The Auburn Plainsman 09.26.2019

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

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CAMPUS

Me Too Movement founder coming to Auburn

By MIKAYLA BURNS Managing Editor managing.editor@theplainsman.com

Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too Movement, will be on campus this Thursday.

Burke is an Auburn University at Montgomery alumna and was named Time Person of the Year in 2017. She is coming to Auburn to speak for the Extraordinary Women Lecture Series, an event sponsored jointly by the School of Communication and Journalism and the Women’s Leadership Institute of the College of Liberal Arts.

As a civil rights activist, Burke works to combat sexual violence and uplift those affected by sexual assault. She has been a leader for survivors of sexual assault, and the organization behind Me Too has allowed women and men to speak out about their assaults, prevent assaults from hap-

pening and be supportive to other survivors.

Burke founded the Me Too Movement in 2006 on Myspace, but the movement caught an international resurgence after accusations against Harvey Weinstein were made public, quickly growing to over 80 allegations. The movement then became #MeToo on Twitter, and has since inspired legal action to be taken against wrongdoers with defense funds such as Time’s Up. Burke will join Auburn students and faculty to speak about sexual violence on college campuses during her lecture, which is expected to be a discussion-based speech.

The event will take place at the Telfaire Peet Theater on Sept. 26, 2019, at 4 p.m. It’s free and open to the public.

Burke joins a list of notable women who have taken part in the Extraordinary Women Lecture Series. Speakers have included Maya Angelou, Lilly Ledbetter, Mae Jemison and Gloria Steinem.

CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Tarana J. Burke will speak at Telfair Peet Theatre on Thursday, Sept. 26.

COMMUNITY

CAMPUS

Man arrested in FBI probe is AU student

Division among democrats Progressive, moderate Democrats provoke campus discussion

By NATALIE BECKERINK Lifestyle Editor lifestyle@theplainsman.com

In preparation for the 2020 presidential election, Democrats are in the midst of debates, campaign rallies and fundraising events as 19 people attempt to obtain the highest position in the executive branch.

The candidates, while being in the same party, have a variety of views on some of the top issues in the nation. According to a Gallup poll completed in 2018, voters concluded that healthcare, the economy and immigration were at the top of their list of priori-

ties. Lately, the Democrats have been at odds over whether the solution to these should be handled with a more moderate approach or a more progressive viewpoint.

With the heightened coverage of this upcoming election, Auburn students have already begun discussing the best option for the country’s future: a Moderate or a Progressive. Jared Schiller, junior in wildlife ecology, is a member of Young Democratic Socialist of America, YDSA, and has shared his thoughts on what he believes to be the best option.

“I do think Bernie Sanders has the best chance in the primary,” Schiller said.

“I think the largest voting bloc in America is people who

By EDUARDO MEDINA Editor-in-chief editor@theplainsman.com

trict until 2000.

A life-long resident of Prichard, Alabama, Holloway devoted her life to education. She received her bachelor’s degree from Alabama State University, master’s degree from Xavier University and a doctoral degree from Auburn.

She spent over 25 years as a teacher and instructional specialist in the Mobile County, Alabama, public school system. She was a devoted member of St. James

An Auburn man who was apprehended by the FBI on Sept. 16 in a years-long terrorism probe — in which he reportedly told FBI agents that he would execute a U.S. soldier if ordered to do so by an Islamic State group — was an Auburn University student enrolled in classes during the fall 2019 semester.

Preston Sparks, director of University Communications Services, confirmed to The Plainsman that Nayef Qashou, a dual citizen of the U. S. and Jordan, who grew up in Saudi Arabia, was a student.

According to The Associated Press, Qashou was charged with lying to the FBI and destroying records, as well as communicating with suspected terrorists.

National outlets reported FBI agents searched Qashou’s home in Auburn. In an unsealed affidavit, the FBI said Qashou arrived in the U.S. through Atlanta’s airport in 2015 and planned to study nursing at a community college in Opelika.

Qashou agreed to interviews at the FBI’s Auburn field office and voluntarily shared his desire to join fighters in Syria, according to The Associated Press, but he also tried to minimize his support of “radical Islamic ideology.”

Qashou is the latest in a series of Alabama college students being tied to alleged terrorist threats.

Last week, two University of South Alabama students were each arrested on a charge of making a terrorist threat.

A former University of Alabama student pleaded guilty to concealment of terrorism financing after being charged by federal authorities a year ago.

Auburn’s Tigermail email system identifies Qashou as a junior in business administration.

Auburn University Campus Safety & Security Executive Director Kelvin King issued the following statement to The Plainsman.

“Auburn worked closely with law enforcement to ensure the safety of the campus community at all times,” King said. “In that there is an ongoing criminal investigation, any further comments would be inappropriate.”

A federal court indictment accuses Qashou of providing false statements in

» See HOLLOWAY, 2

» See QASHOU, 2

» See ELECTION, 2

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CAMPUS

First black, second female BOT member dies

By STEPHEN LANZI Campus Editor campus@theplainsman.com

Anthony Britt was an Auburn student in the early 1990s when he saw Bessie Mae Holloway, a member of the Board of Trustees, represent students who looked like her.

Britt, a member of Auburn’s Black Student Union, was taking part in a sit-in protest of a fraternity’s celebration of Confederate history when Holloway found

out about the situation. She left a trustees meeting to join protesters.

“I can remember her quote directly: ‘If they would hit me or something as a Board of Trustee member, it would cause a ripple effect to stop this parade,’” Britt said. “Nevertheless, she stayed down there with us, and I will never forget her bravery.”

That moment is Britt’s fondest memory of Holloway. There were no more parades following the protest. To see someone who looked like him in a position of

power make an act of solidarity during an extremely volatile time showed him that the totality of Auburn’s student body was being represented.

Holloway, the first black Auburn University Board of Trustee member and second-ever woman on the board, passed away on Sept.

11, 2019, at the age of 87.

Appointed by Gov. George Wallace to fill an unexpired term on the Board of Trustees in 1985, Holloway served as the trustee from the 1st Congressional Dis-

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NEWS

COMMUNITY

MARIE LIPSKI / PHOTO EDITOR

Auburn High School offers educational resources to students to deter them from vaping.

Local high schools take measures against vaping

By EVAN MEALINS and TARAH YEAGER Assistant Community Editor and Community Writer community@theplainsman.com

Vapes have become significantly more slender, quiet and concealable since e-cigarettes originally hit the market.

As a result, some high schools have had issues with students vaping on campus.

Daniel Chesser is the public relations specialist for Auburn City Schools.

He said that the school system first started seeing issues with vaping in school during the 2018-2019 school year.

“We have had cases of vaping with students in Auburn City Schools, but we have a strong stance on the consequences of vaping, and that is made clear to all parents and students when they sign the code of conduct before school starts as a contract to abide by that code of conduct,” Chesser said.

The code of conduct for Auburn City Schools explicitly prohibits the possession and use of electronic smoking devices.

The consequences of vaping are the same as using other tobacco products, such as smoking a cigarette.

However, enforcing the prohibition of vapes and e-cigarettes poses school administration a different challenge than the prohibition of traditional cigarettes.

“It’s a new technology, and it’s something

ELECTION » From 1

vote generally, and he has inspired a giant bloc of people who usually don’t vote — young people, very poor people — to get to the polls and vote.”

YDSA just recently created a chapter specifically for the University.

A particular organization exists for students that align with democratic ideologies, but their views don’t necessarily align with the YDSA, Schiller said.

“They do a lot of policies and votes that support their donors, which are usually very rich and very wealthy corporations, and we support the working-class people,” he said. “There is a wing of Democrats that are more progressive that does more for the working-class in our view, but the majority of the Democrats, and the Democrats with a lot of power, seem to not.”

The current status of the Democratic race has caught more than the attention of voters in the liberal political sphere.

Auburn University College Republicans have also thought about the possible outcomes depending on what type of Democrat wins the nomination.

Max Kleiber is a junior in political science and the communications director for the Auburn’s College Republicans.

A distinct divide within the party has been apparent throughout the race thus far, Kleiber said.

QASHOU » From 1

person and over email to the FBI. The indictment accuses Qashou of compiling videos and supplying them “to at least one other individual.”

that I think can be discrete or concealed easily,” Chesser said.

Auburn High School currently implements educational tactics to curb vaping among students.

The school has a contract with the East Alabama Mental Health Center, which sends prevention specialists who go and speak to all health classes, Chesser said.

“They cover vaping in depth, and they talk very frankly with students,” Chesser said. “One class recently discussed current events such as seizures and neurological problems related to vaping.”

This current rise of medical problems and illnesses related to vaping has brought the issue to the attention of some parents.

Kelly Greene is a parent of an Auburn High School student.

She’s against vaping, largely because she doesn’t think students realize its severity, she said.

Greene said she wants the school’s current rules to be strictly enforced, adding that the school has a responsibility to educate the students about the health risks associated with vaping.

“If parents aren’t concerned about it, someone needs to be concerned about it and educate the children,” Greene said. “Some kids don’t have that luxury at home to be surrounded by people who are wanting what’s best for them.”

Greene also has an issue with the concealable nature of some vapes on the market, such as the

“There seems to be a divide between the Democratic Party as far as who wants to discuss policy and who wants to discuss problems,” he said.

“As Republicans, we are thankful that we are not in a primary season right now, and we look forward to seeing who wins the nomination.”

From the perspective of the right, they believe that a more moderate candidate would inevitably be a better fit for the Republican Party as well, Kleiber said.

“Although a progressive may help President Trump get reelected, as Republicans, we put the country above the party,” he said. “We do believe that President Trump proposes the best path forward, but with the options presented, we believe a moderate Democrat would be the less damaging choice to America and her principles.”

In addition to Trump, there are three other Republicans who have announced their intentions to run in 2020.

Mark Sanford, Joe Walsh and William Weld have all worked in government before and have declared that they will return the Republican Party back to its original state.

Despite these other Republican candidates, the greatest threats to Trump’s reelection are the moderate Democrats like Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, Kleiber said.

“I believe Joe Biden does the best at connecting with blue-collar workers, with the Rust Belt area of the country and with the independent, modIt is still unknown who that individual is. Court records do not give Qashou’s address and do not indicate what he was doing at the time of his arrest.

He is being represented by two attorneys from the federal defenders office in Montgomery: Stephen

Juul, a small vape stick about the size of a flash drive.

She said it is terrible that these devices can be hidden from school administration and teachers.

These companies are taking advantage of young people, she said.

Patrick Morrow is another parent of an Auburn High student, and he also feels that part of the cause of the problem of vaping on campus is how accessible vapes can be for these high school students.

“The access to [vape products] at gas stations for minors, that’s a big issue,” Morrow said.

Auburns City Schools is exploring different ideas to find a working solution to the vaping issue in the school system.

“As one of our priorities, we have plans in the works to bring in programs and speakers to spread awareness of the dangers of vaping — with efforts to prevent vaping in the first place,” Chesser said.

Auburn High is also considering installing sensors throughout the school that detect vapor, but is hesitant to do so because of the high cost of retrofitting the campus with these sensors.

Faculty and staff at Opelika High School have also seen an increase in issues with vaping.

“We deal with it on a case-by-case basis to get the issue resolved with the students and their families,” said Opelika High School Principal Farrell Seymour. “Our priority is student safety.”

erate Republicans — ‘never-Trumpers’ if you will — and moderate Democrats,” he said. “Elizabeth Warren energizes the party greatly. You see large crowds, lots of support and a large volunteer base for her candidacy.”

For the most part, other Republican candidates who are running are merely gaining press attention and don’t threaten Trump at all, he said.

“Despite there being some holdouts in the never-Trumper movement, President Trump still has a large hold on the party and is the best choice for the party,” Kleiber said. “Their policy prescriptions are not very different from President Trump’s. They want either attention or notoriety or any other side deal they can get.”

On the other side of the political spectrum, many Democratic Socialists are confident in Sanders being able to win not only the primary but also being able to defeat Trump, Schiller said.

“I’m not a political expert, but in all the polls I’ve seen, he’s beating Trump,” he said. “In all the national polls that compare him to Trump, it shows him winning in all of them, so I feel like he has a really good chance.”

Auburn Republicans do believe that Trump will be the best option for the next five years, but they appreciate the spirit of the Democratic candidates, Kleiber said.

“We do appreciate some Democrats’ desire to improve the country, but we disagree strongly with their policy positions and their understanding and ideas of where the problems are coming from,” Kleiber said.

Ganter and Sandi Irwin.

Neither could comment on the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case.

Judge Wallace Capel scheduled a detention hearing for Oct. 1 at 11 a.m.

A student, who asked to remain anonymous because of safety con-

Earlier this month, Wilson High School in Florence, Alabama, made national headlines when the school removed doors to some of its bathroom stalls in an effort to prevent students from vaping in the bathroom.

This action was taken after a student vaping was found passed out in a bathroom stall, Wilson High School Principal Gary Horton told WAFF-TV. This action was only taken in the boys’ restroom, and it will continue to serve as a temporary solution to the student-vaping issue until a more permanent solution can be found by the school.

This action was met with criticism from parents of the school.

Parents offered alternative solutions, including providing a hall monitor or adult supervision.

Morrow felt that approach would not go over well at Auburn High.

High school students are at an age when they highly value privacy, Morrow said.

Greene said she didn’t think the removal of stall doors would be effective.

“It probably wouldn’t stop [the students],” Greene said. “If it did, it would stop them for a minute, and then they’d figure out how to be clever.”

Auburn City Schools has not removed any bathroom doors or taken any similar drastic measures.

“As a school system, we plan to keep stall doors on bathrooms,” Chesser said.

HOLLOWAY » From 1

Major Catholic Church, where she served in various roles over the course of her life.

Additionally, she was awarded the Pro Ecclesia Et Pontificate by the Pope.

For many black students and alumni, Holloway being on the Board of Trustees meant Auburn’s culture was shifting in a positive direction.

Barbara Wallace-Edwards, a 1979 graduate, said she would have been shocked to hear that there were even a couple hundred black students at the time, let alone any African Americans in the administration.

“I left Auburn with a very bitter taste in my mouth because the experiences I had dealing with students who were racist and even some professors who were racist,” she said. “It really warmed my heart to see that Auburn was branching out when Dr. Holloway came aboard as a trustee, because it opened my eyes to see that Auburn was changing, the environment was changing.”

Necole Floyd-Turner and her roommate were the second and third black members of the flag corps in the Auburn University Marching Band, but Floyd-Turner may have never

cerns, said Qashou always sat by himself in class.

“He was just always alone, near the front of the classroom,” the student said. “No one really ever suspected anything.”

The student said Qashou rarely spoke in class.

had that opportunity if it hadn’t been for the impact of Holloway.

Recruited in the early 1990s by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, now the Office of Inclusion and Diversity, it was important for her to see people like Holloway providing representation to minority students, making recommendations on their behalf and bringing important issues to the forefront of the board.

“For me, it was really important coming to Auburn to see people who look like me, to see people who were majoring in the same thing I was and having those commonalities, not just as a person of color, but as part of the Auburn Family,” Floyd-Turner said. “That’s what her legacy meant to me.”

Holloway’s appointment to the Board of Trustees was a landmark moment in the history of Auburn. There’s still work to be done, but Holloway’s legacy shows how much cultural change can be accomplished when it’s needed, Britt said.

“With her passing, it really saddened me to hear that,” Britt said. “ I hope that we can forge something in her memory with her bravery to be on the board, to represent not just the totality of the student body, but people who looked like her, and we could relate to her.”

“He was pretty quiet,” the student said. “I only ever sat next to him once.”

The student reiterated how nothing really stood out about Qashou.

He was simply a shy guy in class who sat near the front of the classroom, the student said.

opinion

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

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OPINION

EDITORIAL

What’s on next week’s agenda?

Just because the Council has adjourned doesn’t mean the public should

By EDITORIAL BOARD Fall 2019

As a growing city, Auburn is continuously facing new and unexpected problems. There have been loud, public debates about building height limits, zoning regulations, short-term rentals and a multitude of other issues that are consequences of a growing population.

At their heart, these issues are manifestations of a question being asked about Auburn’s future: while the city continues moving forward, how much of its past should we keep around?

That question and the complexities surrounding it underlie the current debate about the relocation or deconstruction of the historic Cullars house on South College Street.

As The Plainsman has reported, this large, white house has stood near the University for 126 years, but it’s currently under threat of being demolished by its new owners.

In the late 1800s the Cullars family became locally famous after being selected to rebuild Old Main, which later became Samford Hall, after it burned down in 1887.

More recently, the house was bought in August 2017 by Orange Development LLC. In June 2019, the new owners sent out a notice stating that the current property lease would end on Oct. 4 and that the city had until Sept. 30 to notify the property owner of their intention to purchase or relocate the house or leave it

to be demolished.

Maybe it’s because the Auburn community cherishes their historic houses — maybe it’s because a City Council member currently works in this historic house — regardless, the preservation of the Cullars house has become one of the defining debates for the last month.

The debate persists because estimates for its relocation and preservation are currently over $1 million, and no one with deep enough pockets has publicly expressed interest in paying for it.

Still, council members have said they have received more feedback from citizens on this issue than any other in recent memory.

Residents have shown up at City Council meetings, they have called and emailed their representatives and they have ensured that their voices are heard.

Some council members have even held forums and meetings specifically for exploring options to relocate or purchase the house.

Overall, lawmakers said there wasn’t a clear favorite between the options presented, but a lot of residents seemed to agree that the City should not be spending its own tax revenue on the house.

Some residents pointed to roads that need repairs or public programs for children and senior citizens as better places for the City to put $1 million.

That attitude was reflected in last Tuesday’s council meeting where the City Council voted not to fund the relocation by a margin of 6-2.

As of publication, there are a few days

left before the Sept. 30 deadline.

If no organization or individual buys the house or offers to move it by then, it will most likely be torn down.

Regardless of the outcome, the debate around the Cullars house has proved that there is a wider Auburn community who can be involved in the decisions of their local government.

For too long, the biweekly council meetings have been sparsely attended and rarely discussed.

The Cullars house is obviously symbolic of the larger debate taking place in the City, but it is still just that — a symbol.

Not to minimize the current debate, but the fate of the Cullars house will not affect many Auburn residents.

In the meantime, Auburn has a backlog of other issues, debates and challenges surrounding its persistent growth lined up for discussion at council meetings.

It would be a shame for Auburn’s newfound voices to disappear again.

High school civics classes and voter registration advocates like to remind us that voting in local, state and federal elections is not just an American right — it’s an American responsibility.

But the problem with elections is that they are, at best, held every two years.

Auburn gets to vote for its mayor, but it hasn’t done so in over a year.

That is to say, Auburn residents never got to vote on the Cullars house.

Instead, we have to express our concerns at council meetings and by reach-

ing out to our representatives.

In the same way that voting is a duty, this kind of in-between-election participation should not just be appreciated — it should be utilized.

Regardless of your opinion or your council member’s opinion on a given topic, you have the right and duty to speak on issues that you feel strongly about.

Are you upset about a proposed building project?

Do you feel like your rights are being taken away?

Are you concerned about the direction of the city?

Call your representative, show up to meetings and be honest with your elected officials.

Without input from residents, council members won’t have any way of quantifying what their constituents want.

We owe it to ourselves, to our city council members and to our neighbors to speak up and be involved.

Last year, it was about building heights.

This month, it has been about the Cullars house.

Next week it might be about housing in Northwest Auburn, short-term rentals, parking fines, school funding or one of the other vital functions performed by a local, city-sized government.

Let’s keep showing up.

It’s our right, it’s our responsibility, it’s our duty and it’s in our own best interest.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Being involved is about more than your resumé

By MARY MARGARET TURTON SGA President

College is about exploring, learning and growing while finding the interests to which you want to dedicate your life.

I found all of these things through student involvement, but it was only after receiving multiple rejections from student organizations my freshman year.

I was eager to find my fit on campus in an organization, and this led me to interview for programs I had no real reason to get involved with.

I was told “no” by many organizations, including the Student Government Association which has ultimately become one of my favorite parts of college.

I decided to come to Auburn from a small, rural high school for many reasons, but mainly because of the stories I heard from older friends about their experiences of finding their passions and leadership potential through campus involvement. I was also drawn by the beautiful, walkable campus and the

supportive, empowering atmosphere.

Involvement at Auburn didn’t seem cheesy or just something to put on a resumé.

I could tell that the students who served in different organizations loved what they did and found a lot of joy in the friendships and projects they worked on.

I look back through my catalog of AUinvolve submissions and remember the anxiety leading up to several freshman year interviews.

Even more significantly, I remember the disappointment I felt when I was not selected.

Three years later, however, I am more thankful for the noes that I received my freshman year than the yeses.

The disappointing rejections led me to rethink what I wanted my time at Auburn to look like and how I wanted to contribute to making Auburn a better place.

I had the free time to explore Auburn without commitments, and this had a bigger impact on my reason for wanting to serve than I could have predicted.

CAMERON BRASHER | VIDEO EDITOR

Mary Margaret Turton introducing Senator Doug Jones during his visit to AU.

I was applying to find an organization I could call home — like I had heard stories about — but living, loving and investing in the moments around me is what ultimately made me love Auburn more than I could have ever expected.

I poured into relationships and

realized that the people are truly what makes Auburn different. Peer friendships and support has been the cornerstone and definer of every moment of college.

I went to as many events as I could.

I learned about student initiatives and realized the impact that students were making on this campus.

Because of these realizations my freshman year, I was much better equipped to serve the student body through SGA in the following years.

My first role with SGA was Director of City Relations where I realized I cared deeply about this area. This took form through Impact Projects, one of the areas in which I invested my freshman year.

I am grateful for the ways involvement has given me opportunities to grow in addition to friends who challenge me to understand different perspectives.

I hope that every student finds a community that supports and encourages them, while also discovering opportunities to stretch their

potential.

As you look for your place, remember that one door closing is equipping and enabling you to find your passion somewhere else that you might care about even more.

Don’t feel a pressure to apply to things that you don’t have a real desire to contribute to, and never forget the value of the relationships and the reason you want to serve: the people and those friendships.

“Wherever you are, be all there” is the best advice I have ever received, and I am confident this mentality will lead you to find joy in every experience at Auburn.

Ultimately, being told no allowed me to realize what I was truly passionate about, rethink the way and reason I wanted to get involved, invest in the people around me and do what I really cared about.

Ultimately this led to the greatest honor and learning opportunity of my time at Auburn — serving as SGA President.

Mary Margaret Turton is a senior in business analytics and public relations.

Correction: The Plainsman wrongly stated that CoreCivic had been accused of stealing $20 million from a previous prison construction bid in Kansas. According to reporting by The Kansas City Star, the governor of Kansas, Laura Kelly, said she felt “hoodwinked” by CoreCivic, Inc. The state signed a deal with the company to construct a prison facility and to temporarily house 600 Kansas inmates in a CoreCivic facility in Arizona. We sincerely regret the errors and apologize to our readers.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

OPINION PAGE POLICIES LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COLUMNS & EDITORIALS

The Auburn Plainsman welcomes letters from students, as well as faculty, administrators, alumni and those not affiliated with the University.

The opinions of The Auburn Plainsman staff are restricted to these pages.

Letters must include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification.

Submission may be edited for grammar, style and length. Please submit no more than 600 words.

LOREN KIMMEL

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The opinions expressed in columns and letters represent the views and opinions of their individual authors.

These opinions do not necessarily reflect the Auburn University student body, faculty, administration or Board of Trustees.

MIKAYLA BURNS

Editor-in-Chief

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CONTACT

Letters must be submitted to editor@theplainsman.com before 4:30 p.m. on Friday for publication.

This editorial is the majority opinion of the Editorial Board and is the official opinion of the newspaper.

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SENATE

IRELAND DODD / PHOTOGRAPHER

SGA Senate meeting on March 25, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.

Resolution gives SAP $15,000 to cover O-Board funds

By TIM NAIL Campus Reporter

Auburn’s Student Senate voted to give $15,000 to the Student Activity Portfolio to cover potential grants as the end of the fiscal year looms.

The Student Senate adopted the bill at its regularly scheduled Monday meeting. The bill will support the Division of Student Affairs, as it ran out of money to support organizations for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends at the start of October.

The Organizations Board holds hearings when any of Auburn’s over 500 student-run organizations and clubs request funding for higher-cost expenses. Organizations can make presentations and request funding for activities such as travel expenses to off-campus conferences or event planning.

“You would request to the [Organizations Board] to get a little bit of money so you could send a few of your members,” said Rett Waggoner, sophomore in pre-business and senator in SGA’s Budget and Finance Committee. “If you come after the fact, [the board] might re-

imburse you, and if you come before the fact, they might give you money to spend as long as you have orderly receipts.”

The board makes decisions on how requests will serve the student body and there are a specific set of guidelines they have to follow to determine how they grant funding.

The fund had been depleted with the end of the fiscal year just around the corner, so no requests could be fulfilled. The SAP would not have been able to fulfill any requests made in the next week.

Waggoner presented the bill before the Student Senate, which requested $15,000 as a program expansion fund to cover the remaining time left in the fiscal year. An Organizations Board hearing is set for next week to determine how the money will be distributed within the office’s Student Activity Portfolio.

“Essentially, they could have anyone ask them for money, any amount, and they could approve it at night depending on how their presentation goes,” Waggoner said.

As per SGA procedure, the adopted bill will need to be signed off by SGA President Mary Margaret Turton and Vice President Carlos

Smith before the funding is allotted to Student Involvement.

SGA received word of the SAP’s lack of funding approximately two weeks ago and immediately set to work on drafting the bill to provide the division with ample time to earn the funding.

“It was a quick bill to write,” Waggoner said. “There wasn’t much debate about it because it’s giving money to what makes Auburn, Auburn.”

Student Involvement can’t be certain about which organizations will have their requests granted. Until the Organizations Board hearing is held, it won’t be known how much of this program expansion fund will be spent in the next week.

However, whatever portion of this funding remains at the end of the month will be sent to a carry-over hearing on Oct. 24.

“It’ll be up to budget and finance, and there’ll be more public hearings for that,” Waggoner said.

The committee could decide to have leftover funds, if any, not awarded to student organizations carry over to next fiscal year’s

ENVIRONMENT

fund, or it could decide to return the remaining funds to SGA. The SAP’s fund had originally been set at $100,000 at the beginning of the fiscal year.

However, the fund had been increased by $25,000 at the Oct. 8, 2018, Senate meeting.

Waggoner said the portfolio can be increased by 20% without formal action if it appears the funding will not cover potential costs. The overall fund has increased over the past few years as the amount of requests from organizations has increased, Waggoner added.

The Organizations Board has seen an increase in the amount of requests from organizations, but the amount per individual request has been about the same, Waggoner said.

Waggoner attributed the increase of funding requests to the student body becoming more aware of the ability to request funding.

He added that SGA has done a good job of spreading awareness of this opportunity for student organizations. Nearly two out of every three students are involved with an organization in some capacity, which Waggoner said is much higher than that of peer institutions.

SERVICE

Food pantry in RBD helps fight hunger

By MALLORY NICHOLS Campus Writer

ical, such as the loss of a parent; inhibiting substances or environmental, such as in instances caused by the time of year or the area where they live.

The program states that in a suicide scenario, one should first question the affected person by directly asking if they have sui-

According to Feeding America and Food and Nutrition Services, 48% of college students are food insecure.

Food insecurity is the feeling of not knowing where your next meal is going to come from.

Some college students have to make the difficult decision to cut back on spending money on food and transportation to be able to afford other expenses.

A group of students at Auburn is taking a stand against food insecurity with food pantries on campus for students who are food insecure.

The Little Food Library is a resource on Auburn’s campus that provides non-perishables for students in need.

The pantry was added in 2018 and is located in the parking deck entrance of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

According to Joshua Johnston, senior in sociology and English, Lee County is one of the most difficult places in Alabama to provide support to people who are food insecure.

Johnston said one of the first minds behind the Little Food Library was Sarah Pitts. Pitts knew the need for food on campus and drew from the idea of free-book libraries in cities, so she, along with Johnston, put her idea into action and the library was the result.

The impetus behind the Little Food Library was to reduce food insecurity for individuals while minimizing the stigma around taking free food. The pantry was placed in the foyer of RBD to be both accessible and discrete.

Johnston said the design of the pantry was to make it more comfortable for someone who may need food but does not want to be seen as someone who accepts handouts.

The Little Food Library is also meant to be for students, by students. Anybody who has non-perishable food that they would like to donate can place the food in the pantry, no questions asked.

According to Johnston, the Little Food Library has proven effective so far. It has had continuous traffic from the first week it was installed.

» See QPR, 5

» See LIBRARY, 5

TRICE BROWN / ASSISTANT CAMPUS EDITOR

Protestors marching down the Haley Concourse on Sept. 20, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.

Students, faculty join in climate strike

By TRICE BROWN Assistant Campus Editor

On Friday, Sept. 20, students, faculty and Auburn residents participated in the global climate strike, a movement demanding that politicians sufficiently act to solve the climate crisis.

In Auburn, demonstrators marched down Haley Concourse shouting call-and-response chants.

“What do we want?” the crowd chanted. “Climate justice! When do we want it?

Now!” Amy Strickland, program manager for the Office of Sustainability, participated in

the protest.

Strickland has been following the movement for climate action since the 1990s.

“I really care about the earth and our future,” said Hannah Gilbert, junior in professional and public writing.

Sarah McCown, sophomore in wildlife ecology and management, said she thinks there has been more attention brought to climate change within the last year. She said she heard about the global climate strike a few weeks ago because of the activism of Greta Thunberg, an internationally recognized Swedish environmental activist.

“Of course I wanted to participate,” she said.

Sara Derington, senior in global studies, said she has been following Thunberg for a while. However, she said she has been aware of the threat of climate change from a young age.

“With Greta, I definitely feel like she’s built a huge momentum,” she said. “I think her sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to cut out the CO2 emissions from planes … I know that was hugely inspiring for me.”

On Thunberg’s way to a United Nations summit on zero emissions, she avoided flying on a plane, instead choosing to sail across the Atlantic on a zero-emission yacht. » See CLIMATE, 5

WELLNESS

QPR marathon aims to deter death by suicide

By TIM NAIL Campus Reporter

Question. Persuade. Refer.

These are the three steps Health Promotion & Wellness encourages students to act upon when they believe someone might die by suicide.

It’s an increasing cause of death in the Auburn-Opelika

area, according to the Lee County Coroner’s Office, but the division of Student Affairs hopes that marathon training sessions performed Monday will see more people on Auburn’s campus prepared for deterring such situations.

“QPR is like CPR for suicide,” said Markie Pasternak, Health Promotion & Wellness Service’s

coordinator of outreach and peer education. “It started [at Auburn] back in 2015, and now we’ve trained almost 8,000 people since then.”

QPR training teaches how a variety of circumstances can be attributed to suicide based on several risk factors. The circumstances may be biological, such as race or age; psycholog-

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

The Auburn Plainsman

PAGE 5

CELEBRATION

Black Alumni Weekend events kick off Thursday

By STEPHEN LANZI Campus Editor

Auburn’s fifth annual Black Alumni Weekend coincides with the Alumni Center’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the integration of Auburn sports.

The weekend kicks off on Thursday, and it will continue through Sunday with multiple events.

Erin Hutchins, 2009 Auburn graduate, serves as the inclusion and diversity coordinator in the Office of Alumni Affairs of the Auburn Alumni Association. She has coordinated the weekend and said she is excited for what she thinks could be the best installation they’ve had. She said she expects over 500 participants to attend.

“One thing I know people are really going to enjoy is just getting to see classmates again and connecting with each other, and for the alumni, it’s meeting the students and getting to talk to them,” Hutchins said.

The set of events will begin with a panel of alumni for students to attend, which Hutchins said will be a great way for alumni to personally interact with current students.

“The panel is going to be a highlight for our alumni as well as our students to get to know who our alumni are, what they’re doing and how they got there, as well as learning about their experiences when they were students,” she said.

Moderated by Regina Sanders, engineering graduate, the panel will include eight alumni from three separate decades, including Thom

Gossom, the first black athlete to graduate from Auburn. The panel will be held in the Student Center Ballroom at 6 p.m on Sept. 26.

On Friday, there will be a silent auction from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Various colleges will be hosting events throughout the day.

The Auburn Family Friday Speaker Series, held each Friday before every home football game, will feature Sam Heys. An award-winning author and journalist, Heys now tells the story of Henry Harris, a transcendent figure during the sports integration movement in the Southeastern Conference in the 1970s.

Later that evening, an awards dinner will be held in the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center from 7:30 to 9 p.m. for students of all colleges and schools to be honored for their achievements.

“It’s such a warm atmosphere,” Hutchins said. “People are having their accolades read out, and you can hear in the crowd the ruffle of, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s amazing,’” Hutchins said.

“It’s a very vibrant and colorful atmosphere.”

Deans, Board of Trustee members and administrators from across the University will all be in attendance. In accordance with the 50th anniversary of integrated Auburn athletics, the families of Harris and James Owens will be in attendance.

Also on Friday, the Auburn NPHC: Tiger Stomp Step Show 2019 will be held in the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum from 8­to 11 p.m. Tickets cost $15.

For game day, a tailgate will be held on Cater Lawn from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., leading up to the game against Mississippi State at 6 p.m.

LIBRARY

QPR

“The first time we went to replace the food, we saw that the Library was filled with food that we hadn’t put in there,” Johnston said. “It was nice to see that people on campus were looking out for each other.”

Foods that can be donated to the Little Food Library are canned vegetables, fruits, soup, packaged meals, peanut butter, crackers and water. Universities Fighting World Hunger says that anything perishable, such as fresh fruit, dairy, meat or bread, should not be donated.

The Little Food Library is only one of the resources on Auburn’s campus that looks to combat food insecurity at the University and surrounding areas.

Campus Kitchens is an on-campus organization that takes unserved food from Auburn’s dining halls and delivers it to community members.

Beat Bama Food Drive also collects food for donations to the surrounding area in an annual friendly competition against the University of Alabama.

cidal thoughts or actions. Students who went through the training were advised to speak up if they have a friend or family member who seems to be acting differently than normal.

Pasternak said that 67% of college students share their thoughts with a friend, not a counselor or parent.

The more direct one questions a person, the more direct of an answer they will receive, according to Pasternak. Potential signs of depression — such as sleeping more often, absence from social situations or lack of energy — are sometimes linked with suicide and are things to look out for in this stage of the process, according to the QPR program.

Pasternak said that in addition to addressing the question headon, the tone in which the question

» From 4

CLIMATE » From 4

“I think that helps spark and grab the world’s attention,” Derington said.

Michael Kensler, director of the Office of Sustainability, said the office did not organize the event, but they sent out an email to promote it.

He said he thinks student perception of the issue has increased in recent years and is still growing.

According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 67% of adults be-

» From 4

lieve global warming is happening, though only 53% believe it is caused mostly by human activities.

In Lee County, 63% of adults believe climate change is happening, 49% believe it is caused mostly by human activities and 47% believe scientists agree global warming is happening.

The people are debating whether the burning of fossil fuels causes climate change, but the scientists aren’t, Kensler said.

“It’s a policy issue, not a political issue,” Kensler said. “It’s a human health and wellbeing issue. It’s a health of the planet is-

CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Auburn Alumni Association will host Black Alumni Weekend beginning Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019.

“The tailgate is always fun,” Hutchins said.

“We’ll have all the attractions and inflatables and all that, and people get to connect there.”

The weekend will be capped off with a brunch from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Scholarship Terrace and Mezzanine in Auburn Arena.

“The brunch is the culminating event and sets the tone for what we have to do in terms of black alumni in Auburn and our roles in con-

is asked is also crucial.

“If I’m kinda scared to ask the question and I say, ‘You’re not suicidal, are you?,’ that comes off in a judgmental tone,” she said. “It’s a leading question.”

The arguments one gives for living, termed as the “wall of resistance,” is another key aspect to helping people, according to the QPR program. Examples QPR gives include explaining what others would think and how they would react.

In the case of one NC State student featured in a video shown at the marathon sessions, his dog’s need for care kept him from dying.

The second step, “persuasion,” applies to mostly hearing out the person with nonverbal cues. Actions such as giving eye contact, nodding as the person answers and repeating an affirmation with different wording are all beneficial to ensuring they know they are being listened to.

sue.”

Kensler said the climate change debate mirrors the debate over whether cigarettes cause health risks such as cancer. Tobacco companies disputed scientific findings that smoking was linked with cancer According to the Scientific American, the oil and gas company Exxon was aware of climate change as early as 1977 but refused to publicly acknowledge the issue and promoted climate misinformation.

Kensler said some people are hesitant to support sustainability efforts because they believe it interferes with capitalism and

necting with our students and helping with recruitment,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins made a point to mention that the weekend is for everybody — not just black alumni. She said it’s a way for Auburn alumni to see this segment of the Auburn Family.

“There’s only a few of us since ‘64 out over 200,000 graduates,” she said. “It’s a small community of alumni that make a big impact.”

“This person feels very isolated right now because of a bunch of situations that are personal to them,” Pasternak said. “This person needs your full attention.”

After offering assistance to an individual and getting them in touch with wellness resources, one moves into “referring.” This stage can involve physically walking with the person to a counseling office and ensuring they arrive safely.

One suggested resource for students by Health Promotion & Wellness Services is the Student Counseling Services located in the basement of Haley Center. Student Counseling Services offers an on-call counselor for walk-in appointments.

“It’s about referring them to the right resource,” Pasternak said. “If it’s two in the morning and you walk into your apartment and your roommate is about to die by suicide, that’s a 911 call.”

The Monday trainings were

freedom.

“I’ve been in this business since the mid-eighties,” Kensler said. “Either I’m a part of that grand cabal or I’ve been duped by the literally thousands of people I’ve worked with on these issues for all this time.”

On Sept. 23, Thunberg addressed the United Nations Climate Action Summit.

“For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear,” Thunberg said. “How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.”

CHANGING LIVES.

WE ARE HEALTH PROMOTION & WELLNESS SERVICES. WE ARE AUBURN STUDENT AFFAIRS.

free, one-hour, back-to-back sessions in support of National Suicide Prevention Month.

From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., participants of each training were coached in the three steps and informed of mental health groups and relevant events around campus.

Abbey Brunault, senior in psychology and volunteer for Health Promotion & Wellness Services during the marathon sessions, expressed confidence that another wave of students would be better equipped for suicide prevention.

“We’ve had some people coming for class credits, some people just out of interest, which is good,” Brunault said. “Any reason people are coming to learn this information is really cool because there’s not a lot of other outlets where people can learn this practical knowledge of suicide prevention.”

Another day of marathon training will be held in the spring semester.

CORY BLACKMON / COMMUNITY REPORTER

East Alabama Climate Coalition protest in Opelika, Ala., on Sept. 20.

community THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

6 THEPLAINSMAN.COM

COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT

Airport renovates to handle more traffic

By CHARLIE RAMO Community Writer

The Auburn University Regional Airport has received several major additions to its grounds in accordance to its 2005–19 master plan. Many of the proposed plans have been completed, including a new maintenance hangar, the Delta Airlines Aviation Education Building and the resurfacing of a runway.

Most standard projects are funded 90% by the Federal Aviation Administration, 5% by the state and the remaining 5% is split between the City of Auburn, Lee County and the University, Airport Director Bill Hutto said.

Projects such as the Delta Airlines Aviation Education Building were funded in part through donors, in this case Delta Airlines.

Over the past few years, the airport has seen an increase in traffic, especially on game days, Hutto said. The airport is attempting to acquire funding from the FAA to pave more ramp space for parked planes and helicopters, Hutto said.

Hutto has been the airport’s director since 2001. He previously served as the director of the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority. He has also served in organizations such as the Aviation Accreditation Board International, the Aviation Council of Alabama and the Aviation Committee for the Aerospace States Association.

“I would say at least three or four times a month or more, we have a full ramp,” Hutto said. “It is not uncommon for us to see the larger jets that take a lot of room that really drive the capacity down.”

In addition, the airport has seen quite a bit of helicopter and military traffic coming into the area on training runs, which take up a lot of room on the ramp, Hutto said.

The airport does not turn away aircraft when at full capacity. Instead, the airport shuts down the smaller of their two runways and uses it for

additional parking space.

Many of the runways and taxiways are in the process of being resurfaced. The smaller of the two runways was resurfaced recently with a budget of $800,000, and the larger runway will be repaved soon, Hutto said.

“It’s asphalt, so after 15 to 20 years, they begin to crack and aggregate begins to form,” Hutto said. “[The larger runway] will probably be resurfaced in the springtime of 2021. We can get the funding before that, but we don’t want to start that project during football season.”

Because of the FAA’s standards for Instrument Landing Systems, the north end of Taxiway A was relocated this summer to maintain the minimum of 400 feet from the runway. The airport is awaiting FAA funds to resurface the south end of the taxiway within the next threeto-five years.

The airport is used as a flight school for Auburn University aviation students. It also funcations like a regular airport for nonscheduled charter or freight services.

The airport built a maintenance hangar in 2017 capable of fixing a variety of aircrafts. It had an initial budget of $1.7 million.

“We service our Auburn University flight training fleet in that hangar,” Hutto said. “We also service some of our based customers, meaning non-University airplanes that are either tied down on the airfield or rent a hangar from us.”

It is roughly 9,600 square feet of workspace with plans to extend the hangar floor to 12,000 sq. ft. There are also plans to add a second door for aircrafts to the hangar.

It would be best for the airport to secure funding for this project within the next year and a half to two years, Hutto said.

The airport also recently built the Delta Airlines Aviation Education Building in 2018 to provide students in the professional flight and aviation management majors the skills required

JOSHUA FISHER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Delta Aviation Education Building on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.

to become pilots. Its initial budget was $8.7 million.

“It is the base of operation for our flight training fleet, where we issue aircraft to our instructors and student pilots,” Hutto said. “We have seven total [simulators]. Six of them are used for our flight training fleet.”

One of those simulators is an Airbus A320 simulator, which Delta Airlines gave the airport as a gift, Hutto said. Operating the simulator will be the capstone course for the professional flight degree, Hutto said.

“The course] will be a bridge from the piston engine training aircraft we fly to what [students] will see in the airlines,” Hutto said.

The Airbus A320 simulator will be getting an upgraded visual system, which will allow for

HEALTH

more realism during training. The system will be installed in December and the old system will be donated to the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

The airport still has other projects planned, such as new hangars, which will be rented out for plane storage. There are also plans for a parallel taxiway for the east-west runway, which does not currently have one. Both are included in the three-to-five-year plan for the airport.

“We are truly blessed that we have the support of the University that sees a need for a strong airport and aviation program,” Hutto said. “We’re able to do what we do because of partnerships with local governments and Auburn University working together to improve aviation for our area.”

AGRICULTURE

Decreased rain levels lead to drop in crops

By FIELDER HAGAN Community Writer

KATHERINE MILLER / PHOTGRAPHER

The Boykin Community Center on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019 in Auburn, Ala.

Construction for new clinic begins

By MY LY Community Writer

Renovations are underway at the Boykin Community Center in northwest Auburn to develop an interprofessional medical clinic.

Last year, the Auburn City Council approved an agreement with the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy to create and run the clinic in the Community Center.

Al Davis, community service director for the Boykin Community Center, said when the clinic is finished it will benefit the community in many different ways.

The project has been in the works for a long time but construction is hoped to be completed in the beginning of spring, Davis said.

“Everybody is excited about the clinic coming,” Davis said. “It is wonderful to have something like this in this part of town.”

The Community Center already provides many resources to the public, and the opening of this clinic will only further aid those who frequently visit the center, Davis said.

“Having the clinic in this part of the community and having it accessible to those who are already coming in and out of the building is vital,” Davis said. “We have the senior center, the boys and girls club, daycare and other recreational activities. So I think that synergy is already there, but adding the clinic just provides another major service.”

The clinic is meant to attend to those in the community who struggle

with their insurance coverage. It also will act as a measure to prevent citizens from dealing with further medical expenses, Davis said.

“Even those who have insurance, a lot of them are underinsured,” Davis said. “Healthcare is still a very big problem for all, even those who have jobs and especially to those who are unemployed. So having a facility over here that could help provide some of those services that could maybe prevent you from having to go to the doctor could be the difference. Because a lot of the education programs that have come along with the clinic are preventative in nature.”

The pharmacy students have had previous experience working in clinics similar to the one in Boykin.

Many of the students already work within the center, Davis said.

The Boykin Center also houses many centers for citizens in the area and provides programs such as basketball and aikido classes in their gymnasium.

Greg Pedan, executive director of Clinical Health Services at the Harrison School of Pharmacy, said the students in the school are going to be the staff within this clinic. They are hoping to bring something new, but also needed, to the center.

“It is in an area where they have a good need for it, and we hope we can provide services that are currently unmet in the community,” Pedan said.

Pharmacy school staff is hoping the clinic can be more than a pharmacy in the Boykin Center. They

hope the clinic will eventually evolve into a varied center that will target a wide range of health needs, Pedan said.

“It will be an interdisciplinary clinic, so we hope to have students and faculty from the School of Pharmacy, nursing, even dietetics or kinesiology,” Pedan said. “Whatever disciplines and schools are willing to come and help — ­ that’s who we hope to have.”

The expansion of the center is dependent on what will best serve the area, said Matt Crouch, manager of communications and marketing for the pharmacy school.

“The space for the clinic is about 2,000 square feet with four exam rooms and a pharmacy,” Crouch said.

“The hope is that it will provide basic services at first, with the end goal of it being full-service. An important goal of the City when renovating the center was seeing how it could improve the community, which is why we have the child center and the senior center.”

Crouch said the school already has groups of students working in clinics in underserved communities throughout Alabama, including in homeless shelters in Mobile.

“So the concept of this clinic was already there,” Crouch said. “But now that it’s under the wing of the school, it just takes it to a more professional level. We are taking things we are already doing in the community and giving it a permanent home, and with that home we can really ramp up the services we are providing.”

Farmers are stressed, and so are their plants. That’s because 47% of Alabama land is experiencing an abnormally dry season, and that’s affecting the plants. Rainfall has been sparse in the past weeks, and drought-like conditions continue to worsen, according to the U.S. Depatment of Agriculture.

The National Integrated Drought Information System has assessed Lee County as being in the midst of an abnormally dry season.

This dry season caused the Auburn Water Works Board to enact a drought watch on Friday as the water level of many creeks and ponds begins to fall.

“The board has an ample supply of water at this time; however, the board asks customers to be responsible stewards of the City’s natural resources and participate in voluntary conservation measures to control excessive water use and eliminate the need for mandatory restrictions,” the Auburn Water Works Board said in a press release.

The impact this lack of rainfall has had on agriculture has caused pastures, soybeans, grasses and hay fields to dry up. Paired with the high temperatures, the abnormally dry conditions has pushed back a lot of cool-season planting and has reduced field activity.

Audrey Gamble, an assistant professor and extension specialist at Auburn University, researches soil fertility and soil conservation. She works with farmers and transfers the information gleaned from her research to agriculturalists to help them improve their economic and environmental sustainability.

“When it’s dry, soils are very hard, which makes for an inability for roots to grow and makes it difficult for the plants to take up those nutrients,” Gamble said.

“For a lot of our crops, the drought is certainly going to affect the overall yield.”

Gamble works primarily with row crops in Alabama like cotton,

corn, soybean, peanut and wheat.

Row crops are those who have to be planted in larger acreages. They have to be managed differently since they are not on the same economy of scale compared to other vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes or eggplants.

“Any practices that farmers can do to improve their soils can improve soil moisture,” Gamble said.

Gamble recommended planting cover crops, which are planted in the off-season to help retain soil moisture. Once those are dug from the field, they leave behind a mat of residue that helps prevent water from evaporating and retains soil moisture that provides insurance against drought.

“We’re gonna have to wait until there’s some soil moisture to plant cover crops for fall,” Gamble said. “The earlier we get them in, the more growth they can produce; the more residue they produce, then the better they are at providing that mat to keep that soil moisture.”

Nancy Adams, a grower of her own produce for her family, struggled with the effects of this dry season.

“I had to pull a couple plants of my broccoli and cabbage because we just haven’t received any rain,” Adams said.

Some Alabama counties are already rated as being in a severe drought, while other counties are rated at a moderate drought.

In times of drought, the ground begins to crack, burn bans begin, the majority of crops are damaged and lakes and agricultural streams dry up.

According to the National Integrated Drought Information System, 579,000 Alabama residents are in areas with drought and 1.8 million more are in abnormally dry areas.

The National Weather Service projects above-normal temperatures and low precipitation levels throughout the next three weeks.

A fire danger advisory warning has been issued for all 67 counties, but no burn bans have been issued from the National Forestry Commission.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

The Auburn Plainsman

PAGE 7

CONSTRUCTION

SUSTAINABILITY

Single-stream recycling plan grows again

By TARAH YEAGER Community Writer

KATHERINE MILLER / PHOTOGRAPHER

The scaffolding outside West & Wright in downtown Auburn on Sept. 24, 2019.

Scaffolding still stands at complex

By ELIZABETH HURLEY Community Editor

It’s been over eight months and scaffolding still surrounds West & Wright, an apartment complex geared toward students in downtown Auburn.

The scaffolding was put up in early December after reports of loose bricks in the building, located at 201 W. Glenn Ave., according to a press release from the City of Auburn were made.

The City requires that the scaffolding be up while repairs are performed as a protective measure to secure the loose bricks.

The repairs are intended to fix cosmetic issues with exterior bricks on the building, a spokesperson for Campus Advantage said in a statement to The Plainsman.

“After working with our engineering firm and the City of Auburn to thoroughly inspect and assess the repair work that needs to be done to the cosmetic issue with the exterior bricks on the West & Wright building,” the spokesperson said.

“We developed a plan and timeline for the repairs that will occur to the building.”

Most of the repair work will be centered around the upper floors of the building. The existing brick bands will be replaced.

Campus Advantage expects to begin repair work on the bricks in mid-October. The company expects repairs on the building formerly known as Evolve to be completed by mid-March, the spokesperson said.

“The scaffolding will be removed in phases as work is completed on each side of the building,” the spokesperson said.

When Campus Advantage received reports of sightings of cracks in a few bricks on property in late 2018, the company began working with the City and the property’s builders, CA Student Living, to assess the damage and create a plan of action.

The company worked with an engineering firm to figure out what the next steps were, take the project out to bid and select a firm to perform the repairs. Campus Advantage selected a local firm to take on the repairs.

“While we understand this is taking some time, we wanted to ensure that our

work with the engineering firm and the City of Auburn, and the inspection of the building, was thorough in order to determine and outline the repair work that needed to be done,” the spokesperson said.

Campus Advantage is working to minimize impacts the repair work will have on residents and retailers in the building, the spokesperson said.

Ally Ruch, sophomore in biomedical sciences, has been a resident of West & Wright for over a year.

Over the summer, residents received an email from West & Wright about the scaffolding. In the email, the property management company stressed that the building is safe. They also gave more information on when repairs would begin, Ruch said.

“The scaffolding doesn’t bother me too much,” Ruch said. “The narrow sidewalk is of course not optimal, but it’s not that big of a deal to me. I haven’t had this experience, but my roommates have complained that delivery drivers have trouble finding the building because the scaffolding gets in the way of the signage.”

The City of Auburn is expanding its single-stream recycling program once again. The Council recently approved plans to bring another 560 carts to the program.

The program first began in February 2019 when City Council approved an agreement with The Recycling Partnership, which included utilizing grant funds to increase recycling and educate community members about recycling.

The grant consisted of $175,000 to be used in two phases, according to a press release from the City.

“The first of [these] will focus on engaging and educating new single-stream program participants and re-engaging longtime recyclers,” the press release reads.

“The second phase will include the purchase of up to 2,000 new carts and associated educational materials.”

This partnership also provides community members and Auburn’s Environmental Services Building with the tools necessary to implement and run the recycling program successfully.

“It has been very successful,” said Catrina Cook, director of Environmental Services. “We are still trying to develop.”

The City began its transition to single-stream recycling in December 2017 when the City received a grant that provided 7,500 carts. Through the Recycling Partnership Grant, the City has increased its overall cart amount to 12,500, Cook said.

“We service over 16,000 homeowners, so we want to make sure that everyone who wants to recycle has a way to recycle at their home,” said Cook.

Through these carts, Auburn’s recycling program has become easier to use, Cook said.

The program operates on an opt-in basis, where residents must request to be part of the single-stream recycling program.

Prior to transitioning to a single-stream system of recycling, residents would have multiple bins, and products would have to be sorted.

Communication and outreach for this program is becoming more accessible. The City will send brochures, and residents who would like to opt in to the program will still have the opportunity to do so, Cook said.

Enhancements have been made and will continue to be made to the City’s website so information about recycling is more accessible. These enhancements include a program that will advise whether a particular item can be recycled, Cook said.

Residents can continue to drop off recyclables at the Environmental Services Building at 365-A North Donahue Dr.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Interstate 85 bridges get federally funded face lift

By CHARLIE RAMO Community Writer

The U.S. Department of Transportation has granted Alabama $10.8 million to replace three bridges in the Opelika area.

The bridges to be replaced are located along Interstate 85, including the bridges at Exit 60 and the two bridges south of the exit.

Funding for the project came from the USDOT Competitive Highway Bridge Program. Alabama was one of

18 states to receive this type of grant.

This project is the third in a series of improvements to Alabama interstates the Alabama Department of Transportation has taken on.

“Interstate 85 is a critical transportation artery for Alabama and provides important regional access to Atlanta,” said ALDOT Government Relations Manager Tony Harris in a press release. “This project will also provide added safety and traffic-congestion relief.”

Harris said they appreciate the sup-

port of their grant application by their congressional, legislative and local elected officials.

According to the National Bridge Inventory Database, of the bridges set to be replaced, two sets of bridges are marked as structurally deficient and the third is functionally obsolete.

All of the bridges were built in 1959, and have been maintained regularly by the state.

None of the bridges meet current safety standards, but all meet the minimum criteria for their structures.

“I have the opinion that the bridges need to be wider for a safe shoulder zone as well as to be wide enough to extend the acceleration and deceleration lanes at [Exit 60],” said Scott Parker, Opelika city engineer. “Having a longer acceleration [and] deceleration lane should greatly improve the safety of traffic coming on and off the interstate.”

The new bridges will have full-sized shoulders approximately eight feet wide which will give stopped motorists extra room.

For the bridge at Exit 60, the merging lanes will also be extended. This will make merging safer at this point, according to the press release.

Traffic during construction should not be significantly affected, since there will still be two travel lanes in both directions. Medians will be used as extra travel lanes, keeping both directions of traffic on one bridge as the other is rebuilt.

Construction for this project should begin in winter 2021, and is planned to take about two years.

HEALTH

CONTRIBUTED BY JOHN ATKINSON

An artist’s rendering of the new cardiac facility near EAMC.

Cardiology facility breaks ground bringing Pinnacle to Opelika

By TARAH YEAGER Community Writer

The construction of a new cardiac facility has broken ground in Opelika.

This facility will house Pinnacle Cardiovascular Associates, a partnership established in 2018 that joined together the East Alabama Medical Center, Auburn Cardiovascular Associates, East Alabama Heart and Vascular and Valley Cardiology. “[The] partnership was formed to coordinate cardiovascular care in our region, to improve efficiencies, increase and encourage expertise in all

areas of adult cardiac care and provide a platform for growth that will serve our fast-growing region well in the years to come,” said Michael Williams, a cardiologist with Pinnacle Cardiovascular.

This facility will be located at 2601 Village Professional Dr. in Village Professional Park near the East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika.

The building is expected to be completed in summer 2020 and will contain 24 exam rooms.

Several rooms will incorporate nuclear medicine technologies, including magnetic resonance imaging and

computed tomography exams, in addition to ultrasound and echo imaging for patient diagnosis and care, said Chris Clark, EAMC vice president of clinical services.

Other technological innovations will also be incorporated into this new facility.

“We plan to use EAMC’s latest kiosk check in system, which will decrease the registration time for patients and also allow patients to checkin from their mobile device,” Clark said. “Pinnacle will also be implementing a new electronic medical record that will integrate with the hospital’s

EMR (electronic medical records) system, giving Pinnacle’s cardiologists instant access to the patient’s complete medical record for any hospital stays, emergency room visits or procedures at EAMC.” Pinnacle has also added four cardiologists to the community in the past year. The construction of this facility will allow for the recruiting of additional cardiologists in the future, Clark said.

The construction of this facility will not disrupt the care of those currently seeking treatment with Pinnacle.

“While Pinnacle Cardiovascular

Associates is building this new facility, the physicians will continue to see patients in their outreach clinics located in Tallassee, Tuskegee, Union Springs, Eufaula, Valley, Dadeville and Roanoke,” Clark said.

The outreach clinics will continue to operate, and the new facility will provide patients with access to outpatient care in a convenient location.

“This new medical facility will provide outstanding healthcare for citizens of Lee and surrounding counties,” said Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller.

Fuller said they are delighted to welcome Pinnacle to their community.

sports

8

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

FOOTBALL

THEPLAINSMAN.COM

SPORTS

FOOTBALL

Nix stays poised, conquers Kyle Field

By JAKE WEESE Sports Reporter

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Kyle Field held 101,681 screaming maroonand-white-clad fans Saturday, a stadium that physically shakes when the fans cheer, as the blazing Texas sun attempts to sink opposing teams.

Factor in that the SEC opener for Auburn was on the road and televised on CBS at the 2:30 p.m. CST time slot with even more fans watching at home.

All of these things combined to make up a typical SEC Saturday.

These factors alone should spell disaster for any team starting a true freshman QB. For Auburn, this will be the challenge it faces from here on out.

For Bo Nix, it was business as usual as No. 8 Auburn (4-0, 1-0 SEC) defeated No. 17 Texas A&M (2-2, 0-1 SEC) by a score

of 28-20.

Nix finished the day going 12-for-20 for 100 yards and a touchdown.

Additionally, he rushed 12 times for 38 yards, including the game-clinching 6-yard rush on a third-and-5 to give the Tigers the win.

In a season of firsts, Bo Nix has had his first win, first win at home and now his first SEC win.

As Gus Malzahn put it, the young quarterback is “growing up before our eyes.”

The offense wasn’t perfect by any means though. The second quarter saw Auburn gain 14 total yards go 0-for-4 on pass attempts through a total of five minutes and 29 seconds for the time of possession.

A struggling quarter like the second would usually be cause for concern for a QB, especially a 19-year old freshman.

A noisy crowd and a sweltering heat with the fact that Nix went 0-for-4 in

the second quarter could have been what spelled Auburn’s doom.

Even though he’s just a freshman, Nix is aware of atmospheres like this and doesn’t shy away from the big moments. In fact, its what he wants.

“Just being around the game of football and going to a lot of games”, Nix said.

“I’ve never been here, but atmosphere’s like this, I’ve been to games and sat in the stands. I knew that one day I would hopefully be playing in front of one when the time came. I knew it was just a football game. 11 on each side, and you just do what you’re supposed to do and do what you’ve been doing your whole life.”

Nix regrouped after the shaky second quarter.

He went on to go 8-for-11 and a touchdown in the second half as the Tigers won their first ranked road game in five seasons.

TODD VAN EMST / AUBURN ATHLETICS

Gus Malzahn acknowledges the Auburn crowd after Auburn at Texas A&M on Sept. 21, 2019, in College Station, Texas.

Kick time set for AU’s trip to Swamp

By CHRISTIAN CLEMENTE Sports Writer

The No. 7 Auburn Tigers will kick off a long road stretch next weekend when they head to Gainesville to take on the No. 9 Florida Gators on Saturday, Oct. 5.

The kickoff time has been announced for 2:30 p.m. CST on CBS. This matchup marks the first time the Tigers have taken on the Gators since 2011, and the first time the Tigers have traveled to Gainesville since 2007.

The 2007 matchup ended with Tigers kicker Wes Byrum hitting a 45-yard field goal to knock off the Gators, who were led by Urban Meyer and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

This year however, Florida will be relying on backup quarterback Kyle Trask.

Following a season-ending injury to starter Feleipe Franks, Trask came in and led the Gators to a comeback victory against the Kentucky Wildcats.

Trask followed that up with a solid performance against Tennessee, throwing for 293 yards and two touchdowns.

The Gators will mark the third ranked opponent the Tigers have faced thus far.

The Tigers take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs at home this Saturday (6 p.m. CST) before traveling to Gainesville.

TODD VAN EMST / AUBURN ATHLETICS

Bo Nix (10) waves to fans after Auburn at Texas A&M on Sept. 21, 2019, in College Station, Texas.

FOOTBALL

FOOTBALL

AU rises in poll

By LOGAN GLOVER Sports Writer

Auburn left Kyle Field on Saturday with their second Top-25 win of the season, beating No. 17 Texas A&M, 28-20. The Tigers came into College Station ranked No. 8 and as a fourpoint underdog, but left the victor in a dominating performance against the Aggies.

The latest AP poll was released Sunday, and Auburn jumped to No. 7. This is one spot up from last week, coming off a 55-16 win over Kent State.

Three SEC teams are ranked ahead of Auburn — LSU comes in at No. 4, Georgia is No. 3 and Alabama tops the list for the conference at No. 2.

True freshman Bo Nix finished the game 12of-20 for 100 yards and a touchdown, with 12 rushing attempts for 38 yards. Joey Gatewood was also 1-for-1 for 6 yards and a touchdown with one rush attempt for 4 yards.

Auburn will return to Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday to take on Mississippi State at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN.

TODD VAN EMST / AUBURN ATHLETICS

Derrick Brown (5) celebrates a sack during Auburn at Texas A&M on Sept. 21, 2019, in College Station, Texas.

Brown honored as D-line dominates awards

By ALEX HUSTING Sports Writer

For the fourth week in a row, a member of the vaunted Auburn defense has earned recognition from the SEC for his performance.

In Week 1, senior safety Jeremiah Dinson led the team with 14 tackles, earning SEC Defensive Player of the Week. Then, in back-to-back weeks, senior defensive end Marlon Davidson

dominated the line of scrimmage and was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week.

This week, senior defensive lineman Derrick Brown got in on the action, as well, and earned the same award as Davidson after a career day in College Station.

While there were concerns about how effective Brown would be after leaving the Kent State game with an upper-body contusion, any questions about

his health were quickly put to rest.

Brown showed exactly why many draft experts have him projected as a top-10 pick in next year’s draft, finishing with four tackles — three for loss — two sacks, two pass deflections and a forced fumble.

Brown also took home the Bednarik Player of the Week award for top defensive player in the country for his efforts.

The fourth-year defensive

tackle from Sugar Hill, Georgia, had career-highs in tackles for loss, pass deflections and sacks.

Brown led a defense Saturday that dominated the Texas A&M offensive line all game, holding it to just 56 yards rushing and sacking quarterback Kellen Mond three times. Auburn will certainly look to Brown for another stellar performance as it faces another solid offensive line this weekend against Mississippi State.

FOOTBALL

Steele Curtain: Defense carrying Auburn through 4 weeks

By SUMNER MARTIN Assistant Sports Editor

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Fast. Physical. And a whole lot of effort.

That’s what Auburn linebacker K.J. Britt said it was going to take to steal a win from No. 17 Texas A&M on the road as a fourpoint underdog. The Tigers’ defense, who entered the game with looming questions and injury concerns, quieted any and all doubters Saturday afternoon at Kyle Field as they

smothered the Aggies’ offense in a 28-20 win to open SEC play.

No. 8 Auburn held Texas A&M to the fewest points in the first half in the series since 2015, when Auburn led 14-3 going into halftime. The Aggies were also held to just 56 yards rushing, the fewest by the Aggies in the series with Auburn; the previous low was 133 rushing yards in 2013.

“Our defense stopped the run, now,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “That was an impressive deal. They’ve got a very

good offense, their receivers are scary and their quarterback, when he has time, is really good. That was an impressive effort by our defense.”

Britt said the key was to set the tone early and often.

“It’s real important. You got to set the tone,” Britt said. “Setting the tone knowing that this is the way we’re going to play football, either y’all are going to match it or y’all are going to bow down… let them know this is Auburn football and we come to play. …

Our mentality when we came out was fast, physical, and just play with effort. Everything else will take care of itself. And that’s what we did.”

Britt, who has emerged as a leader of the Auburn defense at middle linebacker, finished with seven tackles, which tied a career high, and one tackle-for-loss.

Derrick Brown, who was questionable all week with an upper-body contusion suffered » See DEFENSE, 9

The Auburn Plainsman

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

PAGE 9

DEFENSE » From 8

TODD VAN EMST / AUBURN ATHLETICS

Derrick Brown (5) sacks Kellen Mond during Auburn at Texas A&M on Sept. 21, 2019, in College Station, Texas.

against Kent State, silenced the notion that he wouldn’t be back at full strength. Brown turned in his best performance of the young season, leading the defense with three tacklesfor-loss and two sacks, both of which were career highs.

“He gets push in the middle, and anytime you can get push in the middle, from a quarterback standpoint, it changes things,” Malzahn said. “He did that.”

Brown finished with four tackles, two pass breakups, and recorded his third career forced fumble. He said after the game that not being able to play a full game versus Kent State added a little extra motivation.

“It was just one of those things, you know, I didn’t play last week so you don’t want to take these things for granted.

I mean, you never know when your last snap is your last snap. … If you’re really about it then when they put you in that situation, you’ve got to go get

the job done.”

The secondary also showed why they are regarded as one of the best open-field tackling units in the nation, let alone the conference. Noah Igbinoghene (8), who led the team, Jamien Sherwood (5) and Roger McCreary (6) all finished with career bests in tackles.

Texas A&M went into halftime with 12 yards rushing, and finished the game with 56 total on the ground (2.7 yards per carry).

“We just played our brand of defense,” Brown said. “…We’re one defense, and in order for that one defense to work, we’ve got to all be able to hold our gaps and do our job. …

Playing against teams in the West, any team can win any give Saturday. It doesn’t matter what happened the week before or who’s picked to win.

It’s just one of those things where you’ve got to come out here and give it your all and be able to compete.”

No. 8 Auburn (4-0) will host Mississippi State next Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN.

BASKETBALL

BASKETBALL BACK

Tigers open practice for 2019-20 season

By SUMNER MARTIN Assistant Sports Editor

FILE PHOTO

Anfernee McLemore (24) during Auburn basketball vs. Virginia in the Final Four on April 6, 2019, in Minneapolis.

It’s a new year for Bruce Pearl and Auburn basketball.

After knocking off North Carolina and Kentucky last season en route to a 30-10 record and the first Final Four berth in program history, the buzz around a new season is undeniable.

But, as record-breaking seasons come, record-setting players go.

“With five seniors and nine newcomers, I don’t know that I’ve ever had a roster that was so experienced on one end and so inexperienced on the other end,” Pearl said Tuesday of this year’s team.

“So the seniors are ready to go, and a lot of the newcomers are still trying to learn where to go.

So that’s going to be a very interesting challenge as we get started.”

The Tigers, who are reigning SEC Tournament champions, lost three big pieces from arguably the greatest team in the school’s history.

Point guard Jared Harper, who averaged 15.3 points per game, went undrafted but signed a two-way professional deal with the Phoenix Suns.

Shooting guard Bryce Brown, who set the school record for 3-pointers made in a regular season, also went undrafted but signed with the Boston Celtics in the NBA G League.

And Chuma Okeke, who averaged 12 points and 7 rebounds per game, was drafted by the Orlando Magic in the first round of the NBA Draft.

Auburn also loses four-year starter Horace Spencer, who plays professionally overseas, and Malik Dunbar.

The biggest challenge, for Pearl, will be finding newcomers to replace one of the most experienced teams he’s ever had.

“Just looking back at last season, especially as it relates to this team: Jared Harper’s third year, Bryce Brown’s fourth year, Chuma Okeke was one of the smartest players I ever coached,” Pearl said. “We talked about how good he was all the time and we saw how good he was at the end of the season last year.

And then Horace a fourth-year player and Malik had been in his second year. Not to mention Austin in his third year, Danjel in his third year and Anfernee in his third year. It was just a lot of experience. J’Von McCormick was the only newcomer and he didn’t really show up until late in the year, which just tells you how challenging that learning curve is. That’s our biggest obstacle right now, it’s just that learning curve.”

The Tigers added seven newcomers in the 2019 class, with 5-star Isaac Okoro headlining the group. Pearl also brought in two 4-stars in forwards Babatunde Akingbola and Jaylin Williams.

Returning contributors from last season include Anfernee McLemore, Austin Wiley, Samir Doughty, Danjel Purifoy and J’Von McCormick.

“Excited to get started. Excited about our length, our size, our athleticism. Our biggest challenge is going to be our seniors — all are going to be playing a brand new role,” Pearl said.

“All five of those seniors, if you think about it, are going to be asked to do something different than what they did a year ago. Which one of the newcomers can come in and help out real quickly and handling the challenge of the SEC continuing to be building one of arguably the, if not one, of the best basketball conferences in the country.”

Auburn plays Eckerd in an exhibition game on Nov. 1 and then opens the regular season with Georgia Southern on Nov. 5 inside Auburn Arena.

FILE PHOTO

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl during an open practice on April 5, 2019, in Minneapolis.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

The Auburn Plainsman

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lifestyle

11

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

THEPLAINSMAN.COM

LIFESTYLE

FEATURE

CONTRIBUTED BY TONY TACHENY

Megan Kesting, senior in graphic design, has her work featured during ACC service.

Graphic design student creates art for local church

By LYDIA MCMULLEN Lifestyle Writer

Auburn Community Church, recognizable by it trademark description “church without walls,” has made a temporary home in a new location on Airport Road. After several years of gathering in various venues around Auburn, this new space brings the opportunity for creative church members to visually mark their place of worship.

Megan Kesting, a senior in graphic design and staff member at Auburn Community Church, was raised in a family of artists. She has always been immersed in the creative world, but her time in Auburn has allowed her to grow creatively by developing color concepts as an intern for Skullcandy, designing interactive posters for Van’s and working on staff as a graphic designer for Auburn Community Church.

Kesting’s experiences in the design field have cultivated a personal style that reflects her love of mixed media and color. She is inspired by big cities, mountains, fashion, and all aspects of culture.

Kesting has been able to pair her graphic designing skills with her faith to create visual concepts such as sermon graphics, stickers, welcome signs, etc. in service of the church. The graphic designer described working alongside lead pastor, Miles Fidell to develop art that reinforces the message of each sermon and the values of the church.

“Miles pushes me to be creative and do my research,” said Kesting explaining the importance Fidell places on a correlation between each visu-

al and it’s biblical significance.

In the present sermon series, entitled “Dreamer,” Kesting’s creative process involved studying scripture and workshopping with Fidell to conceptualize a graphic that visually supports a Bible story in Genesis. The composition of the art took Kesting eight hours of work and includes 11 stars, a sun, and a moon which serve to visually represent details in the Bible excerpt Fidell is preaching on.

Kesting enjoys the process of conceptual art.

For her, building graphics around the concepts of her faith has allowed her to grow creatively and spiritually, she said.

“It’s the coolest thing being able to combine my spiritual life with my creative life,” Kesting said. “It’s made me more creative to know my own creator more.”

The designer enjoys being able to serve in a way that she knows how, she said.

“I knew I was meant to create, but I didn’t know how to do that in ministry area until Auburn Community Church,” Kesting said.

Kesting has felt encouraged by Auburn Community Church to use her artistic talents as a form of service and wants to inspire other creative minds to follow suit.

“There’s so many opportunities to be creative in this space,” Kesting said. “You can worship, take pictures, do graphic design, or film video.”

In addition to the personal growth Kesting has experienced as a result of her work for Auburn Community Church, fellow church members have been moved by her creations. Clayton

LYDIA MCMULLEN / LIFESTYLE WRITER

Graphic designer Megan Kesting featured standing by her artwork.

Carden, senior in finance and longtime member of ACC, said “in the south it is often difficult to pioneer new territory and step out of the norm.

Megan goes beyond and is a game changer for our church. We are grateful for Megan and how she uses her gift to faithfully serve our family at ACC.” Currently, Kesting is also working on a senior project before her impending graduation date in

December 2019. Kesting accredits the experiences designing for Auburn Community Church for the readiness she feels to enter the workforce.

“I‘ve been able to push myself out of my comfort zone and push my ideas to keep getting better,” Kesting said.

The artist is looking forward to the future, equipped with a skillset and portfolio from her creative service for Auburn Community Church.

INCLUSION

Psychologist shares programs available for LGBTQ students

By ABIGAIL MURPHY Lifestyle Writer

For students with different gender identities – transgender, gender fluid and non-binary – Auburn University offers programs for support and inclusion.

Brandy Smith, an assistant director for training and licensed psychologist for Auburn University’s Student Counseling & Psychological Services, said the student counseling center offers some resources that could be applied for those with different gender identities.

There are two different types of in-person counseling sessions available within student couseling service. Individual counseling sessions and group therapy sessions can each cultivate a supportive environment and help with managing stress, Smith said.

“With the group therapies, any of them could be utilized, but I think the ones that gender identity may come up in a little more often would be our empowerment group and, potentially, our understanding self and others group,” she said.

There also are several workshops with a variety of topics such as “Relationships 101” and “Preparing for Change” that may be useful for students.

Currently these workshops are only offered in-person, but they are working to get more online to make them more accessible, she said.

These resources require an intake appointment beforehand, and all of them are free for students. The only expense is a cancellation fee for cancellations without a 24 hours’ notice or no-shows, with the exception of an emergency circumstance.

However, there are other resource options that can be used without an intake appointment. Mindful Mondays, the therapy dogs Moose and Nessie, and the Zen Den are available in their Haley Center office.

Another option for students who are looking for a safe and welcoming outlet to express themselves is Spectrum, which is an on-campus, student-lead organization that helps promote awareness and inclusion for both sexual orientation and gender identity, she said.

“I think as our students talk more about identity it is helping people be more aware,” Smith said.

Spectrum meets every Wednesday in the student center from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., and usually go to dinner afterwards. They also hold Friday-Night “Kickback” events every other Friday in order to help create a sense

of community.

Although it is not a specific resource for transgender, genderfluid and non-binary students, Smith conducts a four-hour Safe Zone training that focuses on campus awareness of different gender identities and sexualities, she said.

“There is an effort to make sure people around campus are becoming more knowledgeable and educated about gender identity and our students who have a range of gender identity,” she said Through conducting the Safe Zone training workshops, Smith finds the Auburn Family to be an important aspect for inclusion and diversity understanding, she said.

“We pride ourselves on being the auburn family, and part of being the Auburn Family is working to make sure that we’re creating a space for all of our members,” Smith said.

FOOD

Auburn community celebrates second annual Oyster Fest

By ELIZABETH HURLEY Community Editor

LOGAN ELLISON/PHOTOGRAPHER

Auburn community celebrates Oyster Fest on Sept. 24, 2019. in Opelika, Ala.

Four men, with gloves and knives in hand, stand behind a table topped with large tubs of ice. They grab an oyster and gently, but firmly, push the knife into its hinge, twisting until they get just the right amount of pressure to pop the top off.

One after another they repeated this process until all 1,400 oysters were opened and served at the second annual OysterFest Tuesday night, Evans Meats and Seafood sales manager J.T Mackissack said.

“We did 1,400 oysters tonight, which is a lot,” Mackissack said. “In an hour and a half, that was quick.”

The line for raw oysters stretched through Red Clay Brewing in Opelika, twisting around tables and groups of people. It never seemed to shorten until the oysters were all served.

The raw oysters were one of the main rea-

sons patrons attended the event.

“I’m more of a raw oyster girl, but I love oysters,” said Abby Ondy, senior in marketing.

The cooked options were also a delight to many guests. From Oyster Fried Rice to oyster sauce and even an oyster-based pizza, there were cooked oyster dishes to sample all prepared by The Depot’s culinary team headed by Executive Chef Scott Simpson.

One of his favorite dishes of the night was the Oyster Fried Rice, which included charred scallions, oyster mushrooms, broccolini and carrots all sautéed with poblano rice, oysters and an oyster glaze made from the juice inside raw oysters.

“You see a lot of shrimp fried rice, pork fried rice, egg friend rice, this one is all seafood and it goes together so well,” Simpson said.

A crowd favorite was the Oysters Rockefeller Pizza. It’s made up of The Depot’s regular » See OYSTER, 12

The Auburn Plainsman

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019

PAGE 12

ART

Jule Collins Smith Museum features Southern photography

By NATALIE BECKERINK Lifestyle Editor

In August 2019, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art introduced a photography exhibit, “Southern Interiors,” as a part of a new photographic initiative that will run through January 5, 2020.

The photographic initiative has begun to circulate all throughout Auburn, not just at Jule Collins, but at other venues such as the Auburn Public Library, the Department of Art and Art History’s Biggin Gallery and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities at Pebble Hill.

The Southern Interiors exhibit displayed several pictures lining both sides of a hall in the museum. Walking through, each piece showcases people and objects from different periods of time. Some pieces are in black and white and others printed in color. These pictures display a lot of meaning and depth under the surface, said Nancy Beale, a volunteer at the museum.

NATALIE BECKERINK / LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Pieces featured in the Southern Interiors exhibit on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.

“You’ll see a lot of pictures of ‘plain’ people — simple, poor people; not much education,” she said. “They would be in the grand antebellum houses, but while they were rich

in house, they were poor in person.”

The exhibit in Jule Collins received its photos from The Do Good Fund, a public charity based in Columbus, Georgia, that was found-

LOGAN ELLISON/PHOTOGRAPHER

The Oyster Festival featured live performances on Tuesday, Sep. 24, 2019 in Opelika, Ala.

OYSTER » From 11

Oysters Rockefeller topping, fresh shucked oysters and parmesan cheese all baked on top of a light

pizza crust, Simpson said.

Throughout the night, servers would bring a pizza out to the serving table where guests would quickly snag a piece.

Each of the six cooked options proved to be successful. Sever-

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al event attendees stopped by the kitchen, located between the indoor and outdoor event areas, to let The Depot team know how much they enjoyed the food.

“I like the different variations they have outside, liked the cooked

foods,” Fuller said. “From the pizza to the Oyster Fried Rice, it’s just such different variety you never know what you’re going to get at each station.”

The Depot regularly serves parts of each of the six cooked oyster dishes offered at OysterFest, but the full dishes are event exclusive.

Simpson said he’s thinking about bringing some of these dishes into the restaurant, which features seasonal menus and rotating, often seafood-based entrees each night.

“These are all kind of showcasing different things we do at the restaurant [already] but with oysters,” Simpson said.

Red Clay provided the drinks for the night, which included 17 beers on tap, two hard ciders and two wines. A staple drink of the event was their Murder Creek cherry cider, which won gold at the state brewing competition earlier this month.

The featured beer of the night was their 53, named for the 53 miles of coast in Alabama, said John Corbin, co-founder and own-

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ed in 2012. The organization has been collecting photographs taken in the American South since World War II. The Do Good Fund is working toward placing art in several different venues in the southeast region in hopes of spreading their collection and encouraging community engagement.

All of the pictures featured are from multiple different decades and contain a variety of subjects but carry a similar meaning. This was a different concept from art before this period, Beale said.

“This is just kind of a juxtaposition against very wealth-oriented versus very poor-oriented, and how people gravitate towards different things,” she said.

The time frame of the pictures ranges throughout the late 1900s, but the concept remains the same.

“Some of the photographs were shot in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. It still showed that proud, defiant, old south mentality,” Beale said. er of Red Clay.

“Fifty-three is just one of the beers we decided to feature to help with ACF (Alabama costal Foundation) and all,” Corbin said.

Red Clay and The Depot partnered with the ACF for the event.

Since it was an oyster-based event, it just made sense to partner with them, Corbin said.

While they will receive some proceeds from the event, ACF’s main role in the event is oyster shell recycling. They collected the shells of the oysters that were served raw and are putting them back in Alabama waters, ACF Executive Director Mark Berte said.

“The outside of an oyster shell is the favorite place for a new oyster to latch onto,” Berte said. “We have over 20 acres of shells collected so far for this program.”

The event sold out in the days leading up to it. Last year’s inaugural event hosted about 100 guests.

This year’s event had over 200 guests, Berte said.

“We have more raw oysters, more cooked oysters and the beer is phenomenal,” Berte said.

JOSHUA FISHER / PHOTOGRAPHER

Abbigail Hickey, Auburn Universitys campusPrint dietitian speaks with The PlainsDeadline: man on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018 in Auburn, NoonAla. three business days

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FOR RELEASE SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Bowler’s challenge 6 River in western Belgium 10 “Quite contrary” gardener 14 Dog guide 15 Paris currency 16 Singer Adams 17 Bert’s Muppet roommate 18 Tiny bit of a min.

19 “Bob’s Burgers” daughter 20 *Zero degrees, on a compass 22 Looks for 23 *Fiduciary entity whose holdings are unknown to its beneficiaries 26 Deli hanger 31 Rivière contents 32 Sun-dried brick 33 Campus housing 35 Ceremonial shoulder-to-hip band 39 *Life insurance clause specifying twice the payment for certain situations 42 “¿Cómo __ usted?”

43 Pre-holiday nights 44 Helped 45 Exist 46 Opulent home 47 *Wet wooded region 53 Early stage 54 “I’m there!” ... and hint to the first part of the answers to starred clues 60 Lab vessel 61 Therefore 63 Radamès in 36-Down, e.g.

64 And others, in Lat. 65 Author Roald 66 Wild West film 67 Provocative 68 French “head” 69 Newspapers, collectively DOWN 1 Snow glider 2 Lima is its capital

9/23/19

By Seth Bisen-Hersh

3 Fictional reporter Lois 4 “The doctor __” 5 “God” prefix 6 Film in which Streisand plays a yeshiva boy 7 Japanese rolls 8 Before, in verse 9 Mythical big bird 10 Usage measurer 11 French farewell 12 Ice show venues 13 Baker’s dough raiser 21 Sac fly stat 22 “The Simpsons” disco guy 24 Geeky-sounding candy 25 Knight’s lady 26 “Smooth Operator” singer 27 Kerfuffles 28 Lummox 29 __ The Museum: Stockholm exhibit honoring a pop group 30 Singer Tormé 33 Sunken ship explorer 34 __ of a kind 35 Peevish state 36 Verdi opera

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

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37 Editor’s “never mind that change” 38 Jekyll’s alter ego 40 Gateway Arch designer Saarinen 41 More, for Miguel 45 Rearward at sea 46 Many “Star Trek” extras 47 Mars explorer 48 Friend of Maria in “West Side Story”

9/23/19

49 Author Asimov 50 Singer Furtado 51 Octet count 52 Swiped 55 Resting upon 56 Honey alternative 57 Pot starter 58 Ballerinas dance on them 59 Makes a mistake 61 NYC summer hrs.

62 Actress Charlotte