The Marquette Tribune | March 23, 2021

Celebrating 100 years of journalistic integrity

Non-tenure contracts

A ‘single digit percentage’ of full-time nontenure-track faculty contracts were not renewed NEWS, 2

Wojo’s gone

Marquette Athletics decides to ‘part ways’ with Steve Wojciechowski SPORTS, 12

Volume 105, Number 21

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

WWW.MARQUETTEWIRE.ORG

2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 SPJ Award-Winning Newspaper

One year later

Looking back on how the university has adjusted since in-person instruction was suspended in spring 2020

Marquette Wire Stock Photo/Photo by Zach Buckowski zachary.buckowski@marquette.edu

Marquette suspended in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2020 spring semester March 23, 2020. Although some have returned this year, campus looks very different.

prior and seemed to be spreading quickly. The virus in question was benjamin.wells@marquette.edu the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

It started out with an email.

At the time, only 1,663 people in A message sent out March 12 to the entire United States had conthe Marquette community said it tracted COVID-19 and less than 50 was closely monitoring a developing had died. The United States wasn’t virus that had just been confirmed leading the world in total cases. Italy in Madison, Wisconsin one month and China had both turned into the

By Benjamin Wells

INDEX

MUU TV

COVID-19 TRACKER........................................3 MUPD REPORTS.............................................3 A&E..................................................................8 OPINIONS......................................................10 SPORTS..........................................................12

hot spots for the virus.

The plans for Marquette University at that point in time were to suspend in-person instruction and shift to a temporary virtual format until at least April 10, 2020. Other Wisconsin schools like the University of Wisconsin-Madison followed the same suit.

However, these plans were fluid NEWS

and subject to change.

The first case of COVID-19 in Milwaukee would be found the very next day after the email was sent out.

Not even two weeks later, the university sent another email March 23 to the Marquette community, an email that would change the entirety of the spring semester going forward.

See YEAR page 3

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

OPINIONS

The event featured 23 performances March 14

Cruelty on social media after Wojo’s departure went too far

Academic Senate

63rd annual Grammys

PAGE 6

PAGE 9

Meeting focuses on contracts, enrollment, climate study

“Remote learning is extended through May 10, the end of the spring semester,” the email said.

Fall registration dates had changed, students who were halfway across the country for spring break still had their belongings in

More than sports PAGE 11

2

News

The Marquette Tribune

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Some non-tenure track contracts not renewed Non-renewals to save Marquette $1.6 million

By Megan Woolard

megan.woolard@marquette.edu

Marquette University has decided not to renew contracts for a “single digit percentage” of current full time non-tenure-track faculty.

In the March 22 University Academic Senate meeting, Provost Kimo Ah Yun specifically declined to release the number of faculty whose contracts will not be renewed. However, Ah Yun did state that the non-renewals would save the university $1.6 million.

“Non-tenure-track faculty who did not have their contracts renewed were notified over the past two weeks. That process has concluded,” Kevin Conway, university spokesperson, said in an email.

As of Nov. 11 2020, Marquette had 299 full-time non-tenure-track faculty members. Since the nonrenewals comprised a “single digit percentage” of current full time non-tenure-track faculty, 1 to 9% of 299 would be between 3 and 27 non-tenure-track faculty members.

Marquette administration did not release the exact number despite multiple attempts from the Wire.

Non-tenure track refers to faculty that have contracts renewed normally on an annual or semester-to-semester basis. They often make up a large portion of the teaching faculty at a university.

These non-renewals come after the university announced it will receive stimulus funds from the federal government. The university is expected to receive $17.3 million from the American Rescue Act, the most recent stimulus package, in addition to the $6.4 million that the university received for institutional relief in the last stimulus package.

A portion of the $17.3 million will be set aside to be used exclusively for student grants, as mandated by the federal government, but the other part will be available for the university to spend on a variety of different things.

This includes things such as keeping employees on payroll. The university has yet to say how it plans to use the funds from either stimulus package.

At Marquette, non-tenure-track faculty are commonly contracted on an annual basis. The reason the university has given the nonrenewals is due to the smaller incoming class last year and an expected smaller incoming class for the fall of 2021.

“With fewer students, the demand for class sections has

decreased, resulting in some nontenure-track faculty annual contracts not being renewed,” Conway said in an email.

This year’s first-year class was 1,647 students. That’s the lowest enrollment since 1997.

Even with the elimination of staff, Conway said in an email that “Marquette made these decisions with great care, both for the impacted individuals and to ensure class sizes remain small for our students.”

However, other Marquette community members have concerns over how the contract non-renewals will affect the student experience.

Doug Smith, assistant professor of practice in the College of Business Administration, believes that the recent trends of lower enrollment wasn’t a good reason to eliminate non-tenure-track faculty positions.

“With proper planning and a recognition that Marquette’s future depends on academic excellence delivered by experienced faculty, the university could have retained all NTT faculty until a plan to restore undergraduate enrollments to historical levels is put in place,” Smith said in an email.

Different faculty members have also voiced their opinions on how these non-contract renewals will impact classroom experiences.

“It might be convenient to pretend that we cannot renew nontenure-track faculty and everything will be the same. I think that that portrays very little understanding of what happens at the level of the classroom and the level of planning curricula,” Phillip Rocco, assistant professor of political science, said.

In addition to Rocco, other faculty members believe that reduction in the number of non-tenuretrack faculty could have negative effects on Marquette students.

“Students should look out for bigger class sizes, fewer course options, and the shrinking of programs, especially in the humanities and social sciences,” Brittany Pladek, assistant professor of English, said in an email.

It’s not only faculty that worry how these non-renewals will impact the university. Will Knox, a senior in the College of Communication, said these reductions in staff will “directly affect” the theater program as these nonrenewals will remove certain theater faculty.

“How we do shows is entirely up in the air now and there needs to be a better plan moving forward,” Knox said in an email. “In terms of the whole university, I think everybody needs to know that it could happen to any college and any professor/faculty at Marquette.”

Photos by Claire Gallagher claire.gallagher@marquette.edu

The university said the reason that some non-tenure-track faculty contracts will not be renewed is due to the smaller class size of the Class of 2024 and the anticipated smaller class size of incoming first-years.

News

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Marquette Tribune

YEAR: Students reflect on change Continued from page 1 residence halls and to the class of 2020’s dismay, commencement was canceled. A shockwave of changes came throughout Marquette’s community as well as the entire world.

By this time, confirmed cases in the United States increased to over 40,000 in all 50 states and 473 people had died. This was an over 2,000% increase in cases and 906% increase in deaths in just ten days.

Now, exactly one year later after the university announced the shift to virtual learning for the remainder of the spring semester, things have changed. Residence halls have been sent into quarantine, seats in classrooms are separated by six feet and sports venues are deprived of Marquette fans.

The university is different. Which begs the question: How did we get here?

Immediately, Jake LaFleur, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, had to get home. LaFleur was all the way across the Atlantic Ocean in Europe, where he was studying abroad.

“Coming back to Europe to the United States back where everything was so normalized and then experiencing quarantine and isolation ... it was a totally different experience,” LaFleur said in a Marquette Now Interview March 17.

LaFleur said that a lot of his college experience changed in an instant because of the pandemic, but he never expected it to affect his senior year.

“I was very hopeful for the fall,” LaFleur said. “I never thought it would take away my graduation.”

At the same time, Amanda Zastrow was an English graduate student working toward her dissertation. She also was teaching two courses of Foundations in Literature. The semester started out as normal: In-person classes Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:50 p.m.

Zastrow said she wasn’t concerned until the week Marquette’s spring break began, March 8.

“I remember asking my students, ‘where are you going for spring break?’ It wasn’t a big deal at all,” Zastrow said. “There really wasn’t really a lot of indication until that week when it happened.”

Even though universities, like Marquette, issued warnings about traveling to places infected with the coronavirus, millions of people last year and this year traveled for a spring break getaway.

At the same time that she had to adjust her class as an instructor, Zastrow also had to adjust as a student herself. While it was uncertain times, she said the English department provided as much information and guidance as they could.

“We were going to do our best,” Zastrow said. “We were all under a lot of pressure, students included, so as professors and instructors we were not going to make that worse in any way.”

Zastrow, along with other instructors, cut down assignments for the semester. Initially, what was supposed to be a “large research paper” for her classes’ final had turned into a page-and-a-half paper.

“We were focused on making sure that our classes turned out OK,” Zastrow said.

Zastrow said she felt like she had “a dual role” as a student and an instructor. However, she said that the pandemic has hit the student part of her the hardest.

“You come to college expecting a certain experience ... a lot of things were just cut short,” Zastrow said.

“The pandemic has especially hit ... college students in particular ... you expect a certain kind of life.”

As the spring semester finished, schools across the country had to make the decision to return to inperson instruction or continue with online instruction until safe to do so.

Instead, many universities decided to do a hybrid format.

Marquette would announce later in the summer there would be a partially online and partially in-person format Aug. 5.

The campus would have classroom capacities set at 50% and any first-year student living on campus

would be required to live on campus inside a residence hall while sophomores could live off campus.

Laura Niezgoda, first-year in the College of Communication, was one of those required to live on campus, in Cobeen Hall.

Niezgoda had already had a bad stroke of luck her senior year of high school when her graduation was not at all what she had waited for.

“I went to my last day of high school without even knowing it was my last day of high school,” Niezgoda said. “I was devastated.”

As if COVID-19 hadn’t affected her life enough, she was then forced to quarantine inside of Cobeen Hall for two weeks during the fall semester.

“It was very frustrating,” Niezgoda said.

Cobeen Hall was not the first or last time a residence hall would be faced with some sort of quarantine. Two weeks before, Schroeder Hall had to undergo a quarantine after a surge in cases and just recently the third floor of O’Donnell Hall was moved to an alternate site to quarantine.

Niezgoda and her roommate rushed to Target to get supplies for the next two weeks back in September, not knowing if they were already one of the students who were infected.

Even after two residence halls had gone into quarantine, cases at Marquette started to rise. On the day Cobeen was put into quarantine, Sept. 26, Marquette was averaging 10 cases a week. By the week of Nov. 14, two weeks after Halloween, the university was averaging 23 cases a week.

Gary Weisling, a sophomore in the College of Communication, hadn’t even finished his first year when the pandemic forced Marquette to go online last spring. When he first got the email from Marquette Today, he said he was actually happy.

“I know all my other friends were also staying home,” Weisling said. “I thought this was just another swine flu type thing.”

But for Weisling, the reality of the pandemic began to settle in

MUPD REPORTS MARCH 18 A student affiliated with Marquette was behaving in a disorderly manner in the 1500 block of W. Kilbourn Avenue.

MUPD cited the student.

MARCH 17 An unknown subject

struck the center median with their vehicle in the 1100 block of W. Wisconsin Avenue. The subject fled the scene.

A subject unaffiliated with Marquette battered his girlfriend, who was also unaffiliated with Marquette, in the 700 block of N. 22nd Street. The subject has been taken into custody.

with the canceling of major sports seasons, like the NBA and MLB’s spring training.

Weisling said it was a “big switch” to go from in-person to online classes in such a short amount of time.

However, he said the hardest part of the whole pandemic isn’t adjusting to classes, it’s finding a job now and for the future.

“I remember last semester I was applying for a standard fastfood job and even that was a struggle,” Weisling said.

It’s been a “continuing problem” for Weisling. Internships have been scarce during the pandemic, and he said it’s been struggle ever since the pandemic began.

Even though it’s been a year, Weisling said he felt the effects of this pandemic will not be going away for a substantial amount of time.

“Some people are considering that this might be an ‘endemic,’” he said.

“I think society will adapt, but it’ll take more than one year.”

An endemic is a disease or condition that is so prominent that it is found regularly in a certain area, like chickenpox in young children in America, or malaria in Africa. It is a disease that is present at all times, but at a very low rate.

“I think we’re going to be going through a much better period,” Weisling said. “But I think ... this is a very ‘trying’ pandemic.”

As for now, the university has only been averaging 2 cases a week.

The university has been setting forth plans now for vaccinations. People over the age of 16 with underlying conditions will now be available for a vaccine at Marquette’s clinical site.

And to the joy of many seniors, commencement may be in person for the class of 2021.

“I’m really hopeful that the ending can be at least a little bit better than what the last year has been,” LaFleur said. “It (feels) like some sense of normalcy ... (is) back in my life a little bit.”

The Marquette Tribune EDITORIAL Executive Director of Marquette Wire Natallie St. Onge (414) 288-1739 Managing Editor of Marquette Tribune Annie Mattea NEWS News Editor Benjamin Wells Assistant Editors Megan Woolard, Claire Driscol Reporters Natalija Mileusnic, Julia Abuzzahab, Karsyn Hartfield, Finn Askin PROJECTS Projects Editor Lelah Byron Assistant Editor Amanda Parrish Reporters Grace Dawson, Maria Crenshaw, Aspen Ramos, Beck Salgado ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Arts & Entertainment Editor Skyler Chun Assistant Editors Charlotte Ives, Mason Stebnitz Reporters Quinn Faeth, Ryan Lynch, Ariana Madson, Tommy Shaffer OPINIONS Executive Opinions Editor Alexandra Garner Assistant Opinions Editor Aminah Beg Columnists Jenna Koch, Hope Moses, Max Pickart, Lucia Ruffolo SPORTS Executive Sports Editor Zoe Comerford Assistant Editors Nick Galle, Molly Gretzlock Reporters Sam Arco, Bryan Geenen, Jackson Gross, Matt Yeazel, Matthew Valente, Jack Lewandowski COPY Copy Chief Eleanor Mccaughey Copy Editors Kendra Bell, Emily Reinhardt, Kimberly Cook, Bailey Striepling VISUAL CONTENT Design Chief Grace Pionek Photo Editor Zach Bukowski Sports Designer Kayla Nickerson Arts & Entertainment Designer Lily Werner Opinions Designer Mariam Ali Photographers Claire Gallagher, Joceline Helmbreck, Isabel Bonebrake, Nathan Lampres ----

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COVID-19 TRACKER An unknown subject removed property from a Marquette student’s vehicle without consent in the 900 block of N. 19th Street.

3

CUMULATIVE CASES MARQUETTE 1,157 NEW CASES - 3/14-3/21 11 CUMULATIVE CASES MILWAUKEE 99,369 SEVEN-DAY AVERAGE - WEEK OF 3/17 76.6

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News

The Marquette Tribune

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Community discusses harassment in city MKE considered a ‘hot spot’ for sex trafficking

By Claire Driscol

claire.driscol@marquette.edu

“We both screamed and ran away ... we asked kids on the sidewalk to call 911 and waited until Marquette University Police Department came to defuse the situation,” Lucy McManamon, a sophomore in the College of Nursing, said. She had been hammocking with her roommate on campus when an unknown woman approached them and pulled out a knife.

Although this incident occurred last fall and the two girls escaped with no injuries, cases of harassment have continued, as a man was recently detained last week after “threatening and striking women” in the Marquette campus area.

McManamon, who is originally from a small suburb in Minnesota,

said that she feels safer in the city now. However, the transition to Milwaukee last year took her “a little bit to adjust.”

“I have learned to be more aware of my surroundings,” McManamon said. “I feel safer now that I’m more familiar with Milwaukee but there are still times when I feel uncomfortable.”

Despite being more familiar with Milwaukee, McManamon said she has yet to walk alone at night and doesn’t intend to in the future.

“My friends and I always walk in groups at night or have people text us when they’re back safe,” McManamon said.

According to a 2014 survey on street harassment, which is defined as “unwanted comments, gestures and actions forced on a stranger in a public place without their consent,” 65% of women nationwide — in comparison to 25% of men — have experienced this form of harassment.

Lisa Rogers, a parent of a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, said she “checks in” with her daughter at

Marquette more often than she does with her son.

“We check in with our daughter more than our son, who attends a very small liberal arts college in Colorado,” Rogers said. “Many of our check-ins with our sophomore daughter are after we receive a text that a possible safety concern has occurred.”

Rogers said that the amount of safety alerts she receives from MUPD is concerning. However, she recognizes that safety issues are simply a part of living on an urban campus and appreciates that Marquette has their own police department.

Although Marquette has their own police department, Jennifer Williams, a part-time professor in the College of Arts & Sciences and past instructor of a course on sex trafficking, said her motto for bystanders is “if you see something, say or do something.”

“If you see a woman alone, being followed, we should all be ready to intervene or call the police,” Williams said. “Too often bad things happen when bystanders do nothing.”

According to a 2020 report by the Human Trafficking Institute, Wisconsin was ranked sixth in the nation for human trafficking, which is defined as “the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.” This report highlighted Milwaukee as a “hot spot” for these cases.

“Milwaukee does have a reputation for being a source city for human trafficking, likely due to generational poverty and de-industrialization,” Williams said.

These “hot spots” were often in areas of Milwaukee that had higher rates of homicide, non-fatal shootings and poverty along with lower rates of education. In a report that gathered data from 2013 to 2016, the “hot spots” for sex trafficking were toward the south side of Milwaukee.

However, a paradigm shift may be approaching in regard to how sexual harassment and assault cases are handled.

“Sexual harassment is very common,” Williams said. “What is uncommon and changing is our ability and willingness to speak

up about it, and what is changing even more is society’s general reaction to those willing to speak up.

We are starting to believe the victims. That is the most encouraging development of all.”

Individuals looking to report an incident of harassment or assault to the university should contact the Title IX coordinator, who is responsible for “the investigation of complaints falling under the university’s Title IX Sexual Harassment, Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct Policy.”

Individuals looking for support and assistance regarding sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking or sexual harassment should contact Advocacy Services. Advocacy Services is a confidential resource that, according to Marquette’s website, “will provide support regardless of whether the victim chooses to file a formal report with law enforcement or pursue a complaint through the university’s Title IX complaint process.”

Desk receptionists made mindful of safety Individual throws water bottle at DR, later arrested

By Julia Abuzzahab

julianna.abuzzahab@marquette.edu

Last week, the Marquette University Police Department alerted students via email that an individual was threatening and striking women on campus.

The email stated that MUPD was working with Milwaukee County Behavioral Health and Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office to hold the individual for longterm suspension and treatment.

The email also provided a photo and description of the man.

The next day, March 15, MUPD arrested a suspect in relation to the threats and placed them in custody. Charges are currently pending.

Ainsley Owen, a sophomore in the College of Nursing and desk receptionist at Eckstein Tower, said that this individual entered Mashuda Hall. Owen said the individual threw a water bottle at the desk receptionist; However, from what was reported the bottle did not physically hit the student.

“Before the campuswide email was sent out we had a picture posted by our desk to indicate that we need to be mindful of this individual entering any residence

Photo by Joceline Helmbreck joceline.helmbreck@marquette.edu

Last week, an individual was arrested for threatening and striking women on campus. Desk receptionists put up his photo prior to the arrest to encourage people entering the residence halls to be mindful and cautious of that individual.

hall. If he did enter the dorm we were/are supposed to contact MUPD immediately,” Owen said.

MUPD assistant chief Jeff Kranz said that the only incident they know of the individual harassing desk receptionists is when he threw the water bottle, but MUPD arrested him directly after the incident occurred.

“He is still in custody and we are currently working with the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health office and District Attorney’s office because a lot of his actions were driven by mental health issues, so it is a

challenging case,” Kranz said.

Caleb Kwasigroch, a sophomore in the College of Communication and desk receptionist at Eckstein Tower, said the desk receptionists have not been given much information about the details of the case, or about what is happening with the individual.

Owen said that although she typically feels safe working as a desk receptionist, she said it was scary that there was a man on campus harassing females and receptionists.

“At Eckstein the DRs are the first people seen. There is also not

a lot of space between the door and the desk making me feel more vulnerable at times. Marquette hasn’t really done anything to prevent future incidents like this from happening, its hard though because there really isn’t too much they can do,” Owen said in an email.

Kwasigroch said that there have been no new precautions set in place to prevent incidents like this from happening again, but the desk receptionists will only get further instructions on what do do if/when this man comes near.

“MUPD sent out an email saying they were able to arrest someone

related to the situation, and they are hoping to create a more permanent solution in terms of detaining the individual. That being said they haven’t given us any updates on the situation,” Owen said in an email.

Kranz said that there is a panic alarm at each desk receptionist’s area. He said when one of these alarms is pushed it automatically notifies MUPD and they will immediately send squads to that location.

News

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Marquette Tribune

5

Pandemic influences how Mass is run Restrictions include number of attendees, sanitation protocols

By Karsyn Hartsfield

karsyn.hartsfield@marquette.edu

COVID-19 has brought changes to every aspect of people’s lives, from school to work. Even the way people practice religion has been affected.

Father Grant Geiringer, a professor in the College of Communication, liturgical coordinator for campus ministry and a Jesuit priest with the Society of Jesus, said there are many adjustments to the way Mass runs with COVID-19.

These include restrictions regarding the number of attendees allowed in Mass, extra sanitation protocols and finding new ways to allow those who can’t be in the chapel at Mass to attend; such as live-streaming Mass.

Geiringer said that they’ve had to turn people away from attending Mass due to restrictions

on capacity.

In the Chapel of the Holy Family, located in the Alumni Memorial Union, the normal maximum number of people is 140. However, with COVID-19, there’s only 35 people allowed in the chapel. To help increase the number of people that can attend, though, two of the ballrooms in the AMU have been rented out and play Mass on a screen for those who do not get to attend in the chapel. Communion is also then brought up to those people.

Similarly, Geiringer said that the Church of the Gesu, which is not run by Marquette but still allows students to attend, can usually hold 1,000 people. The church is currently running at only 10% capacity with only 100 people allowed at a time.

Because of these capacity restrictions, people have to make a reservation online ahead of time to attend Mass. Additionally, Mass at Gesu is split so that only certain people may attend at certain times. Marquette students specifically can only attend the 6 p.m. Mass on Sunday, while

usual Gesu parishioners have other times they can attend.

“The sad thing is we’ve had to turn people away,” Geiringer said. “It’s just really difficult to say to someone you can’t come to Mass.”

To combat the limitations, Geiringer said extra Masses have been added on Sundays and they’ve started livestreaming Mass, which has resulted in people watching from across the country.

Geiringer said the limitations are to help with contact tracing in the event of an outbreak, as well as keeping the number of participants within the Milwaukee Health Department’s regulations.

“Thankfully, there’s never been an outbreak that’s happened that they can trace back to a liturgy, which is great,” Geiringer said.

Francesca Young, a first-year in the College of Health Sciences, said usually when she attends Mass, she would “sit in a crowded pew, buddy-buddy with everyone (and) no one (would wipe) down books or benches when it (was) done.”

However, since attending during the pandemic, Young has seen that everything has been “pretty low contact.” Everyone is “spaced out” by themselves. In place of song books, paper booklets, that get thrown out after use, are used. No one gets up for communion, everyone uses hand sanitizer before and after Mass and everything is wiped down once people get up.

“It’s different,” Young said, “ (but) everything is pretty normal.”

Despite the relative normalcy, there is another big change.

Gabriella Accardi, a first-year in the College of Engineering, is in the liturgical choir and Tuesday night Mass choir and said her favorite part of Mass is the singing. However, due to COVID-19, the choir isn’t allowed to perform in person at the Chapel of the Holy Family. In place of the live choir though, music is pre-recorded and played at Mass. “(I) can’t do it during Mass, so I do it in the recording,” Accardi said.

Accardi said the other change, besides the music,

is communion.

“We don’t get the blood of Christ,” Accardi said, because that involves everyone sharing the same cup. Aside from those limitations, Accardi said that they still have been able to do retreats, even if the usual activities are changed to be COVID-19 friendly, and the purpose of Mass is still there, as well the “aspects of community and faith” still being accessible.

“That’s pretty much it … Mass is still Mass … it’s still holy and sacred,” Accardi said.

Accardi attributes the relative normalcy to the campus ministry as she says they “put in effort to make it accessible for everyone,” and that they’ve made an effort to keep things “as close to usual” as possible.

Mass is held at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sundays at the AMU, along with additional times throughout the week and 6 p.m. on Sundays at the Church of the Gesu.

Students who wish to attend Mass can find information on the Instagram: @mucampusmin or the campus ministry website.

HAGGERTY MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS

Virtual Community Day

s e i r o t S n e d d i H April 7, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Join us for this fun, FREE, family-friendly virtual exploration of Hidden Stories. Create art, meet the Haggerty Museum of Art's community partners, enjoy live and pre-recorded sessions, and discover new ways to engage with the Museum.

Register online https://hopin.com/events/haggerty-museum-of-art-spring-virtual-community-day Event partners:

6

News

The Marquette Tribune

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Academic Senate talks contracts, enrollment Incoming applications for 2021-22 year down

By Benjamin Wells

benjamin.wells@marquette.edu

Provost Kimo Ah Yun repeatedly chose not to reveal the exact number of non-tenure-track faculty contracts that will not be renewed after several requests, and referred to it as a “minimal percentage” of staff/faculty who will not be returning next year. The exact number is still not known.

Ah Yun gave this information during the university Academic Senate meeting March 22 held over Teams.

Ah Yun also gave his report on the university and provided an update on enrollment.

“Right now, in comparison to last year, we are down 6.8% in deposits,” Ah Yun said.

Applications to Marquette have been down for the 202122 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The (admissions) team continues to work very hard, they are confident that the strategies they are putting into place are working,” Ah Yun said.

Ah Yun also said he is hopeful in reaching the target for admitted transfer students, while at the same time the incoming class is one of the most diverse there

Photo by Benjamin Wells benjamin.wells@marquette.edu

Provost Kimo Ah Yun (bottom left) did not give an exact number of non-tenure track faculty contracts that will not be renewed.

have been in recent years.

“When we look at our admit pool, it’s a diverse pool,” Ah Yun said. “We have admitted students from all 50 states and all the U.S. territories.”

Graduate school applications and enrollment are also up by almost 25% compared to last year.

“The closer we get to May 1, the better idea we’ll have,” Ah Yun said.

May 1 is typically the last day high school seniors to commit to university.

During the meeting, the university climate report was released to the Marquette community.

Vice President for Inclusive Excellence William Welburn gave a presentation on the recent study,

the climate survey.

The new survey went over progress since 2015, when the most recent survey was given, and key takeaways from the 2020 survey.

“In our last study a number of key action steps were identified,” Welburn said.

Action steps included education and action training to teach students and faculty about racism, improving strategies to improve diversity among students and faculty, promoting groups and networks who specialize in diversity.

The second climate study was done to get a better sense of the new climate on campus since the previous one was done five years ago. New questions and new models for conversations were

included in the study.

The climate study did not change much from the previous study. However, only 60% of students of color said they were comfortable in the campus climate. Overall, 74% of all people on campus were comfortable with Marquette.

“If we dig into classroom climate for undergraduates … we see that the differences continue to persist,” Welburn said. “White students and students of color, you see a dramatic difference in climate.”

Large percentages of students, faculty and staff have “seriously” considered leaving, according to the survey.

Although most students who considered leaving were first-

years, most felt like they didn’t belong or that the climate was not welcome according to the survey.

“Students are generally positive about the academic quality of Marquette and about their academic success and intent to persist,” Welburn said.

Overall, the survey showed a “higher than expected” number of respondents who said they had contemplated leaving the campus at one point in time.

Results of the campus climate study will be available through a dashboard that will be available for the campus community.

The next university Academic Senate meeting will be held April 19.

Engineers Without Borders continues aid Marquette chapter has completed 11 projects so far

By Finn Askin

finn.askin@marquette.edu

With 16 years of experience and more than 10 community-aiding projects completed in Guatemala, Marquette University’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders is looking to continue their usual aid, even through the coronavirus pandemic.

Since 2005, the organization has completed projects that provide an easier, safer route for community members who need to travel to school or larger, more populated communities.

Prior to its fruition at Marquette, Engineers Without Borders began in 2000 when University of Colorado Boulder professor Bernard Amadei visited a small, majority-Mayan village in San Pablo, Belize. According to the official Engineers Without Borders webpage, Amadei originally ventured to the community to inspect their water supply. However,

it instead turned into a full-fledged project dedicated to bringing longlasting, healthy sustainability to a community that needed technical and monetary aid. This one project inspired the professor to officially create Engineers Without Borders in 2002.

Marquette University joined the organization in its mission by forming a chapter three years later.

With 11 projects completed and three in progress, the Marquette chapter of EWB is currently providing a safer, better quality of life for thousands of Guatemalans annually. These projects have included building schoolhouses, fixing and improving water systems and constructing pedestrian bridges over gorges.

Their work was deterred in the last year due to the pandemic. With the international organization shifting their usual assistance toward COVID-19 related relief, the Marquette chapter looked for a way to “continue curating leadership and experience within our organization,” Mark Federle, the associate dean of engineering and faculty advisor for EWB, said

In addition to their COVID-19 fundraising efforts, the organization has looked to do this by coordinating a “mock bridge project.” The project is headed by three Marquette student leaders: Abby McGill, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, Justin Zwiefelhofer, a junior in the College of Engineering, and Carter Deinhammer, a sophomore in the College in Engineering. While utilizing the same tactics they would in Guatemala, the three surveyed a hill that sits behind Milwaukee’s Bradford Beach.

Since the collection of data, the organization has been holding weekly, virtual meetings to build the hypothetical Guatemala-based bridge.

“The purpose of this project is to give our members, especially underclassmen who have not had the chance to gain as much experience working on full-fledged projects, experience going through the design process,” according to Marquette’s EWB website. This hypothetical bridge will be completed at the end of the 2021 spring semester.

Federle said the most rewarding EWB story in recent memory was when “(they) had a community

member say to (them) ‘if you build us this bridge, we can have 60 more community members go to school.’”

According to the Marquette EWB website, “with a 24-meter span, the cable-suspended pedestrian bridge provides a safe passageway to school for over sixty students who currently cannot attend during the rainy season. In addition, it grants quick access to healthcare and markets in the city of Joyabaj and provides greater employment opportunities for three different communities totaling 800 to 1,000 people.”

Federle explained that Guatemalan communities must deal with El Nino, or a rainy season that lasts from May to September. For example, students who needed to go to school, community members who needed to go to marketplaces to sell their goods, and anyone in need of medical assistance could only go a few times a month. This was due to the intensity of the rainy season, and the detours it created due to flooding.

Two years after completing their bridge project in the summer of 2017, Federle and his team of students returned to ensure the well-being of the community and the constructed

bridge. Federle recounted that upon their arrival, another community member approached him and stated: “We are ready for you to build us our school.”

Due to the increased number of children able to garner an education after bridge completion, the school was overflowing. So, in the summer of 2019, Marquette University’s chapter of EWB built that school for them.

“Every single member of EWB is a really cool person and is so easy to talk to. Even though we’ve been virtual, Engineers Without Borders has still been able to keep in contact and keep that community feel,” McGill said.

Dienhammer described what EWB has done for him since his joining.

“Engineers Without Borders, for me, is a place where I am given the opportunity to apply and refine my skills as a civil engineer in a way that makes a measurable difference in the world outside of Marquette, while also having an incredibly enjoyable place among like-minded students to go to multiple times a week,” Dienhammer said.

News

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Marquette Tribune

7

Communication director Seniors react to possible in-person contracts COVID-19 commencement Chris Stolarski develops long term symptoms of illness

By Julia Abuzzahab

julianna.abuzzahab@marquette.edu

Chris Stolarski, associate director for university communication, tested positive for COVID-19 Nov. 11, 2020. He first developed COVID19-like symptoms in early November, as he said that it began with a tickle in his throat that quickly developed into a persistent fever. A polymerase chain reaction test confirmed that it was COVID-19.

PCR tests identify the presence of a virus if/when one is infected at the time of the test.

Stolarski was on medical leave for about three months due to complications from COVID-19 but has since returned and resumed most of his duties.

For the first few days of his diagnosis, he said that his symptoms were pretty mild. However, on day six he developed respiratory symptoms — a persistent cough and shortness of breath.

“Over the next 36 hours, my respiration depleted, sending my bloodoxygen saturation well below 90%, which is dangerously low,” Stolarski said in an email. “On Friday, November 13, my wife called an ambulance. I was taken to the emergency department and then admitted to the intensive care unit at St. Luke’s South Shore.”

Stolarski said that he credits Timothy Cigelske, director of integrated content, with saving his life, as he brought him an at-home pulse oximeter that initially told him how dangerously low his oxygen saturation was.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, a pulse oximeter may help someone diagnosed with

COVID-19 monitor their health and to alert them if they need medical care. Many patients with COVID-19 have low oxygen levels in their blood which can be an early sign that they need medical treatment. A normal level of oxygen is typically 95% or higher, so the oximeter displays the percentage of oxygen in someone’s blood.

When Stolarski arrived to the intensive care unit, he said that he was initially put on 60 liters of oxygen per minute. Over the next several days, the medical staff were able to bring his oxygen down to 50 liters.

Stolarski said in an email that “(he) was incredibly lucky to avoid being put on a ventilator.”

The Minnesota Department of Health states that COVID-19 may inflame one’s airways which would drown their lungs in fluids. Being put on a ventilator mechanically pumps oxygen into your body, and the ventilator could potentially breathe out for you too. When hooked up to a ventilator some patients may not be able to eat or drink normally, so they would need to get their nutrients through an IV. Stolarski stayed in the ICU for 19 days before transferring to a regular hospital room on the COVID-19 floor. His stay there lasted 26 days.

With no visitors allowed in the hospital, Stolarski said that his stay was haunting, extremely isolating and lonely. He said that since he was bedridden, not able to breathe on his own and unable to move by himself which left him psychologically paralyzed. He said that there were days he thought he may be stuck like that forever.

Fortunately, Stolarski has made immense progress since December.

He said that he has not needed to be put on oxygen in months, and he can get around on his own more easily.

He said that he still gets tired and winded more easily than he had prepandemic, but he can now walk up to a mile and a half on his own, “a

feat that was unthinkable just months ago,” Stolarski said in an email.

However, Stolarski does have some lingering effects from the virus as well as often experiencing nightmares and trouble sleeping.

Many co-workers and colleagues were left shocked and cheered him on through his recovery.

“Chris has always been someone who brings his convictions and a deep caring about others to his work.

He’s part of the fabric of what we do at Marquette” Cigelske said in an email, “When he got sick, it sent shock waves through the Marquette community because of how many people he’s touched. He brought others together as part of his cheering section, and we’re still cheering for him as he continues his recovery.”

Lynn Griffith, senior director of university communication, works with Stolarski and also helped support him throughout his journey while making his life at work easier.

“My goal is to provide as much grace as possible from a work perspective while Chris deals with the physical and mental side effects of COVID-19,” Griffith said.

Stolarski said that he cannot understate the value of having a cheering section when you are in the fight of your life. He said in an email that his colleagues were an important factor in his recovery, as “they joined seamlessly (his) wife, family and other friends in the most important cheering section I’ll ever have.”

Now Stolarski is an advocate for COVID-19 patients, survivors and vaccinations. He said he is happy to lend an ear to whomever needs advice, whether they are recovering at home or in the hospital.

“The effect this had on me is profound. I was incredibly cautious, and the virus still got me. It really shows how insidious and indiscriminate it is, and it really underscores how vulnerable we are” Stolarski said in an email.

Photo courtesy of Chris Stolarski

Stolarski was first diagnosed Nov. 11, 2020. After three months of medical leave, he has returned.

addition, the university is looking for outdoor spaces with the potential of hosting the senior class.

“I’m sure Marquette is capable of hosting commencement so that graduating students can still be safe, especially with the increasing number of

By Megan Woolard megan.woolard@marquette.edu students getting vaccinated,” Wiechering said.

Even with more students reMarquette University has anceiving the vaccine, the uninounced that it is exploring versity has said that “we options for an in-person comstill have a lot of work to mencement ceremony for Sundo” to ensure an in-person day, May 23. The announcecommencement ceremony. ment came in a March 11 “I would say that it’d be best Marquette Today. to be in person just to honor all “I think Marquette should the work put in. It’s such a milehonor their seniors one last time, stone and it would undermine and at the least should be able to things if it was just online,” offer an in-person commenceMorgan Greiber, a ment for those senior in the Colwho would lege of Arts & want to atSciences, said. tend,” Yianni Seniors were Wiechering, a asked to fill out a senior in the form by March 19 College of to gauge student Business Adinterest about the ministration, possibility of an said. in-person comMarquette mencement. The had previousnew possibility ly announced of an in-person Jan. 28 that commencement the class of comes after the 2021 comuniversity anmencement nounced its ceremony plans for an inwould be virperson experitual. Howevence for the fall er, since then, 2021 semester. there have “As a senior, I been changes want to be able in the city of MORGAN GREIBER to celebrate my Milwaukee Senior in the College of four years spent that open the Arts & Sciences at Marquette by door for the graduating alongpossibility of an side my classmates, not through in-person commencement. a screen,” Wiechering said.

This comes after Fiserv FoLast year, the class of 2020 rum allowed a limited number had a virtual commencement of fans on National Marquette Day to watch Marquette’s game ceremony only. But this year, the university has expressed that it against Xavier.

“Recent agreements by the wants to celebrate the graduating City of Milwaukee to allow seniors in a way “that is befitting larger in-person gatherings at such an occasion.”

Milwaukee’s other large unilocal venues give us hope that versity, University of Wisthere is a path forward to honor consin-Milwaukee, has alour students with an in-person ready announced its plans for commencement event,” Provost Kimo Ah Yun said in a March 11 a completely virtual ceremony May 16. news release.

The current senior class is The university is working about 2,000 students. Final plans with medical health experts and for the class of 2021 commencemonitoring the situation as it ment ceremony are to be anmoves forward with planning a nounced in the next few weeks. commencement ceremony. In

Outdoor spaces being evaluated to host Class of 2021

“

I would say that it’d be best to be in person just to honor all the work put in. It’s such a milestone and it would just undermine things if it was just online,”

The Marquette Tribune

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Arts &

Entertainment

Page 8

IVES: Books by women to celebrate Women’s History Month “Americanah,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “The Beautiful,” “Educated”

By Charlotte Ives

charlotte.ives@marquette.edu

The other day I was skimming my bookshelf and was struck by the fact that very few female writers made the cut. Up until that moment, I had been proud of my collection. It has all the classics many of us were made to read in high school, such as “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens and Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” And it has plenty of modern gems too, the kinds of books snobs like me enjoy working into conversations such as “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates and “The Sympathizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

While these books unquestionably have value, I was dismayed when I realized that they were all written by men, about men. I had to ask myself, what was I, a young woman who advocates for female representation, doing with a bookshelf dominated by men?

I was being a hypocrite.

So, in honor of Women’s History Month, here’s a short list of wonderful books written by women, about women. If you take a look at your own bookshelf and find a similar problem to my own, hopefully this list will help you remedy it.

Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has produced all sorts of amazing content, from her TEDx Talk “We Should All be Feminists” to her 2013 novel “Americanah,” one of my personal favorites.

“Americanah” chronicles the experiences of Ifemelu, a Nigerian girl who immigrates to the United States after graduating primary

school. Ifemelu grapples with culture shock, racism, xenophobia, financial desperation and a variety of other hardships before returning home. In that time, she also comes to appreciate who she is and where she came from. In this story, Adichie masterfully captures certain aspects of the American immigrant experience, as well as the Nigerian experience. “Americanah” is a rich story cloaked in social dilemmas and purposefully rooted in the mundane. Once you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it down.

The Beautiful, Renée Ahdieh Vampires are back in this 2019 bestselling young adult novel

by Renée Ahdieh. The story is set in the late 19th century and follows Celine Rousseau, a French immigrant in America fleeing her home country with a terrible secret. She crosses the Atlantic and finds herself in New Orleans.

Immediately, she is drawn to the city’s beautiful darkness and hidden magic: Not to mention a dark, handsome stranger. “The Beautiful” celebrates womanhood while not-so-subtly sprinkling in some social issues like systemic racism and consent. If you like this one, you won’t have any choice but to read the next in the series, “The Damned.” The third book, “The Righteous,” won’t be released until Nov. 9. So, I hope you like cliffhangers.

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai Released in 2013, “I Am Malala” is page turner in its own right.

It is a moving piece on the life and fight of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for women’s education. The youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala went toe-to-toe with the Taliban, speaking out at 11 years of age when no one else would and almost losing her life in the process. After miraculously surviving a pointblank shot to the head at age 15, she goes on to become a global symbol of peace and gender equality. The book chronicles Malala’s activism leading up to the attempt on her life, as well as the implications of her survival for herself, her family, her country and the world. Read “I Am Malala” and hear the story from her perspective as she goes from speaking out in the Swat

Photo by Zach Bukowski zachary.bukowski@marquette.edu

“I Am Malala” by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai was released in 2013, a year after she was shot.

Valley of Pakistan to speaking up at the UN headquarters in New York, it’s worth it.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen I just couldn’t help myself. Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is a classic love story that capitalizes on one of the world’s favorite tropes: enemies to lovers. It tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet, a clever bookworm born in 19th century England, as she catches the eye of a pretentious and disgustingly rich gentleman. Weaved throughout “Pride and Prejudice” is a variety of issues women of this time faced, such as familial expectations, social stratification and legal and social inequality. If you find you enjoy the book, there are about a million

film and show adaptations you can binge afterwards, including the 2005 movie starring Keira Knightly and the 1995 BBC TV mini-series starring Jennifer Ehle.

Educated, Tara Westover “Educated” is a beautifully crafted memoir released in 2018 that tells the story of Tara Westover’s life as she overcomes the oppression of her patriarchal household.

Westover was born the youngest of seven children. Her mother was an unlicensed midwife and her father was a devout Mormon committed to preparing his family for the impending Y2K apocalypse.

Paranoid that the federal government was not to be trusted, her father refused to let her or her siblings attend school or even get

birth certificates. “Educated” tells Westover’s story as she leaves her abusive home and goes to college.

She eventually goes on to get a PhD in history from Cambridge, but not before realizing just how ignorant her home education had left her. Westover’s skillfully written memoir will immerse you in her struggles and passions as she begins to learn more about the world and where she fits into it.

This brief list is just a taste of the options out there for anyone interested in diversifying their bookshelf, which is something I would recommend to all. It can never hurt to expose yourself to new perspectives. After all, you are what you read.

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Arts & Entertainment

The Marquette Tribune

9

Everything you need to know about the new stimulus checks President Joe Biden signed the third round March 11

By Quinn Faeth

quinlan.faeth@marquette.edu

President Joe Biden signed the third round of stimulus checks into law March 11, giving a maximum of $1,400 to those who qualify. The difference in this bill versus the first two is that it includes many more dependents, and college students are among that group eligible.

A dependent can be anybody above the age of 16, depending on how you are classified on tax returns. But a good percentage of college students fall under that umbrella, meaning that you could potentially qualify for that $1,400. Here is how you can qualify: If you file as an independent on your taxes, you’ll be eligible for some amount if you make less than $80,000. If you make less than $75,000, you’ll be able to receive the full stimulus. But if

Photo by Claire Gallagher claire.gallagher@marquette.edu

Some dependents are able to claim up to $1,400 in payment.

you’re filed under your parents’ taxes, you can receive government payment if your parents make less than $150,000 combined or if the head of the household makes less than $112,500.

But don’t expect the money to go straight into your pockets if you do qualify as a dependent.

James McGibany, the chair of the economics department at

Marquette, said you may have to do some convincing to get that money.

“Whoever claims you as their dependent will be the one who gets the payment,” McGibany said. “That means if your parents qualify and have three kids, they’ll receive $1,400 per dependent. You might have to say, ‘hey Mom and Dad, let me get some of that.’”

McGibay said he believes the reason this bill included college students is because of the number of complaints lawmakers have been receiving.

“Dependents and especially college students were some of the only people excluded in the first two packages,” McGibany said.

“It’s possible that local and state representatives were under a lot of pressure to make sure that didn’t happen this third round.”

The impact of these checks will vary by how much people receive and what kind of financial situation they’re in.

Adam Bartoshevich, a junior in the College of Business Administration, said that these checks would help out with how expensive college can be.

“We always refer to ourselves as ‘broke college students,’ and this money will help students out with things like rent and other necessities,” Bartoshevich said.

“It’s important for us because so many of our jobs and internships have been shut down because of the pandemic. I think it’s a good step.”

Kate Morris, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said that her $1,400 won’t be going to anything glamorous.

“I actually already got my direct deposit since I file as an independent,” Morris said. “All of the money I got is going directly into paying my rent for the next two months.”

Bartoshevich has some other plans if he ends up receiving money.

“I think a good 75% of it will go into my savings account,” Bartoshevich said. “But the other 25% might go towards a future trip or something. I think we all need a sense of normalcy and getting away would help with that.”

These checks have already begun to roll out. Morris and many other Americans have already received some or all of the $1,400. Again, if you are filed as a dependent, whoever you’re dependent on will receive the money on your behalf.

But if you’re an independent like Morris, expect the check soon if you haven’t received it already.

The 63rd annual Grammy Awards ceremony breaks records The original event was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns

By Rashad Alexander

rashad.alexander@marquette.edu

The biggest night in music arrived March 14: The 63rd annual Grammy Awards. While the ceremony was postponed six weeks due to COVID-19 concerns, the night finally arrived, and was filled with many memorable performances.

This year’s Grammys was hosted by comedian Trevor Noah. While the ceremony usually takes place inside Los Angeles’ Staples Center, this year it took place outdoors at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Noah did a pretty good job as far as trying to keep this year’s ceremony entertaining. While there was no audience due to COVID-19, that didn’t stop Noah from interacting with the celebrity guests at the event.

The Grammys featured 23 different musical performances throughout the three-and-a-halfhour ceremony. The musical guests included Harry Styles, opening the show with his hit song “Watermelon Sugar,” rappers DaBaby and Roddy Ricch, teaming up to perform their No. 1 hit “Rockstar” and Korean

pop group BTS, among others.

One standout performance was Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, who linked up to perform their song “Leave the Door Open” live for the first time. The two are known by the stage name “Silver Sonic.”

Marco Fiorante, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, watched the Grammys and said he was very impressed with Silver Sonic’s performance.

“I thought Bruno Mars’ voice and Anderson Paak’s went extremely well together,” Fiorante said. “My favorite part was towards the end when they were harmonizing together.”

The night featured big winners of awards as well. Singer Taylor Swift won album of the year for her album “Folklore.” Swift became the first woman to ever win album of the year at the Grammys three times, while being only the fourth artist ever to do it.

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion had a big night as well, winning three Grammy awards. Megan won best new artist and won two Grammys for her song “Savage” with Beyoncé. Beyoncé also made history during the night, winning her 28th Grammy award of her career, the most for a female artist in the program’s history. The second

highest is Alison Krauss with 27 awards.

Laine McKinney, a sophomore in the College of Nursing, also watched the show and was impressed by the accomplishments of Beyoncé.

“She is one of the most iconic female entertainers of our generation,” McKinney said.

“Her music has had a big impact on both the pop and R&B world and if anyone was going to break this record, it was going to be her.”

Despite the Grammys’ attempts at keeping this year’s show engaging, the television audience was not fully engaged. According to the Associated Press, this year’s Grammy awards ceremony had 9.23 million viewers. And while it seems like a lot of people, it was a 51% drop from last year’s ceremony.

The Associated Press also believes the drop in views is due to the lack of people watching broadcast television and people simply using social media to see what happened at the Grammys.

This year’s Grammys also came with a lot of controversy, which possibly led to the lack of viewership. Singer The Weeknd was completely shut down from a Grammy nomination this year. The Weeknd claimed that the Recording Academy didn’t like his decision

to perform at this past February’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, thus not giving him any nominations, on his Instagram. He dominated 2020 with his No. 1 album “After Hours” which had the No. 1 song “Blinding Lights.” The situation ultimately led The Weeknd to boycott the Grammys, and he said that he will

not be submitting any future music to the award show for consideration.

Despite mixed feelings about the Recording Academy, the Grammys still managed to pull off the ceremony despite being in the middle of a pandemic.

Photo via Flickr

Taylor Swift won album of the year for her 2020 album “Folklore.”

The Marquette Tribune

Opinions

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

PAGE 10

Editorial Board

Natallie St. Onge, Executive Director Annie Mattea, Managing Editor Marquette Tribune Kelli Arseneau, Managing Editor Marquette Journal

Alexandra Garner, Executive Opinions Editor Aminah Beg, Assistant Opinions Editor

Ben Wells, News Executive Zoe Comerford, Sports Executive Skyler Chun, A&E Executive Lelah Byron, Projects Editor

Eleanor Mccaughey, Copy Chief Grace Pionek, Design Chief Zach Bukowski, Photo Editor

Kate Hyland, Social Media Executive Aimee Galszweski, Station Manager MUTV Reese Seberg, Station Manager MURadio

STAFF EDITORIAL

MU should be commended for standing with Asian community

Marquette University’s decision to share a message of solidarity and stand with Asian and Asian American students should be commended after the shooting in Atlanta, Georgia last week.

A gunman killed eight people at different spas in the Atlanta area March 16. Six of them were women of Asian descent.

The university shared a message March 18 in support of Asian Americans in the aftermath of the March 16 shooting.

“At Marquette University, our Asian student population has nearly doubled over the past ten years, demonstrating the value of a Marquette education to students across cultures. And while we are not aware of any overt threats within our community, as a Catholic, Jesuit university, Marquette is committed to maintaining an environment where racism, racist behaviors and stereotyping – no matter how subtle

– are not tolerated,” the message said. “We urge you at this time to embrace all of our community members who are harmed or made to feel unwelcome at Marquette because of racial and ethnic differences.”

The university should be commended for sharing this statement of solidarity with the Asian community at Marquette. In a time of severe division in our nation, sharing this statement is important for supporting students, faculty and staff on campus who may feel uncomfortable or unsafe in the aftermath of these events.

In addition to sharing this message with students in an email, the university also shared this statement on social media, where members of the Marquette community expressed their opinions in the comments.

While some of the comments were supportive and saddened by the events, many of the other

comments are very concerning.

Rather than commending the university or sharing their support with the Asian community, some of the comments denied that these murders were race related and seemed to disregard the experiences of Asians and Asian Americans during this time.

“FYI – the shooter confessed that this was not RACE related! There are race issues in the world but let’s not make EVERY SINGLE tragedy a RACE PROBLEM,” one Facebook commenter said.

“Quit making everything about race!!” another Facebook commenter said.

“Um I’m confused. In his confession he stated he was addicted to sex. And was having sexual relations with these Asian women. So if this is true, how would that make him racist? And why are we jumping to conclusions, when they are still investigating? Is this the new norm?”

another Facebook commenter said.

These types of comments are disheartening and wrong. Asian American students at Marquette are also feeling disappointed with the community and how certain people are reacting.

A Marquette faculty member also said the amount of these negative comments from the community were “enough to make Jesus cry.”

Additionally, while the gunman said his motives were not race related, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t.

These murders come during a time where hate crimes against the Asian community in the United States have substantially increased. The university cites in its message students that Asians and Asian Americans have reported an estimated 3,800 hate crimes this year.

Being part of a community that values embodying “cura

personalis” among other Jesuit Catholic values, it is disappointing to see so many Marquette community members share hurtful comments.

According to the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis, there are 720 enrolled undergraduate and graduate students and 128 faculty members that are part of the Asian community as of the fall 2020 semester.

Regardless of the gunman’s motives, Asian and Asian American communities on and off campus deserve support right now.

Members of the Marquette community should follow the university’s lead to express this support.

We support the university’s message and don’t condone the behavior of others on Facebook and we must all continue to give support to Asians and Asian Americans outside of tragedies.

community has been consistent about. In America’s judicial system, there are few, if any, effective accountability laws that allow officers to act with impunity. The judicial system also consists of policies and practices that protect law enforcers and make it more difficult to discipline them and hold them responsible.

Conversations concerning police reform have been on the rise since the Floyd incident as well.

Acknowledging that there is a problem is one of the first steps to a solution. But conversations about police reform are often too focused on police tactics that contribute to the murders of Black and brown people at the hands of the police. While the tactics are important to discuss, there is a bigger issue at play here, which is the overall interaction between law enforcement and Black and brown citizens in their communities.

Even when these interactions do not result in serious injuries or death, it is often coercive — almost as if they are looking for a reason for conflict — which leads to higher arrest rates that disproportionately affect communities of color.

Accountability and conversations are both steps in the right direction, but I feel we can do better and reimagine safety in its entirety.

Reducing the role of police in societal issues, like homelessness, poverty and drug abuse, is a perfect place to start. Reducing the role of police in societal issues also calls for the decrimi-

Defund the police is not a call to abolish the police, although some may believe it is.

Instead, defunding the police means to reallocate and redirect funding away from the police department to other government agencies funded by the local municipality.

To put the idea of defunding the police into perspective, think about public safety in the way public health is thought about.

Hospitals cannot and were not created for the purpose of keeping an entire population of people healthy. Because of this, public health is a mixture of resources: hospitals, neighborhood clinics, health education and even government laws that protect citizens during a public health crisis.

They exist in harmony, all with their own function.

This is what defunding the police would strive to achieve.

Instead of making our police system the backbone of public safety, it would allow for Black and brown communities to be in equal partnership with police and other programs that would keep the community safe. Black and brown communities are also so often stripped of their power due

to overpolicing that happens in the area. Doing this would allow these communities to take their power back — allowing them to empower themselves.

This is only the first step to reimaging safety in the United States. While it may seem impossible to implement this nationwide, there was also a time in history where people could not imagine our nation without slavery. Yet here we are. Unfortunately, slavery was replaced with institutions that reinforce slave-like mentalities like mass incarceration and the school-toprison pipeline, just to name a few. But still, I remain hopeful that we are headed in the right direction. Hope, without action, is not effective, which is why as we hold on tight to hope, we need to remember to put in the work to ensure the lives of our loved ones are protected. We obviously still have work to do but reimagining safety is the first step towards the end goal: equity.

Reform is not enough, we need to reimagine safety

Hope Moses As the George Floyd murder trial moves forward, it serves as a reminder that police reform is simply not enough. To ensure that our loved ones are safe, we need to reimagine safety in its entirety in the United States.

The murder of George Floyd in May 2020, which sparked global protests against police brutality and racial inequality, has left the nation unsure of how to properly move forward. We are stuck and unsure how to confront our racist systems of oppression because racism cripples us.

Nonetheless, the public, especially young adults, have been proactive in our nation’s fight against racism through accountability. Without public pressure, Derek Chauvin, one of the officers involved in George Floyd’s murder, may not have been on trial, and Breonna Taylor would be just another Black woman who slipped through the cracks. Accountability has been crucial to our nation’s fight for justice, and something the Black

“

We are stuck and unsure how to confront our racist systems of oppression because racism cripples us.” nalization of drugs and sex work.

Law enforcement officers should not be handling societal issues like mental health care, drug abuse and poverty. Instead, programs should be implemented that will address these issues individually. This relates to the idea of “defunding the police.”

Hope Moses is a first-year student studying journalism. She can be reached at hope.moses@marquette.edu

Opinions

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Marquette Tribune

11

Life is more than just sports Zoe Comerford

The Steve Wojciechowski era concluded March 19. For many Marquette fans, this marked the end of seven long years without an NCAA Tournament win.

Though the stats may back up a rightful fire, that does not mean people need to be harsh about it on social media. Think about it: Someone who has a family just lost their job. What if it happened to you or your family?

Following the announcement, former men’s basketball coach Wojciechowski posted statement addressed to the Marquette community on Instagram.

“I wanted to take a moment to express the deepest gratitude on behalf of my wife Lindsay and sons Jack and Charlie for our seven wonderful years at Marquette University,” Wojciechowski wrote. “Days like today are unfortunately part of this profession but I leave Marquette proud of what we achieved and with a lifetime of unforgettable memories.”

He continued to say Marquette’s fanbase is passionate and that he wants everyone to know, whether they cheered him or booed him, that he respects their passion. His last line, “I wish the entire Marquette community nothing but the best, and thank you from the bottom of my heart. All the best, Wojo,” was one of class and grace, a sentiment some fans still don’t show him.

Some commented on his Instagram statements like “Proud of a losing record? Hmm” and “Proud of what we achieved? What was that?

Finishing in the bottom half of the conference or missing/losing NCAA tournament games?” and “Bye bye.”

Other fans even tweeted things like “This is legitimately the happiest I’ve felt about #MUBB in months...maybe years” and “This makes me so happy!” and “BOUT D---N TIME.” One person even commented on Marquette Basketball’s Facebook post, “Thanks for setting our program back 7 years. Bye.” If we are really following our Jesuit mission of “cura personalis,” we would not be cheering on social media when a member of the Marquette community loses their job. Though fans may not agree with how he coached his teams, he has a family and people who care about him. He is human. Sports is only a game, and I’m tired of people treating it like it’s the end of the world if their basketball team loses.

This trend of fans wanting Marquette to fire Wojciechowski isn’t new, though. There is a hashtag that has been going around for the past few years, #firewojo, and some have even gone further to help create, in December 2020, an account called @FireWojoMU. After the now-NBA star Ja Morant and the Murray State Racers upset the then-No. 5 Golden Eagles March 21, 2019 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Marquette fans were livid. Tons of fans tagged

Wojciechowski on Twitter, and the idea of firing Wojo began circling among the fan base. That’s the same time he deleted his Twitter account.

That’s not all. The hate toward Wojciechowski has permeated into the student section at Fiserv Forum. During games in 2020-21, Marquette’s PA announcer Mike Jakubowski had to race through Wojciechowski’s pregame introduction as the booing for the program’s head coach was louder than for the other team’s introduction.

The university even added a pregame introduction to the student section as the best sixth man in the country, which was placed directly after Wojciechowski’s name was announced.

However, social media harassment of collegiate athletes and coaches isn’t just an issue within the Marquette community. Following Ohio State University’s upset to the No. 15 seed Oral Roberts University March 19, the Buckeyes’ sophomore forward and rebound leader E.J. Liddell was victim to social media harassment — even to the extreme of death threats.

Even though he had a team-high 23 points and contributed 14 rebounds in OSU’s 75-72 loss, people still felt they needed to add to his already sad night by sending him cruel messages. To put it in perspective, while Liddell shot 10-for-15 on the night, the remainder of the team went 19-for-52 from the field.

He posted screenshots to Twitter March 19 of Instagram direct messages that included hateful and

vulgar messages with the caption “Honestly, what did I do to deserve this? I’m human.” The tweet received tons of attention and amassed over 12,000 quote tweets, 16,200 comments, 17,200 retweets and 223,100 likes as of March 22.

One of those many hurtful messages stated: “Piece of s--t. You managed to do it again. You were shooting a 1 and 1 to win the game lol. You are such a f-----g disgrace.

Don’t ever show your face at Ohio State. We hate you. I hope you die I really do.”

Liddell commented in a tweet thread that he had never done anything to anyone to deserve this.

“Comments don’t get to me but I just wanna know why,” Liddell said.

He then had to clarify that he did not want to come off as attacking Ohio State fans.

“I love you all dearly and I’ve felt nothing but appreciated since the first day I stepped on campus,” Liddell said.

He shouldn’t have had to make the final statement because some people were offended. He’s the original victim. He was the one who was attacked with racial slurs and death threats.

Both CNN and ESPN reported that the Buckeyes’ athletic director Gene Smith promised fans that authorities would get involved if people continued to threaten players because “hate and derision have no place in Buckeye Nation or in civil society.”

Even two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and TNT basketball analyst Charles

Barkley has weighed in on the OSU situation, stating he will be staying away from social media for the foreseeable future.

“I am never gonna be able to dignify these losers and interact with them ever. I don’t care how much money somebody offers me, I’m never going to do social media because of this,” Barkley said to fellow Inside March Madness panelists Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Andy Katz prior to games March 20.

In a media Zoom call with athletic director Bill Scholl March 19, he said Wojciechowski was a phenomenal person with great character who coached “the right way.”

“It’s really hard,” Scholl said. “His family are an incredible family. They bought into Marquette and they loved being at Marquette. That piece is hard. In some ways you kind of feel like a member of our Marquette community has gone away. I hope I’m not the only one who feels that way. Steve did a lot for our community. That piece is painful and hard.”

There’s too much hate in the real world for there to be even more animosity online. Social media harassment in college athletics needs to stop because athletes and coaches are humans with families, just like the rest of us. Put yourself in their shoes and be more compassionate because, at the end of the day, basketball is just a game.

Zoe Comerford is a senior double majoring in journalism and digital media. She can be reached at isabel.comerford@marquette.edu

U.S. must remove military forces from foreign nations Lucia Ruffolo Though some may take pride in the strength of the American military, it is time for the Biden administration to reduce the country’s unfettered military powers abroad.

The U.S. military struck a site in Syria used by two Iranian-backed militia groups in response to rocket attacks on American forces Feb. 25.

This was the first military action President Joe Biden took since taking office. The action drew criticism, mainly because Biden had not asked for necessary congressional authority. However, it is most necessary to question why there are still American troops occupying the area at all.

The United States has had troops in Syria since late 2015 under the direction of President Barack Obama, and what this decision has accomplished for the Syrian civil war still remains unclear.

Some view the military presence as necessary to prevent the rush to reclaim the area’s oil fields by Syria’s President Bashar Assad and his allies from Russia and Iran. However, U.S. presence in Syria hurts Syria more

than it helps it. The airstrike conducted Feb. 25 killed a civilian contractor and severely injured a service member. This is not the first time U.S. backed airstrikes have caused damage, as it is also worth mentioning the past airstrikes that left thousands dead and decimated cities.

The United States is notoriously picky about what human rights violations it acknowledges. It may claim its presence in Syria is to prevent the abuse against civilians by Assad and Russia, yet support two of the most oppressive regimes in the Middle East: Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Israel, one of the United States’ major allies in the Middle East, struck missiles near the Syrian capital Damascus Feb. 28 and then again March 17.

The United States requested $3.3 billion in foreign military funding and $500 million in missile defense for Israel in 2021 and has given a sizable amount of military aid to the country in the past. Like the United States, Israel has a long-lasting brutal military regime, with human rights violations against Palestinians, such as institutionalized discrimination and the rampant killing of innocent civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government has also re-instituted a travel ban against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and security forces have killed 20 Palestinians and wounded 2,001 in the West Bank since Oct. 5, according to a 2021 Human Rights Watch report. If the United States was truly so committed to stopping human rights abuses, they would end their strong relationship with Israel.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two main partners of the United States in the Middle East, have led a military coalition against Yemen since 2015 and Yemen continues to experience one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

While Biden has claimed that Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations will not be ignored, such as their embracing of enslavement, it is unlikely he will choose to cut ties with the country altogether, as Biden as still mentioned wanting to promote American interests abroad.

But what would truly be in the best interest of the United States and other nations in the Middle East would be to quickly withdraw and remove itself from all conflict in the military east, no matter how much it economically benefits from its relationship with Saudi Arabia because

of the obstruction of civil rights and thousands of deaths and destruction the nation has been responsible for.

The Department of Defense requested $705.4 billion for the 2021 fiscal year and taxpayers have reportedly spent $13.34 trillion from 2000 through 2019. Many have noted the United States has an empire-like military budget and have called its vast operations unnecessary at best and detrimental at worse.

The United States’ large militaristic, imperialist presence on the world has caused long-lasting damage and perpetuated the continual struggle of those in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

For example, civilians in Cambodia and Laos are still experiencing the effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant chemical sprayed during the Vietnam War used to clear vegetation. Children in this area are born with facial and bodily deformities and developmental disabilities.

While the United States has admitted to the harmful effects of the chemical, it has not fully addressed the geographical extent of the damage.

At the the start of his administration, Biden boasted about having women military generals in the United States armed forces, and

others similarly applauded it as a progressive move. But it would truly be progressive and groundbreaking if Biden largely descaled U.S. military involvement and ended its regime-like power and legacy once and for all.

Lucia Ruffolo is a first-year student and is undecided. She can be reached at lucia.ruffolo@marquette.edu

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The opinions expressed on the Opinions page reflect the opinions of the Opinions staff. The editorials do not represent the opinions of Marquette University nor its administrators, but those of the editorial board.

The Marquette Tribune prints guest submissions at its discretion. The Tribune strives to give all sides of an issue an equal voice over the course of a reasonable time period. An author’s contribution will not be published more than once in a four-week period. Submissions with obvious relevance to the Marquette community will be given priority consideration.

Full Opinions submissions should be limited to 500 words. Letters to the editor should be between 150 to 250 words. The Tribune reserves the right to edit submissions for length and content.

Please e-mail submissions to: alexandra.garner@marquette.edu. If you are a current student, include the college in which you are enrolled and your year in school. If not, please note any affliations to Marquette or your current city of residence.

Sports The Marquette Tribune

ATHLETES CALL OUT NCAA FOR UNEQUAL TREATMENT IN TOURNEY SPORTS, 14

Tuesday, March 23, 2021 PAGE 12

Wojciechowski era ends after seven seasons

Marquette Wire stock photo

Steve Wojciechowski coaches from the sidelines in Marquette’s game against Villanova Jan. 4, 2020. Wojciechowski spent seven years at the helm of the Golden Eagles.

Maryland native finishes career with 128-95 overall record

By Zoe Comerford

isabel.comerford@marquette.edu

After seven seasons as head coach of the Marquette men’s basketball team, the university decided to part ways with Steve Wojciechowski March 19.

“After a thorough evaluation of our program over the last week, which included multiple conversations with Steve, I concluded that now is the right time for a new leader of our storied program,” athletic director Bill Scholl said in a statement.

“I’m confident that our history

of success and our commitment to developing young men who are leaders on and off the court will attract the highest caliber of coaching talent.”

Scholl thanked Wojciechowski for his dedication to student-athletes and representing the men’s basketball program and university. In a media press conference March 19 Scholl said it was a sad day, but he had many conversations with Wojciechowski over the past couple of weeks.

“We talked a lot about what the expectations are and what we need to do to get better and continue on the right trajectory.

There were just some areas at the end of the day where we felt differently about what was the right way to go on some things,” Scholl said. “At some point you

take a look at where the program currently stands and how we are moving forward together and sometimes you have to make the hard decision and that’s what we did.”

Later March 19, Wojciechowski posted a statement addressed to the Marquette community on Instagram.

“I know this isn’t the ending any of us hoped for back in 2014 but it has been my honor to serve as your coach for these past seven years. Marquette is a truly special place and I am going to miss it,” Wojciechowski said in the post. “Marquette has some of the most passionate fans you will ever find in college basketball, and to all of those who had encourage words over the past seven years — and even some of

those who didn’t — I want you to know that I admire and respect your passion. I wish the entire Marquette community nothing but the best, and thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

When Scholl called the student-athletes into the locker room for a meeting, they already knew what had happened. He said social media has played a role in who actually shares the news with players.

“It’s one of the worst parts of my job,” Scholl said. “Our players, for the most part, were having a terrific experience and have tremendous respect for Steve …

They feel for Coach Wojo and his family.”

This comes after the Golden Eagles ended the 2020-21 season with a 13-14 overall record

and a 68-49 loss in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament to the Georgetown Hoyas, the eventual tournament champions. The past two consecutive years, in 2018-19 and 2019-20, Wojciechowski’s squads ended each season losing six out of their last seven games.

After becoming head coach in 2014 and spending seven seasons with the Golden Eagles, Wojciechowski amassed an overall record of 128-95 and 5968 in BIG EAST play. His winning percentage was .574 overall and .465 in conference. He helped Marquette to two NCAA Tournament at-large bids and a National Invitational Tournament finals appearance in 2017.

See ERA page 16

Sports

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Marquette Tribune

13

WOMEN’S SOCCER

BIG EAST Tournament looms for Frank Pelaez’s squad Team has best league start since 2012 with 10 goals in 4 games

By Bryan Geenen

bryan.geenen@marquette.edu

With a win March 18 and a loss March 21, the Marquette women’s soccer team has moved to 4-2 on the season, 2-2 in BIG EAST play.

One of the main reasons for this hot start is the team’s ability thus far to capitalize on their chances on net.

Marquette has not been dominant against opponents this year in terms of shots or shots on-goal, though.

In their first six games, they have had 73 total shots, which averages out to just over 12 shots a game.

Their opponents have had 74 total shots, which gives Marquette opponents an almost identical shots-per-game average.

The Golden Eagles have led their opponents in shots on-goal, but it is an incredibly thin margin. Marquette has had 34 of their 73 shots on goal, while their opponents have had 33 of their

74 shots on goal. That gives Marquette a shots-on-goal percentage of around 47%, while their opponents are at 45%.

Marquette has had big performances from their goalkeepers too, specifically a shutout game from first-year goalie Lauren Schill against DePaul March 7.

However, Marquette has not had many more saves than their opponents, as Marquette sits at 26 saves while their opponents have 19 saves.

The main difference setting the Golden Eagles apart has been in the goals category. Marquette has 13 goals on the season while their opponents have only seven.

Head coach Frank Pelaez talked about some of the drills and mindsets that have helped his team to net so many of their shots.

“It starts from the very first day we were able to touch a ball. We practiced going to goal every day.

I want everyone to do different exercises when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net,” Pelaez said. “That way, they all feel comfortable at any point in time to have a shot and put it in the back of the net.”

Marquette has had considerable scoring from all over the field

this year. Although their top two goal scorers, Kylie Sprecher and Elsi Twombly, are forwards, the team has had production across the board.

The seven goals not scored

by Sprecher or Twombly have come from Marquette midfielders or their forward/midfielder combo players.

Excluding exhibition games, the Golden Eagles were able to net 10 goals in their first four games, a feat which has not been done since the 2010 and 2012 seasons.

Both of those years, Marquette had major success in the NCAA Tournament and the BIG EAST Tournament. Marquette also won the BIG EAST Tournament in 2012.

Although the first few games are usually a warmup for conference opponents, former defender Ally Miller talked about the mindset her teams entered the season with each year. She was with the team from 2009 to 2012.

“We knew our talent and we had the right players so I think that gave us confidence that we were going to be successful that year,” Miller said. “The previous year, we had a good team and we did really well and the next year, you

see who’s around you and you say, ‘OK, we’ve got a really good shot at doing well this year.’”

Miller was a major part of the team, starting every game in 2010 and winning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and BIG EAST Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the Tournament in 2012. In those two years, Marquette went further in the NCAA Tournament than any other year, making it to the Sweet 16 round. Miller spoke about how the goal was always the BIG EAST Tournament, but they felt they had a real chance in the NCAA Tournament.

“The BIG EAST Tournament was something that was more attainable for us. I had confidence that we were going to make the NCAA tournament every year; that wasn’t a question that I had,” Miller said. “But I think that last year (2012), we thought we could go even further than the Sweet Sixteen. I wouldn’t have been surprised if we made it to the Final Four.”

While the normal season continues on for a few more months, this season is unlike any other.

The Golden Eagles have four more conference games before the BIG EAST Championship starts

Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics

The women’s soccer team hugs in Marquette’s 3-1 win over Xavier March 18. The Golden Eagles have started the season with a 4-2 overall record.

in mid-April.

The BIG EAST championship game will take place April 17. According to the NCAA website, the women’s soccer tournament begins the selection process just one day after the BIG EAST Tournament concludes.

Steve Bode, Marquette’s assistant coach, talked about what kind of challenges the different tournaments bring.

“For the BIG EAST Tournament, in a common year, normally, you’ve played them once or twice before you get there so there’s a familiarity. In the NCAA Tournament, you could go anywhere,” Bode said. “You can literally see anyone in any region, whether it’s a Midwest-based team or East or West Coast, which I think is one of the biggest things.”

Miller also mentioned the NCAA randomness when they lost in the NCAA Tournament in 2012.

The team travelled to Brigham Young University and the altitude was a problematic experience for the team. The team had not played in Utah all season and Miller talked about how the air there was much different than in Milwaukee.

With every tournament being a major moment for Marquette, Miller talked about her favorite between the two.

“The last year was super memorable being in the BIG EAST Tournament and winning. That’s definitely in the top of my memories from Marquette,” Miller said. “We beat Notre Dame in the semifinals and Georgetown in the final so those are some of the best memories.”

As the current team will continue to face BIG EAST opponents, Miller said taking it one game at a time, but playing with confidence each game is super important.

“I think keeping a winning mindset and belief is important,” Miller said. “If you don’t have confidence going into it, you’re going to play nervous and of course, you’re going to make more mistakes. You have to go in with confidence that you can win each game.”

Pelaez has kept the mindset of one game at a time throughout the season. The head coach has mentioned the mantra every step of the way this year.

“When we were playing DePaul, I said, ‘hey, let’s not forget where we came from. Let’s take advantage of today because we might not have a tomorrow,’ and that’s real stuff. I’m looking at one game and that next game is the most important game and hopefully, we get to play another one,” Pelaez said.

14

The Marquette Tribune

Sports

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

BASKETBALL

NCAA ‘drops the ball’ during March Madness Marquette redshirt senior for- inequities. other items. Meanwhile the ward Lauren Van Kleunen ac“My role at the NCAA is to women’s welcome bag included knowledged this example of oversee and coordinate bas- a towel, Powerade water bottles, inequality would not have been ketball championships and all a shirt, an umbrella and some seen without social media. things with the game. We have toiletry items.

“I guess it wouldn’t have been intentionally organized basketHolzman said both the men’s really brought up unless it was ball under one umbrella with a and women’s basketball staffs

By Zoe Comerford like everything else nowadays: goal of consistency and collabo- work on creating the swag bags and John Leuzzi videotaped and put on social ration,” Gavitt said. “When we and some of those differences isabel.comerford@marquette.edu media,” Van Kleunen said March fall short of these expectations, had to do with the geographical john.leuzzi@marquette.edu 19 on a Zoom press conference. that’s on me as well as our bet- differences of Indianapolis and It all started with a Tik- “So, I mean, it was a little shock- ter and outstanding team in both Texas, the two states where the men’s and women’s basketball championships are held.

Tok posted to Twitter March ing to see.”

18 by University of Oregon redshirt sophomore forward Sedona Prince.

Within a matter of hours, the women’s basketball player’s 60-second video had gone viral with over 8.4 million views. Once it found its way to Twitter, it amassed over 9,600 comments, 24,400 quote tweets, 189,000 retweets and 620,000 likes as of March 22.

In the TikTok, Prince showed the disparity between the men’s and women’s weight room in the NCAA bubbles.

It did not stop there.

Portland’s KION News sports reporter and anchor AJ McCord added to the conversation with photos depicting differences in food and swag bags the men’s and women’s players received.

On top of that, a New York Times article exposed how the women received less accurate COVID-19 tests than the men.

While the men received polymerase chain reaction tests, the women had rapid antigen tests.

According to Memorial Healthcare, the differences between these two tests are efficiency and time of when the results come back.

The TikTok, along with other tweets of the disparities, have also caught the attention of thousands of famous athletes, media members and celebrities, including the NBA’s Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving, tennis legend Billie Jean King, legendary former Notre Dame head Photo courtesy of Dan Henry coach Muffet McGraw, WNBA Dan Henry’s tweet shows the differences between the NCAA men’s and women’s ‘swag bags.’ star Sue Bird and ESPN’s Jay Bilas.

Lynn Holzman, the NCAA vice but under my direction, in my “When we heard those conThough she didn’t see all president of women’s basketball, leadership. That’s on me.” cerns, we did a side-by-side about Prince’s video, Marquette said March 19 on a Zoom press Gavitt mentioned he hopes to comparison of some of the, as women’s head coach Megan conference that these concerns use this situation to improve in- referred to, ‘swag bag,’” HolzDuffy said it was awesome to were first brought to their atten- ternally — better communicate, man said. “We do proactively, see players in the NBA step-up tion through social media. better collaborate — for the bet- with the men’s basketball staff, from tweeting to wearing shirts “As that began to unfold, we ter well-being of both men’s and work together when putting toto speaking publicly. immediately turned to trying to women’s basketball. gether those student-athlete gift “It’s more than just putting gather the teams within a span Another area of discrepancy bags. There are some different, it on social media,” Duffy said of a couple of hours, the head was the so called “swag bags” some minor differences to that March 19 on a Zoom press coaches and the lead administra- that teams received upon arrived and those are because of things conference. “It’s really dig- tors, so that we could hear what to their respective bubble loca- we identified that were more difging into the conversation, the else was going on or what their tions for the championships. ferences relative to the location resources and getting the right concerns were,” Holzman said.

As captured in photos, the that we were in.” people at the table continually NCAA Senior Vice Presi- men’s players received sevHolzman did not explicitly to try and not brush things un- dent of Basketball Dave Gavitt eral large towels, shirts, a hat, say why the different locations der the rug. Just keep bringing hopped on the March 19 wom- toiletry products, a book writ- would affect the swag bags. it to light and hope we can keep en’s basketball Zoom to admit ten by legendary Georgetown Along with the unequal balmoving forward.” they “dropped the ball” after the men’s basketball head coach ance of items in the swag Similarly to her head coach, NCAA was called out for the John Thompson, among many bags, there is a difference in

Duffy, LVK weigh in on recent headlines, Prince’s viral TikTok

branding for both tournaments.

The men’s tournament is branded as “The Big Dance” with the account name @marchmadness, while the women’s tournament is branded as “NCAA Women’s Basketball.”

“We try to strike this delicate balance between being all the same and yet having some independence so that there’s this unique nature of these championships and the sports,” Gavitt said. “We also have some challenges in that we have different, equally valued, greatly valued, broadcast partners. ESPN for the women’s championship and CBS and Turner for the men’s championship, so branding around broadcast is an issue for those partners as well as for the two championships.”

University of South Carolina’s women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley released a statement on Twitter Friday, addressing the inequalities. She described it as being “disheartening that we are addressing the glaring deficiencies and inequities in the WOMEN’S and men’s NCAA Tournament experiences for the student-athletes, but here we are.”

But 2021 is not the first time gender inequalities have been recognized as a problem in sports.

In 2015, The Atlantic released an article about how women in collegiate sports felt “marginalized and undervalued,” which indicated this is part of a larger systemic problem.

Meanwhile, a 2020 article in Power Plays Newsletter by Jessica Price, a freelance reporter who has written for ESPN, Teen Vogue and Team USA, addressed how COVID-19 has brought to attention systemic sexism in college sports. Price found a Women’s Sports Foundation report that found there has been a decrease in NCAA female coaches from 90% in 1971 to 43% in 2020. That same report also stated “there are over 62,000 fewer opportunities available for women to play in college, and 87% of schools still offer more opportunities to men relative to the school’s enrollment, falling short of Title IX compliance.”

An Insider article released March 20 pointed out there are 68 men’s teams and only 64 women’s teams in the NCAA Tournament.

These are just some examples of Title IX violations. Title IX is a part of the 1972 Education Amendments Act, which was created to counter sexism and ensure “no person in the See NCAA page 15

Sports

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Marquette Tribune

15

BASKETBALL

NCAA: Athletes speak out against inequities Continued from page 14 United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

The NCAA states on its website the three basic parts of Title IX that relate to collegiate athletics are through participation, scholarships and other benefits.

Under the “other benefits” category, the NCAA lists equal treatment relating to — and not limited to — equipment and supplies, travel and daily allowance, training facilities and services, housing and dining facilities and services as well as publicity and promotion.

University of Connecticut women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma said the occurrences seen in San Antonio are disappointing.

“That is a small sample of what occurs every single day on every college campus across this country,” Auriemma said.

“A lot of coaches in women’s sports are successful and doing an incredible job and are doing it with the resources that you would say are less than adequate to what the men might have.”

As a former Division I student-athlete at Notre Dame and WNBA player, Duffy said the overall theme of creating opportunities has gotten better, but there is more to be done.

Duffy said women in sports have always been a group that are both appreciative of and humbled by opportunities. That includes a feeling of thankfulness for the NCAA Tournament happening this year after COVID-19 took it away last year.

“However, there are inequities and we’re seeing it blasted on social media,” Duffy said.

“We’re trying to use our voices in the appropriate way to make it clear that we’re not happy with some of the things that are happening but at the same time we still have perspective of how thankful we are.”

In 2020, despite 168 varsity sports across the 10 schools, the BIG EAST had a total of 36 female head coaches, but all of them were in women’s sports.

For Marquette specifically, women’s basketball has been underappreciated in, for example, where the two teams play.

The men’s team plays at the same arena as the Milwaukee Bucks, Fiserv Forum, which holds a capacity of close to 17,400 in non-COVID times.

The women’s team plays on campus at the Al McGuire Center, with a capacity of

around 3,700.

Holzman said these examples of inequality seen in San Antonio have touched nerves and created more conversations among administrators, coaches and players.

“I have lived in this world. I said I was a women’s basketball student-athlete, although (I was one) back in the early 90s,” Holzman said. “I’ve experienced when you don’t have something that’s the same. This is also why it hits such a nerve with me.”

Nina King, chair of the women’s basketball committee, said “the committee expects an elite championship experience for our student athletes” and added that the conversations need to be pushed further.

“We are charged with providing that to the NCAA staff to ensure that we’re hosting, in this moment, an equitable championship,” King said. “I think the coaches recognized that, in our conversation last night, we are all committed to continuing to push the envelope so that we get this right for our studentathletes, our student-athletes deserve it.”

These conversations continue to happen regularly

Photo courtesy of Stanford Sports Performance Coach Ali Kershner

This photo shows how the men’s weight room (top) is different from the women’s weight room (bottom).

Photo courtesy of Chloe Pavlech

This photo depicts the inequities between food at both tournaments.

within the Marquette women’s basketball program.

Duffy said the Golden Eagles have had conversations on topics from social injustice issues to women’s equality, to most recently, what has happened down in Atlanta with the Asian community.

The 2019-20 BIG EAST Coach of the Year further mentioned MU has done a great job showing you can compartmentalize both being a part of this equality fight and focusing on winning a basketball game.

“That’s the awesome thing of our ability to multitask,” Duffy said. “We can use our voices in

the right way and the right platform but still be focused on winning as many games as we can in the NCAA Tournament.”

Holzman mentioned it hurts that the confusion and outrage behind the inequalities are felt among fans and teams, as it is the NCAA’s responsibility “to give them a great championship experience and one they can be proud of.”

“It’s disappointing, it is,” Holzman said. “I don’t even have the words to describe how painful it is, personally.”

Despite the discrepancy and inequality, Holzman said there are areas of growth and

positivity in San Antonio. Unlike past years, where games were televised regionally, all NCAA women’s games will be nationally broadcasted on the ESPN networks.

“Being nationally broadcasted means that a viewer, starting this year, for the first time, is going to be able to just change the channel on the ESPN networks and be able to see the game. That is representative of the growth of our game overall, not just collegiate women’s basketball,” Holzman said. “ For the first time this year, as well, ABC is going to be broadcasting six of our games. So again, although this is a blemish, I do want to emphasize we have made some strides.”

Staley, the head coach at the University of South Carolina, was critical of these inequities being a larger problem within the institution that has not been solved by NCAA President Mark Emmert.

“The real issue is not the weights or the ‘swag’ bags; it’s that they did not think or do not think that the women’s players ‘deserve’ the same amenities of the men,” Staley said in a statement. “What we now know is the NCAA’s season long messaging about ‘togetherness’ and ‘equality’ was about the convenience and a soundbite for the moment created after the murder of George Floyd.”

On the March 20 edition of ESPN’s College Gameday, Bilas, an analyst on the show, spoke further on the issue.

The former Duke men’s basketball standout blasted Emmert for his leadership after Emmert waited over 24 hours to make a comment instead of coming forth right away on the matter.

“The NCAA men’s and women’s tournament are all under the same umbrella and whatever was ordered for the men and was there for the men should have been there for the women, that seems beyond reasonable discussion,” Bilas said. “It’s a shocking failure in leadership and there you can understand why we have these systemic issues. This is not the first time, let’s just hope it’s the last.”

Along with Bilas, Staley and many other women’s basketball head coaches, Stanford’s head coach Tara VanDerveer posted a statement to Twitter March 20 condemning the NCAA for “blatant sexism.”

“This is purposeful and hurtful. I feel betrayed by the NCAA,” Vanderveer said. “This cannot continue to be business as usual. … This is wrong and unacceptable. So much effort from so many people has gone into making this tournament happen.

If it is worth doing at all, it is worth doing right. Let’s fix this once and for all.”

16

Sports

The Marquette Tribune

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

MEN’S BASKETBALL

ERA: Athletics begins search for 18th head coach Continued from page 12 The program has historically been successful, winning the 1977 NCAA Championship under legendary head coach Al McGuire, as well as 33 NCAA Tournament appearances consisting of 16 Sweet Sixteens, seven Elite Eights and three Final Four appearances.

“A storied program like this, and the support we provide to it, I think competing pretty consistently at the top of the BIG EAST, certainly regular stream of NCAA bids and the occasional opportunity to run deep in March, those are all things we, as a program, should aspire to,” Scholl said. “As I look forward, I’m going to look for somebody who feels the same way and somebody we believe can make that happen.”

Scholl said Wojciechowski met many of the expectations they placed around the program, such as recruiting men with character.

“He did it the right way,”

Scholl said. “In so many of the ways that you want to judge a program, he was truly hitting it out of the park.”

With the new NCAA rule regarding transferring without penalty, Scholl said he is concerned about what the ripple effect of Wojciechowski leaving will have on Marquette’s future commits such as Stevie Mitchell and Kam Jones, as well as the possibility of retaining current players like Dawson Garcia and D.J. Carton.

“You just wouldn’t have your eyes open if you didn’t think this could certainly be a reason for somebody to begin looking around,” Scholl said. “Let’s be honest with each other, a huge piece of any recruiting decision is the head coach … When the head coach changes, I don’t fault our student-athletes at all for thinking ‘is this still the right place?’”

The Severna Park, Maryland native still has two seasons remaining on his coaching contract after receiving a five-year

extension in May 2019 until the 2023-24 season. The statement said that the “transition cost and obligations related to the change in coaching leadership will be paid for entirely by Intercollegiate Athletics.”

“We have worked with our finance folks,” Scholl said. “We made this move knowing that it was going to be on Intercollegiate Athletics to absorb the costs of the transition … We’re going to have to tighten our belts and we’re going to have to raise some more money and we’re going to have to maybe sell some more tickets. But we will get that done.”

The statement said Marquette will start searching for a new head coach immediately. Scholl said he does have a list of preliminary candidates for the position. Although he has a bias for hiring someone who has already had experience as a head coach, he said he will not rule anyone out just on that alone.

“The learning curve tends to be shorter (for head coaches),”

Scholl said. “I’m never going to just say that’s the only route I’ll go … Let’s face it, we all had to have that first head job, me included, as an athletic director.”

Not only does Scholl want someone who values education with no NCAA compliance situations and effective recruitment abilities, but he also wants someone who has a solidified offensive and defensive identity.

“It’s not always about trying to find a five-star kid … but that’s not the be-all end-all,” Scholl said. “That kind of identity creation, ‘what kind of defense am I going to play,’ and ‘am I going to recruit the kind of kid who can do that.’ It’s probably nine, 10, 11 things like that that we use as a measuring stick.”

He also mentioned that character and the willingness to be a teammate with other coaches within the department are important elements for a potential candidate.

“The right head coach — and, by the way, Steve was that — is always willing to help our

other coaches,” Scholl said. “To help student-athletes from other sports. Gets on the phone to recruit soccer players.”

Out of 14 head coaches at Marquette, only two are women and only one is a person of color. Scholl told the Marquette Wire back in August the athletics department has to work harder to hire people with diverse backgrounds. He had a similar message March 19.

“Every hire we make, diversity is a critical piece of the equation,” Scholl said.

Scholl said his final message to fans is a bittersweet one.

“Steve Wojciechowski is a phenomenal guy,” Scholl said.

“In some ways you kind of feel like a member of our Marquette community has gone away. I hope I’m not the only one who feels that way … I certainly am excited about beginning the process of seeing who comes in and sits in the chair for our program going forward.”

VOLLEYBALL

COVID-19 gives perspectives to MUVB players Schoessow, Theis discuss ability to play amid uncertainty

By Molly Gretzlock

molly.gretzlock@marquette.edu

With a season full of ups and downs, cancellations and postponements, the Marquette volleyball team has remained strong through it all. Head coach Ryan Theis has made sure to keep the squad grounded through the unfamiliarities.

“You have to deal with what is in front of you and the challenges that are in front of you,” head coach Ryan Theis said. “It’s been a pretty constant message that I think has been received really well from my team. We have 16 really good people that understand what is really important (with) what we can and can’t control.”

The team finished their adjusted season with a 9-3 overall record, while going 4-2 in BIG EAST Conference play. The team also ranked consistently among the NCAA’s Women’s Volleyball Division I rankings of top 25 teams throughout the season, sitting at No. 24 for three consistent weeks throughout February. According to the most recent NCAA DI Women’s Volleyball Ranking released March 14, Marquette has now moved down to No. 27.

The Golden Eagles were able to complete 75% of their game

schedule this season, playing 12 of the 16 games. The four games that were unable to be played were due to COVID-19 precautions by either the opponents or Marquette. Junior defensive specialist Katie Schoessow acknowledged that the time they have been on the court has been taken simply an opportunity to play the game.

“Out of all the (BIG EAST) conference teams, we have the most games played. We are lucky enough to have that and, obviously, the cancellations you can’t do anything about,” Schoessow said. “We are just glad we were able to have some matches played and hopefully looking forward to competing in the BIG EAST Tournament.”

The BIG EAST Conference Tournament is scheduled for April 2 and April 3 in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Golden Eagles are heading into the tournament with an open mind.

With the opportunity to build from their season’s BIG EAST matchups, such as the two meetings against the No. 24 Creighton Bluejays where they split the series back in early February, they are going in prepared for what is to come.

“We are up for the challenge, we have a great group of girls that is willing to stay motivated and compete in the BIG EAST Tournament, so we are excited,” Schoessow said.

“Our first couple matches where we played Creighton was the best competition we are going to get ... I do think being able to play our other top opponent, Creighton, in the

Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics

The Marquette women’s volleyball team celebrates during the Golden Eagles’ win against Iowa State Feb. 27.

conference is just going to help prepare us for playing them again in the BIG EAST Tournament.”

Notably, senior right-side setter Taylor Wolf led the team in regular season kills with 123, followed by sophomore outside hitter Hannah Vanden Berg with 108 and senior outside hitter Hope Werch with 101.

Graduate middle blocker Savannah Rennie leads the team in blocks with a 43.0 percentage and sophomore middle blocker Claire Nuessmeier follows with a 36.0 percentage. Junior setter Claire Mosher has led the team in assists this season, standing with a total of 244, while Wolf follows with 213 as well.

Not only do plenty of people lead the stat sheets, but also multiple players have taken over leadership positions on and off the court as well.

“I really think what is really great

about this team is there really isn’t a specific person (that is a leader),” Schoessow said. “All of us are really trying to help step up right now which is really great. It’s good that it’s not just one person on the team.

What’s cool is it doesn’t really matter our age. This team doesn’t really care about a freshman trying to be a leader and take over. Every single person leads by example in ways.”

With the BIG EAST Conference Tournament approaching, Marquette will be able to see, and potentially play, new competition from the East Coast side of the BIG EAST Conference, which includes Villanova, St. John’s, Providence, UConn and Seton Hall. The original 12-team conference had to be split into East and West divisions, for precaution purposes regarding travel safety due to COVID-19.

While the season played out

unpredictably, the Golden Eagles continued to acclimate the mentality of taking it one day at a time.

Theis said one thing his squad has had to learn this season is how to make constant adjustments while still practicing the mindset of preparedness to play, no matter when that time might be. Senior setter Sarah Rose has also been on the team’s minds this season, as she is undergoing cancer treatment.

“I have taken special consideration in not making things a big deal,” Theis said. “Because there are a lot of bigger things going on out there right now, including Sarah Rose. We talked about (if) things fair. At one point we got to a situation when something wasn’t fair. I said would we rather be in our situation or Sarah Rose’s, because is her situation fair? It’s not.”