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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
Table of Contents:
2-3
Greek organizations at Baylor give back to multiple philanthropies
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Other Baylor sports still thrive in spite of Title IX scandal, poor football season
5
University of Iowa football team gives new meaning to the “Wave” Faith and Sport Institute
6 - 7 guides young athletes in leadership, beliefs Christian families
8 - 1 0 in Waco follow calling to adopt children
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Baylor freshman raises money for mission trips across globe
1 2-1 3
City of Waco creates mission to help homeless population
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Family Abuse Center combats domestic violence Legislators labor to
1 6 - 1 9 save honeybees from extinction
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Letter from the Editor: “We didn’t start the fire, we just write the news.”
Cover art by Rewon Shimray | Cartoonist
Baylor Greek sororities give back
Ω Χ π θ BROOKE HILL Staff Writer
Five first ladies, 61 Emmy award winners and 41 former Miss Americas were sorority women. The leadership shown by these high achiever goes beyond just achieving milestones for themselves. Dedication to fundraising for their philanthropies has led the eight Panhellenic sororities to collectively raise more than $373,100 for their charities since January. Zeta Tau Alpha’s philanthropy is breast cancer education and awareness. By spreading the message of breast cancer education and awareness, Zeta sisters are determined to diminish this disease, according to their website. Baylor Zeta raises money through its event Big Man on Campus, a male pageant show in which men compete in a lip sync battle, question and answer session and pink-out clothing. “Our philanthropy has allowed our chapter to unite toward a common goal, and has also shown that we have all been impacted by this terrible disease in one way or another,” said Olivia Borba, Zeta philanthropy chair. Reading Is Fundamental, which fights for literacy nationwide, is Kappa Kappa Gamma’s philanthropy. This year, it fundraised through a spaghetti dinner called Not so Formal and through its annual Kappa Karnival. “I love serving with RIF because we get the opportunity to contribute monetarily by raising money and also personally where we read with and spend one-on-one time with Pre-K and kindergarten children,” said Anna Claire Minter, Kappa philanthropy chair. “It has been so humbling to watch my chapter be so intentional with loving on kids and see how the kids’ confidence grows when they feel truly heard and believed in.” Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich their final days. Baylor Chi Omega fundraises for this philanthropy in the fall through its annual Chili Cook Off. Before the event, they send letters out to friends and family to ask for donations for Make-A-Wish North Texas. At the event, all money raised from chili sales goes toward Make-A-Wish. It also has Wish Week in the spring, which consists of a week of profit shares, an on-campus walk-a-thon and and a sand volleyball tournament. At both of
Courtesy Photo
FOR THE CHILDREN Some of the ladies of Tri Delta on their trip to St. Jude in Memphis in Fall 2017.
these events, the sorority invites various Wish families who have been granted wishes (or are in the process of being granted a wish) through the organization and live in the Waco area. “Make-A-Wish North Texas is near to my heart,” said Lauren Knapton, Chi Omega philanthropy chair. “One of my best friends from home was granted a wish to go to Italy with her family for a week while she was battling cancer. I saw the impact that this trip had on her and her family, and I am forever grateful for this organization. One of the many reasons I love Chi Omega is because our philanthropy is so important to us, and our members care a lot about it.” Alpha Chi Omega’s philanthropy is domestic violence awareness. Baylor Alpha Chi fundraised for the Waco family abuse center through its block party event this fall, as well as taking donations internally so that it can provide dinners every week, as well as donate needed items on a regular basis. “Being able to work in the local community is a great blessing for our sisterhood,” said Katie Galgano, Alpha Chi philanthropy chair. “While
working on campus is great, stepping outside of your bubble creates an entirely new environment. It’s amazing to see how new friendships form while volunteering. You have a chance to get to know women outside of your immediate friend group.” Delta Delta Delta’s philanthropy is St. Jude Children’s Research hospital. Baylor Tri Delta was the top Tri Delta chapter in the nation for fundraising this past year, raising $246,00. During its annual letter writing campaign, “Sincerely Yours,” the women sent out over 14,000 letters that resulted in over $180,000 in donations. It also fundraises through Tri Delta gameday, where everyone is invited to watch an away football game on the field at McLane, and Delta Night Live, a concert it hosts in the spring. “I think it’s super important to highlight the heart behind greek life, and convey that it’s not just about sisterhood, date events, and t-shirts, but it’s so much more than that,” said Chandler Oestereich, Tri Delta philanthropy chair. Pi Beta Phi’s philanthropy, Read Lead Achieve, is an organization that strives to spread awareness and importance of literacy. The Baylor
Α Γ Δ
chapter participates in efforts to raise literacy rates in Waco by participating in a program called Champions Are Readers. In this program, one Pi Phi is paired with a third grade student at South Waco Elementary School and they meet once a week to listen to their buddies read and raise their literacy levels. “This program has been so awesome to be apart of because, we get to see results and improvement right here in our community,” said Jordan Hickey, Pi Phi philanthropy chair. “Once a week, every single week, we show up and love on our buddies. We get to encourage them, ask them about their interests, and show them that we value them. It’s amazing to see how just 30 minutes a week can lift their spirits and motivate them to be the best they can be in school and as a person.” Kappa Alpha Theta’s philanthropy is Court
Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), an organization that supports and promotes courtappointed advocates for abused or neglected children in order to provide children with a safe and healthy home environment. Baylor Theta fundraises for CASA through their annual CASA 5K run in the fall, as well as an event in the spring called CASA couture where local vendors set up shops in Theta’s chapter room and donate a portion of their sales to CASA. Baylor Theta also made a personalized blanket for every CASA kid in McLennan county for Christmas this year. “CASA is a blessing to serve,” said Sirina Thompson, Theta philanthropy director. “I’ve loved getting to know the local representatives and see Theta’s opportunities to serve and donate to CASA grow. It’s not just another cause, it’s a way to tangibly
Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
change lives.” Alpha Delta Pi’s philanthropy is Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides a home for families to stay when a child is staying in a nearby hospital. Baylor ADPi serves by going down to the Temple Ronald McDonald house once a month to cook, clean, plant flowers and help with whatever may be needed that month. This past year it has raised money through a week of profit shares, a letter drive and PiHop, a pancake event with a photo booth and games. “Regardless of what you are doing to help out, it is such a huge blessing for the families and the staff,” said Jamie Jennings, ADPi philanthropy chair. “It provides hope for them in a place that may not always have a positive atmosphere. People that stay there have kids that are very sick and RMHC allows them to stay close to their family during this time.”
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Sorority Philanthropies Zeta Tau Alpha: Breast cancer education and awareness
Kappa Kappa Gamma: Reading is Fundamental
Pi Beta Phi: Read Lead Achieve
Chi Omega: Make-a-Wish
Alpha Chi Omega: Domestic Violence Awareness Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Journalist
Delta Delta Delta: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Kappa Alpha Theta: Court Appointed Special Advocates
Alpha Delta Pi: Liesje Powers | Multimedia Editor
Courtesy Photo
BELIEVING IN SOMETHING BETTER (Top Left) Ladies from Chi Omega participate in Alpha Tau Omega’s bed races, which benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation. (Bottom Left) A Zeta Tau Alpha’s throws a sorority sign at a Think Pink breast cancer awareness rally. (Right) Temple sophomore Dannen Shatto and Fort Wayne, Ind., Maddy Davis show their support with face paint and smiles at the Theta CASA 5K this fall.
Ronald McDonald House Charities
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SPORTS
thrive despite poor football season record
Will Barksdale | Multimedia Journalist
MAKING PROGRAM HISTORY Redshirt senior outside hitter Katie Staiger spikes the ball against an Oklahoma defender in a September matchup at the Ferrell Center. The Bears defeated the Sooners in four sets.
COLLIN BRYANT Sports Writer While Baylor’s football program continues to struggle in a footballdominated region, Baylor sports such as men’s golf, women’s volleyball and soccer are having successful seasons. In the south, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference (SEC) football control the region’s culture interest and and in recent years, the Bears had a seat at the table. Baylor played in bowl games the last four years and was conference champions backto-back in 2013 and 2014. However, through turmoil and coaching changes caused by Baylor’s sexual assault scandal, the Bears have faltered this season. With a 1-9 record, head coach Matt Rhule’s transition into the program has not gone smoothly. After the team started 0-3, Rhule said during this time of transition, the most important element is ensuring his players are getting better. “To me that’s really the most important thing to building a great program is developing player accountability and player discipline, and they are holding each other accountable,” Rhule said. “That was really nice to see for me.” Although football has struggled to find success on the field, the rest of Baylor’s fall athletic programs have given Baylor Nation plenty to cheer about. Soccer Baylor soccer hosted the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 10, beating Rice 3-2. The Bears are about to take on USC, the defending national champions on Friday in the second round. Before beating Rice last weekend, Baylor won the Big 12 championship, clawing past teams such as Texas, Oklahoma State and TCU, all of which also made the NCAA Tournament. While soccer has not had a coaching change, it too has battled injuries. Baylor lost junior forward Jackie Crowther, who led the team in goals early in the season to a knee injury. The Bears also lost redshirt sophomore Hannah Parrish to injury for the 2017 season, giving freshman Jennifer Wandt the starting goal keeper position. After winning the Big 12 Tournament, head coach Paul Jobson said the girls are
Courtesy of Baylor Athletics
CONFERENCE CHAMPS The soccer team poses for a picture after winning the Big 12 Championship. The Bears defeated TCU 2-1 in overtime on Nov. 5 in Kansas City, Mo., to get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
entering the NCAA Tournament with a championship mindset. “I think it’s just the mentality they’ve had for most of the season. That can’t be something that changes as we go into the postseason when we get to the NCAA Tournament,” Jobson said. “We talked about it entering the Big 12’s ... here’s another game ... every game we’ve played is like a championship match because of what we play for. We play for God and we play for each other, and that doesn’t change no matter what logos are on the field or if there’s a trophy at the end of it.” Golf Baylor men’s golf had a successful fall season, starting with two top five finishes, as well as a win in its last fall tournament of the semester the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate. Most of the men’s golf tournaments are typically in the spring to prepare them for the conference and national championship in March and April. However, the men’s team traditionally will compete in several fall events to start the team’s preparation for when the season picks up. Men’s golf has steadily been on the rise since head coach Mike McGraw took over in the fall 2015. The team has been to the national championship the last two years, losing in the quarterfinals to Oklahoma in 2016. After the team’s first win of the 2017
season this past week at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate, McGraw said his team completely met his expectations to start the season. “I don’t think you can’t ask much more of a team other than to get into contention,” McGraw said. “They did it every single tournament and they finally got the job done.” Volleyball Baylor volleyball is currently having one of its best seasons in team history. The Bears reached No. 17 in the country on Nov. 13, their highest ranking in program history. The team is led by senior outside hitter Katie Staiger, who earlier this season became the Baylor all-time kills leader in the rally scoring era, shattering Katie Sanders’ (2006-09) record of 1,547. Head coach Ryan McGuyre has seen freshman outside hitter Yossiana Pressley emerge as the next big hitter for the Bears. Pressley led the way in a sweep of then No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks on Nov. 11 with 19 kills on a .410 attack effort. The win over Kansas was Baylor’s first since 2012 and its fourth win over a ranked opponent this season. With a record of 22-5, the Bears are poised to be a real contender for the national championship as the regular season comes to an end Nov. 25 against the Texas Longhorns.
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Iowa college football gives new meaning to ADAM GIBSON Copy Editor In Iowa City, Iowa, college football has become so much more than just a game. This is because of one of the newest and most heartwarming traditions in all of sports. With just a simple wave, University of Iowa football fans show their support for young patients in a nearby hospital. Kinnick Stadium, home of the Iowa Hawkeyes, is located right next to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, which opened in February. 70,585 fans are able to turn and wave to the top floors of the hospital at the end of the first quarter during every home game. The idea first came from a Facebook page called Hawkeye Heaven, which is run by Iowa fans. Krista Young, a follower of the page, suggested the idea on June 5. “So I was thinking … Wouldn’t it be cool if we made it a tradition after the first quarter of every home game to have everyone in Kinnick wave to the kids and their families watching from The University of Iowa Stead Children’s Hospital,” Young said in the post. “Pass this on and let’s make it happen!” Just a few months later, the wave made its debut. On Sept. 2, when the Hawkeyes played Wyoming in the season-opener, a crowd of over 68,000 turned to wave to the children’s hospital. The hospital’s communications director, Cheryl Hodgson, said “The Wave” is a special way for the community to show they are there for the kids and that they are rooting for them to get better. “It’s really the unique thing about Iowa,” Hodgson told the Associated Press. “People care about kids and families everywhere, but we have noticed — first through the ‘Kid Captain’ program [where kids from the hospital are chosen to be the honorary captain for a football game] and now ‘The Wave’ — how much it means to people even if they don’t have a family member directly affected. They really kind of adopt those kids, and it feels like they’re their own and they want to go out of their way to support them.” At the University of Iowa Family Children’s Hospital, the staff deals with anything from caring for general childhood illnesses, surgery, traumatic injuries, life-threatening and chronic illnesses, and developmental disabilities. Dr. Paul M. Gordon, Baylor professor and chair of the department of health, human performance and recreation, has worked with children that have various disabilities at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Michigan. Gordon
said through his work, children feel more welcome with such gestures since they tend to be left out. “These kids, as you might guess, are often overlooked or even stigmatized by society. Their impairments often create challenges to engage in everyday activities and social acceptance is difficult,” Gordon said. “Certainly in my limited experience the children felt a sense of acceptance and support that often helped their mental and emotional states. There is scientific data supporting the benefits of good social support and healing. Even a simple act of kindness can be the difference, providing hope to those in the midst of a crisis. As Christians, we are
THE WAVE the hands and feet of Jesus and I would guess that a simple act like ‘The Wave’ can only help remind these children and their families that they aren’t forgotten or ignored.” Last year, UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital cared for 71,754 patients from every county in Iowa,
Associated Press
TRADITION Iowa Hawkeyes fans wave to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the end of the first quarter of a game on Sept. 16. At the end of the first quarter, everyone inside Kinnick Stadium is encouraged to turn and wave to the young patients watching the game in the nearby children’s hospital.
nearly every state in the United States, and several other countries. The children that are in the hospital have many other problems to worry about, but “The Wave” has become a good distraction from what they are dealing with, even if it is just a temporary distraction. For the parents of patients in the hospital, “The Wave” has brought life into a dark place. Amy Clark, a mother whose child is being treated in the hospital, said it creates a feeling of normalcy for the patients in the hospital. “I guess for me, it brings a sense of excitement to the kids that are here getting treatments or here for long term. And it makes them feel excited and normal for a minute to get out of their rooms and come up here and enjoy themselves,” Clark told the Associated Press. “And I also think it brings a sense of community to everybody that’s out there watching the football game just thinking of us. It’s a neat thing.” Not only have the fans and Iowa players taken part in waving to the hospital, but opposing teams’ players have also joined in on the trend. On Nov. 4, Iowa played then ranked No. 6 Ohio State, eventually upsetting it 55-24. At the end of the first quarter, with the score tied at 10, even though the Buckeyes were not happy with how the game had gone so far, the team still turned to wave to the children’s hospital. Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer also took part in the wave and told USAToday that his team was honored to take part in waving for the week. The Ohio State Athletics Twitter account also tweeted a gif of Ohio State fans waving to represent the fans that did not travel to the game. The tweet was tweeted at the official account of the children’s hospital and said, “UIchildrens from all of us Buckeyes who couldn’t be in Iowa City.” For the citizens of Iowa, a wave has become more than just a simple gesture. College football now gives to those in the hospital not only entertainment from the game, but loving recognition from 70,000 people in Kinnick Stadium, as well as support from people across the country who have witnessed this selfless tradition.
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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
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faith & sports NATHAN KEIL Sports Editor Balancing both sport and faith commitments is no easy task. Balancing these commitments well and maintaining them as a high priority is even harder. However, there is hope for athletes as they seek this balance in faith and sport. Beginning in June, incoming high school sophomores and juniors from various schools in Central Texas will gather to participate in the first ever Faith and Sport Institute, a George W. Truett Theological Seminary initiative that will help guide high school athletes as they find this balance. For FSI program director and campus sports chaplain Cindy White, the institute addresses the issues of leadership that athletes can carry with them throughout sports and in all aspects of life. “The Faith and Sport Institute seeks to engage and form young men and women to become strong leaders in sports, church and beyond. The eight-day retreat, combined with a year of mentorship, will help you ask the big questions, deepen integrity and spiritual leadership, and develop convictions and character to equip you for the ‘race of life,’” White said. For White and her husband Dr. John White, who directs the Master’s Sports Chaplaincy program at Truett Seminary and serves as faculty director for the FSI, the intersection of faith and sport has been undeniable. It has been the call God has inevitably placed in their lives, and the FSI will serve as an outlet for them to continue this call to ministry. “I came to Baylor having previously played and
coached volleyball at the Division I level. I also have been doing sports ministry among college and professional athletes for over 30 years,” White said. “It has been my passion as a Christian leader and lover of sports, along with my husband, John, to help athletes and coaches on all levels to integrate the gospel in everything they think, say and do.” Sports ministry may be embedded in the Whites’ DNA, but the inception of the FSI has been a process, and not one that was born overnight. In August 2015, they applied for a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., based out of Indianapolis, Ind. which funds initiatives like FSI. In December, the Whites were awarded the grant worth $600,000 under Lilly’s High School Youth Theology Institute. Grants given by the High School Youth Theology Institute are always given to seminaries, but this grant that went into effect in August 2016 is the first one to have sports people as the primary audience, in which student-athletes learn how to integrate faith and sport. White said that she understands the opportunity the grant has given them and that she and the FSI team will not take it for granted. “We are grateful to Lilly to entrust this project that benefits young people and promotes leadership education and financial self-sufficiency in the
nonprofit, charitable sector,” White said. “FSI is the first grant allocated to a seminary that seeks to theologically reflect on and engage in sports at this level. Lilly is anticipating very positive results from FSI.” One of the major goals of the FSI is to reshape and reframe the way athletes think about the relationship between faith and sports. Historically, sports have not been critically examined from a theological perspective. However, with a proper understanding of sport’s place beneath the realm of God’s sovereignty, athletes can begin to understand how faith and sport work together. “We believe that sports is an important slice of life, under the domain of God’s governance, where athletes and coaches and all who participate have the opportunity to practice what it means to ‘show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine,’” White said. “All human activities are subject to God and His will ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ If we can understand and live out the love, truth and grace found in Christ in the fully-embodied sport experience, we believe we will then be better prepared to imagine God in all aspects of life.” As athletes arrive at Baylor for the eight-day retreat and program, they will participate in a combination of teaching through lecture, small
groups, worship and competition. The athletes will be joined by top professors from Baylor, Canada and England throughout the week and will participate in an immersion experience with Mission Waco, focused on reconciling the world’s problems with the gospel peace throughout the sport experience. Houston third-year sports ministry graduate student Aaron Everic, FSI mentor and donor coordinator, said the FSI will help address some of the major life issues that confront athletes. “Topically, we will discuss and interact with worship, identity, training, suffering and vocation,” Everic said. “Then on the field of competition we will experience how those topics intersect with the desire to compete and how they interact with and against each other both on and off the field.” One of the other areas that FSI seeks to address is the instability of faith after the “mountain-top” experiences of camps and retreats. Lives can change over the course of a retreat, but can look different once athletes get back into their daily routines. FSI is addressing this problem by doing practical discipleship through mentoring of the athletes that will continue for a year after the retreat ends, an aspect that attracted Everic to the position. “The purpose of the mentor is to be a friend or companion alongside the student athlete who can engage in dialogue as the intersection between their faith and sport is continually at play, especially as they experience it upon returning to school and a new season,” Everic said. “I was drawn to it because the model of mentoring that they want to use with retreat-goers. Discipleship/mentoring is the future of the church and what FSI wants to develop now will
Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
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Rewon Shimray | Cartoonist
have huge implications on the next generation of leaders who will be equipping and trying new mentors for people of faith.” Everic has been the networking catalyst for the institute by reaching out to area coaches, administrators and pastors, getting them to gauge student athletes who would and could benefit from such a program as well as getting them to spread the word throughout the area. White hopes that through networking and establishing positive, lasting relationships with athletes, families and the Waco community, everyone who wants to participate in the institute will be able to and that fulfilling partnerships can be established. “FSI seeks to bless young people with the opportunity to learn and grow in a positive and challenging environment. We are especially committed to gender and racial diversity so nobody is left out due to financial reasons or family support,” White said. “It is our hope that a retreat such as this will continue the good work Baylor and Waco are already doing in the areas of community organizing and meeting the needs of young people.” The Institute targets high school athletes because over the course of 30 years of sports ministry, White said she has learned that it is more difficult to gain traction among high-level college and professional sports programs. Some programs are focusing on character training, including moral, emotional and
financial stewardship. However, according to White, many of them don’t realize that good training is grounded in good theological concepts. This is where FSI separates itself from these other programs. Faith Sport and Institute is still looking for mentors. Mentors can be seniors in college or other college students or spiritual leaders under the age of 30 who have a background or grasp of sports culture and a desire to walk alongside students as they mature in their faith. If interested in being a mentor or participating in FSI, one can check out the official FSI website, https:// www.baylor.edu/truett/index.php?id=940766, for an application and more details. The Faith and Sport Institute Retreat runs from June 17-24, 2018.
Visit the Faith and Sport Institute website for more information: https://www.baylor. edu/truett/index. php?id=940766
Courtesy of the Faith and Sport Institute
TEAMWORK High school students work to integrate their faith with sport during a physical challenge at the Athletes in Action Headquarters in Xenia, Ohio. Athletes in Action is also attempting to help high school athletes integrate faith in sport, however, it is not the same as Faith and Sport Institute.
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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
Growing
faith and families
Christians follow calling to adopt children in Waco from one of Jennifer’s former students and soon came to appreciate the agency’s faith perspective and advocacy for birth Houses are not always homes, and moms. They were prayerful about starting family can be more than simply sharing a family, Jennifer said, and the adoption a last name. Adoption challenges some of process was marked by peace as a result. Everything happened relatively society’s conceptions of love and family– perhaps family trees aren’t as significant quickly. Chris said it took about 10 months from the time he and Jennifer as the soil in which they’re planted. Two Baylor families, the Dickeys began meeting with birth moms to finally and the Youngers, recently opened up being selected by one. They were chosen their hearts, lives and homes to infant last spring by an 18-year-old expectant and embryo adoption. While they said mother from Dallas, Chris said. He noted they look forward to the possibility of the young mother liked the fact that he pursuing future adoptions, right now and Jennifer were older and had more both are enjoying life with their chosen established lives. Zoe Hope, whose name means children, Zoe Dickey and Owen Younger. abundant life, according to Chris was born in May 2017. The adoption was The Dickey Family As a couple who married in their lat- finalized in early November. Although er in life, Waco senior Chris Dickey said everything came together more quickly he and his wife, Jennifer, a lecturer in the than expected, Jennifer said they were Diana R. Garland School of Social Work both thrilled and thankful. “I think there’s a vulnerability of openand director of Global Mission Leadering your heart ship Initiative, and your life knew the possiand realizing bility of having that there’s a children of their potential that own was limitI remember what it our daughter, ed. Chris said as was like to hold Zoe in Zoe, is possibly they began exgoing to really ploring options our arms together. We struggle with to grow their placed her between us what [adopfamily, they tion] means for found infant and cried and held each her,” Jennifer adoption to be other and held Zoe.” said. “I think the most fitting for us, our comchoice. JENNIFER DICKEY | mitment is just Chris said LECTURER, DIANA R. to journey that they learned GARLAND SCHOOL OF with her as she about GeneraSOCIAL WORK struggles to be tions Adoptions
PHOEBE SUY Staff Writer
“
Photo Courtesy of Jennifer Dickey
BELOVED DAUGHTER Chris and Jennifer Dickey with their daughter, Zoe Hope, who they adopted this year.
in that space and to help her get the information she needs to create peace there.” While Jennifer said she believes adoption is a beautiful thing, she said that doesn’t mean it isn’t lacking in pain and sadness, as they remember Zoe’s birth mother and her loss, as well as Zoe, who is going to miss her. Jennifer said their commitment as a family is to create a supportive environment for Zoe and for whatever degree of relationship Zoe and her birth mother choose to have in the future. “We all, over and over, in that process and time of meeting with her, just [saw] how much courage it takes to see a pregnancy through and then give up your child,” Chris said as he teared up thinking about Zoe’s birth mother. Jennifer echoed Chris’ sentiments about Zoe’s birth mom, saying that they both have the highest respect and appreciation for her. “There are just no words for how we
feel toward her and how thankful we are for how she prepared Zoe for life in her body,” Jennifer said. Although not in the delivery room, Chris and Jennifer were present at the hospital when Zoe was born. “I remember what it was like to hold Zoe in our arms together. We placed her between us and cried and held each other and held Zoe,” Jennifer said. Jennifer recalled one moment in particular when she was alone with Zoe in the hospital room. She said she remembers thinking to herself, “OK, this baby is mine to nurture and support and care.” While she said she felt some sobriety and responsibility in that moment, Jennifer said there was also a deep sense of privilege and joy. As for Chris, he said he quickly learned how easy it is “to love a child that’s not of you.” At first, Chris said he felt some kind of apprehension, but it was quickly corrected once he met Zoe.
“When I walk in the door, she grins ear to ear and is just happy to see me and I’m just like, ‘I’m so happy to see you, too,’” Chris said. “So I guess the mornings and when I come home in the afternoons are probably those [moments] where it hits me each day that, ‘Wow, this is my baby.’” Zoe’s adoption was finalized on Nov. 6, 2017. Jennifer said it was so meaningful to go to the courthouse to officially receive Zoe into their family. While Zoe was already a part of their hearts, Jennifer said it was a time to formally say, “Everything we have is yours.” For Jennifer, families are born not necessarily out of blood, but out of commitment and covenant. “I’ve always just been drawn to the beautiful narrative that’s true for me as a person of the Christian faith, that I’ve been included in the family of God and just thinking about what it means to make space for people and to cleave to one another as family, even if it’s not blood related,” Jennifer said.
Did you know?
135,000
children are adopted in the United States each year.
428,000 children are in foster care in the United States.
Source: Adoption Network Law Center
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November is National Adoption Awareness Month
FAST FACTS: • 75.3 Million Americans
have considered adoption.
• If just 1 in 700 of these adults adopted, every waiting child in foster care would have a permanent family. Source: Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
Courtesy Photo
MUCH LOVE Chris and Jennifer Dickey hold their daughter Zoe Hope in their arms.
• Around 7 million Americans are adopted • Around 140,000 children are adopted by American families each year Source: Adoption Network Law Center
Courtesy Photo
OFFICIAL Chris and Jennifer Dickey celebrate the adoption finalization of their daughter, Zoe Hope.
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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
The Younger Family Rachael Younger, wife of Dr. Pete Younger, a full-time lecturer in Baylor’s philosophy department, said she and Pete knew they wanted to grow their family after their first year of marriage. Rachael and Pete married in 2006 after meeting at Biola University in Southern California. The couple moved to Texas around 2008. At the suggestion of her obstretrician, Rachael said she began using a low-level hormone treatment. In May 2011, only one month after starting the treatment, Rachael became pregnant with her firstborn son, Samuel. The couple chose the name Samuel from the Old Testament account of Hannah, as documented in 1 Samuel 2. According to Pete, Samuel means “asked of the Lord.” The Younger family’s road to adoption had many ups and downs, Rachael said. When her second pregnancy resulted in an early miscarriage, Pete and Rachael said they set everything aside for about a year. When they returned to the subject of growing their family, Pete and Rachael explained that they had both been interested in adoption before their marriage and considered it strongly after-
ward because advanced fertility was costly. Not only can it be a financial transfer, he said they still celebrate the life he was able to live, however burden, but Rachael said it also costs in terms of time and emotions. brief. Pete and Rachael were working toward a domestic adoption when “His life is over now, but he got the chance to live out for everything they learned about Generations Adoptions’ Snowflakes Embryo that it was,” Pete said. “We’re sorrowful it’s over, but at the same time, it’s Adoption Program. The program “allows couples who have frozen a natural closure we mourn that loss, but we’re still thankful for [his] life. embryos in storage to donate their embryos for adoption to another To move it out of that period of frozen waiting is by itself invaluable.” couple of their choosing,” the website states. The While there was no difference in embryos are transferred into the womb of the pregnancy for Rachael, she said being a adoptive mother, a process influenced by several mother to Samuel and Owen comes with factors, including the age unique challenges. What Samuel needs “We are called as Christians to care for from her is different than what Owen needs widows and orphans: for everyone it looks from her. different,” Rachael said. Rachael said for most domestic Rachael said she felt God had been working adoptions, there are two mother figures, in their lives to open them to the possibility of the birth mother and “mommy.” In embryo embryo adoption. She said she believes many adoption, there is the genetic mother, the moms looking to adopt do so for a number of birth mother and mommy. reasons, one of them being an inability to carry “Being mommy, that’s the day in and a baby to full term. After giving birth to Samuel, day out, 24/7, caring for them, loving them, Rachael said she knew her body was physically changing poopy diapers, telling them not to capable of carrying a baby, a unique advantage of touch hot things, reading to them, singing embryo adoption. with them, giving them enough time to DR. PETE YOUNGER | For Pete, embryo adoption became a choose their own play,” Rachael said. ”The LECTURER conviction in his heart after learning there were crux of it is being there 24/7. You’re the one thousands of embryos waiting to be adopted. He they turn to when they need comfort … It’s said that outside of adoption, these embryos will dealing with little hurts and little triumphs.” either be frozen indefinitely, discarded or used Rachael said she believes Christian for research. families in particular should ask themselves what their role is in caring “We can’t change that situation entirely, but we got to make a for widows and orphans. She said she doesn’t believe God calls everyone difference for five of them,” Pete said. to adopt, but she mentioned that examining one’s hesitations or concerns Rachael and Pete adopted five embryos in October 2015. They about adoption could reveal “selfish or wrongly-centered” reasons. transferred two embryos in December of that year. One survived and Sometimes it is easy to go into adoption with a self-centered view, their second son, Owen, is now 15 months old. Owen is a Welsh Rachael said. Often, individuals or couples expound upon the belief that name meaning noble heritage, Pete said. The couple also chose they are the ones offering children the opportunity for a good life. While names for the remaining three embryos–Batel, Tabitha Rachael said this is mostly true and that adoption offers orphans an and Ebenezer. opportunity to flourish and enhance their quality of life, she emphasized While Pete said they mourn the loss of that embryo adoption is fundamentally different. Reuben, the second embryo that did “In embryo adoption, very much I am giving them the opportunity not survive the to just live,” Rachael said. Rachael said members of her family are still coming to terms with her and Pete’s decision to adopt embryos. Rachael particularly noted that embryo adoption can become a controversial issue. Are the embryos persons? Do they deserve protections? Rachael said she believes how individuals answer these questions will influence their perspective. For example, Rachael said some people refer to embryo adoption as embryo donation and in turn, view the embryos as property and the process of adopting or donating as a contract. Rachael said one reason why she and Pete chose Generations’ Snowflakes program was because the program treated the embryos as persons, not objects to be acquired. “My wife and I, throughout our marriage, we’ve wanted our home to be the kind of place that we could be welcoming to others and that we could take what we’ve got and use that to bless other people,” Pete said. “One of the things we’ve got is a home and a family and the ability to take Cour tesy P people into our home and bring them into our family.” hoto Pete said their family wants to bless children and, in particular, the embryos waiting in limbo to have a chance to live out their lives.
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BABY FEVER Owen Younger celebrates his 13th month birthday. Owen was adopted via an embryo adoption program in 2016.
We’re sorrowful it’s over, but at the same time, it’s a natural closure we mourn that loss, but we’re still thankful for his life.”
A11 More money, more missions Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
Baylor freshman receives opportunity to go on three mission trips BRANSON HARDCASTLE Reporter Baylor freshman Michael Karr had always dreamed of going on mission trips to help others in need. During the summer of his junior year of high school, Michael got his chance. Michael is a native of Waco and has been raised in the church. Traveling and missions have been passions of his from an early age. Michael began attending Highland Baptist Church in Waco during his sophomore year of high school. He connected with his youth pastor, Jordan McKinney, who discipled him by doing Bible studies with him. This connection between them led Michael to get more involved in the student ministry. “I saw Michael as someone who was hungry. He was showing up to church alone. His family and his brother didn’t go to church here at this time. He was just showing up because he wanted it,” McKinney said. “He wanted the Lord. He wanted to be discipled. He wanted to go to a place where he felt like he belonged and get poured into.” In 2015, the youth ministry at Highland Baptist Church announced they would be going on a mission trip to Canada for the second consecutive year. The trip would cost $900 and would cover food, transportation and various expenses that would take place
on the trip. Michael wanted to go the year everyone going on the trip. For the luncheon, before, but was not able to. When he heard the students who were going on the trip sold there was going to be a second trip, he and tickets for people to attend. Once people his family decided to go out on a limb and were there, they could also buy desserts apply for the from the bake trip. sale and buy After two shirts from the months of youth group. The waiting, Michael luncheon helped got the news that raise money, he was invited but Michael still to go on the needed more to mission trip. go on the trip. The Karr family It did not prayed about take long for his the situation support letters and decided to to make the trip do everything back to the Karr they could to residence. His raise the funds first two letters to send Michael came back MICAHEAL KARR | on the trip. within a week of M i c h a e l ’s them being sent. WACO FRESHMAN friend, who had The first letter been on mission caught Michael trips before, by surprise as encouraged him to send out letters asking it covered the whole cost of his trip. Other for prayer and, if they felt led, financial letters continued to flow in with more prayer support. He sent out around 40 letters to and financial support, something Karr said family and friends. he did not expect. The mission team held a luncheon at “I didn’t know what to expect when I Highland Baptist to help raise support for opened them. I didn’t know if it was going to be a big or small amount,” Michael said.
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It is such a blessing that God has given me such a clear direction toward missions by covering two mission trips already and helping one more soon to come.”
Photo Courtesy of Michael Karr
OUTREACH Waco freshman Michael Karr went with his youth pastor Jordan McKinney and friend Caleb Durham to Cochran, Canada in June 2016 on a youth ministry trip with Highland Baptist Church.
“It took me extremely by surprise when I opened it up and it covered the whole cost of the trip. I thought the extra zero that was there on the check wasn’t there, because with the zero it would cover the trip, but without it would just be a great donation that I was thankful for.” On June 23, 2016, Michael and the rest of the Highland youth ministry team headed to Cochran, Canada. The purpose of the trip was to help spread the Gospel to the Nakoda First Nations People by building relationships with the locals and telling them about Jesus Christ. The youth group worked on the reserve by volunteering at the Nakoda Elementary School, painted a local day care and helped at the Lyahrhe Nakoda Food Bank Society. One of the most impactful parts of the trip was learning about the First Nations People and their culture. “We got to witness a ceremony that they have only three times a year. It is focused around praying and worshipping a tree that they set up a teepee around,” Karr said. “The entire community parked around the prayer teepee while a member of the tribe had a vision and the chief would constantly pray to the tree for a week.” On June 30, 2016, the youth group touched back down in Texas. The trip was over, but it left Michael longing to go on another mission trip.
Later in 2016, Highland’s youth ministry announced another mission trip, but this time it was to Villa Nueva, Guatemala. Because of the surplus support he raised from the year before, Michael was able to go on this mission trip as well. This trip was June 24 through July 1, 2017, and the youth ministry stayed and helped at the New Life Children’s Home. The New Life Children’s Home is an orphanage in Villa Nueva that teaches children about the Gospel. The children’s ages range from 1 to 20-year-olds. The youth would play games, eat and have craft time with the younger kids. They used this time to spread the love of Christ and to build relationships with the kids and the orphanage. Michael, now a freshman at Baylor, plans on going to England over spring break with Highland’s college ministry. The money that is still left over from his support letters will also help cover some of the cost of this trip. Highland college ministry will go to Northern England, specifically the Newcastle area. They will work with local churches to help spread the Gospel and go to schools talk to students about religion and Christianity. “I am very excited to go on this trip. It is such a blessing that God has giving me such a clear direction toward missions by covering two mission trips already and helping cover one soon to come,” Karr said.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
A mission focused City of Waco takes initiative in
application for over a million dollars. Another way HOT Homeless Coalition strives toward ending homelessness is by linking homeless people to Homelessness is an issue all across the U.S. and the local services in the area such as Mission Waco and the City of Waco is no exception. However, many Waco Salvation Army for support. “I think that because our community in Waco is so organizations and programs have been created to offer help to the local individuals and families who find tight-knit, most of our agencies work so well together and we’re aware of who our homeless themselves without a place to individuals and families are,” call their own. Bonds said. “Having a home is just Mission Waco is another local merely a basic need — basic organization that offers help to needs have to be met before the homeless community in a we can work to address any number of ways. other issues,” said Melinda With the mission of providing Bonds, chairman of the Heart Christian-based, holistic and of Texas Homeless Coalition. relationship-based programs The HOT Homeless to empower the poor and Coalition is a nonprofit marginalized, Mission Waco organization created in Waco organizes a “Walk for the to provide support for the Homeless” every September. The local homeless community. event is followed by a Church Bonds said the organization’s Under the Bridge worship service purpose is to work toward under I-35. ending homelessness and that While once a part of Mission they do this in a variety of Waco, where it served as a Bible ways. study for several homeless HOT Homeless Coalition individuals living under the evaluates the gaps and needs I-35 bridge, Church Under the in community resources and Bridge decided to separate as a then works to expand those fully-functioning church in 1999, resources, Bonds said. For according to Mission Waco’s example, the organization MELINDA BONDS | website. submits a collaborative grant CHAIRMAN OF THE HOT Today, one of Church Under application annually to U.S. HOMELESS COALITION the Bridge’s nine core values is Department of Housing and to provide acceptance and easy Urban Development in order access to individuals that are to provide more housing for needs such as hot meals and used the homeless. Last year, they were able to receive $988,312 from Housing and Urban clothing. In addition to organizing a Walk for the Homeless, Development and this year, they submitted a grant
JULIA VERGARA Staff Writer
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I think that because our community in Waco is so tightknit, most of our agencies work so well together and we’re aware of who our homeless individuals and families are.”
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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
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on needs and deeds
helping the homeless population Mission Waco also operates the chronic homeless shelter My Brother’s Keeper, located at 1217 Mary Ave. Another resource offered to homeless individuals is Compassion Ministries. According to executive director Jill McCall, they are currently the only transitional housing facility for homeless families in the Central Texas area. Compassion Ministries provides intensive care management, medical services, dental services, transportation, childcare, counseling and any sort of employment need that an individual has. While Compassion Ministries lost their federal funding due to the federal government pulling away from transition housing, McCall said they are working diligently to build their endowment and they are hopeful they will not have to decrease or eliminate the range of services they provide. McCall said the Compassion Ministries program is unbelievable and the services they offer cannot usually be found in many other places. “I feel that Waco — for the size that it is, does a good job of meeting the needs of homeless individuals,” McCall said. According to Bonds, the requirements to say you have ended homelessness in your community are based on how quickly the community is able to respond to the needs of a homeless person. “In our community, all of the agency’s representatives know each other well enough to pick up the phone when we have a need and respond to that need,” Bonds said. Bonds said she believes Waco has a leg up on other communities in helping homeless individuals and that through coordinated entry, the community will get even better at responding to their needs. Bonds also said that Waco’s organizations understand that homelessness is situational and occurs for many reasons. “Lack of affordable housing is the biggest reason
— One of the main reasons,” Bonds said. “Because the person may be making minimum wage but has a difficult time affording a house, an apartment for a family of four or more.” She believes that because Waco’s organizations are so willing to understand circumstances, homeless individuals are much more willing to accept resources from them.
3 2 1: The Church Under the Bridge congregation gathers before the service to meet and catch up with one another. 2: Bertha Kendrick enjoys a pasta meal at the Gospel Cafe in Waco. 3: Member of Church Under the bridge hand out the weekly bulletin. The church gathers every Sunday under the 4th and I-35 overpass at 11 a.m. 4: Every morning before the service the church provides a meal and offers some groceries for homeless members of the congregation. Baylee VerSteeg | Multimedia Journalist
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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
Family Abuse Center works against culture of domestic violence KRISTINA VALDEZ Arts & Life Editor
T
o get to the Family Abuse Center, you must follow vague directions that are not available online. After signing a confidentiality agreement, you can then volunteer or speak with a Family Abuse Center representative. To enter the Family Abuse Center in Waco, you must stand on the opposite side of double doors and speak through the intercom about your business there that day. Unmarked and protected, the Family Abuse Center has sheltered and supported victims of domestic violence since 1980. A team works tirelessly to help and educate communities and families about the plague of domestic violence. “It’s not just physical,” said Katie Matula, development coordinator of Family Abuse Center. “It’s kind of like cancer — it can affect anyone ... A victim can experience multiple types of trauma, whether it is emotional or financial or physical.” According to the Texas Council for Family Violence, one in three Texans will experience domestic violence at some point in their lifetime. The current location in Waco has been the primary shelter for victims from eight surrounding counties since 2006. Family Abuse Center is federally, state and privately funded to provide housing programs, counseling and legal advocacy. Permanent supportive housing,
transitional housing, rapid rehousing and two private housing are offered to family units who need a way out without turning to the streets. “The leading cause for homelessness among women and children is domestic violence,” Matula said. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Bureau reported that 80 percent of homeless women and children were victims of domestic violence. “Research has shown that housing programs are highly effective with domestic violence victims in getting them the support they need to stay away from their abuser,” Matula said. “It’s not just a matter of [victims] choosing to go back, but a matter of not being able to pay or rent or pay for their kids’ medication.” Matula has worked for the Family Abuse Center since 2014 after receiving her master’s in social work from Baylor in 2013. “I would love to work myself out of a job,” Matula said. “Family Abuse Center’s goal is to, yes, end domestic violence, but also create healthy, loving families.” Family Abuse Center offers programs like BOOST, a teen dating violence prevention program, and H.O.P.E.S., a parent support program that helps provide better care for small children. These programs are offered to McLennan County through schools and Family Abuse Center. They are preventative steps in educating children about healthy relationships.
Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
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“I’m hopeful,” Matula said. “Every report I the mass shootings in Sutherland Springs, Las get brings me down a little bit, but I know we are Vegas, Orlando, Fla. and San Bernardino, Calif. moving in the right direction.” had a history of violence against women. Matula said a common misconception about According to a study done by Everytown for domestic violence is believing that once a victim Gun Safety, in 54 percent of mass shootings, the has left, everything should be okay. shooter killed a partner or family member. “Another thing that people don’t think about “It’s a much more prevalent issue than people as far as domestic violence is concerned is that even begin to know about or think about,” Ishio sometimes abusers will put the victim’s name on said. “It is behind so much of the violence we see the lease and not pay rent,” Matula said. “When it in our country. all comes down to it, the victim is left with multiple For her clients, Ishio has learned what it means evictions under their name even though they had to live with trauma. nothing to do with it.” “It affects everything that you do and your whole Housing coordinator Melissa Ishio will have perception on things,” Ishio said. “It’s huge how Katie Matula | worked with the Family Abuse Center for two pervasive and debilitating it can be for someone. years in March. Ishio tries to help the most people It’s kind of like living in a war zone — our clients Development Coordinator with what little bit of funding she has. have PTSD, too, from that hyper vigilant, ever“The hardest part of my job is not having aroused state that they lived in for so long.” enough money,” Ishio said. “I have to say no to To Ishio and Matula, the definition of a success people. There is always someone else who needs it. [I want] to give without story is different for every client, but success includes opening up the paper deciding who or who is not worthy.” one day and not finding their client’s name listed as deceased. Ishio said domestic violence impacts the community in more ways than “[Domestic violence] does not discriminate on the basis of race, sexual people realize. For example, of the recent mass shootings, a relationship orientation, religion, ethnicity, age and you can go on and on,” Ishio said. between domestic violence and mass murders are common. Shooters from
I’m hopeful. Every report I get brings me down a little bit, but I know we are moving in the right direction.”
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FACTS • 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of domestic violence by an intimate partner in their life • Women between the ages of 18-24 are most commonly abused by an intimate partner • Every year in the U.S., more than 10 million men and women are abused by an intimate partner • 15% of all violent crime comes from domestic violence. Learn more at https://ncadv.org/statistics
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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
To bee...
How the U.S. government is protecting our pollinators MEREDITH WAGNER
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Social Media Editor
oneybees are dying by the thousands, and the federal government knows it. Beyond a general concern on the part of beekeepers and environmental activists, members of the U.S. government are aware of the rapid decline in honeybee populations and the potentially detrimental effects these trends could hold, should they continue. Fortunately for Americans, legislative bodies and administrative agencies are recognizing and gradually working to reverse the problem. But why? According to Michael Schacker, investigative science writer and author of “A Spring without Bees,” honeybees are the primary insect responsible for creating the world we live in today. “Without the honeybee, it is likely that advanced agriculture, and thus civilization, would have never developed.” Meredith Wagner | Social Media Editor
HORSE MINT The above painting depicts a species of plant that many pollinators are attracted to. “Around here, for nectar, the big thing is something called lemon bee balm, or horse mint,” said local beekeeper Daniel Stewart. “It’s a beautiful flower people can plant.”
Why the Honeybee? Known to be one of the hardest working species on the planet, a honeybee’s reputable work ethic makes it a successful agent of change and rapid development. This is likely why our agricultural systems rely so heavily on honeybees as pollinators. According to Daniel Stewart, local beekeeper and Sales and Marketing Manager for World Hunger Relief, Inc., a healthy beehive can host up to 60,000 bees. “The collective action of that many workers — it would just be impossible to recreate,” Stewart said. Stewart has been keeping bees for nearly two years. He recently took a test to be considered an Apprentice Beekeeper, with the ultimate goal being to hold the title of Master Beekeeper, which typically takes about five years of training. Owning seven hives of his own, Stewart has been keeping up with the alarming decline
in bee populations. As for himself and his own hives he said It’s definitely a concern. Though Stewart mostly tends to native bee species, such as bumble bees and leaf-cutter bees, he said he recognizes the importance of the non-native honeybee. “We need the honeybees for agricultural purposes,” he said. Stewart said honeybees originated in Europe and Africa and are considered to be better pollinators and producers than native bee species. Without honeybees, some plant species we know today would never have existed. “There would be no almonds whatsoever.” Dr. Julie King, lecturer of environmental law at Baylor University and former attorney, was also aware of the issue as it relates to almond production. “We’re already seeing some of the effects of [declining honeybee populations] in terms of almond production in California,” King said. If the effects of declining honeybee populations have yet to be observed in terms of almond scarcity, the issue is “certainly being passed on to consumer prices,” King said. While other creatures such as butterflies and beetles also help to pollinate plants, honeybees stand out because they are both extremely productive and considered an “indicator species” within an ecosystem. Indicator species are used to “monitor environmental changes … and provide warning signals for impending ecological shifts,” according to a 2015 Harvard publication. This means that the a decline in honeybees can foreshadow the decline in other environmental elements within its ecosystem. King said one cannot look at a decline in bee populations at a surface level, and that the bees are vital to the successful upkeep of an overall system. “We know that our ecosystems are all interconnected,” King said. “You can’t just look at a species and say that it’s not vital to everything else going on around it ... As it relates to food, it’s an issue for every American.”
Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
...or not to bee Theories Explained
reproduction. This is problematic if the worker bee that initially created the waxy cell obtained residues of pesticides. “The pesticides build up inside the wax and eventually will poison the larva,” Stewart said. “This is something that a lot of bee keepers know about now and are responding to.” Ultimately, Stewart said, the structure of a colony relies upon the health and success of many individual moving parts. “We think about bees as individual organisms, but really it’s a super organism,” Stewart said. “On its own, a worker [bee] can’t survive. On her own, the queen can’t survive. They make decisions together.” King said researchers are working to identify which insecticides are toxic to bees, which could help lawmakers establish specific restrictions on the production of certain pesticides. Despite the complicated nature of the issue, King said, “That’s a development that is encouraging.”
The prevailing theory among scientists, researchers and government officials is that the ultimate decline in bee populations in recent decades is because of a combination of multiple stressors, all of which are potentially deadly on their own or in combination with other factors. Because research in this sector is largely underfunded and could face impending budget cuts, the certainty as to why the bees are declining is wavering. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimates that “disease, pesticides, the effects of climate change, habitat loss and the effects of small population dynamics” could all be at play.
Colony Collapse Disorder One prevailing theory for the decline in bee populations is Colony Collapse Disorder. This term is used to describe the sudden and unforeseen failure of a colony, often with little to no explanation for the root of the collapse. Though the term is generally used to account for any unexplained colony collapses, “There’s a general feeling in literature that it’s the result of pesticides being used,” King said. Many speculate that certain insecticides containing “neonicotinoids” are a primary cause for Colony Collapse Disorder. This chemical was intended to affect the central nervous system of unwanted pests, which, by default, included the honeybee. According to The Bee Cause, an educational group formed in 2013, “Many countries have banned such chemicals harmful to the honeybee, but in the United States, they are still widely used.” There are two detrimental ways that neonicotinoids are thought to cause Colony Collapse Disorder, the first being that exposure to these harmful chemicals can alter the neurological functioning of worker bees. Worker bees are the pollinators themselves — one of the many moving parts of the hive. While the queen bee stays back with her colony, the worker bees, all of which are female, leave the hive to consume nectar and eventually return to produce wax and honey. In the process, the bees spread pollen from one plant to
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Commercial Beekeeping
Meredith Wagner | Social Media Editor
the next, allowing for the reproduction of many of the plants we find on our dinner table. In order for a worker bee’s foraging mission pan out successfully, it must be able to travel miles away from the hive and ultimately find their way back home. If the neonicotinoids found in some insecticides alter the brain chemistry of the worker bee along the way, the bee could either die immediately, or be handicapped and unable to find her way back to the hive. Many of the worker bees will be unaffected and return to the hive; still, if five percent of the bees were to go missing, this could have detrimental consequences on the hive overall.
Fewer honeybees producing honey means fewer honey stores altogether, which could cause the colony to die over the winter. “The direct cause of death for the hive was that they didn’t have enough stores, but really, that was because of this pesticide,” Stewart said. The second way neonicotinoids are thought to negatively affect the hive is when the worker bees become contaminated and bring residues of the pesticide back to the colony. Worker bees excrete wax in the shape of tiny cells so that themselves and other bees can use them to raise larva. When the larva matures, and the cell opens up, another bee is able to use that cell for
The rapid increase in agricultural production in recent years necessitates the practice of commercial beekeeping. Schacker stated in his book “A Spring Without Bees” that migratory bees are transported all around the country in seasonal cycles to ensure that nearly one-third of all U.S. crops are pollinated. Unfortunately for bees, the need for hardworking pollinators comes at the expense of their health. Many bee species are easily stressed by the demands of travel, which can lead to an inability to perform essential pollinating duties, or in some instances, death. While commercial beekeeping could ultimately be contributing to a decline in bees, agricultural systems could not produce food at the rates they do without it. “[Commercial beekeeping] is necessary for agriculture,” Stewart said. “If you have a huge field of something, there’s just no way that it would ever pollinate itself.” This a problematic cycle for both bees and consumers. “People are importing bees and colonies because of shortages of pollinators,” King said. At the same time, the importation could be contributing to the shortage itself.
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Do you want the good news first ... Monday, November 20, 2017
The Power of the Pen: Legislative Action at Play
To reverse the negative trend in populations would be a matter of intensive, costly research, proceedings through a complicated legal structure and a general understanding of the magnitude of the issue. Fortunately for beekeepers and average Americans alike, strides are being made to mitigate what could be detrimental consequences to the loss of pollinator species. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was passed by Congress in recognition of the ecological consequences of economic growth and development, and the value that threatened species inherently hold within society. Under this act, species can be listed as either “threatened” or “endangered,” and multiple parties must comply with the standards considered necessary for recovery. In addition to simply claiming that a species is at risk, the federal government is collectively held to certain standards to protect that species, including its habitat. Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act imposes a duty on all federal agencies to consider the health and habitat of each species listed, avoiding action that could jeopardize the existence of said
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“It really does relate to every American at the dinner table.” JULIE KING | BAYLOR LECTURER, FORMER ATTORNEY
species. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is additionally responsible for developing and implementing recovery plans for listed species. Criminal sanctions are in place for those who “ h a r a s s , harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect” a listed species. The Fish & Wildlife Service takes this
rule one step further by more specifically defining the word “harm” to mean “significant habitat modification or degradation.” Thus, the endangered species as well as its habitat is protected. At the very least, punishments pose as an incentive for the general public to avoid harming the bees. Just this year, the US Fish & Wildlife Service listed the rusty patched
bumble bee. Being the first bee species recognized as endangered in the continental U.S., this listing was widely considered a turning point for bees. “I think it’s momentous that we had a species of bee listed that’s present in the continental United States — that it’s the first time — and that there has been a big push to have bees listed,” King said. “Having declined ninety percent since the 1990s, and having significant depletion in its population certainly merited a listing.” King said this is a turning point for pollinators because, “It opens the door to more species potentially being listed. There may be other [endangered] species, and there certainly are some that are seeing significant decline.” The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s website states that they have yet to establish the recovery information, critical habitat rules, or conservation plans for the rusty patched bumble bee required by law, all of which would methodically help combat extinction. The lack of plans is likely because of lack of resources and funding, and the wide disparity among researchers trying to identify a distinct cause of declines. “I would expect the rusty patched bumble bee will stay on the list for a while, and that there are still various reasons for its decline,” King said. “It should have a recovery plan eventually.” In the meantime, “Listing does give the public more awareness,” King said. “Hopefully that will
Associated Press
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Photo Courtesy of Daniel Stewart
help with some of the other issues we face. Hopefully what we learn will translate well to the other species [of bees].” If anything is clear to scientists and lawmakers, it’s that protecting bees is essential to maintaining our current levels of food production and consumption. Alternatives to bee pollination have been proposed, but nothing quite has the capacity to replace bees altogether. A 2009 article from PBS wrote, “The problem with other natural pollinators picking up the bees’ slack is that today’s agricultural industry has simply grown too large for them to keep up.” While federal agencies work out the details of effective legislation in the face of potential budget cuts, bees and humans alike are forced to adapt to the looming population declines. “There may be ways to help colonies adapt,” King said in reference to changes within the environment. Just as humans can change their survival tactics over time, bees can too. This adaptation is temporary, though. “Sure,
colonies are collapsing, but we’re able to keep up with it,” Stewart said, referring to commercial beekeeping and humans’ ability to “split hives,” creating more colonies. “But that misses the point that something is wrong. Something is making these hives die. We know this is a huge issue. People want to kind of cover it up right now.” “From an economic perspective, we’re not in dire straights yet,” Stewart said. Many are keeping up with the bee declines as best they can, buying time until research can be conducted and change can be implemented. While on the surface it seems that the consequences of lesser bee populations are only felt by agricultural producers, the average American could see changes within his or her immediate circle, in the immediate future, should trends fail to change for the better. Ultimately, King said, “It really does relate to every American at the dinner table.”
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
We didn’t start the
FIRE,
BAILEY BRAMMER Editor-in-Chief When walking down the street in today’s society, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll overhear claims of “fake news” or blame being placed on the media for inaccurately reporting on a controversial topic. While there are most certainly news organizations that publish click bait or false articles simply to drive their readership, there are still plenty of publications that employ hardworking, reliable writers that attempt to cover occurrences from all angles. Just because the subject of a story is debatable or calls out a public figure for something questionable does not mean that the entire news organization is to blame for reporting on it and doesn’t mean the story is untrue. Similar to fields such as law or medicine, many journalists hold themselves to moral and ethical standards. The most common of these guidelines is the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, which lists four principles that act as the rules for a credible journalist: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and be accountable and transparent. As a journalist, I see it as my responsibility to report only on what is truthful and accurate to the best of my ability. Although I am well aware that there is corruption in the press, there are also plenty of journalists who are being criticized for simply doing their jobs. In February of this year, President Donald
we just write the
Trump called the press the “enemy of the people” on Twitter, and has made his thoughts on multiple news organizations abundantly clear. There are many other politicians and Americans that hold this same belief, viewing journalists as sleazy or liars, when this is inherently inaccurate. When the press covers a topic that may be offensive or hurtful to some people, this does not mean that it should be labeled as “fake news.” For example, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Roy Moore, was recently accused of initiating sexual encounters with young women when he was in his 30’s, according to the Washington Post. Moore claimed that these allegations were fake news and blamed the Washington Post, saying, “These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign,” and also adding that, “This garbage is the very definition of fake news.” However, Moore’s accusations have no basis in fact; the Washington Post interviewed more than 30 people for its article, and has long been considered a reputable and reliable source for news. By placing the blame on the publication, Moore is saying that the newspaper is deliberately trying to sabotage his campaign, which is not the case. Just because the Washington Post reported on something controversial and potentially harmful to a public figure’s reputation does not mean it earns the title of fake news. Because Moore is in the public eye, he is held to different standards than private citizens, and
Meet the Staff EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Bailey Brammer*
ARTS & LIFE EDITOR Kristina Valdez*
BROADCAST MANAGING EDITOR Jessica Babb
PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Molly Atchison
SPORTS EDITOR Nathan Keil
DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR Didi Martinez
MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Liesje Powers*
BROADCAST REPORTERS Christina Soto Elisabeth Tharp Rylee Seavers
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Meredith Wagner
OPINION EDITOR Megan Rule*
NEWS EDITOR Kalyn Story*
CARTOONIST Rewon Shimray*
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR Pablo Gonzales*
STAFF WRITERS Brooke Hill Julia Vergara Phoebe Suy Savannah Cooper
DESIGN EDITOR Kaitlyn DeHaven* COPY EDITOR Adam Gibson
SPORTS WRITERS Ben Everett Collin Bryant
MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISTS Baylee VerSteeg Jessica Hubble Will Barksdale AD REPRESENTATIVES Josh Whitney Evan Hurley Sheree Zou Quinn Stowell MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Luke Kissick Tobé Ulokwem
NEWS
as a political candidate, he should be even more aware of the press’ role as the “fourth branch of government.” News organizations are not responsible for “starting the fire.” The Post reporters did not wake up one morning and say to themselves, “How can we make a Republican candidate for Senate from Alabama mad today?” No, the Washington Post either received a tip or discovered that Moore had a questionable past, and pursued it to the fullest extent. The journalists at the Post took it upon themselves to inform the American people of something that may change their opinions on someone in power; this is the same thing the New York Times does, the same thing the Wall Street Journal does and the same thing multiple local and national news organizations do every single day. Again, although there are journalists that publish click bait instead of proven facts and give the rest of the press a bad name, the media also contains men and women who have found their passion in pursuing and sharing truth. As a consumer of news, it is your job to be mindful of which publications can be trusted to provide you with accurate information, as well as which news organizations are only looking out for themselves. If you have trouble deciphering this, do some research on a publication’s history and ethics before labeling all journalists as corrupt and all news as fake. After all, we don’t start the fire, we just write about it. Bailey Brammer is a sophomore journalism and history major from Phoenix. Rewon Shimray | Cartoonist
Contact Us
Opinion
General Questions: Lariat@baylor.edu 254-710-1712
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EDITORIAL
Change the news from The news industry has historically been one that always seems to fall into bad light. From sleazy journalists who disobey laws to get stories, to straightup liars putting out fake news, journalism habitually gets stuck with a bad reputation. In the 21st century, a time when social justice can be expressed in a mere 280-character tweet, changes are happening in the blink of an eye. Now more than ever, people have the power and the resources to see something, then say something. Women march for gender equality, people of color march for racial justice and immigrants march for cultural appropriation. Granted, each of these groups is voicing their opinion for something that only affects a small percent of the population respectively. But, in this time of prevalent change, no one is standing for something that affects everybody, something that would benefit 100 percent of the population. Not many are standing for good news. News brings people together - it is the sole way of sharing and connecting stories from every corner of the world. Earthquake in Japan? That’s a headline in New York. Terrorist attack in London? That’s a headline in China. Tsunami in Indonesia? That’s a headline in Mexico City. Maybe we’ve never been to some of these places, but the stories told in Rome and Egypt and Sydney are all the same because of the wonderful world of news. But do you notice something similar with all of these headlines? They’re all negative. In fact, a 2014 article from Psychology Today tells us that people actually prefer negative news. A 2014 Quartz article highlighted a Russian news site
bad
to
good
Rewon Shimray | Cartoonist
City Reporter that only reported positive headlines for a day and saw a two-thirds decline in readership for that day. Even our own president has headlines that are over 80 percent negative, according to The Washington Times. A 2014 article from BigThink, an online knowledge forum that shares videos, articles and tips to foster success, by Peter H. Diamandis explained this, saying, “We have a negativity bias,
which is the tendency to give far more information to negative details than positive ones and the confirmation bias, which is our tendency to selectively look at information or see information that confirms our preexisting notions, which is fine except that our preexisting notions are typically negative and therefore, we’re reconfirming our negative expectations.” The industry is fighting for readership, fighting for the
spotlight and fighting to keep people engaged in the age that hates journalists more and more each day. Those of us that go home and tell our families during the holidays that we’re majoring in journalism receive disapproving smiles and sympathetic pats on the back, so it’s no secret the general public has a distaste for journalists. “If it bleeds, it leads” is an unfortunately true motto that many newsrooms keep in the
back of their minds as they design their front pages in the late hours of the night and create attentiongrabbing tweets for online readers. Naturally, when running a business, you stay on top by doing what brings in income. Journalism is meant to serve the people, and psychology explains that the people want the gory, emotional, gut-wrenching and mood-busting stories. We’re just a student newspaper; we don’t have the power to change
the natural chemistry of the human brain. We don’t have the power to stop natural disasters from tearing apart developing countries and we don’t have the power to stop gun violence from shaking families and communities. But we do have the power to tell you that good news exists. Journalism isn’t all bad and the world isn’t all bad either. Good news exists - just look at all the headlines and stories that we found in our city, state, country and world that are in this issue. It may not be the front page headline, and it may never be the front page story, but turn a few pages and you’ll see the feel-good stories. Good news is just as necessary as bad news, so make sure to read more of it. Journalists report on what the readers want, so the more good stories that are read, the more good stories that are reported on. Today more than ever, we can create a change. We have this beautiful resource at our fingertips, yet we hate it so much and don’t appreciate its purpose. The news isn’t all fake and the journalists behind the stories aren’t all dirty liars. Readers are the ones who crave negativity, but readers are the ones with the ability to change the light the news sits in. Start clicking on the positive headlines, start picking up the paper and turning to the inside and start voicing a need for good news. Who knows? We might go down in history as the generation that not only inspired equality across the board, but that changed the light of worldly communication too.
... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017 allies in the region, such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines and economic interests of the United States. The United States cannot sit back and do nothing in response to North Korea, Campbell said, because a major source of U.S. power lies in economics. Some of the most important sea lines of communication run through the South China Sea, as well as 30 percent of all maritime trade, he said. Security and Chinese artificial islands are a threat to freedom of navigation in this region, which is essential to U.S. power. Campbell said if the United States were to step back, China’s actions would be contrary to the interests of the United States. “So the bad news is that there don’t seem to be a lot of good options and crisis is all about options,” Campbell said. Campbell said the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently said the only way to verify that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal was destroyed would be through a full-scale land invasion. The good news, Campbell said, is that the Chinese government will hopefully put pressure on the North Koreans to tone down their rhetoric and reduce missile tests because they do not want the United States to have a larger military presence in the region. And as for North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles, Campbell is doubtful that they actually possess the capabilities they claim to. “It’s all well and good for Kim Jong Un to stand next to a warhead that he says can be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile, but that doesn’t necessarily make it so,” he said. That being considered, Campbell said the threat North Korea poses is greater for countries in the region, like South Korea. Pyongyang, the capitol of South Korea, is located very close to the border of North Korea and, Campbell said, could feasibly be invaded by North Korean forces. Campbell added that during President Donald Trump’s recent visit to South Korea, Trump seems to have softened his rhetoric towards the issue. He said the pressure on North Korea, from the United States and China may have had positive effects on the situation. ISIS “The ISIS caliphate is no more,” Dr. Mark Long, associate professor in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, Director of Middle East Studies and former Soviet analyst and Middle East area specialist in the Air Force, wrote in an email to the Lariat. Long said this is because its key cities, Mosul and Raqqa, were retaken as a part of the strategy put in place under the Obama administration and continued under the Trump administration. This strategy relied on “the combination of allied air
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power, U.S. special forces and indigenous ground troops,” Long said. Long said ISIS’s ability to recruit, travel, raise funds and prepare complex operations has been impaired. “In no sense does ISIS pose an existential threat to the United States,” Long said. There is still a threat of smaller attacks, Long said, similar to the attack in Manhattan on Oct. 31 that killed eight people. “The attacks will continue for several reasons. The key reason is that the jihadist narrative continues to ‘live’ online, and self-radicalizing individuals can access it. Moreover, al-Qaida, ISIS’s parent organization, has noted the ease with which lone wolves can obtain automatic weapons in the United States,” Long said. Russia Dr. Sergiy Kudelia, assistant professor of political science, said the United States’ relationship with Russia began to deteriorate in 2012, when Vladimir Putin was re-elected as president of the Russian Federation. Kudelia said the Obama administration was expecting then president Dmitry Medvedev to serve another term, so Putin’s election came as a surprise. During Medvedev’s presidency, the United States and Russia cooperated on arms control and antiterrorism efforts. But Putin was not satisfied with how Russian leaders were promoting, or rather not promoting, Russian nationalism, Kudelia said. “Putin’s vision of the world is more assertive, more continuous attempts to reassert Russian global power and national power, and it really is focused on standing up to the United States. For him, the measure of Russian greatness is the extent to which it can actually successfully compete with America in different parts of the world,” Kudelia said. U.S.-Russian relations began to deteriorate after this point and were further eroded by Russia extending asylum to whistleblower Edward Snowden, sanctions against Russia and the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine, which resulted in the United States forming a coalition to punish Russia and Russia being excluded from the G8 summit, Kudelia said. Fast forward to the election of President Trump, who, Kudelia said, had a vision of improved relations with Russia. The Russian efforts to aid President Trump’s election was a clear sign from Russia that Putin was also looking forward to improved relations with the United States, Kudelia said. “The fact that Putin actually had a clear preference in the election campaign, in favor of Trump against Hillary Clinton, shows that he actually is more pragmatic, and much more pragmatic than his Soviet
Didi Martinez | Digital Managing Editor
FOREIGN FEARS According to a poll from NBC News and SurveyMonkey, North Korea is the biggest threat to our national security, followed by ISIS and Russia, respectively.
predecessors, and he actually is willing to make business with the United States as long as they are ignoring or overlooking some of the other things that he is doing, internally and externally,” Kudelia said. On a personal level, Kudelia said relations between President Trump and Putin have improved and the two leaders have an admiration for each other. But on the state level, relations between the United States and Russia have continued to deteriorate because President Trump is not the only person setting U.S. policy, Kudelia said. “There are a number of important actors in U.S. Congress who push for harder line, in the Republican and Democratic party, because there is a bilateral consensus on Russia in U.S. Congress and also in the national security apparatus of the White House,” Kudelia said. In terms of Russia being a physical threat to the United States, Kudelia said this will always be a reality because Russia’s nuclear arsenal is comparable to that of the United States. He also said for reasons relating to geopolitics and military capacity, the United States
and Russia will always be competitors and there will always be a national security threat related to that competition. “The question is whether that national security threat is immediate. Whether it’s an immediate danger to the United States or it’s something that can only materialize under a very unusual set of circumstances,” Kudelia said. At present, there is nothing pointing to a change in U.S.-Russian relations and Kudelia said each country’s ability to fight the other into nonexistence with nuclear weapons will prevent them from doing so. The danger lies in the United States’ tendency to be drawn into international conflict and the potential that Russia could already be present in a region where the United States chose to get involved, he said. “As far as Trump is concerned, and his advisers, at this point it is not clear whether or not they are willing to abstain from escalating their military presence in these regions where they have conflicting interests with Russia,” Kudelia said.
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... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017
Are we in
danger?
Horrifying headlines lead to American’s concerns about the nation’s security
54
percent Believe North Korea poses the biggest threat
RYLEE SEAVERS Broadcast Reporter As intimidation from abroad clutters the news, many Americans are increasingly fearful of foreign threats to the United States. According to a recent NBC News and SurveyMonkey poll, North Korea is the most feared threat to national security among Americans, followed by ISIS and Russia, respectively. The survey, which comprises responses from 5,047 adults across the nation with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent, reveals that 54 percent of respondents said North Korea poses the “greatest immediate threat to the United States.” Nineteen percent of respondents said ISIS poses the greatest threat and 14 percent said Russia. Experts at Baylor weighed in on each of these threats, providing information on how the country got to where we are and what Americans should be thinking about each of these potential threats to U.S. national security. North Korea Dr. Peter Campbell, assistant professor of political science at Baylor, said there has been a long-term dispute between the United States and North Korea relating to nuclear proliferation and North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. Campbell said this was an issue before Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s current leader who succeeded his father, came to power in 2012. “[Kim Jong Un] seems, even more than his father, to be very committed to developing nuclear weapons, but most worrying, committed to developing the ability to deliver nuclear weapons intercontinentally,” Campbell said. Campbell said the United States has long been opposed to North Korea having a nuclear arsenal. This is due to the United States’ commitment to provide protection to
19
percent Believe ISIS poses the biggest threat
14
percent Believe Russia poses the biggest threat
Results from a recent NBC News and SurveyMonkey poll
... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017
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Ash and Despair MADISON FRASER Reporter It was 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday and residents all over Sonoma County began to turn in for the evening. Dogs were brought in from the yard, candles were blown out, dishes put away and laundry folded. The wind was abnormally high. Furniture blew across the yard and trees looked as if they might snap in half at any moment. Was this unusual? Sure, but not enough to spike alarm. So people turned out their lights and went to bed. Five hours later, neighborhoods were startled awake by shouts of, “Get out! Get out now!” They had five minutes at most to grab their most cherished possessions. Most took just their pets. Some left wearing their pajamas, not knowing that would be the only clothing they would have left. Monday, Oct. 9, was a day residents of Santa Rosa, Calif., will never forget. “It was like a scene from the apocalypse,” said Franchesca Galletti, Sonoma county resident. “It all felt so surreal. It still does, honestly.” The fire, caused by an unknown source, came so quickly over the mountains that nobody had time to prepare. The high winds fueled the flames to spread in every direction over thousands of acres in less than an hour. The fire showed no discretion, consuming the mansions of a university president and beloved local Charles M. Schulz, along with
local businesses, a fire station, schools, hotels and a neighborhood of more than 1,300 structures was burned to ash. The fires continued to burn through Northern California throughout the next week, destroying structures, land, popular Napa wineries and homes. In just a matter of hours, thousands of people became displaced and lost everything. However, what came next for them would feel like the true tragedy. Bill and Stacy McKee, residents of the destroyed Coffey Park Neighborhood in Santa Rosa, were out of town the night the fires swept through, but were one of many who lost their home. “There are no words for spending hours looking through the remains of your home for a few treasured items,” Stacy McKee said. “My grandma passed just over a year ago and she had many jewelry pieces that were given to me and although the memories are always there, the sadness that every piece seems to have melted is so hard.” Residents just like the McKees who lost everything have begun the process to rebuild their homes as well as their lives. “I used to love the smell of soot, as it reminded me of my dad coming home from fighting a fire,” Stacy said. “That smell has new meaning to me now.” Temporary replacement homes throughout the town are being filled with victims from the fires. Even though many are grateful for a roof over their heads while their
home is being rebuilt, there is an overwhelming heartache knowing that items that once made their house a home are absent from this new life. “Yesterday while shopping with Stacy I asked what do you need. She replied, ‘Everything!’” said Rita Miller, Stacy’s mother. “I guess I was more focused on the personal belongings and furniture, not the basic stuff we all have in our kitchens.” Donation centers have been set up throughout Northern California for fire victim relief. Clothing and household items have all been handed off to those in need. GoFundMe accounts have also been set up for victims by their families in order to start the process of moving forward. Recently, neighborhoods and highways have reopened, nearly a month after tragedy struck. “Nothing looks the same,” Galletti said. “The beautiful redwood trees, the gorgeous rolling hills with grape vines growing on them and so many historical landmarks well known to our community are all gone. It doesn’t even feel like the same place.” With each new step, a fresh wave of heartbreak washes over the community, reminding them of the tragedy thousands of people suffered that night. With hope, however, this community continues to work on restoring and rebuilding their town supporting one another through every step of the way. “Bill and I both have this strong gut feeling that everything will be just fine, maybe even better,” Stacy said. “We know it’s going to be a long road, but this too shall pass.”
Associated Press
IN THE RUBLE Larry Keyser looks around as he and volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse disaster relief sift through remains of his family’s home destroyed by fires in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, Calif., on Nov. 8.
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... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017
Associated Press
Associated Press
NOTHING BUT REMNANTS (Left) In this Oct. 12 file photo, Midiam Rivera cries as she and a Housing Ministry official survey her home that was destroyed in the passing of Hurricane Maria, in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. Rivera, a mother of three, lost all her possessions when the devastating storm hit on Sept. 20.0 (Right) In this Oct. 17 file photo, a boy accompanied by his dog watches the repairs of Guajataca Dam, which cracked during the passage of Hurricane Maria, in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico’s
dire need for restoration funds remains CHRISTINA SOTO Broadcast Reporter
It has been seven weeks since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico and more than half of the island is still without power. Puerto Rico officials said it could be weeks or months before the power is completely restored throughout the island. According to the Weather Channel, 867,000 homes and businesses have no electricity. Thousands have left the island and migrated to the mainland because of the storm. The executive director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board of Puerto Rico, Natalie
Jaresko told Congress that Puerto Rico needs emergency and restoration funds. “The island now needs help — emergency and restoration funds and assistance on an unprecedented scale,” Jaresko said. “Before the hurricanes, the board was determined that Puerto Rico and its instrumentalities could achieve balanced budgets, work its way through its debt problems, and develop a sustainable economy without federal aid. That is simply no longer possible.” Puerto Rican authorities have estimated that the damage to the island can cost anywhere from $45 billion to $95 billion. Congress has only approved around 5 billion dollars in aid.
Former U.S. Presidents BarackObama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. H. Bush, and Jimmy Carter have established One America Appeal in order to aid in the hurricane recovery encompassing the devastations of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. CEO of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, David Jones said, “With damage estimates from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria topping $300 billion and requiring months and years of rebuilding ahead, we hope this strong start to the One America Appeal is just that –– a start.” So far, One American Appeal has raised $31 million in tax-deductible, private funds from more than 80,000 donors. On Oct. 21, it hosted “Deep From the Heart: The One America Appeal” concert in College Station. All ticket sales went directly to the hurricane relief fund. The organization is continually accepting donations through OneAmericaAppeal. org. There are several other organization that are aiding in hurricane relief in Puerto Rico. Habitat for Humanity, according to its website is helping people repair and rebuild their homes. UNICEF is collecting $28 donations that will provide a kit of the basic essentials. According to their website, “A donation of just $28 will provide a kit containing basic, essential supplies such as water purification tablets, a water bucket with lid, water containers, soap, toothpaste, detergent and sanitary pads.” Although there are several efforts to help Puerto
Rico, the amount of damage is extensive and will take a significant amount of time to recover. Ponce Puerto Rico senior Ian Cummings is from a city in the southern part of the island and is one of the largest cities in Puerto Rico. His family endured Hurricane Maria with damage only to their backyard, however, they have been out of power since the storm and have been surviving off the generator. “My family was lucky enough to be not be affected that terribly compared to others in Puerto Rico,” Cummings said. “My house was fine, a couple of trees fell in the backyard. We have water in my house but they are still with no power and are surviving on the generator.” Cummings said it was very hard to be so far from home, especially after the storm. However, he said he is thankful because his family was very fortunate. “It’s hard, especially when you are this far away, right after it happened I didn’t talk to my parents for almost two weeks, it was kind of crazy and I was very anxious,” Cummings said. “I know they are okay now though and it could have been a lot of worse.” Because of the storm devastation on the island, he will not be returning to Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving. His family said it would be best for him to stay in Texas. “There are not enough flights in and out of the island right now and my parents told me that being there would not be good for me cause everything is so bad and it doesn’t make sense for me to go so I will go to a friends house,” Cummings said.
... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017
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on GUN REFORM said he believes the majority of citizens are for stricter gun laws. According to a national survey by the Pew Research Center, in Aug. 2016, the public was divided over which is more important: to protect American citizens’ right to own guns (52 percent) or to control gun ownership (46 percent). Soo said that it’s not that Republicans don’t
believe in gun control, it’s that there is a “slippery slope” from banning one part to banning another and he does not want the government to incrementally take away citizens’ freedom of the Second Amendment. Bridges said he hopes to see people — especially those on the right — offer a solution that they would support.
“This seems to be people on the left side come up with something and then they will just shoot it down,” Bridges said. “So I would like to see Republicans come up with some sort of legislation that they would support to stop tragedies and then it can be worked out in a more bipartisan way.”
Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Journalist
GUN SAFETY The above chart displays statistics from Time Magazines Oct. 2017 article “35 Years of Mass Shootings in the U.S.” Statistics show that 2017 has been put on record as the year with the deadliest mass shootings in history. The photos along the side display several firearms legally attained by Texas citizens with concealed carry license. (Top) Reuger Blackhawk 357 magnum revolver, with bullets and casings. (Middle) 9 mil. Taurus handgun. (Bottom) The Reuger Blackhawk 357 Magnum displayed in a leather holster with bullet loops.
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... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017
MASS SHOOTINGS heighten debate JULIA VEGARA Staff Writer A gunman opened fire into a crowd of people attending a performance by country musician Jason Aldean on Oct. 1, resulting in the death of 59 and injuring over 500 — Making the Las Vegas shooting the deadliest in modern U.S. history. On Nov. 5, a gunman opened fire at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, resulting in the death of 26 and injuring about 20 others, making the Sutherland Springs shooting the deadliest in modern Texas history. These two deadly shootings of 2017 disrupted the nation and heightened the debate over gun control. Following the Las Vegas shooting, Hillary Clinton took to Twitter to voice her opinion and said, “Our grief isn’t enough. We can and must put politics aside, stand up to the NRA, and work together to try to stop this from happening again.” After the Sutherland Springs shooting, US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released a statement that said, “As long as our nation chooses to flood the county with dangerous weapons and consciously let those weapons fall into the hands of dangerous people, these killings will not abate.” However, when questioned by a
reporter if he would consider “extreme vetting for people trying to buy a gun” during a press release, US President Donald J. Trump said that it would not have made a difference and could have caused even more deaths in the
Sutherland Springs shooting. “You might not have had that very brave person who happened to have a gun or a rifle in his truck go out and shoot him and hit him and neutralize him,” Trump said to the reporter. “And I can only say this — if he didn’t have a gun, instead of having 26
citizens’ Second Amendment rights, but he does believe it should be restricted. Bridges said he personally believes the selling of assault rifles should end because they are not needed for self-defense or hunting. “Even a less extreme
dead, you would have had hundreds more dead.” The recent mass shooting have not only increased gun control debates on a national level, but also increased debates locally on Baylor’s campus. Austin sophomore Jake Bridges, President of Baylor Democrats said that unfortunately, he is not surprised by the recent mass shootings because the U.S. has seen so many of them. “I’m really just disappointed with people’s inaction at this point,” Bridges said. “I think we can do a lot better as a country.” Although he believes something should be done regarding gun control laws, Bridges said he believes that it is not feasible to take away the guns that citizens already own because he does not believe it would not hold up constitutionally. Instead, Bridges wants to look at what solutions can be done without violating anybody’s rights. Bridges said not looking to get rid of
measure would just be stronger background checks,” Bridges said. “Just make sure people who are buying weapons, especially higher caliber ones, are properly vetted.” Portland, Ore. senior Eric Soo,
chairman for Baylor College Republicans and member of the College Republicans State Board of Texas, said the individuals responsible for the mass shootings would have been able to get their hands on guns whether or not there were stricter gun laws in place. “Even if we completely ban the sale of guns, there’s so many that it will be incredibly easy to get them,” Soo said. The outlawing of guns is comparable to the outlawing of marijuana and other illegal drugs, Soo said. For decades, certain drugs have been outlawed, but people are still able to go out on the street and obtain them. Soo said the gunman in the Sutherland Springs shooting was able to obtain a gun even though he should not have been able to, which means the background checks and gun law restrictions that are already in place failed. “There’s always going to be people who fall through the cracks,” Soo said.”If you want something bad enough, it’ll happen.” Soo said guns are also necessary for a citizen to protect oneself and that a lot of individuals forget that the man responsible for the Sutherland Springs shooting was stopped by citizens who had carried guns. “It’s a tool that can be used responsibly or not responsibly,” Soo said. “It’s the person behind the tool that should be held responsible, not the tool itself.” While Soo said he believes the majority of citizens are firm believers in the Second Amendment rights, Bridges
... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017
College Corruption
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Crookedness, dishonesty run rampant despite NCAA rules BEN EVERETT Sports Writer In late September, the FBI arrested 10 men on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, four of whom were assistant coaches at college basketball programs, as a part of an ongoing investigation into the bribery involved with recruiting. Arizona assistant coach Book Richardson, Oklahoma State associate head coach Lamont Evans, Auburn assistant coach Chuck Persons and USC assistant coach Tony Bland were all fired by their respective universities following arrest. Additionally, Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino was fired by Louisville amid reports that he knew about a payment scheme towards recruits. U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim revealed the information in a Sept. 26 press conference, saying the arrested men were exploiting student-athletes. “For the 10 charged men, the madness of college basketball went well beyond the Big Dance in March,” Kim told ESPN. “Month after month, the defendants exploited the hoop dreams of student-athletes around the country, allegedly treating them as little more than opportunities to enrich themselves through bribery and fraud schemes.” The sudden arrests came as a surprise to many, but scandal in sports is nothing new, and Baylor fans know that all too well. The sexual assault scandal that ravaged the Baylor football program still has and will continue to have lingering effects even though the university replaced its president, athletic director and football staff. While it may seem far off now, the infamous murder cover-up involving the Baylor men’s basketball program and head coach Dave Bliss was only 14 years ago. Patrick Dennehy, a Baylor basketball player, was murdered by teammate Carlton Dotson, but Bliss told players to portray Dennehy as a drug dealer in order to hide the fact that Bliss was paying Dennehy’s tuition. Looking to avoid further scandal, Baylor vice president and director of athletics Mack Rhoades were quick to self-examine. “When the indictment was announced, we had our compliance office conduct an internal review,” Rhoades told the Waco-Tribune Hearald. “We took all the names implicated and made sure they didn’t appear in any of our database systems. We didn’t find anything. As of this date, we haven’t received
Photo Illustration by Will Barksdale | Multimedia Journalist
any subpoena or inquiry from the FBI. We certainly have great faith in how Scott and his staff conduct the program.” The Jerry Sandusky trial at Penn State involving the football staff covering up Sandusky’s sexual assault of young boys, Terrelle Pryor and his teammates at Ohio State exchanging championship rings and autographs for tattoos and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush receiving thousands of dollars in benefits at USC are some of the more notable scandals to happen in the past decade in college football. College basketball’s past is just as deeply rooted in
scandal as football’s. Ranging from players at Boston College fixing games in return for money to Derrick Rose having someone else take the SAT for him so that he would be eligible to play in college. While college sports is a multi-billion-dollar business, the ones who create the revenue, the athletes, are not permitted to be paid per NCAA rules. This dynamic, according to Marc Edelman of Forbes, gives rise to an underground market of illegal activity. “In the absence of free markets for college athletes’ services,” Edelman wrote, “Darker and more dubious
markets emerge that are an ideal breeding ground for unscrupulous individuals to engage in schemes to defraud college athletes and exploit their labor.” In college, if teams want to gain the upper hand, they need to recruit well. Some coaches have given into the assumption that paying recruits is the only way to compete with already established programs. While there may be potential changes made regarding NCAA rules, such as sharing revenue with players, the reality is college sports will always be susceptible to scandal and the recent FBI findings are only the latest chapter.
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Female-led organizations take steps toward gender equality in politics DIDI MARTINEZ Digital Managing Editor Underrepresented at the polls and in office, Texas women are taking a stand against the lack of political participation in the state. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a research organization that looks at public policy as it effects women today, Texas is among the worst states when it comes to political participation. In the think tank’s state report card, the Lone Star State was given an “F” for criteria such as female voter registration, political representation and election turnout. The institute’s report card is conducted every few years, with the most recent edition showing numbers from 2015, which indicates a disparity among women elected into office. Organizations such as The League of Women Voters are hoping to make a dent in these figures. “It’s harder to imagine doing something if you don’t see people that look like you doing it,” said Dr. Ivy Hamerly, senior lecturer in the political science department and leader of the league’s Waco chapter. “And so if women have grown up thinking that a representative looks like a man it might be harder to picture what it might be like to do that. With the right kind of encouragement and mentoring and support I think all kinds of citizens might be great representatives.” At the state level, women only make up to 20.4 percent of the Texas Legislature, with a total count of 37, according to National Conference of State Legislatures. But even locally, Hamerly said it comes down to a matter of education. “It’s just a matter of whether they end up finding that kind of
support that they [citizens] need, so they know the ins and outs of how to file for candidacy, how to raise funds, how to craft their message, how to organize their campaign,” Hamerly said. “I think you average citizen doesn’t know that information.” With about 75 members, the Waco chapter underwent a brief hiatus and has since restarted under Hamerly’s leadership. “We’re just starting with who we know and starting to make contact with networks that are all across the city so we can pull in people who share our goals,” Hamerly said. Avoiding ties to specific candidates or parties, The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization, but this doesn’t mean that group misses an opportunity to have their voice heard in public policy.
“One big issue that we work on is women’s health,” said Elaine Wiant, Texas’ League of Women Voters president. “If women can’t control their own lives, then it’s very difficult to do anything else.” While the report card only polls the average voter registration and voter turnout numbers for 2010 and 2012, a look at the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 data confirms a much larger gap in registration and turnout than that of men. So despite scoring higher in both categories as a gender, a greater percentage of female voters are just not making it to the end of the voting process. Organizations focused on addressing the gender gap in politics is not a new concept. Austin-based groups like Annie’s List, who backs women with largely Democratic agendas and The Texas Federation of Republican Women, who supports Republican women running for office, are both party-oriented operations seeking to increase representation. “I think women just have to step up to the plate in the same way that men do,” Wiant said. “Women have to be just as assertive and say, ‘I’m here, I’m going to do it.’”
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different students, some with advanced learning levels and some who would qualify for special education programs. With such a wide range of educational development, students with emotional or mental issues stemming from abuse or neglect can fly under the radar if the teacher isn’t prepared. “In some disciplinary programs, we have a ‘safe space’ in a corner of the room,” McFarland said. “It’s a place for the kids to either compose themselves or just step away from the stress of the class. I’ve had an emotional girl this semester who’s cried a couple of times, and I ask her if she wants to go to the safe space. She nods, and then will come back to participate after breathing and composing herself a bit ... It’s all about the choices the kids make. I believe they are in control of their actions when they walk in the classroom and I will do my best to support them academically, but no matter their background, students thrive in a community of high expectations.” Many schools across the country implement the idea of “alternative punishment” to avoid a negative connotation with education and discipline. Places such as these “safe spaces” and meditation rooms are starting to make their way into schools, but however encouraging the academic environment may be, if their home life is in a state of turmoil, it adds a hurdle on their road to success. A 2014 study from the U.S. Census Bureau on “The Impact of Family Structure, Mobility and Employment on a Child’s Well Being” indicated a strong negative correlation between familial structure changes and negative academic and familial engagement. This means that children who experience a change in their home life have a harder time engaging in academic activities. For children in the K-12 school system, this could mean a drop in grades, social deficits and acting out. For children without any parental guidance, or for those in foster families they don’t yet trust, this is especially important to avoid. While foster care and education may not be at the forefront of Waco citizen’s minds, the turbulence of foster children’s lives and the lack of funding for Waco schools has larger implications on the quality of education students, especially those in the foster care in Waco are receiving.
How you can help If you know a child suffering from abuse or neglect, call the Texas Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400 If you are interested in supporting efforts to improve Waco ISD, visit their website at www.wacoisd.org for information about the ways you can get involved. If you are interested in fostering, supporting foster care families, or adoption visit the DFPS website at www.dfps.state.tx.us for more information.
Meredith Wagner | Social Media Editor
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MOLLY ATCHISON Print Managing Editor In low-income communities, the risk of losing students due to movements within the foster system is a concern for many educators. According to the Department of Family and Protective Services, in McLennan County alone, 199 children under the age of 17 are in the foster system as of Sept. 2017. With the City of Waco reporting nearly 53,740 students in McLennan County’s education system in 2016, the DFPS numbers may seem insignificant. But in reality, these statistics indicate a correlation between home transience and educational success. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS), a child in the foster care system will spend an average of 19 months in the system before exiting into another care facility. These facilities can include the home of a relative, a long-term foster family, a group home or supervised independent living. However, this does not mean they have found a permanent home, this simply means they have been placed somewhere meant to be a sustainable living environment. Children in foster care average 2.8 different living arrangements, or placements during their first foster care stay, according to National Work Group research. This means that a foster care child will spend an average of one and a half years in foster care before being placed into a
Liesje Powers | Multimedia Editor
Liesje Powers | Multimedia Editor
home. Within this time, they can change living arrangements more than twice, and are forced to change schools accordingly. In Waco, education is an area of concern already. According to the comprehensive biannual Texas Education Agency report on academic standards, six Waco schools have received a “needs improvement” status from the state, and five are in imminent danger of closing because of consistently not meeting standards. With so many schools already underfunded and underperforming, those 199 Waco foster care children are at an even higher risk of being undereducated. With a school system in the midst of reform, students in Waco are already experiencing difficulties in their educational lives, as well as at home. Baylor education majors learn to work with students from varying backgrounds and different experiences by assisting in Waco classrooms. Phoenix junior Anna McFarland and Katy junior Abby Graeflin are elementary education majors who spent the semester working in Waco schools, where they have learned to address students with different backgrounds. “We take certain classes that incorporate child development and teach us about certain symptoms that we have to look for,” Graeflin said. “We have always been taught to create relationships with all of the children so we notices those types of symptoms ... we also try to create relationships with the parents so we can let them know what is happening.” McFarland worked in a third grade classroom with a variety of
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Rewon Shimray | Cartoonist
know instruction, people who know kids depending on the needs of the students and and know how to teach. Teachers who are staff,” Kusler said. “If new students come in, I committed. They take a no-excuse approach to prepare their schedule for them, show them teaching kids.” around the school From the and take them outside looking to their class. If a in, it’s simple student is having to label Indian a problem at Spring as school or home, troubled and the counselors worth a potential or social worker shutdown so they try to help the can rebuild from students.” the ground up, Kusler is in but those who her twenty ninth work with these year working in students each day public education, see another side with six spent as of them. a teacher and 23 Angela Kusler as a counselor. ANGELA KUSLER | COUNSELOR is one of the two She has been at counselors at Indian Spring Indian Spring, for four years and her daily schedule consists of working with and has seen students struggle academically. the students on their social skills such as with However, she tries to remain positive about their academic and behavior needs. improvement. “My schedule is different from day to day, “Indian Spring Middle School has struggled
“
I feel that our students have a higher mobility rate than the greater Waco area and the state and this affects their academic skills.”
academically but we have continually shown positive improvements every year for the last three years,” Kusler said. “I believe our students do continue to struggle because of their low literacy level, lack of basic math computation skills and a need for a better parent-school relationship, all of which we work on on a daily basis. I feel that our students have a higher mobility rate than the greater Waco area and the state and this affects their academic skills [moving from house to house and school to school].” For those interested in reaching out and helping students within the Waco community, Kusler knows Indian Spring would love that. “We would absolutely love to have Baylor students and staff, along with Waco area citizens, come volunteer at Indian Spring MS,” Kusler said. “We already have mentors working with our reading tutoring groups and our service learning groups, but we would love to have more! There is a Volunteer’ tab on our website where people can get more information or contact Travis Cheatham or Shannon Carpenter at 254-7576200 here at ISMS.”
Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Journalist
Data from the Waco Independent School District Campus Improvement Plans
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EDUCATION UNDER FIRE Middle school struggles to meet state standards SAVANNAH COOPER Staff Writer Beyond the pristinely manicured lawns of Baylor’s campus and the shadows of the Magnolia Silos lies the greater Waco community, which isn’t as financially fortunate and is reflected that within housing developments, health care facilities and within education, a community cornerstone. Located exactly four minutes from Baylor’s campus lies Indian Spring Middle School on University Parks Drive. Indian Spring has been repeatedly struck by setbacks, from resigning principals to failing to meet statewide testing standards year after year. The demographics of Indian Spring also play a role in its current conditions, because the vast majority of students are racial minorities. According to Start Class by Graphiq, the total school population is 579 where 389 of those students, or 67.2 percent, are Hispanic, 26.9 percent are black and 3.5 percent are white. Then Waco Independent School District Superintendent Bonny Cain spoke to the Waco TribuneHerald in 2014 about the status of Indian Spring and how the district is planning on helping. “Whenever you have a school that’s really struggling and not successful change is in order,” Cain said. “We need people who
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Waco children struggle with homelessness, food insecurity BROOKE HILL Staff Writer The first thought that comes to mind when thinking about homeless individuals in Waco is not a child. However, the reality is that there are children in this community that do not have a place to call home or enough food to keep them healthy. Waco Independent School District estimates about 1,200 of its students per year are homeless, as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. In spring 2016, the Sanctuary House, a short term emergency housing program for homeless families in the Waco ISD opened in an attempt to help the problem. The house is a collaborative effort between Waco ISD’s Homeless Outreach, the Waco Housing Authority, the local Salvation Army and Junior League of Waco. The Waco Family Abuse Center typically houses around 250 homeless children a year. About 60 percent of those children are under the age of five, according to Kathy Reid, executive director for the Waco Family Abuse center. Domestic violence is the single largest cause of homelessness for women and children Reid said. The center provides shelter and food for the women and children who stay there. They even provide a homework lab for after school help, activities and field trips. “Everything we try do to is either therapeutic or educational, so that kids, whether they’re here for three or four days or whether they’re here for six months, they find that their education is enhanced and that they’re healing, we hope, and building some resiliency from whatever the situation was that they came from before they came here,” Reid said. Reid said the center’s numbers have remained steady for last four or five years, and that it is always at 80 to 100 percent capacity. “I think Waco is like every other community,” Reid said. “We’ve got extremely high rates of domestic violence, and so we have lots and lots of families that come here and need a safe place to go.” The Family Abuse Center also serves 21,000 to 23,000 meals a year to homeless women and children while they are working to get back on their feet.
Rewon Shimray | Cartoonist
“Food is a huge big main thing for us. Many of our families come from food instability and really aren’t sure where they’re going to get food or how they’re going to eat,” Reid said. Homelessness isn’t the only problem some Waco children may be facing. About 20 percent of residents in McLennan county are considered food insecure, according to Map the Meal Gap. Twenty-six percent of children in McLennan county are food insecure, meaning that one in four children in Waco has a lack of access to three healthy meals a day seven days a week. Erin Nolen is the assistant director of research for
Texas Hunger Initiative, and her job is solely to look at statistics regarding meal programs with children so that Texas Hunger Initiaive can understand how to improve their programs. Texas Hunger Initiative is a capacity-building, collaborative project dedicated to developing and implementing strategies to end hunger through policy, education, research, community organizing and community development. “I think as Waco has continued to grow, there’s been more considered effort to consider that especially since we have a high low income population,” Nolen said. “There’s a lot more to be done, especially looking at the root causes of poverty too.”
Nolen said she’s hopeful that food insecurity will be less of a problem in Waco as the community continues to come together to form places such as the Jubilee Market and the Gospel Cafe. “I think Waco’s a special place,” Nolen said. “I love Waco, and with Baylor there’s been a lot of concern and effort to really look at how we can be solving hunger issues here in Waco. There’s a lot of efforts but we still have food insecurity as an issue. We’ve seen a little bit of a decline, which is good, but still got a ways to go especially just in maximizing services we have currently and then also addressing more economic roots of it but it’s also just really complicated.”
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Baylee VerSteeg | Multimedia Journalist
FRESH Jubilee Market features many options of fresh produce for customers looking to incorporate a healthy diet into their lifestyle.
Baylee VerSteeg | Multimedia Journalist
JUBILEE Jubilee clerk Dianna Castillo checks out Waco resident William Horn. Jubilee Market is a food market funded and run by Mission Waco. It was started to help alleviate the North Waco food desert.
Baylee VerSteeg | Multimedia Journalist
Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Journalist
STOCKING Jubilee clerk Dianna Castillo restocks shelves. The market is a non-profit grocery store that caters to low income residents.
... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017 actually realized what he had done. Natalie said at the end of the day, he said he wanted to get help for a psychological problem. While she said she agreed he needed help, she said she didn’t think that was enough. “You still need to be punished for what you did,” Natalie said to her assailant. “Yes, you need help, but you also need to face the consequences of what you did.” Natalie said she felt very embarrassed after the assault and began to blame herself, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized she was just an innocent ride home. It turned into something much bigger than she originally thought when she reported to Title IX. She reported the assault at the end of November 2016 but the process was not complete until May 2017. Natalie said when she went to read Title IX’s final report, she was under the impression that she would be reading more of her assailant’s confession. Instead, she said she found out that his apology and confession were “all a big charade.” According to Natalie, the assailant’s arguments in the final report were misogynistic and sexist. He told Title IX that he only pretended to confess because he wanted her to feel better and not do anything to harm herself, Natalie said. Furthermore, Natalie said the assailant accused her of trying to cover up an alleged infidelity using Title IX procedures. “It was actually very impossible to believe that [his confession] was faked because it seemed so real when he was confessing. He was crying, he was so apologetic. I just could not fathom how someone can act so well,” Natalie said. Once the report was complete, Natalie said a judge was brought in to rule on the case. She said the accused and the accuser have the opportunity to speak with the judge privately. According to Natalie, reaching the point of actually speaking to the judge kept extending and extending. She said she was supposed to meet with the judge in February but didn’t meet her until after spring break. The final decision didn’t come until May: the assailant was to be suspended for two years. “The biggest problem here was that although I was happy with the decision, he never ended up facing it,” Natalie said. “Because Title IX took so long to get to my case and do something about it, he had enough time to apply for transfer.” Because Baylor doesn’t put notations on transcripts, Natalie said the assailant left Baylor “look[ing] like he’s clean.” “He never ended up facing the punishment … he doesn’t deserve an education for the next two years, that was his punishment,” Natalie said. “Except he is getting that education and so my frustration here was the loopholes that exist in the Title IX system where they can just let perpetrators transfer away from their problems.” Natalie said she spent eight to nine life-consuming months in the Title IX process only for the assailant to transfer away. She said she believes the Title IX office is trying to do their job but that some of the policies in existence are not beneficial. “What’s the point of going through this entire process if they’re just going to transfer away, you know? And now you’re making another campus unsafe,” Natalie said. The assailant is now at a “pretty good” school starting a new life and continuing his education, Natalie said. She has been in counseling and therapy. Furthermore, she had to live at the same apartment for the remainder of the lease in May. She said she slept in her roommate’s room for three weeks following the assault. “It just sucks personally for me because I walk through campus every day and I still feel like I lost. Even though I won on paper, I still feel lost because I tried to do the right thing,” Natalie said. “[I] lost so many
friendships in the process, so many relationships in the process because trying to do the right thing. At the end of the day, although I might have won on paper I still feel lost because he just transferred away.” While Natalie said she would always be mad about this loophole in Title IX policy, she said she is in a better place this semester. Looking to the Future As one of Pepper Hamilton’s 105 Recommendations, Baylor completed the update to its Title IX policy in January 2017. The “Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment and Interpersonal Violence Policy” was created as a result of intensive multi-disciplinary efforts, according to an external report confirming the structural completion of all 105 recommendations. The new policy includes clear amnesty provisions as well as guidelines concerning the time frame of investigations and resolutions. According to the policy, “The University will seek to complete the investigation and resolution process in approximately 60 calendar days following the notice of the investigation. In some instances, that may be the same date as the date of the report; in other instances, based on information gathered in the initial assessment, that may be at a later date.” Tucker told the Lariat in March that the updated policy ensures Baylor is implementing best practices and “new developments in the field.” She said the university “has been learning from [its] students who have gone through the process and provided [Baylor] with feedback.” Tucker said the new policy streamlines the timeline while maintaining an equitable notification and participation process for both the alleged victim and the accused. The old process outlined that any reports prior to January 2017 “had two levels of appeal that went all the way to the president of the university,” Tucker said. With the new policy, Title IX investigators who neutrally collect evidence and information from both sides and have “been looking at the information from the beginning ... will write a rationale to determine if the respondent is responsible for a policy violation,” Tucker said. Previously, an external adjudicator would come in to make the final evaluation, but Tucker said “They would almost have to start from scratch and try to catch up. They haven’t seen the witnesses or had any dialogue, they only knew what was on paper.” Because external adjudicators would not have the context that investigators had, Tucker said they often had to call people back which would in turn create delays. Tucker said investigators are trained to write the rational, which both parties get to see. She noted there were “several checks” built into this process. Ultimately, Tucker said she wants students to “know our hearts and know that this office isn’t just about me, Kristan Tucker – this is a bigger picture, and this is a campus initiative. Our hearts are for the people here at Baylor.” As for informing students about campus resources, Baylor said it has “allocated significant resources in its communication efforts to raise awareness regarding Title IX-related issues and the work of the Title IX Office. During the first week of the fall semester for the past two years, the Title IX Office has organized the ‘It’s On Us BU’ campus event for all incoming freshmen and transfer students to learn about sexual assault, consent and bystander intervention,” the university said in a statement. Furthermore, Baylor said, “As mandated by law, Title IX posters are located in various high-traffic locations across campus and specifically in every bathroom stall on campus. The University also has taken out periodic advertisements in the Baylor Lariat to increase awareness of the
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Title IX Office. Additionally, annual Title IX-related training is now part of Baylor’s ongoing educational efforts for students, faculty and staff.” Baylor’s campus climate survey was conducted this past spring in accordance with Pepper Hamilton’s 105 Recommendations. The survey was given in order to assess “the effectiveness of campus procedures” and “identify challenges in the current campus climate.” Results from the Social Climate Survey were released at the beginning of November and indicated that 73 percent of Baylor students “strongly agreed or agreed that if they experienced sexual misconduct, they would know where to go for help on campus.” Baylor said the university “is firmly committed to ongoing efforts to increase awareness until 100 percent of Baylor students are knowledgeable of where to go for assistance and what resources are available on campus.” As Baylor continues its institutional efforts to adequately respond to reports of interpersonal violence, the university is also partnering with members of the community such as the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children and the Waco Police Department. Sgt. Patrick Swanton of the Waco Police Department said in September that he encourages victims of sexual assault to report when they are comfortable. Swanton said he understands why some survivors don’t, but that the police would “like to see those offenders in jail.” “The initiatives and commitment of us going forward as an institution are still very much taking place with our key partners across campus and even those in the community, so we even have contacts in the Advocacy Center [and] in the Family Abuse Center,” Kristan Tucker told the Lariat after this year’s “It’s On Us BU” event. Dr. Martha Lou Scott, associate vice president for student life, said in September that Baylor and the Waco Advocacy Center have had an informal working relationship in the past but decided to formalize it this year through a memo of understanding. Scott said the purpose of the memo of understanding was to “commit [the relationship] to writing so that students knew [Baylor was] going to support them going to a place where they could get extraordinary care.” Baylor recently inaugurated its 15th president and first female president Dr. Linda Livingstone. In her inauguration speech, Livingstone said she accepted her calling to Baylor because of institutional difficulties, not in spite of them. “Every crisis is an opportunity to learn and to rebuild and I truly believe that God wanted me to assume that task at this particular point in Baylor’s history,” Livingstone said. Livingstone recently reorganized the President’s Council and created a University Council that gives academic leadership a larger voice. Throughout her presidency, Livingstone has also expressed her commitment to Baylor’s Christian calling and academic excellence. Students, like Hardy, said they are waiting to see what will come of Livingstone’s administration going forward. They acknowledged it’s a new administration and said they are waiting to see tangible changes for students. In commemoration of her 100th day in office, Livingstone told the Lariat she understands that trust is an earned process and is built over time. “It’s a day-to-day effort of seeking to do the right thing and being honest about what we’re doing and being honest when we have failings and then learning from moving forward,” Livingstone said. The university has stated that they will not comment on individuals’ experiences with Title IX due to legal reasons. *Indicates name change for anonymity of sexual assault victims.
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event with three of her guy friends. She said she had a panic attack and ended up canceling on them last minute. She ran out of the chapter room and threw up “because [she] was so nervous about being in the car with three people, even though they were three guys who could not hurt a fly, but it didn’t matter.” Hardy reached out to the Title IX office for the second time, this time to receive academic accommodations. This was after Crawford resigned on Oct. 3, 2016, and Kristan Tucker was appointed as the new Title IX coordinator two days later. Hardy said the department approved of her request but that it was “too hard of a system” because she had to go back to Robinson Tower to confirm what she had previously stated in her email, (her request for academic accommodations). Later that same semester, Hardy said she “realized it was time for [her] to stand up and speak out.” Hardy began with one of the first Student Senate bills she wrote and proposed. In the bill, Hardy wrote there had been “little promotion of [the Title IX department’s] new services and improvements.” According to the bill, updating information and promoting changes and new resources available to students “could lead to more victims receiving help they need” and “could mend the relationship between those who received inadequate care and the Title IX department.” Hardy said she felt optimistic at the time she promoted the bill and said she was saying to Baylor, “Hey, you guys are doing great things, please tell more students about it.” Hardy presented the bill wearing the clothes she was assaulted in, which she said was horrible. “It’s so weird how ... I could have been wearing my favorite sweatshirt or like a favorite pair of jeans and somehow, it’s not comfortable anymore,” Hardy said. Within a week of the bill passing in Student Senate, Hardy said she was contacted by the director of student life and the Title IX department. She said she was “pretty much chastised” for not getting enough faculty approval prior to proposing her bill. Hardy acknowledged that she didn’t because she didn’t want to go to Robinson Tower again because she had some bad memories there. Hardy’s first interaction with Kristan Tucker occurred after her bill proposal. “I walked in and felt very attacked. It felt very much like they were the victims in this situation, like I had somehow given them bad PR and they were there to try to stop it,” Hardy said. Hardy said she gave Tucker her suggestions and it seemed like Tucker “pushed aside all of them.” The weird part, Hardy said, was that Tucker said she heard Hardy had mentioned the Title IX office in a couple articles. Hardy said Tucker then pulled out a couple copies of the Lariat hat she had been quoted in and also mentioned that she had read Hardy’s
Hardy said. “But it’s one of those things where I consider dropping out probably once a week. And then I think of all the classes I’m taking that I love and all the girls I have to protect. And it makes it all go away.”
Meredith Wagner | Social Media Editor
personal blog. “I wanted to scream because [Tucker had] time to sit and read my blog, but [she] didn’t have time to go call a girl and ask her if she’s OK? To get the proper counseling? That drove me insane,” Hardy said. Hardy said she was really disheartened after this, so much so that she gave up. “I’ve given up going through Baylor’s system. I run my own sexual assault support group on Friday nights and we have probably seven or eight girls in it. Our email list has 25, but it rotates in and out,” Hardy said. Hardy said she would recommend sexual assault survivors seek out Waco’s Advocacy Center or Family Abuse Center. “All I can do is try to fight it from the outside and help the girls who come to me,” Hardy said. “Another thing, too, is once I started coming out with my story, I realized the statistics of one in four, those are real.” Hardy said one area of improvement she would like to see is in training and education. At the beginning of the school year, Hardy wrote a column
titled “Intervention is not enough.” Hardy said she believes Baylor is teaching intervention and pretending that Baylor students don’t have sex or pretending that people who are raping students are also Baylor students. She said she believes topics like what is consent, how to ask, how to receive, how to take it when somebody says no are questions training should cover. “I’m a religion major and I love Jesus. People think that loving Jesus and talking about sex are two different things,” Hardy said. “But I think it’s really important to talk about it and to discuss because it does happen to everyone ... it’s girls in my sorority, it’s girls walking down the street, it’s girls with purity rings like me.” Hardy also said she would like to see response time from the Title IX office be no greater than two business days. She said she believes even two days can be hard for some girls because “once you’re ready to talk, you’re ready to talk then.” “I love Baylor. I love the students, I love my classes, I love the teachers. I can’t stand the administration...”
Losing the Fight Natalie’s* story begins in November 2016, approximately one month after former Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford left her position. “It was just my roommate and I coming home from a party and this acquaintance of ours offered to drive us home. We drove home and he was supposed to leave, but he didn’t,” Natalie said. She said her roommate went to sleep and as Natalie got ready for bed, she said he insisted that he stay for them to hang out and go hot-tubbing. Natalie said she refused but he kept insisting, and that is how the night got started. “I am not going to go in too much detail about the actual night…anyone who reads it can put two and two together,” Natalie said. “The next morning, after that happened, I drove him home because I just wanted him out of my apartment.” Natalie said she was in a really miserable condition the following day, she said she still felt very intoxicated. Everything was spinning and she had bruises. It took Natalie about three and a half weeks to report the assault to the Title IX office, she said. Natalie said she used those weeks to research the reporting process to see what she might be getting herself into. During those weeks, Natalie said a group of people – mutual friends including the assailant and herself – gathered for an informal meeting to pick apart every single detail of the night. There were so many discrepancies between stories, Natalie said, but the two meetings were ultimately helpful. Following a friend’s suggestion and her own research on Texas state laws, Natalie said she decided to record the meetings. “We kept debating our story … Everybody I guess came to the consensus, like, ‘Hey, dude. That was not OK. Like, she didn’t give you consent; you don’t understand what consent was,’” Natalie said. “I think that was the big problem there. I don’t think to this date he understands what consent is.” The recordings, one of which contained her assailant’s confession, were used as evidence in the Title IX investigation. “It was honestly very shocking because he confessed to his assault. He went on and on about how sorry he was, how ashamed he was and how he would do anything to get me back on my feet and stuff like that. Very apologetic,” Natalie said. While Natalie said she was skeptical at first, she said she thought that perhaps there was a chance he
... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017 and Patty Crawford, then-Title IX coordinator, about what some of her options were. April said Crawford offered a no-contact order against the assailant, but at the time, April didn’t think it necessary. However, April would soon find there weren’t many places she could go without the risk of him being there. April noted one particular incident where she saw the assailant in a crowd at one of her sorority’s events and made a beeline to her car. She sat in her vehicle and sobbed for 20 minutes before she could leave. April said she felt terrified because she didn’t believe she was protected by the police and the assailant was still present in her life. She decided she wanted the no-contact order after all. When she returned to the Title IX office, April said her case worker claimed she was never offered one, despite Crawford and her mom being present when April said it was offered to her. “She said it wasn’t available to me,” April said. “And she said, ‘We all have to be around people we don’t like sometimes. You just need to surround yourself with positivity and we just need to teach you better coping mechanisms.’” April said at this point, the victim didn’t want to report; she just wanted to be left alone. There is only so much the Title IX office can do if a victim doesn’t report, April acknowledged, but she said she believes there were still some steps the office could have taken –– for example, informing the assailant he was on notice or being watched. Meanwhile, the assailant left Baylor with no marks on his record. April said he maintained a leadership position in his organization and is currently interning at a law firm in preparation for law school. “I felt totally betrayed by my university and by an office that promised to protect me, that promised to take care of victims, that promised to make it so I could finish school,” April said. “I felt betrayed by law enforcement that promised to protect and serve ... Even though I wasn’t the rape victim, I was still a victim and the other witness was still a victim because it was a traumatic experience caused by this one person acting out of extreme selfishness and disregard for other people’s humanity.” By the end of the semester, April said she was barely getting by. She said she didn’t leave her house except for classes or work, she would eat one granola bar per day and she experienced night terrors that would leave her waking up with pain in her jaw from clenching it so tightly or by screaming so loudly it scared her friends. “That doesn’t even say what the case was
like for my friend, whose experiences, while not mine to share, have been far worse,” April said. April said she felt she was completely ignored by Baylor and applied for an emergency transfer to a public Texas university. April noted she had well passed the transfer deadline, but after listening to her story, the woman on the other end of the phone took her contact information and said she would try to see what she could do. April said it was the first time since the incident that she felt someone actually listened to her. A couple weeks later, she said she received her acceptance to the university. “I still think about it almost every day. I still replay that night. I still wish I could change things or wish I could have done something different[ly]. And through all of that, it was heartbreaking. Not just because of my personal experience or how Title IX handled it, but I had made Waco my home,” April said. “That was my safe place. That was where I could go to my parents’ house in another city every once in a while and couldn’t wait to get back home.” Although April said she was able to maintain her major in the transfer, she will be graduating a year later than intended. The victim left Baylor without finishing her education at the university. “Title IX is there to help; it is there to help students be successful. It is there to help them finish their education, and it felt like I had been lied to that they were there to help me, that they were [there] to help give me resources and protect me and help me get through this,” April said. “I was totally shut out. While I know the whole Title IX staff is completely different, I wanted to share the damage that can be done by not handling things well, by not hiring people who are qualified or well-trained or competent when it comes to sensitivity training and how important the jobs of the people who work in Title IX are and how important it is they do them well.” From the Outside In San Antonio senior Paige Hardy is a journalism and religion double major. She has given her life to Christ and wears a purity ring as a testament to her commitment to wait until marriage. “I thought this didn’t happen to girls like me,” Hardy said. Hardy said she was sexually assaulted during her freshman year at Baylor. A few days later, she went to a community leader asking for the chaplain on call. Because it was spring break, she was informed the chaplain on call was Dr.
Burt Burleson. Burleson seems like a great guy, Hardy said, but not exactly the guy she wanted to talk to about her sexual assault. When her community leader asked her if there was anything she could do for her, Hardy said she just started crying. She hadn’t cried since it happened, she said. Her community leader called her higher-up, and Hardy said they just sat while she told her entire story. Notes were taken, Hardy said, and it took about one week for the Title IX Department to reach out to her after she reported the assault to residence hall staff. “I would say that was easily the loneliest week of my life,” Hardy said. When Hardy got an appointment to meet with the Title IX department, she said she rode her bike to Robinson Tower. “It’s a 19-minute walk from Collins. [I] had to go under the overpass, which there are tons of homeless people there, and since [the incident] I’ve been diagnosed with PTSD. So you know, wasn’t the greatest experience to try to get over there,” Hardy said. She went to the Title IX office specifically to seek out a Christian counselor. Her caseworker said she would send her a list of counselors on and off campus, which Hardy said she felt “really good” about at the time. Hardy said she received an email 20 days later asking if she would like to come in and discuss finding a counselor. “In the course of those 20 days, it was too late. I’d tried to go to the Counseling Center and they rescheduled me for two weeks out ... I had [a] space of panic, just having to walk around on campus at night for 27 days and having to just sit in my dorm room with the weight of it all,” Hardy said. “I don’t think people understand the amount of guilt you feel. Even though you know inherently it’s not your fault, it’s like you can hear his voice in the back of your head saying that you said yes ... There’s this sense of guilt you feel of, ‘What if I didn’t say ‘no’ loud enough? What if I didn’t push him enough off me? What if I could have done more to stop it? Why didn’t I call the police afterward?’” On the 20th day, when someone from Title IX finally reached out to her about counseling, Hardy said she just didn’t respond because at that point, she said she believed she wasn’t going to get anything out of it. “[I] spent the next few months just kind of retreating into myself and falling into a really deep state of both denial and depression,” Hardy said. Hardy recalled the following spring semester when she had planned to attend a sorority date
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Baylee VerSteeg | Multimedia Editor
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... or the bad news first? Monday, November 20, 2017
Table of Contents:
2-5
Sexual assault survivors share testimonies, experiences with Title IX
6 -7
Waco children struggle with homelessness, food insecurity
8-9
Local middle schools face closure if state standards are not met Turbulent foster
1 0 - 1 1care life impacts
children’s education
12 13
Female-led organizations address gender gap in Texas politics FBI investigation into NCAA basketball reveals longstanding corruption
1 4 -1 5
Recent mass shootings heighten gun control debate
16
Puerto Rico in need of restoration funds in wake of Hurricane Maria
17
After the fire: Residents of Northern California cope with loss, rebuilding
1 8 -1 9 20
Fear of foreign threats increases, causes concerns
Editorial: News is not all bad, good stories exist if you know where to look
Cover art by Rewon Shimray | Cartoonist
IX Sexual assault survivors share testimonies, experiences with Title IX
PHOEBE SUY Staff Writer
Some statistics at Baylor are easily seen. For instance, it doesn’t take long walking around campus to realize there are a disproportionate number of female students. Baylor’s Office of Institutional Research and Testing reports there are 2,361 more female than male students. However, what is not readily seen, is how many students are sexually assaulted and the weight some students carry as a result of sexual harassment or violence. Several Title IX lawsuits hit Baylor in the aftermath of its sexual assault scandal in 2016, some of which have resulted in settlements, while others continue in contentious litigation. While most survivors of sexual violence won’t ever make headlines, their stories still matter. An integral part of being a caring Christian community is bearing one another’s burdens – rejoicing when others rejoice, yes, but also mourning when they mourn. This is the story of three women who witnessed or experienced sexual assault at Baylor before and after the release of Pepper Hamilton’s investigation and the 105 Recommendations, which according to Baylor have recently been structurally implemented.
Before the End In spring 2016, what would be her last semester at Baylor, April* said she and another individual witnessed the sexual assault of a friend of hers. The assailant was sober and the victim was black-out drunk, she said. When they came upon what was happening, the other witness was hit and injured by the assailant and she was left trapped with the assailant between her and the exit. “For my own sake, I’m not going to go into the details of how horrible that feeling was, or terrifying, or slow-motion,” April said. “But I can still remember it clear as day. That day was horrible, but the next day was worse.” April said she and the other witness decided to report the incident to an off-campus police department since her friend did not remember what happened at first. “We were a wreck,” April said. “I had panic attacks, which I would become very comfortable having panic attacks consistently in the following months.” Because April and the other witness were reporting without the victim, she said the person behind the counter refused to call an officer to talk to them. However, when the individual was informed a witness had been injured, April said an
officer was called. She said she believes the officer they spoke with was not properly trained in trauma or, if he was, he disregarded it. “We were retelling our story and at one point in time, he was spending more time being critical of us and less so listening about the story or trying to understand the facts,” April said. “He more so took the time to pinpoint how we should have done things differently, not considering how adrenaline affects you or how when you become focused on helping your friend, that’s your main goal.” April said it seemed the officer was more focused on being critical of them than actually listening to their accounts. He made fun of them, she said, and it seemed like he thought they were wasting his time. She said she ultimately filed a complaint against that officer. “I automatically felt like the police was no longer on my side,” April said. “You’re supposed to be able to look to them as a pillar and they really let us down.” Moving forward, April said she knew her resources and decided that since the incident involved at least one Baylor student, she could report it to Title IX. She said the caseworker who took her statement took notes. Later, April said she returned to the Title IX office to speak with her caseworker