The Marquette Tribune
MUSG to invest in campuswide initiatives
by Jack Belmont john.belmont@marquette.edu
the COVID-19 pandemic, Marquette
By Sahil Gupta sahil.gupta@marquette.edu
Marquette University Student Government plans to invest several years of budget surplus into various initiatives involving infrastructure improvements around campus designed to better the quality of students' academic and residential experiences at Marquette.
In an interview with the Marquette Wire, MUSG
President Brennan Wills, a junior in the College of Communication, Legislative Vice President Justin Uribe, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Financial Vice President Logan Meyer, a junior in the College of Business Administration, sat down to discuss their agenda, which includes upgrades to campus buildings and the
installation of automated external defibrillators in residence halls.
“The idea is that [the bill] going to be a large investment plan, ideally making the price target half a million dollars,” Meyer said.
Meyer added that the funding would come from the over $718,000 student activity budget surplus that resulted from a lack
of organization spending during the pandemic. The bill is being dubbed "The Omnibus Bill."
Any proposal must be approved by administration before being executed, however the three executives are confident in the project's viability. Wills emphasized the importance of collaborating with administration and maintaining a
working relationship.
“[The process] is usually about finding ways in which we can either show them what the benefits are, [and] they can tell us where there might be areas where we are getting ahead of ourselves,” Wills said.
There are several ideas currently floating among MUSG over specific initia
MU community recovers from LA wildfires
By Mia Thurow mia.thurow@marquette.edu
Student on campus when fires destroyed hometown
Annie Biggs had to make an unimaginable decision in January—fly back to Marquette for the new semester as normal or stay home with family while the world seemed to burn around her house in Sherman Oaks, California. Biggs, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, lives in the valley of Los Angeles where she is surrounded by nearby hills. She said it is normally hard for wildfires to reach her community, and that she was never really affected by these natural disasters until conditions worsened in recent years. Biggs recalled how while she was at home over winter break, the Santa Ana winds, dry and warm gusts from inner Southern California, picked up as expected. However, widespread confusion broke out when a
wildfire started in the Palisades region of LA, close to her community.
To the east, the Eaton fire was also just beginning to burn.
“All of a sudden, they just got more intense and started heading north toward us,” Biggs said. “It happened slowly but quickly, which is scary because whenever I watch movies, I’m like, ‘Why wouldn’t people leave a natural disaster while they could? Why are they waiting?’”
Bigg’s family spent three
nights up, constantly watching the news as their only source of what to do regarding evacuation.
Biggs noted how out-ofcontrol the situation felt in that moment, and how her family had to make several emergency plans, one being whether she should go back to school or not.
While Biggs ended up returning to Marquette for the spring semester, her parents had to evacuate their home in Sherman Oaks. Although her house was spared from the de-
struction, she said she knows many people who lost their homes, schools and places of cherished childhood memories.
“So much is happening and I’m still in that mindset,” Biggs said of being back at school while wildfires raged on at home.
“None of my friends have any idea what this feeling is or how intense it actually is.”
Jess Verdejo, director of the Arrupe Center for Community Service & Social Responsibility, grew
Photo
MUSG: Plan calls for AED's in dorms
Continued from page 1
tives to take on. Uribe indicated that building renovations are some of the most prominent ideas, with furniture upgrades in Cudahy Hall being a top interest.
“[Students] would just like a better environment to walk into, a more welcoming environment, instead of just a wooden table and chair,” Uribe said.
Another proposal is the installation of automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, in campus residence halls. Officers with the Marquette University Police Department carry AEDs currently, and anyone suffering from cardiac distress in a building lacking them must wait for officers to arrive on scene to receive care.
“A lot of students would like to see [AEDs] already present in dorm halls so they can be utilized sooner,” Wills said.
A similar sentiment was provided by Keli Wollmer, executive director of the Marquette University Medical Clinic.
“Quick access to AEDs
saves lives in the event of a cardiac arrest. Faster delivery of defibrillation increases the chance of survival,” Wollmer said in an email.
One proposal that has already been approved is the installation of iPads outside of the study rooms in the Lemonis Center to display availability. Wills said that the iPads are designed to improve the reservation process and make it more accessible.
“Instead of [students] having to go on their phone and fidget with the apps, [iPads will] make it more accessible for all students to just go there and see what’s available,” Wills said.
Lemonis Center Director
Marilyn Jones called the addition a "game changer" and highlighted the benefits of the upgraded system.
"This technology will provide real-time information on the spot, making it easier to schedule impromptu meetings or study sessions, modify reservations, avoid conflicts and even release rooms when there are no-shows," Jones said in
an email.
Meyer said that funding for the study room iPads has already been fully approved and allocated by the MUSG Senate. He added that he is
currently in the process of finalizing the terms with the Lemonis Center and that iPads would be ordered after that is complete.
The MUSG executives said
they hope to have funding for the remaining initiatives approved and allocated by the end of the 2025 spring semester.
LA: Campus Ministry to host fundraisers
Continued from page 1
where the Eaton wildfire took place. Like Biggs, she witnessed many friends and former classmates lose their properties to the historic natural disaster.
“I used to do cross country in high school, doing runs, and now I can only imagine what my hometown looks like,” Verdejo said.
Verdejo, who now lives in Wisconsin, pondered which possessions she would choose to save if she were still living in back home in LA. For Biggs, who is also 2,000 miles away from her childhood community at college, the damage still hits too close to home.
“I deleted Instagram weeks ago because it was constant fire things with everyone I followed,” Biggs said. “It’s intense, but [everything on my feed] looked like a war zone.”
After around a month of record-breaking destruction that claimed at least 29 lives and 37,000 acres of land, the Eaton and Palisades wildfires were reported to be contained Feb. 2. Though the active burning is over, the path to restoring the LA community will be historically costly and difficult.
“Something that is really important on top of donations and giving money is awareness,” Verdejo said. “Sharing stories about the Altadena community, thinking about Black and brown communities and
how it’ll be difficult for them to bounce back.”
The Eaton wildfire had disproportionate ramifications for LA’s Black communities, particularly in Altadena. Per a UCLA study, nearly half of the Black residences in Altadena were destroyed or severely damaged, in comparison to 37% of nonBlack residences.
Almost 60% of Black homeowners over 65 years old might struggle with insufficient insurance coverage or financial scamming throughout the rebuild process, the UCLA study found. Additionally, the rising cost of living, along with other racial barriers to homeownership, could lead to the decline of the Black community in Altadena.
“This was a neighborhood, this was a community,” Verdejo said. For now, Biggs is attempting to make a difference in the lives of those who lost their communities from her college campus, all the way across the country. She has been in touch with Campus Ministry and various event planning organizations at Marquette to discuss hosting different drives and fundraisers.
“Bringing awareness is the most important thing because we’re on the other side of the country here,” Biggs said. “We’re having snow days while it’s burning over there.”
One of the fundraisers
Biggs is planning is a spring series of art events. She said she wants the money raised to go to small LA nonprofits and/or individual families who are victims of the historic wildfires.
“I felt weird being back at school and not doing anything to help,” Biggs said. “I want to be aware about my community, my home that I’m going back to, and do as much as I can from over here.”
Verdejo, who highlighted the importance of awareness in tandem with fundraising efforts, recalled how late University President Michael Lovell em-
phasized the significance of allowing people to fully experience and process their emotions.
“I am proud, coming from Los Angeles. We’ve had earthquakes, we’ve had wildfires in the past, but memories are real and trauma has lasting effects,” Verdejo said. “I love the fact that we [at Marquette] care for one another, and caring starts with your mental health.”
Stephen Blaha, director of Campus Ministry, also echoed Lovell’s sentiment of care.
Following Marquette’s Feb. 2-7 Mission Week
2025, aptly themed “Act with Care,” Blaha said he encourages students to remain attentive to local and global ongoings, keeping their hearts loving and open in addition to praying and donating to humanitarian aid organizations in small amounts.
“You could think, ‘Today I’m not going to have my usual hot chocolate or coffee, but instead I’m going to use that to send money to relief efforts without breaking my budget as a college student,'” Blaha said.
MU students and staff from California are recovering from the damage while living far away.
Photo via Free Malaysia Today
They approved funding for iPads outside of study rooms in the library to reserve the spaces.
Marquette Wire Stock Photo
The MarqueTTe Tribune
Assistant Print Production Manager of The Marquette Tribune
NEWS
Assistant Editor Ruby Mulvaney, Sophia Tiedge
Reporters Ellie Golko, Lance Schulteis, Sahil Gupta
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Executive Arts &
MU alum wins Gerald Loeb award
By Ellie Golko elizabeth.golko@marquette.edu
Diederich College of Communication Alumna PrincessSafiya Byers was known in her undergraduate years as being an intern for Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, but four years after graduation, she is now known as a winner of what is sometimes referred to as the Pulitzer for business reporting.
This past fall, she was honored in New York City with the award for collaborating with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to write a package of stories about landlord and tenant issues, which included “This company quietly became a major Milwaukee landlord. What happens now that it's losing millions?"
The late Gerald Loeb, a writer and Wall Street trader, created the journalistic Gerald Loeb Awards to encourage reporting on business and finance that informs and protects private investors and the general public. The awards are administered by the UCLA Anderson School of Management and distributed at a ceremony in New York City.
Byers graduated from Marquette in 2020 and has since been working for NNS as a full-time news reporter. She covers a variety of beats from health to minority businesses but has a passion for writing about housing.
"I learned a lot [volunteering with unhoused folks], so I really wanted to do housing," Byers said.
This Week Engineers Week!
Byers said that during her time at Marquette, she volunteered at The Gathering, where she fed unhoused individuals. Her volunteer work taught her a lot about the homeless and motivated her to cover housing in her work.
"I didn't realize you have to be without somewhere to live for two full years before you can get resources,” Byers said. “You're consid-
ered homeless after two full years, so you have to be without a home to even start to get resources for two years first.”
The story was a collaborative effort between Byers with NNS and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Journal Sentinel provided the data about VineBrook Homes Trust while she focused on speaking to impacted sources.
Byers' story discusses how VineBrook, a multi-billionaire real estate company based in Texas, has been buying a majority of homes in Milwaukee and raising the prices. It includes both tenants' relationships with VineBrook and opinions of people who live in neighborhoods where VineBrook has purchased homes.
“I did what NNS does best, talking to the community. I really just went out, did some door knocking, called some folks that I knew that worked in housing,” Byers said. “That was my part. Really just talking to people, adding those human voices to the story.”
Byers is a Milwaukee native, which motivates her passion and knowledge about connecting with members of the community who raised her. She
said this is why it was not difficult to get residents to talk to her. One thing she found out was that some people she interviewed were not aware of who their landlord was.
“Folks didn't know who owned their homes, so they didn't quite know what they were talking about. So that was just something really interesting that I found in talking to people and being like, 'How do you like your landlord?' And people were like, 'I have no idea who my landlord is,'” Byers said.
Ron Smith, executive director for NNS, said he first met Byers when she was interning for NNS as an undergraduate student at Marquette.
“She [was] very quiet, but what I later learned is that Princess is not quiet, she’s discerning. She knows when to talk and when to interject,” Smith said.
Smith said NNS has grown a lot since Byers was hired as their first full-time reporter.
“It’s been amazing watching her grow and go,” Smith said. “She cares about the community.”
Roughly two years ago, Byers wrote a story that centered around poverty rates. Smith said one of
Byers' sources was a man who was in and out of the foster care system and illiterate. After the story came out, she met up with the man again to read it to him since he couldn't himself.
Smith said NNS sees their readers and sources as their neighbors and aims to connect with them in ways that might be different from news organizations.
“[The award] shows what journalists can do when we collaborate, so I love that part of working with the Journal Sentinel, which brought in their own expertise with database reporting,” Smith said.
Smith said that NNS and the Journal Sentinel have two different audiences, and their collaborative efforts not only won an award, but brought together different types of readers.
“I think that needs to be the new model of journalism, where we can complete and not compete,” Smith said.
Byers receiving the Leob Award is not the only time NNS has won a national award, but Smith said this one was special because it was an extra way of showcasing NNS’ emphasis on community connection.
Feb. 12
Feb. 13
MUPD Human Trafficking Awareness Training
Details: - 5:30 p.m. - 2724 W Wells St
"Touchstones: Stories of Hope and Instiration" with Leiva Thomas
Details: - 12-12:45 p.m. - Register on Teams
PrincessSafiya Byers worked with the Milwaukee Joournal Sentinel to write a story about landlords.
Photo courtesy of PrincessSafiya Byers
Campus Ministry to focus on inclusivity
By Ruby Mulvaney ruby.mulvaney@marquette.edu
Stephen Blaha, a Marquette employee since 2007, was recently promoted to director of Campus Ministry after previously serving as assistant director.
Running Marquette's Campus Ministry is not a surprising role for the true Marquette alum, affirmed by his love for the students, campus churches and Real Chili. This promotion comes after decades of dedication to Marquette's Campus Ministry, and after his service as interim director since fall of 2023.
“I get my biggest joy accompanying other people on their faith journeys and helping them grow in relationship with God,” Blaha said.
Blaha’s connection to Marquette started when he attended to earn his undergraduate degree in theology and secondary education.
In true Jesuit spirit, after graduation, Blaha then decided to serve as a full-time volunteer for a non-profit company in New Orleans. He worked at a Catholic high school and at a Covenant House, which is a runaway shelter for teens. He also worked in their drug rehab center, which focused on supporting gang members in recovery.
The next step in Blaha's career trajectory required him to move halfway across the globe. He moved to Ireland and lived in a community fo-
cused on supporting adults with cognitive disabilities.
“That was a super powerful experience for me, very transformative,” Blaha said.
Blaha's Marquette career
After Ireland, Blaha came home to Marquette, this time as the coordinator for student organizations.
“When I was working in student development, I was thinking, ‘I really love the experience of working with college students and supporting them on their journeys,'” Blaha said.
Blaha, having been involved in both high school and college settings, said that working with college students is particularly special.
“I love that college students have that openness to ask, 'How is God calling me? How is God inviting me? What's the next chapter in my life?'" Blaha said.
Inclusivity goals
As he steps into his new role, Blaha has plans to improve Campus Ministry in a variety of ways, with a particular drive for inclusivity.
Inclusivity means many things for Campus Ministry, including offering a plethora of church services and being mindful of all religious beliefs that co-exist here at Marquette.
“Marquette has such a rich Catholic and multi-faith community. We really want to highlight that. We really want to ensure to the best of our ability that all students are being accommodat-
ed on their faith journey,” Blaha said.
Blaha said a host of religious traditions are a big part of Campus Ministry. He wants to continue serving and bringing communities together along with fostering opportunities for collaboration. He cited serving all religious groups here on campus by hosting interfaith gatherings as on opportunity for students to engage in questions about faith.
Rev. John Thiede, S.J., vice president for Mission and Ministry, spoke about these efforts.
“The other thing I think that Steve is really good at is reaching out to those non-Christian sectors of our campus,” Thiede said.
Increasing student involvement
Blaha is inspired to uplift students in their skills and encourage them to take these skills to make tangible change in the world. He considers this a result of a Jesuit education.
“Students interacting and getting to know each other lays the foundations for people building a better world after graduation,” Blaha said.
For students who may be on the fence about church, Blaha wants them to know that Campus Ministry is inclusive and that no matter where someone is at in their faith journey, it exists for every student. The Campus Ministry office is located
on the second floor of the Alumni Memorial Union with office hours being held Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Pablo Cardenal, assistant director for Campus Ministry, described his first interactions with Blaha as being reflective of the rest of their relationship.
“I came in for this job interview and when I came into this group interview, I was nervous, but Stephen was cracking jokes and lightening the mood with his humor, and just his presence gave me this sense of calmness whether I got the job or not,” Cardenal said.
Cardenal said Blaha's passion and dedication to students made him a perfect fit for the job.
“He has this passion for students, passion for ministry, and that just radiates
and spreads into the work that we all do as a team,” Cardenal said.
Thiede added that Blaha's ability to collaborate, consistently put students first and be generous with his time makes Blaha the best person to oversee the religious sector of this campus.
Before hiring Blaha, Marquette Campus Ministry hosted listening sessions and received feedback from the Jesuit community, ultimately deciding that he would officially fill the role.
“I'm really pleased that after a year we were able to hire someone for the position. It was really a need and I’m happy that we found someone who can really engage with students and then has a vision for Campus Ministry going into the future,” Thiede said.
MU Alum Stephen Blaha named new Director of Campus Ministry.
Marquette Wire Stock Photo
The struggles continue
The Golden Eagles drop their third game in eight days
By Matthew Baltz matthew.baltz@marquette.edu
There's no sugarcoating it: Marquette men's basketball is struggling right now.
During its biggest and toughest three-game stretch of the season, the Golden Eagles threw up a goose egg in the win column. With losses to St. John's and Creighton this week, Marquette (18-6, 9-4 Big East) is down seven spots to No. 18 in the latest AP Poll.
Here are my thoughts from the Golden Eagles' 0-2 week:
Marquette is generating a ton of shots, just not converting
During Marquette's threegame skid, there have been a lot of oddities in the final box scores of the contests. Let's start with the eightpoint loss to UConn.
The Golden Eagles attempted 21 more field goals than the Huskies on National Marquette Day while also forcing them into a season-high 25 turnovers.
Per ShotQualityBets, a web-
site dedicated to giving a predictive final score based on the quality of shots that a team takes throughout any given game, Marquette was expected to win by 23 points solely based off the looks they were getting and the players that were taking them.
However, predictive analytics are rarely even remotely correct, and that was proven to be the case against UConn. Simply put, UConn knocked down shots, and Marquette didn't. Seems simple enough, right?
The Huskies shot a season-high 63.2 percent from 3-point range along with sophomore guard Solo Ball going for a career-high 25 points and draining seven triples. UConn got hot at the right time, so maybe you tip your hat, try to correct what went wrong defensively and move on to the next one. So, after a tough loss in Madison Square Garden in which MU got dominated on the glass and in the paint, it headed out west to take on the Bluejays of Creighton.
Once again, the Golden Eagles created 21 more shot attempts for themselves than Creighton could shoot. However, all those missed shot attempts did was hurt
Marquette as it fell once again in rather excruciating fashion at CHI Health Center Saturday afternoon.
Riding the back of 18 offensive rebounds, Marquette finished the contest with an expected score of 72 points to the Bluejays' 66. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that the Golden Eagles lost 77-67 to the clutch shots of senior center Ryan Kalkbrenner and senior guard Jamiya Neal. What it does prove though, is that Marquette's offense has been generating lots of quality looks for itself over the course of this losing streak, the shots just aren't falling.
"We had to have 18 offensive rebounds because we missed so many shots," head coach Shaka Smart said. "I'm grateful for the way our guys went to the glass, it was a point of emphasis.
"... I thought [Joplin] was better on the glass today, Royce was way better on the glass, but we got to score more after we get the rebound. That was the game within the game today, if you get 18 offensive rebounds, if you could score 25 points off that it might be a different game. But Creighton had a lot to do with that, they deserve
all the credit today."
Kam Jones is doing his best to carry the boats
A lot was expected from senior guard Kam Jones coming into this season. After all, his decision to return for his senior year led to him being widely regarded as one of the best guards in the country this season. Despite being named to the John R. Wooden Award Top 25 Midseason Watch List and Lute Olson Award Early Season Watch List already this season, there is only so much one player can do.
Early in the season, performances like senior forward David Joplin's 29 points and five rebounds against Georgia and senior guard Stevie Mitchell's 18 points against Maryland helped take some of the load of the shoulders of Jones. Marquette has gotten 15 or more points from someone not named Jones in each of the last three games, but the rest of the lineup has been struggling to pull its weight on offense.
Junior forward Ben Gold, who has averaged 8-10 points a game consistently for the Golden Eagles this season, has scored just two points total in the last three games. He's also only pulled down two rebounds in that time.
Junior guard Chase Ross
— Marquette's third leading scorer heading into Saturday — was held to just two points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field against Creighton. The Dallas, Texas native picked up three first-half fouls and was unable to get into rhythm from there.
"It's hard to play with fouls," Smart said after the loss. "But at the same time, as an upper-level player, which we believe Chase is, you have to find a way to play through that.
"Chase is a warrior. He's battled through a lot of things this year, he's not necessarily at 100 percent right now, but certainly, you know, for us to be at our best, our job, my job, is to help him be in position to play better, even if he has fouls."
Circling back to Jones, the Memphis, Tennessee native has notched an average of 33 minutes a game this season, a team high. Between the scoring, playmaking and defensive assignments he earns on a nightly basis, Jones is expected to do as much as any player in the country.
See JUMP Page 7
Stevie Mitchell dribbles the ball up the floor in Marquette's 77-67 loss to Creighton on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025 at CHI Health Center.
Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics
THIS WEEK: PEACOCK ON Women's Sports
For years, women’s sports fought for recognition. Now, they’re demanding it. With new leagues launching, expansion teams forming and records being broken across multiple sports, 2025 is set to be another defining year. Despite continued inequity in media coverage and investment, the momentum within women’s sports is undeniable.
In 2023, the NWSL secured the largest media rights deal in the history of women’s sports, which will amount to $240 million through 2027. Both the WNBA and NWSL have contributed to an increase of 22% in brand deals across all women’s leagues in 2024. The leagues are also expanding to new cities, with a new NWSL franchise coming to Denver and four new franchises introduced to the WNBA in the last two years alone.
The WNBA and NWSL are two of the most prominent women’s leagues, receiving the most media attention and investment. While women’s sports made great strides in the realm of visibility last year, there’s still significant work to be done compared to leagues such as the NBA and NFL.
Despite these challenges, the landscape of women’s sports continues to evolve, with new leagues emerging across multiple sports.
Most recently, a new professional volleyball league, Major League Volleyball, was announced, set to begin in January of next year. Volleyball is becoming increasingly popular amongst high school girls while NCAA volleyball viewership increases every year.
Alongside MLV, three other professional leagues exist in this sport, with the Pro Volleyball Federation receiving the most coverage. Hopefully, the introduction of the newest league will fuel conversations about the sport throughout this year and into the inauguration of MLV.
Women’s rugby is also making its way to the US, with the announcement
of the country’s first professional league occurring just after the 2024 women’s March Madness basketball championship game. Women’s Premier League rugby has existed here since 2009, but it functions as an amateur league where players do not receive payment.
The sport became incredibly popular in the US after the 2024 Olympics, where athletes like Ilona Maher were seen everywhere across social media. Maher has a strong social media presence of her own which has been uplifted by the rise in conversations surrounding female athletes and women in sport. The announcement of a new league called Women’s Elite Rugby introduced six teams to cities throughout the U.S.
The Women’s Lacrosse League was introduced by the Premier Lacrosse League, the country's pro men's lacrosse league, in 2024. Created in hopes of representing Team USA at the Olympics in 2028, where lacrosse has officially been reinstated as an Olympic sport. Having multiple sports leading the larger conversation surrounding women in sport is crucial when demanding proper recognition and investment.
Women’s leagues are still facing issues with coverage; they don’t receive primetime spots as frequently, if at all, as men’s leagues do. It’s also more difficult to find them on cable services, they’re most often found on paid streaming platforms.
With established professional leagues expanding and new leagues emerging following a breakthrough year, the demand for women’s sports is clear, and it’s time that it’s met.
Women’s sports were impossible to ignore last year, and despite continued inequity in media coverage and investment, they’re only going to continue to grow in 2025. They’re not chasing standards anymore; they’re setting them.
Lilly Peacock is a sports columnist. He can be reached at lilly.peacock@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @LillyPeacockMU.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Raising the bar
WLAX sets sights on winning the Big East Tourney
By Benjamin Hanson benjamin.hanson@marquette.edu
Nine months ago, at Valley Fields in its last game of the season, Marquette women's lacrosse was just three goals short of making the Big East Championships.
While the Golden Eagles had reached this goal in the previous two years, they could not convert in a win-or-go-home game with the Villanova Wildcats after posting a 6-11 overall and 2-4 conference record in 2024.
"The goal would be to win the Big East tournament [this year]," Marquette head coach Meredith Black said. "We didn't reach our standard last year as a program. Everyone's on board with that and knows that we want to be better and grow and learn from that experience and be better this year."
This season, there are 12 first-years that have joined the squad for the 2025 campaign — four defenders, three attackers, one midfielder and one goalie.
"We want to connect as a team," Black said. "We want to set a standard of excellence. We call it the gold standard. We want to be better than the best that's done it in some ways or in multiple ways, if possible. It's always about raising the bar and continuing to grow the program to be top 25 competitively. That's important to us."
Preseason honors
On Jan. 22, senior attacker Meg Bireley was named Big East Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. This honor was achieved on the back of a season in which she led the conference in goals (69), which set a sin-
gle-season program record for the Golden Eagles. She was the only player in the Big East to receive the Attacker of the Week honor three times.
Additionally, junior attacker Tess Osburn grabbed a Preseason AllBig East Team with 32 goals and seven assists last year.
"It makes us really excited," Bireley said. "Practicing with this attack group all fall and spring, we feel really confident where we're at and it's really nice. Playing with Tess — this is my third year with her now — I'm really excited to play my last year with her."
Attack: building off last year's efficiency
In the Big East, Marquette's offense was second in goals per game and first in shots per game last season.
The attackers that spearheaded this effort were Bireley, Osburn and former senior attacker Hannah Greving, who collectively made-up 46 percent of the team's shots and 48 percent of its goals. Greving used up her eligibility after last season, so her absence will be replaced by experienced players such as Bireley and Osburn.
Other than them, players such as sophomore attacker CJ Meehan and junior attacker Isabelle Casucci will have a chance to take the stage. Both showed potential last season with a .42 and .66 shot to goal ratio, respectively.
"We recognize that every year, we've always had a really strong attack that is pretty tough in the Big East," Bireley said. "We use that to help boost our confidence and keep going. We take a sense of pride in that. Every day, we're trying to perfect our plays and get better. Being the best is something that we're always working towards."
Black mentioned that first-year attacker Tessa
Boehm will be a high-minute attacker for the team right away. The Castle Rock, Colorado native holds the record for most assists (10) in a game and most points (14) in a game at her high school. "[Boehm] came in ready to go and fit in really well with our attack," Bireley said. "She doesn't play like a freshman, so I'm really excited to see what she does this spring."
Midfield: filling roles and leading a younger group
The biggest departure from the midfielder group over the offseason was 2024 All-Big East First Team and Big East Midfielder of the Year Leigh Steiner. Despite being a midfielder, her 5'11" size, ability to crash through defenders towards the net and 45 goals made her an asset for the Golden Eagles before she graduated.
Senior captain and midfielder Lorelai VanGuilder will be stepping into Josie Kropp's role, who graduated last year, as the go-to draw specialist.
Additionally, sophomore midfielder Lauren Grady has been a standout in the preseason, armed to take the midfield spotlight this year.
"I think Lauren Grady has been awesome with stepping into a big role," senior midfielder and captain Hanna Bodner said. "We just had a scrimmage this past weekend, and me and her were on the opposing side of VanGuilder. I think we were still able to find the ball on the ground, which has been awesome.
"The sophomore class middies have been really awesome and the middies in the junior class have also been really great leaders and pushing the growth that we found."
The midfielder group is
See BAR page 8
WOMEN'S LACROSSE
Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics
Photo courtesy of Ben Hanson Marquette women's lacrosse was picked to finish fifth in the preseason Big East coaches' poll.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 The MarqueTTe Tribune
STRUGGLE: Jones shouldering the load
Continued from Page 5
"He played well, I mean we asked him to do so much, he was tired," Smart said after the Creighton game. "He really got tired down the stretch, I probably should have subbed him a bit earlier, but at the same time it's a Catch-22. He's such a key for us on the offensive end, and it's different guarding us when he's not in the game."
Despite the heavy workload he has been tasked with this season, Jones said that physically, he feels all right.
"I'm fine man," Jones said. "It's just that typical February 8th feeling, nobody's 100 percent out there playing, just go out there and give it all you got every night."
What's on tap?
With home games against DePaul and Seton Hall looming over the next nine days, the schedule appears to be letting up a little bit. But those who have watched Big East basketball for many years know that nothing comes easy in this conference.
Marquette will try to snap its three-game losing streak
"It's just that typical February 8th feeling, nobody's 100 percent out there playing.
Kam Jones Marquette
guard
Tuesday when it welcomes the Blue Demons (11-13, 2-11 Big East) to Fiserv Forum for round two against its foes from down I-94.
The first matchup didn't lack any excitement, as DePaul nearly upset Marquette on Jan. 14 in a game the Golden Eagles barely eked out in overtime. A career-high 30 points from Joplin proved to be the saving grace a month ago at Wintrust Arena.
After that, Marquette gets a week off before Seton Hall makes the trip out to Fiserv for another Tuesdaynight matchup on Feb. 18.
Kam Jones (1) is averaging a team-high 19.2 points and six assists per game this year.
PREVIEW: Getting back on track
Smart's squad looks to return to the win column
By Kaylynn Wright kaylynn.wright@marquette.edu
No. 18 Marquette men's basketball has lost three straight games for the first time since it dropped four in a row in head coach Shaka Smart's first season in 2020.
The Golden Eagles (18-6, 9-4 Big East) look to break that streak as they begin their two-game homestand Tuesday night, taking on the 10th-place DePaul Blue
Demons (11-13, 2-11 Big East) at Fiserv Forum. Last time out, it took Marquette 45 minutes to finally silence DePaul, winning 85-83 in overtime Jan. 13 at Wintrust Arena where senior forward David Joplin scored a career-high 30 points. Since then, the Blue Demons have gone 2-4, while the Golden Eagles have gone 3-4.
MU struggles from beyond the arc, Kam Jones finding groove It's been clear all season that 3-point shooting has been a big part of Marquette's offense. In fact, it ranks 17th in the country
in 3-point shot attempts per game, taking 29 each contest.
However, in the Golden Eagles' three game skid, they have made just 26 of their 83 attempts (31.3%). They made only 11 of their 36 3-pointers in Saturday's loss to the Creighton Bluejays, and are currently shooting 32.7% on the season.
That needs to change if Marquette wants to beat DePaul and get itself out of the funk it has been in. Frequent shooters like senior forwards David Joplin — who went 4-for-10 from three against Creighton —
and Ben Gold — who has not hit a triple since Jan. 24 — need to find a way to step up.
However, the bright spot in Saturday's loss was that senior guard Kam Jones looked like his All-American self again. The Memphis, Tennessee native kept his team in the game down the stretch, scoring seven points during the Golden Eagles' 12-0 run — including a 3-pointer that gave MU the lead with 10:18 left to play.
Jones finished with 27 points on 11-for-19 shooting in 37 minutes of action, the most he has scored since posting 32 points in Marquette's 88-74 victory over Wisconsin Dec. 7. He also added six assists and four rebounds while only turning over the ball once. If Jones can get going early, the Golden Eagles will have a good chance to sweep the season-series against DePaul.
DePaul cannot be overlooked
In the midst of a rebuild, the Blue Demons finally won their first regular-season Big East game in 730 days with a 73-68 win over Georgetown Jan. 17. But since then, they've only garnered one more conference win and have fallen to 10th place in the league.
DePaul has the worst team defense in the Big East, allowing its opponents
to shoot 44.9% from the field and score 72.9 points per game. It also averages 12.75 turnovers per contest, which is the third-worst in the conference.
But considering how Marquette has been playing and how the last matchup between these two foes went, DePaul cannot be overlooked.
In the Jan. 14 contest, junior guard CJ Gunn and graduate student guard Isaiah Rivera caused trouble for the Golden Eagles, scoring a combined 41 points. The latter went 6-for-8 from beyond the arc and at one point scored 12 points in 43 seconds.
Like Marquette, DePaul takes a lot of threes — it has made 233 so far this season, the fourth most all-time in a single-season. The Golden Eagles will need to wreak its havoc defense that forces 15 turnovers a game to take care of business on the road.
How to follow: Watch: Tip-off at Fiserv Forum is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST. The game will be streamed on Peacock with John Fanta (play-by-play) and former Marquette head coach Tom Crean (analyst) calling the action.
Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics
Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics
Senior forward David Joplin finished with a career-high 30 points, going 9-for-17 from the floor and 7-for-13 from deep in Marquette's 85-83 overtime win over DePaul on Jan. 14.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
BAR: New-look defense boasts potential
Continued from page 6
on the younger side with three first-years, four sophomores and only four upperclassmen.
Like last season, the midfield is going to continue to look for fast breaks and try at quick goals, but they have also worked on backup options that give time for the attack to set up and then run its offense.
Defense: new coach and transfers breed possibilities for success
Kaitlyn Huber and Faith Chmielewski, who both graduated last year, were the leaders in ground balls for the crew in 2024.
"It's definitely been different [without Huber and Chmielewski], that's for sure," senior captain and defender Lily Dietrich said. "We're pretty young, but we
still have Sofia Santana and Mary Velner, who have a lot of experience under their belt. Even me too. I've been a friendly push. Us three have to step up in a leadership perspective."
With Chmielewski's and Huber's departure, the group has been going all-in on their zone defense. Annie Carroll, the new defense and goalie coach who spent her last two seasons assistant coaching at UC Davis, has been helping with this effort.
"We're sticking to what we know," Dietrich said. "We do a really good zone, and we definitely are taking pride in that we're good at it. We're building on that, but it has been awesome to have Annie. She's taking what she knows from her experience and we're keeping what we know, but we're
Women's basketball misses last-second shot
By Mikey Severson michael.severson@marquette.edu
It closely mirrored Marquette and Butler's first matchup of the season in terms of intensity, but this one fell the way of the Bulldogs emerging victorious on their home floor, as the lead swung back and forth like a pendulum Sunday afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Marquette women's basketball (15-8, 7-5 Big East) had an opportunity to tie the game with 11 seconds left after Butler senior Sydney Jaynes spun around in the right side of the post and found the hoop to give the Bulldogs the two point advantage.
Junior guard Olivia Porter found sophomore forward Skylar Forbes in the paint, but Forbes' shot rimmed in-
mixing together."
Graduate student defender Devon Ortman transferred from Colorado College where she played her past three seasons. During that time, she notched 278 draw controls, 124 ground balls, 56 goals and 66 assists. She will be starting for the Golden Eagles to begin the 2025 campaign.
Another new face is firstyear defender Addyson Graham, who hails from Liverpool, New York and will be getting heavy time on the field to start the season according to Black.
Goalie: a competitive position
Last season, senior goalie Brynna Nixon played 71% of the time in net for Marquette, making an average of 5.8 saves per game and allowing 15.6 goals per matchup. Sophomore goal-
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
ie Mikayla Yang got the second most time behind the net in 2024, playing in five games.
For 2025, Black said that it will be a week-by-week decision for who earns the spot. Yang is a lefty and Nixon a righty, so Black said the opposing team's shooting style might play into starting goalie decisions and in-game swaps.
"I think Mikayla and Brynna are both tight," Black said. "They're different players and they have different styles, but they're both good. They've both had a great preseason and a great fall. So that'll be a competitive position.
"I think Brynna has a little bit of a lead from the leadership standpoint. She's good at commanding the defense and being a big presence on the field. But Michaela
Losing a heartbreaker at Hinkle
and-out, taking an unfortunate bounce for the Golden Eagles. The Bulldogs (13-13, 3-10 Big East) secured the rebound, allowing themselves to snap their sixgame losing skid.
Butler's red-hot shooting from deep Butler senior guard Kilyn McGuff, who had 18 points and 17 boards in the first meeting, had another career afternoon against the Golden Eagles. She posted 21 points (her personal best in Big East play and second-most points scored on the season), while also 5-for-6 from beyond the arc. Her three first quarter triples got the Bulldogs out to an early 14-6 lead.
First-year Lily Zeinstra finished with 15 points for the Bulldogs, shot 3-for-5 from downtown, with one of those 3-pointers coming in a critical spot, tying the game at 64 out of a timeout with just over 90 seconds left.
Butler stepped up in its
3-point shots to match Marquette's inside scoring and defensive focus, shooting 47.8% from downtown, compared to its season average of 34%.
Under two-minute trouble for Marquette Down by three at the end of the third, Jaynes and McGuff extended the Bulldogs' lead to six at the 7:32 mark in the fourth, but the Golden Eagles weren't ready to go away yet. Junior guard Bridget Utberg and Porter led Marquette on a fivepoint run in the middle of the fourth quarter to make it a one-point game with 4:48 to go.
Sophomore Riley Makalusky nailed a deep 2-pointer for Butler to maintain a three-point advantage, but junior forward Charia Smith and Porter hit a couple of prompt shots to give Marquette a 62-61 lead, with just under three minutes to play. Forbes added an inside basket to extend the lead to three, but Zein-
Johan Widal Men's golf
makes a lot of saves and she makes good saves. I think it'll be a position to watch for our team this year."
The goalie group grew from three last season to four this season, adding first-year Zoey Gottlieb.
"I think we're gonna do absolutely phenomenal this year," Nixon said. "Last year, it's no secret, we kind of struggled, even as a whole team, but especially in the goalie group. This year, we've definitely made it a point to improve on that end, so that we can have our defense's back and try and set the rest of the team up for success."
Season's start
The Golden Eagles will open the 2025 season Feb. 12 when they face off against the Central Michigan Chippewas in Mount Pleasant, Michigan at 1
stra's shot gave the Bulldogs the momentum they needed to prevail on their home floor, with the shot following Butler head coach Austin Parkinson’s timeout with 1:37 left.
Jaynes ultimately hit
the game winning layup, as Marquette was unable to capitalize on the other end. Four Golden Eagles finished in double figures: Forbes, Porter, senior Lee Volker and sophomore Halle Vice.
The Golden Eagles drop their fifth game of Big East play.
Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics
Opinions
Transgender athletes are no threat
By Joey Schamber joseph.schamber@marquette.edu
Wednesday, Trump declared "The war on women's sports is over" when he signed an executive order banning transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports.
The order titled “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports" mandates the federal law banning sex discrimination in schools, Title IX, be interpreted to prohibit transwomen from playing in women’s sports. If schools do not comply with this mandate, they risk losing federal funding.
Trump’s mandate will be difficult to enforce, as the only way to prove a student is transgender would be to violate their privacy by demanding birth certificates, which can also be altered or by inspecting students’ bodies.
Since the 1960s, schools and sports associations have attempted to tackle this issue, but after scandalous “nude parades" and gynecological exams were used to confirm the sexes of athletes, body policing methods have fallen out of favor.
If body policing were to be reimplemented, it would pose a massive threat to the health and safety of girls and young women in schools.
Chris Mosier, a transgender athlete and founder of transathlete.com, said in an interview with Reuters that, “increased scrutiny on athletes' bodies creates
serious harm to all women and girls who are perceived as 'more masculine' due to being queer, intersex, or otherwise out of alignment with narrow, white-centric norms of femininity.”
Trump and his Republican allies claim this order will protect female athletes from the unfair and unsafe conditions created by transgender girls and women competing against them, but this is a complete red herring.
This order is broadly sweeping, preventing transgender athletes from participating at even the youngest levels of play, despite the biological advantages boys have over girls not being a factor until the onset of puberty.
Trump does not care about protecting women and girls, he only cares about expanding his executive power. Transgender athletes have become a key target for Republican identity politics. By attacking this group, who are broadly abhorred by his voter base, Trump can get away with overriding the checks and balances that keep this nation functioning.
The Executive branch’s responsibility is to enforce legislation, not create it, which is in the purview of Congress. Trump has gone over the head of America’s deliberative body and created policies through unconstitutional means.
Despite this lawless use of executive power, Trump will go unpunished because orders, like this ban
on trans athletes in women’s sports, are wildly popular with the Republican majority in Congress.
The only way progressives can challenge these executive orders is through the courts, and while they have had some success at striking down unconstitutional mandates, Trump has simply issued too many orders to keep up with.
Trump is overwhelming the courts and the news cycles, essentially throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. Not all his horrible policies will stand up to scrutiny, but what slips through could pose a significant threat to American democracy.
By consolidating power to the Executive branch, he is effectively turning this
country into an authoritarian state, and just like infamous dictators of the past, he has selected political minorities, like transwomen, to attack so he may rile up support.
At the end of last year, NCAA president Charlie Baker said that of 510,000 student-athletes that play for their association, only ten are transgender.
Transwomen make up a very tiny minority and pose no significant threat to women’s sports and zero threat to American society, but Trump’s overreach of executive responsibility does.
Trump avoids blame for crashes
By Katie Mancini katherine.mancini@marquette.edu
Two fatal plane crashes occurred the last week of January in both Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, leaving the public heartbroken and distraught.
The D.C. midair plane crash between American Airlines flight 5342 and the UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter on Jan. 30 left no survivors. Among the victims were members of the University of Delaware's Figure Skating Club, as well as three military personnel. These tragic accidents have left the public rightfully questioning who should be held accountable and seeking answers.
President Donald Trump was quick to assign blame to former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama for hiring air traffic controllers based on diversity goals. Placing blame on political opponents not only shifts
responsibility unfairly from himself but also reveals deeper matters of prejudice within corporate operations. Trump specifically complained about former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, calling him a disaster with his diversity initiatives, despite his resignation on Jan. 20, meaning he had no involvement in the situation.
Trump also accused the Democratic Party of hiring individuals with mental disabilities to direct air traffic. Becoming an air traffic control employee is a multiyear training process and requires rigorous examination. It also includes a medical exam, aptitude test and psychological test. This proves beyond doubt that competence and expertise are not an issue. Instead, the real concern is no identifying cause made by government or aviation authorities leaving room for specula-
tion about mechanical failure, pilot incapacitation, or miscommunication
Additionally, the Learjet 55 involved in the Philadelphia incident was in the air for less than a minute before crashing, carrying a child who had just received treatment from Shriners Children's Philadelphia hospital, her mother and four crew members. With both accidents occurring in a short span of time, people are becoming pessimistic about flying, not trusting who is behind the operation.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy ensures the public that it is safe to fly but investigators are still answering questions on President Trump's shocking claims on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts
Moreover, it's important to note that Trump downsized the Federal Aviation Administration which removes key leadership that has overseen
Editorial Board
Joey Schamber Executive Opinions Editor
Izzy Fonfara Drewel, Executive Director
Clara Lebrón, Print Production Manager
Trinity Zapotocky, Assistant Print Production Manager
Shannyn Donohue, General Manager of Marquette University Radio
Mia Thurow, Executive News Editor
Sophie Goldstein, Executive A&E Editor
Matt Baltz, Executive Sports Editor
Emma Fishback, Copy Chief
Online Exclusives
Find more Marquette Wire opinion columns online by going to www.marquettewire.org or scanning this QR code!
Statement of Opinion Policy
regulatory compliance and risk mitigation. This raises concerns for understaffing and the agencies capacity to oversee aviation safety. Unfortunately, the investigations of these two accidents could take days, even weeks, before the true cause is determined. As a frequent flyer, it's only natural to feel uneasy when your safety is in the hands of others. Every time you board a form of transportation, you're essentially taking a leap of faith, trusting that the system will get you to your destination safely.
It's hard to see when a system fails, especially with no clear cause for these deadly incidents. These DEI claims have only fueled the uncertainty of air travel and the public's skepticism for what has truly played a role in this tragedy.
Katie Mancini is an opinions columnist. She is a first-year studying journalism.
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 fourweek period. Submissions with obvious relevance to the Marquette community will be given priority consideration. Full Opinions submissions should be limited to 600 words. Letters to the editor should be between 150 to 300 words. The Tribune reserves the right to edit submissions for length and content. Please e-mail submissions to: joseph.schamber@ 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.
Joey Schamber is the executive opinions editor. He is a sophomore studying journalism.
Photo courtesy of Michael Vadon via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0 Graphic designed by Joseph Schamber
Fun & Games
Design by Adriana Vazquez adriana.vazquezherrero@marquette.edu
CROSSWORD
The Day of Love
Across
2. Something you might gift your valentine, usually needs water and colored red
5. Two parrots that travel in duos, originated from Africa
6. This edible item might be packaged in a heart-shaped box
9. These can be candy bars or something you have with another 10. Romeo and ___
11. Some consider this the day of ___
Down
1. Celebration that this holiday originated from ___
3. Will you be my ___?
4. This civilization located in Europe contributed to the origins of Valentine's Day
7. He's armed with a bow and arrow
8. Originating from "Parks & Rec," this holiday is one you celebrate with your girlfriends before Valentine's Day
Across
2 Something you might gift your valentine, usually needs water and colored red
5 Two parrots that travel in duos, originated from Africa
6 This edible item might be packaged in a heartshaped box
Down
Last Tribune’s answers: 1 (down) Ahoya, 2 (down) Dwayne, 3 (down) Alumni, 4 (across) Farley, 5 (down) Connecticut, 6 (down) Homecoming, 7 (down) Fiserv 8 (down) Kolek, 9 (across) Iggy, 10 (across) February
1 Celebration that this holiday originated from
3. Will you be my ?
4 This civilization located in Europe contributed to the origins of Valentine’s Day
7 He’s armed with a bow and arrow
Submit finished puzzles to clara.lebron@marquette.edu by May 6. Most accurate crossword submissions wins the grand prize.
9. These can be candy hearts or something you have with another 10 Romeo and
day ofThe Day of Love
8 Originating from Parks & Rec, this holiday is one you celebrate with your girlfriends before Valentine’s Day
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Colum McCann speaks in keynote address
Author spoke in part of Mission Week 2025
By Annie Goode
huamae.sinotte@marquette.edu
Students, faculty and fans filed into the Varsity Theater on Feb. 6, as Marquette welcomed renowned Irish author Colum McCann to give a keynote address in part of Marquette’s Mission Week 2025.
McCann is a 2009 National Book Award winner for his novel “Let the Great World Spin,” and co-founder of Narrative 4, a program in over 500 schools that works to build empathy and connection through exchange of personal stories.
McCann was welcomed by Rev. John Thiede, S.J., University President Kimo Ah Yun and founder of Narrative 4 at Marquette and graduate student in the College of Arts & Sciences, Mara McAndrews, before taking the stage to share his own thoughts
on hope and the power of storytelling.
“People say the world is held together with atoms and molecules, and indeed it is, of course… but it is also held together with stories,” McCann said.
McCann read an excerpt from “Let the Great World Spin,” which tells the story of several different intersecting lives connected by Philippe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk across the Twin Towers, and the novel’s connection with his own experience on 9/11.
“Maybe someday I will be able to negotiate my 9/11 experience by actually writing about something that happened 27 years earlier,” McCann said. “This act of [creation] stood in almost perfect opposition to the act of destruction that we were witnessing at that particular time.”
McCann’s most recent work, “American Mother,” shares the story of Diane Foley, mother of journalist James Foley, Marquette
alumnus (class of 1996), who was held captive and murdered by ISIS militants in 2014 while working in Syria. Diane Foley has just been announced as Marquette’s 2025 Commencement Speaker.
“She [Diane Foley] is one of the most extraordinary people who, for me, embodies what we’re talking about today — acting with care, using storytelling to create hope, encourage healing in this broken world, gather up some of the pieces that are scattered around our feet and to bring them back together again to create something that we can hold in palms of our hands,” McCann said.
After his address, McCann sat down for a fireside chat with Marquette English Professor and Campus Director of Narrative 4 at Marquette, Leah Flack.
Flack asked McCann about the importance of moral courage, his recent
Artist performed in Fiserv Forum on Feb. 6
By Alison McMillan alison.mcmillan@marquette.edu
Green lights filled the Fiserv Forum Feb.6, and no it wasn’t for the Bucks; it was to celebrate Tyler, The Creator’s “Chromakopia" tour.
The tour is based on his eighth studio album that released at the end of October, which celebrated the complicated struggles and beauty of being a Black man in America. Despite being 15-minutes late because of technical difficulties, he showcased his unique talent through creative storytelling and dance moves.
Lil Yachty opener Lil Yachty may have gone too hard in his performance before Tyler, The
Creator. He fell off the set 15-minutes into his performance. Security had to catch him and lead him back on the stage. He told the crowd he was good and joked, “Yo, I almost died.”
After this, he made an incredible recovery to play fan favorites. He was seen jumping all over the stage rapping along to his lyrics. The crowd was moshing happily to his hits like “Broccoli,” “Poland” and “iSpy.”
Tyler, The Creator
At 9:45 p.m. he took center stage, where green storage containers revealed him in a black mask and green band uniform. He opened with “St. Chroma (feat. Daniel Caesar),” his leading track off of his newest album. Fireworks were set off as he started singing the catchy lyric “Chromakopia” which was featured on the front of his
trip to the Vatican to spend time with Pope Francis and how he stays in a hopeful headspace.
“I really do believe that there is hope out there… and there are times that I feel that way — it’s like I am doing sweet nothing, and I am not having an effect whatsoever,” McCann said.
“But then this little breakout of hope comes and then I have to believe it.”
Flack also asked about what McCann carries forward with him almost a year after the release of “American Mother,” and his work with Diane Foley.
“He [James Foley] sits on my shoulders still, and he whispers in my ear. He suggests to me that death takes away a lot of things, but it can’t take away your story,” McCann said.
The event wrapped up as Flack then opened up the floor for questions from the audience, where McCann spoke about overcoming fear when it comes to speaking out, and his
choices of narration in “American Mother.”
“I think we’re all throbbing with fear in so many ways, and I think this fear is becoming more and more pervasive. How do you deal with all of that?” McCann said. “I wish I had a good answer, except that you just got to go with your heart, and it’s all visceral, and you try to tell the best story that you possibly can.”
Attendees were able to speak and get their books signed by McCann after the address.
“You can be Greta Thunberg, at the age of 15, and walk out of a classroom and change things, or you can be Diane Foley, at the age of 70, and have this terrible thing happen to you, but still decided to go out and change things,” McCann said. “That is available to all of us, but it takes a huge amount of courage in order to do so.”
tour merchandise.
His crisp diction in his raps like “Rah Tah Tah” and energetic marches made the crowd see the passion underneath the mask. This mixed with him wanting us to vibe out to Judge Judy’s melodic story, led the crowd to be engaged with his music.
From the main stage, he transitioned to an elevated catwalk just above the pit for general admission. In the beginning, he played nine songs from the album and then took his mask off. In this case, the mask is meant to symbolize people hiding their true identity from the world.
A creative arc to this concert was his ability to transition between his different records. B Stage was originally where Lil Yachty and Paris, Texas opened for him but later became an elaborate living room decorat-
ed with a couch and record player. The camera recording the concert would pan to him picking out a record from his discography and placing it on the record player to signify to the crowd the next song being performed would come from that album.
He performed snippets of his other albums such as “IGOR,” “Goblin,” “Wolf,” “Call Me If You Get Lost” and “Cherry Bomb.” The crowd loudly sang most of “EARFQUAKE” from “IGOR” together and rapped to “IFHY” from “Wolf.” As if that wasn’t enough, the crowd was hit with back-to-back bangers of “See You Again (feat Kali Uchis),” “NEW MAGIC WAND” and “Balloon (feat. Doechii)” to close out the concert.
The diversity of his music proves there is no genre or box you can put him in.
He is not your average rapper, but more of a musical genius who can tackle storytelling through a variety of mediums. Not only is he a musical genius, but also just a quirky guy. He let us see this side of his personality through crowd interactions. One of my favorites being that he mistakenly called Minnesota “Milwaukee” — which he said was because he was excited to perform here but joked that he does not understand how we put with the bitter cold.
His closing message to his fans was, “You are the mother(expletive) light. You all rocks and the light comes from within.”
For those that did not get to see this concert, you are in luck. Lil Yachty and Tyler, The Creator will be circling back to Chicago on June 30 and July 1.
Photos by Lily Wooten lillian.wooten@marquette.edu
Award-winning Irish author, Colum McCann, was joined by graduate student, Mara McAndrews on stage during the keynote address where McCann talked about his most recent work "American Mother" which shared the story of Diane and James Foley.
MarqueTTe Tribune
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Kendrick Lamar's star-studded halftime show
Rapper began the show on a car singing "GNX"
By Annie Goode annie.goode@marquette.edu
Kendrick Lamar’s Apple Music halftime show at Super Bowl LIX was nothing short of spectacular — with surprise appearances from Samuel L. Jackson, SZA and even Serena Williams.
Lamar has never shied away from a political statement in his work, and of course the halftime show on what is widely seen to be the biggest night in television of the year, is no exception. The performance opened with Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam, introducing the show as the “Great American game.”
Lamar began knelt over a car, singing an unreleased snippet he released to his YouTubechannel in anticipation for his Nov. 2024 album “GNX,” when dancers dressed in red, white and blue began pouring out of
the car.
“The revolution is about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy,” Lamar proclaimed before performing “squabble up.”
This moment gave me chills, especially to think that one of the most controversial guests of the night — President Donald Trump — was watching this.
“Too loud! Too reckless! Too ghetto!” Uncle Sam interrupted before “HUMBLE.” began. The dancers lined up in an American flag formation with a distinct separation where Lamar stood. The dancers scattered, leading into “DNA.” and then “euphoria,” one of Lamar’s diss tracks on Drake released last spring. Lamar is completely magnetic on stage — I could not take my eyes off the screen the entire time. Every moment felt like something big that you didn’t want to miss was coming next, and each song was better than
the last.
An acapella version of “man at the garden” came next, with dancers surrounding him under a lamppost, until Uncle Sam interrupted again to request that the “scorekeeper deduct one life.”
He then began “peekaboo,” but stopped to debate with dancers.
“I wanna play they favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” he announced, with the hauntingly catchy strings of “Not Like Us” playing between his interactions with the dancers. This is in reference to Drake’s recent lawsuit against Lamar’s record label, Universal Music Group, for promoting “Not Like Us,” for defamation.
Lamar teases the audience and holds back at this point, revealing surprise guest SZA, dressed in all red and sounding as beautiful as ever, to join him for “luther” and “All the Stars.”
Uncle Sam returned, praising Lamar saying, “That’s what America
wants!” until the moment we had been waiting for, when “Not Like Us,” came in.
“40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music,” Lamar remarked, a reference to what Black Americans were falsely promised after the Civil War, “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.”
“Not Like Us” was worth the wait — dancers surrounded Lamar for the first verse until exploding outwards; the camera then showed Serena Williams crip-walking on a lamppost. This moment was iconic, as the tennis player was widely criticized for doing the same dance after winning the gold medal in the 2012 Olympics and was rumored to have dated Drake back in 2011.
The performance ended with “tv off,” where DJ Mustard, a co-producer on the track as well as on “Not Like Us,” joined Lamar on stage. This finale was electric, with dancers multiplying on every part
of the stage and the camera circling Lamar featuring the 65,000+ fans in the background.
I wish this performance could have been an hour long — Lamar has so many hits from his 10+ year career but stuck to mostly recent songs — which isn’t surprising considering the year he has had.
“Not Like Us,” broke records with 21 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart, swept the Grammys with 5 awards including Song of the Year and “GNX” received 242.3 million in its first 4 days, according to Billboard. You could spend hours dissecting each moment of Super Bowl LIX’s halftime show’s symbolism and artwork — but if that’s not your speed, watch it simply for its undeniable entertainment and Lamar’s captivating stage presence. There is no doubt this will go down as one of the most important, most powerful performances of his career.
Haggerty unveils part two of 'The Big 4-0'
The exhibit reveals six new original galleries
By Allison Scherquist allison.scherquist@marquette.edu
The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University presents Volume 2 of its exhibition in celebration of its 40th anniversary of the museum — “The Big 4-0.” “Vol. 2: New Views of the Collection” reveals a complete reinvention of its original six galleries from “The Big 4-0: New Views of the Collection.”
The new exhibit, which opened on Jan. 17, has a primary focus on modern and contemporary art. Its galleries feature work from favorites such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Salvador Dali, as
well as new rarely seen works from the museum’s archives from over 40 artists.
Both the fall and spring exhibition were curated by Kirk Nickel and Marc and Lillian Rojtman — Curator of European Art. Nickel said the exhibit’s structure is based off of an anthology exhibition.
“[It was curated] to celebrate the outstanding range and quality of artworks that reside in the Haggerty’s permanent collection,” Nickel said. “The two-part structure of this 40th anniversary allows us to fill our main exhibition galleries, twice, with extraordinary artworks from our own collection that the public rarely sees.”
The exhibit encompasses over 100 art pieces from
the museum’s collection — showing a range of styles, eras and forms from Haggerty’s decades-old archives.
Each piece was observed, studied and carefully grouped into one of the six galleries. In one gallery, the focus is on the “Image Economy.” Pop art pieces adorn the museum’s walls, inviting viewers to reflect on the ways in which artists seek to preserve themselves in their own art — which include some of Warhol’s famous prints.
In other galleries the focus is on “Commercial Printing,” “Chance Aesthetics” and “The Act of Artistic Creation.” Salvador Dalí’s famous oil on canvas “Madonna of Port Lligat” piece can be found on exhibition, as
well as some early works by Louise Nevelson and Man Ray that have been newly conserved for the anniversary exhibition.
Nickel said he hopes students will be able to make connections between all the artwork on display.
“While each gallery’s thematic presentation can be considered in isolation, I hope visitors will make connections between the artworks across galleries,” Nickel said. “Personally, I see the issue of ‘broadcasting’ art as a central preoccupation for many of the artists represented in the current show. Whether playfully or with a critical eye, so many of the works currently on view are, in a way, self-aware that the viewer will provide a context and an interpretation
that lies outside the artist’s control.”
The new exhibition, with its thematic focus, invites students and visitors to reconsider their relationships and conceptions with art. The two-part structure offers fresh perspectives on artwork from the Haggerty’s long-standing archive.
“My hope is that the variety and ingenuity of the art on view excites students and faculty about the oblique, unpredictable ways that artists consider and express their enthusiasm, concern, or ambition for their moment,” Nickel said.
The exhibition will run until May 24, and is free to the public. The museum’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Photos by Jack Belmont john.belmont@marquette.edu
Left to right: Keith Haring's vintage poster; "Cage in Cage" by Nam June Paik; James Rosenquist's print of four lithographs on Arches Cover Paper. All of these