TUESDAY
ZON E F L Y O
SCOPE
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04.12.16
Volume 49|Issue 41
Sexual Assault Verdicts Up in the Air
Howdy Folks,
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but in March, people were made aware
of a lot of college’s shortcomings in dealing with these cases. A UAB student filed a Title IX complaint against the school that you and I attend, and as a result, it felt important to talk about how people on campus feel about the story, how our university handles it and how we fit into the issue on a national level. One of my biggest regrets in tackling this story was not being able to secure a copy of the complaint filed against the university itself by the complainant. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to reach them after initially securing their contact info and initial communication. I hope that they are doing well. We here at the Kscope certainly did not end up lacking for information, as I conducted three in-depth interviews with people that fight for the Title IX rights of students on college campuses every day. By the time I finished transcribing the interviews, I had 3,139 words of interview text alone (sheesh), and unfortunately couldn’t fit all of the content that this topic justified into the pages of our paper. I hope you’ll go online (at uabkscope.com) to read the article in its entirety, as the print version did not have room for a substantial portion involving UAB’s usual Title IX process. So anyway, I suppose what I’m trying to say is that it seems to me that dealing with campus sexual assaults calls for a lot of complex answers to a simple question.
STAFF Brandon Varner editor@insideuab.com Casey Marley managing@insideuab.com Thomas Baldwin art@insideuab.com Sarah Faulkner news@insideuab.com Jackson Hyde features@insideuab.com Stephanie Lockhart photos@insideuab.com Tamara Imam copyed@insideuab.com Jackson Hyde socialmedia@insideuab.com Melvin Griffin Chad Freeman Mark Linn Jared Chesnutt Jamie Thrasher Marie Sutton info@insideuab.com Justin Massey justinpm@insideuab.com
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SPOTLIGHT
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UABkscope.com @UABKscope facebook.com/uabkscope
Aura: Nick Jessee ick Jessee is a sophomore English major with a love of horror. Nick mainly N focuses on writing short stories that pervade the mind, exposing the dark sides of humanity.
When not writing a story or studying for his next exam, Nick likes playing board games, exploring nature, catching up on his favorite shows and reading the newest Stephen King or George R. R. Martin novel. Nick hopes to continue developing his writing skills and write the next groundbreaking horror novel. - Ashton Cook Aura Poetry Editor
Too Late
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he windshield wipers made a mechanical whir and squeaked with each swipe at the rain droplets. I sat in complete silence, except for nature’s chaotic cacophony of rain and wind that assaulted the car. None of this mattered to me. The rain always splatted onto the window, then wiped away, only to be replaced by more just as my depression would always surface after periods of happiness or even just content times with life. I always tried to keep it at bay. But why? What’s the point? Why must I live my life as a walking time bomb? Or carefully tread through the minefield of life? My hands gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white as chalk. I glanced down in the passenger seat at a picture of my family and friends. We were all smiling, arms around each other’s shoulders, and my sister was making the typical two-fingered “bunny ears” behind my head. We were all just enjoying a hike in the mountains. My smile put on an expression of happiness, but my eyes told something different. I could feel tears attempting to break through, but I fought it. Why cry when that would change absolutely nothing? I looked up into the rearview mirror and saw a driver staring back with bloodshot eyes, a shaggy beard and clumped, disheveled dark hair. A result of hygienic neglect. I deserved every bit of suffering. And why? I honestly couldn’t say. My mind tries to fabricate these delusional, paranoid ideas of people and everything that surrounds me, but I can’t help believing them. The car suddenly jerked and glided along the wet road for a short time. My heart raced at the unexpected change in my otherwise steady driving. Then I realized that maybe things would be better if I had just hydroplaned into a ditch, the hood ramming into a tree and bending like a soda can. I heard a small nagging voice in the back of my mind, though, telling me: this is all in your head and it will pass. You’re being irrational. Am I? Sometimes I didn’t know if I was being unreasonable. Wouldn’t life be better for everyone else to not have to deal with some s— stain like me? My thoughts shifted to the object I had hidden from sight. I slid my right arm back and settled my fingers over the latch on the center console. The object inside was the eraser to my mistake. That mistake being the fact that I live. I lifted my arm away from the center and shifted my focus back to the road. I almost experienced ecstasy from the thought of suicide. I flicked on my right blinker and merged onto the exit ramp from the interstate. I drove for about twenty minutes along the main roads in the direction of Gildan’s Park—a place I spent much of my time pondering, though this time it may end with a permanent solution. I heard the backseat’s leather creak. I shot my eyes to the rearview mirror, only to see the empty seats. I returned my sight to the road. It was just me. Then something rustled from behind like movement of a stiff, wrinkled shirt. A stench that was sweet but unbearable flowed from the back. It smelled as if an animal just died in my car. Then a hand struck out to the center console, yanked it open, and snatched my .44 magnum out of its hiding place. It all happened too quickly for me to react. The gun’s hammer clicked back. A male voice, strangely familiar, demanded from behind, “Don’t move a f— muscle.” Cold metal pressed against the back of my head. I continued to drive, though my heart was about to thump out of my chest. “How the h— did you—“ The intruder nudged the barrel deeper into my skin. “Doesn’t matter. Just get us to Gildan’s Park.” I didn’t understand how he had any knowledge of where I was driving to or how he even knew my gun was tucked away in the center console, but I wasn’t going to question him. He didn’t seem stable enough to question. I kept my eyes on the road. I was too afraid to check the rearview mirror for the identity of this intruder. Maybe he’d shoot me, which was what I planned for myself anyway. Now that I was in a situation with some madman threatening me, I was unsure about dying. The barrel of the gun receded from the back of my head but I knew the man still had it pointed at me. “Do I know you from somewhere?” I questioned. “Shut up and keep driving.” My eyes looked out towards the road, but my mind was scrambling to find out why this was happening. It seems that life, though, thought just as I did. I didn’t deserve to live.
Nick Jessee
Photo courtesy of Nicole Lassiter
“I am here to make you see. You’ve always been too scared to face the ultimatum, but I’m here to enlighten you about those around you who pretend to give a s—,” the stranger said. His voice sounded hoarse. I imagined that that’s how a war vet from an action movie would sound: someone who had seen a lot and knew too much. This man clearly knew too much about me. “I don’t understand.” “And you don’t have to. I will make you understand.” I passed a suburban neighborhood. A couple of kids, maybe brothers, ran out the front door and into the rain. They laughed and chased each other. One splashed into the grass, all the while smiling and slinging water at the other child as they both showered themselves in nature’s teardrops. Envy seeped into my heart as I watched them fade behind thick curtains of rain. When was the last time I experienced any joy? I’ve been an empty shell for years and always knew that I was a walking dead man. Death would be brought by my own hand. Now, though, it seemed likely to be brought by another unless I could get out of this. I was already wondering how much I truly valued my life. The Gildan’s Park sign surfaced from the rain’s haze as I pulled up towards the entrance. I drove through a narrow road into a tunnel of shade cast by trees that loomed above. The park was devoid of activity except for thick drops of rain and tremors of tree leaves as the wind grew stronger. I followed the trail until I came upon a side path to the left. A wooden sign was posted beside it that labeled the area as “Picnic Grounds.” The rocks beneath my tires crunched as the wheels turned towards the pathway. Thicker drops of water pinged against the car as I guided it beneath a ceiling of thickly interwoven leaves. After a few seconds, I parked the vehicle along the side of a circular open area, the ground composed of dirt pockmarked with mud puddles and dotted with wooden picnic tables throughout. “Turn the car off,” the intruder told me. The rumbling engine and whirring windshield wipers died with a turn of my ignition, and the only sound that remained was a battering of rain upon my window and whistling winds. I began to move my eyes towards the mirror to see this stranger, but when he pushed the barrel of the gun against my skull, I fixed my sight back out towards the darkened tables and endless trees. “You don’t need to see me. Not yet.”
TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016 NEWS 4 UAB student and faculty reflect on initiative for the education of young women in India Pierce Newman Staff Writer pnewman1@uab.edu s UAB’s Alys Stephens Center kicks off IndiaFest along with other organizations around Birmingham this month, students and faculty, while celebrating Indian culture, have voiced their concerns about inequalities that still exist in that country. India is one of the fastest growing developing nations in the world. However, there is also a less well known side of India: widespread poverty and gender inequalities throughout the country. Siblings Esha, Neha and Sagar Kaushik are UAB students who have started an organization to combat these problems. One Life at a Time was founded by the Kaushiks to pay for high school expenses for young women as well as medical expenses that put financial burdens on families that want to send their daughters to school. Lisa Patel, a student at UAB who originally hails from the village of Gujarat in India, agreed that the lack of education among female children is a serious problem. “I’ve seen it: the boys get their education while the girls stay home and help their mothers with the household chores,” Patel said. “Getting women more education is something people talk about, but how do you do that? I’ve seen a lot of women that even when
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they’ve gotten their bachelor’s they got married and depended upon their husband.” Patel believes that this mindset is not cultural, because she grew up within a similar culture, but only is present in some families. The solution from Patel’s perspective involves both changing attitudes from the ground up and from the top down. From the ground level, she advocates teaching women to be independent early on and for men to have greater respect for women. From the top down level, the media needs to portray education in an advantageous light, according to Patel. “The biggest impact India has overall is Bollywood—their way of treating women in that industry is one of the leading changes in India,” Patel said. Cathleen Cummings, Ph.D., a professor of Art History at UAB who has made many trips to India to promote the craft making of women in rural areas of the country, also spoke on the subject. In partnership with non-governmental organizations that had the same mission, Cummings has been able to help women start up their own craft businesses. She saw a significant change within one generation amongst some of the families she has worked with. Cummings sees the businesses as some of the most viable means of allowing women to take part in an activity that is culturally acceptable while earning a
wage to build a better future for their daughters. “Money goes directly into the pockets of the women and among the priorities they have is sending their daughters to school,” Cummings said. One specific story she encountered while in India was from a woman named Lakshmi. “People in my community tell me that you’re never going to be able to get your daughters married, and she responded, ‘I don’t care, my first priority is to make sure they are self-sufficient,’” Cummings said about Lakshmi. She believes that this trend is going to be seen in even greater ways over the next decade, as it has in recent years.
The Kaushik siblings (left to right: Neha, Sagar and Esha.) Photo from UAB News
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EAB partners with UAB School of Medicine
Student workers at the Equal Access Birmingham clinic.
Janvi Jani Staff Writer janvinj@uab.edu
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tudents and patients alike are intended to benefit from a new partnership between Equal Access Birmingham and UAB’s School of Medicine. Run primarily by medical students and staffed by student volunteers and physicians, EAB is a free health clinic that serves the underinsured and lowincome populations of Birmingham. EAB is located at the Church of the Reconciler in downtown Birmingham and is open for primary care and continued care patients on Sunday afternoons, as well as for walk-ins and new patients on Wednesday evenings. This semester, the UAB School of Medicine partnered with EAB to add an optional service learning experience to the Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) course curriculum. Second semester medical students were divided into groups of six and assigned to a preceptor that would work with the students to help patients at the clinic. Amanda Alldredge, a medical student at UAB and the executive director for the acute care clinic at EAB, spoke of the opportunities offered by the program to provide a variety of healthcare interventions for the patients at EAB and real experience for medical students. “At the hospital, you’re basically pretending to be a doctor,” Alldredge said. “It’s just for practice, because nothing you do is going to make a difference in the patient’s care.” In addition to providing real assistance for patients, students also gained service learning experiences. Medical students were paired with each other and assigned to gather information about a patient by
Photo by Lexy Davis
checking their vitals and medical history, as well as through completing a physical, in order to come up with a complete assessment and plan of care for their assigned patient. “Typically, when you visit patients in the hospital, you already have all the information on the patient so you already know what’s going on,” Alldredge said. “At EAB, you don’t know what’s going on with them at all, and that’s what you have to find out.” According to Alldredge, the students were given more autonomy with patients at the clinic because they were brand new patients who had never seen a doctor. “You don’t actually get to come up with an assessment plan and differential diagnoses for the patient in the hospital, because everything has already been done for them,” Alldredge said. “At EAB, the students get to really make a difference in a patient’s care and make an impact in their lives.” The student surveys that were conducted at the end of the experience showed that overall, the students had a positive experience at the clinic. “We had 60 students come through, and that was the maximum amount of students that we could take,” Alldredge said. “We’re planning on increasing the amount of students we can take next semester, because more of them have shown interest in participating.” UAB students from other interdisciplinary fields such as: social work, physical therapy, occupational therapy and pharmacy students from Samford and Auburn also serve the community at the primary care clinic on Sundays. Interested undergraduate students of all majors are welcome to volunteer at the clinic.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016
NEWS
The Prison’s Professors: UAB professors bring learning opportunities to inmates Mark Linn Staff Writer quiaego@uab.edu
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n April 7, the UAB Department of Service Learning held a panel discussion and screening of a documentary that explores UAB’s collaboration with a local men’s prison to provide learning opportunities to the inmates. The UAB-Donaldson Lecture Series is a collaboration between UAB and the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, a maximum security men’s prison located in unincorporated Jefferson County near Bessemer. For 28 years, UAB faculty have volunteered their time to give lectures on a diverse range of topics to the inmates of Donaldson. Over the course of the program, more than 700 UAB faculty members have delivered over 600 lectures to the inmates at Donaldson, on topics ranging from cave exploration in Laos to the Irish Famine. Faculty have also hosted programs such as theater classes and writing workshops. A special report produced by WBRC Fox 6 about the program aired last December. Fox 6 anchor Beth Shelburne, who wrote and produced the documentary, said that interest in the program grew out of her reporting on the federal investigation of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, which was embroiled in a scandal involving the sexual abuse of inmates by prison guards. “I quickly learned that the prison crisis did not begin at Tutwiler and it did not start in 2012. That it was really the result of decades of neglect and locking people up and throwing away the key,” Shelburne said during the panel discussion.
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The panel involved in the Donaldson Lecture series answered questions about the collaboration between UAB and the correctional facility.. Photo by Spencer Portis
The panel also included Jefferson S. Dunn, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections; UAB Department of Justice Sciences chair Jeffrey Walker, Ph.D., as moderator as well as English department chair Alison Chapman, Ph.D.; School of Public Health professor Connie Kohler and assistant professor in the Department of Justice Sciences Martha Earwood. Shelburne said that the story made them realize how deep the problems of Alabama’s prison system went, and that it was important to educate the public on how the situation got to where it is and how it can be improved. “We wanted to highlight a positive program and tell a larger story of how we’ve gotten to where we are, why these positive education and rehabilitative programs are important to the men and women that we incarcerate, and why they’re so important to us as a matter of public safety, and just as fellow human beings,” Shelburne said. “We have to do better than what we’re doing.” Alabama has the fourth highest incarceration rate in the country and Alabama’s prisons are massively overcrowded. In 2014, prisons were operating at 195 percent capacity, with 26,029 prisoners in a system designed to hold 13,318, according to the Council of State Governments Justice Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that serves state governments. “ The other thing that struck me almost immediately was that this has been a problem that has been germinating and developing for
decades,” Dunn said. “And it’s going to take a significant effort by a lot of people coming together in the state to solve the problem.” One of the proposed solutions to the problem is a plan to close 14 of Alabama’s 16 outdated correctional facilities and replace them with four supermassive facilities. The plan, which Dunn and Governor Robert Bentley put forth, passed the state senate on April 5. The new facilities will have an increased capacity to hold 3,000 more inmates. Combined with sentencing reforms passed in 2015, Bentley and Dunn say that the new facilities will allow for more vocational training and other education opportunities to reduce recidivism. “Prisons are synonymous with reform,” Dunn said at the panel. “More recently we’ve really started in the correction system to focus on education. Getting people the education that they need while they’re in prison so that their time spent there is different and when they get out they have perhaps better opportunities.” After the initial airing of the documentary, Shelburne received a letter from one of the inmates at Donaldson that she said highlighted the importance of educating the public about the complex issues affecting the criminal justice system. “You humanized us in the minds of the public but in the process you reminded us of our own humanity,” Shelburne read from the letter. “You validated our humanity, our congruity regardless of and in spite of our physical disconnection.”
SPORTS
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The basketball saga continues. . .
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UAB hires Robert Ehsan as new men’s basketball head coach Alex Jones Blazeradio General Manager alex96@uab.edu
Tamara Imam Copy Editor copyed@insideuab.com
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t a press conference on Tuesday, April 5, Director of Athletics Mark Ingram officially announced Robert Ehsan as the sixth head coach of the men’s basketball team. After Jerod Haase left to become the new men’s basketball at Stanford University on March 25, UAB decided to stay in-house for its next head coach. UAB promoted Ehsan, who was associate head coach under Haase for four years, to be the head coach of the defending Conference-USA regular season champions. Although he was an associate coach under Gary Williams at the University of Maryland and Seth Greenberg at Virginia Tech before arriving in Birmingham in 2012, this will be his first head coaching job. Ingram stated during the conference that the search for the new head coach took nine days, and that Ehsan “won the job competing against a very competitive field.” The search committee included UAB faculty, former basketball players, administrators, athletics staff and donors. This has been a popular hire so far, as students, fans and even former coach Haase believed that Ehsan was the best man for the job. The news of Ehsan’s hiring
also generated the social media hashtag “#RobMob.” UAB Champion Club member David Cochran Jr. is enthusiastic about Ehsan’s coaching ability. “He was by far the best option. He was the only candidate that guaranteed that we kept the players together that we currently have. He has a great relationship with the high school coaches around the state. He is smart, savvy, and a great X's and O's coach,” Cochran said. “He will do more with what we currently have and has the most potential to recruit greatness than anyone else that was on the radar.” For UAB alumnus John Moody, Ehsan’s appeal comes from his experience as assistant coach to winning teams. “I'm thrilled Robert Ehsan was selected as UAB Men's Basketball new Head Coach. He is well respected by coaches around the country as an assistant coach having great potential and ready to be a head coach. He has worked as an assistant or associate head coach for several great, winning coaches,” Moody said. “He has proved to be an excellent recruiter. Players respect his coaching ability.”
UAB students and fans tweet using the hashtag #RobMob.
Coach Ehsan as associate head coach for the UAB men’s basketball team.
Photo from UAB Sports
After the announcement, Ehsan spoke to the team and the media. “This opportunity, it is really not about me. It’s about our program, it’s about these guys, it’s about their families, it’s about their friends, our fans,” Ehsan said. “It’s about the UAB family and the UAB community.” Ehsan spoke briefly about his predecessor, calling former coach Haase “one of the best people in college basketball and college athletics.” In his address to the team, he reminisced on when he recruited each of the players and spoke on the future of the program. “Last season was special, but I have a sense of unfinished business and I know you do too,” Ehsan said. He also announced at the press conference that his associate head coach will be Turner Battle, who has been with UAB for two years, and that he would like to have the rest of his staff by next week. Ehsan remarked that he is “lucky and blessed” to be able to coach the players he recruited, calling the roster “the most talented, together, and healthy out right now.”
NO FLY ZONE Brandon Varner Editor-in-Chief editor@insideuab.com In September of 2014, Emma Sulkowicz started carrying a 50-pound mattress with her at all times on Columbia University’s campus. The mattress, a 50-pound twin-sized extra long bed purchased online, was a near-perfect replica of the bed on which she was raped in the Columbia University dorms. Sulkowicz chose to carry the mattress as her senior thesis for her art degree, to call attention to an assault that she felt that her university was attempting to make invisible. In early March 2016, four students from four universities, including UAB, filed Title IX complaints against their schools for mishandling their sexual assault investigations. End Rape on Campus, a sexual assault survivor’s advocacy group, assisted the survivors in filing the complaints. The documents alleged that in most of the cases, the universities were negligent, if not outright making a concerted attempt at obstruction of justice by violating their Title IX rights. Title IX, as defined by the U.S. Department of Education, states that: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” One of the many rights that this statute is designed to protect is a sexual assault survivor’s right
to a stress-free educational environment. The sort of stress that can come from being subjected to sharing a classroom with a perpetrator of sexual assault. Students that have been following the case find this behavior to be troubling, especially coming from their own university. Mugdha Mokashi, a sophomore Neuroscience major and the president of UAB’s chapter of Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, is one of those students. “Title IX, they usually have the perpetrator make efforts to not have contact with a student that made the claim. Usually that means that the burden is on the perpetrator to stay away from the student and find a way to not interact with the person,” Mokashi said, citing details released from the complaint. “Instead,
“I don’t know why the word consent is still sort of hazy, but it should be very clearly and firmly established from the get go.” - Mugdha Mokashi, Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity UAB the survivor put forth the claim that the school told her be the one of carrying the burden of using the back entrance of buildings, and using the med school library instead of the undergraduate library, which is unbelievable.” URGE is a reproductive justice advocacy
organization with multiple chapters throughout the country. According to Mokashi, the organization is focused on lobbying for issues such as abortion access and rights, resources for young parents and comprehensive medically accurate sex education in schools. As a result of their work, the organization often finds themselves advocating for sexual assault survivors. In this capacity, Mokashi believes the case fits a pattern on a national scale, but feels disappointed by the allegations levied at UAB itself. “It’s infuriating but it’s not surprising at all. We really want universities to be this really idyllic place where you can be what you want to be and do whatever you want to do, but in essence universities are microcosms of these patriarchal, rape-culture enforcing societies,” Mokashi said. “The issue is, with a university, you see the same people all the time, you talk to the same people all the time and that sort of microcosm doubles on itself and you have a concentration of all the things that could happen in one place. The problem is really magnified because now you can see your abuser everywhere, and you can see the people involved in the case everywhere.” The survivor in the claim against UAB was allegedly put into a position where she was in charge of keeping herself hidden from the man who assaulted her. The claim also states that the university added to that order by suppressing evidence in her case. According to the complaint, the student at UAB’s forensic sexual assault examination, or rape kit, was
either not considered to be sufficient evidence to come to a conclusion on whether a student had violated the student code of conduct, or was just not used in the investigation. At UAB, the school allegedly told the complainant that since no one was trained at the university to interpret forensic data correctly, the school would not consider reviewing the rape kit. Her perpetrator was found not responsible and she is in the process of appealing her case, according to an interview with AL.com. According to Sofie Karasek, the Director of Education and one of the Co-Founders of End Rape on Campus, it can be in a university’s best interest to make these cases difficult to pursue. “Title IX in court has a really high standard for liability. The school has to have actual knowledge of the incident,” Karasek said. “They have to have something reported to them, and they have to have been deliberately indifferent to it.” In an effort to make sure that they fit this standard of plausible deniability on sexual assaults, universities can often go to extreme lengths.
“There’s this notion that sexual assault is only committed by perpetrators that jump out of the bushes at you with a gun, and that’s actually not how most sexual assaults occur. In the vast majority of cases, it’s somebody that you know. Who is doing this to you and oftentimes there isn’t that the threat of violence brought on by a weapon.” - Sofie Karasek, End Rape on Campus “One of the big reasons schools don’t publicize resources and try to make it difficult to report is because of that standard of Actual Knowledge,” Karasek said. “They actually don’t want to know that a sexual assault has happened because that could bring them one step closer to being held liable if they mishandle the case, which happens so often. They would much rather have the vast majority of survivors never report to them than to have people come forward about their experiences.” Schools make this effort in order to show themselves as safe places for prospective students. If schools can present the image that crime never happens on campus, then they can make the campuses seem like havens for students looking to have a relatively smooth college experience. “Schools don’t want to have the appearance of not being a safe campus, and if a student reports a sexual assault on campus to them, then they are required under federal law to publish that information in
the annual Clery crime statistics report that every university has to put out,” Karasek said. “So if somebody’s looking at those statistics and they see that there’s a lot of sexual assault cases, then that could potentially mean that fewer people would want to go to that school. So even though it’s happening everywhere and it’s very common at institutions across the country, schools don’t want to be known as the rape school.” The Clery Act, signed in 1990, is a bill that requires every college and university that participates in federal financial aid to publish information about crime on and near their campuses every year. If schools do not take a report on a crime, it does not have to be mentioned in their annual report, possibly giving the appearance of a lower level of crime than the true level on campus. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 90 percent of sexual assault survivors on campuses do not report their assaults. “One of the biggest issues is that students largely don’t anticipate that their cases are going to be taken seriously by the administration and it will actually be worse for them if they report than if they decided not to,” Karasek said. “That’s something that’s very widespread as campus as a reason why people don’t report. One of the other very common reasons people don’t report is because they like they have to have basically evidence on the level of videotape of the assault or they’re not going to be believed.” Universities around the country have departments
that not only try to fight this perception of victimblaming on campus, but also try to make sure students are informed of their rights. At UAB, one of these departments is the Office of Student Advocacy, Rights and Conduct. Emily Feinstein, M.Ed., is the deputy Title IX coordinator that works in this office. “We do welcome students sharing with us concerns, as we always want to ensure students’ rights are met and students know we are here to listen and will prioritize their concerns,” Feinstein said. “Title IX can often feel like an ever changing landscape, with almost daily guidance and opportunity for improvement with case law and other forms of federal guidance interpreted and issued. Within our efforts in Student Advocacy, Rights and Conduct, we are constantly seeking ways in which we can review policy and procedure and ensure that students understand and trust in the process.” The process may seem intimidating or confusing to students, especially in the face of the recent complaint which suggests that the process may not work for at least some students. SARC is looking to change that perception with not only its “Sexual Assault Doesn’t Fly” ad campaign, but also a general mission to make students aware of their rights to equal treatment under the statute.
The Survivor Speaks:
The rest of the article is available online at uabkscope.com
On March 16, the survivor that filed the complaint against UAB held a demonstration in front of Hill Student Center. She spoke about her story with “Survivor” written on her arm in black marker with anyone that would listen, in an attempt to draw attention to her ongoing complaint. This sign was one of a couple that she taped up behind her as she spoke.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016
OPINIONS
Don’t do it: Major in stress with a minor in complaining
Overwhelmed students often vent to their friends about the struggles of college life.
Ally Middleton Opinions Columnist allym95@uab.edu It’s safe to say that one of the biggest things all college students have in common is that we’re stressed, tired and overwhelmed. No one should want to be any of these things, yet it seems like we make college this big competition of who can be the worst off. I often hear people complaining about how busy or tired they are, and their friends will reply with how much busier and more tired they are. Believe it or not, college is supposed to be hard, but complaining won’t take any of your stress away. In fact, it probably instead takes away a good chunk of time that you could be studying for that exam you keep talking about. The point of college isn’t to see who can have the most mental breakdowns, but when someone asks us in passing how we’re doing, we reply with “tired” or “stressed” instead of smiling and being appreciative that we even have the chance to go to college. I’ve seen so many snapchat stories of people up all night in the library, but clearly they aren’t studying.
Photo from UBC Learning Commons
It’s almost like they feel as if posting it for everyone to see will prove how busy and stressed they are. Similarly, pulling an all-nighter right before your exam won’t actually help you that much, and you’ll just be miserable the next day, so why do we do it? Is it to justify why we constantly complain about being tired and overwhelmed? The truth is that stress isn’t a competition. We choose to take on various responsibilities such as work, extracurricular activities, shadowing, internships, etc. These things will obviously help us learn important skills and build our resumé, but at the end of the day, the overload of responsibility was a choice. I chose to join a ton of organizations and I chose to become an officer in some of those. I chose to join a sorority and accept a position on the executive council. I chose to take on extra tasks, so if I have to stay up late to finish an assignment because I had meetings all day, I don’t really have the right to complain. Taking on a bunch of responsibilities adds on another responsibility of following through with each of them, and if that’s something you can’t
handle, it might be time to prioritize and strategize your time management skills. You don’t have to join every organization on campus to get into medical school or graduate school. In fact, joining a bunch of random clubs to make your resume longer looks so much worse than having only a few high quality organizations that enhance your leadership skills and your college experience. We’re all college students. We all have to take hard classes, and we all want to do what we can to build a good future for ourselves, but comparing your busy schedule to your friend’s busy schedule to figure out who is the most miserable doesn’t sound like building a good future to me. It’s okay to be stressed, but it’s not okay to complain instead of actually doing something to help yourself and your mental health. It should make us feel better that we’re all in the same boat, and we should want to help each other out. But constantly talking about how busy we are or how overwhelming our schedules are is just a bunch of negative energy that won’t accomplish anything. The next time someone asks how you are, try replying with something positive. No one is too busy to smile.
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Photo by Stephanie Lockhart
The Southern Vegan: Chocolate date truffles for Earth Day Stephanie Lockhart Photo Editor photos@insideuab.com arth Day is right around the corner and what better way to celebrate than with mini little chocolate date truffles that mimic tiny Earths? They’re perfect for a quick, nutritious snack or an easy-to-make gift for friends. Before beginning, gather the following ingredients:
E
1 cup of pitted dates ¼ cup of cocoa or cacao powder 1 tablespoon of chia seeds A pinch of salt (Recipe makes 6)
Process or blend these ingredients together on high until mixture is smooth. That’s really all it takes. Once it’s smooth, form the mixture into balls and roll in matcha powder and pistachios to give these energy balls an Earth-like quality. Chia seeds are an excellent source of fiber, protein, Omega-3 fatty acids and several other micronutrients. Matcha powder is a wonderful antioxidant that will give the little planet its plant life. However, if you like, you can top these with really anything. Coconut flakes, PB2 powder for extra nuttiness, or really anything you like; these simple truffles are meant to fit whatever flavor palate you desire. Enjoy, and happy Earth Day!
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Cheap Eats: Los Amigos Mexican restaurant
Study
y m o t a An ch... on the
Bea
(While you study anatomy on the beach)
The chimichanga at Los Amigos comes with rice, beans, lettuce, guacamole, and tomatoes.
Photo by Jackson Hyde
Jackson Hyde Features Editor features@insideuab.com os Amigos is a short drive away from campus serving Mexican food from burritos to quesadillas. Most of their food is under $10, and the food that isn’t barely breaks that mark. When you enter Los Amigos, you will find the employee in charge behind a wall to the left. He’s kind of stony and he’s not very talkative, but he or a waiter will lead you to your table after a short wait. Even on busy nights you can expect to be seated within a few minutes. After you’re seated by a waiter who is significantly more chipper than the man at the front desk, you’ll order your drink and take in your surroundings. There are a few TVs mounted from the walls that demand your attention, playing soccer under the Spanish music that’s basically required for any Mexican restaurant. The interior of the building is decidedly orange, the air almost looks like it’s some kind of dim, watered down Sunny D. That said, their booths are nice and efficiently separate you from other customers. Before you’ve fully catalogued all that’s around you, your waiter will bring you your drinks and you can finally get what you came for: cheap Mexican food. I ordered the chimichanga dish, a fried, Americanized chicken burrito served with rice and beans for $7.75. You also get a side of guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream to do with as you please. I just smothered my chimichanga in sour cream, but if you’re not a heathenous guac-hater like me then you should utilize that was well. The chimichanga itself was juicy and topped with loads of cheese, both features that I admire in all foods. When I broke the chimichanga’s fried tortilla shell, it flaked away like the top of a good pot pie. The chicken inside was tender and hot, and accompanied by the beans and sour cream it tasted like I was eating a whole taco salad in every bite. The rice was kind of tasteless, but mixing it with the beans made it easier to eat and better to taste. Overall, I was surprised with how flavorful the dish was; meals of similar price from different Mexican restaurants taste bland in comparison. The establishment’s staff was alright, their speed in preparing food was impressive, but their customer service skills could be improved. Los Amigos is a restaurant that I wouldn’t take anyone on a first date, but the atmosphere is good for groups of friends to get together and talk loudly about life and food. Los Amigos is located at 3324 Clairmont Ave South. They are open every day with varying hours, but you can always count on them being open from 11 a.m. to at least 9 p.m.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016
Weekly Wellness: Relaxing under a university routine Jared Jones Staff Writer jrdjns@uab.edu triking a balance between work and personal life can be hard. A lot of people don’t do it. They allow their 15-hour college course load to take over, their pets/children to reign supreme or their boss to run their lives. They take on so many roles and so many identities that there’s little time to focus on them. They don’t schedule ‘me’ time: that small amount of time each day dedicated to you and whatever you want to do. And that time is important. It’s a time for recharge and refocus. Because let’s face it: sometimes it can be difficult to keep up with yourself if you never give yourself time. Realize that you deserve ‘me’ time. You deserve to spend time on yourself. It’s not selfish. You aren’t neglecting your responsibilities by carving out a few hours of each day to do something – no matter how trivial or small it may seem. It matters. Schedule your ‘me’ time. Don’t wait for it to happen. Oftentimes that golden opportunity won’t arise as responsibilities grow: instead, schedule it on your planner in bold letters. According to WebMD, you should treat your ‘me’ time like a doctor’s visit or a conference call. Treat it like an appointment. Get your family and friends on board. It’s one thing to want ‘me’ time; it’s another when familiar distractions aren’t aware of your needs. Make them known.
Take a Bubble Bath With a bubble bath, not only are you resting your body, but you can also rest your mind through aromatherapy. Splurge on bath oils, soaps or other bubble bath regalia. Find scents that you enjoy and products that make your skin and body feel good. Otherwise you’re just sitting in soapy water.
S
Taking a bath with oils can relax your mind and help your skin.
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Photo by Erika Wittlieb
Try ‘Me’ Time
So now that you’re ready for ‘me’ time, what can you do? It depends on your time and your interests. Do you need to unwind? Do you need to perk up? Do you need to let your mind wander? Ask yourself these questions before embarking on an activity. Regardless of your motive, here are some tried-andtrue ideas for when you want to focus on you. Take A Walk Nothing is better than enjoying the outdoors and letting your mind rest. Plus you can log a low-impact workout, too. Enjoy the sights and sounds of the outdoors, allowing your mind to take a break from its mental race. If you have a nature trail near you, walk it. However, be safe and notify someone if you plan to walk alone.
Take a Nap If you’re feeling worn down by the deeds of your day, recharge your batteries by taking a nap. You’ll feel better and you’ll have the energy to tackle the rest of your responsibilities. Make sure that you don’t impede your naptime by drinking coffee beforehand. Limit stimulants – from coffee to computer screens – an hour before your scheduled nap, or you’ll regret missing your window of opportunity. Take-Away Regardless of what you do for ‘me’ time, make it fun and something you enjoy. Crafting time out of your schedule can be difficult, so make sure you don’t waste time with things that don’t bring you peace and joy. And remember: you deserve time for yourself. Don’t let your responsibilities steal that from you.
BlazeRadio presents: Red Planet Reviews Wolfmother’s “Victorious”
Jared Chesnut Staff Writer redc@uab.edu t’s hard to believe that a decade has passed since Andrew Stockdale and Wolfmother came out of the Outback down under and dropped their first LP, establishing themselves as one of the better pure rock acts of the world. Guitar heroes the world over gushed over “Woman,” “Dimension” and a bevy of other tracks that paid homage to the likes of fellow Aussies AC/DC, The Doors and Black Sabbath. Though the lineup saw many changes over time, Stockdale, his enormous afro and the chemistry from a guitar, bass, drum and organ stayed constant, showing up again in 2009’s “Cosmic Egg” and 2013’s “New Crown,” bombastic albums in their own right if lacking some of the energy and soul of their predecessor. Unfortunately, that tension that brought about a revolving door of musicians eventually led to an indefinite hiatus and talks of a solo project from Stockdale. February brought about the release of “Victorious,” a ten song package from a retooled band back from the brink of death. Starting from opener “The Love That You Give,” the band’s ties to the rock gods of yore are evident. The first track immediately hits with overdriven guitar and a heavy hand on the cymbals. Stockdale, typically one to be a little more primal with his vocal delivery, is somewhat buttoned down at first. When the title track “Victorious” cuts in, however, the straps come down and the band finds its reserve
bassist Ian Peres’s throttling on the keys. It feels like something you’d listen to while burning into town on a motorcycle. A fade out from “Best of a Bad Situation” brings us some more traditional Wolfmother fare in “Gypsy Caravan.” The song feels very similar to a track on the band’s first self titled EP, “Colossal,” and there’s evidence that may be intentional, with lyrics such as “we could live together” harking back to that same album’s “White Unicorn.” In many ways I’m compelled to compare “Gypsy Caravan” to those sketches that artists do where they revisit a past work after months or years of training and refining of techniques. If the work of a decade ago was the crude doodling of an ambitious upstart, this is certainly a composed, well planned reworking by an informed, battle hardened artist.
I
Rating:
Album art from Wolfmother
of energy in a triumphant romp that sees Stockdale singing the praises of an unidentified woman. “Victorious” is one of those songs that is fun and easy to headbang to unapologetically. Rock returns to its rightful throne on “City Lights,” blazing a trail through Guns ‘n Roses territory as the ride stays bolted together by Stockdale’s guitar and
Pros: + “Victorious” and “Eye of the Beholder” are
heavy-hitting tracks that belong in daily rotation + A more “experimental” side to Wolfmother mostly pays off
Cons: - The lack of a cooldown gives almost no time to
rest and process the album - The middle part of the album almost gets lost in the hustle and noise
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FRIDAY|04.15
TUESDAY|04.12 Birmingham Barons Game Regions Field 7:05 p.m. The Barons will host the Tennessee Smokies to open the 2016 season at Regions Field. 50 cent hot dogs will be presented by Kayem Franks, and Jake the Diamond Dog will appear. Lunch with A Leader: Coach Randy Norton New Freshmen Residence Hall: Cahaba Room 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Join the Head Women’s Basketball coach, Randy Norton, for lunch as he discusses what it means to be a leader at UAB. For more nformation please contact Sean Ryan, Coordinator of Leadership Programming at ryanse@uab.edu
WEDNESDAY|04.13 Fourth Annual Play For Education UAB Campus Green 10 a.m.-3 p.m. This carnival-like event will let attendees play games and eat food while supporting One Life At A Time, a 501(c)(3) that goes to promoting child literacy and promoting medical camps in third world countries such as India.
Neon Indian
Saturn 200 41st Street S Doors: 7 p.m. - Show: 8 p.m. $14.00 - $16.00 The indie pop band will perform their psychedelic sounds at Saturn on Wednesday night. Xenia Rubinos and DJ Coco will open for the techno band.
THURSDAY|04.14 Mental Health Positivity Picnic UAB Campus Green 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. With final stress just on the horizon, Student Health and Wellness Counseling, Active Minds, the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program, the Graduate Biomedical Student Organization and SciTech Honors will host a stress relieving picnic on the green. Enjoy food, music, therapy animals and other mental health resources. End of the Year BBQ Mini Park 12-2 p.m. Join BSAC for food, music and games as the semester winds down.
Inequality Dinner UAB Hill Center 6:30- 8:30 p.m. To demonstrate inequality in Birmingham, UAB will be hosting a dinner sponsored by the Firehouse Shelter and help educate food insecurity and homelessness in the city.
Montevallo Arts Fest 2016 Orr Park in Montevallo 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Montevallo Arts Council will host the 10th annual Montevallo Arts Fest in Orr Park. The event includes fine arts, handmade goods, fine crafts, and student art.
SATURDAY|04.16 Prom 2016
SUNDAY|04.17
The Spring Street Firehouse 412 41st St S Doors open at 8 p.m. $10 if dressed up $15 in street clothes DIY Birmingham is hosting the yearly local celebration of Do it Yourself culture. This year’s prom theme is “Fools Parade Masquerade” and complimentary el-cheapo masquerade masks will be provided, though bringing your own is encourage. Plains, Dirty Lungs, King Magnum and Pipe w/ special guest Sage William will perform danceable pop hits for attendees.
UAB Softball vs. FIU Mary Bowers Field 1 pm UAB women’s softball will compete against Florida International University on Sunday afternoon at Mary Bowers Field. The Blazers will also compete with FIU for two games on Saturday, 4/16.
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