The Breeze 4.27.23

JMU’s award-winning newspaper since 1922

The Breeze

FIRST AMENDMENT CLASH

Liz Wheeler

lecture puts freedom of speech at JMU on center stage

By ASHLYN CAMPBELL The Breeze

After a week of heavy criticism and debates about free speech, conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler hosted a lecture at JMU titled “The Ideology of Transgenderism,” where she spoke about the transgender and LGBTQ+ community, queer theory and the political left.

The event was hosted by the JMU chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). Prior to the event, YAF faced criticism on social media, with some calling for the event to be shut down and others advocating for Wheeler to exercise free speech. The event was funded in part by the Student Government Association (SGA), with $3,000 in contingency funds.

On Tuesday, SGA passed a resolution condemning YAF, claiming its original presentation misinformed the SGA, and apologizing to the LGBTQ+ community for the role SGA played in funding Liz Wheeler’s lecture.

Despite the divisiveness surrounding Wheeler speaking at JMU, the event occurred with no disruptions although peaceful demonstrations were held in opposition.

Across campus, members of the JMU community gathered in support of the transgender community, called “Dukes for Pride.” Inside the Festival Conference and Student Center, outside of the Highlands room, members of the JMU chapter of Young Democratic-Socialists of America (YDSA) tabled and held signs advocating for transgender rights.

Prior to the doors opening at 5:30 p.m., the line for Wheeler’s lecture stretched outside the doors of Festival.

Senior Jordan Bernard, who was waiting in line at the time of his interview, said he attended the event because his professor was offering extra credit for going to the lecture or the counterprotest. His roommate, he said, was attending the protest, so he decided to attend the event to see “both sides of the coin.” After googling Wheeler, Bernard said he found he disagreed with her, especially on her opinions on the Jan. 6 insurrection and the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Curiosity got the best of me and I kinda wanna see, like, ‘Okay let’s see how wild she’s gonna get,’” Bernard said.

Junior Callie Dickens, also in line, said she had friends who were coming to the event and wanted to see a diversity of ideas. see LIZ WHEELER

Peaceful demonstration in support of LGBTQ+ community brings 450

By K. MAUSER, ABBY CHAMOT & GRETCHEN NAGLE

The Breeze

As the bell atop Wilson Hall chimed five times Wednesday, hundreds of students, faculty members, transgender advocates and supporters from around Harrisonburg gathered at the Quad in anticipation for the beginning of “Dukes for Pride.”

Once it commenced, attendees were overcome with tears as they listened to the passionate messages of speakers. However, the crowd wasn’t solemn or silent, but rather supportive and loudly cheered for each speaker who shared their story.

Dukes for Pride, a peaceful gathering of the LGBTQ+ community centered around transgender rights, began at 5 p.m. and ran until about 7:45 p.m. — simultaneous with conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler’s 6 p.m. lecture in the Festival Conference and Student Center. Dukes for Pride began outside Wilson Hall and featured multiple speakers, drag queens and even a lip-sync battle, all accompanied by an ASL interpreter.

This past week has stirred conversation surrounding the first amendment and free speech, and sparked outrage in the community and among transgender allies at JMU. Many attendees of the protest showed support by wearing the colors of the transgender and LGBTQ+ flag.

Students, members of the Harrisonburg community and allies of the transgender community gathered to highlight support for the LGBTQ+ community and protest Wheeler’s appearance. The event amassed a crowd of nearly 450 people.

Heather Due ñas, junior political science major, said she organized the event with the help of a couple of her friends. She said the idea for Dukes for Pride started after she texted a few of her friends and boyfriend and that she wanted to do something small, but said people caught wind of the event and it quickly spread across campus.

“It went so much better than I had planned,” Dueñas said. “My experience was amazing.”

To kick off the event, Lauren Alleyne, assistant director of the Furious Flower poetry center and associate professor, offered words of support and read a poem to the crowd before her.

Alleyne said she was invited to speak by the organizers of Dukes for Pride. She said the transgender community is standing against hateful language to “dehumanize” people and “take their rights away” and added that the power of poetry and words that were displayed at Dukes for Pride can help to build a community amid the hate.

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Ryan Sauer / The Breeze

Savannah Reger / The Breeze

Courtesy of Tristan Williams

Liz Wheeler lecture on ‘The Ideology of Transgenderism’ at JMU stirs controversy

from LIZ WHEELER, page 1

“I think she has a right to be here like any other speaker,” Dickens said. “I do understand that it’s a very heavy topic and something that could definitely stir up a lot of controversy with people on our campus, but I do think it’s important to still have people who you might not agree with come out and just shed some light on the other side.”

Junior Parker Boggs, the chairman of YAF, introduced Wheeler. During his opening remarks, Boggs said he faced personal attacks on social media, but that YAF “will not back down to the mob in any sort of way.” Boggs said he was proud to support conservatives at JMU. On Wheeler, Boggs said she was a “bold” conservative voice who’s “relentless in her pursuit to defend against the radical left’s takeover of our culture.”

Wheeler began by sharing her gratitude to be speaking at JMU, saying she read and saw all the comments and posts on social media about her visit. At one point, she asked if the JMU Debate Team was in attendance, taking issue with a statement the group posted on social media that condemned Wheeler and called her a “panderer” who was tempting people to undermine democratic institutions.

Wheeler said she wanted to speak directly to the LGBTQ+ community to share that she didn’t hate the community and that she “deeply cares” about LGBTQ+ people. Instead, she said transgender activists and queer theorists hate people who identify as LGBTQ+, and they lie.

“The entire transgender ideology is a lie,” Wheeler said. “The reality is that men cannot be women, even if they want to identify as women, women cannot be men. Even if they feel that they are.”

Wheeler said while she wanted equal rights for everyone, queer theory wasn’t about equal rights — it was a “Marxist ideology.” Queer theory, Wheeler said, aims to pit different demographics of people against each other to create a revolution through fear and desperation.

“They want fear because they intend to exploit that fear and the vulnerability that so many of these young people suffer from perhaps

… pre-existing mental health issues,” Wheeler said. “They tend to exploit that in order to use these young people because they want LGBTQIA-identifying people to revolt, they know that this is the only way to push their political agenda on a country that is inherently anti-Marxist.”

Wheeler also claimed queer theorists “brainwash” people and want the destruction of society through destroying gender and the family. Wheeler said changing genders wasn’t going to help make people feel better.

“The left is going to do the same thing that other people have already done with them — the left is going to use them essentially as political and cultural kamikazes,” Wheeler said. “And once they’ve been used for the political goals of queer theory, the queer theorists are going to abandon them.”

Wheeler pointed to people who’ve detransitioned, which is stopping or reversing transitioning, as an example.

Many studies show that access to gender-affirming care is associated with better mental health outcomes, and major medical organizations find gender-affirming care evidence-based and medically necessary, according to Scientific American. Numbers associated with detransitioning and transition regret can vary between 1% to around 13%, depending on how detransitioning is defined and the factors behind it.

Wheeler said the beliefs of the LGBTQ+ community are “dogmatic,” and they’re sure they’re correct.

“You’re sure, you’re positive that you can’t be wrong. You know that you have been told the truth. But have you?” Wheeler asked. “Once

upon a time, the brightest minds in science told us that the Earth was flat. They were positive they were correct … I understand that this is incredibly difficult to hear, it’s incredibly difficult to process that in your mind. But it’s the truth. It’s reality. You aren’t transgender, or nonbinary, you are either a man or a woman.”

Wheeler said people must recognize there’s an “objective truth” of identifying as the gender people are born with, “just the way God” made them.

Wheeler also answered questions from audience members, including a mix of those who supported her and those who didn’t. In response to a question from The Breeze about her claim of political fearmongering, Wheeler said there’s a difference when warning people, and the left is “pretending” that words can hurt someone. Wheeler claimed children across the country are experiencing genital mutilation — referring to gender reassignment surgery, using the example of well-known transgender activist Jazz Jennings. Jazz Jennings was 17 when she underwent gender reassignment surgery. Cases like Jennings are uncommon, according to Politifact. According to guidelines developed by the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), gender reassignment surgery should be reserved for people 18 and older. While there are some reports of transition-related surgical care between 16 and 18, these cases are rare.

One audience member asked how Wheeler thought society got to a point of accepting “transgender ideology.” Wheeler said it was due to society becoming “morally relativistic” and not remembering that the U.S. was based on natural law.

Following the event, The Breeze requested an interview with Boggs, but he was unavailable due to YAF attending a dinner with Wheeler.

CONTACT Ashlyn Campbell at campbeab@dukes.jmu.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on Twitter @BreezeNewsJMU.

The lecture was free and open to the public with advance reservation. Attendees had to present tickets, IDs and pass through metal detector searches. Photos by Ryan Sauer / The Breeze

Some who spoke against the lecture called it “hate speech,” saying Liz Wheeler’s stance on “transgenderism” is “dehumanizing.” Protests were held during the event to offer another view.

A protester’s sign reads “We are here and we are queer.”

Parker Boggs, chairman of the YAF, stands outside the event. Liz Wheeler has appeared at other college YAF events.

JMU community members protest

Liz Wheeler event, celebrate LGBTQ+ community

from PROTESTS, page 1

“If we lose that hope, then we’ve lost the battle,” Alleyne said. She said she attended this event to offer her body and support through her words.

Shortly after Alleyne’s reading, sophomore Mason Vales performed in full drag with the stage name “Climaxx” to kick off the event. Vales said he’d never seen this number of “gay people” in one place, and said it was insane to him, but also pleasing to see.

Vales was one of the 10-plus speakers to speak at this event, with all voicing their support for the transgender community.

“There’s gonna be people here that are willing to be your friend — no matter who you are,” Vales said.

Dueñas said it’s important to make sure everyone knows they have a community at JMU, and said this event provided a space for transgender individuals to have their voice heard.

Tim Miller, JMU vice president for student affairs, was in attendance and said JMU’s role Wednesday was to make sure all students had an opportunity to share their voice safely at Dukes for Pride and others. He said he’s proud of the students who put this on and glad the event had such a large turnout.

Miller said the Liz Wheeler lecture and Dukes for Pride were both coordinated by organizations at JMU, not the school itself.

The challenge of free speech is at the heart of America currently, Miller said, and also said Americans live in a difficult environment where people are challenging each other with their words and deeds.

However, a consensus formed among attendees that JMU should do more to support the LGBTQ+ community.

Junior Jo Buckley said they wish the LGBTQ+ community “could do more” to oppose Liz Wheeler’s lecture because they feel students are limited in what JMU allows them to do.

“Liz Wheeler being invited feels very nasty and true color-ish of JMU,” Buckley said. “They can say that they protect LGBTQ as much as they want, but this just shows that they really just don’t care.”

After all the speakers finished at Wilson Hall, the crowd walked over to the Festival lawn to continue showcasing their support. Hundreds of people walked together, waving their flags in the air and chanting things like, “We are here, we are queer.”

Senior Allison Mohar said people should care about transgender rights because transgender

people exist at JMU.

“Even if you don’t really recognize it, they’re here,” Mohar said. “[They’re] part of the community, so we need to uplift our whole community.”

Chris Gordon, newly elected president of JMU college democrats, said he was proud of the JMU community for “rallying against Wheeler’s hatred” and hoped the protest will turn the lecture into “a positive experience for our community.” During the protest, Gordon held a sign reading, “Stop spending my tuition on fascism and hate.”

Gordon said it’s vital for allies to organize, learn and support each other to make sure tuition dollars aren’t spent on “a person like Wheeler.”

“There’s an aspect of allowing freedom of speech, especially in [a] public university, we all love freedom of speech,” Gordon said. “It’s a part of being American. The problem is using our money from our community, from the queer community on campus, to pay her and support her coming — whether they want to or not.”

Junior Hannah Peters, another crowd member, said Wheeler’s beliefs established in her podcast and previous public appearances are “very harmful” to JMU’s transgender community. She said the support offered by protesters was designated for the LGBTQ+

community, not Wheeler.

One of the many speakers said they were touched by the gathering and subsequent protests, but “dehumanizing rhetoric” such as Wheeler’s will lead to “trans individuals being criminalized.”

On the Festival lawn, open-mic speakers took turns voicing their support for the queer community. Not only did JMU students speak in front of the crowd but also community members, supporters and local high school students.

Miller said “challenging moments” are going to happen more and more around JMU’s campus and across the country, and said he hopes JMU can learn how to go about these moments and show other communities how to do the same.

“I’m very proud of the community at large, and I’m so happy with the turnout,” Dueñas said. “We’re not going to stop here.”

CONTACT K. Mauser at mauserkk@dukes. jmu.edu, Abby Chamot at chamotar@dukes. jmu.edu and Gretchen Nagle at naglegm@ dukes.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on Twitter @BreezeNewsJMU.

Attendees first gathered on the quad and marched to Festival lawn. At both locations, speakers addressed the crod. Savannah Reger / The Breeze

The issue of free speech has been related to the issue of Liz Wheeler’s lecture on “The Ideology of Transgenderism.” Savannah Reger / The Breeze

Dukes for Pride was organized by Heather Dueñas which she said was intended to be a small event, but welcomed roughly 450 attendees. Ryan Sauer / The Breeze

Many attendees agreed JMU needed to do more to express support and solidarity for the LGBTQ+ community in the future. Ryan Sauer / The Breeze

Board of Visitors increases tuition, approves next year’s budget with dissent

By CHARLOTTE MATHERLY The Breeze

JMU’s Board of Visitors (BoV) approved tuition increases for the 2023-24 academic year with dissent from several board members at the Friday, April 21 meeting concerning making a decision before the Virginia state budget and JMU’s state funding get finalized.

For in-state undergraduate students, tuition and fees will be raised 3%, or $484. Out-of-state tuition will be raised 1.5%, or $638, while out-of-state fees will share the same increase as in state. For graduate students, each credit hour will increase by $16 for in-state and $21 for out-of-state students.

Although the motion passed, several members appointed to the board last year by Gov. Glenn Youngkin voiced concerns about approving the increase at Friday’s meeting, especially because JMU’s fate in the Virginia state budget isn’t yet sealed.

Suzanne Obenshain and Jack White both mentioned a hesitancy to decide on an increase before the Virginia General Assembly has finalized the state budget for the 202324 fiscal year.

Obenshain said the 3% mark isn’t representative of the actual increase. Because JMU, like all Virginia universities, provided a one-time scholarship to cover last year’s 3% increase, Obenshain said families will now feel last year’s delayed increase in addition to this year’s.

After Obenshain mentioned her concerns at Thursday night’s Finance and Physical Development Committee meeting, the motion was amended to include a recognition that the state budget is uncertain and that the Executive Committee may reconvene to review adjustments to the increase if necessary.

“I still have angst moving forward because we don’t know what the state’s going to do,” Obenshain said at Friday’s meeting. “There are two months between now and when they [the state] have to do something, and we are supposed to be making decisions that are in the best interest of the parents and families of Virginia.”

Vice President for Finance and Administration Towana Moore presented the tuition and fees increase proposal to the board, saying she built it as conservatively as possible without knowing for certain what the state budget will look like.

Board member John Lynch said the tuition should be set now to avoid that uncertainty trickling down to families.

“They need to know the top number [for tuition costs] now,” Lynch said, especially as prospective students are deciding where to go to college. “If you tell them it’s uncertain ‘til June, you’re gonna lose kids.”

BoV approves 2023-24 budget, property acquisitions

After a lengthy discussion about tuition, the Board also approved JMU’s budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year. The university’s total operating budget comes in at $723.8 million, increasing 5.8% from last year.

In its education and general fund — things that use tuition or state funding — JMU will spend $271.4 million (67.3%) on instruction and academic support next year. JMU will also spend:

- $58.1 million on institutional support, like fiscal operations and public relations

- $45.1 million on physical plant things like land, buildings and furniture

- $27.2 million on student services, like the Counseling Center, the Career Center, etc.

- $1.7 million on public service, like seminars or projects that give back to the community Auxiliary expenses — those that aren’t supported by tuition or state funding but rather by charging for the service provided — add up to $242.5 million, including about $53 million on dining. This category also includes debt, scholarships, maintenance and other services.

At the end of the meeting, the board approved the purchase of 449 Eastover Drive in Harrisonburg, a one-story residential building, for $279,500. It also approved a quitclaim deed for 11352 Sassafras Ridge in Markham, Virginia, a suburban building in an agricultural district in Fauquier County. Quitclaim deeds are low-protection, non-warranty deeds, according to Investopedia.

Reports to the Board

In the academic excellence committee meeting, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Coltman responded to her condemnation by JMU’s Faculty Senate, which passed overwhelmingly. Coltman said she’s committed to share governance in a time when higher education is going through a “much needed and transformational change” after the pandemic, which she said has been “dynamic and disruptive.”

JMU had 27 people in its first cohort of BRidge to Madison, a program that allows waitlisted applicants to live on JMU’s campus while attending Blue Ridge Community College their first year to build their academic skills before starting classes at JMU.

Director of Athletics Jeff Bourne expects a decision from the NCAA by the end of April on JMU’s request for a waiver that would expedite the university’s two-year transition from the FCS to the FBS, Jeff Lynch, the athletics committee chair,

said. This reclassification period is part of JMU’s move to the Sun Belt Conference last year.

President Jonathan Alger reported, again, increased applications to JMU. The university had 37,001 first-year applicants this year, a 17% increase from last year. Of those, Alger highlighted:

- 46% are from out of state

- 34.4% are underrepresented minorities

- 21.5% are first-generation college students

First-gencollegestudents

Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship Anthony Tongen presented JMU’s Research Institution and Centers. He said as part of JMU’s reclassification as an R2 doctoral university, JMU’s taking part in funding programs to expand its access to resources for research. He also said he’s working with other departments at JMU, like government relations, the Career Center and more. He specifically highlighted the African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Center and the Center for Innovation in Early Childhood Development as departments JMU’s targeting with more resources.

CONTACT Charlotte Matherly at mathercg@dukes.jmu.edu.

The Board of Visitors is JMU’s independent governing body. Last week they met in different breakout committees and once as the full board. Charlotte Matherly / The Breeze

Lizzie Stone / The Breeze

SGA passes Liz Wheeler resolution, gives out teaching awards

By ASHLEE THOMPSON The Breeze

The Student Government Association (SGA) Senate gave out the annual Madison Vision Teaching Awards (MVTAs) and passed a resolution to release an immediate statement regarding JMU’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom’s (YAF) lecture with Liz Wheeler, which took place Wednesday evening.

SGA addresses Liz Wheeler

A resolution passed to issue an immediate statement on behalf of SGA regarding YAF’s event with Liz Wheeler, a conservative political commentator. The resolution had one nay from graduating executive treasurer Brandon Market, who declined to comment.

The event’s topic and title, “The Ideology of Transgenderism”, was announced on YAF’s social media platforms April 17 and was met with comments from students condemning the event. SGA approved $3,000 in contingency funds to YAF on Jan. 30.

The statement, which was posted to SGA’s social media platforms directly after Tuesday’s meeting, acknowledged its role in the approval of the event’s funding and said it felt YAF’s request was “misleading”, as the topic chosen for the event wasn’t one of the topics presented.

“We fully support freedom of speech and an open forum for discussion of ideas on campus, and encourage those opposed to the event to exercise their first amendment rights,” the statement said.

Junior Mahek Shroff, finance liaison, said it’s “important” to acknowledge the event considering SGA provided the funding for the event. Junior Legislative Affairs Chair Marcus Rand said the students needed to hear SGA’s response to this and that “it will go a long way” to ease student concerns.

“We should absolutely clarify what happened,” Reagan Polarek, 2026 student body president, said, “for transparency’s sake.”

SGA passes MVTAs resolution

A resolution passed unanimously to award MVTAs to recognize the success of JMU faculty and to acknowledge the recipients of the award. Newly elected Speaker of the Senate senior Carlin McNeil Bumgarner gave out the MVTAs to three JMU professors.

The awarded faculty were:

Dr. Matthew Ezzell, professor of sociology and Sociology Program Coordinator

Dr. Chen Guo, associate professor, School of Media Arts and Design

Dr. Šarunas Jankauskas, associate professor, School of Music

Bumgarner said the MVTAs are given out to instructional faculty members that “excel” in encouraging engaged learning in students.

A one-time $500-$1000 educational grant will be given to the awarded faculty members, according to JMU’s website.

“These awards are unique on campus as the winners are selected entirely by students,” Bumgarner said. “This award was designed to give students a voice in recognizing excellent teaching.”

CONTACT Ashlee Thompson at thomp6ab@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on Twitter @BreezeNewsJMU.

The SGA passed a resolution condemning Liz Wheeler’s upcoming lecture, marking the first time the SGA has spoken up on the issue since funding the event. Photos by Valerie Chenault / The Breeze

Carlin McNeil Bumgarner attended and conducted her first meeting after being elected Speaker of the Senate.

The SGA congratulated and awarded MTVAs to professors selected by students.

SGA members say financial procedures ignored for Liz Wheeler event, feel misled by topic

By ELEANOR SHAW & MICHAEL RUSSO The Breeze

T he Student Government Association (SGA) addressed its role in granting $3,000 in contingency funds to JMU’s chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) during and after its meeting Tuesday evening, calling YAF’s original request misleading. On April 17, YAF announced Liz Wheeler’s Wednesday evening lecture, “The Ideology of Transgenderism.”

After Tuesday’s Senate, sophomore Mahek Shroff, SGA’s finance liaison, said of all the groups to request contingency funds this year, YAF was the sole organization of 17 to not go through her. Shroff and junior Matt Haynicz, executive treasurer-elect, said senior Brandon Market, the previous executive treasurer, told them he’d handle YAF’s application himself because he and junior Parker Boggs, YAF chairman, founder and SGA senator, were “acquaintances.”

Concerning the conflict of interest Boggs’ position as an SGA senator could raise, Haynicz said while he trusts the finance committee’s discretion, YAF’s funding request is a special case.

YAF’s application was also the only contingency fund request to not be submitted online, Haynicz said; it was instead printed out and submitted to Market, marking “a visible violation of finance procedures.”

“What I can objectively say for certain is Mahek did not approve the application, therefore it did not follow financial procedure,” Haynicz said.

To avoid future instances of such violations, Haynicz said YAF’s ability to request funding may be suspended, the SGA’s constitution may be amended and/or the past treasurer may decide what to do next.

In a written statement to The Breeze, Haynicz said the committee that approved YAF’s initial request prior to its presentation had only one abstention — Shroff.

In a resolution passed during the Senate, SGA released a statement that said the body felt YAF’s presentation wasn’t truthful of what the event would entail. Several potential topics were

stated for Liz Wheeler’s talk, none of which were ultimately chosen. SGA didn’t approve and was unaware of the final selected topic, according to its statement written by senior Ken Kensky, a graduating senator.

The statement “condemns discrimination and hatred in all forms towards the Transgender community and stands in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.” [sic] Additionally, it advocates for freedom of speech and a space for open discussion of ideas and encourages “those opposed to the event to exercise their first amendment rights.”

In debate, Shroff said the resolution is an important step for SGA to acknowledge its approval of YAF’s contingency funding and “ensure transparency and accountability within SGA itself” in addition to showing support of JMU’s LGBTQ+ community.

The resolution passed with the exception of Market, who was the sole attendee to vote “nay” for the resolution, disagreeing with the Senate’s sentiment about being misled. When approached by The Breeze after the meeting, Market declined to comment and wouldn’t provide his reasoning.

SGA can’t rescind the funds it granted YAF because the money was already designated toward a contract, according to the statement.

During debate, Reagan Polarek, the SGA Senate’s class of 2026 president, proposed amending the resolution with specific information regarding the topics YAF shared in the Jan. 31 meeting requesting the funds. However, Shroff said YAF’s presentation only shared the potential subjects verbally, and there was no written record of the topics to include in the resolution.

Junior Marcus Rand, SGA’s incoming legislative affairs chair, said the statement would help ease student concerns.

However, SGA’s subsequent Instagram post sharing the statement after the Senate adjourned has been met with negative comments, with one user identifying as a transgender student calling it “performative as hell.”

“You’re not doing enough. And this statement is a day before, when SGA knew about this a week ago,” user @daniel.green1, another

commenter, said. “Too little too late. Thanks for being complicit.”

To this, Kensky said he wants the student body to know the resolution was written by him — a transgender person. He agrees with the student body that more needs to be done and the statement could’ve come sooner, but SGA’s leadership is in a transition process and the resolution needed to be drafted and approved following Senate procedures.

“Releasing a statement is simply the start of changes that need to be made,” Kensky said. “I like to think that the people who, including some of my friends, who will be on leadership in student government next year will actively be pushing to make those changes a reality … But I think that [students] should ask themselves, like, ‘What would you think if SGA has said nothing at all?’”

Additionally, as a transgender person and writer of the statement, Kensky said, “the sentiment is really there” and comes from within the LGBTQ+ community, even if the resolution had to pass SGA’s approval process.

Student organizations can request up to $3,000 in contingency funds per semester from SGA, which can be used for holding events, inviting speakers, attending conferences and

more, according to its website. These funds come from student fees, and any student organization in good standing with the Office of Student Activities and Involvement for at least four months is eligible. The applicant organization “must also show that they have exhausted all forms of fundraising,” SGA’s website states.

YAF’s initial presentation to the SGA in the Jan. 31 Senate meeting said Wheeler’s lecture would be on “a particular topic of our chapter’s choice.”

Junior SGA President-elect Nate Hazen said he shares the sentiments addressed in the SGA’s resolution and confirmed the minutes from the Jan. 31 meeting indicate two of the three topics Boggs presented involve feminism and freedom of speech. Hazen said the other topic was still under investigation by the SGA and has yet to be confirmed.

Ashlee Thompson contributed to this report.

CONTACT Eleanor Shaw at breezenews@ gmail.com and Michael Russo at breezepress@gmail.com. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on Twitter @BreezeNewsJMU.

statement from SGA said it regrets causing any pain in funding YAF's Liz Wheeler lecture on "The Ideology of Transgenderism" and claimed YAF's original request was misleading. Screengrab from @jmu.sga on Instagram

Sophomore Mahek Shroff, SGA finance liaison, supported the SGA Senate's decision to condemn Liz Wheeler's lecture on "The Ideology of Transgenderism." Valerie Chenault / The Breeze

D.E.E.P. Impact hosts dialogue on Asian American hate, income inequality, xenophobia after the pandemic, TikTok congressional hearing

By JAKE DODOHARA The Breeze

Students were given sticky notes as they walked in the Union Ballroom to attend Diversity Education Empowerment Program Impact’s program titled, “Busting Myths and Speaking Truth: Exploring the APIDA Community.”

As they gathered in the ballroom, they were encouraged to place their sticky note on a line scale, ranking how much they knew about the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) community and the struggles it currently faces. Students were then directed to sit at a round table with each one already occupied by a D.E.E.P.-affiliated student “diversity educator.”

D.E.E.P. Impact is an organization sponsored by JMU’s Center for Multicultural Student Services (CMSS). According to its website, the organization creates programming for the JMU community that “promotes inclusion, fosters advocacy, and encourages respect for and across differences.”

D.E.E.P.’s events differ from the traditional lecture format that JMU students may be accustomed to, where a single speaker relays their ideas or a PowerPoint to a crowded audience. Instead, the program uses a peer-to-peer methodology to communicate its ideas, while multiple student diversity educators help execute their events.

These students are trained through a human resources and development course dedicated to facilitating conversations pertaining to diversity, equity and inclusion. The student educators then conduct events called “diversity dialogues,” where they divide their audience into small groups and intimately speak with students about their perspectives on the topic at hand.

The April 19 program began with two student diversity

educators, junior marketing major Caitlin McGeehan and junior music major Liliya Petrosyan, who gave a brief PowerPoint presentation. Participants were encouraged to make a “community pact” during the event to “create a space for honest and authentic dialogue” and challenge themselves to explore multiple perspectives, according to the PowerPoint.

McGeehan and Petrosyan described the history of APIDA Heritage Month and related what countries and ethnic groups fall under the APIDA umbrella. They also covered the various challenges faced by the ADIPA community.

Topics like the effects of COVID-19-based APIDA discrimination, income inequality in the APIDA community and supposed xenophobic undertones during the TikTok congressional hearing when congress members mispronounced TikTok CEO Shou Chew’s name.

The presentation then broke into small groups, where student diversity educators asked their respective tables of students questions like, “How does limiting access to loans and other small business support hurt the APIDA community?” and, “What are the ramifications of associating a virus with a group of people?”

While there are right or wrong answers to these questions, they’re designed to spark a critical analysis of the event’s subject matter.

“If it was just a lecture, I think that it’d honestly be kind of boring,” junior psychology major Charlotte Terrill said about D.E.E.P.’s unique formatting, adding that the peer-topeer education style allows for an “open flow of ideas” and questions without the participants being intimated in front of a large audience.

Terrill joined D.E.E.P. Impact her freshman year at JMU, when classes and extracurriculars were online. Although

Terrill came out in high school — she identifies as asexual and panromantic — she claims she was never “super involved” in the queer community. Joining D.E.E.P. Impact allowed her to connect with people who had “similar values and identities” on campus, she said, while also educating about those specific values and identities.

Through D.E.E.P. impact, the student diversity educators are able to personalize the material they share with their student audience.

Terrill recalled a moment where she was educating a class about the asexual identity and someone raised their hand and asked, “If you’re not having sex in a relationship, what do you do?” As an asexual person herself who’d been in multiple relationships that “don’t involve sex,” Terrill found the question funny, and now makes sure to list non-sexual things that people in a relationship could do when educating.

“Nobody that I’ve ever encountered has ever come at it with a negative standpoint,” Terrill said. “They’re just at different points of knowledge.”

Chrissy Donaldson, a human resources development graduate assistant joined D.E.E.P. Impact as a volunteer her sophomore year of undergrad with the organization being an outsource for community and advocacy. As she worked on her master’s degree, she’s become a graduate assistant of the program and noticed more structures being created at JMU to increase diversity on campus.

“We’ve grown into that core umbrella and have been able to build a foundation as the DEI team of JMU,” Donaldson said about the Office of Disability Services (ODS), CMSS, and Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE). She also noted an increase of student involvement and passion for DEI activities during her time at JMU.

After an increase in Asian American hate following the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as issues with Asian American hate cropping up during the congressional hearing of TikTok, Diversity Education Empowerment Program (D.E.E.P.) hosted a dialogue on the topic. Photos courtesy of D.E.E.P.

Sam Brunner, a junior English major and student diversity educator, said they joined the program as an outlet for the frustration they faced while being looked at and treated differently.

After exploring their sexual and gender identity while quarantined in 2020, Brunner began to dress outside of the gender binary norms — choosing to wear skirts and bandanas — and now identifies as non-binary. Coming into Harrisonburg, Brunner said they and their gender non-conforming friends faced “hostility on campus” and in town, with strangers yelling at them, laughing, pointing and doing double takes. Brunner even described a moment where a friend of theirs had a beer can thrown at them while dressed in drag on Halloween.

“That’s why I value spaces like Lavender Lounge so much and the diversity lounges,” Brunner said, giving a shoutout to other CMSS-sponsored resources on campus. “When you step in there … nobody’s going to look at you twice, nobody’s going to treat you weird because a lot of

A WEALTH OF HEALTH A WEALTH OF HEALTH

Healthy sleeping habits for college students

By HANNAH LIFRIERI The Breeze

Sleep deprivation is a rising concern among college students. According to the University of South Florida, more than 70% of college students said they get less than eight hours of sleep a night, 60% said they feel drained or “sluggish” three times out of the week and more than 80% say their lack of sleep impacts their academic success. Out of all academic challenges, many students ranked sleep deprivation along with academic success as the second most difficult, with stress leading at No. 1.

There are two different categories when it comes to college students and sleeping habits. First, you have the “early risers,” and then the “night owls,” JMU health sciences professor Sherri Wilson said. She said that your biological circadian rhythm — the changes in your sleep schedule — affects overall productivity. Those who wake up early tend to have greater levels of productivity and allow their brain more time to adjust for the day and even manage stress, Wilson said.

Those who stay up later in the night tend to have higher levels of productivity, so waking up early could be “counterproductive,” Wilson said. It’s important to keep in mind, whether you’re an early riser or a night owl, getting the right amount of sleep fuels productivity. According to the Centers for Disease Control, it’s recommended to get between 7-9 hours of sleep.

people are expressing themselves outside of the binary.”

When asked about the importance of JMU administering diversity-centered organizations like D.E.E.P. Impact during a time when controversial events regarding gender identity are scheduled on campus, Brunner commended JMU for making “some effort” to validate various marginalized identities.

“It gives social spaces for these communities to come together in times of hardship,” Brunner said, noting the solidarity D.E.E.P. Impact provides to students. “What we’re seeing with the queer community on campus is they are coming together stronger than ever … and I think having organizations like us on campus allows us to facilitate that even further.”

CONTACT Jake Dodohara at dodohajh@dukes.jmu. edu. For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on Twitter and Instagram @Breeze_Culture.

Wilson said evidence shows that sufficient sleep can improve concentration levels, decrease heart diseases and improve mood by alleviating stress and other chronic conditions. Maintaining a sleep schedule can benefit us in countless ways, from physical to mental health, which helps our daily lifestyles.

Students may feel lost when trying to fix their sleep schedule or may not know how to start one. While it’s easier said than done, there are ways to promote a healthy sleep schedule. Wilson said the best way to sleep the recommended number of hours is having a consistent bedtime.

Read the full article at breezejmu.org

In an investigation done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) it found that in 2020 after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic hate crimes directed towards Asian Americans increased by 77%. Ben Moulse / The Breeze

Birds bite back

Injuries cause decreased speeds on campus, though ‘incredibly’ safe compared to other transportation

By K. MAUSER The Breeze

Admittedly, junior Camilla Brown hasn’t had the best experience with Bird scooters.

Brown’s been seriously injured twice while riding Birds, she said, one injury resulting in a trip to the local urgent care. She said she was referred to an orthopedic doctor who concluded she’d torn both her ACL and her meniscus from riding the scooter, which impacted her ability to get around campus.

Brown said she couldn’t walk for a week after her injury and lived off campus. She said she had “no idea” what she was supposed to do in terms of getting to her classes.

The state of Bird safety around campus

Brown isn’t the only victim of a Birdrelated injury.

The University Health Center has recently seen an uptake in the number of injuries due to the Bird scooters found around campus, Tim Miller, vice president for student affairs, said. He also said in 2022, there were 16 reported Bird crashes in the Harrisonburg area and said this number didn’t include the numerous accidents that have likely gone unreported.

Miller said he’s “very worried” about how students continue to get injured and said these injuries haven’t been minor — a separated shoulder and broken hip were reported from students riding Birds “not too long ago,” he said.

Bird scooters, which are environmentally clean and car-free methods of transportation, according to the Bird website, are littered around campus in various locations. After downloading the Bird app to purchase a ride, a rider can use the motorized scooter to get around to any part of campus, often in a fraction of the time it would take to walk there.

However, due to consistent concerns about the speed regulations around campus, Bird scooters have decreased in speed across JMU. Miller said the speed limit for slow zones, which are traffic-heavy areas around campus like at the top of the Quad and by the Student Success Center, have a lower speed limit than other areas, decreased from 10 mph to 8 mph March 3. Miller also said the other areas of campus that aren’t slow zones have a speed limit of 12 mph, but decreased to 8 mph after 10 p.m. on this same day.

Miller also said he’s had concerns about the safety of the Bird scooters. He said he often sees injury due to the high speed a rider can reach before crashing, students using these scooters while intoxicated — especially at night — and riding with multiple people on one scooter.

Risk of injury

The first time Brown was injured, she said she only twisted her ankle. The second time, Brown said, is when she tore her ACL and meniscus.

“I was looking back at my friends and then the handlebar started wiggling,” Brown said. “I got kind of nervous that I was gonna fall anyways, so then I fell even worse and put another foot down. This time, I tore my ACL and meniscus.”

Before her injuries, Brown said she used the Bird scooters about three times a month and mostly for emergencies, such as running late

to a class. Now, she said she never uses them.

“These are not, ‘I-sprained-my-ankle’-type of injuries,” Miller said. “Some of these are lifealtering injuries.”

Contrarily, Chris Stockwell, director of government and university partnerships for Bird, said the injury rate for bird riders is 0.0013% globally and that the rate of injury when riding a Bird scooter is similar to the rate of injury when riding a bike.

“The overall data is that, compared to many other forms of transportation, [Birds] are incredibly safe,” Stockwell said. “Ultimately, we have the data to back that up, and there’s enough research out there these days to support that as well.”

Riding under the influence

Brown said she’s seen a lot of riders using Bird scooters while intoxicated, especially at night. She also said she thinks this could be one of the reasons Bird injuries have become “more common.”

“The other thing we’ve seen is alcohol [with] birds,” Miller said, added that the university has been figuring out different options regarding how to address the issue of Bird use while intoxicated.

The official Bird website has a safety guide regarding the appropriate use of scooters. According to this guide, some of its features can prevent using these scooters while intoxicated or while practicing many other unsafe habits. The website writes that cities can opt to use things like Safe Start, which is an “in-app checkpoint” designed to discourage people from riding under the influence in order to encourage safe riding.

“[Safe Start] is a cognitive test that we’ve put into place for later hours that a user has to complete before using a scooter,” Stockwell said. “It’s a self-check, if you will.”

He said users had to complete a task similar to a word puzzle in order to be able to ride the scooter. He also said this doesn’t always stop intoxicated riders from using the Bird scooters, but will still provide an opportunity for the rider to question whether they should be using the Bird while intoxicated.

Jamie Kwiecinski, a JMU police officer, said he’d personally never come across a Bird rider who was intoxicated while riding, but that it still happens.

Kwiecinski said it “probably should be a DUI,” but wrote in a later email April 21 that a DUI couldn’t be issued to intoxicated bird riders under VA Code 46.2-705. This code doesn’t classify motorized scooters as a motor vehicle, he wrote, which is the reason they cannot issue a DUI for intoxicated scooter riders.

He also wrote that although his department cannot write a DUI for intoxicated Bird riders, they can charge the individual with any other alcohol violation that fits, including public intoxication, underage possession and other similar violations, and said they can send the student to the Office of Accountability and Restorative Practices (OSARP) for University discipline.

Recently, Kwiecinski said his department has been working with OSARP to implement more rules about using the scooters around campus, which he calls “micromobility policies.”

CULTURE

Creating a safer campus

Micromobility policies, which have been implemented in many other cities, according to Shared-Use Mobility Center, regulate many areas of bike, e-bike and scooter use by enforcing “guidelines, permits and laws” for use.

Kwiecinski said his department hopes to get these policies in place soon, as JMU doesn’t have some of the micromobility policies that other campuses have implemented.

“Most of the time, the operators do not follow the rules of the road,” he said. “If they see an opportunity, they’ll go through a red light or they’ll jump in the other lane and pass a vehicle, which are all violations of law.”

Stockwell said Bird tries to work with cities and universities to counteract the different types of unsafe riding trends the company sees in different areas, and can adjust Bird’s educational approach and enforcement based on these trends.

Bird has many different safety tools they can use in each area to counteract the unsafe riding in various locations, which includes reducing the speed of bird scooters in certain sections of a city or

university— like JMU did March 3.

Although Brown said the speed limits put in place around campus are helpful for the safety of JMU students, she also said the roads off campus and around the Harrisonburg community have unregulated speeds.

“They’re wild,” Brown said. “You can go so fast.”

Kwiecinski said his department responds to more accidents off campus than on. He said he’s seen serious injuries such as broken bones, but said he didn’t think his department had ever responded to a scooter-related death.

Brown said she thinks one reason people use the Bird scooters is to navigate what she called difficult terrain on JMU’s campus and in the surrounding area.

The hill that runs through the Village residence halls is especially dangerous in terms of speed because riders can travel steeply downhill, Miller said, adding he wants students to make good choices when traveling across campus.

“I would just say for everything, for me and for us on the campus,” Miller said, “[we’re] about students being safe and getting to the end

of every day safely.”

Brown said she has other friends who’ve been injured when riding a motorized scooter. She said one of her friends broke his arm falling off a scooter.

Although there are some universities that have gotten rid of the Bird scooters entirely, Miller said this possibility isn’t his preference because he knows how valuable they are to JMU students, who, in some cases, might be using them for their own safety, like to get away from someone chasing them. He said the university will monitor the safe use of Bird scooters through the fall to see if the speed change will help Bird riders practice safety.

“We definitely want our students and our writers to be safe,” Kwiecinski said, “and to [ride] correctly on campus and off campus.”

CONTACT K. Mauser at mauserkk@dukes.jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on Twitter and Instagram @Breeze_Culture.

The top of the Quad and around the Student Success Center are areas that are considered “slow zones.” Peyton King / The Breeze

Timber to trophies Entrepreneurial student shines under Gilliam Center spotlight

By EVAN MOODY The Breeze

“If I want to learn something, I just go dive in,” Ian Stasko, junior business management major, said.

Stasko is an “entrepreneurial leader,” at JMU. according to the student’s fact sheet, created by collaborator Tristan Williams, junior communications studies major with a public relations concentration. Stasko is also the founder of 360 Timber Services, which specializes in the removing and repurposing of large trees around the area.

Stasko’s business venture, however, differs from that of his classmates. The student explored multiple fields of work during a two-year academic gap in New Jersey, including oyster farm management and the acquisition of a real estate license. Once returning to Virginia, Stasko then joined the class of 2024.

“I wanted to go to college,” Stasko said. “I just needed to make sure that it was worth it. It’s gonna be worth that investment.”

Suzanne Bergmeister, executive director of the Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship (GCFE), said Stasko is slightly older than the other juniors in his class, though the experience he gained in the workforce supports his entrepreneurial endeavors.

“I think just feeling a little bit awkward around peers because you are a little bit older, but, at the end of the day, advantage wise, who has the biggest leg up in the world?” Stasko said. “It’s pretty obvious.”

Also contrasting Stasko from other students, was his approach to the “pipeline of entrepreneurial programs,” a guided route for student founders by the GCFE which typically begins with entrepreneurs taking on “The Fallon Challenge,” and working their way through the four levels, ending with the “Bluestone Seed Fund.”

Stasko, however, started with the seed fund by receiving equity funding last fall after a fiveminute, “Shark Tank”-style pitch to an investment committee, Bergmeister said. The student then worked his way up by joining Madison Inc. and then was accepted into the Dukes Venture Accelerator program.

“He kind of did it backwards,” Bergmeister said. “In the entrepreneurial world, you have to be flexible.”

Stasko’s growth throughout the pipeline has been centered around his timber services project, with his first large tree removal occurring in nearby Crozet, Virginia. With 360 Timber Services, Stasko repurposes the timber by creating slabs of wood that can be used for tables and related objects,

Bergmeister said. Each slab can turn into $1,000$5,000, but the material requires both time and equipment once harvested.

Because of 360 Timber Services, GCFE recognized that Stasko already had a profitable “side hustle,” which is unusual for beginning entrepreneurs, Bergmeister said. With this base project, the GCFE can assist Stasko in making connections in the industry, assist in creating a website for the business and aid with the “intellectual property” of any kind of patent, trademark or copyright.

Part of GCFE’s financial assistance for 360 Timber Services included a $5,000 investment in the project from the Bluestone Seed Fund. In terms of other support, Stasko said Bergmeister helped his entrepreneurial endeavors “immensely” and has taught him a great deal about the area of work.

Bergmeister has been both an entrepreneur and venture capitalist over the course of her five careers surrounding the business world. Upon meeting, Stasko described Bergmeister as a “go-getter” who’ll push you to the next step.

“Suzanne always has high energy and is willing to give you the truth,” Stasko said according to his fact sheet. “This has been very important because I like to hear it and know what works and what doesn’t.”

Bergmeister said, like most successful entrepreneurs, Stasko is a “serial entrepreneur,” meaning his attention spans to multiple projects at a time. Williams was introduced to Stasko’s business scope upon meeting him.

“With our first conversation, I really kind of thought we were gonna be talking about 360 [Timber], which is awesome,” Williams said. “But, I was really taken back by all these different endeavors.”

Apart from timber, Stasko has found project inspiration in mushroom farming. At the Rainey-Shepard Business Plan Competition, Stasko competed with a Mushroom Technology company plan.

At the event, Stasko’s team placed third and received the “best idea” award. Ian was merited MVP for his efforts and plans to continue working with mushrooms for his senior capstone project along with vertical farming.

“This is the future of agriculture,” Stasko said. “This is something I definitely want to pursue in, there’s a lot of potential in [mushrooms].”

Moving forward, and since receiving financial support from the Bluestone Seed Fund, Stasko aspires to expand 360 Timber Services by purchasing tools equipped for larger projects, according to his fact sheet.

Ian Stasko took a two year gap after highschool to manage an oyster farm and acquire a real estate license in New Jersey. Photos courtesy of Tristan Williams

On top of this aid, Stasko will compete in the Dukes Venture Accelerator Program over the course of six weeks this summer. Akhil Kanodia, assistant director of the GCFE, said the program accepts “about 10 students” through a competitive application process. This project will include a $4,000 grant with the opportunity of a $1,000 reimbursement for business spending.

At the end of the program, Stasko, along with other JMU entrepreneurs, will participate in a “demo day” complete with five-minute pitches and the eligibility for a $5,000 payout, Bergmeister said.

Stasko’s long-term goal is to collect all of his companies under “one main parent company,” drawing inspiration from

Andrew Carnegie’s “vertical integration” business model and to not rely on outside monetary sources. This involves combining Stasko’s skills of welding, woodworking, mushroom farming and more for environmental improvement.

“He’s shown a lot of initiative through his life,” Williams said. “I really just felt like I was on a podcast speaking to this guy. It’s obvious he has a great understanding of entrepreneurship and the history of the industry.”

With the combination of self-reliant companies, Stasko’s dream goal is to “end global warming,” according to his fact sheet. Williams said he was impressed that Stasko had so many “moving parts” to this company, and that it had “obviously” shined through his merits and awards.

“We’re seeing the beginning of something big,” Williams said. “I think it’s a lot of possibilities [for Stasko] moving forward throughout JMU and beyond.”

For Bergmeister, she expects nothing but success for Stasko, one of 21,000+ students that the GCFE hopes to reach for assistance.

“I’ll be able to say I knew him when,” Bergmeister said.

CONTACT Evan Moody at thebreezeculture@dukes.jmu. edu. For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on Twitter and Instagram @Breeze_Culture.

After receiving financial support from the Bluestone Seed Fund, Stasko plans to expand 360 Timber Services.

Bigger than minor

JMU professors develop new queer studies minor and course to expose students to lesser known queer topics

By SABINE SOLTYS The Breeze

Professors Kristen Kelley, Mary Thompson and Dawn Goode huddle around a table as they plan for a groundbreaking movement at JMU. There have been multiple conversations and several focus groups over the span of seven years leading up to this moment.

All in agreement, the three women make the decision to move forward with the class, excitedly anticipating what will happen next.

Starting in the fall, JMU English associate professor Dawn Goode will be teaching the new Introduction to Queer Studies class. This course centers “upon the contributions and lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, genderqueer, etc.) in history, culture, and society … and aims to identify and disrupt notions of normative sexuality and gender that serve to marginalize and disempower queer lives,” according to the course description.

The idea for the class started in

2016, when Thompson, Goode and Kelley looked at the classes they were already teaching as part of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program and the potential creation of a queer studies minor, as well as different similar programs across the country.

“We realized there would be a nice segue into the minor if they had already taken the intro to women and gender and sexualities class and then took this intro to queer studies, because it would build a foundation for the minor and give an opportunity to these students to get that more specific queer content that they might be looking for,” Kelley said.

This academic year, however, they were finally able to put together a proposal for the minor, which will go out in the summer. With the help of a consultant, they looked at how the minor would fit in with JMU, the community and the curriculum.It was decided the minor would work in the WGSS program.

“We were thinking through how to actualize the sexuality part of that Women’s, Gender and Sexuality,” Kelley said. “Gender and sexuality come up a lot in queer content, and so being able to create a queer studies minor seemed like a really good fit for what was happening in the parent program, the WGSS, that is becoming a major.”

In addition to this minor and class, Thompson, Goode and Kelley created a Queer Studies Advisory Board this January. On this board, they’ve invited faculty from around campus who are interested in teaching queer content.

The need for this class and minor has been building up over time, Thompson and Kelley said. The talk for a minor actually didn’t start in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program, but with Christine Robinson in the Justice Studies Department. Robinson ended up tabling the minor until it was retouched by Thompson, Kelley and Goode.

Mary Thompson, professor and the coordinator of the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program was one of the minds behind the queer studies program. Photos by Ryan Sauer / The Breeze

CULTURE

“It’s a conversation that has been happening and students have brought it up multiple times,” Thompson said. “But we really felt last fall that it was time to move on it. So, this intro class will be an anchor for this minor. This class can also serve as another elective and establish queer theory as a field that is similar and also different from other feminist studies.”

Goode and Kelley also saw a lot of the classes they were teaching already were pretty rare in that they were specific to just queer content.

“What we were hearing from students in our evaluations were that queer and straight students alike were really excited to have queer-focused content that was not just a one-week unit or a mention here and there,” Kelley said. “So, we talked about these evaluations because students were remarking, consistently saying this was important, asking for more content like this and classes like this in the university.”

Kelley said the biggest issue is while there are some classes out there that address this content, it’s not focused, and faculty aren’t able to properly teach about it, whereas this minor would give this subject better direction. To get a better consensus on how students actually felt about this potential minor and class, these professors held focus groups and surveyed them by asking them if this was something they’d be interested in.

“A lot of students see the value of this class,” Kelley said, “whether they are in math or statistics when they are thinking about how data is interpreted or even gathered and looking through a queer lens. There are students coming to us from communications, teaching and psychology, saying this is vital for working with queer students and the queer world.”

One such student is junior Heather Opie. While she’d not heard about this class, Opie, a communications and media arts and design double major, had heard about other classes like this one being offered in the past. Though Opie didn’t have time as a double major to take many electives, including classes like this, many of her friends have, and Opie said she sees the importance of learning the background of discriminated groups.

“A lot of it could be used to prevent history from repeating itself,” Opie said. “I know that there is a lot of current issues going on at JMU’s campus that a lot of people are really upset with, and I think classes like this would be really beneficial to educate the entirety of JMU’s population.”

Thompson and Kelley echoed this in regard to thinking about employment for future students. Thompson said she believes having this type of knowledge and ability to navigate LGBTQ+ perspectives is an increasingly important skill to bring into the workforce, and now is the perfect time to start expanding on this knowledge.

“Harrisonburg and JMU are well positioned to welcome this type of intellectual inquiry for students because we do have more and more visibility for queer people on campus, in the world and the community,” Kelley said. “So showing that there is a discipline around this and it’s not people sitting around talking shows that JMU is joining that expertise.”

CONTACT Sabine Soltys at soltysms@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on Twitter and Instagram @Breeze_Culture.

Kristen Kelley, an assitant professor and the coordinator of JMU’s Multilingual Student Services helped develop the queer studies program.

'We're ready for this moment'

Voloh leads JMU women's tennis Sun Belt quarterfinal matchup

By CRAIG MATHIAS The Breeze

A historic career for redshirt senior Daniela Voloh has come full circle as both JMU and herself prepare for the 2023 Sun Belt tournament where the Dukes hold the No. 2 seed after going 9-1 in conference play. JMU is set to play No. 7 South Alabama in its quarterfinal matchup at 2 p.m. Thursday.

On April 14, Voloh earned her 87th singles win — the new program record — after defeating Georgia Southern freshman Nanaka Kijima in thrilling fashion 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 at no. 3 singles.

In her first season with JMU, Voloh helped the Dukes clinch their first conference championship in 2019, when she won at that same no. 3 spot in a 4-2 win against William & Mary.

As head coach Shelley Jaudon prepares her team to win what would be her third conference title since joining JMU in 2018 — the year she won the Dukes’ first conference title — she said that this record has been a long time coming for Voloh.

In reflecting on Voloh’s five years with the team, Jaudon said Voloh has always rose to the occasion throughout her JMU career and her accomplishments are a testament to her dedication to JMU women’s tennis.

“This season we’ve needed leadership, and she’s been the one to step up to the plate,” Jaudon said. “She’s just been on a tear and has stepped up to the challenge. She leads with her actions and then has also led with her results on match days.”

Since being moved to no. 3 singles for the March 25 match against Southern Miss, Voloh hasn’t lost a match at the spot. On top of a 6-0 record in singles, with one match unfinished to end the season, Voloh didn’t lose a doubles match with freshman Daria Munteanu, who went 19-3 and 9-0 in Sun Belt play.

Voloh’s dominance earned her Second Team All-Sun Belt singles honors and First Team All-Sun Belt doubles with Munteanu. Voloh and Munteanu haven’t lost a doubles match since

Feb. 5 in the team’s loss to Louisville. Redshirt senior Kylie Moulin also earned First Team AllSun Belt singles for her 8-2 record at no. 1 singles.

Outside of her place atop the record books, Voloh said this record means so much to her because of her passion for JMU's program and all her teammates along the way.

“The record really to me just shows how much I care about the team,” Voloh said. “Tennis has always been such an individual sport, and the thing that helped me get through all those matches is always thinking about the team and having that team-first mentality.”

This leadership hasn’t gone unnoticed by sophomore Hope Moulin. She said Voloh’s effort each day is apparent and she is the team’s main source of energy.

“She gives her 100% every day at practice, and a lot of people besides the girls on the team don’t see that,” Moulin said. “So for her to get recognized for breaking the record, it makes me very happy for her.”

The Dukes are riding off the high of a 4-3 win against Marshall on April 22 that ended the regular season. After redshirt senior Daria Afanasyeva and freshman Reka Matko squeaked past Herd juniors Gabrielle Clairotte and Rieke Gillar 7-6 (6) for a crucial doubles point, JMU sophomore Ines Oliveira clinched the match with her 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory over freshman Andjela Lopicic.

Jaudon said everything both last fall and this spring has led to this moment, and everyone involved is ready to roll after conference play.

“We’re ready for this moment,” Jaudon said. “It’s a culmination of our entire year, which I think gives our team a lot of confidence because they know they’ve put in the work. They know they’re ready and it’ll be a fun week."

CONTACT

EDITORS Kaiden Bridges & Jackson Hephner EMAIL breezesports@gmail.com

Craig Mathias at mathiack@dukes.jmu.edu. For more women's tennis coverage, follow the sports desk on Twitter at @TheBreezeSports.

JMU women's tennis is the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Championship and is set to play No. 7 South Alabama on Thursday at 2 p.m. Photos by Ella Stotzky / The Breeze

Redshirt senior Daniela Voloh holds JMU women's tennis' program record for most singles wins and was named Second Team All-Sun Belt in singles.

JMU women's tennis head coach Shelley Jaudon said that, "they know they're ready and it'll be a fun week," when asked about the conference tournament.

Newcomers, veterans in larger role shine in JMU football’s spring game

By KAIDEN BRIDGES The Breeze

JMU football didn’t tackle during its spring practices.

After Saturday’s annual spring game, in which the defense beat the offense, 24-22, JMU football head coach Curt Cignetti said it was the first time he’s gone the duration of the spring without tackling — including during two scrimmages prior to Saturday.

But that will change the next time JMU’s on the field.

“We’ve got to get them ready for the fall,” Cignetti said. “So it’ll be a tougher camp.”

Senior defensive lineman Jalen Green said he was excited to get out during the spring game and be able to tackle, although getting back into the rhythm took a few tries.

“The first couple seconds of it felt kind of like a ‘figure it out, feel it out’ type of warm up,” Green said. “But once you get going and you get the first tackle, you settle in and get going.” Green also added that players were eager to play for the first time this spring in a more realistic game-like situation. For the first time since JMU’s 47-7 throttling of Coastal Carolina on Nov. 26, 2022, it had fans and family back in Bridgeforth, which Green said felt good.

Along with tackling being introduced in the scrimmage, plenty of new players had their JMU debut during the game. Redshirt senior running back Ty Son Lawton, who transferred to JMU from Stony Brook this offseason after rushing for 1,088 yards in 2021, said the team welcomed him this spring and took him in easily.

Lawton “wanted to see if he still had it” as he looked for a school to play his sixth year of college football. He said he enjoys the competitiveness of playing for a spot on JMU’s running back roster.

“I didn’t want to come in and be spoon fed,” Lawton said. “I like the challenge.”

Lawton said playing in the spring game was a blessing and he appreciated the opportunity to be out on the field today with his team.

Despite redshirt senior quarterback Jordan McCloud, another new Duke on the offense, throwing a 64-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior wide receiver Reggie Brown, and senior running back Latrell Palmer and junior running back Sammy Malignaggi scoring one rushing touchdown each, the defense made up enough stops to win the scrimmage.

Brown said it felt good to be back in the zone and make those bigger performative plays like his touchdown catch. Cignetti said JMU’s counting on him to have a big year, and that Brown is aware of that expectation.

Brown added that Cignetti has talked to him in the offseason about stepping into a larger leadership and playmaker role for JMU in 2023.

“Coach trusts and believes in me to take the step,” Brown said. “I’m thankful for that and I’m going to continue to make plays and be a leader for the guys.”

Cignetti said JMU has plenty of ground to cover between now and its first game of the season against Bucknell on Sept. 2, but he’s optimistic and has found many of positives in the team’s work this spring.

“We got to have a great summer,” Cignetti said. “I think our mindset is good — they know what lies ahead of them.”

CONTACT Kaiden Bridges at breezesports@gmail.com. For more football coverage, follow the sports desk on Twitter at @TheBreezeSports.

Redshirt senior wide receiver Reggie Brown said it was great to be back on the field making plays Saturday, like his 64-yard touchdown catch.

Redshirt senior quarterback Jordan McCloud scrambles as he’s rushed by senior defensive lineman Abi Nwabuoku-Okonji in JMU’s spring football game. Photos by Charlotte Matherly / The Breeze

Redshirt senior running back Ty Son Lawton said he “likes the challenge” of competing against JMU’s other running backs for playing time.

JMU field hockey joins MAC for 2024 season

SPORTS DESK

The Breeze

JMU field hockey will join the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as an affiliate member beginning in the 2024 season, per a press release Wednesday morning.

The Dukes went 10-7 in 2022 with an independent schedule despite the Sun Belt move because the conference doesn’t currently sponsor field hockey.

“JMU has a rich field hockey tradition and will strengthen the league,” MAC Comissioner Jon Steinbrecher said. “I look forward to their entrance and the development of new rivalries in this sport.”

The Dukes join Appalachian State, Longwood and Bellarmine as affiliate members, while Ohio, Miami (OH), Kent State, Central Michigan and Ball State are full members of the MAC.

explore sponsoring field hockey at one point in 2022, but as of now, there are no official plans to add the sport.

“I’m excited for head coach Christy Morgan and our student-athletes that JMU field hockey has found a home in the MAC as an affiliate conference member,” JMU Director of Athletics Jeff Bourne said in the press release. “As we pursued a conference opportunity for our program, it was important that we identified the right fit. We believe that we’ve found that in the MAC, where JMU will join a reputable group of institutions, including our full-time conference mate, Appalachian State. I’d like to thank Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher and the MAC institutions for welcoming JMU, and we look forward to great completion in 2024.”

JMU field hockey will join Appalachian State, Longwood and Bellarmine as affiliate members of the MAC. Photos by Savannah Reger / The Breeze

JMU field hockey will spend one more season as an independent program before its switch to the MAC. Its 2023 schedule is expected to be released soon.

Freshman midfielder Alice Roeper turns her back against a Tribe defender to protect the ball and help produce offense in the midfield. The Dukes faced William & Mary as an independent opponent in fall 2022. It was just announced that JMU field hockey will be an affiliate member of the MAC in 2024.

Bounce back

JMU baseball’s sweep of Louisiana is a sign of potential success in conference play

By JACKSON HEPHNER The Breeze

It’s the bottom of the ninth in game one of JMU’s three-game series versus Louisiana. The Dukes are down 8-7. With one out and runners on first and second, graduate outfielder Jaylon Lee steps up to the plate, pinch hitting for freshman second baseman Mike Mancini.

Lee had a chance to cool off a Ragin’ Cajuns squad riding high heading to Harrisonburg. Three days before, Louisiana upset No. 1 LSU 8-5 on the road. It was the first time the Ragin’

Cajuns had defeated a top ranked opponent since they also topped the Tigers 4-1 in 2014.

Head coach Marlin Ikenberry said when looking for a pinch hitter, he was looking for a batter who could drive in a double. Instead, Lee drove in a three-RBI homer, giving the Dukes a 10-8 win.

Lee’s teammates mobbed him at home plate, and it wasn’t long before he was drenched with a cooler full of Gatorade. Ikenberry called the win huge for his team, emphasizing how much JMU talks about winning weekends.

“We don’t know these teams historically,” Ikenberry said of Sun Belt foes, “so you don’t really know what you’re gonna get until they get here.”

Winning weekends has been easier said than done for the Dukes in conference play. Before Louisiana, the Dukes had won only one threegame series in conference play and were coming off their worst series loss yet — Southern Miss.

After falling 7-6 in a close game one to the Golden Eagles, the Dukes put up a single run in a lopsided 7-1 game two defeat and were runruled in the series finale 15-2. In three days, the Eagles outscored the Dukes 29-9.

JMU’s midweek game versus Maryland on April 19 wasn’t much better. The Dukes scored 12 runs but allowed 19 to the Terrapins, snapping their undefeated record in midweek games (101) in the process.

Meanwhile, Louisiana started its conference slate winning three of its first five Sun Belt series. That previous weekend, the Ragin’ Cajuns had lost their series to Troy two games to one, but they bounced back in historic fashion during their midweek game versus No. 1 LSU.

“Obviously, they’re really good,” JMU sophomore designated hitter Ryan Dooley said after game two. “To go out and beat the No. 1 team in the country, it’s not everyday you do that.”

Game one of three ended up being the closest the Ragin’ Cajuns were to defeating the Dukes.

Ikenberry said his team needed to pitch better in games two and three. In game one, Ertlschweiger pitched a career-high five innings and six strikeouts, Ertlschweiger started game one against Southern Miss, giving up five hits and six runs in just 1.1 innings pitched. It ended up being Ertlschweiger’s first loss of the season, and after he started game one against Louisiana, he said his strategy going in was just to bounce back.

But his performance was followed by four JMU pitchers who combined for four strikeouts, eight hits and five runs. Ikenberry said the number of pitching changes was because he wanted to just give the Ragin’ Cajuns different looks to “hold on there.”

In game two, the Dukes played just two pitchers. Sophomore Todd Mozoki started on the mound and pitched 4.1 innings, allowing five hits and five runs. Freshman Jaden Kinsler took over for the final 4.2 innings, picking up the win while allowing three hits and no runs — in the process tying his career high in strikeouts (4) and setting a new one in innings pitched.

The improvement from the pitching staff was complemented by another strong offensive performance. The Dukes put up 13 runs against the Ragin’ Cajuns, led by Dooley’s seven RBIs, including a grand slam in the fourth.

“I think we hunted a lot of good pitches,” Dooley said. “We got some good pitches and did our job.”

Ikenberry said after that game he called Dooley “Mr. April” because of his combined 12 hits and five RBIs in the month last season. In game three, Mr. April struck again, hitting a two-RBI homer in JMU’s 9-4 victory. Freshman second baseman Mike Mancini led the Dukes in RBIs with three, including his first-career homer. JMU’s bullpen put together another efficient performance in game three. Junior Ryan Murphy, redshirt junior Matt Kleinfelter and redshirt freshman T.R. Williams combined to allow just seven hits and four runs. Meanwhile, Louisiana used six different pitchers who combined to allow 12 hits and nine runs.

When the dust settled, the Dukes outscored the Ragin’ Cajuns 32-14, marking the first time they’d outscored a Sun Belt opponent in a threegame series. The win also propelled them from 11th to ninth in the Sun Belt standings, bringing them back into the picture for the 10-team Sun Belt tournament.

Before then, the Dukes still have four series to go in regular season Sun Belt play, with Appalachian State next on the slate starting Friday at 6 p.m.

Moving forward, thanks in part to JMU’s series against Louisiana, the tournament is within reach.

CONTACT Jackson Hephner at breezesports@gmail.com. For more baseball coverage, follow the sports desk on Twitter at @TheBreezeSports.

Louisiana sophomore infielder Kyle DeBarge slides into second base. The Ragin’ Cajuns were outscored 29-9 in their three game series against JMU.

Sophomore outfielder Ryan Dooley slides into second base during JMU’s 9-4 win over Louisiana on Sunday. Photos by Savannah Reger / The Breeze

Louisiana junior pitcher Carson Fluno fires off a pitch. Fluno was one of six Ragin’ Cajuns who pitched in game three against the Dukes.

Junior pitch Ryan Murphy thows a pitch. Murphy, redshirt junior Matt Kleinfelter and redshirt freshman T.R. Wiliams combined for seven hits and four runs against the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Left her mark

Women’s golfer breaks program record for career rounds played

By MADI ALLEY The Breeze

Before entering her fifth and final season as a Duke, redshirt senior Kate Owens had high aspirations for herself and for JMU women’s golf this season.

“I kind of want to leave everything on the line,” Owens said. “Honestly, I just want to graduate without wondering what could have been.”

And Owens did just that — “there’s not a day that she doesn’t put in her all at practice,” junior Haley Quickel said.

“She’s a very instrumental part of the team,” Quickel said. “She’s been an incredible player for all of the years that she’s been here.”

Owens now holds the record for the most career rounds played in program history and third-lowest career scoring average. Owens

has played 135 rounds across her five years as a Duke, averaging a score of 75.01 (+3.16 to par) across her career.

In her final season, the redshirt senior racked up three straight top-10 finishes.

Owens finished T-10 at the River Landing Classic, the Dukes’ first tournament of individual play this spring. Thirteen days later, Owens placed T-3 at the Golfweek Intercollegiate to help push JMU to its second first-place finish of the spring. Before heading into postseason play, she placed T-9 at the ECU Ironwood Invitational in the

Dukes’ third win of four tournaments this season.

Owen’s impact on the Dukes stretches far beyond her performances out on the green, though. The veteran leader has played a pivotal role in creating the team’s close-knit bond.

“She’s always taking care of the team,” junior Amelia Williams said. “Scheduling team dinners and just making sure everyone’s having fun on the course and everything.”

The redshirt senior’s extra efforts off the

course have helped define what leadership looks like for this program and for those who will follow in her footsteps.

“I aspire to show some of the qualities she does when I’m a senior,” Williams said. “She’s someone I really looked up to on the team since my freshman year and she has always set a great example.”

While Owen’s may be closing her chapter of golf at JMU, the soon-to-be alumna still remains eager to continue competing.

She plans to keep playing golf on the amateur level, Owens said, “but it’ll never be the same as the time I put in now, so, it’s probably the end of an era, but what a way to end.”

CONTACT Madi Alley at alleyml@dukes.jmu.

edu. For more women’s golf coverage, follow the sports desk on Twitter @TheBreezeSports.

Redshirt senior Kate Owens takes a swing during the Golfweek Invitational from March 2729. Owens finished T-3, helping propel the Dukes to a first place finish. Photos courtesy of JMU athletics

Owens takes a swing during the Lady Paladin Invitational from September 23-25. She holds the record for most career rounds played (135) and the third-lowest career scoring average (75.01,+3.16 to par).

Owens first pumps a coach during a tournament. This season, she finished in the top 10 in three straight tournaments.

“Honestly, I just want to graduate without wondering what could have been.”

Kate Owens

JMU women’s golf redshirt senior

Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts & Pats is the place to do it. Submit your own at breezejmu.org.

An “I’m-trying-tosleep-here” dart to the people dancing outside my apartment complex at 11 p.m. on Monday.

From someone who needed just one night of peace.

A “we-see-you” pat to everyone in JMU Facilities Management — all of us here see and benefit every day from the tireless work you do and we too often forget to take a second or two to stop and tell you how much we appreciate it.

From a staff member who failed to notice a good thing done by one particular Facilities Management employee and wants to make sure all of you know that you and the work you do for everyone is valued here.

Liz Wheeler’s speech was harmful to the transgender community

MARY MABRY a message from mary Freedom: a simple idea, but often more nuanced than what meets the eye. For Liz Wheeler, a conservative commentator, freedom meant coming to JMU on Wednesday to promote her ideas. However, she simultaneously promoted a lack of freedom for transgender individuals.

Wheeler’s speech, “The Ideology of Transgenderism,” seemed to enforce the gender binary and invalidate transgender identities.

These words and ideas are harmful to the transgender community at JMU. Although not hate speech, it’s hateful speech, junior Heather Dueñas — who organized a peaceful demonstration in support of the transgender community — said.

Misconceptions

Wheeler has many misconceptions about gender and the transgender community. Although the UN recognizes the difference between sex and gender, Wheeler doesn’t.

The UN website states, “Gender identity refers to each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth.”

A 2022 article published in Innovations of Clinical Neuroscience echoes this, saying, “It has been well established that gender is a social construct, not an inborn reality of biology, nor is it binary. This is contrasted with sex, which is generally defined as the biological characteristics.” The article also says sex can be male, female or nonbinary because of those born intersex.

Wheeler doesn’t see a distinction between the two.

“Men cannot be women — even if they want to identify as women — and women cannot be men, even if they feel that they are,” Wheeler said. “Sex is binary: male and female. [Queer theorists] tell you that it’s fluid.”

These contrasting ideas explain why Wheeler doesn’t believe there’s anything beyond being cisgender. Because of this, Wheeler said, “the transgender ideology is a lie” — immediately refuting the idea that someone can identify as a gender they weren’t assigned at birth.

A “noise-complaint” dart to Pheasant Run apartments for having thin walls.

From someone who is tired of hearing someone else’s music.

Transgender people are left feeling unseen and misunderstood. Senior Ken Kensky, graduating president of Madison Equality and a transgender man, said Wheeler’s view of gender is a “fundamental misunderstanding of biology and of human nature” that ignores intersex individuals or those who don’t feel they fit into the gender binary and the gender norms associated with them.

Another misconception Wheeler has is about the oppression transgender people face.

Wheeler said queer theory “poses the idea that LGBTQ+ people are so marginalized — they’re so oppressed — that their only recourse is to revolt against their so-called oppressors” and that its goal “is to pit one demographic of people against another demographic of people in our country in order to create chaos and revolution.”

She also said transgender people are victims of a cult and are tricked into thinking they’re oppressed.

Wheeler’s words ignore the oppression that transgender people in this country face and imply that queer people try to create divisiveness.

In reality, this divisiveness exists because violence is inflicted upon transgender individuals. According to the UN, transgender people are “caught in a spiral of exclusion and [marginalization]: often bullied at school, rejected by their family, pushed out onto the streets and denied access to employment” as well as facing violence in healthcare settings.

For example, Everytown Research and Policy states transgender people are 2.5 times as likely to be victims of violence as cisgender people.

The Center for American Progress says nearly one in three transgender adults have experienced homelessness during their lifetime and nearly half of transgender adults report having negative or discriminatory experiences with a health care provider.

Denying the oppression that transgender people face only further solidifies this oppression; it denies them the space to heal from violence and have their experiences validated.

Although Wheeler stated she cares deeply about the transgender community, she lacks compassion by not recognizing the pain and adversity they’ve faced throughout history.

Rhetoric

“The Ideology of Transgenderism” is a poor choice of words.

“To hear someone call my identity an ideology is pretty crazy — to call it an ‘ism’ as if it’s something that exists separate from me is very dehumanizing,” Kensky said.

Wheeler used the term “ideology” throughout her speech. She described it as evil and said transgender people are being used and damaged by this ideology.

Continuing this sentiment, Wheeler said transgender people need a “cult deprogrammer” and this truth will “set you free.”

The way Wheeler describes transgender individuals and speaks to them as an audience is belittling.

Dueñas said she believes individuals like Wheeler lack understanding, and she wants to “bring them in rather than call them out and have a conversation about these things.”

Wheeler also used fearmongering speech to villainize the LGBTQ+ community — the path of queer theory “leads to oppression, tyranny and death,” she said.

She also used this language in an attempt to tell the transgender community at JMU how they feel.

“You long to find your true selves and you desperately want to escape the way you feel just so you can have control of yourself again, so nobody else can hurt you,” Wheeler said. “That’s why you’re so angry right now.”

Kensky said he’s hurt by the fact that his peers at JMU, people he knows and has talked to, invited Wheeler — “who is so openly transphobic and homophobic” — to campus, and described Wheeler’s online content as “disturbing and disheartening.”

Call to action

Wheeler’s words imply a call to action. She continually said queer theory has a political

agenda that’s a threat to young people and uses transgender people as pawns to be abandoned.

This, along with scare tactics, expresses a movement that needs to be stopped.

When asked about this so-called political agenda, Kensky said transgender identities becoming politicized wasn’t by choice.

“If I could have my identity not be a political statement I would, but because people are trying to take away fundamental rights that I have, like health care, access to education, housing … we’re forced to take a political stance against people who are using politics to try to take away our rights,” Kensky said.

Dueñas said human rights aren’t a political agenda, and theories such as queer theory and critical race theories are “there to help focus on people who have, for a very long time, not been heard.”

Wheeler framed a fight for rights and lack of discrimination as something evil that should be rejected. This is hurtful to the transgender community and aims to prevent them from overcoming the violence they already face in this country.

“YAF individuals have a right to have these ideas, but they should take a step back and consider the impact of the ideologies they’re trying to spread have on JMU and the community,” Kensky said.

You are loved and supported. “It can be very isolating a lot of times to be queer, but just know there is community out there for you and there are allies out there, even if you don’t necessarily know it,” Kensky said.

You’re beautiful, and there’s a community at JMU that’s fighting for you, Dueñas said.

CONTACT Mary Mabry at mabrymm@dukes. jmu.edu. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on Instagram and Twitter @Breeze_Opinion.

Students gather to protest the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) event featuring conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler. Savannah Reger / The Breeze

Guest Essay: How President Alger might improve faculty-administration relations

By VARDAMAN R. SMITH, WILLIAM H. INGHAM & JAMES J. LEARY

We are three emeritus faculty who chose to spend our entire academic careers at JMU because we were dedicated, along with countless other faculty colleagues, both living and deceased, to making good on the claim that JMU is a place where students have a genuine opportunity to acquire a high-quality undergraduate education. Taken together, we represent approximately 100 years of experience as members of the JMU faculty, dating from 1972 to 2010.

Like many other faculty members, our JMU experience varied from a labor of love to something akin to being trapped in a failed marriage where divorce wasn’t an option. Full disclosure: While we’ve had our respective successes in teaching, research and service, we were all among the central administration’s prominent public critics during the latter years of President Ronald E. Carrier’s term in office.

Our hope is that by providing the following historical perspective, analysis and recommendations, President Jonathan Alger might find the will to address the core issue that has plagued faculty-administration relations since the mid-1970s: the overlapping domains of administrative power and the faculty’s authority on curricular matters.

A recent example of these overlapping domains arose last month, when the Faculty Senate censured JMU Provost and Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Heather Coltman for unabashedly suppressing faculty input and for denying obvious conflicts of interest identified by the faculty. On April 13, the Faculty Senate passed by an overwhelming margin, a resolution condemning the Provost’s hostile and threatening reaction to faculty and the Faculty Senate for making the case that some of the actions taken by Coltman during the selection of the new Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics (CSM) were objectionable.

In each of these instances — the original infractions regarding the search for a new Dean of CSM and the Provost’s unprofessional reaction to the Faculty Senate bringing those infractions to light — Coltman demonstrated contempt for the faculty and its traditional role as guardians of the university’s primary mission. Coltman’s comportment is just the latest in a series of administrative actions that

the faculty have found objectionable enough to warrant a reaction.

It’s likely that most members of today’s JMU community weren't present when a previous administration abused its power to abrogate the faculty’s authority on curricular matters. Some will need to investigate; others will recall the following extreme examples:

• The elimination of both the Freshman Seminar Program and the Liberal Studies Program without any study of those actions being undertaken first.

• The adoption of the General Education Program despite that program having been substantively reviewed and rejected by the University Curriculum Council (UCC).

• The long list of changes announced by VPAA Oberst during the general faculty meeting on Jan. 13, 1995, which led to the “physics fiasco,” a lawsuit, and the revelation, during sworn depositions, that not a single committee had been formed, much less studied and made recommendations, for actions prior to her announcements.

The archives of The Breeze, the Daily NewsRecord and the Richmond Times-Dispatch are readily searchable starting points for the above examples.

The root cause of JMU’s faculty-administrative divide is the difference between power and authority. JMU’s central administration has been empowered by the legislature to coordinate every area of university operations, rightly so. Its power is conferred by the state to the Board of Visitors, who delegate it to Alger, who, in turn, delegates it to subordinates. It is the state charter, not their respective expertise, that affords administrators the power to make decisions and give orders backed by the ability to enforce obedience.

This power is expressed in administrative control over faculty salaries, promotions and even the livelihoods of untenured faculty. At JMU, an examination of the last two bulleted items above is sufficient to reveal that power that’s sufficient to use is sufficient to be abused.

The two essential features that distinguish auniversity from other large bureaucratic organizations are the collective expertise of its faculty and the curriculum that the faculty has a moral obligation to protect. Unlike an elementary school, where all administrators and faculty members likely understand everything being taught, a modern university embodies a

high degree of specialization.

Thus, it's unlikely that any individual holding a position in the administrative chain-of-command will fully comprehend the material being presented by a particular faculty member unless that administrator has expertise in the same discipline. For example, unless administrators hold a doctorate in mathematics, they won’t know how a topic like partial differential equations should be taught. Similarly, only a physicist would likely be able to explain the physics of microelectronic devices. And advanced training in economics is probably required to fathom why rent-seeking behavior, a prevailing feature of bureaucracies, generates conflicts of interest that apparently escaped the imaginations of legislators writing Virginia’s statutes.

These are but three illustrative examples of a university’s most essential and distinguishing asset, the faculty’s expert authority, derived from specialized training and knowledge. The state has conferred the power necessary for an academic administrator to ignore the expert opinion of the faculty. It was unable to confer wisdom. The plain names for anyone who chooses to ignore readily available faculty expertise on curricular matters — the university’s most vital asset — is either an authoritarian, a fool or both.

Thus, the root cause of JMU’s administrativefaculty divide is that for several decades, JMU has been managed in a way that has been long on the use of administrative power and short on substantive administrative-faculty collaborations.

As JMU has grown, the size of its managerial bureaucracy has increased dramatically. It resembles the managerial systems of corporations. Those managerial systems embody incentives that breed authoritarians. They also feature a lack of transparency.

In remarks to the Faculty Senate, Coltman acknowledged survey results that indicated a lack of faculty satisfaction with senior members of the administration and listed steps she has taken to address this issue. Unfortunately, the rest of the Provost’s remarks amounted to little more than authoritarian assertions, backed by the opinions of JMU attorneys and Alger.

It’s likely that Coltman’s remarks only validated the concerns that generated faculty dissatisfaction. Fortunately, there are steps within Alger’s power that are much more likely to foster collegial relations than the timeconsuming process of writing and passing Senate motions that the administration has the

power to disregard.

First, Alger should begin by establishing the groundwork for a collegial system by directing Coltman to negotiate with the leadership of the Faculty Senate on how to facilitate a transition from the current system of academic unit heads to academic unit chairs, elected by their faculty peers for a fixed term.

Academic unit chairs are more likely to understand the need for, and thus provide, transparency. Chairs may also be inclined to encourage senior members of the administration to allow transparency when it’s lacking. Establishing academic unit chairs is no panacea, but having chairs who see their role as mediating between the unit’s faculty and the relevant dean is a much more likely path to collegial working relations than relying upon academic unit heads who may think that their respective dean is the only person they need to please.

Second, Alger can change the way faculty are assigned to university committees — especially search committees for senior administrative positions that have academic responsibilities — such that the faculty determine their representatives as opposed to the administration hand-picking them. Elected faculty have both a kind of public trust to uphold and, as representatives, are more likely to provide unvarnished and timely analysis.

Finally, Alger can announce the end of the era when JMU’s administration established ad hoc committees that included faculty determined by the administration rather than by the faculty and paraded such committees as evidence of shared governance in compliance reports to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

In candid support of an improved climate at JMU, we are:

Vardaman R. Smith (he/him), Emeritus Associate Professor of Economics, Carl L. Harter Distinguished Teaching Award, 1993-94

William H. Ingham (he/him), Emeritus Professor of Physics, Distinguished Teaching Award, College of Science and Mathematics, 2002-03

James J. Leary (he/him), Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Carl L. Harter Distinguished Teaching Award, 1994-95

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this essay appeared on AAUP’s online Forum. This article has been edited only for AP style.

Modern society, technology exacerbates mental health challenges

ELIOT ZEDD contributing columnist

Depression is one of the greatest challenges in modern society. According to the World Health Organization, it’s among the leading causes of disability worldwide and contributes greatly to global health problems.

College students are especially affected.

An annual study done by the University of Michigan found that 47% of college students surveyed deal with symptoms of depression. The reasons for this crisis can be attributed to many changes in habits as a result of a modernized society.

Professor Brandon Hidaka from the University of Kansas Medical Center said in an article published in the National Library

of Medicine that there are certain diseases of modernity as a product of “drastic changes in daily life over the past century [that] are fueling the growing burden of chronic diseases, including atherosclerosis, hormone-related and gastrointestinal cancers, osteoporosis, and type 2 diabetes.” He adds that if diseases of modernity arise because of change in “contemporary and historic lifestyles,” then

depression should be considered a disease of modernity as well. Westernization, secularization, consumerism and urbanization are all aspects of modernization, especially in the past century.

from MODERNITY, page 25

Depression is a problem sweeping across the nation, but it’s difficult to measure how it’s changed over the years. Kerry Dobransky, a professor of sociology at JMU, noted that even though we can discuss these issues and make educated theories, it’s difficult to divulge empirical data regarding the increases in mental health problems over the centuries because the way they’re defined and characterized has drastically changed over time. It may be difficult to compare psychiatric health statistics to the past; nevertheless, there’s still plenty of evidence that shows how modernity plays a role in this current epidemic of depression epidemic.

Professor Andrea Mechelli, from King’s College in London, said the risk of developing depression is 20% higher among urban dwellers than those who live in rural areas. Mechelli said this is a result of different epidemiological factors, including air pollution or inadequate access to green spaces. Additionally, there are various social factors, such as inequality and lack of fulfillment.

Many American universities are the epitome of urban centers. Because Harrisonburg is in the Shenandoah Valley, it has great access to clean air and loads of green space, but the social factors of modernity are still prevalent.

A lack of exercise is one of these factors. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study revealed in a 2021 Forbes article that only 28% of Americans are meeting physical activity guidelines. This is astonishingly low. Harvard Medical School illustrated in the same article that there are certain neurological components when it comes to exercise that greatly improve mental health. A runner’s high is a great example of the positive emotional impact of exercise.

also develop eating disorders. It’s almost impossible to escape popular culture these days with the domination of smartphones and social media.

Another factor that plays a role in depression among students is a lack of vitamin D. About 42% of U.S. adults were reported to have vitamin D deficiency, according to the National Institutes of Health database. Angelos Halaris, professor of psychiatry at Loyola University, said based on existing research, vitamin D deficiency is heavily associated with depressive disorders.

College students are spending loads of time inside doing work rather than in the sun. Especially in Harrisonburg, where temperatures are often either too cold or hot to be outdoors most of the school year. This can lead to seasonal affective disorder (SAD) among college-aged students, who are 27% more likely to develop SAD. In addition, with easy access to air conditioning and heating, students often chose to spend the majority of their time indoors, which is a direct product of urbanization and modernity.

47% of college students deal with symptoms of depression according to a 2020 University of Michigan study

There are also introspective reasons that cause depression as a result of modernization, one being the decrease in faith among college students. The number of college students who don’t align with a religion has changed drastically since the 1980s, from 10% in 1986 to 31% in 2016, based on data from the CIRP Freshman Survey. One of the most renowned philosophers of the past three centuries, Friedrich Nietzsche, believed the decrease in faith leaves people without answers to fundamental questions about ourselves and others that religion had answered for thousands of years.

According to the CDC, we should be walking at least five miles a day, yet Americans tend to walk only an approximate 2 1/2 miles a day, explained by a study published in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise journal. Some JMU students only get their steps in when walking to classes, and that’s if they’re not taking the free buses.

While exercise plays a vital role in psychiatric health, body image is a struggle that many college students deal with. Per research done by Illinois State University, 80%-90% of women and around 70%-80% of men reporting being unhappy with their appearance. This can be attributed to a few different things: the idealized male or female bodies portrayed in the fashion industry, movies, TV and social media cause individuals to compare themselves to those people. This can lead people to not only fall into a depressive or anxious state but

It’s difficult to tell why this is happening, but Marc Roberts of Staffordshire University said he believes that it’s because human beings developed a greater understanding of the world around them as a result of modernization. We have formed into a more free society focused on individualism and responsibility.

It’s clear there are many different roles that modernization can play in the mental health of college students, far more than what’s mentioned. The changes in how we’ve lived over the past century have impacted the ways we view depression and what can cause it. Nevertheless, today, more than ever, the stigmas of talking about mental health are fading in the U.S. So even though depression is an affliction that we’re seeing a vast number of college students suffer from, maybe there’s a glimmer of hope we can combat this epidemic.

CONTACT Eliot Zedd at zeddej@dukes. jmu.edu. For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on Instagram and Twitter @Breeze_Opinion.

Evan Weaver / The Breeze

Study in the sun

As finals approach, students should avoid spending all their time in libraries

The months of April and May are stressful for students. We’re juggling studying for finals, working on final projects, rigorous course loads and uncertainty about the end of the school year.

Students are spending more time studying and doing schoolwork as a result of these upcoming deadlines. Carrier and Rose libraries and the Student Success Center become more occupied as finals week approaches. Although these are great places on campus, students should make a more conscious effort to spend more time outside.

Spending time in nature can help relieve stress, improve your mood and boost feelings of happiness and wellbeing, according to

the American Heart Association. This is because spending time in nature benefits students in terms of soft fascination; as defined by psychologist Stephen Kaplan, it refers to when your attention is held by a less stimulating activity.

Soft fascination can be experienced when a person is in nature. Basically, taking a break from a person’s busy environment and going into nature can help prevent cognitive fatigue. On the other hand, hard fascination is when there’s constant brain stimulation and it’s associated with cognitive fatigue.

Nature can relieve stress from our busy environments, but there are even more benefits.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are many mental

wellness benefits associated with being outside in green spaces, such as lower risk of depression and faster psychological stress recovery. The department also said being in nature can restore and strengthen our mental capacities, increasing focus and attention.

Spending time outside is even more important during these stressful weeks. The increase of focus and attention is also beneficial for studying for finals. Instead of going outside less during finals week, students should prioritize recharging outside to get these benefits.

There are many areas for JMU students to experience nature, such as the Quad, Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and the Festival lawn. All of these are available to students for free.

The Quad is a popular area for JMU

students to relax in nature. Students can be found throwing frisbees, having picnics and tanning on the Quad. It’s a key part of the JMU experience.

“I came on the Quad today to relax before my next class and enjoy some free time,” Lilly Johns, a freshman, said. She added that spending time outside positively impacts her mood and makes her forget about the stress of college.

College life, specifically finals week, is stressful for students. A great way for students to escape is to spend more time outdoors.

CONTACT Ava Menoni at menoniap@dukes. jmu.edu For more editorials regarding the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the opinion desk on Instagram and Twitter @Breeze_Opinion.

Being outside in green spaces can facilitate faster stress recovery according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Shirin Zia Faqiri / The Breeze

CONTACT Charlotte Matherly at mathercg@dukes.jmu. edu, Savannah Reger at regersj@dukes.jmu.edu and Maddie Brosan at brosanmp@dukes.jmu.edu. For more multimedia content, visit breezejmu.org/multimedia.

JMU football hosted its annual spring game Saturday, welcoming fans into Bridgeforth Stadium for the first time in 2023. The defense (white) won 24-22 over the offense. Photos by Charlotte Matherly, Savannah Reger and Maddie Brosan / The Breeze

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Lewis

By Brian Callahan

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Community

Dance Instructor

NOW HIRING Dance Teachers for Fall 2023-Spring 2024 at well-established studio in downtown Harrisonburg. Seeking teachers with extensive dance training, performance experience and love of teaching! Send resume to dancencompany@gmail.com and call 540810-3631 to begin the interview process. Interviews begin in April-Call Now! More info - dancenco.com/ employment-opportunities.

JMU Athletics Tutors

JMU Athletics is hiring Tutors for 23/24 Academic year. GPA 3.0 or higher; tutors must have received a grade of B+ or higher in any course tutored. Tutors needed for all Gen Ed courses and for all majors. Pay rate $15-20/ hour. To apply go to JMU Job Link.(https://joblink.jmu. edu/postings/14222).

Springfield

Interstate Moving Summer Jobs and student internship program. * Gym Membership * know of anyone looking for summer work $100 per referral to anyone who refers somebody - once their hired. Contact Jenny for details and to be set up with an interview: Jenny Pardo 571-220-6485

MADISON MARKETPLACE

Madison Marketplace is open for business, and all text-only listings are FREE ! Post job listings, announcements, rentals and more using our online placement tool. Ads run two weeks online and in two print editions.

CITY OF HARRISONBURG JOBS COMMUNITY MORE CITY OF HARRISONBURG JOBS

Pianist/Music Leader at Church

Mount Hermon UMC, located near Bayse, VA, is seeking an energetic and talented pianist and music leader for Sunday services at 9:30 a.m. Music leader would work with Pastor Josh Orndorff, JMU Ph.D. student. Email him at orndorjr@dukes.jmu.edu for more information. Pay is $100 per worship service.

STUDENT ASSISTANT: JMU International Study Center

20hrs/week, $10/hour, May or August start date. The International Study Center is a pathway program for international students at JMU that is run by Study Group, LLC. Submit resume to Jennifer Little, littl2jr@jmu.edu.

RFS is hiring!

Riverside Family Support is hiring Youth & Family Specialists and Youth Mentors. www.riversidefamilysupport.com.

REAL ESTATE AUCTION

Real Estate Auction 376 College Street, Dayton, Va. Thurs., April 20 at 6 p.m. Beautiful brick home with a large rear yard. Great investment property. Close to campus! TOURS: Thursday, April 13-4 p.m. & Sunday, April 16-2 p.m. See Terms at MarkCraigAuctions. com. MARK CRAIG AUCTIONS - VA#2905002160

- 540/246-6430

Seasonal Job OpportunitySwimming Pool Cashier

Do you have a flexible schedule for the summer and want to utilize your customer service skills in a fun, professional, and teamwork environment? If so, consider applying for the Swimming Pool Cashier at the Parks and Recreation Department! Find out more/apply online: https://www.harrisonburgva. gov/employment. EOE.

Career Opportunity - Zoning Administrator

Are you looking for a career in land use or development where you can utilize your experience and knowledge related to the administration and enforcement of government codes? If so, consider applying for the Community Development Department’s Zoning Administrator position! Find out more/apply online: https://www.harrisonburgva.gov/employment. EOE.

Job Opportunity - Office Assistant

Are you seeking a rewarding administrative job that allows you to make a difference in the local community? If so, consider applying to the City of Harrisonburg’s Office Assistant position within the Registrar’s Office! Find out more/apply online: https://www.harrisonburgva. gov/employment. EOE.

HEC Summer Position

Harrisonburg Electric Commission is looking for summer help in the customer service department. Good customer service, communication skills, and the basic computer skills are needed. Hours are M-F, 8:00-5:00. Visit harrisonburgelelctric.com to complete an online application, call (540) 434-5361 or stop by our downtown office.

Natural Resource Management Technicians

Virginia Forestry and Wildlife Group, located in Afton, Virginia is seeking candidates for the position of Natural Resource Managment Technician. For more information please visit: https://vaforestwild.com/jobs.

Career Opportunity - Training & Quality Assurance Program Specialist

Are you searching for a challenging yet rewarding opportunity to use your knowledge/experience in adult learning and development, training program and curriculum development, quality assurance, or auditing? If so, the HRECC Training & Quality Assurance Program Specialist may be the right career move for you! Find out more/apply: https://www.harrisonburgva.gov/ employment. EOE.