Sports: The representation of the Big 12
Opinions: Student spotlight on Mariah Slaughter
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Wednesday, October 7, 2020 - Vol. 121 Issue 12
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Poplous pleads not guilty in Thompson Hall shooting By Rachel Greene editor-in-chief
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Kavion K. Poplous went in front of a judge for his preliminary hearing following the shooting at Thompson Hall that occurred Sept. 15. Poplous pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, which include two counts of attempt-
ed murder, one count of aggravated battery using a firearm and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm. He opted for a jury trial. The Western Illinois University freshman is accused of shooting his roommate at around 10:38 p.m. on Sept 15. in their shared residence hall room. He turned himself in to authorities on the following day in Chicago. If he
is found guilty of the charges against him, he faces upwards of 30 years in prison. In addition to the plea, Poplous’ attorney also made a request to lower his bail from $1 million. This request was denied by a McDonough County judge. Poplous will have a pretrial hearing on Jan 5.
"Students for Trump" group causes stir on campus By Rachel Greene editor-in-chief
On Friday Oct. 2, the official “Students for Trump” organization’s Twitter page posted, “Public university officials of Western Illinois University and radical leftist students, blocking our chapter’s tabling efforts. Completely unhinged.” The public comment followed events that occurred near the campus mall area that day. A group of students gathered at a table which displayed a flag that said, “Trump 2020: Make America Great Again.” The students were asked to leave by “university officials,” which were graduate students working under the direction of the nearby University Union.
Upon being asked to leave, the official “Students for Trump” organization posted a video of them being asked to leave which was viewed over 30,000 times. The video gained comments from followers such as @agentgi10296754 who said, “The USA should not fund ANY university who does not allow free speech. THIS IS AMERICA!” and @theoriginaljay5 who said, “#DefundTheUniversity.” While the unregistered organization argued that their right to freedom of speech was being infringed upon, their actions were in violation of University Policies. In order to register an event on campus, a designated scheduler from a registered student organization or department on campus must
complete the campus scheduling and registration form. As the Student Organization Registration Process Form, which can be found at http:// www.wiu.edu/student_services/ose/student_organizations/registrationProcess. php states, “All events and meetings will be scheduled through a centralized process. This process is applicable to student organizations, departments, campus-wide events and Non-WIU events. All events, meetings and non-course meetings (such as departmental meetings, exam review sessions, tutoring sessions, etc.) are required to use this centralized process to submit their room request.” In addition, policies have been increased for both on campus and off campus
Sports on Page 4: Cardinals regroup after wildcard loss FOLLOW US ONLINE @WESTERNCOURIER
events. These have been increased to accommodate safe regulations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these regulations, stated on http://www.wiu.edu/vpas/ policies/covid_scheduling. php are, “Upon event approval, event coordinators will receive instructions on how to track attendance for contact tracing purposes. All event and meeting attendance must be reported through the centralized University attendance tracking system. In addition to attendance tracking information, event coordinators will also be provided with a kit of event supplies prior to their event. Event Kits will be provided for events outside of organizational or departmental meetings. Depending on the complexity of the event,
Event Kits may include hand sanitizer for both event staff and event attendees, bottles of disinfectant and paper towels to wipe down event equipment, scanners for attendance tracking, thermometers if deemed necessary. If outside, pop-up tents to designate the event area and digital access to customizable event signage will be provided.” While it is unclear if further action will be required, university policy states that, “Failure to comply with the protocols set forth in this document may result in disciplinary action through Human Resources or conduct processes.”
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Wednesday, October 7, 2020
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New details emerge in Breonna Taylor's Grand Jury tapes By Emma Garcia assistant news editor
Breonna Taylor, a 26 year old African American woman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020, when police officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove forced entry into her home as part of an investigation dealing with drug operations. Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, was inside with her when the officers knocked and forced entry. Officers said they announced themselves, but Walker claims he didn’t hear an announcement and thought they were intruders, so he fired a warning shot. According to the police, it hit Mattingly in the
leg, so the officers fired 32 rounds in return, hitting Taylor with six and killing her instantly. Mattingly, the only officer that entered the residence, fired six shots at the same time that Cosgrove fired 16 from the doorway, and Hankison fired 10 through a sliding glass door and bedroom window. The New York Times interviewed roughly a dozen neighbors and found that only one of them heard the officers shout “Police!” once and knock at least three times, while 11 other neighbors claim they heard no knock or announcement, including one that was outside during that time. In his police interrogation, Walker said that Taylor yelled, “Who is it?” several times after hearing a loud
bang at the door and received no answer, and that’s when he armed himself. An officer testified to the grand jury that the police never searched her apartment for neither drugs nor money. All three officers involved were placed on administrative reassignment pending the outcome of an investigation. In early June, Officer Hankison was called to be removed from the Louisville Police Merit Board, which reviews appeals from police officers in departmental disciplinary matters. Hankison violated the departmental policies on the use of deadly force by firing into Taylor’s apartment without determining whether any person presented “an immediate threat.” Every day for three straight
months after the incident, protesters gathered together and demanded the prosecution of the officers who fatally shot Taylor, and it still took two months after she died for her case to become a national story. In June, Louisville’s Metro Council unanimously passed Breonna’s Law, banning LMPD from using no-knock search warrants. Lawmakers in other states and cities are now filing for similar legislation. Even five months after her death, the results of the investigation were not made public and no charges were announced that the officers involved could face. In the newly released audio from closed-door grand jury proceedings, there was conflicting testimony over what happened in the seconds
before the police shot and killed Taylor. The grand jury concluded its work by bringing an indictment against Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree for firing shots that jeopardize the safety of three people in an apartment neighboring Taylor’s. As of right now, no officer that took part in the March 13th raid is charged for Taylor’s death. In addition to an FBI civil rights investigation, the LMPD’s Professional Standards Unit is investigating the actions of Cosgrove, Hankison, Mattingly, and detectives Joshua Jaynes, Tony James, Michael Campbell and Michael Nobles. A pretrial hearing is set for Oct. 28.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
A Breonna Taylor memorial in Louisville on Friday.
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A student spotlight on Mariah Slaughter “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” -Maya Angelou. There is nothing more memorable than the feeling of being heard, appreciated and supported. This individual has never failed to make me feel accepted or appreciated, and they do so in the most sincere and humble way possible. Mariah Slaughter is a Graduate Assistant at Western Illinois University where she is studying College Student Personnel. Mariah currently works her assistantship as an Assistant Complex Director in Lincoln, Washington and Grote Halls; and is phenomenal at everything she does. The way that Mariah leads is so impactful, as she is quiet yet personal, reserved yet resilient and humble yet strong. Mariah leads by example and with such humility and grace. Her leadership abilities have impacted me both in her assistantship role and as her role as co-advisor of the Caroline E. Grote Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH). As I mentioned previously, Mariah is a first-year graduate student in the College Student Personnel Program here at Western, and it is so evident that this field is perfectly fitting for her. From the beginning of training
week up until now, Mariah has put in endless work to make a difference for each individual that she comes in contact with. Mariah is also an extremely hard worker. As an Assistant Complex Director, Mariah directly oversees all desk operations and a supervisee group of about 10 individuals. While I am not on Mariah’s desk staff or a part of her supervisee group, her impact is obvious. The desk assistants always have pleasant things to say about Mariah, and the desk is extremely efficient. Even with the struggles of the current pandemic and having student staff members bouncing in and out of desk work, Mariah persisted and continued to work through the obstacles that surfaced. Mariah’s endurance, support and understanding during these uncertain times has been a huge part of my own comfort during this time, and I am sure many others feel the same. In Mariah’s supervisee group, it is beyond evident that all of her supervisee’s love her, from shoutouts for Mariah in the group chat and at staff meetings to thanking her for all she does for them. Mariah goes above and beyond for her supervisee’s, arranging things such as Pumpkin Painting Nights and other bonding events, and recognizing the hard work of her supervisees
Introducing the Staff My name is Dayne McElwee. I am a junior majoring in Sports Broadcasting. I have many hobbies such as sports, outdoor activities, gaming and watching movies. I am a major sports fan and enjoy playing sports. I am on the club baseball team here at Western and I enjoy playing basketball. I also
enjoy beating Christopher Bean's team in intramural basketball. I like to go golfing as I am in an intramural golf league here on campus. I like outdoor activities such as fishing, canoeing and hiking and I have been to places like the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Glacier National Park in Montana.
through verbal affirmations and nominating them for membership in the National Residence Hall Honorary. In addition to her outstanding work as an Assistant Complex Director, Mariah goes above and beyond as an advisor of the Caroline E. Grote Chapter of NRHH as well. This is where Mariah’s wonderful spirit and work ethic has affected me the most. Mariah has worked endlessly on helping our NRHH Chapter soar to new heights in the right direction. Some examples of how she did this include helping edit and write the updated constitution, creating a bidding process for our chapter, and spending extra time on different NRHH projects. Some of these projects from the month of September include but are not limited to: creating paddles for OTM winners, assisting in checking over bids, working to come up with more service and recognition ideas and so much more. Mariah’s impact on the chapter, even in the short month of September, runs very deep. There is never a moment where I doubt her support in me or in our organization, and this is something that means the most to me. Mariah is a considerable leader, advisor and overall individual. She brings peace and comfort to any setting she is in, and that is a feeling I know people will not forget. It is for these reasons and so many more that Mariah deserves endless recognition for her efforts at her school work, advising and her assistantship.
MARIAH SLAUGHTER
Mariah Slaughter is a wonderful addition to the WIU staff.
Will the Big 12 be represented in the CFP? dayne mcelwee assistant sports editor
Since the College Football Playoffs was introduced in 2015, the Big 12 has been represented four out of the six years. With powerhouses like Oklahoma and Texas going down over the weekend, is it possible that we see the Big 12 not be in the playoffs for the first time since 2017? Oklahoma has been in the CFP since 2018 and has been the only team from the Big 12 to get in. Oklahoma is in danger of not even making it to the Big 12 Championship
game. With a big 38-0 Week 1 win against Missouri State, this Oklahoma team looked promising. With the talented Spencer Rattler under center, this Oklahoma team felt confident going into the next couple weeks. Rattler, a highly touted recruit coming out of Phoenix, Ariz., redshirted last year due to Jalen Hurts transferring to Oklahoma. With teams like Kansas State and Iowa State coming up on the schedule, they were looking to start 3-0. In both of these
games, Oklahoma was competing and keeping it close until Rattler made poor decisions that would ultimately cost the Sooners the game. Oklahoma, now 1-2 looks to turn it around with a big win over ranked Texas. They will face off this Saturday. Texas is bringing back star quarterback Sam Ehlinger. Everyone thought maybe this was the year that Texas football is finally back. With two dominating wins over UTEP and Texas Tech, Ehlinger and the Longhorns were looking great. Next was a winless TCU team that had previously lost to Iowa State. This game was back and forth. Both teams were putting in successful drives and scoring with ease. With a chance to take the
lead at the end, TCU forced a fumble from Texas at the goal line to seal the game and give the Horned Frogs their first win of the year. Texas, getting their first loss, looks to come back with a win against a struggling Oklahoma team. With all of the struggling teams in the Big 12, there is one team that is looking promising. That team is the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Cowboys started the season off 3-0 with wins over Tulsa, WVU and Kansas. Oklahoma State is returning a key piece of their offense. That piece is Heisman candidate Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard has been one of the most consistent runners in the NCAA in the last two years. Everyone predicted for him
to have a big year, and that is exactly how he has started. With already tallying over 330 yards, Hubbard is showing why he has been touted as one of the best running backs over the past couple of years. Oklahoma State’s next game is Oct. 17 against Baylor. With all of the powerhouses struggling early in the Big 12, there is no doubt that they will try to turn it around towards the end of the year. Teams like Oklahoma and Texas will try to look to make a run to put them in position for the Big 12 championship. For Oklahoma State, they will try to continue to keep winning so they can be put in a position to try and represent the Big 12 in the College Football Playoffs.
What's next for the Cardinals after a Wildcard loss?
Obviously, this was an MLB season like no one could have ever expected. After it kept getting delayed, the MLB finally got the green light to start back up on Friday, July 24. They announced that it would be a shortened 60-game season with a somewhat normal postseason. Everything didn’t go so well, though, for the Cardinals. They got five games in with a 2-3 record, and then had to postpone 18 games straight as nearly half the clubhouse came down with the Coronavirus. When they got back, they had to play 10 doubleheaders to make up for the games that were postponed. They had the most grueling schedule by far leading into the postseason. Not only is it hard to play 55 games in 42 days, but it’s also extremely hard to come back after sitting around for two
whole weeks. After the COVID postponement, the Cards went 28-25 and punched their ticket in an N.L. Wildcard series against the San Diego Padres. It all went downhill from there. Game 1 looked promising. St. Louis jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first and a 6-3 lead after three innings. The Cards eventually took Game 1 by a score of 7-4. The Cards did the same thing in Game 2. This time they had a 4-0 lead after two innings. But then they let the Padres put up 11 runs, capped off by a four-run seventh inning. Manny Machado hit a home run. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Will Myers both took two over the fence. It was indeed all about “Slam Diego” in Game 2 and STL just couldn’t match that kind of firepower. Paul Goldschmidt homered in the
ninth inning, but it was too little too late to get back into the game. This meant a detrimental Game 3, winner takes all. This game was much different from the two before. This one went scoreless until San Diego finally put one on the board. The Cards only had four hits this game and just couldn’t make anything happen offensively. In the seventh, the Padres made it 3-0 and then 4-0 in the eighth with a home run from Jake Cronenworth. St. Louis just simply couldn’t match that kind of offense, so the Padres went on to win that game 4-0 and take the series 2-1. So, what do the Cardinals have to do if they want to make a deeper playoff run next season? I’ll give you two huge things they must do. The first is to strengthen the batting order. They brought in Goldschmidt and he certainly helped, but after that number three spot, it dropped off. They don’t have a consistent clean-up hitter. This regular season, Dylan Carlson did that job with a .200 batting aver-
age and .616 on-base percentage. He had 16 RBIs and three home runs. After him is Yadier Molina. His bat is always reliable, especially in big moments, but after him that’s it. Then you have the atrocious Matt Carpenter, the streaky Dexter Fowler and the strikeout master Harrison Bader. The last three spots in that order need to go. The Cards have to bring in some bigger bats if they want to keep up with teams like the Padres who rely so heavily on the home run ball. Here's where I put on my tinfoil hat. The Nolan Arenado trade is still plausible to help out with this problem. He batted .253 with eight home runs and 26 RBIs, much more impressive than half the current Cardinals dugout. It’s a long shot, but it is still a possibility. The other thing the Cardinals have to do is re-sign Molina and Adam Wainwright. These guys are Cardinals legends. Not only that, they’re lockerroom leaders. They’re guys you just want to have around. Like I already said, Molina is
very reliable in that No. 5 spot. Oh, and he’s quite possibly the greatest catcher of all time, too. Losing Molina would crumble this team offensively but even more defensively. What about Wainright? Well, in a time where the Cards only have a handful of quality starters, now would really be a bad time to lose him. We have our ace Jack Flaherty, Kwang-Hyun Kim, the South Korean star, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Jake Woodford and Wainwright right now on our current roster. Sure, we had a couple of guys hurt down the stretch like Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas who you can both usually depend on, but the point is, the Cards cannot afford to lose a quality starting pitcher right now. Hopefully, next season’s different, in that we actually get a 162-game season to enjoy. Hopefully, the Cardinals push to win the Central Division. I’m just tired of watching an inconsistent team float around .500 all season long. I’ve seen better and I want better.