March 12, 2020

THURSDAY 3.12.20 || MARLINCHRONICLE.VWU.EDU ||

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

Marlins feel the ‘Bern’

Layne Nooner|Marlin Chronicle Bernie Sanders addresses the Virginia Beach community and encourages them to vote for him in the primary election on Feb. 29. This was his third rally stop of the day.

Bernie Sanders Campus officer charged shares vision at campus rally with assault

BY ALEX POWERS ampowers@vwu.edu

BY ALEX POWERS ampowers@vwu.edu

Vermont Senator and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders held a political rally on Virginia Wesleyan’s campus on Saturday, Feb. 29. The rally was held at the Convocation Hall in the Batten Student Center. The event was open to the public and welcomed an official count of 3,501 guests.

Outside the rally, invited guest Kevin F, a software developer in Virginia Beach, noted his excitement for the rally. “It’s a movement,” Kevin said. “He’s actually listening to what the people want, you know, and not just what’s going to make him electable.”

Victor Dorsey, Director of Security at VWU, was charged with assault Wednesday, Mar. 4, following a physical altercation on campus. On Saturday night, Feb. 29, Dorsey and a Trump supporter from the Virginia Beach community got into an altercation.

52-year old Markus Gohring was the victim of the incident. Gohring is a highly active volunteer for the Republican Party of Virginia Beach and an avid supporter of President Donald Trump. Among the crowd waiting outside the doors to the Batten Student Center, where the rally was being held, Gohring stood with three other Trump supporters.

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Layne Nooner|Marlin Chronicle Sanders shakes hands with his supporters after speaking in the Convocation Hall.

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Basketball falls in ODAC final

Coronavirus thwarts travel

BY DALTON POWERS dmpowers@vwu.edu

Sports Information|Courtesy Head coach Dave Macedo communicates the game plan to the starting lineup.

BY NICHOLAS MUNDY namundy@vwu.edu

The men’s basketball team missed out on the NCAA tournament after they failed to capture an automatic bid against RandolphMacon in the ODAC Championship game.

The Marlins finished the season with a 23-5 record. They finished ODAC play with a 15-4 record, factoring in the conference tournament. After making it all the way

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to the ODAC Championship, the team was left stunned once the selection show ended. At the end of the regular season, the Marlins were ranked 16 in the final poll.

Despite such a strong season, they did not receive a bid to get into the tournament.

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All university-sponsored spring airtravel has been cancelled for study away as well as for sports teams per an email sent out to students and faculty by Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Maynard Schaus.

The email also told students about the precautionary measures being taken by the university to protect students from the spread of the coronavirus, given there are now seven confirmed cases in Virginia.

The email highlighted the importance of good hygiene practices and shared how university staff has upped sanitation efforts. Additionally, the email also said that professors are currently preparing to

be able to offer course content online so that class meetings will not put students at risk.

As published in the last issue of the Marlin Chronicle, the coronavirus has caused major disruptions to global economies and has crippled the flight industry with travel bans. Yet, the coronavirus has managed to spread even farther in the past weeks as Worldometer has reported 118,836 cases of the virus, and 4,269 deaths globally.

Within the United States, Worldometer reports that there are currently 971 confirmed cases and 30 deaths linked to the virus.

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2 Thursday March 12, 2020 The Marlin Chronicle marlinchronicle.vwu.edu

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DORSEY CONTINUED FROM FRONT The campus event was open to the community, with many students and community members in attendance. Still, the crowd included not only progressive Democrats, but also contained many undecided voters, moderates and Trump supporters.

The Marlin Chronicle interviewed this particular group of Trump supporters about their own perspectives on Sanders and the state of politics. “I wanted to tell the people that go there that I’m not with them,” Gohring said, per WAVY 10.

They brought up several popular talking points against Sanders including Sanders’ favorable views of the dictator Fidel Castro, the economic turmoil of socialist Venezuela, a preference for tariff revenue rather than taxes and a core value of rugged individualism.

However, some of the discourse was far from calm. The long lines of Sanders supporters expressed strong dissatisfaction with the four Trump supporters, calling them “ignorant.”

Some of the Trump supporters responded with inflammatory statements, such as Andrew, an avid Trump follower, who shouted “LGBTQ is a foothold for pedophilia!”

Largely, dueling chants of “Bernie!

Bernie! Bernie!” and “Four more years!

Four more years! Four more years!”

predominated the exchanges. However, there appeared to be no immediate threat to safety.

A Virginia Wesleyan security car soon arrived in the area, where security personnel quickly began intervening.

“Sir, we have the right to demonstrate our First Amendment right here,” Andrew said. Officer Marty Goldman, reminded the men that this is a private campus, while calling for back-up.

It was then that Dorsey entered the setting, directing to the Trump supporters, “You are on private property, you are going to leave right now.” Andrew and the rest of the group stood incredulous, still advocating their First Amendment rights to remain there.

“I’ve told you once, and I am not gonna tell you again. Get in your vehicles and leave, or I’ll have you arrested.” Dorsey said. The Trump supporters largely did not budge. They instead held strong in their position, Andrew once again voicing, “Kinda sounds like you’re trampling on the First Amendment by making us leave. We’re not threatening anybody. Who filed a complaint?”

In a video of this stand-off outside the doors to the rally, Gohring and Dorsey can be seen standing eye-to-eye just inches apart. Despite being asked to leave several times, Gohring stood still

M E | YouTube Officer Dorsey and Markus Gohring stand face-to-face prior to their physical altercaton outside of the Bernie Sanders rally.

Alex Powers | Marlin Chronicle Campus Security officers approach Markus Gohring and his fellow Trump supporters, asking them to leave the campus property. holding up his ‘Trump 2020’ flag. “Don’t try me,” Dorsey added.

As the group slowly began to make their way off of campus, they voiced their displeasure once again. “It stinks of bias,” Andrew said.

“Leave! And I’m not gonna tell you again,” Dorsey responded. Even still, Gohring questioned Dorsey’s tone and authority, “Can I see your authorization that you are allowed to tell us to leave?”

The threat of being arrested eventually motivated the four men to depart.

Finally, they began to leave campus, walking through the parking lot with security escorting them. Dorsey responded to the cries about security getting physical, “You ain’t seen violent, buddy.”

Several videos then showed Dorsey and Gohring facing each other, just moments later. With no sign of physical provocation on video preceding Dorsey’s action, Dorsey ripped Gohring’s flag down. In a struggle for the flag, Dorsey wrestled Gohring down hard onto the pavement. Gohring popped back up and shoved Dorsey away, while Dorsey pulled his baton. Gohring suffered minor injuries, largely from scraped knees, per WAVY 10.

“Today at a Bernie Sanders rally I was attacked by a security guard and tackled to the ground. I would have expected this from a Bernie supporter but not from a guard.” After walking too slowly for security’s patience, Dorsey pressed the Trump supporters to continue faster. “He approached me then from behind and the rest is (on) video,” Gohring said, per

WAVY 10.

Some conservative news outlets and social media accounts picked up the story immediately. One such account, John Cardillo (@johncardillo), posted a tweet that amassed over 20,000 retweets and 30,000 likes. Accompanying the video in the tweet was the caption, “This is how security guards at @vawesleyan University treat Trump supporters peacefully walking through campus.

No reason for the guard to use this level of aggression and force. This was pure political bias and rage.”

Several videos documenting the incident can be found on YouTube, and the websites YourContent and CampusReform. A lot of pushback from conservative social media accounts can be found on Facebook and Twitter comments as well, following initial backlash for Bernie Sanders to have even been invited to campus.

In the only statement made by the University at the time of press, a spokeswoman for VWU addressed the incident in general. “Virginia Wesleyan University holds freedom of speech and open dialogue at the deepest core of its values,” she said. “However, when the conversation turns to physical violence and becomes a threat to public safety, it will not be tolerated on our campus.”

At the time of this publication, Dorsey remains employed with the university.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that Gohring filed a complaint with the Department of Criminal Justice Services and that a warrant has been issued for Dorsey.

Power outage leaves campus in the dark A broken power line suddenly took out all systems on campus, leaving students and faculty without electricity or internet.

BY ALEX POWERS ampowers@vwu.edu

Virginia Wesleyan went dark on Thursday, Feb. 27, after a campus-wide power outage rendered all electricitypowered systems useless. For a majority of the evening, campus was entirely blacked out beyond rare back-up generator power and the functions of a few charged phones and laptops.

The power first seemed to waver when lights flickered in the afternoon around quarter until 4 PM. The Batten Student Center as well as residential areas reported seeing lights go out for a few brief minutes.

Keith Moore, Vice President of Student Affairs, explained the process at the time.

“Immediately, what we do is we check the grid. What we try to do first is verify if it‘s local to our university or if it is community, meaning it is beyond.”

Moments later, a second surge cut off power for a few moments again. The Office of Student Affairs sent out an email to students at 4:01 PM acknowledging both of the brief outages, citing them as “something to do with the power grid in the local area...not isolated to Virginia Wesleyan.”

Moore confirmed this notion. “We saw immediately [the outage] went beyond, but not too far. It was the Outlets, it was IKEA, Norfolk Academy. It was fine from Baker Road up and from Wesleyan Drive over.”

Sometime prior to 5:00 PM, the power went out for a sustained amount of time.

This was due to an Dominion outage, Moore confirmed. “[It] was a downed pole, which I believe was the result of an accident,” suggesting that a compromised

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transformer off-campus affected powerlines on-campus.

Though the power briefly returned about a half hour later, it would soon leave again for several hours, resulting in the major power outage experienced on campus.

According to Moore, this power outage for several hours was Dominion attempting to make for sustainable reparations to the power lines rather than a temporary fix that had briefly restored power.

An alert from LiveSafe notified students

surrounding areas and urged students to act safely.

Just after this message was sent out, the sun had set completely on campus, leaving a nearly pitch-black setting in most places.

Students expressed confusion, offering their own theories as to what was going on.

Some blamed the outage on a tripped power line off-campus or electrical troubles in the planning for the Bernie Sanders rally that would take place only two days later. Others went so far to suggest this to

Alex Powers | Marlin Chronicle The sun sets on a pitch-black Greer Environmental Sciences Center. at 6:00 PM that Dominion Power had “cut power to complete repairs to the campus and surrounding area.” The message left no time table for full power restoration.

Some campus security acknowledged the possibility that power was lost in

be another, more extreme cyberattack on campus, following the ransomware attack experienced by the VWU community at the end of this past Fall semester.

At 6:53 PM, another safety alert read: “From Virginia Wesleyan University: Will

send officers to investigate complaint.

At 7:18 PM, a message followed up reading, “Please disregard the previous correspondence. According to Dominion, power should be restored by approximately 8:00 PM.” Some students faced academic concerns.

Assignments that were due that night or the following day decided to forgo their coursework or be resourceful. Students could be found off-campus at local businesses that had internet access and power.

Back on campus, students found creative ways to pass the time. Some students got together in groups, playing games. Large crowds gathered in Batten for some music.

Others remained calm at their residence, hoping the outage would pass without much trouble. In total, students found ways to make the best of the situation, mourning the short time they had shared with Dining Services’ highly anticipated Soul Food Night in Boyd Dining Hall.

Power remained out well past 8:00 PM. Security cars could be seen patrolling campus with their emergency lights flashing to maintain safety. At 8:54 PM “From Virginia Wesleyan University: Dominion has contacted the university and apologized for the delay. They are working to restore power as soon as possible.”

Power was finally restored sometime around 10:30 PM. During the outage, campus remained largely safe, with no reported issues. Since the outage, campus power has been fully operational.

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Thursday March 12, 2020 The Marlin Chronicle marlinchronicle.vwu.edu

RALLY CONTINUED FROM PG. 1 The doors, which opened to the public at 6:30 p.m., awaited long lines of people who were local or who had traveled far to attend the event. At one point during the waiting period, the line reportedly stretched from the doors to the Convocation Center all the way to the beginning of the Honors Village.

Several other community members talked to the Marlin Chronicle about what was important to them as they waited in the cold air and filed into the Convocation Hall.

Thomas Johnson, 21, is a Virginia Beach resident. He works as a child-care worker while also studying as an online student at Old Dominion University. “I’m a Type I diabetic so healthcare is a really big thing for me.”

Looking at climate change,“At the end of the day, we can sit and yell about everything else, but if we can’t breathe and the world’s on fire, everything else is kind of redundant,” Johnson went on. “Bernie’s the only one really taking a strong stance on those.”

Another young supporter, Annalise, 20, from New York, is a student at Tidewater Community College. “I had a classmate who would always talk about him, and I never really knew much about him… I decided to look him up... and I’ve been just following him ever since.”

There were a lot issues important to her.

“Free healthcare. Minimum wage to fifteen.

Gun reform.” These were all talking points she looked forward to Sanders bringing up in his speech.

As the doors opened, thousands of patrons made their way to the Convocation Hall. The rally was officially set to kick off at 8 p.m. The start time delayed as people filed in, and as Sanders prepared for his third rally of the day, having had two

earlier in Boston, Mass. and Springfield, VA. Several speakers and musical performers preceded Sanders, welcoming the crowd into the venue. Some speakers included Elizabeth Gúzman, representative of the 31st District in Virginia’s House of

which was on full-display during the rally, once he stepped out on stage at about 8:28 p.m.

Major points centered around social programs and the struggles of working class people. This is a “campaign of the working class, by the working class, and

Jeanie Mahon | Marlin Chronicle Bernie Sanders excites the crowd during his on-campus rally.

Delegates, and Herb Jones, retired Army lieutenant and Virginia Senate hopeful.

At the time of Sanders’ appearance, he was the clear frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential primaries. On election day this November, the American people will decide between a new administration under the Democratic nominee or four more years of Donald Trump.

Sanders hopes to be not just the nominee, but the next president. Sanders is a social democrat, running on platforms of progressivism and working class populism.

These ideas are clear to see in his rhetoric,

for the working class.”

Sanders also targeted big pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. “The insurance companies are getting just a little bit nervous,” Sanders said, “because we are going to end the absurdity of the United States being the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people”.

Sanders touched on care for veterans, an issue close to the heart of a Virginia Beach/Norfolk community with such a large military presence. “They come home, sometimes injured in body,

sometimes injured in spirit, we have forgotten about them,” Sanders described.

“Our administration will never forget the veterans, and our administration will never put the men and women in the armed forces in wars that should not be fought.”

The crowd exploded in applause for key issues of gun laws, climate change initiatives, college debt solutions, and the legalization of marijuana.

Other important topics also included police brutality, immigration and prison reform, acknowledging the effects these policies would have on minority populations. One final area that was anticipated by many was education reform.

Jo Prendergast, a teacher in Virginia Beach, noted her eagerness to hear about Bernie’s education platform. “I’m interested in what we’re doing with special education for example, and Title I and fully funding our schools, especially our innercity schools,” Prendergast said. “As a teacher, I see the daily struggles.”

In total, Sanders spoke for almost an hour, addressing a broad number of topics.

People shouted and waved their signs with every new idea.

“Out of all the candidates, Bernie’s the only one who really gives me hope for any meaningful change,” Kevin added.

Bernie closed the speech reminding the crowd to get out and vote. Even as the rally’s time waned, the energy in the building remained.

“We are more than a campaign, we are a movement,” Sanders said. When the crowd broke into “Bernie!” chants, Sanders offered an alternative to center the discussion around the movement. “Let me interrupt you and suggest it is not ‘Bernie’, it is ‘us’.”

look at the perspectives on Sanders and the state of politics from THE PULSE ON CAMPUS | Astudents and community members attending the Bernie Sanders rally.

“I’m a Type I diabetic so healthcare is a really big thing for me.”

-Thomas

“I voted for him already.”

“Climate change...Honestly, if we “He seems to pull from “I’m just ready to meet -Rose can’t fix our planet, then all the most demographics.” my future president, honestly.”

-Justin other stuff kinda falls to the side.”

-Darion “It’s nice to support a candidate that’s “I find it so interesting, having such -Ashley “I think the energy is on authentic, you know, that I can trust.”

-Dane

a big political figure coming here.”

-Audrey

“I’ve been a Bernie supporter since day one, he holds a lot of the same ideals that I do.”

-Jenni

“I’m actually usually not very politically active, and I feel like this is a really great way to expand my horizons.”

-Katy

“I’m just here to get ideas from “I feel sort of both sides.” disassociated with Trump and -Franklin really with a lot of Democrats.”

-Jens “I like what he stands for.”

-Catherine

“Ideas that were radical are now standard.”

-Thomas

“It’s a movement.”

“I feel like Bernie is just -Kevin “He’s continuing -Mike

“Debt is crazy.”

-Annalise

“Bernie… coming to my own university? I’d kind of be crazy not to go.”

-Darion

-Kelsey

“I think with Trump... the whole administration has been so radical, people needed something just as radical to oppose him.”

-Nicole

“Roads, schools, hospitals, police officers, firefighters - they’re socialist policies that exist now and nobody is scared of them.” what FDR started.”

-Hector

old, white, powerful me.”

-Jenni

Bernie’s side.”

“I’m still trying to -Sal get to know him.”

“In 2016, it felt a lot like Bernie was the underdog. This cycle, …he’s got a force.”

-Dane

“Maybe Bernie.

I like Bernie.”

“I have never been to “I think most important -Matt about this election for me a rally before... I wanted to

experience something new.”

-Zeke

is getting us back on track towards an actual democracy.”

-Sean

“I was afraid he was gonna be stigmatized “Nobody asks conservatives “We need some real change as a socialist but seeing him gain this and somebody who has who’s going to pay for wars.” a record of fighting.” traction has been really really amazing.”

- Kevin -Aleigha “Healthcare, Universal health-Daniel “This is like maybe the biggest event in

“I’m actually kind of like a libertarian on the right. I came here to sort of embrace new ideas.”

-Jens

our school’s history. Regardless of where care: I work in the medical I stand politically, I think it’s really pretty field. I think it’s a right, monumental.” not a privilege.” “We’ve supported him since 2016 and -Andreas before. It’s really nice to be around a “I’m really hoping to “As a teacher, I see the daily struggles... -Sal

“He could pull it off, we’ll just have to see.” our students come to school hungry, -Ashley our students come to school tired.”

-Jo

lot of people that actually love and support him as well. We felt like loners for a long time.”

-Stephanie

hear Bernie’s foreign policy, I think we’ve been involved in the Middle East for far too long.”

-Jens

VIRUS CONTINUED FROM PG. 1 Given the current travel restrictions and heightened risk of contraction when travelling, many students’ study away programs have been affected. Within our university, several students have been required to return from their host countries in an attempt to keep them from being exposed to the virus.

Mandy Reinig, Director of The Study Away Program at Virginia Wesleyan University, stated that the University took a very proactive approach to bring students home ahead of the virus’s spread.

Reinig said that of the ten students that are currently abroad, three were brought back home from host universities in Florence, Italy and South Korea. “In Korea, the program provider closed the program and asked all the students to return home, and Italy has basically closed the country, they’ve told everyone that there is no travel: no one can come in and no one can come out, but we were way ahead of that,” said Reinig.

Reinig also shared that, for the student who was in Italy, they will be able to complete their coursework online from home. For the other students who returned from Italy, they are taking both classes online and some courses offered on campus. The student from Korea “has decided to take a leave

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Pixabay | Courtesy

of absence for the semester,” said Reinig.

“They’ve only been home a week … and I have support of the administration to be in contact with them … and the idea is that we [the university] will be able to provide for them to go again … it wasn’t their fault that the world exploded with the Coronavirus,” said Reinig.

Reinig also shared that “all Spring and Summer study away courses have been cancelled, and that The Lighthouse is currently working with professors to determine what courses will be offered during January term.”

Reinig also said that some of the courses offered will be repeats, as professors have been unable to go and research the new courses the school was hoping to offer due to the travel restrictions.

As of now, The Lighthouse knows for sure that the annual trip to Maui, Hawaii will be offered, as well as a business course in Morocco. As things start to calm down, professors will be able to go and research their locations to potentially be able to offer the courses for January term and for next Summer.

At the time of publication, the United Nations World Health Organization has categorized the coronavirus as a pandemic.

3/11/2020 5:25:24 PM

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Thursday March 12, 2020 The Marlin Chronicle marlinchronicle.vwu.edu

Off-campus housing could solve VWU housing issues New off-campus living options excite students and look to alleviate overflow housing circumstances.

BY KIMBERLY DEHART kmdehart@vwu.edu

Residence Life announced that they will be allowing a limited amount of students to live off-campus during the 2020-2021 academic school year. Students will be required to put in a request to do so.

However, residence life will only be releasing a limited amount of students from the on-campus housing contract.

The on-campus housing contract has guidelines stating that Virginia Wesleyan requires all students to live on campus in the residential housing facilities unless the student elects to live at home with a parent/guardian etc.

Now, students at Virginia Wesleyan will be able to fill out an application that was sent out through email to live off campus next year. This application is due no later than April 14 at 12 P.M. Residence life encourages the students who have already signed up, or are planning to sign up, not to sign any lease form for off-campus housing until the student has an explicit, written approval from the residence life office that the student is exempt from the residency requirement.

The application link was sent out through an email from residence life. The application consists of basic information from the students as well as checkboxes with additional information.

They also wanted to ensure that students are aware that their financial package will be altered if they live off campus. This is in an effort to ensure that applicants are financially prepared, which is why they made a point to gain approval before signing off-campus leases.

Anikka Jones, who currently lives on campus but put in an application for off-campus living next year, said, “I feel like living off campus will give me the opportunity to become more like an adult.”

Jones then said that preparing to live on her own will help her get ready for life outside of college.

She said, “I like living on campus but as a junior I would like to have a bit more freedom.”

Jones went on to state, “I think it’s a good thing that students will still have to fill out the housing requirements to qualify for off-campus living so if something doesn’t work out, the student still has a place to live.”

Many students are excited for this opportunity to be considered to move off campus. Whether it be for adult-like reasons or to have more freedom, this is going to be an option for a limited number of students.

Along with Residence Life giving students the opportunity to live offcampus, there are new buildings being built for potential housing for some students.

Oxford Village is still under construction and is scheduled to be finished by the year 2020.

Virginia Wesleyan and The Franklin Johnston Group first broke ground on the new Coastal 61 buildings, June 2019.

Oxford Village is located on the north side of campus on Wesleyan Drive.

The community will be open to the public and is also envisioned as a living space for Virginia Wesleyan students and faculty.

Dalton Powers | Marlin Chronicle Oxford Village continues its development right across Wesleyan Drive.

Emily Uzzle | Marlin Chronicle

Campus network update Bing Images | Courtesy

BY DALTON POWERS

Weinstein is seen here being led into the court room by a New York police officer.

dmpowers@vwu.edu

For months now, Virginia Wesleyan University has been dealing with network issues related to the cyber attack back in December. Since the initial attack, a cyber security team has been on contract and has nearly fully restored our system in terms of student useability.

Vice President of Student Affairs, Keith Moore, stated that while everything is nearly fixed there are a few more “minor things” that still need to be repaired.

For one, there are still issues in trying to print on Paper Cut from an Apple computer. Additionally, Moore said that the main thing that is still being worked on is the student “My Beacon” portal.

“It was announced by the president in his Nota this past Monday, that we have identified a product, a good solution … it will be a contemporary piece of software that really has the end user in mind,” Moore said.

Moore further shared that the new software will present the information more clearly and will be easier to understand. It will also have improved mobile application, which is something that the university hasn’t really had in the past. “That’s really the biggest piece,” Moore said.

Moore also said that the cyber security firm has nearly finished and is “wrapping up the rest of their investigation and forensic analysis to provide us a report with findings and we get to review those to see how we can improve things.”

With the looming threat of the coronavirus to our safety on campus, there has been speculation following an email sent out to the campus community by Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Maynard Schaus, that the university may be forced to close. While Moore said that at this point he is unable to gauge the likelihood that the university will close due to the virus, our network and portal are now functioning well enough to facilitate the completion of spring semester online if need be.

Harvey Weinstein placed under arrest

BY LAUREN FAULKNER lafaulkner@vwu.edu

Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape in the third degree, and a criminal sexual act on Feb. 24. He will receive 23 years in prison, as a result of his hearing March 11.

In 2017, dozens of women came forward to accuse Weinstein of rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse over a span of 30-plus years.

Harvey Weinstein is a former film producer, and cofounder of Miramax, an entertainment company that has produced a variety of independent films including “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love.”

Weinstein has received an Academy Award and seven Tony Awards for his works while working with Miramax.

Later, he co-founded the Weinstein Company to continue producing under a smaller film studio.

In October 2017, Weinstein dismissed The Weinstein Company and was forced to leave the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after sexual abuse allegations began to rise. With accounts against Weinstein tallying up to over 80 by the end of October, the #MeToo movement began to flourish.

From October 2017 until May 2018, more allegations surfaced on the sexual misconduct of Harvey Weinstein and his attempts to silence the claims.

From May 2018 until the trial process began in New York on Jan. 6, 2020, Weinstein dealt with more allegations and criminal cases. The trial process began in New York while LA county prosecturors charged Weinstein with rape and sexual assault across the country.

During the trial, six women testified against Weinstein including Annabella Sciorra, Miriam Haley, Jessica Mann, Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff and Lauren Young.

Even though Weinstein was not convicted on charges for

all of these cases, Young, Dunning and Wulff’s testimonies were added to build a history of abuse for the producer.

After five days of deliberation for the jury, Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of sexually assaulting his former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping Jessica Mann, an ex-actress, in 2013.

After the conviction, the #MeToo movement was elated. Survivors’ voices had been heard in this case, and a new standard in society had been set.

“The conviction of Harvey Weinstein is a win for women everywhere because it shows that no matter how much money or power an abuser has, they can be brought to justice,” freshman Elaine Robbins said.

“I’m glad that he was convicted for his crimes, though, like others, I would’ve liked to see a harsher sentence that included more victims,” Dr. Jennifer Slivka, director of the Women’s Resource Center on campus said.

As the #MeToo movement continues to grow, organizations and universities continue to work on their own programs in order to protect their faculty, staff, and students.

On-campus resources for sexual harassment and assault can be found in the women’s resource center, residence life and the counseling center.

“The University takes reporting of sexual harassment and assault very seriously, and Counseling Services has qualfied staff to help students who have experienced these kinds of assault and/or harrassment,” Dr. Slivka said.

GOT NEWS? If you have a passion to write or a story to be told, let us know!

Email our News Editor at ampowers@vwu.edu or Message us on Twitter @MarlinChronicle

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3/11/2020 4:51:57 PM

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Community

Thursday March 12, 2020 The Marlin Chronicle marlinchronicle.vwu.edu

The

MARLIN CHRONICLE Editor-in-Chief Megan Sherman mrsherman@vwu.edu Managing Editor Tony Tann tdtann@vwu.edu News Editors Alex Powers ampowers@vwu.edu Dalton Powers dmpowers@vwu.edu Community Editors Connor Merk ccmerk@vwu.edu Sports Editors Nicholas Mundy namundy@vwu.edu Austin Edmonds acedmonds@vwu.edu Weekender Editors Tony Tann tdtann@vwu.edu Valery Caraballo vecaraballo@vwu.edu Photo Editor Layne Nooner lnnooner@vwu.edu

School revamps mail system

BY KARLEIGH WARREN kawarren1@vwu.edu

On Mar. 9, individual mailboxes and service for all students will be discontinued. A more convenient and streamlined process for package delivery to benefit all students at VWU will replace the previous system.

This process accounts for 75% of all mail delivery. This change will affect first-class and bulk mail only.

An email confirmation will be sent to students who are receiving packages once it arrives. These packages can be picked up at the mail center in Batten. These packages can be picked up with a student I.D. and proof of the email confirmation. Students are not required to have a mailbox in order to receive packages.

Although students do not need a mailbox, mailboxes can be reserved for first-class mail as well as bulk mail delivery. Thursday, Mar. 5, was the last day to reserve a mailbox by completing a mailbox request form.

For the time being, students will receive an email notification if they have reserved a mailbox and receive first-class mail.

This new procedure will not affect students who do not have a reserved mailbox because they can still receive mail and packages at the Mail Center. This new process will allow for a more organized system that eliminates clutter within the mailboxes.

Many students, like senior Corin Jackson, do not check their mailboxes frequently, “I only check my mail if I know I am receiving a package.

Every time I check it, I have a bunch of random mail that is unnecessary,” Jackson said. “I do not technically need a mailbox, so this change does not affect me.” The new system will allow for a less time-consuming package pick-up. Instead of taking a package slip from the mailbox,

Connor Merk|Marlin Chronicle Mailroom with signs posted that mailboxes are officially closed and direct students to go to the Scribner University Store as of March 9.

signing it, and then picking it up, now students only have to go to the Mail Center and show the student I.D. and email confirmation for a quick and easy pick-up.

Bernie Sanders campaign and rally timeline

Illustrations Editor Alex Powers ampowers@vwu.edu

February 21: Sanders campaign contacted VWU

Online Editor Nel Hart nlhart@vwu.edu Copy Editor Tara Truax tmtruax@vwu.edu Advertising Manager

February 28: Setup began in the Convocation Hall

Jasmine Demir jkdemir@vwu.edu Adviser Dr. Lisa Lyon Payne lpayne@vwu.edu

February 29 @12 p.m.: Sanders rally in Boston, MA

February 29 @4 p.m.: Sanders rally in Springfield, VA

The Marlin Chronicle is the official student newspaper of Virginia Wesleyan University.

Staff meetings are held every Tuesday at 5:40 p.m. in Batten 217. Signed submissions are welcome, but subject to the discretion of the editor. Letters are not edited for content, but may be edited for length and mechanics. The views and opinions expressed in this newspaper may not necessarily reflect the views of the entire staff of The Marlin Chronicle or Virginia Wesleyan University.

The Marlin Chronicle Virginia Wesleyan University 5817 Wesleyan Drive Virginia Beach, VA 23455 757.455.3311

“As a former collegiate student newspaper editor, professional journalist and long-time advisor for the Society of Collegiate Journalists, I understand the role and value of student media at a liberal arts institution.

Virginia Wesleyan University proudly supports the editorial independence and press freedom of student-edited publications. We believe that student editors have the authority to make all content decisions and consequently, assume full responsibility for decisions they make.”

--Scott D. Miller, Ph.D President

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February 29 @6:30 p.m.: Doors opened for attendees

February 29 @8:15 p.m.: Delegate Elizabeth Guzman of Virginia’s 31st House District introduced Sanders

February 29 @8:35 p.m.: Senator Bernie Sanders

began speaking to the 3500 attendees March 3: Virginia Democratic Primary Results Biden 53.2% Sanders 23.1% Warren 10.7% Bloomberg 9.8% Gabbard .9% Others 2.3% Sources: Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs Michele Obenour and the Bernie Sanders Campaign.

3/11/2020 4:54:06 PM

6

Community

Thursday March 12, 2020 The Marlin Chronicle marlinchronicle.vwu.edu

Guest speaker delivers diversity presentation

BY KARLEIGH WARREN kawarren1@vwu.edu

Diversity can be an uncomfortable subject in certain aspects. Many students do not know how to deal with diversity and do not even know when it is actually happening. The only way to learn more about diversity and ways to deal with it is by having that conversation.

On Wednesday, Feb. 26, students gathered in the Joan & Macon Brock Theatre in the Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. to further their understanding of diversity. James Thomas, associate professor of sociology at the University of Mississippi, spoke to VWU students and faculty with his “When Diversity is Everywhere, It’s Nowhere?” lecture, which was part of the On Deck speaker series. Students also gathered in the Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center, Joan & Macon Brock Theatre at 11 a.m. for a “Coalitions for Change on College Campuses” lecture, where he provided ways to effectively talk about diversity on college campuses.

Thomas’s research primarily focuses on race and racism, and inequality and empire. He is the author of four books, including the forthcoming “Diversity Regimes,” which draws from his ethnographic fieldwork at an American public university. His research examines conflicts in regards to defining, organizing and implementing diversity within institutions.

His aim for this lecture is for people to think critically about the aspects of diversity. “The central point of my project is that despite the best intentions of many actors around the table, diversity is a matter of practice that often obscures, entrenches and even intensifies racial inequality on college campuses,” Thomas said.

He referred to this central point as a diversity regime.

This “diversity regime” consists of a set of meanings and practices that institutionalizes the superficial commitment to diversity and then ultimately fails to make any real structural changes in how power, resources, opportunities and decision making are distributed across the institution.

As he returned to the University of Mississippi for his second semester, Thomas’s interest in diversity began.

Faculty and staff emphasized the importance of diversity

Connor Merk|Marlin Chronicle James Thomas, associate professor of sociology at the University of Mississippi, introduced his presentation in the Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center.

by celebrating the 50-year anniversary of integration on campus.

During this time, Barack Obama was elected president for a second term. White students on campus produced and posted racially-insensitive Tweets. About 400 students, primarily white, gathered at The Grove, a lawn for students on campus. Black student bystanders were taunted with racial slurs as the white students chanted, “The South shall rise again,” Thomas said.

He began to think about how and why this could be happening, especially at a campus that was so heavily focusing on the 50-year anniversary of its integration.

Thomas believes it is worth considering to what extent racism on a college campus, from daily microaggressions to overt racial violence, is enabled by the campus, the way it is organized and how it functions.

He recognizes that college campuses are now more numerically diverse than ever, but there is a glaring contradiction between diversity’s ideal and its empirical reality. The wrong questions are being asked.

In order to effectively talk about diversity, campuses must direct the focus toward diversity’s processes which means taking a close look at how diversity is being defined, organized and put into practice.

Thomas strongly believes condensation disassociates diversity from racial inequality. He defined condensation as the process through which any number of unrelated elements are condensed under a single sign.

Diversity serves as a general idea for all possible differences including, geographical differences, political differences and even differences in dexterity. This broad view of diversity was the matter of active negotiation among participants in Thomas’ research.

These conversations started off by stating the campus needs racial inclusivity among safe spaces. This quickly escalated to students stating that if those groups of people can have a safe space then students who are from out of state need a safe space as well.

Senior Colin Jones believes that racial inequality is seen everywhere, not just on college campuses. “Promoting and celebrating all races on campus is extremely important to gain racial inclusivity,” Jones said.

Senior Emma Walsh also believes that diversity should be talked about. “Yes, it is good to talk about diversity and racial inclusivity, but what is being done about it in order to make a change?” Walsh asked.

In many cases, colleges represent their diversity by the number of minorities that attend their institution.

Senior Corin Jackson believes that racial inclusivity is lacking in the faculty. “I think in terms of the student body we are pretty diverse and I feel included. Our real fault comes from our lack of diversity within our faculty,” Jackson said. “In my four years here, I have only had two professors of color, which is something I think the school should pay attention to.”

Mass shooting discussion pursues common ground

BY CONNOR MERK ccmerk@vwu.edu The growing trend of mass shootings in America has presented the American people with a debate over how to solve this crisis. There is no universally accepted definition of a public mass shooting, and this piece defines it narrowly. The Washington Post has created a research article titled, “The terrible numbers that grow with each mass shooting,” that looks at 175 shootings in which four or more people were killed by a lone shooter (two shooters in a few cases). The total number of people who were killed, which is 1,242, came from nearly every age, race, religion and socioeconomic background. In addition, thousands of survivors were left with devastating injuries, shattered families and psychological scars.

This crisis has directly affected the Virginia Beach community nearly a year ago at the Virginia Beach municipal complex shooting on May 31, 2019 where 13 died and five were injured. To develop an understanding of this issue, the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom’s Nexus Interfaith Dialogue series uses the deliberative dialogue format supported by the Kettering Foundation to explore this crucial issue for our country. The deliberative dialogue used in this setting was participatory and conducted in small groups that were facilitated by trained moderators.

This event titled, “How Should We Prevent Mass Shootings in Our Communities?” was sponsored in partnership with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (VCIC) and Hands United Building Bridges (HUBB). Its goal was to discuss the wicked problem of mass shootings by hearing from other people’s perspectives in a calm atmosphere. It began with a presentation of data in an unbiased manner to introduce information such as laws, history of mass shootings and gun violence statistics.

Then, attendees were split up into three smaller groups to discuss the subject.

Moderators Ofelia Wattley and Kay Flohre, who were volunteers and members of the community, led one group and Wattley began with laying out the ground rules.

These guidelines were centered on the idea of listening to others respectfully and seeking to understand those who you disagree with. Wattley stated, “All are encouraged to be open and be open to other opinions, and share and appreciate another point-of-view.”

Next, each attendee sat in a circle facing toward each other and explained their personal stake, or why they decided to come to this event. After, the moderators presented option one in the packet that was given out, which stated: “Make mass killings more difficult by increasing government regulation, but the drawback is that it gives the government extraordinary control.” Several people commented on one of the proposed actions of this option, which is the passage of “red flag” laws that allow police to take firearms away from people who are a threat to themselves or others. They critiqued this action by bringing up the point that firearms would be confiscated unfairly from some people.

Option two stated: “Equip people to defend themselves, with the main drawback being an increase in armed guards in public spaces would create the atmosphere of a police

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Connor Merk|Marlin Chronicle Students and community members participate in a deliberative dialogue in Pearce Suite in the Batten Center. state.” The idea of arming teachings in schools received unanimous criticism because people stated how adults make mistakes too and that additional responsibility would do more harm than good.

Then option three, which stated: “Root out violence and hate in society with the drawback that it could restrict freedom of speech.” The participants agreed that placing an emphasis on the victims instead of the shooter would result in discouraging mass shootings.

Freshman Charlotte Weinstein was a part of this group and thought the event went extremely well. “I felt that we had a really healthy discussion and everyone was open to others’ opinions. My favorite part was hearing from people who were not students. We had two security guards present at the forum, so it was great to hear a perspective different from my own,” Weinstein said.

Her main takeaway is that diverse viewpoints can help drive the conversation to solving this crisis and that common ground does exist. “Adding all of the mindsets to the dialogue will help us all reach a better understanding and create an action plan that takes into consideration all stakeholders,” Weinstein said. “This conversation helped me to realize that we need to stress the importance of guidance counselors and trusted teachers in schools. These people have such an impact on the life of a student that they have the power to influence them greatly. Rather than believing that they are primarily focused on academics and college admissions, counselors should be seen as a healthy outlet to help students through issues.”

Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom Kelly T. Jackson hosted this event with Dr. Craig Wansink. They have participated in a research exchange with the Kettering Foundation, which does the research for this kind of dialogue and the National Issues Forum and thought it was time to try the format in our community.

Jackson’s goal was to get students and community members to participate and hear from each other. “I think it was a success that people came … and I think it could be a very valuable tool for our community. One attendee said that we were very nice. In some other venues, people are not as nice, like at city council meetings,” Jackson said.

“I think this format lends itself to encourage people to be more civil and when you think about city council meetings are not designed in a way that makes space for that civil dialogue. It’s more of a debate with opposing sides and I think this format is beautiful.”

In relation to the topic of mass shootings, Jackson believes discussing the three different options was beneficial. “Usually you identify with one of the options a bit more than the other two, but it encourages you to also think about the trade-offs for that option because there are no perfect solutions to any problem,” Jackson said.

The next deliberative dialogue event hosted by Jackson and Wansink will be on Monday, Apr. 20 at 7 p.m. in Pearce Suite in the Jane P. Batten Student Center. The topic is titled, “Coming to America: Whom Should We Welcome, What Should We Do?”

3/11/2020 4:57:21 PM

The Marlin Chronicle | marlinchronicle.vwu.edu

Thursday, March 12, 2020

7

Theater department presents ‘The Shield’ Students perform a contemporary rendition of Greek literature and veteran advocacy.

BY FAITH MACWANA fpmacwana@vwu.edu

Consisting of plot twists, rich humor and a double wedding, the theater department put on a production of The Shield based on Menander’s Aspis. The production ran from March 5-8 in the Brock Theatre of the Goode Center. Dr. Travis Malone, VWU’s Dean of the Susan S. Goode School of Arts and Humanities and professor of theater, and sophomore Cecilia Ward, dramaturge and playwright, worked diligently to make this performance come alive.

“The idea of The Shield came about last year because I started working with Dr. Haller in the classics department to bring to campus Dr. Peter Meineck and The Warrior Chorus event,” Malone said. “We thought it would be a really good idea to continue that process of thinking about veterans and veteran’s affairs and work through and use this play as an example and also give us the opportunity to develop something new.”

Malone continued, “Cecilia Ward is the co-playwright for the play. She helped do a lot of adapting of Ancient Greek stuff and then I added a lot throughout, and we developed together the rest of it.” In the “About The Production” page of the playbill, Cecilia Ward commented on the adaptations that they had made in order to make this piece relevant to today’s contemporary society.

Ward wrote, “We carefully edited the social context of slavery within the play, knowing that a modern American audience would not be able to disconnect their own notions of American Slavery with Greek Slavery despite the two being distinctly different institutions. Additionally, we changed the relationships including incestuous marriages

because it similarly has a negative context in contemporary American society.”

Even though Menander was considered the most famous playwright of his time, there are no surviving texts. What makes this production so unique is that Menander’s Aspis is not a complete play. There was room for artistic flexibility. “With the first three acts, we have about 20 lines from act number four and then there’s nothing left from act five,” Malone said. “So, getting the opportunity to develop that is a challenge and sounds like a lot of fun.”

And a lot of fun it was. Students from all sorts of different backgrounds owned the stage as they interacted with each other to tell the audience the story about the trauma of war and how it affects everyone. The main character, Dave, finds his best friend, Michael’s flak jacket on a battlefield and presumes him to be dead.

Spoiler alert: Michael is not dead. What follows afterwards is an intricate plot of greedy godparents, broken hearts, love, hope and optimism. There was an underlying story of soldiers returning from war embedded between scenes. These quick acts gave a small glimpse into how society acts poorly towards returning war veterans and offered insight into the struggles of veterans trying to adjust to civilian life again.

Junior Chasida Taylor played Liberty, Michael’s fiancée. “It was quite enjoyable, but in the beginning, it was quite challenging because I was playing this role of a strong independent female, but I was playing it with anger rather than defeat. I didn’t want to play into the stereotype of an angry black woman. I was so used to a set script, but

Travis gave me the basis of the script and allowed me to grow into that character,” Taylor said. “He gave me things that I could do, and it was up to me to figure out how I wanted people to see Liberty and how I wanted to portray her. Overall, I say that it was a frustrating yet rewarding experience because I saw a whole other side of theater.”

The play grappled with themes of pain, suffering and hope. By enhancing the play to fit into today’s society, Malone hoped that the audience would be able to answer and really think about this question that he asked in the Director’s Note, “What are we doing to help those returning home to make their lives and those whose lives are shattered by war?” Malone said, “I hope they [the audience] recognize the potential in ourselves to continue to divide ourselves within our own houses and our communities and the opportunity to help them heal. And sort of helping audiences to recognize that that tension exists, and we could all be a part of the divide, but in the optimistic hope of that we are more and that we really all prefer to be helpful and a part community.”

Freshman Jacob Kokoszka was among those that attended the performance. Kokoszka said, “I thought it was an interesting twist on how they showed the military coming back home and how it affected those around them, but at the same time it showed how the soldiers were affected and dealing with loss and depression. Using a play to portray these emotions was really interesting because they tried to show something serious, but with a humorous tone to it. It still managed to get its point across in the end.”

All photos by Nel Hart|Marlin Chronicle

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3/11/2020 5:06:07 PM

Spotlight Allie Angell '20 Business

Q: What did you do?

A: I studied abroad in the Gold Coast, Australia. I became aware of studying abroad my freshman year from a few teammates who had studied abroad. From that moment, I knew this was something that I wanted to do.

Q: What influenced your decision to study abroad?

A: A big factor in my decision to study abroad was not being able to afford it. Thankfully, the Global Scholars Program, my parents, and saving up made it possible. Another factor was being far away from my family for so long. I am close with my family, so I didn’t know if I would be able to handle the disconnect. The last factor was based on my soccer team. I am a collegiate athlete and committed to my team and coaches. My coach encouraged me to study abroad and was supportive throughout the process, as long as I kept up with my fitness.

Q: What did you find most surprising about studying abroad?

A: The difference in the education system. For each of my classes, there was only one major assignment that determined my final grade, outside of midterms and finals. Many people say that college in Australia is comparable to graduate school. My courses were challenging, so transitioning into a more fast-paced teaching style was difficult.

Q: What did you learn about yourself by studying abroad?

A: Being away from home for so long, I had no choice but to become more independent. I learned that I am capable of doing more than I thought I was. I was often faced with situations that I wouldn’t normally do at home, but I did them to challenge myself. One of the most important takeaways from studying abroad is to step out of your comfort zone. Also, my values and views on certain things, such as global relations and politics, changed because I matured while abroad.

Allie in front of the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, 15 February 2019. Photograph by Mandi Secchiutti.

Q: Did studying abroad help you to make decisions about your career path?

A: Studying abroad was a wonderful journey. Not only was I able to study in a beautiful country, but I also learned so much about myself and grew as a person. Australia’s school system is very independent based, so I became a lot more independent while abroad. This shifted my desire to work for an accounting firm to owning my own business. The transition of becoming more independent while abroad has driven me to want to work for myself.

Q: What advice would you give other students who want to study abroad?

A: My advice would be to study abroad -- 100%! It was the best experience of my life. You will meet the most amazing people and make wonderful memories. Every day, I wish I were back abroad. So, if you’re faced with any doubt, apply and go. You will not regret it.

For more information on internships, undergraduate research, and study away, contact The Lighthouse: Center for Exploration & Discovery.

1600 Premium Outlets Blvd. Space #405 Norfolk,VA 23502 757-508-5075 Hours When School Is In

Adult: $10

Mon-Fri: 4pm-9pm

Military & College Students with ID: $8

Sat: 10am-9pm

Children (5-12): $8

Sun: 12pm-7pm

Children (4 and under): $5

When school is out hours are the same as mall hours.

Seniors: $5 Group Pass (5 or more): $9

Read more ONLINE http://marlinchronicle.vwu.edu/

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3/11/2020 5:07:11 PM

9

Sports

Thursday March 12, 2020 The Marlin Chronicle marlinchronicle.vwu.edu

AT A GLANCE

Basketball CONTINUED FROM PG. 1

Softball March 25 vs. East. Mennonite* 2:30 p.m., vs. East. Mennonite* 4:30 p.m.

March 28 @ Bridgewater* 1:00 p.m., @ Bridgewater* 3:00 p.m.

Sports Information|Courtesy Daniel Spencer drives to the basket in a home contest against the Pfeiffer Falcons. Spencer averaged 14.8 points per game.

The Marlins opened up the ODAC conference tournament with a win against Ferrum in the quarterfinals. Corey Pelham had a career high with 30 points in the ODAC semifinals in a close victory against Lynchburg. Pelham was third on the team in scoring with over thirteen points per game. The number one seeded RandolphMacon would go on to defeat the Marlins and win the ODAC championship.

Men’s basketball assistant coach Nick Doyle said the championship was a “tough game” and the Marlins “just ran into a better team that day.” There was a feeling around campus that it was nearly a guarantee that the team was going to make the tournament.

“Now we are going to the NCAA tournament. We thought we would have gotten a bid. Didn’t get a bid. We thought we were in good shape being 23-5,” Doyle said. He then said he thought the seniors deserved one more game.

Senior Daniel Spencer had a major impact on this team during his first and only year with the Marlins. The transfer from Emory & Henry led the team in minutes played, field goal percentage and was tied for first in scoring.

“I mean it was obviously disappointing. It was an upsetting day. Bunch of people, including other people from other schools, thought we should have gotten in,” Spencer said.

Tim Fisher and Spencer both led the team in scoring as they each averaged 14.8 points per game. Spencer didn’t want to look at one game that decided the decision by the committee. “ I don’t want to pin it on one game, but I mean obviously the Emory & Henry loss is a really bad loss for us. It took us down in the region,” Spencer said.

The one team that stands out that made it into the tournament over the Marlins was the Captains of Christopher Newport University.

CNU had fewer wins in the regular season than the Marlins. They lost to the Marlins 74-64 back in December. It was an unfortunate scenario that a game during the regular season decided the entire season. The loss to Emory & Henry really brought the Marlins down in the region.

There were three Marlins who earned All-ODAC honors. Fisher and Spencer were named to the All-ODAC First Team. Pelham was named to the All-ODAC Third Team.

Lamont Steward will be returning to the court next season for his senior season after missing the entire 2019-2020 season due to injury. Steward played a major role for the Marlins back in the 2018-2019 season when he led the team in scoring by averaging fifteen points per game. The Marlins are bringing back a talented group of players. They will look to build off of their success from this season and capitalize on some unfinished business.

Hull earns third straight ODAC pitcher of the week

Sports Information|Courtesy Senior Hanna Hull pitches at the mound. She has logged 1,153 strikeouts and only 9 losses in her entire career as a Marlin.

BY JORDAN WILSON jmwilson@vwu.edu

Hanna Hull was named the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) pitcher of the week on March 9. This is the third time this year that Hull has received this award. All together though, Hull has received this award 20 times. This season, she has received these honors Feb. 24, March 2 and March 9.

Hull pitched ten innings during the doubleheader against the Cougars of Averett University. During the first game, Hull pitched a complete shutout. Hull moved to 3-0 on the mound as she pitched a full seven innings only giving up four hits during the game. She struck out 6 of the 25 batters faced. Hull came in to relieve Carla Hall in game two and threw three innings. During these three innings, Hull only gave up two hits while striking out four batters. Hull’s efficient performance this week led to another ODAC pitcher of the week.

As the Marlins continue to dominate the competition, they move to a record of 11-1. In a similar fashion, Hull moves to 8-0

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on the mound after defeating Greensboro College and striking out 66 hitters this season.

“With it being my senior year, I only have one goal in mind and that is to win another National Championship to end my career,”Hull said. She attributed her continuing success to a great coaching staff and teammates that push her to get better. “I’ve also gained more confidence throughout my career, which I believe plays a major role in any person’s success,” Hull said.

One thing Hull believes she can be a little better at is her changeup pitch. “I want to continue to work on a changeup. I think that being able to mix up speeds more often would be a huge advantage, so I’ve been working harder on that pitch,” Hull said.

“Being the ODAC pitcher of the week is always an honor. There are many talented pitchers in the ODAC, including the pitchers on my team. So I am very thankful to be receiving this accolade,” Hull said.

Baseball March 13 vs. Shenandoah* 3:00 p.m.

March 14 vs. Shenandoah* 12:00 p.m.

March 17 @ Mary Washington 3:00 p.m.

March 18 vs. Randolph-Macon* 3:00 p.m.

M. Lacrosse March 14 vs. Bridgewater* 1:00 p.m.

March 21 vs. Roanoke* 1:00 p.m.

W. Lacrosse March 13 vs. Merchant Marine 5:00 p.m.

March 25 vs. East. Mennonite* 5:00 p.m.

M. Tennis March 15 @ Allegheny 9:00 a.m. @ Western New Eng. 3:00 p.m. @ Virginia 6:00 p.m.

March 16 @ SCAD 3:00 p.m.

W. Tennis March 13 Southern Virginia 3:00 p.m.

3/11/2020 5:08:02 PM

The Marlin Chronicle | marlinchronicle.vwu.edu

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Meet the new sports information director

Sports Information|Courtesy Scripter joins the Virginia Wesleyan athletic department following a stint at the University of Mount Olive.

BY NOAH RIFFLE nbriffle@vwu.edu

One of the newest Marlins to the fish tank is sports information director Alysse Scripter. Coming from Mount Olive, she is looking to help promote and tell the story of each sports program on campus.

Scripter was born in Portsmouth, Va. and eventually graduated from Old Dominion University in 2014. Her family currently resides in the Virginia Beach area. She has had ties with VWU, as she interned for the former Athletic Director Joanne Renn. This internship made it an easy decision for her to come back to this area for work.

One of the easy things for her was coming back to VWU and seeing a handful of “familiar faces…Coach Elliott, Coach Hoover…the faculty and staff love the school they work with and the student athletes they work with.”

“Virginia Beach, Norfolk has always been a home to me… when I found out they had an opening… [I] put my name in the hat…it’s just a big homecoming event basically,” Scripter said. “It’s been great being back.”

Having connections when it comes to job searches always helps, but in this case it helps when you bring in someone who is very familiar with the school and the city.

In comparison to her old job at the University of Mount Olive, VWU has been a step up. She went from working directly with 11 sports, to now working with all 20 of the sports offered here.

Being a sports information director means wearing multiple hats at one time. Whether it is setting up the video feed, to keeping stats or creating promotional photos to post on social media, it is a demanding job and Scripter is up to the task.

One of the hardest things to do is come into this job midyear, and Athletic Director Tina Hill wanted to emphasize that. “She came at a very difficult time… she hit the ground running,” Hill said, “which, again, is a credit to her skill set.”

Hill continued, “She has a large task…she is the key to making our events run.” Scripter is essentially the backbone

to the intercollegiate sports program here at VWU. Most of the work she does happens in the shadows, which allows the spotlight to shine on the playing field.”

Hill continued, “Her writing has really stood out to me as being very good…we should feel very fortunate that those stars aligned,” Scripter has had high remarks among the coaches and her new colleagues at VWU. Having a background in the sports field is something that is a very helpful tool when it comes to this job. One of the most difficult things is understanding every single sport that a specific school has to offer.

The SID must know the rules, how to score and how to properly describe almost every sport the NCAA has. When new sports are added to schools, it is the SID’s job to learn and write about a sport that they may not completely comprehend.

Scripter talked about how at Mount Olive, they were adding in a wrestling program, and she was fortunate that at prior schools she had worked some of that. She was a novice but still had some experience.

“You get a whole new set of students to work with… every sport has its own nuances that makes it different from other sports,” Scripter said. “It’s an experience...it’s exciting work.”

Working in sports can be harsh sometimes, because it is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ kind of world where losing is not tolerated.

Scripter is looking forward to working this spring with the baseball, golf, lacrosse, softball, track and tennis teams here on campus. She is trying her hardest to meet everyone, but it has been a busy few months for her.

After the spring, Scripter will change her focus to the fall sport athletes who have not yet had the chance to have her attend their events. As each day goes on, she becomes more and more comfortable with the job and the people that she works with.

Women’s Basketball season comes to a wrap

Sports Information|Courtesy The women’s basketball team finished the year with a record of 6-20 overall after their final loss to Guilford College.

BY JORDAN WILSON jmwilson@vwu.edu

The Marlin women fought hard and finished the season with a record of 6 wins and 20 losses. The team was able to make it to conference playoffs before losing to Guildford in the first round.

“One of the nice parts of any athletic program is when one of the games towards the end of your season really counts for something. Our last home game against Ferrum College, the winner of that game would get a birth in the tournament and it was also our senior day. So to come away from that game not only with a win, but a dominating performance in which we were winning the game all 40 minutes,” Coach Hudy said.

Junior Sabrina Jones agreed, saying, “the game against Ferrum was my favorite, because we were fighting for a playoff spot. This game was all or nothing and we gave it our all to make it to the next round.”

Jones talked about what she sees out of this team. “As a team we want to continue to grow and personally I want to work on my 3-point shot and continue to grind all summer.”

Hudy also said the team’s strength was “our comradery,

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having that drive to push each other and wanting to be the best we can be. Also being there for one another and supporting each other throughout the entire year.”

Hudy then mentioned some of the challenges that this group faced this season. “We were really young this year; we didn’t have a true senior on the team. So for us just getting better and getting that experience. We had a lot of young players that were put into roles that they had to step into so having that experience will really help us next year.”

Hudy also praised several athletes for their performance this season. “Sabrina Jones and Jessica Jennings from a statistical standpoint that were definitely our go-to players on the offensive end. They both had injuries throughout the year and had to miss time which kind of hurt us. It was nice that they were able to come back for our last couple games and really help us make a run at the end,” Hudy said.

The Marlins are going to look to build off of the experience they gained last season. The Marlins were able to pick up a victory when their season was on the line in the final home game of the season against Ferrum.

The Full

Count

BY AUSTIN EDMONDS acedmonds@vwu.edu

NFL free agency is set to begin March 18, at 4 p.m., and there are a handful of intriguing free agent quarterbacks that could reshape the landscape of the NFL as we know it.

Tom Brady is going to be the first quarterback domino to fall this offseason as rumors have yet to stop about what Brady’s next move could be. Brady has spent all 20 years of his illustrious career in New England. Much like everyone else, I find it hard to believe that, at age 42, Brady is looking to learn a new organization and playbook. The three teams with the best chances to land Brady this off-season are the New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders.

The speculation behind each team varies as Brady is very familiar with the Patriots. The Titans are an interesting option due to Brady’s connection with Titan head coach Mike Vrable. Brady and Vrable played together in New England from 2001 to 2008. The two have maintained a strong personal relationship and the Titans are the team that eliminated the Patriots from the 2019 postseason.

The Las Vegas Raiders are the least likely option in my opinion. However, the Raiders have a plethora of draft picks, a deep pocket and an eager head coach in Jon Gruden. The reason I don’t find the Raiders a likely option, despite the rumors going around that they are going to aggressively pursue Brady, is the fact that current Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had a solid season in 2019. He threw for over 4,000 yards and under 10 interceptions with a very injured supporting cast. My prediction is that Brady re-signs with the New England Patriots on a two-year, 30 million dollar contract.

The next quarterback being spotlighted is Jameis Winston. Winston was the number one overall pick in the 2015 draft and has had a bizarre career to this point. In 2019, Winston led the league in throwing yards at 5,109 yards, passing touchdowns at 33, and, unfortunately, also led the league in interceptions at 30. In an effort to combat his interception issue, Winston finally addressed his vision problem.

Winston underwent Lasik eye surgery in an effort to fix his vision so he would no longer be seen squinting in order to see down the field.

The three most attractive options for Winston are the Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts. It would be easy to say the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to bring Winston back, but comments made by Tampa coach Bruce Arians, such as, “if we can win with this quarterback, we can definitely win with another one too,” lead me to think that Tampa is ready to move in a new direction.

However, the Bears may not be very aggressive in attempting to sign Winston because they have Mitchell Tribusky as quarterback, whom they drafted second overall in the 2018 draft.

The Bears could be ready to move on from Tribusky after multiple disappointing seasons and Winston could come in and learn from head coach Matt Naggy. If Winston can limit his turnovers and an already stacked Bears defense continues to play as well as they have, the Bears could transition themselves into legitimate competitors this offseason.

The Los Angeles Chargers have long been rumored to be all-in on draft prospect Justin Herbert, but if he is off the board at their selection, the Chargers could elect to go with Winston. Winston would present no obvious drop off from the way former Charger quarterback Phillip Rivers plays this offseason. A change of scenery to the west coast could do Winston good, as he has spent all of his pro and collegiate career in Florida.

The Indianapolis Colts and Winston should have a mutual interest in each other. The Colts have one of the best and youngest offensive lines in the NFL, as well as a brilliant head coach, strong defense, money and draft capital.

My prediction is that Winston remains unsigned until after the NFL draft before signing with a team that misses out on a quarterback in the draft. I like Winston to the Colts on a five-year contract worth market value, but if Winston is left waiting too long after the draft, look for him to take a one-year deal somewhere in hopes of landing a long-term contract next offseason.

The final quarterback highlighted in this article is going to be Phillip Rivers. The longtime face of the San Diego/ Los Angeles Chargers has officially agreed to part ways with the franchise and has been linked to a few teams. The veteran and potential hall of fame candidate has been linked to the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers.

The Colts have seemed to be interested in Rivers for months now and it’s easy to see why. He is a cheaper option compared to someone like Winston, he is a proven veteran and is a short-term option for a team who is ready to win now.

The Buccaneers would be an interesting option for Rivers, as they have arguably the best set of receivers to throw to with two receivers finishing in the top 10 in yards last season along with a top 10 ranked defense and a coach who has proven he can win with a veteran quarterback in Bruce Arians.

The dark horse in the Phillip Rivers sweepstakes is the Carolina Panthers. Rivers, who played his college ball at NC State, could return to North Carolina to play and mentor a potential rookie draft pick if the Panthers decide to move on from Cam Newton.

Newton may still be able to play, but he has been unable to stay healthy enough to be on the field. I expect Rivers to be patient in his decision and make what is probably the last contract of his career. I expect Rivers to want to sign with the Colts if that option is there, on a one-year deal. If not, I expect Rivers and Tampa Bay to come to a two-year contract worth market value.

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March 12, 2020

THEWEEKENDER

wild wild world

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Bing.com | Courtesy

BY TONY TANN tdtann@vwu.edu

You begin “The Outer Worlds” lost in space. No, not the Netflix series or the ‘90s movie, but something still went awry while you slept in a cryogenic freezer on your way to the distant colony of Halcyon. Thankfully, a fugitive known as Phineas Welles defrosts your character, Captain America-style, and lets you out of your hibernation chamber so you can help him revive the rest of the inhabitants of the ship you’re stranded on. This quickly turns into jetting about the solar system completing quests for a variety of colorful characters while robbing them blind.

Whilst the worlds in the, uh, Outer Worlds are all immensely different, the moment you start to wander around and interact with things you will get a distinct Fallout vibe. This isn’t set in a post apocalyptic world, but a solar system full of terraformed worlds that support human life with varying degrees of success. This process has wreaked havoc on the wildlife though, which has become much larger and more aggressive, and helps to explain that Fallout feeling as you’re exploring. People generally stay in settlements where it’s relatively safe, with the surrounding areas having been mostly abandoned by all but marauders, bandits, and alien monsters.

That’s not to say that the settlements are perfect, either.

Set in an alternate future where US President William McKinley wasn’t assassinated, there was no Teddy Roosevelt presidency to implement reforms aimed at limiting corporations control over everything. So the settlements in “The Outer Worlds” are owned wholly by corporations; they decide the laws, they run everything, they provide food, drink and work. Citizens say “thank Law” instead of “thank God,” and to be unemployed is to be considered a marauder or a bandit. Somehow everything is even more corrupt than in real life.

Once you’ve been defrosted, you get put into a pod and sent down onto the planet of Terra 2 to meet a man with a ship on the edge of a town called Edgewater, a town owned by a company called Spacer’s Choice that specialises in affordable, but notoriously unreliable products. “It’s not the right choice, it’s Spacer’s Choice!” the ads quip as you wander into town to find a power source for your ship. It’s pretty bleak, but fascinating at the same time.

World-building and story are where “The Outer Worlds” really excels. Everything is full of personality and character, with strongly realised themes threaded through the world, all whilst making jokes. As vending machines play little jingles when you use them and shop owners have to repeat company slogans ad nauseam, the same attention to detail is seen in the storylines and dialogue as well. The characters you meet will routinely surprise you with how amenable they can be. You don’t find many, if any people who are just flat out bad, because things are never really that simple.

Everyone in The Outer Worlds exists in the grey area

in between, and even those who have done the worst things have believable reasons for doing them. Sure, they’re colored by that person’s own biases, but that’s just like in real life. My favorite character ended up being a companion called Parvati that I met in Edgewater. She speaks like Dolores from Westworld’s first season and is just so sweet it almost felt weird to hand her a giant flamethrower and wade into battle alongside her. The game is also legitimately hilarious; I was laughing aloud often while playing. Whether it’s tool tips, dialogue or bits of background found lying about, it’s all full of wit that makes it difficult not to smile as you’re uncovering it all.

This attention to detail persists into the RPG elements of the story. You can talk your way through the vast majority of, if not all of the major encounters in this game, you can run in with a shovel and start battering people or you can just shoot your way through. Then again, you could probably disable all the enemy’s supporting bots with a little hacking beforehand to make the fight a little easier, or you could sneak your way past them or try to take them out stealthily. You might even be able to convince some enemies to join your side, and you can apparently find yourself as the bad guy in the grand scheme of things if you play things right (or wrong).

It’s pretty hard to really fault the game’s story, with a thoroughly enjoyable and unique plot, but it’s not all blue skies and red lasers in “The Outer Worlds.” Combat is a little loose, which is to be expected with stats and perks affecting it, but the bigger problem is that it’s just far too easy on the normal difficulty level. You will want to crank up that difficulty setting to hard for your first playthrough or you’ll get bored. AI also has issues as enemies will often stand there for you to shoot or just walk directly towards you, and companions almost invariably run directly into your line of sight towards enemies when combat starts.

You can always side step, but they will just do it again and it’s not ideal to be taking chunks out of your allies’ health just because they’re incapable of approaching enemies without also doing star jumps in front of your crosshair.

During combat, you also have the ability to slow down time – it’s called Tactical Time Dilation (TTD). It’s supposedly a by-product of being in cryogenic sleep for a long time and is very useful, but not necessarily just for the reasons you’d expect. Slowing down time allows you to target enemies’ body parts for extra damage, or to cripple, main, or blind them. To access these weak points, you’ll need to get your shooting skills to level 20. This seems like an odd thing to lock behind stat checks, but so are sneak attacks, companion combat abilities and selling items at vending machines, since you need to be able to hack them first. It’s a shame as vending machines are conveniently located all over the place whereas actual traders are usually only found in settlements. They don’t require a lot of points to unlock, but they are almost

necessities in the game and require a little planning with your skill points. Initially, you get to spend a stack of skill points but if you don’t know about these things before you play the game you’re kind of left out back.

Speaking of your skills, the method used to level up in “The Outer Worlds” is a little different. You unlock ten skill points every level and a perk point every other level.

Skills are split up into categories and investing a skill point in a category will improve all skills in that category at once. That’s until they hit level 50, at which point you need to start specialising and investing points directly into each skill. It works well, allowing you to improve all your shooting skills and then later on specialise based on what you’ve been using. It also reduces the chance you’ll level your character into a dead end and have to start again, which is nice.

One thing that might be a disappointment, however, is dumbness. That is, if you choose to play a character of below average intelligence, they don’t become a drooling idiot like in “Fallout New Vegas.” They just occasionally get a “dumb” dialogue option and sounds perfectly normal the rest of the time. Another slight disappointment is the area maps in the game are naturally much smaller than the large open world of “Fallout”, to the point where the plethora of unique locations actually discourages free exploration as you’ll likely find missions taking you through areas you’ve already cleared while exploring just an hour earlier. Some of those missions seem to involve items that can’t be found before you have the mission as well. The game has plenty of places to visit, it’s just some of those places can feel a little sparse on their own, especially earlier in the game.

“The Outer Worlds” is also unlikely to blow any minds graphically. It’s certainly bright and vibrant a lot of the time and when you first start the sight of Terra 2 is pretty impressive with its lava flows and greenery, but you’ll soon start to notice a few flat or blurry textures. How impressive characters model look is inversely correlated with how old the character is, i.e. younger characters look pretty good, but once you start adding wrinkles they look more like they have a skin condition. The frame rate is solid on PS4 Pro, and though it’s not too impressive from a technical perspective, the art direction is excellent and bursting with character and the elemental effects from weaponry look pretty unique, especially science weapons.

It really does still look strangely like Fallout despite the vastly different setting.

“The Outer Worlds” is the game that fans have wanted Obsidian Entertainment to make for the better part of a decade. The story is the main attraction here, with Obsidian’s witty writing coming to the fore in an interesting and funny interstellar setting. If that’s what you look for in your RPGs, “The Outer Worlds” will not disappoint.

GIRL CODE CODE//GUY CODE

BY MAKIAH ELLIS mellis@vwu.edu

On Feb. 26, 2020, the Eta Omega Colony of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and the Epsilon Eta Chapter of Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority gathered together with a student audience to have an open discussion regarding girl code vs guy code.

Students of Virginia Wesleyan ranging from freshmen to seniors were highly engaged in the open discussions and had a lot of opinions to offer from both a male and female perspective.

They began the event with a calm greeting and instructions stating that the discussion was an open one. They explained that they had multiple discussion questions, and that they would throw a ball into the audience to receive feedback from students. Students were only allowed to comment or answer a question if they had the ball in possession.

To break the ice, the first discussion question was, “Who should pay on the first date?”

Answers varied, but it opened up the floor for discussion and led into many other questions. Some students who received the ball would state they’re shy and are stepping out of their comfort zones by answering certain questions and began to share personal experiences while answering the questions.

Guys in the crowd tended to give more nonchalant and

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Alex Powers | Marlin Chronicle straightforward answers than the girls. Kappa Alpha Psi member Nicholas Peterson asked the crowd, “Who cheats more, men or women?” As the crowd began to speak out loud without possession of the ball, a senior male of

Virginia Wesleyan University stated, “Men cheat because they don’t care about the outcome.” This statement created more outbursts of comments than any other answer from a student in the crowd.

Even though students had many different opinions and viewpoints, everyone respected one another, which created a safe environment for sharing. “This event had a great turnout from our nontraditional crowd. As a historically black fraternity, our main crowd attraction is usually African American students, however we want to reach the entire campus community, not just the African American community within VWU. Partnering with ΑΣΑ proved to be beneficial in drawing an unfamiliar crowd.

We hope to see students show up for future events we host this semester,” Kappa Alpha Psi member Eric Fisher said.

The event was so successful, they decided to plan another discussion later on in the semester, and they also plan to make the discussion longer. “ This discussion was important because it gave audiences both female and male perspectives regarding dating and the “talking” stage, and it also allowed VWU students to gather and discuss our real life experiences,” Kappa Alpha Psi member Curtis Dudley said.

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March 12, 2020

VALERY’S GALLERY Weekender Editor Valery Caraballo Reviews and Rates Spring Blockbusters

BY VALERY CARABALLO vecaraballo@vwu.edu

The Invisible man It’s 3 in the morning and somehow you have found a way to rip yourself out of his grasp and escape. Yet, as you remove yourself from the bed even after being sure he couldn’t hear you, the fear of being caught still lingers in the back of your mind. Will you make it to freedom or will he catch you in time?

The movie already has you at the edge of your seat, piecing together the reason for such urgency, from the very beginning. “The Invisible Man” is a very clear psychological horror that truly left a lot of the audience tense the entire film.

Elizabeth Moss, though already a great actress, played an incredibly strong lead role, giving me a chance to believe she had been completely traumatized by her previous marriage. The plot was really well done as well as a number of unexpected twists occurred throughout the film. Though the director used a lot of empty spaces and stillness to construct the horror of the film, Moss played the role so well that it is hard not to notice the physical and emotional investment she gave to this role. The action scenes were shot so well and were extremely suspenseful. Throughout the whole movie, even after learning about her ex’s death and receiving his fortune, there is a constant fear that someone is hunting her down. Aside from this, the film traumatizes and lingers onto the audience in the same way that abusers do.Though you can never physically see the abuse that she endured, the opening scene gives a peek into how life-threatening her relationship with him had been. Moving on from that, being as traumatized and paranoid as she was saved her life. Overall, every night spent crying on the bathroom floor or laying in the dark is relatable for everyone in the audience.

Without spoiling too much of the film, it is definitely worth a trip to the theater.

You never know who is lurking in the corner.

rating:

Out of 5 Bing.com | Courtesy

The Photograph

The romantic film cliche of the month gives off even more of a soapy predictable context than most, making it very easy to guess some events in the film. Though the film is slow and cliche from the beginning, the chemistry between Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield gives off the perfect level of intimacy and spice needed to make the film better. Throughout the film not much had come together or was easy for the audience to piece together after the film. It seemed that after the first thirty minutes or so, it just fell into the expectations of a romance film. Unfortunately, I found it confusing, especially with the lack of attentiveness to the foundation of the story, which was the mother-daughter relationship, before relating to how she constructed this new relationship.

Though the actors were attractive and comfortable, the roles they played seemed too safe and needed to be more adventurous, which might have made it better.

This is definitely a movie for people who are into soaps or typical romance shows, but not at all worth a trip to the theater.

rating: Out of 5

Bing.com | Courtesy

Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle

If you have seen the previous Jumanji, then you’ve laughed and enjoyed a pretty intense virtual reality, especially when you are literally sucked into the game. Luckily, the film gives off a reunion kind of foundation from the moment the old characters get together. It avoids the sequel expectation while still remaining action-packed and adventurous. The characters that they switched bodies with were very enjoyable in both films, but the one-year reunion did seem like a switch. Surprisingly, in this version none of the characters played the same characters they did in the last film. The movie is still very funny, especially with the new characters; I personally enjoyed it. Kevin Hart is originally a comedian and he definitely gives the audience a good laugh. The characters from the previous film, though they believed they knew how to win the game, are surprised when a lot about Jumanji has changed. This film is definitely something you can watch with your family and even the elderly would enjoy it. Anyone in the audience can tell that these actors are truly enjoying themselves. Of course, our real best friends Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart managed to show off their bromance a little more than we expected even throughout this film. Much like the previous film, there are still graphic deaths that have some humor to them but are probably not recommended to sensitive viewers. The humor of some violent scenes is recommended for people with a dark sense of humor. The film still contains some intimate scenes, but nothing too intense. The first film had been based on the forming of a clique while this second film came together once again to replenish their friendship. Overall, the ending is similar to the first film but just as satisfying. It is definitely worth a trip to the movie theater.

Bing.com | Courtesy

rating:

Out of 5

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