The Battalion - April 29, 2021 by The Battalion

PROVIDED

Seven A&M student teams envisioned the future of medicine through architectural design concepts.

Innovating telehealth A&M students present future telemedicine facility designs By Nathan Varnell @newsncv The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the need for telemedicine way ahead of schedule, and Texas A&M architecture students are at its cutting edge. Last week, seven teams of environmental design seniors presented a final review of their concepts for telemedicine facilities designed to service a variety of communities and needs. The projects are the product of a semester’s worth of mentorship from professional architects and collaborative research in Professor George Mann’s Architecture-for-Health Studio. Since 1971, the College of Architecture has connected students to professional mentors from HKS Inc., a Dallas-based international design firm of over 1,000 architects and artists responsible for designing famous structures such as the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium. “Every student in this class has developed creative, responsive solutions to what is essentially an entirely new building type,” said Ron Skaggs, HKS chairman emeritus. Under the direction of HKS, the students studied the “user journey” in telehealth. The user journey is the experience of both the patient and the provider over the course of contact and care, senior Madison Lesmeister from Round Rock said. Students researched and addressed a wide array of elements along that journey, such as the significant data needs of telehealth, having mixed-use facilities for both virtual and in-person care and how designs can be flexible for the needs of both providers and the regions they serve. “Thinking about how individuals work together, it was important for [my teammate] and TELEHEALTH ON PG. 6

William Nye — THE BATTALION

Communication junior Natalie Parks will be the sixth woman to serve as Texas A&M University’s student body president.

Parks forges new path Natalie Parks aims to bring inclusivity, promote campus initiatives as student body president By Julia Potts @juliaapotts

fter being elected on Feb. 26, Natalie Parks will serve as Texas A&M’s student body president for the 74th session of the Student Government Association, or SGA, and is the sixth woman to fill the role. Parks has been involved in university and student life since she first stepped foot in College Station. From class councils, to Greek Life responsibilities, to numerous roles in student government, Parks said she has learned valuable skills that will guide her in her new position. After serving as the youngest member of former Student Body President Mikey Jaillet’s cabinet as vice president of communication and president of the Class of 2022, Parks said she has a better understanding of the inner workings of student government, as well as the ability to articulate her initiatives in person and on social media. “I think all of those different experiences

and the people that I met and the connections that I made have very much helped me to get to where I am today,” Parks said. “I will always be thankful for all of those things.” Parks’s campaign was based on wellness, inclusion and tradition, with a focus on outreach and visibility. She said she wants SGA to be a resource for people to voice their concerns to help the organization better understand any issues that they are unaware of. Through this, Parks said she can help publicize and make popular issues more known. “I think it’s very special through this role to be able to interact very heavily with those different entities that are doing incredible things through the college councils and the Corps [of Cadets] and Greek life and the cultural councils,” Parks said. Peyton Liebler, Parks’s campaign communications director, said he found her campaign platform very personal, and that her honesty never faltered in any situation. He also said Parks is one of the best people to handle the major transition of returning to in-person classes in the fall. “I’m really excited just to see her process of how Aggieland can return back to what we originally know it and love it for,” Liebler said. Parks said she has spoken with past student body presidents about the job, including women formerly in the role such as Amy Sharp and Anna Wimberly. Outgoing Pres-

ident Eric Mendoza has been a large influence, Parks said. “I’m so thankful for his leadership and watching him grow and excel in this role,” Parks said. “So many people have told me, ‘You have very deep shoes to fill this year.’ I’m very much looking forward to continuing to [lean] on those people.” Mendoza said he is most impressed by the energy Parks puts into every task and her willingness to listen to others, especially those outside of student government. “We have such a large campus with so many perspectives who [are] willing to share those perspectives,” Mendoza said. “Really, the job of student body president is to be a facilitator of all of that, and Natalie gets that.” Parks said she anticipated many challenges when deciding to run for student body president, one of which was being the only woman in the running. “I’ve very much taken a lot of time to self-reflect on that season and all of the hard work and preparation that went into it, and just seeing it pay off and standing at the statue that night at 7 p.m. and then saying my name,” Parks said. As the sixth woman to serve as student body president in the university’s history, Parks said she feels honored to be in the position at this time with so many female PARKS ON PG. 6

Connecting dots, making lasting impressions A&M student’s creative outlet offers safe environment for tattoo seekers By Shelby McVey @shelbyxbreann Art has always been a creative outlet for allied health junior Shim Mi Kadota. After feeling isolated, but wanting to make a difference in the way humans connect with each other, Kadota turned her creativity to stick-and-poke tattoos. Using a needle and ink, Kadota has seen nearly 100 clients come through her apartment, each wanting a unique piece of her art permanently on their bodies. When it became more than just stick-and-poking close friends and social media mutuals, Kadota took her talent to Instagram, creating her business page, Ohayo Pokes, to showcase her art. Outreach on Instagram helped her begin to book more clients. “When I first started stick-and-poking it was really just for fun, and it wasn’t until later that I started tattooing friends and mutual friends that it turned it into something else,” Kadota said. “That is when I really honed in on the idea that it could be something more than just stick-and-poking … that it could mean something bigger.” Using nature as her common theme in most of her pokes, Kadota said her outlet has been an unconventional way for her to see the world. “I would say my style has been really nature based,” Kadota said. “These past couple of years I’ve been pondering the idea of how connected the world really is, how we’re all connected back to nature but also [how] we’re all connected to each other. And that is such a beautiful process. So, through this art, I feel like that is just another connection I get to

via @ohayopokes Instagram, photo by Monique Nguyen

Allied health junior Shim Mi Kadota uses nature as a theme for her DIY tattoo designs.

make.” Although she hasn’t been poking for very long, Kadota said she receives great satisfaction from having clients walk through her door. “Honestly it is such a humbling feeling that another college student or whoever is coming to my apartment [and] is like, ‘Hey, can you give me a tattoo?’” Kadota said. “That is so special, and not everyone can say that. It means a lot to me that they trust me, especially because I’m still new to this and I’m doing my

best and still learning. “I feel like I’ve always used art as a way to cope with life, so it’s always been a really good outlet for me, I’m not really good with my words. I’ve not really been taught how to express my emotions verbally, so art has been a really big influence in my life.” After feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome in a tattoo shop environment, Kadota decided she wanted to alter the toxic tattoo experience to allow for clients to feel safe con-

senting to putting ink permanently on their body. “The tattoo industry is filled with toxic masculinity,” Kadota said. “And a lot of women go to tattoo shops feeling super uncomfortable and just not safe with their tattoo artist. If you look at my page it’s mostly women, the majority of my clients are women, and it just makes me feel like I’m doing something for the industry.” A major characteristic with Ohayo Pokes, Kadota said, is making sure every design she does on her clients is done with intention and consent, especially because normal tattoo shops are known for being intimidating and can influence clients into doing something they may not want to do. “Now with a lot of social injustices being brought to light, that is also happening in the tattoo industry,” Kadota said. “So a lot of people are being called out for not asking for consent, but consent is a really big thing in the tattoo industry because you’re literally inflicting pain onto them with their permission. It is not a light duty, and it is not something that should be taken lightly. When someone is giving you their trust to do that, you need to honor and respect that.” Kadota said a major issue when it comes to DIY tattooing is that it is done unhygienically, which puts people at a major risk of infection. In order to avoid this when her small business began to blow up, Kadota took the initiative to reach out to fellow stick-and-poke artists as a way to shape how she wanted to run her business safely. “I don’t even think that I was stick-andpoking at that time, but I reached out to @dopetoast on Instagram and was like, ‘Hey, I’d love to be an apprentice or even just learn from you,’ and … honestly they’re so super supportive in teaching me how to OHAYO POKES ON PG. 3

LIFE&ARTS

The Battalion | 4.29.21

Samuel Falade — THE BATTALION

The Wright Gallery is located in the Langford Architecture Building and is presenting the exhibit “Something Tangible” through May 20.

Wright Gallery presents ‘Something Tangible’ New exhibit turns mundane objects into creative photographs, sculptures By Kathryn Miller @kathrynmiller0 Open through May 20, the Wright Gallery in Texas A&M’s College of Architecture is showcasing an exhibition entitled “Something Tangible” by Bryan Florentin. Florentin, a visual artist and assistant professor of art and art history at the University of Texas at Arlington, is represented by Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Dallas. In his exhibition “Something Tangible,” Florentin explores the relationship between object and image in his photography and his reinterpretations of still life compositions by William Henry Fox Talbot. Florentin’s collection reimagines haphazard, unassuming materials and ordinary objects into conceptual photographs and sculptures. Wright Gallery curator Rebecca Pugh said the gallery is dedicated to showcasing the visual arts while honoring diversity. “The gallery provides a venue for emerging and established artists, architects and designers

of local, regional, national and international acclaim,” Pugh said. “We have a very specific mission. [The gallery] features artists from underrepresented groups and artists whose work promotes dialogue on topics of social and cultural importance.” There are 18 works in Florentin’s “Something Tangible” exhibition, and many of the photographs are printed on traditional paper and other unique surfaces, Pugh said. “There are four sculptures, and the rest are digital photographs,” Pugh said. “The photographs include inkjet prints on cotton rag and Brita paper. There is an inkjet print titled ‘Accretion (Elongated [Bleed] Slightly Floating Invisible Distortion),’ which is a UV-cured inkjet print on an aluminum panel.” One strength of Florentin’s exhibition is his interest in the relationship between photographs and sculptures, as well as image and object, Pugh said. “You could see in his works he explores image and object through a one-to-one scale,” Pugh said. “For example, the bookshelves in his works are printed at the same size as the actual bookshelf that he has in his studio.” In an introduction essay written for the

exhibition, Pugh said throughout the exhibition, proportion is emphasized in the size of photographs. “Four photographs of wooden rulers are printed to scale and mounted on wood and aluminum in the work titled, ‘4 Versions of 1 Assumption,’” Pugh said in the introduction. “At first glance these may appear to be readymade objects; however, upon closer observation the altered measurements and blurred boundaries of photography and sculpture are evident.” Florentin said most of the work in the exhibition wasn’t created specifically for “Something Tangible,” but represents projects he has worked on within the past several years. “Stemming from my experiences teaching history of photography, I began a body of work referencing photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, one of the inventors of photography,” Florentin said. “Using Talbot’s ‘Scene in a Library,’ ‘Articles of China’ and other works as reference points, I’ve been creating alternative versions of those photographs.” Instead of photographing the spine side of books on shelves as Talbot did in the origi-

nal “Scene of the Library,” Florentin said in his version, he removed the back panel of the bookcase to reveal the page edges. “The result is somewhat like partially removing a form into which concrete has been poured and cured,” Florentin said. “It also suggests a kind of stratigraphy, such as when digging into a hillside and seeing otherwise hidden geological layers that have accumulated over time.” A theory about photography is that photographs are indexical and function as an index of material reality, Florentin said. “A printed photograph is nonetheless real, in that it’s tangible, it occupies physical space,” Florentin said. “I’m trying to find the space where there’s some confusion or slippage between the photograph as image, the photograph as object [and] the material reality context in which it’s presented, even while it often depicts some version of material reality.” “Something Tangible” is open for viewing at the Wright Gallery weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. To follow social distancing guidelines, the gallery is limited to 10 visitors at a time and face coverings are required.

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Check Ring Eligibility: May 18 - June 22 Order Dates: May 20 - June 23 Aggie Ring Day: September 24, 2021 If you meet the requirements after Spring 2021: 1. Login or create an account at AggieNetwork.com beginning May 18 to check your Ring eligibility. 2. In the Aggie Ring tab, click on "Order Your Aggie Ring". • Follow the steps to customize your Aggie Ring; your eligibility will be checked after this step. 3. If eligible, schedule an appointment to order in person or submit your order online by 5 p.m. CT on June 23.

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Allied health junior Shim Mi Kadota shares each of her client’s tattoos on her Instagram page, @ohayopokes.

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set up a station and break it down to keep everything sanitary,” Kadota said. Animal science sophomore Jacob Marshall said he couldn’t have been more impressed with his stick-andpoke experience and thought Kadota was very professional. “I was kind of [apprehensive] because I’ve always been really careful

about where I get my tattoos and I always make sure the shop has good reviews,” Marshall said. “When I go, I look and make sure everything is properly laid out and sanitized … obviously, I couldn’t do that with her, but when I got there I was very impressed about how clean and sanitary it was. She had the tray laid out and her sanitizing bottle … She washed her hands like a million times, gloves and all.”

Along with being able to create a positive space to connect with her clients, Kadota said her favorite part about Ohayo Pokes is the unique bond she gets to create with everyone she pokes. “It feels really, really nice to have people want to share this experience with me, especially because getting a tattoo is one thing, but the experience makes it so much better,” Kadota said.

CONGRATULATIONS! The Buck Weirus Spirit Award honors 55 students each year who demonstrate high involvement, create positive experiences throughout the Aggie community, impact student life at Texas A&M and enhance the Aggie Spirit.

CONGRATULATIONS to the 2021 Buck Weirus Spirit Award recipients!

Iman Ahmed ’22

2021 AWARD RECIPIENTS

Mary Ennis ’21

Calley Nixon ’21

College of Dentistry

Cullen Eppright ’22

Natalie Parks ’22

Ashley J. Heim ’21

Joshua Feldman ’21

Lillian Pieper ’21

Jack Fisher ’21

Colton Ray ’22

College of sCienCe

Sara Franklin ’21

Memo Salinas ’22

William C. Dow ’22

Priyanga Ganesan ’22

Dylan Sione ’23

Alyssa Akomer ’23

Meghan Hein ’23

Jensen Smith ’23

Ellie Bacon ’21

Wesley Ide ’22

Brooke Spann ’22

Aysan Bahari Moradala ’22

Cade Ingram ’21

Mark Sterling ’21

Shikhar Baheti ’22

Laura Jordan ’23

Taylor Sutton ’21

Michael Bailey ’22

Brandon Le ’23

Brandon Tomlin ’22

Elizabeth Barnes ’21

Emily Leeke ’23

Jack Tucker ’21

Gabrielle Beauregard ’22

Peyton Liebler ’22

Sarah Turner ’21

Evan Berger ’21

Cameron Marbach ’21

Connor Walker ’22

Rachel Bernardo ’21

Alexander Medina ’22

Lawren Walker ’22

Corniyah Bradley ’21

Daniela Medina ’22

Laura Westerlage ’21

Alexandra Campbell ’21

Kimberly Morrison ’21

Asha Winfield ’21

Tanner Cedrone ’21

Sakina Mohammed Mota ’22

Noah Woinicki ’21

Lauren Chapman ’22

Eric Muñoz ’21

Sofia` Chunga Pizarro ’22

Kim-Quyen Nguyen ’23

Evan Dion ’22

Matthew Nguyen ’23

Sponsored by:

The Association of Former Students congratulates the 2021 Gathright Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Junior recipients for their exceptional academic performance at Texas A&M University.

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SPORTS

The Battalion | 4.29.21

‘My last big hurrah’

FILE

Senior rider Rhian Murphy was named to the SEC’s Community Service Team on April 14.

Leadership, experience helped Aggies push through challenges of COVID-19 By Edgar Rivera Jr. Guest contributor It was a heartbreaking end to the 2020-2021 season for the No. 5 Texas A&M equestrian team when the Aggies were narrowly defeated by No 4. SMU in the quarterfinals of the NCEA Championships this month in Waco. The loss ended the Aggies’ season at 4-6. It was an unusual season spent battling COVID-19, contact tracing and a shorter schedule than previous years against tough SEC competition. Through it all, 14 senior team members led and coached one another and mentored underclassmen teammates. The silver lining may be seniors Caroline Dance and Rhian Murphy’s decisions to use their extra year of eligibility to pursue a championship in 2022. The Aggies received consistent support from their senior leaders throughout the year, a factor assistant coach Jane O’Mara said contributed to the team’s growth and improvement. “Every competition, people wanted to

know what they needed to do to get better,” O’Mara said. “They leaned on each other to become better riders. They are so vocal with each other. I’ve loved working with all of them and just allowing them to coach each other and help one another in practice.” On the western side, 10 seniors performed in Reining and Horsemanship. On the English side, four made up the jumping seat team which performs in Flat and Fences, including Dance and Murphy. Murphy and Dance are veteran athletes at A&M now, but it was a different story four years ago. From Vermont and Pennsylvania, respectively, the two seniors mustered up the courage to leave home for Texas in order to compete at one of the highest levels in the sport. They describe that decision as one of the best of their lives. “After my first visit, I knew my heart was 100 percent set on it,” Dance said. “This is my school. This is where I’m going to go, this is where I’m going to spend the next four years of my life.” Murphy recalled feeling overwhelmed entering college as a freshman and representing A&M as a starter on the team. Four years later, Murphy and Dance have been described by peers and coaches as leaders for their willing-

ness to go the extra mile for the team, especially the underclassmen. “I just try to relate to them,” Murphy said. “I tell them I was there, I felt all of those exact things. I try to be someone they can talk to about that. On meet day, I try to figure out what they all need to feel ready for competition, and I have a ritual I do with them before we go out to compete.” The difficult season offered the seniors plenty of teaching opportunities, something jumping seat sophomore Kaitlyn Lovingfoss said she was particularly thankful for. Lovingfoss struggled when she found herself sidelined due to contact tracing in the middle of the season, but her senior teammates were able to offer support. “To watch my team perform without me, I felt like I wasn’t contributing in ways I know I could have,” Lovingfoss said. “The seniors were definitely there for me and supported me when I was coming back from that.” When cleared for competition, Lovingfoss said her senior teammates offered to stay in the barn late one night before a meet in order to make sure she felt as prepared as possible. O’Mara said the two seniors have been leaders since their first year at A&M. “They’re all natural leaders; they know

how to be there for each other and for their teammates,” O’Mara said. “They just put the team first. The team, the horses, they just put it all first, and I’m lucky to have them.” O’Mara said she has developed a close relationship with Murphy and Dance. She describes Murphy as a kind and caring teammate who is willing to push her teammates to ensure they can be their best. She describes Dance as a compassionate animal lover and as a leader by example. She notes the two women have had different styles of leadership. “Rhian and Caroline are both leaders, but in different ways,” O’Mara explained. “Rhian is more vocal and a bit more of a rah-rah cheerleader, and Caroline is more of a quiet, extremely dedicated and passionate person who always gets it done.” The COVID-19-affected season did offer one major change for NCAA senior athletes — an extra year of eligibility — and Murphy and Dance have both opted to stay to continue their quest for a national championship next year. Murphy’s parents were quick to back her decision to extend her eligibility and attend graduate school at A&M to study industrial organizational psychology. Her father, John Murphy, said he is excited to see his daughter perform in what will hopefully be a season with fewer restrictions. “She’s made a conscious decision to step back from the captain role and help bring up the next generation of leaders on the team,” John Murphy said. “She’ll play a contributing role instead of a leading role.” Dance and Rhian Murphy can learn from their experience this year and use it to propel them forward as they look forward to next season, said Alaina Murphy, Rhian’s mother. “These girls are so honest and so supportive with each other and they’re there for each other, whether they win or lose,” Alaina Murphy said. “They would love to go as far as they can and win a championship, but they’re going to support each other from beginning to end.” Regardless of what happens in their final season, Dance and Rhian Murphy both plan to continue riding horses after graduation, even if not at the competitive level. “Horses will always be a part of my life,” Rhian Murphy said. “I somehow always find them, no matter where I am.” Both seniors had mixed emotions watching teammates graduate in May and knowing they will be the last of their class to graduate this time next year. “I’m super happy about the relationships I’ve made; I’m just glad I got another year because I am not ready to leave,” Dance said. “It all just flies by so fast, but I’m excited to finish out my career riding. This is going to be my last big hurrah.”

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The Battalion | 4.29.21

OPINION

Via Pexels

Opinion writer Kaelin Connor says the side effects of contraceptives should be weighed equally with the side effects of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.

Blood clots, weight gain, depression, oh my! Opinion writer Kaelin Connor says to consider side effects of contraceptives with same concern as those from Johnson & Johnson vaccine Kaelin Connor @KaelinAC

got my first period when I was in the fourth grade. I remember feeling confused, terribly uneducated and horrified. I mean, since when do 10-yearolds get their periods? Since then, I’ve struggled with the effects of debilitating symptoms ranging from being doubled over in pain to excessive blood loss. It’s something half of the population is very familiar with. I was 13 when I used birth control for the first time. The decision made between my mother and I was to help combat the excruciating pain and my ridiculously heavy flows. It was also the first time I felt the side effects of birth control. I once bled for two months straight and dealt with heavy waves of depression. To put it plainly, I felt like crap. I bounced from different types of birth control until, four years later, I finally struck my contraceptive gold. I went through at least seven different contraceptive methods, yet I didn’t even reach the cusp of what others have dealt with. I’m sorry, reader, if this story makes you feel uncomfortable. If so, why? Well, most likely because menstruation taboos have been around since the dawn of time. Periods were often

categorized with sorcery and magic. It was thought that menstruating women would cause meat to decompose and prevent crops from growing. In the 1980s, NASA (we’re talking about rocket scientists here) sent astronaut Sally Ride with 100 tampons for a week in space. It wasn’t until the mid-1940s that the word “vagina” was used in menstruation education. However, of course, there was an emphasis on hygiene, insinuating that a period itself is unsanitary. It wasn’t until recently that period product brands started using red liquids instead of a blue liquid in their commercials to reference period blood. The use of a blue liquid started in the 1990s to convey a clinical, clean interpretation in contrast to red, which would obviously make viewers uncomfortable and disgusted. It’s not like we don’t all bleed red anyway, right? On April 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement detailing six cases of a rare form of blood clotting out of 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson, or J&J, COVID-19 vaccine. This particular group of rare cerebrovascular diseases causing the clotting is called Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST. It’s a serious and incredibly dangerous type of clotting that prevents the blood from draining in the brain. Without hesitation, the distribution of this vaccine was halted. I took a women’s health and psycholo-

o May Minimester classes begin May 17 o Summer I classes begin June 7 o Summer II classes begin July 12 o Fall classes begin August 30

gy course my sophomore year of college. My professor, Dr. Edens, vehemently drilled into our heads the nature of women’s bodies and specifically taught us the effects contraceptives can have. After the news broke about J&J, the first thing that came to mind for me was that oral contraceptives also carry the potential of blood clotting, yet there has not once been an uproar about that risk. In 2017, a case report detailed the experience of a 43-year-old woman who experienced CVST with cerebral artery infarction and secondary epileptic seizures after starting oral contraceptives, or OCs. She had been taking OCs for no more than 20 days before developing the alarming symptoms of severe head and neck pain. In 2015, a study came out reporting that women who take OCs are over seven times more likely to develop CVST than those who don’t. All of this to say that CVST isn’t something new in birth control, nor is it something alarming enough to halt distribution. So, why is it ethical to suspend and reevaluate J&J but not oral contraceptives? The list of symptoms for birth control is not limited to CVST. About 65 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 use some form of birth control. There’s basically a 12-by-12 inch warning pamphlet that comes with every form of contraception. The common side effects range from weight gain, acne, ovarian cysts, mood changes, nausea,

headaches, etc. However, it doesn’t even begin to stop there. For instance, levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol, a combination OC, showed a risk of developing gallbladder disease, blood clots, cerebral hemorrhage, heart attacks, hypertension, etc. Out of the hundreds of oral contraceptives, it’s a similar list of terrifying possibilities. Sure, these symptoms and those of J&J are rare, but that doesn’t negate its severity. Menstruation shame has been around far longer than any of us can begin to comprehend. Periods are a by-product of life that have somehow morphed into segregation from biology. The stigma attached to periods is a dangerous hurdle in the way of safe education. By forgoing it, we as a society can take the necessary steps to alter the negative effects of and around birth control. It’s important that we as a country, a society, a world stop stigmatizing half of the population’s natural bodily functions. We must stop denouncing the symptoms that millions of women feel daily. We temporarily halted the distribution of a vaccine with less than a one percent chance of severe effects. We should treat contraceptives with the same passion. Kaelin Connor is a psychology junior and opinion writer for The Battalion.

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PROVIDED

Each telehealth facility designed in architecture professor George Mann’s Architecturefor-Health Studio prioritizes human connection between providers and patients.

TELEHEALTH CONTINUED I to think about the points of connection between the health care providers and practitioners,” Lesmeister said. “Whether it’s courtyard spaces or collaboration zones, we want to ensure that they aren’t always in a virtual setting but can move around freely with one another.” Many of those who have worked remotely during the pandemic understand the pain of “Zoom fatigue,” so opportunities for health care providers to have respite and human connection was a priority in student designs, senior Kathryn Moore of Carpenterseville, Ill., said. “You’re spending long hours providing virtual health care, so we wanted outdoor and interior spaces where doctors could go

to relax and recharge,” Moore said. Critical to the design of respite spaces is a concept called biophilia, the tendency for people to want to be around other forms of life, Moore said. When buildings incorporate greenspaces and natural elements, the full sensory difference from a typical office space not only allows the human body to recharge, but encourages improved health. “We’re really fortunate in the College of Architecture because they emphasize the importance of biophilia,” Moore said. Holding the attention of the provider isn’t the only issue, particularly in pediatric medicine, senior project partners Kaci Tate and Clara Ohlenbusch said. Their facility designs sought to address the two primary issues of keeping children engaged in telemedicine. On one hand, the child needs to

be attentive to the physician’s examination, Ohlenbusch said, but there are also opportunities to showcase the more creative side of design. “In the background for the physician we designed a lot of color and light, so that the parent or guardian could have the opportunity to take a break and allow their kid to be a little distracted while they talk to the professional,” Tate said. Where telehealth presents new challenges for providers, it also represents many opportunities to reach communities that historically do not have “appropriate health care,” Jake Beaird of Weatherford said. With telehealth, facilities such as Beaird’s, set in Lajitas, Texas could take a large area of the region that needs coverage and effectively “shrink it down” with a combination of virtual care and satellite facilities. “In Lajitas, whether you’ve broken an arm or just need a check-up, it can be between two to four hours in certain areas,” said Beaird’s project partner Ken Hoggard of Carrollton. Telehealth is the “next big disruptor” of the health care industry, according to HKS, and students in the Architecture-for-Health Studio have used their designs to meet the challenges that have burdened communities such as rural Lajitas for decades. The team environment in the Studio introduced them to what it takes in the real world of architecture and construction to put such designs into action, said Joe Sprague, retired principal and senior vice president at HKS. “It takes a team to design and construct the health care facility of the future,” Sprague said.

PARKS CONTINUED leaders coming into office after this semester. “The weight that [the] title holds is something that I’ve also been reflecting on, being the sixth woman to have worked hard to get to [the] position,” Parks said. “I think it puts a lot of things into perspective. We are actually about to enter a very exciting era of having our next female university president, and sixth female SBP and [female] speaker of the [Student] Senate as well. That is a combo that hasn’t been seen.” Parks said she wants to encourage people to pursue their goals, no matter what they are, and that people should not let history discourage them. “I think that at the end of the day, history has been made in multiple senses, and I think that’s more encouraging for the overall community to see, especially people who feel like they didn’t have a shot because of this aspect of themselves or that aspect of themselves,” Parks said. “I think that anything is possible, you just have to really look into yourself and realize that you can do anything, honestly.” Parks said one of her favorite quotes is by Maya Angelou, which reads, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” She said the sentiment shared in this quote was one of the main reasons behind her running for student body president. “I very much want people to remember a student body president who cared about them, who cared about their goals and their initiatives, and the things that they wanted to do to make campus better,” Parks said. “A student body president who made sure that their voices were heard.”

LET’S BE FRIENDS Brady Stone, Editor-in-Chief Myranda Campanella, Managing Editor Julia Potts, News Editor Bec Morris, News Editor Hannah Underwood, Sports Editor Jennifer Streeter, Asst. Sports Editor Casey Stavenhagen, Asst. Sports Editor Shelby McVey, Life & Arts Editor Jessica Le, Asst. Life & Arts Editor Amina Butt, Maroon Life Editor

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THE BATTALION

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THE BATTALION is published Thursdays during the 2021 sprint semester (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in Student Media,a unit of the Division of StudentAffairs.Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: http://www.thebatt.com. Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising call 979-845-2687. For classified advertising, call 979-845-0569. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Email: battads@thebatt.com.

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NEWS

The Battalion | 4.29.21

Analysis: Here’s what the ROO means for College Station Local officials, activists offer insight into Restricted Occupancy Overlay By Nathan Varnell @newsncv If you asked a dozen people what the ROO means for College Station, you’re going to get about a dozen different answers. On April 19, the College Station City Council voted 5-2 to adopt the Restricted Occupancy Overlay, or ROO, into law. The center of much controversy, the ROO allows neighborhoods to restrict the occupancy of homes to no more than two unrelated people. Don’t panic yet — the ordinance isn’t a blanket decision for the whole city or even entire neighborhoods. Subdivision phases will now have to go through a predefined process of committees, petitions and approval from the city council for any rezoning. To make the issue more complicated, there are a number of clauses voted on by the council that will define the long-term effects of a ROO in your neighborhood. If you’re not sure what to expect, then you’re not alone. Let’s cut through some of the noise and discuss what residents, and particularly students, should actually expect from a ROO. What is the ROO?

Restricted Occupancy Overlay (ROO) Process Handbook

The newly adopted ROO gives subdivisions in College Station the opportunity to restrict the number of unrelated individuals living in a single-family home to two.

“I think it fairly closely mirrors what Bryan has been doing since 2006,” said Randy Haynes, the city of Bryan’s planning administrator. “As far as how it works? The sky hasn’t fallen in Bryan as far as I can tell.” The ROO vote amends College Station’s prior Neighborhood Conservation Overlay, or NCO, adopted in 2007, according to city staff. Before the ROO, the NCO was already very similar in design to the city of Bryan’s Residential Neighborhood Conservation District, or R-NC, Haynes said. When first implemented, both the NCO and R-NC allowed historic neighborhoods to petition for specific design restrictions on new developments and renovations, but where the R-NC allowed the “two-unrelated” occupancy restrictions, the NCO did not. Why the ROO? “We’ll have telephone calls where someone asks, ‘Hey, tell me about that zoning where you don’t allow students,’ but we don’t have one of those,” Haynes said. “‘Tell me about that zoning where you don’t allow renters,’ Yeah, we don’t have one of those either.” The ordinance in Bryan shares a parallel history to the ROO, Haynes said. When interest rates were low before the Great Recession, older neighborhoods were bought up by investors to redevelop into what Haynes called a “rule-beater” model. The new homes would meet the definition of a single detached residence, but inside were designed “really like an apartment house,” Haynes said. Five or more grown adults would be living on what was designed as a single-family lot, causing infrastructure problems in Bryan, Haynes said. In particular, utilities like garbage collection, water and electricity took the brunt. “We had all kinds of load put on a system that was never designed for it,” Haynes said. In response, Bryan adopted the R-NC, and approximately 2,400 lots have been rezoned with more neighborhoods requesting rezoning since 2006, Haynes said. This change made Bryan one of many other university towns with varying degrees of occupancy restrictions. But residents have asked at meetings, how do these design and occupancy restrictions actually prevent such “rule-beater” redevelopments? I took a drive with Richard Woodward, president of the College Station Association of Neighborhoods and resident since 1997, to look at some of the neighborhoods that proponents of the ROO are concerned about. Woodward discussed why the NCO was adopted for the Pecan Tree-McCullough neighborhood, and why many Southside residents desire a ROO. “This is a lower to middle class neighborhood and predominantly African-American,” Woodward said while turning onto Phoenix Street off of Holleman Drive. “One of the last vestiges of primarily African-American neighborhoods that’s left in the city.” The homes in the McCullough neighborhood are largely ranch-style with backyards and two-car garages, and they range from approximately 20 to 40 years old, Woodward said. “When a house like this is built on a street like this, it affects all of the property values on

all of the houses,” Woodward said, pointing out one of the redeveloped duplexes built before the NCO was passed for Phoenix Street. “It also affects the taxes for all the properties because taxes are raised based on the neighborhood. “The reason you can get that kind of value out of a neighborhood like this, a neighborhood that has been predominantly African-American and historically for families, is because of this,” Woodward said, turning onto Oney Hervey Drive, one street over from Phoenix Street. Oney Hervey is completely lined with two-story student duplexes that began construction around 2014, many of which had up to six cars parked outside the entrances. The McCullough neighborhood was the first to adopt the NCO, which has since prevented more two-story duplexes from being built, according to both Woodward and city staff. However, many homes across the neighborhood could be seen being renovated into other models, indicating investors still target many of the homes for redevelopment. The Brazos County Appraisal District keeps extensive data on property roll value history, which backed up the claim that property values skyrocketed after redevelopment in these neighborhoods. On Oney Hervey Drive, multiple lots have seen over 500 and 600 percent increases in assessed value since their 2015 redevelopment. “I’m not saying we don’t need student rentals at all,” Woodward said. “Students pay my paycheck. I am totally supportive of that, but we need places for families, too. What is really missing in this town are places where you can raise your family and know it will retain its affordable, single-family character. “This is the type of thing that is pushing property values up the next street over. This is what we feared.” Enforcement, and the Legacy Clause

stalled temporarily by lawsuits over enforcement, said Amy DuBose, executive of the Bryan-College Station Association of Realtors and member of the Anti-ROO Coalition. If not, the definition of family is likely to still be a hot button issue in the next election cycle. City staff said they do not expect significant legal proceedings over the ROO. Since 2017, there have only been 202 complaints of occupancy violations, according to city staff. Of those complaints, only two cases went to municipal court and resulted in property owners paying fines ranging from $122 to $335. Residents can expect the same standards and methods of enforcement will be applied to the ROO, said Debbie Eller, director of the Department of Community Services, which oversees code enforcement. In Bryan from 2013-2018, only three cases went to municipal court, according to a 2018 presentation by Martin Zimmerman. “I’ve never gotten the impression that it’s had harmful effects or disproportionately impacted any specific group or caused unaffordable housing issues,” Haynes said on enforcement. The city of Bryan has only seen the market for housing increase in neighborhoods that adopt the R-NC overlays, explained Haynes. The fastest growing population in Bryan is not necessarily students, but persons in their 20s to 40s. “At the northern end and southern end of Bryan, there’s been a lot of single-family homes being developed,” said David Lawless, a homeowner in Bryan since 2019. Lawless has more than two unrelated persons living in his home, but said he did not experience any substantial limitations on the housing market. Cursory data from the Brazos County Appraisal District between when the R-NC was passed and 2021 further suggests there has not been a substantial increase or change in pricing. “The value of homes has somewhat gone up,” Lawless said. “For rent in the area, it’s gone up pretty consistently with just the general trends of Texas. I wouldn’t say it’s increasing exponentially more compared to anywhere else.” Moving Forward One of the city staff’s stated goals in the coming years is to ensure residents know what it means to be in compliance with the ordinances.

City of College Station’s 2018 Existing Conditions Report

In 2018 the number of single-family existing residential land uses was at 76 percent while multi-family residences fell at 16 percent.

At the core of the issue is how “relatedness” is defined and the potential for existing single-family homes to maintain their current occupancy under the ROO’s Legacy Clause. The amended Legacy Clause provides that if the ROO goes into effect in your neighborhood while you currently have four unrelated persons living together, that arrangement will remain unaffected. Even after selling a house and changing ownership, a legacy home maintains its occupancy level of two, three or four unrelated persons. Thanks to amendments at the meeting, a property owner is allowed to maintain a lease that has four people on it, regardless of who they are over the years. The key responsibility of an owner is ensuring that the use of the property does not change, said Alyssa Halle-Schramm, the long range planning administrator for College Station. “If you’re currently in a single-family house and convert it into a duplex to be rented out, you’ve changed the use and lose your grandfathering,” Halle-Schramm said. The standards for use are defined in the city’s Unified Developement Ordinance Section 5.11. Enforcement and Defining Family In March 2020, the city of College Station expanded the definition of family to include greater degrees of blood relation, guardianship and caretakers, in anticipation of the ROO proposal. Opponents say not all of their concerns about the definition were resolved, though. Alexia Hernandez, international studies junior and member of the Texas A&M Student Senate, spoke about some of these concerns. “It’s not inclusive; even though they expanded the family definition, there are still people that live outside of that,” Hernandez said. “For example, when I was growing up, my mother had a roommate. There were often different people living with us at different times that were not related to my mother or I. “But in those instances, we were still a family and operated as a household.” The city council may reconsider how family is defined in the future, Halle-Schramm said, but argue that opening the definition too far is a “slippery slope” that makes it difficult for city staff to control. There is currently no waiver or variance to the definition of family, so any challenge in the future will have to go through the court system. It is possible in the upcoming months that the ROO’s implementation will be

“Instead of right off the bat writing a citation and penalizing them, we want to make sure that they have the information they need to come into voluntary compliance,” Eller said. City staff in both Bryan and College Station described the ROO as “one tool in a toolbox” to combat the challenges of a growing populace. One such tool Bryan is implementing is the Pattern Zoning initiative. In the near future, Halle-Schramm said she expects the council in College Station to hold other workshops and hearings to explore initiatives of their own. When this happens, many Bryan-College Station residents say they want the councils to focus on housing affordability in ways that engage the community in the issue. “It feels like there hasn’t been much of a plan for infrastructure to keep up with the population growth, which I think is a trend across the United States,” Lawless said. Since 2010, the population of College Station alone has increased by 26 percent, according to the Existing Conditions Report. “If they’re going to continue having these workshops and continue education, they need to completely rethink how they educate the public on this and who they reach out to,” Hernandez said. She and other students who organized against the ROO believe the rhetoric used to discuss the ROO by the council turned the conversation far more divisive than it needed to be. Division and socially conservative rhetoric causes many young people to disengage from issues, Hernandez said. “What I’ve learned about being a leader is that you can’t just expect people to come to you,” Hernandez said. “You have to start the conversation and reach them where they’re at. That’s the key to good governance.” In a state that regularly ranks in the bottom 25 percent for voter turnout, both those for and against the ROO have urged the need for greater community engagement across the Brazos Valley. The ROO is a policy that has necessitated citizens working together for a cause, whether to establish one in their neighborhood or to lobby the city against it. “Aggies love to come back,” DuBose said. “We have a lot of alumni that start businesses or own property because they have such fond memories of their time in College Station. So, if you aren’t engaged now and come back, you could possibly come back to a very different landscape of a community you once loved.”

OPINION

The Battalion | 4.29.21

America is going to kill me someday Opinion writer Ozioma Mgbahurike says America will continue to see Black death if elected officials do not act Ozioma Mgbahurike

@Ozi_Oma_

am inevitably going to die someday. I want to live a long and healthy life surrounded by family and friends. However, during every waking moment I live in this country, the opportunity of living a long life looks unattainable. America has shown me time and time again that Black people exist as a nightmare to the American dream, and it is only a matter of time before this country kills me. Being Black in America has certain elements that would seem too far-fetched for a horror movie. It has become an uncomfortable reality that I could be killed in broad daylight with witnesses around me, and still, there won’t be any form of justice or accountability. In most instances, a certain percentage of America will blame me for my death and offer advice on how I should have complied better or some other nonsense. Can you imagine what that does to one’s psyche in navigating the world? We have too many instances of parents burying their children because America believes it is tradition to destroy the Black body. One of the clearest examples of white privilege in this country is that most white parents do not have “The Talk’’ with their children. For those who are lucky enough to be unaware of what “The Talk” is, it’s an essential conversation non-white parents have with their children on how to navigate a world that is clearly not made for them. It’s a conversation that can be the difference between life and death. This is a form of protection because once we leave our parent’s home, there’s nothing else they can do to protect us. They can only hope we don’t become the next hashtag on Twitter. On the tired and overused line about

compliance, I don’t know how to explain to white Americans how the death of an unarmed person is never the victim’s fault. There is a significant power dynamic between someone with a gun and someone without one. America has taught us to believe in the dehumanization of Black children, which in turn leads to seeing every Black person as a threat, regardless of their age or gender. The advice on compliance is also illogical because we have seen instances where obedience still leads to fatality. The video of Adam Toledo, a 13-yearold seventh-grader at Gary Elementary School in Chicago, is a disturbing example of that. Chicago police officer Eric E. Stillman yelled, “Hands. Show me your hands. Drop it. Drop it.” Toledo complied, turned around and was still fatally shot by Stillman. Just like that, a 13-year-old’s life was abruptly cut short after doing everything Stillman told him. This is one of many examples of why law enforcement is seen as a source of terror rather than protection among many marginalized communities. James Baldwin once said, “A cop is a cop, and he may be a very nice man, but I don’t have time to figure that out. All I know is that he has a uniform and a gun, and I have to relate to him that way.” If we comply, we die like Toledo, and when we don’t, we die like Daunte Wright. Either way, my fate is not in my hands. Black grief has always been an equity problem in this country. The toll of repeatedly seeing a new life stolen without any consequence is too much to handle. There’s never time to grieve our lost loved ones because the deaths keep coming in waves, and there’s only so much mourning a person can take before they break. The sadness doesn’t come from only the ones we’ve lost. It’s also from knowing that at any point, that could be you or a loved one. We cry tears for the

Creative Commons

Opinion writer Ozioma Mgbahurike says “The Talk” that non-white parents have to have with their children can be the difference between life and death.

future because we know some of us may never have one. There’s no day off from being Black in this country. Most times, we have the extra workload of putting our trauma to the side and holding white people’s hands as they learn more about racism and injustice. The George Floyd verdict finally saw an instance of accountability, but, reader, ask yourself this question: Why was there so much anxiety on your mind as the jury was deciding the verdict? What does it say about our country that most of us still believed he’d walk free regardless of the fact we all saw him murder a man in broad daylight? I refuse to let white supremacy win

by becoming indifferent to Black death. However, I am starting to believe this country will never achieve the unity we all wish we could one day have. Despite the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, I have not felt as hopeless as I do at this moment since the inaction of our elected officials after the Sandy Hook shooting. Black American lives continue to be sacrificed at the altar of America’s moral conscience, and it may only be a matter of time before I become one of them. Ozioma Mgbahurike is an electrical engineering sophomore and opinion writer for The Battalion.

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