Sept. 23, 2020 | The Reflector

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THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS

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SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

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Commuters adjust to policy changes

By Hallie Gallinat

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Photo by Tony Reeves

The Shreve Atrium of Schwitzer Student Center looks different from past years as tables and chairs were moved out of the atrium in order to follow social distancing guidelines.

Photo by Tony Reeves

Sophomore psychology major Desiree Legree and sophomore exercise science major Gerri Bonner eat inside in Schwitzer Student Center while wearing masks on Sept. 13.

Campus life during COVID-19

Students discuss life on campus admist changes due to COVID-19 pandemic

By Taylor Strnad

MANAGING EDITOR & CO-BUSINESS MANAGER While students were permitted to move back into the residence halls beginning on Aug. 19, life on the University of Indianapolis campus is not the same because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The incoming freshman class is having a different experience on campus compared to years past.

Freshman theatre and psychology double major Jeanne Ezell is living on campus for her first semester of college this fall and said she thought there would be more social interactions.

“I knew I just was not going to get the normal college experience, but I didn’t think that it was going to be as boring as it is,” Ezell said. “I knew it was

going to be boring, but I’ve been here three weeks, and I haven't made any … [new] friends.”

Ezell said that she is at higher risk for the coronavirus, so she has not been putting herself into social situations because she isn’t yet comfortable taking that c hance. Freshman health and physical education major Summer Martin also said it was hard to make friends on campus.

“At first it was [hard to make friends], but through the UIndy app and then getting people’s Snapchats and stuff -- from there, it [was] kind of easy,” Martin said.

“It’s still the fact of getting used to wearing the mask all the time and still trying to stay socially distanced while trying to meet new people [that makes it difficult].”

Neither Ezell nor Martin has a problem with living in the dorms during a pandemic. Ezell said that the

cleaning staff does a great job, and she does not feel constantly worried while in her dorm, Cory Bretz. However, both of them felt that one of the biggest challenges is the online courses they are taking.

“I’m more of a visual learner, and I can focus better when I have someone in front of me talking to me, more than looking at a computer screen,” Martin said.

To help her focus better, Martin said she has been trying to do her online classes outside of her dorm room.

“The first two weeks, I spent a lot of time in my dorm room, and … it had me feeling down about a lot of things,” Martin said. “So this week, I’ve been spending a lot of time out of it [my room], and I feel like it’s getting more into a routine of doing my classes somewhere else. It keeps me more focused.”

Ezell said that learning on the

computer something that was meant to be learned in-person is difficult for her especially because her majors are theatre and psychology.

“I’m a more hands-on learner, so right now learning virtually is OK, like I'm learning, but I feel like I'm just trying to pass [my courses],” Ezell said.

Neither Ezell nor Martin regrets her decision to live on campus this semester, but Martin said she has some advice for those who are struggling with staying on campus this semester.

“If there was anything for me to tell anybody, it would be one, don’t just stay in your dorm room because it will start to get to you,” Martin said. “ And two, I would probably say even if there are not very many things to get involved in, if you just try and meet new people, you’ll find things to get involved in.”

Admissions alters approach

By Jacob Walton SPORTS EDITOR & PHOTO EDITOR

For a high school student interested in going to college, it may be harder than normal to try to figure out where they are going to spend the next four years of your life due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With many of the normal recruiting methods, such as in school visits and department specific tours not being possible, the Office of Admissions at the University of Indianapolis has altered its approach during the pandemic in order to make the choosing process easier on potential Greyhounds, according to University President Robert Manuel.

“We changed a lot of our recruitment events to have messaging that's specific to what the students need and their families need to know,” Manuel said. “We have figured out how to have a lot of virtual meetings in the fall term at a time when high schools aren't accepting traditional visits.

We've been making the changes so that we're able to continue the conversation about recruitment and admissions, even though we can't do it in traditional ways [such as] being in the high schools with the students directly.”

According to Manuel, he has been impressed to see the ways Admissions

and the Office of Financial Aid whether this is a place that they'd like to have been able to overcome the spend the next four years,” Manuel said. challenges and limitations the current “And we have changed significantly the pandemic brings. He said that despite way we market and manage and relate having to use new mediums, they have to and improve the students that want to still been able to replicate the traditional come. So I'm optimistic that we're going experience with students interested in to have a good year.”

UIndy but with extra precautions.

According to Vice President for On UIndy ’s website, students Enrollment Services Ron Wilks, one of interested in coming to UIndy still the bigger issues UIndy was seeing with have the opportunity to schedule visits students interested in the university was and sign up for group visits while also test scores and what they had available. having the option to watch a virtual He said that due to the pandemic, a lot campus tour. of students were unable to get the test UIndy is having scores that UIndy its highest number normally requires of inquiries ever so the university ... I'm optimistic with 79,000 students decided to waive inquiring about the the test score that we're going to university and its requirements for have a good year" various programs some students. for the following “We chose not f a l l s e m e s t e r, to penalize the according to Manuel. He said that students [and] to really help those despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the students through that difficulty,” Wilks Admissions Office is making campus said. “I think we had about 20 some open to potential Greyhounds. Manuel students that enrolled [that way]... So said that UIndy has had every spot we were able to serve a population that's filled for ever y tour they have really struggling and that has continued, offered. so fortunately we have continued to “We have had almost every spot filled suspend that because I mean it's really for the individual, socially distanced [and] impacted students across the country. masked tours that we've been putting in There's over 1 million fewer test takers place. And so people are still coming to this year than last year.” campus, they are still looking around, In the future, Wilks said that trying to make their decision about UIndy is expecting a drop in high school

students looking to go to college. He said that this is due to the 2008 recession and the drop of births during that year and now that group of students are going to be in line to graduate high school.

“All colleges are going to be in this fierce competition for a shrinking pool of students,” Wilks said. “And so part of it is again, putting yourself in a position to be competitive. Like I said, using technology so [that] they can be smarter with what you do. Using a more aggressive [and] smart recruitment tactic that's built on relationship building with the right people. You're spending your time with the right students who are interested [in UIndy], creating unique experiences on our campus.”

Looking towards the future, Manuel said that the university is not expecting any decrease in enrollment until 2026, when the projected amount of high school graduates may change. However, he said he is confident that the various programs, such as graduate programs, adult learner programs and part time students that the university offers, may help mitigate any decreases.

“So because of that diversity, we'll be able to accommodate lots of different populations coming through,” Manuel said. “And we may not experience the downturn as heavily as people who don't have such diversity in their programming.”

As with e ver y thing on the University of Indianapolis’ campus, there have been new changes and policies to ensure everyone’s safety as they continue their education. These changes include commuter students, as they have received new information about how they are to arrive on campus.

According to Vice President for Student and Campus Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli, commuter students must complete the required health check before coming to campus, just like the students on-campus. However, this is only required if they have inperson classes that day, according to Vitangeli.

“If a student is a commuter that happens to have in-person classes, they would be asked to fill out the health check any day that they're coming to campus,” Vitangeli said.

“If they have ... virtual classes [that day], they're not required to fill that out.

Another policy change relating to commuters is in regard to residence halls. Similar to how students living on campus cannot visit other dorms, commuter students are not allowed inside of the residence halls, according to Commuter Services Chair for Student Leadership Activities Board and senior social work major Amy Doren.

In addition to the pre-existing commuter lounge located on the second floor of Schwitzer Student Center, a new commuter lounge space was created this fall, according to Assistant Director of Student Activities Bridget Webster. This space, located on the first floor of the Krannert Memorial Librar y, replaced a computer lab, according to Doren.

Vitangeli said that space was added because the university knew that commuters may want a space to do virtual classes.

“We added an extra commuter lounge area in the library and tried to expand some places that commuters could be because we knew that with most classes being virtual that there may be some times that let's say a commuter had a virtual class, but then had an in-person class, then had a virtual class,” Vitangeli said.

“What would they do in that instance?

Because it's not like they can go back to their room. We wanted to try to make spaces where commuters could spread out and do that, so the library seemed like a natural location to do that.”

At the beginning of the year, commuter students also received items such as hand sanitizer and UIndy face masks, according to Vitangeli.

These items were available for pick up in the Office of Student Affairs or the commuter lounge in Schwitzer Student Center or the commuter lounge in the Krannert Memorial Library, Vitangeli said.

O n e c on c e r n V i t a n ge l i h a s i s c o m mu t e r s t u d e n t s f e e l i n g disconnected from campus, she said. Because of this, a main goal > See COMMUTERS on page 3

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OPINION

THE REFLECTOR

An editor in quarantine

What living in one of the university's quarantine spaces for 10-14 days is like

By Nathan Herbst OPINION EDITOR

I had scarcely been in my campus apartment at the University of Indianapolis for more than a day when I received news from home that someone I had seen a few days before had tested positive for COVID-19, which meant I could have been exposed to the virus.

After contacting Vice President for Student and Campus Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli and a health professional, I was told I would have to go into quarantine.

I was given three options for where this could take place: a hotel paid for by the university, my campus apartment or my home.

I wanted to stay in my apartment after a long spring and summer away from my friends and roommates, but after asking them what I should do, I realized I couldn’t put that kind of decision or risk onto them. I opted for the hotel and began my lonely tenure as a potential biohazard there.

Truthfully, the whole experience was pretty much what you’d expect.

You’re stuck in a hotel room for a while. You’re bored, lonely and waiting for the seclusion to end. It wasn’t particularly pleasant and definitely was not the way I wanted to start my semester, but it also wasn’t the absolute worst thing in the world.

All of my classes were online, so that made doing schoolwork fairly simple. You’d think it would be easy to focus on classes, being cooped up in a hotel room all day, but between worrying about the health of others, avoiding all physical

contact, watc hing mo vies and tr ying to maintain some sanity, the day can really get away from you.

The hotel UIndy provides for people in quarantine is nice enough.

All the amenities are there, the rooms were comfortable and everything was pretty clean. One of my friends even had a jacuzzi in his room.

I wasn’t a prisoner in the hotel.

I wasn’t locked up in my room, and there were no guards enforcing a strict lockdown or anything. I was even allowed to leave if I needed to.

However, since the whole point of quarantine is to avoid other people, it was all but expected I would do that of my own volition. The only times I left my room were to get food or relieve cabin fever by going on my daily runs.

Meals were provided by the university and came straight from the cafeteria in takeout boxes.

The food had to endure the rigors of transit, which made it taste worse.

And I didn’t get to pick out what I wanted, either.

The amount of food provided was quite small, especially for an active student-athlete. I could have eaten both takeout boxes for one meal and still have been hungry. Some of the foods were also not the healthiest.

A lot of the food was fried, and sometimes the only "vegetables" I got were a handful of french fries.

If I hadn’t brought an entire tote bag full of my own food, I would have been hungry the entire time I was there. No one asked about my dietary preferences or restrictions either, although I assume some level of accommodation could have been provided if I’d asked for it.

Graphic by Ethan Gerling

During my time there, I wasn’t checked on a lot and was mostly left to my own devices. This was fine for me, as I wasn’t demonstrating any signs of infection, but if something bad were to happen to me, it probably would have taken a while for someone to figure that out.

After five days and five nights at the hotel, I left to continue my quarantine at home because I was extremely bored and getting lonely. Getting through the full 10 to 14 days would have been really tough.

If you find yourself in quarantine, know that it will be a challenge.

There’s no getting around the fact that this is a difficult ordeal. Humans are social creatures and aren’t meant to be away from people for so long.

You’ll need to be resilient and r emember that this isn’t the end of the world. You can get through it, and if it helps at all, just know that the rest of the world isn’t really doing anything particularly fun while you’re shut away.

At least, they shouldn’t be.

COVID-19's unexpected effects

By Madison Gomez

ONLINE EDITOR & CO-BUSINESS MANAGER As COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the daily lives of many, mine somehow seems a little more stable since I returned to the University of Indianapolis. I feel safe and secure about my health while on UIndy’s campus because it appears clean, with supplies such as wipes and hand sanitizer provided around campus for all to use.

While I believe UIndy has not handled COVID-19 as effectively as it could have, by not requiring a negative test before allowing people to return to campus, the campus now feels safer and cleaner than in previous years. Looking on the positive side of things, I believe that UIndy has tried its best to provide comfort to its community through these increased sanitation efforts.

I’m in my third year at the university and have had classes and studied in every building. I’ve seen how dirty

this campus can be, especially since There have always been cleaning I lived in a freshman dorm my first staff in the dining hall constantly year. clearing off tables and workers cleaning Now, however, I feel as if the the restrooms at night. threat of the virus has made people care Overall, UIndy's campus was clean about each other more, or at least be before the virus, with lapses such more cautious around others, creating as dirty tables in Shreve Atrium in an atmosphere of respectfulness and Schwitzer Student Center the fault of courtesy as some have barely had social the people who chose to eat there and interactions since the campus transition then leave trash for others to pick up. to online classes.

But I haven’t seen these messes as The facilities frequently since are cleaned more coming back to of ten now, and school during Having a consistently it ’s nice having COVID-19. sanitizing wipes in Having a clean, beautiful common areas and consistently clean, campus feels nice. classrooms. This beautiful campus air of cleanliness feels nice. should outlast the The university virus on UIndy’s campus because has provided resources for COVID-19 that would mean a healthier, happier safety on every door on campus buildings community. to inform the public while also displaying I don’t want to diminish the guidelines on what to do if someone university's efforts from previous enters a building. years to clean its facilities. It has Even if one does not know about always been nice to have a bottle the sy mptoms or transmission of spray cleaner in each of the of the virus, UIndy has helped bathrooms, just in case it was needed. educate and inform its community

in efforts to create safety on campus.

As the pandemic continues, UIndy community members are being more respectful towards each other than pre-pandemic. We are farther apart physically if we follow social distancing, but closer than ever because we’re all trying to stop the virus and concerned about our health.

However, some disregard the health mandates and the means of transmission of COVID-19. For example, I have been in the bookstore and seen people closer than six feet, and that was the only time I didn’t feel safe.

UIndy has taken precautions that comfort me, such as stairways that are only one way, designated entrances, and socially distant classrooms so people can have control how close or far they are from another.

Trusting in others may be difficult to do, but the university has done a ton to help ease my faith in others. All I can do is hope that even after the threat of COVID-19 is gone, people continue to respect each person’s space and safety.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Editorial: UIndy could have done more Campuses across the country have started the fall semester in the middle of a pandemic, all using different methods to try to keep the number of COVID-19 cases down. The tools, methods and mandates that the University of Indianapolis has adopted have not fully equipped the university's community to fend off the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

Not requiring testing beforehand was risky UIndy did not require a negative coronavirus test before students, staff or faculty could return to campus, which was a risky decision. The university says it looked at other universities when formulating its plan for students’ return in the fall, but testing played a larger role in some other universities’ plans.

It’s odd that asymptomatic testing is only now being conducted as we are well into the semester rather than at the start of classes. Tests were available on move-in days for students and those who were helping them move-in, but they were only for those who filled out a health questionnaire and said that they had experienced symptoms or been exposed. The health and safety of the campus community was jeopardized by expecting all members to truthfully report their health status on easy to falsify forms.

COVID-19 testing should have been mandatory to begin with, especially since UIndy is partnered with Community Health, but at least more widespread testing is being implemented now by the university.

UIndy’s communication could be improved UIndy had communicated effectively with its community when the campus first put its courses online in March, telling those in residence halls that they couldn’t return to campus, with the exception of those who had nowhere else to go, and providing resources through UIndy IT on how to work Zoom lectures.

Now, however, UIndy is not providing students with enough information.

When the university tells the campus community what mandates it is instituting, it should explain how it is enforcing them and clarify what the expectations are when one is on campus.

The university also should have had the COVID-19 campus testing dashboard ready before students came back to campus, instead of launching it after the start of classes.

If students are nervous about attending classes in-person, they may be more focused on what they’re touching and the people they’re coming in contact with rather than on the material being taught.

This hampers the educational process and defeats the purpose of in-person classes.

If students, faculty and staff have to be on-campus for classes or other work, they have the right to feel as safe as possible.

The UIndy community should unite to combat the virus. The university should be more transparent, provide more concrete explanations and put in place better methods of communication to the whole community to help spread information in an efficient and clear way.

- The Reflector Staff

Corrections The Reflector acknowledges its mistakes.

When a mistake occurs, we will print corrections here on the Opinion page.

If you catch a mistake, please contact us at reflector@uindy.edu.

•

On Page 1, in the article "Library reopens with changes," we misspelled Reference and Instruction Librarian Tedra Richter's name.

•

On Page 3, in the article "New coaching additions," we cut off the end of the story.

The full article can be read online at reflector.uindy.edu.

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NEWS

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THE REFLECTOR

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

International students face challenges

State University this spring, she planned to return home to India, but was unable OPINION EDITOR to do so because of travel restrictions.

Chouhan said she plans to return home International students attending this winter but is unsure whether that school during the COVID-19 pandemic will work out. have faced significant challenges in a “It’s basically like you are dealing with variety of areas. Travel is two government policies, one of the biggest obstacles. just to see if you can be Numerous restrictions and home or not,”Chouhan said. flight cancellations have “That’s a big deal.” made getting from one Besides travel difficulties, country to another quite other crises can sometimes difficult. Johanna Buys, a overshadow even the threat junior human biology major of COVID-19. Buys said from Zambia, said she faced that in Africa other diseases, tough travel conditions such as malaria and AIDS, trying to get home after the kill more people than the spring semester. coronavirus. The explosion “It was the worst traveling in Lebanon, where Jomas I’ve ever had,” Buys said. lives, created more problems.

BUYS “Flights were hard to find “We had an explosion and very expensive . . . And there were a month ago, and many people were terrible layovers.” displaced from their homes, and hospitals According to Buys, one of her layovers were damaged and everyone went down lasted more than 18 hours. She said to help. It was a big mess,” Jomaa said. airline officials also detained her until “During that time, no one was taking she almost missed her flight because preventive measures for COVID[-19] she did not have with her because it was chaos … a test result confirming she The cases [of COVID-19] was COVID-19 negative. increased.”

Buys was able to make Amid the challenges that connection but missed international students another flight because of a face, Buys, Chouhan and delay, leaving her stuck in Jomaa believe that UIndy Ethiopia for two days. She has done a good job of said coming back to the U.S. supporting international after the summer, however, students. According to Buys, was a lot easier.

UIndy’s professors and Vice Other international President for Student and students have been unable Campus Affairs and Dean of to secure flights or visas. Jolie Students Kory Vitangeli have JOMAS Jomaa from Lebanon, a firstdone an exemplary job of year student in the master of professional helping students while prioritizing safety. studies in human resource development Chouhan said the International and administration program, was Student and Scholar Services office is planning to come to campus before a creating programs to reach out to other COVID-19 resurgence and subsequent international students to make them travel ban caused all of her flights to feel welcome and at home in the U.S. be canceled. She is able to Jomaa said that she thinks continue her studies online, UIndy has done a good job but this comes with its own of supporting her. set of challenges.

“I really feel engaged. I “My classes are at 1 a.m. feel [like] I’m there,” Jomaa [Lebanon time], so I stay up said. “I was so happy, even all night,” Jomaa said. “It’s during the international once a week, but I have to student meetings, they concentrate from 1 a.m. to were so caring, really 5 a.m. It’s a bit challenging.” supportive…. I felt [like] While Jomaa is stuck in part of the family, especially, her home country, others when we had the explosion are stuck in the United here. I was surprised [that] States. Aayushi Chouhan, an I received emails from the CHOUHAN assistant in the International international students office Student and Scholar Services office who asking about me, if I’m fine, if my family’s is studying for a master's degree in sport fine, that was really nice of them. I don’t management, has not been home for two think if it was another university [that] years. After graduating from Delaware they would have done the same.”

By Nathan Herbst

Commuters from page 1 for Student Affairs is to make sure commuters still feel connected to campus through services and providing spaces for commuters on campus, according to Vitangeli.

E ve n t s w i l l a l s o b e t a k i n g place throughout the semester specifically for commuters, such as a monthly commuter breakfast, according to Doren. The first commuter breakfast will be taking place on Sept. 28 in the library commuter lounge, according to My UIndy.

Doren also said she plans on having giveaways of commuter-specific items such as car kits and snow scrapers. However, one change that Doren believes will hurt some commuter students is not being able to meet in person.

“A lot of people are off campus right now,” Doren said. “So at least for incoming freshmen, they might not be able to meet their commuter friends like you normally would be, or even like their on campus friends. So it's going to be a change and it's going to be really hard for the incoming freshmen, or just anyone who's new to UIndy.

So I'm hoping that having these events and being able to contact them through Zoom or emails or GroupMe helps them find people and helps them feel like they still have someone on campus and helps them still feel connected to campus.”

Another way commuters can get involved on campus is by joining SLAB, the Student Leadership and Activities Board, Vitangeli said.

This board is meant to have leadership voices from both commuter and residential students, according to

Vitangeli.

“Any commuter student that wants to get involved across this campus, I would encourage them to get involved in the SLAB … that way their voice is being heard,” Vitangeli said.

“They can help with programming across campus, and they can help us understand what needs they might have.”

Commuter and junior chemistry major Andrew Paeth carpools with his wife to UIndy. He says that there has not been many changes in how he commutes to campus, other than the health check. “ I t h a s n ' t re a l l y b e e n ve r y different at all,” Paeth said. “Traffic's been just about the same as it always has been. There's not really been ver y much constr uction latel y, so honestly it's kind of improved I would say.”

According to Webster, commuter students can find a majority of information on the My UIndy website.

The website is kept up to date with upcoming events, according to Webster.

Commuter students can contact Webster or Doren directly through their emails or by emailing SLAB at slab@uindy.edu, where their email will be forwarded to Doren, according to Webster.

“We've got a lot of great things coming up this fall semester, Amy Doren is working really hard to make the commuter student experience really wholesome and to let commuters know, even if they are staying at home, that they are still a part of the UIndy community and a big part of it,” Webster said.

Photo by Tony Reeves

Junior exercise science major Melissa Spencer takes the blood pressure of her classmate, junior exercise science major Kelsey Dugger, on Sept. 15. Although their class meets in person, they are required to wear full personal protective equipment while in the classroom.

Health Science safety

New safety measures added to hands-on health courses

By Jazlyn Gomez STAFF WRITER

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the College of Health S ciences at the Universit y of Indianapolis has tried its best to keep their students on track. The face-to-face classes are held with caution and a sense of normalcy by the new guidelines, Dean of the College of Health Sciences Stephanie Kelly said.

Associate Dean of the College of Health Sciences Kate Decleene Huber said that she thought it has been challenging for students to adjust to having to do their classes remotely. She said that students in health sciences do not necessarily sign up for the programs to be remote.

“As with [other] students across campus, I think they’re having to learn how to be effective online learners, how to organize in that environment [and] how to reach out to faculty a little bit differently,” Huber said.

“I do think that they miss their classmates, so when we talk to cohort liaison[s], or programs, they’re so used to doing things as a cohort—having study sessions, doing social gatherings—which we’ve had lots of talks with them about being responsible.”

W hen many of their c lasses are based on face-to-face labs, lectures and physical contact, they are limited in all areas, according to Huber. Kelly

of people that they’re practicing their skills on.”

If one of the students were to be exposed, then the whole group would be tested and quarantined rather than the entire class, according to Kelly.

To help alleviate the risk of being exposed, students will be provided with personal protective equipment from the university, Kelly said. The equipment includes plenty of face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and face shields as well.

Professors will also be provided with

PPE, Kelly said.

Huber said that the college was fortunate that they still had a number of students graduate on time last year.

For this year, they still plan on having a majority of the students on track to graduate on time, although some students are opting to take a delayed track in some programs.

“With everything that happened in the spring, we had students we had to pull from clinical placements and we also had students when we were ready for them to go into health facilities, [they] just weren’t ready for them to go back into health facilities because of their personal circumstances,” Huber said.

“We have had people who deferred to maybe graduate three months later until they felt more comfortable.”

Kelly said that while the adjustments were a challenge, she was impressed with the creativity of the faculty and their willingness and commitment to figuring out how to make it work so that students can make it through their courses.

“At this point we’ve managed, there’s been a lot of schools across the nation in PT/OT [and] athletic training who have had to delay graduation for some students and so far we’ve been able to keep all of our students on track,” Kelly said. “... I think through the telehealth, through modifying internships when we could, through being creative, we’ve been able to keep everybody on track to graduate, which is good. I think that’s one of the high priorities we set for ourselves.”

other majors, such as nursing and health sciences. The department had logistical concerns in scheduling courses, part of which came from halving the maximum capacity of classrooms, according to Davis.

“We have 14 lab sections [of Biology 103],” Davis said. “So if we reduced the number of students to half, then we would have to try to figure out how to accommodate 28 lab sections in one room. So that was just impossible.”

The department has only five main labs, not all of them interchangeable, according to Mary Gobbett, assistant professor of biology and lab coordinator.

The labs have large equipment and immovable lab benches, so chairs and tables cannot be moved for social distancing, Davis said. Because of contamination concerns, some labs are not interchangeable, such microbiology and ecology labs, according to Davis. She said all these factors limit the department in terms of time.

“There [are] only 24 hours in a day,” Davis said. “So we cannot schedule all the [in-person] classes we would need to accommodate 10-person or 12-person sections.”

Davis said the department still wanted to provide students with lab experience and the ability to collaborate on experiments. She said Gobbet was the driving force behind a unique system to provide these opportunities. According to Davis, the options provided by this system give students flexibility in case they are high risk or need to quarantine Under this system, students can check in and out of the labs, as well as use lab kits the department purchased from the university, Gobbett said. The different types of students and the options they have to complete their work make it complicated to classify the department’s delivery options, according to Gobbett.

“It is a very complicated department

just to say ‘Did you pick a one, a two or a three?,” Gobbett said. “We are huge.

We have a lot of needs, a lot of diversity.

Ecology is not the same as cancer biology.

So it is not quite as simple of an answer.”

In the School of Nursing, purely lecture-based courses which primarily consist of graduate students, were offered online, according to Dean of the School of Nursing Norma Hall. There are very few online courses for undergraduate students because most of those courses have a clinical or lab component, Hall said.

“The remainder of our courses are pretty much hybrid,” Hall said. ‘The reason they had to be hybrid is they have that clinical component to them.

So [the students] are either going out to the clinical setting, either in the hospital room or in the community somewhere, or they are coming to campus for lab experiences.”

For their clinical rotations, student nurses are not assigned to COVID-19 patients due to health risks, Hall said.

However, student nurses may still see COVID-19 patients in their paid or patient care technical roles, Hall said.

“It's a fine balance really,” Hall said. “[The] reality is they [nursing students] may very well have contact with the COVID[-19] patient, but not while they're doing their clinical hours with the school.”

One surprise to some faculty this semester was the number of students who like or prefer online courses, Moore said. She said that there are students who prefer and are very comfortable with an online environment. “... There are really some students who are looking for that face-to-face [experience], but it is not an assumption you can make about all students,” Moore said. “You have students who, if given the choice, really enjoy the online experience too.”

said before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were two types of face-to-face classes that had been taking place, one being the lectures and the second being labs.

“What we’re doing [for labs] is reducing the number of students in the classroom and we’re putting them in pods,” Kelly said. “We’ll have groups of four to six students who work closely together, practicing hands-on and they’re only supposed to work with those same four-to-six students in that class .… Even across classes, we have a reduced number in the classes and also compared to how we used to teach the hands-on things, a reduced number

... We have a reduced number [of students] in the classes..."

Different course delivery options

By Noah Fields FEATURE EDITOR

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Indianapolis offered this semester online and hybrid alternatives to courses that were once in person, according to the UIndy COVID-19 FAQ page. Planning at a universitywide level began by determining which courses needed an in-person experience, according to Mary Moore, interim dean of Shaheen College of Arts and Sciences, interim chief international officer and associate provost of accreditation, assessment & education innovations.

“From there, it [the planning] then gave us a sense of how dense the population would be on campus,” Moore said. “Given the commitment to social distancing, in a campus where most or all of our classrooms are fully used in some ways, in order to do that social distancing, we had to unpack.”

Department chairs and faculty set up courses that need to be offered based on the curriculum and the rotation of curriculum between semesters, Moore said. The departments also consider the faculty available, incoming student resources and having appropriate spaces, she said.

“It [A course schedule] gets built at the department level, but it gets looked at broadly at the college or the university level to make sure that we meet the needs of the different student populations,” Moore said.

In terms of accommodating different student populations, biology is the largest department in the Shaheen College of Arts and Sciences, according to Professor and Biology Department Chair Sandra Davis. In addition to having the most majors in the college, she said the department provides the most courses to

NEWS

4 THE REFLECTOR

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Women's suffrage centennial UIndy professors look back at the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment

By Brianna Smith STAFF WRITER

The United States celebrated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote on Aug. 18.

On that day in 1920, the 19th Amendment of the United States Constitution was ratified. The 19th Amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex.

Women’s suffrage began long before it was organized in the U.S., with the push for women gaining the right to vote being a part of that, a ccording to Laura Merrifield Wilson, associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis.

Wilson said the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention was the first organized attempt for women to come together and say that they deserve to have a right to have a presence or a say in our government.

Wilson said that when looking at the women’s suffrage movement, people should know that it was an incredible push from multiple generations of women to try and change the laws in the United States.

Women getting the right to vote was primarily a white women’s argument, however, Wilson said.

These women were educated and came from a higher socio-economic status. “ W hen women were granted the right to vote, there were still a number of women who weren’t able to actually vote, particularly in the South with Jim Crow laws [where] African American women, women of color, were still excluded from the process,” Wilson said. “... It was not this ‘end all, be all,’ and then finally ever yone had the right to vote, ever yone was enfranchised and democracy hailed yet again.”

According to Associate Professor of History Chad Martin, certain issues of equality had to be addressed through women’s suffrage, including access to birth control, abortion

Photo courtesy of the Indiana State Library

Photo contributed by Liberty Fund, Inc., Indiana Historical Society.

Five suffragists, including Marie Stuart Edwards (middle), a women's rights activist from Peru, Ind., work at a desk during a tour on behalf of the women's suffrage movement.

James P. Goodrich, the 29th governor of the state of Indiana, signs a document ratifying Indiana's passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on Jan. 16, 1920.

rights and child care. He said men did not prioritize these issues and didn’t see why they should.

“It [women’s suffrage] sort of has changed what we prioritize in this society and has made this country more equitable, more just in the long-run,” Martin said. “There are fundamental differences in life and life choices between men and women.

Male politicians just weren't receptive or perceptive of them.”

Women make up over half of the U.S. population, according to Wilson. For elected offices, women are underrepresented in near ly every branch at every level, Wilson said. She said that there are very f e w w o m e n i n e l e c t e d o f fi c e relative to the proportion of the U.S. population.

The United States has never had a female president, and Indiana

is something that is important to commemorate, Wilson said. This is because we have to recognize how far we have come as a country, she said.

“I think sometimes people consider progress to be inevitable, that things will just change and they’ll happen and they don’t,” Wilson said.

“Progress comes from struggle and strife and challenge. It's not always pretty, and it's not always instant. It can take years or decades or even generations to make that happen.”

There is still more to be done in the area of women’s rights, according to Martin and Wilson. Martin said that because attaining women’s rights is a struggle, those rights not going to be immediately given to them. “ They call it the struggle of women’s rights for a reason. It is a

has never had a female senator or governor, Wilson said. Women make up around 24% of Congress and 29% of state legislatures, according to Wilson.

“This is important because the government makes decisions. They

They call it the struggle of women’s rights for a reason." [elected officials] make policies, and they’re going to influence the lives of not just women, but men—everyone,” Wilson said. “So, our government should look as representative and diverse as the people they serve.”

The women’s suffrage movement

struggle [and] it is a political fight,” Martin said. “There are people who will push back with all the power they have …. If women are going to finally get greater and greater equality, and hopefully, eventually complete equality in our society, it’s going to be a struggle. It’s not just going to be given to them.”

Wilson said that because the U.S. gave more people the right to vote, it has made the country more democratic. At the time the Constitution was written, many people did not have that right. There are still opportunities for today, she said.

“There are still challenges that we face today that we need to tackle head on,” Wilson said.

“We don't just need to say, ‘Someday they'll change.’ We need to lead that kind of discussion.”

— A Public Service Announcement from The Reflector —

SPORTS

5 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

THE REFLECTOR

New inclusion and diversity committee UIndy Athletics reveals new student-athlete organization focused on race, LGBTQ+, mental health

By Kiara Conley NEWS EDITOR

The University of Indianapolis Athletic Department announced its newest committee—the UIndy Athletics Diversity and Inclusion committee on Sept. 4 on their website. Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator for Student Support Jackie Paquette said that the committee is allowing the student-athletes use their voice.

“The committee was established to give our student-athletes a space in which to utilize the voice we’ve seen them have in light of the current events going on in the world,” Pauquette said.

According to Cody Wainscott, sports information director and one of the committee’s advisers, the committee will be led by student-athletes who want to make a difference by serving on the committee. Following current events, such as the Black Lives Matter

movement over the summer, Wainscott said he and Paquette decided it was time to put together a group on campus.

He said that they knew the athletic department has such an impactful voice

WAINSCOTT across the campus, and they began to find student-athletes who wanted to be involved.

“We [Paquette and Wainscott] [have] just been facilitating the conversation because we’ve been pretty open from the very beginning that we want the

student-athletes to drive this because the student-athlete population is a lot more diverse, they’re super indulgent, they’re very outgoing and they can have a stronger voice … [that] would mean more rather than [it] coming from two administrators,” Wainscott said.

Gillian Santana, a sophomore defensive specialist for the volleyball team, said that the committee wants to spread awareness of unity on campus. “... [By] being part of an athletic team, I feel we like we can spread the word more,” Santana said.” “We have so many of us on our team that... in this group are able to spread the word to our teammates and they can spread the word onto other folks on the campus or in the community.”

According to Wainscott, acceptance is the main objective of the committee.

He said that the committee started because of racial injustice and has now expanded into areas involving mental health awareness, LGBTQ+

rights and religious beliefs.

Wainscott also said that this is a time for listening and learning.

D uring one of the committee’s meetings, Austin Bartel of the men’s

PAQUETTE lacrosse team, said that he cannot have an opinion yet because this is his time to sit back and listen, according to Wainscott.

“I think that’s… extremely important for all of us, instead of throwing our two cents in all the time, to actually to just

listen and really learn and accept and empathize for other people’s beliefs no matter what they are, not even beliefs, like for just who they are as people,” Wainscott said.

The committee will hold events in the future, but much of what they are doing is in idea stages right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Paquette. She said these events will be available to everyone on UIndy’s campus and will be more of informative-based events with possible speakers or panelists.

Af ter the committee reaches o u t t o o t h e r c a m p u s g ro u p s , Paquette said some events may be held in conjunction with groups such as UIndy PRIDE and the Black Student Association. Paquette said whatever partnership will be about education “So we are just looking to sort of facilitate ways that we can educate our campus around issues currently in the world,” Paquette said.”

A look back at football’s 2019 season

By Jacob Walton SPORTS EDITOR & PHOTO EDITOR

Photo by Jacob Walton

In this file photo, senior exercise science major Ben Hooker looks upfield during an ultimate frisbee game. Ultimate Frisbee is one of the many intramurals that have been affected by COVID-19. Other intramurals, including flag football, will not take place this semester.

Intramural Changes

By Giselle Valentin

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many different activities t h ro u g h o u t t h e U n i ve r s i t y o f Indianapolis, including academics and campus life, with intramural sports being another one of those campus traditions that now has new safety guidelines and protocols. According to Assistant Director of Student Activities Nicole Schuch, intramural sports such as flag football and volleyball will not happen this fall.

“Most of these sports … would require lots of physical contact [with] very little social distancing at all,” Schuch said.

“For the safety of our students, we have to put that on hold.”

Although the campus will not have intramural sports this semester, UIndy Campus Recreation is adding a new esports program, according to Schuch.

The first esports competition will take place at the end of September.

Students can participate in games such as NBA 2K21, Overwatch and Fortnite that will be streamed on Twitch. Those who are interested in participating can sign up via Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli’s emails, flyers posted around campus or on UIndy Campus Rec’s social media.

Schuch said she hopes that the esports program will continue after

intramurals get back to traditional methods.

“This is us dipping our toe into the water at the end of the month,” Schuch said. “Even if we get to a point where we are back to the traditional way of intramurals, we would also add esports to our rolling multi-league or one-day tournaments.”

Senior public health major Phoebe Schembre has been a member of the intramural ultimate frisbee team for four years. When writing COVID-19 guidelines for the team practices,

Most of these sports... would require lots of physical contact...“ Schembre said her main priority is to protect the team.

“We have to wear masks while we play, which is the same as all of the other athletes on campus,” Schembre said. “We sanitize the disc a couple of times throughout practice [and] before and after,” Schembre said.

“We’re not doing any scrimmaging.

We just decided that [it] would put people at risk because it would be a lot more breaking the six-feet barrier.

We’re going to just do drills and teach people.”

According to Schembre, one

of the biggest challenges playing ultimate frisbee this season is meeting in-person. Schembre said scheduling a practice takes a long time because the Office of Student Affairs must approve it with the COVID-19 guidelines. “ We need to meet more than once a month, which the RSO’s are allowed to, but that means we have to do more things to allow for that,” Schembre said. “[That ’s] almost frustrating because I see other RSOs being able to do things and our team hasn’t been able to move forward. It’s harder to get freshmen to play when we can’t play yet.”

Campus Rec is taking small steps to ensure the well-being of students during COVID-19, according to Schuch. During Welcome Week, students were able to take part in a corn hole tournament.

According to Schuch, it’s simple to enforce social distancing rules and restrict the number of people involved with it. Although intramural sports are not taking place this semester, Schuch remains hopeful for the next term.

“The goal and the most ideal situation as the university moves through the phases of the re-engagement process [is] if we can get to a point where we are allowed to have a larger gathering … we’ll be ready to rock and roll with you traditional second semester intramural programs,” Schuch said. “We would love to do that.”

University of Indianapolis football is one of the biggest sports at UIndy and in the past years they have also been successful winning four GLVC championships in the last six seasons.

Their current campaign has been pushed to the spring and it is expected that the Hounds, led by second-year Head Coach Chris Keevers, will still be successful again.

Last season, the team saw a very successful regular season with a 9-to1 record leading them to their second straight GLVC championship before being eliminated from the NCAA Playoffs in the first round by No.15 ranked University of Central Missouri Mules. According to Keevers, despite a successful season they still have to overcome some issues.

“We got in the top 10 at one point we made the playoffs,” Keevers said.

“But some of the disappointing things...

We went on the road after winning six blowout games and then really struggled in a tight game. We’ve gotta find ways to get our guys to remain competitive after blowing out a bunch of teams.”

OFFENSE The team’s offense was led by senior quarterback TJ Edwards, who was sixth in the conference in passing yards per game.

Edwards transferred from conference opponent Southwest Baptist University.

Junior running back Al McKeller led the rushing front for the Hounds and finished first in the conference in rushing yards per game with 102.18 and finished the season with 1,124 yards total and 17 touchdowns moving him into the first place spot in the UIndy record book for career TD’s. He unseated former UIndy running back Klay Fletcher. If McKeller has another good season he is set to beat out Fletcher for the total rushing yards record.

The receiving unit was led by

sophomore receiver Daveon Bell and senior receiver Maurice Robinson. The pair tied with 38 receptions in the season each and combined for over 1,100 yards of offense. Bell averaged 16.58 yards per game last season with Robinson averaging 14.66, but the overall leader in yards per reception last season was senior tight end Ryan Topper who averaged 22.41 yards per reception on 19 total catches.

Keevers said that the offense unit is going to remain mostly unchanged heading into this season and that we should expect another good offense.

“I think you’ll see a very good football team,” Keevers said. “We’ve got seven offensive linemen that have started in different capacities, two or three off the first team, all conference guys, one is an All-American returning. Our offensive line is really good. We’ve got two of the best [running] backs in the country with Al McKeller and Toriano Clinton, so we’re going to be able to run it.”

DEFENSE With the team’s defense, the Hounds were able to hold opposing offenses to an average of 17.73 points per game. One of the leaders on the defensive end was redshirt junior defensive back Conner Steeb who led the team in tackles with 65 total with 38 of them being solo tackles.

The Hounds also grabbed 13 interceptions in the season with four of them being snagged by sophomore defensive back William Miles. The team was also able to get behind the line and sack opposing quarterbacks 28 times resulting in 177 yards lost by the opposing teams. Leading in the sack column was redshirt senior defensive lineman Jacob Schmatz who had 4.5 sacks on the season.

According to Keevers, the defense lost some seniors last season, but have been heavily recruiting in the secondary.

The football team will begin their season in spring 2021 alongside Volleyball, Men’s Soccer and Women’s Soccer.

All information according to UIndy Athletics and GLVC.com

Photo by Kiara Conley

In this file photo, senior quarterback TJ Edwards throws the ball upfield during a home game against the Truman University Bulldogs on Nov. 9, 2019. The Hounds won 44-28.

FEATURE

6 THE REFLECTOR

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Student interns Grant received work remotely

$50,000 grant will fund Prophetstown State Park survey

By Hallie Gallinat

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Underneath the cool autumn sun, University of Indianapolis students dig small holes on the grounds of Prophetstown State Park in West Lafayette, Ind.. Their goal: to find artifacts left behind by Native American tribes as part of an archaeological survey.

Chair and Associate Professor of Anthropology Christopher Moore received a $50,000 grant to fund an archaeological survey in Prophetstown State Park. The project has been funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund that has been administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.

Along with finding artifacts, certain sites in the park will be surveyed for the National Register of Historic Places eligibility, which will provide some protection from development upon a site, according to Moore. The project will also look for archaeological sites currently undocumented in the state park, Moore said.

“We’re going to be assessing a few sites that have been documented, but they haven’t been documented well enough to determine whether they’re eligible for listing on the register,” Moore said.

“So, at the end of the day … our job is to find new resources and to assess the existing resources in our project area to determine whether they should go on the national register.”

This project was sent as a grant back in October 2019, according to Moore.

The site of Prophetstown State Park was chosen because it is thought to be where the Native American town Prophetstown was located, Moore said.

Four areas were identified by the state park to be surveyed, however, only three of those areas will be surveyed, according to Moore.

“The main part of our project is we’re going to look at three of those four areas.

We’re not looking at all four because we don’t have the money to do it,” Moore said. “You can only apply for so much money. The grants go up to $50,000, [and] so within that $50,000, we were able to survey three of those project areas.”

To survey the areas, 50-by-50 centimeter wide squares will be dug in the ground, Moore said. These squares will then be dug into 10-centimeter levels until 50 centimeters or until sterile subsoil is reached, according to Moore. “ As we do that, each one of those levels will run through 1/4 inch hardware cloth.

So we’ll screen it, and we’ll pull out any artifacts,” Moore said.

According to Moore, once the artifacts

MOORE have been found, they will be able to tell certain things about them, such as what depth they were found in or if they are in their original context. This will tell them how the artifacts were distributed across the project area and something new about the past, according to Moore.

After artifacts are dug up, they will be bagged by context and sent back to UIndy, according to Moore. The artifacts are then processed by students in a research experience course, according to Moore. “[The students will] clean the artifacts, they’ll sort them, they’ll catalog them, they’ll identify them, and they’ll classify them,” Moore said. “Then I’ll take those data, and I’ll write up a final report and will then take the artifacts to the Indiana State Museum where they’ll be curated for other people to look at them in the future.”

An archaeological contract firm, known as Orbis Environmental, is participating in the survey, along with

UIndy Adjunct Anthropology Professor Elizabeth Straub, Moore said. A minimum of UIndy six students, three undergraduate, and three graduate will also participate in the project, according to Moore.

Initially, the project was supposed to take place in July, according to Moore.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was pushed back and begun on Sept. 22, Moore said.

“If we were in the summer, we’d just hire six, and it’d be three undergrads and three grads, and then they’d all be out there for the whole time, and that’d be the end of it,” Moore said. “But right now, all the students have some days when they have in-person classes, other days when they have synchronous online classes. So, we kind of have to work around schedules, and that might mean we’re out there longer. It might mean we have to hire more students, but we’ll hire at least six.”

First-year anthropology graduate student Ariel Creal is one of the students working on the survey, and her job is to compile information on how others conducted surveys from various articles, according to Moore. This includes what methods were used and what kinds of artifacts were found, Creal said.

“I wanted to participate [in the survey] because I think it is really cool to learn something new about another native culture and also getting more experience in doing archeological work,” Creal said.

Moore believes the importance of this survey is to identify resources in the park so that the park may preserve them for the future. This survey also contributes to Moore’s research of the people who lived in the middle Wabash River Valley, Moore said.

“I’m really excited about [the survey],” Moore said. “I’m hopeful that we find so much, and it’s so complicated that we spend all of our time and don’t actually finish all three project areas. It is a very resource-rich area.... So, I’m hoping these areas that we don’t know much about are going to be just as packed full of information as the areas that we do know a lot about.”

according to Warren. She helped them make smoothies and gluten-free recipes, STAFF WRITER Warren said.

“With the GiGi’s kitchen [program], I used more of our sports nutrition stuff Getting an internship in college that we do with exercise science… think can enhance a student’s traditional about the different nutrients and stuff learning experience, according to uindy. edu. Jordan Grino and Aria Warren, they would need,” Warren said.

Warren was able to broaden her two University of Indianapolis alumni horizons and help with programs she who graduated with degrees in exercise normally would not have if it weren’t science in August, were placed at GiGi’s Playhouse to intern this past summer. for GiGi’s Playhouse, Warren said. Since everything was fully online, they helped Professor of Exercise Science and with a plethora of activities. Surprisingly Internship Coordinator Jill Dempsey enough, Warren said favorite parts of assigned internships, and she placed the internship were not even exercisestudents where she believed they’d science related. succeed, according to Grino.

Warren got to assist in helping “[Dempsey] worked like crazy to find places that would accept virtual interns, GiGi’s put on a virtual theater show. The participants worked on facial expressions and since it was so hard to find a place for everyone, she just chose,” Grino said. and practiced how to interact with each “She knows all the students pretty well, other, Warren said. According to Warren, this helped the participants gain a lot of so she picked based on what she thought confidence. they would like.” “ The theater G i G i ’ s p r ogram was Playhouse is They were so happy definitely my a nonprofit that to be there, and it favorite, which I supports families was surprised about that have children impacted all of us.” because I never and adults really have been with Down into theater stuff, but just seeing all the syndrome, and their mission is to help participants gaining confidence in the families network, according to www. theater, ” Warren said. “They were so gigisplayhouse.org. According to happy to be there, and it impacted all their website, this is achieved through of us.” educational programs, social skill According to Grino, her favorite development programs,and supplemental activity was the movie club because she programs that help develop fine and gross had the opportunity to develop with motor skills. This summer, they were different activities and discussions to lead online, and that had new challenges for with the group. During this time, she got them, Warren said. a lot of time to talk and have fun with “It turned out to be all online, and the participants, Grino said. they still had almost all their participants Overall, their experiences with GiGi’s showing up, so it just showed how Playhouse were positive, Warren said. important GiGi’s is to them,” Warren Even though it wasn’t quite what they said. “It is really important for them were expecting, they gained an amazing just learning new skills and getting to be experience. around each other and have fun.”

“I think it was a really good experience Grino said she found numerous for me to have going into physical therapy ways to implement her exercise science because I’m going to work with people background. She helped with a program of all different ages and everything,” called GiGiFIT and created a warm-up Warren said. “I don’t know where I want routine for them, Grino said. to specialize for sure, but I could definitely Warren was involved with GiGi’s kitchen and helped them make food, see myself doing that in the future.”

By Jordan Fisher

Long-lost siblings reunite due to DNA test

By Zach Murdock

THE HARTFORD COURANT HARTFORD, Conn. (TCA) — While coronavirus pandemic restrictions have kept untold families apart this year, Jane Anderson Holmes could not wait another day after 40 years of searching for her biological siblings.

Three weeks ago she returned to Connecticut, where she grew up with her adopted parents and attended Danbury High School, to meet for the first time two of her brothers and one of her sisters who, unbeknownst to her, had been just 90 minutes away in Massachusetts when they were children.

Decades later, after commercial DNA testing finally broke the logjam in the family’s search for answers, they were together at last this Labor Day weekend in Holyoke, Mass.

Even in the midst of strenuous coronavirus precautions and testing, the newfound family knew the trip already was worth it when Holmes ran across the terminal at Bradley International Airport and into the arms of Kim Henn, her long-lost sister, for the very first time on Sept. 3.

“When you’re adopted, you really don’t have anybody you look like,” Holmes said. “You just had this feeling you really don’t know who you are. As soon as I talked to these three, my heart just filled up and I knew.”

Holmes is the first-born child of Nancy Stephens, the late matriarch of an extended family split up by several adoptions over a decade in the late 1950s and mid-1960s. Stephens was just 17 years old when she traveled from Massachusetts to Florida to have Holmes and chose to place her first daughter for adoption.

Holmes then grew up in Florida and Danbury before attending college in West Virginia, where she has lived ever since. She knew she was adopted and was raised with an adopted brother, but she never pursued questions about her biological parents and never considered whether she had other siblings until college.

Mark Mirko/Hartford Courant/TNS

Sisters Jane Anderson Holmes, and Kimberly Henn hold each other after the two meet for the first time after a DNA search revealed their relationship. Jane was given up for adoption after she was born in Florida to their mother, Nancy Cutler, who was 17 at the time.

“The older I got, the more curious I got, and the more longing I had in my heart to know who I was and where I came from,” she said.

“Did I have siblings? Was my mother still alive?”

Those questions began a lifelong quest for Holmes, who had just a small amount of information from her adoption attorneys and medical paperwork to go on in a pre-internet era. Even a private investigator struck out in the search nearly 20 years ago.

But Holmes did, in fact, have several siblings and they were on the hunt for her all those years, too.

Tim Cutler was born two years after Holmes and David Cutler two years after that, David said.Their mother and father did not stay together long, but the boys and their mother did.

In 1964, Stephens gave birth again to a boy, George, and another two years later gave birth to a girl, Kelly. Both were placed for adoption.

Finally, Stephens gave birth to her youngest child, Kim, whom she raised with Tim and David.

There were always hints growing up that the three children had other siblings, but Stephens never shared specifics. Any stories and details she did have were still locked away when she died 17 years ago.

But her children took it upon themselves to seek out the family members they knew they had but could not locate.

“One of the things she always said before she passed was that she wanted to know that all her children were happy,” David Cutler said. “That was her biggest

wish. She put the emphasis on that ‘all.’

I understood what she meant.”

The Cutlers also struggled to make headway on their search in the early internet era, finding it just as discouraging as Holmes did during the same period.

Both sides began to piece things together through Ancestry, the genealogy service, in more recent years but still had not found one another until this year.

Across the country, commercially available DNA testing has led to a wellspring of family reunions as curious people submit their own samples for analysis to sites like 23andMe to find out more about their family history.

Like Holmes and the Cutlers, some use the tool to intentionally seek out family, while others have unwittingly and painfully learned about secrets their

parents and families kept from them years ago.

“We are very blessed to have had a very, very good happy result for this, and I know there’s a lot of people that don’t,” Holmes said.

In late July, Holmes received notification from 23andMe that she had matched with a first cousin and reached out to her. It turned out to be David’s daughter, a U.S. Navy member serving on a destroyer in the Indian Ocean, who knew of her father’s search and realized she had been contacted not by a cousin, but her long-lost aunt.

David Cutler had suspected another woman was his sibling, but as soon as they spoke on the phone, he knew he had finally found his biological older sister. They immediately set out to navigate the coronavirus restrictions and precautions to arrange a safe, COVID-free reunion back in their home state of Massachusetts.

“The first thing David said is, ‘You have mom’s eyes,’” Holmes said.

The family was spending Labor Day weekend trying to catch up on far more than could ever fit into four days, visiting Stephen’s parents’ graves and telling stories about their own children and grandchildren. They hope to get every newfound generation of family together in one place as soon as the pandemic dissipates and public health measures allow.

Until then, there is yet more work to do for the siblings.

George and Kelly are still missing pieces of their family puzzle, so Holmes and the Cutlers are expanding the sites to which they submit DNA samples to try to find the right matches.

“Mom always liked puzzles, and she left us the best puzzle we could ever have, and it’s really brought us all close together,”Henn said.“I think this is what she really wanted.”

——— ©2020 The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.)

V isit The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.) at www.courant.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

THE REFLECTOR

ENTERTAINMENT

7

‘Gotta catch ‘em all’ Pokémon GO RSO brings students together during the COVID-19 pandemic

they are focusing on meeting up for socially distanced raids, which are group FEATURE EDITOR efforts to take down strong Pokémon at gyms. The group is using Discord, a Teaming up in Pokémon gyms video and text communication app, as and eating s’mores and hot dogs the primary mode of socializing and once connected the University of general communication, Harris said.

Indianapolis Pokémon GO community.

Recent Pokémon GO updates have With the COVID-19 pandemic accommodated the group’s need for throwing a wrench in their plans, the social distancing, according to Rosier. group must mask up and social distance Previously, players needed to be friends for their meetings, according to mental in-game for a certain amount of time, health counseling graduate student and but the updates lowered the time Pokémon GO RSO Vice President requirement, Rosier said. Now players Drew Rosier. can compete with anyone and do so Rosier said that he and co- from a distance, he said. presidents senior physics major “I know personally I have taken Duncan Hammond and senior creative part in tournaments with upwards of writing major Savannah Harris, who all 130 people from all over the world, act as registered student organization and we have been able to connect via administrators, have held administrative Discord and share each others’ codes meetings since and then just send the first month of each others’ stuff the semester. At remotely,” Rosier We knew what could these meetings, said. they scheduled Despite the come of it, and seeing it meetings and COV I D - 1 9 grow has been really nice.” limitations, the reoriented their initial plans of RSO status has weekly bonfires helped the group to more socially distanced activities, by allowing them to advertise on according to Harris. campus, Rosier said. In addition to “[The bonfires were] a nice way to hanging posters and flyers, Rosier said marry the idea of Pokémon GO as a he has posted about it on the UIndy group, but then also the people in it and App. fostering those connections,” Harris “The biggest thing is that we want said. “With the guidelines set into people to join, and we want people place, we were not allowed to spend to know that [Pokémon GO] is still any money on food .... We are allowed a thing,” Rosier said. “I just ran into to meet once a month officially, but we someone I knew from way back in have just decided to be a little more the day in grade school who is now cautious about how we are meeting and at UIndy… and he has been playing make sure it is outside in a very open Pokémon GO on campus for a while, area so we can all practice guidelines he just did not know there was a group. and social distancing.”

So, we are trying to get the word out The RSO administrators want to there.” refocus their efforts toward more game The group began the day the game playing, according to Harris. She said launched on July 6, 2016, starting out

By Noah Fields

STAFF WRITER

From learning drawing techniques to how to manipulate materials, art is a learning experience dependent on hands-on learning and classroom presence. However, with COVID-19 still a threat to in-person learning, the University of Indianapolis’ Art & Design students are confronted with developing their craft without face-toface instruction.

The biggest challenge for the Department of Art & Design amidst COVID-19 has been the lack of hands-on interaction with students, according to James Viewegh, associate professor and chair of the Art & Design Department.

“One of the things our department is known for is our working relationship with our students and being able to help them build repertoire and become really strong artists,” Viewegh said. “We’re just sort of distant from that now, which is really unfortunate, but we’re making it work, that’s what matters. As artists and designers, give us a problem, and we’ll make it work.”

The department is doing all they can

with virtual meetings to stay connected to incoming freshmen, according to Art & Design Coordinator Hazel Augustin.

Augustin said freshmen have a seminar with all art students which allows them to connect with each other.

“They have their freshman seminar, which has all the art students in it,” Augstin said. “It’s very wonderful that we have that, especially at this point, because they have that closeness in there and that connection with each other even though it’s virtual.”

This fall, only the sculpture and ceramics classes are meeting in person on the patio of the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center, Viewegh said. All other classes are meeting via Zoom and are turning their work digitally, he said.

Faculty have purchased large screens for their homes to better see student work, according to Viewegh.

As for the printmaking class, students are still able to work on the presses, Viewegh said. Assistant Professor of Art & Design Katherine Fries allows students to come in one at a time in staggered intervals, according to Viewegh.

With classes such as painting that require materials to be able to do the classwork, the department had to find

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Photo Illustration by Tony Reeves

as a Snapchat group chat with Rosier, Hammond, Harris, and a few others, he said. By 2017, the group hit the maximum number of members allowed on Snapchat and had to switch to Discord, Rosier said. According to Rosier, the Discord has around 50 active members.

“When I joined, it was just five or six of us at the beginning of it,” Rosier said. “We knew what could come of it, and seeing it grow has been really nice.”

Many members have talked to Rosier about how they needed something to do besides sitting in their dorms, he said. According to Harris, she finds comfort in talking about Pokémon for a little bit while so much is happening

in the world.

“I feel like those comforts can often be left by the wayside sometimes because of everything going on,” Harris said. “Yes, we should definitely focus on the serious issues, but also, it is okay to take time for your mental health and to do things you enjoy, and I think we can provide that as a community [by] having all of these communications, and having these really close bonds and friendship without sacrificing health or taking a large part out of our day.”

Students interested in joining the RSO can e-mail one of the administrators at rosierd@uindy.edu, hammondd@uindy.edu and srharris@ uindy.edu to receive the Discord link.

a way for students to continue their work from home. Students were able to get their materials for their classes this semester by either purchasing or mail ordering supply kits from the UIndy Bookstore, according to Viewegh.

“We can essentially carry on in a very similar way that we would’ve done in class, except for them [the students] gathering around me at a table to see a demonstration, now they’re watching on screens instead,” Viewegh said.

All the art studios in Christel DeHaan are closed, but the art gallery is open, Viewegh said. The gallery is limited to ten people at a time and masks are being required to enter the building, according to Viewegh. No major exhibitions from established artists will be running this year, he said.

“We can’t have major gallery exhibitions, so we’ll open the year with that [senior visual communication design] exhibition [and] that allows senior students to show their work,” Viewegh said. “It allows parents to come and see what they did.”

Despite not having exhibitions or on-campus lectures, students will still be able to learn from guest artists, according to Viewegh. Assistant Professor of Art and Design Nathan

Foley has set up a virtual lecture series through the department, he said. Six different artists will also give lectures about their work via Zoom and then answer questions through the chat feature, according to Viewegh.

Usually, artists would come to art classes to give lectures and do demos, according to Augustin. The artists taking part in the virtual lecture series come from different fields, and the art department is excited about the virtual lectures, she said.

“We felt like this was a good way of getting students exposed to other artists in a safe aspect,” Augustin said.

“We felt like this was the safest way.

It kept us going and reaching out and feeling connected to the students.”

Viewegh said he has been telling his students that in his 20 years of teaching at UIndy, an event such as a pandemic has never happened before. He said he hopes to be back in the studios with students and have exhibitions and events go back to normal. “... We’ll be laughing about what a crazy time that was, but it taught us how to take a terrible situation and solve a problem and move forward,” Viewegh said. “All we have to do is keep moving forward, and we’ll be fine.”

New Obama memoir coming Nov. 17

By Christi Carras

LOS ANGELES TIMES (TCA) — A new memoir by Barack Obama documenting his time in the White House will hit shelves right after this year’s presidential election.

On Sept. 17, the former president announced that his next book, “A Promised Land,” is finished and will arrive Nov. 17. The entry — the first of two presidential memoirs Obama plans to release — will offer firsthand accounts of several watershed moments that occurred during the first term of his presidency, ending with the killing of Osama bin Laden.

“There’s no feeling like finishing a book, and I’m proud of this one,” Obama wrote in a statement shared on social media.

“I’ve spent the last few years reflecting on my presidency, and in A Promised Land I’ve tried to provide an honest accounting of my presidential campaign and my time in office: the key events and people who shaped it,

Rudd begs people to wear masks in PSA

By Christi Carras

Art & Design works remotely

By Olivia Nettrouer

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

my take on what I got right and the broader thoughts on how we can heal mistakes I made, and the political, the divisions in our country going economic, and cultural forces that my forward and make our democracy team and I had to confront then — and work for everybody — a task that won’t that as a nation we are grappling with depend on any single president, but on still.” all of us as engaged citizens.”

The story begins before A window into his mind, Obama’s historic 2008 the memoir will also touch election, chronicling his on Obama’s experience as early career coming up the first Black president as a politician as well of the United States, as his groundbreaking “bearing the expectations presidential campaign. of a generation buoyed Other topics covered in by messages of ‘hope and the soon-to-be bestseller change,’ and meeting the are the Affordable Care moral challenges of highAct, Wall Street reform, stakes decision-making.” conflict in Afghanistan “Along with being a and the 2010 Deepwater fun and informative read, Horizon oil spill.

I hope more than anything OBAMA “In the book, I’ve also that the book inspires young tried to give readers a sense of the people across the country — and around personal journey that Michelle and I the globe — to take up the baton, lift went through during those years, with up their voices, and play their part in all the incredible highs and lows,” remaking the world for the better,” he Obama continued in his statement. wrote.

“And finally, at a time when America In the 768-page book, Obama also is going through such enormous reflects on the effects his presidency upheaval, the book offers some of my had on his two daughters and wife,

Michelle Obama, who endorsed her husband’s work on Sept. 17 on Twitter. Michelle Obama’s bestselling memoir, “Becoming,” and subsequent Netflix documentary of the same name debuted in November 2018 and May 2020, respectively.

“There’s no one more reflective, more honest, and more thoughtful than @BarackObama,” she wrote. “I’ve seen that in so many ways throughout our life together. And after seeing him pour his whole heart into this book, I know you will too.”

“A Promised Land,” published by Penguin Random House, is available online for preorder, priced at $45 in hardcover. A Spanish-language edition, “Una Tierra Prometida,” will also be available. A publication date for the second volume, as well as details about Obama’s upcoming book tour, will be announced at a later date.

——— ©2020 Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

(TCA) — Leave it to 2020 to be the year national treasure Paul Rudd finally starts showing his age.

The famously ageless actor recently partnered with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sept. 14 for a hilarious PSA urging “us millennials” to wear face coverings amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But rather than successfully relating to the youth of today, Rudd channeled the goofy dads of yesterday while delivering lines such as, “apparently a lot of COVID is transmitted by us millennials — no cap,” with cringeworthy charm.

“What up, dudes?” the Marvel star says, holding a skateboard and sporting a sideways NY snapback hat, yellow hoodie and giant headphones around his neck.

“Paul Rudd, here — actor and certified young person. A few days ago, I was talking on the iPhone with my homie, Gov. Cuomo, and he’s just going off about how us millennials need to wear masks … So Cuoms asked me — he’s like, ‘Paul, you gotta help. What are you, like, 26?’ And I didn’t correct him.”

Rudd is actually 51 years old (!!), if you can believe it, and things only get weirder from there.

“So fam, let’s real talk,” Rudd continues. “Masks, they’re totally beast.

Slide that into your DMs and Twitch it.

Vibe check: Yas, queens like ourselves, we want to go to bars. We want to drink, hook up, do our TikToks. I get it.

I’m not gonna preach at you like some celebrity. This is a convo, where I talk, and you shut up and wear your mask.”

At one point in the two-minute clip,

RUDD Rudd even pretends to dial Gen-Z pop phenom Billie Eilish, whom he calls “my bae” and wants to “stan” for wearing her mask. (In social-media speak, to “stan” means to devote one’s energy to worshipping a particular thing or celebrity on the internet and beyond.)

“Yo, listen, hypebeasts,” he says.

“Masks protect you and your dank squad, because caring about other people is the new not caring about other people. Now that’s fit. Want a challenge? How ‘bout a stop-thepandemic challenge? What about that?

What about a save-grandma challenge?

That fun enough for you?”

Ironically, the most relatable part of the PSA comes when the “AntMan” actor drops the out-of-touch dad act and starts desperately shouting at people to use PPE for their own and others’ safety.

“It’s all I ask is that you wear your mask,” he says. “Please, wear your mask.

Just wear a mask. Just wear a mask!

It’s easy. It’s simple. Please, it’s not hard! People are dying. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying, and it’s preventable. It’s preventable! Just wear a mask! I shouldn’t have to make it fun.

It’s science! It’s science.”

And, as a bonus for those who stick around to the very end of the clip, Rudd also re-creates his viral “Look at us” meme from Sean Evans’ hit “Hot Ones” YouTube series — with a pandemic-era twist.

“Hey, hey, look at us,” Rudd says, while pretending to eat hot wings through a blue surgical mask. “We gotta yeet this virus.”

Suffice it to say the absurd stunt achieved the intended effect, amassing more than 310,000 views on YouTube as of Sept. 15 morning, plus nearly 5 million on Twitter. The video has also been shared widely by many of Rudd’s Hollywood peers,.

“I hope Paul Rudd never dies,” Mindy Kaling tweeted. Same.

——— ©2020 Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

NATION

8 THE REFLECTOR

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Hurricane hunting evolves with new tech

NOAA utilizes new tools in light of COVID-19 safety concerns, meteorologists working remotely

By Joe Mario Pedersen ORLANDO SENTINEL

ORLANDO, Fla. (TCA) — When the hurricane hunter aircraft collected data for Hurricane Laura in August, most of the meteorologists analyzing it weren’t on board. That’s something new for 2020. They now work thousands of miles away in their own homes interpreting the data thanks to new software developed out of necessity in a COVID-19 world.

Systems on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s P-3 aircraft communicate with researchers, meteorologists and modelers on the ground in real time to produce accurate forecast updates. Usually, about three or four researchers from NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, keep track of those systems to make sure no errors occur, like a drop in satellite connection.

This year, meteorologists and researchers needed to rely on the technology without being on board.

So, the research division and NOAA’s Aircraft Operation Center worked together to develop new software capable of checking for errors on board NOAA’s P-3 aircraft, for which meteorologists or engineers can then adjust, said Frank Marks, director of the hurricane research division at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.

“I actually pitched the idea for this software last year.We were supposed to be good to roll it out in the 2021 hurricane season, but with COVID, it was necessary to get the software working sooner than later,” Marks said.

Before 2020, previous missions consisted of at least 18 crew members including multiple meteorologists, engineers, flight crew, engineers, system technicians, navigators and scientists of various other organizations. But the need to follow COVID-19 health guidelines was emphasized after five employees of the operations center, which runs hurricane reconnaissance missions out of Lakeland Linder International Airport in Lakeland, Florida, tested positive for COVID-19.

About 70 employees were tested following one employee’s positive test results. Prior to the infections, the center had already enforced new health guidelines to avoid an outbreak. The number of crew members per mission was cut in half down to nine members while time spent cleaning the aircraft pre- and post-flight increased, and a health officer was assigned to monitor the wellness of flight crews.

Crews are now made up of three pilots, two flight engineers, one flight director, one navigator, one systems technician and a dropsonde operator — a dropsonde is a weather tool that measures various storm aspects.

The new error-checking algorithm software made its debut at the beginning of June as part of the recon mission to observe Tropical Storm Cristobal, which formed on the first day of the hurricane season that runs June 1-Nov 30, and was the earliest “C” named storm on record since 2016. Admittedly, it was a smaller storm, but Marks’team was determined to observe the software work with crews as a test run in aiding remote meteorology.

The software didn’t work as well as the team had hoped during Cristobal missions, experiencing glitches in the data flow, but improvements were made to the tech over the summer. By the time Laura formed, the first major hurricane of the season, the software performed acceptable measures allowing meteorologists to create a forecast model they were proud of, Marks said.

“It’s challenging when you are working virtually, but the flight crew was phenomenal,”Marks said.“I was amazed at how well the virtual work turned out.”

Michael Holmes was the flight director during the Laura recon mission, which began its first flight on Aug. 20 and continued to fly missions into and around Laura until Aug. 26. The crew was stationed in St. Croix and intercepted Laura as a tropical storm 600 miles east of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The role of the flight director is similar to a football quarterback in communicating with multiple parties including researcher, meteorologists, engineers and pilots. Usually the crew would be on board discussing with

Jonathan Shannon/NOAA/TNS

NOAA Lockheed WP-3D Orion "hurricane hunter" aircraft departs Lakeland Linder International Airport in Lakeland, Florida, in 2019.

Holmes where to pass through the storm in order to deploy dropsondes.

The flight into Laura was quieter than in previous missions, Holmes said.

“Usually the bigger the storm, the more people on the plane,” Holmes said.

That wasn’t the case for Laura, which at the height of its power had tropical storm-force winds extend 205 miles away from its center. “We did most of our planning for how we would make our approach into Laura before our flight.We do talk with researchers online during the flight, but we try not to have long chats on the internet,” the latter of which was to avoid putting a strain on data flow coming out of the aircraft.

Because hurricane environments are rare gold mines for scientific data, the data collected from each mission is not only important to the National Hurricane Center but also to a number of other entities including the Environmental Modeling Center, the Hurricane Research Division and other interested parties, Holmes said.

Data is then used toward calibrating forecast models and research models,

which is why it’s so important for the data flow to be occurring in real time without glitches, Holmes said.

“Even a 5-second satellite drop can create a huge hiccup between the aircraft data and (ground systems), giving the models inaccurate information,”Holmes said.

Meteorologists on the ground analyze the real-time data flow and make requests to the flight director to have the aircraft pass through different sides of the storm to get a better look or measurement of its structure, temperature, humidity and wind speed. Communication is key for these recon missions. Flight missions involving the new technology through hurricanes Isaias, Laura and Nana went very well, Marks said, although sitting at home didn’t sit right with the 41-year career veteran, who has flown through more than 120 storms.

“You want be there with them in the air when things get bumpy,” Marks said. “Our team members, our colleagues, we’re used to going to battle with them, but having them out in the front line while we sit on the bench is

“I think one of the things that a lot of people don’t understand about people who subscribe to this sort of Boogaloo thinking is that their main focus is just dismantling, tearing down government, and they’re less clear on what it is they think they’re going to replace government with,” Wray said. “I’m not even sure they would all agree with each other.”

Foreign adversaries including China and Russia have tried to “sort of piggyback on a lot of the unrest activity that has been occurring,” Wray said.

Wray said he expressed concerns about misinformation on social media about the infectiousness of the coronavirus or about treatments, cures or vaccines, but that the FBI isn’t the “truth police.”

“Especially on something like medical issues we defer to (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the medical professionals to correct misinformation there,” Wray said. “But it’s important that people get their info in this context from medical professionals and not social media.”

Wray told lawmakers that the FBI hasn’t seen Russia target election infrastructure this election cycle as it did in 2016. But Russia has been “very active” on social media and online, primarily to denigrate Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

And Wray said his biggest concern related to election security in November is “the steady drumbeat of misinformation and sort of amplification of smaller cyber intrusions” that could contribute over time to a lack of confidence by American voters in the validity of their vote.

“I think that would be a perception, not a reality. I think Americans can and should have confidence in our election system and certainly in our democracy,” Wray said. “But I worry that people will take on a feeling of futility because of all of the noise and confusion that’s generated, and that’s a very hard problem to combat.”

——— ©2020 CQ-Rol l Cal l, Inc., All Rights Reserved V isit CQ Roll Call at www.rollcall.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Stephen Rex Brown & Chris Sommerfeldt

an odd feeling.”

Admittedly, meteorologists working on the ground during recon missions was inevitable, Marks said. The change occurred ahead of schedule thanks to COVID-19, but the Hurricane Research Division is always looking ahead to improve its ability in gathering data.

Having meteorologists on recon flights is not only exhausting for forecasters but it’s also expensive, Marks said.

“I have a staff of 50 and a nongrowing budget. I have to be mindful of what we need, to improve storm models and data flow,” he said. “We developed this technology to keep up with the growing demand of our services. We’re researchers but we’re working on operational tasks. While I think our guys enjoy their work out there, this was the natural evolution of technology.”

——— ©2020 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

FBI director describes Giuliani’s associates domestic extremists receive new charges

By Todd Ruger CQ-ROLL CALL

WASHINGTON (TCA) — The House Homeland Security Committee’s annual hearing on “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland” had a domestic focus on Sept. 17, with member questions to FBI Director Christopher Wray directed at the security of the November election and the U.S.-based groups associated with riots and other violence that began this year.

Lawmakers anchored much of the three-hour discussion on topics such as antifa, QAnon and Boogaloos, which have become major social issues in the presidential race. Protests and counterprotests over the last several months have been blamed for clashes in the streets that have led to multiple deaths, destroyed buildings and instances of violence against law enforcement.

Wray repeatedly said that there is no mechanism under U.S. law for the FBI to label domestic organizations as terrorist groups, and he said the FBI is focused on the violence any group might do, not their ideology.

“One of the concerns we have amidst all the current unrest is a growing trend of, protest begets counter protests, begets violence against one side against the other,” Wray told the committee.

“So there’s sort of this increasing phenomenon of individuals attacking each other in addition to attacking law enforcement, and that’s not good for anybody.”

When Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., asked whether it was right-wing or left-wing extremists who posed a greater danger, Wray said it was “not one ideology, but rather lone actors, largely self-radicalized online who pursue soft targets using readily available weapons.”

Wray said the FBI views QAnon, a far-right conspiracy group asserting that there is a secret battle against so-called deep state actors engaged in a global child sex trafficking ring, “as less of an organization and more of a complex set of conspiracy theories.”

The FBI reportedly has dubbed QAnon, which Trump has praised

and several Republican congressional candidates had voiced support for, a domestic terrorism threat.

Wray said the FBI sees the left-wing anti-fascist movement known as antifa “as more of an ideology or a movement than an organization,” though some domestic terrorism investigations target those who self-identify with the antifa movement.

And he said the FBI has seen individuals who identified with the antifa movement “coalescing regionally into what you might describe as small groups or nodes. And we are actively investigating the potential violence from those regional nodes, if you will.”

Some Republican lawmakers have called for investigations into antifa and its funding in connection to arsons and riots that were spurred during demonstrations that started in the wake

WRAY of Black Lives Matter protests. The FBI has not identified Black Lives Matter “in any way,” Wray said.

Boogaloos is considered a rightleaning, anti-government movement that started online and reportedly has connections to white supremacy and advocating for a second civil war. Wray said Boogaloos, like antifa, is more of a movement or an ideology than a group itself.

S elf-identify ing members of Boogaloos have been charged in connection with the shooting death of a federal agent in California, as well as providing support from Minnesota to Hamas, a militant Islamic Palestinian nationalist movement, lawmakers and Wray said.

The new charges were included in a superseding indictment that also charges Igor Fruman and Andrey NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Kukushkin. The quartet are accused of a complex web of campaign finance schemes, some of which overlapped with NEW YORK (TCA) — L ev President Donald Trump’s effort to dig Parnas and David Correia, two of up dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine.

Rudy Giuliani’s associates, were “As alleged, Lev Parnas and David slapped with new charges in Manhattan Correia conspired in a fraud using Federal Court alleging they used a company called ‘Fraud Guarantee’ more than $2 million of Fraud that purported to insure investors Guarantee investors’ money on personal against corporate fraud while in fact, expenses while promising the money as alleged, they misled investors as to would only be spent on the business. what would be done with their money.

Fraud Guarantee is an insurance ‘Fraud Guarantee’ takes on a different company founded by Parnas and meaning in light of today’s [Sept.

Correia.

17] allegations that the company was Parnas, a Ukraine-born businessman a vehicle for committing fraud, not living in Florida, allegedly spent insuring against it,” acting Manhattan some of the money on his home and U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said. luxury cars.

Parnas, Correia, Fruman, and Giuliani, who is reportedly under Kukushkin were also slapped with new investigation in connection with the charges prohibiting foreign nationals case but has not been charged, was paid from contributing to election campaigns. hundreds of thousands of dollars by Fraud Parnas and Guarantee for legal Correia pitched and business advice, Fraud Guarantee according to an Oct. The behavior alleged today starting in 2012 2019 artic le by as a company that T h e N e w Yo r k is indeed fraudulent— would sell insurance Times. policies protecting The indictment guaranteed." investors in other claims that a companies from victim of the Fraud fraud. The company never launched.

Guarantee scam invested in the company “The behavior alleged today is by transmitting $500,000 to a consulting indeed fraudulent — guaranteed,” company Parnas and Correia had FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney retained.

Jr. said.

That consulting business, according to Attorneys for Kukushkin, Correia a source close to the case, was Giuliani and Fruman either did not respond or Partners. declined comment.

“Where is the Rudy case?” Parnas’s Giuliani replied to text attorney Joseph Bondy asked. “Lev messages from The New York Daily News Parnas has been on strict home by “liking” one text, “loving” another confinement for nearly one year, and re-sending the reporter’s inquiry waiting for this superseding indictment, back to him. which contains no surprises. We are When asked over text if he was pleased that the matter can now move concerned about an indictment, Giuliani forward, for both Mr. Parnas and the replied “no.” public interest.”

——— A separate filing by prosecutors ©2020 New York Daily News on the Parnas case indicated they Visit New York Daily News at were withholding certain evidence www.nydailynews.com from the defense, with a judge’s Distributed by Tribune Content approval, in connection with an ongoing Agency, LLC. investigation.