April 10, 2019

April 10, 2019

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Volume XCIX

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Est. 1929

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www.sjuhawknews.com

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The Student Newspaper of Saint Joseph’s University

PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

Students experience racism in the classroom CARA SMITH ’21 Assistant Lifestyle Editor Students of color at St. Joe’s say they experience many types of discrimination, from microaggressions to racial slurs, inside and outside the classroom.

According to the Diversity Style Guide, an online resource for journalists that provides specific guidelines for language related to race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation, among others, microaggressions are “slights and snubs based on racial discrimination. Some are unintentional. Microaggressions can be questions or expressions about a person’s identity or abilities. They can be behaviors.”

Carla Rodriguez ’20, who identifies as Hispanic and grew up in North Philadelphia, said microaggressions were the first kinds of racial bias she experienced on campus.

“From freshman year, you hear little comments [from people] passing by,” Rodriguez said. “Even in classrooms, you hear teachers or professors commenting ‘you people’ to minority groups within classrooms.”

St. Joe’s is a predominantly white institution where 78.8% of undergraduate students self identify as white, according to fall 2018 data from St. Joe’s Institutional Research and Decision Support Office. A further 17.3% of undergraduates self identify as students of color, who by virtue of their low numbers stand out on a predominantly white campus.

Vilma Fermin ’20, who identifies as Latina, said speaking to her family on the phone in public often draws attention and surprise from people when they hear her speak Spanish. In fall 2018, 7.3% of St. Joe’s undergraduate students self-identified as Hispanic.

“Maybe it is not ordinary to you, but it doesn’t make it a spectacle,” said Fermin, who grew up in the Bronx borough of New York City and is a first-generation college student.

“I never turn to you and go ‘Oh, my god, you can speak English.’”

The classroom can also be a difficult space for minority students. Rodriguez said she gets frustrated when, as the only Hispanic student in a class, a professor asks her to speak on behalf of all Hispanics.

“I can’t speak for everybody, and I don’t

speak for everybody,” Rodriguez said. “Don’t constantly pick me out to ask me, ‘So what do you think about the entire Hispanic race?’”

Fermin said it can be tiring for students of color to constantly have to explain their racial identities and culture to others, in the classroom and elsewhere.

“Why do I have to do that?” Fermin said. “[White students] don’t do that with each other.”

Jennifer Dessus, director for Inclusion and Diversity access programs, said diversity training can allow for the creation of an atmosphere of inclusion in classrooms.

SEE PG. 2

Lack of diversity in administrative positions ANA FAGUY ’19 Editor in Chief The university has named Zenobia Hargust as the new Chief Human Resources Officer.

Hargust, who starts her post on Hawk Hill June 3, currently serves as the Director of Equal Opportunity & Employee Engagement and the Title IX Coordinator at Swarthmore College.

Of the 16 people currently in senior-level administrator positions at St. Joe’s, Hargust will be the second person of color.

Shaily Menon, Ph.D., dean of the College

of Arts and Sciences, is the first person of color to serve as a dean for either of the colleges at St. Joe’s. Menon came to St. Joe’s in August of 2017. She said she believes diversity at all levels in higher education is important.

“Diverse groups make better decisions, they have more perspectives to bring to the table, and governing is improved when there’s more diversity,” Menon said. “In addition to that, for students, it’s very important to have role models and to know that they are represented and that people who look like them are at the table when important decisions are being made.”

Melissa Logue, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology, has taken Menon’s point about

the importance of diversity at all levels of the university to the President’s Council on Inclusion and Diversity (PCID) where she sits.

“Yes, having more people [of color] is good, but you don’t retain them if your space isn’t inclusive,” Logue said. “That person is going to have a different lived experience just by virtue of the body they walk in.”

Sarah Willie-LeBreton, provost and professor of sociology at Swarthmore College, the school where Hargust currently works, said if a university wants to have its student body become more diverse, then the university needs to have its administration become more diverse.

“We all draw on our backgrounds when

we’re making decisions together about the curriculums, student access, buildings, our financial and educational priorities,” Willie-LeBreton said. “Because we draw on our backgrounds, the more homogenous our backgrounds, the fewer kinds of ideas we have to draw on.”

At the Feb. 18 PCID meeting, Jeanne Brady, Ph.D., provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, and University President Mark C. Reed, Ed.D., went to discuss the future of strategy of inclusion and diversity at St. Joe’s.

SEE PG. 2

FOR MORE “CONFRONTING RACISM” COVERAGE SEE PAGES: FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

@SJUHAWKNEWS

OPINIONS

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Professor discusses need for diversity in powerful positions

LIFESTYLE

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Rodney Powell ‘57 recounts time as an activist

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SPORTS Former St. Joe’s star Natasha Cloud speaks on racism

News 2

April 10, 2019

Data courtesy of the St. Joe’s Institutional Research and Decision Support office. GRAPHIC: KELLY SMITH ’19/THE HAWK

Students experience racism in the classroom FROM PG. 1 “Looking at your course or syllabus through a lens that says, ‘I’ve had [this] syllabus for years, but in what ways am I excluding a group of people?’” Dessus said.

“It’s just a new way of thinking about it.”

Natalie Walker Brown, director for Student Inclusion and Diversity, said instructors should start calling racism out.

“Stop saying it was inappropriate when it was racist,” Walker Brown said. “Stop saying that it was mean when it was offensive.”

Rodriguez said she once had a professor who commented on her use of English in an online discussion board for a class assignment.

“His response was, ‘Wow, your English is so good. You would never think you wouldn’t speak English,’” Rodriguez said. “I was like, ‘Who told you that I didn’t speak English?’ I don’t understand where that [comment] would come from.”

Similarly, Sara Alem ’21, who identifies as an international student and grew up in Saudi Arabia, said the professor of one of her first-year courses was frustrated with Alem’s lack of proficiency in reading and writing. “[The professor] was annoyed by me I think because I took longer to read the exams,” Alem said. “She was like, ‘You need to go learn English before you come

to university.’”

Rodriguez said even though racial discrimination occurs repeatedly in the classroom it is difficult to confront professors. “[They say] whatever they want to say because they are the professor,” Rodriguez said. “No one is going to call them out. No one can call them out.”

Rodriguez said as a student of color, she feels if raacial minorities speak out against their professors, they may be stereotyped as the “loud” and “aggressive” minority.

To address students’ concerns, Dessus said faculty can work together to identify what training, dialogues and programming would best help them work on these issues.

“For all of us, what’s it about the way [we] interact, our signage, our language, what we permit to be said in our spaces that either communicates to a student or visitor that this is a place for me or this is not a place for me,” Dessus said.

Odir Dueñas ’20, a first-generation college student who identifies as Hispanic, said in order to improve diversity on campus, all members of the community have to see race issues from the perspective of minority students.

“If you are just hearing them, it is going to go in one ear and out the other,” Dueñas said. “You have to give yourself to the issue in order to solve it.”

Lack of diversity in administrative positions FROM PG. 1 After that meeting, the sociology department invited Reed to attend their monthly faculty meeting to further discuss inclusion and diversity. A main point of this discussion was leadership positions, Logue said.

“One of the things all of us [the sociology department] agreed on and that we raised was the lack of racial and ethnic diversity that we saw in leadership,” Logue said. “The CDO [Chief Diversity Officer] position is not the place that’s supposed to be the brown-person position. Yes, you probably want to have a person of color in the position if you have a predominately

white campus, and you have issues to address. You probably want to lean to that.”

Monica Nixon, Ed.D., was appointed assistant provost for Inclusion and Diversity in August 2016 and left the university in July 2018. The position remains vacant although the university has said they anticipate a candidate will be named in May. People who identify as white serve in the majority of administrative positions in higher education, according to the American Council on Education (ACE) Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education 2019 Report.

At St. Joe’s, administrators have historically been white, and until recently, male. Rosalind Reichard, Ph.D., served as interim provost from 2014 to 2016. Brady

was named provost and vice president for Academic Affairs in 2016. Cheryl McConnell, Ph.D., will take on the role next, beginning June 2019 after Brady retires.

Hiring white women doesn’t solve the problem, though, Logue said.

“It’s great you get women,” Logue said.

“That’s great. But if they’re all also white, and they’re in these positions of power, you’re still [missing] that potential person experience and research experience of someone who’s from a different racial background, who might see the same issue and think about a different angle of it.”

Of 11 senior administrative roles named in the ACE report, positions in student life are most represented by people of color,

with 26% of senior-level student life administrators identifying as people of color.

The position of chief human resources officers make up the second largest group, with almost 20% identifying as people of color, the report stated.

Aubrey Wang, Ph.D., associate professor of educational leadership, who also serves on the PCID, said St. Joe’s is situated right now for additional changes and an increased sense of inclusivity.

“Even though the makeup of the decision-makers is slightly changing now, they are still the minority, and so they have to fight harder to get their voices and perspectives heard, and that’s always going to be a very difficult situation to be in,” Wang said.

News

The Hawk Newspaper

April 10, 2019

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Student senator-at-large Zach Dobinson ’22, who served on the Constitution Review Committee. PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

Student Senate to vote on constitutional changes Proposal calls for three branches of government

CHARLEY REKSTIS ’20 Managing Editor University Student Senate (USS) will vote at their April 15 meeting on proposed changes to their constitution that would enact a three-branch government structure and rename the organization the University Student Government.

The constitutional changes include an executive cabinet, consisting of the president, vice president, treasurer, treasury assistant, secretaries of the legislative board and speaker of the senate. There will also be the addition of committees below each of the secretaries in the legislative senate, which will remain mostly the same. The third branch is the the judicial council, which will include three counselors appointed by the USS president.

“We wanted to figure out a way that we could make Senate more efficient, and we could be a resource for people to come and voice their opinions,” said Whitney Jones ’20, co-chair of the Constitution Review Committee (CRC).

The changes came after Sens. Jones and Adam Mullin ’20 and USS President Jason D’Antonio ’19 attended the Jesuit Student Government Association conference in January and decided changes needed to be made to the current structure of the USS.

“We did some reflection with our own structure and said we don’t know if we are engaging every part of our campus in the correct way or engaging every student in the correct way and our senators aren’t feeling fulfilled,” Jones said.

Mullin, the other co-chair of the CRC, said the proposal does not involve a complete change in structure.

“Under the proposed constitutional revisions, we separate out the powers a little more while still remaining a unitary body,” Mullin said. “Structurally that sounds like a big change, but we already have executive and legislative. We just call it all senate body.”

The legislative board will remain similar to what the current structure of the senate looks like with secretaries of Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Mission and Communication. The change would add committees underneath those secretaries.

“Instead of creating chair positions, we turned it into committees so there is more of a collaborative sense to it,” Jones said.

“There’s people who are appointed contact for certain places on our campus so instead of being a public safety chair, you would be a public safety point of contact, part of the student affairs committee.”

While these student points of contact (SPOC) positions allow senators to feel more engaged, the proposed system would

decrease the number of SPOCs to only those who are consistently beneficial to the campus community, according to Mullin.

“We have seen that while there are times when they may need our input or support, it’s neither beneficial to them nor the student body to have one of our senators consistently setting up those meetings,” Mullin said.

Below the Mission Committee would be the Inclusion and Equity SPOC. Some senators, like Hanna Neece ’19, secretary of Academic Affairs, believe the Inclusion and Equity SPOC needs to have its own secretary and committee instead of being one SPOC within a committee.

“I’d like to see it as its own secretary position on the e-board,” Neece said. “It would just be really helpful to have a secretary overseeing that [Inclusion and Equity] with people working in a committee with them. It’s a multi-person job.”

Zach Dobinson ’22, who was on the CRC, said giving Inclusion and Equity more power was a discussion that came up during the review committee, but senators decided that it would still have power even underneath the Mission secretary.

“Within the committee, there was definitely talk about a lot of people wanting to expand it,” Dobinson said. “But in the end, it didn’t necessarily move up to what other people wanted it to become.”

Mullin said it was mentioned to give Inclusion and Equity more power with a secretary position, but that suggestion wasn’t feasible with the current number of senators in the USS. “With our numbers, to support the Inclusion and Equity secretary, we would need to add additional points of contact or chairs into the constitution underneath that and have room for more committee members,” Mullin said. “The numbers for elections are fairly strong, but they aren’t high enough.

There wouldn’t be an election for most of the grades if we inflated the body more.”

Jones said it will be a good litmus test for the Judicial Council if the Senate wants to add the secretary in if the new constitution is passed.

“It is something that would possibly have to initiate into the constitution, to show that this document is a living document and it can be changed,” Jones said. “If we see something we want to be changed, we can do that.”

The vote will take place the day of the transition meeting when the 19th Senate will be inducted.

“The 18th senate will be voting on it, but it will be put into place for the 19th Senate,” Jones said.

Alex Mark ’20 contributed to this article.

A bridge between administrators and students

Exploring the function of Student Senate ERIN BREEN ’19 News Editor Constant collaboration between University Student Senate (USS) members and members of St. Joe's administration is necessary for the USS to function properly, according to several USS members.

Jason D’Antonio ’19, current USS president, said this year’s senate members were intentional about having sustained dialogue with key administrators.

“It allowed us to collaborate on things creating a more holistic picture and greater synergy,” D’Antonio said. “During stressful times, we didn’t lose the initiative and

were able to use our existing relationships to work towards common ground.”

The relationship between the administration and USS differs from year to year, “often based on those serving in the various roles on the senate and the administration,” according to Cary Anderson, Ed.D., associate provost and vice president of Student Life and faculty advisor for USS. “Currently, the USS has been very active and helpful to the administration on many levels,” Anderson said.

USS members take part in various committees and university-wide initiatives ranging from Student Life policies, academic initiatives, athletics strategy and external relations, according to D’Antonio.

“Our goal is to use feedback and sentiments of students to continuously make sure St. Joe’s main focus is the student,” D’Antonio said.

Jill Bateman ’19, USS vice president, said she sees the role of USS as one of advocacy, inquiry and leading by example.

“The relationship between university administration and the USS has become more transparent, and the USS can approach the administration more openly about concerns,” Bateman said.

D’Antonio said he hopes the current transparency continues in years to come.

“It’s important for the next Senate and the current administration to continue this theme of using one another as resources to

further common goals and to better understand one another when differences in policy opinions do arise,” D’Antonio said.

This collaboration is one that members of next year’s senate intend to continue developing.

Steven Bradley ’20, a current senator who is running for treasurer, said members of USS serve as a bridge between the administration and the student population.

“Not only does the USS need to hold administrators accountable to serving the students attending the school, but the USS should hold the students within the community accountable in the sense that they should make use of their voices as well,” Bradley said.

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The Hawk Newspaper

April 10, 2019

News

Student Senate elections to take place this week ERIN BREEN ’19 News Editor Elections for the 19th University Student Senate (USS) will take place April 10 and 11.

Current students in each class year will vote for class senators and elect executive board members, comprised of the next USS president, vice president and treasurer.

Adam Mullin ’20 and Whitney Jones ’20 are running for president, Julia McQuade ’20 is running for vice president and Steven Bradley ’20 for treasurer.

Mullin said his goal is to make tangible progress on the ideas and initiatives that senators and students bring forward in the beginning of the year.

“My priority is enhancing our mission and making sure we are staying true to that in all we do,” Mullin said. “I want to make sure we look to those points of our mission statement to be a diverse cross-section, to be a community of people, to be supportive, to be looking both inward at our community and outward at the community around us.”

To Mullin, this mission goes beyond the realm of academics. “[I want] to connect with our Jesuit mission to holistically care, not just for the academic experience, but the extracurricular experience, the social experience, the athletic experience,” Mullin said.

For Jones and McQuade, who are running as a ticket, their priority is creating an inclusive community through open communication and engagement.

“The three pillars of our platform include engagement, inclusion and communication,” Jones and McQuade said in a statement to The Hawk. “An engaged student body comes from an engaged student government that listens and acts on concerns and ideas.”

The pair sees this platform being accomplished through the establishment of monthly town hall meetings for students to voice concerns and the implementation of office hours for the executive board.

“The campus’s biggest need in terms of governance right now is a more proactive and collaborative approach,” Jones and McQuade said in a statement to The Hawk. “More than anything, students want to feel as though they are being heard and taken seriously. We are here to work with campus to start to resolve long standing issues with our university and make sure each and every person feels safe and respected on our campus.”

Bradley said he believes the treasurer role will allow him to provide support for student life on campus.

“I want to motivate the rest of Senate and my fellow executive board members to attempt to use our budget to come up with new initiatives to properly serve the people we are serving for: the SJU students,” Bradley said.

USS candidates speak at a campaign forum on April 3. PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

Bradley said he sees the position of treasurer as one that will allow him to ensure proper funding for members of the campus community to meet their goals and feel supported.

“I believe that the campus needs people who are acknowledging the issues that are occurring, work directly with those affected by those issues and continue to work throughout the future so it continues to be something

that shall remain in effect for future Hawks who decide to spend their years on our campus,” Bradley said.

Students can vote for their class senators and executive board candidates online through the Nest on April 10 and 11.

Alex Mark ’20 contributed to this article.

Change to political activity policy on campus ERIN BREEN ’19 News Editor The university recently updated a 1972 policy regarding political activity on campus.

The new policy stipulates that students, administrators and teachers are free to engage in political activities, as long as they do not violate other university policies in the process. The mandate was originally submitted to University Council in 2017 and was approved last month.

The old policy did not explicitly specify that these activities cannot violate other university policies. It also stated that the institutional control of campus facilities should not be used as a device for censorship.

The new policy states that the university should create procedures to apply to outside speakers who are invited to campus.

Paul Apsan, Ph.D., associate professor of

theology and religious studies, was one of the creators of the mandate for the policy change.

Aspan said it was the political shift following the 2016 elections that motivated the update.

“The election of 2016 brought a change in atmosphere to many universities, a change for worse in terms of the level of hostility and disrespect affecting the body politic on campus,” Aspan said. “SJU did not escape this trend.”

Aspan said harassment experienced from agents external to the university also motivated the policy change.

“We became aware of the need to change our policies on political activities on campus, as well as freedom of assembly and the sponsorship of outside speakers, as the institution had neither revisited nor revised its respective policies since the early 1970s,” Aspen said.

Cary Anderson, Ed.D., associate provost and vice president of Student Life, said the update to the policy seemed like a prudent step in anticipation of future elections.

“The recently approved policy adds more clarity to what may or may not be done with regard to political activity on campus in order to comply with the federal tax code which does not allow tax exempt organizations from directly promoting a particular political position,” Anderson said.

Tim Swift, associate professor of marketing and a member of a subcommittee in the Faculty Policies & Procedures (FPP) committee who reviewed the mandate, said his focus was on ensuring the university follows federal requirements for tax-exempt institutions while allowing for community members to continue to actively engage in political activities.

“I hope that the policy helps make SJU a place where all stakeholders can engage in robust, informative and respectful consideration of political issues, while ensuring that the university remains neutral and does not provide support for a candidate or political

organization,” Swift said.

Anderson added he hopes students exercise their rights to engage in the political process.

“The policy provides guidance to comply with federal law for those who wish to do so,” Anderson said.

For Aspan, the revision of policy was neither an attempt to encourage or discourage political engagement on campus.

“We endeavored to read the signs of the times and adjust campus policies in order to make these relevant for and effective within the contemporary environment,” Aspan said.

“Every discussion in which I was involved was focused on the need to preserve a healthy environment for the freedom of exchange of ideas, in order to enhance the primary mission of the university, the pursuit of truth.”

Department of Public Safety reports (March 29– April 5) March 29 Public Safety confiscated a quantity of alcohol from a St. Joe’s student inside the lobby of LaFarge Residence Center. Residence Life notified. Community Standards notified.

March 30 Public Safety was notified by an area resident of a large party in the 2000 block of Upland Way. Public Safety officers and Philadelphia Police were notified and responded. Community Standards notified.

Public Safety was notified by an area resident of a disorderly St. Joe’s student in the 5300 block of Wynnefield Avenue. Public Safety and Philadelphia Police notified and responded.

The St. Joe’s student was identified. Community Standards notified.

Public Safety was notified by Residence Life regarding a St. Joe’s student being assaulted by unknown person(s) in the Manayunk area. The

student was injured and received treatment.

Philadelphia Police notified and responded.

Incident under investigation.

Public Safety was notified by Facilities Management in regards to person(s) unknown taking a St. Joe’s banner from a light pole at Jordan Hall. Community Standards notified. Incident under investigation.

March 31 Public Safety was notified by Residence Life of an odor of marijuana coming from a second floor room in the Villiger Residence Center.

Public Safety officers responded to the room with Residence Life. A search of the room revealed no signs of drugs or drug paraphernalia.

Community Standards notified.

April 1 Public Safety was notified by Residence Life of an alleged bias incident that occurred at the Villiger Residence Center where a St. Joe’s student

was heard using a racial slur directed at another St. Joe’s student. Incident under investigation.

April 4 Public Safety was notified of a fire alarm inside the Sourin Residence Center. Public Safety Officers responded. Preliminary investigation revealed the alarm was activated by a student cooking. Alarm was reset.

April 5 Public Safety was notified by Residence Life of an alleged bias incident that occurred at the Sourin Residence Center where a St. Joe’s student was heard using a racial slur directed at another St. Joe’s student. Incident under investigation.

ALCOHOL RELATED INCIDENTS

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On campus

1

Off campus

DRUG RELATED INCIDENTS

1

On campus

0

Off campus

Call Public Safety:

610-660-1111

Opinions

April 10, 2019

The Hawk Newspaper

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Administrative and faculty diversity St. Joe’s can improve from top down Editor in Chief Ana Faguy ’19 Managing Editor Charley Rekstis ’20 Copy Chief Emily Graham ’20 Faculty Adviser Shenid Bhayroo Contributing Adviser Jenny Spinner Copy Editor Paige Santiago ’19 Copy Editor Kaila Mundell-Hill ’20 News Editor Erin Breen ’19 Assistant News Editor Alex Mark ’20 Assistant News Editor Alysa Bainbridge ’21 Editorial Page Editor Annie Clark ’19 Opinions Editor Dominique Joe ’19 Assistant Opinions Editor Devin Yingling ’22 Lifestyle Editor Alex Hargrave ’20 Assistant Lifestyle Editor Natalie Drum ’20 Assistant Lifestyle Editor Cara Smith ’21 Sports Editor Nick Karpinski ’21

On April 5, the university received an email announcing the new Chief Human Resources Officer, Zenobia Hargust. The email said she is currently the “Director of Equal Opportunity & Employee Engagement at Swarthmore College, as well as the College’s Deputy Title IX Coordinator.”

Not only is she immensely qualified for the position, but she is also a Muslim woman of color, which will allow Hargust to provide a new and very much needed point of view to a primarily white and male administration here at St. Joe’s.

We are incredibly excited to welcome her to St. Joe’s, and we know that she will bring a new perspective and a restored interest in diversity with her.

St. Joe’s past hiring practices, as they are reflected in the current racial demographics of both administration and faculty, seemed to be skewed towards those who are white, and in many cases, those who are male.

Of course, the overall hiring process is something that is incredibly difficult to deal with; the intentionality of hiring people of color at both the administrative and the faculty level is something that can be seen as problematic due to the assertion that these hiring processes may be solely about racial diversity and don’t take qualifications into account.

We can and should look critically at the university in terms of their hiring practices in the past, but we should also concede to the fact that the university’s current racial demographics, amongst the administration especially, do point to a larger trend on the national level.

In 2016, the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) released research illustrating that “7 percent of higher education administrative positions...were held by black staffers.

Just 3 percent of those jobs were held by Hispanic or Latino people, 2 percent were Asian and 1 percent identified as another race or ethnicity. The remaining 86 percent of ad-

ministrators were white.”

This reflects patterns in nationwide hiring within administrations on college campuses, and our own university’s demographics for the administration and faculty are no different; there is an overall staggering lack of racial diversity.

In short, there is a clear disparity when it comes to racial diversity among higher education administrative and faculty positions.

Having equal racial representation at St. Joe’s that reflects the demographics of the Greater Philadelphia area is immensely important when it comes to creating a positive social environment at an institution for higher education while also promoting what we claim to espouse: inclusion and diversity.

Diversity within the administrators and faculty will allow for the student population to diversify in the same way. Hiring a diverse group of administrators and professors will create this mutual social reciprocity between the higher-ups and the overall demographic of the student body. The hiring of Hargust is a catalyst for this positive change in the administration and faculty.

When people in an environment look like you and share your common background, you are more likely to stay within those spaces because they are familiar, because they feel like home. As the Chief Human Resources Officer, Hargust will have the ability to garner a more diverse pool of applicants for higher-up positions in both the administration and faculty.

To reinforce this intentionality in hiring based on racial diversity, as we hope Hargust will promote, St. Joe’s will feel like home to more students, especially those who are often racially minoritized in the U.S. In the classroom, for example, the professor is the one who cultivates diverse discussions and provides a forum for interpretation of the overall curriculum.

Moreover, in the administration, those in positions of power create the culture for an

institution, meaning that they can truly affect change within the population of the institution itself. All of these things will augment racially minoritized perspectives in different areas of campus life.

In an interview with Hargust for CUPA-HR, she said, “It really is an honor and privilege to work in human resources and be a person who sets the tone for the culture of an institution, who sets the expectations for not only tolerance but acceptance in the workplace.”

By bringing this perspective to St. Joe’s, Hargust will be an exemplary model for the formulaic response we have highlighted that will promote diversity on our campus from the top down.

Hiring people of color within administration (both higher and lower) and faculty is paramount to realizing the goals of the university in regards to diversity and inclusion.

The university must hire the most qualified and experienced staff, but let’s not forget that the most qualified and experienced hire can be a person of color.

The university needs to begin somewhere in order to practice what we preach, and starting from the top down is a jumping off point. Hargust is a great start to this initiative, and we are looking forward to how she sets the status-quo of diversity as a woman of color in an administrative position of power.

—The Editorial Board This week's Editorial Board is comprised of the Opinions Editor, Assistant Opinions Editor, Managing Editor, Editorial Page Editor, Copy Chief, Lifestyle Editor, News Editor and Assistant News Editor.

The Hawk welcomes Letters to the Editor, typically no more than 300 words. They can be emailed to hawk.editorial@gmail.com.

Corrections In the April 3 issue of The Hawk, the Lifestyle article "LiMM balances being a student and musician," incorrectly stated the name and type of LiMM's first album. In his first year, LiMM released an EP "The Effect [demo]" and a year later he released the EP "Lessons You Should Learn" and the mixtape "The Hawk Tape Vol. 1." The Hawk also incorrectly identified a song as "Shout to Win". The correct name of the song is "Shoot is Win."

Assistant Sports Editor Sam Britt ’20 Assistant Sports Editor Ryan Mulligan ’21 Creative Director Kelly Smith ’19 Photo Editor Mitchell Shields ’22 Social Media Manager Erin Castellano ’20 Assistant Social Media Manager Angela DiMarco ’22 Business Manager Tom Trullinger ’21 Distribution Manager Addie Guyer ’19 Assistant Distribution Manager Gavin O’Reilly ’20

SAXBYS PLAYLIST OF THE WEEK Nothing is better than grabbing a morning iced coffee on your way to class and hearing some absolute bops outside of Saxbys at 8 a.m.

Thank you Saxbys staff for giving everyone a great way to start their mornings with both a kick-start of caffeine and some good music.

HAWK HOSTS HIT THE "WOAH" We love our Hawk Hosts, but the video from Admitted Students Weekend of them hitting the “Woah” dance on St. Joe’s official Instagram story was a little too cringey for us. They can definitely show off our beautiful campus, but we’re thinking they should just leave the dancing to the pros.

THE "OLD TOWN ROAD" REMIX Is it country? Is it rap? We have no idea, and we don’t think Billy Ray Cyrus does either. But what we do know is that the “Old Town Road Remix” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus is just as catchy as it is an iconic meme for the books. Get ready to have that chorus stuck in your head for the next few weeks.

WE ALREADY KNEW THE JO BROS WERE "COOL" The Jonas Brothers’ comeback is full steam ahead since they dropped their second song this weekend, “Cool.” We already don’t think it’s possible to top their first drop of the year, “Sucker,” but this song definitely proves our theory correct. Sure, it’s catchy, but is it really that much of a bop? Honestly, not really.

CAMPION DINING HALL (WE KNOW, SURPRISING) By no means does Campion Dining Hall have three Michelin Stars, but we will say that on Admitted Students Weekend, we finally get a reprieve from their usual servings of three marble bagels and pasta.

Shoutout to Campion for pretty solid cheesesteaks and an assortment of chicken caesar wraps this weekend.

IT'S THE HOMESTRETCH FOR SENIORS Only one more month for our class of 2019. We will be sad to see them go, but we know that if they can survive their final month of the semester and their final week of exams, they can do anything.

Finish strong seniors.

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April 10, 2019

Opinions

The Hawk Newspaper

Assessing the actions of fomer VP Biden’s propensity to touch shouldn’t have a place in politics ERIN FENZEL ’22 Columnist When I was in first grade, we learned the difference between when a touch was okay or when one was not acceptable. We learned that if someone’s touch made us uncomfortable, then by all means it was unacceptable. If a 6 year old can be taught not to touch people in inappropriate ways, then grown men—especially our country’s leaders—should be able to follow suit.

Unfortunately, former Vice President Joe Biden is not an abnormal case. Yes, we thought he was kind and viewed him as “America’s Dad;” He was a part of America’s Best Duo, but we’ve seen the downfall of someone of that stature before (i.e. Bill Cosby). While Cosby and Biden’s actions greatly differ in degree, both fail to recognize the importance of a person’s comfortability.

Lucy Flores, the former lieutenant governor nominee for Nevada and the first woman to come forward to call out the former vice president for his inappropriate touching wrote that she “felt two hands on [her] shoulders,” going on to say that “[she] froze [and] felt him get closer to [her] from behind. [Biden] leaned further in and inhaled [her] hair. [Flores] was mortified. He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of [her] head.”

In her piece published in The New Yorker magazine, at every step of the 2014 encounter, she asked herself “Why is the vice president of the United States doing ‘x’ to me?” Flores’ reaction to Biden’s touching would be normal of any woman; Biden was seen as an admirable vice president, one who

supported LGBTQ rights and seemingly respected women, so why would he be smelling and kissing your hair?

Unfortunately, Flores' case is similar to most women who are in subordinate positions to their male superiors. They experience inappropriate touching, kissing and/or talking. It becomes the automatic differentiation of power.

someone for reporting sexual harassment. The power dynamic makes any sexually charged situation difficult, but I can’t even imagine it coming from the vice president of the United States, especially for a democratic hopeful.

The other problem that comes from Biden’s inappropriate touching that is too familiar to those who have experienced sexual harassment, is that the offenders don’t seem

ILLUSTRATION: OLIVIA HEISTERKAMP ’19/THE HAWK

In Flores’ position, who would she be to say that the vice president of the U.S. sexually harassed her?

Typically in the workplace, if your male boss touches you inappropriately or talks to you about inappropriate topics, you may often worry about the effect if you report it, even though it is illegal for an employer to fire

to realize how uncomfortable they’re making people. The easiest way to know if a person is comfortable with how you’re interacting with them is if they tell you.

Biden didn’t ask the women he was touching if they were comfortable with his actions. As one of his accusers, D.J. Hill, put it, “If something makes you feel uncomfort-

able, you have to feel able to say it.” Biden did not even give those women the space to tell him to stop.

In a similar, but much more severe way, Cosby did not give his victims the ability to express their discomfort with what was happening, mostly because Cosby had taken that ability away by drugging them. Both Biden and Cosby did not afford the women the chance to consent.

On April 3, Biden released a video saying that part of his political career has always been about making human connections, which includes grabbing people by their shoulders to be encouraging. But now, Biden said, social norms have begun to change, which includes boundaries and personal space. However, this argument does not make sense in the broader scheme of what he was doing: kissing and smelling people.

Then, on April 5, after making unsavory jokes about hugging at a conference, Biden later half-heartedly apologized by saying, “It is important that I, and everyone else, is aware that every woman and man who feels uncomfortable should have the right to say, ‘Hey, I’m uncomfortable with that.’”

So if Biden understands that people should have the ability to consent with how they are being touched, does that excuse the touching (and other actions) that he was doing? No. These actions, along with holding people too long and placing your hand in more private areas, are not new social norms and should always be assumed to make others uncomfortable. They are what we’ve been taught since first grade. Making human connections to better your political career should not come at the expense of disregarding a person’s comfort.

Anti-globalization policies continue Will China rise as the global hegemon?

SALVATORE DE RIENZO ’22 Guest Columnist In the most recent twist to the immigration saga that continues to politically and culturally divide the United States, President Donald Trump took to the cameras on March 29 in Lake Okeechobee, Florida, affirming that his administration is cutting funding for the South American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

This move to slash more than $500 million in aid to these Northern Triangle countries highlights the Trump administration’s overarching political agenda: “America First.”

However, in time this decision will weaken America’s power on the global stage relative to our international rivals such as China.

Before continuing, it deserves note that the immigration crisis itself is a global humanitarian crisis with severe societal consequences. However, the purpose of this piece diverts from the typical emotional appeal of the immigration debate and rather focuses on the threat that this decision will cause in terms of a global hegemonic imbalance.

At the end of World War II, the U.S. emerged as the economic and therefore political superpower of the world. Although the Soviet Union presented a formidable threat throughout the Cold War, the U.S. has consistently remained unchallenged in its position of global dominance.

It is not a coincidence that the degree of global power and prestige of the U.S. correlates to the extent in which the nation interweaves itself within and among the political, economic, social and cultural interactions of other nations.

Therefore, one should be alarmed when our president boldly and sporadically announces that the U.S. will be withdrawing economic support from three of our Latin American neighbors.

This façade of “America First” is nothing more than a rally cry for voter support. In real-

cultural relationships with other nations in hopes of driving economic development.

This plan will enhance the economies of the nations that choose to subscribe to forging economic relations with one of the world’s strongest economies. Implicitly, it primarily benefits China due to the emerging necessity of its economic might that this plan imposes on other nations.

Currently, over 60 nations spanning Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America have signed on to this agenda. China spends over $150 billion per year in order to

Regardless of whether the U.S. continues on this isolationist track or not, the other nations of the world will continue to interact with and depend on each other. ity, it puts America last.

As the Trump administration continues to isolate the U.S. from nations with which we have interacted for decades, the potential for aggressive and tactful nations, such as China, to extend their spheres of influence to our backyard is tremendous.

The Chinese government under the leadership of President Xi Jinping announced an infrastructure development strategy called the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. The goal of this venture is to enhance meaningful cooperation and foster

sustain this pact.

With the U.S. announcing its plans to suspend funding to some of its Latin American counterparts, there is no reason why China would not extend financial support to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in response.

After all, if China is spending $150 billion per year on the Belt and Road Initiative, $500 million to Latin American states is a relatively small amount of money for such a strategic move.

At the root of the current U.S. administration’s problems, which is usually over-

shadowed by divisive and blustery rhetoric, is the turn towards isolationism and a fear of globalization.

The world will forever be interconnected through culture, trade and history. Regardless of whether the U.S. continues on this isolationist track or not, the other nations of the world will continue to interact with and depend on each other.

The main difference is that the hegemonic stronghold that the U.S. has maintained since the end of World War II will cease to exist, and China will take center stage. It is evident that this transformation from superpower to regular power is already commencing.

Over the summer in Helsinki, Russian President Vladimir Putin embarrassed the U.S. on the global stage with his political finesse. The Kim Jong-un regime in North Korea has mocked the current administration with its increasing nuclear proliferation, despite calls for it to stop.

For better or for worse, countries are not afraid of the U.S., and countries will not blindly adhere to its demands.

With the sun setting on the American-led world, other powers with vastly different agendas relative to that of the U.S. are griping for global dominance, and the Trump administration is clearing the way for such action by blindly shooting itself in the foot with its anti-globalization policy blunders.

Pulling aid from the Northern Triangle nations is simply just another step in fueling our rivals’ aggressions.

Opinions 7

April 10, 2019

The necessity of POCs in powerful positions How St. Joe’s can be intentional about racial diversity BRIAN J. YATES, Ph.D. Guest Columnist Like most Americans, I have had considerable experiences with race and racism, and I bring them with me.

Growing up in almost allwhite suburbs throughout the East Coast of America shaped me to see white people in positions of authority as natural.

My entrance at Morehouse College, the largest all-male liberal arts institution and a historically black college, in the summer of 1998 reversed my expectations of what authority looks like in profound ways through the fact that just about every position of authority was filled by black males, who performed their jobs in a superb manner.

Seeing them during my matriculation at the school transformed my conceptions of the potential of black excellence. I began in this manner, in order to underscore the importance of structures, perceptions and expectations in maintaining a racial hierarchy.

The vast majority of the racism that I have experienced at St. Joe’s has been a result of these three things. When I speak about race at St. Joe’s, I speak specifically as a black person, with the understanding that some may have similar experiences. Finally, I do not attempt to speak for all people of color or black people on campus.

On the first day of classes, students may be surprised to see a person of color in

a position of authority, but the “niceness” of the St. Joe’s community keeps a great deal of the racism at bay.

This “niceness” changes quickly when some students perceive anything that threatens their understanding of the naturalness of white authority, such as not “getting” the grade they feel they deserve, “excessive” difficulty or course content that is “offensive” because it does not reinforce the importance of Western society.

Often the structures that protect academic freedom are utilized in protecting

black faculty and administrators are seemingly non-existent. These realities shape campus life in a myriad of ways. It separates this campus from the communities (Philadelphia is nearly 44% black) that it resides in, as opposed to reflecting them.

This reality reinforces racial hierarchies as opposed to challenging them.

Instead of inspiring all members of the community to reach beyond the stars, it reminds them of the limitations brought about by American society.

I was a sophomore in high school before

Often the structures that protect academic freedom are utilized in protecting faculty of color and/or women, but the significance is not in the response, but rather the constant challenge of the authority of people of color, not because they are not qualified, but rather the threat we pose to the racial hierarchy. faculty of color and/or women, but the significance is not in the response, but rather the constant challenge of the authority of people of color, not because they are not qualified, but rather the threat we pose to the racial hierarchy.

Perceptions also shape my experiences at St. Joe’s.

On this campus, the higher you go in the hierarchy, the more homogenous it becomes. If a black student is a rare sight,

I had a black male teacher, three years later, black male professors were natural, eight years after that, I was a black male professor.

Expectations are also a key part of my experiences. When you walk on campus and see yourself in all aspects of that campus, you cannot help but see everything as a possibility, as well as the structures to make those possibilities a reality.

I remember when I was in high school, my mother had to come in to school to ad-

vocate for my entrance into an AP History class. Even though I had earned As in the class, the teacher assumed that I did not want to be in the AP class.

Without my mother’s intervention, the structures in place would have limited my possibilities, due to the low expectations of me from an authority figure. Not everyone has someone in their corner pushing them to succeed despite structures that work against their interests, nor should they have to.

I conclude with solutions because, in my opinion, complaints or criticism without a way to address them are ineffective and unproductive. My solution is to turn the structures, perceptions and expectations on their heads. If people of color are not seen in positions of authority on campus, put some there.

Not only there, but in a large number of classrooms, as students and faculty.

If the curriculum is only reinforcing one group’s identity, recreate it so it reinforces everyone’s identities, histories and cultures.

This process does not mean separate courses, offices or departments, but rather integrating the experience so that all can see themselves in every aspect of St. Joe’s.

In other words, the same machinations that produce exclusive privileged spaces can be reversed to produce opposite results, but only if these structures are fundamentally augmented.

The future of racial diversity at St. Joe’s How microaggressions affect students of color in class MARLY RENÉ ’19 Columnist For many years now, it has been tragic and saddening to watch the news and see another black individual murdered, in many ways due to normative microaggressions, which are comments or actions that subtly express a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group.

These kinds of comments and actions don’t simply happen on the news in these aggressive and violent ways. They happen on our own campus as well.

So let’s have a conversation.

Does it make sense for a racist encounter to be the last thing a black individual would want to go through in a place that they expect to call home for four years or more? The unwelcomed racial slur on two first year students’ dorm door last semester was not the first time an antagonistic act has been made towards people of color on campus.

Let’s be honest—situations like this one have been going on for years, but they have been swept under the rug so the face of the “diverse” St. Joe’s can remain intact. A couple of students on campus have shared their experiences with me, and I would like to bring their experiences to the forefront to shed more light on this issue.

One St. Joe’s student recently recalled a time when they approached a profes-

sor to ask a question, and the first words that the professor spoke as they rose their hands in a defensive manner was, “Don’t shoot!” This student was taken aback but was not surprised because they did not have high expectations for professors at

student’s name and then made inappropriate comments about the student’s hair. This professor even ran their hands through the student’s afro without permission or warning. The student said, “It made me angry and upset.” While these were both

ILLUSTRATION: OLIVIA HEISTERKAMP ’19/THE HAWK

St. Joe’s. The student further commented about the experience stating, “It was a public display of ignorance.”

Another student, in one of the most prestigious and challenging departments on campus, was repeatedly disrespected by a professor. The professor first mocked the

microaggressions, the second experience was extremely shocking. Turning a blind eye to these situations or even refusing to approach these situations appropriately should not be condoned.

There are many students of diverse backgrounds who have shared comments

about professors treating them differently than others or not being mindful about their word choice when speaking to students of color. Instances like these make it harder to be open with professors and receive all the help needed to be successful in our college careers and beyond.

Due to this sense of major discomfort, students are usually left with two choices: dropping the class to avoid the professor or continuing with the class but refusing to seek help from the professor when needed.

This should not be our fate as students of color on St. Joe’s campus; we should not be subjected to this kind of ultimatum.

So the important question is, where do we go from here?

There is a lot of work to be done, but we can start by having uncomfortable conversations. From an institutional level, professors, administrators and students should be required to participate in more diversity trainings on campus before and during the school year. This will help educate people about terms that should not be used towards minorities and how to use language in a way that neither disrespects nor hurts students.

On a personal level, remember to use your voice, your privilege and your influence to empower those who do not have these resources. When you witness a microaggression, do not be passive. Instead, speak up and shut it down. In this way, we can build up and strengthen our community so that it can be the diverse and safe St. Joe’s we expect it to be.

8

April 10, 2019

Opinions

The Hawk Newspaper

“The legging problem” is not my problem They are seriously just a pair of pants, get over it FAITH COWELL ’22 Columnist A noteworthy letter was published on March 25 in The Observer, the school newspaper for both the University of Notre Dame and the nearby all-women’s St. Mary’s College. The letter, titled “The legging problem,” was from Maryann White, a self-described Catholic mother of four sons.

In it, she “begs” girls to stop wearing leggings, saying that she’s “ashamed for the young women” who make the choice to wear them. She says that when wearing leggings, looking at “those blackly naked rear ends [...] [is] unavoidable. How much more difficult [is it] for young guys to ignore them.”

I’m incredibly offended by White’s letter. In fact, I feel dumber after just having read it. My word limit is too little for me to unpack the entire thing, but I’ll pick out some choice passages.

In one section, White says that mainstream depictions of women as “babes” has made it difficult for “Catholic mothers to teach their sons that women are someone’s daughters and sisters. That women should be viewed first as people—and all people should be considered with respect.” According to her, the media makes it hard for her to teach her sons that women are people. Boo hoo.

She then uses Princess Leia in the Star Wars film “Return of the Jedi” as an example, saying that the revealing outfit she wore when she was enslaved by Jabba the Hutt removed her “personhood.” Newsflash, Maryanne: Princess Leia isn’t real, and she was put into that outfit not by an intergalactic gangster, but by a male screenwriter in an attempt to sexualize her character.

White was trying to use Princess Leia’s “slave girl outfit” as an example of revealing clothes that she was forced into, and she says that no one is forcing young women to wear

leggings and expose themselves like Leia.

She’s right.

No one’s forcing me or any other woman to wear leggings. I wear them because they’re comfortable, and I don’t need to justify that to some conservative mother with a serious holier-than-thou complex.

According to White, just saying that leg-

leggings. She says that she’s “fretting” not only for the “unsavory” guys that will look at girls when we wear leggings, but also for the “nice guys who are doing everything to avoid looking at you.”

If a guy has to “avoid” looking at me, I would not consider him a nice guy. I don’t know what kind of morals White has been

ILLUSTRATION: OLIVIA HEISTERKAMP ’19/THE HAWK

gings are comfortable isn’t enough for girls to “expose their nether regions,” since being naked is comfortable too, but “we don’t go around naked because we respect ourselves— we want to be seen as a person, not a body.”

No woman wears leggings because she doesn’t respect herself. It’s really not that deep.

Additionally, I’m shocked by the way White talks about men “looking at” girls in

instilling in her four sons, but I would not be keen to meet them. White’s inability to teach her sons that women are human beings has nothing to do with my choice of pants.

For me, the issue is not men “looking at” young women like myself. It’s people like White constantly sexualizing every little thing that women choose to do. We don’t need people like White “protecting” us from

the eyes of their sons.

Teach your sons to stop sexualizing our pants. Teach your sons to see us as human beings. It’s not my fault that White, a woman, sees women only as sexual beings for her sons and other men to ogle at. That’s not my problem.

The media advertises young girls as “babes” because society has seen women as sexual objects for thousands of years. It’s the patriarchy, not my pants.

I feel bad that no one ever taught White that she’s a whole, real person, and not just a person for men to look at. Honestly, I pity her. But I’m baffled by her audacity to try and tell me and millions of other women and girls what to wear.

A young girl wearing leggings is not asking to be looked at, and how dare White accuse me and other women of dressing to do just that. Leggings are a basic part of people's wardrobes. They aren’t a statement, they aren’t a “voluntary exposure” of anything.

They’re pants.

The letter has gained national exposure and even sparked a sort of revolution: women at the University of Notre Dame protested by wearing leggings, using the hashtag #leggingsdayND. Women and men participated, and multiple clothing brands that sell leggings tweeted their support. I’m glad because I wore leggings at least three times this week.

I hope White has seen the responses to her letter, and I hope she’s read the rebuttals to her ridiculous plea. I hope her sons are embarrassed, because they should be. Their mother is actively fighting against the equality of her own gender.

Hopefully women like White, with such complicated inferiority complexes, can one day see their own worth as more than just a sexual object.

I’m going to keep wearing leggings, and if some guy can’t avoid looking at me, then that’s his fault, not mine. And White can kiss my “blackly naked rear end.”

Increasing consumer consciousness Shopping ethically in spite of brand obsession EMILY GRAHAM ’20 Columnist When I was in eighth grade, UGG boots were all the rage.

Everyone owned a pair, varying in style and color, but each pair always had that little sewn tag on the back with the three magic letters, UGG. Yet there I was with my off-brand pair of tan fluffy boots purchased for $20 from Payless. Identical in every way but one: the barely noticeable but extremely important logo stitched on the back.

I resented my “fuggs,” (a word specifically invented to shame anyone who owned fake UGGs), but I knew I would never receive those $160 boots for Christmas like all the other kids at my school. Why spend that absurd amount when Payless could provide the same warmth, comfort and appearance?

Since then, I have learned the true cost of those coveted UGG boots. Animal fur in exchange for social status. Not only were my knock-offs missing the label, but they were missing the wool that everyone seemed to think made all the difference in terms of comfort and fashion.

So many brands manufacture with fur, leather and suede, while the cosmetics indus-

try employs animal testing on makeup, lotion and hair products. Even everyday household products, such as soap, toothpaste and cleaning supplies, are tested on animals.

Many of us have probably seen the outrageous campaigns on social media by the People for Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA) that try to convince people not to buy animal products or eat meat. But the organization has become more of a meme than a movement for change. Their propaganda-like tactics are simply uneffective.

businesses that reflect our values. After all, no one makes boots quite like UGG or makeup like Maybelline.

I made the conscious decision to avoid buying clothing, shoes and accessories made from animal products during eighth grade.

It wasn’t easy. I still had to walk around with my “fugg” boots. No one knew that it was a decision of morality rather than just cost. All that my classmates saw was the Payless logo on the back.

Since then, there have been times when

I thought using only cruelty-free products would be difficult and expensive, but a wide variety of brands from high-end to affordable have made the transition.

Knowing the truth about a company’s unethical production seems to have no effect on consumers in today’s world. We’re aware of the horrors of animal testing, we know what fair trade means, and we recognize the waste created by fast fashion. Yet we continue to turn a blind eye in order to keep up with trends.

Our culture is brand-obsessed. Whether it’s clothing stores, makeup brands or restaurants with questionable morals (see last week’s piece by Devin Yingling on “canceled culture”), we often find it impossible to locate

I’ve had to explain myself. It can be awkward to go out shopping and dig around for the tag to read the materials before pulling something off the rack.

Similarly, after deciding last year to cut out cosmetics tested on animals, a trip to Sephora requires some research now.

However, discomfort should not stop you from being a conscious consumer. Just because something makes you uncomfortable or takes more time doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.

As consumers become more conscious,

companies have been forced to follow suit.

I thought using only cruelty-free products would be difficult and expensive, but a wide variety of brands from high-end to affordable have made the transition.

By the end of 2018, Dove and Covergirl both announced they were moving cruelty-free, offering affordable drugstore options for everything from lipstick to shampoo. For those who prefer higher-end products, Tarte, Urban Decay and Glossier are among those with the cruelty-free bunny stamp of approval.

Shopping ethically is becoming more accessible and affordable, yet people still value appearance over awareness.

Our senses are constantly overwhelmed.

We scroll through Instagram and see influencers wearing leather Gucci belts (even though Gucci banned the use of fur in 2018) or testing the latest Benefit product. Leopard print and snakeskin are in, raising questions about how far companies will go to make money off the fad.

Brand obsession goes beyond animal testing and manufacturing. We relentlessly ignore ethical, environmental and humane questions to maintain appearances.

It may seem hard to shop consciously, but it’s much easier once you get past the false sense of social capital that comes with brand names.

Lifestyle

The Hawk Newspaper

April 10, 2019

9

Anissa Wilson ’20 on curating and creating art ALEX HARGRAVE ’20 Lifestyle Editor Anissa Wilson ’20, an art major specializing in drawing, took a field trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in her first year at St. Joe’s.

Kathleen Vaccaro, administrative assistant and adjunct professor of art, was Wilson's Drawing I professor at the time.

Wilson told Vaccaro that it was her first time at the museum and she enjoyed looking at the art. Vaccaro said she even came to class about a year later with the same button from that trip.

“There’s something so ethereal about seeing works of art up close that you’ve only ever seen through pictures,” Wilson said.

The memory sticks out to Vaccaro in looking back on the fellowship Wilson completed this past summer at the art museum, the Mellon Curatorial Fellowship. The fellowship allowed Wilson and other participants to spend a week working at the art museum, complete with housing at the University of Pennsylvania and a stipend.

Summer 2018 was the first time the fellowship was offered in Philadelphia, as it is held in other cities including Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston and Kansas City.

“Not a lot of people really know what a curator actually does, and I was like, this would be really interesting to see what they do and everything behind it,” Wilson said.

Through the fellowship, Wilson said she discovered that curators are responsible for all of the art in a museum, including placing the pieces into their respective exhibits and keeping in contact with contemporary artists.

Wilson said they took field trips to venues that function as both studios and

Wilson’s work was featured in the junior art show on April 5. PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

galleries near Philadelphia, Traction Company and Delaware Contemporary, along with getting to know each department of the Philadelphia Art Museum, her favorite being the conservation team.

“Artwork conservators are the people in charge of making sure the artwork still looks great, taking care of it, making sure things aren’t going wrong,” Wilson said.

“It’s a lot of chemistry that’s involved in that, and I didn’t do too well in chemistry, but this is interesting.”

Wilson and other participants in the program also worked on a project throughout the week, which she and her group members decided to call “the art of looking” that was presented to the rest of the program and the people responsible for choosing the summer program participants. “[It was about] how the male gaze has so much power and authority over the fe-

male and how a lot of times back then when they were painting females, they didn’t have much agency or authority,” Wilson said.

“Our gaze upon that art piece is pretty much non consensual, so that was our theme.”

Following the summer program, participants had the opportunity to apply for two spots in the two-year fellowship program. Wilson ultimately decided not to apply despite enjoying her time in the Summer Academy, because she realized that curation was not what she wanted to do with her art degree.

“Throughout the fellowship, I realized that I don’t necessarily want to be the person hanging up the art on the wall and putting together a gallery of other people’s art, but I want to be the artist,” Wilson said. “I want my art to be on the wall.”

Jeanne Bracy, gallery coordinator for the Merion Hall and Boland Hall galleries,

is familiar with Wilson’s work, as she’s been placing it around campus since last year.

Bracy said that along with creating art in unique mediums like marker and pen, Wilson’s work is easy to place because her pieces often follow a theme.

“Some students are kind of all over the place, they don’t have themes,” Bracy said. “She tends to work in them, so she has groupings. That is always helpful when you’re trying to put an exhibit together and you’re trying to have themes in a few pieces.

Aesthetically, it looks nicer in an exhibit.”

Aside from being a creative and talented artist, Bracy emphasized Wilson’s work ethic and professional demeanor.

“She has business cards already, a website, so she’s totally ahead of the game,” Bracy said. “She’s learning how to market herself already, and I don’t usually see that until second semester senior year.”

Vaccaro, who taught Wilson in Drawing I and is now her professor for Painting III, said she is impressed with Wilson’s artwork as well as her character.

“One of the women that works in the [Mellon Curatorial Fellowship] program came to St. Joe’s to recruit people for the next year, and Anissa volunteered to come and speak to the St. Joe’s students about it,” Vaccaro said. “Anissa’s really good with that, volunteering for community based things on campus and getting the word out about opportunities to other people on campus.”

For Wilson, the takeaway from the fellowship was that she belongs in the art field and can do almost anything with her degree.

“A lot of people think of the starving artist concept when people try to go into a creative field like that, but there are so many different fields you can go into with basic art skills,” Wilson said.

WE WANT YOU... TO BE THE HAWK Saint Joseph’s University seeks a new Hawk mascot to uphold one of the greatest traditions in college basketball.

All full-time undergraduate students in good academic standing are eligible.

The application procedure for the 2019-20 season is: 1. Send Email to Athletic Department indicating: • WHY you are interested • WHAT you think the position represents • HOW you would distinguish yourself from other candidates 2. Please include a campus activities résumé and letter of reference from a faculty or staff member at the University 3. Attach short video demonstrating your school spirit and “Flaptitude” Please submit all materials via email by Monday, April 22 to: Mr. Joe Lunardi, Athletics Marketing, jlunardi@sju.edu

The Hawk Will Never Die! #THWND

Lifestyle

10

April 10, 2019

Across decades, Rodney Powell ’57 fought for change Former activist discusses time at St. Joe’s ANNIE CLARK ’19 Hawk Staff Dr. Rodney Powell ’57 stood between civil rights activists John Lewis and James Bevel, both of whom were seated at a whites-only Walgreens lunch counter in Nashville, Tennessee on March 25, 1960. Resistance to racial desegregation from local establishments had reached a peak in the city. A sign had been installed by Walgreens management: “Fountain closed in interest of public safety.”

All three men were there as part of non-violent protests against segregation. Powell was helping to monitor that day’s demonstration.

“Sometimes you sat at the counter, sometimes you were part of a group that observed,” Powell said. “Or you were part of a group that was sort of a monitor to make sure that those who were on those frontlines sitting were okay, weren’t having regrets or didn’t feel they could continue to be nonviolent.”

Two months after the Walgreens demonstration, Nashville would become one of the first major Southern cities to desegregate “whites only” lunch counters.

After graduating from St. Joe’s in 1957, Powell had enrolled as a medical student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, one of the oldest and largest historically black medical schools. He remained committed to the civil rights movement, helping to organize the 1961 Freedom Rides, which challenged laws enforcing segregation on public transit.

Nearly 60 years later, Powell said his involvement in civil rights efforts was never a conscious choice.

“It was something that happened because the injustices were so glaring,” Powell said. “Wanting to rectify these social issues was something that I don’t recall making conscience decisions to be part of, but just gravitated toward.”

As a St. Joe’s undergraduate, Powell had other ideas for his life.

Powell came to St. Joe’s with the goal of attending medical school. He worked part-time all four years to save for his medical education while commuting from his North Philadelphia home. Powell was one of the only black students in his class year, and he said he did not feel welcomed by his peers.

“I was there,” Powell said, “but I wasn’t invited into any of the social activities.”

Powell also said issues of race were not discussed in his classes or elsewhere on campus.

Major events impacting black Americans—in particular, the murder of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycotts—were never talked

about, at least not in front of him.

“Never once in that whole four-year period did any member of the faculty or any of my fellow students ever seek to address or understand the significant issues that were happening,” Powell said.

Powell dedicated much of his time at St. Joe’s to academics. He was a biology major in the pre-medical track, a program completed by about one-third of the students who originally enrolled. His rigorous program of study left little time for extracurricular involvement.

A major campus event Powell did become involved with is one he still remembers “keenly and painfully.”

In 1955, during his junior year, Powell was approached by several classmates he had never spoken to before. The students were performing in a one-act play competition sponsored by the Cap and Bells Dramatic Society, what was then the university’s theater company. They told Powell that, because of Powell’s race, he was most qualified to perform the song “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” a spiritual song originally published in the 1867 compilation “Slave Songs of the United States.”

In an Oct. 13, 1955, article in The Hawk about the contest, Powell is listed as one of six juniors performing in the play “Who Stand and Wait.”

“Basically, they were asking me to subject myself to all of the indignities and the suffering of my ancestors who were slaves,” Powell said, “and I guess in my desperation not to make waves, to fit in, I agreed.”

A bright spot during Powell’s four years at St. Joe’s came in the form of his friendship with Sherman Bannett ’57, now a retired radiologist living in New Jersey. Bannett was a peer in the pre-medical program whom Powell met his first year. The men still speak regularly, maintaining a 66-year-long friendship.

Just as Powell was part of a small population of black students at St. Joe’s, Bannett was one of the only Jewish students. As a result, Bannett said he and Powell were mostly left alone.

“We were such a minority that nobody paid much attention to us,” Bannett said.

Like Powell, Bannett was also intensely focused on his academic work and commuted to campus from home. In general, St. Joe’s students at that time did not depend on school friends for socializing, Bannett said.

His friendship with Powell was an exception.

“He’s certainly the closest [friend] I ever had in college,” Bannett said. “We enjoyed each other, we spent much of our studying [time] together. We had lunch together every

Powell, right, with his husband, Eddinger on the island of Isola Madre on Lake Maggiore in Italy.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RODNEY POWELL ’57.

Powell pictured in the 1957 yearbook.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SJU ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS.

day, and we had our classes together.”

After leaving St. Joe’s and becoming involved with the civil rights movement in Nashville, Powell would go on to realize his goals of becoming a doctor and began a career in public health. He married Gloria Johnson, a fellow student at Meharry who had also been involved in the movement. The couple had three children, April Powell-Willingham, Allison Powell and Daniel Powell.

In 1975, Powell and Johnson separated. Five years earlier, Powell had disclosed to Johnson a long-held secret: he was gay.

“It was hard to accept that I was the person that was the object of derision when people used terms like ‘queer’ and ‘faggot’ and ‘sissy,’ and I didn’t want to be that person,” Powell said. “Did I know I was gay [when I was younger]? Not really, but I knew I was very different. I never quite put a name on it until much later in life.”

Two years after Powell and Johnson separated, Powell moved to Hawaii alone. He had found a job there in the medical field. Powell would later find, too, that Hawaii offered him a future as an openly gay man Shortly after the move, Powell met his now husband Bob Eddinger, Ph.D., a zoologist. Powell-Willingham, Powell’s daughter, said Eddinger eventually became part of their family.

“I like to think that we were on the vanguard of blended families in terms of a gay parent, or gay parents, because we consider Bob, my dad’s partner, to be one of our parents,” Powell-Willingham said. “He considers us to be his kids, too.”

As the LGBTQ rights movement gained traction in the late 1990s, Powell was once

again at the crossroads at which he’d found himself in Nashville: stay silent or get involved. He chose the latter.

Powell-Willingham described her father as having a natural determination about him.

“While he’s extremely charming and well-spoken and gracious, he’s also stubborn as hell,” Powell-Willingham said. “When he turns that energy and focus to something that he wants to accomplish, he’s all in.”

Through a mutual friend, Powell became involved with the LGBTQ activist organization Soulforce, which was founded in the civil rights movement’s tradition of nonviolence. In 2005, he helped to plan the group’s Equality Ride.

Drawing inspiration from the 1961 Freedom Rides for a new civil rights movement, the Equality Ride stopped at religiously-affiliated universities across the country in hopes of reaching religious leaders who used the Bible to justify anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. “[Soulforce] really moved the needle,” Powell said. “It helped to highlight the injustices of homophobia and the church’s role in it.”

The man who once feared “making waves” as an undergraduate at St. Joe’s went on to campaign for civil rights across two generations and for two minoritized groups. As for the progress yet to come, Powell said he views the socially aware mentalities of younger generations as the country’s “saving grace.”

“There are people who have gone before you, as there were before me, and we all build on the lessons learned from each generation,” Powell said. “I’m a real optimist about where it’s going to lead us.”

Lifestyle

The Hawk Newspaper

April 10, 2019

11

Telling stories and fixing computers

Michael Brooks, the Francis A. Drexel Library technology support coordinator, has published three books since 2012. PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

MICHAEL BROOKS ON HIS WRITING AND HIS ROLE AT ST. JOE’S CARA SMITH ’21 Assistant Lifestyle Editor Michael Brooks, the Drexel Library technology support coordinator, has been working at St. Joe’s for 23 years.

Brooks, a Philadelphia native, interacts with St. Joe’s students on a daily basis in the library to help them with technological problems.

Additionally, Brooks received his undergraduate degree in communications from La Salle University, completed the St. Joe’s writing studies program and is a published author.

How did you become interested in working in library technology?

At one time in my life, I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t really have the experience. I ended up working in libraries because that’s where I had the bulk of my experience. When I went to La Salle, in my sophomore, junior and senior years, I worked at a reference department there.

After I graduated, I only had library experience, so everywhere I applied for had some kind of library background.

It wasn’t until nine to 10 years ago here I got a chance to gravitate toward that writing side. I got my masters degree in writing studies here in 2001. Amongst all of that, I have been working with computers since 1989. My wife bought me a computer back then in 1989, a PC, as a gift. It took off from there. I incorporated technology and computers in with my library work and that’s how I ended up being a technology support coordinator here in the university library.

What are your main responsibilities and roles as the technology support coordinator?

As technology support coordinator, I basically provide front line support for the library. I’m also a liaison between certain aspects of the library and the IT department.

I have a very good working repore with the technicians and people who work at the help desk in IT. It’s my job to make sure the printers are working, making sure that the staff side technology is working and running: copiers, printers, computers, laptops desktops, everything and anything having to do with technology.

This semester, I am supervising 13 tech students. I have supervised as many as 15 or 16 in the past. The tech students’ job is to provide support for the front desk staff and any students who need help in the learning commons. The bulk of that is making sure the printers are working.

Why is having a technology support coordinator in a library significant?

I think there is a need for at least one person in every library to be the funnel, to be the go to person for everything and anything that goes on with technology. You are going to have people who are working in the same department who may not know what to do with regards to how a computer operates, how an application operates or how some software works.

The technology person in the library has to understand how a library works.

Not everyone in a library is a librarian. You have student workers, part-time people, full-time librarians, it’s a mixture of people.

With that mixture of people, you’re going to have a mixture of experiences. Back in

cataloging, you have a catalog assistant who is an expert in doing all the cataloging on the computer. But the first time something goes wrong on the computer, they may not know what to do and they need to go to the tech person. The tech person can go figure out what to do before a ticket has to be created and it gets bumped up to IT. I also consider myself a buffer between the IT staff. I can solve a problem without having to consult IT people. Then they can go about their business dealing with what they need to deal with rather than having to stop and come in and help somebody figure out how to turn the computer on or how to turn it off. If I can do that then I can solve the problem and let IT know it was solved. I make them aware there was a problem in case something else comes up and I can’t solve it.

What type of writing do you publish?

When I was in the graduate studies program here, I originally enrolled to get experience in professional writing so I could do better business correspondence. In the program, I was introduced into something called flash fiction writing, which is storytelling under 1,000 words. I have written three humorous flash fictions stories from the point of view of a father.

He could be anybody’s dad. The first book was written 2012, the second was written in 2016 and I just published a third one. It is just a series of conversations between a father and his son.

The father has these sometimes oddball points of view. [He and] his son, they banter back and forth on what the father is talking about. In the one I just published, the grandson is introduced. The grandson

pretty much challenges Pop, if you will, with his way of seeing the world. Pop is somewhat like me. [Pop] is an amalgam of my father, my father in-law, me and other men that have been influential in my life.

I have just created this character based on all of these other personalities. With the introduction of the grandson, I am trying to look at life from the point of view of a child to simplify the complexities of life.

Anything else that you would like to add?

[I have only been interviewed] one other time in my life. That was back when I was in undergraduate school. I went to La Salle with Michael Brooks, the basketball player. He graduated a year ahead of me. I was taking a journalism class, and I had to go see my journalism professor, and he was in the same building as the head of the sports department. When I went in to see my professor, I had to announce who I was. [The sports director] was in the office and he heard my name.

He rushed out, said he wanted to talk to me and that had heard that there was another Michael Brooks at [La Salle] but he didn’t know how to find me.

He set up an interview with me and a sports writer from the Philadelphia Inquirer. They came up to La Salle and took a few pictures of me and Michael on the basketball court. I was interviewed on the phone at my home by this reporter and then the next day I was getting my picture taken. Two days later [the article] was in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

12

April 10, 2019

Lifestyle

The Hawk Newspaper

CSA hosts second annual fashion show CARLY CALHOUN ’21 Hawk Staff As the lights dimmed in The Perch and the music began, the crowd was transported back to the 1970s. Bell-bottomed performers in colorful tops began entertaining a room full of students, staff and family members at the second annual Caribbean Student Association (CSA) fashion show on April 5.

Each performer walked on stage, did a dance move and then strutted back as the music faded into screams and cheers from the audience.

The CSA fashion show was an incredible event, according to Terry Severe ’20, publicist for CSA and a participant in the fashion show.

“I mean honestly the first fashion show, which was last year, was amazing,” Severe said. “The turnout was amazing, the show was amazing, everyone loved it.”

With different categories including “Gentlemen’s Club,” “Damn, Denim, Damn” and “Carnival,” this year’s eclectic outfits and fashions caught everyone’s eye and held it for the entire show.

Sierra Long ’20, secretary of CSA, said that the fashion show is the biggest event that the organization hosts every year, and it is also one of the most important.

“We just want to keep it [the fashion show] going because that’s our legacy, that’s the imprint that we have at this university, the one big thing that we do every year,” Long said.

Imani Briscoe, program coordinator for the Center for Inclusion and Diversity, said the fashion show is a great event for St. Joe’s to see a group of people in the community who are unapologetically full of inspiration and boldness.

Fatmata Sakho ’21 wears camoflauge in the fashion show. PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

“The SJU Caribbean Student Association fashion show is a reflection of the community and tight bonds that exist within pockets of our campus,” Briscoe said.

Members of the audience recorded the event on their cellphones and cheered on their friends and classmates as they posed, strutted and showed off their individuality and style in each category.

Hadassah Colbert ’20 said she attended the fashion show because she is a member of CSA and wanted to support her friends in the performance. She said she was more impressed with this production than last year’s event.

“I think it’s great, definitely improved from last year,” Colbert said. “They’re do-

ing an excellent job.”

CSA member Kenneth Nwele ’21 said participating in the fashion show was a way for him to try something new.

“It was a good way to branch out with fashion and show what we’re about, and it was a good thing to bring all of us together,” Nwele said. “It was something different I really wanted to be a part of.”

As executive board members, Severe and Long said they were responsible for inviting people from different backgrounds to join the CSA and to attend the organization’s events. Students from Temple University, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania and Howard University attended the show.

“We had about four executive members visit from Penn’s own Caribbean [American Student] Association,” Severe said.

Long and Severe said the diverse crowd was a testament to the efforts of the CSA to open its doors to everyone.

“We welcome all walks of life,” Long said. “It’s for everyone. We want to share our culture and not exclude people from it.”

Briscoe said all participants did good work for the show. Models kept the enthusiastic crowd engaged with their fashion, dancing and attitude.

“These students invested their time, energy and creativity to pull off a show that was nothing less than amazing,” Briscoe said.

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Sports

The Hawk Newspaper

April 10, 2019

13

The role of Philadelphia media in leaking St. Joe's player news JAMES MCCLOSKEY JR. ’20 Hawk Staff “BIG grad transfer: Saint Joseph’s guard Lamar [sic] Kimble is in the transfer portal,” Jeff Goodman, a college basketball insider at Stadium Sports Network, tweeted on

April 2.

Moments later, tweets began to pour out from media outlets, fans and random people who felt the need to give their opinion on the matter even though Kimble has yet to put a statement out about his decision to enter the transfer portal.

Media outlets have taken control away from college athletes to announce their decisions regarding recruitment, transfer options and declaring for professional leagues. As a fan of Hawk basketball, I want to hear from the players themselves that they have chosen to leave the program.

No matter who the inside source is that has allowed the media to gain access to information regarding an athlete’s future, let the athlete make the announcement first.

Let the player tell the public why they have made their decision.

Whether it be through personal accounts or through the men’s basketball social media, let the players decide how they will announce their decisions. Don’t create rumors about a player’s intentions or their reasoning for leaving. Don't condemn the players or athletic departments for their decisions.

When rumors are trending on social

media about a player’s decision, especially before the player announces the decision, you are removing control from the player.

For instance, redshirt sophomore forward Charlie Brown has officially declared for the 2019 NBA Draft, but the decision was leaked by various media outlets before his own announcement What if Brown had decided to rethink his decision, but it became so widely discussed on Twitter before his announcement that he felt he no longer had a choice?

ering the search for newly appointed Head Coach Billy Lange along with current Hawk players who are exploring opportunities outside of St. Joe’s to continue their academic and basketball careers.

Almost instantaneously after the Hawks’ 2019 recruiting class posted messages on their social media accounts reopening their recruitment, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stadium Sports Media and St. Joe’s alumni began to develop stories about the players' reasoning for leaving the program. They

No matter who the inside source is that has allowed the media to gain access to information regarding an athlete’s future, let the athlete make the announcement first. Let the player tell the public why they have made their decision.

When information is incorrect or misconstrued on social media, the images of student athletes are diminished. Fans are already disappointed that their favorite players are leaving the team. NCAA and NBA scouts have already begun to reach out to players. How then can the student-athlete return without being shamed or thought of differently?

Beginning with the firing of Phil Martelli, former men’s basketball head coach, local and national media outlets have been closely covering the moves of Hawk recruits, who have reopened their recruitment.

The media has also been closely cov-

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condemned the St. Joe’s athletics office for not doing more to keep the recruits committed to the Hawks.

Then, almost in harmony with the urges from the media and fans for the athletic department, namely Jill Bodensteiner, J.D., director of athletics, to do more to keep players and recruits in the program, reports of current players opting to enter the transfer portal began circulating.

At this time, freshman guard Jared Bynum, redshirt junior guard Kimble and graduate transfer Troy Holston entered into the NCAA Transfer Portal Shortly after, an announcement by Black

Cager Sports Media said redshirt sophomore forward Charlie Brown has declared for the NBA Draft created significant buzz amongst Hawk fans.

The issue is that Black Cager Sports Media has a history of posting questionable content on its social media. On the same day they announced Brown’s intentions to enter the draft, they posted that the university mascot, the Hawk, will be forgoing its “remaining years of eligibility” in order to tryout for an NBA team, the Atlanta Hawks.

On top of this, they announced that “the floor tiles and electrical outlets are transferring from St. Joe’s.” Questionable content like this creates confusion and misinformation, making it hard to know who to trust.

Every player has a choice to make at the end of each season, regardless of a coaching change. It is the least we can do for the student-athletes, who give their all to this program and to the university, not to judge them on their decisions.

Media outlets—whether they be local, such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, national, such as Stadium Sports Media, or bloggers and podcastors, such as @HawkHillHardwood on Twitter—must be conscious of what they are posting.

Student-athletes are more than just a story. They are individuals who give each day of their college experience to a sport. By spreading information without official notice , the player is being told they do not matter. Student-athletes should be able to have a voice to announce their own decisions.

14

April 10, 2019

The Hawk Newspaper

Sports

Billy Lange, newly appointed men's basketball head coach, was introduced to the St. Joe's community on April 4 and was received by fans in Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena. PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

Lange hopes to create winning culture on Hawk Hill NICK KARPINSKI ’21 Sports Editor Billy Lange was officially named the 15th head coach in St. Joe's men's basketball program history on March 28.

Just five days before, Lange received a phone call from Jill Bodensteiner J.D., director of athletics, telling Lange that he would interview for the job three days later.

Lange spent the three days in between that phone call and his interview preparing.

He constructed a 30-page plan focused on team culture, as well as player and team development. According to Bodensteiner, this detailed perparation separated Lange from other candidates.

“Within 10 minutes of being in the interview, I knew that [Lange] was our next head coach,” Bodensteiner said during the April 4 press conference following Lange’s introduction.

Lange saw this preparation as a way to fit his basketball philosophy to the culture at St. Joe's.

"It revolved around me getting my thoughts to a concise manner and then applying it directly to how it would work here at St. Joe's," Lange said.

According to University President mark C. Reed, who was part of the interviewing process, Lange fits what St. Joe’s men’s basketball is “known for.”

“We are known for our passion and competitiveness on the court and admired for our development of student-athletes,” Reed said during Lange’s introduction.

Lange believes that player development starts with team culture.

“All players are unique individual entities as human beings, no two players are the

same, and as a collective, they can learn from each other,” he said.

Lange wants the men’s basketball team culture to revolve around two aspects in terms of how players act on and off the court: “telling each other the truth” and “offering each other respect.”

Lange focused on player development during his time with the Philadelphia 76ers, where he was an assistant coach since 2013.

According to Lange, while players may be similar in their position or playing style, they are uniquely different in how they can move forward and progress.

“There are a certain set of skills that [players] have to have, foundational skills,” Lange said. “But then each player has a unique set of skills and gifts as well. [I need to] learn what each player can bring, and then develop those strengths until they are maxed out. You have to have a very flexible system of player development.”

According to Lange, that same flexibility is what allowed 76ers forward Joel Embiid to grow and diversify his game, a product of player development. During his time with the 76ers, Lange found creative ways to perfect Embiid’s form shooting, putting his leg on a chair, allowing him to efficiently practice a one foot jumper.

“It’s interesting to watch Joel [Embiid] do all these different things knowing that when he came to [the 76ers], he wasn’t necessarily thought of as a player that could do what he’s doing now,” Lange said.

Lange believes that he can apply a similar, yet flexible coaching style to the players on the current Hawk roster.

“Great teachers become students of their pupils,” Lange said. “We have to spend time being intimate with our guys in terms of

watching and studying them on film.”

Lange said he wants to create a certain dynamic among his future assistant coaches, who he hopes to have hired by May 27 at the latest, where they will have an understanding of how specific Hawk players operate on the court.

“We won’t hire a coach here that isn’t excited to get on the floor and work with basketball players,” Lange said. “We want an entire staff that will be on the floor.”

In order to avoid completely revamping the roster, Lange said players like redshirt sophomore forward Charlie Brown, redshirt junior guard Lamarr Kimble and freshman guard Jared Bynum need to stay.

Brown officially entered his name into the 2019 NBA Draft. Bynum entered his name into the transfer portal and according to Lange, Kimble has done the same.

Lange has been consistently speaking with Brown since arriving on campus.

During their initial meeting on March 28, Lange told Brown that he has two options.

“Firstly, [Brown] potentially has a guarantee to be an NBA draft pick, but then he has to decide if he’s comfortable with the range,” Lange said. “[Secondly], [Brown] might not hear what he likes to hear, and then he makes a decision. Those decisions are, ‘Do I risk going undrafted, do I feel good about trying to find my way on a summer league team or roster?’”

If Brown goes undrafted or is uncomfortable with where he stands after the draft, Lange said he is welcome to return to Hawk Hill. If Brown hires an NCAA-certified agent, he does not lose eligibility and is permitted to return to St. Joe’s. Due to NCAA rules, Brown has until 5 p.m. on June 24, the Monday after the draft, to inform Boden-

steiner of his decision.

“Brown can come back to St. Joe’s armed with everything people have told him that he needs to get better at, knowing that he’s playing for a coach that knows what it takes to get him there,” Lange said.

However, if Brown, Kimble and Bynum do decide to leave, Lange will be left witha large void to fill, one that he said will affect his vision for the immediate future. According to Lange, his “current focus” is building a team of players that want to represent St. Joe's on the basketball court. “[St. Joe’s] is a relationship for life,” Lange said. “I want a roster that fits modern basketball, and I want a roster of people that are going to love St. Joe’s.”

In regard to a long-term future, Lange has a plan, according to Bodensteiner. “[St. Joe’s men’s basketball] must and will evolve with the special university that it represents,” Bodensteiner said during Lange’s introduction. “Change starts with a vision to be even greater than we are today and having a plan to make that vision a reality. Billy Lange has a vision, and Billy Lange has a plan.”

For Lange, he wants a group of players that embody the St. Joe's tradition, creating a culture where each member of the program can thrive.

“A roster of players that respect and appreciate St. Joe’s, that compete for the story of St. Joe’s basketball with a real driven, individual passion to pursue their dream of becoming a professional basketball player,” Lange said. “I want to watch our staff grow, watch our coaches get better. I want managers to be invested, have opportunities, take empowerment for how we run on a daily basis.”

Sports 15

April 10, 2019

Natasha Cloud helps to lead activism in WNBA RYAN MULLIGAN ’21 Assistant Sports Editor Natasha Cloud is a former guard for the St. Joe’s women’s basketball team, who played for the Hawks from 2012 to 2015.

Cloud currently starts for the Washington Mystics in the WNBA. On July 22, 2016, Cloud, alongside her Mystics teammates, entered pregame warmups wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts.

The act was in response to police officers shooting and killing two unarmed black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

After the game, Mystics players did not speak to members of the media about basketball, creating a “media blackout” in order to bring attention to the killings of unarmed black men.

Cloud spoke to The Hawk regarding the importance of using one’s platform as both a collegiate and professional athlete to speak out on racial issues.

Did St. Joe’s act as a catalyst for the activism in your professional career?

St. Joe’s is a big part of who I am, not only as a player but more so as a person. I grew up a lot there, developing as a young female and finding myself, where I fit in and where my voice fit in. My parents raised me to be strong and find what I believe in and what I believe in.

What was it like to attend a predominantly white institution?

It was tough to attend a predominantly white institution. I am of mixed race, I grew up in an all-white family. I was always that gray area. I think a lot of mixed people think that way, that they’re either too white for black people or too black for white people.

For me, I was able to fit in with both crowds It was extremely hard, especially when you’re talking about a predominantly white private Jesuit institution. I went to Catholic high school, so that prepared me. When you’re looking at the majority of who black people on campus are, they come from the basketball team and other varsity sports. I stuck to what I knew, I stuck to my teammates and the men’s team.

I know there are different organizations on campus for African American students, which is huge, but when you’re talking about being racially divided, that is a problem at St. Joe’s. It’s not diverse enough. And whether that falls on admissions or handing out more financial aid, making it more acceptable for minorities, not just black people, all minorities. We are a private institution which usually means wealthy, which usually means white. There can be a little bit more diversity in the admissions department, and that would help a great deal.

Cloud was the 15th pick in the second round of the 2015 WNBA draft by the Washington Mystics.

Cloud was a two-time captain at St. Joe's and was named the 2013-14 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SJU ATHLETICS

Did you ever feel ostracized or subject to any negativity based on race? Did you witness other people of color experiencing this at St. Joe’s?

I’ve experienced being ostracized from a personal and outsider’s perspective.

I’ve never been directly demeaned in that sense, just because of my race. Everything is with an ulterior motive. When I try explaining to younger African American kids what racism looks like, it’s not always in the sense of being called a n----- or being followed around in stores. That happens, yes.

But it can be in other subtle ways as well where you are talked down to. And sometimes it can be unconsciously said. That’s part of the problem. The racism that is on campus, people may not know that they are being racist, it’s just embedded in them within societal norms and perspectives on minorities. I’ve experienced both.

From a demeaning aspect, teachers would come up to me and tell me I’m very well-spoken. I hate when people tell me that I’m very well-spoken because as a mixed female, that means they perceived me as uneducated or a certain type of way, without even giving me a chance to speak. By looking at me from an outside perspective, one might perceive me as an African American female, but you have no idea of my background and family, so you never would have known that I was mixed race and I grew up in an all-white family. You don’t always have to be called a racial slur to feel racism, it can be simply a demeaning sentence or be followed around different stores around campus because you are black.

As a professional athlete, do you see it as a responsibility to use your platform to speak out on social issues?

Especially being in Washington, D.C., the most powerful area in the country, it’s incredibly important for us to use our platform as athletes to create conversations. These tough conversations are ones that need to be had, especially when talking about social injustices and inequalities. We’re in a really difficult time in society right now. We took a lot of steps forward with Obama being in office. With Trump being in office, we’ve taken about 10 steps back. Because of his ignorance and inhumanity, it allowed people to feel as though they could do or say whatever they want. We’ve taken steps backwards as people and that’s unfortunate.

What drew you to the Black Lives Matter movement, and why is it important that Americans pay attention to it?

It still is at its height. We might not be protesting right now because we’re not in season, but for us it’s an everyday fight and fear for our lives and for our family members and friends, especially our black males. When you’re talking about trying to create change and trying to create conversations, these are conversations that I’ve had to have with my family and friends, getting them to understand why I am so vocal about the topic. A lot of people will come to me and tell me, ‘you weren’t raised that way, you were raised in an all-white family. It doesn’t matter how I was raised or what family I grew up in because from an outside perspective, from a policeman pulling me over on the side of the road, I’m an African American female. That’s what they see, that’s all they see. So instantly, because of the color of my skin, I’m perceived to be a certain way, and I’m feared. It’s even worse if you are a black male.

How critical is it to confront race on a college campus, especially a predominantly white institution like St. Joe’s?

It’s extremely important. For us as a society, we need to start with the younger generation, trying to create change, and you’re talking about creating change and sparking change at younger levels. Even at elementary school to middle school to high school to college, because by the time kids get to college, if that’s already embedded in them and societal norms are already set in them, it’s hard to get out of by the time you’re 19, 20 years old.

There should be no separation based on color of skin or origin or sexual orientation. Athletes on campus can create change because sports bring everyone together, and that’s the biggest thing in my point of different topics. Sports have a way of bringing people together and bringing out the best in people. And certain athletes in college understand the power with which they have, so if they can start to create change on campus and get people and fans to follow them there. It’s like a snowball effect, if you can get just one person to buy into it, you can get other people into it as well.

16

April 10, 2019

The Hawk Newspaper

Sports

ST. JOE'S CHEER WINS NATIONALS FOR FIRST TIME IN PROGRAM HISTORY

The St. Joe's cheerleading team competed in two rounds to win the NCA championship. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SJU CHEERLEADING

COLLIN MESSENGER ’22 Hawk Staff The competition for the St. Joe’s cheerleading team began as soon as they settled into their hotel in Daytona, Florida on April 4. Cheerleading mats were sprawled across the hotel for practice, creating a sense of competition according to senior base and captain Nikki Kennedy.

Just days later, on April 6, the team won first place in the Intermediate All-Girls Division I category in the National Cheerleading Association College National Championship.

St. Joe’s outlasted 12 other teams in their division that included teams who won bids to compete in Nationals.

Kennedy said the environment at Nationals was electric.

“Being the loudest in that gym, counting really loud and having high energy for each other set the tone for our competition and helped us gauge our confidence in our ability to execute,” Kennedy said.

Junior base Madeline Bridges said despite the intimidating environment, watching other teams practice in the hotel, the team managed to stay focused going into preliminary competition.

“We just kept reiterating to each other that this is it, this is where you are, this is what we have worked for since August,” Bridges said. “This was our last time as a team all together, with our senior class leaving, so just give your best because this is our only shot.”

The team placed second in the preliminary competition, which took place on April 5.

Senior base and captain Rose Walton said this result pushed them to regroup and stay motivated for the final competition the next day.

“Being in second place was honestly better for us going into day two, because it wasn’t our best performance,” Walton said. “We had something to work towards for finals and drive us to execute our best performance.”

After competing for a bid, 13 teams in the Intermediate All-Girls Division I competed in semifinals or preliminaries.

For seniors like Walton and Kennedy, the finals were their last shot at gold. Walton said she had that in mind as she waited backstage before the competition.

“Not doing exactly what I wanted to do in prelims, I just wanted to go into the finals, leave it all out there and have no regrets,” Walton said. “I was in shock and teared up a little, knowing that it was going to be my last time competing, but I had to bring myself back to focusing on executing my movements.”

Kennedy echoed Walton’s thoughts on the intensity of that atmosphere.

“It’s definitely a nerve-racking environment,” Kennedy said. “When you’re behind that big stage, waiting there with your team, you can hear the teams in front of you that you’re competing against and the crowd screaming for them. It’s easy to get into your own head.”

The team finished second in two of the last three years. They were the runners up to University of Maine in 2016 and Stephen F. Austin State University in 2017.

Head Coach Lauren Hanos said this team’s consistent intensity in practice reflected their drive to finish in first place.

“When we worked out the routine we knew that it was special, but we knew we had to work super hard to capture that top spot in nationals,” Hanos said. "The team came in every night for practice ready to go, focused and looking to help better each other, setting us up to succeed.”

The team found solace in their preparation according to Walton, emulating this moment in every practice.

“The lights were only on us, so it genuinely felt like it was only us out there by ourselves, besides hearing the crowd,” Walton said. “Our high energy and loud practices simulated that experience and best prepared us for that situation.”

Bridges said that she and Kennedy shared a look of disbelief when they finished their routine, knowing they had executed a special performance.

For Walton, when they hit their final

movement, the crowd’s uproar confirmed this intuition.

“We ended with a pyramid, which I think is the strongest part of our routine,” Walton said. “Hearing the crowd and even our own team screaming for each other at the end, that was the moment where I believed that we just did this.”

Walton was right about the pyramid, as they scored the highest for that section of the routine. The team ended the weekend with a

96.2583% of perfection for the event, enough to take home first place in their group.

Hanos said she will always remember going backstage to celebrate after the team’s win.

“We got to the back, the on-deck area and [the team] started the H-A-W-K-S chant,” Hanos said. “That moment for me will be forever special because there were other teams back there, and so to have that moment to show pride in our school was just amazing.”

The St. Joe's cheerleading team traditionally takes photos on the Daytona beach after the championship.