100th Anniversary Edition: October 23, 2019

The Emory Wheel 100 Years of

Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Volume 100, Issue 32

Printed Every Wednesday

Wednesday, october 23, 2019

100th Anniversary Edition SAFETY

BD Bard Under Fire for Polluting Near Oxford

By Isaiah Poritz & Madison Bober News Editor & Copy Editor

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr filed a complaint Monday on behalf of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to temporarily halt medical manufacturing plant BD Bard’s sterilization operations.

The plant, which has been embroiled in controversy since August over reports of high concentrations of the carcinogen ethylene oxide near the facility, is located about one mile away from Emory’s Oxford campus.

The complaint comes after the city of Covington, Ga., requested on Oct. 16 that the plant temporarily close when city officials determined that results from tests for ethylene oxide conducted by a third party contractor indicated dangerous levels of the chemical.

Ethylene oxide is a colorless and odorless chemical used by BD Bard and other medical equipment manufacturers to sterilize medical products. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified the chemical as a definite human carcinogen in 2016 after

finding extensive epidemiological and laboratory evidence that it can cause cancer after long-term exposure.

Assistant Vice President of Reputation Management Laura Diamond told the Wheel in an Oct. 18 email statement that the University contracted with a third party to conduct independent testing of the air quality around the Oxford campus. Diamond said the test showed ethylene oxide levels below federal limits.

“Independent test results found that the air quality at the Oxford College campus is safe and the levels of ethylene oxide are significantly below federal limits,” Diamond wrote. “We will continue to monitor the situation and work cooperatively with our community partners as well as local and state officials.”

Diamond declined to comment when asked to further elaborate on the details of the test results and which third-party consultants conducted the tests.

The State’s Injunction The attorney general’s complaint cites the plant’s “negligent” release of

See LOCAL, Page 4

STUDENT LIFE

Isaiah Poritz/News Editor

Associate Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of Public Health Jessica Sales discussed the survey at an Oct. 22 University Senate meeting.

Univ. Releases Second Survey on Sexual Violence

By Matthew Takavarasha Contributing Writer Although students are taking a more active role in sexual violence prevention, Emory must continue sexual assault prevention efforts, according to Associate Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of

HOMECOMING CONCERT

Public Health Jessica Sales. The Emory Student Community WellBeing Survey, released Tuesday, summarizes student experiences in regard to sexual violence.

This is the University’s second survey of its kind. The first was conducted in 2015.

Sales described the issue as a matter of “how can we set up a climate

and a culture where we are prioritizing prevention.”

In March 2018, members of the Emory community were invited to complete a confidential, web-based, well-being survey along several axes related to individual experiences of sexual violence and perceptions

See STUDENT, Page 5

ANIMAL RIGHTS

Bush Replaces Uncle Kracker for Hoco PETA Advocates Ban on

NIH Grants for Emory

By Madi Stephens Asst. Copy Editor After Emory failed to secure a contract with Uncle Kracker, the country singer will no longer perform at the Homecoming alumni concert on Oct. 26. Instead, Emory alumnus Kristian Bush (92C) of country duo Sugarland is set to take the stage.

Gloria Grevas, director of campus engagement for the Office of Alumni Engagement, wrote in an Oct. 18 email to the Wheel that the announcement that Uncle Kracker would perform was made, with permission from the artist, before the final contract was complete.

“Often there is a lot of back and forth with contracts as you attempt to lock down the artist,” Grevas wrote.

“In this case we made the announcement, with permission from the artist, before completing the final contract elements. Unfortunately, we were not able to successfully complete the contract and went with a different artist.”

Grevas declined an interview with the Wheel.

“Normally these types of artist changes happen prior to any announcement, but this time it happened after,” Grevas wrote.

A 1992 graduate of the College, Bush is a former member of folk-rock band Billy Pilgrim and comprises half of Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles.

NEWS Emory Profs. Use

Virtual Town to Map Human PAGE 2 Brain ...

P

By Ninad Kulkarni Senior Staff Writer

Courtesy of K ristian Bush

Kristian Bush (92C) is comprises half of the award-winning country duo Sugarland. He will perform at Emory on Oct. 26.

The country music duo, whose popularity surged in the early 2000s, is responsible for five No. 1 singles. They have also been nominated for 17 and won six Country Music Awards.

The duo released their latest album, “Bigger,” in June 2018. The album’s chart-topping single “Babe,” featuring Taylor Swift, was the band’s first Top

10 song on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart since 2010 and Swift’s first Top 10 appearance since 2013. Other notable tracks include “On a Roll” and “Lean It On Back.” “Bigger” was the duo’s first album in eight years.

OP-ED Emory Must

A&E Photographer Sally

Revive Journalistic Curriculum ...

— Contact Madi Stephens at madi.stephens@emory.edu

Mann Captures Complexity PAGE 13 PAGE 7 Of the South ...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released a statement on Oct. 17 calling for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to bar Emory University from receiving additional research funding, citing repeated violations of federal animal welfare guidelines.

“When an institution cannot comply with the meager protections of federal animal welfare laws, it has no business receiving taxpayer dollars. Enough is enough: NIH must bar the university from receiving any additional funding,” the statement from PETA Vice President Alka Chandna reads.

The statement cites multiple federal reports, the most recent being a Sept. 19 U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service report of the Whitehead Biomedical Research Building. A vole was found dead in its cage due to the improper placement of a water bottle in its cage, according to the report, which was obtained by the Wheel.

PETA’s statement also cites the

EMORY LIFE Asst.

improper tagging on the ears of mice.

Emory informed NIH of the incident and took the required actions in response to the infraction, according to a letter from Acting Director of the Division of Compliance Oversight at the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) at the NIH Brent Morse.

“OLAW believes that the corrective and preventive measures put in place by Emory University are consistent with the provisions of the [Public Health Service] Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals,” the letter reads. “We appreciate being informed of this matter and find no cause for further action by this office.”

The PETA statement also references an incident of improper euthanization from May 2018, in which a rat that was euthanized along with other rats was found alive in a carcass freezer.

Following the incident, Emory has since changed its procedure for the euthanization of rats weighing over 400 grams, according to a letter from Emory to Morse.

See EMORY, Page 3

SPORTS Former Editor

Prof. Aids Syrian Refugees in Discusses Sports Journalism Back Page PAGE 17 Career ...

Lebanon ...

2

NEWS

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Emory Wheel

RESEARCH

Virtual Town Aids in Neuroscientific Discoveries

By Ninad Kulkarni Senior Staff Writer

In a discovery that has applications ranging from self-driving cars to neurosurgery, Emory psychologists have found that three regions of the brain each perform distinct functions in helping humans navigate their environments.

The human brain’s navigation of an environment was previously understood as a task performed by three cooperating regions of the brain.

Using a virtual town called “Neuralville,” Emory psychologists found that these three regions — the parahippocampal place area (PPA), retrosplenial cortex (RSC) and occipital place area (OPA) — possess distinct functions that allow us to navigate environments.

In a paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor of Psychology Daniel Dilks and first author and “Neuralville” creator Andrew Persichetti, who worked in Dilks’ lab as a graduate student, found that the PPA recognizes specific locations of which the RSC creates mental maps. Previous research has shown that the OPA contributes to the navigation of immediate surroundings.

“If you’re in a dorm room, and I asked you [to] walk around that immediate surrounding, the OPA plays a role in that ability,” Dilks said.

“The PPA enables you to tell me that you’re in a room and not a kitchen.”

Dilks said that while it makes intuitive sense that the three regions would work together for navigation, the belief lacked substantive evidence.

Through their study, Dilks and

Persichetti aimed to show that only the RSC and OPA, and not the PPA, are involved in navigation.

“There hadn’t been direct evidence of [all three regions working together], so I was asking that question: are they all indeed involved in navigation?” Dilks said. “So we put that hypothesis out there, [the hypothesis] that no, they are not all involved in navigation like people think.”

Participants of the study were tasked with exploring “Neuralville” from a first-person perspective through a computer screen.

This stage of the study was meant to familiarize participants with the town’s layout.

“Neuralville” is symmetrical, structured around a central park and divided into four quadrants, each of which houses two buildings of different categories.

The building categories include coffee shops, gyms, dental offices and hardware stores, of which the town contains two each.

Once participants were completely familiarized with the town, they were shown images of various buildings in the town and asked to identify their location and type until they could correctly identify every building in the town.

The same process was repeated with participants in a functional MRI machine, where the regions of the brain relevant to the study were shown to respond to each image based on their purpose.

Dilks said that Persichetti made the town symmetrical in order to dissociate the regions of the brain that they hypothesized had different purposes.

In other words, researchers were

Courtesy of A ndrew Persichetti

Three Emory professors received international recognition for using a virtual town (pictured above) to stimulate three distinct functions of the human brain. able to more easily identify which regions of the brain reacted to building location and which reacted to category.

“There were two kinds of buildings in each quadrant so we could get location without categorization,” Dilks said. “Now we needed the [category] of building, so [Persichetti] put a dentist office in the northwest and southwest. We could dissociate what brain regions were responding to kinds of buildings in the same location or the same kind of building in different locations.”

Dilks aims to continue his research and show total independence between the three navigational regions of the brain.

He plans to conduct further experiments using a transcranial magnetic stimulation machine, which sends an electric pulse into specific brain regions and allows for their temporary dissociation.

“Here is a thought experiment: if I’m in a new environment, I don’t have to know what kind of place it is in order to navigate it,” Dilks said.

“I want to claim you don’t need the

recognizer to navigate.”

Dilks said that a deeper understanding of human navigation will be significant for the field of neurosurgery.

“We’re starting to map the brain,” Dilks said. “It’s totally applicable for [the] neurosurgeon world to know what parts of the brain are involved in what kinds of functions. You can’t fix a system if you don’t know how it functions.”

— Contact Ninad Kulkarni at nkulka7@emory.edu

NEWS

The Emory Wheel

Emory Criticized

By PETA

Continued from Page 1 In an Oct. 18 email statement to the Wheel, Assistant Vice President of Reputation Management Laura Diamond said the University is committed to upholding ethical practices.

“Emory University fully understands its obligation to ensure the health and well-being of our research animals and will continue to partner with regulatory agencies to ensure our science is sound and safe in our pursuit of improving human and animal health and lives worldwide,” the statement reads.

“We remain committed to regularly reviewing our animal care program, self-reporting any concerns and implementing quality assurance measures and personnel training programs to provide the highest quality and humane care for the animals involved in University research programs.”

— Contact Ninad Kulkarni at nkulka7@emory.edu

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

3

News Roundup Compiled By Musa Ya-Sin

University System of Georgia Creates Mental Health Task Force to Tackle Crisis The University System of Georgia (USG), which governs most public colleges and universities in the state, created a 14-member panel of administrators, mental health professionals, faculty members and students to address mental health on college campuses, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC).

The task force will analyze current counseling resources available to students and determine what changes need to be made.

The USG is currently being sued by the family of Scout Schultz, a Georgia Institute of Technology student who was fatally shot by campus police in an apparent suicide attempt in 2017, according to the AJC. The family alleges that a lack of adequate mental health resources and police training led to the death.

One in four college students are diagnosed with a mental illness and one in 10 admit to having seriously contemplated suicide, according to the AJC.

The task force will also consider mental health resources for faculty and staff in light of a recent faculty suicide at the University of Pennsylvania.

The task force will hold meetings later this year and plans to present their recommendations in early 2020.

U.S. R ep. Cummings Dead at 68 U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) died on Oct. 17 from longstanding health issues, according to the AJC. The longtime congressman was an influential member of the civil rights movement from the 1970s onward and was most recently known for his service as chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, a role which made him highly influential in the investigation into alleged wrongdoing by President Donald J. Trump.

Cummings was admitted to the Johns Hopkins Hospital for an unknown procedure and set to take a week’s leave from his duties while he recovered, but complications led to his death in the early morning hours of Oct. 17.

Cummings is survived by his wife, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, and three children.

Education Secretary DeVos Criticizes Education R eform Plans of 2020 Candidates U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos called plans by the Democratic presidential candidates to combat the student debt crisis “crazy” on Saturday, pointing out their high costs to taxpayers. While many Democrats in the field aim to decrease rates of student debt, some, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have pledged to end tuition costs at all public universities. DeVos, in an interview with Fox News, called the plans a “federal takeover of higher education,” claiming they would cost taxpayers trillions of dollars.

House Democrats Propose Plan To Lower College Costs The Democrat-majority U.S. House of Representatives revealed its own plan to help alleviate the student debt crisis on Oct. 15, according to The New York Times.

While the plan does not go as far as the proposals by many of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, it hopes to make $400 billion worth of grants and federal funding available over the next 10

years to help reduce the cost of college.

Regulations included in the bill will penalize colleges that produce poor outcomes for students, meaning that colleges will be encouraged to work harder to prepare students for the workforce.

Increases will also be made to the amount of money students receive from Pell Grants, as well as to provide further aid, including housing and food support, to especially disadvantaged students.

Winship Cancer Institute Partners with Atlanta Falcons For Cancer Awareness As part of the NFL’s “Crucial Catch” initiative, the Atlanta Falcons are partnering with Emory Healthcare and the Winship Cancer Institute to promote early detection of cancer.

Matt Bosher, a punter for the Atlanta Falcons whose mother is a breast cancer survivor, is a spokesperson for the program. The Atlanta Falcons held their annual Crucial Catch game on Oct. 20, but the program will run through the end of October.

— Contact Musa Ya-Sin at musa.ya-sin@emory.edu

SUPREME COURT

Emory Joins 18 Schools in Amicus Brief Supporting DACA

By Christopher Labaza Contributing Writer

Emory and 18 other colleges and universities filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. An amicus curiae brief is a supplementary document that provides insight and expertise for the court when making a ruling.

Emory had filed a similar amicus brief along with 19 other universities in 2017 while the case was seen in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

All 19 educational institutions filing the brief have admitted individu-

als with DACA status, and argue that DACA enables undocumented students to receive the educations that they deserve. Other peer institutions signed the brief including Duke University, Georgetown University, Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University and eight of the nine Ivy League schools. “[B]y virtue of DACA … these students have been able for the first time to access educational and life opportunities on nearly equal terms with their peers,” the brief states.

The group also expressed their concerns that their missions of educating “the most gifted and motivated young people in the world” would be jeopardized if undocumented students were denied the deferred action that DACA

provides.

The brief cites a section of the Emory College Study Abroad Vision Statement, which notes the importance of study abroad experiences in preparing students for “future scholarship and careers.”

With DACA status, participating students receive the opportunity to study abroad, as well as find offcampus internships and on-campus research positions.

DACA was established in 2012 through an executive order by former President Barack Obama. Run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the program aimed to allow children who entered the U.S. under the age of 16 “to request consideration

Crime Report Compiled By Phyllis Guo

On Oct. 9 at 8:41 a.m., the Emory Police Department (EPD) responded to Robert W. Woodruff Library in reference to a theft report. The complainant, an Emory student, said his wallet and Apple AirPods were stolen while he was studying on the first floor of the library near the prayer room. He said he left the wallet and the Apple AirPods to fill his water bottle and speak with another student between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. He noticed that when he returned, the wallet and Apple AirPods were gone.

The complainant valued the wallet at $60 and described it as a thin black faux leather wallet. The complainant stated that the wallet contained two credit cards that had been used to attempt purchases totalling $305. He had already frozen his accounts, so the charges did not go through.

On Oct. 10 at 5:44 p.m., EPD received an anonymous rape report from a Campus Security Authority (CSA) regarding aggravated assault.

The disclosure was made to the CSA on Oct. 10, and the report was made

for statistical purposes.

On Oct. 11 at 9:08 p.m., EPD responded to the Emory University Hospital (EUH) Tower Emergency Department in reference to a report of an assault. The complainant, an EUH Emergency Department technician, said a psychiatric patient had an episode. The technician said that the patient left her room to use the bathroom but suddenly grabbed a nearby computer monitor and broke the arm of the mount that connected it to the desk. No one on the scene was able to provide an estimate for the cost to replace the mounting arm. The technician said that she approached the patient to return her to her room, but the patient then grabbed the technician’s arms and scratched her from her elbow to her wrist.

The technician said other staff came to assist and got the patient under control.

On Oct. 14 at 5:23 p.m., EPD responded to the EUH Tower in reference to a theft report. The complainant, an Emory Healthcare employee, said her pair of white Apple AirPods was stolen from a nursing work sta-

of deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and eligibility for work authorization.”

The Emory Campus Life website provides a list of resources for undocumented students who both have and don’t have DACA status.

Emory University Assistant Vice President of Reputation Management Laura Diamond wrote in an Oct. 15 email statement that the University is welcoming of all students, “regardless of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or immigration status.”

“We know exceptional students are part of every community, and we believe our community benefits from this diversity,” the statement says.

Following President Donald J. Trump’s 2017 decision to phase DACA out, several lawsuits challenged the action’s constitutionality.

The dispute culminated in an ongoing case that reached the Supreme Court in June 2019. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is not granting deferred action status to new recipients while the case awaits decision but will continue to renew existing grants.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in November and is expected to make a ruling on the case by June 2020.

— Contact Christopher Labaza at clabaza@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

tion on the same day between 8:35 a.m. and 1 p.m. The complainant stated it was also possible that she left the item at the main nursing station for the floor.

On Oct. 15 at 12:30 p.m., EPD responded to the EUH Tower in reference to a theft report. The complainant, an Emory Healthcare employee, said that sometime between Oct. 6 and 7, $240 in cash was stolen from her wallet which was located in her nursing bag. She said she last saw the cash at approximately 6 a.m. on Oct. 6 before leaving for work and that she had placed her bag containing the money in the staff break room. She said she did not notice her money missing until approximately 9:15 a.m. on Oct. 7. The complainant stated she had originally had about $260 total in cash but only $20 remained. She also said that none of her financial transaction cards were missing, nor did any of the corresponding accounts accrue any fraudulent charges.

— Contact Phyllis Guo at phyllis.guo@emory.edu

Volume 100, Number 32 © 2019 The Emory Wheel Alumni Memorial University Center, Room 401 630 Means Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322 Business (404) 727-6178 Editors-in-Chief Nicole Sadek and Niraj Naik nwsadek@emory.edu and nhnaik@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 Wheel is printed every Wednesday during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions. A single copy of the Wheel is free of charge. To purchase additional copies, please call (404) 727-6178.

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 Oct. 9 issue, “Alumnus Musician to Release New Jazz Album” incorrectly states that Craig Greenberg (98C) played jazz at Maggie’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill while at Emory, and that he will soon release a jazz album. In fact, Greenberg played rock ‘n’ roll while at Emory, and his new album will comprise of piano rock.

• In the Oct. 9 issue, “Ziere Bridges Culture Consumers With Local Creatives” incorrectly states that Culturebase launches this fall. In fact, it launches this winter.

• In the Oct. 9 issue, “SGA Should Follow Student Bill of Rights with Actionable Plans” incorrectly stated that Jasmine Cui is a College Council legislator. In fact, Cui is an Student Government Association representative.

4

NEWS

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Local Oxford Plant Accused of Air Pollution

Continued from Page 1

54.5 pounds of ethylene oxide emissions into the air in September.

In August, Georgia EPD requested BD Bard to prove that it had reduced its ethylene oxide emissions, but the plant has taken “few, if any, demonstrable steps” to meet this request, according to the complaint.

On Sept. 24, the plant disclosed to Georgia EPD that as a result of an operator error, the valve on the chamber vent where ethylene oxide is used to sterilize medical devices was discovered to be partially open, releasing the pollutant into the atmosphere over the course of eight days between Sept. 15 and 22.

According to the complaint, the September leakage is a violation of BD Bard’s air quality permit and the Georgia Air Quality Act, which requires that sterilization chamber vents reduce ethylene oxide emissions by up to 99 percent when operating. BD Bard’s chambers only reduced emissions up to 97.3 percent during this period.

BD Bard firmly opposed the state and city governments’ attempted move to shut down the facility in a statement emailed to the Wheel on Monday by BD Bard Senior Director of Public Relations Troy Kirkpatrick. The company argued that state and local officials are failing to accept cooperative dialogue initiated by the company.

“Governor Brian Kemp, the Georgia EPD and [Covington City] Mayor [Ronnie] Johnston are ignoring science and facts and may be creating a risk to the health and safety of patients, including the elderly and children that rely on these devices to deliver critical interventions,” the statement reads. “[Georgia] EPD has aided consistent misunder-

standing and misplaced public hysteria about ethylene oxide.”

The statement also says that the company has been working with Georgia EPD to voluntarily implement an $8 million investment to reduce emissions.

The City of Covington’s Request

Covington Mayor Ronnie Johnston and the Covington City Council requested in an Oct. 16 letter to BD Bard that the company temporarily shut down the medical manufacturing plant after the city reviewed test results of ethylene oxide levels near the plant.

The city contracted Montrose Air Quality Services to conduct tests for the chemical in 11 locations around the city between Sept. 17 and 23. The results found the average concentration of ethylene oxide to be 1.97 micrograms per cubic meter — higher than the EPA’s acceptable concentration risk of 0.02 micrograms.

The test results showed particularly high concentrations near the Settlers Grove and Covington Mill neighborhoods, according to the city’s press statement.

BD Bard released results of tests for ethylene oxide conducted by independent tester Ramboll, an environmental engineering firm, between Sept. 17 and 23. The results show the period’s median concentration of the chemical, which BD Bard argued is a more applicable measure in this case, was 1.2 micrograms per cubic meter.

“1.2 micrograms of [ethylene oxide] per cubic meter of air, is well below permissible exposure limits set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

(TCEQ), but is greater than the screening value set by U.S. EPA, which does not account for background levels,” the statement reads.

Georgia EPD Director of Communications Kevin Chambers called the city’s test results “deeply troubling” in an Oct. 16 press statement and said the agency would double its testing frequency at the plant and “determine what regulatory action may be necessary for the surrounding community’s safety.”

“Due to this leak, EPD has opened an investigation into the Covington BD facility,” the statement reads. “The safety of Georgia families remains the state’s top priority, and BD will be held accountable to the fullest extent available under current law.”

The agency said it is also working with Kemp’s office to form an environmental task force that examines the regulation of medical sterilization companies and ethylene oxide use in Georgia.

Oxford SGA President Rachel Ding (20Ox) told the Wheel in a statement on Tuesday that the body supports the city’s evaluation and that she will discuss the situation and next steps at their Wednesday meeting. “[Oxford] SGA supports the City of Covington’s statement and the Executive Board concluded that the facility is a community and health concern for students, faculty, and staff,” Ding wrote. “Although the company statement claims that there is no proven harm, the estimated cases of cancer per million is more than double the acceptable EPA standard.”

— Contact Isaiah Poritz at iporitz@ emory.edu and Madison Bober at madison.bober@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel GRADUATE SCHOOL

GSGA Discusses Survey, Conduct Board

By Musa Ya-Sin Contributing Writer

The Graduate Student Government Association (GSGA) discussed the rough draft of a survey that would poll students from across the University’s seven graduate schools during their Oct. 16 meeting.

GSGA President Cody Long (20L) also announced plans for a University-wide conduct board, as well as possible changes to the academic appeals process.

GSGA Discusses P lans for Graduate School-Wide Survey GSGA provided feedback on and suggested changes to a survey meant to gauge graduate student experience.

The survey is planned for launch in November and will run for approximately six weeks.

“The goal of the survey is to get a feel of campus climate for graduate students, seeing how Emory University is doing in a lot of key areas,” said Vice President of External Affairs Aaron Blakney (20PH), who is in charge of writing the survey. “We want to get a better idea of the general campus atmosphere, how we can do better as a graduate student government organization, as well as going to the Emory University administration to push for changes.”

The survey will collect information that ranges from demographics

to overall satisfaction with many aspects of the graduate student experience.

This includes satisfaction with present options for housing, health and transportation.

The feedback received from the survey will help GSGA lobby the Emory administration for changes that could improve the graduate student experience, according to Blakney.

GSGA to Meet with A dministration about Graduate Student C oncerns Long announced that the legislature has begun reaching out to Campus Life to discuss plans for a University-wide student behavioral conduct board.

Long said he will also meet with outgoing Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Dwight A. McBride to discuss religious observations.

He noted that the coinciding of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, with Spring 2020 finals, poses a significant concern for affected students.

Additionally, Long said he will discuss a process that will allow students to receive third-party re-evaluation for academic appeals that the deans of their respective graduate schools may already have denied.

— Contact Musa Ya-Sin at musa.ya-sin@emory.edu

FUNDING

SUSTAINABILITY

Emory Wins State Prof. Receives Grant for Cancer Research Recycling Award

By Franklin Nossiter Contributing Writer

By Isabel Coyle Contributing Writer The Georgia Recycling Coalition awarded Emory University the Spirit of Green Award for the school’s commitment to sustainability and its innovative efforts toward recycling.

Georgia Recycling Coalition Executive Director Gloria Hardegree said judging criteria included “longevity of the program, recovery rates of materials being recycled, how the economics of the program work, plus the overall impact.”

She also noted viability, innovation and replicability as important in determining the award-winning program.

Director of Sustainability Initiatives at Emory Ciannat Howett said she is impressed by the breadth and scope of the University’s program.

She listed the University’s zerowaste program, five different streams of recycling and a waste diversion rate of greater than 75 percent as accomplishments that impressed the coalition. The University didn’t always prioritize recycling, said Howett, who became director in 2006.

“We were at about 20-22 percent [with] recycling,” Howett said. “When we put the landfill diversion policy in place, we were having trouble exceeding around 50 percent.”

Howett noted that the University hopes to increase its waste diversion rate and aims to reach 95 percent waste diversion by 2025.

“We’re exploring a lot of different options, talking to corporate, higher [education] and municipal groups on this issue, both nationally and

internationally,” Howett said. “It is a process, and it’s not a clear path because people haven’t done this before.”

Howett touted the importance of Emory community members being conscientious about sorting their waste and using the compost, which can help control atmospheric carbon dioxide rates and serve as decent fertilizer.

She noted that when Emory examines its carbon footprint, it takes into account the tonnage of waste sent to the landfill because methane is released as a byproduct of decomposition at the landfill.

However, Howett said her office sometimes receives complaints from compost vendors about the missorting of materials in compost bags, resulting in vendors rejecting the bags.

“I always think of it as a meditation sort of, as an act of mindfulness,” she said. “Taking responsibility for what you’ve eaten and what you’ve chosen to buy, and [helping] do something positive.”

Howett noted that she believes the Emory community cares about waste diversion because many people have expressed concern about the locations of landfills.

“For students who care about equity — and I think most students care about climate and equity… — the siting of the landfills has been shown to be very unfair, and many of those landfills are placed in low-income, often minority neighborhoods,” Howett said. “It reduces property values, and it reduces the quality of life.”

— Contact Isabel Coyle at isabel.anne.coyle@emory.edu

Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health Lauren McCullough will receive $446,402 as part of new funding from the Susan G. Komen foundation to research breast cancer, the foundation announced on Sept. 16. The Foundation will award $26 million in total.

McCullough’s current research focuses on disparities in cancer outcomes for African-American women experiencing metastatic (Stage 4) breast cancer.

“In 2018, [Susan G. Komen] really wanted to focus more on disparities research,” McCullough said. “The research I was interested in and that I was proposing was very consistent with their priorities and very consistent with some of the things that are happening in and around the city of Atlanta.”

The Susan G. Komen foundation has worked with McCullough previously, and McCullough also sits on their advisory board.

“We work very closely with Emory and with Rollins, and we have been working with [McCullough] to support some research she has been doing to understand why this breast health disparity for African-American women exists,” Susan G. Komen Greater Atlanta CEO Cati Stone said. “If you are an African-American woman in metro Atlanta, you are 45 percent more likely to die of breast cancer than your white counterparts.”

McCullough has been involved in researching health disparities since she joined the Emory faculty in 2016.

She stated that she plans to use the grant to fund a variety of research methods examining cancer disparities.

“Ever since I’ve been at Emory, all of my projects have been around disparities,” McCullough said. “Some of my projects look at just the molecular part, some might just look at the social part, some might look at obesity, which I consider to be lifestyle-related. But the Komen grant is unique in that this is the first actual project where we’re bridging all of those things together.”

A diagnosis of metastatic or Stage 4 breast cancer indicates that the cancer has spread to the rest of the body. According to the Susan G. Komen foundation, 42,000 deaths in the United States can be attributed to breast cancer annually, and nearly all result from metastatic breast cancer.

McCullough has been involved in researching health disparities since she joined the Emory faculty in 2016.

Susan G. Komen Greater Atlanta pools its money for research grants with the national foundation and then redistributes that money to breast cancer researchers across the globe.

McCullough credited the foundation with its involvement in the Atlanta community, noting that researchers can often grow alienated from those they work to help. She also lauded the Komen foundation for helping “put faces with all those numbers.”

While Susan G. Komen Greater Atlanta focuses its efforts largely on the metro Atlanta area, McCullough claims that research and work regarding disparities will benefit people throughout the state of Georgia.

“My research, particularly this funding, is for the entire state,” McCullough said. “I think it’s important to think about geography, you know, rurality being a potential barrier for women getting treatment.”

Stone said that the Susan G. Komen foundation is involved in supporting both research and community-based programs in metro Atlanta.

“The African-American disparities work is the cornerstone of our entire street plan at Komen Atlanta,” Stone said. “We provide navigation on the intake side, going out into the community, talking to women and getting them into care.”

Although Susan G. Komen announced nine grants focused around disparities in this funding package and researching disparities has grown as a priority, McCullough said the end remains far from sight.

“There are these really basic questions that I think are foundational in thinking about interventions and [about] narrowing the gap that just haven’t been answered,” McCullough said. “And that’s kind of where this project sits, trying to put some conclusions to that.”

McCullough said that the longstanding lack of focus on disparities in metastatic breast cancer treatment led her to envision the practical outcomes of her research, such as how best to affect the community with future policy and care.

“What’s really going to move the needle the most?” McCullough asked.

“Is it policy? Is it changes in neighborhoods? Is it the molecular tumor characteristics? Where do we get the most bang for our buck?”

— Contact Franklin Nossiter at franklin.bernard.nossiter @emory.edu

NEWS

The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

5

BUDGET

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

SGA Confirms Slew College Council Reallocates $4K Surplus Of Appointments

By Thomas Kreutz Contributing Writer

By Ana Kilbourn & Tanika Deuskar Staff Writer & Senior Staff Writer The 53rd Student Government Association (SGA) appointed two students to the University Senate and three associate justices to the Constitutional Council.

Aman Mavani (23C) and Logan Luczek (22C) were appointed to the University Senate after unanimous confirmation by 11 votes.

Mavani said that he wanted to draw on his experiences with community service to implement change at the college level.

“I applied to SGA because, historically, I have taken initiative in a lot of community service projects,” Mavani said.

Luczek currently serves as the vice president of programming for College Council (CC).

“I work mostly as a vessel of the student voice into governmental organizations like SGA and College Council,” Luczek said, adding that he hopes to “transfer his skills” as a senator.

Among the initiatives that he promotes as part of CC include advocating for the creation of an accredited course for American Sign Language.

Ben Thomas (23C), Pavel Ramirez (23C) and Sarah Gordon (22C) were confirmed unanimously as associate judges on the Constitutional Council.

Thomas expressed a possible career in public interest and constitutional law. Ramirez, an ROTC cadet, attributes his passion for public service to his experience with juvenile court. He expressed distaste for existing student governing documents, saying, “I had a huge blast reading the Constitution ... and [the] Finance Code, and all of it’s really bad.”

Gordon said she will be level-headed and aim for stability as an associate judge.

“I think it’s really, really important that Emory students have a reliable, stable resource to go to when they adjudicate disputes,” said Gordon.

— Contact Ana Kilbourn at akilbou@emory.edu and Tanika Deuskar at tdeuska@emory.edu

The Student Government Association (SGA) returned $4,000 to College Council (CC) after discovering that they would not need the funds to finance their printing initiative.

CC initially budgeted the $4,000 for the initiative in Spring 2019 but SGA later found that they would not need the money, according to CC Vice President of Budget Lyndsey Garbee (21B).

“This year, SGA discovered that when they received the Student Activity Fee, they earned enough interest on that lump sum that they no longer needed the individual council contributions,” Garbee said.

After SGA returned the $4,000, CC passed a bill to reallocate the money to help fund Student Programming Council’s Homecoming concert (SPC).

The bill detailed SGA’s return of money and included an amendment that aimed to expedite the disbursement process by sending the funds directly to SPC rather than adding them to CC’s annual budget. The bill passed on a vote of 13 in favor, two against and two abstaining. Those who did not vote in favor of the bill still sup-

Student Survey Reveals High Rates of Sexual Assault Continued from Page 1 of community behaviour and connectedness. More than 4,300 students responded, a significant increase on the roughly 2,500 respondents in 2015.

The survey showed that women were disproportionately affected by incidents of sexual assault. Among undergraduate women in the College, the survey indicated roughly 250 incidents of sexual assault per 1,000 students.

Of the undergraduate women that responded to the survey, as many as 40 percent reported having experienced incidents of sexual harassment, and roughly 15 percent reporting having experienced sexual assault during the 2017-18 year.

Among graduate and professional women, 39 percent of respondents reported having experienced sexual assault prior to enrolling at Emory.

No clear pattern was evident for stalking.

More than half of all sexual assault incidents reported by students involved alcohol use on the perpetrator’s part.

Despite the figures, there were comparatively fewer instances in which victims filed official reports.

Among undergraduate women at the Atlanta campus, only 7 percent of sexual battery incidents and 9 percent of rape incidents were reported to any on-campus official, hospital or health care center.

While Sales regarded these figures as “extremely unfortunate,” she noted that this problem is not exclusive to Emory.

“I work a lot in non-campus communities,” she said. “It is not a phenomenon unique to campuses. It is very much underreported.”

Sales also acknowledged that reporting incidents of sexual assault is not a straightforward process and is often exacebated by the fact that most survivors know their perpetrators as an acquaintance or friend-of-a-friend.

“I do think that [reporting sexual assault] is a difficult decision-making process,” she said.

Among all demographic groups, at least 10 percent of respondents felt that there were issues related to sexual violence that remained unaddressed by the University.

Roughly 70 percent of all undergraduate students reported that they received training covering the legal definition of sexual assault, and almost 80 percent of this same group reported that they received training on the definition of consent.

These proportions dropped when students were asked if they had received training on sexual assault report procedures or support for victims who come forward.

This disparity could be attributed to the fact that less than a quarter of students reported having received prevention training beyond student orientation.

Among undergraduate women in the College, the survey indicated roughly 250 incidents of sexual assault per 1,000 students.

“Reinforcing information or providing different skills would bolster any impact that those early trainings have,” Sales said.

Sales suggested that a misconception that incidents of sexual violence were restricted to freshmen.

Of all undergraduate women who responded, seniors experienced the second highest rates of sexual assault and rape during the 2017-18 academic year.

Among all undergraduates, seniors and men who had been enrolled for two or more years experienced higher rates of intimate partner violence compared to undergraduates in their first to third year of study.

Nevertheless, the 2018 survey showed significant improvements in

terms of response rates.

Respondents included 1,625 Emory College undergraduates, 289 Oxford College respondents and 2,476 graduate and professional students.

This constituted an overall response rate of 32.3 percent, a significant increase from 2015’s response rate of about 18 percent. Sales, who was a graduate student herself at Emory in the late 1990s and early 2000s, called it “highly encouraging” to observe the significant improvement in response to issues related to sexual violence.

“At that time, there were initiatives to raise awareness around issues related to sexual violence, but I don’t recall [seeing] as much of a presence and discussion as there is now,” Sales said.

While noting that widespread movements, such as the #MeToo movement, have elevated conversations surrounding sexual violence, Sales also credited the Emory student body for their continued dedication to sexual assault prevention and commitment to fostering a positive campus environment.

“Historically at Emory, there have been a lot of student-led initiatives to focus on sexual violence prevention,” she said.

Sales also indicated that the 2015 survey led to a concerted effort from the University to improve its sexual assault prevention program. “[Since 2015,] we have seen commitment … from the University, and an ability to invest in prevention is something that has been continued and expanded as a result of these surveys,” Sales said. “We were able to use that information to make recommendations and create new staff positions.”

If you have been affected by violence and/or would like to speak with someone, the Emory Respect Program offers free confidential advocacy and support through Wanda Swan, the Respect Program director, at wanda. swan@emory.edu or 404-727-7388.

— Contact Matthew Takavarasha at mtakava@emory.edu

ported the decision to give the money to SPC, but had reservations about the allocation process.

CC traditionally separates its budget into funds for student organizations and an executive budget to fund CC events and initiatives. The $4,000 surplus technically comprises money that would have been allocated toward event funding, but CC has decided it’s more effective to put the money toward student organizations.

CC uses two budgets to allocate funds for student organizations.

Operational budgets estimate clubs’ annual spending, and supplementary budgets provide aid for financially compromised clubs when the former budget cannot.

According to Garbee, past budgeting processes allocated money in a way that positioned the supplemental process as a club lifeline. Every two academic weeks, clubs could propose small funding toward impromptu initiatives. However, the supplementary process will be run differently this year, according to Garbee.

“We have pretty limited funding for the remainder of the semester,” Garbee said. “In the past, we allocated roughly 20 percent of our budget upfront, but now we are allocating around 85

percent.”

The change to which Garbee is referring came about in a CC bill passed last year. The bill tightens past budgetary systems by requiring that clubs present operational budgets with more forethought and accuracy regarding yearly spendings.

“There is still money to be allocated throughout the year, but it is significantly less,” Garbee said. “If we allocate it proportionately, an organization receiving a $1,000 operational budget would receive something like $20 in supplemental funding. Close to nothing.”

According to Garbee, this year’s supplementary hearings could resemble that of a grant writing process, which would allocate greater sums of money to a select number of projects.

Garbee said that grants could be a good way to balance equity and impact of the remaining budget but that more work has to be done before the CC budgeting team can present an optimal allocation process.

CC plans to discuss the new supplementary hearings at their next meeting on Oct. 23, according to Garbee.

— Contact Thomas Kreutz at tommy.kreutz@emory.edu

LEGISLATION

Emory Rebuffs New Univ. Excise Tax

By Joe Chamoun Contributing Writer

Executive Vice President for Business and Administration Christopher Augostini wrote an Oct. 1 letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on behalf of Emory with suggested modifications to a new proposed tax code which threatens to increase the University’s expenses.

The proposed modifications would increase tax expenditures on student loans and housing, among other things.

The IRS proposed the new regulation aimed at private institutions of higher education under IRS Code Section 4968 in July.

The proposed regulations impose a 1.4 percent tax on the “net investment income” of institutions that possess assets involved in non-exempt purposes totaling at least $500,000 per student.

Net investment income typically includes income from rent, interests and royalties.

Emory is not alone in its opposition to the new proposed regulations, which were initially created as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

According to Vice President of Policy and Research at the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) Liz Clark, 39 institutions have joined to submit their concerns and comments to the IRS. NACUBO submitted a comment letter that received endorsements from various other educational institutions.

Among the modifications suggested by Augostini was the exemption of taxes on interest income from student loans given by Emory.

He argued that loans to students are essentially deferred tuition payments necessary to supplement the financial need loans given to students.

Additionally, Augostini requested that income from student housing provisions be exempt from taxes

under “net income” because housing is not provided for the purpose of making profit but rather to foster a learning community, and should therefore not be considered rental income.

He also recommended that capital gains on the sale of donated property be exempt from taxation.

Clark said in an interview with the Wheel that NACUBO is supporting legislation to reverse the tax code.

“NACUBO supports the bipartisan Don’t Tax Higher Education Act,” Clark said. “It was recently reintroduced by two members of Congress and would fully repeal the excise tax.”

Clark said that the potential fallout of Section 4968 could result in diminished resources for financial aid, research, public service, and other programs and services that constitute higher education institutions.

Additionally, Clark expressed NACUBO’s concerns over the taxation of student loans and student housing.

“We believe it’s unprecedented and, frankly, an attack on the taxexempt status of institutions,” Clark said.

The proposed rule would establish taxes similar to those levied on private foundations, which the NACUBO opposes, according to Clark.

“We believe that some aspects of the approach follow an excise tax that is currently in place [and] that affects private foundations,” Clark said. “We strongly urge [the] IRS and Treasury [Department] to consider the fact that colleges and universities are not the same as private foundations.”

Section 4968 has not yet been finalized, and the timeline for its implementation remains uncertain.

“It is unclear when will see a final rule,” Clark said. “We are hopeful we may see it near the end of the calendar year, but it is unpredictable when we will see that rule published.”

— Contact Joe Chamoun at joe.chamoun@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Opinion

Wednesday, October 23, 2019 | Opinion Editor: Zach Ball (zach.ball@emory.edu)

Alumnus op-ed

Editorial

Book Burning Prevents Academic Discussion Students who disagreed with the themes of GSU’s Earlier this month, students at Georgia Southern University (GSU) stirred controversy when they burned common-read book should have addressed their issues copies of Jennine Capó Crucet’s book, “Make Your Home through further discourse. Instead of tweeting negative, Among Strangers,” following a contentious Q&A session close-minded responses to Capó Crucet, they could have with the author. The novel, which was required reading used their social media platforms to engage in a discusfor GSU’s freshman class, draws from Capó Crucet’s sion to better understand her views and the lessons her experiences as a Latinx woman on a predominantly book attempts to teach.

Students could have channeled their disagreement white college campus and explores themes of race and into academic research or activism in identity. campus political organizations. Any of The burnings ignited a fire of intolerthese avenues would provide a more conance that is antithetical to productive This was not a structive outlet than the callous burning academic discussion. bonfire for old high they instead chose.

Common reads for freshman college However, it is also clear there was students aim to encourage engagement school homework, a prejudiced motivation to this book with contemporary issues and spark but an act meant burning. White students burned Capó insightful conversations. to subvert mature Crucet’s book because her provocative The burning of Capó Crucet’s novel talk threatened their sense of entitlediscussion of Capó subverted the dialogue her book was ment. Their actions were nothing more meant to foster and demonstrated an Crucet’s work. The than a show of hateful ignorance. unwillingness to engage with opposing burnings shifted the Universities like GSU should emphatviewpoints in a mature manner. conversation from ically denounce this kind of vitriol. They Though we acknowledge the constishould have also adequately addressed tutional right to do so, we unequivocally issues of prejudice the racial context of the book. condemn the act of book burning in any to the act of book If issues of whiteness and white context. burning itself. privilege are going to be addressed on It is a tool meant to stifle mature majority-white campuses, schools must engagement with controversial topics. contextualize those issues through postMoreover, the decision to destroy books is rooted in a history of suppressing voices and ideas, conversation workshops and follow-up discussions to the initial talk. particularly those of minorities.

The GSU administration is at fault for their lackluster We don’t know if the students who burned the books had the intent of initiating further dialogue. Regardless, response to the incident. Though the students did have the burning was a blatant show of disrespect rather than the right to burn their books, that action coupled with harassing activity on Twitter demands that the university a productive means to protest.

Following Capó Crucet’s Q&A session, some students more strongly condemn their actions for the intolerance tweeted at her pictures of torn pages from her book and and ignorance they displayed.

The incidents at GSU fall into a larger pattern of accused her of racism toward white people. The tweets, in addition to the book burnings, demonstrate an ignorance emboldening white privilege in Trump’s America. The August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, to issues of real prejudice and inequality.

This was not a bonfire for old high school homework, Va., and the mocking of a Native American by MAGA hatbut an act meant to subvert mature discussion of Capó wearing students at a Washington, D.C. rally also serve as clear examples of an increasingly empowered group of Crucet’s work.

The burnings shifted the conversation from issues of white nationalists.

Book burning and equally destructive acts cannot prejudice to the act of book burning itself.

The result has been countless articles about the burn- become the norm for students responding to contrasting ing incident and almost no further discussion of the opinions.

The essence of a college education is creating an enviauthor’s work.

In fact, by writing this article, we are complicit in ronment where variegated ideas can be readily debated steering the conversation away from the issues of privi- with good-faith dialogue, no matter how disagreeable we may find them to be. lege in higher educational settings.

The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board The Editorial Board is composed of Zach Ball, Devin Bog, Jake Busch, Meredith McKelvey, Andrew Kliewer, Boris Niyonzima, Nick Pernas and Kimia Tabatabaei.

The Emory Wheel Nicole Sadek & Niraj Naik Editors-in-Chief Seungeun Cho Executive Editor Annie Uichanco Managing Editor Shreya Pabbaraju Managing Editor

Volume 100 | Number 32 A lex K lugerman Editor-at-Large Jacqueline Ma Copy Editor Isaiah Poritz News Editor Z ach Ball Opinion Editor A desola Thomas A&E Editor Caroline Silva Emory Life Editor Ryan Callahan Sports Editor

Forrest Martin Photo Editor Cailen Chinn Multimedia Editor R ichard Chess Senior Editor Aditya Prakash Associate Editor Devin Bog Associate Editor Jesse Weiner Associate Editor Madison Stephens Asst. Copy Editor

Business and Advertising Joshua Papson Business Manager Mileen Meyer Design Manager Business/Advertising Email wheelbusinessmanager@gmail.com

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.

Students, Consider a Career in Podcasting Isabeth Mendoza

When you scroll through Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any podcast application, you won’t see any Generation Z-produced shows dominating the charts — even though Americans aged 12 to 24 were the key demographic that increased in listenership this year, surpassing the previously largest group of 25-34 year olds.

There is a huge need to fill in various gaps in the audio world: the voices, experiences and production skills of Gen Z, millennials, people of color, trans and non-binary identifying people, immigrant, first-generation Americans, and people with disabilities. Efforts have been made to disprove the often-made claim of “we just can’t find any diverse people to hire.”

At the 2018 Third Coast Festival, an annual audio conference hosted in Chicago, a multidisciplinary artist and freelance producer named Phoebe Wang used her acceptance speech for the Best New Artist award to call out the whiteness of the industry.

This led to Wang, along with a group of four other audio producers — Adizah Eghan, Zakiya Gibbons, Aliya Pabani and Afi Yellow-Duke — to build a directory of people of color in the audio world.

Martina Castro, founder of Podcasteros, wanted to bring together the Spanish-language podcast community and has created a talent directory, newsletter, ambassador program and webinar program that has a global reach.

Berry Syk, creator of Podcasts In Color, has been gathering all podcasts created by people of color and made a directory of categories.

These are just some of the formalized efforts initiated, led and maintained by the same people who are usually the only diversity on their teams and do unpaid recruitment and hiring tasks.

This is the current state of the podcasting industry and while much of the focus has been on the racial and ethnic aspects of diversity, as a graduate of Emory’s Rollins School of Public

Health, I want to incite Emory students who are interested in exploring podcasting to dive in.

There is a huge need for Generation Z to express their opinions, share their experiences and root the rest of the world in their realities. Especially if you self-identify with any of the identities that the industry is lacking.

I’ve asked myself many times, “But who cares about what I have to say?” and, “I am not an expert so let me graduate and get this degree first,” or even, “I am not ready to share my voice with the world.”

I get it. But my response is, do it anyway.

Youth and people with intersectional identities are drivers of society with immense power, value and creativity.

Despite the messages that we are told, it is undeniable that the world we are about to inherit can and should be shaped by us.

I’ve witnessed the confidence of basic people with basic ideas pursuing their dreams and getting support at all levels.

So, why not you?

Once you step outside the bounds of the college community, you will have to unlearn the academic habits you created to survive and get to graduation day. You will have to learn new ways to communicate with people in accessible and relatable terms.

You’re going to struggle finding your voice and your place as you adjust to the new chapter in your life. I believe podcasting can be that creative outlet where you put it all into practice.

But you don’t need to wait until graduation because the podcast industry is growing daily and thousands of people are uploading their new shows to Apple everyday.

The audio world may not have recognized you and your voice as an asset just yet, but I am here to tell you that you are a treasure and we can’t wait to hear you on the audio waves.

Isabeth Mendoza (18P.H.) is a bilingual independent audio producer based in her hometown of Southeast Los Angeles, working on ways to bridge audio, health and social justice across borders.

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The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

7

Alumni Reflect on State of Journalism Wheel Emory Must Revive Journalistic Curriculum

Evolves Politically Jack Turbiville As we celebrate the 100th birthday of this independent newspaper, it’s interesting to look back at some important journalistic events in the United States, Georgia and Emory. I was editor-in-chief of the Wheel from 1956 until 1957. At that time, the governor of Georgia was Marvin Griffin, a solid segregationist. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court had nullified school segregation, Georgia was among several states which defied the court. Nevertheless, we ran an editorial in the Wheel in 1956 suggesting that “the University should consider enrolling qualified colored students.”

We knew this was impossible because, regardless of the ruling, the state of Georgia prohibited any racial integration in educational institutions with penalty that their state tax exemption would be abolished. But the Wheel editorial inaugurated a lot of discussion on this subject. It took some time and another ruling by the Supreme Court, but, finally, in 1962 Emory was able to admit African American students.

This was not celebrated everywhere in Georgia. Not only the Wheel, but The Atlanta Constitution was very positive on the issue, but many politicians still liked to attack “them lyin’ Atlanta newspapers.” (Does that sound like something we hear again these days?)

Race was not the only monumental change at Emory in that period.

In my freshman year, 1953, a major event took place — Emory campus became “co-ed.” The first female students were admitted to the College, the Business School and other divisional schools. There was just a small group of these brave co-eds the first year, but it was the beginning of a new era.

The Wheel started featuring “Wheel Girl of the Week” photos, even one of a visiting “playmate” from Playboy Magazine. But old habits didn’t disappear immediately.

For example, that first year, the physical education courses in the swimming pool remained all-male, and “all nude!” The political situation in Georgia began to advance (if we can forget about former Gov. Lester Maddox), with more progressive governors, especially Jimmy Carter in the early ’70s. And then he became president, with such bold decisions as appointing Atlantan Andrew Young as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Young had already served as a principal member of the team of Martin Luther King, Jr., and later, he was mayor of Atlanta. It was an excellent choice that he was the principal speaker at Emory’s commencement last year. I had the pleasure of travelling with him in Europe when I was Georgia’s European representative for economic development, and he came with delegations of Atlanta’s business leaders.

In short, that was a period of enormous changes, and I am glad to have participated a little, thanks to our newspaper. So, congratulations to the Wheel for 100 years of contribution to the great reputation of Emory, and I am hoping for another 100 years of imaginative, independent journalism.

Jack Turbiville (57B) served as the 1956-57 editor-in-chief of the Wheel.

Sonam Vashi When I was a freshman at Emory, I fell in love. Before then, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life: I hated the idea of being in school for a long time, found too many subjects interesting to commit to one and — most importantly — wanted a job that wouldn’t force me to dress (*shudders*) business casual.

I joined the Wheel and took a journalism class, became enamored with telling stories and the prospect of being a professional learner and sealed my fate.

But in the Fall of 2012, when I was a sophomore, Emory College announced “department changes” — plans to shut down or suspend programs, including journalism and the visual arts department.

“Academic eminence means being leaders in all aspects of our academic mission,” the College dean said at the time. “The academic mission includes the educational mission … and it also means creating communities in which our faculty are leading conversations on issues of significance and relevance both nationally and internationally.”

The journalism program, estab- recently reported that the number lished in 1997 through a $1.35 of magazine articles optioned by million Cox Foundation endow- TV studios and streaming servicment, with the help of legendary es has “soared,” and that articles New York Times reporter Claude that used to go for “$5,000 or $10,000 to option are now going Sitton, was shuttered.

I was one of the last Emory stu- for $20,000 to $50,000.

A few have even sold for north dents to graduate with a degree in journalism, and I joined the ranks of $100,000” — just for the rights.

Concurrent with the revival of of alumni who went on to have nonfiction storycareers in the field, telling is a renewed many of whom focus on news lityou’ll see in the It still irks me that eracy, brought on pages of the Wheel this week.

Emory — a school by accusations that theoretically legitiBut it still irks with such strong mate news outlets me that Emory — creative writing, (like my former a school with such strong creative history and political employer, CNN) are and by actual writing, history science departments “fake” “fake news” floodand political sci— decided not to ing Americans’ ence departments socia l med ia — decided not to make a concerted accounts during the make a concerted investment in the 2016 election cycle. investment in the intersection of News literacy intersection of classes teach the those, a discipline those. process of creatthat, particularly ing the news — since the 2016 election, has become vital to under- explaining concepts of fairness, rather than the fictional concept standing our world.

It’s not too late. The news busi- of “objectivity,” that help demysness may be, uh, a little broken, tify how journalists make choices, but journalism is experiencing a how biases might creep in and how facts get checked — which renaissance of a different kind.

Narrative nonfiction — telling can help re-instill trust in the 100 percent true stories using cre- Fourth Estate.

Importantly, they also help ative techniques, like longform magazine journalism — become a create engaged citizens, teaching frequent testing ground for stories non-journalists how to get pubthat end up becoming TV shows or lic records and access archives and which government officials movies.

(The recent stripper-thriller are accountable for what, which “Hustlers” and the upcoming Mr. can help empower communities, Rogers movie “A Beautiful Day in particularly those who’ve been the Neighborhood” are both based marginalized.

Emory offers a wonderful nonon magazine articles that were optioned for film.) Bloomberg fiction class in the Creative Writing

program, taught by Professor of Practice Hank Klibanoff, and a couple of classes in other departments every now and then which might focus on news.

But it’s not enough: The College should seriously consider investing in the creation of a journalism program, or increasing its existence in other departments.

Partnerships with Creative Writing and Film and Media Studies could yield interesting experiments in writing narrative nonfiction and adapting the story for the screen — though there will still need to be emphasis on the mechanics of reporting, since true stories require an ability to obtain the facts.

A journalistic faction of the History or Political Science departments would similarly add much-needed skills.

How can we better train historians to tell stories urgent to the present — like lynchings of Black Georgians — effectively to a wider audience?

How can we create a more informed, involved populace, one that actually votes in elections?

Maybe a journalism major won’t make you rich, or yield a full-time job, but to me, it’s the very way to create an “inquirydriven, ethically engaged, and diverse community.”

I’m grateful for the experiences I was able to have with journalism at Emory. I hope others who pass through this school will have the chance to fall in love as well.

Sonam Vashi (15C) is a freelance journalist in Atlanta who’s written for CNN, The Washington Post, Atlanta magazine, and more.

College Newspapers Encourage Active Listening

Stephen Fowler It wasn’t until I reported a story about a fish in a river that I fully realized the most important thing I learned from three years of working at The Emory Wheel as an undergraduate.

Writing in AP style, rigorous fact-checking and effective time management are all things that I use daily as a political reporter, but the empathetic listening skills developed while working at a college newspaper are what motivates me to continue in journalism.

I had this realization while standing waist-deep in the Flint River, microphone in one hand, camera in the other while talking to a fishing guide named Allen who was showing me this hidden oasis for a beautiful fish known as a shoal bass.

The hook for the original story was a failed bill in the state legislature that wanted to make the shoal

bass Georgia’s official river fish.

From my desk, it seemed like a quirky, fun story to run in a series about the outdoors.

After spending the day with Allen and others around the river 80 miles south of Atlanta, I was reminded of the human side of the story: a conservationist working to keep the water supply clean, the state representative who wanted to bring tourism to a more neglected area and Allen, whose livelihood depends on someone hearing his story.

Journalism can sometimes be a zero-sum game: thing A happens, person B has a comment and person C offers a different perspective and voila, a complete story is told.

My time at the Wheel taught me to think about journalism as a multiplier instead.

Few places outside of a college campus will you find such a confluence of differing backgrounds and experiences, and few places so openly invite curiosity and the space to learn, too.

The Wheel was (and is) a place for all of it. The sports section wasn’t just box scores, arts and entertainment wasn’t just for pithy opinions on pop albums and news wasn’t just a rubberstamp rewrite of press releases.

There were real people, real perspectives and real effects to the journalism we did.

Working as a reporter and editor for the Wheel while balancing

classes, rehearsals, other extracurriculars and trying to have a social life made me more understanding about the time and energy involved in asking people for comment — but also their time and energy responding.

It wasn’t until I reported a story about a fish in a river that I fully realized the most important thing I learned from three years of working at The Emory Wheel as an undergraduate.

It is also much easier to remember that there is a real person behind a quote in a story when you see them in the dining hall or have class with them twice a week — something I keep in mind in all of my stories today.

Being a part of a college newspaper is open and accessible, and not just for those declared as journalism majors (in fact, Emory cut the journalism program while I was there — something the Wheel covered quite well) or people with experience and internships under their belts.

As I travel across Georgia to

report on serious topics like election security, reproductive rights and the economy, I think back to those long nights working on page layouts, editing stories and trying to keep the campus informed and engaged, and am humbled to be a part of a 100-year history.

Even in the internet age, college newspapers are struggling to stay afloat as local news writ large is much the same. Yet the Wheel remains.

Writers and editors at the Wheel in decades past did not have the luxury of Adobe InDesign, or Twitter or even a distracting Spotify playlist to help them produce the paper week in and week out like students have today.

But looking back on those yellowed archives in the offices and my own experiences, I am certain of one thing that has remained constant in 100 years of the Wheel.

The student journalists who devote their time to the paper know how to listen to the community’s needs and make the world sound a little bit better.

Stephen Fowler (16C) is the political reporter at Georgia Public Broadcasting, the statewide NPR affiliate in Georgia. He graduated from Emory with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and covered the central administration and Greek Life for the Wheel before serving as assistant news editor, Emory Life editor and the Executive Digital Editor from 2015-16.

8

The road to 100 years

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EMORY WHEEL In 2019, The Emory Wheel turns 100 years old.

Take a look back at its journey.

1919

1943

First Woman Heads The Publication First Publication of The Emory Wheel On December of 1919, Emory students published the first issue of The Emory Wheel.

The organization, chartered by the Student Government Association, was created to help petition the University to establish a varsity athletics program at Emory.

During World War II, Madeline Rose Hosmer became the first female editor-in-chief of the Wheel. During this time, many male Emory students were serving in the war.

1970 The New Times Competes With the Wheel

2001

After a disputed election for editor-in-chief in Spring of 1970, the losing candidate J. Randolph Bugg became the first editor of The Emory New Times, a competing campus newspaper.

Late 1980s The Wheel Becomes Financially Independent The Emory Wheel Establishes Website In 2001, the Wheel purchased the domain emorywheel.com and began uploading articles online. The publication was still focused on biweekly print issues.

Since the late ’80s, the Wheel has not received financial support from Emory or through the student government. The independent structure allows the Wheel to be fiscally and editorially ethical in covering the University.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EMORY WHEEL

2005

2015 OPINION Yik Yak is a powerful and destructive mobile tool

page

12

A&E Symposium celebrates student art, performances

The Hub Publishes First Issue page

14

SPORTS Men’s and women’s XC take first at regionals

page

22

DEMANDING ACTION Black student activists outline demands for administration

In 2005, the paper began to publish an award-winning, quarterly magazine called The Hub, which included stories on student veterans and successful alumni as well as campus features.

News story | pg. 4 our opiNioN | pg. 11 op-ed | pg. 10

The Paper Returns to Weekly Publication

2016

On its 95th Anniversary, the Wheel reduced its print schedule to once a week and angled toward becoming a digital-first publication.

The Wheel experimented with a magazine format for the print issue, but ultimately returned to broadsheet the following year.

Independent Editorial Board is Formed

2019

In an effort to divide news coverage and opinion writing, former Editor-in-Chief Zak Hudak restructured the Wheel to form a new Editorial Board, which debates and develops the paper’s official stance on campus, local and national issues. The Board won a 2018 SPJ Mark of Excellence award.

The Wheel Celebrates Centennial Today, the Wheel continues to publish weekly, with a distribution of 3,000 papers around campus and a digital presence at https://emorywheel.com.

SUPPORT THE EMORY WHEEL FOR 100 MORE YEARS This issue is part of the celebration of the Wheel’s 100th Anniversary.

To support the Wheel and student journalism at Emory, please go to emorywheel.com/donate.

9

10

THROUGH THE YEARS The Wheel Publishes First Issue

WWII Vets Enroll at Emory

Emory College Accepts Women

Emory University Desegregates

December 12, 1919

March 26, 1953

September 27, 1945

April 5, 1962

11

THROUGH THE YEARS Woodruff Donates $100 Million

Wheel Investigates Student Murder

Lipstadt Sued, KA Lowers Confederate Flag

Emory Remembers September 11 Victims

November 13, 1979

January 25, 2000

April 15, 1994

September 13, 2002

12

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Crossword

The Emory Wheel

CROSSWORD

By Aditya Prakash Associate Editor

Across

Down

1. Atlanta-based rap duo performing at the Homecoming concert 10. Cinema Chain with a Stubs system 14. What you might catch standing out in the cold 15. Japanese seasoning flakes 16. Strapped for cash 17. What Pingu does in reaction to anything 19. Sid Meier’s turn-based strategy game 20. Adheres to surfaces through a vacuum 22. ___ ___; cute laughter 23. One gene leading to many traits 24. Sends you Amber alerts 25. Uttered 26. Professional stone thrower, on ice 30. Malicious television (pun) 32. Neck warmer 33. Many French Christmases 34. General famous for his chicken 35. Past tense of blowing onomatopoeia 36. Landscape architecture firm 38. 1000 kilograms 39. Pertaining to the beginning of something 42. “I Want It That Way” band in short 45. To compete 46. ___, wots dis?

47. Swiss last name 48. Where food is contained cylindrically 51. Accepted 52. Middle areas of ships 53. “___ to Joy”, “___ to Billy Joe” (plural) 54. Rapper headlining the Homecoming concert

1. Critical era 2. Orphan girl on Broadway 3. To plunder 4. Bath space 5. In text talk, encourages future contact 6. “Go forth!”

7. Possessing sharp corners 8. Many of a sibling’s daughters 9. “Lighting”, ex-world champion lightweight boxer 10. One who provides explanatory comments 11. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” theme 12. Steve Irwin prey 13. Ab exercise 18. Covert agent 21. Apple software 26. Iowa Timezone 27. Lacking comfort and stability 28. Texan steakhouse chain 29. Unfinished business 31. Psychedelic rock fuel 33. 130 year old video game company 35. In chemistry, relating to the top of Group 13 37. Gymn___, enthusi___, utopi___ 38. Japanese flooring mat 39. Just a number 40. Modern Edo 41. Touch in Spanish 42. Informal term for a group of male friends 43. Brushed the floor 44. Overbearing, normally in relation to a superior 49. Serial number assigned to phone 50. Dorm programming committee

&

The Emory Wheel

Arts Entertainment Wednesday, October 23, 2019 | Arts & Entertainment Editor: Adesola Thomas (adesola.thomas@emory.edu)

High Musuem Exhibit

Candler Concert Series

Sally Mann Captures Complexity of the South

By Elizabeth Greene Contributing Writer

Courtesy of Mike Koenig Photography

Gamelan master Darsono Hadiraharjo, a visiting fellow from Cornell University (N.Y.), performs with the Emory Gamelan Ensemble in the Performing Arts Studio on Oct. 19.

‘Once’ Musical Delivers Folksy Sound

By Charlotte Selton Contributing Writer

When I attended “Once,” I expected that a performance about a fledgling romance between a working-class, aspiring musician and an immigrant mother would offer a grand political or social statement. “Once” did not deliver that. Instead, the musical demonstrated the power of music to inspire and connect us, even without much plot or characterization. This 2012 Tony Award-winning show, based on the 2007 film of the same name, came to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre for a one-night spectacle on Oct. 11. The two lead

characters, named simply Guy and Girl, are only slightly more developed than their names. Guy (Jack Gerhard) despondently works in his father’s vacuum cleaner repair shop in Dublin, bitter and pining over his ex-girlfriend who lives in New York City.

Despite a beautiful voice and a gift for songwriting, he abandons his guitar on the street. However, Girl (Mariah Lotz) recognizes Guy’s musical talent and encourages him not to give up. Over the next week, Girl reinvigorates Guy’s mundane life, convincing him to record a demo album so that he can move to New York and get discovered. The plot fails to develop

Art that’s aged poorly

beyond this central quest, and the musical’s few moments of conflict are undercut by the supposed rapidity of the events. How invested can I be in a relationship that is only days old?

“Once” has not aged exceptionally well, with jokes about domestic abuse, aggressive courting and a gay character that fall somewhat flat, more awkward than outright offensive.

Moreover, while none of the characters are fully developed, Girl’s “manic pixie dream girl” characterization has much more in common with a male artist’s fantasy than with an adult

See Musical, Page 15

In the exhibition “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings,” Sally Mann plumbs the depths of the Southern psyche with photographs that both highlight the beauty of the South and call its dark history into question. Born in 1951 in Lexington, Virginia, Mann has spent her over 40-year career exploring her home in the Southern United States.

Her latest exhibition investigates the Southern landscape and Mann’s relationship to it — a relationship fraught with reverence and frustration. The South overflows with aesthetic beauty, yet it is steeped in a deeply troubled past.

Spanning three floors of gallery space, the exhibition is divided into five sections: “Family,” “The Land,” “Last Measure,” “Abide with Me” and “What Remains.” The exhibit opens with Mann’s early works, primarily focused on her young children and their adolescent summers spent along the Maury River near Lexington.

The intimate glimpses into private family life are playful and bursting with childlike energy and curiosity.

As Mann’s career progressed, she moved away from photographing her family to focus on the landscape behind them. She is quoted in the opening to “The Land” section saying, “Something strange is happen-

ing with the family pictures. The kids seem to be … receding into the landscape … I have been ambushed by my backgrounds.”

At the time, Mann traveled around Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, photographing the swamplands, fields and forests of the Deep South.

Photographing in black and white with an antique camera, Mann conveys the haunting stillness of the Southern landscape. Her Deep South works are luminous, as trees and eroding buildings glow with hazy, honeyed light.

The results are eerie, ephemeral images that transcend nature’s greener reality.

The third section, “Last Measure,” is a darker continuation of her landscape photography. Mann turns her focus toward Civil War battlefields, aiming to explore the effects of war on the physical landscape. Images of Antietam, Appomattox, Fredericksburg and others feel nearly apocalyptic.

Viewing the photos, it’s difficult not to think about the tragedies of war scarring the natural environment.

Mann questions, “Does the earth remember? Do these fields, upon which unspeakable carnage occurred, where unknowable numbers of bodies are buried, bear witness in some way?”

Later in her career, Mann explores the legacy of slavery and the Civil War on her environs, casting a lens to the

See MANN, Page 15

biopic

On the Legacy of ‘Harriet’ Honors Historical Heroine ‘Heavy Metal’

By Noah Whitfield Contributing Writer

This article is an installment of a series that explores art that has aged poorly.

“Heavy Metal” is a chaotic masterpiece that earned its place in history for being one of the first animated films to champion adult themes, like nudity, drug use and gore.

Based on the American science fiction magazine of the same name, “Heavy Metal” follows an evil green orb called the Loc-Nar that travels the galaxy causing mayhem.

It enters the lives of a misanthropic New York cabbie, a hotshot space pilot and a trio of stoner aliens, among a few other oddballs. You may not have heard of “Heavy Metal,” but you may recall a Netflix show called “Love, Death & Robots” that came out in March of this year.

It’s an anthology of animated shorts that share the themes of romance, mortality and future technology. The series tried to be bizarre for bizarre’s sake, but sparked lots of controversy in the process for its portrayals of sex that border on pornographic.

The NSFW Netflix series was actually intended to be a modern reboot of “Heavy Metal,” yet without some of the more problematic representations of women. Despite this, the original was more lighthearted and fun, while

the newer version was gratuitous and gritty. On this level, they are quite different from one another and this makes it hard to compare the two.

I first learned about the elusive film “Heavy Metal” from an episode of “South Park,” in which the character Kenny gets high off of cat pee and imagines himself flying on a winged dinosaur with a naked lady.

I did not get the reference at the time, but the song that played during the scene — “Takin’ a Ride” by Don Felder — stuck with me. As a fan of heavy metal music, I was immediately drawn to the concept of an animated film with a heavy metal soundtrack.

When I finally got around to watching it for myself, it was eye-opening.

I found “Heavy Metal” to be incredibly entertaining, yet couldn’t shy away from the fact that its depictions of women are highly sexualized and misogynistic.

Early on in the film, a female character known simply as Girl (voiced by Caroline Semple) has to be saved from danger by the cabbie, a stereotypical “damsel in distress” situation.

It also doesn’t help that Girl later repays him for saving her with sex, playing into the objectification of women. This theme is cemented by a lack of characterization of Girl beyond her helplessness and tendency to flee at the slightest hint of trouble.

See LETTING, Page 15

Courtesy of Glen Wilson

Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) plans an escape route to the North and toward freedom.

By China Dennington Contributing Writer

Grade: A Too often, women’s stories — and particularly those of women of color — are minimized in our history textbooks or left out altogether. Most Americans are familiar with Harriet Tubman, the famed Underground Railroad conductor, but American heroes like her are seldom given as much attention as presidents of questionable character like Andrew Jackson, a blatant racist, or Thomas Jefferson, who owned slaves. “Harriet” is the inspiring tale of a woman who deserves to be

celebrated.“Harriet” focuses on the extraordinary life of Tubman (Cynthia Erivo), the abolitionist and suffragist, and her escape from a Maryland plantation.

With the exception of a few fictional characters and dramatized incidents, the movie does a solid job of sticking to its core source material.

Over the course of her time as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, she helps hundreds of slaves escape to the North. When she learns she is to be sold, she makes the harrowing journey to Philadelphia on her own. There, she connects with abolitionist William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.) and stays with a freeborn woman named Marie Buchanon

(Janelle Monáe). Because Tubman is concerned about the safety of her family, she decides to return to Maryland to help them escape. Although William advises against it, Tubman proceeds on her mission and — at great risk to herself — returns with a number of people. She goes back time and time again.

Her intelligence and decisive nature makes her a strong leader who effectively guides people through dangerous situations and leads them to freedom. “Harriet” is one of the most moving films I’ve seen in a long time.

The vivid cinematography makes you

See ERIVO, Page 14

14

A&E

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Emory Wheel

aCROBATS IN ATLANTA

Cirque du Soleil Delights Audiencies With ‘VOLTA’

Priyam Mazumadar/ Staff

By Mariam Akbar Contributing Writer There was an electric feeling in the air as the crowd headed toward the Grand Chapiteau for Cirque du Soleil’s sold-out opening night of “VOLTA” on Oct. 10. The Big Top, located behind Atlanta’s Atlantic Station, could be seen from a mile away — as could the hoard of people walking toward it. From the moment I walked in, the atmosphere felt magical and whimsical.

The huge white tent contrasted with colorful lighting coming from all angles; orange, red, blue, green and purple synthesized and set the tone for a lively act. Performers dressed in the same colors walked around the lobby to take photos with the attendees. The excitement pulsating through

the room made it evident that everyone was anticipating a performance of grandeur, and by the end of the night, we got nothing less.

As audience members filled their seats and waited for the show to begin, a character named Mr. Wow (who would later be revealed as an integral character) wandered through the audience, building energy and enthusiasm in the room. He took photos with children, danced with a few lucky people in the aisle seats and even brought a man from the audience on stage for some banter and a skit involving a professional hula hooper.

These casual interactions added a vivacious touch to the experience and entertained audiences in an unlikely way. Though the “VOLTA” experience begins as soon as you walk into the

Erivo Faces Casting Criticism for ‘Harriet’

Continued from Page 13

feel as though you’re traveling with Tubman through Southern thickets and up north. Erivo gives a compelling performance as Tubman, portraying her as a strong-minded, vulnerable and emotional woman.

There are stretches of time in the film without much dialogue when Erivo’s facial expressions alone manage to effectively convey Tubman’s thoughts. Erivo made the audience feel like they could see into Tubman’s mind. That being said, many other actresses could also have done the role justice. Erivo, who is Nigerian-British, faced significant backlash for being cast as an African American heroine.

The casting choice resurged conversations about African Americans portraying Africans and vice versa, and how that complicates larger conversations about representation in film today. Scrutiny of Erivo was particularly stoked by her disparaging remarks toward African Americans and consistent portrayals of African American female characters in “The Color Purple” and “Bad Times at the El Royale.” For a role this central to African American history to not be given to an African American was a poor decision.

It seems like a commercially driven choice that took the opportunity of a major role from an African American actress. I appreciated how several moments were directly lifted from Tubman’s accounts of her experiences, my favorite being when she examines her hands in the sunlight after she crosses the border into Pennsylvania.

The soundtrack is a stirring mix of poignant spirituals and a rousing score

by Terence Blanchard that adds to

the experience of these moments. One thing that “Harriet” fails to address is the physical pain Tubman worked through during her travels. Though the movie portrays her narcolepsy (caused by an injury as a child), it neglects to truly show how much pain she overcame. That part of her true story is particularly inspirational for people who are disabled, and including it would have serviced the film. The film’s portrayal of slavery on the big screen is chilling.

While it doesn’t portray the true extent of the brutality of American slavery, it gets close enough at moments to convey the constant fear, pain and dehumanization endured by enslaved African Americans. The image of a woman choked by a white man in front of her young child while the man’s mother coldly stands by is shocking. Overall, “Harriet” manages to capture Tubman’s mettle on camera with its rousing score, vivid cinematography and the underlying strength of its source material. After the movie was over, I stayed in my seat for a moment, just processing the magnificence of her story.

I think that’s the power of biopics: live action adaptations brings life to moments that history books cannot always capture. African American history is essential to understanding the modern United States. The racial hatred portrayed in “Harriet” is shocking, yet unfortunately still relevant. Tubman’s example is a powerful reminder of human potential, courage and why we must address racial injustice today.

— Contact China Dennington at china.dennington@emory.edu

tent, the show is an otherworldly experience in itself. “VOLTA” is a stunningly choreographed story depicting a society of television viewers with

Instead of trying to change, we should celebrate our differences. illuminated cell phones glued to their hands. Performers peruse the stage and spill into the audience to take selfies with the audience members.

The society watches a talent show called “Mr. Wow,” where the man of the same name chooses who is “WOW”

and who is not. A BMX biker named Waz performs a stunning display of bike tricks and is unsurprisingly chosen as “WOW.” Unfortunately, the biker’s blue-feathered hair is revealed and signifies him as “different,” which gets him eliminated from the show. While Waz feels crushed, characters dressed in colorful costumes comfort him with their solidarity, revealing themselves as different, too. Their leader Ela leads a routine to cheer up Waz, a celebration of differences full of unicyclists and trapeze artists performing gravity-defying stunts.

The show continues by switching between scenes of Ela and her crew partaking in complex choreography, a young Waz being comforted by his mother, skits of Mr. Wow doing mundane things like laundry, and a trip to

the beach, all performed in an extravagant and comedic manner. These acts are spliced with interludes, including the “Mirage” act, in which a character of the same name does a remarkable ballet routine — while suspended in the air by her hair. Cirque du Soleil is indeed a family-friendly circus.

However, I was surprised to see that most of the audience was older, which is a testament to the childlike wonder of Cirque du Soleil. From the delightful opening to the grand curtain call, “VOLTA” is a breathtaking and ethereal experience with a message we can all relate to: we are all different, and instead of trying to change, we should celebrate our differences.

— Contact Mariam Akbar at mariam.akbar@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

A&E

Schwartz Performance

‘Folly of Desire’ Spotlights Love, Music and Lyric

By John Cai Contributing Writer

American jazz pianist Brad Mehldau and British tenor Ian Bostridge combined poetry and classical music to kick off the second concert of the 201920 Candler Concert Series. With about 60 people in attendance, the innovative performance left a strong and touching impression on the audience.

The Oct. 18 concert was performed in two parts. During the first part, Mehldau and Bostridge presented “The Folly of Desire,” a musical composition based on famous poems by William Blake, William Butler Yeats and William Shakespeare. The second part was their performance of the traditional song collection “Dichterliebe” (“The Poet’s Love”) by Robert Schumann. These two halves of the evening were united by a common theme — human love and adoration — since all of the poems and the lyrics related to confessions of love.

This special art form of singing poems rather than reciting them afforded the performers more artistic freedom to interpret and express the emotions of the verses. During

the concert, Bostridge controlled the pace, pitch and tone of each word, and used hand gestures and facial expressions to emphasize certain phrases.

This method was particularly impressive for Shakespeare’s Sonnet 147 and Sonnet 75; Bostridge extended the last two words of each line in Sonnet 147, while he shortened the last two words of Sonnet 75. These techniques added a layer of depth and interpretation to the music.

The poems progressed through a certain order, from the lower bodily desire to higher spiritual love.

The poem “the boys I mean are not refined” by E. E. Cummings plays with crass words like “tit,” “masturbate” and “piss.”

The poem was even originally declined for publishing. The vocal presentation of the poem was a rejection of elitist publishing standards.

Bostridge and Mehldau performed in an honest and truthful artistic manner, presenting this language authentically and maintaining the more subtle expressions of other poems as well.

Cumming’s poem was followed with Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium,” which was stylistically full of grandeur

and elegance. The eloquence helped create a didactic tone, while verses like the ones from Blakes’ “The Four Zoas” sounded more inspirational: “Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy.” The performance continued with Schumann’s “Dichterliebe,” a song comprised of several smaller German songs that are tangentially related to each other in their expressions of the feelings of a sorrowful lover.

As shown in the translation of the concert program, the words used in these songs were often simple, but the emotions they generated, with the help of vocals and music, were surprisingly powerful. Because of the enthusiasm from the audience, Bostridge and Mehldau performed three 20thcentury blues songs as an encore to the performance. By the end of the night, Bolstridge and Mehldau had delivered an extremely successful concert that took the audience into a complex journey of human love and compassion.

Even more, the duo created a space for empathy and contemplation.

— Contact John Cai at john.cai@emory.edu

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

15

Letting Go of an ’80s Animated Sci-Fi Film Continued from Page 13 At the end of that particular episode, Girl turns against the cabbie so that she won’t have to share their newly found fortune. She can’t be all that helpless if she is willing to do this, but the issue is that her bravery is only an extension of her greed. It seems unfair that, by the end, Girl has no redeeming qualities and has become a caricature of a conniving, manipulative lady.

The final chapter of the anthology follows Taarna, a warrior princess whose mission is to destroy the LocNar. In this sequence, we get the iconic shot of a half-naked lady riding on the back of a pterodactyl (and the reference in “South Park” finally clicked).

Perhaps, this chapter is meant to be empowering to women because Taarna is a sword-wielding badass who faces off against the Loc-Nar alone, but I’m not really sure what the director was going for. Even if Taarna did save the

world, why did she have to be wearing booty shorts while doing it?

Was she half-naked per her own choice or to satisfy the gaze of her animators and the audience?“Heavy Metal” has not aged well, and the critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls it “sexist, juvenile, and dated.”

Nevertheless, something about displaying mature topics in animated form has struck a chord with Americans.

The acclaim of “Love, Death & Robots” proves that we can’t get enough of cartoon violence and nudity.

If I were to compare the two anthologies, the newer series seems to have self-awareness on its side, and thus dials down the sexism quite a bit, although it is still present.

“Heavy Metal” still holds a place in my heart, but I feel like it’s best to leave it in the past.

— Contact Noah Whitfield at noah.whitfield@emory.edu

Musical Mann, Mountains and Memoirs Upcoming Falters on Photographer Reflects on Family Arts Events Storytelling At Emory And in ATL

Continued from Page 13

woman. She is somehow quirky but serious, beautiful and desired, selfless and unwaveringly energetic, but never lascivious or indecent. Despite having a young child and an aging mother, Girl’s sole purpose in the show is to mend and support Guy. The music, not the storyline, carries the show. Before the performance began, song filled the theater as the cast jammed on stage while the audience came in and took their seats.

No pre-show announcements interrupted the musical momentum as a transition to a slower-tempoed song quieted the audience. Sumptuous, evocative and raw, Guy’s songs are folksy bliss, and Gerhard’s voice carries them wonderfully.

The entire cast demonstrate exceptional musical talent as they provide their own accompaniment, at times even playing their instruments while singing and dancing.

Among a cast of wonderful voices, Emily Gregonis, who plays a minor character and member of chorus, merits particular note for her powerful and unusual voice.

Despite never really connecting with the plot of “Once,” musical numbers like the first-act finale “Gold” enraptured me.

This is not the first time “Once” has visited Atlanta; the play showed at the Fox Theatre for a week in 2014.

However, the theater’s struggle to sell out the recent one-night performance, evinced in discounted tickets close to the performance date, suggests Atlanta should not expect to see “Once” back anytime soon.

But, if you find yourself with the opportunity to see “Once” somewhere else and want to see a stirring folk concert, I heartily recommend it. If you want an engaging storyline or evocative characters, look elsewhere.

— Contact Charlotte Selton at charlotte.selton@emory.edu

Courtesy of K im Rushing

Sally Mann stands in a Southern pasture and prepares to photograph her surroundings.

Continued from Page 13 effects on her own life. The fourth section, “Abide with Me,” includes a photo series featuring her childhood caregiver, Virginia “Gee-Gee” Carter.

Through intimate portraits of Carter, coupled with childhood photos of the pair, Mann explores their relationship and how Carter, an African American woman, taught her about race in the South post-segregation.

The photos in this section are gentler, more intimate and powerful as Mann vulnerably examines her own position in the fraught race relations of the South.

The final section, “What Remains,” features Mann’s ruminations on time and decay.

Turning back to her family, Mann confronts the changing human body of herself, her husband and her chil-

dren. This portion showcases some of the few self-portraits of Mann. Their freneticism conveys Mann’s wrestling with her own mortality. Though each section includes varying subject matter, the themes of Mann’s photography are persistent and profound. Across her work, Mann questions the innate beauty of the South and its troubled history, searching for reconciliation.

Mann encounters this history headon, fearlessly exposing darker aspects of a typically beautiful landscape.

Confronting history — one of the salient themes spanning Mann’s works — feels especially relevant.

The national debate over confederate monuments and their stake on Southern ground continues throughout Southern cities.

Mann’s work seems to push against them: why encase history in marble when the trees and fields also bear wit-

ness? Mann’s photography shows that bearing witness to the grim history of the South is as necessary as it is inevitable. The history is not stuck in the past — it is all around us, confronting us wherever we turn.

As Mann says herself, “To identify a person as a Southerner suggests not only that her history is inescapable and formative but that is also impossibly present.”

“Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings” is open at the High until Feb. 2, 2020.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

It is co-curated by Sarah Kennel, the High’s Donald and Marilyn Keough Family curator of photography.

— Contact Elizabeth Greene at elizabeth.ann.greene@emory.edu

• Oct. 23, 6:30 p.m., Creative Writing Reading: Tiphanie Yanique, Jones Room, Woodruff Libray • Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m., Emory Cinematheque: “Sabrina,” White Hall 208 • Oct. 23, 8 p.m., Good Vibe Tribe Open Mic, Cannon Chapel • Oct. 24, 6 p.m., Jazz on the Green, Patterson Green, Schwartz Performing Arts Center • Oct. 24, 7 p.m., Hocofest, Emory Student Center • Oct. 24, 9 p.m., Halloqueen Drag Show, The Bakery ATL • Oct. 25. 1:00 p.m., Atlanta World Kite Festival and Expo, Meadow at Piedmont Park • Oct. 25th, 7:30 p.m., “Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban” in concert with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Concert Hall • Oct. 25, 9 p.m., WMRE Localfest, Drunken Unicorn • Oct. 25, 11:55 p.m., Movie Night: “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Plaza Theatre • Oct. 26, noon, Mu Phi Halloween Concert, Performing Arts Studio • Oct. 26, 10 p.m., DIY show, Zombie Quincenara with San Cha, Mammal Gallery • Oct. 27, noon, Day of the Dead Festival, Atlanta History Center • Oct. 27, 2 p.m., Super Chill Wood Carving with Eddie, vol. 6 The Bakery ATL • Oct. 27, 4 p.m., Emory Concerto and Aria Competition, Emerson Concert Hall • Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., “Jojo Rabbit,” White Hall 208

The Emory Wheel

Emory Life

Wednesday, October 23, 2019 | Emory Life Editor: Caroline Silva (ccsilva@emory.edu)

REVIEW

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Sara k han/ contriButing Writer

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams opens its fifth location in Buckhead and offers 24 flavors including dairy-free sorbet and ice creams.

courteSy of Wendy WeinBerg Weil

Jeni’s Scoops Up Weinberg Weil’s Path From Olympic Pool Buckhead Location Wendy Weinberg Weil (82A) points to a portrait of herself during the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal where she won the bronze medal in the 800-meter freestyle.

By Sadie Schwartz Contributing Writer

By Sara Khan Contributing Writer Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams opened its fifth Georgia location at Buckhead Market Place on West Ferry Road on Oct. 10. The new spot, located near Whole Foods Market and Velvet Taco, brings to the plaza a much needed twist of sweet indulgence.

I was pleasantly surprised by the abundant 24 flavors Jeni’s had to offer.

The impressive spread, which includes several dairy-free sorbets, is sure to please even the pickiest of ice cream lovers. The shop is also currently selling holiday flavors such as dark chocolate peppermint, sweet potato with torched marshmallows, boozy eggnog and the Matterhorn.

In addition to ice cream, the shop also sells homemade sauces, sprinkles, T-shirts, and even offers free stickers for children. Some of the homemade goodies proved overpriced, such as the 10.5-ounce jar of hot fudge sauce for $12.

I settled for the standard (two halfscoops) of wildberry lavender and honey vanilla bean. The crisp tarte flavor contrasted with the gentle lavender, while the honey vanilla deepened the traditional vanilla with undertones of honey in each lick.

My friend opted for the trio and ordered the chocolate truffle, rainbow frozen yogurt and brambleberry crisp flavors. She enjoyed them all and said that the chocolate truffle had a classic, familiar taste The lime and passionfruit flavors in the rainbow frozen yogurt made for a harmonious bitterness and sweetness. The brambleberry had a pleasing crunchy texture from the oat streusel that contrasted well with the ice cream’s fruitier flavors.

Another friend tried the milkiest chocolate and white chocolate macadamia nut.

She noted that the creaminess in the milkiest chocolate seemed to pay homage to the classic chocolate flavor.

However, the white chocolate macadamia nut was muted in flavor.

Another in our group tried one of Jeni’s dairy-free options, cold brew with coconut cream, and gooey butter cake. Some of the shop’s other dairyfree flavors include Texas sheet cake and roasted peanut butter and strawberry jam. The cold brew sorbet was rich with bittersweet notes of coffee sweetened by the coconut cream.

Another friends ordered the darkest chocolate flavor, which was richly bittersweet and creamy. The green mint

Jeni’S Splendid ice creamS Buckhead Market Place

chip, which derives its color from vegetables and fruits and scent from a peppermint essential oil, was a refreshingly cool treat. Finally, the dairy-free dark chocolate truffle with a cocoa aroma and subtle hints of coconut, was slightly denser and less creamy than the darkest chocolate flavor.

The last in our group tried the coffee with cream and sugar and said the coffee tasted just strong enough to accommodate those not too keen of coffee and that it blended well with the cream. My friend who had never had butter cake expressed satisfaction with how subtle and delicate it tasted despite the deceivingly heavy combination of a cream cheese ice cream with swirled vanilla cake and homemade caramel-butterscotch sauce.

The ice cream was not the only thing to impress us, though. The shop’s exterior features a bold red Jeni’s Ice Creams sign embedded with lights that contrast the classic white brick background. The interior boasts a modern, minimalist theme, with string lights hanging from the ceiling and wooden benches and artistic prints lining the walls.

A single full scoop and the standard (two half-scoops) both run for $5 at Jeni’s, while the trio (three halfscoops) runs for $6. Kids can order a half-scoop with sprinkles in a cake cone for $4.25, and groups may opt for a flight of 10 signature flavors for $19. Lastly, customers can buy pints for $12. Jeni’s also makes buttercrisp waffle cones and bowls in-house for an extra $1.25 per order.

The staff was also a delight, and they let us take our time as we sampled perhaps too many flavors. The pricing was a little difficult to decipher, though, considering the fact that three half-scoops cost just a dollar more than one full scoop. After having spent about $34 between the six of us, we agreed that a trio offers the best deal for your buck.

If you’ve got a sweet tooth and want to sneak in a few more bites of ice cream before the winter chill sets over Atlanta, consider visiting Buckhead’s — or any location of — Jeni’s Ice Creams for classic, signature and seasonal flavors.

— Contact Sara Khan at skhan36@emory.edu

In the early eighties, most high school seniors were busily stressing about college in the near horizon.

Wendy Weinberg Weil (82A), on the other hand, was rigorously training to swim for the U.S. Olympic swim team in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, where she won the bronze medal in the 800-meter freestyle.

Six years and some injuries later, she received a certificate in physical therapy from Emory University.

Since the age of nine, Weinberg Weil has been swimming along with her brother Roger Weinberg. Growing up in Baltimore, they both swam for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC), famous for developing many Olympic athletes such as Michael Phelps. At the time, she and her brother recognized that they were “not exceptional” swimmers.

When Weinberg Weil was 11 years old, a coach at the club told her parents that the siblings weren’t talented enough for the team. If they wanted to keep coming back, they should train at the local YMCA until improving.

They instead joined a small team, the Homewood Aquatic Club (HAC), that practiced at Johns Hopkins University (Md.).

When the HAC team disbanded, both Weinberg Weil and her brother started training with the Johns Hopkins men’s team in 1969, since there was no women’s team until Title IX was passed in 1972. It was there that she began improving.

By the age of 15, she competed in her first international meet at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel where she won four gold medals in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle, respectively. Four years later, she won six gold medals at the 1977 Maccabiah Games. Her success spurred ideas of possible Olympic competition.

“Most athletes aren’t thinking about the Olympics when they’re training,” Weinberg Weil said. “It wasn’t until I was about 16 when I started to think that might be an option. You just take it one step at a time, like everything.”

In her senior year of high school in 1976, Weinberg Weil accompanied various U.S. teams to Germany, France, Mexico, Australia and Bulgaria to compete on the world stage.

About six months before the Olympic Games, Weinberg Weil qualified for the Olympic trials. For six days, she raced in the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle and the 100-

meter and 200-meter butterfly.

“It was a very exciting experience to watch my sister,” Roger said. “No one really expected her to medal, and she lowered her time quite a bit between the trials and Olympics in order to be able to medal.”

After five weeks of training with the Olympic team at West Point Military Academy in upstate New York, Weinberg Weil competed in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal the summer after graduating high school.

She swam the 800-meter freestyle and won bronze overall. Proud of Weinberg Weil’s accomplishments, Roger attributes much of his sister’s success to her high level of focus. “[She] has something that she wants to get done, so she gets it done,” Roger said. “She has a goal in mind, and she tries to achieve that goal, whether it’s in swimming, her business, her personal life and travel life.”

Weinberg Weil’s teammate in the 1976 Olympic Games Janis Dowd fondly recalls meeting Weinberg Weil at Olympic training camp when their teams worked out together.

Wendy Weinberg Weil (82A), 1976 U.S. Olympic Swim Team Bronze Medalist courteSy of Wendy WeinBerg Weil

“We were never really competitors,” Dowd said. “Even the girls who were my number one competitors in this country are now my best friends.”

Weinberg Weil recounted a major obstacle she faced in the 1976 Olympics while competing against East Germany. She claimed the competitors were on steroids, which made it harder for her to outswim them.

Athletes at this time were not typically drug tested.

“Our first [Team USA] practice, we walked into the locker room and [thought we] heard men’s voices, but they were actually the East German women,” Weinberg Weil said. “They were tall and liked to intimidate us.

Although placing against all other Olympic women swimmers proved difficult, Weinberg Weil reached the finals in the 800-meter freestyle. She recounted that until the 650-meter point, she was neck and neck with Shirley Babashoff of the U.S. and Petra Thumer of East Germany. Ultimately, she fell behind and finished in third place by about four seconds.

“I realized how few people make it

to this level,” Weinberg Weil said. “I remember being up on the starting block and just wanting to get this over with.”

After the Olympics, Weinberg Weil attended the University of Virginia for a year and then transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to swim with her old high school coach who was coaching there.

But Weinberg Weil had to take some time away from the pool after breaking her leg from falling on black ice and sustaining a shoulder injury from swimming too much during her sophomore year. She took some time away from the pool and began physical therapy, which she claimed inspired her to study the field.

After graduating from UNC with a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology and a master’s degree in sports medicine, Weinberg Weil said she applied to study physical therapy at the graduate level at Emory because of its excellent physical therapy school.

Weinberg Weil recalls Emory being very intense, sitting in class or in medical settings from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

“I spent my time mainly in class, sunning on the old Med School Quad in nice weather, or studying in one of the graduate libraries.

Recreational activities included swimming a couple of times per week at the Emory pool, running around Lullwater Park, white water kayaking, and biking,” Weinberg Weil said.

Although no longer competing, Weinberg Weil and her Olympic team members host reunions every four years at Olympic trials.

“We’re very, very close 40 years later,” Dowd said. “It’s a special bond.

Swimmers are a different breed.

They’re some of my best friends. Even though I only see [Weinberg Weil] once a year, she’s still one of my best friends.”

Recognizing that swimming opened doors for her, Weinberg Weil currently runs her own physical therapy practice in McLean, Virginia, and frequently bikes, lifts weights, hikes and swims three days a week. She also participates in Swim Across America, which is a nonprofit that spreads awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment.

“Beginning when I started getting good, I was always goal driven in my focus,” Weinberg Weil said.

“Swimming taught me how to get things done in short periods of time. It taught me not to blow things off.”

— Contact Sadie Schwartz at sischwa@emory.edu

EMORY LIFE

The Emory Wheel HUMANITARIAN

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

17

2019 EMORY PRIDE DRAG SHOW

Econ Prof. Combats Syrian Refugee Crisis By angela tang Contributing Writer

Throughout the project, the team members specialized in different roles.

Sasmaz was responsible for the largeAssistant Professor of Economics scale data collection used in blind valiStephen O’Connell brought his tech- dation tests. Balcioglu lead the qualitanical expertise in welfare programs tive field work to identify and mitigate straight to the frontlines of the Syrian any existing major problems with the refugee crisis during his trip to model’s structure. Finally, O’Connell Lebanon in the summer of 2019. and Altindag were mainly involved After a brutal government crack- in the development and calibration of down on public demonstrations in the model.

March 2011, violence spread throughAltindag appreciated being exposed out Syria culminating in a civil war. to a different side of his area of experLebanon currently houses 1.5 million tise, stating, “Normally we work with of the 5.7 million refugees that subse- data, but we actually had a chance to quently fled the country. observe how that data is collected.”

When the United Nations High The team visited many refugees Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) through household visits, whilst coland the United Nations World Food lecting data. Sasmaz and O’Connell Programme called noted the juxtaposiStephen for proposals to supO’Connell, tion between the warm port the refugees, personalities of the Assistant O’Connell banded Professor of refugees and the harsh Economics living conditions they together with three other researchers to endured. create a “targeting “I was a bit taken system” model. away by how much I The research team c was moved by the difS o’c included Bentley ficult situations that I University (Mass.) Assistant Professor saw,” O’Connell said. “Some individuof Economics Onur Altindag, Harvard als aren’t even living in very solid University (Mass.) graduate student structures or structures at all.”

Aytug Sasmaz and Northeastern Additionally, the researchers held University (Mass.) doctoral student focus groups with refugees and other Zeynep Balcioglu. partners, which consisted of planned Their econometric model pre- discussions to predict consumer perdicts household expenditures at a ceptions of their system. They also much higher accuracy than previous consulted officers working directly on methods. the field and held many meetings with With the model, cash and food the UNCHR. assistance can be more efficiently and While the team’s research can profairly distributed to a large popula- vide the necessary technical expertise tion, and vulnerable households can to help refugees, O’Connell knows that be prioritized. policy change is crucial to bringing After their proposal was selected forth tangible impacts. by the UNCHR, the researchers jour“I think the challenge naturally is neyed overseas to directly implement getting researchers and policymakers their system. They spent approximate- to speak to each other,” O’Connell said. ly three and a half weeks, split between The team hopes to continue worktwo separate trips, traveling through- ing with the UNCHR to expand and out Lebanon. Primarily stationed in improve their model. the capital of Beirut, the team stayed Currently, they are circulating in a rented home their ideas through together, which academic circles in O’Connell deemed search of advice and “I was moved by the their “research difficult situations that I feedback. Here at house.”

Emory, O’Connell Altindag noted saw. ... Some individuals presented the model that Lebanon’s own aren’t even living in very at an Institute for history of civil war Quantitative Theory solid structures.” created additional and Methods semidifficulties, stating nar on Sept. 18, — Stephen O’Connell, 2019. that “the infrastrucAssistant Professor of ture [made] figuring “We get told of Economics new exciting work out the logistics of doing business … that maybe we’re challenging.” not aware of that On a similar we can implement,” note, Sasmaz realized the large vol- O’Connell said. “The goal is just to ume of elements involved in the crisis make it better.” created many complex dimensions.

The team’s next big step is evaluatMyriad levels of organizations collabo- ing how cash assistance improves the rate to distribute aid, from the United lives of refugees, with a focus on the Nations (UN) to several local charities. children.

“I remember … feeling overO’Connell said he is incredibly whelmed by the complexity [of the grateful for the opportunity to concrisis],” said Sasmaz, recounting the tribute to the refugee cause so directdifficulty of adjusting initially. ly while staying true to his area of Through working with these non- expertise. profit organizations, O’Connell disHe hopes his work serves as an covered academic researchers and example that the field of economics humanitarian aid professionals often encapsulates more than just basic ecohave different priorities and con- nomic principles. straints. He noted that professors are “This work really isn’t about me,” generally accustomed to more free- O’Connell said. “I’m just lucky that I dom while conducting research, and got … to use what I do to hopefully do organizations are more concerned a good job … for the refugees.” with practical application than the He encourages students interestmany nuances of academic research. ed in a similar career path to boldly Nevertheless, both O’Connell and pursue every possible opportunity, Sasmaz stressed the importance of the stating, “Go knock on doors. There’s UN’s role. nothing lost to any mail that goes “I was left thinking several times unanswered. There’s nothing lost to a what the world would be like … with no phone call that goes unreturned.” leading organization to coordinate the efforts and resources of donor coun— Contact Angela Tang at tries wanting to help,” said O’Connell. ytan258@emory.edu ourteSy of

tePhen

onnell

grace Shen and derrick tran/ contriButing

Emory Pride hosts its annual charity and fundraising drag show on Oct. 19 at the Glenn Memorial Auditorium where students battled for the $250 first-place prize.

Fierce Students Compete in Drag Showdown By maya deogun Contributing Writer Rainbow pride flags adorned the walls of the Glenn Memorial Auditorium and cheering students and faculty filled the benches on Oct. 19 as 10 Emory student organizations faced off in Emory Pride’s annual Drag Show Competition for the $250 cash prize.

The competition was friendly yet fierce, and at the end of the night, Phi Delta Epsilon emerged as the champion with immense support from the audience and approval from the judges.

Persuasion Dance Crew took second place, followed by Aural Pleasure in third place.

A total of eight students, administrators and professors served as judges for the competition and their criteria for who would win was based on audience engagement, originality and quality of performance.

Before introducing the competitors, the host, a non-binary drag queen who goes by the drag name Pam, and Emory Pride member Tommy Greenler (22C) kicked off the competition by performing “Don’t Kill My Vibe” by Sigrid, both dressed in sequin mini-dresses.

After their performance, Lord Dooley graced the audience with her presence, and her guards shared words of support for Emory’s “vibrant LGBTQ community at Emory.”

Dooley and her guards then joined in on the spirit and danced to a range of music, from “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex to “My Neck, My Back (Lick It)” by Khia.

The night’s first performance came from a member of The Emory Spoke.

The performer, Liam Fost (21C), who goes by the drag name Foxy Fosty, was dressed in a crop top and jean shorts with his hair flowing down to his torso.

Foxy Fosty began by dramatically singing “Tear Me Down” from the musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and dancing with the microphone stand.

He shocked the crowd when he

picked an audience member from the front row and squirted whipped cream into their mouth.

Student Programming Council (SPC) then took the stage, and the council’s newest members joined in on the performances. They danced to a combination of songs like “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyoncé and “Boys”

by Lizzo. The performers who had smiles plastered across their faces, wore crop tops, jean shorts, oversized button-down shirts and backwards hats.

Met with a standing ovation from the crowd, Emory’s international medical fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon stole the show.

Two members of the fraternity took to the stage in black trench coats with their backs towards the audience, leaving an element of mystery. The performance then turned into an erotic and steamy piece.

The duo danced to “Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max and featured the title of the song on the backs of their shirts.

At the end of their show, they grabbed a member of the audience, danced on him and used a knife to dramatically pretend to kill him to “Dangerous Woman” by Ariana Grande. The audience responded with minutes of applause and dropped jaws.

Fred Thompson (20C), one of the performers from Phi Delta Epsilon, expressed extreme gratitude for the chance to perform in front of his peers while also spreading awareness for LGBTQ+ rights.

“I just wanna thank everybody for coming out and having such a great audience,” Thompson said. “That is really why we do this work, because it’s so important to give back and show your true self to further the rights of people in the world.”

The fifth group was Emory’s only R&B a cappella group, AHANA A Capella. AHANA A Cappella produced a soulful and rich-sounding performance of “Thank You” by Boyz II Men and “Versace on the Floor” by Bruno Mars while dressed in button-down shirts and ties, leaving the audience

with chills.

AHANA A Cappella’s performance took the show to intermission, during which almost 30 audience members participated in a fashion show competition, walking down the aisle and strutting fierce poses.

Audience member Lucy Yates (23C) was surprised to find some familiar faces in the fashion show and was pleased with the overall event.

“I really liked the fashion show because I got to cheer on my friends, some friends I didn’t realize were even here,” Yates said.

After the intermission came to a close, a performance by Nsai Temko (23C) opened up the second half of the show. Temko donned a brightly patterned jumpsuit, a black cape and rainbow eyeshadow.

As the competition began to come to an end, the final a cappella group to perform was Aural Pleasure.

The singers strutted down the catwalk silently wearing an assortment of clothes ranging from suits to a zebraprint dress.

The performance became a face-off between two of the performers and ended with one drag queen snatching the wig off of another.

The Emory all female hip-hop dance crew Persuasion performed last, and had the audience cheering as they deviated from their usual style and wore white tank tops, basketball shorts and backwards hats.

Setting aside the competition, several students, including Mitra Alikhani (22C), noticed that the night was filled with acceptance and energy to support Emory Pride.

“These performances enlightened me to the fact at how vibrant and amazingly active the LGBTQ+ community at Emory is,” Alikhani said. “[It was] amazing to see everyone come out here, show their colors and be proud of who they are.”

Fred Thompson (20C) is a contributing writer for the Arts & Entertainment section.

— Contact Maya Deogun at mdeogun@emory.edu

18

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

SPORTS

The Emory Wheel

A noushkA PArAmeswAr/Contributing

Freshman setter Cassie Srb readies a ball for her teammates during a match against Hendrix College (Ark.). The Eagles won the match 3-0.

McDowell Anticipates UChicago Rematch at NCAAs Continued from Back Page gave the No. 1 Eagles all they could handle. After dropping the first set 25-18, Case Western fought off a late Eagles surge to win the second set 25-23 and tie the match.

In the third set, Emory took a 24-20 lead and looked certain to regain a one-set advantage before Case Western strung together three straight points to reduce the deficit to one.

On the next point, Case Western blew their chance to tie the set with a service error, and the Eagles came away with a 25-23 win.

Despite coming away victorious in the set, McDowell said she would have preferred the team winning the set a different way.

“I actually don’t like to win the sets [on a service error] because we would love to finish every set on our own play,” McDowell wrote.

“But we can’t control what the other team does.”

In the fourth set, the script was flipped, and Emory found themselves down 19-17 late.

Unlike Case Western in the prior set, the Eagles capitalized on their chance to comeback and won eight of the last 10 points to win the set 25-21 and take the match.

Srb had an impressive all-around match with 53 assists, 11 digs, and five kills. Senior libero Elyse Thompson led the defense with 23 digs and McKnight led the attack with 18 kills.

Against UChicago, Srb believes the team managed their emotions well throughout their preparation despite coming into the game knowing it would determine the UAA regular season champions.

“We were definitely excited to play UChicago,” Srb wrote. “But we respect every team we play and we treated UChicago as we would any other team.”

The game lived up to the lofty expectations of a clash between two of the best programs in the country as most of the sets were won by the finest of margins.

In the first set, UChicago proved their mettle by overcoming a 21-14 deficit to win 25-22. In the second set, Emory proved capable of similar feats and won seven straight points to even the score at 19-19.

The two sides were not to be put away easily and, after an arduous 16-point back-andforth, Emory prevailed 28-26.

The third set saw more of the same tight, competitive play, and UChicago took the set 25-23. They carried that momentum into the fourth set and clinched the victory with a 25-19 score.

Extraordinary stat lines were plentiful on both sides as both teams had four players with double-digit kills, four players with doubledigit digs and both primary setters with 49 assists.

For Emory, team leaders were junior rightside hitter Leah Saunders with 15 kills and Thompson with 19 digs.

McDowell recognizes UChicago as a force to be reckoned with but still believes the Eagles have what it takes to beat them if they make some adjustments. “[UChicago] obviously are very talented team and well coached,” McDowell wrote.

“I think we have to eliminate our unforced errors, and that’s gonna put us in much better shape going forward.”

McDowell added that this rivalry is far from over and the teams could easily meet again with higher stakes to play for.

“As we were in the middle of a match I thought to myself this is a potential national championship game in four weeks,” McDowell wrote.

Up next, the Eagles will host a string of four games between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27 as part of the Emory Invitational.

— Contact Charlie Scruton at charlie.scruton@emory.edu

SPORTS

The Emory Wheel

Whetstone Leads Men to First Place at Berry Continued from Back Page from the sidelines.

“Especially given the harsh conditions, each team stepped up and gave very strong performances, and showed what we’ve been working on all year,” Burgess said.

Junior Jack Whetstone led the Emory men’s team with a 25:39.69 finish time in the 8K, placing him third overall behind two unattached racers from the University of Georgia but first among those competing for points.

Sophomore Brett Lucas followed in fourth place with a time of 25:48.46, ahead of fellow sophomore Spencer Moore (25:57.40) and junior John Cox (26:02.26), who took seventh and eighth place respectively.

Junior Matt Dillon took the final scoring slot with a time of 26:22.23, barely edging out freshman teammate Bradshaw Lathbury, who finished with a time of 26:22.55.

Junior Susie Martin led the women’s team, finishing fourth overall with a time of 22:41.8 in the 6K. Junior Carrie McIntyre followed slightly behind with an impressive time of 23:44.49 to take 12th place.

“Each team stepped up and gave very strong performances.”

— Jordan Burgess, Senior Captain

Junior Abby Durfee took 15th place with a time of 23:52.74, followed by freshmen Leah Clark (23:59.07), Shana Fitzmaurice (24:01.11) and Annika Urban (24:09.42) finishing in 16th,

17th and 18th place, respectively.

Head Coach Linh Nguyen expressed his satisfaction with both teams following their strong performances and attributed their successes to hard work and positive mindsets.

“A lot of our runners ran their personal bests,” Nguyen said. “And it was a hard course, so if you can run your personal best on a hard course, that’s a good sign you’re in a good place.”

Often referred to as the “bloodbath” by the team, the Berry Invitational is the final race of the regular season before 10 racers from each team will be chosen to represent Emory on Nov. 2 at the University Athletic Association Conference Championships at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pa.

— Contact Scott Miller at scott.miller@emory.edu

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

19

SWOOP’S SCOOP Sport Friday Oct. 25

Volleyball

Saturday Oct. 26

Swim & Dive Volleyball

Opponent

Emory Invitational

Time 5:30 p.m.

All Day Birmingham-Southern Emory Invitational 11 a.m., 4 p.m.

Sunday Oct. 27

Volleyball W Soccer M Soccer

Emory Invitational Huntingdon Piedmont

1:30 p.m.

3 p.m.

7 p.m.

Monday Oct. 28

M Golf

@ O’Briant Memorial

All Day

Tuesday Oct. 29

M Golf

@ O’Briant Memorial

All Day

*Home Games in Bold

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Eagles Finish Fall Season at ITA Cup

By Chris James Contributing Writer

The Emory women’s tennis team wrapped up their fall season in Rome, Ga. on Oct. 18 with a decent outing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup. The doubles pair of junior Defne Olcay and sophomore Emma Cartledge highlighted the Eagles’ performances with a quarterfinals appearance.

“The team was ready to compete and excited to be invited to the ITA Cup,” Olcay said. “Everyone did a good job of focusing on the process and competing as best as they could.”

In singles play, freshman Alexa Goetz reached the quarterfinals with a three-set comeback win over University of Chicago’s sophomore Nicole Semenov 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Unfortunately, Goetz’s run was halted in the round of eight with a loss to Claremont-Mudd Scripps-Colleges’ (CMS) (Calif.) senior Catherine Allen in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. On the other side of the bracket, Cartledge dropped her first-round match to CMS freshman Justine Leong 6-0, 6-3, but bounced back to defeat Bethel College’s (Ind.) Grace Riermann 6-4, 6-3 in the consolation round.

In doubles, Olcay and Cartledge obtained a first-round victory in straight sets against Kenyon College’s (Ohio) duo of junior Erika Oku and

sophomore Daria Beshentseva 6-2, 6-2. Olcay and Cartledge were defeated 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals by Kristina Yu and Sophie Henderson, sophomores from Wesleyan University (Conn.). The pair rebounded in the consolation bracket, taking down Trinity University’s (Texas) senior duo of twins Zoe and Mary Kaffen 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-7. Goetz and sophomore Christina Watson failed to advance to the second round, as they lost to the top-ranked seed of CMS’ Allen and Leong 6-1, 6-3. Olcay expressed the importance of gaining experience in preparation for the spring season.

“We still got great matches in and gained confidence through match play,” Olcay said. “I think everyone is excited and ready to compete as a team in the spring.”

Assistant Coach Barbora Krtickova echoed Olcay and looks to translate the experience the team gained during the fall season into victories in the spring.

“We had some good results [in the fall] and worked on a lot of the basic stuff, building up to being able to compete on the highest level [in the spring],” said Krtickova.

The Eagles will enjoy four months off before beginning the spring season on Feb. 12 at Georgia Gwinnett College.

— Contact Chris James at chris.james@emory.edu

Tsuru Ejected After Receiving Red Card Continued from Back Page scrappy, rough game,” Gomez said. “It was mostly a battle for control of the midfield. Then we started to find the open spaces and began controlling the game more.”

But in the second half, both teams brought a new energy to the field.

Within the first five minutes, Spartan junior forward Seldon Magruder scored the first goal of the match after sending a deflected shot into the top right corner of the goal.

After twenty minutes, the Eagles were still down 1-0.

But, in the 72nd minute, sophomore midfielder Will Tichy crossed the ball from the right side of the box to junior defender Max Mehlman, who headed the ball into the goal for his first goal of the season.

The Eagles, now tied and fired up from Mehlman’s goal, finished the half with 19 shots on goal. Despite their aggressive play, the Spartans were not ready to give in.

Just 10 minutes after Mehlman’s goal, Magruder found senior forward Zachary Sneft at the top of the box, who fired a shot into the bottom left corner of the goal, putting the Spartans up 2-1.

It looked as though the Spartans would pull away with the victory, but Mehlman did not relent.

Freshman forward Zach Kornblum tapped the ball into the bottom left corner after a header pass from

Mehlman, tying the game once again The 2-2 tie would stand until the end of regulation.

The Eagles played ferociously over two overtime periods. The squad outshot the Spartans 4-1 in the first period, but three of their shots sailed wide of the goal while the other was blocked by the Spartans’ defense.

By the end of both periods, neither team had scored, and the score remained at 2-2.

“We fought tooth and nail to defend.”

— Alejandro Gomez, Freshman midfielder

Gomez said that their own successes and errors contributed to the result on Friday.

“As our coach highlighted, we have full control of the game, both in the good and the bad,” Gomez said. “The tie was due to a fighting and persistent attitude in not dropping points, but also due to our silly mistakes that allowed the other team to have a hope that shouldn’t have existed.”

The Eagles remained confident going into their game on Sunday against the Tartans. But from kickoff, it was clear the game was going to be physically exhausting.

In the 23rd minute, senior midfielder Jun Tsuru received a red card due to two previous yellow cards for fouls.

His first yellow card came from chasing down a ball and pulling another player, and his second yellow card was a few plays later when he clipped another player from behind. Both teams had six shots on goal in the first half, but no goals, leaving them tied at 0-0.

The second half followed a similar pattern of aggression and missed opportunity, and it looked as though the Eagles would be headed into overtime for the second consecutive match.

But in the 83rd minute, Tartan senior defender Jacob Moskowitz found his way past Eagles’ sophomore goalkeeper Max Carlson and sent the ball into the goal from an assist by senior midfielder Elliot Cohen. Despite strong efforts, the Eagles fell to the Tartans 1-0. By the end of the match, the teams had accumulated 26 fouls, five yellow cards and one red card.

“We fought tooth and nail to defend,” Gomez said. “But an unfortunate deflection and a bit of luck on their part led to their goal in the last few minutes.”

The Eagles will play their last non-UAA game at home against the Piedmont College (Ga.) Lions on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.

— Contact Jessica Solomon at jessica.solomon@emory.edu

Former Editor: College Newspaper Provides Avenue for Experimentation Continued from Back Page and be like, ‘hey, I’m going to go ahead and try this style or this mode of storytelling and see if it works,’ because there aren’t the repercussions or the limitations and restrictions that you might have if you worked for somebody else where you’re getting paid.

But when I think back on my time [at the Wheel], I think back at the good times that I had, and the people that I worked with and the friends that I made and everybody who helped make that experience as great as it was. I majored in English and journalism, but I know that I really majored in The Wheel. That was, I felt, the part of my Emory experience that was most beneficial from a hands-on perspective: gathering clips and talking to people and getting to know people around

the athletic department and the university. That was that was my favorite part. I loved it.

TEW: Do you have inside sources like [sports reporter at tThe Times] Marc Stein, where you can get the scoop before it happens?

BS: We all have people who we talk to. [Stein] is incredible at what he does.

It’s a matter of cultivating relationships and figuring out the best way to gain trust. ... I think you have to look at it and approach it very earnestly and say that ‘I am very interested in what these people have to say and what they do and why they know things.’

I don’t know anything close to what the people who I’m covering do about their sport. So, one of the joys is that you’re able to ask them dumb questions. If you’re able to show both vul-

nerability in that you’re willing to learn and you don’t know what you’re talking about, instead of putting on this facade that you do [and do] your homework and [be] prepared for interviews and interactions with people that you’re going to speak with, then I think the rest takes care of itself.

TEW: All-time favorite event you have covered in your career?

BS: Not so much the stuff off the beaten trail, but as far as actual events go and not stories, I love covering the Paralympics. I’ve been fortunate to cover the last three and will be in Tokyo next August for that. It’s such a huge sporting event worldwide, [but] it doesn’t get the exposure that it deserves in the United States. I basically have free rein to go ahead, as pretty much as the only American

reporter from a major publication, and report what I want and write what I want, as long as it’s sort of fits the definition of what my editors are looking for. It’s fantastic, and there’s so many great stories to go ahead and write about there that I’ve always found that very, very rewarding.

TEW: Any advice for aspiring sports journalists?

BS: The best thing to do is you read, read, read, read, read and you write, write, write, write, write. And you shouldn’t write for free. Your work and your time is valuable, and there’s going to come a point when you’re going to have bills to pay, and you need to go ahead and become compensated for all of the time and the work that you put in reporting, writing, etc.

Finding out people who you really

enjoy reading — why do you enjoy reading them? What is it about their style that you can relate to that you would like to go ahead and emulate yourself? And it’s writing, a lot, about all sorts of different things in different styles, different media. That, I believe, wholeheartedly, from a writing perspective.

But I also feel that you need to be as versatile as you can in this day and age.

While I hope and believe that there will always be a place for excellent reported stories, we are seeing that the medium has changed with the explosion of podcasts and video. The more you can do, the more valuable you will be to potential employers.

— Contact Ryan Callahan at rjcalla@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Sports

Wednesday, October 23, 2019 | Sports Editor: Ryan Callahan (rjcalla@emory.edu)

VOLLEYBALL

ALUMNUS INTERVIEW

Ben Shpigel Talks Wheel, NYT By ryan Callahan Sports Editor

A noushkA PArAmeswAr/Contributing

Freshman middle hitter Amanda Meyer and junior right side hitter Leah Saunders block a spike against Hendrix College (Ark.) on Oct. 18. The Eagles swept Hendrix, 3-0.

Eagles Lose Top Seed to UChicago

By Charlie sCruton Staff Writer

[The Emory volleyball team won two of three nail-biting games on Oct. 18 and 20 with wins against Hendrix College (Ark.) and Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) and a loss against No. 3 University of Chicago (UChicago).

The loss broke a first-place tie with UChicago and resulted in a secondplace finish in the University Athletic Association (UAA) regular season.

The Eagles will now look forward to the UAA Championships in Chicago on Nov. 8.

Despite the nearly unprecedented 13-match winning streak coming to an end, Head Coach Jenny McDowell believes the team prefers to be chal-

lenged like they were this weekend.

“We know every single [UAA] match is going to be a tough one, and we actually embrace that challenge,” McDowell wrote in a text message to the Wheel. “This weekend was very similar to our first [UAA] weekend, and I think our players loved the challenge.”

The weekend began with a non-conference home match against a resilient Hendrix team. Despite a seemingly comfortable 3-0 set scoreline in favor of the Eagles, the first two sets were only decided by an average of three points.

Emory created more separation in the third set with a 25-17 win, but was still held to a below-season average .225 hitting percentage.

Senior outside hitter Morgan

CROSS COUNTRY

CALLAHAN’S CORNER

McKnight, who recorded her 1000th career kill, and sophomore outside hitter Tara Martin carried the hitting load for the Eagles with a combined 29 kills.

Freshman setter Cassie Srb said that team chemistry is crucial for the team to be successful in tight games.

“We really focus on maintaining communication and eye contact,” Srb wrote in a text message to the Wheel.

“We need to continue playing as one unit instead of individuals.”

Emory then traveled to Cleveland for their last two UAA regular season matches. The top-to-bottom strength of the UAA was on full display as the Case Western team, who ranked fifth in the conference at the start,

See MCKNIGHT, Page 18

in the World Series, the famous Kirk Gibson home run. I remember going to the barbershop with my dad ... [and] Ben Shpigel (02C) is a sports report- they had a copy of Sports Illustrated er for The New York Times and former there, and I remember like for the Executive Editor at The Emory Wheel. first time just reading the words about Shpigel, a Richboro, what happened. I didn’t stay up to Pa. native, was a staff watch Gibson hit the Ben writer at The Dallas homer, but I saw the Shpigel highlights afterwards, Morning News before (02C), joining The Times in and I remember hearSports 2005. In his intering about it and then see Reporter view with the Wheel, a week later this great for The Shpigel talked about New York article [about the home his career as a jourrun]... It was always, Times e w /nyt nalist, highlighting his C always, what I wanted favorite memories while also reflecting to do. on his time at Emory and the Wheel.

TEW: Bringing it back to Emory, This transcript has been edited for what was the best story you covered at clarity and length. the Wheel?

Ryan Callahan, The Emory BS: In my senior year, I took a Wheel: Did you always know you feature writing class, and I was able to wanted to be a journalist? do two big stories that semester, [and] Ben Shpigel: Absolutely. It was both of them ran in the Wheel. One of something that I wanted to be, prob- them was about a really good rower ably for as long as I can remember. I on [the Emory crew club team], but he went through a weird stage when I was had graduated. I did a story about him like seven or eight where I wanted to earlier in his career. He was at Georgia be a combination rabbi and Porsche [Institute of] Tech[nology], and he’s a dealer and I got that out of my system really, really bright guy [who] wanted really quickly. to keep rowing but he didn’t know if he I remember the first time that I could because he was so invested in his knew — really knew — [journalism] is master’s degree at Georgia Tech. what I wanted to do, I think when I was He was doing all these incredible around eight. I was born three weeks things with fuel cells, and I was sort of before the Phillies won the World able to dig deep into that, and that’s a Series in [1980] and my dad would go great thing about college. You’re sort of ahead and tell stories about bouncing able to really write things in a way that me on his leg, watching everything ... you can experiment and try things out And in [1988], I was eight-years-old when the [L.A.] Dodgers beat Oakland See FORMER, Page 19 ourtesy of

Arl

ilson

MEN’S SOCCER

Berry Profits Over Principles: Nike’s Cowardice Emory Invtl.

Falls Ends in Further Triumph In UAA By ryan Callahan Sports Editor

By sCott miller Contributing Writer Despite incredibly windy and rainy conditions at the Berry College (Ga.) Invitational, the Emory men’s and women’s cross country teams finished the regular season strong, placing first out of 15 other teams and second out of 13, respectively, on Oct. 19.

The men’s team finished with 20 points in the 8K, handily defeating Oglethorpe University (Ga.), who scored 66 points.

The women’s team finished in second place in the 6K with a strong 48 points, only slightly behind the Division I University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who tallied 26 points.

Though senior captain Jordan Burgess was unable to compete due to injury, she explained that she was extremely impressed with the showings of both teams as she watched

See WHETSTONE, Page 19

LeBron James probably didn’t expect to set off a firestorm of controversy when he put in his two cents about the Hong Kong protests on Oct. 14.

But that’s what happened when the Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar forward said that Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey “wasn’t educated” on the Hong Kong protests after Morey tweeted his support for the Hong Kong protestors on Oct. 4, a tweet that has since been deleted.

In the same pregame interview, James expressed worry about the unintended consequences of Morey’s tweet.

“So many people could have been harmed — not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually,” James said. “Just be careful about what we tweet, what we say and what we do.”

His concerns are legitimate.

Nowadays, people hardly ever stop to think about the effects their words can have before pressing send.

But one word from James’ quote sticks out farther than the rest: “financially.”

Why would James, who touts some prominent endorsement deals, worry about the financial implications of one man’s tweet, especially when it doesn’t directly relate to him?

There’s likely just one reason for this. Or rather, one company: Nike,

with whom James has a $1 billion contract.

The multi-billion dollar apparel company has long supported social justice activists, including former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who famously knelt for the national anthem to protest police brutality in the United States.

In fact, Nike made Kaepernick the face of their famous “Just Do It” ad campaign in September 2018 despite severe political backlash.

Nike’s stocks boomed immediately following the ad’s debut and have grown rapidly since.

We would expect Nike to side with the Hong Kong protestors, right?

They’re fighting for values similar to those previously supported by the corporation in the past, like freedom of speech and the right to freely assemble.

But so far, the company hasn’t said a word.

When you realize that Nike made $1.68 billion from China last year and manufactures 25 percent of all of their products in the country, it’s easy and disheartening to see why Nike has remained quiet and left James in the dust.

James can’t say anything pro-Hong Kong, so he has to remain neutral.

That way, Nike’s stocks don’t dip. Nike may not have told James explicitly to not pick sides, but he knows the cost of supporting Hong Kong.

China may cut ties with Nike, severely damaging the company’s economic

output and therefore, James’.

Nike’s Emmy Award-winning Kaepernick ad cemented the company as a progressive one that fights for freedom. The Hong Kong situation has damaged their reputation, perhaps irreparably, and rightfully so.

Direct your anger at Nike, not at James, who has fought for equality ever since he stepped onto the hardwood.

For a company that has so often aligned itself with individual liberties, Nike’s silence on Hong Kong is deafening.

This moment has revealed Nike’s priorities: profits over principles.

They can say that they are with freedom fighters, so long as their fight generates monetary gains and not losses. They had a choice between two roads, one of democracy and human rights, and one of corporate greed and irresponsibility. Unfortunately, they chose to go down the latter.

And while James will take the brunt of criticism from distraught fans, Nike will get the benefits of an untarnished brand name and an everfruitful relationship with the Chinese.

Obviously, your disappointment should not be with James. It should be with Nike.

The question must be asked: do they really stand for anything if they don’t stand for this?

— Contact Ryan Callahan at rjcalla@emory.edu

By JessiCa solomon Contributing Writer The Emory men’s soccer team failed to improve their University Athletic Association (UAA) record in two conference games this past weekend.

On Oct. 18, the Eagles tied the Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) Spartans 2-2 in double overtime and lost to the Carnegie Mellon University (Penn.) Tartans 1-0 on Oct. 20.

The Eagles had trouble finding their rhythm from the start against Case Western. Despite eight shots on goal by eight different Eagles in the first half, the team could not find the back of the net. Luckily for the Eagles, the Spartans also had trouble scoring with only four shot-on-goal attempts by the end of the first half.

Freshman midfielder Alejandro Gomez said it took some time for the team to gain control of the game.

“The first few minutes, it was a

See TSURU, Page 19