Dukes, community members gathered outside Memorial Hall on Wednesday in light of Trump administration policies News | 4
Students take control with “Big Fish” Culture | 10
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Swimming and diving take SBC win Sports | 14
By ISABELLA DUNN
The Breeze
JMU students, faculty and Harrisonburg community members huddled outside Memorial Hall with signs, chanting “education not termination” to protest President Donald Trump’s administration’s education policies while rain drizzled on their heads.
Specifically, protesters voiced concerns over Trump’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education (DoE), according to leaked documents obtained by Forbes from early February, his January executive orders to end government-funded diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and his intent to make funding cuts to public school systems.
Emily LaBarr said policies that inspired the walkout included cutting discretionary funding and DEI policies from K-12 schools and universities — with “some funding freezes in early childhood education already placed.”
“What I hope results from this, is that the students in the College of Education will go on to be teachers that can protect their students and maintain equitable teaching, even if there are policies from the broader administration that aren’t as equitable,” LaBarr said.
Senior education major Rebecca McCann said she organized the event with the “‘three-pronged focus’ of equitable Title IX funding, the continuation and increase of special education support services and the preservation of DEI initiatives.”
She said these topics prioritize public school students’ needs by creating an environment where they feel valued and respected. This is because, McCann said, every student deserves to “reach their fullest potential.”
This comes after the Harrisonburg City School Board had “passed the resolution to oppose the termination of the Department of Education,” Tim Howley, the Vice Chair of the Harrisonburg City School Board, said during its regular Tuesday meeting.
Howley attended the protest, and during his speech, delivered Harrisonburg City Public Schools’ Superintendent Michael Richards’ thoughts to the crowd.
“I stand with you, our future teachers, as you bravely speak out against Congress’s moves to handle the U.S. Department of Education,” Howley said Richards’ words, “your passion and education dedication are the foundation of our community’s teachers, and together, we’re going to defend the quality and integrity of our schools.”
McCann said funding affected her personally — she lost her job to “budget cuts due to this administration” before the event motivating her “to be here [...] more than anything.”
As rain poured, McCann said she wouldn’t cancel or reschedule because “the kids cannot wait.” Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed, a speaker at the event, agreed and said she would attend “rain or shine.”
Reed said she “doesn’t want to turn any rally into a political event” but said this “feels personal” because of the children.
“This is not a political issue — it’s a human rights issue,” Reed said. “It’s a matter of our children’s health and education, so it’s time to step up. This is our time to act, to stand together and stand with our children.”
Reed said dismantling the DoE could affect children and young adults’ futures, adding that Harrisonburg “cannot afford to lose” fundamentals such as after-school programs and free lunch.
“That’s why I ran for office — to make sure that our children are safe and protected and have great education and endless opportunities,” she said.
Freshman elementary education major Izzy Smith, who was on the walkout’s planning team, opened the event.
“Representation is important in the classroom,” Smith said during her speech.
“We do not live in an America where every student is white.”
Senior elementary education major Ashley Evans said as a member of one of the Divine
Nine organizations — Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. — DEI is a “hard subject” with recent federal funding cuts, including funding for historically Black Greek Life.
“We all need to band together,” Evans said, adding that “classrooms should be a safe haven.”
Marlon Copeland, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Harrisonburg-Rockingham Branch, came to “protest the bleak future that is being created for people of color.”
“In order to enact change, you have to organize,” Copeland said. “I’m bringing my organization, and I’m willing to join others.”
Junior education major Martina Peralta and Latinx Student Alliance (LSA) member held up a sign in Spanish, given to her by another LSA member, which translated to “education equals diversity.”
“Education is inherently diverse,” Peralta said. “We are educating everyone.”
Junior Sara Lewis — another Duke majoring in special education also on the planning team — encouraged advocating for special education and thanked attendees for “showing up and showing out.”
“The fight is worth every second of this effort, even if I’m wet and cold right now, I want you to leave space feeling inspired and empowered to fight,” Lewis said. “Understand that many of our students still have the privilege of having a voice. You’ve all been given the resources to educate yourself and others.”
One JMU professor who spoke on the grounds of anonymity to protect themselves from undue harassment said they hope this event isn’t a “flash in the pan,” and “students here at JMU who are not education [majors], and the general community, continue to put education first as well as understanding the importance of supporting it.”
Students of other majors showed support, such as Olivia Smith, a sophomore public administration major, who said she “loved everyone here.”
“I think the teachers are so vastly underpaid for the work that they do,” Smith said. “They teach us how to be better humans.”
Others, including biology students such as sophomore Jack Feinstein and senior Katherine Cooper, have seen DEI policies positively impact their departments.
“We’ve also already seen in the biology department that a few labs that have had their funding completely pulled because it mentioned DEI in their grants,” Feinstein said.
Feinstein said his hometown of Chapel Hill has the “second-highest achievement gap for public schools,” and the support for “students of lower income and lower socioeconomic” is important to him.
Cooper added her concern for funding in “higher academia” particularly graduate and Ph.D. programs as well as her concern for “impact on professors.”
By K. MAUSER The Breeze
Local high schoolers are now eligible to apply to BR2JMU — a co-admissions initiative between JMU and Blue Ridge Community College allowing students to begin their college education at BRCC and end at JMU.
The program’s first cohort of around 25 to 40 students will take college classes at BRCC this fall, its Vice President of Academic Affairs Dave Urso said, with most students completing two years there before transitioning to JMU full-time.
Students from Augusta and Rockingham counties, as well as Harrisonburg, Staunton and Waynesboro, are eligible to apply.
While attending BRCC, students can access many JMU resources including major advising, Urso said, and take some classes on campus before fully transitioning to the university. He added that the program is intentionally flexible so students can “be successful on their own terms.”
“It just takes some of that stress out while putting some more of that scaffolding in place to make sure you’re successful,” he said.
Selected students are automatically enrolled in a College 101 class their first semester, which will be co-taught by JMU and BRCC faculty members to expose students to both environments, Urso said.
Applications for priority consideration close on March 22. JMU’s Senior Assistant Director for Transfer Admission
Chris Gothard said his office received 16 applications as of Tuesday morning — approximately half coming from Rockingham County students — and over a dozen applicants who have started the application process without yet submitting it.
Ben Durren, a Harrisonburg High School career coach, said he’s already spoken with eight or nine HHS students interested in the program — six of whom confirmed they would apply.
“We’re seeing good interest in all of those different pockets of Blue Ridge’s service area, which is really exciting to us,” Gothard said.
JMU and BRCC worked with The Aspen Institute — a global nonprofit whose mission is to create “a free, just and equitable society,” according to its website — to create this program through its AspenAASCU Transfer Student Success Intensive program. Associate Vice Provost for Academic Support and Director of Transfer Initiatives Jolie Lewis said leaders from BRCC and JMU met monthly to discuss how to help local students attend college and prepare for careers.
Urso said he doesn’t know of any other schools that have a program like this, adding that it’s “the first of its kind.”
Although this year’s program will cap its students at around 25 to 40, Lewis said, there’s potential for it to grow based on
feedback from participating students and general interest in BR2JMU.
“We just wanted to create a way that students could [start at BRCC] but also feel like they’re connected to JMU from the very beginning, and that we are right there by their side,” Lewis said.
“We’re really excited about this opportunity to support students side-by-side on their four-year journey from Blue Ridge to JMU.”
CONTACT K. Mauser at breezenews@gmail.com. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
By SIXUAN WU
The Breeze
The Student Government Association (SGA) heard presentations from the Counseling Center and MyMadison Connect, approved nearly $5,000 in contingency funds to two organizations, passed a resolution supporting JMU’s Food Fight donation drive and passed a bylaw on civic engagement requirements for members during its Tuesday meeting.
Student services presentations
Karla Kale, the Counseling Center’s psychoeducation outreach specialist, presented an overview of the Counseling Center’s services. Aside from individual and group therapies, Kale said the center also provides various specialized programs such as the Sexual Trauma Empowerment Program (STEP) and the Help Overcome Problematic Eating and Exercise (HOPE) program.
Kale said all the Counseling Center’s services are free and confidential.
“For JMU students, we don’t take insurance — we don’t need insurance,” she said. “Everything is free, and we are held to a higher level of confidentiality than other services on campus.”
Director of Student Success Analytics
Paul Mabrey gave a presentation informing students about MyMadison Connect — a service allowing students to schedule appointments and share notes with their advisers, as well as submit any questions,
concerns or complaints to be answered by staff members. Mabrey said the staff typically respond within two days.
MyMadison Connect is a part of JMU’s Reengineering Madison program — a decadelong initiative aiming to transform JMU’s campus technology and platforms. Mabrey said MyMadison Connect will include more features as the service develops.
“Our office is responsible for the quality enhancement plan that is focused on using data and technology to improve student
success and increase retention at JMU, and this is one of the functions of it,” Mabrey said.
“Now MyMadison Connect is much larger than that.”
The SGA unanimously approved $3,000 in contingency funds for the JMU Opera Guild to support four opera performances created and produced in collaboration by the JMU Opera Guild, the JMU Echo Ensemble and
the Word Is Born Writers Society. Senior and JMU Opera Guild President Sofia Vazquez gave a presentation about the club alongside sophomore and Treasurer Izzy Rhodes.
“Our club is dedicated to celebrating opera and bringing together the people who love it,” the presentation read. “Through events, performances, and discussions, we aim to share the joy and beauty of this timeless artform with everyone.”
The $3,000 of contingency funds will cover the cost for supplies, marketing and a professional rehearsal pianist, Vasquez said. The opera performances are on April 26 and are free for all attendees.
The SGA also unanimously approved $1,740 to JMU’s Collegiate DECA chapter for the organization to attend the Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) from April 5 to 8 in San Francisco.
“The purpose of our organization is to help emerging leaders and entrepreneurs to gain experience in their relevant fields,” said Charlotte Crowley, a senior and the DECA president presenting on behalf of the organization. “We focus on marketing, finance, accounting, management, hospitality and fashion. Members will focus on the development of their skills throughout this year with our professional development to go to this conference at the end of the year.”
with representative’s absence from Harrisonburg, support for new federal policies
By LAUREN KELLER The Breeze
A sea of signs and roughly 150 community members gathered outside the Sixth District U.S. Rep. Ben Cline’s (R) office in Harrisonburg on Tuesday, as protesters chanted, “Ben Cline, grow a spine.”
Community members voiced disapproval of Cline for not listening to his constituents, his absence from Harrisonburg and his support for Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s policies past its scheduled 1 to 3 p.m. timeslot.
Chris Miller, a Republican-turnedIndependent retired federal worker, said constituents like himself elected Cline to have their opinions be heard in Congress. Miller said he no longer knows what his representative’s stances are because Cline just “agrees with Trump on everything.”
“If you only have one person making decisions and making all the judgements, the rules, the policies,” Miller said, “there’s no reason to have Congress.”
Miller said he feels Trump’s presidential administration is cutting jobs with “no thought behind it” and feels badly for federal workers losing their jobs.
“It’s just slash and burn,” Miller said. “The bad part about it is they are destroying institutions.”
Rockingham County high school student Mikah Overman held a yellow sign with a red outline with the words, “Ben Cline, We the People refuse to accept your Silent Complicity!”
Overman heard about the protest from friends at his religious congregation and said
he feels it’s important to show up to events like this as a young person. He said many high schoolers feel the government doesn’t represent or affect them, but they should still be informed on its happenings.
“If they see these signs it might give them that extra little push to look into things and learn more about topics they might not normally have looked into or might not be as informed about otherwise,” Overman said.
Overman said Cline hasn’t argued against some of Trump’s “harmful policies,” specifically the deportations happening around the country.
“Our elected representatives are not standing up and supporting their constituents,” Overman said. “That’s a problem. People should be concerned.”
JMU alumna (’81, ’98) Sue Gier held up one of her white signs with bold black letters reading, “BEN CLINE GET OUT OF DOGE” with a black and white cartoon at the bottom chaotically depicting cartoon DOGE workers holding chainsaws and torches, with a sitting Musk saying, “The I.T. Department Is Here!”
Gier said she feels Cline isn’t being transparent with his claims of “mismanagement and fraud” and provides “false” examples.
“I am very concerned,” Gier said. “What they are doing is they are trying to tear down people’s trust in our institutions, and saying that they are full of fraud and mismanagement, and use that as an excuse to outsource them.”
Around 3:30 p.m., the crowd dispersed and North Mason Street was quiet. All that was left was Cline’s office and the surrounding buildings. Overman left one call to action for others: “Whether it aligns with our cause or not, be involved,” Overman said. “Because the more our elected officials hear our voices the more likely change is to be enacted.”
CONTACT Lauren Keller at kellerln@dukes. jmu.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
from WALKOUT, page 4
“As college students, this impacts us because the Department of Education is in charge of FAFSA, student loans, and regulating how students are treated,” Cooper said.
Emily LaBarr, a junior political science major and event speaker, said she attended the event because she “does not want anyone to feel helpless.”
“Our most vulnerable students are being left without resources, without support and at times without hope,” LaBarr said. “They are institutionally othered.”
She said the implementation of Trump administration policies “may still be up in the air,” adding “they do not exist in a vacuum.” LaBarr’s speech emphasized that every student “deserves to be treated with respect, compassion and dignity.”
Senior SGA president Brielle LaCroix said she doesn’t “traditionally attend political protests,” adding that she attended the event “to support all students at JMU.”
“I’m here today to tell you to look around. You’re not alone,” LaCroix said, directing her speech to those working in education. “Someone is doing something about this. You all are. Every day you show up to teach with kindness in your heart, for every student that walks into your classroom.”
McCann ended the speeches with her address, then led attendees to the sidewalks to “make sure that we’re chanting, we’re cheering, we’re physically present and that we’re here” with their signs.
“You all being here means the absolute world to me,” she said to the crowd. “I want to thank every single one of you for using your voices to speak up.”
CONTACT Isabella Dunn at dunnie@dukes.jmu.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
from SGA , page 5
The $1,740 will be used to cover the conference fees of the 12 DECA members attending the conference, Crowley said. Other expenses, such as airfare and hotels, are partially compensated by the organization’s fundraisers as well as funding from the College of Business.
The SGA also unanimously passed a resolution in support of JMU’s Food Fight donation drive, organized by the JMU AmeriCorps VISTA in February. The resolution recognizes the Food Fight as a collaborative responsibility for students rather than the responsibility of a single person, and urges the Sun Belt Conference to support the cause.
“Zora puts a lot of work and effort into making this donation happen, and they are just one person,” senior Sen. Isabelle Smith, who submitted the resolution, said about the Food Fight’s organizer. “They have shared all of the work behind it, and on top of classwork and other organizations, that’s a lot for one person when an entire team can take it over.”
The SGA adopted a bylaw on civic engagement requirements for its members during the meeting. The bylaw, which will be implemented during the 2025-26 school year, gives the legislative affairs chairperson the authority to approve civic engagement points to SGA members.
These points can be earned through attending approved civic engagement activities, junior Legislative Chair Mason Hoey said, such as participating in Election Day or attending Board of Visitors meetings.
“As a professional organization, I think it’s really important that we get involved in the community in more ways than just community service,” Hoey said. “It’s just really important that we as members of the student government are civically engaged.”
CONTACT Sixuan Wu at thebreezeculture@ gmail.com. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
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Abby Camp & Sixuan Wu
By CHARLIE BODENSTEIN The Breeze
Managing the intricacies of our evercomplicated familial relationships is something we can all relate to.
Based on the novel of the same name, “Big Fish” follows the story of traveling salesman Edward Bloom and his grandiose stories that enchant listeners. As his son, Will, starts a family of his own around the time Edward’s health declines, Will questions the credibility of his father’s extraordinary stories and investigates the truth of his father’s life.
“Big Fish” ran from Feb. 25 to March 2 in the Forbes Mainstage Theater and was directed by associate professor of theatre and director Kate Arecchi.
“Overflowing with heart and humor, ‘Big Fish’ is an extraordinary musical that reminds us why we love going to the theatre — for an experience that’s richer, funnier and bigger than life itself,” according to the Forbes Center’s website.
Arecchi said the show’s importance lies in its themes of “building community and building bridges.”
“It’s so much about community and family and people connecting with one another,” she said. “That’s a message that is always really important.”
Arecchi, along with some student designers, found out they would produce this show last spring and immediately began planning. With auditions held last fall, this production has been in the making for over a year.
The show is almost exclusively produced by School of Theatre and Dance (STAD) students. STAD students develop important performance and design skills through their classes that they demonstrate by working on shows such as “Big Fish.”
“In a classroom space, you really only get so far, because in live theatre … the audience is so much like the other part of the performance equation,” Arecchi said. “They are excited to share the work that they’re doing with the audience and the community … and the stories and messages.”
Arecchi said what makes STAD unique is students learn all facets of the production process. Many performers also take design and shop classes to enhance their skills, which she described as a “beautiful kind of 360 experience.”
All theatre and musical theatre students at JMU are required to be involved in one production before they graduate. So, opportunities to work on shows such as “Big Fish” are paramount to their educational experience.
Although “Big Fish” had many spectacular moments, for Arecchi, the most important part of the show is working with the students.
“The discoveries they make through the process and the ways in which they grow is my favorite part,” she said.
Junior theatre and studio art double major Ryan Michalowicz, the show’s lead scenic and projections designer, immediately began researching and planning once he found out in May he would work on this show. He said although he faced many obstacles as a firsttime lead designer, Michalowicz embraced the process and was very satisfied with the final product.
“[The designs] went through so many different phases,” he said. “The biggest challenge was figuring out how to have these big celebratory moments, but also these smaller, more raw and intimate moments with one set.”
Junior theatre major Emma Skog, the show’s prop designer, said even though her job came
with many complications, working on this show was an invaluable learning experience that “you can’t really get in a classroom.”
Junior musical theatre major Solomon Iem, who played Will Bloom; and senior musical theatre major Maria Carpinelli, who played Will’s high school girlfriend Jenny Hill, both auditioned for the show last October. As actors, they ended their winter break over one week early to return to campus so they could begin rehearsals. Once the semester began, they endured vigorous four-hour rehearsals every day after classes.
“The rehearsal process is definitely intense and grueling … but it’s really all worth it once you get on the stage,” Iem said. “It’s been such a long process — so to finally get applause from people who are sitting in an audience is so wonderful.”
CONTACT Charlie Bodenstein at bodenscd@dukes.jmu.edu For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
By MK Kirkwood contributing writer
Editor’s note: This story contains mentions of mental health and eating disorders that may be triggering for some readers. To reach the helpline for the National Alliance for Eating Disorders, you can call the toll-free number at (866)-662-1235.
The Tri-Sigma sisters are looking to derail the body image hate train.
Colorful streamers, pins and stickers advocating for positive body image lined Wilson Hall’s auditorium. Upon entering, attendees saw a mirror covered in sticky notes of affirmations for attendees to take. These notes were adorned with phrases such as “You Are Bright!” “Love Yourself” and “I Am My Highest Priority.”
The Tri Sigma sorority held its 18th Annual Leslie George Memorial Eating Disorder Speak Out event on Monday to raise awareness for eating disorders’ negative impacts. George, a former member of JMU’s Tri-Sigma sorority, died Sept. 29, 2000 due to her struggles with anorexia and bulimia.
“This event is particularly important to me because of how important it is to the chapter,” said junior Bella Geary, a hospitality management major and Tri-Sigma philanthropy chair. “I love making sure everyone in the chapter feels loved and seen, and they know that they’re not alone.”
After George died in 2000, her father, Ron George, has returned to JMU’s campus every year to speak to the sorority sisters about eating disorders’ impacts. After presenting in 2005, Kathleen MacDonald, an advocate who speaks nationwide on discouraging eating disorders, organized the first Speak Out event with Ron in 2007.
“It was such a safe space,” MacDonald said. “We gave guidelines, and every Speak Out, everybody had adhered to the guidelines and kept it safe and sacred.”
MacDonald said JMU is unique because it’s the only university where she holds the Speak Out. MacDonald said it can be difficult to discuss eating disorders since it isn’t like a drug addiction. Unlike most substances, “you have to interact with” food.
MacDonald opened the event by sharing a video of Leslie’s mother and father, Sally and Ron, sharing memories of their daughter. The two described her as kind with the ability to make friends with anyone. Fifteen years later, Leslie’s parents said her legacy lives on.
“Ron and I have been invited to every wedding, and in every case, the bride has given me her bouquet at the end of the wedding to take to Leslie’s grave site,” Sally said in the video. “It has meant so much to us that they remember her in that way and they say they always will.”
Leslie is especially impacting her fellow Tri-Sigma sisters who attended the Speak Out.
“This event in particular to a group of young women is so beneficial to not only our mental health, our physical health and our emotional health, but just how we continue to treat others every day and how we will treat our future selves,” Geary said.
According to Psychiatry.org, the three most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, starving oneself and weight loss; bulimia nervosa, a cycle of binge eating and purging; and binge eating disorder, consuming large quantities of food in a short period. MacDonald said it’s never too early to seek help when dealing with eating disorders, but it can be too late.
“The pain that Leslie was in is because a lot of times, eating disorders and the seriousness of what they are gets lost in the commonality of how many people suffer with eating disorders, and disordered eating, and body dysmorphia,” MacDonald said.
Junior nursing major and director of member development for Tri-Sigma, Victoria Tibbetts, said the Speak Out recognizes that eating disorders are lethal. The event’s importance is to let people know they’re not alone, Tibbets said.
“You don’t hear very often of people passing away from an eating disorder,” Tibbetts said. “You don’t realize that it’s that real of a thing because people will glorify the fact they are skipping a meal.”
According to the National Alliance for Eating Disorders, eating disorders are so complex — they have one of the highest mortality rates of anything classified as a mental illness — and anyone can have an eating disorder. The National Eating Disorder Association’s website says 9% of the U.S. population will have an eating disorder during their lifetime.
“This isn’t just something that women deal with,” Geary said. “This is something that every human at some level goes through.”
Geary said since disordered eating is something anyone can experience, it’s important to acknowledge the words we use hold meaning, in a world of gossiping, social media and societal standards, she encourages Dukes to be mindful of their language.
“We have so much power in our words, and that is just so important to use for good,” Geary said.
MacDonald said it takes encouraging self talk, such as affirmations, to cultivate a healthy mindset about your body. The brain has to be reminded to think positively, she said
“I imagine there are some people here in the audience that have been taught that you can never fully love your body,” MacDonald said. “There’s also a myth that you can never fully recover from an eating disorder … that is absolutely a lie.”
During the event, MacDonald asked the audience to take a selfie of themselves at an angle they liked, and one they didn’t. While attendees may have cared about appearances, MacDonald said angles won’t matter to their dog, cat, niece or nephew, and the way someone looks in a picture doesn’t change anything about who they are.
“What we know is that social comparison shows that unhappiness and comparison are linked,” MacDonald said. “The truth is, comparing ourselves to others doesn’t just steal our joy — it robs those around us of the rare gift of a woman who has learned to offer her uniqueness to the world.”
Emilyn Shifflett, a junior health science major and vice president of Tri-Sigma, said the event helps women feel less
alone. Keeping your struggles inside is never healthy, she said, and you should be willing to be vulnerable with someone you’re close to.
“[The Speak Out] helps you to know you have a community behind you, knowing that you’re not the only one that’s feeling like this about your body and eating habits,” Shifflett said.
The Speak Out included a time for attendees to share their stories with the audience.
But this event isn’t the only safe space for Dukes; JMU offers a variety of resources for those suffering with mental health challenges, including eating disorders. Some include access to nutritionists, therapy and Help Overcome Problems with Eating and Exercise (HOPE) — a team helping students struggling with disordered to be evaluated and educated, as well as help with their recovery.
Tri-Sigma is working to conduct more events on similar topics, Geary, MacDonald and Shifflett all said.
“I think that we’re a generation that can shift [the way we speak about ourselves], because we’ve seen the negative impact of that more than anybody else,” Geary said. “I think that we will be the first group of people, and have been, that spins [the stigma in society], and I think that these types of events are what make that change.”
CONTACT MK Kirkwood at kirkwomx@dukes.jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
By NICOLAS ISAZA SERPA contributing writer
Virginia is facing the same homelessness crisis affecting cities across the country, with more than 6,000 homeless Virginians as of 2024, according to the World Population Review.
As housing shortages worsen and temperatures fluxuate, finding shelter has become a top priority for those affected, Valley Open Doors’ Executive Director Nate Riddle said.
Valley Open Doors is a non-profit Harrisonburg-funded organization assisting homeless people in the city and nearby Rockingham communities.
“Our mission is to provide safe shelter for the unhoused,” Riddle said. “As well as compassionate support and access to services for all in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham community.”
To this end, Valley Open Doors offers food and shelter to 80 individuals daily, Riddle said. The shelter includes other amenities, such as WiFi, public showers and free laundry services.
“We can offer shelter to 80 individuals daily, but we can expand that for up to 100 if it were to be necessary,” Riddle said. “Once you’re in, you’re in for at least three months, maybe longer if you are taking steps to transition out.”
Constant changes in the socioeconomic and housing landscapes are two of the organization’s biggest challenges, Riddle said.
“There’s no housing available in the community,” Riddle said. “There are three colleges in our community. A lot of the development is student-facing. Student housing is what’s being developed, and when you look at the rest of the landscape, we don’t have affordable housing, and we also don’t have any kind of accessible housing.”
Families in the lowest income bracket, earning up to $19,410 for a family of four in 2017, have the fewest affordable housing options available — an issue that would affect unhoused communities in the process of transition, according to a 2021 housing study done by the City of Harrisonburg.
“Regardless of your income level, the market is not plentiful in the HarrisonburgRockingham Community,” Riddle said.
Despite the challenges, the organization continues to work with the community in various fundraising events aimed at expanding the shelter’s available services.
One of these events is “The Coldest Night of the Year” — a 5k and a 2k walk uniting JMU and Harrisonburg volunteers to showcase the hardships a homeless person may face during the winter season, Development Director Melissa Wolcott said. This year, the event took place Feb. 22. The walk raised money by placing 89 cents per every dollar back into resources and programming for the shelter.
“Our goal was $20,000. We’ve surpassed $30,000,” Wolcott said. “The turnout was incredible. Some of the people on our scoreboard, when presented the opportunity, took it and ran with it. [The donors] are really the driving force of what Open Doors does.”
This effort’s backbone is passion and empathy, Walcott said, adding that volunteers attending all events are pivotal in ensuring they’re properly staffed and run smoothly.
“I’m passionate about this because I’ve experienced homelessness as a child, and I remember what that felt like,” Walcott said. “I remember what my mom had to go through, and I remember the barriers she faced. I remember the unique challenges that were a part of her story. I know that’s the same for the people we serve.”
The JMU community’s presence is strongly felt at the shelter with various organizations and fraternities. This includes Alpha Phi Omega, a JMU service fraternity that selects a different organization to support each year, and this year, Valley Open Doors is its chosen focus. All fundraising efforts will be dedicated to supporting this organization, sophomore social work major and philanthropy chair Elizabeth Denton said.
Denton is tasked with fundraising and assisting Valley Open Doors this year. Alpha Phi Omega’s involvement has seen students work in the shelter’s kitchen, attend motivational talks led by the shelter’s directors and organize fundraising events.
“Every week on Tuesday nights, we have about five members of our organization go and help with serving dinners at the shelter,” Denton said. “We get to learn how the shelter works, and also interact with the guests which has been super amazing.”
Denton said she believes it’s important for the JMU community to support homeless people in Harrisonburg who may be struggling and need additional assistance.
“If you are a student at JMU, you inherently are more privileged than some of the people in that community, simply because of the fact that you have access to a higher level of education, and a lot of times, that comes along with access to housing and access to food and transportation, which a lot of people around us do not have,” she said.
Witnessing residents transition into permanent housing, find work and become self-sufficient are the biggest driving points in doing this work, Riddle said. Discovering a personal solution for people going through these situations is what gives the team the passion to keep serving underrepresented communities in the area.
“I was taught to serve the unseen — a population that isn’t served by many,” Riddle said. “We have in our community a lot of organizations that do serve the unhoused, but there are so many cards stacked against our population that it drives me and gives me the passion to try and meet the need and to be their advocate.”
CONTACT Nicolas Isaza Serpa isazasnn@dukes.jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
“I was taught to serve the unseen — a population that isn’t served by many,”
Nate Riddle on aiding the local homeless population in their transition to self-sufficiency
Valley Open Doors’ Executive Director
EDITORS Hayden Hundley & Preston Comer
By EDISON VRANIAN
The Breeze
JMU swim and dive won back-to-back Sun Belt Championships and, per tradition, the Dukes jumped in the pool at the Rosen Aquatic & Fitness Center in Orlando to celebrate.
“Whenever we win, one of our traditions in our sport is that the winning team jumps in,” head coach Dane Pedersen said. “The way that we do it at JMU is we all line up along the side of the pool, we hold hands, we jump in, and then we sing the fight song once we’re in the water, and then after that, it’s just kind of playtime.”
Alongside Pedersen and the swimmers and divers, JMU Director of Athletics Matt Roan took part in the tradition.
“Matt had told our team at the beginning of the season, when he had introduced himself to the team, that he would jump off the boards at Godwin [Hall] if we won,” Pedersen said.
Pedersen said “once it became obvious” JMU would win the conference championship, Senior Associate AD Jennifer Phillips called out Roan to ensure he’d stick to his promise.
Senior diver Alexa Holloway said seeing Pedersen celebrate back-to-back conference championships by jumping off the board validated his fellow Dukes.
“It was really fun last year and it was really fun this year,” Holloway said. “[Pedersen] always tries to make sure he’s the last one to do it, and it’s just like a big show. Everyone loves to jump off the [10-meter board] and to see him do it after the team. It’s just so exciting.”
While a conference championship, winning season and individual accomplishments come with celebration, but getting to see
Pedersen and Roan jump off a high board came as no easy task.
Holloway and her teammates had to adjust to diving from spring to tower platform as the Sun Belt scored platform diving for the first time this past season. It took Holloway and her teammates a few Saturdays during the fall semester and once in the spring to travel two hours in a packed van to Liberty to practice tower diving.
“None of us had ever really [trained or competed in tower diving],” Holloway said.
“So with the exception of [freshman diver] Emma [LaFountain coming out from a travel swim program in high school], it was definitely a big adjustment. But I think we all were like, ‘if they were going to score this at conference, we’re going to be ready and we’re going to do what we can we’re not going to have the hardest.’”
Thanks to Holloway’s late adjustments in her college career, she qualified for the NCAA Zone A Championships in Princeton, New Jersey, from March 10 to 12.
Overcoming the epidemic
Pedersen said throughout the season, the Dukes dealt with illness circling the team. Last semester, there was a spread of viral congestion that sidelined some swimmers.
“It was more just individuals who had prolonged illnesses that could have been bad, or it could have been defeating if they had let it — but they just didn’t let it happen,” Pedersen said.
Sophomore breaststroke and individual medley swimmer Riley Bridgman returned to the pool after she was sidelined for seven
weeks in the fall with mononucleosis. On Feb. 21, she broke the Sun Belt Championship record in the 100-meter breaststroke with a finals time of 1:01.11.
Bridgman improved her time of 1:01.37, which won her silver last season. Pedersen said that Bridgman’s sickness was the worst case of mono he’s ever seen, and the amount of time she spent away from the pool is “unheard of.”
“We had some individuals who had bad
luck, like Riley Bridgman,” Pedersen said, “who had an amazing meet. For her to be out so long and then have the meet that she had where she went the 100 breaths, she went the 200 breaths. She breaks conference records. She goes faster than she’s ever gone before. I think she’s just the microcosm of that self belief and the hard work that they had to put in that the whole team did.”
Stomping through the Herd
On Nov. 9, 2024, JMU lost to Sun Belt rival Marshall 196-103.
Part of the route to the Sun Belt Championship was overcoming the team that had defeated them earlier in the season.
“This championship meet and [Marshall] have a lot of talented girls and especially their fifth years that came back,” senior individual medley, butterfly and freestyle swimmer Jess Pryne said. “They were really fast and some of their freshmen, their whole team is very talented.”
Despite the talent on the Thundering Herd’s roster, the Dukes used the loss as an opportunity to work harder as the championship approached. Pryne said JMU “focused on purple.”
“We definitely knew after the dual meet losing by 93 points,” Pryne said. “We weren’t really fazed by it. This is what we need to do going forward and excited to work towards this championship meet.”
Through physical setbacks and the adversity against Marshall early in the season, JMU’s unity propelled the Dukes’ performance in the championships.
“We just focused on being a team,” Pryne said, “and cheering each other on throughout the meet, we weren’t per se focusing on our individual events, but we knew when each other were swimming so everybody was behind the blocks. Everybody was cheering. Everybody was on the sidelines and I feel like that was really what pushed us and helped us do so well.”
Pryne was named Co-Top Swimming Point Scorer, and Holloway earned Top Diving Point Scorer. JMU is the first Sun Belt program to win back-to-back championships since Denver in 2011-12.
Senior butterfly, freestyle and individual medley swimmer Grace Bousum etched her name in the record books while swimming the freestyle relay. The 200-, 400- and 800-meter all broke program records, and the 200- and 400-meters broke Sun Belt records.
Bousum and her relay team broke their own 400-meter record from last season’s championships and “lowered that a little bit more this year,” Bousum said. She thought about the record breaker, but it never came into conversation.
“It definitely flashed through my mind before, but it wasn’t something we really harped on,” Bousum said about breaking the record. “We really just focus on going fast and having fun while doing it, that’s when the fast times are going to come. Sometimes, if you focus too much on, let’s say a school record. Let’s say a Sun Belt record, whatever it is. Then you can get caught up a little bit.”
Pryne is no stranger to winning the 400 individual medley during the conference
championships, as this year marks her fourth consecutive victory.
“It takes a lot to be able to swim [the 400 individual medley] and definitely throughout the past four years it’s gotten harder just because I’m not as young anymore,” Pryne said. “[With help from Pedersen and assistant coach Rebecca Yost on] how to target like specific areas in the 400 IM that I’m like, ‘OK, I know I’m going to be lacking in this, so I need to focus on this during practice and then also practicing with other teammates who from the 400 IM we push each other so we do all out sets.”
With all its hard work and bonding, Bousum was proud of the team that won the Sun Belt Championships.
“We’re such a close-knit team and we really focus on our team,” Bousum said, “so to do something as cool as winning a conference championship among [27] of your best friends is even cooler and to witness their hard work every day and to see that all pay off with the conference championship win at the end of the season. It’s unmatched. It’s awesome.”
Holloway thought this year’s conference championships were special as JMU wasn’t favored to win, but the Dukes’ hard work defeated the odds.
“This year going into conference [championships], it was like, ‘OK, maybe we’re not favored,’” Holloway said, “so going back-to-back was really special for this team and I think it speaks volumes to the determination of all of my teammates and I think it just meant more this year [being the underdog to Marshall but overcoming it] meant more this year and going back-toback made it even more special.”
Entering the championships, there was anxiety, but it was all worth it for Pryne.
“There is anxiety leading up to the meat because,” Pryne said. “Obviously, we all want to go in and win, but we also want to have fun and do really well as a team and individually, but after it, it was like, ‘we did it, we worked really hard and we did it.’ And then, seeing [Pedersen] jump off [the ten meter platform] and him crossing his arms and putting his glasses as he leg goes [in the water] and is so funny and he done it in the past.”
The NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships will occur in Athens, Georgia on March 19 to 22.
CONTACT Edison Vranian at vraniawe@dukes. jmu.edu. For more swimming and diving coverage, follow the sports desk on X and Instagram @TheBreezeSports.
By HAYDEN HUNDLEY The Breeze
For the first time since winning December’s Boca Raton Bowl, JMU football head coach Bob Chesney updated reporters on offseason training.
Like last year, Chesney split up the Dukes into five different teams. Each is graded through a combined point system that includes locker cleanliness, missed classes, good grades on heavily-weighted assignments, community service and more.
On Tuesday, the Dukes maxed out their hang cleans with new Director of Athletic Performance Chris Grautski, who was hired in January after Jason Novak took a strength and conditioning job at Cal.
“Every single thing they’re doing, we’re going to make sure they’re doing it at a high level and that they’re held accountable to it,” Chesney said. “So it’s been a really good start to the winter season.”
JMU has signed 37 new players — including incoming freshmen and transfers — since December, along with hiring a new defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler and linebackers coach Dave Plungas. The Dukes will welcome three more players in the summer who are graduating from their current universities in the spring.
Hitschler joins JMU after one season as Alabama’s codefensive coordinator and defensive backs coach before he was let go. Plungas was the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Robert Morris for the past seven seasons.
“I just think we just have to continue to build the staff the right way,” Chesney said. “Just to make sure that they’re competent, that they connect with our players, and that the chemistry is right in there. We got some good quality guys that are going to continue to help us improve in all phases.”
Chesney confirmed offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy will return for his second season after he interviewed for a position with the Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo first reported. Chesney said at “no point” was Kennedy taking a job with the Jaguars.
Chesney added both he and Kennedy are excited to work with redshirt senior quarterback Matthew Sluka again after the duo coached him at Holy Cross from 2022-23. Sluka joins JMU after playing four games at UNLV last season. Chesney said Sluka attending UNLV put him in a position to understand that the grass isn’t always greener.
“His work ethic is different, his competitive level was always there, but there’s a lot of things in here that I’m just really excited to watch him continue to grow in that position,”
Chesney said. “Obviously, he has a lot to work on, as do all those guys in every room, so I’m just excited to have him back here with us and see how he competes.”
Chesney updated on redshirt sophomore quarterback Alonza Barnett III, who suffered a knee injury in JMU’s regular season finale loss to Marshall on Nov. 30. Chesney said Barnett has started running at half speed and remains in a “good space” mentally despite the Dukes adding two quarterbacks with starting experience during the offseason.
Junior quarterback Camden Coleman is the second quarterback addition to JMU’s roster after earning Third Team All-CAA last season with Richmond. Chesney said he likes Coleman’s leadership qualities, saying “every day is a great day for him.”
During two seasons with the Spiders, Coleman went 13-1 as a starter while throwing for 3,192 yards and 26 touchdowns.
“He competes in that weight room, he’s technically sound, he’s a great football player,” Chesney said. “That guy is a fierce competitor, there’s not a wonder to me why [Richmond] won so many games.”
Last offseason, Chesney said the Dukes lost 96% of their production, meaning many new faces had to gel quickly. As he prepares for his second season with JMU, Chesney has retained most of his players from last season.
“They just really uplift each other and bring each other along, and it’s really nice to watch them just continue to grow together,” Chesney said. “That’s the name of the game, to me, this is still a people business … that’s a big piece of what will make our success or break our ability to have that success.”
CONTACT Hayden Hundley at breezesports@gmail.com. For more football coverage, follow the sports desk on X and Instagram @TheBreezeSports.
‘We’re all business’:
By PRESTON COMER
The Breeze
JMU women’s basketball finished its regular season with a program-record 27 wins and finished 18-0 in Sun Belt play.
Head coach Sean O’Regan said he wishes the team could relish in its accomplishments, but the Dukes are “eyes forward.”
“We’re all business,” O’Regan said. “We’ve got to accomplish our main goal, and that’s to go down there and win this tournament and make the NCAA Tournament. We’re not looking backwards at anything until all the dust is settled.”
JMU clinched the No. 1 seed in the Sun Belt after an 83-57 win over App State on Feb. 22 with one week of games left to play. The new conference tournament bracket is a gauntlet with seven total rounds. It is meant to give teams a greater reward for regular season success.
The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds automatically make it to the semifinals — meaning they have to win just one game to make it to the Sun Belt Championship. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds receive one less bye — meaning they’re automatically placed in the quarterfinals.
“It’s a definite advantage for top teams,” O’Regan said. “Will it pan out like that results wise? I don’t know. But I think having rest and avoiding having to win three [games] in a row is a huge advantage.”
Even with a bye through the first five rounds, O’Regan isn’t worried about JMU having a week off from playing.
“For a team as old as ours … I think it’s going to be a good thing for us,” O’Regan said. “You can find the right combination of moving and playing, but at the same time getting reps.”
O’Regan added that because of the extra time off, he let sophomore guard Bree Robinson rest during practice on Monday and Tuesday since “she plays so hard and her body gets banged up.”
“It’s been really beneficial to reset our minds and bodies, and refocus on what we need to do to continue being successful,” Robinson said.
Robinson averaged 4.9 points and 1.6 steals per game during JMU’s regular season. The only Duke to get more steals than Robinson was the Sun Belt Player of the Year — redshirt junior guard Peyton McDaniel.
McDaniel is one of five Dukes that played in Pensacola during JMU’s inaugural Sun Belt season, making this her third trip to the conference tournament. McDaniel said she and those four others “love playing in Pensacola.”
Even with her experience in the league, McDaniel, like everyone else, is new to the refurbished tournament format. Despite this, McDaniel is taking advantage of the elongated break before JMU’s first game.
“We’re really just improving on anything we didn’t really have time to work on during a short-prep week,” McDaniel said.
One of the other JMU players who has been to the two previous conference tournaments is redshirt senior center Kseniia Kozlova, who just earned her first All-Sun Belt First Team nod.
Kozolva said she and the Dukes “aren’t resting” because “it’s not time yet,” but she thinks it’s still a good week to “recover and reset.”
Due to the Dukes going straight into the semifinals, JMU won’t know its opponent until Saturday, and then turns around and plays the next day.
“It’s never been about an opponent,” Kozlova said. “The point is never about who we play, it’s more about us, about our things we have to work on as a team.”
The winner of game No. 9 — starting at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday — will face JMU in the semifinals on Sunday at 5 p.m.
“All of the regular season games, all of the Notre Dame and Texas, stuff like that, this is why we did all that stuff,” O’Regan said. “It’s time to play now. Play with a lot of confidence. We’re going to be as prepared as we’re going to be by the time we get on the floor Sunday.”
CONTACT Preston Comer at breezesports@gmail.com. For more women’s basketball coverage, follow the sports desk on X and Instagram @TheBreezeSports.
EDITOR EMAIL breezeopinion@gmail.com
Maya Skurski
Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts & Pats is the place to do it. Submit your own at breezejmu.org.
A “time-out” dart to myself for my actions this past Saturday.
From someone who apologizes and will start listening to their therapist.
A “your-sh*t-doesn’tsmell-like-roses” dart to the person consistently taking a dump in the Harrison second floor women’s bathroom and doesn’t flush.
From a disgusted staff member who is fed up with the lack of bathroom etiquette.
A “stick-to-the-script” dart to my POSC professor for not staying on track during lectures.
From a student who would actually like to know the material for the exam.
A “rivers-&-roads” pat to my hometown best friend for coming to visit me at an insane time in my life.
From someone gratetful to have friends who come to the rescue without a cry for help.
Since students returned from winter break, residents in Hillside’s McGraw-Long Hall discovered open snacks under their bed and mice droppings on their belongings.
Evidence was first reported early this semester. However, it wasn’t until midFebruary — after 20 mice had been caught — that maintenance significant action.
Feb. 10, a resident found a mouse in her shoe and trapped it under a box in her dorm. The resident immediately put in a maintenance request online and I, as her resident adviser (RA), called BusOps — Business Operations that handle Residence Life’s maintenance — within 10 minutes of her catching the rodent.
The worker on the phone said the request had been processed and maintenance would arrive “shortly” — which would’ve been unhelpful if the resident had a class or an appointment and would need to know a more specific time range. Maintenance arrived an hour and a half later — for a complaint from another resident requesting help with mouse traps. When asked if the three maintenance men were there for the mouse, the workers said “no,” and they hadn’t even been informed about that — which I thought odd considering the timing of previous events. After patching up the air conditioning unit and placing some mouse traps down in the room they were there for, they disposed of the mouse trapped in the resident‘s shoe from the other room. I wondered why the priority was on residents needing help with mouse-related issues and not the resident who actually caught a mouse.
On Friday, Feb. 14, one resident knocked on my door around 3 p.m., she had a mouse caught in a glue trap. When I called maintenance at 3:03 p.m., the woman told me that since it was after 2 p.m., maintenance couldn’t come. She told me my two options: she could either file a work order for maintenance to get it the next day — leaving the mouse on the glue trap in the resident’s dorm overnight — or we could dispose of it ourselves in a garbage bag, with no advice for how.
I just stood there with my mouth open thinking, “How is maintenance not available at 3 p.m. on a Friday? It would take them five minutes to get rid of it.”
My residents looked at me in shock when I told them maintenance wasn’t coming to help; they didn’t want to get off their bed until the mouse was disposed of. Luckily, another RA stepped up and got rid of it — something not in our job descriptions.
JMU’s priority should be to ensure students feel comfortable and safe in their dorms. Many of my residents have expressed their worries after hearing rustling in their rooms. One resident explained to me that although they never caught a mouse, there were mouse droppings on almost everything in their dorm room. This compelled the resident and her roommate to do a deep clean, and they used so much bleach they felt sick from breathing in too much.
One mouse would be a completely different story; however, at this point, with two mice found on another floor and seven in one room alone, McGraw-Long had a total of 11 mice trapped in four days. While not life threatening, it’s important to note that we don’t know what these rodents carry. The residents had to throw away many clothes and blankets that had been contaminated with mice droppings, and residents had been sick just days before the mice were caught.
On Wednesday, Feb. 19, I was informed of nine mouse instances in one room, where a student woke up to a mouse in her bed and found one in a drawer and a shoe bin. The resident called maintenance around 2 p.m., reporting three mice. They responded in an email at 2:50 p.m. telling her to get mouse traps from the office. The mouse traps didn’t arrive until 3:30 p.m. after the resident had to talk to several people on the phone until someone was sent. The maintenance worker on the phone was very insistent that the mice were coming in because “it’s cold outside and it’s the winter,” though there are no other halls reporting mice.
“All they’re doing is giving us mouse traps, which they’ve given us thousands of,” a resident said when recalling the story. “Great, I have mouse traps. Now I have six mice on mouse traps in my room. What am I going to do? Pick them up and deal with them?”
By the end of the day, two roommates reported nine mice in their room in roughly nine hours — making the total 20 mice caught and reported. Those residents were so uncomfortable and felt like they had no support that they ended up getting a room at Hotel Madison .
After maintenance came, laid down more traps and searched the room, even more mice were found after they had left, including one dead in the AC unit.
The residents said maintenance had finally come through vacuuming, deep cleaning and putting steel wool material in the units that the mice couldn’t chew through. BusOps sent a helpful email Feb. 20 explaining the actions they had taken. However, this doesn’t excuse maintenance for being unsupportive and waiting until
residents were forced out of the building to take a bigger initiative beyond placing traps.
On Feb. 21, JMU Associate Director of Media Relations and Deputy Spokesperson Chad Saylor wrote to The Breeze, “JMU’s Office of Residence Life contacted students residing in McGraw-Long Hill yesterday about the rodent issue. JMU’s Residence Life and Facility Management teams have been proactive with remediation and are working to respond to all resident reports; they have also asked residents to let them know if they have any issues that need to be addressed.”
The statement continued that “some of the actions they have taken include setting traps in all rooms that have submitted maintenance requests, installing door sweeps on rooms, and applying rodent repellant to the hall’s exterior. Residents have also been provided tips on rodent prevention, such as removing trash, storing food in containers, and submitting maintenance requests with any issues.”
The issue here is simply a lack of urgency. Instead of addressing the root of the infestation, maintenance seemed to be dealing with it as if this was a one-anddone issue, leaving any following instances up to the residents instead of a long-term concern.
The lack of resolutions from maintenance is ridiculous. I understand other issues they are dealing with, but I’m extremely frustrated with the poor communication, the long wait and lack of support overall, not only as an RA, but also as a resident in the building. Students paying thousands of dollars to attend JMU have to deal with an ongoing mouse problem and then dispose of the mice themselves?
“We pay to live here,” one resident said. “This is our home.”
At the very least, an exterminator should’ve been brought in to look around. Since the direct precautions from BusOps were to place more glue traps down, we assumed they hadn’t found the networking system of the mice. The residents themselves took the most initiative to figure out where the mice had been coming first — not BusOps. I’ve done the most on my part to inform residents to put their food away in actual drawers and stay as clean as possible. But I’m highly disappointed in JMU’s lack of care and help through maintenance and Residence Life, and I want to see this system improved as soon as possible.
CONTACT Lacey Sirbaugh at sirbaula@dukes.jmu.edu. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
I’m a pretty impulsive person. I also feel like a pretty decisive person. In many situations, I’m not often content with my choices, decisions or actions. I realized this incongruence and brought it to my therapist. She diagnosed the root issue and then gave me a really helpful assignment, hence therapy’s usefulness.
We realized I didn’t have a framework for making choices, processing emotions or deciding where to invest time and energy. This wasn’t shocking, considering I spent my entire freshman year telling people I “had no morals” and “morality is merely a social construct” ... Oh boy. This lack of framework causes me to act however I want
situation-by-situation — a practice that feels authentic at first but quickly devolves into making ineffective or even harmful choices to my long-term goals or those around me.
My therapist asked me to go about obtaining a few so-called “core values” or “guiding principles.” This clearly isn’t an easy task, and she suggested asking those closest to me what their leading values are and how that manifests in their daily life or decisions. Because I probably care about similar things to the people I care most about, aren’t we most like the six people we spend the most time with?
These conversations were enlightening and often very fruitful. I felt I knew my closest people better for it, and maybe
SHISHIRA NAKKA | contributing columnist
Remember that godforsaken day earlier this year when all hope, joy and will to live were lost? In case you’re unfamiliar, I’m referring to Jan. 19 — the day TikTok was banned. Without the mindless scrolling, I was frozen in withdrawal. Some might even say I was tweaking out. However, one thing persisted even in TikTok’s death, and then resurrection: The brain rot.
Now, I can handle a “sigma” or two, but what I can’t stand and simply don’t understand is how in this day and age, we’re still making fat jokes; I hate any joke or comment with the word ‘big-back’ in it.
In all honesty, it’s just not funny to me. I’ve never heard “big-back” in any context and thought, “oh, yeah, that was the right thing to say.” I cannot comprehend how TikTok — the app that normalized intuitive eating, destigmatized those Chloe Ting workouts we all secretly did in our bedrooms and taught us about treating ourselves — is the same app that’s now making jokes about eating, food and body image?
I know, you’re probably reading this and thinking I’m taking this way too seriously, and you know what? I’m not. Jokes like this — about eating and food in general — especially at someone else’s expense, are never funny. Even though it may be a TikTok trend, it can actually be extremely detrimental.
“The English language is a huge tool that we have, it’s how we talk to each other, and express our emotions,” junior media arts
they even knew themselves better. I recommend asking your friends and family about their values even if you don’t need it for inspiration.
I’m met with a slew of great and attractive core values. To name a few: patience, joy, adventure, generosity, commitment, gratitude, discipline, empathy, accountability, truth, responsibility, loyalty, etc. All the good stuff — morally, that is. But it felt a bit like shopping for dinner groceries. I wanted to choose more intentionally. This launched into a deep introspection of what core principles I really wanted to filter every action, decision and even emotion throughout — which led me to write out hypothetical situations or dilemmas I may be in or emotional experiences I may have. This led to writing out what it would look like to prioritize x value here or y value there, what the outcome would be, which I preferred and how to honor the things I wanted to best.
I had a conversation with my sister, which sums up why and how a “hard set” of values can be helpful — to hold you to your highest form, but also to simplify your life. She has this dilemma, a small scale one that feels really big in the moment kind of way. She has plans with her husband of five years for a special date while visiting the city where they fell in love and married. On this trip, a very cherished and important professional reaches out, and they say the only night they have available to connect is the same as the date. It’s of those situations where there are too many good things and none of them feel right — she can’t decide what to do, but she also doesn’t feel confident about choosing either one. She consults her values and listens to their authority rather than her situational
desire or judgment. So her guiding principle of commitment comes to mind. As much as she’d like to connect with this other person — which she still found a way to do, thankfully — it wouldn’t come at the expense of canceling a prior commitment. Even if neither choice felt “right” or “good,” she still derives contentment because she’s acting on what matters most to her.
At times, moral discipline feels like a straitjacket of sorts, while I’m one of the first to admit that it’s also a great tool for your life. There’s obviously balance, which can be one of your core values, of course — and having this doesn’t mean you will always have to act based on them, but for the most part, you probably should — and will probably feel your best for it.
As a classic English major, I defer to my old friend Jane Eyre who said it best: “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth — so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am quite insane — quite insane.”
CONTACT Katie Runkle at runklekr@dukes. jmu.edu. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on instagram @BreezeJMU.
and design major Sam Pezzullo said. “It kind of gets tarnished with this brain rot, saying one thing when the actual word you’re saying could [have] a completely different definition than it does on TikTok.”
My main complaint (other than the fact it’s just not funny) comes from the lack of emotional intelligence that often comes hand in hand with term’s use.
“Our words hold weight,” said Pezzullo. “You shouldn’t be using them that way.”
We compared our experiences hearing words like “big-back” and ”fatty” in the real world. For me, it’s moments where I’m in the dining hall and it’s time to head to the dish return. “Am I going to look like a fatty with all these plates?” I hear, as I’m struggling to carry the plates that I have. I glanced over — “all these plates” actually equated to two. Two plates. You had a proper meal, and now you’re fat?
Pezzullo related to the way that made her feel and shared her own moment of insecurity.
“I’ll see this girl post what she ate in a day and the comments will be like ‘she’s a fat whale,’” she said. “I was like, ‘wait, this is a meal I would actually like to eat.’”
Just because something is on TikTok doesn’t mean it’s acceptable, or even remotely funny in the real world.
More often than not, there’s some new fad or obsession TikTok needs you to run — not walk — to buy, because it will cure all your problems. That problem? Usually, that
problem is you looking a certain way. We’re told our guts are unhealthy and we need a magical probiotic soda to make all our troubles go away. How do you know my gut is unhealthy? I think my gut and I are perfectly fine, thank you very much.
“I think there’s something to be said about [companies] benefiting from our lack of information,” said Pezzullo, who is studying creative advertising. “Because all they’re doing is taking the food you already have, blending it up, they’re putting it in a cute package, and they’re saying it’s gonna [be] life changing, like [some] groundbreaking technology.”
No amount of special coconut yogurt will fix you, like some magical ingredient you’ve been missing all your life. Because the truth is, you might’ve never had a problem in the first place; social media just made you think so.
“It’s about little victories,” Pezzullo said. “There should be no nagging voice in the back of your head [saying] that ‘I shouldn’t allow myself to this little victory [like a sweet treat], because at the end of the day, we [would] be blessed to have a relationship with food where I feel OK allowing myself to have a scoop of ice cream.”
This sentiment is important to remember. Your life, your body, your feelings — all of these things are completely your own, and no one else has any right to any of it. You deserve to have everything you want, and your physical appearance doesn’t impact that. No amount of food makes you any less deserving of joy.
“[Healthiness] isn’t like a one-size-fits-all situation,” Pezzullo said. “It requires trial and error, and everyone finding out what works for them.”
Because two plates at D-Hall works for me, and if you’re learning that that works for you, too, that’s ok. Because you aren’t a ”fatty” for wanting dessert after a burrito bowl. Because you don’t have to exercise to “deserve”
“The English language is a huge tool that we have; it’s how we talk to each other and express our emotions,”
anything. If TikTok may not remind you, let me remind you in this form of media that you’re enough.
CONTACT Shishira Nakka at nakkasl@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on X @TheBreezeJMU and on Instagram @BreezeJMU.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eleanor Shaw breezeeditor@gmail.com
NEWS EDITORS K. Mauser & Drake Miller breezenews@gmail.com
COPY EDITORS Mallory Evans & Joelle McKenzie breezecopy@gmail.com
PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Morgan Blair breezepress@gmail.com
CULTURE EDITORS Abby Camp & Sixuan Wu thebreezeculture@gmail.com
PHOTO EDITORS Kailey Garner & Landon Shackelford breezephotography@gmail.com
ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Kasey Thompson thebreezeweb@gmail.com
SPORTS EDITORS Hayden Hundley & Preston Comer breezesports@gmail.com
AUDIENCE EDITORS Madalyn Cornwell & Madeline Buynak thebreezesocials@gmail.com
If you have any corrections, please contact the section editors via their designated email or the editor-in-chief at breezeeditor@gmail.com.
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OPINION EDITOR Maya Skurski breezeopinion@gmail.com
ART DIRECTOR Ella Austin thebreezeartdirector@gmail.com
TV NEWS DIRECTOR Alexa Bonilla jmubreezetv@gmail.com
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Jon Foreman IN BLOOM tour at 7 PM on Friday March 7 in Harrisonburg! Jon, lead singer of the Grammy Award winning band Switchfoot, will also be joined by singer-songwriters Jordy Searcy & special guest Graham Jones. Tickets are available at songsforvalley.org.
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