Pepperdine Graphic 9-17-2020

THE PEPPERDINE GRAPHIC VOLUME L |

ISSUE 5 | September 17, 2020

BREAKING COVID-19 NEWS:

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A Women’s Track and Field student– athlete tested positive for COVID-19, prompting a University alert Sept. 16.

The athlete was last on campus Monday and was asymptomatic. The University alerted both the student’s close contacts and teammates of the student’s test results, with close contacts defined

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as “individuals who have been within six feet of a confirmed case for 15 minutes or longer,” according to the email sent to teammates.

This is the first known COVID-19 case on Malibu campus since March and the first case in Athletics. The University has not, yet, publicly issued a statement

to the greater community, as was protocol in spring 2020.

Pepperdine has had 53 cases of COVID-19 and two deaths.

Professors Plan to Utilize Proctor System for Exams C r ist o b al delgado Staf f Writ e r The midterm season comes closer each day, and Pepperdine students prepare to face the challenge of testing from their own homes. The testing process will be vastly different than that of previous semesters, however, because Pepperdine bought a new tool: Proctortrack.

Pepperdine contracted Proctortrack, an exam proctoring service, to ensure academic integrity for various tests and quizzes delivered across Pepperdine’s schools. Students and faculty shared concerns about the implications behind the proctoring system and a lack of privacy for students and their information.

“I feel like it has already been a tough year,” junior Pablo Avila said. “This is just one more thing to worry about. However, from the administration’s perspective, it’s understandable that they’d want to find a way to control test-taking.”

Professor Paul Begin, interim dean of Curriculum and Education, led the acquisition of Proctortrack for Seaver College.

Pepperdine has ensured that clauses in the contract between the University and Proctortrack protect students’ privacy, Begin said.

“The idea is to schedule data removal every 60 days,” Begin said. “I could envision circumstances in which we decide to purge data every 90 days.”

This data refers to the individual recordings of students taking exams, not the bio-

metric scans and identification information, which Proctortrack will store for a year, Begin said.

Seaver College contracted the system on a per-test basis. Seaver Dean Michael Feltner wrote in an email that acquiring Proctortrack for the 2020⁠–⁠2021 academic year — including the fall semester, January session, spring semester and two summer sessions — cost $30,000. Feltner wrote Proctortrack did not play a role in deciding the 2020–2021 academic year tuition.

The Proctortrack website offers institutions four different levels of monitoring students. Pepperdine professors have access to the lowest levels, which are called ProctorLock and ProctorAuto, respectively, Begin said. On these levels, professors choose from a set of behavior parameters they deem untrustworthy.

Some of these behaviors may include looking away from the screen, stepping outside of the camera’s view and having someone other than the student stepping into frame. Proctortrack monitors this by continually tracking eye movement and repeatedly producing biometric scans, which are scans that perceive and detect human features that confirm the test taker’s identity.

Additionally, the service observes audio levels in the room, controls the browser to restrict students’ access to other websites, takes screenshots and regularly captures images of the student and their environment. It logs keystrokes and stores the names of any other application running on the user’s computer.

To set up Proctortrack, students will go through a demo in which they must show their Pepperdine ID, perform a facial scan and a knuckle or palm scan. The proctoring service will store these scans for a year, which means that students do not have to set up the system for every exam, Begin said. This demo also familiarizes the student with the service.

Avila said he feels wary about using the proctoring service; he said it makes him feel uncomfortable to share a scan of his face — as well as other personal information — with a third party.

Many professors, like Religion Professor Christopher Heard, have decided to shift away from memorization-based examinations to new teaching methods in response to the pandemic and remote learning.

Heard, also the director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, has left testing behind.

Instead, he said he chooses to focus on “authentic assessments,” which refer to assessments that recreate situations an individual in a particular field would face in the real world.

Sophomore Mauricio Contreras said he also did not like being forced to give up his personal information, even if it were to be erased after some time. Moreover, he felt uncomfortable with the notion a proctoring service like Proctortrack suggests — that students are untrustworthy.

“Professors should trust students to maintain integrity,” Contreras said. “Moreover, exams should focus on putting your knowl-

ashley mowreader | news editor

Samantha Miller| Artist edge into practice, which does not lend itself to cheating.”

Like Contreras, Heard said he believes the use of Proctortrack implies professors do not trust their students and assumes they will cheat. Additionally, he said smaller and more frequent quizzes help students learn more and become more acquainted with the material, while occasional large tests usually promote memorization.

Over the weekend, an anonymous Instagram page called “Ban Proctortrack at Pepperdine” posted a petition to boycott the system. The page claimed it opposes Proctortrack for privacy and consent issues. As of Sept. 14, the petition has over 200 signatures.

C R ISTOBAL .DEL GADO@PEPPER DINE.EDU

COVID-19 alters student and alumni career plans Annab ell e C hilders Staf f W r i te r The COVID-19 pandemic has permeated every aspect of life, leaving Pepperdine students and graduates staring into a vastly different world than they imagined seven months ago and hoping their career plans will weather the storm.

In the midst of an oversaturated job market, high unemployment and confronted with an unclear path toward normalcy, some students question their ability to find work after Pepperdine. Others view their future professions in a hopeful, new light.

“We used to talk about major world crises like, ‘Someday, the power grid could go down,’” junior Bridget Johnson said. “But this world crisis we find ourselves in the middle of is very applicable to STEM, chemistry and biology, and it has made me thankful I get to study this type of thing.”

Johnson is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a minor in Spanish. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson said she planned to attend the summer Spanish Intensive program in Buenos Aires and do chemistry research at Pepperdine.

With the cancellation of International Programs and closure of the Malibu campus, Johnson said she decided to spend the summer working as a pharmacy assistant at Rite Aid in her hometown of Bellevue, Wash.

“While working at Rite Aid showed me I did not want to be a retail pharmacist, it did open my eyes to the future of pharmacy and how important that is in the health care field as we move toward telemedicine,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she was grateful for the opportunity to be a pharmacy assistant, but she wishes she could have completed research

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this summer to decide whether she is interested in pursuing that career path in chemistry. Johnson also said the pandemic caused her to commit to doing research next summer because it is an expectation for students wanting to go into a doctoral program or chemistry career.

Although the pandemic prevented Johnson from gaining clarity on her future career path, she said she feels hopeful she will find a job after graduation.

“I’m not worried in the sense of finding a job, but it is a difficult economy, so I do keep that in mind,” Johnson said. “But for chemistry, I think we have a unique opportunity in that our skills are valuable amid a pandemic.”

While Johnson said she finds career prospects in STEM encouraging, other Pepperdine students reported they feel anxious because of the pandemic’s effects on the job market.

August 2020 surveys reported the unemployment rate in the United States at 8.4% with 13.6 million Americans unemployed, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of unemployed Americans is lower than April through July unemployment rates, but it is more than double the February unemployment rate of 3.5% before the United States declared COVID-19 as a national emergency.

Though the unemployment rate is steadily decreasing, Seaver students said they still fear they will be unable to find work once they graduate.

In a Graphic survey of 78 Pepperdine students and alumni, 81% reported they were nervous or slightly nervous about finding a job post-graduation. Over 40% reported the pandemic had altered their career plans.

While Seaver undergraduates imagine life after graduation,

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Madeline Duvall| ArT Editor the class of 2020 experiences the COVID-19 job market firsthand.

Elissa Croslin graduated from Pepperdine in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater with an emphasis in Acting. Croslin said the pandemic created significant changes for actors, such as self-taped auditions and virtual acting courses. She said she currently takes an online acting class alongside other Theater graduates from Pepperdine.

Croslin said she initially planned to live in Los Angeles after graduation but decided to move back home with her parents until acting opportunities return to an in-person format.

“It just got to the point where I didn’t feel like it made sense to be in LA if I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do there,” Croslin said.

“The whole point of being in that epicenter of acting is there are all

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these opportunities, and when they’re not there, it’s just not worth paying so much for rent.”

Croslin said most of her friends from Pepperdine also live at home, and her acting friends are pursuing virtual acting opportunities.

“It’s more difficult because you’re not really able to do what you’re so passionate about in the way you’re used to doing it,” Croslin said. “So I think the definition of acting — or just being an actor, really — is shifting for so many of us.”

While Croslin said her time at home has been difficult, she also said she has been able to reflect on what it means to be an actress.

“It’s such an important time for actors to reflect and think about, ‘What are we doing this for? What kind of actor do we want to be?’”

Croslin said. “Those are the questions I think all of us have, but

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we’re really getting to look at them right now.”

Croslin said she feels like the past seven months revealed to society the importance of the arts because people are at home consuming more media than ever before.

“I think it’s an inspiring time for people who are not always supportive because they’re seeing the arts be something that’s fuel and passion and excitement,” Croslin said.

Croslin and Johnson said they are both thankful for opportunities to reflect and grow during this time.

“I think if you’re staying safe and you’re finding ways to dig into that creativity, then that’s what matters,” Croslin said.

AN N AB E LLE .CH I LDE R S@PE PPE R DI N E . E DU

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S E P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 | N E W S | P E P P E R DIN E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Covid-19

THE DPS REPORTS

by the numbers

Check out pepperdine.edu/publicsafety for the DPS Reports every week

Pepperdine Community:

53 two Deaths

Known Cases

No new reports logged 9/6 to 9/13 The Clery Act requires Pepperdine’s Department of Public Safety to report crimes such as larceny-theft, assault, robbery, sexual assault, motor vehcile theft, as well as violations of the Student Code of Conduct such as possession of alcohol or marijuana on campus. The Crime Log is updated every Monday to reflect the last month’s reports.

Malibu:

101 Cases

three Deaths

3

Los angeles county:

PRESIDENT’S BRIEFING & OTHER NEWS YOU MISSED P e pp re ma in s in the top 50 un ive rsitie s in th e world Th e U.S. News & Wor ld Re por t of Best Colleges ra nked pepper dine no.

4 9 out of 38 9 national in stitutions for 2021 and is n u mber 18 for its undergr aduate pr ogr am.

6,273

Deaths

U.S.:

6.64M

Spr i ng a nd s u m m e r acad e m i c ca le nda r s a r e o u t SEAVER Dean Mi c hael F eltner rel eas ed t he s p ri ng and s u mmer 2 02 1 ac ademi c cal endars vi a emai l S ep t.

15.

Co m m e nce m e nt ce r e m o ni e s p la nne d fo r S p r i ng 2 0 2 1 t he s eaver dean’s of f i c e rel eas ed t entat i ve p l ans f or T he c l as s of 2 02 0 g raduat i on c el eb rat i on on May 2 1 , 2 02 0, and t he c eremony f or t he c l as s of 2 02 1 t o f ol l ow on May 2 2 , 2 02 1 .

v i r tu al eve n ts f or the upc om in g w e e k

255,049 cases

Pe ppe rd in e the atre d e pa rtme n t will pre se nt a first-ye a r showc a se the depar tment will shar e The showcase, titled “The Human Touch,” on Sept. 18 , and fir st-year students will per for m monologues fr om differ ent plays.

THURS 17

What: Cooking class with kylie Mazon-chambers When: 4 p.m. PDT Hosted by: seaver college What: The gathering When: 7 p.m. PDT hosted by: the well and celebration chapel

FRI 18

MON 21

What: jackbox + jack-inthe-box When: 6 p.m. PDT Hosted by: The bOard

What: FiNANCES 101 When: 6 P.m. PDT Hosted by: Black student association

What: first-year showcase, “the human touch” When: 7:30 p.m. PDT Hosted by: Pepperdine Theatre department

What: crossroads trivia night When: 7 PM PDT Hosted by: Crossroads

TUES 22

No events scheduled

WED 23

What: IntUITIVE eating workshop When: 9 a.m. PDT Hosted by: Nourish What: Step team zoom tryout When: 8 P.m. PDT Hosted by: PEPPERDINE Step team

cases

week

196K Deaths Worldwide:

29.7M cases

937K

Deaths Malibu reopening phase:

**

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SE P T E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 2 0 | N E W S | P E P P E R DIN E G RA P H I C ME D I A

Pepp works toward a new fitness center Em ily Mo r t o n S taf f w r i ter Pepperdine plans to build a temporary fitness center to create more space and bring in new equipment for students to use. The temporary location will bridge the gap between the old fitness space in Firestone Fieldhouse and the plan for a new recreation center.

The temporary fitness center will include newer machines and equipment, replacing outdated resources. The main focus of the new facility is to increase space and allow more students to be able to comfortably work out.

“It’s not a secret that the space isn’t adequate for what we need,” said Robb Bolton, director of Campus Recreation.

The current fitness center does not have the space or equipment to accommodate the size of the University, Bolton said. It is available to both students and community members, making it hard to navigate.

The temporary fitness center will be built directly above the soccer field; the location will give easier access to on-campus students

due to the closer proximity to the dorms. It will have a concrete foundation with a custom tent structure built above it and will be two times the square footage of the fitness center at Firestone.

“They took advantage of the fact that it could have an amazing view, so we pushed hard to request they put in windows,” Bolton said.

Bolton said Campus Recreation wants to set up the cardio equipment by the windows for students to make the best of the ocean view.

The new plans were based on feedback from students and community members in the spring, Bolton said. Campus Recreation found through a survey that patrons valued an area to stretch, do core workouts and rest.

The old fitness room did not have the space for patrons to stretch and rehabilitate, prompting people to find space in corners, Bolton said.

Sophomore James Hanson said he agrees there was not enough room in Firestone to work out his first year.

“I don’t like how small the space is,” Hanson said.

“I’m unable to use the free weights in the mornings because of the classes going on.”

Bolton said the new space will allow for students to intermingle while they work out.

In addition to a larger area, the temporary fitness center will have more and newer equipment. The department plans to buy rowing machines and more cardio gear to accommodate student needs. Students like Hanson said they noticed a lack of variety in equipment and accessibility to equipment.

“I would like to have more free weights so the class and the lifters can do their thing at the same time,” Hanson said.

Pepperdine has satellite fitness sites at Drescher and Towers Residence Halls, but Bolton said the goal of the temporary and new fitness centers is to eliminate the need for the satellite sites and provide optimal space in one location.

President Jim Gash was an instrumental part of getting the ball rolling for this project, Bolton said.

“He acknowledged the needs that we have for Campus Recreation and serving

Name | Position Out With the Old| Firestone Fieldhouse hosts the old smaller fitness center for students and community members. Campus Recreation plans to build the new one next to Seaside Residence Hall as a intermediate step for President Gash’s vision for a new student center he calls “The Mountain.” the entire student body in our community and understanding that the current fitness facility doesn’t match the level of excellence that Pepperdine strives for all of our facilities,” Bolton said.

The temporary fitness center is a step toward Gash’s vision, tentatively

called “The Mountain,” for a larger recreation center.

Pepperdine planned to open the temporary fitness center in the fall of 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed those plans.

Tim Perrin, senior vice president for Strategic Implementation, confirmed

Pepperdine will move ahead with the project but does not have a set date for when the temporary fitness center will be ready to open.

EM ILY.M OR TON@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Pepp plans in-person graduationS may 2021 Gr ac e w o od a s si stant new s e dit or On Sept. 4, the Seaver Dean’s Office asked 2020 graduates and the upcoming class of 2021 graduates to plan for in-person graduation ceremonies for May 21 and 22, respectively.

Last spring, the class of 2020 went without an in-person graduation ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of now, the Malibu campus and Los Angeles County face guidelines restricting large group gatherings. The Seaver Dean’s Office, however, said it remains hopeful that a treatment or vaccine for COVID-19 will soon emerge, allowing an in-person graduation ceremony to take place with necessary health precautions.

If no vaccine emerges and the Malibu campus is still under orders not to gather in person, the Dean’s Office said a traditional graduation ceremony will not take place, though it is unclear what a remote ceremony would look like.

“We really want to honor all of the class of 2020 and class of 2021 graduates,” said Lexi Palma, manager of administrative services in

the Seaver Dean’s Office. “They’re really pushing to have an actual ceremony because we know how important that is for the graduates.

But safety is obviously the most important thing.”

The Dean’s Office surveyed 569 members of the class of 2020.

Seventy percent of respondents indicated their preferred option for graduation is May 2021, 91% of respondents indicated an in-person graduation is “important or very important” to them and 81% of respondents indicated they preferred a May 2021 graduation ceremony over a virtual commencement or an indoor ceremony this December.

Alumna Lucy Poore (2020) said if there is an in-person graduation ceremony this coming May, she will go, but she remains skeptical due to present circumstances.

“I’m super excited, and I hope it works out and it’s safe for everyone to go, but I also feel a bit hesitant that it’s actually going to happen,” Poore said.

Senior Erica Lewis said while she wants an in-person graduation ceremony to celebrate the hard work she has done at Pepperdine,

Doing graduation safely is the most imporatant thing. If there are recommendations that people are still distant, they will find a way to make that happen.

Lexi Palma Manager of administrative services, seaver dean’s office she still has safety concerns. Lewis’ mother is at risk for contracting COVID-19, and while Lewis said

she wants her family to be at the ceremony, she doesn’t want to expose them to a high-risk situation.

“Normally, I would consider myself more COVID-conscious than maybe the average college student, but at the same time, an in-person graduation is really important to me,” Lewis said. “But a massive event like that is probably pretty serious, so that has me a little nervous, honestly.”

If LA County allows an in-person graduation to take place, the ceremony will be outdoors on Alumni Park, Palma said. Other details, however, are still up in the air.

“We should know more, closer to the event, what protocols are still in place at that time,” Palma said.

“Doing graduation safely is the most important thing. If there are recommendations that people are still distant, they will find a way to make that happen. Other things, like keeping the hand sanitizer stations frequent and things like that, will probably be implemented.”

Palma said there is an event-planning team closely observing how other schools and businesses are holding conferences

and large events to establish best practices to keep attendees safe.

Palma said many details of the graduation ceremonies will likely not be determined until closer to May. If large groups are still unable to gather on campus, Seaver College may consider virtual graduation ceremonies, Palma said.

“Obviously, virtual is better than nothing,” Poore said. “I think it would be meaningful, but I don’t think it would be the same.”

The Seaver Dean’s Office, while urging students and graduates to save the date for May of 2021, said students should still hold off on purchasing non-refundable travel arrangements like plane tickets and hotel accommodations until early spring.

Updates on graduation ceremonies for the classes of 2020 and 2021 are available on the Graduation Information website.

GR AC E.W OOD@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Students adjust to California COVID-19 guidelines ADdie whiten new s assista n t When Pepperdine announced it would conduct the fall 2020 semester entirely online, about 200 students chose to move back to the Malibu area to live off campus for the school year. Many of these students came from states where COVID-19 regulations and the public perception of the pandemic differ from what they see in Southern California and had to adjust to new conditions since their move back to the area.

Some of the new conditions students adjusted to were the inability to eat inside restaurants, navigating safe hangouts with friends in the area and having the freedom to choose whether to go out and risk exposure.

“It’s nice to be back,” sophomore Justin Selva said. “It’s so different from Texas.”

Selva moved out of his home in San Antonio, Texas, and into an apartment in the Simi Valley in August. He said in San Antonio, businesses were beginning to reopen when COVID-19 case numbers began rising in late July.

“Toward the end, as I was about to leave, it was getting worse,” Selva said. “Restaurants were shutting down and things were closed. People were picking up their grocer-

ies curbside and not really even going into the grocery store.”

Before this second wave of cases hit San Antonio, Selva said he and his hometown friends would go out and do typical activities, provided they follow the typical guidelines of wearing a mask and social distancing.

“Places were open, but it was kind of a do-it-at-your-own-risk situation,” Selva said.

Selva said he chose to live in Ventura County because case numbers there were fewer than in LA County, and after seeing how bad cases got at home, he wanted to be in as safe a place as possible. He said the closer he is to LA, the more he sees people following the rules — but in the Simi Valley, people often disregard regulations.

“It honestly just depends on where you go if people are taking it seriously enough to actually wear their masks,” Selva said.

Though the general health guidelines are about the same between Southern California and San Antonio, Selva said the hardest adjustment he’s made with his move back to the area is the noticeable lack of indoor dining options.

“There haven’t been any restaurants I’ve seen in my area, or anywhere in California so far, where you can go and actually sit down inside, enjoy your meal and see other peo-

ple,” Selva said.

Senior Jolie Lowe also said being unable to eat inside a restaurant was an adjustment for her after spending the summer working as a waitress in her hometown of Hillsboro, Ore. She said she has, however, enjoyed seeing people in California cooperating with mask regulations.

“I work at a restaurant in Oregon, and we would often have people come in and get upset with us for telling them they have to put on a mask,” Lowe said. “I’ve seen less people down here with no masks, and I haven’t seen people get into arguments with workers or anything in the way I was seeing regularly at home.”

Lowe moved into her Malibu apartment in August, and she said it’s hard to tell whether COVID-19 regulations were stricter at home or if people were more intentional about following guidelines in Oregon.

“My mom and I drove down together to Malibu, and we were surprised by the number of people who were out in public areas doing stuff because it’s still pretty quiet in Oregon,” Lowe said.

Since being back in Malibu, Lowe said she’s done several socially distanced hangouts with friends and roommates. She also reminds herself of the severity of the disease and is careful

with whom she chooses to interact with so she doesn’t unintentionally infect others.

Both Lowe and Selva said now that they moved back to California, they have seen more people than they did at home, potentially exposing themselves to COVID-19 while hanging out with friends or going to the grocery store. Selva said it’s nice, however, for him to determine his outings rather than his parents.

“I’m by myself, so I make the decision whether I want to go out and risk it by going to the store,” Selva said. “Back home, the rules were a little different because I was with my parents who didn’t want me to go out.

They were the ones who were leaving to do stuff.”

Though Selva has seen people refusing to follow rules in both California and Texas, he said he believes it is important for everyone to do their part in stopping the spread of the disease.

“I [follow guidelines] for the safety of others and to be respectable and a good person,” Selva said.

ADDIE.W HITEN@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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P E P P E R DINE GR A P HIC M E DIA | N E W S | SE P TE MB E R 1 7 , 20 20

SGA welcomes new e-board after six months without leadership M iles C am pbell staf f w r i te r Pepperdine’s Student Government Association released its election results Sept. 10. With no competition for any of the Executive Board positions, every candidate who ran won their respective position.

SGA’s Executive Board will consist of President Chase Johnson (2022), Executive Vice President Cammy Lowenfield (2021), Vice President of Administration Addy Hardin (2021) and Vice President of Finance Roline Attia (2021).

“It’s a really big honor to be able to lead as a junior,” Johnson said.

“I think I’ve definitely been involved in SGA long enough where I understand what it takes to be SGA president, and I’m excited to be setting the tone for what we’re going to look like in the times of COVID.” This year’s election took place at the beginning of the 2020–2021 school year as opposed to the end of the 2020 spring semester; additionally, many candidates ran unopposed. SGA also provided a write-in section for alternative candidate selections.

Fewer candidates than usual competed for SGA positions this year. All Executive Board candidates ran without competition, the junior class had only two senators run — leaving an open senator position — and the sophomore class did not have a single candidate on its ballot.

“Most people ran unopposed, and that’s not normal,” Hardin said. “It doesn’t worry me, but it definitely shows there’s a need for us to step up this year and really serve the students.”

SGA does not normally publish exact election statistics, but fewer than 600 students participated in the election, SGA Adviser Brittany Skinner said.

“For the previous year’s elections, we had the largest turnout since I’ve been advising SGA — around 1,200 — but the previous four years averaged closer to 1,000 per election cycle,” Skinner said.

“For context, I’ve been the SGA adviser for the past six years of SGA elections.”

Johnson said he believes the numbers were lower than usual in part due to the COVID-19 pan-

demic and classes this semester being remote.

“A lot of students are having to juggle a lot of new changes, and maybe SGA elections weren’t at the top of their list — and that’s completely understandable,” Johnson said.

Although voter turnout was lower than past years, the voting process remained the same; students received an email with voting information and a link to Peppervine, where they cast their vote.

The lack of competition for Executive Board positions will not affect the goals of the new members for this school year, the new E-Board members said.

I think it’s a great balance, and we all bring in different perspectives.

We don’t agree on everything, and that’s good because I feel like there can be positive conflict that results in positive change.

Cammy lowenfield Executive vice President “Whether someone ran against us or not, it’s not going to change our work ethic,” Attia said. “We ran because we wanted to do it — because we were ready to do it.”

Being online due to COVID-19 certainly poses a challenge for SGA members, who are planning ways to ensure a connection between the students and administration despite being remote. As executive vice president, Lowenfield said she hopes to bridge the gap between

Photo courtesy of chase johnson New Leaders on the Block | The new SGA board poses for their campaign picture, COVID-19 style. The elected Executive Board consists of (left to right) Executive Vice President Cammy Lowenfield, President Chase Johnson, Vice President of Administration Addy Hardin and Vice President of Finance Roline Attia.

SGA and clubs and organizations on campus, specifically through engagement on social media.

“I have a plan I’m working on to make [SGA decisions] more transparent on social media because I feel like that’s the easiest way for students to see it,” Lowenfield said.

Attia said she agrees with Lowenfield that social media will be the most effective strategy to promote involvement.

As vice president of finance, Attia is responsible for overseeing the budget and funds — a task that requires utmost transparency and accountability for the sake of students’ perceptions; transparency is one of her main priorities for the school year.

“Transparency is one of those things where you don’t just bridge the gap, but you also build trust

with whoever you’re representing,” Attia said. “I am a student, I am part of the student body — I just happen to be representing them.”

SGA plans to continue to host its meetings publicly on Zoom to provide the community with insight as to what its plans are and encourages students to attend. SGA will provide this link once finalized.

“We really do hope to increase student involvement now that our meetings are a lot more accessible,” Johnson said. “They’re not necessarily a walk or drive away but a click away.”

Lowenfield said she believes the Executive Board team will work exceptionally well together because their unique chemistry allows them to contribute new ideas and opinions.

“I think it’s a great balance, and

we all bring in different perspectives,” Lowenfield said. “We don’t agree on everything, and that’s good because I feel like there can be positive conflict that results in positive change.”

Hardin said she agreed that differences in personalities result in creative statements that generate new ideas.

“All of us have really strong personalities and we’ll say what we think, and I think that’s really important,” Hardin said. “It benefits us because we handle issues well, and we hear each other out.”

M IL ES.C AM PBEL L @PEPPER DINE.EDU

pepp finalizes academic calendar Ashl ey Mo w r eader New s edi tor Seaver students continue to trudge through fall semester, but administration is looking ahead to the future with plans for in-person classes as early as January.

Seaver Dean Michael Feltner shared finalized plans for rest of the academic calendar in a Sept.

15 email, including dates for the new January session, commencement and summer sessions.

“We are hoping and planning to resume in-person classes on all University campuses — Malibu and international programs — in the spring semester,” Feltner wrote. “At the same time, future uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic requires that we plan for multiple course delivery scenarios.”

The academic calendar first shifted with the start of fall semester, with classes beginning two weeks earlier than usual to allow students to finish finals be-

fore Thanksgiving. Administration changed the calendar in hopes the adjusted dates would reduce travel for students taking classes in Malibu and allow time for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine by the start of the spring semester, according to a July 9 email from Feltner.

Spring semester will begin Feb. 8, 2021, and finals will end May 20, 2021. Administration also provided an updated academic calendar with additional details.

Notable changes to the calendar include four days of New Student Orientation, no spring break, and commencement plans for the classes of 2020 and 2021 on May 21 and 22, respectively.

“Given the uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, we recommend that students and families delay booking non-refundable travel arrangements for the commencement ceremony until further updates are provided in early spring,” Feltner wrote.

ashley Mowreader| news editor Stamp of Approval | Seaver finalized the academic calendar Sept. 16. The calendar shifted two weeks earlier for fall semester and delayed the start of spring semester one month to allow time for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Feltner also shared finalized January session dates.

Due to the adjusted calendar, Pepperdine will offer this special January session

in lieu of a May summer session. The term will begin Jan. 4, 2021, and conclude Jan. 29, 2021.

“At this time, our plan is

to offer only online courses during the January session, but if conditions permit, we hope to offer some in-person classes, as well

as undergraduate research, internship, and other similar special academic programs,” Feltner wrote.

Another anomaly of the January session is the tuition discount for students who choose to enroll. Courses will be priced at $250 per credit hour for full-time students, as opposed to the current $1,810 per-credithour tuition rate offered for summer sessions; however, there is a maximum of four credit hours available per student for the term.

“The college is hopeful that students use the January session to advance their academic success and accelerate their progress toward degree completion,” Feltner wrote.

Seaver’s June and July summer sessions dates remain unchanged.

ASHL EY.M OW R EADER @PEPPER DINE.EDU

The Graphic

PERSPECTIVES pepper di ne-g r aphi c.com

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STAFF LIST

Leah Bae | Artist

STAFF EDITORIAL

IP needs a stronger COVID-19 response When high school seniors eagerly accept admittance to Pepperdine, around 8 out of 10 of them do so with the expectation they will spend a significant portion of their college career in another country, according to the International Programs website. For many, the University’s stellar study abroad programs are the sole reason they choose to attend.

This year, however, COVID-19 has destroyed students’ plans to go abroad.

Though the decision to cancel programs was unavoidable, Pepperdine failed to properly accommodate students, confusing them with false optimism and indirect communication. In the coming semesters, IP should give priority to students whose fall programs were canceled due to the pandemic.

Studying abroad is an essential part of Pepperdine’s identity. The University ranks No. 2 in the nation for study abroad participation; roughly 80% of students take part in an international program before graduating, according to Pepperdine’s website.

Pepperdine stands out from other schools since it has its own programs in seven locations rather than sending students to local universities to study. This means students do not need to worry about logistical details, such as securing housing or making friends.

Additionally, Pepperdine encourages students to go abroad for an entire academic year, whereas most schools only allow students to attend for a single semester or a short summer session.

Since the first round of abroad applications are typically due in September and decisions are released in October, first-year students spend most of their year planning for their time abroad.

Similarly, juniors who return from abroad have a close connection to their programs, making Pepperdine

culture uniquely abroad-focused compared to other schools.

Now, after the cancellation of this year’s abroad programs, students are unable to take part in a quintessential aspect of the Pepperdine experience.

The pandemic — not Pepperdine — should be the only barrier to sending these students abroad; however, IP already told sophomores they would not receive any priority for future programs.

IP is doubling the capacity for summer 2021 programs to give more students the chance to go overseas; however, the summer term is hardly comparable to studying for the academic year. The priority deadline is Sept. 21 for June and July programs, requiring students to again apply for a program that could end up canceled.

Next year’s sophomore class should then be given the option to go abroad in their junior year. While this is not ideal and alters Pepperdine’s standard process, COVID-19 warrants an atypical response.

Structure can easily be arranged by encouraging first-years and sophomores to take more major classes to leave room for the GE classes offered abroad.

Sophomores who planned on going overseas in the fall now question if they will ever be given the chance to study abroad.

IP voided contracts for students who planned to attend the fall 2020 semester only; their enrollment in the program was not deferred to spring. Some students who contacted the IP office were placed on a spring 2020 waitlist but were given no timeline of when they would find out whether they would receive a spot.

Through Instagram posts, Zoom meetings and emails, the University tells sophomores to stay excited for the spring semester, even though there is no guarantee the programs

THE 'BU YORKER

will happen. While this positive approach is well intended, what students need right now is reality, not false optimism.

Countless scientific predictions released in the spring indicated COVID-19’s impact would not disappear by this fall, but Pepperdine waited until late summer to cancel programs, leading students on for months. Students received flight confirmation forms as late as June 26. Pepperdine should learn from this mistake when communicating with students about future programs.

As COVID-19 escalated and students awaited cancellation, the office also kept students’ vital documents such as passports and visas since they would need them again if students wanted to participate in a spring 2021 program, Director of International Programs Beth Laux wrote in an email.

While students were able to submit a request to retrieve their documents, sophomore CJ Davenport wrote in an email that the process of getting his passport back took over a month and included poor communication. Even after many phone calls and a trip from his home in Atlanta, Ga., to campus, IP was unable to confirm its whereabouts.

After many failed attempts to locate it, IP finally mailed the passport to him.

Sophomores who planned to study abroad for their fall 2020 classes had to re-register for classes in July after the closure of abroad programs. These students were given priority to register for classes before others, although some classes were already full from spring registration.

Sophomore Sammie Wuensche said when registration came around, students struggled to get into classes for their majors.

Sophomores aren’t the only students affected: Students who

were enrolled in abroad summer internship programs were not given any assistance in finding new internships. This left many rising seniors, who still need academic internship credits to graduate, grappling with the difficulty of finding a last-minute internship themselves.

The London Internship program, for instance, only had 10 students enrolled for the summer. Pepperdine could have put students in touch with career counselors or, at the very least, sent them information on Pepperdine’s COVID-19 changes to internship requirements.

IP’s recent social media campaigns have also missed the mark.

Attempting to recruit incoming first-year students on Instagram by encouraging program alumni to post their favorite abroad memories with hashtags like #RushFlorence shows a blatant disregard for the unfaltering deadly pandemic and the hundreds of unsettled students with canceled programs.

Instead of implementing tonedeaf recruitment campaigns, IP should have postponed the Sept.

21, priority application deadlines.

Requiring applications this early prompts hundreds of new students to get their hopes up for a future that may not even be possible.

Going forward, academic-year program slots should be reserved for the sophomores unable to cash-in on last year’s acceptances. Students should be notified of this soon, so they can work with academic advisors to plan spring schedules that will accommodate a junior year abroad.

Without IP, Pepperdine’s value changes immensely. IP staff and Pepperdine administration obviously did not wish for these circumstances; however, students deserve to be prioritized and guided through this process in a more understanding, decisive manner.

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End the (W)omen (A)nd Sexual (P)ower controversy Pepp, emphasize cultural clubs U m e e s h a d ’a lw i s s ta f f w r i t e r In early August, hip-hop fans across the world stopped scrolling through their Instagram feeds when they realized the collaboration they craved was finally here. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion released a hit single called “WAP.” The women empowerment anthem quickly received backlash, revealing a sexual double standard in the music industry. While male rappers receive praise for sharing their sexual encounters, women in the industry often find themselves criticized for similar lyrics.

The song includes samples from Frank Ski’s 1993 “Whores In This House” as Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion rap explicitly about their own sexual encounters. The song’s music video features a mansion with breast-shaped fountains, rooms with snakes and jaguars, and cameos with Kylie Jenner, Normani, Rosalía and Rubi Rose. Notably, no men are featured.

The song drew 93 million U.S. streams in one week — the most for any track in its first week of release, according to Billboard and Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

Its immediate success, however, did not stop the criticism. Ben Shapiro, a conservative political commentator, called it “really, really, really vulgar” in his YouTube video.

Rep. James P. Bradley, R-C.A., wrote in a tweet that it made him “want to pour holy water in [his] ears.”

Although politicians hold the right to share their opinions, the U.S. Constitution and its freedom of speech — which politicians are meant to uphold — also allow for female rappers to openly share their sexual encounters. Politicians who mock the sophistication of female rappers for sharing personal stories

Sahej Bhasin s ta f f w r i t e r Editor’s Note: Sahej Bhasin is the Vice President of the Indian Student Association

MADELINE DUVALL | ART EDITOR are hypocritical at best.

Cardi B revealed in an interview with i-D that she was “really surprised” by the song’s backlash.

However, criticism of female rappers is not new. Rappers like Lil’ Kim and Salt-N-Peppa rapped sexually explicit lyrics in the 1990s and early 2000s and faced pushback, according to Salika U. Ibaorimi, an African diasporic studies scholar at the University of Texas at Austin.

The double standard in hip-hop rewards and praises men for heterosexual encounters but criticizes and stigmatizes girls women who rap about similar behaviors.

So, why are there different expectations for female rappers?

First, the hip-hop industry is a male-dominated industry. The University of Southern California released the results of a six-year study that found women only represented less than 23% of artists whose songs made Billboard’s Hot 100 list.

The study also showed that more than 90% of Grammy award nominees between 2013 and 2018 were men, and out of 651 music producers, only 2% were women.

Second, the hip-hop industry thrives on the storyline in which rappers create explicit and violent lyrics against women to assert dominance over them and prove

authenticity as hypermasculine figures. Rappers like Snoop Dogg and T.I. call themselves “pimps” but cast Black women as prostitutes or “hoes” to ensure a stronger male power dynamic over women.

Cardi B made it clear that the criticism over the song’s lyrics and its video don’t bother her. In fact, the constant talk about the track just gave it more attention. This shows how women in hip-hop are resilient to the criticism they expect to face.

Beyond the music industry, the root of WAP’s controversy exposes a more complex side of sexism.

Men tend to assume their needs align with the needs of their sexual partners. Whether it’s a late-night “booty call” or at a party, they expect that when they are in need, a partner will fulfill that need.

Yet, when a woman has two, 10 or 20 sexual partners, her character or quality of life is viewed as less than a man’s, which poses a serious threat to a woman’s health and confidence.

It’s time that people shift their views on female sexuality as a form of empowerment.

U ME E S H A . DA LW IS@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Continue appreciating icons who are POC for decades. She holds her ground and proudly stands up for herself and the Black community, inspiring other Black individuals to feel confident and seek equal praise or scrutiny in society.

Some actors can even anit iz M uo nagolu help restore a sense of p e rspecti ve As si sta n t culture that was previously seen as lost. Chadwick Edi tor Boseman, star of the hit Even though the U.S. is Marvel movie “Black Pana nation of many diverse ther,” is a prime example backgrounds, the media of this; while supporting doesn’t always paint the Black empowerment, complete picture. Movies, “Black Panther” reversed music and other areas of typical movie tropes by entertainment are heavily writing the majority of white-dominated. POC the roles for Black actors. pop culture icons and Moreover, the outsider stars let others feel includ- comic relief role was given ed, improve their selfto a white person rather worth and allow them to than a POC. see themselves in a posFurthermore, “Black itive way that the media Panther” connected many may not portray.

Black people to a piece In the Black commuof African culture often nity, stars and idols such left out from white-led as Beyonce, Megan Thee films. The villain, played Stallion or Samuel L.

by Michael B. Jordan, Jackson shine as symbols teaches those of African of strength and determidescent that being born in nation in their fields. For the U.S. doesn’t close off instance, Beyoncé entered their origins, and it shows the music industry when the diaspora of African it was not only dominated people. by white people but, more Sadly, Boseman’s life important, by white men. came to an end Aug. 28 Now, she is the foremost after a fouryear battle with authority on African colon cancer. Even in his American and women death, Boseman will conempowerment. She is tinue to inspire those in a walking testament to the Black community to “Black Girl Magic.” identify with their African Many criticized Megan heritage, be confident in Thee Stallion and her their skin and believe in latest song “WAP” for “Wakanda forever.” using the same language In the Hispanic and that male artists have used Latinx communities, icons

such as Sofia Vergara, Ricky Martin and Selena depict how successful and iconic Hispanic and Latin Heritage stars are.

Declared the second-highest-paid actress in Hollywood with over $43 million in 2019, Sofia Vergara sports a heavy Columbian accent that normalizes Spanish and non-traditional formal English. In the music industry, Ricky Martin, king of Latin pop, and Selena, queen of Tejano music, earned much praise for their musical careers.

With the wide-spread enthusiasm surrounding K-Pop icons, it’s hard to believe Asian people weren’t always given opportunities to be stars.

At first, actors like Li Jun Fan, also known as Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan were the only well-known Asian stars in America. Lee’s disappointment in the lack of Asian roles in the U.S. inspired him to create his own film, “Fists of Fury.”

Its success launched his career as an action movie star and eventually paved

the way for Chan.

Unsatisfied with being a Lee replacement, Chan focused his talents on combining his martial arts ability with light-hearted comedy that didn’t focus on negative Asian stereotypes. Now, people of various Asian cultures like Wonho and Harry Shum Jr., demonstrate that Asian entertainers can be complex and appeal to various audiences.

Without POC icons, a large portion of the U.S. population is unable to see themselves represented in mainstream media.

Hollywood and all forms of entertainment need to improve how they cast and depict POC and other minorities by creating characters that reflect the world around them. Even if these issues are solved overnight, POC will always hold on to these icons to remind themselves how to shine, even in the shadows of adversity and misrepresentation.

A J. MU O N A G O L U@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Pepperdine’s cultural and identity clubs are home to underrepresented students of color on campus. Although there are 28 of these clubs on campus, students continue to call on Pepperdine to focus more attention on diversity and inclusion. While cultural clubs are extremely beneficial to the Pepperdine community, they are not receiving the acknowledgment they deserve.

Most of these clubs host events to highlight the most unique aspects of various cultures, such as the Indian Student Association’s annual Diwali celebration or the Hawai’i Club’s annual Lū’au. These clubs also provide necessary cultural education on a campus that is predominately white.

Cultural clubs highlight the customs of certain cultures and introduce the community to experiences they are not accustomed to. Some clubs represent the cultures of international students, who may feel homesick and wish to engage with their roots.

Bhavya Patel, a junior from Ahmedabad, India, said the Indian Student Association aims to raise awareness of South Asian nationalities at Pepperdine.

“Being away from my country is hard for me during the year,” Patel said. “Even though there is not much diversity at Pepperdine, I have seen the great ways that these clubs uplift our cultures and make me feel at home with my own family.”

With racial divisions plaguing the U.S., it is imperative to understand the significance of other cultures and learn how to honor and respect their customs.

Seaver College’s fall 2019 statistics show white students account for 49% of the student population, whereas the other 51% consists of seven subdivisions of non-white students that each account for less than 15% of the student population. With a predominately white student population, students of color may feel isolated from their respective cultures due to the lack of representation on campus.

In the light of the murders of George Floyd, Andres Guardado, Kenneth French and many other instances of racially charged violence, it is important for Pepperdine to uplift cultural clubs that promote the notions of equality that people around the world are fighting for.

Racism is a significant issue at Pepperdine, as documented by the Instagram account @ blackatpepperdine, which describes experienced and observed accounts of racial discrimination on campus. While cultural clubs cannot solve racism at Pepperdine, they can help foster a sense of community and appreciation for other students’ respective cultures.

Intercultural communication is the foundation of cultural clubs, and the Pepperdine administration must further embrace these cultures to help them achieve their goals. This can be accomplished by focusing more attention on these clubs, encouraging students to get involved with them and creating support systems centered around them. In addition, the administration should create more campus-wide events to promote different cultures.

Events such as the International Club Fair are normally a hotspot for cultural clubs to promote their culture across campus for a day. With the challenges that the Pepperdine community faces this semester, cultural clubs are suffering.

In-person events are usually the primary way clubs showcase their vibrant customs and create connections between students and cultures.

Due to COVID-19, these events are no longer able to take place, so clubs have resorted to hosting online Zoom meetings, Netflix parties and Discord servers.

Students can get involved with cultural clubs in many different ways. There are many clubs offered at Pepperdine open to all students.

Following these clubs on Instagram is another great way to learn about a club’s respective culture and upcoming events.

Cultural clubs already had odds stacked against them when it came to promoting events on campus due to the disinterest from the white majority. Now that this semester is online, students and professors must help cultural clubs achieve their goals of promoting their culture.

SAHEJ.BHASIN@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Demand universally accessible mental health care

than two-and-a-half times as many suicides in the United States as there were homicides — 48,344 compared to 18,830, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Despite this data, suicide prevention or mental health issues are seldom hot topics among Caroline sharpless politicians. Crime prevention Perspectives Editor and immigration control, on the The term “mental health” other hand, are frequently disis frequently thrown around cussed. The term “crime” was in passing, often attached to a even among the most frequently joke, complaint or snide commentioned words at this year’s ment. The normalization of this Republican National Convenphrase has nothing to do with Leah Bae | Artist tion. people not taking it seriously Democratic presidential and everything to do with the nominee, former Vice President fact that so many people expeastronomical wealth gap in the nosed. Likewise, a mere 36% of Joe Biden, called to redirect rience daily hits to their mental U.S. illustrates the gravity bethose anxiety disorders — the some police funding to menhealth. hind finding a well-paying job. most common mental illness in tal health treatment, although Suicide is the second-leadSimilarly, individuals are often the U.S. — get help. mainstream media and political ing cause of death among 10 encouraged to attend college Internalizing these grievances opponents only commented to 34-year-olds, and rates have and grad school to score higher can be dangerous, but unloadon this statement as a part of increased immensely over the salaries, while others label high- ing worries onto friends and the more prominent debate on past decade, making students er education as a scam, pointfamily members is not always defunding police. especially affected. ing to the $1.6 trillion student possible nor helpful.

If society truly wanted to Millennials succeeded in debt crisis and large amount of Just like people attend yearly reduce death, promoting strong reducing the centuries-old struggling graduates. checkups from pediatricians or mental health could be an stigma against mental health In today’s America, peophysical care doctors, annual ailment to both suicide and issues. Now, it is up to Gen Z to ple are exposed to unnatural mental health checks should be criminal killings. A University demand the extension of mental volumes of pressure — to be normalized. This way, people of California study found that health services to everyone — successful but also to solve the who avoid seeking treatment happy youth were less likely to not just those who can afford world’s problems. because they assume their men- commit crimes, and the Eurosteep therapy prices.

Thanks to smartphones, tal struggles are insignificant or pean Journal of Criminology Apart from obvious recent most people are instantly inferior to others can be proppublished evidence that making disruptions to mental health notified of global catastrophes, erly diagnosed and helped. people happy is the best meth— a deadly pandemic, media injustices and corruption. With The brain is arguably the od of crime prevention. coverage of never-ending police the ability to experience a world most impressive part of the huAdditionally, while mental illbrutality, unusually hectic polit- of pain in a matter of seconds, man body, yet it is not awardness may increase the likelihood ical divides — there are countindividuals are exposed to more ed the same concern as other of violence in some individuals, less reasons to explain why hurt than pre-globalization body parts such as the throat, most people with stable mental access to mental health care is ancestors could ever have imag- stomach or ears. Just like the illness do not present an inmore imperative now than ever. ined. As naturally empathetic flu, depression is an illness that creased risk of violence, accordGen Z is the most educated beings, humans are primed to is treatable. It would be ridicu- ing to an Edgemont Psychiatry generation yet and therefore feel the weight of these problous to expect a person showing Journal. receives more opportunities for lems. signs of strep throat to continue Mental health care is crucial success than ever before. These While navigating this messy with life as normal, but that is because problems that negchoices, however, make the path and confusing world, symptoms how society approaches mental atively impact mental health to happiness challenging to find of depression or anxiety might illnesses. will likely never disappear. The and loaded with conflicting seem like normal reactions to Additionally, the world could solution, however, should not messages. life and therefore unworthy of be a much safer, happier place end with free mental health Career advisers urge stutreatment. Because of this way if everyone knew how to procare; society needs to be altered dents to pick an enjoyable and of thinking, two-thirds of all cess their feelings. to stop negatively impacting rewarding profession, but the cases of depression are undiagIn 2018, there were more people’s health.

To improve Americans’ living conditions, advocate for imposing a national living wage, implementing universal health care, creating more accepting — and less demanding — work environments and decreasing expectations for active social media profiles.

Mental health treatment is as vital as physical health treatment. It is time for seeking treatment not only to be normalized but be covered by insurance, so it is affordable and accessible to all.

Luckily, Pepperdine provides free mental health services to students — even this semester while we’re remote. Take advantage of the Counseling Center and its wide range of events and offerings; no stress, worry or feeling is too little.

Be loud on social media about this issue. Spreading awareness is the first step to creating change. Then, avoid being a performative activist by taking it a step further.

Email, call or tweet local politicians and urge them to fight for mental health care.

In the coming weeks, find a way to safely vote in local and presidential elections. Before filling out the ballot, be sure to research the candidates’ stances on both health care and mental health.

In addition to advocating for more accessible mental health treatment, work on improving society to be more equal, accepting and kind so another 4.1 million Americans will not attempt suicide this year.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call or text the National Suicide Prevention crisis phone line at 1-800-273-8255 for English or 1-888-628-9454 for Spanish.

C AR OL INE.SHAR PL ESS@PEPPER DINE.EDU

COVID-19 pandemic stunts students’ growth touch with online alternatives, according to College-Workforce Transitions, but the benefits of in-person training are more difficult to attain in this day and age.

When living on campus, college students have “access to a wide variety of educational and community programming,” as mentioned by the Student Affairs Administration of Higher Education. This pushes students to get involved and gives them the necessary E m i ly C h a s e support they might need throughout the school year. s ta f f w r i t e r Living on campus promotes academic involvement and For a large portion of the teenage population, attend- encourages participation in activities that would benefit ing college is one of the many pinnacles of transitioning a student’s education. into adulthood. Typically, college enables students to Instead of becoming more reliant on themselves start a life independent of their families; however, due during the pandemic, numerous young adults remain to COVID-19, some of them are unable to move out dependent on their family and parents. This can stunt and move on from their adolescent self. students from becoming mature citizens in society.

College is a time for self-exploration and discovery.

Living at home while in college can increase emoIt is a chance for growth, allowing most undergraduates tional stress. While living on campus, students are able the chance to uncover the person they are destined to to establish daily routines and determine which lifestyle become. Studying online at home, surrounded by outchoices work best for them. It also expand socialization dated childhood pictures and tattered stuffed animals across majors and classes and increase academic focus, doesn’t exactly symbolize a new chapter of maturity. according to College Basics.

It is imperative that, upon graduation, college stuIn some homes, parents constantly bombard their dents are well-rounded and ready to immerse themchildren with questions about work and classes. These selves into society so they can invest in building a life. young adults can begin to feel suffocated in their own Internship and job opportunities, as well as social devel- homes, which can lead to many mental and emotionopment during college, aid young adults in this transial disturbances. The Centers for Disease Control and tion, but COVID-19 interferes with the whole process.

Prevention found that 41% of the participants reported College is often the first opportunity for students to experiencing harmful emotions, anxiety, depression or gain real-world experience in a specific field of study. post-traumatic stress disorder during the pandemic.

Internships provide students with the chance to grow in Since most colleges aren’t letting students on camtheir area of interest and develop a good work ethic and pus, a significant number are living with roommates path for life. The pandemic, however, has brought most in off-campus apartments or houses. This is to their of them to a halt. benefit, as they are learning what it truly means to be Many colleges are attempting to put students in independent from family. Pushing students out of their

MADELINE DUVALL | ART EDITOR comfort zones and giving them the capabilities to be on their own is exactly what they need at this age.

People need to learn to be self-reliant and know themselves enough to be able to start their own lives separate from sheltered upbringings. For some, quarantine has helped make relying on family increasingly difficult; young adults living on their own are becoming more resourceful and knowledgeable.

Not all students, however, are able to have this experience or move onto Pepperdine’s Malibu campus in the first place.

Living at home with family during this time period and being deprived of many vital college ventures can be stressful. The absence of independence and experience can infringe on the natural growth of transitioning into adulthood.

With the uncertainty of the future, all college students can do is try to keep a positive mindset. Keep finding routines that work, remain hopeful that COVID-19 will run its course and use this time to become a stronger, better person on the other side of this dark tunnel.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

EM ILY.C HASE@PEPPER DINE.EDU

T O T H E G R A PH I C: P R O F E S S O R A P O LO G I Z E S F O R US ING P R O B LEM AT IC W O R D Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author, and publication in the Graphic in no way represents an endorsement of any opinions published. This space is provided to allow public response and commentary on articles and issues that are covered by the Graphic and important to its readership. Letters to the Editor must be signed, 300 words or fewer and may be submitted to peppgraphicmedia@gmail.com.

Last week in an interview with the Graphic, I used the term “grandfather in” to help explain one of my desires for the cultural competency proposal being put forward to the Seaver faculty.

Thankfully, a colleague kindly pointed out to me that this phrase has its roots in the many Southern attempts to keep Black American men from voting after the Civil War. While various states created requirements that were intentionally designed to keep Black American men from registering to vote, they had the unintentional consequence of also

preventing some white American men from registering because they failed to meet some of the requirements as well. Thus, states often passed laws that allowed these white men to register to vote if they had been eligible before the Civil War or if they were descendants of voters. This became known as a “grandfather” clause.

Unfortunately, it was especially tragic that I used this term while simultaneously advocating for cultural competency to be a required component of Seaver’s General Education curricu-

lum.It was a sin of ignorance, but a sin nonetheless. I sincerely apologize for using this phrase. It is my desire to use this as a lesson to continue to learn more about American history so that I might be more aware of issues like this and therefore continue my endeavor to use language inside and outside of the classroom that comports with the character of Christ.

—Chris Doran, professor of Religion

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Pepp professors face continuous evaluation from students and peers G r ac e W o o d a s s is tant new s edit or At Pepperdine, professors regularly receive constructive criticism concerning their teaching abilities, whether it’s from peers, superiors, students or themselves. At a time when classes are taught exclusively online, professors still seek the input of students and peers to achieve learning outcomes.

Seaver College assesses professors based on their teaching abilities, service, their scholarly achievements and research, and how well they uphold the Christian values and mission at the center of Pepperdine, according to the Office of the Provost. Some Pepperdine professors, however, faced heightened criticism from the @BlackAtPepperdine Instagram account, which raises the question: How are faculty reviewed by Seaver College?

“Just about everybody at Pepperdine, including the president, gets reviewed,” Jay Brewster, divisional dean of Natural Science, said. “It really does matter that we’re doing a good job as teachers, and evaluating that carefully is, frankly, quite hard. It’s not an easy thing to measure success and failure without some really good data — it’s students, the materials and the professor’s own critique of him or herself.”

To make sure professors are held to a high standard, they are continuously subject to many different types of reviews, Provost Rick Marrs said. Depending on their rank and how long they have worked at Pepperdine, professors may be subject to peer reviews, an overview of their course materials and examinations of any research they are working on or have completed.

All professors are subject to student course evaluations.

“You have to demonstrate not only the quality of your teaching and how you’re assessing students, but you also have to demonstrate how you have improved in your career as a teacher,” Marrs said.

Course evaluations and feedback from students are especially important in 2020. The task of teaching remote courses presents a unique challenge to professors that may prove to be more difficult for some than others. Additionally, criticism shared via course evaluations or @BlackAtPepperdine or by approaching administration directly sheds light on racist or insensitive practices.

How Pepperdine Evaluate Professors Every year, professors join their divisional dean for an annual review. During these meetings, professors have a chance to discuss themes that have come up in their course evaluations, and deans can point them toward resources to improve their teaching abilities, such as teaching conferences, faculty mentors and the Center for Teaching Excellence.

“It’s an opportunity for the divisional dean [to] have a really open and thorough conversation with the professor about how things are

going in their class, things that are developing, things they’re working on, new pedagogical tools they’re using in the classroom,” Brewster said. “If something is clearly problematic, it’s a chance for the professor and the divisional dean to talk about a remedy and ways to get better.”

After three years at Pepperdine, a professor will go through a pre-tenure review, which involves other professors, the divisional dean and the Rank, Tenure and Promotion (RTP) committee. After a comprehensive review of a professor’s abilities, contributions and accomplishments, that professor will know if there is anything that may impede their chances of being awarded tenure, Brewster said.

“The three-year review is important because it tells the professor what the high points are in their progress to date and what the challenges are in their progress,” Brewster said. “At the pre-tenure review, [administration] can choose not to renew your position at Pepperdine.”

After six years, professors receive their tenure review, and they will then know whether they are being awarded tenure. During this time, professors provide sample syllabuses and exams from their classes, as well as anonymous writing samples from students so evaluators can see how that professor is providing constructive and thorough feedback, Marrs said. Evaluators also consider both qualitative and quantitative data from course evaluations.

“Review committees pay a lot of attention to student evaluations,” Marrs said. “If a professor scores low — if they do not get good course evaluations — getting promoted and certainly getting tenure is going to be incredibly difficult.”

Once professors are tenured, the RTP committee, administration and their peers may decide to evaluate them again. This assessment could result in a professor’s promotion from associate professor to university professor. University professors are subject to reviews every five years.

“Once you’re a full professor and you’ve made it through those early stages, there’s still an interest that you’re staying in touch with your discipline, doing a good job in the classroom, listening to [students’] feedback, that you’re teaching the class in a way that makes sense and is defensible,” Brewster said.

How Students Evaluate Professors Pepperdine students use formal and informal channels to evaluate a professor’s performance. In addition to submitting course evaluations at the end of every semester, some students may also use the popular website Rate My Professors, where they can write anonymous reviews of professors and the courses they teach.

Rate My Professors allows reviewers to rate professors on a five-point scale, with five being the best and one

ashley mowreader | news Editor Reviews a Click Away | Pepperdine professors regularly recieve reviews and critique by students and their peers. Some professors self-critique and provide additional forums for students to provide feedback on their teaching methods in addition to end-of-the-semester course evaluations. being the worst.

Senior Brighton Barnes said while she often looks for advice from older friends who have taken the same courses she needs to complete, she also utilizes Rate My Professors.

“It’s useful for figuring out which professor would help you the best and help you with your needs,” Barnes said. “That’s what I use it for — not who is the easiest. I like to see who’s going to help me the most and where I will learn the most.”

Senior Cammy Lowenfield has used Rate My Professors since her first year at Pepperdine and said she uses the website to find professors who seem to want to form a relationship with students.

“I always look for professors [whose reviews say] they really care about their students,” Lowenfield said.

“Anyone who cares, even if their class is super hard, you will still like them as a person.”

Rate My Professors can be helpful, but it is not always the most accurate way to measure a professor’s teaching abilities, Barnes said.

“It is really opinionated,” Barnes said. “You could have a bad experience with a professor, and you can have a good experience with the same professor. And some of these are written fourplus years ago, and their teaching styles could have changed.”

Rate My Professors, as well as word of mouth, can provide an extreme range of reviews, making it difficult to determine a professor’s true capabilities, Lowenfield said.

“I have loved the majority of my professors, and I feel like at Pepperdine, it’s pretty skewed one way or the other: Either you love or hate,” Lowenfield said.

Lowenfield said she finds the course evaluations she fills out to be more reliable than Rate My Professors reviews. Lowenfield said she takes the time to write them for every professor she has and usually takes a more holistic look at each course.

“If I feel like if I have learned something and they were really trying to teach me, and maybe I just didn’t put in enough work, I still really appreciate them, I’ll still give them a good review,” Lowenfield said. “If I get a bad grade but feel like the professor cared about me, then I’m fine.”

Barnes said she tries to make sure her reviews on Rate My Professors are less anecdotal by ensuring other students in her class have had similar experiences.

“If I’m the only person facing problems, then I’m probably less likely to write one,” Barnes said. “But if a few other people and I are like, ‘Wow, this [professor] needs to change this,’ then I’m more likely to write one about them and tell people this is not the best decision.”

How Professors Evaluate Themselves Receiving feedback from students is one of the best ways to judge his performance in the classroom, Brewster said.

Brewster said in addition to course evaluations at the end of the semester, he tries to give students a chance to evaluate him at least once a week during the course.

This way, Brewster said he can be more proactive about making changes to help students.

“Weekly or biweekly, I just ask a couple of simple questions: ‘What’s working in this class? What’s a problem for you?’” Brewster said.

“Probably the most important question is, ‘What can I do, as the professor, to help you succeed in this class?’

You get some really constructive and helpful comments, and that can be a real positive rather than waiting until the course is over.”

Communication Professor Jon Pfeiffer said he always incentivizes his students to complete course evaluations so he can get the highest participation rate possible. As an adjunct professor, Pfeiffer said he is not subject to the same kind of review system as other professors, so he relies heavily on student responses.

Review committees pay a lot of attention to student evaluations.

If a professor scores low — if they do not get good course evaluations — getting promoted and certainly getting tenure is going to be incredibly difficult.

Rick Marrs Provost “It is really the only honest feedback you’re going to get because it’s anonymous,” Pfeiffer said.

Pfeiffer said he is aware of Rate My Professors and occasionally looks at it for a laugh, but it does not play a serious role in how he teaches. Pfeiffer said Rate My Professors is not dependable because anyone can write anything and there is no context to the reviews.

“This is Yelp for college,” Pfeiffer said. “The change I would make to Rate My Professors is not necessarily that the professor can respond but that the professor could put a paragraph up just explaining the class to put it in context.”

Students may not realize many Pepperdine professors constantly self-critique, Brewster said.

“When I work with senior faculty members who have been around a while,

they’re their biggest critics,” Brewster said. “It’s really humbling to talk to them and realize how deeply they care about their classes. Even after a number of years, they still care about every criticism that students offer on their form and work really hard to get better at how they teach the class.”

Course Evaluations and COVID-19 Kendra Killpatrick, senior associate dean of Seaver College, said the course evaluations from the past spring — when classes transitioned online — were not included in the metrics collected for tenure and promotion, but they are still available for divisional deans to review to help professors improve this fall.

“Our faculty were not hired with the expectation they would be teaching online,” Killpatrick said.

“We’re definitely using the spring [evaluations] to make sure that this fall is a really positive experience, but we’re not using them in the tenure and promotion procedure.”

Like normal semesters, students’ course evaluations from this fall will be used for assessing professors’ abilities and to help determine whether a professor will be promoted.

Lowenfield said she hopes students continue to be patient with professors because online learning is still an experience to which they are adjusting.

“It’s probably so hard because we didn’t sign up for this, but neither did they,” Lowenfield said. “Something to pay attention to on Rate My Professors is when someone took that class because if it’s during this time, maybe add some grace points.”

GR AC E.W OOD@PEPPER DINE.EDU

S eptember 17, 2020

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LIFE & ARTS

Students adjust to remote on-campus life B et h g o nz ales Staf f w r i ter Students living on campus for the fall 2020 semester are adjusting to what once was a bustling community. Despite limited housing on Pepperdine’s campus due to COVID-19, Housing and Residence Life allowed students with special circumstances to reside in Lovernich, Drescher and George Page apartments.

Director of Housing Operations Robin Gore said as of Aug. 30, there were 130 students on campus, firstyear, upper-level and graduate students included.

“This is a place that is usually really busy and kind of loud,” said junior Creative Writing major Angelea Hayes from Burbank, CA. “You always ran into somebody you knew. Now if I even run into one person, it’s a big deal.”

Rules and Regulations Housing and Residence Life put measures in place to make sure live-in students are safe. On-campus students said this includes daily visits from cleaning services, mask wearing and social distancing.

Students need to complete daily wellness checks by responding to an email asking whether they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. Students said they also have to answer COVID-19 symptom questions in person and provide their names each time they enter or leave school property.

The Waves Cafe, shuttle services, mail services, OneStop office and Tyler Campus Center are the only facilities available.

BETH GONZALES | STAFF WRITER Drescher Life | The view from the Drescher apartments in Pepperdine’s Drescher Graduate Campus gives students a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. Students living on campus during the fall 2020 semester resided in Drescher, Lovernich and George Page apartments Chloe McLeod, firstyear Biology and Art double major, said she thinks Pepperdine holds itself to a high standard, and if it had fewer restrictions, it would reflect poorly on the institution.

“I think Pepperdine is doing good,” McLeod said.

“It doesn’t mean that I like Pepperdine’s COVID-19 rules — I don’t think anyone is enjoying them — [Pepperdine] is doing well.”

Efficient Living Students said they are getting creative about how to function normally and make the most of their experience.

McLeod said she feels isolated on campus because the majority of the school is empty.

“Sometimes it feels a little bit lonely, but I know there are always people I

can text,” McLeod said. “If I were to stay at home, I wouldn’t be as academically or mentally successful.”

First-year Mirielle Cox from Lander, Wyo., is a History major residing in Drescher. Cox said living on campus provides a better environment for studying and fewer distractions. “[Being at home] wouldn’t feel like a college campus,” Cox said. “It would be harder to focus; it would just feel like, ‘Well, I’m at home so I can just relax.’”

Cox said she has taken advantage of the services Pepperdine provides, such as the shuttles, Sandbar and cuisine, but she is also learning skills in the kitchen to gain independence from the Waves Cafe. Cox said the Caf provides multiple meal options every day, including a vegetarian option.

beth Gonzales | staff writer BETH GONZALES | STAFF WRITER Malibu Living | Rocco Cuttone shoots hoops near the Pepperdine track with the gleam of the ocean behind him. Cuttone said playing basketball is his favorite thing to do on campus, and he hopes he will be able to meet other first-years and socialize on campus during the spring 2021 semester.

Student Leisure Even with so few people on campus, students like McLeod said they have been finding enjoyable ways to spend their time.

“My favorite thing to do has been going to the beach with a couple of friends,” McLeod said.

Students like McLeod said they all are appreciating living in Malibu. Although they are finding ways to have fun, many said they are just relieved to be on campus because their at-home experience would not have been practical.

“My family is in a transition process right now, and this is the only place I can get steady access to WiFi and a quiet place to work,” Hayes said.

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photo Courtesy of CHLOE MCLEOD Sunset Chaser | Chloe McLeod poses at the beach with the setting sun, which was one reason she chose Pepperdine. McLeod said she frequently feels isolated on campus, but she said she believes it would reflect poorly on the institution if Pepperdine had fewer restrictions in place.

‘Almost Famous’ still rocks 20 years later GRACE WOOD ASSISTA N T N E WS E D ITOR “Almost Famous” is the semi-autobiographical tale of journalist, filmmaker and author Cameron Crowe.

Crowe is known for his novel-turned-film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and award-winning screenplay “Jerry Maguire.”

“Almost Famous” is by far Crowe’s most personal film, and it’s one that is especially relevant right now.

In a time when concerts and festivals are canceled due to COVID-19, “Almost Famous” allows viewers to time travel back to 1973 and go on tour with Stillwater, a rising rock band trying to navigate fame, love and artistic differences. Twenty years after its original release, the coming-of-age film and the actors’ performances are still incendiary.

“Almost Famous” follows the lovably uncool William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a 15-year-old boy from San Diego who is more interested in writing for local underground newspapers than attending high school dances. Miller’s character is based off of Crowe’s own life experiences, which make the film feel personal from the start.

William’s mother, Elaine (Frances McDormand), is a professor at a local college who desperately seeks to protect her children from the influence of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll that permeates the culture of early 1970s California. Elaine’s efforts are futile, however, when her overbearing nature drives her daughter, Anita (Zooey Deschanel), to leave home and become a flight attendant.

Before getting in her boyfriend’s car and driving away to start her new life, Anita looks William in the eyes, assures him that one day he will be cool and reveals that she left him a bag of her forbidden records under his bed.

Songs from these records (“Tommy” by The Who, “Axis: Bold As Love” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and “Led Zeppelin II” by Led Zeppelin) not only become the soundtrack to William’s adolescence but also become the score for the rest of “Almost Famous.” The music in this film is impeccable, and it transports the viewer to the time period in which it is set.

William’s talent for writing grows, and he soon falls under the tutelage of Creem Magazine rock critic Lester Bangs, a real writer who the late Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays with incredible charisma. Eventually, William’s articles catch the attention of up-and-coming rock magazine Rolling Stone, who, thinking William is much older than he is, gives him an assignment: travel across the country with mid-level rock group Stillwater and show them no mercy.

With the begrudging approval of his mother, William becomes embedded with Stillwater on its 1973 Almost

Photo courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures Strike a Pose| The members of the Band-Aids, a group of fans, and Stillwater pose in front of their tour bus in Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical movie “Almost Famous.” Originally released Sept. 13, 2000, Crowe’s movie marks two decades of resonating with music fans worldwide while telling the story of a teenage journalist living his dream as a reporter for Rolling Stone magazine.

Famous tour. Crowe based this aspect of the film on his adventures touring with the Allman Brothers Band and the Eagles as a teenage journalist. Traveling from Los Angeles to New York on Doris, the band’s beloved tour bus, William learns about life, relationships and music all while doing the one thing Bangs warned him not to do: befriend the band. Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), Stillwater muse and ‘Band-Aid,’ takes William under her wing as the pair follows and falls in love with the band together.

With an Oscar win for Best Screenplay, it’s safe to say there are many things “Almost Famous” gets right.

Casting Director Gail Levin, in partnership with Crowe, casts a film that yields unforgettable performances from McDormand, Hudson, Hoffman and Billy Crudup, who gives life to Stillwater’s “guitarist with mystique,” Russell Hammond. Levin and Crowe do an exceptional job of mixing veteran actors with relative rookies, which gives “Almost Famous” an authentic feel.

The film is Fugit’s first acting credit, and it shows.

His naïveté, however, perfectly encompasses the ear-

nest spirit of young William, who just wants to write the best story he can for Rolling Stone and maybe make it back home to San Diego in one piece. Many of Fugit’s ad-libs and misspoken lines still appear in the film and make for genuine moments between him and the other actors.

The chemistry between Fugit, Hudson and the rest of the cast is undeniable. Every time the camera opens on a crowded, smoke-filled hotel room, viewers get the sense that its occupants were there drinking and playing music long before they peeked in.

Stillwater’s musical performances in “Almost Famous” are extremely believable. Crowe put the actors who played Stillwater through a verifiable rock boot camp with music legend Peter Frampton at the helm, teaching the actors how to look like they were really playing their instruments and performing in front of real crowds. Crowe and his then-wife, Nancy Wilson of Heart, even wrote several original Stillwater songs for the film.

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Transfer pursues real estate interest at Pepperdine S o f i a Lo n g o L ife & A r t s assi stant E d i t o r

Fresh Faces features first-year and transfer students to unite Pepperdine students, regardless of where they are.

Photos Courtesy of anastasia condolon Photos Courtesy of Brianna Cannon Showstopper|Condolon (bottom right) performs in her first off-broadway show, “Annie Warbucks” — a sequel to the broadway show “Annie.” She embodied the role of Annette the maid during her Photos Courtesy of Brianna cannon sophomore year of high school.

Actress performs her way to Malibu So fia Longo li f e & ar ts assista n t E dit or First-year Anastasia Condolon said she is a jack of all trades — she is a self-proclaimed singer–songwriter, actress, filmmaker, photographer and author.

In high school, Condolon, who is from Baskin Ridge, N.J., said she was heavily involved in the performing arts, including theater and choir. She now takes an online vocal production course at the Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Mass., in hopes of producing her own music one day.

“I’ve been performing for as long I can remember,” Condolon said. “My first performance was at a summer camp, and I played Annie, so that was my biggest memory that really got me into [performing].”

Condolon said she performed in the off-broadway show “Annie Warbucks” as the character of Annette in the summer of 2017 at the Signature Theatre on 42nd street.

“That was one of my favorite high school memories because that was my first professional show that I did,” Condolon said.

She wrote in an email that the process to rehearse for the show was rigorous but worth it. Condolon traveled to New York City from New Jersey by train almost every day for rehearsals, and some nights, she wouldn’t get home until after midnight.

Condolon said she continued performing through COVID-19 — this time taking the stage online — and even took up new hobbies.

In March, Condolon said she performed the song “Warrior” by Demi Lovato in a charity concert, Kids of Arts Virtual Concert: Lyrics for Life, to raise money for suicide awareness.

Condolon said she also started creative writing during COVID-19. She wrote a play for a theater company in New York earlier this year, but the title cannot be disclosed until the play goes into production.

Condolon said that movies and TV shows sparked her interest in film in 2019 when she made the decision to major in Screen Arts.

“I want to direct some films in the future; that’s a big thing of mine,” Condolon said. “But I also want to do some music as well, possibly to make music videos.”

Condolon said she is a big fan of the realistic fiction film genre, which includes coming-of-age films. The movie “Little

When first applying to universities as a transfer student, Serene Solakian said Pepperdine made her feel special even before she was accepted. The University communicated with her throughout the application process, which made Pepperdine her top choice.

“After I got in, everyone was so nice to me,” Solakian said. “I just felt such a sense of community, and I didn’t really get that from any of the other schools.”

Solakian is from Northridge, California, and transferred from Pierce College as a junior. Since she lives 30 minutes from campus, she said she visits Malibu quite often.

Even though she cannot live on campus, she said she loves to spend time in the area.

Solakian, a Business Administration major, said she hopes to pursue real estate because she is interested in finance and investment. Her interest comes from her father, who is in real estate as a hobby. Solakian would like to stay in the city after graduating or potentially move to New York City.

Solakian said she wants to get involved in a variety of extracurricular activities at Pepperdine. She participated in virtual sorority recruitment this fall to meet new people and is a member of the Armenian Student Association.

“Because there’s such a small community of Armenians at Pepperdine, it’s really meaningful to be involved in the group,” Solakian said.

Solakian said she is tries to make the best out of the situation while Pepperdine is online. Last spring at Pierce College, she often had to watch pre-recorded lectures from professors instead of attending live Zoom lectures. This fall, she said the biggest challenge for her is to stay engaged during live lectures while at home.

“I’ve been trying to do a lot of self-studying and reaching out to classmates,” Solakian said. “I’ve made group chats and study groups, which is really good.”

Even with Pepperdine classes online, Solakian said she has still met people through social media, classes and sorority recruitment events.

“I’m excited to be able to hang out with

Photos Courtesy of Serene Solakian Out and About | (Above) Solakian flashes a smile at a banquet event at the Four Seasons in Westlake, California, in November 2019. As a transfer student, she said Pepperdine most welcomed her out of all the universities she considered.

(Below) Solakian poses on the Malibu Pier while spending the day there in September 2019. She said she likes to drive down from her home in Northridge to go out to eat and enjoy the ocean views.

them in person and spend time with them or even meet up with my professors and get to know them better,” Solakian said. “I feel like through the screens, it’s hard to make real-life connections without spending time with them.”

SOF IA.L ONGO@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Athlete hopes to play tennis at Pepperdine S o f i a L on g o L ife & A r t s a s s is ta n t e d i t o r

Pepperdine Bound | Visionary Condolon shows off her school spirit with a pink Pepperdine sweatshirt. She said she was excited to be accepted.

Women” (2019) influenced her because of its powerful portrayal of characters overcoming different challenges such as unrequited love and grief.

“That movie sort of inspired me to go along my own path and follow what I want to do rather than just do what’s expected,” Condolon said.

Condolon has never toured the campus or even traveled to California from her home in New Jersey. Even though she said was nervous, she trusted her instinct, which ultimately led her to choose Pepperdine based on the feeling of community.

“I attended a bunch of Zoom sessions, and I just found everyone to be so kind and caring,” Condolon said. “I saw that at Pepperdine, everyone truly cares about you and wants you to succeed.”

Condolon said she wants to get involved at Pepperdine and is interested in Songfest, the Feminist Club, the Cine Club and KWVS Radio. She is also participating in eSports at Pepperdine this semester.

“It was a little bit of a difficult decision to make, but at the end of the day when I was making my lists and going through the things I wanted in a college, Pepperdine checked off all the boxes,” Condolon said.

S O F I A . L O N G O @P E P P E RD I N E . E D U

First-year Faith Harcus said she never considered going to school on the West Coast until she visited Pepperdine during her junior year of high school. Harcus is from High Point, N.C. “It was absolutely incredible,” Harcus said. “It just felt like home.”

After visiting Pepperdine, Harcus said she knew it was the perfect place for her. She said she felt nervous about moving away from home, but the opportunities Pepperdine offered along with its beautiful location made the distance worthwhile.

Harcus was especially drawn to Pepperdine’s friendly environment and International Programs.

“It just had so many things on my list,” Harcus said.

At Pepperdine, Harcus said she looks forward to continuing her involvement in extracurriculars. In high school, Harcus was a member of the Key Club and a volunteer for the American Red Cross.

Harcus said she also played tennis all four years.

She didn’t want to play tennis at first, but by sophomore year, she enjoyed the sport. She made the varsity team, was named most-improved and ended up being one of the team captains.

To remain active, Harcus said she wants to join the

Photo Courtesy of faith harcus Flash a Smile | Harcus poses for a senior portrait in Greensboro, North Carolina. She said she knew Pepperdine was the perfect college for her when she visited the Malibu campus during her junior year of high school.

Club Tennis team. Being involved in the Pepperdine community is important to her because she had a good experience making new friends through tennis in high school.

“I went to a pretty small high school with a really strong community, which is why I know I want to get involved in the community at Pepperdine because I have learned how important and fun it is,” Harcus said.

Harcus is a Business Administration major, and even though she said she isn’t sure what she wants to do with her future just yet, she is interested in studying abroad. Two programs that pique her interest are Laussane, Switzerland, and Heidelberg, Germany, because she has distant relatives who live in Denmark.

Even though it is disap-

pointing to have an online semester, Harcus said she understands why it was necessary to stay home instead of going to Pepperdine.

“It’s sad,” Harcus said.

“But now it’s clear that it was the right choice, and I think they are doing a good job of having us still getting involved.”

Harcus said she has still met and connected with other students virtually during New Student Orientation, in classes and on social media. Harcus also participated in virtual fall sorority Recruitment to meet other fellow students. “[I’m looking forward] to meeting everyone in person and just getting used to everything on campus,” Harcus said.

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STUDENTS: Life on campus looks different F R OM B 1 Despite the circumstances, Hayes said she has been enjoying the beautiful nature surrounding Pepperdine.

“I love being outside, so being able to do the hike to the cross while looking out at the water and the campus is so beautiful and I feel really relaxed,” Hayes said. “You can kind of forget that there is all this chaos happening in the world.”

Through this experience, Hayes said she has a new appreciation for how important the community is. She misses the extracurriculars campus usually has to offer.

“It’s super weird not having a lot of the things I looked forward to on campus, like choir, convo and going to church on Sundays,” Hayes said

Courtesy of Kendall Ross

Courtesy of universal music group Photo Courtesy of Nolan Lingley

Photo Courtesy of Angelea Hayes

Active Lifestyle| (Left) Angelea Hayes reaches the end of her hike and poses near the cross at the top of Pepperdine’s campus. Hayes said nature is her happy place and she plans to hike this trail many times before she graduates. (Right) Nolan Lingley practices baseball at a local park in Malibu. Lingley said he came to Pepperdine on a baseball scholarship and is hoping he and his teammates will be on the field together come spring.

Athletics

“The most fun thing I’ve done on campus so far is shooting hoops on the basketball court near my apartment, which is nice to be able to do but I wish I could be doing things that were more college-specific,” Rocco Cuttone first-year

Rocco Cuttone, first-year water polo player and Business Administration major from Merced, California, said he was able to live on campus because he needs to train.

Cuttone said student-athletes are training cautiously on campus and are not able to conduct group practices.

“I have been working out with two other teammates that live on campus,” Cuttone said. “We are always six feet apart, and we wipe down any equipment we use with disinfectant spray.”

Cuttone said social life on campus is slow, and in his two weeks there, he has only met six students — usually when on the

way to get lunch from the Waves Cafe.

“The most fun thing I’ve done on campus so far is shooting hoops on the basketball court near my apartment, which is nice to be able to do, but I wish I could be doing things that were more college-specific,” Cuttone said.

Another athlete on campus, Nolan Lingley, first-year Business Administration major from Tracy, California, said baseball was his reason for requesting an exemption. He also looks forward to getting away from home and trying to salvage a bit of the college experience.

“I get to be on my own and independent, and I get to see some of my friends,” Lingley said. “I

feel like I’m getting the college experience, just not to the fullest extent.”

Lingley said the rules for athletes are even more intense, requiring two wellness checks per day. He said the team was working out off-campus with a friend, but they just got word that they can work out on campus with their trainer.

Hope for the Future Students on campus said they were grateful the school provided them with a home when one didn’t seem feasible. Even so, they said they are also optimistic about what the spring semester has in store, including people and new opportunities.

“It would be nice to have safe events but events that happen in person — like an outdoor concert with groups of socially distanced households,” Cox said.

Hayes said she hopes student connections will thrive once the students are able to return to campus.

“There is a new appreciation for how important community is,” Hayes said. “With all that is going on, I think people will be more mindful of how their actions affect other people. I am hopeful for the future.”

BETH.GONZAL EZ @PEPPER DINE.EDU

FAMOUS: Rock movie withstands test of time FROM B1 Still, some things about “Almost Famous” don’t hold up to modern standards.

The film is largely whitewashed, with people of color only playing minor roles or being relegated to the background. Ben Fong-Torres, William’s editor at Rolling Stone, is the only person of color with a main role, and his character is still one-dimensional at best. Considering Fong-Torres is a real-life legend in the world of rock journalism who has been at Rolling Stone since the magazine’s inception, he deserved a bigger part.

Not only is the whitewashing in “Almost Famous” inadmissible, but it is also an inaccurate depiction of the music scene at the time. The ‘70s were the prime of Black rock heavyweights like Ike & Tina Turner and Chuck Berry. Crowe partially based Stillwater off of his time spent with the Allman Brothers, whose drummer and founding member Jaimoe Johanson is Black, yet Stillwater is an all-white group.

Having a more diverse cast in “Almost Famous” would have provided the audience with an accurate glimpse into the world of rock ‘n’ roll, allowing the film the chance to resonate with a broader audience.

What is redeemable about “Almost Famous” is that it is a film made for rock fans by a rock fan. It is not a glamorous depiction of life on the road told from a band’s perspective; it is a brief glance into the debaucherous world of rock ‘n’ roll by an innocent protagonist, who just wants to do right by the people he is supposed to give no clemency. “Almost Famous” is funny, believable and sweet, and it tells a good story made better by the fact that it is based on a real one.

“Almost Famous” is available on Amazon Prime Video now.

GR A C E .WO O D@ P E P P E R DINE . E DU

Photo Courtesy Of Georgr Preston Iv

Taking the Big Stage | (Above) The “Almost Famous” film poster presents Kate Hudson as charming Penny Lane. Hudson won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for her part in the film. (Below) William (Patrick Fugit) and Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) hang out backstage at a Stillwater show. “Almost Famous” was Fugit’s first acting credit, and Hudson earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film.

Courtesy Of Clayton Mattingly

Photos courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures

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The Graphic

pep p e rd in e - g ra p h ic.co m

SPORTS

Where are they now?: Quincy McAfee takes a road trip paxt o n r it c hey a s s i stant s por ts e dit or During his three seasons playing baseball for Pepperdine, Quincy McAfee made his presence known on the diamond.

A starter from day one of his first year in 2017, McAfee frequently found himself among the team leaders in batting average, walks and stolen bases. While playing both second base and shortstop over his career, the Houston native posted a fielding percentage of over .960 in two of his three years as a Wave.

In his junior season, he hit .311 with a team-high of 15 doubles and 23 RBIs. His production caught the eye of the Cincinnati Reds, who drafted him in the 26th round of the 2019 MLB Draft. McAfee traded sunny Malibu for not-so-sunny Billings, Mont., home of Cincinnati’s Rookie Advanced affiliate, the Billings Mustangs.

In the third installment of the “Where Are They Now?” series featuring former Pepperdine student–athletes, the Graphic caught up with McAfee, who had his 2020 minor league season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous installments covered Men’s Basketball all-time leading scorer Stacy Davis and beach volleyball pro Kelley Larsen.

During the three-day, 40-round MLB draft, McAfee said he was glued to the television.

“I heard every name called,” McAfee said, adding it was surreal to hear the names of people he had played against or knew from high school and college.

On the draft’s third day, multiple teams began checking in with McAfee to find out his signing bonus demands — a key piece in the complicated financial puzzle of the draft.

“It seemed like I was getting a phone call every five minutes,” McAfee said.

McAfee said he wanted teams to be sure to pay for him to finish his degree, then add a good amount of money on top.

After Cincinnati picked him, McAfee signed with the Reds for a signing bonus of $75,000, according to MLB’s Draft Tracker. But getting drafted was only the beginning of a whirlwind summer for McAfee.

“You take the rest of the day to spend time with your family,” McAfee said. “Three days later, I was on a flight to Arizona to get physicals. We

Photo COURTESY OF BOBBY STEVENS

Name | Position

ali levens | Photo editor

Full Swing | Quincy McAfee bats in a game for the Billings Mustangs (left) and poses with his husky, Halo, inside his Arizona apartment (right). McAfee’s second season in the minor leagues is on hold due to COVID-19. got physicals, had one day of practice, and then I was shipped off to Billings.”

McAfee had a strong debut season with the Mustangs, appearing in 60 out of 78 games and hitting .291 — the second-highest average on the team among fulltime players. McAfee added 23 RBIs, 10 doubles and a home run.

Aside from the thrill of playing professionally, McAfee said he quickly established a bond with his hastily assembled teammates. The team spent long hours together, often arriving at the field around noon and not leaving until after midnight.

“About half our team was college guys who got drafted that year, and half were Latin-American,” McAfee said.

“It was really cool learning to communicate with the Latin players.”

The Latino players started calling McAfee “Coffee,” a nickname that stuck over the course of the season.

The nickname originated as a common English word that somewhat sounds like McAfee’s last name, but McAfee recalled with a smile that one coach continued to call him “Coffee” because he was “smooth.”

McAfee said he had the opportunity to attend major league Astros games while growing up in Houston, but he grew to love participating in the much more personal, family-friendly minor league experience.

“Any kid that wants a signature, I will take 30 minutes coming off the field for any person,” McAfee said.

“Growing up going to baseball games, that’s all I wanted was to get an autograph.

So from the first game to the

last game, if a kid wanted an autograph, I would give them an autograph. If anybody wanted to talk, I would talk.”

Although McAfee’s postgame habits usually came at the expense of being the last player out of the locker room, he said he welcomed the interaction.

“After a while, my host parents would try to rush people along,” McAfee said.

“But I would say, ‘No, I’m enjoying this as much as they are.’”

A staple for any minor league team, host parents are families who volunteer to allow players to stay with them during the season. Minor league players do not acquire their own housing due to low salaries and uncertainty about how long they will stay at each minor league level.

“I’ve had the privilege of having the best host families everywhere I go,” McAfee said. “You get different types of people all over the place.

Most importantly, they’re respectful of you and your space.”

McAfee said he was eager to start his second professional season, and he was even able to get some spring training games under his belt. On June 30, however, Billings — along with every minor league baseball team — canceled its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving McAfee and thousands of other players in limbo.

Without any baseball to play, McAfee, along with close friend and Pepperdine Baseball alum Cory Wills, decided to take a monthslong road trip during the summer. They traveled to Colorado Springs, Utah,

Las Vegas, Malibu, Newport Beach, Arizona and then back to Texas. McAfee and Wills then moved back to Arizona in August and settled into a new apartment.

Although McAfee and Wills had to take extra steps to travel during the pandemic, McAfee, who enjoys driving, said the ability to get out on the road gave them a chance to remove themselves from the craziness of this summer.

“We had our luggage in the second row and we took the back row out and put an air mattress,” McAfee said.

“It’s funny because we traveled so much, but we only made contact with about 10 people over two months because we were away from everyone. It was nice to get away and not have to worry about it.”

It also gave McAfee an opportunity to take a break from baseball activities and recharge, although he is working out now. With no season to play, McAfee said a member of the Reds checks in with him every week, but he is mostly responsible for his own fitness.

“If we come in out of shape, that’s on us,” McAfee said. “You’re gonna feel the fact that you’re out of shape, and you’re going to wish you were in shape.”

McAfee said a highlight of this year for before the season shut down was traveling from the Reds spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz., to Tempe to watch the 2020 Pepperdine Baseball team play in a season-opening tournament.

“It was weird watching them play and not being on the field with them,” McAfee said.

Although he was in the stands, McAfee relished the chance to watch his old teammates continue to develop.

“Any chance I got to see them play, I would’ve,” McAfee said. “It’s nice to see them play and play at a very high level.”

McAfee’s off-season program with the Reds will start Oct. 1. He said he is hoping to play in winter ball leagues

in Australia or the Dominican Republic, but if that doesn’t work out, he will wait for the Reds to assign him to one of their minor league affiliates for what he hopes will be a normal 2021 season.

“I’m scratching that itch to play baseball,” McAfee said.

PAX TON.R ITC HEY@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Star Wave | Quincy McAfee (left) plays for Pepperdine during a 2018 game. McAfee’s steady production over three seasons led to the Cincinnati Reds selecting him in the 26th round.

Free Time | Quincy McAfee plays video games in apartment (top right) and stops for a phoalihis levens | staff writer to on a hike in Salt Lake City (bottom right).

With the pandemic forcing a break from baseball, McAfee has had time to relax and travel.

photos courtesy of quincy mcafee

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Baby Waves: Two players ready to contribute to top ranked teams aust in hall staf f w r i te r No. 1 and No. 16 in the country.

These were the final rankings of Pepperdine Men’s Golf and Baseball when the West Coast Conference called it a season in March due to COVID-19 concerns.

As two of the most consistently talented teams on Pepperdine’s campus, they’re a frequent landing spot for high-level recruits. It doesn’t always take time for freshman athletes to make an impact on these teams, as junior shortstop Wyatt Young was on the All-WCC Freshman Team in 2018, and sophomore golfer Will Mouw, a GCAA/PING All-American, made it to the round of 16 in the U.S. Amateur Tournament.

“If you can hit, that’s when you play,” freshman outfielder Connor Bradshaw said. “I know I’m gonna have to step up to earn a role on this team.”

Bradshaw is a center fielder from New Rochelle, New York.

Geographically, he’s an outlier on the Pepperdine roster, as 22 of the returning 34 players are from either California, Texas or Colorado. Bradshaw’s hometown is 2,838 miles from Malibu, making him the player who traveled the farthest.

Bradshaw said the distance didn’t stop the Pepperdine Baseball staff from finding him early in the recruiting process.

“They found me at a tournament in Florida,” Bradshaw said. “[Pepperdine Assistant] Coach Worth was one of guys that reached out to me. A couple months later I went to a camp at Pepperdine and did very well there and got to go out to dinner with the coaches. I had my official visit after that and fell in love with the school. They offered me there and I accepted right away.”

As a freshman, Bradshaw is in a coveted situation. Not only is he coming onto a highly-ranked team that lost just one player, but he’ll also have a strong chance to compete for playing time, as there are

only four outfielders on Pepperdine’s roster.

“I’m in a really unique situation,” Bradshaw said. “The three starting outfielders are back, and without COVID, it would’ve been even less with how Billy [Cook] was playing, considering he’s a pro prospect. Even though they’re all here again I’m ready to fight for whatever playing time I can get.”

Bradshaw, a 6-foot-2-inch, 175-pound player, has a promising skill set. He’s touched 6.5 seconds in a 60-yard dash at multiple camps and said he was in the 6.45 range before he took a foul ball off of his ankle this summer that left him sidelined for a month.

Bradshaw said his speed and power are strengths in his game.

“I’ve always been fast, but the past couple of years I’ve really brought it up,” Bradshaw said. “I can get on base and steal pretty well. I think I have an ideal arm for playing in center. I don’t have an absolute cannon yet if I wanted to play right field. I have some decent power too. The best home run I ever hit was at that Pepperdine camp; it went over the scoreboard.”

The scoreboard, located in right field of Eddy D. Field Stadium, is approximately 350 feet from home plate.

Bradshaw said he has several goals for the team during the 2020 season.

“When I was following them last year, I really thought they would make a deep run in [the College World Series] in Omaha,” Bradshaw said. “This year we have almost the same team with the rest of my recruiting class coming in. We should be picking up right where we left off.”

The lone golf recruit for the 2020 circuit is Caden Fioroni — a product from Torrey Pines High School in San Diego. Bradshaw and Fioroni were granted exemptions from Pepperdine and are living on campus.

Bradshaw and a portion of the baseball team is doing drills and batting practice at Head Coach Rick Hirtensteiner’s house. Fioro-

photo Courtesy of Connor Bradshaw

Photo by ali levens

Fresh Faces | (left) Freshman Caden Fioroni poses with his driver. Fioroni is the lone freshman on the 2020–2021 Pepperdine Men’s Golf team. Connor Bradshaw (right) awaits a pitch during a game with clubhouse travel team. Bradshaw said he ni has been golfing at local courses with older players who live in the area.

Before his illustrious high school career, he landed on Pepperdine’s radar as an eighth grader.

“It was at a tournament and a former Pepperdine assistant came to watch me play,” Fioroni said.

“They continued to watch me during my freshman year. Coach Beard watched me for the first time at the Junior World Tournament. I was so nervous. Luckily it went well, and I committed in the summer going into my sophomore year.”

Fioroni said he is excited to see how Pepperdine’s competitive environment will develop his game.

“When I first committed, I was good but not great by any stretch,” Fioroni said. “I feel like I’ve already made some strides, but I knew going here would be huge for me. With this insane roster, the expectation is the PGA Tour. I know that everyone is gonna just push each other; we’re all extremely competitive players. You need that to excel.”

Fioroni said that while he was recruited in eighth grade, he knew

there was a possibility of playing college golf before that.

“I started to realize it in sixth grade,” Fioroni said. “I started shooting under par when I was 10 or 11. I think I was 12 when I played in a tournament qualifier and shot a 65 and 66 and won by 12. I started getting letters after that, which was really cool to see.

The whole process was surreal.”

Fioroni, who was granted an exemption to live on campus, said he’s enjoyed the team dynamic from the players who are on campus.

“We have some characters but everyone really gets along with each other,” Fioroni said. “It’s the competitive aspect that sticks out to me. Everyone on the team has aspirations to go pro. Even though I haven’t seen everyone, I’ve seen everything I need to know that we can do big things.”

Fioroni said his strengths are in his long irons, meaning he can do serious damage around the middle of the hole. He joked that he can hit a four iron better than a sand wedge and also mentioned that driving has always come naturally — both reasons why he likes long

courses.

He said that although he had doubts during his senior year, he regained his confidence and is ready for his freshman year.

“Six months ago I was pretty nervous,” Fioroni said. “After getting past that, I know where my game is and I feel like I can be one of the top guys. It’s going to be hard jumping over some of our players, but I believe in myself and I know Coach [Michael Beard] does too.”

AUSTIN.HAL L @PEPPER DINE.EDU

Pushing forward racial and social justice in professional sports Just in T o uhe y Spor ts Ass i s ta n t The history of sports has many components that transcend any game or athlete. Jackie Robinson, Muhammed Ali and Colin Kaepernick have all used sports as a platform to create change.

Professional sports leagues and athletes have taken a more active role in becoming advocates for diversity and inclusion this past summer. Social justice has been a big initiative for the restart of leagues such as the NBA, NFL and MLB. John Watson, former athletic director at Pepperdine and current chairperson for the Sports Administration department, said he has seen how diversity and inclusion have changed over his time working in the sports industry. “When I first started working in the industry, the focus was primarily on both racial and gender diversity,” Watson said. “At the professional side, such as coaching and staff, minority candidates in senior administrative roles or head coaching roles were very limited with very few participants.”

The level of diversity and inclusion in professional sports is measurable. Richard Lapchick, a professor

at the College of Business at the University of Central Florida, published a report card for MLB, the NBA and the NFL, measuring how well teams promoted diversity and inclusion in their 2020 seasons.

The report shows Major League Baseball scored a B+ in racial hiring and a C in gender hiring. The report also lowered MLB’s racial hiring grade from 89.4% in 2019 to 88.7% in 2020, according to a report from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in sports.

The report stated the number of coaches and players of color dropped from 2019, but the number of increased since 2019.

For 2020, the NBA scored an A+ in racial hiring and a B in gender hiring as well as an increase in the number of players and administrators of color.

For the 2019 season, the NFL scored a B in racial hiring and a C+ in gender hiring, and there was a decrease in the number of players of color but an increase in administrators of color.

Professional athletes have started to utilize their platform to become leaders in society beyond their career in sports. Alicia Jessop, a professor in the Sports Administration Department

and a lawyer, said there is a new mindset for professional athletes.

“The biggest change is athletes have had an awakening,” Jessop said. “The proliferation of social media and the growth in use of social media allows athletes to connect with the fan on a more personal, intimate level than athletes have previously.”

The NBA is a leading force among professional leagues in social and racial justice, working with players boycotting games and promoting various pre-game symbols like patches and slogans on jerseys, according to an article from NBA.com.

These statements include “Say their Names,” “I Can’t Breathe” and “Power to the People,” according to an article from the Undefeated.

On Aug. 26, the Milwaukee Bucks arrived to a playoff game only to protest the recent shooting of Jacob Blake, which led to all NBA playoff games being postponed for that day, according to an article from CNBC. “At a certain point, it’s taking the conversation and turning it into action,” Jessop said. “We have started to see what that looks like after the Bucks and NBA teams protested, which resulted in a meeting that brought up action items that players de-

manded from the governors of the league.”

off this past weekend, and it plans to follow in the NBA’s

Art by ali levens Watson said he believes allowing athletes to use their platform to promote difficult conversations about racial and social justice will lead to change.

“I hope most open-minded people want to have a discussion,” Watson said.

“Let me understand it better, grow and experience it as opposed to being limited.”

Many athletes in professional sports have focused on making sure that this movement lasts. LeBron James, for example, created an organization called More Than a Vote.

The organization is designed to educate people on voter suppression and how to vote, according to an article from The New York Times.

The NFL season kicked

footsteps. The players can choose either the name of a victim of police brutality or approved phrases for racial and social justice on their jersey, such as “Stop Hate” and “Black Lives Matter.”

NFL end zones will be inscribed with “It Takes All of Us” and “End Racism” this season, according to an article from the Chicago Tribune.

Both Watson and Jessop said they encourage athletes to continue to further the conversation that players exhibited this past summer.

“I think the way that this movement moves into the future is through those action items that focus on eliminating voter suppression, making sure there’s adequate polling and social jus-

tice initiatives,” Jessop said.

“The conversation needs to focus on the sport ethos moving forward.”

Watson said he believes the conversations can address broader issues of racial and social injustice.

“I hope that the system is talked about and the systemic problems that exist in them, whether it be job, education opportunities or policy development,” Watson said. “If they are being excluded simply because of gender, religion or sexual orientation, there’s a problem with the system and it needs to be corrected.”

JUSTIN.TOUHEY@PEPPER DINE.EDU

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Zaar maintains success despite obstacles just in t o uh ey s por ts ass i sta n t While Pepperdine sports are on pause for the fall, student–athletes are still competing in competitions in accordance with COVID-19 protocols that are not part of the NCAA. International athletes have had an easier time playing sports this summer due to other countries having fewer cases of COVID-19.

Student–athletes in sports like tennis are able to compete unattached throughout the summer in tournaments across the country and world.

Sports such as tennis, track and field and golf are all able to compete individually in their respective sport as long as they are not affiliating themselves with Pepperdine.

Athletes are not allowed to wear their Pepperdine uniform or jersey for a competition in which they compete unattached.

Lisa Zaar, a sophomore on the Women’s Tennis team, won the Audi Danderyd Open Summer Tour in Sweden on Aug. 23.

“It was a discussion before if they would even have the tournament because of concerns of COVID-19,” Zaar said. “They had three different zones for spectators, and we were not allowed to shake hands. Although we didn’t need to wear masks, everyone is obviously careful when they are playing.”

The tournament was made up of professionals from around the world, and Zaar was able to have

photos courtesy of lisa zaar Competin’ in Sweden | (left) Sophomore Lisa Zaar celebrates a point during one of her matches in the Audi Danderyd Open. Zaar won the tournament against professionals in her home country of Sweden. (right) Zaar receives her award for the victory beside Tournament Director Kenneth Bergbom and finalist Fanny Östlund on Aug. 23. some good competition despite the circumstances.

“One of the girls who I played was really good; she was ranked [No.] 120 on the Women’s Tennis Association singles rankings,” Zaar said. “I played a good professional, so that was really fun.”

Zaar said Sweden is much different than the U.S., in terms of its progress and protocol on COVID-19. Sweden, however, had to adjust its sports schedule just like the U.S. “In the beginning, they canceled all the pro tournaments,” Zaar said.

Zaar said everything began to open up and practices were able to restart again after a month of closure.

While many professional sports leagues have decided to close or limit the number of fans in attendance at sporting events, Sweden has started to allow spectators in for outdoor events.

In August, Sweden announced it would begin to ease restrictions on the number of spectators at cultural and sporting events; COVID-19 cases and deaths in Sweden have declined over the past few months.

When student–athletes are competing for their university under the NCAA, they are subject to its rules of amateurism. No student–athlete is allowed to profit off their sport or their likeness while competing in the NCAA. Zaar’s victory in the tournament

allowed her to win prize money, and she was able to use that money to cover costs for her tournament like food, housing and transportation.

The NCAA’s annual limit on tournament expenses is $10,000.

Whatever prize money is left over after the essential expenses are covered must be returned to the NCAA; the student–athletes cannot keep the remaining money. To remain in compliance, Zaar is required to fill out a report of all the expenses she accumulated during her tournament.

Despite Sweden being more open than the U.S., Zaar said she is planning to return to Malibu on Friday. The victory from her tour-

nament was her last major tournament of the summer, and she will likely not compete for a while once she comes to the U.S. “I thought about staying home and playing in a regional tournament to qualify for the national tournament in Sweden,” Zaar said.

“However, I wanted to go back and practice and get better because I played a lot this summer, so it will be good to get back on the court and work on things I need to. I won’t have to stress about the safety of traveling every week.”

JUSTIN.TOUHEY@PEPPER DINE.EDU

Opinion: Sports desk picks NFL Week 2 kar l w int er s por ts edi tor We were blindsided in Week 1.

The Washington Football Team sacking Carson Wentz eight times and starting off the season with a win? Only Photo Editor Ali Levens predicted it correctly.

The Jaguars knocking off Philip Rivers and the Colts?

Only Staff Writer Kyle McCabe got that one right.

The Lions dropping a chance to beat the Bears at home despite leading 23–6 after three quarters? Only Sports Editor Karl Winter, an avid Chicago fan, picked that one.

The defending NFC champion 49ers losing at home to the Cardinals? Not a single one of us saw that one coming.

The best record among our staff was a lowly 9–7, shared by Winter, Assistant Sports Editor Paxton Ritchey and Staff Writer Austin Hall.

Sports Assistant Justin Touhey had the toughest week, with his hometown Giants falling short at home and his trusted Tom Brady losing his first game in a Buccaneers uniform.

Like teams who came out rusty in Week 1, we will have to bounce back.

Week 2 may offer more predictable games, as we all agreed on a single team to win seven of the games.

However, there should also be some barnburners, starting with the Battle of Ohio on Thursday and followed by a tasty Patriots-Seahawks matchup Sunday night as well as the first-ever game in Allegiant Stadium on Monday night.

Though you may not trust us anymore, consider our takes before you tune in to Week 2.

Keep in mind, these are simply a select few key games in Week 2. Our picks for all 16 games are

avaialable online at pepperdine-graphic.com.

Cincinnati Bengals (0–1) at Cleveland Browns (0–1) (Thursday, Sept. 17 at 5:20 p.m. PDT) Justin: Browns Paxton: Browns Austin: Bengals Ali: Bengals Kyle: Bengals Karl: Browns “Both these teams looked horrible in Week 1, but the Browns have more talent. So I have to pick them to bounce back and win the game.” — Paxton “The NFL just feels better when the Browns suck again. Six points and three turnovers [in Week 1]? It just feels like everything was back to even again. […] I think [Bengals’ rookie quarterback Joe] Burrow’s going to be pissed. Maybe this is my Kyle McCabe Jaguars– Colts game that I’m hoping I’m the only one that gets it right.” — Austin Atlanta Falcons (0–1) at Dallas Cowboys (0–1) (Sunday, Sept. 20 at 10 a.m. PDT) Justin: Cowboys Paxton: Falcons Austin: Cowboys Ali: Falcons Kyle: Falcons Karl: Cowboys “America’s Team let me down once again for the season opener. I just hope that the Falcons don’t blow a 28–3 lead this time if they do get ahead. So I’ll go with the Falcons.” — Ali “It’s America’s Team that everybody hates versus the team chock full of first-round picks that can’t win games. Coin flip game — Dallas. I don’t see them dropping two in a row.”

— Austin Washington Football

Inez kim | sports design assistant Team (1–0) at Arizona Cardinals (1–0) (Sunday, Sept. 20 at 1:05 p.m.

PDT) Justin: Cardinals Paxton: Cardinals Austin: Football Team Ali: Cardinals Kyle: Football Team Karl: Cardinals “[Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray] is like the guy in P.E. in middle school and he’s like [4-foot-11-inches], but the only thing he can do is run fast, and he thinks he’s, like, the most athletic dude on the planet. I hate watching him play. He’s annoying. He’s going to go down so many times without being touched because he’s gonna look at the guys in front of him.

[Cardinals Head Coach] Kliff Kingsbury is not as cool as he thinks he is. But then [Washington quarterback] Dwayne Haskins exists. […] I’m going to go Washington.” — Austin “I was super impressed with Kyler Murray and the Cardinals. […] Kyler Murray now has a legit weapon

in [wide receiver] DeAndre Hopkins. He has Larry Fitzgerald, maybe one of the best wide receivers in the history of the NFL. He’s got a newfound offense with Kliff Kingsbury that actually worked pretty darn well against the team, the 49ers, whose defense was absolutely unbelievable.” — Justin New England Patriots (1–0) at Seattle Seahawks (1–0) (Sunday, Sept. 20 at 5:20 p.m.

PDT) Justin: Seahawks Paxton: Seahawks Austin: Seahawks Ali: Patriots Kyle: Seahawks Karl: Seahawks “I could go either way, so I’ll pick the Patriots.”

— Ali “I actually think that the Cam Newton version of the Patriots is going to be a pretty good team this year. However, the Seahawks’ defense has owned Cam Newton for his entire career with the Carolina Panthers. They know how

to stop Cam Newton. Also, this game is prime time at home. The Seahawks prime time record under Pete Carroll is absurd.” — Paxton New Orleans Saints (1–0) at Las Vegas Raiders (1–0) (Monday, Sept.

21 at 5:15 p.m. PDT) Justin: Saints Paxton: Saints Austin: Saints

Ali: Saints Kyle: Saints Karl: Saints “The Raiders defense had a little bit of trouble with Carolina, and even if they put up a lot of points.

I think the Saints are going to be able to outscore them in this new domed building.” — Karl

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