9/02/21 Full Edition

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Old Gold&Black

WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916 VOL. 108, NO. 3

T H U R S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 , 2 0 21 “Cover s the campus like the magnolias”

wfuogb.com

Katie Fox/ Old Gold & Black

In a 48-hour period, the convergence of Snapchat, Yik Yak and GroupMe catalyzed the creation of a protest that drew over 300 people to Poteat and Reynolda Halls on Saturday. However, the protest also sparked concerns about racial violence and anti-Blackness.

Difficult realities: Wake Forest grapples with sexual, racial violence Students angered over the readmission of a former student expressed dissent

BY CONNOR MCNEELY. COOPER SULLIVAN, AINE PIERRE & ALEXANDRA KARLINCHAK Editorial Board Members wfuogb@gmail.com

Over 300 students gathered at Poteat Saturday at noon in protest against the readmission of a student accused of assaulting another Wake Forest student in 2019.

Protestors wrote messages in chalk on concrete in the courtyard. “Hold rapists accountable,” read one. Outside the student’s dorm room, someone scrawled: “Kick him (back) out.”

The protest follows a public Snapchat story posted by the female student who made the allegation.

According to the post, she filed a complaint with the Title IX office in 2019. Her post claims that she was not informed by the administration of the other student’s return to campus. On Friday, she withdrew from Wake, saying she “feels unsafe here and does not want to fight the school for the right to a safe education anymore,” the post said.

At this time, the Old Gold & Black can find no public record to confirm the allegation of sexual assault against the student.

For this reason, the Old Gold & Black has chosen not to name the student.

See Protest, Page 4

Events on campus this weekend sparked difficult conversations around race

BY AINE PIERRE & MARIAMA JALLOW News Editor & Staff Writer pierav20@wfu.edu & jallm18@wfu.edu

After a crowd of over 300 students gathered outside Poteat Residence Hall on Saturday afternoon to call attention to serious issues surrounding interpersonal violence at Wake Forest, some involved in the protest raised concerns about the racial consequences of the current movement.

Rather than the protest being centered around support for all survivors, it was almost complete-

ly centered around one individual, a Black man.

Following the protest, the anonymous social media site Yik Yak was f looded with reports from students that claimed to have seen the accused student around whom the protest was centered. The Old Gold & Black confirmed in an editorial Monday afternoon that the students whom people on Yik Yak posted about were not about the student in question.

Rather, the anonymous messages targeted innocent Black men.

The Old Gold & Black has reached out to those who were profiled this past week and is currently respecting their wishes for privacy. As such, we will not be referencing any of these individuals by name.

See Racism, Page 5

Old Gold & Black

Wake Forest“must reflect on protest's aftermath This column represents the views of the Old Gold & Black Editorial Board.

In many ways, the past 48 hours have been a reckoning for Wake Forest’s campus. In light of all that has occurred, there are now many unpleasant truths with which the student body, administrators and the entire campus community must contend.

One such truth, which some have learned from Saturday’s protest and others through painful personal experiences, is that Wake Forest’s systems surrounding sexual violence are failing survivors. Yet, at the same time, we would be remiss not to mention that the recent protest against sexual assault on campus unearthed another story entirely.

Over the past 24 hours, Yik Yak — the social media platform on which Saturday’s protest was organized — has been filled with reported sightings of the student who was readmitted.

The Old Gold & Black has learned and can confirm that a number of these posts referred to

Racial profiling must stop immediately. The culture surrounding sexual violence on campus must also be eradicated immediately" other Black male students on campus, guilty of nothing more than simply walking the Quad.

We do not excuse the conduct of any student who perpetuates sexual violence. With this being said, we also recognize that the history of violence against Black men who have not participated in such perpetration is well documented, especially in the South. All students at this school must be mindful of that history.

As such, this racial profiling must stop immediately.

The culture surrounding sexual violence on campus must also be eradicated immediately.

The Old Gold & Black stands vehemently against interpersonal violence and is dedicated to reporting in a manner that is fair, transparent and accurate. To this end, the Old Gold & Black extends the offer of a platform to any victims of racial or sexual violence who want and need to be heard after the events of this weekend.

In addition, there is much more that can be said, will be said and has been said about the current movement surrounding sexual assault on campus. Survivors of color have also been failed by the university, and their voices need to be heard as well.

When Black survivors spoke out last spring in a speak out called To Whom Do We Cry?, the response and turnout were inadequate — as a community, we failed.

A part of the blame for that falls on our shoulders at the Old Gold & Black, as we did

not effectively cover that speak out. There was a mistake regarding scheduling and staffing, and we take full responsibility for failing to get comments from the organizers and failing to cover this important issue.

While we cannot change the mistakes we made in regards to this lack of coverage, we can commit to doing better today.

In the coming days and weeks, the Old Gold & Black will continue reporting on sexual violence here at Wake Forest with the widest lens we can muster. We will continue to share the stories of those who have not been heard. We will continue to amplify those voices in need of amplification. Our investigations and reporting will be wide-ranging and irrespective of race, socioeconomic status, Greek involvement or any other factors.

The Wake Forest community deserves nothing less from their student newspaper.

Old Gold&Black THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF WAKE FOREST UNIVERSIT Y SINCE 1916 ALEXANDRA KARLINCHAK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF karlae18@wfu.edu

BEN CONROY

PRINT MANAGING EDITOR conrbd19@wfu.edu

>> NEWS

Aine Pierre, pierav20@wfu.edu

Asst.

Cooper Sullivan, sullcg20@wfu.edu

>> OPINION

Connor Mcneely, mcnecb19@wfu.edu

>> SPORTS

Christina DeNovio, denoca20@wfu.edu Essex Thayer, thayse20@wfu.edu

Asst.

Jake Stuart, stuaja20@wfu.edu

>> LIFE

Selinna Tran, transn19@wfu.edu Asst.

Joe Cho, choyy19@wfu.edu

>> PHOTOGRAPHY

Katie Fox, foxkg19@wfu.edu

>> ADVISER

Phoebe Zerwick, zerwicp@wfu.edu

CHARLIE BENEDICT

BUSINESS MANAGER benecc19@wfu.edu

WILL ZIMMERMAN ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR zimmwj19@wfu.edu

>> POLICIES

The Old Gold & Black is published Thursdays during the school year, except during examinations, summer and holiday periods, by Triangle Printing of Durham. © 2014 WFU Media Board. All rights reserved. The views expressed in all editorials and advertisements contained within this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the OGB. As part of our commitment to reporting news fairly and accurately, we will not remove any previously published content. If an error in either our online or print content is brought to our attention, we will revise the originally published article with an appended correction. In order to facilitate thoughtful and appropriate debate, profane, vulgar, or inflammatory comments on our website are not allowed and will be deleted. For more information on our commenting policy, please see our website. We reserve the right to reject advertisements deemed inappropriate. Our full policy, and how to advertise with the OGB, can be found on our website.

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The OGB welcomes submissions in the form of story tips, columns and letters to the editor. Letters to the editor should be fewer than 500 words, and columns should be around 500 words. Send yours via e-mail to karlae18@wfu.edu the Monday before publication. We reserve the right to edit all letters for length and clarity. No anonymous letters will be printed.

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Page 3 | Thursday, September 2, 2021

Old Gold & Black | News

Deacon Profile: Edric Toro Espinosa pany prices something for their customers, especially something that the customer needs, like medication, was good to learn. Looking at that is going to be good for me, and I can translate that back to my father's company and see how we're doing.

BY COOPER SULLIVAN Asst. News Editor sullcg20@wfu.edu

Edric Toro Espinosa is a senior from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico majoring in business & enterprise management (BEM) with a concentration in new business development. Over the summer, Toro Espinosa was a part of the inaugural Pfizer Breakthrough Fellowship Program, a 20-person program devoted to “enhancing our pipeline of diverse leaders.”

What are your plans after graduation?

This fellowship program is a five-year thing. It starts off with a 10-week internship in the summer, that's the one I just did. After graduation, I would go right to work in New York for two years. And then after that there's a fully funded Master's program that the organization provides to us. We can go wherever we want to study while working the summer between the first and second year. Then we would return to the company for two more years. After that, if we want to stay there, we can– if we want to continue with our lives, we can do that, as well.

I think it was a great program. To be honest, at the beginning of the summer I was always set on going back home. At this point, I'm actually questioning myself. It was amazing to get into that world and be given this opportunity. Having this opportunity made me realize there is a part of me that might want to stay at Pfizer for a long time, and that's something that I wasn't expecting.

How did you become aware of the fellowship program?

So, I originally got an email from a professor at Wake Forest. In the business school, we have to do a summer internship between junior and senior year. So, there's a lot of emails – everybody's sending over opportunities. This professor sent it over to our counselor, and then she sent that email out to a few others. The breakthrough fellowship is for Latino, Hispanic, Native American and AfricanAmerican people. So she sent it out to the people in my class that had those backgrounds, and that's how I first heard about it. I had friends that got the email, and they just read through it and then didn’t even think about it.

I needed a job, though.

So the opportunity just presented itself?

Yeah, I was looking for something that I was going to benefit from. My concentration is new business development, and I'm interested in going back home and growing my family business. I felt like I needed something that I could grow from or learn from prior to doing that. I needed my own ideals, basically, not my family's.

I wanted to experience something else so I could come back and contribute, and I saw this as a good opportunity. I got to learn from a huge company like Pfizer. Maybe some things are going to be different, but a lot of the things I learned can be translated into running a smaller company.

What was the focus of your work this summer? Was there a lot of

Photo courtesy of Edric Toro Espinosa

marketing around the Comirnaty vaccine?

most applicable to your family business, or even your own business?

I worked in the market access operations department, which works on the access between Pfizer and its customers. So I worked with not only the COVID-19 vaccine, but also different companies, including Caremark (CVS). We were working to see how they get their prices, how they get their products, contracts and similar stuff.

I feel like it was a very interesting summer. They put a lot of effort into the program–I had the opportunity to meet the executive board, which was really cool. I met with the CEO, Albert Bourla, and the CFO, Frank D'Amelio. We had weekly meetings with them, and that was very helpful.

They shared their experiences, personal stories about how they grew up and their journeys, too.

The networking was really important. Just looking at how a big com-

Given everything you learned this summer, what do you think will be

Do you believe that Pfizer did a good job giving opportunities to people of color in the business and corporate world?

Like I said, I feel like the program was great. It’s a five-year project, and there's going to be 100 fellows by the time the program ends. The program's purpose is to bring people of color into the business world and really give them this opportunity. We get a free Master's program on top of everything, and this whole experience is just an amazing opportunity. I feel like this isn’t something that a lot of interns get to do, so I think it's a great opportunity. I'm really happy with it.

Editor's Note: This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

POLICE BEAT COVID-19 Violations/Underage Consumption/Drug Offenses • An underage student consumed four White Claws at the DKE house.

The student refused medical treatment. The report was filed at 2:31 a.m. on Aug. 26.

• An RA in Babcock reported a party and loud talking with possible underaged consumption. A student consented to a search of their room, and a bottle of vodka was found and poured out. The report was filed at 1:27 a.m. on Aug. 28.

• A Winston-Salem Police Department officer observed a student urinating in public at the corner of Long and Student Drives. The student was found to have consumed alcohol underage at another location. A citation was issued.

The report was filed at 1:41 a.m. on Aug. 28.

• An RA in Dogwood reported an odor of cannabis. Officers checked the area and found nothing, but came back later and found cannabis. The report was filed at 10:56 p.m. on Aug. 29.

• An underage student was found downtown by two students after having consumed alcohol. The student was found in a ditch, sick and unresponsive.

The students took a Lyft back to campus, where the student was checked by

emergency medical personnel and cleared to return to their dorm room. The report was filed at 1:10 a.m. on Aug. 29.

Miscellaneous • An unknown subject removed a pair of AirPods from someone's purse near Reynolda Hall. The report was filed at 3:08 p.m. on Aug. 23.

• A subject was observed in a lower lot on Student Drive looking into cars.

The subject had outstanding arrest warrants and was taken into custody by Winston-Salem police. The report was filed at 1:01 p.m. on Aug. 25.

• An unknown subject took a MacBook from a student's room in North Campus Appartments. The report was filed at 3:58 p.m. on Aug. 25.

• A student lost their wallet in the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, and when it was returned, the equivalent of $750 was missing. The currency missing was both U.S. dollars and Chinese Yuan. The report was filed at 11:53 a.m. on Aug. 27.

• A wallet was found in the Pit with a fake New York driver's license. The wallet's owner admitted to purchasing the fake ID on the internet. The report was filed at 9:24 a.m. on Aug. 29.

News | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, September 2, 2021| Page 4

Protest: 300+ speak out against readmission Continued from Page 1

Hours after the Snapchat story was posted, multiple posts calling for a public protest surfaced on Yik Yak, a social media platform that allows members within a five-mile radius of one another to post anonymously. The protest time and location was conceived by sophomore Elizabeth Langshur.

“We obviously want the school to get rid of him,” said Langshur. “All we want is for the administration to keep us safe. There has been no recognition that he has returned.”

The OGB Editorial team reached out and made contact with the re-admitted student, but upon exchanging initial messages with him, have been unable to schedule an interview.

Residence Life and Housing (RLH) Dean Matthew Clifford spoke to the Old Gold & Black about RLH’s responsibility in keeping students safe.

“We work closely with the Title IX office if a student is found responsible in order to navigate outcomes from that particular case,” Clifford said. “Or, if in consultation with University Police and Title IX, there is information … of a threat to the residential environment, then we have an obligation to inform students.”

The protest Students peered over the balconies of Poteat both to observe and participate in a mass protest that began at noon

in the residence hall’s courtyard. After a brief period of chants, including “hey hey, ho ho, rapists here have got to go” and “kick him out”, the students began a march onto Hearn Plaza in a column which took up around three-fourths of the circular path around the quad.

Members of Greek life organizations gathered in support of the protest. Students carried signs with various messages that read: “Rape Forest?” and “Keep Our Forest Safe”.

“As a member of a proud sisterhood of women, we need to make sure that all women’s voices are heard,” said junior Lexi O’Rourke, a sister in Kappa Delta.

The Inter-Fraternity Council also adjourned their meeting today so that members could attend. Additionally, some fraternity-organized day parties (darties) planned for the same time period were postponed so prospective partygoers could attend the protest.

“I think [this situation is] appalling, but the fact that we could come together so quickly was inspiring,” said junior Charlie Bardenheuer, a member of Theta Chi. “There’s no reason why this man should be part of this school.”

The conclusion of the protest consisted of a short speech, given by Langshur and senior Maya Dalton.

“There’s still so much to be done here,” Langshur said. “We need to hold Wake Forest accountable.”

“We want responses from our administration,” Dalton said. “Talk about this, talk about it in your classes on

Monday, talk about it with your professors, friends, family members, talk about it with everyone. We are not going to be quiet about this because silence is compliance.”

Organization of the protest

The protest planning moved from Yik Yak to a GroupMe chat around 10:37pm on Friday night, which as of publication has over 500 members.

Members of the chat also drafted a Change.org petition that calls for the Office of Title IX and the Dean of Students to “rectify their decision of jeopardizing the safety of their students.”

The petition currently has over 4,700 signatures.

“Each day known assaulters are permitted on campus provides another opportunity for future sexual violence to occur,” the petition reads. “By enabling these individuals to return, the university is complicit in these traumatic acts. When an act of violence like this occurs, these survivor’s lives are forever changed. Never will they feel comfortable walking alone, night or day, never will they have the same access to safe spaces, and a part of their identity is lost forever.”

Administration’s response Administrators came to the protest after Residence Life and Housing Dean Matt Clifford, Dean of Students Adam Goldstein and Associate Dean for Stu-

dent Engagement Tim Wilkinson held a meeting in the Subway in Davis.

While still outside of Subway, Goldstein told the Old Gold & Black that he supports students’ rights to free expression and that his primary concern is with the safety of all of the students involved.

“I understand that the students are exercising their voice about this and that’s important,” he said. We want students to be active on their issues.”

Goldstein continued “And if students want to know if we are aware of what’s occurring. We’re very aware. Are we aware of the pain being expressed? Absolutely. We care very deeply and that’s why we’re out there.”

On Tuesday night, President Susan Wente sent an email to the Wake Forest community.

“Moving forward, we all need to be part of the solution to help foster a more positive and safer environment where everyone can thrive,” the email reads. “It is critical that we be able to talk about serious issues in a productive way. And as we show support for those who have been harmed, we must take care not to inflict injury on others in the process. In our discussions, we must be careful to not spread misinformation and use anonymous social media outlets which too often exacerbate already complex situations.”

This article is an abbreviated version of the one published on Aug. 28 on the Old Gold & Black website. For the full article, please visit our site at wfuogb.com.

Residence Life makes changes to help RAs A committee formed after an RA protest last spring has achieved tangible results

BY HANNAH ABERNATHY Contributing Writer aberhe18@wfu.edu

Residence Life and Housing (RL&H) has made six major changes on behalf of resident advisers (RAs) after many of them voiced their concerns during the COVID-19 surge in the spring 2021 semester.

According to an email sent to the Old Gold & Black from RL&H Dean Matt Clifford and Director of Residence Life Stephanie Carter, the six major changes include: “a $600 stipend increase, residential parking for sophomore RAs, community policing partners for residential communities, a communication plan prioritizing getting information to RAs in a timely fashion, increased staff support for RAs responding to critical incidents and a revived Resident Advisor Leadership Council (RALC) with representatives from all communities.”

RL&H has already seen some of these changes in action.

“When the University announced protocols for masking in residence halls, we had an opportunity to get that information to RAs in advance

and clarify their role in the process,” the email stated.

RAs were able to see some of these changes in action when they arrived on campus for training in early August. They appreciate the new incidence response reforms because they provide greater support for RAs dealing with sensitive events.

“During training, RL&H introduced a new structure for incident response that gave RAs greater support. It allows RAs to contact RL&H staff on call for mental and emotional support directly after an incident,” Megan Gerber, a senior RA in Collins, said.

“I am super hopeful for this,” Gerber continued. “It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then RAs deal with incidents that are especially heavy or triggering.” “Knowing that there is someone I can talk to that is from our department and knows what we’re dealing with is comforting.”

Gerber mentioned that, in her view, RL&H has a murky track record when it comes to communication, but is excited about what is to come about in regards to the new changes.

“The steps they have taken are positive ones, but they do not necessarily overshadow past issues,” Gerber said.

“It’s going to take time to establish

trust. Overall, I think RL&H is trying to improve. Listening to RAs will be essential for keeping and continuing this process.”

Keira Perry, a junior RA in Babcock, is particularly impressed with the RALC reforms.

“RA leadership is the main reason we have a lot of these changes,” Perry said. “RALC gives RAs from diverse types of communities a voice, and RL&H has done well with incorporating those voices into change.”

“The RALC allows RAs to have a direct connection to administration in order to make changes” she continued.

Perry also mentioned her appreciation for the stipend increase and sophomore RA parking access.

However, Perry still sees some shortcomings despite the recent reforms. One of these is a lack of timeliness.

“Previews that we get for important emails do not really come in advance,” she said. “At most, we get the preview an hour before the rest of the student body. With important information, I do not feel like this is a good amount of time to process it, ask questions, express concerns and prepare to answer questions of residents and support them.”

With current events surrounding the safety of the community, Perry

would also appreciate more opportunities for RAs to voice their concerns about the administration.

“I would like to see a better space for RAs to voice their concerns with how the administration is handling very important situations that impact the safety of the community,” Perry said.

“I think it is important for RAs to have a voice there as well because we are the ones living in communities and offering support,” she continued.

“If RAs don’t feel safe, it is extremely difficult to make our residents feel safe too.”

Clifford responded to existing concerns that RAs have.

“This summer we developed a strategy for communicating information and decisions to RAs, which helps us build on clarity, transparency and trust,” Clifford said. “We have successfully elevated the need for RAs to receive some information from the University in advance and will continue to work with our communication colleagues to get those messages delivered as soon after they are finalized as we can.”

“At times, we’ve created space for staff dialogue and feedback,” Clifford continued. “This remains part of our communication strategy and we will continue to look for those opportunities.”

Page 5 | Thursday, September 2, 2021

Old Gold & Black | News

Racism: Advocates reckon with racial realities Continued from Page 1 The GroupMe

Prior to the protest, a GroupMe chat was created and over 600 Wake Forest students joined. The group chat helped organize the protest and planned further actions.

On Sunday, some students in chat assumed that the readmitted student accused of assault was an athlete. In response, other students expressed that if this assumption was made because the student was Black, that would be extremely problematic. One student who voiced such a concern was junior Xochitl Ortiz-Sanchez.

“It’s been exhausting,” Ortiz-Sanchez said.

“I just feel like for someone who has also been sexually harassed and assaulted, some of these racial biases make it hard for students of color to feel safe within this campus.This wasn’t a space created for me or [with individuals like me] in mind.”

Ortiz-Sanchez left the group chat shortly thereafter.

Student Government President Ally Swartzberg was in the chat and was one of the people that replied to the comment presuming the student was an athlete. Swartzberg also told students in the chat that she did not want to see any more messages on Yik Yak like those that had led to the racial profiling in the first place.

“That is when I said [everyone] needs to think very critically about what has been the history of violence against Black men in the Southern United States surrounding these sorts of allegations,” Swartzberg said. “There were [also] suggestions surrounding the allegations against members of Interfraternity Council returnees, that we should wait for IFC to have their meeting this week before anyone protests.”

Swartzberg said that people continued on like nothing had happened. Ortiz-Sanchez said, the fact that it took a white person, Swartzberg, to point that out for more people to respond was an issue and is disappointing in and of itself.

“I saw someone say that they would rather have an organization that has microaggressions, than no organization at all,” OrtizSanchez said. “I was hurt by that because

some of these things are no longer microaggressions. These are actually violent concepts and stuff that hurt people of color on this campus.”

“We need to consider why we have such a strong reaction against one student and a measured reaction against the other,” Swartzberg stated.

Swartzberg has stressed the importance of accountability on all fronts, not merely from one specific group.

After that, many students in the chat brought up the fact that a protest organized

by Black women last spring around sexual assault, titled To Whom Do We Cry?, did not receive anywhere near the response that last weekend’s protest did.

“It’s just disappointing that when people of color, especially women of color on this campus talked about their sexual assault, they ended up getting hate from other people,” Houston Booth, a student who attended the speak out last spring, said. “So, instead of getting a secure environment, we get met with silence or aggression.”

Seniors Micayla Jordan and Cara MarinaLevicoff also spoke about their disappointment with the dismal response.

“I think that as a student body, we need to be more attentive to the kind of social networks that were plugged into,” Jordan said. “[We need] to ask, am I supporting groups, am I participating in groups that hold the same values that I do?”

“It’s hard to not be listened to, especially since many of my peers from the LGBTQ center and many of my peers who are people of color on campus have already done this and have been ignored,” Marina-Levicoff said. “We’re continuing to be ignored because this is now popular, sudden and very widespread on campus. We still can’t get people to listen to us.”

Many students of color expressed discomfort with the nature of the protest.

“The only thing that I feel has not been highlighted is the fact that it really felt like a lynch mob went to this Black man’s place of residence,” Jordan said. “And then, when another woman came out about her perpe-

trator who was a white man, the same level of violence, and the same level of fear was not put into him like it was into this Black man.”

Soon, some began to make their cries for an intersectional movement around the eradication of interpersonal violence more vocal, especially on social media.

“We should be trying to dismantle sexual assault in general, across all boards on the campus, rather than people saying we need to kick this one person out,” said junior Armon White.

Sophomore Elizabeth Langshur, who organized the protest, gave a statement to the Old Gold & Black about how racism has played into the movement.

“The thing that I really hoped people understood was that, for me, this was never just about one student, but about stopping the whole culture at Wake Forest of allowing sexual assaulters to continue on with their lives as if nothing ever happened,” Langshur wrote. “Biases and racist reactions obviously got involved in this protest and turned this into a much larger conversation that definitely needed to be had. I hope nobody ignores that.”

The Old Gold & Black also spoke with Co-Chair of Student Government’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Pilar Agudelo, about the need to address both interpersonal racism and sexual violence on campus.

Agudelo was at the protest and said that a lot of the language during the protest was directed at one student and not supporting all survivors at large, nor the structural issues on campus.

“For lack of a better word, there’s a very big difference between talking about a few bad apples and the cultural and social influences on our campus that impact survivors,” Agudelo said.

Agudelo said that people should always advocate for the protection of survivors.

Agudelo mentioned that it was disappointing that the same turnout was not seen at the protest that took place last semester, which was not directed at one person, but for all Black women who are survivors of sexual assault.

“There’s been a lot of pushback and denial about the racial intersections, and that’s

doing a lot of injustice to communities on campus, because it is a part of the conversation,” Agudelo said. “It has been a part of this and will always be a part of this conversation around sexual violence, and trying to negate that is a failure of us as students.”

Professors have also taken notice of this need for discussions regarding intersectionality. Professor Kristina Gupta in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGS) department sent an email to her colleagues Sunday encouraging them to provide guidance on the dangers of white feminism.

“This highlights the need to approach the issue of campus sexual violence from an anti-racist feminist perspective,” Gupta wrote.

Gupta spoke to the Old Gold & Black Wednesday and expanded on their vision for that activism.

“I think we can try and take this as an opportunity to engage in more constructive activism,” Gupta said. “Thinking about some of the broader structural issues that facilitate sexual violence on campus and holding offenders accountable is really important. But one student is not the only one responsible, and so it’s important to think about this in more systematic terms - terms that pertain to procedures, policies and what social life at Wake Forest is like. Let’s use this as an opportunity to have really serious conversations and then engage in really concrete actions about those systemic issues.”

Gupta added that at a Predominantly White Institution, with predominantly white students mobilized in a case involving a young Black man, is going to have implications for students of color.

“This brings in an entire history of accusations against Black men of sexual assault, that have been used to support racial discrimination, Jim Crow laws, lynching, racial violence and oppression,” Gupta said. “So, we need to have that perspective when we think about sexual violence.”

Gupta emphasized the necessity of adopting intersectionality and history when conducting activism.

This situation is developing, and the Old Gold & Black is committed to reporting on all aspects of this serious and important story.

Please stay tuned to our website -- wfuogb.com -- for developments.

campus-owned living arrangements are located a considerable distance from students’ classes, then they should be willing to accommodate for more affordable parking.”

Additionally, limited parking space availability caused passes to sell out within days of being made available. As a result, many students were left without permanent passes and had to settle on the waitlist for commuter pases.

Since Aug. 8, there has only been one parking pass distributed to a student on the waiting list, leaving dozens of others in line.

“I tried to buy a parking pass about a day or two after they were made available this summer, and they had already sold out,” senior Mitch Boyer said. “Now I have to ride a bike to class because I can’t use my car, which means crossing University [Parkway by foot], or taking a 15-minute detour.”

The Office of Parking and Transportation reports that the cost was lower during the last semester because of COVID-19’s effects on the number of students willing to com-

mute to campus for in-person classes. With in-person classes resuming, there is more demand.

“We were able to make the temporary offer of $79 for commuter permits, as parking demands were low due to many faculty, staff and students working/studying remotely and a lower number of students living on campus,” Director of Campus Planning and Services Alex Crist said.

Wake Forest University’s COVID-19 response has changed since the previous semester; the University’s COVID-19 policy has relaxed slighty to allow students more access to various residence halls and the gym has reopened by appointment. However, regulations such as Wake Forest’s mask visitation policies are subject to alteration based on the development of the virus. It is unclear if full or partial refunds would be issued in the event that classes became virtual or blended between in-person and virtual.

“It feels pretty ridiculous that we pay almost $80,000 a year to go to school here and then you have to cough up even more

cash to be able to park on campus,” Boyer said.

“It’s also ridiculous that [commuting] seniors who wanted parking passes are having to pay $350 to park in the same lot as all the freshmen and sophomores,” said Alec Waring, a senior. Waring currently sits at No. 150 on the waitlist.

According to the Office of Parking and Transportation, some students may qualify for a fee waiver for the parking pass, but the criteria for such is determined on a case-bycase basis. Students must contact the Office of Financial Aid to assess eligibility.

During the Spring 2022 semester, the price of parking passes is expected to remain the same. The location of on-campus parking will also not change — most of the student parking will stay clustered around North Campus near Polo Road.

The Office of Transportation and Parking reports that the cost of parking passes is evaluated on a yearly basis, so it has not yet been determined if there will be any fee changes in the upcoming school year.

Responses from students and professors

Parking fee changes cause mass anger Students are angered over the increase of parking fees, especially for commuters.

BY AINE PIERRE News Editor pierav20@wfu.edu As the start of the Fall 2021 semester brings updated COVID-19 protocols, rules and regulations regarding on campus parking have shifted, too.

Students have noticed a recent hike in the price of parking, which brought the semester-long cost to $330 for underclassmen and $550 for upperclassmen. This is in contrast to the temporarily reduced price of $79 in the Spring 2021 semester.

“I think it’s ridiculous to charge students $550 to be able to park on campus during the day,” said Tori O’Brien, a sophomore living in Deacon Place. “If Wake Forest is going to encourage a three-year on-campus housing commitment, and many of the

Old Gold & Black | News

Page 6 | Thursday, September 2, 2021

SAFAR mobilizes for Afghan refugees After the Taliban took over Afghanistan, aiding Afghan refugees became a priority

BY CAROLINE WALKER Staff Writer walkct18@wfu.edu

Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, the plight of Afghan refugees has become a pressing humanitarian concern. The issue is galvanizing the efforts of many international, national and local organizations to provide support and assistance to those affected by this tragedy.

Among them is the Student Association For the Advancement of Refugees (SAFAR), a student-led organization that is currently organizing efforts to assist refugees in Winston-Salem and the surrounding area.

The President of SAFAR, Conor Metzger, explained the importance of the role that students involved in SAFAR have in the response to the Afghan crisis.

“SAFAR recognizes the crisis happening in Afghanistan and we will continue to provide resources and information to the students of Wake Forest,” Metzger said. “I like to think that the crisis has only motivated our members more to take action and try to have a greater impact on the refugee community.”

SAFAR encourages students who are interested in dedicating their time and effort to support refugees to participate in some of the many fundraising, advocacy, and volunteer opportunities available through World Relief. One primary way for students to advocate for greater assistance to refugees in local communities is by using an email template provided by World Relief to contact North Carolina Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis and Congresswoman Kathy Manning.

The importance of community efforts can also be seen in SAFAR’s partnership with the World Relief Triad, which is prepared to provide assistance in Winston-Salem and the surrounding area for any potential

special immigrant visa (SIV) cases and refugees who may arrive from Afghanistan. There have been four SIV cases in the Winston-Salem area in the last five years.

To help refugees adjust to their new lives in Winston-Salem or surrounding areas, SAFAR also collaborates with Every Campus a Refuge (ECAR) on projects, holds fundraisers to support the refugee population, and provides tutoring services for refugees throughout the year.

One of the community outreach chairs for SAFAR, Alondra Janicek, explained the positive impact that students have on the refugee population by acknowledging their needs and lending a helping hand.

“Several of the families SAFAR works with have expressed their difficulties acclimating to life in the US, which are further amplified by xenophobic sentiments that exist in the community,” Janicek said. “The best thing we can do for them is to continue the work we are doing with ECAR and the World Relief Triad;

donate money, resources, or time to a refugee-supporting organization; and embrace them in our community with open arms.”

In addition to these ongoing efforts, Metzger expressed his hopes to cohost an event with ECAR in the near future in order to provide greater support for Afghan refugees who are currently residing in Winston-Salem, yet still affected by the turmoil abroad.

SAFAR will continue to respond to the international crisis by showing its support on a local level by continuing to support initiatives aimed toward assisting the refugee community in Winston-Salem.

“I am only more emboldened to take my role as President of SAFAR more seriously as I see how my actions in the next month have the possibility to make a bigger impact on those in need than ever before,” Metzger said.

“When I first joined SAFAR, I saw it as just a small way to get involved in a social initiative. Now I see the momentous assistance we can, and will provide to our local refugees.”

Bookmarks Festival returns after hiatus A Wake Forest professor is among notable writers headlining an upcoming local book festival

BY CHRISTA DUTTON Staff Writer duttcd20@wfu.edu After being forced to cancel last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest annual book festival in the Carolinas is returning to the streets of downtown Winston-Salem for its 16th iteration. The Festival of Books & Authors will be held Sept. 23-26.

The weekend-long event is hosted

by Bookmarks, a literary non-profit organization and independent bookstore located in downtown WinstonSalem. The festival will include a combination of both paid and free events, with all events being free to the public on Saturday, Sept. 25. Attendees can look forward to activities like book trivia, meet-and-greets with featured authors, keynote presentations, book signings and author panels.

Festival Program Director Beth Sefuer Buss described the Festival as a “celebration of reading, writing, and readers.” Like everything Bookmarks does, their goal for this event is to connect the people of Winston-Salem with books and authors in an effort to encourage learning and the widening of worldviews.

“Books let us experience so much,” Buss said. “They give us a lot of different perspectives that are not our own. We get to learn about places we’ve never been. We get to experience things that might not be some-

thing we’ve personally experienced.

[Books] give us empathy for people, broaden our perspective [and] make us better community members.”

Attendees will be able to choose events and activities that appeal to them, making this event a “choose your own adventure” experience, as Buss said.

“There’s something for everyone,” Buss said. “I love going to the panels because sometimes we pair authors together in a way that you wouldn’t have thought of.”

Bookmarks strives to include a lineup of authors at their festival that is diverse in terms of backgrounds and styles. The Festival team tries to include the favorite authors of their customers, as well as debut authors.

Bookmarks wants readers to interact with authors whose work they admire, as well as to discover the works of new authors.

“You could come to see your favorite authors and leave with new favorites,” Buss commented.

The Festival will feature over 50 authors, including one of Wake Forest’s own, Associate Professor of English in Creative Writing Dr. Joanna Ruocco, who uses the pen name Joanna Lowell. Ruocco will be speaking on the “All the Love” panel alongside other romance novelists. She will be speaking about her new book “The Duke Undone”, a historical romance novel about an unexpected love that ignites between a young art student and an aristocrat.

Two other authors of note who will be in attendance are Lauren Groff and Yusef Salaam.

Salaam, one of the Central Park Five who was wrongfully convicted and

sentenced to prison at age 14, will be speaking on his memoir “Better, Not Bitter”. Salaam’s event will close out the weekend’s activities and will be free to the public, though registration is required.

Lauren Groff is the author of “Fates and Furies”, a novel named a “Most Anticipated Book of 2021” by publications like Time, Entertainment Weekly and The Guardian.

During her keynote, she will be discussing her new novel, “Matrix”,

which she describes as “a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.”

More information about Bookmarks’ Festival of Books & Authors as well as a schedule of each day’s events can be found on their website. Event organizers desire for the weekend to be fun and lively, but also safe and responsible manner. The Bookmarks Festival will also adhere to local mandates.

Photo Courtesy of Bookmarks

The Festival of Books & Authors was forced to cancel its programming last year, but it is now back, and will feature a Wake Forest professor.

OPINION

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Protest

Activists

Performative activism illuminates hollowness in some protesters Isabella Mason Staff Columnist masoif20@wfu.edu

“Do better, Wake!” This phrase crowded my Instagram feed all day Saturday. As a survivor of sexual assault, it is tiring to be reminded all day of my recent trauma. What does ‘do better’ mean? How does ‘do better’ help people? Accountability is great, but I’m exhausted.

Don’t get me wrong. The student movement demeaning justice for survivors of sexual violence is a valiant one. Still, it could use some improvement in terms of the way it considers survivors. This is not a new trend — a movement for a specific group being taken from that specific group.

In May 2020, there was a large discussion surrounding performative ac-

listen to and believe survivors

Trying to use words softer than ‘rape’ when posting in a public space such as Instagram is important.”

all day is insanely hard to cope with.

When you say rape or rapist, when you Sharpie it onto a sign to post on Instagram, the real damage is done.

Again, I think the student effort to enact change on campus is absolutely amazing. At the same time, language is important. Trying to use words softer than ‘rape’ when posting in a public space such as Instagram is important. Of course, there are times when such graphic language is valuable, especially when you’re a survivor claiming a word or label for your trauma that nothing can truly describe. Keeping this in mind, though, it makes sense why something so monumental, such as ‘rape,’ should not be a word that’s thrown around in every other Instagram story, especially those posed by individuals who don’t know what that word really means.

Imagine what Saturday looked like for many survivors — you can’t study because there are people chanting the word ‘rapist’ outside your window and it’s impossible to not begin to think about your own experience.

The anger and hatred from the people in your courtyard begin to rub off

on you, and you feel cold inside — that sort of coldness that comes with knowing you can’t change anything that happened to you. It’s easier to shut down than it is to participate, and while everyone is talking about what happened, no one is talking about what happens or is happening to you.

Being a survivor of a traumatic event can be the loneliest feeling in the world. There are just no words to describe the feeling of knowing that even your closest confidants couldn’t handle the graphic nature of what happened to you. Many of the people who stood in Poteat courtyard will demand accountability in this specific case, whilst also defending their friend who ‘just made a mistake.’ I think a lot of what bothered me about Saturday was the trendiness of being ‘woke.’

Putting a video of people marching with a caption like ‘do better’ feels empty. Activism is about more than words, it’s about action. Hold your friends accountable, actually support survivors.

Believe survivors. Learn how to listen to survivors — listen to us.

Unfortunately, women and survivors Wake Forest's insufficient reaction to this issue is not from of sexual assault are not the only stua lack of ability, nor from a dents to have been let down by the administration’s lack of response. These lack of necessity.” developments have sparked incidents of targeting male black students enable amount of apathy for a problem dangered by racial profiling on camso pervasive. The protesters were un- pus, another omnipresent issue to able to meet with a member of the ad- which the Wake Forest admin has not min on the day of the protest to voice yet responded to. Instead, the students their concerns. The other residents of have had to take it upon themselves to the hall in which the student lives had protect themselves and their peers. Alalso not been informed of his return though admirable, the fact that it has to campus, and neither had the stu- had to come to this feels dystopian.

A harsh reality that every Wake Fordents who filed the initial complaints est student is gradually coming to against him in 2019.

In addition to this, Wake Forest’s terms with is that the institutions we Administration released a series of have tasked with keeping our campus vague responses over the course of the safe are not accomplishing this objecpast week, in which they attempted to tive.

The outcry sparked by this student’s reassure students by stating that they “take all concerns about student con- readmission has encouraged numerduct seriously” and “have systems and ous Wake Forest students into sharing protocols in place to treat every stu- their stories and experiences of assault dent with integrity and compassion.” at Wake Forest, which has then highThey also encouraged impacted stu- lighted the readmission of other sexual dents to reach out to the supportive predators on campus, who had also resources they have provided on cam- been convicted through Wake’s Title pus — which include the same Title IX policy. This seemingly isolated inIX office that could not remove this cident has revealed a serpentine and disturbing history of the admin’s pasindividual from campus.

sivity when Wake Forest students are endangered.

Yet, there is still so much the Wake Admin can do to protect their students.

There need to be more educational programs on campus instead of just one survey students take in the first semester of freshman year. Initiatives such as the Green Dot Program which has been proven to prevent student-initiated sexual violence (American Journal of Preventive Medicine) need to be adapted and implemented on campus to encourage bystander prevention. There need to be training and re-education programs directed towards men who still feel entitled enough to forgo consent, instead of towards women who are already armed with tasers and mace, to mitigate the sickening culture of victimblaming that is so pervasive on campus.

There need to be harsh enough punishments for perpetrators of assault (ones that don’t involve reincorporating them into the student body) so that students are aware that their actions will not go unchecked, there will be consequences and victims will receive justice.

Wake Forest’s insufficient reaction to this issue is not from a lack of ability, nor from a lack of necessity.

tivism from white folk with the best of intentions around racial justice, and this is an issue in the same vein.

It’s not about the non-survivors, it’s not about your allyship. This movement is ultimately about the people it’s for — the survivors of sexual assault on this campus. If you do not identify as a survivor of sexual assault, please consider how performative your actions were this weekend; it is imperative that you’re working to educate yourself on these issues.

I thought I was a great ally until I was raped. Then I realized how little I knew about sexual trauma and violence. There is a lot that goes unspoken and even more that is just not believed.

I’ve found that there’s a lack of education surrounding language and trauma. While being careful not to speak for an entire group of people whom I do not represent, I am still willing to say that seeing the word ‘rape’ plastered around social media

“ Wake Forest leaves students to fend for themselves Re-admission Scandal

Administration's response exhibits disturbing passivity regarding protection of students

Maryum Khanum Staff Columnist khanmg20@wfu.edu

On Aug. 28th, 2021 at 12 p.m., hundreds of Wake Forest students gathered in Poteat Residence Hall to protest the re-admission of a known sexual predator (with multiple convictions through Wake Forests Title IX policy). The protest, sparked by popular social media app Yik Yak, demonstrated how this incident galvanized the student body into protecting women and survivors of assault on campus. While it has been inspiring to see the student response to this issue, one thing remains certain — it isn’t their job to ensure their own safety on campus and it shouldn’t be.

The Wake Forest Administration has not only been slow to respond to the issue but has demonstrated a remark-

Opinion | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, September 2, 2021 | Page 8

CRC provides“ comforting resources for students Collegiate Recovery

Recovery communities prove to be a vital resource on college campuses Conor Metzger Staff Columnist metzcr19@wfu.edu

Every September, the Collegiate Recovery Community (CRC) of Wake Forest recognizes a national recovery month that aims to celebrate those in recovery and spread the message of a life free from addiction to those in need. This year however, things look a bit different for the Wake Forest CRC, affectionately known as RAD (Recovery Active Deacs). Over the past year, the WFU CRC has worked to redefine itself to reach a wider audience and provide help to even more students.

To start off, the Wake Forest CRC has maintained a vision which, according to their bylaws, is to provide a “model recovery-minded community that engages and encourages Wake students in their pursuit of sustained recovery and an enriched college experience.”

This means that the community works to provide a network of support to students who are either in recovery or are thinking of entering

Over the past year, the WFU CRC has worked to redefine itself to reach a wider audience... ” recovery. The community has kept this vision for its nearly five-year duration. Now, it has decided to make a change to its scope.

In the past, the CRC focused solely on helping those students who identify as in recovery from alcohol and other drugs. The community has since expanded to provide a network to those identifying as in recovery from a variety of addictive behaviors, including, but not limited to drugs, gambling, porn and eating disorders, etc.

The CRC has also started to promote other recovery methods as opposed to teaching only an abstinencebased recovery. This has allowed the group to be open to alternative, but valid, methods of recovery that a person may identify with. The CRC reached this decision after looking at their own reach and finding an understanding that other recovery methods are valid and that the mental health of all students suffering from addiction is most important.

It was necessary for them to see how addiction can then take many forms and so one approach may not work for everyone.

These two changes to the definition of the CRC will hopefully lead them

to engage with a larger community of students and provide a more tailored service to them. The original vision still stands, and it is perhaps even more enriched with this new definition the group has undertaken.

Currently, the group is looking to this year’s national recovery month, with this year's theme being “Recovery is for everyone.” This is an important theme and happens to align nicely with the group’s recent redefinition in that recovery is for people suffering from a variety of addictions and can be treated in a multitude of ways. “Recovery is for Everyone” also means recovery is for people from a variety of backgrounds. It should not be denied to someone based on race, sex, gender, religion, or any other part of someone’s identity.

To celebrate this month, the Wake Forest CRC will be posting daily inspirational quotes on their Instagram @wakeforestcrc and provide a “Symbols of Recovery Board” for all students to see and experience how recovery can be symbolized in a variety of ways. They will also be looking to celebrate the recovery of their members through a variety of events.

These are only some of the things the recovery community is looking to do this month, and it goes to show the profound impact it tries to have on students. Almost every student who has been a member of this

group attributes a lot of their success to the community, whether it be in academics, professional endeavors, or even personal relationships. The community is an important part of a members' time at Wake Forest and it allows them to have a college experience their addiction may have denied them.

For this reason, a collegiate recovery community should be seen as an important thing to have on a college campus as more and more students come to terms with their addiction and look for a community that can help them through those troubling times.

Currently, the group is happy to e back on campus with all its members. They are even finding comfort in their member lounge, which had been closed due to the pandemic.

They are now using this time to connect and look at their recovery journeys and see where they can all go from here, as recovery only offers a way forward, never backward.

If you or someone you know is in recovery or thinking about entering recovery, have them reach out to the WFU CRC at recovery@wfu. edu. If you or someone you know is currently struggling with addiction, you/they should be encouraged to also reach out as well. The University Counseling Center is also a great resource for those experiencing addictive behavior.

courts were never closed when the flu was running around. It makes absolutely no sense that I can’t play basketball (I’ll wear a mask, I guess) in a massive gym but I can eat maskless in the pit, jammed in like a sardine.

Or can you not get COVID-19 in the cafeteria?

It’s an absolute joke at this point that we are still dealing with these absurd closures and restrictions. We are vaccinated, we are in a bubble, we wear masks indoors. If the gym won’t open now, will it ever open? COVID-19 cases might go down, but then what about the Iota strain? Not everybody has their second booster shot yet! Shut down everything!

We can still play outside, which I am grateful for and enjoy immensely. But the demand far outstrips the supply.

There are frequently groups of 30+ people waiting to play in blistering 95-degree heat. How come we let potentially unvaccinated ‘townies’ come to the courts and play outdoors, but we won’t let fully vaccinated students play inside? I’m no scientist, but it seems that playing with a vaccinated person inside is less “dangerous” than

playing with an unvaccinated person outside. Oh, and I’m sure the basketball teams are playing basketball inside without masks on. COVID-19 doesn’t seem to be an issue there, does it?

If you are really, really concerned about increased COVID-19 spread from the gym, then test students who go to the gym more frequently. But the school shouldn’t even be that concerned now that they’ve mandated the vaccine. Who cares if a vaccinated person somehow gets COVID-19 from another vaccinated person and neither of them has symptoms?

Closing the basketball courts isn’t a measure taken to protect people. It’s performative and it’s lazy. Open them up. To the people that run the gym, you aren’t saving the world by depriving students of a service they pay for.

Administrators, you aren’t going to be awarded a Purple Heart for yelling at someone when their mask accidentally slips below their nose. By closing the gym, the university is just trying to save money under the guise of “public health.” Either issue a prorated refund or open the courts up.

“ must be opened to vaccinated students Basketball courts COVID-19

The administration’s rules for closing indoor courts do not protect students Charlie Benedict Business Manager benecc19@wfu.edu

I was playing basketball with some friends at the courts by Palmer and Piccolo and all of the sudden it started to pour. The courts get dangerously slippery. It sucked, but we pack up and left.

If only, at this top-30 university on this amazing campus, we could play basketball somewhere with a roof.

Maybe there would even be walls and a floor dedicated to basketball. Maybe they could have it climate-controlled so you could play when it’s 95 degrees or 25 degrees. Maybe they could also have water fountains and bathrooms in close proximity. Maybe they could even locate it right in the middle of campus and put cardio and weight

Closing the basketball courts isn’t a measure taken to protect people. It’s performative and it’s lazy. Open them up.” machines near it. To cover these costs, maybe the school could charge every student, regardless of personal use — a flat fee for the semester. After paying this fee, each student could then have the right to use these facilities when desired.

Oh wait, we do have a facility that offers all of these amenities. It’s called Reynolds Gym and every full-time student pays $186 a semester to use it. Except for now, for the third consecutive semester, there is no rational reason as to why you can’t use it. Oh, my bad, I forgot about the massive amount of study spaces on the basketball courts. Those are always really, really, packed! What a great and rational use of space! Well done Campus Rec! Yes, yes, I get that COVID-19 is the reason behind the closed courts, but we’ve all been vaccinated. Most people don’t have any sort of extenuating health circumstances. The basketball

Thursday, September 2, 2021 | Page 9

Opinion | Old Gold & Black

“ COVID-19 gathering guidelines Principal ignores COVID-19

Principal of Reagan High endorses non-mask wearing among vaccinated students Cooper Sullivan

Assistant News Editor sullcg20@wfu.edu

Last Friday, my alma mater, Reagan High, hosted their first home football game of the season against the defending NCHSAA 4A champs, Grimsley High. Both teams came into the Aug. 27 matchup after winning their first games comfortably by 22 and 56 points, respectively. Local news stations and high school football fanatics alike were calling this the “must-see game of the week” and it certainly did not disappoint. The Raiders and the Whirlies were going back and forth the entire 48 minutes — run after run, tackle after tackle — and to the delight of the fans.

The home fans had to leave campus dejected after a heartbreaking loss, while the visitors rode the buses back to Greensboro on top of the world. But these feelings would soon recede as the students went home to their homework, getting ready for another week of in-person classes.

... Royal is encouraging his un-vaccinated students to pack without masks into ... a 4,000 person stadium ...”

Usually, it’s the unwelcome grad trying to infiltrate the student section or the drunk dad yelling at the refs that embarrass the crowd. But on Saturday night, it was the crowd itself that was the embarrassment of Pfafftown.

Brad Royal, the principal of this “A+ School” posted a selfie of him and the fully packed, shoulder-to-shoulder, unmasked, unvaccinated student section on Twitter right before kickoff.

Rightly so, the picture faced immaculate backlash and Royal would delete it soon thereafter.

In my freshman year, Royal’s first year at the school as well, Reagan was awarded an “A+” grade based upon many different factors including but not limited to freshman end-of-year test scores, the previous year’s graduation rate and lack of disciplinary issues. None of my remaining three years ended with such a prestigious distinction, but that didn’t stop Royal from milking the merit dry. “I feel the need, the need to exceed” posters were hung up in every classroom as if the Teacher Supply store was holding a massive clearance on unnecessary motivational posters. And if being four years removed from such excellence isn’t enough to pull down those

posters, I think last week’s less than exemplary actions should convince them otherwise.

But Cooper, you may ask. “Why are you so enamored with high school students having a good time when frat parties are taking place practically every night so close to Wake Forest’s campus?”

Maybe my response is a bit selfish as my unvaccinated sister goes to a school with mostly unvaccinated individuals in a county where the vaccination rate barely tops 50%. And maybe because I am dumbfounded that the head of an institution encourages contradicting COVID-19 practices throughout the course of a single day.

And it quite possibly may be because I am angered at a community that I live and grew up in just completely ignore the last 18 months.

Yes, I am aware that other schools around the county, the state and the U.S. hosted and will continue to host games where students and fans are packed into the aluminum bleachers like sardines. But I am mainly just focusing on the school five minutes up the road because of my connections — past and present — and the feeling of responsibility to bring this inane leadership to light.

The main differentiating factors between what is happening at Wake Forest and Reagan are in regards to two things: vaccines and administrative support.

While they may not be super vocal about it, Wake Forest administrators are not advocating for SigDigTrig to throw parties every night of the week.

You aren’t seeing Susan Wente doing a keg stand in a backyard or blackout in a basement. (You actually aren’t seeing her anywhere on campus this week.) And even if she was, she would be doing it amongst a vaccinated population. Penny Rue said we have about 200 unvaccinated students on campus. I don’t even know if Reagan has 200 vaccinated students. Half the school is younger than 16, and of those who are eligible, you still have to account for the 51% county-wide vaccination rate as well as parental influence on their children’s medical decisions.

Brad Royal is encouraging his unvaccinated students to pack without masks into a single section of a 4,000 person stadium after a week of making kids wear their facial coverings indoors. The fact that many of these students haven’t had one month of in-person instruction over the course of two years and may not finish out the semester without having to go back online is disheartening. The fact that student and community health are not being prioritized is heartbreaking. And the fact that probably nothing will change, that the individuals will continue ignoring the absurdity of their own actions, is even worse.

where university parking would be valuable to not just students, but also city dwellers who need a space.) If a public university that houses thousands more students and charges far lower tuition understands that a $15 fine is enough of a slap on the wrist to keep illegal parking at bay, then Wake Forest should be able to come to the same conclusion.

Another ridiculous standard of Wake Forest parking police is that they are willing to ticket some students twice, just one minute apart. At this rate, students are not even given the chance to move their car or learn from their mistakes before another fine occurs. While it is true that double tickets are only given to students who have a history of parking illegally, it still seems excessive to ticket them twice. After all, Wake Forest parking directions are difficult to understand in the first place, and it’s all too easy to misunderstand that a spot that appears to be legal is in fact illegal.

Additionally, this double charge is not even permitted according to the Parking website! The website states, “$50 1st offense, $75 for 2nd and 3rd offense, $100 for 4th and subsequent offenses.”

With such guidelines listed, WFU Parking should not be giving two $100 fines just a minute apart.

Just a few examples of these confusing spaces include the areas behind NCA — not all of which are labeled as maintenance but are technically designated as such. Another area of confusion is the general lot between Magnolia Residence Hall and Taylor Residence Hall.

This lot has some spaces designated for faculty only, but the lettering is so old and faded in spots that it is virtually impossible to tell which of those spaces are off-limits. Yet another area of confusion is the lot between Farrell and the HES building. If fines are to be given, signs must also be clear.

At a school where students pay over $70,000 per year to attend, it is absolutely unnecessary that Wake Forest continues to enforce harsh parking rules and increasingly higher ticket fines.

While the rules exist for a reason — and it is important to follow rules — these guidelines are far too harsh. The appeals department should be more considerate of the fact that we are college students — we are young, we make mistakes, we park our cars in a 10-minute parking zone and forget we have a meeting, and then forget we left our car there with the hazards on until the next morning.

A little mercy and kindness go a long way, and there’s nothing quite so senselessly infuriating as a parking ticket.

“ University institutes unfair hike in parking prices Politics

A $25 incremental increase in parking price acts as a punitive measure of common mistakes Ansley McNeel

Staff Columnist mcnear19@wfu.edu

A new day dawns on the campus of Wake Forest. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, all is well in the world — or at least it appears that way until you walk past your car and see the dreaded white ticket stub placed under your windshield wipers.

How is this possible? You might rub your eyes, clean your glasses and squint to read the fine print. In the span of minutes, you become a significantly more broke college student than you already were.

While it is amusing to think about how ridiculous the parking fines are, there is also a deeper problem running underneath the surface. The parking department operates without mercy, increasing ticketing fines for students

Does the university really hold parking fines in a higher place of importance than student safety?” and refusing to conduct ticket appeals even when students have legitimate excuses for their mistakes.

Of the many victims of WFU parking police, I do not know a single person who has successfully appealed a parking ticket. One student I know received multiple parking fines last year while they were quarantined off campus for contact tracing. This student appealed their tickets and was told that the fine would not be reverted.

How does it make sense that a student quarantined off-campus would have been responsible for moving their car?

Does the university really hold parking fines in a higher place of importance than student safety?

Additionally, the recent spike in ticketing frequency comes in tandem with an increase in the fine itself. In my home city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech writes tickets valued at $15, no matter how many times the offender parks in the wrong space. (It is also important to note that Georgia Tech is smack dab in the middle of Atlanta

SPORTS

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Online at: www.wfuogb.com Twitter: @sports_ogb Editors: Essex Thayer, thayse20@wfu.edu Christina DeNovio, denoca20@wfu.edu

OLD GOLD & BLACK

Wake Forest vs Old Dominion Preview The Demon Deacons are predicted to beat the Monarchs by 31 points

BY ESSEX THAYER Sports Editor thayse20@wfu.edu

On Friday, the 2021 football season will finally begin for Wake Forest with the Demon Deacons set to face off against the Old Dominion Monarchs under the bright lights of Truist Field.

There are high expectations for Wake Forest this season, and that begins with the Demon Deacons securing a comfortable win to start the season. Below is a preview of the upcoming matchup.

Old Dominion Out of all the teams Wake Forest is scheduled to play this season, the Monarchs might just be the hardest team to preview. Last season, Old Dominion did not play a single game due to COVID-19.

To find the last Monarchs game, one would have to go all the way back to Nov. 30, 2019, when they lost to Charlotte. The most recent Old Dominion win came on Aug. 31, 2019 against Norfolk State, another one of Wake Forest’s 2021 opponents. This all goes to say that, come Friday night, the Monarchs will suit up for their first game in 640 days.

Two seasons ago, in their last full season, Old Dominion wasn’t a strong team.

After beating Norfolk State in their first game, they didn’t win another all season.

Their 11 consecutive losses came against the likes of Virginia Tech, Virginia and

all of their in-conference opponents in Conference USA. In the 2019 season, the statistics also indicated a lackluster Monarchs team.

On offense, Old Dominion averaged 275 yards and 16.2 points per game, both of which rank them 127th among FBS teams. On defense, the Monarchs did slightly better, allowing 374.8 yards and 29.8 points per game, both ranked 79th in the FBS. For reference, there are 130 teams in the FBS. This season, Old Dominion has a different appearance, starting with their head coach. Ricky Rhane, a former offensive coordinator at Penn State, is now at the helm. At Penn State, Rhane was a large proponent of utilizing a rushing quarterback, demonstrated by Trace McSorely, who finished the 2018 season with the second-most rushing attempts on the team. In 2019, quarterback Sean Clifford also finished second in rushing attempts.

With that in mind, it is expected that Darriel Mack Jr, a transfer from UCF, will get the nod to start at quarterback against the Demon Deacons. Mack finished his career in Orlando with 838 passing yards, 7 passing touchdowns, 516 rushing yards and 9 rushing touchdowns in 17 games. He provides a big upgrade for the Monarchs, a team that had only five passing touchdowns in 2019. Expect a run-heavy offensive scheme, and that starts with Mack.

On defense, many of Old Dominion’s strongest players left Norfolk in the transfer portal. Leading tackler Lawrence Gardner, a 2nd team All-Conference USA linebacker, left the team after the cancellation of the 2020 season. Defensive end Keion White transferred to

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

If things go as expected for the Demon Deacons, redshirt junior quarterback Sam Hartman should not be in the game for long.

Georgia Tech. Lastly, cornerback Kaleb Ford-Dement, another 2nd team AllConference USA player, left for Michigan State. Losing their three best players on defense does not bode well for the Monarchs this season. Expect Wake For-

Photo courtesy of Norm Hall/Getty Images

After transferring from UCF, junior quarterback Darriel Mack Jr., a Norfolk, VA. native, will likely start under center for the Monarchs. Wake Forest should expect a run-heavy offense with Mack at the helm.

est to attack the front seven in the run game, which should equate to a lot of yards for running back Christian BealSmith.

Prediction There is no question that Wake Forest should win this game. Wake Forest is a Power Five school, and Old Dominion is a team that recently moved to the FBS and did not play a single game last season. ESPN currently favors the Demon Deacons by 31 points.

While the expectation is for Wake Forest to win comfortably, I do not think they will cover the 31 point spread given by ESPN. In 2019, Old Dominion played two ACC teams — Virginia Tech and Virginia — and played them closely.

The Monarchs lost to the Hokies by 14 and the Cavaliers by 11.

Also, there is no reason that starters should be going deep into this game.

Quarterback Sam Hartman, Beal-Smith and many others should be out of the game by halftime. When the starters leave the field, I don’t expect the Demon Deacons to continue to pile on points. If this game somehow stays close, then the starters will certainly have to stay in the game and fight off an upset.

At the end of the day, Wake Forest winning by roughly 21 points seems far more likely than a 31 point blowout.

This result would still allow Wake Forest to give some playing time for backups.

At the end of the day, the result should be clear. Chalk this one up as a win for the Demon Deacons.

Sports | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, September 2, 2021 | Page 11

ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 announce alliance Three of the biggest college conferences join forces in response to growing SEC

BY CHRISTINA DENOVIO Sports Editor denoca20@wfu.edu

The Southeastern Conference has long been a powerhouse, intimidating any colleges not under its leadership.

In order to counter the SEC’s strength, on Aug. 24, three major college conferences (the Atlantic Coastal Conference, Big Ten and Pac-12) formed a coalition.

These three conferences — which include a total of 41 universities — seem to be responding to the big announcements of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas. Both institutions declared they would leave the Big-12 Conference and join the SEC

by July 1, 2025, bringing the total to a whopping 16 schools.

The alliance will mainly impact basketball and football, and one possible result could be the tripling of the size of the College Football Playoff (from four teams to 12). While there was no official contract signed for the merger, Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren expressed hope that the alignment would grant “some much needed stability in college athletics.”

“The ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 recognize the unique environment and chal-

lenges currently facing intercollegiate athletics, and we are proud and confident in this timely and necessary alliance that brings together like-minded institutions and conferences focused on the overall educational missions of our preeminent institutions,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said.

Phillips continued: “The alliance will ensure that the educational outcomes and experiences for student-athletes participating at the highest level of collegiate athletics will remain the driving factor in all decisions moving forward.”

Proponents of the merger are citing the betterment of the student populations as one main reason behind the decision.

“Through this alliance, we furthered our commitment to our student-athletes by prioritizing our academics and athletics value systems,” Warren said. “We are creating opportunities for studentathletes to have elite competition and are taking the necessary steps to shape and stabilize the future of college athletics.”

A new focus on scheduling has led to the opportunity for new inter-conference games. Beyond just logistics and schedules, other significant topics that the three conferences have committed to reform include academic support, diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice and gender equity.

While further information on how the merger will impact specific organi-

zations or personnel has not yet been released, college sports fans can be assured that the future will hold changes and opportunities for rivalries that had never previously existed. Football fans in particular can rest easy, though, as the organizations have expressed a commitment to honoring historic traditions, especially those relating to the most wellknown rivalries.

In both women’s and men’s basketball, the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 will add early and mid-season games, along with annual events that include games be-

tween the three leagues, to each team’s schedule.

Apart from a vague list of values that the three leagues are committed to upholding, not much else has been revealed about the agreement. There is no set date for when any changes will go into effect, or even what those exact changes will be.

Nonetheless, if the coalition is able to achieve better conditions for its studentathletes while still maintaining the integrity and tradition of each college’s program, this move could be monumental.

Photo courtesy of Mike Mulholland

Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren is a proponent of the merger announced last week and defended the absence of a signed agreement.

QB1: A glimpse behind the face mask A new approach towards his mental health has Hartman prepared like never before

BY WILL ZIMMERMAN Online Managing Editor zimmwj19@wfu.edu

The quarterback who comes under center Friday night at Truist Field might not be one you recognize, but don’t be alarmed. He’s still Sam Hartman, but he’s not the same Sam Hartman who walked off the field in 2020 flustered and fuming, having just thrown four interceptions in the Demon Deacons bowl game loss after compiling a combined seven across his past two seasons.

This Sam has an air of confidence about him, a mental fortitude one can’t attain through any number of broken tackles or perfect spirals. So, what’s changed?

“I started going to therapy,” Sam said.

“Therapy is good.”

A redshirt junior, the quarterback’s been around the game long enough to know exactly what excellence demands — weights, practice, film, repeat — but therapy was never a part of that equation. Until now.

Frustrations abound down the stretch of the Deacon’s 2020 campaign — injuries to key players and COVID-19-induced hiatuses, among others. Though beyond the quarterback’s control, these challenges were so valuable because they illuminated exactly that: you can only control so much.

“[I’m coming to realize] that life isn’t going to be perfect,” Hartman said.

“There are those ups you see on Saturdays, but there’s a lot of downs, too.”

He continued: “People look at my life and say, ‘It must be nice, it must be easy,’ but honestly it’s not. What I go through is hard. I see it on social media — classmates making fun on Yik Yak — it’s not fun.”

The old Sam would have laughed the comments off, chalked them up to nothing. That’s what we’d expect from him — the 21st best quarterback in the nation according to Pro Football Focus — right?

“I used to say, ‘No, it doesn’t bother me, I’m a big macho man.’ But it does, it affects me,” Hartman said.

Through the nearly 20 sessions he’s attended to date, therapy is teaching Sam a better approach.

“I take it for what it is. I breathe. I let it go,” he said.

Hartman is no stranger to the stigmas surrounding sports and mental health.

He’s well aware of the experiences of Naomi Osaka at the French Open, and more recently, Simone Biles at the Tokyo Olympics. But by no means was deciding to attend therapy sessions on a regular basis a spur of the moment decision or an attempt to fit a trend.

No, Hartman is not dedicating time and energy towards his mental health for the optics — he’s doing it for himself, and for the guys that line up beside him, too.

“I’ve taken it upon myself to get better for the team,” he said.

Hartman continued: “When I’m in competition and things go wrong, I would tend to bottle everything up — in my therapy we call it jail — I put myself in jail. My coaches and teammates noticed that, that I wouldn’t communicate or be as energetic. But people feed off me and my energy, so one of the biggest things I’ve been working on is [understanding] when I’m putting myself in jail and being able to work out of that.”

In the heat of the moment, it’s easier said than done.

“Being able to take a step back … it’s hard,” he said. “Coach Clawson and Coach Ruggiero and my teammates, too, they can tell me when I’m going to that place and help me get out of there.”

Now that the Demon Deacon’s opening matchup is just days away, a new challenge awaits QB1. He’s spent months applying these lessons from therapy sessions to his work on the practice field, but when Old Dominion’s defenders approach the line on Friday night, it’ll be another game entirely. Moreover, beyond their Week 1 matchup, the expectations for Wake Forest Football in 2021 are as high as ever. No one shoulders more of that than Hartman.

But, our quarterback has never been prepared like this before, either.

“Water always finds its level,” Sam said. “You’re gonna’ have ups, you’re gonna’ have downs, but it’s about learning from the mistakes, understanding yourself, your inner-self, and having [that confidence] to know it’s going to be okay.”

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

There are high expectations for Hartman and the Demon Deacons for this season following the dissapointing end to the 2020 campaign.

Page 12| Thursday, September 2, 2021

Old Gold & Black | Sports

Cantlay takes home trophy at BMW Open Patrick Cantlay beats Bryson DeChambeau to take home a $9.5 million purse

BY CONNOR MCNEELY Opinion Editor mcnecb19@wfu.edu

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Patrick Cantlay was the last man standing after an intense, sudden-death duel with rival Bryson Dechambeau.

As the last day of the competition approached, Cantlay and DeChambeau were firmly ahead of the pack through 54 holes, with Sungjae close behind in the third-place position. From the beginning of the BMW Open, spectators and analysts alike knew that this dynamic

pairing would provide the entertaining clash that golf fans had been clamoring for in the sport’s return to the public.

The vacuum of personality and stardom left by the end of the Tiger Woods era is now to be replaced by the brawn and confidence of DeChambeau and the sly smile and giggles of his crafty counterpart Cantlay. The BMW Open was the quintessential duel between a revolutionary, risky style and an imaginative yet traditional skillset.

For Cantlay, it was the culmination of a textbook methodology — with the added bonus of an immaculate short game. While DeChambeau outmuscled Cantlay by driving an additional 20 yards further every fairway, Cantlay used his opponent’s style to his own advantage, hitting before DeChambeau

Courtesy of Golf Digest

Long Beach, Ca. native Patrick Cantlay played his fourth PGA Tour event at Caves Valley Golf Club, this time lands on top with a score of 27-under.

and building pressure that would pay off in the playoff round.

There was no lack of drama at Caves Valley as crowds bore witness to one of the more exciting battles of this year’s PGA Tour season. DeChambeau brought out the fist pump after sinking a birdie putt on the 16th hole and tipped his cap to the gallery as he walked to the 18th hole.

In response, Cantlay calmly sunk an 8-foot putt on the 16th and a clutch 22foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to preserve his chances of winning the BMW Open Championship.

But DeChambeau’s prior flair wasn’t at all unprompted. Earlier in the day, as he stood over his ball and crafted his approach to the 14th hole, DeChambeau was disturbed when Cantlay walked up the fairway. DeChambeau proceeded to back off his approach and sternly ask his opponent to “stop walking.”

Cantlay later recalled his motivation behind the incident as an effort to speed up the game and please officials. He referred to DeChambeau’s comment saying that it was “no big deal.” For his part, DeChambeau refused to speak to most of the media, except those reporters that had PGA partnerships.

DeChambeau was also perturbed by Cantlay’s efforts to analyze 2-foot putts on the front nine holes, rolling his eyes in frustration.

Besides missing earlier chances to put away Dechambeau in regulation, Cantlay relied on an almost perfect short game to outlast his competitor.

Errors on the 16th hole were corrected by a par-saving putt. A tee shot sent into the water was remedied by a bogey.

All the while, fans of Cantlay sprouted up from the sidelines, shouting his nickname: “Patty Ice.”

Later, DeChambeau matched Cantlay hole-for-hole in the suddendeath playoff, and both made their fair share of mistakes and masterful shots.

Ultimately, DeChambeau’s struggles with putting throughout the competition were too much to overcome. His failure to close out Cantlay in the final hole of regulation with a birdie putt only added to the mounting stress and put the match out of reach.

On the fifth hole of the playoff round, Dechambeau hit a wedge shot within six feet of the hole. He seemed destined to take home the trophy — just as he had in the 2020 U.S. Open — until Cantlay dropped right inside DeChambeau’s ball to a two-foot length from the pin. The result drew a roar from the crowd at Caves Valley.

Both players made their birdies.

It was the sixth and final hole of the competition that sealed Cantlay’s fifth overall PGA Tour victory. Cantlay drilled a 17-foot birdie putt, and DeChambeau’s 9-footer plunged below the hole.

The BMW Open bore a remarkable scorecard for most of the contenders.

DeChambeau posted a 261 and didn’t take home a trophy. He finished in second place with a score of 23-under, followed by Rory McIlroy who posted 22-under.

Cantlay’s incredible start to the season was capped off by an automatic bid to the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He now has three victories to lead the PGA Tour this season, and holds a two-stroke lead ahead of Tony Finau as they head into the Tour Championship. If he remains ahead of Finau, Cantlay would win the FedEx Cup and its $15 million purse.

Men’s soccer loses to VCU, defeats Bucknell Goals by Hernandez and Holcomb lift Deacons over Bucknell after Thursday’s loss

BY CHARLES HORN Staff Writer hornch18@wfu.edu

After a frustrating season opener shutout loss to Virginia Commonwealth University, Wake Forest men’s soccer returned to its winning ways with a resounding 2-0 victory over Bucknell on Sunday night.

Still dealing with the loss of three-star attackers following the Fall 2020 season, Wake Forest struggled to score in both their final preseason exhibition and their match against VCU. In both games, they failed to penetrate the defensively oriented competition.

One game prior, the Demon Deacons toiled for 90 minutes under the lights of Spry Stadium against the Rams of VCU to no avail. Crossbars, posts, the outstretched glove of a diving keeper all denied Wake Forest. The Deacons recorded twice as many shots on goal as VCU, but remained unable to score. The

two goals they conceded in the first half proved an insurmountable deficit.

With a two-goal halftime lead, VCU sat back and parked the bus, denying Wake Forest’s possession-reliant style quality scoring chances.

In his postgame notes, Wake Forest head coach Bobby Muuss remarked on the quality of the VCU defensive scheme and their devastating counter-attacks.

“VCU did a really good job at times breaking us, but were really organized when they were really, really deep,” Muuss said.

After VCU’s Celio Pompeu was sent off for his second yellow card offense, the Rams resorted to an ultra-defensive style with little-to-no offensive mindset.

They were able to stifle the Deacs and force shots borne from desperation rather than from quality build-up play.

The script was flipped against Bucknell, with the match largely impacted by the return of junior Jake Swallen (who did not dress for either the exhibition match or the season-opener). Working brilliantly with Omar Hernandez, Swallen floated between the lines and played a series of give-and-go’s that opened up space for senior striker Kyle Holcomb,

who was making his 30th career start for Wake Forest.

Holcomb dropped deeper during attacking sequences, receiving the ball in stride and charging at defenders, creating an opportunity for junior David Wrona.

His shot was saved, and moments later, Hernandez hit the woodwork.

Shortly thereafter, Holcomb received the ball some forty yards out and dribbled towards the Bucknell backline before laying the ball off to Herandez, who instinctively cut to his favored left side and powered the ball into the far corner of the goal beyond the reach of the Bison’s keeper.

Hernandez has proven instrumental in the past season and a half, growing from a setpiece specialist who seemed uncomfortable with the ball at his feet to perhaps the Demon Deacons’ most accomplished attacking midfielder.

Working alongside Swallen, Hernandez was at his best when working with fellow junior Takuma Suzuki, anchoring the midfield and disrupting Bucknell’s counterattacking opportunities.

After his opening assist, Holcomb got on the scoresheet with 38 minutes left.

Swallen, once again involved, received a line-breaking pass from sophomore

center back Prince Amponsah and deftly touched it into the stride of Holcomb.

The senior striker maneuvered around the Bucknell defender and calmly placed the ball past the keeper to double the Deacs’ lead.

The strike was the 22nd career goal for Holcomb, who has blossomed into the undisputed leader of Wake’s attack.

Holcomb led the team in goals last year with nine, matching his goalscoring record from the previous season, in which he earned a third-team TopDrawerSoccer Best-XI selection.

Sitting on a two-goal lead, Wake Forest held possession and gave playing time to bench players whose progression will be crucial down the road. Freshman Tareq Shihab deputized Suzuki in both halves. The former member of Premier League side Brighton’s academy added his name to a long list of midfielders vying for playing time.

The Demon Deacons concludes their opening slate of home games Sept. 4 against Cornell, who enter the season ranked second in the Ivy League. The Big Red did not play last season due to the coronavirus pandemic, and, as a result, more than half their players have yet to see collegiate action.

Sports | Old Gold & Black

Thursday, September 2, 2021 | Page 13

Ivashka clinches first ATP title in W-S Open The Winston-Salem open took place from Aug. 22-28 and featured many upsets

BY JAKE STUART Assistant Sports Editor stuaja20@wfu.edu

For the 10th consecutive year, Winston-Salem and Wake Forest University hosted an ATP tour event that featured some of the top competitors in the world.

The Winston-Salem Open has been a staple in the community since 2011 and is the last men’s tournament on the U.S. open series prior to the U.S. Open itself.

Wake Forest provides the tennis courts, and players travel from across the world to vie for the title. This year, 64 single players and 16 doubles teams looked to take home the $717,955 massive sum.

In a true year of upsets, it was only fitting that the ATP tour singles title would find itself a new victor. Ivashka — ranked 63rd in the world — became the first player from Belarus to win in nearly two decades. He is just the sixth player this year outside the top-50 to take home a title, making the biggest upset in Winston-Salem open history.

The victory was not a surprise to the Belarus star, however, who lost just one set through six tournament matches. The absolute domination continued when the 27-year-old won the final in straight sets — 6-0 and 6-2 — while taking down the

number one seed, Pablo Carreno Busta, in the Quarterfinals. He also took down Andreas Seppi, Marin Cilic, Jan-Lennard Struff, Emil Russuvuori, and Michael Ymer on his title run. The victories were against four top-100 caliber opponents with Cilic at No. 36, Struff at No. 52, Russuvori at No. 66, and Seppi at No. 89.

As a result of his astonishing finish, Ivashka moved up 10 spots to a careerhigh No. 53 in the FedEx ATP rankings.

He was ranked No. 116 back on Mar. 22 and has been on the rise all summer.

Other risers include Finland star Russuvuori, who climbed 10 spots to No. 66 — a new career high — as he beat three top seeds before falling in the semifinals.

Ymer rose 19 spots to No. 72 after advancing to the finals for the first time.

Richard Gasquet improved his position by three spots to No. 79 after advancing to the quarterfinals and being outmatched

by Russuvori.

As for the doubles bracket, the unseeded duo of Marcelo Arévalo and Matwé Middelkoop came out on top. The pair has roots in Salvador (Arévalo) and the Netherlands (Middelkoop), and took down the group of Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek to claim their first title as a team this season. The match was tight; the sets finished 6-7, 7-5, and 10-7. Despite 10 aces (just two for their opponent), the Croatian (Dodig) and the American (Krajicek) did not pull away.

During the tournament, Arévalo and Middelkoop outmatched the duos of An-

drey Golubev and Andreas Mies, Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith, Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald before advancing to the final.

Following the Winston-Salem Open, Middelkoop moved his ranking six spots higher to No. 28, while his partner Arévalo rose up three spots to No. 36. Runnerup Krajicek climbed four spots to No. 44 and his counterpart Dodig remained at No.12 in the world.

The ATP tour circuit features 64 tournaments in 31 countries and on all seven continents. Novak Djokovic, Daniil Med-

vedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas currently rank atop the singles leaderboard while Mate Pavic, Nikola Mektic, and Nicolas Mahut headline the doubles bracket.

The tournament prize money averages a 50% increase at each event, the stakes continue to get higher as does the quality of play.

The US Open — one of the biggest Grand Slam tournaments in the world — takes place in New York from Aug. 30-Sep. 12. The thriller features 128 singles and 64 double teams with a prize money of $27,200,000 on the line.

Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics

Ivashka overcame some of the top competitors in the world at the Winston-Salem Open en route to his first career ATP Title.

Jake Paul faces off against Tyron Woodley The celebrity influencer has proven he has what it takes to compete in the ring

BY DELANEY MCSWEENY Staff Writer mcswdj19@wfu.edu

Whether you love him or you hate him, it is becoming harder and harder to argue that Jake Paul is not a professional fighter. Paul, a controversial Youtube influencer, took to the ring on Sunday night in an attempt to take down Tyron Woodley, a trained, professional fighter.

August 29, Paul set foot into the ring, fully trained and prepared for a fight. This time, he was going up against his toughest opponent to date, Tyron Woodley. Woodley was previously a highly competitive MMA and UFC fighter. In contrast, Jake Paul has rather recently entered the gates into the world of fighting.

Paul’s story is one of grand unconventionality. Paul has always been in the public eye, but until recently, granted only for his antics on social media platforms. Recently, that has all changed.

Many children across the world grew up knowing the name Paul, never as an athlete, but rather as a Youtuber.

Paul has had his fair share of issues in the past, most glaringly, a controversial video that he and his brother uploaded in early 2018 in which he showed a dead body on camera to their younger viewers.

After getting back on his feet, Jake Paul found his way back into the public eye when he unofficially married influencer Tana Mongeau. This wedding also caused a large controversy in his life, as he was arrested for violating COVID-19 protocol in Southern California.

Following his release, Paul found a new passion in professional fighting. He began training endlessly, and many viewers across his social media platforms instantly thought this was a joke. As of late, many influencers and stars have begun fighting in order to gain more followers and traction to their accounts.

Paul has made it very clear that his fighting career is not only for giggles, but rather that fighting is something to which he’s deeply dedicated. This ideology slowly started to become clear to the general public when Paul was featured on popular sites and television shows such as ESPN, SportsCenter and Bleacher Report.

After his first big victory earlier this year, reporter Stephen A. Smith tweeted out, “From now on, Paul needs to fight an actual boxer. He’s going to hurt any non-boxer.” In seeing these reports on SportsCenter and reading news from other reputable sources, it has become evident that Paul is no longer just an influencer, but a driving force in the boxing and fighting world.

This became even more clear this past Sunday. Woodley and Paul both weighed in earlier in the week, and

after a quick photo opportunity, they exchanged some words and returned to attend to their final training preparations ahead of the big fight.

With Paul being such a large influencer, he brings a large audience to these events. Thus, the pressure of winning becomes even more crucial to his status. He went into an intense couple of days of training to prepare for the event after weighing in, and when Sunday rolled around, both Woodley and Paul were ready to go after each other.

Paul and Woodley took to the ring and put forth strong swings, but Paul was the overwhelming alpha in the match. In the mess of sweat and blood, Paul eventually came out victorious in a split decision after eught rounds of fighting.

After the match, Woodley demanded a rematch, as he was upset with

the judging. Paul responded saying he “had his chance.” Paul also jokingly made an offer to Woodley following the match: if Woodley got a tattoo saying “I Love Jake Paul” then he would consider the rematch.

Paul’s fight against Woodley has now moved him to an undefeated 4-0 in professional wrestling. It is unclear who Paul’s next opponent will be, but one thing remains certain: with Paul’s undefeated record and his growing presence among viewers and sports reporters alike, he is a force to be reckoned with.

Paul’s career will continue to grow, and his experiences thus far have shown that it is time to take Paul seriously. If not now, then when will we realize the lengths that he is willing to go to in order to prove himself to the world of sports?

Photo courtesy of Katelyn Mulcahy

Jake Paul, following an unquestionably dominant win against Tyron Woodley, is no longer being taken lightly by fans and influencers alike.

LIFE

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 , 2 0 2 1

PAG E 14

O n l i n e at : w w w. w f u o g b . c o m e d i t o r : S e l i n n a Tr a n , t r a n s n 1 9 @ w f u . e d u

A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R : J o e C h o , c h o y y 1 9 @ w f u . e d u

OLD GOLD & BLACK

Album Review | "Solar Power"

Lorde brings bright energy in "Solar Power" Lorde’s much-anticipated album is released after her fouryear hiatus

BY BEN WILCOX Staff Writer wilcbr19@wfu.edu Lorde — the sensational, multi-platinum singer-songwriter — is following up her exceptional album “Melodrama'' and providing us with a ray of sunshine: “Solar Power”.

Her third studio album takes a tonal shift from the melancholic musings in her last album, “Solar Power” departs from the typical music style that many Lorde listeners are familiar with. Released on Aug. 20, her new work calls to mind the warm emotions that accompany those first days of the sultry summer.

The album opens with “The Path”, a song that invites listeners to a sun-bleached, serene and airy world created by Lorde. It is here that listeners reside during the following 12 tracks. Bright instrumentation and warm vocals envelop this whole album like

Photo courtesy of Pitchfork

"Solar Power" is a journey of self-discovery and reflection of Lorde's life.

an atmosphere, and this carries over into the album’s titular track, “Solar Power”.

Other standouts that support this bright attitude and atmosphere are “Dominoes” and “Mood Ring”. The latter track also manages to satirize astrology and the growing trend of pseudoscience and alternative

medicine. Lines like “I can’t feel a thing. I keep looking at my mood ring”, and “Let’s fly somewhere eastern, they’ll have what I need'' critique those who blindly follow these philosophies. It appears as though Lorde believes that flying to an eastern country to “discover yourself” is about as helpful as using a mood ring to discover how you’re feeling. However, this satire is cleverly masked by the upbeat and warm sounds of the album's production — akin to the feeling of sunbathing on a hammock.

All of these individual tracks are good, but when compiled into an album, you can see the greater introspective topics that Lorde addresses. These capture the inevitable feeling of burnout that one might experience when chasing an eternal summer. These feelings are amplified in “Stoned at the Nail Salon” and “California”.

In “California”, we find Lorde attempting to escape the bright lights of fame, a twist from the sunlit imagery prevalent in so much of the rest of the album. In an oversimplification of the song, Lorde essentially reasserts that she wants to make her own

type of music and not lean into only producing what she thinks will be well-received by her established fan base.

In “Stoned at the Nail Salon”, Lorde has to come to terms with what it means for her to chase her eternal summer. Out loud, she ruminates on the fact that, sooner rather than later, she’s got to “cool it down.” In other words, to chase beauty and warmth is chasing something that inevitably will fade away and turn cold. Attempting to be forever youthful and happy is a folly, “the sun has to rise” and a new day has to begin.

Despite initially appearing to be a drastic shift from the rest of her discography, these types of tracks fit in perfectly with her larger message. Staying in the sun can be fun and rewarding, but chasing it for too long can leave you burnt.

Lorde delivers a truly rewarding album worth listening to, and many of these tracks are unique, deeply unlike anything she has made previously. I would wholeheartedly recommend listening to this album on your own time, my words cannot truly do the album justice.

Show Review | "What If?"

Marvel Studios branches out with "What If...?" show

Latest TV series forges new trails into the creative world and the MCU's future

BY ALYSSA SOLTREN Contributing Writer solatac20@wfu.edu This past summer, a lot of action took place in the world of streaming services. For many, being able to escape into the multidimensional world of media has kept us sane these past several months. The shows and movies within distract us from the incessant thoughts of the opportunities we missed out on due to the pandemic. But rather than mourn for what realities aren’t ours, a new series from Marvel Studios takes a different approach. Aptly titled “What If…?”, the series explores and celebrates a myriad of stories that deviate from those of the beloved film franchise.

Before Marvel reached this point in their storytelling, quite a bit of foundation had to be laid down. As seen in the finale of another summer TV series titled “Loki” (spoiler warning ahead), Sylvie — a variant of Loki — made the critical decision of slaying Kang. In doing so, she set free the endless branches of timelines that Kang had spent an eternity suppressing. Once again, the god of chaos has set in motion a cascade of events for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It was this action that gave birth to the premise of “What If…?”. In the series, each

episode focuses on a change of one single factor from any movie within the MCU. The audience gets to revel in the consequences of these changes and the effects they have on different characters.

Adding another layer of thrill to this project is the fact that this series is animated, setting it apart from the previous live-action films and shows of the MCU. This medium of visual storytelling bears a close resemblance to the iconic settings, moments and

characters of the movies. At the same time, it also pays homage to the aesthetics of the comic lore from which the entire Marvel franchise originated and is largely still inspired by. This is due, in part, to the stellar effort that the animators, producers and voice actors put into the series.

As of now, three out of nine episodes for the first season have been released. Already, viewers (myself included) have been left amazed at Captain Carter’s strength and efficiency, the observed potential of the Tesseract, T’Challa’s benevolence towards an entire galaxy, the beautiful tribute to late actor Chadwick Boseman and how quickly a critical initiative falls apart at the hands of a once well-meaning but now vengeful character. There is still far more to witness, and I await impatiently with anticipation.

However, the anticipation surrounding this show doesn’t concern the episodes’ contents. As has been confirmed by Loki’s conclusion that “What If…?” is considered canon within the MCU, many fans are wondering if and how these episodes’ alternate versions of characters and storylines will tie into the main films they know and love.

To feed this flame, the recent release of the long-awaited trailer for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has dropped even more Photo courtesy of IMDB hints of a multiversal story at play. Such "What If...?" is set in the MCU but can be found in the appearance of Alfred is told through an animated lens. Molina’s Doc Ock and the sound of Wil-

lem Dafoe’s laughter as the Green Goblin.

These classic villains — among others who also made brief indirect appearances — had only appeared in other iterations of SpiderMan films, indicating that a sort of merging of different realities will occur.

Another major clue that the multiverse will come into play is the fact that another upcoming Marvel Studios film is titled “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”. In addition, the fourth episode of “What If…?” involves a malevolent version of Doctor Strange, who might be involved in both of these movies. It would make perfect sense to believe that the series is acting as the forerunner for these future films by providing alternate settings, settings we may likely have not seen the last of.

The only downside to this new series is that to fully understand all that is going on, viewers must have sufficient knowledge of all that has preceded the MCU. Without such knowledge, one could easily get lost in the fast pace of the stories and the numerous references made to other plot points and ideas. Despite this, I think that one can still appreciate the foundational message in the series: a calling which invites us to venture out into our ownuniverse of possibilities and an urge to consider how one small decision can transform our entire future. In echoing the series’ watchful narrator, it's an invitation to ponder the question, “What if…?”.

Page 15 | Thursday, September 2, 2021

Old Gold & Black | Life

Humor | Back to school

Returning to school post-COVID Student is met with a horrific return to school, facing multiple campus changes

BY EMILY BEBENEK Staff Writer bebeek20@wfu.edu Well, I don’t know about you guys, but ever since I walked back onto campus I’ve experienced some serious imposter syndrome. I remember the good old high school days when I would patiently sit through eight hour-long classes a day — now I need to take a nap after just one lecture, but there’s no shame in that! I’m sure everyone else is having a hard time adjusting as well, especially since classes now exist in the real world instead of the Zoom-dom.

So in honor of that, I present to you my top four “WF –– more like WTF” moments and some fun new strategies to stave off the mental breakdown that I just know is coming (I can make it to midterms, I swear!).

No. 1: Yamas. What. The. Actual. Hellfire. I went into Benson at 10:57 a.m. and the Yama’s line was almost to Chick-fil-A. That damn restaurant wasn’t even open yet!

Are they putting steroids in the food? Am I missing out on some extra brainpower? If so, someone please let me know immediately.

No. 2: The new mailroom. Okay, I appreciate a good makeover as much as the next person, but hello? Why is it so fancy now? And why was the line backed up all the way to the top of the stairs? What have you freaks been ordering? I’ve seen so many people walking out of there with boxes twice the size of their bodies. Ma’am, please. I just need my latest Amazon purchase.

No. 3: Maybe I’m just out of shape, but walking to and from class requires so much energy. Not only are you panicking about whether or not you’re going to make it on time, or if you’ve even got the right room number, but you’re sweating because of the 100-degree heat and humidity. Want to know something funny? I’m from Birmingham, Ala., and one of the reasons I liked Wake Forest was that I told myself, ‘It’s in the north, it’ll be colder!’ The joke’s on me and my trusty portable fan, I guess.

No. 4: This is a big one. When did it get so hard to remember people’s names? I never knew I could miss Zoom so much, but it always had my back. I mean, having

people’s names on the screen? Muting and turning off video? The glitches that gave us a break from class? I guess it’s true –– you never know what you have until you lose it. Come back, baby, please — I’ll change!

Now I have to ask the same people to repeat their names every two days, if I do it to you, I am genuinely sorry, I just have the memory and attention span of a goldfish.

Okay, we get it, Emily. Enough of your problems, tell us how to fix them. Well, that was a little rude, but here you go: I don’t know. What, you thought I had all the answers? I’m about to be 20 years old and I still have to sing the ABCs all the way through for alphabetical order –– find someone else, pal!

What I can tell you is this: no matter how sucky your resolutions are, no matter how certain you are that you’re going to fail, keep trying anyways. After all, you might succeed and even if you don’t, you’ll feel a lot better knowing that you didn’t give up. The good news is, if you do happen to have that mental breakdown, you have the whole library of Disney+ to cheer you up –– if you’re fancy enough to have an account, I’m certainly not. Stay safe, wear your mask and apply deodorant as needed, please. Ciao!

Social Media | Tik Tok

TikTok drives new artists to fame

TikTok has served as a foundation for up and coming artists to grow

BY TALYOR SCHUTT Staff Writer schutl20@wfu.edu Everyone and their mothers have heard of TikTok. With its fun dancing videos, cute dog clips, musical masterpieces and more, the popular social media app has created a new kind of fame. Before TikTok, social media influencers gained popularity through other social media platforms like YouTube, Vine and Instagram. Now, influencers can make a short 30-second video (or a longer 60-second if they’re feeling ambitious) in an attempt to get on the “For You” page and gain attention from viewers all over the world.

For those who use the app somewhat frequently, you have probably heard of “drivers license” by the 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo. Rodrigo’s single blew up on TikTok due to her amazing vocals — a sound and vibe similar to that of Lorde’s “Green Light” — and her powerful lyrics about heartbreak. Rodrigo rose to stardom through her role of Nina on Disney’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” — the TV series located and based on the movie, “High School Musical”.

After a tragic breakup with her co-star, Joshua Bassett, Rodrigo released “Drivers License” as a subtle jab at him and his new girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter. The

song skyrocketed to the top of the charts due to the song’s inherent drama and TikTok’s “For You” Page. Hundreds of accounts began using the song as a sound for their short clips — and her original post accrued thousands of views in only one night.

This young artist became a teenage idol overnight … but she wasn’t done just yet.

Rodrigo continued to release singles off of her upcoming album like “Deja Vu” and “good 4 u”, each of which referenced the same drama and energy found in “drivers license.” Instantly, TikTok users and creators alike were absolutely hooked. With every single released, more and more videos were created on TikTok, further boosting Rodrigo’s fame.

On May 21, Olivia Rodrigo finally released her long-awaited debut album, “Sour”, which included her hit singles.

Since its release, “Sour” has been number one on the Billboard 200 chart for four weeks on three separate occasions and has become a staple of TikTok success.

On the other hand, TikTok has received a lot of backlash due to rumors of the Chinese government stealing users’ information. In the summer of 2021, the United States government almost banned the app from being used by its citizens.

The United States feared that its citizens’ information, as well as secret government information, would be transferred to Beijing through the app.

However, in the past month or so, these concerns have been resolved and largely silenced. The app was recently split be-

tween Chinese territory and U.S. territory. Non-Chinese users are guaranteed privacy while using the app in the United States.

Of course, users should still be careful when sharing personal information on any social media platform because — as your mother always told you —once it’s on the Internet, it’s out there forever. In the end, users must be cognizant of the fact that anything they post is free for the rest of the world to see.

TikTok tries its best to remove inappropriate and hurtful content in an attempt to make the app a safe place for all people.

There will always be haters, but at least TikTok tries to make their app peaceful.

All social media outlets have their pros and cons, but for many small artists, TikTok has provided an opportunity for additional exposure and career successes.

Along with Olivia Rodrigo, artists like Megan Thee Stallion, The Kid Laroi, Conan Gray, FINNEAS, Doja Cat and many more have gained thousands of fans from TikTok videos of people dancing, singing or playing their songs.

Personally, I enjoy listening to Peter McPoland, Sitting On Stacy, Clinton Kane, Caity Baser, OSTON and so many other small artists. Some musicians like Peter McPoland and Sitting On Stacy were lucky enough to sign record deals and go on tour as a result of their newfound TikTok fame. So, next time you’re scrolling through your “For You” Page, check out the singers who appear. You never know who could be the next Olivia Rodrigo.

THE HOT LIST TOP TEN RESIDENCE HALLS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Johnson North Campus Apartments

Bostwick Efird Davis Poteat

Benson

Ziesta Room Best Western Chi Psi’s floor

ARTS OF THE WEEK By: Cooper Sullivan

Photo Courtesy of Cooper Sullivan Means of Identification Every four years a lucky handful of students get a sum of money from the university to fill the halls with vibrant and striking works of art. Visit the 2021 collection in the Scales Fine Arts Center before the pieces are placed around various areas of campus. The works can be viewed in the Hanes Art Gallery until Dec. 10.

Page 16 | Thursday, August 26, 2021

Old Gold & Black | Life

LIFE THROUGH THE LENS LENS... ...

This is me, I like minions.

This is Joe, he likes bikes,

While I like minions and Joe likes bikes, these are not single characteristics that make up our identities or who we are. When I am on campus, people don’t look at me and only think of me as the “girl who likes minions.” Instead, people make inferences about our character based on many different attributes, traits and socio-cultural factors that make up our identities.

So who are we? Are we simply products of our ethnicity or race and then defined by our demographics? What does it mean to be a minority on campus?

As the Life editor, I am hoping to answer this question and also provide a platform for voices that may have not had the opportunity before to share their advice — or their life.

“Life Through The Lens” is a new weekly column that will be a space for minority voices to deliberate these ideas and more. No matter what walk of life you come from, this column is a safe space for you. I hope to foster an inclusive and safe space for those who may not have always had that environment.

From Selinna...

“You look like a real life anime girl” “Do you watch anime? You look like someone who would watch anime.”

“When I first met you, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be your boyfriend or your dad.”

These are just some of the things I hear on and off our campus.

Most of my childhood days were disconsolate or filled with endless wishes to be someone that I was not. These memories, some hazy and some I can’t forget even if I wished to, mainly took place in a small, rural North Carolina town. Being raised in this environment, the xenophobic atmosphere was one that I was accustomed to and constantly reinforced as a result of deep-rooted isolation.

These feelings all stemmed from my simple desire to feel like I belonged.

I would vehemently deny that I was bilingual or that my family owned an Asian restaurant — these being only a few of the actions I would take to weed out any evidence that I was Vietnamese. Acknowledging or accepting any of these would give them the ammunition to outcast me, to confirm that I was everything they said about me.

I could hide everything about myself — and even go as far as to condition myself to dislike the traditional Vietnamese dishes my family would make — but the one thing I could not change was my appearance. I hated that. My entire life, the beauty standard has been everything that I was not. While most kids wished for the latest toy, I have records of letters to Santa requesting that I could be born white or have blonde and beautiful hair like Sleeping Beauty.

Now, as I’ve grown older and learned more about Vietnamese culture — who I am and where I come from, I’ve slowly started to love who I am and all the things that I have conditioned myself to hate have become some of my favorite aspects of my identity (Vietnamese food, clothing, etc.).

This is a double-edged sword. As I’ve continued to embrace who I am, I’ve also become more aware to the xenophobic treatment of East Asians in America — and further, the infantilization of East Asian women. Being on campus, I have been told, treated and looked at like an outsider.

When people look at me, they don’t see all the things that make up who I am. Instead, they see what my appearance tells them I should be. From this, they proceed to create a biased character of who they believe that I am. This image that is placed upon East Asian women is always one of “innocence,” “anime-like,” and I’ve experienced these acts firsthand by the peers who claim to be “woke” at Wake Forest.

I don’t believe that a single column could cover the vast history of oppression and infantilization of East Asian women (to name a few of the many issues), but I am really hopeful that this column will serve as a platform for people like me who have always been afraid — that it will be a platform for voices who have never before had one.

If you resonate with this story, or if you have also felt out of place, I hope that you take advantage of this column. My contact information is as follows: Selinna Tran [Life Editor] transn19@wfu.edu

From Joe...

“Can you open your eyes?”

“Ew! What are you eating? That smells.”

“Go back to China.”

Sigh. I’m not even Chinese. I remember walking through the bustling hallways of my high school when a random student pushed me and ran off, leaving a shocking remark in his wake — “you stupid chink!” I tried to search for my assailant, but the upstream of students going to their next class became an obstruction. A flood of emotions overwhelmed me, and I stood there with abject disillusionment. How could I not see that I was never meant to be part of this human race — a race that judged the next individual with a far too narrow scope of understanding and disdain for the foreigner?

I remember hearing my mother crying herself to sleep because of remarks I made.

“Why did we ever move to America? I hate it here! If we didn’t move, I wouldn’t have to feel like an alien. I wish I was born white from white parents!”

Not my proudest moment. But back then, I was left questioning the very existence of my culture and all its apparent caveats, and that didn’t help me earn a seat at the table or get invited to social events. The only thing I could really do was brush past these experience like the passive, docile creatures we were perceived as. I was expected to bottle it up and stay silent in order to assimilate into American culture — white culture.

Growing up in a predominantly white, suburban district was never easy. Neither was coming to a predominantly white institution. So, when people told me that college is a place and time where one could reinvent themselves, I did just that — dissolving any ounce of Korean in me.

To go against my very nature, to go against my very identity was a hairline fracture to my core. The more I spent time outside as a wannabe Caucasian, the more the fracture grew and grew until I started disassociating myself as an Asian entirely. For the first year of college, I changed my demeanor; I changed how I dressed.

I changed my voice to purge any hint of Asian accent, but ultimately, I couldn’t change my complexion — this beautiful, caramel, smooth-skin complexion.

For over a year-and-a-half, I have been dealing with a major identity crisis. Do I like being an Asian American? Do I feel comfortable in my own skin and expressing my own heritage? Do people even like me for who I really am, or am I just a relevant creature that people want in their social circles so that they may feel more diverse? Am I being tokenized?

I want to go back in time and understand why that kid called me a chink in the hallway. Maybe, if I caught him, I could have punished the racism out of him. Maybe that would have helped me stand up for myself. But then again, I ended up contributing to racism by rejecting my identity.

If I couldn’t love myself for who I am, who would? It’s questions like this that make me reflect deeply about my identity and culture because I was placed on this earth without instructions on how to navigate through life in a critically unprincipled society. So much more could be said about the prejudiced environment that we live in. I am hopeful that this privileged platform allows me to share a glimpse of my life through the lens.