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Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM MARCH 24, 2021 VOL. 104, ISSUE 10
Carbondale community holds vigil for victims of Atlanta shooting
Marcella Sevy, a resident of Carbondale and member of the organizing team, stands up with a banner and candle in front of attendees in the Asian Lives Matter event organized by Sunrise Movement Southern Illinois on Sunday, March 21, 2021, at Lenus Turley Park in Carbondale Ill. The Sunrise Organization has been organizing many campaigns against violence throughout the country. “The Sunrise Movement is a national organization and we’re one of many hubs. We need to take action proportional to the crisis we face,” Sevy said. Subash Kharel | @pics.leaks George Wiebe | gwiebe@dailyegyptian.com
Carbondale community members gathered outside the bodega in Lenus Turley Park March 21 to mourn in the wake of the Atlanta Ga. shooting. Members of the Sunrise Movement in Carbondale organized the vigil, commemorating the victims. The spa shooting took place March 16. Three massage parlors were targeted, and six of the eight victims were Asian women. Their names were Delaina Ashley Yaun, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng. More than 20 people gathered in Carbondale’s Lenus Turley Park, across the street from an Asian massage parlor. Organizers distributed candles and the crowd held a moment of silence as part of the event. The Sunrise Movement is a political organization advocating action towards stemming climate change, which some of its members feel
disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities. “It’s really important we find solidarity across class, across racial boundaries,” Marcella Sevy, a member of Carbondale’s Sunrise Movement, said. Hate crimes against Asian Americans rose 149% between 2019 and 2020, according to CSU’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. “There is a big asian community in Carbondale, and I don’t see a lot of people coming to the surface about some of these issues,”A.J. one of the event’s organizers said. Approximately 5% of Carbondale’s population is Asian, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “We wanted to hold this space not only for the victims, but for their families as well” A.J. said. Staff reporter George Wiebe can be reached at gwiebe@dailyegyptian.com
Bob Odenkirk discusses ‘Nobody,’ upcoming John Wick-style action thriller Jason Flynn | @dejasonflynn “Nobody” is the joint vision of director Ilya Naishuller and writer Derek Kolstad, starring Bob Odenkirk, a Southern Illinois University alum. Odenkirk has been involved with several well known television shows and films. Some of which being “Breaking Bad”, “The Simpsons”, “Better Call Saul”, “Little Women”, “Dolemite Is My Name” and “Incredibles 2”. The film opens with a tight shot on Odenkirk’s bloody face which pulls out to reveal the character in handcuffs, who then pulls out a cigarette, lighter, a can of cat food and eventually a cat pressing the audience to ask, ‘what the hell happened here’ as Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” plays over the opening. After the opening we’re taken back days, maybe weeks, to see Odenkirk’s character, Hutch Mansell, who clearly feels put-upon living out a quaint suburban life. He constantly misses trash day, his work clacking out office spreadsheets is a bore, and he’s resentful of his wife, Rebecca Mansell played by Connie Nielsen, whose successful real-estate career has put her face on bus stop posters all around town. In the first third of the movie about a third of Hutch’s lines are apologies. Odenkirk said in a press roundtable over Zoom the movie is supposed to reflect, in a heightened way, how people can feel, “boxed in” by the stresses of every-day life. “20 years into your marriage you will have the thought, man or woman, ‘do you know who I used to be’,” Odenkrik said. “‘I used to have agency. I used to do shit without asking. I used to be considered a potent person.’” The internal resentment flares up after armed thieves invade the Mansell home. Though Hutch has a chance to fight off the intruders, he holds back, and is tormented by remarks from an investigating police officer, his son, his wife, and his wife’s family members who, it turns out, are his employers. The rest of the movie is a parade of tightly choreographed violence that will feel familiar to fans of Kolstad’s “John Wick” franchise. Odenkirk, best known for his role as Jimmy McGill in the AMC drama Better Call Saul, got his start working on comedies writing and acting in comedies including “Saturday Night Live,” “The Ben Stiller Show” and “Mr. Show With Bob
and David.” “I come from sketch comedy, and it was my whole life,” Odenkirk said. “I didn’t want to make this movie as, like, a dilettante.” Odenkirk said he trained for two and a half years to do his own stunt fighting in the film because he has been such a fan of action movies like Police Story and Oldboy. “Daniel Bernhardt is the man who trained me, and he’s maybe the best stunt actor alive in the world right now,” Odenkirk said. “I wanted the full experience and I wanted to push myself and stretch myself.” “Nobody” forgoes the point-of-view styling that drew attention to Naishuller’s music videos, and his previous feature film “Hardcore Henry.” Instead, Naischuller favors more tight or medium moving shots to allow the carefully composed fight sequences to play out in full view. Kolstad’s script touches on themes that are also consistent throughout his work, including a fringe member of society settling into family life, honor amongst thieves or an assassin’s code, and deep-state surveillance. “Nobody” adds addiction to that mix, as Hutch’s descent into violence is described as a relapse. The addiction trait makes Hutch a somewhat unreliable narrator. One scene has an operative identified only as “The Barber” relaying a list of crimes by Hutch’s Russian-mob adversary to which Hutch replies cheekily, “so he’s a bad guy.” Hutch, we know, has been an assassin for the US government, shooting and bombing his way through foreign countries for years. The juxtaposition blurs the line between good and bad that was built up in old westerns which Hutch’s father, played by Christoper Lloyd, is always watching. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become less of a utopian,” Odenkirk said. “We do have frontiers and they tend to be wilder, and maybe more dangerous than cities or other places that are quote-unquote civilized, but I just think this is part of being a human and it goes to every strata of society.” “Nobody” premieres March 26. Staff reporter Jason Flynn can be reached at jflynn@dailyegyptian.com, by phone at 872222-7821 or on Twitter at @dejasonflynn
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
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Dustin Clark | @dustinclark.oof
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
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Is it too late for the Equal Rights Amendment?
Jamilah Lewis | @jamilahlewis
The nearly 250 year wait for American women to be fully recognized by the Constitution may be coming to an end now that 38 states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. But only if courts rule that the deadline can be extended. The Equal Rights Amendment’s main goal is to protect and ensure equal rights for all Americans without discrimination on the basis of sex. It was passed by Congress in 1972 but wasn’t finalized because only 22 states ratified the amendment. Having the Equal Rights Amendment could help with pay inequity, pregnancy discrimination, domestic violence and many other things, which have targeted women in America in an unequal way according to The National Organization for Women Retired journalist Margret Freivogel worked at the Washington Bureau of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for 12 years in the 1980s focusing on women in politics and family issues and civil rights. She covered the ERA extensively. “Women were not in the Constitution in the beginning, we couldn’t vote, we couldn’t own property in most cases, we were considered the property of our husbands in the beginning, and that’s just wrong,” Freivogel said. “That’s not the ideal that we want to live in.” Freivogel wrote a few stories on Phyllis Schlafly, an American attorney from St. Louis, Missouri, and a conservative activist who opposed the ERA throughout her career. Phyllis Schlafly was a conservative American attorney who was antifeminism, LGBTQ rights, abortion and succesfully campaigned against the ratification of the ERA. Phyllis Schlafly went to Washington University St. Louis where she got her masters degree in political science and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College in government. Schlafly settled down in Alton, Illinois where she had six children with her husband Fred Schlafly Jr. Freivogel wrote an article early last year called Donald Trump reminds me of Phyllis Schlafly. I’ll probably be skipping ‘Mrs. America.’ In this article Freivogel compares Schlafly to former president Trump and reflects on her experiences with Schlafly and how she presented herself during the time the ERA was trying to be passed. Freivogel said people who were opposed to the ERA were looking for an excuse and Phyllis Schlafly was that excuse for them. “Phyllis Schlafly is a very complicated person who, as people who opposed her said at the time, she had a very independent career and led a very public life while campaigning the idea that women needed to be able
An overflow crowd of supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment wait to be allowed into the gallery of the House of Delegates Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia. Julia Rendleman to stay home and take care of her kids,” Freivogel said. As of right now, according to NOW, the ERA missed its deadline to get at least 38 states to ratify the amendment in the 1970s, but as of present day, 38 states have the amendment ratified. “It is not binding on Congress, the courts or state legislatures, and it [Constitutional Amendment Process] will not slow down the momentum toward final ratification of the ERA,” the organization’s website states. SIU professor of property law Sheila Simon frequently works with the board at the Women’s Center in Carbondale. The center helps victims and survivors of crime, sexual assault, and violence in Jackson County, Simon said. Simon said the main reason America needs the Equal Rights Amendment is to have women’s safety set in stone. “The reason we need that is that there are lots of protections that we have that are given to us by statute,” Simon said. “That’s great to have rights against discrimination at work and in housing and lots of other areas, but it’s not the same thing as having it protected by the Constitution because the Constitution is permanent, it’s a fixture for us.” Simon gave the example of if America were to take a drastic conservative turn women wouldn’t have an amendment to protect their rights since statutes can change. “Really just having the amendment there would be a great protection. I don’t think it would necessarily cause change right away,” Simon said. “It would just create a better backstop.” Simon said she loves the efforts made to revive the amendment now and even if challenges come with it it’s good that people are paying attention.
“I think we’re moving all the time slowly towards getting ourselves into a position where we really feel that men and women have equal rights and are equally capable,” Simon said. According to the federal judges’ newest ruling on the ERA, the newest ratifications of the amendment still did not make the deadline to be a part of the Constitution. Even the supreme court has made it known the the equal protection clause that was made to give former slaves voting rights and equal protection does not apply to women. The 14th amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Retired Illinois Representative Steve Andersson from the republican party has been fighting for the ERA since he was a freshman legislator in Springfield, Illinois. Andersson said a lobbyist came to him to warn him about the ERA saying it would enhance abortion rights. After Anderson did his own research he found out it was the opposite of that. “It was an attempt to really keep women in their place so to speak from a very 1950s perspective,” Andersson said. “ I don’t appreciate being lied to, and so they accidentally created the biggest advocate for the ERA that they could’ve ever imagined which was me
because then I took it on as a personal issue that I’m going to pass this.” Andersson said he’s not just trying to get it passed for the women in his life, but for everyone. Everyone deserves a seat at the table so there can be a more diverse say in decisions. “Make that room full of both women and men, people of color, the LGBTQ community, bring all of those diverse experiences into it, and then imagine the explosions of creative ideas that can come to any solution,” Andersson said. “ So for me, this is very much an issue that enhances our whole community; it’s not just about women, certainly that is the prime thing, but it really enhances all of us.” Andersson was one of the representatives who helped the ERA pass in Illinois in 2018 after asking then house sponsor Louis I. Lang to be the chief co-sponsor. “I was very proud to garner the votes on my side that we needed to pass the bill and by doing so we made Illinois the 37th state to pass the ERA,” Andersson said. Andersson’s journey didn’t stop in Illinois going to many states across the country to make people more aware of the importance of getting the ERA passed. Andersson said he was in Virginia when the amendment was passed, which was the last state the ERA needed. Andersson said it was great to be there when it happened and a lot of good feelings. One thing Andersson highlighted was the big role that Delta Sigma Theta Inc. women and African American women had in passing the ERA in Virginia and Illinois. “The Deltas were there at the beginning. They were historically like
excised from the history of the ERA,” Andersson said. “I was so grateful to them because it was their hard work that actually pushed it over the line in Virginia. In Illinois, we did not focus enough on the work that the Deltas and the African American women could do. We almost lost because of that.” One of the main problems that keeps the ERA from codified into law is the deadline, which has expired. The deadline was in the preamble and not in the actual bill where the writers of the amendment knew that it couldn’t be enforced, Andersson said. “The deadline is what we’re working on right now in Congress. Last week house strike resolution 17 passed the U.S. House [...] with overwhelming Democratic support and four Republican individuals voted for it as well to remove the deadline,” Andersson said. “ [It] goes to the senate next and hopefully we can get it heard now that the Democrats are in control, and if that’s done then the deadline ceases to exist.” What the ERA would do for women is boost the standard up to where it should be, which is on the same level as the evaluation of race, that would put it under strict scrutiny, Andersson said. “Women have waited really forever,” Andersson said. “ I’m very proud to play a supporting role to so many women who carried this burden and I’m proud to be a part of it, but I’m prouder still to watch the women who are advocating for this do it for themselves because they can.” Staff reporter Jamilah Lewis can be reached at jlewis@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @jamilahlewis.
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Health departments administer COVID-19 vaccinations to residents
Courtney Alexander | @ ___Courtney_alex23______
The COVID-19 vaccination has been administered to eligible residents of Illinois, but throughout the vaccination process, there’s been limited availability of the vaccine, since the federal government only provides the state with a limited amount each week. Residents of Illinois can locate their nearest vaccination site on the State of Illinois Coronavirus Response website. Carbondale has two vaccination sites at Banterra Center and at Carbondale Civic Center, and they are following Phase 1B guidelines. Melaney Arnold, a Public Information Officer for the Illinois Department of Health, said the federal government provides the state with a certain amount of vaccines each week. “Each week, the federal government allocates Illinois a limited number of doses of vaccine. Illinois must distribute vaccines across the entire state with a careful eye toward equity,” Arnold said. The COVID-19 vaccination has a high demand, but not everyone can receive the vaccination, due to limited supply. “We are pleased to see an overwhelming demand for the vaccine, however, the number of doses Illinois receives is limited so the supply to meet that demand just isn’t there yet,” Arnold said. The health department asks residents of Illinois to remain patient while they administer the vaccination
Pharmacist Pamela Hughes prepares syringes with dosages of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for distribution Wednesday, March 18, 2021, in Carbondale, Ill. James B Allen | @skyclopsphotojamboree
at this time. “We ask that people be patient, we understand there is frustration when trying to find an open appointment, but again, there just isn’t enough vaccine at this time to get everyone all the doses they are able to administer,” Arnold said.
Paula Clark, a vision director at the Jackson County Health Department, said the health department was only vaccinating eligible people before Gov. JB Pritzker expanded vaccine eligibility to other essential workers. “We only turn people away if they’re not in one of the eligible phases. Right now we’re vaccinating 65 and older, we’re vaccinating essential healthcare workers, and we’re vaccinating 64 and under, if they have an
existing health concern,” Clark said. Jackson County hasn’t run out of vaccinations, and all three options, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson, have been administered to eligible members of the community. “The state has kept us in pretty good supply. We don’t know what they’re sending, they might send us Pfizer, they might send us Moderna, they might send us the one shot of Johnson and Johnson,” Clark said. “We have to roll with the punches each week to see what they’re sending us, and what we can offer.” The health department has to make accommodations to provide residents with the correct vaccination. The majority of the residents
in the area have not received their vaccinations yet. “I wouldn’t say the majority of community members are vaccinated, because Jackson County has 60,000 residents. Now that the National Guard is helping, we can vaccinate anyone in the state of Illinois,” Clark said. “We’ve had people come from Chicago and the Belleville area, if they’re at an area where they can’t find a vaccine, then they’re allowed to come here. Bill and Verna Caplinger, residents of Jackson County, said they came to the Banterra Center to receive their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccination together. The couple has been married since 1948 and they’re close to celebrating 73 years of marriage. They have five children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and their daughter has also received the vaccination. The couple said they were anxious to get vaccinated, but they remembered that some people didn’t make it through the pandemic. “We remember some events people have gone through and didn’t make it, we were very anxious to get it,” Verna Caplinger said.
Courtney Alexander can be reached at calexander@ dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at ___Courtney_ alex23______.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
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Warehouse workers and socialists gather for Day of Solidarity Jason Flynn | @dejasonflynn
Dozens of people gathered in Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago on March 20 to show support for Amazon workers’ unionizing efforts in Bessemer, Ala. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, alderman of Chicago’s 25th Ward, laid out some of the grievances Chicago Amazon workers have had and connected their remediation to the ongoing struggle to unionize. “Earlier in the pandemic Amazon was misleading and misusing information. They were falsely reporting there were no cases of COVID-19 when workers were getting sick in that facility [in Pilsen],” Sigcho-Lopez said. “It’s because of the workers organizing that they were able to stop the practices in that facility.” The Saturday speeches and march happened in conjunction with over 50 events nationwide coordinated by Support Alabama Amazon Union. The Chicago event was organized by the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (CDSA), Chicago Socialist Alternative (CSA) and Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ). Ryan Watson, a member of CDSA and CSA, connected the union effort at Amazon to struggles for racial equity. “By supporting the union we’re demanding that Black lives be valued,” Watson said. According to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which Alabama workers are voting to potentially unionize with, about 85% of the workers at the Alabama facility are Black, and Black Lives Matter
Supporters of a unionization effort at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama march on the sidewalk for a Day of Solidarity on March 20, 2021, in downtown Chicago, Ill. Jason Flynn | @dejasonflynn
organizers have been assisting the workers’ effort to unionize. “A victory for the Amazon workers will be a victory for the entire working class and Black people in particular,” Watson said. Zoe Mueller of Colectivo Collective, a group of workers in the midst of their own union election at midwest coffee company Colectivo, compared Colectivo Collective’s unionizing experience to the Amazon effort in Bessemer.
“Americans called low wage essential workers heroes, but we weren’t treated as such,” Mueller said. “Amazon and Colectivo workers did what every worker in America has the federally protected right to do. We campaigned to unionize.” Melissa Vozar, a member of the Chicago Teachers Union, said the union effort in Alabama could have a ripple effect around the country. “This will be the first Amazon warehouse in the US to unionize,”
Vozar said. “Their success would boost the confidence of workers everywhere and help reverse the decades-long decline in union membership.” RWDSU, which represents 100,000 people around the country, said over 1000 people have reached out from other Amazon facilities around the country with an interest in unionizing. “They know, like we know, that if this union drive is successful
that this is going to be a signal to Amazon workers across the world that Jeff Bezos can be defeated,” Vozar said. “Winning a union won’t immediately make these improvements a reality, but it would give workers the ability to struggle together to win these demands.” Staff reporter Jason Flynn can be reached at jflynn@dailyegyptian.com, by phone at 872-222-7821 or on Twitter at @dejasonflynn.
COVID-19 pandemic leaves local businesses with new challenges ahead of them
Courtney Alexander | @ ___Courtney_alex23______
Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health constructed a plan to move Illinois to Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois plan. While the state is currently in Phase 4, local businesses must operate with reduced capacities and reduced business hours. The COVID-19 pandemic left local businesses with new challenges ahead of them. Businesses now have to find new ways to increase sales while still following guidelines. Jonathan Williamson, the general manager of VIP Cinemas, located on East Main Street in Carbondale, said the cinema will be following safety guidelines and spreading guests out in the theater. “We take all the precautions we need to since we’re at a reduced capacity. It’s easy to spread people out in the theater and within our
lobby, so there haven’t been any issues yet,” Williamson said. Williamson said guests are still required to wear masks within the theater. “We ask people to wear masks in our general lobby area, and within our high traffic areas. Within the theater, we do social distancing, so we ask people to have at least two seats between each other, which is 8 feet. We’re also sanitizing after every show,” Williamson said. The cinema will return to regular business hours within the next two to three weeks, but for now, prices have been adjusted, and additional deals will be offered to guests. “We feel that we have some good prices, so we’ve offered a couple of extra deals for our reopening. One of them is the VIP bucket, it’s $15, and you get $2 refills anytime you come back,” Williamson said. “And then it’s unlimited refills, and you
get a free large drink with unlimited refills too, so we’re offering the best deals we have available.” Brian Woodruff, the owner of Traxx, a bar located on South Illinois Avenue in Carbondale, said his business had to resume indoor operations immediately to recover from losses during the pandemic. “We had to reopen. We were closed for eight months out of the last year, we were at the point where it was do or die for us,” Woodruff said. Woodruff said if they weren’t allowed to resume operations, they would’ve considered closing permanently. “If we weren’t able to reopen when we did, we may have shut down permanently,” Woodruff said. As the state is transitioning into Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois Plan, Traxx is still following guidelines to keep the community safe.
“We’re only allowed 25% capacity, the students and other people in town want to go out and do something, everyone is tired of being locked down,” Woodruff said. “25 percent capacity is difficult to do anything businesswise, but we’re slowly able to catch up on bills from last year.” John Colter, general manager of Bandana’s BBQ, located on East Main Street in Carbondale, said the restaurant followed the necessary guidelines that Pritzker implemented. “We were following the governor’s guidelines through the whole thing. When the governor went to phase 2, phase 3, and tier 1 and tier 2, every time he switched guidelines for the restaurant, we followed them,” Colter said. “We went back to the standard of six ft, masks for everybody, and a number of rules and regulations.”
Bandanas BBQ still requires guests to follow social distancing guidelines and masks are still mandated. “We are following Phase 4 guidelines, they are asked to wear a mask when they come into the restaurant until they get to the table. Once they get to the table and they’re eating, they’re free to take off their masks,” Colter said. According to Illinois Policy, Pritzker plans to reopen Illinois without COVID-19 restrictions, but the state must go through a bridge phase before entering Phase 5. The new phase still mandates masks and more places can reopen after more residents are vaccinated. Courtney Alexander can be reached at calexander@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at ___Courtney_ alex23______.
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Commencement 2021: Seniors share thoughts on in-person plans Elena Schauwecker | eschauwecker@dailyegyptian.com
SIU’s decision to host graduation ceremonies in person this May was met with a wave of approval from graduating students despite the stillprevalent fear of the pandemic. Kim Rendfeld, the executive director of university communications and marketing, said a large percentage of students were surveyed in the decision-making process. “Overwhelmingly, students and their families have told the university that they want an inperson commencement ceremony to celebrate graduation,” Rendfeld said. “The feedback we’ve received since the decision was announced has been positive. Students and families are excited.” One of these surveyed students, industrial design major Brian Piller, said he and his family were worried his graduation would not be the special occasion they wanted it to be if it was conducted online, especially after he had missed out on so many other college experiences his senior year. “My family and I had been anxiously awaiting news about graduation for months,” Piller said. “I know my parents really want to watch me walk across the stage, and for a while it didn’t look like we’d have that chance.” Piller said he felt like his voice was heard, and he is grateful to SIU for taking his opinion into account. Bill Broms, a senior architecture major, said he believes students will be more motivated to graduate if they are given the opportunity to walk across the stage. He said what seniors deserve after so much turbulence and unpredictability in their education is to have a traditional graduation recognizing their dedication. “I feel like it does motivate people, especially since what everyone yearns for at this point during the quarantine is for things to be more normal,” Broms said. In addition to 2021 seniors, students who graduated in spring and fall 2020 will be invited to return and walk across the stage. These students have already received degrees but were deprived of the opportunity to celebrate their achievements with family and friends due to COVID-19. Alexa Maxwell, a 2020 graduate who received her bachelor’s degree in exercise science, said she was very disappointed last year when her four years of hard work were only recognized in a Zoom call. “My Zoom graduation last year had many technical difficulties, and I could hardly invite everyone I wanted because of the call limit,” Maxwell said. “I was disappointed, not only because I had already paid, but because I am the first of my family to go to university, and this unique experience was taken away from me.” Although Maxwell is now living in Chicago and has already begun her career, she said it is still meaningful
Messi Hinman, a behavioral analysis graduate from San Jose, California, waves to her family on Saturday, May 12, 2018, during the 142nd SIU commencement ceremony in the SIU Arena. Brian Munoz | @BrianMMunoz
“I’m not saying we should rush straight back to normal just yet—there is still a real danger. But at the same time, I think we all need some hope that we’re moving in that direction.” - Brian Piller Industrial Design Senior Brian Piller, a senior in Industrial Design Program, works on his iPad Thursday, March 18, 2021 at SIU. Chris Bishop | @quippedmediallc
for her to be able to come back and have the experience of graduating. She said she was only able to celebrate with about a quarter of the family and friends she would have liked to last year. Despite all the praise for the university’s decision, there is still an inevitable fear lingering around a crowd of so many people gathering, particularly individuals who have traveled from all over the country and parents or grandparents who may be at higher risk of COVID-19. Rendfeld said SIU is well aware of the risks, and many precautions will be strictly in place. The ceremony
will take place at Saluki Stadium and will be split up over the course of three days, allowing smaller groups to graduate together. All typical protocols such as mandatory masks, social distancing and sanitization will also be enforced. “There is always an underlying anxiety of the threat it poses, but I think due to the precautions the school is taking and that I know my family will exercise, I feel pretty safe all things considered,” Broms said. There are still drawbacks to these precautions preventing students from having the traditional graduation they said they wanted. Broms said he
is disappointed he will only receive four tickets for his family because he is unable to invite the aunts, uncles and close friends who want to support him. Maxwell said many of her family members will have to watch her graduate on a YouTube stream. “I am sad that only my immediate family will get to be there for the ceremony. I am close with a lot of extended family who will only be able to celebrate at the party afterwards,” Broms said. “I had a lot of my extended family there when I graduated from high school, so it feels weird that my college graduation is gonna be smaller.”
There is hope that the ceremony will be the first step in the school reopening in-person classes, events and activities. As vaccines continue to get distributed and positive cases begin to drop, the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to glow a little brighter for students. “I’m not saying we should rush straight back to normal just yet— there is still a real danger,” Piller said. “But at the same time, I think we all need some hope that we’re moving in that direction.” Staff reporter Elena Schauwecker can be reached at eschauwecker@ dailyegyptian.com.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
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The importance of sexual education in college
Jamilah Lewis | @jamilahlewis
From The Daily Egyptian’s “How Sexy is SIU?” survey published in February, it’s clear that even during the pandemic, students are having fun — but not in the safest ways. According to the results, only 38.8% of students surveyed use protection during sex. Only 38 states require a sexual education course with the other states making it optional, so the level of education students have on sexual health varies from person to person. According to a Planned Parenthood article, “ Currently, 24 states and the District of Columbia mandate sex education and 34 states mandate HIV education.” Depending on if it’s an entire course or a unit in one’s health class, many college students might not be as fully educated depending on the state they come from. Rebecca Gonnering, a
confidential advisor victims advocacy specialist at SIU, said it is important for incoming students to have a basic understanding of sexual health so they can properly protect themselves. “We also know that college students generally between the ages of 18 and 24 are at increased risk for a lot of those things [STIs],” Gonnering said. “Quality sexual health education is really needed to help students have the knowledge and skill that they need to make really important health decisions.” Gonnering said Wellness and Health Promotion Services distributes a survey every two years to find out a variety of health behavior in students, one of them being their sexual health. From the survey they distributed in fall 2019, Gonnering said 90% of survey respondents said they never used a barrier method during oral sex, 42% said they never or rarely use a barrier method when engaging
in vaginal sex and 50% of survey respondents said they never use a barrier method during anal sex in the past 30 days. “A lot of that just comes back to basics,” Gonnering said. “ Using barrier methods to prevent sexually transmitted infections, using contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancy, knowing what your partner’s risk is for COVID-19, and if you don’t know your partner’s risk for COVID-19 or how much they’ve been socially isolating or social distancing, we may consider that selective kissing or not kissing altogether.” When meeting up during the pandemic, people have to consider their risk and their partner’s risk for COVID-19 and sexually transmitted infections, Gonnering said. According to a Chicago Tribune article published last month about the fight for sex ed in Illinois, Illinois is one of the states that
does not have mandates in place for sexual education in public schools. The Tribune article also states with the importance this generation has put on sexuality and pronouns, students might want to know how they plan to employ that in the classroom and change the conservative ways of learning about sexual health in the classroom. Dr. Stacey Thompson, a child development specialist at SIU, said there are still people in their 20s who don’t know their bodies or what to expect sexually in their relationships. “It’s about teaching people about what is sex and what does it mean,” Thompson said. “In the context of a relationship or what it means to them and what they feel with and one of the big things is boundaries.” The society we live in is conservative but nevertheless finds a way to make a profit from sex in the entertainment industry, Thompson said.
“Pornography displays things in a very different way, and sometimes that’s what people seek out to see what is sex,” Thompson said. “Sometimes just finding a book that talks about it in a healthy way is good. Those resources are out there.” Thompson said she took a human sexuality class in college and taking classes like that can show how little a person knows about sexual health. “You think you kind of know a lot about it and then you go ‘oh wow! There’s a lot of things I didn’t know,’” Thompson said. “The more that we teach the context around sex, not just sex but birth control, health realtionship, all of those things.” Staff reporter Jamilah Lewis can be reached at jlewis@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @jamilahlewis.
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Murphysboro St. Patrick’s festival repre
Joe Gray takes a pan of cooked vegetables to add into his stew during the Irish Stew Cook-Off at the Murphysboro St. Patrick’s Day Celebration on Saturday, March 20, 2021, in Murphysboro, Ill. This is Gray’s third time competing in the cook-off. “We tied for first place our first year,” Gray said. “You never know what will happen, it all depends on the judges.” Jared Treece | @bisalo Nicolas Galindo | @ngalindophoto The first day of spring air in Murphysboro, Ill. was permeated with the scent of corned beef cooking and with the laughter of revellers celebrating St. Patrick’s Day downtown March 20. Brews Brothers Taproom has played host to the celebration for the past five years, according to co-owner Rachel Fager, with this year’s festivities looking similar to the previous years’ except with social distancing and face masks. “We have a lot of rules to follow this year,” Fager said. “We’ve worked with the health department to really try to do all of the things we can do to keep it safe, but I feel like, so far so good.” The 5k fun run, which typically occurs through downtown, was held virtually and several other planned events had to be cancelled in order to stay within the health department’s COVID guidelines, said Fager. Even still, a decent crowd of people came to participate in bags, tricycle races and enjoy green beer. For Joe Melvin, attending the St. Patrick’s Day festivities is a family tradition. “My dad used to dye his hair green, was all green and would walk up and down the streets. He was very well known for it,” Melvin said. “I carried it on for a little bit” For the Murphysboro native, the festival is his favorite event the city holds. “I like it better than Apple Festival and all of them, I like it better. This is just a fun time,” Melvin said. “I’m local. I’m born and raised here. My dad was born
and raised here, my grandfather was born and raised here. It goes back quite a ways, the Irish tradition, that’s what I was raised with. Along with being a Red Devil fan. I can’t answer it, it’s just what we do.” The festival continues to build strong familial memories for Melvin and his family as he participated in a tricycle race with his grandkids at the festival. “I came in third. Third out of three people. It was fun and I enjoyed doing it,” Melvin said with a laugh. Hosting the festival this year was a relief for Fager, since this was the last event the bar was able to hold before everything shut down last year. “This was the last party we got to have last year, before being shut down,” Fager said. “We’ve gone the whole year without getting to have anything, but now, here we are, holding St. Patrick’s day, so that’s nice. Kind of starting to see that light at the end of the tunnel, so that’s nice” Despite the smaller crowd in attendance this year, for Melvin, the event is still something to be enjoyed. “This is small town America at its best,” Melvin said. “You look out there, the crowd is down because of COVID and there’s a football game going on, there wasn’t a parade, there’s usually a run, but it was virtual this year, a lot of those people usually hang around, it’s down, but it’s a good crowd and it’s a beautiful day.” Managing Editor Nicolas Galindo can be reached at ngalindophoto@gmail.com or on Twitter & Instagram @ngalindophoto.
Rachel Fager, a Murphysboro local and member of St. Patrician community, feels excited to be back to the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration on Saturday March 20, 2021, on Chestnut Street in Murphysboro Ill. Last year, a lot of events were cancelled due to COVID-19 and due to rain. “It started 6 years ago, and we were at peak in 2019. Last year it didn’t go as expected but this year is a little bit closer to normal and hopefully we will come back stronger,” Fager said. Subash Kharel | @pics.leaks
Scan the QR code to watch the video that accompanies this story!
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
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resents ‘small town America at its best’
Lisa Miluer, a Murphysboro resident and winner of the Irish Stew Competition in 2020, waits for the customer as she finishes preparing her stew for the Irish Stew CookOff on Saturday March 20, 2021, in Murphysboro Ill. “After competing for two continuous years, I won last year. I am doing this again this year,” Mileur said. “I just enjoy doing this so much so here I am.” Subash Kharel | @pics.leaks
Lisa Mileur, a Murphysboro resident, cooks stew for the Irish Stew Competition at the St. Patrick’s Day Festival on Saturday March 20, 2021, in Murphysboro Ill. Subash Kharel | @pics.leaks
Joe Gray slices up a carrot to be put into his in-progress stew during the Irish Stew Cook-Off at the Murphysboro St. Patrick’s Day Celebration on Saturday, March 20, 2021 in Murphysboro, Ill. This year, the events were scaled down compared to previous years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Murphysboro Chamber of Commerce still put on events that could be enjoyed safely. Jared Treece | @bisalo
News
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
National Women’s History Month
In honor of National Women’s History Month, the Daily Egyptian wants to raise awareness to topics concerning women’s rights. If you have a topic that you would like us to discuss, please email Design Chief Chloe Schobert at cschobert@dailyegyptian.com.
How much does it cost to have a period? Feminine Care Products
According to the Huffington Post, women have an average of 456 periods throughout their lifetime. As this is an unavoidable occurrence, feminine care products are necessary.
Tampons
Panty Liners
Used by 70% of menstruating women in the U.S. (WVE)
Average box costs around $7 (Pandia Health)
Average tampon box costs around $7 (Huffington Post)
Estimated to cost $443.44 per lifetime (Pandia Health)
Menstrual Cup Cost $20-$40 (Healthline) Must be replaced after six months (Healthline)
$1,773.33 spent on tampons during a women’s life time (Huffington Post)
Birth Control Pills can cost $0 - $50 depending on insurance (Planned Parenthood) The “morning-after” pill costs around $50, but is only 75%-89% effective and might not work on women over 155 pounds (Planned Parenthood) The Depo-Provera shot costs between $0-$150 depending on insurance (Planned Parenthood)
Sources: “The Ultimate Guide to Feminine Hygiene” | Duquesne University / Huffington Post “Menstrual Care Products & Toxic Chemicals” | Women’s Voices for the Earth “The True Cost of Your Period” | Pandia Health “Everything you need to know about using Menstrual Cups” | Healthline Birth Control Stats | Planned Parenthood Chloe Schobert | @chlo_scho_art
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Samaritan of the Week
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Boys and Girls Club serving the youth, one student at a time
Riley Hemken | rhemken@dailyegyptian.com
The Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale is a passionate organization that has helped the youth of the community for over a decade and is now helping more than ever because of COVID-19. The club started as a teen center by “a group of concerned citizens when a shooting occurred in 1997 where some young teenagers lost their lives,” Tina Carpenter, the Boys and Girls Club’s Chief Executive Officer, said. In 2004, the teen center chartered with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The Boys and Girls Club focuses on three main pillars: academic success, healthy living, and well as good character and citizenship. The club offers programs for youth between kindergarten to high school age. These programs are instilled to promote growth and development of the next generations. “The students really like the arts and music programs,” Carpenter said. “A lot of music programs are on hold because the sound studio has actually been shut down during COVID.” Despite the music studio being shut down, the students are as busy as ever creating art says Carpenter. Recently, the Boys and Girls Club has been responsible for making six paintings for Jackson County State’s Attorney Joe Cervantez’s office. To see the paintings check out the Boys and Girls Club website at www.bgcsi.org. One of their leadership programs is Youth of the Year, which consists of students performing public speeches that are judged by a panel. On March 17, Bryan Mullins, the SIU men’s basketball coach, judged this year’s contest. As a place for youth to go after school during the pandemic, the way things were before has had to be adjusted. When the club found out about the closure of schools a year ago, they got creative. Social workers called once a week to check on students, and extra books, coloring pages and other materials were given to the children. The club also helped distribute meals to members in need. “We know there are food insecurity issues with a lot of our members and we didn’t want to make them go without anything for breakfast and lunch,” Carpenter said. The Boys and Girls Club
William Toliver, presents his speech at the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year event March 17, 2021, in Carbondale, Ill. “I struggle with going to school, going to class on time, keep working on school, and paying attention. Luckily, I have teachers to encourage me to work hard and praise me for taking my time. They have made me more confident and comfortable in the world we live in,” Toliver said. Sophie Whitten | @swhittenphotography
Superintendent at the Carbondale Community High School, Daniel Booth, guest speaks at the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year event March 17, 2021, in Carbondale, Ill. He said the best thing the students can do to work on their success is to work on their happiness, to persevere through their hard times and to stay optimistic in every situation. Sophie Whitten | @swhittenphotography
Abrahim Cooper speaks at the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year event March 17, 2021, in Carbondale, Ill. “When I first came to the club, the first thing I noticed was that the staff here are very open and great, very easy to talk to, very easy to just, like, talk about anything and they’ll approach for anything,” Cooper said. He said if they are feeling upset, the staff is quick to help the students out. Sophie Whitten | @swhittenphotography
served over 37,830 meals between March 16 and Dec. 22 of 2020, Carpenter said. “We had a lot of help from the school district and then we worked with a restaurant owner in order to provide dinners,” Carpenter said. The club has been offering
virtual meetings as well as kept their doors open for extended hours to accommodate for students during this pandemic. “Because we just came back January 24, there’s still some kids whose families either couldn’t get them registered and had to be put on the
waitlist or didn’t feel safe to bring them here because of COVID-19,” Carpenter said. Carpenter said another Boys and Girls Club may possibly open in Marion in the future. To volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club, contact ktaylor@ bgcsi.org, or to donate, contact
Tina Carpenter at tcarpenter@ bgcsi.org.
Staff reporter Riley Hemken can be reached at rhemken@ dailyegyptian.com.
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News
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
SIU offering Pass/No Pass options Danny Connolly | @DConnollyTV For the third semester in a row, SIU is offering non-graded academic credits due to on-going challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic. Provost Meera Komarraju announced the option in an email to all students on Mar. 18. For undergraduate students, SIU will offer a pass/no pass option, and for graduate students they offer a satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading option. According to Kim Rendfeld, Executive Director of University Communications, this decision was made in consultation with several
groups representing both SIU faculty and students, such as Graduate Assistants United, the Faculty Senate, and Undergraduate Student Government. Because it can impact GPA, scholarships, and other academic factors, Komarraju is requiring all students to meet with their academic advisor or program coordinators before electing a pass/no pass grade. “It is very important that you have a full understanding of the potential impact of opting for a “pass/no pass” grade,” said Komarraju in the email. Komarraju also announced in the email that SIU is extending the limit of a student’s bursar bill to register for classes for the Fall 2021
semester. All SIU students can register with up to $1,500 on their bursar account when before the limit was $200. “We know that many students and families are facing financial challenges due to the pandemic. Our goal is to minimize the impact of these challenges on your ability to continue your education,” said Komarraju. Komarraju is predicting that all sections of classes at SIU will be in person for the Fall 2021 semester. Staff reporter Danny Connolly can be reached at dconnolly@ dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @DConnollyTV.
Pritzker announces vaccine availability and advancements Diksha Mittal | dmittal@dailyegyptian.com
On March 18, Gov. Pritzker issued a press release stating all Illinois residents ages 16 and over will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting April 12. “COVID-19 has not gone away, but the light we can see at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter as more people get vaccinated,” Gov. Pritzker said. However, the vaccine will not be immediately available for all residents on April 12, and it will take some time for it to be available in all regions and for everyone. On March 20, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced additional priority groups who will be eligible to receive the vaccine before April 12. Starting March 22, higher education staff, government workers and media will be eligible to receive the vaccine, and starting March 29, food and beverage workers, construction trade workers and religious leaders will be eligible. According to the press release, the state of Illinois will be moving from Phase 4 to Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois mitigation plan. This will be done through a “Bridge Phase [that] will serve as a transition period with higher
capacity limits and increased business operations, without prematurely embracing a reckless reopening before the majority of Illinoisans have been vaccinated.” Along with the new vaccine availability and progress with the Restore Illinois plan, Pritzker encouraged residents to continue wearing their masks. “It’s time to begin to cautiously move toward normalcy, and it’s imperative that we do so in a way that maintains all the progress we’ve made to date,” Gov. Pritzker said. “With projections from the Biden Administration indicating that weekly vaccine deliveries to Illinois will surpass one million doses in April, it is fully in our power to turn the page on this dark and devastating chapter even as we race a tough clock: the new variants. I invite all Illinoisans to join me in wearing your mask and getting vaccinated when it’s your turn. Step by step, we can get out of this the same we came into it — together.”
Staff reporter Diksha Mittal can be reached at dmittal@dailyegyptian.com.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Sports
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Behind dominant pitching, Saluki baseball sweeps Marshall Adam Warfel | @warfel_adam
After suffering their first loss of the season to Evansville on Sunday, the Salukis rebounded with a three-game sweep of Marshall University this weekend on their home field. “When we have an opportunity to sweep, learning off of last weekend,” head coach Lance Rhodes said, “the understanding that when you’ve beaten a team twice before, they’re probably going to come out and give their best effort this last game.” In game one of the series against the Thundering Herd, Southern (171, 3-1 MVC) won 10-4 behind sevin unanswered runs. Sophomore pitcher Mike Hansell limited Marshall from Huntington, W. Va., (3-7) early striking out six of the seven batters he faced. “The way he looked the first two innings, he looked like a big leaguer,” Rhodes said. “He had done that a couple times for one inning. His biggest thing right now is learning how to go out and repeat that type of performance, go sit in the dugout, and then go back out and repeat it again.” Hansell finished with five innings The Salukis’ Baseball team huddles after the Salukis 9-1 win over Western Illinois to help extend their undefeated season to eight wins of work, striking out eight batters and on Tuesday, Mar. 2, 2021 at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Ill. Jared Treece | @bisalo allowing no walks. The Saluki bats got going early in scoring. game three from Marshall behind a McDaniel struck out three of the for 5 p.m. the second inning, capitalizing on an Southern held on to a one run lead dominant performance from senior eight batters he faced on the way to his “Our goal is to win just every game error by Marshall, as senior catcher over Marshall until the third inning, left-handed pitcher Brad Harrison. fifth save of the season. on that given day. The sweep is just a Austin Ulick hit a single with two outs Marshall hit a double and then a triple “Brad goes out and builds off last “In order to be a championship byproduct of playing good every single that scored two. to bring a runner home and knot the weekend, where he had his best outing caliber team and win a bunch of games day,” Rhodes said. “We can control The Herd clawed back and score score at one. of the year last weekend,” Rhodes you have to be balanced,” Rhodes said how well we play. If we do that we three more runs to take a brief lead The Salukis answered right back said. “He comes back and throws “It’s not that we weren’t pitching good feel like we have a chance to win every in the sixth inning, but Southern with three runs of their own in their basically identical to the way he did on that stretch earlier in the year. We single time we step on the field.” answered in their half of the sixth. half of the third, a single put Epps on last weekend.” are a pretty balanced club right now.” Marshall’s pitchers gave free passes first base, then Walters was be hit by a Harrison came out of the game after After their sweep of the Herd, the to leadoff each of the sixth, seventh, pitch, two more singles brought home seven innings, giving up two hits while Salukis will travel to Cape Girardeau Sports Reporter Adam Warfel can be and eight innings and the SIU offense Epps to take the lead. matching his season high in strikeouts to face off against Southeast Missouri reached at awarfel@dailyegyptian.com took advantage of it. Speed came into play for the third with nine. State on Tuesday, with first pitch set or on Twitter at @warfel_adam. Junior left fielder JT Weber was run of the inning, when Hudson stole “I thought about running him back walked to start the sixth, and Ulick home, senior first baseman Philip out there for the eighth, we got Trey up followed him with a walk putting Archer grounded out to end the third in Friday’s game, didn’t put him in, got runners on first and no outs. inning as SIU led 4-1. Trey up in yesterday’s game, didn’t put Junior infielder Grey Epps then “That’s been the theme of the year. him in,” Rhodes said. “ Anytime we reach first base on an error loading It just hasn’t been one guy. You look at can get [Brad] out with the pitch count the bases, then a wild pitch brought Brad Hudson, Brad Hudson stepped being fairly low it’s just going to make Weber home from third to tie the in the first two games and he was him better for the next week as well.” game. phenomenal,” Rhodes said. Sophomore Vinni Massaglia as the April 1, 2021 • 12 p.m. A groundout by senior infielder Two straight doubles brought designated hitter helped get the Salukis Ian Walters brought in one more run, in another run for Marshall in the on the board first in the fourth with a Cybersecurity Lessons From the Pandemic and a single by junior outfielder Brad fourth,and that ended up being the last double to right field. He came home Hudson tacked on another run for score of the game for the Herd. scoring on a sacrifice fly by Weber. Southern. Southern added two more runs With two outs in the fifth inning The Salukis tacked on two more in the fourth and one run in the Neville doubled down the right field runs in the seventh and eighth innings, seventh, while sophomore pitcher Ben line, Peters then followed suit with a while sophomore pitcher Tanner Lewis Chapman pitched into the seventh double to score Neville and give SIU limited the Herds offense pitching two inning striking out eight and giving up the 2-0 lead. innings and giving up one run to earn only six hits. From there Harrison put down 21 the win. SIU finished game two with a of the 23 batters he faced to be relieved While the offense scored plenty and 7-2 win, led by Chapman’s pitching by junior right handed pitcher Trey scored late in game one in game two of performance and sophomore McDaniel in the eighth inning. SHARON D. NELSON, ESQ. JOHN W. SIMEK the series, it was the SIU defense that outfielder Tristan Peters three runs “Our pitching staff has been President Vice President Sensei Enterprises, Inc. Sensei Enterprises, Inc. showed up in a 7-2 win. batted in. awesome, our starters have been great. Senior shortstop Nick Neville made “We hopefully aren’t satisfied with They’ve executed, they’ve attacked Please go to link to join the webinar: two defensive stops, one that saved a this,” Rhodes said. “We have to come the strike zone. They’ve gone after http://bit.ly/Law-and-Tech-Lecture run in the second inning. out with intentions to get a sweep hitters,” Harrison said. “Everyones had Webinar ID: 973 5800 3251 • Passcode: 325858 With runners on first and second, when we have the opportunity to have a great mentality, and it’s unbelievable Marshall junior right fielder Jordon somebody on the ropes at home. We knowing when they come out of the Billups hit the ball to Neville and he have our full squad and an opportunity game we can go to the guys in the made the play to get the third out of to give our best effort to get a sweep.” bullpen we can go 12 pitchers deep we the inning preventing the Herd from Sweep they did as the Salukis took have no issues with that.”
BE ATTY L AW & T E C HN O LO G Y L E C T UR E
Sports
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Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Saluki baseball off to its best start since 1967
Adam Warfel | @warfel_adam
Saluki baseball started the season with 14 straight wins, beating the record for best start to a season set by the 1967 team when they started 11-0. “It’s awesome, it’s humbling to be considered with such a great team,” senior first baseman Philip Archer said. “It’s hard to be compared to the greats especially in your school program, obviously we haven’t made a name for ourselves yet.” The 1967 team finished their season with a 29-8-1 record and found themselves in the District Four Tournament of the NCAA, and the next season in 1968, the team qualified for the College World Series. “I think ever since the coaching staff has come in and we changed everything and even our team last year we had a really good team last year,” Archer said. “I think this is a team that, if we take care of business like we should, we should be in the spotlight.” Southern now sits with a 17-1 record, including 3-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Their lone loss this season happened in their last game on March 14, falling to MVC foe University of Evansville 7-3. “We’ve had an unbelievable start, I’m proud of all of our guys,” Archer said. “We knew we were going to lose one eventually. That’s baseball; it happens.” Even with the loss against Evansville, senior infielder Ian Walters said that the Salukis can expect to only get better from the loss. “Sunday [March 14] wasn’t our best performance, and we know that every single time we go on the field if we play our game, we’re going to have a chance to win,” Walters said. “We can look back and learn from that game, and learn from our mistakes.”
SIU infielder, Nick Neville (9), hits a pitch during the second inning against Marshall University at Itchy Jones Stadium on March 20, 2021 in Carbondale, Ill. Madison Taylor | @the.madisontaylor
Lance Rhodes was introduced as the new baseball coach of the Salukis in June of 2019, and including the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, Rhodes has accumulated a 26-7 record in Carbondale. “Our coaching is unbelievable, we’ve got a great coaching staff,” Archer said. “Our players are very talented, when you mix a good coaching staff with talented players and a really mature team, you’re going to get good results.” Speaking of maturity, the Saluki baseball team has eight seniors on the team, six of them being fifthyear seniors who opted to use the extra year of eligibility granted to them by the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused their 2020 spring season to be cancelled in its entirety, and Walters credited the
team’s maturity to handling this cancellation. “I think a lot has to do with last year, our season getting cancelled out of nowhere,” Walters said. “There was a point where I had no idea whether I was going to be able to play baseball ever again. Knowing that it gave me the mindset to never take anything for granted.” Most teams in college baseball, or any college sport, would be happy to have three to four seniors that could lead the team, but the Salukis have plenty to choose from. “A lot of teams have one or two leaders, well our whole team is filled with a bunch of leaders,” Archer said. “We’ve got a lot of mature guys, it’s really just the difference makers when it comes to the plays the [at bats] a mature player would make.” Seniors aside, freshman outfielder Evan Martin has played well this
season too. In 10 games started Martin has hit for a .366 average with only four strikeouts to go along with seven runs batted in. “He comes in, he’s a third year freshman now, he’s just getting better and better,” Walters said. “He’s a mature guy now, he’s been here for three years, he knows what it takes to be successful.” For fans of baseball that like the longball, Saluki baseball has put 32 of them up this year, which, before their series against Marshall on March 19, 20 and 21, was second in the nation. “In the past few years, we had more of a defensive approach at the plate,” Archer said. “Defensive approaches is a lot harder to succeed at the plate rather than being on the offense. More attacking the baseball than trying to be defensive up there.” The Salukis have defined their
approach to hitting this year by using the phrase “Destroy all pitching,” or DAP for short, and it’s something they are doing in their practices and on the field. “We have certain rounds where it’s called DAP, which is ‘destroy all pitching,’” Archer said. “It’s just a round where we’re getting our swing off and feeling good.” Preparation is important for anyone, and Walters said that preparation is what has made the Saluki offense as good as it has been this season. “I think it’s just all the preparation that’s gone in, we put in so much work in the fall and in the early spring before the season started,” Walters said. “We just have so much confidence going up to the plate. Facing our staff in scrimmages and intra squads… we’ve put in the work we’re ready to get the job done.” Offense aside, the Salukis have strong pitching this season to compliment their hitting with a team-earned run average of 3.66. “The pitching is what really wins us ball games,” Archer said. “We’re gonna hit the ball every day we know we’re going to show up and hit the ball. They have what it takes to really push us to a high level this year.” SIU has some conference opponents coming up on their schedule with Indiana State having just knocked off previously ranked No. 20 team Florida Atlantic in two games and 16th-ranked Tennessee in two out of four games. “One through eight teams, they’re all very very good teams,” Archer said. “No one takes any MVC team lightly when they’re playing, even the power fives. We’ve taken down some really big schools.” Sports Reporter Adam Warfel can be reached at awarfel@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @warfel_adam.
Hill discusses Salukis’ upcoming game against Missouri State after loss to South Dakota State
Ryan Scott | @RyanscottDE
Southern Illinois football dropped their latest matchup against South Dakota State University in a tough 44-3 loss on March 20. The Salukis (4-2,3-2 MVC) look to claim their next win on March 27 against Missouri State University (3-4,3-2 MVC) on the road. SIU opened the game by taking a 3-0 lead, but South Dakota State responded with 44 unanswered points to blow out the Salukis. Turnovers played a huge role in the loss, as SIU committed four turnovers on three interceptions and a kick return fumble. Senior quarterback Kare Lyles entered the game as a backup
but that didn’t rally the Salukis. Saluki head coach Nick Hill spoke during his weekly press conference on March 22 about the team’s performance over the past weekend. “Last Saturday didn’t go the way that we wanted or planned and that’s what happens whenever you play a really good football team and don’t execute at a high level,” Hill said. “But we’re looking forward to responding this week, and feel good about where our team’s at and just as far as their approach and their attitude.” After their loss on Saturday, Hill said the team was unable to find their rhythm “Every phase we got beat, we
got out-coached; we’ve all got to be better,” Saluki head coach Nick Hill said. “We just couldn’t get into any sort of rhythm.” Hill said sophomore quarterback Nic Baker will miss the rest of the season, and junior Stone Labanowitz will be the starter again this week. Junior wide receiver Avante Cox is the team’s leader in receiving yards and has also added over 100 rushing yards this season. Hill discussed using Cox often in the run game and how he thinks it could help Cox if he reaches the NFL. “You see it more and more I mean, you definitely see it in the NFL that’s why I think that, you know Avante will definitely have an opportunity
to play at the next level because you see every team use sweeps,” Hill said. “You watch the Rams and, you know, you watch the 49ers and you watch all these teams that kind of have guys like Avante that can do a little bit of everything good,” Hill said. Illinois State announced on Sunday March 22 they would be canceling the remainder of their football season. SIU was scheduled to play ISU on April 3, and Hill discussed his reaction to the news. “Yeah, I was obviously disappointed to see that,” Hill said. “I mean, I don’t know. I’m proud of our group for that and the resiliency that they’ve shown from the beginning and Illinois State has this way to calling out teams for
not wanting to play week one. We didn’t practice, you know, because of the storm and all that and we went and played. We took one on the chin week one and we responded. That’s what has made this team as resilient, that’s what gives me confidence in the team this week,”. Hill also acknowledged that the missed game could have an effect on the Salukis’ playoff chances, but said he isn’t worried about it. SIU will kick off in Springfield, Mo., against the Bears at 2 p.m. on March 27. Sports reporter Ryan Scott can be reached at rscott@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @RyanscottDE.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Study Break
Last week’s:
Page 15
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
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2 of 3 summer class credit hours could be free.