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Business of College to New Location
from September 22
Protest cont. from P1
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The organization frequently visits university campuses and high schools to attempt to change students’ minds. The group’s social media often boasts of the number of student’s minds they changed that day. According to its Instagram account, 10 people changed their mind at the University of Cincinnati when they visited on September 17.
Created Equal refers to these trips as “justice rides,” which the group says were inspired by the Freedom Rides of the early 1960s during the Civil Rights Era.
Lexie Hall, an external affairs assistant for Created Equal, was the only individual from the organization with whom The Parthenon was allowed to formally speak. Hall said the organization wishes to engage in “genuine conversations with those who agree and disagree.”
Created Equal desires to make abortion completely illegal, not just increase legal restrictions on who may receive an abortion and when. The Parthenon also found instances of the organization’s social media page calling those who have received an abortion “domestic terrorists.”
Hall agreed that the photos were graphic and potentially disturbing, but believes the ends justify the means.
“We’ve done outreaches in different ways and found this to be the most effective in changing people’s minds on abortion,” Hall said.
Hall said that their organization had “nothing to do with politics,” and another member of the organization who visited campus said that Created Equal wasn’t a religious or political organization. However, the organization posts religious material on their social media. Hall also mentioned how members of the group consider themselves missionaries, whose main desire is to change culture, not politics. The Justice Rides website also says, “through conversation, we save the lives of preborn children and share the healing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with men and women in pain from previous abortions.”
The website also states the organization does not stage demonstrations in areas frequented by children to avoid potentially traumatizing them with graphic photos. However, the group frequently visits downtown squares and high schools. The website says, “When weighing the feelings of born children against the lives of preborn children, the latter should be the priority.”
As Marshall is a public university, administrators could not prohibit groups like Created Equal from visiting campus, even if they are controversial or use methodology that is deemed graphic.
Abortion has recently resurfaced as a current issue, with Texas passing legislation that makes it illegal to receive an abortion after six weeks. That law makes no exceptions for rape or incest, a measure that Created Equal says it supports.
Tyler Kennett | Sports Editor
New College of Business Confirms 4th Ave. Home
By CONNOR WOODRUFF REPORTER
Marshall University’s new college of business’ location has officially been designated to the block of 1400 4th Ave., once again widening the university’s footprint in Huntington. The Brad D. Smith Center for Business and Innovation will begin construction in early 2022, planning to be open for students and practice in Spring, 2024, according to Archambault. The university’s multimillion-dollar project to develop a new building for the school of business will accommodate students, virtual or in-person, with spaces and tools for collaboration and activities. “Through the technology and the rooms, we’ll make them more capable of going virtual,” Dr. Jeff Archambault, associate dean of the school of business, said. “We are really building in more student space. I think the faculty’s office space will be much more accessible to everybody.” The new space will feature a large public forum space, classrooms, computer labs, and a 360-seat auditorium funded via a $1.8 million donation from the Encova Foundation of West Virginia. The new location will extend Marshall’s recourses and influence, using the entirety of the block’s space. “We’re really trying to coordinate, develop business down the corridor there,” Archambault said. “Hope that expands out and connects downtown to Marshall.” The project will serve on the location of the retired “Flats” apartment complex. The new building is being constructed with funds gathered from a variety of donations and other school recourses. Particular star donators are Brad and Alys Smith, whose $25 million donation has played a big role in the building’s construction, so the facility will be named after Brad Smith. Construction of the new facility will be left to Fairmount Properties, based in Ohio.
Conner Woodruff, woodruff9@marshall.edu
Dress For Success Celebrates 15 Years
By LEEAH SCOTT REPORTER
A program that has been helping women choose professional attire to achieve academic success started at Marshall 15 years ago.
“Dress for Success” was the idea of Dr. Sherri Smith who has worked for more than 20 years at Marshall, and recently announced her retirement plans. Smith was the first director of the program for three years.
The idea started in December of 2005, when Dr. Smith was reading a final paper from a women studies class, as the class had been working on four women’s organizations that semester and students were assigned to bring in theoretical readings into the conversation with experience in the community. This student’s final paper was reflected on work at Lucy’s Attic discussing that Huntington lacked a key social service, explicitly designed for women to help break of a dependence cycle.
Friday, September 26th, Dress for Success will celebrate its 15th anniversary of being recognized by the federal government and being a non-profit organization (2006) here at Marshall University helping students and the community of women get a feel for the professional world of work with resume building, mock interviews, and doing virtual meetings to help with life skills,” said Executive Director Jessica Hudson.
According to Hudson, the day of the anniversary, there will be a 15 for 15 campaign that lets the community and anyone on the programs social media page to donate. If every social media follower and anyone else donates $15 that will be more than $45,000 alone.
Leeah Scott, scott367@marshall.edu.
Pfizer Trials Show Saccine Works in Youth
By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP MEDICAL WRITER
Pfizer said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11 and that it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon — a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters.
The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech already is available for anyone 12 and older. But with kids now back in school and the extra-contagious delta variant causing a huge jump in pediatric infections, many parents are anxiously awaiting vaccinations for their younger children.
For elementary school-aged kids, Pfizer tested a much lower dose — a third of the amount that’s in each shot given now. Yet after their second dose, children ages 5 to 11 developed coronavirusfighting antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults getting the regular-strength shots, Dr. Bill Gruber, a Pfizer senior vice president, told The Associated Press.
The kid dosage also proved safe, with similar or fewer temporary side effects — such as sore arms, fever or achiness — that teens experience, he said.
“I think we really hit the sweet spot,” said
Gruber, who’s also a pediatrician.
Gruber said the companies aim to apply to the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the month for emergency use in this age group, followed shortly afterward with applications to European and British regulators.
Earlier this month, FDA chief Dr. Peter Marks told the AP that once Pfizer turns over its study results, his agency would evaluate the data “hopefully in a matter of weeks” to decide if the shots are safe and effective enough for younger kids.
An outside expert said scientists want to see more details but called the report encouraging.
“These topline results are very good news,” said Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, a former FDA vaccine chief. The level of immune response Pfizer reported “appears likely to be protective.”
Many Western countries so far have vaccinated no younger than age 12, awaiting evidence of what’s the right dose and that it works safely. Cuba last week began immunizing children as young as 2 with its homegrown vaccines and Chinese regulators have cleared two of its brands down to age 3.
While kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death than older people, more than 5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began and at least 460 have died, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Cases in children have risen as the delta variant swept through the country.
“I feel a great sense of urgency” in making the vaccine available to children under 12, Gruber said. “There’s pent-up demand for parents to be able to have their children returned to a normal life.”
Pfizer said it studied the lower dose in 2,268 kindergartners and elementary school-aged kids. The FDA required what is called an immune “bridging” study: evidence that the younger children developed antibody levels already proven to be protective in teens and adults. That’s what Pfizer reported Monday in a press release, not a scientific publication. The study still is ongoing, and there haven’t yet been enough COVID-19 cases to compare rates between the vaccinated and those given a placebo — something that might offer additional evidence.
The study isn’t large enough to detect any extremely rare side effects, such as the heart inflammation that sometimes occurs after the second dose, mostly in young men. The FDA’s Marks said the pediatric studies should be large enough to rule out any higher risk to young children. Pfizer’s Gruber said once the vaccine is authorized for younger children, they’ll be carefully monitored for rare risks just like everyone else.
A second U.S. vaccine maker, Moderna, also is studying its shots in elementary school-aged children. Pfizer and Moderna are studying even younger tots as well, down to 6-month-olds. Results are expected later in the year.
