02.23.2018

Serving Trinity University Since 1902

Volume 115 Issue 20

23 “Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric A&E Play,” a main stage review

19 Claudia Rodriguez Kypurous PULSE becomes newest counselor

FEBRUARY 23, 2018

25

SPORTS

Trinity swim team makes a big splash at SCAC finals

Mabee swipe-sharing policy causes confusion Administrators explain students’ inability to swipe in their friends JORDAN BRUCE | WEBMASTER jbruce2@trinity.edu Mabee dining hall, and Aramark in particular, are often the target of students’ ire.

But why? There is currently a policy against dining swipes being used for multiple people.

Aramark and dining services intend for swipes to be used by one individual.

Though dining plans, policies and prices are managed by Aramark, the enrollment of students in meal plans is run through the Tiger Card office.

Oralia Carrillo, systems administrator in the Tiger Card office, doesn’t understand why this policy exists.

“They pay for the meal plan, they get 200 meal points or swipes, and so many bonus bucks, why can’t they use those 200 swipes on whoever they choose?” Carrillo said. “The standard answer with that was the contract that Aramark made with Trinity; I don’t know the logic behind that.”

The most common meal plan with swipes on campus is the flex 200, which is composed of 200 meal swipes at Mabee and 475 Bonus Bucks to spend at different retail locations on campus.

Paul Wright, director of business operations for Tiger Card, elaborated more on the policy in an email interview.

“The industry standard regarding meal plans is that meals are non-transferable because pricing is based on individual use,” Wright wrote.

DAVID GRES, right, swipes WILFORD LEE, left, into Mabee. The Aramark policy that prohibits people from swiping in their friends has caused much frustration for students. According to Paul Wright, director of business operations for the Tiger Card office, between 25 and 30 percent of meal swipes on average go unused by every semester. photo by CHLOE SONNIER, staff photographer

Wright also shared that between 25 and 30 percent of meal swipes are not used every semester, and since these don’t roll over from semester to semester, they are not able to be used.

We reached out to Charles Robles, food service director for Aramark, but were unable to

secure a comment by press time, presumably because of a new interview policy. When contacted about scheduling an interview, we were directed to send our questions to be answered via email. We did not receive a response prior to publication.

Both Wright and Bruce Bravo, senior director of conferences and auxiliary services, are on the committee that is completing the search for a new dining services provider. continued on PAGE 4

#2MinuteCivics promotes engagement with local issues

Political clubs bring speakers to campus to discuss SA climate BOBBY WATSON | NEWS REPORTER rwatson@trinity.edu Tigers for Liberty (TFL), Trinity Progressives (T-Prog), The Contemporary, and the off-campus organization MOVE San Antonio hosted #2MinuteCivics, a crash course in local issues, to prepare attendees for the upcoming March primary election. The groups brought a panel of five civic leaders to discuss local issues.

The event was formatted similar to a Q&A session. Sophomore T-Prog member Travis Boyd brought up local issues and the panelists would have two minutes to address and discuss their positions. Roughly 30 people attended the event, a group of both students and San Antonio community members.

MOVE brought in the first four speakers: Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, state Rep. Diego Bernal, the City Council District 2 chief of staff Brencia Berry and Maria Luisa Cesar, the senior policy adviser deputy and communications director for San Antonio mayor Ron Nirenberg. TFL brought George Rodriguez, a former member of the Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush administrations and current tea party activist.

The first issue brought to the panel was lack of funding for San Antonio’s education system. The first four speakers were in unilateral agreement that the city needed to address school funding in a reasonable and effective manner.

“A lot of frustration comes from spending more money while our schools aren’t getting better,” Bernal said. “So we’ve got two things to solve: One, we need property tax reform, and we have to make sure we keep up with the changing demographics of our schools and making sure everyone gets a fair shot.” continued on PAGE 3

MARIA LUISA CESAR, left, is the senior policy advisor and deputy communications director for Ron Nirenberg, mayor of San Antonio. Cesar was one of five panelists, joined by DIEGO BERNAL, center, Brencia Berry, George Rodriguez and Ana Sandoval to discuss local issues and politics. The event was moderated by sophomore TRAVIS BOYD, right. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 •

NEWS

Previously, on SGA: Stop ... Honor Time This issue covers the SGA meeting on Feb. 19.

it and was it an effective use of funds,” Tuttle said. “I think you should go back to the organization to see their assessment. They could be happy with 80 people from the campus community. ... This is an event sponsored by Black Student CAMPUS CLIMATE CHECK President Deva introduced SGA’s new chief of staff, senior Monty McKeon. Union, which is a small subpopulation on our campus, and so if they’re able Junior senator Sarosha Hemani reported instances of creepy men in the to bring people in from the community, from other campuses, to me that’s a City Vista parking lots, as well as the parking lot by Lightner residence hall. success. ... It creates an extra community for black students on campus who may feel they’re a little bit disenfranchised.”

President Amulya Deva, junior, suggested getting in contact with TUPD. Legislative relations chair Chiara Pride, sophomore, raised concern about students’ increasing need for counseling services and that the office appears HONOR COUNCIL PRESENTATION Internal chair Jordan Koeller, junior, and external chair Kristen Rundstein, understaffed in terms of meeting all students’ needs.

Junior senator Julia Shults explained instances of inappropriate and senior, of the Honor Council presented revisions to the Academic Honor disrespectful student behavior towards professors, asking if there were any Code. The group already presented the amendments to the faculty senate policies against or any way to report such behavior. Adviser David Tuttle, dean but still required approval from SGA to move forward. The amendments of students, explained that anyone can submit a complaint of a policy violation, included changing the current four-class system of sanctioning to a three-class but was unsure whether or not it’s an actual policy. Tuttle suggested students go system, which would get rid of the harshest punishment. The council members to Michael Soto, associate vice president for Academic Affairs, for any academics- explained that this decision is to clarify that disciplinary action is intended to be educational rather than punitive. related issues.

Later in the meeting, the senate voted unanimously to approve President Deva asked SGA how they felt about Step Afrika!, an event that was partly funded by the student activity fee and approved by last semester’s senate, this amendment. and the marketing behind the event. Sophomore senator Simone Washington explained that the event was well-attended by upwards of 200 community CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES In last week’s meeting, sophomore senators Juan Luevanos and Benjamin members and 80 or so Trinity students, concluding that last semester’s funding Gonzalez presented amendments to SGA’s constitution that would clarify choice was a good one. Tuttle advised that SGA be cautious when reviewing funding requests this way and suggested that if they look at the success of the potential conflicts of interest for non-voting members. (Gonzalez is an opinion columnist for the Trinitonian.)

Black Student Union’s (BSU) event, they should do so with all others.

At this week’s meeting, the senate voted unanimously to approve the changes.

“I think if you’re going to hold BSU to this standard, then you have to ask how many people went to Lunar New Year, and how many people knew about Next, a student body vote is required to complete the amendment process.

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

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TUPD BRIEFS HERNDOWN FOR WHAT? On Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 1:12 a.m., a member of ResLife reported an ill and drunk student. Beer and liquor were found at the scene. The student became intoxicated, but returned to campus, and was found drunk in Herndon residence hall. The student was charged with consumption of alcohol by a minor.

‘CUZ BABY, YOU’RE A FIREWORK On Saturday, Feb. 17 at 3:43 p.m., non-students were pulled over on Kings Ct. for lighting a firework out of their car on Tiger Pass. After being pulled over, the offenders were found with “an immeasurably small” amount of marijuana. They were arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

AAAANNND ANOTHER ONE On Sunday, Feb. 18 at 12:48 p.m., one student was charged with consumption of alcohol by a minor.

A resident assistant filed the report.

The student was said to have become intoxicated off campus, then was caught after returning.

FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT On Sunday, Feb. 18 at 1:55 a.m., four students were approached by a TUPD officer for loud noises off Kings Ct. When the officer asked for IDs, two of the four offered fake IDs. Only one of the students was drunk and was charged with consumption of alcohol by a minor. Both students with fake IDs were charged with violations of transportation codes.

Corrections • In the Feb. 16 issue, Ana White was misnamed in the Sidewalk

Symposium on page 16.

• In the Feb, 16 issue, the photos on page 18 were credited to Amani

Canada. They were taken by Allison Wolff.

• In the Jan. 26 issue, the photos on pages 18 and 20 were credited to

Allison Wolff. They were taken by Chloe Sonnier.

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

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NEWS • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

#2MinuteCivics encourages civil involvement continued on FRONT Rodriguez disagreed with his colleagues.

He first highlighted the fact that he was the only conservative on the panel, claiming that college universities exclude conservative voices.

Then he replied to the question by suggesting that public funding be shut down due to its large expenses.

“I am a single person. Why should I pay for public education?” Rodriguez asked. “To keep asking for more and more [money] than you already have is an education industry.”

Issues like transportation overflow, smoking restrictions and racial inequalities, as well as the question of who civil servants serve were all brought up. On every issue the progressive speakers agreed calling for support of government intervention and planning, while Rodriguez had the opposing view of complete disenfranchisement of the government in these issues.

Tensions rose a few times throughout the event, as when Rodriguez questioned the audience’s religious beliefs and commented on “how sad” many of the students’ reactions were whenever he challenged climate change.

At one point, Berry accused Rodriguez of being disrespectful after Rodriguez took the microphone from her hands immediately after she finished speaking. Three students who attended the event told the Trinitonian that Rodriguez’s behavior was inappropriate.

MOVE is dedicated to mobilizing young voters and involving them in politics on all

levels, especially through events like this.

The event was intended to highlight partisan differences and get students thinking about politics and civic responsibility. “[MOVE] is very big in terms of their whole mission statement on just getting out the vote and registering people to vote and educating people about local politics. Naturally that’s something that is a pretty bipartisan commitment,” said Isaiah Mitchell, copresident of TFL. According to Mitchell, this event is one of the first political collaborations of T-Prog and TFL. “We figured it would be a good idea to do some sort of collaborative panel discussion, followed by a banner-making session where we’ll talk about the issues that young people care about and write them on a banner. We’ll then post it as a sort of get-out-the-vote reminder,” said Alyssa Pope, food organizer of MOVE. The event was held on Feb. 15, early enough to remind students of the upcoming primary election in March.

“As you probably know, early voting starts next week for the primaries,” Pope said. “So we really wanted to highlight how important local issues are right now, and how you can make a change in your local community.”

Students supported both the push for bipartisan participation and the spotlight on political activism.

“I’m excited about [TFL and T-Prog’s collaboration]. I think its important for people to come together and discuss issues, even if they disagree on them,” said Carson Bolding,

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City Council District 2 chief of staff BRENCIA BERRY, left, was one of four panelist brought to the event by MOVE. Sandoval was also joined by GEORGE RODRIGUEZ, right, who was the only panelist representing conservative views. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

first-year and public relations officer of T-Prog.

Despite the differences between the two parties, the panel shared their sides of the political spectrum and encouraged students to become politically involved.

“It is so exciting that young people have these questions and are talking about these things, pondering these things, trying to figure these things out,” Berry said. “We’re happy to be a part of this conversation.”

T-Prog, WAGS talk reproductive justice

Lilith Fund advocates accessible and safe abortion options CATHY TERRACE | NEWS REPORTER cterrace@trinity.edu

Trinity Progressives (T-Prog) hosted “Reproductive Justice 101” on Feb. 20, as the club addresses reproductive health, access and justice. About 20 people attended the discussion, which was cosponsored by the women and gender studies (WAGS) department.

The event primarily focused on the Lilith Fund, a volunteer organization founded in 2001 that funds abortions, advocates for social change and provides information to those in need.

Maddie Kennedy, junior co-president of T-Prog, introduced the Lilith Fund. Three representatives from the group — Holly Benavides, Erin Madden and Misty Garcia — started the event off with a presentation addressing reproductive justice.

They explained that the Lilith Fund is part of the national network of abortion funds, one of several in Texas, alongside the Texas Equal Access Fund, West Fund and Frontera Fund. These organizations provide support to those seeking additional resources when attempting to access abortion facilities.

“Practical support is really important because if you can’t get to the clinic, then what point is there in having a choice,” Benavides said. “If you’re a poor woman or person and don’t have a reliable car or vehicle, that makes it really difficult to get an abortion.”

Support networks and access are specifically issues in Texas. In the past decade, the number of clinics available in the state has drastically decreased. According to the group, there were 40 available locations in July 2013, but that number had dropped to six clinics by September 2014.

Madden explained this has been the result of Targeted Regulation of Abortion

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

Providers (TRAP) laws, which created restrictions on the medical practices and practitioners in an attempt to shut down locations across the state.

In addition to geographic barriers, Benavides explained that women in need often experience economic obstacles.

Federal funds cannot go towards funding abortions, and most insurance companies also won’t cover them, making it an even more difficult process for those in poor economic circumstances.

“In the first trimester, abortions tend to cost $550, and then that number drastically increases,” Garcia said. “Access is a lot of it because if they don’t have that $550 right away, then that can delay it.”

Most of the late-term abortions that the Lilith Fund sees occur primarily because of health-related or medical reasons. The members presented two letters that had been addressed to the organization about people who had struggled with finding the resources to receive a late-term abortion due to medical circumstances.

In the face of these regulations, the representatives noted the importance of organizations like theirs that attempt to provide information and access to those in need.

“[The Lilith Fund is] mostly grassroots funded, so that means we get a lot of small donations — under $50 is where most of our donations come from,” Benavides said. “And then grants — there are a lot of organization out there that want to secretly fund [us].”

In addition to providing information and access to women seeking abortions, the Lilith Fund also supports education initiatives aimed at policy makers and schools. Part of the reason for this is that the organization supports reproductive health and reproductive justice. Benavides explained the difference.

“When you think of Planned Parenthood, and you think of where I could get birth control, where I could get a pap — that’s what reproductive health is. Reproductive rights are where your legal rights fit in. Think about your legal right to chose,” Benavides said. “[Reproductive justice] takes into account the larger social forces.”

As the group had mentioned earlier in its discussion of practical support, reproductive justice focused on what prevents people from getting an abortion. This includes addressing geographic obstacles, such as transportation, as well as representation in reproductive legislation, specifically for people of color.

“Reproductive justice is responding to reproductive oppression and its history with race and class,” Madden said. “It focuses on when the choices that people want are taken away from them.”

Examples include the history of sterilization of Native Americans, deportation and immigration laws that have broken up families and the lack of LGBTQ+ competency in sex education.

Following the group’s presentation, Lilith Fund representatives passed out a handout outlining reproductive health access scenarios and asked attendees to think about the support, resources, barriers and actions involved in obtaining abortions.

The cases offered were examined, participants identified lack of monetary resources, inadequate information, transportation, social support, stigma and insufficient policy and insurance measures as barriers to reproductive health.

For those interested in supporting this organization, Lilith Fund will be hosting an online fundraiser, called Roll-A-Thon, that all are invited to participate in.

“In case you were wondering how to help Lilith Fund, the biggest thing is giving us money. … This is a significant fundraiser every year,” Garcia said. “Everyone gets a page. After you raise $100, you come out to a rollerskating party.”

In addition to supporting their case for equal access, the group also stressed that simply posting information about and participating in fundraisers is a big step towards normalizing abortion. Talking about this issue publicly can help spur activism in your own social networks.

After the event, Kennedy reflected on the importance of contributing to local organizations such as RAICES, Fiesta Youth and THRIVE, other social-justice oriented groups mentioned throughout the discussion.

“A lot of time Trinity students hold very strong principles, and principles are great, and talking about those principles is also great, but in San Antonio especially there are a lot of organizations that really do the work,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s really important if you have progressive principles that you find ways to make those into concrete action.”

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 •

NEWS

Son’s OD brings speaker to quit using, help others TFL, Kappas bring Tim Ryan to tell his life story, recovery BOBBY WATSON | NEWS REPORTER rwatson@trinity.edu At a lecture organized by Tigers for Liberty (TFL) and the Kappa Kappa Delta fraternity, anti-heroin advocate and speaker Tim Ryan discussed his life as a former drug addict.

Ryan explained how the approach to the national opioid crisis is wrong and neglected. “[Ryan] is a tireless advocate for longterm recovery and is no stranger to addiction, using cocaine, heroine and alcohol,” said Maddie D’iorio, first-year TFL coordinator.

“Currently, he is a speaker on the opioid crisis and addiction, and he has also founded the A Man in Recovery Foundation, which is a phenomenally successful organization with the sole purpose to facilitate free or reduced cost recovery services for addicts and their families.”

The students who attended the lecture found Ryan’s story powerful.

“To be honest, I want to go and cry because I wasn’t aware of how prevalent the opioid crisis is, but now I realize that it is really prevalent in all scopes of society,” said Kaylie DeLuca, sophomore. “Like he was saying the most common [opioid] addict is a twenty two year old, white, middle-class woman, and that’s me and my friend group.”

According to Ryan, addiction is caused by abuse and brokenness within a person. Ryan has struggled with substance abuse for about 30 years, was sexually abused by his female babysitter when he was 12 and was physically abused by his older brother.

TIM RYAN, a former drug addict and anti-heroin advocate, spoke to students about the harms of misunderstanding the severity of drug addiction. Ryan was brought to campus by Tigers for Liberty and explained his life story in order to promote awareness of drug abuse. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

“I did drugs longer than most people have been alive, about 30 years of my life were drugs and alcohol. But they were the solution to all my problems,” Ryan said. “We were up drinking every weekend at 14 years old. At 15 it was cocaine.”

Ryan said he did poorly in high school, only excelling in water skiing. From age 14 to 21, Ryan would be one of the top nationally ranked water skiers in the nation, but his career was destroyed by his addiction.

While working as a recruitment officer for a large corporation, Ryan met his wife. Despite Ryan’s financial success, his addiction to cocaine would continue overflowing into his home life.

The Stieren Arts Enrichment Series presents author

Jennifer Egan

Tuesday, February 27 8 p.m. | Ruth Taylor Recital Hall The Stieren Arts Enrichment Series is made possible by an endowment gift from Jane and the late Arthur Stieren of San Antonio.

www.trinity.edu

“I woke one day after doing coke for a couple nights, and my 14 month old son was crawling towards my home office, so I picked him up and put him in his room, and I opened my office door, and there was cocaine all over the floor,” Ryan said. “If he would’ve crawled into that room and put one of those rocks in his mouth it would’ve killed him.”

After that incident Ryan went clean for a little over year until he relapsed and began using opioids. Ryan explained the moment that caused him to turn his life around. “[My ex-wife] called me at six in the morning and said [my adopted son]

overdosed. ... We [rushed] to the hospital, ran into the emergency room ... 30 seconds later the chaplain walked up,” Ryan said. “I knew my son was dead. I helped kill my own son. I have to live with that for the rest of my life.”

Since getting clean Ryan has dedicated his life to trying to change the way the United States deals with drug addiction.

Ryan promotes his foundation, the funding for which comes from either Ryan himself or the parents of children who have recently died of overdose.

Ryan finished by saying, “That’s fucking reality for you.”

Mabee swipe restriction causes student frustration continued on FRONT “We will unequivocally have a new dining contract in place on June 1,” Bravo said. “[The provider’s name] is not ready for public consumption yet; the decision is pending at this point.”

They mentioned that this policy could be negotiated away in that phase of the search with any provider, whether it is Aramark or another option.

“I think this could be some good stuff to go in and find out why swipes can’t be shared,” Bravo said. “We’ll ask the consultant, ‘Is there any institution that lets students share swipes?’ ” Bravo and Wright postulated that the unlimited meal plan could be a reason as to why Trinity does not allow the sharing of meal plans, but there was no solid answer.

Nick Berta, first-year, said that he wasn’t surprised by the policy.

“Sharing swipes shouldn’t be allowed if the student is on unlimited swipes,” Berta said.

“However, if a student has a limited number of swipes, they should be able to use them in any way they would like.”

The pricing of meal plans varies from year to year, but recent years have seen a steeper climb in prices. The toughest part of meal plan pricing is finding the right value, according to Bravo.

“Labor has just become such a cost, because you don’t have a stable labor market,” Bravo said. “You also have to include an elevated cost of food in the total cost of food service.”

When pricing meal plans, all of these costs are factored in to find the best value for students who must pay for room and board.

According to Bravo, this is not a problem unique to Trinity, or even to San Antonio.

“I don’t think anyone is immune,” Bravo said. “I don’t care whether you’re in Wichita Falls, Texas, or Bangor, Maine — help is hard to find.”

Ultimately, the swipe-sharing issue very well might be fixed with the new dining contract, whether it is with Aramark or any other proposing company. The results of that request for proposals should be available to the public soon.

“I can’t tell you the company, but what I can tell you is that the committee made a unanimous recommendation,” Bravo said.

NEWS • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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Faculty clarifies fixed scholarships, increased tuition Financial aid remains same despite annual raise in tuition fees CATHY TERRACE | NEWS REPORTER cterrace@trinity.edu

Trinity scholarships are determined before students enroll at Trinity. However, once scholarships are awarded to students, the amount is fixed, despite changes in tuition.

According to Eric Maloof, vice president for enrollment management, scholarships are fixed because the university doesn’t have the budget to support increasing aid.

“Trinity’s scholarships are fixed because the university’s expenses increase year over year at a greater rate than our overall revenue, and the vast majority of aid to all students is paid for out of that general operating budget,” Maloof wrote in an email interview.

Scholarships come in two forms: funded and unfunded.

“Funded institutional aid consists of the proceeds of endowed scholarships and annual gifts that were donated to the institution to help students pay a portion of the costs of their educations. Unfunded institutional aid also permits students not to pay portions of their tuition but its funding source is the university’s general operating budget,” Maloof said. “The vast majority of Trinity’s aid to students is funded through the general operating budget.”

The university annually reviews the scholarship amounts for incoming first-year students, and whether the amount changes depends primarily on tuition increase.

“When it comes to scholarships at Trinity, the bulk of decisions are made for a student’s entering year,” said Christina Pikla, associate director of student financial services. “Based on the student’s admission application and where they fall within the pool of applicants, they’re considered for kind of that hierarchy of scholarships.”

According to the Trinity University admission and aid website, there are five academic scholarships that students may qualify for. These are the Trinity Tower, Murchison, Trustee’s, President’s, and Dean’s scholarships.

For most of these scholarships, the amount is set at the time it is awarded and remains the

graphic by LIZ DAY, graphics editor

same for the remainder of the student’s time at Trinity.

“The amount of institutional aid a student qualifies for is fixed at the awarded amount for up to eight semesters of undergraduate study,” Pikla said. “There is an erosion of value over time for those merit scholarships that are awarded. The only exception to that is the handful of students that qualify for the full tuition scholarship.”

Maloof explained why scholarships may appear to decrease over time.

“A student’s scholarship does not change over time — the tuition and fees may change, but the scholarship’s amount would stay the same over the four years and the semesters a students stay here,” Maloof said. “The value will decrease as the tuition increases, but the actual scholarship amount stays the same.”

As Pikla mentioned, only the full tuition scholarship’s amount changes over time.

“Of all the academic merit scholarships, they stay flat. There is one exception, which is Trinity Tower Scholars day winners”, Maloof said. “Those who won the full tuition — theirs increases commensurate with the tuition increases. But 99 percent of the

Grant. When this happens, the student doesn’t lose any financial support — just the honor of the scholarship name,” Gaddis wrote.

“Students are also given the opportunity to appeal to receive scholarship in a probationary status if there were circumstances beyond their control which prevented them from meeting the minimum requirements.”

Students must be enrolled full-time at Trinity, except under certain circumstances for those in their senior year.

“For students who are seniors that are graduating, in their last semester that don’t need a full time course load to complete, we definitely do consider an exception to the policy for them,” Pikla said.

These scholarships only apply to students in their undergraduate studies, though students may apply for graduate scholarships if enrolled in a program at Trinity.

“There are donors who have established endowments for specific majors and the academic department themselves facilitate those dollars,” Pikla said. “Because of how Trinity is structured with the declaring of majors at the end of sophomore year, typically those dollars are awarded to rising juniors and seniors.” academic merit scholarships offered at Trinity Some of these scholarships include will stay flat.” the Semmes Distinguished Scholars in To continue to receive the scholarships, Science Award, the Baker Duncan Fine students must maintain a minimum Arts Scholarship, Music Scholarships, and cumulative GPA, as well as complete 75 Theatre Scholarships. percent of the courses that they attempt after More information about possible the add/drop period. Glendi Gaddis, assistant departmental scholarships is available on vice president of student financial services, the Trinity University website, as well as explained the GPA requirement. information on how to receive additional “In general, the minimum cumulative financial aid.

GPA for financial aid eligibility is 2.0 but the While these scholarships are fixed, tuition scholarships awarded through the Admissions for students is not and often increases year to process have a minimum 2.5 requirement. year. Maloof explained why this occurs.

The Trinity Tower Scholarship, which is full“To be a better Trinity tomorrow than tuition, requires a minimum 3.0 cumulative we are today takes resources. The largest GPA,” Gaddis wrote in an email interview. expenditure at the institution is not only “The GPA is monitored at the end of each faculty and staff salary and benefits but also spring semester to determine if the scholarship financial aid,” Maloof said. “Those numbers can be renewed for the next academic year.” increase year over year. To increase the quality If a students’ grades suffer enough so that and merits of a Trinity education, that costs they fall below the GPA level required for their money, and that’s why we have to increase scholarship, the university offers alternatives tuition every year.” for financial support.

For those interested in where their money “When a student falls below the standard, goes, these investments include renovations they are considered ineligible for the done to dormitories, and other academic scholarship. If they demonstrate financial buildings such as the Center for Sciences need, the scholarship is converted to Trinity and Innovation and the Bell Center.

BCycle reaches anniversary of being on campus $15,000 station has not met expectations JORDAN BRUCE | WEBMASTER jbruce2@trinity.edu It’s been one year since BCycle moved onto Trinity’s campus with a bike station at the entrance to lower campus, next to the Verna McLean residence hall. However, the $15,000 station hasn’t lived up to its goal.

The process to bring BCycle to campus began in 2014, with Justin Adler, thenpresident of the Association of Student Representatives (now Student Government Association, or SGA) leading the charge. At the time, the goal for installation was early Jan. 2015.

After deliberation by future SGA administrations and licensing issues stalling plans, the station was finally installed in Feb. 2017. As part of the move to bring another alternative mode of transportation to campus, SGA contributed to the cost of the station — $15,000 — and purchased 500 passes to distribute to students. Senior Nick Santulli, president of SGA when the station was installed, explained that the program

hasn’t done as well as hoped, but still has respectable ridership.

“I think that for services on campus, it’s important to remind students that they exist,” Santulli said. “I think that we have a solid number of riders, but there is room for improvement.”

SGA has also been giving out passes at events regularly, and while many passes are taken, few are used. David Tuttle, dean of students, shared statistics that show usage of passes has not taken off. In the last year, only 31 passes of the original 500 have been redeemed. Tuttle believes that this number is not incumbent on students to increase.

“For students, it’s not their responsibility to make the program work,” Tuttle said. “[Students] have free will, and they have the ability to use it or not. If paying for it is an impediment, it shouldn’t be.”

Tuttle said that SGA should really be doing a better job at promoting the service if it is to take off.

“SGA needs to take ownership; they invested the funds in it,” Tuttle said. “They need to constantly promote it.”

There is certainly interest at San Antonio BCycle headquarters to engage students in their program. In an email interview, Angel Whitley, community engagement at BCycle

Trinity’s BCycle station was brought to campus Feb. 2017. The program has reached its first anniversary; however, it hasn’t met expectations. photo by CHLOE SONNIER, staff photographer

San Antonio, wrote that they are excited to engage with Trinity.

“We love being on Trinity and would like to get the opportunity to engage the station more, do student and faculty education and get some student ride events on the calendar,” Whitley wrote.

SGA hopes to engage more with students and reach double-digit usage at Trinity’s station. In December, the station saw five rides, while January brought three total rides.

According to Santulli, you can pick up a free 24-hour BCycle pass during tabling by SGA or at most SGA-sponsored events.

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 •

NEWS

Gause addresses the “new Cold War” in Middle East Lecturer counters claim that war is due to religious disputes NOELLE BARRERA | NEWS REPORTER nbarrera@trinity.edu In his lecture “The New Middle East Cold War,”F. Gregory Gause attempted to explain the causes of the current Middle Eastern political crisis by focusing on the effects of destabilizing states.

Gause is the professor of international affairs and head of the international affairs department at Texas A & M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, and he is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable voices on Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf.

David Lesch, Trinity professor of history, introduced the lecture, which occurred Feb. 21 in the Northrup basement. Lesch and Gause have been colleagues since they attended graduate school at Harvard together.

Gause began the lecture by defining the concept of a “New Middle East Cold War.” “It’s a hot war in that people are dying, but it’s a cold war in that we are not seeing state-to-state fighting,” Gause said. “This is a war fought out through proxies. This war is also being fought out specifically in the policies of weak Arab states.”

According to Gause, this war is a modern version of the Arab Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s, which also involved indirect warfare and attempts to influence the policies of weak states, much like the Cold War that occurred between the United States and Russia during the same time period.

Gause broadened the scope of the new war to “Middle East Cold War” because the new war involves actors like Turkey and Iran who would not consider themselves to be Arab.

In the lecture, Gause argued that the crisis is not due to sectarianism, which is generally defined as excessive attachment to a religious sect. In the Middle East, the primary sectarian conflict is between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam.

Gause cited the facts that countries without sectarian tensions have been afflicted by the crisis, and that in many cases, the divisions are along ethnic or ideological fault lines rather than religious sects. The main players, Saudi Arabia and Iran, both claim that they are above sectarianism and accuse the other side. Disputes between members of the Sunni faith also prove that the conflict cannot be explained by sectarian rivalry alone, according to Gause.

He claimed that, instead, the current situation is due to a breakdown of state authority, and the ensuing power vacuum is what leads to a rise in sectarianism.

“When the states break down, it can no longer provide what states are supposed to provide, which is first and foremost security.

When the state can’t provide security, where do you go for protection?” Gause asked.

“That’s where sectarianism comes in. …

People go to communities for the requisites of everyday live. In many countries, those communities tend to be sectarian.”

Other countries, such as Lebanon, do not have strong sectarian affiliations.

“Lebanon is the dog’s breakfast of religion. It has Sunni Muslims, it has Shia Muslims, it has Droos Muslims, and it has every possible variety of Christian you can imagine,” Gause said. “If you want to study the history of ancient religions, you can go to Lebanon because they all still exist.”

Politically weak and fragmented countries like Lebanon are under ideological siege from Iran, which Gause characterized as the “winner” of the new Cold War. Like Egypt in

F. GREGORY GAUSE, professor of international affairs at A&M University, lectures about the causes of the current Middle Eastern political crisis. Gause defined the concept of a new Cold War in the Middle East. Gause argued that the crisis is not an effect of sectarianism, the excessive attachment to religious sects.

Rather, the countries without sectarian tensions have been afflicted by the crisis. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

the previous Arab Cold War, Iran has been able to seize political control of weaker states with a combination of ideological persuasion and force.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is the “loser” of the war: despite having more money, they have no personal troops, and few reliable regional allies.

The Obama administration was characterized by a reluctance to engage with the Middle Eastern political situation. Instead, the administration focused on forging a nuclear deal with Iran and opposing terror-based organizations like ISIS and Al-Qaeda. The Trump administration may be tougher on countries like Iran as well as ISIS and Al-Qaeda. However, Trump’s “America First”

concept implies that the United States may be less active in Middle Eastern countries. Gause speculated that the administration may still be “putting the pieces together” and considering what course of action to take.

Junior Simba Machingaidze attended the event and explained the importance of staying informed about international politics.

“I think, given the political situation we have, it’s important to have a wider breadth of knowledge, especially for foreign relations students who can take up positions and create change,” Machingaidze said. “And especially being American, that’s a huge reason why education is important.”

Jack Shull, a Trinity alum who graduated in 1982, also emphasized how learning about the world can help people to make better choices.

“With regards to this subject, there are so many opinions,” Shull said “We want to learn so that we don’t make the same mistakes.”

Students interested in the topics covered in Gause’s lecture can read his numerous books, which include The International Relations of the Persian Gulf, Oil Monarchies: Domestic and Security Challenges in the Arab Gulf States, and Saudi-Yemeni Relations: Domestic Structures and Foreign Influence, to learn more.

LET’S HEAR YOUR VOICE.

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

FROM TH E EDITORS’ DESK

Let us meal-share, please The Trinity University Dining Services Request for Proposals (RFP) committee, which comprises students as well as university faculty and staff, has decided what food vendor it will recommend to the Board of Trustees.

But the panelists can’t yet say who they’re recommending, or whether they urge the university leadership to renew a contract with longstanding vendor Aramark.

No sweat, that’s business. And the final decision is ultimately up to the governing board, not the RFP committee.

But we urge the administration to listen closely to students’ needs and wants when it decides who to work with. We advance a modest suggestion. Please ensure that the next dining contract gives students the freedom to

use their meal swipes for Mabee Dining Hall as they please.

At present, Aramark employees are barred from letting students use their own meal swipes to allow someone else to enter Mabee Dining Hall. For some reason, or maybe no reason at all, students have to burn a portion of their precious few Bonus Bucks to pay for another’s meal.

First-years and sophomores cling to those bucks with their lives, since they’re the ticket to campus’ best and most convenient food options. Juniors are constantly bothered by their senior friends, who frequently ask to leech from the former’s Bonus Buck stash.

Let’s be frank. The $9 price tag for dinner does not come across as a good value when bringing friends, family and other visitors to share a meal with you on

TRINICATS Lazy Saturday

campus. Clubs that eat breakfast or dinner together daily, especially Greek organizations, also eat through their members’ Bonus Buck reservoir to allow seniors to break bread with their friends.

It’s not just inconvenient and nonsensical. It’s potentially damaging for low-income, foodinsecure students who live away from campus but can’t afford the inflated prices listed here.

Food insecurity may not be prevalent among Trinity students, who are required to pay for a meal plan in order to live here, but any step toward reducing the financial burdens of college attendance is a step in the right direction.

We think this is a fair, simple and widely supported idea and hope the RFP committee and Board of Trustees agree.

cartoon by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

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.

Change the system:

Advising students JONAH WENDT GUEST COLUMNIST cwendt@trinity.edu

Our current advising system is broken. It provides no incentive for getting it right. At least for the most part. Each year, a handful of professors receive awards for being good advisers. However, this system isn’t working. Especially in light of the transition to the Pathways system.

I know this because last semester a handful of first-years showed up to my dorm with tears in their eyes. They had no clue how to craft their schedule for the next semester. Each one of them had stated that they had met with their adviser, but that their advisers had been little to no help.

Whether this was the fault of the students or the fault of the advisers, I do not know. I proceeded to sit down with them and create their schedule for them.

All of them loved their schedules that I made for them and I have yet to hear a single complaint.

Trinity is too good of a school for students to struggle with their schedules.

Especially when we have the resources to help them.

However, I have a solution to ensure that this crisis does not happen again. Each year, provide rising juniors and seniors with the opportunity to apply to be advising assistants in the department(s) of their respective major(s) and minor(s).

These assistants would sit in on advising meetings between first-year and their advisors. They

would be able to offer actual advice on which classes to take and which pathways to pursue. They would also be available to meet with the students outside of business hours, flexibility that most professors do not have.

The fact is that students have a better understanding of the difficulty of a course than someone who is a master in the field.

Furthermore, the advising assistants could be given bonuses based on how satisfied students were with their schedules.

Additionally, professors can only state what they have heard about particular classes whereas the student may have actually taken the course or almost certainly would know someone who had completed the course.

Advising assistants would also likely be more knowledgeable about classes outside of the department of the adviser and be able to provide quality feedback on First-year Experience (FYE) and Pathways courses.

Furthermore, the advising assistants could be given bonuses based on how satisfied students were with their schedules. This would create the incentive for advising assistants to get the schedules right.

Trinity is too good of a school for students to struggle with their schedules. Especially when we have the resources to help them.

It is always hard to criticize people who are in positions of authority, particularly people who have dedicated their lives to studying and become true masters of a subject.

Let’s open this dialogue and fix the system. Together, we can make Trinity great again.

Jonah Wendt is a senior political science major.

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 •

OPINION

TU President: Diversity and inclusion follow dignity DANNY ANDERSON GUEST COLUMNIST danderson@trinity.edu

February is Black History Month. Like colleges and universities across the country, Trinity University is marking this national observance with events and educational opportunities. The Trinity University Humanities Collective joined more than 60 schools around the country in a national day of crowd-sourced research to commemorate the birth of abolitionist Frederick Douglass this Feb. 14.

Members of Trinity’s Black Student Union (BSU) are sponsoring a number of events during the month, including a communications campaign called Hidden Black Figures that highlights the achievements of black Americans.

The newly created Diversity and Inclusion office, in collaboration with various student organizations, organized a private screening of the film “Black Panther” for about 130 Trinity community members. This screening offered an opportunity for our community to engage in dialogue about the representations of people of color, comic books and popular culture.

Two years ago, students organized Trinity’s first Kente Ceremony. This student-led initiative recognizes the achievements of our African-American students as they graduate.

This spring; students with the Trinity University Latino Association will host our first De Colores Ceremony to celebrate the achievements of our graduating Latino and Latina students.

I am proud to see what is emerging on the Trinity campus because of our students. I frequently use the words “curious, confident and catalysts” to describe characteristics you share.

You are curious about our world and confident to have the conversations that will shine a light on

FAITH DECKARD, senior, addresses a crowd of students at a solidarity vigil organized by the Humanities Collective on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017.

People of the community were invited to stand in solidarity for the victims of recent violent attacks. photo by AMANI CANADA, staff photographer.

topics that we must examine in order to live up to our values. And you are catalysts for change by making these conversations inclusive, overcoming the polarization we often find around us today.

At Trinity, we recognize diversity and embrace inclusion in order to build a stronger, more united campus community. Dee Jones, vice president for Academic Affairs, reminded our faculty: “Every teaching act contributes to a student’s ability to

carve out a dignified life defined by respect for others — no matter their difference, perceived or real.”

Dee’s reminder that “every teaching act” contributes to our goals also applies to us as individuals. Every person on our campus has a role to play in making sure that Trinity University achieves the equitable and inclusive community to which we aspire.

It is not a responsibility solely of students of color to set the tone for our campus community.

We all share the responsibility to create a community in which a dignified life is defined by respect for others. There is much work to be done, and I am inspired to see you leading the way.

Danny Anderson is the university president.

Porn isn’t the problem, sexual assault is

Framing pornography as the cause of sexual violence shifts blame away from criminals and bystanders BENJAMIN GONZALEZ OPINION COLUMNIST bgonzale@trinity.edu

The idea that pornography and a casual sexual culture are at the root of sexual assault is a crude misapplication of blame that, when pinned to the #MeToo movement, belittles the struggles of those who have been assaulted.

The simple expectation that people shouldn’t abuse other people should stand on its own, but some would rather attempt to pin it on a supposed social disease: One that can be cured only through the adoption of a conservative sexual culture.

Pornography is an item that is often looked at in a similar way to violent video games — as a social ill that negatively affects impressionable youth and dehumanizes victims of serious crimes.

However, this viewpoint only looks at pornographic or violent content at face value, ignoring how people truly interact with it. Some feel that pornography offers them economic mobility and control over their own labor, causing feminist scholars to study the potential benefits of the industry for those who produce it. Of course, there are plenty of ways in which the pornography industry can be exploitative of women, but we should be advocating for laws that protect workers in such environments rather than demonize the industry as a whole.

On the consumer side, pornography can be a useful tool for becoming more

comfortable with your own sexuality, offering exposure to more diverse sexual encounters than the typical heterosexual half-censored romps seen in mainstream TV and movies.

Even in regards to crime and abuse, there are studies that indicate no real connection between increased access to pornography and sexual assault.

The supposed negative effects of pornography assume that consumption of it occurs in a vacuum. That is, that people who watch pornography are not exposed to any other social structures that increase awareness of human dignity.

Just because two people who engage in sex aren’t interested in seeing each other long term does not mean they have dehumanized each other as a “means to an end.”

This is plainly false. Even though pornography has the potential to give young people an unrealistic expectation of what sexual experiences are like, the real crime would be neglecting to provide proper sex education which ensures that people know that what they see on the internet is not always realistic. In the same way that we

train children not to hurt each other despite depictions of violence in media, we can easily educate our society’s youth on healthy sexual practices that teach the value of empathy and human decency towards your partner.

Casual sex does not have to be devoid of emotion. As one of our very own opinion columnists wrote a few weeks ago, “It’s a different subset of human sexual experience, but it’s still a human experience.”

The physicality of sexual experiences does not have to be entirely separated from emotion and care for your partner in that moment. Just because two people who engage in sex aren’t interested in seeing each other in the long term does not mean they have dehumanized each other as a “means to an end.”

On the contrary, they can explore their personal desires while learning about what they are and are not compatible with, an action that does not have to disregard the other person’s needs and desires.

As a confirmed Catholic myself, I know the Church frowns upon such acts as consumption of pornography and casual sex, and I will be the first to admit that the Bible didn’t exactly promote those practices.

But I also know that my faith teaches respect and consideration for how our actions affect others. My faith exists to help set moral standards that people should follow no matter what they may see on TV or on the internet.

To hold pornography and casual sex as examples of social degradation, especially in regards to the #MeToo movement, is obscenely simplistic. Blaming these practices for the sexual assault of women and men in our country takes the blame away from

the monsters who participated in such unacceptable crimes.

Blame those who knew it was happening and looked the other way. Blame those who shame victims for speaking out about their abuse.

The supposed negative effects of pornography assume that consumption of it occurs in the vacuum.

That is, that people who watch pornography are not exposed to any other social structures that increase awareness of human dignity.

But most of all, blame the assailants themselves for thinking it was OK to treat other human beings like sexual objects.

I think we can expect people not to do that, no matter what kinds of media they are consuming.

Benjamin Gonzalez is a sophomore anthropology major.

OPINION • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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Crystal ball predictions: Primary election season illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

MANFRED WENDT OPINION COLUMNIST mwendt@trinity.edu

TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 122 This race comes down to Chris Fails against the incumbent Lyle Larson. Greg Abbott has come out in support of Chris Fails, which is highly unusual for a sitting governor. Larson is one of Abbott’s loudest critics.

If it weren’t for the open CD-21 seat, this race would be receiving more coverage than it currently is. If it weren’t for that, conservative activists would have been able to focus their energy on removing one of the most liberal republicans from the state house.

However, congressional seats will always be prioritized over smaller, less important state-level races. Because of the incumbency advantage and the impossibility of a run off, I predict that Lyle Larson will win.

He won’t break 60 percent and it is very likely that Chris Fails and Lyle Larson will be running against each other come 2020.

Chris Fails does have momentum coming from governor Abbott’s endorsement, though.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Chris Fails wins, but if he loses he can largely blame it on running out of time. The Democrats are not running a candidate in the district.

It’s prediction time!

The rules for the game are simple: One person, one vote. The candidate who receives the most votes during the March 6 primary becomes the party nominee, unless they fail to win more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the primary goes to a runoff.

Think of this as a sudden-death overtime.

The runoff election will be held May 22 between the top two candidates.

To be clear, these are predictions of who I think will win; this doesn’t mean I support the candidate or want them to win.

Every office in the state is up for election this year. This means from governor and senators, all the way down to local judges, the people will decide their representatives.

How do you vote? If you are registered at Trinity, then you simply frogger across to Alamo Stadium and cast your ballot. If you aren’t registered to vote locally, then you better have requested an absentee ballot.

That will be in your mailbox, in the Tiger’s Den. Hope you still have that little business card from freshman year with your mail box number and combination!

Time for the predictions.

GOVERNOR The Republican incumbent Greg Abbott has had this race on ice. The only question is what number comes after 90 percent. I’ll throw a dart and go with 96 percent of the vote.

Democrats: Doesn’t matter, maybe the person who called Abbott a “neo-fascist”? If you honestly believe Greg Abbott is a neofascist you shouldn’t run for school board, much less something with actual responsibility.

U.S. SENATE Republicans: Ted Cruz will again receive the nomination, none of his competitors appear to be running a campaign seeing as

I haven’t heard anything out of them. The question is how close to Abbott’s vote total does he get? Due to what occurred at the 2016 National Republican Convention, there was a possibility that Cruz would receive a serious primary challenger from the Trump lane or the moderate lane but neither seems to have appeared.

Democrats: According to my third-favorite Democrat, Alexander Perkowski, Beto O’Rouke is going to win and that is good enough for me.

U.S. CONGRESS DISTRICT 21 Republicans: This is the interesting race.

Eighteen candidates go in and only two come out for the runoff. Last election cycle, Trump turned political science on its head, so this cycle it better start making sense again. Under this argument, Chip Roy should finish first come March 6. As you would know from my last article he is endorsed by Ted Cruz and Rick Perry. This is where the trouble begins.

There are many candidates who have a shot at getting second.

one says any possible evidence for God isn’t good enough because there must be an undiscovered scientific explanation, then that’s not really openminded. That’s just assuming no evidence is good enough unless it’s scientific evidence. It’s making up your mind before you’ve given God a chance.

If you are an atheist reading this, answer the following question: What specific evidence would make you believe in God? I’m not wondering what type of evidence, but come up with a specific example of something that would change your mind. One reasonable answer to this I have heard is to request a miracle. For example, one might pray and then have an amputated limb spontaneously regenerated.

However, this doesn’t exactly solve the problem if we are to avoid an argument from ignorance. Calling a spontaneously regenerated limb after prayer evidence for God is just saying, “I don’t know what caused it, therefore God.” It’s a God of the gaps.

No serious defender of the existence of God would put forth an argument in the form of, “I don’t know, therefore God.” Instead, he or she would simply point out the fact that there are good reasons to believe certain things will never be explained naturally, so they must be explained supernaturally. In particular, we have reason to believe the origin of the universe will never be explained naturally.

Because the beginning of the universe was the beginning of all space, time and matter, its cause must transcend these. And because space, matter

and time are the mediums through which we do science, the original cause of the universe cannot be explained scientifically.

On atheism and open-mindedness ALEXANDER JACOBS GUEST COLUMNIST ajacobs1@trinity.edu

G.K. Chesterton, a notable convert to Catholicism from the 20th century, once rightly pointed out, “Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”

So are atheists open-minded? If not, is their mind shut on something solid?

In some of my experiences, if asked whether atheists are open-minded, they will state that they are. They say that if you show them the evidence that God exists, they will believe.

However, if presented with evidence for the existence of God, they’ll often reject it thinking you are putting forth a flawed God of the gaps argument. They don’t want to rush to put God as the explanation when we can just wait for science to explain things.

At first, this seems rational. Science has a great track record of explanatory power. For example, it can help us explain the evolution of life, show that the universe began to exist 13.8 billion years ago and help us to cure complex diseases.

However, the nature of evidence for God takes on a philosophical form rather than scientific. If

Democrats: Joseph Kopser has heavily outraised the rest of his field so by any mechanism should win the primary easily. Still, the district is considered solid red so lets hope he spends some of his campaign funds offsetting his carbon costs as he campaigns into November.

If you are an atheist reading this, answer the following question: What specific evidence would make you believe in God? If you believe that amputated limbs won’t grow back from nothing without a divine cause, then why is the universe different? If you are truly open-minded, then go look at reasons that God exists from the best philosophers, past and present — Edward Feser, St. Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, etc. — if you find them unconvincing, at least after you have examined the reasons critically, you can say what is wanting about the arguments.

That’s a lot better than just assuming they don’t succeed and not bothering to do some critical thinking on one of the most important issues there is.

Alexander Jacobs is a sophomore economics major.

TEXAS HOUSE DISTRICT 121 Republicans: Many candidates have spent a lot of money on this race attempting to replace Joe Straus. It is going to come down to one establishment candidate and one conservative candidate in a runoff.

Steve Allison has been endorsed by the San Antonio Express-News, a newspaper that has endorsed Republicans in the past.

This endorsement is enough to get him into my magic crystal ball prediction. On the conservative side, I can’t draw a line between the two.

Remember, this is coming from a crystal ball, and I will probably be wrong.

Manfred Wendt is a junior political science major.

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10

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 •

OPINION

Trinity’s arduous professor-picking process CASEY FULLER UNIVERSITY STAFF COLUMNIST cfuller@trinity.edu Trinity has pretty awesome professors.

Perhaps you’ve noticed this?

Professors whose novels come out on Vintage Books. Professors who are the Poet Laureate of the State of Texas. Professors spirited-off to appear on Dr. Oz, who, after they appear on national television, rush back to campus to teach their classes. Professors whose books appear on Ivy League presses.

Professors who are in charge of the First-Year Experience program. Professors whose books about the Harlem Renaissance win awards.

Professors who think it’s no big deal when their articles appear in the most import journals in their field.

These are some pretty awesome examples made even more awesome by the fact that these professors all come from a single department at Trinity — the department I work in: the English Department.

Of course, writing articles, publishing books and occasionally appearing on national TV make up only a fraction of the work professors do. Perhaps you’ve noticed this also?

As a staff member, I see and am often in awe of what professors are actually called upon to do at Trinity. A brief and very incomplete list of these activities might include: teaching, counseling, writing recommendations, attending meetings, chairing committees, giving guest lectures, running book clubs, traveling to conferences, planning next semester’s courses,

serving on boards, reviewing articles, evaluating the performance of other professors and on and on.

Not to mention, you know, having families, pets, putting gas in the car, planning dinner and all the other regular requirements of living.

Such efficient, good-willed, enormously smart ambassadors of the liberal arts — if you are like me, you may have asked yourself some version of this question: Where does Trinity get these people?

Recently, I found exactly where professors come from when the English Department completed a call for a professor of early modern literature.

Future professors pay attention here.

The process started out as what looked like a regular job search. There was a job description, a website to apply to, and applications came pouring in. In total, close to 150 people applied.

These candidates were then vetted by Human Resources and a committee of English and non-English faculty whittled these applicants down to 12 finalists.

Already there was great consideration in the process.

Then, during winter break — did I mention professors do more than write articles? — a small congregation of English professors from Trinity travelled to the Modern Language Association (MLA) convention to interview the 12 candidates. This year the MLA convention was held in New York and, of course, a blizzard broke out. Schedules were juggled, flights altered, coats buttoned. All the candidates were interviewed and from the 12 finalists, three were chosen to travel to Trinity and interview on campus.

Pause here and consider the combined effort to secure these final three candidates:

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

thousands of pages of documents were submitted in the application process, a handful of Trinity professors read through these documents (while teaching), HR conducted the appropriate checks, meetings were conducted to consider the candidates, flights and hotel rooms were booked, schedules were created, schedules scrambled due to a blizzard and, I’m sure, dozens and dozens of small contributions and considerations were made I will never know anything about.

And yet, here the final three suddenly were, on campus in January: efficient, goodwilled, enormously smart ambassadors of the liberal arts. I’d seen their likes before.

Once at Trinity, the final three maintained a tight schedule. They taught, gave a talk about their scholarly work, lunched with students, ate dinner with members of the English department faculty, received a tour of campus, visited our library and met with president Danny Anderson and vice president Deneese Jones.

Then, after the final three left, after more meetings, after more consideration, a professor of early modern literature was chosen.

Who, exactly? As you will see this fall, somebody pretty awesome.

Casey Fuller is an administrative assistant in the English department.

Personal responsibility can’t fix everything GABRIEL LEVINE OPINION COLUMNIST glevine@trinity.edu

Over winter break I met with my conservative middle school debate partner, who I hadn’t seen in four years, to catch up and talk politics.

Our conversation was wide-ranging, but one segment in particular has stuck with me as illustrative of a core disjunction between liberals and conservatives: The notion and conception of personal responsibility.

Obviously, other political subcategories, such as progressive and libertarian, respectively could be substituted to an extent and conservatives and liberals are not monolithic in their stances. However, we make do with imperfect terminology where we can.

Back to the conversation. I brought up the growing enactment of voter ID laws across the country by Republican legislatures.

To me, these laws are straightforwardly and obviously racist, particularly given that Republican state representatives have a tendency to go on TV and say, out loud, that they intend these laws to decrease Democratic and minority turnout.

My friend, to my surprise, disagreed. To him, obtaining basic voter ID to vote was a matter of personal responsibility. Is it so much to ask people to obtain the proper ID necessary to vote? Isn’t it the “soft bigotry of low expectations” for liberals to suggest that poor minorities can’t obtain ID? This line of thinking is very common among conservatives, particularly with respect to poor and minority communities, but also to those with substance issues — the latter is changing, but we still have Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. They conceive “personal responsibility” as the default status

and concomitantly assess the failure of individuals and communities as deserved due to individual, personal or moral failings — there is often, but not necessarily, a religious component to this conception.

The notion of personal responsibility, tied up as it is with notions of “freedom,” is platitudinous and wrongheaded.

[Conservatives] conceive “personal responsibility” as the default status and concomitantly assess the failure of individuals and communities as deserved due to individual, personal or moral failings ...

We would do better to think of personal responsibility as a trait that exists to varying extents within different people as a function of variables generally beyond their control.

These variables come in two forms. First, innate ability, and second, the environment.

With respect to innate ability, certain people simply have exceptional natural aptitude.

For example, some fraction of the population are math prodigies and we would never say that it’s due to a failure of personal responsibility that I, as an adult, don’t have a knack for number theory. Likewise, across the spectrum of talents, certain people will be naturally above average and others below average.

Regarding environmental factors, most people should recall specific events in their development that were particularly important in establishing the traits they have today.

For many people who are more well-off, these include books in the house, attentive parents, well-funded schools and teachers who look like them.

For kids who lack these exposures, it is unsurprising that they grow up to have worse outcomes. Indeed, research shows that minority students are more likely to achieve when they have teachers — role models — who share their race and gender.

Research likewise shows that the stress of living in poverty essentially leads to a reduction in cognitive ability, making it more difficult for people in poverty to make the “right” decisions. Further research suggests that, due to structural factors of the economy, “escaping poverty requires almost 20 years with nothing going wrong.”

A typical conservative response to this kind of evidence and thinking is to bring up those people who come from poor, disadvantaged communities and have nonetheless made themselves successful.

These people are themselves often conservative and attribute their success to their own personal responsibility.

Consider, though, that conservatives apply this argument inconsistently. If ever there are burdensome regulations on small business, conservatives never hold up a few successful businesses and suggest that any business that has failed or was unable to navigate bureaucratic red tape was simply taking insufficient personal responsibility.

Yet, it is this precise type of argument that’s used to justify obliging poor people who have been managing fine without a voting ID to spend their time going through a byzantine bureaucracy to obtain one.

In reality, such personal testimony from conservatives who have escaped poverty

shows only that they don’t appreciate how their success is due to a statistical fluke, a lucky combination of innate ability and fortuitous environmental experiences and exposures that enabled them to succeed.

Certainly, personal responsibility and self-sufficiency are important, valuable traits that we should seek to foster.

Personal testimony from conservatives who have escaped poverty shows only that they don’t appreciate how their success is due to a statistical fluke, a lucky combination of innate ability ... and environmental experiences.

However, personal responsibility is not infinitely elastic in its capacity to overcome structural forces and the degree of personal responsibility within individuals is also a function of structural factors. Like all traits, it exists on a probability distribution among the population.

Conservatives should ditch the ineffective platitudes and look at the data that shows the structural factors that need to be addressed to shift that distribution in a useful direction.

Gabriel Levine is a senior chemistry major.

graphic by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

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HOUSING

Editorial: Welcome to our Trinihome

illustration by JULIA POAGE, staff illustrator

We’ve written about the three-year on-campus residency requirement before.

Multiple times, in fact. It comes up a lot, and for good reason. Students want independence and freedom when they come to college, but when they’re locked into the residence halls for three years without true options, they can get a bit restless.

Despite this, it is important to remember that everyone has to go through the same thing, and that one day, you will likely look back on these days and have fond memories of the Herndon desks, the Thomas ceiling tiles, and the South sewage backup.

If you’re really feeling cooped up on campus, remember that you have options.

Marriage is certainly on the table — if you are married, you can get a waiver to the residency requirement. An option that requires less commitment than tying the knot is through study abroad. You can travel to six continents for either a semester or a year and truly get outside of the Trinity bubble.

Finally, you can commit to taking advantage of resources on campus. Don’t like the food at Mabee? Head to one of the many kitchens scattered across campus. Want to warm up on a cold night? Microwave some water and drink some tea (the newsroom favorite is passionfruit papaya black tea).

So as you read the housing special section, keep in mind that as students, we are all sharing the same experiences.

While we might not all play the same sports, be the same major, or participate in the same extracurriculars, we all have one thing in common — we’ve all suffered through the ups and downs of on-campus housing together.

It’s all Greek to me: Being GDI in a frat house As an outsider, living with fraternity brothers has its ups and downs. But mostly ups GABRIEL LEVINE | OPINION COLUMNIST glevine@trinity.edu With senior year at Trinity comes the opportunity to live off campus. For most people, this involves either an apartment or a house with one to three other people. I, however, decided to go for the sitcom scenario of living in a house with five other guys, all members of the Iota Chi Rho fraternity, of which I am not a member. Now, after roughly six months of living among the frat guys, I have some reflections.

First, the good. In general, living in a six-people house creates a very nice sense of community. There are always people around, playing video games or working at the dining room table. Having a good variety of roommates is nice, and the conversations stay fresh. Very often I’ll have several good conversations in the course of one evening about both light and serious topics.

More than that, having several people in the house can result in a kind of spontaneous nucleation in which suddenly everyone hangs out and chats for a while, taking some time out of our evenings. This isn’t always good for productivity, but it’s certainly healthier than procrastinating by going on social media or watching Netflix alone in a dorm room.

An unexpectedly positive part of living in the house with five fraternity members has been getting a closer look into the actual functions of a fraternity, like Jane Goodall going to live among chimps. I’ve seen — in a way I didn’t appreciate before — the extent to which the brothers try to look out for each other and support one another.

I’ve also seen how personal disagreements and personality clashes within an organization can come to a head and be managed or healed. I’ve seen how they

CONSTANTINE KOULDUKIS, left, and GABRIEL LEVINE, right, live together, despite Levine not being a member of the Iota Chi Rho fraternity. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

handle the administrative aspect of running an organization, how knowledge and traditions are passed down from generation to generation, and how the interplay of tradition, identity, change and fun is negotiated. It’s been gratifying and insightful to observe and I appreciate it a great deal.

Of course, there are downsides to living in a house with five members of a fraternity.

The house often doesn’t get quiet until late into the night on weekends, and the weekend

can sometimes be a Tuesday. As someone who tends to need quiet to fall asleep, having to adjust my sleeping schedule to hours I wouldn’t necessarily prefer has become part of life. Of course, this isn’t specific to living with frat boys, and would probably be the case for living with any large number of college-aged males.

By far the worst aspect of living in a house with five other guys, though, has been the kitchen. My god, the kitchen.

For background, my dad is a chef and just about every night for four years of high school entailed him coming home and getting angry that I had left dirty dishes in the sink or on the counter instead of washing them and putting them in the dishwasher. At the time, I resented what I perceived as much ado about nothing, but then, I didn’t cook in high school.

In a house, one has to cook and there really is nothing quite so bothersome as coming down into the kitchen in the morning needing to quickly scramble some eggs before class and finding the frying pan coated in muck in the sink.

That’s just the least of the horrors. Silverware is constantly left on countertops, disposable containers of mac and cheese powder are left by the stove, much needed spatulas disappear into rooms, pots full of residue are put in the sink to soak and left for days until no one remembers who put it there originally, and on and on and on.

I now understand why my dad was so bothered by me doing the same thing that my housemates do now. They are, of course, aware of my frustrations with the kitchen. But if it took my dad four years to drill cleanliness into just me, it’s not surprising that six months has been insufficient to train five of them.

So that’s life.

Overall, I’m very glad that I made the living choice I did. The downsides — while frustrating in the moment — have been far outweighed by the unique upsides.

So, there are two takeaways. One, living in a house is great and I would definitely take it over an apartment.

Two, living in a house with a large number of fraternity brothers is a unique, rewarding, sometimes frustrating experience that I would absolutely recommend doing once and then never again.

HOUSING • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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How do students impact housing inequality in SA? In America’s most economically segregated city, students’ choice of housing matters NOELLE BARRERA | NEWS REPORTER nbarrera@trinity.edu Trinity students make up a large portion of apartment seekers in San Antonio. According to the official Trinity University website, 75 percent of seniors live off campus. Many students live in Trinity’s City Vista apartment complex, but other students live in other apartments and houses in the Trinity area. As such, students’ off-campus housing choices have the potential to interact with the larger city housing market, particularly where housing inequalities are concerned.

A study from the Martin Prosperity Institute in 2015 found that the San Antonio metropolitan area is among the 10 most economically segregated large metro areas in the country, which means that the city is highly stratified by economic brackets — richer residents live in some areas of the city, while poorer residents live in others.

“[The solution] is

investing in human beings, so that they, in turn, can invest in their houses or whatever they want to invest in.�

CHRISTINE DRENNON ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

According to the 2015 Overall Economic Segregation Index (OESI), San Antonio is the third in the nation with regard to overall economic segregation. Economic segregation has negative consequences for families, especially children, who receive a lower quality of education based on their location.

  Â?Â? Â? Â? Â? Â

­ € @trinity.edu

graphic by LIZ DAY, graphics editor

Christine Drennon, associate professor in the sociology and anthropology departments and director of the urban studies department, wrote an article in MySA about the origins of economic segregation in San Antonio.

The city’s economic segregation has a close relationship to the neighborhood filtering model: Rich people go to new neighborhoods on the “urban fringe,� and over time, poorer people live in the oldest buildings — until the cycle starts anew and families are pushed out of their homes in the phenomenon known as gentrification. “Rental rates are going up right now, especially in areas surrounding this one, which has always traditionally been kind of affordable for families. ... Trinity students are one more set of people that are competing for a very limited number of rentals, and so it’s a supply and demand problem,� Drennon said. Trinity’s City Vista is good for the housing market because students who choose to live at the university-owned apartment complex don’t

put demand for other housing on the market, so prices may stay lower. That’s good for families looking for affordable housing.

But students’ choices alone can’t solve the housing inequality crisis. One of the solutions that Drennon identified in her article was redistributing funds from property taxes, which is up to the San Antonio city council and the mayor.

San Antonio’s city council has taken actions to create equality. At the Trinity event #2MinuteCivics earlier this month, state Rep. Diego Bernal spoke about the city’s new “equity over equality� policy that will be used to allocate funds from the 2018 budget. “The city actually scores every street with a number depending on the pavement conditions ... so all they’re doing is saying, wherever they are in the city, let’s find the ones that need the most help, start there, and work our way up,�

Bernal said.

This approach to dealing with street renovations is but one facet of the new policy,

which attempts to alleviate years of previous housing segregation by distributing funds to those who need it most.

However, wealth redistribution may not solve the roots of the problem. Drennon claims that a long-term solution for the city housing crisis is to create more social mobility for citizens. “[The solution] is investing in human beings, so that they, in turn, can invest in their houses or whatever they want to invest in,� Drennon said. “So then they don’t necessarily get pushed out of their neighborhoods if they can’t afford to live there anymore. That looks like education, it looks like better social services, those kinds of things.�

A way that Trinity students can create change is by becoming involved in local politics and helping to elect candidates who support education, social services and proposals that can reduce inequality in the city.

Texas will hold its 2018 primary elections on March 6, so it’s not too late to get registered to vote and make a change.

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HOUSING

Students talk living with furry friends

Looking into the care, constraints and conditions of having a pet in college

Residents enjoy the company that pets can provide. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

BOBBY WATSON | NEWS REPORTER rwatson@trinity.edu Trinity's requirement for undergraduate students to live their first three years on campus forces most of its students to live in dorms and, more recently, the City Vista apartment complex. This has made pet ownership not as easy compared to other universities. However, Trinity students have not been stopped. Multiple students have obtained various animals with different trials and rewards.

"While Finn is a lot of hard work, at the end of the day I think he’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me," said Maeve Davidson, junior.

Davidson takes care of an 80-pound, mixed-breed emotional support dog named Finn. The duo started their adventure last school year while Davidson resided on the eighth floor of Thomas residence hall. Despite the lack of room for herself, Davidson couldn't be happier as a dog owner, and things were only made easier once she moved to City Vista. To keep Finn happy and healthy, Davidson has to take him outside every five hours or so, and she often takes him on walks to the nearby dog park.

The only real issue Davidson has encountered with Finn was when he was blamed for peeing in the Thomas elevators when in reality it was belligerent Trinity students.

"Finn is more trained than most Trinity boys," said Davidson. "But Finn wasn't afraid of [the elevator], luckily. He's pretty comfortable with everything because he's an emotional support dog."

Mindy Tran also has had her emotional support cats reside with her in both oncampus dorms and in City Vista. Tran had a cat last year named Butler when she lived in South. The cats now resides with Tran's parents. To Tran, the cat was a godsend.

"If you ask anyone, cats are definitely my thing. I lived in a single last year, and coming home to a cat, not a person, was really nice because you don't have to talk to them unless you want to," Tran said.

Currently, Tran lives with her cat Juno in City Vista. Tran attends to her cat by providing her with a clean litter box as well as giving her ample toys and an unending source of affection.

Tran is unable to let Juno outside frequently, which is actually why she had to take Butler to live with her parents, where he has more room to run around.

Most cat owners have had minor difficulty in deciding where to place a litter box that is both convenient and out of the way of guests.

"There are struggles about where to keep the litter box, but it's a lot easier now that I live in City Vista and have my own bathroom," Tran said.

There come a host of issues in keeping a cat or dog on campus, but most owners say it's worth it, considering the bond they develop with their pet. Fish owners, on the other hand, have a whole different set of issues.

There are quite a few fish owners in the first and second-year dorms. They are sometimes owned by individual students, but often times by multiple people, such as friend groups or an entire hall. Fish, shockingly, require a lot less effort to take care of than dogs or cat.

"I fed [my fish] little fish pellets, like premium beta food, and then for the most part he just chilled," said Josh Kim, first-year.

Kim bought his fish, Lil' Papi, with a few other friends at the start of his first year. Lil' Papi, however, tragically died at the start of the second semester due to insufficient access to clean water.

Fish are a lot easier to take care of, but also apparently a lot easier to forget about, leading to neglect and eventual death.

"Recently, before winter break, my [fish] died, and we had a sad little funeral for him," said Elena McInroe, first-year.

McInroe only obtained her fish at the start of the last semester. "[My hall] collectively got a fish last year, and he lasted the entire year, but then died in the summer while [the students taking care of him] were staying on campus, so they buried him under a tree," said Peyton Wionzek, sophomore.

It appears that different pets warrant different types of pet owners. If you live on Trinity campus, just pray you're not a fish.

HOUSING • FEBRUARY 23, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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Eltex Properties, LLC Distinguished Rental Properties

Close to Trinity

Moral alignment of Trinity’s residence halls

Who made this?

Text: Georgie Riggs and Nathaniel Pigott Graphic: Liz Day File photos

Featuring 4 Bedroom, 3 Bath, Homes for Students Available Summer / Fall 2018

Contact:

454 Pinewood Lane 78216

eltexproperties@gmail.com

Newly remodeled, $2400/mo

call or text: 303.909.0114

2000 sq ft, 4 Bedroom, 3 Bath

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HOUSING

Dorm living from the archives:

1991 1991 1973

1971

1970

2018 - 2019 Lease $4,200 per month

1993

HOUSING • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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With whom shall I share a room?

How to handle roommate speed dating when you’re not sure whether you’re compatible

KARA KILLINGER | PULSE EDITOR kkilling@trinity.edu

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT, staff illustrator

Picking someone to live with is no insignificant task. In fact, it can be kind of terrifying — think about all those couples who date for years but still hesitate to pack their boxes and move into the same small apartment.

Even your best friend might have a few strange habits: What if they leave rotting food on the floor? What if they watch football games in the room, screaming at the screen all the while? What if they throw watermelons off the balcony for fun? Any of this might drastically decrease your quality of life for however long you live with them.

So, what’s a lonely student to do, in order to find their match?

At the tail end of my first year, I was without a living buddy and had no idea how to choose one. I attended a roommate mixer in the lobby of the Witt Center as a last resort.

Strangers surrounded me. We all nibbled on the candy that ResLife had set out and made desperate small talk.

I had a pretty good conversation with one girl, and I thought we were hitting it off until she revealed that she loved to have big groups of friends over to play video games.

Um, not my style. Give me anything but excessive socializing.

I was about ready to leave the awkward mixer in defeat, but then, a circle of girls formed, and we started asking each other questions. Were we quiet or loud? Up late or in bed early? What were we involved in on campus?

I got to talking with Kathleen, a girl I vaguely knew from my hall, a fellow

English major who happened to work at the Trinitonian, about where I was planning on interning in that fall.

She texted me an hour after the event, saying something like, “Hey, we seem to have a lot in common, maybe we should be roommates?”

SIDEWALK SYMPOSIUM Seniors: Would you rather live on campus or off campus?

“[Living on campus] is pretty expensive. I lived off campus over the summer and that was considerably cheaper.”

— Parker Pennington senior engineering major

“Since I was abroad last semester and I do not know if I am staying in San Antonio after graduation, living in the dorms seemed like the best, hassle-free option.”

— Clarissa Castañeda senior political science, international studies and Spanish major

“I think City Vista is a good middle ground. When you rent a house, you get more exposed to cooking and things like that, but when you’re living on campus, you really just eat at the dining hall, so it doesn’t really help you prepare for healthy living.”

— Caleb Barbor senior finance major

A bold suggestion, but there was no reason to decline. We figured we should properly meet first, so we got coffee at Einstein’s. We talked about English professors and TV. Since we had enough in common to hold a good conversation, we figured, why not? Let’s live together.

This year, if I do say so myself, Kathleen and I have made a great roommate duo.

We’re generally considerate with one another, a quality most commonly exemplified when one tries their best to not wake the other when they’re sleeping. We have a lot to talk about, since we both work as Trinitonian editors and share a major.

Perhaps, most conveniently for me, Kathleen was always available to provide a quick and intelligent answer to my questions back when I was a young Trinitonian intern — even though I probably annoyed her with my infinite journalism inquiries last semester.

In short, Kathleen and I are a good match, even though we had barely spoken to each other before we decided to make the roommate commitment.

What’s the moral of my story? Probably that you might have to take a risk, albeit a calculated one, when making this fundamental decision. Start with similar interests and go from there.

If you have to pick someone you don’t know well, it’s best to select from within your major, or perhaps your job, or at the very least your after-school hobby. If you find someone who likes the same stuff and seems generally considerate, those traits alone may add up to an ideal person with whom to room.

Most importantly, put your best foot forward. I knew people last year who had no roommate options but still didn’t attend the mixer, and to that ridiculous opting-out I say, come on y’all.

If you don’t at least try, you won’t even have a chance of finding your roommate-soulmate.

LECTURE:

Speaker: Father Larry Christian Date: Tuesday, February 27th Time: 7:30PM - 8:30PM Place: Tehuacana Room

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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.

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Volunteers work to help refugees Intl. Humanitarian Crisis Initiative sees immigration up close MAGGIE LUPO | PULSE REPORTER mlupo@trinity.edu Have you been genuinely worried about whether you would be able to stay in the same country as your family? Have you ever thought about what it would be like if you had to move to a new place where you had no idea how to even call the police? Hopefully not, but the members of the International Humanitarian Crisis Initiative interact with people for whom these worries are a daily reality.

The International Humanitarian Crisis Initiative (IHCI) is an organization that Yara Samman and Anthoula Christodoulou, then a junior and senior respectively, formed in spring 2016. The group assembles and organizes volunteers who then help refugees in the San Antonio community. They began with a focus on Syrian refugees.

"The Syrian refugee crisis was very prevalent on the news, and I'm from Syria, so that really touched me a lot," Samman said. "So we talked about having a fundraiser to help out, especially through the Red Cross, people who had fled to Cypress from Syria. Then, as things moved along we realized that it would be even better to start an organization and start using campus resources to either fundraise or to raise awareness."

The organization began to expand, adding members like then-first-year Aubrey Parke and then-sophomore Daniela Montufar-Soria, who helped get the project off the ground.

From the initial focus on Syrian refugees, IHCI expanded its interests to become involved with Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and legal Services (RAICES).

Through RAICES, the club became involved with many projects and volunteer opportunities that directly support refugees and immigrants.

Samman explained the reason for this shift.

Volunteers sort clothing in Dec. 2016, when there was an influx of asylum seekers in San Antonio.

A group of concerned students formed ICHI in spring 2016. photo provided by AUBREY PARKE

"We realized that ... the refugee crisis isn't just Syrian citizens, but it extends to a lot of refugees that are coming in from Latin America to the U.S., and that's also very close to home, because we live in San Antonio. So, we decided to split our work into two parts: One, work locally with refugees here because we didn't know any Syrian refugees yet, and secondly, doing fundraisers for Syrian refugees," Samman said.

Parke, the volunteer coordinator for IHCI, described two of the ways that volunteers can help the people that RAICES supports: Being a bus station volunteer and accompanying immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) appointments and court dates as a witness for them.

The first of these, being a bus station volunteer, necessitates proficiency in Spanish.

“The asylum seekers are mainly coming from Central America, so there need to be volunteers who can explain the asylum process in Spanish,” Parke said.

However, other way people can volunteer doesn’t require any proficiency in Spanish at all. The accompaniment process is a way that RAICES tries to ensure that immigrants are being treated fairly by ICE; by sending someone else along with an immigrant to an ICE check-in appointment or court date, RAICES can try to ensure some transparency and accountability in the ICE proceedings.

“The ICE office can be a really threatening place, especially in the current immigration climate, because it makes people vulnerable," Parke said. "It sort of targets them, as immigrants with a questionable status, and so RAICES likes sending people to accompany them to those appointments .… Just having your presence there as a witness is a lot of accountability for the agency, and that’s a big deal because ICE especially doesn’t have a lot of transparency as an organization."

Right now, Parke is trying to get RAICES on campus to conduct a training for volunteers, but she needs to prove that enough people are

counselor. She was hired in Dec. 2017 and began working at Trinity on Jan. 8, 2018. In contrast to all of her coworkers, Kypuros’s background is in clinical social work rather than psychology.

Kypuros believes her background allows her to solve problems on a macro level, and thinks the office’s hiring her represents a shift toward diversity of thought and theoretical approach.

“I’m coming in looking at the big picture, what’s going on at the macro level that is perhaps affecting the student. I also look at the social justice piece … so, if there’s something going on within the family system, if it’s an issue of socioeconomic status, it may be bringing anxiety related to that background,“ Kypuros said.

Kypuros hails from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she spent ten years as a counselor. While she was working at UTSA, she also earned her Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision at St. Mary's University.

“I finished up my doctorate and graduated, and I did part-time work at UTSA, the same place,” Kypuros said.

“Then I realized that I needed a break from UTSA. I’d been there for such a long time,

and I thought, ‘Well, let me pursue some other things.’ ” Kypuros then began working in a private practice, but she soon found herself missing the culture of academia. That’s when she noticed Trinity’s posting for a mental health counselor.

She was excited to see that she fit the qualifications: she had been eyeing Trinity as a potential workplace for years, but the university had not hired a new fulltime counselor since 1983. What’s more, all new hires in the past had psychology backgrounds, where her background is in clinical social work.

“I said, well here’s my opportunity. The position was for a mental health counselor, and someone who was either a [Licensed Clinical Therapist] or a [Licensed Clinical Social Worker],” Kypuros said.

She figured, this might be a great fit.

“I remember in December of 2017, interviewing for the position. It was all day, and it was exhausting, but it was amazing.

And here I am now, so I kind of love it,” Kypuros said.

Sheryl Tynes, the Vice President for Student Life, played a role in hiring Kypuros. She explained that she was

interested in being trained.

There already is, however, a different joint RAICES and IHCI event coming up soon.

The U.S. government requires refugees to attend a resettlement workshop before they are integrated into society, and because RAICES recently was licensed as a refugee resettlement agency, they now have to run these workshops.

IHCI decided to help them out by shouldering some of this workload.

Claire Nakayama, the project lead for refugee workshops, explained that IHCI is joining forces with a couple other student organizations on campus to conduct these workshops, the Global Health Initiative (GHI) and Alpha Kappa Psi (AKPsi), the professional business fraternity. Together, the three clubs will cover topics such as health, hygiene, finance and cultural knowledge.

“Obviously GHI will handle the health side of things, and then on the other hand AKPsi will handle finances, things like how to pay your rent — because [the refugees] are given apartments and after the 90-day period after they arrive here, then they’re kind of left out on their own,” Nakayama said.

"So this workshop gives them a little bit of information that will help them afterwards.

And then IHCI is handling the rest — things like adjusting to culture, even little things like calling 911."

IHCI is also involved with other volunteer projects throughout the community, such as tutoring students for whom English is a second language at Jackson Keller Elementary school.

Even if none of the projects that IHCI coordinates sounds appealing, Parke encourages students to get involved in some capacity.

“When you volunteer you get a really unique opportunity to get a window into what people are experiencing, so if you’re not yourself a part of a sensitive population, then it’s a chance to experience it anyway. I think that teaches you a lot,” Parke said.

Anyone interested in any of the opportunities mentioned above should contact Aubrey Parke at aparke@trinity.edu.

Trinity hires new full-time counselor Claudia Rodriguez Kypuros looks forward to assisting students KARA KILLINGER | PULSE EDITOR kkilling@trinity.edu

Sitting in the waiting room at Counseling Services, it’s easy to see why so many students will seek emotional help here sometime during their Trinity years. Before the row of chairs is a wall of pamphlets, offering advice on handling every life problem you can imagine.

Do you have eating problems? There’s a pamphlet for that. There’s also a pamphlet for dealing with your parents’ divorce and one for breaking up with a partner. Then, there’s ADD, anxiety and battling academic stress — infinite unique problems with infinite unique solutions.

The problem is, not much emotional wisdom can be contained in single a folded page. A pamphlet also can’t get to know a person and formulate a customized solution to their problem. That’s where counselors like Claudia Rodriguez Kypuros come in.

Kypuros is Counseling Services’ newest

CLAUDIA RODRIGUEZ KYPUROS was hired in December 2017 and began working in January 2018. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

happy to see Kypuros's enthusiasm about working for Trinity. continued on PAGE 21

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A day in the life of an admissions counselor Recruitment, discussion and encouragement makes full day for admissions office MAGGIE LUPO | PULSE REPORTER mlupo@trinity.edu When you were a senior in high school, chances are you would have given a lot for a peek into the head of a college admissions officer. They are, after all, the enigmatic card-holders to your future life as a college student. Who wouldn’t want to know what they’re thinking, even now that your college future is set?

Well, although telepathy isn’t possible, we can give you a glimpse into what a normal day is like for your friendly neighborhood — i.e.

Trinity — admissions counselor.

Though, “normal” is a subjective term, said counselor Jesse Gamble.

“When you ask that question ‘what does a day in our life look like,’ I have to ask ‘what season?’” Gamble said.

He explained that from August to December, most of the time, the admissions counselors are out of the office. They travel to their different territories and work mainly on recruiting. A typical day during this season involves visiting four to five high schools and trying to interact with as many students as possible.

“Sometimes it’s us sitting at a table in a cafeteria during lunch hour wwith a banner and people hoping to come and talk to us, sometimes it’s by appointment, when kids sign up ahead of time and come in and chat with us in a room in a library or a private

counselor’s office or something like that,” Gamble said.

Gamble added that this season also includes many networking events like alumni dinners, events for prospective parents, college fairs, interviews with students and update-meetings with groups of high school counselors.

Gamble’s territory covers a wide range, from Midwest cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis, to cities in California like San Diego and Los Angeles, and even to a few cities in Mexico. That distance doesn’t matter once the first round of applications comes in, though.

“That month of November, whether we’re here or whether we’re on the road, it’s a lot of reading applications,” Gamble said.

This reading phase continues until April 1. During this time, the counselors devote the majority of their days to reading through applications, though they trade off doing information sessions for prospective students and families.

It’s during this period of time that Jeremy Boyce, coordinator of Athletic Recruitment & Student Success, gets to do his favorite part of the job. Boyce is a special kind of admissions counselor who works with student athletes and their families to help them navigate the unique set of concerns that they face during the college admissions process.

This time of year, he usually gets to work at around 8:30 a.m., answers emails and listens to phone calls. Soon after, he usually gets a phone call from a coach, telling him that a prospective student athlete is on campus and asking him to talk to the student about admissions and financial aid.

“We try and make sure that when a student comes to Trinity, we know they’re coming,

and they feel like ‘Hey, the admissions people knew we were coming’ and we come out and we chat with them and have a little bit of a conversation with them before the day gets going, just kind of really welcoming them to the campus and making it more of a personalized experience,” Boyce said.

Boyce explained that these visits allow him to help families understand the financial picture at Trinity. As a Division III school, Trinity is not allowed to give athletic scholarships, so it’s Boyce’s job to be realistic with families about other kinds of financial aid, especially academic merit aid.

“I think one of the most fulfilling parts of it is when you’re actually working with students and you help them realize that their goal of being here is going to be a reality for them.”

JEREMY BOYCE COORDINATOR OF ATHLETIC RECRUITMENT & STUDENT SUCCESS

“Since we recruit pretty talented student athletes, talented athletically but also, more importantly, academically, we tend to get students who are getting a good amount of merit aid,” Boyce said.

Even these smart athletes need some help learning how to balance the rigors of college coursework with being a college athlete.

That’s where another aspect of Boyce’s job comes in. Last semester, he taught one of the Academic Success workshops for football

players. These workshops teach study skills, time management, and general ways to handle the transition into college life.

“Instead of saying ‘hey hope you guys can figure that out when you get here,’ this is something to help them make sure they do it. And it actually has been pretty successful; we’ve seen a constant GPA rise for all the first years since the year we started doing it, so it’s effective,” Boyce said.

Wyatt Messex, first-year second-string quarterback, appreciated the workshop.

“I am glad I took part in it. I think that the skills I learned have already made an impact on what I have done so far in college and honestly had a greater impact on me than my FYE,” Messex wrote in an email interview.

Working with successful student athletes like Messex is what Boyce enjoys most about his job. In fact, both Boyce and Gamble love the social aspect of their jobs.

“I think one of the most fulfilling parts of it is when you’re actually working with students and you help them realize that their goal of being here is going to be a reality for them,” Boyce said.

Gamble especially loves meeting people through their applications.

“It’s that wonderful moment when I read an application and next Tuesday there’s a student coming in from Iowa named Garrison and I’ve read his application but I’ve never met him in person. So that wonderful moment when I’m like ‘oh you’re Garrison!’, that’s really one of the things that I enjoy most about this job,” Gamble said.

This article marks the beginning of a series profiling “a day in the life” of Trinity staff and faculty members.

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• FEBRUARY 23, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Trinity’s religious student groups GABBY GARRIGA | PULSE REPORTER ggarriga@trinity.edu Do you want to continue practicing your religion in college? Do you want to learn more about religions you may not have known about? Do you need help finding the religious organization for you? Trinity offers nine religious student organizations on campus, and each is open to new members.

“It really creates a sense of consistency which is something that I feel I really value in college,” said Kristie Kummerer, senior and leadership team leader. “I think one of the things RUF does really well is provide a community, provide a safe space for people to feel comfortable and not feel like there’s a demand to figure out exactly where they are.”

illustration by JULIA POAGE, staff illustrator

TRINITY UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS Trinity Unitarian Universalists was formed last semester and has about five members. Unitarian Universalism can be practiced as a religion or as a philosophy in conjunction to one’s religion. The group on campus typically meets Sundays at 6 p.m. in Coates University Center. Members discuss traditional UU readings, and each week usually focuses on a specific theme for discussion.

“It’s a small spiritual experience for people who aren’t looking for a typical religious experience. So Unitarian Universalism is very much open ended in terms of ideals. It’s very much a philosophy in a way,” said Mackenzie Hill, senior and president of Trinity Unitarian Universalists.

CATHOLIC STUDENT GROUP Catholic Student Group (CSG) is the Catholic organization on campus, and it averages 80-100 members. CSG offers weekly mass services on Sundays at 5 p.m. in Parker Capel and Alpha, an open discussion about Christianity, every Friday at 5 p.m. in Storch 103. CSG is also passionate about volunteering with their community through Catholic Worker House and the Immigration Shelter.

“A deep part of who we are as Catholics is this huge diversity of prayer traditions and our commitment to serving people. We’re really trying to grow that sense of community this year,” said Luke Ayers, junior and president of CSG. FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES The Fellowship for Christian Athletes is a nondenominational Christian group on campus composed of mostly athletes. The group welcomes all varsity, club and non-athletes. Meetings are every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in room 125 of the Bell Center. Typically, after eating and socializing members will begin Bible study.

“We then circle up and dive into Scripture and openly discuss how God is working in our lives, how he is speaking to us through the night’s topic, and try to answer questions,” wrote Gavin Huse, junior and president of FCA, in an email interview.

INTERVARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is an interdenominational Christian organization that averages about 30 people per meeting but has 112 total members. InterVarsity is a charter member of International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, an organization that focuses on spreading Christianity through outreach and mission trips.

InterVarsity offers small group Bible study and large group Bible study on Thursdays in the Waxahachie room at 8 p.m. that often include pancakes and guest speakers.

“The thing I like the most about InterVarsity is how much the diversity of the group has allowed

me to continue my growth,” said Josephine Blackburn, senior and leadership team member.

“It really helps us all to bring the skills we have to the table and also share and partake of other skills that other people have.”

JEWISH STUDENT ASSOCIATION The Jewish Student Association (JSA) is a member of Hillel San Antonio, an organization that connects Jewish students on campuses. The group has about 25 active members on campus but participates across San Antonio in the Hillel community, which has about 65 active members.

The organization meets about every two weeks and coordinates individual meetings with members.

“We are cross campus, so we like to focus our events on obviously the religion’s aspect but also the social element. One of the things that makes us unique is you’re able to meet people within the San Antonio community,” said Ashley Lachterman, junior and president of JSA. “Not only do you get to meet students, but we like to involve ourselves with the Jewish community here as well.”

MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION The Muslim Student Association (MSA) wants to promote interfaith dialogue and discussion of the Muslim culture. The group typically meets Monday nights at 7 p.m. in Parker Chapel to discuss. MSA hopes to create more opportunities to coordinate with other religious groups on campus and show the facets of Muslim culture through Henna Night.

“A lot of it is pretty religious in terms of ideas and talks but sharing the culture I think is what’s important,” said Nabeel Gaber, sophomore and co-president of MSA. “I think what makes us unique is that it shows people a different side that they haven’t seen of the world and makes them question their assumptions of certain cultures.”

REFORMED UNIVERSITY FELLOWSHIP The Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) is a Presbyterian group on campus that welcomes members of all faiths. RUF offers a small and large group Bible study and a seminar called Equip 101 every week. Equip 101 includes a sermon, worship song and fellowship time. The group has a campus minister for their services who is available to talk with students.

WESLEY FOUNDATION The Wesley Foundation is a Christian group on campus averaging seven members. The organization is part of the United Methodist Church. It hosts small group Bible study at 2:30 p.m. on Fridays in the chapel parlor.

“The Wesley Foundation is the university arm of the United Methodist church, so aside from that specific doctrinal difference, we offer city-wide connections with other Wesley Foundations,” wrote Connor Lindquist, sophomore and student leader of the Wesley Foundation, in an email interview.

YOUNG LIFE Trinity hosts a chapter of Young life, an international and nondenominational Christian organization, on campus. In addition to small groups, Young Life holds a large group that meets every Tuesday in the Fiesta Room at 9 p.m.

Young Life has about 30–40 people who go to their large and small groups. Members of Young Life prioritize fun activities to get members of Trinity’s community involved in the organization.

“I think what Young Life really does a great job of is emphasizing the community because before you come to Christ, before you come to God, you have to feel accepted and you have to feel like you’re part of a community,” said Melissa Chura, senior and Young Life leader.

Claudia Rodriguez Kypuros will use clinical

social work background to assist clients continued from PAGE 19 “She said to me after the interview process, ‘I have been aiming to work at Trinity for a long, long time.’ She really wanted to be here,” Tynes said.

In her month and a half working here so far, Kypuros has noticed that academics contribute to anxiety at Trinity far more than they do at at UTSA. She believes that Trinity’s environment poses unique mental health challenges to students.

“This is a very high-achieving population, so as such, what we treat or at least the things that students bring to counseling will be related to academic distress, for example.

That’s very common. When I was at UTSA, that wasn’t necessarily what students brought in first and foremost,” Kypuros said.

The number of students who seek counseling at Trinity has drastically increased recently. According to data collected

by Counseling Services, the number of individual clients seen annually increased by 83 percent between 2016 and 2017.

Director of Counseling Services, Gary Neal, explained that the office was greatly

in need of a new full-time hire in order to meet demand.

“People are very

friendly, and they’re very supportive. My team, the people that I work with, they feel like family.”

CLAUDIA RODRIGUEZ KYPUROS MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR

“Basically our amount of work has doubled. … That happened without any increase in [full-time] counseling staff,” Neal said.

Kypuros sees the influx of students coming in as proof of decreasing stigma around seeking emotional help.

“I think that’s a big reason why we see more students coming in. ... They feel more comfortable accessing services,” Kypuros said.

Neal explained that another reason for hiring Kypuros was Counseling Services’

need for another female staff member.

The ratio of female to male clients seen in the Fall 2017 semester was 64:36, and Counseling Services received requests to see a female counselor far more often than requests too see a man.

“This is a truism in all healthcare settings, especially mental healthcare settings. …

I believe it’s clearly about socialization of men. They are reluctant to seek help in many capacities,” Neal said.

Kypuros feels supported in her new environment. Despite Trinity’s differences from Kypuros’s former workplace, other counselors already feel like family to her, and the university has begun to feel like home.

“A lot of people I’ve met have been here for many years, and I’m starting to understand why … People are very friendly, and they’re very supportive. My team, the people that I work with, they feel like family. The welcome has been so warm,” Kypuros said.

So, when should a student come in to Counseling Services? Kypuros recommends seeking help when mental health begins to interfere with everyday tasks or obligations.

“If a student says, ‘Well, my anxiety is to the degree that it’s preventing me from doing the things that I’m supposed to be doing, or the things that I like to be doing,’ then maybe it’s time to talk to somebody,” Kypuros said.

“Basically our amount

of work has doubled. ...

That happened without any increase in [full-time] counseling staff.”

GARY NEAL DIRECTOR OF COUNSELING SERVICES

If this describes you at all, the best first step to take is coming in during Counseling Services’ walk-in hours in Halsell 201 for an initial 20-minute consultation.

With additional reporting by Kathleen Creedon, news editor

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Comm Day gives students glimpse of future

Alumni offer seniors advice, opportunities GABBY GARRIGA | PULSE REPORTER ggarriga@trinity.edu What do you want your life to look like in five years? In 10 years? Thirty years? Graduating communication seniors got a glimpse of some of the career paths they might take last Friday at Communication Day. The communication department held three different panels with alumni who discussed their careers and the versatility of a communication degree.

Communication Day began with a luncheon with the keynote speaker, NBC News producer John Bentley. Following the luncheon, students could attend three panels. The first was titled Transitioning from Trinity to the “Real World.’” The most recent group of graduates spoke at this panel to advise students on what they wish they had known after graduating. The next panel, composed of alumni who graduated 15 years ago, centered on the nontraditional career options available to a communication major. Speakers at the last panel reflected on how media has affected their careers. This panel was made up of graduates from 30 years ago. Following the panels, students were given the opportunity to network with these alumni at a reception.

Communication Day was open to the Trinity campus, but the majority of attendees were seniors working on their capstone projects — final assignments that test students’ comprehension. This event was originally created in response to requests from past capstone students who wanted more information on career paths and networking opportunities.

All senior communication majors were required to go, but many said they would have gone anyway for the opportunity to network and to hear about the flexibility of a communication

Trinity alumni ALLISON O’HANLON, SAMANTHA GRUBBS, KAUVEH KHOZEIN CARRERA, HEIDI MACKAY and NAYELI PEREZ speak at the first Communication Day panel, titled Transitioning from Trinity to the Real World. photo by STEPHEN SUMRALL-ORSAK, staff photographer

degree. Abigail Tisdale, a senior business and communication double major, was especially excited for the luncheon with John Bentley.

“I’m not dead set in what I want to do after I get my MBA, so I love having these opportunities at Trinity to go network with alumni and see where they started their career, where they’re headed and where they’ve ended up,” Tisdale said.

Tisdale believes that the communication department offers strong networking connections.

“I think that even if the amount of alumni that Trinity can reach may be smaller than at UT or an A&M, they’re a lot stronger for Trinity students to connect with,” Tisdale said.

MacKenzie Hill, a senior communication major, plans to work in broadcasting and production. Hill values these panel discussions to show the applicability of a communication degree.

“The great thing about the department of communication is that there is so much flexibility and a lot of options in terms of exploring what you’re interested in,” Hill said.

Nayeli Perez, a 2016 graduate with a communication major and an art and art history minor, spoke panel for Transitioning from Trinity to the “Real World” panel. Perez related to the uncertainty some students may feel after graduating, but she emphasized that versatility of a communication major makes it valuable in job searches.

“The communication department is a big umbrella department. We get people who want to do journalism, who want to do design, who want to do broadcast and TV production. The fact that the communication major is not a straightforward major may make you feel like you don’t have a guaranteed good job. So when you hear what people have done, it helps you feel excited about the future, and it gives you more ideas of how you could go about getting those opportunities,” Perez said.

Belinda Menchaka, a 1984 graduate and journalism major, appreciates the skills her major gave her that allowed her to combine her passion for dance and public relations. Because

Menchaka now works as the director of education for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, she is able to teach dance classes and work as the head of her department. Menchaka believes that her communication skills increased her chances of being hired at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, allowing her to work with both her passions.

“Just being exposed to the writing and the opportunity that I had as a student to interview people, the courses that I took allowed me to go out and talk to people and I still use those skills today. Communication is essential,” Menchaka said.

Sammye Johnson, professor in the communication department, worked with faculty and alumni to plan Communication Day. Johnson believes that the panels allow students to realize the potential of a communication degree.

“The communication curriculum isn’t solely focused on that first job; we’re giving our majors the tools to use throughout a professional lifetime,” Johnson wrote in an email interview.

AE &

Black Panther opens with record-breaking weekend

Lil Pump continues to be one of the most streamed artists of the year

The film made $218 million in its opening weekend and also was highly praised for its beautiful visuals and emotional story.

The assassin of culture and my nemesis continues to rake in the dough as his song “Gucci Gang” continues to be played across the country.

“Mr. Burns” creates myth from pop culture Trinity University Theatre puts on the interesting and thought-provoking play “Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric play” GEORGIE RIGGS A&E CONTRIBUTOR griggs@trinity.edu

For the first two acts of “Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play,” leaves cover the floor of the Stieren Theatre’s stage. The clearing of the leaves at the start of act three signifies to the audience that the play is about to change.

The apocalyptic fog covering the first two acts has lifted in the fictional 75-year time jump between act two and act three, revealing the mythologized donut from both “The Simpsons” and Trinity Theatre’s marketing campaign. From an audience perspective, however, much of that fog seemed to remain, in both the plot and the themes of “Mr. Burns.”

The production opened last Friday, Feb. 16, and contains three acts separated by two 10-minute intermissions. As audience members seat themselves, they notice that the curtains are open, revealing the cast members silently acting around a staged campfire.

Since act one begins in the middle of this long, fireside conversation in the woods, the open curtain helped make this beginning feel less theatrical and more natural. Together the actors recall the “Cape Feare” episode of “The Simpsons” — while believable in its subject mater, this was comically ridiculous in its specificity.

The time it takes for the characters to go through the plot extends past the episode’s

The cast of “Mr. Burns” gracefully sings through the third and final act, a time 75 years after the loss of electricity. Their characters put on a musical within a musical with distinct themes from “The Simpsons” and nods to popular songs from Eminem, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

runtime, as the characters try to nail down exact lines of dialogue and go on tangents about its cultural references. The wordiness and sheer amount of dialogue was impressive, as the first act hinges on the delivery of this conversation.

“I think that being an ensemble and listening to each other is very helpful with dialogue. Instead of looking at it like line-toline, it’s response-to-response,” said Mindy Tran, junior theatre major who played the roles of Jenny and Marge Simpson. “I think

that in the first act, my character was very nervous about everything that was happening.

We were trying to keep our minds off the reality that nuclear power plants are near, and Jenny is very particular in her memorization.

She wants to get the details exactly right.”

Though act one follows a group of people bound together by a mysterious disaster that has split them from their family and friends, the plot doesn’t have much to do with how or why this group comes together. Each act break serves as a time jump in the play’s plot,

but they also signify a shift in tone between each of the acts.

The anxiety of act one is still present in act two, but the first act’s post-apocalyptic fear is replaced by the logistics of running a theatre troupe. Seven years after the first act, the characters have developed a traveling acting group that recreates the experience of watching television, performing shows related to “The Simpsons” as well as live commercials. continued on PAGE 17

A proposal: Welcome Week Concert tweaks AUSTIN DAVIDSON A&E EDITOR adavids1@trinity.edu Planning an event that over a third of Trinity University will, hopefully, attend is a daunting task. It requires months of organization and dozens of moving pieces all working perfectly together. This also means that a dozen uncontrollable circumstances must fall into place perfectly: The weather, the artist performing well, attendance — things that the Student Programming Board (SPB) has almost no control over. At both concerts I have been to, the board has done an exemplary job in all the categories they can control, but sadly the ones out of their reach have at times hindered the overall fun of the concert.

For my first Welcome Week Concert, SPB got the electronically oriented artist 3lau, who I’d heard of beforehand. Some people I knew were pretty excited to see him, but when I got there, the number of no-shows blew me away.

This was a free concert, which people had worked multiple weeks to perfect, and they had just decided to stay home for one reason or

another. But otherwise, I felt the night went well.

This reality was not shared in this year’s Welcome Week Concert. Thanks to Hurricane Harvey, the concert had to be moved. SPB did a great job of scrambling to then find another date for Cashmere Cat, the artist that would perform. After finding a date that worked, they began trying to get the campus aware of the new time and did everything they could to get people hyped for the make-up concert.

The change of time proved fatal for attendance. While I didn’t count everyone, I would be shocked if more than 175–200 people had showed up. This led to a very dry, flat and overall not-so-amazing concert experience. Also, Cashmere Cat was not what I would call the most incredible artist, so the atmosphere and overall feel of the concert fell flat for me.

I feel bad for SPB. They did all they could to create a good atmosphere, but due to unforeseen circumstances and the fact that Cashmere Cat is a mediocre performer, this year’s concert was a flop. To avoid this, I believe there are a couple things that SPB and Trinity University can do to make next year’s concert a success.

The Welcome Week Concert should be firstyears’ first dive into a new and beautiful college

experience and an exciting and memorable night for returning students. A vital component is a better venue. While the grass mall near Prassel isn’t the worst place, I know that San Antonio has a lot of concert venues. A portion of SPB’s budget could be put towards booking a concert hall for Trinity to go buck-wild in for one night.

This would also mitigate weather as a factor in hindering the concert. A new venue — the nearby Paper Tiger on N. St. Mary’s Street, for example — would create an electric and intoxicating atmosphere that grass near a football field doesn’t really yield. While the venue may need to be bigger than the Paper Tiger, the idea of finding a better venue could attract more students and create a better atmosphere.

The second vital component to the concert would be a well-liked artist. This is easily the most difficult part of the entire concert; before saying anything else, I must say that SPB has done the best job they can in choosing an artist for a campus of more than 2,500 kids. Picking an artist to meet everyone’s musical taste is impossible.

Yet, I think they have now made excellent steps towards bringing students into the mix by asking them to send in suggestions, giving SPB a feel for what the campus would like. From

those suggestions, they could then pick the top six and have the students vote and SPB sees which is the most suitable and most possible.

At the end of the day, the final decision is by SPB but by integrating the students more, it would then put an aspect of the success of the concert on them. If you don’t speak your opinion and perform your civic duty, then it’s hard to complain if you don’t like the artist. I think SPB adding this addition of the students to the choosing of the artists is brilliant and really puts the success of the concert in the hands of the people attending it.

At the end of the day, planning the Welcome Week Concert is a crazy task, one that many talented people do an exemplary job on, and I thank them for that. Trinity’s community should attend their events as a thank-you for the work they do to create fun experiences for us.

They are a vital part of the Trinity ecosystem and their value should be recognized.

The Welcome Week Concert at its core is for the students, and by integrating them more and by moving the location, I believe people will not only enjoy the concert more but also make them aware of how great it is to have a free concert put on for us by a hardworking group of people.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Lunar New Year fest welcomes Year of the Dog Vietnamese Student Association event drew large crowd and media attention from public GEORGIE RIGGS A&E CONTRIBUTOR griggs@trinity.edu

The Lunar New Year festivities filled Laurie Auditorium last Friday with a mixture of dance, orchestra and singing, incorporating both modern and traditional elements of Asian cultures to ring in the Year of the Dog. “This year I felt like we struck a really great balance between great coordinating and really good performances,” said Alex Motter, lead coordinator of Lunar New Year and president of the Vietnamese Student Association.

(Motter is a member of the Board of Campus Publications, which publishes and supervises the Trinitonian.)

“Modern versus traditional was definitely the theme, because if you look at pre-2016 Lunar New Year at Trinity, almost every act is K-pop.

Of course, K-pop is very important to the cultural zeitgeist, but it’s not the only tradition.

So I thought dances like the Sleeve Dance would represent the tradition.”

The “modern versus traditional” theme was apparent in the announcers’ running skit, which involved a grandmother and her grandchild moving through a city. Their conversation centered around the grandchild’s complaints

of lack of Wi-Fi, too much walking and other generational debates.

There were also subtle changes to traditional dances like the Fan Dance that helped communicate this theme.

“It is a traditional dance and though the song is very traditional as well, we picked an EDM remix of the song,” said Hana Doan, member of the planning committee, choreographer for the Fan Dance and planner for the Ghibli Medley.

“It was our overall theme so I highlighted that with the song choice.”

For the energetic martial arts dance, Motter incorporated 10 years of his own Kung Fu training to choreograph a mix of Kung Fu and Taekwondo.

“Choreographing that dance was a lot of reverse engineering because I’ve been in martial arts for so long,” Motter said. “So it was about being able to scale your expectations to those that weren’t experts in martial arts. Some of the moves, even if they [lasted] just a second, it would take an hour to gain the skill.”

Another standout performance came in the form of a symphonic homage to the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli. The musicians performed the main themes from the films “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Howl’s Moving Castle.”

Doan helped coordinate the performance after they noticed a lack of Japanese culture in the program.

“I think we took a lot of risks this year, for example, the orchestra group,” Motter said, referencing the Ghibli performance. “They had to transcribe the pieces for every instrument because they were taking a large orchestra arrangement for a small group.”

The proof of Lunar New Year’s success could be found in the figurative pudding of

The annual Lunar New Year Festival continue to dazzle. photo by AMANI CANADA, photo editor

the audience growth from last year. Through a concentrated effort, the planning committee expanded its marketing to the larger San Antonio community, sending out information to local newspapers and event sites.

“Last year we had a little over 300 people in the audience, but this year we had over 700 people by the end,” Motter said. “I was proud to provide a little piece of home to the community.”

Perhaps due to that degree of community engagement, broadcast TV station News 4 San Antonio covered Lunar New Year. Officials from San Antonio’s Hemisfair Park asked Motter and VSA to perform at the opening

ceremony for ¡Viva Hemisfair!, the park’s 50th anniversary celebration.

The students agreed to perform the Lion Dance, Motter’s Martial Arts performance, and Doan’s Fan Dance at the event, which will be held Friday, April 6.

“When you have been planning something for so long, it feels abstract and distant,” Motter said. “But when I saw our dress rehearsal, I saw all of our hard work from this semester and last semester in the performance. I think we took a lot of risks that could have been catastrophic, but it shows that when you put a lot of hard work in, it pays off.”

Review: “Mr. Burns” continued from PAGE 23

“We talked about how theater is the most prominent job prospect,” Tran said, referencing the post-apocalyptic job market. “In act two, those commercial scenes and chart-hits our characters performed had to be looked at very seriously, because the better we performed, the more money we made. I remember our director Rachel telling us that even if we felt our character was really uncomfortable, we knew that they had to do it.”

While the threats in act one are still very present, the majority of act two stifles them with performance, showing the characters have developed a full-time way to distract themselves with “The Simpsons.”

Without spoiling anything, the end of act two and transition into act three reveals that “Mr. Burns” is a play less concerned with the apocalypse than it is about the role of theatre. It’s

interesting to note that the mysterious power plant meltdown doesn’t really set the plot into motion. Instead, it was the arrival of Gibson, the first of Nico Champion’s three roles, who was a part of a theatre troupe before the disaster struck.

In many ways, “Mr. Burns” pens a convincing, albeit confusing, love letter to the cultural power of theatre. By act three, theatre has managed to mythologize “The Simpsons,” as well as artists like Lady Gaga, Eminem and Britney Spears, for a new generation of postapocalyptic viewers.

For the pre-apocalyptic viewer, however, “Mr. Burns” leaves a lot for the viewer to consider, not least of which is how the audience should process the trauma of the first two acts without closure from the performative third act.

“Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play” will continue to be performed in the Stieren Theatre on Feb. 23 and 24 from 8–10 p.m.

You’re wanted.

We’re hiring a new A&E reporter.

And we think you’d be great.

You should apply. trinitonian@trinity.edu

LET THE GAMES BEGIN • Men’s and Women’s Basketball @ SCAC Championship, Feb. 23–25 • Track and Field @ Trinity Open Meet, Saturday, Feb. 24 • Women’s Tennis vs. Eastern Michigan, Saturday, Feb. 24, 3 p.m.

Sports

Swim and dive sweep SCAC Championships Men’s and women’s teams score big to take home both titles, look to continue postseason run SAUL MALEK | SPORTS REPORTER smalek@trinity.edu Tigers dove into success at the SCAC championship tournament this weekend, claiming the title over six schools. The women’s team took first place by 72 points while the men’s team produced a 161 point win.

“We had taken some hard hits from injuries and the like; ultimately, it tested everyone, but I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome,” said sophomore Elliott Fleming, who earned all SCAC honors in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke, finishing with a time of 2:08.7.

Trinity divers fared well over the weekend.

On the women’s side, senior Christine Peterson won the women’s one meter board, the 13th consecutive win for Trinity women in this event.

The men swept the three-meter competition, with first-year Daniel Valmassei earning gold — the fourth Tiger to do so in the event in five years — and junior Duncan MacAskill and first-year Anthony Liva just behind him, earning silver and bronze respectively.

“This season has been a lot more competitive for me; my teammates have been pushing me in practice and it has been paying off in our competitions,” MacAskill said.

Notable swimmers include sophomore Jacob Hurrell-Zitelman, who was named the SCAC swimmer of the meet for the second consecutive season. Senior Lindsay Hagmann won her third straight 100 free race with a time of 51.51 seconds, and sophomore Payton Green won the women’s 1,650 free with a time of 17:58.49.

Athletes from Austin College, Centenary College, Colorado College, McMurry University, University of the Ozarks and Southwestern University were also in attendance. Senior Charles Clark was impressed

The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams won the SCAC Championships in the Feb. 14–17 meet. photo by ALLISON WOLFF, staff photographer

with the domination the Tigers demonstrated at the event.

“I think we won like 13 out of 19 events, and we won four of five relays for the guys,” said Clark, a senior and winner of the 200 meter backstroke at the tournament.

Clark was not the only one giving his teammates a lot of praise; the coaching staff was just as impressed by the team’s results.

“The races that stood out to me the most were the top finals heats with Trinity caps in almost every lane,” said Kimberley Jones, assistant swim coach. “Watching teammates and training partners push each other during the race, score fractions of a second apart from each other, then standing next to each other on the podium — it can’t get much better than that.”

The Tigers’ next competition is forecasted to be the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis on March 21. They are awaiting official invitations.

“I’m excited about the direction this team is going because we’re only going to get stronger as we continue the winning tradition,” Jones said.

Tiger divers will be competing in the NCAA Zone Regional Tournament at Trinity on March 2–3.

Senior night victories cap off winning seasons Both basketball teams defeat Schreiner University in final home games before SCAC Championships ANTONIO PEDRAZA | SPORTS REPORTER apedraza@trinity.edu The men’s and women’s basketball teams were both victorious against conference foe Schreiner University on Saturday, Feb. 17 in their final home games of the season.

The women, who came into the weekend ranked 22nd in the country, cruised to an easy 70–49 victory despite a rough start, where Schreiner took the lead 11–4 within three minutes before the Tigers went on a 20–5 run that the Mountaineers never recovered from. Senior Micah Weaver led scoring, tallying up 15 points. 39 points came off the Tiger bench.

The men, behind by two at the half, were able to pull ahead for a 75–56 finish. The Tigers were led by junior Danny Rivara, with 29 points and seven rebounds. Senior Matt Jones dished out eight assists in the contest.

First-year Mallory Lancaster explains that the seniors will be missed.

“They helped me with their experience on the court. And off the court was even better because of Kate Irvin’s jokes. So I’ll miss them being here,” Lancaster said.

On the men’s team, Jones explained their improved record coming off last year’s losing season. continued on PAGE 27

Senior basketball players pose for a photo with their parents at their final regular season home game. photo by ALLISON WOLFF, staff photographer

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 •

SPORTS

Men’s tennis returns home for mixed results Tigers faced tough opponents in lead up to ITA Indoor National Championships

Junior TILDEN OLIVER serves against St. Edwards. photo by ALLISON WOLFF, staff photographer

ANTONIO PEDRAZA | SPORTS REPORTER apedraza@trinity.edu It was a busy weekend for men’s tennis as they took on St. Edward’s University and Laredo Community College in their first home matches since late January. Ranked 13th in the nation, they faced St. Edwards on Friday, winning 5–4, but Saturday’s match against Laredo Community College was less successful. After a short rain delay, the Tigers fell to LCC 5–4.

Despite the team loss, first-year Wilson Hamilton was able to grind out a victory defeating his opposition 6–2, 6–4. Hamilton reflected on the weekend, which he saw as a major confidence booster.

“I would say I learned a lot. I think our team is in a good place. Everyone is having fun and we have good team chemistry right now.

However, in order to get to the next level as a team we all need to be a little more diligent in our own roles to be competitive against the top DIII schools,” Hamilton said.

First-year Jace Akagi-Okuma commented on the team’s growing energy.

“Our guys are starting to play a little better, starting to find a little bit of rhythm as we get more matches under our belt,” Akagi-Okuma said. “I think energy plays a huge role in the matches. Seeing your teammates getting pumped up on the other courts can definitely help you to start playing with a little more energy on your own court. So going off of that, I think this weekend we’ll definitely need to try to stay positive and keep the energy up, even when things aren’t going our way, because

that can play a huge role on the matches going on next to your court.”

Akagi-Okuma expressed optimism for the rest of the season.

“We’re a little short on numbers this year, so we’ll definitely need to make sure that everyone executes their role on the team to the best of their ability,” Akagi-Okuma said. “Despite the small roster, we’ve still got an amazing group of talented guys this year that I’m grateful to call my teammates, so I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to produce some results and get some big wins as the season progresses.”

Senior Clark Rivers explained his takeaways from the weekend.

“We played a nationally ranked Division II school and also a nationally ranked [junior college] school, and all the matches were close.

The weekend proved to us that we can compete at a high level, and it also helped develop an upward trend regarding the team’s culture and attitude and that will help later in the year, when we play harder Division III opponents,” Rivers said.

Hamilton commented on his expectations for the next tournament — the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Indoor National Championships in St. Peter, MN on Feb. 23–25.

“If everyone can buy into the system, we can be a real threat at national indoors.

We have the potential to challenge any DIII school that we face at nationals. We just gotta believe winning the whole thing is possible,” Hamilton said.

Rivers explained that this weekend’s matches have helped them to prepare for next weekend.

“Our previous matches have helped us get match ready for indoor nationals, and even though the weather has been dreadful, we have been battle tested in our previous matches and we should be able to compete for the title at the weekend,” Rivers said.

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SPORTS • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Basketball senior night SAAC teams up with continued from PAGE 25

“What made this year successful is we finally seem to be an older team. We are playing guys with more experience and it’s showing. Plus, lots of different guys are stepping up every night so it makes it fun for the whole team because we never know whose night it’s going to be,” Jones said.

He reflected on his four years playing hoops for Trinity.

“Playing four years at Trinity has been a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice, but it has been well worth it. Even though we missed Thanksgiving break, we miss a ton of the holiday break, and we don’t get a fall break, the time spent with my friends and teammates playing the game has never made me feel like I’m missing out on something. Of course I will miss it when it’s over, I don’t know what I’m going to do after,” Jones said.

Senior Brian Blum explained how he prepared for his senior season.

“I prepared for this season differently by laying off the Twinkies,” Blum said.

Blum also commented on how he’s been able to stay motivated throughout the years.

“Staying motivated isn’t a problem when you’re doing something you love,” Blum said.

Jones also spoke about how his sources of motivation.

“I have maintained my motivation for the sport by just always remembering how much I like to play it and how much fun I have

out there with my teammates and coaches. I learn something new every time I’m out there about myself, my teammates and my coaches,” Jones said.

Sophomore Danny Rivara has been a key player throughout the men’s season.

“I’m just out here doing what my team needs me to do in order to win, whether it be scoring, rebounding, or assisting. I am here to help the team and do my part,” Rivara said. “Scoring 29 points is nice, but I’m just out here playing my part and trying to make us a better team so that way we can compete for a national title.”

Jones addressed what needs to happen in order for the team to be successful in the postseason.

They enter the SCAC Championships seeded fourth.

“Heading into the conference tournament I think we just need to continue to play together.

When we are focused on just the goal at hand, winning the conference championship, and we ignore all the other distractions around us, we are really good,” Jones said.

Lancaster feels good heading into championship weekend. The women are seeded first in the tournament.

“I expect nothing less than a SCAC championship,” Lancaster said. “It’s precedented that we win the conference, and we’re working our tails off to keep it that way.” with additional reporting by Kendra Derrig, sports editor

Senior MICAH WEAVER led in scoring. photo by STEPHEN SUMRALL-ORSAK, staff photographer

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TigerThon for charity Athletes and students raise over $1000 so far for Children’s Hospital of San Antonio HAILEY WILSON | SPORTS REPORTER hwilson@trinity.edu The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and TigerThon executives have partnered this year to host a series of fundraisers for the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.

The SAAC is a NCAA-mandated committee comprised of student athletes in order to provide insight into the student athlete experience. Trinity’s SAAC is also involved in the greater San Antonio community through service and outreach programs.

On the weekend of Feb. 2–3, members of SAAC and the TigerThon board raised $1,050 at Tiger basketball games for the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. This fundraiser was part of SAAC’s annual Change for the Better initiative.

The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio is a non-profit hospital that treats any and all patients that come in, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Because treatments can often be expensive, they rely heavily on fundraisers to help pay their yearly expenses.

Davis King, a senior football player on SAAC, helped with the planning and facilitation of the entire event. At the basketball games, there were two challenges in which fans could participate to try to win prizes. SAAC charged participants a minimum of one dollar, and for the entry fee, fans had the opportunity to win gift cards, t-shirts and more.

Students also set up a table at the entrance of Calgaard Gymnasium and asked fans for change as they walked in the door, as well as tried to raise awareness about the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.

Rebecca Gordon, a senior women’s basketball player on SAAC, noted SAAC’s effort into planning and putting on the event.

“Members of SAAC helped by not only pitching ideas, but each team tabled and attended at least one of the games and reached out to their respective parent bases,” Gordon said.

King credits the executive team behind TigerThon for all of their help and hard work towards the fundraiser.

“We had volunteers from TigerThon at each game assisting us in the fundraising efforts, and we could not have done it without them.

They informed our SAAC volunteers, as well as the fans who attended the game, about what TigerThon is and more about the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio,” King said.

Sarosha Hemani, director of TigerThon, is excited to be donating towards the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio because of its proximity to the Trinity community.

“You can directly see the difference you are making in the San Antonio community since this is for a local hospital.”

SAROSHA HERMANI DIRECTOR OF TIGERTHON

“When you register for this event or fundraise, all of your money benefits the community directly. You can directly see the difference you are making in the San Antonio community since this is for a local hospital,” Hemani said.

In the past, SAAC has raised money for other groups, such as the American Cancer Society and the Special Olympics. They also have an annual Sunshine Cottage Day, in which student-athletes volunteer at Sunshine Cottage, a school for deaf children.

The inaugural TigerThon, a four-hour dance marathon, will take place on Feb. 24 from 5–9 p.m. in Webster Gym. All proceeds will go straight to the hospital, and families from the hospital will be at the event to meet participants.

If you’re interested in participating in TigerThon, you can register by yourself or with a team on the TigerThon website. There is a $10 registration fee.

SIDEWALK SYMPOSIUM What sport should be added to the Winter Olympics?

“I think there should be ice fishing.”

“If there was dog-sledding, I think I might actually watch the Olympics.”

“I would add ice crash.

You have people on skates and they have to race on a downhill course on ice.”

“Competitive double-dutch.

In the snow.”

— Grace Corles, senior English major

— Amanda De Hoog, junior human communication major

— Sam McWhorter, sophomore communication major

— Joel Holmes, junior history major

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • FEBRUARY 23, 2018 •

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QUALITY ENHANCEMENT PLAN (QEP)

STARTING STRONG Focuses on 3 areas of the first-year student experience:

ADVISING New advising coordinator to support student and faculty advisers Expanded adviser training

TEACHING “Early alerts” system Faculty course revision grants Teaching workshops

ACADEMIC SUPPORT New Quantitative Reasoning and Skills Center to support students and faculty More peer tutors for all disciplines

New resources for students and advisers

Continued improvements of Tiger Learning Commons

GOAL

OF THE STARTING STRONG QEP:

First-year students will become more aware of and engaged in practices that lead to success.