The Hawk April 14, 2021

April 14, 2021

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Volume CII

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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

UNIVERSITIES CONSIDER VACCINATION MANDATES

A woman recieves the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on the opening day of the city’s sixth vaccination site at Edward O’Malley Athletic Association in South Philadelphia on March 22.

PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

DEVIN YINGLING ’22 News Editor Universities across the U.S. are grappling with decisions about whether students should be required to show proof of vaccination prior to their return to campus for the fall 2021 semester.

U.S. President Joe Biden revised the deadline for states to make every adult eligible for the coronavirus vaccine. In response the state of Pennsylvania announced that all Pennsylvanians will be eligible to be vaccinated by April 19. With more citizens now eligible for the vaccine, universities have the power to mandate proof of vaccination as they have with other vaccinations

such as the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

St. Joe’s has not yet issued any requirements that students show proof of vaccination for the fall 2021 semester.

According to an April 7 university announcement, Zenobia Hargust, chief Human Resources officer and Cary Anderson, Ed.D., associate provost and vice president of Student Life, wrote that community members can voluntarily disclose their vaccination status through an online reporting form. Because of the vaccines’ current conditional approval under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), the university will not yet mandate students to prove vaccination.

“When the vaccines have full approval, the University will reevaluate whether

the vaccine will be required for students,” Hargust and Anderson said. “As with other vaccinations, employees will not be required to show proof of immunity.”

Dr. Anthony Harris, M.B.A., M.P.H., is the chief innovation officer and associate medical director for onsite clinical operations at WorkCare, a global occupational health organization helping other organizations manage employee health. Harris said because many institutions of higher education are following the lead of the federal government, they are not mandating the vaccine for community members.

“The military is not requiring the vaccine for the same basis, that it’s EUA and not for FDA approval,” Harris said. “But if the opinion comes down that EUA is ac-

ceptable from a legal standpoint as full approval, then we will likely see that change.”

However, other universities have already started implementing vaccination plans for fall 2021.

Rutgers University announced in a March 25 statement that all students returning to campus for the fall 2021 semester are required to show proof of vaccination.

According to the statement, the university has been approved by the state of New Jersey to offer on-campus administration clinics and will then be able to help administer vaccines once supplies become available.

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Should St. Joe’s permit students to gamble on SJU Athletics?

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April 14, 2021

News

The Hawk Newspaper

University updates commencement plans CARLY CALHOUN ’21 Copy Editor The university released updated information detailing plans for this year’s in-person commencement ceremony for the Class of 2021.

The updated information, as it appeared on April 9, can be found under the university’s COVID-19 Safety at Commencement webpage. The information lays out guidelines for graduates, guests, faculty and staff to follow, including requiring mask wearing regardless of vaccine status, social distancing and requiring everyone stay seated throughout the event.

Jillian Garvey ’21, president of Universi-

ty Student Senate (USS), said she and Gabby Stevenson ’21, vice president of USS, wanted to make the commencement ceremony as normal as possible amid the coronavirus pandemic and the past “disheartening” senior year. Garvey and Stevenson provided their feedback in a subcommittee to the university’s Commencement Committee. “[We] felt like commencement really should be something you celebrate,” Garvey said. “We got a group of 15 students together and the overall feeling was that we would rather be all together graduating as an entire class.”

The university has also determined a guest limit for each graduate, each of whom will be given four tickets. Guest tickets will have each graduate’s name on them, as they

are nontransferable, according to an announcement sent to graduating students on April 12.

“Two tickets will provide entrance to the event venue at Curran Field, and two will provide entrance to a livestream viewing area at Sweeney Field,” according to the university’s commencement website.

Gabrielle Lacherza, public relations manager, wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk that approximately 1,011 undergraduate students and 1,171 graduate students are set to graduate on May 22.

Lacherza said guest numbers were determined “based on the estimated number of eligible graduates, previous total attendance and the number of people permitted

The class of 2019 celebrates at their commencement ceremony. PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

due to Philadelphia Department of Public Health guidance.”

Bella Cocozza ’21 said she is satisfied with the university’s graduation plans, as she knows other schools will be conducting virtual ceremonies for their graduates. However, Cocozza said she would like to receive more information from the school about what the ceremony will entail.

“The website provides a bit more detail, but I am still unsure about what to expect and how to prepare for the ceremony,” Cocozza said. “I think it would be helpful if there was more communication with the student body during these uncertain times.”

Gail Benner, director of public relations and media, wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk that not all details are set in stone yet.

“Commencement is an enormous undertaking, in any year,” Benner said. “There are many details to work out and it is crucial that students receive the information in a comprehensive manner.”

Emma Wright ’21 said she is glad that the commencement ceremony will be held in person and said she appreciates the university’s efforts to make sure the ceremony is held in person.

“I’m not really going to be expecting any answers right away,” Wright said. “I wasn’t expecting a super early answer. I felt like, okay, maybe if they’re not telling us right away that means they’re trying to figure out if we’ll be able to do [in-person graduation].”

According to the April 12 email, students can now submit their name and pronunciation, a photo and a personal statement through MarchingOrder, the company the university has contracted with to provide support for the ceremony. According to the email, graduates will also be able to reserve their guests’ tickets through MarchingOrder.

Georgia’s new GOP election law NICK KARPINSKI ’21 Managing Editor Context for Georgia’s new election law In the November 2020 presidential election last fall, U.S. President Joe Biden won the state of Georgia by 11,779 votes, according to the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy institute. In January 2021, Democratic Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were sworn into the Senate, giving the Democratic party a narrow majority in the legislature.

Black voters were significant in the Democratic victory in the state for both the presidential and Senate runoff election.

As a result, and falling in line with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of a fraudulent election, Republican Georgia lawmakers have zeroed in on their efforts to create more strict voting laws. In March 2021, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said, “After the November election last year, I knew, like so many of you, that significant reforms to our state elections were needed.” In response President Biden said, “This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end.”

What does the new law do?

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a 98 page measure, the “Election Integrity Act of 2021,” into law on March 25. The new law most notably does the following: requires ID for in-person voting, regulates and shortens the time frame for requesting/returning mail

ballots, restricts food distribution from poll workers to voters waiting in line and gives the Republican-controlled state legislature increased power over the state board of elections.

Republicans in the state say this law is a means to restore confidence in Georgia’s election. Democrats say it restricts voters and specifically targets Black voters who make up approximately one-third of the state’s population, many of whom align with the Democratic party.

How does this law make it more difficult for Black and minority communities to vote?

Between 2018 and 2020, there has been an increase in early voting, absentee voting and the use of drop boxes. This coincides with an increase in voter turnout among people of color. Election results show that 88% of Black Georgia voters supported President Biden last November. Ossoff and Warnock garnered larger support in January, capturing 92% and 93% of the Black vote in their runoff elections, respectively.

The new law hinders the ability of voters to utilize and access convenient voting options.

In the 2020 presidential election, more Black Georgians than white Georgians cast their ballots remotely. The New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan effort to register and civically engage Georgians, put out a statement saying Black voters are less likely than other voters to have the identification now required, thus putting Black voters at a disadvantage. A

reason for this is because about 200,000 Georgians lack a driver’s license or state identification card, according to state figures. Therefore, Black voters are less likely than other voters to have the identification now required, according to The New Georgia Project.

Are other states considering a similar law?

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, 361 proposed restrictions to voting laws have been introduced in state legislatures across the country this year with at least 55 of them moving through legislatures. Texas and Arizona are the latest states to propose a voting bill similar to the one Georgia legislators passed in March. Texas Republicans have moved forward with voting legislation that would limit early voting hours, prohibit drive-thru voting, allow partisan poll workers

to record voters at the polls and make it illegal for election officials to send vote by mail applications to voters.

In Arizona, Republicans are advocating for an audit of ballots from the 2020 presidential race and for legislation that would make it harder to vote by mail.

Are states also introducing expansive voting bills?

To counter restrictive provisions, currently 843 bills pushing for expansive voting provisions have been introduced in a different set of 47 states, nine of which have already been signed into law in Montana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. The laws propose making it easier for absentee voting, disability access, early voting, automatic voter registration, curbside voting and pre-registration.

News

The Hawk Newspaper

April 14, 2021

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Universities consider vaccination mandates CONTINUED FROM PG. 1 Harris said while a university can be approved by a state to administer the vaccine, they can also go through a private distributor.

“One way to do that is to do it in concert with a local vaccine provider, such as a local pharmacy, that’s authorized to provide the vaccine,” Harris said. “Then, the hurdle doesn’t become acquiring the vaccine, only

the administration, which local pharmacies have been successful in doing.”

Anderson wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk that the university did not apply to become a vaccination site through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

“Very early on we made our interest known to the City of Philadelphia, which is a separate vaccination governmental entity and the location in which St. Joe’s is located,”

Anderson said. “Once the official application was made available, it became clear that St. Joe’s did not have the clinical infrastructure to run a vaccination site.”

Anderson said the university is now looking to partner with other entities to help bring the vaccine to campus.

According to Harris, 80% of a population, like a college community, needs to be vaccinated or immune to COVID-19 to reach

herd immunity. Dr. Brittany Busse, medical director at WorkCare, said this is why it is crucial for individuals to receive a vaccine.

“By getting a vaccine, each individual has a power to help prevent severe disease in our community,” Busse said. “It’s really important that we highlight for people that this is public health, not just personal health decisions.”

Students face challenges during fall 2021 registration CHRISTINE DISANTI ’21 Assistant News Editor To prepare for fall 2021 registration, Alex Wilkes ’22, a marketing and business analytics double major, created spreadsheets with first choices, as well as back-up schedules.

“I always say picking classes is more stressful than midterms and finals because you don’t know what’s going to happen or what to expect,” Wilkes said.

Registration began on April 6 for the fall 2021 semester. Students register in blocks, with 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. registration times. During this registration period, students, like Wilkes, have had to strategically navigate variables such as mixed modalities, major requirements and General Education Program (GEP) requirements, all while Banner, the university’s registration system, unexpectedly crashed on April 8 at 1 p.m.

The registration system crashed for 1,416 users, according to Jim Brady, director of infrastructure services. The Office of Information Technology (IT) reported the outage on its IT status page and on The Nest.

“We believe that the volume of users initiating transactions on [Banner] during registration temporarily overwhelmed the server’s resources,” Brady wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk. “The good news is that the server is virtual and more memory was added to resolve the issue within 30 minutes.”

Mary Agnes Dunn ’22, who registered for courses during the system crash, said while she was still able to get through her registration on time, some students were not afforded the time in their day to manage the outage like she was.

“If you didn’t have the time to refresh the page and sit there, it was kind of unfair,” Dunn said.

Although Wilkes didn’t have technological issues during registration, her main focus was getting into classes regardless of whether it was her preferred modality. She said she prefers hyflex classes, but for classes with limited open seats, like the senior business policy capstone or the required GEP natural science course, she took any open modality.

“I like having some days online and some days in person because it’s nice, but I mainly look for just getting the classes that I want,” Wilkes said.

Cheryl McConnell, Ph.D., provost and vice president of academic affairs, wrote in a March 31 university announcement that the university intends to expand on-ground capabilities in the fall, offering a “large majority” of on-ground classes in person.

McConnell wrote that there would also be an “early pre-fall drop/add period in August due to instructional method changes that will likely provide more on-ground options.”

This semester, approximately 19% of all classes offered are fully face to face with the rest being a mix of hybrid, hyflex or fully online, according to Gabrielle Lacherza, public relations manager. Lacherza said the breakdown of how many courses are being offered in each modality for the fall is not yet available.

Denisa Sondai ’23, a psychology major who is fully remote this semester, said registering for classes this semester was easier than last since she intends on being on campus next semester.

“I had to take a random elective this semester because I could not find a fifth class offered online,” Sondai said. “So I would

Students struggled to reach the banner registration page on April 8.

PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

definitely say it’s way easier being face to face to figure out my classes.”

Unlike Sondai, students who wanted to remain fully remote for the fall semester had until March 24 to request a fully remote schedule. Students who missed the deadline and have “documented medical/mental health concerns, disability or extraordinary circumstances” are able to request a fully remote schedule through the Extraordinary Request Form.

According to an email sent to students in the College of Arts and Sciences and The Haub School of Business on March 19, “All approvals for fully remote that are granted at

this time are provisional, pending the release of updated public health guidelines for in-person instruction in higher education. All applications will be re-evaluated on June 1.”

Despite the challenges, Wilkes said, overall, her registration went smoothly and she’s looking forward to more in-person classes.

“I am excited to have more face-to-face classes because I think it’s the first step to getting back to normalcy,” Wilkes said. “It’s good because I am seeing changes on campus and we got the university email saying that they’re going to offer more in-person classes, so I’m happy to see what next year may be like.”

Department of Public Safety reports (March 26 - April 8) March 26

Public Safety was notified by an area resident of a noise complaint in the 2400 block of North 53rd Street. Public Safety officers and Philadelphia Police were notified, r esponded to the area and spoke with the students.

The students of that location were compliant.

Community Standards was notified.

March 27

Public Safety was notified by an Easton Coach shuttle driver in regards to two students removing a handicap parking sign from the Campion parking lot. The students were asked by the shuttle driver to return the sign to its original location at which time the students complied. Community Standards was notified.

Public Safety was notified by Residence Life regarding unknown persons damaging a fourth floor suite in LaFarge Hall. Community Standards was notified. The incident is under investigation.

March 29

Public Safety was notified of a fire alarm in McShain Hall. Public Safety officers re sponded. The p reliminary i nvestigation r evealed a student cooking activated the alarm.

The alarm was reset.

March 30

Public Safety was notified by a St. Joe’s student in regards to two unknown persons trying to gain access to their off-campus apartment located on the 5200 block of Church Road. Philadelphia Police were notified and a report was taken. Public Safety patrols were increased in the area. The incident is under investigation.

Public Safety was notified of a fire alarm April 2 in Lannon Hall. Public Safety officers re Public Safety was notified b y a S t. J oe’s sponded. The p reliminary i nvestigation r eemployee in regards to an unknown person vealed a student cooking activated the alarm. removing a catalytic converter from a St. Joe’s The alarm was reset.

Facilities truck while it was parked in the Merion Gardens parking lot. Lower Merion March 31 Police were notified and a report was taken.

Public Safety was notified by an Allied The incident is under investigation.

Universal Desk Attendant regarding an unknown person damaging a fifth floor emerApril 6 gency phone in Villiger Hall. Community Public Safety was notified of a fire alarm Standards was notified. The incident is unin Rashford Hall. Public Safety officers re der investigation. sponded. The p reliminary i nvestigation r evealed a student cooking activated the alarm.

The alarm was reset.

ALCOHOL RELATED INCIDENTS

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On campus

0

Off campus

DRUG RELATED INCIDENTS

0

On campus

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Off campus

Call Public Safety:

610-660-1111

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April 14, 2021

Opinions

The Hawk Newspaper

Concerns regarding fall 2021

Health and safety for students, faculty and staff

Editor in Chief

Ryan Mulligan ’21 Managing Editor Nick Karpinski ’21 Copy Chief Cara Smith ’21 Faculty Adviser Shenid Bhayroo Contributing Adviser Jenny Spinner

Copy Editor Celia Hegarty ’21 Copy Editor Carly Calhoun ’21 News Editor Devin Yingling ’22 Assistant News Editor Eddie Daou ’22

As we finish another unprecedented school year, students are voicing concerns about the health and safety of the St. Joe’s community following the fall 2021 plans sent in a university announcement on March 31.

Reduced physical distancing, early add-drop periods due to instructional method changes that will likely provide more on-ground options and an increase in student activities and events will take place during the fall semester, according to the university announcement.

While these plans are hopeful, we are worried about a clear university policy on student vaccination for the fall planned face-to-face instruction and activities, and the threat of another COVID-19 wave.

Rutgers University, Brown University and University of Notre Dame are requiring all students to be vaccinated in order to return to campus for the fall semester.

In addition to the vaccine requirement, they are also focusing on conducting mainly in-person operations, similar to St. Joe’s.

However, these universities’ plans reflect increased health and safety measures, such as mandated masking and required vaccinations. At this time, St. Joe’s does not require COVID-19 vaccinations and has not clearly stated whether masks will be mandated, Of course the plans that were presented

in the university announcement are exciting, as we all want nothing more than to return to our normal college experience, but some students still have anxieties about health and safety guidelines being eased too quickly.

“...with threats of another COVID-19 wave and the lack of a university policy on student vaccination for the fall, we are worried about face-to-face instruction and activities.”

The B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19, which originated in the United Kingdom, is more contagious and currently the main variant in the U.S. There are concerns of the effectiveness of the three COVID-19 vaccines against the B.1.1.7 variant. With the evolving information on new strands of COVID-19 and information about the vac-

cines, choosing course modalities this early is difficult.

Due to the vaccine still being tested against different variants and in the early stages of regulation, the university is not currently requiring students to be vaccinated for the fall.

While this is understandable, many students still would like to have as many hybrid, hyflex and online options as possible to ease anxieties about the evolving pandemic. It’s difficult to predict where we will be a month from now concerning the virus, let alone five months from now.

We ask the university to continue expanding remote options for students and families who worry about St. Joe’s stance on requiring anyone on-campus to be vaccinated in the fall. While these plans are exciting and hopeful, we worry that the university may be moving too quickly towards a post-pandemic environment.

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

Assistant News Editor Christine DiSanti ’21 Opinions Editor Tayler Washington ’22 Assistant Opinions Editor Sehar Macan-Markar ’22 Assistant Opinions Editor Maggie Brennen ’22 Features Editor Giana Longo ’22 Assistant Features Editor Nenagh Sheehan ’21 Assistant Features Editor Elaina Wall ’21 Sports Editor Riley Frain ’21 Assistant Sports Editor Tyler Nice ’23 Graphics/Illustrations Editor Casey Wood ’23 Senior Editor Jackie Collins ’21

“FEARLESS (TAYLOR’S VERSION)” The moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here. On April 9, Taylor Swift released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” 13 years after the original album was released. Our nine-year-old selves are truly thriving right now. We didn’t think this album could get any better than it was, but we were wrong. Swift has done it yet again.

THE RETURN OF BUGS We are loving the nice weather and all, but the fact that bugs are now making a comeback is definitely not hot. One moment you’re sitting outside, trying to be one with nature, and the next thing you know, a bug is ruining the vibe. Then you just have to accept defeat and head back inside.

DISCOUNTED EASTER CANDY Although we’re sad that Easter break has come and gone, there’s always a bright side to the holiday hangover: discounted candy. If you’re feeling down, treat yourself by heading to the store and buying some discounted Easter candy. You deserve it.

WHEN THE REGISTRATION WEBSITE CRASHES For those of you who registered for classes on April 8 at 1 p.m., we feel your pain. Registration is stressful enough as it is without adding the website crashing to the mix. We just want to sign up for our classes in peace, please.

LIL NAS X What’s not to love about Lil Nas X? His songs are absolute bops, his tweets are hilarious and his style is iconic. We are truly not worthy.

Keep doing you Lil Nas.

LOW-RISE JEANS TRYING TO MAKE A COMEBACK Hopefully we can all agree that high-waisted jeans are the way to go. Why do we need to ruin a good thing? These TikTok tweens need to back off. They clearly don’t understand the pain that we endure looking back at our middle school outfits. We’ve learned from our mistakes and we don’t want to go back there.

Photo Editor Mitchell Shields ’22 Social Media Manager Sam Jenkins ’21 Business Manager Angela DiMarco ’22 Assistant Business Manager Colin Messenger ’22 Assistant Business Manager Danny Remishevsky ’23 Assistant Business Manager Jillian Bodemer ’23 Distribution Manager Alec Mettin ’24 Distribution Manager Deborah Duong ’24

Opinions

The Hawk Newspaper

April 14, 2021

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Biden strays from old guard

President's early agenda more liberal than expected MAX GIULIANA ’23 Columnist When U.S. President Joe Biden became the Democratic nominee for the 2020 election, the party was conveying a message that they were aiming for a return to politics as normal.

The former vice president represented an old guard of moderate Democrats who championed bipartisanship and free-market capitalism. The party believed that after four tumultuous years of former U.S. President Donald Trump, a familiar face was exactly what the country was looking for, and the results of the 2020 election proved them right.

Despite this promise for a return to normalcy in Washington during his campaign, President Biden’s first two and a half months as president have been far less moderate than his political career would have led voters to expect. President Biden entered his first term as president just as he entered his first term as vice president: in the middle of an economic recession.

To address the recession of 2009, former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Vice President Biden shepherded the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through Congress. It was a piece of fiscal legislation that injected roughly $800 billion in stimulus into the American economy.

The bill was effective and ultimately led to long periods of economic growth during the latter years of the Obama administration. However, today many economists argue that the stimulus package of 2009 was too small, and because of this, the recovery lagged—leaving people without jobs and without income for longer than needed.

One reason as to why the stimulus package of 2009 was smaller than needed was a valiant effort on behalf of establishment Democrats and Obama to reach across the aisle and gain bipartisan support for the bill.

Yet, despite dwindling down the provisions within the bill to appease Republicans, the ultimate version signed into law received next to no Republican support.

Having this experience leading economic recoveries, and understanding the politics behind passing large stimulus bills, President Biden made his first major legislative goal to pass his American Rescue Plan.

The bill was a $1.9 trillion stimulus package that aimed to catalyze a return to normal life and a normal economy for the American people. When the bill was still in Congress, President Biden espoused his plan to negotiate with Republicans on provisions and gain their support in the process.

I believe that President Biden—having experienced the damage such negotiations can do to a bill—was playing this biparti-

poverty and directly putting money into the pockets of the spending class of Americans, the American Rescue Plan is a landmark piece of liberal economic legislation.

The president, having signed the American Rescue Plan, is now focused on passing The American Jobs Plan. This proposal requests $2 trillion in government spending over a period of eight years to revamp the nation’s infrastructure. Clearly, President Biden is quickly becoming one of the most economically liberal presidents in modern history. Just in his first two and a half months, he has called for nearly $4 trillion in government funding, most of which is focused on enabling the lower class and middle class to gain employment, spend their money and obtain better government services.

“...the American Rescue Plan is a landmark piece of liberal economic legislation.” sanship for public spectacle. Instead, the bill passed in the Senate with zero Republican votes, and most of the negotiations were done with moderate Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. This led to the bill being signed into law while remaining largely unchanged from when it was first proposed.

This quasi-bipartisan politics is a product of Trumpism and the Tea Party years before, and I believe President Biden understood that. I also believe that the president understands that the U.S. needs a shift towards Keynesian economics and a stark shift away from trickle-down economics.

This is precisely what the American Rescue Plan is: a Keynesian injection of stimulus into the economy, and an investment in the lower and middle classes of America. By aiming to curb unemployment and child

This type of economic policy is diametrically opposed to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Republicans in the early years of the Trump presidency. Furthermore, President Biden plans on reversing some of these Trump-era economic deregulations to fund his own domestic agenda. For example, he has proposed raising the corporate tax rate, along with stopping companies such as Amazon or Apple from moving profits offshores to help fund his American Jobs Plan.

When elected, analysts predicted that President Biden would be a moderate Democrat who merely oversaw a return to a “normal” Washington, yet President Biden doesn’t seem to plan on being a stop-gap president. So far, he has instituted one of the most liberal economic agendas in recent American history and has seemingly shifted from his moderate days as a senator. By no

The laws of physics have been broken How a single particle may change everything

ALEX MANDUCA ’22 Columnist This week, physicists from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) released a breakthrough publication that may forever change the way we understand the laws of physics.

In the publication, the results of Fermilab’s Muon g-2 experiment were revealed to have affirmed an inconsistency in the Standard Model.

The Standard Model is a set of equations that describes the nature of fundamental particles and the ways in which they behave and interact with one another. It is considered to be the closest humanity has come to formulating an all-encompassing “theory of everything” that could explain every physical phenomenon in the universe.

The model, which makes use of the mathematics of quantum field theory, has been used since the 1970s to predict properties of fundamental particles with unprecedented precision. It has so far been used to predict the existence of particles like the W and Z bosons, the top and charm quarks, the gluon and the Higgs boson before they were ever experimentally observed.

Although the scientific community has been able to predict extraordinary physical truths using the Standard Model, it has been constructed in such a way that several essential theories in physics have been left unac-

counted for. For instance, no one has ever been able to use the Standard Model to explain gravitation and general relativity using quantum field theory, nor has anyone been able to reconcile quantum field theory with the new prominent theories of cosmology.

These inconsistencies have led scientists to believe that the Standard Model of particle physics is incomplete, or is in some way flawed. The Muon g-2 experiment performed at Illinois’ Fermilab may have just confirmed this suspicion.

a few parts per billion, but the result has all but confirmed a discrepancy between our physical reality and the mathematical theory postulated in the Standard Model.

This result has sent shockwaves through the scientific community. Fermilab’s experiment has cleared the way for a new age of modern physics, wherein entirely new fundamental particles may soon be discovered and humanity’s collective understanding of physics may have to be shifted.

Fermilab’s scientists were only able to

“This achievement inspires hope in us that we may one day come to understand just a little bit more about who we are and the universe around us.”

The experiment was performed for the sake of measuring a property of the muon called the “anomalous magnetic dipole moment.” A muon’s anomalous magnetic dipole moment is a measure of the contributions of quantum mechanical phenomena to the wobble of a particle when it is exposed to an external magnetic field. This quantity, often expressed in terms of “g-factor,” can be mathematically predicted by the equations of the Standard Model.

The mathematically predicted value for a muon’s g-factor is 2.00233183620, whereas Fermilab’s experimentally determined result is 2.00233184122. These values differ by just

come to this result after decades of refining their experiments, improving their technology and honing their methods until they were precise enough to put the Standard Model to the test. This feat is a triumph of physics and engineering, as well as a testament to the power and tenacity of the human spirit.

Though humanity may never uncover every mystery of our universe, this achievement inspires hope in us that we may one day come to understand just a little bit more about who we are and the universe around us.

TODD ERKIS Columnist Todd Erkis is a visiting professor of finance at St. Joe’s who writes weekly columns answering students’ financial questions.

I am graduating in May and I am confused about all of the things going on with student loans. Should I start making payments after I graduate? I heard that some student loans are no longer accruing with interest. I would appreciate it if you could explain what is going on and what I should do after graduation with my student loans. George P. ’21, economics major.

On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The CARES Act suspended federal student loan payments, stopped collections on defaulted student loans and set the interest rate on all student loans to 0%. All of these measures have been extended to go through at least Sept. 30, 2021. Please note that this is for federal student loans only. Private student loans are not covered by the CARES Act, according to the Federal Student Aid office of the Department of Education.

George, the impact to you depends on your mix of federal and private student loans. The amount you owe on your federal student loans will stay the same until at least Sept. 30, 2021 because no interest is being accrued. Most private student loans will continue to increase with interest.

Check with your private student loan provider/servicer (if you have one) to see if you can take advantage of any programs they offer to reduce your interest rate on the loan on a temporary or permanent basis.

Since I don’t know your specific situation, I am going to assume for the purpose of this article that you have both a federal and smaller private student loan. I am also going to assume that you will be working immediately after graduation. Here are some things to think about: I always advise creating a cash fund for a rainy day. This fund should be about six months of expenses. Since you do not need to make payments on your federal student loan until September, pay yourself instead and build up that cash reserve for emergencies. Most people do not have enough saved to pay for an unexpected expense. Don’t let that be you.

Unless your private loan provider/ servicer will not charge you interest like the federal loan, make all the required payments on your private student loan. If they allow you to delay payments, do so only if they will not charge you interest. If they are charging interest, you should make the required payments.

If you have money available after building up your cash reserve and making your required private student loan payment, either save that additional money (since you will have to start making the federal student loan payments at some point) or use that extra money to further pay down your private student loan.

Retiring one’s student loan debt should be a priority so you are able to have more money for vacations or start saving for a house in the future. Financially, it will be better not to make payments on your federal student loans until interest starts to be charged again and the government decides if they will forgive some or all of your federal loan (which is currently being discussed in Washington D.C.).

Good luck after graduation!

6

April 14, 2021

Opinions

The Hawk Newspaper

Unity through culture

The importance of music in the Black community TAYLER WASHINGTON ’22 Opinions Editor The passing of DMX, a legendary Black rapper and actor, on April 9, due to a massive heart attack, is a great loss for the Black community.

DMX, born Earl Simmons, created a body of work that was a part of the pinnacle of East Coast rap in the ’90s, and his legacy will live on through Black artists for years to come.

In the days he was hospitalized before his death, I took time to reflect on the impact Black artists have had on my identity and on unity within the Black community.

Growing up as a white-presenting Black person, I struggled to find my sense of belonging. But growing up around an all Black family, along with the culture I’ve been exposed to and was a part of, has allowed me to become more rooted in my identity as a Black woman.

I attribute part of this to my childhood memories of my mom playing rap every time we were in the car. The melodic beats in songs by artists like Fat Joe, Biggie Smalls, Mobb Deep and of course, DMX, have been the background music of my life.

ILLUSTRATION: CASEY WOOD ’23/ THE HAWK

My experience with this isn’t unique, as music has been a unifying factor in the Black community for hundreds of years, going back to Negro Spirituals from the era of chattel slavery. Music has played a huge part in unifying the Black community through years of trauma and othering in the U.S.

Take a listen to Big Pun’s “I’m Not a Player” and think to yourself what modern pop song it reminds you of. Ring any bells?

Black music has not only had an impact on the Black community, but what we consider American culture as well. Just about every genre of music can be linked back

to African roots but has been “adopted” by white communities.

Jazz is the largest example of this, as it’s now considered an “American classic” genre, but it originates from the Black community; a community that has been ostracized, criticized and, quite plainly, ridiculed for its culture and heritage.

While white America has taken Black culture and tried to make it its own, nothing can compare to the originality of Black music, art and culture. This originality is a part of what it means to be Black in America and what has connected the Black community universally.

DMX’s passing has been so detrimental to the Black community because of his impact on Black music and culture, as well as bringing members of the Black community together. His legacy will continue to live on as have other legendary Black artists such as Tupac, Biggie, Aaliyah and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, just to name a few.

While another member of our community has been taken, his influence on upcoming artists will continue for years to come, and the Black community will continue to be unified through our culture and heritage based on the great works of artists such as DMX.

My experience in isolation

It’s worse than you’d think SEHAR MACAN-MARKAR ’22 Assistant Opinions Editor When I learned that I had been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, I was strangely calm. It had felt almost inevitable that eventually it would happen, given the nature of the coronavirus pandemic.

While I knew that having COVID-19 could bring on more serious outcomes, I had automatically assumed that being young and healthy, I would be fine. I thought the worst that would happen would be boredom, loneliness and maybe some slight cold symptoms if I tested positive. I was wrong about my prediction, to say the least.

I tested positive a few days after hearing that I had come in contact with the virus. The 10 days that I experienced in isolation were extremely difficult. I felt sicker than I ever had. In the daytime, I felt exhausted and in pain, while during the night I was in so much pain I was unable to sleep. My entire body ached, I was coughing constantly, had a sore throat and I constantly felt lightheaded and dizzy. At certain points, I had leg cramps that wouldn’t even let me walk.

People typically compare COVID-19 to having the flu, and as someone who has had both, I would much rather have the flu.

There were no solutions. Despite feeling truly awful, the only thing that I could do was take Tylenol, which didn’t even help to alleviate my symptoms. I had to wait it out.

ing up, but I couldn’t bring myself to do any work. I was still going to classes because they were online and it felt like there was no excuse to miss them, as I could attend them from my bed. But listening to classes only made my headaches worse, and I don’t think that I retained a single concept that we learned.

“People typically compare COVID-19 to having the flu, and as someone who has had both, I would much rather have the flu.”

On top of all of that, I had to take care of myself and continue my school work. I couldn’t go home to have my family take care of me because I didn’t want to expose them to the virus. I could barely get out of bed, yet all of my normal responsibilities that I had were still there. I was completely alone.

The school work I had seemed to be pil-

There was no taking time off. Missing my classes or not doing my work just meant that there was more for me to do later. I was sick and stressed and a lot of the time I spent resting felt like I was just digging myself into a deeper hole.

My professors were aware of the fact that I had tested positive and was in isolation, but

despite having the virus that started a global pandemic, it felt like none of them cared. I was able to get extensions for a few assignments, but all it did was push things back.

As soon as my symptoms had slightly improved, I was overwhelmed by how much work I had to make up. It felt like I was drowning in work and stress while still dealing with my symptoms.

It felt like every frustration I had about the past semester was coming to a culmination: The burnout from online classes and lack of breaks in combination with having COVID-19 (and still being expected to function as normal) was exhausting. My mental health had definitely hit a low point. It felt like one thing on top of another, and there was no end. No matter how frustrated or sad or alone I felt, it seemed like there was nothing I could do or anyone I could turn to.

It isn’t fair or true to say that every case of COVID-19, especially in young people, is asymptomatic or mild. I truly wish that the university had implemented a better plan to accommodate students who were sick from the coronavirus.

Features

The Hawk Newspaper

April 14, 2021

The lowdown on food delivery for residential students

by Gabriella Guzzardo ’23

Black and Mobile

DoorDash

Black and Mobile (BAM), founded by David and Aaron Cabello, exclusively delivers food from small Black-owned businesses. It is also the first Black-owned delivery service. Using this delivery app is a small way to support the majority Black community that surrounds St. Joe’s. You order food from the listed businesses in your city, which is then delivered to you by BAM drivers. The average add-on fees are $5-$7 depending on how much food is being delivered. BAM started in Philadelphia, but has grown to several major cities across the U.S. including Detroit, Baltimore and Atlanta.

DoorDash was started by four men, Tony Xu, Evan Moore, Andy Fang and Stanley Tang, in Palo Alto, California in 2013. DoorDash delivers for multiple restaurants in your area within five miles of your residence. The average add on fees are within $2-$5 per meal, but increase with additional meals. DoorDash delivers to all residence halls on St. Joe’s campus. Pro tip: Add in your residence hall name to the ‘special instructions tab’ to ensure your driver goes to the right place.

Uber Eats Uber Eats was founded by two men, Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick in Santa Monica, California in 2014. Uber Eats was created because of Uber’s desire to be a ‘super app’ and be the go to place for people’s needs. UberEats delivers the prepared food from restaurants in your area that they have a partnership with. You can get food delivered to your door your building door, or carside pickup. The average add-on fee when ordering a meal is $4-$6. Uber Eats exclusively partners with local restaurants to be their only app delivery service to deliver food to their loyal patrons.

“Uber Eats is good and what I always use whenever I order with friends.” - Alexa Fiore ’23, student living in Lannon Hall

“Whenever I want ‘real food’ I will DoorDash a healthier option.

I’m willing to pay extra fees if I don’t want Campion that night.”

- Ava Paoletti ’24, student living in Villiger Hall

Good Uncle Good Uncle is revolutionizing college campuses around the country by bringing fresh meals to students. The food is made in a separate kitchen and is warmed in ovens on board. Good Uncle exclusively delivers to college campuses. It started at Syracuse University and has made its way to St. Joe’s. They have two delivery options where you can pick up the food at a location on campus or pay an extra $2 to get it brought to your residence hall.

7

8

The Hawk Newspaper

April 14, 2021

Features

Small businesses struggle due to large fees charged by third-party delivery services LILY MCSTRAVICK ’23 Special to the Hawk When many restaurants shifted to takeout and delivery last spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, third-party delivery services like Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash stepped in to meet soaring customer demand.

But for small businesses trying to stay afloat, the fees for using these services have further cut into revenue.

“It’s the cost of doing business right now during a pandemic,” said James Partner, adjunct professor of food marketing.

Restaurants can be charged up to 30% on average for using the delivery services, according to a May 4, 2020, article in Forbes.

“There’s not a lot of room left for profit,” said George Latella, M.B.A., visiting professor of food marketing. “Thirty percent for delivery basically leaves no room for error.”

Latella said these fees have put many businesses in a difficult position because while they want to be able to safely serve their customers during the pandemic, they are barely making a profit.

“Some places have felt compelled to do it just to stay alive,” Latella said. “They try the third-party just to get enough money to pay their bills, not to make money.”

Latella understands this dilemma personally. He is co-owner of Bria & Latella’s Italian American Deli & Kitchen in Havertown, a deli that specializes in hot and cold sandwiches as well as other prepared foods.

Despite having been approached by all of the major third-party delivery services, Latella said he opted not to use them. While cost was the primary factor, he said he also was wary of a hot sandwich showing up at people’s doors a cold, soggy mess.

“We’re pretty passionate about our food quality,” Latella said. “We’re not overly expen-

sive, but we’re not cheap either. We want to make sure people get a good experience.”

The impact is greater on small businesses because chain restaurants are able to avoid the fees charged by third-party delivery services by setting up their own delivery services, according to Emily Moscato, Ph.D., associate professor of food marketing.

with them right when they entered the Philadelphia market.

“Like any other business, you have to negotiate your commissions,” McBeth said.

McBeth said she pays approximately 31% in fees for Uber Eats and 22% for Grubhub and DoorDash. Despite these rates, she said the services have been worth it.

George Latella in his deli, Bria & Latella’s on April 12. PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

“Bigger companies are able to put the marketing dollars and other resources into simplifying the process and building their awareness,” Moscato said. “Small businesses know how to market to an extent, but usually their passion is the food and the customer.”

Jackie McBeth, owner of Deke’s BarB-Que, with a dining location in Germantown and a takeout and catering location in Manayunk, opted to sign up with Uber Eats, then signed on to other companies as well.

She said she was able to negotiate a “decent rate” with Uber Eats because she partnered

“If anything, it has helped the business,” McBeth said.

Still, when customers use Grubhub or Uber Eats to order food and choose to pick up their meal rather than have it delivered, McBeth said she directs them to the Toast TakeOut app, which only charges restaurants 3.5% to be listed in its app.

While use of third-party delivery services is up because of the pandemic, Moscato said the preference for food delivery over in-person dining has been trending up over the last decade. It has just become more

noticeable now, she said.

Consumers like to use third-party delivery sources because of the ease and convenience they offer them, Moscato said. Plus, third-party delivery sources have been able to streamline consumers’ personal information to create a seamless experience as opposed to when consumers order directly from a restaurant and have to interact over the phone, she said.

“It’s all there in one place, so boom, boom, boom, click, you’re done,” Moscato said. “On the other hand, if you order directly through them, then you might have to load up your payment every time. They might not be connected to an Apple Pay or there might be different information.

We have so much going on in our lives, so streamline sounds good to us.”

Latella said restaurants have a lot to consider moving forward.

“The last year has basically been about survival,” Latella said. “Eventually restaurants are going to figure out different ways to make money.”

At his own restaurant, Latella said there have been a lot of adjustments over the last years. Bria & Latella’s closed for the first two months of the pandemic, re-opened for one day a week, then added weekends during the summer. Eventually they worked up to seven days a week, but at reduced hours compared to before the pandemic. They’re now open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Still, Latella said the deli has also been able to keep its staff employed.

“We’ve been trying to keep everybody working,” Latella said. “I tried to give everybody a little bit of a raise, so they’re making a little more money. We’re still not making money, but we’re at least still in business.”

St. Joe’s students find work through food delivery KEVIN GILL ’22 Special to the Hawk When the pandemic hit last March, Harry Harp ’22 needed a way to make more money. Someone told him the food delivery service company DoorDash was hiring.

“I was previously being paid minimum wage, I wasn’t getting the hours, and the pandemic came along,” Harp said. “My buddy said I should give this a try, showing me all this money, and I’m like ‘Wow, sign me up.’”

The need for food delivery drivers has matched a rise in the use of third-party delivery apps like DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats. In 2020, meal delivery sales soared to record highs, growing 119% over the year as the pandemic worsened, according to Bloomberg Second Measure. Monthly sales have continued to remain high as customers opt for food delivery rather than in-person dining.

One of the appeals of driving for third-party delivery companies like DoorDash is how easy it is to sign up, said Jacob Stanley ’24, who has worked for DoorDash for four months and estimates that he makes about $18-$20 an hour.

“I had a background check, and that only took two to three days,” Stanley said. “It was really quick, and now it’s worth the money.”

Harp said another bonus of working for a third-party delivery service is being able to choose his hours.

“Honestly, there will be days where I will just go out for a couple hours, and days where I go out for eight hours,” Harp said.

Food delivery drivers earn money from orders in three ways: from base pay, promo-

tions and tips, according to the DoorDash website. Base pay varies, taking into account the timing and distance for a particular order. Promotions allow drivers to earn more money through deals such as “peak pay,” when drivers get a pay boost during busy

from off-campus locations as opposed to residence halls.

“It is easier to drop orders and go from houses because if I’m delivering to St. Joe’s students, I have to wait in the parking lot for the students to come out of the building,”

A student picks up a food delivery outside Villiger Hall on April 12.

PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

times of the day. Finally, customers can tip the driver through the app.

When a driver does not want to deliver a certain order, they are allowed to decline the order on the app Harp said he tries to stick to orders within five miles and that pay at least $2 per mile.

He also avoids certain establishments.

“There are restaurants I have that I call ‘the blacklist,’” Harp said, “basically restaurants where I just think they’re really rude or they take too long on their food.”

At other places, Harp is happily a regular.

“I’ve been to the same Chick-fil-A maybe 300 to 400 times,” Harp said. “The one location actually knows me by my name.”

While Stanley mainly delivers around the St. Joe’s area, he prefers to accept orders

Stanley said.

And then there is the matter of tips.

Students typically tip less than regular customers, Stanley said.

“Middle-aged people tend to tip a lot more than younger people,” Stanley said.

“Younger people are trying to save money.

It can be kind of frustrating because I did all this for $3.”

For Lauren Fitzsimmons ’23, who has worked for DoorDash since the summer of 2020, safety is an extra concern for her as a female driver. When she first started driving for DoorDash, the app often sent her into unfamiliar neighborhoods in the city. Now, she sticks to the Villanova area.

“I’ve never had a bad experience or anything being a woman,” Fitzsimmons

said. “But it is definitely in the back of my head at night.”

According to Zippia, a national career website, nearly 75% of delivery drivers are men. About 67% are white.

Fitzsimmons said she runs to her car after she drops orders.

“I try to be efficient and just be fast with it, so that there’s no time for anything bad to happen,” Fitzsimmons said.

Spending so much time alone in your car can sometimes get lonely, especially during COVID-19 when drivers often do not have any contact with their customers: They drop food at a door, take a photo and leave.

Stanley said he likes to meet up with a friend and fellow DoorDash driver during his shifts.

“Me and my one friend meet in a parking lot to wait until we get orders and then meet back at that same spot afterwards,” Stanley said.

Sean O’Beirne ’22, who drives for Uber Eats, said he enjoys listening to music while he’s out driving.

“Sometimes I go through the radio, sometimes I go through Apple Music or a podcast every once in a while so time will go quicker,” O’Beirne said.

That helps to pass the time, O’Beirne said. Despite this minor boredom, O’Beirne said he is happy to be a DoorDash driver.

“I would say overall it is worth it to be in charge of yourself and having that flexibility to choose your own hours and schedule your work around your life.”

Mitchell Shields ’22 contributed to this story.

Features

The Hawk Newspaper

April 14, 2021

9

Organizer leads movement against youth incarceration RYAN MULLIGAN ’21 Editor in Chief Twenty-year-old Will Bentley wants to make sure kids don’t suffer at the hands of the criminal justice system the same way he did.

At 14, Bentley found himself incarcerated at Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center (PICC), an adult jail. His case was eventually sent back to the juvenile system, and he spent the next three years in a juvenile facility.

While at the juvenile facility, Bentley was introduced to the Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project (YASP), a Philadelphia-based organization that conducts art, poetry, music and empowerment workshops in jails and prisons. It was an escape and an outlet for Bentley to express himself. “[YASP] made me feel like I could be a kid again,” Bentley said. “It made me feel whole again. It made me come back to reality.”

Bentley immersed himself deeply in his work with YASP, and continuously sought to align himself with their mission during those three years. YASP seeks to end youth incarceration and empower young people. They don’t just conduct workshops in jails and prisons, but they stay in the lives of the young people they help once they get out by giving them potential employment opportunities and leadership roles in the organization.

When Sarah Morris, co-founder of YASP, came for the workshops, she told Bentley he would have a home with YASP when he got out of the system.

Just before Bentley was scheduled to be released, Terrance (TA) Williams, who was described as “the heart and soul” of YASP and who was also a close friend of Bentley, was shot and killed at 22. YASP had stopped hiring at the time, and in the wake of his friend’s passing, Bentley said he got caught up in the wrong crowd.

At age 17, Bentley was again charged as an adult and incarcerated at PICC. His bail was set at $520,000. To get out of jail, he was required to post 10% or $52,000.

According to the Philadelphia Bail Fund, an organization that provides relief for people facing incarceration and has a goal of eliminating cash bail in Philadelphia, the average bail issued in December 2020 was $121,873, meaning $12,187 was needed to post bail.

Bentley said his experience as a teenager in an adult prison still affects him today.

“What we go through, it’s horrible,” Bentley said. “I always tell people, like what you see on TV, is really what prison is like.

When you get in that environment, it’s traumatizing. To this day, I feel certain side effects from that time.”

YASP, along with the Philadelphia Bail Fund, helped Bentley make his bail after a year in jail. The same week he returned home, he interviewed and was hired by YASP. In the following weeks and months, he spoke at high schools and colleges, and met with city council members. At his trial, the judge took Bentley’s work for YASP into consideration and ruled that Bentley would get no additional jail time.

Bentley said the education YASP gave him while he was incarcerated helped his understanding of the injustices he had experienced personally and gave him a way to fight against them.

“It was always this place for me to go, where I could express myself in different ways,” Bentley said. “YASP gave me a safe space and they had me right there. At that point I wanted to be an advocate to end youth incarceration and ending pretrial punishment. Once I started learning about different systems through YASP, like ending the cash bail system, I realized that the way they’re doing it right now is not working, so we need to try something else, and YASP gave me a way to advocate for those things.”

Now, Bentley is a full-time employee at YASP, running its Youth Participatory Defense Hub, a youth-led space where young people with open court cases, or their families, can get support, talk through how the process works and think about their next steps and strategies to get the best possible outcome for their future, according to the organization’s website.

Bentley works closely with YASP Co-Director Josh Glenn, who said his own experience being incarcerated in an adult prison as a kid is what fuels his activism now and compels him to deconstruct the systems that made him, and kids like him, suffer.

“What drove me to be an organizer was learning the history of America, all of the layers of it and just seeing how a lot has changed but a lot hasn’t changed when it comes to the systems that deal with our

Bentley (left) and Glenn (right) give a presentation at The Workshop School, a project based school in West Philadelphia.

Bentley has written op-eds about youth incarceration for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Patriot News and the Stoneleigh Foundation. PHOTOS COURTESY OF WILL BENTLEY

people,” Glenn said. “For me, learning all of that, I had to do this. Like what am I living for? I have to be living it and make things better. I’ve seen how the systems operate and I just said we got to change it, just for all of our sake.”

Like Glenn, Bentley continues to live it.

He is also an organizer with the Philadelphia Bail Fund.

“We’re bailing kids out on holidays, bailing mothers out on Mother’s Day, fathers out on Father’s Day,” Bentley said.

“We raise money, and all the money goes towards bailing people out and once they get out, doing things that will benefit them when they come home. Help them get back on their feet. When people get arrested, they lose their housing, they lose everything. So all the money we raise goes towards helping them.”

As an organization, YASP seeks legislative change, specifically repealing Act 33, passed in 1996, which allows youth under 18 to be automatically tried as an adult for a number of crimes. Glenn said his own incarceration as a minor was an opportunity to educate himself on the systems in place in Pennsylvania that allow for laws like Act 33.

He has now made it his life work to educate young people to challenge laws that people like him and Bentley were impacted by.

“We need young people that have been through the system,” Glenn said. “We need to empower them to be the ones that take on this work and own this work. And so we hire young people, we pay and train them to be activists and organizers, and we let them take leadership roles in the organization to challenge the laws.”

The U.S. leads the world in sentencing juveniles to life in prison, and Pennsylvania puts more juveniles behind bars for the rest of their lives than any other state.

Michael Lyons Ph.D., associate professor and chair of communications and media studies, is the co-founder of The Redemption Project, which uses storytelling to aid the movement for criminal justice reform in Pennsylvania. In his work, Lyons said he has seen the impact of harsh sentencing on juveniles, and like Glenn and Bentley, believes that legislative change in Pennsylvania is necessary.

“This state decided a long time ago that some kids are just disposable,” Lyons said.

“As a society we are thankfully starting to rethink that, but Pennsylvania’s laws are still behind. Children don’t belong in adult prisons. It’s really as simple as that. If we are serious about rehabilitation and giving kids a chance, we can’t send them to prison with adults.”

YASP aims to put people in positions to challenge society’s norms and the laws that

accompany them, according to Glenn.

“We equip young people to be the leaders in the community and challenge these laws,” Glenn said. “The system we have right now just doesn’t work, it never worked. Part of our workshops, we still do poetry because it helps young people express themselves and a lot of young people like it. But also we do political education and then we also want to pay young people as soon as they get out to be organizers.”

Bentley and Glenn said their work has led them to conversations with legislators in Harrisburg, District Attorneys across the state, city council members and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney. Still, Bentley admitted that this sort of dialogue can be an uphill battle when those in power are not able to relate to the experiences that people like Glenn and Bentley have had.

“The people that make the laws in Pennsylvania, a lot of them come from rural areas, they’re not coming from the inner city,” Bentley said. “A lot of the legislators that make the laws, they don’t come from this.

They don’t come from underprivileged communities. They don’t understand the impact of having kids incarcerated with adults. They don’t understand the effect because it’s not affecting them.”

For Bentley, successfully changing the laws that are in place around youth incarceration and mass incarceration would produce an improved society. He said the astronomic rise in gun violence the city is currently experiencing ties into mass incarceration practices. When discussing his vision, he repeated one word: harmony.

“I feel like if youth incarceration ended, in my eyes there would be harmony,” Bentley said. “There wouldn’t be as much violence. These prisons take away these kids’ uncles, these kids’ aunts, these kids’ parents, any people that can teach these kids the rights and wrongs, they’re not there because of the prison system. They can’t learn right and wrong if no one is there to teach them.

That’s what is creating all of this violence in the city, all of these shootings. Ending youth incarceration and mass incarceration would bring back some uncles and some fathers and it would be harmony.”

For this to happen though, Bentley said that programs like YASP need to be in place and properly funded not only to help young people that are or were incarcerated but also to fight oppressive policies.

“I wish there were more innovations in the world like YASP,” Bentley said. “It changed my life and a lot of kids’ lives. I just wish YASP, and other organizations similar to YASP had more funding. If we had unlimited funding our base, and our span and our help and our reach would be so much more.”

10 April 14, 2021

The Hawk Newspaper

Features

Hawks host tours amid pandemic LILY MCSTRAVICK ’23 Special to the Hawk Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, it was common to see tour guides from the Office of Undergraduate Admission leading large groups of prospective students and their parents around campus.

Now, because of COVID-19 restrictions, Hawk Hosts and Hawk Ambassadors, the university’s official student tour guides, are leading one or two families at a time. And that is resulting in a more personalized tour.

Nicolette Mortelliti, who plans to begin her college career at St. Joe’s in the fall, said having a small group definitely made a difference in her tour experience.

“The smaller group made the tour more personal, which is something I liked,” said Mortelliti, who visited campus last August with her mom.

Hawk Host Abby Varker ’22 said because the groups she leads are smaller, she makes better connections with families.

“I’ve had people tell me that my tours are something that pushed them to either apply or commit or seriously look at St. Joe’s,” Varker said. “Making those one-onone connections is actually a benefit of the pandemic on touring.”

Admissions began advertising for a new category of tour guides earlier this semester. Hawk Hosts, the traditional name for the guides, run tours during the week and on weekends. Hawk Ambassadors, the new group, are specifically designated for weekend tours, according to Maureen Mathis, director of undergraduate admission.

“Because of the limit to how many tours a Hawk Host could give, we needed more people to give tours for the amount of families that wanted to visit campus,” Mathis said.

Mathis said 80 families can be accommodated for tours on a Saturday or Sunday.

During the week, tours are spread out. For example, Mathis said 95 tours were given Monday through Friday during the week of March 15.

There are currently 28 Hawk Ambassadors and around 65 Hawk Hosts. The number of Hawk Hosts is similar to past years, Mathis said.

Mathis said Admissions also added tour guides because some tour guides were uncomfortable with the risks of interacting with prospective students and their families. Other guides have had to call out due to quarantine and isolation.

“The number changes each week, depending upon COVID outbreak,” Mathis said. “If someone is in contact with or contracts COVID, then they are out for two weeks.”

Mathis said she is grateful to the guides for working, despite any challenges.

“They are on the front lines helping with the recruitment of future freshmen and transfers to the university,” Mathis said.

Shane Patil ’22, a Hawk Host and special events director on the executive board of the Hawk Host Organization, said with smaller tours, families are able to engage more with their hosts and get all of their pandemic and nonpandemic related questions answered.

“Doing these one-on-one tours, you get to actually answer real questions with them rather than these superficial college-based questions that you would have with 10-family tours,” Patil said.

That is what Mortelliti experienced when she was on her campus tour.

“I was able to get all of my questions answered as well as get to know the person who gave me the tour,” Mortelliti said.

Hawk Host Lexi Mignogna ’21 said one

Ally Anthony ’22 gives Marilynn Kozy, a prospective student from Drexel Hill, PA, a tour of St. Joe’s campus.

PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

of the most common questions she gets is about online classes.

“The biggest question would be, ‘If my child is going to be in person versus online’ because it’s hard for parents sometimes to make a very big investment to come to a private university if they think that their student is going to be online for all four years,” Mignogna said.

In addition to smaller in-person tours, Admissions also hosts other group events, including “Senior Saturdays,” a day designated to admitted students where they can have a masked, distanced visit while also getting a feel for being in a college classroom.

“We’ve done four of them, and they are getting a presentation, so they’re getting an educational experience, meaning they’re in one of our classroom spaces, so they’re all at desks, they’re six feet apart,” Mathis said.

In-person tours do not include the typical large-group presentations from Admission staff. Those presentations are virtual

and prospective students have the option to do virtual tours as well.

Virtual tours are given by a Hawk Host through the St. Joe’s virtual tour website, and students are able to see everything on campus from an overhead view. Virtual tours are also accompanied by interactive videos.

Mignogna said doing more virtual tours has been “a blessing in disguise” because there is a greater range of students whom the tour guides can connect with.

“We find that we can also reach students who might live across the country,” Mignogna said. “They don’t want to come all the way out to St. Joe’s for a weekend, if they live really far away, whether it be due to expenses or scheduling.”

Patil said pandemic or not, he loves being able to make a difference on prospective students and their perception of college.

“That has definitely been my favorite part, getting to show these families truly what St. Joe’s is about,” Patil said.

Sports

The Hawk Newspaper

April 14, 2021

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MONEY OR MORALS? In September 2019, St. Joe’s released a policy that barred students, faculty and staff from placing bets on St. Joe’s athletic contests. In the following columns, both sides of the argument are evaluated. Should a stance of money or morality be adopted?

Let’s gamble on SJU Athletics

Don’t allow gambling on SJU Athletics

TYLER NICE ’23 Assistant Sports Editor

RILEY FRAIN ’21 Sports Editor

Since the adoption of the sports betting ban at St. Joe’s, the landscape of the industry has changed remarkably. Sports betting in 2021 has a more ubiquitous presence than anyone could have imagined even a year and a half ago.

By 2023, the industry is expected to grow 56.89% from 2019, largely due to the growth of online sportsbook apps like FanDuel, DraftKings and Barstool Sportsbook, owned by Penn National Gaming, a Wyomissing, Pennsylvania based company currently valued at $16.6 billion.

No longer do people have to contact a bookkeeper to make a sports bet. The medium is now digital, and increased digitality makes the university’s policy especially difficult to enforce.

As sports betting is illegal for students under 21, St. Joe’s has the right to prohibit it, just as it does with alcohol and drugs. But the sports betting policy, like the alcohol and drugs policies, is heavily reliant on the honor code, which we all know is highly effective among college students.

When an honor code inevitably falters, such regulations become difficult, if not impossible, to enforce. For example, St. Joe’s and colleges across the country consistently fail to identify when tangible substances like alcohol and drugs are right under their noses.

So how can you expect the university to enforce an intangible and digital practice like sports betting? Unless you’re at a women’s basketball game and you erupt in ecstasy as St. Joe’s hits a last second shot to cover a 9-point spread, it is virtually impossible to get busted for betting. The ban is noble in its intent, but to imagine it can be even remotely practical is a stretch too far.

Further, for a university that has a business school as robust and acclaimed as the Haub School of Business, it is hypocritical to ignore capitalism and market growth. Within the sports industry, St. Joe’s has been at the forefront of the esports explosion, with SJU Athletics sponsoring a lab in Merion Hall and the university partnering with the 76ers gaming club. Similar opportunities exist within the scope of sports betting.

Sports betting companies that are worth in excess of a billion dollars are looking for people to work with data and analytics, the foundation of what the Haub curriculum focuses on. Many of these companies are based within St. Joe’s geographic footprint. St. Joe’s should connect with these fast-growing companies to secure internships and career opportunities in a barren job market post-COVID-19.

The digital age is upon us, and it is time for the university to adopt policies that reflect the changing times. Though it is important that these policies don’t compromise its core values, there should not be substance-free formalities that are merely implemented for a boost in public relations. Why even have a code if it has no chance of being enforced? No gambling policy can cover the behemoth that is new-era sports betting.

The St. Joe’s interim policy that prohibits sports gambling prevents students, faculty and staff from betting on St. Joe’s athletic events. This policy upholds our Jesuit values as a university.

As an institution, gambling runs contrary to the sense of community that is instilled in SJU Athletics and the entire university. The Jesuit values of solidarity and kinship espouse the notion of sharing talents and skills with the surrounding community in order to help serve others. This should be the goal of our athletics program, to serve the greater St. Joe’s community with our student athletes’ skill sets, not exploit them for selfish purposes.

These student athletes aren’t currently getting paid for all their hard work and dedication to their sport and so for fans, students, faculty or staff to be placing bets and potentially earning money off their play is wrong.

I understand how sports betting might draw in more fans to games and could potentially create more engagement with athletics teams from the campus community. But, ultimately, it is important that we don’t compromise our values as a university and as members of the Jesuit community in order to appeal to a wider audience or bring in extra money.

Specifically, throughout the legalization process of sports gambling we’ve seen a lot of pros and cons. For example, we’ve seen how addictive gambling can be, similar to alcohol or drugs, and just how littered the market is with underage gamblers. Therefore, it’s truly necessary for St. Joe’s to take a stand in order to regulate sports gambling on campus, particularly as it relates to our athletics program.

I also see sports gambling as putting unnecessary pressure on our tireless student athletes in the excess attention they may receive from fans and members of our campus community relating to bets or outcomes on wagers.

Student athletes already have enough to deal with in their day-to-day lives, and adding internal pressure by permitting sports gambling has the potential to negatively influence a student’s game or mindset.

For example, what if a student who was friends with a player on the men’s basketball team wanted to pressure them to purposefully lose a game in order to cash in a bet. This presents a slippery slope for student athletes who may be tempted into taking the winnings by throwing the game. This could prove to negatively impact the athletics department or the university community as a whole. Ultimately, this interim policy is to the benefit of our student athletes.

Moving forward, the university should continue to try and regulate this policy, making sure the St. Joe’s community abides by the values that have been instilled into our campus community. We must keep gambling out of our athletics department as we did prior to the legalization of sports betting. With this policy, I see St. Joe’s doing the right thing in keeping student athletes’ priorities at the top of the mind. Promoting these values are so important to the groundwork of St. Joe’s as a school.

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12

Sports

The Hawk Newspaper

April 14, 2021

Golf swings in popularity thanks to coronavirus pandemic ADAM FINE ’23 Special to the Hawk Chris Barletta, club manager and head golf professional at Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia, has been nervous about his club ever since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

But Barletta’s concern is not about the club losing members. It’s about having too many.

“I’ve been here since 2006,” Barletta said. “This is the first time that we capped the membership.”

Golf usually takes a back seat to other major sports, but with those sports largely sidelined by the pandemic, people turned to golf.

“There’s been a pretty dramatic spike in numbers of participation and people joining or wanting to join clubs or make tee times,” said golf writer Tom Coyne, M.F.A, associate professor of English. “The interest has been really high.”

According to The National Golf Foundation and Golf Datatech, there were 10 million more rounds of golf played in summer 2020 compared to summer 2019. That’s approximately a 20% increase.

When Bala Golf Club initially closed last spring during the lockdown, Barletta said he was not sure how the business would fare.

“Most of us in the golf industry feel it’s turned out way better than we thought,” Barletta said. “When March 20 came around last year and we had to close the doors on an 80-degree day in March for six weeks, a lot of people in the industry, people with the major manufacturers, were very concerned. It played out a little better than any of us would have expected.”

While the initial lockdown prevented golfers from making their way onto the course, restrictions were set allowing foursomes to go out in small, socially distanced groups. People saw this as an opportunity to try something new during the pandemic that allowed for social distancing outside.

Coyne said the pandemic is a historical event that boosted golf ’s popularity. The last time golf saw a similar spike, he said, was when Tiger Woods dominated the game in the 1990s.

“When he won the Masters in ’97, golf went through the roof because everybody thought golf was cool,” Coyne said. “Tiger Woods made it very exciting. A lot of people were playing golf, a lot of people were buying golf equipment, a lot of people were taking lessons.”

Rob Jeffrey, a PGA teaching professional at BQ Golf Academy in Conshohocken, said golf became an outlet during the pandemic when so many other activities were limited due to COVID-19 restrictions. Golf provided safe, outdoor family time, Jeffrey said.

“Last year, nobody went anywhere,” Jeffrey said. “They were quarantining. There’s no traveling. There’s no airplanes. So they turned to golf. A lot of new golfers either came into the game or came back to the game.”

That included more young golfers, too, Jeffrey said.

“More kids were introduced to the game last year because the parents couldn’t take them on vacations,” Jeffrey said. “Golf clubs, country clubs, have had to reinvent themselves to be more family oriented or user-friendly.”

Clubs had to introduce new safety pro-

The popularity of golf grew approximately 20% during the pandemic when compared to previous years.

PHOTO: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

tocols as well. At Bala Golf Club, hand sanitizing stations were installed and golf carts are regularly disinfected. Barletta said the club also emphasized social distancing and small groups.

“Fortunately for golf, it’s a very easy industry to maneuver around the COVID regulations,” Barletta said. “We just sort of made our facilities in the position where people don’t have to go indoors.”

Barletta said he is not sure if golf ’s current high will last.

“Certainly it’s going to be hard to keep all that interest and all those new golfers, for various reasons, such as time, such as money,

such as the game’s hard,” Barletta said. “Golf always has its cycles where it’s incredibly popular, and then it slows down a little bit. So, we’ll see.”

Coyne said he thinks golf can retain its popularity for new golfers if they enjoy what drew them to it in the first place.

“I’m a golf nerd, but for people who aren’t into the game, sell them on the fact that you’re going to burn 1,500 to 2,000 calories, you’re going to walk five to six miles, and you’re going to have fun while you’re doing it,” Coyne said. “For people that aren’t golf heads, that’s the best thing we have to offer them, and we can’t forget that.”

St. Joe’s golf getting back to par before A-10 Championships AARON TULLY ’23 Hawk Staff The St. Joe’s golf team has great potential with a number of new players on the team, according to junior JT Spina.

“We have a bunch of new guys that are just starting to get their feet wet in college competition,” Spina said. “This was kind of a new experience.”

The Hawks began their season with a 15th place finish at the Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate, and then rebounded in their second outing, finishing tied for fourth place at Rolling Green Intercollegiate. They finished fourth out of four teams in their most recent event at the Temple Spring Invite.

Spina said that while the Hawks didn’t get off to the start they were looking for, he has hope for the season moving forward as

the new players gain experience.

Head Coach Bob Lynch said it was hard to know exactly what to expect from his team after going a full year without competition.

“We struggled a little bit, but I figured it was the first tournament out of the gate,” Lynch said. “We didn’t play in the fall, so we played kind of freely. I didn’t really know what to expect.”

According to Lynch, his team played better in their second tournament led by inexperienced players who have had to quickly acclimate to collegiate golf.

Senior Wills Montgomery said the team is just enjoying the fact that they are competing again.

“We are still able to go into Hagan and lift so I think we have definitely built a good team bond just lifting and getting to practice and play again,” Montgomery said.

Sophomore Jake Avery shot four-over-par at the Temple Spring Invite.

PHOTOS: MITCHELL SHIELDS ’22/THE HAWK

According to Lynch, his team has suffered some setbacks as of late. They only had four players competing at the Temple Spring Invite.

“Between a couple of injuries and a couple of COVID situations we are down to the skeleton,” Lynch said. “The four guys that are eligible are working hard.”

Spina said the message that is being reiterated to the entire team is to keep getting better every day, and to control what they can.

“There’s been a lot of things that were obviously affected by COVID,” Spina said.

“Some things are out of your hands.”

Looking ahead, Montgomery said he hopes that the team can start to pick up momentum heading towards the Atlantic 10 (A-10) Championships at the end of April.

Spina said the team’s remaining tournaments are all in preparation for the approaching A-10 Championship.

“Right now I would say we’re just really working to bring our best stuff for A-10 and prepare for that and come home with victory there,” Spina said.

Lynch said he hopes to have his team back to full strength before the A-10 Championships, as it is important to their overall success in the tournament.

“Wills Montgomery and JT Spina will have been there before so they know what to expect,” Lynch said. “But you never know, freshmen can react differently.”

According to Spina, the team wants to win their coach his first ever A-10 Championship. “[Coach Lynch] has been here for 32 years and he’s never won an Atlantic 10 Championship,” Spina said. “We want to be known as a group of guys that brought him his first.”

Freshman Kevin Smith secured a top 25 finish at the Temple Spring Invite.