The Signal Vol. 86 No. 18

STRICTER PENALTIES BLACK GIRL MAGIC

ROLLING STONES

SURF’S UP

A controversial amendment to the SGA Election Code was shot down in the Senate.

The Geosciences Department has vacated Kell Hall. How did they move all the rocks?

The softball team kicks off the season far from home in the Hawaii Paradise Tournament.

NEWS

PAGE 4

We are more than just “pretty for a black girl.” We are beautiful. Period.

OPINIONS

PAGE 7

A&L

PAGE 13

SPORTS PAGE 16

VOL. 86 | NO. 18

FEB. 5 - FEB. 12, 2019

FIGHTING FOR

INCLUSION

OPINIONS | PAGE 8 It’s been three years since the Perimeter consolidation, and Perimeter students couldn’t feel more excluded and ignored.

ILLUSTRATION BY AMBER KIRLEW | THE SIGNAL

@gsusignal

georgiastatesignal.com

NEWS

2

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BLOTTER JAN. 28

You can’t stop me!

A non-Georgia State student was arrested for trespassing, despite being told not to beforehand at Student Center East.

JAN. 30

Working that late shift

A Georgia State staff member was arrested for stealing in Library North at 10:07 p.m.

Atlanta scammers

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Daniel Varitek

A Georgia State student was the victim of theft by deception with a value of $500 or less.

editor@georgiastatesignal.com executive editor (atlanta) Vacant executive editor (perimeter) Vacant

JAN. 31

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Editorial NEWS EDITOR Will Solomons

It’s just a little bit

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news2@georgiastatesignal.com OPINIONS EDITOR Vacant opinions@georgiastatesignal.com ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITOR Vacant opinions2@georgiastatesignal.com ARTS & LIVING EDITOR Sydney Bloeme

The arrest of a Georgia State student was made in the Urban Life Center for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.

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Can I cash my refund check?

ASSOCIATE ARTS & Living EDITOR Vacant living2@georgiastatesignal.com SPORTS EDITOR Jerell Rushin sports@georgiastatesignal.com ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR Joshua Fife sports2@georgiastatesignal.com COPY EDITOR Vacant copy@georgiastatesignal.com

A case of counterfeit checks is currently under investigation following an incident in the Citizens Trust Building.

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NEWS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019

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UNDERSTANDING THE INFLUENCE Election season is officially here. Use this guide to understand the structure and influence of the Student Government Association.

VOTING NONVOTING PAID POSITION ELECTED BY STUDENT BODY

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

THE CAMPUS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES

THE UNIVERSITY-WIDE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Executive Vice President

President Runs university-wide meetings; only votes if there is a tie

Executive Vice Presidents

Communication Director

Finance Director

Speaker of the Senate

Appointed by the campus’ EVP

Appointed by the campus’ EVP

Speaker Pro Tempore Six total, one for each campus

Elected by senators

SUBCOMMITTEES

Atlanta Communications Director Appointed by the campus’ EVP

Election Commission On Perimeter campus: chaired by the Communications Director

Finance Committee

Communications Committee

Chaired by the campus Finance Director

Chaired by campus EVP in Perimeter and by Communications Director in Atlanta

Election Commission Chair, Vice Chair for Logistics and Vice Chair for Marketing Nominated by the Senate

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

THE CAMPUS SENATE

UNIVERSITY-WIDE SENATE

Speaker of the Senate

President

Runs campus meetings; votes only if there is a tie

Runs university-wide meetings; only votes if there is a tie

Speaker Pro Tempore

46 Senators

Appointed via majority vote by the rest of the Senate

Seats are assigned to campuses, colleges and schools based on previous fall enrollment numbers, with a minimum of two seats

Atlanta Campus Senate 30 Senators Three Committees Each committee is headed by a paid chairperson

JUDICIAL BRANCH

Perimeter Campus Senate

THE STUDENT JUDICIAL BOARD

Six Senators

Atlanta Campus

Each senator chairs one of six committees

16 members; two as associate chief justices, one as chief justice

Committees

Perimeter Campus 16 members; five as associate chief justices, one as chief justice

Academic Affairs, Clubs and Organizations, Government Relations, Spirit, Student Relations and Student Services

Academic Affairs, Student Services, Student Engagement Appointed Liaisons Freshmen and transfer students who have not yet met the established GPA requirement

Senate Clerk Clerk position with no voting power; appointed by the Speaker of the Senate through an interview process

CONTINUE READING ON PAGE 4

NEWS

4

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Controversial election bill defeated in SGA Senate Election Commission looks for stricter penalties in upcoming election WILL SOLOMONS News Editor

S

en. Jessica Siemer, anticipating the Student Government Association elections next month, introduced a university-wide bill to enact stricter election code penalties. The legislation, introduced during the Jan. 31 Senate meeting, sparked debate on the importance of student democracy.

Bill 89-UWB-07, sponsored by Atlanta Election Commission Logistics Chair Christopher Garcia-Velazquez and Atlanta Election Commission Communications Chair Kalisha-Lourdy Lazare, was defeated with a vote of five for, nine against and nine abstentions.

Siemer’s bill would have docked a candidate’s final vote tally depending on the severity of the election code they violated.

The bill sparked strong debate among several senators, with some labeling the legislation outright undemocratic.

“Eliminating votes from the populace is inherently undemocratic,” Sen. Hamza Rahman said.

Currently, the election code only prevents candidates from campaigning for 48 hours for Class C infractions, which include pre-campaigning, failure to attend mandatory meetings and improperly posting campaign materials inside buildings.

Any violation more severe than that, such as defaming another candidate, results in a Class B violation and a longer ban from campaigning at the discretion of the election commission. If a candidate commits a Class A violation, which includes violating the Student Code of Conduct, they will be disqualified from the election.

With the new rules, candidates would have been docked 2 percent of their vote following their second Class C violation. If they commited a Class B violation, they would lose 5 percent of their vote in addition to the previous 2 percent. No changes would have been made to a Class A violation.

Siemer said that due to the rise in popularity of social media, the existing two-day ban on campaigning isn’t an effective deterrent.

Sen. Jessica Siemer on Thursday, Jan. 31, introduced legislation that would’ve strengthened the Election Code’s penalties. Her initiative was met with strong pushback.

“Our rationale is that this doesn’t really penalize the campaign because once you put a post out there, it’s kinda out there and once people start sharing it you can’t stop it,” she said.

Sen. Kenneth Lockett argued that by docking votes from a candidate, it would be wrong to tell students that their vote truly matters in shaping an election’s outcome.

“My concern is somebody is going to read this is going and say, ‘Oh, my vote doesn’t matter because somebody

PHOTO BY DANIEL VARITEK | THE SIGNAL

else did something wrong so my vote doesn’t count,’” Lockett said.

Since the election, which will be held March 25 to 27, is just under two months away, Siemer said there is not enough time to create and pass new regulatory legislation.

“I think we might want to see what happens this election,” Siemer said. “People don’t have a good vision of it because we haven’t had any contested races recently, and the second you have a contested race, that’s when things begin to get heated.”

SGA Positions (continued from Page 3) ADA WOOD

Associate News Editor

T

he three branches of student government work hand in hand to serve the student body. Here’s a breakdown of some of the most influential positions and how they can directly affect your university experience.

THE EXECUTIVE

The communications director for each Perimeter campus tracks attendance and records minutes of the Senate meetings.

The Atlanta campus communications director has a slightly different role, overseeing public relations and marketing efforts for SGA and working through the Communications Committee.

The finance director attends all meetings and works with the Finance Committee to make decisions regarding the budget for the SGA. The finance director does not influence the allocation of fees to student organizations. SGA budgetary operations may include funding free Scantrons for students, among other things.

The Election Commission is in charge of coordinating election activities, advertising and regulations.

At the top of the executive and legislative branches of SGA is the president. This person has the most power of any student to truly affect not only SGA policy but also university policy. The president can converse with administration, including with the vice president of student affairs, and they even have access to the president of the university.

The speaker of the senate is an individual who oversees all senators and provides guidance when necessary. The speaker

pro tempore holds a special role in interviewing and selecting applications for liason positions as well as midyear vacancies – which is when a position needs to be filled outside of the election season – through the Vacancy Committee.

The Atlanta campus EVP plays a special role as they are the co-chair with the Dean of Students of two councils that shape where some of your student fees go. Both councils have students and faculty or administrators on them, although the majority of the seats always go to the students and all votes are of equal weight.

The first of these is the Mandatory Fee Council, which determines where fees (think parking) go and how they will be spent to improve student services. The second is the Student Activity Fee Council, which is designated specifically to the student activity fee and determines which student organizations get funding and how much.

THE LEGISLATIVE

On each campus, a certain number of senators will serve on the University-Wide Senate. There are some campus-level senators who do not sit on the UWS. This is determined by enrollment. For example, in the 2018-2019 school year, of the 46 university-wide senators, 30 were from the Atlanta campus and 16 were from Perimeter campuses.

The three Atlanta campus committees are open to any student, even non-SGA officers. The Academic Affairs Committee is involved in services such as providing free testing supplies like Scantrons to students, improving advisement and finals week stress relief events.

The Student Services Committee plays a role in parking, transportation and dining services. This committee was part of the conversation in creating a line for the bus at Blue Lot. The committee has also discussed developing a meal plan for commuter students.

There are two funds that the Student Engagement Committee is involved in. The first is a co-sponsorship fund, which allows two separate organizations to receive funding for an on-campus event, open to all students for free. The second fund began this year; the conference travel fund allows students to participate and compete in conferences at a reduced cost.

There are two main ways senators can shape policy. The first is with legislation, which allows the SGA to change their operations. Examples of recently passed legislation include implementing a poiny system to hold members accountable and the creation of a committee on homelessness to tackle local concerns. While SGA has limited power to shape university policy and departmental functions, the Senate can pass a resolution which essentially offers their opinion on what action the university administration should take on a topic like campus carry (which SGA and students have no real say in).

THE JUDICIAL

This branch allows a student to go before a Student Judicial Board Hearing Panel with an alleged violation of the Student Code of Conduct. The Hearing Panel then makes recommendations to the Dean of Students.

The panel cannot hear violations of the Policy on Academic Honesty or the Sexual Misconduct Policy and must adhere to the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

There are five committees under the SJB: Bylaws, Public Relations, Internal Affairs, Parking Appeals and SGA Liaison. Each justice serves on a committee and one justice is nominated to chair each committee.

The SJB, the judicial branch of the government, operates separate from the other two branches of SGA. The president will oversee the executive and legislative branches but does not oversee or influence SJB policy.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019

NEWS

5

Indigenous people and Southern tensions How a professor connects two conflicting narratives

LOCAL

ZACH SALLING Staff Reporter

Shooting and sex trafficking arrests ahead of Super Bowl

“T

he stories we tell each other and ourselves matter,” Gina Caison, an English professor who specializes in Southern and Native American Studies at Georgia State, said. “Sometimes we think, ‘Oh, they’re just stories,’ but obviously they’re not. We do shape a lot of our reality through language and storytelling, so it’s important to gather as many perspectives as we can.”

Caison bridges two estranged narratives: Southern Literary Studies and Native American Literary Studies, and tells a new – and very old – story that matters.

The result is Red States: Indigeneity, Settler Colonialism, and Southern Studies, Caison’s recently published book, which she started in 2009.

“What year is it, 2018? That’s a long time,” Caison said. “I don’t want to say that to discourage student readers at The Signal with how long it takes to do something. But you know, sometimes you have an idea and you have to stick with it.”

That long-planted idea grew from the disconnect between fields that practically sat on top of each other. Numerous Native writers root from the Southeast, which underscored the question Caison sought to answer: “Why have these two fields never really talked to one another?”

Caison, a North Carolina native, grew up in a town that is Occoneechi-Saponi territory and was inspired in undergrad by the people she grew up with and a novel titled Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, a Cherokee author.

“I just knew Native people growing up. It didn’t seem strange to me that someone would know Native people and when I was an undergraduate at Auburn,” Caison said. “When I was reading this book in class, I realized that some of my classmates maybe just hadn’t had that interaction, and I thought that was weird (laughs).”

Realizing there was a different context in Alabama, Caison became interested in Indigenous and Southern issues.

And many of those from the South — and even those not from the South — know the word prompting centuries of anxiety: land. As colonialism raided the South, the idea of land seldom resulted in anything but warring and removal of Indigenous people.

“We are currently on Indigenous land, it was Indigenous land in the past, and it’s going to be Indigenous land in the future,” Caison said.

“Southern writers were really obsessed with this idea of ‘land, land, land.’”

Hungry land-grabs consume most of the South’s past, and in turn, eats the most whitespace in history texts. Southern Literary Studies shifts between pre- and post-Civil War dates, which often overlooks groups of Native writers.

“I wanted to shift the focus on Southern Literary Studies away from this obsessive look at the Civil War and say, ‘What happens if we center around the Indian Removal Act and Indigenous Removal in the Southeast?’ and see how both Native and non-Native writers are talking about that,” Caison said.

The title, Red States, nods at the modern idea of conservative states and the history of the Red Power movement, which was an Indigenous resistance power movement out of the ‘60s.

“I’m playing on two things: Red States, this political, CNN, colloquial-name for the South, or conservative regions, as well as this Red Power that suggests Indigenous ownership and resistance,” Caison said. “It’s a play on words, but it’s also a recognition of how frequently if you look through the history of what we think of as

NEWS BRIEFS

Ahead of hosting the upcoming Super Bowl LIII, Atlanta had several criminal incidents highlighted in the news. As a city infamous for its human trafficking epidemic, advocates for change have urged residents and tourists alike to stay safe.

With less than a week before the big game, 33 people were arrested on sex trafficking charges. The following day, a man was shot near the Mercedes Benz Stadium, where the Patriots face the Rams this Sunday.

NATIONAL Georgia State professor Gina Caison’s long-awaited book, “Red States: Indigeneity, Settler Colonialism, and Southern Studies,” is available at Georgia State’s Library North.

‘Red State politics,’ these obsessive renderings of Native history pop again and again and again. So that kind of reveals maybe an anxiety that Red States have about that.”

I-85, the Southeast’s most loved (and hated) interstate, has Indigenous roots. I-85 follows the Great Trading Path from North Carolina, established by Southeastern Native people.

“That’s why 85 has this crazy route through the state and through the Southeast because it followed the train line, but the train line followed the trade route that was there before Europeans got here,” Caison said. “So, you don’t even have to look far even when we’re talking about the contemporary issue to see connections to Indigenous history.”

Red States tells narratives from Indigenous history to the contemporary, largely in the Southeast. It works chronologically from 1587 to today with a historical event jumpstarting each chapter. The first chapter, ‘Recovery,’ details the lost colony of Roanoke Island and the recovery of Indigenous stories, setting the tone for Red States.

“I start with this scholarly impulse to consistently imagine these Indigenous stories are going to be recovered from the archive and that completely ignores that there are millions of living Indigenous people who could also tell you stories,” Caison said. “So, sometimes there’s a scholarly blindness to living Native communities.”

Scholarly emphasis on archives has its limitations. Many authors, though they may believe the stories they tell themselves, are not always accurate.

“More than any other question I’ve asked, ‘Is this real? Is any of this real?’ (laughs),” Caison said. “We act like every person in the history of the world, as soon as they put pen to paper, only told the truth. So, we sometimes tend to maybe give the archive this credit, like, ‘I found it. It’s written down in the archives.’ Sometimes you’re dealing with records that fallible humans made. And there’s probably both intentional and unintentional lies in those, so sometimes we can’t know.”

Yet, the combination of archival research and words from living Native communities provided a more comprehensive narrative .

“I look at several things that happen on the ground, so I visited a lot of outdoor dramas. The Lost Colony is one — it’s the longest-running

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

theater performance in the country. It’s going into its 80th-81st season or something,” Caison said.

“So, I went to all those outdoor dramas multiple times across multiple years. I’ve talked to people from various Native communities. I went into archives in Massachusetts and Chapel Hill and wherever the story led me.”

Often, stories of Native removal have been simplified and don’t accurately portray Native removal from colonization.

“A lot of readers of the book may not be aware of how active Indigenous people and communities and nations are today in the Southeast,” Caison said. “I think that’s the way some Georgia history is taught — that we get to removal and then it’s like, ‘Oh, no more people.’ And that’s just not true.

There are Catawba people, there are Cherokee people, not only federally recognized tribes, but also state recognized tribes all over the Southeast and Indigenous people who may be citizens of federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma who have moved back.”

Many of the Chickasaw have made efforts to buy back land in the Mississippi. Tribes have made both national and individual efforts in present-day Oklahoma to buy back private land.

“Southeastern Native people called this region we call the South home for thousands of years.

Removal was not even two hundred years ago.

You’re not going to cut thousands and thousands of years connection in two hundred years,” Caison said. “So, you do see people coming back. So, that’s the story I attempt to tell at the end.”

With Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland as the first Native American women recently elected to congress, Native influence in politics may shape the stories Red States begin telling.

Caison recently gave a talk at the Wren’s Nest, hosted by Literary Atlanta, and was asked, “Should we elect more Indigenous women?”

Caison responded, “We should only elect Indigenous women (laughs). The first two hundred or so years was largely governed by nonIndigenous men.”

“Let’s just only elect Indigenous women and see what happens. I’m not an Indigenous woman. I’m a non-Native, but I’ve had such a blessing in my life and an honor to work with so many fantastic Native women in so many projects,” Caison said.

“Indigenous women get things done.”

Nuclear arms treaty terminated

The U.S. terminated a 1987 treaty with Russia following an announcement from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty was one of the remaining nuclear arms control treaties between the two nations. The U.S. claimed that recent missile deployments by Russia violated the treaty, which Russia rejects. By removing itself from the treaty, the U.S. can now expand its weapons capability in the area, which sources from Vox say will allow the U.S. to better prepare for a potential war against China.

GLOBAL Chinese court denies three transgender men male status On Friday, Hong Kong’s High Court ruled against giving three transgender men the title of male on their official identification cards. The court decided that even though the men had undergone hormone therapy, they could not receive the status until they had completed a full sexchange operation, according to the Associated Press. This would require the removal of all female sexual organs, in a process called sterilization.

NEWS

6

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Angela Rye speaks on finding your voice Bringing MLK’s inspiration from past to present ASHARI HANKERSON Staff Reporter

P

olitical advocate, analyst and commentator Angela Rye addressed a crowd of students in Student Center East about Dr. King’s legacy and political advocacy within the African American community during Spotlight’s third installment of their Distinguished Speaker series.

Before Rye addressed the university, The Signal had the opportunity to conduct an interview with her directly, where she gave advice for students who wish to be political advocates.

“Use [your voice] to grow people, to inspire people and to challenge them and to hold people accountable, but in love,” she said.

Rye, coming from a family of advocates such as her mother and father, reflected that she had been inspired by many people that entered her life as she pursued advocacy.

While involved in the National Black Law Students Association in law school, a student-run organization, she was further projected into political advocacy.

“We felt like we could take on the world and can do anything,” she said.

With this passion, Rye furthered a potential career in advocacy later working for her mentor Maxine Waters.

It was this same passion that ensued from the very beginning of the program with a performance of the Gospel Chorale, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” from Demetrious Sampson and Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from the Zeta Mu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. It was when Rye graced the stage with eagerness accompanied with an overwhelming applause that truly ignited the event with passion from students, faculty and Rye herself.

Rye began her introduction with an excerpt of King’s novel, “Where Do We Go From Here,” where King advocated for human rights and instilled a sense of hope. In answer to King’s title question as applied to today’s political climate,” Rye said, “We must acknowledge where we come from to know where we are going.”

Rye spoke of students investing in the local black owned business, of incorporating more staff of color and knowing their voices and when to speak. Rye said, in reference to King’s book, “If you respect my tuition dollars, you must respect my person.” Rye emphasized that now is the time more than ever to advocate against, what she called, “the fascism, the racism, the Trumpism in this country”.

Rye spoke of Atlanta, King’s home – and home to many Georgia State students. She made sure to express that one must take care of where he or she lays her head. To reiterate this

Angela Rye delivered words of inspiration to Georgia State during Spotlight’s third Distinguished Speaker event this year.

point, Rye used wit and social media knowledge to relate with students when she said, “We good on MLK Boulevard, let’s make sure MLK Boulevard is good.”

Rye reiterated how advocacy can seem lonely at times due to harrowing tasks and feeling as though no one else is speaking.

She reassured students on this thought and said, “while you’re doing this work, you can feel lonely, but you are not alone.”

Students who want to enter political advocacy should “just

PHOTO COURTESY OF KEVIN SANCHEZ FOR NEONETWORK

do it like Nike” Rye said.

Similarly, Rye closed her speech with the same message – making change happen.

“The answer on where we go from here lies within you,” Rye said.

Rye lifted her left fist in the air and ended with the words, “All power to the people.”

Urban doctorate program rolls out of AYSPS New program seeks to produce experts in urban policy JACELL BLAND Staff Reporter

A

pplications have opened this month for the Urban Studies Doctorate program developed by the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies’ Urban Studies Institute at Georgia State.

Jennifer Marquez, associate director of PR & Communications at Georgia State, has provided news about Georgia State’s first urban doctorate program.

The program itself is composed of competitive funding opportunities for up to four years at $22,000 a year. In addition, students can attain a tuition waiver, with 15-hour per week research assistantships working with faculty.

The current application deadline is set for Feb. 15, 2019.

The Urban Studies program at Georgia State is focusing heavily on research that highlights cities as core drivers of economic growth, as well as challenges of inclusive urban development and teachingboth locally and globally.

“It allows students to advance in this field in a way that was not

available before. It will mold experts within urban studies, who students will have the benefit of learning from in classes or via special lectures and events, like conferences and speaker series.

It also creates a nexus of research for students to participate in as research assistants,” Marquez said.

The doctorate program had been in development since 2017 and had gradually come to fruition.

“The PhD was submitted to university for approval, and later the BOR, [in] November 2017. Since the institute’s inception in 2016, the hopes were always to have a program of this kind,” Marquez said.

One of the department’s main goals is to transition students into professionals that are prepared to take on jobs of the future.

“The Ph.D. in Urban Studies aims to produce professionals, researchers and teachers who will contribute to the advancement of urban scholarship, knowledge, and policies in Greater Atlanta and elsewhere. The interdisciplinary nature of the program will engender scholars that are experts on cities and metropolitan regions while drawing on skills and methods from geography, sociology, economics and policy analysis,” Marquez said.

The Board of Regents Office has provided funding for the program itself.

“The program is starting in the fall 2019, utilizing existing

resources within the Urban Studies Institute. There are a few, competitive funding lines made possible for doctoral candidates via the BOR budget to [Georgia State], “ Marquez said.

While looking forward into the future of the urban studies doctorate program, Marquez expressed excitement for Georgia State’s latest program.

“Atlanta, and Georgia State at the heart of downtown, in many ways embodies today’s urban challenges and opportunities.

This program makes [Georgia State] the first university in Georgia and second in [the] Southeast to offer a degree of this kind. It directly aligns with [Georgia State’s] strategic plan around globalization, the complex challenges of cities, and the strengthening of graduate programs,” Marquez said.

“The PhD in Urban Studies at [Georgia State] will allow the university to be more intentional with regard to its environment and future by attracting top scholars and thinkers in this field to tackle urban questions - not only at home but on a comparative scale - nationally and internationally,” Marquez said.

In 2017, the Urban Studies department had received $1 million from a $12 million National Science Foundation grant for a project to help cities prepare for climate change by developing the knowledge needed to promote resilient cities for the future.

OPINIONS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/opinions

Urging Georgia State to expand Inclusive Education The Perimeter campuses need a program like IDEAL JIMMY FREELS Staff Coloumnist

I

nclusive Education is post-secondary education for people who have intellectual disabilities. IE gives people with intellectual disabilities a shot at having a college experience.

The Inclusive Education program at Georgia State officially began in January 2017 with two students, and it now has grown to 11 students.

The program is called Inclusive Digital Expression and Literacy (IDEAL) and focuses on exploring self-advocacy through various media. In this two-year program, IDEAL students enroll in two academic classes per semester as well as participate in an IDEAL seminar.

The IDEAL seminar teaches independent living, covering topics such as “Skills to Pay the Bills” and “Dating and Relationships.” Non-disabled Georgia State students serve IDEAL students as peer mentors, attending the academic classes with the IDEAL students and assisting them with their coursework.

Inclusive Education is an excellent opportunity for participating students to expand their knowledge base, participate in college activities and develop greater independence in order to become “self-determining.” IE has been around for a while and the number of universities that maintain IE programs continues to grow.

There were 25 IE programs in the U.S in 2004. By 2009, that number had more than quintupled to 249, and today there are

over 260 programs at public colleges and universities. And you might think that number sounds good, until you realize that there are over 4,000 public colleges and universities in the U.S. Shouldn’t more colleges and universities offer Inclusive Education? Right now there are 11 IDEAL students at Georgia State. In a metropolitan area with close to seven million people, shouldn’t more students have access to a program like IDEAL? Every Georgia State campus should launch a version of IDEAL. Since Georgia State consolidated with Perimeter College, Georgia State now has five other campus locations in metro Atlanta: Clarkston, Dunwoody, Decatur, Newton and Alpharetta. With all of these campuses, Inclusive Education should be available to more people closer to home.

Having the IDEAL program at Georgia State in Downtown Atlanta is great, but the program needs to be expanded beyond just the Downtown campus. There should be an IDEAL program wherever the name “Georgia State University” appears. Navigating Downtown Atlanta is not easy, and it may not be the best circumstance for all students. Other students with disabilities could really benefit from a Georgia State experience closer to their homes rather than having to go downtown.

Students who have completed an Inclusive Education program have a much greater chance of gaining employment than their peers who do not participate in an IE program.

Perhaps one opportunity for employment for some of the graduates from IE programs would be to help start satellite IDEAL programs at the Perimeter campuses. It would take a lot of planning, tenacity and team effort — skills the students have already been learning through their IE programs.

ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

Black girl magic is at an all-time high Beauty comes in all shades and sizes MYA GRANT Staff Columnist

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crylic nails, mink eyelashes, weave bundles and Fenty beauty products. These are just some of the common accessories black girls use every day. Of course, natural hair and subtle-looking makeup has made its way to the forefront of standard beauty, but there is still a long way to go for black girls in accepting and embracing their natural beauty.

Every culture has their own standards of beauty and it’s instilled at a young age. For young black girls, if your hair didn’t look a certain way, if you didn’t eat certain foods, if your body type wasn’t “normal” or even if you didn’t listen to a certain genre of music, your blackness was questionable.

Every day black girls are subconsciously competing with each other, and society cheers it on. There’s always a kind of social war between light-skinned girls and darker-skinned girls, or skinny girls against figured girls. It just keeps going on and on. And what people don’t understand is how much that takes a toll on someone’s self esteem and self image, and the message they’re giving to younger girls. It needs to end.

Black women are beautiful – and I’m not saying that other women of other races aren’t beautiful as well – but we have to stop tearing each other down. Just because one prefers weaves and wigs over her natural hair doesn’t make her any less beautiful than someone who prefers the opposite. Someone who does a face full of makeup isn’t any less beautiful than someone who is bare-faced. Do what makes you happy and comfortable but also remember that your natural self is just as beautiful.

The European standard of beauty has plagued black women since the times of slavery and now is the time to reject that and

make your own standard of beauty. A great start was the decline in use of relaxers and chemical straighteners, products that were damaging the hair and body but which we continued to use to have “good hair.”

Embracing the natural hair was and still is the greatest improvement for black women.

Today, we see so many YouTube channels and businesses led by black women who embrace their natural beauty and help other women do the same.

Being healthy and happy is a goal that we all want to obtain but we can’t do that unless we accept and embrace what makes us who we are.

Accessories are exactly what they are and you have to ask yourself: “Would I still think I’m beautiful without it?”

Search deep down in yourself and figure out who you are, what you stand for and what makes you stand out from everyone else.

That’s how you begin the journey of loving and accepting yourself.

February is Black History Month and I want to challenge all black women to embrace their natural selves and challenge the beauty standards. Also, embrace and cheer on your fellow black women because we are more than “pretty for a black girl.” We are beautiful, period.

ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

OPINIONS

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What does true inclusion look like for Perimeter?

Three years later, and our satellite campuses feel abandoned KHADIJAH GREEN Staff Columnist

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he 2016 Perimeter consolidation made Georgia State the largest university in the state of Georgia. It’s now been three years since the consolidation, and the inclusion of Perimeter campuses into Georgia State culture has been a slow process. There’s no precedent for how long the process should take, but little has been done to make all Perimeter campuses feel truly included in the Panther family.

Perimeter campuses are different from the Atlanta campus, that’s no doubt. The Perimeter campuses are smaller than the Atlanta campus. The students on the perimeter campuses are a diverse student body - not only in ethnicity, but in age as well. These differences may seem small but they affect the way the campuses function. They especially affect how Perimeter students see themselves at Georgia State.

The goal of the consolidation in 2016 was to provide community college students easy access to a four-year university. However, most Perimeter students don’t chose Georgia State as the school they ultimately transfer to.

Mieshia Harden, a Kinesiology and Health major, said she would get a better education at different university. Harden said going downtown was never an option for her. She feels like the professors at the Atlanta campus dont care about the students and are unwilling to assist them. Yet not feeling wanted by the Atlanta campus isn’t the only issue students have.

Ethyn Wade, a theater major on the Clarkston campus, was on the campus when it was still Georgia Perimeter. He said he feels as though it was just a “numbers thing” for Georgia State.

Wade has had several issues with admissions and had been trying for a year to get accepted into Georgia State after the consolidation.

”GPC cared, GSU does not,” Wade said.

He’s going to his classes but he’s not actually enrolled.

Wade is paying for his education out of pocket.

“I have money in my hand, willing to give to them and they won’t take it. What else am I going to do? I just want to go to school,” he said.

Wade said he wonders how many others students had to deal with this admissions issue post-consolidation. He said he’s driven to go to school. Admissions at most universities has a bad reputation, but a student waiting for a year to be accepted certainly raises some concerns.

However, the issues run deeper than admissions. Students who were interviewed on the Decatur campus said they felt absolutely no connection to Georgia State. Some professors on the campus even question what “inclusion” looks like for Perimeter students.

One of the professors on the Decatur campus said she has qualms with her campus having no health clinic.

Jennifer Colatosti, assistant department chair of the english department, said one of her students had a health emergency before class. The student felt as if she was going to have a seizure. She notified Colatosti but unfortunately there was nothing the professor could do except call 911.

There’s no doubt that student was sent a hefty hospital bill after the incident.

Professor Colatosti has been on the Perimeter campuses since 2015. She wasn’t around for the Georgia Perimeter experience, however, she said she wonders what “true inclusion” is for the college.

Colatosti said that “true inclusion” for Perimeter college includes uniformity in services across all campuses. The Decatur campus has a health services bus outside the campus now. But with the sporadic weather and the many students on campus, how many students can a health bus truly service? A health services clinic should be added to all the Perimeter campuses, because the students deserve it.

Colatosti and other professors on the Decatur campus have been working with the Atlanta campus to get some of the

issues on the Perimeter campuses taken care of.

“Progress is being made. We have to raise awareness for the need and then create a plan,” Colatosti said.

Coach Eric Johnson, director of recreation services on the Decatur campus, said he also has an issue with inclusion.

Coach Johnson said the students on the Decatur campuses should be offered a chance to play sports for the Atlanta campus.

Coach Johnson has a student he believes could play for the Atlanta campus, yet the student is seemingly being ignored by the Atlanta coaching staff.

“I looked at his film and he’s good. I know he could make the team better out there,” Johnson said. “The coach won’t answer my calls, so the kid’s thinking about going somewhere else.”

To Johnson, if the student is within the proper age limit and can play well, it shouldn’t matter what campus they come from.

Consider also that Perimeter campus students are charged a transportation fee, yet they are offered no transportation options. Don’t you think that if students are being charged a fee, they should receive something for it?

In theory, the fee that students are paying could provide some form of transportation for Perimeter students to the Atlanta campus. Providing Perimeter students with the opportunity to go the Atlanta campus often to access resources would likely increase students’ willingness to transfer to the Atlanta campus.

There must be open dialogue between the campuses.

Perimeter students deserve to feel like Georgia State students. They must be included in the Panther family and be awarded the same services. True inclusion requires that the same services be provided to all students who are Georgia State students. We must get rid of the outdated treatment of “separate but equal.”

I urge Georgia State administration to visit all the campuses, address the myriad issues and update students on the progress. It may not happen overnight, but progress is still progress.

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SUBGENRES YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD OF:

A genre a day keeps the labels away Like listening to your favorite band? Well, the labels probably already know so.

EUGENE RUBINCHIK Staff Reporter

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ubgenres are important, combining pre-existing genres, pushing their limits or creating an otherwise unidentifiable sound. Labels have historically used genres to narrow their consumer base, but today, with the rise of social media and independent music streaming apps such as SoundCloud, more artists are able to produce and promote their own content, creating new sounds and styles — without the previously needed record label.

“On paper, there’s nothing wrong with combining two or more genres of music to create something unique. The problem is that often when this enterprise is undertaken, it’s not creating something unique, it’s meant to mimic something that is patently similar to everything else being released in popular music,” music journalist, Trigger Coroneos said.

Rap music is as much country music as a burger is pizza, yet record labels continue to homogenize genres for greater sales, leading to the potential death of subgenres.

The music industry’s sales-driven mentality

has forced genres to adopt a sound that can accompany the average listener. The result is a “monogenre” that seems to pull pieces from all genres.

Genres and subgenres naturally originated as a way to organize music similar in sound or location.

“Jersey Club, alongside Juke and Footwork, are three genres that are historical given their roles in their respective locations, New Jersey and Chicago,” Album 88 executive Max Calderon said.

Socially, genres allow music listeners to associate themselves with a certain culture.

Recent trends have shown, however, that music listeners are polygamous in genre taste.

On the same note (no pun intended), a genre’s popularity is the groundwork for its profitability—cue big labels.

Subgenres function as a gateway to niche audiences whose listening contributes to what labels will consider as popular, and by isolating and narrowing this group of consumers, labels are capable of producing sales.

In recent years, more and more subgenres have broken into the mainstream. Emo rap is recent example, bringing to fame artists such as Yung Lean, Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Xan among others. Check out these genres you might have never heard of. One day they too might be a playlist on Spotify.

Bedroom Rock

Bedroom rock has largely dominated the current indie pop audience. With artists like Jerry Paper, Clairo and Ariel Pink sending listeners into a world of nostalgic shock, the blue-hued genre uses 80s synths and music videos consisting of The Simpsons and other cartoons to remain familiar with current young adults and teens.

“It’s not much of a weird genre, rather just a really popular sound at the moment,” Album 88 radio manager Auje Herndon said.

Nightcore

Unlike other genres, nightcore is a style of editing pre-existing songs rather than creating new music. Named after the Norwegian duo of the same name as the genre, nightcore artists speed up songs and increase the pitch, similar to Euro-pop, trance.

“It’s just so fun and simple to produce, yet it’s also very clever,” Calderon said.

Artists Sevdaliza, Diamanda Galas and King Dude are just a few nightcore frontrunners.

Math Rock

Using fractions, math rockers apply calculating riffs behind spontaneous melodies give math rock its appropriate title. A byproduct of 80s hardcore rock, math rock combines unpredictability with a slightly more relaxed sound. Popular Math Rock bands include Chon, This Town Needs Guns and Foals.

“It’s a different and interesting writing technique,” said Calderon.

Jazz Metal

Jazz metal, unlike the previously listed sub genres, is a single genre influencing certain aspects of another genre, in this case, jazz to metal. Metal’s usual energy and sound remains alongside improvised, jazzy solos.

Jazz’s polished finish against metal’s jagged edges work in tandem to form a shapeless yet intricate sound.

“Like math rock, the writing is different and interesting,” Calderon said.

Wizard Rock (or Wrock)

J.K. Rowling in mind, rock band Harry and the Potters began in the mid-2000s performing song parodies with the popular British novel as inspiration. Since then, many bands have carried Harry and the Potters’ mystical torch, and the genre serves as one of the more experimental sub genres.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY SHANCHEZE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

Get Your Dorm to Stand Out

By Alex Quarterman and Sydney Bloeme Staff Reporter and Arts & Living Editor

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here’s only so much you can do with a dorm. You’re sleeping on a rock-hard, twin-sized mattress surrounded by gray concrete walls and stained carpet. Friends on Instagram share photos of their pimpedout dorms, but you have no idea how they managed to make such a cramped, barren room look like home.

You can’t tack up any posters without risking paying more money for damages, the area is small and you have a roommate to keep in mind. So, what’s the best way to decorate your dorm room? Skip the over-done wall flags and try these instead.

Make mats matter Bathmats do wonders to simple bathrooms and bring in color to those drab, grey carpeted bedrooms. Hello mystery stains! Get a cute area rug from Ikea or DIY your own out of old T-shirts.

Slap on some window stickers Grab a pair of window stickers from the Dollar Store and make your windows more fun. The stickers can change the color of the light shining through them and make the windows feel less bolted closed. Change them based on the holidays or use them to call out the people above you, just make sure you don’t let them stick for too long because they eventually melt.

Accessorize with washi tape If you’re looking for a cheap, simpler craft, washi tape, a decorative and brightly patterned paper tape kin to masking tape, is the answer to your problems. Buy it from the craft store and use it to hang up photos, put designs on the mirror, wrap your phone charger or anything else that needs a little pop. This way, you can avoid the “who’s charger is it” drama once and for all.

Find new friends in succulents You may not be able to have any pets at the dorm, but it’s easy to spruce it up with cute succulents! They’re perfect for a dorm-room environment; you don’t have to water them much, and they don’t need a lot of sunshine to stay alive.

Plus, you don’t just have to keep them in a pot by your bed. Use scissors to cut the top off of a used beer can, pour some dirt into, and plant your succulent. If you have an old mug or tea pot you don’t use anymore, you can also choose that to be your succulent’s home.

If you want to stick to a traditional pot, any gardening store will have cheap, plain plant pots. Buy about four, invite your friends over and have a pot painting party! After you’ve decorated your pot, settle your succulent into it.

PHOTOS BY UNIQUE RODRIGUZ | THE SIGNAL

Get lit with LEDs Today, LED lights are cheaper and more accessible than ever. Switch your lamp’s light bulb for a remote-controlled, color-changing LED or check out the many stick on colorchanging LEDs available. Stick the LED strips behind your headboard for a modern look or put it behind your TV for a futuristic feel.

They even make a toilet bowl LED light that will change your middle of the night bathroom experience for good.

Utilize texture No posters? Hang up your favorite scarves for added texture to the room. Check out the thrift store for some cute ones in your pricerange.

“I bought this huge tapestry online with a lion on it and it’s like the centerpiece for my dorm,” Piedmont Central resident Kennedy Trennell said.

Tapestries are the more stylish alternative to paper posters. You can buy them in various sizes and hang in the same fashion as a poster.

Other options include hanging a tapestry on your ceiling or using it as a curtain to shield yourself from the sunlight.

String up something creative String unique items together to make creative decorations. You can go into any dollar or craft store, pick up a few colorful fake flowers and tie them together over your bed for an interesting twist to the Christmas lights classic, or in Sofia’s case, trash you have lying around.

“When I was a freshman, I was a heavy, heavy smoker so I saved all my cig packs, then got string and hung them all up like Christmas lights. I thought it was hilarious because everyone else had the regular Christmas lights in their dorms, and I was making use of my nicotine addiction,” Sofia Tendick said.

Hang photos Photos are a great way to soften the institutional feel of a dorm. Find interesting, vintage picture frames at thrift stores for a few dollars or less. Pop in a photo of your mom or your best friend and stand it up on your desk or bedside table. String these up with mini clothespins, stick them directly to the wall or hang them vertically with string. For those with a camera, Polaroids give a great retro feel.

“I wanted my room to be comfortable and show my personality, so I printed off some photos I liked from the internet and then framed them and used hooks with sticky tape to get them to stay up,” Natalie Grompone said.

Rethink your bulletin board An excellent accessory to your dorm is a cork bulletin board. They’re easy to hang and lightweight, so they won’t damage your dorm room’s paint job. You can pin up a calendar, class and homework reminders, party invites and more.

To make a cork bulletin board fit perfectly into your style, don’t be afraid to rip and tear it up. Cut it into four squares for a more aesthetically pleasing look, separate it at random for an avant garde look, or create a shape other than a square out of it.

If you have spare ribbon and a glue gun laying around, you can line your bulletin board or calendar with fun ribbon.

PROTIP: Did you spend last year in Piedmont North and this year in the University Commons? No Problem! Ikea has a 365-day return policy, perfect for each new school year. Redo your room each year with the assurance that you can always return your furniture assembled.

TIME FOR SOME DIY: T-shirt mat Cut five plus T-shirts into a long strip of fabric and braid each one. Start rolling the first braid into a spiral and continue rolling and sewing more braids onto it.

Pom-pom garland Buy the pom poms of your choosing and use a needle and thread to string them together, knotting after each pom pom.

Framed Jewelry: Grab an old frame and fit an old cork board inside. Use push pins to hang your prettiest necklaces inside to stay organized, avoid tangles and show off what you already own.

Command hook curtains Buy two of the larger command hooks and stick them evenly above the window. Use a curtain rod and assemble your curtains how you normally would and you’ve transformed your room without drilling any holes.

Lighten up your life Swap out your boring fluorescents for cute lamps from the thrift store. It’s amazing how the tone of light can change your whole room.

“A lamp or two that gives off a warm light instead of that white bright light helps a lot.” Previous Georgia State student Shireen Hashemi said.

You can’t have candles in the dorms, but you can easily pick up some fake, battery-powered “candles” from Target or IKEA. Place them in your bathroom for a sensual bath time, and why not add some bath salts to the mix to really de-stress from homework and exams.

Personalize your bedding It helps to bring an excess of pillows and blankets to make your bed extra comfy and your dorm extra homey. Throw pillows are a great way to bring in color to your living and bedrooms and are perfect for covering the mystery University Commons couch stains.

You can even find affordable couch covers online.

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Start your career in the Atlanta comedy scene Local comics give advice to aspiring young comedians JOHN PRESTON CORBIN Staff Reporter

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or Georgia State students or anyone looking to get into comedy, there’s hardly a better place to start than Atlanta.

People like Lance Burson, Shaunak Godkhindi, Lisa Smith, and Chris Martin have all made names for themselves in the local comedy circuit. While their journeys were not easy, each of these artists spoke with The Signal to share their experience and advice for any up-and-coming funny people looking to make it big in the industry.

LANCE BURSON

“I started interviewing comedians that played my college, the University of Alabama, for local radio stations I worked at,” Burson said. “That led to me emceeing comedy shows.

Eventually I did stand up after I graduated for about three and a half years. Then I took a small, 19-year break and came back to it four years ago. Totally normal and seamless.”

“The Punchline and Laughing Skull [comedy clubs] live up to their reputations. My favorite open mic room is the Lumiere Piano Lounge at the Strand Theater because it’s unique and the audiences really appreciate the comics. Rik Wayne does a great job and when he runs special shows in the theatre that’s the best. Doing stand up in a theatre is unforgettable.”

“Go to a couple of shows. See how they’re run. Watch the comedians. Then sign up and have fun. You’ll be awful, and that’s okay. Keep writing. Track me down. I’d love to show you

how to not do things.”

Author of two books on Amazon and Lulu, freelance writer, stand-up comedian and father,. 2018 Georgia State graduate.

LISA SMITH

“I moved around a lot as a child and making jokes about everything around me was the only way I made friends,” Lisa said when asked about how she got into comedy.

“I love performing at Star Bar. There’s an energy in that room that is unmatched. Rotknee is the best host.”

“I would tell college students looking to start comedy is see how you differ from everyone doing comedy now and follow that road the hardest. A good place to start is hit every mic you can and get a strong 5 minutes of material.”

CHRIS MARTIN

“I saw several stand-up comedians over the summer of 2014, and then saw Emo Phillips in Atlanta in early 2016,” Martin said. “I think that combination was part of the inspiration.

I could relate to Emo’s sense of humor especially. I was also working on my Ph.D. from 2012 through 2017. During the final two years I was doing solitary work on my dissertation, so I barely had any social contact during the day. And my wife is introverted so we generally didn’t [do] social things at night either. I wanted to do something social and stand-up seemed worthwhile. I had taught several classes, so I wasn’t nervous about speaking in public.”

“I love performing at the Laughing Skull. The people there really listen to your jokes, and there are always at least 30 people in the audience.”

“I would advise [up-and-coming comics] to go to reddit. com/r/Standup/ and look at all the advice that people have left there. I think Relapse is a good place to start. My favorite place to start is no longer in business, unfortunately. I wouldn’t start at the Skull. You should have at least a few solid jokes before you go there.”

SHAUNAK GODKHINDI “I got into comedy 4 years ago during my sophomore / junior year of college. I had been a fan since middle school when the only thing on my hand-me-down iPod Touch was Chappelle’s specials and random Chris Rock bits. In college I just decided to give it a shot and haven’t looked back since!”

“Picking your favorite venue in Atlanta is impossible. So many amazing places that attract different but equally fun crowds. The Laughing Skull, Star Bar, The Punchline, all things Relapse Theater and Highland Ballroom along with all the brewery shows come to mind. Follow them and go to their shows. However every month there’s fringe shows and India showcases all around town, and they’re all awesome.”

“My advice for someone trying to get into is just to do it.

Sign up for the mic at the Laughing Skull, put the date in your calendar, get nervous, write, listen to the 8Mile soundtrack and give it a shot. If anything, you’ll get a picture that you can post to prove to your ex you’re doing something cool. Just go for it.

There’s not [a] version of this where you get good in your room.

The only way to do stand up is to do it! (Just don’t steal bits or do an Indian accent)!”

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019

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There’s a new coffee shop on campus Rozina brings street food from Israel and decor from Turkey MARY PITTS Staff Reporter

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estled in with a host of other student-frequented spots at 33 Hurt Plaza SE, Rozina Bakehouse and Coffee is run by Chef Shay Lavi, who moved here from Israel just four years ago. Lavi adds touches of Mediterranean flair to both the decor and menu.

“Everything from the floor to the furniture came from Turkey,” he said. “We worked really hard to make it warm and comfortable.”

The inviting feel of Rozina Bakehouse and Coffee is not the only aspect that students will be drawn to. Lavi kept convenience in mind when designing the space, making it an ideal study spot in the heart of Georgia State’s campus.

With plenty of charging ports along each bar and at each table, the space feels as though it was tailor-made for study sessions.

“You can have a charger, do homework, eat and drink for very affordable prices,” Lavi said. “It’s very neutral. Not loud. Not bright. Not a lot of distractions.”

The rustic, cozy vibe of the restaurant is accented by art from local artist Josh Jameson, and the sweet smell of warm pastries made in-house only adds to the homey ambiance. The inspiration for the concept, Lavi said, comes from his family — specifically his mom, grandma and the street food of Israel.

“Rozina is the name of my grandma,” he said. “Food was my love and passion my entire life. I didn’t believe I would be able to work in something I’m passionate about. My mom and grandma pushed me.”

Operating from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, the restaurant offers specialty coffee drinks, sandwiches and desserts for prices that college students are sure to appreciate, especially in the heart of Atlanta where expenses quickly pile up.

“I want you to come in and have a decent meal at a cheap price,” Lavi said. “It’s possible, so why not? You can have a nice meal for no more than $10.”

Neither the quality nor selection of food disappoints.

Sophomore Danielle Akinwande ate at Rozina in its first few weeks of operation.

“Everything in there looks great,” she said. “They have

Rozina Bakehouse is the new spot on campus to enjoy a great meal and study in comfort.

a whole display of pastries and cookies and they make paninis, too. I had a delicious red velvet cupcake.”

Lavi’s appreciation for accessibility shows not only in the prices and restaurant layout but also in how he approaches his business: with a relaxed, friendly manner.

“I don’t really call myself a chef,” he said. “I think ‘chef ’ is a big title and I don’t want to intimidate. I like things to feel more personal.”

Along with accessibility and convenience, Rozina

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

Bakehouse and Coffee puts an emphasis on generosity.

Lavi said he would like to make an impact on the homeless community in the area.

“A simple gesture like giving them leftover bread can be really meaningful,” he said.

The philosophy behind Rozina is based on Lavi’s affinity for simplicity and his passion for food.

“The reason I cook is very simple,” Lavi said. “I want to make people happy. I don’t chase money. I chase kindness.

Kell’s demolition: Who’s going to move the rocks?

10,000 pounds of rock later, Geosciences relocates EUGENE RUBINCHIK Staff Reporter

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ast year, Georgia State’s oldest building and home of geosciences, Kell Hall, was set for demolition. The entirety of the Geology Department: all the rocks, chemicals and equipment must be relocated. So, how would over seven floors of history and 10,000 pounds of rocks from all over the world be moved?

The Ph.D. student responsible for the move, R. Kirn, has the answer.

“A staircase,” he said.

Kirn estimated that Kell at its prime hosted more than 10,000 pounds of rock. Whether it be tiny vials of minerals or giant slabs of granite, the clock started ticking before all of these rocks from all over the world would be reduced to rubble.

“We were supposed to move everything and I’m looking around like man, there are millions of pounds of rocks. It’s ridiculous,” Kirk said. “We have to have every single rock to teach. [Moving] it was all summer probably 9 to 5 every day, Monday through Friday. Some of the rocks are at least

100 pounds. It was crazy.”

While Georgia State utilized movers, Kirk said that it was only for about five crates each weighing around 20 pounds. The heavier rocks, such as the slabs of granite, were set to be left behind, but Kirk couldn’t let them go and instead, rounded up friends to help him move them.

“The heaviest ones, we actually moved ourselves. One of the rocks, if you dropped it, your fingers would be flattened,” he said. “The real hard part [isn’t taking] it down off something, but putting it back up on something, I had to put rocks up on shelves and that’s pretty dangerous.

I can’t believe no one got hurt.”

Because these rocks and minerals have been stored away in various labs for so long, he often would open up boxes in which he didn’t know what was inside, sometimes coming nose-to-nose with toxic chemicals such as asbestos and other radioactive elements.

“I was like opening vials of asbestos and being like ‘oh my god’ and closing them up. The samples were so old, no one even knew,” he said. “[I found] a bunch of uranium, radioactive rocks, stuff that was in bags that had a skull and crossbones on it. So that was cool.”

Kirk started his undergrad at Georgia State in 2009 and joined the geology department in 2013. He completed both his undergrad and masters at Georgia State and is

currently working on his PhD. He said that through all his time at Georgia State, he’s become quite recognized and immediately took on the job.

“I’ve been around so long, that I kind of do stuff on my own. I’ve known where all the rocks are and stuff, forever.

I eventually had all the keys,” he said. “I’d rather move it myself and get an inventory. It’s to help myself be able to teach better.”

Even though he was compensated, however small that was, he said that he enjoyed it and it ultimately helped him know the rocks for the classes he teaches in the future.

“Its understated how much you learn from just simply figuring out what it’s called, making a tag and putting it in a case. I would have done it for free,” Kirk said.

Because saying goodbye to some of the rocks was so difficult, today, you can find the remains of Kirk’s work as the “rock garden” located under Sparks Hall in a side courtyard off of Gilmer. If you spot a few massive piles of rocks, you’ve made it.

“It was terrible because it was like, ‘Man, everything is great.’ Who would want to get rid of a rock that someone got in 1973?” he said. “We made a rock garden on campus but it’s not organized yet. It just looks like a bomb went off.

I’ll have to go back there with some friends and fix that up later.”

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things you don’t want to miss

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Nickelodeon art show

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jewish Film Festival

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Intro to Blacksmithing

Cemetary love stories

Free yoga!

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February 11

Battle & Brew is calling for your nostalgic art!

Recreate your favorite cartoons, movies and TV shows into sellable art for a future art show coming Feb. 11. Artists can submit up to two pieces framed.

Learn about historic ceramics and how they display culture in the lecture, “Poetic Jars and Angry Jugs: African American Folk Pottery.” The lecture will be on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 2:00 in Troy Moore Library.

Celebrate this year’s Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, Atlanta’s largest film festival. Films will be shown around the Atlanta area including the stories of the first all women, orthodox ambulance corp and about a father’s gender transition.

Seishun Con returns this year the most anticipated winter anime convention. This year’s con lasts from Feb. 8-10 at the Marriott Marquis.

Events include sewing cosplay 101, manga, hentai and a rave among others.

Love watching Game of Thrones for the weapons? Mass Collective is hosting a beginner course from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. teaching the basics for any novice blacksmith.

Bring cotton clothes and keep your hair tied back.

Oakland Cemetery will be hosting a tour focusing on love in the Victorian age and examining love stories of some of the 70,000 people buried there. Learn about courtship, family ties and proper etiquette.

Join Westside Yoga at Park Tavern for free yoga and free beer in Piedmont Park. Entry is free but parking is $3. Be sure to bring your yoga mat, a water bottle and your ID. Make sure to stretch and get ready to get loose!

games

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this week’s theme: Black History Month: The First African-Americans...

For Black History Month, we will be creating crosswords that celebrate African-American history.

We hope you enjoy!

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To suggest a topic, email us: signalprod@gmail.com

across

8. Mae ___ was the first African-American female astronaut.

9. Who was the first African-American to win an Oscar for Best Actress?

12. Carole Ann-Marie Gist was the first African-American woman to win the title of Miss ___.

14. Hattie ___ became the first African-American to win an Academy Award.

18. Toni ___ won the first Nobel Prize for Literature.

19. Charles ___ was the first African-American PGA golfer.

20. Vanessa Williams was the first African-American woman to win the title of Miss ___.

DOWN

1. In 1950, Ralph ___ became the first African-American Nobel Peace Prize winner.

2. Ella Fitzgerald was the first African-American woman to win this award.

3. Jesse ___ was the first American track & field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad.

4. Although he never made it to space, Robert Henry __ Jr. was the first African-American astronaut.

5. Barack ___ was the first African-American United States President.

6. “___ ___” Wiggins was the first African-American to perform at the White House.

7. The first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court was Thurgood ___.

10. Jackie ___ was the first African-American Major League Baseball player.

11. Hiram ___ of Mississippi became the first AfricanAmerican senator.

13. Richard Theodore ___ became the first African-American to graduate from Harvard University in 1870.

15. Bessie ___ was the first licensed African-American pilot.

16. What was the first African-American mass circulation magazine?

17. She was the first African-American woman television show host.

SPORTS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/sports

State wins big in rivalry game over Southern Panthers pull away at the end to win by 9 DANIEL RICHARDSON Staff Reporter

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n front of a sold-out crowd, the Georgia State Panthers got back to business in a dominant showing against in-state rival Georgia Southern, winning 81-72. They’re now in sole possession of first place in the Sun Belt Conference.

Georgia State looked to gain an edge against the Eagles and reclaim their spot atop the Sun Belt.

In recent weeks, Georgia State had relinquished control of the conference as they fell into a “state of complacency,” as head coach Ron Hunter put it. After the team’s blowout loss to Texas State, Hunter alluded to his feelings that his team had become a victim of their recent success.

“We played like we’re supposed to be here,” Hunter said after the game.

As the Panthers look forward to their final month of play before the NCAA Tournament, setting the tone for the rest of the year with a solid win against a conference opponent was paramount.

All eyes were on Simonds and how he would respond to his recent slump, which dates back to his underwhelming performance in a loss to Texas State. Simonds, in the next game against UT Arlington, sat out the entire second half — a game the Panthers went on to win. “[Last game], he took sacrifice and said we got to win it without him because he wasn’t producing for us and he saw it early,” Kane Williams said after the game. “He made the call, and everybody supported it; we all support each other [and] everybody got to step up at some point. Last game was my game to step up and [D’Marcus] stepped up this game, and you saw how he answered – that’s how we play here.”

Against Georgia Southern, Simonds was aggressive early, and it seemed his teammates were looking to get him there as the ball found him in back-to-back possessions to start the game.

Simonds, who played the entire 20 minutes of the first half, scored an efficient 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and brought energy on the defensive end.

The Panthers started the game with a clear defensive mindset which helped set the tone for the first half of the game. Georgia State’s defensive agenda Saturday night was to keep Tookie Brown and Georgia Southern’s offense from getting easy looks.

“We tried to stay active with our hands on the defensive end,” Williams said. “We really pride ourselves on our defense, so we were really trying to get after it. Every time I got my hand in there I was going to get a steal and push the break, whatever I could to get us going.”

Georgia Southern averages 84 points on offense per game, leading the Sun Belt Conference and 16th in the nation.

The conference’s most efficient offense, in terms of field goal percentage, shot only 37 percent from the field and missed 10 threes in the first half against Georgia State.

The Panthers forced the Eagles into difficult shots for much of the first half and made them uncomfortable executing on that end.

The Panthers turned six Georgia Southern turnovers into seven points in the first half. Georgia State closed out to shooters and crowded the paint to keep the Eagles from penetrating – holding them to only 14 points in the paint in the first frame. Georgia State’s defense fueled their offense as they led by as many as ten points in the first half.

“We knew they couldn’t shoot the [three] ball that well so we packed the paint and let [Tookie Brown] do what he did,” senior Jeff Thomas said after the game.

Georgia State held Brown, who averages 16.8 points per game on the season, to 11 points on nine shots in the game.

“Tookie really didn’t have a good game tonight, but we just played hard on defense that’s all it was,” said Thomas.

The game would turn in the second half, however, as the Georgia Southern offense adjusted to Georgia State’s pressure on defense, and worked itself into a groove. Behind the offense of Quan Jackson – who scored 16 points in the half.

Georgia Southern would score 41 points in the second half on

55.2 percent from the field.

Neither team was able to completely hold the momentum with the lead changing 12 times in the second half.

Each team made big plays as the game carried into crunch time.

Georgia Southern gained its first lead of the second half at 15:10 on a 3-pointer from Jackson. One minute later, Simonds would get the lead back with an explosive dunk off an assist by Thomas.

The start of the half was marked by Simonds’ energy and effort on both ends, shooting 50 percent from three, scoring 14 points and adding a block.

“D’Marcus is crazy — he’s an NBA player,” Thomas said after the game. “He goes out there and does the things that he did tonight, you can’t say much about him. He’s a great player, aggressive all the time and has a high motor.”

Down the stretch of the game, Georgia Southern’s defense keyed in on Simonds continued to break down the Panthers’ defense.

Georgia State relied on its home court advantage and the poised play of Williams as the score was tight.

During shootaround, Williams, who came off a stellar second half against TexasArlington, was particularly enthusiastic minutes before tip. Williams continued his stretch of solid second half basketball as he commanded the offense, scoring 13 points.

“He’s comfortable shooting that 3-point shot, and that was the next piece to his game,” coach Hunter said. “He gets a 3-point shot and he becomes – I don’t know how you guard the guy. He just puts so much pressure on the rim.”

The sophomore’s defense in a close game stood out as well as he disrupted the Eagles’ offense in key moments with three steals.

With the game on the line, Williams attacked the basket and forced the defense to collapse and put him to the free-throw line. Williams made all 6 of his free throws, including four straight in the final minute

of the game, putting the game out of reach for the Eagles.

“I’ve always said the home crowd is worth about 10 points at home, and we won by nine,” Hunter said after the game. “I hope that I’m coaching here when the crowds are like this every day and not just for Georgia [Southern].”

With a sold-out home arena of 3,854, while facing their bitter rival, the Panthers capitalized on the chance to regain the conference’s top slot.

“We’ve got nine games left now. I’m hoping we end up on a nine-game win streak,” Thomas said. “We’re trying to win the conference, [and] we just got to continue to take one game at a time and that’s all we have to do.”

Georgia State’s men’s basketball team won against Georgia Southern in a nail-biting game on Feb. 2, becoming No. 1 in the Sun Belt Conference and solidifying who’s the real GSU.

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

SPORTS

16

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

This could be the year the Panthers make it The softball team is still hunting for their first Sun Belt title CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN Staff Reporter

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he Georgia State softball team has only six seniors on this year’s team, so younger players will see a lot of playing time this season. Their performance will largely determine how successful the Panthers will be.

The team will be without Megan Litumbe and Ivie Drake, two of the top players in Georgia State softball history. They were two power hitters who could bash the ball out of the park at any at-bat.

Now the team will have to play small ball and use its speed to manufacture runs.

“Our game as a team is going to be a little more small ball, and we have more speed than power,” senior outfielder Reagan Morgan said. “So, we just have to take advantage of what we have and work what we have to move runners around. We’re going to be using more signs offensively to make up for the lack of home run hitters, but we have a lot of good hitters, so I think we’re going to be okay.”

Morgan along with fellow seniors Mandy Chance, Remington Hasty, Kristin Hawkins and Arden Jobe are the seniors in charge of leading the pack.

“Coach sat down with me [and] another senior on the team (Remington) and asked us to be captains this year,” Morgan said. “So that has kind of in a position to be more of a leader, and have conversations with the team that I wouldn’t normally have.”

Sophomore Skylar Mosel burst into the scene last year as a freshman hitting .300 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs. She made second team All-Sun Belt last season.

“It felt good because I wasn’t expecting anything like that

freshman year,” Mosel said. “But that just showed how much work I put in.”

Mosel may not be one of the captains on the team, but she will surely be one of the best players and take on an extended role offensively and defensively.

Hawkins was named to the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team, and she was the only player on the team to get the nod. Last season she batted .308 during conference play while hitting five doubles, one triple and two home runs.

Defensively, she had a fielding percentage of .1000 and two putouts.

ALOHA

The Panthers will kick off their season with a five-game set in Hawaii. The team will play five games in three days against St. Mary’s College, Hawaii, Texas-Arlington, Fresno State and UCLA. The matchup against Texas-Arlington is a Sun Belt matchup, but not during conference play. It’s something that head coach Roger Kincaid would have avoided if he could have, but it would require playing one of the other teams twice.

Trips like this shows the trust that the University has in Kincaid and the program because a lot of schools don’t allow such trips. But these trips don’t happen often. Patrick Murphy, Alabama softball head coach and friend of Kincaid, suggested that he take the trip. Kincaid looked into the option and signed the Panthers up for the tournament.

“It’s going to be a fun trip,” Kincaid said. “We have a lot of things planned to make sure the trip is memorable for them to make sure they enjoy and have a good time. But at the end of the day were still there to play softball. They have to have a business vacation attitude. We’re not there for 100 percent fun.

We’re there for business and fun.”

The success of Georgia State’s softball team’s new season will be largely determined by the younger players on the team.

PITCHING

During her junior season, Chance pitched in 35 games, logging 128.2 innings with an era of 3.70. Kinsley Jennings, the other starter from last season, graduated, so Chance has the most innings pitched of anyone on the roster.

Joining her in the rotation will be redshirt sophomore Emily Soles who appeared in 12 games last season before getting injured. Mallory Parsons will also be pitching for the Panthers this season. Parsons was on the team last year but did not pitch much. The coaching staff is excited about her improvement this offseason. Transfer Savannah Freeman and freshman Holly Phillips will round out the rotation.

“We’re not big on labels,” Kincaid said. “We don’t have a No.1 starter, we have five of them, and we’re not scared to put them in the game,” Kincaid said. “We get 21 outs, and if we have the most runs, we get a win. We kind of pitch by committee and they understand that and when we give them the ball we want to go give them a win.”

EXPECTATIONS

Kincaid has been the head coach of Georgia State softball for seven seasons now, and in each one he has won at least 30 games. He is looking to lead the current group of Panthers to another 30-win season with a very young team.

For Kincaid, winning 30 games per year has become an expectation, and somewhat of a minimum for the team. He made it very clear that his goal is to win a Sun Belt Conference championship.

“If we only have 30 wins I’m going to be disappointed,” Kincaid said. “To me, 30 wins is a great benchmark and it’s something for people to talk about, but we want to win a championship. Winning the Sun Belt gets us an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, and that’s the goal.”

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019

SPORTS

17

Brady-Belichick dynasty grabs record-tying sixth Super Bowl for New England Patriots JERELL RUSHIN Sports Editor

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he rich became richer on Sunday night in Atlanta when the New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII, capturing their record-tying sixth Super Bowl victory, each with quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick.

This Super Bowl was the lowest-scoring in history as New England won 13-3 over the Los Angeles Rams. It was the lowest scoring title game since Super Bowl VI 47 years ago.

The Patriots add battling out a slugfest to the endless ways that they have won world championships in the Brady/Belichick era.

Brady has now won more Super Bowls than any player ever, breaking the tie between him and Pro Football Hall of Famer Charles Haley. With six championships, Belichick further separates himself from Chuck Noll, who won the second most Super Bowls with four.

“This is your sixth championship in the last 18 years,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said to their fans after the game. “Truly an unprecedented accomplishment, really managed by exceptional players and coaches to whom all of us are forever grateful. But there is one constant throughout this whole 18 years, two men who are the best at whatever has been done in the history of the NFL: Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. And through their hard work and great leadership, I am honored to say for the sixth time, we are all Patriots and once again the Patriots are world champions.”

Heading into the fourth quarter tied at 3-3, both teams were looking for a touchdown to cause some separation. It was the fewest points ever after three quarters played in the Super Bowl.

New England found some when Brady threw a perfect touch pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski for 29 yards that put the team just in front of the endzone.

On the next play, Sony Michel ran 2 yards for the game’s first and only touchdown, and the Patriots led 10-0 with 7 minutes left.

With time and their offensive struggles during the prior 53 minutes against their side, the Rams began putting together a good looking drive.

Rams quarterback Jared Goff connected with Josh Reynolds and Robert Woods for 11 and 17 yard completions respectively on consecutive plays to put the Rams at the New England 27yard line.

Two plays later, however, Goff through an interception to Stephon Gilmore at the 4-yard line. Goff threw the ball while falling away from his intended receiver Brandin Cooks, and it came well short and hung in the air too long.

Michel got the Patriots out of the endzone with a 26-yard rush on 2nd-and-9, the longest run of the game. The Rams’ slim comeback chances evaporated during the next few minutes when

The New England Patriots won their record-tying sixth Super Bowl after defeating the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

Patriots’ place-kicker Stephen Gostkowski made a 41-yard field goal with 1:12 left.

New England was on their way to win 13-3, and its sideline began celebrating.

Todd Gurley II, who was fifth suring the regular season in allpurpose yards with 1,831, had 11 touches, three of which were came in the firsthand. The Rams and head coach Sean McVay often opted for C.J. Anderson more often than Gurley in the Super Bowl and the NFC Championship Game.

“I just never enabled us to get into a rhythm offensively… I was not pleased at all with my feel for the flow of the game and kind of making some adjustments as the game unfolded and with giving ourselves a chance at some success and put some points on the board,” McVay said. “Credit to them, they did a

PHOTO BY JERELL RUSHIN | THE SIGNAL

good job, and I certainly didn’t do enough for us. But, Todd is healthy.”

But neither team was sharp offensively — Los Angeles was just worse. The Rams punted on their first eight possessions never entered the red zone in the game’s entirety.

New England did just slightly more than Los Angeles, and that was enough to win a game where two of the highest scoring teams scored 16 points.

Brady finished with 262 yards on 21-of-35 passing and one interception, but made his best plays in the fourth quarter.

Wide receiver Julian Edelman was named Super Bowl MVP with 10 receptions and 151 yards. Michel rushed for 94 yards on 18 carries.

Panthers dominant in big win against rivals

Georgia State gets huge road win against Georgia Southern GREG HOLLIS Staff Reporter

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eorgia State women’s basketball picked up a huge 83-66 win over Georgia Southern that puts them over .500 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Panthers (11-9, 6-4) cruised to its sixth straight over Georgia Southern in a hostile Hanner Fieldhouse.

Last season, the Panthers swept the season series against the Eagles and picked up where they left off on Saturday.

The team shot the ball well, 60 percent from the field and 57 percent from three.

The Panthers made 12 3-pointers, tying the school record. They also shot a 60.4 field goal percentage which is the fifth best in school history.

Senior forwards K.K. Williams and Allison Johnson lead

the team in scoring. Williams had a game-high 22 points and made 6-of-8 3-point attempts. Johnson finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

The Panthers came out hot, making their first five attempts from 3-point territory. They took an early 11-4 lead and didn’t let up. After the 8:10 mark in the first quarter, the Panthers never trailed again.

The Eagles shot only 35.7 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from three-point. They went into the half down 47-25. They were smothered on offense and didn’t defend well against 3-point shot in the first half.

Williams finished the half with 17 points and made 4-of6 three-pointers.

The Eagles fought back in the second half, but the Panthers persisted. Early in the fourth quarter, the Eagles trimmed the deficit down to as low as 13 points, but it still wasn’t enough.

Midway through the fourth, the Panthers went on a 6-0 run and held the Eagles to just four points the rest of the

way.

The Eagles finished the contest shooting 40.3 percent from the field and 33.3 percent on 3-pointers. Both teams had a high number of turnovers, 19 for Panthers and 17 for Eagles.

Three Eagles finished with double digit points and one player had a double-double. Hailey Dias-Allen had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Alexis Brown had 15 points and Nakol Franks also had 15 points.

This rivalry victory gives Georgia State the same conference record as Appalachian State with nine games remaining for each team. They both are firmly in the conference tournament race.

Georgia Southern falls to 1-9 in conference play and 6-14 overall. They are last in conference standings and have a very low chance of making it to the conference tournament.

The Panthers have a few days off until their next game, which will be at home on Feb. 7 against Louisiana-Monroe.

SPORTS

18

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

A new option for international students What brings foreign athletes to Georgia State?

JOSHUA FIFE

Associate Sports Editor

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he NCAA currently has over 20,000 international student athletes enrolled in American universities.

Canada (4,166), the United Kingdom (1,776) and Germany (1,139) send the most athletes. Here at Georgia State, out of 55 international athletes, there are 14 from England and five from Germany.

Tennis has the highest percentage of foreign athletes in the NCAA for both men’s (62 percent) and women’s(59 percent). Men’s soccer had the highest number of first-year international athletes with 312, but tennis is a close second with 309.

“This was the kind of college I was looking for,” Padilha said.

“A good tennis program, and the academics here are very good, at least for what I study.”

Padilha studies economy at the Robinson College of Business, which is one of the top business schools in the nation, another selling point for coaches.

RECRUITING

Assistant men’s soccer coach Ricky Davey is over most of the international recruiting for soccer. Having grown up in Great Britain, about an hour from London, Davey is able to use his knowledge to find some of the best athletes from the best clubs.

Other athletes also help convince recruits to come to Georgia State.

“We’re lucky with our team,” Davey said. “[We’ve got] a lot of British boys, so for example if we’re bringing in another one we can connect those two and they can chat and give a little more insight into the coaching staff, the day to day, how we travel and how the program operates.”

The location of Georgia State also offers another appeal to students. Athletes have an opportunity to live in the middle of a major city, something few other universities can offer.

“Our number one selling point is the city,” track and field head coach Chris England said. “For track, Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympics. We have a major city with so much to do, a major international airport that’s just down the street.

Also the weather is a good selling factor. If I’m recruiting against Albany, New York or somewhere in Iowa, go look at the forecast right now. It may be cold here but it’s frigid there.”

COMPETITION

Six of the 11-man squad for tennis are from abroad, from England, France, Latvia and Brazil. The women’s tennis team has only one player from the United States.

In 2014, around 91,000 high school tennis players in the U.S. had to compete for only 2,417 available college scholarships.

The reason international athletes are so sought after is evident when looking at the numbers. Of the top 50 ITA male singles players, 70 percent were born in another country.

Diego Padilha is a freshman tennis player from São Paulo, Brazil who is here on a tennis scholarship.

don’t have very much. In Brazil I had a lot of time. The days were longer. I had more time to do things. And now, especially now that it’s spring when we travel almost every weekend, there’s just tennis. Everything is tennis.”

Athletes also have to forfeit getting paid to abide by the NCAA’s amateurism policy. The policy forbids any form of payment or compensation beyond what’s “necessary” as defined by the NCAA. “For many international students, especially Europeans they have a choice after graduation to go to a university or compete [professionally] in athletics. Basically their system at university doesn’t allow them to do both.”

England said. “The academics are typically so strenuous that they don’t have the time to do extracurricular activities.”

Coach Davey spoke on the same topic, stating that it’s hard to find a university system quite like the United States.

“It’s very different. It’s very rare that you can mix the two,” Davey said.

“There’s nothing like, I think I can speak for most countries in the world, I don’t think there’s anything like the system here, which is great.

“You get high-level players from [abroad] that aren’t ready to make that decision maybe [to] try and make it as a professional or to be a student and go into the academic world.

[The U.S. system] obviously gives you four more years of playing both and instead of deciding at 18, it’s 22 or 23.”

High school athletes from foreign countries may even have to forgo competitions to attend school, a problem they wouldn’t encounter in the U.S. Here at Georgia State, and at almost any high school or college, athletes are excused from all academic activities missed due to athletic obligations.

COACHES

“The biggest thing I would probably say is how it fits academically for them,” men’s soccer assistant coach Ricky Davey said. ”Georgia State, obviously a big business program, you know. That’s one of the biggest programs here. So a lot of a lot of the international kids like that because, obviously, business is all over the world.”

CHALLENGES

American universities are some of the best in the world, and they can be very tough academically. student-athletes are obligated to rigorous training schedules and must travel regularly for competitions while still maintaining a good academic standing.

“I think the biggest thing to adapt to was the timing,” Padilha said about his jam-packed lifestyle. “The time in a week, you

Coaches have a huge role in acquiring talent from overseas.

They typically make the initial impression, an impression that is remembered by foreign prospects.

“When I talked to coach England I felt really comfortable,” Anouk Prop said, freshman distance runner from the Netherlands. “I felt like … like I’m at home here.”

Most athletes from overseas never see campus in person until they arrive, so they have to make a their decision off of research and word of mouth.

Some companies specialize in connecting international athletes to universities here in the states, helping bridge the gap between foreign athletes and college coaches. Overboarder, for example, helped Prop get recruited by Georgia State.

“I went to this company and they helped me,” Prop said.

“Basically they just emailed every university like ‘hey, this girl is interested so if you want her, contact her.’”

Overboarder has a catalog of college coaches and programs that they reach out to on behalf of athletes who hire them from other countries.

SPORTS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2019

SPORTS BRIEFS women’s tennis • •

Match against North Florida at Jacksonville canceled due to rain No make up date currently set

SPORTS CALENDAR BASKETBALL

• • •

Lost to Louisville 4-1 in on the road Won first doubles points of the season The Panthers have a 2-2 record on the season

men’s basketball •

•

•

Won against Georgia Southern behind D’Marcus Simonds’ game-high 29 points and six rebounds At 3,854 tickets issued, this was the fifth straight year this rivalry game has sold out at the Sports Arena The Panthers have just nine games left in the regular season

FEB. 8-9

men’s basketball

•

• • •

Allison Johnson totaled 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, seven rebounds and six assists in the Panthers’ 83-66 win over Georgia Southern The win is the sixth straight over the Eagles and pushes Georgia State to 11-9 and 6-4 in the Sun Belt Conference K.K. Williams scored a career-high 22 points and made six threes The 12 3-pointers the team made ties the school record Georgia State shot 60.4 percent from the field, its best mark since 1987 in a game

LOUISIANA

FRESNO STATE

FEB. 9

men’s tennis

FEB. 7

TEXAS-ARLINGTON

NORTH CAROLINA WILMINGTON

LOUISIANA-MONROE

FEB. 9

6 P.M.

GSU Sports Arena

UCLA

women’s basketball GSU Sports Arena

GEORGIA TECH

SAINT MARY’S COLLEGE

9:30 P.M.

Honolulu, Hawaii

SUPER BOWL STATLINE scoring

FEB. 10

FEB. 7

2 P.M.

4 P.M.

Honolulu, Hawaii

SOFTBALL

FEB. 9 LOUISIANA

7:30 P.M.

Honolulu, Hawaii

10 A.M.

Wilmington, North Carolina

women’s basketball

4:30 P.M.

Honolulu, Hawaii

FEB. 8

9 P.M.

Lafayette, Louisiana

1 P.M.

Atlanta, Georgia

SUN BELT CONFERENCE BASKETBALL STANDINGS

q1

q2

q3

q4

NE PATRIOTS

0

3

0

10

LA RAMS

0

0

3

0

school

rushing

yds

tds

int

NE - TOM BRADY

262

0

1

LA - JARED GOFF

229

0

1

rushing

yds

tds

long

94

1

26

NE - SONY MICHEL

SCAN HERE TO JOIN US!

FEB. 7

TENNIS

men’s basketball

11:59 P.M.

Honolulu, Hawaii

TBA

Birmingham, Alabama

FEB. 8

FEB. 7 HAWAII

SAMFORD

8 P.M.

Monroe, Louisiana

women’s basketball •

TRACK AND FIELD

FEB. 6 LOUISIANA-MONROE

men’s tennis

19

NE - REX BURKHEAD

43

0

26

LA - TODD GURLEY II

35

0

16

LA - C.J. ANDERSON

22

0

5

receiving

yds

tds

rec

NE - JULIAN EDELMAN

41

0

10

LA - BRANDIN COOKS

120

0

8

NE - ROB GRONKOWSKI

87

0

6

LA - ROBERT WOODS

70

0

5

LA - JOSH REYNOLDS

26

0

3

NE - REX BURKHEAD

15

0

2

conf

overall

streak

GEORGIA STATE

7-2

16-6

W2

TEXAS STATE

6-3

17-5

L2

COASTAL CAROLINA

6-3

12-9

W5

UTA

6-3

10-12

W1

GEORGIA SOUTHERN

5-4

13-9

L1

LOUISIANA

4-5

13-9

L2

ULM

4-5

11-10

L3

SOUTH ALABAMA

4-5

11-11

W2

ARKANSAS STATE

4-5

10-12

W1

TROY

3-6

10-11

L3

APPALACHIAN STATE

3-6

8-14

W3

LITTLE ROCK

2-7

7-15

L5