Issue 26, Volume 85 by The Cougar

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Wednesday, April 22, 2020 Issue 26, Volume 85

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Historical Collapse

The combination of a tanking oil market and the coronavirus pandemic has left the energy sector in ruins. Some graduating seniors going into the industry had a backup plan, but others are left to scramble. | PG. 2

SPORTS Where do experts expect offensive tackle Josh Jones to go in the 2020 NFL Draft? | PG. 6

OPINION PETA’s claim that ‘COVID-19 wouldn’t exist in a vegan world’ is harmful and misleading. | PG. 8

2 | Wednesday, April 22, 2020

NEWS

AUTUMN RENDALL, EDITOR

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ACADEMICS

Cut short

Graduating seniors adjust to upended final days AUTUMN RENDALL

NEWS EDITOR @AUTUMNRENDALL

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the lives of over 25 million college students across thousands of U.S. universities, and graduating seniors are still adjusting to the emotional impact of their traditional college experience being cut short. Students part of UH’s 2020 class, who saw their final semester switch to onlineonly learning, will walk across the graduation stage months after the date they were expecting and are worried about entering the workforce during this unprecedented time. While some students are optimistic about what the future holds after the pandemic, others are still working to overcome these upending changes to their final days of higher education.

Unexpected goodbyes For the last two years, digital media senior TressMarie Landa has been working on her thesis presentation. After changing majors twice, transferring schools and taking a couple

of semesters off to work, she is excited to be near the finish line of her college journey. “Graduation was going to be that final step that I’ve been patiently and diligently working towards,” Landa said. While working on her thesis, Landa had dreamed about giving her final presentation and supporting her classmates through theirs. “It was supposed to be a big event and a time to see all my classmates’ hard work,” Landa said. “I wanted to take pictures with my professors and classmates — make more final memories.” Because of the switch to remote learning, Landa and her classmates’ thesis presentations were presented virtually. Though she said it was nice to present from her living room, she’s determined to give her classmates a proper goodbye once the pandemic reaches its end.

Finding a job — or keeping one The pandemic has forced millions of layoffs across the world, and millions have already filed for unemployment. Before the coronavirus pandemic

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the higher education system has taken an emotional toll on some spring 2020 seniors. | File photo

began to affect University operations, Landa had a work-study job as a lab assistant at UH Sugar Land — which she later lost due to campus closures. “Student workers have definitely struggled losing that income unexpectedly,” Landa said. Many graduating seniors, such as public relations senior Fatimah Sayeed, had prepared to spend April attending career fairs, interviews and other events to get a foot in the door of the job market. Since various career events have been canceled or moved to virtual formats because of the pandemic, Sayeed’s fears continue to grow about joining the workforce after graduation. “Now me, and others I know, are worried about when we’ll find a job and what the future holds for us,” Sayeed said.

Academic switch-up At the start of the spring

semester, journalism senior Aimée Pezina only needed one more class to fulfill her minor in women’s, gender and sexuality studies. The only class in this area available at the time she was able to enroll in was a 3000level course in a subject she had never taken; a course in economics — specifically, the economics of gender. Even though she knew the class would be a challenge for her, Pezina petitioned the course to qualify for her minor, and she enrolled. Because the class was faceto-face, she was confident she’d be able to study hard and perform well. However, after the University switched to online classes, that confidence disappeared. “I was a balloon of nerves waiting to pop,” Pezina said. Pezina said her professor has done an amazing job transferring the course to work online by incorporating real-time lectures, class discussions and more, but Pezina is still

a “ball of nerves” about her performance in the course.

Missed accomplishments Because she took four to six classes each semester, worked two or three jobs at the same time and devoted time to volunteering, Pezina said her college experience has revolved around graduation. In light of the coronavirus, UH’s commencement ceremonies for spring graduates have been postponed till late summer or early fall. Pezina said she’s been trying to take her mind off of the change because there are “more important things happening in the world,” but she still feels let down. “I didn’t just scrape by,” Pezina said. “I worked really hard to get my bachelor’s, and without graduation in May, it will feel like it wasn’t an accomplishment.” news@thedailycougar.com

UH Italian professor faces coronavirus outbreak in home country SYDNEY ROSE

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR @SYDNEYROSE1029

As the number of cases of the new coronavirus grows throughout the world, Italy is one of the most affected European countries by COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. For UH Italian professors and faculty with family and friends still living in Italy, the impact of the pandemic has been worrisome. “Italy is another part of me, so it is very hard to see what is happening there,” professor of Italian and classical studies Francesca

Behr said. Behr has double citizenship with Italy and America after coming to the U.S. for her Ph.D. and remaining stateside after marrying an American citizen. Many of Behr’s friends and family members still live in Italy. Italy has the third-most cases of COVID-19 in the world, with 24,648 deaths and at least 183,957 people infected as of April 21. A popular hashtag on

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Wednesday, April 22, 2020 | 3 AUTUMN RENDALL, EDITOR

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NEWS

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CITY

Energy students anxious for future amid historically low oil prices Prices crashed to below $0 this week, signaling severity of reduced demand worldwide.

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Jiselle Santos

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ABOUT CSM The Center for Student Media provides comprehensive advisory and financial support to the university’s student-run media: The Cougar newspaper, CoogTV and Coog Radio. Part of the Student Life portfolio in the

The collapse in oil prices is a threat for Houston and Texas economies, according to the Houston Chronicle, and will increase an already dreary prediction for the area. Economists had predicted that Houston’s unemployment rate would hit 10 percent by the end of the month. | Katrina Martinez/The Cougar

JANET MIRANDA

STAFF WRITER @_JANETMIRANDA

The price of U.S. oil for the first time dropped below zero on Monday as demands for crude fall due to the coronavirus pandemic and storage tanks are nearing capacity. As many companies in the energy sector have been forced to freeze hiring and lay off workers, UH seniors hoping to enter the industry have been left with a tough start to their career. “The energy sector is a place that I did want to stay in and I enjoyed,” supply chain management senior Robert Gonzales said. “However, I’m starting to think about other options just because I’m starting to see the dynamic aspect of the industry — going really high to really low in just a short period of time.” In a UH-led survey of energy workers from March 25 to April 1, 53 percent said they were worried about job security due to the pandemic, and almost four out of 10 are worried about paying their mortgages and other bills.

“(The crisis) has definitely made it a lot tougher to find a job, especially for graduating seniors. I’ve actually talked to some friends of mine and they said their internships have been pulled or they were unable to be hired at the time ” Robert Gonzales, supply chain management senior Gonzales currently works at Oasis Petroleum. His contract will end at the end of April, but due to the slowdown in the energy sector, the company won’t be able to extend him a full-time offer. “(The crisis) has definitely made it a lot tougher to find a job, especially for graduating seniors,” Gonzales said. “I’ve actually talked to some friends of mine and they said their internships have been pulled or they were unable to be hired at the time.” To ensure he still has a job upon graduation, Gonzales is exploring other supply chain opportunities. He’s been in touch with his former

boss at H-E-B who reached out for his help because of the grocery store’s surging demand. Gonzales hopes to eventually join the supply chain department in their corporate office. “It’s good to have a backup plan just in case because this could be something that affects us for the foreseeable future,” Gonzales said. Despite the decline in oil prices, Jamie Belinne, assistant dean for career services at the C. T. Bauer College of Business, believes the energy sector will be able to bounce back from its current crisis.

“We’ve had a downturn in the energy industry before,” Belinne said. “Energy is actually better prepared than most industries to handle it. In the 1980s the sector had a downturn that caused a gap of energy leaders, so they learned they need to keep their pipeline full.” Energy companies, who have been forced to freeze hiring or rescind offers, tend to keep the door open and encourage relationships with their prospective hires to bring them on when times get better, Belinne said. As a mechanical engineering senior, Karim Fakhoury is thankful to have a post-graduation job offer that still stands. Fakhoury will start a three-year rotational program with an energy company later this year, despite hiring freezes. “This is an opportunity to asses what you want to do and why,” Fakhoury said. “I’ve just been staying positive although they did delay my start date. I still have the job, so I am happy.” news@thedailycougar.com

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4 | Wednesday, April 22, 2020

NEWS

SGA

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‘Never thought it would have been me’ Khademakbari’s path to SGA presidency

DONNA KEEYA

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR @DONNAKEEYA_

Jasmine Khademakbari, a mathematical biology junior, never saw herself as the type of person who could become a student leader, but by her third year at UH, Khademakbari has been a College of Natural Science and Mathematics senator, a Student Life Committee chair and most recently the Student Government Association president. Now leading the 57th SGA administration virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, Khademakbari aims to achieve her campaign platform of providing affordable housing, inclusive student support, a green campus, academic support and campus safety to all students. “Everything on my platform is still something I’m going to work on,” Khademakbari said. “That’s something that isn’t going to change (whether classes are) in person or online.” Khademakbari’s first experience with SGA was her freshman year during the original Students Unite campaign, led by former president Cameron Barrett. After hearing a senate candidate speak to her biology class, Khademakbari felt inspired to join SGA. Two years later, she is representing Barrett’s namesake, as the third consecutive Students Unite president. At the time, Khademakbari was involved on campus through the Chi Omega sorority, where she was the Frontier Fiesta production chair for two years. After becoming interested in SGA, Khademakbari reached out to Barrett to learn

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social media has been #andràtuttobene, which has reached over a million posts on Instagram and is featured in the bios of many people’s Twitter accounts. Behr describes the hashtag as consisting of three parts translating to, “everything will be alright.” “I am not big about social media platforms, but I have been using (the hashtag) as a salutation form in some of my emails to remind people what is happening in Italy,” Behr said. “Optimism characterizes my country and the hashtag reminds me of our resilience and capacity

Jasmine Khademakbari at the 2020 SGA presidential debate in February. Although Khademakbari never thought she would be a student leader, the mathematical biology junior is now the Student Government Association president for the 57th administration. | Kathryn Lenihan/The Cougar

more about how to participate. “I ended up meeting with Cameron right after he won, and I asked him how I could get involved in SGA,” Khademakbari said. “He told me I could join a university committee, or I could maybe run in the election next year.” The following year, Khademakbari ran for a College of Natural Science and Mathematical senate seat under the Coogs Unite party. It was after she won her senate seat that Khademakbari reached out to Barrett once again for advice on how to be a good senator. “He said, ‘Look, have a couple initiatives you want to work on, and then work on those initiatives and that’s it, you’ll be a good senator,’” Khademakbari said. Keeping Barrett’s advice in

mind, Khademakbari worked to achieve her ambitions of being an active and successful senator. During her first term, she worked on multiple pieces of legislation including the Student Transfer Helpful Tip Sheet bill, the Cougar Equipment Sharing Service bill, the Appointment Transparency act and more. Barrett believes Khademakbari has the experience to be a good president, highlighting her programming skills as a student life chair. “She had more of a programming focus as student life chair, wanting to plan events,” Barrett said. “She planned the second iteration of SGA’s haunted house successfully.” Khademakbari’s work did not go unnoticed. She was approached

to react to the worst.” Behr said she can talk to some of her family members daily and that the majority of them are working from home, but they keep telling her how difficult it is to face the solitude. Italy has been on lockdown since March 9. “For us Italians, this kind of social distancing is painful, almost a betrayal of who we are, of how we express care, friendship and closeness,” Behr said. An example Behr used to describe the hardship of social distancing in Italy was Pasquetta, or “Little Easter,” where Italians normally gather with friends

and family while having an outing. This was not possible amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. Both Italy and the U.S., Behr said, face similar economic troubles and leaders use the state of emergency for their political advancement. “I cannot stand it when I see it happening in Italy, and I also cannot stand it when I see it happening here,” Behr said. “We are in a crisis. We must stand united.” news@thedailycougar.com

by one of her fellow senators who was planning to run for president who asked her to be his vicepresidential candidate. Although she never planned to pursue an executive position, Khademakbari agreed and began preparing for the upcoming election. In December, Khademakbari was caught off guard when she learned her running mate was withdrawing from the University and would no longer be running for president. Khademakbari then decided to continue the campaign and move forward, now leading the Students Unite party as the presidential candidate. Moving forward, Khademakbari contacted everyone she believed would be a good addition to the party. She compiled a

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group of students based on recommendations and her own experiences to create a 31-person party, the largest running in SGA history. “The entire month of December I would spend on the phone reaching out to students,” Khademakbari said. “I probably reached out to every single person I knew to try to find people who would be a good fit for the team.” After a successful campaign, Khademakbari won the presidency, earning 60 percent of the vote. The remainder of the Students Unite party won the majority of the senate seats. “I was one of the students who would have never expected to become SGA president,” Khademakbari said. “I just never thought it would have been me.” Khademakbari said she never grew up thinking that she would be the best person for any job. She believes running for SGA president and student leadership as a whole requires an amount of confidence that she used to not have. “I didn’t have those values instilled in me,” Khademakbari said. “I didn’t necessarily have the self-confidence to do any of (this).” For students with similar mindsets, Khademakbari recommends to work hard and strive to take on student leadership roles. “I feel like a lot of students don’t see themselves as student leaders and really my message to them is to stop and see yourself as a student leader,” Khademakbari said. “See yourself as someone who can make a change.”

Source: The Houston Chronicle

Wednesday, April 22, 2020 | 5 JHAIR ROMERO, EDITOR

THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/SPORTS

SPORTS

@THECOUGARSPORTS

FOOTBALL

Miami, Tampa Bay among potential landing spots for Josh Jones in NFL mock drafts

JHAIR ROMERO

overall pick. Reuter predicts the Dolphins and Buccaneers still address their offensive tackles woes but will instead opt for Georgia’s Andrew Thomas and Alabama’s Jedrick Wills at No. 14 and 18, respectively.

SPORTS EDITOR @JUSTJHAIR

Senior Josh Jones has called the Houston area home his entire life, but that will likely change Thursday during the 2020 NFL Draft where the offensive tackle is expected to be picked in the first round. Although Jones won’t know where he will end up until draft day, many experts have taken their guess as to where the lineman’s NFL home will be:

Green Bay Packers Draft analyst Bucky Brooks expects Jones to get picked a little later than his NFL.com colleague. Brooks predicts Green Bay, which ranked in the top half of the league in rushing yards per game (112.2) and sacks allowed (12). “The Packers could add an athletic blocker to the mix to better protect Aaron Rodgers while also enabling Matt LaFleur to fully implement a zone-based running game,” he said in his mock draft.

Miami Dolphins Leading the league with 14 picks, Miami is in control of the 2020 NFL Draft. The Dolphins are likely to fill the gaps of one of the worst offenses in the NFL, which ranked last in rushing (72.2) and 27th in total yards (310) per game in 2019. Experts expect Miami to pick a quarterback, either Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa or Oregon’s Justin Herbert, with their No. 5 pick. But its No. 18 pick, according to some mock drafts, could be used to beef up an offensive line that gave up 58 sacks last season, which tied for most in the NFL. “The Dolphins got their quarterback at No. 5 overall,” said Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller of Miami’s second pick. “Now it’s time to protect him.” For Good Morning Football podcast host Peter Schrager and Miller, that means picking up a much-needed Jones at No. 18. “Adding Jones — a 6-7, 320-pounder, who logged four seasons as Houston’s starting left tackle — would be perfect,”

Cincinnati Bengals Senior offensive tackle Josh Jones is expected to be picked in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft by many top draft analysts. | Courtesy of UH athletics

Schrager said in his mock draft. An NBC Sports post-free agency mock draft from Josh Norris also has the tackle going to the Dolphins 18th overall. “Offenses need to have at least one tackle they can trust to leave in isolation,” Norris wrote. “Hopefully Jones can be that.” Although some mocks, like CBS Sports’ R.J. White’s, have Jones going later in the draft, still to the Dolphins but at No. 26, others have the lineman ending up a little north of Miami.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers With 43-year-old Tom Brady taking over signal calling

duties for Tampa Bay in 2020, some analysts think the Buccaneers are going to draft some protection for their new quarterback. “The Bucs don’t move up for a OT, but they take the best available at No. 14,” said CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson in his mock draft. “Jones had a fantastic 2019 season and an even better Senior Bowl.” Jones’ draft stock shot up in late January after his performance at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. “The 6-foot-7, 310-pound rock of a blocker effortlessly thwarted everything defensive linemen

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threw at him in one-on-one drills with a phenomenal display of knee bend, power in his upper half, and mirroring skills thanks to high-end athleticism,” said NFL analyst Chris Trapasso. If drafted by Tampa Bay, Jones would join an offensive unit that gave up 47 sacks in 2019 and was 30th in average rushing yards per attempt (3.7).

Seattle Seahawks Citing veteran 34-year-old Duane Brown’s age and fellow tackle Cedric Ogbuehi’s one-year deal with Seattle, NFL.com draft analyst Chad Reuter sees Jones going to the Seahawks at 27th

In one of few mocks that have Jones falling out of the first round, ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. predicts the offensive tackle being taken at 33rd overall by the Bengals. Cincinnati, which is widely expected to take LSU quarterback Joe Burrow with their first overall pick, will go to Jones to protect its top selection, Kiper said. Kiper believes Jones could move to inside the line to guard or to right tackle. The Burrow-Jones tandem, he said, would be the perfect draft outcome for the Bengals. “This would be the ideal top two picks for Cincinnati.” sports@thedailycougar.com

6 | Wednesday, April 22, 2020

SPORTS SPORTS

JHAIR ROMERO, EDITOR

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ATHLETICS

UH athletics marketing director Robert Boudwin featured on Kevin Hart’s ‘What the Fit’ ANDY YANEZ

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR @AYANEZ_5

When it comes to game days, the first thing that comes to mind is the sound of whistles, sneakers squeaking and pads crashing against each other. What may not come to mind at first are the mascots. At the University, there are Sasha and Shasta, and while anyone who goes to any UH game will likely spot at least one, not many know of the behind-thescenes of being a mascot like writing skits, producing scenes, rehearsing and managing social media, just to list a few. When it comes to sports entertainment, the University has a distinct advantage because of UH athletics marketing director Robert Boudwin, who recently got to showcase some of the behindthe-scenes of being a mascot on a national stage when he was on Kevin Hart’s YouTube show, “What the Fit,” which aired on April 9. “It was a ride,” Boudwin said on being on the show, which was shot during a six-hour time slot in Los Angeles back in mid-January. “A lot of the stuff that didn’t make the cut, I was glad didn’t. It was (a lot of) Kevin being Kevin.”

Inside “What the Fit” In the show, Hart pairs up with another celebrity, and they do a unique exercise-related activity. For the April 9 episode, Keke

Palmer and Hart learned what being a mascot entails. The show’s producers reached out to Boudwin, who before joining the University had spent 21 years as Houston Rockets mascot Clutch the Bear, and is currently a half-owner of Mascot U, which focuses on improving the craft of mascots around the world. When it came to teaching Hart and Palmer, there was little issue getting them to show their personalities, and at times had to get Hart to scale back. “(Hart) was wild man,” Boudwin said. “He was funny. He jumped right into it … (he was doing everything) in a wild, crazy, goofy, outlandish way.” The show had a loose script, Boudwin said, which allowed a lot of space for creativity and improvising. “Some of the funny stuff was when (Hart) went off on his rant about the T-shirt gun and how people (yell) and treat the T-shirts like gold or something,” Boudwin said. “He let a couple of the fake fans that were dummies planted in the stands really have it at point-blank range.” In the show, Boudwin was joined by other mascots from around the country. They were all in charge of judging how well Hart and Palmer picked up the basics of being a mascot. “Keke was doing it pretty legit,” Boudwin said. “I gave her the win on most of the competitions.” The show provided a small

Robert Boudwin (center) with Keke Palmer and Kevin Hart in a Los Angeles high school gym for the filming of “What The Fit.” | Courtesy of Robert Boudwin

window into Boudwin’s working life.

Boudwin’s impact at UH Since joining in May 2018, Boudwin has already left his imprint on the University, most notably he was heavily involved with the creation of “Trash Can Man” at men’s basketball games,

which was influenced heavily from Boudwin’s time as Clutch the Bear. “We’ve done a lot of new things that we’ve implemented in the last season that I kind of spearheaded (like) the phone lights and cue audio show this season,” Boudwin said. Despite Boudwin’s experience

and involvement, he believes that the main factor in the success of a character or skit has to do with the people buying in as was the case with Hart and Palmer. Even though the idea for Trash Can Man came from Boudwin, he doesn’t take most of the credit for the character. “It’s really the students that make it work,” Boudwin said. “If we don’t have diehard Cougar fans that are willing to act wacky … sitting in a can, that gets a little bit hot … and humid for half the game, then it doesn’t happen.” Although sporting events are sidelined due to the coronavirus pandemic, mascots are always looking for new content and activities to do once games eventually return. Boudwin hosts two Zoom meetings per week so professional, high school and even corporate mascots can share ideas and receive feedback. Under his current role with UH, Boudwin oversees the entertainment activities at both men’s basketball and football games, and he wants students to be more involved and influence game day antics. “I’m open to all ideas,” he said. “The absolute best sports entertainment ideas are not ones that I or other administrators come up with, it’s organic ones that students come up with. “It’s not my job to say no. It’s my job to figure out a way to say yes.” sports@thedailycougar.com

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Storytime with Sampson rekindles long-time tradition ANDY YANEZ

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR @AYANEZ_5

Head coach Kelvin Sampson reading the “Berenstain Bears” is the first of many weekly videos the team will post on Twitter. | File photo

When head coach Kelvin Sampson was reading the “Berenstain Bears” last week, he was reminded of his days back at Washington State when both his two kids, Kellen and Lauren Sampson, were young, and he would read to them children’s books before they went to sleep. “One of my greatest joys was reading bedtime stories to them every night,” Kelvin said. The kids loved having their father read to them so much that it led to the start of a tradition Kelvin does to this day, which is having the entire team over to his house to watch film the night before a home game.

“That’s how that started because I (would do) film study up at the gym with the team,” Kelvin said. “When I’d get back home Kellen and Lauren would be asleep, and they’d be upset that dad wasn’t there to read their bedtime story. “And that’s how it started that the team came over the night before every home game, so I could continue to read books, and one of the books that I loved to read to them was the ‘Berenstain Bears’.” With many people spending much of their time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Houston basketball team recently launched a weekly storytime where a member of the coaching staff records

themselves reading a children’s book, which has brought back memories for Kelvin but is also a sign of the times at the moment. “We had an unbelievable response to (the first one),” Kelvin said. “I think Lauren said there were over 15,000 people that (saw it). It just shows you that everyone’s bored.” When it comes to children’s books, the “Berenstain Bears” is one of Kelvin’s favorites, but there are others he enjoys. “You can never go wrong with Dr. Seuss,” he said. Even during normal circumstances, the head coach for Houston is always reading a book. His favorite genres are mystery or drama stories that

have a plot that can be followed and get to the end. Kelvin recently finished reading “29 Seconds” by T.M. Logan, and he has moved on to the “Joe Pickett” series by C.J. Box, which centers around a game warden who is always having to handle investigations and crimes. “I have to make sure that I always have two books in reserve in case I finish one early,” Kelvin said. “I got to have a book ready to go.” sports@thedailycougar.com

@TheCougarSports

Wednesday, April 22, 2020 | 7

12 | Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Universal Crossword Edited by David Steinberg February 6, 2019

ACROSS 1 “Terrific!” 6 Dietary supplement 10 Botch 14 Woolly Peruvian animal 15 Great Fire of Rome emperor 16 Go up 17 Loosened, as a knot 18 Read Braille 19 Luau instruments, for short 20 Certain a cappella performers 23 Be a busybody 24 Scammer’s scheme 25 Address for a queen 26 Cocktail vessel 31 Sacrilegious 34 Decimal points 35 “My ___ tells me ...” 36 Like the score 7-7 37 Close to the ground 38 Shimmer makeup mineral 39 Chickenking connector 40 Biodiesel, e.g. 42 Just swell 44 German fish delicacy 2/6

47 Hatcher or Polo 48 Same-old grind 49 Employee of Santa 52 Cable company’s encryption, or what connects both words in 20-, 26- and 44-Across 57 “Regretfully ...” 58 Gushing review 59 Kiss-up 60 ___ guy (reliable sort) 61 Where things get heated? 62 Mother’s brother, say 63 Eve’s first home 64 Desire 65 Pumpkin eater of rhyme DOWN 1 Batter’s dry spell 2 Of a forearm bone 3 Rice wetland 4 Dubai bigwig 5 Extreme 6 One in a onesie 7 Revolvingspool device 8 Mine metals

9 Kind of hold’em 10 Penny-wise 11 Amazingly effectively 12 Word before “fee” or “ID” 13 “Porgy and ___” 21 Not for the squeamish 22 Old horses 26 Reddit admin 27 Teen heartthrobs 28 Without delay 29 “No __ luck!” 30 Time at a hotel 31 Bryce Canyon locale 32 River through Egypt 33 60-100 bpm, normally

37 Shin’s place 38 Incensed 40 Unlikely to sag 41 “Line” over the eyes 42 + 43 Savor a compliment 45 It may be hard to listen to 46 Passionate 49 Pass, as a statute 50 Gravy server 51 Advertising handout 52 Wise person 53 Lump of dirt 54 Mauna Loa flow 55 Unvarying 56 “I’m ___!” (“See ya!”)

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

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“Mixed Messages” by Gary Cee

8 | Wednesday, April 22, 2020

OPINION

SANTIAGO GAUGHAN, EDITOR

@THEDAILYCOUGAR

THEDAILYCOUGAR.COM/OPINION

CORONAVIRUS

Shaming non-vegans is not the solution to the coronavirus pandemic ANNA BAKER

OPINION COLUMNIST

During any major event affecting public health, people tend to think about prevention. It is no different for the cornavirus pandemic, but some messages are harmful. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on March 21 tweeted “COVID-19 wouldn’t exist in a vegan world.” Not only is this misleading, but it is also insensitive to socioeconomic situations that prevent people from going vegan. Diseases often arise when animals are in close contact with humans, such as farming or hunting. For example, the 1918 Spanish Flu is thought to have started on a chicken farm in Kansas. Coronavirus is thought to have started at a wet market in China, where live animals are sold for food. Here, there can be a lot of cross-species transfer of disease with the animals being close. It is true that meat-borne diseases can lessen when fewer people eat meat, but saying that a pandemic would not happen if we all stopped eating

Jiselle Santos/The Cougar

meat today is misleading. In addition to being misleading, blaming meat-eaters for the new coronavirus is classist and ignorant. While veganism has its benefits, it can be hard on the wallet. Over 47 million people in America live on food stamps, which give families of four $649 to spend on food for a month.That is about five dollars per person per day. Additionally, there are food deserts in our country where grocery stores are far away leaving the community without easy access to

fresh vegetables and fruits. These people rely on convenience stores for groceries, which often lack produce. It is ignorant to look at the working class and lecture them about going vegan. When talking about veganism, we should always think about the sociopolitical and economic contexts. Yes, eating less beef is less harmful to the cow, but eating more vegetables is supporting an industry that barely pays farmers and leaves them in terrible working conditions. We’re substituting one

cruelty for another, and we cannot ignore that. Buying fresh vegetables is great, but we cannot expect a family on food stamps to do that. We can’t expect the most vulnerable people in our society to make these unnecessary sacrifices. If you want people to eat less meat, you need to be advocating for farm laborer rights and support their strikes and unions. You need to advocate for workers’ rights so that a family has the budget for a healthier diet. You need to advocate for more generous government programs so families can use their food stamps for more expensive foods like vegetables. There are a lot of conversations happening during this pandemic. Blaming poor people for not being vegan should not be one of them. Let’s look at capitalism and why it makes being vegan so difficult. Then we can talk about people eating less meat. Anna Baker is an english sophomore who can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Letter from the editor: The Cougar welcomes new leadership Michael Slaten My time as editor in chief has come to an end. While leaving in the middle of a pandemic wasn’t what anyone planned, great people are staying who will be future movers and shakers in journalism, so expect more tremendous work as they get better and better. Jhair Romero will take the reins starting May 1. I can’t give enough thanks to all of the editors who gave their best this past year.

You all brought this paper success and did good work to inform the UH community. You all will continue to find success of your own. While I was often reserved, I’m going to miss seeing everyone at the office. There’s a lot of bright people in this newspaper, and I hope our paths will cross again someday.

Jhair Romero For nearly a century, The Cougar has dedicated itself to being a platform that informs and serves. No matter the event, whether it be devastating natural disasters or magical Cinderella stories, this organization has been there for the UH community. Never in this newspaper’s almost 100-year history has it faced something like the coronavirus pandemic, but as editor in chief I will make sure we continue to serve and inform this community just as The Cougar has always done.

Exiting editor in chief Michael Slaten (left) and incoming editor in chief Jhair Romero. | Trevor Nolley/The Cougar

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR IN CHIEF

Michael Slaten MANAGING EDITOR

Katrina Martinez CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jiselle Santos NEWS EDITOR

Autumn Rendall FEATURES EDITOR

Vacant

CHIEF COPY EDITOR

Mason Vasquez

SPORTS EDITOR

Jhair Romero PHOTO EDITOR

Kathryn Lenihan OPINION EDITOR

Santiago Gaughan ASSISTANT EDITORS

Juana Garcia Donna Keeya Sydney Rose Lino Sandil Andy Yanez

STAFF EDITORIAL The Staff Editorial reflects the opinions of The Cougar Editorial Board (the members of which are listed above the editorial). All other opinions, commentaries and cartoons reflect only the opinion of the author. Opinions expressed in The Cougar do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Houston or the students as a whole.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The Cougar welcomes letters to the editor from any member of the UH community. Letters should be no more than 250 words and signed, including the author’s full name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Anonymous letters will not be published. Deliver letters to N221, University Center; e-mail them to letters@thedailycougar.com; send them via campus mail to STP 4015; or fax to (713) 743-5384. Letters are subject to editing.

GUEST COMMENTARY Submissions are accepted from any member of the UH community and must be signed with the author’s name, phone number or e-mail address and affiliation with the University, including classification and major. Commentary should be limited to 500 words. Guest commentaries should not be written as replies, but rather should present independent points of view. Deliver submissions to N221, University Center; e-mail them to letters@ thedailycougar.com; or fax them to (713) 743-5384. All submissions are subject to editing.

ADVERTISEMENTS While I guarantee we will provide quality coverage of this crisis as we have since the outbreak hit home, I want to assure you it won’t be the only thing you’ll see from us. Slowly but surely, life will return to some degree of normalcy, and The Cougar’s coverage will begin to reflect that when the time comes. The amazing editorial board and staff we’ve put

together and I — for the sake of the community we serve and ourselves — will make sure of it. But for now, we must deal with the issues at hand. As editor in chief of The Cougar, I will make sure we adapt accordingly to whatever this world throws at us in these tumultuous times and tell the stories — your stories — that deserve to be told.

editor@thedailycougar.com

Advertisements in The Cougar do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the University or the students as a whole.

The Cougar is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press.

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