08.24.2018

Volume 116 Issue 02

Trinitonian Serving Trinity University Since 1902

7 The trade-off: Coed frats OPINION would eliminate safe spaces

New hires join multiple Trinity departments

9

PULSE

Stacy Davidson leaves TU after three years of service

14 Cross country looks for another SPORTS successful run at the SCAC title

SGA continues progress from spring Menstrual products, textbook affordability committees plan for the fall semester as senators wait for funding requests from RSOs

ResLife welcomes new director; first in-house general counsel arrives

KAYLIE KING | NEWS REPORTER kking1@trinity.edu

JOLIE FRANCIS | NEWS REPORTER jfranci1@trinity.edu Along with a record 695 first-years, Trinity University welcomed many new staff members this fall, including the first ever in-house general counsel, a new executive director of institutional research, new staff throughout the Tiger Learning Commons (TLC) and the long awaited director of residential life, Deb Tyson.

Tyson joins Trinity from Dartmouth College, where she had held a similar role.

“I don’t think [Trinity] will be too different from [Dartmouth],” Tyson said. “Trinity has world class faculty and smart students who are committed to academics.”

Tyson believes that the role of the resident hall is to support academics.

“There are three goals of ResLife,” Tyson said. “First is facilities. I will work with custodial and really look at how summer impacts facilities prep. We have the South reno[vation] next summer, and the McLean reno[vation] down the line. Students want to come home to buildings and facilities that work, so facilities are very important.”

Tyson will also continue the educational programming run by residential life, as well as support the training and experience of resident assistants.

While she hails from the north, Tyson has enjoyed her time in San Antonio thus far.

“I love the San Antonio vibe, and the humanity, and how people treat each other in a polite manner, you know, so I’ll have to adjust. I’m from Philadelphia, and I’m direct, but not as direct as Tuttle,” Tyson said.

Rachel Rolf, who previously worked at the University of Kansas, joins Trinity to serve as the university’s first in-house general counsel.

“I was drawn to Trinity’s commitment to excellence and the value that Trinity places on each member of its community,” Rolf said. “Right now, I am focused on building relationships, learning the culture at Trinity and understanding the history and scope of Trinity’s utilization of outside counsel.”

Oversight of legal services at Trinity was previously handled wholly by outside counsel. Rolf will be a partner to faculty and administrators to assist in legal strategy and resources.

“Once these building blocks are in place, I will be in a better position to evaluate and implement changes in a way that will ensure continuity of operations and the effective provision of legal services to the university,” Rolf said.

Kara Larkan-Skinner has been designated Trinity’s executive director for institutional research and effectiveness. In this new role, she deciphers data to understand how programs and issues need to be handled to continue Trinity’s improvement and maintain Trinity’s status. continued on PAGE 6

AUGUST 24, 2018

Junior senators SIMONE WASHINGTON, BEN GONZALEZ and JUAN LUEVANOS are sworn in last fall by DANNY ANDERSON, president of the university. This year, SGA will continue to work towards making menstrual products and textbooks accessible, along with other projects. FILE PHOTO

This fall semester, Student Government Association (SGA) will continue to strive toward the goals they set in the spring semester, including moving forward with many different projects and initiatives.

“The fall semester serves as an opportunity for all student organizations — inclusive of SGA — to really tie up their term nicely with a bow,” said Jamie Thompson, co-advisor for SGA and director of student involvement. “SGA had several goals that they set out with for the calendar year of 2018 — one of which was transparency — so they’ll continue to communicate with the student body via their emails, via their newsletter.”

Senior Amulya Deva, SGA president, laid out what she wants each of the SGA committees to accomplish on a monthly basis so that they can reach their goals. continued on PAGE 6

Suspended Triniteer fraternity to return

Board of alumni will lead recruitment for new pledge class KAYLIE KING | NEWS REPORTER kking1@trinity.edu

The Triniteer fraternity will return to campus this semester for the first time since 2015. The Triniteers, one of the oldest fraternities on Trinity’s campus, were put on probation in fall 2015 after failing to follow the requirements for re-chartering set in 2013.

The Triniteers have a long history of probation — they were suspended for nearly a decade in 1991 following the death of a new active, and again in 2006, only to be reinstated in 2013. The most recent probation was meant to encourage the Triniteers to focus on its traditions and values.

“We feel the time is right now for the organization to relaunch in the tradition that

they have on campus that is really storied,” said Jeremy Allen, assistant director for fraternity and sorority life. “They’ve been around for a long time so this is their opportunity to recharter in a really positive and meaningful way. I hope that they’re an organization that comes back that their alumni can be proud of.”

This fall, recruitment for the Triniteers will be led by a committee of 11 Triniteer alumni, including Jeremy Boyce, class of 2003 and associate director of admissions, who was a Triniteer during his time at Trinity.

“We’re working together to initially put together the criteria,” Boyce said. “We really understand that this is kind of the last chance for us to be able to make this happen for the Triniteers and we want to do it the best way possible. We have to set up a strong foundation of strong men who are strong students with a great reputation on campus, a clean background that can represent us well, and they’re very involved in the campus community.”

One requirement of the current re-chartering of the Triniteers was to wait until everyone

associated with the Triniteers was no longer at Trinity.

“There are no people who are [Triniteers] or are associated with [Triniteers],” Boyce said.

“There was no underground element, there was nothing like that.”

However, Ryan Smith, a fifth-year senior, came to Trinity as a first-year in the fall of 2013, became a Triniteer in spring 2014.

“I am excited for the opportunity to return to campus as an active fraternity,” Smith wrote in an email. “Upon returning, I hope to foster the longevity of the Triniteers while better representing Trinity and the core values held by our fraternity. The Triniteers were intentionally suspended until after the initially expected graduation dates of our active members. However, as a fifth-year senior, my enrollment at Trinity has exceeded the duration of our suspension.”

According to Boyce, anyone who claims to be part of the organization since 2015, when any “underground” activity could have occurred, is not officially recognized as a Triniteer. continued on PAGE 6

Members of the Triniteer fraternity pose for a picture for the 2006 edition of the Mirage yearbook. The club would be suspended later that year, reinstated in 2013 and suspended again in 2015. The club is currently in the process of re-chartering and will begin recruitment this fall with the rest of Trinity’s Greek organizations. With no active members on campus, Triniteer alumni will head recruitment. photo provided by the MIRAGE YEARBOOK

STAFF JULIA WEIS editor-in-chief JORDAN BRUCE executive digital editor KATHLEEN CREEDON executive print editor JONAH NANCE business manager REBECCA DERBY ad director KENDRA DERRIG news editor THERESA HO pulse editor GEORGIE RIGGS a&e editor AUSTIN DAVIDSON sports editor SOLEIL GAFFNER opinion editor CATHY TERRACE special sections editor HENRY PRATT visual editor PABLO TRAVERSARI web editor SHUBHANKAR SINGH webmaster DOMINIC ANTHONY digital content creator KATHARINE MARTIN adviser CONTACT INFORMATION EDITORIAL email: trinitonian@trinity.edu ADVERTISING email: trinitonian-adv@trinity.edu ad office: (210) 999-8555 fax: (210) 999-7034

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WANTED Students Passionate About Obtaining Hands-On Nonprofit Sector Work Experience

Trinity’s Alumni Relations & Development team is looking for energetic, talented, dependable and outgoing student workers for a fast-paced environment. You’ll get experience working with a broad scope of non-profit activities, such as assisting with alumni and donor communications, fundraising appeals, writing, photography, graphics, special events, record keeping and reporting.

If you’re interested in gaining real work experience benefiting various causes in support of Trinity students, faculty, and programs then ARD is the place for you! Your talents will connect alumni and donors with the latest Trinity information, helping build relationships that benefit the entire university community.

Federal work-study qualified and other talented students are encouraged to apply for the 2018-19 academic year.

OPPORTUNITIES INCLUDE GRAPHIC DESIGN // Up to 2 Positions Available SOCIAL MEDIA // Up to 2 Positions Available STORYTELLING & EDITING // Up to 2 Positions Available RESEARCH & DATA ANALYSIS // 1 Position Available OFFICE & PROJECT MANAGEMENT // 1 Position Available

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Contact Gloria Castaneda (ex. 7328) or Monica Ramirez (ex. 7472) Email interest and talents to gcastane@trinity.edu

2

TUPD BRIEFS SOMETHIN’ BOUT A TRUCK

On Friday, Aug. 17 at 11:36 a.m., construction workers in Lot X reported a truck as stolen. The vehicle was found off-campus later that day by SAPD. SORRY FOR PARTY ROCKING

On Saturday, Aug. 18 at 11:16 p.m., TUPD responded to a noise complaint in City Vista and found 12 students and a guest consuming alcohol.

WELLS FAR-GONE

On Sunday, Aug. 19, at 2:38 a.m., a student called TUPD from the parking lot of the Wells Fargo on Mulberry and Stadium Drive for assistance with the student’s two friends, who were both Trinity students and minors, who were vomiting following consumption of alcohol at an off-campus party and taken to the off-campus detoxication center.

Corrections • In the Aug. 17 issue on page 8, the caption of the photo

reads that Trinity disaffiliated with the Presbyterian church. Rather, Trinity entered into a covenant relationship with the Presbyterian church.

• In the Aug. 17 issue on page 21, the article says 48 percent of the offense graduated, but it was actually 32 percent.

• In the Aug. 17 issue on page 21, Evan McDowell did not graduate like the article states but will be returning for another season.

• In the Aug. 17 issue on page 21, the article also mentions that an athlete worked out with a trainer. The athlete worked out with the Strength and Conditioning Coach.

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

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 24, 2018 •

NEWS

Community comes Falling rubble halts TUgether for lecture first-year tradition

Author speaks to Trinity to conclude first-year summer research on “The Prince of Los Cocuyos”

No injuries; tradition to be rescheduled when tower cleared as safe KENDRA DERRIG | NEWS EDITOR kderrig@trinity.edu

RICHARD BLANCO, author of this year’s Reading TUgether book, addressed students and the Trinity community in Laurie Auditorium on Wednesday evening. photo by GENEVIEVE HUMPHREYS

GABBY GARRIGA | NEWS REPORTER ggariga@trinity.edu Richard Blanco, author of “The Prince of Los Cocuyos” and this year’s Reading TUgether lecturer, spoke on Wednesday evening in Laurie Auditorium to members of the Trinity and San Antonio community about his life growing up in Miami as “a little, chubby, gay, CubanAmerican kid.”

Every year, the Reading TUgether book selection committee chooses a book for the greater Trinity community to read. Then, once first-year students arrived at Trinity, some discussed the book in their First-Year Experience (FYE) classes. After New Student Orientation, first-years attended the TUgether lecture to hear from the author about the process of writing the book and more about the themes.

First-years received their books in the mail — provided by academic affairs — and did a summer research assignment using the library database. Additionally, the students completed surveys detailing their research experience in high school and their experience after the assignment. Lastly, they submitted photos that answered the prompt “Where I’m From.”

Anne Graf, the FYE librarian, was in charge of giving feedback on each assignment and of keeping track of the data collected from the surveys. Library staff members will use the surveys to improve first-years’ transitions to research-based papers.

“It’s sort of both, for us to learn where they are, and to give them a chance to reflect on what was maybe challenging or on what they enjoyed so that they can kind of take ownership over that process of how to become researchers too,” Graf said.

This year, the Reading TUgether book selection committee, made up of about nine faculty and staff members, chose “The Prince of Los Cocuyos” after reading several books before the summer and contacting authors to see who was available to visit Trinity. This year, the FYE, A Successful Life, adopted the book to discuss in class. Michael Soto, associate vice president of academic affairs head of the committee, anticipated this before choosing the memoir.

“We think about the appropriateness for students making the transition from high school to college, we think about whether or not the book might get adopted by an FYE course or other courses on campus, and we also want to make sure that that person is an engaging and dynamic speaker. I think we hit a home run with Richard Blanco in that respect,” Soto said.

Before the lecture, Blanco spoke about his hope to show the audience that all people can relate to his struggles with identity.

“I think sometimes we think that because this is a story of a chubby, gay, Cuban-American gay kid that you have to be a chubby, gay, Cuban-American kid to get it. I want them to walk away with the sense that, look — this is our story; it’s not just my story, it’s our story.

So I hope they walk away owning the story and realizing our common human denominators, our common humanity,” Blanco said.

At the lecture, Blanco captivated the audience by explaining the significance of excerpts from his memoir and poems dedicated to several people from his book.

By the end of his talk, Blanco urged the firstyears to continue to grow from their experiences in college.

“Never ever ever stop becoming. Always ask yourself, ‘Who is the next me?’ ” Blanco said.

NEWS • AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

A portion of the exterior of the Trinity Tower fell to the ground Tuesday evening as first-year students ascended the tower to shake the president’s hand, leading to the evacuation of the area due to safety concerns.

According to Jim Baker, director of facilities services, the damage was caused by years of exposure to the elements. The rebar that serves as the skeleton of the tower expands as it oxidizes. This expansion led to a piece of parging, a cosmetic coating applied to the exterior of concrete work, falling from the landing five stories from the top of the tower.

“No structural elements were involved, just cosmetic. This was probably from the vibration of the stomping from people climbing,” Baker said.

Esther Kim, assistant director for orientation programs, heard the rubble fall and called off the event after conferring with TUPD. “Due to the safety and security of everyone, as there were students not only around the tower but in the tower, we had to shut it down immediately. Luckily, no one got hurt,” Kim said.

First-year Cade Blalock was standing near the base of the tower when the rubble fell.

“We had stopped and then all the sudden we heard this loud noise and we turned around and then the dust was still coming up, and a brick had just fallen all the way down,” Blalock said.

“It was pretty big. It was broken up and there was still chunks that were probably the size of my hand, so it was pretty freaky that it happened.”

First-year Nia Clements was one of approximately 150–175 students who were unable to climb the tower.

“I think that safety is like the most important thing, although I think it would be nice if we would be able to do it another day because a lot of people were really looking forward to doing it. But I’m not mad about

it because, I mean, if it’s a safety issue then that’s what’s most important,” Clements said.

Kim will await the go-ahead from facilities services once the tower is deemed safe to reschedule the event.

“Based on what [facilities services] say and what they find, then hopefully our goal is to reschedule this for the next couple weeks, because students were not able to climb the tower or were halfway up when we had to evacuate them, so obviously we want them to be able to have that experience as a new student at Trinity,” Kim said. with additional reporting by Jordan Bruce, executive digital editor

TOP: Climbing the Trinity Tower is a tradition that marks the beginning and end of the Trinity experience. This year, around 150 first-years attended the first day of class without climbing the tower due to safety concerns.

BOTTOM: Cones mark where the piece of parging fell from the tower on Tuesday night during the Tower Climb. photos by HENRY PRATT

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The Office of Academic Affairs, on behalf of Trinity faculty and Vice President Deneese L. Jones, extends our sincere congratulations to these Dean’s List * students: Victoria Abad Zachary Acevedo Camila Acosta Sam Afshari Ono Airhia Aroosa Ajani Christopher Alderson Valeria Alvarez Catalina Andazola Jennifer Andersen Joseph Anderson Elyse Andrews Anna Anzilotti Kathleen Arbogast Lauren Arcangeli Sophia Arriazola Jazmin Avellaneda Thomas Baer William Ballengee Annie Barahona Caleb Barber Jackson Beach Madeleine Beale Mitchell Beito Raquel Belden Quinn Bender Mariana Bernal Isabella Berrueta Andrew Bertin Elizabeth Bertsch Jordan Bethea Benjamin Beyt Dalys Binder Jacob Blankenship Morgan Block Carson Bolding Camila Borrero Maria Borrero Abigail Bowen Logan Bown Travis Boyd Rafaela-Seraphina Brenner Faith Broddrick Gage Brown Margeaux Brown Gavin Buchanan Thoai Bui Zoe Bullock Claire Burrus Austin Caballero Kailee Cairo Michael Callen Colin Campbell Kristen Canepa Francesca Canjar Cameron Carlin Madison Carolin Victoria Carr Natalie Carrier Kelly Carroll Isabela Carson Zachary Carter Erin Cha Vladislav Chalenko Nicholas Champion Madeline Chaput Margaret Chase Rachel Chavez Amanda Chin Danielle Clark Rachel Clarke Savannah Clarke Cole Claunch Paola Cobos Erina Coffey Chelsea Cole Benjamin Collinger Malcolm Conner Honora Corlett Corbin Cormier Caroline Crain Alyssa Craze Jillian Cready

Clay Crosby Rachel Daniel Maeve Davidson Eleanor Davis Sarah Davis Kali Dawson Ashley Debauge Benjamin Debauge Androniki Defteraiou Ariel del Vecchio Fernando Delarosa Kailey DeLuca Abigail DeNike Abigail Dennis Aidan Denny Bailey Dinh Gaetano Dona-Jehan Uyen Phuong Dong Haile Duplantier Sophie Dwyer Caleb Escobedo Christopher Fanick Lindsey Farley William Farner Sean Farrell Theresa Feller Logan Felton Noah Finkelstein Ariana Fletcher-Bai Trey Foster Jolie Francis Hannah Friedrich Emma Frieze Cooper Fyfe Lina Gaffner Madeleine Gallagher James Gammon Simone Garcia Gabriella Garriga Gloria Gatchel Eleanor Gilbert Collin Gillespie Jimmie Glorioso Rachel Goldstein Benjamin Gonzalez Kristen Graham Madelaine Griesel Marco Guirola Madelyn Haas Erin Hahn Alexander Hancock Madeline Hanes Sarah Hantak Savannah Hardzog Guy Harris Corbin Hartung Thomas Harvell-DeGolier Daniel Hebert Madeleine Heliste Sara Heridia Kristen Herink Alexander Hicks Martin Hoang Cristina Hofman Brian Holmes Grace Holt Keaton Holt Kayla Hood Savannah Hooper Daisy Horr Richard Hu Jeysel Huezo Victoria Huggler Russell Hurrell-Zitelman Raini Huynh Meredith Jackson Julia Jameson Danielle Jamison Luke Jandrain Mica Jarocki Matthew Jenkins Camille Johnson Lyric Johnson

Paige Johnson Alyssa Jolliffe Abigail Jones Katherine Jones Kody Jones Matthew Jones Kate Jones-Waddell Courtney Justus Zoe Kaffen Danielle Kao Thomas Kasierski Julia Kelly John Keltner Madeline Kennedy Frances Kennedy-Long Genevieve Ketcham Julia Kiley Morgan King Zachary Klein Abagail Kluetz Jordan Koeller John Koellmann Kelsey Kohler Morgan Kopcho Marlena Kuhn Kristina Kummerer Zoe Lacey Kathryn Langemeier Hannah Larson Mathilde Le Tacon Grace Lee Wilford Lee Asmara Lehrmann Bowen Li Lechuan Li Katrina Lieberman Maggi Linker Abigail Lipe Adam Litch Kelly Liu Shiyu Liu Andrew Loder Camila Londono Molina Matthew Long Daniela Lopez Melissa Loseff Alexander Love Sarah Lovelace Juan Luevanos Christopher Luikart Anna Lund Margaret Lupo Noah Lyford Lisa Ma Kanu Mahasivam Brenton Mandelkorn Liam Matsumoto Daniel Matthewson Hunter Mayhew Ryan Mayse Molly McCullough Ciara McDaniel Collin McGrath Kenneth McLaren Casey McLeod Jordan McMurry Karina Mendez-Perez Eryka Mendoza Karl Menzel Elizabeth Metzger Vail Miesfeld Margaret Milam Isaiah Mitchell Pouya Mohammadi Emma Mokhtar Emi Mondragon Ethan Moore Christian Morales Nathaniel Morgan Gabrielle Morrill Quentin Morris Kevin Moss Jonathan Motes

Alexander Motter Bailee Mouton Olivia Mulder Amelia Mundell Cole Murray Clarisse Nakayama Jonah Nance Jason Nania Andrea Nebhut Caroline Neelley Elizabeth Nelson Wilfrid Nelson Michael Newton Michelle Nguyen Nhi Nguyen Tam Nguyen Tiffany Nguyen James Norris Caroline North Natalie Northcutt Sarah Nuelle Elena Nusloch Kezia Nyarko Emmanuella Oduguwa Alexandria Oliver Estefania Oviedo Canales Aubrey Parke Alexandra Parris Ethan Payne Yvette Pena Lindsey Peng Parker Pennington Christine Peterson Grant Peterson Thomas Petrowski Claire Petty Casey Pfister Nathaniel Pigott Kara Poole Laura Preston Ryan Pu Gabrielle Racz Julianna Rak Brianna Ratliff Emily Rech Nathan Richter Brianna Riley Thomas Ritthaler Diana Roberts Natalie Rochen Loretta Rodriguez Landry Rohde Jordan Rudd Juan Rueda Ruano Samuel Rueter Elizabeth Ruetschle Kristen Rundstein Jaya Ryan Natalia Salas Miranda Salazar Zabdi Salazar Genaro Salinas Gonzalez Avani Sastry Stefan Schluter Erica Schoenberg Madison Semro Pyar Seth Matthew Shea Julia Shults Lily Slemp Breton Smith Taylor Smith Chloe Sonnier Lily Sorrentino Hunter Sosby Spencer Spier David Spindel Nicole Spooner Drew Sposeep Emerson Spradling Sophia Spurlock Kathleen Stansbury Jalynn Stewart

Hunter Straka Alexandra Stromberg-Cotner Calista Struby Samuel Studebaker Victor Stummvoll Mariana Suarez Claure Lorene Sugars Britney Sullivan Stephen Sumrall-Orsak Lutfi Sun Williston Symonds Andrew Tao Laura Taylor Carl Teegerstrom Benjamin Temple Catherine Terrace Olivia Thomas Adam Toler Maria Torres Alatorre Alec Trahan Danielle Trevino Lauren Truong Samuel Turner Megan Uren Jaclyn Valdez Sarah Van Alsten Tryne Vander Straten Anup Vatti Isabel Velazquez Osvaldo Veloz Ava Viccinelli Arsheen Virani Alice von Ende-Becker Anna Wallack Catherine Walters Lois Warden Tayler Weathers Julia Weis Anne Wellford Abigail Wharton Lars Wiik Sophia Wikstrom Cole Williams Joseph Williams Ryann Williams Cady Wills Aidan Wilson Angela Wilson Kathryn Windsor Brendan Winn Ian Witecki Leah Woehr Allison Wolff Emily Wood Melissa Woodul Glenn Wright Yian Xu Mikayla Yakoubek Mia Yammine Jasmine Yang Jingqing Yang Ling Yi Shannon York Allyson Young Oksana Young Brooke Yung Deliasofia Zacarias Fidelina Zarate Sarah Zbidi Chonghao Zhang

*Dean’s List students completed 15 or more grade point carrying hours of credit in one semester and earned a 3.65 GPA or above.

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 24, 2018 •

ADVERTISEMENT

College Consensus places Trinity on top, but what’s in a ranking?

Marketing dept: No. 1 spot brings TU visibility, pride

GABBY GARRIGA | NEWS REPORTER ggarriga@trinity.edu

College Consensus ranked Trinity University first on their list of “Best Colleges and Universities in Texas” and 49th on their list of “Best Colleges and Universities” this July, leading to an outpouring of student and faculty celebration online.

To configure their ranking, College Consensus combined and averaged data from other college ranking publishers to form a “publisher consensus.” Similarly, they collected student review data from multiple sources to produce the “student consensus.” Trinity’s publisher consensus was the highest on the list with a grade of 76.5 and had an above average student consensus of 74.4.

College Consensus configured its grades by averaging scores that had already been given to Trinity by outside sources. Jami Cunningham, institutional research analyst, is responsible for sending statistics and information about Trinity to the United States Department of Education. After that, college ranking institutions will use that information and their own algorithms to establish their own ranking.

“We turn in statistics to the federal government every year, and they get posted with everybody else and a lot of places will go in and take a look at us through that avenue and they’ll consider those numbers,” Cunningham said. “Those statistics are much more numbers — how many students come in, how many graduate, how many take out loans — that kind of thing.”

Trinity’s publisher consensus pushed the university to the number one spot. One source that raised the score was the U.S. News ranking that placed Trinity in the number one spot of “Best Regional Universities West Rankings.” In this ranking, Trinity is compared to other universities within the area and with a focus on undergraduate studies.

“All of the reviews are totally different, and they have their own methodologies and their own sources — the way they like to do things,” Cunningham said. “I think it’s good. Any more visibility for Trinity is a good thing. Somewhere like Trinity isn’t as well known as something like UT Austin or A&M, so it’s nice to have these rankings, so we can see where we fit in that — how we compare to those schools that we do know more about.”

Michelle Bartonico, assistant vice president for strategic communications and marketing, always expects college rankings to come September at the start of fall semester. Following the publication,

Bartonico heard about the ranking through the monitoring service, Meltwater, used to capture online talk about Trinity.

“We have reports that are set up to pull anything that talks about Trinity, so especially because this was covered by city-wide CultureMap outlets in Houston and San Antonio, we kind of picked all of that up simultaneously,” Bartonico said. “It seems like over the last couple of years there have been new [college ranking] entrants into the market. College Consensus is in the mix, especially because they have that student survey component.”

Bartonico noticed a lot of feedback from various members of the Trinity community, including alumni, students and faculty.

Additionally, the reactions to the ranking were far-reaching, getting reactions from across the state.

Because of this, Bartonico believes the ranking through validation to members of the community.

“At the end of the day, people associate with brands because they think, ‘What does it say about me?’

When people actually share these types of things, it just tells us that people are thinking ‘This says about me that I made a good choice and that I came to the right institution, that I work here,’ ” Bartonico said.

Eric Maloof, vice president for enrollment management, is proud of the ranking, but does not consider it a goal of the university to achieve high rankings.

graphic by ALEXANDRA PARRIS

“We don’t play to the rankings, so we don’t play to the methodology of these rankings and say ‘Let’s change our mission and

our core to improve our rankings.’

We’re not in that business. We’re in the business of serving students,” Maloof said.

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NEWS

• AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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SGA committee update New admins Teers return continued from FRONT One committee that Deva highlighted is the menstrual products committee. Junior Simone Washington, SGA senator and chair of the committee, explained that the initiative started about a year ago and that free menstrual products are now available in five on-campus bathrooms.

“The bathrooms that [menstrual products are] currently in, we want to make sure that they’re being stocked regularly,” Washington said. “We’re hammering out lots of the kinks on who does that and when they do. I don’t think a lot of students know exactly the placement of these menstrual products, so we want to be transparent and even advertise where these products are. For further semesters, we do plan to expand to Mabee [Dining Hall].”

Although the original goal for the initiative was to provide free and available menstrual products for female students, the program is also being expanded to include non-binary students by placing products in gender-neutral bathrooms.

“We want to make sure

[menstrual products are] accessible in bathrooms that nonbinary and gender neutral students are using.”

SIMONE WASHINGTON JUNIOR SENATOR

“The menstrual products located in Northrup 0 are in a gender-neutral bathroom, and in [the Center for the Sciences & Innovation], we plan to expand to the first floor. There’s a gender-neutral bathroom there,” Washington said. “We want to make sure they’re accessible in bathrooms that non-binary and gender neutral students are using.”

Another committee that Deva mentioned is the textbook affordability committee, chaired by junior Ty Tinker, SGA senator.

“The library emailed us saying that they wanted to come up with a program offering professors grants to use open educational resources or develop their own open educational resources, so we’re going to reach out to them and see how that program has been going,” Deva said. “We are going

to get three professors who will actually implement open educational resources by the end of this semester, so hopefully they’ll start using it next semester.”

SGA’s sustainability committee, chaired by senior SGA senator Julia Shults, is working to create a report benchmarking sustainability efforts at other schools and comparing those efforts to what Trinity is doing.

“After we do that research, we want to convey that not only to the student body but to administration on how we can come up with more environmentally friendly practices on campus,” Deva said.

The international students committee, chaired by junior SGA senator Juan Luevanos, is creating a survey for international students to receive feedback on how they’re feeling about support they receive from Trinity.

“We want to make sure they feel supported,” Deva said. “Being an international student comes with different challenges that we have to address if they’re coming to school at Trinity.”

This fall, SGA will also hear funding requests from registered student organizations (RSOs). RSOs include organizations such as the Black Student Union, TUFit and Trinity University Women in Computing.

SGA allocated funding to universitysponsored organizations (USOs) in April 2018. USOs and RSOs are both funded through the student activity fee, but RSOs are not able to request funds until fall — after USOs have taken their cut.

“We have a limited amount of money for the whole year, and that’s mainly determined by how many people enroll at the school,” said senior Rachel Daniel, vice president of SGA. “We’ve already set the amounts that USOs will be able to use for the whole school year. Based on what we spent on USOs, all the remaining money is what can be spent on RSOs throughout the entire school year.”

Last spring, USOs asked for $636,961.84 — over $90,000 more than the average allocation over the last five years. Therefore, all USOs saw budget cuts.

“We want to be able to fund both USOs and RSOs,” Daniel said. “USOs are serving a large percentage of the school population, and they’re what help keep campus life so vibrant, but you don’t want to take away from RSOs.” Daniel assured that there is still funding available for RSOs. “We are definitely going to hear every single request from organizations this upcoming year.

RSOs don’t have to feel like they can’t come to us with their requests, it’s just that we’ll be limited — as we are every year — in what we can approve,” Daniel said.

RSOs can look out for an email from Daniel about when SGA will hear funding requests.

LAST CHANCE TO TAKE YOUR PHOTO Aug 25 • 6-8pm @Welcome Week Concert Aug 28-29 • 10am-2pm @Fiesta Room

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“The role of executive director for institutional research and effectiveness entails oversight and responsibility for the university’s regional accreditation, institutional research, institutional assessment [and] institutional effectiveness,” Larkan-Skinner said.

Trinity is currently undergoing reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, a process that occurs every 10 years.

“Accreditation, institutional research and assessment all work together to form a broader concept known as institutional effectiveness. That is the goal of our unit, to help Trinity become even more amazing,” Larkan-Skinner said.

After Stacy Davidson left in June, Betty Curry, formerly Trinity’s academic coach, was appointed interim director for academic support and interim co-director of the student success center. Curry will help coordinate the work of the three departments in the TLC and work with Gary Neal, director of counseling in health and wellness services, on the student success center.

“My goal is to continue the excellent model set in motion by Stacy Davidson that includes collaborating with other functional areas and providing support and access to Trinity students to encourage their academic success,” Curry said.

Becca Burt, a 2016 Trinity alumna, is succeeding Betty Curry as the academic coach and will serve for the 2018-2019 school year. An academic coach supplies students with advice to help improve academic performance, and Burt and Curry will be leading workshops this fall in the TLC to help students with study tactics, time management and learning strategies.

“I absolutely loved my time as a student at Trinity. I couldn’t stay away for long,” Burt said. “I hope to reach as many students as I can through individual coaching and continue learning about the best ways to improve the student experience. I’d encourage students to meet with me early in the semester, so we can focus on time management and learning strategies to set them up for success early.”

“Anyone who has claimed to be a Triniteer since the last attempt failed is not associated with the Triniteers,” Boyce wrote in an email. “They are not recognized by the Triniteer alumni and they will NOT be part of the future of the Triniteers or recognized as Triniteer alumni. If they are in possession of any Triniteer memorabilia, it has been done without the knowledge of the organization.”

Benjamin Mulford, who graduated in spring 2018, joined the Triniteers in 2013, and claims to be involved in the organization throughout his time at Trinity.

“I served in a variety of roles for the Teers, including risk manager and secretary, but my main job was as the president,” Mulford wrote in an email. “I served as the president from spring 2015 technically up until my graduation in May, even though we were suspended from campus for the latter part of my Trinity career.”

Boyce joined the Triniteers while they were an underground organization following the 1991 suspension.

“When I started off with them they were an underground organization and there were years of history between the organization and university,” Boyce said. “What attracted me to being a part of it is that it fit a need that wasn’t there in any of the other fraternities at the time.

It was an interesting mix of guys. We wanted to bring the club back, so we were fortunate enough to be able to do that during my junior year.”

“The study space in the

TLC is ready for you, so please come by. We are here to help.”

BETTY CURRY INTERIM DIRECTOR FOR ACADEMIC SUPPORT

Along with Burt and Curry, other new faculty members have joined the TLC. Myeisha Smith joins Trinity as interim assistant director of student accessibility services, where she will find and implement the best accommodations to students with disabilities. Jessica Reyes, a Trinity alumna and previously a Trinity admissions counselor, joins academic support as a student accessibility specialist to communicate with Smith.

In Academic Affairs, Lapétra Bowman is welcomed as the new advising coordinator, working on strategies to improve advising sessions between faculty and students. Bowman has been an academic advisor for 15 years and joined Trinity this summer. She is temporarily located in the TLC in Coates Library in room 308 along with the rest of the TLC faculty.

“We are excited about the new semester, seeing returning students and meeting new students. The study space in the TLC is ready for you, so please come by. We are here to help,” Curry said. with additional reporting by Kendra Derrig, news editor

“I am thrilled that

other young men will once again have this opportunity to join this storied organization.”

BEN MULFORD TRINITEER ALUMNI

Mulford is ecstatic that the Triniteers are able to return to campus this year.

“I am thrilled that other young men will once again have this opportunity to join this storied organization, and I look forward to meeting these future Teers,” Mulford wrote. “I hope the new guys will be able to work proactively with the Trinity administration to be the kind of organization that the university truly wants on campus, while also being able to maintain the identity of the Triniteers. I can’t wait to see the future of the Triniteers, and I am excited to see who my new brothers are when I return to campus later this year.”

Mulford described his decision to join the Triniteers as the best social decision he made while at Trinity.

“I count my friends in the Teers amongst the closest friends I have ever made anywhere,” Mulford wrote. “Though we got suspended from campus during my time as a Teer, which was unfortunate, I do not regret the choice I made to join the Triniteers at all. It was easily one of the best parts of my college experience.”

Boyce hopes that the Triniteers will come back as a strong organization.

“My goal, and our goal as alumni, is to bring this club back to where it is one of the strongest organizations on campus,” Boyce said. “We want to create a strong foundation so that the history is allowed to continue and those people who are involved with the organization want to be able to have that organization to come back to and connect with. I’m under no illusion that it’s going to be perfect, but we know that we’re going to have a good foundation of young men who will make sure that the Triniteer name is actually around here for hopefully another 70 years.”

Students who are interested in the Triniteers can contact Jeremy Boyce at jboyce@trinity.edu.

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 24, 2018 •

NEWS

...

Opinion

COMMENTARY Have an opinion? Want others to hear it? For a chance to be featured as a guest columnist, please submit your article to trinitonian@trinity.edu

by Monday night to be in Friday’s issue of the paper.

SUBMISSION

FROM THE EDITORS’ DESK

Take advantage of campus journalism As you get settled into the new year, we at the Trinitonian urge you to think about what makes you excited and angry about our campus. We hope that you will see the Trinitonian as an opportunity to engage in thoughtful discussion about campus issues.

We do our best to reflect the sentiments not only of students, staff and faculty, but also of the Trinity community members that rely on us for news. We know that we can’t do it all, and in those cases we want to ask you for help.

Whether you want to respond to a story or opinion column or you disagree with an editorial decision, we would like to encourage you to write in to us and share your thoughts with the community. If you have questions or opinions, you’re likely not the only one. With that, we present to you the official grievance policy of the Trinitonian as dictated by the Board of Campus Publications: “Anyone having a grievance with an editorial decision or policy of a publication

under the supervision of the Board of Campus Publications is asked to follow this procedure: LETTER TO THE EDITOR Write a letter to the publication’s editor, describing the grievance and suggesting action for the editor to take. If the complainant wishes that the letter to the editor not be printed in the publication, such a wish must be explicitly stated in the letter.

WRITE TO THE ADVISER If the complainant is not satisfied with the editor’s response, he/she may write the adviser of Campus Publications within five academic days of the editor’s response. The adviser will arrange a joint meeting of the involved staff persons and the complainant in order to resolve the situation or, if the complainant wishes, the adviser will meet with the complainant only. The results of such meetings will be documented for the Board

of Campus Publications, the complainant and the editors involved.

PRESENT TO BOARD If the complainant is still not satisfied and wishes to take his/her case to the Board of Campus Publications, he/she may do so by writing the chair (or, if one has yet to be elected, the convener) of the Board of Campus Publications within five academic days of the meeting with the adviser. If the complainant wants a response from the committee, that wish must be explicitly stated in the letter.

DISCUSSION WITH BOARD The chair will arrange for the complainant’s grievance to appear on the next agenda of the Board of Campus Publications meeting. The complainant may be present at the meeting (notified by the adviser). The Board will respond to the complainant within five days of this meeting.”

Coed greek life eliminates safe spaces BEN GONZALEZ OPINION COLUMNIST bgonzale@trinity.edu

Breaking down barriers and eliminating gender exclusivity sounds, on paper, like the perfect way to push society towards a more welcoming and diverse environment. That is why many are beginning to advocate for entirely coeducational Greek life. Since I have never personally been a part of Greek life, I started by researching a recent move by another gender-exclusive group with which I was more familiar: the Boy Scouts of America.

When I heard the news that the Boy Scouts were planning to allow girls to join their program as full members, I became excited and supportive of the idea. Boy Scouts had offered me many unique opportunities for leadership and the value of community service that I might otherwise not have experienced, and it made sense to me that girls should have the same opportunities.

However, after doing a bit of research, I realized that my excitement for the potential opportunities of young girls was not shared by a very important group: the Girl Scouts of the USA. “The need for female leadership has never been clearer or more urgent than it is today — and only Girl Scouts has the expertise to give girls and young women the tools they need for success,” read an official statement by the organization.

This conflict between the two youth organizations is not simply a lone case study, but rather indicative of a growing conversation surrounding the relevance of gender-exclusive groups: Do these types of organizations simply exclude others from important opportunities, or do they create unique spaces for their individual focuses? These opposing sides seem to reflect much of the same discourse surrounding the gender-exclusivity of fraternities and sororities.

In 2014, Wesleyan University made a major push to integrate women into male-only fraternities, decreeing that they must allow women or lose their campus housing.

This seemingly radical move was a response to the increasing problem of sexual assault on

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letters to the editor Share your quick reactions to Trinitonan coverage and opinion columns. Send 300 words or less to the head editors and Soleil Gaffner, the Opinion editor, at trinitonian@trinity.edu. She or Julia Weis, Trinitonian editor-inchief, will be in touch as soon as they can.

guest columns

Junior JESSE JENNINGS, right, embraces one of her new sorority sisters on Bid Day, Feb. 2, 2018.

Bid Day is an annual event where fraternities and sororities reveal new members. FILE PHOTO

campus. Many proponents of the idea theorized that it would bring more sympathy and awareness to the issue of sexual assault and in the long run create a more respectful environment.

Not all onlookers were confident in the viability of the plan, however.

“Just throwing [women] in there is a mistake without doing more,” said Christopher Kilmartin, professor of psychology at University of Mary Washington.

Kilmartin argued that the integration would have to be accompanied by “the right mix of policies that improve sexual assault education and social power structure.”

Indeed, it seems as though looking to coed fraternities as a cure-all for sexual assault issues is unrealistic and unproven. Coed fraternities are largely untested, so it’s hard to say whether they radically shifted campus culture in a positive direction. And without the kind of holistic education that Kilmartin mentioned, it seems extremely unlikely that the issue of sexual assault and toxic fraternity culture would disappear simply by introducing women into the all-male organizations.

Sorority members at Trinity College in Connecticut, when faced with a new policy requiring both fraternities and sororities to go fully coed in 2012, worried about the disappearance

AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

of safe spaces that the sorority provided for women. Kiley Hagerty, a member of the Ivy Society sorority, brought up the importance of having a support group for women about personal issues such as pregnancy, breast cancer or body confidence. The sororities feared that the elimination of these spaces would do more harm than good and questioned if women actually benefited from the policy at all.

Gender-exclusive fraternities provide a unique group centered around a specific identity.

In the same way that cultural groups on campus allow people from a similar ethnic or cultural background to bond over similar interests, allmale or all-female organizations can provide a space for people of similar genders (which should include all those who identify as that gender) to bond over their shared experiences and unique outlooks.

Coed spaces exist on campus: Here at Trinity, we have coed dorms, classes and service fraternities like APO that allow all genders to interact with each other in a fruitful way. But forcing all Greek organizations to integrate genders risks eliminating valuable opportunities for shared identities, and may end up hurting those who need the spaces the most.

Can’t keep it to a few hundred words? Pen a guest column and let your views be known.

Please keep it between 500 and 700 words, and give us time to prepare. If possible, submit

by Sunday at noon to be in the Friday edition of the paper.

Email it to opinion editor Soleil Gaffner at LGaffner@trinity.edu.

please note!

The Opinion section editor and the Trinitonian copy editors will fact-check your work and edit for clarity, legal concerns, grammar and style, but we will not alter your argument. Also, please include your graduating year and major or your position at the university.

Ben Gonzalez is a junior anthropology major.

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Spain’s instability with freedom of speech SOLEIL GAFFNER OPINION EDITOR lgaffner@trinity.edu Spain had a very tumultuous summer, starting with a very sudden change in government. With this new government came a new prime minister, parliament and policies. However, it also came with a very quiet, yet sudden, change in editorial leadership of the country’s most popular newspaper.

That’s suspicious.

Over the course of one week in June, Spain’s Parliament determined the Popular Party (Spain’s party in power) had committed fraud. Parliament then decided to hold a vote of no confidence and later unceremoniously deposed Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. While the U.S. takes months of preparation to change leadership, Spain completely and peacefully transferred power from the Popular Party to the Socialist Worker’s Party and handed the mantle of prime minister over to Pedro Sanchez.

Nobody got hurt and the country is still running like it was before.

And yet, not all is right in the world. June 1, Spain announced the vote of no confidence and the change in government. June 7, leading Spanish newspaper El Pais quietly retired their editor-in-chief.

Antonio Cano was the editor-in-chief of El Pais since 2014, and had held the position a mere month before the then-king of Spain, Juan Carlos, abdicated the throne due to fraud. What great timing.

And exactly one week after the change in government, El Pais once again changes their leadership, replacing Cano with Soledad Gallego-Diaz — a very experienced, trusted journalist. Where Cano had experience covering Latin American and U.S. politics on top of Spanish news, Gallego-Diaz has years of experience covering Spanish politics alongside

European issues. Overall, she’s very qualified, and I’m excited to see some female leadership in Spain’s patriarchal society.

However, this is suspicious and should be cause for worry. Rumors that El Pais has fired journalists for their criticisms of the government have circulated extensively. In 2015, the rumors became reality when El Pais severed ties with The New York Times for publishing an article that quoted Miguel Ángel Aguilar, a veteran political journalist from Spain. Aguilar had insinuated that El Pais was censoring its content due to economic strain and fear of losing corporate sponsors. Shortly after, Aguilar suggested that his long-standing column with El Pais was abruptly terminated due to this comment.

In 2018, this subtle change in leadership in El Pais executive staff seems to be an insurance that they keep the newspaper’s slant in the right direction. Which then begs the question: Who’s really running the show?

Spain is simply one example of the precarious situation that news outlets face today. In countries that have dictators — whether the dictatorship is overt or not — the situation is much worst.

Though these instances may seem distant, we must still be aware and alarmed by situations where, in democratic nations, the news isn’t run by the governed people. If the governors have the power to feed whatever messages they think best to the governed, we lose our most basic human right in a democracy.

Journalism is powerful, and the people need to be the ones who take control of it.

Our government was created to be kept in check, and journalists are our first defense. So pay attention next time the news is on, and take a stand when our journalists are forced to publish an agenda. “Fake news” shouldn’t be a term thrown around lightly and the professionals responsible for getting you, the public, the “real news” are journalists.

Soleil Gaffner is a senior communication and Spanish double major.

graphic by ALEXANDRA PARRIS

But for you, I’d leave it all: Budapest or bust EVAN CHAMBLESS OPINION COLUMNIST echamble@trinity.edu

Welcome to my oh-so-clever and original column from abroad — I don’t believe anyone on the Trinitonian has ever done this before!* This past summer I’ve been bracing myself, both body and mind, for a world of change. I am going to spend this fall studying abroad in Budapest, Hungary.

Why Budapest? I spent hours and hours last semester poring over brochures for programs in places that I’ve always wanted to go: Florence, Edinburgh, Seoul — you know, the works.

But the more I thought about what would make the experience important to me — which was foremost independence — the more that I realized that the program in Budapest was the place to be. It boasts great public transport, a favorable exchange rate and centrally located housing accommodations, all while offering classes that count toward my economics major.

I’m looking forward to exploring a vibrant city and culture in addition to making new friends and taking advantage of free time to explore other parts of Europe.

This decision process really started all the way back in the summer after my first year at Trinity when I went to Berlin on a faculty-led trip as part of a German political science course.

I had such a memorable time with my professor and classmates. After the two

8

weeks were up, I met up with my parents to explore Prague and the Czech Republic.

That trip piqued my interest in the eastwest division of Europe during communist occupation, and that was part of the reason I was drawn to this Eastern European city. Budapest, like Berlin and Prague, is cosmopolitan enough that I — hopefully — won’t have a hard time adjusting my lifestyle (i.e. access to WiFi and laundry machines), but it has a vastly different political context and folk culture that I can’t wait to immerse myself in.

I’m also ready to try food. And lots of it.

I’ve got my lactose intolerance pills at the ready, so be prepared for detailed reports on the cheesy, buttery and paprika-y goodness waiting for me once I hop off that plane.

Let me tell you that all of this anticipation hasn’t come without its own set of fears. All summer I’ve been imagining horrible, yet

probable, situations that I’ll get myself into.

The most prominent ones revolve around not being able to speak Hungarian.

I know, I know — I made the choice to spend three months here. I could’ve chosen London or Dublin or anywhere in Scandinavia, where English is widely spoken. Or I could’ve chosen anywhere in France, where I could brush up on my conversational skills while surviving on the foundation of six years of French lessons.

Confusion and misunderstandings will inevitably occur, but it’s difficult not to worry.

In the meantime, I’m making sure to download multiple different translator apps on my phone.

(But — just to be safe — I’ll likely purchase a handheld English-Hungarian dictionary before I depart.)

I keep rambling on about my expectations for this coming semester, but — in reality — it barely happened. I breezed through five

semesters of Trinity classes — and before I could blink, I was wrapping up my junior year without even once considering studying abroad seriously. But, nearing the finish line last spring, I kept feeling regretful for not making the choice to have this singular, inexplicably life-changing experience.

I want to emphasize to anybody reading: Take advantage now! Of the homeschool pricing model that Trinity offers. Of the crazy amount of freedom that you have in college.

Of the chance to discover a new place and try new foods. Because I can’t promise you it’ll be available once you leave. *Read Kara Killinger’s column in the Aug. 17 issue and Soleil Gaffner’s columns in the Aug. 2017 to Dec. 2017 issues of the Trinitonian.

Evan Chambless is a senior economics major.

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 24, 2018 •

OPINION

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

Pulse

Saying farewell to Stacy Davidson

Davidson made her mark on campus as Academic Success Center director and BSU advisor NOELLE BARRERA | PULSE REPORTER nbarrera@trinity.edu Stacy Davidson, former director of academic success, left Trinity in mid-June after three years on campus.

In an interview, Davidson said that her proudest achievement was creating the Tiger Learning Commons (TLC.) Located in the library, the TLC is a place for students to study and access a multitude of academic resources.

“When I started, I was a one-person operation with a grad student, and we just started doing workshops and seeing students,” Davidson said.

“I think [the TLC] would be my legacy because, you know, I named it, I picked out the furniture and brought a staff together to make sure it was a great opportunity for students to study and be academically successful.”

Davidson had a large role in the implementation of the current Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which is aimed at improving first-year academic outcomes.

She also pushed for the term “Academic Support” to be changed to “Academic Success.”

Jenny Rowe, director of the Writing Center, explained the impact of this change on the academic success center's overall philosophy.

“We're not just reaching out to students who have problems or who struggle, we're reaching out to all Trinity students because everyone can improve by learning how to better manage your time, learning how to understand how you work, learning to change habits,” Rowe said.

Outside her role as an academic director, Davidson looked back fondly on her time as faculty advisor for Trinity's Black Student Union (BSU.) “As an African American woman, it's very important to me that I connect with AfricanAmerican students and students of color,” Davidson said. “I couldn't be here and not be engaging with these students and supporting them and mentoring them and helping them.”

Davidson came up with the idea for last spring's Cultural Speed Dating event, cosponsored by BSU and Trinity Diversity Connection (TDC.) In this event, students and faculty from diverse backgrounds and cultures shared their life stories in a fun, timed event.

Logan Felton, a junior and former BSU member spoke about Davidson's legacy.

“She mentioned it in one of our meetings, and we all really liked it so we kind of just dove right in and went for it,” Felton said. “She was always like, 'We did this last year, how can we make this 10 times better this year?' and I think we're going to keep that mindset in our hearts, like, 'How can we be better?

How can we reach more people? How can we do more on campus?” Felton said.

Khaniya Russell, senior and incoming BSU president, shared her memories about how Davidson helped BSU overcome adversity.

“I think what she really did was [advocate] for us, whether that be with other faculty and staff members if we wanted partnerships with them or if we were coming up against barriers from administration for different events,” Russell said.

Junior and BSU member Pyar Seth valued Davidson's presence as a mentor and friend.

“She was like my mother on campus if I had a bad day or if I had something that I needed to talk to, whether that was pursuing an internship or careers in academia or navigating spaces as a person of color,” Seth said.

Ryann Williams, another Junior and BSU member agreed. “I can't tell you how many times I've come to her with like, any problem I've faced, you know,” Williams said. “There tends to be a very unique position when you're a student of color on this campus, and I felt like Stacy was the go to person for me every time I had an issue of that sort.”

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

During the interview, Davidson had parting advice for the Trinity students she had mentored in the past.

“I would want [students] to always remember that they have a choice in their academic pursuits and even in their personal goals,” Davidson said. “I would also want them to be kind to themselves. .... There are lessons to be learned from any failure.”

Betty Curry, former academic coach, is the interim director of the academic success center while Alli Roman, director for

diversity and inclusion, will take over as BSU faculty adviser.

“My hope is to kinda continue [Davidson's] legacy by just really connecting with students and connecting with BSU and supporting their ideas for the different programs they want to do,” Roman said.

Davidson expressed high hopes for her new position at Dominican University, where she will be director of career services and integrative coach, along with teaching a class on academic success.

Surviving and thriving in your first semester How first-years can actively work at being academically and socially successful at Trinity NOELLE BARRERA | PULSE REPORTER nbarrera@trinity.edu Making the transition from high school to college can be difficult. However, there are strategies and techniques that incoming students can use to make the upcoming year a successful one.

Becca Burt, academic coach, said that finding a study group can be a great way to get work done. However, not all study groups are created equal.

“You're going to have friends who are wonderful friends to hang out with and great to spend time with, but when it comes to studying, they might distract you more than help you focus,” Burt said. "Studying in groups can be really effective, but you need to find people who help you focus rather than distract you.”

While study friends can be helpful, there are also going to be times when you have to miss class in your first semester.

Burt recommended that students find someone who can catch them up on notes and assignments. continued on PAGE 11

illustration by KAITLYN CURRY

AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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Jennifer Rowe and writing tutors are working hard to help students improve their essays MATHILDE LE TACON | PULSE REPORTER mletacon@trinity.edu Writing well and conveying a point can be difficult, but help and guidance is just around the corner. Located in the Tiger Learning Commons (TLC) on the main floor of the Coates Library, the Writing Center teaches students a variety of writing skills that will serve their college careers and beyond. It is open to all questions and ready to coach students to become better writers and better communicators.

Jennifer Rowe is going into her fourth year as the director of the Writing Center.

When she arrives at Trinity, the first thing she does is pick up her iced coffee and settle into the TLC. She checks in with student accessibility services and with the academic coaches. She then checks in with junior Loretta Rodriguez, head organizer and writing tutor, and looks over the Writing Center’s schedule for the day.

In addition to being the head of the Writing Center, Rowe is also an instructor.

She typically teaches two to three First Year Experience (FYE) courses, and teaches from around 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. before coming back for office hours and grading.

“So my job has a sort of 50 percent Writing Center and 50 percent teaching element,” Rowe said. “I’m always kind of shutting my door, letting the writing tutors go about their business, and I plan for class.”

Tutors at the Writing Center are selected at the beginning of the year. These students are recognized for their writing and teaching skills. Rowe explained that while she leaves in the afternoon, the tutors stay until about 10p.m., which enables the Writing Center to keep offering guidance past her departure time. Tutors are self-motivated and each find their own satisfaction in helping students thrive.

“I get to meet so many different students at the writing center and help them grow out of their insecurities about writing,” Rodriguez said.

“I love working in a supportive environment alongside six other tutors who want to help

students express their thoughts and ideas on paper.”

As far as how students get involved with the Writing Center as tutors, Rowe explained that she sometimes receives referrals from professors.

Other applicants want to go into writingintensive graduate programs or careers, like junior Tiffany Nguyen, another peer tutor for the Writing Center.

“At one point, I wanted to be an English teacher, so I wanted to get as much teaching experience as possible,” Nyugen said. “I [was] recommended by my FYE [professor] and

ended up as [a] peer tutor for Jenny Rowe, who asked me to join the Writing Center.”

Students are also welcome to seek Rowe out themselves if they have a strength to bring to the Writing Center. “[Victoria] Aarons, who is in the English department, started the Writing Center, and so she taught me a lot about how to find really good students,” Rowe said. “We advertise as well.

So anybody at any time is welcome to send in an application.”

Once peer tutors are selected, they spend time at the Writing Center helping students overcome

JENNIFER ROWE gives some editing notes to one of her students. Photo by ELIZABETH NELSON

common road blocks in their assignments. Rowe described the number one thing that students come in for is difficulty starting a paper, or the fear of the white page. Typically, the question is “What do I want to say?”

Rowe explained that the writing tutors must help students generate some questions to first formulate and afterwards answer an argument supported by substantial evidence. They do thesis work with the students and ease the transition from high school to college writing, particularly for first-year students enrolled in FYE courses.

“We get a lot of papers summarizing material instead of analyzing it, so [we teach] students more in-depth of what the word analysis means,” Rowe said.

Rowe also sees many students coming in to have someone proofread their papers.

“We always use those experiences as teaching opportunities to empower the students to edit their own work. That’s our philosophy,” Rowe said.

To better educate students, the Writing Center is constantly evolving and implementing beneficial changes.

“This year, the big project [for the Writing Center] is that I want to get my students certified through the College Learning and Reading Association so that they have professional certification,” Rowe said. “We’re [also] looking at enhancing our tutoring for oral presentations, which often come from written work.”

Last year, the focus was on implementing the FYE awards, which will take place again this year.

Near the end of semester, first-years are invited to submit a paper of their choosing from their FYE classes. The four winners and four honorable mentions receive cash prizes if their papers are selected by the judging committee.

When asked what the FYE committee looks for in first-year papers, Rowe said, “A lot of times it’s that the material is fresh and interesting. It’s a strong voice, it’s clarity of prose, it’s a solid argument. The papers aren’t necessarily always perfect, but they show so much promise. It’s a good way of recognizing those students early.”

If students would like to get some more information, they should visit the Writing Center’s page on the Trinity University website.

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 24, 2018 •

PULSE

Surviving and thriving continued from PAGE 9 “There’s going to be a day where you’re sick or you have a conflict or something,” Burt said.

“If you have a friend in that class, you know you can reach out to someone and say ‘Hey, could I get a copy of your notes? What did I miss?’ ” But how do you make these friends? Burt gave advice on connecting with new people.

“Try sitting next to different people on different days, see who you find a connection with. Maybe you find that you live in the same residence hall, maybe you met at an event on campus, you know, find some commonalities,” Burt said.

Burt advised students not to get discouraged if keeping up with academics seems difficult at first.

“A lot of students have to study very differently in college than they did in high school, so figuring out that rhythm, what works, what kind of environment you need to be in and what time of day works best for you, that's going to be a process to figure that out and it takes time,” Burt said.

Burt and the other academic success center staff are available to help students with time management, studying techniques, and a variety of other topics; Burt recommended that first-years visit her office in the Tiger Learning Commons when they receive their class schedules.

“That way we have an idea of when your classes are during the day, so we can sit down and talk through 'Alright, let's look at your schedule for a week, let's see what your breaks are, where you are going to be on campus, what you could be doing during that time to be productive,’ ” Burt said.

Sophomore Andrea Cruz, who recently gave a presentation on time management at a TEDxTrinity event, also emphasized the importance of planning and time management. Cruz uses an online planning app called Todoist, and she says that it has helped her greatly with juggling her academic responsibilities as well as her personal life.

“What I do is I go on my laptop, I make folders for each of my classes, and then I input all of the dates and all the assignments from each class from the syllabus,” Cruz said. “Like Sunday night I can look at it and be like, ‘Oh, I have a test on Tuesday and I have an essay due on Thursday, and I can plan my time around that.’ ” Cruz spoke about what motivates her lifestyle of diligent planning.

“My motto is that if I can make it easier for my future self, I'll do it now because then it's always just like 'I'm saving myself the time and the effort to do things,” Cruz said.

While academics are important, students should also prioritize their physical and emotional well-being. Tyler Cagle, an RA for the Isabel McFarlin residence hall, reminded first-year students to focus on self-care.

“Spend time with your friends in general, do things that make you happy, make sure you exercise and try and stay in shape or at least get some physical activity in because it's a lot better for your brain if you do,” Cagle said.

“I think enjoying the little things is something that helped me with a lot of the stress that I felt.”

For more information on the academic success center, email either bcurry@trinity.edu or rburt@trinity.edu.

PULSE • AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

11

AE &

“Crazy Rich Asians” and “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” released this weekend, reviving rom-coms in one fell swoop

Ariana Grande’s “Sweetener” & Mitski’s “Be The Cowboy” also released this weekend, no time for anything except media consumption

Of Shakespeare & silence

Fall semester preview reveals “Lady Macbeth” and “Small Mouth Sounds” CALLIOPE IZQUIERDO A&E REPORTER jizquie1@trinity.edu

Whether you’re interested in getting your proverbial hands dirty or you’d just prefer to enjoy an engaging show put on by your peers, students should expect a lively semester for theatre with two upcoming mainstage shows.

The first play this season is “Small Mouth Sounds,” written by Bess Wohl and directed

by Kyle Gillette, professor of theatre. “ ‘Small Mouth Sounds’ is about silence and its impossibility, I would say. Concretely, it concerns six people at a silent meditation retreat, and most of the time there is no dialogue,” Gillette said. “So it’s really about trying to find some peace and the kind of difficulties of that, at least. On one hand, a novel could do this interestingly by giving us a sense of the thoughts inside [the characters’] heads, but what’s interesting

about this play is that it does something particular to theatre and kind of enforces the spectators to experience something like what the characters are experiencing, to be immersed in this retreat, to be quiet and to pay attention to how people disclose themselves when they’re not expressing with language.”

While “Small Mouth Sounds” concerns the solemnity and silence of theatre, the second mainstage play does the opposite.

Directed by Roberto Prestigiacomo, faculty member at Trinity and director of the theatre for social change, “Lady Macbeth: A Tragic Comedy” takes the classical Shakespearian play “Macbeth” and applies a new twist with the help of the annual Stieren guest artist Andrea Cavarra.

“Andrea Cavarra is a master of commedia dell’Arte, which is a form of physical theatre — that is, comedy of the profession — and involves taking a Shakespearian tragedy and making it into a comedy by using the commedia dell’Arte [tradition],” Prestigiacomo said. “I understand that [‘Lady Macbeth’ is] a completely opposite style of what we’re doing with ‘Small Mouth Sounds.’ While ‘Small Mouth Sounds’ is minimalistic, ‘Lady Macbeth’ is really broad and really big and loud.”

Prestigiacomo shared his goals in directing “Lady Macbeth” for both students in production, as well as the general audience.

“For students, it’s pretty important for people in theatre to understand on-hand from a master how a dramatic tradition like commedia dell’Arte works,” Prestigiacomo said. “For performers, [the performance provides a way to] explore how their bodies can express and communicate, and that’s one of the greatest tools that theatre can offer everybody. As for the audience, they are going to be transported into a new world, be entertained, take a break from troubles and laugh together.”

Stacy Connelly, professor and director of theatre, spoke briefly about her role in organizing the two seasons that go on throughout the school year.

So [between the two mainstage plays and the number of student-run plays], we have a lot of productions going on for which I act as a kind of production manager. I’m checking in with the directors or with the designers, making sure they’re communicating with each other, and I check on the progress of those shows and make sure they have what they need,” Connelly said. “I also teach the university theatre company class, and it’s all the students who are involved in one of our two mainstage productions this semester.”

The process for selecting the plays involves both faculty from the theatre department — who will direct the mainstage plays —

and the Trinity University Players, which is Trinity’s student-run production unit, according to Connelly.

“For these students, as well as students intending to major in theatre, putting on different kinds of productions works to prepare them for the industry beyond university theatre. So we try to do shows that reflect that range,” Connelly said.

“We try to give [our students] variety, and this year we tried to increase our students’ awareness of newer plays and newer playwrights.”

This range is reflected in the production of the plays with students playing a critical role in more than just acting roles. “[Directing plays is] very much a collaboration, so I don’t consider myself in most of these productions at Trinity as a sort of auteur, but rather as someone who’s guiding collaboration between designers, dramaturge, stage managers and actors,” Gillette said. “Early on during rehearsals, it’s exploring the play, staging it, starting to add things and refining it, so it’s guiding the whole process, asking questions and trying to tease out stuff like that. It’s not always just trying to realize what the play’s already doing as if there was some secret within the play that needs to be shown, but more like creating an autonomous event that has the play as one of its collaborators.”

Summer arts researchers hone their crafts Three students discuss their summer projects in theatre and studio art RAFAELA BRENNER A&E REPORTER rbrenner@trinity.edu

This summer, the Mellon Initiative Research Fellowship program gave Trinity students the opportunity to conduct research in the arts and humanities fields. Students developed their work with faculty members on projects related to various subject areas including fine arts, theatre and literature.

For many student researchers, the main draw of carrying out projects with the Mellon Initiative was to further their interests in the arts.

Junior Kristina Reinis, a student researcher, worked alongside English professor Willis Salomon to research aspects of English poet John Donne’s elegies. Reinis focused her attention on Donne’s poem “Sappho to Philaenis” to explore the implications of the poem within the context of gender studies.

“I looked at how this poem fits in Donne’s cannon, how does he look at gender relations and how do these gender relations work within the time of the renaissance and in London, specifically, where he was writing at the time,” Reinis said. “[Then] I asked the question, ‘What is femininity when not defined by men?’”

Reinis, a double major in art and English, particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to create paintings alongside her written research.

“I did three portraits of three different women and explored the question in a

12

illustration by JULIA POAGE

contemporary context of what are women, what is femininity,” Reinis said. “[I] wrote a 17-page paper but also did three paintings. It was a really great way to combine my interests.”

Senior theatre major Holly Gabelmann’s research brought her to the town of Fara in Sabina, Italy this summer. Gabelmann spent her time there researching site-specific theatre alongside senior Nico Champion and professor of theatre Kyle Gillette. The researchers worked with the theatre troupe Teatro Potlach in their ongoing performance project Invisible Cities, which involves the creation of site-based performances unique to a specific city.

“The goal is to put performances throughout the city and have the audience walk through and look at all the performances

and see the city in a new way. So using lights, cloth and projection, they try to transform things to bring the hidden elements of the city out into the open,” Gabelmann said.

Gabelmann expressed her gratitude for the experience, which allowed her to pursue her interest in performance studies and stressed her belief in the importance of the project.

“I want people to understand why theatre is important, ... [there are] things people think about theater, [that] it’s just entertainment, but it’s a way of understanding how people think, how people communicate,” Gabelmann said.

For another Mellon Initiative project, senior Liz Day worked with art history professor Mark Garrison to contextualize artifacts from the collection of Near Eastern cylinder seals at the San Antonio Museum of

Art. Day would look at impressions of the cylinder seals in the collection and compare them to seals from other museum collections, with the goal of identifying the origin of each artifact and what the figures depicted on each seal meant.

Day, an art and art history major, attested to the value in being able to develop skills related to her desired career throughout her time working on the project.

“I want to be a curator when I graduate and go [on to my] master’s degree. So being able to catalog is one of the most important skills and to describe an art piece and research what it’s about and its history is a skill I absolutely have to have. So being able to do that with the Mellon [Initiative] was perfect for my future,” Day said.

AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Sci-Find a new film with the Classical Film Series

Know your resources: Music & Arts Edition What non-majors can and can’t use in the art and music buildings CALLIOPE IZQUIERDO A&E REPORTER jizquie1@ trinity.edu

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

Series pairs with new film club , screenings continue on Thursdays RAFAELA BRENNER A&E REPORTER rbrenner@ trinity.edu

This semester, Trinity University’s Classical Receptions Film Series will present “Ancient Histories of the Future,” primarily focusing on films within the science fiction genre.

The film screenings will take place Thursdays at 7 p.m. in room 320 of the Richardson Communications Center. Each showing will be preceded by an introduction to the film of the week by classical studies professor Benjamin Stevens.

The film series, now in its seventh semester at Trinity, has often coordinated with courses in the department of classical studies.

“I think classical studies … has viewed it as a way of connecting to students who may not realize they are interested in classics, or for those who are, as a way of linking them to other related subject matters,” Stevens said.

This year’s film series focuses on ways in which modern genre and the ancient classics come together, coordinating this semester’s films

with the First-Year Experience course HUMA 1600, “Great Books of the Ancient World,” as well as the comparative literature course CMLT 1317, “Classics & Science Fiction.”

However, Stevens highlighted that it’s not necessary for those interested in attending the film series to be enrolled in either course, as all interested students are encouraged to attend.

“I think for people who attend the series it’ll really be an interesting opportunity to try to think through the question of how do ancient humanities and a characteristic modern genre like science fiction intersect in ways that aren’t obvious,” Stevens said.

Upcoming films which will be shown include “Unforgiven” (1992), a Western that can be thematically linked to Homer’s “Iliad,” “Forbidden Planet” (1956), a science fiction adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” which itself draws on inspiration from classical antiquity, and sci-fi classics “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) and “The Matrix” (1999).

For the first time, the film series will connect to a new student organization, the Trinity University Film Club. Maggie Lupo, a sophomore who frequented the film series in the past, will be taking on the role of president for the club’s inaugural semester.

“The film club … is really centered around this film series, but we’re also going to have other meetings about film,” Lupo said.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT •

Sophomore Allison Carr, who attended screenings connected to the film series in the past, will step into the role of vice president for the club. Carr stressed the opportunity for students who come to the series to think deeply and have discussions about each film.

“You can have really great conversations, and we get to have a lot of fun … you learn something, but it’s entertaining to the point where it’s like, you know what, if you just want to come, just come and watch a movie! We welcome everyone,” Carr said.

Stevens also highlighted the film series as being an opportunity to learn more about the subject of cinema.

“Science fiction has been a real part of how the technology of cinema has continued to innovate,” Stevens said. “The technique has advanced and so students who come to any one of the films will get an introduction to aspects of movie making, sort of how to perceive that onscreen, and I’d say if they come for more than one, for the whole series, they’ll really get to see a wide range of techniques, artistic styles, and I hope just have their minds blown.”

For those seeking more information on the Trinity University Film Club, contact Maggie Lupo at mlupo@ trinity.edu. For more information on the Classical Receptions film series, you can contact Benjamin Stevens at bstevens@trinity.edu.

AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

A significant part of adjusting to collegiate life is trying new forms of self-expression, whether that be creating a painting or participating in a performance. To facilitate students’ exploration, Trinity’s campus offers a wide variety of studio facilities and musical resources.

“As a rule, [studio] spaces are typically dedicated to current students enrolled in our classes.

In order for a student that’s not in our classes to ask to help with a special project, they may always approach the department and request assistance,” said Randy Wallace, studio manager of the art department.

The rationale for limiting resources stems from both security and budgetary reasons.

“We have students who are enrolled in classes pay a studio fee, and that money goes to supply the courses in which they’re enrolled,” Wallace said. So if anyone not enrolled comes [to use the studio], we would have the tools and the workshop for whichever area we’re working at, but they’d have to provide the consumables. But we would work that out on a case-by-case basis.”

While the department encourages students to enroll in a class to get a formal and in-depth introduction, there are additional routes for those interested.

“But one avenue that is open to all students on campus is the art club, Trinity Art Collective,” Wallace said, “they do a number of activities, and you don’t have to be an art or art history major to participate in that club.”

For anyone interested in music, James Worman, professor of music and coordinator of winds and percussion, explained how the facilities are operated in his department.

“Really, musical facilities are open to all students — similar to any other department on campus. Students can take classes irrespective of their major, they can join ensembles irrespective of their major and they can take lessons,” Worman said. “As far as facilities, we do have practice rooms, and the only policy about student access to practice rooms is that they’re involved somehow formally with the department, either through lessons or ensemble participation.”

Though the music department has limitations on instrument lending, students still have opportunities to experiment with learning instruments.

“The one area that the department is not in a position to provide is sort of instruments or facilities available to students in an informal, exploratory way,” Worman said. “And it really has to do with budget and inventory and oversight and those kinds of things. The two areas that we do try to provide a new, exploratory experience for students is with class guitar and class piano.”

David Heller, chair of the music department, encourages student involvement in ensembles even if the audition process is intimidating.

“I would say, do an audition anyway,” Heller said. “Meet with the conductors. All of the conductors who lead these different ensembles are approachable, wonderful human beings. … If you’re honest and upfront with them, they’re glad to meet.”

“Just be brave,” Heller said, giving his advice for interested students. “Try it — follow your heart. If you have an interest in one of the ensembles or one of the classes, give it a shot. We have a lot to offer here and a lot of that’s geared to people who are not necessarily majors or minors.”

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13

Sports

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

• Volleyball vs. Cabrini University, Friday, Aug. 31, 3 p.m.

• Women’s Soccer vs. Pacific Lutheran University, Friday, Aug. 31 4 p.m.

• Men’s Soccer vs. Rutgers-Newark University, Friday, Aug. 31, 8 p.m.

Cross country looks to build off last year’s success with new members Both teams hope to run

away with conference titles EVAN BROWN | SPORTS REPORTER ebrown4@trinity.edu After winning the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) titles last year, the Trinity women’s and men’s cross country teams aim to continue the momentum.

Though the teams graduated eight seniors, head cross country coach Emily Daum led the recruitment of 14 first-year students to replace lost talent.

Of the 14 recruits, only two are women, resulting in a disparity in the number of new runners.

“This year was really weird because usually gender-wise it works out pretty evenly,” Daum said. “It was like we still had the same number of incoming freshman, but gender-wise, it was nuts. We only got two incoming females, as opposed to the five or six that we normally have. The men’s class went the other way. This is the first year that has happened.”

In recent years, the women’s team has had more members than the men’s team. This year the rosters flipped, leaving the men’s team with 20 runners and the women’s team with only 16. Daum knows the value of a larger team but believes this year’s roster is near its maximum capacity.

“Now I wouldn’t be opposed to having a few more kids per gender, but ideally I wouldn’t want to go over 20 per gender,” Daum said. “I feel like I couldn’t give enough time and effort to each athlete.”

On the first day of practice, Daum held a time trial on the track for a few athletes, while the rest of the team ran about five miles. As a result, the coaches decided to cut two runners.

“I told these guys when we were recruiting them — they reach out to us, you know,” Daum said. “They were like, ‘we’re really interested in the team,’ and I let them know usually we’re recruiting guys that are faster than this, and I told them, ‘If you work hard this summer, I can give you some training, and if you get your three mile under 18 [minutes], you may be on the team.’ ” The recruits who already met the teams’ standards did not have to do a time trial.Daum emphasized that, though she wants to give opportunities to runners that might not have the fastest times, it’s important for the team to stay competitive.

“I don’t usually do a time trial, but these guys were very insistent on wanting to try to be on the team,” Daum said.

Daum doesn’t focus much on the genders of the runners while recruiting. She mainly looks for times that meet her standards from athletes, specifically those who attend private high schools.

“Trinity is not getting any cheaper,” Daum said. “The financial side definitely plays a risk, so we hit up the private high schools a lot because they are used to that private academic setting.”

Daum has a relatively easy time attracting interest in Trinity due to the university’s academic prominence — not to mention its athletic prestige as frequent winners of conference titles.

The cross country teams have always preached

14

In 2017, the women’s cross country team qualified for the DIII National Cross Country Championship Race for the first time since 2013, finishing in 16th place, which was the third-best in Trinity history. Then-junior MOLLY MCCULLOUGH, center, received All-American Honors. FILE PHOTO

a mindset focused on growth. Daum’s practice format echoes the same message.

“Cross country is

pretty easy to come out and root on. ...

If you are willing to wake up that early — that’s the issue.”

ELLIOT BLAKE SENIOR MEN’S CAPTAIN

“Coach Daum really emphasizes a stress, recover and repeat kind of mentality,” said senior Elliot Blake, co-captain of the men’s team. “It is very much a build up, cool down, build up, cool down process. We try to increase the intensity of the workouts as the season progresses. As we get to the end of the season, we taper down. We try to focus more on recovery and getting ready for the big national meets.”

Both teams begin the season with the Alamo City Opener at Olmos Basin Park in San Antonio, Texas, on Aug. 31. “[The Alamo City Opener] is kinda unique because it is called a rest-buster. It is really just to get [us] out there,” said senior Molly McCullough, co-captain of the women’s team.

“It’s nice that it is at the [Olmos] Basin [Park], which is a park about two miles from campus.

We warm up for two miles before the race. So, we will just run from the campus to the race.

It’s kinda to see where everyone is at for the first meet and to see how well your summer training went.”

Following the Alamo City Opener, the Tigers will rent a bus and drive to Northwest Arkansas for the Chile Pepper Festival, a race hosted by the University of Arkansas. The long road trips play a key part in building team chemistry.

“I love those meets more than anything because it’s crazy. That’s when the team really comes together,” Blake said. “We kinda get our kicks out of traveling to these really cool places and competing against people at the national level.”

If you wish to support the cross country team in any of their three meets in San Antonio, Texas (Aug. 31 — Alamo City Opener; Sept. 8 — Our Lady of the Lake University Collegiate Invite; Oct. 6 — University of the Incarnate

Word Invitational), contact any of the cross country coaches for tips on how to best watch the meets.

“Ideally I wouldn’t

want to go over 20 per gender. ... I feel like I couldn’t give enough time and effort to each athlete.”

EMILY DAUM CROSS COUNTRY HEAD COACH

“Cross country is pretty easy to come out and root on. It is in the morning, it’s over like that. You go home before 9 a.m. And you enjoy the rest of your Saturday,” Blake said. “If you are willing to wake up that early — that’s the issue.”

AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Sidewalk Symposium What do you think of the Kawhi Leonard trade to Toronto?

“I’m really happy with it. I didn’t like Kawhi. He was a big baby and doesn’t deserve our community.”

“I feel like there is nothing fans can do now except move on and support your team again.”

HARRY BELLOW JUNIOR

BRIDGET KENNEDY FIRST-YEAR

“I was a fan of Kawhi [until] after he sat out the entire season when he could have been playing.”

“It sucks honestly. I am a San Antonio native so it hits really hard. But we got a good deal with that trade.”

CODY CAMPBELL FIRST-YEAR

HUDSON CALENDAR FIRST-YEAR

WELCOME BACK We would like to welcome the student employees returning to ITS positions this fall. Many can still join us and learn about tech - see the HR website for info!

Shifan Ali Mauricio Bernal Cameron Bibb Kievan Boudreaux Austin Bratton Quinn Butterfield Paola Cabos Edward John Carey Rachel Clarke Savannah Clarke Maddie Cox Andrea De Leon Grace Downing Roshan Edachali

SPORTS •

Brandon Fischer Dalton Flood Sarah Fordin Caroline Haggard Tyler Herron Shelby Irwin Duncan James Brady Johnston Gabriel Killy Ben Klinkenberg Andrew Ladd Cornelia Laing Eric Liang Josefina Lillo

AUGUST 24, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Zhenyuan Liu Ren Loewen James Lovett Joao Marques Jonathan McDaniel Evan McDowell Karl Menzel Sandra Nguyen Tam Nguyen Jesus Ramirez Christopher Reid Alyssa Reinard Jonathan Reyes Kale Ridge

Gabriel Righes Ivana Rusinque Sophia Scearce Nick Smetzer Ray Sparks Mariana Suarez Claure Camryn Thompson Anirudh Tibrewal Maria Torres Samuel Vincent Sophia Wikstrom Sarah Zbidi

15

Volleyball to “Funk” it up this season

First-year Emma Funk looks to add her skills and passion to the already talent-filled Trinity team EVAN BROWN | SPORTS REPORTER ebrown4@trinity.edu

Even though she received a large trophy, firstyear Emma Funk’s favorite part of winning the 2016–17 Gatorade’s Mississippi Volleyball Player of the Year award was the $1,000 donation she made to Mississippi Gulf Sports Buddy Sports, a charity focused on providing a sports option for kids with disabilities.

Funk graduated from Our Lady Academy, a Catholic all-girls school for grades seven through 12 in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, as the school’s record holder for the most kills.

Despite its small enrollment of about 200, Our Lady Academy has won six straight Class 1 Mississippi state championships. Class 1 houses divisions 1A through 3A, which contain the states smallest schools. Funk cherishes her time spent at the Catholic school and credits it with building her character.

“It was definitely one of the best experiences [I’ve had] because I got a really good sense of community and how to work with one another,” Funk said. “You kinda had to get over any drama that you had with someone because you are going to see them every single day. It really helped move past any kind of petty drama and just mature quicker.”

Even though she loved soccer, Funk decided to try out for the volleyball team in the seventh grade because of its popularity at school. Before she knew it, she had fallen in love with volleyball.

She realized that she might have a future with the sport, following her first-year, when she was the only first-year on the varsity team.

“My high school coach really wanted me to try out for a club in Louisiana. I was like, ‘There is no way that I’m gonna make it. I don’t even

16

First-year EMMA FUNK prepares to serve. Funk joined Trinity’s volleyball team this year after racking up 748 kills, 89 blocks and 34 aces in high school. photo by MATTHEW CLAYBROOK

want to go. I’m gonna hate it,’ ” Funk said.

“Then I went and tried out, and I thought that I did terrible. But immediately, they wanted me to be on their team. That was the moment where I realized that I’m not just tall.”

Funk’s high school team faced a lack of leadership coming into her sophomore year.

“I was one of the only two returning starters and the other got hurt, so I was the only one who could play,” Funk said. “For three years, I had to learn how to play as many positions as I could.”

Funk’s coach decided to utilize Funk’s experience in as many plays as he could.

“I got set almost every single ball that we could. Because I played middle [blocker], which is the hardest position to defend, it was ideal to run everything out of the middle,” Funk said.

Since the offense essentially ran through her, Funk amassed impressive stat lines. She finished her junior year with 748 kills, 89 blocks and 34 serving aces. Her remarkable season didn’t end there. She received many accolades including American Volleyball Coaches Association Phenom, Prepvolleyball All-American and Gatorade’s Mississippi Volleyball Player of the Year.

Surprisingly, Funk had not received much attention from colleges despite being named the top volleyball player in the entire state of Mississippi. Going into the club season of her junior year, Funk remained uncommitted. She wanted to find a school with a solid volleyball program and a good academic reputation located near a big city.

With the help of club teammate and first year Tyler Sanderson, Funk began communicating with Julie Jenkins, Trinity’s head volleyball coach.

“We reached out to Emma and she sent us some video, and we were really impressed with what she had on video,” Jenkins said. “We corresponded for a while through email. Then last year in the fall, I flew to Mississippi to see her play a high school game. After seeing her play, I thought she would be a good fit here at Trinity.”

Funk impressed Jenkins with her athleticism and attitude.

“She has great jumping ability, and really she is not all that tall for her position. She is 5’ 10”,”

Jenkins said. “Typically, you are a little taller in the middle. What sets her apart is, for sure, her jumping ability. She is touching almost 10 feet, well 9’ 9”. That is pretty exceptional for 5’ 10”.

She is a really great athlete, and she is equally a strong student if not stronger.”

On Funk’s visit to campus, she knew that she had found her dream school.

“Whenever I came to visit Trinity, I really enjoyed the atmosphere that was on campus,” Funk said. “It wasn’t a competitive atmosphere where everyone was trying to be better than everyone else. They tried to collectively help each other get better. I just felt at home on campus.”

Funk also found her dream coach in Jenkins.

“I wanted a coach that I didn’t have to worry about leaving and someone who I could tell really cared about the program,” Funk said.

“When I met coach Jenkins, it was perfect.

She was the perfect balance of intensity and not screaming at you. She has just so much knowledge, and she is so excited about the game that it makes you excited about the game.”

In just a few practices, Funk has impressed her teammates who feel she will be valuable to the team.

“I think she is very versatile,” said Sami Lin, sophomore defensive specialist. “She is not only good at her position, but she is also good at serving. She is able to adjust to being a setter, which I think is important when your playing on a new team.”

Funk will suit up for the first time with the rest of the team when the Tigers take on Cabrini University at 3 p.m. on Aug. 31 in the William H. Bell Athletic Center as part of the Trinity National Invitational.

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 24, 2018 •

SPORTS