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PAGE 2 NEWS Wednesday, November 10, 2021 Mercy Center for Women hosts gift drive
By Hannah Brooks Staff writer
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The Mercy Emissaries will be hosting their annual Christmas gift drive starting on Nov. 16 which will last until Dec. 10.
The Mercy Emissaries is a group of staff, students and faculty that have been educated on the Sisters of Mercy and the values that they hold. They are also trained to spread their mission around campus.
The gift drive supports the mercy mission as it helps the women and children who reside at the Mercy Center for Women.
Per the Mercy Center for Women’s website, this shelter is a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Mercy and “is committed to enhancing the dignity of each person we serve through healing of body, mind, and spirit.”
The Center provides safe and supportive housing for homeless women with or without children, connections with social service agencies and volunteers who provide a network of support, mentoring and education to both residents and women in the community. It is an environment with spiritual and ethical values.
The gift drive provides gifts, not only for the children at the shelter, but for mothers as well. This event provides joy and hope in the lives of the residents of the shelter.
The items on the gift list often consist of kids’ toys, such as Barbie dolls, baby dolls, Legos, etc. Those who donate are asked not to wrap the gifts because a special day is set aside for the mothers at the shelter to wrap the gifts for their children. Unwrapped items can be dropped off in the barrel in front of the President’s office on the first floor of Old Main.
For mothers, gifts such as personal care items, like lotions, perfumes, etc. are being accepted. Clothing may not be the best choice as sizing may be an issue, but items such as scarves, hats, or mittens make good gifts.
Other gift suggestions include gift-wrapping supplies; gifts for women such as daily planners, adult coloring books, and picture frames; household items such as paper towels and toilet paper; and gifts that could be good for all ages such as socks, slippers, and scarves.
“Gift cards can also make a great gift, so the mothers can go to the store and purchase what they would like for their children. While we may enjoy going out and buying the gifts, it is important to remember that this drive is not about us,” said Alice Edwards, Ph.D, as the coordinator of the 2021 drive.
Cash and monetary gifts can be given to Stacey Wiley, Administrative Assistant to the President’s Office, to ensure that they are kept safe.
For more information about the gift drive, including a complete list of items for the 2021 drive, please visit the Mercy Center for Women Holiday Wish List website at https://www.mcwerie.org/waysto-give/wish-list.
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There are many different gifts that the Mercy Center for Women gift drive is accepting. Be sure to look at the full list of accepted gifts on the Mercy Center for Women website.
Staff Senate hosts “Jeans for a Cause”
By Eva Mihelich Staff writer
For the past 10 years, Mercyhurst University Staff Senate has held an annual fundraiser to help raise money for local non-profits. Titled “Jeans for a Cause,” this fundraiser allows faculty and staff members of Mercyhurst University to dress down and wear jeans or Mercyhurst attire on Fridays with a donation of two dollars towards the chosen non-profit.
This semester, the organization chosen for donations is the ANNA Shelter: a non-profit, open admission animal welfare organization.
Their goal is to provide unwanted, stray, abused or neglected animals with a safe, nurturing, loving environment where they can be either reunited with their owners or placed into new life-long loving homes.
This annual fundraiser is a cooperative effort to get faculty and staff members involved in the University’s mission, which Justin Ross, Ph.D, president of the Staff Senate, expressed.
“What’s most interesting to me about Jeans for a Cause is that it is a very tangible way of living the mission,” said Ross.
“Sometimes it is difficult to show and articulate how we engage in the core values of the Sisters of Mercy or how we live out our mission, but this fundraiser allows those efforts to be seen: just look around on Fridays and see people wearing jeans and Mercyhurst gear to see this in real time! For me, it’s a weekly reminder of our dedication to service to others.”
Often, the faculty and staff are overlooked in the campus community. It is not just students; the community involves every person who walks on campus, so they should be involved in Mercyhurst’s service mission as well. This fundraiser provides a perfect opportunity for them to show their support and gratitude for local organizations.
Ross shared that it is quite common for faculty and staff to dress down each Friday during the fundraiser, which shows an overwhelming support for the non-profit chosen.
Sometimes service may seem daunting or overwhelming, but what many people do not realize is that local issues are perfect opportunities to show some kindness and support.
Christian Constantine, Veterans Service coordinator, has been participating in “Jeans for a Cause” since 2019. He shared that he was amazed at the number of non-profits in the Erie, Pennsylvania area.
“When [Ross], asked me to find a list of non-profits around here, I simply did a Google search and found a list of almost 450. I had no idea that there were that many non-profits in the Erie area,” said Constantine.
In the past, Mercyhurst University Staff Senate has chosen non-profits such as the Bloom Collaborative, Hospice of Metropolitan Erie, House of Mercy, Mission 22 and the Emmaus Soup Kitchen. These are all organizations that do such good for the community, so giving back to them is the University’s way of showing appreciation for the kindness they bring to Erie.
This semester, if you see faculty and staff in jeans and Mercyhurst attire, you’ll know that they are supporting a worthy cause and living out the core values of the Sisters of Mercy. To donate to Jeans for a Cause, visit https:// hurstalumni.wufoo.com/forms/ jeans-day-payments/.
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November Open House is approaching
By Nadine Fox Staff writer
It’s that time of the year, Mercyhurst University will be hosting its annual Fall Open House this month. This open house will be hosted on Nov. 13 from 9 a.m. to 2p.m.
Open houses are a great opportunity for many prospective high school students and their families to learn more about Mercyhurst University.
Presentations will be given from the vice president of Academic Affairs, Joanne McGurk, Ph.D, and the director of Undergraduate Admissions, Christian Beyer. The presentations will be on the history of Mercyhurst, the application process and financial aid.
The Fall Open House will not only give potential students the chance to meet their classmates, but will also be a good opportunity to get to know a bunch of the faculty and staff from across departments at the Academic Department Fair.
It is also where students will get to learn more about academic opportunities in the fields that they are interested in studying. This will also give students the chance to ask questions about the program.
On top of that, the new students and their families will be able to take a campus tour with one of the Mercyhurst Student Ambassadors in order to get a better understanding of whether or not they would enjoy the campus environment.
The students will be able to get a walk-through of what a day in the life of a Laker is like. Talking to current students is a great way to find out what goes on around campus and what it is like to live on campus.
The new students will also be receiving tickets for the Grotto Commons Dining Hall for lunch to get a taste of Parkhurst’s cuisine.
All they have to do is simply register online by filling out a form.
The link will ask basic questions, such as what the student’s name is, what they are interested in, what type of degree they are looking to complete, when they are planning on arriving, how many guests they are bringing and what high school they attended.
As a special thank you for coming and spending the day learning about Mercyhurst, the school also provides free shirts for visiting our campus.
One important note is that unfortunately, due to NCAA regulations, the Admissions Department is currently unable to arrange a direct contact meeting with team coaches. So, any new students looking to participate on a particular team must reach out to that coach directly through the Athletic Directory to set up a meeting.
Overall, this event should be a wonderful opportunity for new prospective students. “Currently, there are 225 students registered to attend next weekend’s events, but we will continue to take registrations throughout the week,” said Dana Irwin, assistant director of Undergraduate Admissions.
Be on the lookout to welcome some new faces around campus within the coming week!
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This is most likely a familiar photo that you have seen on the front page of the Mercyhurst website. The campus is gorgeous in the fall, so there’s no better time to show it off to potential future Lakers!
American Airlines cancels many flights on Halloween weekend
By Bella Lee Staff writer
As COVID-19 quickly approaches its second birthday, the nation and the world have seen that even in the midst of a pandemic, the world has remained relatively normal.
Even with masks and social distancing in place, people around the world have continued to attend concerts, eat at restaurants and travel to visit their loved ones. However, there is still a reason to be concerned about a variety of things.
Oct. 31 was a particularly bad day for airline travelers, as American Airlines canceled almost 850 flights due to staff shortages and bad weather.
COVID-19 has been detrimental to many airline employees, who have been laid off or forced into early retirement due to lack of demand for workers.
Now that restrictions are loosening, there are a lot of travelers and not enough workers. This has caused a backlog that ultimately leads to situations such as the one that American Airlines faced.
On Halloween weekend alone, there were over 1,700 flight cancellations for American Airlines.
However, the return of nearly 1,800 flight attendants from leave as well as 600 new hires seemed to help alleviate this problem.
This is not the only airline going through this. Southwest Airlines cancelled nearly 2,400 flights over a three-day period earlier in the month, blaming bad weather and air traffic control issues.
A major problem that airlines have been facing this year has been an increase in unruly passengers. When told to properly put on a mask or make sure their child is properly wearing a mask, more and more passengers are choosing to create scenes that, in the worst-case scenario, can turn violent and injure others.
Back in May, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant ended up losing two front teeth after being punched by a passenger that repeatedly refused to follow instructions. The passenger was ultimately charged with battery and causing serious bodily injury.
According to the Federal Aviation Association (FAA), there were roughly 2,500 reports of unruly passengers between Jan. 1 and May 24 of this year, with 1,900 of those reports involving people contravening the federal mask mandate.
The FAA recorded 394 potential “unruly passenger” violations through May 25, while 2019 and 2020 saw 146 and 183 violations, respectively.
According to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, there have been growing problems with harassment and violence.
A survey conducted in 2018 revealed that more than one in three flight attendants have said they have experienced verbal sexual harassment from passengers, with nearly one in five experiencing physical sexual harassment.
Additionally, 68 percent of flight attendants stated that they saw no efforts from their airlines to address sexual harassment in the workplace in the year leading up to the survey.
These statistics are highly concerning, especially because it does not seem as if anything is being done about the non-compliant passengers.
Airline companies need to work on the safety of their passengers when flights get cancelled, but at the same time, they must also ensure the safety of their employees.
Merciad
IN A MINUTE New hours at The Roost
The Roost has announced its new hours of operation.
The Roost is now opened on Fridays from 11 a.m. until 12 a.m.
The menu will remain the same as the regular dinner menu, meaning you can still get a pretzel!
Thanks to these new hours, students will be able to go to The Roost for lunch on Friday if they so choose.
The Great Turkey Hunt
On Nov. 12 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. there will be a FoodU Scavenger Hunt. This is known as the Great Turkey Hunt.
Also on Nov. 12, Grotto Commons will be hosting “The Stand” from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
There are quite a few events this Friday, so check out as many as you can!
Vaccine Booster Clinic
There is going to be a COVID-19 vaccination booster clinic on Nov. 18.
Those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine two months prior and those who received Pfizer or Moderna six months prior can get the booster shot.
Signups begin today, Nov. 10, so be sure to check your email to see if you are eligible.
Parkhurst Thanksgiving orders
Parkhurst is now selling heat-and-serve Thanksgiving dinners.
There are three different packages available to order; package 1 feeds two, package 2 feeds five and package 3 feeds 10.
Each package comes with a pie, but more than one pie can be ordered for an additional charge.
Mercyhurst hosts discussion panel on Afghanistan
By Ashley Barletta News editor
On Oct. 21, a panel discussion titled “Contemplating Afghanistan: The past, the present, the ethical challenges” took place in the Waterford Room in Ryan Hall. The ethical questions surrounding the U.S.’s withdraw from Afghanistan were considered by panelists throughout the discussion.
The Evelyn Lincoln Institute for Ethics and Society, or ELIES, was established in 2008 because of a grant given by Emily and John Costigan. It was named after Emily’s mother, Evelyn Jacobson Lincoln, a 1930 Mercyhurst graduate. To learn more about ELIES, visit the university website.
“The Evelyn Lincoln Institute for Ethics and Society does programming throughout the year to address the ethical questions facing the campus community locally and globally. Most of the programming of the institute is in the form of panels, speakers, and symposia,” said Verna Ehret, Ph.D, and director of ELIES.
A group of students were the catalyst for this discussion to be held. There were a slew of different perspectives on how the U.S. removed its troops from Afghanistan.
Jacob A. Mauslein, Ph.D, assistant professor of Intelligence Studies, said, “I think that the panel was an fantastic opportunity for the public to hear about the situation in Afghanistan from a variety of perspectives that are either misunderstood or lost in the news cycle.”
According to news sources, the decision to pull U.S. troops from Afghanistan began with former President Trump. The Trump Administration negotiated an agreement with the Taliban to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, dropping U.S. troop levels by roughly eighty percent.
President Biden decided to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan completely because of how many American lives were lost during what he refers to as “America’s longest war” according to news sources.
On the other hand, it was risky to do this because Afghans no longer have the U.S. to help defend them from the Taliban. Now, the Afghan government has collapsed and the Taliban has failed to comply with the agreement made with the U.S.
The panelists who discussed the ethics of this situation were Mauslein of the Department of Intelligence Studies, Julia Morgan, Ph.D, of the Philosophy Department, and Brian Ripley, Ph.D, of the Political Science Department.
“Even though I was among the presenters, I feel I learned just as much from my co-panelists as those in the audience,” said Mauslein.
There was also a showing of the film “Mankiller: Activist, Feminist, Cherokee Chief” on Nov. 4. This was held at 7:30 p.m. in the Mercy Heritage Room and followed by a discussion led by Ben Scharff, Ph.D, chair of the History Department.
“We are not only political beings, we are relational and moral beings, and that is why we had representation from the Multicultural Community Resource Center (MCRC),” said Ehret.
By Libby Bullinger Copy editor
During the week of Oct. 24-30, healthcare workers from around the country celebrated National Respiratory Care Week. This annual tradition serves as a weeklong recognition of the work that respiratory therapists do.
The celebration dates back to November of 1982 when President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation declaring the third week of October to be an annual recognition for this specific type of healthcare worker.
Another aspect of this weeklong event is that the Wednesday of National Respiratory Care Week is always Lung Health Day, another way to promote awareness for lung health and to appreciate those in that specific medical field.
A respiratory therapist is a type of medical professional who is trained specifically to assist patients with lung diseases and disorders that can occur from a variety of health conditions. The work that respiratory therapists do has been particularly important over the past two years as one of the main impacts of COVID-19 is difficulty with breathing.
This is a growing field with the U.S. Bureau of Labor predicting a 23 percent increase of respiratory therapists over the next ten years.
This year specifically, the motto for National Respiratory Care Week was “Resilience, Strength, Hope.”
Mercyhurst was able to take part in the recognition of respiratory therapists by gifting students with American Association of Respiratory Care (AARC) Early Professional Memberships and Oake’s Pocket Guides, which are study tools for respiratory therapy content.
Many academic programs are making the move from Mercyhurst North East to the main campus here in Erie, and the Respiratory Therapy Program is one of them.
Beginning in the spring semester, the program will be housed in the Audrey Hirt Academic Center where students will have the opportunity to complete a two-year program in respiratory therapy under the direction of assistant professor, Christine Gluvna. According to Gluvna, students in the program will complete coursework and clinical rotations to prepare them for board examinations and obtaining licensing that will allow them to work in the respiratory therapy field after graduation.
One graduate of Mercyhurst’s Respiratory Therapy program was highlighted on Mercyhurst’s website last week.
Francheska Martinez-Gomez is a two-time graduate from Mercyhurst and is currently working as a respiratory therapist. Martinez-Gomez, originally from Puerto Rico, graduated with an Associate Degree of Science in Respiratory Therapy in the Spring of 2020 at the very beginning of the pandemic. She was thrown into working with COVID-19 patients as medical professionals with her skills were in high demand.
Martinez-Gomez was stationed at UMPC Hamot and attributes her success to mentors in Mercyhurst’s program, including Gluvna and Nicole Marton, director of Clinical Education.
She took her boards only two days after graduation to ensure that she was able to immediately start helping patients suffering from COVID-19 in addition to other illnesses such as bronchitis, asthma, COPD, pneumonia, flu, RSV, lung cancer and more.
This week is a reminder to be thankful for the healthcare workers that have placed their lives on the line during the pandemic and continue to provide critical care to patients around the country.
By Ashley Barletta News editor
Mercyhurst’s Hammermill Library has just announced a partnership with Better World Books, an organization that recycles and resells books on the internet.
Many books at the library are underutilized and taking up space. Instead of allowing these books to collect dust, Better World Books takes them and remarkets them online. This way, there will be more space for books which could potentially be in use by Mercyhurst students, faculty and staff.
Better World Books is also helping Mercyhurst in its mission to be globally responsible.
In choosing to recycle the underused books, the Hammermill Library has saved 25 trees from being thrown into a landfill, two cubic yards of landfill space from being used, 3,377 pounds of greenhouse gases from escaping into the atmosphere and 12,447 grams of water. The total number of books that have been recycled with Better World Books so far is 1,593. This amounts to 2,179 pounds of books and counting.
Using the money from the books that were resold on the Internet, Better World Books was able to provide a donation to a literacy fund of Hammermill Library’s choosing. The Literacy Grant Fund was the chosen program.
Better World Books had its beginnings in 2003 in South Bend, Indiana. According to the Better World Books website, College friends at Notre Dame, Xavier and Kreece, couldn’t figure out what to do after graduation. At first, they decided to tutor the football team on calculus and computer programming. This did not provide much of a living for either, and their apartment was cluttered with old textbooks.
Since campus bookstores don’t pay much for used books, Kreece decided to put his books up for sale on the internet. This was risky since it was 2003 and selling books on the internet had not yet been normalized. However, the books had sold quite well, so Xavier decided to sell his books too.
Xavier and Kreece decided to collect as many unwanted books as possible from Notre Dame students. They ended up with 2,000 books and made $10,000 from selling them.
Jeff, a friend of Xavier and Kreece who knew about investment banking, joined the cause to help come up with a business plan. This plan was submitted to a Notre Dame university business plan competition and won “Best Social Venture” as well as $7,000.
With the help of one of the competition judges, David Murphy, Book Drives for Better Lives was born. Murphy later became the CEO of Better World Books.
Soon after, Xavier realized that many libraries throw out underutilized titles in order to make space for new additions. He decided that the business should not only sell books, but also partner with libraries to save books from the landfills while also making money for the libraries and literacy programs.
Now renamed “Better World Books,” the organization is still positively impacting the environment and encouraging social change.
Per the Better World Books website, each time you purchase a book from Better World Books, another book is donated to someone in need.
The Hammermill Library’s partnership with Better World Books is not only helping students by cleaning out space for more useful books, but the partnership is also helping out those who need the books that we do not use.
To learn more about the partnership between the Hammermill Library and Better World Books, check out the Hammermill Library Newsletter. For more information on Better World Books, visit their website at https://about. betterworldbooks.com/history/.
Faculty members present research during showcase
By Samantha Weber Managing editor
On Nov. 3, the Faculty Research Committee and Office of Academic Affairs sponsored the New Faculty Research Showcase.
This time, there were three professors who were selected to present on the research that they are conducting currently or very recently. Program director of Graduate Applied Intelligence, Pontus Krohn presented on “Regulating the Arctic: A Stone Cold Case?”.
Anthropology and Archaeology assistant professor, William Meyer presented his research on “What is Queer Archaeology?”.
Lastly, instructor of Nursing, Carolyn Zaffino, presented about “The Dangers of the Current Nursing Shortage.”
The three new faculty members, Krohn, Meyer and Zaffino have all joined Mercyhurst within the past two years. Each faculty member presented either current research or recent research that they conducted.
The showcase was held in the Waterford Room in Ryan Hall to account for the large crowd that attended. The event began at 3 p.m. in order to accommodate more student and faculty schedules as there are not many classes that begin during that time.
When asked about how she decided on her research topic, Zaffino said, “I am extremely passionate about safe staffing ratios, so I selected this topic all through my dual masters program to understand the dangers and potential ways to fix the issue.”
Earlier this year, Meyer was elected co-organizer of the Society for American Archaeology’s Queer Archaeology Interest Group (QAIG).
“I saw this as an opportunity to explain the work that my colleagues and I are engaged in there,” said Meyer.
“I will be presenting on queer archaeology, which is an approach I use throughout my research. I began working with a queer approach years ago: not only did a queer perspective appeal to me as a gay man, but it offered a constant reminder that we need to look at archaeological (and broader anthropological) materials with fresh eyes, challenging our own assumptions about them.”
The benefit to having multiple professors is that there is a wide variety of topics that will be covered and attendees got to learn a lot of new information.
“I am thrilled at the opportunity to learn from fellow faculty members and spread the critical information I have learned to those not in healthcare,” said Zaffino.
“I am very excited to learn more about the work of the other new faculty members who will be presenting with me on Wednesday afternoon,” said Meyer.
Zaffino hopes that the main takeaway that people have from her presentation is that they recognize and understand how nurses struggle on a day-to-day basis especially being understaffed. She wants it to become a regular topic of conversation among non-healthcare workers in order for everyone to better understand what all nurses truly do for us.
“I hope that people will take away the same realization that queer archaeology always brings to me: that we need to reexamine the things we take for granted with very critical eyes,” said Meyer.
Be sure to keep an eye out for any upcoming events regarding faculty research as there will be more opportunities to hear about professors’ research throughout the year. STUDENT GOVERNMENT
This weekend’s campus events
