The Daily Egyptian - March 31, 2021

THE

Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.

DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM MARCH 31, 2021 VOL. 104, ISSUE 11

Wearing Multiple Hats: women and the COVID-19 pandemic

Oreoluwa Ojewuyi | @odojewuyi Diksha Mittal | dmittal@dailyegyptian.com

Mother, daughter, caregiver, wife, and friend- society expects women to wear multiple hats.

These expectations often leave women to deal with child rearing, their professional careers, and taking care of the home.

The challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic have only amplified what society expects from women and what women expect from themselves.

Due to COVID-19, roughly, one in four women are being forced to consider stepping back in their jobs or leaving the workplace due to extra household responsibilities. This could mean that up to 2 million women will leave corporate jobs, according to the 2020 Women in the

Workplace study, co-authored

by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org, Betsy Gieselman is a high school english teacher at Carbondale Community High School, and mother to a 4-yearold named Nora. Gieselman said there is an implicit expectation of women to take care of the home and juggle their professional careers, and moms are often expected to act as default parents.

“There is this idea in the minds of men and women of, oh well women do that kind of work of buying the gifts and setting up birthday parties and all those little things that don’t get recognized. I think Covid had made it so couples take on work that they hadn’t done before,” Gieselman said. “I know men

who because of their jobs have been able to stay home, where maybe the woman couldn’t. The men assumed more nurturing, teaching roles than they might have otherwise.”

Gieselman said her situation is unique because her husband never applied gender roles to their relationship and parenting style noting that he does the majority of the housework and helped ensure that their daughter got accustomed to remote learning.

As an educator Gieselman has also had to assimilate herself to new methods of teaching and help her students with their new education and the impacts that COVID-19 has had on their life.

Continued on page 8

Man charged with murder arrested after manhunt

George Wiebe | gwiebe@dailyegyptian.com

The man wanted for the murder of 19-year-old Mishealia Meredith was arrested March 23, in Union County Ky. following a six-day manhunt.

Alexander McWilliams, a 36-year-old southern Illinois man, was surrounded outside his motel room and arrested after a three-hour standoff.

Meredith was shot and killed on March 13 and found the next day in the town of Eldorado, Ill, funeral services were held on March 18, at J. M. Weirauch Funeral Home Chapel in Harrisburg, Ill. Illinois State Police are waiting on the transfer of McWilliams, from Webster County, Ky. Jail Monday, March 29.

Court records show McWilliams had been charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery in 2018, following another shooting incident, these charges were reduced due to evidence not being disclosed to the defence.

McWilliams has now been charged with first-degreemurder, and is expected to appear in court March 31.

The investigation is still ongoing according to the Illinois State Police Department of Criminal Investigations.

Staff reporter George Wiebe can be reached at gwiebe@dailyegyptian.com

A roller coaster cycle: Carbondale native shares fitness journey Kenneth Christensen, a resident of Carbondale, performs bicep curls on Sunday March 21, 2021 at the SIU Student Rec Center, in Carbondale Ill. Christensen believes working out every part of the body is very essential for maintaining physical health. “I copied routines of famous body builders and started working out to get in shape,” Christensen said.

Subash Kharel | @pics. leaks

Please see page 4

News

Page 2

Contact Us

Email: editor@dailyegyptian.com Faculty Managing Editor: Julia Rendleman julia@juliarendleman.com Editor-in-Chief: Kallie Cox kcox@dailyegyptian.com Managing Editor: Nicolas Galindo ngalindophoto@gmail.com Design Chief: Chloe Schobert cschobert@dailyegyptian.com Photo Editor: Leah Sutton lsutton@dailyegyptian.com Editor: Brooke Buerck bbuerck@dailyegyptian.com Editor: Tamar Mosby tmosby@dailyegyptian.com Features Editor: Rana Schenke rschenke@dailyegyptian.com Assistant Editor: Keaton Yates kyates@dailyegyptian.com Student Advertising Chief: Hannah Combs hcombs@dailyegyptian.com Business Office: Arunima Bhattacharya 618-536-3305

About Us The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale on a weekly basis. Fall and spring semester editions run every Wednesday. Free copies are distributed in the Carbondale, Carterville, and Springfield communities. The Daily Egyptian can be found at www. dailyegyptian.com or on the new Daily Egyptian app!

Mission Statement The Daily Egyptian, the student-run news organization of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is committed to being a trusted source of news, information, commentary and public discourse, while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.

Publishing Information The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and functions as a laboratory for the School of Journalism in exchange for the room and utilities in the Communications Building. The Daily Egyptian is a non-profit organization that survives primarily off of its advertising revenue. Offices are in the Communications Building, room 1259, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, Ill., 62901.

Copyright Information @2021 The Daily Egyptian. All rights reserved. All content is property of the Daily Egyptian and may not be reproduced or transmitted without consent. The Daily Egyptian is a member of the Illinois College Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press, College Media Advisers Inc. and the College Business and Advertising Managers Inc.

Submissions Letters and guest columns must be submitted with author’s contact information, preferably via email. Phone numbers are required to verify authorship, but will not be published.

Students must include their year and major. Faculty must include rank and department. Others include hometown.

Submissions should be sent to editor@dailyegyptian.com

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Pro Act would swing workplace rights in favor of unions Jason Flynn | @dejasonflynn

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or “Pro Act,” would make sweeping changes to laws around union organizing, classifications of employees, and the power of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to take action in workplace disputes.

The bill, S. 420, passed in the U.S. House of Representatives 225 to 206 on March 9, and is on hold in the Senate as Democrats, labor groups and community organizations lobby for additional support.

“It’s a piece of legislation that repeals various parts of antiunion, anti-socialist legislation that have been passed over the last 80, 90 years,” said Dan Cutter, an adjunct instructor at Malcom X College and member of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (CDSA) Labor Branch.

DSA branches around the country have been pushing the legislation through phone banking, social media, and rallies for weeks in hopes of pulling together enough support to move the legislation through the Senate.

Under current law, employers have leeway to draw out union elections through litigation and push anti-union messages on employees in processes like captive audience meetings and internal marketing.

Employees are barred from bringing civil lawsuits against employers in cases of employer misconduct or retaliation, and groups of workers are also barred from actions like secondary boycotts, intermittent strikes and worker slow-downs.

The Pro Act would set stricter rules for employers guiding union elections, opens employers’ liability in civil court and reverses many rules concerning strikes and direct action by workers.

Republican lawmakers have criticized multiple points of the Pro Act but have placed special attention on rules that set additional guidelines for classifying workers as employees versus independent contractors.

“Among other things, this bill makes it harder for independent workers to work legally,”Erin O’Malley, communications director for Illinois District 15 Representative Mary Miller, said in an emailed statement.

“Congresswoman Miller has seven children and understands that for many mothers, flexible work opportunities are their lifeline.”

All of the Illinois Republican House members voted against the bill, and all of the Democrat House members voted in favor.

“Among other things, this bill makes it harder for independent workers to work legally.”

- Erin O’Malley Communications Director for Rep. Mary Miller

The Pro Act would implement an “ABC test” which would require workers be classified as employees unless they meet three stipulations: • The individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under the contract for the performance of service and in fact; • The service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer; and • The individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.”

Cutter said the rule is not there to prevent independent contractors from working, but to prevent employers from misclassifying workers who perform companies’ primary functions as independent contractors, especially companies that operate through apps or with primarily temp workers.

“The type of people who write six op-ed pieces in the New York

Times, The New Yorker and The Atlantic every year are the people who deeply still just want this,” Cutter said. “I think it is almost a psychological thing of, ‘I’m not a worker, I’m not an employee, I’m a freelancer.’”

The bill has 45 sponsors in the Senate, including Illinois senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, but won’t be brought up for a vote by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer without 50 sponsors, according to The Intercept.

The remaining Democrat holdouts in the senate are Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and Joe Manchin and Mark Warner of West Virginia.

The bill received support from five House Republicans, including John Katko of New York, Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith of New Jersey, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Don Young of Alaska.

Staff reporter Jason Flynn can be reached at jflynn@dailyegyptian. com, by phone at 872-222-7821 or on Twitter at @dejasonflynn.

BE ATTY L AW & T E C HN O LO G Y L E C T UR E April 1, 2021 • 12 p.m.

Cybersecurity Lessons From the Pandemic

SHARON D. NELSON, ESQ. President Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

JOHN W. SIMEK Vice President Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

Please go to link to join the webinar: http://bit.ly/Law-and-Tech-Lecture Webinar ID: 973 5800 3251 • Passcode: 325858

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

News

Page 3

Dustin Clark | @dustinclark.off

Students’ mental health takes hit from spring break deprivation

Elena Schauwecker | eschauwecker@dailyegyptian.com

The university’s decision not to offer spring break this semester was made in hopes of protecting students’ physical health by discouraging travel and stopping the spread of COVID-19. Students, however, are struggling with their mental health as a result of emotional fatigue from so many unrelenting months of classes.

The removal of spring break was intended to prevent the stereotypical college trips that pack beaches and hotel rooms with reckless young people. However, out of 24 surveyed students, 85% said they typically spend their time off resting and catching up on schoolwork, and 73% said they had to take at least one day off this semester just to work on continually piling-up assignments.

Students also often choose to spend their vacations visiting with their families, especially those who travel long distances to get to school who cannot make the trip over a weekend. Freshman students are typically only 18 years old and living on their own for the first time, and remote learning has left many feeling isolated with no way to make friends.

Maja Kuczynski, a paralegal major, said she is one of these freshmen who feels very alienated.

She said the inability to see her family has taken a serious emotional toll on her.

“My family has not been able to come visit me,” Kuczynski said.

“Not being able to see my family as affected me immensely. I have felt very alone here.”

Avy Nichols, a junior exercise science major, said she has experienced an additional layer of stress and anxiety on top of typical school burnout as a result of online classes. Nichols also said staring at a screen for days on end can result in headaches and eye strain.

“I do feel like most times Zoom classes are more draining than in person classes,” Nichols said. “I’ve gotten to the point where I question why I’m even taking time to attend if my attention isn’t fully on the lecture. I sometimes have to force myself to put all of my attention into the Zoom so I can do well in the class.”

The issue of online classes also raises the concern that students who do not have in-person classes or on-campus jobs may be able to travel regardless of the university’s recommendations.

“I do feel like most times Zoom classes are more draining than in person classes. I’ve gotten to the point where I question why I’m even taking time to attend if my attention isn’t fully on the lecture.”

- Avy Nichols Junior exercise science major

“The only difference with not giving students an official break is that the students who actually followed guidelines are stuck with a draining amount of schoolwork, and there is no way of knowing which students traveled in order to test them,” a survey respondent said.

Elliot Palm, a senior studying aviation technology, agreed.

“I think if someone is going to travel, they are going to travel whether the university has a spring break or not,” Palm said.

“If all classes are online and can be taken from everywhere, I don’t see why students wouldn’t take the

opportunity to travel.”

Students are aware of the danger of COVID-19, and both Nichols and Kuczynski agreed SIU made the right decision in sacrificing spring break for the sake of safety. They did, however, offer some suggestions on potential compromises the school could make in future situations.

“I would have really appreciated some wellness days throughout the semester. With no kind of mini breaks or days off, I feel stressed out quite a bit. I think these days would combat some of that stress by giving me time to get caught up on school or just relax,” Nichols said.

Sixty-seven percent of surveyed students said they believe a few wellness days scattered throughout the course of the semester would have been the best course of action.

Such days would not have given students enough time to travel but would have offered the opportunity to de-stress, catch up on work and lower anxiety.

“At this point, I’m just focused on getting my work done rather than learning,” Kuczynski said.

Staff reporter Elena Schauwecker can be reached at eschauwecker@ dailyegyptian.com.

News

Page 4

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Kenneth Christensen, a Carbondale resident, performs a workout to strengthen his back on Sunday March 21, 2021 at the SIU Student Rec Center, in Carbondale Ill. “I come here every day at 3 p.m. and leave at 8 p.m. until I get back to my shape. I have also joined karate class recently,” Christensen added. Subash Kharel | @pics.leaks

A roller coaster cycle: Carbondale native shares fitness journey

Sara Wangler | swangler@dailyegyptian.com Riley Hemken | rhemken@dailyegyptian.com

Carbondale resident and SIU alumnus Kenneth Christensen has been on a wild ride with his mental, physical and emotional health. His journey of self-discovery has involved losses, wins and sacrifices all while working and going to school.

He used to bodybuild, then stopped working out and was pushing 270 pounds last March.

Christensen said bodybuilding was really fascinating when he was younger and he started looking at different pictures of bodybuilders and powerlifters. He decided that’s what he wanted to do. He then got more involved at the age of 13 or 14.

“I started lifting, I started looking more hardcore. Then when I turned 14, I experienced my athletic abilities increase and people would notice,” Christensen said.

Christensen had a huge ego boost and felt good, so he just kept going forward in bodybuilding.

“I would say that the biggest impact really on my life was when my mom passed away in 2007,” Christensen said. “The aftermath is a long-drawnout story but I got kicked out of my house. My one relative took my inheritance and I went through a prolonged period of depression. I lived on the streets for a few years about a year-and-a-half to two years and then I

Scan the QR code to see the video associated with this story

finally came down here and went back to school.”

Christensen began seeing changes in his body, and he became more and more tired. The history of health issues within his family began to be a bigger concern.

“One of the things that inspired me was my jiu-jitsu instructor,” Christensen said. “He’s in his seventies now and he still does power lifts. He kept trying to suggest that when your back goes out at a certain age you were never coming back from that.”

What he said to Christensen started to motivate him. He wanted to get back into his previous lifestyle; it was the same thing that happened when he was 14 years old looking at Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Letting myself know that I can do

this, I looked up his old weight lifting routine and I started to copy him in some areas that I could,” Christensen said. “Then I went from there and then just started pushing forward losing weight [and] started feeling better.”

Previously, Christensen had back pain; since he is practicing a healthier lifestyle, he doesn’t have any back pain now.

After he graduated, Christensen went through a relapse period. He felt history repeat itself and began going back into an unhealthy cycle.

“I didn’t have any friends at the time and it was just like a vicious circle,” Christensen said. “I couldn’t find the job that I went to school for. I was working odd jobs here and there.”

Christensen reached 270 pounds in March 2020. His breaking point came in June of that year after he experienced an accident requiring surgery.

“I was working on my roof because we were getting a lot of rain and I was getting tired of the leaking,” Christensen said.

On June 30, 2020, he was coming off the roof, and the ladder he was on broke. He grabbed the metal strap, pulled it off and as he came down, he severed his right middle finger and left ring finger.

“I had to go get those reattached; they were hanging by the skin, so I had to go through surgery that day and I was just absolutely miserable,” Christensen said. “I also hit my

head off the ground so I was kind of disoriented. I thought this has got to stop. I cannot do this anymore. It was my breaking point.”

One of the things Christensen started doing and realized more and more is, if he really wants to do something, he can achieve it.

“It was about two weeks after I severed my fingers. I went to the rec center and I started jogging a little bit and using the exercise machines,” Christensen said.

Christensen has no idea how he did it. He didn’t use his hands but only his elbow when using the machines. He got weird stares, some might think “Oh, there’s the crazy guy with a cast on his hand lifting weights.”

“Well, you’ll see the crazy guy in a few months who would be totally jacked and so motivated,” Christensen said. “I started seeing this in myself. I started pushing harder than ever.”

Christensen was still working with his doctor and asked him what his limits were with his hand. The doctor said it would be about two to three months before he could fully function.

“I already accepted that, so I just did what I could do. When he said ‘you’re all clear,’ I just let loose,” Christesen said. “I became more and more confident, I applied myself to martial arts and the raising of praying mantises as well as patience in weight lifting again.”

Christensen has a lot of advice, but step one for a person getting out of the rut is looking in the mirror and accepting yourself for who you are.

“I think that the biggest problem with a lot of people is that they look at the mirror they don’t like themselves,” Christensen said. “They tear themselves down and don’t give themselves a chance.”

Christensen said the number one thing is to accept yourself for who you are. Number two is to look at the gifts and talents you have, then see how you can measure up in each aspect of life and really work on those.

“I think those are the two biggest things. Number three is hard work,” Christensen said. “You’ve got to work hard for what you want. If you just sit there and continue the pity party you’re never going to get there.”

Christensen had to realize his limits when starting out again. He needed to ease into this lifestyle.

“Set realistic goals for yourself, that’s my best advice that I have for people, go get a degree as well,” Christensen said. “Go to school and get a degree, be willing to give up some things because you’re going to have to make some sacrifices if you really want to move forward.”

Staff reporters Sara Wangler and Riley Hemken can be reached at swangler@ dailyegyptian.com and rhemken@ dailyegyptian.com.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

News

Page 5

Congress faces pressure to address anti-Asian American events

Michael Macagnone | Tribune Content Agency

WASHINGTON — Amy Chomthakham and several friends went to a massage parlor outside Atlanta for the first time in a year two days before a gunman killed eight people, six of them Asian, in several spas in the region. Chomthakham, a Laotian immigrant active in local community groups, wanted to use her birthday to support local Laotian businesses — restaurants and massage parlors that have struggled amid the coronavirus pandemic. Then the shootings happened.

“I was kind of frozen for a minute. That could have been us,” Chomthakham said of her reaction to hearing about the shootings. Prosecutors have not said whether they plan to pursue hate crime charges against the alleged shooter. However, since then, Chomthakham has limited leaving her house even more than usual during the pandemic. Only quick trips, she said, and only during the middle of the day.

She’s talked to community members who warn their parents against leaving the house at all.

Many Asian Americans believe the shooting targeted their community, part of a rising tide of hate crimes, discrimination and other actions against immigrants amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., believes former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the coronavirus fueled the behavior. She and other congressional leaders are pushing for Congress to pass new hate crimes legislation. “People have a great deal of fear.

Many people have some kind of story about being called an ugly name, or somebody shouting ‘coronavirus’ at them or even being pushed,” Chu said, noting violent attacks in her district and elsewhere.

The organization Stop AAPI Hate has received more than 3,800 reports of incidents ranging from shunning and verbal harassment to assault from March 2020 to Feb. 28. Federal hate crime statistics for 2020 have not yet been released.

Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on discrimination and violence against Asian Americans over objections from California Rep. Tom McClintock and other Republicans who pushed back on the idea of policing free speech.

“To attack our society as systematically racist, a society that has produced the freest, most prosperous, harmonious multiracial society in human history, well, that’s an insult, and it’s flat out wrong,” McClintock said at the hearing.

The high-profile incidents have put momentum behind efforts to address hate crimes, with Congress looking more likely to address the issue when members return from recess.

Congressional proposals Chu, who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, has pushed for the House to pass a pair of bills; one to tighten hate crime reporting standards and another to force the Justice Department to address hate crimes tied to the coronavirus pandemic. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture last week on one of the bills, which would mandate the Justice Department track crimes that

relate to a person’s ethnicity and the pandemic.

In a letter to fellow Democrats, Schumer said the bill would “give the Department of Justice and local law enforcement more tools to combat hate crimes.”

The measure does not currently have support from Republicans in the chamber, disappointing its sponsor, Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii. “I was waiting for some of them to stand up and say very publicly that these kinds of hatred targeting AAPIs is totally unacceptable,” Hirono said, referring to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. “I was waiting for some of that; maybe some of that’s coming out now. I’m not so sure.”

President Joe Biden spoke in favor of the bill shortly after the Atlanta shootings, urging Congress to go beyond a presidential memorandum he signed against racism and intolerance directed at Asian Americans.

“Now, it’s time for Congress to codify and expand upon these actions — because every person in our nation deserves to live their lives with safety, dignity, and respect,” Biden said in a statement.

Chu and others have criticized the existing federal hate crime reporting act for lacking an enforcement mechanism and relying on state definitions of hate crime. Several states — Arkansas, Wyoming and South Carolina — have no hate crime statutes, according to the Justice Department, and 16 others do not mandate any reporting. The language of the bill introduced last Congress would create locally focused grant programs for tracking hate crimes as well as create state

hate crime hotlines.

Local jurisdictions would have to follow federal hate crime definitions in reporting incidents or be forced to pay back the funds. Beyond hate crimes High profile acts of violence have drawn much of lawmakers’ focus, but another trend has also emerged: Asian Americans sharing their own stories of discrimination.

Through in-person events and rallies and online forums, Asian Americans have started talking through decades of disparaging comments, discrimination and ill treatment they say they’ve held in too long. During a National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum online panel last week, Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., and other panelists became teary while discussing derogatory comments people have made about their heritage, or racist oversexualizations — like being compared to Japanese geishas.

“I think that after all these incidents, it’s made us feel like it’s OK to talk about. And sometimes it’s important to talk about the smaller incidents because that will help curb this sort of attitude that might lead to bigger incidents which may cause harm,” Meng said. “It’s really important for people to realize that we’ve always downplayed these sorts of attitudes that people had toward many of us, and didn’t think it would ever lead to more serious incidents, and part of me regrets that.”

Organizations like Stop AAPI Hate want Congress to go beyond the hate crimes legislation currently on offer. Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council, hopes Congress takes another look

at the Civil Rights Act definition of public accommodations.

“We know that discrimination happens outside of just restaurants and hotels, that [it] happens in grocery stores, pharmacies, big box retail. And the federal law has no sort of jurisdiction right now, as we understand it, in those arenas,” Kulkarni said. Organizers have said the burden falls beyond the federal government. The New York Citybased Asian American Federation has pushed city leaders to engage more actively in hate crimes and discrimination directed at Asian Americans. The organization’s vice president, Joo Han, said government officials at all levels were slow to respond to community concerns as the pandemic swept across the country last year.

“That response was slow, it was muted, it was not adequate,” Han said. Other local organizers, such as Chomthakham, have pushed the Gwinnett County government in Georgia to issue statements decrying discrimination and hate crimes against Asian Americans.

Chomthakham recently faced a tough decision when organizers set up an anti-hate rally in Atlanta a few days after the shooting. She said it seemed like a perfect target for someone aiming to hurt more Asian Americans. But she also felt compelled to participate because of her work with other Laotian immigrants.

She wanted to serve as an example to the community. “I went, and I’m glad that I went, because that experience brought out support that you wouldn’t think you would have gotten from the non Asian communities,” Chomthakham said.

Page 6

News

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Georgia voting restrictions challenged again in third federal lawsuit Mark Niesse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tribune Content Agency

ATLANTA — Another federal lawsuit is challenging Georgia’s new voting law, the third court effort to stop election rules that plaintiffs say will make it harder for all voters to cast their ballots, especially Black voters.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the African Methodist Episcopal Church and other plaintiffs, is aimed at many parts of the voting law, including absentee ID requirements, drop box restrictions, absentee ballot request deadlines and a ban on volunteers handing out food and water to voters waiting in line.

“Simply put, this new law not only seeks to suppress the votes of Black and brown people, but it is also racist and seeks to return us to the days of Jim Crow,” wrote Bishop Reginald Jackson of the AME Church’s sixth district, which includes Georgia, in a letter to parishioners.

Republican defendants in the suit, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, have said the voting law will increase confidence in Georgia’s voting system after then-President Donald Trump falsely claimed he had won the election. Election officials say there’s no evidence of widespread fraud, and recounts verified the results.

But the lawsuit alleges the voting law will harm historically disenfranchised communities.

“For some Georgians, this inconvenience may be manageable. But for voters of color and other historically disenfranchised communities — who already suffer through disproportionately longer lines than white voters — it could be dramatic,” according to the 91-page lawsuit. “This burden is not an accident. Nor is it legal.”

Two other lawsuits also sought court intervention to block Senate Bill 202 since Kemp signed it into law on Thursday. A suit by a coalition of advocacy groups, including the NAACP of Georgia, said the law is an effort to suppress Black voters in response to Democratic victories for president and U.S. Senate.

And another court case, brought by The New Georgia Project and other voting rights groups, alleges the law burdens voters based on unsubstantiated claims questioning the legitimacy of Georgia’s elections.

Seriously. Get out from under there!

Stay informed!

dailyegyptian.com

News

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Page 7

Black, Latina women work to become electricians as part of first all-female class for longtime trades training program Laura Rodríguez Presa | The Chicago Tribune Tribune Wire Service The first day of in-person classes of her electrician training course, Maria Rocio Brito stayed behind with the instructor after class while the rest of her classmates left.

She needed to understand what answers she had gotten wrong in the test.

English is her second language, and though she is fluent, it takes her “a little more work to fully understand everything,” she said.

“I want to do this because I want to show my daughters and other Latinas that they, too, can stand up for themselves and that it is possible to get a good job in a field dominated by males,” Brito said.

The 43-year-old mother, who migrated from Guerrero, Mexico, is one of the 17 women, all women of color, chosen to be a part of the first all-female cohort of a construction trade class co-sponsored by the Project HOOD and the Community Builders program of the Associated Builders and Contractors Illinois.

The goal of the 12-week course in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood is to provide the women a way to enter the construction industry, where there is virtually no wage gap but which is dominated by white males, said Alicia Martin, president of the ABC Illinois.

Women have been among the hardest hit by job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the program will give them a new opportunity to “open doors to new perspectives and possibly a new career in construction and trades,” Martin said.

In Illinois, women with children were disproportionately harmed by the pandemic, with mothers suffering nearly three times the job losses experienced by similar men, according to U.S. Department of Labor data analyzed by the Illinois Policy Institute.

Christel Allen, 50, who attended her first in-person class Saturday with her 10-month-old grandson, said the program “is a glimpse of hope and new beginnings,” after a “year of pain and losses.”

The grandmother, who had to take care of her grandson but did not want

to miss the first day of class, is no stranger to the trades. Allen has a commercial driver’s license and certification in flagging for construction, she said.

“The pandemic took us backward, and this class is going to help me move forward,” Allen said.

Many people of color, especially women, can’t pursue jobs in the trades because they cannot afford schooling or certification and credential programs that would guarantee a consistent, well-paying job, Martin said.

“We want to mitigate the barriers that make many women, especially women of color, believe that they cannot get a good job in this field,” Martin said.

For Brito, the main barrier is language, but “we will work together,” her instructor, Tamiko Winn, assured her.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get this,” Winn told Brito, and suggested she read the current chapter in their instruction book with one of her daughters and then again on her own.

The two women smiled as Brito put her books away.

Brito has dedicated her life to caring for her three daughters. Two of them are now college-educated, “thanks to so much sacrifice,” she said. “Now it’s time for me to do this.”

Teaching the class “is empowering,” said Winn, an African American woman who defied the odds and began her career in the trades.

Of those taking instruction with Brito, 16 are Black women and Brito is the only Latina. The class was timed to begin during Women’s History Month at the gymnasium of the New Beginnings Church of Chicago, 6620 S. King Drive.

“So this class is personal,” she said, because “women of color are often pushed aside as a double minority, we’re here to change that.”

The Community Builders Program was founded in 2017 by ABC Illinois to provide a guided path into the trades and support employability for people “often left behind,” Martin said.

Since 2016, ABC Illinois has worked with various community organizations to offer free training to those who face barriers to employment such as people who did not finish college, at-risk youth, non-English speakers and former felons.

In Illinois, there are more than 200,000 craft labor professionals needed, according to data from ABC Illinois.

“But there aren’t enough pathways for people to get to those positions,” Martin added.

The Rev. Corey Brooks, the founder of Project HOOD, said the program is an opportunity to elevate and highlight the skills of Black and Latino people to give them a chance for real progress.

Brooks, whose organization works to end violence and advocates for the advancement of the residents of South Siders in Chicago, said the group decided to fully fund the first all-female cohort “because women have the skills to do the jobs in the trades but often just don’t have the opportunity to get into the industry.”

The current course will provide the women with three industry-recognized credentials, including for the first level in electrical work and a federal safety certification. Upon graduation, each woman will access mentors to help them find work.

Mike Uremovich, president of Manhattan Mechanical Services in southwest suburban Manhattan, said that over the past four years, he has hired 20 graduates from the Community Builders Program. Once at the company, entrylevel employees are offered a four-year apprentice program.

“We have a lot of people that cannot afford college, but they want to work, know how to work and are just looking for the opportunity to do it,” Uremovich said.

“There’s a stigma that women can’t work in construction, but there are more and more women in this industry, and right now the need for workers is even greater,” he said.

If it hadn’t been for Martin’s willingness to allow her to participate, Brito said, “I wouldn’t be a part of the program.”

In the past, Brito had applied for other programs but was often turned away because of her immigration status and language barriers.

She’s “eager to learn,” she said.

“I’m so grateful,” Brito said.

Biden’s diverse first judicial picks put a Black woman on the path for the Supreme Court

David Lauter, Los Angeles Times Tribune Content Agency WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced his first slate of judicial nominees Tuesday, moving quickly to put a diverse cast on the federal judiciary and placing a 50-yearold federal judge in position to potentially become the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 11 nominees contrasted sharply with the people appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, who were overwhelmingly white and male.

All three of Biden’s initial nominees to the federal appeals courts, the second-highest tier in the judicial system, are Black women. The nominees for federal district court posts include people who, if confirmed, would become the first Muslim federal judge and the first woman of color to serve on the federal bench in Maryland, the White House said. Four of the 11 are of Asian or Pacific Islander descent.

The nominees are the first of what the White House expects will be a “steady drumbeat” of judicial nominations this year, said a senior White House official who briefed reporters on the nominations. In a statement, Biden referred to his picks as a “trailblazing slate of nominees” drawn from “the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession.”

“Each is deeply qualified and prepared to deliver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people — and together they represent the broad diversity of background, experience and perspective that makes our nation strong,” he said.

The Biden nominee likely to attract the most attention, especially in the Senate, which

will consider their confirmations this spring, is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who currently serves as a federal district judge in Washington, D.C. Biden has nominated her to serve on the D.C. Circuit federal court of appeals.

That court is often tagged as the second-most influential in the country because of the many high-profile government-related cases that land on its docket.

More pertinent in Jackson’s case, it has often served as a springboard for the Supreme Court. Three of the current nine justices — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett M. Kavanaugh, served on the D.C. Circuit before being nominated to the Supreme Court. So did the late Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. Jackson, a well-regarded district court judge, has often been mentioned as a potential Supreme Court nominee in a Democratic administration.

That speculation heightened during the presidential campaign when Biden promised during a debate to name a Black woman to the high court. White House officials were quick to note that naming 11 judicial nominees by the end of March put Biden ahead of the pace set by his predecessors.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted statistics Tuesday morning showing that in their first 100 days, President Barack Obama made three nominations and Trump two while neither President Bill Clinton nor President George W. Bush made any. Biden was at “11, with 30+ days to go,” Klain wrote.

The president served for 17 years as chairman or the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which handles

judicial nominations, giving him extensive experience with the process, the senior White House official noted; Klain for a time was the committee’s chief counsel. In addition to racial and ethnic diversity, Biden has been keen to break away from the pattern of judges being drawn disproportionately from a small range of professional backgrounds — especially the ranks of former prosecutors and large corporate law firms, the senior official noted.

Four of the current nominees, including Jackson, previously worked as public defenders, the federal officials who provide legal counsel to those who cannot afford to pay for their own lawyers. “Public defenders, in particular, occupy a critical space in our judicial system,” the official said, speaking under ground rules that don’t allow use of names.

“Our criminal justice system can’t function without talented individuals on both sides,” the official said, and having them as judges “is as important as having individuals who represented the government.” Lawyers who have handled civil rights cases are also a priority for Biden, the official said. During Trump’s four years, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky led a concerted drive to fill every available judicial vacancy with conservative nominees, often relatively young judges whose lifetime appointments to the bench could last decades. Trump ended up naming 234 federal judges, including 54 to the courts of appeals, the second most in a fouryear term.

Partly as a result, several appeals courts now have strong conservative majorities.

Democratic activists have been eager for Biden to begin quickly making his own appointments

to redress what they see as an improper skew in the judiciary. Many of them fretted during both Obama’s and Clinton’s tenures that judicial vacancies were too low a priority for the Democratic administrations. Biden’s moves drew praise from activists groups.

It’s “a welcome shift to see this level of prioritization of judges,” said Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, which was formed to press for progressive judges.

Jackson “and the other public defenders and civil rights lawyers in this group are exactly the kind of judges we need to rebalance our courts,” he said in a statement. Because many judges appointed by Democrats held off on retiring while Trump was in office, Biden currently has 72 vacancies to fill, and the number is expected to continue to grow this year.

Several of the appeals courts, however, almost certainly will retain a conservative majority well into the next presidential term. On the Supreme Court, where Republican appointees have a 6-3 majority, Biden’s first chance to fill a seat could come if Justice Stephen G. Breyer, 82, steps down. It’s widely expected that he likely will do so either at the end of the current term, in June, or next year to ensure that Biden can appoint his successor while Democrats control the Senate. Many Democratic activists were devastated last year when Ginsburg’s death weeks before the election allowed Trump to name her replacement, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and a Republican-controlled Senate quickly confirmed her.

Breyer, a politically experienced justice who worked for seven years earlier in his career as a top aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts on the Judiciary Committee,

and was appointed in 1994 by Clinton, is unlikely to let a similar scenario play out in his case. Jackson worked as a law clerk to Breyer after graduating from law school, part of a resume that fits what is, at this point, the standard profile of a Supreme Court justice — graduation from an elite law school (Harvard in her case), judicial clerkships and, if confirmed now, prior service on an appeals court.

She also served as a federal public defender and as vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and has won praise in legal circles for the quality of her written opinions. Indeed, to the extent that some Democrats have voiced reservations about Jackson’s potential candidacy, the argument has ironically been that she has too many traditional qualifications. Some Democrats, including Biden’s ally Rep. James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, have suggested the president should look for a nominee who would break the mold of Ivy League graduates into which almost all the current justices fit.

Biden’s other two appeals court nominees were Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, a litigator and former federal public defender in Chicago, for the 7th Circuit, based in that city, and Tiffany Cunningham, for the Federal Circuit, which handles claims against the government. The 7th Circuit has not had a Black judge since 2017; Trump appointed four white judges to fill vacancies on it. In addition to three appeals court nominees, the slate includes nominees for federal district court judgeships in New Mexico, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey and D.C., and a nominee for the D.C. Superior Court, the local trial bench in Washington.

Page 8

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Women and the Covid-19 Pandemic continued from

1

“If kids are in class you can look at them and say ‘Okay there’s something wrong, this kid looks kind of down today.

I’m going to just check in and have like a two minute conversation that can make all the difference in the world,’” Gieselman said. “Well, when you’re looking at a blank zoom screen. You don’t know what’s going on with someone. There were a lot of conversations just kind of encouraging kids and giving them suggestions on how to manage their stress and time,” Gieselman said.

Kristen Barber, an Associate Professor of Sociology at SIU who is researching on women’s work during the pandemic, said she is currently working on a paper that shows women reported doing almost 10 times more housework than their male partners even without kids, women have been picking up the growing household demands that come with being at home all the time.

Barber said working mothers have been scrambling to balance work with dependents of different age groups at home.

“Many kids have been in a virtual classroom over the years, too, with some older kids doing well with distance education,” Barber said. “And for little kids, learning online means mothers usually become a sort of a secondary teacher, managing kids’ online engagement.”

Some parents who find their kids don’t learn well with distance education, are unmotivated, or suffer depression from social isolation. This is a lot for parents to manage, Patty Vaught Davis ties her son’s hair on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 in Carbondale, Ill. “I have two sons and it’s difficult to manage Barber said. time for both of them. Being a working woman and a mother it’s really hard to manage time, however, I try my best. I have “For professional moms, research shows that the my parents here so we were very cautious during COVID. I think it’s not only about me. We have to think for others during this compression of work and home has taken a toll on their mental well-being, and that moms are leaving their jobs or pandemic period. We might be the carriers for other people we really need to be safe,” Davis said. Monica Sharma | @mscli_cks trying to go part time,” Barber said. “And as we know from pre-COVID-19 scholarship, flexible work does really work for moms. It usually just means pushing work hours to nights and weekends because kid care takes up waking hours.”

She said her research on academic faculty who were parents early on in the pandemic shows that parents were especially burdened while trying to relaunch their courses online, with some working from their cars while their kids slept in the backseats. They worked in chaos, with toys everywhere, crayon on the walls, and kids with constant needs.

“When lockdown went into effect in March of 2020, my 5-year-old moved online, as did my own work. And I found myself pleading with my kindergartener to sit in front of the computer, participate, and do her work,” Barber said. “At the same time, I had a 1-year-old who needed to be cared for, two dogs that needed walks, and my own work to do. This is on top of a home that was never clean. My work hours dwindled, and I had to leave some meaningful work behind me including bowing out from Directing WGSS here at SIU.” Gielselman said her husband has been working from home as a social worker throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and has helped their daughter with her remote learning.

“That has been really fortunate because we kept our daughter remote for first grade. He’s actually taken on the role of support for remote schooling, and I’m grateful that he was able to work from home because if not, that would have been pretty challenging to kind of figure that out,” Gieselman said.

Scarlett Rodriguez, an international student worker in the Narmada Pandey plays chess with her kids Ayushi, 12, and Ayaan, 7, on Monday, March 22, 2021 at Evergreen Terrace Family Communications Department said women in her country Housing in Carbondale, Ill. “On the other side, it’s good to play with kids and spend some time with them which I missed had to quit their jobs or find ways to make things work in when they were busy on their own schedule,“ Pandey said. Monica Sharma | @mscli_cks order to take care of their children.

“In my country, it has not yet been possible to find a solution for the past school year and the next year’s school reintegration is still under “Without institutional support, colleges and universities are bound to see a loss of women discussion. I think this has put a lot of stress on parents and school staff,” Rodriguez said. academics, especially those who are parents. This will reverberate through the academy for Gieselman said being a teacher has had its fair share of complications due to the pandemic. years, and lead to a loss of research,” Barber said.

She said the pandemic has made everyone more aware of what goes into child rearing and Gieselman said that although COVID has made it difficult to maintain connections with teaching. friends or students that it has also made her appreciate other things.

“In March of last year, when everyone was suddenly having to teach their kids at home “We all appreciate little things, more and also, you know, but also remember you know there was a great respect for teachers, and an understanding. People understood that teachers sometimes we just need to say no it’s slow down to that there’s value in having that time we wear a lot of hats. They teach social emotional skills, they teach math, writing, reading and stepped back,” Gieselman said. science and that’s amazing, They do impossible things,” Gieselman said.

Barber said SIU should take strong measures to protect and support women employees Giselman said teachers are expected to pick up societal needs of students and occasionally during the pandemic. act as counselors to their students. Giselman said women in the education field are often “They [SIU] can earmark grant money for women and parent academics, extend and viewed as nurturers by their students. create flexible application deadlines, decrease service demands, extend tenure timelines, move “I think students sometimes have that perception, you know like that you’re like a mom conference travel money to childcare subsidies (since at home care is particularly expensive, figure and so you’re someone they can come to. I think as women, especially as mothers, we and kids who used to be in school are now home), and organize collaborative research groups have our own nurturing skill set. Sometimes you have an intuition that there is something so women can continue to research and publish in a way that is more sustainable,” Barber going on in the kid’s life and so you might put that expectation on yourself,” Gieselman said, said. They need teaching and research assistant assignments, and they need their universities Gieselman said this pressure is not only societal but it comes from within as well. to create university-level, gender-focused committees that have a real seat at the table.”

“I think there’s added pressure that is put on by others, but also by ourselves to be perfect,,

to balance it all. I know I put that pressure on myself,” Gieselman said.

Staff reporter Diksha Mittal can be reached at dmittal@dailyegyptian.com. Reporter Ore Barber drew attention to the need for concern about what this means for moms and Ojewuyi can be reached at oojewuyi@dailyegyptian.com or on twitter @odojewuyi. working women, who have lost jobs at higher rates than men during the pandemic, and who feel pushed out of the workforce by a lack of formal organizational support and pulled home due to the demands of unequal care work.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Page 9

2 of 3 summer class credit hours could be free.

News

Page 10

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccines in Carbondale

Who can be vaccinated?

“Any Illinois resident are eligible to receive a vaccination. Anyone under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent.”

-Jackson County Health Department March 29, 2021

Where can you be vaccinated?

SIUC Banterra Center/Arena 1490 Douglas Drive Carbondale Civic Center 200 S Illinois Ave

How can I sign up?

1. Call the health department at (618)684-3143 to book your appointment 2. Schedule your appointment online at www.jchdonline.org

-Requires 2 doses -Requires 2 doses

-Doses must occur 21 days apart

-Requires 1 dose

-Doses must occur 28 days apart

-Must be 16 or older

-Must be 18 or older

-Must be 18 or older

-Available April 1 and 2 at SIUC Arena

-86% effective against severe forms of illness

-92% effective 14 days after 1st dose

-94% effective at preventing asymptomatic infections

-Less than 70% effective with variations of strains in other countries

-97% effective at preventing symptomatic infections

Sources: Jackson County Health Department | World Health Organization | Center for Disease Control | National Broadcasting Company News

Chloe Schobert | @chlo_scho_art

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

News

Page 11

Community, connection, involvementwelcome to the museum Jared Treece | @bisalo

The African-American Museum of southern Illinois, located inside the University Mall, has been a local museum for visitors to the Carbondale area. The museum itself is run by volunteers and is free to the public.

Corene and Milton McDaniel have been at the African-American

Museum of southern Illinois, museum since they co-founded it in 1997. The museum houses different photos and artifacts of Black figures, which are preserved for visitors to see and learn from.

“We’re not just a museum that hangs out exhibits, we’re very community involved,” Milton said.

The museum has had many programs

and events for the community throughout the years.

In the past, the museum has been a part of helping the Special Olympics of southern Illinois.

In the summer months, Corene hosts several programs for kids such as their Learned Wednesday Youth Enrichment program.

“When the kids are out of school

The African-American Museum of southern Illinois preserves the history and achievements from African-Americans Monday, Feb. 22, 2021 in University Mall in Carbondale, Ill. The museum is a non-profit organization operated by volunteers since 1997. Jared Treece | @bisalo

during the summer, they still have a place to come and learn and create and be positive about themselves.

And to learn a lot of self-esteem about themselves,” said Milton.

They have also been involved with Santa in the Park during the winter months for over 20 years. The event has the pair going to every park in Carbondale to give out winter

clothing and snacks to members of the community.

“We want the community to come to the museum, but also want the museum to go into the community,” Milton said.

Staff Photographer Jared Treece can be reached at jtreece@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram at @bisalo.

Milton McDaniel points at quilt as troop leaders from Boy Scout troop 66 hold up as Milton talks about the quilts on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021 at the African American Museum inside University Mall in Carbondale, Ill. Jared Treece | @bisalo

Page 12

Samaritan of the Week

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Women’s Center of Carbondale is a safe haven in southern Illinois

Jamilah Lewis | @jamilahlewis

The Women’s Center in Carbondale is a safe place for victims and survivors of rape, sexual assault or domestic violence, or any person involved in something traumatic to seek shelter and help with their problems.

According to the center’s website, the center founded in 1972 was one of the first domestic violence centers in the country with experts there to help people who want to get back on track in their lives and heal from their traumatic situations.

The Women’s Center has satellite locations across southern Illinois, including in Franklin, Johnson, Perry, Saline, Willamson, Union and Gallatin counties, with the main shelter for survivors in Carbondale.

Jasmine Creek, a rape crisis advocate at the Women’s Center, has worked at the center for five years. Before she worked there, she did a lot of feminist organizing when attending school at SIU and said the Women’s Center was a good support resource to her.

Creek said the center has a rape crisis program — a domestic violence program which helps victims/survivors with criminal advocacy if they have an assault investigation. The center can help people get protection orders for their offenders and provide them counseling.

“A lot of people come in after having been assaulted and going to the ER; that’s where they usually learn about our services,” Creek said. “Then we help them through things like tracking their evidence collection that happens there, or getting counseling after things like that.”

Creek said the counselors are really inclusive with the survivors in how they set goals and objectives for on what they want to work.

“We make sure that every step of the way they’re empowered

and make the decisions on how they move forward,” Creek said. “If they decide they want to stay in counseling or they want to continue advocacy services, we support them in that, but there may come a time where they just get busy or they feel like they’ve healed enough or developed the coping mechanism they need.”

Creek said the center is working to become more inclusive to everyone, not just women.

“We also try to make sure that the community is aware that we serve every gender,” Creek said. “There’s women who are survivors but there are male survivors and non-binary survivors, so we’re trying to work on making sure that the LGBTQ community and men as well know that they can come here for the same services.”

Transitional case manager Sarah Settles has been working with the Women’s Center for two years with a background in social work as a legal advocate in Williamson County for 10 years and a child advocate for one year.

Settles said people usually call the hotline the center has first, and from there they figure what the person needs and what direction/program they should go to.

“They can possibly need to talk to a counselor, [or] if they need to talk to an advocate,” Settles said. “We work very closely with Land of Lincoln, [and] Gail Thomas over at the school of law at SIU.” With Settles being a victim of domestic violence herself, she turned to the Women’s Center when she was younger, she said. “[I] stayed in the Women’s Center when it was just a very small house in Carbondale,” Settle said. “Now it’s a very large building and they have much more adequate space to help survivors more.”

Settles said one of her closest cases she worked on was a mom getting custody of her daughter back. The mother had an order of protection for herself and Settles was there to help

her through it, she said.

“I sat with her for that two weeks until the hearing, and she won,” Settles said. “She got her child back and it was a mess, but it was very powerful to me to see how sometimes the court system is still flawed, but they have fixed it even because of that case. It was just a hard case for me to handle just because it was a woman that had a child my age.”

Administrative assistant Marisa Szubryt said she’s worked with around 30 individuals, and it has helped her learn more about the issues that the center helps with.

“I’ve felt that I’ve gotten a lot better skill with how prevalent these issues are… it all feels very much more real,” Szubryt said. “You know how significant an impact we can have on people’s lives, and helping them get back to a place where they can be on their own feet after a little bit of help and care.”

Szubryt said what makes the center different is the importance they put on helping the victims/survivors.

“I think that what we offer that’s unique to our area is really client-centered care,” Szubryt said. “Having a place that’s totally judgment-free where survivors are in a place and positions in which they can make their own decisions and we will support them the best that we can, but really giving them power back in situations.”

Szubryt said some people don’t feel their cases are critical enough or might not be collected enough to speak about it and that’s what they are here for.

The Women’s Center has a 24/7 hotline available for victims who need help that can be reached at 1-800-334-2094.

Staff reporter Jamilah Lewis can be reached at jlewis@ dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @jamilahlewis.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Sports

Page 13

Out of adversity comes friendship for SIU quarterback room

Adam Warfel | @warfel_adam

This year’s Saluki football team has faced injuries, an irregular spring season, and the mantra of bringing SIU back into the playoffs.

In addition to these, the program has tested their depth at quarterback this season with three different members starting in the position since their lone game of the fall season on Oct. 30, 2020, through their most recent game against Missouri State on Mar. 27.

The Salukis are off to a 4-3 start and 3-3 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and have not only had success amongst three different quarterbacks — they have found friendship.

Senior quarterback Karé Lyles relieved junior quarterback Stone Labanowitz after he suffered a shoulder injury in the 28-14 win over UT Martin on Sept. 14, 2019.

Lyles would cement his place as the starter in the 2019 season, as he would lead the Salukis to a 6-4 record and earn the title of starter to begin this season in 2021.

“When he got the call and finished out the season, I think that was tough for us mentally,” Labanowitz said. “Me and Karé talked about it last week, a long one-onone talk, just the ups and downs that we’ve had personally. We’ve been able to build a friendship out of a weird situation.”

Out of the friendship and the conversation which happened, Lyles and Labanowitz have begun working together to make each other better.

“Lately, [for] these past few weeks, we’ve actually been watching film together,” Labanowitz said. “It’s pretty good watching film; he sees a lot of stuff that I don’t see, we kind of pick each others’ brains.”

After Labanowitz got the call to start, it was at the prompting of Lyles which caused them to start watching film together.

“Two weeks ago, when I got the call to start, [Karé] was like, ‘Hey why don’t we start watching film together?’” Labanowitz said.

The quarterback spot, unlike other positions on the football field, is typically only one person playing in a game; other positions have backups who get opportunities to play throughout the game.

“They’ve really, the past two years I think, developed this really strong relationship with each other,” Blake Rolan, the quarterback’s coach and offensive coordinator said. “You’re competing to play. It’s unlike other positions because there’s only one that will play in a typical game, whereas other positions have backups that will play.”

With only one player playing in most games, it can breed competition between the players and sometimes even jealousy.

“It’s just not normal to have zero animosity in a quarterback room,” Labanowitz said. “I think we’ve hit this plateau, euphoric spot. I don’t know how to put a finger on it. We’re in this honeymoon phase, we’re so proud of each other.”

After Lyles went down with an injury in the first half of the game against North Dakota, sophomore quarterback Nic Baker came in and played well, leading the upset in the next game against then number one ranked North Dakota State on Feb. 27.

Baker was the starter up until he was injured in the first half of the Northern Iowa game on Mar. 13, when he pulled up limping on a running play.

Saluki QB Stone Labanowitz braces for the impact as he’s brought down by Panthers defensive lineman Brawntae Wells during the Saluki’s 17-16 win on Saturday, Mar. 13, 2021. Angel Chevrestt | @sobrofotos

Nic Baker (left), a freshman, of Rochester, Tremayne Lee (center), a freshman, of Springfield, and Skyler Peterman (right), a sophomore, of Carbondale, assist in the football drills on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018, at the Saluki Football Fan Fest, at Saluki Stadium. Carson VanBuskirk | @carsonvanbDE

“I really felt comfortable. I felt like the team was comfortable with me. I felt like the coaches trusted me a lot,” Baker said. “We have a really good team and we can still win games.”

From Lyles to Baker, and now Labanowitz, who got his first start of the season against South Dakota State and will be the starter against Missouri State on Mar. 27.

“I have a different mindset, which is odd.

I feel more loose and free,” Labanowitz said. “What I’ve gone through here as far as having back surgery, then having that shoulder injury, getting the start I guess it’s more than two years ago now to coming back through it.”

In the same way Labanowitz had to come back from injury, he describes himself as a fighter on the field.

“It’s cool for the sideline to see how hard I’m fighting out there. I think that’s the main thing I bring to the table is a certain fight” Labanowitz said. “This kid’s gonna give us everything that he’s got.”

Labanowitz would finish the game against the Bears throwing for 270 yards and two touchdowns while picking up two sacks.

Junior inside linebacker Bryson Strong and Labanowitz have their fair share of poolside conversations, in which Strong said fighting for yards like Labanowitz does motivates him.

“I’m very close to Bryson Strong on the defensive side. I was talking to him last night, we have these talks by the pool,” Labanowitz said. “We talk for hours about football and that’s just one of the things that he brings up to me and tells me I need to

keep doing forever.”

As far as what Labanowitz brings to the table, according to Baker, he’s the magician — always being able to find a way to make plays.

“Stone, he’s a little mastermind back there, a little magician you could say that,” Baker said. “He always finds a way. He’s got a little knack, not getting sacked, getting balls out.

It’s kind of cool to watch.”

Lyles, Labanowitz and Baker have not always had the friendly relationship they have now.

“With Karé getting here in January two years ago, the dynamic in the room at that point was really all about themselves,” Rolan said. “‘I want to start, me, me, me.’ Two springs ago, when they were competing for a job, it’s always us against them.”

This past fall is when the change from “Me to we” as a group occurred, Rolan said, as the three of them being together the past two seasons has helped.

“Definitely saw a change from two springs ago, until this past fall. They’ve been together now, they knew each other’s quirks, their personalities,” Rolan said. “They weren’t concerned about what the other one was doing.”

When watching a game, it can be difficult to see everything happening on the sideline, and Rolan said there is constant communication between each of the quarterbacks on the sideline.

“What the normal person doesn’t see is the constant communication, trying to win a game, trying to figure out what’s the best play,” Rolan said. “[They’re] in each other’s ear, talking to them, asking each other questions.”

Sports Reporter Adam Warfel can be reached at awarfel@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @warfel_adam.

Page 14

Sports

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Southern’s volleyball team closes out their season

Janae Mosby | @mosbyj

The Saluki volleyball team finished their season on March 28 with a loss to Illinois State.

The team went 2-18 overall and only won one Missouri Valley conference game.

The two games SIU won were against the University of Memphis on Jan. 23 and Valparaiso University on Feb. 14.

Southern went to five sets with both teams and the Salukis led in blocks with 13 total against Valpo and nine against Memphis.

SIU averaged 11.8 kills per set this season with 899 kills in total and they averaged 1.2 aces per set with 89 in total. In defense, the Salukis had 1252 total digs and 107 total blocks.

Redshirt senior middle hitter Emma Baalman led the Salukis in kills with 146, while freshman middle hitter Imani Hartfield had 139.

Baalman also led the team in blocks with 46 with Hartfield close behind with 44.

“Unfortunately we weren’t able to get the result that we wanted. We have a lot of potential but I think with 10 newcomers it was hard to mesh with people that we haven’t been able to get in a groove with,” freshman outside hitter Tatum Tornatta said.

Head coach Ed Allen said it was a rough year and was hard for the team to interact and do team building activities because of COVID-19.

“I think the 10 new players have improved in understanding what it takes to be extremely successful at this level, not only in terms of physicality but in preparation that is involved on the daily basis,” Allen said.

Tornatta said with a lot of young people on the team it is hard to know about the experience of winning and she thinks over the years they will get better at it.

“I feel like coming in with a lot of new people is hard to make a quick change. I think progress is key and we saw a lot of progress,” Tornatta said.

During the season, Tornatta said the team struggled with consistency and stitching

The SIU volleyball team gets fired up after a big play during the final set during a play against Loyola on Monday, Feb. 8, 2021 in Davies Gym in Carbondale, Ill. The Salukis’ would go on to loss the match 0-3 to the Ramblers. Jared Treece | @bisalo

together a lot of points. They have learned lessons from the games they lost and they can use these lessons for the future.

For example, they struggled with finishing games: in the second game against the University of Northern Iowa the Salukis were up two sets and UNI came back and won the final three sets.

“We’d like to think that we are going to improve each week that we are out, there have been weeks in which that happened and weeks where we’ve taken a step backward,” Allen said.

Allen said the new players improved in

learning to transition into what it is like playing at the college level and to prepare for a game as much as they can.

“Mentally, I think at this point, it’s tough.

You have to hate to lose more than you want to win and I think that we’ve really learned that we never want to see a season like this again. [...] I think next year is going to be a big year in change,” Tornatta said.

Tornatta said the team has made a lot of progress from when they started practicing to where they are now and they have been working

on trusting their training “We’ve really been working on trusting our training, we’ve put the work in in practice and we put the work in outside of practice and in the weight room. We should be able to fall back on that training and I think we needed to work more on putting together a bunch of points,” Tornatta said.

Staff reporter Janae Mosby can be reached at jmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @ mosbyj.

Southern takes 3 games in weekend series

Janae Mosby | @mosbyj

The Bradley University Braves (9-10, 2-4 MVC) were defeated in the weekend series against the SIU softball team (22-5, 4-3 MVC) on March 27 and 28.

The Salukis won the first two games in the doubleheader on the first day of the series 6-1 and 4-1. In the last game on Sunday, SIU won in five innings with the score 11-2. “[Bradley’s] got a really great offensive club, so I thought we did a really great job kind of holding them down. I’m just really our kids,” head coach Kerri Blaylock said.

In the first game of the double header on March 27, the Salukis scored the first two runs in the third inning with a RBI from senior outfielder Maris Boelens that brought sophomore outfielder Aubree Depron to home base and a run by freshman outfielder Bailey Caylor.

“I went into [the game] just wanting to focus on my confidence and wanted to just string together hits since we’ve kind of been struggling offensively this past week,” Boelens said in a release on the SIU athletics website.

Bradley scored their only run in the fourth inning with a home run to left field by freshman catcher Avry Blume.

Southern finished the game with four

runs in the fifth and sixth innings with runs from senior infielder Meredith Wernig, grad student infielder Maddy Vermejan and junior catcher Danyelle Eliers. Both teams had a scoreless seventh inning, giving the Salukis the win 6-1.

SIU started the second game of the doubleheader with Vermejan scoring in the first inning from a RBI by grad student catcher Katelyn Massa.

“We told [Massa] that she basically has hopefully seven weeks of her career left if we go to postseason, but we wanted her to really try to step up and help us this last little bit,” Blaylock said.

The Braves followed with a run in the second inning from a RBI that led to freshman pitcher Taise Thompson scoring.

Southern scored their last three runs in the third inning with a run by Boelens from an RBI by sophomore infielder Tori Schullian and a home run from Massa that brought her and Schullian , and the Salukis finished with the 4-1 win.

The last game of the weekend series started with two quick runs from the Salukis in the first inning by Vermejan and Boelens.

SIU added four more points to the board in the third inning with an RBI from senior

infielder Jenny Jansen and a 3 RBI from Massa that led to runs by Jansen, Massa, Vermejan and Boelens.

“I knew she was going to throw me outside so I thought to myself just sit back on that outside pitch and just take it there,” Massa said.

Bradley scored their first run in the fourth inning with a run by a RBI by Thompson.

This was followed by a run by the Salukis from a RBI by Boelens where Vermejan scored.

Southern finished the game in five innings scoring four runs from freshman outfielder Elizabeth Warwick, freshman infielder Elisabeth Huckleberry and a two RBI from

Caylor where Vermejan and DePron scored, making the score 11-2 giving the Salukis the win.

The Salukis will take the field again on March 31 against Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, Mo., at 3 p.m.

“I think the biggest thing is consistency. We are looking for consistency right now and we may not have the results we had today but if we have consistent play we’ll have more better days than not,” Blaylock said.

Staff reporter Janae Mosby can be reached at jmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @ mosbyj.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Study Break

Last week’s:

Page 15

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Page 16

Shop Your Local Co -op Local, organic and fair trade • Where everyone can shop Wellness • Bulk • Grocery • Deli • Fresh Produce • Beer & Wine

2 for $4

2 for $5

3 for $5

1 lb Package

Reg. 2.99 ea • 15.2 oz

Select Varieties Reg. 2.79 ea • 10 oz

Campari Tomato

Kevita Kombucha

Buy 1, Get 1 Free

Applegate Naturals Hickory Smoked Uncured Bacon

Woodstock Vegetables or Greens

2 for $4

Organic Cauliflower Head

$3.99 ea

$3.99 ea

3 for $4

Reg 5.19 ea • 13 oz

Reg 6.79 ea • 8 oz

Reg 1.59 ea • 1.4 oz

Earth Balance Buttery Spread

Dr. Bronner’s Castille Soap

KIND Bars

Reg. 5.99 ea • 8 oz

$29.99 ea

2 for $3

$4.99 ea

Reg. 54.99 ea • 2.03 lb

Reg. 2.99 ea • 12 oz

Select Varieties Reg. 3.49 ea • 10 oz

Orgain Organic Plant Protein

Life Aid Natural Energy Drinks

Bob’s GF Coconut or AP Flour

Buy 1, Get 1 Free Synergy Cave-Aged Cheddar Reg 7.99 ea • 6.5 oz

Sales good through April 6, 2021 • While supplies last

5K

NEIGHBORHOOD CO-OP VIRTUAL

FEED YOUR NEIGHBOR

Visit neighborhood.coop/5K or scan code to sign up!

Neighborhood Co-op Grocery Murdale Shopping Center 1815 W. Main St. Carbondale IL (618) 529-3533

www.neighborhood.coop Phone: 618-529-3533

We accept cash, check, and...

& DEBT DAWG!

Open daily 8 am - 8 pm