September 19, 2023

NEWS

IRANIAN SOCIETY PLANTS TREE IN HONOR OF MAHSA AMINI

JANE PARK | news EDItor

The group gathered in Blacksburg Municipal Park one year after protests erupted.

On Saturday, Sept. 16, the Iranian Society and supporters gathered at Blacksburg Municipal Park to plant a tree in honor of Mahsa Amini’s death one year ago. The organization previously organized a protest and vigil last fall at War Memorial Pylons, raising awareness and speaking out against Iran’s government and morality police.

Last year’s vigil was for Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the morality police

after they deemed that she did not appropriately wear her hijab, according to TIME. She died at a hospital on Sept. 16, 2022, three days after she was detained. Government officials stated that Amini died of a heart attack, but her family said eyewitnesses saw police beat her while en route to a detention center.

Following the news of Amini’s death, protests against the Iranian government and morality police occurred in Iran and

across the world, with an emphasis on the phrase “Women, Life, Freedom.”

“We’re here to plant a tree in memory of her first of all and moving for morality like other murdered youth,” said an anonymous member of the Iranian Society in an interview with WDBJ.

Individuals who interviewed with WDBJ chose to keep their identities anonymous to prevent retaliation from the Iranian government.

“There’s a difference between act wise and do not act,” said another anonymous interviewee. “We are acting but we are trying to protect ourselves from any harm this government can do because we saw what this government can do.”

The tree was adorned with photos of those killed during the public’s conflict with the morality police and Iran’s government, such as Kian Pirfalak and Donya Farhadi. Tied to the photos were red, green and white ribbons — the colors of Iran’s flag.

“We just want to reflect and to echo the repressed voices in Iran because they chronically tend to shut down the internet

and access to outside worlds, so we want to show to them that we are here,” said an anonymous source.

After planting the tree, the group sang songs and chanted while gathering around the tree.

“Former movements were so about poverty, or about sanctions. This one is a symbol for civilized movements as the chance of that representing woman life of freedom,” said an anonymous source.

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JANE PARK / COLLEGIATE TIMES

The Iranian Society at Virginia Tech and supporters rally around a planted tree for Mahsa Amini and other Iranians who were killed, Sept. 16, 2023.

VIRGINIA TECH STUDENTS AND EMPLOYEES’ DATA COMPROMISED BY CYBERSECURITY INCIDENT

JANE PARK | news EDItor

The information was downloaded from a computer in the Student Affairs division.

On Wednesday, Sept. 13, Virginia Tech Student Affairs released a situational awareness alert. On Sept. 3, the university found that personal information of both current and former university students and Dining Services employees was published online. A computer in the Student Affairs division contained the information, which included demographic data.

The computer was promptly taken off

the network. The university’s ongoing investigation indicates that an unauthorized party downloaded the files from the computer. It doesn’t appear that the information has been used. The alert said that other workstations or data systems don’t seem to be compromised.

Virginia Tech has reported this incident to authorities, including law enforcement. The university’s Information Technology Security Office is still investigating and

monitoring any further suspicious activity.

The university does not believe that identity theft or fraud will take place as a result of this incident. The alert, however, recommends that those impacted should monitor their personal information for any suspicious activity and be cautious of unsolicited emails or messages regarding personal information or credentials. Impacted individuals should also be cautious of requests from unknown

OPINIONS

persons or accounts.

“We also encourage those affected to change their passwords to university accounts and systems,” the university’s message said. “Virginia Tech has temporarily modified the password reset process to require data elements not included in the breach.”

VIRGINIA TECH’S DORMS ARE DAMAGING STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH

Will Frank | opinions columnist Cramped spaces, lack of privacy and unkept dorms are harming the mental well-being of students.

It’s a hot August day in the last breaths of summer 2021. I’m lugging what feels like hundreds of pounds of what I considered necessary for my survival as a college freshman, through the maze of hallways disguised under the name of Pritchard Hall. I had only a small grasp of what this next year of my life would entail.

Freshman year of college is one of the most subjective years of one’s life, with some considering it the best and most exciting year of college. What could be the start of a great adventure for some could also be the start of some of the hardest times of another’s life. College is the first time young adults have a small taste of absolute freedom — it is a transition period. They create new friends, experiment with different types of personalities and interests and gain a new understanding of what the world is and has to offer. What separates this from previous transition periods is not being under a constant eye of supervision. High school is when a person starts to really go through both physical and emotional change, but in college this happens to the extreme, as students are out from under the roof of parents

and surrounded by strangers instead of classmates you may have known for years prior.

What’s often glossed over during this metamorphosis is the towering social and emotional pressures that are connected with the changes. The COVID-19 pandemic further heightened these issues, which mentally and physically isolated kids who needed connection more than ever. According to the CIGNA U.S. Loneliness Index that surveyed 20,000 Americans in 2018, Gen Z (18-22) were found to be significantly more likely to be lonely than any other generation in the U.S. About two in three college students were reported to feel shy and that others do not understand them.

Before the pandemic, depression and anxiety were running rampant among college students. The American College Health Association reported that 60% of U.S. students felt an ‘overwhelming’ sense of anxiety, while 40% experienced depression so severe that they were unable to function on a normal basis. Of U.S. students, suicidal thoughts, severe depression, and thoughts of self-harm more than doubled in less than a decade. Suicide is now the second-leading

cause of death among college students, leading medical experts to reach the conclusion that the mental health of college students has reached a crisis level.

Anxiety and depression do not only show their effects in thoughts of self-harm, but they also influence academic performance. In a study conducted in 2019, 27% of U.S.-based students reported experiencing anxiety that had resulted in them earning a lower grade on an exam or in a class, while 20% of students said that feelings of depression were the cause of their weaker academic performance.

Given this, dorm life has a considerable impact on the mental health of all incoming university students. Ask anyone who has graduated college, and they will more than likely explain that spending an academic year in a dorm room is a canon event, a rite of passage, something that all college freshmen must experience. Whether it’s because they genuinely believe that it is a unique and helpful experience or because they want to form connections through shared awful experiences, when discussing college, tales from dorm life seem to be a must. The motivation for dorm housing

is to integrate first-year students into campus life and activities — that’s why most universities require one to two years of on-campus living. In theory, the idea makes great sense. Having new students live together brings common ground that anyone can relate to. It makes these newly freed young adults tackle challenges together and learn how to coexist with others. Students are able to handle things like sharing a living space together, setting rules and boundaries with their roommates, sharing communal bathrooms and deciding how close they want to become with their new roommate.

Virginia Tech’s policy on student housing requires most freshmen to live on-campus for a year, with few exceptions like already living in Blacksburg, while most people move to off-campus apartments for their remaining years of study. Unfortunately, a lot of Tech’s dorm buildings are subpar, according to students. Virginia Tech lacks consideration for student comfort with room selection being assigned at random the summer before

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students’ freshman year. That results in some students having almost a catalog-like selection of dorms and floors to select from, and others having bottom of the barrel barrel scraps left to choose from, such as being stuck on the highest floors of the inconveniently-located dorms, all due to luck of the draw.

Thomas Chiles, a junior studying ocean engineering, does not look back at his time in the dorms fondly.

Chiles spent his freshman year in Pritchard Hall, a dorm building infamous in Virginia Tech culture. What was once an all-male dorm, its halls are filled with legends of mayhem and destruction inflicted by its residents year after year. He missed his opportunity to find off-campus housing in time for the start of his sophomore year, so he stayed on campus at the start of the 2022 academic year, only to find himself being shoved into a converted study lounge with three other freshmen already moved in.

“It was the worst college experience, and Virginia Tech should be embarrassed they even let this happen,” Chiles said. “It was impossible to find any privacy in there. Living with three other people in a room barely big enough to even fit

four beds was one of the worst experiences of my life. All of us had hung blankets and stacked boxes around our areas to make constructed walls so we could get our work done and relax in private.”

Another component of dorm living is that students lack any and all control over the temperature of the room and the noise level of their neighbors, all of which directly impact their quality of life. Complaints can be sent to the RAs (known as student leaders) about noise levels, but it can take time for the issue to be resolved. Sleep hygiene is the behavior that promotes healthy sleep and maintaining a strong and consistent sleep schedule, and having a dark and quiet environment at night is essential to stay mentally strong.

Natural light plays a huge part in aiding strong mental health benefits. Light biologically impacts people’s sleep, and well-being by amplifying moods . An increase in natural light has been shown to decrease depression scores and improve mental fortitude. University housing is notorious for usually having one window. Depending on the positioning of that dorm building, it can face into the side of another building, limiting the amount of natural light that can enter the room. Dorm buildings should

be constructed with the purpose of trying to allow as much natural light into student’s rooms to increase motivation and better their mental health. Virginia Tech should renovate with the idea of adding natural light, either by making windows larger or adding more windows to rooms and hallways.

As I moved into campus stumbling up and down stairs carrying as much weight as I could, through hallways I would have sworn I’d been through already, and being offered no help from the absent student leaders, I eventually discovered my ‘home’ for the academic year.

I punched in the code to the room on the keypad and entered a room just larger than standard prison cell dimensions, and found one window facing directly into the back of the same dorm building I was in. The room is surrounded by white cinder blocks making it hard to mask them with posters, and I could hear almost all conversations spoken in the surrounding rooms. I was dripping in sweat due to the temperature of the building being five degrees hotter than the summer day, and soon realized that the name of my roommate on the door was not the name of the roommate I had been assigned earlier that summer. Virginia Tech had switched my roommate and had not informed me about the

LIFESTYLES

change.

In the end, as long as universities put more care into the construction of their buildings and invest in a higher quality of student leaders, living on-campus for a year is a good idea, and I would recommend that all incoming freshmen experience it. However, it seems as though universities put little consideration into the mental health of students when building residential halls and requiring students to live on-campus. The amount of money and trust these young adults give their university should be rewarded with more care and attention from administration.

On-campus housing is meant to be a safe community where new students have access to resources to aid them in their journey. This academic year, universities should invest more time and money into creating not only livable but comfortable conditions for their students, focus on more mental health resources and professionals in the dorm buildings and structure conversations with student leaders to help with problems students may have during their first year at college.

BUILDING BONDS THROUGH COMMUNITY DAY

Mirula Prasad | lifestyles writer

VTPD welcomes students to their annual Community Day celebration this Saturday.

Around 10 years ago, Nicole Quesenberry, a Virginia Tech police officer, had a vision of bringing first responders to campus. Quesenberry wanted members of the community to be able to interact with them in a low-stakes environment outside of moments of crisis.

Quesenberry wanted to show the community who their first responders are, demonstrate what resources are available and create relationships to ensure that they are accessible to the community. The Virginia Tech Police Department, Virginia Tech Rescue, Blacksburg Fire, Carilion Clinic Life-Guard, campus partners and our community came together and Community Day was born.

This year the Virginia Tech Police Department will host its annual Community Day celebration on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Students, families, locals and other members of the community are invited to the Drillfield to meet their first

responders, participate in all the activities and enjoy some free food.

The Virginia Tech Rescue Squad will be performing a mock DUI crash at 11 a.m. to highlight the dangers of driving while intoxicated and show the techniques that the Blacksburg Fire Department utilizes when extracting someone from their car after a crash. The Carilion Clinic Life-Guard plans to land a helicopter on the Drillfield. There will also be K-9 demonstrations to show off VTPD’s highly-trained canines. The State Police will be bringing a DUI simulator, and they will also have many first responder vehicles on the Drillfield, including ambulances, fire trucks and a SWAT vehicle.

Aside from the educational events that will be happening, there are a few more light-hearted events that are intended to be fun and foster relationships between our first responders and the community. There will be a dunk tank so that people

can see police officers being dunked in water, as well as watch them partake in a donut-eating contest.

For years, Sergeant Micah Pasquarell has been the driving force behind this event that works to do more than just educate — it aims to be enjoyable for the community so that meaningful relationships are built between our first responders and the community they serve.

“People need to be able to see that we can have fun, that we’ve got a sense of humor. It kind of humanizes us a little bit,” said Pasquarell. “It’s really important for us to spend time with our community when things are not in crisis, when the stakes are low. Because if we’re constantly only encountering our community during moments of crisis, we don’t see people at their best.”

The donut eating contest is a perfect example of the fun atmosphere this event is trying to cultivate: it leverages the

long-standing stereotype about police and their love for donuts. Instead of avoiding that cliche, the event embraces it to try and break the ice and create a sense of community.

So, mark your calendars and come to the Drillfield on Sept. 23 to meet the first responders who embody Tech’s motto, “Ut Prosim” (That I May Serve). As Sergeant Pasquarell put it, “When people walk away from their experience on the Drillfield, they feel confident that their first responders care about them, and that they’re capable of performing the job they’re expected to do. And for us, our first responders walk away, just sort of leave with that renewed sense of being proud of their community.”

If you are interested in getting involved, email micah17@vt.edu to learn how to be a volunteer this year.

BRINGING THE BEACH TO BLACKSBURG: THE BOARDWALK

Michaela ScotT | lifestyles assistant editor

Discover Blacksburg’s newest late night snack shop that serves all things sweet and savory.

Blacksburg is over 100 miles away from any ocean, but fortunately, if you tend to crave carnival/boardwalk food, owner Mark Halsey has brought the beach to the New River Valley.

Beginning as a project in retirement, Halsey expressed that he got bored of golfing and wanted to do something bigger.

Halsey wanted to share his family funnel cake tradition and name his store based on something his family loves, so he called the restaurant The Boardwalk. Sandwiched in between Benny Marzano’s and the Blacksburg Farmers Market, The Boardwalk opened up in June 2023 and has taken off as a business.

The owner has been working closely with the shop’s staff to ensure that it is prepared for anything. Halsey included that he rented the parking spaces outside

of The Boardwalk in order to set out tiki umbrellas and tables.

“I kept seeing people sitting in the shade over at Benny’s, so I was like ‘I should do something,’ now it kind of looks like a party over here,” Halsey said.

The owner also added that he created a pick up window for sweets and two other windows called “Boardwalk Late Night.”

“Boardwalk Late Night is only open on Friday’s and Saturday’s late, when it gets really crazy,” Halsey said. “We sell nachos over there, jumbo pretzels, taquitos, corn dogs, pretzel bites, and jumbo quarter-pound, huge hotdogs.”

The Boardwalk has an incredibly wide selection of both sweet and savory treats. According to Halsey, the shop sells funnel cakes, churros, fried Twinkies, fried Snickers, fried Oreos and over 10 flavors of ice cream.

“We also have a pretty diverse menu for sweets … we sell thousands of fried Oreos,” Halsey said. “We use double stuffed Oreos, roll them in funnel cake batter, and throw them in the air fryer. When they fry up into little cakes — the cookie turns soft.”

Halsey also mentioned that they sell a substantial amount of ice cream. When The Boardwalk first opened, it only served three flavors, but due to high demand, he added more flavors to the menu and ended up quadrupling his freezer space. Now the owner’s biggest focus is working out the store hours and figuring out how to maximize the new flow of customers as students are back on campus.

“Our hours have been changing drastically, we open at six right now, but that has been the biggest adjustment trying to figure out schedules, supplies, and how to gear up for Fridays and Saturdays,” Halsey

said. “Earlier this year, we’d have people pounding on the door even when we shut it at 2:30 a.m.”

He also added that the business implemented a window intercom system to ensure quick service, and to also make a few last call warning shots in case anyone else would like to grab a treat.

“Sometimes I’ll look over and the line at Benny’s is 40-50 people long, so my employees will make an announcement,” Halsey said. “Then all of those kids in line will think, ‘how much do I really want pizza?’ and they’ll come over here.”

Halsey noted that he is aware of pricing and is adamant about keeping his products at a reasonable price that is available for any college student.

“I talked to my kids about pricing and they kept reminding me, ‘Dad, they’re students, they won’t be able to afford it,’” Halsey said. “But I’d say prices are great now.”

Halsey also admitted that The Boardwalk will do more business on a Friday and Saturday than on any other day during the whole week, but ensured that customer satisfaction is always their main priority.

“On Fridays and Saturdays, we are putting food out so fast that you might think that it’s not good, but we make things fairly quickly and our ultimate goal is to make people happy with their food,” Halsey said.

The Boardwalk is currently open from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday through Wednesday, 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Thursday, 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Friday and 12 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Saturday.

EMELIA DELAPORTE / COLLEGIATE TIMES

The wave mural painted on the side of The Boardwalk, Sept. 17, 2023

SPORTS

INJURIES AND TURNOVERS ONCE AGAIN LEAD TO TECH FOOTBALL’S DEMISE

SAM MOSTOW | sports editor

Kyron Drones made his first start at Virginia Tech against Rutgers.

Turnovers once again doomed Virginia Tech football, as the injury-ridden Hokies lost to Rutgers, 35–16, in their first road game of the season.

On the second play of the game, Tech (1–2) quarterback Kyron Drones and running back Bhayshul Tuten were unable to complete a handoff, fumbling the ball to the Scarlet Knights (3–0), who scored on the following play. Just 38 seconds into the game, the Hokies trailed 7–0.

Tech’s experience in Piscataway didn’t get much better, aside from a brief burst in the late third and early fourth quarters, when they cut the Knights’ lead to 21–16.

Replacing injured starter Grant Wells, Drones was far from perfect, although showed some positive signs. He completed 19 of 32 passes for 190 yards and one passing

touchdown, while also gaining 74 rushing yards.

“I would say (Drones was) inconsistent, but I think there were some really good things,” said Virginia Tech Head Coach Brent Pry. “He made it hard to defend him … It was his first college start and I think there will be a lot to build on. There were certainly some good things, but I think he would be the first to say there were a bunch of things that we need to be better at.”

After the game, Pry said Wells is questionable for next week’s game against Marshall.

Drones also threw a second-quarter interception, attempting a pass into double coverage, caught by diving Rutgers defensive back Flip Dixon.

The Scarlet Knights did not turn the ball

over against Virginia Tech.

Much of Virginia Tech’s struggles resulted from injuries. Wells, along with wide receivers Ali Jennings and Jaylin Lane, suffered injuries a week ago against Purdue and didn’t play on Saturday. On the defensive side, linebacker Alan Tisdale and safety Nasir Peoples spent the game on the sideline.

Scarlet Knights running back Kyle Monangai tore through the Hokies’ defensive line, rushing 16 times for 143 yards — an average of 8.9 yards per carry — and three touchdowns. As a team, Rutgers ended the game with 256 rushing yards, averaging 7.5 yards per carry. Although Tech limited Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt to seven completions and 46 passing yards, its struggles to stop the run have been a glaring

issue in the first three weeks of the season.

“We did our very best out there,” said Hokies defensive lineman Josh Fuga. “We left some things out that we wish that we could have back, but all I can say is that we went out there and gave it our all.”

In the first half, the Hokies held possession for 19:59, nearly 10 more minutes than Rutgers. Despite dominating time of possession, Virginia Tech could only muster a field goal until halftime, entering the break with a 21–3 deficit.

Virginia Tech will continue their set of away games next week, traveling to Marshall on Saturday at 12 p.m.

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WOMEN’S SOCCER FALLS 1–0 TO NO. 2 NORTH CAROLINA IN ACC OPENER

Javier Mico-Crump | sports staff writer

Tech will continue their road trip against Boston College on Thursday.

In their ACC opener on Thursday, the Virginia Tech women’s soccer team wasn’t able to upset No. 2 North Carolina, falling 1–0 in Chapel Hill.

In their last matchup, the Tar Heels traveled to face the unranked Hokies on Thompson Field. In one of the biggest shocks of the season, a roaring crowd helped lift Virginia Tech to a 2–1 win — one of their biggest results of the season. This time, however, the Hokies were the visiting team, and North Carolina was ready to avenge their loss.

The Hokies (3–3–3, 0–1 ACC) looked ready to compete with the undefeated Tar Heels (6–0–3, 1–0 ACC) in the first half, creating several chances to go up on the scoreboard. Virginia Tech recorded

eight shots in the first half, doubling the Tar Heels’ four strikes. Both goalies were tested twice, making two saves apiece and keeping the game level at 0–0 heading into the break.

In the second half, the Tar Heels took control of the game. They created 13 shots, forcing Hokies goalkeeper Alia Skinner to make four saves after the break. The Hokies, on the other hand, didn’t get off a single strike in the last 45 minutes.

The Tar Heels finally found their moment in the 66th minute. A long, floated cross made its way into a highly-contested box. Skinner went up to make a play for the ball but wasn’t able to hold on. The ball trickled into the path of Evelyn Shores, who took her chance to put the Tar Heels up 1–0.

The Hokies couldn’t find a way back into the game, and North Carolina got the result they had been waiting for since the night on Thompson Field last October.

The Hokies will continue their three-game road trip next Thursday, when they travel to play Boston College (3–3–2). The Hokies are on a three-game winning streak against the Eagles, and will look to extend their streak — and get their first ACC win of the season — on Thursday, Sept. 21.

CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS EARN COMFORTABLE VICTORIES IN ALUMNI INVITATIONAL

Ben Schneider | sports staff writer

The Hokies beat six other schools on their home turf.

Both Virginia Tech cross country teams secured first-place finishes in the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational at the Buford Meredith Cross Country Course on Friday. The Hokies swept the meet against six other schools to continue their winning ways to start the season, as both teams also won in the first meet at the Hokie Invitational on Friday, Sept. 1. They have yet to face ACC competition, as the Alumni Invitational featured runners from High Point, Milligan, Lynchburg, East Tennessee State, Howard and Delaware, along with 13 Virginia Tech alumni who competed in a 4k to end the meet.

The men’s team began the night for Virginia Tech, starting their eight-kilometer

race at 6:30 p.m. The 8k route took the Hokies through two full laps of the course separated by one smaller lap.

At the one-mile marker of the approximately five-mile race, Virginia Tech’s Arnav Tikhe led the field. He was followed closely by Jason Bowers of East Tennessee State, and then by Viktor Idhammar, Declan Rymer and Bryce Reeburgh of Virginia Tech and Evan Guzman of East Tennessee State.

As the race continued, Tikhe and the Hokies lost the lead to Bowers, who would finish first overall by 34 seconds. Bowers was followed by East Tennessee State teammate Guzman, who took second place. However, the Hokies claimed third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place and

returned nine runners in the top 15.

Despite East Tennessee State controlling the top of the leaderboard with the first two finishers, the Hokies’ depth earned them the win by 32 points. The Hokies had their five scoring runners cross the line before any other school, except for East Tennessee State, had even one finisher. Idhammar was the first finisher for the Hokies in 24:29; he was followed by Rymer, Reeburgh, Tikhe and Alec Fleming to earn a team score of 25 points with the values of their places added together.

The women were next to race, with the starting gun for their six-kilometer race going off at 6:15 p.m. The 6k course took the runners through two laps of the course

and around 3.7 miles of distance.

At the first mile marker, the lead pack was six runners deep, with three being Hokies. The Virginia Tech women then jumped out to the front over the next mile, with Lindsay Butler and Mary Kate McGranahan leading the race. They were followed closely by High Point’s Brianna Malone, and then by the Hokies’ Lila Waters and Ava Hassebrock.

Butler and McGranahan went on to take first and second place, respectively, with times of 21:34 and 21:45. Waters and Hassebrock finished fourth and fifth with Virginia Tech’s fifth-scoring runner, Chase Kappeler, coming in at eighth place. Sophie Brzezinski and Elizabeth Coe also earned top 15 spots.

The Hokies’ performance earned them 20 points, beating the second-place team, High Point, by 41. Their top five finished before any other school had more than one runner place.

“I feel like everyone today ran really strong, and like looking at the finish everyone had a really good kick at the end,” Waters said.

Coe believes that the Hokies’ early season performance is a testament to the many miles they have put in during practice so far.

“I think we had a lot of girls pushing each other and we do the same in workouts, so I think it shows in meets, too,” Coe said.

The men’s and women’s teams will both race next at pre-nationals in Charlottesville, Virginia on Oct. 14.

MORGAN WILLIAMS / COLLEGIATE TIMES

Preparing for the cross country race: the men’s team, Sept. 16, 2022.