ACT-SO program.

Following this endeavor, Google called upon Bell to display his ACT-SO experience on their social media pages in honor of Black History Month.

Upon seeing their friend and fellow classmate on their Instagram and Twitter feeds, Avery Clarke (22Ox) and Harrison Coorey (22Ox) were overwhelmed with pride.

“It was just insane to realize that Google reached out to him,” Clarke said. “I was really proud that someone

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I’m really close with has that amount of impact and can continue making this amount of impact through Google.”

Bell’s friends emphasized that his strong work ethic makes him especially deserving of his recognition from Google.

Calvin Bell (22Ox)

Courtesy of Calvin Bell

“He’s put in so much work to really get his voice on the big stage and make his opinions heard,” Coorey said.

“And nothing was ever given to him, so he had to work for all this, which makes it even more impressive in my opinion.”

When asked how his experience with ACT-SO has impacted his life, Bell indicated that the program encouraged him to use his skills and passions to uplift others in the Black

community.

“I can utilize my talents and evolutionize them in a way that follows the principles and standards of the NAACP as a whole to advocate on behalf of others who can’t advocate for themselves,” Bell said.

Bell hopes the campaign will encourage Black high school students to take advantage of programs like ACT-SO as opportunities to bolster their professional skills.

Above all, ACT-SO allowed Bell to explore his identity and challenge racial stereotypes.

“I am a person of color, I am a Black male, but I’m more than just that, debunking all the stereotypes that are put out about students of color, about black men especially,” he said. “Really showing them that there is so much more to us, that we’re not a monolith, but we have so many different components that we can add to the world today.”

— Contact Allison Reinhardt at allison.brooke.reinhardt@ emory.edu

ping about 10 times easier, and opens up a world of options. Plus, TikTok recipes leave plenty of room for improvisation and exploration, which I love.

My go-to TikToker is Jeremy Scheck, who provides amazing tips for collegeaged beginners and a wide variety of color plates to replicate.

If I’m not up for TikTok recipes, I try my best to improvise. Lately, I’ve been hooked on the classic chicken and rice. The steps are painfully easy too: cut up chicken (or any protein of choice) into small cubes and let it marinate in a blend of olive oil, a cajun spice rub, turmeric and ginger-garlic paste for about half an hour. Steamed vegetables are the perfect side dish to this flavorful plate, and they’re easy to make while the chicken is marinating.

You can even cheat your veggies with a microwavable package!

Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees and saute some more garlic in a frying pan while simultaneously frying onions in ghee, a clarified form of butter. When the chicken is thoroughly baked, add it to the pan to give it a crisp sear.

Then toss the chicken, rice and vegetables all into the same pan, or wrap it into a warm tortilla with spinach and shredded cheese. The whole process takes about half an hour and is a huge reward for very little effort.

To change things up, swap out the chicken for shrimp and season with

garlic (shocker, I know), scallions and a cup of soy sauce. This is even less effort than the chicken, as shrimp don’t require much prep or cooking time. This recipe allows you to throw the marinated chicken into a ziplock bag and freeze it for the next time.

After spending more time in the kitchen, I slowly became more comfortable creating my own list of staple dishes. While convenient to give into takeout or simply walk to the Dobbs Common Table, making an effort to map out favorite ingredients and putting your own spin on dishes will only leave you more excited to cook each meal.

I’ve even created delicious meals with my roommate, which has brought us closer. Try sharing your recipes with others; you’ll be surprised how much food can connect others and create bonds.

With simple recipes like these, cooking doesn’t have to be daunting or dreadful.

Cooking is an art and requires practice like any other, but once learning how to balance spices and portions, it becomes simple and rewarding. You’ll also be able to taste the difference when you work on the same recipes and make adjustments, until you get it just right!

— Contact Twisha Dimri at twisha.dimri@emory.edu

Dorm Room Horticulture Abounds Continued from Page 9 described.

“She had mentioned that one of the hobbies that she had picked up during the pandemic was collecting plants and I was like that’s so cool I like plants too,” Wynn said. “So we finished up the end of our call ... and she was showing me some of her plants, and that was just a really great way to get to know a student.”

Looking ahead to a safer school year in which roommates will hopefully be allowed, Rodriguez-Ema said she’s not worried about future roommates taking issue with her horticulture habits.

Former roommate Naomi Gonzalez (21Ox) said the relationships Rodriguez-Ema has built with other plant-lovers “astounds” her.

“I’m really really fortunate and happy that [Rodriguez-Ema] is willing to invest all her time and energy into cultivating a very green and friendly

environment for us in our apartment,” Gonzalez said.

As she settles back into on-campus life, Rodriguez-Ema said she has already started researching Atlantaarea nurseries, hoping to find a plant community like hers at home.

For anyone looking to start their own collection, Rodriguez-Ema recommends low-maintenance starter plants like snake plants, vining pothos and chinese evergreens.

While trendy plants are appealing, she advises beginners to start small and simple.

“It doesn’t have to be the prettiest, it doesn’t have to be the most perfect, just find a plant that speaks to you,” Rodriguez-Ema said.

Rodriguez-Ema’s plant collection is on Instagram at @las.vidas.verdes.

— Contact Caelan Bailey at caelan.bailey@emory.edu

Returning To His Roots

Continued from Back Page

believes there may be a silver lining to starting his collegiate coaching career at an unpredictable time.

“I can learn a lot of those processes a little bit slower, and Coach Zimmerman — he’s freed up a little bit,” Baitey said. “He has more time to help bring me along. So the perks of it is that I’m not getting thrown into the fire very quickly.”

Currently, the men’s basketball team is in phase one of practices, meaning teams can only have up to 10 players practicing together at once. Although the possibility of a season remains up in the air, Baitey made clear what he is looking forward to the most.

“It’s got to be game day,” Baitey said.

“I want to be back out there. I want to play. I want to be a part of that process, a part of that preparation and a part of that playing and execution that goes into those battles that I love so much.”

— Contact Andrew Feld at andrew.m.feld@emory.edu

in the brackets.

It’s typical for power conferences to have two or three teams in the top two seeds, but four from one conference is relatively unheard of. This is due to a combination of other conferences’ underperformance and the Big Ten’s dominance.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan and Ohio State University have paced perhaps the deepest conference college basketball has seen in years. Each of these four are hard-nosed, veteran teams that impose their style of play on both ends of the floor.

Iowa and Illinois run through their respective stars, senior center Luka Garza and junior guard Ayo Dosunmu. Ohio State is currently riding a four-game losing streak, but three of those were to the other teams on this list. Michigan, the fourth-ranked team in the country, just won the regular-season Big Ten championship. If two of these

11

Sports Can Foster Community, School Pride Continued from Back Page ing attendance as a first-year PACE 101 requirement or rewarding students with free T-shirts if they attend a certain number of games, Emory may be able to artificially increase the amount of spectators in the bleachers, but this “gamification” of student participation does little to create an organic and sustainable environment of school pride.

To create a tangible sense of community and support for one’s school and athletic programs, there must be a social incentive that draws students.

None of the state schools we see enjoying intense school pride are able to fill up massive stadiums just because every person in the crowd is passionate about football.

No, fans consistently show because games are exciting social hours, allowing students to meet with and cheer alongside friends and classmates. Sporting events can serve as great mediums for student engagement and relationships that would never have been formed otherwise, regardless of one’s interest in sports. There is no reason why our multiple top-ranked teams can’t serve as a platform to connect Emory students.

One frustrating consequence of Emory’s lack of school spirit is the

perceived divide between athletes and the rest of the student body. Obviously, the student-athlete college experience is markedly different than that of nonathletes, but the lack of enthusiasm toward Emory sports has imbued feelings of bitterness into the studentathlete population.

This is best seen through the commonly used term “NARP,” which stands for non-athletic regular per-

teams are No. 1 seeds, it will be only the 13th time since the field expanded to 64 teams that two teams from the same conference occupy No. 1 seeds. The upcoming Big Ten tournament, also taking place in Indianapolis, will likely determine their final seeding order.

As an Indiana native, I could not be more thrilled. Indianapolis is lauded for its event hosting, not to mention Indiana’s reptuation as a crazed basketball state.

Outside of Gonzaga and the four Big Ten teams, the Baylor University (Texas) Bears, who have a 21-1 record overall, have proved themselves as one of the toughest teams in the country. Widely considered national championship favorites last year, Baylor has brought back a majority of

son and carries a negative connotation among student-athletes. The name implies that any student who does not brandish the blue Powerade bottle is less than. These dynamics only further divide Emory’s campus and harm the little school spirit Emory has.

Encouraging support of Emory Athletics is not simply for the benefit of Emory athletes but also for the school as a whole. While Emory students

boast some school spirit, it appears in small pockets through clubs and extracurriculars.

What is sorely lacking, however, is a cohesive sense of school spirit in which all students share, and there is no better way to cultivate that spirit than through sports.

— Contact Calvin Furbee at cfurbee@emory.edu

Illustration by A lly Hom

Big Ten Competes for Top Seeds Continued from Back Page

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

SPORTS

The Emory Wheel

the team that was poised to make a run in 2020.

However, typical college basketball powerhouses like Duke University (N.C.), Syracuse University (N.Y.) and the University of Kentucky are not projected to make the NCAA Tournament.

If Duke does not make the tournament, it would be the first time in over 25 years. This element adds another level of chaos to the college basketball season this year.

While March Madness, like all sporting events, may feel a bit curtailed this year, it’s return is eagerly anticipated. After all, it’s not truly March if you’re not filling out your brackets with extreme care.

Despite the new format, we can still expect the same fireworks, late-game heroics and upsets that define March Madness. But it appears the 2021 edition of March Madness will likely be a battle between Gonzaga and the Big Ten.

— Contact Tripp Burton at tripp.burton@emory.edu

HBCUs Given Global Attention Continued from Back Page Instead, he used his platform to promote historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and his More Than a Vote organization. This year’s game raised over $3 million for HBCUs and shined a national spotlight on oft-overlooked schools.

“Giving the support and structure and resources is just as valuable as the money,” James said. “[HBCUs] have always been something in my mind.”

After the game, which Team LeBron won 170-150, players continued to focus on causes outside of basketball.

Golden State Warriors guard and 3-point contest champion Stephen Curry spoke of the importance of playing the game for HBCUs and COVID19 relief.

“To put HBCUs on the national map goes a long way,” Curry said.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, who hit the gamewinning shot from half-court, said he thoroughly enjoyed playing in the

game. However, he also reflected on how this year compared to his past experiences as an All-Star.

“It just didn’t have the All-Star weekend feel to it,” Lillard said. “Once we got on the floor, that was the only time it snapped that this was the AllStar Game.”

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo earned the NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP award after going a perfect 16 for 16 from the field and finishing with 35 points. Holding his new hardware in his postgame press conference, Antetokounmpo was ecstatic to be the MVP in a game with the NBA’s top players, shouting “Milwaukee, this is for you!” as he left the podium.

To see more highlights from this event, check out more of The Emory Wheel’s coverage of All-Star weekend on our Twitter and Instagram @ emorywheel.

— Contact Michael Mariam at mmariam@emory.edu

EMORY ATHLETICS

Senior Athletes Consider Options for Next Season

By Sofia Himmel Associate Editor

It is no secret that Emory Athletics has changed drastically over the past few semesters. As seasons have been delayed or outright canceled, upperclassmen have had their final seasons pulled out from under them.

To combat this, on Oct. 29, 2020, the NCAA granted its Division III athletes one extra year of eligibility, which extends to spring 2020-21 senior athletes.

For senior student-athletes, this extra year of eligibility provides three avenues: staying at their schools for a fifth year, taking a gap year or looking for graduate programs that would allow them to continue to play their sport. This is a decision that

some seniors are still in the process of making.

While the title “student-athlete” implies that they are Emory students first and competitors second, the impact of the athlete experience shouldn’t be minimized. For studentathletes such as women’s tennis senior Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico, the love of playing the sport makes her extra year of eligibility decision all the more challenging.

“I was not planning on going to graduate school, but then the summer came and I thought I should take advantage of the fifth year,” GonzalezRico said.

“But I don’t want to be in undergrad for five years; I already have basically all the credits.”

For Gonzalez-Rico, continuing to

play as a graduate student made the most sense for her tennis, academic and professional careers. But this isn’t the case for all Emory athletes.

For men’s soccer senior defender Josh Berman, taking one more semester as a fifth-year student while playing for the soccer team was a nobrainer. Berman will return to Emory this upcoming fall along with six of his teammates.

“For us, it was a decision of not being able to play,” Berman said. “We would regret never finishing what we started.”

While athletes like Gonzalez-Rico and Berman are in it for the love of the game, Emory’s motto of “students first and athletes second” does not fade after graduation. Although continuing to play their sport is important, educa-

tion is still paramount.

“I am more looking at the [academic] programs rather than the tennis team,” Gonzalez-Rico said. “The program is going to be very important to me — how that [program] can place me career-wise or develop a network wherever I go.”

When deciding how to use his additional year of eligibility, Berman toyed with the idea of a graduate program at Emory.

“Originally I was looking to do a graduate program for a year and play,” Berman said. “However, for the programs at Emory that I wanted to do, you have to have a couple years of work experience. So ultimately I decided to take an extra semester here.”

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic,

student-athletes have a lot on their minds. Practices have started up again, but not formal competition. Athletes are also trying to find ways to continue their collegiate athletic careers while taking on a full academic load.

Regardless, being a part of an Emory sports team is a defining part of a student-athlete’s college experience, and for many, you can’t put a price on the memories and friendships formed along the way.

“Sure we might be giving up some work experience,” Berman said. “But the value and happiness that we get from playing again completely outweighs it. I cannot imagine not playing soccer again.”

— Contact Sofia Himmel at sjhimme@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Sports

Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | Sports Editor: Jessica Solomon (jessie.solomon@emory.edu) | Asst. Sports Editor: Michael Mariam (mmariam@emory.edu)

Inside Access to the NBA All-Star Game

By Michael Mariam Asst. Sports Editor

Courtesy of Gemy Sethaputra

Former Eagle guard Gebereal Baitey drives to the hoop against New York University on March 2, 2018. Baitey will now help coach the men’s basketball team from the sidelines.

Baitey Returns to Emory

By Andrew Feld Contributing Writer

On Feb. 22, Gebereal Baitey (19C) began his job as one of Emory men’s basketball’s assistant coaches, replacing former assistant coach Kevin Sullivan, who left for a non-coaching job in the private sector.

From 2015 through 2019, Baitey played for the Eagles as a guard.

While myriad candidates were interested in the position, head coach Jason Zimmerman acknowledged that Baitey’s passion for Emory separated him from the others.

“There may be some people more experienced in coaching; there may be people that are better coaches than us,” Zimmerman said. “But I don’t think there is anyone that cares more about Emory or Emory basketball than [Baitey] or I or our players.”

After graduating from Emory in 2019, Baitey went on to play professional basketball in Australia for the Central District Lions. However, after the coronavirus pandemic

shut down his season, Baitey returned home to New Jersey. With his future as a professional basketball player uncertain, Baitey accepted a job at his old high school, Newark Academy, where he taught Spanish and helped coach the football and basketball teams.

While Baitey always knew he wanted to teach, he ultimately felt most fulfilled when he was coaching.

A few months into coaching at Newark Academy, Baitey reached out to Zimmerman to discuss what it would take to coach at the collegiate level. When Sullivan left Emory at the end of January, Zimmerman offered Baitey the job, which he quickly accepted.

“It was a no brainer,” Baitey said.

“As far as the basketball piece of it, I know this program; I know our guys … But also I personally love this program. I’m deeply connected to it and to the city.”

Baitey will be coaching some of his former teammates. Senior guard Nick Stuck, a sophomore during Baitey’s senior year, is looking forward to play-

COMMUNITY

ing under him after having played alongside him for two years on the court.

“It’s gonna be an experience for both of us because we both know each other really well and are great friends, so it’s gonna be a different dynamic,” said Stuck. “We’re looking forward to it, but I think we’ll just kind of play it out as it goes. And we’ll learn how to make each other better as a coach-player kind of dynamic.”

While Baitey appreciates coaching some of his former teammates, he believes his new job won’t vary much from his time as a player on the team.

“It’s a different role, but it isn’t really that different from what I was doing when I was here,” Baitey said. “I was Coach’s eyes and ears and mouth on the court; I was an extension of him.”

In a typical season, an assistant coach may be involved in recruiting, coaching and management. However, COVID-19 has greatly diminished what assistant coaches do.

Despite these challenges, Baitey

See RETURNING, Page 11

While it was by no means the normal event we’ve come to expect, the 2021 NBA All-Star Game held in Atlanta’s own State Farm Arena on March 7 did not disappoint, showcasing some of the best talent across the NBA. However, in order to continue the annual tradition, restrictions were put in place to protect the safety of everyone involved. Although COVID-19 protocols prevented news outlets and other guests from all entering the arena, the increased use of technology over the past year allowed for virtual media availability over Zoom.

In non-COVID times, player media availability is an intimate experience. Reporters are given locker room access and interact with players face to face. Typically, the day before the All-Star Game is media day, where players are stationed at podiums and reporters freely walk around from player to player, asking questions about basketball and other random topics. Because all media availability was virtual this year, players conducted these pregame interviews from the comfort of their hotel rooms.

Some players were so comfortable in the virtual format that their physical appearance differed greatly from last year. Los Angeles Lakers forward Lebron James donned a nice jacket and scarf in front of an elaborate All-Star Game backdrop in last year’s media day, but this year he was clad in an All-Star T-shirt sitting on his couch with headphones.

Before players departed their Atlanta “bubble” hotel for the game, the players talked with the media

for over a three-hour span. Some players took the opportunity to express their gratitude for being selected as an All-Star while others shared their concerns about holding the event in the middle of a pandemic.

For 25-year-old Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine, it was the first All-Star Game of his career.

While LaVine felt he deserved to be selected in other years, he was nonetheless thankful for the honor.

“I feel like I played at this level for the last couple of years,” LaVine said.

I’m happy to be here now, but this isn’t the end goal for me. I have higher aspirations.”

For other All-Stars like Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden and Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, this was not their first AllStar experience. In fact, this was the ninth consecutive All-Star Game for Harden and Leonard’s fifth total appearance. Both players reflected on the toned-down weekend of events and questioned the need for a game after the NBA canceled their original plans to hold All-Star weekend in Indianapolis.

“I think the All-Star Game was forced and thrown upon us,” Harden said.

Leonard echoed these sentiments, noting the usual weekend festivities for players was nonexistent this year.

“The city of Atlanta has turned up, but it’s been pretty dead for the rest of the league,” Leonard noted.

Another outspoken critic of the AllStar Game this year was James, who had previously said he’d be in Atlanta “physically but not mentally.” James, who captained one of the teams, took a backseat during the game, playing only 13 minutes and scoring four points.

See HBCU, Page 11

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Athlete: Why Emory Basketball’s Prized Tournament Returns Lacks School Spirit

By Tripp Burton Staff Writer

By Calvin Furbee Contributing Writer A common perception held by some students is that Emory Athletics and the University at large lacks school spirit. Granted, no student comes to Emory expecting Southeastern Conference levels of school pride, whether it’s thousands of people attending sporting events or intoxicated dads tailgating in parking lots. You would expect, however, that an athletics program with 27 NCAA national championships would exhibit greater pride than it currently does.

Some blame our perceived lack of spirit on not having a football team or on our athletes competing at the Division III level. Others claim Emory students are too stressed and overwhelmed by schoolwork to partake in activities outside of studying, specifically athletics. While these factors may play a role, I believe they are cop-outs that fail to address the larger institutional and cultural causes that are responsible for the average student’s apathy toward Emory Athletics.

A clear cause of weak enthusiasm

toward Emory sports is its current lack of promotion. Many students are naive to when Emory teams compete, with some not even knowing what sports we have. I believe some don’t realize teams are competing until they accidentally stumble upon a basketball game while cutting through the Woodruff Physical Education Center (WoodPEC) to reach the Peavine Parking Deck.

Even as an athlete who spends countless hours in the WoodPEC, I’m still surprised sometimes when other teams are competing. This isn’t the fault of students but of the various campus organizations that are responsible for advertising athletic events. As an underclassman, I felt as if fingerpainting in the basement of Dobbs Hall received more promotion than the volleyball team winning the NCAA tournament in 2018.

A real incentive must exist for students to watch or attend Emory sporting events. The University attempts to entice student engagement with material items and sometimes even mandates it. Whether it’s necessitat-

See SPORTS, Page 11

In mid-March 2020, the NCAA canceled its men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments.

For the first time in history, March Madness was absent and college basketball would be championless. One of the most thrilling, unpredictable and entertaining sporting events of the year was erased from the schedule a week before it was set to begin. Now, one year later, despite the continued pandemic-induced limitations, March Madness will make its triumphant return on March 14.

Typically, March Madness is a national event — games are spread across the country and teams travel great distances as they advance through each round.

But with travel still discouraged, it is not safe nor logical to have teams bounce from location to location.

Instead, the NCAA opted to hold the entirety of March Madness in central Indiana.

As an Indiana native, I could not be more thrilled. Indianapolis is lauded for its event hosting, not to mention Indiana’s reputation as a crazed basketball state. Basketball-specific infrastructure is rampant across cen-

tral Indiana, and the NCAA is even headquartered in Indianapolis. These factors make hosting 67 tournament games across six venues in a span of just three weeks a more feasible and safe endeavor.

The NCAA’s plan is akin to the NBA’s bubble last summer. While March Madness won’t transpire in a sprawling sports campus, the furthest game locations from Indianapolis are Purdue University (Ind.) and Indiana University, which are both approximately onehour drives from the city. After the first two rounds, all games will be held in Indianapolis. While the tournament may not be a fully enclosed bubble, it appears to be an effective alternative.

The bracket itself has yet to be revealed; Selection Sunday airs on March 14 after all conference championships have concluded. Yet two major storylines still dominate the undetermined bracket. The first is the Gonzaga University (Wash.) Bulldogs seeking to become the first undefeated national champion since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers.

Over the latter half of the 2010s, Gonzaga’s consistent success no longer made them the Cinderella they once were. From 2015 to 2019, Gonzaga

made two Sweet 16s, two Elite Eights and reached the national championship game in 2017.

Mark Few, Gonzaga’s head coach since 1999, has the highest alltime winning percentage in college basketball. This program is a powerhouse, and this is the best they have ever been.

The Bulldogs, led by steady senior forward Corey Kispert and sophomore center Drew Timme, dismantled a daunting nonconference schedule and walked through the West Coast Conference with ease.

They have veteran leadership in Kispert and junior guard Joel Ayayi — Gonzaga plays the type of composed, all-around basketball that is typical of older, more experienced teams. Their guards are also exceptional, especially ubertalented freshman point guard Jalen Suggs, a projected lottery pick in next year’s NBA draft. After 20-plus years of Few developing the program, Gonzaga’s hopes for a title have never been higher.

Gonzaga’s main competition will likely emerge from the Big Ten. Analysts are projecting four Big Ten teams to take the top eight spots

See BIG, Page 11