FIESTA 11
“THE MOUSETRAP” 8
Vol. 118 Issue 24
TRINITY GOLF 19
theTrinitonian Serving Trinity University, San Antonio Since 1902
April 15, 2016
Yiannopoulos causes campus controversy with lecture
Tigers for Liberty host speaker to promote free speech BY JESSICA LUHRMAN
NEWS REPORTER
Milo Yiannopoulos, British technology journalist and entrepreneur, spoke in Laurie Auditorium last Sunday on microaggressions. The lecture was organized by Tigers for Liberty. In a response to a March 22 discussion regarding microaggressions organized by the Trinity Progressives, the Black Student Union and the Trinity Diversity Connection. Manfred Wendt, the president of Tigers for Liberty, said the event was meant to encourage free speech on campus. “We want Trinity to be a free marketplace of ideas, where contentious topics can be discussed intellectually and civilly. While not everyone at Trinity or everyone in Tigers for Liberty may agree with what the speaker has to say — it is important that we address these ideas head on in the pursuit of truth,” Wendt said. In his lecture, Yiannopoulos said that microaggressions are good news for Americans. “The idea is that you could be racist without even knowing it. It’s completely bullocks. Microaggressions [are] good news. The fact that the left has had to come up with microaggressions — these tiny things that you do [that] might be sending signals that you’re racist, sexist or homophobic — this a symbol that racism, sexism and homophobia [are] gone,” Yiannopoulos said. “If you have to look that hard for it, then it ain’t around anymore.” Throughout his speech, Yiannopoulos referred to microaggressions as a product of “outrage culture.”
“The best way to deal with outrage culture, the grievance, the victimhood that being offended means something. Well, it doesn’t. It’s not an argument. You all are fucking crazy,” Yiannopoulos said. Throughout the lecture, Yiannopoulos discussed upcoming and past stops on his
cultures,” Yiannopoulos said. “I’m going to do this talk in full Native American costume.” Yiannopoulos discussed his ambition to get dreadlocks in the future. “White people with dreadlocks are supposedly cultural appropriating. Do you think I should get dreadlocks? I’m having
Milo Yiannopoulos lectures students on microaggressions.
international tour, “Dangerous Faggot Tour.” On Oct. 27, Yiannopoulos plans to give a talk at Yale University regarding cultural appropriation in full Native American headdress and clothing. “I’m going to give a talk on the 27th of October, just before Halloween, about cultural appropriation, which is this bullshit idea from the left that dressing in mariachi costumes is inappropriate because you haven’t suffered the oppression of those
photo by Noah Davidson
this debate amongst myself. Supposedly that’s racist. I don’t know why,” Yiannopoulos said. The event was free and open to the public and attracted off-campus individuals. More than 175 people attended the event. Yiannopoulos is an avid Trump supporter on his social media accounts he often refers to the Republican candidate as “Daddy.” Some audience members were Trump supporters wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats. One audience
member even dressed as Donald Trump wearing a blond wig and suit that he said during the question and answer period was in honor of Trump. “If you have Trump stickers on your laptop, apparently that’s a racist act now. Supporting the leading Republican candidate? It’s crazy,” Yiannopoulos said. Yiannopoulos made several arguments against feminism during his talk. Yiannopoulos, who was heavily involved in the Gamergate controversy, called female video game critics “bullies” in several articles. Yiannopoulos referenced the Gamergate controversy and feminism during his talk. “You need to be worried that these people run the media, the entertainment industries, the video game industry. Feminists have overrun comic books, fantasy and sci-fi. They tried with video games and it didn’t work because gamers were like ‘yeah, fuck off,’” Yiannopoulos said. Yiannopoulos also addressed men’s rights activists saying that they are often unjustly accused of hating women. “The reason men’s rights activists get accused of misogyny is not because they hate women, it’s because they have taken seriously what feminists have been asking us to do for 30 years, which is to treat them like men. Well, taunting is how men bond. Women are cunts to each other. Men roast each other and women can’t cope with it,” Yiannopoulos said. Yiannopoulos also argued that feminists do not want men to be nice to them. “You’re also not allowed to be nice to feminists because that’s a microaggression. This is kind of like the opening doors thing. I prefer to not open doors to women, instead I slam it in their faces,” Yiannopoulos said. continued on page 4
SGA proposes making offices paid positions Proposed change met with mixed reviews on campus BY PHILLIP MCKEON
NEWS REPORTER
Trinity’s Student Government Association recently announced that they were considering making future SGA offices paid positions. The idea is in its infancy, but it has already resulted in mixed reactions from the student body. Jacob Sanchez, an SGA senator representing the first-year class, explained that the idea originated during a conference between various student governments from different schools. “The first time that I was involved in the discussion to pay our student government was at the conference of Student Government Associations in College Station this past March. After learning
NEWS...1-4
OPINION...5-7
that many of the universities attending compensated members for their service, the Trinity delegates began to explore the idea. If put into practice, this would only apply to future senators,” Sanchez said. Sanchez elaborated on the arguments in support of the idea and against the move to make SGA offices paid positions. “The argument for paying senators is that it could increase participation and as a result increase the talent in SGA. On the other hand, this change may lead to a decrease in the experience of SGA and corrupt the representation of the student body,” Sanchez said. Sanchez then discussed his own opinion on the matter, expressing that he does not support the move. “At this time, I do not support paying members of the student government for their participation in SGA. I believe it is a conflict of interest for members of SGA to receive a direct payment from the university while still maintaining the integrity of their
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representation of and responsibility to the student body,” Sanchez said. Sanchez went on to expand on exactly why he finds it unnecessary to pay SGA senators. “The interactions I have had with students that were members of paid student governments described the move to pay senators as a necessity to maintain the organization. At Trinity, we have a strong and engaged student body. This type of incentive is warranted when you have an apathetic student body, and that just isn’t the case here,” Sanchez said. The student body has expressed mixed feelings regarding the issue, Sanchez explained. “SGA sent out a survey in our newsletter and we have received feedback. What we’ve found is that there is not a consensus among the students as to whether or not senators should be paid,” Sanchez said. Noah Boriack, Trinity first year, expressed strong disapproval of the idea. “I think it’s a terrible idea. We pay a
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lot of money to go to this school, and I think that money needs to go toward what it was meant for,” Boriack said. One of the main criticisms of the plan is that the student activity fee, which is included in tuition, isn’t meant to pay SGA. “We pay the student activity fee so that we students can attend activities, not so that SGA can get paid,” Boriack said. Boriack continued to question what qualified SGA officers to be paid. “For the most part, SGA isn’t usually the group planning and coordinating the events anyways. They’ve done more recently than they have in the past, sure, but usually they’re just there to fund other groups and their events,” Boriack said. “I get that being a senator probably takes up a lot of their time, but they’re just like officers for any other student group. You sign up for these things because you want to do it, because it looks good on a resume, and maybe you even want to do a little good for the school. Not because you want to get paid.”
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LET TER EDITORS
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • APRIL 15, 2016 •
WEEKLY FORECAST TO
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San Antonio
Craig Thomason, 65, died this past Wednesday after a stay in University Hospital. Thomason, the former metro editor and managing editor for the San Antonio Express News, worked for the newspaper for 25 years. Known for his dry wit and leadership in the newsroom, Thomason retired from his position as education editor in 2010. Originally from Robert Lee in west Texas, Thomason started with the Express News in 1985, and had since been a major figure with the publication. mysanantonio.com
National A Texas deputy constable was shot in Houston last Wednesday while talking to his partner and remains in critical care. Alden Clopton, a Harris County deputy constable, was making a traffic stop that night with his reserve deputy partner. After letting the driver go and turning to his partner, Alden was shot in the back. His partner returned fire after seeing the suspect, although it is unknown whether the assailant was struck. Despite being shot four times Clopton is expected to survive. A man matching the assailants description showed up at a local fire station and is currently being questioned by homicide investigators.
Saturday H 75 L 68
Sunday H 75 L 66
Monday H 73 L 64
bbc.com
THE
Wednesday H 81 L 64
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UPCOMING EVENTS 15 FRIDAY What: Lunch and Learn What: Taste of Diversity When: 12:30 p.m. When: 2:30 p.m. Where: Tehuacana Room Where: Coates Esplanade
16 SATURDAY What: Trinity Market When: 10:00 a.m. Where: 609 N. Campus Drive
What: STEM San Antonio Workshop and Panel When: 10:00 a.m. Where: CSI
20 Wednesday What: Icelandic Film Series When: 7:00 p.m. Where: Chapman 105
TUPDBriefs Location: Parking Area: Lot V Date: 04-08-16 Time: 4:54 p.m. Classification: Burglary vehicles
Location: McLean Date: 04-08-16 Time: 9:17 p.m. Classification: Consumption of alcohol by a minor
of
HONOR TRINITONIAN CROSSWORD PUZZLE
COUNCIL Across 1. Dictionary 3. Broadway Museum 5. Use before a date 7. Elementary school instrument 8. Kim and North 9. Luke’s weapon 12. Roosters or Black and Silver 14. Easy casino game 15. Campus radio 18. Guitar manufacturer 19. Phone on a cord 21. Make things smell nice 24. Pacifier donor, Twitter celeb 25. A place information is stored 27. Party, 125 years 28. Known cause of death for college students
cnn.com
International Last Monday, two Russian jets flew within meters of a U.S. ship in the Baltic Sea. The jets flew over the destroyer almost a dozen times, a few times so close that they created wakes in the water around the ship. The ship, according to Russia’s defense ministry, was sailing close to a Russian navy base, and after spotting the ship, the pilots turned away in full compliance with safety measures. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement, criticizing the gesture stating that shooting down the aircrafts would have been within the ship’s rights. The ship’s commander described the flights as a simulated attack.
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NEWS •
APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
KRTU begins spring Membership Drive during 40th anniversary
KRTU looks to the future as annual donation drive begins for the 40th year
KRTU so when you become a member at a particular level, you would get this as a thank you gift or a premium.” Another big event for KRTU this
“Not only will that increase our listenership, but it increases our potential for more members, and it increases our potential for more small businesses to bring
BY ZACH GALVIN
NEWS INTERN
KRTU 91.7 FM held its annual Spring Membership Drive. Last week during this fundraiser, staff and volunteers called members from the previous year and delivered calls to action for listeners to donate to the professional non-profit radio station. ““We set out to hit $85,000. And the goal is to hit that by May 31. We are actually ahead of target,” said JJ Lopez, general manager of KRTU. The drive, divided into multiple parts, is now entering its final stage following the calling and on air segments, according to Lopez. “The membership drive is actually broken up into four parts,” Lopez said. “The on-air part of the drive is the third part. Now that that’s concluded so we are actually in the last leg of it and [that’s] called post-drive.” KRTU is also celebrating its 40th anniversary this year; the station was founded on Jan. 23, 1976. To celebrate the occasion the station held a large party on campus. “To give light and sort of celebrate that the 40th anniversary is this year we created a Fiesta medal,” Lopez said. “It’s the 40th anniversary Fiesta medal of
Kory Cook on the air at KRTU
year is the approval for a new, larger transmitter that will allow the radio station to broadcast further from San Antonio by the end of 2016. This change, according to Lopez, will aid the station and the San Antonio community in a number of significant ways.
photo by Claudia Garcia
their business to KRTU and advertise. For existing partners, it is great incentive that now their message, by way of KRTU, is hitting greater San Antonio,” Lopez said. The current broadcast reaches out near U.S. Highway Loop 1604. The new tower’s broadcast potential
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will reach towns including Boerne, New Braunfels, Bandera, Devine, Elmendorf, Fair Oaks Ranch and Spring Branch. “We always continue to grow as a radio station with new members and renewing members,” said Kory Cook, music director of KRTU. KRTU will be holding various events throughout the spring, a significant time for many famous jazz musicians. “April 30th [is] International Jazz Day,” Cook said. “If you look at the jazz calendar of birthdays, there’s more significant jazz musicians born in April than any other month, including Herby Hancock, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington and Joe Henderson. We have been doing a lot of birthday sets and mentioning them” In addition to their on-air sets for Jazz Appreciation Month, Cook also explained another program the station would be hosting. “For the month of April, every Tuesday at the Liberty Bar, [we] have a special program featuring legends from the San Antonio community, older fellas who’ve been playing this music for a long time, who actually have stories to tell and can talk about their place in the music,” Cook said. “We have a regular schedule of events every month, but this month may have more due to Jazz Appreciation Month.”
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • APRIL 15, 2016 •
NEWS
Trinity Progressives work to reduce stigma surrounding mental health with Mental Health Trinity Progressives host week-long event to raise awareness about mental health BY PHILLIP MCKEON
NEWS REPORTER
A lemur at the Destress Fest petting zoo photo by Claudia Garcia
Last week was Trinity Progressives’ Mental Health Week, throughout which they hosted a series of events meant to raise awareness of mental health issues and the resources Trinity offers its students to help in this area. Events ranged from a performance by Josh Rivedal, to a campfire discussion, to a Destress Fest to help students relax after a long week. One of the goals of Mental Health Week was to raise awareness about the mental health resources on campus and how to best utilize them. “Mental Health Week is meant mainly to increase awareness of the resources like counseling services we have on campus to help with various mental health issues,” said Beth Legg, co-president of Trinity Progressives. Trinity Progressives also used the week to address the ways people think about mental health. “One of our other big goals is to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. I don’t think that is really a huge issue on our campus, but just in general it’s important for people to be able to be open about it. So that’s really Mental Health Week in a nutshell. Raise awareness, reduce stigma,” Legg said. Legg continued to discuss exactly why it is so important for college students to have this discussion on mental health and why it is important that we develop an environment that is aware of both the issue and the resources available to treat it. “It’s very common for people to get diagnosed in college. Age 18 to 24 is a peak time for mental illness to develop,” Legg said. “So it’s really important that we have an environment where people are aware of mental illness and
are able to openly talk about it and in which people know they’re not alone if they’re dealing with mental illness. Not only that but they should know that they have access to a lot of resources for free on campus,” Legg said. Legg went on to describe what she found to be the most effective events during Mental Health Week. “I think our tabling throughout the week was most effective in terms of helping people learn about the resources that they have access to and can take advantage of if they need to. We passed out flyers and pamphlets from counseling services, and hopefully the people who took them now know a little bit more about them and will be more encouraged seek them out,” Legg said. The Destress Fest was another successful event. The event featured free food, a petting zoo and a yoga demonstration. “In terms of having people come to our events, though, I’d say our Destress Fest on Friday was most successful because people were able to come get free food, see cute animals and have fun while still being a part of an event that hopefully showed them some of the resources that are available to them,” Legg said. Nick Santulli, co-president of Trinity Progressives, elaborated on some of the challenges of putting together such a large event. “With Mental Health Week, there are a lot of events all happening at once, and each one requires a lot of planning and a lot of collaboration, so it can be hard to keep up with it all and get it all done for each event. A lot of it was just trying to make sure that none of the smaller things fell through the cracks. We just had to find a balance between
Trinity student pets a capybara at the Destress Fest photo by Claudia Garcia petting zoo.
making sure big events like Josh Rivedal were set up and going smoothly and little things like making sure we had the marshmallows for the s’mores at the sharing circle,” Santulli said. Despite the challenges, he would call Mental Health Week a success and is glad it happened. “In the end, though, everything went smoothly and I’m glad we did it,” Santulli said. “I think it’s important that we have events like this on campus so that people who are facing problems with mental health know that they’re not alone, and so that others are at least aware of some of the issues others might be facing.”
Yiannopoulos causes Whistleblower speaks at third campus controversy annual ethics symposium Cynthia Cooper spoke on experience investigating fraud BY JESSICA LUHRMAN
NEWS REPORTER
Yiannopoulos responds to a student at his lecture
photo by Noah Davidson
continued from front Yiannopoulos spoke of the Catholic Church and his experience with sexual assault. “I want to sit down with these blue-haired facial piercing feminist losers and ask what happened to them. Most of the time it’s just an uncle fiddling with them. It’s fine I get it. It’s not that bad. It’s not that bad; I’m Catholic; it happened to me, and I give great head now,” Yiannopoulos said. He spoke of his desire to create a television show regarding college students that are concerned about social justice. “I want to do a television show titled ‘My Social Justice Warrior,’ and I’m going to go to nice ordinary families in the Midwest and then they go to college and come back with blue hair and facial piercings. They say, ‘Mom that is so offensive; Dad that’s a microaggression.’ I want to ask if they did something with these kids, if they fiddled with them,” Yiannopoulos said.
Yiannopoulos’ final argument was that universities encourage safe spaces, trigger warnings and awareness of microaggressions. “Universities actively encourage ‘safe space,’ ‘trigger warning,’ ‘microaggression’ horse shit, but they also encourage it by subsidizing it with your tuition fees,” said Yiannopoulos. Many audience members laughed and cheered during Yiannopoulos talk. “Do you have social justice warriors on your campus? Social justice in general is for mediocre, ugly people who want to take it out on the hot people,” Yiannopoulos said. Reece Ringnald, sophomore and member of Tigers for Life, a pro-life organization on campus, contributed during the question and answer period. “Folks, this is what free speech looks like! We’re bringing it back. We hope that you come back to Trinity, Milo. You’re always welcome here at Trinity.”
Trinity’s School of Business sponsored the third-annual ethics symposium this past Monday. Cynthia Cooper, WorldCom whistleblower and one of Time magazine’s Persons of the Year in 2002, was the featured speaker at this year’s symposium. In 2002 Cooper was the former vice president of internal audit at WorldCom, and her team of auditors investigated and found $3.8 billion in fraud at WorldCom. At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in United States history. “Keep in mind that the people who are complicit with this fraud — they’re not just numbers to us. These are people whom we’ve known for years. I’ve worked with these people for over eight years. I knew their spouses and children. There was nothing to celebrate,” Cooper said. Kevin Bergner, former brigadier general and current president and CEO of Goodwill Industries, welcomed Cooper onto the stage. “I’m absolutely honored to introduce someone whose personal courage and professional ethic really provide a tangible example that we
should all know about and make a deliberate part of our lives. That’s a pretty strong statement, and I don’t arrive at it lightly,” Bergner said. Cooper spoke to an overflowing audience in Stieren Theater, which was standing room only. “People don’t wake up and say ‘Hey, I want to be a criminal today.’ It’s a slippery slope that people go down one step at a time,” Cooper said. Cooper asked the audience to put themselves in the perspective of the mid-level managers in the WorldCom accounting department: Betty Vinson, who entered fraudulent figures into the system, and Troy Normand, who supervised the closing of the books at the end of the quarter. “Why do you think people cheat or commit white collar crime? Sometimes you can walk through an ethical dilemma and not know that it’s wrong ... some of these executives at WorldCom didn’t want to see the company fail on their watch and fear of losing [their jobs],” Cooper said. Dzung Vu, a junior accounting major, has attended the Ethics Symposiums since her first year at Trinity. “WorldCom is a case I’ve only heard of but didn’t fully understand. Listening to an insider like Cynthia Cooper made me realize so much more than what was taught in my Principles of Marketing class. It also is teaching by example,” Vu said. “I enjoyed getting the chance to see the private emotional side to the
story; [its] helped so much more in enforcing my ethical practice in school and later in life.” Bergner argued that Cooper made a difficult ethical choice. “We frequently talk about doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. It’s kind of a cliché. We don’t talk enough about doing the right thing when it’s really hard to do: when the culture is against you, when the leadership is against you and when the people around you would rather look the other way,” Bergner said. Despite being recognized in Time magazine, Cooper says that she never felt like a hero. Instead, Cooper said that the press and ongoing congressional investigation created anxiety and depression. Cooper realized that her life after discovering the fraud would never be the same. “I realized that I had a choice to make. I could let this ruin my life or I could find a different direction,” Cooper said. Cooper started her own consulting firm after WorldCom’s declaration of bankruptcy. “What really helped me move through this was my faith, my family and husband,” Cooper said. “I was blessed to have some team members stand by my side.”
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APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
...
pinion
COMMENTARY
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Trump and the word that shall not be uttered
I read with some amusement Nathan King’s guest column two weeks ago calling for me to be “held accountable” for employing The Word That Shall Not Be Uttered. I am curious how that accountability would occur. Perhaps King envisions DAVID CROCKETT an inquisition run by students and From the Wild administrators to purge malefactors Frontier who use language that offends. After all, my “antiquated” use of The Word That Shall Not Be Uttered was supposedly an act of hate speech and sexism, and normalized an act of violence. Well, I could use this column to advocate for free speech, but I suspect the recent visit of Milo Yiannopoulos has given us enough free speech to last a lifetime. Instead, I will explain my use of The Word That Shall Not Be Uttered. Since there was nothing in my remark remotely hateful (who, precisely, do I hate?) or sexist (The Word That Shall Not Be Uttered apply to both women and men), it seems my principle error was assuming too much knowledge on the part of readers. So, allow me to explain. The pertinent part of my earlier column addressed the possibility that Republican candidate Donald Trump might be able to force himself on an unwilling partner – hence the use of The Word That Shall Not Be Uttered. But how can my language be accurate when Trump seemingly has the support of a large faction of the Republican electorate? When political scientists study political parties, we study them in three components. First, the party
organization is comprised of the official party leaders and managers – national and state party officials, such as Reince Priebus and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Second, the party in government is comprised of elected officials – senators, representatives, governors and other elected officials. Third, we also study the party in the electorate, which is composed of all the voters who identify themselves as Republicans and Democrats and vote that way. Half a century ago, all three elements of the party played a role in the nominating process – but the first two elements played the most important role at the national conventions. Since the 1970’s that dynamic has changed, and the party in the electorate has played the most important and influential role in nominations, aided and abetted by the news media. For a man coming from outside politics, Trump has done remarkably well at appealing to voters. He is, after all, the GOP frontrunner. However, he has yet to win a majority of the vote anywhere, and there are still far more voters who oppose him than support him. He also clearly does not have the support of the other two components of the party, either the party organization or the party in government. Very few party leaders or elected officials have endorsed him, and with the exception of some elements in the talk radio field, he does not enjoy the support of most Republican-leaning interest groups. This situation presents the GOP with a conundrum. The party wants to win in November, and by any number of empirical measurements this is a winnable year for the GOP. But the party may be forced to accept
a nominee who will be a huge general election risk. That’s why I made use of The Word That Shall Not Be Uttered. I did not employ the term casually or trivially. I did so deliberately, because what Trump represents is the prospect of someone, by force of personality, by demagoguery, through threats and bullying, forcing himself upon an unwilling partner. But there is a deeper reason why I used The Word That Shall Not Be Uttered. Trump may somehow succeed and end up in the office once held by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I care about the health of the constitutional order. With Trump, we have someone who seemingly has no deep understanding of the separation of powers system. He thinks midnight tweeting makes him a modern day Daniel Webster. He thinks it is perfectly fine to threaten other constitutional officers if they oppose him. He thinks leadership is ordering military personnel to violate the rules of war, which they’ll do because he’s a leader. Trump evidences no constitutional temperament. Just as he threatens to force himself on an unwilling party, he represents a profound threat to constitutional government. So, my use of The Word That Shall Not Be Uttered was a deliberate one, and I don’t apologize for it. It does not normalize any act of violence – such a notion is patently absurd. But it does call attention to a nomination system that is failing to screen out unqualified individuals. Where I truly erred was calling a simile a metaphor. For that, you can hold me accountable. David Crockett is a professor and the chair of the political science department.
In response to “Dear SGA, do something” First of all, thank you to Tyler Boelts for his April 8 Trinitonian column headlined “Dear SGA, Do Something” and for initiating a dialogue that will, hopefully, spark conversation and thoughtful change on the Trinity campus. Brenna Hill Thank you, Tyler, for your Guest Column commentary and your opinion that SGA needs to step up its game, in reaction to an SGA newsletter column asking for student opinion on whether SGA members should receive compensation. For transparency and to provide students a chance to weigh in on this issue, SGA notified students of the proposal through our newsletter. If approved, the proposal would not impact many current SGA members, including myself. This was not a self-serving motivation. I would not — nor would many current SGA members — benefit as we will rotate out of office before this initiative (if approved) takes effect. Paying SGA members would encourage more students to get involved in student government and to run for office in future semesters. Paying SGA members would help attract strong, well-deserving, qualified candidates and would improve SGA’s accountability. SGA is working diligently with administration to make campus improvements, including food quality and selection. Many students have voiced concerns and preferences for change, and many of those improvements have now been implemented. Mabee is improving its food quality and is now offering more healthy, vegetarian and gluten-free options. Freshii is now open on campus with smoothies and healthy choice options. On April 25, SGA will hold a meeting open to all students on dining with Aramark Chef Miguel and other guests. SGA is also working with B-Cycle executives to determine the feasibility of having a B-Cycle station on campus. While this initiative is not happening as quickly as many might like, the negotiations continue. SGA conducted a survey of the student body and received 448 responses, and
the final decision is now in the hands of B-Cycle executives and city officials. SGA is also facilitating discussions around campus climate issues related to sexual assault. On April 20, SGA, in partnership with the Trinity Progressives, the Refourmers, Greek Council and the SAAC, will host a student-led conversation about sexual assault and drinking culture on our campus. SGA has implemented a liaison program where senators are paired with members of the administration to develop relationships and create an atmosphere of collaboration to address various campus issues. SGA has initiated numerous changes to make SGA more efficient, more effective and more accountable. - All senators are required to sign a commitment contract, agreeing to attend all meetings, dress in a professional manner and participate in SGA initiatives, activities and events. - SGA members are required to attend a training retreat prior to the start of each semester. - SGA members are required to serve on SGA ad-hoc committees as well as university committees. - SGA has created additional cabinet positions, such as Legislative Relations, providing more students with opportunities to be involved and to connect SGA to local and state legislators to advocate for higher education policy. - SGA is partnering with campus organizations to co-sponsor events and help students better connect with Senators. SGA is committed to establishing and strengthening relationships and cultivating better communication with students. - SGA has created marketing materials, including “Meet your Senators” posters in all dorms to make SGA members more accessible and responsive to constituents. - SGA has added a newsletter, Coates whiteboard, Facebook page, Instagram page and an online Student Issue Report form to improve campus communication with students, staff and administration. In SGA, we are making changes to be more effective, efficient, productive, responsive and accountable. But it will take more than a few well-meaning senators to address issues
and “fix” what is broken, to call attention to concerns and to facilitate change. We can not accomplish all of Trinity’s goals on our own. We need your help. Thank you, Tyler, for exercising your campus civic duty by voting. Thank you for caring enough about our school to write your recent column. Instead of finding fault with what we are not doing, I respectfully ask that you get involved, see what we are accomplishing and help us make Trinity better. Attend an SGA meeting. Serve on a committee. Write a comment on the Coates whiteboard. Respond to the e-mail about SGA stipends with a resounding “Oh hell no” if that’s the way you feel. We welcome you — and all students — to let us know what’s wrong or where we need to improve. Ask questions. Challenge us. I strongly encourage all Trinity students to get involved. Fill out the surveys. Take the polls. Write letters to the Trinitonian about things that need to change, ways we can improve our campus community. Tell us what you think. Talk to each other. Listen to your roommate, your classmates, your peers. Let’s stop blaming and start talking, stop complaining and do something. We are striving to make SGA a stronger, more effective — and more accountable — student organization, representative of the amazing student body we serve. We already know the things we do right at Trinity. We claim bragging rights as one of the top colleges in the country and many of us are beyond proud of our university and are honored to be Trinity Tigers. Many of us have chosen to get involved in SGA to give back to a university that has given us so much. Obviously, I did not run for SGA for the paycheck. There isn’t one. I ran for office because I love my university. I am humbled and proud to serve as SGA president and welcome student comments, suggestions and criticism. By working together, we can celebrate Trinity University’s many victories and accomplishments, make improvements to our campus and admit when we need to make some changes. “Dear SGA, Do something.” We are, Tyler. Challenge accepted. Brenna Hill is the current president of SGA.
STAFF
news editor: Alexandra Uri
web editor: Abigail Birdsell
Squires, Markham Sigler, Alex Hartzell
advertising staff: Kayla Hood, Lauren
campus pulse editor: Julia Elmore
reporters: Jessica Luhrman, Philip McKeon,
copy editors: Daniel Conrad, Zach Wilson,
Harris, Nick Kim, Connor Philips, Erin
editor-in-chief: Luke Wise
arts & entertainment editor: Madison Smith
Sarah Price, Shree Deshpande, Sarah Tipton,
Emily Wood
Patridge
managing editor: Tyler Boelts
sports editor: Aynav Leibowitz
Paige Perez, Grace Frye, Dylan Wagner, Emily
photographers: Karina Duran, Jordan
business staff: Krushi Patel, Jessie Taube
business manager: Dzung Vu
photo editor: Miguel Webber
Elliot, Momo Setamou, Sidney Hopkins
Leeper, Claudia Garcia, Noah Davidson
adviser: Katharine Martin
ad director: Christina Moore
graphic editor: Samantha Skory
columnists: Courtney Justus, Callum
distribution manager: Maddie Kennedy
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • APRIL 15, 2016 •
We don’t need no stinkin’ leashes!
The Trinitonian March 4 article “Four-legged Friends Find Home at Trinity” the efforts of the Cat Alliance at Trinity are applauded. As biologists who study KELLY LYONS MICHELE JOHNSON the natural world, we TROY MURPHY aim here to offer a DAVID RIBBLE contrasting viewpoint on cat colonies. We Guest Column understand the love for these very soft, purring creatures, particularly when students are missing their own pets. And how could you not love any animal named “Cuddle Slut” (true story, R.I.P.)? We suspect that, as scientists who have been vocal about our objection to free-roaming, domesticated cats, we may be among the “Cat Haters” referred to in the article. But it is for good reason that we do not love free-roaming, domesticated cats the same way that other humans in industrialized countries seem to. Aldo Leopold once wrote that the more you learn about ecology and wildlife, the more you live in a “world of wounds.” We are intimately aware of the impact of cats on animals that unfortunately find themselves in cat-dominated, human-created environments. Indeed, we have watched the needless suffering, maiming and death heaped upon wild animals at the hands of free-roaming cats. Our goal is to expose you to the complexities of the “cat issue,” and to help you understand the intrinsic worth of the diversity of beautiful creatures on this planet. As such, we pride ourselves on being “Biodiversity Lovers.” Domesticated, free-roaming cats are allowed the same, if not more, freedoms that humans experience, and their freedom impinges on the lives of many other creatures. Even when fully nourished, cats are highly motivated and capable predators and are responsible for widespread losses in urban and rural wildlife biodiversity. As a culture, we have long appreciated cats’ abilities as ratters; however, they are also indiscriminant hunters of small birds, lizards, mammals, and insects. Indeed, in a recently published study (Loss et al. 2013), researchers of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, based on a large analysis across many studies, estimated that freeroaming cats in the United States kill 1.3 to 4 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals annually. Thus, while cat lovers get to spend quality time with their favorite species, the rest of us watch our beloved biodiversity dwindle and enjoy the remaining urban wildlife that is either
just unusually common or unusually good at avoiding being eaten (e.g., non-native sparrows, starlings and grackles). The estimated numbers of cat-caused deaths are staggering. Even the low-end estimates are alarming. For field ecologists, the Loss et al. study confirms our observations of lack of biodiversity in urban areas. Their study also confirms over one hundred years of previous studies on the impact of free-roaming cats on islands. Islands are more susceptible to human-caused threats to wildlife, acting as “canaries in a coal mine” for conservation, and there are currently 83 campaigns globally to eradicate cats from islands (Campbell et al. 2011). This is particularly important for islands that have been designated for conservation or where ecotourism drives the economy; the Galapagos are, of course, a critically important location for cat control. And the success stories abound. For example, following cat eradication in 2013, the Ascension frigate bird returned to nest on Ascension Island for the first time in 150 years! Domesticated cats are also exposed to dangers when free-roaming themselves. The two primary sources of danger are other free-roaming cats and disease. Felids evolved to live mostly solitary lives; they are lie and wait predators that defend territory for mates and food resources. Therefore their attacks on other cats are to be expected. Also, when cats roam freely and live in high density managed colonies they are more likely to be exposed to feline AIDS, rabies, cat scratch fever, feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus among others (Viegas n.d.). Furthermore, parasites proliferate in feral cat colonies, including worms that extract essential nutrients and calories from cats, as well as ectoparasites, such as fleas, that cause unrelenting irritation. In addition, free-roaming cats are often injured by dogs or hit by cars. In sum, the vast majority of free roaming cats experience high levels of trauma, exist in subpar health conditions and experience painful death from injury, infection and malnutrition. We face a significant problem in this country in managing free roaming cats. The problem starts when people dump pet cats that they no longer want. The standard reaction to homeless cat “dumping” is implementation of spayneuter-return (SNR) programs and feeding stations. When SNR was first instituted across the country, it seemed like a good solution. The logic is that cats in these populations, assuming that all individuals are spayed or neutered, would not reproduce, would maintain their territories and when they died, the population eventually would disappear. Managed colonies, where cats are regularly fed and provided with basic medical
care, are now widespread, even in parks (e.g., Brackenridge). An unintended consequence is that cats that have been “fixed” now lack the circulating hormones that cause territorial behavior and are unnaturally tolerant of other cats in their territory. This means that “fixed” cats are comfortable living in higher densities, requiring higher levels of food provisioning and causing even greater impact to the local wild animal populations. We have seen no reasonable discussion by those who maintain colonies regarding consideration for other species, a long-term plan to reduce cat numbers. Why would they? They are essentially low maintenance pets. San Antonio has unusually large cat populations. This we attribute to our mild, and growing milder, South Texas climate and consistent failings of public policy. To make matters worse, the existence of managed colonies, where people can dump cats knowing that they will be cared for, facilitates an “easy way out” for pet owners who face hard decisions about unwanted pets. We suspect that managed colonies only perpetuate the problem of cat “dumping” by making it easy, for the general public and policymakers to continue avoiding the problem. Because Trinity is a place of higher education with potential to set regional examples, it is important that we engage in an evidence-based dialogue and provide alternatives. Here in San Antonio, Dr. Kelly Lyons, as president of the Friends of San Antonio Natural Areas Board, has worked to negotiate restricted covenants with developers of apartment complexes around our Natural Areas require that all cats be walked on leashes and disallow any feeding stations. Restrictions such as these have been adopted by cities such as Madison, Wisconsin, where all cats must be on a leash or be picked up by city authorities. The American Veterinary Medical Association recommends not only that “owned cats be kept indoors, in an outdoor enclosure or on an attended leash,” but also recommends “prohibiting public feeding of intact free-roaming abandoned and feral cats” and “preventing establishment of managed cat colonies in wildlifesensitive ecosystems.” We think that this policy is wise; however, urban areas could be rich wildlife ecosystems for everyone if we adopted policies that were more responsible for managing feral cat populations, “intact” or not. People tell us, of course, that cats don’t like to be walked on leashes. Neither do dogs, but they get used to it. Think of it this way: if cats were a danger to us and our children in the way that dogs can be, would we allow them to roam freely? When dogs bite humans we generally do
OPINION
something about it, beyond just chucking rocks at them and hoping for the best. So why do we give cats more off-leash rights than dogs? This is because we are anthropocentric and cats do not pose a threat to humans in the way that dogs do. In the same way we fear dogs, small lizards, birds, mammals and insects fear cats. Perhaps instead of being a leader of outdated policies that harm the environment, Trinity could provide leadership and guidance on these controversial issues. We need to face the problems that we have created and make tough decisions. Policies aimed at reducing populations of cats may seem inhumane, but doing nothing means that other animals are maimed and killed. And since we often do not see these predatory and torturous acts, we allow ourselves a comfortable cognitive dissonance in our complicity. As a place to begin, Trinity Cat Alliance cats should be outfitted with anti-predation bibs or the like. They should also be kept in enclosures and walked regularly. In addition, they should not be allowed in the dorm rooms where they can transmit diseases or parasites like Toxoplasma gondii to students, or cause disruption to the lives of students who are allergic to cats. Humans have created this problem and, as a result, we have lost millions of wild animals. As we face ethical decisions about maintaining cat colonies, we must include in the discussion the ethics of our decision to allow so many animals to suffer at the paws of these human-introduced predators. It is easy for us to assign names, and thus worth, to the cats, but we feel very strongly that the ethics of animal care extends beyond the cats to include the newly hatched baby birds begging loudly for an extra worm in the tree, the lizards doing pushups on the branch and the wild rodents scurrying to find enough food to supply its larder. We must afford the same rights and protection to other animals in our urban landscape or continue to live in ever-homogenizing ecosystems that diminish us mentally and physically. We need a Trinity Alliance that celebrates all biodiversity. Loss, S.R. Will, T., Marra, P.P. 2013. The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States. Nature Communications 4: 1396. Campbell, K.J., Harper, G., Algar, D., Hanson, C.C., Keitt, B.S., Robinson, S. 2011. Review of feral cat eradications on islands pp. 37-46 In Veitch, C.R., Clout, M.N., Towns, D.R. Island invasives: eradication and management. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. Viegas, J. N.D. The Dangers and Risks of Outdoor Cats. (http://www.thedailycat.com/health/safety/outdoor_ cat_dangers/) Kelly Lyons, Michele Johnson and Troy Murphy are associate professors of biology. David Ribble is a professor of biology.
Milo makes waves on campus I’ll be straightforward: I consider myself to be a libertarian. This, broadly, means that I support conservative fiscal policy and that I would prefer to maximize liberty in the social sphere so long as harm is kept small or nonexistent. I oppose censorship and attempts to silence discourse that generates controversy. Further, I suggest that it is worse to allow questionable ideas to brew in private and then explode onto the scene than it is to DOMINIC PIERCE engage in a public discourse with ideas that we might disagree Guest Column with (or even find abhorrent), so as to allow everyone to evaluate them on their own terms. With that out of the way, it might seem foregone to mention that I was greatly looking forward to Milo’s lecture. To see someone engage with an increasingly controversial ideology is usually interesting to watch, if only to see how the arguments of either side stand up to each other. How does an idea weather the test of time? Have things changed since the issue first arose? How do we know when an idea reaches too far or starts aiming in a different direction than when it was conceived? I think these are the kinds of questions that merit answers. I was expecting these kinds of questions to be raised and addressed during the lecture. I was disappointed. To call it a lecture might be too charitable, but to call it a bad comedy routine might be too harsh. Whatever it was, it was clearly not well prepared. Milo stood at the podium and alternatively hurled insults and read off news headlines plucked from the top of Reddit’s front page while exclaiming how ridiculous they were. This is the kind of behavior you can get away with at a rally of some sort, where everyone is on the same page and ready to laugh and be merry without going into depth about the topic at hand because they’re already familiar with it. However, this was not a rally. This was an lecture at an academic institution, where claims should be backed up by citations and arguments are laid out carefully and with attention to clarity. I’ll paraphrase another student’s reaction, ‘for someone who claims that the facts are on their side and that their opponents are crazy, there was
little in the way of actual facts presented. To my great dismay, that summation is quite accurate. This was not a lecture in any recognizable sense, and that is coming from someone who already agrees, at least in spirit, with the force behind Milo’s rejection of some feminist ideas. I really don’t think that the content of the lecture was the worst part, actually. It was the appearance of it, “Highly controversial speaker comes to Trinity to give a talk!”, and people are going to come expecting to hear some hot arguments and fresh data. They come to hear someone they seem to disagree with speak convincingly about a topic that they are interested in. It might have been a different case had there been disruptive pickets or chants or anything of that sort, but instead it was just awkward laughter after one too many intentionally incendiary jokes fell flat. People who started out willing to be charitable to disagreement walked away with confirmation that their opponents aren’t even trying to have serious discourse. “There are good arguments out there that support the ideas Milo was expressing!” It will be that much harder to convince the left-leaning college population to give those ideas a chance when they were confronted with the vulgar display that was Milo’s lecture. I don’t have enough space to give them here because I’ve had to spend a whole article explaining why that sham of a lecture wasn’t representative of the ideas it claimed to express. It might be the case that Milo is attempting to emulate a style of discourse that we have seen on the rise in our current election cycle. Ignoring your detractors, not even addressing them beyond dismissing them and focusing on the people who already agree with you. Tremendously effective as this might appear, I’ll have to cite Washington’s concern that factionalism would be the death of any well functioning Republic. Further, despite Aristotle’s suggestion that it might be necessary to use vapid rhetoric to sway the masses to good ideas, the exclusive use of emotional rhetoric was something to be detested by any rational individual. I saw a lot of vapid rhetoric at Milo’s lecture, and as a conservative I am bitterly disappointed that this is the image many people will be stuck with.
OPINION •
APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
God and Pain
Why you NEED to care about Tiger Athletics Friends and family weekend has now come and gone. Finally I can stop hearing all you motorists moan about having to park a little bit further away than you usually do, and having to walk (God forbid it) five minutes back to your dorm room. I would’ve thought everyone would be glad for a little bit more exercise ... but no! I don’t get it. However, something that I CALLUM SQUIRES did love about this past weekend, was seeing the bleachers absolutely rammed for the baseball teams. British Invasion Parents were packed in, students were watching avidly. It was a great atmosphere. But it left me feeling a little disappointed. I asked myself, “Why is it not like this every week?” It should be like that. Every single one of our sporting events should be rammed with supporters. I’m fiercely proud of every aspect of Trinity. The work our professors do in research is incredible. Our choirs and orchestras are superb. Every single theatre production I’ve seen here felt professional. And yet ... I don’t feel like we have enough “#TigerPride”... It’s all well and good wearing your maroon on Friday, but how do we show ourselves off on a national level? How can we broadcast Trinity best? The answer is simple (and maybe predictable if you know me...)! Trinity athletics. Before I lose everyone who “doesn’t like sports,” just give me a second to explain my point. Sports in American society garner unreal levels of media attention, especially collegiate athletics. Now I know we’re “DIII” and therefore not on the same level as your UT’s and your A&M’s, but we’re damn good at what we do. We’re ranked #25 across all of DIII for athletics. Out of 400+ schools, we’re top 25. That’s impressive by anyone’s standards. And when you consider the size of our school that’s even more special. Our 18 variety sports gain us national recognition. Sports are a huge part of our recruiting drive as a university. We have a ton of national champions and championship titles in our history. Week by week we have outstanding achievements from people on our campus. Just this past weekend, Kaci Wellik threw a no-hitter for the softball team against Austin College. She has not received anywhere near as much acclaim as I believe she should have. We need to celebrate those students on this campus who excel athletically, just as much as we do those who excel in the classroom. The Tiger Network has been a huge element of the past year’s growth of sport on campus too. The excellent work of those in athletics and marketing, along with the students who help operate it, mean that we are now streaming more live events than ever, around the world, with high definition cameras, instant replays and play by play and colour commentators. We really are setting the standard in the DIII for broadcasting at this point, and yet I feel like many people don’t realise this. That’s a shame. As ever, a lot of this lack of support for sports comes from how academically focused this school is, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Education is important. We’re STUDENT-athletes after all. But, if you’ll allow me one wish; I wish that each and every one of you who reads this column gives sports at Trinity a chance. Go out and support our softball team when they host the SCAC Tournament next weekend. Come back after the summer and watch Trinity football, volleyball, soccer and all the other fall sports next semester. Trust me — it’s fun! The games become social occasions as much as they are sporting events. So I implore you. Give sports a go. You need to care about Trinity Athletics because they really are one of the most important facets of campus life. And this is not just attempting to reach the student body. This is to all faculty, staff, friends, family and alumni too. You can wear your maroon. You can say you’re proud of Trinity and everything we do. But until you’re willing to support your university’s athletic teams... That’s just talk. Be a Tiger. Support your teams. Thank you.
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The presence of pain and suffering in this world poses a problem for Christians. In the “Batman v Superman” film, ultra goon Lex Luthor says that evil’s persistence eliminates the possibility of an (Abrahamic) God, making valid points. So, how does a Christian recognize the world’s horrors and still claim God exists? Consider our definition of suffering. Generally speaking, there MARKHAM SIGLER are two forms — human inflicted, and natural. The first can be My Column rationalized with the admittance of free will. Christians believe God offered mankind the opportunity to have perfect community with Him. Man opted to pursue his own desires. Consequently, man was separated from God, living freely but contrary to God’s will. It is also helpful to recognize Christians believe God came to earth, in human form, with the purpose of enduring ultimate suffering at the hands of His people, so that the suffering we endure is not in vain (if God never experienced pain, taking Him seriously is difficult — but He has, to a very real extent). Thirdly, consider the judgments one makes on another’s morality. One’s judgments typically eliminate the modern idea of cultural relativism as a plausible alternative to a universal moral law (which logically points to a higher power.) For example, an American anthropologist who is a cultural relativist faces a dilemma when studying the inhumane treatment of women in some Middle Eastern cultures. She cannot say these cultures are inherently wrong because cultural relativism claims cultures can decide right and wrong for themselves; however, she has an undeniable sense it is wrong. Additionally, for most of history slavery was not immoral. Most, if not all, notable civilizations practiced slavery in some regard. Nowadays, Americans portray Abraham Lincoln as one of the greatest presidents ever solely because he ended this abhorrent system. We do not consider history’s slave owners to have made a morally acceptable choice in owning slaves; that is, time and place do not excuse one’s actions. They were wrong, just as cultures that do not deem women as equal to men are wrong. A Christian would argue, then, that without a God, there is no universal moral law; if one does not believe in God, there is no basis other then one’s privately held, subjective system of likes and dislikes when it comes to determining the rightness of another time period or culture. Martin Luther King Jr. puts it this way: “Because there is a higher law, we believe eating the weak is wrong; how can an atheist justify their moral outrage?” In other words, how can an atheist condemn these actions without acknowledging a universal moral law (which must have, logic says, a universal moral lawgiver)? What about natural suffering? Earthquakes, tsunamis, cancer, Alzheimer’s — all induce pain and suffering that is, in a moral person’s opinion, unjust. If there is no God, however, and one considers the nature of the world outside humanity, these events are not unjust. Rather, they are merely examples of natural selection taking place. A female philosopher chose to live alone in nature for a year, in order discover its intrinsic peacefulness and harmony. She found it to be neither peaceful nor harmonious. To summarize her comments, nature is amoral — right and wrong do not exist, there is only the strong eating the weak, with survival as the lone motivator. This bothers people, especially when it occurs in our species. But a world without God is a world without meaning other then survival, so there is nothing to be done about natural atrocities that provide balance, evolutionarily speaking. In fact, they are necessary. Why then is one’s spirit so dismayed upon hearing of nature doing what nature does? Because humans have an undeniable sense that the event is not right. These arguments are not complete, but they are fair. If anything, they balance the issue, relieving mainstream thought’s pressure on Christians to explain evil, and asking atheists to explain their sense of universal moral law, and craving for justice in a world where justice is not natural. Christians believe man’s evil nature was overcome when Jesus rose from the dead. He confronted death so that we can rest assured that evil and injustice are not the end of the story.
Callum Squires is a junior German studies major.
Markham Sigler is a junior Chinese studies and international studies double major.
EDITORIAL
The “Dangerously Disappointing Faggot” tour Recently Trinity found itself graced by the presence of internet darling and ideas like trigger warnings. As such we often engage in healthy debates around these professional agitator Milo Yiannopoulos. Without taking up too much time and very topics. And that’s is what Milo failed to do. space to further the ego of the man himself, we would like to issue a short editorial Cheered on by passionate supporters and heckled by disgusted opponents, Milo on our thoughts regarding his most recent stop in his “Dangerous Faggot” tour. sat in the midst of it and smiled. He smiled as he ripped into a variety of topics, Milo’s first impressions on stage were sharp — hair any man or woman would from feminism and the LGBTQ community to university policy and foreign affairs. be jealous of, an air of style and plenty of poise. Then he But like the notecard he read off of from, the talk remained opened his mouth. flat and lacked depth. He made some good points, however That’s where we lost interest. on political correctness, he offered up this gem: “The problem At the end of the day Not that everything Milo had to say was useless or with microaggressions is that they have macro results.” There pointless. Far from it. He makes people uncomfortable and is a jumping point for a good discussion. Should universities we found ourselves asks questions some others are too afraid to. That’s a good crack down on microaggressions? Does doing so simply shelter walking out of the thing in our increasingly sensitive culture. We were not the individual from opposing viewpoints that should otherwise angry at his talk or his presence. We were just disappointed. be explored or exposed? How can we create a community where auditorium just a We will however give you a slight break Milo since you were we feel safe and respected but equally challenged and exposed to little bit tired — tired sick (hopefully not with AIDS as you suggested). But, and different ideas? There are no easy answers to hard questions like this is not attempt to sound pretentious, we expect better these. But, even without an answer, we would have preferred to of the screaming and from a lecture at Trinity. The event unfurled more like an be asked, to be forced to think about the topics and issues in a shouting and left entertainment segment or skit than a real lecture — it made substantial way. us laugh and kept us at attention, but after the cursing ended And in a way, with all his talk and grandeur, maybe Milo is wanting something and the smoke and mirrors faded, we were left feeling a bit making us do just that. At the end of the day we found ourselves more. empty. Trump supporter or not, advocate for safe spaces or walking out of the auditorium just a little bit tired — tired of staunch opponent of them, there is a meaningful discussion the screaming and shouting and left wanting something more. to be had on these topics. Our last few editorials have attempted to do such — it’s Still, thank you to Tigers for Liberty for bringing Milo to campus; whether or not no secret that many of us at the Trinitonian are against what the Atlantic calls his talk was anything more than an evening of entertainment is up for debate. What the “coddling of the American minds” in universities and communities across the it was however is another step to bringing more and more opinions to our campus, country. Then again, many of our staff are supporters of political correctness and even ones we may not want to hear.
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • APRIL 15, 2016 •
CAMPUS PULSE
ulse
Murder, mystery take the stage in “The Mousetrap” Trinity theatre department prepares for final performances of the longest running play in history
“The Mousetrap” is the longest running play in history. The Trinity theatre department’s production of the play began last weekend and it will return for the final performances this weekend. photo by Claudia Garcia
BY MOMO SETAMOU PULSE REPORTER The Trinity theatre department is hosting its final performances of Agatha Christie’s suspensefilled classic, “The Mousetrap” in the Stieren Theater this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Christie wrote the play for a post-World War II London audience as a commentary on the complacency of allied forces during the war and how their failure to intervene led to many travesties. It involves a bizarre cast of characters who are trapped in a guest house following the murder
of a woman in London. The murder is surrounded by the story and tune of the nursery rhyme, “Three Blind Mice,” and is filled with humor and drama. The murderer’s identity is divulged in a twist ending and at the end of each performance, audiences are asked to not reveal the identity
of the killer to anyone outside of the theatre so the surprise will not be ruined for future audiences. (Theatre students in this production) when asked why they decided to finally bring “The Mousetrap” to the main stage, said that the director for the play, Stacy Connelly, has always been infatuated with the show and was very excited to finally be able to put it on. Theatre students who participated both onstage and off focused on the technical aspects, striving to nail what the original play intended to do. Due to the use of British dialects, onstage cast members had a vocal coach brought in to assist in the creation of clear and believable vocal performances. First year Nico Champion, who plays Giles Ralston in the play says that the cast wanted to perfect the details during rehearsals to make the performance seem effortless. “It was crucial to focus on the technical aspects of the show because as a cast, we wanted to capture the essence of what the play was intended to be about in a believable and effortless manner,” Giles said. He added that he was able to do this through lots of rehearsal and excitement for
finally having this play showed on the main stage. Assistant stage manager and First Year Mindy Tran felt both stressed and accomplished for being able to bring “The Mousetrap” to life. “Any mainstage show has lots of rehearsing and planning that goes into it. This was my first time in a stage managing role and I realized that production is not always about the actors. There are people who make the set, create sound and lighting, and the director, actors, crew and design team rehearse almost every night,” Tran said. “The Mousetrap” is a globally recognized play run by a cast of passionate student actors, so catch it while you can. The Stieren Theater is inside the Ruth Taylor Fine Arts Center. Friday and Saturday’s performances begin at 8 p.m. Student tickets cost $6, while seniors, faculty and alumni get in for $8. All others’ admission is $12. Saturday’s show will be followed by a parody show in the Attic Theatre performed by the First Time Offenders, Trinity’s short-form improv troupe.
Trinity talent shines under the Spotlight Annual talent show showcases Tiger performers, audience choses favorites for the first time BY EMILY ELLIOTT PULSE REPORTER Last Saturday, Trinity students competed in the annual Spotlight talent show hosted by the Student Programming Board. Of the twelve singers, bands and dance troupes that participated, the Trinitones men’s a cappella group took first place for their Shrek medley. The panel of faculty judges — comprising computer science professor Mark Lewis, university president Danny Anderson and associate professor of mathematics Cabral Balreira — placed performances by Mariana Lopez Levi and Cullen Moore second and third, respectively. The Student Programming Board was eager to prepare for the annual show. “Spotlight is Trinity’s annual talent showcase. It provides a platform for anyone and everyone to come showcase whatever talent they want to show. It can be dancing, singing, playing an instrument, stand-up comedy, rapping, slam poetry — literally anything,” said Devina Kumar, a junior economics major and the traditions chair of the Student Programming Board. Kumar was motivated to organize this event as successfully as possible as this tradition has remained a Trinity favorite since its creation. “Spotlight has been a tradition at Trinity for a very long time now, and I wish it carries on as one for years and years to come,” Kumar said. “To be honest, Spotlight is so popular because it provides a platform for anyone who wants to showcase their talent. Personally, I love seeing my classmates perform
because I am always taken a back by how well-rounded Trinity students are. Spotlight makes you realize that, hey, your Calc II peer tutor is not only amazing at math, but also a fantastic singer. Things like that make Spotlight very appealing to me, personally.” Students were encouraged to attend the show in order to have the rare opportunity to see their friends and peers showcase their talents that they may not usually share with others. “I think it’s so popular because everyone knows who’s performing. You either have a friend who’s in the show or your friend’s friend and I think it’s a huge part of the Trinity community to support your peers. Plus it’s always good fun,” said Christina Moore, a junior communication major and the public relations director for Student Programming Board. The opportunity to work with performers on their showcases behind the scenes allowed Moore to see the commitment students put into their acts in order to make their contributions to an engaging, successful talent show. “I think my favorite performance this year was the Trinitones. I know that everyone else only sees the final product, which was amazing, but it was also such a pleasure to see all their hard work that went into the set behind the scenes. They were so dedicated in every rehearsal,” Moore said. Most people involved in the show, whether they organized the event or sat in as an audience member, had a favorite performance. “One of my favorite performances was the last exhibition act! The Kenneth [Kusima], Greg [Labbe]
and Alvin [Mbabnzi] trio preformed a medley of covers. The composition of the medley was great but the vocals and instruments were beautiful,” said Aroosa Ajani, a sophomore business analytics and urban studies major. As the assistant traditions chair for Student Programming Board, Ajani was able to work collectively with Kumar. “My position in Student Programming Board is assistant traditions chair. I worked with Devina, traditions chair, to plan the event. This included setting up rehearsals, managing the budget, buying the materials needed and more,” Ajani said. With a positive response to the event from the audience members who were able to witness the variety of talents, it’s evident this tradition will continue on successfully. “Spotlight gives students a chance to express themselves [and] experience some of the talent they might not even know we had. It’s fun, entertaining, and there is always a great turnout,” Ajani said. This year also marked the first time audience members were allowed to select their personal favorite performance; this prize went to Bria Woods and Caileen Tallant for their duet performance of James Bay’s “Let it Go.” As an annual tradition, students interested in performing in next year’s Spotlight should look out for messages from the Student Programming Board containing registration info. There is plenty of time left to prepare for next year’s performances, so expect a captivating 2017 show.
CAMPUS PULSE
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• APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
Trinity seniors recognized as Fulbright scholars Four students receive prestigious award, given the opportunity to serve as cultural ambassadors BY SIDNEY HOPKINS PULSE REPORTER Each year, students across the country are awarded the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Award. The program places Fulbright scholars in classrooms across the world to assist English teachers. These assistants are also considered cultural ambassadors for the United States. This year, four Trinity University students were given the award. The four recipients are all seniors at Trinity and will be traveling to various places. Emily Acker will be traveling to Colombia, Sonam James to the Czech Republic, Laurel Meister to Germany and Sarah Yaccino to Ecuador. The Fulbright program is not major-specific, and applicants can only apply to one country. Sonam James, a Fulbright ETA recipient will be headed to the Czech Republic. “The Fulbright is supposed to facilitate international understanding between Americans and the country that they are residing in,” James said. James is a political science major and Spanish and economics double minor, and was originally planning on taking a year off after graduating before attending law school. “I had thought about teaching abroad, and a friend mentioned the Fulbright program to me,” James said.
James then sought out Sarah Pinnock, chair of the religion department and faculty Fulbright Program Advisor, and applied for the opportunity. Senior Sarah Yaccino, who will be headed to Ecuador, heard about the award through one of Trinity’s emails about post-graduate opportunities during her junior year. “I also attended a Fulbright information session led by Dr. Pinnock and a former Fulbright scholar who spoke about his incredible experience,” Yaccino said. She also studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador, and was prepared to apply for the Fulbright ETA award soon after. The application process for the award involves several different aspects. Emily Acker, who will be at the Universidad de Boyaca in Tunja, Colombia, applied to the program during the Fall 2015 semester. “The selection process has been a bit long — I wrote a couple essays, got letters of recommendation and did an on-campus interview,” Acker said. Applicants’ essays are a very important part of the selection process and Acker went through several revisions and drafts before submitting her application. “In January, I was notified I had made it through the first round of cuts, in midFebruary I had a Skype interview with the Colombian team,” Acker said. Initially, she was nervous when she didn’t hear back for another five weeks,
but her worries were settled when she was selected as a finalist in March. The students had different ideas and motivations for wanting to teach abroad. Yaccino, who is a Spanish and Human Communication double major, already planned on being an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. “Because many English language learners will likely speak Spanish, I want to attain a native-like fluency in addition to gaining experience teaching English. I also know that immersing myself in Latin American culture will equip me with a better understanding of and sensitivity towards my future students’ backgrounds,” Yaccino said. After returning from Ecuador, Yaccino will be back in San Antonio in July to start Trinity’s Master of Arts in Teaching program and hopes that the ETA program will “deepen [her] appreciation for cultural and linguistic diversity.” “Teaching abroad is an amazing opportunity not only to experience a culture but also to interact and communicate with people. I really wanted the chance to explore a new place and culture before applying and going to [grad] school,” Yaccino said. Laurel Meister, an English major with minors in German and Music, is headed to Germany and hopes to be an English professor. “The program will add depth to my understanding of education, language
and the world. Also, helping others learn English while I strive to achieve fluency in German is mutually beneficial,” Meister said. The seniors were also proud to be a part of the only class to have more than two Fulbright scholars. “It’s wonderful to know that more Trinity students are being chosen for such a prestigious program, I also think this will encourage more students to apply to the Fulbright program,” James said. “I’m very excited and so proud of our class,” Yaccino said. “I think Trinity is full of excellent candidates. Dr. Pinnock told me that many students may feel intimidated by the application process, but I promise it’s not that bad!” Each student will receive a monthly stipend for assisting their respective universities and, according to Acker, are expected to be “involved within the university and local community.” Yaccino mentioned that the graduates are also encouraged to design their own service project in order to get more involved with the local community. “The goal of the experience is to allow for cultural exchange in the hopes that it will promote mutual respect and understanding,” Yaccino said. The Fulbright ETA award continues to help Trinity students further their careers after graduating, and all students are welcome to apply for the post-graduate opportunity.
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PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Last week, the Trinity Jazz Ensemble gave its annual spring performance in the Ruth Taylor recital hall. TOP LEFT: Behind every great concert there is a great team of technical professionals to ensure the event stays on a high note. TOP RIGHT: Director DUSTIN JESSOP conducts the concert. Jessop leads the ensemble and has specific expertise as a saxophonist. BOTTOM RIGHT: The Jazz Ensemble’s spring concert was held last Sunday. In addition to performances on campus, the Jazz Ensemble performs at events around San Antonio. photos by Claudia Garcia
WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • APRIL 15, 2016 •
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK
FIESTA
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• APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
The Complete Food Guide of Oyster Bake
BY ZACHARY GALVIN | NEWS INTERN
Oyster Bake is the gargantuan kick-off party to one of San Antonio’s favorite pastimes: Fiesta! This year marks the 100th anniversary of Oyster Bake. Whether you’ve never been to Oyster Bake or you just need a refresher course, here is my incomplete guide to the food of Oyster Bake.
Crawfish
Having been to both days of Oyster Bake for the past two years, I’ve seen that crawfish are a highly sought after by many, myself included. They are salty and savory, a great snack for a hot day in San Antonio. These are full boiled crawfish, so here are a few tips to get at the crawfish meat. First, grab it by the tail joint on either side using your pointer fingers and thumbs. Twist the head away from the tail and it’ll separate into two pieces. From here, the PROPER step is to suck the juices out of the head. This gives you a great taste of both the crawfish and the spices they’re cooked in. Next, you peel away the shell from the tail meat and then pull to separate the meat from the shell. After that, the work is over and you can enjoy the crawfish and go on to the next one — and then the next plate of crawfish.
FIESTA EVENTS Cornyation Locals gather together to roast many of San Antonio’s personalities. Date: April 19-21 Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: Charlie McCombs Empire Theatre
St. Mary's Oyster Bake There will be over 100,000 oysters eaten over the course of two days. Plus, live music and good feelings to continue the 100-year-old tradition. Date: April 15-16 Time: 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Location: St. Mary’s University Campus
Women's Fiesta Soccer Tournament Top women’s teams around the nation battle it out on the soccer field ... via soccer. Date: April 16-17 Time: 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Location: STAR Soccer Complex
Battle of Flowers Parade This time-honored classic that celebrates San Antonio’s rich culture and history. Don’t forget to wear bright clothes! Date: April 15-16 Time: 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Location: St. Mary’s University Campus
Fairytale Fiesta Inspired by fairytales, myths and magic, the Witte Museum puts on an art exhibit featuring costumes, paintings and many other beautiful works. Date: April 14-24 Location: The Witte Museum
What Can’t you Fry?
Well, according to the food vendors at Oyster Bake, you can fry anything. This year offers up treats like fried cheesecake, fried Oreos and mini funnel cakes. The fried Oreos are simply amazing, and who doesn’t like funnel cake? Two years ago I even saw fried Philly cheesesteaks. Also, blooming onions are great for people who really love onion rings. Basically the onions are fried and cut to look like a flower with a little cup of dipping sauce in the middle.
Oysters
Be brave! They really aren’t as bad as people say they are. Don’t believe the stigma. If you go to Oyster Bake, you have to try at least try one. You can get them baked, fried or have them as a shot. For those of you who tend to shy away from the prospect of eating seafood, try starting out with the fried oysters. It takes away the dreaded seafood taste. For the brave ones of the bunch, try the baked oysters. You can get a bucket of the baked oysters for a reasonable amount of tickets (the festival equivalent of money). All you have to do is cut them open with the oyster shucker and enjoy. The work of
shucking the oysters pays off for these delicious little treats. If you find yourself somewhere in between, a good place to start is the oyster shots. These are oysters with cocktail sauce and a dash of hot sauce — pretty delicious!
What are Fiesta Medals? BY LUKE WISE | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Regarded with the utmost care and coveted by San Antonians across the city, Fiesta medals may seem weird to newcomers of the annual party, but they are a steeped tradition of the event and the highlight of the 18-day celebration for many a collector. With countless medals made every year by various companies, organizations and individuals, the medals reflect the diversity and creativity inherent in San Antonio.
piece reached local news outlets, with San Antonians divided on the medal’s merits.
According to the Fiesta Medal website, the medals began as an idea in the 1970s by Lieutant Colonel Leon Childers. Childers wanted a way to generate camaraderie and interest for the event, so he came up with a Fiesta-themed military medal to be handed out during the parade. Other information on the medals points to the involvement of Charles G. Orsinger, the 1971 King Antonio. Orsinger and others created medals by punching holes in Kings coins attaching various lapel ribbons to them.
When he isn’t busy fighting crime, Spurs Jesus can be found loudly yelling at any Spurs game or strolling through San Antonio in his usual garb. A celebrity here in SA-town, Spurs Jesus is as dedicated to his craft as the next person; with his own gospel, including “Trust thy Popovich” and “Thou shall love thy neighbor (unless it’s the Mavericks, Rockets or Lakers),” Spurs Jesus was the perfect candidate for a Fiesta medal. Featuring the man’s (and the son of God’s) likeness slam-dunking a basketball, what isn’t to love about this instant classic?
From your local bakery to the San Antonio Spurs, there are Fiesta medals for everything. And if you want to be a top tier collector, here are some mandatory medals you must have.
The Original 1970’s
As mentioned above, the original medals from the early ‘70s are highly coveted pieces of history. Various collectors take great pride in their possession of the so called ‘original medals.’ Take a close look through your nearby estate sales or make a trade with a collector. But you better have something good to trade for them!
Artpace’s Ozzy Osbourne
After being banned from the city in 1982 for peeing on the Alamo, Ozzy has had a rocky relationship with our fair city. While this blasphemous act may not be accepted, it makes for a great memory and conversation starter. The piece features Ozzy’s face in the middle, with two upside-down Alamos resembling bat wings on either side. After selling out in just 48 hours, the
Spurs Jesus
The Trinity Cat Alliance
OK we aren’t sure if any collectors are battling for possession of these medals, but still: supporting Trinity is never a bad thing. Whether you like the cats on campus or not, these medals are a great locally made medal to add to any collection. They’ve got plenty of options for your favorite feline celebrity too. If you aren’t a cat fan, then just make your own medals; they did it so why can’t you. Options include the local Trinity racoons, possums or even the Trinitonian’s darling faculty columnist, David Crockett.
Anything you want
The joy of medal collecting is that everyone has their own tastes. No collection is ever identical and that’s half the fun. Sharing and trading your medals with another enthusiastic fan is what it’s all about. Learn some great history, hear some amazing memories and rock your Fiesta pride.
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • APRIL 15, 2016 •
BY L
UKE
WIS
E|E
FIESTA
DITOR -IN-CH
IEF
1891
1913
Battle of San Jacinto
1916
Spring Festival Association renamed “Fiesta San Jacinto Association
1918
1926
1944
Renamed “Victory Spring Carnival”
1947
Canceled thanks to World War II
1973
1918
Canceled thanks to World War I
Texas Cavaliers founded to choose parade King
1941
First annual Oyster Bake held at St. Mary’s University
La Villita Fiesta premiered
1948 La Villita Fiesta changed to “Night in Old San Antonio”
1959
1971 43 people arrested in riot at Flambeau parade.
1979 Sniper kills two people during Battle of Flowers parade
1989 First annual Taste of New Orleans added to Fiesta
2013 Fiesta extends from 11 to 18 days
2016
FIESTA
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• APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
It’s that time of year once again — the streets will be flooded with color and bustling with activity, food carts will abound and everyone will take to the streets for San Antonio’s annual party. Everyone knows Fiesta, for the crazy parking if not for the events. But what most people don’t understand is just how steeped in tradition our city’s biggest blowout. 2016 marks the 125th year of the event, which was started in 1891 as a onetime parade to honor the Battle of San Jacinto, in which Texas forces struck the decisive blow against Mexico during the Texas Revolution. The event quickly grew in popularity. The initial parade, the first ever Battle of Flowers parade, was even delayed due to rain — let’s hope this weekend doesn’t follow the same pattern. The parade now is the second largest in the nation, only behind the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California on New Years Day. Eventually the responsibility of organizing the event was passed along to the Spring Festival Association, renamed the Fiesta San Jacinto Association in 1913. Three years later, the first annual Oyster Bake, held at Saint Mary’s College’s (now St. Mary’s University) original riverwalk campus. This event quickly became a local favorite, although two short years later Fiesta, then called the Victory Spring Carnival, was cancelled due to World War I.
Jump to 1941, when the Texas Cavaliers (formed in 1926 to choose the parade King), held the first river parade. This marked the first event to be held after the newly finished River Walk Improvement Project. Another delay to the party came in 1942 however, as Fiesta was cancelled until 1944 due to World War II. In 1947, the La Villita Fiesta premiered before being changed in 1948 to the event we know it as today: Night in Old San Antonio. Eventually, in 1959, the Fiesta San Antonio Commission was formed and the parade and events were officially called Fiesta for the first time. The party got a bit out of hand in 1971 resulting in the Riot at Flambeau, when almost 200 youth created a disturbance and started a street fight that halted the Flambeau parade. 43 people were arrested once police took control of the situation. Despite the riot, the party continued as it always had, and even began to grow. For instance, the Oyster Bake was officially added as a Fiesta event in 1973. Things took a turn for the worse in 1979, however, when a sniper killed two people and injured dozens during the Battle of Flowers parade. In 1989 another favorite event of Fiesta was added, the first Taste of New Orleans. Following several years of flooding and rain that deterred the event, the city struck back in 2013 — Fiesta, previously only 11 days long was lengthened to 18 days to avoid overlap with Good Friday and Easter. And to, of course, to keep the party going. This short history lesson likely left out quite a few details from the long and steeped traditions of Fiesta throughout its 125 years. Here’s to another century and a quarter of fun, tradition, culture and Fiesta.
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APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
JARED LETO Actor in the upcoming DC action flick “Suicide Squad” reportedly utilized method acting in order to get into the mind of his character, The Joker. In doing so, he would send his fellow cast mates “presents” like dead rats, used condoms and anal beads. Leto stated that, “the joker is somebody who doesn’t really respect things like personal space or boundaries.” The rest of the cast was less amused.
MIB 23
&
The one thing you’ve always needed, but never wanted: a “Men in Black” and “21 Jump Street” crossover film. This idea, which started out as a joke, quickly grew and grew into a project that Sony is taking seriously. This week, they announced plans to begin working on the film, which will most likely feature Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum infiltrating the secret government organization.
I’m searching for a “Mr. Right” (film review)
Girl meets boy. Boy cheats on girl. Girl and boy break up. Girl meets new boy. Girl and boy spend the day together. Boy is a hitman. This is the premise of director Paco Cabezas’s most recent film, “Mr. Right,” released April 8. Starring the one-two punch combo of Sam Rockwell as the aforementioned Mr. Right and Anna Kendrick as the selfproclaimed T-rex, Martha, screenwriter Max Landis (Chronicle, American Ultra) has created some of his most bizarre characters to date in this new action-comedy romance film. Martha is a young twentysomething dealing with the fresh wounds of a messy breakup by means of booze, booze and booze. Mr. Right, whose birth name is Francis, is an uber-talented former hitman who now operates using his own moral code that “murder is wrong” by turning the tables on those who hire him. Instead of killing their targets,
he performs the unexpected and kills his own clientele. Running from his past and those who apparently want to do him wrong — enter Tim Roth in the confusingly underdeveloped character “Hopper” — Francis literally runs into Martha in a convenience store. After nearly five seconds of extended eye contact (which I’m sure is some sort of time record for romantic comedies) and against her better judgement, the two embark on an unintended 10 hour date throughout the city of New Orleans. From there, the story is a landslide of languid dialogue juxtaposed with quick, choppy action shots, culminating in a strange combination of witty quips delivered by Rockwell and Kendrick and hard to believe gore that is almost comical. The film, which stays true to its quirky style the whole way through (points for consistency), lacks the extra kick I had expected and wanted from it. The is no real character development or growth, no realizations or changes—truly the most important question faced is whether Martha will assume her role as a t-rex and join Francis or run screaming bloody murder in the opposite direction. Riddled with questions left by plot holes and entire characters forgotten in the middle, this is
Spotlight Weekend Event
The Carefree Radicals and Missed Opportunity Presents: Improv Comedy Friday April 15 Shows at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The Playhouse 800 W Ashby All Ages
a valiant effort that ultimately becomes a flatlined attempt at cult-classic status. But that is not to say I did not thoroughly enjoy this film. I know, you’re saying, “What? But you at best gave it a half grimace and a bearable nod of affirmation. How can you say you enjoyed it?” True, in a deeper reading of film techniques, concepts, themes, motifs et cetera, I wanted more. I wanted to see the emotion. I wanted Martha to grow up a little bit. I wanted to know “why?” about pretty much everything. But leaving these qualms behind, I have to admit I had fun while watching “Mr. Right.” This film is what I would call a “time pass” movie. Something where the trailer is just too good to pass up, but when you finally get around to watching it, the film is nowhere near the groundbreaking, earth-shattering revelation of story you were expecting; but somehow still puts a smile on your face. Not every movie needs to be life-changing. In fact, there is an entire industry built around the idea that films do not need to be life changing but rather an enjoyable expanse of time. Film is about escapism. It is about walking into an ice cold theater, sneaking some snacks in your purse, finding the right
Greatest “Mr. Rights” from Film 1
Mr. Darcy - “Pride and Prejudice”
2
Blane - “Pretty in Pink”
3
Noah- “The Notebook”
4
Jack - “The Titanic”
5
Paul - “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
seat between the old couple and the teens making out in the back and sitting for an uninterrupted few hours blissfully unaware of everything happening outside. Movies are about making emotional connections with characters and stories that create meaning not only for an individual audience member but for culture and society as a whole. That’s a tall order to hold to a funky, low-budget, romance/ comedy/thriller, though. But not beyond it’s capabilities. Film can connect people from every walk of life, every background, every profession. It binds us together
by this one shared detail, a simple “Have you seen… .” Mr. Right is no exception. It’s hard to dislike Rockwell and Kendrick, especially together, and the absurdity of the plot either leaves you at the edge of your seat intrigued and wanting more or it leaves you confused and wishing you had chosen to stream another movie. Either way, Cabezas has made something that not only made me laugh, but also made me hopeful that even crazy, former hitmen and slightly unstable girls all have a chance at some form of “boy meets girl” one day.
The effect of critics on moviegoers BY COLLIN GILLESPIE
A&E INTERN
When was the last time you went to the movies? Chances are, regardless of what movie you went to see, you checked the reviews of the movie you chose to see online. Thanks to websites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, critical reviews of movies are more accessible than ever before, but this omnipresence of critical opinion that the internet has created has some unintended consequences. Without a doubt film is one of the most widely consumed artistic mediums in the world. Like every art form, there is always a need to critique each work to determine its critical worth. There is nothing wrong with movie critics and what they do: critique is necessary for any medium to grow and for truly great pieces to stand out and be recognized for their excellence. That said, many make a common mistake (which I myself am prone to doing) where critical worth is confused with general enjoyability. Taste in movies, like taste in any
other type of entertainment, is highly subjective, and varies wildly from person to person. One of the biggest problems that comes from the prominence of critical opinion is that it can discourage the exploration. I can’t count how many times I’ve tried to convince some of my friends to watch a movie that I think they’ll like only to have them tell me “But the reviews of that movie stink.” This overreliance on movie reviews has become a big enough problem that when I am recommending a movie that has less than favorable reviews I’ll have to address it directly. Perhaps the biggest effect of movie critics on the average moviegoer is their ability to bias the opinions of a those average viewers. It only takes one look at Metacritic for many viewers to become adamant supporters of the critical opinion regardless of their actual tastes (once again this is something I am guilty of as well). Even worse than that, the bias that critical opinion creates promotes a split in the movie-going community between those who agree or disagree with the critical opinion instead of
promoting their own views of the movie. Despite all of this negativity the ease of access to critical reviews of films does benefit moviegoers in a few ways. For one, the average moviegoers are encouraged to become more critical when they see movies because of features on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb which encourage regular viewers to leave their own reviews of movies. Film is an art form after all, and these sites which provide both critical and user opinions are helping to foster communities that discuss films as an artistic medium. The widespread presence of critical opinion can also bring many films into the spotlight that may not have ever enjoyed the popularity that they did otherwise. For example, many foreign and independent films benefit from the exposure given to them by critics. The increasing prevalence of critical opinion has numerous effects on average moviegoers whether they realize it or not. Regardless of whether those effects are good or bad, critical opinion will still shape how people view movies and how they think about movies.
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • APRIL 15, 2016 •
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
What I worried about as a kid vs. now BY PAIGE PEREZ
A&E WRITER
As young children, we often spend a lot of time thinking about the future and mentally preparing for the day it comes. Yet now, somehow, adulthood seems both harder and more anticlimactic than any of us ever imagined. To prove my point, here’s a Friday flashback to some of the things we all used to worry about as kids (that today don’t even make the list).
As a child: Broken Roller Coasters
The first 11 years of my life I refused to step foot on any roller
coasters because I was convinced that at the bottom of the drop, the rails would be disconnected and we were all about to plummet to our deaths in a tragic freak accident. Or, I’d imagine that the ride’s engine would fail halfway through, leaving the rollercoaster suspended upside down on one of the loop-de-loops, and everyone would hang there until we fell out of the ride. (The child mind is a beautiful place.)
In college: Student Loans
Now as a wise mini-adult, I know that the only sinking I’ll be doing is sinking deeper into the red. Quicksand isn’t going to be what swallows me whole; it’s student loans! They never tell you when you’re young that the only things you should really be afraid of are man-made constructs such as money and debt.
As a child: Having no one to sit with
The days of assigned seats were rough because every once in a while you were stuck surrounded by people you had nothing in common with when all five of your playground best friends were clustered on the other side of the room, laughing and cracking jokes with you just barely out of earshot. Meanwhile, you were next to that one kid who whined a lot and was just a little too covered in snot at all times. (What kind of adult did this kid even grow up to be?)
Photo by Claudia Garcia
Listen, I appreciate you asking if you can sit with me, but I have two papers to write, one
group project, 10 million emails to send as well as a test to study for and I would appreciate it if you didn’t force me to make conversation with you while I try to accomplish all of these things at once. Finals time is not the time for socializing. See you next semester.
Vikings
The 100
As an adult: Having someone come sit with me
As a child: The dark
I was an avid fan of the nightlight, and I’m not ashamed. No kid wants to go to sleep, ever, and I was especially afraid of the dark. With a nightlight, I could see all the faces of my stuffed animals watching me and know I wasn’t alone. (Cute or creepy? You decide!
What to watch when you just can’t study Game of Thrones
BY SHANNON GROVER
A&E INTERN
There’s only two weeks left before reading days, and despite what we tell our parents about not even having time to breathe, we all know there are going to be times when we need to just curl up in a ball and escape reality. The free Philo and HBO Go accounts that we probably already overuse are just sitting there, waiting for us to succumb to procrastination. If you can already feel yourself longing to lay back and watch some television, let’s at least make sure you’re watching the good stuff. Here’s a rundown of some of the most promising shows of the season, all available to Trinity students online for free.
Is he alive? Are they bringing him back? What the hell is going on anymore? “Game of Thrones” is back on April 24th to answer all of our burning questions (or they’ll pull a classic HBO move and just confuse us further). If you’re not a GOT fan, where have you been and what are you doing with your life? This medieval fantasy-on-steroids has been a critical success ever since its pilot aired in 2011. Season six is set to blow all previous seasons away, not only upping the drama, but the production value too. Each new episode was made with a $10 million budget, meaning this is the most expensive season to date, almost doubling last season’s cost. Where will all of this money go? I’m putting my money on the dragons.
The History Channel may be a total joke at this point, but “Vikings” is the exception. It is the middle of the fourth season, but you don’t have to be caught up to enjoy the badassery of Ragnar Lothbrok, the stupidly attractive king of the vikings. (I’ve learned to look past his haircut). There are twenty episodes this season — just enough for your dissent into procrastination madness. This season, we find Ragnar and the vikings back in Norway after their raid in France, once again fighting to keep power. Will the Lothbroks keep Kattegat, or will King Harald seize the throne? No, I’m not joking. Let me know. I’ll be too busy writing papers and drinking coffee to watch.
At first, I get sad thinking about how I’m 21 and still watch the CW. Then, I remember “The 100.” The series is 39 episodes in, but I believe in your catch-up game. This dystopian survival series may test your loyalty to the show at times with its teen drama and farfetched plots, but all in all it’s a genuinely entertaining watch. One of my favorite things about The 100 is that I can get almost anyone to watch it — and once they do, they’re hooked. No one can resist the power of superhumanly goodlooking 20-somethings, especially when they’re covered in just the right amount of dirt and look like they’re prepared save the world at the drop of a hat. And unlike most shows with a female lead, this one appeals to both the female and male demographics. “The 100:”
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the show that brings people together to watch other people tear each other part.
The Night Manager
This six-part series already premiered in the UK, but rest assured, it will have been worth the wait for us Americans. Starring Tom Hiddleston as a hotel-nightmanager-turned-spy, this British miniseries is a nice break from the fantastical elements of most dramas on cable TV these days. Based on the homonymously titled book by John le Carré, it’s a thrilling espionage complete with exotic locations, inevitable betrayal, and incredibly smart writing. And Hugh Laurie’s in it! How can you not love Dr. House? “The Night Manager” premieres this Tuesday on AMC, giving you plenty of time to pretend to catch up on classes.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT •
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APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.
Baby got back (ups) BY SARAH TIPTON
A&E WRITER
Graduation is coming. It is inevitable that sometime within the next three years every single one of us will graduate and be forced into the adult world kicking and screaming. Realistically, we should be looking for jobs so we can have financial independence from our parents and the bank, but that seems like an awful amount of work, so I have some options on standby that could be viable alternative to honest living.
Get A Sugar Daddy
This is at the top of the list for a reason. I am already trying it out. Last week, I signed up for four different dating websites and spent a hefty amount of my time perfecting my profile so that I may attract wealthy, young bachelors. Unfortunately I got way more than I bargained for. In one 24-hour period, I had been bombarded with about 100 messages. Most of them were mundane, but I was pleasantly creeped out by several. One man decided he would woo me by writing a fanfiction about the two of us, where we conversed about James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and then fell
in love. I would like the record to state that I would never willingly talk about “Ulysses.” Another man claimed that he knows more Harry Potter trivia than I do. Yet another falsehood. I was starting to lose hope. And then, a man on Plenty Of Fish messaged me. He had a black Lexus as his profile picture, and his username was Golden_ Package555. Jackpot. He apparently owns a technology company and makes $3 million a year. I have yet to determine whether his package is golden.
since you don’t have a job to pay for some as well, and it is their duty as a host/hostess. It’s a classic parasitic relationship. Just be sure to move on to your next friend before they break.
Modeling
What better way to live your post undergrad years than mooching off your more successful friends? They certainly owe you for having to deal with their crap for however long you’ve known them. It’s a way to live like a king without paying rent. They’ll most likely provide you with food as well
I’m not talking about the typical fashion model. Oh no. Unfortunately, maybe only five people at Trinity are attractive enough to follow that career. But, it is my understanding that there is a high demand for models with a more … unique focus. If you think you have pretty hands, you could probably be rolling in some hand modeling cash money pretty soon! Think about it, whenever you see an advertisement for a jewelry store, whether it is print or television, you’ll see a closeup of a hand with a bracelet or an engagement ring. Clearly, it’s a low stress job that is easypeasy. Go forth and become hand models my friends. Locations, inevitable betrayal, and incredibly smart writing. And Hugh Laurie’s in it! How can you not love Dr. House? The Night Manager premieres this Tuesday on AMC, giving you plenty of time to pretend to catch up on classes.
to face with the person you’ve been pining over for months. Dream come true! In a movie, at least. “Kahbhi Khusi Khabi Gham”(Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sadness) tells the story of a family that is torn apart by different views on love and marriage. The romance that blossoms in this movie is endearing and entertaining to watch. There are multiple occasions where, while singing and dancing, the girl’s ornate jewelry gets caught on the boy’s clothes. This humorous exchange is delightful to watch, but will never happen in real life. Unless you really try (good luck). What’s more dramatic than watching the love of your life leave on a train as you cry on the platform? No one wants to leave, but your parents are tired of this person constantly declaring their love for you. You can only hope that, in the future, your paths might cross again, and that you’re not already married to the other love rival. Fortunately, you probably don’t have to worry about this in your future. But in ‘Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania’ (The Bride of Humpty Sharma) the scene is quite touching. The father’s forceful expression accentuates the heartbroken couple’s, and your
heart can’t help but break as well. She turns away as the man she loves is forced to leave on a train, and he can’t bear to look back on the woman he could have had a beautiful future with. This is the stuff of dreams. The only place you might be able to stare for long periods of time at your crush is during class, in a large lecture hall, while the professor has the class’ attention for an hour. Soft music plays in your head as you admire your crush’s perfect features. The light becomes dim and you forget about that exam you have next class. That can happen in your fantasies. Probably not real life, though. If you want to flesh out your daydreams, “Om Shanti Om” (Om Shanti Om) has a lot of good material you can use. This movie is a thrilling drama that makes your heart race. Bollywood films all have a grain of truth that inspires these unbelievable scenarios, and they make the movies all the more fun to watch. Don’t be discouraged simply because you need captions to understand foreign films. These movies, especially, provide emotions and experiences that Hollywood simply can’t duplicate. Go out and conquer the Bollywood section of Netflix.
Become a YouTube Celebrity
As long as you are willing to look like a fool on a webcam, you are a shoe-in for being one of YouTube’s elite creators. The advertisement dollars will be rolling in. It’s okay if you don’t have a specific talent such as singing, dancing, make-up tutorials, etc. Just talk about issues that every single person can relate to and use silly voices. You’re golden.
Couch Surfing
Things that happen in Bollywood, but not reality BY SOLEIL GAFFNER
A&E INTERN
Bollywood films have become more and more popular as well as easier to access. Bollywood is a term used to reference movies that are usually Indian based, with Hindi as the main language spoken. Netflix has made a larger effort to include more titles that fall into these categories, giving viewers the opportunity to enjoy the world of Bollywood. However, many know that the world of Bollywood is very different from our very own. We don’t often have the opportunity to break out into song and dance whenever we have intense emotions. I’m here to show you things you see in Bollywood movies that will never happen in real life. Sometimes the universe works in your favor, and you become physically close with your crush before either of you are even together. How about getting some part of your jewelry caught in your crush’s clothes? Bracelet caught on jacket, necklace caught on shirt, anything works! In the moment of confusion, you’re suddenly face
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
By George it’s “Mousetrap” review! BY COLLIN GILLESPIE
A&E INTERN
“The Mousetrap” is a mystery play written by one of the most well-known and influential mystery authors of all time, Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap is Trinity University Theatre’s current mainstage production, performances are at 8 PM this Friday and Saturday in the Stieren Theatre. The Mousetrap is about a group of strangers who find themselves trapped together in a guesthouse during a snowstorm. As events in the events of the play unfold, it becomes clear that everyone has a secret, secrets which may prove deadly to the unfortunate inhabitants of the guesthouse.
When it comes to types of mysteries, there are very few as prolific as the classic “whodunnit” style. A crime (usually a murder), a rogue’s gallery of colorful characters, and an intelligent detective determined to catch the perpetrator are all signature features of this classic setup, which the cast and crew of “The Mousetrap” excels at presenting. The characters of this play are especially memorable: even though it has been a week since I saw the show I can clearly remember each character and their distinct personalities. From the mildmannered couple who run the guest house, to the eccentric architect, to the diabolical man of mystery, all the characters of The “Mousetrap” are insanely fun to watch and sure to leave
an impression on you. However, much of the characters’ charm comes from the actors who play them. It is clear that each one of the actors is having a blast playing their parts and their enthusiasm shines through in their characters. The character interactions of the show are interesting and grow more and more paranoid as the show progresses. Another standout of the show was its design. Both the set and costume design were perfect at projecting the image of a classic British mystery. The wooden paneling on the walls, the fire place, and the furniture all looked like they had come straight out of an old British country house. The costumes not only fit the time period during which the play take place (the late 1940s) but also
Photo by Claudia Garcia
the characters which wore them to the point that I can distinctly remember what each character was wearing during the play. I highly recommend that you see “The Mousetrap” while you still can. It is a fun and unique production which showcases the best of what a classic mystery has to offer. The only complaint
which I can really muster is that Agatha Christie’s influence of modern mysteries may make the play seem familiar, even cliché, at times to a modern viewer, but then again the play has a way of toying with the expectations of its audience in a way that makes it feel as fresh and intriguing as it was over 60 years ago.
Sci Fi films you should watch BY DYLAN WAGNER
A&E WRITER
First off: this article was incredibly easy to write. I was afraid that I would either have to do a “five things” listicle or just do one review when I wanted to do two. But then
Cool Dylan spoke to me in my dreams and said “Inferior one... \ What if you were to review only TWO...” When I awoke, these two movies burst into my vision. They’re amazing because they combine high-technology, phenomenal execution, action, glorious visual and audio effects in magnificent harmony in addition to dropping in that X-factor of wonder and imagination that sci-fi does best.
Ex Machina (2015) The most recent film on the list, Ex Machina is a superb cocktail of cybernetics, philosophy, horror, and goddamn gorgeous cinematography. Caleb is a young programmer working at a social media company (essentially a Facebook/Google hybrid) who wins a unique contest. The reward? A week in isolation with the company’s hermetic and mysterious
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CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaacs), who is far, far more attractive than reallife counterpart Mark Zuckerberg. The week becomes more interesting when Nathan reveals the true nature of Caleb’s vacation: Caleb was not chosen at random, but for his programming skill, for a special task. He is to be the human counterpart in testing the world’s first true artificial intelligence — a robot named Ava. Complicating factors further is that Ava is quite beautiful and seems taken with Caleb. What follows is a slowly unfolding tale of intrigue, relationships, and doors better left unopened. Do yourself a favor and grab this movie from whatever source you can: You’ll learn more about what it means to be human after the credits roll — I know I did.
Sunshine (2007)
A personal favorite — I’ll try not to let my gushing bias drip all over this teaser. A film deserving a full-length review even 9 years after its release. Starring “is-he-attractive-or-willhe-murder-me” Cillian Murphy, Sunshine is a heartwarming tale of a deeply-depressed sunbather who just needs to see the sunny side of life. Just kidding! The film throws you into a world in which the sun has been having some nuclear heart palpitations and is in danger of going out completely. Humanity, understandably pissed, decides to mine enough heavy metals to outweigh Manhattan Island and use experimental fission techniques to try to give the sun some CPR. The catch? The “stellar bomb” has to be delivered to our star manually, and a previous mission, a ship ominously called Icarus I, failed already. Not taking the hint, humanity sends off another ship, Icarus II (seriously, the whole of humanity hasn’t read any Greek mythology?!) to do the job right. Unfortunately, the Earth is almost plum out of the necessary resources, so this is their last shot. The film starts with the crew already on their way: eight crew members, each highly trained in
one specific field critical to the mission’s success, evaluate their position. I normally wouldn’t explain each of eight characters individually, but this film is as important as a character study as it is as a sci-fi. Capa (Murphy) is the physicist in charge of the actual math/magic involved in setting the bomb off. If everything goes well, all eight of the crew members should survive the trip there and back. The other seven are equally important as they control the route there: Captain Kaneda (Hiroyuki Sanada) is steel-willed and determined, Mace (Chris Evans) is a military engineer who provides the icecold calculative mind necessary for critical decision-making. Dr. Searle (Cliff Curtis), the ship’s psychologist and medic, is critical to the crew’s psychological health but starts to become obsessed with the sun, spending hours in the “viewing room,” the one partiallyunshielded section of the Icarus II, which is otherwise completely shielded by the combination solar panel/sunblock umbrella. Cassie (Rose Byrne) is the ship’s pilot and is the least emotionally detached of the crew. Harvey (Troy Garity) is second in command and in charge of communications, Troy (Benedict Wong) is the computer-guru in charge of navigation and meltingprevention and Corazòn (Michelle Yeoh) is the botanist who curates the garden that supplies both fresh food and oxygen for the crew. All characters are critical to the mission, and while it would be a spoiler to describe the events that start to warp their relationships with each other, suffice it to say that there are shadows even in the face of the sun, and that light does not just purify but destroy. A psychological masterpiece that also pissed off the fewest physicists of any recent highconcept space movie, “Sunshine” is well worth watching not only for the intensity, but also for the droolworthy soundtrack. Check it out. I have telepathic powers and can tell if you actually go and watch these movies. It’ll ruin my weekend if you don’t.
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APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
ATHLETE INSPIRATION “Happy National Glazed Spiral Ham Day! I would say it’s my favorite day since people don’t eat llama, but eating llama is illegal in the United States. So really, it’s just another day for me.”
- Ham Sollamo
S
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ports
Trinity golf surges into SCAC Conference Men’s and women’s golf improves overall rankings in one week’s time BY DANA MCLAUGHLIN
SPORT REPORTER The Trinity men’s and women’s golf teams both finished second place in the 2015 conference tournament. Next Monday and Tuesday, these teams will try to improve upon last year’s performance in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships at the Vaaler Creek Golf Club in Blanco, Texas. On the men’s side, the no. 20 Tigers recently competed in the West Region Invitational at the Berry Creek Country Club. Collectively, the Tigers shot a thirdround score of 309 to total a threeround score of 929 at the par-72. Junior Redmond Lyons led the Tigers with his tie for a 15th place finish. For his final round he shot par-72, the best score of all the Tiger players for the tournament. He wrapped up with a 227 total score on the weekend. “Personally I feel pretty confident that we are one of the best teams in the conference, and I think if we can play smart we can have a really strong showing,” Lyons said. Lyons was one of three Tiger golfers who finished in the top 30 for the individual standings. Fellow junior Travis Hindle scored a final round of 78, shooting an overall 231 for the tournament and tying for the no. 23 slot. The final Tiger in the top 30 was Trevor Warner who tied for 28th place after shooting 79 for a 232 total. Looking ahead to the conference tournament, Lyons shared that his focus remains on putting himself in
Junior CHRISTINE CAMPBELL practices her swing before the NCAA Division III Championships in May.
good positions around the sometimes challenging Vaaler golf course. “We are maturing as a team and starting to understand how our individual strengths and weaknesses impact the overall team,” Lyons said. Also notable for the Tigers was first year Jacob Hudson who shot an 82 for a 241 total and a 47th place finish. First year Will Street posted an 80 and shot 245 for the tournament, finishing in 53rd place. Also heading into the final stretch of the spring season is the
Athlete Spotlight
no. 24 Trinity women’s golf team. The Tigers recently shot a finalround score of 331 to claim fourth
photo by Claudia Garcia
place at the DIII National Spring Preview last week. In the spotlight for the Tigers was junior Hanna Niner, who was named last week’s SCAC Golfer of the Week. Over the course of the two-day DIII National Spring Preview in Houston, Texas, Niner carded a 4-over-par 76. In the second round, Niner improved her score by eight strokes, posting a 160 total score and claiming an eighth place finish overall.
“As a team, we are a lot more confident going into conference this year than in previous years because we made a strong showing in Houston,” Niner said. Following Niner’s eighth place finish were Brigette Lee, Taylor Moser and Emilee Strausburg who all tied for 23rd place with matching scores of 168. Lee shot an 84 for the second straight round while Moser carded an 87 on the course. Junior Shelby DeVore tied for 30th place after shooting 84 for a 170 total. “We did not play as well as we would have liked to, but we placed well and beat some higher ranked teams. We have been working hard and we are ready to perform next week,” DeVore said. Under Niner’s leadership, the Tigers finished fourth overall out of the thirteen teams who competed in the spring showcase. Five of six golfers clinched spots in the top 30 of the competition. Trinity was able to defeat no. 18 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor by one stroke to secure their fourth place spot. The seventh-ranked University of Texas at Tyler won the tournament with a two-day score of 616, just ahead of the Tigers’ two-day score of 664. This finish elevated the national ranking of the women’s team from no. 24 to no. 19 over the course of one week following this tournament. With the conference tournament quickly approaching, both teams will look to conclude their spring season on a high note. “This is what it all comes down to, and I feel that we are more than ready to take the win,” DeVore said. For both sides, those individuals who qualify at the SCAC conference championship will then move on to the NCAA Division III Championships from May 10-13 in Rochester, New York.
Senior, Volleyball Defensive Specialist Hometown: Houston, Texas What is your funniest volleyball memory?
We wrapped coach’s house with lawn decorations during preseason, and when she caught us, she started spraying us with a water hose.
If you could be anyone else on your team, who would you be?
e c i r P Sarah photo by Lindsey Wittenburg
I would definitely be Shannon Courtney. She has so much energy and is always so positive. I couldn’t have imagined my four years here without her.
What is a fun fact about you? I use cinnamon toothpaste because I don’t like mint.
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SPORTS
Tiger softball prepare for weekend doubleheaders BY DAVIS MATHIS
SPORT INTERN The Trinity softball team had two losses when they faced MaryHardin Baylor in a doubleheader on Wednesday. The first game resulted in a 2-0 loss, as they were only able to come up with three hits in the game. In the second game, they managed to overcome a 2-0 deficit and tie the game only to lose on a walk off two run home run in the bottom of the seventh. “We just had trouble hitting the ball. We normally can hit well, but for whatever reason we weren’t making contact the way we can,” said first year first baseman Siera Spurlock, who went 2-3 and scored a run in the second game. Senior Kaci Wellik pitched the whole first game, giving up two runs, seven hits, one walk and struck out seven while being assigned her fifth loss on the season. Katie Castillion started and pitched four innings in game two and gave up two runs, five hits, one walk and struck out two before making way for Katie Glomb. Glomb pitched 2.1 innings giving up two runs, three hits and striking out two while being assigned her second loss on the season. “Almost half of the team are first years and over half are underclassmen, so I think we are having a decent season considering that. Sometimes
young teams are inconsistent, and I think you see that with us, but we have a talented group of girls on this team,” said first-year Catcher Stephanie Crumrine, who went 1-2 and scored a run in the second game against MaryHardin Baylor. Ten of the 21 players on the roster are first years and three more are sophomores. After the midweek games, the Tigers were back in action once again and played Austin College in conference play. They won all four games over the weekend, improving their record to 24-10 over and 17-3 in conference play. In the first game of the weekend, Wellik pitched all seven innings, striking out nine hitters on her way to a no-hitter and her eleventh win of the season. As Trinity won 2-0 and went on to dominate the next three games, winning by a mercy rule in all three. “Once we got one inning of solid hitting we really found a rhythm at the plate and carried it throughout the rest of the weekend. It was a good feeling for the team to be in a groove like that,” Crumrine said. Crumrine went 2-4 and scored two runs over the course of the weekend. Trinity won 8-1, 9-1 and 12-1 in the three games after Wellik’s no-hitter. Castillion collected her sixth and seventh wins of the season while Wellik picked up her twelfth win in a game after her no-hitter.
According to the team, there is an air of optimism around the team about the future with such a young team this season. Coaches and players alike say that the transition from high school to college softball is a difficult one and that it takes time to adjust. “We’re really proud of how our young girls have handled the situation this season. When you have young players, there is a learning curve, but they have taken that curve very well and very quickly. I think we are set up well for next season,” said Kara Reeves assistant softball coach. The young players have noticed a difference in the level of play in college as they have made their transition as well. Many of them look to the upperclassmen for advice as they navigate the season. “The older players on the team have been a huge help. They’re always willing to help with whatever we need and have seen a lot in the game that we haven’t. They’ve been great really,” Spurlock said. The Trinity Tigers are back on the road to play first in conference Texas Lutheran on Friday at 5 p.m. They will play a doubleheader Friday and Saturday, where they hope to gain ground on Texas Lutheran in the conference standings and to gain momentum going into the conference tournament.
photo by Claudia Garcia
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SPORTS •
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APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
Tiger tennis faces challenge from ASC leader BY TIM ZHANG
SPORT INTERN
This season, the Trinity men’s and women’s teams have been very dominant with records of 12-9 and 11-9 respectively. They have also achieved high national ranks with the men’s team at no. 12 and the women’s team at no. 24. Recent .....accomplishments.... of the men’s team include a 9-0 victory against Mary-Hardin Baylor and a 5-4 win against Gustavus Adolphus. The men have also had their fair share of individual standout performances in recent matches including those of 6’’ 3’ New Braunfels native Adam Krull, who has won his last nine individual matches and has won two SCAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Week honors. Other males who have achieved high stats and honors include junior Chas Mayer of Wilmette, Illinois, winner of his last five individual matches and a recipient of the SCAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Week award, as well as senior Paxton Deuel of Bend, Oregon, who has won his last four doubles matches with partners Clayton Niess and Matt Tyler and garnered the same SCAC honor Krull and Mayer received. The men are currently third in their conference. On the women’s side, the team has completed its four-game winning streak by defeating a Division II side. The Lady Tigers beat the Texas A&M at Kingsville Lady Javelinas in a close match of 5-4. They have also had decisive victories against Kalamazoo and Wellesley with scores of 9-0 and 8-1 respectively. Their individual standout include senior Gabrielle Roe of New Orleans, Louisiana who won 10 of her last 11 doubles matches with partner Lisa Southwick in very decisive margins. Lisa Southwick, a junior from Nashville, Tennessee, has also done
photo by Claudia Garcia
Senior CAROLINE WHITE practices her swing before the match against Schreiner this weekend.
well with a seven match winning streak in March along with her doubles performances with Roe. Southwick’s other...... partner, sophomore Marie Lutz of San
Antonio, has had her fair share of solid success with a series of victorious d o u b l e s m a t c h e s all over February w i t h first year Caroline Kutach. Roe, Southwick and Lutz have all won the SCAC Women’s Tennis Player of the Week award once this season. The women are currently fourth in conference. The next opponent Trinity Tennis will face has also had a stellar season: UT at Tyler’s Patriots, who are members of the Division III American Southwest Conference (ASC).
Their men’s team is currently unranked nationally, but it does have the highest overall record in the ASC with a 14-7 overall record and is one of only two teams with a 4-0 conference record. The men have won four of their last six matches with scoring margins as wide as 9-0. They began the season 11-1 though they have been 4-6 since the winning streak. The women, on the other hand, are ranked 35th nationally with an overall record of 17-2, leading the ASC in overall records like the men currently do in their respective competition. They began the season 13-0 and continue to remain unbeaten at home. For both teams from UT at Tyler, the match against Trinity will be their final regular season match before the ASC Championship Tournament, where both men’s and women’s teams currently have a strong hold on the top seed. Like the Tigers, the Patriots have done well this season thus far and present a formidable challenge as they come to San Antonio. The men’s team will take on the Patriots on today at 3 p.m. while the Lady Tigers will face the Patriots tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. The men’s team is currently only three matches away from the SCAC Championship Tournament on April 22 in Kerrville, Texas. With the conference tournament nearing, the men look to finish strong in these last three games. After UT at Tyler, they will end their season on Sunday, April 17 with a doubleheader against the Whitman College Missionaries at 9 A.M. and the Schreiner Mountaineers. The women, on the other hand, have the same conference tournament in only two matches. This includes games against UT at Tyler and Schreiner, making Sunday’s game the last game of the season. The Schreiner game will take place here at Trinity at 2 p.m. It will be a tennis-filled weekend at Trinity with a total of five matches occurring between Friday and Sunday.
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SPORTS
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Trinity football recruitment BY SHREE DESHPANDE
SPORT REPORTER As Trinity University winds down its admissions process for the class of 2020, the Tigers football team is also finalizing the list of players to add to its roster. The group of players committed to play for the Tigers so far come from both small schools and some of the largest 6A programs in Texas, and play various positions all across the field. However, they all meet the coaching staff’s expectations. The Trinity Tigers football coaching staff has three criteria for determining how first-year roster spots will be allocated on the team. “[They have] to be an acceptable student academically. They go through the same exact same admissions process as nonstudent athletes ... [and] have to have been on campus for a tour. Third, [they] have to meet all of our expectations and criteria for character, intrinsic motivation and internal goals,” said head football coach Jerheme Urban. Urban and the rest of his staff weigh the third criterion equally among the other two because he says the staff requires the “right guys” for the team. Urban emphasized that he and his staff do not discriminate players based on the level of competition they played against in high school. Rather, they look at the recruit’s ability, potential to help the team and what they call the “equal third,” listed above. The Tigers compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)’s
Division III along with schools such as Case Western Reserve (OH), Lewis & Clark (OR), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA) and Wooster (OH). Division III spans the entire country from New York to California and everywhere in between. Unlike their Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A or FBS), Football Conference Subdivision (Division I-AA) or Division II counterparts, Division III student-athletes are not given special treatment during the admissions process. They are not given athletics scholarships and must apply and receive admission to schools in the same way non-studentathletes do. Even with the difference in recruiting across NCAA divisions, the Tigers football team prides itself on having its own unique approach to recruiting among its Division III counterparts. “We do not over offer in order to be fair to the next guy in line. [We tell guys,] ‘You have one week from this conversation to tell us where you’re at.’ We want guys to want to be here. Every guy we’ve recruited understands this. This makes us unique. A lot of schools over-recruit. … We want to make sure we’re giving our guys a chance to be fully developed, ample practice reps, see the value of their role. They have to practice at a high level everyday,” Urban said. “It allows for me and my coaches to be intentional and relational with them. I went to school here. It’s rigorous. Because we’re recruiting highly motivated guys off the field, in addition to on the field, we
have to be accessible them. … We have to shepherd them.” Urban and his staff are extremely excited to have the players who have committed thus far on board. I had the opportunity to sit down with him oneon-one to discuss strategy and how the class of 2020 fits in the team’s quest for a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference title and beyond. Urban was most excited about the level of competition the class of 2020 would immediately bring to the team. He emphasized how early on, first years are given ample opportunity to prove themselves on the field. Urban added that there were players in this year’s class that would increase the level of competition across the board: on offense, defense and special teams, though he was particularly thrilled at the level of tenacity coming to special teams. The idea of open competition worked its way into first year defensive lineman Alejandro Anzaldua, who earned First Team All-SCAC and First Team AllFreshman Team honors. He also praised first year offensive linemen Brady Blanton and Joel Holmes. Finding the right player requires watching game film, grading players and creating a list ranking the top 100 or so players. It also requires taking a longterm outlook on the state of the team and determining where need and depth will be required, maybe not in one season, but perhaps two or three. “[We have got] to get more explosive on offense. [We have not] done a good
photo by Karina Duran
job in scoring touchdowns. [A] state championship receiver is coming in who had 68 receptions for 15 touchdowns last year,” Urban said. The Tigers have also added a physical slot receiver and another big outside receiver to add to the receiving competition. Two running backs with different running styles are being brought into the fold. “We recruited guys [on defense] that were all 6’3”, 215 pounds. They played inside linebacker in high school but now can be an edge guy,” Urban said. Urban is still waiting to hear back from some players they recruited soon. Overall, he and his staff are extremely excited about the recruiting class of 2020. The recruiting process is long, arduous and a competition between schools in many ways. The Tigers have their own identity and their own brand of recruiting that they hope will pay dividends next season and beyond.
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK •
APRIL 15, 2016 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM
“Mousetrap” was performed last weekend and is being performed again this weekend at 8 p.m. in the Stieren Theatre by Trinity students.
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photos by Claudia Garcia
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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • APRIL 15, 2016 •
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