Vol83issue13

THE MANEATER WRESTLING There’s another new topranked Jaydin at Mizzou, and heavyweight transfer Austin Myers sets his sights on nationals

BASKETBALL The women’s team faces season with injured starters, and freshmen phenoms bring hometown connection to the men’s team

TRACK AND FIELD Nationally ranked freshman Ja’Mari Ward continues to improve by leaps and bounds

P S R E WINT NOV. 16, 2016 VOL. 83 | ISSUE 13 THEMANEATER.COM

W E I V E R P S ORT

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THE MANEATER’S WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW | NOV. 16, 2016

Missouri women's basketball season outlook hindered by injuries Coming off a historic season, the team will have much to work on in order to qualify for the NCAA Tournament again.

TITUS WU Staff Writer Mizzou Arena was quiet on March 14. Every Missouri basketball player was sitting down, looking up at the screen with anticipation, hands clasped together. Then the broadcaster spoke.

Suddenly, the crowd exploded.

Missouri women’s basketball had just secured an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2006. The women would later win their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2001. All this came with 22 wins in a season, the most since 2000-01.

In short, last season was a phenomenal year for the Tigers. This season, which began Friday, will be just as trying but comes with higher expectations.

Mizzou was ranked No. 24 by the AP in the preseason poll, thanks in part to last season’s success. However, that ranking comes along with a serious injury bug.

Junior Bri Porter and senior Jordan Frericks are both out for the season due to ACL injuries. Frericks’ absence will be especially felt, given that her rebounding abilities played a huge role in Mizzou’s success last season.

“My hope is that we’ll be a top-10 or top-15 rebounding team in the country,” head coach Robin Pingeton said. “And that’s just because it’s a blue-collar, hard-nosed mentality.”

The injuries don’t stop there. Pingeton has had to hold back sophomore Cierra Porter, a cornerstone for Mizzou, from

playing too much, thanks to swollen knee problems. This has forced Pingeton to play small ball in the beginning of the season. If Porter doesn’t recover fully in time, playing small ball might continue during SEC play, and Mizzou will not unlock its full potential.

Redshirt junior Kayla McDowell is also being held back, and when she’ll begin competing is uncertain, Pingeton said.

“Not going to lie, I’m not sleeping well right now with the number of injuries that we’ve had,” Pingeton said.

All these injuries have meant a working process to figure out the right system for Missouri’s new team. There is added pressure on star sophomore Sophie Cunningham, and the rest of the Tigers — especially the rookies — will need to step up.

“As a freshman, you kind to want to just get comfortable, but by about December or January, they’re saying, ‘I want to play,’” Pingeton said. “So what a great opportunity for them to come in and have a chance to make an impact [immediately] as a freshman.”

Right off the bat, in exhibition and regular season games so far, the team has been winning with higher field goal percentages. The number of steals forced have been impressive so far, and many players have been scoring double figures. Rebounding needs to improve, though, especially as highlighted in the first exhibition game.

These contributions aren’t coming from one player but from a collective team effort. The focus on defense from all the players is a hidden benefit of Frericks’ injury, and it may prove to be for the better once Frericks graduates and leaves the team.

The team started its regular season with the Preseason WNIT Tournament, which takes place Nov. 11-20. The

Tigers will have the chance to compete with teams who were in the NCAA Tournament last March. The tournament includes No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 17 Washington.

The season is full of untested waters, and it will be a hard road. Nobody can fully predict how the freshman players will develop, and injuries are preventing the team from showcasing its true talent.

But the Tigers will play as fiercely as

they can.

“My expectations are night in and night out, we’re going to go out there and play as hard as we can possibly play,” Pingeton said. “We’re not focused on our win-losses. When the season’s done, we want to say we’ve played the best basketball that we could have, and the results will take care of itself.”

Edited by Peter Baugh pbaugh@themaneater.com

Sophomore guard Sophie Cunningham, 3, pauses outside the key to redirect an offensive play during the MU home game facing Truman State.

EMIL LIPPE | SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Hannah Schuchts to fill void in her debut season After being forced to redshirt her first year, Schuchts will play a fundamental role following the loss of two top players.

TITUS WU Staff Writer Like any excited freshman, Hannah Schuchts came to Missouri in fall 2015 ready to play hard on the court for the upcoming women’s basketball season.

But because of an injury, she didn’t get to.

Schuchts, now a redshirt freshman, was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her foot last fall. That injury ended up sidelining her for her entire freshman year, a complete 180 degrees from the rookie player she could have been.

“Last year, it was hard for her,” coach Robin Pingeton said. “When you’re sitting there watching your sisters go out and compete, you just want to be a part of it.”

But this season, Schuchts will be. The loss of key players Bri Porter and Jordan Frericks to ACL injuries is forcing many first-year players, including Schuchts, to step up and fill the void.

Given her sidelining last year, she isn’t taking this situation for granted.

“It’s definitely a big adjustment, not quite how we envisioned this season,” Schuchts said. “We’re all just excited to step up. It’s a big opportunity, and I’m ready for the challenge. I trust the coaches, and I’m going to work on getting better everyday.”

Frericks’ tenacious catching of rebounds and scoring inside the paint helped propel Mizzou into the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament last year. Schuchts also has a similar playing style, reinforced by her long wingspan, which allows for easy rebound catching

can take mid-range shots, do post-ups, catch long passes, and impose screens.

Most importantly, with her notably long arms, she can defend.

“There are times she made it really challenging on Jordan [Frericks] in practice to get her shot off in the paint,” Pingeton said. “She’s got a great knack for blocks and shots. She can [use] her space for rebounds. ... She is pretty crafty under the basket.”

Her defensive skills fit well with that of a center, but she can also shoot as well, which can be key this season.

And key to Schuchts’ improvement this past year, ironically, was being

“SHE’S GOING TO BE HUGE FOR US DOWN THE ROAD.” — SOPHOMORE SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM and flexibility inside the paint.

“Frericks is a great player,” Schuchts said. “But I don’t think anybody is going to replace her. I’m just hoping I can bring my strengths to the table.”

Schuchts’ skills extend further. She

redshirted. After her injury had fully healed, she began playing during practices a bit, and she learned to adapt to the style and the players of Missouri basketball. Although she didn’t compete, she worked on positioning,

cardiovascular workouts and the offense system.

“Her redshirting last year was huge for her,” teammate sophomore Sophie Cunningham said. “It helped her learn the game and style of play here. She’s never run a motion offense except first time last year, so it gave her experience, and that’s what she needed.”

It also gave her much-needed confidence.

“It was definitely hard to not play last year,” Schuchts said. “That’s probably the longest I’ve gone without playing basketball since I was a little kid.”

Cheering for her teammates and feeling accepted by them allowed Schuchts to appreciate the benefits of redshirting and to settle in with the environment.

Because she has not played in an official collegiate game, nobody outside of the team knows how much she has changed or what her present playing style is.

But the team thinks people will notice.

“You haven’t seen how she plays yet…” Cunningham said. “She’s going to be huge for us down the road.”

Edited by Peter Baugh pbaugh@themaneater.com

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THE MANEATER’S WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW | NOV. 16, 2016

Willie Jackson and Frankie Hughes bring Cleveland connection to Missouri Two freshmen on Missouri’s basketball team have known each other since they were toddlers.

THEO DEROSA Senior Staff Writer In their freshman year of high school, Willie Jackson told Frankie Hughes his plan.

“We’re going to go to the same school,” Jackson said to his friend.

Four years later, he was proven right.

Jackson and Hughes, now freshmen on the Missouri men’s basketball team, committed to play college basketball together with the Tigers.

The road to Columbia from Cleveland, where they grew up, wasn’t straight.

Jackson committed to Missouri in September 2015, but Hughes chose a different initial path.

Hughes signed a letter of intent with Louisville in November 2015.

Jackson, though, wasn’t ready to part ways with his longtime friend. The two had known each other since Jackson was 4 years old and Hughes was 3. “[He] committed, then I just kept pushing him,” Jackson said. “It took a little bit of work, but that’s my boy.”

In March, Hughes was released from his letter of intent with Louisville.

The 6-foot-4 combo guard signed with Missouri on April 13.

"Everybody is on the same page for Mizzou,” Hughes said upon announcing

Freshmen Frankie Hughes, 3, and Willie Jackson, 2.

EMIL LIPPE | SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER his commitment. “It's exciting to know the program really is a family. I feel like the coaching staff and players all really know each other and have great relationships. That stood out to me.”

Just like that, Jackson and Hughes were playing together once again.

The two excelled at Cleveland’s Garfield Heights High School. Jackson, a forward, averaged 21 points and 14 rebounds per game during his senior year. Hughes averaged 19 points per game in his senior year at Garfield

Heights, which made the state semifinals that year for the second straight time.

With Texas transfer Jordan Barnett ineligible until mid-December, Jackson will play primarily power forward.

“Willie’s a guy who we’ve tried to play at two spots, but we’re trying to play him at the 4 until we get Jordan Barnett back, and working with him to play more on the perimeter,” coach Kim Anderson said Thursday during his press conference.

While Jackson’s role with the

team will focus on post offense and rebounding, Hughes plays the part of a pure scorer.

“Frankie has emerged as a guy who certainly can score baskets, especially from the perimeter,” Anderson said.

“Frankie’s shot the ball. We need him to shoot the ball.”

The two highly regarded freshmen bring not only their skills, but also “a good feel for each other on the floor,” Anderson said. The coach noted that Jackson is especially good at finding an open Hughes for baskets.

Jackson and Hughes have cultivated their talents over a lifetime. They grew up together, practiced together and played together. Now, they’ve taken their talents from Cleveland to Columbia, teammates once again in a new era.

Hughes and Jackson maintain a close relationship.

“Just growing up with him in childhood, he’s kind of like a brother to me,” Hughes said of Jackson.

For Hughes, the decision to forgo Louisville in favor of Mizzou wasn’t too difficult. He wanted to keep playing with Jackson.

“Separation is kind of hard,” Hughes said. “So as time went on, we decided we were just going to keep this thing rolling as long as we can.”

Edited by Peter Baugh pbaugh@themaneater.com

Mizzou men’s basketball is prepping for Beast Mode Here’s an inside look at how Mizzou uses strength training and nutrition to make men’s basketball players fit to play SEC basketball.

NICK KELLY Staff Writer The recipe for Beast Mode breakfast sandwiches is simple.

A Hawaiian bun, three hamburger patties, bacon strips and peppers. Throw on a slice or two of cheese to top it off, and voila — the sandwich from the Mizzou Athletics Training Complex is ready to make Missouri’s men beasts under the boards.

Ryan Reist, Mizzou's director of sports nutrition, approached a dining hall staff member about creating something to help Mitchell Smith, a 6-foot-10, 210-pound freshman, gain weight.

Enter Beast Mode.

“We said we had a guy [in Smith] who needs to gain weight, and he said, ‘Let me throw a few things together here,’” Reist said.

The sandwich that screams calories is just one aspect of a plan to help Smith turn into a Southeastern Conference big man.

Smith is one of at least four freshman expected — and needed — to log significant minutes on Missouri’s men’s basketball team in the 2016-17 season. For the freshmen to be in playing shape, it requires

Nick Michael, athletic performance specialist, sits in the Mizzou Arena weight room. NICK KELLY | PHOTOGRAPHER a high level of collaboration between Reist and Nick Michael, the team’s new strength and performance coach.

Rising with Reist Reist’s day often begins before the sun makes an appearance. He arrives at the MATC around 7 a.m. and heads to the dining hall. Michael meets him there, and the men’s basketball players who have class at 8 a.m. arrive for breakfast.

It’s much more than just a meal to start the day, though; it’s a time for fueling, learning and trust-building.

As the athletes pile carbs, proteins and

other foods onto their plates, Reist strolls around and tells them if they don’t have the correct amount of each food group in front of them.

Michael sometimes helps out as well, but he often lets Reist do most of the plate checks.

“I get into them enough during the lifts and during practice, so for me to get after them at breakfast can be kind of mindnumbing if I do too much of that,” Michael said.

Reist, however, strives to be more of a food counselor than a food cop.

“It’s not all about telling people what

they can’t eat,” Reist said. “It’s helping them find out what is going to help them perform better based on what their specific training is. We really try to match up their specific needs with how we can help them out.”

He sees breakfast each morning as an opportunity to educate the athletes on nutrition while getting to know them. It also allows the athletes to get to know Reist, something that is a necessary first step for improving their performance and physique.

“When they trust you, they start to listen as to what you have to say,” Reist said.

Smith said he often doesn’t know what he will be eating each morning, but he trusts it will make him a better athlete with Reist assembling his plate.

“I am getting more used to it,” Smith said. “I am embracing it every morning.”

Players who have class at 9 a.m. don’t have to show up for breakfast until 8:15 a.m. so they can get more rest, Michael said. Once those players leave, Michael heads to Mizzou Arena to complete office work and prepare for weight lifting.

Reist and Michael don’t dissect plates at lunch or dinner, making education even more vital when the players are on their own.

Reist preaches a plate visual to many of the athletes. This requires the athletes to look at their plates and ask themselves if half is carbohydrates, a quarter is proteins and the rest is fruits and vegetables.

Some adjustments are made for special

BEAST | PAGE 14

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THE MANEATER’S WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW | Nov. 16, 2016

Missouri's other Jaydin: Eierman looks to have strong first season LANGSTON NEWSOME Staff Writer

This year, Eierman is the No. 1-ranked 133-pound wrestler in the Middle Atlantic Conference, and Mizzou is in the driver’s seat to win the MAC championship with a legitimate chance to win an NCAA Championship.

Eierman doesn’t feel any of the pressure, and he said he is mentally locked in.

“I don’t go out,” Eierman said. “I don’t party. I stay home.

I just do everything right and I expect to succeed in the long run.”

It’s apparent that Eierman has set very clear expectations for himself and will do anything

to win.

“We are going to set goals every single day to achieve that national title standard at the end of the season,” Eierman said. “I feel like every one of our guys is title contenders.

People may not see it like that, but going in every single day over summer, working with each other, battling hard in the practice room; and seeing everybody take it to a whole ‘nother level is going to be unreal in March.”

Edited by Peter Baugh pbaugh@themaneater.com

o9

54-3 record, won MO State Championship at 171 lbs

born

1995

march 3, 1995:

began school at hickman high school freshman year:

Jaydin Eierman COURTESY OF MIZZOU ATHLETICS

2o

Jaydin Eierman is a serious man.

It’s something that his demeanor radiates, and it makes sense at Missouri; the redshirt freshman is part of a program poised to be one of the best in the nation.

Mizzou wrestling is more than practice and dual meets on the mat. It’s a way of life — #TigerStyle, which is the team’s motto.

It’s clear that Eierman has completely bought into #TigerStyle.

“That’s what I base my philosophy off of,” he said. “You can’t do something wrong and expect to succeed. Just seeing everyone live their life right and excel in the long run is good to see.”

Although a lot of focus is on Olympic bronze medalist J’den Cox, Eierman headed to Mizzou with a better high school wrestling record and the same number of high school state championships as Cox. At Father Tolton High School in Columbia, Eierman went 158-0 and won four Missouri State Championships.

Despite his high school accolades, Eierman was redshirted his freshman year at Mizzou. Coach Brian Smith said the adjustment to college wrestling is difficult, which led to his decision to redshirt Eierman.

“It was a good year for him,” Smith said. “He was frustrated last year in the beginning when I told him I’m going to redshirt him. But now he is really thankful we did. I know he is.”

In the tournaments he was eligible to wrestle in his redshirt year, Eierman went 22-2 wrestling at 133 pounds in various tournaments. He won three open tournaments that year, most notably the Roger Denker Open.

“It helped me a lot,” Eierman said. “I got to get a full year of competition, test out the water with different nutrition plans.

So this year I worked on my nutrition a lot. I got to mature more mentally. So I’m ready to go out there.”

After four years without a loss, finally losing had no impact on Eierman’s psyche.

“There really was no change,” Eierman said. “I wanted to go out there to win and learn. But when I lost it was no big deal.

It was fine with me because it’s the sport of wrestling. It’s going to happen, no one is going to be perfect forever. But to learn from that and move on was really big for me.”

Sophomore year:

38-0 record, won MO State Championship at 215 lbs

junior year:

57-0 record, won MO State Championship at 220 lbs

senior year:

j'den

56-0 record, won MO State Championship at 220 lbs

cox

2o13

began school at mizzou

A look at one of Mizzou’s finest athletes’ life events.

freshman year: Won 2014 MAC and NCAA championships

sophomore year: 37-2 record (started season 36-0), NCAA AllAmerican

junior year:

Won 2016 NCAA and MAC championships, qualified for Rio Olympics at an Olympic World Qualifying tournament

2o 16

Eierman: “You can’t do something wrong and expect to succeed.”

summer olympics in rio:

cox wins the olympic bronze medal TORI AERNI // GRAPHICS MANAGER

M THE MANEATER

The student voice of MU since 1955

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Vol. 83, Issue 13

NOV. 16, 2016

FraternitIES

Kappa Alpha Order kicked out of Greek Life JAKE CHIARELLI Associate Editor

The MU chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order has lost university recognition effective immediately, the MU News Bureau announced Tuesday afternoon.

The loss of recognition will be effective for five years. The fraternity will be unable to participate in any sanctioned events, including Homecoming,

Greek Week and any other official social events. The MU chapter currently has a membership of 125, according to the Kappa Alpha Order national office’s website.

Kappa Alpha was previously suspended in early October.

The fraternity was under investigation for an alleged hazing incident. Police were dispatched to the Kappa Alpha fraternity house at 1:46 p.m. on Sept. 29. An 18-year-old

subject was transported to a local hospital by ambulance for alcohol poisoning, according to the MU Police Department.

The national office previously hired an independent investigator to look into the alleged hazing incident, according to the office’s statement. The national office determined “specific hazing allegations related to the temporary suspension to

Greek | Page 7

Kappa Alpha Order house. BAILEY VALADEZ | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

History

Professor’s book delves into appeal of JFK Steven Watts: “What I began to discover was that Kennedy, in the public realm, offered a kind of antidote to that great fear of the weakening of American men.”

City Issues

Activists question safety of water in Columbia Engineering professor Enos Inniss: “With those numbers being lower than the [maximum contaminant level], you really can’t say it’s unsafe water.”

FIONA MURPHY Staff Writer

what I was really interested in is his popularity,” Watts said. “Because [in] the polls that have been taken of American presidents … he is at the very top of the list in terms of popularity.”

Watts said that after he did some investigation, Kennedy’s politics were not what made him extremely popular, and in many ways, he was

Activist Erin Brockovich brought attention to Columbia’s water quality recently in a September Facebook post that called out the city for “burning out” its water system.

“They will lie to you and tell you everything is okay ... unless you are pregnant, or suffer from upper respiratory or dermal conditions ... or you are an infant,” the post read.

However, the city’s water tests below all of the Environmental Protection Agency’s limits for contaminants and other substances commonly found in drinking water. The question has been been whether the quality, though below the federal limits, is up to the standards Columbia citizens should have for their water.

The Columbia Water and Light Department began an Integrated Resource Plan over a year ago in response to water quality concerns.

The plan has a timeline of 30 years in which the city will be looking into alternative use of chlorine in the city’s water. “It’s been the process for about a year now,” Columbia Water Operation Manager Floyd Turner said. “We’ve met with [the COMO Safe Water Coalition] a couple times, yes, and they’ve entertained the idea of working together in the future.”

The COMO Safe Water Coalition is a group of residents advocating for “safe dependable water that is NOT treated with chloramine,” according to the coalition’s Facebook page.

The group started almost a year ago to raise awareness about water quality in the city.

“It is very timely to address this issue in Columbia since the city is considering

BOOK | Page 7

WATER | Page 7

Author Steven Watts presents his recently published book “JFK and the Masculine Mystique: Sex and Power on the New Frontier.”

MADDIE DAVIS | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

JACKSON KINKEAD Staff Writer History professor Steven Watts released a new book, “JFK and the Masculine Mystique: Sex and Power on the New Frontier,” on Nov. 8.

The book examines how the growing domesticity of men and John F. Kennedy’s cult of personality affected Kennedy’s presidential career.

Watts has been a professor since the late ’80s and has written other books focusing on important figures in American culture like Walt Disney and Hugh Hefner.

After writing books on mainly cultural figures, Watts wanted to write about a political figure through a cultural lens. Kennedy sprung to his mind.

“Of course there’s a huge number of books written about Kennedy, but

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THE MANEATER | ETC. | NOV. 16, 2016

Inside this Issue Get off the road, Jack!

UM SYSTEM makes its choi-ce

Columnist Kurtis Dunlap says everyone else in Columbia is a bad driver (pg. 11)

Meet Mun Y. Choi, the new head of the UM System (pg. 8)

a lot of food and a lot of heart

Break binge guide

The shows, movies, books and songs you should consume over Thanksgiving break (pg. 9)

Check out behind the scenes of Tiger Pantry (pg. 10)

PSyched up

The week in Mizzou Sports

How the volleyball team gets in the mental zone (pg. 12)

The games to check out this week (pg. 12)

M

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The Maneater is the official student publication of the University of Missouri and operates independently of the university, student government, the School of Journalism and any other campus entity. All text, photos, graphics and other content are property of The Maneater and may not be reproduced without permission. The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the University of Missouri or the Student Publications Board.

“If you guys don’t stop whining, I’ll turn this newspaper around”

MOVE Editors Victoria Cheyne, Bailey Sampson, Katherine White Photo Editor Jessi Dodge Opinion Editor Kasey Carlson

Social Media Manager Jake Chiarelli Newsletter Manager Regina Anderson Deputy Production Manager Hope Johnson Assistant Online Editor Michael Smith Jr.

CORRECTION: In last week’s timeline covering the history of protests on campus, we omitted the bylines of the staffers who compiled the information, Brooke Collier and Brendan Crowley. The Maneater regrets the omission.

Deputy Copy Chiefs Anna Sirianni, Katherine Stevenson Copy Editors Sherell Barbee, Theo DeRosa, Nat Kaemmerer, Madi McVan, David Reynolds, Jeremiah Wooten

Graphic Designer Cassie Allen Adviser Becky Diehl Cover photo of Sophie Cunningham by Emil Lippe

7

THE MANEATER | NEWS | NOV. 16, 2016

BOOK Continued from page 5

a “run-of-the-mill centrist.”

Instead, Watts started noticing that magazines and writers in the ’50s and ’60s argued that men were being emasculated by suburban domesticity, consumer comfort and the rise of women in the workplace.

“What I began to discover was that Kennedy, in the public realm, offered a kind of antidote to that great fear of the weakening of American men because he bursts onto the scene as this vibrant, vigorous, handsome young man, a war hero, very cool and sophisticated, very toughminded as an anti-communist figure,” Watts said.

Watts’ research assistant, Cassandra Yacovazzi, became

GREEK Continued from page 5

be false.”

The statement acknowledged that the investigation “did find unrelated previous risk management violations, including hazing and alcohol misuse, that must be addressed.”

“At this time, our chapter remains under the previously issued temporary suspension from our national ad m i n i s t rat i ve o f f i ce ,” according to the statement.

“This suspension will remain in effect until local alumni and national leaders can determine the best course of action for our members, the chapter, and the

WATER Continued from page 5

spending millions of dollars to expand, the integrated water resource meetings have been informational but also raised more questions/issues,” coalition co-founder MarieJosee Brown said in an email.

Columbia’s drinking water contains 1.3 parts per billion of Chromium-6 and 49.9 parts per billion of trihalomethanes.

THMs are the byproducts of chlorination of water that contain natural organic matter.

Both these chemicals are associated with causing cancer if ingested in large dosages over a long period of time, as well as a host of other

interested in the project when she realized that this was “not just another biography on JFK.” “Watts wanted, as he put it, ‘to penetrate the fog of Camelot,’ to really understand the cultural appeal of JFK,” Yacovazzi said. “I think he does that really well in … identifying this crisis of masculinity that preceded Kennedy ’s administration and the way in which Kennedy himself embodied this masculine idea and beyond.”

In his book, Watts also looks at how Kennedy’s policies were influenced by his personality.

“For example, I think his anti-communism and the shape that it took with regard to Cuba is very much tied to the James Bond view of the world that Kennedy had,” Watts said.

Watts also studied the ways that Kennedy’s masculine image affected his appeal to

the American voters. Beyond just Kennedy’s image, Watts said the people Kennedy surrounded himself with, like Frank Sinatra, Hugh Hefner and Norman Mailer, also led to his “mystique.”

Watts said Kennedy, because of his mystique, was like a Hollywood star. Kennedy’s cult of personality indicated a shift in America’s cultural landscape toward the leader as “celebrity.”

“I think you see that with Ronald Reagan,” Watts said. “I think you see that a little bit with Barack Obama in a same sort of way. And of course with [the recent election] I think you see another version of that as well.”

Yacovazzi also said that the “celebrity” appeal of Kennedy’s administration has become “really embroiled in politics.”

“I think that perhaps rings true for many Americans in the

wake of the current election,” Yacovazzi said. “There’s a lot of talk about the influence of reality TV in this election and sound bites. I think we have perhaps gotten away from analyzing individual policies, and we have become more easily caught up in image, celebrity appeal and surface personality.”

Even though the celebrity aspect of politicians remains, Watts said politicians are no longer mostly supported by ideals of masculinity. In the epilogue of the book, Watts said that the character Don Draper in the TV series “Mad Men” is very comparable to the persona of Kennedy. However, popular perception of Draper seems to suggest that the mystique of Kennedy has faded.

Watts said despite the nostalgic presentation in the show, Draper and society still frequently mistreated women.

“What ends up striking you more is that Draper, that kind of masculine mystique even with that nostalgic pull, really makes us uncomfortable or at least he’s not someone you would want to emulate in the modern world,” Watts said.

Watts said he hopes his book will encourage people to look at politics in a broader scope and examine if their political beliefs are their own or influenced by their culture.

“Having just come from through this political season here, all of us … probably like to think that we are all very rational creatures,” Watts said.

“I would like to think it will encourage people to ponder their political positions, and how and why they got there.”

Edited by Claire Mitzel cmitzel@themaneater.com

national organization.”

The MU chapter of Kappa Alpa was first founded in September 1891. In 2004, Kappa Alpha fraternity members reportedly packed a Civil Warera cannon with gunpowder in front of their house at the corner of University and College avenues and fired it.

The cannon blew up, sending fragments of iron through the roof of the University Place Apartment building across the street. No one was injured in the explosion.

“Kappa Alpha Order has a 125-year history with the University of Missouri,” the national office’s statement said. “We are disappointed at the ultimate decision by the university. The chapter and

the national organization were prepared to educate our members on making better decisions, work with Mizzou as in the past, and take necessary steps to improve in the future.”

According to the MU News Bureau release, Kappa Alpha was found responsible for multiple violations of the university ’s Standard of Conduct. Fraternity members themselves will still be able to attend classes. The chapter will also be charged a $1,000 judicial processing fee.

“The Judicial Processing fee is assessed whenever a student organization is found responsible for violating the University’s Standard of Conduct,” MU spokesperson Christian Basi said in an

email. “Funds collected from the processing fee are used to support staffing and operations of the Office of Student Conduct, specifically those involved in organizational conduct.”

It’s unclear what the future of the current fraternity house is, or whether members of Kappa Alpha will be forced to move out of the house. Basi said the university does not determine what happens to the actual fraternity house, or its members.

The Kappa Alpha national office determines what will happen to current active members. The Office of Greek Life declined to comment.

“We expect all of our student organizations to

uphold our values of Respect, Responsibility, Discovery and Excellence,” said Cathy Scroggs, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, in the news release. “We work hard with any organization that violates our policies to educate them on making better decisions. We have worked with this organization in the past, and I hope that they will take the necessary steps to improve in the future. The safety of our campus is our No. 1 priority; any time that safety is compromised, we must take appropriate measures.”

Edited by Emily Gallion egallion@themaneater.com

possible detrimental effects.

In 2010, the EPA found that Chromium-6 in tap water is “likely to be carcinogenic to humans,” according to a report from the National Toxicology Program.

The city uses the chemicals in tap water as a disinfectant. The city alternates its disinfectant methods from chloramine for nine months to “free chlorine” for three months out of the year, which does not produce trihalomethane.

The EPA implements a maximum contaminant level for each state’s water contaminates. The MCL is a guideline for regulating most substances and chemicals in the water, from the calcium to the chlorine. “The maximum amount for Chromium is 100

parts per billion, and the city water is at .094, which is practically nothing for what the maximum levels can be,” Turner said. “And trihalomethane MCL is 80 parts per billion, and the quarterly run average for 2016 was 49.9 so it’s 30 points below the MCL.” Some consider the MCL too low to be safe. Scientists from the California Department of Public Health estimate the limit for Chromium-6 should be 0.02 parts per billion for public safety. That figure is 50 times less than the MCL the EPA deems as safe for Chromium-6. “MCL is a threshold measurement, meaning a level that has been established to prevent negative health effects,” coalition co-founders Julie Ryan Walsh and Brown said in an email.

“Ideally, we want the city to incorporate a perspective that providing safer water is more important than just meeting the regulations, especially when these regulations will most likely change.”

MU has a separate water system from the city of Columbia.

A ssistant eng ineering professor Enos Inniss said because of the large deficit between the city’s levels of trihalomethanes and Chromium, and the MCL standards, he doesn’t find the levels to be of immediate concern.

“With those numbers being lower than the MCLs, you really can’t say it’s unsafe water,” Inniss said.

The COMO Safe Water

Coalition and officials from the city have met three times at open forum meetings to discuss the coalition’s concerns and suggestions for the Integrated Resource Plan.

“I think, similar to the citizens, it’s good to understand public health, and the water quality in your city is one of those things,” Inniss said. “Why not look at the water quality report to better understand what’s going on, just like you look at your credit report, your bills and everything else? It’s important for the students at the university to understand that they are on their way to becoming very active citizens of this country.”

Edited by Emily Gallion egallion@themaneater.com

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8

THE MANEATER | NEWS | NOV. 16, 2016

New UM System president has “devout commitment” to inclusivity, colleagues say UM System Presidentdesignate Mun Choi led initiatives to increase diversity at the University of Connecticut.

VICTORIA KUZ Reporter Mun Choi’s passion for diversity shows through his work at the University of Connecticut, his colleagues said. This passion is why they believe he makes a good choice for UM System president.

The Board of Curators announced Choi as the 24th president of the UM System on Nov. 2. Choi is currently UConn’s provost and will assume his new position March 1.

Several members of UConn’s faculty and staff said Choi has taken the initiative to improve diversity in the community. “ Through the years, Provost Choi has taken on the challenges of leading a diverse community of students, faculty and staff to become an inclusive and welcoming environment for all,” said Willena Kimpson Price, director of the H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center.

Choi said he intends to hear what students on each campus have to say about significant issues they face.

“I plan to have frequent visits to campus to meet with and really listen to the students on issues that are really important to them on each of the campuses,” Choi said at a press conference following his appointment on Nov. 2.

It was under Choi’s leadership that the University of Connecticut Diversity Task Force was created.

Price said this led to the hiring of a chief diversity officer to serve as the university’s main strategist responsible for assessment and promotion of diversity, inclusion and education and employment opportunities.

In fall 2015, UConn received an invitation from The White House Council on Women and Girls and Wake Forest University’s Anna Julia Cooper Center to join the White House Collaborative on Equity in Research on Women and Girls of Color, known as “The Collaborative.”

Shayla Nunnally, UConn’s campus coordinator for The Collaborative, said in an email that Choi and his office “responded immediately” to the invitation.

“Since this time, Provost Choi and his office have offered another contribution — additional resources and over $100,000 to expand

The Collaborative’s efforts to include the promotion of outreach programs and research opportunities for high school students from underrepresented groups in our state, with the ultimate vision of developing a summer research program and recruitment tool for advancing these researchoriented students towards applying to our university,” Nunnally said in the email.

Several UConn professors spoke of Choi’s personable manner when it came to supporting diversity action.

“I specifically recollect one meeting with the Hispanic faculty that lasted over an hour, and he listened to individual complaints and took action to remedy some of the problems,” said Maria Luz-Fernandez, chair of the Diversity Committee of the University Senate, in an email.

Mark Overmyer-Velázquez, director of El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean and Latin American Studies, said Choi has been “an active and supportive leader” in creating a welcoming environment.

“Dr. Choi is a personable and accessible individual who listens well and works hard to advocate for his community,” Overmyer-Velázquez said in an email. “The University of Missouri is lucky to have him.”

Overmyer-Velázquez said in the email he witnessed firsthand Choi’s insistence on diversity and equity among faculty, staff and students at UConn.

“Provost Choi has worked to implement new recruitment and retention practices and oversight to make sure the university diversifies its workforce to more accurately reflect its student body and the larger state population,” Overmyer-Velázquez said.

Fernandez said Choi attended several Senate Diversity Committee meetings and was “always a good listener” of problems faculty and staff encountered.

“He also had a list that needed to be checked off by search committees to ensure that everybody had done a genuine effort in ‘casting a wide net’ to attract applicants from diverse backgrounds,” Fernandez said.

Nunnally said she hopes Choi’s actions with the UM System will be as positive as they have been at UConn.

“It is my sincerest hope that efforts like [The Collaborative] … can be replicated [at MU] through Provost Choi’s and others’ devout commitment and willingness to listen to, collaborate with, advocate for and act on behalf of communal voices seeking inclusion,” Nunnally said.

MU interim Chancellor Hank

Foley said in a statement he is “thrilled” about Choi’s selection.

“I believe his background in academics and his experience with research will greatly benefit the University of Missouri System,” Foley said in the statement.

“MU and the other UM System campuses remain a significant economic driver for the state of Missouri.

Educating our future workforce and creating new jobs through discoveries in our laboratories benefit ever y Missourian.

I’m looking forward to working with him as we continue our mission of education, research, ser vice and economic development.”

Edited by Claire Mitzel cmitzel@themaneater.com

UM System Presidentdesignate Mun Choi COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT PROVOST’S OFFICE

9

BINGE-WORTHY break by Cassie Allen books All the Bright Places

by Jennifer Niven If you’re looking for the kind of book that will stick with you for weeks, this is it. Violet and Finch are emotional, ever-growing characters that are very easy to get attached to.

Twelve things to binge watch, read and listen to over break

MOVIES movies

SHOWS shows

Star Trek Beyond Reviving the Star Trek scene, this movie brings new faces to a fast-paced world and would make a perfect addition to any action movie binge over the break.

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates This book is an important read for all Americans; it highlights what it means to be black in this country.

Designated Survivor Similar to ‘Madame Secretary’, this ABC political drama depicts the life of a cabinet member and his family when a terrorist attack on the capital launches him into the presidency.

Stuck in Love

Stranger Things

It’s a heartfelt movie that deals most powerfully with divorce and love mixed together for this year-inthe-life movie.

This show about a small town in the 80s suspensefully deals with some big problems, such as parenthood and friendship.

SONGS songs Flannel

by The Cardboard Swords

Sucker for Pain

by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons

Sleep Without You

by Brett Young

TORI AERNI // GRAPHICS MANAGER Thanksgiving

How to have a successful friendsgiving: College Edition Here’s your how-to guide for inexperienced, stuck-in-adorm college kids.

MONICA DUNN Reporter

W

hen the leaves are painted orange and yellow, Starbucks releases their holiday cups and the smell of pumpkin spice and the brisk November air lingers, it can only mean one thing: Thanksgiving break is right around the corner.

As exciting as coming home to see your friends and family is, leaving your new friends can seem daunting. What better way to spend your final days together than by celebrating a friendsgiving? If you’re anything like me, you’re about to skip to the next article because

you have burned microwave mac and cheese before, and the idea of making a Thanksgiving meal is as likely as turning down dessert. But hear me out.

I called my grandmother and my mom to learn all of their Thanksgiving secrets and combined them with my catastrophic cooking skills to bring to you the guide for how to have a successful friendsgiving: college edition.

Gobble till we wobble: Turkey and noodles What is Thanksgiving without a turkey? Unless you’re cooking for your entire floor, a turkey breast will be plenty. Allow the turkey to thaw by placing it in a fridge two days early. Once the turkey has thawed, get a roasting pan from the front desk and fill it with two inches of water. Rub the outside of the turkey with butter, put the turkey in the pan. Preheat the oven to 350

degrees and cook the turkey for an hour, or as directed on the package.

Buy a package of frozen noodles for the second part of this dish. After the turkey is done cooking, pour the waterturned-broth from the pan into a pot, and add water until the pot is half full.

Turn the burner on high, and once the broth begins to boil, add the noodles.

Stir until it is back at a boil, and then turn the temperature down to medium.

This will take about 20 minutes to cook.

Remember to stir often!

will be able to tell the difference!

Spice up crescent rolls by cutting mozzarella cheese sticks into bite-sized pieces and wrapping the rolls around them. Of course, cover with melted butter after cooking.

Buy a bag of steamable green beans from the freezer section; they look fancy and are simple to make. Place the bag in the microwave for the time on the instructions, and you have five-star green beans.

Turkey sidekicks: Mashed potatoes, rolls and green beans The sides are simple; just be sure to follow the instructions on the packaging carefully.

The easiest way to make mashed potatoes is to buy instant mashed potatoes from the store. The secret is using milk instead of water — no one

Pumpkin pie: Do or die Pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving staple.

My grandma assures me pumpkin pie is simple to make; just buy a premade crust and a jar of pumpkin pie mix. I won’t tell if you just buy a pumpkin pie from the store though!

Edited by Katherine White kwhite@themaneater.com

10

MOVE MAGAZINE | THANKSGIVING | NOV. 16, 2016

MU students make a difference in the community through food pantry Marketing co-coordinator Claire Salzman: “The Tiger Pantry team is just a very selfless organization.”

CLAIRE COLBY Staff Writer

W

hat started as an effort by a small group of students has turned into a veritable force of good deeds. In its four years of operation, Tiger Pantry has distributed 120,000 pounds of food to members of the MU community.

“It has just been really remarkable to see the strides made, going from what felt like a tiny closet with mostly-bare shelves to now regularly bringing in full shelves,” said Marketing co-coordinator Claire Salzman, who has been involved in the organization for two years. “When I first started in November, we had a big Thanksgiving drive and then the shelves were empty within a month or so. Now, it’s a disaster if our shelves are ever empty, and it’s really unusual that they are because we have such a constant supply of food coming in.”

The student-run organization is an auxiliary of the Missouri Students Association and Graduate Professional Council, and it is a subsidiary of The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri. Tiger Pantry was created in the image of a similar organization called the Full Circle Food Pantry, a student-run food pantry based out of

Tiger Pantry has collected and distributed 120,000 pounds of food to people at MU since its creation four years ago. ALESSANDRO COMAI | PHOTOGRAPHER the University of Arkansas.

“I really wanted to volunteer in college,” said Tiger Pantry Director Grace Gabel, who has been involved in the organization for three years. “There’s a lot of ways you can do that, but a lot of them, you’re not really hands on with it. I didn’t want to just join a sorority

and donate the philanthropy money. I wanted to do it. This has given me the opportunity to tangibly volunteer with my peers.”

Tiger Pantry serves anyone and everyone with an MU ID, from students to faculty and staff. New clients can apply for assistance by filling out the

“New Client Form” on the Tiger Pantry OrgSync page. The entire process is entirely confidential. Clients can pick up produce once a week, and a larger supply of groceries once a month.

“For me, what’s been really really impactful is being able to see that I am part of an organization that directly impacts the world that I live in,” Salzman said. “Oftentimes, when you get into service work, it feels very top-down, like I am helping all these people that are beneath me. Whereas with Tiger Pantry, I am serving my community and I am just giving back and connected to the people that I serve. These are my professors [and] staff members that are making sure that I am happy and safe and taken care of on this campus. These are classmates a lot of times, and TAs.” Applications to volunteer open on a semesterly basis and applications for executive positions open every fall.

In addition, students can get involved without directly volunteering with the organization.

“If you’re part of an organization, encourage them to host a food drive to benefit Tiger Pantry or request an informational presentation from Tiger Pantry,” Salzman said. “It’s a really really wonderful resource and wonderful organization made up of some of the most wonderful people in the entire world who just do this. The Tiger Pantry team is just a very selfless organization.”

Edited by Katherine White kwhite@themaneater.com

G#’s Musical Radar

The myth of the musical sophomore slump STAFF

GRANT SHARPLES

Features Editor Bailey Sampson Culture Editor Katherine White Angles Editor Victoria Cheyne Social Media Manager Kaelyn Sturgell Staff Writers Brooke Collier Hannah Simon Mackenzie Wallace Michelle Lumpkins Michaela Flores Nat Kaemmerer Videographer Hunter Bassler Ad rep Sally Cochran Columnists Ally Rudolph Alycia Washington Ben Jarzombek Bianca Rodriguez Cassandra Allen Grant Sharples Jack Cronin Kristyna Kresic

All artists shouldn’t be defined by the failure of a few.

M

usic fanatics constantly seek new artists to listen to and end up falling in love with them. Debut albums significantly shape and impact fans’ lives and are listened to on repeat. Several years later, those artists work on brand-new music, and a second album is expected to drop. And fans are absolutely ecstatic.

However, they listen to it and find themselves a bit disappointed. They were expecting something so much more. They feel let down as loyal followers of the artist. They’ll likely keep listening to the artist’s debut album, because frankly, the new one is awful.

For example, Arcade Fire’s Funeral made fans fall in love with the band. It was revolutionary, and it’s considered a classic and influential album among many indie rock fans. However, when Arcade Fire followed up that record with Neon Bible,

many fans were let down.

This dilemma is what music fans call the “sophomore slump.” It typically occurs when an artist has an amazing first album, but their follow-up falls flat. It’s generally expected that an artist’s debut will be better than their sophomore effort. However, is the sophomore slump actually real?

Although there are plenty of bands that have amazing debut albums but deplorable sophomore albums, this might not always be the case. There are many artists who have spectacular sophomore albums, some even exceeding their initial efforts. The quality of an album solely depends on the artist.

There are several factors that perpetuate the myth of the sophomore slump. For starters, fans typically have an extremely strong bond with an artist’s first record.

These are what we hear first, unless we’re late to the party and discover a musician later in their career. It’s usually refreshing and exciting, and we form a personal, emotional attachment to that album.

Then, when that artist releases a second album, we feel that it’s something we’ve already heard before, or it falls short of our expectations. Due to its novelty, we don’t have the same connection with the album because all of our emotional efforts as fans have already been devoted to their first record. Therefore, us music fanatics prefer premier records.

Yet there are plenty of latter records that are superior to former ones. This shows that the sophomore slump is a myth.

The quality of music doesn’t depend on if it’s a debut album or a sophomore album.

It’s completely dependent on the artist.

There are tons of examples of sophomore albums that are better than their predecessors. For example, most Modest Mouse fans would agree that The Lonesome Crowded West is their best album (and also their second album). Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins is superior to Oh, Inverted World.

(But I do believe both are fantastic records.)

Also, Passion Pit’s Gossamer is more cohesive as an album in terms of thematic elements and fluidity than Manners.

Doolittle by the Pixies is more revolutionary and widely known than their debut effort, Surfer Rosa.

Those are just a handful of examples among many later albums that are widely acknowledged as superior to their predecessors. Don’t get me wrong, though — all of the artists listed above also had amazing debut records, though their sophomore albums overshadowed those.

It may seem obvious, but the quality of an artist’s album simply depends on that artist alone. Some have spectacular debut albums, while others excel in those succeeding. This unpredictability keeps music lovers guessing and hungry for more.

OPINION

A PLACE FOR FREE EXPRESSION We want to hear your voice.

Submit letters to the editor at: www.themaneater.com/letter-to-the-editor

11

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY THE MANEATER COLUMNISTS DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINIONS OF THE MANEATER EDITORIAL BOARD.

Political Pupil

The Fifth Lap

Trump’s win makes respectful Columbia drivers fail dangerously listening important as ever TESS VRBIN Tess Vrbin is a sophomore journalism student at MU. She is an opinion columnist who writes about national politics for The Maneater.

It’s been a week since the election, and the initial shock of Donald Trump’s upset victory has worn off.

However, the painful repercussions haven’t stopped and won’t anytime soon.

I will admit up front that this has been very difficult to write. Besides sorting through my own feelings, I’ve made an effort to listen to everyone, Trump voters and non-Trump voters alike, and acknowledge that their emotions are real. I’ve struggled to find a way to recognize everyone’s humanity after some people’s votes left other people understandably traumatized.

In the end, I keep coming back to my first column of the semester, which can be understood in a sentence: “In order to make social progress, we need to calm down and listen to each other.”

After Nov. 8, I feel the need to amend that statement. Sexual assault survivors, Muslims, people of color and all other groups that Trump’s presidency threatens are in no way obligated to “calm down.”

I ASK TRUMP VOTERS TO PLEASE HAVE THE HUMILITY TO SEE THE ROLE THEY PLAYED IN FACILITATING HATRED. IT WILL NEVER BE COMFORTABLE ADMITTING THAT, BUT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE UNCOMFORTABLE EXISTING IN A TRUMP-LED AMERICA. Telling them to do so would undermine and dismiss their pain. Listening is now more important than ever.

Listening to those you disagree with does not mean endorsing their behavior, and refusing to listen will only deepen divisions. A column from The Guardian says that understanding is different from indulgence, which is important for the anti-Trump camp to remember.

Most of the criticism Trump voters are receiving is not the vilification they are interpreting. As I said in my earlier column, “some might take it that way regardless of how it’s presented.” The emotional intensity is likely the most opposition that some Trump voters have ever felt, but that doesn’t make it oppression.

There’s a huge difference between condemning a person and condemning what someone does. The line between those two things is extremely blurry because Trump’s win legitimizes prejudice. However, the line is still there. To quote Peter Beinart of The Atlantic: “Trump’s critics don’t call his supporters bigoted at all. They call their views bigoted.”

It’s vital to emphasize that not all Trump voters have bigoted views. Some voted for him because they oppose abortion, want to ensure the appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices or don’t trust Hillary Clinton. Others just did it out of

loyalty to the Republican Party. Those are not bad reasons to vote for a candidate, but regardless of the character or motivations of Trump supporters, their votes have serious implications. Blogger Celyra Workman explained an integral part of the problem better than I can: “(People) are upset because, by process of deduction, they’ve concluded that you do not find anything disqualifying about a lot of the objectively terrible things that (Trump has) said and done.” Similarly, in a viral Facebook post that had received over 42,000 shares as of Monday, Phillip Howell told Trump voters, “You may not have racist, misogynist, xenophobic intent, but you have had racist, misogynist, xenophobic impact.” There have been a slew of hateful acts throughout the nation since Nov. 9, which proves that marginalized identities’ fears for their safety are valid.

I ask Trump voters to please have the humility to see the role they played in facilitating hatred. It will never be comfortable to admit that, but millions of people are uncomfortable existing in a Trump-led America. Voting for Trump is a choice. Having an identity that he has disparaged is not.

Trump’s grandiose promises for change outweighed his inflammatory rhetoric, for some working-class Americans in economic despair. According to a RAND Corporation survey from almost a year ago, people who felt they had no political voice were more likely than any other group to support Trump. His “Make America Great Again” message appealed to people who felt ignored.

If politicians, both Republican and Democrat, had acknowledged those voters earlier, Trump would probably not have had the appeal that he did. When he became a candidate, Democrats, liberals and other anti-Trump voters were quick to make character judgments about his supporters when they should have listened to people’s reasons for supporting Trump. If they had, perhaps they could have drawn people away from Trump with logic.

We don’t have to like or agree with each other in order to treat each other with respect. We just have to listen in order to peacefully coexist with those different from us in our divided nation. To further drive the point home, I’m going to quote the same Trump supporter I did in August: We need to have “a dialogue, where ideas are put to the test, where people have the opportunity to hear and reject truly disastrous ideologies.”

There has never been a more appropriate and important time in modern American history to do just that. At the end of the day, no one is greater or lesser than anyone else, no matter what they look like, how they pray, who they love or for whom they voted.

Here’s how I ended my column in August: “We can’t assume that all people in a specific group — men, women, Christians, Muslims, Trump supporters, non-Trump supporters — are good or bad. There’s good and bad in everyone, and it’s up to us which side we put on display.”

Millions of Americans chose to display the bad side on Election Day. The most reasonable thing to do now is choose the opposite. That’s the silver lining in the jet-black cloud of the incoming Trump presidency.

Let’s be kind, empathetic and transparent to one another as we move forward, and together we will learn to live with the harsh realities that Trump’s win exposed.

It’s time for the people who drive in Columbia to shape up and learn the rules of the road.

KURTIS DUNLAP

Kurtis Dunlap is a fifth-year senior at MU. He is an English major. He writes about student life as an opinion columnist for The Maneater.

As of 2014, Columbia had 116,906 people living in the city limits. From my multiple years of experience driving in Columbia, I am convinced that 116,905 people don’t know how to drive.

It is the 13th week of the semester, so by now, you have gotten a feel for the city and most likely have experienced how awful the drivers are. You know that from about 4:30 p.m. until about 6 p.m., the traffic around campus is brutal. Traffic on Stadium Boulevard, College Avenue and Providence Road is usually stop-and-go and should be avoided at all costs.

I don’t know what it is about this town, but I drive 900 miles home across six states and don’t encounter the stupidity that comes out of people here. From things like forgetting how a four-way stop works to not halting at a flashing red light, the people of Columbia just fail when it comes to the basic rules of the road.

When coming up to a green light, I have had people slam on their brakes in front of me for no reason at all. I have also seen people run through red lights far beyond them being able to claim it was still yellow. I have been behind people at red lights, and they take their sweet time when the light turns green. I don’t think there is anything more frustrating when I am driving than someone taking their sweet time when the light changes.

Another thing Columbia drivers just don’t understand is the different speed limits around town.

South Providence Road, going towards Nifong Boulevard, is 50 mph. After the light at the bottom of the hill, it turns into 55 mph. If I had a dollar for every person I have gotten behind that has gone 40 mph on that road, let’s just say I wouldn’t have any student debt when I graduate.

Signalling that you are going to turn left and then going right, or just not signalling at all, are some of the things Columbia brings out in people. Car manufacturers put something called a turn signal in cars, not because it is a fancy amenity, but because the government requires them to. Just like they require you to use it.

How can Columbia fix the problem of its inadequate drivers?

Every teenage driver should take driver’s education.

Right now, Missouri law doesn’t require teenagers applying for their first driver’s license to take driver’s education. Requiring this would mandate that the future drivers of Columbia will at least get some sort of professional training and not succumb to the awful habits of their parents.

Unfortunately, I don’t think anything is going to change because everyone who lives in Columbia is a subpar driver and is oblivious to that fact. You might have heard the saying, “If everyone is special, no one is.”

Well, it goes for Columbia’s drivers too. “If they all suck, none of them suck.” Or at least that’s the mentality.

For me, the one person in Columbia who is a great driver, I just have to hope that on my way home, the person signalling they are going to turn left actually turns left.

12

THE BEST SOURCE FOR Mizzou SPORTS

SPORTS

Mental performance director Scotta Morton speaks to the volleyball team on mental toughness.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MIZZOU ATHLETICS

VOLLEYBALL

Mental performance coaching gives Missouri volleyball an edge Scotta Morton: “Just like they go to the strength room to build muscle, we’re building brain muscle. You can’t physically see it, but when you start using it you’ll start seeing rewards.”

ANNE ROGERS Senior Staff Writer Missouri volleyball players know they are good.

Ranked No. 25 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, the Tigers are 21-5 overall and 12-2 in the Southeastern Conference. They sit near the top of the SEC standings, right below No. 6 Florida.

But they don’t get ahead of themselves.

Missouri volleyball and Mizzou Athletics put a heavy emphasis on mental training. Outside hitter Carly Kan said it gives the Tigers an edge over their opponents by focusing on one game at a time.

“We’re not perfect, and we’re not always going to be thinking right, so having that mental toughness is going to put us further and give us that edge we need,” she said.

Scotta Morton, the Mizzou Athletics mental performance director, teaches mental skills for performance enhancement during 30-minute sessions once a week.

“A lot of it is about finding the team identity, having that healthy perspective

with sport, having team cohesion and building a good relationship with coaches,” Morton said. “Every athlete who meets with a mental performance coach knows they’re here to grow and get better, and just like they go to the strength room to build muscle, we’re building brain muscle.”

Morton attends practices and almost every match. She said she wants to meet the athletes where they are mentally at, and going to practice helps her gain that perspective.

Most sessions are open for discussion.

She said she wants to help facilitate conversation between the athletes because if the athletes are not connecting mentally, competition will be harder.

“Sometimes we’re building each other up and helping each other, sometimes we talk about what we can do better,” Kan said. “We’re all pretty vulnerable because we are letting each other know what’s going on in our head.”

One theme Morton pushes is a “right here, right now” mindset, encouraging athletes to focus on the task at hand.

She also wants the team to “control the controllables.” Athletes can’t control the outcome of a game, she said, but they can control their attitude.

“We’re not the ones voting on rankings,

and we have no control over what Florida and Texas A&M does and if they’re ready to play or not,” Morton said. “But we can control what’s on our side of the net, and we can control the effort and attitude in practice every day.”

Morton said the biggest part of losing is what athletes do after. When Missouri lost in the early season, Morton helped the team take a step back and figure out what they needed to do next. It resulted in an 13-match winning streak.

“The more the loss stings, the more you hold on to it and the less likely you are to be here right now,” Morton said. “It’s not like, ‘Take it and put it in the background like it never happened,’ but rather, ‘Let’s take it; let’s learn from it to help us move on.’”

Morton lays out a foundation for her athletes, but she says it is really up to them how much they get out of it.

“See, the mental performance thing isn’t just for athletes,” Morton said. “It’s for me, it’s for you. You’re going to use these same skills in the workforce, in the real world. The challenges and adversity you’re going to continue to face as you get older don’t go away.”

Edited by Nancy Coleman ncoleman@themaneater.com

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THE MANEATER’S WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW | NOV. 16, 2016

Jumper Ja'Mari Ward set for a legendary track career Leroy Millsap, who has coached Ward since the Missouri freshman was 11, talks about what makes the track star a possible future Olympian.

MATTHEW HOSLER Reporter Freshman Ja’Mari Ward had never dunked a basketball before his junior year of high school. One of the first times he did, he leapt from the free-throw line, as if he were Michael Jordan in the 1988 dunk contest. His high school track and field coach Leroy Millsap remembers just how freakishly athletic Ward was.

“It was a peer pressure type of thing,” Millsap said. “He had never dunked a basketball before in his life, so he kept trying and eventually got one

from the free throw line. I was mad because when he did it, he twisted his ankle.”

Millsap coached Ward from the time he turned 11 all the way until he left for Mizzou.

After years of working with Ward as head track and field coach at Cahokia High School in Illinois, Millsap had plenty to say about one of the greatest athletes he has ever coached.

Reaching the national stage “Ja’Mari is a ver y competitive kid that hates to lose,” Millsap said. “Sometimes it seems like he hits the wall, but somewhere deep in his soul he pulls something out of him, no matter what the other competitors have ran.

He can dig down deep and beat anyone he wants.”

He was ranked No. 1 nationally his junior year. He kept pushing.

“Every year, we set a goal,” Millsap said. “We kept advancing that goal by a foot

or a foot and a half after every year to keep pushing him. I have been coaching him since the fifth and sixth grade. I knew early on that he would be the greatest jumper I have ever had. I trained him every summer.”

By the end of his senior season, Ward was ranked No. 1 nationally in both triple and long jump, with records of 53 feet 7.5 inches and 26 feet 1.5 inches, respectively. He was also a multiple-time state champion and Junior National Champion in the long jump.

It was a proud moment for Millsap when Ward claimed that title for Team USA. Ward now ranks on the alltime national records list for high school athletes. He isNo. 7 in triple jump and is tied for No. 11 in the long jump.

Hitting big Millsap says there’s still room for improvement, though.

“He still does not know how

Freshman jumper Ja’mari Ward participates in a meet during his senior year of high school. COURTESY OF ANTHONY HOLLER

to jump.” Millsap said. “He pays very close attention to detail, though. When he jumps, he never hits the board before his big jumps. He is always 2 feet behind the board when he hits big.”

That means that on his biggest jumps, Ward could add a few more feet to them by just hitting the board when he jumps.

In May, Ward twisted his ankle and dislocated his kneecap while extending on a jump at a meet. He did not have any structural damage to it, but Millsap decided to sit him out in order to prepare for Junior Nationals. This forced Ward to miss the state meet.

“His mindset never changed, though, when he got hurt,” Millsap said. “He was still hungry and we had to have a meeting with his parents and coaches to tell him we shut him down for now. When he got cleared to jump again, we just went back to the basics and retaught him over again. He actually got cleared to run in the state meet, but I had a plan and stuck to it.”

Family ties Millsap believed Ward’s success was due to his family.

During his time coaching Ward, Millsap grew close with his family and learned things about them a lot of people did not know.

“He is close to his family,” Millsap said. “It honestly is one unique family. His brother was a great high jumper for me.

He jumped 6 feet 8 inches in high school as a freshman. His father was an all-state wrestler who broke his neck wrestling his junior year only to come back his senior year. His father always demanded nothing but the best.”

Ward originally got into track

and field because it was a chance for him to hang out with his brothers.

He played tennis and ran cross-country for years, until Millsap was able to teach him triple jump while his brothers practiced. He played tennis competitively until high school, but continued playing at the recreational center as a hobby.

Millsap credits Ward’s tennis skills as having helped him develop quickness.

Not just an athlete Millsap joined Ward’s family as they helped him through the recruitment process, sitting in on multiple meetings with coaches and recruits. He also offered advice to Ward.

“Main thing I wanted him to focus on were academics,” Millsap said. “Focus on what to major in. If you can practice for 3-4 hours, then you can hit the books for 3-4 hours. Do not be the athlete that only wants to be an athlete and not a student.”

Millsap sees a bright future ahead for Ward, both as a student and as an athlete.

“Once he learns to really jump, he will shock the world with something great,” Millsap said. “The goal is to break the world record by sophomore year in long jump. He still has to finish learning triple jump. By the end of his career, he could really scare the hell out of both world records and go down as a great.”

Edited by Katherine Stevenson kstevenson@themaneater.com

14

THE MANEATER’S WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW | Nov. 16, 2016

Austin Myers works to reach potential His performance will be a factor in determining how far the Tigers go this year.

JOE NOSER Staff Writer Redshirt freshman heavyweight Austin Myers transferred from West Virginia to Missouri this year to reach one goal: win an NCAA Championship.

“There is weight on my shoulders to win because I need to get to NCAA [Championships] and help our team win a national championship,” he said.

That “weight” Myers referred to is both literal and figurative.

At 5-foot-11 and 285 pounds, Myers is a hulking presence wherever he goes. But he also has a figurative burden to bear, as his job is to provide Mizzou with a premier heavyweight

who can qualify in March for nationals, something the program has been missing in recent years.

Myers is not without confidence. He went 189-0 in high school, capturing four Kentucky state championships in the 220-pound weight class and leading his alma mater, Campbell County High School, to a state championship in 2012.

He was also ranked the No. 25 wrestler in the 2015 recruiting class by FloWrestling.

Even as a redshirt freshman, Myers believes he can make a difference. He also understands his high school accomplishments do not make him different from his teammates.

“I think I can be that missing piece that can get us to the next level at nationals,” he said. “A lot of us were great wrestlers in high school and have great accolades, so [winning] is kind of expected.”

Gymnastics looks to build off strong season Missouri will lean on returning firepower while adding freshmen that could contribute right away.

DRU BERRY Reporter Progress has been the name of the game under Missouri gymnastics coach Shannon Welker.

In his short tenure as coach, the team has gone from finishing the 2014 season unranked to finishing No. 19 last season.

And it appears this trend will continue. Welker told the Mizzou Gymnastics News Network in September that “this is probably the strongest we’ve ever started a season.”

Not only does Missouri return a solid group of sophomores and juniors, but the team was also able to reload with a freshman class that could make some noise.

Alyssa Johnson, Mary Nicholson, Rachel Ley and Aspen Tucker are the four new faces on the team. Look for Tucker and Johnson to have an immediate impact, as both already boast impressive resumes.

Tucker, daughter of former Kansas City Royals player Michael Tucker, won beam at the Florida State Championships this year in the highest amateur level of gymnastics.

Last year, Johnson placed 10th on vault and 18th in allaround at the Junior Olympic Nationals. Tucker should help Missouri’s beam attack, joining Britney Ward, a second-team AllAmerican last year on beam.

Along with the new freshmen, juniors Becca Schugel and Kennedi Harris will look to improve on

notable 2016 campaigns.

Schugel won the overall bars title against Lindenwood and Southeast Missouri in the State of Missouri meet with a career best 9.900. Her most remarkable performance, however, may have come during the Southeastern Conference Championships. She rose to the occasion on beam, scoring a career-best 9.875 and landing a spot on the all-SEC team.

Harris competed on vault and floor in every meet last season, and she had the highest average vault score for Missouri.

Harris also showed a propensity to step her routine up when needed, placing second on floor at the NCAA regional meet.

Britney Ward figures to be an integral part of the team, as she comes off a remarkable 2016 season, where she garnered all-SEC and SEC All-Freshman honors. She won six event titles in both vault and beam, and finished the season ranked No. 15 nationally on beam.

All eyes should be on Morgan Porter, who was recently cleared from suspension. She is coming off a phenomenal season, in which she captured the SEC Freshman of the Year award and qualified for the NCAA Championships in allaround.

Porter owns three of the four best all-around scores by a freshman at Mizzou, and she already has the second highest all-around score in school history.

She looks to garner more records while leading a potent Missouri squad into the 2017 season, a year in which the team will attempt to continue their ascent in college gymnastics.

Edited by Peter Baugh pbaugh@themaneater.com

Coach Brian Smith said that the addition of Myers rounds out his team.

“I really feel strongly that we have 10 real solid weight [classes],” Smith said. “[Austin] gives us some offense, and he’s looking great. I’m excited about having a solid heavyweight like him.”

Myers said one of the things that drew him to Mizzou was the opportunity to wrestle alongside an Olympian, senior J’den Cox. He felt primarily, however, that Mizzou’s program was more sincere than West Virginia’s about doing the work required to become national champions.

“West Virginia didn’t keep themselves to their goals, but here everyone wants to be great as an individual and [as] a team,” he said. “At West Virginia, they talked about it, but they weren’t about it.”

Smith said Myers’ intensity and desire to win have endeared

BEAST Continued from page 3

cases such as Smith, who Reist has eat more carbohydrates.

Many athletes trying to gain weight are encouraged to drink calories as well.

Whether it be juice, sweet tea, milk or chocolate milk, all are recommended by Reist as forms of quick calories.

“The good thing about when you drink something is that you don’t have to sit there and chew on it,” Reist said.

Michael the mentor Reist runs the morning show, but the afternoon belongs to Michael.

At around 2:45 p.m., some of the athletes arrive at Mizzou Arena and prepare to lift with Michael, who is in his first year as assistant athletics director for athletic performance.

During the season, half of the players lift on one day while the other half lifts the next day.

Michael may not have the athletes in the weight room much during the season, but he spends the most time with players of any coach in the offseason. The NCAA allows Michael up to six hours per week with the athletes during the offseason. Coach Kim Anderson gets two at most.

“Typically guys don’t think about this, but you’re going to spend so much time with that strength coach,” Michael said.

“It would be good if they knew a little bit about basketball and had a background in that area.”

Michael fits that description.

His resume as a player includes playing Division III college basketball at Elmhurst College and professionally in Ireland and Germany.

Michael said he looks back on what he would do differently to ensure his players don’t

Austin Myers COURTESY OF MIZZOU ATHLETICS

him with his teammates from the start.

“He’s really fit in with our culture,” Smith said. “You just see it day after day; he’s feeling more relaxed around the team and enjoying himself more.

He’s getting back to where he was in high school, where he commit the same mistakes.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t push myself in college the way that I do now,” Michael said. “I pushed myself pretty hard, but not sickly hard.”

He pushes his athletes “sickly hard” now, though. During the offseason, Michael put them through ROTC training. This arduous training regimen included everything from carrying ammunition crates to running several miles at 6 a.m.

Michael made it clear during these workouts what he wanted to see from his players.

“It’s how far are you willing to basically make yourself throw up,” sophomore Terrence Phillips said. “He likes to call it getting sick in the head.”

While he may seem like a stereotypical strength coach, Michael strives to be more.

Michael said he is big on coaching habits and training the person.

He preaches the acronym A.C.T.: Attack, Compete, Together.

Michael said the attack aspect shows by going hard throughout lifts and workouts. The compete part is similar: He wants his athletes to strive to win at everything they do.

“It can get tiring mentally when you’re like that, but at the same time, those are habits that if they translate, you can really be successful,” Michael said.

The togetherness pillar might be the most important for a Missouri team that has won a combined 19 games the past two seasons and was picked to finish last in the SEC in the preseason coaches poll.

Sophomore Kevin Puryear said he’s already noticed a difference in togetherness from last year’s team.

“I’m not saying we weren’t together last year or close, but this year, we are taking more from the weight room and what he is telling us and taking it onto the court and actually applying it,” Puryear said.

Anderson, who is in his third year coaching the Tigers, has

was very successful.”

Cox said that although Myers has some endurance and technique issues to work on, he still has the potential to contribute at the highest level for the Tigers.

“He’s becoming the monster that we wanted him to be,” Cox said. “I know I say ‘monster,’ but he’s become the beast. We’ll continue to work with him and help him grow, but I believe he’s definitely going to be someone to reckon with.”

Myers is not intimidated by the weight he carries. He just wants to win.

“We all think we can become national champions,” Myers said. “That’s why we came to Missouri to wrestle.”

Langston Newsome contributed to this report.

Edited by Peter Baugh pbaugh@themaneater.com noticed Michael’s immediate impact throughout the program.

“He kind of changed the culture of how we work in the weight room so that it carries over to how we work on the floor,” Anderson said.

Shaking up practice Once lifting concludes, a practice that typically lasts about two hours ensues.

Although he spends most of his time with the players during lifting and workouts, Michael is an active participant. He leads the players through stretches, participating in everything from touching his toes to push-ups.

When drills commence, Michael watches and offers pointers. He also keeps an eye out for things Anderson might not see.

While Michael helps with practice, Reist is busy working behind the scenes.

When practice ends in the early evening, Reist and his staff of interns have Gatorade shakes waiting for the athletes. For those trying to maintain or lose weight, a 370-calorie shake awaits them. Weight-gainer shakes are different, though.

Reist adds ingredients like peanut butter, chocolate syrup, bananas and vanilla Greek yogurt, putting the weight-gainer shakes’ calorie count at over 800.

After shakes are distributed, Reist and Michael are done for the day. They typically head home around 6 p.m. and get ready to do it all again the next day.

They don’t mind the typically long days because of the daily satisfaction they receive when they watch a player such as Smith develop and grow one day at a time.

One Beast Mode at a time, that is.

“When you start to see the change and the development, it’s pretty awesome,” Michael said.

Edited by Peter Baugh pbaugh@themaneater.com

15

THE MANEATER’S WINTER SPORTS PREVIEW | NOV. 16, 2016 Get on my lavell

Kim Anderson must step up in third year To keep his job, Kim Anderson needs to prove he can teach a young Missouri men’s basketball team how to grow together.

BRENDAN LAVELL After winning only 19 of 63 games over the last two seasons, the Missouri men’s basketball team opened the 2016-2017 season on Sunday, Nov. 13 with a vistory over Alabama A&M. The Tigers showed only marginal improvement last season, leading many to suspect Mizzou would fire head coach Kim Anderson, but Mizzou Athletics quickly released a statement following the 201516 season saying Anderson would return.

“No one wants to win more than Coach Anderson,” former Athletics Director Mack Rhoades said. “He came into a very challenging situation two years ago, and he is passionate about returning his alma mater to greatness.”

Anderson is in his third year at the helm of the team, but it may as well be his first. Since Anderson took over, 12 players, most of them holdovers from the Frank Haith era, have transferred or been dismissed from the program. Of the eight Tigers who played more than 15 minutes per game last year, five are no longer on the team.

It is hard to expect much from a program that underwent such significant roster turnover in the offseason, especially after winning just 19 games over the last two seasons.

Thus, Anderson’s success as a coach can’t be measured in

wins and losses this season.

Now that all the players within the program are his guys, not Haith’s, Anderson has to prove that he can make the team buy in. This means player retention and improvement on a playerby-player basis. If Anderson comes up short, Mizzou may be looking for a new head coach this offseason.

Anderson’s inability to retain players over the last two years can be chalked up to the difference between his laidback coaching style and Haith’s more fiery approach. This year is different. Every player on Mizzou’s roster was recruited to be part of Anderson’s program.

Now, he has to prove he can establish his culture within the locker room and make his players believe the team has direction.

To accomplish this, sophomore point guard Terrence Phillips needs to establish himself as the team’s veteran leader. Phillips was recently elected chair of the Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Leadership Council and is well-known for his hustle and basketball IQ. Scrolling through Phillips’ Instagram account, you’ll see captions such as, “I play for the front of the jersey,” and, “INAM (It’s not about me).” If the team’s many young players (11 of 15 are freshmen or sophomores) follow Phillips’ example, Anderson will have a solid core to build around for the next few years.

Because the team is so young after losing several key players in the offseason, it will be hard to define the season in blackand-white win and loss terms.

Instead, this season will be a test of Anderson’s coaching ability. Anderson needs to show that, when given a stable roster, his team can improve and grow

over the course of the season.

Anderson will also need to show he is capable of helping individuals improve from season to season. The players had an entire offseason to improve their game; now it’s time to see the results. Will Kevin Puryear show the same consistency he did during the 2015 nonconference slate?

Will K.J. Walton shore up his

defense? Will Cullen VanLeer become a reliable scoring threat on the perimeter?

Competing in the SEC after losing the majority of your top players would be a tall task for any team not named Kentucky.

It will be an especially tall task for a Missouri team that went just 3-15 in conference play last season. This team’s ceiling is probably around .500, but

regression from last year is also a real possibility.

There will be growing pains —that’s to be expected with such a young roster— but if the team plays its strongest ball at the end of the season, there will be hope for the future, and that is what this program needs more than anything.

Men’s basketball head coach Kim Anderson paces the sidelines during Mizzou’s home game against Alabama A&M on Nov. 13. EMIL LIPPE | SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER