09.02.16

Trinitonian Student Involvement Fair A sample of Trinity clubs and activities was presented at annual event in Laurie Auditorium Monday, August 22.

Frank Ocean ends dry spell After four years with no new releases, Frank Ocean presents his sophomore album “Blonde.” The album hit stands Wednesday, August 31.

PAGE 3 NEWS Volume 114 Issue 3

Welcome Week Concert brings students together

BY GABRIEL LEVINE

NEWS REPORTER

Earth-shaking bass, euphoric synths, live instruments and frenzied lights came to Trinity last Saturday night with the performances of Patrick Baker, Robert DeLong and 3LAU for the Welcome Week Concert. In marked contrast to the indie and rap artists of years past, all three of this year’s artists produce various flavors of the umbrella genre known as electronic dance music (EDM).

Performing first, Patrick Baker kicked off the concert on a relatively relaxed note, both playing a guitar and DJing. “Patrick Baker created a really chill vibe,” said Daniel Dahlinger, sophomore.

This relaxed environment might have been due to lower attendance at the start of the concert. “He was trying to pump up the crowd but there were not as many people there for him,” said Andrew Harrington, junior. Even so, Harrington still considered it a good start to the concert.

Performing second, Robert DeLong created a more upbeat show using drums, DJ equipment and even Nintendo controllers. “He was very dynamic and exciting, he

Soccer ready to open season

BY CHRIS GARCIA

SPORTS REPORTER

Trinity women’s soccer season is underway, and they are looking to repeat the success that they have had throughout past years. Over the last 12 years, previous coach Lance Key led the women’s soccer team to a school record of 209 wins, which equates to an 88 percent winning percentage.

Some fresh faces will be given the spotlight this year, in particular the new head coach who was hired this summer, Dylan Harrison.

Coach Harrison is an alumni of Trinity University, who graduated in 2002 with a degree in business administration. It certainly will be a hard spot to fill, but Coach Harrison and the Lady Tigers are more confident than ever.

Continued on page 12

was pumped to be here. I thought the vibe he created was very energized, very positive. After his concert I started listening to more of his music,” said Cat O’Shei, junior.

3LAU, the headliner and final performer, combined the upbeat synths and vocals of mainstream house, swaggering trap beats, brutal dubstep drops and remixes of classic non-electronic songs with smoke machines and pulsing stage lights. This approach was not universally acclaimed. “He seemed to be playing a lot of EDM crowd pleasers, and less so his own music.

He just seems like the generic brand version of better EDM artists,” O’Shei said.

Others had different opinions.

“This was my favorite performance because he did the best at getting the crowd involved. It was fun when he came off stage and interacted with the audience. The artist created a really fun/lively vibe. I would like to see 3LAU in concert again,” Harrington said.

On the whole, there seemed to be something for everyone. “Overall, I loved it. Although it wasn’t my style of music, I really enjoyed it and it was super entertaining,” Dahlinger said.

PAGE 8 A&E

Serving Trinity University Since 1902

Trinity Art Collective The reformation of one of Trinity’s art clubs seeks to bring art lovers together on campus.

PAGE 9 PULSE SEPTEMBER 02, 2016

Trinity students enjoy electronic music during the Welcome Week Concert with three performers back-to-back.

photo by Will Insul

Group from Germany near end of visit to Trinity Fulbright program allows students to experience American culture and education

BY MICHAEL DROZDIAK

NEWS REPORTER

A group of 15 students with the Fulbright Program, one of the most prestigious collegiate exchange programs in the world, is nearing the end of their time at Trinity. The students, all from Germany, have been on campus since a week before the start of classes.

“It’s a program that started last year,” said Brenna Hill, an intern sponsor for the program and also the Student Government Association (SGA) president. “It’s great for Trinity, to say that we hosted this program. It’s good publicity for Trinity, but also the Fulbright students are getting a lot out of it through learning about U.S. culture.”

Fulbright students have been engaging in a somewhat specialized curriculum relevant to their specific position as exchange students, but they also experienced the flavor of standard Trinity academic life.

“Fulbright students had their own special course on American culture, before the Trinity classes started,” Hill said. “They’re currently enrolled in a special course called social entrepreneurship, which is just with the Fulbright students, but right now they’re also all enrolled in a first year experience course, with first-year students. So they are integrated into campus life.”

The idea to bring over this specific group of Fulbright students, unified by German nationality instead of academic focus, partially germinated two years ago during Trinity’s Global City Berlin trip.

The Global City trip was sponsored

by Peter O’Brien, professor of political science and also the sponsor of the current Fulbright program.

Even though Trinity is somewhat infamous for being

insulated in a “Trinity bubble,” the Fulbright students made sure to explore well beyond campus limits.

“They are definitely very plugged into campus life, but they’ve also done a lot of excursions around San Antonio,” Hill said. “They’ve done a city tour of San Antonio, they have bus passes and they’ve been using Uber to explore the city a bit more.

They’ve definitely been getting out of the Trinity bubble and making the most of their experience.”

Despite the lack of a precise academic focus, the Fulbright students visiting Trinity feel as though there are clear benefits from the unique opportunity to study abroad in America.

“I just wanted to know something about the United States,” said Stephanie Bär, one of the German Fulbright students. “A lot of things we know are based on prejudices and what we see in the movies.”

Apart from the simple dispelling of stereotypes, the Fulbright students have picked up on quite a few subtle quirks that make American life, and specifically

campus life, distinct from life in Germany. The Fulbright students began every day of their American Culture class sharing something they observed about life in the United States.

“The way of life on campus, I would say, is strange,” said Marieme Kandji, another German Fulbright student. “Every student that lives on campus loves Trinity, they all have the T-shirts and caps and backpacks.”

The most notable difference, though, has been the overall different social paradigm that exists in America.

“I also noticed that American people tend to be friendlier in the first place,” Bär said. “They come and talk to you, even strangers in the supermarket, and that would never happen in Germany.”

Fulbright students have found a satisfactory taste of American college life and feel a sense of community on campus.

“Everyone says that Trinity is a small school, because it’s private,” Kandji said, “but Trinity is like a little village.”

2

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 02, 2016

BRIEFS SGA SGA held their first meeting of the semester. They discussed their goals to be more effective and present on campus. One of the specific goals laid out by the executive committee was increasing senator participation with SGA sponsored events. Upcoming events, such as the SGA elections and National Voter Registration Day, were also discussed. SGA also addressed complaints about Bell Center hours and inefficiencies with Intramural sports that were sent through the online Student Issue Report.

TUPD 8.25.16 10:57 a.m.

Location: Verna McLean Residence Halls Consumption of alcohol by minor 8.26.16 6:21 p.m.

Location: Dickie Smith Complex Offenses against property: theft 8.26.16 10:17 p.m.

Location: Bruce Thomas Residence Hall Possession of alcohol by a minor 8.27.16 11:00 p.m.

Location: Sector 2 Consumption of alcohol by a minor 8.28.16 9:28 p.m.

Location: McFarlin Residence Halls , Fire Alarm

Index News...................................... 2-3 Advertisements ..................... 4 A&E...................................... 7-8 Opinion................................ 5-6 Pulse...................................... 9-10 Sports..................................11-12

• NEWS

Student Conduct Board addresses weaknesses with revamp Reworked panel aims to include more discussion in weekly hearings

BY MICHAEL DROZDIAK

The old Trinity Student Conduct Board has been completely reorganized into a new Student Conduct Panel.

The structural change emerges after a full year of review. Trinity staff utilized a system also used by numerous other universities, the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) system, to ensure that the methodology for reviewing student conduct cases was fair, tolerable and transparent.

“Instead of it being the conduct board, it’s the conduct panel,” said Megan Kruse, coordinator of technology and special projects. “In a hearing, a student will be in a discussion-based round table format, and it will be four students and a staff member. It’s been pared down, it’s four instead of eight.”

In contrast to the traditional format of students testifying before a static and intimidating conduct board, the new conduct panel is designed to be dynamic and relaxed. The conduct panel features an open-discussion format which encourages honest dialogue.

“We got a committee together of students familiar with the process, of alumni, faculty, staff and a couple experienced people from outside the university, to come in and do the review with us,” Kruse said. “It’s pretty

NEWS REPORTER

standard amongst universities. It’s sort of a very long standardized test type thing.”

Much of the actual reviewing process took place during the 2015 fall semester.

A series of action steps were determined, and they were gradually implemented in controlled environments during the spring 2016 semester.

“Over the last year, we spent time looking at the strengths and weaknesses of conduct board,” said Nathan Dullea, junior and one of the student members of the review panel.

“We realized one of the weaknesses was that, for people going before conduct board, it felt like they were on trial. We wanted to create a friendlier environment.”

The review found that the old conduct board easily passed a majority of the basic requirements, but still had considerable room to improve, especially in the face of falling student satisfaction.

Partly in response to these pressures, it was determined that in addition to structural changes, there needed to be a clear mission for whichever conduct review system was in use.

“What came out of our review was that firstly, we needed a mission for our conduct board programs, which we had but which hadn’t been written down before,” Kruse said.

It was quickly determined that the purpose of any form of conduct review should focus on the betterment of the Trinity community, rather than on individual punishments.

“We decided the purpose was to be able to influence the Trinity community

as positively as possible,” Dullea said, “To be able to ensure we’re helping students in need, and ensuring that we’re providing a safe environment for everyone.”

The length of sanctions will no longer be indefinite. Rather, the administrator or conduct panel assigning sanctions will set a precise length of the sanctions. The dean of students has the authority to modify assigned sanctions, provided that the result is an equal or lesser sanction, but this authority is expected to be rarely used.

Select first offenses may, in certain cases, not even reach the conduct panel. Instead they will be resolved with a simple one-onone meeting with a staff member Despite the radical nature of this specific change, it is in some ways only the most notable result of a constantly occurring process.

“We do a review about every five years,” said David Tuttle, dean of students. “It’s just a matter of keeping current based on the needs of our current students. Next time we make the changes, hopefully there will be fewer major changes to make.

The shifts in structure and policy are designed to be more nurturing, respectful and helpful for students. But that does not mean that the assigned sanctions are going to be significantly more lenient.

“There’s always going to be some aspect of accountability, that people are accountable for their actions, and there is always going to be some deterrent,” Tuttle said. “But undergirding that is that it’s an educational process.”

Staff editor-in-chief: Julia Elmore managing editor: Grace Frye business manager: Dzung Vu ad director: Lauren Harris & Christina Moore news editor: Alex Uri campus pulse editor: Emily Elliott arts & entertainment editor: Dylan Wagner sports editor: Markham Sigler opinion editor: Daniel Conrad photo editor: Miguel Webber graphic editor: Tyler Herron layout editor: Katie Groke web editor: Abby Birdsell circulation director: Maddie Kennedy reporters: Michael Drozdiak, Chris Garcia,

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Elise Hester, Sidney Hopkins, Courtney Justus, Elizabeth McEnrue, Haley McFadden, Philip McKeon, Jeff Sullivan, Christiana Zgourides columnists: Max Freeman, Mia Garza, Caroline Grand, Sarah Haley, Joy Lazarus, Gabriel Levine, Alexander Perkowski, Emily Peter, Callum Squires, Naheeha Virani copy editors: Soleil Gaffner, Julia Poage, Julia Weis cartoonists: Michael Miller photographers: Noah Davidson, Claudia Garcia, Henry Pratt business staff: Sarah McIntyre, Krushi Patel advertising staff: Melissa Chura, Jordan Williams, Nick Kim adviser: Katharine Martin

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In our previous issue, the stor y “Jun iors off campus st i l l on the meal plan” stated that jun iors released from the campus housing requ irement were st i l l requ ired to purchase a meal plan. In actual it y students were told that their meal plans wou ld automat ical ly be cancel led. The only off-campus jun iors with meal plans are the ones that direct ly contacted Resident ial L ife request ing that they be kept on their meal plans.

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Opinions expressed in the Trinitonian are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Trinity University, its students, faculty, staff or the Trinitonian. Editorials represent the opinions of the Trinitonian Editorial Board. The first copy of the Trinitonian is free; additional copies are 50 cents each. ©2016. All rights reserved.

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NEWS • SEPTEMBER 02, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Student Involvement Fair connects students with campus organizations

Annual event helps clubs increase their visibility on campus

BY CHRISTIANA ZGOURIDES

NEWS REPORTER

Hundreds of first years and other Trinity students crowded into Laurie Auditorium last Monday for the fall Student Involvement Fair (SIF), where over 100 organizations were represented, including 5 outside vendors.

For many campus groups, SIF is the most important recruiting event of the year.

“I have organizations who sometimes don’t meet the deadline of registering for a table, saying, ‘This is our biggest recruiting effort for the whole year, we need to be here.’ So we make exceptions for those,” said Esther Kim, coordinator of student programs.

Kim explained that Student Involvement sometimes has to turn down organizations who want to have a table at SIF simply due to a lack of space.

Representatives from organizations explained the importance of SIF to their recruiting process.

“I think it’s very important because we get to target freshmen, typically that we might not know, so they come and they show interest and we get to get them to involve their friends and then we expand,” said Diana Chavarria, junior and president of the TU Latino Association.

Chavarria explained that beyond the Student Involvement Fair, the TU Latino Association brings in new people by members bringing their friends to the group.

Chavarria estimated that about 20-25 people have showed up regularly to meetings in past years, and that about 80 people signed up at SIF. “I feel like there’s a lot of people that sign up, but most of the committed people are not — it’s not everyone, just a few that actually do stick throughout,” Chavarria said.

This discrepancy between the sign-up sheet and committed membership is common.

“Almost 120 people signed up just today, which is really great. On our mailing list we have currently 150 people, but this is doubling it almost,” said Andrea Acevedo, junior and president of PRIDE. Acevedo explained that participation varies for different types of events.

New and old students alike mingle with members of campus organizations at the Student Involvement Fair in Laurie Auditorium. photo by Noah Davidson

“Maybe in our general meetings it’s like 20 or 25 people that come. Special events such as guest speakers or s’mores at the Murchison fire pit draw larger crowds,” Acevedo said.

While some groups seem to have a large enough following to thrive even without consistent participation from most of their sign-up sheet, other organizations have had a harder time retaining members.

“We have been struggling to get people to participate in things,” said Hamza Adisa, senior and co-president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA).

MSA currently has between five and ten active members, and about 30 non-active members. Fifteen people signed up at SIF. In addition to SIF, MSA recruits new members through collaboration with other clubs, for example, interfaith dialogue.

Adisa explained that MSA is focusing on building a strong base so that the association can continue once the leadership graduates.

“It’s pretty important,” Adisa said of SIF. “At least to us it is. It gives us an idea of what we can expect, it gives us an idea of what to plan for.”

William Mobley, senior and president of the Catholic Student Group also expressed the significance of SIF to his organization.

“I think it’s extremely important,” said Mobley. “It’s where we get everyone to give us their contact information so that we can get information about events that we’re doing out to them.”

SIF is the main recruiting event for the Catholic Student Group (CSG).

“This is the really big one,” said Mobley. “If people come to us first, if they know that we have mass and they come to us, then we can get them to sign up, but otherwise we can’t get the information out to them that we’re doing these things.”

Mobley estimated that about 60 people signed up for the CSG mailing list at SIF. The group currently has over 200 members, with about 80 showing up to weekly mass on a rotating basis. There are about 30 members who show up consistently to meetings and service events.

The International Club has a similar-sized group with different levels of involvement.

“At the moment, the people who help actually plan the stuff, there are about ten of us, but the events are open to everyone on campus,” said Daniela Montufar, sophomore and logistics manager of the International Club. “We send an email to everyone who signs up with us, and even to some other

organizations to invite their own members, so all of our events are posted on LeeRoy every week, so everyone has access to them.”

The Contemporary, a student-run political journal sought readers, editors and writers during SIF. “I would say the Student Involvement Fair is very important for us because we first want to start locally, and with Trinity we’ve been using it as a really great resource to understand what students want and what are important issues that we want to talk about to the community,” said Karina MendezPerez, sophomore and social media manager of The Contemporary.

There are also a number of new clubs on campus that were approved by Student Involvement over the summer.

“We have the new cycling club, the fencing club, the anthropology society,” Kim said.

“The Homer society, which is a manuscript organization, as well as Trinity Art Collective, which was disbanded back in 2012 and then they started back up again this summer.”

Students looking to get involved on campus and organizations looking to increase their membership should contact Kim in the Student Involvement office about opportunities like SIF.

Parmar, vice president of Trinity’s Student Government Association (SGA).

The high increase in budget requests could not be accommodated.

“It came all across the board with every USO organization, because everyone just requested more than they had before. Our student activity fee doesn’t actually change because it’s the same, stagnant 150 it is every year. The fund does change because we have different enrollment every year, but we actually don’t have that enrollment information when we’re deciding this. We actually don’t have the official enrollment information until census day, which is in September. So we’re basing it off our average and, had we funded everyone their full amounts, we would only have had $40,000 for all other organizations. That’s not really fair,” Parmar said.

Ella Oguduwa, a sophomore senator, said that there is a finite amount of money available for SGA to give out.

“We have a limited amount of money to work with. It’s a lot, but it has its limits. We want to give everyone as much as we can, as much as they need, but that might not be everything they want,” Oduguwa said.

The majority of funding requests are handled by the finance committee, not the whole senate. The committee consists of Shivani Parmar, junior, Jacob Sanchez, sophomore, Nicole Gardini, Stephen Thai , senior, and Nina Tao, senior.

“A lot of people come in asking for money, so we have a lot of criteria to follow so we can allocate money toward specific uses. For the most part, funding is handled by the finance committee, which is about eight to ten people. For funding requests over $15,000, then the whole senate has to go through everything and vote on it,” Oduguwa said.

The logistics coordinator for Trinity Progressives, Sara Calvo, said she does not have a problem with the way SGA handles the budget.

“We’ve never really had any issues working with SGA. When we submit budget requests for the events we host, we have to lay out where all of the money is going to be going, and they’ve always been fair,” Calvo said.

A large majority of funding from the student activity fee goes to USOs. “The student activity fee is composed of approximately $300,000 every semester.

I want to say around $250,000 go out to

USOs, so that’s quite a big chunk that’s handed out,” Parmar said.

The senate decided to ensure there was enough money to go to more self-sufficient organizations, rather than grant the full requests of the USOs. “University Sponsored Organizations, as the name suggests, are sponsored by Trinity and will therefore ask for a larger percentage of the student activity fund, a lot more money than other organizations. So if we funded them all the full amount, we’d have a lot less money to go to other clubs and organizations and events on campus that other clubs want to do and participate in. To be fair, we like to make sure there is enough money left for all of them,” Oduguwa said.

Trinity Diversity Connection (TDC) was one of the few organizations that received their full request.

“I think TDC might have just because they actually requested less money than they had before. But across the board, most organizations were not funded their full amount. In the past, the Trinitonian has been, that’s more of an anomaly than it is typical. The student activity fee just doesn’t face inflation,” Parmar said.

SGA faces increase in funding requests Limited student activity budget and influx of demands results in some organizations not receiving full funding

BY PHILLIP McKEON

NEWS REPORTER

Organizations at Trinity, particularly University Sponsored Organizations (USOs) that are maintained by the school’s support, did not receive the entirety of funds requested because more student organizations requested more money this year than had previously been expected.

“Usually, organizations do request more from the student activity fee, but this year we saw a much bigger percentage of increase from pretty much all organizations. So it’s not that we want to cut everyone’s budget drastically, it’s just that when you ask for more money and we don’t have that, we can’t give it to you. Usually, most student organizations receive around 90 to 100 percent of what they requested,” said Shivani

4

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 02, 2016 •

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The Office of Academic Affairs, on behalf of Trinity faculty, extends our sincere congratulations to these Dean’s List* students: * Dean’s List students completed 15 or more grade point carrying hours of credit in one semester and earned a 3.65 or above

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Corrections:

The Trinitonian apologizes for omitting three deserving students: Kate Pauline Jones Kody Lee Jones Ricky Dean Legg

Opinion EDITORIAL

The kids are alright Inspired by this week’s cartoon and the guest column sent in by first year Lutfi Sun, our editors and designers have been comparing childhood stories about our parents. Cringe-worthy dad jokes and moms with an “If you’re not bleeding, you’re fine” philosophy seem common in the newsroom.

Some of us have hovering parents who don’t let us fail and will come to our rescue at the drop of a hat.

Despite their good intentions, the constant cushion they provide can make it hard for us to grow up and become independent. On the other end of the spectrum, some of

us have come home for a weekend to find our former bedroom now serving as extra storage space for Christmas decorations. Our younger siblings are enjoying the attention once allotted to us, and our parents’ contributions to our bank accounts seem to dwindle each year as we come closer to graduation. Though sometimes it seems like they’re throwing us to the wolves, they are teaching us, from a distance, how to be adults. However they express it, our parents want to see us succeed.

We can all agree that deep down we miss them while we’re away.

comic by Michael Miller

COMMENTARY Have an opinion? Want others to hear it? For a chance to be featured as a guest columnist, please submit your article to trinitonian@trinity.edu by Monday night to be in Thursday’s issue of the paper.

Kicking off senior year A concert, a concussion and a contested Pokémon gym

Senior year is upon me.

Where did all that time go? I still remember Bowling CALLUM SQUIRES for Soup OPINION COLUMNIST performing on the baseball field like it was yesterday.

Then there was the whole Tyga debacle. Rack City, eh? My final Welcome Week concert has come and gone, and 3LAU… Well, you tried your best. To be fair, Robert DeLong wasn’t bad. But T-Pain will probably always be the undisputed King of Trinity. We should give him a house on Oakmont and invite him to perform every Welcome Week concert ever for the rest of time because it’s just never going to be better than him, is it?

Imagine Christmas on Oakmont: tamales with Dr. Anderson, cookies and milk at Dean Tuttle’s house and then Hennessey and caviar at T-Pain’s place! Carolers near the chapel while DJ Khaled spins discs with T-Pain on the corner of Shook. Tell me that’s not the kind of party you want to go to.

I think SPB did a good job — everyone I spoke to seemed to have enjoyed Saturday night’s festivities,

though that might be owed to how many fermented wheat and grape beverages they’d consumed — but it didn’t feel quite as special as last year. Maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy. Special shoutout to 3LAU for playing that Pokémon theme remix, though. It was fire.

I’m just not sure Prassel Lawn is the best place to recreate a rave-style atmosphere. It just wasn’t meant to be. I like the idea of trying to mix things up with the style, genre and types of music we bring in for Welcome Week, but personally, I don’t think you’re gonna beat things that we loved when we were a little younger. That’s what made T-Pain so great. He’s just old enough that we could afford to get him onto campus, yet just recent enough to feel a little relevant and still feel a bit like a throwback. Pick artists from Spotify’s middle school dance playlist. It’s pretty solid, for the record.

Preseason for soccer has almost come to its conclusion. The only real story to come out of that is that I managed to get concussed. I’d be rich if we’d had it on video. First, I was struck with a ball in what can only be described here as “the central inner groin area.” Falling over backwards in pain, I received a second strike from the ball, this

time to my head, resulting in the concussion. It was something out of a ridiculous slapstick comedy movie, except it actually happened to me last week. I blacked out for part of the incident, which is a weird feeling. Thankfully I’m recovered and able to look back and laugh. All my teammates told me how funny it was. Maybe I’m glad there isn’t a video of it after all; I’ve had enough embarrassing moments to last a lifetime already.

So my senior year kicked off with a concert and a concussion.

Hopefully this semester ends with a National Championship and a decent GPA, and the year ends with a degree, graduation and some prospect of future employment and happiness. That’s not too much to ask for, is it? I hope everyone is settling back into classes well. If I may have one request for this year: Get involved with Trinity sports!

We have exceptionally talented athletes and they deserve our support. School spirit starts with us, so let’s make it happen.

Finally, can everybody leave my Tiger Statue Pokémon GO gym alone? I’m not giving it up — it’s staying with me and the red team.

Sorry I’m not sorry. Accept it and we can all move on. Have a great weekend, TU.

Finding home half-way across the globe First year international student shares his experience escaping Turkey, arriving at Trinity University LUTFI SUN

GUEST COLUMNIST I am pretty sure you all know the feeling of moving from your home, giving up your comfort zone and leaving your families behind, being just a few weeks away from your new life, apart from the stains of your mistakes in the past, ready to start drawing on a clean canvas.

On move-in day, Dr. Sheryl Tynes invited us to imagine a different move-in experience that happened 15 years ago, just before 9/11. Now, I invite you to imagine a move-in in 2016.

You’re an international first year from Turkey. The country you once would have died for is now the last place you ever want to be. Why? Your father is the governor of social services in Istanbul. That is to say, you have met many victims and witnessed child abuse incidents happening in orphanages around the city. So you are pretty familiar with such stories that people just skim through in newspapers. Your father stands up and fights against this sick and inhumane system in Care and Social Rehabilitation Centers (CSRCs) on every side of the mega-city. Of course, just like they will with every person who wants to make a difference, politicians get into your father’s way. Against his will, they move your father to Konya, a much

smaller, but still beautiful, city in Turkey. You think they should be grateful to him for his endeavor, and yes, they should, but this is not how things work in your country right now. It is then you realize that, if you are an honest person with common sense, you are going to have enemies. And in Turkey, things get harder every other day for people who are not such lovers and no-matter-what obeyers of the ruling party, AKP. Just two days after a coup attempt on Friday, July 15, your father gets fired. Wednesday of that week, your bell rings and you open the door to face five police officers, one cameraman and a high-ranking public prosecutor. They come into your house and search every corner, not leaving a single box unfolded. They take your books, bank receipts, computers and every electronic device as evidence. They detain your father, then arrest him without a trial or a fair hearing because the government has declared a state of emergency! Since then, Turkey has been ruled by executive orders of the president, who cannot be sued or questioned by any authority, not even that of the constitutional court. In a few weeks, more than 40,000 people get detained, and around 20,000 get arrested, including two of your uncles. Lawyers are threatened and tortured, so that people like you

will not have any judicial help.

When you finally find a lawyer, which was not an easy or cheap process, government officers don’t let your father speak to his lawyer.

When they eventually do, they impose limitations and record their meetings. For more than ten days, you see pictures of torturing in the news everyday and have no idea how your father is.

When the first visitation day comes, you, as a family, decide not to cry in front of your father. Five hours pass and you keep waiting for the 15 minute meeting, which will feel like a couple of seconds.

You finally have the chance to see him, behind bars and a thick dusty window. You talk to him through an old handset receiver. He keeps telling you and your brothers not to let anything distract you from pursuing your goals and passions.

He says he is always praying that you get a degree from a successful U.S. college. Then during the last seconds, your parents start saying how much they love each other and you all burst into tears, breaking your agreement. And that is all: this is the only meeting you will have with your father for at least a year.

Why? Because he is accused, without any evidence, of attempting to destroy the constitutional order and taking down the democratically-elected

government. On top of this, the government is trying to make the death sentence legal in your country again in order to execute people like your father and put their bodies in a place they call “traitor cemetery.”

But, what can you do? Even your friends don’t believe you because they trust what they see on TV more than your words!

Your neighbors — whom you used to share dinners with — will not get in the same elevator with you and do not reply to your greetings.

Why not? Because you are officially traitors! Your passports are canceled and your bank accounts are blocked. You are known and treated as terrorists! Your car is stopped and searched by an antiterror team in the middle of your neighborhood. You are barely let into your father’s workplace (the governor’s building) even with a cop accompanying and directing you, because you are labeled dangerous. Despite everything, you never forget what your mom keeps saying to you: “Keep your heads up and never look down! We are strong because of our innocence.”

Right after you get your new passport, you leave the country that you don’t want to call home anymore, and you start a journey of your own to find a new home.

And on the front cover of your adventure book, your mom is

looking at your eyes and saying, “My little sons, my lives, my precious ones, I am sorry that you had to grow up so early.”

In this long journey, you finally find a big island overseas, but you can’t call it home yet. Then you are welcomed by your beautiful ISO coordinator, Señora Samsara and her friends, lifesaver Ono and eversmiling Charlotte. They get into your face and shout altogether: “Hey Lutfiiiii! We are so glad you made it here.” Later on, your supercool roommate Will’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, open their arms and treat you as their son. You become No. 1 pals with your other roommate, The Real Nabeel. Days go by and what you see on people’s faces is a smile, not disapproval, and what you hear from them is “Hi Lutfi,” not curses or threats.

Then you look around, and every corner of campus starts crying: “You Belong Here.”

I decided to write these lines after witnessing the courage on the speakers’ faces at the NSO Diversity Session seminar. Their brave souls and confident manner showed me the power of sharing.

And here I am, trying to tell you how I have discovered, grown and become a totally different person in a month. I want to thank you all because I did find my home here at Trinity University.

Yes, I belong here!

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 02, 2016 •

OPINION

Vary your sources, vary your viewpoints Democracy thrives when citizens digest diverse opinions

Democratic societies guarantee a right to a free exchange of ideas. This serves as a ALEX PERKOWSKI baseline for OPINION COLUMNIST the self-rule of people.

Since the invention of writing, ideas and thoughts have been placed to paper and subsequently read, studied and pondered. With the advent of the internet, there has been a greater capacity for this communication than society could possibly digest and disseminate quickly. The great differentiator is the position of the average person as not only reader, but also writer and publisher.

The harnessing of the internet has allowed our society to become more connected and sentimental than before. Information is streamed and sent around the world in a matter of seconds. Every morning, news is broadcast from print, television and internet mass media outlets. This increase in constant broadcasting has led to a fracture: Populations associate familiarity and ease of access with quality of work. Furthermore, these consumers do not broaden their scope as they gain loyalty to these particular outlets.

As anyone who reads Reddit, which web analytics aggregator Alexa ranks as the most popular news website,

can tell you, groupthink is more than Orwellian. There is nothing wrong with like-minded groups coming together to discuss issues and the solutions. But the problem lies in the lack of interaction between these groups. Different narratives lead to different perspectives.

A cursory viewing of two opposing websites this week regarding the latest Anthony Weiner sexting scandal shows how ridiculous this can become. On The Drudge Report, the 23rd most-visited news website, the headline is “She’s Had Enough Weiner.” On CNN, the second most-visited news website, the headline is “Abedin, Weiner Separating After New Sexting Allegations.” Despite the interesting headlines, the message is clear. Two different news websites, but with dramatically differently viewpoints, lending to different narratives.

This isn’t a new issue. Mass consumption of popular media has been prevalent since man put pen to paper. Attitudes about the world have been consistently shaped by seminal documents. Everyone in school learns about Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”; not everyone learns about yellow journalism in the late 19th century, when newspapers went to increasingly ridiculous lengths to gain readership.

But never has news consumption been so high and the barrier to entry so low — until now. This is absolutely

a positive, as the aforementioned free exchange of ideas leads to a freer society. Today it is incredibly easy to gain insight from numerous, diverse perspectives. Primary sources are shared and viewed faster than ever. News should flow as freely as possible. Unfortunately, this isn’t always what happens.

The digestion of the same narrative from the same source, however, leads to a denigration of democracy.

Different ideas, perspectives and articles should gain popularity and incite discussion based on the quality of content and argument, not based on the banner at the top of the source. A dominance of a negative source can lead to the dominance of a negative perspective and ideology.

Solving this problem seems easy: simply read more news from different sources. But there is more to it than that.

The news is not consumed wholly for information, but for entertainment. People enjoy reading about what they find interesting, and enjoy agreeing with what is written even more. Furthermore, it is difficult to convince someone already rooted in their beliefs. And the most common news topics tend to correlate with the most controversial topics.

So how do we, as a society, help end this problem? Read more sources, search for more perspectives and stop using Snapchat as a news source.

graphic by Tyler Herron

AE &

“Stranger Things” renewed for second season Netflix succeeds again with the surprise hit that captured a wide audience with its emphasis on suspense and its dark atmosphere. A mix of classic 80s horror films and supernatural thrillers, “Stranger Things” continues for nine more episodes in 2017.

Gene Wilder Dies The world lost a brilliant comic on August 29 with the death of Jerome Silberman, better known by his professional name, Gene Wilder. From his awe-inspiring and schizophrenic performance as “Willy Wonka” to his classic wind-breaking role in “Blazing Saddles,” Wilder inspired millions with his ability to inspire both profound wonder and gut-busting laughter. He will be missed.

Looking forward to the big names performing in upcoming Fall concerts San Antonio to receive highprofile artists in coming months As the first semester of the 2016-2017 school year gets going, the musical MAX FREEMAN scene in San Antonio A&E WRITER l o o k s forward to some big names that could potentially attract students to venture outside the comfortable Trinity Bubble.

Part of the reason San Antonians don’t see big names pouring into their city is because of the proximity of Austin, a national magnet when it comes to hosting concerts. Austin

City Limits attracts hundreds of musical groups from around Texas and the rest of the country to come and perform. It also doesn’t help that Austin gains recognition and national familiarity as the Texas state capitol.

Despite Austin’s popularity, San Antonio is managing to bring some well-established artists for the second half of the year.

Maroon 5 September 3, AT&T Center Together since 1994, Adam Levine and Mickey Madden will be representing the band at the AT&T Center here in San Antonio.

Maroon 5 has yet to release an album this year, but remains popular due to their old classics and 2015 hit album “V,” which included billboard-topping tracks “Maps,” “Sugar” and “Animals.”

Though not all of the band’s members will be in attendance, the concert will include performances

by Tove Lo and Rock City. Both featured artists bring their own

unique flavor to the concert, with Tove Lo’s electro-pop hits and Rock City’s Caribbean vibes.

Students might be interested in this because the early timing may be optimal for getting out without worrying about being weighed down by a heavy workload from classes.

Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas September 10, AT&T Center Lovato and Jonas will appear together in their “Future Now” Tour, which promotes each of their individual albums. Lovato’s 2015 “Confident” and Jonas’s 2016 “Last Year Was Complicated” offer fresh takes from the performers.

However, the two sharing the stage will be refreshing to see because their long-time friendship, dating back to their work in Disney’s hit “Camp Rock,” will bring a unique fun to the concert.

The two offer a great show for the die-hard Disney Channel fans who have longed to see the older stars return to perform together.

5 Seconds of Summer September 14, AT&T Center This Australian rock band may still be up-and-coming, but has started out strong by topping international charts and making it into the 2016 “Ghostbusters” soundtrack.

Before making it into the movies, 5 Seconds of Summer released their second album in the summer of 2015, and this year is only the second time the group has headlined a tour, previously touring with One Direction.

Keith Urban October 13, Alamodome Keith Urban brings to San Antonio a reputation of huge success in the country music genre, and as a singer-songwriter in general. Invited into the Grand Ole Opry in 2012, Urban is a traditional country singer who only relies on the mic, his guitar and his voice to make some of the best music in the field.

Coming up in mid-October,

Urban’s concert in San Antonio could be a great chance to take a break from labs, study guides and essays in order to bring students’ blood pressure down with some easy-listening country music.

Billy Joel December 9, AT&T Center Billy Joel is an American singer, most famous for his skills on the piano, that first came into the world of rock and roll in the early 1970’s with his smash hit, “Piano Man,” and has been producing hits ever since. It’s hard to describe the entirety of Joel’s success throughout his career, but it’s worth mentioning that he has won several Grammy Awards and been inducted into more than one hall of fame, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Coming at the most stressful time of the year for college students, Joel’s experience on the stage provides an opportunity for people to sit back and enjoy one of the alltime greats do his thing.

Explore Texas this Labor Day Weekend with a tourist-free destination vacation Out-of-state student finds holiday destinations natives would be proud of visiting

Labor Day weekend is just around the corner, and you might be dying to get JULIA WEIS COPY EDITOR off campus and do something new and fun. Why not take the opportunity to explore some of the natural wonders that Texas has to offer?

I did some research on day trips in the areas surrounding San Antonio that you can test out this weekend, from beaches to hikes to sightseeing. Since I’m from out of state, I always feel I need to see as much of Texas as possible to catch up with my Texas-grown peers. If you were born and raised in Texas and think you’ve seen it all, keep reading. You might not have heard of some of these hidden gems.

Beaches Been to Galveston too many times or looking for something calmer than South Padre? Try Rockport Beach, known for being clean, safe, romantic and only a 2.5 hour drive from campus. Another clean and peaceful option is Mustang Island,

just a bit farther south than some of the popular Texas beaches, also only 2.5 hours away. And if you’re willing to make the 3.5 hour drive, Matagorda Bay Nature Park is worth your visit. This quiet beach is said to be one of the most beautiful spots on the coast, according to “Texas Monthly.” There’s plenty to do, from bird-watching to fishing or just relaxing in the sun.

Hike + Swim Have you climbed Enchanted Rock and swam through Barton Springs and Hamilton Pool?

If so, you know that the Texas Hill Country has a variety of beautiful landscapes, including swimming holes and hills to climb, and it’s just around the corner from campus. If you’re eager to find more waterfalls and scenic outlooks, I’d recommend these next three destinations. Less than an hour away from campus, Blanco State Park provides visitors the opportunity to hike along or wade in the beautiful falls, go fishing, camping and even tubing. Another great place to take a hike or go for a swim is Garner State Park, located along the Frio River. Make sure you head out early if you plan to make the 1.5 hour drive, because the park is known to close early in the day before it gets too full. And if you’re planning on stopping by our neighboring city of Austin this weekend, I’d recommend taking a look at McKinney Falls. Just 20 minutes from downtown Austin, the park showcases beautiful falls that pour over a limestone ridge, with paved trails that are nice for

biking, hiking or enjoying nature.

Tiny Texas Towns Maybe nature isn’t really your thing. If you weren’t born to climb mountains, but you still want to get out of your dorm this weekend, I have just the thing for you. Maybe you’ve already been to the Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg or gone dancing in Gruene, but have you seen these three tiny Texas towns? Round Top, Texas is a quaint community about two hours out from San Antonio that offers more antique and vintage shops than you could ever dream

of. You can also take a scenic drive through the surrounding area and explore the art and food that the town has. For those of you who are beer connoisseurs (and over 21), check out Shiner, Texas, home of the brewery that produces Shiner Beer. If you want to make the 1.5 hour trip, their opera house and city parks are also sites to see.

Lastly, if you’re a foodie, you should definitely hit the road for only an hour to visit Lockhart, Texas, which “Texas Monthly” boasts is the “barbecue capital of Texas.”

Try one (or all!) of their famous

barbecue joints, and stop by some of the museums and parks.

Before I send you off to explore Texas, I want to encourage y’all to do some research yourself. Make sure you’ve checked for hidden entrance fees, unknown opening hours and weather warnings, so you don’t have an unpleasant surprise when you get to your destination. Once you’ve done that, give these a try or come up with your own list of potential day trips and let us know what you think. Have fun, Tigers. And make sure to remember the sunscreen. graphic by Tyler Herron

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 02, 2016 •

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

“Spiderman” sequel comes with controversy Casting puts diversity issues in the spotlight In recent weeks, the internet has been riddled with vocal fans criticizing the casting EMILY PETER of biracial A&E WRITER former Disney star Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, known as simply “Zendaya” to fans, as Mary Jane in the new sci-fi fantasy film “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

The controversy began as a response to Zendaya’s physical appearance, but it may suggest a larger problem within the media industry. Zendaya’s role is not only a provocative glimmer of hope in a positive direction, but also very important to the industry’s stance on representation. A self-

proclaimed feminist and person of color playing such a powerful character in the comic world is sure challenge viewers and make waves in more ways than one.

After her role was announced, Zendaya’s skin color had a large affect on her perceived ability to fill the obligations of her character.

Many Twitter users took to their keyboards to criticize the casting choice, responding that Mary Jane was illustrated as having red hair, green eyes and a light complexion.

However, other users countered this argument, saying that naturally blonde and blue-eyed Kirsten Dunst was not met with the same acrimony when her physical characteristics did not meet those consumer “requirements” in the previous making of the Spiderman trilogy.

Although the former Disney star’s casting has caused a great uproar in comic culture, Zendaya was not the first to be affected by the racial controversy. In 2010, fans were disconcerted by the casting of Idris Elba as

a Norse god in the blockbuster “Thor”. The mythological god was drawn as a white male in the original comic; however, Elba is a person of color. Likewise, in the continuation, “Thor: Ragnarok,” that is set to be released November 3, 2017, Tessa Thompson was met with resentment for her role of the warrior goddess Valkyrie.

Similar to Zendaya, a lack of wide representation in the media led to fans questioning the casting of Elba and Thompson.

In the wake of these recent controversies, a study has been conducted that highlights the quantitative validity of media representation. According to a recent study conducted by the University of Southern California, racial and ethnic representation in film is not the only piece that can be extracted from this narrative. Within this study, 11,306 speaking characters were examined in relation to their demographics, sexualizations and roles. Researchers at USC took into account the individual’s

participation on and off set. Data collection and analysis over a series of years suggests a larger scale diversity problem in Hollywood: Out of the 11,306 speaking roles that were assessed, 66.5 percent were male and 33.5 percent were female. This is two males to every one female speaking or named character. Of those speaking characters, 71.7 percent were White, 12.2 percent Black, 5.8 percent Hispanic/Latino, 5.1 percent Asian, 2.3 percent Middle Eastern and 3.1 percent identified as Other. Hence, 28.3 percent of all speaking characters were from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. Of the 11,306 characters, 11,194 characters were able to be evaluated for apparent sexuality.

The study found 49 Lesbian characters, 158 Gay characters and 17 Bisexual characters. That is 2 percent of all speaking characters across the 414 movies identified as queer. Only seven speaking or named characters identified as transgender across the sample, which leaves the total calculation

below 1 percent.

Evidently, the industry still remains largely exclusive — a problem that reaches far beyond Peter Parker’s love interest. USC researchers offer that the solution may lie within the executive positions that make up the scope of media production. The study states that “strategies must involve more than simply ‘checking a box’ when casting a film, series or episode” and “go beyond making a ‘diversity hire’”. Making a conscious effort to expand boundaries, Hollywood is more likely to make leaps in the right direction through expansion of the demographics of those who control media production and make up the executive suite, not just hiring actors who don’t perfectly resemble superheroes.

If we plan to address the exclusivity within the world of Hollywood as we have seen through the “Spiderman: Homecoming” controversy, it is crucial that we begin to reimagine a world of proverbial casting past what we see to the naked eye.

“Endless,” a visual album in which each track is accompanied by a music video. The next day, he dropped “Blonde” on Apple Music, a magazine titled Boys Don’t Cry and a music video for his first track, “Nikes” the next day.

Some were upset at Ocean’s decision to release “Blonde” on only Apple Music. I’m sure the company got many new subscribers – I was one of them. However, exclusive streaming is now common among artists. Whether that’s right or wrong, I can’t say. I’m just glad there’s always a free trial.

Reactions were pretty much the same across the board. People were shocked and in disbelief.

After four years of saying he would drop an album, Ocean finally did and put out enough music for years to come. Twitter blew up.

News sites compiled the internet’s best reactions to Ocean’s album drop. There was even a sponsored

“Blonde” filter on Snapchat.

Ocean was praised and supported by fans — musicians, actors and normal people alike. Kanye West, Tyler the Creator and thousands of others flocked to express their positive feelings through tweets, videos, blogs and much more.

The world was rightfully pleased.

“Blonde” is eloquent, visionary and transparent. Ocean tells a story with his music. From the minimalist beats to more abstract concepts of love, heartbreak and drug use, Ocean’s music represents fluidity and complexity.

As an openly bisexual R&B/hiphop artist, Ocean’s music has a different perspective to offer within his genre. “Blonde” is personalized and poetic, with Ocean’s laid-back R&B style creating an aura of calmness and stability. This aura defines Ocean. Because Ocean is one of the quieter figures in the music industry, his music is harder

to understand, making him even more special.

Ocean has written on every track and produced all of them. In each track, he connects to his audience with songs that have powerful and personal messages. In “Nikes,” Ocean pays tribute to Trayvon Martin. In “Be Yourself,” he uses a mother’s voicemail to her child to stress the importance of staying true to one’s roots. In “Nights” and “Futura Free,” Ocean sings about many of his struggles, like losing his studio during Hurricane Katrina and making less than minimum wage back when he was a teenager.

With big-name collaborators like Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar and producers like Pharrell and Tyler the Creator, Ocean uses their talent to highlight his own. In “Ivy,” Beyonce only provides vocals, but it seems to uplift the song. In “Skyline To,” Kendrick raps a few

phrases. Ocean is and remains the focus, as he should.

According to Pitchfork, “Blonde” is expected to top the Billboard 200 album chart. Pitchfork also gave “Blonde” a nine out of ten review.

It received a score of 87/100 from Metacritic and four out of five stars from The Rolling Stone. Overall, high praise from many sources.

On Tumblr, Ocean expressed his love and gratitude with a little sass.

“I had the time of my life making all of this. Thank you all. Especially those of you who never let me forget I had to finish. Which is everyone of y’all. Haha. Love you,” Ocean said.

Ocean’s unique personality and style continues to prove why he’s one of the best in the industry. If you love music, do yourself a favor and make an Apple Music account, plug in your headphones and get ready to experience the perfection that is Frank Ocean.

Frank Ocean drops new “Blonde” album

“Blonde” garners high acclaim among fans and critics alike

Four years after releasing “Channel Or a n g e ,” Frank Ocean blessed the world with NABEEHA VIRANI his second studio album, A&E WRITER “Blonde.”

Ocean is known for his incredible songwriting skills, having written for Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, John Legend and many other artists.

His talent was prevalent in his first album, “Channel Orange,” which is why fans were so eager to see what he would produce next.

On Aug. 19, Ocean released

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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT “Have a great time and a wonderful semester, but make sure that you incorporate enough rest into it.”

Kenneth Greene, professor of music

P

ulse

Sophomore Natalie Carrier sketches a variety of planets alongside other students on a staircase wall during the Library Chalk Mural social event that Trinity Art Collective held on Friday, August 26 photo by Henry Pratt

It’s real: Trinity Art Collective is not just a pigment of your imagination

New club strives to promote knowledge and appreciation of various media

BY COURTNEY JUSTUS PULSE REPORTER Trinity Art Collective welcomes anyone with a love for art and seeks to help students all across campus appreciate art as well.

Danielle Trevino rebooted the club

this semester with high hopes of finding more students with these shared interests.

“I think that at Trinity University, there’s this stigma where it’s nonfavorable toward people who are not STEM majors,” said Danielle Trevino, a sophomore communication and art major and president of Trinity Art Collective.

“I think there is a lack of respect for people who are majoring in music, art or art history. As much as science and innovation are important to society, I think that culture is as well.”

Club members hosted their first event last Friday, during which

students created a chalk mural. It brought together art lovers from all across campus.

“I’m an art major, so I love art and I really want to be a part of sharing my love for art with the rest of the Trinity community,” said Christiane Lau, a sophomore art and business major and treasurer of Trinity Art Collective.

Although several of the club officers are art majors, it is not necessary to be an art major in order to become a member.

“There’s only one qualification that you need to have to be part of our club and it’s just to appreciate art,” Trevino said.

Danielle hopes that club members and other interested students can go on field trips in San Antonio and different cities in Texas.

“We would like to have more interaction within the city and we would like to expand our Trinity bubble in relation to art,” Trevino said. “We’re not just going to San Antonio museums: let’s see if maybe we could go to Blanton in Austin or Houston museums or the Kimbell Museum, so just trying to expand our reach.”

Trinity Art Collective members want people to experience all that San Antonio has to offer in terms of art and beyond.

“We are about art and creation and experience,” said Abigail Wharton, a sophomore studio art and psychology major and secretary of Trinity Art Collective.

“San Antonio has a lot of amazing opportunities, from museums to theater to projects that just pop up on the weekends and we really wanted to broaden the scope of how Trinity interacts with that.”

Some of the new officers were inspired to restart the fading club after they realized that many previous officers and members were no longer on campus to support it.

“Art club” continued on page 10

Technology center upgrades name and services The revamped electronics station provides more benefits for students

BY ELIZABETH McENRUE PULSE REPORTER Previously known as the Center for Learning and Technology, Academic Technology (AT) is the new face of technology for student use after merging with Information Technology Services. This program

aims to provide technology access to enhance a student’s learning experience by working with faculty and staff to enrich their teaching methods.

Members of AT pursued the transition after they felt that students lacked awareness regarding all the technology available for their use.

“We just want to spread the word and make awareness of all the great resources we have available for student use,” said Kelly Rodriguez, academic technology and media support coordinator.

Technology available to students includes a variety of items. Some

of the various resources available include Lynda.com, Philo, HBO GO, DSLR cameras, video cameras and iPads. Technology available to checkout within the lab include headphones, study rooms, 3-D printers and a laser cutter.

AT also offers help to students unfamiliar with technology.

“We provide one-on-one consultations about any of our resources,” said Greg Longoria, director of academic technology.

Another unique feature of AT is its creative spaces.

“Available to students is the Maker Room, where students can create, design and tinker with tech,

crafts or software. We also have a flip room, video conference room and media presentation room,” Longoria said.

New technology will also be available for student use for the upcoming school year.

“We were involved in a kickstarter for a 360 camera. We finally have it now, so we’re playing with that before we’re rolling it out into our inventory,” Rodriguez said.

More new technology this year includes an upgraded wireless network in the dorms.

“In the dormitories we’ve gone from 206 wireless access points to 484 access points. This gets

better coverage and faster speeds for student utilization,” said Frank Zapata, director and chief information technology officer.

An upgraded network was necessary to accommodate those living on campus, as many students bring at least two or three pieces of technology with them to college.

“It was built with the assumption that students now show up with at least three wireless devices. A majority of the students do not even plug anything in anymore,” Zapata said.

AT can be found on the first floor of Coates Library. The daily hours of operation can be found online.

10

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 02, 2016 •

CAMPUS PULSE

Librarians continue to study, too

New art club

librarian for the biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics and astronomy departments. He teaches literacy information within the departments as it relates to student research projects.

“I try to support the scholarly activities of faculty and students in the broadest ways possible. To be the person who can either provide solutions, discover alternatives or refer to appropriate channels,” Lacy said.

His research pertains to data management on campus.

“Sometimes when researchers apply for grants, the organization providing the grant requires that the data be made public. So the researcher has to include a plan on how they will gather, organize, use and save the data related to the project as well as how they will make the data publicly available when the project is complete,” Lacy said.

When interests overlap, librarians may collaborate with their colleagues and research together. Hughes and Lacy recently published an article about gamification, the use of game design elements, such as scoring points and earning badges, in nongame settings. The article criticizes the rhetoric of gamification proponents as well as the practical and ethical limitations of gamification within a library setting.

Christopher Nolan, associate university librarian, assists students with research assignment needs and general information literacy skills.

“I also serve as the liaison librarian to the school of business and the religion department. That means I teach research skills in classes that have such a component, provide individual assistance to faculty and students doing work in those areas and manage these collections. This includes ordering new books, determining which

“The professors noticed that last semester TAC had kind of disappeared and all the officers had either graduated or gone abroad,” Wharton said. “We wanted to put together an organization that was about art and art in San Antonio, because we didn’t see that reflected elsewhere on campus.”

First-year students began to develop an interest in the Trinity Art Collective even before the fall semester officially kicked off.

“I actually had a lot of first years come up to me at our Student Involvement Fair table and say that they had seen our Facebook page and they liked it, so that’s really cool,” said Beverly Morabito, a sophomore studio art major, who is in charge of PR and marketing.

Morabito and other sophomores were surprised to see that there wasn’t an art club when they were first years, which provided inspiration for them to continue to reform their club.

“I had a couple of art classes last year with other art majors and we were just talking about how much we wanted an art club. We kind of expected to have one available to us in college when we came,” Morabito said. “We just talked to our advisor [Kate Ritson] about how much we wanted there to be an art club and she helped us get it started up.”

Trinity Art Collective will be hosting their next event, a mixer, this Friday, September 2 at 7:00 p.m. in the Drawing Studio on the third floor of the Dicke Smith Music and Art Building.

All students with an interest in art are welcome to attend. For information on future events, check out their Facebook page for the latest information.

Faculty members in library pursue their own education while helping students

BY ELIZABETH McENRUE

PULSE REPORTER

Helping students with research assignments is not all the librarians do: they also conduct their own research on a variety of topics.

Michael Hughes, the instruction and liaison librarian for communication, philosophy and history, provides faculty and students with necessary resources for projects.

“We librarians are indelibly associated with books, which is not such a bad thing, but we select and evaluate all kinds of stuff for the collection, including databases, e-books, DVDs, streaming media, sheet music and various other information products,” Hughes said.

Last year, he taught a First Year Experience (FYE) course on science fiction with professor of religion Ruben Dupertuis. His current research investigates gaming guides.

“At the moment, I’m investigating the ‘serious leisure’ of gamers, namely the social and informational practices of those gamers who write the walkthroughs and game guides published on GameFAQs. These guides, which often run to thousands of words and dozens of pages, are written without pay and for a narrow, specialized audience. What are the rewards and benefits of writing a walkthrough, especially without compensation as an incentive? What motivates someone to undertake such a huge effort? These are the kinds of questions I want to answer.” Hughes said.

Jeff Lacy acts as the instruction and liaison

databases and journals we subscribe to and so on,” Nolan said.

Regarding his own research, Nolan studies the various effects of changes in the library reference services. “​I periodically work on topics related to the use of library reference services, most recently looking at the changes in reference services at libraries and how well librarians assess the new services they are trying, such as online chat help. You may have noticed that we now have a new chat system quite prominent on our library web pages. I’m also really interested in whether libraries’ efforts to promote their services and collections through social media platforms actually achieves anything,” Nolan said.

Benjamin Harris, Head of Instruction Services, analyzes the correlation between values, values-development and information literacy learning. Harris argues that a teacher creates a standard for what a student must learn in class: if a student wants to do well in a class, they must accept the standardized learning outcomes of the class and their underlying values. This thinking also extends to larger communities.

“People tend not to locate and use and evaluate information in an individual vacuum. We kind of do that for assignments sometimes, but most people in their real lives, in their working lives, they’re in small communities and sometimes large communities. And the values of those communities also have an impact on how they use information and what information is valuable to them,” Harris said.

Students can reach out for help from librarians by visiting the library from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. or setting up appointments through the library website at their own leisure.

Continued from page 9

Sports

A Significant Moment Twenty-six years ago today in 1990, Ken Griffey Jr. and his father, Ken Griffey Sr. became the first father-son pair to play in an MLB game on the same team. The special beauty that only sporting competitions offer can be easily missed by many, but this particular day contains a certain sense of transcendence that cannot be ignored. When the Kid and his dad found themselves wearing the same jersey on this day, they undoubtedly recognized that what they were doing was beyond just a game. It was something real they could share for the rest of their lives.

Bump, mind-set, spike: Volleyball is here Tough schedule will provide solid test as girls aim for another SCAC championship

BY ELISE HESTER

SPORTS REPORTER Volleyball season is here at last.

After falling to Southwestern in the SCAC finals last season, the girls are preparing for a tough lineup of competition this season.

“I’m looking forward to the strength of our schedule and the opportunities that lie ahead of us,” said Julie Jenkins, head volleyball coach, senior woman administrator and associate director of athletics.

The Tigers open the season against number one ranked Cal Lutheran at the Pacific Coast Classic. During the season, they go head to head with nine nationally ranked teams.

“We play a lot of ranked teams,” said Lauren Skrobarczyk, first-year middle blocker. “Even if we don’t win all the matches, we’re definitely getting better with every game that we play and that’s exciting.”

With such a strenuous schedule, the team is eager to improve their game as the anticipation of the opportunities the season will bring steadily mounts.

“A lot of it has to do with mental toughness,” said Maggi Linker, first-year middle blocker. “That’s something each of us individually can control, that you can’t always

The girls are excited for the upcoming season, and have brought in 8 first-years to assist in their quest to avenge last season’s SCAC finals loss to Southwestern. They open their season this weekend in California at the Pacific Coast Classic in California. photo by Noah Davidson

control the outcome of every play.”

“We have been talking in our team meetings about how we can improve our mental approach to the game, ways that we can be better teammates, ways that we can be even stronger mentally,” Jenkins said, “we’ve definitely taken time with that and the reason being is because we are so young.”

The seven sophomores, three juniors, and one senior that make up the team have welcomed eight first years. These new players have spent the past few weeks

integrating themselves into the team. As a whole. the team has been working hard to learn the sets and build cohesiveness.

“Right now I think it just takes a little bit to just build up connections, for the newcomers to understand our defense and offense,” said Erika Edrington, senior setter.

“Coming in as a first year you never know what to expect but the team has meshed really well,” Skrobarczyk said.

The players feel their unity is a

distinct advantage.

“Our greatest strength lies in how each of our individual personalities come together as a team and how they’re gonna transfer over onto the court,” Linker said, “Some teams have issues with how personalities come together and I can already tell we’re not gonna have that.”

The group can function on the court because of their closeness off it. This sense of trust will benefit them come game time.

“The whole vibe of our team has always been working for each other

instead of by yourself and that really helps us,” Edrington said.

“The team chemistry is dynamite and they’re a pleasure to coach.

Where we are right now I’m pretty happy,” Jenkins said, “We need to keep working this hard each and every week.”

The team foresees this season allowing plenty of opportunities for growth, as well as many entertaining matches.

“They’ve always been a fun team to watch but I think even more so,” Jenkins said, “I think it’s gonna be a fast paced game and one that students will really enjoy watching.”

As Trinity volleyball prepares to face some tough competition, they welcome the opportunity to learn, grow and rise to the challenge.

During the season Trinity will face a number of ranked teams, and knocking one off would allow for Trinity to improve drastically.

“We’re gonna get opportunities every weekend to break into that top 25 poll,” Jenkins said.

In addition to improving in their rankings, Trinity volleyball is looking forward to improving in their individual and team wide approach to the game.

“I’m anticipating a lot of growth from each one of us all the way down from us as freshmen to our senior leader,” Linker said, “Just everyone growing together.”

As they head into the season, the Tigers are clearly stoked with tons of confidence and are ready to embrace any and all challenges that lie ahead.

Should Texas secede for the Olympics?

Texan nationalists sing the praises of an imaginary Team Texas, how much are they exaggerating? not even compete for the United States. The Olympians listed by the Dallas Morning News included 64 Olympians who went to Texas

the Spurs, but in the Olympics, he plays for his home country of France. Houston Dash midfielder Carli Lloyd was listed as a “Texas

ELISE HESTER

SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR Some Texans today would argue that we should secede and become our own country. The idea is entertaining, but it falls apart due to logistics. In the same way, Texas competing in the Olympics, while initially exciting, also disintegrates upon closer inspection.

The Dallas Morning News reports that over 100 Texans competed at Rio. Meanwhile, an Esquire article details how Texas would rank third in gold medals with 26 gold medals and 42 total medals. However, the Dallas Morning News was counting any athlete who had any tie to Texas, many of whom probably would not compete for Team Texas.

In fact, 61 of the athletes on the list of 121 Olympians did

graphic by Tyler Herron

schools: there were 25 Aggies, 19 from UT Austin and 7 from SMU. While it is impressive that so many Olympians competed at Texas universities, this does not mean the athletes would compete for the Republic of Texas. In addition, 13 non-Texans who play for Texas professional teams were listed, along with 48 athletes who actually call Texas home.

For example, Tony Parker was on the list because he plays for

Olympian” even though she grew up in New Jersey and only started playing for Houston last year. The list of 121 shrinks to 48 when you count the Olympians who would likely compete for Team Texas.

According to Esquire, Texas ranks third in gold medals, losing only to the United States and Great Britain. In the total medal count, Texas ties with Germany for sixth place. However, if you are counting only athletes who would plausibly

represent Texas in the Olympics, the medal count shrinks to 11 gold medals, and 21 medals overall.

Texas would be in eighth place in gold medals between Japan and France and not even make the top ten in the total medal count.

Even then, some of the medals won by Texans were won as part of a team made up of other Americans.

If Texas was a country by herself, having one member of the U.S. Women’s Basketball team wouldn’t guarantee a gold, even if that one player is Houston native and WNBA superstar Brittney Griner.

Texan Courtney Okolo brought home a gold for the 4x400 relay, but without Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis and Allyson Felix, she would not have won.

It is clear that Texas would not do as well as initial estimates seem to indicate, especially considering the advantage athletes receive by being part of Team USA. If Texas were its own country, here’s what would probably happen.

First off, the training that typically takes place in Colorado Springs would be scattered throughout Texas. We would not have money

to spend on new training facilities, since we would be an independent nation. Swimmers would train at UT. Gymnasts would still train with the Karolyis, and Track and Field would train at Texas A&M. In swimming, we would not be competitive. Longhorn Jimmy Feigen would not stay with us, but would swim for the United States. We would still win some track medals, as 27 percent of Texan Olympians are track and field athletes. Simone Biles would win gold in three individual events, but with just her and Madison Kocian we could not win team all around. In basketball, we would be like France, playing with the few Texans that are in the NBA, and susceptible to a squashing by the USA. In other events, we could win a medal or two, but we’d be mediocre, akin to New Zealand.

What is special about the United States is the diversity of each unique state. Texas is home to many talented people, but we are a piece of a larger picture. We need each other to be the best that we can be in government, in culture and in the Olympics.

12

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 02, 2016 •

SPORTS

When sports play mind games First year A discussion of the mental state of athletes, plus the challenges they face spotlight We all have dreams. When we were young, we fantasized about future success in quixotic fashion.

For myself, the dream consisted of athletic glory.

I lived vicariously through the MARKHAM SIGLER great athletes of SPORTS EDITOR my childhood — Derek Jeter, Allen Iverson and Peyton Manning. The older you get, the more you realize how mortal these modern superheroes actually are. But when you were ten years old shooting baskets in your front yard, the end of the evening would stir the restless, imaginary crowd, and it became your mission to deliver a victory just like one of the greats.

You weren’t simply watching Kobe carry the team on his back — you were Kobe. Now, you may have needed a couple re-dos, but by the time you went inside, you had clinched the NBA championship.

At some point, we realize our limitations, and realign our desire for fulfillment with more realistic goals — a quality degree, fulfilling career, close friends — ordinaryperson ideals. I still remember asking my dad when I was ten or so if he thought I would be qualified for Division I basketball.

I felt I was exemplifying humility by asking and not telling — of course I would be qualified, it was only a matter of time before Duke came knocking on our front door — but my dad, never one to mislead, replied, “Maybe, if you’re lucky.” Ten-year-old me misinterpreted the following smirk as one I was a part of (smiling about my humility), not the subject of (it’s dawning on me that he was inwardly laughing at my incoming wake-up call.)

Everyone faces the fact that they can no longer compete at an “official” level, some merely sooner than others. The giants on SportsCenter who fill the nightly highlight reel with bodily brilliance will spend the majority of their life being an onlooker. As the scout tells Billy Beane in “Moneyball,” “We’re all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children’s game, we

just don’t know when that’s gonna be. Some of us are told at 18, some of us are told at 40, but we’re all told.”

The cold fact about our childhood dreams often escaping us regards the select few who do reach the pinnacle of athletic success. It’s what happens to these physical specimens when the spotlight forgets them: a truly terrible and seldom spoken-of issue in the world of sports. Sports psychologist Scott Goldman calls it an “under-recovery.” For the thousands of men and women who left Rio last week, it could be referred to as “post-Olympic depression.” The immense physiological strain of being an Olympic athlete often leads to an emotional letdown following the games, where the athlete can find themselves feeling empty and lacking worthwhile meaning.

Is this surprising? The insane amount of pressure these men and women are facing under themselves, and, especially in the modern social media age, from an entire nation, can be overwhelming (google Gabby Douglas social media — it’s heartbreaking). Many athletes stake their worth on their performance in events that occur as often as a presidential election. It really is incomprehensible for you or I to empathize with this monomaniacal thought process. There’s a fantastic 1981 film called “Chariots of Fire,” based on the life of Harold Abrahams, the 1924 gold medalist in the 100-meter dash. In that unique mixture of honesty and insecurity, Harold’s character says at a crucial point, “I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; four feet wide, with ten lonely seconds to justify my existence. But will I?” Michael Phelps’ struggles with alcohol abuse are well-documented. Following the 2008 Olympics, he spiraled into that dreadful abyss of self-loathing and, consequently, addiction. He entered rehab in 2014, trained well for the Rio games (after hardly prepping for London in 2012), and performed admirably. Despite his recent triumphs, his subsequent claims that he is at peace — that he has found himself — are vacuous platitudes that are impossible to take seriously. He is saying exactly what he is supposed to say, what’s expected of him.

Mark Spitz was Phelps before Phelps could

tie his shoes. He dominated the ‘70s, setting seven world records in the Munich games of BY HALEY McFADDEN 1972. Since then, he cannot seem to settle SPORTS REPORTER on an identity. He attempted a comeback when he was 41 and failed. He’s tried acting, Christopher Morrish real estate and the “water business.” Most Christopher Morrish revealing, however, was his attitude while he is a goalkeeper from was still swimming — still a national icon.

Florida. His love for the Before his seventh race in those ’72 games, game gave him the desire he said, “I know I say I don’t want to swim to play in college, but he before every event, but this time, I’m serious. knew that he needed If I swim six and win six, I’m a hero. If I a school that provided swim seven and win six, I’m a failure.” more than soccer.

We look to these iconic television figures, “Since I was a little who are barely real, living, breathing people kid, playing college to us, as symbols of how hope and hard work soccer has been my dream. But ever since can pay off in our own messy, imperfect lives. my sophomore year of high school, I never When we were kids, we wanted to be them. really thought about playing for a big-time Today, their play motivates us to believe Division I school.” Morrish said. “I wanted that transcending our human limitations is to go to a Division III school that has great feasible — an inherently good thing. There academics and a really good soccer program.” is a raw and unmistakable beauty within Morrish found Trinity through a their performances, be it Simone Biles on connection a high school coach. the balance beam, Phelps swimming the “One of my coaches was Coach Cartee’s butterfly or Usain Bolt grinning as he wins coach, because Coach Cartee actually went yet another race. What we never quite realize to the same high school as me. My coach is how pointless the day-to-day can seem to talked to him and then I came out to Trinity these men and women who have climbed the for a camp and after the camp, the rest was mountain — they’ve tasted the forbidden history,” Morrish said.

Morrish is excited for the upcoming season, fruit, so now what? Perhaps this is when their ugly, misshapen humanity reveals itself, eyes set on the national championships and a returning them to earth from their former second star for the team’s jerseys. demigod status. DUIs, stints in rehab, sexual Lauren Skrobarcyzk misconduct or even a failure to display the Hailing from Houston, right amount of support for your teammates Lauren Skrobarczyk is — these things we can forgive, but not a middle blocker for ignore. In reality, none of these athletes can the volleyball team. She attain the character standard we have set for started playing volleyball them, and the microscope hovering over at age five, and has been them certainly does not help matters. playing competitively Oscar Wilde, the Irish playwright, put it for clubs since age 12. this way: “If the gods want to punish us, In high school, she they answer our prayers.” The massive wall continued playing club that star athletes climb is what most people volleyball though the spend their entire life pawing at like dogs. To Houston Juniors, where she gained mucha bizarre extent, it keeps us going. Grabbing needed experience. Skrobarczyk attended hold of your wildest dreams is a terrifying USA Volleyball Nationals four years in a row thought. There are many who outwardly with her team, and received the All-Southern handle the burden with grace, and others Preparatory Conference honor in 2015. who allow reality to sink deep into their “I visited here and I loved the environments psyche, causing those unpleasant, ubiquitous at Trinity, both academic and sport. I loved sensations of loneliness and inadequacy. how the sports are relaxed but competitive and I loved the academic environment where you get that one-on-one time with your professors. You can really thrive academically and athletically,” Skrobarczyk said.

for us than we will have to do for them. We would never change what we do. We would only change what we do to exploit the other team’s weaknesses and shine some light on our strengths,” Harrison said.

Although Harrison’s expectations set the stage for a demanding season, his players share the same expectations. Senior captain Yasmeen Farra, is just as confident.

“This season we are already seeing a lot of growth and maturity from talented returning players, as well as a fantastic group of newcomers. I believe this group has the ability to make it very far and I expect a lot of success,” Farra said.

Even though there is supreme confidence within this team and its coaches, they are very aware of the challenges that face them this season. Team captain and senior midfielder Brigette Taylor highlights some of the obstacles they could face this year.

“Our biggest challenge this year will be maintaining that mental focus and intensity that is usually most prevalent at the beginning and the end of the season,” Taylor said. “If we can try to sustain that even in the middle of our season, and can keep growing and pushing ourselves, I know that we’ll be able to win it all this season.”

Preseason accolades bode well for the team

and indicate that they can possibly win it all.

The National Soccer Coaches Association of America has the Trinity women’s soccer team ranked seventh in the country. Not to mention their playoff push last season that led them to the second round of the NCAA tournament that has helped the ten returning starters on the team to truly comprehend what it takes to succeed in post-season play.

Soccer ready to open season From front page

Trinity has a history of hiring former graduates, so it only makes sense that Harrison would be fitting for the job. As a soccer player during his days at Trinity from 1998 to 2001, he experienced great success earning All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Second Team accolades in 2000 and 2001. Harrison was also elected to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Region Team in 2001, showing that he was a major contributor to the team during his time. Harrison feels that there is some unfinished business from his time as an athlete at Trinity, seeing as how his teams advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 1998 and 1999, and to the Third Round in 2000. His former success breeds some high expectations for this season, and he feels that the Lady Tigers are more than capable of living up to said expectations. When asked what those expectations for this year were, his response was one of positivity.

“To win. The goal is always to win and play well. Honestly, I think we have the talent and the ability and if we go ahead and take care of what we have control over by playing well, then everything else is going to take care of itself. We really feel that teams are going to have to adjust to us in terms of what we do and they will have to do more

UPCOMING EVENTS SEPT. 3

4pm WSoccer vs. III. Wesleyan 7:30pm Football vs.

University of Redlands

SEPT. 9

8pm MSoccer vs. HardinSimmons

Kristin Canepa Center-back Kristen Canepa was born in sunny California. She began playing soccer at the young age of seven; in high school, she played varsity all four years, and competed at the club soccer level.

Continuing her soccer career played a major role in her collegedecision process. Her high school coach pointed her in the direction of Trinity University.

“My high school soccer coach is also the coach at California Lutheran and he knew Lance [Key], and he knew I wanted to play soccer in college so he recommended that I check out the school,” Canepa said. “So I did and I really liked it.”

Right now, Canepa is looking forward to getting to know her teammates.

“I’m just really excited to really get to know all the girls. It’s really fun being with them because they’re all so nice and inclusive,” Canepa said.