01.26.2018

Trinitonian Serving Trinity University Since 1902

Volume 115 Issue 16

spotlighting

ACCESSIBILITY Students share varied experiences with mental health accommodations CATHY TERRACE | NEWS REPORTER cterrace@trinity.edu Trinity University provides several different outlets for those seeking assistance with their mental health. Depending on students’ diagnoses, support ranges from in-class accommodations to temporary counseling sessions.

For those who possess a diagnosis, registration through Student Accessibility Service (SAS) can help provide support to students’ campus lives.

“There’s not really a comprehensive list of accommodations because we start where the student is at,” said Alyse Gray, student accessibility specialist. “When they come, they discuss their disability, and how that impacts their campus life — so academics, housing, dining, extra-curricular activities — all of that we work with, so that students can get equal access to higher education.”

Accommodations provided through SAS can take many different forms, included modified attendance, extensions on assignments and access to the Accommodated Testing Center (ATC). However, this department differs from others, such as Counseling Services.

“Accommodations are always through student accessibility services, but [Counseling Services] doesn’t provide accommodations or documentation for accommodations; what we can provide to students dealing with mental health issues are a consultation, potential shortterm counseling or a referral if the student needs longer term or more specialized treatment,” said Richard Reams, associate director of counseling services. “We see 90 percent of the students who come here in the counseling center — maybe 10 percent would get a referral off campus.”

But students’ experiences with disability differ, and consequently, so do their experiences with seeking accommodations. Several students opted not to initially register with SAS, such as senior philosophy major Michael Drozdiak.

“For this more independent chapter of my life, I tried to not seek accommodations until it became an absolute issue for me. Before, I relied basically on the empathy of my professors to understand, as I would occasionally talk to them about it,” Drozdiak said. “When it became difficult for me to accomplish what I needed to in classes, it wasn’t always easy for me to articulate what could have helped.”

After students have registered through SAS, they must go and talk individually with their professors about receiving accommodations per class. Several students have cited overall positive experiences with the process of registering through SAS. “Most of [my professors] are pretty understanding, but others are more skeptical, and will say you need to email SAS to make sure it’s legitimate ... I always have to give them paperwork,” said Dinda Lehrmann, a sophomore art major diagnosed with anxiety and depression. continued on PAGE 5

JANUARY 26, 2018

Study abroad paves a new pathway Trinity in Spain students surprised with lack of credits upon return KATHLEEN CREEDON | NEWS EDITOR kcreedon@trinity.edu Last semester, 10 students and one professor flew to Madrid for Trinity’s first full-semester study abroad program, Trinity in Spain.

Though the students were warned that they might not get credit for some of the classes, many were disappointed at how few credits they actually received.

In the program, the students took five classes. Of these classes, two were taught by Bladimir Ruiz, the associate professor of Spanish that joined the students in Madrid.

Those classes count towards the students’ GPAs, but were not brought to the University Curriculum Council (UCC) with credit toward Pathways.

The Pathways curriculum features three requirements: Approaches to Creation and Analysis, Core Capacities and Interdisciplinary Clusters. In theory, students can be credited for a Capacity from any institution; however, the Approaches and Clusters must be fulfilled through Trinity courses.

“The difference is that Capacities at Trinity are not necessarily the focus of the entire course. They may be included within a course in context,” said Glenn Kroeger, associate professor of geosciences and vice chair of the UCC. “Every component of the Pathways curriculum has very well-defined student learning outcomes, and for a course to be approved, the course syllabus has to demonstrate that those learning outcomes can be achieved.”

If a student can prove that a course at another institution fulfills a Capacity, such as digital literacy or written communication, the credit will transfer. Study abroad experiences also automatically fulfill the global awareness capacity. However, study abroad courses that are not taught by Trinity professors do not count towards the Approaches or Clusters.

“There’s no way to know, without an

Ten students pioneered the Trinity in Spain program in Madrid. Upon return to the United States, the students were surprised with how few of their credits applied to Pathways, Trinity’s curriculum. photo provided by KATSUO NISHIKAWA

enormous amount of work, that a course taken elsewhere would achieve all of those goals,” Kroeger said.

This caused trouble for students who were part of the Trinity in Spain program, since this policy does not allow the classes they took with IES, a third-party provider that offers international education, to count towards Pathways.

“I know that you have to get your Pathways credits on campus, but what’s disappointing for me is that I was going to use this for my Cluster,” said Trey Foster, a junior business administration and Spanish double major. “I’m doing a film Cluster, and I took a film class while in Spain, but it didn’t count because it wasn’t at Trinity, even though this was a Trinity program intertwined with the Spanish department and everything. It’s just a little disappointing.”

Though it seems obvious that a course will fit a Cluster perfectly, such as Foster’s film course for his film Cluster, Kroeger explained that the policy is more complicated than appearances.

“Right now, the curriculum says that the Cluster must be done at Trinity,” Kroeger said.

“The reason for that was that a Cluster is supposed to be a group of courses that are articulated with one another, that the faculty talk to each other and know what they’re doing.”

Kroeger acknowledged the inconvenience that this may cause for some students, and reminds students that they can design their own Cluster if a situation like Foster’s occurs.

To do this, a student must propose and provide evidence for the self-design Cluster to the UCC.

San Antonio’s City Council decided to raise the age after listening to advocates from an organization known as Tobacco 21. Tobacco 21 is an organization dedicated to reducing the usage of tobacco in society, most often by raising the age for purchasing tobacco from 18 years to 21 years.

The decision was made by the city council after a concerted effort by Tobacco 21 and overly active high school students attempting to bloat their resumes for college admissions.

The only group that put forward semi-serious opposition to the ordinance were small business owners who said that the ordinance would affect their income.

The reasons given for raising the age for tobacco purchase were simple. Raising the age prevents underage high school students from bumming a smoke off of their friends who are 18. High school is an interesting grey zone of legality. At the youngest end of the scale, high school students can be as young as 13 or 14 years old. At the oldest side of the scale, high school students can be legal adults by being 18

or 19 years old, capable of filming pornography, voting and smoking tobacco.

Tobacco 21’s website makes the case that the primary cause of students becoming addicted to tobacco is that they bum a smoke off of their older high school friends. By raising the age to 21 for purchasing tobacco, they break the chain and thus save high school students from becoming the next smokers.

Raising the age for tobacco is a progressive policy that makes criminal what has traditionally been a legal activity. The policy is based on self-congratulation — passing the policy makes those who advocated for it feel better because they believe that they stopped people from developing lung cancer.

I am not advocating that cigarettes don’t cause cancer. I am not that kind of conservative.

My disapproval of the policy change comes from my belief that punishing people who are 18 or older for smoking tobacco will do more harm than good.

continued on PAGE 6

Opinion: Tobacco 21 harmful for SA MANFRED WENDT COLUMNIST mwendt@trinity.edu

The San Antonio City Council rang in the new year by raising the age required to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21. I was personally very disappointed by the decision, but not surprised at all.

San Antonio, after the past year’s local elections, has a very progressive city council.

The city has eight progressives on the city council and only two conservatives.

Its mayor, Ron Nirenberg is a self-styled progressive, whom many of Trinity’s progressive student body heartily supported.

If you want evidence, just take a look around Coates and you will see someone with a “Nirenberg for Mayor” sticker on their laptop.

continued on PAGE 10

Life of Robert Foye celebrated at service

Love, loss and experience on display at the Mini

Women’s basketball team shares game day rituals

After the student’s passing earlier this month, family and friends came together.

The student artists behind this year’s art installation talk about what inspires their art.

A peek into the daily routines that have lead to the success of the team.

PAGE 11 PULSE

PAGE 17 A&E

PAGE 18 SPORTS

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 26, 2018 •

NEWS

Previously, on SGA: New Year, New Senate This issue covers the first SGA meeting of the year, Jan. 22.

• The Menstrual Products committee will be chaired by senator Simone Washington.

• The Textbook Affordability committee will be chaired by senator INDUCTIONS New SGA senators and cabinet members gathered in the Skyline Dining Ty Tinker.

Room for a short induction ceremony. After quick speeches from student life • The Legislative Relations committee will be chaired by Chiara Pride, who administrators Jamie Thompson and Sheryl Tynes, university president Danny was appointed as the chair of legislative relations.

Anderson swore in the senators by class year. He then swore in the cabinet • The Oversight committee will be chaired by judicial chair Zeina Zayat. members, president and vice president.

• The Sustainability committee will be chaired by senator Julia Shults.

CAMPUS CLIMATE CHECK President Amulya Deva expressed concerns about the water in South Hall.

After issues with sewage and broken pipes earlier this school year, South residents have been experiencing yellow water in their rooms. David Tuttle, dean of students and interim director of Residential Life, explained that the Residential Life office followed up with Facilities Services and was told that only one room submitted a facilities request and that the issue was resolved. He urged any students who continue to have issues with water to contact facilities services.

DEMERIT AND POINT SYSTEMS President Deva and chief of staff Jacob Sanchez discussed the ins and outs of the demerit and point systems, emphasizing the members’ responsibilities as representatives of their classes.

FINANCE COMMITTEE Vice president Daniel led a presentation on SGA’s role as stewards of the student activity fee, highlighting the process of funding requests from student organizations. Daniel encouraged senators to think carefully about decisions COMMITTEES when it comes to funding requests. Daniel also outlined the estimated budget Members of SGA confirmed their spots on the committees represented for for this semester. this year’s senate: • The First-year Academic Success committee will be chaired by senator OFFICER REPORTS Noelle Barrera.

President Deva discussed parliamentary procedure and the accountability • The Finance committee will be chaired by vice president Rachel Daniel. contract signed by members of SGA. Vice president Daniel urged members • The Student Representation on the Board of Trustees committee will be to read the information on funding requests prior to their next meeting. chaired by senator emeritus Shivani Parmar.

Tune in each week for Kathleen Creedon’s SGA summaries. SGA meets at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays in the Waxahachie Room in Coates University Center.

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TUPD BRIEFS MARIJUANA On Saturday, Jan. 20, at 2:45 p.m., TUPD found four students with a “usable” amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia at the City Vista Apartment Complex. Offenders were charged under chapter 481 of the Health and Safety Code of the Texas Controlled Substance Act.The report has been initiated; peace officer Matthew McKenzie filed the report.

WEED On Sunday, Jan. 21, at 7:45 p.m., a student turned in marijuana and paraphernalia to the Witt Reception Center. One student was charged

under chapter 481 of the Health and Safety Code of the Texas Controlled Substance Act. A report was initiated; peace officer Matthew McKenzie filed the report.

GANJA On Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 6:58 p.m., TUPD peace officer Matthew McKenzie detected the odor of marijuana. One student was charged under chapter 481 of the Health and Safety Code of the Texas Controlled Substance Act. Witnesses report seeing a bong carried out by TUPD officers.

A report has been initiated; McKenzie filed the report.

Corrections In the Jan. 19 issue, the Trinitonian printed the article “Hey, sport boys” on page 26 referring to baseball players as “natty champ douchebags” with an accompanying photo of a former Trinity athlete. We did not mean to insult any specific player, past or present, and have edited the column online.

Spot a mistake? Let us know at trinitonian@trinity.edu.

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NEWS • JANUARY 26, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Residential Life Office juggles busy semester

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Staff looks forward to hiring a new director, implementing new housing software system

The ResLife staff meets to discuss updates and new policies at a meeting on Jan. 23. David Tuttle, dean of students, center, has acted as the interim director of residential life as the office looks for a replacement.

Along with the search for a new director, the office has also implemented a new software system that will allow students to choose housing online. photo by CHLOE SONNIER, staff photographer

KENDRA DERRIG | SPORTS EDITOR kderrig@trinity.edu The office of Residential Life is kicking off the spring semester with a long to-do list.

Along with day-to-day operations dealing with student issues, conducting programming and doing regular administrative work, the office has begun a search for a new director, has implemented changes to the newly acquired City Vista apartment complex and is making preparations for a new housing assignment software system.

With the departure of Melissa Flowers, former director of Residential Life, at the end of last semester, David Tuttle, dean of students, has taken over the position in the interim. Tuttle is no stranger to juggling the two positions, having served as both dean of students and director of residential life for over 10 years. However, Tuttle admits the two positions, while rewarding, are not easy.

“It’s stressful because now I remember how much work Residential Life is. It’s such a broad area and the issues and the work just keeps coming. Not to me, per say, but to the

Greek Council elected Nine positions filled; one remains open KAYLIE KING | NEWS REPORTER kking1@trinity.edu Late last semester, nine of the 10 positions on Greek Council’s executive board were filled after elections were held. The communications chair remains vacant due to a rule limiting any one organization from having more than two representatives on the board; the organization is still in the process of resolving this.

Juniors Colton Smith of Phi Sigma Chi and Isa Medina of Sigma Theta Tau will serve as the men’s chair and the women’s chair, respectively. Sophomore David Migl of Chi Delta Tau will serve as men’s recruitment chair, and junior Emily Peter of Alpha Chi Lambda will serve as women’s recruitment chair.

Sophomore Jess Jennings of Alpha Chi Lambda will serve as the organization’s firstever diversity chair. Junior Anika Jensen of Gamma Chi Delta will serve as standards chair, junior Ruthie Rubin of Sigma Theta Tau will serve as service chair, junior Erica Mundinger of SPURS will serve as treasurer and junior Sarah Hantak of Gamma Chi Delta will serve as risk management and judicial chair.

These students compose the governing body for sororities and fraternities on Trinity’s campus. Jeremy Allen, assistant director for fraternity and sorority life, is excited to welcome this new group of students onto the Greek Council executive board.

“We have a lot of different talents and backgrounds and organizations represented,” Allen said. “I’m really excited to see them come in with new ideas and a fresh look at things. Our current Greek Council has done a really good job of building up a lot of really purposeful programming. I’m excited to see this Greek Council continue that.”

Medina, a junior mathematical finance and economics double major, ran for women’s chair on Greek council after holding leadership positions within Sigma Theta Tau. “I felt that I could bring my skills and level of commitment to Greek Council to impact a larger group of people,” Medina wrote in an email interview. “I think one area that needs improvement at Trinity is the relationship between students in Greek life and students who are not in Greek life. It is Greek Council’s job to help create a positive atmosphere surrounding Greek life at Trinity, and I hope to improve the relationship between Greek life and students who are not in Greek life.”

Jennings, a sophomore urban studies major, hopes to establish a network for collaboration between Greek life and other student organizations for diversity-focused initiatives. (Jennings was a sports reporter for the Trinitonian in the fall of 2017.)

“When I learned that they were creating a new position to focus on diversity, I decided it was something I definitely wanted to go for,” Jennings wrote in an email interview. “I’m excited for the opportunity to create diversity focused initiatives within Greek life and also to establish some relationships between Greek life and other diversity-focused groups on campus. I think that this kind of focus is extremely important, and I jumped at the idea of being able to pioneer this position into something I think will be really beneficial to our student body.”

When asked about the vacant position, Allen explained that the situation is uncommon and that they are working toward a resolution.

“It happened to work out this year that the people running for the communications chair position were from organizations that already had two representatives,” Allen said. “We’re going to reopen elections for that position. It can’t be filled by an Alpha Chi, a Sigma or a Gamma.” continued on PAGE 6

department, and so there’s a lot going on,” Tuttle said. “On the flipside, it’s one of the most dynamic departments on campus and the staff is great. They have a focused mission, and they work hard, and they’re a lot of fun. I’m enjoying it tremendously, but it’s a little stressful.”

Despite having held both positions for a substantial time, Tuttle is not interested in reprising his role as director of Residential Life for any longer than necessary.

“I didn’t have grey hair when I held both positions,” Tuttle said. “In order to give that department the focus it needs, it needs a full-time

director, and in order to give my work the attention that it needs — dealing with student issues and parent assistance and things like that — it needs total focus. And that’s pretty typical to have a director of ResLife and a dean of students.”

The search for a new director of Residential Life has already began, with a search committee gearing up to conduct its first round of interviews via Skype. Stephanie Ackerman, assistant director for housing operations, is a part of the committee. continued on PAGE 4

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 26, 2018 •

NEWS

Tigers for Life sponsor talk on life post-abortion Roe v. Wade anniversary sparks pro-life discussion CATHY TERRACE | NEWS REPORTER cterrace@trinity.edu For many, having an abortion is a life-changing decision. For the advocacy group called Abortion Hurts, God Heals, the postabortion healing process starts with one’s faith. Guest lecturers from the group joined Tigers for Life (TFL) to share their stories and to promote healing.

TFL welcomed roughly 20 students to the Tehuacana Room on Monday, Jan. 22, to listen to these testimonies of grieving and healing.

After offering their experiences to the group, the women from the advocacy group opened the floor to questions. Luke Ayers, president of TFL and senior economics major, helped organize the event.

“My friend who leads the pro-life club at UTSA had an event with TFL member Cristina and two other women from Abortion Hurts, God Heals, and I went to that,” Ayers said.

“It was a really powerful event, so I got their business card there and emailed them so that we could do the exact same thing here.”

The vice president of the group, Kaylie DeLuca, a sophomore anthropology and marketing double major, initiated the event with some opening remarks, noting that day was also the 45th anniversary of the controversial Roe v. Wade decision. She later emphasized the importance of having discussions about abortion and accepting others despite the decisions they have made.

“I’m really glad that we decided to do this because abortion is such a controversial and uncomfortable topic to talk about. But like these women said, it’s something that should be talked about,” DeLuca said. “People should be able to

At the meeting, the members of the Abortion Hurts, God Heals advocacy group presented baby shoes that symbolize their unborn children. VIRGINIA LANGE, left, explained that the shoes are an integral part of their healing process, as they represent the forgiveness they have found in their faith. Lange was joined by CHRISTINA WANG, center, and SAUNDRA DECKER, right, and three other members of the group. photo by CHLOE SONNIER, staff photographer

discuss their experience in a safe space and know that they’re loved and cherished no matter what they’ve done in their past.”

Following the introduction, two members of Abortion Hurts, God Heals stepped forward to share their personal experiences with having an abortion. The interview-like discussion was led by member Virginia Lange, who stressed the importance of religion in their experiences of healing.

“If it wasn’t for God’s love, his courage and the forgiveness he grants us, we wouldn’t be here today,” Lange said. “It’s hard to talk about abortion without getting passionate … Sometimes those arguments can cause friendships to end — and even familial relationships.”

In addition to Lange, members Christina Wang and Saundra Decker also spoke about their personal experiences, reflecting on the

stigma of abortion in the United States and how it affected their decisions.

“It was shocking to me because there’s so much silence surrounding it … There’s so many people who are just not talking about it at all,” Wang said. “Many women choose abortion and don’t know what it entails, our media and society just sell it as a quick fix.” continued on PAGE 6

ResLife Office updates

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“The typical hiring process for higher is a June 1 start date, so we’re aiming for that,” Ackerman said.

AD NAME: Origami Shark has more ambitious goals, though Tuttle Newspaper he says they will search until they find the best PUBLICATION: candidate for the position.

Trinity Trinitonian “I mean, I would like somebody to start next INSERTION DATE(S): 1/26/18 month, but that’s unrealistic. It would be great TRIM: for us to get somebody this spring to jump in 5x8 and help set things in motion,” Tuttle said. “We’ll LIVE: keep the search going until we know we’ve found N/A the best person and the best match for us, for the BLEED: N/A department and for the campus.”

COLOR: As the search for a new director progresses, the 4cp office is also preparing for the implementation of QUESTIONS: a new Pendergast software system that will allow students to Kathleen 214-891-2918 sign up for housing remotely, which means no more trips to the Witt Center to choose a room.

Lisa Chapa, housing assignment coordinator, has been active on the project.

“The program is called The Housing Director (THD) and will allow students to make online room reservations for next year,” Chapa wrote in an email interview. “We are excited about this program, as it will streamline the reservation process for students. The program is pretty intuitive once students get started, and we are hopeful that the new process will be an easy transition for students who have become accustomed to coming into the Witt Center to pick their room.”

Since the system is new, the Residential Life staff will be sending emails and instructions to students and will be hosting information sessions prior to housing application deadlines. Ackerman explained the reasons behind the change.

“We’re just catching up a little bit. At a lot of universities, you choose your dorm room from your bed. We’ve been doing that on paper, and a lot of that was to get that face-to-face interaction CLIENT: education SMU

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with students, so they can come see the floor plans we have laid out and ask all the questions they’ve had,” Ackerman said. “We’re finding that students would just rather stay in their bed and not have to come in during our business hours.”

As for alternative campus housing, the office of Residential Life has been handling changes with the management of the City Vista apartment complex. Earlier this semester, student residents of the complex complained of inefficient waste pickup.

For reasons that Ackerman attributes to cost, the administration has decided to switch companies that handle the building’s waste management service. Capital Waste Management had been in charge of City Vista’s waste management, but GCA Services Group, which serves the rest of campus, has been newly assigned to the building.

“Capital Waste Management was already here when we got here, so we just kept that for the comfort of our students. It worked out, but it’s just more cost-effective in the long term for the university to absorb the costs the way it does on main campus,” Ackerman said. “We’re in a bit of a transition period, so I think GCA is still getting used to the day-to-day operations and the picking up of trash.”

Despite all that seems to be going on, Ackerman claims this is nothing new.

“I’ve been here about two and a half years now, and one thing I’ve learned is that there are always changes in ResLife,” Ackerman said.

While the duties of Residential Life are many, Tuttle stresses that the department is full of great people who are all apt to handle whatever comes their way.

“It’s a quality staff and they work really hard, and it’s a pleasure to be working with them and alongside them as they implement these things and as we get ready for a new person to come in,” Tuttle said.

NEWS • JANUARY 26, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

5

Facilities services responds to influx of complaints

Yellow water, broken elevators lead to increased frustration KENDRA DERRIG | SPORTS EDITOR kderrig@trinity.edu When Hannah Larson turned on her faucet in South Hall to yellow water, she was reminded of plumbing problems last semester that resulted in the temporary relocation of South residents to escape the water and the smell.

“About a week ago, my roommates and I noticed the water from our dorm room faucets had a yellow tint. In addition, our toilets seemed to be having trouble functioning properly. I’ll spare you the details there,” Larson wrote in an email interview.

Naturally, Larson, a junior accounting major, and her suitemates filed a service request with the department of facilities services. But they were confused when the service request did not seem to have been fulfilled, despite an email that stated “completed.”

“My roommate submitted a service request in which she mentioned she had filled up her water bottle in the lounge, and the water had a yellow-brown tint. When she received a response email, there was nothing included under the ‘action taken’ section,” Larson said.

Facilities services is responsible for campus maintenance, from addressing plumbing and electrical issues to groundskeeping. Jim Baker, director of facilities services, explained Larson’s water situation.

“When a building is dormant, the water doesn’t have any flow from not being used. It will take 12 to 24 hours to clear once it starts being used again. We have hoses that we can run to clear the system, but usually it will work itself out,” Baker said. “It’s partly because of the age of the infrastructure.”

Larson amounted her issue to a simple lack of communication between residents and facilities services.

“The water is no longer discolored in the lounge or our bathroom. I think that action was probably taken but not communicated accurately,” Larson wrote. “Otherwise, my past experiences with facilities services have been nothing but positive. They are always very friendly and work super hard.”

Baker explained that his department is constantly responding to requests.

“We receive service calls all day, everyday.

They are almost always small fixes, and we address and repair them on the same day, unless we have to order parts, but we keep normal materials on hand. It’s rare that we don’t respond on the same day,” Baker said during a phone interview.

Baker also explained that in areas like plumbing, small issues like a clogged drain can easily escalate to affect multiple rooms.

“Situations like plumbing can be complicated. A clogged drain can affect multiple rooms, so sometimes a small problem like that will appear bigger, and we have to track down the root of the problem,” Baker said. “For example, with the recent fluctuations in water temperature, we received about 15 to 20 calls.

I can fix it at the central pump, but I still have to respond to each call individually to make sure it was fixed. I measure success based off of second requests, which we really try to avoid.”

Ari Fletcher-Bai, a sophomore human communication major and resident assistant in the Witt-Winn residence hall, has had an overall positive experience with facilities services.

“When I had a broken window, facilities services were there within a day, but when the whole building has no hot water, they don’t respond to individual requests until they’ve solved the larger issue. In general, though, they’re pretty prompt,” Fletcher-Bai said.

However, Fletcher-Bai points out that there is more communication with some projects than others.

“They told the freshmen when they were ordering a part so the showers were cold for another day. It seems pretty transparent.

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

Maybe not for the Thomas elevators though,” Fletcher-Bai said.

Taylor Volzer, sophomore sociology major and resident of Thomas Hall, sustained an injury last semester that prevents her from using stairs. She explained in an email interview that while small service requests seem to be fulfilled promptly, bigger projects like elevator repairs appear to lack timeliness and transparency.

“With the residency requirements of living on campus for so long, I feel like there should be more communication on how to approach different situations. For

example, if something minor breaks in a dorm room, we send in an email about it.

But for larger things, are we responsible for sending these in as well?” Volzer wrote. “At one point last semester, both of the Thomas elevators were out of order and still nothing was acknowledged. For these instances, there were no alternatives for transportation or information about the status posted. I fully understand these things happen, but I wish we were more informed on what was going on since we live here.”

Students can submit facility service requests by emailing service-request@trinity.edu.

Accessibility: Mental health accommodations

continued from FRONT

“I’ve actually never had any serious problems,” Lehrmann said. “I’ve always had a pretty good time communicating with Dr. Morell-Nickle, and I’ve never felt like my disability has been diminished.”

This skepticism seems almost universal amongst students interviewed. Drozdiak echoed this sentiment.

“Most of the professors here have been helpful and willing to listen to what would be most practical and fair. There have been a couple instances where professors have been suspicious of me bringing these issues to them, but even in those circumstances, I don’t think there was necessarily malice,” Drozdiak said. “Addressing the stigma behind it, and the barriers behind getting them, a lot of that is still left up to the students.”

Other students recounted less favorable experiences. Two cited instances when professors refused to be cooperative in providing extensions, even with the accommodation letter from SAS. Both students, who each asked to remain anonymous, were registered through SAS and had previously discussed accommodations with these faculty members.

Other difficulties can also emerge even when faculty is completely willing to work with students, such as in utilizing certain services provided through SAS like the ATC. “All the accommodations I’ve received with a student accessibility services letter — 100 percent, no questions asked. Professors are super great at working with me,” said Addison Keller, a junior political science major diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

“The most difficult thing is trying to use the

The Tiger Learning Commons houses Student Accessibility Services (SAS), and other programs intended to support students. SAS provides access to accommodations for students with disabilities. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

testing center. … Most of the professors that I’ve had feel frustrated with that, and in the end just proctor with me separately on their own time, or will wait after a little bit. It just ends up being easier for them to take care of it.”

Another student commented that while the space has been useful, its overuse during finals makes reduced distraction accommodations inefficient.

Some students have encountered barriers while attempting to use of the services available.

“I hate the Halsell location, I think it’s super difficult … to get help when it’s that far away,” Keller said. “It’s already not a building that students frequent, so people don’t know what it is, they don’t know how it get there and it’s far away.”

Students don’t always have the easiest time in seeking out help from counseling services.

Appointments must be made via phone call, and counselors can only see students every few weeks.

“I know that sometimes walk-in hours and the counseling services that they have for students with mental health issues aren’t always enough, and so they send students away sometimes,” Lehrmann said. “I do know that some people don’t have resources to a consistent psychiatrist or psychologist, and not everyone is diagnosed, which makes it difficult to get accommodations for mental health issues.”

Keller also echoed these concerns, pointing out that not all students may possess transportation or the money to seek offcampus counseling.

However, counseling services is currently taking steps to create a more accessible environment for students. According to Reams, the Halsell location has only been temporary for the last several years, and the office will be moving back to a location in the Coates University Center next fall. Similarly, they’ve taken other steps to provide better services.

“As of two weeks ago, [the number of counselors] went from three to four — we just hired an additional counselor that we’ve been asking for. Dr. Claudia Rodriguez Kypuros joined us on Jan. 8. We’re excited to have more staff,” Reams said. “With the fact that during the past seven years or so the percent of undergraduates utilizing counseling services has gone from 10 percent to 17 percent, we just could not keep up with the request for assistance.”

Several students also confirmed that additional staff for SAS might also help. Other students, such as Drozdiak and Keller, argued for a more community-based approach in improving both access and acceptance in seeking accommodations.

“Especially during mental health awareness week I know people who tweet, ‘This is something that I struggle with,’ and I might have a similar struggle, but we’re not pals. How do I just text them and be like, ‘Hey, I wanna talk to you about that?’ ” Keller asked. “I know that we have a lot of support groups, like helping bring people together that have similar struggles, and I think it helps a ton for students to be able to talk to their peers who aren’t just counselors, to say, ‘I understand what you’re feeling.’ ” This article marks the beginning of a four-part series addressing campus accessibility.

Readers interested in weighing in are invited to contact this reporter at cterrace@trinity.edu.

6

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 26, 2018 •

NEWS

Pathways policy causes frustration for students continued from FRONT Prior to the trip, the students were warned that they might not receive credit for some of their classes. However, some students didn’t realize the full meaning of this policy.

“I think the credit transfer process could definitely be more transparent,” said Hunter Sosby, junior political science and Spanish double major. “I didn’t have any issues with expecting Pathways credits because I knew from the beginning that I wasn’t going to get any. I didn’t, however, realize that not every class necessarily counts for credit for the Spanish major.”

Sosby explained that for classes to count towards the Spanish major, they have to match the classes taught at Trinity. To circumvent this, some students presented an argument for the classes to count towards their major prior to the trip.

Hannah Wilson, a junior Spanish major, is one of the students that took advantage of this opportunity. Because Wilson is a Spanish major, the transfer of credits worked in her favor. However, if the program doesn’t count towards Pathways, it might make a study abroad experience problematic for other majors.

“For me, it worked out, but if I was, let’s say, a bio major, it would really be difficult to translate those credits,” Wilson said. “I think all of the classes were humanities courses.”

Sosby agreed that this policy will dissuade some students from studying abroad or may limit how much time a student can stay abroad.

“I think the fact that it is nearly impossible to get Pathways credit abroad really hurts the study abroad program,” Sosby said. “I was lucky because I found classes that would count for my majors, but I know other people who basically didn’t get any useful credits for the semester.”

Kroeger defended the university’s decision to separate Pathways this way.

“All universities have what are called residency requirements,” Kroeger said. “If you want a degree from Trinity University, you’re expected to do a certain amount of your work here.”

Kroeger, who was chair of the UCC at the time Pathways was created, explained that the idea behind this policy was to ensure students study all disciplines while at Trinity.

“We don’t think asking you to take one social science and one humanities and one natural science course at the institution that is going to give you the degree is in some way an onerous requirement,” Kroeger said. “The notion that someone would get a liberal arts degree from Trinity University and not have taken any social science or natural science while at Trinity makes no sense.”

“If you want a degree from Trinity University, you’re expected to do a certain amount of your work here.”

GLENN KROEGER VICE CHAIR OF THE UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM COUNCIL

Ruiz recognized the appeal of receiving credit for multiple areas of students’ education, but he thinks the concept is unrealistic.

“The whole idea of classes counting is … something that is in the university culture that

needs some help,” Ruiz said. “It’s great to have one class that takes care of so many things, but at the end of the day, if you are studying at any university, you are supposed to be taking different classes for your major, for what common curriculum they have — we call it Pathways — and elective classes. The whole idea is that a study is supposed to take a wide variety of classes that encompasses knowledge.”

Ruiz expressed the importance of the experience of study abroad over the specific credits students will receive from the program.

“There is a value of study abroad that shouldn’t be necessarily measured by the ability to have those classes accepted or not by Pathways, which is not to say that we shouldn’t do everything we can to offer classes that are more attractive to our students — not only in terms of the topic itself but in terms of what it might help them achieve in a curricular point of view,” Ruiz said. “It’s a balance, but at the end of the day, any student going abroad should have in mind the wonderful opportunity it is to have that experience.”

Kroeger agreed with this understanding of the study abroad experience.

“The purpose of study abroad is not necessarily to fulfill the general education requirements of the institution that you’re getting your degree from,” Kroeger said. “All of us think studying abroad is a spectacular thing to do. We’re thinking of ways of tweaking Pathways to allow a little more flexibility.”

Kroeger explained that the discussion is still happening, but believes that before the semester ends, there will be a proposal to the UCC that addresses this issue. Ruiz explained the plan to have these courses count as Pathways credits in the future.

“The whole plan was to create the two classes, and then to have them submitted to the UCC,” Ruiz said. “And that’s a process that not only includes paperwork but also being available to be there at the meeting to answer questions and to advocate for the class and to

make the changes you might need to make to have the class approved.”

Katsuo Nishikawa, the director of the center for international engagement, explained other ways the department will try to make the course more accessible.

“There is a value of study abroad that shouldn’t be necessarily measured by the ability to have those classes accepted or not by Pathways. ” BLADIMIR RUIZ ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SPANISH

“What we’re doing for next year is that we’re bringing another professor, so we can double the Trinity classes that are offered,” Nishikawa said. “We’re thinking about this deeply. We’re thinking about what’s best for the student.”

Since Trinity in Spain is the first program of its kind, the department has used students’ experience to improve the program for next year.

“I’m very grateful to the students who are going on these programs. We’re doing our best to have a good, strong program, and we have this mentality of continuous progress,” Nishikawa said. “Each year is a guinea pig for the next, since we’re always trying to improve.”

TFL hosts Abortion Hurts, God Heals Greek execs

continued from PAGE 4

continued from PAGE 3

At the start of their discussion, Wang and Decker showed pictures of themselves that had been taken around the age of their first abortion.

The advocates later discussed the process of coming to terms with that decision, citing the regret that they all shared.

“The relief does not last forever,” Lange said.

“Women later realize what they’ve done, and what’s happened to their unborn child.”

Lange then led the others in a discussion of how they found healing and acceptance through attending Bible studies and postabortion healing classes. All six representatives then presented baby shoes, each one representing one of their unborn children and consequently, the profound loss that they all felt.

Towards the end of the event, Lange invited students to participate in lighting candles for any unborn children they wanted to pray for.

Those who knew of an abortion or miscarriage were asked to light an electric candle in order to celebrate the child’s memory.

The talk concluded with a question and answer session. Attendees asked representatives about what prompted them to share their stories, how they sought out forgiveness, and why religion played a central role in their experiences of healing. DeLuca emphasized the importance of these discussions following the conclusion of the event.

“I thought it went really well. I know that I’m not a very emotional person, but I definitely teared up at some parts,” DeLuca said. “Hearing other women’s stories touched my heart to know that they were so brave to say that. I hope that other people felt the same way.”

In a follow-up email interview, Allen mentioned that the vacancy of this specific position has to do with the way that the voting system works.

“Each voting member received a certain amount of votes to allocate to their preferred candidates — no more than one vote per candidate,” Allen wrote. “Once all votes were cast, we tallied the total amounts received for each candidate. The highest overall recipient of votes was given their first choice of positions for which they applied, the next highest was given their preference of remaining positions, and so forth.”

Allen then explained that once two members of an organization had chosen their position, all remaining candidates were removed from that position. When it was time to vote for communications chair, the only candidates were from organizations that had already reached the two-member maximum.

The intent of this two-member maximum is to ensure that Greek Council is not run by a select few organizations.

“This way, as many organizations as possible, including the smaller organizations, have a chance to have a seat at the table,” Allen wrote.

“The entire community deserves the chance to have their voice heard.”

The decision has been made to wait to resolve the issue until Bid Day, when students invited to join a sorority or fraternity decide whether to accept membership in Greek life, on Feb. 2.

“This is a busy time for the community anyway,” Allen wrote. “We’d rather afford the appropriate time to promote the position, collect qualified candidates and hold meaningful elections, rather than rush haphazardly to simply get the position filled by an arbitrary date.”

KAILEY DELUCA, vice president of Tigers for Life, stands in front of the crowd of over 20 people and opened the discussion with a scriptural passage as a reminder of why the group stands for their beliefs in the abortion controversy. photo by CHLOE SONNIER, staff photographer

DeLuca emphasized the importance of having discussions about abortion on college campuses and enlightening younger people to the effects of abortion.

“The majority of women seeking abortions are college age, which is one of the reasons why we feel it’s so important for women to hear other women’s stories,” DeLuca said. “So that

if they do fall into a circumstance where they feel they do have to choose abortion, that they can make the most educated choice possible by listening to and learning from other women’s experiences with that topic.”

For those interested in learning more about the topic, resources are available on the Abortion Hurts, God Heals website.

Opinion

LET’S HEAR YOUR VOICE.

...

Have an opinion? To be featured as a guest columnist, please submit your article to trinitonian@trinity.edu by Sunday at noon to be in Thursday’s issue of the paper.

FROM TH E EDITORS’ DESK

Controversies ignite insight Most weeks, the opinion pages of the Trinitonian are filled with only our staff writers’ voices, supplemented by the occasional faculty columnist. In itself, that’s no problem — we employ talented student columnists because they are good writers with relevant opinions to share, and we seek out professors to share their views, too.

But we also open our opinion pages to our readership, inviting you to submit short letters to the editor as a reaction to our writing. We also solicit entire guest columns, allowing students, alumni and others to address the community at length for no charge.

Too often, however, entire months go by without a single guest column submission, and we haven’t published a letter to the editor once this entire school year. You’ll notice that this week’s issue is quite different in that regard.

This week, we received one reader’s critique of one of the student art installations exhibited at the Mini, as well as a defense of the artwork penned by the

artists. You’ll also see several responses to Isaiah Mitchell’s guest column last week, “Why I did not march.”

His opinion column proved to be quite controversial. A number of students approached Trinitonian employees with anger or disbelief. Several expressed disappointment that we would run his column in the first place. One student initially asked that we apologize for printing it.

The Trinitonian is a community service, which partly involves opening our pages to our readership and printing others’ opinions, without regard for whether we agree with what they have to say. (Rare exceptions are made for speech not protected by the First Amendment, for instance libel or the incitement of imminent lawless action.)

This part of our mission is not up to any particular team of editors or executives; it does not change from year to year. It’s written in the charter of the Board of Campus Publications, the collection of students and staff that serve as the publisher

of this newspaper. Here’s an excerpt from our stated purpose: “The purpose of the Trinitonian is to serve as a campus communication link between students, faculty, staff, and other readers during the academic year; ... to provide a forum for free and open exchange of ideas and opinions; to provide an innovative learning experience in a laboratory environment which emulates that of a professional newspaper.”

The Trinitonian respects you enough to present you with the opinions of your peers, even when we expect that many readers will heavily disagree with those opinions.

Besides, this week’s issue demonstrates how the publication of controversial columns can foster a valuable exchange of ideas: a discussion regarding activism and race in America, a confrontation concerning ethnicity, religion and queerness as expressed in artwork.

This editorial staff is proud to host civil discourse on these and other topics. We invite you to join the conversation.

Have patience with your packages illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

MAX TOWERS OPINION COLUMNIST mtowers@trinity.edu

For the duration of our time here at Trinity, we live on campus about nine months out of the year, making it as much a home as merely a place to live. Last week, Trinity students had to experience what it was like when that home was shut down, when on Tuesday, Jan. 15, all facilities were closed with the exception of Mabee Dining Hall.

Of course, this immediately followed the three day weekend designated for the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The total of four days off in a row may have come as a pleasant surprise to most students, unless you were expecting a package.

I myself was waiting on the arrival of a textbook that I had ordered on the previous Wednesday, the day it was assigned to me, in order to complete homework due the following Wednesday. To my dismay, Amazon didn’t notify me until Saturday that my package had been delivered.

We all know that feeling of constant anticipation mixed with utter helplessness during the abyssal period of time between the delivery of our package, and that coveted email from the package center notifying us that it is ready to be picked up. On Saturday, I knew that I couldn’t possibly get my textbook until Tuesday at the earliest, and that my homework was now in the hands of the mail center employees.

While my homework would be due the very next day, I had the confidence in my experience with beating many a deadline in shorter periods of time. Then classes were canceled Tuesday. I did what anyone would do in my situation: I mourned my homework and denounced the package center for turning an originally two-day delivery into a week-long ordeal. I wanted answers.

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Are the opinions on these pages held by all of the Trinitonian staffers?

The opinions expressed here are those of the individual writers, not of the whole newspaper staff. The editorial, found in the box marked “From the editors’ desk,” expresses the opinion of the Trinitonian. The section editors, managing editor and director of digital presence work with editor-in-chief Daniel Conrad on it each week.

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Letters to the editor should be 300 words or less. They are due Sundays at noon. Email your thoughts to trinitonian@trinity.edu and opinion editor Soleil Gaffner at lgaffner@trinity.edu. She or the editor-in-chief will get back to you.

How long should guest columns be? When are they due? Who do I send them to?

Last Friday, at 5 p.m., I went to the package center and met with three full-time package center employees: Ken Allen, Diana Hernandez and Carl Jeffery, the manager. The first astonishing thing I learned was that these employees were three out of only four total that worked in the package center full-time.

Carl explained the four main steps a package goes through from arriving at the package center to when it is picked up by the student.

“We first have to red mark each package by last name,” Carl said. “Then, we actually scan in the packages, a third person actually puts the package on the shelf, then someone comes by the window and tries to pick up the package.”

Marking, scanning and shelving every package before finding it again to hand over to its owner when they come to pick it up, falls upon the shoulders of just four individuals. By this time my accusatory disposition had been replaced by respect for these workers, and a twinge of guilt for my presumptuous arrogance.

Ken told me about the specifics of their first day back at work on Wednesday, which was overwhelming to say the least — UPS had dropped off 300 packages. UPS is just one carrier that delivers packages to campus, along with FedEx, DHL and the mother of all delivery enterprises: Amazon.

Carl was kind enough to look up the exact numbers for me. “Just yesterday was 718,” he told me after a scrolling through every

package delivered on Thursday, Jan. 18. In combination with roughly the same number of packages delivered Wednesday, Ken noted, “That’s 1,400 packages in two days, and there’s only four of us.”

While these numbers may seem inconceivable to process, they are not at all uncommon.

According to data from the Pew Research Center, people aged 18–29 are the most likely out of any age group to shop online, and $350 billion dollars are spent online every year.

I interviewed the package center workers at 5 p.m. on a Friday, closing time on the weekend. Still, they took the time to carefully explain to me the intricate workings of the package center. In retrospect, my experience was the result of a perfect storm — a three-day weekend extended by an unexpected campus closing during an incredible influx of packages, unlikely to ever happen again.

If it’s urgent, then order immediately, hopefully earlier in the week, and be mindful of the hours of the package center. The next time you are annoyed at waiting that extra day for your package, remember that the package center is not a facility filled with workers who could be doing their jobs faster. It is Carl, Ken and Diana working tirelessly to get students their orders, regardless of what unnecessary thing we ordered off of Amazon this time.

Max Towers is an undeclared first-year.

Guest columns should range between 500–700 words in length and are due Sundays at noon. Email your opinions to the opinion editor, Soleil Gaffner, at lgaffner@trinity.edu.

Students, please include your graduating year and declared or intended majors and minors.

Faculty and staff members, please tell us your job title. Alumni, please describe your current occupation and include the year you graduated from Trinity as well as the majors and minors on your degree.

If relevant, please attach photos related to your guest column.

We also have staff illustrators who can create a graphic if you describe one.

Will you edit my guest columns?

The opinion section editor and the copy editors review guest columns for clarity, libel and style, but will not alter your argument.

8

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 26, 2018 •

Why I DID March

OPINION

Readers respond to Isaiah Mitchell’s column from last week

Racism is not dead We march for social justice NATASHA SAHU GUEST COLUMNIST nsahu@trinity.edu There are a few people who wanted to know why racism really butters my egg roll. I give them the obvious answer: I’ve personally experienced it, it’s a rude thing to do, I want to be respected as a human being. These excuses worked well until I was pressed further to give an actual explanation.

Those who argue that racism is over now that we live in the 21st century really make me wonder. Is it because they have the privilege to be able to say that without a bit of doubt? Yes. The ability to say “racism is no longer a social problem” and to simplify the racist climate in the world to “it’s just a white vs. black issue” is a privilege. The MLK march was not to recreate the Selma marchers, it was a way to respect those in the past and to encourage people to speak up against the tensions and disadvantages many of us continue to face.

We don’t march because we want to “make a carnival out of our struggles,” we march because we want to bring awareness to these problems.

Yes, racism no longer surfaces in segregation laws or beating up people that are different from you — the people that are protesting for human rights. But that doesn’t mean racism is dead, or that it never existed.

A recent argument also claimed that instead of finding a practical solution for our problems, we are just a bunch of progressives marching for no reason. Rallies are not just a place where every progressive lines up against the Conservative Southern White Man™ and blames him for all our problems. Rallies are a way to get our voices out and heard.

For a problem that was built upon years of systematic oppression, it isn’t so easy to blame the repercussions of racism on financial disparity. Stats about how top ethnic groups earn more per household do nothing to improve the conditions that minorities still suffer in America,

and are not an excuse to continue racist sentiments.

When my dad had a gun pulled on him in an HEB less than two years ago and was told “Go back to your country,” even though he had been here for over 20 years, he was not asked his annual income. Economic disparity of a minority group is not a situation that would overrule the social implications and ingrained racism of many citizens — problems that have existed for hundreds of years.

Furthermore, this idea that racism is no longer an issue because Indian, Filipino and Taiwanese households bring in the most household income also encourages the faulty model minority rhetoric. This idea has been held above the heads of many AsianAmericans for years, and it’s meant to cause a rift between Asian and AfricanAmericans and force Asian-Americans into submission. We have to keep quiet about racial issues, because how dare we ask for equal treatment when we’re making money?

My colleague claims he doesn’t feel welcome as an outsider looking in. Considering the arguments he has made and possible “solutions” he has proposed, it seems that he was one of the few people that this march wasn’t intended for. And that is alright, if you choose not to march.

However, that also doesn’t warrant a piece on why he believes racism isn’t an issue. This march is for people that have experienced oppression, and it is easier to believe racism no longer exists when you have experienced little oppression in your life.

Starting non-sequitur arguments about how the “foe is not the white man” or including arguments about the Democrats causing financial harm to an ethnic minority attempts to derail the conversation of race and places you in a victimized role, bringing the focus of the issue back to yourself rather than the common goal of equality.

I will also strive to love my fellow men and women. However, I will do it by supporting my friends who decide to walk the streets and fight for justice.

IAN DILL GUEST COLUMNIST idill@trinity.edu The white victimhood narrative espoused in Isaiah Mitchell’s recent column as the supposed motive for marching is frankly insulting to the thousands of people marching for diverse, warranted and vitally important causes. Anyone who has attended this march in recent years knows that the implications of structural racism in its many forms are front and center in the signs and voices of the organizations that honor Martin Luther King’s legacy.

Labor groups, academics (including many from Trinity), LGBT rights organizations, education advocates and organizers of all sorts of political movements coalesce to continue the fight for equality.

People are not marching for the sake of marching, as it becomes easy to believe when you are not faced with the implications of institutional, economic and social racism. As it turns out, these groups are not focused on ‘sorority girls wearing sombreros’, as Mitchell would have us all believe. These are all things that a simple visit to the march would quickly reveal.

Mitchell’s piece contains several out-of-context statistics. First came the statistic indicting welfare programs, which Mitchell claims caused more black kids to grow up without parents. This is an obvious non-sequitur, as perhaps an economic or health-related statistic is a better indicator of the effectiveness of a welfare program? Statistics which are actually relevant show marked improvement in black people’s lives because of these programs.

For instance, Medicaid reduced black infant mortality by 20 percent in 30 years, reduced cancer death rates by 29 percent and reduced the life expectancy gap between black

and white men to its lowest point in history. SNAP, the US food stamp program, lifted 2.2 million people out of poverty in 2014. The statistic Mitchell uses demonstrates the failure of the War on Drugs, a conservative policy which removed many black parents from their children’s lives by imprisoning them on drug possession charges.

We cannot be complacent with an explanation so narrow and ahistorical that we refuse to investigate it and stay home to avoid any meaningful dialogue on the issue.

The other statistic mentioned by Mitchell is that fewer black people attend private schools now, a 28-yearold statistic. I would love to have a dialogue about this, but the statistic itself is conspicuously missing from the citation provided in the article.

Maybe better to drop it than double down on what appears to be a defense of segregated public schools.

The stats I mentioned above are not to say that we have overcome institutional and structural racism.

In fact, there are important statistics which demonstrate that there is something still worth marching for.

Notable among these are the shocking disparities in medical treatments, including disproportionate and

growing maternal mortality rates among black women. Simply blaming democratic social policy for anti-black racism is lazy. We cannot afford to ignore the ways in which racist structures are created and dismantled over time, often in forms that bear uncanny resemblance to chattel slavery.

But the article couldn’t stop there.

Among the misleading statistics and circular arguments littered throughout this piece is the claim that racism was never a social phenomenon. It’s strange how Mitchell can harken back to the gratuitous violence of fire hoses, police dogs and attacks weathered by protesters while sticking to this claim.

Is the racism so clearly seen in drug sentencing disparities, rampant police brutality, housing discrimination, racial health disparities and voter suppression a strictly economic trend? Of course not. We cannot be complacent with an explanation so narrow and a-historical that we refuse to investigate it and stay home to avoid any meaningful dialogue on the issue.

Even looking through the lens provided by this article, something important is missing. If we agree that there is discrimination and inequality in democratic economic reforms, then why not march against them? How could the failure of the Democrats to resolve economic racism possibly be a reason to stay home? How could an argument coming out so angrily against the trajectory of our country’s dialogue not warrant this type of civic engagement?

In a shocking turn of events, it seems like this article has de facto disproven its own argument. The kind of ignorance about legacy and continued existence of antiblack institutions in this country that Mitchell professes seems to demonstrate how important it is that we keep this conversation going by continuing to march in the legacy of MLK.

Black lives always matter KAYLA PADILLA GUEST COLUMNIST kpadill1@trinity.edu Dear Isaiah Mitchell, and anyone who agrees with him: Black lives matter.

There’s so much to correct, but I’ll begin with the basics, the basics of being a human being. While it seems that “raging liberals” or “angry progressives” are the most upset with this article, above the labels, above left and right, it’s human beings that are upset with this article.

To say that “for their own self-assurance [people who marched on MLK Jr. Day], make a carnival out of a struggle,” is an attempt to dismantle civil rights history and its importance.

Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Michael Brown Jr. and Trayvon Martin are only a few of the black lives that have been lost, and it wasn’t because they made a “carnival out of a struggle.”

It was because racism exists, because not everyone accepts that black lives matter too.

Furthermore, Mitchell mentioned that progressives weren’t effective

in their social movements because progressives weren’t “earnestly seeking practical solutions.” As if writing an article on undermining black lives and denouncing their importance is a “practical solution.”

Furthermore, I’m not quite sure why Mitchell would be upset if the march was to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. and his achievements.

It wasn’t a “protest” march necessarily, although Mitchell’s argument is proof we need more of those too. It was a march that celebrated the achievements of MLK, as well as movements that preceded him.

Essentially, Mitchell is upset because people gathered to celebrate the civil rights achievements of black people, because we gathered to announce that black lives matter. Once again, acknowledging black lives as human lives is the absolute least anyone can do. These are further statements that were incredibly detrimental, hurtful and simply racist: “But I don’t have the time — sorry.” I don’t have the time. I don’t have the time to accept that black lives matter. I don’t have the time to be a basic human being with empathy.

“Racism was not a malleable term [for those who marched in dangerous Civil Rights movements] … it was tangible, painful and real.” Trayvon Martin being shot was tangible. It was painful for his family. Trayvon Martin was shot because he was black, it doesn’t get any more real than that.

Mitchell further insinuates that the following are the silly reasons people march today. Let me offer a translation: “Less than sensitive rhetoric” = racism.

“Resistance to multiculturalism” = xenophobia and racism yet again.

“Sorority girls wearing sombreros” = cultural appropriation and racism once more.

As a Mexican-American at Trinity University, and as a human being, I stand by my black brothers and sisters.

I am disappointed, but I’m expecting better. Trinity University is above normalizing hate. Trinity University is about empathy, kindness and support of basic human rights for every human being. I can respect conservatism, but I will not accept racism that is passed as conservatism or a “political view.”

Human rights are always right, and once more: Black Lives Matter.

OPINION • JANUARY 26, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

9

Student art exhibit is Don’t play ID politics if you don’t know us just white-feminist cultural appropriation ABIGAIL WHARTON GUEST COLUMNIST awharton@trinity.edu

CRISTINA TREVINO GUEST COLUMNIST ctrevin1@trinity.edu When you visit the Mini, Trinity’s annual competitive art exhibition featuring the work of nine students, don’t be fooled by the prayer candles and altar, the messages of female empowerment on “prayer cards” and the names of queer women on the wall. The work by Ariel del Vecchio and Abigail Wharton is a stunning example of sacrilege and white feminism at its finest, as it masterfully erases Chicana/o artists and mocks practicing Catholics.

Images of the Virgin Mary sit in candles on the floor that can be purchased for a dollar at HEB next to messy renderings of ofrendas (Spanish: “offerings”), which eerily remind me of a Día de Los Muertos altar I made as a child out of a shoebox.

A fence, reminiscent of la frontera (Spanish: “the Texas/Mexico border”), looms nearby. Then, of course, there is a sign labeled “The Gospel According to the Violets,” an homage to queer women who we are supposed to credit for progress, more than half of whom are over-glorified white women.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is that despite much of the imagery clearly referencing Mexican and Chicana/o art, there is not a single Mexican name to be seen. Any doubt of the Mexican influences of the piece can be resolved by a quick Google search of “Day of the Dead altar” or “Chicano art.”

While critiquing Catholicism, the artists expunge Mexican traditions in favor of celebrating those who have nothing to do with the culture, creating the same issues of suppression directed towards Mexican people.

I have been one half of a Catholic lesbian couple for over three years now. My partner and I have dealt with our community’s misguided ideas about our relationship since day one. Neither of us can be safely open to our Catholic families.

I have spent many sessions confessing my “homosexual sins” and been explicitly told by youth leaders that people like me are no better than murderers, adulterers and pedophiles.

My father calls “dykes” disgusting, and my mother has told me that if she had a gay

child, she would not go to their wedding.

Since accepting my orientation, this is my reality as a gay religious person. I have spent every day incorporating my sexuality into my Catholicism.

Del Vecchio and Wharton’s piece reduces religious imagery for an aesthetic, stripping the holiness and venerable nature away.

A thousand years of Catholic history is ignored in favor of pretty images and a few women who collectively are not relevant to the religion. By diminishing the religious meaning, they diminish those to whom the religion is important, and are no better than the institution they are attempting to critique.

As a mestiza (Spanish: “biracial indigenousSpanish woman”), I am no stranger to yuppies and hipsters thinking that Mexican art is cool or trendy and whitewashing it for their own purposes. Seeing my narrative hijacked and diluted by non-Mexican people is exhausting.

However, one of the underlying issues of appropriation of Mexican imagery is that the piece is easily mistakable to the casual viewer.

Religious iconography is beautiful, but outside of its context, it is void of meaning and simply a mockery of the works from which it came.

More importantly, defiling religious traditions using someone else’s culture provokes anger within that community, which is a detriment to the queer people within it. Ultimately, that anger will affect neither artist because they are not part of the Chicana/o or Mexican community.

The piece reeks of privilege and is blatantly offensive. Nothing said by the piece is interesting or innovative.

If you are interested in seeing meaningful work that addresses the intersection between religion and queerness, there are many Chicana/o artists who address these topics without relying on shock value. Alex Rubio’s absolutely stunning painting “St. Sebastian” (2014) is housed in the Theatre Arts collection at the McNay. See also, Gloria Anzaldúa’s book “Borderlands/La Frontera”, and Chuck Ramirez’s series “Santos” (1996). If you need a reason to revisit Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s work, remember that she was bisexual.

The best way to repair the damage of uncredited work is to acknowledge and celebrate the artists from whom it came.

Co-signed by Ariel del Vecchio.

Ariel del Vecchio and I are presenting a mixed media installation piece titled “Constructed Religiosity” at the Mini, a student art exhibition in Trinity’s own Neidorff Gallery. Our work has already garnered ire from a fellow art student, despite the fact that our critic weighed in before the work and our artist statements were made available to the public. Here, we’re answering the questions she never asked us.

An argument of identity politics and authenticity has been made, ignoring the previous work and decontextualizing the lived experiences of the artists. We have been labeled white feminists. We have been told we are mocking practicing Catholics.

Ariel is a practicing Catholic, a gay woman, a Paraguayan deeply connected to her indigenous Guarani heritage and an immigrant to this country.

I, the lesbian daughter of a southern Methodist minister, am privileged to have supportive parents, but I have experienced disinheritance, excommunication, public humiliation and familial abandonment for my sexuality.

The fact that we have to publicly air these traumatic life experiences to prove the authenticity of our work is antithetical to the projected argument of identity politics.

Our concept is that of a roadside memorial, something you would see at a busy intersection or highway anywhere in the United States, Latin America or Ariel’s home country of Paraguay.

The Virgin figure we utilized is that of the Paraguayan marian apparition of La Virgen de Ka’akupe.

Religious candles and prayer cards were co-opted from religious practices, used in the religious traditions of both artists, to exalt our experiences with sexuality. The use of recycled materials was a deliberate choice made to highlight the lack of resources available to people like us in creating welcoming religious spaces.

Our piece has been accused of singularly glorifying white queer women, which is a dangerous missrepresentation. We discuss diverse queer women throughout history, more than half of whom are women of color.

We have been accused of cultural appropriation, which is wholly reductive and reflects a genuine inability to engage with what our work truly means.

Contemporary conversations surrounding cultural appropriation are deeply tied into claims of authenticity made through superficial identity politics. The argument identifies the aesthetic of our installation as singularly Mexican, and a blasphemous misappropriation of Catholic imagery.

Culture is neither static nor biologically authenticated. This argument against our work is predicated on an assertion that culture, cultural practices and cultural experiences have hard boundaries and that exchange, influence and convergence are morally reprehensible.

Look back through the iconographic and devotional history of the Catholic church and see that many traditions have their inception in the Baroque counter-reformation project of individual religious experience. The presence of small-scale altars are a large part of the extensive history of Catholicism, and devotional material dedicated to marian apparitions in particular are important parts of Catholic traditions in all of Latin America, not just Mexico.

Spanish colonialism in Latin America led to the forced conversion of the indigenous people to Catholicism and, in many ways, the indigeneity of marian apparitions like La Virgen de Ka’akupe allow Latin Americans to continue to engage with their complicated racial and ethnic history.

A search for votive altars in worship of La Virgen de Cococabana, La Virgen de Lujan, and La Virgen de Suyapa will present images of votive statues surrounded by traditional decorations represented throughout Latin America.

Personal experience of culture does not explain a culture in its totality, nor who it belongs to, nor its geographic and biological limitations.

The argument of cultural appropriation against our work erases a long history of devotion of the Virgin Mary throughout the rest of Latin America and our personal religious experiences. It is an argument of reactionary ethno-nationalism and it is blindly exclusionary.

In sum: Yes, we are critiquing church and culture. No, we are not hipsters or yuppies. No, we are not straight white women romanticizing someone else’s pain for artistic merits.

We are speaking from deeply personal experiences as non-heterosexual women and a woman of color. We put hard work and harder theoretical and historical context into this work.

Yes, see other work by LGBTQ+ people of color.

But do not weaponize identity politics. Do not weaponize authenticity. It’s not fair, fun or realistic if we aim to enter into open and honest conversations with each other about the similarities and differences of our lived experiences.

ARIEL DEL VECCHIO and ABIGAIL WHARTON created this art piece for the upcoming Mini exhibition, open to the public in the Dicke-Smith building between Thursday, Jan. 25 and Monday, Feb. 12. photo by AMANI CANADA

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 26, 2018 •

OPINION

The city’s new tobacco restriction is a great setback

continued from FRONT

Tobacco 21’s website has a specific section in which it addresses the argument that being 18 means that you are an adult. The site argues that marking legal adulthood at 18 years of age is a line created and peddled by the big evil lobbyists.

But criminalizing the sale of tobacco to people under 21 will have a number of negative outcomes. This criminalization increases the number of interactions between the police and minors whose brains haven’t fully developed and are liable to make bad decisions.

In their quest for liberty, libertarians often invoke the question, “Are you willing to put a gun to someone’s head in order to make them commit or not commit a specific action?”

While I often find this litmus test to be unsatisfactory in terms of morality, I believe that this question begs to be asked in this situation. How willing are you to put a gun to an 18-year-old’s head over a stick of tobacco?

The old college joke used to be that at the age of 18 we can fight for our country, vote and smoke but not drink alcohol. Now, in San Antonio, we can only vote and fight for our country.

The high age requirement in the United States compared to Europe for the consumption of alcohol has resulted in a destruction of American drinking culture.

That is an article in itself, but take the time to discuss this with an international community — the differences are stark.

Raising the age for the use of tobacco makes college even more of a legal minefield.

At college, we partake in activities, such as alcohol consumption, that we are told to do by society but are criminalized according

illustration by YESSENIA LOPEZ, staff illustrator

to the legal codes. For example, the age for alcohol consumption is 21.

However, Trinity still gives us ample instruction on how to drink safely, even providing cups to use while we drink.

The only time it becomes illegal is when TUPD is on your doorstep. Then suddenly something that is socially acceptable becomes dangerously illegal.

While most of our students don’t smoke, making smoking illegal simply makes existing as a college student a more dangerous and stressful situation.

Another thing to add to a list of fines and stresses after you inevitably get busted that one time in college.

Most people argue and know that the drinking age should be 18, and it would be if it weren’t for federal highway funding mechanisms. Alcohol and tobacco offer students ways to reduce stress in their lives.

Yes, they are actions that are damaging to our health, but as adults it should be our decision whether or not to partake.

It is my belief that the San Antonio City Council would have been better off attempting to solve other problems in San Antonio instead of fighting a nonexistent issue in order to make themselves feel better. How many people in San Antonio besides Tobacco 21 think that underage smoking is an actual sizable problem?

The answer is not many. Right now, San Antonio’s police department is severely understaffed, to the point where millions of dollars are going towards paying overtime. The city is in the midst of a crime wave. There are many different problems that the San Antonio City Council could have chosen to address, instead, they chose to address a non-issue.

However, based on their solution to this problem, I think we are better off that they chose to continue addressing non-issues. Look out, Tide corporation, San Antonio City Council is coming for you.

Manfred Wendt is a junior political science major.

Escape the echo chamber; consume diverse media BENJAMIN GONZALEZ OPINION COLUMNIST bgonzale@trinity.edu

As I scroll through my Twitter feed, retweeting Bernie Sanders’ passionate calls for health to be declared a human right, it’s easy for me to forget that most of the political opinions that appear there are only shared by a fraction of our country’s population.

In fact, if Twitter and Facebook were my only sources of news and current events, I might believe that the entire world subscribed to a mostly liberal political stance such as mine.

In reality, I know that around 46 percent of our country voted for a president who represents ideologies to which I am diametrically opposed to. So why does it appear, through the lens of social media, that everyone agrees with most of my political viewpoints?

The very nature of social media is focused around giving you more of what you like. Even a quick look into your Facebook ad preferences will show you what Facebook has determined is your political affiliation. (Somewhat surprisingly to me, it labels me as “moderate”).

If Facebook shows you more of the types of ads and posts that bring you pleasure, you’re more likely to keep using Facebook. As a business model, this makes a fair amount of sense: give the people what they want. However, this can pose challenges to a productive political discourse.

If people become accustomed to the idea that the world is on their side politically, it becomes easier for them to demonize and reject any opinion that doesn’t line up with their own.

While it is perfectly within your right to vehemently disagree with an opinion, a lack of information about what the other side is saying leads to gross misconceptions. These can ultimately lower the degree to which you can debate effectively with an opponent.

illustration by YESSENIA LOPEZ, staff illustrator

However, not all the blame can be placed on social media like Facebook; we are the willing participants in the confirmation of our own biases. A University of Pennsylvania study examined media consumption on Facebook, keeping track of the proportion of “cross-cutting” (i.e. different from the user’s opinion) content shown to users from both liberal and conservative backgrounds.

Although Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm was influential in reducing the proportion of cross-cutting content that users saw, the proportion of that content that users actually clicked on was even smaller. This means that we, as users, are responsible for neglecting to hear the other side of the political spectrum.

Additionally, news outlets themselves need to be wary of practices that lend themselves to partisan viewing only. As a Washington Post article stated, outlets should “resist pandering to established constituencies, despite the

temptations of a guaranteed audience and trend-driven traffic,” citing a headline by the Associated Press that referred to Ruth Bader Ginsburg as “the Notorious RBG,” a popular term among younger and more liberal voters.

If articles start taking a partisan lean just from the headline, Facebook algorithms will likely latch on to it and distribute it among those who already agree with that source’s opinions.

Fortunately, a small amount of research can go a long way in helping to understand the argument of the other side. The Wall Street Journal’s “Blue Feed, Red Feed” displays side-by-side the two different partisan interpretations of similar news events, sorted by categories such as “Health Care” or “Guns.”

Alternatively, Steven Crowder’s Youtube series “Change My Mind” provides a more personal debate as Crowder invites random people from the public to convince him that

his (very conservative) views are misguided.

Both of these examples provide ways to escape the “echo chamber” of social media that often arises when algorithms and biases trap us in a redundant feed of the same opinions.

As satisfying as it is to keep retweeting those liberal or conservative political memes, I recommend expanding the aperture through which you consume the news as it relates to politics.

Every story can have a spin, and oftentimes examining how a story is spun the other way can help you better understand your own stance.

Whether it changes your mind or not, a diverse political consumption of media is healthy for both your own opinions and for our society’s discourse as a whole.

Benjamin Gonzalez is a sophomore anthropology major.

HAVE A STORY THAT NEEDS TO BE TOLD? Know a professor or student who embodies what it means to be a Tiger? Email us at trinitonian@trinity.edu to let us know about the people and events that should be covered in an upcoming issue of the Trinitonian.

Foye had strong friendships with people in over 40 countries. photo provided by the FOYE FAMILY

Pulse VIVEK ROGERS speaks about Foye. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

Friends offer condolences to Foye's family. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

ROBERT FOYE SR. speaks about his son. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

Foye's life celebrated in memorial service Trinity community gathers to celebrate passed student's life KARA KILLINGER | PULSE EDITOR kkilling@trinity.edu In the late afternoon of last Thursday, Jan. 18, the Skyline Room filled with friends, family and others who were impacted by the life of Robert Foye.

Foye was a 19-year-old sophomore studying business administration and political science when he passed away on Jan. 13. He was widely known and respected throughout the Trinity community.

Foye died as a result o f experimentation with a whippit, a small container of nitrous oxide that is intended for use in whipped cream charging bottles but is often used as an inhalant. Foye's father, Robert Foye Sr., has advised students to exercise caution around substances.

"I would like to communicate to students that any drug or even legal substances which are not considered a drug can have severe effects on your health or cause death when

misused," Foye Sr. wrote in an email interview. "In Robert’s case, he was experimenting with whipped cream chargers, which are perfectly legal.

They accidentally killed him. He would not have thought in his wildest dreams that could happen. But this grey area of legal substances used the wrong way can be just as harmful as illegal or prescription drugs. Please think twice before ever experimenting with something you should not."

Attendees of Foye’s memorial service were able to mingle with Foye’s parents, brother and uncle. The service then began with a welcome from David Tuttle, dean of students, who thanked everyone for being there and expressed his sympathy to Foye's family.

Several friends from the Trinity community spoke about Foye and his positive impact on their lives.

Isaac Bartolomei, sophomore mathematical finance major, had been close with Foye since they both arrived at Trinity as first-years.

Bartolomei noted that Foye was a relentlessly supportive friend and an optimist, even in hard times.

"He was someone who, if you encountered him, you would be struck

by how little ill will he had toward people. There would be situations where everyone else was upset and he was positive. He was always an encouraging person and he encouraged his friends," Bartolomei said.

"He was someone who, if you encountered him, you would be struck by how little ill will he had toward people."

ISAAC BARTOLOMEI SOPHOMORE MATHEMATICAL FINANCE MAJOR

Junior theatre and human communication double major Nico Champion, who was Foye’s resident advisor last year, said that Foye possessed a myriad of positive adjectives he was always using to describe the world around him.

"I have pretty vivid memories of me asking about an event he was at or a piece of clothing he was wearing,

and he would respond with the most gregarious adjective he could think of to describe everything," Champion said.

Champion remembered that Foye was the only person in the hall who asked him how he was doing during required one-on-one chats. "'How's your life?' 'How's school?' 'How are you doing?' [he would ask]. You know, a lot of people ask that and they don't really mean it. It was always clearly a genuine question [with Robert].

He was clearly concerned with how I was doing," Champion said.

Foye’s father, Robert Foye Sr., closed the service with a speech about his son. Foye Sr. expressed that Foye was an intelligent and gregarious person who traveled widely, made friends in countries across the world and frequently beat his father at basketball.

"He’d love to do any kind of ad hoc sport thing. He was interested in any sport that other people were playing, and he could could get involved in," Foye Sr. said in an earlier interview with the Trinitonian. "I've never met anybody that didn't like him."

Overall, the memorial service was a respectful and well-attended celebration of Foye's life. Foye's family was comforted by the immense amount of love in the room.

"We really enjoyed the entire service and saw so much caring, love and support for Robert. He was loved dearly and will be missed dearly," Foye Sr. wrote.

Now, it will surely be difficult to fill the hole that Foye left in the Trinity community, but it may be best done by viewing the world with optimism as Foye did.

Those interested may also donate to the Robert Lawrence Foye Scholarship Foundation, which Foye's family created in his memory.

The foundation will allow financially limited students to attend Trinity.

"Funds that people donate in this very long-term foundation will go towards scholarships at Trinity for hungry, proactive future students who maybe could not have gone to Trinity otherwise," Foye Sr. wrote.

"We thought it was a good cause and a great way to remember Robert." with additional reporting Kathleen Creedon, news editor

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PULSE

What is reverse culture shock like?

Students react to returning from study abroad programs

GABBY GARRIGA | PULSE REPORTER ggarriga@trinity.edu “Mom, I really don’t think I can handle this right now,” said Destiny Hopkins, senior sociology major.

For Hopkins, a trip to the supermarket last year turned hazardous. Standing with her mom in one of the grocery aisles, Hopkins became overwhelmed by the American brands and diverse people in pajamas.

Soon, she became dizzy and was forced to leave the store with her mom, feeling sick and anxious. Hopkins, who had been living in Japan for a semester, was experiencing reverse culture shock upon her return to the United States.

“Coming back was a whole different story.

I definitely didn’t expect to experience reverse culture shock, but it definitely happened,” Hopkins said.

Each semester, Trinity University students study abroad in foreign countries, creating a completely different lives from their existences in San Antonio.

However, sometimes this transition is not seamless. Some students experience culture shock when they arrive in their host country and some experience reverse culture shock when they return home.

Experiencing culture shock is not uncommon. The Center for International Engagement at Trinity University gives a presentation to students before they go to their host country for the semester or summer, warning them of the possibility of experiencing culture shock.

“You just land in your host country and everything is different — food, money, people, clothing, music, signs, language, smells — and you haven’t even left the airport. Some students have an easier time adjusting to what is unfamiliar than others,” wrote Andre Martinez, assistant director for study abroad, in an email interview. “Culture shock for students is like the ‘upside down’ in ‘Stranger Things’ — a few freeze and have a hard time but most students are like, ‘okay, this is cool’ — without all the monsters of course.”

Brenda Ramos, junior business administration major, had fond memories of all the walking she did during her time in Spain last semester. (Ramos is an Advertising Executive for the Trinitonian.)

Ramos looked back on her time in Spain through the number of steps she had to endure.

“People were so sore,” Ramos said.

Although this was unfamiliar to Ramos, she adjusted to the new culture and came to enjoy it. When Ramos returned to America, she had to adjust to another culture she wasn’t used to.

“I never realized how sedentary we are here. I hated coming back because I have a Fitbit, and I would get 20,000 steps every day while in Spain. People got so sore from walking around everywhere. You come back here and get maybe 2,000 a day,” Ramos said.

Ramos spoke about what she learned about culture shock and reverse culture shock on her semester abroad.

“The first common thing is that you begin to think that America is better than the place you’re at, or you can go the other way — this place is better than America. Neither one of those is right because you should always be looking at it as this is just different,” Ramos said.

After being abroad for months, students usually need time to adjust back to their lives in the United States.

This transition can be harder and take longer for some students. When students experience reverse culture shock, it is often because they miss their host country and acknowledge the advantages other countries may have.

“When students return home, they often see how imperfect the U.S. is, which is a good thing. How can the problems in our home country be fixed when we don’t know what solutions out there are possible?

Students who go abroad often see how public transportation should work or how serious some people view environmental issues, such as recycling. So when they get back here, they are sad,” Martinez wrote.

The study abroad office recommends that students research their host country before leaving and communicating with their program directors if they have issues.

illustration by YESSENIA LOPEZ, staff illustrator

This can help prevent students from feeling isolated or unhappy while on their semesters abroad.

“Problems arise usually due to miscommunication — with roommates, professors, friends — or misunderstandings based on one’s own culture, so it is best if students have a continuous dialogue with everyone. Plus, it is a great way to get to really know other people they meet abroad,” Martinez wrote.

Although studying abroad can present some difficulties, students and faculty still encourage others to study abroad. The

study abroad office hopes to increase the number of students they send abroad in the upcoming years.

“Overall, our goal is to have at least 60 percent of all Trinity graduates study abroad by 2022–2023, which I think we can easily accomplish,” Martinez wrote.

Although Hopkins experienced reverse culture shock, she still encourages fellow students to study abroad if they are able.

“It was the best experience of my life. I needed a change in pace, and what better way to do that than studying abroad?”

Hopkins said.

Roman worked with students at her previous institution, Grand Valley State University, as the assistant director for multicultural affairs and as the assistant director of the university’s Women’s Center.

As of now, Roman will focus on her “nearterm vision.”

groups and interviews with stakeholders — students, faculty, staff and community members — to see what opportunities that we can have to build and mobilize around diversity and inclusion,” Roman said.

Because Roman’s department is new, her role as director of diversity and inclusion is not well established. Roman aims to work with student diversity clubs and get faculty involved in the efforts made by students.

“This position is unique because not only do I get to work with students, but I also get to work with faculty and staff and get to shape the services that we would provide.

There are already things happening even without this office, so I see my role as being able to connect those things so that I’m not the sole one that is doing them. I don’t think diversity and inclusion work should fall on one office. It should be seen throughout the campus,” Roman said.

Roman’s job as director will necessitate a campus-wide approach.

“I think it is vital we understand that building a diverse and inclusive community is no easy task. This task cannot be achieved by the diversity and inclusion team alone — it will require student, staff and faculty engagement and a commitment by the institution and its broader community to equity, open-mindedness and progress,” Ferguson wrote.

Meeting our director for diversity and inclusion Allison Roman has big plans for campus-wide diversity initiatives GABBY GARRIGA | PULSE REPORTER ggarriga@trinity.edu Imon Ferguson, a 2017 graduate who majored in physics and mathematics, sipped his coffee in Einstein Bros. Bagels one fall morning of his senior year. This was no ordinary breakfast for Ferguson.

He was waiting for Jamie Thompson, the director of Student Involvement, to discuss the possibility of joining an ad hoc diversity committee.

From this point on, Ferguson, as the student advisor on this project, would help form the new structure of diversity administration at Trinity University. In his role as student advisor, Ferguson gave input that reflected the campus climate on diversity and inclusion at the time. One reason Danny Anderson, president of Trinity University, authorized this ad hoc diversity committee was due to the recent departure of the coordinator for diversity in 2016.

“In addition, at the time, there had been a marked increase in prominent, racially-charged incidents, the waves of

which were felt all across the nation.

This was our opportunity to provide our recommendations on how to build a successful diversity and inclusion team from the ground up, intertwining our vision with the university’s mission,” Ferguson wrote in an email interview.

The ad hoc diversity committee was made up of faculty across many departments at Trinity, including Sheryl Tynes, vice president for Student Life, and Ferguson as the student advisor. After a year of researching other universities and countless hours spent in discussion, the committee recommended that the position of coordinator for diversity be heightened to director for diversity and inclusion.

The committee then formed a separate search committee, which included Jamie Thompson and Michael Soto, to find the person who would fill the position of director for diversity and inclusion. This search led to the hiring of Allison Roman, who started working at Trinity University at the beginning of this semester.

“My concern was that we shouldn’t settle.

When she did her presentation for us, she blew us out of the water. She talked about her near-term vision, her medium-term vision and she talked about her dream big vision, and she had great ideas in each of them,” Tynes said.

"I don’t think diversity and inclusion work should fall on one office. It should be seen throughout the campus.”

ALLISON ROMAN DIRECTOR FOR DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Roman hopes to do this by sending out a campus climate survey to hear about the experiences of people at Trinity. Her plan also includes talking face to face with students and faculty to get opinions on how the community feels Trinity should approach enhancing diversity and inclusion.

Roman has been meeting with faculty and students since the beginning of the semester, sometimes even going for coffee at Einstein Bros. Bagels.

“The first thing would be doing a review of what already exists, doing some focus

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New student clubs start first full semester Leaders discuss what it took to form their own registered student organizations MAGGIE LUPO | PULSE REPORTER mlupo@trinity.edu Chess. Fencing. Swing dancing. Knitting.

These are just a few of the options available to Trinity students who want to get involved on campus doing things they love. But what if, for some reason, the thing you love doesn’t yet have a club or organization devoted to it?

You create one, as some students have done so far this school year. The TEDxTU group and the American Sign Language Club are both student organizations that were created last semester and are now entering into their first full semester of operation. The process for creating a new organization involves five steps, according to Shannon Edmond, the coordinator for student programs.

“Step one is to meet with me. We go over goals, program ideas, how they expect to sustain the organization year after year, and we go over any ‘what-if’ scenarios. From there I bring it to all of student involvement staff and we decide if this organization is a good fit for Trinity’s campus. If so, we move on to the next four steps,” Edmond said.

These next steps involve a series of proposals and a comprehensive review and approval process, which Edmond says can happen in any order. New clubs must create a constitution, fill out a new student organization form, name an advisor, watch risk management videos, take related quizzes and fill out a roster form to ensure that their organization has at least 10 members.

“We do give exceptions to some groups such as religious groups and some cultural groups, but overall, minimum 10 students per organization,” Edmond said.

WALAWALKAR leads the TEDxTU group. photo by STEPHEN SUMRALL-ORSAK, staff photographer

Once all of these steps have been completed, Edmond takes the proposal to the Student Involvement staff, where they go over the constitution as a team.

Only when the organization gets a unanimous vote is it allowed to operate on campus.

Edmond explained that although the process may seem long, it can actually be completed quickly if student organizers are efficient.

“I always tell students when they come in here that it’s as quick as they make it. There’s not a standard amount of time that it takes; it really depends on if they’re willing to put in the work,” Edmond said.

Rohan Walawalkar, the sophomore anthropology major who started the TEDxTU organization, does admit that the process can be strenuous.

“It is an arduous process; it is a long process,

and it is very, very bureaucratic in nature,” Walawalkar said.

However, the TEDxTU organization had the extra difficulty of having to apply for the TEDx license. The TEDx project grants organizations these licenses to hold a TEDstyle event for one day.

“In that event, you’re supposed to bring the TED experience to your own community,” Walawalkar said.

Only when Walawalkar got approval from Trinity’s administration could he seek the extra license required from the TEDx project.

“I sent in the TEDx license application, which was a demon of its own, and got approved,” Walawalkar said.

Walawalkar explained that his organization is different from most other clubs on campus in that TEDxTU doesn’t have weekly meetings or activities.

“It’s not recurring, minor-level events; it’s one large, clearly thought out and organized event every year, or potentially every semester if we get that strong. For that [event], we have to get specific approvals,” Walawalkar said.

Not all clubs have to go through this rigorous extra approval process, however.

First-year environmental studies major Zoey Lacey, who started the American Sign Language club, said that starting her club was surprisingly easy.

“It’s mostly just about deciding you’re going to do it, and then Student Involvement walked me through the steps of creating a constitution and filling out the appropriate forms,” Lacey wrote in an email interview.

The American Sign Language club has already had two meetings, which Lacey says between six and eight people have attended out of the 40 people on the email list.

Though those numbers may seem low, she’s still encouraged.

“Considering they were the first meetings, and in the weeks leading up to finals, I’m pretty happy with it,” Lacey said.

Both Lacey and Walawalkar have words of advice for someone who wants to start their own club. Lacey advised starting by gauging interest.

“Talk to people and see if they’re interested and then reach out to Student Involvement,” Lacey said.

Walawalkar, on the other hand, emphasized careful planning.

“Have your mission very clear and be very prepared when you go into that room,” Walawalkar said.

Interested parties should contact zlacey@trinity.edu about the American Sign Language club or rwalawal@trinity. edu about TEDxTU.

14

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 26, 2018 •

PULSE

Anthro professor returns from Nepal Professor talks anthropology research and the transformative quality of international education MAGGIE LUPO | PULSE REPORTER mlupo@trinity.edu

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

When most people picture Nepal, they probably think about the Himalayas, colorful prayer flags or Marvel’s Dr. Strange. However, sociology and anthropology professor Richard Reed, who just returned from a three-month research sabbatical in Nepal, has a very different image to portray.

“Kathmandu right now is overrun with people.

The air is polluted, the water’s polluted, there’s fetid liquids running out of open sewers into the street,” Reed said.

In stark contrast to this dismal image, Reed described the countryside as something out of Lord of the Rings.

“The highlands, hilly regions that are between the plains and the peaks, are high green hills — think Hobbit-land,” Reed said.

This was not Reed’s first trip to the remote country. As an undergraduate at Macalester College, he studied abroad in Nepal through a program run by the School of International Training.

“I learned all about the culture, and I learned to speak the language, and I loved it,” Reed said.

Reed describes his first trip to Nepal as a transformative experience; it’s part of the reason he wanted to return over 40 years later.

“I always wanted to go back, and so when I did get the opportunity at this point in my career to return there and see what it would have been like if I had done research there, and to see if there’s future research for me there, [I took it],” Reed said.

Reed’s research primarily focuses on deforestation in Amazonia, and he works with indigenous groups on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. What does this topic have to do with a small mountainous nation on the other side of the world? More than you’d think, according to Reed.

“When I went to Nepal in 1974, the population was exploding, the trees were all being cut down and the land was eroding away. Our major concerns were overpopulation and deforestation — environmental damage,” Reed said.

However, much has changed since Reed’s last visit.

“Overpopulation is not a problem in the rural areas, and rather than deforestation, they’ve got really organized and really successful reforestation programs,” Reed said.

Reed spent time looking at these reforestation programs through the lens of potential future research material. He discovered that the Nepalese manage their forests as community resources; groups of people are responsible for the protection and management of their natural resources.

“They’re really professional,” Reed said.

Reed has another leave coming up. He plans to go back to Nepal and focus on just a few of the forests for more in-depth research. In the meantime, his students are excited to hear the stories he has to tell.

Katie Stansbury, a junior anthropology major in Reed’s Morality and the Marketplace course, is looking forward hearing more about his travels.

“I’m really looking forward to getting in on some of those stories,” Stansbury said.

Stansbury is especially interested in hearing how religion may impact a society’s economic practices.

“We are going to talk a lot about Buddhist economics in Morality and the Marketplace, so I’m looking forward to hearing how his time in Nepal influenced that,” Stansbury said.

Experiences like Reed’s can be incredibly enlightening and enriching for students.

Katsuo Nishikawa, director of the Center for International Engagement, strongly extols the virtues of studying abroad in college.

“An international education is crucial at this stage. I truly feel that in my bones,” Nishikawa said.

Nishikawa also underscored the value for professors of teaching and modeling the importance of study abroad in the classroom.

“Touching on things like international education and study abroad on campus, having classes that kind of expose you to that world is so important, because it is through that vehicle that we will teach you these values,” Nishikawa said.

Reed echoes Nishikawa’s sentiments, emphasizing the transformative aspect of the experience.

“I think all undergraduates really should do study abroad, because I think that you can’t avoid being changed. It really is one of those experiences that can and will change your life,” Reed said.

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Michael Bay to direct a “Duke Nukem” film adaptation

Science fiction writer and icon Ursula K. Le Guin dies at age 88

Despite criticisms of the director’s style, his love of explosions and spectacle is almost sure to do the source material justice.

Author of such classics as “A Wizard of Earthsea” and “The Left Hand of Darkness,” news of her death rocked sci-fi fans and the literary world.

AE &

Post-apocalypse comes to Stieren Theatre The first production of the year takes focuses on how communities gather around stories and turn them to myth BOBBY WATSON A&E CONTRIBUTOR rwatson@trinity.edu

In the theatre department’s latest production, an electric fallout has ended life as we know it, yet “The Simpsons,”America’s longest-running animated show and the new bedrock of post-apocalyptic civilization endures. “Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play” debuts Feb. 16 in the Stieren Theatre.

The play, written by modern playwright Anne Washburn and first premiered in 2012, is supposed to incorporate a lot of modern elements into the show, reaching out to a wide audience. It contains social commentary, lots of little theatrical details and a common base for humor: “The Simpsons,” a show that itself has few qualms with pop-culture references.

“There’s been some kind of accident with nuclear power, and people have been dying. So what we have are some of the survivors who we are following in the play. It starts right after this has happened and people are gathered around a fire, and they’re telling stories of ‘Simpsons’ episodes,” said Rachel Joseph, assistant professor of human communications and theatre, who’s directing the show. “In the second act we see them seven years later, and they are actually rehearsing: They have become a roving troupe that performs these ‘Simpsons’ episodes for people, plus commercials. Then we jump forward 75 years later and it’s a performance of what ‘The Simpsons’ has become, which is almost like classical Greek theatre.”

The performers only had seven weeks to rehearse the show, which includes a variety of musical numbers, intense set and prop use and challenging roles ranging from somber realism to extravagant pomp. The play’s extreme versatility is a challenge for both the actors and the directors.

Luckily there are veteran actors, such as junior Nico Champion and sophomore Alex Oliver, as well as a promising amount of new talent in the chorus.

“It’s really interesting just to read through it. It’ll be something you’ll be on the edge of your seat for,” said Steven Owen, senior and cast member.

The Trinity company is also attempting to minimize the use of modern technology in

order to mimic the conditions of the actors within the first act.

“The performers only had seven weeks to rehearse the show, which includes a variety of musical numbers, intense set and prop use and challenging roles.”

“What interested me about [‘Mr. Burns’] would be the meta-theatrical type things,” said Sarah Bastos, sophomore and assistant director for the show. “For the first act we’re going to have a soundscape of sorts, so we’re going to have the sound of crackling fire; we’re going to have gentle winds. Most of the sounds are going to be handmade, because in the show, everything that they’re doing is done without electricity, so surely we can do it without electricity.”

Bastos has also worked on the show’s set in class, creating and decorating the postapocalyptic world. The set is said to gradually increase in each act as civilization is reborn and order comes back to the world.

There are a lot of details that help make the atmosphere of the show realistic. Bastos remembers helping hand-dip 20,000 fabric leaves into gray and dark colors in order to emphasize the general bleak and cataclysmic scenery that the characters find themselves having to live in.

“Even when the worst has happened and it’s traumatic and it’s awful, somehow civilization picks itself up, dusts itself off and continues in some way,” Joseph said. “[The play] really says something about art as being something that’s not just extraneous to life but that it’s central to telling stories to get over big traumatic things that have happened. It has a sense of history and a sense of it’s how they tell themselves stories about the past.”

Bastos was similarly intrigued by what “Mr. Burns” says about media’s effect on society.

“It is a really, really strong commentary on how media influences our lives and how the common media that we partake in everyday influences us, and how it can influence us past what we think they will,” Bastos said.

“Mr. Burns” seems to be a weird, interesting and smart show that has both elements of fantasy and reality that could really open up to a wide audience.

The cast of “Mr. Burns” rehearses before the release of the show. Heavily referencing “The Simpsons” episode “Cape Feare,” the play deals with themes of media, myth and the power of both on communities and people. The “Post-Electric Play” will debut on Feb. 16 in the Stieren Theatre. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 26, 2018 •

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

The Golden Globes: An award for second place AUSTIN DAVIDSON A&E CONTRIBUTOR adavids1@trinity.edu

Every year, like clockwork, award season descends upon us. For some, it is a time of elation and joy, to watch the stars of the silver screen all in one room, clapping and cheering each other on.

It also provides a massive platform for the more motivated and passionate entertainers to speak their minds, bring up important issues and rally people behind noble causes. Award season and the shows it encapsulates have good and bad within them, but one that has truly lost its place in the pantheon of legitimacy is the Golden Globes.

Before my head is mounted like Joffery’s, allow me to explain why I believe the once-great award has in recent years dwindled to more of a nice solid pat on the back or a sort of runner-up consolation prize. Look at the most recent show, with two films, “Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri” and “Lady Bird,” as the front-runners for the best motion picture (drama).

“Three Billboards” won, taking home best motion picture (drama), and “Lady Bird” took home best motion picture (musical or comedy).

While both are labeled as equivalent awards, it’s clear when watching “Lady Bird” that it wasn’t

meant to be a comedy. While it has funny elements and well-written humor, the film is about growing up, emotional evolution and the dire straits millions of people deal with every day.

The writers and directors of “Lady Bird” didn’t set out to make a comedy, but a moving film meant to inspire deep emotional connections and heartfelt memories. So when they are awarded as a comedy, it seems to be more of a secondplace trophy rather than a top-level award. While the other films in its category are great, they too aren’t purely just comedies.

“Get Out,” while well written and directed to create funny moments, is about race, white privilege and without a doubt the most insane weekend getaway put to screen. The same can be said for “I, Tonya” and “The Disaster Artist,” both multilayered films that sadly are branded by the Globe community as “comedies” and thus placed in a sort of reserve category, the almostgood-enough category.

There is nothing wrong with the award, and the “Lady Bird” team should be proud of creating a fantastic movie, one I love and will see many more times. But it saddens me that they got second place, and that they received an award I would wager they didn’t set out to get. While I doubt they created the movie for the awards, being noticed for your achievements is a feeling no one should be exempt from, especially artists like “Lady Bird” director Greta Gerwig.

Films made to answer a question or to bring to light an issue are hard to do right, and

graphic by EVAN CHAMBLESS

when it is achieved they should be awarded for the feat. At one time, the Golden Globes symbolized a precursor to the Oscars, the event that gave the public a good idea as to what films were favored, what films were worth seeing — and to some extent, the show still does that.

But the Golden Globes have lost the legitimacy that when an actor or actress or director received that circular gold statue, they could put it in their office or on their shelf and be proud. Now, it seems like the participation trophy. There is nothing wrong with it, but for some of the people there on the bench, it’s not enough.

Imagine if the Oscars had second-place awards. Leonardo DiCaprio wouldn’t put up his five-second place Oscars next to his first place one. Why be reminded of almost making it, being good but not good enough? Since the Oscars only award one winner, the six or seven other finalists may not like that they lost, but they never know if they almost made it.

The Golden Globes are now the second-place awards, the almost-theres. That doesn’t mean in any way that the people who won one should feel less proud, but they should realize that they are being recognized on an award show that recognizes two best actors, two best actresses, and two best pictures. Which is better?

good. A lovely woman named Velma special made a Tres Leches cake for my birthday last year and gave me a hug when I came to pick it up. You could tell that cake was made with love.

Las Nieves In the punishing heat of south Texas summer, frozen treats at Las Nieves are a must. Want something ice cold and fruity?

Las Nieves has you covered. If you’re looking for something salty, you can get your Hot Cheetos with nacho cheese or corn in the cup here too. Basically, Las Nieves is Mexican snack food heaven. If you’re not a Texas native, I highly recommend you educate yourself on the joys of mangonadas, paletas and aguas frescas by taking a trip to Las Nieves.

Kitchen declares the food “110% Mexican,” and rightfully so. This tiny yellow cottage serves up some of the most authentic and delicious Mexican food in the entire city.

Chilaquiles or breakfast tacos here are the perfect way to nurse a hangover and a steaming bowl of caldo de pollo is the ideal pick me up on a rainy afternoon. I’m a huge fan of the gorditas here, a dish made of fried masa stuffed with flavorful meat. However, the standout at Mama’s is the tacos. Their classic bean and cheese are transcendently delicious, and more unusual options like the chicharron en salsa ranchera are excellent as well. Whatever you order, experts agree that Mama’s Kitchen has some of the best tacos in all of San Antonio. If good food alone isn’t enough to entice you, go and enjoy the 10% student discount they offer.

Mama’s Kitchen There are many Mexican restaurants on Hildebrand, but I assure you Mama’s Kitchen is the best. The sign outside Mama’s

The city offers endless options for culinary exploration but with so many options on Hildebrand, so why not start in your own backyard?

A culinary adventure down Hildebrand Ave SUSAN GRIFFITH GUEST CONTRIBUTOR sgriffi1@trinity.edu

San Antonio’s rich culinary tradition is by far one of its best assets. Luckily for Trinity students, some of the city’s most authentic and delicious food is mere minutes away on Hildebrand Avenue. From sushi to tacos, Hildebrand has it all, and today I intend to share the best of it with my fellow Trinity students.

Niki’s Tokyo Inn Looks can be deceiving, but insiders know that some of the best sushi in San Antonio can be found in this unassuming little restaurant on Hildebrand. After being seated in a traditional tatami room, waiters serve you a steaming pot of fragrant Japanese tea. As you peruse the menu,

you’ll find a wealth of sushi options ranging from the familiar California roll to unagi and other options less common in America. Personally, my favorite menu item is the chirashi bowl, a dish made of steamed rice and a colorful assortment of raw fish. If you’re still a sushi skeptic, fear not. Niki’s menu includes a variety of delicious noodle, tempura and rice dishes as well. No matter what entrée you order, a green tea mochi ice cream is the perfect ending to any meal at Niki’s.

Bedoy’s Bakery This under-the-radar shop is my favorite spot to score cheap and delicious baked goods. This little bakery has been serving San Antonio’s authentic pan dulce since 1961. Glass cases full of colorful cakes, cookies and conchas line the walls of the panadería. Some of the staff here speak limited English, so Spanish speakers can practice their language skills here, but when in doubt, just point to what looks

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17

The Bachelor: Finding a community in the trash GEORGIE RIGGS A&E CONTRIBUTOR griggs@trinity.edu

For 22 seasons, it’s been a fact universally acknowledged that a group of 20-something women will enter an inordinately staged mansion in a fruitless plea for the titular Bachelor. More interestingly, for more than 15 years, hordes of Americans have tuned in with their friends to watch the show with a varying mix of sincerity and irony.

While I had never watched “The Bachelor” before this season, I had heard so much about it within the zeitgeist that I felt I had a pretty firm understanding of what it was. However, after watching the show myself and talking about it with others at Trinity, I realized just how wrong I was.

With many shows, I may binge-watch a few episodes or seasons with friends, but never the same show consistently. But with “The Bachelor,” I’ve heard water cooler discussion about this show from my peers since high school. At Trinity, junior Reagan Herzog tole me that from the summer before her first year she had already found a core group of “Bachelor” watchers. Since then, even if the group has fluctuated, she has watched the show regularly in a dorm room with friends — not just the core program, but the various spin-offs as well.

As a non-watcher, I had, of course, heard about the spinoff, “The Bachelorette,” but I was surprised to hear about the more activity-oriented “Bachelor in Paradise,” the canceled “Bachelor Pad” and the upcoming “Winter Games Bachelor.”

For those like my past self — my unenlightened bachelorette to “The Bachelor” self — who might not know the premise, the main show places one man at the center of a preternaturally attractive group of young women’s lives for months.

The first episode kicks things off with a cringe-inducing “First Impressions” round,

illustration by YESSENIA LOPEZ

with all twenty-nine female contestants trying to make their mark on the Bachelor.

Some choose to bring valuable gifts like cufflinks, others try to display their personality with gimmicky lines that seem to have come straight from a Buzzfeed listicle of Tinder bios to avoid.

All of this happens as the man they are all vying for, the man they quit their jobs for and bought hundreds of dollars worth of slightly-fancier-than-prom dresses for, smiles and offers a generic, most-likely dubbed, whispered complement as they walk away.

The fun and the real surprise twist for first-time viewers comes with the obvious but satisfying formulated drama from the women systematically sabotaging their peers with subtle interruptions of one-on-one time with this season’s bachelor, Arie Luyendyk Jr. I suspected as much since producer-invented melodrama is a staple in reality television.

But the lack of shame from “The Bachelor” made every choice funnier. There is a single mother who is not there to make friends and doesn’t care if she has to be the villain to get the man. There are somehow four girls named Lauren vying for Arie. One contestant not only plays the ukulele but is also a seasoned taxidermist, which will inevitably be folded in later in the season as she — hopefully — will win over Arie with a stuffed sea lion.

Every archetype became weirdly satisfying as “The Bachelor” met each expectation my friends and I had before viewing, but with a full-fledged dedication to the ridiculous. This will come as no surprise to those who already watch the show, but it all kind of felt like a religious experience. I don’t know if I agree with any of the tenets being preached, but I fully enjoy the communal environment.

If host Chris Harrison is the Father and race-car driver Arie Lyendyk Jr. is the Son, watching “The Bachelor” with friends is the Holy Spirit. Or, less controversially, finding community with trashy reality television can be a welcome respite from our actual reality, and I fully recommend it.

ABIGAIL WHARTON, left, and JULIA POAGE, right, place the final touches on their Mini exhibits in the Dicke-Smith building. While the event had no set theme, student were encouraged to base their installations on personal experience. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

Students display ‘Mini’ art AUSTIN DAVIDSON A&E CONTRIBUTOR adavids1@trinity.edu

Nine Trinity artists will present their artwork Thursday at the opening reception for “The Mini,” a student art exhibit featuring installations including sculpture and painting.

Julia Poage, a junior double-majoring in art and English, is showcasing her work at the exhibit. (Poage was the Trinitonian’s opinion section editor in 2017.) Her art focuses on the fragility and loss that affects the collective groups that we are a part of.

“In my piece, I talk about absence and mourning. In a semi-detached way, I’m talking about mass terror, like Columbine and Sandy Hook, and addressing the fact that our generation has grown up with these traumatic events,” Poage said. “Since we were children we have seen horrors like 9/11 and Columbine and my piece talks about how we deal with that trauma and growing up in such a time with such public acts of violence and terror.”

Abigail Wharton, a junior art major, is another contributor to the exhibit. (Wharton was a Trinitonian arts and entertainment contributor in the fall of 2017.) She did a partnered piece with Ariel del Vecchio, a junior art and art history double major.

“Ariel and I are building an installation piece which is essentially an experimental sculpture. Ariel and I like to talk about gender and sexuality in the context of the cultures that we grew up in. Ariel is from Paraguay and grew up in a very Catholic family and I grew up in Texas in a very traditional southern Methodist family. Both of us really love the religious imagery and these traditions that we grew up with but found ourselves on the outskirts of them as we grew older. So those feelings and emotions are what we hope to create and

make the viewer feel when they see our piece,” Wharton said.

According to Wharton, the Mini has no official theme, but each of the pieces acts as a sort of puzzle, addressing issues and creating questions to be answered or contemplated.

“I would say a lot of the artists that are taking part in the Mini seem to end up addressing similar themes in their work, like who we are and how we fit into certain situations. What I love about Julia’s is that she talks about 9/11 and Columbine and how those things are so salient in our lives and how we weren’t really conscious of them growing up. Her piece is, in a way, answering the question of how those events affect us. For Ariel and I’s piece, we are answering the question of who are we and where we fit,” Wharton said.

Wharton spoke on how, the group of artists all seemed to address a similar core idea.

“Even though each of our pieces seem to be going in different directions or talking about different things, we all seem to come back to the same original question,” Wharton said.

Art exhibitions generally have a goal or a theme in mind, yet the Mini was created more as an opportunity for student artists to express themselves and showcase the incredible talent that Trinity has. But I wanted to see if the artists had a message that they hoped the viewers would take away, whether it be a greater appreciation for the arts or a more open understanding of a certain topic addressed in a piece.

“Well I hope they think about identity,” Poage said. “Whether it’s dealing with the concept of loss like Kristina and I are, or with Dinda and diversity in media and of women.

The art pieces all are very personal projects from each of the artists and all address things we are really passionate about and an awareness to that and what they individually mean is, I think, the goal of the Mini.”

The reception will be available between in the Dicke-Smith building between Thursday, Jan. 25 and Monday, Feb. 12.

Sports

LET THE GAMES BEGIN:

• Men’s Basketball @ Centenary, Friday, Jan. 26, 5:30 p.m.

• Women’s Basketball @ Centenary, Friday, Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m.

• Swimming and Diving vs. Centre/Birmingham-Southern, Sunday, Jan. 28

The game day rituals that lead to success Follow the women’s basketball team through their pregame routines as they dive into the season

ELISE HESTER | SPORTS REPORTER ehester@trinity.edu Trinity women’s basketball defeated Austin College 95-82 last Saturday, Jan. 20.

Micah Weaver scored 42 points, tying the Trinity single-game record. The following account is based on interviews with Micah Weaver, Cameron Hill and Abby Holland, correspondences with Becca Gordon and Jillian Cready as well as this reporter’s own observations.

Senior Micah Weaver goes to bed Friday night and wakes the next morning with the same thought racing through her mind: Game Day. Sophomore Abby Holland wakes up in her dorm thinking: Game Day. In her apartment, senior Becca Gordon wakes up and grabs her phone. She tweets: “GAME DAY.” Weaver sips a cup of coffee, the first of many today. Holland eats a healthy breakfast. Trinity alum and team coach Cameron Hill irons a periwinkle button down shirt, his Michael McDonald Pandora station playing in the background.

The Trinity women’s basketball team meets at noon in Calgaard Gym to run through the game plan and practice drills. After the walk through, Weaver meets her father at Picnikins Patio Cafe. Gordon goes on an almost two-mile run. Holland dishes out extra money to eat something other than Mabee for lunch.

In his office, Hill is handwriting the game sheet. Near the top of the manila page, he writes “Do your best! Have fun!” On the back of the packet, Hill scrawls a single blue word: “Best.”

Weaver is relaxing with her girlfriend Cheyenne in their apartment. Gordon is with her parents eating açaí bowls. Hill is completing his game day pool challenge three times on a balcony overlooking an almost empty Calgaard.

Students, parents and fans are spread throughout the maroon seats of Calgaard watching the men’s basketball team face Austin College. With 3:16 left in the first half, Coach Cunningham calls a 20-second timeout.

Sophomore ABBY HOLLAND drives to the hoop. photo by ALLISON WOLFF, staff photographer

Members of the women’s basketball team leave to prepare.

In the trainer’s room, Gordon stretches as a trainer wraps Holland’s leg. Other athletes receive heat. In the locker room Weaver pulls a long sleeved black shooting shirt over her grey Nike uniform.

Senior forward Mollie Hughes arrives in Webster’s Gym. First-year guard Jordan Rudd grabs a basketball. Music coming from a small speaker mixes with the squeaking of shoes, echoing throughout the wide expanse of Webster’s gym and rising to the walkway above.

In the locker room on a lower level of the Bell Center, Hill goes over the game plan.

Hill says, “Their best is good. Our best is THE best.”

“Our father, who art in heaven....” Sitting with arms crossed and pinkies linked, some players recite a prayer in unison. Others remain silent.

From his place in the hallway, Hill hears echoes of laughter. A lyricless hip-hop beat plays from a small bluetooth speaker. Sophomore Jillian Cready sings an original song she wrote for tonight while grad assistants Niaga Mitchell-Cole and Allison Staley dance behind her.

The team circles around Cready, who wildly dances and jumps as the players perform a vocal warmup: “Tabaketah, tabaketah, hay yee, tada!”

Standing on the far side of Calgaard Gym, the team watches the final seconds of the men’s game, some cheering as Danny

Rivera sinks a free throw for the final point of a 95-90 game, others too focused to respond.

The final buzzer rings out.

Hughes grabs a basketball and starts shooting. Trinity junior Joel Holmes sways to the music. He holds up two small signs which read “Win or lose, we don’t live in Sherman, Texas” and “Austin College has no running water.” Two nearby reporters attempt to confirm this rumor, but find no evidence.

Captains speak to three male referees while the team gets shots up. Junior guard Rachel Chavez rebounds a lay up. Tossing the ball, she jogs to the top left corner of the star formation and high fives student assistant JP. On their way to the water cooler, the team trades high-fives with Cready, Mitchell-Cole and Staley.

Junior guard Jackie Layng grabs a green Gatorade bottle off the small table. First-year guards Julie Ackerman and Annie Wise perform a complicated handshake as Hughes lifts her feet to wipe the dirt from her shoe.

Together the Tigers begin to clap. The crowd joins the steady, quick beat. James Hill’s booming voice calls out, “A senior guard from Southlake, Texas: Rebecca Gordon!”

Gordon jogs to Cready for a rehearsed highfive. From the left stands, a Gamma screams, “I love you Becca!”

Holland and Cready side-bump. Chavez gets a low high-five. Weaver approaches Cready, both give a cool shrug. Hughes runs past her teammates on either side, jumping up for a chest bump.

Huddled around Hill, the whole squad listens to his last remarks. They put their hands together and, raising their arms, exclaim together “Tigers!”

Holland, Weaver, Hughes and Gordon line up at center court. Hill says a few words to Chavez before she takes her place with the starters.

Gordon says something to the referee, then steps back into place behind Hughes.

Hughes stands at center court, face-to-face with her opponent.

A whistle blows and for one single moment the world is still, everything frozen but the basketball in the air. Then that moment ends.

The ball is in play.

The game has begun.

My experience with Trinity broadcasting A sports reporter’s journey into the realm of television

SAUL MALEK | SPORTS REPORTER smalek@trinity.edu When parents wake up and see their children in the morning, they expect a routine conversation. “How did you sleep?”

“What are your plans for the day?” For my parents, this was never the case. Instead of getting a “Good morning” from me, they would hear “Line drive over Furcal!” or “What a play by Berkman!”

Broadcasting has always been one of the most important aspects of my life and identity.

Ever since I started watching baseball as a young kid, I made it my goal to become the next Vin Scully, wowing the crowd with my

knowledge of even the most obscure baseball athletes. With broadcasting as the goal for my future, I knew I needed to get my foot in the door during my time at Trinity.

One weekend toward the beginning of the fall of 2017, I stumbled upon an opportunity listed in the LeeRoy daily newsletter offering Trinity students the chance to broadcast Trinity sporting events. The process for broadcasting was simple enough: Meet with Josh Moczygemba, the person in charge of broadcasting Trinity’s sporting events, talk a little bit about why I wanted the position, leave him with my contact information and eventually receive an email containing a spreadsheet with a list of games to sign up to broadcast.

I expected the gig to be simple, too: Show up to the game, read over the names of the players on both teams and broadcast like I’ve always done my whole life, watch the plays unfold, always know what to say. I quickly

found out that it wouldn’t be nearly as simple as I had hoped.

First, there was the embarrassing issue of not actually being familiar enough with Trinity’s athletics teams to know how to commentate for them. In broadcasting, the production goes a lot smoother and is a lot more interesting if the announcer has some sort of idea about the team he’s talking about. Countless Astros broadcasts started with something along the lines of, “The Astros are coming into today’s game winners of two straight games.” (Or, for much of my childhood, something more like “The Astros come into this game losers of ten straight games.”)

Being largely unfamiliar with Trinity athletics, I found myself heavily reliant on my co-announcer to provide me with enough context to make a successful broadcast.

Fortunately, while Trinity broadcasting is a big deal to me and any fan of Trinity athletics,

it is not the “big stage” yet. Continuing to broadcast at Trinity and hopefully beyond will give me ample opportunities to improve upon and perfect my skills.

In addition to my broadcasting opportunity, I also found an open position on the TigerTV show “End Zone,” a studentproduced show dedicated to discussing both Trinity sports and professional sports across the country.

I feel as though destiny played a part in landing me my role with “End Zone.”

Who could possibly be a better fit for a show discussing sports than someone who spent hours upon hours of their childhood religiously watching highlights of an Astros team with a deplorable losing record?

Bantering about sports is second nature to me, so having a weekly segment on the show dedicated to discussing professional sports with two other sports nerds is a dream come true.

SPORTS • JANUARY 26, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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Pumping it up while pumping iron

Trinity athletes reveal the key component to their pregame procedure: The perfect list of tunes HAILEY WILSON | SPORTS REPORTER hwilson@trinity.edu If you walk into any professional or minor league sporting event, chances are you’ll hear loud, upbeat music blaring over the speakers.

You’ll hear music during timeouts, in between innings, during the halftime performance and as players step up to the plate.

You might even see Russell Westbrook dancing, if you happen to be at an Oklahoma City Thunder game. Why is that? It’s because music in sports is important.

As an athlete, I can say that there are few things that get me as pumped for a game as the pregame music. From Drake to Rihanna, the Backstreet Boys to Kendrick Lamar, and Future to Khalid, I feel like the music that’s played before the game has an impact on my performance.

This isn’t just my opinion, though.

Scientific studies have shown that pregame music does wonders for people that are due to undergo any sort of physical activity. A study completed in 2011 states that music, when carefully selected, can have psychological benefits during exercise.

This is a topic that has been studied for over 40 years and is still being looked into today. Music has the ability to capture our attention, trigger certain emotions

and lift our spirits right when we need it to — game time.

Many Trinity athletes agree.

“Music plays a huge role for me and for our team,” said sophomore Jillian Cready of the women’s basketball team. “It brings energy and focus and really gets us pumped.”

Liam Looney, a junior on the men’s soccer team, couldn’t agree more.

“Personally, pregame music is just a part of the routine. The music just makes it easy to focus on the task at hand,” Looney said.

The men’s soccer team has a standard playlist for home games that includes songs like “Sit Next To Me” by Foster the People, as well as remixes of other popular songs.

“I love listening to music before practice and matches because it makes me excited and pumped up to play,” said Brooke Bastien, a sophomore on the volleyball team. The team typically listens to rap as they get ready as part of their pregame ritual.

Music also serves as a superstitious routine for many athletes and teams. Some athletes always listen to a specific song before each game in hopes of it bringing good luck.

The women’s basketball team has a pregame tradition of listening to “We Have Candy”

by Die Antwoord before each game.

“It’s really creepy, but we always listen to that song,” Cready said.

Sophomore transfer jumps onto the scene Meet Abby Romig, the new high-jumping tiger AUSTIN DAVIDSON | A&E CONTRIBUTOR adavids1@trinity.edu Track and field athlete Abby Romig, a sophomore biochemistry major, just transferred to Trinity from Reed College this winter. Despite just beginning her time here at Trinity, she says she’s already feeling at home.

“I feel really welcomed here. The people that I have met are nice and caring, the teachers are really helpful and I feel like I am really starting to settle in nicely,” Romig said.

Romig has only been at Trinity for two weeks, and most of her time has been spent getting to know people, registering for classes and joining various organizations.

“I am rushing SPURS right now, I have been to my first track practice and I have been emailing the heads of various organizations that I am hoping to join,” Romig said.

She is hoping to join the Association of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Chemistry Club, the medical fraternity Alpha Epsilon Delta as well as TUVAC, spreading a wide net so she can become as involved in her new school as possible.

Romig is from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and for most of her childhood has been running and playing various sports. While she enjoyed all of them, she really gravitated towards running and track.

“I love running. The feeling of moving and working hard is something that stuck with me through all the sports I did over the years.

I did track all throughout high school and it kept me in shape and helped me budget my time well,” Romig said. “Even when I didn’t do track during my time at Reed, I still ran at least three times a week, so I feel if you still are passionate about something even when you have no obligation or commitment to do it, then it’s a pretty integral part of your life.”

Her father also ran track in college, competing in high jump competitions

and running the 400-meter race at Beloit College in Wisconsin. While he has always encouraged her to run track, he also made the effort to push Romig to try what seems to be almost every sport.

“I have done all sorts of different sports throughout the years. My parents always encouraged me to try new things and that meant I played almost every sport under the sun. I was swimming at two, playing soccer the second I could run, doing gymnastics, baseball, tennis — any sport you name, I bet I tried it. But what really stuck with me was running. In my freshman year of high school, I started to specialize more in what events I did, and that’s when I started to high jump,” Romig said.

Romig is going to be competing in the high jump for the Trinity track team while majoring in biochemistry. Yet she says that track in the past has helped her manage her time better, keeping her focused and balanced.

“When you have to practice every day for an hour and a half, that forces you to use the time you have more effectively and efficiently.

I plan on making the best use of my time and trying to balance track, school, and working on making friends and meeting people,” Romig said.

Romig applied to Trinity in her initial search for colleges and she is really excited to be in her new home.

“When I visited about two years ago, I was blown away by how beautiful the campus was and how nice the weather was. Now, while the recent weather reminds me a lot of the weather back at Reed, I’ve been told the springtime is perfect and I’m excited about that,” Romig said.

While Romig’s time at Trinity has just begun, it’s abundantly clear that she is fitting right into the ethos of Trinity: a place where active and passionate people work hard to keep the balance of academics, sports and friends while also helping others succeed and pushing one another to be their best selves.

Screenshot of sports reporter HAILEY WILSON’S Spotify playlist titled “Best Pump Up Songs.”

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • JANUARY 26, 2018 •

SPORTS

Photography spotlight: Women’s basketball

LEFT: Sophomore VICTORIA TRABYSH looks down court. RIGHT: Sophomore ABBY HOLLAND takes a free throw. The Tigers beat Austin College 90-95. photos by ALLISON WOLFF, staff photographer