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Opinion: University response to Sports: Demon Deacons lose in the Life: Global warming predicted Atlanta shootings lacks sincerity first round to increase summer's length Page 11 Page 8 Page 19
Old Gold&Black
WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916 VOL. 107, NO. 20
T H U R S DAY, M A RC H 2 5 , 2 0 21 “Cover s the campus like the magnolias”
wfuogb.com
WFU vaccinates Group Four students Students share their thoughts on getting vaccinated one year after the start of COVID-19 BY AINE PIERRE News Editor pierav20@wfu.edu It has now been four and a half months since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19. Now, as of March 24, a large amount of Wake Forest students are eligible to receive the vaccine. Currently, all Wake Forest student employees are eligible to receive the vaccine, as well as any Wake Forest student with a health condition that increases their risk to either contract or be seriously affected by COVID-19. North Carolina expects to open up eligibility to students in university housing beginning April 7. Wake Forest, which received authorization from the North Carolina Department of Health to administer vaccines, will begin vaccinating Group Four this week. Holly Mullen/ Old Gold & Black
Despite efforts by the university to increase communication efforts, especially during COVID-19, some feel the new contract's flexibility clause runs directly counter to demands RAs made during a protest on Feb. 12.
Resident advisers express concerns over new contract A new clause in the 2021-2022 contract would require RAs to perform extra duties with no raise BY CATE PITTERLE News Editor pittcj20@wfu.edu When Wake Forest resident advisers (RAs) signed their contracts this year, there was a new clause that required them to take on extra responsibilities at a moment’s notice without increased pay. “Due to the nature of the work, RAs may be asked to complete additional tasks and responsibilities that are not explicitly outlined in the RA Contract,” reads a copy of the 2021-2022 Resident Advisor (RA) Assistantship Contract obtained by the Old Gold & Black. “It is
the responsibility of the RA to be flexible and adaptable and complete these tasks to the best of their abilities.” The clause does not mention hazard pay. The 2020-2021 contract, a copy of which was also obtained by the Old Gold & Black, also did not contain such a clause. “It feels like a real undercutting move from the university in response to the pushback we had before,” Shade White, a senior RA, said. “A lot of the time, if RAs were asked to do something that we felt was too much, we could say that's not in my contract. Effectively this clause will take that [ability] away. It removes that argument. Now Residence Life and Housing (RLH) is allowed to throw in any extra duties they see reasonable under that clause.”
Despite efforts by the university to increase communication to RAs, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the clause runs directly counter to demands RAs made during a protest on Feb. 12, according to White. “The part of this that seems most disheartening to me is that it's in response to what happened over February when RAs did not feel there was adequate communication in the responsibilities and duties that we were asked to fulfill,” continued White. “This clause opens the ability for these same kind of short-notice changes and expectations and there's not going to be much RAs can do in response to it.” Junior RA Malik McFarlane added that the timing of the addition seems suspect.
See RAs, Page 6
See Vaccines, Page 4
Wake N' Shake takes hybrid format The dance marathon will take place over a week and involve in-person and online events BY CHRISTA DUTTON Staff Writer duttcd20@wfu.edu
Wake ‘N Shake — the highly anticipated annual Wake Forest tradition and fundraiser for the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund — has had to reimagine the event for the second year in a row. Like last year’s event, this year’s dance marathon will also not be able to occur in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic. An event that has always been defined by the gathering of over 1,400 students in the Sutton Center to dance together has had to totally change their plans and adapt to COVID-19 guidelines. Because of the lack of COVID-19 cases on campus, this year’s event is not completely virtual, but will be hybrid.
See WNS, Page 5
