9-25-2020 Digital Edition

the rocket

Friday September 25, 2020 • Volume 104, Issue Number 2 • An Independent, Student-Run Newspaper

www.theonlinerocket.com

PASSHE COVID-19 cases total 1,137

With PASSHE guidance, the 14 state system universities respond to COVID-19 cases on campuses

By Hannah Shumsky Editor-in-Chief

Nina Cipriani News Editor

Joe Wells Assistant News Editor

Editor’s note: All data regarding coronavirus case numbers was collected on Sept. 24 at 10 a.m.

For the most up-to-date cases numbers, visit SRU’s COVID-19 dashboard or access a university’s dashboard using its website.

Between the 14 universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), over 90,000 students waited this summer for their respective universities to release a plan for the fall 2020 semester.

Prior to each university’s announcement, however, the Board of Governors approved a framework developed by the Office of the Chancellor for each of its universities. This framework was approved

in June and includes recommendations for students, employees and non-essential business-related travel.

In this framework, each university had to consider the following requirements to complement state and federal guidance: implement critical health and safety measures; require all individuals to adhere to health and safety rules, such as wearing a face covering, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings; require students and employees to follow protocols for self-reporting; manage employee requests for adjusted work arrangements; and require questions to adhere to university guidance.

Outside of this framework and regular meetings with each university, PASSHE administrators largely allowed each university to develop its own fall plan, according to Dave Pidgeon, director of public relations for PASSHE. “Every school has its own infrastructure, its own capabilities, so it made sense to provide a system-wide guidance to follow CDC guidelines and the [state and federal] Department of Health guidelines,” Pidgeon said. “We

also thought it vital to provide the universities the space that they needed to create fall semester plans that made sense for their universities.”

Reopening Status Prior to the start of the semester, four schools (California, Clarion, Edinboro and West Chester) announced a mostly online model in which an on-campus presence would be limited experiential learning components only. These may include clinicals and student teaching assignments.

In addition to these four schools, Bloomsburg University recently announced that all classes will be held online for the rest of the semester. The university originally moved its session I and session II classes online and delayed an announcement about the status of session III classes, which begin on Oct. 7.

Lock Haven was the only other university to completely move classes online during the semester in response to a 4.9% positivity rate recorded on Aug. 31. Limited face-toface instruction resumed on Sept. 21, and voluntary testing options are available

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this week to ensure results are processed in time.

According to Pidgeon, Bloomsburg and Lock Haven are examples of universities who adjusted plans with guidance from Chancellor Daniel Greenstein’s office.

“[Our universities] also have, in their plans and abilities, the opportunities to modify those plans and to do so quickly if necessary,” Pidgeon said. “You’ve seen that at Bloomsburg, you’ve seen that at Lock Haven, so that’s an

important note too, that in consultation with the Office of the Chancellor, they also have the space that they need to make a choice if they need to.”

SEE COVID-19 PAGE A-2

Behre discusses enrollment, finances SRU president delivers annual state of the university address

By Nina Cipriani News Editor

SRU President William Behre delivered his annual state of the university address to SRU stakeholders via email Friday, Sept. 11 and addressed student and faculty questions afterward on Zoom Tuesday.

His address discussed enrollment, availability, outcomes, university finances and “looking forward” in an eight page document format. Behre held a Zoom conference four days after his address was sent out in order to answer questions and provide clarification for points made in the document.

Behre began his address by explaining how despite the COVID-19 pandemic and recent circumstances, we should not lose sight of “the wonder of a new year.”

“This year marks our institution’s 131st fall semester,” Behre said in his address.

“Despite the pandemic, our tradition of serving students remains strong. Thank you to all who have worked tirelessly this year as we continue to move forward.”

Enrollment The total number of students enrolled at SRU increased by 70 for a total of 8,876. Undergraduate numbers are down by 53 while graduate enrollment has increased by 123.

The pandemic is partially to blame for the 119 student drop (7.5%) in the firstyear group. The decline in numbers was most noticeable after the announcement of the shift to distance

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modalities, according to Behre.

The total number of first-year students from traditionally underrepresented ethnic or racial groups increased from 157 to 192 (22.3%).

As for retention, the continued enrollment of first- and second-year students is 82.8% with a less than 1% decrease from previous years. The secondto third-year retention rate is 74.6% with a 2% increase, while the third- to fourthyear retention rate is 67% with a 1.8% decrease.

Retention rates of those who identify as members of underrepresented ethnic or racial groups has increased, with second-year class standing at 82.8% compared to last year’s 73.1% and third-year standing at 65.7% compared to last year’s 62.6%. Fourth-year student retention rates dropped to 56.7%, a less than 1% decrease from last year’s 57.5%.

Behre added how other universities have experienced a similar decrease in enrollment rates because of the pandemic. He said SRU’s reduction can arguably be interpreted as a positive thing.

Looking forward Behre reiterated the importance of bettering the graduation rate.

“In five years, we must have a six-year graduation rate that approaches 75%,” Behre said. “In a decade, we must reach 85%.”

One of Behre’s goals for the future is to attract a greater number of students,

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In person and mail-in voting

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including those who would not have originally considered SRU over another competitor university. He said he wants to address the demographic decline of high school graduates by increasing SRU’s graduation rate.

“If we are successful at meeting these challenges, at a time when the number

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SGA senate representation

of high school students in our region is shrinking, we will be retaining more of our current students while drawing new students who would have otherwise overlooked SRU,” said the president in his address.

The Middle States Commission of Higher Education (MSCHE) will visit SRU in March

to discuss and finalize future plans. According to Behre, a final plan must address: enhancing SRU’s attractiveness to high-achieving students; improving S R U ’s outcomes; improving SRU’s accessibility for students with few financial resources; achieving and maintaining the right program array;

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and fostering diversity and inclusion within the community.

Behre added that the SRU-Edinboro affiliation is no longer a part of the PASSHE system redesign, as the system has pivoted away from this model.

SEE BEHRE PAGE A-5

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Learn more about the SRU Student Government Association

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Local COVID-19 testing available Student Health Center provides students, faculty with less invasive testing

By Nina Cipriani News Editor

As SRU campus COVID-19 cases increase, the Student Health Center wants students and faculty to know about local COVID-19 testing locations as well as methods of testing.

COVID-19 testing is available at the Health Center by appointment. There is now a call ahead policy so personnel can sanitize rooms before seeing patients, rather than the walk-in policy from previous semesters.

Kristina Benkeser, director of student health services, said the tests are not as invasive as some may think.

The Health Center uses a self-swabbing method where the swab only goes up the nose half way, rather than the swab that goes all the way up the nose.

"Where the virus colonizes is inside your nose. You have to cover your nose. You have to."

–Kristina Benkeser, director of student health services

A student that wants to be tested can pick up a kit from the Health Center. A nurse will watch to make sure the student swabs their nose correctly. If the swab is done incorrectly, the results will be inaccurate, said Benkeser.

The lab that the tests are sent to bills the student’s insurance. Benkeser said almost all insurances pay for COVID-19 tests in full, especially if the student is symptomatic.

The wait time to get COVID-19 test results back varies. People who are symptomatic, live in a nursing home or are healthcare providers go to the top of the list, Benkeser said.

It typically takes two to four days to get results back for a symptomatic person. For an asymptomatic person, it could take three to seven days.

Reasons to get tested Benkeser said there are many reasons why a student may want to get tested for COVID-19.

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, muscle aches, shortness of breath, cheat heaviness or pain, runny nose, diarrhea, nausea, headache and loss of sense of taste or smell, according to Benkeser. Those who are symptomatic should be tested as soon as possible.

Students may also need to be tested if they are travelling or work in a job that requires a negative COVID-19 status.

If students suspect that they have been exposed to the virus, Benkeser recommends them to be tested, whether they are symptomatic or asymptomatic.

Benkeser added that students should not assume that they do not have to quarantine because their test was negative.

“It can take up to 14 days for you to produce the antibodies if you don’t test positive,” Benkeser said.

Guidelines to remember Benkeser added that students should wear masks and social distance around everyone, including their friends. She said she understands that this may be weird, but it is a necessary step to slowing the spread of the virus.

Citing SRU’s guidelines on how to wear a face mask or covering, Benkeser wanted to remind students that they should be wearing their masks over their noses as well.

“Where the virus colonizes is inside your nose,” Benkeser said. “You have to cover your nose. You have to.”

Benkeser said students often say masks are uncomfortable and it is more comfortable to wear them under their noses.

“Too bad,” said Benkeser in response to people complaining about masks.

“No one likes them, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t wear them.”

In an attempt to slow the spread, Benkeser said students should limit contact with people to those who they live with and keep the rest virtual.

“Put a mask on, and back off, even if you’re just hanging with your roommates,” Benkeser said. “It may seem archaic, but if someone gets sick, that means you only infected three people instead of 300.”

What if I test positive?

Benkeser said the first step is to follow the isolation guidelines, in the case of a positive test result. She also advises students to get in touch with their close contacts and tell them to quarantine as well.

Students should call the Health Center if they received

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a positive COVID-19 test result. Benkeser said students should not be afraid to ask for help.

“If you are having trouble breathing, if your fever is up and won’t come down, you definitely need to call us,” Benkeser advised students.

“We are here to help [people], and that’s what we want to do.”

The Health Center calls students that have tested positive on a daily basis to make sure they are doing well.

“All you have to do is pick up and say ‘I’m dandy,'” Benkeser said. “We do have students that become worse with their symptoms, and it’s the call from the nurse that gets them the help that they need.”

Benkeser also acknowledged that there are some students that test positive from other testing locations and decide not to tell the university.

“If you’re positive, you’re not in trouble,” Benkeser said.

“But if you are positive, we would like to know because we make decisions about the campus community based on how many positive cases we know about.”

Benkeser said she suggests that students tell the university their test results if they find out it is positive.

“You don’t have to take services [from the Health Center], however, if your illness, positive status or quarantine is causing you academic or financial difficulties, if we know about that then we can help you,” Benkeser said.

Health reminders and other options There are sliding windows on either side of the entrance to the Health Center where students can pick up quick things, like a adhesive bandages, antibiotic cream or a cup for a urine test. Benkeser said this is yet another way the Health Center is trying

to make things easier for students as well as maintain social distancing guidelines.

As we are headed into flu season, Benkeser said it is especially important to be mindful of health.

She added that it is almost clinically impossible to tell the difference between COVID-19 and the flu.

The Health Center will have socially distanced clinics where students and faculty can receive a flu shot.

Benkeser said they still need to work out the details on how and when this will happen.

Benkeser emphasized that flu shots are especially important for students living with roommates this semester.

There are COVID-19 testing locations in Butler and Grove City. Some locations require an order for the test, and the Health Center can provide that to students.

COVID-19 communication strategies vary across PASSHE CONTINUED FROM A-1 The other universities– including Slippery Rock, Indiana and Shippensburg– introduced a hybrid model in which select classes were permitted to meet on campus.

While the majority of classes

"If you look at the national landscape when it comes to COVID cases, I think we're doing well. A lot of schools of comparable size are two or three times where we are."

–William Behre, SRU president

for these are online, these universities planned for hybrid courses that could be held on campus.

However, the differences between the 14 reopening plans go beyond the status of in-person classes.

While the course of the semester for the universities holding in-person classes and experiential learning experiences is unknown due to the nature of the pandemic, Pidgeon said that the “playbook,” or each university’s plan to respond to the pandemic, is continuously changing as the pandemic shifts.

“This is our second semester in the midst of a once in a century global pandemic,” Pidgeon said. “We are writing the playbook as this pandemic continues to unfold, which means that we have to be open to lessons to be learned.”

Case Numbers As of Thursday morning, there were a total of 1,137 cases reported between 13 universities (Cheyney University is the only PASSHE school that has not reported any cases of COVID-19).

Bloomsburg University has the highest number of cases in the state system at 352 total cases, or 31% of all cases in the state system, leading to the university’s announcement to move the remainder of the fall semester online.

Kutztown University has the second-highest number of cases, recording 303 cases (or 26.6% of all state system cases) on Thursday morning. Indiana reported 155 cases (10.1%) while Slippery Rock has 95 (8.4%) and West Chester has 79 cases (6.9%). Lock Haven reported 85 cases during this same date.

These six universities attribute to 1,069 cases represented throughout PASSHE. Millersville’s case count is significantly smaller than these universities at 39 cases, or 3.4% of all PASSHE cases. California, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Mansfield and Shippensburg have seven or fewer cases, collectively contributing to less than 3% of all state system cases.

Slippery Rock University President William Behre stated that it is too soon to compare SRU’s response to local universities because of varied start times to the semester.

However, he expressed optimism when comparing SRU’s numbers to national statistics.

“If you look at the national landscape when it comes to COVID cases, I think we’re doing well,” Behre said. “A lot of schools of comparable size are two or three times where we are, some of them even

more, so from that perspective, I am feeling good about where we are, but I would love our new cases to go down to zero for a few weeks.”

Case Reporting For the 13 PASSHE schools reporting cases, each school is approaching their dashboard websites differently. All schools have separate numbers for student and staff/faculty cases.

However, for student cases, only some schools are separating between on and off-campus cases. These schools include California, Indiana, Kutztown, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg and West Chester.

As of press time, Slippery Rock, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro and Lock Haven do not differentiate between on and off-campus student cases. Lock Haven is the only PASSHE school to not list student and faculty/staff cases in different counts.

While SRU does not currently specify on and offcampus cases, Behre stated that the vast majority of positive cases were from off-campus students.

“You can count it on less than one hand at this point what’s been on campus,” Behre said. “If people are worried about it because they want to see if it’s clustering in our residence halls, the answer is

no, it’s not. If it’s something where we think we really have to add that to our dashboard, I think we’d be open to that.”

In addition, Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Indiana and Mansfield all list the number of people who recovered from COVID-19.

According to Kutztown University President Kenneth Hawkinson, that university started to add recovery data in response to a request for additional data surrounding current cases.

“Since the third week of August, we have been reporting our total cases both on and off campus,” Hawkinson said in a letter to the Kutztown University community. “We have received requests for additional data surrounding our current cases, and are working toward making more information available in the near future. Thankfully, we have begun to release students who have recovered from quarantine or isolation, and will be doing so on a daily basis.”

Indiana is the only PASSHE school that lists the number of isolation beds available on its dashboard website.

Testing Throughout the state, 11 PASSHE schools advertise the ability to test students on campus or order tests.

Bloomsburg, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Millersville, Shippensburg and Slippery Rock either offer testing for the coronavirus on campus or have the ability to order tests for students.

The remaining three universities–California, Mansfield and West Chester, refer students to their own healthcare provider. West Chester specifically lists the Chester County Health Department and commercial testing facilities as options for students to explore off campus.

According to PASSHE’s framework for the fall 2020 semester, university officials must advise individuals experiencing symptoms “to consult with their medical provider about options for testing and necessary treatment.” The five-page document doesn’t list requirements for universities to offer testing options on site.

As of Thursday, SRU has received the results of 110 tests. According to Kristina Benkeser, director of SRU Student Health Services, 110 tests have been ordered for the Student Health Center since the beginning of the semester.

September 25, 2020

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Voting on Election Day Slippery Rock Borough committeewoman encourages students to vote, volunteer at polls

By Nina Cipriani News Editor

As National Voter Registration Day passes and Election Day quickly approaches, the Butler County Democratic Committee reminds students of the importance of their vote.

Regina Greenwald, a Democratic committeewoman for the Slippery Rock borough, wants voters to understand how to vote by mail and be informed of the polling locations in the community.

Gre e n w a l d s a i d a person’s most important

– Apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot

– Check your voter registration status

responsibility is the right to vote, and she encourages students and faculty to vote in the November election.

Mail-in and absentee ballots In the state of Pennsylvania, voters can request a mail-in ballot or an absentee ballot.

Both types of ballots must be requested, completed and returned to the voter’s county election office.

Any voter is able to apply for a mail-in ballot. Voters can request this ballot without reason.

Voters can request an absentee ballot if they plan on being out of the municipality on Election Day or have a disability or illness. This ballot requires the voter to list the reason for the ballot choice.

Students or faculty that are not registered to vote in Slippery Rock are able to request an absentee ballot in order to vote in the election.

“Mail-in ballots are an extremely safe way to vote, so go for it,” Greenwald said.

In order to apply for an absentee or mail-in ballot, voters must provide proof of identification. Options to include on the form include current and valid Pennsylvania driver’s license, PennDOT photo ID card or the last four digits of your social security number.

For other options, visit the votespa.com website under mail and absentee ballots.

Voters must apply for a mail-in or absentee ballot for the Nov. 3 general election

by Oct. 27 at 5 p.m.

In order to request either ballot type, a person must be registered to vote. Students and faculty can visit the check your registration status webpage to review their registration information.

Completed mail-in ballots must be sent to the voter’s

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county election office by Nov. 3 at 8 p.m.

In-person voting and poll locations If students and faculty decide to vote in person, Greenwald encourages them to check the votespa. com website for the nearest polling location.

Voting systems vary from county to county. Students and faculty can learn more about the voting system of their county by visiting the votespa.com website.

If students and faculty run into a problem or have any questions when voting in person at a polling location, they can ask a poll worker.

Volunteering at the polls Students and faculty can become a poll worker by filling out the poll worker interest form on votespa. com.

Once a student has submitted a form, their county’s election office will contact them. Students may have to

reach out to the election office to follow up on the form.

Those who are interested in working the polls must be registered to vote in the county that they will work in.

According to votespa.com, poll workers generally work the entire day on Election Day. The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Counties train poll workers on the day of their duties.

Greenwald expressed how great of an opportunity it is to work the polls and earn a

little extra money, as all poll workers are paid for the time that they work on Election Day. “[Volunteering at the polls] is a great way to participate in our democracy,” Greenwald said.

Poll worker positions include judge of elections, majority inspector, minority inspector and machine operator.

Any additional information related to Election Day can be found at votespa.com.

PASSHE redesign plans modify affiliations

Free flu shot on campus

Slippery Rock-Edinboro integration no longer part of state system plan

Health Center hosts influenza vaccine clinic

By Hannah Shumsky

By Nina Cipriani News Editor

Editor-in-Chief

Nina Cipriani News Editor

C l a r i o n Un i ve r s i t y, California University and Edinboro University all announced a new affiliation as part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) redesign, which was originally announced over the summer.

When the initial plans for the redesign were announced on July 16, one of the original integrations was Slippery Rock and Edinboro. The two universities would have combined two educational programs into one, allowing for more academic

"As such, SRU will not be affiliating with another university at this time. We will continue to offer help to the system in other ways."

– William Behre, SRU president

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opportunities and decreasing costs, according to the PASSHE press release.

William Behre, president of Slippery Rock University, originally announced that PASSHE was pivoting away from the Slippery RockEdinboro affiliation in an email to SRU stakeholders on Friday, Sept. 11.

“Finally, while a potential affiliation with Edinboro has dominated much of our recent conversation, the System will be pivoting away from this model,” Behre said in his email, which will serve as his remarks for the upcoming State of the University address. “As such, SRU will not be affiliating with another university at this time. We will continue to offer help to the System in other ways.”

Behre will address the PASSHE redesign further at the virtual State of the

University address on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.

Under the PASSHE system redesign plan, Clarion, California and Edinboro universities will affiliate and build their institutional strengths to expand high-quality educational opportunities for students, position themselves for growth and create greater efficiencies, according to the three universities’ press releases on Monday.

According to system officials, early results of the original integrations suggested that a three-school affiliation could hold greater promise while continuing the local identity and traditional face-to-face programming of each institution.

California University and Clarion University is another integration included in the initial PASSHE redesign plans. The two schools would

have introduced a lowcost, high quality online undergraduate degree and degree-completion program for students.

The three universities have previously collaborated on a number of academic programs.

They say that they are excited about the possibilities presented by this partnership and what they are able to achieve together. “ This combination will be a good fit for all three universities, given their histories of serving students with diverse economic backgrounds and offering them transformative experiences that lead them to places they may never have imagined,” said Edinboro Un i ve r s i t y Pre s i d e n t Guiyou Huang in the schools’ press releases.

The Student Health Center held a free flu vaccine clinic for SRU students Sept. 17 at the tents in the Alumni Parking Lot along Campus Drive.

In order to be eligible for the vaccine, students were required to wear masks, social distance and provide SRU identification.

Three nurses from t h e He a l t h C e n t e r administered the vaccines on a first-come, first-served basis. At about 12:30 p.m., the 160 available doses were exhausted.

The clinic originally had 330 doses available for students. However, because the Health Center didn’t get as many doses as they thought they would, they held some back for the PA program at the Harrisville site. Kristina Benkeser, director of student health services, said the PA program must have the influenza vaccine in order to do their clinical experience.

The Health Center’s supplier of vaccines sends

the vaccines in different batches, so they don’t typically get all of the doses at the same time. Benkeser said the supplier gives them a roundabout date, and the range of dates that the next batch should arrive is the first week of October.

Benkeser said they only receive so many doses at one time, so this is not the last time the free clinic will happen.

Benkeser added that she was surprised by the turnout, considering there was such short notice about the clinic happening.

She said before the next clinic, the Health Center will make sure they spread awareness about the event in advance.

“This is the year to get the flu shot,” Benkeser said. “It’s a no brainer decision.”

The Health Center encourages those who were unable to receive a flu shot to visit their local pharmacy, as most insurance plans cover flu shots.

The next free flu vaccine clinic will be held during the first week of October.

Students will be notified of more details via SRU email.

HANNAH SHUMSKY / THE ROCKET

Students line up in the Alumni Parking Lot to receive their free flu shot offered by the Student Health Center. The Health Center held a free flu vaccine clinic Sept. 17 for students with SRU identification.

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September 25, 2020

POLICE BLOTTER September 10 – University police received a call that an individual in Building A had stepped on a pair of tweezers and they were lodged in their foot. EMS was dispatched and person was transported to Grove City Medical Center

September 15 – University police were dispatched to the ECB Staff Parking lot due to property damage from an ER-GO golf cart door that struck a parked vehicle. No injuries were reported and parties exchanged information.

September 11 – University police received a complaint of harassment during an online Zoom class that occurred on Sept. 9 and 10.

Case is under investigation

September 16 – Police were dispatched to Building E to assist Resident Life with an individual that had a visitor in their room.

Visitor left room without incident and case was referred to Student Standard’s.

September 11 – Police received a call from a ROCK Apartment CA that individuals were pouring alcohol from a third-floor balcony.

Officers on scene found alcohol in the apartment. Grayson Schaefer, 19, was cited for underage possession of alcohol.

September 12 – Police responded to a fight in progress at Building E over an Xbox. No injuries or property damage was observed by university officers. Case was referred to Student Standards.

September 12 – Police received a call from a parent outside Building A who was there to pick up their son, but he was not in his dorm and his cell phone was found outside. While police conducted their investigation, the parent called and said her son returned and was ok. No further action taken.

September 12 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested assistance at a residence on Normal Avenue for a person with warrants. Officers arrived on scene. Individual was not at the residence.

September 13 – University police were dispatched to Building E for individuals being uncooperative with CA’s. Officers on scene contacted individuals and found alcohol.

Alina James, 18, Ashley Crespo, 18, Carson Gabbard, 18, Madaline Hinz, 19, Cameron Panyko Morris, 18, and Noah Turner, 18, were cited for underage possession of alcohol.

September 13 – University police assisted Slippery Rock Borough police with a domestic situation on North Main Street. University police stood by while borough police talked with the persons involved.

September 14 – Police were dispatched to Founders Upper Lot for a group of people around a car. Police on scene found individuals were playing a prank with sticky notes.

September 16 – While on patrol, police observed a truck parked in the area near Miller Tract. Officer found a male, female and infant inside. Driver and passenger said they were having a fight and pulled over to talk. Officer determined all was OK and truck left the area.

September 17 – University police responded to an intruder alarm at the Fowler Building.

Housekeeping personnel called and said they set off the alarm while leaving. Officer arrived on scene and alarm system was reset.

September 17 – An individual arrived at the police station to file a report stating they were being blackmailed with photos and videos in exchange for money by someone they friended on Facebook. University police referred the person to the FBI and the case is still under investigation.

September 17 – Police responded to a motor vehicle accident involving an SRU UTV gator near Kiester Road. No injuries were reported and the vehicles were drivable. Douglas Walbert, 59, was cited for limitations on backing. Justin Galbraith, 43, was cited for driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked.

September 18 – Police received a complaint from an individual that said they received numerous text messages from an unknown individual. Unknown individual was claiming to have pictures of them and to check their Instagram. Case is under investigation.

September 18 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested backup at the Campus Edge Apartments for an individual that had harmed themselves. Police located the individual and they were transported to Butler Memorial Hospital by EMS.

September 14 – University police received a call about individuals inside the construction site of the East/West Gym. Individuals were identified and told to leave. Police forwarded names to Student Conduct.

September 20 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested backup at Elm Street with an involuntary commitment warrant. Person was believed to have a firearm. Officers made contact with the individual and was transported

by EMS to Butler Memorial Hospital.

September 15 – Police received a call from a staff member at the Harrisville building that an individual had passed out in class and they called for an ambulance. Person was transported to by a private party to an urgent care facility.

September 20 – University police were contacted by the Health Center that they received a call from a parent that their son was staying with friends at University Village and needed medical attention. University police

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referred all information to the Pennsylvania State Police.

September 21 – The Health Center requested an ambulance for an individual at Watson Hall having a severe migraine headache. Police and EMS arrived on scene and individual was transported to Grove City Medical Center.

September 22 – University police responded to an intruder alarm at the Fowler Building.

Housekeeping personnel called and said they set off the alarm while leaving. Officer arrived on scene and alarm system was reset.

September 22 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested assistance with a traffic stop along South Main Street. University police stood by while Borough police conducted the stop. No action was taken by university police.

September 23 – Police received a call from a parent asking them to check on their son.

Parent had received an alarm from the child’s diabetic monitoring system but could not contact them. University police made contact and person was OK. Individual said they would call home.

September 23 – University police responded to an intruder alarm at the Fowler Building.

Housekeeping personnel called and said they set off the alarm while leaving. Officer arrived on scene and alarm system was reset.

September 23 – Police responded to the ROCK Apartments for a fire alarm that was activated by burnt food in the microwave. Alarm system was reset.

September 23 – Police arrived at Watson hall for a fire alarm activation. The alarm was set off by burnt cookies. Alarm system was reset.

September 23 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested backup at the Campus Edge Apartments for a possible domestic in progress.

Officers arrived at the scene and talked to the persons involved. Police determined argument was only verbal and individuals were advised

by Borough police. No action was taken by university police.

Editor's note: One student's name was redacted from the Sept. 3 blotter for an incident on Aug. 28 due to a police officer's error when recording their name, according to SRU Police Chief Kevin Sharkey in an email to the editor-in-chief. This blotter entry was printed in the Sept. 4 print edition. Per our editorial policy, The Rocket is not responsible for following up with charges printed in the blotter.

COMPILED BY JOE WELLS

September 25, 2020

NEWS

A-5

Screenings required for select employees Office of Emergency Management seeks volunteers for temperature screening

By Hannah Shumsky Editor-in-Chief

The Office of Emergency Management is seeking student and employee volunteers to conduct temperature screenings for employees on campus.

According to a joint emailed statement from Windy Stafford (director of emergency management and university investigator) and Paul Novak (executive director of facilities, planning

–Check the SRU COVID-19 webpage for more details

and environmental safety), the university implements temperature screenings upon the discovery of a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 in a building on-campus for more than 15 minutes.

“Employees will be notified of the temperature screening requirement via email and building postings,” the email states. “Location[s] of screenings will be provided within the notification email.”

As of press time, screening is currently conducted at the Aebersold Recreation Center (ARC), Boozel Dining Hall, Smith Student Center, Patterson Hall and Bailey Library. If an employee needs to be screened prior to reporting to work, they may be asked to report to one of these areas if screening is not available at their building of work.

At this time, SRU is only conducting temperature screenings for staff members, including student employees. Screenings for all other students is not required at this time, according to Stafford and Novak.

The push for volunteers was announced the same day of the launch of SRU’s building status website, which lists buildings in which staff and student employees are required to complete a temperature screening before reporting to work.

As of Sept. 10, five buildings (ARC, Boozel Dining Hall, Smith Student Center, Patterson Hall and Bailey Library) had this requirement listed for all employees.

Training for volunteers includes a demonstration of the infrared body thermometer, guidance on temperature-taking procedures and instructions on how to maintain a temperature log.

Stafford and Novak encourage all employees to monitor their health status in addition to wearing a face covering, staying six feet away from other people, frequently washing hands and avoiding large gatherings.

Staff and faculty interested in volunteering should report to their supervisor for approval, then email the Office of Emergency Management at emergencymanagement@ sru.edu.

HANNAH SHUMSKY / THE ROCKET

Allison Wargo, a senior student worker at the Aebersold Recreation Center (ARC), takes the temperature of Noah Novak, a junior ARC student worker. As of Sept. 11, employees at the ARC (among other buildings) are required to complete a temperature screening prior to working.

SGA swears in Behre reviews affordability, 26 senators

Two senators declined their positions, rest to be sworn in later

By Joe Wells Assistant News Editor

The Slipper y Rock Un i ve r s i t y Student Government Association (SRSGA) held a special session Monday night to swear-in the newly elected senators for the 2020-2021 academic year.

With a state mandate limiting the number of people allowed to gather

"When I was swearing in, it felt like the work does not stop here."

–Bailie Fleming, a junior college of business senator

for in-person events, the ceremony was held online via Zoom.

Presiding over the special session was Leif Lindgren, vice president of student academic affairs. SGA President Joey Sciuto was absent for personal reasons.

Vice President of Internal Affairs Mia Graziani moved to confirm newly elected senators.

Of the 39 elected senators, 26 were present to be sworn in during the meeting.

Bailie Fleming, a junior college of business senator, said while the process was “nerve-wracking,” she is excited to represent her academic college.

“When I was swearing in, it felt like the work does not stop here,” Fleming said in an email.

Fleming continued, saying that with a great support system of family, friends, students and professors she will be able to do her best.

After the ceremony on Monday, the body of 39 senators elected dropped by two.

Ma t t Re i t l e r, w h o previously served in the senate, was elected as a

college of business senator.

He declined the position before the start of the meeting.

The other senator, Nicholas Condon, a senior political science major who previously served as a commuter senator, was elected as a college of business senator. While Condon attended the meeting, he declined to mark himself as present during the roll call of senators and did not accept the position.

Condon, who was a write-in candidate for the senate, did apply for parliamentarian.

Scuito, who appoints the parliamentarian, is expected to do that at the next SRSGA formal meeting.

Condon lost to Scuito during the presidential election last year.

The next formal meeting, which will be held via Zoom Sept. 21.

The remaining senators will be sworn in then, Graziani said. Senators are also expected to select a speaker of the senate at the meeting.

SRU finances

CONTINUED FROM A-1 Affordability In terms of affordability, Behre said SRU remains one of the most affordable schools in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE).

One way Behre and the university measure affordability is through unmet need, which is the average amount of financial need that a student faces after financial aid is applied, according to Behre.

For all of the PASSHE schools, this unmet need amount for the 2018-2019 academic year came to $12,378. At SRU alone, the figure was $9,971. Behre said they anticipate an even more decreased amount this year at about $9,151.

Behre added another way to measure affordability is to compare the cost of attendance at schools where SRU applicants are likely to apply. A table on page two of the document compared SRU’S average cost of attendance to other universities.

Outcomes SRU’s six-year graduation rate is 69%. Behre said having 69% of students graduate means he and SRU have failed to graduate the other 31%.

“Each time a student leaves us without attaining a degree, we must ask ourselves why this happened,” Behre said.

"Each time a student leaves us without attaining a degree, we must ask ourselves why this happened."

–William Behre, SRU president GRAPHIC BY: HANNAH SHUMSKY

“The finest public institutions in the U.S. graduate in excess of 85% of their students. We should strive to achieve that goal.”

Behre said he and the university also took a look at the outcomes of students once they leave campus.

SRU was recognized as a top public institution in Pennsylvania for postgraduation employment outcomes by Zippia.com.

SRU has also been working with the career development office to include life design components, according to Behre.

“I believe that this additional service to students will improve our retention and graduation rates,” Behre said. “[I]t will help them to clarify their goals and make explicit the link between the knowledge and skills that they are gaining at college and the pathway to their desired career outcome.”

University finances Behre began this section of his address by explaining that there are three different sections of university expenses. This includes educational and general, capital and auxiliary.

Educational and general costs are the normal operating costs of the university, including most salaries and benefits, travel, financial aid and supplies and equipment, according to Behre. The educational and general costs budget is more than 80% salary and benefits and is mainly paid through tuition, fees and donations.

Behre explained capital costs as expenditures going toward enhancing and maintaining the physical condition of campus. These funds are raised through debt, donations and transfers from the educational and general reserves.

“The physical condition of our campus is important to meeting the needs of current and future students,” Behre said. “In the future, we must have the capacity to allocate more funds to address our deferred maintenance issues and necessar y improvements.”

Auxiliary costs are defined as expenses that go toward supporting entities like campus recreation, the Smith Student Center and student housing, according to Behre’s address. These entities are also funded by student fees and rental agreements.

Some of the entities experienced financial losses due to the refunding certain fees to students.

Most of the university’s losses in the 2019-2020 fiscal year were through auxiliary losses. Many of these losses were recovered by the funding provided through the CARES Act. Behre added that the university is currently “financially solvent,” but said there is a growing concern.

“Before the pandemic struck, SRU’s council of trustees endorsed a proposal to the state system’s board of governors, which was a request for approval of a 3.5% tuition increase,” Behre said. “That proposed increase would have helped offset our contractual average annualized increases in salary costs of 2.6% in [fiscal year 2021], 3.4% in [fiscal year 2022] and 3.9% in [fiscal year 2023].”

Behre detailed how he and the university withdrew their tuition increase request because of the pandemic, resulting in a second consecutive year that did not have a tuition increase.

He said he is expecting an estimated year-end deficit of about $1 million for education and general expenses.

As for what the spring semester will look like, Behre explained that he and the provost have begun to discuss which classes will be multimodal and which will be fully online.

“If there is a significant change in the landscape, we may decide to pivot to more in-person experiences,” Behre said. “However, I must emphasize that we have no current indication that this will be the case.”

Behre said SRU has altered the 2020-2021 academic calendar to remove spring break. The spring semester will begin Jan. 19 and proceed until April uninterrupted, ending a week earlier on April 26, followed by finals week.

Additionally, detailed on pages six and seven of his address, Behre explained how fostering diversity and inclusion remains a priority.

He said he continues to work with SRU to address diversity and inclusion concerns, listing things he and the university have done.

O

OPINION

Our View

Data transparency critical during COVID-19 crisis

OPINION

Volume 104, Issue Number 2

220 220Eisenberg EisenbergClassroom ClassroomBuilding Building Slippery SlipperyRock RockUniversity University Slippery SlipperyRock, Rock,Pennsylvania Pennsylvania16057 16057 Phone: Phone: (724) (724)738-4438 738-4438 Fax: Fax: (724) (724)738-4896 738-4896 E-mail: E-mail: therocketnewspapersru@gmail.com therocketnewspapersru@gmail.com

EDITORIAL BOARD Hannah Shumsky

Editor-in-Chief

Nina Cipriani

News Editor

Karl Ludwig

Sports Editor

Hope Hoehler

Campus Life Editor

Lesa Bressanelli

Copy/ Web Editor

Keegan Beard

Photo Editor

Aaron Marrie

Multimedia Editor

Joe Wells

Assistant News Editor

Brendan Howe

Assistant Sports Editor

Jack Konesky

Assistant Campus Life Editor

Sam Shiel

Assistant Copy/Web Editor

Hannah Slope

Assistant Photo Editor

Dr. Brittany Fleming

Faculty Adviser

ADVERTISING STAFF Elisabeth Hale Rayni Shiring

Advertising Manager Assistant Advertising Manager

ABOUT US The Rocket is published by the students of Slippery Rock University five times per academic semester. Total weekly circulation is 1,000 (for fall 2020 semester only).

No material appearing in The Rocket may be reprinted without the written consent of the Editor-in-Chief.

The Rocket receives funding from the SGA Student Activity fee paid each semester by students. All other income is provided through the sale of advertising.

Advertising inquiries may be made by calling (724) 7382643 or by emailing rocket.ads@sru.edu.

CORRECTIONS If we make a substantial error, we want to correct it.

If you believe an error has been made, call The Rocket newsroom at (724) 738-4438. If a correction is warranted it will be printed in the opinion section.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

GRAPHIC BY: HANNAH SLOPE

Our View is a staff editorial produced collaboratively by the entire Rocket Staff. Any views expressed in the editorial are the opinions of the entire staff.

The coronavirus pandemic might not feel like a reason to panic in a small town like Slippery Rock, but the death toll has now exceeded 200,000 Americans. In our small town, everyday life has been drastically altered by COVID-19, and actively seeking and understanding the facts is the first step in getting back to a more normal life.

For the past six weeks, our staff has been accessing SRU's COVID-19 dashboard daily.

In addition to the cumulative number of cases, we have also been tracking any changes to SRU's coronavirus reporting efforts.

Most recently, SRU included a count of people in quarantine ("a form of self-isolation after close contact with someone that has COVID or someone who is ill and waiting for COVID test results") and isolation ("a form of self-isolation for people with COVID or who is ill and waiting for COVID test results").

In one of the most visible forms of COVID-19 information, SRU also launched the building status website, which regularly provides information on building closures and mandated temperature screenings for select employees.

While the two most recent changes to SRU's dashboard provide significantly more information about the impact of COVID-19 at Slippery Rock, we need more data. As SRU nears 100 total cases, we

need data that shows us the most complete information.

We need the numbers of on-campus and offcampus cases.

From President William Behre's recent State of the University address, we know that there were less than a handful of positive cases at the time which were on-campus students. However, we have yet to receive any specific numbers in this regard.

According to SRU's COVID-19 dashboard, "to protect the privacy of all individuals involved, SRU will release no details regarding the identity of any persons."

Because of this, SRU has yet to publicly release information about whether students who test positive live on- or off-campus.

However, seven other PASSHE universities— California, Indiana, Kutztown, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg and West Chester—report on-campus versus off-campus cases.

When SRU reported its first COVID-19 cases, it made the most sense to not include this information. However, based off of the number posted alone, we only know that 95 students tested positive, and we lack information about where they live.

We need a count of students in recovery.

The most prominent number on SRU's dashboard is the total number of cases. We have no number of recovered cases of people who completed their quarantine or isolation periods.

The problem here is simple: SRU's current COVID-19 situation is not defined by the total number of cases since

Aug. 20. Rather, SRU's current situation is based on trends and the number of active cases at the time.

So, we can assume that there are not 95 students actively positive. However, especially in times of crisis, community members need the most explicit information possible.

We need to know where these students are quarantining or isolating.

We have a count of students and staff in quarantine and isolation; however, we do not know if these students are isolating in their own dorms, in a different part of campus, immediately off campus or outside of Slippery Rock.

IUP's dashboard is the most detailed of all PASSHE university reporting, as it lists the location of new student cases and the number of isolation beds occupied by positive or presumed positive students.

Bloomsburg's reporting in this area is also specific, as its website lists the number of students isolating off-campus or on-campus and the number of students who traveled home.

In these two schools alone, we see examples of how we can visualize the number of people in recovery and their exact locations.

While we respect the privacy of all students and faculty who self-reported their results to the university, we are now at a point in which we need more regularly updated data in order to understand the true campus climate during the pandemic.

We also understand that much of this information can be obtained with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. However, during this semester, every single student,

In the Quarantine

staff member and community member should have access to this information in a highlyvisible location.

The Rocket greatly respects the University Communication and Public Affairs office for their work during this difficult time and especially administration's willingness to add more information about COVID-19 cases to the website.

At this time, we greatly encourage you to monitor symptoms and self-report to the Student Health Center or Human Relations as needed.

These reports are only as accurate as the information SRU is able to receive, so if you know someone who tested positive, encourage them to call to self-report.

Slippery Rock is not just a campus, it is only a small fraction of a larger community, and we are so intertwined it is not only important to keep students and staff updated, but also the community members as the majority of cases are coming from off-campus housing and interactions.

As a community, all we are asking for is the best information available, especially as that data will be utilized by university administrators to evaluate the present situation and in preparation for the spring.

We stakeholders deserve to be well-informed by our leaders so we may also prepare for the next chapter.

We want to plan and create contingencies for the small things we can control like housing and course load.

However, if we do not have a clear picture of what SRU looks like now, we cannot envision how we fit into the community next semester.

Question: How are online classes going?

By: Aaron Marrie

Subscriptions to The Rocket are available.

Subscriptions are $20 per academic semester and $35 for the full academic year. Inquiries should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief at the address listed here.

EDITORIAL POLICY The Rocket strives to present a diverse range of opinions that are both fair and accurate in its editorials and columns appearing on the Opinion pages. “Our View” is the opinion of the Editorial Board and is written

by Rocket editorial board members. It reflects the majority opinion of The Rocket Editorial Board.

“Our View” does not necessarily reflect the views of Slippery Rock University, its employees or its student body. Columns and cartoons are drafted by various individuals and only reflect the opinions of the columnists.

LETTERS POLICY The Rocket welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication.

The Rocket retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes the property of The Rocket and cannot be returned.

Anonymous submissions will not be published.

Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Please limit letters to a maximum of 400 words.

Submit all material by noon Wednesday to: The Rocket, 220 ECB, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pa. 16057. Or send it via e-mail to: rocket.letters@sru.edu.

Hannah Shumsky Senior Editor-in-Chief Conway, Pennsylvania

Aaron Marrie Senior Multimedia Editor Sharpsville, Pennsylvania

Sam Shiel Senior Assistant Copy/Web Editor Burgettstown, Pennsylvania

“It's difficult not seeing many of my classmates in person, but I'm thankful for all my professors for their efforts to make this an engaging semester."

“Not too bad, but it feels like a lot more work. Even though I can wake up and turn on my laptop for class, the amount of coursework mixed with my other responsibilities has been a lot."

"I can definitely see the effort my professors have put into making online classes go as smoothly for students as possible."

September 25, 2020

OPINION

Fall: The season of changes

Kali Davies-Anderson Kali is a junior public health pre-PT major.

She is a non-traditional student and a mom of five children between nine months and nine years old. She has previously worked with the New Castle News.

The leaves are turning, the air is cooler (well, not today, but it will be) and the last traces of summer are trailing behind us in a cloud of forgotten pool toys, abandoned flip-flops and late night conversations on a porch swing.

I have always loved summer, but I have always loved fall, more.

There is something almost whimsical about a Western, PA autumn.

Having traveled through many U.S. states, the natural beauty of Pennsylvania in the cooler months of September and October are a sight to behold.

Fall also, not unlike the rest of the seasons, brings something that we are ALL probably craving right now: change.

When the world came to a screeching halt in March I can recall standing in my kitchen, looking at my husband and five children

and saying out loud, “What do we do now?”

I feel as though I barely sur vived March and April, finishing the spring semester, assisting my young children with virtual learning, while my husband made a (very) futile attempt at getting his own work done in our basement.

But, as the weather became warmer and the traces of winter and spring faded into the distance, I began to feel something that I had not felt in months.

"I will tell you one thing, and I hope you can say this as well, very much good HAS come from bad and for the first time I have been able to experience the little things in life in a very big way."

I felt hopeful.

My family and I had a great summer. My husband being home was a blessing to my children and myself. We swam in our little pool that we had so luckily obtained in 2018 before swimming pools were more rare than

the canisters of Lysol Wipes. For the first time in our marriage we sat on our porch every single night when the kids went to bed and just talked. We became friends with neighbors of 10 years that we had rarely gotten to have meaningful conversations with before.

We made future plans, laughed about our daily struggles and gave our goldendoodle the best summer of his life as he sat beside us on the porch and barked at literally every living thing that passed it.

For the first time, maybe ever in our adult lives, we had something we had never had an abundance of before: We had TIME. So, as the summer months have gently guided us into fall, I am hopeful for what the next season of life will bring.

My children are back in school, something that seemed like a pipe dream until it actually happened.

We have all remained healthy and somewhat sane and are looking forward to what this change of season will bring.

The year 2020 has been one that most of us will never forget, and of course it is not ALL good. But, I will tell you one thing, and I hope you can say this as well, very much good HAS come from bad and for the first time I have been able to experience the little things in life in a very big way.

I hope that everyone is having a good semester and able to relish in the positive changes that are happening around all of us.

I don’t know for sure what the future holds, but I do know that there will be goodness within it, only if I am willing to find it.

Happy Fall.

B-2

The only thing standing between you and death is Joe Biden

Madison V. King Madison V. King is a senior political science major and an opinion contributor for The Rocket. She currently serves as a College of Liberal Arts senator for the Student Government Association.

An October 2016 New York Times feature chronicling the approach planned for the final weeks of the Clinton campaign carried a very blunt title: ‘I’m the Last Thing Standing Between You and the Apocalypse.’

At the time, pundits and amateur politicos alike dismissed it as unnecessary doomsaying. Four years later, we found out that this was basically true, as we all deal with an ongoing pandemic with 200,000 American citizens dead and America’s case count representing more than 25% of the entire world’s, alongside a daily death count frequently reaching into the thousands while Canada is often reporting single-digit numbers – and, once last week, zero deaths – and most of Europe and Asia have

gone back to quasi-normal life thanks to aggressive containment policies.

The COVID-19 pandemic, while by far the biggest, is just one deadly failure of the Trump administration. Economic devastation to rural farming communities, including those local to us, thanks to ongoing trade wars was one prepandemic feature of the Trump administration; and needless to say the healthcare policies enacted and drafted by GOP legislators was equally deadly, denying coverage to millions and specifically targeting minorities and women.

But the pandemic has allowed the worst qualities of Trump, his administration, and his supporters, to truly shine. “Anti-mask” demonstrators, who are operating solely out of a desire to complain and feel superior to the general public, are now a frequent occurrence in communities nationwide, including ours. The feckless cowards elected to represent our community, including Mayor Longo and both our state and US representative, have devoted more of their time to “owning liberals” than to doing anything to keep the community safe and prosperous. Continuing to elect people like this is nothing short of suicidal, and with the administration’s death toll already significantly higher than that of the Obama or even the Bush Administration – including foreign wars and quagmires, it seems safe to say that the New York Times headline above was nothing short of gospellike truth – and with COVID cases continuing to skyrocket even here on

our campus with no relief in sight, it seems that it remains even more true this election cycle.

"But the pandemic has allowed the worst qualities of Trump, his administration, and his supporters, to truly shine."

Modern politics has become nothing more than one side making it their life mission to score owns on liberals from their Twitter account while doing so using the most heinous and disgusting lies possible, all while the Democratic Party does everything they possibly can to pick up the pieces left behind. If you would like a president who will devise policy to navigate a pandemic without dying, vote for Joe Biden. And vote for Kristy Gnibus for Congress, Shelbie Stromeyer for State Senate, Kolbe Cole for State Representative, and in two years, whomever is nominated to run for mayor of Slippery Rock. Because your life may very well depend on voting against the incumbent failures.

Letter from the editor: SGA's new structure is key for campus representation

Hannah Shumsky Hannah is a senior secondary English education major with a communication minor.

She is the editor-inchief of The Rocket.

This is her third year on staff and second year as editor-in-chief. She previously served as The Rocket's assistant news editor/SGA liaison.

Needless to say, the fall 2020 semester has made an unprecedented impact on on-campus involvement and engagement. However, how does Slippery Rock's student governing body, the Student Government Association (SGA), respond to this uncharted territory?

Two years ago, I served as The Rocket's assistant news editor and covered every SGA formal meeting.

Throughout that year, I covered multiple swearingin ceremonies, including the appointment of seven senators in October 2018.

Every semester I was on staff, I witnessed the impact of open seats on the senate.

In fact, this drove us to write a staff editorial in my first semester on staff to address this problem.

Here's the kicker: that was well before the

coronavirus pandemic.

Now, student governing bodies across the nation need to work to support students at various degrees of on- and off-campus involvement. And that requires a well-established senate population.

In the last two years, The Rocket's news staff covered a larger project in the making: a restructuring of the senate. Prior to this year, SGA's senate was largely based on student residence.

In the 30-person senate, there were 15 commuter senators and nine building senators. The final six positions were designated by class with four freshman senators and two graduate senators.

With three of the nine residences halls empty this semester, getting students involved in SGA would have been nightmarish--if not impossible--under the old senate structure.

Thankfully, due to the work of the former restructuring committee (especially Maggie Calvert and Cori Rockefeller, who both chaired this committee), the new senate structure came at just the right time. The senate has increased to 43 senators and includes positions based on academic coll-ege, class standing and residence.

As of today, 33 of the 50 total positions on SGA's senate and executive board have been filled. At least two more senators (Alexander Riccardi and Braydon Brinkler) will be sworn in as senators at the next formal meeting.

In the new senate, there are 16 academic college senators (four for each college), four freshman senators, four graduate senators, two residence hall senators and two commuter senators.

Other new positions

include a transfer senator, international senator and veteran senator. The senate also now has 12 at-large senators, who will serve as liaisons between different offices on campus and SGA. It's no coincidence that the majority of the filled senate seats are representatives of the four academic colleges. Between the 16 positions (four for each college), there are only two openings left, one for the College of Liberal Arts and another for the College of Business. With college students tending to identify more closely with their academic major rather than their residence status, the number of academic senators already shows some signs of success with this model.

"You have the right to have your voice heard by those who represent you, especially in the midst of these sociallydistant times."

At the surface, 15 anticipated vacancies seem alarming. However, from my experience covering SGA, what I find most defining about this semester are the 34 positions already filled, mostly by first-time senators. While it's too soon to say how this new structure will work, this number of senators already

engaged with a new way to represent our campus should not be taken lightly.

However, a valuable aspect of this new structure is the number of seats still left unfulfilled. As of now, the most significant shortages in the senate will be at-large representatives (seven openings), graduate students (three openings) and a veteran student (one opening).

This senate structure lays the framework for better representation, which SRU students need now more than ever during this pandemic. However, this structure is only as effective as how many students join the senate.

I want to encourage the general student body to pay attention to SGA affairs.

While SGA, like any other campus organization, is operating under less-thanideal circumstances, their decisions are still vital to your experience at The Rock. If you want your voice to be heard by SGA, attend the formal meetings and open forums promoted on CORE. You have the right to have your voice heard by those who represent you, especially in the midst of these socially-distant times.

This being said, SGA's recruitment strategy must stay consistent throughout this year to fill as many of those senate seats as possible. This will require constant advertising and recruitment efforts, which were part of our criticism of SGA in our December 2018 staff editorial. I greatly commend SGA for their social media efforts to fill senate seats for this semester; however, this effort to recruit cannot dissipate.

After all, the work has just begun.

September 25, 2020

THE ROCKET

B-3

S

SRU: Unified Champion School At theonlinerocket.com

SPORTS

The sports spectacle of Homecoming A look back at how SRU has embraced sports during Homecoming

KEEGAN BEARD / THE ROCKET

Rocky celebrates a 49-0 win over Millersville on Sept. 21, 2019 at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium with Rock cheerleaders. Slippery Rock won its last Homecoming football game against IUP in 2019.

By Tyler Howe Senior Rocket Contributor

The word “Homecoming” generally brings up different feelings and thoughts for many people, but when talking about Homecoming one thing is usually agreed upon: that sports are a major focus. Whether it’s at a high school or at The Rock, there’s always two constants: the crowning of Homecoming royalty and a football game.

However, sometimes there are more variables that contribute to the excitement that is Homecoming weekend, such as multiple sports playing at the same time or playing a rival like IUP. Last fall, The Rock was lucky enough to have both of those.

“Last year we had all of those events going on, and it’s fun and good for us to have a lot of Alumni back," SRU Director of Athletics

Paul Lueken said. "It’s always a lot of work for the Athletic staff because we always have so much going on and sometimes we get stretched a bit thin, but Homecoming is always a good day here and it’s evolved into something that’s a big party."

There have been years where nearly every sport is playing a home game on Homecoming weekend,

and last season was one of those years where it lined up. Last year, not only did every team play that weekend, but there were multiple games going on at the same time. At one point, the volleyball, women’s soccer and football team were playing at the same time. The crosscountry team also hosted an invitational that went on at the same time as all of the games that took place.

The football and women’s soccer teams would both go on to win the PSAC in their respective sports just a little over a month after their victories at home on Homecoming.

In the past, alcoholic tailgates weren’t allowed at Slippery Rock but now they are with certain protocols that have been put in place and it’s added to the partylike atmosphere that has developed throughout the years. Homecoming games usually attract big crowds at Slippery Rock, especially during times where the football team is doing well. Last decade, The Rock walked into the Homecoming game under .500 just once and won that game against Edinboro in overtime 3831 to get themselves back to .500 at 4-4.

“Homecoming weekend is a lot of fun for our community and it always brings a lot of excitement, while having everyone back," Lueken said. "But any time we play IUP, Homecoming is an event because they travel well and we bring a lot of people back for those games."

In the past few years, Slippery Rock has hosted IUP on Homecoming twice. And both times, there was a lot at stake. In both 2017 and 2019, IUP and Slippery Rock walked in ranked and undefeated.

No. 3 IUP was able to take the game in 2017 against No. 9 Slippery Rock 3417 in a game that hosted over 10,000 fans. But in 2019, Slippery Rock was able to get revenge in an exciting fashion with a 45-42 win that had major implications on the season.

Had The Rock lost the game, Mihalik-Thompson Stadium would likely have not played host to three NCAA Division II playoff games including the National semi-final against Minnesota State-Mankato.

When discussing his favorite memories of Homecoming, the 2019 game against IUP is the one that stands out to SRU football coach Shawn Lutz.

“It was one of those where I have to go with [former SRU quarterback] Roland [Rivers III], because he extended that play towards the end of the game and that would be the winning drive," Lutz said. "But to beat your rival on homecoming, that’s an unbelievable feeling.”

As time has gone on, the crowds that come to the games at Slippery Rock and the amount of people who participate in Homecoming weekend has just kept going up. In the past few years, the crowds at the Homecoming games has nearly reached 10,000 people in the stands.

2019’s game brought just over 9,000 people just to

the football game, and the women’s soccer game also brought a few hundred people to James Egli Field.

“We get unbelievable crowds, but when you add all the festivities and everything like the Alumni tent down below and the tailgating, it’s probably one of the top Division II Homecoming crowds in country,” Lutz said.

“And we’ve been lucky enough to be playing for something these past few years but having teams that are nationally ranked and undefeated coming in here makes the stakes even higher and the games even more fun.”

The Rock played ranked opponents three times last decade, with one of those games winding up in a 17-3 upset against No. 14 Cal U in 2011. That same year, The Rock went on to the PSAC championship game in which they would lose a heartbreaker to No. 8 Kutztown 21-14.

Homecoming has also had a lot at stake recently, as the Homecoming games have been played at a pivotal point in the season. Such was the case for the 2018 game with Edinboro, as the Rock won 56-28 and it helped The Rock lock up the PSAC West.

“It’s pressure; it’s electrifying because you want to continue to make the people that come back proud, I remember in 2017 that when we lost the game against IUP, that was tough," Lutz said. "But I like that pressure involved in these games and we have one of the top division II programs in country, so when you see those people you don’t want to let them down."

Wilhelm's home improvement Rock coach thankful to be a part of the program

By Brendan Howe Asst. Sports Editor

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The day sounds unassuming. Just another Wednesday in the life of a college coach.

Kevin Wilhelm, yet to eat dinner, accepts a student journalist’s phone call some time past 7 p.m. He’s been awake since early that morning, beginning his day when his wife did, as she readied for work. He woke his daughter up, cooked her breakfast and drove her to school, then settled into his office to return emails and join a Zoom call. With only six individuals permitted per practice session, due to COVID-19 restrictions, he spends four hours accommodating his players. He goes home but, of course, work doesn’t wait in the office. There are more emails to reply to. Then, he picks up that call.

Wilhelm’s association with Slippery Rock soccer began over two-and-a-half decades earlier. He spent his freshman year at Gannon as a part of a historically formidable 1993 Golden Knights squad that finished the season ranked third nationally, claimed at regional championship and advanced to the national semifinals.

The private school’s location, academics and social atmosphere wasn’t quite what Wilhelm desired, though. He didn’t feel his personality fit what he calls “the Gannon mentality.”

“I kind of wanted the total college experience and that didn’t really exist [there],” Wilhelm says. “You had a lot of students that would commute and just show up for class, then go away. You had a lot of soccer players there that were just there for the money, that would come in for a year

and then leave and either social jump and try to go D-I or go back to Europe or South America or wherever they were from. And it was lacking in those departments.”

Interest in the sport management program and the connection of his father having been a professor at SRU drew Wilhelm to his home.

“I transferred in and within five days it was a walk-on and all the NCAA paperwork was done,” Wilhelm says. “It was a ‘here you go, here’s your jersey, and you’re good to go’ type deal."

After a semester in Slippery Rock, Wilhelm had found the social and educational experience he had so desired.

While the soccer wasn’t at his previous school’s level, the team was still competitive.

“The whole situation was just very appealing,” Wilhelm says. “It was kind of the total enchilada. You had friendship, you had a good education, and […] you were in a good setting. It pretty much just had everything I was looking for at that point and time in my life.”

Arriving in Slippery Rock from Erie, Wilhelm says, was like comparing night and day. The Golden Knights had sponsors such as Umbro, a worldwide sportswear and soccer equipment supplier based out of the United Kingdom.

Wilhelm estimates that Slippery Rock’s roster was almost 80% Pennsylvanian and that no more than three or four international players wore green and white.

“You basically had everything handed to you and everything else,” Wilhelm says.

SEE WILHELM PAGE C-4

SPORTS

C-2

September 25, 2020

The desire to Wynn: A promise Slippery Rock senior wideout's promise to mother within reach

By Karl Ludwig Sports Editor

Nike sneakers crunch on the gravel-strewn road, worn soles slapping against the still damp asphalt, echoing through the quiet morning air. A sharp inhale, quick exhale, repeat.

The sky is baby blue -- one reminiscent of fresh sheets at a cozy bed and breakfast -- but the blinding sun is slowly creeping above the home bleachers of Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

Jermaine Wynn Jr. knows he's going to have a hard time moving around later, but he pushes through another grueling hill circuit. It's kind of symbolic for Wynn; he's so close yet so far away from the house he helped make famous around Division II football last season.

His shirt is drenched in sweat by now, a bead gliding down his forehead as he stands with his hands behind his head. His chest rises and falls rapidly, a quick inhale and exhale, followed by another and then another.

The hill is well-known, some might call it a mountain, but Jermaine sees it for what it's worth: the opportunity to get better. He frequents the asphalt mountain at the base of MihalikThompson three times a week when he's in Slippery Rock.

He says it's the perfect way to work on his quickness and leg strength. Having watched Jermaine last season, one might wonder just what he'll be able to do after a summer of training on the mountain.

Jermaine is back in Slippery Rock, staying at his off-campus apartment so he can focus his full attention on finishing his junior year. The promise that he made his mother years ago is within sight. He's been back and forth from his home in Pittsburgh, but the chance to get back to Slippery Rock and grind was too great to pass.

Before he can start on his schoolwork, he needs to get a workout in. He says if he doesn't work out before hitting the books, he's unable to focus. It's one of the little quirks that he's found out about himself.

The morning workout is strictly speed and agility training.

There are no weights involved -- although it's not like he can ghts from somehow get weights somewhere. d, Jermaine After some food, me time for allows himself some leisure. Xbox One is the console en 20, NBA of choice and Madden 2K20 and Call of Duty are his preferred games. nd bred, the Pittsburgh born and e's team of Steelers are Jermaine's ryy Madden choice. Through every y been he's ever played, it's always the Steelers. 2K is a different vorite team, story. There is no favorite just one man. maine said.

"LeBron," Jermaine ve to say the "You don't even have ron."

Lakers. Just say LeBron." ames with Playing video games ak of their athletes at the peak ovides some athletic prowess provides inspiration, with Jermaine ind for his returning to the grind second workout of the dayy that much harder. And this time, he's using anything he can get his hands on. ainer Scott Head athletic trainer ock football Morrison assigned Rock with a quarantine workout, and Jermaine usess whatever nds on -he can get his hands d items, everyday household g old dumbbells and weights y -- to strengthen hiss body. p Midway through April, nal best Jermaine hit a personal -ups. p He of 123 straight push-ups. set a goal of 150 byy the end of April.

Jermaine grabs a bite n he's for dinner, and then fe for off to bed. That's life him now. The days kind gether. of seem to blend together. *** Thousands off cars on Trust crawl past the Union Building on Fifth Avenue in urgh g everyy downtown Pittsburgh g y brick day. The beautiful gray d with an building, designed intricately sculpted architecture that wouldn't look out of place in Ancient Greece orr Rome sits he UPMC in the shadow of the crapers. p and Highmark skyscrapers. he buildingg The exterior of the tingg on the is beautiful, but sitting intersection of Fifth and Grant Street, tucked awayy inside the Union Trust, Eddie V's Prime easure.

Seafood is the real treasure. g No stranger to Pittsburgh, having walked the streets his ne is veryy whole life, Jermaine gh-end surf familiar with the high-end

and turf restaurant. For a college student, entrees costing upwards of $45 as just takeout are usually unattainable. Thankfully Jermaine's older sister, Jaquala, isn't a college student.

On Jermaine's 22nd birthday back in January, Jaquala treated him to dinner at Eddie V's down on Grant. To his astonishment, she even let him pick his meal.

After scanning the menu, he decided on an $80 meal.

As a 22-year-old studentathlete, Jermaine has a hard enough time juggling football and the rigorous schedule that comes with being a secondsemester junior. The thought of having to take on two young kids would be a task that he admits would be too much to handle.

When Jermaine's mother, Damitria, was forced to go away for two years to deal with some personal issues, Jaquala, who was only 20-years-old at the time, took in a 14-year-old Jermaine and their 10-year-old brother, Curtis, in order to keep the family together. To try to keep a little bit of normalcy in a tough time.

"I love my sister to death for that, and I wish I could just pay her back as much as I can," Jermaine said. "That's what I plan to do one day."

Jermaine says Jaquala isn't one for crazy or expensive gifts.

Instead, he says he'll remember that afternoon at Eddie V's. *** 14-year-old Jermaine heard the bell ring, signaling the end of the school day. Well, the end of the school day for most of the students. Jermaine packed up his things and headed out to the parking lot to wait for Mrs. Costello.

Costello would drive Jermaine down to the local elementary school after his school day was over so he could start his shift as a tutor for local kindergarten through fifth graders.

Living with Jaquala, Jermaine didn't want to just sit by as his sister provided for Curtis and him. He took it upon himself to find ways to provide for her and the family. However, as a 14-year-old, there weren't too many opportunities to make y He found his outlet in money. tutoringg kids in reading and p comprehension.

"I worked five days y a week, g hours a day, y and I think eight g I can attribute me beingg good with kids to me workingg that j for as longg as I did," Jermaine job g me a lot of said. "That taught p patience and how to deal with kids."

With Damitria out of Jermaine's life for two y p years in that period of his life, he says Costello made sure to

accommodate and look out for him whenever she could. While he hasn't been in touch with her in some time, y it's time to maybe see how she's doing.

Jermaine j didn't want to just g byy while livingg get with his sister, he wanted to help her along the way. *** There were less than two minutes remainingg in pp y Rock's Slippery NCAA secondround contest p with Shepherd y The University. p Rams had upset Indiana Universityy (Pa.) in Indiana the

KEEGAN BEARD / THE ROCKET

(Pa.). Senior wide receiver Jermaine Wynn, Jr. pumps up the crowd before last season's contest against Indiana University (Pa.). Wynn will graduate in December with a degree in Marketing and a minor in business administration.

previous week, setting up a rematch of the 2015 NCAA quarterfinals -- a game that Slippery Rock lost 28-16.

Slippery Rock led Shepherd 51-30 on the back of an offensive onslaught, helped by 17 catches and 225 yards from Jermaine, toward the end of the contest. Former Rock wideout Greg Hopkins had set the program record with 17 receptions in a playoff game and Humboldt State wideout Chase Krivashei had set the Division II record with 18 catches. A three-yard slant from Wynn broke Hopkin's record and tied Krivashei's. "[Breaking the record] felt awesome,� Jermaine said to The Rocket in December. “Looking back at high school, being under-recruited, not a lot of schools wanted me. Just to be on this stage, to play like that, and to help my team, it felt great."

Jermaine caught 30 passes during the three-game march to the national semifinals, racking p 333 yards y up and four scores.

As one p part of the best wide

KEEGAN BEARD / THE ROCKET

receivingg duo in Division II football, Jermaine caught p 95 passes (second in singleseason history) for 1,339 y yards (third g in single-season y and history) 15 touchdowns g (second in singleseason history).

In addition to game-breaking talent in the slot, Jermaine was an all-conference return man in 2019.

"You could say it's pretty cool being one of the top players at Slippery Rock," Jermaine says.

"With how much weight we carry, when we're doing well, the whole school morale is usually up. For me to be kind of a face of that is pretty cool."

However, Jermaine isn't just a football player -- regardless of how much he lives and breathes the game.

"I also want to be known as someone who is involved in some other things," Jermaine says. "I've spoken at a couple of events during my time at Slippery Rock, Black History events -- when there was a whole thing going on about social justice, I showed up to that and spoke at that."

Jermaine helped kick off Black History Month by speaking at the Office of Inclusive Excellence's "How Theyy See Us Us" event in February.

He acknowled acknowledged that while his platform mig p g not be huge, might he wants to bbe able to use his voice to talk about what he's b to light what feelingg and bring he thinks is right r or wrong.

Origina g Originally attending Alderson Br Broaddus, a small, Division II school located amongg the scenic sce rolling hills of Phillipi, p West Virginia, V Jermaine transferred to Slippery Rock after his freshm freshman year.

Navigating g g that transition from a schoo school with just 1,000 students to oone with almost 10,000 would be challenging enough, g but fo for a first-generation college g student-studen proudly the first of his imm immediate family to ggo to college-- it was that much harder.

With no oone to show him the wayy at first, Jermaine had a lot of figuring out to do. As he enters en his fourth yyear of colle college in the fall, he's come a long way. It's gotten eas easier to navigate the rigo g of balancing rigors scho school and football.

Jermaine hasn't been aalone after all.

D Dr. Burkhart, a professor in tthe geography, ggeology and th the environment dep p department, has been a p positive impact on him -- and the whole of Rock foo football.

"What people pe p probably don't know is Dr. Burkhart is a huge g Rock football fan," Jer Jermaine said.

"Even in hi his lectures, he'll mention som something about Rock footba football, one of our team ggoals or something.

Whenever I see him around or he com comes up to the stadium, I al always make sure I acknowled acknowledge him, start a small conversation con with him because I always want to hear what he has to say."

That bo bond between Jermaine aand Burkhart began g in a 101 level environme environmental geology class. To those th unfamiliar with the cou course, it's housed in a huge g auditorium.

Students are scattered across the auditorium,

some transfixed by the passionate professor and others by their phones.

Burkhart is known for his loud, passionate lectures -- which can sometimes rub students the wrong way.

Not Jermaine.

"We just connected really well," Jermaine said. "Everyone says his lectures are long or they're misleading information, but if you really pay attention and try to grasp the information, he's misunderstood. He's a really good guy."

"It's always something different with Dr. B," Jermaine said. *** Jermaine is no stranger to loss in life. Six days before his first birthday, his father, Jermaine Sr., passed away suddenly. Jermaine's older brother, Robert, stepped in as a father figure in his life.

Growing up, Robert used Jermaine as a way to live out his football life, not in a crazy, overbearing way, but in the way that an older brother wants to see his younger brother achieve his goals and reach his dreams.

A week before Jermaine's first-ever camp at Woodland Hills, he was woefully unprepared. He didn't have any of the gear or equipment for camp. As camp got closer and closer, Jermaine started getting nervous, as he couldn't afford to buy cleats, pads or anything. Until he got a huge box of equipment from Robert.

"A few days before camp, my brother popped up and he brought me a box full of things; there were gloves, cleats, tape, everything I could want as a football player," Jermaine said.

While Jermaine still wears the wristband in that box to this day, the cleats didn't last that long. They barely lasted a month.

Thinking back to Jermaine's little league days, Robert bought Jermaine a pair of Nike Landsharks.

Fine cleats, sure, but they were outdated and not the cleats that he needed. So, while Jermaine acted like he loved the cleats, he returned them for a pair of low cuts that were more his style later.

Those cleats, and that gesture, ended up being one of the last impacts Robert had on his brother.

A week later, around the start of camp, Robert died in a car crash. For a young teenager already without his father, losing his older brother so suddenly was a crushing blow. Jermaine says that point in life is when a teenager needs that positive male role model in their life.

While Robert is no longer around physically, he's never really left Jermaine. He's always been that motivation, that overwhelming drive to succeed.

Without Robert, Jermaine knows he wouldn't be in the position that he's in today. *** The bond between a mother and son is something that can't really be explained. It's powerful,

unconditional love, the kind that isn't found anywhere else. For Jermaine, his mom truly is his heart.

"She made questionable decisions in her life, but not in one moment did she stop being the most loving and caring mother you could ask for," Jermaine says.

Growing up, times weren't always easy for Jermaine and his family, but Damitria always tried to make sure that he had not just what he needed but what he wanted, too. She tried her best to make Jermaine and all his siblings happy.

Like with the bond shared between Jermaine and Robert, his bond with his mother transcends football.

As a teenager, Jermaine promised his mother he would be the first in the family to get a college degree. A mother's love can serve as the strongest motivation possible, and Jermaine has strived to be the best possible version of himself -- whether that's on the football field or in the classroom.

Now that the finish line is within sight, the winding road that Jermaine has navigated to get to this point in his life -- the ups and downs through childhood, playing football at Woodland Hills, starting at Alderson Broaddus and finishing at Slippery Rock -- still doesn't feel real. It still hasn't hit him yet. But just being able to see the finish line is a success in its own right, and Jermaine isn't close to being done yet. *** If you ask a college student whether college sped by for them, nine out 10 will say it was the quickest four years of their lives. Jermaine feels like he's been in college for 15 years now. It's time for the last ride.

Ev e n t h o u g h t h e offseason has been thrown off course by the coronavirus pandemic, the culture and family built and fostered by SRU football coach Shawn Lutz and the rest of his staff have basically negated the impact of COVID-19.

While the team is kept apart physically, Zoom calls are aplenty. The offense meets, the whole team meets. It's truly a brotherhood.

With the fall sports season postponed until after the new year for all PSAC studentathletes, the fall football season went down the drain -the chance of further recordbreaking performances and national success with it. For now.

Although Jermaine might not play a game at MihalikThompson Stadium until 2021, he'll do so as a college graduate- the promise he made to his mom finally fulfilled. (Of course, there's another goal, too.)

"That's a goal right there," Jermaine said. "[Henry Litwin, Cinque Sweeting and myself ] all want to get 1,000 yards."

SPORTS Heistand looks to build a team

September 25, 2020

C-3

New SRU field hockey coach plans to instill confidence and strength

By Madison Williams Junior Rocket Contributor

Slippery Rock University hired Rayell Heistand as the new head coach of the women’s field hockey team, in hopes that she could lead that group of women through multiple winning seasons.

Heistand plans to shape the team to her standards by instilling confidence and strength upon her team.

Many changes are out of her control and this has changed the plan for this fall. Heistand said, “We are not focusing on the X’s and O’s and lineups.”

Rather, the focus is shifted toward that mentality that will carry the team through a spring season with an unprecedented future. Having a strong mentality comes from both the weight room and the mental rigors these student athletes focus on. “The team’s goal is to be the most fit team in the conference.”

Fitness goes beyond the field and Heistand has a plan in place to make it happen.

Similarly, like other sports at SRU, the field hockey team is holding voluntary practices to maintain the safety of all individuals. With COVID-19 regulations making things difficult, the only mandatory gatherings for field hockey are team meetings. Other wise, players are able to sign up for weight room slots, field time within small groups and one-on-one time with the coaches.

Heistand's approach is to “control what we can control and focus on the process.” As a first-year coach here at The Rock,

this approach is being formed to better the team.

“The team philosophy is to develop student athletes into confident women who can make a positive impact in their community by instilling respect and a c c o u n t a b i l i t y,” s a y s Heistand.

It is no surprise that Heistand has such great passion for coaching a game that she grew up around. She followed in the steps of her mother, who also was a field hockey coach for over 20 years. From a young age, she found that same passion for the game and took it to the field as a four-year starter at UConn, then going on to graduate in 2012.

The following semester she was hired as assistant coach at Lafayette College, and went on to be assistant coach at Miami University, in Ohio. In between that time, Heistand was named to the USA Women’s National Field Hockey Team and remained as a member for a few years.

Besides the impressive resume, Heistand plans to instill many core values within the field hockey program, making her stand out even more. “Respect and accountability are the two pillars in the program.”

In order to do this, “It must be a practice on and off the field by respecting both yourself and others,” says Heistand. The values she plans to instill in these women is not only going to make them better student athletes, but it is going to help them apply these skills to real life scenarios after graduation. This coaching style is completely open

KEEGAN BEARD / THE ROCKET

Junior midfielder Lauren Marks takes a shot on goal against Millersville University on Sept. 29, 2019. Marks scored three goals last season for SRU.

and honest, and Heistand is always straight to the point with “no fluff.”

While Heistand is busy keeping her current players in line, she along

with assistant coach Missy Revesz are also busy with recruiting. They both have plenty of film to watch, and plan to mask up and head East to check out some

high school games for the next round of incoming players.

Heistand is most excited about the challenges ahead as she endures her first season

as head coach at SRU in the middle of a pandemic. It is obvious that the standards for this team are set high and accountability will be the key to success in the upcoming season.

Slippery Rock awarded special honor SRU named a National Banner Unified Champion school

JAMIE GREENE /FORMER SRU EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION MAJOR

Maddie McCleary, a former Slippery Rock University student, rolls out a bocce ball in the Morrow Field House. SRU and Special Olympics PA partner to put on bocce tournaments at SRU.

By Karl Ludwig Sports Editor

For Slippery Rock University, this has been 16 years in the making. Wendy Fagan, a professor of adapted physical activity, started working with the Pennsylvania chapter of the Special Olympics 16 years ago, and it began with getting SRU students coaching certifications.

That evolved into working directly with the Butler County Special Olympic athletes then eventually to Interscholastic Unified Sports and working in the schools around Slippery Rock.

All that work and effort has led to Slippery Rock being named to the exclusive list of National Banner Unified Champion Schools in the

United States by Special Olympics International.

According to Special Olympics International's website release, a Unified Champion School, "has an inclusive school climate and exudes a sense of collaboration, engagement and respect for all members of the student body and staff."

According to Joanne Leight, the chair and a professor of the department of physical and health education, Jillian Stringfellow, a project coordinator for the physical and health education department, was "instrumental" in Slippery Rock earning this award.

"A Unified Champion school is kind of a nuance in the land of the Special Olympics," Stringfellow said. "It's kind of something they've done over the past couple of years,

and Pennsylvania has really skyrocketed in middle schools, high schools and colleges.

Slippery Rock became the first college or university in Pennsylvania to earn the award, along with being one of four colleges—with the University of Minnesota, Texas Tech University and the University of South Dakota as the others—to earn the award in 2020. SRU is one of just 518 schools—across all levels of education—to earn the award.

"It's kind of hard to be a college and receive this honor," Stringfellow said. "Slippery Rock has been partnering with the Special Olympics for the past 16 years through the Adapted Physical Activity program."

In order to be recognized as a Unified Champion School, Slippery Rock had to apply

through an application, with 10 standards of excellence having to be met yearly. Stringfellow said some of the categories are unified intramurals in sports teams, having a club at the school and showing an inclusive atmosphere and environment at the school.

"Now we've hit all of them," Stringfellow said. "We were just kind of missing the club aspect, and we've just recently added that in the past year. I think there are about 10 programs we run in certain versions, and they all cover those aspects."

One of the more prominent ways that Slippery Rock adapted physical activity involved with the Special Olympics lies in bocce, one of the three Special Olympics chosen sports for Pennsylvania.

"In Pennsylvania—well, you have Special Olympics International, you have Special Olympics North America, and you have the Special Olympics for different states," Stringfellow said. "We work directly with Special Olympics Pennsylvania."

The three assigned sports in Pennsylvania are soccer, track & field and bocce. While Slippery Rock used to have a track & field program when Stringfellow was getting her Master's degree with SRU in 2017, it is mainly an eastern Pennslyvania sport now.

At a smaller school like Slippery Rock, it can be harder to pilot, Stringfellow said, as there are so many athletes to work with.

An unusual sport in the United States, bocce works out surprisingly well at Slippery Rock.

"Bocce is a great sport because it is very inclusive," Stringfellow said. "You would be surprised, the kids with disabilities on the team are actually better than the kids without disabilities. It's easy to learn to coach."

Bocce has become an avenue for graduate students from the adapted physical activity program to work on coaching and training athletes as it can be done anywhere. As long as there is a hallway and some bocce balls, you can practice bocce, Stringfellow said.

As Slippery Rock has partnered with Special Olympics

through the physical and health education department, mainly through the adapted physical activity program, the opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students has risen drastically.

"I graduated in 2017 with my Master's in APA here, and for me, under APA, we are provided with a lot of experiences to work with kids with disabilities," Stringfellow said. "And hands down, I think it was my favorite program to work with."

Stringfellow has seen a culture shift in the high schools where Slippery Rock students have coached and worked with Special Olympic athletes.

"These kids without disabilities, that are maybe star soccer athletes or star volleyball players or maybe they've never even played a sport themselves, it's so inclusive that they now get a chance to be in the school and work with those kids," Stringfellow said.

According to Stringfellow, it is not even so much of coaching these athletes as it is a partnership.

"It's not that the kids without disabilities are helping them, they really are teammates and they work toward the same goal," Stringfellow said. "I think that these graduate students have an unbelievable experience getting to coach in unified and inclusive environments before they go off in those environments after they graduate here."

Special Olympic athletes compete as hard as varsity athletes, and Stringfellow said the main goal is to be like any other varsity sport.

"Just like a volleyball player or a varsity football player, it really is your lettering in the sport," Stringfellow said. "[It's] just making it the norm, like being inclusive and accepting diversity."

With all the programs and sports that Slippery Rock and the Special Olympics have partnered on over the

past 16 years, there's still hope for growth—it just might take some time.

"It's a little hard to get our heads around what we can do with this time we're in right now, with the global pandemic, but it's a great honor and we can take it and continue to do some great things with our graduate students as leaders and mentors," Leight said.

Despite the challenges of growing during a pandemic, Stringfellow said that the Special Olympics is always in touch, sharing new ideas.

"We have such a wonderful, long-term partnership with the Special Olympics that they throw stuff at us like every other month," Stringfellow said.

"Like, 'hey, would you guys be into this?' The two new schools, we're super excited about."

Slippery Rock is now partnered with 13 high schools across Pennslyvania, adding the 12th and 13th schools this year, and that only means more teams as each school is allowed two teams.

That partnership between Slippery Rock and Special Olympics is ever growing, Stringfellow said, and the Slippery Rock physical and health education department is helping to expand and grow Special Olympics across Pennsylvania through new ways.

"We are working on a Unified Fitness manual, which is one of the programs we have here, that we're writing for the Special Olympics and will be distributed to all the Unified Champion high schools in the state so they can do the exact same college program we're doing here," Stringfellow said.

With 200 Unified Champion School high schools in Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock will serve as the standard for hundreds, if not thousands of Special Olympic athletes.

"We can go as far as our stamina and our workforce allows us to go," Leight said.

SPORTS

September 25, 2020

C-4

Wilhelm leads Rock soccer

CONTINUED FROM C-1

Put simply, the equipment at Slippery Rock was far humbler.

Wilhelm recalls having to fetch practice gear from a cage and sharing training attire with physical education students.

Resourcefulness was instilled in players. They were expected to make the most of their situations.

“It was always an efficiency mentality,” Wilhelm says. “[It was] blue collar, do more with less and make it the best you could possibly be. It’s kind of like, if somebody gives you something [to take care offoraweek],isitpossibletoreturn that item in better condition than it was given to you?”

In his time playing at Slippery Rock, Wilhelm aided in bringing the program a Western Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Soccer Conference crown in his sophomore season. In 1995, he was named All-WPISC honoree.

Around the time he returned from working with the MLS’ Columbus Crew, where Wilhelm went after graduating with his bachelor’s, he enrolled at Slippery Rock to get his master’s degree in sport management while also coaching club soccer on the side.

Knowing that Wilhelm, a former Slippery Rock teammate, was acquainted with the recruiting market, then-head coach Matt Thompson invited him to fill a volunteer assistant opening on his staff.

In that first stint as a subordinate at Slippery Rock, from 2002-03, a cultural shift commenced. The team wanted to be viewed differently by outsiders. Recruiting was focused mainly on prospects within the state or those which share a border with Pennsylvania, geared to bringing on players with a “never say die” attitude.

The players that signed during Wilhelm’s first assistant coaching duration laid the groundwork for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title in 2005- the program’s first since 1974.

“We stumbled on an equation then that was a perfect equation for Slippery Rock,” Wilhelm says.

“It was that equation of those types of personalities and having that understandingfromtheinside-out of what Slippery Rock University offers, but also what it desires from the type of student-athlete that goes to Slippery Rock.”

Wilhelm, however, wasn’t part of the program when it had hoisted a league trophy after a 31-year wait. Almost two full seasons earlier, he’d accepted the head coaching job—or, more accurately, jobs—40 minutes up the road at Thiel College. With only a part-time assistant to help out, he ran both the men’s and women’s teams for the Tomcats.

He sums up his three-year spell at the D-III school as a “nightmare,” saying he could have worked all 24 hours each day and, still, it wouldn’t have been enough to get what was needed done.

Wilhelm adds up the daily workload he shouldered at Thiel.

The two practices ate up 3-5 hours of each day. Recruiting would take him another hour. Office work would keep him an extra 3-4 hours.

“It just became prohibitive to having a wife and a family and living a normal life,”Wilhelm says.

“The lifestyle was, you’re going to make it another one or two years, then you were going to be burnt out.”

While away, Wilhelm had realized the extent of the bonds that coaches create with their signees while watching SRU’s title run from the bleachers.

“Any time you recruit a kid, you’re starting a relationship,” Wilhelm says. “I rarely talk about soccer anymore with our recruiting visits, just because I’m trying to get more of a feel of what [a prospect’s] mom and dad are like, what the kid’s attitude is like and what he can give us. You can see a kid play 1015 times and watch the video.

You know what he’s going to be like on the field. You don’t know

what he’s going to be like the other 22 hours of the day.”

Wilhelm picked up on Thompson’sunselfishandtrusting coaching nature and today praises those who help him do his job in a more effective manner.

“It was kind of foretelling about the type of coaches needed in Slippery Rock, with someone that understands that none of us know everything,” Wilhelm says.

“I know right now that I don’t know everything. I’m lucky that I have two GAs that split one GA [position] and I have a volunteer assistant. I delegate a lot of that stuff to them because I trust what their abilities are and what they can do. And Matt was the same way.”

In 2007, with his former assistant, Matt Garrett, having recently moved on to take a coaching job at Gettysburg College, Thompson dialed Wilhelm. Wilhelm would no longer be driving back-and-forth to Greenville. Working as an assistant for the green and white would give him more time to spend with his wife, Amanda, an elementary education teacher in the Grove City School District, and his newborn, Keira.

Upon returning for his second stretch, Wilhelm noticed a better quality within the Slippery Rock program. There was talent and depth across the pitch. Defensive organization was consistent from front to back.The team employed longerballsandcrossesinitsattack.

Wilhelm was learning how to manage a team. He saw that he could use a more hands-off approach in practices and games.

He wanted to figure out what drives each player.

“The X's and O's can be gone over in 30 minutes and a couple of practice sessions each week,” Wilhelm says. “But you still have to put that time in day in, day out to the motivation of a certain individual versus another individual.”

Thecollegegamehadchanged, Wilhelm says, and continues to change. The level of athlete had

improved. In the PSAC, the physical strafe could take a toll on teams made up of smaller statures.

“It’salmostlikethere’slesspassing and technical ability and skill and dynamic ability,” Wilhelm says.

“And more defensive structure, 50/50 challenges, running over people,andphysicalstufflikethat.”

That leaves two options, Wilhelm says. Teams can deal with the rough and tumble style of play or use technical skills to avoid getting touched.

Navigating the PSAC, the program earned an appearance in the PSAC title game against California (Pa.) and an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament in 2008, reaching the second round.

The next year, the team beat Millersville for its second PSAC trophy in five years and advanced to the round of 16 in the national playoffs.

Then, following those three years together, Thompson left for LeesMcRaeCollegeandWilhelm went back to club coaching.

In 2018, much like a deteriorating home that had once been among the nicest in the neighborhood, the Slippery Rock men’s soccer program had seen its better days. Athletic Director Paul Lueken and university administration lent Wilhelm, a familiar face, the keys to the modesthouse,keepingtabsasthey looked for a buyer.

The program’s previous head coach had stepped down at a curioustime,departinginlateJune with an appalling .294 winning percentage, having won only 10 of his 34 games on the Slippery Rock sideline. Only two PSAC programs had less league victories thanSRUinthattwo-seasonspan.

Having arrived only two weeks before preseason camp and needing to deal with issues left behind, Wilhelm sought at least to improve the condition of the program’s academics, finances, playing culture and recruiting by the season’s end. He spiritedly took on the home improvement project.

Although the team failed to reach the postseason, it went 6-102. Five of The Rock’s losses in that campaign came by only one marker. Morale had been lifted.

The outdated hardwood flooring was replaced, the dreadful wallpaper was stripped and new appliances were installed. Still, the interim head coach would have been ready to return the house keys. The residence was in a more respectable condition than was given to him. “[Even] if it was a three-month, four-month deal, and then I’m either out the door because I couldn’t do enough or […] because there’s somebody better that’s waiting,” Wilhelm says. “As an alumnus, my number one goal was that the program be better when I walked out of the door than it was when I showed up.”

Even with the improvement and promise shown, Wilhelm wasn’t even close to a finished product. If he were to shed the interim tag, he’d need multiple recruiting classes to set an example for expectations.

“That was put up in spray paint that nobody—it doesn’t matter if you’re the best college soccer coach in the world—this can’t be fixed in two years,” Wilhelm says. “A lot of things happened over a period of time that led to the loss of culture, led to the budget issues, and led to the different styles of players being recruited.”

In Wilhelm, the university found a buyer. He could now call himself the head coach of his alma mater and he was aware of the sacrifices that come with that.

“Ithastobeapassion,”Wilhelm says. “You have to care more about that program and points in time than you do about your health, being hungry, being tired or how much child care costs so you can run a practice and not have to pick up your daughter from school […] If you’ve played at a program, that feeling is there. You’ve sweat, you’ve bled, you’ve given up whatever you’ve given up, so then you love that program.That’s why

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you can share those experiences with your current players.”

Wilhelm also mentions that he couldn't do his job as effectively as he does without the support and understanding that comes from his family.

Every now and then, Wilhelm sees small signs that his team is morphing to what he envisions.

After a long day, he watches his players push through extra repetitions.

“It’s not because anybody said youhadto,”Wihelmsays.“There’s your sign. You get those little moments where a group of guys comes together, does more than is expected, and does it because they want to do it. Not because they feel they have to do it. Not because theythinkthat’swhat’sdemanded.

They do it because it’s within their DNA of this is how we do things.”

As for the time it takes to be at the helm, Wilhelm says he’s having fun.

“I couldn’t do what I currently do for a program that I wasn’t in love with,” Wilhelm says. “I wouldn’t be willing to do what I do on a daily basis anywhere else.”

He ponders for a second.

“Don’t let the administration know that,” he jokes.

The meaning of being a Rock soccer player hasn’t changed in the slightest since Wilhelm’s time lacing up his cleats. Though he does concern himself with the program’s standard, there are more important things than championship hardware to the head coach.

“I want them to have that total experience that I enjoyed, and I’m doing everything I can to make that happen,” Wilhelm says. “The end goal is to make sure the guys we have on the roster […] got the bestexperiencetheycouldpossibly get during their time with Slippery Rock University soccer.”

It’s then that it hits him.

“I’ve never really reflected on it,” Wilhelm realizes. “I just haven’t hadthatmuchtimetositbackand scratch my head and think ‘Why do I do this?’ You know?”

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Improv and Creativity At theonlinerocket.com

CAMPUS LIFE

Privilege in oppression Students and faculty engaged in a discussion surrounding history, society and the community

HOPE HOEHLER / THE ROCKET

Keisha Booker, one of the facilitators of the discussion, gives a brief introduction to exclusion in history. Booker began the conversation by educating the participants on several historical events about exclusion and/or oppression, which led into the Diversity Dialogue's main topic of Privilege in Oppression.

By Hope Hoehler Campus Life Editor

The Diversity Dialogues: Privilege in Oppression engaged students to participate in a conversation about privilege and oppression in history, society, and the Slippery Rock community.

Keisha Booker, the assistant director of multicultural development, and Kemoni Farmer, graduate assistant for multicultural development, facilitated the discussion.

The Diversity Dialogues are sponsored by the Office for Inclusive Excellence (OIE).

Similar to the first Diversity Dialogue, Booker introduced the topic of privilege in oppression, stating that she does not know everything when it comes to the topics and that her discussion will be based on her opinion.

The conversation began with a brief history lesson of exclusion, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Tuskegee Experiment, Puerto Rican Reproductive Rights, Indian Removal, Japanese Americans and the Tulsa Massacre. Students were familiar with some of these occurrences and unfamiliar with others.

Booker transitioned the conversation by asking participants how they felt about these acts of exclusion.

"I had never heard about the Japanese Americans until I was in high school, and I just so happened to stumble upon it," Farmer said. "This is different and something we aren't teaching."

Similar to Farmer, Booker said that she had never heard of the sterilization of Puerto

Ricans, but heard about an example of something similar in North Carolina, where there was a mass sterilization program that targeted poor minorities in the 20th century.

"I always get baffled at the parts of history that get left out," Booker said.

Bringing the conversation to current and recent times, Booker asked how Americans, especially Generation Z, reconcile with America's history.

Keelan Hartman, a participant, said that Generation Z acknowledges what happened and does not honor those who did it.

However, Booker, a millennial, said that she has a hard time reconciling history because it involves events she does not know about, that have to do with her own education.

"I want to move forward and be better, but I don't always know how when we have this history of oppression that is so long and deep with multiple layers," Booker said.

Continuing on the topic of history, Bailie Fleming, a participant, said that history repeats itself, and she finds herself not knowing about the exclusion topics discussed at the beginning when she feels she should.

Being aware of the topic is something that Caroline Sears, a participant, agrees with, but pairs it with symbolic justice.

"I feel that is important to us," Sears said. "We were not the ones who did the wrongdoing, it was our country, but the oppression that our history has caused is something to think about."

Other participants expressed ideas on how to become educated on exclusion. Lyosha Gorshkov, the assistant director of the Women's Center and Pride Center, said that people should learn how other groups contribute to the country.

"Things that are controversial we steer away from because we are scared of them."

– Raelyn Horne, freshman participant

"We need to learn how communities contribute, and we have to remember that this country is built on immigration," Gorshkov said.

Building on the discussion's topic of diversity in oppression, Booker read the anology 'oppression and privilege are two sides of the

same coin' and asked how participants interpreted it.

Iliaria Perry, a participant, said that one can not have one without the other, tying in that if one group is privileged then it is oppressing the other.

Booker built on Perry's idea, adding that someone's oppression or not of a privileged identity is not something of their own, and visa versa. Originally, the discussion was called 'Oppression in Today's America', but was changed to model the idea of the analogy concept.

Delving deeper into the topic, Booker asked how one's understanding or perception of the notion of power plays into one's views of oppression or privilege.

Samantha Cox, a participant, said that a lot of people do not realize what kind of oppression there is until they have that power or see how the power is used to oppress people.

"You don't know what you are going to do until you are in that situation," Cox said. "We have to be more cognizant of how we are thinking."

Relating to Cox's idea, Booker read the quote "when you are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression," and asked participants for their opinion on the saying.

Raelyn Horne, a participant, said that the majority of the idea has to do with mindset and how people are not good with change, giving socioeconomic status as an example.

Mindset can also include how people perceive

words, and Booker asked if participants agree that oppression and privilege are viewed as trigger words with a negative connotation.

Plenty of students agreed, including Horne.

"I think the words are heavy because a lot of people avoid them," Horne said.

"Things that are controversial we steer away from because we are scared of them. That's why conversations like this are important."

Agreeing with the idea that there is not a great understanding of the words, Sears said that the labeling of either oppression or privilege plays a part in the connotation.

"I think that everyone has both [oppression and privilege] in their lives," Sears said.

Gorshkov also believes that the words are intertwined.

"When we start acknowledging them, we can move forward," Gorshkov said. "We don't want to be that person, but we have to be uncomfortable sometimes."

Tr a n s i t i o n i n g the conversation to embody Slippery Rock, Booker asked how the participants see the societal weights of oppression and privilege in the university community.

"Most of our history is told from the white male perspective," Booker said.

"We think one way and it becomes so ingrained in us that we don't challenge ourselves to look outside in these scenarios."

Participants' answers varied in regards to diversity on campus. Gabriella McAdams, a participant, said that there is little diversity on

campus, using the reference of living in a bubble. Adams believes that conversation is a way to break down barriers when it comes to diversity.

Emma stokes, a student who was on campus for the 2019 fall semester before distance learning, said that the campus is fairly diverse, although she can see students who believe they have more privilege than others.

The general conversation surrounding Booker's question regarding privilege and oppression in the university community regarded diversity, however, Cox brought up another viewpoint: the LGBTQIA+ community.

"One of the reasons I chose Slippery Rock was because they were more open than other colleges I visited, but why do we have to have these separate spaces for people to be comfortable," Cox said.

Other aspects were established as well, such as the privilege or disadvantage of living at home or on campus and food options for those with health issues such as celiac disease.

At the end of every Diversity Dialogue, Booker asks participants what they took away from the discussion.

"It's nice to agree and disagree with people," Horne said. "It's okay for people to be okay with that. A lot of the time if you disagree, it's a big deal. A lot of the time it's nice to agree to disagree and be calm about it."

The next Diversity Dialogue, Tuesday, Sept.

29 at 5 p.m. will discuss Transgender Inclusion.

Information can be found on CORE or the CORE app.

SOL celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month Student Organization of Latinos, Hispanics and Allies recognize positive influences on Hispanic culture

By Tyler Howe Senior Rocket Contributor

GRAPHIC BY HANNAH SLOPE

This month, the Student Organization of Latinos, Hispanics, and Allies is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually to recognize Hispanics who have had a positive influence on the culture.

“SOL is a student organization of Latinos, Hispanics, and Allies, and our mission on campus is to spread awareness about Latino culture on campus because, unfortunately, the diversity on campus and in the area is very low. We focus on building a community within our organization in a hope that our students will find [Slippery Rock] to be like a home,” said the President of SOL, Juliana Rios said.

The organization is actually pronounced “Sol,” which is the word for "sun" in Spanish and the organization uses that to their advantage. When the club can be on campus, the club hosts a number of events including fiestas. In a typical year, SOL teams up with the Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE) to do Hispanic heritage month. The organization normally puts on a Day of the Dead showcase, though, like the fiestas for Hispanic Heritage month, that has been canceled for this year.

“We have been using our social media as much as we can because we realized that that’s a resource to reach students and we’ve recently created a GroupMe with our group members to keep them connected,” Rios said.

Some of the things that SOL is doing to keep students

engaged include bringing in a chef, hosting a speaker, and participating in Zumba that is hosted by OIE. The goal is to keep students connected from afar. Members of the club were also invited to speak at an event recently.

“OIE has done multiple events and they’re doing a scavenger hunt later this month, and as for SOL, we’re having a speaker come talk over Zoom and he’s going to talk about his experiences, which is super exciting for us,” Rios said.

All of the events that are taking place virtually are part of the plan for students to still be doing things, but to a much lesser extent. SOL has also been teaming with OIE and Spanish Club to sponsor more events.

The goal of Hispanic Heritage month is to show people that the Hispanic and Latino culture is much more

than just people who come from Mexico. In SOL, there are students that come from all over the place, even as far as Bolivia. These events help both keep those students connected and spread awareness about the Hispanic and Latino culture at the same time.

“Hispanic Heritage is personally important to me because it displays the culture that sometimes we lack in our country, and I feel like it’s so beautiful because some people don’t realize how vast the Hispanic culture is,” Rios said. “I feel like people tend to group Hispanics together and think ‘oh if you’re Hispanic, you’re Mexican,’ but we have people in our club from all over the place and we’re all connected by language and it’s awesome to have a time and platform to celebrate our culture together.”

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CAMPUS LIFE

September 25, 2020

Inside '(in)human trafficking' Women's Center, local experts talk about human trafficking at virtual event

By Hannah Shumsky Editor-in-Chief

Disclaimer: This article contains multiple references to human trafficking, sexual abuse and exploitation, including specific references to cases involving minors.

GRAPHIC BY HANNAH SLOPE

The Women's Center hosted ( I N ) Hu m a n Trafficking, a virtual talk with local experts about the dangers and signs of human trafficking, Wednesday evening via Zoom, an event that attracted 56 viewers.

The event included three speakers: Brenda Lutz from Living in Liberty, Kaeleen Martin from the Vice Outreach Intervention Center (VOICe) and Joesph Sweeney, the founder and CEO of The Asservo Project.

Each of these speakers presented on a different aspect to human trafficking.

For Lutz, she began the event with statistics about human trafficking. She said that last year, human trafficking was a $150 billion industry, with $100 billion coming from the sex slave industry. This is more than McDonald's, Microsoft and Starbucks combined, she said.

Most of Lutz's information addressed domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). The average age of an American child in the human trafficking industry is 13.

"We quite honestly don't have any idea how many kids are missing, and they don't have a voice in there for them saying, 'we need you, we need to find these kinds,'" Lutz said. "We have some, but nothing like what we need."

According to Shared Hope International, which Lutz referenced throughout her presentation, traffickers find victims through social networks, their home neighborhood, clubs or bars,

the internet and school, and traffickers groom victims in promises of protection, love, adventure, home and opportunity.

"There's one thing I always say about human trafficking: it does not discriminate," Lutz said.

"If you want an industry that does not discriminate, that's human trafficking for you. It doesn't care what your hopes are, your dreams are, what your skin color is or your religious beliefs.

It doesn't care how much money you have or don't have. If [human trafficking] can exploit you, it is going to, period."

Martin agreed with Lutz's statements about discrimination in her own portion of the event, in which she addressed systemic issues in human trafficking. She says that human trafficking disproportionally affects members of the LGBT community, people with disabilities and homeless or runaway individuals.

Martin also said that as an employee at VOICe's Cranberr y Township location, local residents have a hard time believing that human trafficking occurs in the area.

"I have a really hard time convincing people that it's happening," Martin said.

"There's just kind of like this, I guess, perspective that you know [in] certain communities it can't happen."

Sweeney, a former SWAT operator, bomb squad commander and U.S. government explosive security specialist, mainly addressed cybersecurity and online protection.

He founded The Asservo Project after educating himself while working overseas with anti-terrorism programs.

Sweeney said that he could name 50 apps in which children are communicating with people they don't know. In

a recent case he managed, there was a 35-year-old man who was talking to a 14-year-old.

"You know, a lot of the apps are legitimate, but what has occurred is that these traffickers and predators have exploited this technology, and they have exactly done that," Sweeney said. "They have set up profiles where they either pretend to be someone in high school or younger [or in] college."

"There is one thing I always say about human trafficking: it does not discriminate."

– Brenda Lutz, Living in Liberty

In response to an audience question asking if traffickers put zip ties or other items on cars to lure victims, Sweeney said he has not seen a scenario like this during this job, although he sees this information being spread on social media.

"It's not to say maybe there was an isolated incident somewhere," Sweeney said. "It's usually not that, it's usually not the snatch and grab."

Howe ve r, Swe e n e y encouraged audience

members to be prepared to respond to unusual situations. " Yo u h a v e t o b e prepared not to be a victim, you have to be aware," Sweeney said.

"You have to know your surroundings... If something doesn't look right, follow your gut, because if it doesn't look right, it probably isn't."

During this portion of the evening, Sweeney said that he doesn't believe there is a surge in human trafficking, but more awareness and better identification.

"I don't believe it's been a surge," Sweeney said.

"I think it's been on the rise because of technology, but I think it's just been around, and maybe there is an uptick because it has been steady for years. I think the overwhelming optic of it surging is more awareness, and more people are starting to talk about it."

Martin, a 2017 social work graduate from SRU, shared during the questionand-answer session that some of the best things college students can do are to learn more about human trafficking and call out incorrect information online.

"It's not always the most upbeat conversations with friends and family, but being able to have these discussions, when that comes around, and I mean even using your own social media and even, you know, sometimes trying to pull people aside... I think it's one of the biggest things we can all be doing right now that is going to help the crisis," Martin said.

The full recording of the event will be uploaded to YouTube.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888 and is available 24/7. According to Sweeney, The Asservo Project is currently working on a tip line.

'Unpregnant': Film Review HBO Max's is a charming story of friendship

By Dereck Majors Movie Review Columnist

If 2020 has taught us anything, it is to be grateful for everything we once took for granted.

Friends, family, health, sports, and even those odd movies that appear randomly on a streaming service.

“Unpregnant” is one of HBO Max’s first original films which tells the story of two former friends, Veronica and Bailey, traveling from Missouri to Albuquerque to get an abortion without Ve r o n i c a’s p a r e n t s’ permission. Even when Veronica plans the entire trip to a T, colorful side characters and hijinks ensue at every rest stop, gas station and town along the way.

In j u s t t h e v e r y first scene, it becomes apparent just how strong the chemistry is between stars Haley Lu Richardson (“The Edge of Seventeen”) and Barbie Ferreira (Kat in HBO’s “Euphoria”). The banter early on between them shows that there is some tension after the friendship fell apart but that deep down there is still a connection between the two.

It is obvious that ego and reputation was what created a divide between the estranged childhood best friends. Veronica is obsessed with her image.

She is about to attend an

Ivy League school and surrounds herself with the cliché popular crowd that is obsessed with investigating who the positive pregnancy test found belongs to (Spoiler alert: It’s Veronica’s). Bailey is nearly the complete opposite. Sitting alone in the cafeteria, playing video games at home and not giving a care about her outward appearance; she is the “yin” to Veronica’s “yang.”

It goes without saying that the driving force behind “Unpregnant” are its’ stars Richardson and Ferreira who masterfully take control of the fi lm and deliver two brilliant performances that give their characters so much depth. Without these two, this film would be shoved to the end of a long list of films on HBO Max’s site, never to be heard or seen from again.

The script does a great job at showcasing just how unique these two are, but the plot gets in the way and makes for, at times, an undercooked story. Attempting to be a culmination of genres like classic road trip movie, buddy comedy, coming of age tale and even a serious drama is a difficult mixture. Because of this, “Unpregnant” does not find its proper footing until about halfway through. But when it does discover what kind of film it wants to be, it becomes one of the most charming films of the year.

The plot of two teens going out of state to get an abortion without parental consent is also featured in director Eliza Hittman’s “Never, Rarely, S o m e t i m e s , A l w a y s” which gave a dark, gritty and realistic look at the subject matter earlier this year. “Unpregnant” handles the material in a more accessible way by incorporating comedy and a rousing soundtrack t h a t a l l ow s yo u n g e r audiences to relate more to the characters and situations. And even though this road trip can be paint-by-the-numbers at times, it shares one important characteristic in common with Hittman’s indie darling: a woman making an extremely personal and important choice.

The audience feels the importance in Veronica’s decision and the script even throws some punches at the current government and state of laws. It is also released at an awkward time in the United States’ history as the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg occurred just over a week after the film’s release, which may set into motion the repeal of Roe v. Wade that allows for safe, legal abortions in the United States. Soon the film may be looked at as an American relic. In that case, we might need movies like “Unpregnant” to escape reality for a few hours.

CAMPUS LIFE Collaboration for frontline workers

September 25, 2020

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Faculty and staff aim to make masks for community members in need

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIKE SCHNELLE

Jack Livingston, geography, geology and the environment professor, wears a 3-D faceshield he took part in making.

By Jack Konesky Asst. Campus Life Editor

Slippery Rock University faculty and staff collaborated over the course of the pandemic to 3-D print face shields for front-line workers.

Jack Livingston, geography, geology, and the environment professor, was one of several SRU faculty members who contributed to the university’s 3-D printing efforts. Livingston said that while the primary goal was obviously to create masks for those in need,

the project also helped to bring the SRU community closer together.

“We were able to come together and do something, and it felt like this was a place where we could actually make an impact, even if it was just something small,” Livingston said.

“Our mission was to do whatever we could do to help our staff, our students, and our community.”

Livingston said the project came to life when Michael Zieg, another professor in his department, found an article showing that people were printing

Production for the faceshields began in March, but once classes started in the fall, faculty shifted their focus for the time being

Livingston hopes to expand the campus' 3-D printing capabilites, and create a lab for 3-D production.

N95 masks with filters and asked Livingston if the same could be done with the university’s equipment.

Livingston found that it could be done, but there were some stumbling blocks in the process.

The primary issue with printing N95 masks, Livingston said, was that the copper-infused filament required to actually print them was in low-supply.

Beyond that, Livingston cited the slow speed of the available 3-D printers as a reason for switching gears.

“There are some places like MIT that have

“All of these people came together, figured out how to print the face shields, and then actually took the printers home with them,” Livingston said. “We were all printing these things out of our houses while the university was locked down.”

Livingston and his team began production of the first set of face shields at the end of March, continuing their efforts until the middle of June. Production began again briefly in July, but Livingston said that, once classes began again, the faculty agreed to shift their focus for the time being.

industrial level printers, and we didn’t want to be taking filament that could be going to a better place,” Livingston said. “There were a lot of groups that were asking ‘well, what are the other types of things that we can do?’ and I found that printing face shields was an option.”

The option of printing face shields instead of masks was pitched to Zieg and it quickly gained traction throughout the entire university.

Livingston said that just about every department that had access to a 3-D printer wanted to get involved.

Going forward, Livingston said that there have been talks of continuing to expand SRU’s 3-D printing capabilities. Within the next year, Livingston said that the hope is to create a lab specifically for 3-D production.

“This is a technology that’s been on campus, but that most students have had very little interaction with,” Livingston said. “There’s a lot of potential there, it’s got a lot of potential to become a bigger part of what we do.”

Support group Issues and confidence offers guidance Diversity Dialogues discuss women in today's world LGBTQIA+ support group provides tudents a safe space

HOPE HOEHLER/ THE ROCKET

Keisha Booker shared a PowerPoint to aid the Diversity Dialogue discussion. Booker is the main facilitator of the dialogues sponsored by the Office for Inclusive Excellence (OIE).

By Hope Hoehler Campus Life Editor

GRAPHIC BY KEEGAN BEARD

By Sarah Anderson Junior Rocket Contributor

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, Aleksei Gorshkov, assistant director of PRIDE/Women’s Centers, and Kenneth Messina, director of the Counseling Center, worked together to hold the first LGBTQIA+ support group of the semester.

Gorshkov said that they “. . . want it to be a combined effort from the professional counseling perspective and the perspective of the professional ‘queer’ (as I call myself).”

This support group is looking to offer guidance to the LGBTQIA+ students who are struggling during the pandemic with loneliness, social and emotional isolation, anxiety, depression as well as anxiety and safety concerns that come with being at home, where guidance and support may be lacking.

Gorshkov made it clear that they had been already wanting to offer support for the LGBTQIA+ students, but the circumstances from the pandemic had made it more salient than ever before.

“The idea has been around for a while since I came to the campus last October,” Gorshkov said. “I had met with LGBTQIA+ individuals who had reported some issues with their families and friends in the light of their sexualities.

Some reported not feeling safe on campus. They showed signs of anxiety and depression.

Then I started talking to the Counseling Center to create a support group. But the actual push has been provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic as most of students were forced to go back to their homes, some of which are not welcoming.”

These times of pandemic life have been causing everyone to feel unclear, lost, and, for the LGBTQIA+ students in many cases, unsafe. Gorshkov offered

some advice for students struggling in these times of COVID-19.

They offer advice stemming from their personal experiences, “even if you think you do not have any outlets, you do have them. Look closely. Look deep inside yourself, it’s there. When I was cut of any systems of support not being able to talk to anyone, I’d find my inspiration in movies, readings, writing and walks.”

“Now we have technologies,” Gorshkov noted. “If you feel down, connect with people online, with groups you feel you belong to! Do not try to be on your own. Attend our group and we would be glad to have you with us.”

SRU’s Pride Center is here to offer support during these challenging times, and at any time. For more information about the LGBTQIA+ Support Group, contact the Pride Center at 724.738.4378 or the Counseling Center at 724.738.2034.

The Diversity Dialogues took place Tuesday, discussing women in today’s world, one of the first meetings in a series sponsored by The Office for Inclusive Excellence (OIE).

The Diversity Dialogues t o p i c , “ Wo m e n i n Today’s World,” discussed prominent issues that women believe they face today and how confidence is important to a woman.

Keisha Booker, the assistant director of multicultural development, and Kemoni Farmer, a graduate assistant for OIE, facilitated the discussion.

Booker said that the goal of the Diversity Dialogues is to work towards a more inclusive campus. “[We] wanted to start the conversation on something that is important to me and how I identify, but to open the doors on equality on levels, how all forms of women equality should be the same on all levels,” Booker said.

The 27 participants in the Zoom discussion were separated in breakout rooms to discuss what they believed where some of the most important issues facing women today.

Occurring themes from the breakout rooms included body image, planned parenthood and reproductive rights.

“People post pictures all the time, and you compare yourself or other people to compare you,” Jade Zuchowski said, a participant in the discussion.

A women’s control over their own body was another prominent topic discussed in the breakout groups.

Sa m a n t h a C o x , a freshman participant, said that the standards for women and their sexuality vary from the standards with men, especially regarding multiple partners.

“You see that women are shamed for body counts where men are praised,” Cox said.

The idea of a double standard in society was something that the participants, largely women, agreed with.

Multiple students said that women have to act differently while leaving work, or walking in a parking lot to stay safe.

“Women at our age do different things than men do because of their s u r r o u n d i n g s ,” s a i d Gabriella Deloco, a freshman.

The idea that the word feminist has a powerful connotation where females think they are superior is something that Raelyn Horne, a freshman, brought up. However, she said that the true definition is that women are equal.

Cox said that this idea plays into the societal standard for women and how some of it is demonized in the media.

After the initial discussion, Booker then shared an article from International Women’s Day in 2019 where prominent women talked about what they believed to be the biggest problems for women.

This list was then compared to the lists that students made in their breakout groups.

Students found that the article discussed more issues in motherhood and caregiving.

However, the idea of trauma centered feminism

was discussed in the article.

Its focus is not equality with men, but rather protection from them.

“Often times we are presented as the damsel in distress,” Booker said.

The idea that woman need a man to protect them is something that Booker said had become engaged in women.

Gabriella McAdams agreed and added more about the focus of risk on women.

“If you focus on risk of women becoming a victim, you are normalizing the idea to be afraid,” McAdams said.

Similar to the general discussion of what main issues women are facing today, Booker asked what hinders a women’s access and opportunity.

Confidence was a largely attributed characteristic discussed that influenced a women’s access and opportunity.

McAdams said that she would be more likely to believe someone who speaks with confidence, and Booker said that sometimes her persona may influence her access and opportunity.

“I sometimes find myself in places where men will think that what I am saying or bringing is too much and that threat to them is sometimes what limits them authoring that opportunity if it is something they control,” Booker said.

Participants said that they enjoyed the discussion, which gave them the opportunity to share their opinions on an important topic.

The next Diversity Dialogue will be held Sept.

22 on Zoom, discussing Privilege in Oppression.

Information and Zoom ID can be found on Core.

September 25, 2020

THE ROCKET

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