09.29.2017

Trinitonian Serving Trinity University Since 1902

Volume 115 Issue 07

17-year streak of soccer home wins ends

No. 4-ranked team remains optimistic ELISE HESTER

SPORTS REPORTER In a loss against the University of Dallas on Friday, Sept. 15, Trinity Men’s Soccer fell to the Crusaders and ended a 17 year streak of home game wins. The game ended in double overtime with a moment that seemed to play in slow motion. As Trinity’s sophomore goalkeeper Blake Lieberman sprang forward from the box to confront the player running toward him, University of Dallas forward Chima Ogueri sent the ball spinning from a controlled toe tap sliding straight into the open goal.

The air was mixed with both sounds and silence. The shocked players from the University of Dallas rushed onto the field.

The triumphant Crusaders, the unlikely victors, awed by their sudden death win, ripped their shirts off in jubilation, while the Tigers fell to the ground. The Trinity crowd, many of whom were still on their feet, stood silently as the spectators from Dallas, including their women’s team who had just fallen 6-0, cheered with excitement.

Let’s rewind to the start of the game to understand how the loss happened and how the Tigers responded.

The game began with a strong performance by the Tigers and within three minutes, first-year midfielder Quentin Van Der Lee scored Trinity’s first goal of the night. In the seventh minute of play, after a foul from Trinity, the University of Dallas turned a corner kick into a goal to match the score of the formidable Tigers. The goal left the Trinity bench silent as the players on the field resolved to take back the lead.

“For us, it was a bit of a shock and we just knew we had to bounce back from it.

We knew we were a stronger team and we could fight and get through it,” said senior defender Daylon Gordon. “It was just kind of a defensive lapse, a mistake on our part.

It wasn’t anything that we freaked out about at that point but we knew we needed to pick it up.”

Thirty-seven minutes into the first half, UTD’s Ogueri headed the ball towards the back post, bringing the score to 2-1 in the Crusaders’ favor.

With Trinity’s second goal, scored by junior midfielder Christian Sakshaug in the 85th minute, the game was cemented as a tie at the end of regulation. With this draw, both teams prepared to go into a tense round of overtime. What followed was an aggressive physical battle for a goal, that ended in a third goal for Dallas by Ogueri, bringing a Trinity loss to Paul McGinlay Soccer Field. continued on PAGE 18

September 29, 2017

Trinity explores dining options As Aramark’s contract ends, Trinity faces new food service decision CATHY TERRACE

NEWS REPORTER Earlier this month, Gary Logan, vice president for finance and administration, sent an email announcement to students, staff and faculty regarding the administration’s efforts to explore different food vendors in the upcoming year. In the email, Logan explained the process of creating a committee to select and recommend a new dining service for the spring semester of 2018.

“Trinity University will launch a request for proposals (RFP) for the selection of Trinity’s Dining Services provider this fall,” Logan wrote in the email. “The Trinity Dining Services RFP process is part of the University’s efforts to implement best practices in its business operations. Trinity will be establishing regular reviews and RFP processes for all its large vendor contracts as part of this practice.”

This RFP is not a guarantee that Trinity will be changing vendors in the future.

Rather, this invites other vendors to compete for a contract with the university to replace Aramark, the current dining service provider at Trinity. The committee could choose to continue Aramark’s contract.

“Aramark has been here well over 30 years, a significant amount of time.

During that period, we’ve had an evergreen contract with them, which has just been renewed over and over. We’ve not ever looked at any other services or vendors, so as part of the Campus Master Plan, there were several entities looked at, and as a best practice, one of those was to take a look at our contracts and put them out

The restaurants on campus, including in the Commons, are subject to change as the university searches for a new dining service. photo by CHLOE SONNIER

to bid,” said Bruce Bravo, senior director of conferences and auxiliary services. “You always have the option, with proper notice, to take the contract out to bid, which is what we are doing.”

Part of the decision to explore other vendors resulted from the university’s employment of a new consultant, Envision Strategies. This consulting organization looks specifically at the success of food service operations.

“Envision did a food service review of everything we do at Trinity, as part of the Campus Master Plan. ... Dining

obviously is a large part of that, and as the Master Plan got some momentum, and everyone realized we weren’t really qualified to look at this objectively. So, Envision was brought in, they audited our entire operations and their study helped to inform recommendations for future campus dining and food options,” Bravo said. “The RFP was based on a variety of that data and the feedback collected during that study. It opened up a lot of doors and possibilities of what this campus could be specific to food.” continued on PAGE 3

Concert clashes with Yom Kippur Cashmere Cat performance rescheduled during High Holy Day observations DANIEL CONRAD

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jewish students were disappointed to learn that the Cashmere Cat concert was rescheduled for Sept. 30 — the same day that they will be concluding a 24-hour period of fasting and prayer in observance of Yom Kippur, one of Judaism’s most significant holidays. Members of the Student Involvement staff have apologized to the Jewish Student Association (JSA) and are developing a policy for navigating potential conflicts between student programming and religious holidays.

Yom Kippur, or ‘Day of Atonement,’ begins when the sun sets on Sept. 29 and ends at sunset on Sept. 30, which will occur during the concert. Ruth Lavenda, a senior psychology major, has attended every Welcome Week concert during her tenure at Trinity. She’ll be skipping it this year.

“Yom Kippur is one of the biggest Jewish holidays that there is,” Lavenda said. “You fast for 24 hours, so going to a concert after

fasting is probably not the safest or smartest thing to do.”

Ashley Lachterman, junior and JSA co-president, says that it was another JSA member, not a university official, who brought the issue to her attention.

“I felt like I needed to do something because I don’t like hearing about something like this from our members,” Lachterman said. “The administration never actually reached out to us, ever. … It got me and our board members very frustrated.”

So on Sept. 13, Lachterman explained the gravity of the scheduling conflict to Shannon Edmond, coordinator for student programs. Edmond apologized, noting that it was the only date that worked for both Cashmere Cat’s schedule and that of the university, and reaffirmed her commitment to the Jewish student community. Jamie Thompson, director of Student Involvement, followed up with a promise to minimize these mistakes moving forward. continued on PAGE 4

Students release balloons in celebration of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. photo provided

by ASHLEY LACHTERMAN

Peaceful protest, free speech and the NFL

Jewish students celebrate Rosh Hashana

Top Naach dance crew takes things up a notch

Manfred Wendt supports the first amendment rights of both sides of the controversy.

The Jewish Student Association planned multiple events for the holiday.

Sneh Lalani talks about Trinity’s premier Bolly wood dance team.

PAGE 6 OPINION

PAGE 12 PULSE

PAGE 13 A&E

2

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

•

SEPTEMBER 29, 2017

• NEWS

Previously, on SGA: Former Senator Edition FUNDING REQUESTS

MONDAY, SEPT. 29

The Student Government Association welcomed four new senators: sophomore Benjamin Gonzales and seniors John Croxton, Lena Dennington and Katie Middleton.

The floor was opened for guest comments

GUEST COMMENTS

Senior and former senator Samy Abdallah was the only guest in attendance. He raised concerns about some of the proposed changes to the constitution.

CAMPUS CLIMATE CHECK

Senator Juan Luevanos, sophomore, raised concerns about the information and help international students get from International Student Scholar Services. Senators Angel Ramirez and Benjamin Gonzales, both sophomores, volunteered to help Luevanos with this situation.

Senator Simone Washington, sophomore, brought up the issue of the updated travel ban and suggested SGA help advertise for events Career Services has coming up to help international students get work visas and jobs after graduation.

Senator Ty Tinker, sophomore, voiced a concern about the many fire alarms that have gone off in Prassel Hall since the start of the semester. The advisers suggested SGA reach out to Jim Baker, director of facilities services

The Indian Student Association requested $3,885 for Diwali costumes, t-shirts and decorations. The total amount was approved.

The Department of Human Communications and Theatre requested $2,840 in subsidized tickets for the Theatre for Social Change program. The amount was not approved.

The Prowlers dance team requested $1,648.50 to buy new costumes. The total amount was approved.

The Trinity Society of Women Engineers requested $3,150 to attend the Society of Women Engineers National Conference 2017 in Austin. The money covers two days of workshops, flights, lodging and registration fees. The approval of the amount was tabled.

Alex Perkowski, senior and former SGA senator, entered the room in a banana suit and requested $1,500 for a pizza party for himself to lampoon the fact that SGA will hear funding requests from any student. The amount was not approved.

CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW

The senate held another vote for minor changes made to the preamble. The changes were approved. The changes to Article 5, which details the responsibilities, were also approved. Article 7, which concerns the role of advisers, did not reach a two-thirds threshold and did not pass. Article 8, Section 1, which describes SGA meetings, was approved. The rest of the review was tabled for the next meeting.

Staff

CLASSIFIEDS

editor-in-chief: Daniel Conrad managing editor: Alexandra Uri director of digital presence: Grace Frye business manager: Shivali Kansagra ad director: Rebecca Derby news editor: Kathleen Creedon pulse editor: Madelyn Gaharan arts & entertainment editor: Nicholas Smetzer sports editor: Julia Weis opinion editor: Julia Poage photo editor: Amani Canada graphics editor: Tyler Herron circulation director: Nicholas Smetzer reporters: Kendra Derrig, Meredith Goshell, Elise Hester, Kaylie King, Cathy Terrace, Dominic Walsh, Hailey Wilson

columnists: Austin Davidson, Soleil Gaffner, Micaela Hoffman, Gabriel Levine, Manfred Wendt, Abigail Wharton copy editors: Evan Chambless, Joshua Gain, Cristina Kodadek illustrators: Yessenia Lopez, Andrea Nebhut photographers: Chloe Sonnier, Allison Wolff, Kailey DeLuca, Savannah Clarke, Stephen Sumrall-Orsak business staff: Sarah McIntyre, Tam Nguyen advertising staff: Jenna Flexner, Yusuf Khan, Benjamin Milliet, Jonah Nance, Regis Noubiab, Isla Stewart adviser: Katharine Martin

Corrections •

In last week’s issue, sophomore Angel Ramirez was incorrectly identified as Enrique Alcoreza in the picture for “SGA reviews constitution” on page 1.

• In last week’s issue, Georgie R iggs’ article “Point: Movies reviews are arbitrary” contains mistakes that do not ref lect the author’s beliefs.

Read the corrected version on our website.

• In the Sept. 15 issue, the article “Political science department to offer one fewer study abroad option” stated that the department altered its policies regarding study abroad courses. There is no such policy.

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

Want to take out an ad?

Classified ads are free for Trinity students. For nonstudents each ad is $25. Send your ads to: trinitonian-adv@trinity.edu

TUPD BRIEFS THEFT

Sept. 24, 2017 1:22 a.m.

Thomas/Lightner Hall Sept. 18, 2017 5:49 p.m.

Beze Hall Sept. 25, 2017 8:15 p.m.

Other: Sector 2

CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES

Sept. 24, 2017 3:12 a.m.

Thomas/Lightner Hall

FIRE ALARM

Sept. 23, 2017 7:04 p.m.

Ruth Taylor Theatre

Compiled by KATHLEEN CREEDON

Contact Us Editorial

Advertising

Email. . ........ trinitonian@trinity.edu Email. . ........ trinitonian-adv@trinity.edu Newsroom.. 210-999-8558 Ad Off ice... 210-999-8555 Editors....... 210-999-8557 Editors....... 210-999-8557

Identification 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. POSTM ASTER: Send address changes to the Trinitonian, One Trinity Place, #62, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200.

Opinions expressed in the Trinitonian are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Trinity University, its students, faculty, staff or the Trinitonian. Editorials represent the opinions of the Trinitonian Editorial Board. The first copy of the Trinitonian is free; additional copies are 50 cents each. ©2017. All rights reserved.

NEWS • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

3

TU seeks director of diversity and inclusion Committee of faculty, students looks to fill role that will advocate for the underrepresented KENDRA DERRIG

NEWS REPORTER This week, two of the four finalists for the position of the director of diversity and inclusion visited Trinity’s campus to present their visions for Trinity.

The directorship is a newly elevated position on Trinity’s staff, replacing what had been an entry-level position, the coordinator for diversity and intercultural relations.

This role has been vacant since January of 2016. Jamie Thompson, director of Student Involvement and co-chair on the search committee, was an integral part of the process from the beginning.

“In March of 2016, I brought to Dr. Anderson’s attention the idea that maybe we should examine whether or not that entry-level role was the best fit for Trinity, and should there be other permutations of that role,” Thompson said. “And so, in the summer of 2016, he convened an ad hoc committee that was representative of faculty, staff and a student rep, and that group examined best practices related to diversity, equity and inclusion staffing. That group looked at other institutions that are like Trinity. We did some benchmarking to see if other schools have a [director of diversity and inclusion] role, and what is it, at what level, what’s within that person’s scope, and so that helped us shape and formulate some recommendations to Dr. Anderson. What resulted was the elevation from an entry-level role to a director role.”

Thompson elaborated on the role of the new director.

“The focus and the priority for this role is going to be student-centered and on the ground, advising [Trinity Diversity Connection], supporting campus-wide initiatives and programming, so things like the MLK march and lecture, other training and programming and workshops,” Thompson said. “Over time, this person’s scope will broaden to include advocacy in education and a systematic look at the institution and how it relates to the community, so not just students, but also faculty and staff.”

Rocio Delgado, professor in the department of education and co-chair on the search committee, said the role will also serve as a liaison between students and faculty.

“The person who is selected to serve in this position will focus primarily on students

and help build bridges to connect students with faculty,” Delgado said. “One of the visions for example, is for the person in this position to continue to help identify possible faculty mentors for students from underrepresented groups and to promote and facilitate faculty participation and engagement in diversity related discussions across campus.”

Thompson also spoke to the importance of the role.

“The community at Trinity is really special, and that’s what many faculty, staff and students will say. And at the same time, it’s also a part of Trinity’s narrative that some people don’t feel that this is their home and their community, which makes this role even more important and critical and a priority for Trinity,” Thompson said. “It’s never one person’s job to create an inclusive environment. We all need to take part in that, and it is important for faculty, staff and students who are underrepresented to have that advocate, to have that voice, to have that space and that office to go to and vent and express fears and concerns and worries.”

Delgado highlighted the importance of the inclusion aspect of the role, as well.

“Trinity’s students, faculty and staff are diverse in many ways; however, one can have diversity and not inclusion or equity.

The person in this position will be involved in both student and faculty diversity but also in promoting inclusion and equitable opportunities for people with diverse lived experiences,” Delgado said.

Thompson was sure to differentiate the role of the new director from that of the Admissions office when it comes to overall diversity on campus.

“Admissions is the one recruiting out students, so this person’s focus is going to be on that inclusion piece, first identifying and understanding the community in terms of its needs and where we are at so that inclusion piece can really be unique and specific to Trinity,” Thompson said.

Because the future director will be working closely with Trinity students, two students, seniors Haile Duplantier and Cristian Vargas, were included on the search committee, attending meetings and Skype interviews and influencing the selection process. Students have also been encouraged to watch the finalists’ presentations and fill out feedback forms.

“As student members, we have as much say as anyone else in determining which candidates we would like to interview,” Vargas said. “From a pool of about 90 total applicants, we narrow down a smaller list of about 12 candidates, and from there we decided on four candidates to come to campus. Our job also involves recruiting

other students to participate in lunches with all four of the candidates who we bring to campus and encouraging students to attend their presentations.”

Vargas also spoke to the importance of the directorship as a step forward for Trinity’s administration overall.

“The subsequent authority and monetary power that comes along with the position also opens up new avenues for student programming, faculty training and university-wide initiatives to support and celebrate underrepresented students at Trinity,” Vargas said. “Diversity initiatives have typically been student led in past years with few exceptions, so the creation of the position shows that the administration is willing to put its money where its mouth is, so to speak.”

Duplantier spoke about her hopes for what the position will bring to campus.

“I think that it is important to have this position because it will serve as an outlet and resource for students. I also think that it will hold the university accountable when

it comes to being inclusive of all students, staff and faculty,” Duplantier said. “I think that during my time here I definitely could have benefited from having someone in this role. To have someone whose sole mission is to focus on diversity and inclusion is very powerful, and I think that this will be transformative for Trinity.”

Vargas would like to encourage Trinity students to participate in the remainder of the selection process.

“I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have student feedback on candidate presentations,” Vargas said.

“Not only are they all fantastic candidates worth watching, but the individual who ends up filling this role will have a vast amount of influence in shaping the campus climate at Trinity for years to come, so it is important for students to have a voice in shaping this situation.”

The final two candidates present on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 11 a.m. in Northrup Hall room 318, and Thursday, Sept. 28, at 11 a.m. in Chapman Hall room 100.

graphic by TYLER HERRON

University searches for new dining option continued from FRONT

In addition to looking at Trinity’s dining services, the university also hopes to look at other schools to compare successes in dining services.

“Our consultant is helping us and taking the lead on aggregating who our contract will be sent out to, and then as responses come in. Then we may go to some of these other schools and see what their operations are like,” said Paul Wright, director of business operations.

This information, along with the offers from Aramark and other vendors, will go through a new committee that was finalized this month. Headed by Wright, the committee has 13 members, including two students, Juan Luevanos and

Nat Weikert. Even though this is a highly administrative issue, the university is still largely supporting student involvement in the issue.

“Last fall, when Envision did their study, there were about 1,000 students involved in focus groups and surveys, and so that was part of what our consultant used when she was putting together the RFP. Also, on the committee, there are two students involved, and they’ll definitely have a voice in that decision,” said Diana Heeren, associate vice president for finance. “The committee may, as they’re evaluating the proposals, seek feedback from students, faculty and staff. ...

It might come down to what students are interested in.”

The committee plans on having a final decision on their choice of vendor

by around either January or February, according to Heeren. Once a choice in vendor is made, modifications to on campus dining will start on June 1, 2018.

This could include not only changes in Mabee Dining Hall, but also drastic changes to the restaurants available in Coates University Center.

“All dining services are through Aramark,” Wright said. “Some degree of change will happen for sure, depending on who the selected vendor is.”

Restaurants like Einstein Bros. Bagels and Taco Taco do not have specific contracts with the university; they all are here as a part of Aramark. Consequently, changing vendors means also changing what restaurants would be available to the university. However, these changes are

likely to occur even if Aramark remains Trinity’s food vendor.

“The exciting part of this is that we’ll open this up to five or six vendors and they’ll give us the best of what we’ll offer, and then we’ll narrow that down to what we think are the best,” Bravo said. “We think Java City has run its course. ... I wouldn’t say definitely, but that’s an opportunity for Aramark or another vendor; there will be a proposal for something else. I know this because Java City is no longer viable with Aramark; they have different coffee vendors that they contract with.”

For those interested in learning about the process, Trinity now has a website dedicated to information about the committee, including a list of its members and a timeline of its goals: http://bit.ly/TURFP

4

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 •

NEWS

Rescheduled concert clashes with Yom Kippur continued from FRONT

“Sept. 30 was the day that worked for all vendors across the board: Cashmere Cat, Student Programming Board, Trinity University,” Edmond said. “What we failed to recognize was that it fell on the Jewish observed holiday, Yom Kippur. … We totally dropped the ball on that one, 100 percent. We did not compare the interfaith calendar with our schedule.”

ASHLEY LACHTERMAN, (center right), co-president of JSA-Hillel joins other students in celebration of Rosh Hashana. photo provided by ASHLEY LACHTERMAN

On Sept. 18, Lachterman sent an email to JSA, which has an active membership of approximately 35 students. She explained that Student Involvement had apologized and that observant Jews could rely on JSA for guidance and support.

“We understand that this concert is a special event for many of you,” Lachterman wrote. “On one hand, you first-year students may be torn in what the proper decision is here: experiencing your first large college-sponsored event with

new friends, or attending services while fasting for a full 24 hours. On the other hand, our graduating seniors may want to attend their last Welcome Week concert as a Trinity student.”

Lachterman says that this is an instance of a common frustration faced by Jewish students, who remain a small, though significant, minority on campus.

“Especially for freshmen coming from home, they’re used to taking off from school for services and fasting together. But here in college, you have to make those decisions on your own,” Lachterman said. “A lot of Jews have come into a situation where they have to put their religion over whatever [else].”

Instructors are required to regard religious observances as legitimate excuses for absence in class, but the university does not provide explicit guidelines for navigating religious commitments and event planning. Edmond says that such a policy is now in the works.

“We are going to try our very, very hardest not to have events on religious, observed holidays,” Edmond said. “In the case that we do, we will contact the students who are most affected ahead of time, just so they are aware of what’s going on. But that’s on the off chance. From this point going forward, we’re going to make sure that we look at the calendar and try to avoid those dates as much as possible.”

The policy will be reviewed by a committee that consists of seniors Hailey Duplantier and Lorraine Sugars as well as Nathan Tuttle, residential life coordinator, and Katharine Martin, coordinator for student-edited publications. (Martin is the Trinitonian adviser.)

Lavenda says that she would like to see university officials remain sensitive to Jewish

religious obligations. University chaplain Steven Nickle agrees.

“The good news is, we’re moving to some policy. The bad news is, we’re moving to some policy,” Nickle said. “Wouldn’t it be better if we — students, faculty and staff — were attuned enough to the vitality of religious practice and the rich religious pluralism of our culture, that we knew [to think], ‘Gosh, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are coming up, and for my friends who are Jewish — these are the High Holy Days!’”

His initial suggestion was more radical.

“One thing we could do is say, ‘This is more important to us than having a concert!’ Hate it, but we happened to have a hurricane when the concert was originally scheduled,” Nickle said.

Ultimately, Nickle and Edmond agree that this as an opportunity for education and improvement.

“I just really appreciate members of the Jewish community bringing this to our attention,” Edmond said. “I appreciate students who speak up so that these changes and policies can be enacted.”

Lachterman had the interests of other Jewish students in mind when she spoke up.

“I just want to make sure that all of our members feel comfortable on our campus, especially these new ones who are just discovering who they are in college,” Lachterman said. “I don’t want them to see Trinity as this place that attacks their religion — because it’s not.”

JSA will be hosting a ‘Break the Fast Breakfast’ featuring movies and breakfast food after sundown on Saturday. Students interested in attending should reach out to Ashley Lachterman at alachter@trinity.edu.

D IEVP EER DE

Want to read more about this topic?

Check out our other sections!

Read our editorial on PAGE 6.

Read more about the celebration of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, on PAGE 12.

Groups host immigration reform debate Trinity University Forensics Society and The Contemporary promote discourse KAYLIE KING

NEWS REPORTER The Trinity University Forensics Society (TUFS) and The Contemporary, a studentrun public affairs journal, co-hosted a public debate last Wednesday in which students debated different stances on immigration reform.

Two teams of two students each were involved in the debate. Isaiah Mitchell and Maddie D’iorio represented Tigers for Liberty (TFL); Travis Boyd and Catherine Walters represented Trinity Progressives.

William Mosley-Jensen, assistant professor and director of debate, explained how the debate came about.

“The Trinity University Forensics Society, which is the student organization that the debate team is affiliated with, kind of generated this idea to do the debate,” Mosley-Jensen said. “I think that having a public debate really can provide different perspectives on an issue that is easily politicized. It’s easy to have a passionate, perhaps ingrained view on immigration, that we learn from our families or the media. One of the things that [debate] does is provide an avenue for an objective, civil dialogue where there are two different sides to an issue.”

Mosley-Jensen hopes that students at the debate were able to gain a greater understanding of ideas related to immigration.

“Immigration issues are complex and not always subject to a simple answer,” Mosley-

First-year and member of TFL, MADDIE D’IORIO, left, debates sophomore TRAVIS BOYD, right, who spoke on behalf of Trinity Progressives a the debate.

Students, center, gather to watch the debate in the CSI Tree house, room 437. photos by CHLOE SONNIER

Jensen said. “There are real people involved, too. DACA and other immigration reform policies are very close to home here in San Antonio. A lot of the people watching or participating probably know people who are subject to DACA. Having a vital, civil discourse on campus is one of the things that I think is really important for politics, especially now in our current, contemporary political environment. I think debate provides us with an avenue and an opportunity to engage issues in a well-researched and civil manner.”

Mitchell, a sophomore English and Latin double major, was excited to be able to have a public debate about immigration reform.

“I’m on the debate team, and I’m the only one on the debate team who’s in Tigers for Liberty, of which I’m co-president,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been bouncing around the idea of public debates on campus where students can have these debates in a setting that’s conducive to it — unemotional, but still friendly. There’s been a lot of enthusiasm from TFL and from the Trinity debate team for a while.”

Mitchell explained that the debate team felt it deeply important to address important issues and that his goal was to shed light on the conservative position.

“Our main goal is really to showcase what we feel is a misunderstood position,” Mitchell said. “There’s diversity on the right. We’re trying to demonstrate that our position is not racially motivated or xenophobic, but just motivated by the rule of law and safety and concern for citizens.

It’s not necessarily new in terms of ideology, but it will be new to a lot of people on this campus.”

Mitchell hoped that people came away from the debate with more respect for the intellectual ideals of conservative positions on immigration and viewed them as policybased arguments.

Walters, a senior political science major, was one of the representatives for Trinity Progressives in the debate. She reflected on the debate a few days after it took place.

“There was a great turnout and everyone

in the audience was fairly engaged with the discussion,” Walters wrote in an email interview. “Both sides came with wellformed and focused arguments. Each debate partner really brought different skills to the debate.”

Walters was excited to see the amount of student interest, especially during the question and answer session at the end of the debate.

“Towards the end of the debate, it appeared as though more people wanted to further discuss the issue,” Walters wrote.

“Immigration is an incredibly complex issue, so we did not have sufficient time to completely cover the entire topic. For that reason, I would love to continue this discussion in later Trinity Progressive events on campus. I hope that students left understanding the complexity of the immigration issue.”

Mitchell and Walters both expressed hope for similar discussions to take place in the future place in the future.

NEWS • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

5

City Vista struggles with trash pickup ResLife staff works toward a resolution

KAYLIE KING

NEWS REPORTER Trash bags have been littereing City Vista stairwells, and Residential Life is concerned that they may pose hazards to residents.

In a reversal of previously stated policy, ResLife may begin reviewing camera footage in order to fine students who leave trash in the stairwells, but some students are considering providing a solution of their own.

Valet trash service is provided at City Vista, and those who cannot participate in this collection due to scheduling conflicts are asked to take their garbage to the trash compactor. An email detailing proper trash pickup procedures was sent to apartment residents from the official City Vista email address.

“You simply need to place your trash can out in your hallway between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.,” the email reads. “The valet trash service begins to pick up your trash anywhere between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the following day.

Trash bins must be brought back inside of your apartment by 9:00 a.m. the next day.”

Stephanie Ackerman, assistant director for housing operations, says that students are not following these procedures.

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

“Unfortunately, students are still leaving their trash in the stairwells, and City Vista staff has consistently cleaned up these areas,” wrote Ackerman in an email interview.

“Students have received several notices requesting they not leave their trash in the stairwells. Until we find a solution to this issue, we will continue to communicate with our residents regarding the safety hazard this behavior creates.”

So far, no students have been fined for leaving trash in the stairwells.

“We have been taking this opportunity to educate students about the policies and procedures,” wrote Melissa Flowers, director of Residential Life, in an email interview. “We have not yet applied any fines, but we plan to start fining people soon.”

The email sent to residents said that City Vista staff will begin to review camera footage from the stairwell in order to discipline offending students. This contradicts statements that Ackerman and

GOT A NEWS TIP?

Flowers gave to the Trinitonian in early September, when they said that ResLife would not monitor City Vista surveillance footage in order to catch policy violators.

“There are cameras located in that stairwell and we will begin to review footage should this continue to be an issue,” the email reads. “Violators will face fines and potential removal from the property if the behavior persists.”

Monty McKeon, junior sociology and political science double major and City Vista resident, believes that it can be difficult to abide by the constraints of the valet trash service for a number of reasons.

“The way it’s supposed to be is you have to have your trash can out and any other trash has to go on top of the trash can,” McKeon said. “When you have situations where they haven’t come, and your trash has built up, that’s not always feasible. There are very specific regulations on what they won’t take, so after a few weeks of that, you have a problem with people just throwing their trash in random places. Even when the trash does get taken, we saw one time that the city itself wasn’t coming to get the trash from the building often enough, and there wasn’t even room in the trash compactor.”

McKeon believes that some kind of change needs to be made with the way that the trash service operates.

“They haven’t made a lot of progress in assessing the situation and figuring out what to do about it. Personally, another solution

that I’ve come up with is my trash wagon service,” McKeon said. “I have a dolly and a wagon — we’re thinking about opening a trash wagon where people can just pay us to take their trash. We’ll do it more regularly, we’ll be more polite about it, we’ll do it on the weekends.”

Another solution that McKeon suggests is that the storage rooms on every floor be turned into trash rooms, similar to how trash service works in the on-campus residence halls.

“We recently held focus groups with City Vista residents,” Ackerman wrote. “The purpose of these focus groups was to collect feedback regarding their overall experience at City Vista thus far. A portion of our discussions focused on the valet trash service. Some students proposed the removal of the valet trash service. In its place, they proposed installing ‘trash rooms’ at the end of each hallway, similar to main campus. At this point, this is merely an option to consider. No decisions have been made.”

Residential Life staff is working on solutions for the trash problem in City Vista.

“We have also reached out to the company to discuss modifying the pick-up schedule to be more conducive to student schedules including later hours and perhaps an additional pick-up day for recycling. We have also considered adding large trash bins in hallways or stairwells. The staff is more than happy to discuss other questions or concerns as they arise.”

MARK YOUR CALENDAR! OCT. TUES

3

EMAIL US AT

trinitonian@trinity.edu

TUPD’s National Night Out will be held on October 3rd on Prassel Lawn!

We will be providing FREE food and games, a mechanical bull, and a 60 foot obstacle course!

Plus, you’ll get a shot at dunking your favorite TUPD officer in the dunk tank!

Opinion

LET’S HEAR YOUR VOICE.

...

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

FROM TH E EDITOR’S DESK

It ain’t easy bein’ inclusive, but it’s essential Measuring diversity is easy. Take a population, carve it up in terms of the categories you’re interested in — what’ll it be today, ethnicity?

Gender? Make sure the percentages total to 100, and now you know how diverse you are. Or aren’t.

Dealing with diversity is easy, too. Diversity only requires tolerance. You don’t have to like anyone who acts, looks or thinks differently from you, or at least more differently than you’d like them to. Not if you want to be a good person, that is. You just have to tolerate them. (Whether it’s possible not to like someone different from you and not let it affect your own behavior — well, that’s an open question.)

Inclusivity, though, is hard to measure. And it demands more of us than mere diversity does. You can’t be included if you don’t feel like you belong, and you can’t feel like you belong unless others make you feel like you belong.

What does belonging look and feel like, anyway? It’s not a

negatively defined concept; you might never be discriminated against for what sets you apart from the crowd, but that doesn’t mean your unique qualities were appreciated. They could’ve just been ignored, and that doesn’t seem to count as belonging. We need to work with a positive conception of inclusivity.

“One person can’t turn Trinity into a bastion of belonging on their own.”

Luckily, the Trinitonian doesn’t need to provide that for you; last spring, the university began searching for a director of diversity and inclusion to figure out how

Trinity should answer questions like these.

That position in particular is a new one, but it was preceded by a now-defunct title: coordinator for diversity, created in the spring of 2002. The name went through some revisions through the years, but the university has seen three such coordinators over the years.

The latest, Soisouda Smith, née Inthavong, left Trinity in January 2016. Her responsibilities have been scattered across the administration and staff since: Trinity Diversity Connection found a new adviser shortly after, other staff members were placed on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Lecture selection committee, and so forth. The person who fills this position will pick up these duties and more, leading all areas of campus in the effort to make Trinity a community of belonging.

All students, staff and faculty are invited to the candidates’ public presentations, so of course the

Trinitonian has been in attendance as well. We aren’t comfortable sharing names or images of the candidates for the position; Jamie Thompson, director of Student Involvement, kindly reminded us that the candidates are, after all, employed elsewhere for the time being. You wouldn’t want details about your job interviews in your Google search results, would you?

(Anyone with a T-Mail inbox can search their messages for Sheryl Tynes’ latest emails on the subject, anyhow.)

What we are comfortable saying is that the three would-be administrators who have presented to campus this semester — and the fourth, who will be presenting the morning of Thursday, Sept.

29, the day this issue is printed and distributed — are undeniably well-qualified. A quick look at their submitted CVs and resumes will suffice to make the point.

But the presentations, too, have been encouraging.

Some candidates kept their

remarks general and explained what they think are the characteristics of a sufficiently diverse, inclusive university. Others had specific ideas, which were useful to an extent; the candidate isn’t yet one of us, so how could they have exactly the right suggestions? It takes a certain degree of familiarity in order to nudge our culture in the direction of justice.

That’s not news to the candidates, though, each of whom have acknowledged that they need to get here first — that they’re looking forward to getting here, in fact!

The point is: We are picking from the best of the bunch. In an important sense, it doesn’t matter who we hire, because whether that person succeeds in their job is going to depend on us. One person can’t turn Trinity into a bastion of belonging on their own.

The question is: How willing is Trinity University — the community, not the institution — to do our fair share of the work?

Peaceful protest, free speech and the NFL MANFRED WENDT OPINION COLUMNIST

This weekend, the news cycle was once again dominated by President Donald Trump. Both at a rally in support of Alabama Senate candidate Luther Strange and on Twitter, Trump called for NFL players who protest by kneeling during the national anthem to be fired or suspended.

Players responded by protesting in even larger numbers than before. These two entities managed to set off an almost continuous stream of Facebook posts as everyone who had access to the internet attempted to get their two cents in on the issue.

People have opinions ranging from completely supporting the players to wanting to disband the NFL. Kneeling during the anthem as a form of protest started last season with Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who, prior to the protest, was most noted for giving Green Bay Packer fans and Boise State fans nightmares.

Kaepernick was a rising star in the league until the 49ers began to decline in prominence.

In 2016, Kaepernick began to protest the national anthem by kneeling or sitting. When asked why, he replied, “I am not going

to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color”, as reported by the NFL. He cited a number of incidents between police and African Americans as reasons for his protest. He was heavily criticized by members of the media, current and former NFL players, and politicians for his protest. The angles for criticism ranged from disrespect for the national anthem, the American flag, the American military the American experiment to making an issue of something that isn’t an issue.

For the most part, before President Trump’s comments this past weekend, the protests had been a sideshow for the season.

The movement, for the most part, had settled into a quagmire that attracted attention but resulted in little action.

The issue of protesting during the national anthem is indicative of a deeper issue in the American psyche that has been festering.

That is the issue of free speech and the first amendment. Some people happily lose their minds over Anti-Fascists setting fires on college campuses order to stop conservative speakers from being heard but for some reason refuse to extend that right of freedom of speech to football players who wish to make their voices heard.

In the same way the opposite is true, certain people gladly will set college campuses ablaze in order to make a environment

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

too dangerous for a speaker they don’t want to hear speak but then demand that NFL players be given the right to protest for the national anthem.

The truth is that people with differing beliefs on this issue have the right to make their opinions heard. They don’t have a right to force their opinion into other people’s actions. It is a first amendment stalemate. On this issue, as with all first amendment issues, it is important to listen to the other sides’ explanation for why they do or do not support

the protest. This will allow you to hear stories that you never would have heard and allow you to understand the world from someone else’s point of view. You will hear stories ranging from how their family has put their lives on the line every generation for Old Glory to stories of racism and police brutality.

Personally, I don’t plan on protesting during the national anthem any time soon. Also, I don’t plan on criticising anyone who wishes to. Two of the most important parts of America

include the right to free speech and the right to protest. Without these two important ideas, it becomes very hard to improve a country. If you don’t allow people to freely voice their concerns or bring attention to issues that they feel aren’t being properly addressed, then the country will not move forward. People have the right to peacefully protest and to voice their opinions even if you don’t like it.

Manfred Wendt is a junior political science major.

OPINION • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Culture shocked in Spain: Gaffner reports SOLEIL GAFFNER OPINION COLUMNIST

Hola, clase. Today, I’m writing about intercultural learning capacities, or, in plainer terms, culture shock.

During our week-long traveling seminar, the Trinity in Spain program was accompanied by Katsuo Nishikawa, a political science professor who is also the director for the Center of International Engagement. Nishikawa conducted three classes covering some common misconceptions about the idea of ‘culture’ and what we might face while abroad.

First, Nishikawa tried to wrap our heads around the idea of culture as a social construct of our respective realities. Usually, our idea of culture is the small stuff. British driving on the wrong side of the road, southerners saying “y’all” instead of “you guys,” Spaniards eating dinner at the ungodly hour of 9 p.m. These ideas, while cultural, are only small parts of the culture as a whole.

Our brains tell us that the way we experience the world is the right way, the only way, it can be experienced. We create models of our world — our realities — and continuously run simulations of that model into the future.

That explains why suddenly jumping into a new culture is a shock, as well as why cultural adaptability is so valued, and often difficult to learn.

Nishikawa taught us that there are four human capacities that need

ANGEL GONZALEZ lectures on the Alhambra in Granada, Spain to Trinity students. photo provided by SOLEIL GAFFNER

to be learned in order to better our intercultural development: our capacity to know our own mind, to understand and sense the thoughts and emotions of others, to access and override part of our unconscious processing and to become more effective and appropriate in interacting with others.

He gave us a quick and dirty method to start thinking about cultural differences. To fully accept and understand a culture, you must shift your own mindset, your reality, and learn theirs. When you see something different in a new culture, ask yourself, “What assumption am I making, that I’m

not aware I’m making, that gives me what I see?” This way, you can learn and appreciate this new culture without simply noticing the differences between yours and theirs.

One method that the Trinity in Spain program began employing from early on is using history as a tool to shift students’ mindsets.

Understanding the culture of Spain today can only be achieved by also understanding Spain’s complex and intense history. Why does Spain specialize in cooking pork dishes? Our guide Angel Gonzalez, a professor from IES Madrid, explained to us that one reason could be in response to Spain’s

time under Muslim rule. When the Christian Reconquest finally ended, they might’ve seen pork as a way to divide themselves from the Muslim religion and practices. But they also saw the drastic advancements made by the intellectuals of the time, and honored them by keeping their mosques and other influences.

When visiting the nation’s mosques and cathedrals, we saw the extreme difference between the two artistic and religious styles, yet they all came together to form Spain. This history is integral to Spain’s culture, and understanding that can bring you one step closer to understanding a different reality.

Having said all of this, and

7

realizing that pointing out my culture shock is counterintuitive to what I’ve learned, I’m going to point out an example of culture shock I’ve noticed between Spain and the United States, because it’s particularly funny.

The fact that Spain doesn’t refrigerate eggs is still shocking to me. I did research, though, and now I’m not worried about getting food poisoning. According to Rae Ellen Bichell in her article “Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs and Most of the World Doesn’t” on NPR, the world simply goes about ensuring safe eggs by using different methods.

The reason why eggs are so testy is because of the risk of salmonella, which the chicken contracts before the eggs are even laid. Cooking the egg is the best way to burn the salmonella out, but bacteria can still infiltrate the egg in hairline fractures or breaks. In the 1970s, the United States and Japan began regulating the washing of eggs.

Washing eggs, however, washes off the egg’s natural coat. The natural coat does the same job of preventing bacteria and protecting the egg.

Instead of washing off this natural coat, Europe and other countries developed a vaccine that is given to chickens that prevents salmonella.

Fun, right? Some other cool cultural shocks: Dunkin’ Donuts in Spain is Dunkin’ Coffee, nightlife doesn’t start until 2 a.m. and doesn’t end until 8 a.m. and Europeans only use the 24-hour clock (instead of our 12-hour clock) to make American students feel inadequate for not being able to do mental math.

Soleil Gaffner is a junior double majoring in communication and Spanish.

The complicated rise of the electric car: part one MARK LEWIS FACULTY COLUMNIST

Odds are good that when you hear the word ‘car,’ the image that pops into your mind today has an internal combustion motor that burns gasoline.

This hasn’t always been the case though. In the early days of the automobile, there were multiple power sources vying for general usage. The Paris–Rouen motoring competition in 1894 had 102 initial entrants. In addition to petrol, the engine styles included steam, hydraulic, compressed air and electric. Indeed, the ‘winner’ of the final race was a steam-powered vehicle, but it was declared ineligible because it needed a stoker.

However, the next 13 finishers in order were all petrol, and teams that were declared the overall winners for being ‘closest to the ideal’ had petrol combustion engines. None of the four electric entries even showed up in the end.

Since that time, the gasoline combustion engine has been pretty much completely dominant

in the world of mobile power.

However, there are a number of signs that this might change in the not-too-distant future.

There have been a number of electric cars available for several years now. One could argue that hybrids, like the Toyota Prius, opened the door a bit as they combine gasoline engines with reasonably-sized electric batteries and electric engines to dramatically improve fuel efficiency.

The modern electric car segment was really introduced with the Nissan Leaf in 2011. Of course, these days the segment is probably more identified with cars made by Tesla. While these vehicles have been around for more than five years, the mass market appeal has been limited.

The Leaf, which is priced for the mass market at around $30,000, suffers from a limited range of only a little over 100 miles on each charge, which restricts it to in-city commutes and buyers who can afford to have another option for longer distances. On the other end, the Tesla Models S and X are both capable of ranges of 300 miles on a charge, but realistic configurations tend to run closer to $100,000.

2017 marks the point where electric cars might finally be ready

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

to break into the mass market.

Tesla has grabbed the headlines in this space with the Model 3, with roughly a half million preorders placed before the first car was even built. The Model 3 sports a 220 mile range for $35,000 with an option for over 300 miles in the extended range version for $45,000.

The Model 3 isn’t alone though.

The Chevy Volt gives owners over 230 miles for under $40,000, and while it didn’t get a half million preorders, the sales are steady and have been growing through the year.

You might be asking yourself, does this matter? Perhaps this is just something of interest for car

enthusiasts, and that isn’t you.

It isn’t me either. In fact, I hate driving, but this is part of a bigger picture. The obvious difference between electric cars and gas cars is whether you plug them in or put gas in the tank. However, there is another huge difference. Electric cars have a lot fewer moving parts and much lower maintenance requirements. They should also last longer. The average internal combustion engine vehicle is good for about 250,000 miles. Estimates for the electric vehicles being built today are 600,000–800,000 miles.

Does that really matter though?

After all, it takes a long time to put 250,000 miles on a car since most of us leave our cars sitting

around doing nothing well over 90 percent of the time. What is more, the new electric cars are more like moving computers. They have lots of technology, and we all know how well that ages. What good is a car that can last 20 years if you need to upgrade in two in order to run the current apps?

The answer to this question is the real key to the importance of electric cars, and it is something that excites someone like me who really doesn’t want to drive anyway. That will be the topic of my next column.

Mark Lewis is a professor in the computer science department.

8

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 •

OPINION

What is the other side actually saying?

GABRIEL LEVINE OPINION COLUMNIST

Much has been written about the current crisis of communication in America, the supposed difficulty of broaching difficult topics and, once those topics have been broached, the difficulty of maintaining a civil tone. Many explanations for this phenomenon have been offered. We talk past each other. We internally vilify those with opposing views. We come to the conversation not to be convinced, but to argue. These are all part of the problem, but I’d propose another underlying issue that plagues even good faith engagement.

This is the issue of terminology and semantics. Different words and phrases have different meanings and connotations for different religious, political and cultural groups. Failure to deal with these differences across groups makes coherent discussion much more difficult. For example, in the course of a good and lengthy discussion about God that I recently had with a Christian, I began to talk about ‘natural laws.’ To me, those words meant the laws of physics. To him, those words referred to the way humans are supposed to live their lives based upon the characteristics given them

by God. Once we resolved the inconsistency, we were able to make good progress. More broadly, consider how progressive talk of power structures falls upon conservative ears and how conservative talk of Judeo-Christian values falls upon progressive ears.

Failing to speak the language of someone you’re trying to convince makes convincing that person substantially harder. Indeed, phrasing concepts and ideas in ways that different audiences can understand is key, as scientific communicators know all too well.

The problem is that in the course of trying to speak the language of those they disagree with, many people fall victim to what I’ll call ‘terminological appropriation.’

What I mean is that people will take the terminology of the other side and use it in debates as a cudgel or as a source of facile buzzwords to make easy, shallow points. I saw a prime example of this at a recent social cohosted by Trinity Progressives and Tigers for Liberty. To be clear, I thought that in general the social was an excellent idea. People were respectful and there was almost two hours of polite exchange of viewpoints. However, at one point, a member of Trinity Progressives was discussing immigration with a member of Tigers for Liberty, who happened to be Christian. The argument of the Trinity Progressives member essentially boiled down to: Jesus says we should love everyone, so why should there be any restrictions on immigration? Now, as a non-believing Jew, there’s little that is less immediately interesting to me than what Jesus did or didn’t say. It was still pretty obvious to me that the Trinity Progressives member had appropriated the idea of Jesus that she knew was important to many conservatives and was using a simplistic interpretation of the gospel as a cudgel to beat a conservative opponent into agreement with an impractical policy position.

This type of appropriation is widespread.

Witness the endless parade of liberals and democratic politicians ham-handedly

illustration by YESENIA LOPEZ

inserting words and phrases like ‘patriotism’ or ‘honorable conservative’ into their press releases and tweets. Like bad CGI, these attempts to warp the terminology of the other side fall into the uncanny valley of political persuasion, where the insincerity is uncomfortably obvious.

Of course, conservatives do this too.

Consider the article written by Manfred Wendt in last week’s issue of the Trinitonian, in which he rightfully complains about the nanny-state tendencies of the Trinity administration. In this piece, he shoehorns in the term ‘progressive’ as synonymous with this overbearing attitude, a clear rhetorical attempt to get progressive Trinity students to reconsider their preference for stronger government regulation at a national level.

However, Wendt’s shallow appropriation of the term so thoroughly elides the subtleties and variations of progressive ideology, and its overlap with notions of liberty, that his argument devolves to a straw man.

It’s useful and wise to speak to those we disagree with using terminology they understand. However, requisite with such an approach comes an obligation to take the time and effort to really understand the intellectual underpinnings of that terminology. Not only will this facilitate better communication, it obliges oneself to confront the strongest version of an opponent’s beliefs, instead of the lowest hanging rhetorical fruit.

Gabriel Levine is a senior chemistry major.

HAVE A STORY THAT NEEDS TO BE TOLD? Know a professor or student who embodies what it means to be a Tiger?

Email us at trinitonian@trinity.edu to let us know about the people and events that should be covered in an upcoming issue of the Trinitonian.

Pulse

Debaters kickstart journey to top Six members of the team recently traveled to Georgia State to compete in first tournament of the year MEREDITH GOSHNELL PULSE REPORTER

On the weekend of Sept. 15, Trinity University sent six students to a policy debate tournament at Georgia State University.

Policy debate features teams of two arguing the intricacies of a year-long debate topic and is a fiercely competitive game. More than 30 universities were represented at the GSU tournament, but that didn’t stop sophomores Ian Dill and Ansh Khullar from making it to the double-octofinal round, placing them as one of the best-performing 32 teams at the tournament.

A policy debate tournament consists of eight preliminary debates before the elimination rounds begin; each debate lasts about two hours apiece. One topic sets the stage for debates, but each round is unique and teams trade off between affirming or negating the topic.

“This year, the topic for everyone is health care,” Dill saidw, an economics and environmental studies double major. “Since you have to defend both sides of the debate during the tournament, we have to research a variety of different positions on the issue.

When we are affirmative, we propose a way to fix the Affordable Care Act and explain how that can help stabilize premiums for people buying health care on the individual market.

When we are negative, we have to be ready to address various proposals such as single-payer [healthcare], a public option, vouchers, etc.”

After prelims, the teams are ranked, and the top 32 teams advance to the single elimination component of the tournament. Dill and his partner Khullar lost in the double-octofinals

elimination round, but they will have a chance for redemption this weekend at the University of Kentucky tournament. Dill and Khullar were one of 110 teams participating in the tournament’s varsity division.

“My role on the debate team is that I’m part of one of the two teams that get the opportunity to consistently travel to tournaments across the nation,” said Nicholas Pereda, a first-year team member.

“I joined the debate team because debate was something I was very passionate about in high school, which has carried over, and I’m also a recipient of the Baker Duncan scholarship for debate,” Pereda said.

Pereda competed with first-year Claire Carlson; the third Trinity partnership at the Georgia tournament was junior Zabdi Salazar and senior Sasha Faust. All three pairs competed in the varsity division of the tournament.

GSU was Carlson’s first tournament since moving from Minnesota to Trinity. “It was different than I was expecting, but WMJ and Collin ensured I was prepared.” Carlson said.

“Joining the debate team has really helped me learn more about public speaking, policy creation and current affairs,” said Sasha Faust, a human communication major and performance studies minor. “Policy debate teaches you to think quickly and analytically and to keep listening even when you don’t understand a topic or find it boring.”

Policy debates involve the proposal of a plan by the affirmative team to enact a policy, while the negative team offers reasons to reject that proposal. Students have the opportunity to cross-examine further argue.

IAN DILL, center left, and ANSH KHULLAR, center right, stand with coaches WILLIAM MOSLEY-JENSEN, left, and COLLIN ROARK, right. photo by ALLISON WOLFF

“I did debate team in high school, mostly,” Dill said. “I knew that I wanted to continue doing it in college, and the coaches [Will Mosley-Jensen and Collin Roark] made a concerted effort to get myself and Ansh to come to Trinity.”

The debate team has a full schedule ahead, traveling to up to eight tournaments this

year all over the country before the National Debate Tournament at the end of the spring semester. The Georgia debate tournament provided a glimpse of what is to come for the team as the teams begin to perfect their strategies expand upon their arguments in the months to come as the season develops and intensifies.

Geology department travels to Cave Without a Name Daniel Lehrman and students explore new geology technology DOMINIC WALSH

PULSE REPORTER

A group of Trinity geology majors led by Daniel Lehrmann, the Gertrude and Walter Pyron Professor of the geosciences department, recently attended the fourth annual Texas Hydro-Geo Workshop at the Cave Without a Name, which is located about 40 miles north of San Antonio.

The weekend-long event featured seminars hosted by specialists in a wide array of topics pertaining to geoscience and geoscience technology and was made possible by the owner of Cave Without a Name, Tom Summers.

“Cave Without a Name is just a beautiful cave, and it has a nice campground. The owner of the property was really kind to the group that composed the workshop. He allowed us to camp there and hold the workshop on his property with no charge,” Lehrmann said.

Cave Without a Name is a karst cave, one of the more common types of caves in San Antonio. Karst caves are important to the Edwards Aquifer, which made this weekend especially relevant to members of the group interested in hydrogeology.

“Karst caves are geomorphic, land-surface or subsurface features that are formed by dissolution of limestone. It’s extremely

DANIEL LEHRMAN leads Trinity students in an underground learning experience at the Cave Without a Name. photo provided by DINDA LEHRMANN

important to San Antonio because we have something called the Edwards Aquifer, and without it, we wouldn’t be here,” Lehrmann said.

Sophomore Katherine Jones appreciated the specialists’ expertise regarding karst caves.

“In the morning I went on a tour of the cave

that was led by this guy who is a karst expert and who actually did his dissertation, in part, on the cave,” Jones said. “He talked about things he could discern from the different cave formations. You could look at different things on the wall and figure out which way

the water in the aquifer was flowing, or you could look at the stalagmites and figure out how old the cave is.”

Sophomore geoscience major Malisse Lummus, who plans to go into hydrogeology, attended a class to track water flow through the limestone of the Edwards Aquifer.

“We learned that they put dye into the water, and it goes through the aquifer and comes out in a different spot,” Lummus said. “It’s really important, because with the kind of geology the San Antonio area has, the groundwater doesn’t follow the flow of the topography. It has its own special kind of way of flowing underground, just because of the type of rock there is. So, there’s no way to know where the water is going to go unless you trace it.”

Additionally, Lummus described the field trip as a networking experience.

“It gives me an opportuniy to network with other people in the field and helps open the door for job opportunities, internships and research projects. Not only that ut it gives me a chance to get to know the majors outside the classroom,” Lummus said.

The guided tour of the cave and demonstration of techniques used to track the complicated flow of underground water were part of over 30 modules on various aspects of geology. These modules provided valuable training and hands-on experience in the many subfields that fall under the umbrella term geosciences. continued on PAGE 12

10

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • September 29, 2017 •

PULSE

Long-time research duo monkeys around Neuroscience majors Anna Rigodanzo and Ryan Reush travel to Indonesia with the Phillips lab MADELYN GAHARAN

PULSE EDITOR

Neuroscience major research partners Anna Rigodanzo and Ryan Reusch, are making big waves in neuroscience research under the direction of Kimberley Phillips, professor of psychology. In the spring of 2016, Rigodanzo and Reusch joined Phillips’ lab.

Rigodanzo reflects that she and Reusch didn’t know each other very well, but they were the only two underclassmen students in the lab.

Now, the research duo has been working together for two years, which has included two summers of research and a trip to Indonesia.

“Ryan, Dr. Phillips and I collaborate really well together, which is important for our work as we need to be able to bounce ideas off of one another and count on each other to get the job done,” Rigodanzo said.

The lab is focused on brain changes associated with motor learning in Capuchin monkeys and other nonhuman primates.

“Basically, we’re interested in how behavior can create positive changes in the brain and how we can use that information to either better understand the brain processes or develop rehabilitative treatments for disorders such as strokes, traumatic brain injuries, or multiple sclerosis,” Rigodanzo said.

In August, Rigodanzo, Reusch and a ​ colleague of Phillips’ travelled to Indonesia to conduct a field study on a wild population of long-tailed macaques. The team was invited

ANNA RIGODANZO and RYAN REUSCH stand with the head of their lab, KIMBERLEY PHILLIPS, at a research conference in Indonesia. photo provided by ANNA RIGODANZO

to the International Symposium for Primate Behavior, Biomedicine and Neuroscience in Bogor, Indonesia by another of Phillips’ colleagues who runs the field site where the team was conducting research. The team lived on an uninhabited island with no running water, showers or sinks while conducting their research.

“The conference was near the end of our trip, so we had been busy doing a lot of data collection and travelling before the conference,” Reusch said.

There were multiple struggles associated with trip to Indonesia to complete the research. On top of the long hours of work, the conditions where the team lived were fairly primitive. The team vividly remembers the rough conditions

of their research center in Indonesia, refecting that they didn’t shower for over a week and a hald.

“I’ve been an avid camper my whole life who practically grew up outdoors and there’s still nothing that could’ve really prepared me for it. The bright side is that I feel like now I can handle basically anything,” Rigodanzo said. ​Phillips’ lab typically works with capuchin monkeys and marmosets; however, the team was able to work with Old World monkeys, which are larger than a house cat and have a reputation for aggression. When asked what the scariest part of research was, Rigodanzo said she was afraid of these creatures.

“We were really fortunate, though, to have Dr. Phillips and her colleague by our side.

Between the two of them, they’ve got several decades of experience working with all kinds of monkeys. Everything ended up being fine, but it definitely taught me a new appreciation for the vigilance and awareness that field researchers who do this for a living have to have,” Rigodanzo said.

After graduation, Rigodanzo plans to ​ work as a research assistant to build clinical experience before she applies to clinical neuroscience Ph.D. programs.

“I know that the research experience I’ve gained and the connections I’ve made to Phillips’ lab will be invaluable to my future as a researcher and clinician,” Rigodanzo said.

Reusch still has his eyes on primate research right now when asked about his future research plans.

“We will continue analyzing neuroimages in order to more fully understand the changes that are seen after motor learning. Then we will begin the motor learning training period with the second cohort of monkeys to reach our total sample size of 32 monkeys,” Reusch said. ​Reusch and Rigodanzo, despite the intense conditions of research completion, reflect with almost complete positivity about their ongoing summer project. Both members of the duo actively encourage anyone interested in research to actively pursue it. When asked what advice she would give to anyone who is interested in pursuing research, Rigodanzo said to go for it. Regardless of the field, she encourages you to not be intimidated.

“The best way to figure out if research is for you, no matter what your field, is to do it. You’ll be surprised how far it’ll take you,” Rigodanzo said.

“Definitely go for it. Research is one of the most rewarding Trinity experiences I have had. However, it requires patience and persistence, so be prepared for some struggles before the successes come,” Reusch said. ​

RA truly makes the cut with unusual hobby Senior Andrew Cable created a free barber shop in a South dorm DOMINIC WALSH

PULSE REPORTER

Phi Delta Kappa Formal Thursday, October 5th, 2017 7:00 pm In the Lightner Tea Room Trinity University

If you have questions, contact svela1@trinity.edu

There’s a buzz outside of South Hall, and it’s coming from Andrew Cable’s hair clippers.

Cable, a senior biology major, has been providing haircuts to friends on campus for about a year and a half. This year, he is typically open for business on Friday afternoons, when he cuts hair to relax after a week of studying and working two jobs.

“I normally do Friday afternoons. I’m working in Admissions 10 hours a week, I’m an RA and I work for the Spurs too, so I’m pretty busy. I do Friday afternoons to calm down, to relax. I get out of class at 1:30 p.m. and I cut maybe from 3–5 p.m.,” Cable said.

Daniel Dahlinger, junior and regular customer at Cable’s Clippers, appreciates the bonding time with Cable and other friends.

“Honestly, it’s pretty fun. Sometimes it’s just me, but also we’ll get a group of guys to come over, and it’s kind of like a family affair.

We all hang out together,” Dahlinger said Cable was inspired to learn how to cut hair when he saw a pair of clippers for sale, and initially learned through trial and error.

“It’s really fun to just hang out. I just thrown on some music and then we talk. I try to get the barbershop talk going, you know,

just talk about random things. It’s really relaxing,” Cable said.

“I was at Ross and I saw a clipper set on sale for about 40 bucks, and so I thought, ‘Oh shoot! I’ll buy it.’ I’m one of five boys — I have four brothers — and so I just took my brother outside and I was like, ‘Dude, let me cut your hair,’ and he was like, ‘Okay, fine.’

And I messed him up really bad the first time; it was horrible,” Cable said.

With more experience and the help of YouTube training videos, Cable has become good enough to retain several longtime customers.

“I think I have seven or eight regulars.

Austin Guerrero, he’s from Tucson and I’m from Tucson, where we went to high school together. So, he was, beside my brothers, my first customer, so I’ve done his hair for like two years now,” Cable said.

Cable has only cut the hair of male friends, but he is willing to try with anyone.

“I’ve never cut any girls’ hair. People have asked me, and I told them, ‘You’re welcome to come by,’” Cable said.

One of the best things about Cable’s Clippers is that the haircuts are free of charge, for now.

“I think I would start to charge if it got super busy. At some point I might need to slow down, especially once the semester really starts going,” Cable said.

To look into scheduling an appointment with the only resident barber, contact Andrew Cable at acable@trinity.edu.

ADVERTISEMENT • September 29, 2017• WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

11

12

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • September 29, 2017 •

PULSE

Jewish Student Association celebrates the High Holy Days Observation of the Jewish New Year bring celebrations to campus for Rosh Hashana MEREDITH GOSHELL PULSE REPORTER

Jewish students celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, from sundown last Wednesday to Thursday’s sunset. Judaism follows a lunar calendar, not the traditional Gregorian calendar, so the Jewish new year falls on a different Gregorian day each year; Wednesday marked the beginning of the year 5778 on the Jewish calendar.

Jewish Student Association-Hillel, a student group, is the Trinity branch of Hillel, the largest Jewish campus organization in the world.

“Usually for the holiday my family and I attend services, similar to what I do in college,” said Ashley Lachterman, the co-president of Jewish Student Association-Hillel (JSA). “The only difference is I don’t get to go home to a big Jewish meal that my mother cooks for us!

I’m lucky to have JSA-Hillel where we have The Matzoh Ball, including dinner as well. It’s just not my mom’s cooking.”

The Matzoh Ball is an off-campus celebration meant to welcome in the new year and celebrate alongside the larger San Antonio Jewish community with food, games and resolutions for the new year.

JSA is Trinity’s branch of Hillel, an international student group committed to the cultivation of Jewish culture among student groups on college campuses.

In honor of Rosh Hashana, students were given the opportunity to go to any synagogue in the area free of charge and JSA offered rides to the temple of house.

For Grace Cline, psychology and religion double major and co-president of JSA Jewish holidays have always been a little bit different.

“Interestingly enough, I’m the only one

illustration by ANDREA NEBHUT

in my family who is Jewish. I converted to Judaism when I was almost 16. However, I am very lucky to be a part of a family that is so open minded and willing to be a part of my Jewish journey,” Cline said.

The community found in the Jewish culture is especially important around major holidays, such as the Days of awe associated with Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. “My favorite part of Rosh Hashana is the community I feel when I’m in services,” said Cline. “I have always lived in an area where Judaism was the minority

religion. For example, we don’t typically get off of school or work during our holiest days of the year. For that reason, it sometimes feels strange and isolating being on campus or out in the world when no one knows you’re celebrating a major holiday and it’s nice to be in an environment where everyone else is also celebrating,” Cline said.

Most of the day is supposed to intended to be spent at the synogogue, where the services typically focus on God’s sovereignty. However, a large part of celebrating Rosh Hashana involves celebrating with traditional foods and dishes with friends and family.

“Part of Rosh Hashana is where you dip apples in honey to symbolize a sweet new year and it tastes really good,” said Ruth Lavenda, JSA programming intern.

“I don’t really do it any other time of the year so it’s really great. I also really love bonding with my fellow Jews on such a special time of the year,” Levenda said.

Rosh Hashana is the first day of the 10 Days of Repentance, followed by the Days of Awe, where Jews are supposed to repent on the previous year, which ultimately ends with Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish religion. During these days, Jews think on their sins and repent from the previous year.

This Saturday, Sept. 30, JSU will host a ‘Break the Fast’ breakfast.

All members are invited to break the Yom Kippur fast on Saturday evening with breakfast foods. For more information, contact Grace Cline at gcline@trinity.edu or JSA.

What is the difference between faculty and staff?

Faculty and staff are fundamentally different on campus, but share similar goals.

MEREDITH GOSHELL PULSE REPORTER The differentiation between faculty and staff largely comes from the function that they serve for the university. Faculty is generally regarded as those directly involved with academia and educating the students. On the other hand, staff refers to those who assist in running the everyday operations of the university.

“While the faculty and staff are different, we have the same goal: to empower the students and make them more aware of reallife circumstances,” said Daniel Gracia, bulk mail technician of the Mail Center. “They both serve their purposes really well and I truly believe one can’t serve their purpose without the other.”

The staff performs operations on campus that allow the university to function. Those

functions vary widely, from administrative staff to the maintenance team, and they all work towards helping students have a positive experience at Trinity that doesn’t necessarily directly relate to teaching.

“Some of my responsibilities here are to make sure that students get all their mail — letter mail, packages or whatever that may be,” Gracia said. “Within the university and the inner-office work, I am also in charge of bulk mailing and end-of-month reports, in which charges are posted to different departments according to the business office and they have to coincide with our records.”

Faculty refers mainly to professors and those that directly aid students in the classroom.

Within the faculty, there are multiple classifications relating to the amount of time spent teaching at Trinity and whether or not they have reached tenure. When a new professor comes to Trinity, most will come in as an assistant professor, which is a provisional position. This lasts until their sixth year, when they go up for tenure or promotion.

“They will turn in what’s called the tenure box, which is basically the files of everything they have done over that six-year period, which

includes their teaching, teaching evaluations, research, outside people’s reviews of their research work and the ways that they have contributed to the university community,” said Jennifer Matthews, professor of anthropology.

If the department recommends the professor for tenure, the Tenure Commission will review the materials. Finally, the president and vice president review the application and they make the final decision. If granted tenure, they are granted the status of associate professor, which affords them a permanent position at the university.

“After another six years, you have the option to going up to professor, which is the highest ranking of university faculty. You do not have to go up for professor but you have the option to,” Matthews said. “Generally, when they get promoted to professor, the idea is that they are well established in the university community and have really stepped up their service commitment and are really a role model on campus while also being well regarded in their research field.”

Some positions on campus are a blend of faculty and staff, like the librarians. They both teach and assist in the operations of the

university. One example is Jeff Lacy, who is the instruction and liaison librarian.

“Some of us are faculty and do the teaching and advising while others are staff, and they don’t do the teaching but they keep the place running,” Lacy said. “In essence, they are different jobs. I think we’re all equally professional, equally capable, equally caring and equally invested in the university,” Lacy said.

graphic by TYLER HERRON

HydroGeology field trip continued from PAGE 9

“In geoscience, there’s multiple different disciplines. There’s sedimentary geology oriented towards the oil industry. There are areas of structural geology — igneous, metamorphic geology, geophysics, some of these things that are orientated towards deep processes in the earth, like magmas and volcanoes. You name it, there’s all different areas,” Lehrmann said.

“As far as I’m concerned, the most important thing about this is that we get the students to see examples of the diversity of geology and areas of geology that are marketable. All of our undergraduate students are kind of exploring

and trying to figure out what would be the area they would want to go into as a career path.”

Students who are still deciding which of these areas to specialize in walked away from this weekend with a better idea of where their interests lie.

“I don’t know what area I want to go into yet, but this certainly made hydrogeology look like a very rich, interesting and important field of study, so I’m really glad I went,” Jones said.

Cave Without a Name is open to the public, and viewing it is greatly encouraged by Lehrman.

For more information on how to visit and upcoming events, visit cavewithoutaname.com.

For questions or inquiries about orientation, Kim is available at ekim@trinity.edu.

“Sugar Pine 7” receives “Show of the Year” Streamy Award

“Avatar” movie series revealed to have billion dollar budget

The “alternative lifestyle” web series has won some well-earned recognition for its hilarious cast and unique, unorthodox storytelling.

If the film industry keeps this up, the United States government will have to make space in its spending pie chart; luckily, it looks like defense can take a hit.

AE &

Top Naach dance crew takes things up a notch Sneh Lalani talks about Trinity’s premier Bollywood dance squad ABIGAIL WHARTON A&E CONTRIBUTOR

Last Tuesday and Thursday were full of loud music and new choreography for those auditioning to join this year’s Bollywood dance team, Top Naach. An extension of South Asian Student Association (SASA), the group has grown into a machine for learning, South Asian representation, fun and community engagement.

Long and story-packed movies with glamorous costumes and orchestral music may come to mind when one thinks of the Bollywood genre. Top Naach focuses on Bollywood, but incorporates inspiration from different dance styles into their performances.

But what makes for a good Bollywood performance? To find the answer to this, I had a conversation with Sneh Lalani, acting cocaptain of Top Naach and the public relations chair of SASA.

“Good Bollywood music is either upbeat, energetic and a little bit crazy or slow and graceful and soothing,” Lalani said. “Good Bollywood dancing is a different story, however. I would say a good Bollywood dance includes a ‘wow’ factor. Just something, whether it be the storyline behind the dance or a specific dance move, that just makes the audience go ‘Wow, that was a plot twist!’”

Lalani has worked with the group as a choreographer since her first year at Trinity.

The team itself is relatively new. The founding members started the group their first year with the help of SASA, then known as the Indian Student Union, and have since graduated in the spring of 2017.

“Our goals for Top Naach include wanting to finally branch off from SASA, and have Top Naach as an official Trinity dance team. We can only do that with support from the Trinity community,” Lalani said.

And what about this community? The reception has been nothing but warm according to the co-captain. The people involved have truly become the heart of the dance group.

“So many people are so enthusiastic about learning about Bollywood culture, it’s been a shock to me! I didn’t expect Bollywood to be so popular when I came in as a freshman,” Lalani said. “But there’s so many people constantly coming up to me to either learn more about it, or to sign up for Diwali, SASA’s biggest dance show of the year,”

Students audition for a place in Top Naach. The style of Bollywood combines aspects of numerous contemporary genres, while relying on a base of classical Indian dances. photo by CHLOE SONNIER

Looking forward, Top Naach sees nothing but potential for growth and expansion on the horizon “Top Naach is not as well-known as we’d like, and so we’d like to promote it more. We hope that soon everyone will know about Top

Naach and want to audition with us next year.

You can’t find Top Naach through social media just yet, but we’re working on it,” Lalani said.

Be on the lookout for top notch Top Naach performances at annual Trinity showcases like Diwali and Mabuhay.

Students talk fall movies, discuss all-time favorites AUSTIN DAVIDSON A&E CONTRIBUTOR

Fall is a time of many things. It’s a time when you can break out the flannel shirts, the Uggs, the Birkenstocks-and-socks and enjoy endless gallons of pumpkin spice lattes. But fall is also the start of something even greater than any of those things.

Better than a slight chill in the air, the slow change of leaves or the beautiful night sky: Fall brings back good movies.

This summer, like many others before it, was an awful — might I say horrendous? — couple of months for movies. With three or four exceptions,

everything that came out this summer was the film equivalent of four-dayold sidewalk vomit. From the eighth installment of “Fast and Furious” to yet another “Spiderman” reboot, this summer’s movies were unoriginal, boring and painful to stomach.

This summer was bad even for the studios themselves. Their net profits went down a staggering 16 percent from last year. Hits like “Wonder Woman” and “Baby Driver,” both of which I would highly recommend, thankfully saved it, while films like “Despicable Me 3” did surprisingly awful considering how successful the series’ other two brainless installments were.

But now that’s all over. Summer’s end is sad for some, but it’s stellar for the film industry and for film as a whole.

Viewers can now look forward to the

Sidewalk Symposium photos by Amani Canada

new “Blade Runner,” whose director and cast are the perfect team to bring this iconic film back to the modern era.

Also, the new “It” recently came out, starring a stellar bunch of youngsters and horrifyingly good Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise. And that’s just the beginning. Films the studios have been holding back while waiting for Oscar season are starting to slowly trickle out.

One of the ones I’m looking forward to is “Snowman,” with Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson, about a serial killer in Scandinavia and his unique calling signs. And even if all of those are somehow bad, the new “Star Wars” will zap us into the new year with something to be happy about.

That was just what I thought of this year’s fall movie selection. I took to the sidewalks to find out how my fellow

tigers felt about the state of cinema this season and what upcoming films they are eagerly anticipating.

As I was interviewing all of these people, it was great to see so many people with so many different tastes in movies. It would be a horrible world if everyone was as picky as film critics and as rude as I am when it comes to movies. It takes a village to finance the behemoth that is Hollywood and the little microcosm that is Trinity is much like that village. It’s a mix of film buffs, casual fans and people too busy to really pay attention to what’s coming out and it’s up to Hollywood to make movies that make us all happy. While they may have been slacking recently with garbage like “Baywatch” and “The Emoji Movie” (I pray no one here has watched that poison), hopefully the fall will bring us back to being Hollywood-believers once again.

Jonah Nance, Sophomore: What movies are you looking forward to this year? “‘Last Flag Flying’ and Only the Brave’.”

Favorite movies? “‘Avatar,’ ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Blazing Saddles.’”

Mackenzie Hill, Senior: What movies are you looking forward to this year? “‘The Last Jedi’ and ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle.’”

Favorite movies? “‘Reservoir Dogs,’ ‘You’ve Got Mail,’ ‘Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘The Breakfast Club.’”

14

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 •

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

San Antonio celebrates Chuck Ramirez’s pop art

McNay museum dedicates retrospective exhibition to iconic Texan visual artist ABIGAIL WHARTON A&E CONTRIBUTOR

Chuck Ramirez’s name has been familiar to San Antonio for decades but lately his name is inescapable in the San Antonio art scene. Two retrospective exhibitions have opened this month in the McNay and RuizHealy galleries and the city has been invited to remember this powerhouse of a local artist, or perhaps to meet him for the first time.

Ramirez passed away in a bicycling accident in 2010, right at the beginning of what many were calling the height of his artistic career. For many years Ramirez was a commercial graphic designer, putting his eye for color into the labels and advertisements behind HEB brands, but it is his photography and passion for making art in our city that will live on.

“All This and Heaven Too” is on display in the McNay through mid-January. The exhibition focuses on Ramirez’s more popular works. The first things viewers encounter are eight-foot-tall Christmas trees swathed in light and flowers, all in bold monochromatic colors. Joy and goodwill are characteristics often attributed to Ramirez himself, and it’s practically bottled in his Christmas trees.

The rest of the spaces guide the viewer through sharp images of handbags and their

contents, empty piñatas and chocolate box tins, hospital flowers and cast-off paint cans.

The photographs are very large and detailed, almost abstracting ordinary objects and turning them into bold, intensely colorful and intriguing compositions. This is pop art that takes a step away from commenting on commercialism in favor of referencing people and consumption.

Ramirez captures a certain Tex-Mex spirit in his work. A massive print of a Whataburger cup is the more obvious reference, but the exhibition also highlights a series of photographs taken in his grandmother’s kitchen while she cooked. Viewers are also introduced to his intensely intricate prints of table spreads. In one, we see the aftermath of a taco lunch with leftover tortillas, salsa, beer cans and crumpled napkins; in another, the altar setting for someone’s celebration of Dios de Los Muertos.

Ramirez shows his viewers the art made by simply living. We eat, we cook, we go to work, we move on, we use things, and in Ramirez’s body of work it’s the things we leave behind that are seemingly indicative of a life well lived.

“Chuck in Context” is on display at the Ruiz-Healy gallery through mid-October.

Here viewers can see Ramirez’s text-based series. Words are superimposed over photographs. An opulent room full of light and luxurious furniture is labeled “VILLA.” The man in a wig is a “QUEEN.” The two gentlemen are “CURATORS” and the shot of Patriots football players huddling up on a TV screen are labeled “VIAGRA.” This is the first time this series has been shown in its entirety. Ruiz-Healy represents the Chuck Ramirez estate, and a portion of the sales from this show will be donated to Casa Chuck, a residency program for writers, art makers, musicians and curators hosted in his former home.

“Dios de Los Muertos,” one of Chuck Ramirez’s pieces, on display at the retrospective. Ramirez’s work is notable for incorporating commercial or popular icons. photo by SAVANNAH CLARKE

Friends of Chuck Ramirez called him ‘Tia Chuck.’ Ramirez had a heart for the artists of Texas and was on the board of Blue Star Contemporary Arts, where space for artists to show their work is increasingly accessible.

He made work that speaks to the lives of

San Antonio’s people, work that can be seen here, across the United States and even in the Smithsonian’s extensive collection of American art.

To know Ramirez’s work is to know a little more about the city and people of San Antonio.

Take heed: Television is fraught with time-taking tyranny NICK SMETZERA&E EDITOR

Maybe you’ve been there — I know I have. A pile of work lying at your side, but just enough time for a quick episode of my latest televised vice. I’ve done the math — simple really. Of course one hour of an award-winning drama is less schedule damaging than a feature-length film.

Nevertheless, almost every time I’ve made this decision, it’s ended with me wearily blinking at 3:45 a.m., with bloodshot eyes and the same amount of work to do as when I had started. It’d be easy to ask myself why I fall into this habit: Why do I value distraction more than satisfying my responsibilities? When will we as a society finally acknowledge the truly addictive nature of procrastination?

Why the hell am I like this?

Instead, I think it’s much more interesting to take a look at the kind of storytelling these deceptively length TV shows lend themselves to — enjoyable, sure, but styled and oftentimes overly elaborate. Think about it: “Breaking Bad,” over the course of five seasons, tells the story of a man who is hesitant to enter a life of crime, until he determines it to be the only way to provide for and protect his family. Over the course of the almost 60-hour-long series, our protagonist finds himself completely absorbed by —

and addicted to — the criminal world he once looked down upon.

Funny enough, the “Godfather” films tell a similar story, the key difference being that these films accomplish this in around nine hours.

When recalling a movie, one tends to naturally hit upon the major plot points: rising action, climax, falling action, et cetera. Michael Corleone returns to his family to find their criminal empire in turmoil. He resists efforts by the rest of his family to get him to take control, before ultimately succumbing to the role of a ruthless crime boss.

This all happens over the course of “Breaking Bad,” some cancer and character details aside. But over the course of a single episode, there’s but a few millimeters of progress made towards these story goals. Sure, there are explosive episodes where everything seems to come to a climax, but for every “Ozymandias” or “Face Off,” there’s a “Fly” or a “Grey Matter.” Dramatic television has perfected the method of tricking the viewer into thinking that they are watching a meaningful narrative by having each episode have some kind of plot; yet, when you look at the true importance of an episode to the importance of the overarching plot, it boils down to a few scenes, a few sentences: “This is the episode where Skyler discovers Walt’s business.”

That’s not to say that there isn’t a merit to this slow-burning way of storytelling.

The long exposure one has to the characters in question could make it so that the audience becomes attached to

illustration by YESSENIA LOPEZ

them more genuinely than there is time for in a film, and make the eventual plot explosions that do occur all the more meaningful. But in terms of explaining why these sorts of shows can be so addicting, the fact that every episode has the same plot skeleton while only serving the grand story gradually can help to explain why we — or at least I — can never seem to get enough.

The tragedy here is that I’ve watched so many melodramatic, extended TV shows in the first place. Maybe tomorrow night, when the urge to procrastinate before a mountain of paperwork strikes me, I’ll do the counterintuitive thing and watch a movie, rather than catch up on “Game of Thrones” or “Shameless.” That way, at least once the credits roll, things will be over and done.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Theatre for Social Change Trinity actors open up about importance of spreading awareness for domestic abuse AUSTIN DAVIDSON A&E CONTRIBUTOR

This Friday in the Attic Theater of the Ruth Taylor Theatre Building at 8 p.m., a group of burgeoning actors will be putting on a production dealing with a very tough topic: domestic violence. Through a series of episodes, created scenes and monologues, the production will tell the true stories of domestic violence and the victims and oppressors within it. It goes without saying that such a subject is hard to capture, let alone present in a way to foster teaching and awareness. Nevertheless, a group of students led by Roberto Prestigiacomo, associate professor of human communication and theatre, have been hard at work to achieve such a feat through a unique forum-style. I sat down with the cast to ask them about their project and what it’s like to be in such a heavy production.

AUSTIN DAVIDSON: To start off, what made you choose to do this project?

SARAH BASTOS: “I had done this kind of work before with some of my fellow cast members and wanted to continue that. I’ve also taken classes about Theatre for Social Change and wanted to perform some of the stuff I learned about in those classes. I’m also really passionate about Theatre for Social Change and I feel like it’s a very important thing for me to do. As a theater student, I’ve also been interested in how theater can affect other people and this was the prime example of how I could see that happen.”

LAUREN HILL: “I did it because it’s completely different from anything I’ve ever done before. Also, I was excited because I knew it would be really challenging, but also rewarding and a really good learning experience.”

AD: Interesting, so what does Theatre for Social Change mean to you guys? Do you all feel really passionately about it, or maybe it means something else?

LINDA READY: “Well I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I auditioned for the show, but as I’ve rehearsed and worked with the cast I’ve become more passionate about it. I’ve also been doing research on what domestic violence is and how it affects people. I also think it’s incredible to be recreating these moments because I think that’s what theater is — recreating life and trying to provoke change in other people — and I think this is the most in-your-face you can get about it.”

AD: Well said. So, what is the process of being in this production like? Is it emotionally draining?

(At this point the cast collectively, and in surprising unison, responded “YES” with a wary awareness of how much the show had affected them.)

LR: “The first few weeks of this were the most emotionally draining because we had to collect all of these stories and reports on domestic violence from cast members and family members, and it was really difficult initially. But by taking the initiative and being more of a journalist when it came to learning about the content, rather being the empathetic actress, [it] helped us all understand the material better and is a unique part of this show I have never done before.”

SOPHIA ELSADIG: “Yeah I definitely agree, the first few weeks were very, very emotionally draining. I remember at one point I came home from rehearsal one night and wondered if I could keep doing the show. But as I continued to work and understand the material, I became more passionate about the work and also able to remove myself from the character I was playing and learn from the experiences I was creating. My character is an oppressor, and I have to say and do things I completely disagree with and it’s hard to do, but it’s important to do it well to recreate the experience and hopefully push people to intervene and learn from it.”

AD: Is that what you all hope this production does? That it creates a message of awareness and learning that people can take to the world?

CRISTINA TREVINO: “Yeah, definitely.

I think that doing this kind of work is very difficult because you don’t want to be invested too much, and you want to be able to do it from an outside perspective, so that way you have the ability to perform it. In the difficulty of doing this work, the goal is that we have hope that we can make a change, because if there is no change then there is no point in doing this. I think we have all developed that mindset — hope for a better outcome.”

MATHILDE LE TACON: “I think a large part of what we are trying to do is talk about this difficult topic but with degrees of subtlety.

We tried to put little messages and symbols into the play as a way of not making it too heavyhanded, but to also still send a message about the topic. We also picked domestic violence because it’s not as widely publicized as other topics of its nature. By creating a production like this, it allows us to send the message in a way that is easier to convey.”

AD: While I think it has been addressed what is the main purpose of the production?

What do you guys want people to take away from it specifically?

HOLLY GABLEMANN: “I think there are a lot of purposes to this show. One of them is to provide audiences with a rehearsal space to practice intervening. So they will see what is happening on stage and have the ability to jump in and intervene on stage. You will see an instance of abuse and have the ability to stop it.

And I think this opportunity to create a sort of dress rehearsal for real life gives people a unique opportunity to learn.”

SB: “The main goal is to get people to talk, to be aware, to make a change.”

AD: Do you hope this type of project continues, that the message you send creates a better campus environment? And are there any future themes already in mind?

HG: “Well, it’s more of what the community feels the topic should be. So if this project was replicated at Trinity, it might be about hazing or mental health, while in another community it could be about an entirely different thing. So while it is cast-driven, I feel in a larger sense it’s community-driven.”

Each of the cast members had great responses, and each struck the same notes in the conversations I was lucky enough to share with them. They emphasized that the production fostered a bond with the cast that they have really enjoyed and value, that they have learned so much from one another and that the material they are dealing with is important and prevalent. It really was a great time speaking to all of the cast, hearing the interesting and thoughtful things they had to say about the process and seeing how much they all do care about their craft and each other.

I stayed behind after the interview to watch them rehearse and it was moving. If you have time in the busy schedule of college, take some time to see these people bring to light something we should all be more aware of and capture the dark reality that is domestic violence.

Editor’s note: As of Sept. 27, Mathilde Le Tacon is no longer part of the production.

15

HIRING

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

WRITERS!

Film buff, music geek or culture connoisseur?

The Trinitonian A&E section is looking for passionate and talented contributors!

Contact trinitonian@trinity.edu for more info!

16

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 •

ADVERTISEMENT

Thinking Big About Your Career?

Come learn about some of the prestigious, highly competitive, national and international scholarships and fellowships available to our best and brightest. Sophomores and juniors are especially encouraged to attend, but we welcome first-years and seniors as well.

Major Scholarships & Fellowships Information Meeting Thursday, October 5, 4:00-5:00pm, Waxahachie Room (Coates) Some of the scholarships covered include: Beinecke Scholarship – the program to encourages and enables (by means of a $34,000 award) college juniors "to be courageous" in the selection of a graduate course of study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Fulbright Scholarship – The U.S. government-sponsored Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides future American leaders with unparalleled opportunities to study and conduct research in other nations. The Fulbright program also provides teaching grants overseas to new graduates that are like “typical” Fulbright fellowships but require half-time English teaching in a wide variety of countries around the world.

Goldwater Scholarship – The Goldwater Foundation supports undergraduate students with a strong commitment to a career in mathematics, the natural sciences, computer science, or engineering. Promising candidates show intellectual intensity in these fields and have the potential for significant future contribution.

Marshall Scholarship – The Marshall Scholarship funds two years of postgraduate study at any university in the U.K. Interested candidates need to apply internally the spring before the October deadline.

Rhodes Scholarship – The Rhodes Scholarship funds two years of postgraduate study at Oxford University. Criteria are high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential leadership, and physical vigor. Interested candidates need to apply internally the spring before the October deadline.

Truman Scholarship – named for President Harry Truman, this scholarship awards up to $30,000 to college juniors who plan to pursue careers in government, the nonprofit or advocacy sectors, education, or elsewhere in public service. Includes leadership training and fellowship with other students who are committed to making a difference through public service.

National Science Foundation – The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship provides three years of generous financial support for graduate students in the natural sciences, social sciences, math, and engineering.

Some of these opportunities take years to prepare for. Start thinking about them NOW! Brought to you by the Office of Academic Affairs.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN • Men’s Tennis ITA Regional Championships, Sept. 28 – Oct. 1 • Women’s Soccer vs. Schreiner University, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 7 p.m.

• Football vs. Rhodes College, Saturday, Oct. 7, 6 p.m.

Sports

Football defeats Chapman in overtime The Tigers bounce back from their opening season loss, taking down the Panthers 41-35

Senior quarterback AUSTIN GRAUER takes the ball across the field. The Tiger football team is excited to keep their momentum going after winning the first home game. photo by ALLISON WOLFF

ELISE HESTER

SPORTS REPORTER Trinity football is back. The Tigers may have started their football season on the wrong foot in a 32-7 loss against Redlands University, but with their first two conference games, the men of Trinity football proved that they are ready to “be the standard” and dominate within the Southern Athletic Association. This past weekend’s home overtime win against Chapman University proved just that.

However, the road to success for the Trinity football team hasn’t been quite what they expected.

After their disappointing opener against Redlands, the Tigers were able to recognize areas for improvement and growth before starting conference play.

“I think the biggest thing we missed out on in the Redlands game was doing our own job,” said sophomore wide receiver Tommy Lavine. “It was a wake-up call that we needed to get it together.

“We went into it thinking ‘We beat these guys last year, we can beat them again,’ but it really woke us up.”

In contrast to the slow start at Redlands, the Tigers began their conference opener against Millsaps University in Jackson, Mississippi by gaining a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. First-year running back Chucky Davis ran 52 yards to score two touchdowns, the first of two of his collegiate career.

“We knew coming in that we need to run the ball down their throats. We needed

to play hard and that’s what we did,” Davis said. “The passing game was really relevant, but the rushing game was also really relevant so we had to balance offense.”

The winning streak continued the next weekend as the Tigers returned to Trinity for their home opener.

The game began with a weak start from Trinity. As the first quarter began, Chapman scored three touchdowns. continued on PAGE 20

Softball team no longer working soccer games After softball player gets cursed out, the women are freed from the previously required job JULIA WEIS

SPORTS EDITOR After years of being required by coaches to retrieve and throw in balls for the men’s and women’s soccer games, a change in policy has allowed the softball team to be free of this requirement.

This decision was sparked by an incident a few weeks ago when a Trinity soccer player cursed at one of the softball players working the game.

“He told me to ‘do my f—ing job,’” said Marisa Trevino, a junior sociology major and outfielder for the softball team.

Several members of the team expressed outrage that they were disrespected after all of the work and support they have put in for both soccer teams.

“They should have all been grateful that the softball team took time out of our days to work their games,” said Danielle Ruiz, a sophomore sociology major and first baseman. “We are all one student body and we should all support each other. It’s sad that certain players had to stoop low enough to disrespect a person that was helping them.”

The Trinitonian was following this story last week, before the policy was reneged.

Ruiz had expressed her frustrations with the softball team’s situation then.

“I enjoy watching our soccer teams. They are very talented and it’s fun to watch their hard work pay off. However, I do dislike how some of us are treated by the visiting teams,” Ruiz said. “Personally, I did not know how to properly do my job when I was a freshman.

I couldn’t tell the difference between when a corner kick was supposed to happen versus the goalie throwing or kicking it in. It is not unusual for the workers to be yelled at by the teams. And that is really aggravating because

Since the change in policy, several work positions are now available. photo by ALLISON WOLFF

some of us don’t know soccer at all and we were never taught what to do.”

While this was a paid position for softball players, many felt that they did not have a choice in working soccer games. Ruiz suggested that if the teams helped each other out equally or switched off which sport they worked every so often, it would likely lighten the load on all athletes.

“I am very proud of our soccer teams, but I feel very disrespected by them. The softball team does so much for them and it is overlooked. We are at every one of their games, working for them. Do they come and support us at our games? No. We let them use our game field as their practice field when their season comes. Do they take good care of our field? No. They completely destroy it.

They don’t even have the courtesy to move the goals off the field when we have practice for

our fall season. We have to do it. And why are they not mandated to work the softball games? Foul balls are hit all the time, but who has to get them? Us. Working for soccer would be more enjoyable if their was a mutual respect — but there is not,” Ruiz said.

The softball team mentioned another big problem they perceived: Not all teams are required to work other sports’ events in the first place.

“The lack of equality in the demands and jobs imposed upon us builds animosity amongst the sports teams and has a negative impact on the cohesion of the athletic student body,” said Rebecca Berreth, a senior neuroscience major and shortstop for the softball team.

Softball coach Brandi Crnkovic agrees with the idea that Trinity athletes have to work as one unit.

“It is not just about softball working — we are an out-of-season sport supporting athletics. The baseball team also works for the volleyball team and in the past football has worked track meets. As a small institution, we have to all work together to support one another,” Crnkovic said.

The Trinitonian reached out to staff on the men’s soccer team and received a statement from assistant coach Callum Squires. Squires claims that there are no hard feelings between the teams anymore.

“There really isn’t a situation anymore at this point. The men’s soccer player has issued an apology, our coaches have been in contact and the teams have been in contact,” Squires said.

First-year midfielder Jacob Hallenberger says he appreciated the assistance from the women on the sideline.

“I do think it’s very helpful, especially when it’s a tight game. The ball goes out of bounds and we need to get a new one as quickly as possible and they are always there to do that.

Also, they are always supportive to the guys on the team,” Hallenberger said.

The position is now open to anyone who would like to help out with the soccer games.

The softball players can continue working soccer games if they would like, and according to Squires, several of them plan to do so.

In the meantime, the softball team can now focus on their other off-season responsibilities.

“I think it has been a long time coming and it just took a big incident to finally make it happen. I think that this opens up great opportunities for people who actually want to work the games to get a chance to work them. I think the athletic department did an excellent job of handling this and I feel very supported as a sport and as a team by this decision,” Trevino said.

18

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 •

SPORTS

Men’s soccer moves forward from streak-ending loss

From left, sophomore KAMRAN MOUSSAVI, first-year WESLEY MITCHELL and sophomore VETLE MASVAER HALLE. photo by ALLISON WOLFF continued from FRONT

With Trinity’s second goal, scored by junior midfielder Christian Sakshaug in the 85th minute, the game was cemented as a tie at the end of regulation. With this draw, both teams prepared to go into a tense round of overtime. What followed was an aggressive physical battle for a goal that ended in a third goal for Dallas by Ogueri, bringing a Trinity loss to Paul McGinlay Soccer Field.

The Dallas victory, explained Leiberman, can be credited not only to a defensive lapse on the part of the Trinity team, but also to Ogueri’s performance.

“A lot of what they did was they packed eight players inside their box and played with a block of eight and then just tried to counterattack,” Lieberman said. “They had a pacey forward who did well, scored two goals for them. So really two of their three goals came off of counterattacks and their first goal

was off of a free kick, dropped in the box, didn’t get away in time and ended up in the back of the net.”

“I guess it’s become a norm to expect Trinity to win every game.”

BRADY JOHNSTON SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER

After the events of Friday’s heartbreaking game, the Tigers resolved themselves to bring home a victory on Sunday, as they faced off against Colorado College.

Colorado brought forth a strong offensive attack, but a few switches in the Tigers’ playing pattern opened up more chances for success.

By switching Sakshaug to play forward, head coach Paul McGinlay created more

offensive opportunities for the Tigers. In the first 15 minutes, a cross from Sakshaug to Gordon allowed Hallenberger to score.

Trinity continued to press throughout the second half, and another assist from Gordon, this time finding Sakshaug, brought the score to 2-0 in the 66th minute. Despite a strong performance from Colorado College, Trinity ended the game in a shutout.

Last Friday, Sept. 22, conference play continued for the Tigers, who first faced off against the Texas Lutheran University Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs and the Tigers both played a fearsome first half, in which neither scored.

The Tigers returned from their halftime talk ready to play.

As the second half commenced, junior forward Austin Michaelis earned his first hat trick in 13 minutes by scoring 3 goals. Another goal from Sakshaug as well as one from Van Der Lee gave the Tigers another big shutout.

The winning weekend continued on Sept.

24 with a game against the Southwestern University Pirates. Michaelis continued to shine, scoring one goal in each half, ending in a 2-0 shutout. It also made Michaelis the lead goal-scoring Tiger.

The defense played an important role as well, not allowing the Pirates to score.

“The first defensive player will press and the others will cover behind him, and that’s a big reason why we’ve been so good on defense, cause we’re all on the same page and we know that defense wins championships,” said sophomore defensive midfielder Brady Johnston.

Despite the past three victories for the Tigers, the players think it is important to look back at the loss at home to see what they can take away from the unprecedented loss.

“I guess it’s become a norm to expect Trinity to win every game,” Johnston said.

For Hallenberger, the events represented a chance to learn.

“Remember it for the learning experience, but move on. We knew what we had to do on Sunday morning and we went out and got it done,” Hallenberger said.

Leiberman thought there was little reason to focus on the events of Friday night.

“It was more of a ‘Hey, Friday happened and now we’re moving onto Sunday.’ They’re a good team and we just need to go out there and make the most of the chances we’re given” Lieberman said.

The men of Trinity soccer don’t seem too shaken by the loss, which serves as a reminder that anyone can suffer an upset. Still, as Trinity advances forward in the conference, they prove with each game that they are more than ready to match and do better than their successes from years passed.

“Going into the game I always think we are the stronger team,” Lieberman said. “I trust every single one of those guys on the field and every one of the guys on the bench. We definitely have a great program.”

The Tigers head to Centenary College this Friday to play the Gents on Sept. 29 at 8 p.m.

Cross Country heads to Chile Pepper Festival Despite multiple injuries on the team, the runners are looking for success JULIA WEIS

SPORTS EDITOR The men’s and women’s cross-country teams plan to load up on a bus Thursday, Sept. 28, and head 10 hours north to Fayetteville, Arkansas for one of the largest cross-country events in the nation: the Chile Pepper Festival. The Tigers are one of 80 college cross-country teams battling through the competition.

While no major SCAC or Division III rivals are attendaning, head coach Emily Daum emphasizes the importance of runners getting a glimpse of what running a major race is like.

“The reason I like taking the team to Chile Pepper isn’t because of competition, but because it gives them the opportunity to go to a huge meet, where the size of the field is pretty similar to how nationals is. Having that experience of being just surrounded by people is really good for them. There are going to be over 6,500 runners and over 6,000 spectators this year,” Daum said.

Despite several injuries on the men’s team and a few on the women’s team, the runners have had a very successful start to their season. Both the men’s and women’s teams have won all of their meets so far this year, whether on home turf or across Texas at the Abilene Christian University Naimadu Classic. They are optimistic about the rest of the season as well.

“Some of us are banged up, but I’m excited to see how everyone does at Chile Pepper,” said Austin Brown, senior engineering and

math double major and captain of the men’s team. “The meet is unique in that it has over 500 runners on the starting line from over 80 colleges of DI, DII and DIII. Therefore, you have to start well or else you are stuck in your position for almost the entire first mile. This race makes every other race less intimidating, especially conference and regionals. It’s just a really fun race!”

“It’s like a music festival, but with runners.”

JACK POWERS FIRST-YEAR RUNNER

Some of the younger runners on the team aren’t sure what to expect from the Chile Pepper Festival.

“I’m personally excited for the massive amount of competitors running in it. It’s like a music festival, but with runners,” said Jack Powers, first-year communication major.

This will be the first time in several years that the men’s race will be a 10K instead of the usual 8K or 5K distance. Meanwhile, the women will continue racing the 5K distance. The runners are not used to this increased distance and will likely not race a 10K again unless they make it to the national championship.

“The 5K is very familiar to us coming in from high school, who only ran 5Ks as all

their cross-country races. The 8K is more mentally straining than a 5K and a little bit more outside of our comfort zone. The 10K is the great unknown. It will be a difficult, but welcome challenge to newcomers and old timers alike,” Powers said.

The stakes aren’t very high, but doing well in the mega-race helps the runners feel confident as they start moving towards their more important meets of the season.

In addition, they always get to pick up some chile pepper-related running gear, like t-shirts and socks.

Where does the chile pepper theme come from? Most of the runners and coaches didn’t know.

“I remember we went looking it up because the food they served post-race didn’t contain a single chile! Only the clothes and accessories had chiles on them. Named for the Chile Pepper Running Club, apparently,” Brown said.

According to the Chile Pepper Festival website, the founders started the Chile Pepper Running Club in order to fundraise for their high school cross-country teams in Fayetteville, Arkansas. From that, the Chile Pepper Festival was created in 1992, and it’s now one of the largest cross-country events in the nation. They also donate thousands of dollars to schools in Fayetteville.

While you might not make it out to Arkansas to support your Tigers, you can catch them competing at the University of Incarnate Word Invitational in Live Oak, Texas on Saturday, Oct. 7.

SPORTS • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

19

Students perform balancing act between Greek life, athletics A face-off between sports jerseys and letter jerseys: coordinator and athletes weigh in on issue HAILEY WILSON

SPORTS REPORTER Year after year, the largest portion of Trinity’s student population are student athletes and members of Greek Life. These subgroups tend to blend together, but it hasn’t always been that way. In the past, some coaches have been opposed to letting their athletes participate in Greek Life. As time goes on, several coaches have changed their opinions, but there are still some teams that hesitate to let their athletes participate.

About a quarter of Trinity students are involved in Greek life and another 25 percent are involved in intercollegiate athletics. A tenth of the students involved in Greek life are varsity athletes.

These statistics come as a surprise to many. How is it possible that students are able to participate in both Greek life and intercollegiate sports? Do they have time to balance both? Why would student athletes even want to be involved in Greek life?

Jeremy Allen, assistant director for fraternity and sorority life, suggests that there is significant overlap in the reasons for joining both Greek life and sports teams.

“A lot of the same traits that you see within athletic teams come with Greek life.”

JEREMY ALLEN GREEK LIFE COORDINATOR

“A lot of the same traits that you see within athletic teams come with Greek life. … You see the bonding, students wanting to stand up for one another and be part of something together and strive for a common goal,” Allen said. “In some sense, Greek life can mirror athletics.”

Greek life serves as a way for students to be part of something greater, but also tends to provide athletes with a few more perks that typically don’t come with athletics, such as alumni connections.

The two groups serve different needs, but together can provide a sturdy foundation for students during their undergraduate education and beyond.

Student involvement in athletics and Greek life

25% of students involved in intercollegiate athletics 10% of athletes also involved in Greek life 25% of students involved in Greek life

graphic by TYLER HERRON

Although many student athletes and coaches see the benefits of Greek life, there are still several coaches and teams on campus that do not. Some coaches do not allow their students to rush at all, and some coaches have begun to implement rules that require their athletes to wait a year, or even two years, before rushing. Every team has their own policy and every coach has their own beliefs, but the concerns tend to stem from the same issue — time commitment. Allen believes this is what concerns most coaches.

“Athletes have practices, games, travel, team activities — and you have academics on top of that. So if you add Greek life, that can culminate in some students just not having enough time and being stretched too thin, so I understand that sentiment,” Allen said.

Some athletes don’t see much of a point of joining a Greek organization for themselves, since being a member of a sports team has similar benefits.

“I respect anyone who chooses to rush, but I don’t see myself ever rushing, because the tennis team is already my friend group,” said Tilden Oliver, junior tennis player.

Megan Richards, a junior track and field athlete and member of Gamma Chi Delta, explains that her coach is weary of the time commitment.

“Our coach says if we are going to be in Greek life, we can’t let it get in the way of our sport,” Richards said.

This stands true not only for student athletes, but for students who are involved in other clubs and activities. When it comes to time commitment, Allen believes clubs are more than willing to be flexible with Greekrelated activities.

“Our busiest time is definitely those four weeks of orientation in February, but during orientation and throughout the year groups can be really flexible with time commitments and how many meetings you have to attend, or which events you have to go to through the week,” Allen said.

Another concern coaches typically have is that Greek life will have a negative effect on teammate relationship or athletic performance. Research completed by Allen and the Greek Council has shown otherwise.

Trinity University student athletes were asked if being a member of a fraternity or sorority has had an impact on their relationship with their teammates, and 72.4 percent of student athletes said no.

Of student-athletes, only 22.4 percent said that Greek life has had a positive impact on teammate relationship.When asked if being a member of a fraternity or sorority

has contributed to athletic performance, 79 percent of student athletes said no, while 19.8 percent said yes, Greek life has had a positive impact on their athletic performance.

“You look at some of the clubs, the Spurs for example,” Allen said.

“They have a lot of women’s soccer players, and some of their best players are in Greek life.”

Allen believes this is due to the growth of deeper relationships.

Students from many teams — tennis, swimming and diving, football and more — have come to Allen expressing concerns about their coach’s feelings toward Greek life.

Allen and Greek Council are working on reaching out to coaches even more to present the data and personal stories in an effort to shift their attitudes. Greek life has worked and will continue to work with coaches to make this an opportunity for all student athletes.

“Students involved in both Greek life and athletics value both very, very highly, and I don’t think one will ever compromise the other,” said Allen. “This a mutually beneficial thing for students.”

Staff Disclaimer: Hailey Wilson is a member of Gamma Chi Delta and plays for the varsity softball team.

Stieren Arts Enrichment Series presents cartoonist, writer, and designer

Dylan Meconis Blink and You’ll See It: Form and Story in Today’s Graphic Novels

Wednesday, October 4

7 p.m. | Chapman Center, Great Hall FREE and open to the public The Stieren Arts Enrichment Series is made possible by an endowment gift from Jane and the late Arthur Stieren of San Antonio.

www.trinity.edu

20

WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 •

SPORTS

A look into Turbulence, men’s ultimate team The frisbee club members talk about their playing experience and recruitment for spring HAILEY WILSON

SPORTS REPORTER

The ulimate fribee team season officially starts in the spring. photo by ALLISON WOLFF

Tr i n i t y U n i v e r s i t y

Tiger Stand Band

Trinity University is home to many talented athletes, and some of these athletes can be found at the club level. Whether it’s lacrosse, trap and skeet, tennis, rugby or fencing, Tigers sign up to compete against some of the biggest schools in Texas. One team on the rise is the men’s ultimate frisbee team, called Turbulence.

For those who don’t know much about the game, the purpose is to score points for your team by passing along a disc. Matthew Brant, captain of the men’s ultimate team, is a big fan of everything the sport has to offer.

“I heard about the team before I came to Trinity for my freshman year. I wanted to go to a school that had an ultimate team so that I could play at the collegiate level,” Brant said.

Turbulence has players from all experience levels. Axel Anderson, a junior engineering science major, has been playing ultimate frisbee since fifth grade. Brett Skogman, a senior computer science major, founded an ultimate frisbee club at his high school.

Max Bogue, a sophomore physics major, cofounded a team at his high school.

Despite the varying levels of experience, one trait across the team remains constant — they all love their team and the sport.

“My favorite part about the ultimate team is that I always know I’m going to have a good time, whether we’re practicing, playing at a tournament or even if we just go out to throw around for a bit. The team is fun to be around, and it makes playing the game that much more fun in turn,” Bogue said.

“We’re all friends,” Skogman said. “We may play together to be competitive against

other schools, but the whole point of the team is to bring together a group of guys that have fun playing together.”

Miles Fuqua, a junior history major, uses the sport to quench his thirst for competition.

“As someone who played high school sports, I arrived at Trinity and wanted to find something that helped fuel my competitive nature. I was able to find that in ultimate — our tournaments are very competitive and intense,” Fuqua said.

Ultimate frisbee is different than NCAAsanctioned sports. Because it is a club sport, Trinity faces schools all across Texas, whether they be Division I or Division III. Turbulence enjoys going out and representing Trinity no matter who the opponent is.

The team travels to tournaments all over Texas and typically tries to schedule one outof-state tournament each season. Ultimate frisbee teams are continuing to pop up all around the United States.

“Unlike football and basketball, ultimate frisbee does not have the same widespread collegiate participation. It’s wonderful to see when new teams are started at other schools,” said Alex Han, a senior chemistry major.

“I like when we get to compete against other schools and seeing how we match up,” Anderson said.

The official season begins in the spring, so Turbulence is still looking to recruit members.

The team welcomes students of any year and experience level.

Those interested in joining should contact Matt Brant at mbrant@trinity.edu. The team practices on Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 5 to 7 p.m. on the Jim Potter Intramural Field.

Football defeats Chapman

The Tiger football team was fired up after their win against Chapman. photo by ALLISON WOLFF continued from PAGE 17

Meanwhile, the Tigers’ offense lagged at first as the Chapman defense held them back.

“The Chapman defense was very disciplined and they played hard,” Lavine said. “They were a great team all around, we just had a great day and believed that we could come out on top.”

The Tigers were down coming into the third quarter, but that quickly changed.

“Coming out of halftime the team realized that we were still in this and had a whole new half to come out strong and finish things the way we wanted to,” said Mitchell Globe, senior linebacker. “As for the defense, we knew we were not playing to the level that we could, and focused more on what we were doing rather than what Chapman was. Our coaches made critical adjustments and we focused on executing our jobs which led to stops and big plays.”

Entering the fourth quarter, the score was 35-21, in favor of the Panthers. Running back Jay Foster soon scored a touchdown.

“The game was just an old fashioned shoot-out because both teams fought to the end on special teams and offense,” Foster said, “Our offense effectively ran the gameplay our coaches mapped out for us, and we worked hard to execute all week in practice.”

The defense held off the opposition.

Trinity scored another touchdown on a swing pass from Grauer to Foster and with less than three minutes left brought the game to a tie.

Blocking Chapman’s attempt at a field goal allowed Trinity to win.

“Honestly, having all the fans there really helped a lot. We’re a very small school, so having as many fans as we can get will help us. As long as we have our fan base behind us, we can definitely perform a lot better,” said Mike Inco, a junior defensive lineman.

“The crowd was electrified and the energy of the play sparked our whole team,” Globe said.

Stay tuned to see if the Tigers keep up the momentum at Birmingham-Southern College this Friday, Sept. 29, at 1:00 p.m.