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Old Gold&Black
WAKE FOREST’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1916 VOL. 104, NO. 11
T H U R S DAY, N OV E M B E R 15 , 2 018 “Cover s the campus like the magnolias”
wfuogb.com
Risky tradition looms ahead of upcoming game For “Senior Fifth,” seniors try to finish a fifth of liquor before the football game’s kickoff time BY JULIA HAINES Editor-in-Chief hainjm15@wfu.edu
most every morning and it only got worse throughout the day. I almost always had tissue paper with me,” Kernohan said. “I had trouble concentrating in class because I was so worried about my nose dripping or trying to not disrupt class with my blowing. I had headaches all the time and only had two weeks where I wasn’t coughing up phlegm or feeling horrible.” Multiple students living in Johnson also voiced their concerns about Student Health’s response to their symptoms. “I haven’t been sick or on medication in three years, and in this semester I have been on three prescribed medications,” said Johnson Resident Advisor (RA) and sophomore Colman Feighan. “The last time I went to Student Health, the doctor told me that I could not come back because there was nothing more they could give me and they referred me to an outside ENT because they could no longer provide anything for me.”
This Saturday, Nov. 17, Wake Forest Football will play their final home game of the season against Pittsburgh with a kickoff time set at noon. The kickoff time is causing concern for many, as students plan to partake in the “Senior Fifth” tradition through which they set a goal to finish a fifth of liquor between midnight and kickoff, a tradition made more problematic by earlier kickoff times. As a result, many facets of university administration — including University Police, student Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and the Thrive Office — have been preparing for the game through preventative campaigns, and express concern about student safety this weekend. “We are anticipating an increased number of calls, and are prepared to have a Forsyth County ambulance standby on campus should that be necessary,” said junior Taylor Manthey of EMS. “We also will have monitors at the shuttles before kickoff, in case there are any issues there. At the stadium, Forsyth County will be on standby as usual.” While the early kickoff time is causing concern for many, others note that it may not have as much of an impact as one would initially think, as historical data does not necessarily show that later game times results in fewer students seeking medical care. “We are definitely anticipating that the noon kickoff time creates a higher risk for students placing themselves in a more dangerous situation because of a compressed time,” said Darren Aaron, the EMS Advisor and an Associate Director for Wake Forest Student Health Service. “However, I do not believe the time alone, looking at historical data, tells the whole story.” Most surprisingly, the most recent year that the senior fifth game had a noon kickoff time was in 2013 versus Clemson, for which only four students sought medical care for intoxication.
See Mold, Page 4
See Fifth, Page 5
Photo obtained by Jenna Mayer
The hat shown above is from a student who currently lives in Johnson Residence Hall. A parent of the student shared this photo on Facebook.
Concern about mold grows With student reports about mold, Res Life & Housing said they are working to mitigate the issue BY OLIVIA FIELD Life Editor fielor17@wfu.edu
“Relentless coughing, sore throat and then severe tonsillitis that prevented me from eating anything.” These were the symptoms sophomore Aidan Wiley said he experienced while living in a room he described as having “clear mold colonies” in Johnson Residence Hall. Wiley is among many students who have voiced concerns about the presence of mold and its effect on their health in Johnson, Bostwick and Collins Residence Halls. According to an informal poll of 59 current Johnson residents obtained by the Old Gold & Black, 98.3 percent of respondents said that “they do not normally get sick or get sick easily.” However,
more than a majority, 83.1 percent, said that they have been sick since moving into Johnson and 62.7 percent said the sickness was “respiratory-related.” While the symptoms cannot be definitively attributed to the presence of mold, as only 28.2 percent marked “yes” for whether or not they have seen mold in their rooms, it may be considered a potential factor of the respiratory problems reported. “Molds can cause health problems in a couple of ways. Most commonly, perhaps, they cause allergic reactions similar to seasonal allergies. Some species can make specific toxins that can have more serious effects on our health,” said biology professor Jim Curran. Several students who said they considered themselves to be healthy individuals have experienced respiratory symptoms since moving into Johnson and consider the mold to be a cause. “My health had never been so bad until I lived in Johnson,” said sophomore Kernohan said of her year living in the building. “I woke up with phlegm al-