The Daily Egyptian - March 10, 2021

THE

Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.

DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM MARCH 10, 2021 VOL. 104, ISSUE 8

Horstman’s Dry Cleaning

SIU plans for in-person commencement ceremony in May

Sunrise over the new alumni statue in front of Pullium on the SIU Carbondale campus Tuesday, August 18, 2020. Nicole Tillberg | @nicoltillberg315

Please see pg. 9 Tim Milton dries a customer’s clothes using a unipress on Tuesday, Mar. 2, 2021 at Horstman’s Cleaners & Furriers in Carbondale Ill. Subash Kharel | @pics.leaks

Candidates present campaign promises for the upcoming Carbondale City Council Elections Oreolouwa Ojewuyi | @odojewuyi On March 2, 2021 Carbondale organized a City Council Candidate forum. The official election day is April 6, 2021. 7 out of 9 candidates spoke at the forum.

Brennan Knop and Ginger Golz read the candidates selected questions, submitted by the public during registration for the forum.

The forum began with candidate introductions.

Speaking at the forum was Jessica Bradshaw who served on the Carbondale City council for two terms. Jeff Doherty spoke and is running for reelection. Doherty has had a 32 year career with the city in community development. Carolin Harvey is running for reelection after serving two terms on the city council. Harvey is a volunteer at several local organizations including the Women’s Center,

Hospice of Southern Illinois and Southern Illinois Honor flight.

The other candidates who spoke in the forum are: Melvin “Pepper” Holder, who was born and raised in Carbondale. Ginger Rye Sanders, a CCHS and John A Logan College alum and founder of Women for Change Carbondale. Nick Smaligo, the founder of Carbondale Spring.

Nathan Colombo is a lifelong and generational resident of Carbondale running for city council.

Along with these candidates who spoke at the forum there are also two other candidates running for city council. They are Tyrone Taliq Montgomery and Joshua Liechty.

Candidates were asked two general questions. Each candidate had 60 seconds to respond to each question asked.

Brennan Knop- Community members have expressed a concern

about a lack of accountability and city council member engagement.

If you are elected how do you plan to stay engaged within the community and contribute to an increased level of accountability.

“I am very interested in citizen engagement. When I was first elected 8 years ago I was kind of disappointed by the lack of interaction I got. I put stuff out on Facebook. I wanted more engagement and I would get one or two comments. Not very many people would come to council meetings until it was something

that people didn’t really like,” Bradshaw said.

Continued on pg. 2

Brooke Buerck | @bbuerck25 SIU Chancellor Austin Lane announced via email on March 9 the university will plan to have an in-person commencement ceremony from May 7-9 to honor 2020 and 2021 graduates.

“The celebrations will have many of the familiar traditions, some of them modified to comply with COVID-19 health and safety protocols,” Lane’s email said. “For instance, we chose a large outdoor venue, Saluki Stadium, and will hold more ceremonies to allow for social distancing and to keep attendance at a safe level.”

The university will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and will consider a virtual format if conditions become unsafe.

“However, the trends have been moving in the right direction, thanks to the diligence, determination and resilience of our students, faculty and staff,” Lane’s email said. “We should continue to wear masks, practice social distancing, wash hands and follow other health and safety precautions. Doing so will help us stay on track to hold the ceremony most of us want.”

Southern Illinois has not held an in-person commencement ceremony since December 2019; Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 ceremonies were held virtually.

According to SIU’s website on commencement and ceremonies, graduates will be permitted to reserve four tickets for guests to attend in person. In addition, all ceremonies will be streamed live on SIU’s Youtube channel for viewing remotely.

Ceremonies for May 2021 graduates will be held primarily on Saturday, May 8, with the exception of the College of Agricultural Sciences and College of Science holding ceremonies on Friday, May 7.

Ceremonies for all 2020 graduates will be held on Sunday, May 9, and SIU’s School of Law will graduate all 2020 and 2021 graduates on Friday, May 7.

Traditionally, ceremonies are held in the Banterra Center or the SIU Arena. Due to the outdoor arrangements this spring, Lane said the university is preparing for inclement weather situations.

“If it’s cloudy or rainy, we will proceed with Commencement,” SIU’s website on commencement ceremonies said. “Graduates will be provided clear ponchos to wear over their regalia. Guests should dress appropriately for the weather - warm layers, rain jackets, boots - as necessary. Small umbrellas are permitted in the stands, provided they do not obstruct the view of other guests.”

During a situation of severe weather, the university will consider delaying, rescheduling or moving the ceremony to a virtual format for 2021 graduates.

Editor Brooke Buerck can be reached at bbuerck@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @bbuerck25.

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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!

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Murphysboro man threatened, endures racist harassment by neighbor Editor’s Note and content warning: While it is the Daily Egyptian’s policy not to print uncensored racial slurs as they appear in quotes or written statements/paraphrases, we do not blur or censor photographs. The photo below in this story contain racial slurs.

James Allen | @skyclopsphotojamboree Sophie Whitten | @swhittenphotography

On Tuesday, March 2 Gavin Topp, a mixed-race American, posted on Facebook that his neighbor painted a racist statement on the side of his shed.

In the previous post, Topp said, “I’m in need of some help. I have a dangerous neighbor who keeps harassing, stalking, and making threats on the lives of everyone who lives with me. He’s even gone as far as to say he’ll kill the unborn child of my brother’s.”

The message on the shed read: “No negr**s allowed or half breed’s n*gro lovers” (uncensored).

Topp, 19, of Murphysboro said the issues he and his three roommates have had with his neighbor, Michael Etherton, began over a year ago and have continued to increase in severity. He said the first official complaint they made against him

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Photo courtesy of Gavin Topp.

to the police was for disturbing the peace by loudly driving his four-wheeler near their house late at night.

“When we first moved in, he actually seemed like a really good guy [...] Right after we moved in, he started bringing his fourwheeler down here and just causing lots of problems like in the middle of the night, three, four o’clock in the morning, riding that four-wheeler in front of your house, waking all of us up. It’s just impossible to sleep with that,” Topp said.

Topp said yesterday afternoon, the tensions between them escalated enough that Etherton brought his shotgun outside and fired it three times into the air.

Both Topp and his roommates have complained to the local police and sheriff ’s departments about the issue, but have not made much progress.

“We went up to the courthouse the first time and I went there by myself and the ladies there, they just tried to downplay the situation and it was met with a whole lot of attitude, which I couldn’t understand why. I’m sitting there, telling them that I’m

fearing for my life, and they just didn’t take the situation seriously at all,” Topp said.

Topp said that he first contacted the police last summer and has recontacted them around five times since then.

He said the best help and advice they were given was to install cameras around their house as well as receive an order of protection against Etherton.

When asked about the problem, Lieutenant Carson Bunton of the Jackson County Sheriff ’s Department said they can not release any information about past complaints against the neighbor and only received their latest complaint yesterday.

Etherton denied harassing Topp and said he isn’t a racist. He denies owning a gun.

Photographer James Allen can be reached at jallen@dailyegyptian. com or on Twitter at @ skyclopsphotojamboree.

Photographer Sophie Whitten can be reached at swhitten@dailyegyptian. com or on Instagram at @ swhiteenphotography

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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

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Letter to the Editor: Textbook costs are weighing on students ‘It doesn’t have to stay this way’

To the Editor, Say I earned the scholarship of a lifetime, covering my tuition and all of the fees for the university of my dreams. I’ll soon be brutally awakened to the fact that my education is still far from free. Like so many students across the country, I might even have to take out loans, or at the very least skip a couple of weeks of groceries due to the sneaky, looming costs of textbooks.

Ask any college student about their experience with higher education textbook prices, it will probably send a shiver down their spine and evoke some terrible story about a book that broke their bank account, but they only ever had to crack open once. You could throw a rock in any direction and hit a student that has considered skipping buying textbooks. In fact, 65% of students surveyed by the US Public Interest Research Group have skipped purchasing textbooks

during the pandemic despite the concern that it could affect their grades. As a student, I’ve had semesters where my books and various access codes cost me over $500, and from what I’ve heard from my peers, that low of a number makes me one of the lucky ones.

This is not to say that the system is broken beyond repair. The solution exists, and it isOpen Resource Textbooks. If professors commit to using and developing textbooks that are openly available to students, then college kids won’t have to face the choice of whether their next paycheck goes towards their education or their water bill.

Though the solution can start with professors, it’s unfair to place this responsibility entirely on faculty.

Universities all over the country, and several in Illinois, have demonstrated that administration could provide resources and incentives to professors when it comes to opening resources to students.Northwestern University, for example, offers grants to professors

who adopt existing Open Education Resource (OER) textbooks, and even more money is offered to professors who adapt and publish new OER. The University of Illinois at Chicago has a similar grant incentive program in place, and I would be excited to see SIU be the next to follow suit. If the wellbeing and financial future of their students isn’t enough to incentivize professors, a University-sponsored grant might just do the trick.

Resources and solutions are available to make a real change in the lives of students, all that’s left to do is take advantage of them. Struggling students deserve this much from the faculty and administration that is dedicated to their education.

Colombo said. “[...] The podcast that I recently launched in the past several months [...] is something that I would use to actively engage folks in long form conversations about policy issues [...] following city council meetings.”

Sanders said if you are on the city council you should be held accountable by the people you are serving.

“You should be in a position where you are approachable. If I were on the city council I would be approachable. I am a builder of relationships. Even working for Women for Change. We’re grassroots girls.

We believe in relationships and building relationships and keeping relationships. We believe in going door to door and one person at a time changing things,” Sanders said.

Smaligo agreed with Holder’s sentiment that people are dissuaded from participating in local politics for the lack of action in local government.

“People’s disengagement from local government is a learned behavior when people encounter dismissiveness and public gaslighting. People learn that there is no point in talking to the city council. People on city council need to take accountability for their beliefs and why they believe the way that they do,” Smaligo said.

Ginger Golz: What is your idea of creating positive contributions to Carbondale during your term if elected?

How do you plan on doing so? Please be specific.

Smaligo said he wants to use the platform of Carbondale Spring if elected for a food autonomy project.

“Over the last year we managed to secure a grant to pay people to work in three different gardens run by different organizations as well as build three chicken coops for people. Our ultimate goal is for us to secure funding for people to be able to grow food in a sustainable safety net,” Smaligo said. “I want to pursue a deep reexamination of our concept of public safety in this town. I have argued and will continue to argue that we are over-policed. I want to see police funds directly going into supporting the Eurma Hayes center for violence reduction and rapid mental health care.”

Ginger said she wants to see more diversity, inclusion, equality and equity in the city of Carbondale.

“Carbondale is a diverse city with many different nationalities. We need programs put in place where all individuals would be represented and have a voice. We need to hold the city accountable to have our labor force reflect the diversity and the demographics in Carbondale, Illinois. It makes no sense to have 42% minorities and only 7% are represented in the police department,” Sanders said.

Holder said he wants to see more of Carbondale history

taught in elementary school through higher education.

“I think one of the main things that’s missing in the school curriculum is the history of the community, the history of Black people and the history of the United States. We have a major university right here. The history of the labor here is really terrible,” Holder said.

Harvey said she wants to pursue several of the issues raised by other candidates.

“Homelessness, all of these are issues that we need to address. I don’t have solutions to all the problems. I am willing to listen to anyone who has a problem and we can work together to create a solution,” Harvey said.

Doherty said he wants to see the city council work on creating jobs for Carbondale residents.

“Good paying jobs that they can support themselves and their families and make investments in the community.

The other part is to invest in our neighborhoods and encourage home ownership. Looking at sustainability, the city has initiated solar power on several of our larger facilities including city hall and the police station,” Doherty said.

Colombo said the priority as a city needs to be on redeveloping the Carbondale population. Nathan said Carbondale has the infrastructure, housing stock and community programs to support and welcome new Carbondale residents. “[...] We have problems to solve like the issues surrounding diversity and a lack of inclusion, not just in the city but in our economy overall. I think right now as we see people fleeing and being displaced by climate change ... we stand as a place of refuge to welcome people to help us redevelop our community while we help them stabilize and find what is next in their lives,” Colombo said.

Bradshaw said the other candidates raised good ideas for the city council to address.

“Let’s work on sustainable food sources,violence reduction, police, diversity, supporting local, better jobs, housing, everything. Everyone has a point and I think that we can do it. One great thing the city does do is support local organizations,” Bradshaw said.

The forum ended with closing remarks and thanks to the community for the space to discuss their platforms from all of the candidates.

Vivian Walter Political Science Major Class of 2023

City Council continued from

1

Bradshaw said she hopes the internet forums will help them figure out how to have bot in person and virtual meetings to get more feedback through online methods.

“One thing that has really bothered me over the past year is the city council meeting virtually has really hampered citizen participation in our city council meetings. When we meet in person citizens have the opportunity to give input. I’m from the community so people have the opportunity to discuss their thoughts and opinions with me. They can call me. I don’t get a lot of people reaching out and getting their thoughts on a one on one basis,” Doherty said.

Harvey said virtual meetings impede the lines of communication from the city council to the public.

“My one word would be accessible, I always try to make myself available to the citizens of Carbondale. The email is on the website. My phone number is 618-3031973. I always ask please feel free to contact me at any time. I am more than willing to listen to everybody’s opinion. I think everybody is entitled to their opinion,” Harvey said.

Holder said the community leaders should have done a better job to make themselves available to the public especially during the pandemic. He said with the space in the city hall conference room they could’ve held in person socially distanced meetings.

“We have problems that are far greater than just the virus and that is voting in Carbondale. Voting at large has harmed the Black population since its creation.

There has not been a person from the north east sitting on the council in Carbondale. Until there is a voting change that addresses people’s concerns, the council and the government start addressing, truly, the problems of affirmative action, the problems of unemployment and the problems of housing. These are things that matter to people in these communities then people will feel no hope or no grounds for participation with those people on the council,” Holder said.

Colombo said he would utilise his background in media and digital platforms to make city council members more accessible by bridging the gap between digital spaces and physical spaces.

“The WTF Carbondale social media platforms including facebook group are some of the ways I would [...] to not just engage from a single sided perspective. Bringing myself to individuals but asking for the feedback directly from those individuals as well.

I platform activity of our local citizens to the tune of somewhere in the neighborhood of about 60,000 views in a given month based [on] the Facebook group alone,”

Reporter Oreoluwa Ojewuyi can be reached at oojewuyi@ dailyegyptian.com or on twitter @odojewuyi.

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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Local organizations provide services for the homeless community

Courtney Alexander | @___Courtney_alex23______

Organizations and the city of Carbondale assist members of the community that are in need of additional resources.

Carbondale Public Library and the Women’s Center offer a variety of services that members of the community can access.

Gary Williams, the city manager of Carbondale, said it’s difficult to identify the exact number of homeless individuals in the city, but the number has increased over the years.

“It’s always difficult to gauge the number of homeless persons but I would estimate that the number has increased in recent years. This is due to a variety of reasons, including fewer facilities to provide homeless services and the pandemic, which has had a tremendous effect on all underserved people,” Williams said.

Williams said although the city hasn’t addressed homelessness, they have provided funding to local organizations.

“The city hasn’t historically addressed homelessness from the perspective of the city-wide services that we provide. However, the City has shown commitment to this issue by providing funding to the Good Samaritan Ministries as well as numerous other social service providers,” Williams said.

If the city received additional funding from the state and federal government, city officials would have to review how the city should invest in additional programs.

“These types of investments would have to be carefully reviewed by the City Council and staff before making commitments,” Williams said. “We have had programs in the past that addressed workforce education and employment and we have provided funding to Attucks Community Services for many years which operate two food programs for kids. We also provide funding to Senior Adult Services, which runs the ‘Meals on Wheels’ program and to Boys and Girls Club.”

Nancy Maxwell, an advocate for the Women’s Center, said

the center offers resources that are open to rape and domestic violence survivors, including members of the homeless community.

“We have shelter, legal advocacy, adult and children individual and group counseling, case management services, transitional housing, group support, emergency food and supplies, referral services, transportation, and activities for women and children,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell said there were two offices in Carbondale, there was the main office and then the outreach office.

“Currently the outreach building is closed, but we have an office in Marion right next to the DMV, and we have an office in Harrisburg, right next to Shawnee College. We also have an advocate, who has an office in the courthouse in Franklin County as well. ” Maxwell said.

The center is open to any race, gender, sexual orientation and they also provide housing for families.

“We offer housing to men, women, children, LGBTQIA members. So that’s for adult and children survivors of sexual assault, sexual abuse, we also offer services to significant others, including legal and medical advocacy,” Maxwell said.

Diana Brawley Sussman, the director of the Carbondale Public Library, said the Carbondale Public Library offers a variety of services for the homeless community.

“We started a social work internship program here at the library, we have two interns each year throughout the school year. They help people with advocating with landlords, identifying resources, paying for emergency services that other agencies won’t cover,” Sussman said.

Sussman said the library also offers the homeless community a chance to speak with a social worker.

“We were probably the smallest library to get social workers at the time that we did. We still have them and they’re available, you can call the library and we’ll transfer you to them. Or

you can also reach them by email, their email is socialwork@ carbondale.lib.il.us. Their phone number is (618) 457-0354 ext 308,” Sussman said.

Courtney Alexander can be reached at calexander@ dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at ___Courtney_ alex23______.

Freddie Glasser poses for a portrait Feb. 25, 2021, in Carbondale, Ill. Glasser said that there is a lot of stereotyping against homeless people that needs to be addressed in order to create a better community. “A lot of the community looks down on homeless people, but not all of them are the same. Most of them are out here because of situations that are beyond their control, honestly. There’s a misconception […] A lot of people don’t like homeless. They get harassed,” Glasser said. Sophie Whitten | @swhittenphotography

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

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Chicago organizers end 30-day hunger strike, will continue opposing General Iron permit

Jason Flynn | @dejasonflynn

A Chicago hunger strike in opposition to Reserve Management Group’s (RMG) relocation of the General Iron recycling facility from the neighborhood of Lincoln Park to the neighborhood of South Deering, came to an end March 8 after a night of speeches and marching near Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s house.

RMG plans to relocate a facility in the affluent northside neighborhood of Lincoln Park to the majority-minority southside neighborhood of South Deering, which residents and activists say is another in a long list of examples of environmental racism in the city.

Organizers announced the first three hunger strike participants,Co-founder of Southeast Youth Alliance Oscar Sanchez , George Washington High School teacher Chuck Stark and Breanna Bertacchi of United Neighbors of the 10th Ward, during a Feb. 4 press conference via Zoom.

During the press conference the participants and organizational supporters shared stories of their experiences with respiratory problems which they said are the result of already high levels of pollution in the area.

“I have memories of me being eight years old, hooked up to a machine holding a mask to my face just so I could breathe the next day at school,” George Washington High School student Trinity Colon said. “So this pollution and these high rates of asthma have affected southeast residents of all ages.”

The hunger strikers were joined a few days later by Yesenia Chavez of United Neighbors of the 10th Ward, Jade Mazon of Rebel Bells Collective and Kate Koval of Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke.

Hundreds of other people from organizations including the Chicago Audubon Society, Chicago Teachers Union, United Working Families, Southeast Environmental Task Force, Poor People’s Campaign and Chicago Democratic Socialists of America participated in single day fasts in support of the strike.

“Throughout the process I kept feeling energy come from places that I didn’t know I had, and it’s because of this,” Stark said.

Hunger strikes have been a tactic for southside residents, especially in cases related to schools and child welfare, for the last 30 years.

In 1995 hunger strikers, including current U.S. Representative Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, pressured the city to adjust a school bussing plan to keep kids from having to cross gang lines on the way to school, according to Chicago Magazine.

A 2001 hunger strike, organized by many of the same groups involved in the ‘95 strike, pressured the city to build Little Village Lawndale High School.

Most recently in 2015, residents of the Washington Park neighborhood staged a hunger strike to pressure the city to reopen Dyett High School.

Over 200 people gathered for the March 4 event outside Grace United Methodist Church to listen to statements by the hunger strikers and their organizational supporters who outlined their issues with the facility relocation, the mayor’s lack of communication and Chicago’s history of industrial pollution on

Breanna Bertacchi (left) and William Guerrero, aka “The Kid from Pilsen,” (right) hammer nails into a board that reads “WE DESERVE CLEAN AIR!” next to a map of Chicago’s 10th Ward outside Grace United Methodist Church on Mar. 4, 2021. Bertacchi and Guerrero, along with other participants, hammered in a nail for every day they participated in the hunger strike against Reserve Management Group’s relocation of the General Iron scrap facility to the neighborhood of South Deering. Jason Flynn | @dejasonflynn

Lenny Brody, Mari Acosta and Joyce Brody pose with signs outside Grace United Methodist Church in Chicago, Ill. on Mar. 4, 2021. The three are members of the Illinois Poor People’s Campaign and United Neighbors of the 35th Ward who gathered in support of the hunger strike against Reserve Management Group’s relocation of the General Iron scrap facility to the neighborhood of South Deering. Jason Flynn | @ dejasonflynn

the south side.

“In record time and quickly, a facility was relocated from an affluent community from Lincoln Park when Sterling Bay, a developer, a developer who got $1.3 billion in [Tax Increment Financing] funding to build luxury housing, have received the green light from an administration that one, campaigned against giving those subsidies to developers, and two, promised to reopen the Department of Environment and stop these kind of practices,” 25th Ward Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez said.

The crowd, which grew and overflowed into the street during the organizers’ speeches, eventually marched through the Logan Square

neighborhood led by the band Chicago Soundbox, light-up signs and a coffin lending the ambiance of a New Orleans second line funeral celebration.

Some onlookers, like Hilton Robles and Luis Rivera, said they were also angry about the RMG facility being relocated to the southside to make room for condos.

“Why you gotta bring all that shit to me,” Rivera said. “We are humans too, right? We need fresh air.”

The march stopped to block off the sixpoints intersection of Belmont, Milwaukee and Diversey to give students from George Washington High School, which is a short

distance from the RMG’s proposed facility site, a chance to make speeches.

“There’s no way in hell we should be out here in this cold just for Lori to see us as human beings, as normal people on the same earth that she is living on,” George Washington High School student Gregory Miller said. “There’s no way in hell that we should have to go through this on a day to day basis.”

Staff reporter Jason Flynn can be reached at jflynn@dailyegyptian.com, by phone at 872-2227821 or on Twitter at @dejasonflynn.

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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

The Fight Against Black Maternal Mortality A Conversation with SIU School of Medicine Chair

Diksha Mittal | dmittal@dailyegyptian.com The Black maternal mortality rates in the United States have increased despite the advancements that have been made in the medical field.

According to the 2020 data released by the National Center for Health Statistics, Black women die 2.5 times more often than white women per 100,000 live births.

SIU School of Medicine Chair of the Department of Medicine and professor, Dr. John Flack discussed the causes of this and ways to avoid the preventable deaths of women who face the double jeopardy of gender and racial bias.

According to Flack, the maternal mortality rate in the United States declined between the early 1900s through the turn of the century. However, since the early 2000s, maternal mortality rates have approximately doubled. Maternal mortality rates remain nearly four times higher in Non-hispanic Black women in relation to Nonhispanic white women.

Flack listed many causative factors for the spike in these specific maternal mortality rates like the age of the mother, pre-existing health conditions and the discrimination in quality of care allocated to Black women.

“It has to do with things like women coming into pregnancy at the extremes of ages less than twenty [and] over thirty-five, women coming in with more chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and a lot of comorbidity. Mortality around childbirth is related to cardiovascular complications, preeclampsia, hypertension [and] cardiomyopathy,” Flack said.

According to him, there is nothing unique that drives the mortality rate of Black mothers up, but the factors that cause a general spike in maternal mortality rates tend to occur more frequently with and impact Black women more severely.

For example, obesity and hypertension, which are some of the risk factors in Black maternal mortality, are more common in Black women than white women.

Flack said the hospitals in the United States tend to neglect pregnant Black women that takes a toll on their bodies when combined with the fact that they are already more prone to suffer from many diseases.

Flack said the studies suggest differences in the way OB care is delivered to Black women who are less likely to be induced in their labor and get an episiotomy.

These studies point to the fact that care is not delivered without bias in the OB arena.

“Post birth, Black women are less likely to end up getting postpartum visits in the cure that they need [...] It is a cluster of things like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, even underlying cardiovascular diseases, that women are carrying into pregnancy that really increase their risk of complications for both themselves and their babies,” Flack said.

Photo courtesy of John Flack.

Flack then pointed to the risk factors for obesity and hypertension that manifest themselves early on in an average Black woman’s body. These women are less likely to be physically active than their white counterparts starting from their late teens and 20s.

“Black women tend to be underemployed [or] unemployed, [they] tend to basically not have the financial means to go in the store and buy a healthy diet, which costs more. So [they] end up eating foods that are high in calories or have high energy density. That, along with physical inactivity and probably the life stresses of being Black, contribute to the development of diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure,’’ Flack said.

Flack gave the example of nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables which tend to be costly and sparsely available in certain areas. When it comes to these foods, many Black families may not even have the transportation to get fresh fruits and vegetables daily.

Most rich, high income countries in the world, and even lower and middle income countries have recently seen their maternal mortality rates go down in contrast to the United States.

According to Flack, the reason for this is because some of the

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2020-2021

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Glenn Cohen,

Deputy Dean, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Health Care: Legal and Ethical Issues

March 22, 2021 • 5 p.m.

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problems are not just patient related, they are related to the hospital systems themselves.

Inadequate healthcare, Flack said, is more common in Black women who are on Medicaid or have no insurance.

As far as solutions to this, Flack suggested a system of care with surveillance in the hospitals to detect warning signs early in pregnancy, post- pregnancy and in- between two pregnancies. Such a timely identification of risk factors can enable medical experts to appropriately treat them with both lifestyle modifications, diet and appropriate drug therapy.

Flack also recommended universal standardization of quality of care for women by players in health systems.

We must bridge the gap between the way Black women are delivered healthcare services in some hospitals because this may be much worse than how white women are delivered services, Flack said.

According to Flack, educating and training physicians and healthcare workers on the roles of implicit bias and structural racism in medicine would help promote successful diversity initiatives and more equitable patient treatment.

The pandemic has also presented another hill to climb for Black women with limited resources as some may not have the means to access virtual healthcare.

“My sense is that it’s likely to [impact Black communities and poor areas], in part because in the pandemic, a lot of the visits have moved from in-person to remote visits through tele-health, which means you need access the smartphone, calendar and computer,” Flack said. “So, I’m very suspicious that the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating some things that are currently wrong with our system of healthcare delivery.”

The US healthcare system must be revamped to make provisions for Black women and other minorities if the goal of universal access to healthcare is to be achieved.

This has to be complemented with structural equity and equal access to socio-economic opportunities and employment for Black women to rectify the current situation.

“That is another issue that certainly leaders like myself need to pay attention to,” Flack said.

Staff reporter Diksha Mittal can be reached at dmittal@dailyegyptian.com.

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

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Chloe Schobert | @chlo_scho_art

News

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Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Rahim’s Beauty Supply

Rahim Khalil gets out of his truck that he started his business in Mar. 1, 2021, at Rahim’s Beauty Supply in Carbondale, Ill. Khalil started his business out of his truck in 1995 before moving into his current building on 110 East Oak Street in 2009. Sophie Whitten @swhittenphotography

Sophie Whitten | swittenphotography

After a twenty-two year battle with addiction and time served in prison for drug use, Abdul Rahim Khalil turned his life around, by opening a business called Rahim’s Beauty Supply, receiving a university degree and helping others in his community.

“I wanted to set up a business, an African-American business, for the kids and the parents so that other people can see that there is a business,” Khalil said.

Khalil saw that there was a need in Carbondale for a Black-owned beauty supply and decided he could fill it. Starting out of a van in 1995, he started selling hair products before moving to his current location at 110 East Oak Street, Carbondale, Ill. in 2009.

When he first entered the business, Khalil said he knew nothing about the hair industry and was lucky to have people to help him along the way. He received help from the Small Business Incubator with starting his business and from hair product suppliers.

“When I first started, I went to a hair place [...]

I went in and sat down to talk with them and they gave me an account. The lady said, ‘Well, what do you need?’ I looked at her and said, ‘I don’t know anything about the hair,’” Khalil said. “I didn’t even know the colors, I didn’t even know the human from the synthetics, nothing. She pulled out a piece of paper and gave me a crash course.”

Khalil went on to study and earn a bachelor’s degree in university studies and a master’s degree in social work at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. in 1998 to further help his community. He wanted to show others that there is hope that can come from any situation a person may be in. He said he has learned patience and understanding to better assist those who may need it. “It’s not all about me making all the money, it’s about helping them as well, and helping them to help themselves,” Khalil said.

Khalil credits much of his drive to work hard and help others to his mother, Willie Mae Elam, who

encouraged him to continue his business as well as his sobriety. “She validated that I could make it. She said, ‘You got it now. You got it, so just stick with it, with what you’ve learned, what I’ve taught you, and you’ll be ok,’ and I’ve done that,” Khalil said.

He said there was a lot of doubt and insecurity that he felt when he first began but by accomplishing all he has done, it has shown that he and anyone else has just as much potential as the next person to succeed.

“There are three things that I apply to myself that help me. I understand and know my strengths, I know

and understand my weaknesses, and my limitations.

So for my strengths, my weakness and my limitations, I’ve learned and I’ve studied those. These are the characteristics that I’ve learned about myself. This is what propels me to do things and to learn things,” Khalil said.

Staff Photographer Sophie Whitten can be reached at Swhitten@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @ swittenphotography.

Abdul Rahim Khalil assists a customer Mar. 1, 2021, at Rahim’s Beauty Supply in Carbondale, Ill. Khalil said he noticed there were not many Afican-American owned businesses, especially beauty stores, in the southern Illinois area, so he decided to create one himself. Sophie Whitten @swhittenphotography

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

News

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Horstman’s, Carbondale’s last dry cleaners Horstman’s Cleaners & Furriers off of southbound Highway 5. This is the second location Horstman’s has operated out of in the store’s history. Chris Bishop | @quippedmediallc Chris Bishop | @quippedmediallc

Mike Lilly irons clothing at Horstman’s Cleaners & Furriers in Carbondale Ill. Chris Bishop | @quippedmediallc

There are many businesses in Carbondale, Illinois, that several generations will remember. One of these businesses is Horstman’s Cleaners and Furriers, the last dry cleaner operating in Carbondale, owned by Jon Kirk.

Opened in 1925, Horstman’s has operated in Carbondale for nearly a century. Betty Kiefer, has been an employee for much of that time. Kiefer is almost 92, and has worked at Horstman’s since she was 18, making her an employee for 74 years.

“It’s quite remarkable, she’s wonderful and been here that long, she knows most of our customer’s names; she’s a true pleasure to be with,” Kirk described, what it’s like to work with Kiefer.

As for Kirk, his family came into ownership of the business in 1965 and Kirk himself has been running Horstman’s since 1995.

A unique characteristic of Horstman’s, is the amount of time they keep clothes that customers have left behind. “We keep them for several years, and then we eventually donate them to a church or something like that. We always try to call people, if we have their phone number, to let them know they have something available,” Kirk said.

Kiefer believes that Horstman’s is a pillar in the Carbondale community, having been in the city for so long, garnering much of it’s business from Carbondale itself but also from many of the neighboring communities.

Staff photographer Chris Bishop can be reached at cbishop@ dailyegyptian.com, or on Instagram at @quippedmediallc.

Employees work on customers’ clothes on at Horstman’s Cleaners & Furriers. Subash Kharel | @pics.leaks

Scan the QR code to watch our video.

Page 10

News

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Senator Elgie Sims, Jr. speaks about Illinois Criminal Justice Reform Bill Courtney Alexaner | ____Courtney_alex23_____ HB3653, Illinois’ Criminal Justice Reform Bill, passed the state House and Senate on Jan. 13, 2021. The bill eliminates cash bail throughout the state of Illinois among other reforms and Gov. JB Pritzker signed it on Feb. 22, 2021.

The Carbondale NAACP branch hosted an event on March 8 to give community members clarification about the bill.

The comprehensive bill enacts new changes to hold police officers accountable for using excessive force on citizens and it reanalyzes the traditional bail system in court.

The safety act also enacts changes to sentencing convicts within the state and it addresses the rights of all citizens, including prisoners, when interacting with law enforcement.

Sen. Elgie R Sims, Jr., representative for district 17 of Illinois, said HB3653, which is also known as the Safety Act, is a pro-reform piece of legislation that modernizes state laws.

“HB 3653, the safety act, is the most comprehensive pro-safety, pro-reform, and pro-community piece of legislation that has been passed, not just within the state of Illinois, but around the country,” Sims said. “It modernizes sentencing laws, it ends the use of cash bail, but it still allows an individual to be held if they’re a threat to safety.”

Sims said the Safety Act also requires law enforcement officers to wear body cameras on duty.

“It also institutes a certification and decertification system statewide for law enforcement officers. It requires the use of body cameras statewide by 2025 and it reforms the way crowd control response is done by law enforcement.

The act also ensures that law enforcement officers will have new training standards, and there will be more information accessible to the public.

“It also invests in law enforcement training standards, it prevents the destruction of law enforcement misconduct records, it connects

substance abuse treatment programs with first responder duties, and it creates two police misconduct databases for public viewing and transparency,” Sims said.

The attorney general is encouraged to get involved to investigate deaths that occur in police custody and officers will be screened for mental health.

“It requires the police to develop a plan to protect children and other vulnerable populations when executing search warrants. It empowers the attorney general to investigate deaths occurring in police custody, but it also addresses officer wellness and training,” Sims said. “It invests in mental health and screens for law enforcement officers, invests in training protocols, but also bans the house of chokeholds and other extreme measures.”

The bill does not support taking action to defund law enforcement and it doesn’t support taking away basic rights from law enforcement officers.

“The bill doesn’t defund the police, it doesn’t remove qualified immunity for law enforcement officers, it doesn’t charge or take away collective bargaining rights, it doesn’t allow those who are charged

with a serious offense or risk to another person to be released,” Sims said.

The amount of prison time served for serious crimes won’t be changed for offenders under the bill.

“It doesn’t prevent a judge from revoking pretrial release, it also doesn’t alter prison time for individuals serving time for heinous crimes,” Sims said.

Although there are several misconceptions about the bill; the bill was created to ensure that the community is protected and law enforcement officers are held accountable.

“There are a number of misconceptions and misinformation that’s going on, but the safety act is about investment,” Sims said. “This is a pro-safety, pro-reform, pro-community, piece of legislation, and now law. It focuses on safety for our communities, accountability for law enforcement officers, and fairness equity in our criminal justice system.”

Courtney Alexander can be reached at calexander@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at ___Courtney_alex23______.

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Samaritan of the Week

Page 11

Warming center offers housing, food and clothing to homeless

Elena Schauwecker | eschauwecker@dailyegyptian.com

The Carbondale Warming Center has its doors open to the community and is ready to provide assistance to anyone in need of shelter, food, clothing or other resources.

The Warming Center started in winter 2018 in the Gaia House Interfaith Center as a place where homeless people could keep out of the cold and have a place to spend the night. As the program grew, it was relocated to the Civic Center, a group of trailers and finally to its own building on East College Street.

Today, the Warming Center is a far-reaching organization, helping people of all different ages who come from all over the Midwest. There are currently 38 people housed there, with many more stopping by for meals and other necessities.

The Warming Center staff comes from a wide variety of careers and skill sets that they use to assist their guests, with backgrounds in law, finance, social work and other fields.

Teneshkia Wright, an employee and representative, explained how the Warming Center is more than just a shelter. In addition to providing shelter and meals to the homeless community, they offer forms of medical, financial and educational aid.

“We also give out furniture for when they transition to their homes, or if someone calls needing things in the community, we also help with that. We help with clothes, coats.

Basically, if we don’t have it, we’ll find somebody who does,” Wright said.

Another resource the Warming Center provides is assistance for people seeking employment.

Carmalita Cahill, the director of the Warming Center, said they have developed women’s and men’s empowerment groups as well as a goal orientation program. Sixty percent of individuals who have gone through the job program have found and maintained employment.

“We help them with resumes, how to apply for jobs if they don’t know how. If they don’t have work clothes or shoes, we have funding to help them acquire those things,” Wright said.

A large percentage of the guests have mental illnesses and it is one of the goals of the Warming Center to provide help to those underprivileged individuals who are often afraid to seek help.

“For example, if you have someone who is in their mind afraid,” Wright said. “They’re here, but they don’t want to give you their information, or they’re afraid you’re going to steal their identity. That’s a challenge for us, trying to get them housing or social security or disability.”

Cahill also talked about the challenges COVID-19 has presented to the Warming Center over the past year. Because many people lost their jobs in the midst of the pandemic, the community of homeless people and

Carmalita Cahill, the executive director at the Carbondale Warming Center, cleans the frequently-touched surfaces March 4, 2021, in Carbondale, Ill. She is passionate about taking care of others and doing the best she can to help others feel safe and understood. “One of the things that we’re rooted in is humanity, dignity, and empathy, and I think those are things that if you look around the country, around the world, that’s what everybody wants, and if we can show that to everybody in our society, how great would we be,” Cahill said. Sophie Whitten | @swhittenphotography

Aleczander Cahill, an employee at the Carbondale Warming Center, poses in front of the building’s sign on the door Feb. 25, 2021, in Carbondale, Ill. Cahill said they offer clothing, sleeping bags, and help finding medical attention. “Anything we can really do to get them from where they’re at to where they need to be,” Cahill said.

Sophie Whitten | @ swhittenphotography

“So many of the places of the people that we served [would go to] for safety or security were closed. Your local fast-food restaurants, your libraries, all of these places, and there was a fear of gathering.”

- Carmalita Cahill Warming center director

people needing financial assistance has been increasing rapidly.

“So many of the places of the people that we served [would go to] for safety or security were closed,” Cahill said.

“Your local fast-food restaurants, your

libraries, all of these places, and there was a fear of gathering. So, we felt like, to keep us safer, it was better to be open 24 hours a day.”

Cahill said residents significantly benefited from the board’s

unanimous decision in March 2020 to stay open 24 hours a day. It allowed staff members to spend more time working personally with guests, and it also helped slow the spread of COVID by offering a sanitary place

for people to wash their hands and use the restroom.

Though the Warming Center is not open to as many volunteers due to COVID restrictions, they are always in need of food, clothing, funding or any other donations people are willing to offer.

Anyone in need of assistance may visit cwcentered.org to apply for housing or other resources.

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

Sports

Page 12

SIU guard Steven Verplancken Jr. talks to head coach Bryan Mullins as a timeout expires during the Salukis’ 4973 loss against Loyola in the Arch Madness tournament on Friday, March 5, 2021 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO. Jared Treece | @bisalo

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

SIU center Kyler Filewich tries to block Loyola’s Marquise Kennedy as he shoots during the Salukis’ 49-73 loss against Loyola in the Arch Madness tournament on Friday, March 5, 2021 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO. Jared Treece | @bisalo

Salukis men’s basketball fall to Loyola ending their season

Adam Warfel | @warfel_adam

Editor’s note: Story updated 9:00 p.m. March 7 to include postseason awards.

With both sophomore forward Marcus Domask and sophomore guard Lance Jones out due to injury the short handed Salukis fell to Loyola 73-49.

“For them to come in here losing Lance and to play so hard, they just ran out of gas,” Loyola head coach Porter Moser said.

Sophomore guard Lance Jones went out with an ankle injury and was unable to play in today’s game.

“They were really strapped with their depth with the injuries,” Moser said.

Southern struggled to get a score in the opening four minutes of the game, getting six attempts but none of them falling as the Ramblers pushed out to a 10-0 lead.

After over four minutes of no scoring senior forward Anthony D’Avanzo got the Salukis on the board with a jumper and a threepointer cutting the Loyola lead down to nine in the first half.

“They stuck to what they did best.

They’re a great team, a great defensive team,”sophomore guard Trent Brown said. “We didn’t hit timely shots at certain times, especially at the beginning when we had some pretty good looks.”

D’Avanzo hit his second threepointer of the half, which cut the Loyola lead down to seven but the Ramblers answered with a layup by senior forward Cameron Krutwig to make it 19-10 in favor of Loyola.

A 6-2 run by the Salukis, with four points from freshman guard Dalton Banks brought the Loyola lead down

to 21-14 at the 8:52 mark.

“There is no quit in any person on our team,” Brown said. “It’s something we grew through the entire season, just setbacks, injuries, and COVID, we always found a way to bounce back.”

The Salukis were down eight after a jumper by sophomore guard Steven Verplancken Jr., but a 11-0 run by Loyola doubled the SIU score at 32-16 with 3:37 left in the first half.

“We didn’t play our best today obviously, give a ton of credit to Loyola, a top 20 team,” Bryan Mullins Saluki head coach said.

“Our guys have done an incredible job this year, we’ve responded every time there’s been some adversity to our team.”

In the last three minutes of the first half, SIU went into the paint more with buckets from freshman center Kyler Filewich and D’Avanzo the Salukis found themselves down 11.

Krutwig was the last player to touch the ball in the first half and he backed Filewich down for a layup which did not fall as Loyola went to the locker room up 35-22.

Southern struggled to get a basket to open the second half, with Verplancken accounting for the only shot in three minutes while Loyola scored eight points to lead 43-24.

A scoring drought of over four minutes helped the Ramblers extend their lead out to 29 by the 13:53 mark of the second half.

The Salukis attempted to cut into the Loyola lead multiple times in the second half cutting the lead down to as low as 22 at the 4:25 mark after a layup by Brown.

With 1:03 remaining in the game

SIU forward Anthony D'Avanzo goes up for the ball during the tip-off at the beginning of the game during the Salukis' 49-73 loss against Loyola in the Arch Madness tournament on Friday, March 5, 2021 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO. D'Avanzo lead the Salukis' in scoring with 18 points. Jared Treece | @bisalo

Mullins brought in senior guard Jakolby Long, freshman guard Chris Cross and freshman guard Eric Butler as the Ramblers led 71-49.

“They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country, so give them a ton of credit,” Mullins said. “Last two and a half weeks they’ve only played three games and all three of them have been against us.”

SIU could not overcome the deficit and fell 73-49, ending their season in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

“I just think the way the guys have always responded this year shows that they’re winners,” Mullins said.

“I think with young teams they don’t always how to do what it takes but they’re learning.”

The loss marks the end of the season for the Salukis, but despite finishing the season with a 12-14 record, Southern did claim some awards.

Jones was named to All- MVC third team after averaging 13.4 points per game and getting 35 steals this season.

In a year where JD Muila was originally slotted to be the starting center for Southern, Filewich filled in nicely for the injured Muila with his efforts this season he was named

to the MVC all-freshman team.

Even though they lost in the quarterfinals this year, the goal is to make it to Sunday and win the MVC championship, and the Salukis look forward to doing that, one day.

“You get the first taste of victory here in this arena,” Brown said. “All you wanna do is get more, you crave more. I know our team is extremely confident no matter what. All we wanna do is get to that Sunday and we will be there.”

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

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Sports

Page 13

Southern Illinois WBB program prepares for MVC tournament Janae Mosby | @mosbyj

The Saluki women’s basketball team have reached the end of the regular season and are set to compete in the MVC Tournament on Mar. 11-14. The Salukis are 5-13 in conference and 8-15 overall.

The Salukis will play ninthseeded Indiana State on March 11 at 4:30 p.m. in Moline, Ill., at the TaxSlayer Center.

If SIU defeats the Sycamores, they will face the one-seeded Missouri State on Mar. 12.

“I think it’s hard to summarize how our season has gone. I think that we have managed it. From a standpoint of keeping our players healthy, we’ve been successful,” head coach Cindy Stein said.

The rest of the MVC seed rankings are Missouri State in first followed by Drake, Illinois State, UNI, Bradley, Loyola, Valparaiso, Indiana State is the ninth seed and Evansville is in 10th.

Senior guard Makenzie Silvey said the team has had a lot of ups and downs due to COVID-19, but given the circumstances, they still work hard.

“Most of our losses have been close, we’ve competed with every team. We know going into the tournament all the teams we will play have been really close, so we can beat any given team on any given night,” Silvey said.

“I would tell you that almost every game we lose, I feel like we could’ve won. As a coach, what I love about our team is the fight in them and they continue to work hard,” Stein said.

Stein said SIU was going into the tournament as the eight seed no matter what. “[It’s] disappointing because we just have higher expectations for ourselves, but we’ve been through a lot this season and, like I said, all of our games have been close so we are right there we just have to finish,” Silvey said.

The Salukis swept Indiana State when they last played on Feb. 19-20, and Silvey said they expect them to have made adjustments, but SIU can beat them.

Silvey said she is confident they can win every game they play because they have competed with all these teams in the regular season and they were close games.

Stein said she feels good about how the team is going to perform in the tournament and their effort this season has been outstanding.

“I think there has only

been one game where I was disappointed in our effort, but beyond that I think our effort has been outstanding. The quality of our play sometimes needed to be better, but it’s not without giving it our best shot every game,” Stein said.

Last year, the MVC tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Salukis did not have a chance to play.

“It was a lot of heavy hearts especially for the seniors who thought they would have at least one more game left to play in their career and it was just over like that,” Silvey said.

Silvey said she remembers when the NBA was shutting down and got their first positive COVID-19 result.

Then on Mar. 13, the tournament got cancelled.

“I think everybody is just grateful for the opportunity to have this tournament and I know they are trying to create a bubble-like atmosphere, which would be good for the safety of the players and coaches,” Silvey said.

Stein said the team is excited about the tournament, but there is a little hesitancy to get too excited because of what happened last year.

“Our team has appreciated the fact that we have been able to compete regardless of all the obstacles and we’ll continue to give it a good fight,” Stein said.

Southern will be preparing for the tournament in the last week of regular season and they are working with the players who are coming off an injury “We do look for Abby to possibly be back for the tournament, we are still looking to see how the injured kids do this week,” Stein said.

Silvey said they are working on their chemistry because many players have not been able to play recently and they are trying to get back in the swing of playing together.

“Every practice is preparing for the tournament, just trying to get better because we know everybody is there for the same goal. Everyone is going to be giving their best every game and we know we just have to improve everyday,” Silvey said.

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

Makenzie Silvey (12) guards the ball in the game against Northern Iowa Panthers on Friday, Mar. 5, 2021 at the SIU Banterra Center in Carbondale, Ill. SIU went on to lose with the score 56-67. Monica Sharma | @mscli_cks

Caitlin Link (5) dribbles the ball against the Northern Iowa Panthers on Friday, Mar. 5, 2021 at the SIU Banterra Center in Carbondale Ill. Monica Sharma | @mscli_cks

Sports

Page 14

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Brown builds on his defensive success during senior season

Adam Warfel | @warfel_adam

In 2018, Qua Brown, a senior safety on the SIU football team, found himself thankful for having sustained an injury to the meniscus in his knee.

“After getting the news that it was my meniscus and not anything more serious, it was like yeah out of all the things you could have done to your knee this is the best thing,” Brown said. “It was the best thing that could happen because it was such a short recovery time.”

Brown only played six games in the 2018 season due to his injury; he missed five games, but still finished eighth on the team in tackles with 38.

Brown finished his 2019 campaign fifth in the nation and first in the Missouri Valley Football Conference in solo tackles per game at 6.3.

Brown credits the arrival of defensive coordinator Jason Petrino in 2019 as what made him the player he was that season.

“Coach Petrino, the moment he came in he expressed himself to me, how much he believes in me,” Brown said. “Before he got here he wound up watching every single game from, like, the previous season and the season before that.”

Going into this season, Brown picked up eight tackles in the loss to North Dakota on Feb. 20.

Brown, who studies interior design at SIU, did not start his football days in the backyards of Southern Illinois; rather, he calls DeLand, Fla., his home.

“Growing up in Florida was pretty cool, just the state of Florida there is so much to do all throughout the state,” Brown said. “I was about 45 minutes to an hour away from Disney and two hours down south, you’ve got Busch Gardens in Tampa.”

Despite playing safety all of his time here in Carbondale, Brown started his early football career playing running back.

“When I first began playing football, I was actually a running back,” Brown said. “Most of my earliest football memories are just scoring a lot of touchdowns as a running back.”

With a growth spurt his freshman year of high school, Brown found himself lining up on the defensive side of the ball.

“My freshman year, surprisingly, I was a lot taller than everyone,” Brown said. “I guess I had a growth spurt early.”

In his freshman year of high school Brown lined up at outside linebacker, then his sophomore year he found himself at cornerback before he ended up at safety his junior year.

Brown said lining up in all three positions has made him a better player at safety.

“Starting at outside linebacker, that helped me build that toughness.

Just having that tenacity and being aggressive,” Brown said. “Cornerback helped me improve on my coverage skills. I feel like it was the perfect

Saluki junior, Qua Brown, pushes the ball back on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019, during the Saluki’s 7-21 loss against the North Dakota State Bison.

Isabel Miller | @Isabelmillermedia

combination of those two positions to transition right over to safety.”

Brown does not see himself lining up anywhere else on the defensive side of the ball other than at the safety slot.

“It’s a position I definitely love. I probably wouldn’t want to play any other position on defense honestly,” Brown said.

What Brown enjoys most about lining up at safety is seeing the whole field, and getting opportunities to impact the game.

“Just being able to play with complete vision, you’re the first back on the defense. You can see everything,” Brown said. “I feel like it gives you a better opportunity to make plays, and just being able to come down and hit the opponent’s offense.”

After completing his time at University High School in Orange City, Fla., Brown had plenty of offers to consider for college, including one Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school and multiple MVFC schools.

“I had a handful of offers, I think I had a total of 13 or 14 offers,” Brown said. “I had one at the FBS level, which was Temple University. I had quite a few schools in the Valley actually, South Dakota State, South Dakota, [and SIU].”

When Southern called Brown to offer him a scholarship to play here in Carbondale, one of the questions

he was asked was if he knew what a Saluki was.

“They said they wanted to extend me an offer and they were asking me if I knew what a Saluki was,” Brown said. “I can never forget them explaining to me what it is, doing my research as soon as I got off the phone with them to see exactly what that is.”

Brown came to visit campus here in Carbondale and committed to Southern as his choice to play football on the same day.

“I stayed in pretty good contact with the [coaches] up until my visit, in which I committed, which was Jan. 8, 2016, I believe” Brown said.

Brown credits his relationship with the coaches as well as the facilities available here at SIU as the reason as to why he committed to be a Saluki.

“I already had a pretty good relationship with the coaches,” Brown said. “Once I came on my official visit I liked the way everything was set up.

The facilities were top notch, great football field especially for the FCS level.”

SIU men’s basketball team also helped to sway Brown’s decision to commit to SIU. The game against Wichita State showed Brown the SIU fans are supportive of the teams.

“On my official visit our basketball team played Wichita State, which was a sold out game, it was packed,” Brown said. “I was able to experience

that as well. I see that the fans are very supportive here not only football but basketball as well.”

That following fall in 2016, Brown arrived on campus and redshirted the same year. Brown said the game at that time was moving quickly to him.

“My freshman year the game was moving really fast for me,” Brown said. “I already had a number of good players ahead of me, some guys that were already here.”

After hearing the news of being redshirted, Brown said he was pretty sad about it but he took it in stride focusing on improving himself.

“I was pretty bummed about it at first, but I saw it as an opportunity to better myself and get more advanced,” Brown said. “I took scout team pretty serious all that year, improved a lot that year, going into the next year I was a little more confident in myself and my abilities.”

Petrino said Brown puts a lot of time into his position and takes notes on how to better himself as a player.

“He’s got notebooks of notes that he’s constantly writing stuff down,” Petrino said. “He’s constantly preparing himself mentally. He’s very detailed in his notes. He wants to understand exactly what he’s supposed to be doing.”

Petrino said players like Brown motivate him to be a better coach, because Brown wants to understand

the game of football as a whole.

“I’ve been fortunate in my time here to get a Jeremy Chinn and then you get a Qua Brown,” Petrino said.

“You’re just like these kids want to be pushed. They want to learn about football, they want to learn about why the offense does things. It pushes me to be a better coach.”

Petrino said Brown is one of the leaders on the Saluki defense, even though he will not always be the most vocal player on defense, he works hard.

“He’s always been kind of a workman’s mentality. We’ve never asked Qua to be the ‘Rah-rah’ leader,” Petrino said. “He’s not afraid to be [vocal], he just comes out and works.

The guys see the work that he puts in and they’re appreciative.”

In their loss to North Dakota to open the season on Feb. 20 Brown totaled eight tackles, and hopes to leave SIU in some statistical category.

“I’d like to be somewhere in the record books, something to come back and look back on,” Brown said. “Whether that’s tackles or if I can get up there somewhere with interceptions. Help this program get back to that winning culture that it used to have in the past.”

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

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SIU football looks to carry momentum into Week 5

Ryan Scott | @RyanscottDE

Saluki football took down Youngstown State on March 6 3022 for their second-straight win after the blowout and upset over North Dakota State by a score of 38-14 on Feb. 27. The Salukis discussed what has gone right for the team to pick up these wins after the week one 44-21 loss to North Dakota.

The wins earned the Salukis a spot on the Top 10 list as of Monday, tied in the 10th spot with Jacksonville State.

Senior punter Jackson Colquhoun spoke on what it meant to defeat the defending FCS championship team North Dakota State and said what the team is doing is working.

“Everything we’re doing is working, and is going really successfully. Everything we’ve applied ourselves to practice wise and just as men in general, it’s just gone to show that we’re really here… we’re ready to conquer anyone whether they have a number in front of their name or not,” Colquhoun said.

Junior defensive tackle Kennan

Agnew also said the win means a lot.

“Going in, obviously they have a 39--game winning streak, they’re one of the best programs of all time in college football, period. To beat them the way we did was amazing for sure, we knew going into the game we knew we had a chance to win,” Agnew said.

Head coach Nick Hill said in a weekly press conference on March 1 that the win was memorable for the team.

“We’re not going to shy away or act like a coach’s talk like it wasn’t a big one. It was a big one.

I congratulated them. I’m proud of them. I tell them I’m proud of them all the time but it’s something that they’ll look back on and remember for a long time. I mean when you think about the program and being able to do that but what we do with that win is really what our focus is,” Hill said.

Agnew spoke on the Salukis’ defensive effort throughout the NDSU game and how they were able to keep the Bison from catching up.

“I think a lot of credit goes to coach Petrino, our defensive coordinator, because he put us in those positions to make plays and stuff like that. Also, I thought we were more physical than they were, we were really technically sound,” Agnew said Colquhoun discussed the preparations for the NDSU game and said the team prepared the same way as any other game.

“For us nothing changed. We stayed to our habits and what we’ve been doing this year and it paid off for us,” Colquhoun said.

Agnew spoke before the Youngstown State game and agreed, saying the team prepared the same as they would for the Penguins.

“We treated that game like we’re Youngstown State this weekend, yeah they’re the number one team in the nation. But we knew if we played at a high level we would win and we did,” Agnew said.

Colquhoun spoke on what the team needs to do to replicate the week two performance and said they need to continue to believe in themselves.

“Continuing that belief within ourselves, you know we really came out there this week and were coming off the back of North Dakota. That loss two weeks ago and we knew we had to bounce back and we did that. It was a wake up call for us week one and it really put that focus in the forefront of our minds that we weren’t where we needed to be against North Dakota,” Colquhoun said.

Colquhoun also added that the Salukis need to respect all of their opponents and not overlook anyone.

Hill spoke on March 8 in his weekly conference and spoke on why he thought the Salukis got off to a slow start against Youngstown State before their comeback win.

“We weren’t able to get off the field, a lot of third downs they were really good on third downs and we weren’t good at getting off the field. So we’ve got to continue to get better, we’ve played four games with this group and we’ve got to continue to make strides to get better,” Hill said.

SIU turned around from this big

upset win to face Youngstown State on March 6, and found themselves trailing 12-0 and 19-7 at different points in the game. After coming back to defeat the Penguins, Hill spoke on his team’s ability to stay resilient.

“It starts with the people that you have in the locker room. Not just the players, it’s the staff and it’s the support people,” Hill said.

Hill also commented on how proud of his team he was that they were able to complete the come from behind win.

“I’m proud of them. I expected a game that was going to be a grind and a hard fought game just like every game in this league is going to be.. It’s tough to go on the road in this league and win so I’m proud of them and proud of their approach,” Hill said The Salukis (3-1,2-1 MVC) will host the University of Northern Iowa Panthers on Saturday, March 13, at 12 p.m.

Sports reporter Ryan Scott can be reached at rscott@dailyegyptian.com or on twitter @RyanscottDE.

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