Vol 90, No. 4

How are freshmen adjusting to

PHOTO BY: TRENT LEGASPI

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CRIME BLOTTER

“Can I get a waffle... CAN I PLEASE GET A WAFFLE”

On Wednesday a non-GSU affiliated person was charged with criminal trespassing at the Waffle House on 100 Piedmont Ave. This incident occurred at 4:30 in the afternoon.

“Are we even surprised?

On Thursday a non-GSU affiliated person was charged with and arrested for larceny outside of the Racetrack at 120 Piedmont Ave. This incident occurred at 2:30 in the morning.

“Oh my God, a Nigerian prince left me 10 million dollars.”

On Friday, a GSU student was harassed for almost an hour with phone calls. This investigation is still currently active

“I could have sworn I parked here.”

On Friday, a GSU student’s car was forcefully broken into at T deck. The investigation is still active and ongoing.

Unprecedented streaking streak

On the 6th of October, two GSU students were charged and arrested for public indecency in the green space.

STATE NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL

BRIEFS

Photo by Trent Legaspi

Senate debate between Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock

On October 14, 2022, Sen. Raphael Warnock and senate nominee Herschel Walker met in the city of Savannah and held their first formal debate. Some highlights from the debate include Walker’s unauthorized use of a prop police badge, momentarily halting the debate. Walker claims that the badge is authentic and has previously claimed to have worked as a police officer. In person voting for the senate race opens on November 8th. If neither candidate received more than 50% of votes, the election could result in a runoff election of December 6th.

January 6th invasion of the capital hearings

On October 13, 2022, The House of Representative’s committee dedicated to the investigation of the January 6th insurrection concluded its hearings. Some of the most interesting points from that hearing include the confirmation that former president Trump had knowledge of the potential violent attack on the capitol on January 4th. The Secret Service had been monitoring what was being discussed online about the potentially dangerous invasion planned for January 6th. The committee unanimously agreed to subpoena former president trump. Whether or not he will agree to said subpoena has yet to be determined.

Chinese President Xi Jinping gets his third term

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been elected for his third term, securing another five years of being Chinas top leader. This established Xi as the strongest Chinese politician since Mao Zedong. In a speech delivered to the party congress who gave him that third term he states that the party would “rejuvenation of the nation”. Xi also states that “Reunification definitely must be achieved, and reunification definitely will be achieved” implying that China will use physical force to unify Taiwan under its jurisdiction. However, with Xi remaining as China’s president, little is expected to change. It is anticipated that both China’s economy and policy on COVID-19 are not anticipated to improve.

ATL United fans cheer on their team after scoring against New York.

How the GSU v GSU game got violent

Southern player Danny Corbett rips out dreadlock from our own Tylon Dunlap

TONI ODEJIMI Staff Reporter

Georgia State University football player, Tylon Dunlap, had his dreadlock ripped out of his head by Georgia Southern player Danny Corbett. It happened on the football field, and GSU player Jamil Muhammad had to restrain his teammate as Corbett dangled his lock in front of Dunlap’s face. Cor bett is white.

Oct. 8 brought bitter rivals Georgia State University and Geor gia Southern together, going head to head on the field. Like many of the other meetings between these teams, the energy of the crowds was at a high. GSU students rallied behind the “#statenotsouthern” hashtag, asserting that they were the true owners of the GSU acro nym.

Georgia State University was the first to use the GSU acronym, with Georgia Southern adding “university” to their name in 1990.

Names aside, the GSU v. GSU rivalry has always been felt at both schools. The hair pulling, however, and the advertisement of it, hasn’t been seen before.

Most students weren’t even aware of the incident until Corbett posted it to Instagram. The referee didn’t make a call on the scuf fle. The post is deleted now, and his account deactivated, but the caption said “you ain’t really livin like that.” Corbett called Dunlap’s lock a souvenir.

A student direct messaged the Georgia State’s Student Govern ment Association for comment on the situation. Our SGA said they were looking into the incident. They reached out to Georgia South ern’s Student Government Association for comment.

Matter of fact, our SGA also reached out to the athletic depart ment, diversity team and many others for Georgia Southern to make an official comment on the situa tion. In an email to their Southern counterparts, a member of our SGA said that “The connotation and context should make plain the outrageousness of the situation. It is unacceptable.” Southern said that

they were looking to reprimand the player. While the two student organizations have been in talks with one another, Georgia Southern hasn’t announced a public statement.

Georgia State’s administration hasn’t made an official statement about what happened either. The SGA did get in contact with the athletic director, Brian Kelly. Kelly said it was reported to the Sun Belt conference to be “dealt appropriately.” No ramifications have been issued to Corbett as of publishing.

The Signal reached out to numerous football coaches about the situation and didn’t hear any thing back.

PHOTO BY: TRENT LEGASPI | THE SIGNAL

The SGA also contacted Dunlap, who declined to go into detail about the situation. He said it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Some of GSU’s student body would disagree. “That’s definitely grounds for ejection from the game at the least,” said Katrina Mo in a message. One student, Billaé Blanding, went as far as to say the ac tion had racial undertones. To her, the dreadlock holds immense significance to the people who wear it. And history may agree.

For those who don’t know, dreadlocks are strands of matted hair locked together. Black hair, and the ways it can be manipulated, holds gravity for the Black community. The dreadlock was seen in many cultures. In Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles, Bert Ashe found that the Hindu God Shiva wore dreads. But the popularization of dreadlocks came from Marcus Gravy and his political movement.

Gravy was a Jamaican activist and he started the Rastafari movement in the 1930s. The Rastafari movement was similar to the Pan-African movement, which sought to strengthen pride in Africa. Eb ony, a magazine focused on Black issues, found that Gravy’s locks were representative of rejecting Eu rocentric cultures. Dreadlocks represented the mane of a lion, and the followers of the movement wore the hair with pride.

Beyond just locks, the tight coils of Black hair have been politically entangled with Black culture. The BBC reported on Black people being discriminated against by wearing their natural hair. It’s been seen as unprofessional and messy in certain spaces.

The dreadlock is a symbol of Black pride to some. And Dunlap had to watch while his dreadlock swayed in front of his face.

It remains to be seen if Corbett’s actions were motivated by bigotry or not. But a football player had a symbol of Black pride ripped out of his head, and both schools have swept it under the rug so far.

connotation and context should make plain the outrageousness of the situation.

is unacceptable.”

PHOTO BY: UNKNOWN SOURCE

Why Voting Isn’t a Quick Change Does Voting Mean Change?

GABBY MILLER Staff Columnist

Over the last two years, more and more rights have been taken from women, leading me to question what my vote in this election will give me and if it will change things. American citizens are told that voting is the key to our freedom as early as elementary school. Teachers would make us remind our parents that they need to vote. Why are we taught this even before we can legally vote?

I believe voting is the only thing keeping the extremely political American citizens from losing what little sanity they have left. Many politicians like to make us think voting for them will change things. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, it has made me think about the ex tent to which voting will change our society. We were not allowed to vote on whether or not to keep it; we put all our trust into the corrupt supreme court and look where it led us.

The overturn makes citizens think about what is next that they will take away as well. Is it Gay marriage? The right to transition from a male to a female or vice versa? It seems like they took these issues out of our hands and instead made us vote for the next egotistical politician.

What will voting change if things go the way they are going? They already took the important matters out of our hands and forced us to fo cus on politicians rather than important issues. That is the problem with voting. There will always be a politician that thinks they can do what ever they want because they are in office, whether they are a governor, a senate, or even the president of the United States.

Voting as of right now will probably move things in the right direc tion, but how long do we have to wait until something else gets taken away from us? Voting should be something we could do to feel safer in our country, but the voting system did not provide that for us for the last two years.

Voting is often pictured as a safety net when things go wrong in our country. We see it every day. When something bad happens in our lives, we blame whoever is in charge. For example, since inflation has been happening to us, many American citizens like to blame President Biden. They like to say, “He’s charging us more because he is a radical liberal!” while in reality, the cause is far more nuanced.

People who blame politicians in office often think their vote will matter in this election. But just because you voted does not mean things will change overnight. It is important not to put all our eggs in a voting ballot right away. We must expect changes to occur over

ALANNA JACOBS Staff Columnist

time,

huge impact.

about Their Athletes?

PHOTO BY: @ELEMENT5DIGITAL ON UNSPLASH.COM

The National Football League has failed yet another athlete. On Sept. 25th, week three of the NFL season, Miami Dolphin quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, took a hard hit to the head on a tackle during the second quarter of the Dolphin’s battle against the Buffalo Bills.

The video of said tackle went viral on social media where the public questioned the state of Tagov ailoa’s physical health after watching. In the video, you can see the former college MVP shake his head while lifting himself off of the ground and then stumble to a fall after walking just a few steps.

After the stumble, he was taken to the locker room where he passed their concussion evaluation and was cleared to play for the remainder of the game. The Dolphin’s medical staff confirmed a back injury and hired a neurologist who also cleared the quarterback. After the hit, Tagovailoa led his team to a win and was back on the field the following week to play against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Dolphins were down late in the second half when Tua Tagovailoa took another head hit to the ground after being sacked. Following the hit, he rolled to his back with his eyes shut and hands froze in front of his face, a physical response to head trauma. He would then lay on the ground for over seven minutes until he was taken off of the field on a stretcher.

As of right now, it is still uncertain when the quarterback will be able to return to the game. 65% to

95% of all football injuries are head injuries. Considering head injuries associated with the sport occur once every five and a half games, it is incredibly shocking that Tagovailoa’s hit wasn’t taken more seri ously and that he was able to play in a game four days later.

Not to mention, many football players have been known to later suffer from C.T.E., also known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. This is a progressive brain disorder that can only be diagnosed after death, with a close examination of the brain. C.T.E. is caused by repeated blows to the head and fre quent concussions. It has been linked to serious symptoms such as memory loss, depression, aggressive behavior, as well as suicidal thoughts.

In a 2017 study conducted by Boston University, they closely examined 111 brains of deceased for mer NFL players. In this study, they found that all but one were diagnosed with C.T.E.

There is no harm in a system that takes extra precautions for its athletes, and doing so will keep col lege and pro athletes healthy and competing. Athletes should also feel that they are in an environment to be completely honest about their physical health.

One game is not worth an entire career. The physical and mental health of athletes should always be the top priority.

the

Special

How are freshman adjusting to GSU?

Georgia State has a very special campus. Our downtown school boasts a large and diverse student body of nearly 50,000 students. Being on campus can also come with its fair share of difficulties. Adjusting to city life and the college workflow can be difficult. To capture this unique slice of student life that we hold, The Signal asked new freshmen how they were adjusting to life on campus halfway through their first semester. This is what they had to say.

“I’m from Maryland, so coming to Atlanta is different, but I chose it because I like the environment. It’s a welcoming environment. It’s warm and I’m adjusting well. I feel like I’m doing good.

Khandi Walker

“I like it. My classes give me work for the next week instead of work for the next day. I’m a procrastinator so I get very sleep deprived when they do that. Georgia State has a nice campus, especially the library. I hang out there a lot with my friends.”

Cordell Parker

“I feel like I’ve adjusted pretty well. Luckily, I’m not staying on campus, so it’s not such a huge switch to a completely new environment. Classes are great. I’ve been very lucky with professors in that they’re all very sweet and all very understanding. The workload is definitely something and the exams; you have to prepare a lot for them. The community that Georgia State has created is so wonderful and I always feel like there is something happening. It’s not just school, it’s school and other stuff surrounding it which makes it fun.”

Imara Bhanji

“It’s rough, especially with the dorming. I live over at (Patton Hall). On my floor, everyone is kind of rowdy. You would expect people to be more mature since we’re all 18 and up. You see people running down the halls super loud at night. There’s a lot of cars (on the street) at night and those are super loud too. So that’s my biggest issue. Then my roommate, it’s kind of weird, living with somebody else. It’s kind of hard to adjust to other people’s habits. Other than that, getting involved in clubs and meeting new people is very fun.

Maliyah Fleming

“You know, it’s not bad. It’s a lot of work, I barely have free time sometimes. When I do, I like to meet new people and stuff or hang out in (the 2nd floor of Student Center East) or hang out in the library. My schedule is pretty well rounded, I have time to get done what I need to get done”

“I came from Savannah, so you couldn’t really walk anywhere there. Especially from where I lived. So being able to just get up and go to a grocery store or to class, I think that’s really cool. I’m living in the dorms so I’m making friends with the people on my floor. All of my freshman friends are living on my floor, the RA they’re helping with that. Any questions I’ve had about how to do something or how to get somewhere, I’ve had someone from the school or upperclassmen who can tell me.”

David Hoffman

“(I’m adjusting) so much better than I thought it would be. I thought it would be a kind of rerun of highschool. I actually get to sleep now, a big improvement overall.”

Andrew Baxley

Khalil Goldwire

& LIVING

Sensational Subs: Georgia State’s most popular sandwich shop

Sensational Subs provides students with a place to grow community

BRASWELL Staff Reporter

On the corner of Park Place and Hurt Plaza, the hus tle and bustle of Atlanta’s day-to-day foot traffic soft ens inside the doors of Georgia State’s most popular sub shop. This nostalgic hotspot, Sensational Subs, gives students on campus a place to escape the insanity of life and the stresses of school for a little while.

As students munch on Philly cheesesteaks and drink cold Buch light, a sense of community is created within the shuffling of Uno cards and the stacking of Jenga blocks as people who would not usu ally be friends come together to join a game or start a conversation. The shop is always filled with laughter, the sounds of quarters flip ping into beers, students chattering about upcoming classes and the occasional call of a number for whoever’s sandwich is up and ready.

Sensational Subs, or “Subs,” as those on campus call the sand wich shop, provides a great communal space for students to study for a test, meet up with a friend or simply just grab one of the many subs on their classic menu. It is rare to go to subs and not run into a friend, a classmate or just a fellow subs-goer.

One group of students in particular, consisting of Dan Crew, Lauren Ratchford, Josh Van Rossem and Jack LoMonaco, began going to subs separately, but became extremely close through their mutual love for Sensational Subs.

Their friendship began sometime in 2021 when they would in dividually go to Subs to do schoolwork, or maybe meet up with a different group of friends. Their routine became habitual, and af ter a few weeks of constantly seeing one another, the friend group formed through numerous Tuesday afternoon games of Uno and split pitchers of beer.

“I started going to subs because a friend from class went and invited me,” Van Rossem said. “I kept going back because of the peo ple who go there and the social environment. Subs definitely feels

like a community. If you meet a random person, but you happen to find out you both love Sensational Subs, you’re practically in stant friends. The restaurant brings so many people together that wouldn’t meet naturally.”

For a lot of kids at Georgia State, it can be hard to find a group of friends that click. At Sensational Subs, however, societal stan dards dissolve into an atmosphere that puts everyone on the same playing field. Cliques dissolve, and everyone is treated as if they are close friends or family.

“The vibe is similar to that of the house where your friends with the cool parents lived,” LoMonaco said. “It became a part of my rou tine because I was new, and it was my only way of meeting people

and making friends, who are awesome by the way.”

Apart from the friendly, vibrant and upbeat environment, Sen sational Subs is also known for hosting percentage nights to sup port sororities and fraternities on campus. Through these percent age nights, frats and sororities take home a percentage of the sales on a given night to donate to whatever fundraiser/charity the orga nization is raising money for.

For years, Sensational Subs has given to the community it serves, not only as a business with great food, but as a place of com munity. So many have loved Subs for years, and for several, these traditions will continue to live out as more Tuesdays are filled with subs, beer and good friends.

What confines you? An Incarceration art exhibition

KAWTHAR ALASAAD Staff Reporter

What confines you? This question is rather complicated for each person to answer, and can lead to mixed emotions for each individual. This question can also liberate many people as they express and let out their feelings.

An engaging art exhibition was displayed c at the Arts and Humanities building the week of Oct. 3rd. The art exhibition presented an intense, yet eye-catching portrayal of a jail cell. Within that jail cell, many students all around our massive, diverse campus stated their unique answers to what confines them in their individual lives. The responses were highly compelling.

The answers to the question were mainly anonymous; a few students chose to write their initials, people chose to express how they truly felt without the weight of being seen.

A couple of the student responses have been recorded. They will be presented as such: “Fear of fail ure and rejection from those I love” by the initial A.M; a powerful statement that seemed to attract many people to express more of what they felt on that topic. Another student stated, “The constant worry that no one truly likes me and that everyone I know hates me.”

A common response was that gender confined many students at Georgia State. This is a perspec tive that many people feel strongly about and is a direct signal of the issues that need to be shed light on. Gender and self-expression are topics that many people need to discuss, and the exhibition was a

distinctive way of validating for many students to start that conversation.

Other common answers found in these responses were that trauma and various mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Yet again, these answers bring importance to vital subjects that are often seen as either “taboo” or too uncomfortable for people to express without judgment.

As the art exhibition included responses from our campus, the display also provided answers from currently incarcerated people. The responses were both heavy and informative. There were various great responses, but one is particularly relevant to the many obstacles of the justice system.

A person that goes by SYS stated, “The stigma of imprisonment and guilt. The assumption of the general public that all that has been said by the DA and the media is truthful. To speak for the voice less is shameful and they should be held accountable. The system allows profits to be made from the hardships of others. This should not be. This has permanently separated me from my youngest son. He only knows me through the media and has no personal recollection of our history of love and family together.” SYS speaks for many people in the incarceration system, as their story resembles many others.

The responses from the incarcerated people, as well as from the students of Georgia State, have made a significant impact on each other by validating their feelings as well as others. However, to end on a lighter note, one person had this to say about the portrayal of the prison cell, “This is vaguely what my dorm looked like.”

PHOTO BY: HUNTER LASERNA | THE SIGNAL

HILL Staff Reporter

On Oct. 31, Georgia State will face the Morehouse Tigers for the first time in school history. It’s an exhibition game that sim ply words nor this article can explain. This game will mean way more to Atlanta than everybody thinks.

For 21 years, Grady Brewer served as Head Coach for Morehouse College. While there, he led the school to a superb overall 315-241 record. Those 315 wins rank sec ond behind former Morehouse basketball coach Arthur McAfee. It’s more to this sto ry than just the wins, though. Brewer was a great coach for two decades, but he was also a great man first. David A. Thomas, Ph.D., the current Morehouse President, had much praise for Brewer.

“The only thing that surpassed his presence on the basketball court was his transformative influence on Morehouse Men as a fellow student, player, alumnus, coach, teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend,” said Thomas. “Not only will his spirit continue to live on in the hearts of the Morehouse family, but his legacy will impact the sport for years to come.”

Unfortunately, last year, on May 29, 2021, Coach Grady Brewer passed away at 63 years old following an illness.

The death shocked the state of Geor gia and left Morehouse players, students,

faculty and graduates without words. Iron ically, newly hired Georgia State Basket ball Head Coach Jonas Hayes started his collegiate coaching career under Brewer’s coaching staff at Morehouse. Brewer saw something special in Hayes and gave him a chance. At Hayes’ introductory press con ference back in April, he made it a point to show his gratitude for Brewer.

“He [Grady Brewer] decided to hire me after only having one year experience at Frederick Douglas High School,” said Hayes. “I didn’t know my tail from a hole in the ground. I didn’t know anything about coaching. Anything about the pro fession. He hired me for no other reason than he saw something in me that I nec essarily didn’t see in myself. That’s what a leader does. He showed me love. [He] showed me compassion and allowed me to make mistakes at 23, 24 years old starting my coaching career. For that, god rest your soul, Grady Brewer; I’m thankful.”

In life, “things” happen. Many times, you can’t explain these “things.” It’s beyond humanely possible to understand these “things.” It’s important to soak in the mo ments. Georgia State versus Morehouse College will be an iconic moment for the city of Atlanta. For Morehouse, it’s the be ginning of another new season with the second-year Head Coach Douglas Whit

tler. A unique and unexpected fresh start, but a new start nonetheless. It’s a start to moving on and doing what Grady Brew er would’ve wanted - going out there and having fun. For Georgia State, it’ll be a mo ment for Jonas Hayes. He has never faced off against Morehouse’s basketball pro gram so it’s hard to imagine his emotions won’t be high during this contest.

Brewer would’ve loved to bear witness to Hayes getting his first head coaching job, and Hayes would’ve loved for Brewer to have a front row seat. It’s an honor for the teams to meet given the circumstances.

Let’s not forget it’s the first game in the new Convocation Center down in Sum merhill. Not a single game has been in the building yet so what better than to have this exhibition as the first? Both teams will break in not only their shoes, but a brand new parquet floor that only true basketball fans can appreciate.

The city has never seen these two matchup before in a basketball duel, so At lanta natives are in for a Halloween filled with tricks and treats.Start Halloween night off right and head down to the Con vocation Center to catch history and ev erything else that’ll come along with this special night.

How Drake London has become the WR1 In the Falcons Offense

The Falcons have found their number one wide receiver in Drake London

TIMOTHY GAGE Staff Reporter

The Atlanta Falcons selected wide re ceiver Drake Lon don with the eighth pick in the 2022 NFL draft. In a class load ed with supreme talent at the wideout position, London was atop the majority of draft boards across the league.

“We always start with the makeup. We love the way the young man is wired,” Terry Fon tenot said. “He’s a tough, smart, competitive football player. He fits our ethos. He fits the culture we want.”

London has been a high ly touted recruit since his high school days at Moorpark High School in California. He was named All-State in both football and basketball. He was recruited to USC for both sports and even suited up for two games for the USC basketball team, but his football prowess is what turned heads.

London made an imme diate impact his true freshman season with 39 receptions, 567 yards, five touchdowns and 14.5 yards per catch. The following season, London led the Trojans with 502 receiving yards, 33 re ceptions, three touchdowns and 15.2 yards per reception. These numbers were eye-popping in a shortened COVID season in which only six games were played.

London missed the end of the 2021 season with a frac tured ankle, but impressed in the eight starts he did make by leading the team with 88 re ceptions, 1,084 yards receiving, 12.3 yards per reception and tying the team lead with seven scores. London was third-team All-American, Pac-12 Offen sive Player of the Year and FirstTeam All-Conference.

London is a big, long-pos session receiver who excels at high pointing 50/50 balls. The knock on him coming out of college was that he lacked the desired top-end speed and sep

aration quickness to get open in the short areas of the field. Lon don’s 6’5 stature often makes up for his lack of short area quick ness.

He worked extensively out side as an X receiver and occa sionally lined up in the slot. The versatility to be able to move a player with that kind of size to the slot will create a lot of mis matches in which London will be able to exploit with the lack of size that’s prevalent in slot de fenders across the league.

These qualities made him one of the top recruits in a class full of elite talent at the wide re ceiver position. Even in a year in which only one quarterback went in the first three rounds, skill positions were at a premi um. With the departure of fran chise legend Julio Jones and the suspension of 2018 first-round draft choice Calvin Ridley, the Falcons knew they needed to make a splash in the 2022 draft.

London has been off to a hot start in his rookie season. Five games into the season, London has 22 receptions, 266 yards, two touchdowns and 12.1 yards per reception. His pro jected stats for the 2022 season are 75 receptions, 904 yards and seven touchdowns. These num bers would solidify him as the number one wide receiver on the depth chart.

The knock on London, not being able to create separation at the NFL level, looks to be yet another lazy pre-draft analy sis through the first five games of his young career. London has lived up to his top-ten draft pick pedigree so far this season. The Falcons’ offense lacked that true alpha wide receiver head ing into the 2022 season. Lon don will be a major focal point of the Atlanta Falcons’ offense for what should be a long time as he continues to develop and blossom into what the Falcons wanted when they drafted him.

What GSU vs Morehouse means for the City of Atlanta Everything has come full circle in a game that means so much for the city.

PHOTO BY: GSU ATHLETICS