UM Housing fails to fix selection process, students without housing
NEWS //Page 3
Women’s basketball charged with NIL infractions SPORTS //Page 13
It is a calm day in the Everglades for the hundreds of species who know nothing of the billions spent to keep them there in a perfectly balanced water concentration and level.
Since the passing of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) in 2000, the Everglades has become the largest ecological restoration effort in the world, receiving several billiondollar infusions in pursuit of preserving the water quality and environmental health of the South Florida basin.
The latest addition to the restoration effort is the most prominent to date. A $4 billion endeavor, the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) reservoir will encompass a 10,500 acre reservoir and 6,500 acres of wetlands, otherwise known as the Stormwater Treatment Area (STA). Set for completion in 2030 and full implementation a few years later, the EAA will mark the conclusion of a thirty year endeavor to restore Florida’s natural water flow.
“Two decades of planning, two decades of planning, pushing and lifting and lobbying all to secure the funding needed to save and restore this amazing habitat,” Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said during the EAA groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 22.
The EAA will restore the connection between the river of grass and what Chief Scientist for the Everglades Foundation Steve David calls its “heart,” allowing water to flow from Lake Okeechobee in the north to the Florida Bay and
Everglades. This natural flow of water was disrupted in the 1940’s to dry up land for agriculture and development in South Florida, resulting in the drainage of 50% of the Everglades.
The reservoir will hold up to 78 billion gallons of water, which when released south will nourish these dehydrated landscapes.
“It allows us a volume of water that we can draw from so that we can mirror, or mimic, that natural recession of water across the landscape,” David said.
This polluted water will be filtered through miles of wetlands before reaching the Everglades, with the hopes of purifying it of high quantities of phosphorus, the nutrient partially responsible for algal blooms and fish kills. These blooms have grown in severity near the Caloosahatchee and St. Louis river with a notably persistent bloom from 2017 to 2019 in Florida’s Gulf Coast. This 17 month algal bloom cost Florida’s Gulf Coast Counties over one billion dollars in lost profits, approximately half from the tourism industry.
The EAA initiative has won the support of many coastal stakeholder groups due to its potential to reduce these harmful algaeprone water flows to the east and west coast though the by 55%
Captains for Clean Waters, an organization built by Southwest Florida fishermen, has been involved with the EAA since the passing of Senate Bill 10 in 2017 that allocated state funding towards the reservoir.
“This is a race to finish this project, to get clean water flowing south, get algae bloom out of our estuaries and our economy to be
resilient,” Co-founder of Captains for Cleanwater Daniel Andrews said.
The Everglades also has major ecosystem benefits for the MiamiDade area. Acting as the primary freshwater source for 9 million people, the increase in water sent south will allow for continued freshwater access for the growing Southeast coast population. It will also work against the threat of saltwater intrusion by recharging the Biscayne aquifer, preventing rising seawater from seeping into the water table underneath MiamiDade.
“Everglades restoration is the precondition for resilience here in South Florida,” the Everglades Foundations Ecosystem and Resilience Scientist Dr. Meenakshi Chabba said. “You get the water right, as Everglades restoration does, you’ll get the resilience
right.”
Following the 18 foot storm surge that accompanied Hurricane Ian, there has been growing pressure to shield Miami from impacts of future inundating hurricanes. Most solutions focus on coastal protection, but the EAA offers a new possibility to better equip the state to respond to major flood and surge events. Once completed, the reservoir will have the ability to store tremendous amounts of water and redirect its flow as needed.
“It gives us the ability to store that water and release it strategically and create the right environment for open flood control, which will actually enhance any coastal storm risk management,” Chabba said.
The development marks a considerable step forward in bringing restoration projects out of the planning stage and into reality.
“It’s incredible to think that we’ve really only been making substantial progress since that first mile of bridging Tamiami Trail was completed in 2012,” David said. “These projects, they’re not additive in their effect, they’re multiplicative.”
On Jan. 10, 2023 Governor Ron DeSantis passed the “Achieving Even More Now for Florida’s Environment” executive order, that includes a $3.5 billion investment to the Everglades, building on the $2.5 billion allocated by a similar executive order four years earlier in 2019.
The Everglades Foundation, as well as Gov. DeSantis, have highlighted the EAA as one of the most substantial efforts to minimize algal blooms and subsequently plan to direct most of this new funding to their “crown jewel” of restoration.
Some students transfer colleges because a different school has a better academic reputation. Others transfer to stay closer to home.
Now students at the University of Miami must consider a new factor: there is no housing for them.
“One of my friends told me that she is transferring because she cannot afford housing in Miami,” freshman psychology and criminology major Olivia Vanesko said. “Honestly, I don’t blame her.”
For the past month, UM students have been trying to register for 2023-2024 on-campus housing. However, new policies implemented by Housing & Residential Life (HRL) and an overwhelming demand of applicants has caused another year of students scrambling to find housing.
Nalia Charania is a sophomore studying finance who had a 9:15am reservation to secure a 4-bedroom apartment in the University Village (UV), 15 minutes after registration opened. However, when she tried to register, there were no apartments for her to choose from.
“I’ve been really distraught since,” Charania said. “My group did everything that they asked us to do, registering early and being in a group of 4 and still we got left out.”
According to Charania, many of the four-bedroom apartments were only partially filled, with only three or less occupied bedrooms.She soon realized she also could not leave her four-person group to fill another bedroom spot. Not being able to fill any spots angered Charania, as she noted that housing specifically announced they would prioritize fourbedroom apartments over any other arrangement.
“So, when we were looking for 4-bedrooms, there were a lot, but only a maximum of 3 bedrooms available in those apartments” Charania said. “We could not leave our group to fill the fourth spot.” ince Charania could not break from her group to fill other bedrooms, she now must join a waiting list until a potential spot becomes available.
“My group thought we’ll just put three people in one room of three and then put one person in a room of one and at least we would all get housing,” Charania said. “But they didn’t let us separate from our group so none of us have housing.”
HRL’s recent policy allowing students to hold their current rooms in UV for the upcoming year, led to the increase in partially filled rooms. It allows for fewer entirely open apartments as some current students may stay for the next year while others may choose to live off-campus or
graduate.
“They don’t need the same room,” Charania said about the students who have reserved rooms in the UV. “They have to move their stuff out of there anyways, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Even though UV is the only housing facility that is allowing students to hold their room for the 2023-2024 academic year, other student housing options are having the same issue with limited open apartments. Vanesko, who like Charania had an early time slot for a four-bedroom apartment in Lakeside Village, was shut out from any apartments.
“Before my time to register began, I saw other kids in my class on the housing portal website,” Vanesko, who had an appointment at 9:30 am on Friday, said. “Now I have to plan for the worst-case scenario.”
HRL’s decision to prevent groups from separating during the housing selection process allowed for those with later times to still have access to rooms.
“In an effort to streamline the selection process, avoid confusion, and allow students to receive more than one appointment time in the same day, roommate groups were locked into place by the February 9, 11:59 p.m. deadline,” said Richard Sobaram, assistant vice-president of Student Affairs-Housing Strategic Initiatives. “Allowing these groups
to break up would give them an unfair advantage, because once the 4-bedroom units sellout they could simply decouple themselves and select the available bedrooms, leaving nothing or very little for the students who were in a group of 1.”
Vanesko fears that she will not be able to afford any housing near campus as rent in Miami reached record levels after the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, UM covers her housing via financial aid.
“I personally cannot afford to live off campus and I won’t have a car,” Vanesko said said. “My family has already sacrificed so much for me to be here in the first place and it’s going to be even harder now.”
Many students are competing for apartments with the growing Miami-Dade population while in the middle of the academic semester.
“I don’t know why they decided to choose this time for housing registration to happen,” Doménica Núñez del Arco Abad, a sophomore business analytics and computer science major, said. “As a student, in the middle of midterms, I don’t have the time in my day to be calling ten different places for housing.”
Núñez is also from Ecuador, making it even harder to try to go through any off-campus housing process. Neither herself nor her family have a social security number or even a credit score, both asked for when
filling out a housing application.
“As an international student, you don’t even have a social security number,” Núñez said. “It’s so much more difficult to acclimate to the real estate environment in the United States.”
Sobaram has acknowledged that HRL is making sure that students will be assisted with trying to find housing off-campus through the school. They are hosting an offcampus housing fair later this semester.
“HRL has developed relationships with many off-campus complexes to help students,” Sobaram said. “We have hired a full-time off campus housing coordinator to assist students and families.”
While students are trying to stay on the on-campus waiting list to see if anything fills up, some are worried that if they stay on too late then they will not be able to find any offcampus housing if they are rejected. Before the 2022-2023 academic year, some students on the waitlist found out they had housing in June, after the previous school year ended, while others had to live in hotel rooms at the Thesis hotel .
“I don’t want to have to wait until June to know if I have housing next year,” Charania said. “I’m trying to find off-campus housing while still hoping somehow that I will find a place on campus and it’s hard.”
Growing up in Tampa, ecosystem and policy major freshman Laruen Novorska recalls looking at animals, marine life and the oceans of South Florida. When she started to notice red tide, or harmful algal blooms in the waters near her home, she knew she wanted to do something to address and educate others on environmental issues in Florida.
Navorska dedicates her time to environmental protection through sharing her insights. The Everglades Coalition Conference provided Novorska with an opportunity to speak about her experience living in South Florida and learn from other speakers about ways to protect the
Everglades.
“I think it’s very inspiring to be able to be in a room with people who are making a difference and who are really putting themselves out there and advocating,” Novorska said.
Novorska and sophomore ecosystem and policy major John Bianchini, along with three other UM students, were awarded the scholarship to attend the conference on Jan. 26-28 at the Ft. Lauderdale Marriott, Coral Springs.
Novorska had the opportunity to speak about the economic, social and political roles of the environment on one of the panels.
“A lot of what I talked about was hope,” Novorska said. “I think hope is something that I really struggle to find as a lot of our environmental
problems surface.”
The conference focused on restoration of the Everglades through topics such as watershed protection, wildlife management and climate change solutions. Speakers discussed the implications of these subjects and recommended laws that could mitigate the fallout of these problems.
“A big focus of the conference was environmental policy and environmental law, so it was a really good way to network with environmental lawyers,” Novorska said. “I was really happy and inspired by a lot of the things that I saw at the conference and the people I spoke to and what I heard.”
Native American tribal leaders also spoke on a panel, where they shared their perspective on the Everglades.
“It was just really cool, everybody from different angles of the Everglades coming together and kind of speaking with their experiences and their work, and really working together for a major restoration plan,” Bianchini said.
The conference also had networking opportunities for scholarship recipients who are looking to pursue careers in environmental protection.
“It was so amazing making connections that possibly could lead to either internship or career opportunities,” Bianchini said. “We talked about the future and how the students, a lot of the people there were of the earlier generations.”
The Everglades Coalition is a group of 57 conservation and environmental organizations that work to protect
the greater Everglades ecosystem. This was the coalition’s 38th annual conference, where these organizations were able to share the protection work they have completed. While the conference only happens one day of the year, students like Novorska and Bianchini emphasized the importance of making smart decisions for the planet every day.
“Take any opportunity to try to make a difference in your community, whether it’s picking up trash that you see, or joining an organization and actually getting involved,” Novorska said. “I think the easiest way you can get involved is to educate yourself about the environment and specifically about the Everglades.”
One year ago on Feb. 24, President of Russia Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to “denazify” and “demilitarize” Ukraine. Moments later, Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion on Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
Since then, Russian forces have initiated countless missile attacks across Ukraine’s major cities, devastating the lives and property of millions and driving the population into a humanitarian crisis.
An estimated 21,293 civilians have died and more than 5.4 million Ukrainians are internally displaced as a result of the conflict as of January 2023. Property damages have totaled to approximately $138 billion and more than 136,000 civilian buildings have been destroyed.
The crisis has made a profound impact on the lives of Ukrainian people all over the world, with many viewing the disaster thousands of miles from home.
Dmytro Gnativ, a doctoral student in musical arts at UM’s Frost School of Music, feels the toll of the war even thousands of miles from his hometown of Sambir, in the Lviv Region of Ukraine.
“In general I see less happiness among people, less laughs, less joy,” Gnativ said. “365 days my morning starts with coffee and news from Ukraine. Every single day there are deaths, acquaintances that lost their lives and friends that lost their close ones. I can’t enjoy my life as before and I can’t imagine how hard it is to be living in Ukraine right now.”
Even in the face of immeasurable tragedy, Gnativ and several other Ukrainian musicians are looking to music and other art forms as a means of empowerment and cultural preservation.
Gnativ recently presented repertoire by Ukrainian composers at the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, where he also discussed the rich history of Ukraine and its culture.
“As a musician I think it’s important to look into Ukrainian culture and its music and art,” Gnativ said. “There are answers to our difficult history and tools on how to help with the war. I think that music by composers like Lyatoshynsky, Silvestrov, Dychko, Turkewich or Hanna Havrylets as well as many other Ukrainian composers deserve to be programmed by the US Orchestras and Chamber groups.”
While Ukrainian music has often been overshadowed by Russian contemporary and classical music, there have been several movements to increase its presence across the globe.
In May 2022, Eurovision hosted its annual song contest where it featured the Ukrainian rap group Kalush Orchestra performing the song “Stefania”.
In the final stage of the contest, the group’s frontman Oleh Psiuk emerged following the performance and yelled, “I ask all of you, please help Ukraine, Mariupol. Help Azovstal, right now!”
Later that night, the group brought home a victory for Ukraine.
The award, partially chosen by a public televote, marked a resounding victory for Ukraine, following months of tragedy.
In March 2022, the Russian offensive directed air strikes on the strategic port city of Mariupol, killing hundreds when a missile hit the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theatre, which had been housing civilians.
April 2022 was met with continuous missile strikes on the Russian front, with eyes on the Donbas region and the outskirts of Kyiv. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces made headway by strik -
ing the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, a flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
In July 2022, amidst the looming threat of a global food crisis, Russia and Ukraine made an agreement to unblock supplies of grain held at Ukraine’s black sea ports. Yet, the conflict continued to aggravate the postpandemic global economy and drove up gas prices as a result of U.S. sanctions on the Russian economy.
In September 2022, Ukrainian forces initiated a surprise counteroffensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, driving Russian forces backward. Despite extensive pushback on behalf of Ukraine, Putin signed documents at a Kremlin ceremony to annex Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia on Sept. 30.
Since the start of the war, the United Nations General Assembly, the U.S., NATO members and other peacekeeping institutions have actively condemned the actions of Putin, calling it a blatant violation of national sovereignty.
As of Feb. 22, the Biden Administration and the U.S. Congress has provided over $75 billion in military, humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine, aiding Ukraine’s counteroffensives and providing its forces with advanced military technology.
With Putin confident that Russia will emerge victorious, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky determined to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty, experts have struggled to predict when the war will end.
On Feb. 21, 2023, Putin announced that he would suspend Russia’s participation in the New START treaty, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and the Russian Federation.
Following the decision, Putin announced that he would work to bolster Russia’s nuclear forces, perhaps signaling future escalation at the one-year anniversary of the invasion.
“Right now, it’s clear that both sides are preparing for the biggest battle since the war began. Spring is assumed to be the breaking point,” said Gnativ. While both parties hold substantial military power, Russia has employed state-controlled media outlets such as Russia Today (Россия Сегодня) to completely transform Russia’s information warfare tactics, proliferating a single message that has echoed across the region.
“The war one year later has definitely desensitized Russian society even more than it used to be,” said UM alumnus Alexander Ramazanov, who was born and lived in Russia for over nineteen years. “The constant propaganda mixed with constant dehumanization of Ukrainians on Russian state TV has worsened the perception of Ukrainians.”
As U.S. and NATO allies continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine to support its civilians and restoration efforts, there are several organizations across the U.S. that are
helping Ukrainian refugees and citizens to provide them with basic needs.
Other organizations are finding ways to keep Ukrainian culture alive even as their sovereignty as a country is threatened. One particular initiative called Backup Ukraine created PolyCam, a digital archive designed to safeguard Ukraine’s cultural and historical heritage by using 3-D models to preserve buildings and monuments in case they are destroyed.
“Russian propaganda tries to diminish the significance of Ukrainian culture for centuries, appropriating artists, confusing the world, eliminating those who oppose, and achieving great success in suppressing our culture,” said Gnativ. “Now it’s the perfect time to do the opposite–to show that we not only can support the country and victims of the war, but that we can see through propaganda and appreciate the rich culture of Ukraine.”
The Department of Political Science will be hosting a roundtable on the Russia-Ukraine War on Feb. 24, the anniversary of the invasion. The roundtable will be held at 2 p.m. in the Campo Sano building. Students can register for the event here.
When Junior Oneila Mendive walked through the doors of UM her freshman year, she immediately saw a need for community within the disabled student population and resolved to create one.
In collaboration with the Office of Disability Services, Mendive co-founded The Disability Ambassadors Program and it became an approved student organization in November.
“Ten percent of the University’s population identify with having a disability,” Mendive said. “I felt a huge disconnect and I’ve had conversations with [disabled] people who felt like they were not welcome. That helped me decide ‘we’re doing this’.”
As co-founder, inaugural president, and a student with disabilities, Mendive said the main goal of the organization is to streamline college navi -
gation for differently abled students, create safe spaces and foster awareness about disability across campus.
“We want to create an organization where students with disabilities and non-disabilities can come together, educate UM about disability and the different aspects of it, and also try to make UM more inclusive to those that have disabilities,” Mendive said.
The Ambassadors program is intended to be a resource for both current and incoming students with disabilities. Ambassadors are there to mentor, offer support and advice on academia, provide information about accessibility and external resources available on campus and generally help students with impairments adjust to college as much as possible.
Preceding this organization, Mendive had hands in launching a program with similar initiatives called the The Bridge Mentorship program. Facili -
tated by learning specialist and assistant director of UM’s learning initiative Morgan Anderson, this program paired new students with upper-classmen to facilitate a smooth transition to college in the face of impairments.
The success of Bridge encouraged Mendive to pursue The Ambassadors Program in the spring of 2022.
“I started working with the Camner Center and we created the bridge program,” Mendive said. “That spring my advisor Morgan Anderson and I talked about doing an organization [Disability Ambassadors Program] and in the summer, a bunch of us came together and started working on making the club a reality.”
Though still in its infancy, Mendive shared that other larger student organizations have taken interest in the Ambassadors program, and discussed the potentiality of collaborations.
“Our e-board is amazing this year, we are putting in the work and seeing results, “ Mendive said. “We have definitely gotten some interest from very big organizations, clubs being like, ‘hey, we have an interest in helping and working with you guys.’”
The organization has a slew of events planned for the rest of the semester including a collaborative discussion with medical fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon about disability and the healthcare system.
“We’re going to have two professors come in, a doctor who works for UM and a disabled to about all aspects of healthcare and with disability, “ Mendive said. “We want to educate future doctors about disability because there’s a lot of ableism in the health care system, I personally have felt it and other people I know have too.”
Mendive also mentioned an intersectionality event slated for late April. The event will be
a discussion navigating being a person of color and having a disability.
“That’s still in the very preliminary planning stages,” Mendive said. “But that’s one of the things that in our first meeting, we’re like, we’re doing this.”
The program is open for all UM students to participate, those interested can attend one of its monthly general body meetings. The upcoming one is on March 6 and Mendive says it will be a “de-stress” event in lieu of midterm season.
“Our general body meeting is to create community and bonds, “ Mendive said. “We plan to do it once a month and our goal is to educate people about disability. We also want people to come in and make friends - you can come chill, we have food and games.”
For updates on events, follow @disabilityambassadorsum.
Following the one trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in 2022, many University of Miami students wondered whether the funds would benefit their lives in the near future. Now, students will be able to witness their government at work on campus.
The Aquaculture Program at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science (RSMAES) just received $750,000 worth of federal funding. The Aquaculture Program is a marine fish hatchery that works to provide sustainable and eco-friendly seafood and promote food se -
curity. The program has approximately ten species of marine fish at any given time, including flounder, snapper and mahi mahi.
UM professor and aquaculture director Dr. Daniel Benetti says the goal of this funding is to allow the fish in the program to reach commercial size and enter the seafood market. The money will specifically be used to design and build a recirculating aquaculture system.
“The juveniles that we produce here would have a full cycle to bring them to a commercial size that could be consumed by the consumer,” Benetti said.
Aquaculture’s main purpose
is to increase food production, lower pollution and boost coastal and rural economies.
Benetti says that since most of the fish supply in America comes from international sources, this program is important for increasing sustainable seafood production domestically.
“This will help expand the opportunities for sustainable seafood production in the southeastern United States,” Benetti said.
Roni Avissar, Dean of the Rosenstiel School, also says that one of the many benefits of aquaculture is its economic and environmentally friendly advantages.
UM originally requested $900,000 in federal funding in March, 2022 from South Florida delegation members and ultimately received $750,000. UM’s director of government relations Shreya Kuntawala helped spearhead the process.
These requests serve as an opportunity to fund high impact projects. To be considered, projects must show community support. Each congress member then selects 15 of these projects to advocate funding for.
Florida District 27 Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, whose district encompasses all of UM, advocated for the school’s Aquaculture Program as well as flood mitigation and
road improvement projects. She chose the program as one of the 15 projects in the district to be funded by the federal government.
Avissar says the Aquaculture Program hopes to achieve their goal of commercial application within a year. He says he is hopeful that the funding could be increased eventually, but for now it is an accomplishment as it will demonstrate the power of the lab and eventually becoming commercial.
“I’m very happy that this is a first step that is hopefully going to lead the way for many others,” Avissar said.
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1,651 books were targeted by bans in 2022, according to The American Library Association, most of them related to African American or LGBTQ+ culture. More than 160 teachers have resigned or been fired in response to these bans and the wider, growing political movement against academic freedom spreading through Republican-led states.
U.S. has reflected a deal between taxpayers and the government to provide all children with a proper education that will prepare them for their democratic duties and the workforce. DeSantis has violated this agreement.
from Florida. They have friends and siblings attending the public schools DeSantis is targeting and former teachers who are facing threats for the books they use and the contents of their syllabi.
that teachers and professors’ rights to freedom of speech are limited in a classroom setting.
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Florida is at the center of this campaign. Under the supervision of Gov. Ron DeSantis, 566 books were banned across 21 Florida school districts in the 2021-2022 school year alone, according to PEN America’s Banned Book Index. DeSantis, a rising star among conservatives, has reignited the censorship battle in classrooms on his path to rid Florida education of “wokeness” and reform higher education to his standards.
With every banned book and lifelong educator fired, DeSantis further erodes the value of public higher education and jeopardizes its foundations as part of a political agenda that has intensified since he took office. Students, many of whom are still too young to vote in gubernatorial elections, will end up paying the price for these decisions.
In his latest moves to mold education to his personal tastes, DeSantis has taken a stance against the College Board, proposed cutting all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) funding at public universities and meddled in gender-affirming healthcare on college campuses. He has followed this up by systematically appointing conservative staff to key collegiate positions and installing his own civic education programs at several public colleges.
Each initiative encroaches on freedom of expression and speech in upper levels of education while acting as a direct threat to the accessibility of information and legitimacy of Florida’s academic institutions.
Since its beginnings in the early 19th century, public education in the
His changes to tax-payer funded universities do not reflect the opinion of most Floridians, nor are they in the interests of the many students who attend them. These are instead
More importantly, UM students are residents of Florida, a state that no longer respects the entirety of their academic ambitions or the pillars of DEI: a state that would take away the teachings of critical race
“The conclusion that university professors do not have an individual right to academic freedom is obviously correct,” the defendants said in a court filing in September 2022. They argue that the university itself limits this right to academic freedom. Thus, the authority for what is allowed to be taught in classrooms will come directly from universities’ administrations, many of which have been staffed through DeSantis appointments.
part of a self-interested media campaign targeted at an increasingly politically polarized nation.
In his efforts to pull voters and attention to the far-right, he is creating a hostile school environment for nearly half of his constituents. With more than 47% of Florida’s population identifying as members of a racial or ethnic minority, according to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau, his efforts to remove DEI programs are an intentional effort to limit demographic diversity within universities. As a private school, the University of Miami does not have to abide by many of these orders but that does not prevent their impacts from reaching our campus. Almost 35% of undergraduate students at UM are
theory and prevent gender-affirming healthcare if they were able to.
In his proposals, bills and laws DeSantis has promised the citizens of Florida that he is liberating education.
“Governor Ron DeSantis announced legislation for the 2023 Session to further elevate civil discourse and intellectual freedom in higher education, further pushing back against the tactics of liberal elites who suppress free thought in the name of identity politics and indoctrination,” the governor’s staff said in a news release.
Yet, in response to the legal case against the Stop-WOKE act, Pernell v. Florida Board of Governors, state lawyers argued the opposite:
Ben Sasse, a DeSantis-approved and appointed former Republican senator from Nebraska, presides over the University of Florida, the highest-ranked public university in the state. After DeSantis forcibly removed and replaced six of 13 members of New College of Florida’s board of trustees, the trustees fired President Patricia Okker. They then replaced her with interim president Richard Corcoran, the 2016-2018 Republican speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, giving him a nearly $400,000 increase over Okker’s salary. Two presidents bought to ensure the DeSantis doctrines are enforced.
The governor’s hollow claims about intellectual freedom and the need for new leadership are an attempt to cover up financial and political support for other Republicans. Intellectual freedom comes through free access to ideas from all points of view and the ability to draw one’s own conclusions, not through guiding the next generation into an echo chamber reflecting a singular way of thinking. Censorship and reformatting schools against African American and LGBTQ+ education will not make a better educated population but a more ignorant one.
There is nothing free about the education system DeSantis is creating.
Students should not be politcal collateral in DeSantis’ hunt for powerKali Ryder//Staff Graphic Designer
had on children. Experts from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health highlighted the alarming negative health consequences, finding that U.S. households with children who experience food insecurity doubled from 14% to 28%, impacting communities of color the most.
Food insecure children are more likely to have poorer health outcomes as they grow older. The researchers noted that limited access to quality nutrition through school programs and increasing unemployment rates have resulted in what are the highest rates of child food insecurity in decades.
After conducting the THINK program in 2019, 2021 and 2022, the greatest benefits to physical fitness occured in kids who participated in our program before COVID-19.
Adolescents who participated in the THINK program after the pandemic may have had fewer health benefits from the program because they generally engaged in less physical activity and had fewer school-based physical education classes, while having more sedentary behavior and psychological stress. Other studies of young people have also shown that the pandemic led to weight gain, reduced aerobic fitness and increased sedentary behavior.
a broader scale to at-risk school districts and communities. Increased governmental and financial support for these programs could serve as a valuable resource to support the welfare of our children. Furthermore, greater support for nutrition and exercise-related resources for all communities is crucial. For instance, the Heroes Act is a positive development in that it has expanded emergency relief for school meal programs and child nutrition services.
BY JOSEPH BONNER CONTRIBUTING WRITERCOVID-19 has worsened the onset of obesity in children — and we aren’t doing enough about it.
COVID-19, in many ways, has inextricably impacted the physical and psychosocial wellbeing of millions of families in the United States. While the virus itself presents many serious health risks, the dramatic changes to our lifestyles also have significant impacts on our health, especially for vulnerable populations, including adolescents.
Since its emergence in 2020, rates of weight gain and obesity risk in children have dramatically increased. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has observed a near doubling of body mass index during the pandemic compared to a pre-pandemic period in a cohort of 432,302 children ages 2 to 19. People who were already overweight or obese and younger school-aged children experienced the largest increases. In addition to weight gain, American children have experienced detrimental increases in stress, irregular eating patterns, diminished access to nutritious foods, increased screen time and lessened physical activity.
A dramatic increase in food insecurity is one of the major negative impacts COVID-19 has
In a 2020 literature review, researchers found that both food insecurity and pediatric obesity disproportionately burden low-income families. Thus, it is important to consider the influence of socioeconomic hardships as it relates to childrens’ health.
Both COVID-19 and childhood obesity are multifaceted issues. There aren’t any easy answers to solving these health crises. However, implementing programs and policies to encourage families to make healthier behavioral choices can certainly help.
At the University of Miami, we have addressed the issue by creating the Translational Health in Nutrition and Kinesiology (THINK) program, that targets adolescents in South Florida with an innovative physical fitness and wellbeing curriculum. It utilizes STEM based learning, hands-on laboratory activities, active engagement through physical activity, nutrition education and meaningful dialogue through the lens of social emotional learning. During the summer, the adolescents participate in a six-week wellness program. We test several physical measures and conduct healthrelated surveys before and at the end of the six weeks.
As a THINK co-investigator, I have witnessed how adolescents see significant improvements in body composition and other measures of health. The physical benefits include: cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, power production, flexibility and agility. We have also observed improvements in social emotional learning and self-reported dietary behaviors.
Given our current circumstances, our research has shown that promoting daily physical activity can be very beneficial to several key physical fitness markers in as little as six weeks. Families should encourage their children to frequently participate in some form of physical activity, especially because there may be fewer opportunities to do so through school and community involvement.
Programs like THINK should be offered on
More funding for these programs and additional funding for physical activity education can better preserve healthy behaviors in adolescents. Increasing benefits from food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women, Infants and Children program can also alleviate poverty-related limited access to quality nutrition.
The global pandemic has clearly demonstrated that urgency can drive progress. Why can’t we do the same for the sake of our children’s health?
Roberta Macedo//Graphics EditorA Baltimore native, senior Shane Shakoor has a “love-hate” relationship with his childhood.
“I reject unpacking that part of my life,” Shakoor said. “I forgot the bad, but also [forgot] the good.”
While the motion pictures major and strategic communications minor calls his upbringing normal and basic, this complicated relationship stems from the rejection and repression of his artistic self he endured to ft in with his peers.
“Being artsy exposed me in a way with my sexuality. I wasn’t into the typical things that boys were really into like sports, football, things like that,” Shakoor said.
Growing up, the multi-talented creative played classical guitar and saxophone in his school band along with his other artistic pursuits.
This creative past helped him curate the NASDAQ Amplifying Black Voices multimedia series in 2021 and last month’s BCCXBAM VISIONS Afrofuturism ex-
hibit. A textbook multihyphenate, Shakoor also releases music under the name Shakko.
When I pronounced it shock-oh, Shakoor corrected it to shake-oh. This ambiguity is purposeful.
“I think the best artists’ names are pronounced different ways by different people,” Shakoor said. “I like ambiguous names that no one knows how to say.”
His list of accolades doesn’t seem to end. While Shakoor’s main gig is leading the Black Creatives Collective (BCC) as president, he’s also been the Creative and Art Director for Gravity Magazine and an editor and coproducer for UMTV.
Add his status as a Hammond scholar, a semester abroad in Brazil and internships with NBCUniversal, NASDAQ and Paramount Pictures. It must be diffcult ftting these experiences on a one-page resume.
None of these accomplishments were accidental, however. In high school, Shakoor knew he wanted to intern at certain companies, continue his artistic endeavors and study abroad.
“I always know what my next move is gonna be,” Shakoor said. “Though it hasn’t gone exactly to plan, the planning has helped me a lot in setting me up to do those things,” Shakoor said.
Something largely unplanned was his involvement in BCC, a student organization just two years old. Founded by UM alums Olbrine Thelusma, Naila Anderson and Taj Bland, BCC is a supportive outlet fostering creation & collaboration for young creatives at UM.
“It was needed. It was highly recognized among the Black
community once it started, even though it was an independent organization,” Shakoor said. “There was such a space to be flled that people gravitated toward the organization.”
The now-president started as the organization’s secretary, eventually making his way to vice-president before his current role. With 200 Engage members and nearly 1000 Instagram followers, the club has seen immense growth in a short period of time. The transition was rocky, though.
“You just have to make sure the show keeps going,” Shakoor said. “Nothing’s falling apart as much as you think it is, nothing’s as bad as you think it is.”
On Feb. 10, BCC collaborated with the Black Awareness Month (BAM) committee to host the VISIONS exhibit with a focus on Afrofuturism.
When planning the event, Shakoor and BAM chair Dahlia Mason expected somewhere between 50 and 75 attendees, far from the 250 that attended the exhibit on Feb. 10. After interest picked up, the pair quickly realized that they would need more sponsors, equipment, technology, and money than they anticipated.
As BCC President, Shakoor singlehandedly mentored the exhibit’s seven featured artists.
“I was buying the materials, getting their project proposals outlined, editing their projects, making sure that everything was doable,” Shakoor said.
Prior experience at NASDAQ prepared him for this process, but the production aspect was new to him, possible only with a “community effort” from Mason and the BCC Executive Board.
“It’s such an innovative event — it’s not like we’ve done this before,” Shakoor said. “I feel like it will become an annual thing.” Shakoor’s favorite parts of the night were the artist Q&A and the vocal and instrumental performances that set the atmosphere. His enjoyment of the musical guests in particular refects an overall love for music, which he cites as his primary creative catalyst.
“I will consume music and it will come out in different forms of art like painting, sculpture, literally everything,” Shakoor said. Listing his musical inspirations, Shakoor highlighted R&B artists Solange, Daniel Caesar, Destin Conrad, Kehlani, Ari Lennox and Jazmine Sullivan, whose work he calls “good, quality, traditional, highly-recognized art.”
Other sources of inspiration include UM alum Olbrine Thelusma, who he talks to nearly every day and can relate with on an artistic level.
Freshman Wes Lucas, whose work was featured in the VISIONS Exhibit, and senior Jay DeGrace, a multi-faceted artist who Shakoor calls “an incredible talent,” also made the list. Shakoor feels that creativity fows when people let go of strict expectations.
“You have to detach from the standards that people have for you, and it’s like, ‘I’m going to do what I need to do and whatever is for me will come,’” he said. For Shakoor, detaching from the standard meant taking time off to study abroad last spring and explore Brazil.
Doing a semester abroad in Rio De Janeiro served Shakoor well.
His academic experience looked completely different — he only went in-person to campus on Thursdays and took 13 credits, two of which were asynchronous. “Other countries don’t have this hyper-identifcation with clubs and organizations like we have here,” Shakoor said. “It was nice to get out of this environment of meetings every night and having to make agendas, even though I love and enjoy being in my orgs.” Shakoor described his time abroad as “free” and “peaceful.” The senior studied topics like Brazilian architecture and culture, LGBTQ Brazil, stereotypes versus reality and the Portuguese language. Being in Brazil gave him a new view on productivity and enriching life experiences.
“Imagine how much more we would enjoy [the city of] Miami with a little less commitment here on campus,” Shakoor said.
Most notably, his time abroad changed the trajectory of his last year of undergraduate study.
“I never thought I would take a language class again, and now I’m learning Portuguese…and I’m also learning a lot about Latin American culture.”
After graduation, Shakoor hopes to travel for several months — possibly in Brazil again — and continue creating art.
‘I crave the atmosphere I felt when I was not in the United States,” Shakoor said. “I feel this pressure to capitalize on my talents here and such a pressure to conform in a lot of ways too.”
Realistically, he wants to work in the music tech industry at the intersection of live production and brand strategy for artists and labels. Companies like Spotify, Dolby, and Vevo came up. Above all, Shakoor knows his worth.
“My taste is very impeccable. I know that I have input that needs to be shared,” Shakoor said. “I can’t afford to not create and collaborate and contribute to the air that we are in art right now. I can’t afford to not be involved, and that motivates me a lot.”
Factors like success and money also motivate Shakoor, but his want of recognition is outweighed by his desire for the freedom that comes with fnancial security and the ability to give back to his
community.
After leaving UM, Shakoor hopes to set a foundation for BCC to support Black artists and prove that it deserves continued support from UM.
He also wants young creatives to know that they can pursue their creative passions in an environment that will support them.
“Your creation is worth it,” Shakoor said. “Everything that [you] do is of value of someone and to yourself.”
On the side, Shakoor’s been working on his personal brand Disoriented, which he sees becoming a “community phenomenon.”
“I want it to be weird, abnormal, innovative things that people are doing within art, and heavily fo-
cus on people themselves,” Shakoor said.
So far, he’s working with a logo and little else, but he sees the brand creating short form documentaries on people and ways of thinking, asking questions like “How is thought transitioning throughout generations?”
Shakoor implores young creatives to relax, take advantage of free experiences, study abroad while in school and explore the city of Miami.
“It’s only gonna be script material for what you create,” Shakoor said. “No life experiences equals no art.”
To keep up with Shakoor’s next move, follow him on Instagram @shaneshakoor and @shakkomusic.
Like Miami legend DJ Laz said, “I wanna see you move, move, shake, shake, now drop” your way onto celebrating 305 Day in the magic city of Miami.
Launched by 305 Cafectior in 2014, 305 Day celebrates South Florida and its shared community pride every year. The now viral social media trend designates March 5 as an unoffcial Miami holiday.
Here are fve ways you can celebrate 305 Day this year:
10th
Visit Wynwood Marketplace on March 5 for a day flled with music, entertainment, artwork, food, merch, local vendors and fun! There will be a Miami-inspired Zumba class at 3:05 pm and a special performance by @hiphopkidz. This is a truly Miami lineup that you cannot miss out on.
Oasis Wynwood will be another destination to celebrate the rich culture of Miami. Starting at 1 p.m. you can experience the food, culture and vibes showcasing the best of Miami. Powered by Retro Dade, there will be a lineup of all Miami DJs, photo opportunities and activations throughout the day.
What better way to celebrate 305 Day than munching on a Miami staple? Coyo Taco will have a menu featuring tacos, mini quesadillas and several drinks, each for $3.05. Get a bang for your buck and do not miss out on these 305 Day deals!
305 Celebration at The Wharf Miami! Views of the Miami River alongside good vibes and friends is always the move. Head over to The Wharf Miami for a day flled with friends, music, drinks and specials. The Wharf is no stranger to turning up for every holiday celebration.
In collaboration with 305 day, this is Miami’s offcial sneaker event. No sneakerhead should miss this annual event to buy, sell and trade sneakers. There will also be art, vintage items and special guests. Home of the famous “Sneaker Cocktail,” Grails Miami will also partner with the Miami Sneaker Convention. If you’re on the hunt for some fresh new kicks, this event is for you!
If you represent that “305 till, I die” mentality, then you will not want to miss out on the celebrations for 305 Day this year. ¡Dale!
Roberta Macedo // Graphic EditorUnderneath fairy lights in an open backyard flled with folding chairs, you’ll hear acoustic music and laughter every Thursday night at UM. In this safe space, students experience tender moments together in a supportive safe space, a necessity that balances the daily chaos of college life.
This gathering is the Wesley Coffeehouse, a weekly event where musicians from all walks of life build community. Here, art and the people you share it with come frst.
The coffeehouse takes place at United Wesley, a ministry located on campus across the street from Mahoney Residential College. It specializes in outreach events like coffeehouse to form a bond between its members and the Wesley space.
“Even though it is a Christian building, it’s for anyone and everyone to feel loved at home and accepted,”Pastor Jess Williams said. The event itself typically consists of a headliner for the frst hour and an open mic afterwards. However, on Feb. 23, the organization collabo-
rated with Grammy U to host a karaoke night.
“I wanted to do something having complete creative control and see if students would fll up two hours,” Kamryn Charles, a junior music engineering and technology major and the event’s coordinator, said.
While planning the entire event alone was a big endeavor, it ended up being a success, with the entire time flled with performances from UM students.
“Coffeehouse is an offering that we, Wesley, provide because we believe that the entire person matters,” Williams said. “We want students to come and feel like they can own that space, that they can decompress from the intensities, the anxieties of school, of life, of the things around them and just come to share in music, share in time together.”
Wesley’s service to the community allows students to relate with each other in a space free of judgment and anxiety.
“It’s really cool to see other people who aren’t in Frost as well who just love music and maybe aren’t doing it as their career, but it’s still a hobby
and passion of theirs and they can still come and play at the open mics,”
Sam Kopec, a sophomore music industry major, said.
The magic of coffeehouse lies in the intimacy it fosters, allowing artists to interact one-on-one and develop connections.
“I’ve always loved the connection between the performer and the audience,” Robert Grande, a junior music engineering student, said. “I’ve always thought that that connection was something special and that’s something I always strive to create whenever I’m performing.”
A coffeehouse regular, Grande has performed so often that most regular attendees are on a frst name basis with him.
This deep familiarity is often lacking at big shows and concerts, but exists amongst those who regularly attend these events and choose to form part of the community.
“From the frst day I came here, I felt like I was welcomed. I think it brings people together who normally wouldn’t fnd each other,” Grande said.
Christian Rosa, a senior marine affairs major, feels that the coffeehouse
helps people to leave their comfort zone.
“It’s just a valuable skill that you can build on top of public speaking. It’s just a really nice way to showcase talent,” Rosa said.
Where else do students studying marine biology, business, communication and everything in between truly get along? Students don’t have to worry about wearing labels or suppressing parts of their identities at the Wesley Coffeehouse.
“It really brings the community together. It’s not really as separated as an artist on a big stage and the audience in the crowd. It’s more of a collective experience, so we’re all doing it together,” Kopec said.
As a former musician, spaces like these encourage me to honor a part of myself I may have lost touch with. Experiences like these truly give UM students purpose, whether in school or in life.
Coming to you live, the University of Miami’s Jerry Herman Ring Theatre presents “The Rover.” Written by England’s frst professional female playwright Aphra Behn, the two-part Restoration play is flled with music, masked revelry and scandal. The play opens on Wednesday, March 1. Restoration plays — referring to the time following the restoration of the English — usually explore the sexual adventures of the upper classes and show characters behaving in a wicked way. “The Rover” takes a unique approach to
the classical Restoration story.
“Restoration plays often objectifed women, the characters that committed these wrongdoings received a slap on the wrist at most,” said Keenan Lyons, a third-year BFA Musical Theatre who will play Frederick in “The Rover.”
“[Behn] makes it clear that these male characters can no longer be redeemable or easily forgiven,” Lyons said.
“The Rover” is a revised version of Thomas Killigrew’s play “Thomaso” and features multiple plot lines. Three young women seek liberation and abandon their conventional lives. Three adventurous Englishmen wander
in exile. Both groups adventure into Spanish-ruled Naples during Carnival season in search of true love and identity. For three centuries, “The Rover” was regarded as Behn’s most popular and most respected play.
The Ring Theatre is bringing the classic piece into a contemporary setting to highlight the long-standing relevance of the play. The cast experienced a change of directors early in the production process, shifting the approach to the piece.
To modernize the classical material, the script was modifed to ft the vision of the play’s director and relate to a modern-day audience.
“During the change, we continued to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other,” Lyons said. “At the end of the day, it’s our job as theatre artists to work together and create.”
Technical elements including extreme lighting and sound effects will aid the actors in conveying a modern interpretation of the carnival setting.
“Behn was ahead of her time,” Lyons said. “This is a story about a group of women who take freedom into their own hands and experience in one way or another, self-realization and truth.”
“The Rover” runs through March 10 at The Ring Theatre. For those
who can’t make it, the theater’s fnal production of the semester, “Lucky Stiff,” runs from April 2029.
Tickets are $12 for students, $24 for faculty and alumni and $27 for the general public. The cast will also put on a free performance for students at 8 p.m. on March 8. Tickets can be purchased online at this link.
Box offce hours are 12-5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. For more information, call (305) 2843355.
Warning: This play contains depictions of sexual assault and violence. Strobe lights and haze will be used during the performance.
March is Women’s History Month and female student leaders at UM are reflecting on what the month means to them and how they will celebrate the women of our campus.
For senior political science and international studies major Brittney Mensah, celebrating Women’s History Month means appreciating the women in her life.
“It means to be reminded that women have changed the world in so many ways and will continue to do so,” Mensah said. “It means that we are worthy of love and joy and happiness. Women’s History Month is a time to remember that women are the backbone of the world and that should not be forgotten.”
Several students have found powerful women in the UM community that inspire them to be the best version of themselves. Mensah serves as the president of African Students Union and emphasized that Kennedy Robinson and Stephanie Nunez are two female leaders from the Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) office that have made an impact on her life.
“They care for their mental and physical health which encourages other women to do the same,” Mensah said. “They are mentors for many women on campus, encourage us to be our best self, to love ourselves and never be afraid to ask for help. They are the definition of strong women who care for others.”
Other students look to the women at home that have raised them to be the people they are today. Zuri Greenlee’s grandmother and mother raised three Black children as single mothers.
A sophomore exercise physiology major and director of the
Black Female Development Circle, Greenlee noted the strength that both figures instilled in her at a young age.
Her mother, Erica Greenlee, was a 21-year-old college junior in college when she gave birth. Despite having a newborn child, Greenlee’s mother was determined to finish her undergraduate studies.
“Today, she has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Appalachian State University,” Greenlee said.
Noting these sacrifices, Greenlee emphasized the desire to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
“My mother is my true inspiration — she walked so I can run and I do not want to let her down,” Greenlee said. “She has cared for my siblings and me through all the sacrifices, trials, tribulations and good and bad times and for that, I am forever grateful.”
Women’s Network President Caroline Val also noted that she looks up to her mother, friends and co-workers.
“I look to them rather than a celebrity or a bigger public figure because of how close they are to me,” said Val, who is a junior journalism and political science major. “I’m able to really see how they struggle or rise above challenges on a daily basis along with how much I see them pursue their goals. I make it a point to let them know how proud I am of every single one of them as often as I can.”
These female role models have demonstrated excellence in their respective involvements. It has also given them the tools to empower other women at UM to chase their dreams and use their voice.
“There’s a significant amount of women involved in student government and I am always very conscious and intentional
about asking them if they need help [with] something at their event [or]if they need support,” Student Government president and senior business technology major Jamie Williams-Smith said.
Williams-Smith believes that it’s important to have prominent Black women such as herself in leadership roles at UM, so that others see that it is possible to one day serve in leadership as well.
“It’s definitely possible for all women, but particularly for Black women to see another Black woman in this space and of this leadership position, showing them that they can achieve this [too],” Williams-Smith said.
For senior Africana studies and sociology major Mia Porter, women empowerment is about inclusion and connection. As president of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW),
Porter makes her members feel welcome through relationship building.
“The key to empowering other women is empathy,” Porter said. “The ability to step outside of myself and meet someone where they are creates a unique opportunity to uplift and empower others. Uplifting other women around me is something that brings me great joy.”
The NCNW president values genuine relationships with others over blind leadership.
“Empowering women around me isn’t just about leading the organization, but about making personal connections with the women around me to ensure that they feel supported and cared for,” Porter said.
Black Awareness chair and senior health science major Dahlia Mason hopes that she can inspire the women around her by reminding them of their worth,
what they are capable of and what they can achieve.
“Unfortunately, many women underestimate their abilities and compare themselves to others. These habits can be detrimental to one’s well-being,” Mason said.
For Greenlee, Women’s History Month is about celebrating how far women have come and all of the things they have contributed to society.
“When I think of Women’s History Month I look at it as a celebration of all women and our accomplishments in the world,” Greenlee said. “This month should be used to educate, empower and uplift our women for all we do in this world. I believe — if it was not for women — we would not have a lot of our inventions, trends, ideas, etc., because women make this world run.”
BY CHRIS DAMOND Co-Sports Editor
The Miami Hurricanes have smashed 22 home runs since the start of the season, but on Sunday at Mark Light Field, they showed they could win another way — with contact hitting.
Miami smacked a season-high 21 hits to down Dartmouth, 202, for its seventh straight win and first series sweep of the year.
Additionally, Miami drew six walks and four hit-by-pitches for a total of 31 baserunners.
“Any time you get 20 runs and 21 hits, that doesn’t happen very often, so it’s a good way to finish the series,” head coach Gino DiMare said. “We were able to complete the sweep, which is never easy in college baseball.”
By the time the ‘Canes launched their first home run in the sixth, Miami had already built an 8-2 lead.
Six Hurricanes had multihit games, and third baseman Yohandy Morales, designated hitter Blake Cyr and shortstop Dominic Pitelli each tied for a team-high three RBI.
“We want to have nine guys in the lineup that are really tough for the pitcher, make it difficult on the pitcher,” DiMare said.
“If a pitcher’s got to really work hard to get guys out, it’s going to takes its toll on him … our outs were hard [today].”
The Big Green took a 2-0 lead in the third, but the Hurricanes scored 20 unanswered runs to put the game away, which included a four-run third and a five-run sixth.
Dartmouth cycled through seven pitchers, and starter Eddie Albert (0-1) was tagged with the loss. He allowed four runs off six hits in two innings. Starting pitcher Alejandro Rosario (1-0) did not face much pressure from Dartmouth. Apart from the third, the Big Green had just one other runner in scoring position against Miami’s ace.
Rosario finished the day with seven strikeouts and one walk, allowing just two runs off three hits in six innings of work. He picked up the win.
“I think [Rosario] looked very good, just like he did last week,” Pitelli said. “He was very composed … He’s definitely matured, and he’s bearing down on hitters now, so we are confident in him.”
Reliever Chris Scinta replaced Rosario in the seventh and struck out the side.
The Hurricanes showcased their ability to hit for contact with a five-hit, four-run third.
Morales drilled a two-RBI single through the left side to tie the ballgame, before Zach Levenson and Cyr each added an RBI single to give Miami its first lead of the day at 4-2.
DiMare was ejected for arguing in the fourth after a pitch clock violation penalized Levenson with a third strike to end the inning. Two runners were left on base as a result of the call.
Without its skipper, Miami still scored three runs in the fifth, and second baseman Dorian Gonzalez, Jr. lifted a three-run, 350-foot homer to left field in
the sixth. Pitelli followed with a solo shot moments later. The ‘Canes held a 12-2 lead by the end of the inning.
“I was just thinking, ‘Put some good barrel on the ball,’” Gonzalez said of his home run. “I made a good swing, and the rest is history.”
Miami added eight runs in the seventh with its backups in, including freshman Jason Torres’ first home run as a Hurricane.
The ‘Canes are now 6-1 alltime against Dartmouth, which they last faced in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Miami will be on the road for the first time this season when it takes on FAU in Boca Raton, Fla. First pitch is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Miami women’s basketball became the frst collegiate program sanctioned by the NCAA on Friday in relation to a case concerning name, image and likeness. The Hurricanes have been placed on one year of probation after the NCAA determined head coach Katie Meier facilitated impermissible contact between a booster, billionaire John Ruiz, and twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder during their recruitment process this past summer, according to a statement released by the Division I Committee on Infractions.
It is against NCAA rules to use NIL deals to persuade prospects to attend a certain school.
The University of Miami and the NCAA came to a negotiated resolution on Friday, which included additional minor penalties regarding future recruitment and a $5,000 fne.
Meier served a three-game suspension at the start of the season as part of the punishment.
The violation occurred when Mei-
er asked an assistant coach to contact the Cavinders about the booster. Ruiz, one of the most prominent businessmen in Miami, is a UM alumnus who has offered over 100 college athletes NIL deals through his company, LifeWallet.
Additionally, Meier texted Ruiz that she would ensure the Cavinders knew about him, according to the NCAA. This led to a formal meeting between the two parties, when the Cavinder family had dinner at Ruiz’s home. It is against NCAA recruiting rules for boosters to have “in-person, off-campus contact” with prospective student-athletes.
“For over 30 years, I have led my programs with integrity and have been a collaborative partner with the NCAA,” Meier said in a statement released by Miami Athletics on Friday. “Collegiate athletics is in transformation, and any inadvertent mistake I made was prior to a full understanding of implemented guardrails and the clarifcation issued by the NCAA in May. We all look forward to a time when there is a national solution to help our
student-athletes, coaches and institutions. I am happy this matter is resolved as I continue to focus on mentoring and developing our student-athletes and winning games for the University of Miami.”
The negotiated resolution occurred instead of a formal hearing, meaning that all decisions reached would not be considered legal precedent for other cases. In the future, the NCAA may order the disassociation of boosters, and many panelists on the Division I Committee on Infractions were “troubled” by what they perceived to be a mild punishment.
“Boosters are involved with prospects and student-athletes in ways the NCAA membership has never seen or encountered. … In that way, addressing impermissible booster conduct is critical, and the disassociation penalty presents an effective penalty available to the Committee on Infractions,” the panel said.
Because the infraction happened before Jan. 1, when the NCAA changed rules that placed the burden of proof in NIL cases on the
defendants, the accused had more leverage.
Ruiz responded to the news on Twitter on Friday, saying:
“These girls decided where to go, no one else did it for them. Also the Cavinder twins are the face of NIL
… After digging for months and fnding nothing they had to create something. If it affected our companies I would go after the NCAA.”
Miami women’s basketball plays its next game on Sunday against the University of Virginia on the road.
Coming off two victories last weekend at Florida Gulf Coast University, Miami women’s club lacrosse has its sights set on qualifying for the Southeastern Women’s Lacrosse (SWLL) Regional Championships.
‘Canes lacrosse travels to play club teams from all over the country and recently returned from a tournament in California, where Miami faced teams it had never previously played, including the University of Texas, University of Connecticut and University of Colorado Boulder. UCLA, USC and other schools from around California were also in attendance.
The Hurricanes fell just short of a win against the Texas Longhorns with a fnal
score of 9-8.
“California was a huge trip,” club lacrosse president Christina Finelli said.
Finelli explained how the spring season runs from the end of January to the middle of April. During this time, Miami will travel around Florida to face off against other club programs, while also attending one or two out-of-state tournaments.
Last weekend, from Feb. 18-19, the ‘Canes faced off against the University of South Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University , sweeping both teams by 18-5 and 24-12 scores, respectively.
“Our game is a lot cleaner now and we are defnitely playing at a higher level than we were a couple of years ago,” head coach and University of Miami graduate student Davis Richmond said.
Davis joined the team as an undergrad
in its starting years. Prior to her sophomore year, the club was less structured and they would not travel to games often. Groups of girls would meet up to “pass around” the ball for an hour and leave it at that.
The leadership soon began to shift and the club became more focused, gameoriented and skilled, driving Miami to be more competitive in the world of club lacrosse. Currently, the team practices twice a week and travels all over the state to play other Division I club programs at Florida schools.
“We have more girls who played in high school who wanted to continue playing than we ever have…there’s a lot more skill on the team,” Richmond said. Now, there is still a range of experience within the team. There are girls who
played competitively in high school, but there are also girls with little to no prior experience in the club.
Miami will be hosting Harvard University and the University of Central Florida (UCF) for a home tournament at Ransom Everglades High School on March 25.
“UCF is one of the best teams in our league and it’s always a goal for us to beat them…this year I really think it could happen,” Finelli said.
For anyone interested in getting involved with women’s club lacrosse, the roster will re-open at the start of the fall semester. There is no tryout process, and according to Finelli, there are no cuts from the roster once it is set. For more information or to get in contact with the team, check out their Instagram at @umiamiwlax.
Rarely does a 6-foot-7, almost 250-pound power forward shoot threes, but recently, that’s exactly what Norchad Omier has been doing for the Miami Hurricanes.
Against Wake Forest on Feb. 18, Omier opened up the scoring with a 3-pointer that helped set the tone for UM’s victory. He’s 4-for-5 from deep over the last four games after only hitting one of his frst 10 attempts from behind the arc in the frst 23 games.
“Norchad, he’s getting consistent right now, it’s spreading the foor out right now and I feel like I’m getting way easier shots at the rim and getting a lot of foul shots. It’s just cause of the spacing and all that,” fourth-year guard Isaiah
Wong said when asked about Omier’s recent willingness to launch from deep.
Asked if Norchad’s three-point stroke was a newfound thing, Wong added, “I’ll say it’s a newfound thing, but Norchad, he be doing good in the fve minutes of threes and it’s about time he just starts showing he can shoot threes cause I think he can shoot threes… he’s starting to feel more confdent and he’s starting to shoot more so I really love that he’s starting to shoot more now and it helps us too.”
If this is Omier gaining confdence, then the rest of the country better watch out.
The former Arkansas State Red Wolf and Sun Belt Player of the Year transferred to “The Sunshine
State” to have an impact at a more prestigious level.
This season at Miami, Omier’s been ferocious on the glass. He is second in offensive and sixth in defensive rebounds, respectively. While Omier is not scoring as much as he did last year for Arkansas State, he is still an integral part of the Hurricanes’ offense. He leads the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in feld goal percentage on a team that leads the ACC in feld goal percentage.
Miami’s offense already ranks at the top of the ACC in points per game, with four players in the top 25 in scoring in the conference, which is more than any other ACC team. According to KenPom, Miami’s adjusted offensive effciency is among the top-15 in the na-
tion and has been as high as sixth recently.
Miami’s offense is already incredibly effcient from beyond the arc, as it’s third in the conference in 3-point percentage. If Omier can continue developing this skill from deep, or at least make teams have to think about guarding him when he is popping on ball screens with guards, it would make the cutting prowess of Wong and guard Nijel Pack even more deadly than it already is. Wong and Pack are so fast and so skilled at creating shots at the rim that any hesitation from the defenders would give the duo an additional edge.
Miami’s offense excels when it is shooting shots close to the basket. UM shoots over 65% from 2-6 feet away on the right side
of the basket, which is in the top 10% of the country. Miami also shoots well from the top of the key at 3-point distance, where Omier likes to shoot. Opponents are already worried about the arsenal of weapons that Miami has, and letting them get another would pose even more of a threat to defenses in the ACC Tournament.
There are not many teams that have the versatility and scoring ability that the Hurricanes have. They have legit threats to drop at least 20 points at any of their starting spots, which most teams in the country do not have.
If the Hurricanes can continue producing at this rate offensively, they will be a tough opponent for any team that plays against them in the postseason.
The Hurricanes held a 25-point advantage in the second half. However, in the Miami-Florida State rivalry, it is safe to assume that no lead is too large to overcome.
The ‘Canes saw their 25-point lead disappear as Matthew Cleveland’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer capped off an incredible comeback for the Seminoles on Saturday at the Watsco Center.
Miami’s (23-6, 14-5 ACC) heartbreaking loss to its in-state rival ended its seven-game winning streak, as well as its 15-0 undefeated record at home, and pushed Florida State’s (920, 7-11 ACC) winning streak in the Watsco Center to fve games.
“It appeared to me, at the start of the second half, that our battery died,” head coach Jim Larrañaga said. “We did not have the energy or juice, and it shows most of all with our defense.”
The Hurricanes seemed unstoppable on offense in the frst half, and Florida State looked lost offensively.
However, in the second half, the roles were reversed as the Seminoles held Miami’s offense to only 30 second–half points while scoring 54 themselves.
Turnovers plagued the ‘Canes in the fnal 20 minutes, as their eight giveaways turned into 10 points on the other side for Florida State.
Miami desperately missed guard Nijel Pack’s presence, especially in the second half as the Hurricanes’ backcourt seemed fatigued. Bensley Joseph got the start in Pack’s place, and he scored 12 points in 37 minutes.
“Nijel Pack’s a terrifc player,” Larrañaga said. “By not having him it shortens our rotation. That doesn’t give [Joseph] a chance to rest.”
Miami’s entire starting lineup was in double-fgures, and ffth-year senior guard Jordan Miller had a team-high 21 points. Third-year sophomore Norchad Omier scored 15 points while grabbing eight rebounds.
Cleveland and guard Darin Green Jr. each scored 20 points in Florida State’s improbable come–from–be-
hind win.
An Isaiah Wong 3-pointer followed by an alley-oop slam from Omier forced the Seminoles to take a timeout less than a minute into the game.
After a 14-2 run by the ‘Canes to start the game, Florida State cut the defcit to fve midway through the frst half.
However, the ‘Canes brought the lead up to 50-25 thanks to a 22-2 run, bringing the sold-out crowd at the Watsco Center to its feet.
As the frst half concluded, the score sat at 54-31 in favor of Miami, which benefted from 65.7% feld goal shooting and 16 points off 10 Florida State turnovers.
Miller led the way for the Hurricanes, scoring 12 points while shooting 5-for-7 from the foor. Omier and guard Wooga Poplar contributed nine points each in Miami’s highscoring frst half.
A 13-1 run early in the second half by Florida State brought the ‘Canes’ lead down to 11 as Miami’s offense struggled to fnd rhythm. After a quiet frst half, Cleveland came alive in the second with 18 points to bring the
Seminoles back.
Miami’s red-hot offense went cold in the second half as the Hurricanes shot a mere 37.9% from the feld. Meanwhile, Florida State’s offense exploded, shooting 67.7% on feld goal attempts.
A 3-pointer by Green Jr. brought Miami’s seemingly insurmountable lead down to two points with 7:25 remaining. The Seminoles then took their frst lead of the game on a layup by guard Caleb Mills with less than
six minutes to go.
The teams traded leads down the stretch before a 3 from Miller gave Miami a two-point advantage with six seconds left. The Seminoles opted not to call a timeout as Cleveland nailed a deep game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.
Miami will close out the regular season at home against the Pittsburgh Panthers next Saturday, March 4. Tipoff at the Watsco Center is set for 6 p.m. on ACC Network.
Have
V’s take is The Hurricane’s most controversial and longest-running column. It is a satirical work published biweekly by students and for students. Using our generation’s “colorful” language to address all things sex, love and gossip on campus, V is not for the politically correct or easily offended.
The Stacks of Richter Library is home to all, from horny love-birds to overly caffeinated freshmen. But why is it that we’ve never been acquainted with our sticky little corner of campus’ neighbor, the eighth floor?
Taking that dingy elevator up to the library’s ninth floor feels like a right of passage for every ‘Cane, but here’s the thing: no one knows what’s on the restricted eighth floor. You can’t get on it without a key. Even the floor map just says “library operations” and nothing more.
As the hard-hitting, investigative journalist I am, I wanna know: what’s really on the eighth floor?
I have my own thoughts, of course.
1. The Miami Bookstore has expanded into an equally overpriced sex store endeavor. A quick pitstop for our little loveibises on their way up to get freaky in the stacks (P.S.: The Stacks does not carry Fifty Shade of Grey, I checked).
2. An underground (or above ground, I should say) meth lab could be up there. Then again, maybe not… coke is much more on brand for Miami.
3. Here’s a guess that’ll ruffle some un-housed feathers: the Housing department is renovating the eighth floor to create extra dorm rooms. Crisis solved!
With all the revenue coming to the school, the eighth floor must be making some kind of profit. UM wouldn’t have an empty space
sucking their money dry. And if the library’s student employees know the deets, they’re experts at keeping it on the down low.
Despite all my time pondering this pressing question, none of my hypotheses feel quite right. So, I must ask, has anyone even tried to hit the button for the eighth floor or are we all just blindly obedient sheep?
If anyone figures it out, let me know, unless it’s my housing hypothesis… that seems simply too grim a possibility.
Yours always, V