The Villanovan | Volume 114, Issue 20: November 9, 2022

Students Vote in 2022 Elections

Colin Beazley Co-Editor-in-Chief

Despite taking place in a non-presidential year, the 2022 elections had higher voter turnouts than a typical midterm election. Voters flocked to the polls to cast ballots in an election billed as one of the most import ant in decades. Turnout has traditionally been a struggle amongst college-age students, but Villanova students were active at the polls.

Voting plans were shared among friends, as students made plans to vote with roommates or with larger groups. Many voted early with mail-in ballots either in Pennsylvania or in their home states. On Elec tion Day, students utilized their own cars, traveled with friends or hopped on the free Let’s Vote Nova sponsored shuttles to make sure their voices were heard.

Sophomore Alex andra Loke was a first time voter who drove herself to the polls. Loke didn’t know what to expect going in, but came away from the experi ence excited to have made a difference.

“Everyone was help ing me, all the (poll workers) that were older were so excited that I was young and coming out to vote,” Loke said. “After I filled in my ballot and cast my vote, and the guy gave me the sticker, it was super fulfilling. It was great to vote for the first time.”

Senior AJ Fezza also voted from his on-campus address, but it didn’t go as well. Villanova is divided into four districts based upon which dorm students live in, leading to widespread confu sion for many students.

“It all started when I read a newsletter email from my department detailing my polling location based on

Shapiro Wins Pennsylvania,

Melkonian Co-Editor-in-Chief

*Results in this article are as of 12:00 a.m. November 9, due to deadline restrictions.*

As of 12:00 a.m. on November 9, Josh Shap iro has been declared the winner of the Pennsylva nia Gubernatorial leading Doug Mastriano 54.4% to 43.5%. This election was called by multiple news outlets around 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday night. It is reported that President Biden called Shapiro over the phone to congratulate him on his victory.

While Shapiro’s

victory was declared on Tuesday night, most other Pennsylvania races were too close to call before The Villanovan ’s publication deadline.

Villanova Political Science Professor Frank Pryor, ABD spoke with The Villanovan about what this means for the state and Villanova students.

“[Shapiro] is a can didate who is very much in touch with the issues of college-age generation,” Pryor said. “Very much aligned with environmen tal concerns, healthcare, education, jobs, economic development as attorney general. He has an eye towards creating a Penn

sylvania where we want to keep our young college graduates. We want to keep them in state.” Pryor offered his predictions for initiatives Shapiro will pursue after he is elected.

“I think you’ll see initiatives around that from a Josh Shapiro ad ministration,” Pryor said. “He’s kind of made part of his platform around con cern for our state’s higher education system but also around understanding the role that privates play in our state and to try to make our state a more attractive place. We’re the second or third oldest state in the Union, and in

terms of talent retention he wants to keep college graduates in PA. I think you’ll see initiatives around that, so I think that’s a good thing for college-age students in PA.”

As of 10:30 p.m. on November 8, the U.S. Senate is split 46/46 Dem ocrats and Republicans, respectively. Republicans need 51 seats to gain con trol of the Senate chamber, which requires a net gain of one seat. The House of Representatives is split be tween 125 Democrats and 176 Republicans. Repub licans have picked up five seats so far and need 218 seats to gain control of the House of Representatives.

Villanova Hosts 34th Annual Special Olympics

Elena Rouse Co-Culture Editor

This past weekend, Villanova hosted its 34th Annual Special Olympics, the largest student run Special Olympics in the world. Start ing on Friday, Nov. 4, the event boasted a myriad of athletic games throughout the week end, bringing together athletes, the greater community and Villanova students.

The event’s magni tude, with more than 1,200

VU Dems and Villano

va Conservative Union Interview p. 5

athletes, 400 coaches and 5,000 volunteers, is unpar alleled. Campus transforms from an academic space to a

different campus greens and large indoor spaces becoming competitive spaces for bocce, flag football, long-distance

ing, roller skating, soccer and volleyball. The entire ordeal, everything from funding, vol unteer coordination, and the organization of each event, is crafted, organized, and exe cuted by the Special Olympics Committee. The Committee is a group of elected Villano va Students, all of whom are heads of the weekend’s re spective components of other lower-level volunteers. Karo line Menze, a Villanova senior, acted as the head of it all as

p. 5

University Should Reform Financial Aid p. 8

Volunteers of Villanova: ICs and VCs Take On SpO p. 9

Villanova Band Weekly T-Shirt Sales p. 10

Wright’s Still Around, But It’s Neptune’s Turn p. 12

The Performing Arts Needs More Space on Campus p. 7

Siegrist Puts on Show in Return to Hometown p. 13

Vivi

Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Josh Shapiro defeated Doug Mastriano in the Gubernatorial Election. Courtesy of Heather Khalifa/The Philadelphia Inquirer

Advice for Mid-Semester

COLIN BEAZLEY VIVI MELKONIAN TINA ARON CATE McCUSKER RACHEL REINIGER SARAH SWEENEY SARAH WISNIEWSKI LYDIA McFARLANE A.J. FEZZA ELENA ROUSE CHLOE MILLER MATTHEW RYAN MEGHANN MORHARDT MOLLY BAKER OLIVIA PASQUALE

PUBLIC SAFETY BLOTTER

Criminal Trespass/ Theft By Unlawful Taking or Disposition

October 30, HOVNANIAN HALL

A female resident student reported that anoth er female resident student took her Wildcard without her knowledge and consent. The actor then used the card to unlawfully enter a residence hall room that she was not permit ted to enter.

Theft By Unlawful Taking or Disposi tion

October 30, STANFORD HALL

A female resident student reported her elec tric scooter stolen. The amount of the loss is $800.00.

Sexual Assault

October 31, WHOLE CAMPUS

Title IX Coordinator conveyed a second-hand report of a sexual assault that occurred during the month of January 2022 in a Universi ty-owned residence hall.

CORRECTIONS

Indecent Assault November 2, DELUREY HALL

A female student reported being touched in an inappropriate manner by a known student.

Retail Theft November 2, CONNELLY CENTER

Belle Air Terrace employee reported a theft of an unknown item.

Liquor Underage/ Public Drunkenness November 5, WEST CAMPUS GROUNDS

A female resident student, under the age of 21, was evaluated for alcohol intoxication by VEMS ambulance and released to a sober friend.

Liquor Underage/ Public Drunkenness November 5, STANFORD HALL

A female resident student, under 21, was found intoxicated in public.

Theft By Unlawful Taking or Disposi tion

November 5, JACKSON HALL

A female resident student reported clothing valued at $500.00 was stolen from a laundry machine.

Liquor Underage November 6, ST. MONICA HALL

One female resident student under the age of 21 was evaluated by VEMS for alcohol intoxication and transported to Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Disorderly Conduct November 6, KATHERINE HALL

RA discovered flooding in the men’s restrooms of Katharine Hall caused by intentional clog ging of the sinks.

Factual errors are corrected as soon as they are brought to The Villanovan’s attention. Please send an e-mail to villanovan.eic@gmail.com to report errors.

Midterm Election Results and Analysis

Vivi Melkonian Co-Editor-in-Chief

35 of the 100 Senate seats are on the ballot this election.

The Pennsylvania Senate race between Mehmet Oz and John Fetterman is too early to call with 79% of the votes in at 11:45 p.m. Fetterman leads Oz 49.5% to 48.0%. Fetterman suffered a stroke this past May which impacted his performance in the most recent debate against Oz. However, Fetterman appears to be pulling ahead and “on a path towards victory” to Pryor.

“It looks like Fetterman has made a pretty decent comeback from his debate performance, and he looks like he may be on a path to victory but it’s too close to call,” Pryor said.

If Fetterman wins his race, Pennsylvania will be represent ed by two Democratic senators and now a Democratic governor, which will facilitate more opportu nities for advocacy in Congress for the state.

“For PA, this means they flipped the seat and that both senators [representing PA] would be from the Democratic party,” Pryor said. “This means a much larger voice in Washington D.C. It’s yet to be determined whether this changes the balance of pow er in the Senate. It’s too early to call that race. But in PA you’ll have some alignment there with a Democratic governor and two U.S. senators that are from the Dem ocratic party. That’s the trend of the very diverse state right now – a shifting electorate we have in PA.”

In regard to the timeline of election results, Pryor added that finalized results could take

“The 2020 election for Biden wasn’t called until the Sat urday after,” Pryor said. “So this is going to take several days to get it right, to get it accurate. Unfortu nately, there are election deniers in our state like in other states, and I’m sure there’ll be some suits as to how ballots are counted and so there may be some delay.”

Senate races nationwide are indicative of a tight margin for winning, and results are yet to be finalized. Pennsylvania along

with pivotal states such as Geor gia could determine whether or not Republicans gain control of the chamber. As it stands now, the Senate is split 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. When asked for his interpretation of Senate race results thus far, Pryor indicat ed things will be close regardless of the outcome.

“It’s just too early to tell right now,” Pryor said. “I can say this, that with only 20 seats remaining, that the margin, if it doesn’t end in a tie, it’s gonna be close. Plus or minus maybe two seats, it’s going to be very tight.”

This midterm election is indicative of American satisfac tion with the current state of our political leadership and can offer insight for upcoming election years. These races will change the political state of the country and determine national legislative next steps. Pryor explained this election illustrates the potential landscape for 2024 elections.

“I think there’s something around implications for 2024 around presidential runs,” Pryor said. “You can look at Governor (Ron) DeSantis in Florida with an overwhelming victory, and that’s going to lead to serious consider

ation to run for president. That’s going to be key around his presi dential aspirations.”

Additionally, election integrity was a pivotal topic of discussion going into midterm elections, as many candidates are self-proclaimed “election deniers.” Accuracy in vote counting is of chief concern in every state in cluding Pennsylvania. Pryor added his evaluation of ballot tallying tonight.

“[There were] a lot of concerns around how the elec tions were going to be conducted in each state,” Pryor said. “There were few shenanigans. Things seem to be going well. The things that happen on election night are things that happen in life: ma chines jamming, running out of paper, not having enough ballots, not having enough polling loca tions open late, voting machines not working properly but getting fixed. But these are the kind of things that happen on these nights. They seem to be handled appro priately.”

The Villanovan will post updates online at www.villanovan. com as election results are final ized. Follow along on Instagram and Twitter @thevillanovan for continued coverage.

John Fetterman’s race with Dr Mehmet Oz is nearly even with 80% of votes counted. Courtesy of CNN

Dr Oz trails Fetterman, yet by a marginal amount. Courtesy of NBC News

Students Vote in 2022 Midterm Elections

Colin Beazley Co-Editor-in-Chief

my residence hall,” Fezza said. He drove to that location and found that he was not on the registry and was referred to an election official, who directed him to a different polling location. The same thing happened at the second location, but Fezza had success at the third.

“Finally, I made it to my third location later that day in Bryn Mawr, after waiting in an extremely long line of cars on Lancaster Avenue,” Fezza said. “I voted, got my sticker and ex

“When I got to the right place, it was fine,” Fezza said. “There was a short line and I was out within 10 minutes.”

Instead of dealing with the confusion of voting at school, many students chose to vote at home instead. After negative voting experi ences in 2020 and 2021, sophomore Tyler Moore requested a mail-in ballot so that he could vote early in his local election elsewhere in Penn sylvania.

“My ballot actually came in early October and I was able to make sure I voted on time without issue,” Moore said, adding that he submitted his ballot over Fall Break. “I would

Pennsylvania deadline to register to vote was Oct. 24, and the deadline to request a mail-in ballot was Nov. 1. Because of this, some students missed the deadlines and looked for other ways to cast their votes.

Junior Alex Rhodes was one of these students. Rhodes is a Penn sylvania resident, but couldn’t vote early in-person. When he missed the deadline to request a mail-in ballot, he went online and found that he could vote via provisional ballot due to his recent change in residence. Rhodes’ ballot will not be counted in the initial count, but his eligibility will be reviewed in a week to decide whether his vote will count.

“It was a decent experience today,” Rhodes said. “It was my mis take to not change my address, but

even with that, the poll workers were nice and made it easy enough.”

While Rhodes was glad his voice was heard, especially in an important election, he doesn’t plan on utilizing provisional ballots in the future.

“No, I will not do this again,” Rhodes said. “I need to be more pre pared next time and order one from home.”

Although students differed in how they voted, why they voted and who they voted for, all students were proud to have participated in our nation’s democratic process. “I finally felt like I have a voice and I can actually make a dif ference with my vote,” Loke said. “I was super excited to finally get to do that.”

Students Participate in First Elections

Lauren Armstrong Staff Writer

It is that time of year again when we see Instagram Ads, Tweets and even TikToks of candidates running for office, trying to pull young voters to their side of the competition by being “relatable” through their use of social media. This year, in heated races for governor and a senate seat here in Pennsylvania, it is more crucial than ever for young voters to go out and cast their ballot. “Go vote like your rights depend on it” was written in chalk outside the John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts on the morning of election day, as this election involves top ics very important to many Vil lanovan student. The University made numerous efforts to ensure all students who are registered in Pennsylvania made it to the voting polls. By having shuttles running from 9:00a.m.-7:30p.m. from the Connelly Center to each voting location that on-campus students may be sent to, the University is helps young and new voters feel more secure about getting to and from the polls.

Student organizations such as Let’s Vote Nova, also educated new voters about the voting pro cess as well as assisted students with their voter registration. The efforts of Let’s Vote Nova helped students like as Freshman Alex ander Zeppos vote in their first election.

“Now more than ever, it is crucial for our generation to get out there to vote in order to

preserve our nation’s democracy,” Zeppos said. “Thanks to Let’s Vote Nova, I was able to register to be able to cast my first ballot in my home state of Pennsylvania. As I vote for my first time this elec

dedicated students here at Villano va.”

Voting in any election is important, but when the predic tions are so tight to the point that the projected winners flip from

commented on their voting expe rience.

“Villanova made it super easy to vote,” Nolen said. “I was worried about how I would find the time to register, but Villanova provided many resources that en abled me to register quickly. They also provided transportation to the polling stations which was real ly nice, especially for those who don’t have a car on campus.”

Transportation is key, as Villanova is split into a multitude of voting districts. It can often be difficult for new voters to know where their voting location is.

“Having the shuttles and vans is super helpful for us stu dents that can not drive, or do not have a car on campus. Overall Villanova has been super help ful today on election day” Maria Saltysiak, Class of 2026 said.

Outside the Connelly Center, Let’s Vote Nova had signs with QR codes to inform voters on where their polling location is based on their residence hall. Freshman Ryan Levey believes this is a good thing.

“I didn’t realize before today that voting locations were different based on where you live on campus, for example my voting location was different than a friend in the dorm building right next to mine,” Levey said. “Let’s Vote Nova did a great job explaining where I needed to go to vote, as well as making sure I got there safely.” Overall, many first time vot ers had a smooth experience voting on Election Day. Thanks to the efforts of Let’s Vote Nova, students were able to vote easily and enjoy their first experiences voting.

Many freshmen voted for the first time in the 2022 Midterm Election. Courtesy of Falvey Memorial Library

Students wait for shuttles at the Let’s Vote Nova table. Ryan Sarbello/Villanovan Photography

People wait outside of the Rosemont Plaza polls. Ryan Sarbello/Villanovan Photography

Let’s Vote Nova Sponsors Shuttles to Bring Students to Polls

Sarah Sweeney Co-News Editor

On Tuesday, hundreds of students ventured off campus to cast their votes in the Pennsylva nia midterm elections, thanks to the help of Let’s Vote Nova. Let’s Vote Nova sponsored shuttles, which bused students to the four polling locations designated for on-campus residents. The shuttles ran approximately every half an hour from the Connelly Center, starting at 9am and ending at 7:30pm.

Campus is divided into four local voting wards, with student’s on-campus addresses determining which polling loca tion they should use. For example, many of the Main Campus dorms were required to vote at St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Wayne, while students living in the Commons were required to vote at The Rose mont Plaza Apartments in Bryn Mawr this year.

Although this can be confusing for students voting on campus for the first time, Let’s Vote Nova made the process seamless, by both physically direct ing students on election day and spreading awareness virtually via its website, which has a plethora of resources about voting. The website contains information rang ing from how to register to vote to even what to bring to the polls to FAQs.

Association, Office of Student In volvement, and Office of Govern ment Relations, and other campus colleagues.

Student Body President Jose Garcia explained that Let’s Vote Nova “helps students register to vote and on Election Day get them out to the polls.”

Caroline Levine, a post graduate student at Villanova and former student-body President, founded Let’s Vote Nova in 2020.

“I was really frustrated with my own experiences voting as a student on campus, just with fig uring out the mailroom and how to get your ballot and turn it in and all things like that,” she said.

She started working with other students on Student Govern ment and the Government Rela

easier.”

Hally Ammons is the Assis tant Director for Government and Community Relations at the Uni versity. Within Let’s Vote Nova, Ammons helps the students who run the initiative and the Office of Student Involvement, who over sees the student organization.

Ammons explained that a real strength of Let’s Vote Nova is that when students register with Let’s Vote Nova, “the folks who are volunteering understand how to register Villanova students.”

Outside groups that volun teer on campus to register students often make errors, due to the complex way Villanova’s campus is gerrymandered and how students have to fill out the forms. On the other hand, Let’s Vote Nova is

tailored specifically to Villanova students.

Let’s Vote Nova has been working hard all semester to raise awareness about the importance of voting and answer any ques tions students may have about the confusing process. However, actu ally getting students out to vote on Election Day is the most crucial part.

As of 11am, Ammons explained that they “had a really nice turnout [for the shuttles] so far, particularly for a midterm election. Folks seem really ener gized. Students seem really eager to vote.”

“There’s a constant stream of shuttles going back and forth. We’ve got some vans to help sup plement,” she said.

The turnout was only expect ed to increase throughout the day, with an expected number of 300-400 students to be serviced by the shuttles.

Carly Isselmann, a sopho more Communication major, had a positive experience with voting and the Let’s Vote Nova shuttles.

“[It] was super simple and there were so many people around helping just trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone,” she said. “The shuttle took us to our voting lo cation and waited for us to drive back which was super convenient. The actual process of voting took probably five minutes and was really simple and a great way to feel like you’re making a difference, especially in a swing state like Pennsylvania.”

Villanova Community Members Serve as Poll Workers

Sarah Wisniewski Co-News Editor

According to the Department of State, in late September, more than 3,000 individuals signed up to be poll workers. The state’s demand for work ers on Election Day is about 50,000. Montgomery County, right outside of the University’s borders, states that each poll location should have a min imum of five poll workers on Election Day.

Delaware County, the county in which on campus voters are regis tered under, states that poll workers are a “critical component of the American election process and serve a vital role in ensuring the integrity of our vote here in Delaware Coun ty.” Poll workers for any location are required to set up polling locations, sign in registered voters, provide in formation on the procedure of voting, oversee equipment and ballots and monitor conduct of the election.

Registered voters can sign up during or after registration to partic ipate as poll workers. Villanova has a few community members this year and in past years who have taken up the duty to work on Election Day.

Senior Anna O’Keefe, dou ble majoring in Communication and Political Science, worked at the polls last year but was told this year that all the slots in her district were filled.

“I actually loved being a poll worker in the last election, and this district needed a lot of support,” O’Keefe said. “With the media atten tion around the Senate and Governor race in PA, I think constituents were

more inclined to get involved. When I signed up to work again in Septem ber, I was informed slots were already satisfied, and that I would be put on an ‘if needed’ list.”

O’Keefe decided to sign up to work last year after working on a voter registration campaign. She had an interest in seeing how the process worked in action. When asked if she would recommend the job to others she said yes.

“I definitely would,” O’Keefe said. “It is so interesting to see civil engagement in the works and to be on the other side of things.”

Another student who has experience as a poll worker is Annie Holmes. She is also a senior studying

Communication with a specialization in Public Relations and Advertising. Holmes shared why she got involved initially as a poll worker. “My dad is an elected official in my home township, Haverford, and in May of 2020, given the pandemic, there was a severe short age of poll workers, so I decided I’d step up and work the 15 hour day,” Holmes said. “My dad has been commissioner since I was four, and I’ve always gone to the polls with him every election day before I could vote. Working the polls gave me the opportunity to come full circle.”

Holmes did not work this Election Day due to conflicts in

ment of past experiences working the polls.

“People are always shocked to see someone so young working inside the polls on Election Day so it’s really rewarding in the end too,” Holmes said. “I can’t re member specifics, but people often say things along the lines of, ‘It’s good to see that young people care about the elections and the future of this country.’”

Professors, alongside their students, have stepped up to work the polls. Gina Talley, M.A., a pro fessor in the History Department, will be working this Election Day. Talley first became a poll worker in November 2020, follow ing a national shortage due to the pandemic.

“As a relatively young and healthy person, I wanted to help fill the gap,” Talley said. “I had such a rewarding experience that I continued to work in every elec tion.”

Talley also commended the group of women she has worked with every year, describing them all having positive attitudes and making it a “wonderful experi ence.”

As for changes from pre vious years, Talley stated that this year ran very smoothly. Particular ly, she pointed out that there were fewer questions about the mail-invoting process than in years past.

Anyone interested in be coming a poll worker should reach out to their county’s voter office and find opportunities specific to their district.

The shuttles ran every half an hour from the Connelly Center from 9am to 7:30pm. Courtesy of Allyson Levin

Dr. Lauren Miltenberger worked the polls this Election Day. Courtesy of Expert File

Election Awareness Varies Across Undergraduate Colleges

Katie Reed News Columnist

With midterm elections coming up, campus has been a buzz as students have been preparing to cast their vote, especially with the help from organizations like Let’s Vote Nova. However, many students have been noticing discrepancies in how often the elections are being talked about across different colleges and in different classrooms.

Jose Garcia, the Student Body President, is a senior accounting major with minors in real estate and business law in VSB. He was able to shed some light on the nature of elec tion discussions in the business school.

“What’s interesting about the business school is that there are no professors that really talk about the upcoming election,” Garcia said. “I know about the upcoming election because I work with SGA and Let’s Vote Nova, but in my classrooms, I feel like no one really talks about the elections.”

Brianna Devincenzo, a senior in the College of Nursing, shared a similar experience with her classes.

“This year, my professors have not talked about the election at all, which is surprising, especially since I’m currently taking a class called Health Policy,” Devincenzo said. “We talk a lot about policies that affect nursing, but we have not talked about the election specifically or political candidates and what they support.”

Devincenzo also noted that this lack of discussions was surpris

ing to her because in one of her first classes freshman year, her professor had each student look up their local representatives so that they could know who they were and what poli cies they supported.

“I do think some of the professors in the nursing school talk about [elections] because it is import ant as nursing students and future nurses that we are aware of what pol icies affect not only ourselves and our profession, but also the patients we will be serving,” Devincenzo said. “I think more professors should take that lead when talking about these topics.”

Shannon Cavanaugh, a senior mechanical engineering major with a sustainability engineering minor, echoed that some of her classes in the College of Engineering have included similar discussions.

“Some professors have talked about the upcoming elections as a current event and have told students to go vote, but they’ve never really talked about the candidates,” Cava naugh said. “The only political topics talked about [in class] have been about climate change and necessary action required for a sustainable ener gy market.”

Each student agreed that out of all of the colleges, CLAS, partic ularly Liberal Arts, would be the col lege where professors would be most likely to discuss the upcoming elec tions with their students. As Garcia mentioned, Let’s Vote Nova has even partnered with the COM Media and Politics Class, taught by Dr. Allyson Levin, to encourage student voter reg istration and participation in elections.

However, the experiences of Camille Ferace, a sophomore in CLAS majoring in English and Com munication, did not align with this assumption, as none of her professors have talked about the upcoming elec tions.

“I think professors should talk about the elections because I feel like it’s such a prominent thing that no one really speaks of,” Ferace said, noting how in high school, she did a lot of work senior year in learning and spreading awareness about voting.

“Here, I am missing that information and feel like I am on my own to read [and learn] about it.”

Especially given that Pennsyl vania is a swing-state, Ferace felt that professors should promote the elec tions and inform students who may not know what is going on.

Devincenzo agreed.

“I understand why some [pro fessors] might feel like they don’t want to talk about [elections], just because things can be polarizing and tense,” Devincenzo said. “If they don’t want to create that kind of atmosphere, I understand that, but at the same time, I think they can still talk about our right and our duty to vote and how important it is for us to participate in these elections.”

Cavanaugh advocated for this but emphasized that professors should be careful in how they approach these subjects that are political in nature.

“I think that professors should talk about the importance of voting without influencing a vote,” Cavanaugh said. “It is nice to discuss political viewpoints in educational

circumstances, but it could become controversial quickly. For example, in sustainable engineering, we discuss what needs to happen to improve greenhouse gas emissions and use more renewable energy. It is no secret that tax policies and government regulations impact these decisions, so discussion of elections in this regard makes sense for engineering classes.”

Garcia was also unsure of having professors talk about elec tions in classes, in the sense that they could try to influence their voting.

“I don’t know if I would necessarily ask professors to talk to me about politics because I don’t want them to tell me to go out on election day and vote for a party that I’m not affiliated with,” Garcia said.

However, he mentioned that he wished professors would be open to talking with students and encouraging them to simply go out and vote, such as reminding them of when election day is coming up and either ending class early to provide more opportunities to vote or counting an absence on election day as excused.

“If [elections were] talked about in that way I would be all for it, but if it’s in a negative way or in a way that is pushy or not really inclusive, I would say no,” Garcia said.

Elections, especially those on Nov. 8, have the potential to impact all Villanovans, so it will be interesting to see how conver sations evolve across the different colleges in future years.

VU Dems and Villanova Conservative Union Interview

Cate McCusker Senior Editor

Ahead of the midterm elections, I sat down with members of the two major political clubs on campus. I met with Gabriella Cardo na, one of the Co-Presidents of the VU Democrats, as well as Max Sallee and Vincent DiTeodoro, President and Vice President of Fundraising and Recruitment, respectively, of the Villanova Conservative Union (VCU).

All three students were voting in their home states, New York for Cardona, Virginia for Sallee and Connecticut for DiTeodoro. All three are planning to vote completely along party lines, and most would continue to vote along party lines if they were voting in Pennsylvania.

“In past years, I would have considered [voting for Republicans] but at this point, I would not,” Cardo na said. “Just based on the candidates, because I like to look at candidates rather than just party alone.”

DiTeodoro is voting for all Re publican candidates in Connecticut, but if he was voting in Pennsylvania, he explained that he would not vote for Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for Governor.

“He’s a nut job,” DiTeodoro, a self-proclaimed “New England Re publican,” said. “I’ve seen him speak. He’s crazy.”

Yet, DiTeodoro could not bring himself to vote for the other candidate for Governor, Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro, simply due to party loyalty.

“I’m not voting for Shapiro no matter what,” he said. “I would just do Oz… I would leave [the gov ernor vote] blank.”

Sallee said he wasn’t a huge fan of Mastriano either but would still vote for him, even though it seems like a losing battle.

“I’m fairly certain he’s not going to win,” Sallee said. “You gotta, like, pad the number a little bit.”

Besides their thoughts on Mastriano’s chances, both Sallee and DiTeodoro predict a “red wave” with the midterms on a national level, and in PA they were confident that Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican can didate for senate, would defeat John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate.

“I watched that debate,” DiTeodoro said, referencing Fetter man’s rocky debate against Dr. Oz. “There’s no way that man is win ning.”

Cardona was not as enthusi astically confident as the members of the VCU, but she had not given up hope.

“I would say, we (the VU Dems) are cautiously optimistic,” she said. “We obviously ourselves are concerned…about Fetterman’s health going into the election, but we came to the consensus that it’s not about how you say things, it’s what you’re saying.”

The issues that mattered most to these students again fell along party lines. Cardona was most concerned about abortion and reproductive rights, especially after the fall of Roe v Wade, and both members of VCU believe the issue of abor tion should be left up to the states.

“If you nationalize it, no matter what, somebody’s going to be unhappy,” Sallee said. “But, if you leave it up to the states, at least the state majority will be happy.”

Sallee and DiTeodoro recognized that abortion may affect the vote somewhat, but they believed economy and crime were the most important issues and would swing the vote to the right.

“I mean, abortion is a big issue, but I don’t think it’s bigger than the economy,” DiTeodoro said. “People notice that. They vote with their pocketbooks.”

Cardona explained that she recognized the importance of the economy, but she believed in the Democratic candidates and their policies to help the economy.

“The economy in the entire world seems to be bad right now,” she said, explaining that people seem to blame Democratic President Joe Biden for this even though it’s a worldwide problem.

“It’s obviously a complex prob lem…I would trust Democratic candidates on issues like this. I’m a big supporter of Fetterman for that reason.”

Although the students differed on their view of Villanova student’s politics, with the mem bers of the VCU saying the school was more liberal in the social sense and the President of the VU Dems saying the school was “conserva tive leaning,” they all agreed it’s easy to be friends with people who don’t share your beliefs.

“I have a lot of guys that I hang out with that are Demo crats,” Sallee said. “I think right now, the problem is that there are people who let it affect their rela tionships and that’s why the po litical climate is so bad. There’s a lot more you can have in common with other people.”

“I think we all find a lot of common ground when we go past our initial preconceptions,” Car dona said.

VU Dems and Villanova Conservative Union are student political organizations on cmapus. Courtesy of Clipart Library

OPINION

Advice for Mid-Semester Slump

Isabella Ledet Staff Writer

Especially during this gloomy time of year, it is easy to feel like one is not the protagonist they seek to be in their own story. In the words of Taylor Swift, “it must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero.”

Swift is right. It is exhaust ing to root for oneself. Especially when the pressures of the semes ter are at a high, students are not feeling confident or energetic, and daylight is slipping away more and more with each passing day. It can feel like everything is crashing down with even the slightest incon venience.

We as humans often set goals for ourselves. Maybe our goal is to get a certain grade or try a new food at the dining hall. These kinds of goals are good because they only rely on ourselves, not other people, to be achieved. We all know how wonderful it feels to set a goal and achieve it. We also know what it feels like when we set a goal and do not achieve it. It is very important to set goals that are achievable by ourselves and our selves alone. Relying on others to make ourselves happy almost never works out. It turns out, the old cliche is true: “the only person you can control is yourself.”

I was talking on the phone with my uncle this past weekend, and he told me a quote that he had heard a while back. It really reso nated with me.

“People come into your life

for a reason, a season or a life time.”

I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. This has gotten me through a lot of tough times in my life. When something bad happens, no mat ter the scale, I try to take a step back and think that I will better understand the situation at some point in the future. Something that may seem terrible now could be a saving grace in the future. Several things of this nature have already happened to me, and while I was discouraged in the moment, I am now very grateful that certain

things happened the way that they did. It is very difficult in the mo ment to notice this, though. It can feel confusing and hopeless. But the one thing that never stops to care is time. Time keeps going, and with it comes change.

Life has its seasons. Some seasons are wonderful: everything feels right, and it feels like they should never end. Other seasons are terrible: they drag by, leav ing feelings of loneliness, sadness or stress. But everything always changes. The seasons can be long or short too, which makes them even less predictable. I sometimes

think of it like a rollercoaster. Life is up, and then it is down, and then it is up again. Sometimes, the ups last for years; sometimes, they are shorter. But with every down, there is an up, even if it takes a while to get there.

Finally, I want to mention the last part of the quote, “life time.” Finding people that will be there for a lifetime is difficult and rare. College students generally range in age from 17 to 22. Young people change a lot. The people one has met will go through many changes throughout their four years of college, not to mention the changes to oneself. I have already changed a lot since being at col lege, and I am only a sophomore. It is okay to let people change, and it is okay to let oneself change too. I strongly urge people not to as sume that other people will stay the same; not only is that unrealistic, but it could lead to disappointment. Change is a wonderful thing. It is even more wonderful to welcome it.

This is a tough time of year, both academically and socially. It is normal to struggle. While walking through Mendel Hall the other day, thinking of my struggles, I overheard some people talking about how stressed, drained and lonely they felt. It was refreshing to hear that other people were feel ing the same way that I was. My purpose in writing this article is just that: to let readers know that they are not alone if they are feeling overwhelmed. Trust that better times are just around the corner, even if that feels impossible at the moment.

LGBTQ Rights in Armenia: Students Weigh In

Taleen Postian Staff Writer

“Happy End...together.”

These were the last words of two young men who committed suicide on the evening of Oct. 20. These words were posted to Instagram along with multiple photos of the couple, happy and intimate moments they chose to share alongside their joint suicide note.

This was not the end of this couple’s suffering, with most imme diate online responses to their photos and message being hateful respons es, not lamenting the loss of life but encouraging it in others who are also gay and happy.

This is just the latest and most public incident of homophobia and its tragic consequences that occur within Armenia, a small country bordering Iran and Turkey in the Middle East. As PinkArmenia states, “This trag ic incident proves once again that LGBT people in Armenia are not safe and not protected by society or the state.”

We also consulted VU Pride on this issue, hoping that the campus LGBTQ rights organization could provide answers to questions related to this recent tragedy. Our first dealt with how online vitriol has affected

the general progress of LGBTQ rights.

“Online discourse has served both as a catalyst for change and as a barrier,” Eric White, VU Pride Secre tary said. “On one hand, it’s allowed people to more explicitly and publi cally voice bigoted and homophobic views, and spread misinformation on the topic. On the other hand, it’s also allowed people to become more aware of legislation and movements that they can join or participate in, in order to help LGBTQ+ rights progress. It’s allowed people to share their stories, and has changed many people’s minds and put pressure on legislators to make changes.”

Hearing that there are pos itive aspects to online discourse surrounding this issue is a great way to move foreward from this event.

Homosexuality was only decriminalized in 2003, but Armenia still ranks 47th out of 49 countries in Europe and Central Asia on LGBTQ rights, according to ILGA-Europe. This fact caused me to ask Eric how he has seen rights progress in similarly conservative countries historically.

“There’s absolutely still a lot of work to be done in many conserva tive nations, but even though progress is slow, it’s always happening,” White said. “Just a month or so ago, gay marriage and adoption were legalized

in Cuba, and two weeks ago, the last Mexican state legalized gay marriage, as well. It’s sad these things have to come so late, but progress is still being done as more and more nations come around on this topic.”

Seeing progress made around the world made me hopeful for the future of Armenia.

As the Vice President of the Armenian Students Organization (ASO) here at Villanova, this recent tragic event and the ongoing issue of life-threatening homophobia present in Armenia are extremely concerning to me. The executive board mem bers of ASO recognize the extreme levels of homophobia that are present in our motherland, and we want to most effectively and respectfully draw attention to this issue via this most recent piece of news.

Secretary of the Armenian Students Organization Isabella Balian stressed that the fight against homophobia anywhere begins at the local level.

“Villanova prides itself on em bracing inclusion on campus, but how can we as students actually embrace diversity and ensure the mission of inclusion?” Bailan said. “The recent tragedy should not go unnoticed, and we as Villanova students must take initiative in pursuing our mission to create a more inclusive and accepting

atmosphere on and off campus.”

There is hope. For LGBTQ Armenian Villanovans affected by this news, VU Pride supplied the Office of Intercultural Affairs and its LGBTQ+ therapy group as re sources, explaining that they “offer emotional support for students who are searching for a safe space to discuss experiences of oppression and discrimination against their gender identity or sexuality.”

And there is hope in Arme nia. Hope that is in the organizations in Armenia are committed to im proving public opinion and response to LGBTQ people as well as com batting the rampant homophobia and transphobia in the country. For example, PinkArmenia is a lead ing LGBTQ rights organization in Armenia. They had a message in response to this latest horrific event: “Pink continues to provide profes sional (psychological, social, and legal) support to LGBT people, their parents, and supporters. If you feel that you or your loved ones need support, our specialists and consul tants are available anytime. And remember, you are not alone.”

PinkArmenia serves as a great resource to visit for information and donations, if one is interested in learning more about LGBT rights in Armenia and ways to contribute.

The Health Center is a great resource for students struggling with mental health. Courtesy of Villanova University

EDITORIAL BOARD

COLIN BEAZLEY

VIVI MELKONIAN TINA ARON

AJ FEZZA

Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Associate Editor-in-Chief Opinion Editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

The Villanovan encourages all members of the Villanova community to voice their opinions. Let ters to the editors may be submitted via e-mail to villanovan.eic@gmail.com. Letters must not exceed 500 words and must be signed. No anony mous letters will be published. All submissions be come property of The Villanovan and are subject to editing for clarity and space.

POLICY

The unsigned editorial that appears is the opinion of The Villanovan as determined by the majority of the Editorial Board. Other columns, letters and artwork represent the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Villanovan.

The Performing Arts Needs More Space on Campus

Hansen Staff Writer

Making up roughly 10 per cent of the University’s population, students in the performing arts are passionate, creative and dedicated people. However, there is a severe lack of performing and practice space available on campus.

On any given day, be it a weekday or weekend, one might find themself walking along the St. Mary’s corridor, trying to find a place to study and hear music spill ing out into the halls. Such music is not the result of rowdy students jamming to their favorite tunes but rather performing arts groups sweating and toiling to prepare for their next performance.

Groups such as dance, a cappella, theater, orchestra and band all battle over space in St. Mary’s to practice and perfect their craft, often leaving them frustrated.

Sophomore Liz Bojdak is a member of The Superlative, the University’s hip hop, all-styles, multicultural dance crew that performs at events like on-campus shows, invitational award ceremo nies and basketball games. Bojdak gave her personal account of The Superlative’s struggles to compete for practice space on campus.

“It’s frustrating when we are moved to rooms in St. Mary that are not the dance studio and made to make the most of what is there,” Bojdak said. “It’s a lot of time and energy wastefully spent while we wish we could be practic ing in another space that’s designed for dance specifically.”

Other performing groups shared the sentiment that the spac es allocated in St. Mary’s corridors aren’t the perfect place to practice.

“Personally, while the a cappella rooms aren’t ideal, I enjoy them,” said sophomore Devis Strefling, a member of a cappella’s all-men group, Vocal Minority.

“Sometimes, it gets very hot as the AC isn’t working properly and the door to our room, in par ticular, is in need of fixing,” Stre fling said. “But other than those problems, I can get over it.”

The renovation of class rooms in St. Mary’s to be multi-functioning is actually an initiative of Student Life to expand the number of rooms available for rehearsal spaces in recent years. Classrooms by day and practice spaces at night, when most stu dents are available to rehearse, these spaces are filled with pianos, curtains drawn to cover mirrors, movable chairs and wooden floors instead of tiled ones.

Kathleen J. Byrnes, Vice President of Student Life on cam

pus, talked about the initiatives the University has embarked upon to increase practice space.

“Even though it’s incre mental over time, we have been growing the physical spaces that are available,” Byrnes said. “The last two or three summers when the facilities folks have been ren ovating classrooms in St. Mary’s, they try to make sure that they stay multi-purpose. We know how important the arts are to so many of our students. As new needs and interests arise, we do try to meet the students where they are.”

The John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts was one of these answers to the growth of the performing arts division of the University, dating back to the 1970s when the support and par ticipation of the arts grew so large that it became its own section of Student Life.

Byrnes spoke on the im provements of campus facilities in the past.

“Things have gotten better in the last few years than they used to be,” Byrnes said. “The Mullen Center itself was a 60 million dollar building.”

Many performing arts groups have personal experiences with the beautifully constructed Mullen Center, and all students have been in the Mullen Center, if not for performing or practicing in the studios and stages, then for sitting in one of the auditorium seats for orientation’s diversity skit or viewing one of the University’s many performances.

However, with more than 600 students participating in performing arts groups, reserving

spaces within the building proves difficult, and some groups report frustrations that result from unnec essarily complex systems in place within Mullen.

“I only went to the Mullen Center my first semester here,” Strefling said. “It was a very nice room, but the problem was that it wouldn’t open up until exactly the start time of rehearsal. We would all just be waiting in the hallway. That was the only problem, but it was enough to not book times for this semester.”

Some performing groups experience more than wasted time that could be spent warming up be fore practice. Some groups confess to having difficulties booking space within the Center.

“I love being a part of such an impactful performing arts group and am grateful for the magnificent Mullen Center Studio,” Bojdak said. “Yet, I can’t help but state that the entire studio-and-spacebooking experience is extremely frustrating.”

While Bojdak is elated when able to dance in this studio, she reported that plays and theater performance groups are normally given priority over the space. In the limited amount of times The Superlative is granted use of the studio, it must go through a multistep verification process to reserve the space.

Yet, hope may be on the way for all performing arts groups struggling to find practice space.

“I think there’s talk,” By rnes reported. “Although I haven’t seen any definite plans, but could the St. Mary’s chapel be converted to some kind of super cool rehears

al and performance space?”

Renovations like these ar en’t something new to older univer sities.

“A lot of campuses have done something like that with an older chapel that’s not really in use as a chapel, and so I feel like that always comes up in the discussion of: could we do this?” Byrnes said. “What would it cost? What would that look like? And I think there is some interest in that, in all hones ty.”

This exciting change has yet to have solid plans be put in place and may not happen for several years. However, Byrnes encourages students to bring their frustrations to Student Life so that it may chip away at them.

“I’ve known so many students over the years that have really found their passion at Villa nova through the performing arts, and there’s a lot of good that our students do,” Byrnes said. “I mean, their commitment is unbelievable, the performances they give and the number of places they perform is amazing. And so I hope if they have needs, they bring them to us. Because we will try our best to meet those needs/chip away at meeting them.”

Despite space challenges, the performing arts on campus have been exponentially expand ing over the previous years and are only growing. Students dance in empty classrooms in the middle of the night, sing a cappella next to pianos and moved desks alike and overall continue to create no matter what space they are given because passion persists beyond frustrations.

Olivia

The Performing Arts Center, which opened in 2020, was intended to offer practice spaces for performing arts groups on campus. Courtesy of Villanova Theatre

“Nova Up Close” Falls Short

James Staff Writer

Villanova is not a university that pretends to not see the elephant in the room: the racial demograph ics that comprise the student body. Not only is the lack of racial diversi ty acknowledged, but concrete steps are taken to address the issue. Nova Up Close is one such admissions initiative, launched just this year, aimed at increasing diversity at Vil lanova.

The program took place on Oct. 21-22 and offered students of “minoritized racial and ethnic identities to immerse themselves in our community for a two-day on-campus event,” as written on Villanova’s website. The University paid for students from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and D.C. to participate in Nova Up Close. These high schoolers were then paired with Villanova students who would be their chaperones for those two days. Unfortunately, many Villanova students reported feeling frustrated with the Universi ty’s execution of the program.

“Very unorganized” is how one freshman, a POSSE Scholar, described the experience for them. “They reached out to me the night

before at 10pm, asking me to host a high schooler.”

willing to bring a student regardless of the short notice, they stated that at least a week’s notice would have been helpful in arranging accommo dations and planning out the day.

In fact, Admissions reached out to Blue Key members asking for volunteers to host. Although there

Villanovans at the last minute (such as the POSSE Scholars) asking them to host.

This was not the only com munication error that was made.

Many of the students had to sleep on the floor of their host’s dorm room without proper sleeping gear, as they were not instructed to bring sleeping bags (one student reported not even bringing a pillow).

With all this said, it is im portant to remember that hiccups occurring the first time a program of this ambition is launched are understandable. However, these are some constructive criticisms for the University to take into account as they plan future events like this one.

Nova Up Close is an ad mirable initiative. As a student of color myself, it was stunning to see so many people of color on campus. I was not the only one, as many students of color reported the same feeling of shock at seeing so many people of color at the same time on Villanova’s campus. The fact that the University paid for students of minority groups to come and be a Villanovan for a couple days (circumventing any barriers socio economic status would present) is remarkable.

Diversity is one of the three pillars of Villanova’s DEI goals. Nova Up Close is a program that, with better planning, can become a fantastic way to foster new perspec tives and help Villanovans of color feel more comfortable on campus.

University Should Reform Financial Aid

Andrew Gins Staff Writer

arrival of fall signifies cooler weather, changing leaves and, to the dread of many college students, the opening of the FAFSA. Students peruse through their family tax filings and their own to update their finan cial eligibility for their school’s aid office, lest they risk paying full tuition in the upcoming academic year. At most American universities, financial aid works like this: Students file the FAFSA and usually fill out the CSS profile as well. After filling out these forms, they receive an EFC (Expect ed Family Contribution) or what they can expect to pay out of pocket throughout the year. When a student receives a financial aid package, the university calculates how much the student owes using their own unique formulas. Usually, there is an insti tutional grant that is offered, along with federal loans and work-study opportunities during the semester. The latter two forms of aid are often minute when considering the exorbi tant cost of college tuition. Whatever amount remains then is to be paid out of pocket by the student’s family or themselves.

According To Villanova’s Common Data Set, annual tuition is around $60,000, with the total cost of attendance reaching close to $80,000 after factoring in room, board and other ancillary expenses. Consider ing the median household income in the United States is roughly around $70,000, a robust, fair and accessi ble financial aid system is necessary to ensure the privilege of attending elite universities such as Villanova does not remain a privilege afforded solely to affluent students. Attending college would clearly not be possible without the assistance of financial aid

for many Villanova students. Villa nova’s Common Data Set shows that approximately 3,100 out of roughly 6,800 undergraduates received aid for the 2021-22 academic year. Despite the current system’s inten tion to help increase accessibility to higher education, financial aid often falls short. Students who need it may not qualify, or they may not receive enough of it. Out of 1,800 full-time freshmen enrolled at Villanova, roughly 1,200 applied for financial aid, and 875 received some form of it. These statistics indicate that roughly 30% of Villanova freshmen who applied for aid did not receive any. Furthermore, the percentage of need that was met for students was only 79% for all undergraduates. As a prestigious institution that holds itself to Catholic and Augustinian val ues, Villanova should commit itself to meet 100% of demonstrated aid for students requiring financial assistance to attend.

The current system also creates barriers to accessing high er education that often precludes low-income students and social class es who lack the social capital to take advantage of financial aid measures. For first-generation immigrants and other socioeconomically disadvan taged groups, filling out the FAFSA is a daunting task; the language of fi nancial aid is ambiguous and confus ing to many of those who encounter it for the first time. In my case, I filled out the FAFSA and the CSS Profile with little external assistance, creat ing additional stress around college application season. Contrast this with most of my peers in high school who simply got their parents to fill it out for them. This is just one example of an unintentional systemic barrier that disproportionately puts first-genera tion, POC and low-income students at a disadvantage. It should come as

no surprise that Villanova’s lack of diversity is a byproduct of poor finan cial aid. Race correlates heavily with wealth in America, and these dispari ties are starkly reflected in the micro cosm of Villanova’s overwhelmingly white and wealthy student body.

In high school, I saw many of my peers forgo the opportunity of attending their dream school because the school’s algorithm thought it was reasonable to force a middle-class family to cough up tens of thousands in excess of what a family could reasonably afford. The psychological impact of receiving insufficient aid should not be ignored. High school ers burden themselves with numerous AP classes, after-school clubs and hundreds of volunteer hours. They put blood, sweat and tears into their college essays only to witness their endeavors culminate in waste after learning the university they worked all of high school to get into will not give them the aid they need to attend.

At the very least, colleges should offer students a more accurate idea of their potential aid package if they were to be admitted. Colleges already try to do this through online net price calculators. Students can input their financial information to get a rough estimate of what they would owe. Still, this estimate is not guaranteed to be even close to what a student will wind up paying. Many faults also lie within the structure of FAFSA and the CSS Profile. These forms require estimates of assets on everything from parental retirement accounts to home value. Such a demand is absurd when considering these assets are not liquid. This con tributes to the lack of transparency in financial aid algorithms, making it difficult to gauge how different ques tions will affect your overall financial contribution. Students also concur that the process is far too convoluted

and opaque.

“I think financial aid needs to be more transparent,” senior Hunter Dickson said. “I’d like to more clearly understand why schools give the grants they do.”

A University represented commented on financial aid.

“Villanova has, over the last decade, made efforts to increasingly meet student financial need,” the representative said. “The University continues to allocate additional bud get funds for financial aid in excess of the rate of the tuition increase ($3 million for FY23) and remains focused on bolstering student scholar ships through fundraising.”

The University has also made meeting 100% of an undergraduate student’s demonstrated financial need a major goal of Villanova’s strategic plan as well as a central component of the next comprehensive capital campaign. We are currently collect ing data and conducting research to inform exactly how we will get there. It is a top priority for Villanova.” This is a necessary first step for Villanova to commit to. At a broader level, the College Board and the Department of Education should examine how the FAFSA and CSS may be harming disadvantaged groups and reform their applications to foster accessibility and inclusivity within higher education. Applica tions should simplify their language, reduce the number of questions asked and place far less emphasis on assets and other non-liquid forms of wealth held by families. By working toward these ends, colleges across America would help engender the diversity, equity and inclusion they have been lacking for too long on their cam puses and relieve a major obstacle of accessing higher education for mil lions of low-income and middle-class families.

Majo

Many high school students came to campus for the first-ever Nova Up Close. Courtesy of Avani Miller

CULTURE

Villanova Hosts 34th Annual Special Olympics

Elena Rouse Co-Culture Editor

Cont. from pg. 1 this year’s Festival Director.

There are other levels of vol unteering as well, like Inclusion Crew, Local Program Hosts (LPH), Volunteer Coordinators and general volunteers. Isaac Lewis, a senior and Volunteer Coordinator, explained his role this weekend.

“I was a Volunteer Coordi nator for the volleyball competition,” Lewis said. “I organized where other volunteers were on the court or in the stands. I also organized and ran the scoring and made sure every job was filled for each game. My group also ran postgame interviews for the athletes. I was a Volunteer Coordinator for vol leyball last year, so I got to see a lot of

old friends competing this year, which was so cool to recognize and catch up with them. The energy at Jake Nev in for the volleyball competition was very high and the sound reverberated around the building. It was really spe cial to see the athletes’ reactions to the hype.”

The weekend opened with some competitions on Friday after noon, but it officially began Friday evening in the Finneran Pavilion for Opening Ceremonies.

For the Opening, Villanova Community members gathered in the Pavilion’s seats to welcome in the many counties participating in the weekend. Holding banners and high fiving the Villanova Division I Athletic teams that lined the basketball court, the ath letes showed up ready for the festivities. The night, featuring messages from community heads like Fr. Rob Hagan, and emceed by Villanova and NBC’s

own Keith Jones and Dan Morales, was full of good sportsmanship and zeal.

To top it off, Unified Sports, a national component of Special Olym pics in which individuals with and without intellectual disabilities play on the same teams, had members from its Villanova chapter compete in a relay race. Each mini event represented the events for the weekend ahead. At the end of the ceremony, the torch was lit as a symbol for the weekend’s official start.

Once the weekend com menced, it exuded community and competitive athletics. When walking around Special Olympics grounds, one could hear the cheers of volunteers and teammates rooting for athletes lifting hundreds of pounds in The Villanova Room or watch as teams dove for a volleyball on the courts of the Jake Nevin Field House. Walking through campus’ Quad, one would find themself in the middle of Olym pic Town (nicknamed “O-Town”), Special Olympics’ center point where Villanova clubs and organizations host tables full of different games and activ ities for athletes.

Keely Likosky, a senior at Vil lanova, shared her role in the creation of O-Town, as well as her Special Olympics experiences throughout her time at the University.

“This year I was part of the Entertainment committee, where we worked to plan and organize Olympics Town, ‘O-Town’, and the Victory Jam boree,” Likosky said. “This weekend, I felt grateful to be on a committee with a very tangible impact. I watched athletes and volunteers dance as they celebrated and laugh as they learned to twirl with the twirling team. I saw athletes pose for pictures under the

banner we had made weeks before, smiling with hands raised. I read the scrapbooks they made at the Jamboree, complete with Polaroids taken with new friends. My last year on commit tee at Fall Fest was spent soaking in the feelings around me, and I couldn’t be more grateful to the athletes, my fellow committee members, and everyone on campus this weekend.”

Each year, Villanova’ Special Olympics Committee creates a theme that emphasizes the values of Special Olympics. This year’s theme, “When rooted together, we grow even better,” echoed everywhere, influenced the decorations and reminded everyone about the inclusive, community fo cused belief in which Special Olympics is rooted.

The Special Olympics Com mittee website explained the reasoning for this year’s theme.

“This year’s theme highlights the value of connection and together ness in fostering growth,” The Website stressed. “Recognizing that growth takes place in collaborative spaces and is not only an individual process. This Fall Fest, we want to celebrate any and all growth that takes place, whether that be on campus, or long after the weekend is over. Growth is not a finite process, nor does it look the same for everybody.”

With every medal received, high five given, dance spontaneously busted out or heart connected with an other, Villanova’s 34th Special Olym pics was not only the largest student run event of its kind in the world, but the largest reminder to root for one another. All together, Special Olym pics left the University even better and exemplified the sheer tenacity of the Villanova students who worked tireless ly to put the event on.

Volunteers of Villanova: ICs and VCs take on SpO

Emma Cahill Staff Writer

This past weekend, Special Olympics of Pennsylvania’s Annual Fall Festival took place at Villanova. This event was very exciting and was a great opportunity to volunteer and see all of the athletes compete. Fall Fest at Villanova is the largest annual student-run Special Olympics event in the world, so there are many students who are involved with this event.

One way students participat ed in the Fall Festival run is through joining an “Ice Cube” group. Newly introduced for last Fall Fest, the Ice Cubes are a great way for students to sign up to volunteer for different events. Junior Carlie Pollice described what an Ice Cube is and what stu dents did as a part of these groups.

“Ice Cubes are specialized groups of student volunteers from all grade levels,” Pollice said. “Students can sign up for a cube group based on the times they are offered and the specializations they focus on for the weekend of (awards, a specific sport, ceremonies, media and publicity, etc.). Ice Cubes are a great way to get involved in the weekend of Fall Fest in a big way. There are four meetings bi-weekly leading up to the weekend of Fall Fest that prepare the cube members for their responsibilities

during the weekend.”

In order to keep track of all of these different Ice Cubes, other students took on roles as Volunteer Coordinators (VC), who worked with their Ice Cubes both before and during Special Olympics (SpO) as a leader. VCs also directly worked with the Special Olympics Committee members depending on their spe cialization. Pollice was a VC, and she explained how they work in the grand scheme of SpO.

“VCs are allocated to specific committee specializations and run their specific IC Cube that relates to whatever specialization they are a part of VCs host the bi-weekly meetings for their cubes, making sure informa tion is passed along from the overar ching committee as well as making sure everyone is on the same page for the weekend with their specific sched ule,” Pollice said.

Additionally, a big part of being a VC was to spread the word of inclusion to Ice Cubes, as well as to the Villanova community as a whole. By spreading inclusion, VCs embodied the spirit of Special Olym pics. Pollice discussed what inclusion means to her and the role it plays in her work as a VC.

“To me, inclusion means celebrating what makes everyone unique,” Pollice said. “Everyone has a

story to share and different perspec tives to bring to the table that deserve to be heard. Through being a VC, I hope I have amplified this message to my IC Cube members and inspired them to carry the mission of inclusion with them every day, not just during Fall Fest.”

Together, the VCs and Ice Cubes worked together to focus on one area within Fall Fest. Whether it is soccer, flag football or bocce, or even events like dining or awards ceremonies, the groups and their

VCs worked hard to ensure SpO runs smoothly.

“I am so excited to work with the Awards committee this Fall Fest to make the ceremonies as special as possible for the athletes,” Pollice said. “We will be coordinating and running all the awards ceremonies for each sport.”

Among these VCs and their groups, excitement was high. After preparing for Fall Fest, students were ready for SpO to happen and to see all of the joy that it brought.

LPH’s cheer on athletes at Fall Festival this past weekend. Olivia Pasquale/Villanovan Photography

Carlie Pollice, left, with fellow VCs Jack Woodin, middle and Sarah Whynott, right. Courtesy of Carlie Pollice

Villanova Band Weekly T-Shirt Sales

Brendan King Staff Writer

The Villanova Band mainly plays at football games, basketball games and concerts, but its mem bers can be seen swapping their instruments for t-shirts at the end of every week.

The Villanova Band holds t-shirt (also known as “V-Shirt”) sales every Friday afternoon at the Oreo from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. The shirts come in a wide variety of colors and are sold as short-sleeved, long-sleeved and tank tops. Each shirt features the Villanova “V” on the front and the lyrics to “V For Villanova” on the back.

Both short-sleeved shirts and tanks sell for $10, and long-sleeved shirts sell for $12. Also available are Villanova Band sunglasses for five dollars, stickers for one dollar and coffee tumblers for $20. Customers can pay with their choice of cash, Wildcard or Venmo.

Junior band member Brian McFarland serves as the band’s Vice President of Fundraising. He is the main organizer and point of contact for the shirt sales and any other type of fundraising for the band. Ac cording to McFarland, the biggest sale of the year usually takes place during the first Friday of the school year.

“The biggest sale is almost always the first Friday of the year,” McFarland said. “You get a lot of freshmen who don’t have a lot of merch, so they see a good, cheap option and they want to pick up stuff.”

Other sales that generate a

large income for the band include Family Weekend and Homecoming.

Setting up a sale each Friday re quires a great deal of preparation and organization. Many steps are taken to ensure that each sale is a success.

“Early in the week, we have to reserve a Wildcard reader and a table,” McFarland said. “The table also saves us a location, usually in the warmer weather by the Oreo, and in the colder weather, we’ll be in the Connelly Center.”

McFarland does not orga nize all of these sales on his own. Also important in the sale process are the Assistants to the VP of Fundraising. This group consists of five Villanova Band members who help McFarland by fulfilling tasks such as organizing work schedules for the sales, transporting merchan dise to and from sales and more.

Sophomore Mark Faverzani is one of McFarland’s assistants.

“We do mostly a lot of in ventory and folding shirts and things like that, just making sure it’s all

ready for Fridays so he [McFarland] can be ready for the sale and we can make the band some money,” Faverzani said.

Aside from individual sales, the assistants also help McFarland by influencing some decisions made regarding ideas for new products and shirt designs. For example, one new shirt designed at the beginning

freshmen members of the band. Each freshman is required to work for 30 minutes during each sale, with their schedules generated by McFarland’s team. Freshman Char lie Zaybekian described how the freshmen are involved in the selling process.

“The freshmen are kind of doing most of the work during the sale,” Zaybekian said. “A lot of the upperclassmen are managing all of the money and the shirts, but when it comes to the sale, the freshmen’s job is to call people over, make the sale, give them the shirts and then they go to the upperclassmen who will then put in what is sold and how much money is made.”

Although required, Zay bekian enjoys working the sales and believes them to be a lot of fun.

“It’s a lot of fun mainly because you’ve got everyone in the band there, so you’re just kind of hanging out with a bunch of people

Ardmore Re-Opens Live Music Venue “The Living Room”

Carriero Staff Writer

On Friday, Nov. 4, “Ardmore Night” celebrated the grand re-open ing and new location of The Living Room, the award-winning, BYOB live music venue reopened in a new, custom-built location in tandem with the new Cricket Cafe.

Laura Mann, a singer-song writer and Ardmore resident, owns both The Living Room and Cricket Cafe. In 2018, Mann opened the original location of The Living Room at 35 East Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore, and it was awarded Phila delphia magazine’s “Best of Philly” award for Best Small Music Venue, and Main Line Today magazine’s “Best of the Main Line and Western Suburbs” award for Unique Live Music Venue.

“Laura started with a place on Lancaster Ave called the Living Room at 35 East,” said Larry Ahearn, a friend of Mann and a performer at The Living Room. “It was a 30-50 seat venue; it was wonderful and lovely. She is a recording artist, and she loves music. And then of course COVID came, and everyone in the music business just stopped one day. No more touring, no more clubs. She had to close. This place – I don’t know how she did it – but she put this place together herself, and it’s just beautiful.”

The re-opening event allowed Main Line locals to get the first look

at the venue’s new location. A 5 p.m. ribbon cutting with local officials was followed by an open house at 5:30 p.m. featuring a live performer, free menu samples, beverages and raffle prizes contributed by local Ardmore businesses.

Senior Ava Lundell, who attended the event on Friday evening, described the venue as having an avant-garde aesthetic and an artistic, elegant style.

“The Living Room is a com munity center where local artists and their supporters can gather to learn from and share each other’s compa ny,” Lundell said. “It’s a really special place.”

The Living Room’s new, permanent home offers comfortable lounge seating for live music, com edy and other performances with a 150-person capacity. The adjoining Cricket Cafe, offers homemade snacks, light meals, desserts and non-alcoholic beverages from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

“The sound is great, the lights are great, the setup is great,” Ahearn said. “[Mann] has comfy couches and a little cafe. It is people friendly and customer friendly. This is a listening room; this is where an artist comes to develop an audience and an audience comes to find an artist at the begin ning stages of their career.”

The Living Room held its first official shows on Saturday, Nov. 5 and Tuesday, Nov. 8. This week, there will be an open mic night hosted by Ahearn (Nov. 9), a jazz night with

Chico Huff and Friends (Nov. 10), a solo performance by Eric Bazilian (Nov. 10) and two nights with legend ary rockers NRBQ (Nov. 11 & 12). In addition to live performances, The Living Room will offer yoga classes on Friday and Saturday mornings.

“I’m very excited about the access to music and art we will have,” Ardmore resident Tracy Hatton said. “I’m excited to have a space where people can come together to be creative. I think this will attract more local, up and coming artists, but also some well-established artists as well. Anything can happen here, and I like that.”

Both the Living Room and Cricket Cafe are conveniently located at 104 Cricket Avenue in Ardmore, just 10 minutes from Villanova’s cam pus.

“You get on the train at Villa nova, you get off the train at Ardmore and walk 200-300 yards and you’re here,” Ahearn said.

All show schedules and ticket information for The Living Room and menus for Cricket Cafe can be found at livingroomardmore.com. On Facebook, visit www.facebook.com/livingroomard more, and on Instagram, visit www. instagram.com/livingroomardmore.

The Villanova Band not only grooves on the field, but participates in savvy t-shirt sales. Courtesy of Villanova University

Molly

The main entrance of The Living Room welcomed patrons. Courtesy of Molly Carriero

Jake Scott’s “Lavender Tour” Hits Philadelphia

Tallulah Laska Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA — Pop sing er-songwriter Jake Scott brought his “Lavender Tour” to the Brook lyn Bowl in Philadelphia on Thurs day, Nov. 3. The Brooklyn Bowl is a bowling alley by day, music venue by night. Opening for the show was Brynn Cartelli, winner of season 14 of “The Voice” and the young est person in the show’s history to win, and Rosie, up-and-coming singer songwriter who went viral on TikTok.

The show began with Car telli singing her hit songs, including “Girl Code” and “Gemini.” Car telli also covered “The One That Got Away” by Katy Perry. Cartelli kept the audience engaged, making jokes about the makeup smeared on her face after her performance.

“You guys are the last bit of the secret,” Cartelli said as she announced she would be singing “Convertible in the Rain,” which was being released at midnight following the show.

“Convertible in the Rain” is about a drive that Cartelli was on a few years ago when she was in a Jeep Wrangler with the top down. It started downpouring, and she was with someone she loved. It is a reflection of life and encompasses the feeling of happiness on a dark day. It was an audience favorite, even though the song had yet to be released.

Following Cartelli was Rosie, singer-songwriter who went viral on TikTok in September of

2020 for her hit song, “Never the 1.” Rosie aims to bring awareness to mental health issues through her music and performances.

She did a great job bringing the audience into the performance by having them harmonize as she sang “Next Life.” Rosie had her brother playing the keyboard and her good friend on the drums. Rosie also covered “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.

At around 9 p.m., Scott ran on stage while singing “CWJBHN,” one of the more popular songs off of his album, “TWENTYTWEN TY.” Scott lit up the stage, not only with his name in bright white lights but also with his energy. There was no lack of dance moves and jump ing from Scott and the audience. Scott’s passion for singing and performing was radiant.

“You showed up tonight, and you’re here with us, and I promise you I’m about to give you every single ounce of energy I have,” Scott said.

Scott’s smile was conta gious. Even when it seemed he could not be happier, his smile grew bigger. He mentioned his wife, who is from Dallas, as an in troduction to his song “Texas Girl” and once again, his smile spread wider.

“Texas Girl” was clearly a fan favorite; the energy in the crowd was unmatched. The audi ence was screaming every word as Scott bounced around. The stage was illuminated with red and blue strobe lighting which moved to the beat of the songs.

a slower song, he told the story of how he met his wife. He softly played the piano as he wooed the audience with his words. A cho rus of “aws” could be heard after almost every sentence.

“When I met her, she was very much not into me at all, and I was totally obsessed with her,” Scott explained. “We had this thing, we had this magical chemis try that everybody could feel…and then it became this thing, where we have such a good thing going. I don’t want to mess it up by say ing something, and this song is all about that.”

The song is called “Maybe,” and it highlights his struggle to pro fess his love for his then-best friend. The audience sang their hearts out, clearly relating to the song.

Scott rounded out the show with some love for Philadelphia. Since the Phillies were playing game five of the World Series during the show, Scott frequently checked in with the audience about the score.

“I made a promise, we’re going to be checking in,” Scott said as the Phillies game began. “I’m with you.”

Scott’s “Lavender Tour” is wrapping up its leg around the United States, with shows in Bos ton, New York City and Los Ange les to finish it out. The tour ends on Nov. 20. As fans soak up the last few weeks of Scott’s tour, the excitement for what’s to come will only grow. For now, fans can enjoy Scott’s latest release, “Good Day,” on all streaming platforms.

Hunger Homelessness Awareness Week On Campus

Cardinale Staff Writer

Started in 1975 by Father Ray Jackson and a group of Villa nova students, Hunger and Home lessness Awareness Week is now at more than 700 campuses and communities nationwide.

The organization operates on the pillars of education, advoca cy and service as it works towards its goal of zero people affected by hunger and homelessness. The week officially begins on Nov. 13. Howev er, the week before kicks off HHAW with events like classroom presenta tions on hunger and homelessness, a meal-plan donation drive and an HHAW at CAT Quizzo.

Hunger Homelessness and Awareness Week will be jam-packed with amazing events and opportu nities to get educated, to participate in advocacy, as well as service. For example, Nov. 17 is Fast Day.

Fast Day is detailed on HHAW’s website.

“For every banner ID we collect, Villanova Dining Services will allocate the donated meal to a food insecure Villanova student in a student-to-student meal donation program called the Wildcat Meal Share,” the website states. “Your meal donation will be taken during the lunch period (10:30 a.m. - 4:10 p.m.). You will not be able to swipe into a dining hall or use an MPE during that time (Points and guest

meals will still be active). In lieu of a lunch meal, there will be granola bars and apples at swipe desks in all 3 dining halls (Donahue, Dougherty, and St. Mary’s).”

Cathy Nguyen is Senior Head Chair of HHAW. She is a senior Theology and Peace and Justice major who has been involved with the organization on campus for three and a half years. Nguyen highlighted some of the week’s most anticipated events.

“Our keynote event is on Wednesday, Nov. 16, and our speaker is Rev. Herber Brown, III from the Black Church Food Secu rity Network,” she said. “I’m really excited about the speaker because he will highlight the amazing work

communities of color. This will shed systems and highlight the racial food gaps that we have been seeing espe cially since the pandemic.”

Another well-known and popular event is the HHAW Sol idarity Sleepout. Nguyen broke down the event.

“The sleepout is an event we haven’t had since 2018,” she said. “It was always a campus favorite, and we are partnering with Cove nant House to help fund the work they do in supporting homeless youth. We will have a speaker come before hand, campus minister Brad McCabe, and we also hold a vig il. People are invited to sleep out

that night at the Oreo as an act of solidarity. Both events are ACS approved.”

Will Stehl is the advisor for the on-campus organization. A Villanova alum, he is the Associate Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Formation at the Center for Peace and Justice Educa tion. Stehl spoke about the Faculty Research Panel on Nov. 15.

“It may surprise people how interesting, informative, and engaging it is,” Stehl said. “We [HHAW] have three of our own faculty members that talk about their specialties in terms of hunger and homelessness issues. The faculty members are from all over: nursing, counseling, education, psychology etc., and usually have fieldwork they have done in order to reveal deeper layers of what has been going on.”

This year, the members of the research panel are Dr. Stacey Havlik, Dr. Brianna Remster and Dr. Janette Herbers.

“It can be heart wrenching to hear how children are suffering from these issues,” Stehl said. “It is a great way to see our faculty using their expertise to help promote the common good through awareness and research by looking at the data and issues of hunger and homeless ness.”

For a full schedule of events, visit HHAW’s website vuhun gerweek.wixsite.com, and to stay updated, follow HHAW’s Instagram @vuhhaw.

Jake Scott performed for audience members at The Brooklyn Bowl Thursday, Nov. 3. Graydon Paul/Villanovan Photography

Leah

Students discuss Hunger Homeless Awareness Week at the interest fair. Courtesy of @villanovacampusministry

Wright is Still Around, But It’s Neptune’s Turn

Owen Hewitt Staff Writer

Jay Wright isn’t gone from Villanova basketball. Both literally and figuratively.

Wright was in attendance as the Wildcats bested the La Salle Ex plorers on Monday night, and even if he wasn’t physically at the game, it would have been hard not to see the Naismith Hall of Fame coach. The pre-game video lists Wright’s accom plishments, all of which you’ve heard before. Wright is on the video board at the half explaining the 2022 edi tion of the Hoops for Haiti program. Students are still wearing “All Wright All Wright All Wright” t-shirts.

And while all this can make it easy to temporarily forget who’s actually on the sideline for the Wild cats, looking at said sideline can pro vide a swift reminder. It’s impossible to miss Kyle Neptune, in a well-tai lored suit, emphatically coaching his team.

Neptune faces one of the tall est tasks in all of college basketball this season. He’s expected to replace the program’s all-time winningest head coach in Wright. If anybody’s nervous about that, it’s not Neptune.

“I slept like a baby,” Neptune said post-game Monday when asked how he slept the night before. It would be hard to find anyone more well equipped to take control of the program than Nep

tune. He had already spent so much time in the program (11 years, to be exact) that the mentality of a Villa nova coach is already second nature to him.

“I get all the hype,” Neptune said. “First game, Big 5 game, brand new coach’s first game, all that stuff, but coming into the game and just being a part of this program for so long, I think everyone here has a unique resolve. All we think about is playing and coaching for each other, that’s all we truly think about. When you do that and you think that way, there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

Monday’s game indicated that the transition between Wright and Neptune should be smooth when it comes to basketball. The

Wildcats still have a hard-nosed, de fensive, smart style of play. The ‘Cats will still dive for loose balls, draw charges and box out hard.

However, Neptune is often tasked with replacing Wright not only as a coach, but also as a figure. Over his tenure, Wright became emblematic of Villanova as a whole, a kind of symbol for the University. And with Wright sticking around the University in his role of Special Ad visor to the President, he continues to be a representative for Villanova on both a community level and a national level.

Wright’s presence will al ways inform Neptune’s tenure as head coach, no matter how long and prosperous, just in the same way that

Wright’s tenure was always influ enced by the late Rollie Massimino. At the end of the 2016 title game, after Kris Jenkins’ buzzer beater, the first cut away from the court that CBS chose to make wasn’t to Wright or a Wildcat player, but rather to Massimino in the stands.

No one understands this bet ter than Neptune himself. He knows that replacing Wright is a complex task, and one that will never really be complete. But Neptune is up for the challenge to continue on the high standard of Villanova basketball.

“I never focused on not being Jay,” Neptune said on Media Day. “I mean he’s a Hall of Famer, to me the best coach in college basketball over the last 10 years, I would like to be a lot like him.”

If all goes well for the Wild cats over the next decade or so, Neptune will take his place among the lineage of legendary men’s basketball coaches alongside Wright and Massimino. There will come a time when we discuss Neptune as the head coach of Villanova basketball rather than Wright’s successor. There will come a time when we discuss Neptune as a beloved campus figure. For now, Neptune still has some winning to do before he sheds that “successor” label.

But, Neptune does have something that Wright doesn’t: a win La Salle in his first year of being the head coach of Villanova basket

2022.

Volleyball Drops Two Big East Matchups

Zac Tipton Staff Writer

Villanova volleyball arrived back on campus after dropping six straight sets on the road this weekend. It lost in a winnable game to a reeling DePaul team and then lost to the 17th ranked team in the country, Mar quette.

The Wildcats, who fell to 3-11 in conference play and 7-19 overall, embarked on their second-to-last road trip of the year, visiting DePaul in Chicago and Marquette in Milwau kee. DePaul was coming off an 0-2 weekend but one where it took Butler and Marquette to five sets each. However, the Blue Demons were still 3-9 in conference play, and Villanova could not beat them, losing in straight sets 25-22, 25-19, 25-20.

Head coach Josh Steinbach knew how disappointing DePaul’s season had been and thought of this as a winnable game.

“DePaul is the most under achieving team in the league,” Stein bach said. “We thought they would be a top-four team in the league after the year they had last year and with everyone coming back. This is al ways a tough matchup, but this was a match we had hoped to win and stay relevant, but it’s not the way it went.”

The Blue Demons had con trol of this one the entire way except for a late tie in the first set. Villanova never held a big lead in this game, and DePaul cruised in the final sets to down the ‘Cats.

Juniors Kiera Booth and Ri ley Homer led Villanova with 10 and nine kills, respectively, while graduate Izzy Plummer got four kills in her lone set. Junior Andrea Campos also put up 24 assists along with two aces. DePaul’s Jill Pressly and Bailey Nelson combined for 33 kills as a duo while Maggie Nelson led the Blue Demons in both assists (38) and digs (eight).

In the second game of the week, Villanova had to face a twoloss Marquette team that is currently ranked 17th in the Coaches Poll. While Villanova played tough and didn’t really get hammered in any one set, Marquette was still able to cruise through it, including a run of 10 straight points in the middle of the

season where we don’t look at wins and losses anymore,” Steinbach said. “We look at individual games and ask if we did what we needed to do. We did some positive things over the weekend, but it’s more frustration over anything else. When you look at that stretch, we were giving them easy balls for 10 straight points, and they have the firepower to kill us with that, which they did.”

Sophomore Rose Crist led the team with 10 kills. Marquette got 12 kills from Aubrey Hamilton. Sopho more Ellery Gray came in in place of Campos early on and was huge for the Wildcats, notching 24 assists.

“Ellery had an incredible week of practice,” Steinbach said.

played well. We just let her roll and she was one of the few bright spots for sure.”

Villanova heads back home for its final home matches of the year. Thursday is Jam the Jake, which is always one of the craziest games of the season. The Wildcats will face Georgetown, which has lost 10 straight games, and its last win was against Villanova.

“Georgetown week is always a big week,” Steinbach said. “I don’t know what the atmosphere will be like, but hopefully we get a bunch of kids in here having a good time.”

On Saturday, the Wildcats will face Butler for Senior Night. But ler has won three of five and is even

most

for them on Senior Night,” Steinbach

competing, it wouldn’t have been any

Neptune addresses students at Hoops Mania

Olivia Pasquale/Villanovan Photography

Maddie Schieder, Anastasia Galanou, Belle Morgan, Kathleen Johnson and Plummer. Johnson will not be playing

of the year. Steinbach noted that

Riley Homer had nine kills in the team’s matchup with DePaul. Courtesy of Villanova Athletics

Siegrist Puts on Show in Return to Hometown

Aphrodite Dimopoulos Writer

Monday night marked the start of the regular season for the women’s basketball team as it traveled to Poughkeepsie, NY to play Marist. The Wildcats domi nated and tallied their first win of the season, beating the Red Foxes, 60-38.

While it was the start of the regular season, this game meant even more for star senior forward Maddy Siegrist. She grew up only a few minutes down the road from Marist’s campus, and Siegrist’s homecoming was the story of the night.

Before her commitment to Villanova, Siegrist played for Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie. Siegrist was named Poughkeepsie Journal Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018, was a three-time All-Section honoree, three-time All-League selection, named All-State twice, earned four varsity letters and averaged 32.7 points per game and 13.1 rebounds. Her senior year alone, Siegrist tallied six 40-point games, including a career high of 45 points in one match. Siegrist was the star for Poughkeepsie before she was the star for Villanova.

Marist has an undergrad

uate study body size similar to Villanova’s. With 23 varsity sport teams, women’s basketball is known to be one of the leaders. For most young athletes, Marist may not be the institution with players they look up to, but for Siegrist, the story is different.

In July of 2021, Siegrist was interviewed by BVM Sports regarding her breakout season for the Wildcats. In the interview, she stated that two particular players have inspired her growth. The common denominator between these players? They both went to Marist.

“Growing up, [I looked up to] Rachele Fitz who played at Marist College, which was the college closest to me,” Siegrist said. “I watched all the games, and I thought she was such a dominant player. That was definitely who I looked up to most as a kid.”

The second player hits a little closer to home. Maddy is not the only Siegrist with Division I basketball experience. Her father, George Siegrist, was a center for Marist from 1987-1991.

“He was just a role player, but growing up, I thought that was the coolest thing ever,” Siegrist said. “I used to ask him all the time if I could play in college. I wasn’t very good, just taller than

everyone else, but he said ‘Yeah, if you work hard.’ I definitely was inspired by that.”

The stands on Monday night could have been mistaken for a game at the Finneran Pa vilion, with more than 200 fans there to welcome Siegrist for her homecoming. With friends and family in the stands and being back in the town she calls home, Siegrist did what she always does. She dominated. After a slow first quarter, the redshirt senior started to get hot and find her groove on the court. She scored Villanova’s last seven points of the first half to bring the Wildcats to a 37-29 half time lead. This first half scoring is what started to break the game open.

Playing strong defense along with an impressive fast break layup to help close out the third quarter, Siegrist and the team led by 49-33 after three.

Siegrist ended her home coming game with 21 points and 13 rebounds. The season-open er now marks her 52nd career 20-point game and her 38th career double-double.

A winning performance, especially a dominating one, is al ways sweet. But when it takes place five minutes away from home, it becomes that much sweeter.

WEEKLY SCOREBOARD

Nov. 2 - Nov. 8

Wednesday, November 2

Men’s Soccer @ DePaul 3-3 T

Women’s Basketball vs. Jefferson (Exhibition) 86-42 W Thursday, November 3

Friday, November 4

Men’s Swim vs. NJIT 153-147 W

Volleyball @ DePaul 0-3 L

Saturday, November 5

Football @ Towson 3-27 L

Volleyball @ Marquette 0-3 L Sunday, November 6

Monday, November 7

Men’s Basketball vs. La Salle 81-68 W

Women’s Basketball @ Marist 60-38 W Tuesday, November 8

Rollie Massimino Inducted into Philadelphia Sports HoF

Owen Hewitt Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA — Former Villanova head coach Rollie Mas simino was posthumously inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday evening at the Live! Hotel and Casino in South Philadelphia. Massimino was named a part of the 19th inductee class, which also included former Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, former Eagles kicker Da vid Akers and former Flyers head coach and general manager Keith Allen.

The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame includes 289 indi viduals, 11 teams, two organiza tions, three venues and two events. There are inductees from ent sports, from the professional to the collegiate and scholastic levels.

Massimino, who passed away in 2017 after a battle with brain cancer, was honored with a speech from his son, Tom Mas simino. Tom served as an assistant coach at Villanova while Rollie was at the helm.

“My dad’s first exposure to Philadelphia basketball was on a December night, as an assistant coach at the University of Penn sylvania,” Tom said in his speech. “He came from being the head coach of Stony Brook, and had just taken a two thousand dollar pay cut to be an assistant at Penn. And as you know, everyone that’s been to the Palestra, when it’s sold out the corners are full. So my dad and Chuck Daly walked out of the locker room, [Daly] looks at my dad and says, ‘Isn’t this worth a

couple thousand dollars?’”

Massimino started his coaching career at Stony Brook in 1969, coaching there until 1971, and then moved to be an assistant at Penn from 1972-1973. Villano va hired Massimino in March of 1973.

Massimino was the head coach of Villanova from 19731992 and amassed a record of 355-241 over his 19 years at the helm of the Wildcats. Most nota bly, Massimino coached the Wild cats to the 1985 NCAA national championship, defeating the one-seed Georgetown Hoyas in the national championship, 6664, in what has been nicknamed “the perfect game.” Massimino’s Wildcats were five-time Big East champs and appeared in the

NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen five times.

Current Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune and former Villanova head coach Jay Wright were both in attendance for the induction.

“Coach Mass was such a big part of Philadelphia basketball for such a long time,” Wright said. “It means a lot to his family, it means a lot to all of us at Villano va for him to be recognized in the great Philadelphia sports tradition, because he was a huge part of it. And he loved it. And we all really appreciate the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame for it.”

Neptune shared the same sentiment about Massimino’s in duction.

“Coach Massimino is pretty

much the Godfather of Villanova basketball,” Neptune said. “My interactions with him were always amazing. Most of my interactions with him were through Coach Wright. Coach Wright always talk ed so highly of him. We’re just so proud that he gave us such a great start and set such a great example

Massimino’s induction included a video highlighting some of his career accomplishments, and prominently featured Mas simino’s 1985 NCAA Champion ship game post-game comments.

“Nobody thought we could do it,” he said, “but I did!”

This heat-of-the-moment exclamation became emblematic of Massimino’s ‘85 Wildcats team, as they remain the only eight-seed and lowest seeded team to win the national championship in the history of the tournament. North Carolina, an eight-seed in the 2022 rendition of the tournament, made it to the final last year, but failed to upset one-seed Kansas.

Massimino is thought by many to have laid the foundation for the Wildcats’ continued suc cess in men’s basketball, as Wright served as an assistant coach on Massimino’s staff at Villanova from 1987-1992. Wright also served as an assistant for two years on Massimino’s staff at UNLV from 1992-1994. Wright eventu ally came back to Villanova after a brief stint as the head coach of Hofstra, and retired 21 seasons and two national titles later. Now, Neptune, formerly an assistant un der Wright, looks to carry forward the legacy built for the program by Massimino.

Rollie Massimino led Villanova to its first national championship in 1985. Courtesy of Getty Images

Some people excel in the classroom, others thrive in athletics and some flourish in social settings. But for senior Sheila Joyce, she shines in all three. She is the ultimate triple threat.

Growing up, Joyce was al ways active. She started competitive swimming at the age of six while also participating in martial arts at 13, earning her second degree of black belt. She also mixed in some softball, surfing, as well as the Philadelphia Half Marathon in her free time.

But after nearly 12 years of competitive swimming, Joyce fell out of love with the sport her senior year of high school. She declined her five collegiate offers to swim at the next level and instead chose a school where swimming wouldn’t be her dominating college experience.

And that’s when she joined Nova Nation.

However, upon stepping foot on campus, Joyce quickly realized that something was missing.

“When I got to college, I real ized that I missed the athletic expe rience, the structure, community, the family you get,” she said. “I missed the water.”

So, in effort to combat her longing for the water, Joyce tried out for club swimming to try and “focus on the fun of the sport.” While club swimming offered her this, Joyce rec ognized that she “was still looking for that more athletic, more competitive intensity and structure.” And that’s where rowing came into play.

Sheila Joyce: Triple Threat

At 6’1 and with an intense aerobic background in the water, Joyce was the perfect candidate to lead her boat down the river.

“I remember tryouts last year,” sophomore Rose Baker said, who is one of Joyce’s teammates. “There were two groups of girls, and I’m really thankful I was in the second group because Sheila lapped everyone in the first group. She was insane.”

One of the first tests that rowers have to do is the 2k — a test that determines both one’s power and aerobic endurance — and when Joyce first walked on, she hit the top 2k score on the team. She then pro ceeded to drop that time eight more seconds as the season progressed.

“My goal this year is to try and get the program record,” Joyce said. “Right now, I have the second fastest time in program history.”

“She’s on track to be one of the strongest, if not the strongest rower that we’ve had in the history of Villanova,” head coach Carissa Adams said. “The funny thing is, I don’t even think we’ve seen all her power yet. I have no doubt that she’ll break the program record, last time she attempted [the test], she made it look easy.”

However, even with the pow er and speed Joyce brings to the boat, she still recognizes that there is more learning to be done.

“A lot of my teammates have been rowing for over a decade,” Joyce said. “At the beginning, I really relied on [them], and if they weren’t as sympathetic and encouraging as they were, it would’ve been a whole different kind of experience. They

were truly just non-judgemental and supportive.”

While Joyce received support on the water, it was back on land where she formed her true friend ships.

“It’s funny how quickly you can bond with people,” Joyce said. “Over the course of this year and the last, [my teammates] have become my family on campus. We see each other at our best, our worst, they’re genuinely just the most kind people I know.”

And for her teammates, the feeling is mutual.

“She’s the most humble person you’ll ever meet,” said team mate and friend Olivia Frizzell when asked to describe Joyce. “She’ll never outwardly be like ‘yeah we’re gonna take you down.’ She doesn’t do that. She’s not that type of person. She’s just always super positive, and if she’s in your boat, you know it’s gonna be a fun day. She’s always giving it her all.”

For Baker, she noted how on land, Joyce was always guiding the team, especially the underclassmen, in life in general.

“She would advise us to take certain classes or encourage us to get dinner with her,” Baker said. “[Shei la] just always wants to have fun, she’s good at keeping people chill and balanced.”

While Joyce has made an impression as a Wildcat athlete and in her friends’ lives, she also continues to place an emphasis on the student part of student-athlete.

As a double major in Me chanical Engineering and Human ities, Joyce has her work cut out for

her.

“I’m just really passionate about sustainability and environmen tal engineering,” she explained.

This passion for her academ ics has also led Joyce to devote extra time to her capstone project, where she and her three other group mem bers are partnering with NASA.

“It’s a human shoulder dyna mometer, which is meant to measure the force at your shoulder joint for three motions, and to strengthen or measure how long your shoulder is,” she explained. “Long term wise, it’s meant to be used as a strengthening tool and a way to measure astronauts’ strength while they’re at the ISS.”

With this passion for sustain ability and her newfound passion for rowing, Joyce hopes to combine these two things during the next stage of her life.

After graduating from Villa nova this coming spring, Joyce plans on applying to a more specialized graduate program where she can focus on sustainability and environ mental engineering. She will enter the transfer portal on Dec. 1.

However, beyond appearing like Superwoman, Joyce still describes herself as a “go with the flow” type of person.

“I love to stress bake, to go on runs, and I’m definitely a little bit of a geek — I just love Star Wars,” Joyce said about her personal life. “I just always make sure to leave time for myself. Time management is a huge part of what I do, so I always try to make time for my friends, making sure I’m balanced in everything I do, and ensuring that one thing doesn’t take over the others.”

Men’s Swim Picks Up First Win vs NJIT

Amanda McKean Staff Writer

On Friday, Nov. 4, the Vil lanova men’s swimming and diving team defeated New Jersey Institute of Technology, 153-147, at the Vil lanova Swim complex. Out of the 16 events, the Wildcats won seven. The Wildcats earned most of their early points during the div ing competitions behind the efforts of sophomore diver Nicholas Jubilee and freshman diver Chris Jones. During the 1-meter dive, Jubilee came in first place, with a score of 271.88, and Jones came in second place, with a score of 245.09, com bining to earn the team 13 points.

For the 3-meter dive Jubilee also came in first place scoring 285.53, and Jones came in third place, with a score of 234.37.

During the 1000 Free, freshman Patrick Casey took first place, with a final time of 9:53.87, and three seconds behind him was senior free/back Jake McIntyre (9:56.44). Sophomore free/back Aubrey Bowles gave the Wildcats a 1-2-3 finish and took third place (9:59.86). Altogether, the swimmers earned the Wildcats 16 points with their wins.

Another victory for the Wildcats came in the 100 Back stroke with junior Ethan Brown’s winning time of 51.74. Junior Char lie Hinckley followed 0.08 seconds

In addition, Bowles’ took first place in the 200 Back by about five-tenths of a second, with a time of 1:53.28. Hinckley would later go on to win the 500 Free, touching in at 4:41.59, and McIntyre quickly followed in third place at 4:42.21.

During the 500 Free, the Wildcats picked up another win af ter senior Reid Hutcherson touched in at 4:52:51.

Despite all of the wins by the Wildcats, the Highlanders re mained strong throughout the entire competition. Highlander Zachary

wall first at 58.18.

Many of the Highland ers’ wins came during the shorter races. Ian Horstkamp-Vinekar beat the Wildcats in the 200 Butterfly at 1:54.19, and Tanish Chhabra finished first in the 50 Free, with a time of 21.30, as well as in the 100 Free, touching in at 47.38. Bevans and Horstkamp-Vinekar also placed first again during the 200 Breas troke (2:08.76) and the 100 Butterfly (51.99). The final singles event that the Highlanders took was the 200 IM, with Andrew Lucky touching in

not coming in first during these races, the Wildcats still earned a lot of points by com ing in second or third. During the Hutcherson finished at 1:44:44, only 1.5 seconds behind Kuzak. Freshman Mikey Thurk placed in third place in the 100 Breaststroke (59. 48) and the 100 Free (47.72). Senior Ryan Maher Sam Randall finished second (1:56.26) and third (1:58.07) Butterfly. Sophomore Hemingway finished second in the 50 Freestyle

The meet came down to the relay races with each team neck and neck with points. The Highlanders claimed the 200 Medley Relay with Bevan, Vinekar-Horstkamp, Ch habra and Aidan Blackmon taking a final time of

Everything came down to the exciting 200 Free Relay, which the Wildcats won by two-tenths of a second. Leading the Wildcats was Hemingway followed by freshman Alex Hamil. With the help of Thurk and freshman Henry Gingrich, the team was able to finish in 1:25.50, just barely beating the Highlanders’ time of 1:25.70. During this race, the Wildcat’s B squad came in third place and finished only a second after their first place teammates.

The Wildcats’ next meet will take place Nov. 9 at Penn. The meet is set to start at 5 p.m. at Sherr Pool.

Senior Ryan Maher finished second in the 200 Butterfly. Courtesy of Villanova Athletics

Brooke Ackerman

THE BACKPAGE

Across

3. Republican candidate for PA Governor

6. Past Hoops Mania performer that recent ly released an album 9. Nickname for a popular off-campus apartment option for Villanova students 11. People’s 2022 Sexiest Man Alive 12. One of Starbuck’s holiday drink flavors 13. Australian footwear company 14. Billionaire who recently bought Twitter 16. Childhood Disney star that recently re leased a documentary 19. Villanova Men’s basketball Collin Gilles pie replacement 20. Book-tok author that recently released a sequel to her most popular book that went viral on Tik Tok

Down

1. Bar on Lancaster that does Wednesday trivia

2. a dinner party at the end of November with friends

4. Place where one of “The Bachelor” fran chise shows takes place 5. fruity spread that goes well with turkey 7. Netflix show where single people try to find a match without ever seeing each other faceto-face

8. Northern Ireland sitcom that just released its third season 10. Villanova Men’s basketball most recent win 15. Lottery ticket that sold for a re cord-breaking $2.04 billion jackpot 17. Democratic candidate for PA Governor 18. small item that you receive after voting