RED: 2024 NC State basketball — Technician 10/25/24
vote early, nc.
the easiest way to vote is early with your physical student ID.
EARLY VOTING ENDS: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2
ELECTION DAY: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5
What to bring: Student ID or NC driver’s license; the physical card, not a digital ID.
Need to transfer your registration or register as a new voter? Use same-day registration available only during Early Voting.
For more information, visit progressnc.org/college.
Problems at the polls? Ask to use a provisional ballot and call the Hotline: 888-OUR-VOTE
New digital textbook program “Course Ready” coming spring semester
Beginning next semester, all undergraduate degree-seeking students will be automatically opted-in to Course Ready, NC State’s new digital-preferred textbook and course materials program. Students will automatically receive all required digital materials submitted by their professor on the first day of class.
Full-time and part-time students will be charged a flat rate of $279 and $179 plus sales tax respectively. This price provides complete digital access to textbooks and related course materials such as lab manuals, ebooks and WebAssign. Classes requiring a physical textbook will also be covered by the one-time purchase.
If students do not feel Course Ready benefits them, they must manually opt out of the format each semester and a credit will be applied to their student bill. Course Ready’s ultimate goal is to make education fair and available for all students by targeting concerns of financial inequity related to textbook costs.
Jeff Halliburton, the director of Wolfpack Outfitters, said one reason for implementing a flat rate for each student is to reduce the economic burden associated with certain majors.
“If a student is making a decision that they want to be a business major or an engineering major, and then they find out that they’ve got an extremely high textbook bill, we’ve seen many examples both directly and throughout with our campus peers, that students are using that to make a decision to move to a less expensive major that may
have a lower course material tab,” Halliburton said.
Halliburton and his colleagues noticed students were missing cutoff dates for purchasing course materials, including applications like WebAssign which have built-in homework and quiz assignments that contribute to students’ grades.
Jennifer Gilmore, director of strategic marketing and communication at Campus Enterprises, also noted that the consistent Course Ready textbook cost should be beneficial to students and families budgeting education costs for the foreseeable future.
However, some students have expressed concerns with the roll-out of Course Ready.
Taquan Dewberry, a second-year studying computer science and philosophy and Student Senate president pro-tempore, said he
CRIME ON CAMPUS
NC State’s weekly log of major incidents across campus.
TRAFFIC STOP
October 23, 2024 at 12:58 a.m.
Western Blvd/Pullen Rd
Non-affiliated stopped for traffic violations and arrested for DWI.
LARCENY OF VEHICLE
October 20, 2024 at 1:41 a.m.
Dan Allen Deck
A student reported his car was stolen but it was later found where he had parked it. The student was referred for underage consumption of alcohol.
believes Course Ready’s goal of subsidizing the price of textbooks is a good idea. However, he also said rolling the program out in the summer or fall of 2025 instead of spring would have given students and faculty time to adjust and prepare for the change.
“That way, people have a much longer period of time to know about it,” Dewberry said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember this being a discussion during the summer or last semester.”
Abby Lundergan, a fourth-year studying architecture and a senator for the College of Design, said she feels Course Ready disproportionately affects students in the College of Design.
Design students’ purchases for classes are predominantly physical materials, including paper, wood and concrete to create
models and high-quality printing for digital creations. Course Ready does not currently cover these materials.
Lundergan estimated that design students typically spend $200 to $300 per semester, sometimes nearly $80 on one assignment. She said the most she spent in one semester was around $600.
Lundergan said one of the most important things she would like to see from the University is clear and accessible communication notifying students how they can opt out of Course Ready each semester.
Halliburton said Wolfpack Outfitters looks forward to having conversations with students, faculty and leadership in the College of Design to uncover the successes and challenges of Course Ready and the potential to redefine the program for future semesters.
As students adjust to Course Ready, Dewberry said he wants students to know they can provide feedback.
“I feel like it’s extremely important for all students to make sure that their voices are heard on this one,” Dewberry said. “Make sure, if they have concerns about it, that they’re emailing their student representatives, emailing the people in charge of the program, so that they can hear about it.”
Wolfpack Outfitters will hold tabling events in the lobby of Talley Oct. 23-24, 28-29 and Nov. 4, 7 and 13 to provide more information about Course Ready. Students are also encouraged to stop by the course materials counter on the lower level of Wolfpack Outfitters to ask questions about Course Ready.
October 19, 2024 at 4:42 p.m. Carmichael Gym Parking Lot
Student reported an employee assaulted him after a parking dispute at this location.
October 17, 2024 at 8:10 p.m. Edgecomb Hall
Student defrauded through a dating app for $1,000.
ASSAULT
FRAUD
GRAPHIC BY AMAYA HUSH
Savannah Woodman Staff Writer
NC State experts weigh in on unprecedented effects of Helene, adapting to future dangers
All these descriptors terrifyingly embody the desolation brought to Western North Carolina and the greater east coast by Hurricane Helene. However, no word is more apt in chronicling North Carolina’s most devastating storm to date than one.
Unprecedented.
That’s the exact word Corey Davis, an assistant state climatologist at the North Carolina State Climate Office, used when describing the cataclysm and its impact across the western part of the state.
The scale of the disaster was unparalleled. The death toll under Helene has nearly reached 250, with reports of people still unaccounted for weeks after the storm. Additionally, the storm caused damages that eclipsed $50 billion. It shut down countless roads, erased entire towns and displaced thousands of people across the region.
The storm marked a wake-up call for those in the area, which was especially susceptible to Helene and future storms because of its location in the Appalachian Mountain range. However, experts said there are ways to better inform those living in the region’s high-risk areas and ways to adapt to climate change’s exponential impact on future storms.
The makings of catastrophe in Western NC
An NC State meteorology graduate, Davis recounted past storms in the Appalachian region surrounding Asheville — the epicenter of Helene’s damage in NC — and said Helene was nothing like those that had come before.
While the Asheville area is no stranger to storms and flooding and the damage that accompanies them, Davis said a stalling cold front over the region that preceded Helene’s true rain bands primed the area for historic flooding. The storm brought eight to 10 inches of rain before even making landfall in the Florida panhandle.
“So at that point we’re realizing, especially once those rainfall totals come in, this is at or above the levels of those historical storms,” Davis said. “It didn’t take long before you saw pictures and videos come out from these areas and realize that the level of flooding they were going through was just a step beyond anything they ever had in the past.”
By the end of the storm, Davis said rainfall totals were upwards of 30 inches in some areas, much more than anything it had historically experienced. Davis said the totals
were triple that of the next biggest storm in the region’s history.
“In the Asheville area, they had 14 inches of rain in three days, and that’s worse than a one in 1,000 year type event — the type of event that only has a one in 1,000 chance of happening in any given year. Now, they’re probably not that rare in reality. But still, this is beyond the totals they had seen.”
The biblical amounts of rain contributed to extreme runoff in surrounding areas, which were home to a majority of Western North Carolina’s population.
Georgina Sanchez, a research scholar and faculty fellow at the Center for Geospatial Analytics at NC State, said her research has demonstrated that built environments in steep topography areas tend to congregate near streams and, therefore, on and around floodplains.
“That water then ran into the streams and the rivers in the mountains — they were full,” Davis said. “So when you started getting that extra rain from the hurricane on top of that existing moisture, it just had nowhere to go. It spilled over from the rivers into the towns and cities around there.”
When Helene’s rainfall combined with the already-saturated soils in the region, devastating landslides and flooding occurred. Both phenomena had significantly worse impacts on these high-risk, floodplain-adjacent developments that are located at the bottom of high-topography areas.
“That, in my mind, was a build up towards a perfect storm that led to so much damage and devastation,” Sanchez said. “A lot of people are surprised by the fact that this happened. I don’t think we should be this surprised.”
Lack of awareness and protection against storms
Both Davis and Sanchez shared the sentiment that it was hard for people in the area to understand the severity of the incoming storm due to a lack of awareness around the dangers of living in these high-risk areas. Sanchez said not a lot of people were aware that this was, and still is, a high-risk location.
Sanchez said the greatest concentrations of built environment both in the region and nationwide are located an average of 250 meters from the edge of floodplains, which equates to just two city blocks. It’s a trend that puts more people and buildings at risk.
“You walk that in a minute and a half,” Sanchez said. “That’s a very narrow chunk of land where we’re aggregating most of our overall resources, our infrastructure, our population.”
Sanchez says it is a misconception that
these areas are safe and that risk extends beyond the designated floodplain borders in which development is most common and even encouraged.
Additionally, Sanchez said buildings in FEMA-designated high-risk areas are federally required to have flood insurance, among other flood-prevention strategies. However, she said this policy has had unintended consequences.
“It ended up facilitating or sort of opening a door for so many potential buyers, homeowners, business owners, to say, ‘Well, if the government is providing federally supported insurance and legislation, let me go ahead and build into this location because then there is a mechanism that would help me out, in case a flood-event were to strike,’” Sanchez said. “Rather than, ‘Let’s avoid building there, because floodplains flood and we may not want to build there.’”
the magnification of storms and currently outdated data that exclude future projections of the effects of climate change.
“A lot of those floodplain maps are generated using historical flood events or historical climate information rather than current or future,” Sanchez said. “So effectively, a lot of them are built to characterize risk of the past, not really the present, much less the future. FEMA is not currently including any type of climate change consideration when generating flood plain maps. … Climate change is not incorporated.”
Climate change’s continued impact on future storms
Davis said storms such as Helene — and their resulting fallouts — will only continue to increase in severity over time, suggesting the need for consideration of these effects on floodplain risk data and mapping.
In the Asheville area, they had 14 inches of rain in three days, and that’s worse than a one in 1,000 year type event — the type of event that only has a one in 1,000 chance of happening in any given year. Now, they’re probably not that rare in reality. But still, this is beyond the totals they had seen.
-Corey Davis
Climate change is set to primarily intensify all future storms that occur — a difference from the common misconception that the frequency of storms, specifically hurricanes, will increase. Davis cited the 2020 North Carolina Climate Science Report’s findings on the subject were in line with the severity of Helene and Hurricane Milton, which caused $34 billion in damages and at least 24 deaths after it made landfall near Tampa, Florida.
“In that report, it mentions that the strongest storms are expected to keep getting stronger, and certainly that rapid intensification that gets them [to a severe level] is expected to become more common,” Davis said. “We’ve seen that twice now in the past month with Helene and Milton also, because the atmosphere overall is warming. A warmer atmosphere generally tends to be wetter. It can support more moisture, more precipitation so that these storms, when they do hit, are dropping more rainfall than they did in the past.”
Sanchez also said this rule only applies to those with federally backed mortgages, leaving true property owners without the requirement to buy insurance, meaning many simply do not. Sanchez said this contributed to the immense amount of people in the area that suffered uninsured damage. In fact, only 5% of Helene victims had insurance, resulting in $100 to $200 billion in uninsured damages.
Sanchez said even those outside designated floodplain areas are still at risk due to a combination of variability in conditions,
Davis compared hurricane formation to following a recipe for a cake. Certain combinations of the right ingredients blend to create a deadly product. Rather than butter, eggs and sugar, Davis said hurricanes are fueled by warm ocean temperatures, humid atmospheric conditions and clusters of strong thunderstorms — all of which are increasing and intensifying due to climate change.
“So if the ocean temperatures are warmer, that means that these storms can get stronger and get stronger faster,” Davis said. “If the atmosphere is overall more humid and there’s less dry air around these storms, then that means they’re less likely to weaken and more likely to stay strong, and like we saw Helene, grow to a really big size.”
Joshua Bradley presents socialist option in Raleigh City Council at-large race
Matthew Burkhart News Editor
Joshua Bradley, an accountant, is running for Raleigh City Council with a focus on workers’ rights, affordable housing and police reform. The self-described socialist hopes his second campaign for an at-large seat will resonate with voters concerned about rising inequality.
“The main reason I’m running is that I don’t feel anybody was addressing a lot of the issues we face today,” Bradley said. “We need to have a voice on the city council that isn’t focused on being scared of businesses and developers.”
Bradley said his priorities include expanding affordable housing, implementing crisis response programs separate from police and raising wages for city workers. He criticized what he sees as misplaced spending priorities by the current council.
“People say we can’t afford things, but the same people that say we can’t afford to invest more in low-cost and subsidized housing are okay with the fact that the city gave a $10 million grant to a private company to expand a pickleball court,” Bradley said.
Bradley said the city should act as a developer for subsidized housing on city-owned land rather than relying on private developers. He also wants to reallocate police funding toward alternative crisis response programs.
“When people are in crisis, you want somebody that’s trained to deal with that, not a twitchy cop with a gun that’s liable to shoot you without consequence,” Bradley said. “The advantage to that for the police is that they would not have to do that. They can focus on stuff in their wheelhouse.”
These changing conditions and strengthening of ingredients lead to storms like Helene. More importantly, these trends won’t stop, meaning storms of Helene’s unprecedented magnitude will become the new normal.
“Because of what we see with Helene, with its size, its strength, and I think because of those connections with a warming and changing climate, I think we can point to that storm and say this is the type of event that is possible with climate change,” Davis said.
Davis said storms comparable to Helene are likely to be the new normal in the future. Until, of course, the next unprecedented storm of even greater force hits. It’s a vicious cycle, one that has been in motion for hundreds of years already. Davis said throughout the United States’ history
Bradley and Jeremy Gilchrist, a campaign team member and NC State alumnus, trace the foundations of their cause back to Occupy Raleigh in 2011, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street movement formed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. They credit the movement with spurring their involvement in local politics and shaping their views on economic inequality.
“It did turn the narrative,” Bradley said. “It did point a spotlight on class and equity. We have more income inequality now than we’ve had since even the 1920s.”
As a self-funded socialist campaign, Bradley said he acknowledges fundraising challenges but remains committed to his platform. He received about 18,000 votes in 2022 and hopes to build on that support.
“Win or lose this election, I’m not going to moderate my views and water down what I believe to make it palatable to people,” Bradley said. “Part of the reason to run is to show there’s another way.”
The campaign focuses on canvassing working-class communities and maximizing limited resources to spread its message. Bradley criticized local media coverage, arguing socialist candidates face barriers in gaining exposure.
Bradley said what makes his campaign stand out is his unrelenting commitment to workers and a disdain for satisfying the needs of developers.
“My campaign is focused on the workers and the poor in Raleigh, and I’m not one that tries to be nice to everybody, but I’m not one that’s going to compromise on things that are going to put people out,” Bradley said. “And I think a lot of people are trying to be nice and but still maintain their agenda.”
of hurricanes, the events have only scaled in magnitude, becoming deadlier and redefining our image of the worst case scenario with each and every landfall.
“These storms are not going to go away,” Davis said. “If anything, they’re going to get stronger and more frequent in terms of the big impacts that we see here in the state, but also that there’s really nowhere in the state that’s going to be safe from these storms and their impacts as they reach us with stronger wind speeds, with more moisture intact. That means more areas are going to see the sorts of damage that we’ve seen from storms like Matthew and Florence and Helene over the next 50, 60 years.”
Adapting to the effects of climate change
Sanchez said there is going to be a con-
Bradley said he urges college students to get involved in local politics, emphasizing the direct impact of city council decisions on issues like housing costs.
“It’s important to start young,” Bradley said. “If you have something that you believe in that needs to be addressed, you’ve got to be organized all year, because voting itself isn’t going to do it. It’s going to take organization and collective action.”
Gilchrist said students should view them-
tinuing trend of developing in high-risk areas. With climate change in mind, she says the danger for those in areas such as Western North Carolina could increase.
In order to combat, or more aptly adapt to these changing conditions, Sanchez said better communication surrounding the effects of storms and specifically the risk of flooding is needed.
“Is there a way to reach out to that community, with a campaign of: Find out your actual risk and use modeling that would help them understand at any given year and based on current, climate observations and future projections, what is your real actual risk?” Sanchez said. “Rather than, what is your risk that was once estimated on a climate that no longer exists? I think that would be really important as a first step, so that people can take action.”
selves as part of the city and vote accordingly during their time in college.
“You’re a part of the city, whether you live permanently here or not,” Gilchrist said. “You are a part of the fabric of the city, and I do think that the city should pay more attention to that so I definitely think It’s important to vote just on that alone, that you are a part of this city for at least four years of your life, which is a decent chunk of time.”
Sanchez said people should think in terms of action-oriented 30-year time frames when evaluating key decisions such as buying a house, opening a business or investing in flood insurance if near a high-risk area. While individuals can take their own steps to prepare for the ever-growing effects of hurricanes spurred on by climate change, Sanchez said local authorities and long-range urban planners should plan for the future as well.
“Are we planning to continue to grow in areas that we know may experience flooding in the future?” Sanchez said. “Can we relocate potential growth to a safer location? All of that is really important to consider. In my mind, there lies a really positive future [that can be] action-oriented, solution-oriented, supported-in-science, that hopefully will keep people safe.”
COURTESY OF JOSHUA BRADLEY
Adrenaline after Helene may be subsiding, but it’s crucial our support does not
Katie Howell Staff Writer
The devastation that residents of the North Carolina mountains and surrounding areas have endured in the wake of Hurricane Helene is nothing short of unfathomable. In fact, you may have heard the term ‘1,000-year flood’ floating around — a title given to storms that are only expected to happen once over the span of a thousand years. But as the shock and awe in response to this disaster starts to fade, it is vital that our efforts to support our neighbors in the western parts of the state do not.
Towns were leveled, hard-earned businesses were washed away, homes were destroyed and lives were lost. Yet as weeks pass by, we are back to worrying about an exam grade and how expensive yesterday’s grocery trip was.
This isn’t to place guilt on everyone carrying on with their lives. It’s what we have to do. What we should do, however, is take this as a sign to get some perspective. Most of us have the privilege to still be investing time in our education and access to food we need just down the road.
If there was ever a time to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, it’s now.
For anyone who has already made their way west to the impacted areas, you may know that volunteering isn’t so easy when few people have had the time and resources to coordinate service opportunities. Many of these communities are still in survival mode, so the kinds of tasks an untrained crew can tackle haven’t been a top priority yet.
However, as time brings distance from the storm, it will also bring with it the chance for us to get organized in our relief efforts.
A few organizations, such as Samaritan’s Purse, have been accepting volunteers since the week following the flood. Other active volunteer opportunities can be found at 211 North Carolina and AVL Today, although there are plenty of small towns now accepting direct help.
Before you make the trip out there, I can’t overstate the need to be volunteering through an organization or at a pre-planned event. Wandering through these disaster zones in search of
Ethan Bakogiannis Managing Editor
somewhere to help will often be unfruitful, and you will wind up in the way of those there to offer critical services.
Linemen are still working to restore power, the National Guard and active forces have mobilized and engineers are assessing vital infrastructure. Do your research before you make any plans because you don’t want to be an obstacle to any of those efforts.
Keep in mind, volunteering is by no means the only way to help. What may be the most important contribution most of us can make right now, and in the coming weeks, are donations. Yes, it’s
hard to donate knowing that you won’t see what comes out of your good deed, but it is arguably the best way to support the communities reeling from the destruction.
Of course, being wary of where your donations and money are actually going is a real concern. One option is to look into legitimate Amazon wishlists which ensure that you are not only donating directly to those in need but that you are spending your money on exactly the kinds of supplies they can use. The YMCA of Avery County has an Amazon wishlist of immediate needs as temperatures begin to drop in the mountains.
As necessary and well-intended as the food donations are, no surplus of water and fruit snacks are going to help these communities rebuild.
The following are suggested donation recipients from an Ashevillie local, including the GoFundMe of two families whose lives were flipped upside down just weeks ago: BeLoved Asheville, Asheville Dream Center, Support the Craig Family and Help the Black Family Rebuild.
Your willingness to support in any capacity will be immensely appreciated by everyone who was impacted. Just keep in mind that how you choose to help can also make a world of difference.
If you don’t have personal ties to these mountains, being in school at NC State means you are surrounded by people who do. If you’re anything like me, your family and friends were affected in ways that you are still trying to grapple with.
A little bit of sensitivity, grace and support will go a long way to rally behind those directly and indirectly impacted by Helene. Let’s keep up the momentum, NC State.
Picking up a piece of history
I can still perfectly place myself standing in Stafford Commons, unable to believe what was happening. I paced back and forth, craning my neck in an attempt to spot the end of the line of rabid students that snaked its way around Talley Student Union and past Wolf Plaza, out of sight.
My only thought?
“We’re going to need more papers.”
They were all eagerly clamoring for Technician’s “Why Not Both?” edition. The commemoration of not one, but two once-in-a-lifetime college basketball runs caused a frenzy on campus and throughout the NC State community.
After weeks of seemingly endless articles on improbable victories, days of debate over the best way to honor the monumental month and a cou-
ple of near-sleepless nights had me on the ropes. But in that moment, an overwhelming sense of pride washed over me. A feeling of satisfaction, of joy. All that hard work had paid off; we did it all justice.
Most importantly, everyone who took a copy now had a tangible part of their university’s history. It’s something that we at Technician strive for every single week. In fact, it’s our mission. For that week — everyone on campus suddenly was a part of that mission.
It was the highlight of my tenure as Volume 104’s editor-in-chief as we urged the community to ‘pick up a piece of history.’
But it’s not like anyone needed to be told. We had students begging for copies, alumni pleading for papers for their neighbors and even people stealing whole stacks out of newsstands.
All of a sudden, everyone wanted a physical copy of our newspaper. That feeling of pride and joy that finally hit me didn’t come from the news
crews covering the creation of the paper or the praise from the community in my overflowing email inbox. It came when I saw people passionate about collecting, owning and saving pieces of history — print newspapers.
We put the same amount of blood, sweat, tears and skipped classes into our “Why Not Both?” edition as we did any other paper. It made me think, “I wish people would pick up our papers like this every week.”
It’s undoubtedly because none of our generation is used to picking up these physical, print newspapers. But, in simple terms, you should.
I’ve been coming home to my trusted stack of Technician newspapers every day for the past three years. It’s given me a chance to physically chronicle my time at NC State University.
Technician is reporting on every momentous, interesting and important story our school and its greater community has to offer. We may not be covering Final Fours every week, but we’ve got
stories written by students, for students, about students.
Whether it’s an NC State grad’s campaign for city council, the power of student voices in the wake of Hurricane Helene or the women’s center’s Silent Witness Exhibit, there’s pieces of history in every copy of Technician. In fact, all of those topics were covered in just our last issue alone. No different than collecting records for your turntable, it’s a nice change of pace to sit down and flip through a newspaper rather than darting through fleeting headlines on your X feed. It’s a physical, historical record of your collegiate experience. Technician’s stands are posted around every corner of campus. And best of all, they’re free. If you’ve never picked one up, I implore you to take one, and maybe another for your friend. Whether you read one headline or every word, when you pick up Technician, you’re not just picking up a piece of NC State history. You’re picking up a piece of your history.
COURTESY OF BRYAN HOWELL
Manipulating misinformation and rising death tolls
Justin Welch Managing Editor
In the midst of one of the state’s worst ever natural disasters, relief, volunteers and well wishes have poured into North Carolina. In a time of absolute calamity and suffering, people across the world have come together to demonstrate the very best of humanity to support our state.
Well, almost all of humanity.
While regular people have rushed to help North Carolinians, some of our country and state’s foremost political leaders rushed to capitalize on the tragedy. Of course leading the way was the ever-ethical, morally upstanding leader of the Republican Party, former President Donald Trump.
In the days that followed Hurricane Helene’s landfall in North Carolina and the surrounding states, Trump was spewing every form of lie and conspiracy he could muster in an attempt to see what would stick.
You’ve probably seen something about the government only offering disaster victims $750 on social media, a gross misconstruction of the process perpetuated by Trump. This is easily debunkable, and while victims are able to receive this payment, there is much more support to follow in the relief process.
He took a few leaps of logic from there to say the Biden Administration and various Democratic leaders weren’t working to provide aid at all, saying Vice President Kamala Harris had stolen money from FEMA to give to illegal immigrants. Very classy.
In the most valiant use of his platform, the former president claimed Gov. Roy Cooper was going out of his way to not help people in conservative areas, and “targeting” Re-
publican voters.
This kind of rhetoric is beyond disgusting and a reprehensible exploitation of politics that spits on the American tradition of rising above partisan divisions in times of tragedy. From the most documented liar in history, you’d think people would know it’s not true.
Of course, Trump’s cult following has doubled down to spread these fabrications far and wide. This has become such a trend in the aftermath of the storms that FEMA, whose attention should probably be on real-life disaster relief, has had to start an entire “rumor response” webpage to dispel misinformation.
You may have seen Marjorie Taylor Greene — in her typical rational fashion — claim the hurricane and weather in general was controlled by “them,” and intentionally targeted red voting districts. Yes, Democrats in Washington can barely figure out how to staple a piece of paper together, but of course they can bend the Earth’s atmosphere to their will like Greek Gods.
Or maybe she was talking about Jews again, who knows.
Speaking of antisemitism, Mark Robinson might not be good at clearing his search history, but he’s great at sniffing out the political opportunity in his constituents dying. With Robinson’s campaign torpedoing after being outed as a pro-slavery pervert Nazi, the Lieutenant Governor rushed to the mountains for a photo-op in hopes to shift the narrative.
His narrative toed right in-line with his party’s presidential nominee. In addition to lying about the government’s outreach and involvement in the state’s recovery, Robinson levied unsubstantiated accusations at the media for not reporting on rural parts of North Carolina. All before failing to fulfill
his duty as an elected official and skipping votes to authorize a state of emergency.
This isn’t all to say FEMA is an infallible organization and that the government’s response has been faultless. I’m not on the ground in Western North Carolina, and bureaucracy in times of crisis will always have its limits. But these allegations are so detestably untrue that a rabbit with an iPod Touch could deduct their true intentions.
The strategy of Trump and his allies is clear, and nothing new for the brand: fearmongering manipulation through blatant deception.
Trump does not have anything close to a plan for any of the issues he rages on about. He derailed bipartisan efforts to address the border crisis because it was politically inconvenient for the government to find real solutions through governing. He wants to get rid of Medicaid and has no plan to replace it. Every economist that analyzes his financial plans has no idea what he is talking about.
He makes empty promises without premise and says the other side will murder you with immigrants and crime. It is nothing new — actually, it’s a well-documented historical Republican strategy.
Though a few weeks have passed and Helene victims have become second fiddle to whatever xenophobic delusion or whichever deceased golfer’s penis he wakes up focusing on, the consequences of his rhetoric rage on in North Carolina. FEMA was forced to temporarily suspend relief efforts in parts of the state because of threats born from the rampant misinformation.
Trump intentionally sewing mistrust into government institutions to cause chaos is another prominent fascist theme of his political career. His tirade against public health during the pandemic was another
episode that, again, had incredibly serious implications. People living in Trump-heavy counties were three times as likely to die from COVID-19. Medical experts predict 40% of the deaths the country faced could have been averted if not for Trump’s mishandling and misinformation.
If you think those are too circumstantial of examples, there are actual academic studies that tracked how many people died from COVID after attending Trump rallies in 2020.
What studies and reports will we see from North Carolina after Helene? How many will die from his intentional ignorance to the truth, telling vulnerable people to fear the people desperately trying to help?
So I frame this sentiment for the reader, and hopefully for the potential Trump voter: he is killing you, he is politically profiting off of your death and he is laughing at you behind your back.
In all likelihood, Trump will carry North Carolina for a third general election in a row. His “Martin Luther King on steroids” Mark Robinson will likely lose the gubernatorial election, but not without amassing hundreds of thousands of votes first. A large portion of our state will vote for, again, a self-pronounced Nazi. N-A-Z-I.
North Carolina, my friends and colleagues who I know want to vote for Trump, I implore you to have an honest reflection on the effect this singular individual has had on our state. On the condition of political discourse and the lunacy it now requires to engage in it. I’m not asking you to vote for someone else, just to not vote for the Naziendorsing, psychotic tyrant-hopeful who’s making a painstakingly obvious attempt to take advantage of you and our state.
GRAPHIC BY LUCY OSBORN
NC State artisans in a digital world
Myles Jackson Correspondent
After the first weeks of fall semester, many students are chained to the rhythm of routinely meeting deadlines, making the library their second home, applying and working for internships or part-time jobs and planning post-grad life or attending random social endeavors. Time flies by without missing a beat, but also restricts moments to stop and breathe.
However, community members have found, developed and maintained various outlets to allow them to relax and dissociate from their hectic schedules, such as crafting objects.
Carol Fountain Nix, director of the NC State Crafts Center, discussed trends in crafting, noting a post-pandemic surge in creativity and creativity’s importance amongst a STEM workforce.
“I think we’re definitely in one of those periods now, especially post-pandemic, where the pendulum is swinging back in favor of looking at the heart of our psyches,” Nix said. “I say we as a center have broken registration records every single semester since the pandemic, the hunger for making and creativity is amazing.”
Nix ran an interactive media business for years at the forefront of technology. She is an avid user of technology, but understands its drawbacks.
“I think we’ve created a world where we don’t communicate, we have no patience, we can’t be entertained without the use of the device,” Nix said. “We rely upon external means rather than a sense of peace or confidence and satisfaction that can come from creative engagement.”
The majority of undergraduate students at NC State are part of STEM-related colleges, such as engineering or agriculture and life sciences, leaving crafting and other artistically-inclined activities considered second fiddle. Though hobbies aren’t always seen as necessary to succeed on and off campus, creativity is part of all disciplines and vital in our society.
“In a STEM environment, people think of crafts as soft skills,” Nix said. “But we really need to adopt and support the notion of craft as a basis for not only conceptual design, but the actual making and prototyping and testing that goes into every single invention, and the agency around doing that, the power, the self-government. We’re in the self-empowerment and healing business.”
With mental health a rising concern in recent years, many people have taken up crafting as a hobby for relief. One example is Crocheting for a Cause, a student-led organization on campus that aims to support
mental health by promoting creativity and community.
The organization’s founder, Gabi Martin, a fourth-year studying applied education, started the club in 2022 to address the mental health crisis following the pandemic. Although Gabi doesn’t know how to crochet, she knits and believes her lack of skill makes new members feel more comfortable.
“Whenever I knit, I always found it as a mental health reliever, so I created the club with that regard to support mental health,” Martin said. “When we come to the club, most of us are not allowed to do homework. Everyone is there for the community and for the space to not talk about classes.”
During the spring semester, the club participated in Wolfstock by crocheting different flowers and leaves with community members. They’ve also made blanket squares for humanitarian organization The Lion Project and plan on selling stress balls during the upcoming exam season.
Olivia Lanza, the group’s vice president, became involved in crocheting during the pandemic.
“I think social media really was a big aspect of it, I started seeing TikToks and Instagram posts about it,” Lanza said. “Being locked in your house, what do you do? It was really amazing to see what people created online, and you can find free patterns or video tutorials, so it’s easy to get involved.”
Both students know how it feels to become consumed in busy schedules, as Martin also has an internship and Lanza works a parttime job.
“State pushes the academic portions like networking, applying for jobs, getting an internship and the idea that we need to do more, and it seems like I don’t even have time to do anything else,” Lanza said. “I think it’s important for people to have an outlet, especially a creative one that you can either use for yourself or others.”
Getting in touch with your creativity seems to be the common trend for artisans these days, allowing them to liberate themselves from their bustling lives and physically make things that bring them and the community satisfaction and confidence. Crocheting for a Cause meets every Tuesday in SAS Hall, room 2106. They welcome all students from different backgrounds and host workshops for beginners. Follow their Instagram @ncsucfac for more information. NC State’s Crafts Center has many events, classes and workshops as well that can be found on their website.
Joker: Folie à Deux — a fall from grace for a comic book icon
Ethan Bakogiannis Managing Editor
“What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no. No, you. You complete me.”
Despite the endless amount of dialogue incessantly and carelessly spewed at me during my time watching “Joker: Folie à Deux,” I could only think of that line as I walked out of the movie theater.
That’s right. A line from a different movie, with a much different Joker.
Heath Ledger’s near-perfect interpretation of the character in “The Dark Knight
Rises” was the only thing on my mind after watching Joaquin Phoenix’s second stint as the iconic Clown Prince of Crime.
That’s because Ledger and his director, Christopher Nolan, nailed a comic-accurate portrayal of the Joker. Phillips and Phoenix, on the other hand, did not.
Don’t get me wrong, Phoenix doesn’t skip a beat from his Oscar-winning performance in the 2019 Best Picture nominee. This one’s on Todd Phillips, and arguably the more liable culprit, Warner Brothers.
The cat’s out of the bag. It’s no secret that “Joker: Folie a Deux” was not good.
GRAPHIC BY HENRY O’BRYAN
GRAPHIC BY MEGAN MERSCH
Indigenous People’s Day event celebrates Native American culture
In the corner of Currituck Ballroom, a group of students sat in a circle. Surrounding a big handmade drum, the students held beaters, ready to kick off the event with traditional Native American music. When the song started the crowd was magically captured by a kind of music that many people have never heard on their own.
That’s how the 2024 Indigenous People’s Day Celebration started on Thursday in Talley.
The event continueds with a student panel. The five students who sat on the stage were originally from some of the eight federally and state-recognized tribes. These include Coharie, Eastern Band of Cherokee, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, Sappony and Waccamaw Siouan.
Their answers about being Native American students, their origins and their life before NC State, give a better idea of what it really means to be a Native American in our contemporary age.
Gavin Bell, the assistant director of Multicultural Student Affairs and organizer of the event, said the reason behind the celebration was not only to give a space to Native American students, but to educate those whose knowledge about Native tribes
is limited.
“There are often a lot of stereotypes, because of what you see on TV,” Bell said. “We like to have an event that’s very studentoriented and student-ran, where they can showcase the actual culture, the authenticity, some of the beautiful pieces of it, some of the challenging pieces of it, for the rest of the campus community to learn.”
Mya Lowry, a graduate student in public administration and president of the Native American Student Association, said despite the efforts of MSA and different organizations on campus, a lot of work is still needed to educate people about Native American culture.
“A lot of people think of Native Americans as being in the past,” Lowry said. “When that’s a common thing that people hear growing up, they’re not really going to be that interested in learning about Native American cultures, because they don’t really think they’re that alive and that we have strong cultures, but we do.”
One of the proud achievements of the Native American community at NC State is the land acknowledgment statement, passed last year by the University’s staff, faculty and student senates.
“Part of what the land acknowledgement does is not necessarily to highlight some of the negative things that may have happened in the past,” Bell said. “It’s more to highlight
the current, present day communities that exist today, because NC State and other areas like UNC, for example, have property in all 100 counties of North Carolina.”
The event concluded with dancing. After a dance performance in traditional powwow regalia, the crowd held hands and danced around the ballroom, allowing most of the audience to learn a traditional Native American dance for the first time.
“Even if it’s beyond just Raleigh, NC State still has a role in some type of proprietor-
ship,” Bell said. “The land acknowledgement is more so to continue to encourage partnership, collaboration and support between NC State and these tribal communities.” November is Native American Heritage Month. If you’re interested in learning more about Native American culture, you can join the Native American Student Organization or attend the Multicultural Student Affairs upcoming events throughout the fall semester.
I’m not here to join the dogpile on some of the most hated parts of the movie, including but not limited to one-too-many unengaging musical sets, a lackluster ending and the most disturbing sex scene I’ve ever seen in a movie. However, I am here to dogpile on why an aimless sequel entirely strays away from what makes the Joker such a compelling comic book icon.
I bring up Ledger and his iconic line because he and Nolan got the Joker right. Their actor-director pairing made me remember why Joker is such a spectacle — both on a comic strip and the big screen.
For as long as he’s graced the pages of DC comic books, Joker has been the ultimate antithesis of Batman. With every chaotic plot and scheme the Joker has up his sleeve to prove Batman wrong comes to an equal and opposite act of unwavering and disciplined heroism from the Caped Crusader. Joker fundamentally believes he and Batman are caught in this eternal struggle. As long as the Dark Knight refuses to kill
him, the Joker will be around the next dark, crime-ridden alley, hell-bent on forcing Batman to play his games and prove him wrong.
Joker isn’t Joker without someone to play a joke on. That’s what Phillips doesn’t understand, and it’s why “Joker: Folie à Deux” was doomed from the start.
Phillips entirely abandons what defines Joker as the character he is. I do think the first movie works as an origin story. It sets up Arthur Fleck’s version of the titular character as the product of a society that abandons him at every turn, what he sees as a cruel joke. It’s an interesting and compelling version of his origins. However, the first movie left no real room for a sequel, especially in a world where Bruce Wayne was still just a child.
Fast forward to the 2024 flick, where “Joker: Folie à Deux” is intended as a deeper character study into Fleck’s psyche. However, it has no real purpose. In contrast to the first film, it has nothing to say and, even worse, turns its back on its original premise.
By the end of the sequel, Fleck admits there is no Joker — the character was just that, a character. Joker was just a figment of Fleck’s twisted imagination. In this movie, Joker shrinks. Fleck gives up. He’s portrayed as aimless, which ultimately makes for an aimless movie.
It’s a betrayal of what makes Joker so special.
To add insult to injury, Joker has so little agency that his so-called allies have more autonomy and influence on his psyche than himself. It felt like Fleck was reacting in response to Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn, who represented another stab in the back of a comic book character.
Traditionally, it’s the other way around. Joker pushes Harley Quinn around in the comics, which is what makes her eventual abandonment as Joker’s partner-in-crime so compelling. However, Phillips uses Quinn as a force to push Fleck toward the direction of the Joker, the opposite of intrinsic character traits traditionally possessed by the two characters. This results in Fleck
being reduced to a conflicted, meandering character searching for and wondering who he really is.
The real Joker knows exactly who he is. In reality, Joker is not psychotic, he’s not uncertain nor conflicted. Joker is conniving. He’s calculated. He’s prideful. He carefully constructs elaborate schemes to challenge the most important person in his life, Batman. Most of all, he’s proud and fully committed to being the Joker. There’s no delineation between the human behind Joker and the whimsical yet terrifying persona he prides himself on being.
Without a central antagonist, Phillips leaves the character with no one to bounce off of, no one to play a joke on. So why make a movie at all?
That’s a question for Warner Brothers, who likely greenlit the project after the rousing success of the first movie. However, with no obvious plan and a fundamental misunderstanding of the character, the only joke that was played this fall was on audiences across America.
COURTESY OF KAYLEE JACOBS
Alessandra Sandoni Correspondent
KAMALA HARRIS CAST THE TIE-BREAKING VOTE TO PASS THE LARGEST INVESTMENT IN CLIMATE ACTION IN HISTORY.
- 37% IN GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
+ 1.5M NEW JOBS
+ $3,562 INCREASE IN REAL DISPOSABLE INCOME PER CAPITA
THE OTHER GUY SAID CLIMATE CHANGE IS A HOAX INVENTED BY CHINA.
ELECTION DAY: NOVEMBER 5
October
3
Monday, Oct. 28
Red and White Week Kickoff
Stafford Commons
Wear Red, Get Fed
Stafford Commons
Various locations
Tuesday, Oct. 29
Wear Red, Get Fed
Stafford Commons
Various locations
Wednesday, Oct. 30
Pack Appreciation Day
Stafford Commons The Corner at Centennial Campus Green Commons, CVM Main Administration Building
Wear Red, Get Fed
Stafford Commons
Various locations
Chancellor’s Fall Address
Talley Student Union
Thursday, Oct. 31
Wear Red, Get Fed
Stafford Commons
Various locations
NC SYNC: Lip Sync Competition
Stafford Commons
Friday, Nov. 1
Tuffy Trivia Witherspoon Auditorium
Saturday, Nov. 2
NC State vs. Stanford Carter-Finley Stadium
Show your #PackAppreciation for the thousands of donors who support our Wolfpack community! Our donors give generously to the scholarships, programs, facilities and experiences that shape your time at NC State. Share your gratitude for their support and for everything you love about NC State during Red and White Week.
P.S. We’ll also have lots of great swag and snacks. See you there!
Check out the full calendar at redwhiteweek.ncsu.edu for even more Red and White Week festivities! Follow @NCState on social media, tag us and use #NCStateRedWhite for chances to win swag and be featured.
A historic journey: NC State basketball coaches Keatts and Moore reflect on Final Four runs
Colby Trotter
Sports Editor
NC State women’s basketball head coach Wes Moore was on the plane ride back with NC State men’s basketball after it won the ACC Championship. A week later, Pack men’s basketball head coach Kevin Keatts was in attendance for the women’s Round of 32 game at Reynolds Coliseum.
After the women beat Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, both coaches locked in on their own teams but watched each other’s journeys from afar. Last season, both squads made the Final Four in the same year for the first time in school history.
But before those runs, both teams faced adversity near the end of the season that left most questioning if either team could even compete in the postseason.
After starting the year unranked, the women jumped into the top five of the AP Poll before December after early-season wins over two top-three opponents and stayed there most of the year. But after a two-game stretch at the end of February in which it lost back-to-back games to unranked Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, the Wolfpack dropped from No. 6 to No. 12 in the AP Poll.
in the ACC’s history.
So naturally, Keatts’ squad became the first school in conference history to claim the league’s championship having to win five straight games while guaranteeing a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Then the men became the sixth 11-seed to make the Final Four before falling to Purdue in the national semifinal.
Now that both coaches have had six months to reflect on their respective runs, there is a shared feeling of immense gratitude for what they accomplished.
to be,” Moore said. “He’s a mentor. He treats those guys like they’re his sons, and then to see them be rewarded with the Final Four run made it special.”
When Moore was in Washington D.C. to witness the men win their first ACC Championship since 1987, Keatts said Moore was even more excited than he was that they won the title. It was just one moment that highlights the special bond the two share.
and so we’re able to relate, understand what each other’s going through. And I think it’s the same way with the players.”
The good thing for both coaches is that they have key returning players who went on those runs last season. The men return graduate guard Michael O’Connell, senior guard Jayden Taylor and senior forward Ben Middlebrooks along with a few other players who were on the squad last year.
“I’ve always said that coaches, we will teach the program,” Keatts said. “[The players] have to enforce our culture and show what our culture is about. And so I think those seven dudes, those five returning scholarship guys and the two guys who are walk-ons, have done a really good job pushing our culture on this group here.”
Moore returns three of his five starters in senior guards Saniya Rivers and Aziaha James and graduate guard Madison Hayes. But both teams also have new faces who will have to learn the playstyle and culture.
“It’s like having extra assistant coaches out there,” Moore said. “They know your system. They know your culture, how you want to do things.”
It was an unbelievable run. And when you’re going through it, you don’t necessarily get a chance to respect how great of a run it was.
- Head Coach Kevin Keatts
“This year was magical,” Moore said. “Just everybody bought in. Great culture, chemistry. I think that was part of the reason we kept winning. We just didn’t want it to end. We were having a great time. And then for the men to also get on that run. Coach Keatts, I think the world of him. So it made it even sweeter that we could both do that.”
The relationship between Keatts and Moore is a special one. It’s a relationship bound by shared strife, but also by a shared mission.
“Wes and I have a really great relationship,” Keatts said. “Just to see them have success in the tournament. And for Wes, he’s been right there to break through and get to the Final Four. I think it was a tremendous deal.”
Not only do Moore and Keatts share a strong relationship, but players from both sides share a tight bond. Before last season, Keatts could tell how close the two programs were from a moment that happened at “Primetime with the Pack”, a preseason event where the two teams got together.
Now that both coaches have been on college basketball’s grandest stage, they have stories and lessons they can use for the rest of their coaching careers. Moore and Keatts will command a certain level of respect now that they’ve been to the Final Four.
They learned a lot from their respective journeys, and this is what they said when asked about the biggest lesson they learned from making a deep postseason run.
Moore said he had people at lunch coming up to him asking what was wrong with his team and if they could turn it around. Moore did turn it around — his squad only lost one more game before falling to eventual national champion South Carolina in the Final Four.
For the men, all hope was lost after the team dropped 10 of its last 14 games of the regular season. The Pack entered the ACC Tournament as a 10-seed, having to win five games in five days to make the NCAA Tournament, which had never been done
“Our team and their team have a great relationship, and we really support them as much as we can,” Keatts said. “It was an unbelievable run. And when you’re going through it, you don’t necessarily get a chance to respect how great of a run it was. You don’t fully get to respect or understand how special a run it was until you get out of it.”
For Moore and Keatts, it was special to share that ride together because of how close a relationship they have. During the season, they talk a few times a week, asking each other questions about their teams and if they have any advice to share.
“Coach Keatts is what a coach is supposed
It was during the dunk contest when senior guard Breon Pass threw a pass off the backboard that senior guard Saniya Rivers dunked. Keatts remembers that his team was just as excited to see her dunk as her own teammates.
“Both programs have built a strong culture of winning,” Keatts said. “I think that really, we kind of feed off each other when it comes to that.”
And when one team succeeds, it motivates the other to do the same. During their Final Four runs, they fed off each other’s success. After the men won a postseason game, they would get calls from the women and vice versa.
“I know our players enjoy a great relationship,” Moore said. “We know how hard it is,
“To enjoy the ride,” Moore said. “As a coach, sometimes we probably take things too seriously or maybe make it more of a grind than it needs to be. So you got to have fun. And that’s what that group did last year when it was time to go to work. It was time to be focused. But also you gotta have a little fun along the way and enjoy the journey.”
For Keatts, he has a run in his back pocket — one that is likely to go down as one of the most improbable Final Four appearances of all time — that he can use for the rest of his career.
“Anything is possible when a collective of guys get on the same page,” Keatts said. “That’s what happened with us. We had everybody on the same page. There were no egos throughout the run. If you have any egos through the run, you don’t make the run. But we won nine elimination games because we had no egos. Everybody was playing for NC State. Everybody was playing for each other.”
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ETHAN RIMOLT
NC State women’s basketball 2024-25 schedule preview
The 2023-24 NC State women’s basketball team was picked to finish 8th in the ACC. It proved the doubters wrong when it finished in 2nd place and reached the NCAA Final Four. As Wolfpack fans prepare for the 2024-25 season, there is a lot of excitement generated about the program due to the success of last year and the return of key players such as senior guards Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers.
Entering his 12th year as the head coach of the Pack, head coach Wes Moore has made a name for himself as one of the best coaches in college basketball, leading the team to routine ACC championships and having it consistently ranked in the top 25. This year is no exception with the Pack ranked No. 9 in the preseason AP Poll. With this schedule for 2024-25, there are several opportunities for the Pack to establish its dominance and make it known to the public that it is going to compete for a National Championship.
Nonconference games
The Pack’s first big test will come in its second game of the regular season when
it travels to Charlotte on Nov. 10 for the Ally Tip-Off against the defending National Champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina comes into this game as the preseason No. 1 team, led by head coach Dawn Staley. This game will serve as a rematch of the 2024 Final Four game, in which the Gamecocks won 78-59. Over the week of Thanksgiving, NC State will travel to Nassau in the Bahamas with three other teams for the Pink Flamingo Championship. Depending on the result of the first game, fans may get treated to a matchup against the Kim Mulkey-led No. 7 LSU Tigers, who won the National Championship in 2023.
Another big nonconference top 25 matchup for the Wolfpack will be when it hosts the No. 20 Ole Miss Rebels in Reynolds Coliseum on Dec. 5. This has the potential to be yet another statement win against a team that also made the NCAA Tournament last year.
Conference slate
In the past, NC State’s ACC schedule was filled with top 25 programs that continually made the NCAA Tournament. Now the conference is getting even bigger with the addition of three new teams. The ACC
currently has six teams ranked in the preseason top 25.
The Pack will open conference play on the road against the No. 17 Louisville Cardinals. Louisville and NC State have competed against each other to be the ACC’s top team for the past few years. At an 8-8 in the all-time series, the Pack has had the Cardinals’ number in recent memory, as it has won the last five matchups.
The next big game for NC State will come at home when it hosts the No. 11 Duke Blue Devils in Raleigh. Last year, NC State and Duke split their regular season series, but NC State ended up winning the game where it mattered most in the ACC Tournament, 54-51.
NC State will square off against a second team it beat in the ACC Tournament — the Florida State Seminoles. FSU comes into the season ranked No. 19, and the Pack will travel to Tallahassee, Florida to play the Seminoles on Feb. 9.
In what is always a big game, the Wolfpack will travel to Chapel Hill to take on the No. 15 UNC-Chapel HIll Tar Heels. With this being the first season in program history where the Pack will not play the Heels in Raleigh, this game becomes much more important.
COLUMN
NC State has an all-time record of 64-55 against the Tar Heels, but it is only 21-31 in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels no longer have Deja Kelly, but they still have graduate guard Alyssa Ustby, who currently has a career average of 9.5 rebounds per game. The last game that the red-and-white will play against a preseason-ranked team will be on Feb. 23, when it hosts the No. 6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This game will serve as a rematch of the 2024 ACC Championship game, where the Irish emerged victorious in a 55-51 defensive battle. Notre Dame’s biggest key player is sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo, who finished the 2024 season as a first-team All-American. While the Wolfpack does not play any other preseason top 25 teams in the ACC, there are still several good teams in the league that are unranked and can make some noise against the Pack. It will play at Stanford, at Syracuse, Miami in Reynolds and at Georgia Tech. All these teams mentioned received votes for the preseason poll.
Overall, there is a lot for Wolfpack fans to be excited about for this upcoming season. There are several games where NC State can make a big statement and establish itself as a national championship contender.
This is the year for NC State to cement itself as a basketball school
Connor VanDerMark Assistant Sports Editor
Former NFL wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. predicted NC State athletics’ fate, just one year too early.
“NC State, unfortunately, is waiting for basketball season to start,” Smith said in a late October 2023 episode of “College Gameday.”
Many took offense as NC State football went on to finish 9-3 with an appearance in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. But few could have predicted the history that NC State basketball would create just five months later.
Now, a year removed from Smith’s statement, Wolfpack fans eagerly await basketball season as NC State football has fallen short of its lofty expectations, looking to experience NC State basketball’s postsea-
son journey as it tries to recreate its 2023-24 campaign.
For years, NC State has been considered by many as a football school. However, the Wolfpack has a chance to flip the script and join elite company as one of the premier all-around basketball schools in the nation.
Last season, NC State made history by reaching the Final Four in both men’s and women’s basketball — a feat accomplished by just 10 other schools since the Women’s NCAA Tournament began in 1982.
I’m not saying it will reach the same level of success in men’s basketball as the Blue Bloods. It’s far from it. But if both men’s and women’s basketball can comfortably make their respective NCAA Tournaments this season, there is an argument for NC State to officially hold the title of a basketball school.
HALLIE WALKER/TECHNICIAN
Graduate forward DJ Burns and junior guard Aziaha James shake hands during the men’s and women’s basketball Final Four celebration at the Belltower on Monday, April 15, 2024. Burns and James were their respective regionals Most Outstanding Player.
Carson Correll Correspondent
NC State men’s basketball 2024-25 schedule preview
Gavin Gallimore Staff Writer
Fresh off an iconic trip to the Final Four, NC State men’s basketball is looking to hit the ground running in the 2024-25 season. With a docket of solid non-conference games, the Pack will be provided with multiple tests to help get the season started. As the squad heads into conference play, it will be exposed to the effects of conference realignment, which has added three fresh faces to the ACC. Playing four games against these new foes, NC State will look to embrace the changing world of college athletics.
Non-conference
In total, NC State will face 11 non-conference opponents to start the season. Perhaps an effect of its deep run in the tournament, its slate of opponents looks to be the best array Pack fans have seen in a long time. Starting the season against South Carolina Upstate on Nov. 4, NC State will play five straight home games in the newly renamed Lenovo Center.
On Nov. 28, the team will get its first big test of the season as it travels to San Diego to take on No. 14 Purdue in the Rady’s Children Invitational. Looking to avenge its Final Four loss to the Boilermakers, NC State will attempt to capitalize on the absence of the towering Zach Edey.
NC State will then return home to take on No. 19 Texas in the ACC/SEC Challenge. The Longhorns should prove to be a great early season test coming off of an appearance in the Round of 32. In their first matchup since 2011, NC State will look to capture a win out of conference as it fell mightily last season to Ole Miss.
On Dec. 10, NC State will return to the hallowed Reynolds Coliseum to take on Coppin State in its annual heritage game. Honoring the teams of the past, the Pack will also help
Seven months ago, the nation witnessed history as the men went on one of the most surprising runs since the conception of college basketball itself. Before the postseason, nobody could’ve predicted the magic it pulled off. It will forever go down as one of the greatest Cinderella stories ever.
Besides the 2024 postseason run, NC State also holds claim to one of the greatest National Championship titles in history, winning the 1983 NCAA Tournament behind legendary head coach Jim Valvano. Two of the greatest stories in college basketball have been authored by NC State.
But the common thought is last year was a fluke and the Wolfpack will be a middling team in the ACC again. To be fair, it’s a pretty substantial argument.
For the four decades between its Final
provide a nod to the present.
To round out its non-conference schedule, NC State will travel to Lawrence, Kansas for its toughest non-conference game. Taking on the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, the Pack will step into one of the most unforgiving environments in all of college hoops. Dropping only one game at home last season serves as a testament to the adversity that NC State will have to bear.
Key ACC matchups
After getting a stab at the Florida State Seminoles in December, NC State will finish the calendar year with a trip to Charlottesville to take on Virginia. With the sudden retirement of longtime head coach Tony Bennett, a new era has begun with Virginia basketball. NC State went 2-1 against the Cavaliers last season, which included an improbable win in the ACC Tournament.
In late January, NC State welcomes California
Four runs, NC State made the NCAA Tournament just 17 times, including an 11-year drought between 1991 and 2002. It made the Sweet Sixteen just six times and the Elite Eight only twice.
Though it finally got its first Final Four appearance in the 21st century, the Wolfpack continues to be slept on, getting ranked at No. 67 in CBS Sports Top 100 And 1 list — the only Final Four team from the 2024 NCAA Tournament to not be ranked within the top seven. NC State did lose four of its top five scorers from last season, but head coach Kevin Keatts brought in a massive transfer class to compensate for the losses.
Besides reigning National Champion UConn, NC State is the hottest school in men’s basketball, going 9-1 in its last 10 games, all of which were in the postseason.
and SMU in consecutive games. Marking the first time it has faced California since the 2006 season and the first time it has taken on the Mustangs since 1988. NC State will later travel to take on the Golden Bears on Feb. 5. It will presumably remain in the Golden State to take on the third of the ACC’s new teams, Stanford Cardinal on Feb. 8. Even though expectations may not be particularly high for the new additions to the conference, it should still prove to be interesting to see how the Pack handles the effects of realignment.
In between these matchups, NC State will take on the Clemson Tigers at home on Feb. 1. Largely overshadowed by the Pack’s success in March, the Tigers quietly made a trip to the Elite Eight. Another key home contest will come on Feb. 12 against Louisville. Despite finishing last in the ACC last season, the Cardinals hired a new head coach and completed an overhaul of its roster with 12 transfers in the hopes of completing a drastic turnaround
If the Wolfpack can carry that momentum into next season, perform well in its regular season matchups and make a decent postseason run, it can beat the ‘Cinderella’ title it currently holds.
NC State women’s basketball doesn’t face the same ‘Cinderella’ accusations that men’s basketball has. It has been a dominant force for the better part of the last decade, making the NCAA Tournament in seven of the past eight years.
Though it doesn’t have the same storied history as men’s basketball, with no national championship victories or even appearances, NC State women’s basketball holds seven total ACC Championships, including three straight from 2020-2022.
The Wolfpack was slept on, ranked eighth in the ACC before the 2023-24 season. But
of its fate.
As NC State begins to round out its regular season schedule, it faces a stretch of games that may prove challenging. Traveling to take on Syracuse, the Pack will look to win against a program that has had its number as of recently, as a win in the ACC Tournament last season broke up a skid of seven straight losses.
On senior night, NC State will take on Pittsburgh, a team that continued to improve last season and narrowly missed out on the tournament. In the regular season finale, the Pack will travel to Coral Gables to take on Miami.
After a surprising Final Four appearance two seasons ago, the Hurricanes struggled mightily last season including a 10-game losing streak to round out the season. However, the team brought in several key players in the hopes of righting the ship.
In-state rivalry games
In the upcoming season, NC State will take on its Tobacco Road rivals in five separate contests. Starting off the 2025 calendar year, NC State will travel to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest on Jan. 4. A team that boasts lots of talent, the Demon Deacons have continued to be on the cusp of making their first tournament appearance since 2017. NC State will welcome Wake to Raleigh later on Feb. 22.
NC State secured bragging rights last season over North Carolina after defeating them in the ACC Championship. It will take on the No. 9 Tar Heels twice this season with a home date with them on Jan. 11 and then traveling to the Dean Dome on Feb. 19. The Heels look to be one of the best teams in the conference with several returning players. Lastly, the Pack will travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on No. 7 Duke on Jan. 27. Boasting the best recruiting class in the country, the Blue Devils will undoubtedly be one of the toughest teams NC State will face this season.
NC State quickly proved why the Pack should never be underestimated, taking down then-No. 2 UConn and then-No. 3 Colorado before launching into the top five before its Final Four run.
This season, the Wolfpack is projected to be one of the best women’s basketball teams in the country, getting ranked No. 9 in the AP Top 25. With most key players returning and a few talented new faces, NC State is slated to be a force to be reckoned with. With both basketball teams in prime position to make a statement and the recent failures of the football program, the time is now for NC State to make the transition from a football school to a basketball school.
HALLIE WALKER/TECHNICIAN
NC State stands on the court at the end of a timeout during the game against Wake Forest in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. NC State lost to Wake Forest 83-79.
Key players on NC State’s men’s basketball roster for 2024-2025 season
NC State men’s basketball had an electric end to its previous season; winning five straight games to claim the ACC Championship and a run to the Final Four for the first time in 41 years. Even though the Pack didn’t bring home a National Championship, it won its first ACC title since 1987.
DJ Horne and DJ Burns were at the center of the run, dominating every time they touched the court. The run signaled the end of the duo, and two banners will be hung in Lenovo Center to cement their greatness.
This year’s story will be different, with players moving on and promising freshmen and transfers coming in to fill the void. Here’s the breakdown of the NC State men’s basketball roster, highlighting key pieces and glue guys.
Guard Michael O’Connell
With Horne moving on to pursue his basketball career in a German Pro League, head coach Kevin Keatts had to find someone to step up and follow in Horne’s footsteps.
Who better than running mate graduate guard Michael O’Connell to take Horne’s place? O’Connell is confirmed to have the starting point guard position, showcasing his talents during the Wolfpack’s sensational March Madness run. O’Connell averaged over 10 points, four assists and four rebounds all while shooting 50% from 3 during the postseason. He tapped into his clutch gene by knocking down a heave 3 to force overtime in a win-or-go-home game against Virginia in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
O’Connell was more of a role player during last year’s regular season, making the occasional 3 and dishing out two-to-three assists per outing. However, Keatts came out and said that O’Connell started taking action, especially vocally, to help benefit his team.
“We didn’t become a really good team until late March when Michael started realizing that his voice matters,” Keatts said. “I looked around in one huddle and he’s talking to somebody. I was like, ‘Hold on, is that Michael?’ because he hadn’t said a word all year long.”
Forward Ben Middlebrooks
Senior forward Ben Middlebrooks is another key returner from last year’s squad who showed lots of potential in March. Middlebrooks is known to be a tenacious rebounder and hustle guy for the Wolfpack — jumping on loose balls, sprinting down the court and going for every rebound he sees. Middlebrooks showed his intensity during the Pack’s Final Four run with a 21-point game against Texas Tech and seven or more rebounds in every game.
He looks to carry on this energy and seems to be doing a good job so far. Keatts talks highly of Middlebrook’s energy and as a contributor to good team morale.
“Man, they’re walking around with major swag,” Keatts said. “Ben Middlebrooks is having the time of his life. I’ve got to slow him down a little bit, but they’re excited and having a good time”
Middlebrooks is a definite glue guy for the Wolfpack this year and. The big man is projected to play more minutes and has the potential to become a key piece.
Forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield
Transfer senior forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is coming off a great season at Louisville last year. Hatfield averaged over 12 points and was top 70 in the nation in rebounds, averaging over eight a game.
Huntley-Hatfield played against NC State in the first round of the ACC Tournament last year and had a productive game with 17 points, seven boards and a block.
Huntley-Hatfield is one of the many transfers Keatts has brought to NC State within the last three years. The portal has become second nature to Keatts, using it to his advantage to grab top-tier scorers. Hatfield has all the attributes to be a scorer with polished footwork inside and the versatility to take anyone to the hole. Keatts is confident that he can turn this transfer, much like others, into a great scorer.
“As a team who has lost its leading scorer almost every year, we’ve created leading scorers,” Keatts said. “I think we have a good formula of bringing in transfers that have been successful.”
Huntley-Hatfield is set to finish his collegiate basketball career with the Wolfpack and is hoping to make an immediate impact like previous transfers Horne and Burns.
Guard Trey Parker
Freshman guard Trey Parker is coming in as a three-star recruit who played for Overtime Elite last year, averaging over 11 points, four assists and three steals a game.
Parker is known for his athleticism as his highlight reel is made up of a lot of dunks. Parker knows how to get his team hyped up with big plays, creating momentum and ramping up the energy on both sides of the ball. Keatts said Parker will win the “Prime Time with the Pack” dunk contest, claiming that he can out-jump anyone in the gym.
Guard Jayden Taylor
Returning senior guard Jayden Taylor rejoins running mates O’Connell and Middlebrooks to form a potential big three. The guard was more of a glue guy last year, leaving the primetime moments to Horne, Burns and Mohamed Diarra.
Taylor is ready to take it to the next level as the guard will be a much-needed veteran presence in the starting lineup. Taylor averaged around 11 points and four rebounds a game last season, being a little trigger-happy at times.
Taylor struggled to be efficient in some of the games last year, relying on isolation plays in late shot-clock moments and forcing up bad shots. However, Taylor did have six games with 20+ points and 22 double-figure games last season. These breakout moments give hope that Taylor can be a strong offensive presence for the Wolfpack. Taylor can also be an active force from beyond the arc as he knocked down 64 3s last year — the second most on the team.
HALLIE WALKER/TECHNICIAN
The NC State bench celebrates during the first round game of the NCAA Tournament against Texas Tech at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Thursday, March 21, 2024. NC State beat Texas Tech 80-67.
Braden Winters Correspondent
NC State women’s basketball 2024-25 roster breakdown
Erin Ferrare Staff Writer
The spring of 2024 will forever go down in Wolfpack history as one of the best times to be a member of the red-and-white faithful. With both men’s and women’s basketball in their respective NCAA Final Fours, things were looking better and brighter in the City of Oaks. The NC State women’s basketball team looks to repeat this dream run during the 2024-25 season, and they have just the team to do so.
The Pack will tip the season off on Tuesday, Nov. 5 with a matchup against East Tennessee State University and then will hit the ground running with some tough opponents before ACC play begins in December. Despite the loss of center River Baldwin and forward Mimi Collins, the NC State roster looks familiar to many fans and is ready to dominate.
Centers
With Baldwin playing professionally overseas, the red-and-white have a large hole to fill in the front court.
Graduate center Lizzy Williamson transferred to NC State before the 2023-24 season from Southern Utah and lived in Baldwin’s
shadow all season. Williamson, who was the Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2022-23, played in 19 games, all off the bench, and finished the season with 21 points. Head coach Wes Moore has another option though with sophomore Mallory Collier looking to make her big break onto the court.
Collier made her collegiate debut when the Pack took on UNC-Charlotte, logging three points, four rebounds and two blocks in 10 minutes. Ranked the No. 55 player in the class of 2023 by ESPN, the young center could be a breakout player for NC State throughout the season.
If either Williamson or Collier are struggling to put up points, freshman center Lorena Awou could become a good addition off the bench. Ranked No. 5 in the State of Illinois in the Prep Girls Hoops Rankings, Awou provides the Pack with the ability to run the floor and chase down rebounds while putting a lot of pressure on defenses.
Guards
The dynamic trio graduate Madison Hayes, senior Saniya Rivers and senior Aziaha James are all returning to Reynolds Coliseum. The three were practically un-
stoppable last year. Hayes was one of two on the team to start and play in all 38 contests and averaged 10.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.
River and James have accolades to their name that would strike fear into any opponent; Rivers was named an All-ACC First Team and All-Defensive Team selection, as well as an AP All-America Honorable Mention choice, and James logged 31 doubledigit scoring games, 12 20-point games and two 30-pieces.
Coming in as a five-star recruit, sophomore Zoe Brooks had one of the best freshman campaigns in Wolfpack women’s basketball history. Playing in all 38 games — mostly off the bench — Brooks averaged 9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. She became the second-ever player in program history to record a triple-double, doing so in her first career start.
After being named to the ACC All-Freshman Team, Brooks improved her game in the team’s postseason run proving to be crucial against big-time opponents. As the facilitator of the offense when she’s on the floor, Brooks will look to build off her first season and avoid a sophomore slump as she takes a larger role on this year’s team.
A new piece to the Wolfpack program
is freshman guard Zamareya Jones from Greenville, North Carolina. The McDonald’s All-American was ranked No. 17 in the 2024 ESPNW 100 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings at the time of her signing and was regarded as a five-star recruit with a 96 scouts grade.
Wings
After losing Collins during the offseason, Moore has a few options to choose from when filling her spot. Sophomore forward Maddie Cox was able to get some experience during her freshman season, scoring in 12 games, along with six outings with over four boards. She also played all five NCAA Tournament contests, averaging 8.6 minutes per game in the run to the Final Four. What Cox lacks in experience can be made up by graduate forward Caitlin Weimer. In her time at Boston University, Weimer earned First Team All-Patriot League and was named to the Patriot League All-Defensive Team her senior year, following a season in which she averaged a double-double with 18.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game along with 88 total blocks. While she is currently dealing with a hip injury, she is hopeful to take the court early this season.
HALLIE WALKER/TECHNICIAN
The NC State women’s basketball team sings the alma mater after the game against Florida State in Reynolds Coliseum on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2024. NC State beat Florida State 88-80 in overtime.
NC State 2023-24 Equity in Athletics Disclosure by the numbers
OVERALL REVENUES AND EXPENSES
Ethan Bakogiannis Managing Editor
NC State released its annual Equity in Athletics Disclosure in accordance with the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. The disclosure provides information on NC State Athletics’ standing of men’s and women’s participation, monetary information and allocation statistics, revenues and expenses and more for the 2023-2024 year.
The EADA is a federal regulation requiring all educational institutions participating in the Title IV federal student financial assistance program — and have an intercollegiate athletic program — to create annual reports available to the public and the Department of Education. These reports are required to disclose information on athletic staffing, participation and the revenues and expenses associated with men’s and women’s teams at those participating universities.
Let’s go through this year’s report and break down the most important values, statistics and facts related to varsity sports at NC State by the numbers.
160% spending difference between men’s and women’s teams
Like participation and nearly every other category on the report, football led in terms of operating expenses, specifically in game-day expenses. NC State football led in this category with $5,498,704 while men’s and women’s basketball followed behind in second and third, respectively.
In total, operating expenses for men’s teams totaled to $11,188,120 while operating expenses for women’s teams equaled $4,301,254, marking a 160% spending difference between men’s and women’s teams in the 23-24 year.
ATHLETIC SPENDING IN RELATION TO STUDENT AID AND RECRUITING EXPENSES
$2,393,323 total spent on men’s recruitement
Athletic spending in relation to student aid represents the financial assistance given to student-athletes based on a student’s participation in an athletic program. Overall, 62% of athletically related student aid was awarded to male athletes while 38% was awarded to female athletes.
Meanwhile, NC State Athletics spent $2,393,323 on recruiting expenses for men’s teams, which is four times as much as the $597,640 spent on recruiting for women’s teams.
NC State Athletics made $113,339,331 in terms of revenue attributable to “Intercollegiate Athletic Activities.” Of that total, 91.5% was earned by men’s sports — which brought in revenues of $103,670,792 — and 68.7% of the total revenue was earned by football. In total, revenue from women’s sports tallied to $9,668,539.
Despite a relatively even level of popularity on campus between the teams, men’s basketball earned 6.3 times as much as women’s basketball. All sports, excluding football and men’s and women’s basketball, totaled both similar revenue and expense totals when divided between men’s and women’s programs.
As a whole, all other “non-revenue” sports — all those excluding football and basketball — lost over $14,400,000 when comparing revenues and expenses. Additionally, women’s sports, including basketball, accrued just under $10,000,000 more in expenses than revenues throughout the year. Like nearly every university across the country, football was a big reason for the department’s $31,280,558 profit from last year.
551 student athletes
NC State featured 18 varsity sports teams, nine of which were men’s teams and nine of which were women’s.
Football, the largest team on campus, made up the difference between NC State’s male and female athlete disparity by toting 128 total athletes.
4-to-1 male-to-female coaching ratio
Out of all head and assistant coaches on campus, there was an approximate 4-to-1 male-to-female coaching ratio.
NC State employed 20 total head coaches, a quarter of which were female. Meanwhile, the department employed 74 total assistant coaches, 13 of which were female.
$1,141,302 average annual salary per head coach for men’s teams
The average annual salary per head coaching position for men’s teams equaled $1,141,302, an average heavily impacted by head football coach Dave Doeren’s 2023 salary of over $5,000,000 The average annual salary per head coaching position for women’s teams sat at $295,343.
For assistant coaching positions, the men’s team’s average per position was $235,268 while the women’s team’s average salary per position was $80,026.
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COLUMN
Sports Kevin Keatts is just getting started
Noah Teague Staff Writer
Only four head coaches have led NC State men’s basketball to the Final Four — Everett Case, Norm Sloan, Jim Valvano and now, Kevin Keatts. By concocting one of the greatest runs in college basketball history, steering the Wolfpack to its first ACC title win and Final Four appearance since the 1980s, Keatts cemented his legacy in Raleigh last season. After pulling off the impossible and stunning the world of college basketball, Keatts has the opportunity to establish NC State as a premier program.
Successfully navigating challenging waters the past two seasons, including new rules in college athletics and a frustrated fanbase, Keatts is set for a new chapter.
With an ACC championship trophy and Final Four appearance, Keatts is no longer coaching for his job. He’s coaching for championships.
While Duke and North Carolina are considered the favorites for the ACC, make no mistake — Keatts’ Wolfpack will be ready to go head-to-head with its triangle rivals. The Pack went 5-5 against the Blue Devils and Tar Heels over the past two seasons and isn’t planning on taking a backseat this year.
Now entering his eighth season with the Wolfpack, Keatts is one of the more familiar faces in the ACC. As the conference’s fourth longest-tenured head coach, Keatts has seen everything, from lifting the ACC championship trophy
Tournament would be a welcome sight for Wolfpack fans. Additionally, a tournament appearance would prove that Keatts can win with a variety of different talents. In 2023, Keatts’ squad was guard-centric, led by Jarkel Joiner and Terquavion Smith, while last season the red-and-white was anchored by Burns in the paint. This year’s team is expected to be a defensively strong group, led by players like senior forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and senior guard Jayden Taylor.
NC State has shown flashes of potential, but it has never had a launching pad like its run to the Final Four. If the red-and-white takes its momentum and builds on it, watch out. Keatts has proven to have an eye for transfer portal talent, bringing in stars like Joiner and Burns. With the constant turnover and importance of the transfer portal, Keatts is positioned for success with his talent evaluation ability and momentum after last season.
to finishing last in the conference. With a vast wealth of experience, Keatts can and has proven that he can lead a team through its highs and lows.
This season, Keatts has the opportunity to accomplish something that the Wolfpack has lacked for too long: sustained success. Another NCAA tournament appearance would be Keatts’ third straight, a feat that hasn’t happened in Raleigh since 2015. After decades of inconsistency since the Valvano era, being an annual competitor in the NCAA
Will Keatts lead the Wolfpack to an ACC championship again?
Maybe he will or maybe he won’t, but the red-and-white will certainly be in the conversation again. The Wolfpack loaded up on transfer portal talent and challenged itself with a strong schedule for this season, setting up an incredible opportunity for Keatts and the Wolfpack to further elevate NC State basketball. The ACC Championship and Final Four was just one chapter of the book — and Keatts is ready to write the next.
ALEX MANUEL/TECHNICIAN
Head coach Kevin Keatts gestures while speaking to reporters during the ACC Tipoff event at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown in Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. During the event, Keatts detailed the future of the team and what to expect in the 2024-2025 season.
Can you think of any laws that give the government power over a male body?
Donald Trump appointed extremist Supreme Court justices to take away your reproductive freedom. As president, Kamala Harris will protect your right to control your own future. Neither can we. make a plan to vote
