NEWS

DeSantis sends 50 Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard

BY ANDREW PRIOLO

STAFF WRITER

With 1.66 million immigrants apprehended at the U.S. border and ports, border control has become an increasingly pressing debate in American politics, particularly in sanctuary cities or states where local laws protect undocumented immigrants.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has remained adamant through his term that Florida will not be considered a “sanctuary state,” despite Florida having one of the highest immigrant populations in the U.S.

On Wednesday, Sept. 14, DeSantis sent 50 undocumented Venezuelan migrants to a summer resort community in Martha’s Vineyard, via two charter fights. They were later moved to a military base, where they were provided food, shelter, lawyers and medical assistance.

“I feel like the way it’s framed as a ‘sanctuary destination’ makes it sound better than it might be. Venezuelans are coming with the expectation that they are being promised jobs, food and shelter. But in reality, they will end up on the streets,” said Alexandra Carillo, a freshman biology major and member of UNIVEN who migrated to Pompano Beach, Fla., from Venezuela in 2014.

Since the 1980s, the amount of Venezuelans immigrants in the U.S. has increased to over 390,000 from 33,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Migrants fee extrajudicial killings, an economy stalled by infation, lawlessness and chronic food and medicine shortages according to Human Rights Watch.

“Venezuelans are coming with the expectation that they are being promised jobs, food and shelter. But in reality they will end up on the streets”

Migrant Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C-based think-tank, estimates that 772,000 undocumented immigrants live in Florida, 13% of whom are Venezuelan.

DeSantis has made the issue an important part of his governorship, campaigning against undocumented immigration in the past. His actions divided politicians, igniting a national debate.

Democrats across the U.S., including elected offcials in the Martha’s Vineyard area, expressed frustration.

Biden publicly expressed his grievance in a press conference on Friday, Sept. 15.

“Instead of working with us on solutions, Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props,” Biden said. “What they’re doing is simply wrong. It’s un-American. It’s reckless.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbot followed suit, carrying out his previous plan to bus migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Washington, D.C. and to New York City. He attracted criticism for spending over $12 million on the initiative.

Meanwhile, some prominent Republicans expressed support for DeSantis’ move. Republicans have criticized the Biden Administration in the past for failing to keep Florida from being a sanctuary state and offering extensive refuge to migrants.

“It probably makes a pretty powerful point, which is political, which is the fact that we haven’t secured our border,” Utah senator and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said.

William Diaz, a fellow member of UNIVEN and founder of Casa de Venezuela in 2003, expressed his concern for all Venezuelans.

“We can’t accept the Venezuelan community becoming a target of party politics in the U.S. because our party is and should always be Venezuela,” Diaz said.

Migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard shared mixed emotions about their relocation according to USA Today. Some expressed gratitude for their relocation to the military base and the more stable living conditions. Other migrants who were promised jobs and housing felt lied to and dissatisfed with their new lifestyles.

Nalvis Valera, a 66-year-old mother of two University of Miami alumni and a migrant from Venezuela to Miami in 1996, weighed in on the situation.

“I completely agree with the way DeSantis acted. Being Venezuelan does not change my point of view,” Valera said. “What happens at the border is a total shame. DeSantis should continue using the budget to address issues like this.”

Many liberals and Venezuelans disagree with Valera’s opinion and believe DeSantis’ actions were not only wrong but inhumane. Arnaldo Ferrebus, the president of UNIVEN, spoke out against DeSantis’ action.

“Migrants built the state of Florida that we know today. To see the governor of this great state sending migrants in need to other places shows that Florida has changed while ignoring its past,” Ferrebus said.

The trend may continue. In recent weeks, Republican representatives, including DeSantis, have indicated support for relocating migrants as a retaliation against Democrats for what Republicans perceive as weak border policies.

“There may be more fights, there may be buses,” DeSantis said.

UM’s 2022 U.S. News ranking remains stagnant at #55

BY PATRICK MCCASLIN

ASST. NEWS EDITOR

The U.S. News’ “Best National University Rankings” placed the University of Miami at #55 for the second consecutive year. Again, its ranking ties that of Florida State University (FSU).

The U.S. News rankings are the most popular of their kind in the United States, helping to guide students and parents as they sort through hundreds of public and private universities and colleges. U.S. News’ “Best” series reaches over 40 million people monthly.

Yet, the fall in rankings doesn’t appear to dampen the number of students applying to and attending UM. According to UM’s 20212022 Factbook, UM’s acceptance rate fell from 36% in 2017 to 28% in Fall 2021, while the number of students applying rose to over 42,000 from 30,634 in 2017.

“I think it’s a little bit unfair because it’s a great school, at least for me,” senior business tech and marketing major Rohan Tharaney said. “The faculty, they have been pretty unparalleled.”

The #55 ranking did not bother other students.

“We’re not getting worse or better, which is not the end of the world,” freshman computer science major Skyler Schwanewede said. “It’s okay, that we’re staying neutral.”

While UM’s retention rate has risen in recent years to approximately 92.8%, according to the UM 2021-2022 Factbook, its 4-year graduation rate has fallen to 71%. UM does not report its six year graduation rate.

Another 20% of the ranking looks at faculty resources, primarily regarding class size and faculty salaries. U.S. News uses this as a measure of students’ access to quality professors.

The ranking also excludes athletics and social life in the calculation on the basis of not being able to accurately report on them.

Tharaney, as a business tech major, has appreciated Miami’s location, especially as it grows into a national tech hub.

“The network is unparalleled,” Tharaney said.

He lauded the university for its assistance in helping him fnd a postgraduate job and win frst place in The International Business Ethics Case Competition, an international honor.

Jacqueline Menendez, Vice President for Communications, also referenced alternate measures of success in a statement to The Miami Hurricane.

“The University of Miami continues to focus on enhancing our world-class offerings to provide students with transformative campus experiences, and to engage leading scholars and community partners in innovative research that help solve society’s most complex challenges. We are proud to draw impressive talent to South Florida, to make groundbreaking discoveries, to unite our communities, and to play a critical role in protecting health and wellbeing. Those are our most important measures of success,” Menendez said.

Quiet hurricane season shouldn’t deter students from preparedness

BY KRIS BERG

STAFF WRITER

Every Miami resident knows that hurricane season could potentially bring about catastrophe. For decades, not just Miamians but Floridians in general have become used to the routine of boarding up windows, buying canned goods and preparing for the worst.

For the past three years however, there has been an abnormally quiet hurricane season. At this season’s peak in mid-September, only one named storm has traveled anywhere close to Miami. Compared to the barrage of catastrophic storms including Harvey, Maria, Irma and Dorian that the Atlantic has faced within the past fve years, the atmosphere appears to be unusually placid.

“It certainly is off to a very quiet start,” said Brian McNoldy, a senior research assistant and hurricane expert at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science (RASMAES). “We’re at about a third of the normal activity for this point in the year.”

David Nolan, professor of atmospheric sciences at the RASMES, echoes McNoldy’s sentiments. According to Nolan, there have only been around a dozen hurricane seasons within the past century that have been more inactive than this season by this point in the year.

“It’s unusual in the sense that most of the time there are more,” Nolan said.

However, despite the lack of activity during the frst half of the season, both researchers maintain that students should not assume that this trend will continue.

“September and October can historically be quite active, even if August wasn’t,” McNoldy said. Nolan provides similar commentary.

“There’s kind of like a second part to the hurricane season when hurricanes come from the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico,” Nolan said. He emphasizes that although the halfway point of hurricane season has passed, the most dangerous storms often occur later in the season.

“Miami proper has gotten most of its hurricane activity from those late September and October storms,” Nolan said emphasizing the unpredictability of hurricanes and urging students not to develop a false sense of security.“Over a period of one or two weeks it could change and we could have a furry of activity at the end of the year, and possibly even get back to an average season.”

Unlike previous hurricane scares, students are now also advised to take into account the pandemic-induced supply chain issues that may cause delays to public services if a hurricane does occur. According to Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, the manufacturing and shipping issues that have beleaguered industries worldwide will likely interfere with the state’s hurricane response.

“There will be a supply chain problem,” Guthrie said in a presentation to the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council in late August. “They will be able to get the power restored, but there are certain businesses or neighborhoods that may be on a generator power for months to years.”

In addition to the energy sector, supply chain issues may affect other crucial industries. “You might see shortages of food, shortages of water,” said Dr. Naresh Kumar, a professor of environmental health at the University of Miami’s Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. Kumar also adds that supply chain issues may also negatively impact the ability of medical institutions such as pharmacies and hospitals to recover from a hurricane, so he recommends that students obtain a backup supply of their prescription medication before hurricane season. For information on hurricane preparedness, students can visit the University’s Offce of Emergency Preparedness at prepare.miami.edu.

Jared Lennon // Senior Staf Photographer Sandbags line the walkway next to the Whitten University Center on Aug. 31, 2019.

Hurricane Fiona brings foods and power outage to Puerto Rico

BY JENNY JACOBY

MANAGING EDITOR

On Sunday, the week of the ffth anniversary of Hurricane Maria–the category four storm that devastated Puerto Rico and killed over 3,000 people–Hurricane Fiona made landfall on the United States territory, undoing much of the build-back progress gained since Hurricane Maria.

The category one hurricane poured more than 30 inches of rain onto the hardest-hit areas with wind gusts reaching 90 MPH. The combined effects took its toll on the island. Puerto Rico’s power grid went dark and torrential rain triggered fash foods, forcing rescue missions of over 1,000 people stranded amidst the fooding.

“It’s frustrating because not only does Puerto Rico take destruction, but the education system and all the other systems that help Puerto Rico to grow and actually need attention from Puerto Rican people just stopped working,” said Ricardo Reina, a sophomore studying biomedical engineering. “That leaves people without going to school, that leaves people without homes, food and overall it’s a major side effect from the hurricane in the long term.”

Although only a category one storm, Fiona has caused mass damage to highways, the water system and hundreds of homes. Total damage is estimated to culminate in the billions of US dollars, according to Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Pierluisi.

“The thing that made it very impactful in Puerto Rico is that it was very close to the island and it moved very slowly. Those two things combined let it dump a lot of rain in a short amount of time,” RSMAS senior research associate and tropical atlantic blog owner Brian McNoldy said. “They are very prone to fash fooding and mudslides because it is not fat. There are mountains, so pretty quickly the heavy rainfall becomes a big issue.”

Reina, a San Juan native, has many family members who live on the island that have been unable to communicate with him. As of Monday, Sep. 20, he had only received one text from his family on the island; a message from his mother. After surviving Hurricane Maria together though, his family will be okay.

Reina said he is more concerned by the power outage in Puerto Rico, recalling the implications of the power outage in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Post Maria, the island experienced a power crisis that left hospitals nonfunctional and cost over $13 billion to fx.

“There are places in Puerto Rico, very few now, that have not recovered from Maria because of the electrical team and response team,” he said. “There are places in Puerto Rico that will never have power.”

There is hope though for an improved response to Fiona through Puerto Rico’s new partnership with LUMA Energy. LUMA has stated they have already returned power to 100,000 people in northern Puerto Rico as of late Monday.

The company has struggled to gain its footing since its implementation in 2020 facing roadblocks like the arrest of their Chief Executive. LUMA has also received some criticism for failing to keep the energy fow consistent this summer as a series of blackouts hit Puerto Rico.

Reina criticizes the government for yet again not being prepared and lacking the infrastructure to withstand a hurricane, but understands that there is always an air of inevitability and uncertainty that comes with the peak of hurricane season.

“No matter how prepared you are, there are so many people in Puerto Rico that do not have the right tools or right materials to protect themselves,” he said. “I think Puerto Rico could have done better in preparing for this hurricane but the hurricane got stronger in the end so there was no way to predict that.”

Following Puerto Rico, Fiona tracked east to the Dominican Republic -where mudslides have been reported- continuing its slow progression up the Atlantic Ocean.

“Currently my parents are in the DR and knowing that makes me feel a bit worried that they may potentially be at risk with not as many resources as the states in America to protect them,” sophomore Mikael Figueroa said.

UMPD commits to campus safety; student thoughts on policies

BY MORGAN FRY

STAFF WRITER

With the new school year underway, it’s important for students and staff to familiarize themselves with the resources in place for campus safety at the University of Miami.

University of Miami Police Department (UMPD) Lieutenant Octavia Bridges says is committed to protecting the safety of students, staff, faculty and visitors at UM. With a year and a half in the lieutenant position, she looks forward to building connections with students and making the campus a place where everyone feels protected.

“Safety is defnitely our main priority for the university,” Bridges said. “That is the main thing that drives us.”

Bridges spoke at the ‘Cane Kickoff Live orientation event on Aug. 18, where she gave an overview of the safety programs UM has on campus. This included information about blue light poles, Safe Ride, self-defense courses and the Rave Guardian mobile app.

Many students will use these resources at some point in their time at UM. Freshmen, like communications major Rey Leise, have already utilized these resources in the frst few weeks of the semester.

“One time I was walking late at night on Ponce, and I felt super unsafe,” Leise said. “I had to run around the corner and fnd the nearest blue light.”

Instead of using a blue light, which are becoming more minimal on campus, Leise decided to use Rave Guardian and still felt much more safe.

Student government president Jamie Williams-Smith also recalled a time where she felt unsafe on campus and was able to call UMPD for help.

“I felt like the whole process [of working with UMPD] was very smooth and seamless,” senior business technology major Williams-Smith said.

While both Williams-Smith and Leise have been able to utilize the campus safety resources in the past, most students do not know all the resources that UM provides.

Williams-Smith was unfamiliar with the Rave Guardian app that Bridges has been promoting at tabling events and through QR codes at residential colleges.

One of the most popular safety resources on campus is Safe Ride. Students can request a safety escort by calling 305-2846666 to either walk or drive them to their desired location, Monday through Friday from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m however it is not available on Saturdays, a night where students may need the service the most.

“I really like our Safe Ride program, but it would be super nice if they did have it on weekends,” Lesie said.

About 50% to 80% of the crimes on campus deal with unintended property theft, Bridges said. On Sept. 9, there was a report of vehicle theft that was communicated via email from UMPD.

“That’s something that can defnitely be deterred if students, staff, visitors will take their property with them,” Bridges said.

Williams-Smith also expressed that she would like to push to get previous proposals for cameras in the Pavia and Merrick parking garages passed during her administration. This would ensure not only the safety of students, but also security footage in the case of property damage, she said.

“Campus safety to me means feeling safe on the place you call home,” Williams-Smith said. “I feel like you should be able to walk around campus freely and not necessarily feel like you are going to be harmed.”

UMPD will be hosting a safety fair open to all students on Sept. 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Rock Plaza on campus. Surrounding Miami organizations and police departments will be present to answer questions, give away merchandise and provide refreshments.

“I really want the turnout to be awesome,” Bridges said. “We would love for the students to show up.” to us,” Stropes said.

Stefania Papadopulous // Contributing Photographer Students walk to class past police blue light phones on Sept. 19.

Students have mixed opinions on 15 minute class intervals

BY LAUREN WHITESELL

STAFF WRITER

The University of Miami is a relatively compact campus, but the late-summer rainstorms and 100 degree days may leave students dreading the distance between classes. Now, students face a time constraint as they race the newly reinstated 15-minute period between classes.

When UM’s campus re-opened to students in Fall 2020, students were given 25-minute periods between each class. The move was intended to allow professors to record lectures for students unable to attend the physical classroom.

UM returned to its standard 15-minute period between classes for the 2022-2023 school year and foreseeable future. The move is a departure from a COVID-19 era policy designed to help professors accommodate their students in quarantine and isolation.

“I feel like 15 minutes is a good time,” freshman exercise physiology major Molly Conn said. “Our campus isn’t too big so I feel like it’s easy to walk from one place to another within 15 minutes.”

Conn’s furthest walk is the distance between the Cox Science Building and the Dooly Memorial Classroom Building, a fve-minute journey.

UM’s Coral Gables campus encompasses 113 buildings spread over 293 acres. While most walks are manageable, some span farther than a 15 minute walk.

For Dylan Hasler, a freshman architecture major, the distance between the School of Architecture and Allen Hall, the location of her farthest away class, is nearly 20 minutes.

“Even if you can get there, sometimes it’s nice to be able to not,” Hasler said.

Sofa Jerome, a sophomore studying nursing, prefers her classes be back-to-back, even with the shortened time between classes, as she lives off campus and enjoys going to and from campus just once a day instead of having to come and go multiple times throughout the day.

“I would rather not have to wait in the library or around campus in between classes,” Jerome said.

Jerome does not have any trouble getting to her classes. Even so, she thinks having more time between classes would be a positive change.

Although their schedules allow enough time to get to their classes, Hasler and Jerome think more than ffteen minutes is necessary for students to have the chance to readjust and get in the proper mindset for their next class.

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Opinion

Gender affirming healthcare saves trans lives

BY KRIS BERG STAFF WRITER

The topic of transgender rights has been hotly contested in national and global politics over the last decade. In Florida, policies related to transgender issues, especially those affecting transgender minors, have sparked intense debate.

Policies restricting participation in youth sports by transgender players, discouraging discussion of LGBTQ+ identities in classrooms and penalizing doctors who provide gender-affrming care for underage patients have all been passed by Florida legislators within the last two years alone.

Although the policies have the potential to seriously harm the mental and physical health of LGBTQ+ youth, Republican legislators have justifed these restrictions on the basis that children do not have the mental capacity to fully understand queer topics or consent to dangerous and permanent medical and social transition procedures despite the insistence of medical professionals that any genderaffrming medical care provided to children is reversible and relatively low-risk.

While this argument contradicts scientifc consensus about the benefts of genderaffrming care for transgender children and teenagers, it gives lawmakers the ability to claim that their goal is to protect the autonomy of children.

Now, however, the emboldened conservative Florida government has cast aside the veneer of concern for bodily autonomy by taking measures to prevent adults from accessing this life-saving treatment as well. On Aug. 11, Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s administration passed a statewide rule denying Medicaid coverage for gender-affrming procedures such as hormone replacement therapy.

The policy, which took effect Aug. 21, was passed on the basis that there is no compelling evidence that such procedures are life-saving, so they are therefore not medically necessary. This is a lie.

A 2022 study by the University of Washington found that access to medical procedures such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy decreases rates of depression by 60% and risk of suicidal ideation by 73% in transgender and non-binary adolescents. Similar conclusions are shared by other reputable medical institutions, such as the American Association of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association.

By ignoring the cohesive scientifc consensus on this issue, Florida lawmakers are engaging in science denial for the sole purpose of enacting bigotry.

Now that this law is in effect, transgender citizens will need to either pay medical insurance or pay out of pocket in order to access these lifesaving procedures.

Unfortunately, transgender Americans have a poverty rate of 29%, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey conducted by the National Center on Transgender Equality. This is more than twice the national average poverty rate of 14%. The survey also shows that poverty rates are even higher for transgender people of color.

This means that without Medicaid coverage, access to gender-affrming care is virtually impossible for a large percentage of patients and with healthcare costs steadily increasing, it will also likely become diffcult for transgender Americans living above the poverty line to access these procedures.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the removal of Medicaid coverage for gender-affrming healthcare, as well as the plethora of other policies contributing to the oppression of transgender children and adults, will directly lead to increased rates of depression and suicide among Florida’s transgender population.

The LGBTQ+ community and their allies must make their voices heard through protest and through voting against lawmakers who will enact this bigoted legislation in November’s midterm elections. On a local level, allies should spread the word about other avenues through which their transgender community members can access necessary healthcare.

Until this policy is changed, transgender Floridians can contact nonproft organizations The McKenzie Project, TransSOCIAL and Point of Pride for assistance in accessing gender-affrming hormone therapy and surgeries at a lower cost. Some Planned Parenthood locations also offer hormone therapy at lower rates.

THE MIAMI HURRICANE September 21, 2022 - October 5, 2022 OPINION

7 Quiet Quitting: the new worker mindset against corporate

BY JAYDEN COHEN

STAFF WRITER

Many Americans cannot afford the luxury of going to work every day and performing a job they enjoy. This combined with the customary culture of aiming to go above and beyond leaves a large part of the workforce dissatisfied with their work-life balance.

“Quiet quitting” essentially means compartmentalizing one’s work and life. Those embracing this concept go to work, do their job and return home to engage in a far more fulfilling home life rather than continuing to do their job outside the office.

In a world where corporations hold unprecedented power over individuals, work feels like a slog now more than ever. The workplace does not feel like the protected space many companies claim it to be, especially when we consistently see megaemployers Amazon and Starbucks criticized for things like using reportedly illegal tactics to break up unions and violating labor laws.

In the wake of the “Great Resignation” brought about by the pandemic, workers are finding alternative ways to work without burnout or the stress of aiming for perfectionism. Quiet quitting is a form of passive resistance where workers who don’t want to quit outright disengage from work outside of their job description that doesn’t serve them .

This concept stands in stark contrast to the formerly common idea that workers should constantly strive to do more than what is expected of them. Former Amazon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos, claims that the relationship between work and life “… actually is a circle … not a balance.”

Bezos’ vision is out of touch. For the Americans who were shoehorned into working for large corporations out of financial need, an unhappy work environment that bleeds into their personal lives can easily lead to burnout and discontent.

One of the most frequent misconceptions about quiet quitting is that it stems from laziness. This could not be further from the truth. A vast majority of those who “quiet quit” do so for a completely different reason — they feel the businesses they work for exploit their labor whenever possible.

According to Gallup’s State of the Workplace: 2022 Report, the top source of burnout was “unfair treatment at work.”

Many workers reasonably feel no obligation to go above and beyond. If companies paid fair wages, provided more workplace benefits and honored union rights, the number of workers who feel compelled to quit quietly would likely decrease drastically.

Another common misheld belief about quiet quitting is that it negatively impacts the company. Some argue that, as a fellow worker, seeing team members not putting in full effort can be discouraging and disrespectful. These people are mistaking “quiet quitting” for not putting in effort at work.

What quiet quitting truly “quits” is the commonplace idea that one needs to constantly be striving to do more. Quiet quitters have no desire to strive for 120% in a field when 100% gets the job done and expends less effort.

For some large businesses, this movement has made obvious their value for profit over workers’ wellbeing. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has led Starbucks to be unyielding in the face of unions and has only started negotiating better rights with three of their over 200 unionized locations.

Members of Starbucks Workers United, the national union collective, have also called out the company’s firing workers involved in union organizing and have accused them of closing store locations based on union activity under the guise of “safety concerns.”

Large corporations cannot continue to expect employees to go “above and beyond” in and outside the workplace while refuting their demands for better rights, especially as our workplace culture evolves to redistribute power back to employees. stand as proof that the corporate world will argue any point to uphold the current economic hierarchy.

Quiet quitting is the latest cultural innovation in a sea of changing times. Union approval ratings are at an almost 60 year high but in 2021, corporate mergers and acquisitions similarly smashed the previous record, consolidating power in larger organizations.

It is only a matter of time until corporate innovation finds a way to strike back at quiet quitters. Therefore, it is tremendously important for the working class to remain vigilant and continue to resist the various strategies employed by the rich to oppress the poor. While quiet quitting implies workers’ silence, in practice it allows workers to stand up for themselves and exert control over their careers and lives.

Julia Martins //Graphics Editor