Kentucky Kernel: Feb. 25, 2020

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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

est. 1892 | Independent since 1971 www.kykernel.com @kykernel @kentuckykernel

news

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Students mourn the loss of over 200 on-campus trees

opinions

To Bee or Not to Bee?

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Not just ‘tree hugging,’ it’s about student opinion sports

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‘Pick Nick’ & ‘Pick Quick?’

That is the question buzzing among some UK staff who say UK’s spelling bee—which serves 81 of Kentucky’s 120 counties—may not exist next year. | 6

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

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LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD 7,300 MORE IPADS NEXT FALL

UK will once again provide its incoming freshmen with Apple products after a Board of Trustees meeting Friday voted to continue the program.

The board approved funding to give all first-year students in the Fall 2020 semester an iPad Air, Apple Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil.

UK first gave iPads to its students in Fall 2019, purchasing nearly 6,400 iPads for freshmen, faculty and staff. The university will purchase 7,300 more iPads to continue the program, at an estimated cost of $1.5 million.

The iPads are distributed as part of the Smart Campus initiative, which aims to better connect students to UK. In a press release, university president Eli Capilouto praised the program’s ability to transform and facilitate learning.

“Technology has the power to transform the classroom, [and] UK is leverag-

ing that power to meet the needs of the campus and state in a rapidly changing, 21st-century world,” he said. “The Smart Campus Initiative is redefining what is possible at the university.”

The board also approved the construction of a new research laboratory in the Coldstream Research Campus. Construction of the lab is expected to be completed in 2022.

A $13.5 million gift by the Bill Gatton Foundation for a previously approved expansion of Champions Kitchen was also approved by the board.

KERNEL ALUM NAMED A NEW YORK TIMES FELLOW

A former Kernelite has been named a New York Times fellow. Will Wright, who served as the Kernel’s editor-in-chief in the 2015-16 school year will be joining the national staff at the Times this coming summer.

CONTACT Wright has spent the last two years as a Report for America corps member and beat writer covering Eastern Kentucky for the Lexington Herald-Leader. In his time living in Pike County and bringing light to the issues and accomplishments of rural areas, Wright feels he is ready to translate his voice to a national scale.

“I’m really grateful for this opportunity,” Wright said. “I have to thank all of my editors at the Herald-Leader and of course the advisers back at the Kernel that helped me out through my journalism career.”

In addition to being a beat writer for the Herald-Leader, Wright has previously worked as a summer fellow for the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and is currently a member of the Report for America organization.

At the Kernel, Wright served as an assistant news editor and managing editor before being named editor-in-chief. It was during his time as editor-in-chief that the open records requests were filed that caused the lawsuit against the Kernel.

He will be joining the Times in June.

BASEBALL SCORES MOST RUNS IN RECENT MEMORY

MICHAEL CLUBB I STAFF Construction crews cut down and mulched trees in the Kirwan-Blanding complex on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.

Kentucky had one of their more explosive outings in recent memory last Saturday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park. The Wildcats (3-3) went off for 21 runs—the most in the last six years— on 13 hits as they clinched their series against Appalachian State.

The bottom of the third was an inning unlike any you usually see. Kentucky was able to score 10 runs on only three hits. The plate discipline from Kentucky was elite, also lucky, as they forced App. State pitchers into four walks, a wild pitch, a passed ball, a balk and three hit by pitches in a single frame.

“To be a good offense we have to be able to control the strike zone better, and when we do that more runs will come,” UK head coach Nick Mingione said after the game. “I think we had seven walks and two strikeouts, that was big.”

Editor-in-chief

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KENTUCKY KERNEL OFFICES 340 McVey Hall University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506

ON THE COVER Lauren DeVore, an eighth grader from DeVore Homeschool, competes in the University of Kentucky Regional Spelling Bee in the Worsham Cinema on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020. ARDEN BARNES I STAFF

spring 2020 | 3

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

news

UK announces half a million dollar investment in mental health resources

By Sarah Michels

news@kykernel.com

UK Provost David Blackwell officially announced Friday that the university’s Mental Health Task Force laid out its first set of recommendations to optimize student wellness.

A new recurring $500,000 investment will assist in the implementation of seven new hires in various mental health-related departments, suicide prevention training for all faculty and staff, a pilot program that will extend the hours of certain UK resource centers, and a centralized online portal where students can navigate the resources available to them on campus.

Each of these approved initiatives will be implemented during the 2020 spring semester, according to UK administrators.

These recommendations, a year in the making, come after the university established the Mental Health Task Force in spring 2019 as a response to growing concerns about the university’s wellness resources.

President Capilouto’s February 2019 promise to create such a task force came after two UK students died by suicide in two separate incidents and after a special edition of the Kentucky Kernel which focused completely on student mental health.

The university’s seven new staff members, currently being recruited, will be distributed across campus: two clinicians at the UK Counseling Center (UKCC), two consultants at the Disability

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Resource Center, a case manager for the Community of Concern, and two academic coaches at the Transformative Learning unit focused on helping students navigate testing anxiety and school-related stress.

Second, all UK faculty and staff will receive Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR) training sometime this semester as part of a suicide prevention initiative.

Third, after students return from Spring Break in midMarch, UK will jump start a pilot program to test the effectiveness of extended hours for certain campus resources.

As part of this program, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4:30 to 7 p.m., the Disability Resource Center housed on the fourth floor of the Multidisciplinary Science Building will transition into a one-stop-shop for students to navigate campus resources.

Staff members from UKCC, Disability Resource Center, Student Financial Wellness Center, Academic Coaching and the Community of Concern will be present for drop-in meetings with students whose schedules don’t allow them to meet during regular hours.

The pilot will primarily assess the demand for extended hours and centralization of these resources, said Drew Smith, Assistant Provost for Health and Wellness. As students leave, they will have the option of filling out an online survey to assess the effectiveness of the program.

“Part of this is to think through long-term systemic

RICK CHILDRESS I STAFF

changes,” said Kirsten Turner, Associate Provost for Academic and Student Affairs.

“If the services are provided all the way up to 7 p.m., then do we start to think about additional hours after that? It could be iterative over time depending on what kind of volume we see and how we see it play out.”

Lastly, UK will seek to roll out a centralized online portal for students to find information on basic needs, mental health, and general wellness resources.

It’s all part of a “holistic” approach to mental health on UK’s campus, Turner said.

UK’s goal is to direct students to the resources that best serve them from the onset, whether that’s on or off campus.

Turner said this could alleviate some of the pressure on the UK Counseling Center,

which has experienced a significant increase in utilization over the past several years.

According to UKCC Director Dr. Mary Chandler Bolin there has been a 55 percent increase in clients seen for all UKCC services between the 2018 and 2019 fall semesters.

Last semester, UKCC saw a record 2,478 clients, which was 52 percent higher than the previous record broken during the 2019 spring semester.

To put this into perspective, if UKCC’s 19 clinical staff members had equivalent caseloads, this would equate to roughly 130 clients per counselor in the 2019 fall semester, compared to 85 during the 2019 spring semester.

“A decade ago, a greater proportion of clients were

seen in weekly ongoing individual therapy for up to a semester—which is beyond our current scope of practice at UKCC— even as the UK administration has continued to fund increases to our clinical staffing,” Bolin told the Kernel.

Much of UKCC’s time and resources are spent on initial consultations with students who may not be best served by individual ongoing therapy. While these students may need other resources, such as academic coaching or group therapy or online resources, the process of redirecting them to the right place takes time, according to Bolin.

Looking forward, Turner says the UK’s Mental Health Task Force will discuss the possibility of a “triage” or “help center” where students

could go for initial screening before being directed to UKCC or another non-individual therapy-based service.

“Our goal is to get the Counseling Center in a place where they are able to work with clients more regularly and for the students who need the actual [individual] therapy,” Turner said. “We could build out that model to alleviate the pressure of the Counseling Center. They just don’t have the capacity, despite the increase in the number of counselors, to service everyone who is coming to them.”

While nothing has been decided yet, the task force is also discussing the possibility of moving UKCC from Frazee Hall to a new location, or locations, on campus after the building is renovated.

This is just one of many potential future initiatives.

“The wellness of our students—and our campus community—is everyone’s responsibility,” Smith said.

“UK’s investments in people and programs demonstrate its commitment now and in the future to the well-being of our students.”

In the coming months, UK’s primary focus will be the implementation of these first round of recommendations. The task force’s next set of recommendations is tentatively planned for this May. “Creating an environment where people’s holistic well-being is strong is vital to preparing students for a life of meaning and purpose,” Turner said. “From our perspective we’re doing all we can to reimagine our campus as a leader in holistic well-being.”

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

‘There’s no way this is OK.’ UK students mourn loss of over 200 trees on-campus.

By Emily Laythem news@kykernel.com

Dozens of students gathered below the Kirwan-Blanding Towers on Friday afternoon to mourn the clearcutting of over 200 trees on UK’s south campus.

Of 242 trees that dotted the grounds surrounding the decades-old towers last week, only 11 will remain after the demolition, according to Claire Hilbrecht, the organizer of the Tree Funeral.

“UK administrators have failed in their commitment to us and to the environment,” Hilbrecht, a junior natural resources and environmental science major, said during a speech. “They have prioritized quick and cheap development practices over ecological considerations.”

Hillbrecht’s speech occurred over the din of active demolition crews preparing for the Towers’ impending removal. Those in attendance – mostly students – held signs from recycled materials and distributed laser-cut wooden trees reading “Save the Trees.”

Madison Moreno, a junior natural resources and environmental science major, holds a sign during the Tree Funeral near the Kirwan-Blanding complex on UK’s campus on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. ARDEN BARNES I STAFF

Madison Moreno, a junior natural resources and environmental science major in attendance, said she was “blindsided” by the tree removal. Moreno “had no clue” about the university’s plans until she was shown a photo of the dirt mounds and construction left in the demolition’s wake.

“I felt like I wanted to chain myself to a tree at that point. Like, there’s no way this is OK,” Moreno said.

Although dubbed a funer-

al, the event largely focused on the future.

“We didn’t want (the event) to be something like, ‘oh wow, it’s so sad that the trees got cut down’ – and then no action is taken about it,” Hilbrecht told the Kernel.

“We’re actually very upset about what happened and knew there should be a call to action.”

Several attendees signed up to remain informed about “what the next steps are” to address the clearcutting,

according to Hilbrecht. Although those next steps have yet to be hammered out, Hillbrecht said she personally hopes to see better communication between UK administration and students.

In December, Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Eric Monday announced that the complex surrounding Kirwan-Blanding would be transformed into a new greenspace. In a UKNow release, Monday said that UK “would preserve the allée of trees that makes that area of campus so distinct.”

But Friday’s funeral-goers believe UK has done the very opposite. “(UK should have) had a more sustainable way to go about this, instead of cutting down 231 trees, leaving 11,” Moreno said. “They said ‘we’re going to try to preserve as many as possible.’ That’s not as many as possible.

There’s no way.”

In an earlier statement to The Kernel, UK Spokesperson Jay Blanton said the university is honoring its commitment to tree preservation

near Kirwan-Blanding.

“Indeed, we will be adding trees to this area. Our goal, moreover, is to enhance and add greenspace that will become a central gathering point for students and our campus community,” Blanton said.

Beth Ann Winebarger, a senior natural resources and environmental science major who attended the Tree Funeral, remains unconvinced. “(The greenspace) sounds like a good idea, ideally, but the plan does not seem like it’s well-developed yet. There needs to be more work done to make it a truly effective and good greenspace to replace the space that was lost,” Winebarger said.

Hilbrecht said that the Kirwan-Blanding tree removal has largely occurred overnight – a fact that bothered several attendees.

Blanton did not confirm the timing of the clearcutting.

He did, however, confirm that just over 200 trees are scheduled for removal in the complex surrounding the Towers over the coming weeks, and that over 100 have been re-

moved thus far. He said 11 or 12 will remain in the space, while 3 will be transported to another spot on campus.

Blanton also reinforced that UK remains devoted to conserving a tree canopy on-campus.

“A demonstration of our commitment to this endeavor is that we’ve planted more than 500 (trees) in the last five years around campus,” Blanton said. “At the end of this process, we will plant more trees in this area than we will remove, while also preserving the two allées to which we committed. There is an extensive plan for tree planting for the new site (near Kirwan-Blanding).”

But Hilbrecht remains critical about UK’s actions thus far.

“This demolition should not have been done with such little care for ecological principles. UK administrators: We can do better,” Hilbrecht said. “To use the language of the administration: Let us finally make the University of Kentucky the University for Kentucky. And let’s start with the trees.”

New dual-credit program enables UK instructors to teach college courses in high schools

By Noah Ryder From news@kykernel.com

As part of an effort to make an easier integration and transition from high school to college, UK has started a new dual credit program that teaches college courses in local Kentucky high schools.

The UK Next Generation Scholars program began its three-year pilot this spring with four schools: STEAM Academy, Paris High School, Elkhorn Crossing School and Marshall County High School.

Juniors and seniors who are recommended by their

guidance counselor for the program can take up to 10 classes to earn up to a year’s worth of college credit. The current classes being taught in the pilot are HIS 109, EPE 174, WRD 110 and WRD 111.

“What’s unique about our approach to dual credit is that

high schools not only work with UK but also with the Center for Next Generation Leadership in the College of Education to work on the design of the high school to promote a broader college-going culture,” program director Justin Bathon said.

UK has other colleges

committed to the program such as the College of Design, Education and various programs in the College of Arts and Sciences including history, writing and rhetoric.

One class that is planned to be taught next fall are the CIS courses. According to Bathon, these courses have

been the most requested by high schools to be a part of the program. Current CIS lecturer Joe Martin will be the main instructor for the course.

“One of the cool things about this is it shows students

See PROGRAM on page 12 spring 2020 | 5

To Bee or Not to Bee? Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Story by Natalie Parks | Photos by Arden Barnes

50/50.

Those are the odds John Cruz gave for the UK Regional Spelling Bee’s survival.

Cruz, the project manager of the School of Journalism and Media, served as “bee coordinator” this year. UK’s Scripps Howard First Amendment Center has hosted the bee, which has served as the semi-final stage for 81 of Kentucky’s 120 counties for the last nine years.

He said that without the UK bee, Kentucky would potentially have no representative at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, denying student champions the chance to compete

on a nationally televised stage.

An all-expenses paid trip to D.C. to compete in the national bee is the main prize at regional bees, which essentially serve as the semi-final stage for spellers.

But now, the bee is in danger.

Time and money are the two big concerns, but UK and its colleges also have to think about how the bee fits into its strategic plan.

“We don’t get anything out of it, but this is something I feel like Kentucky needs,” said Cruz.

Students who do not have a regional bee to compete in can still

qualify for nationals, but they have to pay for and take a test, said Cruz.

“They essentially would have to go straight from their local bee to the national stage, but more likely what it would mean is that they just simply wouldn’t go,” said Andrew Byrd. Byrd, a professor in UK’s linguistics department, has been the pronouncer at UK’s bee since its beginning.

‘HE STARTED THING’

EVERY-

The first UK Regional Bee was held in 2012 and was organized by the then-director of the First Amendment Center, Dr. Mike Farrell. Farrell, a beloved journalism professor, passed away in August of 2019.

Drake Strahl Raisler, the 2020 runner-up and sixth grader from Leestown Middle, talks with his mom after the completion of the University of Kentucky Regional Spelling Bee in the Worsham Cinema on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020.

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“He started everything, he was the person who asked me initially to help,” said Byrd of Farrell.

“He got in touch with the schools, found sponsors if there were sponsors out there, and when he passed we weren’t quite sure if we’d be able to do it anymore, cause it takes money to do it.”

Cruz took over the planning duties after Farrell and thinks that to save the bee, there should be a dedicated bee committee.

Cruz sent 106 fundraising letters out this year. He said the bee costs $8,000 to host, the bulk of which goes to sponsoring the winner’s trip to nationals – hotel, travel and registration.

In addition to sponsoring the winner, the hosting organization has to pay to be an official Scripps bee.

Without a director, the First Amendment Center is on hiatus, said Cruz, and no one is gunning for the bee to happen again. So, for the 481 schools in the UK Regional Bee’s constituency, the chance to compete at nationals may be gone next year.

There are only two qualifying bees in the state this year – the UK regional bee, and a bee in Louisville presented by the Bluegrass Literacy Project.

Founded by five-time national bee competitor Tara Singh, the Bluegrass Literacy Project held its first regional bee in 2019. The organization will host its second annual bee in March for spellers from nine counties in Indiana and 19 counties in Kentucky.

Singh founded the BLP when she was in eighth grade – the final year of eligibility for spellers. In her competitive years, she qualified for nationals through four different regional bees, including the UK Re-

gional Bee. “The Louisville sponsorship has been tenuous over the last 10 years,” said Singh. She said BLP “took over the sponsorship in order to keep the tradition alive.”

“It’s a great event and holds a special place in the hearts of many people in our community,” said Singh. “Almost everyone I talk to remembers the word they missed in their school spelling bee at some point in their life.”

“

We don’t get anything out of it but this is something I feel like Kentucky needs.

”

JOHN CRUZ But the tradition is not just regional; Kentucky played a crucial role in the national competition.

KENTUCKY’S OTHER WINNING TRADITION “The legacy of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is rooted in Kentucky,” said Valerie Miller, spokesperson for the national Bee. “The Courier-Journal in Louisville originated the national event. In those early formative years, four winners hailed from the Bluegrass State.”

The first two national champions were both from Kentucky, according to a list of champions provided

by Miller. But a Kentucky speller hasn’t won the national bee since

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Kentucky students compete in the University of Kentucky Regional Spelling Bee in the Worsham Cinema on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020.

Marian Richardson in 1938.

This year, the Kentucky Derby Festival will host a bee, but that the event will not send a winner to nationals, Miller said. Previously, the Kentucky Farm Bureau hosted a qualifying bee, but not this year.

Cruz said he had to turn away students who usually compete in that bee after they missed the Scripps deadline for UK’s bee.

There are some rural counties that have never participated in the regional bee, Cruz said. Scholarship money is available for schools who cannot afford to send a speller, but many schools do not take advantage of the opportunity.

Cruz said he has seen “an increase in enthusiasm” for the bee over the last couple of years.

“Some of the kids are really gung-ho about it,” said Cruz. “It’s usually the older kids, and then the ones that use their nametag and their finger to spell on the back of it, that’s when I know they’ve really practiced.”

Spellers at the regional bee are the champions of their school bee, said Cruz. Scripps eligibility rules state that students must not have passed beyond the eighth grade, and the competition is open to public, private and homeschooled students.

“Some schools will have whole school bees and that means each kid is getting a little bit of extra literacy development just to get ready

for that, and I think that’s a positive thing in a state where education doesn’t seem like a top priority,” said Cruz.

Thirty-nine spellers competed in the 2020 UK Regional Bee last Saturday, the youngest of whom was in the first grade.

For the spellers, spelling bees are not just about academic achievement or literacy development.

“Not only did I learn a lot of words, but I also learned the value of hard work, discipline, and most importantly, resilience,” said Singh. “The ability to persist despite setbacks has served me well.”

Public speaking, confidence, grace under pressure – these are the intangibles that students get from the spelling bee, said Miller.

“I think the wonderful thing about the bee is that adults see the difficulty right then and there -they’re like, yeah that’s a word I don’t know,” said Byrd.

‘COMPETING AGAINST THE DICTIONARY’ Many spellers return year after year, and spelling is often passed from sibling to sibling, said Byrd.

That’s true of this year’s winner, 13-year-old Lauren DeVore. Lauren’s older sister Ashley won the UK Regional Bee two years ago and competed in D.C. at nationals.

“I wouldn’t have done if it

Lilly Phillips, left, Lauren DeVore, Ava Prater and Drake Strahl Raisler talk during a break between rounds of the University of Kentucky Regional Spelling Bee in the Worsham Cinema on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020.

hadn’t been for her, she got me into it,” said Lauren.

Lauren came in second place at last year’s bee after deciding to compete last minute. As this year’s champion, she will represent Kentucky at the national bee in May. “I’m really excited because I saw my sister do it and it looked like a lot of fun,” said Lauren.

Lauren, who often congratulated and spoke to her competitors at UK’s bee, said friendliness was something she saw often at nationals.

“When we went with my sister, they told us that you weren’t competing against each other, you were competing against the dictionary, so go ahead and congratulate your fellow spellers,” said Lauren, who added that competitors at the national bee will gather together in the lobby to study.

Her winning word at the UK Regional Bee was “motet” – a polyphonic choral composition on a sacred text usually without instrumental accompaniment, according to Merriam-Webster.

To prepare for the bee, Lauren studied between 368 and 418 words a day.

“Lauren works really hard she’s not a natural speller, so it was neat to see her hard work achieve things,” said Kim DeVore, Lauren’s mother.

Byrd said that hard work is the commonality among the really good spellers.

“Certainly with the spellers who really succeed, they have to work their butts off to do what they do,” said Byrd, who said spelling was comparable to music or sports practice. To practice, a speller might group words by language of

origin or go through reading lists.

Cruz said he knew of one speller who wrote the whole spelling lists on sheets of butcher paper and hung them around his room, reading a sheet every night before he went to bed.

‘RIDICULOUS WORDS’ Spellers are given an official list of words to study. After eight co-champions were crowned at the national bee last year, the list expanded from 1,000 to 4,000 words.

But as the rounds advance, words can be chosen that are not on the list, said Byrd.

“It’s really scary to be up on that stage as like an 8-year-old and to be asked all these, in my opin-

See BEE on page 12 spring 2020 | 7

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

opinions

Columnist: Kirwan-Blanding trees removed despite intent to ‘preserve’

By Cameron Luker opinions@kykernel.com

When I heard that the Kirwin-Blanding complex was going to be removed, I was very pleased to hear that plans for replacement dorm included adjacent greenspace. It seems that places for students to relax outdoors have become harder and harder to find as the university continues to grow.

As the plans for the “UK Green” began to develop, I was excited that

Eric Monday, UK’s Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration, stated that the trees that dot the area would be preserved. When I hear that trees will be “preserved,” I would hope to be able to take that at face value — that protected trees would not be damaged in any way, or even be at risk of potential harm.

Imagine my surprise at finding a heap of fresh wood chips and large logs in the middle of the

Where once stood three large white oaks, as well as dogwoods and hornbeams, now only a single holly stands.

PHOTO BY CAMERON LUKER

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Kirwin-Blanding complex, and dozens of trees missing early Wednesday morning. The shady canopy of stately white oaks, peacefully swaying pines, and elegantly flowered magnolias has been razed into a wasteland of bulldozer tracks. How are we making a greenspace by removing the green?

Many of the trees had diameters of over 20 inches, and some over 30 inches. These are large trees that provide many benefits, including shade, carbon sequestration, and stormwater management.

The 30-inch wide white oak that was removed from the lawn facing Complex Drive helped to mitigate 5,128 gallons of stormwater a year and annually absorbed over 200 pounds of atmospheric CO2, the greenhouse gas driving climate change.

When you start to consider that this is only one tree, and more than 240 trees have been or will be removed, it is clear that we are throwing away a huge number of ecosystem benefits that save us money.

The massive sewer projects occurring on campus are directly tied to an inability to manage stormwater, yet we are cutting down some of our best resources to fix the problem. Having trees around is not only a financial benefit, but helps to improve mental health, something the university

Construction crews cut down and mulched trees in the Kirwan-Blanding complex on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.

MICHAEL CLUBB | STAFF

has struggled to address.

These benefits won’t come back for a long time. The large trees that were cut down had been alive for decades, and it will take that long for whatever new trees are planted in their place to begin to equate. We don’t have that long. I wouldn’t be surprised if the new dorm being built in that space has a lifespan of less than twenty years before the building and its surrounding trees are torn down again.

I understand that UK is growing and must meet the needs of its students,

but I believe we can do a better job of protecting our natural resources while fulfilling our duties.

We must have a long-term view in place when taking on large projects like this.

We need designs that will integrate with the existing trees, not destroy them, and we need buildings that will last so we can allow large trees to have the time to grow.

We have great minds at UK, and I know that we can rise to the challenge and create a future for our campus that respects the value of the landscape and can work to enhance

it, not destroy it.

The only way we can bring about these changes is by being vocal. Students hold power and we must be aware of that and know that we can use it to hold the university responsible. Whether you care about the environment, mental health, or aesthetics, this kind of project is an attack on all of these.

This kind of thing will happen again and it is fair for us to be angry, but we must channel our anger into building the campus in which we want to learn and live.

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

The Mad Scientist: Why your life would be different without fruit flies

By Thomas Hart

opinions@kykernel.com

The Mad Scientist is a new bi-weekly column by biology senior Thomas Hart. Check online for future column updates.

Fruit flies can be very annoying. But did you know they’re a very commonly studied organism in biology? Despite how many of these tiny insects have invaded your fruit bowl or become unwelcome residents of your trash can, fruit flies may have had a bigger positive impact on our world than you might think.

Scientists commonly study some oddball organisms. Fruit flies, zebrafish, nematodes and water fleas are just a few on the list.

These animals seem nothing like humans, and one might argue that scientists are wasting their time and lots of funding to study these random animals. However, organisms that may seem insignificant have proven to be majorly important to science, including the fruit fly. So, what’s so special about this fly?

The answer lies in genetics.

Because fruit flies multiply so quickly, they are great for studying genetic changes over generations of flies. Fruit flies also share a lot of gene similarities with humans, enough so that they serve as models for studying genetic disease.

One similarity we have with fruit flies, for instance, is in how we fight infections. On many of our immune cells there are proteins

called “Toll-like receptors,” which allow our body to detect microbial invaders. They got the name “Tolllike” because they function the same as Toll proteins first found in fruit flies. The “Toll” part is the German word for “amazing” or “weird” because when the German scientist Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard discovered the gene in the flies in 1985, she exclaimed “Das war ja toll!” or “That was really weird!”

But possibly the most iconic example of the fruit fly’s role in genetics, especially to biology students at UK, was its use by Thomas Hunt Morgan in the early 1900s.

Born in Lexington, Morgan earned both a B.S. and an M.S. at the University of Kentucky before earning his Ph. D. at Johns Hopkins. He

GRAPHIC BY THOMAS HART

eventually worked at Columbia University, where he would start experimenting with fruit flies.

At the time, the source of genetic information was greatly debated; no one really knew how genes got passed down from generation to generation. But with the help of some flies and a mutation that gave them white eyes, Morgan and his team demonstrated, through

the passing down of this white eye trait, that genetic material is in chromosomes. Though today this seems like basic knowledge, this was a pretty groundbreaking discovery and it earned Dr. Morgan a Nobel Prize. Since then, seven other Nobel Prizes have been awarded for research using fruit flies.

Fruit flies have been and continue to be big in research. It just goes to show how one odd animal can serve an unexpected purpose in our understanding of life.

So, the next time you’re about to smack a fruit fly dead on your kitchen countertop, just think for a second about the impact fruit flies have had on science. (And then definitely kill it because it will lay hundreds of eggs all over your bananas.)

It’s not just about ‘tree hugging.’ It’s about student voices being heard.

By Brianna Stanley

opinions@kykernel.com

The Kernel has published a lot of news about trees this past week.

At risk of saturating the news feed further and causing people to scroll past the “tree huggers” (as one affectionate Facebook comment dubbed us), I think that it’s important to clarify a couple of the reasons behind environmental science students’ dismay at the removal of the 231 trees in the Kirwan-Blanding complex.

It’s not just about saving the trees. It’s about a lack of research into the best options, and a lack of communication with the student body. This is a research university.

From the Urban Forestry Initiative, to the campus arborist, to reaching out to any of the professors in the

forestry who have dedicated their careers to research of trees, UK administration had many options to consult knowledgeable sources about the ecosystem benefits of these trees and options for preserving them within the plans for a “green space” in the Kirwan-Blanding complex.

Whether the administration was simply ignorant as to why they should aim to preserve more of these trees, or they chose to ignore the input that they should, their actions were lazy and inexcusable.

Those of us at the tree funeral are not advocating that no tree must die, ever; we acknowledge that new construction often necessitates removal of some trees. However, there are also options that allow for retaining more trees, such as the design of Woodland Glen which

allowed for the large white oak to remain in that area.

In defense of removing all except 11 of the trees in Kirwan-Blanding, UK PR spokesperson Jay Blanton stated that UK is still honoring its commitment to preserve trees in the area, and that “[UK] will be adding trees to this area.

Our goal, moreover, is to enhance and add greenspace[...]”

This is absolute greenwashing.

UK is simply providing lip-service to the idea of being environmentally friendly for the sake of their public image. The university administration’s statements shows a lack of consideration for the ecosystem benefits that older trees provide, such as carbon sequestration and stormwater management (as outlined in Cameron Luker’s opinion article on the tree removal). The

younger trees will take decades to achieve the same environmental benefits as these already established trees, may they rest in pieces.

Beyond benefits to our localized urban environment, the looming specter of climate change necessitates that we make the effort to save every tree possible.

While it may seem to many that we are making a fuss about just a few plants, our protests represent a greater cause; the student body wants to be consulted. In this specific instance, I hope that the UK administration realizes how deeply students care about the sustainability of our urban environment, and plans that modify it need to be better publicized, better discussed and better implemented.

As Claire Hilbrecht, organizer of the Tree Funeral, stated in her

speech, “[…] we are here to demand that the administration step up to the challenge of engaging student voices with their decision making.”

Honestly, I’m not sure that our little Tree Funeral event will catalyze much change on its own. It is more time-effective and cost-effective for UK to be secretive, chop down trees in the night (literally and metaphorically), and to bypass student input across any number of decisions affecting the student body.

Despite this, we shouldn’t stop speaking up. The more voices that join any chorus, the more likely for those further up the chain to listen.

Personally, I want to attend a university that takes the right option, not only the most cost-effective option. Don’t you?

spring 2020 | 9

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

sports

Will Cats finish SEC play strong? Kernel sports editors predict the end of men’s basketball season. from the first meeting provide plenty of motivation.

Kentucky gets it done, and cements itself as the conference’s top team.

Who has the better case for SEC Player of the Year: Nick Richards, or Immanuel Quickley?

Braden Ramsey: Quickley flew under the radar for the better portion of two months before garnering some attention over the past couple weeks. He has seemingly come out of nowhere as a candidate, as neither Erika nor I mentioned him in our predictions for All-SEC FirstTeam, let alone Player of the Year. With Ashton Hagans battling injury and not playing at the same level from early in the season, Quickley has taken his play to an even higher level on both ends. It’s a tough call. Tyrese Maxey could very well be right in his assessment following the Florida game, saying the Cats have Co-Players of the Year. But at this moment, I’d have to #PickQuick, not Nick.

Erika Bonner: Following the Florida game, Immanuel Quickley has absolutely made a strong case for himself for SEC Player of the Year.

Wouldn’t be surprised if UK men’s basketball starts up a campaign for him the way they did for Nick Richards, but I’m still going to stick with Richards for POY. The 6-foot-11 forward will be essential to Kentucky’s success in the postseason, let alone how important he’s been for the Cats up

10 | kentucky kernel

Erika: I think the Cats will get it done in Rupp against Auburn. They’ve played them (and lost, obviously) once before and know they have to adjust defensively and find ways to shut down senior Samir Doughty.

Nick Richards is seven blocks behind Tennessee’s Yves Pons for the conference lead in the category.

Will Richards pass him?

Kentucky sophomore forward EJ Montgomery and junior forward Nick Richards laugh during the game against Florida on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. Kentucky won 65-59. JORDAN PRATHER I STAFF

to this point. He’s currently leading the SEC in field goal percentage at 65.6 percent, and he’s top-3 in both blocks per game (2.2) and rebounds per game (8). Not to mention he’s also a great free throw shooter for as many times he goes to the line-he’s currently sitting at 75 percent, good for third on the team behind Quickley and Hagans.

What seed will Kentucky end up with in the

SEC Tournament?

Braden: Number one.

The Cats are at least two games clear of everyone else in the conference right now. The only team with a realistic chance of leaping them is Auburn, because it beat Kentucky once already and would have the tiebreaker with a win in Rupp this weekend.

Even if the Tigers were to pull that off - which I’ll dive into more below - they’d still be a game

back. They’re much more likely to slip up in their other games than Kentucky is. The Cats will be the top seed for the first time since 2017.

Erika: Agree with Braden, it’s looking like they’ll definitely be the one seed.

Will Kentucky defeat Auburn in their rematch on Saturday?

Braden: This is inter-

esting, because Kentucky has played worse in Rupp this year than it has on the road. But Auburn is 4-4 in true road games, including losses at Georgia (12th in SEC) and Missouri (13th).

The Cats have still only lost one game at home despite the so-called struggles. A win in College Station, Texas, on Tuesday would give Kentucky the chance to clinch the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. That and the revenge factor

Braden: If Richards has games to end the season similar to the one he had versus LSU (six blocks), then he could. But it’s unreasonable to expect one such game like that, let alone multiple, over the final four. He had a four-game stretch to open January with 13 blocks though. I highly doubt he catches Pons, but I won’t say it’s outside the realm of possibility.

Erika: Pons is a blocking machine, and while Richards is No. 2 in the SEC for a reason, I don’t see him passing up Pons.

Richards is averaging 2.2 while Pons is averaging 2.5 per game, and behind seven is a lot to catch up with. Pons had four blocks against Kentucky when they played each other earlier this month.

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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Quickley rising in SEC award circles, but his focus is elsewhere

By Braden Ramsey sports@kykernel.com

For the seventh time in fifteen games, Immanuel Quickley had over twenty points. The 26 he provided Saturday set a new career high as he paced No. 10 Kentucky’s 65-59 win over rival Florida.

“He was fantastic… the best player on the floor,” Gator coach Mike White said. “[He] hit huge shots and complemented that with terrific perimeter defense.”

It was the fourth time this season Quickley has scored a career-high, previously doing so against Eastern Kentucky (16), thenNo. 3 Louisville (18) and Missouri (23). Today also marked his fourth game with four or more threes.

“God’s been good, it’s all him,” Quickley said.

“My teammates… do a great job of finding me, especially in spots in transition.”

His extremely high-level play for the past two months has helped him garner momentum for many accolades, including SEC Player of the Year. Tyrese Maxey wasn’t shy in his feelings about where he believes Quickley and ‘Junior Nick Richards’ stand in that race.

“Hey SEC Player of the Year! SEC Player of the Year!” he yelled to Quickley during the interview session.

Prompted, the sopho-

12 | kentucky kernel

Kentucky sophomore guard Immanuel Quickley celebrates a basket during the game against Florida on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

Kentucky won 65-59. JORDAN PRATHER I STAFF

more guard quipped back, telling Maxey to “Look in the mirror!” He then lost his train of thought and asked a reporter to repeat his question, bringing quite the laugh to the media members who had swarmed him.

A few seconds later, Maxey extended his arms to either side and added “We have Co-SEC Players of the Year!”, not wanting to leave out the Jamaican big man, who was sitting to his left, from his shouting of praise Kentucky basketball released a campaign video for Richards to be selected as an All-American earlier in the week, inspiring the “Pick Nick” Twitter hashtag and the signs for today’s game. When asked about a potential “Pick Quick” phrase and campaign, he shrugged it off.

“The ‘Pick Nick’ video was great,” he said. “Maybe I’ll get one soon, but

honestly it’s not really my concern.”

What is his concern then?

“The national championship,” he said. “That’s really what we’re trying to accomplish. Just trying to continue to build for March and try to win this national championship.”

Just seven days remain before that biggest month of the season, and Kentucky is sitting pretty. The Cats are two games clear of second place in the conference, and a single win away from clinching the ever-valuable double-bye for the SEC Tournament. A continued strong showing to end the year could net them a toptwo seed. Quickley will be doing whatever he can to get the Cats the banner that has eluded them since 2012, and ring in the new decade with One Shining Moment.

BEE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

ion, fairly ridiculous words,” said Byrd.

He always starts with a practice round so that all the spellers are familiar with the procedure, then moves on to easy, then intermediate, then challenging words.

Judges check the words against the Merriam-Webster spelling, said Cruz, who said they get sent a dictionary every year.

As a linguist, Byrd tries to adapt the words to reflect regional variations.

“It’s heavily biased towards the northeastern dialect. One of the things I asked when I was asked initially to do the pronouncing, I said I will do this – however I will mention variants that will be more familiar to the students,” said Byrd, using variations of penny and marry as examples of how to make the bee more inclusive.

“Those sorts of things I think are valuable because you shouldn’t have a bias towards a particular region especially when we’re not

PROGRAM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

what it’s like to be a student at UK,” Martin said.

The classes are taught with a regular college schedule (Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday) and replace what regular math or English class, for example, the student would normally take. The UK professor is the main instructor who teaches through Zoom, a Skype-like, teleconferencing application, but a high school teacher also plays a role in teaching the rest of the curriculum. The classes

Lauren DeVore, an eighth grader from DeVore Homeschool, holds her trophy after winning the University of Kentucky Regional Spelling Bee in the Worsham Cinema on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020.

in that region,” said Byrd.

For Kentucky, which hasn’t had a national champion in 82 years, spelling bees are a way to supplement literacy education.

If the UK Regional Bee goes away, students will have fewer opportunities to practice vocabulary, gram-

mar and definitions.

“In the education community, most people have heard ‘thank goodness for Alabama’ because if it wasn’t for Alabama, we might be last in education sometimes,” said Cruz.

“And they send 10 kids to the bee.”

have a fee of $58.

The program has been met with some challenges of trying to teach the courses synchronously across the multiple sites, but so far the pilot has been going well and the teachers are satisfied with it.

Although the Center was founded in 2011 and has worked on high school improvement ever since, this is the first time it has implemented a dual-credit program of this level, the first in the nation, according to Bathon.

“We help high schools make opportunities available to more students of poverty, color, special needs, En-

glish learners so they are not pointed away from college,” Bathon said. “It’s a really big positive step for the University because we’re making UK accessible for more kids.”

Three to six new schools might be added next year if everything goes as planned.

Bathon views this as the next generation of high school and an important step in the transition from high school to college.

“There’s always room for advancement. UK is a large flagship school and I think that there’s a lot of movement in the University to look towards the future,” Martin said.