10.05.2018

Volume 116 Issue 08

Trinitonian Serving Trinity University Since 1902

6 Intl. students voice concerns OPINION over Venezuelan refugee crisis

11 Mid-sized venue: Behind A&E the scenes at Paper Tiger

OCTOBER 05, 2018

14 Coach Hill shares his tricks to SPORTS recruit star basketball talent

Stacy Davidson explains Snafu spurs surprise donation her abrupt termination Quick Sip, PATCH both leave Stumberg final with investments

The university did not provide further details KENDRA DERRIG | NEWS EDITOR kderrig@trinity.edu

“Why, we asked, would a woman who so positively contributed to the lives of the Trinity community seem to have suddenly disappeared from campus? Better yet, how?”

These questions were posed by juniors Simone Washington and Ryann Williams in their opinion column, “Questioning Stacy Davidson’s departure,” that was published in the Sept. 28 issue of the Trinitonian.

Over the summer, Stacy Davidson left abruptly from her position as director of Academic Support and volunteer advisor of the Black Student Union (BSU).

“A lot of [BSU members] were in the middle of planning stages with her for next semester and it just really didn’t make sense to us that she would just leave and not give anybody any type of indication,” said Khaniya Russell, senior and president of BSU. But, Davidson assured that she did not want to leave without notice.

“I want there to be honesty and transparency, because it makes me look like I just up and left. I would never do that,” Davidson said. “It’s not fair to you all.”

According to Davidson, she was fired on the spot at the end of the day on Monday, June 11. She had gone into a meeting with Sheryl Tynes, vice president for Student Life, and Pamela Johnston, assistant vice president for Human Resources, and left without a job.

“I sat down, and [Tynes] said to me, ‘You are being terminated effective immediately because your performance has not improved.’

Those were her exact words: your performance has not improved. So it was immediate. My email was already cut off, I had to turn in my keys, my ID, my purchasing card, and basically that was it,” Davidson said.

Davidson also said that she was not given a period in which to improve her performance.

“I poured everything I am and everything I have into that job and into Trinity and into my work and into my students,” Davidson said.

“Everything that I had, I gave of myself. So when you give willingly and enthusiastically of yourself, that’s not the outcome you expect.”

Texas is an “employment-at-will state,” which means that unless the contract of employment contains alternative language, an employer can terminate an employee at any time without warning or cause.

“I think it’s important to know that I didn’t do anything wrong. I violated no university policy. There was no moral or ethical lapse. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Davidson said. continued on PAGE 4

JACOB HURRELL-ZITELMAN, junior and founder of Quick Sip, a cold brew coffee company, presents at the Stumberg final round. His company would go on to win $25,000 to invest in future growth. photo by GENEVIEVE HUMPHREYS

GABBY GARRIGA | NEWS REPORTER ggarriga@trinity.edu Quick Sip, a specialty cold brew coffee company, left the Stumberg Competition with the $25,000 grand prize, but the evening was not without some rough patches.

PATCH, a pill bottle that tracks whether patients take their medication and sends the information to clinical trial specialists, was incorrectly named the overall winner after accepting their fan favorite award.

The fourth annual Louis H. Stumberg Venture Plan Competition began with a reception and networking opportunity followed by opening statements from Martinez.

The competition is an opportunity for student-led companies to compete for $5,000 in the seed round to grow their companies, returning after the summer to compete for the grand prize of $25,000.

“It’s an exciting night. We’ve had an opportunity for these teams to share the hard work

they’ve been doing for the last nine months. Trinity is devoted to having students follow their passions for real,” Martinez said.

“In entrepreneurship, that means that you get to start something from nothing. You get to start a nonprofit or for-profit company while you’re a student, you get to learn how to build it, you get to build it, and then you get to work on it.” continued on PAGE 4

Purse strings cut for Trinity University Players

TUPS faces funding frustrations following separation from theater department KAYLIE KING | NEWS REPORTER kking1@trinity.edu

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

After years of operating as a Registered Student Organization (RSO) and as a departmental organization, Trinity University Players (TUPS) is currently undergoing fundamental changes due to the department’s discovery of the dual status in the spring of 2018.

“How it came about was that TUPS was selling wooden flowers to make money, but we needed the receipts because we thought they were a departmental club,” said Andrew Hansen, chair of the Department of Human Communication and Theatre.

“With a departmental club we have to do the budget stuff and turn it into administration. They said, ‘We don’t think we have to, we turn it into Student Involvement.’ ” Following this discovery, Hansen emailed Shannon Edmond, coordinator for student programs, and found out that TUPS actually was already a student organization and has been since 2011.

“Technically we were a student organization for a very long time, but last semester someone realized that we were both a departmental organization and also a student involvement organization, which was a problem with our money,” said Mindy Tran, senior and president of TUPS. “We take dues, and if we take dues — if we were a department organization — we would have to give our dues to [the department]. But with Student Involvement, it’s a little more lenient where you can have an account with Student Involvement, or you can have a bank account outside.”

Once this issue was brought to light, TUPS members met with Theatre Department faculty to resolve the issue.

“I was in lots of meetings talking about what we’re going to do and what needs to happen, so the faculty was also figuring out what each thing would mean, so it was a whole process at the end of last semester,” said Kate Jones-Waddell, senior and vice president of TUPS. “Basically, I

talked to them and they were like, ‘Here’s what each thing is going to mean.’ We went to the TUPS organization, and we presented what the faculty had told me, and they had a vote on it, and the vote was unanimous to separate from the department. That was at the very end of last semester.”

The decision to separate from the Theatre Department and operate solely as an RSO forced TUPS to make some changes. Before this decision, TUPS were the exclusive producer of student lab shows.

“Lab shows went through TUPS before being submitted to the faculty and staff,” Rachel Joseph, faculty advisor for TUPS, wrote in an email. “In order to open up this co-curricular opportunity to students across campus, proposals now go directly to the department. Faculty and staff will choose proposals to stage as an extension of the mainstage season. The only difference now is that the proposals don’t come only from TUPS.” continued on PAGE 12

graphic by ALEXANDRA PARRIS

Previously, on SGA: money, money, money The following covers the meeting on Oct. 3.

CLIMATE CHECK Senior senator Sam Afshari reported on the graduation committee meeting. Afshari clarified that any major changes to the format of the ceremony will go into effect in spring 2020. The spring 2019 ceremony will still occur in Laurie Auditorium, but speeches will be much shorter. Danny Anderson, president of the university, will have the only full speech, and there will be no outside speaker unlike past years. The current proposal for changes to the spring 2020 ceremony includes splitting the ceremony into two ceremonies with half the class graduating in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. It was not discussed how the graduates would be split.

Sophomore senator Mia Quintanilla inquired how to encourage more teaching assistants in the Department of Business and other departments outside of the sciences.

FUNDING UPDATE Vice president Rachel Daniel, senior, announced that $17,846.90 in rollover from last semester’s USO budgets has been added to the budget for RSO funding. SGA also underspent their goal for September, leaving $4,578.71 for future

allocation. Following granting $3,714.72 at a finance committee meeting on October 2, SGA has $16,227.59 left to spend this month.

FUNDING REQUESTS The Society of Women Engineers requested $6,324 to send 12 members to WE18, a conference and career fair for women engineers held in Minnenapolis, Minnesota.

The department of Engineering had granted $1,000 towards the conference registration fee.

SGA approved the amount of $3,972, covering the remaining registration fee, the Airbnb and half of the airfare.

The South Asian Student Association (SASA) requested $2,924.33 to cover Diwali — an annual, free event featuring live performances and food. In addition to the cost of food and decor, SASA requested $776.44 to replace costumes that were destroyed when South Hall flooded last fall. SGA approved the full request.

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) requested $2,588.29 to send four members to the Professionals’ National AIChE Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Two of the members had been asked to speak at the conference about their research after being featured on the local news. SGA approved the full request.

Meetings are held every Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Waxahachie Room. coverage by KENDRA DERRIG

STAFF JULIA WEIS editor-in-chief JORDAN BRUCE executive digital editor KATHLEEN CREEDON executive print editor JONAH NANCE business manager REBECCA DERBY ad director KENDRA DERRIG news editor THERESA HO pulse editor GEORGIE RIGGS a&e editor AUSTIN DAVIDSON sports editor SOLEIL GAFFNER opinion editor CATHY TERRACE special sections editor HENRY PRATT visual editor PABLO TRAVERSARI web editor SHUBHANKAR SINGH webmaster KATHARINE MARTIN adviser

CONTACT INFORMATION EDITORIAL email: trinitonian@trinity.edu ADVERTISING email: trinitonian-adv@trinity.edu ad office: (210) 999-8555 fax: (210) 999-7034

REPORTERS Noelle Barrera, Rafaela Brenner, Evan Brown, Jolie Francis, Kaylie King, Gabby Garriga, Calliope Izquierdo, Mathilde Le Tacon, Wolf Robinson, Kelly Simmons, Maria Zaharatos COLUMNISTS Evan Chambless, Maddie D’Iorio, Benjamin Gonzalez, Kara Killinger, Kayla Padilla, Natalia Salas, Thomas Harvell-DeGolier COPY EDITORS Corrin McCullough, Addie Coldiron, Sofia Gonzalez Gonzalez ILLUSTRATORS Kaitlyn Curry, Andrea Nebhut, Julia Poage GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alexandra Parris DIGITAL CONTENT CREATORS Thomas Van Zandt Johnson, Dominic Anthony PHOTOGRAPHERS Matthew Claybrook, Elizabeth Nelson, Genevieve Humphreys BUSINESS STAFF Victor Stummvoll, Elizabeth Popov ADVERTISING STAFF Jordan Askew, Isaac Bartolomei, Jacob Hurrell-Zitelman, Regis Noubiap

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2

CORRECTIONS •

On page 1 of the Sept. 28 issue, the people in the “Contemporary” photo were misidentified. Graham Watson-Ringo is in the center, and Francisco Vara-Ota is on the left.

Spot a mistake?

Let us know at trinitonian@trinity.edu.

LAST WEEKEND! SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS

By Bess Wohl

Directed by Kyle Gillette

September 28-30 & October 3-6, 2018 All performances will be held in the Attic Theatre located in the Ruth Taylor Theatre building.

CURTAIN: 7:00 pm Wednesday & Thursday | 8:00 pm Friday & Saturday | 2:30 pm Sunday INDIVIDUAL TICKETS: $12 adults | $8 faculty, staff, alumni, seniors | $6 students SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS: $36 adults | $24 faculty, staff, alumni, seniors | $18 student RESERVATIONS: 210-999-8515 | tutheatre@trinity.edu ONLINE TICKET SALES: tinyurl.com/TUtheatre

The Trinitonian [USPS 640460] [issn 1067-7291] is published weekly during the academic year, except holidays and final exams, by Trinity University, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200. Subscription price is $35 per year. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Antonio, TX. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Trinitonian, One Trinity Place, #62, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200.

Student publications under the supervision of the Board of Campus Publications shall explicitly state in each issue that the opinions expressed therein are not necessarily those of Trinity University. The first copy of the Trinitonian is free; additional copies are three dollars each. ©2018. All rights reserved.

TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 05, 2018 •

NEWS

New parental leave policy includes staff University staff can now receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave GABBY GARRIGA | NEWS REPORTER ggaririga@trinity.edu The university announced this week that it will expand paid parental leave policies to include university staff, giving staff members up to 12 weeks of paid leave. Over a year after the initial proposal, the policy came into effect on Oct. 1.

The new parental leave policy for staff follows last year’s changes to the faculty parental leave policy. As of last April, faculty have been able to receive four months of paid parental leave, an increase from the previous policy that had promised only eight weeks.

Last year, Jeanna Balreira, director for creative and editorial services, had to take time off work without having paid parental leave. However, her husband, Eduardo Cabral Balreira, professor of mathematics, was able to take a semester off work to take care of their child.

“Because, as a staff member, I did not have paid parental leave, I was forced to use stored sick and vacation time in order to continue getting paid after the birth of my child, EJ. Having been at Trinity for more than five years, I was lucky to have ‘saved up’ enough leave hours to cover eight weeks of full-time leave and four weeks of part-time leave (I worked from home 20 hours a week during my last four weeks of leave),” Balreira wrote in an email interview.

The Trinity Staff Engagement Committee, made up of staff representatives, spent last year researching policies and prepared a draft policy.

This policy was then presented to university president Danny Anderson’s leadership team made up of about eight staff vice presidents across departments. The leadership team decided to wait for Kara Larkan-Skinner, executive director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness and leadership council member, to be part of the finalization. Tess Coody-Anders, vice president for Strategic Communications and Marketing and leadership team member, described the leadership team’s process.

“The leadership team then worked through that — what the unintended consequences would be, what the benefits would be and then from there, a written policy was crafted.

We were just about to bring on a new general council for the university as that work was being done,” Coody-Anders said. “So we waited until the dust had settled for her so that she could be part of finalizing that policy, and once that work was done, Dr. Anderson and the leadership team were able to officially approve it, select a length of time and then announce it to the university community.”

When a benefit-eligible staff member requests parental leave, human resources will keep track of the time taken off.

“The staff member has to have worked at Trinity at least one year as of the date of birth of the child or the adoption of the child,” said Pamela Johnston, assistant vice president for Human Resources. “Any requests for parental leave will come to human resources and we will make sure that the person is eligible according to the policy. It should be pretty easy. Then

graphic by ALEXANDRA PARRIS

the leave will be tracked. Human resources already tracks sick leave and vacation leave and administrative leave. It’s just another form of leave.”

The two types of parental leave are available to each staff member. The first is primary caregiver leave, consisting of 12 weeks of paid leave, and the other is secondary caregiver leave, which includes two weeks of paid leave. Coody-Anders believes that this policy will have a positive impact on Trinity’s work environment.

“It does require in any organization where you implement a parental leave policy that everyone be willing to work together on teams to ensure that the work gets done and everything

is efficient. But the research shows that policies like these foster engagement and teamwork and that on the whole, the benefits to the organization are far greater than any minimal cost that may result,” Coody-Anders said.

Anderson emphasized the benefits the policy will bring to the Trinity community in a press release.

“This policy is a wonderful representation of Trinity’s values. By honoring and respecting our employees and their families, we demonstrate our commitment to community and the individual. Moreover, we advance our pursuit of excellence, as we strive to be one of the top places to work not only in San Antonio, but in higher education,” Anderson wrote.

Students react to Tobacco 21 ordinance As of Oct. 1, people under 21 are no longer allowed to purchase tobacco products in San Antonio KAYLIE KING | NEWS REPORTER kking1@trinity.edu The Tobacco 21 ordinance took effect in San Antonio on Oct. 1, 2018. The ordinance increased the age for sale of tobacco and vape products from 18 to 21 within San Antonio city limits. The ordinance does not apply to municipalities within the city limits, such as Alamo Heights.

Trinity has been a tobacco-free campus since Aug. 1, 2017, so the Tobacco 21 ordinance will not affect rules about tobacco usage on campus.

However, the ordinance will affect many Trinity students under 21 who still purchase tobacco products.

“It still applies to higher education students because some of our students who get to us are seventeen,” said Katherine Hewitt, coordinator of Wellness Services. “This will affect our students’ access to be able to buy tobacco products offcampus. It’s just that one of the main reasons why this is a big issue in the first place is because older young adults, your 18-year-olds, were buying tobacco products and selling them or redistributing them to younger high school students, for example.”

Hewitt believes that the Tobacco 21 ordinance is very forward thinking “It’s a controversial policy, so they know going into that they’re going to be faced with a lot of opposition,” Hewitt said. “I think when we’re championing the greater good and people’s health and safety, I think that’s so significant because you know you’re going to face a really hard road. I think that putting public health number one and profit number two is the best thing. We have been in those shoes before, so I sympathize.”

Hoyt Taylor, junior, uses tobacco products and does not feel personally affected by the policy as he is turning 21 soon. However, Taylor views limiting younger people’s access to tobacco products as a positive thing.

“As far as on the ground, young people’s access, I think it’s a good thing to limit the

NEWS

ANGELA GARCIA, sophomore, plans to leave SA to purchase tobacco now that the Tobacco 21 ordinance is in effect. photo by GENEVIEVE HUMPHREYS

access that younger people have to nicotine products,” Taylor said. “It’s never a bad thing.

We don’t want thirteen-year-olds with nicotine addictions. If the companies can’t keep the product out of the kids’ hands, I think that raising the age from 18 to 21 makes sense. I remember when I was like a fifteen-year-old, sixteen-year-old, I could always go to my eighteen-year-old friend and be like, ‘Hey, can you buy me a pack of smokes?’ ” Others do not believe that the policy will be effective.

“I think curbing addiction is a great goal for society. However, I disagree that this should be attempted through government regulation,” James Burford, senior, wrote in an email. “For many young people, sourcing these products will remain possible, even with an age restriction. For example, the internet makes tobacco products highly accessible, and even young children are gaining internet access at increasingly

• OCTOBER 05, 2018 • TRINITONIAN.COM

younger ages. I believe that effectively all that will come of this is a dent in the wallets of the owners and operators of establishments that sell tobacco products.”

Angela Garcia, sophomore, will not be turning 21 until her senior year and was upset when she found out about the ordinance.

“I don’t think that the city is really going to be making a change,” Garcia said. “I have this firm belief that the more restrictions and laws you put on something, the more people are going to want to do it. The ordinance affects San Antonio, but I can go to Alamo Heights or Olmos Park, and I can go buy my own pack of cigarettes, which I’m probably going to do. I don’t think they’re solving anything, I just have to go out of my way a little bit more to get cigarettes.”

Hewitt also gave an update on how the tobacco-free Trinity policy has been received since its implementation. A post-policy survey was sent out to a sample of students as well

as all faculty and staff in the spring of 2018.

Ninety-eight percent of survey participants were aware of the tobacco-free policy, 64 percent supported the policy, 72 percent agreed that the policy has had a positive impact on overall health, and six people reported that the new policy influenced them to cut back or quit.

“Overall, we’re doing well,” Hewitt said.

“There’s a lot of anecdotal feedback that comes my way which has been really positive about, you know, exposure to second-hand smoke has really gone down significantly, which is to be expected — it’s a policy. So people are being really respectful and abiding by the policy, which we really appreciate because it’s a public health matter essentially. It’s a health and safety issue.”

Those who are interested in quitting smoking can reach out to Katherine Hewitt at khewitt@trinity.edu. More information about the Tobacco 21 ordinance in San Antonio can be found on the city of San Antonio’s website.

3

Davidson comes forward to explain termination

continued from FRONT

When asked to comment on Davidson’s version of events, Tynes provided only the following statement over email: “Much like we would never share details of a student’s educational records which are confidential, employment records are in a similar privacy category. With regard to how Trinity assesses people’s work here, there are annual review processes for all employees, and job descriptions provide the framework for review. Most of us have labors of love (which are not specifically included in our job descriptions), like volunteering to serve as an advisor to a student organization; we would not be assessed for such voluntary work.”

The university’s handling of the situation has been a complaint among students, especially those closest to Davidson. When Russell asked officials about Davidson’s departure, she faced closed doors.

“It felt very much to me like they were telling black students [that] we needed to stay in our lane and not ask questions of things that they weren’t going to explicitly tell us on our

own,” Russell said. “I in no way speak for every black student on this campus, but I think I echo a lot of the sentiments of some of my friends who are black students on this campus that there’s been a huge gap in the showing of support from [the] administration to black students on this campus in particular.”

While Davidson was allegedly fired due to a lack of improved performance, she left a mark during her three years on campus. Davidson was integral in last year’s opening of the Tiger Learning Commons (TLC).

“I named the [TLC], right? Picked out the furniture, picked out the paint, designed it and created something that didn’t exist before.

And it’s going on without me. This year was going to be the implementation of the QEP [Starting Strong Quality Enhancement Plan], really getting our feet on the ground on what the TLC can actually do, and I’m not there to participate in that or to lead that,” Davidson said.

Davidson is now the director of Career Services and an integrative coach at Dominican University in California. While Davidson said California is beautiful, she misses the

relationships she built with Trinity students, faculty and staff.

“I miss walking into the TLC and being hugged by my student workers. I miss students randomly coming by to just say hi or to share a success that they had as a result of our working together. I miss the Black Student Union vehemently and watching them grow as leaders and seeing their successes. And just the relationships. Working together to build a sense of community on campus that matters a great deal to their experience. I miss the relationships with faculty and staff that I grew close to, that really just allowed me to be who I am, because I was embraced by so many people,” Davidson said.

Davidson also regrets the lack of closure she was able to give students.

“Part of me wanted to write a letter to the editor about how I’m sorry that it ended this way,” Davidson said. “[Because] it’s not just the BSU. They knew. We’ve talked. But for students who I worked with in the spring, who said, ‘Can we work together in the fall?’

Not necessarily my closest students, but my students who I’d established a relationship

and who had had the success we were looking for.”

Davidson left students with some advice.

“One of the things that I always tell students that I work with is to listen to that voice and to be kind to yourself, not to be so hard on yourself and to take joy in the small victories. I would always say, ‘Walk in your truth.’ Know who you are, be who you are and just walk in your truth. And that’s what I want students to always remember, to be true to themselves because that’s where they will find the greatest reward and the greatest joy,” Davidson said.

Davidson assured that she still values her time at Trinity.

“I have no ill will towards Trinity,” Davidson said. “I will love and honor my experience there and the university and the people I worked with and the students. I can’t let one situation tank the work I did and the relationships I had. There’s no bitterness towards Trinity at all. Was it unfair and unjust?

Absolutely. Absolutely. My position on that will never change.”

continued from FRONT

“Honestly, [we’re] a little disappointed but mostly okay with it. We faced some difficult competition. We didn’t at any point think that we had a clear leg up on anyone. It just happened to be a kind of unfortunate bait and switch kind of thing. We actually just got told by Dr. Martinez that we will be receiving a check of $10,000, some sort of follow up by anonymous donors, so that’s exciting to hear,” Buchanan said.

Aerkter agreed, emphasizing his eagerness for the company’s future.

“Congratulations to Quick Sip, first of all.

I think he can go far with the $25,000. It’s a bummer how it happened, but for us it’s alright. We’re pretty excited about moving forward,” Aertker said.

When he thought PATCH had won, Hurrell-Zitelman was disappointed, but he was proud of the PATCH co-founders, who both had lived in the Entrepreneurship Hall while Hurrell-Zitelman was the resident assistant (RA).

“When PATCH was announced, I was very, very happy because I was actually the RA for entrepreneurship hall when [Aerkter] and [Buchanan] came through. It was really rewarding to see somebody that I’d mentored before do that well. So I was upset of course, but I wasn’t terribly upset because I was part of something that ended up being great,” Hurrell-Zitelman said. “The way the tide turned was kind of crazy, but I’m so glad that they got some investment as well because they definitely deserve it for how much they’ve been growing, and I think they’re going to do awesome things with it.”

Now that Hurrell-Zitelman has this $25,000 investment, he plans to move forward with his company immediately. “[I feel] relieved, surprised, stressed, excited, everything. I feel everything right now. Obviously, we’re extremely honored with the investment we received and how we’re going to grow with that,” HurrellZitelman said. “Literally tomorrow we’ll be able to create the path to the vision we’re going to. Our first steps are investing in our facility and the brew capacity we can do right now; that way we can serve our customers good coffee.”

Stumberg final round The founders of the four companies presented their pitches to five judges. Each company gave a brief explanation of what they do, how they’ve grown, and what they would do with the $25,000 award. Afterward, the judges left to deliberate.

Then, fan-favorite PATCH was announced as the winner of the grand prize instead of Quick Sip, the true winner.

“So it was miscommunicated. We wrote down the fan favorite on the big check, so when we did the reveal, the judges looked at me, I looked at the judges, and I took the check and realized that it was the wrong team that was written on the check. I take full responsibility,” said Luis Martinez, director of the Department of Entrepreneurship.

The mix-up was quickly fixed.

After the grand prize check was taken from sophomores Gavin Buchanan and Andrew Aertker, founders of PATCH, and handed over to junior Jacob Hurrell-Zitelman of Quick Sip, PATCH was given an anonymous donation of $10,000 to continue with their business.

“A group of anonymous donors came together and said, ‘We’d like to donate $10,000 for PATCH.’ It took a long time for the judges to make a determination. They chose Quick Sip as first and PATCH second,” Martinez said.

The two other founders — Sean Pan, senior and founder of InterSourcing, a sourcing company and international supply chain consultant, and Andrea Acevedo, 2018 graduate and founder of MONA, an augmented realityfocused marketing agency — left the night without further investment.

Cat Dizon, Stumberg judge and executive director of the Alamo Angels, a San Antoniobased firm that focuses on promoting small businesses and startups, chose Quick Sip due to the success it has had so far and HurrellZitelman’s leadership in the company.

“I think it’s important to understand the founder’s story — what he’s done with the business in the short amount of time — and we think he’s doing all the right steps to continue to make this company grow,” Dizon said.

Buchanan spoke about their experience after the mistake of being accidentally announced the winner.

4

with additional reporting by Noelle Barrera

TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 05, 2018 •

NEWS

...

Opinion

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

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

SUBMISSION

FROM THE EDITORS’ DESK

Your paper. Your story. Our future.

People often ask us about the business behind the newspaper. Where do we get our money? Is it hard? We’re taught in our media classes that the newspaper industry is dying. Is that true for college papers, too?

To start from the top, we are different from University-Sponsored Organizations in that the majority of our budget comes from advertising revenue and subscriptions, while the rest comes from the Student Activity Fee. However, this is not enough to fund the costs of payroll, equipment, printing, staff development and more. That is why we have staff members who spend hours and hours every week soliciting businesses and organizations on and off campus for advertisements.

Due to the changing market, advertisers are turning away from college newspapers as a vehicle for advertising because they don’t think that it helps them gain customers. The truth is that advertising does work, but only if readers keep it working by patronizing the businesses that advertise with us. College newspapers offer a unique perspective for community members to engage with news, information and insights they can’t get anywhere else. Print advertising cuts through the noise of emails and posters and social media posts.

Even on campus, it has become difficult to solicit student groups to advertise with us.

Last year, Student Government Association allocated $10,000 to the Trinitonian for

helping Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) advertise with us. This helped smaller organizations that can’t afford to pay for advertising get the word out about their events.

However, SGA chose not to grant RSOs money for Trinitonian ads this year, meaning student groups won’t be able to get their messages across campus as easily.

These challenges are leading every news publication in the country to adapt, innovate or shut down. News publications across the country are continuing to see a decline in readership and ad revenue, forcing newsrooms to lay off staff and shut down. Several publications are cutting print and switching to online-only to cut down on the cost of printing.

Yes, it’s true that everyone and anyone can read the entire paper online, but being a digital publication has its own costs. Online advertisements don’t bring in nearly enough revenue to cover the other expenses. Some publications like The New York Times have a paywall, but that could discourage potential readers in our college market. Besides that, picking up a print paper has become a habit for our readers, which we can tell from our high pick-up rates last year.

The Trinitonian has made several efforts to innovate and adapt. We’ve expanded our digital platform over the past few years, now creating online-exclusive content on top of videos and even podcasts. We’ve come out of

our basement on Friday mornings to pass out the paper in Coates Student Center. We cover SGA meetings every week, have added a weekly sports scoreboard and have created an arts and entertainment calendar. We’re printing shorter issues to cut down on printing costs.

We truly believe that we are the only platform that can offer you an authentic, unbiased look at our campus culture and climate. As an entirely student-led staff, we can assure that we are producing content that reflects the questions and concerns our peers have. We believe that free expression and free inquiry are hallmarks of a liberal arts education, and that having a student-led newspaper allows us to practice citizenship.

We can only do what we do with the help of you, readers. If you support our mission, please patronize our advertisers and tell them you saw their ad in the Trinitonian. Parents and alumni can subscribe to get the Trinitonian to their mailbox. You can email cpbusiness@trinity.edu to arrange to have a copy of the paper mailed to your house with $35 for bulk or $65 for first class shipping.

As the 1869 Challenge approaches, consider donating directly to the Trinitonian. You can go to givingday.trinity.edu when the page goes live on Oct. 10 and choose “Other Student Activities” and then “Trinitonian.” More information about this year’s Trinitonian along with alumni accounts can be found on page 8.

Why Hungary is under lock and key EVAN CHAMBLESS OPINION COLUMNIST echamble@trinity.edu

Following — or possibly leading — a recent trend within Europe, Hungary has proven to be a very conservative country when it comes to immigration policy, among other things.

Like the United States’ current president, Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán proudly and loudly promotes his staunch anti-immigrant views, and in my limited experience here, many Hungarians happen to share those same views.

Hungarians don’t just agree with Trump — many I’ve talked to have actually used the word “love,” like he’s still just a shady reality TV show host that you are allowed to love ironically. But, strangely, it’s not ironic.

Many of my professors here have explained part of the phenomenon to the American students. It’s hard to wrap my head around, but here’s my best shot at explaining it: Hungary had been under the rule of empires and unions until the end of World War I — the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Third Reich and the Soviet Union. Not until recently did it have the power — which is arguably no longer democratic — to allow its own people to make decisions about how they are governed.

The many unfair and unsuccessful rules of aforementioned empires left an impression on the Hungarian people. They’re wary of outsiders, threatened by those who have taken and not given in the past. Because of this, they treasure their culture, their language and most importantly their history. It’s what remains of

OCTOBER 05, 2018 • TRINITONIAN.COM

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

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illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

their past, and it explains who they are today: a people attempting to stay safe. That’s what’s lead to an unwillingness to let foreigners — strangers — join their wary population.

It gets more complicated, though. Hungary’s free press is pretty limited. To what extent have the people chosen — or been given no choice in — their political beliefs? Things seem pretty iffy there. It’s most likely a combination of passed down generational beliefs and a small scope of information that happens to confirm them.

Though this Hungarian version of an anti-immigration stance may appear skewed and seem unethical to me and my many progressive, liberal and left-aligned peers, it’s also a much more understandable stance to take after years of shouldering oppression.

What really baffles me is the American version of this approach: “Don’t come here and take our jobs and resources!” Note the lack of a notion of self-defense. The primary motivation

here is entitlement. Entitlement to a country based on the principles of refuge and acceptance that has neither faced conquerors nor been cut off from its own people and land — except for when colonists stole from and massacred Native Americans — the way the Hungarians have time after time. Where the status quo is and where it should be is currently being questioned, slowly and painfully.

Taking a look at Hungary has been a fascinating opportunity to look at the many social layers that obscure policy. Though I’d come to terms with American conservatism in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, there is so much more to unpack than that. I look forward to spending more time and watching many of these issues unfold in after the European Union’s recent admonishment of the nation’s undemocratic practices.

Evan Chambless is a senior economics major.

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. Submit by Sunday at noon to be in the Friday edition of the paper. Email it to opinion editor Soleil Gaffner at LGaffner@trinity.edu.

please note!

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

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Take a chill pill Pride lies in contribution NATALIA SALAS OPINION COLUMNIST nsalas@ trinity.edu My mom just congratulated me for having my first meltdown of the year in late September, and I was even a little bit excited for myself. I was like, huh, I have gotten almost a month and a half in and I am just now getting stressed enough to cry about it. Good for me!

Granted, last year at this time, I was a mess of a first-year with a twitchy eyelid because I refused to go to sleep before 5 a.m. But now, I am only a sophomore. I haven’t even gotten to the hardest part of college yet, but I’m still letting stress bring me to tears.

Let’s consider this my official call to action, not only to myself, but to all college students. Let’s start saving our meltdowns for the real world. Not in a condescending way — I understand more than most that emotions are valid, even if they’re stress tears. However, I should probably not be as proud of myself as I am for having my first mental breakdown before October.

This may be ironic coming from the former twitchy-eyed 18-year-old.

And there’s no need for you to look any further than my photo to notice permanent under-eye bags. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll probably look 50 when I’m 25. I agree. It is ironic, and I am definitely losing sleep tonight because of homework, as well as tomorrow night, and probably the night after that.

Either way, when my mom sent me a text that said, “Yesterday was the first meltdown of the semester, you’re doing great,” I realized how many more meltdowns I have left to face. This doesn’t mean I’ll stop giving myself reasons to be stressed, bite off more than I can chew at the beginning of every semester and try to do everything, ever. That is the Trinity way, after all. It just means that I’m going to try and

handle it with more poise and grace now so when I’m older with real world problems and what not, I’ll be able to really give my mom an earful. We are coming up on the sixth week of school, midterms are coming up, and I know a lot of us are really going through it.

But if stress were a currency, I’d want to pinch my pennies, try to get through schooling without using it all up, and then save the meltdowns for the good stuff that’s to come in the future.

Not to mention that this “six-week slump” is hard on us all, professors and students alike. We’re all a little on edge; it’s true. To students, I want to let you know that I know where you’re coming from, especially because of the fact that I generally haven’t been known to handle stress all too well, or at least tear-free. To professors, I’m sorry; I don’t know what to tell you, I’m barely an adult.

Let’s start saving our meltdowns for the real world.

My mom’s text was a wake-up call, in that next semester, I don’t want to be congratulated for making it five weeks without a real breakdown (even though that’s actually really impressive for me). Maybe I’ll make it to six, even seven. I’m going to try to make it a point not to spend all my time here stressed, as I know I’ll have plenty of time for that later. If you are stressed, there are so many resources available at Trinity to help you. Counseling services, academic success services and career services, just to name a few.

There are also many opportunities for group meditation and exercise. If you need help it is very easy to seek it out at Trinity, so I urge all students to take advantage of the resources we have here.

Natalia Salas is a sophomore communication major.

illustration by JULIA POAGE

BEN GONZALEZ OPINION COLUMNIST bgonzale@ trinity.edu

As I entered my first year at Trinity, I remember ample discussion around our lack of school spirit. At the time, it didn’t strike me as anything out of the ordinary; the students at my high school had many of the same complaints. Student turnout at football games was low, homecoming celebrations were always lackluster and since our mascot was pretty racist (a Native American Warrior), we couldn’t exactly have someone dress up as him and run around the field.

During my high school career, these faults never bothered me much. So when I heard some similar complaints at Trinity, I didn’t pay it much mind.

I figured Trinity and my high school simply both had rigorous courses and a busy student body. However, while that may be true, I’ve learned that this supposed absence of “school spirit” at Trinity is not as dire as people make it out to be.

With all the recent talk about our ranking as the number one school in Texas, it’s easy to start comparing ourselves to some of the biggest names in the state. As a result, our eyes are drawn to the huge, bombastic nature of their student bodies. We gawk at the massive crowds at the UT football games and the undying dedication of the house system at Rice University, and in comparison our modest Stand Band and the admittedly overhyped Nacho Hour seem insignificant.

Between President Anderson’s Campus Master Plan, the everincreasing size of our first-year classes and our recent designation as a National Historic District campus, we easily get caught-up in the expectation for our school to be full of spectacle.

But I would argue that we should not expect Trinity students to become

something that we are not and do not want to be.

Fellow students, take a moment to think about any extracurricular activities you’re involved in. How many jobs or internships are you working?

How many classes are you taking? Are you doing any research? If you aren’t doing many of those things, how many friends do you have that are? If I had to guess, I’d say that your involvement is higher than the average student at one of those mega-universities. Between the sheer amount of campus activities that students are involved in or connected to, we manage to foster a significantly active student atmosphere with a very small amount of people.

I’m not just saying this to brag about how busy we are. This involvement means more than a checklist to fill our résumés. Rather, in my experience at Trinity, it seems like there’s a contagious desire to contribute. Students don’t usually join clubs here because it looks good or because they just want to seem involved. They’re joining these organizations because they sincerely want to improve them, put their own twist on them and enjoy them to the fullest extent.

Many of my closest friends whom I met in my first year here did not classify themselves as outgoing or even as overachievers. Now, most of them

have either started their own club, work multiple campus jobs or play in multiple music ensembles. Sure, you won’t find them in maroon face paint cheering at a Trinity football game, but their school spirit resides in their intense drive to add something to the campus.

Our Stand Band may seem small if you compare them to Rice’s Marching Owl Band, but those nine or 10 students are choosing to spend their Saturday cheering on our team in addition to the myriad of other responsibilities they have to take care of. They are there not because it helps them get a job in the future, but because they sincerely enjoy it and want to contribute to the community.

I challenge those who worry about Trinity’s lack of school spirit to expand their definition of dedication to our campus. Maybe they aren’t so interested in the shouting match that is college rivalries because they are more worried about whether this year’s Lunar New Year event will run smoothly. If you spend time looking beyond the superficiality of loud school pride, I think you’ll find a dedicated students who are willing to stretch their schedules to the limit for the sake of quality experiences.

Ben Gonzalez is a junior anthropology major.

International students express concern for refugee crisis PABLO TRAVERSARI WEB EDITOR ptravers@ trinity.edu

For many college students studying away from home, the arrival of winter or summer break is a happy reminder that they will soon be able to go back where they belong and spend time with the people they love.

As an international student, my return home this summer break was not as comforting as it had been in previous years. Why would going back make me sad? This time, going home to Ecuador meant watching the depressed circumstances that fleeing Venezuelan families now face in my country and others.

In case you are not aware of the deplorable economic circumstances Venezuela is currently facing, more than two million people have fled the country since 2014 due to destitute living conditions and resource scarcity as the country’s currency faces the highest levels of hyperinflation in its history and plunges in value by the day.

Venezuelan families have been forced to abandon their native country in search of asylum or refugee status in neighboring countries where they hope to find better living conditions.

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While this solution might have been an initial hopeful promise to those wanting to leave Venezuela, over the past year it has become a humanitarian problem for the region.

For other countries like Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Chile and Ecuador, the daily flood of Venezuelans through their borders has caused significant immigration and social issues.

Laura Gomez, a junior currently studying abroad in Brazil, expressed her sadness when observing the living condition of Venezuelans over there.

“Around three weeks ago, I remember watching the news with my host mom here in Brazil and feeling so crushed inside. We both stayed quiet as we saw the living situation of thousands of Venezuelan refugees in Roraima, a state in northern Brazil.”

While Venezuelans typically arrive with optimism towards finding a potential job so they can take care of their families, they are faced with even higher odds of being able to achieve that goal once they’ve immigrated. Due to a mixture of feelings from people in other Latin American countries, the Venezuelan immigration has sparked massive outrage and claims that this is a problem which their states should not be responsible for solving and that the immigration is beginning to affect citizens of host countries as well.

A Venezuelan father and child ask for assistance using a poster that reads, “I am Venezuelan, I don’t have work. Please help me to eat with my son. It is not easy. God bless you,” in Quito, Ecuador. photo provided PABLO TRAVERSARI

Laura referred to some videos she saw of the violent encounters Venezuelans at times have to endure, “It was so heartbreaking to see how some refugees were victims of xenophobia as they were being expelled violently from Pacaraima by locals after conflict erupted between them.”

Mauricio Bernal, a senior international student from Colombia, also expressed his concern towards

this issue during an interview: “The situation has become harder for Venezuelans trying to come into Colombia. Finding jobs is not easy, and even then, the jobs some people do end up having are really bad for the skill set they possess. People who used to have good jobs now settle for whatever they can get.”

Although the undergoing situation with Venezuelan people and their families seems like nothing but bad

news on top of bad news, there are individuals in other countries who are willing to aide refugee families and asylum seekers.

As Laura also said in her statement, “It also [gives] us hope to see many groups of Brazilians showing so much solidarity towards Venezuelans by opening their doors to the refugees and giving them free meals, clothing and sometimes places where they could spend the night.”

Although I can not say what will be the outcome of this horrible humanitarian crisis Venezuela is having, I wish the best to the families that are crossing borders to other countries and hope that Venezuela’s economic situation improves. It is hard to witness such harsh living conditions for the millions of affected families and children.

As Maria Torres, a junior student from Ecuador who returned home during this summer break, mentioned to me, “It is an escalating problem.

More than half a million Venezuelans have entered Ecuador at this moment, and because of that, the country had to declare a state of emergency along its borders. So you don’t really know what the best solution for this crisis can be, or if there even is one.”

Pablo Traversari is a senior communication major.

TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 05, 2018 •

OPINION

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• OCTOBER 05, 2018 • TRINITONIAN.COM

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State of the

Triniunion EDITORIAL BOARD trinitonian@trinity.edu

KATIE FEARN FORMER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

As an attorney, I occasionally have undergraduates or soon-to-be undergraduates ask me for advice about entering my profession.

I think they hope I will give them fodder for their arguments with their parents about their choice to major in political science rather than business. I am sorry to disappoint them, but my answer is always the same: go work for your college newspaper.

I was the editor of the Trinitonian during the 2006–2007 school year and worked for the Trinitonian in various other capacities during my time at Trinity. Back then, as it

DANIEL CONRAD FORMER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Trinitonian team works tirelessly every day to provide an audience of thousands — about 3,600 students, plus parents, alumni, staff, faculty, board members and more — with a valuable service at no charge. A free press isn’t free, but it is vital to the Trinity community, and that’s why it deserves our support.

Photographers and video staff bear witness to events that affect the campus community.

JULIA ELMORE FORMER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Reminiscing on my experience as a member of the Trinitonian staff brings back a flood of wonderful memories — forming lasting friendships during late nights in the newsroom, interviewing fascinating faculty and staff members and learning from my fellow students about the world around me are just a few of my favorites, but I don’t think I could pick just one. However, I am absolutely positive that my least favorite part of being a student journalist was writing opinion pieces; I never felt strongly enough about any of my topics and never felt informed or experienced enough to write with much authority or conviction. The dread of writing weekly editorials was worse than that of pulling weekly all nighters to get the paper to print on time each Thursday morning.

Here I am a year and a half later, and one of the current Trinitonian editors approached me with an opportunity to write an opinion piece. Strangely enough, I jumped right on it. Unlike the editorials I wrote about candy and childhood discipline two years ago, I care deeply about the subject of student journalism and am excited to advocate for the importance of institutions that provide a worthwhile extracurricular community for students, an outlet for all to express their voice and a source of accountability for universities like Trinity.

During my time on the Trinitonian staff,

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is now, the Trinitonian was an independent, student-run newspaper, funded primarily through advertising revenue. It was terrifying as a 21-year-old college senior to have total control over the content of a newspaper that thousands of students, administrators, faculty, staff, parents and alumni read every week.

But it also taught me skills that I never would have learned if David Tuttle or some other administrative gatekeeper vetted everything that we published — skills that I use every day in my career as an attorney.

Of course, working for the Trinitonian made me a better writer and a better copy editor. It taught me how to approach strangers, build a rapport with them, interview them and assess their credibility. It taught me how to give and receive criticism. It taught me sound judgment, as I chose which articles and columns we would and would not publish.

Most importantly, it taught me how to work toward a common goal on a tight deadline with a team of strong-willed peers, some of whom I did not like and did not like me, and create something we were proud of on a weekly basis. I made mistakes, dusted myself off, learned from what I did wrong, and kept going, because I was responsible for publishing a newspaper.

So, if you are thinking of going to law school, apply to work for the Trinitonian. And if you are one of the non-student members of this newspaper’s audience, be thankful that the Trinitonian is an independent, student-run newspaper and that the students working for it are learning the skills they need to succeed.

Reporters attend events, research trends and interview community members to keep us informed. Columnists put themselves out there in order to criticize and comment on issues that are worth arguing about. Copy editors, illustrators, audio and graphics staff keep this content fresh and present it in a way designed to catch your eye and hold your interest. The head editors somehow keep track of it all to fill dozens of pages each week with new, pertinent content and get it online before the paper hits the stands.

The newspaper isn’t just an institution to be taken for granted. It’s a group of your students who put principle into practice by zealously reporting the news. Without their hard work

— the hard work of your friends, classmates, students, children or what have you — there would be no first draft of Trinity history on the pages every week, there would be no independent organization championing your interests.

Yet they do it, and for absurdly little pay to boot.

The Trinitonian might be more than an institution, but it’s still an institution, and those cost a lot of money to run. The business and advertising staff put up a brave fight, constantly working to keep this multi-hundred-thousand-dollar business afloat. And every little bit counts.

camaraderie, entertainment and a sense of belonging were some of the greatest benefits I felt I gained from involvement in the organization.

However, after graduating, submitting dozens of job applications, landing my first job and working at my current company for almost a year now, I see that I gained so much more and that the skills I learned as a student journalist have helped me tremendously as a young professional. At my first Trinitonian training session as a 19-year-old pulse reporter, I learned to try to provide every possible perspective when writing a story. Today, it is second nature to me to consider multiple perspectives when marketing my company’s services to clients. When I was leading my staff as Trinitonian editor-in-chief, I learned the importance of meeting deadlines, and today, my boss notices that I don’t quit until the job gets done. Understanding writing mechanics, AP Style, knowing InDesign and Photoshop have set me apart in many instances from coworkers, and I attribute it all to my time on the Trinitonian staff.

My first paper as editor-in-chief followed a theme: You Belong Here. The words are stenciled on the sidewalk around Trinity and are the spirit of the second reason student newspapers and student journalism are so impactful. Student newspapers provide anyone and everyone to have not only a voice, but more importantly, a platform to use their voice to express their opinions and experiences. By publishing thought pieces from all ends of the social, political, academic and religious spectra, student newspapers serve to promote a campus community where all experiences and opinions

belong and are valued — even enough to be published.

Not only does student journalism benefit individuals involved, but it also provides important accountability to entire universities.

Student journalists ask the sometimes tough questions that provoke honesty about university policies and procedures, forcing transparency about financial matters, personnel issues, campus diversity and inclusion, academic and curricular requirements and dozens of other aspects that make up an institution of higher education. Even the best universities have areas in which they could improve, and no marketing team is going to pass out brochures advertising them. It is up to students and concerned members of the university community to raise questions, investigate further and publish facts about how and why their institution is operating in the way that it is.

Publishing facts allows for informed citizens to raise concerns and take action to promote positive change. Allowing a free student press is vital for an honest and transparent university system.

Funding student journalism organizations on college campuses both allows students to learn skills that they will be able to use after graduation and also promotes accountability at all levels of the university hierarchy. As an alumna who cares deeply about my alma mater and its student newspaper, I feel compelled and proud to support an organization that enriches the experiences of students and the campus as a whole.

Katie Fearn, ’07, is an attorney for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Daniel Conrad, ’18, is the San Antonio reporter for Courthouse News Service.

Julia Elmore, ’17, is a business development coordinator at architecture firm PBK.

The Trinitonian is an integral part of the Trinity campus and has been since 1902.

It serves as the newspaper-of-record for the entire community. The staff members of the Trinitonian recognize the need for this duty and work to document campus events in a nonbiased and effective way; this keeps the whole community up-to-date.

Challenges to newspapers are mounting.

Advertising revenue has been on the decline across the industry. The Trinitonian is not immune to these financial challenges, so adaptation has become a necessity.

The editorial staff of approximately 40 reporters, columnists, digital creators, editors and executives produces content each week for 26 weeks. This content is distributed across our two main distribution channels: a weekly print edition and trinitonian.com. That content is then promoted through events — like Wake Up and Smell the Copy — and platforms like Twitter, Facebook, the newsletter and Apple News.

Digital-exclusive content is also available both as a podcast and in video form on the Trinitonian YouTube channel. Between all platforms, the staff covers approximately 25 stories per week. Throughout the year, the staff also produces a number of themed “Special Sections” with a focused topic such as housing, food, drink and nightlife or the “Best for Trinity” awards.

The Trinitonian has two major sources of funding. The first, advertising, is responsible for approximately 60 percent of the operating costs of the Trinitonian. The advertising staff is comprised of an advertising director, who coordinates operations, and four account executives, who sell advertising space to on-campus organizations and off-campus companies looking to reach the Trinity market.

Advertising in the print edition is done on either a per-edition basis or a frequency contract basis. Advertisers who sign a frequency contract receive online advertising as part of their package and placement in the online business directory. These advertising dollars are also minutely supplemented by Google AdSense serving ads on trinitonian.com.

The second major source of funding is subscription fees. Students are subscribed to the Trinitonian through the Student Activity Fee, or SAF. This fee is collected from students at the start of each semester and allocated to Student Government Association, who in turn allocates funds for the operation of the Trinitonian. This allocation is considered the student subscription to the campus newspaper.

The Trinitonian is guaranteed no less than their five-year average of subscription fees; that average currently sits at just under $40,000.

For 2018–2019, the Trinitonian received $46,650. Those off campus, such as parents and alumni, can subscribe to the Trinitonian and have it mailed to them. Subscriptions account for approximately five percent of the operating budget.

Donations cannot be budgeted for, but in previous years these donations have been under $1,000 for the year.

The need for hyper-local journalism cannot be understated. Through the protection and continuation of the Trinitonian, the broader campus community made up of students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, neighbors and more can remain informed of events that are at the core of Trinity.

The journalists at the Trinitonian tell unique stories that are truly the lifeblood of the community: from feature stories to sports recaps to breaking news and events, there’s no other organization with the respect for and trust of the Trinity community that the Trinitonian has.

Reporting by Jordan Bruce, exec. digital editor

TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 05, 2018

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

Pulse

Looking into a Human Library

Trinity residents and San Antonio citizens become open books at annual event NOELLE BARRERA | PULSE REPORTER nbarrera@trinity.edu Coates Library added 10 "books" to its collection last Tuesday, including: "A Christian Lesbian," "The High Lord DoubleQueer Satanist of the Kingdom of PTSD" and "Eating Disordered," except these were human.

Trinity hosted its second annual Human Library. For 20-minute intervals throughout the evening, students spoke to a diverse range of individuals from Trinity and the widerSan Antonio area and asked questions about their experiences.

Three Trinity students also participated as human books, including first year Karen Rader, sophomore James Davis, and senior Ananda de Hoog.

The Human Library was developed in 2000 by four young people from Copenhagen. After their friend was stabbed in 1993, they wanted to do something to stop violence, so they created a forum where people could talk to "human books" from marginalized groups and learn from one another.

Jason Hardin, access service manager for Coates Library, went to a Human Library event at Incarnate Word in the spring of 2017 and decided to bring the concept to Trinity.

“It was kind of transformative for me to be able to sit with a person, face-to-face, a human being, and talk. ... It takes it from being an issue, a topic, to being an actual lived experience," Hardin said.

Hardin spoke about guidelines the Human Library organization sets for participants.

"They specify that [the book] needs to be someone who is from a stereotyped, misunderstood, marginalized or repressed group in some way," Hardin said.

Miro Hernandez has been a professional body piercer for 18 years. As a book, Hernandez spoke about the unconventional road he took towards his current career at local tattoo and body piercing shop Dandyland.

Hernandez started on a pre-med track in college, then switched to speech and

communications and worked for an advertising agency. But when he attended a conference and took a class on the modern rituals of the Americas, the lecturer's words resonated with him in unexpected ways. "[She said] 'for those of you who do understand what you're doing, the world also has a place for you. You are the modern day men, you are the shaman, you are the jaguar warriors, you are the spiritual healers,' " Hernandez said.

"That's when it became very clear and evident for me that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. ... My path in this life is to be able to help people, and that comes with the healing in a sense that people get from body piercings."

Hernandez loves subverting people's expectations of what a professional piercer looks like; at the Human Library event, he wore a floral shirt, a patterned fedora and labradorite ear gauges.

"On Saturdays, I dress up and wear threepiece suits and wingtips and bow ties to work, and you could imagine people's faces when they walk in," Hernandez said.

Hernandez's stylish appearance serves him well in his field. Along with doing piercings at Dandyland, Hernandez has experience working as a consultant and trainer, traveling across the U.S. and teaching people how to tattoo and pierce safely and meeting with state legislators to help pass laws.

To gather books, Hardin reached out to local nonprofit organizations like the San Antonio Clubhouse, a nonprofit which helps people with mental illnesses or disabilities obtain support in a safe, nonclinical environment.

Linda Williams, who works as a full-time volunteer at the Clubhouse and was another book, spoke about being on the autism spectrum. Although her presentation was titled "The Challenges of Asperger's Syndrome," Williams emphasized how being autistic has also positively impacted her life.

"I might have quirks and difficulty understanding some things, but I have other things that are really positive. I'm an intelligent person, and I love to learn," Williams said.

MIRO HERNANDEZ, a "human book," talked about how he decided to become a professional body piercer after attending a conference on modern rituals. photos by MATTHEW CLAYBROOK

Williams's neurotype and gender made aspects of her childhood difficult.

“When I was diagnosed at 12 — I’m 47 now — it was very rare for women and girls to get that diagnosis,” Williams said. "My parents did not want to accept that I was on the spectrum. With both of those things in mind, I struggled a lot in in school. I had a hard time navigating relationships and friendships and understanding people's body language."

Williams went to college in Seattle for fine art and photography, which she characterized as a period of growth. Over time, Williams learned to accept herself fully.

"This is part of who I am, but it doesn't have to stop me from anything I want to do or succeed in," Williams said.

Rita Urquijo-Ruiz, professor of modern languages and literature, shared her story about emigrating to California when she was 16, "Undocumented and Queer: a Trinity Professor's Journey."

"I’m hoping to humanize these two sides of the story, the immigration story and the queer story. I think that sometimes professors seem almost not accessible or that we’re like

a different type of human. ... I hope students are able to feel like they have an ally," UrquijoRuiz said.

Urquijo-Ruiz is currently writing a memoir, and said that this event was a great opportunity for storytelling practice.

While their religious views differ, both Rader and Davis's stories involved reconciling spiritual elements with their life circumstances. Rader spoke about growing up in a conservative area of Silicon Valley, and how family acceptance and a service trip helped her realize that her lesbian identity and Christian faith could coexist.

"I want people to know that ... spirituality and sexuality are not mutually exclusive," Rader said.

Junior Cat Cura attended the event and enjoyed hearing Urquijo-Ruiz’s story.

“I love [Ruiz] so much, she is a huge role model to me, so it was just awesome being able to spend quality time with her and hear her story,” Cura said.

Students interested in this event or who want to be a book next year can email jhardin@trinity.edu.

Students dissect the Model Minority Myth Trinity Diversity Connection hosts dialogue on racism in Coates on Sept. 25 NAOMI SCHEER | PULSE INTERN nscheer@trinity.edu Trinity Diversity Connection (TDC), a group that aims to promote diversity on campus, recently held a discussion on the "Model Minority Myth." Junior Alex Motter, TDC's public relations coordinator, led the diversity dialogue. Motter — who is Vietnamese-American — lobbied for this particular dialogue when he became part of the board this year. The dialogue was slated for last spring but was cancelled. Motter was not on the executive board at that time and did not know why it was cancelled.

“We needed to revive this dialogue. We needed to make it happen. I think that it would be really easy for the dialogue to just be talking about the Asian-American experience, but I think that because of how much it relates to people of color and the idea of what it means to be a minority

TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 05, 2018

in America, it's a really good topic for a dialogue,” Motter said.

Motter defined the model minority myth as the perceived gold standard of Asians and Pacific Islanders as minorities, particularly in academics or socioeconomic status. According to Motter, the myth sets up unrealistic standards of success while villainizing the use of essential resources, such as welfare and food stamps.

Throughout the dialogue, people discussed how this creates division between the perceived “better” minorities, namely AsianAmericans and Pacific Islanders, and the perceived “lesser” minorities, such as LatinAmericans or African-Americans. The division serves only to pit minorities against each other and further the white supremacy narrative and anti-immigrant rhetoric prevalent in America today.

After the model minority myth had been defined, the group gathered in a circle for a

discussion about how the myth had affected them personally and ways to correct issues caused by the myth. The group discussed issues such as the stigma of food stamps and poverty, as well as the harmful effects of stereotypes. The group discussed issues such as the stigma of food stamps and poverty, as well as the harmful effects of stereotypes.

Junior Natasha Sahu commented on her experience with typical Asian stereotypes as an Indian-American.

“Stereotyping Asian people, that they are smart and can do math, it leads them down that path,” Sahu said. “It doesn’t encourage them to pursue other fields.”

Others also agreed with this comment, including junior Kezia Nyarko, who is president of TDC. “We should be supporting people who break out of these stereotypes,” Nyarko said.

The dialogue included discussion of the stigma of poverty and of the need

for government assistance, such as through food stamps, particularly among African-Americans.

Instead of being seen as a mode for survival and betterment that is used by all races in America, food stamps have become stigmatized.

Some discussants determined one of the reasons that many view food stamps as a result of laziness rather than necessity was colorism.

“Colorism is discrimination through shades of different races and within races.

There is a valid perception — stemming from the impact of colonialism and white supremacy — that the whiter you are, the more successful you will be,” Nyarko said. When darker people use food stamps, they become an example of lower socioeconomic status that reinforces colorism in American society. continued on PAGE 10

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Calling all students interested in bitcoin

Founders of Trinity Cryptocurrency Club describe their club and invite students to join RACHEL POOVATHOOR | PULSE INTERN rpoovath@trinity.edu Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm. With the emergence of tech millionaires who made their riches from cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, a new generation of cryptocurrency enthusiasts are rising. And some of them are right here at Trinity.

“If the idea of changing how banking works and get-rich-quick schemes sounds cool or interesting at all, you should come check us out,” said Kenny McLaren, sophomore and Cryptocurrency Club member. “[I] just wanted to get people into crypto,” said sophomore Nathan Horn.

Horn’s internship over the summer and his father’s support inspired him to start his club here on campus.

Horn and McLaren started the club this year as a way to educate Trinity students about cryptocurrency.

“The majority of [Trinity students] don’t know too much about crypto,” McLaren said.

Cryptocurrency is a decentralized digital currency. This means that it’s not based

in anything physical and isn’t controlled by one entity. So unlike the U.S. dollar, which is backed by the Federal Reserve, cryptocurrency acts independently of a central bank.

The “crypto” in cryptocurrency describes the security and verification needed during digital currency transactions. Horn explained the secure blockchain technology feature of cryptocurrencies.

“The blockchain is like a train, and the faster it’s going, the harder it is for anyone to hack it, and in order to hack it, a person has to shoot an arrow that’s in a hole that’s 80 feet away,” Horn said.

McLaren thinks it’s important for students to understand cryptocurrency, even if the concept may seem foreign to or distant from their everyday lives.

“I think that lots of people are saying that we’re going to be using crypto instead of real money. ... If there’s a chance of that, it’s a good idea to understand it and invest in it,” McLaren said.

The Cryptocurrency Club faces the challenge of generating interest among the student body. They believe some students

may be intimidated by the jargon of the tech world. “[Our goal is to] teach more people about what crypto is, spread information and find ways to get rich quick,” McLaren said.

McLaren also mentioned that members of the club will play accessible games like Steem Monsters.

Even the humanities have a place in the Trinity Cryptocurrency club.

“One of the aspects that’s less technical is the human side of what cryptocurrency might do. Like how would it change how we think about money and interact with people,” McLaren said.

Some Trinity students showed interest in participating in a crypto club on campus.

“Since the rise of bitcoin, I’ve heard a lot about [cryptocurrency], and I know there’s quite a few countries trying to create their own cryptocurrencies, like Korea,” said firstyear JinYoung Jang.

Though the club isn’t official yet and meetings are not set in stone, students interested in joining the cryptocurrency club can email Nathan Horn at nhorn@trinity. edu to be added to the club GroupMe.

Sophomore NATHAN HORN explained he created the Trinity Cryptocurrency Club so that more students would become interested in cryptocurrency. photo by PAIGE REISTLE

Students can also play Steem Monsters with the club by following the QR code seen on bulletin boards around campus.

Getting to know Tommy Glenn from Coates Dining services employee and his co-workers look back at his 15+ years working at Trinity MARIA ZAHARATOS | PULSE REPORTER mzaharat@trinity.edu Meet Thomas “Tommy” Glenn, employee at Trinity with Aramark Dining and Food Services. You may recognize him as one of the many smiling faces working in the Coates Student Center Commons, serving up tacos and more. Even recent graduates and alumni could recognize him, as he has been working for Trinity off and on for about 16 years. He currently works as a grill cook at the on-campus Taco Taco Café.

“I always kind of find my way back home [to Trinity],” Glenn said.

Jacob Citron, Food Service and Commons location manager, has been working with Glenn for more than a year now and gave a glowing description of him as an employee.

“Tommy’s a big personality, and in my years of working in college dining, big personalities go over well in the campus community,” Citron said. “Students have a way to identify with him.

He’s not just a face, he’s a voice — a welcoming one and a friendly one. He creates conversations

and relationships with students. It’s a nice thing to see.”

From Glenn’s perspective, students are one of the reasons that make him say he loves every aspect of his job working at the university.

“Trinity students are the best students I’ve ever seen. Study hard and pass those tests,” Glenn said.

According to Citron, Glenn’s upbeat and humorous personality — “outgoing” as he described himself — makes him a pleasure work with and in his interactions with people. Because he has been around for so long, he is one of the well-known and reputed figures around campus and truly a vital part of the Trinity community.

He also describes Glenn as a reliable and adaptable employee who puts in hard work.

“If we ever need Tommy to work in Mabee Hall, he can do it. If we need him in the Commons, he’s here. If we need him to come in early, he’s here early. Even when asked to stay late, he stays late,” Citron said.

Perla Farias, Food Services employee, believes Tommy’s extensive experience makes him a valuable member of the Food Services team.

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“He’s kind and helps a lot of students.

Students love him. We love him,” Farias said.

She expressed gratitude for Glenn’s support and friendship, adding that they were two of the few employees who have been working together for more than two years at Trinity.

According to her, not only is he always kind and ready to help anyone in need, but he is also a great chef and has unique recipes and tips that make everything better.

Often working shifts from mid afternoon to midnight, Monday through Thursday, Glenn spends much of his time on campus working, but Fridays and weekends are reserved for his moments of leisure. During these days off, he usually spends time at home with his wife or works at a ranch with horses. He is especially passionate about horseback riding and also loves fishing.

Glenn ultimately argued that, like Michael Jordan, he could not have made it on his own without support from an entourage. So while this article features Tommy as a individual, he insisted the focus should be brought onto the Food Service staff and team as a whole.

THOMAS “TOMMY” GLENN, a grill cook at the Taco Taco Café, is well known around campus. photo by ELIZABETH NELSON

“It’s not just Tommy. Tommy’s got a crew. If it wasn’t for them, I couldn’t shine,” Glenn said.

The Model Minority Myth continued from PAGE 9

The main goal of both this diversity dialogue and TDC is to promote discussion and awareness about diversity in our community.

“We all have our own experiences, and it’s valuable to spend the time learning from others’ experiences, and so I think no matter what your background is, you can always learn something about yourself and about other people by participating in conversations about diversity,” Motter said.

He also mentioned that small steps are important when it comes to accepting diversity and combating racism.

“Everything is small steps. We’re never going to be able to sit here during a dialogue and resolve racism,” Motter said. “But if we’re able to acknowledge how these issues affect us and learn more about how they work, it really helps us be better U.S. citizens or just better humans to each other.”

Motter hopes this discussion brings more Trinity students to TDC events.

“TDC dialogues are for everyone,” Motter said. “You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable to be involved with TDC events, you should feel really welcome and excited about coming to them because the focus is on conversation and learning as a group. [That’s] because none of us really have the answer or know how to solve it.”

Motter also emphasized that TDC dialogues offer the opportunity for everyone on campus, not just students in minority groups, to experience diversity.

“When you come from a position of the majority and you’re able to really listen to those messages [from minorities] and share them to other people, I’ve found that people are more perceptive,” Motter said.

If you are interested in getting involved with TDC, email Victoria Abila at vabila@ trinity.edu to be added to the mailing list or attend the next upcoming diversity dialogue on Oct. 9, “What You Need to Know About Immigration/Detention Centers” in the Waxahachie Room in Coates Student Center.

TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 05, 2018 •

PULSE

AE Venue Wish Upon A Star “A Star is Born” and so is Lady Gaga’s acting career, here’s to hoping more than one person in a room of 100 believe in her

&

“Saturday Night Live” continues to live-action roleplay politics and call it humor; returns with season premiere last weekend

Medium-sized Music Space Edition FRANKIE COSMOS performs on the small stage of Paper Tiger on Sept. 21. The small stage provides the intimacy of house shows with the professional quality of a larger venue. photo by KATHLEEN CREEDON

WOLF ROBINSON | A&E REPORTER jrobins7@trinity.edu Over the course of three issues, the Trinitonian will run articles as part of a series exploring different types of performance venues in San Antonio.

The series highlights three types of venues: a DIY space, a mediumsized venue and a larger concert hall.

Throughout the series, we interview performing artists, members of the venues’ administrations and members of the audiences.

This week’s edition focuses on the medium-sized venue Paper Tiger.

North St. Mary’s Street is known for its nightlife, and most evenings, the longest line on the Strip is the one curled around Paper Tiger.

Paper Tiger, a mid-sized music venue on the Strip, books concerts almost every night of the week.

Without a specific genre in mind, the venue’s shows range from hiphop and electric to punk, indie and jazz, drawing music fans of all kinds to the orange and white cinderblock building.

The venue boasts two stages. The main stage hosts larger acts, such as Yo La Tengo and Mod Sun, for a traditional concert setting, while the smaller stage caters to DIY bands, including Frankie Cosmos and Protomartyr, providing them with the quality sound and size that house shows and other small venues can’t offer.

For Tim O’Sullivan, a professor of classics who attended the Yo La Tengo show on Sept. 21, Paper Tiger is a key part of San Antonio’s music scene.

“I like this venue,” O’Sullivan said. “I’ve been coming here since I came to San Antonio, when I

guess it was White Rabbit. It’s got a good energy.”

Paper Tiger has been open under its current name and management for a few years, but from 1996 to 2014, the space was called White Rabbit. The venue underwent major renovations before reopening in 2015.

“The renovations at Paper Tiger have been good because the sound is a lot better, they’ve got nicer beers, that kind of thing,” O’Sullivan said. “I also like that back room a lot. I’ve seen some really good shows in the back room of the venue.”

For performers, Paper Tiger’s two differently-sized stages help bridge the gap between small and large shows while maintaining a level of both professionalism and intimacy.

Greta Kline, lead singer and songwriter for indie band Frankie Cosmos, headlined a show on Paper Tiger’s small stage on Sept. 21, the

same night as Yo La Tengo performed on the large stage.

“It feels like you’re close to everyone, and you can meet everyone, and you’re not, like, closed off from them,” Kline said. “I like where everybody knows the name of the person doing sound, the name of the person running the door. It just feels like it’s easier to be myself.”

The intimacy of the venue is a large reason why Alberto Belalcazar said he enjoys working at the bar and as the social media representative for Paper Tiger.

“I love music, and I love the people I work with. We’ve got people who are from all walks of life,” Belalcazar said. “This is San Antonio with it’s own flair.”

Located just blocks from Trinity, Paper Tiger is within walking distance for students, which is part of the reason why junior Sam Mosely

regularly attends shows. It also helps that the venue is all ages and attracts acts from all over.

“It has shows from out of town, so if you have this band that you’re into from your hometown, they’re more likely to be at Paper Tiger than a lot of other venues,” Mosely said.

The variety of bands is part of the draw.

“Music should be for everyone,” Belalcazar said. “You want to walk away from the experience and be able to say you had a great time and saw a rad band. That’s the whole point.”

In addition to the written pieces featured in the Trinitonian, we are creating three supplemental videos which serve as mini-documentaries about each space. Though the story and the video can each stand alone, we encourage you to read and watch both components to get the best version of the story.

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Have you heard “A Star is Born” is out?

Mothers + Lala Lala Paper Tiger, 8 p.m.

All-day Happy Hour Hanzoi, Francis Bogside, etc.

Rewatch: “Crazy Rich Asians” Woodlawn room, 7:30 p.m.

Stream “Scooby Doo” or “The VVitch” Netflix

“Riverdale” returns CW, 7 p.m.

Electric Feel Dance Party Paper Tiger.

8 p.m.

TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 05, 2018

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Black Dove singing in the dead of night MAS continues Latinx Heritage Month with talk from Ana Castillo RAFAELA BRENNER | A&E REPORTER rbrenner@trinity.edu This past Friday evening, award-winning writer and activist Ana Castillo gave a reading from a selection of her latest work at Ruth Taylor Recital Hall to members of the public.

The reading was organized as part of this year’s celebration of Latinx Heritage Month at Trinity University and was followed by a Q&A and book signing with the author.

The event was co-sponsored by professor Norma Elia Cantú. The Department of Modern Languages & Literatures, the program of Women & Gender Studies, Gemini Ink and Trinity’s Mexico, the Americas and Spain program (MAS) drew in students, faculty and long-time admirers of Castillo’s writing.

Castillo began her reading with an essay entitled “Bowing Out” from her 2016 memoir “Black Dove: Mamá, Mi’jo, and Me”. Castillo’s strong presence and approachable, personal writing style captivated the audience as she read from this excerpt surrounding her relationship to her son and experience as a single mother.

“It’s a wonderful memoir where she pretty much lays it bare­— her upbringing when she was a child, she lays out challenges that she faced as a student involved in activist work and then as a bisexual ... writer and woman, a Chicana, a brown woman in the United States,” Cantú said.

Together with this section from “Black Dove,” Castillo read from selections of her poetry and her 2005 novel “Watercolor Women/Opaque Men: A Novel in Verse” as well.

After the reading, Castillo responded to questions from the audience on topics ranging from the inspiration for her poetry to her

work as an activist. In response to a question on political action, she encouraged young people to take an active response to the issues they care about, “I do believe that we all have something we can devote ourselves to that requires change or transformation,” Castillo said.

Castillo also spoke about her own approach to her literary work and activism.

“My point is on my own terms, going out and speaking out,” Castillo said.

“She’s always been an activist,” Cantú said. “What I love about her work is that it is multi-genre: she is a playwright, she’s a poet, she’s a novelist. She has a brilliant collection of essays in a book called ‘Massacre of the Dreamers,’ which is very philosophical and historical.”

The organizers were excited to bring Castillo to Trinity’s campus as a principal event for this year’s Latinx Heritage Month series.

“We bring awareness to the Latinx population on campus and then we also invite the community to the campus to celebrate Latinx heritage month. Last year we had filmmakers [visit] and all kinds of wonderful events, and this time we focused on one major event, which is the reading by Ana Castillo,” Cantú said.

Alongside Cantú, the event was organized by Elseke Membreño-Zenteno, program associate for the Center for International Engagement and the MAS program. Membreño-Zenteno highlighted the importance of inviting a speaker like Ana Castillo to college campuses and the capacity of such events to inspire students.

“I think, ‘Wow, I wish I had had all this stuff [in college]!’ I don’t know, maybe I would have been a different kind of person,” Membreño-Zenteno said.

For more information on the Latinx Heritage Month series and MAS program at Trinity, you can contact MembreñoZenteno at emembren@trinity.edu.

TUPS now RSO cont. continued from FRONT Because lab shows will now be run directly through the Theatre Department, TUPS is in the process of figuring out how they will put on shows without being a departmental organization.

“This semester, we are having a little bit of a struggle from what happened last semester,” Tran said. “One of the struggles is getting money for our shows because we used to get $300 for lab shows, but we can’t get that anymore from the department. We have to figure out how to do SGA funding and we’re about to do our first proposal meeting next Tuesday for our two shows of the semester. It’s been a lot of up-inthe-air kind of things, and we’re hoping

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TRINITONIAN.COM • OCTOBER 05, 2018 •

that everything will soon be in writing on both sides of the parties, the department and TUPS.” Joseph expressed her excitement to see what direction TUPS will go in as a RSO. “The Theatre Department always wants there to be a successful TUPS and for it to be a place for students who love and want to practice theatre,” Joseph wrote. “The more theatre on campus the better! I admire the dedication of TUPS.” The next upcoming TUPS show will be The Rocky Horror Picture Show during the last weekend of October. Students who want to get involved can email tups@trinity.edu to get added to the mailing list. Dues for new members are $10 for a semester and dues for returning members are $20 for a semester.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Small Sounds, big impact An in-depth review of the current mainstage play, “Small Mouth Sounds” CALLIOPE IZQUIERDO | A&E REPORTER jizquie1@trinity.edu From the first moment the audience enters the theatre, “Small Mouth Sounds,” written by Bess Wohl and directed by Kyle Gillette, presents them with a bearded man wearing an old-timey plaid shirt and sitting in silence. Before the play even begins, it challenges the audience’s perception of how a play should operate and continues to do so throughout its course.

In my previous feature on “Small Mouth Sounds,” I noted Gillette’s emphasis on the immersion of the audience into the reality of the play. The audience is brought into the action, or rather, inaction, of the play by virtue of the actors’ silence, allowing the audience to witness the retreaters’ vows of silence clashing harder and harder against their deep desire to connect. The audience is supposed to be quiet already, but now the actors are joining in on this silence, though not without resistance.

The audience naturally comes in knowing nothing about any of these characters and thus spends a lot more time contextualizing each retreaters’ personality based on their movements, actions and idiosyncrasies.

We’re given much to work with in this play, from the way Jan, an old Finnish man played by senior Kody Nace, looks around, wide-eyed while he walks to the way Ned, an unlucky outdoor enthusiast played by junior Alex Bradley, and Joan, a therapist with a lot of pent-up emotions

played by senior Marin Sandoz, both close their eyes as the teacher, voiced by junior Anna Wallack, narrates a frog being led, eyes-shut, into an ocean by another frog.

There’s also the way in which Judy, Joan’s partner and a writer played by senior Julia Palmer, motions Ned from across the row of chairs to pass a tissue for Joan, but Alicia, a former child actor played by sophomore Addie Coldiron, takes and uses it, assuming that Ned recognized that she was crying. (Coldiron is a copy editor for the Trinitonian.) Or how Rodney, a yoga instructor played by senior Evan Merriwether, mishears Joan’s and Judy’s footsteps as an approaching bear, despite being the only one not unnerved by the teacher’s warnings of wild animals.

Despite all of these details, which lead the narrative through more and more miscommunication and existential panic on the part of the retreaters, there remains a considerable amount of unanswered questions for the audience, and the play makes it very clear we are not supposed to answer them.

Characters begin crying very suddenly, they pass notes and write intentions onto pieces of paper that the audience cannot see, Ned forgets the question he wanted to ask after explaining his whole story. Most noticeably, the play withholds the backstories of everybody else.

And this obfuscation is very deliberate on the part of the author was well. As Wohl states before the official character descriptions, the audience should be left in the dark as to the deeper assumptions about the interior of the characters.

At the end of the day, each character came to the retreat with very serious personal issues and left the retreat with a sense of resolution. Part of this resolution might come from an increased awareness of their own interior, and part of it

From left: Junior ALEX BRADLEY, sophomore ADDIE COLDIRON and senior EVAN MERRIWETHER perform in “Small Mouth Sounds” in the Stieren Theatre. photo by GENEVIEVE HUMPHREYS

might come from the teacher’s brief breakdown where they explain how no one who goes on their retreats ever actually changes.

Whether they were driven by guilt or not, each retreatant was able to arrive at a personal closure because of the ways this retreat had required they confront their problems — though with varying levels of effectiveness — rather than avoid them.

When Ned is describing the eschatological anxiety that accompanies investing your faith into the rapidly destabilizing ecology of the earth, he states that his intention for this retreat is just to breathe. But then he identifies a lasting guilt in that intention because he feels that after everything that has happened to him, he still deserves to be held accountable for saving the earth.

The statement that the teacher offers in a roundabout response to that is not an optimistic statement. Neither the characters nor the audience wants to hear that “we are not alone on this sinking ship.” But at the same time, that’s exactly what each retreatant needed to hear because it describes exactly how the retreat went as a whole.

The reason this ending feels noticeably ambiguous is a result of the structure of the play itself as well as a consequence of the silence: even if we are a part of the silence, this retreat was not ours to experience, and that’s okay. We were able to witness six characters encounter their own oceans in their own ways, and none of them dropped dead, so that’s probably a good start.

“Small Mouth Sounds” opened on Sept. 28 and will continue to play Oct. 3 through Oct. 6.

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Sports

GO TO A GAME THIS WEEKEND:

• Cross Country at UIW Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 06, 8 a.m.

• Football at Rhodes College, Saturday, Oct. 06, 1 p.m.

• Women’s soccer at Centenary College, Sunday, Oct. 07, 2 p.m.

How does Trinity get its star recruits?

Coach Cameron Hill explains the key to recruiting, despite inability to award scholarships to new students EVAN BROWN | SPORTS REPORTER ebrown4@trinity.edu Trinity women’s basketball head coach Cameron Hill has a unique talent. While he doesn’t swallow fire or lick his elbows, he can tell immediately when a prospect enters his office on a recruiting visit whether she will fit in at Trinity University.

Hill’s recruiting efforts have allowed the team to plant itself at the top of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC).

Because Trinity is a Division III program, it can’t give players any athletic scholarships.

If a prospect must make a decision on where to play collegiate ball based solely on financial abilities, prospects aren’t likely to look at Division III schools.

However, Trinity’s women’s basketball program has found ways to recruit talent from across the country who are capable of leading the team to the NCAA playoffs each year.

According to Hill, his honesty and relaxed demeanor towards recruits help him plead the case for Division III schools, like Trinity.

If the relationship is cool, he will ask the prospect to name five Division II schools.

Typically, they can’t do it.

“It is an irrelevant level. At the end of the day, no one gives a shit about Division II,” Hill said.

Hill also mentioned the fact that an overwhelming majority of female athletes don’t

play professional athletics after graduation, including those who play Division I. “Even those players are looking to do different things as they move into their lives. Division II — same thing,” Hill said. “I am a firm believer that Division III will better prepare you for the long-term career path than other places.”

Hill believes that honesty is the best policy for attracting the best players.

“They can ask me any question, and I am going to tell them the truth. I want them to know whatever they think they need to know to make this the best decision possible for them,” Hill said. “You get all kinds of stuff from prospects. Sometimes it is basketball-specific, other times it is like, ‘Will you let me be in a sorority?’ or ‘What if I want to travel abroad?’

There is really nothing that is out of bounds.”

Trinity usually begins to recruit prospects who don’t attract much interest from Division I schools at the beginning of their senior year of high school.

At this point, the prospects know that they will probably not play for Division I programs, and they begin to look at other options for playing basketball in college.

They know they want to play collegiate basketball, but they don’t know how to attract the attention of coaches.

First-year stretch forward Hailey Coleman used a recruiting service to increase her communication with schools.

Trinity women’s basketball coach, CAMERON HILL, discusses how he and his staff find the star athletes for the team. With a mix of personality, years of experience and the help of multiple recruiting servies, Hill can tell when he meets a future tiger. photo by MATTHEW CLAYBROOK

“Around the beginning of my junior year, I used CaptainU to figure out which schools and coaches had ‘searched’ [for me],” Coleman said. “From there, I could email or follow up with the coach to talk about a future possibly playing there.”

Recruiting services will even send emails to colleges on behalf of the prospects, which gives Hill a lot of player profiles to review.

“Every single day, I will get between 10 and 12 prospecting emails,” Hill said. “I’ll get emails

from the company in addition to emails from the family. There is a lot of information out there, and it takes a lot to actually click the link and watch every single video we get, but we do it. I would say [we watch] 98 percent of them.”

Rather than focusing on their assists per game or field goal percentage, Hill focuses on a unusual part of a recruit’s profile.

League) is progressing, and I can see each of the match updates, how my favorite players and teams are doing and their schedules for the entire season.

I could do this for most of the top sports and leagues from across the globe, and if I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have to watch a minute of a game or match. While this sublime level of power can be liberating and still allows the busy Chicago Bears fan to keep up-to-date on whether Khalil Mack is annihilating opposing quarterbacks, this power also eliminates one of the beauties of sports: unpredictability.

With the inclusion of the internet and social media, prediction and stats are now even more prevalent in sports. Sports franchises spend millions of dollars a year to try to predict various matchups. They also try to analyze their players’ running motions and to see how they can mitigate wind resistance while also maximizing arm motion and sprint speed.

Once it becomes important to make it to the playoffs and hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line, teams will try anything to give their players that slight advantage that takes them from an 8–8 team to a 13–3 Super Bowl-winning team (fly, Eagles, fly, baby).

Prediction is now entwined with sports and will not go away, and with this, aspects of the game are lost. It becomes easier to pick clear winners and harder to enter a game not knowing who will win. For me, the massive amount of money being poured into prediction is slowly diminishing any aspect of chance in sports.

Unpredictability is one of the reasons I love sports. If the beginning, middle and end of a book was detailed to me by a

complex mathematical formula, it wouldn’t be worth reading.

It saps fun out of the game, it makes watching a full game a chore when I could just see the final score and then go on with studying or working or sleeping. Once the unpredictability is taken from the game, it removes for me the desire to watch the game, and thus the main dish of the meal is gone.

Being there, being present, being in the moment, is what makes sports so beautiful to me. It’s what makes it real. With this saturation of media in the modern game, it feels like the authenticity of sports is being lost. It’s now easier to not watch games, and that’s not where I want the game to be.

Watching sports grants me access to this incredible, universal community. That’s not to say people who can’t watch the games aren’t part of them. I wouldn’t feel like I was a part of it if I wasn’t watching the game.

While media and the internet can bring the game to more people, there’s nothing better than sitting down with friends and family and watching Everton absolutely smack Fulham.

Disconnecting from media and allowing unpredictability is important on multiple levels. Disconnecting allows us to see things without a filter, and unpredictability is what makes life interesting.

For sports, they each are what makes being an Eagles and Everton fan so fun.

While we may go barely over .500 each season, I don’t need to read how we are projected to barely get 11th place or how we won’t beat the Cowboys. I can just watch the teams I love and blindly hope they will win it all. I don’t need a smartphone to help me with that.

continued on PAGE 15

The impact of media on sports WOMEN’S SOCCER The Tigers defeated Southwestern 3–0 on Tuesday. They hold a 9–1–1 record.

MEN’S SOCCER The Tigers lost to University of Dallas 2-1 on Sunday.

Then on Tuesday, defeated Southwestern 3–1. They hold a 9–1–1 record.

VOLLEYBALL The Tigers came out of the weekend with two wins, with wins against #2 Colorado College 3–2 and Johnson & Wales(CO) 3–0. They hold a 15–4 overall record.

FOOTBALL The Tiger’s defeated Birmingham Southern College 24–17 on Saturday at Alamo Stadium. They hold a 2–2 record.

14

Opinion: Sitting down to watch a game is the purest way to be a fan

AUSTIN DAVIDSON SPORTS EDITOR adavids1@trinity.edu

I would be restating the obvious if I said that media has changed everything, so I’ll simply talk about how it changed how people watch sports.

Before the age of smartphones and social media, news primarily came from radio.

People would tune in to the baseball game or to listen to the live run down of the week’s basketball games. People would sit on their porch as they listened to the Yankees sadly win another World Series.

Even when television initially was accessible to the populous, radio was still a dominant force in how people got their sports news, updates and even how they preferred to listen to the Boston Red Sox become the titan of a team it is today.

But once the internet was created and then made accessible to all, it was the beginning of a new era in how people accessed sports.

Now, I don’t have to watch a single minute of the Sunday football games, and I can learn how it all went down: who scored, how many yards everyone had and how they are projected to continue throughout the season. At the same time, I can also update myself on how the Ligue 1 (the French Soccer

OCTOBER 05, 2018 • TRINITONIAN.COM

What it takes to be a dual-sport athlete at TU

Annie Wise and Cash Crane open up about how they manage their time as students who play multiple sports MEGAN FLORES | SPORTS INTERN mflores8@trinity.edu Collegiate athletes participate in the “normal” aspects of college routines. They work to ace their classes, succeed in extracurricular commitments, manage a living space and enjoy social obligations all while incorporating the time commitment of their sport.

NCAA participation is strenuous; coaches require athletes to attend several hours of practice each week, manage their physical conditioning through workouts and healthy eating and miss class during competition days.

By participating in a sport on campus, Trinity’s athletes recognize that they are challenging themselves to a huge commitment.

Among these accomplished individuals is Annie Wise, a sophomore on Trinity’s women’s basketball and tennis teams, and Cash Crane, a sophomore on Trinity’s football and baseball teams.

Annie Wise started playing basketball in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, when she was six years old. Her father introduced her to tennis when she was 11.

As her athletic capabilities advanced, Wise found herself entangled in the NCAA recruitment process.

“I always knew I wanted to play a sport in college. However, I was told by everyone that I was too late in deciding which sport. During middle school, most kids knew which sport they were going to continue focusing their time on, but for me that decision was too difficult to make,” said Wise. Given this, she tasked herself with searching for a school that supported all of her academic, basketball and tennis goals.

The perfect school for Wise turned out to be Trinity University.

Here, she competes as both a member of the women’s tennis team and a shooting guard and small forward for the women’s basketball team.

Although she enjoys playing for two teams, Wise recognizes that there are sacrifices associated with the opportunity.

“Having conflicting seasons with both basketball and tennis is one of the most frustrating things about playing two sports in college. It is tough because every athlete at Trinity is here to compete and play the sport they love. However, some of the most memorable times are made off the court.

Even just missing out on team dinners, plane rides or the dreaded morning lifts is always disappointing,” Wise said.

Wise had more to add about how her taxing athletics gives her schedule structure.

“But on the other hand, balancing your time is something that everyone at Trinity must do to succeed. I feel like sports are a great outlet to demonstrate that life is all about sacrifices, whether that means less social time, fewer moments to yourself or less sleep. Overall, the professors, trainers and coaches greatly help the athletes on campus by working through any issues we might be having,” said Wise.

“Annie Wise is a great all-around person.

She’s an extremely hard worker and a great team player. My favorite character trait about her is that she is a very genuine person. I hope that she enjoys her time here at Trinity, on and off the courts. Most importantly, I hope that she grows into the person that she aspires to be,” said Jacob Castillo, assistant coach for the women’s tennis team.

Cash Crane, an accounting major from Jewett, Texas, was introduced to baseball at the age of four, but didn’t participate in select/travel ball until he was 12. He has played football as a pastime since the age of six and began competitive football when he played for his middle school in the seventh grade.

“It was nothing for us to go out into the yard when I was three or four to throw around a football. Some of my earliest

memories as a kid are with a football in my hand,” Crane said.

Although he still appreciates the fun aspects of football and baseball, Crane recognizes that his athletic commitment has developed beyond playing as a hobby.

“To accomodate for training and competition schedules, I make an effort to take a balanced workload. I also just try to manage time well. WIth traveling during the season, I really have to make sure that I don’t fall behind or procrastinate much on work,” Crane said.

Currently, Crane plays as a wide receiver for Trinity’s football team and as a pitcher for Trinity’s baseball team.

“I chose Trinity first and foremost for the academics because once my playing days are over, the degree will help me out later in life. Outside of the academics, the coaches really sold me on the football program with their goal of making the program nationally prominent again, as well as the opportunity to join a new conference and

try to win a conference championship. It was also great to have the opportunity to play for one of the best DIII baseball programs in the country that was just one year removed from winning a national title,” Crane said.

Overall, Wise and Crane share similar advice for athletes seeking to play two sports in college.

“Make sure that during your time in each sport, you are all in. There should be no excuses.

You have to prove to yourself that you are meant to be there for both teams, and whatever your role is as a player and teammate, you have to show up and be the best athlete you can be,” Wise said.

“My advice to anyone looking to play two sports in college is that you shouldn’t let the potential challenge discourage you from trying.

If you decide to do it, just embrace the grind of it. Few people will have the opportunity to perform at this level, so you should try to enjoy the entire experience. It’s something you will cherish for the rest of your life,” Crane said.

Trinity women’s basketball

continued from PAGE 14

“I look at high school’s winning percentage,” Hill said. “I think that a player who scores a lot of points or shoots really well, but their team never wins [is unhelpful]. I don’t want someone who brings that type of experience to our program. I like kids that compete for state titles or have won them. It’s nice though when they can shoot 40 percent from the three-point line.”

Hill likes to keep the roster above 15 players, so he can have three competitive teams during practice. Ideally, he recruits four to five players per class to avoid having a class leave the program desolate or need to breathe life back into the program. This year, however, the women’s team welcomed eight new members.

“It has been tricky because over the last couple of years we have emerged as a national program,” Hill said. “More people know about us, so we are getting more interest from all over the country, as opposed to just west of the Mississippi. If I have eight really good players who want to come, I’m taking them.”

Frequently, Hill will receive a call from Admissions about a potential recruit on a campus visit that would like to meet with him.

“I always meet with those kids. Most of the time we will pull their film up, and they are not close,” Hill said. “They don’t have a frame of reference to how good basketball is here. They just think, ‘Division III: it’s voluntary, and I can probably do it.’ Not the case. I’m sure you are awesome, and we got great intramurals, but being on this team isn’t for you.”

If the recruit still believes she has what it takes, Hill invites her to practice.

“Come play pickup with the girls and then they get a taste, and they are like ‘holy shit, this is actually real. I get it now,’ ” Hill said.

For the prospects he actively recruits, Hill doesn’t mess around. He believes that getting

SPORTS

them on campus as soon as possible is vital to starting a relationship with a recruit on the right foot.

“If I think you are good, I want you to come here. I don’t want to have just a three-month text relationship or warm you up,” Hill said.

First-year forward and center Britney Goodwin’s campus visit helped her expedite the recruiting process.

“As soon as I stepped on to campus it felt like home. Every angle of Trinity was absolutely beautiful,” Goodwin said. “Being able to tour the athletic facilities was breathtaking and I immediately knew that I could see myself at Trinity.”

“As soon as I stepped on to campus it felt like a home. Every angle of Trinity was beautiful.”

BRITNEY GOODWIN FIRST-YEAR FORWARD AND CENTER

Through his seven years as head coach at Trinity, Hill has developed an instinct for determining whether a recruit belongs at Trinity.

“When you look at a kid, and they look at you. You just know there is a comfortable feeling,” Hill said. “I can coach her, and she is interested in what we do. You just kinda know it right away. For 100 percent of the class we brought here, that feeling was in the room the second they walked in.”

The women’s basketball team will begin their season with a home game against Concordia University (Tex.) on Monday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m.

• OCTOBER 05, 2018 • TRINITONIAN.COM

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