The Signpost: It's Award season with Waldo - Super Staff - Alumni 2021 H. Aldous Dixon Awards

Friday | February 5, 2021 | Volume 94 | Issue 35

A COVID CHANGE TO ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK PAGE>>6

The Signpost Archives

2 | MyWeberMedia.com| February 5, 2021

By JENNIFER GREENLEE Editor-in-chief

Sexual Assault A sexual assault was reported to police on Dec. 3, 2020. The assault happened while on a date a year prior, and campus security was notified through an online submission form.

Hitting the snow Six students were snowboarding on campus near Wildcat Village on Jan. 26. Several of the students were still there when the officer asked them not to snowboard on campus, and the students left without issue.

Rolling down the stairs Two skateboarders were reported doing tricks on some stairs and grinding on the railings at the Ogden Campus on Jan. 21. When asked, the skateboarders said they were just going off the stairs and weren’t skilled enough to do any railing tricks and showed the officer what they’d been filming. An officer informed them they couldn’t be skateboarding on campus, and they left without issue.

Sucking the fun out of the tank While on patrol on Jan. 21, an officer witnessed a male pouring gas

into his car. When the officer approached, he noticed tools next to the cars that were consistent with gas syphoning tools. The officer wrote a citation for fuel theft and cleared the scene.

vehicle and stopped and searched the vehicle. Marijuana and drug paraphernalia were found in the vehicle. A warning was written, and the drugs were confiscated and put into evidence.

Vehicle burglaries Two owners have filed reports about items being stolen out of their cars. One was reported on Jan. 13 and the other was reported on Jan. 21. Both these cases are under investigation.

Stealing from campus Facilities Management reported on Jan. 20 that they had experienced a theft two days prior on Jan. 18. This included two welders and tools stolen from the north parking area of facilities management. Police are looking at camera footage, and the theft is under investigation.

Driving on a high An officer smelled marijuana in a

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WEBER DINING PRESENTS:

BARBEQUE PREVIEW Real Good Barbeque POP - UP Restaurant Enjoy our selection of meats, smoked on sight. Get a peek and a taste of our new retail location opening Fall 2021

Feb 9 & 23, Mar 16 & 30, Apr 6 • 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM • Shepherd Union

4 | MyWeberMedia.com| February 5, 2021

By LUCAS MOORE Reporter

Weber State University’s Speech and Debate team placed in the Gold Tier in the Northwestern Forensic Conference for both speech and IPDA debate, despite only having eight students on their team, no sponsors and no website. Usually, this feat takes years to conquer; the WSU team did it in their first.

All eight students placed in an even across debate and individual speaker awards.

Jazmyne Olson, one of the members on the team,

took first in the Extemporaneous Speaking and Novice Impromptu categories and rated the best overall competitor among all novice and junior students in both speech and debate. She also took second place for the Orv Iverson award was given out at the for her excellence. She was ranked the best overall competitor among all novice and junior students in speech and debate.

Sophie Beck took first place in Novice Informative Speaking and the second-place overall speaker award. Rebecca Brown took first place in Junior

Prose. Brad Baker took fifth in Open Dramatic Interpretation and Top Junior in individual speaker points.

Akir Rowe took second in Novice Persuasive Speaking and second in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking.

Krystiana Davis took sixth in Novice Persuasive Speaking. Kyle Housley took third in Junior Prose, second in Novice Informative Speaking, first in Open Dramatic interpretation and Top Novice in overall speaker points.

In debate, Davis took fifth, Akir Rowe took fourth and Sophie Beck took sec-

ond for speaker awards. In one-on-one debate events, Housley and Rowe were quarterfinalists, Baker and Olson were semifinalists and Beck took second place.

The team focused on broad and sometimes controversial topics such as social justice issues, racism, disabilities and sexuality.

Olson explained that their routine is meeting every Wednesday, practicing speeches to each other and sometimes individual meetings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made many changes to the way groups partic-

KAYLA GRIFFIN | The Signpost

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WSU’s Speech and Debate team placed in the Gold Tier in the Northwestern Forensic Conference for both speech and IPDA debate.

ipate in things to protect everyone’s health. This has affected the social and in-person aspect within the team and has been very challenging to uphold.

“The dynamic of being online was hard to adjust to because body language is everything, and over zoom, you don’t have that experience,” Olson explained.

Despite these changes, Olson described her coaches, Head Coach Mark Galaviz and Volunteer Coach Kayla Griffin, as always

pushing them to go further and to succeed in full.

Galaviz was a speech and debate competitor for Boise State University and was even the 2015 national champion for Prose Speaking. He is motivated by “the opportunity to start something here at Weber, from scratch, and to help folks use words as a way to access power,” Galaviz said.

Galaviz was pleased to see his team’s win but was not surprised because of all the hard work they were

putting into practice.

Griffin, his wife, used to compete during undergraduate where she met Galaviz.

“I like helping students find their voice,” she said.

Griffin was knocked off her feet by the team’s triumph but also feels being in a pandemic may be hindering the development of strong public speaking skills without a live audience. This is something the team is trying to grapple with.

Galaviz agreed with this,

explaining that the in-person component is essential for learning how to negotiate and to use all factors of communication. Doing things over the internet has made it tough to not being able to experience other teams and schools.

The team will be competing at the Talk Hawk Invitational from Feb. 12 to the 14.

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6 | MyWeberMedia.com| February 5, 2021

By KIERSTYNN KING Reporter

The Alternative Breaks Team, hosted by the Center for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL), has provided Weber State University students with the opportunity to volunteer in trips around the country and the world for over 12 years.

During spring break last year, students trav-

eled to Dover, NC; New Orleans; Las Canas, Dominican Republic; Fiji and Washington, D.C. This year, spring break will be different due to COVID-19.

Instead of traveling abroad this year, students will be able to volunteer locally in Ogden and Salt Lake City on March 11 and 12.

There will be two groups: one group in Ogden one day, the other in Salt Lake. The groups will then rotate for the next day. The trips will be

led by Gentry Mathias and Giovanni Frias.

“Originally, we planned for a trip to McNary, AZ and a trip to southern Utah,” Jenny Frame, adviser of the Alternative Breaks Team, said.

“We knew that there would be a good chance we wouldn’t be able to go on the further away trips, so we made a plan A, a plan B and a plan C.” Frame said the local trips will follow Weber State and CDC guidelines.

The trip will only cost $50, which will cover the service fees, breakfast and lunch. March 4 will be the last day to sign up, and March 5 will be the last day to pay the $50 fee.

“What students will be getting out of this is a lot more than what they are paying for,” Zadoth Vazquez, student director of the Alternative Breaks Team, said. “They are truly getting a transformative experience. We wanted this trip to be as open to people as possible.”

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A view of Ogden, Utah from the Waterfall Canyon Trail

The trip to Salt Lake City will focus on the community issue of food insecurity. Students will work with Neighborhood House and Youth Resource Center to serve meals and learn how food is packed up and sent out to those in need.

Meanwhile, the trip to Ogden will focus on environmental sustainability. The group will work with the Pliking Club of Ogden. The Pliking Club focuses on picking up trash while hiking, walking and biking along Ogden trails.

Vazquez said the team is also hoping to work with the Ogden Nature Center to focus on rehabilitating wildlife and environmental sustainability.

Virtual keynote speakers will also be a part of the Ogden trip. A speaker from the 7 Elements organization will speak about human security issues and what they do as an organization. Another organization based in Arizona, named Highlander, will speak about Indigenous groups, social systems, sustainability purposes and cultural context.

The keynote speakers will make their presentations relevant to the students and how the topics can apply to the world today.

Vazquez said they have a backup virtual plan in place in case of a surge of COVID-19 cases or exposure to the virus.

The virtual plan will include StoryCorps,

Highlander, 7 Elements and the Pliking Club in a more extensive and free way, according to Vazquez.

StoryCorps gives students the opportunity to share their stories and experiences with topics like social injustice, racism and other experiences.

Vazquez said they’ve been reaching out to students through Instagram and Facebook to get students involved in this year’s alternative spring break trips.

“Our capacity for these trips is 20 students, and we’ve had students reach out who have done our trips before and are sticking with us for these local trips,” Vazquez said. “It makes

me so happy to know that these trips have made an impact in their life and that they want to participate again.”

To sign up for the alternative spring break visit the Alternative Breaks Team page on Weber’s website.

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THE SIGNPOST TEAM Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Greenlee jennifergreenlee@mail.weber.edu

Chief Copy Editor Breanna Hart breannahart@mail.weber.edu

Culture Editor Caitlyn Nichols caitlynnichols@mail.weber.edu

Design & Graphics Editor Aubree Eckhardt aubreeeckhardt@mail.weber.edu

News Editor Marisa Nelson marisanelson@mail.weber.edu

Webmaster David Morris david.lee.morris@gmail.com

Asst. Design & Graphics Editor Alli Rickards alexandrarickards@mail.weber.edu

Sports Editor Raymond Lucas raymondlucas@mail.weber.edu

Adviser Jean Norman jeannorman@weber.edu

Videography Editor Sarah Earnshaw sarahearnshaw@mail.weber.edu

Asst. Sports Editor Miles Shaw milesshaw@mail.weber.edu

Ad Manager KC Sanders kcsanders@weber.edu

Photo Editor BriElle Harker brielleharker@mail.weber.edu

The Signpost is a student publication, written, edited and drafted by Weber State University students. Student fees fund the printing of this publication. Opinions or positions voiced are not necessarily endorsed by the university. The Signpost reserves the right to edit for reasons of space and libel and to refuse to print any letters. Letters should be submitted online to thesignpost@weber. edu and read letter to the Editor in the subject box. Letters should not exceed 350 words.

NOTICE OF PROPOSED

$ $

TUITION INCREASE

Weber State University is proposing a tuition increase of 2-3%, meaning an additional $51 to $76 per semester for a full-time resident undergraduate student for the upcoming school year.

It is proposed this tuition increase be used for the following: 路 Compensation: up to $1,500,000 路 Retention and Student Support: up to $479,600

路 Mandated Costs: up to $200,000 路 Administrative Support: up to $200,000

A public hearing on the proposed increase will be held on:

MONDAY, FEB. 22, 2021 2:30 - 3:30 p.m., virtual weber.zoom.us/j/91698490343?pwd=Njd1UUhaL000WDFVbzd0cUcxcGJnQT09 Passcode: 011313

Attendee Invitation: Hi there, You are invited to a Zoom webinar.

When: Feb 23, 2021 7:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada) Topic: The Signpost presents Mary Mapes Register in advance for this webinar: https://weber.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_57q73T7hRBal hCDGpQuYfg After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.